Junmyeon buries his head into the side of the doors wondering how he ended up in this situation, he has three blaring rowdy kids surrounding him and one who hates them all, blocking them out by turning up the music in the front passenger seat, and he doesn’t even know where to start.

He would’ve like a bit of team sports with the rest of the M group; which clearly stands for mature except for Jongdae because if it were his decision they’d swap and he’d be with the kids or he could’ve just stayed in with Kyungsoo rambling on nothings and his life woes to their younger chef until he had enough and summoned him to disappear from his site, better yet he probably would’ve assisted Kris is caring after their diva child, which he is well aware would be a challenge just as hard as the one he has been forced into.

Right now, Junmyeon needs an escape somewhere, something or even someone to give him a bit of sanity and message notification on his phone seemed to be a godsend.

Hey, what you up to?

Or maybe not, but Junmyeon decided to indulge.

Nothing much; shopping, you?

IMEYESMILE: Studio. I’m surprised you even responded; u tend not to.

Junmyeon sighs to himself, wondering whether this is an escape route or another road to hell, taking another look back at the kids going crazy about where they’re going first, and who has dibs on his card and figures, nothing can be worse than this.

-

“Hyung, we been here for almost two hours and you’ve been typing on your phone this whole time, what the hell are you doing?”

Kai shook his head at Chanyeol recording Sehun and Tao supposedly grooving to the dreary departmental store music with at least three pairs of sunglasses on themselves and printed scarves.

“I bet you he’s on Tinder…”

Sehun unsurprisingly piped up waltzing over to them as he overheard the conversation, he had also noticed that their leader had been aloof and hadn’t so much as whined, nagged or complained since they’d arrived. It was kind of like he didn’t care that they were spending his money; not that they cared as much, but at least he should care.

Junmyeon sighed locking his phone and putting it in his pocket. If he was honest with himself Hyunsik despite being a little weird was getting him through the day. He doesn’t even remember when and where Kyungsoo’s good friend got his number but times like this he could really care less.

“You mean Grindr, who matched you hyung”

Zitao didn’t hesitate to correct the youngest, he knew his radar had been a little skewed since finding out that Minseok and Yixing were a thing, but there was no way on God’s earth that Junmyeon wasn’t swinging his way; or at least right now in his life. Besides the face he was giving was definitely that talking to a new thing face.

“What if he’s watching ”

Chanyeol also put in his two cents, throwing his arms over Sehun and Zitao’s shoulders. Both younger members looked at up him quizzically knowing that the leader was no way bold enough to do such a borderline vile thing in public. They didn’t even think that Junmyeon watched in general. Kai also facepalmed semi regretting making his statement very public.

“What if I’m doing none of that and am messaging my friends and family”

Once more Junmyeon sighed, shaking his head at s who always had to be all up in his business when they weren’t needed. Couldn’t he just enjoy his day off in peace talking or doing whatever he was doing.

“Ouch are we not enough…”

Sehun was the first to react, purposely instigating something out of nothing. He knew they didn’t really care what Junmyeon was doing anyway besides it wasn’t like they ever needed his help in picking out things to buy for themselves. Honestly there were no hard feelings but it was fun to wind their leader up.

“That’s not what I meant”

Unsurprisingly Junmyeon walked right into Sehun’s tricks, almost defending what he said but by that time the other two had caught on to the charade.

“No, it’s cool, we’ll just keeping doing this alone”

Chanyeol stated shaking his head at the leader before turning away and walking off with Sehun and Zitao in tow. Junmyeon glanced at Kai who just shrugged at him going back to look at a random set of jeans laid out beside him seemingly unbothered by the way this just played out.

“Guys”

Junmyeon calls after the trio who don’t hesitate to ignore him, continuing on with their shopping spree.

“Hyung just leave them be… they’re being needy and dramatic”

He decides to back down after Kai highlights to him that there really isn’t a point and he is right but despite him barely being aware of his team members, he had noticed that Kai really wasn’t all the way there. It was as though he didn’t want any part in this outing or anything; just as he.

To be honest, he doesn’t even recall how Jongin ended up going with them. It was like one moment Chanyeol whom had brought up the idea of mall, Sehun and Zitao were arguing over him going or not and the next he noticed Kai in the front seat of the van.

“Fine… but are you okay Jongin… it doesn’t look like you want to be here either”

He asked hesitantly knowing that Jongin usually kept to himself or Kyungsoo; but seeing as he wasn’t with the latter now shows that he needed a different scene to keep his mind off of something.

“To be honest, no…”

“Do you want to maybe talk about it?”

Junmyeon was painfully curious but knew better than to pry it out of him.

“No, I’m good”

“Oh, okay then…”

He watched Kai listlessly walk to the over side of the store and immediately needed to do something about it but he definitely wasn’t the person who could possibly resolve this.

He needed someone crafty but careful.

-

“Zitao I need your help”

Junmyeon cornered the younger member by the jackets and jeans section, he was holding two jackets in his hand and had an abundant amount of roughly the same coloured jeans in his hamper plus more and Junmyeon shuddered in fear of his bank account.

“Right, is this about the pants you’re wearing because yes they are outdated and you should definitely buy those right there.”

Zitao jumped up in surprise rolling his eyes as he spotted their leader, if anything was for sure Junmyeon needed a lot if help and his fashion sense was certainly one, if not the one.

“No, no it wasn’t about my pants… are they really outdated?”

Taken aback, Junmyeon tries to focus on the main reason he came over to Zitao in the first place but can’t help but give himself a curious glance in the mirror. He didn’t think he was dressed badly, he had on some straight cut jeans, a black zip jumper and a dark brown short mac. If anything, he looked classy.

“Yes God-awful, I haven’t seen these in years. I hope they’ll never see the light of day again.”

Zitao threw both jackets into his basket much to Junmyeon’s disapproval, staring him down with a disgusted look before walking off in the direction of the shoes.

“Okay gosh this wasn’t even supposed to be about me”

Junmyeon trails after him deciding to put aside Zitao’s remark and remembering that he still needed his help.

“Alright, what do you need then?”

Zitao stops in his tracks turning back to Junmyeon, hoping that they could get this over and done with because he’s just seen a pair of Gucci sneakers in the corner beckoning him over and he definitely needed to get there before Chanyeol and Sehun did.

“It’s not me, it’s Jongin”

“Wait, are you confessing to me about Jongin?”

He almost drops his hamper in shock, jaw dropping at the prospect of yet another team couple. At this point he thinks his team needs another talk about Family and respecting the no-hook-ups code; though he was slightly tempted to break it for Chanyeol, because this was too much.

“What? God no, Zitao just listen to me first”

Junmyeon sputters in shock, wishing that Zitao would just shut up for a second before he forgets in favour of lecturing him on the code yet again, thankfully everyone else seems to have understood and acted upon it.

“All ears…”

“I think something is bothering him.”

He starts, glancing over to Kai who appears to have been in the same section for the past ten minutes bouncing between checking his phone and a pair of slacks and he grows even more concerned.

“Right, tell me something new”

Zitao follows his eyes and almost snorts, because if this wasn’t a daily occurrence. If here honest he just thinks that Kai just can’t be bothered with any of them in general. He was super cool with Kyungsoo and Sehun here and there but he was really in his element with SHINee.

He couldn’t blame him they were a group of dopes and for the introvert it was kind of hard to get used to; even a couple years in.

“I think he’s going through something but refused to tell me what…”

“I thought maybe you as a down to earth neutral person around his age could break through to him”

It had to be something personal, Junmyeon couldn’t think of anything else and he knew that Zitao could figure that out. He just had a way of niggling the truth out of them sometimes and besides had he sent one of the others he knows it would turn into a full-blown argument which he wasn’t ready to deal with.

“But why would I want do that?”

Zitao snorts in disbelief, he really didn’t care to get involved in someone’s business right at this second where he was in his element.

“Because your loving leader who is buying your today asked you nicely”

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