Slip into the diamond life oh!... Ah ah ah ah everybody get up

Rewind.

Slip into the diamond life oh!... Ah ah ah ah everybody get up

Rewind.

Slip into the diamond life oh!... Ah ah ah ah everybody get up

Rewind.

"Jihoon-hyung, what do you want to eat for dinner?!" Mingyu basically tore out Jihoon's earbud and screamed into his ear. Of course, he was met instantly with a death glare from his music producer, beads of sweat were starting to form on his face as he realized how much danger his life was in. He should have really thought this through, how could he forget his childhood trauma with the guitar?! Before he could apologize, he noticed that the music was still blasting out of the earbud he was holding, recognizing Junhui's part of the song.

The young rapper blinked in confusion. He thought Jihoon was trying to fix a part from a new instrumental he was working on, but turns out all that rewinding was just to listen to Junhui's brief bit... Wait...

"Oh my god."

"Mingyu, you're dead."

"You kept yourself in the studio alone all day just to loop Jun-hyung's whispering?!"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Mingyu dashed out of the studio, instinctively diving behind the couch Minghao and Soonyoung were resting on. Lucky him, two out of the four strongest martial artists in the group were together at the same time, his defense was impermeable-

"Soonyoung, move."

"Anything for you, babe!"

Okay, he miscalculated. Thankfully though, Jihoon was now busy scolding Soonyoung regarding how inappropriate the nickname was, and threatening to tell Seokmin how much of a playboy he was and personally see to it that Soonyoung's crush would never be reciprocated.

Minghao gave a disinterested glance at the two other guys before turning around to face Mingyu, still cowering behind the couch, "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing, honest." Mingyu insisted unconvincingly from his position.

 "Uh... huh..." Minghao rolled his eyes in skepticism but didn't question him further. Mingyu could always find ways to annoy his hyungs, this was normal. He shouldn't have bothered to ask in the first place.

Having won the argument, Jihoon looked up and scanned over the room. Most of the others had probably gone out to eat in their respective "meal groups", guess he was stuck with the take-out group again, not that he was complaining. "So, um... where are Wonwoo and Jun?" Jihoon asked, trying to sound casual, totally not bothered by the possible thought that they might be having a dinner date together.

"Probably at that Chinese place with really spicy noodles. Doubt anyone else is with them, no one else can take that amount of spiciness." Jihoon tried not to look panicked at Soonyoung's response while the latter narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

"Nope, we're here." Wonwoo's unique smooth tone glided over from Jihoon's left, and sure enough, the charismatic rapper was sitting on a couch with its back to the rest of the group, giving them a small wave without turning around.

Jihoon tried not to let out a sigh of relief, but he didn't have to since his sense of relief was immediately squandered after walking around the couch and seeing the two's position in full view. Junhui was evidently fast asleep with his head on Wonwoo's lap while the younger ran his fingers through the older's silky dark blonde locks in a soothing manner. Jihoon swallowed uneasily. Junhui was well known for loving skin-ship among the members, Wonwoo, however, was never one to initiate skin-ship, yet here it was, right in front of Jihoon in all its glory. If this wasn't proof of their exceptional closeness with one another, then nothing was.

"Oh, well, if we're going to decide on what to eat, maybe we should wake him-"

"Nah, let him sleep. Guy's had a rough day." Wonwoo cut in, still running his fingers through Junhui's hair.

Jihoon bit back a retort, Of course I know he's had a rough day! You're not the only one who notices his every move, you know! After all, he had no right. If he actually paid that much attention to him, then he would be able to explain why he seemed so lethargic lately even after breakfast and washing up in the mornings. While Minghao, Chan, and Soonyoung all looked equally exhausted, Junhui had found sleep easy to fall into in comparison to the others.

After deciding on just ordering pizza, the group quickly finished their plates almost as soon as the delivery arrived. Do not underestimate the appetite of five hungry and still-growing boys. Meanwhile, Junhui had slept through the entire meal, refusing to budge from his, apparently, comfy Wonwoo-lap-pillow.

Jihoon bit into the last of his pizza crust bitterly, trying hard not to glare daggers in Wonwoo's direction.

Soonyoung glanced at the clock, "Well, it's about time to turn in. See you in the morning." The choreographer gave Minghao a pat on the shoulder, a brief flash of horror ran through the younger dancer's eyes as they snapped up.

"What? We don't have anything tomorrow morning, and you normally sleep until noon." Jihoon scowled at his friend.

"Um... I meant noon."

"If you say so?" Jihoon shifted his gaze towards Minghao, who fidgeted uncomfortably in his spot before jumping up and making his way to his room, followed by a pouting Mingyu who was very much lost and left-out.

The air became heavy again now that the mood-maker and younger members were gone, Jihoon tried very hard to erase the presence of the other two, but to no avail. He wondered if he should excuse himself first, but before he could, he noticed movement from his left side that seemed so still earlier, followed by a thud.

"Oops." Wonwoo said monotonously as he not-so-subtly shoved Junhui's sleeping figure onto the floor, surprisingly enough, the latter continued to sleep. "He is such a rough sleeper, huh?" This was only met by a skeptical brow-raise from Jihoon. "Sorry to put this baggage on you, but can you take care of this guy? My room has curfew, so..." Before Jihoon could point out that Wonwoo was roommates with Junhui, the Hip Hop Unit member had already slipped away.

Jihoon blinked rapidly down at Junhui, puzzled by the sudden responsibility. What did Wonwoo even mean by "take care" of him?

As if finally responding to the previous disturbance, Junhui finally stirred, opening his eyes hazily. "...Woozi?" He tried to push himself upright quickly, but ended up getting a migraine instead.

A smirk of amusement played on Jihoon's lips, he didn't know someone could look so cute flustered, especially in such a defenseless state. Moments when one first wakes up are precious after all. For the ones around them, anyway. "Finally awake? We had dinner without you. Don't worry, Wonwoo saved you two pizza slices." Jihoon motioned towards the cardboard box left on the table.

"Oh... thanks." Junhui took a slice from the box gingerly, biting into the pastry with baby bites which gradually grew bigger as his body finally registered how famished he really was. Jihoon simply watched him as he eventually finished the first slice, the second slice disappeared almost as soon as it was picked up.

Jihoon watched with slight confusion as Junhui walked back to the couch after throwing away the pizza box. "Aren't you going back to your bedroom?"

Junhui shook his head, fluffing up a pillow near him, "It's past curfew for our room..." Oh, so Wonwoo wasn't lying about that. "I don't think I can deal with a sleep-drunk Soonyoung right now..." Junhui muttered, his words starting to slur again as his head hit the soft pillow. To be completely honest, Jihoon was amazed by how easily Junhui could go back into sleeping mode right after just waking up from a long slumber.

After watching Junhui shift around on the couch for a while, Jihoon retreated back to his own room without so much as uttering a goodnight. Junhui felt slightly disappointed by this, but decided he was too tired to feel sorry for himself at this current time. Before he completely fell asleep, however, he felt some sort of fabric cover his body and opened his eyes.

"Oh." Jihoon looked down at him, still half-gripping the blanket. His cheeks were tinted pink from getting caught in the act, but thankfully Junhui wasn't able to tell due to the lack of light. "Sorry, I thought you were asleep."

Junhui smiled up brightly at him, "It's no problem. Thanks, but do you have a spare blanket?"

Jihoon hadn't thought that far. His eyes darted around, wondering if he should lie and say he did, since Junhui seemed like the type to give back his blanket if he told him the truth. However, Junhui had already figured it out from the long response time, and had slid down from the couch onto the carpeted floor, the blanket draped over his shoulder. He motioned for Jihoon to sit down next to him.

Trying not to stiffen up, Jihoon complied, knowing Junhui would over-analyze his rejection and potentially take it personally. The plan to not stiffen up grew increasingly difficult as Junhui scooted even closer to him, finally closing the gap between them as their arms brushed against each other. Jihoon didn't understand where Junhui was going with this until the latter draped the blanket over both of them.

"...What are you doing?"

"Seemed like the logical answer. You're missing a blanket, I'm missing some company." Junhui replied, his smile unwavering.

Jihoon grumbled, but found his body naturally relaxing and leaning against the warmth next to him. Junhui in turn tucked Jihoon's head under his chin almost in a protective manner, "You're so small..."

"Watch it."

"I just meant that... well, it feels nice. Cuddling. With you." Junhui said, stumbling over his words slightly, trying not to panic over the fact that he was actually cuddling with Jihoon, and the latter hadn't tried to beat him up or escape, yet.

Jihoon didn't reply, but felt his heartbeat pick up its pace. Closing his eyes with a sigh, for once, Jihoon felt that it wasn't so bad being small.

"Jihoon! Jihoonie! Geez, why was he sleeping in such a place?" Seungcheol muttered, trying to shake the smaller boy awake as the other members crowded around the couch, attempting to aid in the impossible mission of waking their vocal leader up. They've never succeeded even once, but it's already become sort of a ritual.

"I've got his, hyung." Mingyu made his way to the front with a phone in hand, placing an earbud in Jihoon's ear, he pressed play.

Slip into the diamond life-

Jihoon's eyes immediately flew open, looking around with bewilderment. Mingyu quickly slipped the earbud out after pausing the music.

"Wow, that's amazing, what song did you use?" Seungkwan asked, grabbing Mingyu's phone before the latter could hide it away. "Ohhh, wasn't this the song we made before our debut?"

"The one with the excessive whispering from the Performance Unit members, right?" Jeonghan piped in, looking over Seungkwan's shoulder.

"Chan didn't get to whisper. He didn't even get a solo line." Hansol pointed out, feeling the need to wedge his boyfriend in every conversation.

"Yeah, well, he got to share his line with you, right?" Jihoon groaned tiredly, just glad that no one has figured out (aside from Mingyu) the reason for him waking up immediately.

"That's right." Hansol replied needlessly, an obviously pleased look on his face.

Jihoon attempted to blink the sleep away, trying to make out all the faces around him, "Where's Jun?"

The group fell into a hush.

"...So you wake up, and the first person you ask for is Jun..." Jeonghan squinted.

"Come to think of it, Junhui didn't come back to his room last night..." Wonwoo added, also squinting. Jihoon rolled his eyes at how fake the seemingly emo man could be. After all, he was the one who made it so that Junhui couldn't return to his room in the first place.

"Did you sin?" Joshua asked, a calm look over his face despite the question.

"What? No! We just cuddled!" Jihoon made an outraged look at the older singer, he couldn't believe his ears. That was the first thing they assumed?

"...You cuddled. With Jun." Jeonghan repeated, sharing a glance with the others, then putting a hand on Jihoon's forehead, "Maybe you should go back to sleep."

"What? It's Jun, he cuddles everyone."

"Yes, what we don't believe is that you cuddled Jun." Seungcheol explained, looking at him with concern in his eyes. "I hope Jun's still in one piece."

Jihoon shoved the blanket off him, getting up from the sofa completely exasperated. It was way too early to be extra. Early...? "Why are you guys up? We don't have anything scheduled in the morning." He scowled, looking towards the group's leader for an answer.

"Apparently the Performance Unit are going off somewhere, they're probably getting into their van right at this moment." Seungcheol explained, half-dragging Jihoon down the stairs and towards the door, "We already called two taxis to tail them."

"Wait, I didn't agree on going on this creepy stalker adventure with you guys." Jihoon groaned, failing to summon enough strength to break free from Seungcheol's grip.

"We're a team, right? That means we do absolutely everything together." Seokmin piped up behind him cheerfully as Jihoon found himself getting shoved into a vehicle with some of the other members filing in after him, closing off all possible escape routes for him.

"I should really find time and draw up a contract regarding that..." Jihoon muttered, crossing his arms and submitting to his fate.

"Why are they entering that shady-looking building?" Jeonghan whispered, peeking out from the backseat as they watched the Performance Unit exit their van, filing into the building.

"Do you think they're being blackmailed and kidnapped?" Joshua added, peeking out from the other side.

"You watch too much anime, Josh." Hansol rolled his eyes, squinting up at the sign, "It's just a recording studio."

"Or so they claim."

"Stop it, Joshua."

One-by-one, the members exited their vehicles, all looking up at the building. The only way to find out why the Performance Unit would come here on their own was to enter.

They found the Performance Unit members surprisingly easily as they made their way inside, catching sight of them just around the corner. It seemed like they were in a middle of a photo shoot or so as each member posed individually, then a couple shots with different match-ups of members, then group photos, pretty much the usual. Due to the lighting, Jihoon was certain that the dancers weren't able to see them and would probably pass them off as staff members among the other shadows off set.

Jihoon knew that Junhui's had experience with modelling not just with the group but back in China during his acting days as well, but now that he was actually seeing it without being distracted by his own bit or actually being on set with him, Damn, he's good and he knows it. His confidence shined brighter than ever now that he wasn't obscured by the other members.

The rest of the Performance Unit wasn't so bad either, they each had their own charms, and the way they could change their expressions and the atmosphere around them instantly almost made them seem inhuman. Jihoon wondered why he hadn't noticed it before... Perhaps they just weren't as enthusiastic during practices as they seemed now, the stress may have eventually got to them, just as it did to each of them at some point, Jihoon's had his own depressing episodes as well, but the group was always there to help him out.

Lost in his own thoughts, Jihoon hadn't noticed they were changing locations until he felt a nudge from Seokmin. The Performance Unit members were now commencing what appears to be a recording session with their own rendition of Shining Diamond. Jihoon scowled lightly at the unfamiliar instrumental, when did they have time to arrange it? More like, who arranged it for them?

As the recording session continued, the members became increasingly amazed by their main dancers.

"Wow, I didn't know Minghao could rap like that, his pronunciation's improved so much! Were you giving him private lessons, by any chance?" Jeonghan glanced at Mingyu, who shook his head, a look of awe on his face as he stared at his partner, who was seemingly effortlessly covering most of the rap parts along with Chan.

It was no secret that Soonyoung had a good voice and great technique to boost, but the members felt nonetheless impressed by the power and energy he had. Finally, Junhui's vocals graced Jihoon's ears, the members expressed shock at how much his voice had stabilized compared to pre-debut and how expressive he could make his voice without straining or over exaggerating his tones. Jihoon couldn't help smiling to himself. He's already known how much work Junhui had put in to get where he was now, remembering that Junhui had been afraid of pulling down the team if he couldn't get his vocals more polished.

A tap on his shoulder broke him from his trance, he turned around and noticed Seungcheol motioning for the merged group of two units to follow him out of the building, the car trip back to the dorms seemed abnormally quiet, and Jihoon couldn't process why. Did he miss something while he was stuck in his thoughts about Junhui?

As the two units filed back into the living room in an unusually quiet manner, Seungcheol took a seat on the arm of a couch, sighing before addressing the rest, "I think it's pretty clear now what the Performance Unit is doing."

Jihoon looked at him quizzically. Why was the air so heavy?

"They're thinking about splitting up from us."