"Hyung?" the dancer called out in front of Jinwoo's bedroom door.

"Yeah?" Jinwoo answered back.

"Can I come in?" 

The resident visual member of Winner opened the door with disheveled hair, an unwashed face and what Hoony gathered smelled like a 3-day-old gray sweater. He quickly scanned the room that Jinwoo often kept immaculately clean and as the rapper feared, the whole place looked like a pigsty.

"What is it?" his hyung asked.

"Let's take Haute for a walk" Hoon replied.

"Ah. I'd rather stay.." Jinwoo began.

"Come on. One last time before you leave hyung" Seunghoon interjected.

Jinwoo stared at his friend. The rapper's plea overriding the older man's desires to go back to bed. "Give me a minute." 

--

The pair had taken Haute to a park near the apartment and Seunghoon had done most of the talking. Jinwoo was curt and was clearly not in the mood to talk and be out of bed. When the dog had finally done his business, Hoon had to beg his friend to stay and sit on the park bench before heading home.

"Come on. Spit it out. What's wrong?" Hoony said, always straight to the point.

"Nothing's wrong." Jinwoo mumbled in an irritated tone.

 The younger man gave a deep sigh and stayed quiet as he patiently waited for his bandmate's mood swing to pass and finally speak up.

When it was apparent that the rapper had no intentions of going home until he spoke, the Imjado prince closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

"It just , you know?"

Hoon looked at his friend and nodded empathically.

"No proper send off to camp. No encore concert. No promotions. This wasn't how I wanted to go." Jinwoo whined. "I just feel like I'm really missing out. It's not fair but it doesn't feel right to complain either. I mean it's not really anyone's fault but still" Jinwoo hesitated to continue, feeling guilty to be ranting at a time like this. 

"Go on" said Seunghoon. And so Jinwoo did. The older man released all his misgivings without censoring a thing to his friend. Trusting the rapper's silent promise not to judge nor correct whatever it was he said.

When he had unloaded everything, Jinwoo asked "I don't understand how you can stay so calm and positive Seunghoon-a?"

Hoon paused and gave a slight grin. "Remember what we used to do hyung? When times were hard back then?"

Jinwoo tilted his head, as he began to recall the tradition they had started years back when Winner was at its lowest point.

"I still kept doing it every night. It helps" 

"You did?" Jinwoo said in suprise. Things had been going well for the band the last couple of years that Jinwoo hadn't felt the need to practice it. He had also been stuck in his room wallowing and repeating this cycle of negative thoughts in his head that he had forgotten all about it.

The older man stared at his friend and sighed for the nth time that night. He settled himself beside Seunghoon and leaned his head against the rapper's much taller shoulder.

"Seunghoon-a. You start"

And so Hoony did. Just as the two of them had done years ago.

"None of us nor our loved ones had gotten sick or died because of the pandemic" Hoon began.

"We've never had a major scandal" he continued.

"We're a favorite during University Festivals"

Hoon paused waiting for his hyung to contribute. When he was met with silence, he went on.

"We make our own songs and don't depend on anyone else to release an album or make a comeback"

"We're all healthy despite your heavy drinking" Jinwoo smirked.

"The four of us genuinely like each other"

"We're all earning a decent living"

"And we get to enlist together" Jinwoo suddenly added.

Hoony beamed, glad to see a glimmer of his old friend back. 

"Yeah, we get to enlist together" he repeated.

Jinwoo's sole response was brief but Hoon had understood what his friend had meant by it because he felt the exact same way. Their friendship had always been a bright spot during Winner's darkest days and remained to this day, for both men, one of the best gifts of being in Winner. Not that they'd ever admit that to one another. Not that they needed to. By now, the boys had gone passed the need for words.

And so the rapper continued the list as Jinwoo silently listened, a smile finally returning to his face.

"We're also pretty good looking even if you probably haven't showered for days" 

END