Pairings: Little bit of TaoHun, XiuChen, and SuLay

            It was no less than expected, at this point, that with each comeback, something would go terribly wrong in the—ahem—fashion aspect.

            Whether it be MAMA’s sparkly pants or Overdose’s bucket hats, something would just never quite add up right. All of them, Kyungsoo included, had accepted that far before they even debuted, accepted that someone would just look terribly ridiculous for a few weeks until marketing suggested something else and the company changed its mind. All they could really do was hope and pray that they wouldn’t be the one hit by the Gods (a.k.a., their stylists).

            This time, around, however, it seemed like Jongdae’s prayers hadn’t been heard.

            Now, don’t get Kyungsoo wrong—there were plenty of other disasters that was being brought their way because of the Call Me Baby video shoot. Minseok looked like a ing four year old in his matching blue shirt and shorts, and one scene’s outfits had more leather than should ever be legally allowed for idols dancing for ages under bright, very warm lights. But those were just clothes, they’d suffer for a few hours dancing in them and then get rid of them for life (hopefully). There were other things, too, like the fact that Jongin’s hair was styled like every Asian nerd in a 90’s American movie and probably had more grease in it than in all the fryers at a McDonald’s. But they’d learned during Wolf itself, back in ye olde days of probably-culturally-insensitive dreadlocks, that Jongin just didn’t care. The boy had no shame, and it was one of the many things Kyungsoo could just never wrap his mind around.

            But this… dear lord, this took the cake.

            “I look like a ing hairball!” Jongdae whined for the hundredth time as they finally got back into the dorms. For once, Kyungsoo didn’t feel like punching him in the face for it—he figured, this one time, Jongdae’s complaints were valid.

            “Can’t you just fix it while we’re at the dorm?” Baekhyun suggested, but Jongdae shook his head with pout.

            “I was gonna straighten it out once the shoot was done, but coordi-noona said I’m wearing it like this for M!Countdown so I can’t, or else it’ll waste time,” Jongdae explained, crossing his arms and only letting up a bit when Minseok leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek out of pity.

            “I’m sure the fans will find it cute,” Joonmyeon half-heartedly comforted, but Jongdae just rolled his eyes. “Anyway, everyone shower and head off to bed—we have a busy day tomorrow.”

            “Yes, Mom,” Chanyeol and Baekhyun simultaneously drawled, but Joonmyeon didn’t even care, heading off to his room with Yixing following closely behind. The leader was so done with their at this point, too tired after the MV shooting to care about the sass he was getting, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but mirror the sentiment.

            “You better not be ing in our room, I wanna sleep well tonight!” Sehun called after the pair from where he was seating on the couch, but neither responded, and the youngest just groaned and let his head fall back against the wall with a loud ‘thump.’

            “Ew, gross, Sehun, don’t make your noises—we hear enough of that when Tao’s around,” Baekhyun cringed, but took a seat next to him anyway as Minseok headed off to shower.

            “Where is Tao, anyway?” Chanyeol questioned as he, Jongdae, and Kyungsoo sat themselves down across the living room too. Jongdae threw a pillow and glared at him in response.

            “Tao’s at the hospital, , don’t you remember?” he hissed, and Chanyeol winced as the room went quiet. Everyone was concerned for Zitao, even if not all of them were the best at showing it.

            “What about Jongin?” Ever the oblivious magnae, Sehun broke the silence, and the tension relieved itself a little.

            “Had ‘errands,’ apparently,” Baekhyun explained with a shrug as Sehun looked at him in confusion. “I don’t know, man, I think he had to go shopping? He seemed really ing excited, though, like he wouldn’t stop muttering to himself and . I think all the hair gel’s gotten to him, finally.”

            “Nah, he’s always been an idiot,” Chanyeol pitched in, and Kyungsoo snorted at that.

            Jongin was… something. He was probably just a with a pretty face and nice dancing, but something in Kyungsoo made him feel like there was more to Jongin that was let on. The boy was ridiculously passionate, sure, but there was something else… Like he was constantly observing the group, watching them and picking up on their secrets, their quirks, their… well, everything. It would explain why Jongin always seemed to be at right place, at the right time, saying the right things.

Really, they treated him like he was a moron, but maybe Jongin was the brightest of them all.

----

            Kyungsoo groaned as he woke up.

He’d gone to bed earlier than the others, exhausted from the shoot and honestly just ready to dream away with no second thoughts, but now, he found himself being forcefully brought from unconsciousness. He’d always been a light sleeper, and so, when loud, muffled noises seemed to be coming from outside, it was no surprise he woke up. Shifting in bed, he moved over to press his hand on his nightstand to find the earplugs he always kept there, just in case. The alarm clock on the table read 12:30 a.m., so he hadn’t been asleep for long, and it was a Saturday night, so the outside sounds weren’t that unexpected.

            He froze, however, when what sounded like a stifled shriek reached his ears.

            Narrowing his eyes, he looked around, barely able to make things out in the dark. It seemed Chanyeol was in bed, deep in sleep for once.  Jongin, however… Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow as he realized the young dancer wasn’t in bed. Was he still not back from his errand run? Maybe he should send a text to him to make sure he was alright. Things were getting a bit crazy, what with the comeback and all, and he’d gone off alone. The possibility of him getting trapped by a reporter or a stalker fan wasn’t that low. Sighing, he reached for where his phone was charging, ready to shoot a quick message of to the boy—

            —Only to stop when another shriek sounded through the walls.

            This time, however, he had enough perception to realize that the voice wasn’t that far off, and sounded quite a lot like a male’s voice. Cursing to himself, he forced his body out of bed sluggishly, ready to tell off whoever was messing around this late. They had to get up early, after all, so playing around until late was only going to cause more problems for them later on.

            Slowly shutting the door behind him, he followed the noises, scoffing as he realized they were coming from the living room. Of course, it was probably Baekhyun and Sehun gaming for six hours straight again and yelling at each other every time something went wrong.

            “C’mon, Jongdae hyung, it’s not that bad.”

            …Or not.

            Kyungsoo froze as Jongin’s voice run clearly through the hallway. He wasn’t close enough to peek over at the scene, but as he listened, it was becoming increasingly clear what was happening. Jongdae was letting out all these little whimpers and whispers of “no,” “stop this, Jongin-ah,” and “you’re ing crazy,” while Jongin himself was shushing him softly. Oh god, was Kyungsoo supposed to step in? Jongin wouldn’t really do anything like that if Jongdae didn’t want it, right? Should he stop them before it got any weirder? Or was he supposed to go wake up Minseok and tell him? But what if it was too late then?

            Shaking his head, he steeled his mind and forced himself to continue on. He’d put an end to… whatever this was. Clearly, Jongin was up to something, and he must have planned it out so that he’d be alone whenever he did whatever he did to Jongdae. Usually, Kyungsoo would cringe at the thought of helping Jongdae with anything, but he was going to stop whatever scheme Jongin had cooked up.

            “Oh, Kyungsoo hyung, you’re awake!”

            Or maybe he really just needed to stop watching dramas.

            “…What the ,” he deadpanned, his voice more a croak because of his tiredness.

            “Save me, Kyungsoo-yah!” Jongdae squealed as he shifted under Jongin.

            Yeah, sure, their main vocalist was laid down on the floor and trapped under Jongin, who was on his hands and knees leaning over Jongdae. But, rather than clothes flying off of him like Kyungsoo had expected, the older boy was pushing off stubborn tan hands holding… was that a bow? Oh god, there was a collar in there too, and a little yellow and red bib. Jongin couldn’t seriously be—

            “Oh c’mon hyung, you’ll look so cute! You’ll look exactly like Monggu!” Jongin persisted, and Baekhyun sniggered from where he was sat recording the entire debacle.

            Resolutely, Kyungsoo a dime and walked away from the group.

            “W-wait, Kyungsoo, c’mon, get him off of me—”

            “Your poodle hair, your problem,” he snapped tiredly, resisting the urge flip them off as he left.

            Jongin really was nothing but an overgrown imbecile.