***

The day after the amusement park fun, I went back to their practice room. Sungjong and L had texted me, letting me know they were there. The workers smiled at me now, having recognized me. I opened the door to the office space and poked my head in. L and Sungjong were talking to Manager Kim by the computer. I looked through the windows to see Dongwoo on the floor of the dance practice room with his phone out. I went through the other door and walked up to him. He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back, sitting down next to him.

“Dongwoo oppa, teach me how to rap,” I said, mostly as a joke. I mean, I really am terrible at rapping. But I didn't expect him to really do it. He surprised me by actually considering it.

“Try a little rap so I know what I'm working with,” he said. I stared at him a moment in shock.

“Really?” I asked after a second or two of staring. He nodded seriously. “Um, okay,” I said. Then I rapped a bit of his part in “Before the Dawn” because that was one I could remember pretty well. He nodded again when I finished as if he was thinking about it. “I know, I sound like a child,” I put in quickly.

“Try lowering your tone,” he said, throwing in a bit of rap. “See? Like this.” I blinked and nodded. His tone was deeper when he rapped, so he did have a point. I followed his instructions. He smiled a little. “There you go. See? Even a mouse doesn't always sound like a child,” he said. I lightly smacked his arm.

“I'm not a mouse!” I said. He poked me in the shoulder repeatedly.

“You started it!” he said, continuing the poking. I leaned away from him and moved my shoulder out of the way. Unfortunately, that left my side wide open, which led to him poking me in the side and to me squeaking. He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Are you ticklish?” he asked. I stood up and shook my head.

“N-no! I'm not!” I stammered quickly as he stood up as well.

“So then you won't mind me doing this?” he asked, darting forward. I turned to try to run, but he was already too close, so he caught me by the waist and started tickling my sides. I squeaked and struggled against him. My knees buckled and I hit the floor with a yelp. I quickly rolled off my knees, which were now in pain again as the scrapes from yesterday throbbed. “Oh my gosh are you okay? I'm so sorry!” Dongwoo said, looking like he wasn't really sure what to do. Not wanting him to feel bad, I made a playful pouting face.

“Kiss it and make it better,” I said jokingly. He smiled and dropped down on one knee in front of me. My eyes widened as he surprised me again by kissing the band-aids on my knees. “Y-you, sir, do the unexpected,” I stammered with a light blush. L and Sungjong came in and looked at me.

“Are you okay? I thought I heard you yelp,” L said. I smiled at them.

“I'm fine. Dongwoo just discovered that I'm very ticklish, and that I squeak when tickled,” I said. Dongwoo stood up quickly and held out his hand to help me up. I accepted it with a grin as he pulled me up.

“So, you're okay?” Sungjong asked to clarify.

“I'm okay,” I said, slightly ruffling his hair. I glanced over at L and quickly looked down at the floor. He was giving me a look. A deadly look. “A-anyway, I mostly came by to see if everyone wanted ice cream. Where are the others?” The door opened just as I asked and Sunggyu walked in.

“Hey what's taking you guys so lo- Oh, hey Minnie,” he said, noticing me. I smiled and waved.

“Hey, do you guys have anything planned?” I asked him. Who better to get answers from than the leader? He looked at Dongwoo, L, and Sungjong, and then back at me.

“Why...?” he asked carefully. I shrugged.

“I wanted to treat you all to ice cream since you guys took me to the amusement park yesterday,” I said, giving him “the face” aka the puppy dog eyes. He actually laughed at me.

“We don't have anything planned. Let's go tell the others, okay?” he said with a smile. I squealed and jumped a little in place in excitement. “Geez, the way you're acting, it's like we're treating you.”

“I'm just glad to be able to do something for you guys. I was up a good part of the night trying to figure out what I should do. I figured this was a good idea,” I said with a smile. L ruffled my hair from behind.

“You should sleep at night, not think of ways to repay someone. It's unhealthy to stay up too late,” he said. I smirked and poked his ribs lightly.

“You sound like my mom,” I said.

“Your mom is wise, then,” he came back with. I stuck my tongue out at him. I knew it was a childish habit that I needed to break, but I couldn't help it sometimes.

“You guys sound like an old married couple, now let's go,” Sunggyu said, leading the way out to the rest of the group.