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“Who did it?”
Everyone looked up at Jay, who was standing like a stern parent, one hand on his hip and the other brandishing his phone in their faces expectantly. They all squinted at the screen to see what was so incriminating that they needed to be confronted about it.
“It’s.... me?” Sunoo observed, baffled. Just a few minutes ago, the profile picture on their shared group account had been Bisco. It was clear that was no longer the case, though Sunoo would argue that the replacement was just as adorable.
“We all agreed to take turns using a picture of the thing that we treasure the most,” Jay continued exasperatedly.
Sunoo looked around, inspecting his fellow members. They had all been eating lunch together, with their noses buried in their phones, so it was impossible to single one person out.
“I don’t see what the problem is?” Jake said innocently.
“Yeah, what’s not to treasure about me?” Sunoo piped up indignantly.
Jay opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. “I—“
“He’s just salty Jungwon didn’t post Jay for his,” Niki remarked, as he gathered up his plate and got up from the table. Their manager came into the kitchen to see Jay blushing and spluttering in Jungwon’s direction. In other words, nothing was new there.
“Dance practice in fifteen minutes,” he announced. Sunoo groaned.
“It’s so hot today,” he grumbled. “I could go for an ice cream right now.”
“Is that why your profile picture was mint choco?” Sunghoon snorted derisively. “I can’t believe of all things, that’s what you picked.”
“Why, are you jealous too?” Sunoo glared at him suspiciously. “Was it you? Do you treasure me, Sunghoon hyung?”
Sunghoon scoffed and quickly turned away. “As if.”
Sunoo hummed in thought and ruled him out for now. He was flattered that one of the members had, for whatever reason, chosen his photo for their turn. It was a cute photo too- he was doing his signature cow heart pose, his eyes scrunched up and his dimples showing clearly on his face.
He was going to get to the bottom of this mystery no matter what. Otherwise, the curiosity would eat him up alive. He just had to get through today’s practice first.
—
Sunoo winced, rolling his shoulders as his back cracked and popped. He was stuck in the studio with Jungwon, Sunghoon, and Jake, running through their next unit performance.
The others had already left about an hour ago, and Sunoo had never felt more envious of his members for finishing their schedule earlier. Sweat was dripping down his forehead, clinging to his clothes. All he could think about was a nice, cool glass of ice water.
When their dance instructor finally told them they could wrap it up, Sunoo practically dashed out. He heard Sunghoon snickering at him from behind, but he didn’t care. He needed to cool down.
When they got back to the dorm, it was seemingly empty, and Sunoo figured the boys were holed up in their room. He began to head to the fridge to get something to refresh himself when something on the table caught his eye.
A carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Stuck to the lid was a post-it note, that simply said: “For sunshine”
The carton still had an icy film covering it, so it hadn’t been out of the freezer for long. And Sunoo knew for a fact that they hadn’t been stocked up on mint ice cream earlier today. Someone had gone to the store recently to get this.
He looked around wildly. No one else in the group was an avid fan of mint choco like he was. Except....
As if on cue, Niki ambled into the room. “Hey, hyung,” he said to Sunoo.
Sunoo held up the ice cream. “Niki, did you—“
Niki’s eyes lit up. “You got ice cream?! Can I share?” He exclaimed excitedly, cutting off his inquiry. Well that answered his question anyway.
“Sure,” Sunoo said, deflating a little. Whoever had bought the ice cream was probably the same person who had used his picture. He could definitely rule out Sunghoon now, because they had been at dance practice together the whole time.
And judging by the way Niki was digging into his gifted ice cream without restraint, Sunoo figured it probably wasn’t him either.
“Ooh ice cream,” Jake noted as he walked in with Jungwon and Sunghoon trailing behind him. Sunghoon quickly wrinkled his nose as he realized what flavor it was.
“Did someone say ice cream?” Jay poked his head in and Sunoo scowled. He would be lucky to even get a bite of it himself apparently.
“Guys back off, it’s for Sunoo,” came the sound of a disgruntled Heeseung. Sunoo slowly turned to look at him.
“So you’re the one who bought it!” He said accusingly. Heeseung faltered.
“I...”
“Are you the one who used Sunoo’s photo, hyung?” Jake asked. All eyes turned to him. Surprisingly, it was Sunghoon who spoke up.
“There’s no way it was him,” he grumbled. “It must have been someone else.”
“Oh my god, can we put an end to this already,” Jay cried. “Who did it?”
“Maybe it was me,” Jungwon chipped in smugly. Jay turned to him in betrayal, and the boy immediately broke, dissolving into giggles. Niki looked around between all of them curiously, still stuffing spoons of Sunoo’s ice cream into his mouth while everyone else was distracted.
Sunoo looked at Heeseung expectantly.
“Okay fine!” He blurted, looking embarrassed. “You were complaining about how hot it was earlier, and you looked so exhausted today so I bought you the ice cream,” Heeseung confessed.
“Niki!!” Sunghoon said loudly. Niki dropped the spoon guiltily and offered up an endearing grin.
“There’s still some left?” He chuckled weakly.
“So it was you, then?” Sunoo asked, looking straight at Heeseung. He smiled sweetly. “You’re the one who treasures me the most?”
Heeseung coughed and looked at the ground. “Yeah,” he admitted with a quiet little sigh. “I posted it.”
Sunoo couldn’t help but feel warm inside as he saw Heeseung’s cheeks shade with pink. His silent admiration was quickly disrupted however.
“What are you talking about?” Sunghoon asked. Sunoo looked at him to see a genuinely baffled expression on his face. “Why are you lying?”
Heeseung frowned. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no way that you posted it,” Sunghoon argued.
“Why not, Hoon?” Jake asked, covering up a smile.
“Because-because...” he spluttered. “Because I did!”
There was the sound of a spoon clattering to the floor. Jay coughed. Jungwon looked like he was having the time of his life. Sunoo’s eyes couldn’t be further out of their sockets.
“When did the picture go up, Jay?” Jake asked amusedly.
“Uh...” the boy replied dazedly. “During lunch. While we were eating.”
“While we were all on our phones, right?” Jake continued his line of questioning, a small smile on his face.
“No fucking way,” Niki said in awe.
“Language,” Heeseung mumbled half heartedly, locked in a battle of eye contact with Sunghoon.
“What is going onnnn,” Sunoo whined, hiding his face in his hands.
“Did you,” Jungwon gasped, his chest heaving with suppressed laughter, “both change our profile picture to Sunoo at the same time?”
“I thought it was my turn!” Sunghoon yelled.
“You were supposed to go after me,” Heeseung retorted.
“My head hurts,” Sunoo groaned. Heeseung immediately spun around to go fetch some medicine from the cabinet while Sunghoon poured him a glass of water from the pitcher sitting on the kitchen counter.
“This is kind of sad,” Jay remarked.
“He says while nuzzling into Jungwon’s shoulder,” Niki snorted. “Are we the only sane ones, Jake?”
Jake bit his lip, his eyes darting over to Sunoo. “Well actually... I was about to use a picture of Sunoo too,” he admitted. “They just beat me to it.”
“So who treasures me?” Sunoo said with a pout.
“We all do, Sunoo,” Jay said with a groan.
“Yeah hyungie, we all love you equally!” Jungwon piped up.
Sunghoon’s eyebrows shot up. “Well I mean, you guys didn’t post Sunoo’s photo like we did,” he interjected.
“I bought him ice cream,” Heeseung added pointedly. At Sunghoon’s glare, he muttered under his breath, “Just saying...”
“Well the other day, I—“ Sunghoon began.
“What is this, the loving Sunoo olympics?!” Jay cried out.
“Maybe,” Heeseung shot back defensively.
“I’m no stranger to winning gold medals,” Sunghoon said casually, faking an exaggerated yawn.
“All I wanna know is how you both coincidentally posted the exact same photo,” Niki said, his eyebrows raised. “Are you sure this wasn’t coordinated?”
Heeseung furrowed his brow, contemplating. “Well I just used the photo Sunoo sent me,” he said. “He said I’m his favorite hyung and he trusted my opinion the most.”
It was not a rare occurrence for Sunoo to send the members selfies or photos and ask them what they thought. Now that Heeseung brought it up, the profile picture did look familiar as one he’d sent recently.
Heeseung was looking quite smug, before he suddenly tilted his head in confusion, and turned towards Sunghoon. “But how did you get the photo?”
Sunghoon looked equally as confused. “But Sunoo-“ he paused and turned towards him in question. Sunoo froze. “He said you were his favorite hyung, you said?” The question was directed towards Heeseung, but he was looking straight at Sunoo.
“Yes,” Heeseung answered slowly.
“Interesting,” Sunghoon nodded. “That sounds very familiar.”
Sunoo burst out into nervous laughter. “Well about that-“
He darted forward and snatched the mint chocolate chip ice cream off the table, before making a break for his room.
“I TREASURE YOU ALL EQUALLY HYUNGS,” he yelled over his shoulder.
fin.