True to his word, Taemin was doing better. He was there at Kibum's rehearsal,  this time only a teensy bit late. But he was ready to make up for all the lost time. Or so he thought.

If Kibum was a hardass in his regular day to day life, today he was the devil's spawn. Since Taemin had missed so many rehearsals, Kibum was sort of hyperfixated on him, making sure his clothes fit correctly, making sure he was walking in time with the music, making sure wasn't slouching or moving too slow or fast. Taemin didn't realize there were so many ways he could mess up walking.

Taemin speculated that maybe Kibum was only going this hard on him because he was still a little upset about Taemin missing all the other rehearsals. 

"Hyung," Taemin whined. "I'm tired, can we take a break?"

"Taemin, we're barely even halfway done with your looks, and you keep moving your shoulders and dragging your feet, and every single one of your turns are too slow. No breaks." Kibum snapped sternly.

Taemin hated this, really and truly. He thought that would be a fun experience and he and all friends would be laughing, having a good time. But here he was alone, getting bullied by a raging Kibum. 

Minho and Jongin watched the heat from the sidelines. They could feel the tension across the room. As they watched the two interact, they prepared to dodge some metaphorical knives.

Taemin glared. “What do you want from me? We’ve been at this for two hours already!”

“Oh, so do know how to tell time?” Kibum asked sarcastically, regarding Taemin’s constant lateness. “I need you to get this right. The show is tomorrow and you missed 12 hours of practice, so I’d say we have plenty to catch up on.”

Taemin crossed his arms. “You’re being difficult, I’m taking a break.” Taemin headed off the stage, pulling pieces of his wardrobe off of his body. 

One could almost see the smoke coming out of Kibum’s ears as clenched his fists, watching Taemin walk away. Minho and Jongin scrambled from the side of the stage to go de-escalate.

Minho rushed up to Kibum and pulled him to the side of the stage, trying to calm him down.

”I swear to God, Minho, I am about to lose my mind with that brat of yours.” Kibum fumed through gritted teeth.

”Kibum-ah, I get it. I don’t know why he’s acting like this, but-”

”Ha, I know why he’s acting like that." He chuckled coldly. “He thinks the world revolves around him, that’s why!”

"Kibum-"

"Seriously, he has the nerve to come and give me attitude?"

”Kibum.”

”If there had been time for a break, he would’ve gotten a break, but since he’s missed every single rehearsal and he hasn’t done a single thing right all day, we have to work!”

”Kim Kibum. Breathe.” Minho put his hands on Kibum’s sshoulders.

Kibum stared up at his friend before taking a deep breath.

”Look, he’s never done this type of thing before. Just let him have a little break, recharge his batteries. The sooner that’s over, the sooner you can get back to work.” Minho offered a comforting smile.

Kibum let out a low grumbly growl. “Fine. Five minutes.”

Meanwhile, Jongin was talking Taemin down. 

“Hey, hey, what’s happening??” Jongin caught Taemin sitting on a stool once he was backstage.

”Kibum hyung is being too much! He’s picking on every single thing I do! Like, obviously I’ve never walked down a runway before.”

Jongin nodded. “Yeah, he’s been pretty intense when it comes to this.”

”Intense? He’s just bullying me because I missed the other practices.” He crossed his arms.

”He just wants his show to be great. You feel the same way about your shows.”

”Yeah, but...” Taemin pouted. He could empathize with that. “All I wanted was a five minute break and he’s making it sound like I’m a villain.”

”Well, listen, Taemin.” he paused the conversation to hear Kibum still ranting, rambling poor Minho’s ear off. “He’s stressed out. And he’s your friend, you promised you would do this for him. So just try your best to do it, dummy.” Jongin ruffled Taemin’s bangs playfully.

Jongin had a point. Kibum was just worried about everything coming out right. It probably wasn’t personal. Soon this would be over and he would be back to normal.

Taemin let out a soft whine. “Fine.”

No one could have predicted the type of turnout that this student fashion show would have. It was crazy.

Every single seat in the auditorium was taken, and there were still people standing in the back watching.

All the models and designers were super nervous. No one knew how or why this many people showed. It was an amateur college fashion show, expected to have at most... 150-200 patrons. Instead, it had over 500. 

People settled into their seats, a warm chattering buzz spreading over the crowd. At least they seemed positive and excited. Kibum was still freaked. 

Jongin found Kibum, who was frantically adjusting Minho’s look.

”Kibum hyung!” Jongin called, hurrying up to them. 

Kibum jumped, losing