I promised I'd churn out more chapters, so yes, this is the next one. Chan is a great leader but having just become vice-captain of the artistic swimming national team, I've can empathise more with how hard it is always being the one in charge. It's so difficult to know what to do all the time and I'm always in awe of how Chan knows exactly what to say and do. But he must have doubted himself and struggled too, right? I thought it would be interesting to explore that side of him beyond the infallible leader we all know, so I'll definitely touch on that more in later chapters :)

If the members thought anything would change after tumbling upon Felix and Jisung like that, they were wrong. The two still continued to maintain an air of phony politeness and kept their conversations off camera to the bare minimum.

They had started filming for their survival show already and Chan had to shift his focus to making sure none of them were eliminated. Their first stage with JYP had not gone well as he'd hoped- only a few members had escaped critique and three were at risk of elimination.

Jeongin looked on the verge of tears and Hyunjin looked pretty upset as well. But Minho, who was still holding onto Jisung's hand- the latter having held it before he had to do his first rap for JYP- looked much calmer.

That reassured Chan slightly as he sat down in the middle of the practice room, the members filing in after him. "Right, okay, so that was our first evaluation stage. Some of you did well, but most of us aren't at the standard we need to be. I hope that everyone keeps that in mind. We all need to keep working," he looked at each of them one by one.

"Jeongin, Hyunjin, Minho, I need to speak to you individually. Everyone else, please start working on the areas you need to improve on, okay? Jeongin, come here first,"

"I'm sorry, I did so badly," Jeongin blurted, tears in his eyes. "I just- I was nervous, I'm so sorry-"

Chan did his best to soothe him. He hadn't the heart to scold, especially when Jeongin looked as if he was going to burst into tears and he eventually sent the maknae on his way soothed but without the talking to he'd meant to give.

He was determined to do better with Hyunjin but the rapper looked so despondent he was only able to utter a few feeble remonstrations before he devoted the rest of his time to comforting him before giving up and asking Minho to come.

"Hyung," Minho muttered, sitting in front of him. "I let you down,"

"Naurhhh," Chan's heart melted. Not again, he cursed himself but he couldn't help reassuring him, "You have a great voice, Minho. You mustn't let your nerves get the better of you. But," he tried to lighten the mood, "At least we found out you have potential for being a rapper."

Minho smiled a little, "Yeah, Jisung… I'm really grateful to him,"

"He's a great kid."

"He really is," Minho leaned forward with sudden urgency, "Chan, you have to promise me, if I get eliminated-"

"Don't say that," Chan started but Minho plowed forward.

"If I get eliminated, you have to make sure Jisung and Felix reconcile, okay? Don't let them stay mad at each other, especially if they're going to debut together. Promise me, please."

In a rare moment of vulnerability, Minho was looking at him with absolute seriousness. Chan felt his heart pounding in his throat as he locked eyes with the dancer and nodded, "I promise."

"So I'm going with Minho-hyung then?" Changbin tried to smile and awkwardly shifted across to Minho. Chan watched them a trifle anxiously as they attempted to diffuse the tension somewhat, playing around with a coca-cola bottle.

After what Minho had said about his being eliminated, he was more determined than ever that Minho had a good team for the next round. He had been about to offer to partner with Minho if Changbin hadn't claimed ownership over the third track first.

No way he could join them now; it was best if he, Jisung and Changbin were split to compose the different tracks. Only this way, spreading out his strongest members; could he make sure everyone remained safe.

He'd just have to make sure a strong vocalist joined their team. But no, Seungmin was already in Hyunjin's team and Woojin wanted to join Jeongin's team- not that there was anything wrong with that, he knew the maknae would be well taken care of now.

"Felix, where do you want to go?" he asked.

The Aussie ran his fingers through his freshly dyed blonde hair. "I want to pick the third track,"

"Ah, but with us?" Changbin trailed off as Chan gave him a look. Changbin hastened to explain, "Our team's vocals are a bit ambigious…"

Chan's protective instinct over Felix outweighed his concerns as he said firmly, "He wants to join your track."

With his encouraging nod, Felix waddled cutely over to Changbin and Minho.

"Ah, you don't have a team vocal?" Chan swore under his breath as his worries made a sudden reappearance, Changbin's words finally registering. Changbin gave him a meaningful glare but he joked, "Ah, should I be in charge of singing in our team then?"

"It's okay, Changbin can sing!" Woojin beamed.

"Yeah!" Jisung lightened the mood by belting out Changbin's high note from Hellevator.

"Ah, yes!" Chan encouraged the other members to clap for Changbin. He wasn't the power vocal he'd hoped for Minho's team, but Changbin actually had a decent singing voice.

"Please take care of me," Felix had a much younger and cuter personality on camera that was on full display as he grasped Changbin's hand between his own.

"What? Take care-" Changbin wasn't as great at concealing his emotions yet and there was a quick look of repulsion in his eyes as he (none too subtly) shook Felix's hands off. Felix quickly turned away from the camera on the pretext of opening a bottle of coke, but Chan saw his face fall.

Changbin tried to gloss over the moment with a sheepish smile but Chan shot him a brief, annoyed glance. It didn't help that Jisung was looking way too gleeful, although he quelled him too with a sharp look.

After the live ended, Changbin turned awkwardly to Felix and muttered a brief, "Sorry,"

Felix managed a smile but his eyes were distant and slightly cold, "No problem."

They had the day off, which was great- it was what they all needed, especially with the stress of the survival show and threat of elimination, but what was not so great was that they had to go in their teams.

Changbin felt a bit awkward going out with Minho and Felix, especially the latter. Felix clearly felt it too, as did Minho, who said with a smirk, "I'm going to the toilet, don't miss me too much."

"I'll go with you, hyung," Felix said eagerly, but Minho swatted at him, "Sit on the other edge of the picnic mat before it flies away," he was off before Felix could protest, the latter sinking deflatedly onto the mat.

There was an awkward silence as Felix fiddled nervously with the edge of the picnic mat.

"Come on, am I that scary?" Changbin finally asked, trying to break the tension.

"Not at all," Felix said quickly.

"That's good," It sounded more like a question than Changbin wanted it to and they descended into another tense silence.

Well, this is going great, Changbin thought, remembering with a grimace what Chan had asked him to do earlier that morning.

Before the teams left for their separate outings, Chan had pulled Changbin aside. "Look, I know you don't get along too well with Felix, but please-"

"I know, I know," Changbin had the grace to look abashed.

"Talk to him, Changbin, he's actually a really sweet guy," Chan had smiled so hopefully that Changbin resolved to try his best.

It would have helped if Chan had given him advice about what to talk to Felix about! Changbin had no idea what he liked, or even how old he was… maybe that was a good place to start.

"Hey, Felix, how old are you, by the way?"

"I'm 16. Seungmin and Hyunjin are my age too. Ji-" he stopped.

Changbin quickly tried to gloss over the sticky moment, "Oh wait, there are four of you born in 2000?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Felix considered, "That's pretty cool."

"Jeongin's younger than all of you, isn't he? He's our maknae?"

"Should be. We're all quite close in age, aren't we? Didn't J- someone mention before that Woojin-hyung was the oldest?"

"How old is he? He doesn't look that old," Changbin was glad Felix was obliging him in his nervous age roll.

"If I'm not wrong, he's the same age as Chan-hyung, just born earlier. Minho-hyung is a year younger-"

"Do you guys really miss me that much you still talk about me when I'm gone?" Minho asked jokingly as he came back to the mat.

Changbin sighed with relief, although he was proud to say it hadn't gone that badly.

"How was the picnic?" Chan asked Changbin cheerfully. He was feeling much more relaxed after his team's outing to the bowling center.

Changbin flushed, and his cheeks, already red from the fresh air, got even pinker. Felix's cheeks were just as red and Minho broke out into laughter. "He-Felix, asked Changbin to kiss him!" he choked out between gasps.

"Aish, stop making a big deal out of it!" Changbin waved him away bashfully, recalling the moment in his mind.

Once Minho sat down, the cameras started rolling. Changbin rummaged in his bag and pulled out three lumps of cloth.

"Oh, what's that?"

"Shall we call this an item I prepared ambitiously?" Changbin handed one each to the others as he spoke. "It's an air sofa,"

"Fun!" Felix flapped off happily, dragging the bag with him to fill it with air. Minho and Changbin were quick to follow and once they had lapped nearly the whole field, they gladly sank down to rest on the fully filled air sofas.

"Totally stress-relieving!" Felix rolled around in his sofa, speaking into a microphone he'd picked up from who-knows where.

"Yeah, Felix, it's great!" Changbin impulsively shoved him over in playful fun. Unfortunately, he misjudged his strength and Felix rolled off the air sofa with a thump, wincing.

Before it could become awkward, Minho grabbed Changbin's air sofa in revenge and threw it far away.

Before going to grab it, Changbin turned to mouth a 'sorry' at Felix. Luckily, the younger didn't seem hurt and merely shook his head to show it was fine. He rolled over casually on the air sofa and asked, "Hyung, are you hungry?" , addressing Minho.

"I want to eat chicken," Minho demanded.

"Okay, I'm hungry," Felix agreed.

"Right, who's ordering?" Changbin looked around, then remembered there were cameras. "Should we settle this with a game?"

In the end, Felix had to order, sabotaged by the innocent-looking Minho.

"Why can't you do it, hyung? You're the oldest here," Felix whined.

"In that case you should do it, since you're the youngest," Minho retorted. "But you lost, so come on, don't be chicken,"

"My Korean isn't good," Felix mumbled.

"You should practice more," Changbin encouraged him. "That's what JYP said you had to work on, right?"

Felix jerked his head up and Changbin was surprised to see resentment in his eyes, realising too late he may have touched a nerve. "I. am. practicing." Each word was carefully loaded and tested for its weight on his tongue before being dropped with the weight of an atomic bombshell.

"Alright, alright," Minho hastily intervened with a flick of his eyes toward the camera to remind them it was on, "Maybe you need to work on your courage then, Lix, so how bout you order over the phone for us, yeah?"

Felix closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, his expression was normal once more. He ignored Changbin as he pouted at Minho, but he reluctantly did so.

The next 20 minutes passed without a significant event and Changbin was able to breathe once more. That is, until Felix pulled out that stupid block. They were playing a game of Jenga, and as soon as Felix started maneuvering that block out, Minho started yelping, "There's something weird on that one! What do we do!"

Changbin looked over and sucked in his teeth at the lettering on the faded block.

Felix giggled along with them but Changbin could tell he didn't understand. Changbin sat back on his heels and waited, inwardly groaning at the penalty written on there.

Finally, Felix pulled it free (that boy really tried his patience) and read it carefully, "Kiss… on the cheek? Wait, kiss as in-" He tapped his cheek, "This kind of kiss?"

Changbin exchanged a glance with Minho, who nodded with a disgusted expression on his face. Mindful of what Chan had scolded him about many times before, Changbin tried to school his face into a neutral expression.

"Changbin-hyung and-"

Damn that kid! Changbin only just remembered to keep his face passive. He didn't really want to peck Minho on the cheek and he could tell the latter didn't want to experience it either, judging by the dirty look he was giving Felix.

The Aussie smiled happily, opened his mouth, "And me." He turned to Changbin with a huge smile, something like a challenge sparking in his eyes.

"Oh!" Both Changbin and Minho sputtered and Minho nearly choked on his chicken.

Changbin was completely taken aback by the uno reverse Felix had just pulled. What was this kid on?!

"Well, how about it?" Felix cocked his head, a mischievous smirk making its way onto his face. "You don't love me?" There was a definite note of challenge in his voice now. Minho raised an eyebrow but he was obviously enjoying himself too much to say anything.

Changbin wanted to punch the kid out of the park. This was just the kind of stunt Jisung would have pulled on him and he wasn't very pleased that they had another prankster in the group. He looked to Minho for help, but the elder was too busy chortling and enjoying his chicken, elated to have gotten out of doing the penalty and watching Changbin suffer.

For a second, Changbin actually considered refusing, but thought better of it. He knew well enough what netizens could twist this into and he didn't really want their group to have an image of disliking each other before they even debuted.

Anyway, there was no way he would back down and he stood up. Felix looked at him with slight surprise, "You're really doing it…?"

Changbin didn't give him the benefit of an answer. The younger boy had started this, but he'd be darned if he didn't finish it.

"Do you like me or not like me?" Changbin's hand twitched but he just managed not to smack the living daylights out of Felix. Really, the nerve of him! He'd show him!

Instead, he met Felix's eyes. The other had a devilish smirk on his lips and his dark eyes twinkled full of roguish charm. However, when Changbin knelt down next to him. Some of the confidence winked out of Felix's voice as he said in alarm, "Wait, you're actually doing it? I was just joking!"

Changbin rolled his eyes, "I really want to die."

Felix bit his lip to keep from laughing as he turned his face to the side. He tilted his head to look over at Changbin and another smile broke out across his freckled face, another burst of laughter bubbling from his lips. There was no challenge in his expression now and instead, only nervousness and… excitement.

"Okay, then I'll-oh!" Felix's shocked squeal into the microphone he was holding was triggered by Changbin aggressively grabbing him by the shoulder and neck. "Hold still, would you," he muttered, turning Felix's chin towards him, determined to rise to the occasion. If he thought he could get the better of Seo Changbin, he'd thought wrong.

Now that he was so close to Felix, he could count every freckle on his tanned skin. He felt the boy's Adam's Apple bob and felt the chiselled structure of his jawline beneath his fingertips. He had to admit that Felix was really good-looking and the charming smile flowing across his face only strengthened that opinion. Honestly, he would be lying if he said that kissing this handsome enigma was the worst thing in the world.

The only thing stopping him was, well, that this was Felix. Jisung's sworn enemy. Jisung, whom he regarded as a younger brother and who had expressed gratitude that Changbin was on his side. What would Jisung think?

But as he looked at Felix's bright eyes and heard the excited incomprehensible expression of nervousness, he felt something inside him melt. Felix's exhilaration finally reached him and he let go of the younger, the realisation of what he was going to do hitting him full on in the nerves.

"I was just joking!" Felix laughed, but Changbin steeled himself and held onto his shoulder again. "Hyung, you're really doing it!"

"You said to do it!" Changbin retorted, just refraining himself from slapping Felix for getting them into this mess in the first place. He swallowed and tried to ignore the sudden butterflies swarming his stomach. No one could say that he wasn't a man of his word and with renewed determination to see the deed done, he pulled Felix closer again, "Just stay still!"

Felix's squeals were pelting out of his mouth and belting across the field.

"You're the one that picked this!" Changbin accused him.

For someone whose voice was so deep, Felix's voice could go exceedingly high and it was this overflowing excitement and vulnerability of a child that finally made Changbin do it. He pressed his lips to Felix's soft cheek, feeling the heartbeat of the other boy flutter beneath his lips…

It was only for approximately three seconds before Changbin yanked his mouth away and shoved Felix aside. The screaming boy rolled over on the grass, wriggling adorably and still squealing into the mic.

Changbin spared him a quick glance, feeling exasperation tinged with something else, what was it?... almost fondness.

Uncomfortable as it was, the kiss seemed to have broken the tension between them and they had chatted amiably the rest of the trip. Changbin had always looked disfavorably upon Felix mostly because he admitted to himself- prejudices for Jisung's sake.

But Felix seemed quite friendly and a sweet kid, honestly. If not for Jisung, Changbin was sure they would have been able to get along pretty well.

"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it, Changbin!" Minho laughed, referring to the kiss.

Felix grinned over at Changbin, "He really surprised me; I didn't think he would actually do it."

"Well, that's our Changbin for you," Chan looked even more ecstatic than Felix and he bestowed Changbin with a great beam of joy. There was a strangled noise at the door and Chan looked over Changbin's shoulder, "Hey there you three!"

Changbin whipped around quickly. Jeongin and Woojin were filing in, talking excitedly about their trip to karaoke, but Changbin only had eyes for Jisung's face. On it was a look he'd been dreading.

Betrayal.

This one focuses more on the beginning of Changbin and Felix's relationship, especially the iconic kiss between Changbin and Felix during the survival show. I just thought if Jisung and Felix had a rivalry, it would be really interesting to work out how he would view their relationship as a betrayal. I have an intensive training camp soon and world champs in a month but I'll try to keep more chapters coming. please review and don't hesitate to contact me daramjwi_jisungie on insta :)))))