#hoeby

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7.

Several months pass.

It’s difficult to shift back into the old routine, after all the cameras have been taken away and they no longer have a concrete goal to work for. It takes them a week to drop their public facades when they were alone, a month before Bobby stops catching Hanbin poking around corners for hidden cameras, and longer still for things to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Bobby’s not going to lie to himself; it hurts to see the members of Team A – no, Winner, now. He knows they’re no different people than they had been before – still the same hyungs who’ll pull him into a headlock when he tries to cuddle up with them or have screaming matches with or just being them, because he’s known them for years, but there’s a distance between them now that he doesn’t know how to bridge.

Because they won.

And he didn’t.

It’s easy to ignore after a while. After the initial feelings fade away and it’s clear that YG isn’t actually going to debut Winner in the near future, the two groups reestablish a tentative camaraderie.

Well, really, it’s just Minho busting into their practice room and yelling “ramyun on Seungyoon!” one day, and while it’s certainly bizarre, cheap food has served as a bonding agent more than once between them.

Bobby thinks he could get used to this again.

Until the six of them get called into sajangnim’s office one morning and come out of it with a new reality show and a new promise of debut – with conditions.

“Of course, I’m not going to tell you everything at once,” he says, and Bobby wants to scream, because this is getting ridiculous, “but we’ll start filming next month. You’ll need to prepare a song for the closing credits, too. Bobby, Hanbin, stay back for another few minutes. The rest of you can leave.”

They come out of the office with appearances on a rap survival show.

“Fuck,” Hanbin says, once they’ve left and the door’s swung shut, “I don’t know if I can do this.”

Bobby doesn’t know what else to say other than “you can,” because he knows that even though this new addition will probably be terrible for Hanbin mentally, he will push through it, one way or another. He’s a tough kid.

That night, he and Hanbin and Jinhwan start working on the song. It’s an arduous process, mostly because most of the stuff he and Hanbin had been making was either not broadcast friendly or super emo-type things that would never see the light of day.

Eventually, though, they pull through, and it’s pretty great, if Bobby does say so himself. It earns a raised eyebrow and a slightly less neutral expression from Junhoe, at any rate, which Bobby has learned means that the youngest has given some modicum of approval

The weeks pass by in a blur of preparations for the show, and before Bobby realizes it, they’re on the set for the music video of sorts for the closing song. It’s nothing fancy, just a black room with some chairs, and they’ll be dressed primarily in black, but there’s an unmistakable energy surrounding the six of them – they’re finally doing something.

There are racks of clothing set out, and they look at the outfits they’ve been assigned. None of them art particularly outlandish, which makes them all relieved (Bobby’s seen some of the things out there, and he can say with certainty that roughly 75% of idol outfits are things that he never wants to touch his body as long as he lives.)

Until Bobby sees The Hat.

He calls it The Hat, because it’s special. It’s big and floppy and honestly kind of weird-looking, but that’s what draws him to it.

“Hey,” he says, prodding Hanbin, “doesn’t this look stupid?”

Hanbin nods, picking up different snapbacks and comparing them. “I don’t think those hats look good on anyone, really.”

A flash of movement catches his eye, and he turns to see Junhoe, another one of The Hats on his head, a frown crossing over his features as soon as he catches sight of Bobby.

“Junhoe!” Bobby yells, “We match!”

Junhoe makes to take the hat off, but the director calls him over, and Bobby knows that if the stylists had planned to have him wear a hat for the video, there’s no way his hair is currently in any presentable state.

This is great.

Junhoe shoots him borderline murderous looks as they take their places for the filming. No one tells Bobby to take the hat off, much to his surprise, although Donghyuk does make an offhand comment about it not matching too well with the rest of his outfit.

The filming goes without any major incidents, at least. They film it five times with different angles and cameras and things that Bobby aren’t actually sure what they are, but what he does know is they’re all starting to get a little sick of the song. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling, since listening to the same song in different iterations for hours and days on end can really do a number on you, but it’s different from making it or being in the practice room.

Frankly, his jaw kind of hurts from over-enunciating so the camera will catch it.

Finally, the director calls the end of the filming, and the minute they’ve all finished bowing and thanking everyone, Junhoe rips the hat off, dumps it on the nearest outfit table, and stalks off somewhere (“probably to sulk,” Donghyuk quips, “that was an ugly hat.”)

Bobby just laughs, because there’s now a video of him and Junhoe in borderline couple clothing, immortalized eternally.

(It really is a stupid hat, Bobby realizes, once they’re shown the finished video, but he does think Junhoe should be grateful that they at least look stupid together.

“You always look stupid, though,” Junhoe replies when Bobby tells him that.)

 8.

In retrospect, this really made perfect sense, in a weird, backwards, twisted kind of way.

Since their group didn’t win, there was clearly something wrong with them. A deficit, perhaps.

A deficit that sajangnim decided to fill by tossing two more members in.

When they first walk into the practice room, Bobby finds it extremely difficult to keep his face in a neutral expression, and he’s pretty sure the rest of them feel the same way.

He knows these kids haven’t done anything wrong, didn’t ask for this, but he can’t help but instinctively pin them as the enemy.

The original six – Team B – have been together for over a year, now. They’ve practically grown up together, like a weird and extremely dysfunctional family.  So to throw two complete strangers – Jung Chanwoo and Jung Jinhyeong – into the mix… is completely unnerving.

Although Bobby’s not particularly inclined to like them at first, he at least wants to get to know them before passing judgements. They’re probably scared, too, so he fixes a smile on his face and greets them.

(He also knows that unless he does it, no one else will say anything – he’s the most open to new people and new situations by a long shot, and the most extroverted. There’s also the seniority aspect to consider – since Hanbin is probably breaking down internally, and Jinhwan’s not much of a confrontationist in these situations, the duty naturally falls to him.)

Once sajangnim leaves the room, the eight of them become visibly more relaxed, but not by much. The cameras are still there, at any rate, and they’re still strangers.

The introductions are awkward, to say the least. Hanbin is short and stilted, and in Bobby’s opinion really sells himself too short; Donghyuk at least understands their situation more, but there’s still a huge disconnect; and Jinhwan and Junhoe’s are equally unrevealing.

At least him and Yunhyeong bring a bit of brevity at the end – Bobby’s always liked a physical aspect to introductions and finds them incredibly useful for bonding, and when Yunhyeong points out that Chanwoo bears more than just a passing resemblance to him, all bets are off.

And so they adapt.

It’s little changes, at first, like the new bunk beds in the living room, and longer time spent in the bathrooms before leaving, but it’s less horrible than Bobby had expected.

One thing that Bobby does notice, though, is that with the addition of the two new members, it’s even easier for Junhoe to avoid him.

Bobby has to admit that the newest members add a bit of novelty into their lives, and he takes to teasing the two of them instead of Junhoe. Junhoe, too, seems grateful to finally have members younger than him that he can pick on, but he’s never outright spiteful to them like he was to Bobby.

Bobby’s still not sure what he did wrong, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try and get to the bottom of this.

The opportunity comes sooner than he expects.

“We should do something,” Jinhwan says, leaning back on one of the chairs in the practice room.

“Like what?” Hanbin asks, only half paying attention as he fiddles with the track he’s editing for their upcoming mission, “go eat or something?”

“More than that,” Jinhwan sighs, “think bigger, Hanbin-ah.”

“We should go camping,” Bobby says. “Camping is fun. Very manly.”

“Camping has bugs,” Hanbin grumbles, exiting the program, “I hate bugs.”

Bobby rolls his eyes. “Don’t be so fussy. Where’s your sense of adventure, city boy?”

“You weren’t raised in the wild, hyung, shut up.”

“I was raised in the wild lands of America,” Bobby says, rising from his chair and gesturing vaguely above him, “where the people are naturally blond and speak English all day.”

Jinhwan laughs, shaking his head fondly, while Hanbin rolls his eyes, but Bobby knows he’s laughing on the inside.

“Camping sounds fun, though,” Jinhwan muses, “nothing like suffering together to bring people together.”

“We’re already suffering together,” Hanbin gripes, but the three of them start to plan it.

It’s surprisingly easy to bring sajangnim on board with the plan – of course, it has to be filmed, and it can’t last for more than three days but those are only mild complaints, really.

The hardest part is keeping it a secret from the other five.

Junhoe is almost scarily perceptive when he wants to be, and notices a difference in mood immediately when the three of them come back to the dorm later that night. Bobby knows this because he immediately drags Jinhwan off, presumably to interrogate him.

Luckily, the secret does not leak.

It’s harder, though, to convince everyone to pack for a several day trip and get on a bus without revealing exactly what’s going on, but they do manage it through a good deal of coercion and promises that “it’ll be a great surprise, don’t worry.”

When they finally do get to the campsite, though, and Bobby and Hanbin unfurl the banner, it’s one of the best feelings in the world to see the rest of the members so happy for the first time in a while.

All of them except Junhoe, of course, who looks mildly displeased with something, but that’s normal. Bobby’s pretty sure he’s happy on the inside.

And thus, the Great Teamwork Retreat of 2014 begins.

Of course, they have to start with a manly display of sportsmanship, and end up deciding to play foot volleyball. Bobby somehow ends up with Junhoe on his team, but the latter doesn’t seem to care much – the real goal was not to be on the same team as Hanbin, who’s notoriously bad when it comes to certain sports.

Next come the water activities, which involve them zipping around a lake on a floating raft-thing attached to a boat at ridiculously high speeds, but it’s exhilarating in a way Bobby’s never felt before. Hanbin, of course, freaks out, because he’s secretly a wimp, but it’s amusing to watch.

(Bobby’s sure that the highlight of the day, of course, is when he falls off one of the boat-things, and Junhoe laughs uproariously.)

As they wind down with dinner around the campfire, Bobby’s feeling pretty good about things.

That is, of course until Jinhwan decides that they should sleep in the tent with the person they’re the most awkward with.

“Awkward according to who?” Bobby asks immediately, because he’s got a pretty good idea of who they’d pick for him, and he’s not sure if he’d trust him while he’s sleeping.

“We don’t have people like that in our team,” Junhoe protests, and just like that he and Bobby are nominated to share a tent.

“We’re close!” they protest, but Jinhwan and Hanbin, those horrible people, simply view it as amusement.

Once they’ve all separated into pairs and have started setting up for the night, Bobby watches Junhoe make a beeline for Jinhwan in an obvious attempt to try and switch. Bobby’s mildly offended by this, but would also much rather spend the night with Donghyuk or Jinhwan.

Of course, Jinhwan runs off with Donghyuk, leaving Bobby and Junhoe to laugh awkwardly and try to interact as little as possible.

Somehow, this ends up with Bobby plucking absently at his guitar while Junhoe stares off into the distance, the air punctuated by Hanbin’s screams. Either Jinhyeong’s torturing him, or there’s a bug in the tent. It’s probably the latter, but Bobby thinks Junhoe’s hoping for the former.

They finally get ready for bed, and Bobby sets down the electric bug swatter down on the mat beside him.

“At least we have you between me and Junhoe,” he says, only half-joking. Junhoe picks it up and turns it on, turning it over in his hand, and Bobby wonders for a moment if Junhoe would actually zap him with it. It’s not the most painful thing in the world, but it’s by no means pleasant.

“The other members are probably having heart-to-heart conversations right about now,” Bobby says as they lie down and turn off the lights. “Should we?”

“No.”

And that’s the end of that.

 9.

There’s a cold making its way around the trainees, and the eight are, unfortunately, no exception.

It strikes Junhoe first, to the point where he’s left bedridden for several days with a fever.

“I’m fine, hyung,” he’d protested the first two days, pushing himself out of bed and to the practice rooms, but it was clear that he couldn’t hold up, and was forcibly made to stay in bed through the combined efforts of Jinhwan’s cajoling and a thinly veiled threat from Hanbin.

Junhoe makes sure to complain the entire time – the group chat is always bombarded with random messages about him being bored, and he insists that Jinhwan or Donghyuk give him a play-by-play when they get back to the dorm every night. Bobby thinks Junhoe needs to take a major chill pill, but also understands that Junhoe is simply a perfectionist and hates falling behind.

He can respect that, at least.

(He also thinks that Junhoe really has nothing to worry about, but he knows if he told that to Junhoe directly he’d earn himself a snot-laden tissue to the face and a scoff, after which Junhoe would frantically ask for a second opinion from Jinhwan. Bobby will pretend that this blatant disregard of his feelings doesn’t hurt him, even though it kind of does, and Jinhwan will make him feel better later, too.)

Bobby sneaks into Junhoe’s room before they leave for practice one morning – he’s sound asleep, his normally angled eyebrows flattened out so he looks far less angry than usual.

Junhoe almost looks – dare he say – cute.

He goes to the living room and gets one of the spare blankets, and dampens a small towel in the bathroom, then returns and lays the blanket gently over Junhoe, brushing his bangs away from his forehead and positioning the washcloth.

“Sleep well, June-yah,” Bobby whispers, pecking Junhoe on the cheek in a sudden fit of daring.

Junhoe’s eyes open blearily for a moment, but close right after, and he shifts around under the blankets before his breathing evens out again.

He’ll forget about this in a few hours, Bobby thinks, as he tiptoes out of the room.

Junhoe doesn’t say anything about it when they come back later that night.

Bobby decides that this is as good a time as any to spread his love, since Junhoe’s in no state to shove him off, and he probably won’t remember it anyways.

So Bobby makes sure to give Junhoe a goodbye kiss every time they leave the dorm before Junhoe wakes up. Some days Junhoe stays fast asleep and still, some days he moves around and Bobby almost thinks he’s woken up, but every time is like a little adventure. Kiss the dragon, or something weird like that.

Junhoe recovers a few days later, and Bobby pretends like nothing ever happened. Junhoe makes no move to assault or interrogate him, so Bobby pats himself on the back for a job well done.

(“Are you literally patting yourself on the back? Have you been watching Jinhwan-hyung’s motivational videos again?”

“You could do well with watching some of those, Hanbin. Girls like guys with nice smiles.”

“Oh, shut up!”)

A week later, after the cold has finished infecting all of them, they’re finally back as eight in the practice room and dancing to whatever mad version of MTBD Hanbin’s thought up this time.

Hanbin calls a break for water, and Bobby’s just started chugging from his bottle when a hard punch to his right arm causes his grip to falter, water sloshing all over his shirt. He’s already pretty certain who the offender is, and looks to the side to see a positively annoyed Junhoe.

“What was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for,” Junhoe hisses. “Don’t you dare do that again.”

(Bobby gets sick two days later. He receives nothing from Junhoe, other than what were probably his germs and a smug declaration of “karma.”)

 10.

Not for the first time, Bobby’s grateful that YG is a relatively wealthier company.

While he still has trainee debt, he’s at least able to pay it off in style and comfort.

Comfort in this case being a brand new dorm for nine people, with the addition of one Yang Hongseok.

(Bobby’s still not sure how to feel about him, but he hasn’t spent a whole lot of time with him one-on-one either. If Jinhwan and Hanbin are to be believed, though, he’s a more-or-less decent guy, but a bit stand-offish. It’s definitely weird, though, having their maknae in status be the second oldest.)

But of course, YG being YG and reality shows being reality shows, they can’t just move into a new dorm.

They have to make an event out of it.

So the cameras are set up and the boys let loose.

Bobby can’t help but completely flip out. This place is nice – dark wood furnishing, new appliances, and it’s way bigger than their old dorm. Hell, it might even be bigger than his house. It’s definitely nicer than his house back in Virginia, and he feels a little guilty for that.

(He’ll definitely bring his family to Korea someday, though. And when he does, he’ll get an even better home for them.)

Once they’ve all gotten their initial kicks in, the game begins. The rules are simple – each member picks a room, but if the room ends up at over capacity, someone’s got to move.

To Bobby’s surprise, the only other person who picks the room he’s in (ironically, the largest one) is Hanbin. He’s immeasurably grateful, for one thing, because it means he’s at least got his best friend in the group here.

After they’ve made their initial choices, they gather in the living room, as Hanbin decides who he wants as their roommate to fill up the third spot and figure out who’s getting booted to the living room.

“You know who,” Hanbin says to Bobby, who nods in reply. It’s gotta be J—

“Junhoe!”

Junhoe claps once, mouth pressed into a thin line, and Bobby’s torn between laughing and crying, because that wasn’t what he was expecting at all.

Once again, he’s a little worried that Junhoe’s going to kill him in the middle of the night (and Hanbin, too, because Junhoe doesn’t really like Hanbin, either), but the first few nights are surprisingly uneventful.

That is, until Bobby slips up one evening and forgets to put clothes on.

Bobby and Junhoe lie on complete opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to bodily modesty – Bobby prefers complete freedom (and by complete, he really does mean complete – underwear is optional), while Junhoe is very firm about always wearing at least a tank top and boxers. Bobby can probably count on one hand the times he’s seen Junhoe without a shirt on if they weren’t changing clothes, and he even does that incredibly quickly.

So while Bobby thinks nothing of lying on his bed in the buff, Junhoe takes one look and screams.

Hanbin bursts in with a wild look in his eyes. “Who died?” he asks, eyes darting between Bobby and Junhoe.

Junhoe says nothing, merely pushing past Hanbin out of the room, and Bobby learns later that Junhoe had spent the night sleeping on the couch, much to the amusement of Yunhyeong and Hongseok.

“Did you really have to scare him off like that?” Jinhwan asks him the next morning as they eat breakfast.

“It was an accident!” Bobby protests, but Jinhwan silences him with a raised eyebrow.

“You should apologize to him, or something,” Jinhwan sighs, “the couch isn’t even big enough for him to completely lie down on.”

That’s got to be a lie, but Jinhwan does kind of have a point.

So Bobby makes a pit stop at the convenience store after practice to buy Junhoe a peace offering of food.

(He does have to text Jinhwan and Donghyuk to ask what kind of food he should get, but in his defense, he had narrowed it down to three options before he asked.)

“What’s this?” Junhoe asks when Bobby presents him with three spicy pork rice balls. “No drink?”

Bobby hears him grumble under his breath as he walks to the kitchen, but he’s pretty sure he catches a glimpse of a smile on Junhoe’s face as he turns away, so he’ll chalk this up to a win.

 11.

Bobby had had pretty high hopes about this performance, actually.

It had been all of their first times doing a serious collaboration with a female artist, and although Hanna hasn’t officially debuted yet, he still felt like he owed it to her to make it great.

And all in all, he’d thought they had a pretty bangin’ track. He accepts that perhaps he may have come off too strong in their song, but thought that they had done pretty well, all things considered.

(Better than Hanbin’s, at any rate. He loves the guy, but some things should not be touched by trap, and that includes Disney songs. He’ll give him props for innovation, but that’s about it.)

So when the final rankings are called for that round and his team lands in second, he’s kind of disappointed. It’s nothing compared to Jinhwan, who’s already crying because his team lost again, and Bobby really wants to reach out to their oldest, but he’s got something more immediate to deal with.

And that is, of course, who’s getting put up for elimination in his team. Obviously, it’s gotta be—

“Jung Chanwoo.”

Bobby can see the change in Junhoe’s demeanor instantly, his back stiffening, drawing himself up to his full height as he moves to stand by Yunhyeong and Jinhyeong. The sound of his heartbeat fills his ears, because this is the worst he could have anticipated.

Chanwoo did well, he’s improved so much since he first joined, and Bobby acknowledges that.

But Junhoe…

This isn’t even the final round, but it may just as well be WIN all over again.

“I think this is what you need,” sajangnim says, and while maybe he is right, maybe some of them have gotten a little cocky, Bobby thinks this is one of the worst things a person could do, especially to Junhoe.

He can picture Junhoe’s expression perfectly as he prepares himself to sing and as the words leave his lips – haughty, defiant, daring, his game face on in full force. He doesn’t sound nervous at all, and a strange sort of pride swells up in Bobby’s chest.

This is Koo Junhoe.

This is one of their original six, the first after the Kim trio, and Bobby’ll be damned if he doesn’t make it as a fixed member.

To no one’s surprise, Junhoe is sent back as ‘safe,’ but it doesn’t feel like he’s safe, doesn’t feel like anyone’s safe.

As if on a dazed autopilot, Junhoe walks towards Bobby, who raises his arms up instinctually in a hug. Junhoe’s hold is loose, his breaths ragged, but Bobby keeps him there, tightening his hold when Junhoe starts to pull away, because ego be damned he knows Junhoe is breaking and he needs someone to keep him together.

It’s only the second time he’s seen Junhoe really, truly cry, and it hurts him in a way he never wants to feel again.

Afterwards, they sit in the parking lot and let it out. If anyone who didn’t know them walked in, it really would have looked like some kind of freak show – a third of them are in ski outfits in October, a third are in varying pairings of black and yellow, and a third of them are in clothes four sizes too big. All of them are crying, or at the very least vaguely misty eyed (that would be the newest three – while sure, they’re sad, they haven’t faced this before, not like the other six.)

Bobby wants to reach out to Junhoe again as he crouches by the curb, still in his parka and snow pants, but he hangs back while the other members surround him.

The ride back to the dorm is tense, silence punctuated by the occasional sniffle. The atmosphere continues even after they’ve washed up and retired to their rooms, and Bobby feels stifled. He’s always hated it when the mood gets like this, but he knows that trying to lighten things would only make things worse.

Hanbin’s already snoring when Bobby turns off the light, and he’s just about to drift off when he hears a soft voice from above.

“Bobby-hyung?”

“Junhoe?” Bobby asks, wondering if he was just imagining things.

There is a long silence, then: “Thanks.”

Bobby smiles to himself. “Sleep well, Junhoe.”

He doesn’t get a reply, but he knows that the sentiment is there, all the same.

He sleeps better that night than he has in weeks.

 12.

It’s been a long few months.

Bobby can’t believe it’s finally come to an end.

All the sweat, all the tears, all the hard work, and it culminates in a faceless audience choosing who they want to be in their group.

(Honestly, out of the three new trainees, he likes Jinhyeong the best, but he thinks he can honestly say he would not be thoroughly displeased with any of them.)

But when the staff presents them with a cap and folded slips of paper and tells them it’s for a Secret Santa exchange, Bobby thinks it may very well be one of the most nerve-wracking things he’s ever done. He can think of more than one member that he either really doesn’t want to get or simply has no idea what to get anything for.

So when he ends up with Jinhwan, he breathes a long sigh of relief. Jinhwan is easy.

The next thought that crosses his mind is who got him, because if Junhoe got him—

Well, he just hopes that if it is in fact Junhoe, he either gets him something broadcast-appropriate or the editors have skill in extreme video manipulation.

The next week is filled with secret shopping trips and covert conversations to try and figure out who got who, but all he’s learned is that Hanbin got Yunhyeong.

(“Easiest gift ever,” Hanbin says, as he sticks ten lip balms in a box and covers them with shredded paper. “When I get a girlfriend, I hope it’s this easy getting her stuff.”

“If you get a girlfriend, Hanbin.”

“You shut your mouth.”)

The night before their showcase, they all gather on the roof of the company building. Jinhwan plays the world’s tiniest chaebol heir, or something, as he turns around to “present” the spread to them all. It’s cheesy, but Bobby thinks they could all use a little something amusing in their lives right now.

After they eat, they get down to the main event – the gift exchange. Bobby sighs, starting it off with his gift of a Toy Story figurine to Jinhwan, since his box somehow got opened in transit. (Truthfully, he really didn’t seal it too well, but still.)

Hanbin then suggests back-hugging the person who you’re giving the gift to, which elicits a round of groans all around, but Jinhwan goes for it, presenting Hanbin with a pair of Converse. When Hanbin gives his gift to Yunhyeong, the guy is so happy after seeing the contents of the box that you’d think he won the lottery.

Bobby’s surprised with Yunhyeong’s arms around him next – a computer mouse. He’s not going to lie, it wasn’t on his top ten list of things he wanted most or anything, but it’s a perfectly useful and functional gift. At the very least, he’s got Hanbin’s envy, and he’d bet money that Hanbin would end up taking it by the end of the month.

Donghyuk goes next, and ends up shooting himself in the foot with his description about who it was for, but he’s completely right – Junhoe’s probably worn blue jeans less than ten times in the two years that Bobby’s know him. He’s also completely right in the sizing and fit, as evidenced when Junhoe returns after putting them on. Bobby wonders how he does it, really.

To no one’s surprise, Junhoe ends up giving himself away simply due to the fact that it’s nearly impossible for him to touch other people in a close way. He ends up turning bright red, touching Jinhyeong as little as he possibly can, running away, and then giving Jinhyeong the gift almost as an afterthought.

“It better not be earrings,” Bobby says, just as Jinhyeong opens the wrapping to reveal an entire bag of them.

“It’s more than one!” Junhoe argues, and they let him have his quantity over quality this time.

They unintentionally round out the exchange with the three newbies – Jinhyeong gifts Donghyuk with a ring, and Hongseok and Chanwoo exchange equally awkward gifts of a face roller and foreign snacks.

The conversation naturally turns to their inevitable end, reminiscing about the times they’ve had and things they always wanted to say.

“I always wanted to get closer to Junhoe, actually,” Jinhyeong says, “But since we have similar personalities, we never really approached each other. I’m close with the rest of you, but with Junhoe… it’s awkward.”

“He makes everything awkward,” Bobby replies, waving Jinhyeong off, “I’m not close to him either.”

“Why are you saying that?” Junhoe laughs, trying to deflect away from himself.

“We have to lock them in the same room for a week,” Donghyuk jokes. Junhoe looks borderline revolted for a minute.

“I hope you can get closer to him, because he’s a good guy,” Bobby says, trying to get the conversation at least somewhat back on track.

“Listen, I can get close to people if I open my heart, okay?” Junhoe protests.

“Please open your heart to me,” Bobby half-pleads, half laughs.

Junhoe drives in the nail deeper. “Listen, if Jinhyeong joins, I can get close to him in just one day.”

“What about me?” Bobby mock-whines. “I’ve been with you for two years!”

The conversation moves to other topics after that, but it still bothers Bobby throughout the rest of the night.

“Hey,” he asks Junhoe as they clean up and climb down the stairs from the roof, “why aren’t we close, actually?”

Junhoe just stares at him, completely deadpan. “I can’t believe you actually have to ask me that question.”

He walks off, leaving Bobby at the bottom of the stairs with more questions than answers.

Koo Junhoe truly is an enigma, and befriending him seems like a game of chance than anything else.

(It’s a good thing Bobby doesn’t believe in chances, just hard work, right?)

 +1

When Bobby sees what hat Junhoe’s wearing before they leave for their NEPA press conference, he almost breaks out laughing

The seven of them are notorious for swapping and sharing hats (and almost any other article of clothing, really), but at the end of the day ownership is ownership.

Junhoe is actually wearing one of Bobby’s hats.

“Hey, isn’t that mine?” Bobby asks, once they’ve all gotten in the van.

And if Junhoe hadn’t been sitting away at an impossible angle to hit Bobby from, he might have gotten a whack to the face.

Junhoe has no choice but to wear the hat to the event, because he’s under strict orders to keep his newly-bleached hair under wraps until the official unveiling of their teaser images (Bobby almost can’t believe they’re actually debuting at this point, because it’s been so long), and Jinhwan silently refuses to switch.

Once the event is over, though, Junhoe foists the cap into Bobby’s hands and refuses to speak to anyone else until they get back to the dorm.

(Somehow, Bobby’s grateful for this source of constant in his life – no matter what the issue, he can count on Junhoe to reject anything and everything to do with him.

And you know what? He’s okay with that.

He’s still got years to figure the kid out, after all.)

the hats in question at the end: bobby | junhwe please don't ask me how i remembered that bc i honestly don't lmaooooo