how did they end up this way is what he’s trying to figure out as of now. head still clouded with sleep; he tried to recall what happened yesterday. checking his breath, he’s sure that he didn’t drink a drop of alcohol yesterday hence he remembers clearly what happened yesterday. it’s just the mystery of the ending that got him all confused and weirded out.

-yesterday-

he got dragged out from his room to the living room where the other members were standing and looking down at taehyun who was sitting on the couch, arms crossed defensively in front of him and a scowl on his fair face.

he was shoved to sit next to taehyun on the couch by seunghoon and suddenly, he was staring up at three serious, concerned faces. he wanted to ask taehyun what’s going on but then he remembered that they’re not talking for 21 hours now since taehyun stormed out of the practice room after his harsh remark.

‘s-so…’ he cleared his throat and try again, ‘so, what’s going on? am i in trouble or something?’

‘yes song mino.’ seunghoon and seungyoon both stated firmly.

mino shifted agitatedly in his seat after hearing that. suddenly he understood the situation. he knew that the other three won’t sit by and watch him and taehyun pulling faces at each other. this is the moment that he’s been dreading, the moment where he’ll be forced to admit his fault and apologize to nam taehyun.

it’s not that he didn’t want to. it’s just that, a part of him felt like he didn’t do anything wrong. as a leader, he needs to be firm and point out ’s mistake. if any of s wanna take it to heart then it’s not his problem. however, he too understood that he’s new and compared to the others, he’s still in the warming up phase with them. and not to forget that nam taehyun is such a sensitive diva maknae (he conclude it to be so).

‘as the hyung here, i command you guys to forget what happened in the practice room and be nice to each other again.’ jinwoo said in his best strict voice possible.

mino glanced to the side to see taehyun’s reaction but the kid was so focus on burning holes on seunghoon’s forehead. mino was about to voice his opinion when he felt taehyun shifted to straighten his posture and voice his opinion first.

‘you can’t command me to do anything hyung. no. i refuse.’ he was looking at all three of them straight in the eyes, challenging them to make him apologize to mino.

‘nam taehyun, you will do as i command you to. if not, we’ll shave off your pretty head maknae-yah.’ mino had goosebumps hearing that because jinwoo said it with a beautiful smile on his face but his voice was menacing. he looked quite maniacal too. he heard taehyun scoffed next to him.

‘please...’ seungyoon begged down on his knees. ‘for the sake of our team. we can’t practice if you guys are so cold to each other. we need to work on our teamwork or we will forever be losers. i beg you guys please, please be good again.’

sighing, mino decided to wear his leader-hat on and correct this situation. seungyoon’s right. their team was already on the verge of a breaking point. if he continues this dispute with nam taehyun the main vocal then this team will be doomed even before they manage to wow the audiences.

‘i understand hyung.’ he looked them all in the eyes before landing his gaze on taehyun’s pretty face. ‘taehyun-ah, you wanna have dinner together? my treat.’ he offered, praying in his heart that this brat would stop being stubborn and just go along.

if they listened very carefully, they could actually hear the gears in nam taehyun’s head spinning as he sat there quietly still wearing the scowl on his small fair face. he looked at each of them straight in the eyes before he stopped at mino, ‘steak.’ and he got up to change his clothes.

mino’s eyes bulged out coz yep! there goes his allowance. steak, what a brat. he thought in his head. he heard the other three sighed in relief and suddenly he felt that it’s okay to be broke as long as his bandmates aren’t worrying and concerned anymore.

-

‘can’t they hurry up~~~ i’m hungrrryyyy…’ nam taehyun the brat, whining his off for the 5^th time since they placed their orders 14 minutes ago.

‘steak takes time to cook and if you didn’t take 40minutes to get ready, you wouldn’t be this hungry.’ mino rationalized just coz he felt like it.

‘excuse me for wanting to look my best all the time, leader-ssi.’ he challenged.

there, it’s started again. he’s been calling mino ‘leader’ just to be spiteful. refusing to call the man by his name. mino felt like punching him in the face because he made it seem like mino’s all over his head now after being selected as the leader of team a.

‘can’t you stop with that leader thing? i have a name you know.’

‘is it? i can’t seem to recall over your leadership, leader-ssi.’

‘stop it nam taehyun. do you seriously think i…’ he was cut short when their orders arrived.

‘your orders sirs. if you need anything just call for me.’ once the waiter’s gone, taehyun immediately picked up his fork and knife.
‘can i eat first before you nag at me, leader-ssi?’ sighing tiredly, mino just nod his head and let it go for now.

they then started eating in silence. nobody’s talking, nobody’s making eye contact. they devoured their steak hungrily because it’s been awhile since they last had a delicious, expensive meal like this.

while eating his steak, taehyun felt a little guilty towards mino. he knew he’s being a brat and taking advantage of the situation but he just won’t apologize to mino for being overly sensitive coz a part of him felt like eventhough he’s younger than mino, he’s still his hyung’s sunbae as yg’s trainee.

-

after they finished eating, mino didn’t get to talk things out with taehyun coz the brat suddenly bolted out of the restaurant once he finishes his meal. surrendered, mino went to pay for the meal and hope that the brat didn’t actually ditch him. mino actually wanted to get this settle, put it past them so they all could go back to practicing for the evaluation.

‘was it a long queue leader-ssi?’ he looked down to his left and saw taehyun squatting down there checking his phone. the look mino had on his face was a combination of amusement, dumbfounded and straight up anger. how could this brat ask him such thing.

‘excuse me? it wasn’t a long queue. i was actually waiting for you to come back inside.’ taehyun got up, dust the back of his jeans for the lack of better things to do with his hand.

‘i saw my old school friend. and since i’m already out for more than 5 minutes, i thought why should i go back inside. it’s not like i had anything left to eat. or were you thinking of buying me seconds?’ he smirk challengingly.

sighing and shaking his head in disbelief, mino just started walking without saying anything to taehyun. this time, he gave up. he actually was thinking of going back and tell the other members that he tried but the kid was being difficult. his track was stopped when he felt soft hand wrapping his wrist.

‘can we get tteokboki before we go home?’ nam taehyun actually pulled out his aegyo card. making round puppy eyes at mino who despite his tough manly personality, is a er for cute adorable things and nam taehyun falls under that category.

‘you have a bottomless stomach do you know that. fine. come on.’ and just like that, for the first time since the dispute, nam taehyun flashed his ever beautifully adorable smile at him. usually, it doesn’t affect him so much. but today is not usually, today his feelings are being weird. his heart’s doing erratic stuff like beating fast because nam taehyun flashed a beautifully adorable smile towards him. today, he crossed all his fingers that the weird will stop before it’s too late.

-