“I’m impressed, you did a good job with that beat; good wordplay, too. You guys are improving so fast.”

“You really think so, hyung?” Hanbin can’t stop the question before he asks it. But this is Teddy Park complimenting him. Teddy, his childhood idol. Hanbin still gets goosebumps when Teddy spends time on him.

The senior producer knows it, too, because he looks at Hanbin and grins. “For the hundredth time, Hanbin, yes. You’re very talented and we’re lucky to have you.”

Next to Hanbin, Seungjae snorts. “We need to get one of those workplace signs, you know the ones that say It has been X days without an accident? Except ours will say It has been X days since Hanbin has embarrassed himself.”

Hanbin turns his head to glare at Seungjae, but Seungjae pinches his cheek and Hanbin breaks into a smile instead. Seungjae throws an arm over his shoulders and pulls him into a side hug. “Teddy hyung is right, Binnie, we’re so lucky to have you! Such a good little producer.” Seungjae ruffles his hair and Hanbin has to pretend that he hates it.

“Yah, Jae, don’t be a brat!” Jinhwan scolds him, but it’s clear from his tone of voice that he finds it entertaining.

“I’m not, I’m just trying to shower our Binnie in praise, hyung.” Seungjae says it teasingly.

“Are you mocking me now?” Teddy asks, arms crossed over his chest and narrowed eyes on Seungjae, who straightens and shakes his head.

“No hyung, never hyung, I would kneel and kiss the ground you walk on if I wasn’t trying to protect my image.”

It’s Hanbin’s turn to smack Seungjae. “Shut up!” He knows Seungjae is teasing him now, but he doesn’t really mind. Teasing is how Seungjae shows his affection, after all.

“I’d smack you if you weren’t so far away.” Teddy replies with a grin.

“Oh please don’t, hyung, I don’t want to make Hanbin jealous!” Seungjae teases before Jinhwan pulls his attention away to go over changes to some lyrics they’re making. Teddy turns his attention back to Hanbin, who’s got a quiet contemplative look about him.

“You ready for today?” Teddy asks him, and Hanbin nods.

“Yeah, I have no idea what we’re doing, but I’m ready for whatever it is.” He is ready, but he’s also extremely nervous. They’re filming something for SMTM here at YG headquarters. Hanbin has been passing the time getting feedback on some demos he and Seungjae and Jinhwan recorded. The others are working on their group choreography right now, Hanbin has left Donghyuk in charge. He knows that Seungjae and Jinhwan should be there too, but he needed the extra support before whatever goes on this morning.

“You’ll be fine, Hanbin-ah,” Teddy says, “don’t be intimidated with everyone here. You’re skilled, we all know you’ll do well today.”

Hanbin smiles back at him and for once not even Seungjae teases him. A few minutes later there’s a knock at the door and Hanbin can feel his stomach knotting itself up.

Tablo pokes his head into the room. “There you are, the others are here.” The door opens fully and Tablo leads the rest into the studio. Jidam smiles at him politely, Snacky Chan’s eyes are glued on Teddy, while Olltii stands with his arms crossed over his chest, glancing around at everyone.

Hanbin knows he should probably make introductions, but his voice gets stuck in his throat. Instead social butterfly Seungjae hops up from his chair.

“Hey hyung!” He greets Tablo, before looking at the others, facing Snacky Chan first. “Hi hyung, I’m Seungjae, one of Hanbin’s band mates.”

Snacky Chan eyes him with a polite enough smile, but Hanbin can’t help but feel prickled by it. He hasn’t really had much of an opportunity to talk to the older rapper, but he’s never felt like he really took him seriously. But he greets Seungjae well enough, and Hanbin watches as Seungjae greets the others. Seungjae tries to flirt with Jidam, which sends a surge of irritation to Hanbin’s stomach. But while she greets him back she keeps it curt, instead wandering over to excitedly greet Jinhwan and Teddy. He can’t help but be amused—she’d mentioned casually that she had voted for Team B during WIN. Apparently Seungjae wasn’t one of her favourites, though.

The moment Hanbin has been dreading the most arrives, and he watches as Seungjae greets Olltii. He has no idea what to expect. He tenses at how familiarly they greet one another, almost like old friends.

“Olltii! I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” Seungjae greets him with a smile, and Olltii returns it.

“Seungjae hyung, nice to meet you! Nice place, quite impressive.”

“Isn’t it? Our studio’s not quite as fancy as Teddy hyung’s, so today’s a treat for us too.”

Olltii grins and glances at Hanbin in a way that makes his heart drop into his stomach. He can sense the potential danger right away, though he doesn’t know how to stop it.

Olltii fixes his gaze back on Seungjae. “So, how come Hanbin’s on the show but you’re not?”

Hanbin looks at Seungjae with a panicked expression, and he catches the same thing on Jinhwan’s face. This is one of those moments when Seungjae should know what to say, but he never does.

Seungjae shrugs and grins back at Woosung. “CEO doesn’t like me,” he says jokingly, “my mouth gets me into too much trouble.” Hanbin wants to tell him to shut up, but Seungjae’s already said too much. He hopes Tablo has made the others sign some sort of agreement to keep their mouths shut about anything they might overhear while here.

But Olltii doesn’t even bat an eye, clearly just storing the bit of info away for later. “You and me both! It’s a shame, I feel like you’d do well on the show.”

Hanbin watches Seungjae grin back at Olltii and their conversation feels like a kick in the gut. Seungjae’s only know him for two minutes, and already he’s on friendlier terms with him than Hanbin is.

Jinhwan lays a hand on his arm and Hanbin looks at him, and Jinhwan’s soft expression means that he knows exactly what Hanbin’s thinking, and he feels immensely grateful for him. The others are all occupied, so no one’s listening as Jinhwan whispers in Hanbin’s ear.

“Don’t worry about any of that, okay? You know Jae’s a social butterfly, but you’re his number one person. Don’t be jealous.” Jinhwan winks and Hanbin blushes, a little embarrassed that Jinhwan called him on the feelings before they even properly manifested.

He’s not jealous. Absolutely not jealous at all. Seungjae’s always been more personable than he’s been, he’s always been quick to make friends. But Jinhwan is right. Seungjae has been with them from the very beginning, and as much as he teases, Hanbin knows that he has no bigger support than Seungjae. They’re partners, best friends. Seungjae just likes to get to know everyone.

Tablo corrals them all together, announcing that they need to get started on filming. Teddy gives him a hug and ruffles his hair before he leaves (in front of the others, which boosts Hanbin’s confidence) and Jinhwan walks him down to join the group, and when they catch up they see Seungjae trying to chat up Jidam again. But she’s no more interested than she was earlier, and instead she says her goodbyes to Jinhwan while Seungjae moves on to Snacky Chan. Seconds later and he’s at Hanbin’s side again, grinning and slinging an arm around his shoulders.

“Did you get Jidam’s number yet?”

Hanbin rolls his eyes in irritation. “Hate to break it to you, hyung, but she didn’t seem all that interested in you.”

But Seungjae laughs at him. “That much was obvious,” Seungjae replies, “I meant for you, idiot.” Hanbin’s about to brush the comment off but Seungjae isn’t finished. “She keeps making heart eyes at you.”

Hanbin feels like hitting him, but he’s wary of messing around with the cameras set up. “She seems more interested in Jinani hyung.”

Seungjae shakes his head. “Trust me. She was chatting to him, but she kept looking at you the entire time. Beanie baby’s got himself an admirer!”

Hanbin has to fight with himself not to smack Seungjae for using the nickname (the one he uses when he wants to embarrass Hanbin) and instead rolls his eyes again and pushes Seungjae towards the door.

“Why are you still here? We have filming to do, get out.” He pushes Seungjae out (but as he’s doing it Seungjae pats his cheek and tells him to do well, and the gesture placates Hanbin a little) and not even Olltii calling to Seungjae dampens his mood.

Instead he sits down at the table and Jidam immediately sits down beside him, and Hanbin glances at her and for the first time wonders if there’s any truth to Seungjae’s comment.

Not that it matters. She’s nice, but she’s not exactly Hanbin’s type.
 

Jeju reminds Bobby a lot of LA. It’s gorgeous, the soft lull of the ocean waves is soothing and calming, and it makes him think about his parents again, and he wonders if they’d rather get a place on the ocean in LA, or if they’d want to move back to Korea. He could get them a place on Jeju, instead. Same idea.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?”

Bobby looks up at the question, and it’s Toy who’s standing there, one of his two remaining teammates. He was surprised to find her on the show, because she’s American and while her Korean skills are quite good for a foreigner, they’re not up to everyone else’s level. He was impressed when she’d told him that she’d auditioned in Korea and made it (for the second time). She feels like a bit of a kindred spirit to him, because he’s been out of Korea for so long.

“Can’t believe we’re officially top 12.” Bobby says, and it feels nice to have a conversation in English.

“I know, I’m happy I made it further this season.” She sits down on the bench next to him.

“Yeah, I was scared when they said they were cutting one of us right away!” Bobby’s heart had pounded so hard in his chest he’d barely been able to think.

“I was sure it was going to be me,” Toy replies, “because I’ve been wanting to come visit Jeju ever since I moved to Korea, but never had the chance. You know how sometimes you want something for so long, and then when you finally get it, it gets pulled out of your fingers.”

Bobby nods and stares out over the water. “Yeah, that’s a crappy feeling.”

They’re silent for a moment, but it’s a comfortable silence. “What do you plan on doing with the money if you win?” Toy asks him, and Bobby turns his head to look at her.

“I’m giving it all to my parents,” Bobby replies, “well, most of it. My brother wants to propose to his girlfriend, so I wanna give him some so he can buy a nice ring for her.”

Toy looks surprised. “Really? That’s so sweet, Bobby.”

Bobby shrugs and hopes he’s not blushing. “Ah, it’s only the right thing to do. My family doesn’t have a lot of money, and everyone works. I just wanna help my parents do well, they work too much.”

Toy smiles fondly at him and looks back out at the water. “Well, I hope you go far, then. Would you move back to the US if you win? Or do you think you might stay in Korea after? I mean I guess you would if you want to make an album, right?”

Bobby’s been so focused on the prize money that he forgot that the winner would get the opportunity to record and release an album. Having an entire album would be amazing, really. It’s one of those things that he always wanted without ever really thinking it.

“I guess I’d have to stay then, to record it. I have an aunt in Seoul, she’d probably like it if I stayed longer anyway.” An entire album… He wonders if he’d be able to get Robbie on a track?

She looks back at him again. “Oh yeah? It’s nice you’ve got family here, must make it easier on you.”

He nods and looks back at her. “It does. She’s got a restaurant, I help her out when I’m not recording.” He pauses for a second, not quite sure why he’s feeling slightly nervous. “You should come by sometime, check it out.”

Toy smiles at him and tells him that she will, and Bobby thinks that staying in Korea for a little while after the show might not be so bad.
 

It’s been at least ten minutes since Yang has left them, and Hanbin is only quiet still because of the cameras. It’s hard, though, because he’s never felt angrier before in his life than he feels right now.

Since they started filming Mix & Match he’s been feeling like something was lacking in terms of drama, and he got his answer today. Yang has just told them that out of the six original Team B members, only three of them are guaranteed to debut. He always knew that he’d be safe regardless of what was going to happen, and he figured Seungjae would be a guarantee too because they’re the only rappers.

What he wasn’t expecting was that Yang would only guarantee Jinhwan. He’d been hoping that all of Team B would be guaranteed, and only the new guys would be the question marks. But instead he might lose two of them.

And he’s not clueless about it either—despite being on the chopping block, he’s certain Junhoe will make it on the team. Despite never giving Junhoe the praise he wants, Hanbin knows that Yang would never let Junhoe go, not with his powerful voice. But Junhoe’s got a bit of an attitude problem at times, and Hanbin is sure this is meant to humble him, he’s sure it’s meant to rectify his at times arrogant behaviour.

It’s still bull, though. Because what if something goes wrong in the voting? As much as he’s starting to grow fond of Chanwoo and Jinhyeong, what if something happens and they’re voted in and he loses two of Team B?

And there’s still a ninth person coming! Hanbin can’t even stand to think about what he might be like. What if he’s even worse than the two new guys? What if he can’t dance at all, what if he needs even more help?

But what if he’s not? The most terrifying thought Hanbin can muster up is: what if the ninth guy is better than the other Team B members? What if he’s a better dancer than Donghyuk? What if he’s got a more powerful voice than Junhoe? What if he’s more dedicated than Yunhyeong?

Hanbin’s terrified of that most of all. He’s terrified that Yang is saving the best trainee for last.

His heart wants his original team, but his brain want the best possible members. And it’s just ty timing, for him, because he has another taping for SMTM this weekend, and it’s an important one. They’re doing individual performances in front of a crowd that will determine their ranking. Hanbin had started preparing a few days ago, but this information about his team is potentially going to ruin his whole mental process.

He needs to calm down about it, needs to just accept that it is what it is, and no amount of anger is going to change it.

But as he looks at Donghyuk, who’s crying into Jinhwan’s shoulder, and as he looks at Junhoe, whose face is b with anger and insult, he can’t help but feel like this is going to stick in his head. He won’t forget this moment, but he needs to forget it if he wants to do well.

He even feels bad for the new guys. The light in their eyes at their potential has been replaced at the moment with guilt, and Hanbin even feels pissed off on their behalf. If any of them make it in place of Team B members, it’s going to cause problems, and they both know it. How are they supposed to work their hardest now, knowing that they might cause conflict if they do well? How do you work your hardest to join a team when you know that half the fan base might hate you for it?

He closes his eyes and counts to ten, tries to get his feelings under control.

All he wants right now is to see his parents. He wants to go boxing with his dad to get his aggression out, and then let his mom fuss over him for the rest of the night. He wants to watch a cartoon with Hanbyul and read her a bedtime story.

But he won’t get to do any of those things, no matter how much he needs to. Instead he puts on a mask and stands up, corralling them all into thoughts of practice. All of them fix him with hurt expressions (even Seungjae, which is rare) but Hanbin knows that right now it’s on him to keep them on track. They can’t afford to take a night off from training. There’s too much to do, and if he lets them sit around and stew in anger for the rest of the day, it’ll make it that much harder on him to get them inspired again the following morning.

It’s a tough spot for him, and he hates having to be the one who gets hard on them.

But he’s the leader, and it’s his job, no matter how much he hates it sometimes.
 

“I made you dinner, why don’t you go take a break, Jiwonie?”

Bobby finishes washing the last plate in the sink before heeding his aunt’s advice and grabbing the food. He’s been working the restaurant with her all day (and today was quite busy, which is good for her but bad for his feet) and he’s glad for the moment to rest. He takes the plate of beef kimbap and grabs a Coke from the fridge and finds himself a seat near the back.

He sits down and quickly sets about devouring the food, grateful that she’s been so good to him. He thinks about his conversation with Toy on Jeju, about the difficulties she’s faced being in a foreign country without anyone. While Korea’s not as foreign to Bobby as it is to her, it would be way harder on him if he were here without his aunt.

He’s almost done with the food when a voice breaks him out of his stupor.

“Ey, Bobby!”

Olltii’s there at the door, grinning over at him. Bobby waves and watches as he comes closer. He’d invited him to come by the restaurant a week ago, and finally he’s stopping in. Olltii sits down across from him and makes a quick grab for a piece of gimbap.

“How was Jeju?”

Bobby smacks his hand before he grabs another piece. “It was awesome, man! Even when I lived here, we’d never gone to Jeju. It’s beautiful though, the trip was cool! The hyungs took us out on a jet boat and we had lunch on the water.”

“, I’m jealous!” Olltii replies, dodging Bobby’s hands and grabbing another piece of food. “We just went to YG for our taping. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was super ing cool, and I’m still in awe I was there. But Jeju would have been nice.”

Bobby watches him and wants to ask him about how their taping went. Wants to make sure Hanbin wasn’t cut. But it would probably sound weird if he just outright asked about a competitor when Olltii is the one he’s supposed to be friends with. “So, what did you guys do anyway?”

“We had lunch at the YG cafeteria, which is honestly every bit as good as people say it is. Tablo hyung took us on a tour, so we got to see all the studios and meet people. I actually got to talk to Teddy hyung, I still can’t believe it.” Olltii looks and sounds impressed, but Bobby frowns.

“I’m probably going to sound like an ignorant foreigner, but who’s Teddy?” Bobby grins when Olltii shakes his head in mild disgust.

“YG’s main producer. He works with Big Bang and does everything for 2NE1.” When Bobby just nods, Olltii’s eyes bug out. “Don’t tell me you don’t even know Big Bang or 2NE1? I mean, yeah they’re idol groups, but they’re ing cool. And Teddy was in 1Tym, they’re a legendary Korean hip hop group. You do know 1Tym, right?”

Bobby frowns and knows he shouldn’t laugh, but he can’t help it. “Sorry. I wasn’t really old enough to be into any hip hop before I left Korea, and then I just got into American stuff. So I don’t know any of them.”

Olltii shakes his head again and steals the rest of Bobby’s gimbap. “Shameful. You need to do some homework, man! I’ll send you a list of to look up, cool?”

Bobby grins and finishes his Coke. “Sure, send it. Did you meet anyone else who I should know about, but don’t?”

“Yeah, we got judged by a few people, actually. Like Dara noona from 2NE1, she’s super pretty. I swear Snacky Chan was acting like he was gonna propose or something, it was kind of embarrassing.”

“Oh yeah? You gonna about it for the rest of the show?”

Olltii stops for a moment, his eyes on Bobby. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to even tell you this, but hyung got cut.”

Bobby looks surprised, but he’s also feeling relieved. Hanbin is still on the show. “Really? They cut him?”

“Yeah, I think the hyungs are looking for new people, you know? They said since he’s older and has more experience, they can’t really teach him anything. Which makes sense, if that’s their intent.”

Bobby smiles and wonders if it would be weird if he asked about Hanbin.

Olltii doesn’t give him a chance, though. “We also had Choice37 judging us, can’t believe I met him too! Him and Teddy both, man. YG dream team.”

Bobby waits until Olltii looks at him.

“Oh right, you probably have no idea who that is. You’ve been here a few weeks now, have you heard G Dragon’s new track, One Of A Kind?”

Bobby perks up at the question. “I think I have, actually! I like that track, never knew who it was, though, just heard it a few times when I’ve been out.”

Olltii shakes his head again. “Well, GD’s the leader of Big Bang, but he’s doing solo stuff right now.”

Bobby nods. He’ll have to look him up and the group, then. The song was cool.

“Anyway, so they made us rap, and we got judged. I think I did the best, Tablo hyung seemed really happy with me.”

Bobby nodded, happy for Olltii, because it was obvious to Bobby that he idolized Tablo. It must mean the world to get praise from someone you look up to. “How did Hanbin do? And the other one, the girl?” Bobby can’t remember her name and he feels bad.

Olltii grins. “Jidam, you mean. They did good. Got to meet some of Hanbin’s team mates, actually, they were pretty cool, especially Seungjae, the other rapper on his team. I asked him why he wasn’t doing the show and he said it’s cause their CEO doesn’t like him. Said he talks too much ! I like the guy, I wish he was competing, he’s cool.”

“Hanbin’s cool too,” Bobby says, a touch of protectiveness coming out before he realizes it and he tries to cover it up, “so not surprising his team mates are cool.”

Olltii gives him a weird look, though, like he knows Bobby’s trying to hide something. “Yeah, Hanbin’s problem is that he’s too ing shy, though. I try to have conversations with him but he barely says anything.”

“Really?” Bobby replies, and he’s not sure why but he feels like he needs to stick up for him. “I actually had a really good conversation with him that night when the producer teams did their performances. We talked a lot.”

Olltii frowns and it’s awkward for a few seconds before he teasingly follows it up. “Well, aren’t you the ing sheltered idol whisperer,” Olltii teases, before leaning back in his chair. “Anyway I’m starving, can you go make me something?”

Bobby stares at him incredulously. “Would it kill you to ask politely?”

“Yes.” Olltii’s answer is grim and dry and they’re both laughing a second after he says it. Bobby gets up to work on his order and while he’s preparing the food he can’t stop thinking about Hanbin. He wonders if Olltii has Hanbin’s phone number. Would it be weird if he asked? Would Olltii take offense?

Maybe he’ll just wait until their taping on the weekend and ask himself in person.