There was obviously no winning against Minho-hyung when it came to sports and games. The eldest two had accepted that Minho was better and didn’t take competing with him seriously. Kibum didn’t care at all. But Taemin did. A lot, in fact. Because how could Minho be good at everything? EVERY ING THING? There had to be something he was bad at. Lucky for Taemin, he finally found that one thing Choi Minho totally at.

Video games.

They were at it again. Since the morning actually, and it was now almost time for dinner. There used to be days Taemin used to spend doing nothing but gaming and only breaking away to eat or use the restroom. He used to be a gamer, so he enjoyed it and had the stamina for it–even more now because he exercised more being an idol. Minho had the stamina for it too, obviously. But Taemin highly doubted he was enjoying it. He was just too frustrated because his competitive pride had been challenged. And Taemin was to blame for it. Minho could accept his defeat sometimes. He would have this time too, but Taemin couldn’t help but . Of course, Kibum had also added fuel to that fire in passing and now Minho had vowed not to rest until he defeated Taemin at this video game. 

Well, it worked for Taemin, because gaming all day was his favorite thing to do and now he had a partner for it.

“He’s just not cut out for this.” Kibum was adding fuel to the fire from the couch. “Just let him play the kiddy version of it. Maybe, then he’ll win.”

“Do video games have kiddy versions?” Jonghyun asked, catching the conversation in passing. Instead of going wherever he had to, he just sat on the couch too, interested in Kibum's comment.

Jinki, who had also heard it, joined them. “Not that I know of.” He said, “But that’s a very cool idea, Bummie. Imagine if there’s a kid character that you can let the younger sibling or your little kid play as. They could press all the buttons they want on their console and see their character moving along with the other characters but it won’t affect the actual gameplay and they’ll feel included and like they have helped.”

Kibum just looked at him incredulously. “You thought way too deep into it, old man. I meant like the entire game was set to a kid-level difficulty.”

“Oh.” Jinki smiled awkwardly before he settled down beside Jonghyun to watch the TV screen where both Taemin’s and Minho’s characters were fighting brutally with each other. 

Taemin, who had been listening in, just chuckled to himself. Honestly, Jinki’s misinterpretation of Kibum’s idea was quite cool. His thoughts trailed to it, but then Minho landed a hit on him and he got back into the game with full focus. He could see Minho’s arrogance rise in the snicker he had let out. And it triggered Taemin. So there was no way in hell he was gonna let Minho win, even if Minho got good at it, which he obviously would eventually. So he just had to get exponentially better at gaming too to keep the gap in their skills constant.

And it wasn’t because Taemin enjoyed defeating Minho–it was only a perk, actually. What he truly enjoyed was playing with him. And once Minho had defeated him, he would move on to something new… and Taemin didn’t want to lose his gaming buddy this soon.

When Taemin woke up the next morning, he was extremely groggy. He brushed his teeth and checked his schedule that was stuck on his wardrobe door. Oh, he had a meeting with the CEO early in the morning. He had to rush. He opened his wardrobe and pulled out his suit. He swiftly did his tie and combed his hair to the side. Satisfied with his appearance, he picked up his ID card from the dresser and smiled as he glanced at it for a few seconds.

Lee Taemin. Head Game Developer. SM Soft.

He then picked up his briefcase and left, and was standing in the meeting room, confidently giving a presentation about the game he had developed along with Jonghyun and Kibum, who were in the meeting room too, smiling pridefully at him. Jonghyun had produced the music for the game and Kibum had helped him with designing his characters’ clothes.

CEO Jinki-hyung was extremely satisfied with their work and he said, “Why don’t you try out this game mode with little Minho, Taemin? And share the results with me tomorrow.”

“Yes, of course, CEO hyung, I will get on it right away!”

And Taemin was back home, dressed in casual clothing and holding a game console. A little Minho, barely six or seven, was sitting beside him on the carpet, fiddling with a console too. Taemin was playing the game, enjoying it even, and he had leveled up quickly, and every time he leveled up, his character upgraded, but little Minho’s character stayed the same. Of course, it did, because Minho’s character was in child-inclusive mode, which meant his character just existed as part of the background. It followed little Minho’s console movements but it didn’t affect the game whatsoever. So at first little Minho was overjoyed when Taemin slayed one boss after another boss, thinking that he had helped Taemin do it. But now that Taemin had leveled up considerably and his character had cool things and he could even go buy things from the shop, little Minho had started to fuss because his character had remained the same. He wanted a bigger sword too. And magic powers. And the blue magician outfit. And he even wanted to replenish his mana and drink the juices (potions). 

“They are fake, you can’t drink them, Minho-hyung.”

Little Minho puffed up his cheeks. “No they not! I tasted yesday and pinky one taste like stlawbellies!”

“Really?”

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