Kun hummed to a newly released song by Donghyuck’s group, his movements busy in the kitchen as he prepared the dinner for tonight. It was only by the time that preparations were nearing their end that he realised that their penthouse floor was a bit too quiet.

Where was his baby?

Kun wondered if he had gone to Taeyong’s floor again to get babied by one of his brothers: Jungwoo being the youngest of their family, received lots of love from the kids, although they all had different ways to express it.

“Hey Tae” Kun greeted through his phone, his eyes scanning Jungwoo’s room once again to be sure that he wasn’t hidden somewhere, before asking Taeyong if he had seen his baby.

“Woo’s not here, but Jaemin and Hyuck just asked Renjun if he wanted to come shop with them so maybe Woo followed ? Hyuck and Jun could have forgotten to warn you...”

“I really need to teach him not to go with his hyung’s without a warning, do I?” Kun sighed exasperatedly. Had he spoiled his baby?

“Come on Kun, the kid would ignore any stranger or other relative. He knows its fine because those are his hyungs his going with.” Taeyong comforted the surgeon. “Jisung never asks me for permission when Mark goes out. Mark is a bit more sensitive then Hyuck and Renjun on those kinds of things, so I get a warning, but then again Chenle always gets in trouble because he and Lucas always forget to warn Sicheng or Yangyang when they go out shopping.”

Kun couldn’t help but chuckle at the last part: “Does Lucas still bribes Chenle for letting him go on a date with Renjun?”

Taeyong laughed: “Well I think Chenle accepted him, but he is still using Xuxi for getting free food as much as possible. Its not like Renjun will try to stop his brother, in fact I think he really likes it when the two of them spend some time together.”

Kun smiled. “I will call Injunie then, hope Woo is with them.”

“I am pretty sure he is. Go on, I will see you later.”

---------------------------------------------

“Stay still Woo.” Renjun lectured the maknae sternly as he tried to figure out which jacket would suit the younger better.

“Injun Ge, I am hungryyyyyy.” The younger whined, disinterested in the clothing as he tried to ask for help with his puppy eyes directed towards Donghyuck.

“Just buy both of them if you can’t decide.” Donghyuck who had the softest spot for Jungwoo tried to save him out of this situation...

“Like heck, what’s the fun in shopping if I will buy everything I see?” Renjun muttered in concentration as he thought that the beige jacket suited Jungwoo’s bright personality more. But it was refreshing to see black on the young child too...

“Then let Jungwoo decide on it, isn’t he the one that needs to like the jacket anyway since he will be the one wearing it?” Jaemin who had a soft spot for any of their family’s maknae (especially Jisung), tried to help too.

Renjun frowned, thinking Nana wasn’t that wrong, and so he asked Jungwoo, holding both jacket’s in his hand: “So, which one Woo?”

Jungwoo was tempted to say none because he wanted to eat already, but knowing his Renjun ge he would just search for other jackets till he found one Jungwoo would pick...So with a slight pout on his lips he indicated the beige jacket as it looked quite fluffy to wear.

“Please add this too.” Renjun gave the jacket to the shop assistant who had been nervously standing next to them: She recognised those VIP’s who always paid with a black card, and knew the management had ordered all her colleagues to always take care of them and to at all times not  bother them at any cost...which is why she was always tense when they came: maybe because she didn’t dare to talk to them, but for some reason, they always requested her to come assist them.

Her boss had given her salary a raise, but it gave her even more pressure to not commit any mistake with those VIPS.

Thank God, it was only three of them today.

“Junie, how about a bubble tea?” Hyuck intervened as it seemed that the young artist had no intention of halting their shopping session temporarily.

“Yeah, a little break sounds good.” Jaemin smiled as he saw Jungwoo’s puppy eyes becoming bigger towards their Renjun hyung.

“You all are spoiling him too much, ah.” Renjun rolled his eyes at them, but Donghyuck snorted as he replied; “Please don’t say that while buying nearly a whole winter collection for him.”

“It’s because shopping is therapeutic for me...” Renjun mumbled as they finally went to pay for the articles. “There is nothing better then to spend your own hard-earned money anyway.”

Jaemin chuckled: “You mean besides spending the money of your boyfriend right?”

He received a jab from Renjun who scoffed: “You do know I am perfectly aware that Jeno made you a credit card right? Should I tell Uncle Yuta and Doy-”

“Injunie Ge you are right, there is nothing better than to spend your own hard-earned mooney!” Nana batted his lashes innocently towards him, making both Donghyuck and Jungwoo roll their eyes at the same time.

“Are you that stuck with your project?” Hyuck asked as he knew Renjun would go on a shopping craze whenever he was having a hard time getting inspiration.

“Its not that I am stuck...Its just needs to be perfect and I can’t seem to be satisfied with anything I produced until now.” Renjun pouted as he handed the black card to the shopping assistant.

“What project?” Jaemin asked, as he and Jungwoo had no idea what was bothering Renjun.

“It’s a marketing project for NCT’s official launch in China...” Renjun explained as he retrieved the black card.

“Wasn’t NCT already present in China?” Jaemin asked confused.

“They were present through other platforms, but NCT will officially launch their own HQ and stores...Untill now only Hong Kong and Maccau had an NCT store, but now they are going to 5 cities in the mainland.”

“And you are stressing over that?” Jaemin asked confused. Renjun wasn’t a strangers to such projects, so why the extra stress?

Hyuck giggled: “That’s because the responsible one for this project are Mark hyung and Lucas Ge.”

“Mark Hyung and Lucas Ge?” Jaemin asked as they were all led by a disinterested Jungwoo, who was trying to pick a coffee shop in the shopping mall they were at.

“Its the first time Mark hyung will step up as NCT’s Project Director. The project is huge and all eyes in NCT and even the Royal Family are on him. Lucas was appointed by Fuqin and Xiao Jun to represent WayV and Neo Green Dragon, who will be the investors behind the curtains. This isn’t just NCT gaining a new market, its actually a move to gain a more stable position for NCT and the two other organisation in Asia and China.” Renjun stress came back as he explained the situation.

“So you are stressing because you want to support your Boyfriend and Mark Hyung to have no problems in this project?” Jaemin connected the dots quickly.

“Hyungs, Bubble Tea!” Jungwoo exclaimed as he pointed to a shop that seemed to satisfy the Maknae’s criteria.

“Alright, let’s take a break.” Donghyuck chuckled as they all went and entered the store.

“Alright, should I go and order then?” Renjun asked as everyone had made their choice. Contrary to the store they had visited, the Bubble Tea shop was an ordinary shop; it wasn’t a high brand or VIP service including shop.

“Can I go?” The maknae excitedly looked at his hyung’s, puppy eyes armed, as he lifted a hand up.

“Sure, our Woo knows how to use this, right?” Donghyuck gave him a normal bank card to pay with and Jungwoo nodded, knowing the password was his Mark hyung’s birthday.

“Why does he like to order and pay so much?” Renjun wondered as their maknae went towards the back to order.

“I think we all liked to do “adult” stuff when we were younger, no?” Jaemin shrugged.

“You mean ordering and paying is adult stuff?” Renjun asked with a confused face.

“Well using a bank card is, no?” Jaemin too shrugged not sure why Jungwoo liked it.

“Enough about this, Junie, what exactly are you not satisfied with?” Donghyuck tried to help out his best friend who sighed as he was reminded why he was actually here.

“... and one peach-watermelon bubble-tea!” Jungwoo finished the order with a big smile as the cashier smiled back at him, before telling him the price.

Jungwoo took out the bank card, and the cashier’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, but she quickly showed him where he could insert the card.

Jungwoo happily inserted the card, humming Donghuck hyung’s group newly released song as he inserted the pin code proudly, satisfied with his mission being accomplished.

“Are you okay?” the cashier asked a bit worriedly as Jungwoo balanced the the plate with their orders on his hands.

“Woo can do it!” the lee family beloved maknae gave her the biggest smile and somehow she couldn’t bring it to take it over for him. She could only cheer for him silently as he turned around to go in the direction of their table.

Jungwoo’s eyes were so concentrated on the drinks that he didn’t see the boy that was in front of him.

“Hey!”

Jungwoo’s eyes widdend in horror as two of the drinks fell over his plate, looking up to see a boy slightly older then him being annoyed at his own drink that laid on the floor.

“Sorry!” Jungwoo’s eyes drooped as he excused himself.

Instead of an apology (Jungwoo wasn’t the only one looking), the boy angrily berated him as he demanded him to pay back his order.

Jungwoo didn’t mind paying for it, but the boy’s attitude was a bit...

“What’s going on, here?”

Donghyuck who had still his facemask on, asked as he appeared at the commotion that had gathered half of the coffee shop’s attention.

“Hyung I...”

“Dad my drink was spilled by him!” the kid lamented to his father who also arrived at the scene.

“It’s only a drink, why are you doing such a scene to someone this younger then you.” Donghyuck taking over the plate from Jungwoo with the remaining drink asked, as he took their maknae closer towards him.

“Excuse me?” the father of the kid responded with a bit of disgust on his face.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes: really, why did Renjun like to shop in those high-end malls? The people present here were always showing such high attitudes, it was annoying the young idol as he couldn’t lash on them publicly with the risk of knetz criticising him and his bandmates.

“Your kid is old enough to understand what a hyung should be right? We will pay back the drink, so please forgive my younger sibiling who also got his drinks spilled thanks to your son.”

Donghyuck wasn’t in a mood to be any politer then this: after all he had seen how the kid hadn’t looked either were he was going. Why was he playing the victim like this?

“Is that the proper attitude when apologising to your elder?” the man got apparently offended but Donghyuck couldn’t bother.

“I see, if you don’t want it then we won’t force you to accept it. Let’s go Woo.” Donghyuck pushed the younger in the direction of their table already when suddenly his tray fell on the ground as the father of the troublemaker had grabbed his hand in a hurry.

Donghyuck stared at the fallen drinks in bewilderment: some of its content had been spilled on his shirt, which frankly got him pissed as it was a creation and gift of his Appa Yuta.

The father too looked at it in surprise: he hadn’t meant for it to happen but instead of apologising the cause of his trouble, he started to lecture him about manners towards elder people.

“What the heck are you doing!” Renjun grabbed Donghyuck’s arm off the stranger’s hold as he and Jaemin appeared at his side.

“Ajushi, I hope you have the money to repay for his shirt, otherwise you would better go and leave us alone.” Jaemin replied with an ice thin smile which was concealed under the face-mask the young actor was wearing.

“Youth these days!” the man snorted as he demanded equal compensation for his son’s shirt, clearly thinking they couldn’t afford it.

“Sure, how much?” Donghyuck wasn’t fazed as he asked the sum.

“200 dollars” The man face gloated arrogance, yet it froze as soon as Renjun took out the equivalent  amount of won in cash from his wallet.

“I doubt it cost that much, but I won’t nitpick on the details.” Donghyuck snorted, “Now what about my compensation? I hope you can afford to pay for it, otherwise I will call the cops.”

Donghyuck was clearly pissed: first Jungwoo, then his precious gift and to finish they asked money from Renjun.

“Such a simple T-shirt,” the man snorted as he took the equivalent of a hundred dollar out of his wallet.

Renjun didn’t touch the money: “You clearly have no idea, how much this is worth, don’t you?”

“What?” the man started to get angry, but Renjun cut him as he replied: “Let me explain this to you: this is a unique piece of Cherry’N  5th Summer collection: its current market value is more worth then the price to which my friend bought it for: so unless you don’t give 7 times the amount you have in your hand, you will be scamming us!”

Donghyuck left the argument to Renjun, who released some well needed steam and frustration as he brought proof of his words to the pair of father and son who started to look grimmer with any passing second.

Well taking your anger out could be sometimes more therapeutic then shopping, even more so when the people you were scolding hadn't been nice to begin with.

“Let’s go Jungwoo, this time let’s order some snacks too!” Jaemin smiled as they both took their maknae in the direction of the counter, who shook his head in pity towards the pair who were getting scolded by Renjun ge; He had a lot of hyung’s who protected him, and he was glad he wasn’t the one fighting them.

Extra: How does the maknae-line spoil Jungwoo?

1. Jisung; the tsundre:

 “No”

“Eeeeh? Whae hyung?” Jungwoo whined with those big round eyes that sparkled so annoyingly.

“I’m busy. Go ask Jeno hyung.” The youngest of the Lee children answered quite coldly as he continued to try to solve his math homework, eyebrows fr