Taehyun took a glance at the diminutive creature leaning against his left shoulder and sighed a deep, thoughtful sigh.

 

Mino had marched through the door with heavy steps, dropped his backpack to the ground and proceeded to berate Jinwoo, who had been stirred awake from his peaceful slumber the moment Mino's positively homicidal presence entered the rehearsal room. The fake maknae automatically switched to defense mode. They had been fighting for almost ten minutes now and the practice went from a fifteen-minute break-time to a total halt. Taehyun rolled his eyes at Seungyoon who was looking at him with a funny expression. They knew how the brawl was going to end. These kinds of fights were already a routine for the Minwoo couple ever since they started dating, something the rest of WINNER supported.

 

They had rather Jinwoo ended up with one of them than any other UNDESERVING, UNCUTE, FRILLY GIRL. Anyone who can’t measure up to Jinwoo’s out of-this-world-beauty did not deserve the boy, it was a crime to even attempt to think of possessing him and obviously, only one of them can pass the said requirement.

 

In WINNER's case, it was Mino.

 

“Stop leaning on others' shoulder!”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

“And stop talking about Ji Yong-hyung!!!”

 

“WHY? Where is this coming from?!”

 

“Ji Yong this, Ji Yong that, the hell, then you should have just hooked up with the damned dragon!”

 

“ARE YOU BREAKING UP WITH ME?!”

 

Silence.

 

“WHAT?! NO!”

 

“You were the one who kept flirting with Taehyun at the airport!”

 

“It was a damn joke! It was for the fans!”

 

“It was a damn joke alright” Taehyun verified in a dead tone as he picked up the book lying next to him. This was bound to drag on.

 

“Yeah, well, it was still flirting.”

 

“It is not!”

 

“Is too!”

 

“Is too!” Seunghoon jeered.

 

“And Seungyoon!”

 

“Seungyoon?! What about Seungyoon?!”

 

“Yeah, what about me?” Their leader voiced out, shocked at his name being involved in the cat fight, his opinion unnoticed by the cats.

 

Jinwoo's eyes widened in realization, his hands slowly resting on his waist in the process.

 

“Eeeh?! You’ve been reading fan fictions again??! You were reading again, weren’t you?!”

 

Blush.

 

Mino backed a few steps, his left hand clutching the shirt above his heart as if Jinwoo’s words were arrows through his chest.

 

“Was not!”

 

“Stop reading those things! Those’re written by crazed fans who have nothing better to do than conjuring things up with their messed up, fantasy-engineered minds! They’re a bunch of drooling but very precious maniacs! They could make up a story on anything! E-even Yang Hyun-suk and JYP sajangnims!”

 

“What? Really? They’re that good?!” Seunghoon gasped.

 

“S-stop badmouthing our fans!”

 

“So you WERE reading.”

 

“I-I have no choice, Mika forced me to read it.”

 

Jinwoo’s eyebrow shot up.

 

“Mika?”

 

“Dana's friend. It was for reference. She’s nobody. Stop giving me that look.”

 

“So what happened in the fanfic?”

 

“Well…”

 

“Let’s hear it.”

 

“…you love me and I confessed to you but I got dumped. That hurt you know! I was crying when you left me and took Seungyoon’s offer to walk home together. But then Seungyoon tried to devour you-“

 

A rather loud,” WHAT THE F***”, echoed from a distance. The voice sounded a lot like Seungyoon’s.

 

“-saved you from the -“

 

“??!!” Seungyoon tried to shake off Seunghoon who was struggling to hold back his attempts to pound Mino.

 

“-and you hugged me, glad that I came for you and then you said you couldn’t bear being touched by anyone but me. But then, even when we were together, all you keep talking about is Ji Yong-hyung. My birthday is coming up, I invited you over and Ji Yong-hyung invited you over too and…It makes me furious to think that you’ll be leaving me alone on my birthday and spend the night playing videogames with him…”

 

“Ugh…typical fiction plot.” Taehyun glowered. “Always with the r*pe scene.”

 

“What? You read fan fictions?” Seunghoon inquired.

 

“Uh…yeah. I read this one about Mino and me. Seungyoon tried to devour me too.”

 

“I HEARD THAT NAM TAEHYUN! DAMNIT!” Seungyoon yelled.

 

“What happened then?”

 

“The fic was unfinished. Mika said she’d release the next chapter on Thursday.”

 

Silence.

 

“Those things aren’t true you know. Seungyoon ain’t trying to devour me-“

 

“Why am I always the third party? Seunghoon suits the role perfectly! Better than me, in fact. And do I look like some who runs on libido alone?”

 

“Well, apparently, the fans think so. They’re never wrong about these kinds of things.” Taehyun urged on.

 

“OH YEAH?! C’mere, I’ll devour you like no fan’s ever think of.”

 

Taehyun, who in normal circumstances would have sneered and shrugged off such elementary provocations to his princely self, smiled. His eyes were undeniably fixed on Seungyoon and at that exact moment the leader sensed that a formidable threat was looming over his chastity.

 

WINNER fell into an ineffable silence.

 

“And Ji Yong-hyung's never invited me over.”

 

“And that thing about loving me?” Mino, whispered.

 

“That’s the exception.”

 

“And-“

 

“-and I can’t bear being touched by anyone but you,” Jinwoo added helpfully, walking closer to Mino and closing the distance between them.

 

“Now can we get back to practice?” Seunghoon, who was picking his nose, called out.

 

“WHAT TAEHYUN?! Say something biting would 'ya?! Now you’re acting like you want to devour me,” Seungyoon, who was only teasing, got the second shock of his life (the first was Jinwoo confessing to Mino in front of everyone) when the bastard maknae winked at him. 

 

WINNER DID get to finish their practice. By the next day, the shooting of a live performance of Don't Flirt, Jinwoo's make-up artist berated him for not taking care of himself properly and being bitten my a legion of mosquitoes as she tried to cover up a number of red marks on the boy’s neck and chest with layers upon layers of foundation. The artist tried to put anti-itch cream but Jinwoo said they weren't itchy at all.

 

The funny thing was…

 

Seungyoon's own make-up artist was howling about the same thing.

 

And for some reason, Taehyun seemed to be smiling a lot.

 

FIN.