Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The alarm went off at 6 AM, and Taehyun's first conscious thought was that he was warm.

Too warm, actually. There was a body pressed against his back, an arm slung over his waist, and someone's breath tickling the back of his neck. He cracked one eye open and found Beomgyu's face approximately three inches from his, still deeply asleep and drooling slightly on the pillow.

Right. He'd fallen asleep in Beomgyu's room again.

It kept happening—this gravitational pull between them. Taehyun would tell himself he'd sleep in his own bed, would actually make it there sometimes, but then Beomgyu would text something stupid at 2 AM, or Taehyun would hear him still awake through the wall, and somehow he'd end up here. In Beomgyu's space. In Beomgyu's bed. Under Beomgyu's arm like he belonged there.

Which, if he was honest with himself (and Taehyun tried to be honest about most things), he kind of did. They all did—all five of them, tangled together in ways that had started tentative and careful and had somehow become as natural as breathing. Taehyun couldn't remember exactly when it shifted from friendship to something more, just that one day he'd looked around and realized he was in love with four people and somehow, miraculously, they all loved him back.

"Turn it off," Beomgyu mumbled without opening his eyes, the arm around Taehyun's waist tightening. "S'too early."

"It's your alarm," Taehyun pointed out, voice rough with sleep. His throat felt like sandpaper—he needed water, needed to actually wake up, needed to start thinking about the day ahead. But Beomgyu was warm and the bed was soft and moving seemed like a monumental effort.

"Don't care. Sleep."

Typical. Beomgyu had absolutely no concept of time in the morning. Or most of the time, actually. Taehyun was pretty sure Beomgyu operated on his own personal timezone that existed independent of reality. It was simultaneously infuriating and endearing, and Taehyun had long since given up trying to change it.

Taehyun reached over Beomgyu to grab the phone from the nightstand, accidentally elbowing him in the process. His shoulder protested the stretch—yesterday's practice had been particularly brutal on his upper body—but he managed to snag the device.

"Ow—hey—violence—"

"You're the one who set the alarm," Taehyun said, finally silencing the noise. He settled back into the warmth, and Beomgyu immediately plastered himself back against Taehyun's side like a very clingy octopus.

Some mornings, Taehyun wondered how he'd gotten here. Not in the existential sense—he knew the steps, could trace the path from trainees to debut to the terrifying conversation where Soobin had sat them all down and asked, with shaking hands and genuine fear in his eyes, if maybe they all felt the same way about each other. The relief when they'd all admitted yes had been overwhelming. The first kiss—Yeonjun had initiated it, of course, always the brave one—had felt like coming home.

But moments like this, wrapped up in Beomgyu's clingy morning affection, still felt surreal sometimes. Like he'd wake up and find out it was all a dream, that he'd imagined this happiness.

"Five more minutes," Beomgyu negotiated, face buried in Taehyun's shoulder.

"We have practice at nine."

"That's three hours away."

"And Soobin-hyung will kill us if we're late again."

"Soobinie loves us too much to kill us," Beomgyu said confidently, and Taehyun could feel him smiling against his skin. Then, after a pause where Taehyun could practically hear him thinking, "He'd be very disappointed though."

"Exactly."

Disappointed Soobin was somehow worse than angry Soobin. Angry Soobin they could handle—he'd yell for approximately thirty seconds, get it out of his system, and move on. Disappointed Soobin meant long talks about responsibility and letting the team down and those sad eyes that made Taehyun feel like he'd kicked a puppy.

They lay there for another minute, comfortable and warm, Taehyun's mind slowly coming online. He catalogued the various aches in his body—right knee from yesterday's jumps, left shoulder from that one lift they'd practiced fifteen times, lower back from the floor work. Nothing serious, just the usual collection of dancer problems. He'd stretch it out, ice what needed icing, and push through. Same as always.

Before the door opened, Taehyun heard the soft footsteps in the hallway. Yeonjun-hyung's gait, distinctive even muffled by socks. He always walked quietly in the mornings, considerate of anyone still sleeping even when he was the only one awake.

"I knew it," Yeonjun said from the doorway, already dressed in practice clothes, hair still damp from a shower. Water droplets clung to his neck, and Taehyun's sleep-fogged brain noted absently that he looked unfairly good for six in the morning. "You two are always in the same bed."

"We're cuddling," Beomgyu said, not moving, words muffled by Taehyun's shoulder. "It's romantic."

"It's 6 AM," Yeonjun countered, but he was smiling—that soft, fond smile he got when he looked at any of them, like he still couldn't quite believe they were his. Like he was memorizing the moment. Taehyun had caught him doing it more and more lately, especially during quiet moments like this.

Yeonjun crossed the room with that natural grace he brought to everything, movements fluid even when he was just walking. He leaned down to press a kiss to Taehyun's forehead, gentle and sweet, then one to Beomgyu's cheek. His lips were cool from the shower, and Taehyun felt Beomgyu hum contentedly at the touch.

"Up. Both of you. Soobin's making breakfast."

"He is?" Taehyun perked up immediately, sleep falling away. Soobin's breakfasts were always good—he had this way of making even simple food taste special, like he put love directly into the ingredients.

"He's in a cooking mood," Yeonjun confirmed, straightening up. His hand lingered in Taehyun's hair for a moment, fingers gentle. "Something about 'taking care of his boyfriends' and 'making sure everyone eats properly.'"

"He's been watching cooking shows again," Beomgyu said wisely, finally lifting his head. His hair stuck up in about fifteen different directions, and there was a crease on his cheek from the pillow. He looked ridiculous and adorable and Taehyun wanted to kiss him, so he did—quick and chaste because Yeonjun was watching and morning breath was real.

Beomgyu blinked, surprised but pleased. "Good morning to you too."

"Morning," Taehyun said, and meant it.

They eventually dragged themselves out of bed, though "eventually" involved approximately five more minutes of Beomgyu trying to convince Taehyun that staying in bed forever was a viable life plan. Taehyun stole one of Beomgyu's hoodies because it was soft and smelled nice—like Beomgyu's citrus body wash and something distinctly him that Taehyun couldn't name but would recognize anywhere.

"Hey, that's mine," Beomgyu complained, but it was halfhearted at best.

Taehyun turned and gave him a look—the one that said he knew exactly what he was doing and Beomgyu wasn't getting the hoodie back anytime soon.

Beomgyu's complaint died immediately, replaced by a grin that was equal parts fond and exasperated. "You're evil."

"You love me."

"Unfortunately," Beomgyu said, but he was already moving closer, hands finding Taehyun's waist, pulling him in. The kiss was longer this time, deeper, and Taehyun let himself sink into it. Let himself have this—the warmth, the affection, the easy intimacy they'd built together.

"Cute," Yeonjun observed from where he was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking thoroughly entertained. "Now come on, before Kai eats everything."

The dorm smelled like eggs and toast and coffee—good coffee, the expensive kind Yeonjun insisted on buying even though Soobin kept saying they should save money. The scent wrapped around Taehyun as they emerged from the bedroom, and his stomach reminded him loudly that he'd skipped dinner last night in favor of extra practice.

Soobin was at the stove, looking domestic and focused in his oversized sweater, hair still messy from sleep but face alert. He always woke up faster than the rest of them, going from unconscious to fully functional in about ten minutes flat. Taehyun was deeply envious of this ability. His own wake-up process involved at least thirty minutes of being a semi-sentient zombie.

Kai was already at the table, chin propped on his hand, watching Soobin cook with sleepy adoration. The morning light caught in his hair, making it look almost golden, and he had that soft, unguarded expression he only wore in the mornings, before he put on his performance face for the day.

"Morning," Taehyun said, sliding into the chair next to Kai.

Kai immediately leaned over and pressed his face against Taehyun's shoulder with a small sound of contentment. No words, just the comfortable press of body against body, seeking warmth and contact.

"Tired."

"You literally just woke up."

"Still tired."

Taehyun shifted slightly so Kai could lean more comfortably, one hand coming up to card through the younger's hair. Kai made another pleased sound and basically melted into Taehyun's side. Sometimes Taehyun forgot how tactile Kai was—how much he needed physical touch to feel grounded, especially in the mornings when he was still shaking off whatever dreams he'd been having.

Soobin turned from the stove, spatula in hand, and his whole face softened when he saw them all gathered. That look—the one that said his people were here, safe, together—never failed to make something warm bloom in Taehyun's chest. Soobin carried so much responsibility on his shoulders, sometimes Taehyun worried he'd buckle under the weight. But then he'd look at them like this, and Taehyun could see it was worth it to him. They were worth it.

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Beomgyu drools," Taehyun reported, because he could.

"I do NOT—"

"You absolutely do," Yeonjun said, settling at the table with his coffee, already wrapped in that perpetual amusement he seemed to carry everywhere. He took a long sip, eyes closing in appreciation. "It's okay, it's endearing."

"Nothing about my drool is endearing," Beomgyu said, flopping dramatically into the chair across from Taehyun. His hair was still a disaster, and he hadn't bothered to change out of his sleep clothes. He looked comfortable and rumpled and thoroughly kissable, and from the way Soobin was looking at him, Taehyun wasn't the only one thinking it.

"I think it's cute," Soobin offered, sliding plates of food in front of each of them with practiced efficiency. He'd arranged everything perfectly—eggs cooked exactly how each of them liked them, toast the right level of golden, even the garnish placed with care.

Beomgyu looked torn between being offended and being pleased. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not," Soobin said, and he leaned down to kiss the top of Beomgyu's head before returning to the stove, fingers lingering in Beomgyu's messy hair for just a second longer than necessary. "Eat. We have a long day."

The casual affection—that's what got Taehyun sometimes. The way they could just do this now, touch and kiss and care for each other without second-guessing. In the beginning, it had been careful. Uncertain. Everyone trying to make sure they weren't taking too much, weren't being too needy, weren't upsetting the balance. But they'd worked through it, talked through it, learned each other's boundaries and needs and love languages. And now? Now it was as natural as breathing.

They ate breakfast together, the five of them trading food off each other's plates like they always did. Kai stealing Taehyun's tomatoes because he knew Taehyun hated them but was too stubborn to admit it. Yeonjun surrendering his extra toast to Beomgyu, who could apparently eat his weight in carbs and never gain an ounce. Soobin making sure everyone actually ate instead of just pushing food around, which Taehyun was definitely guilty of when he got in his head about his weight.

It was normal. Comfortable. Home.

Taehyun let the conversation wash over him—Beomgyu complaining about a game he was stuck on, Kai talking about a dance challenge he wanted to try, Yeonjun planning their schedule for the day with the efficiency of a military general. Soobin listened to all of it, adding input where needed, making sure everyone felt heard. Being the leader even at the breakfast table.

Sometimes Taehyun wondered what people would think if they could see this. See them—TXT, the idol group, the carefully curated public images—being completely, messily human. Beomgyu with his bedhead and stolen hoodies. Kai clingy and quiet in the morning. Yeonjun bossy and affectionate. Soobin mothering everyone while secretly needing to be taken care of himself. Taehyun just... existing in their orbit, still slightly amazed he got to keep them.

"What time do we need to leave?" Taehyun asked around a mouthful of eggs, already doing the math in his head. Practice at nine, travel time, needed to arrive early to warm up properly—

"8:30," Soobin said, checking his phone. His leader voice was coming online, replacing the soft domestic version. Taehyun could see the shift happening—shoulders straightening, focus sharpening. "It's Tuesday, so—"

"Nothing good happens on Tuesdays," they all chorused, because it was true. Tuesdays were cursed. It was a known fact.

Soobin smiled, and it was that particular smile that meant he was both amused and completely in agreement. "Exactly. So we're going in prepared."

If they'd known what Tuesday had in store for them, Taehyun thought later, they might have just stayed in bed.

---

Practice had been brutal.

Not unusual brutal—that was standard, expected, just part of being an idol. This was the kind of brutal that made Taehyun question his life choices and wonder if his legs would ever work properly again. The kind that made him understand why some people quit, even when they'd gotten this far.

They'd been in the practice room for five hours. Five solid hours of the same eight counts, the same corrections, the same burning in his muscles that suggested they were planning a mutiny. His calves were screaming. His thighs felt like they'd been replaced with concrete. His core ached from holding tension, and his arms weren't much better.

The mirrors reflected five increasingly destroyed versions of themselves back at them. Soobin's shirt was soaked through, clinging to his back in a way that would've been attractive if they weren't all too exhausted to appreciate it. Beomgyu had given up on life somewhere around hour three and was currently sprawled on the floor like a starfish, staring at the ceiling like it held the answers to the universe.

Yeonjun was still going through the motions, because Yeonjun never stopped, but his eyes had that glazed look that meant his brain had left the building. His body was on autopilot, muscle memory carrying him through the counts while his consciousness took a vacation. Kai sat against the mirror, looking like he'd forgotten what dry clothes felt like, chest still heaving from the last run-through.

Taehyun's feet still hit the counts—muscle memory was beautiful like that, could carry you through even when your brain had completely checked out—but his consciousness was definitely elsewhere. Probably filing a formal complaint about the working conditions. He was running on autopilot and spite, which honestly described most of his life as an idol.

The instructor called for a water break, and everyone collapsed immediately. Taehyun's legs gave out the second permission was granted, depositing him on the floor with less grace than he'd prefer but more speed than he'd thought possible. Everything hurt. Everything. Muscles he didn't even know he had were making their displeasure known.

"I can't feel my legs," Beomgyu announced to the ceiling, like this was a philosophical revelation rather than a statement of fact.

"You don't need legs," Yeonjun said, somehow still upright though he was swaying slightly. "We'll just carry you."

"I accept this." Beomgyu didn't move. Didn't even try. Just lay there like he'd made peace with becoming a permanent fixture of the practice room floor.

Taehyun grabbed his water bottle with hands that shook slightly from exhaustion and tried to remember what being a human person felt like. The music was still playing faintly in the background—they'd been working on it for so long it had basically become white noise. His heart was still hammering against his ribs, trying to recover. His lungs burned. Everything hurt in that specific way that meant tomorrow would be worse.

He gulped down water, not caring that some of it missed his mouth and dripped down his chin. Hydration was important. Their manager had drilled that into them. Dehydration led to injury, injury led to missing practice, missing practice led to falling behind. So Taehyun drank and tried not to think about how much his body hurt.

And then the door opened.

A staff member poked their head in. Casual. Unbothered. Like they hadn't just interrupted five people in various states of physical collapse.

"Oh, by the way," they said, like they were commenting on the weather, "don't make any plans for late fall."

Taehyun's exhausted brain tried to process that. Late fall? That was months away. October, November maybe. Comeback season, probably. But they already had a comeback scheduled for August, so what—

His thoughts scattered as the staff member continued, still in that same casual tone that suggested they had no idea they were about to drop a bomb.

"You'll be collaborating with SEVENTEEN."

The door closed.

Silence.

Complete, total, absolute silence.

The music was still playing in the background—some ballad they'd used for cooldown. Someone's phone buzzed against the floor. The air conditioning hummed. The lights overhead did that thing where they buzzed faintly if you paid attention. Normal sounds. Life continuing.

But everything felt frozen. Like someone had hit pause on reality and forgotten to press play again.

Taehyun blinked. Once. Twice. His brain made a sound like a computer crashing. He tried to process what he'd just heard, tried to make sense of the words, but they kept sliding off his consciousness like water off glass.

SEVENTEEN. They'd said SEVENTEEN. As in, SEVENTEEN SEVENTEEN. Not some other group with a similar name. Not a different collaboration. SEVENTEEN.

Thirteen members. Self-producing legends. One of the biggest groups in K-pop. The people whose music videos Taehyun had watched religiously as a trainee, studying their formations, their synchronization, their stage presence. The people who'd basically written the book on performance.

Those SEVENTEEN.

"Did they just—" Soobin started, and his voice sounded weird. Strangled. Like his vocal cords had forgotten how to work.

"**HUH?!**"

Kai's shriek shattered the stillness like a gunshot, so loud and sudden that everyone jolted. Taehyun's heart, which had finally started to slow down from practice, immediately kicked back into overdrive. His hand spasmed on his water bottle, nearly dropping it.

Beomgyu's phone clattered out of his hand and hit the floor with a crack that suggested the screen was definitely broken. He didn't even move to pick it up, just stared at the closed door with his mouth open, eyes so wide Taehyun could see white all around the irises.

Soobin looked like someone had blue-screened his brain. His mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. He just stood there, frozen, one hand still holding his towel, the other hanging uselessly at his side. His eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing, clearly having some kind of internal crisis.

"Wait," Yeonjun said, voice cracking on the word. He'd gone pale, all the color draining from his face like someone had pulled a plug. "Wait wait wait. Like... SEVENTEEN Seventeen? Like the actual group SEVENTEEN?"

"Do you know another group called Seventeen?" Soobin managed weakly, finally finding his voice though it sounded about three octaves higher than normal.

Fair point. There was only one SEVENTEEN, and they were... them. Legends. Idols' idols. The people you looked up to and aspired to be like and never, ever expected to actually work with because they were in a completely different league.

They all looked at each other, and Taehyun could see his own shock and disbelief reflected in four other faces. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Things like this didn't just happen, didn't just get announced casually by a staff member like it was no big deal.

"That just happened, right?" Beomgyu asked from the floor, still not moving. "I didn't hallucinate that? Because I'm very tired and it's possible I'm hallucinating."

"We all heard it," Taehyun confirmed, though his voice sounded weird to his own ears. Distant. Like it was coming from underwater.

"SEVENTEEN," Kai repeated, like testing the word. Like saying it out loud would make it more real or less real, Taehyun wasn't sure which. "We're... collaborating with SEVENTEEN."

"That's what they said," Yeonjun said, and he sounded slightly hysterical. He ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up in wild directions, and started pacing. His movements were jerky, uncoordinated, so unlike his usual grace that it was jarring to watch.

Another beat of silence as they all tried to process. Taehyun's mind was racing but also completely blank. Like there were too many thoughts trying to happen at once and they'd all crashed into each other and now nothing was getting through.

SEVENTEEN. Collaboration. Them. Those three concepts didn't fit together in any reality Taehyun understood.

Then—

"Oh my god," Soobin said, and his voice was breathy with dawning horror.

"Oh my GOD," Beomgyu echoed, louder, finally sitting up. His face had gone through shock and was now landing somewhere in the territory of panic. "This is real. This is actually real."

"We're gonna die," Kai said matter-of-factly, with the certainty of someone who'd just seen their future and it involved dying of embarrassment. "We're going to actually die."

"We're not gonna die—" Soobin started, slipping into leader mode on autopilot even though he looked like he was having his own crisis.

"We're ABSOLUTELY gonna die," Yeonjun interrupted, spinning to face them with wild eyes. "Do you know who they are? Do you know what they DO? Do you know how good they are at literally everything?"

"I'm aware," Soobin said, but he looked pale. He sat down heavily on the floor, like his legs had given up on supporting him. "I'm very, extremely aware."

Taehyun's brain was starting to catch up now, moving past the initial shock into actual terror. SEVENTEEN. Thirteen members who were all talented in ways that seemed almost unfair. Producers, composers, choreographers, vocalists who could make you cry with a single note. Performers who commanded stages like they owned them.

And TXT was supposed to collaborate with them. Work beside them. Probably be compared to them constantly.

They were going to be so outclassed it wasn't even funny.

The instructor had disappeared at some point. Probably to give them time to process. Or maybe she'd also had a breakdown and was hiding somewhere. Taehyun honestly wouldn't blame her. This was a lot. This was too much.

"This is insane," Taehyun said, finally finding his voice. It came out steadier than he expected, which was good because internally he was screaming. "This is actually insane."

"Should we—" Beomgyu sat up fully now, looking around at all of them with growing panic in his eyes. "Should we like, prepare? Practice more? Learn all their choreo? What do we—"

His phone rang, cutting him off mid-spiral.

Everyone jumped. Kai actually yelped. Yeonjun's hand went to his chest like his heart was trying to escape his ribcage.

Beomgyu grabbed his phone with shaking hands, looked at the screen, and went even paler. If that was possible. He might actually be turning translucent. "It's our manager."

"Answer it!" Kai hissed, scooting closer like proximity would somehow make this less terrifying.

Beomgyu's thumb hovered over the screen for a second, visibly trembling, before he pressed answer and immediately put it on speaker with shaking hands. He set the phone down on the floor between them like it might explode, and they all huddled around it.

"Hey, so," their manager's voice came through, sounding way too calm for what was happening. Too casual. Like he was discussing lunch plans and not a collaboration that was probably going to define their entire careers. "SEVENTEEN wants to meet you. Like, today. Like, they're on their way to your practice room right now."

"WHAT?!" all five of them yelled in unison, voices overlapping into one collective sound of panic.

Taehyun's heart stopped. Just completely stopped functioning. They were coming here? Now? When TXT looked like they'd been dragged through hell backwards? When they were covered in sweat and exhaustion and probably smelled terrible?

"Yeah, they're very excited," their manager continued, and Taehyun could hear the smile in his voice. He was enjoying this. Their suffering was entertainment for him. "They'll be there in like—" there was a pause, probably checking the time or maybe the group chat, "—ten minutes? Maybe fifteen. Traffic depending. Anyway, good luck!"

The call ended with a cheerful beep.

Dead silence.

Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. They just stared at the phone like it had personally betrayed them.

"Ten minutes," Soobin repeated faintly, and he sounded like someone had punched all the air out of his lungs.

Taehyun's brain was making that crashing sound again. Ten minutes. SEVENTEEN would be here in ten minutes. Looking at them. Probably judging them. Definitely noticing that they were disasters in human form.

"We look like disasters," Yeonjun said, voicing exactly what Taehyun was thinking. He looked down at his sweat-soaked clothes with growing horror. "We're disgusting. We smell. We—"

"We don't have TIME to fix any of that," Beomgyu said, scrambling to his feet with the jerky movements of someone operating on pure panic. "They're coming HERE. NOW. In ten minutes!"

"Oh god," Kai whimpered, curling in on himself. "Oh god oh god oh god—"

This was really happening. This was actually happening. No time to prepare, no time to make themselves presentable, no time to have a proper breakdown. SEVENTEEN was coming to meet them and they had ten minutes to figure out how to be functional human beings.

"Okay," Soobin said, and Taehyun saw him physically pull himself together, saw the leader mask sliding into place even though his hands were shaking. "Okay. We just—we breathe. We're professional. We can do this."

"Can we though?" Taehyun asked, genuinely uncertain. His chest felt tight, breathing suddenly difficult. This was too much. This was way too much.

"We have to," Soobin said, and his voice was firm now. Steady. The voice that had guided them through debut, through their first comeback, through every crisis they'd faced. "Because they're coming whether we're ready or not."

Right. Professional. They could be professional. They were idols. They performed in front of thousands of people. They could handle meeting thirteen other idols. Probably. Maybe.

Taehyun was absolutely not convinced.

Yeonjun grabbed his phone with shaking hands. "I'm texting the group chat."

His fingers flew over the screen, and seconds later, Taehyun's phone buzzed. And buzzed again. And again.

**[TXT - the normal one]**

**Yeonjun:** SEVENTEEN IS COMING
**Yeonjun:** RIGHT NOW
**Yeonjun:** TO OUR PRACTICE ROOM
**Yeonjun:** IM GONNA DIE
**Beomgyu:** we're all gonna die
**Kai:** i cant breathe
**Soobin:** Everyone breathe
**Soobin:** We're fine
**Soobin:** We're professionals
**Taehyun:** we're disasters
**Taehyun:** we're sweaty disasters
**Yeonjun:** IM NOT READY
**Beomgyu:** NOBODY IS READY
**Soobin:** Well we have like 8 minutes to GET ready so
**Kai:** this is how i die

They tried to make themselves presentable. Tried being the key word.

Beomgyu found a semi-clean towel and tried to fix his hair, which was plastered to his forehead with sweat. He gave up after approximately thirty seconds and just tried to make it look intentionally messy instead of disaster messy. It didn't work.

Yeonjun reapplied deodorant like his life depended on it, and honestly it might. Taehyun watched him spray it on, then spray more, then apparently decide that wasn't enough and spray even more. The practice room was going to smell like a Bath & Body Works had exploded, but that was probably better than the alternative.

Kai just stood in the corner practicing his bow over and over again, muttering to himself. "45 degrees. No, 90. No, 45 is respectful but 90 is—do we bow? We bow. We definitely bow. How deep though?"

"Kai, you're spiraling," Taehyun said, but his own heart was racing too fast for the comment to have much weight behind it.

"I'm preparing!" Kai squeaked, but he looked like he might actually pass out.

Taehyun sat on the floor trying to remember how to be a person. What did people do when meeting other people? Smile? Introduce themselves? He knew this. He'd done it before. But his brain had apparently deleted all social protocols in favor of screaming internally.

Soobin paced. Back and forth across the practice room, hands running through his hair repeatedly, making it stick up in wild directions. Back and forth. Back and forth. Taehyun tracked the movement, watching their leader try to physically walk off the panic.

"Maybe they won't be that scary," Kai offered weakly, though nobody believed him. He didn't even believe himself. It was obvious in the way his voice cracked on the word "scary."

"They're SEVENTEEN," Yeonjun said, like that explained everything. And it did. "They're gonna be terrifying. They're legends. We're... us."

"They're our sunbaes," Soobin said, still pacing. His hands were moving now too, gesturing as he talked, nervous energy needing an outlet. "We just need to be respectful and professional and—and not completely embarrass ourselves and—"

The door slammed open.

No warning. No knock. No gentle easing into the situation.

Just—

**BANG.**

The sound was so loud it echoed off the practice room walls, making Taehyun's ears ring. His heart, which had been racing, just stopped. Completely stopped. He was going to die. This was how he died. Heart failure at age twenty-one from meeting his seniors.

"**TUBATUUUUUU!!!**"

The sound was so loud it physically hurt. Taehyun felt it vibrate in his chest, felt it rattle through his skull. It was less a greeting and more a sonic assault.

Taehyun made a noise that was definitely not human—something between a squeak and a yelp—and dove behind the couch. Actual dove. Launched himself bodily behind furniture like that would somehow save him from whatever was happening.

Yeonjun stumbled backward with a strangled noise and almost took Soobin down with him, their limbs tangling together as they tried to stay upright. Kai's eyes went huge, pupils blown so wide they were almost entirely black. Beomgyu dropped his phone again, and the crack it made suggested the screen wasn't just broken anymore, it was shattered.

And there they were.

SEVENTEEN.

All thirteen of them.

In their practice room.

Right now.

Standing in the doorway like they owned the place, filling the entire space with their presence.

Taehyun's brain short-circuited. He couldn't process all of them at once—there were too many, too much visual input, too much everything. His eyes jumped from face to face, trying to match real people to the images he'd seen in countless videos and performances.

"**HOW ARE MY BABIES?!**" Hoshi came in first, arms spread wide, grin massive and infectious. He was moving with the kind of energy that suggested he'd had way too much caffeine or had transcended the need for sleep entirely. Maybe both. Probably both.

"**SURPRISE COLLAB!**" DK thundered in behind him, looking absolutely delighted by the chaos he was causing. His smile was bright enough to power a small city, and the volume of his voice suggested he'd never learned the concept of "inside voice."

The rest of SEVENTEEN poured in like a tidal wave, each one bringing their own unique energy. Jun walked in like he owned the place, movements graceful and confident. Joshua waved like royalty greeting their subjects, warm and welcoming. Minghao had an iced Americano in hand and looked like he was judging everyone and everything. Jeonghan looked far too entertained by the entire situation, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Taehyun was still behind the couch. He wasn't moving. Movement required brain function and his brain had left the building approximately three minutes ago.

"**YA!**" S.Coups stomped in, grabbed Hoshi and DK by their collars, and physically yanked them back with the practiced efficiency of someone who'd been doing this for years. "Give them space! Don't traumatize the juniors!"

"We're not traumatizing!" Hoshi protested, though his volume suggested otherwise.

"You absolutely are," Woozi said from the back, not looking up from his phone. His voice was flat, matter-of-fact, and somehow made the entire situation both better and worse.

TXT just stood there. Frozen. Staring.

This was real. This was actually happening. SEVENTEEN was in their practice room. The real actual human beings he'd watched on screens for years were standing approximately fifteen feet away, looking at them, talking to them, existing in the same physical space.

Taehyun's brain was making that crashing sound again.

"Hi," Joshua said, stepping forward with a gentle smile that somehow cut through the chaos. "Sorry about them. They're excited."

"We're ALL excited," Seungkwan corrected, bouncing on his toes like he couldn't contain his energy. His eyes were bright, darting between all five of them with unconcealed interest and enthusiasm.

"I'm terrified," Taehyun muttered from behind the couch, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

Oh no. Oh no no no. Did he just say that out loud? To SEVENTEEN? In their first meeting?

"What was that?" Jeonghan asked, tilting his head. His expression was amused but not mocking, curious rather than judgmental, which was somehow worse because now Taehyun had to actually respond.

"Nothing!" Taehyun squeaked, and he was pretty sure his voice hit a pitch only dogs could hear.

Mingyu moved before anyone could process what was happening, pulling Soobin into a side hug with one long arm. Soobin made a noise like he'd forgotten how to breathe, body going rigid with shock. "Leader-nim! Good to finally meet properly!"

"I—yes—hello—" Soobin managed, and Taehyun could see his brain trying to reboot in real-time. This was their leader. Their composed, steady, always-knows-what-to-say leader. Reduced to single-syllable responses and looking like he might actually pass out.

They were all going to die. This was how TXT ended. Not in a blaze of glory, but from collective heart failure in their practice room.

Vernon spotted Beomgyu and nodded. Just nodded. The universal language of introverts recognizing each other across a crowded room. Beomgyu nodded back, and some unspoken understanding passed between them. Taehyun made a mental note to ask about that later, assuming any of them survived this interaction.

Joshua was already talking to Kai, something soft and gentle that Taehyun couldn't hear from his position behind the couch but could see the effect of. Kai's shoulders relaxed slightly, the panic in his eyes dimming just a fraction. Joshua had that effect—calming, grounding, like a warm blanket in human form.

And then their greeting chants overlapped—

"**ONE DREAM!**" from TXT, slightly panicked and definitely not synchronized.

"**SAY THE NAME!**" from SEVENTEEN, enthusiastic and perfectly timed because of course it was.

Everyone laughed. The tension broke a little. Just a little. Enough for Taehyun to remember how to breathe, enough for his heart rate to drop from "medical emergency" to merely "extremely concerning."

"Okay," S.Coups said, and the way he said it immediately commanded attention. Leader voice. The kind that meant business. "So. Collaboration."

"We heard," Soobin said, finding his voice properly now. Still shaky, but functional. Progress. "Like, ten minutes ago."

"We wanted to meet you right away," Hoshi said, and his enthusiasm was so genuine it was almost painful to witness. "Couldn't wait. We've been excited about this for weeks."

Weeks. They'd known for weeks. While TXT had found out approximately fifteen minutes ago and had immediately entered a collective state of crisis.

"Clearly," Woozi muttered, and there was definite judgment in his tone. Not directed at TXT though—at his own members and their complete lack of chill.

The room started to settle. People naturally gravitating toward each other, chaos organizing itself into something almost manageable. Taehyun watched from his position behind the couch as groups formed.

Soobin ended up with S.Coups, Jun, Joshua, and Wonwoo. The leader corner. The responsible ones. The people who had to manage all of this insanity and somehow keep everyone alive and functional. Taehyun felt for them.

Joshua immediately launched into a dad joke, because apparently that was happening. "Why did the scarecrow win an award?"

Soobin blinked, clearly not expecting this turn in the conversation. "...Why?"

"Because he was outstanding in his field!"

The groan was immediate and came from multiple directions. Jun looked physically pained. Wonwoo's expression suggested he'd heard this joke approximately seventeen thousand times and it hadn't been funny any of those times.

"That was terrible," Jun said, but he was smiling.

"I have more," Joshua promised, and it sounded like both a promise and a threat.

Yeonjun got immediately tackled by Hoshi, DK, and Seungkwan. They descended on him like puppies spotting a new toy, all enthusiasm and zero personal space boundaries.

"You're so PRETTY!" DK said, face way too close to Yeonjun's. Like, concerningly close. Taehyun could see Yeonjun's eyes go wide with alarm.

"How do you do your eyeliner?" Seungkwan demanded, reaching for Yeonjun's face like he was going to investigate right there and then. "Is it tattooed? Teach me."

Hoshi just hugged him. No words, just grabbed Yeonjun and pulled him into a tight embrace. "Mine now."

"Sunbaenim—" Yeonjun squeaked, but he was smiling. Overwhelmed but smiling.

Beomgyu ended up with Mingyu and Dino, the three of them already huddled together and planning something that looked either brilliant or catastrophic. Possibly both. From the way they were grinning at each other, definitely both. Taehyun made another mental note to keep an eye on that situation.

And Taehyun—

Taehyun tried to stay small. Tried to observe without being observed. It was his default mode in new situations—watch, assess, figure out the dynamics before jumping in. It usually worked.

It worked for approximately thirty seconds.

Then he found himself drifting toward Woozi and Vernon because they were quiet and not yelling. They were having a conversation in low tones, something about production that Taehyun couldn't quite catch but sounded interesting.

Minghao slid in next to them without a word, iced Americano in hand, and just existed there. Not demanding attention, not trying to fill the silence, just being present. Taehyun appreciated that. Appreciated the lack of pressure.

And then Jeonghan appeared out of nowhere and wrapped Taehyun in a back hug.

Just—did it. No warning. No asking if it was okay. One second Taehyun was standing there trying to make himself invisible, the next there were arms around him and a chin resting on top of his head.

Taehyun froze. Every muscle in his body locked up simultaneously. His brain made a crashing sound that was becoming worryingly familiar. He couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't process what was happening.

Jeonghan was hugging him. SEVENTEEN's Jeonghan. The legendary visual. The one who was supposed to be an angel. Was hugging him. Taehyun. Random.

"Breathe," Woozi said, and there was definite amusement in his voice. He'd looked up from his phone and was watching with unconcealed entertainment.

"I—" Taehyun's voice came out strangled, barely recognizable as his own. "Sunbaenim?"

"Jeonghan-hyung is fine," Jeonghan said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. His voice was warm, fond, like he hugged random juniors all the time and this was completely normal.

Maybe it was normal for him. Maybe this was just how SEVENTEEN operated. Taehyun's brain was still having trouble processing.

"You'll get used to it," Vernon said without looking up from his phone, voice as flat and unbothered as ever.

"Will I?" Taehyun squeaked, because he genuinely wasn't sure. This felt like the kind of thing you didn't get used to. Like trying to get used to the sun rising in the west.

"Probably not," Minghao said, taking a sip of his Americano. "But you'll pretend."

Right. Pretending. Taehyun could do that. He was good at pretending. He pretended to be confident on stage all the time. This was just... pretending in a different context.

The instructor reappeared, looking like she'd had a drink somewhere—or several drinks—and was ready to quit her job. Her hair was slightly disheveled, her expression hovering between exasperation and resignation.

"Sit. Down," she said, and her tone left no room for argument.

They tried.

"Trying" and "succeeding" turned out to be very different things.

By the time everyone had "settled," Hoshi was draped across Yeonjun's back like a scarf, arms wrapped around his neck, showing no signs of ever letting go. DK had planted himself firmly in Beomgyu's lap and was making himself comfortable, apparently having decided this was his spot now. Jeonghan still had Taehyun trapped in a hug, arms a warm weight that was somehow both comforting and terrifying.

Taehyun's boyfriends were scattered around the room, each dealing with their own SEVENTEEN situations. He caught Kai's eye across the space—Kai who was somehow sandwiched between Joshua and Seungkwan, looking overwhelmed but not unhappy. They shared a look that said: *Is this real life?*

"The leaders have been briefed," the instructor said, pointedly ignoring the chaos that was her current reality. She pulled out a folder, probably full of official documents and schedules and things that would make this all feel more real. "You'll be forming cross-group units. Vocal, performance, and hip-hop. Each will release a song and stage together."

Processing happened slowly. Taehyun's brain took the words, examined them, tried to fit them into a framework that made sense.

Cross-group units. Meaning mixing members from both groups. Meaning working closely together. Meaning—

Then—

"**WHAT?!**"

"We get to PICK?!"

"Sub-units?!"

The realization hit everyone at once, and the carefully maintained semi-peace shattered into chaos again.

Seungkwan's hand shot up like they were in class. "Can we choose members?!"

The instructor nodded, looking like she regretted all her life choices that had led to this moment.

That was it.

Peace ended.

War began.

"**YA! KANG TAEHYUN!**" Seungkwan yelled, launching himself across the room with the determination of someone on a mission.

He grabbed Taehyun's wrist—the one not currently trapped by Jeonghan—and pulled. Hard.

"**NO!**" Hoshi released Yeonjun and lunged, grabbing Taehyun's other arm with equal force. "**HE'S MINE!**"

Taehyun felt like a wishbone. A very confused, very overwhelmed wishbone being pulled in two directions by two incredibly strong idol seniors.

"**HYUNGS?!**" Taehyun squeaked, feet actually leaving the floor slightly from the force of being pulled. This was not how he'd imagined his first real interaction with SEVENTEEN would go.

"Stop scaring my baby," Jeonghan said calmly from behind him, still not letting go. His arms tightened slightly, protective, and Taehyun's brain short-circuited again at the casual possessiveness.

"Your WHAT?!" Hoshi gasped, looking genuinely offended. Like Jeonghan had just declared war.

"**BACK OFF! HE'S A VOCAL!**" Seungkwan growled, yanking Taehyun's arm harder. "Main vocal! We need him!"

"**HE'S VERSATILE! STAGE PRESENCE FOR DAYS!**" Hoshi shrieked back, not loosening his grip either. "Performance unit!"

Taehyun looked like he wanted to astral project out of his body. His eyes were huge, face bright red, and he kept making these small distressed noises that would have been funny if Taehyun wasn't currently being torn apart by his seniors fighting over him.

Across the room, Mingyu casually draped an arm around Yeonjun's shoulders like he was claiming territory. "This one's ours. Hip-hop unit. Done."

"**WHAT?!**" Yeonjun yelped, whipping around to stare at Mingyu. "Don't I get a say?!"

"No," Mingyu said cheerfully. "You write, you produce, you rap. Hip-hop unit. Simple."

"**THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORKS!**"

"It is now," Wonwoo said, appearing at Mingyu's other side. The two of them looked entirely too pleased with themselves.

"He's doing it again!" Dino pointed at Mingyu accusingly. "Claiming people like Pokemon!"

"**HANNIE-HYUNG!**" Dino turned puppy eyes on Jeonghan, lower lip wobbling in a pout that was definitely weaponized. "Tell him that's not fair!"

"**CHEOL-HYUNG, HE'S USING PUPPY EYES! THAT'S CHEATING!**" Mingyu whined, pointing at Dino like he was reporting a crime.

S.Coups pulled his hoodie over his head and gave up on life. Just completely checked out. Nope. Not his problem. He was done.

Jun, somehow on a couch that hadn't been there five minutes ago—seriously, where did that come from?—finally snapped.

"**EVERYONE SHUT UP.**"

Silence.

Complete, immediate, total silence.

You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone froze, even mid-motion. Hoshi and Seungkwan were still holding Taehyun's arms, but they'd stopped pulling. DK was halfway through climbing onto someone else. Mingyu's arm was suspended in mid-gesture.

"Thank you," Jun said, perfectly calm now that he had everyone's attention.

"Thank you," the instructor echoed weakly, looking at Jun with something like gratitude. Or worship. Maybe both.

She clutched her folder like a shield. "You have 48 hours to finalize your units. I'm leaving."

And she did.

Actually turned around and walked out. Speed-walked, really. Almost ran. The door closed behind her with a decisive click.

The instant she was gone, the noise started again.

Seungkwan looked at Hoshi with challenge in his eyes. "Rock, paper, scissors. Winner gets Taehyun."

"**WAIT WHAT—**" Taehyun started, but nobody was listening to him anymore.

"Deal," Hoshi said, finally releasing Taehyun's arm. Seungkwan did the same, and the two of them squared up like this was a duel.

Taehyun stood there, watching his fate literally be decided by a children's game. This was his life now. This was actually happening.

"Best of three," Seungkwan declared.

"Best of five," Hoshi countered.

"Three."

"Five."

"**THREE OR I'M TAKING HIM NOW.**"

"Fine. Three."

They played. Taehyun watched, unable to look away from the absolute absurdity of the situation. His seniors—legendary idols—were playing rock, paper, scissors over him like he was the last slice of pizza.

First round: Hoshi won with paper over Seungkwan's rock.

Second round: Seungkwan won with scissors over Hoshi's paper.

Third round—

The tension was palpable. Everyone was watching now, even the members who weren't directly involved. This had become a spectator sport.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Hoshi: Rock.
Seungkwan: Scissors.

For a moment, nobody moved. Nobody breathed.

Then Hoshi screamed with triumph, arms raised in victory like he'd just won the Olympics. "**YES! PERFORMANCE UNIT! HE'S MINE!**"

DK sobbed into the carpet, actually sprawled face-down on the floor in defeat. "**WE WERE SO CLOSE!**"

Taehyun was pink-cheeked and still processing what had just happened, clinging to Jeonghan's shirt like it was the only solid thing in a world that had completely lost its mind. His face was burning. His whole body was burning. They'd just decided his fate with rock-paper-scissors. This was his life now.

Actually, wait. Taehyun's brain caught up with reality. That meant he was in performance unit. With Hoshi. And Jun. And Minghao. And—

He was going to learn choreography from *Hoshi*. The same Hoshi whose videos he'd studied religiously as a trainee. The same Hoshi who was considered one of the best performers in K-pop.

Oh no.

Oh no no no.

He was absolutely going to die.

"Welcome to the madness," Jeonghan whispered, fingers gentle in Taehyun's hair. His touch was soothing, grounding, and Taehyun leaned into it without thinking.

"I hate it here," Taehyun whispered back, but it was a lie and they both knew it.

He didn't mean it. Not really. This was terrifying and overwhelming and completely insane, but there was something exciting about it too. Something that made his heart race in a way that wasn't entirely fear.

---

The energy in the room didn't settle so much as... shift. From screaming chaos to buzzing chaos. Still loud, still overwhelming, but slightly more organized. Like chaos that had found a purpose.

"Okay," S.Coups said, trying valiantly to restore some semblance of order to the situation. He'd emerged from his hoodie, looking resigned to his fate as the person who had to manage all of this. "That was—"

"Beautiful," Hoshi finished, still grinning like he'd won the lottery. Which, in his mind, he probably had.

"Insane," Woozi corrected from his spot against the wall, still on his phone but definitely paying attention.

"Same thing," Hoshi said with a shrug.

People started to naturally cluster again, the initial shock wearing off. TXT was starting to remember how to breathe properly, how to exist as functional human beings instead of terrified statues. SEVENTEEN was starting to act slightly less like they'd consumed twelve espressos in rapid succession.

Slightly.

Very slightly.

"So," Mingyu said, arm still draped around Yeonjun's shoulders (who'd stopped trying to escape and seemed to have accepted his fate). "Hip-hop unit. You write?"

"Yeah," Yeonjun said, still looking overwhelmed but getting steadier. "I mean—I try. I have a lot of verses in my notes app but they're probably not—"

"Show me later," Mingyu interrupted, genuinely interested. "We'll vibe. Work on stuff together."

"We'll suffer," Wonwoo corrected, appearing on Yeonjun's other side like he'd materialized out of thin air.

"Suffering is part of the creative process," Vernon added, finally looking up from his phone to contribute this piece of wisdom.

"That's concerning," Beomgyu said from where he was still trapped under DK's weight. DK had apparently decided Beomgyu's lap was his permanent seat now.

"Welcome to hip-hop unit," Mingyu said cheerfully, like he hadn't just casually mentioned suffering as a creative requirement.

"I feel like I should be worried," Yeonjun said.

"You should be," Wonwoo confirmed.

"But it'll be fun," Mingyu added.

"Will it though?"

"Probably not. But we'll make good music."

Taehyun watched this exchange with growing concern for his boyfriend's sanity and wellbeing. He caught Yeonjun's eye across the room and they shared a look: *What have we gotten ourselves into?*

On the other side of the room, Joshua had somehow convinced Kai and Soobin to actually sit down on the floor like civilized people. They were in a small circle, and Joshua looked entirely too pleased with himself for successfully wrangling them.

"Vocal unit's gonna be chill," Joshua promised, and he sounded so sincere that Taehyun almost believed him. "Well—chiller than them." He gestured vaguely at Hoshi and DK, who were still celebrating their rock-paper-scissors victories.

"That's not a high bar," Soobin pointed out, but his shoulders were relaxing. Joshua had that effect—just naturally calming, like ambient music in human form.

"Exactly. So we're good," Joshua said with that gentle smile.

DK appeared behind the couch, draping himself over the back like a cat. "We're gonna make something BEAUTIFUL."

"We're gonna make something," Seungkwan corrected, appearing next to DK, still clearly sulking about losing Taehyun. "Beautiful is TBD."

"Have faith," Joshua said.

"I have anxiety," Seungkwan countered.

"Same thing," DK said cheerfully.

Taehyun had finally been released from Jeonghan's hug and was sitting very still between Woozi and Vernon, trying to process his entire existence. His mind was racing, jumping between thoughts too fast to catch any of them fully. Performance unit. With Hoshi. This was real. This was his life now.

"You good?" Vernon asked, voice low and casual.

"I don't know," Taehyun said honestly, because lying seemed pointless. "Maybe? Everything's happening very fast."

"It's always like this," Woozi said, typing something on his phone. His fingers moved rapid-fire across the screen, probably answering the seventeen thousand messages that were undoubtedly flooding in. "You get used to it."

"Do you?" Taehyun asked, genuinely curious.

"No," Woozi said flatly. "But you get better at pretending."

That seemed to be a running theme with SEVENTEEN. Just pretend until it feels real. Fake it til you make it on a professional level.

Minghao sat down next to them, magazine in hand. He'd pulled it from seemingly nowhere, and Taehyun wondered briefly if all of SEVENTEEN just carried random objects around for situations like this. "Hoshi's already planning choreography in his head," Minghao said, not looking up from the magazine. "I can see it."

They all looked over. Sure enough, Hoshi was staring into the middle distance, completely zoned out, fingers twitching in small movements. His eyes were unfocused, clearly seeing formations and moves that only existed in his mind.

"He's insane," Taehyun said, and it wasn't judgment so much as observation.

"Correct," Minghao agreed readily, flipping a page. "But he's good at what he does. You'll learn a lot."

"If I survive."

"That's the spirit," Minghao said, and Taehyun couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Jun appeared like a graceful ghost, moving with that distinctive flowing quality he had. "Performance unit meeting. Now-ish. When Hoshi stops dissociating."

"I'M NOT DISSOCIATING!" Hoshi yelled from across the room, apparently still capable of hearing despite being in his own world. "I'M CHOREOGRAPHING!"

"Same thing," Dino muttered, and several people nodded in agreement.

They gathered—Hoshi, Jun, Dino, Minghao, Taehyun, and Yeonjun (who was apparently in both hip-hop AND performance because of course he was, because Yeonjun was talented in ways that should be illegal).

Performance unit. This was happening. This was really happening.

"Okay," Hoshi said, and his eyes were bright—not just with excitement but with genuine passion. This was what he lived for, Taehyun realized. This was his element. "I know we're not officially starting yet, but I just want to say—" he looked directly at Taehyun and Yeonjun, "—you two are gonna fit in perfect."

"You don't even know if we can dance," Yeonjun pointed out, though he was smiling now. Less overwhelmed, more intrigued.

"I've seen your stages," Jun said simply, like it was obvious. "You can dance."

"I've watched all your performances," Hoshi admitted without shame. "Multiple times. I have notes. Color-coded notes. And timestamps."

"That's slightly terrifying," Taehyun said.

"I prefer 'dedicated,'" Hoshi corrected.

"It's definitely terrifying," Dino confirmed, speaking from years of experience. "But you'll get used to it."

"Will I though?" Taehyun asked, genuinely uncertain.

"No," Minghao said, taking another sip of his Americano. "But again—you'll pretend."

Time passed weird. One minute it felt like they'd just arrived, like the door had just slammed open and scared ten years off Taehyun's life. The next it was somehow almost six PM. The windows showed darkening sky, Seoul's city lights starting to twinkle in the distance.

How had six hours passed? Taehyun couldn't account for any of it. It was just a blur of conversations and laughter and slowly decreasing panic levels.

People started checking phones, realizing how late it was getting. Taehyun saw S.Coups glance at his watch and wince. Soobin was doing the same, that particular expression on his face that meant he was mentally calculating travel time and schedule impacts.

"We should probably—" S.Coups started, and Taehyun could hear the reluctance in his voice.

"Yeah," Soobin agreed, looking at his members scattered around the room. They all looked exhausted—good exhausted, the kind that came from laughing too much and processing too much and just feeling too much all at once.

But still. Exhausted.

The goodbyes took forever. Because of course they did. This was SEVENTEEN, apparently incapable of doing anything quickly or simply.

DK hugged everyone. Literally everyone. Even the people who didn't know him well enough for hugs yet, who looked startled at the sudden affection. He did not care. Everyone was getting hugged, resistance was futile.

When he got to Taehyun, the hug nearly lifted him off his feet. "You're gonna be amazing," DK said fiercely, like it was a fact rather than an opinion. "I'm so excited to see what you do."

"Thank you, sunbaenim," Taehyun managed, still trying to process that DK—SEVENTEEN's DK—thought he was going to be amazing at anything.

"Just hyung," DK corrected, pulling back with that brilliant smile. "We're gonna be working together. We're family now."

Family. The word settled into Taehyun's chest, warm and unexpected.

Hoshi made Taehyun promise to practice stretching, got right in his face with that intense energy he brought to everything. "Flexibility is important! So important! I'm texting you stretching routines!"

"You don't have my number," Taehyun pointed out, though he had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going.

Hoshi was already typing, fingers flying across his screen. "I do now. Woozi-ya gave it to me."

"He WHAT—" Taehyun spun to look at Woozi, who just shrugged, completely unrepentant.

"You're in performance unit now," Woozi said simply. "Hoshi would have gotten it eventually anyway. I just expedited the process."

"That's—you can't just—" Taehyun spluttered, but Hoshi was already sending messages and Taehyun's phone was already buzzing in his pocket.

This was his life now.

Mingyu ruffled Yeonjun's hair with casual affection, making it stick up in all directions. Yeonjun made an indignant noise but didn't actually move away. "Hip-hop unit group chat is happening tonight. Be ready."

"For what?" Yeonjun asked suspiciously, trying and failing to fix his hair.

"Chaos," Wonwoo said.

"Mostly memes," Vernon added helpfully.

"Same thing," Mingyu said with a grin.

"That's not reassuring," Yeonjun said, but he was smiling. Actually smiling, not just pretending. Taehyun could see the difference.

Jeonghan gave Taehyun one last head pat, fingers gentle as they ruffled his hair. The touch was soft, careful, affectionate in a way that made Taehyun's chest feel tight. "Take care of yourself, okay? Eat. Sleep. Don't overwork."

It sounded like something Soobin would say. Leader things. Caring things.

"I—okay," Taehyun managed, still not quite used to the casual affection from someone he'd considered unreachable just hours ago.

"I'm serious," Jeonghan said, and his eyes were soft but intense. "We're gonna be working together a lot. I need you healthy. All of you," he added, glancing at the rest of TXT. "Take care of each other."

"We will," Soobin said, leader to leader. Some understanding passed between them—shared responsibility, shared pressure, shared determination to keep their people safe.

Something warm settled in Taehyun's chest, spreading outward until his whole body felt lighter. They cared. SEVENTEEN actually cared about them, about their wellbeing, about them as people and not just collaborators.

Finally—FINALLY—they managed to extract themselves from the practice room. It took another fifteen minutes of prolonged goodbyes and promises to text and "we'll see you soon" and one more hug from DK who apparently couldn't help himself.

TXT stumbled out into the hallway, all five of them moving in a dazed cluster, and just stood there for a second. The hallway was blessedly quiet, the chaos of the practice room muted by the closed door.

"That happened," Beomgyu said, breaking the silence.

"That HAPPENED," Kai echoed, louder, like increasing volume would make it more real.

"We're collaborating with SEVENTEEN," Yeonjun said, like testing the words in his mouth. Seeing if they sounded real when spoken aloud.

"We're gonna die," Taehyun said, but it didn't sound as terrifying as it had before. More like... anticipation. Excited dread. The good kind of fear.

"We already established that," Soobin said, but he was smiling. Really smiling, the kind that reached his eyes and softened his whole face.

They made it to the van somehow, legs carrying them on autopilot. Collapsed inside in their usual seats—Taehyun between Beomgyu and Kai, Yeonjun in front of them, Soobin in the passenger seat like always.

Nobody talked for a solid five minutes. Just sat there, processing. Existing in the aftermath of whatever that had been.

The van started moving, pulling out of the parking lot, and Seoul passed by the windows in familiar blurs of light and color.

Then Beomgyu's phone buzzed.

Then Yeonjun's.

Then Taehyun's.

Then Kai's.

Then Soobin's.

All at once. A cascade of notification sounds that could only mean one thing.

"Oh no," Soobin said, pulling out his phone with the resignation of someone who knew exactly what was coming.

**[Collabocalypse 2025]** had been created.

Eighteen people. No escape. May god have mercy on their souls.

**Hoshi:** HELLO PERFORMANCE BABIES
**DK:** HELLO VOCAL ANGELS
**Mingyu:** hip hop unit rise up
**Seungkwan:** I'm still mad about the rock paper scissors
**Hoshi:** GET OVER IT
**Jeonghan:** This is going to be entertaining
**Woozi:** This is going to be a nightmare
**S.Coups:** Same thing
**Vernon:** rip our sleep schedules
**Jun:** rip our sanity
**Joshua:** Let's stay positive!
**Wonwoo:** no
**Dino:** HYPE HYPE HYPE
**Minghao:** I'm already tired
**Soobin:** This is a lot
**Yeonjun:** THIS IS TOO MUCH
**Beomgyu:** we're gonna die
**Kai:** we established this already
**Taehyun:** can we not yell in the group chat
**Hoshi:** NO PROMISES

The messages kept coming. Sixty-three in the first ten minutes. The phone in Taehyun's hand buzzed constantly, an endless stream of chaos that showed no signs of stopping.

"Turn off notifications," Soobin advised weakly from the front seat, but he didn't follow his own advice. None of them did.

They couldn't look away. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion—horrifying but impossible to ignore.

In the van ride home, Taehyun leaned against the window, watching the city pass by, phone still buzzing in his hand like a living thing. The glass was cool against his forehead, grounding.

Seoul at night was beautiful. All those lights, all those people, all those lives happening simultaneously. And somewhere in that massive city, thirteen people were probably in their own van, having their own conversation about today.

About TXT. About the collaboration. About them.

It was surreal. All of it was surreal.

This was insane. This was actually insane.

But maybe—

Maybe it would be good.

Chaotic and exhausting and probably a little bit terrifying, yes. But also exciting. Challenging. A chance to learn from people he'd looked up to for years. A chance to grow.

A chance to prove that TXT belonged in the same conversation as groups like SEVENTEEN.

His phone buzzed again. And again. And again.

**[Performance Unit - The Thunderdome]**

**Hoshi:** get good sleep taehyun-ah
**Hoshi:** big things coming
**Hoshi:** EXCITING things
**Jun:** don't scare him
**Hoshi:** IM NOT SCARING
**Hoshi:** IM INSPIRING
**Dino:** same thing hyung
**Minghao:** Goodnight Taehyun
**Minghao:** Ignore Hoshi
**Hoshi:** RUDE

Taehyun smiled, something warm and hopeful blooming in his chest. He typed out a quick response—just a simple "goodnight hyungs, see you soon"—and put his phone away before Hoshi could respond and restart the entire conversation.

The van pulled up to their dorm. Home. Safe space. The place where they could stop being idols and just be themselves.

They stumbled inside, exhaustion hitting all at once now that they were in familiar territory. Shoes kicked off, jackets dropped wherever, the usual end-of-day chaos.

"Shower," Yeonjun announced. "I'm disgusting."

"We're all disgusting," Beomgyu agreed.

"Dibs on first shower," Kai said, already moving toward the bathroom.

"You always call dibs," Taehyun protested, but it was halfhearted.

"Because I'm smart and you're slow," Kai said, disappearing into the bathroom before anyone could argue.

Taehyun ended up on the couch with Beomgyu, waiting their turn. Soobin was in the kitchen making tea even though it was late and they should probably just sleep. Yeonjun was scrolling through his phone, reading through all the messages they'd accumulated.

"Today was insane," Beomgyu said, head on Taehyun's shoulder.

"Yeah," Taehyun agreed.

"Are you scared?" Beomgyu asked quietly.

Taehyun thought about it. About Hoshi's intensity and Jun's grace and Minghao's quiet confidence. About being in performance unit with people who were so far beyond his level it should be terrifying.

"Yeah," he said again. "But... excited too?"

"Me too," Beomgyu said. "Terrified and excited. Is that normal?"

"For us? Probably."

They sat in comfortable silence, Beomgyu's weight warm and familiar against his side. This was good. This was home. No matter what happened with SEVENTEEN, no matter how chaotic the collaboration got, he had this. Had them.

His phone buzzed one more time.

He picked it up, expecting more chaos from the group chats.

Instead, it was from Soobin in their private TXT chat.

**Soobin:** Proud of you all today. We're going to do amazing things.

Simple. Direct. So perfectly Soobin.

Taehyun smiled and sent back a heart emoji, then immediately regretted it because he never sent emojis. But it felt right for the moment.

Yeah.

This was gonna be good.

Chapter Text

**6:47 AM - TXT Dorm**

Taehyun woke up to his phone having a seizure on the nightstand.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

He grabbed it with one eye still closed, squinting at the screen through the haze of sleep that clung to him like cobwebs. The blue light burned his retinas. He blinked once, then twice, trying to make sense of the notification spam flooding his lock screen.

Forty-two notifications.

Forty-two.

And it was not even seven in the morning.

For a long moment, Taehyun just stared at his phone, brain still buffering, trying to process what he was seeing. His first coherent thought was that someone had died. His second thought was that someone was actively dying. His third thought was checking which group chat had exploded.

Oh.

Oh no.

**[Performance Unit - The Thunderdome]**

**Hoshi [6:12 AM]:** GOOD MORNING
**Hoshi [6:12 AM]:** wait
**Hoshi [6:12 AM]:** GOOD MORNING!!!!
**Hoshi [6:13 AM]:** thats better
**Hoshi [6:14 AM]:** did everyone sleep well
**Hoshi [6:15 AM]:** are you stretching
**Hoshi [6:16 AM]:** HYDRATING???
**Hoshi [6:17 AM]:** taehyun-ah
**Hoshi [6:18 AM]:** jun-ah tell me if im being too much
**Jun [6:19 AM]:** youre being too much
**Hoshi [6:19 AM]:** okay but am i REALLY
**Jun [6:20 AM]:** yes
**Hoshi [6:21 AM]:** hmmm
**Hoshi [6:21 AM]:** im gonna keep going anyway
**Hoshi [6:22 AM]:** TAEHYUN-AH
**Hoshi [6:23 AM]:** YEONJUN-AH
**Hoshi [6:24 AM]:** why is no one answering
**The8 [6:25 AM]:** Because it's 6am
**The8 [6:25 AM]:** Normal people are asleep
**Hoshi [6:26 AM]:** SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK
**Dino [6:27 AM]:** hyung i can hear you pacing upstairs
**Dino [6:27 AM]:** go back to bed
**Hoshi [6:28 AM]:** cant
**Hoshi [6:28 AM]:** too excited
**Hoshi [6:29 AM]:** we have UNITS to plan
**Hoshi [6:29 AM]:** CHOREOGRAPHY to discuss
**Hoshi [6:30 AM]:** FUN to have

Taehyun stared at his phone, his brain slowly catching up to reality. Yesterday—had that really only been yesterday?—SEVENTEEN had literally invaded their practice room like some kind of coordinated idol raid. There had been yelling and grabbing and rock-paper-scissors deciding his fate like he was a prize at a carnival. He'd been hugged by Jeonghan like physical affection from a stranger was a completely normal Tuesday occurrence. Hoshi had won custody of him via a children's game that should not have held that much power over his professional life.

And now Hoshi was texting at 6 AM like they were best friends who had known each other for years instead of people who had met approximately sixteen hours ago.

This was his life now.

This was actually, genuinely, his life.

Taehyun let his head fall back against the pillow, phone still clutched in his hand, and seriously contemplated every life choice that had led him to this moment. Maybe he should've become an accountant. Accountants didn't get claimed by hyperactive choreographers at dawn. Accountants probably had peaceful mornings. Accountants probably didn't wake up to forty-two messages from someone who typed in all caps like punctuation was a personal enemy.

From the other bed, Kai groaned—a sound that came from deep in his soul, the kind of groan that suggested he too was questioning his life choices. He grabbed his own phone from the nightstand, fumbling with it, nearly dropping it on his face. His eyes went wide, reflecting the phone's glow in the dim morning light.

"How many messages do you have?" Taehyun asked, his voice rough with sleep.

"Twenty-seven," Kai said weakly, still staring at his screen like it had personally betrayed him. "DK-hyung sent me a good morning voice memo. It's four minutes long."

Taehyun blinked. "What's it about?"

Kai pressed play, and DK's voice came through the phone speaker, bright and way too energetic for 6 AM, singing what sounded like a custom good morning song. With Kai's name in it. And harmonies. Actual harmonies. Like DK had woken up and decided that composing personalized morning serenades was a normal activity.

"He made me a SONG," Kai said, looking simultaneously touched and terrified in equal measure, like he didn't know whether to cry or run away. "A whole song. With my name. At six in the morning."

"That's actually sweet."

"It's FOUR MINUTES," Kai repeated, emphasis on the time like that was the truly unhinged part. "Who has that much energy at six AM?"

"SEVENTEEN, apparently."

Kai put his phone face down on his chest and stared at the ceiling. "I'm not ready for this. I thought I was ready yesterday, but I was wrong. I am deeply, fundamentally not ready."

"None of us are ready," Taehyun said, but his phone buzzed again in his hand, and he made the mistake of looking at it.

**[Collabocalypse 2025]**

**Seungkwan [6:32 AM]:** GOOD MORNING VOCALISTS
**Seungkwan [6:33 AM]:** today we discuss our FUTURES
**Seungkwan [6:33 AM]:** and HARMONIES
**Seungkwan [6:34 AM]:** and why rock paper scissors is a FLAWED SYSTEM
**Hoshi [6:34 AM]:** get over it
**Seungkwan [6:34 AM]:** NEVER
**DK [6:35 AM]:** its been 12 hours
**Seungkwan [6:35 AM]:** AND ILL BE MAD FOR 12 MORE
**Jeonghan [6:36 AM]:** This is entertaining
**Woozi [6:36 AM]:** This is annoying
**Woozi [6:37 AM]:** Some of us are trying to sleep
**Hoshi [6:37 AM]:** SLEEP IS FOR—
**S.Coups [6:37 AM]:** If you say "sleep is for the weak" one more time
**Hoshi [6:38 AM]:** ...the weak?
**S.Coups [6:38 AM]:** I'm blocking you

Taehyun put his phone face down on his chest, mirroring Kai's position, and tried to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes. He regulated his breathing. He counted backwards from a hundred.

It buzzed three more times.

He gave up.

"This is going to be every morning, isn't it?" Kai asked the ceiling.

"I think so."

"Every single morning."

"Probably."

"For the entire collaboration."

"Most likely."

Kai turned his head to look at Taehyun. "I'm scared."

"Me too, Kai. Me too."

They lay there for another minute in shared commiseration, phones buzzing periodically like they were being attacked by very persistent bees. From down the hall, they could hear movement—footsteps, a door opening, the sound of someone stumbling into furniture and cursing softly. Soobin, probably. Their leader was an early riser, but even he sounded disoriented.

Taehyun's phone lit up again.

**Hoshi [6:49 AM]:** taehyun-ah are you awake
**Hoshi [6:49 AM]:** i can see youre online
**Hoshi [6:50 AM]:** TAEHYUN-AH

"Oh my god," Taehyun muttered. "He can see when I'm online."

"That's actually terrifying," Kai said. "That's like... surveillance."

**Hoshi [6:50 AM]:** dont ignore me
**Hoshi [6:50 AM]:** i just want to make sure youre taking care of yourself
**Hoshi [6:51 AM]:** hydration is important
**Hoshi [6:51 AM]:** stretching is important
**Hoshi [6:52 AM]:** did you stretch yet

Taehyun started typing before he could stop himself.

**Taehyun [6:52 AM]:** hyung its 6 am
**Taehyun [6:52 AM]:** im still in bed
**Hoshi [6:52 AM]:** PERFECT TIME TO STRETCH
**Hoshi [6:53 AM]:** stretch in bed
**Hoshi [6:53 AM]:** bed stretches
**Hoshi [6:53 AM]:** very important
**The8 [6:53 AM]:** Please stop enabling him
**The8 [6:54 AM]:** Every time someone responds he gets worse
**Taehyun [6:54 AM]:** noted

Kai was laughing now, shoulders shaking, hand over his mouth trying to muffle the sound. "You shouldn't have responded."

"I panicked."

"Now he knows you're awake. You're doomed."

"Thanks. That's helpful."

Kai's phone buzzed, and he looked at it, then started laughing harder. "DK-hyung sent a follow-up voice memo. It's a good morning song reprise. He says—" Kai wiped his eyes, "—he says he forgot to include a bridge in the first one and felt bad about the structural incompleteness."

"Structural incompleteness."

"Those are his words."

"It's six in the morning."

"He's worried about song structure at six in the morning."

They looked at each other and burst into simultaneous laughter—the kind of sleep-deprived, slightly hysterical laughter that happens when the absurdity of a situation hits you all at once. This was their life now. This was actually their life.

"We should probably get up," Taehyun said eventually, wiping his eyes.

"Probably," Kai agreed, not moving.

Neither of them moved.

**Hoshi [6:57 AM]:** taehyun-ah
**Hoshi [6:57 AM]:** i hope youre stretching
**Hoshi [6:58 AM]:** drink water
**Hoshi [6:58 AM]:** breakfast is important
**Hoshi [6:59 AM]:** the most important meal
**Hoshi [6:59 AM]:** DONT SKIP IT

"Oh my god," Taehyun said. "He's like a very enthusiastic mother hen."

"At least your adopted hyung cares about your health," Kai said. "Mine keeps sending me songs."

"Trade?"

"Absolutely not."

---

**7:23 AM - Kitchen**

*Yeonjun's POV*

By the time Taehyun dragged himself to the kitchen, everyone else was already there in various states of morning existence. The kitchen had that early morning feeling—warm from the coffee maker, quiet except for the sound of someone scrolling through their phone, sunlight just starting to come through the window.

Yeonjun was leaning against the counter, nursing his first cup of coffee and trying to convince his brain to actually wake up. He'd barely slept, kept thinking about hip-hop unit and whether he'd be good enough, whether he'd fit in with SEVENTEEN's established dynamic.

"Group chat?" Yeonjun asked, not even looking up from his phone when Taehyun appeared.

"Group chat," Taehyun confirmed, his voice rough with sleep.

"I have sixty-three messages," Beomgyu said from where he was sprawled across two chairs at the table. "Sixty-three. It's been Sixteen hours since we met them."

Soobin was at the stove, cracking eggs into a pan with the focused attention he gave everything. Their leader had been up for at least an hour already—hair still damp from a shower, dressed in real clothes instead of pajamas. He was humming under his breath, something soft and familiar.

"You're making breakfast?" Kai asked, appearing from his room and immediately making a beeline for the coffee pot.

"Someone has to," Soobin said. "Otherwise Beomgyu will eat cereal for every meal."

"Cereal is a perfectly valid food," Beomgyu protested.

"It's not a food group."

"It could be."

Taehyun silently started helping Soobin without being asked, pulling out plates and setting the table. This was their routine—had been for years now. Soobin cooked, Taehyun set up, everyone else tried to stay out of the way.

"Mingyu-hyung sent me a playlist at midnight," Yeonjun said, scrolling through his phone. "It's called 'Welcome to Hip-Hop Hell (affectionate).' There are forty-seven songs on it."

"That's kind of sweet," Kai said, adding an alarming amount of sugar to his coffee.

"It's midnight," Yeonjun said. "On a Sunday. Who makes playlists at midnight on a Sunday?"

"Someone who's excited about the collaboration," Soobin said, sliding scrambled eggs onto plates. "Come eat before it gets cold."

They gathered around the table, fitting themselves into their usual spots through years of habit. It was a little cramped—their table was really meant for four people—but they made it work.

"So," Beomgyu said around a mouthful of eggs, "we're really doing this. Collaboration with SEVENTEEN."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Soobin said automatically.

Beomgyu swallowed. "We're really doing this," he repeated.

"Seems like it," Taehyun said, poking at his food. He looked tired but there was something else in his expression—anticipation, maybe. Nervous energy.

"You okay?" Kai asked quietly, reaching over to steal a piece of Taehyun's toast.

"Yeah. Just thinking about it. What if they don't actually like my singing or dancing?"

"They already like your stuff," Yeonjun said. "They know us, and have watched us, this collab wouldnt have been happening if that wasnt the case."

"Yeonjun's right," Soobin added, giving Taehyun that look—the leader look that said 'I believe in you and you should believe in yourself.' "Stop spiraling. You're good."

"Really good," Beomgyu added, finally done chewing. "Like, I would defenitly try to romance you if you wern't already mine."

Taehyun's ears went red but he was smiling a little. "Okay. Thanks."

They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Outside their window, Seoul was waking up—traffic sounds, people heading to work, the city coming to life. But in here it was just them, just their small morning bubble.

"DK-hyung sent me another voice memo," Kai announced, checking his phone. "Five minutes this time. He's got a whole series now."

"What's this one about?" Yeonjun asked.

Kai pressed play. DK's voice came through—warm and energetic and way too awake for this hour—singing something about believing in yourself and reaching for dreams.

"He's so nice," Kai said, looking genuinely touched. "Like, he doesn't have to do this but he does anyway."

"That's just DK-hyung," Soobin said, like he already understood this about their senior. "He cares about people."

Beomgyu's phone buzzed and he looked at it, then smiled—soft and private.

"Vernon-hyung?" Yeonjun guessed.

"Maybe."

"Definitely Vernon-hyung," Kai said with a grin.

"We're not talking about this," Beomgyu said, but his ears were red and he couldn't stop smiling at his phone.

"We're definitely talking about this later," Yeonjun said.

After breakfast, they cleaned up together—Taehyun washing, Yeonjun drying, Beomgyu putting things away in the wrong places until Soobin corrected him. It was familiar, comfortable, home.

"Ready for today?" Soobin asked as they were getting ready to leave.

"No," everyone said at once.

"Good," Soobin said. "Me neither."

But they went anyway, because that's what they did.

**[Collabocalypse 2025]**

**Mingyu [7:24 AM]:** hip hop unit meeting today
**Mingyu [7:24 AM]:** be ready
**Yeonjun [7:25 AM]:** ready for what
**Wonwoo [7:25 AM]:** chaos
**Vernon [7:25 AM]:** suffering
**Mingyu [7:26 AM]:** FUN
**Beomgyu [7:26 AM]:** those all sound like the same thing
**Vernon [7:26 AM]:** thats because they are

**Joshua [7:27 AM]:** Vocal unit! Let's have a good day
**DK [7:27 AM]:** LETS MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
**Seungkwan [7:28 AM]:** lets make SOMETHING
**Kai [7:28 AM]:** im scared
**Joshua [7:28 AM]:** Don't be! We're nice
**Seungkwan [7:29 AM]:** we're VERY nice
**DK [7:29 AM]:** the NICEST
**Woozi [7:29 AM]:** Debatable

"We have to go in today, right?" Kai asked, looking at Soobin with the pleading eyes of someone hoping for a different answer.

"Yeah. Manager said ten AM." Soobin checked his phone, squinting at the message. "Apparently there's a big meeting. To actually plan everything properly this time."

"I thought we planned yesterday," Beomgyu said slowly. "With the rock-paper-scissors. And the yelling. And the chaos. Wasn't that the planning?"

"That was SEVENTEEN claiming us like limited edition photocards," Taehyun corrected, taking a long sip of his coffee. It was too hot and burned his tongue, but he didn't care. He needed the caffeine more than he needed functional taste buds. "Today is the real meeting. The actual professional meeting where we discuss actual professional things."

"I'm still not ready," Yeonjun said, staring into his coffee cup like it held the answers to the universe. "I thought I'd be ready by today. I thought one night of sleep would prepare me. But I'm not. I'm so deeply not ready."

"None of us are ready," Soobin said, which was becoming the team mantra at this point. "But we're going anyway because that's what professionals do. We go to meetings we're not ready for and we smile and we nod and we pretend we have everything under control."

"That's the most depressing thing you've ever said," Beomgyu observed.

"It's also true."

"Still depressing."

Yeonjun leaned back in his chair, tipping it onto two legs—a habit that made Soobin's eye twitch but which he was too tired to comment on this morning. "Do you think it's going to be like yesterday? The chaos, I mean. Or do you think they'll be more... professional?"

"Professional," Taehyun repeated, like he was tasting the word.

"Yeah."

"You met them yesterday, right? You were there?"

"I was there."

"Did anything about yesterday seem professional to you?"

Yeonjun considered this. "Fair point."

"We're doomed," Kai said cheerfully, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth. "Completely and utterly doomed."

"Thanks for the positivity," Soobin muttered.

"I'm being realistic."

"Realism is overrated."

Taehyun's phone buzzed again, and he glanced at it almost involuntarily at this point, like checking his phone had become a nervous tic.

**[Performance Unit - The Thunderdome]**

**Hoshi [7:31 AM]:** everyone remember to eat breakfast
**Hoshi [7:31 AM]:** and stretch
**Hoshi [7:32 AM]:** and hydrate
**Hoshi [7:32 AM]:** hydration is KEY
**Jun [7:33 AM]:** its 7:32 am
**Jun [7:33 AM]:** how are you this energetic
**Hoshi [7:33 AM]:** PASSION
**The8 [7:34 AM]:** That's not an answer
**Hoshi [7:34 AM]:** PASSION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER
**Dino [7:35 AM]:** someone please sedate him
**Yeonjun [7:35 AM]:** is it too late to change units
**Hoshi [7:35 AM]:** YES
**Hoshi [7:36 AM]:** youre stuck with me now
**Hoshi [7:36 AM]:** forever
**Taehyun [7:36 AM]:** thats legally concerning
**Hoshi [7:36 AM]:** NOT LEGALLY
**Hoshi [7:37 AM]:** EMOTIONALLY
**Hoshi [7:37 AM]:** SPIRITUALLY
**Jun [7:37 AM]:** someone take his phone

"He's doing it again," Taehyun said, showing his phone to the table.

"He never stopped," Yeonjun said miserably. "I don't think he sleeps. I think he's just constantly vibrating at a frequency that makes sleep unnecessary."

"That's scientifically impossible," Beomgyu said.

"So is his energy level, but here we are."

Kai finished his toast and stood up, stretching with a groan. "I'm going to shower. If DK-hyung sends another voice memo, tell him I'm legally dead."

"Will do," Soobin said.

"Actually dead," Kai emphasized. "Not figuratively. Literally legally deceased."

"Got it."

Kai shuffled off toward the bathroom, and Taehyun watched him go with a small smile. They were all handling this differently—Kai with humor, Yeonjun with dramatic resignation, Beomgyu with sarcastic commentary, Soobin with tired acceptance, and Taehyun himself with quiet observation, trying to figure out the patterns, the dynamics, the way everything fit together.

This was going to be interesting.

Chaotic, absolutely. Probably exhausting. Definitely overwhelming.

But interesting.

"What time did manager say again?" Beomgyu asked, breaking Taehyun's train of thought.

"Ten," Soobin repeated. "We need to leave by nine-thirty to be safe."

"That gives us two hours."

"Two hours to mentally prepare for whatever fresh hell awaits us," Yeonjun said dramatically, throwing an arm over his eyes like a Victorian maiden facing the vapors.

"You're being dramatic."

"I'm being realistic."

"You said realistic was overrated."

"That was five minutes ago. I've changed my stance."

Taehyun stood up, taking his coffee mug with him. "I'm going to get dressed. Try not to have an existential crisis while I'm gone."

"No promises," Yeonjun called after him.

---

**9:35 AM **

Two hours later, they were all gathered by the front door in various states of readiness. Soobin was wearing actual clothes, which was a miracle. Yeonjun had managed to make his hair look intentionally messy instead of accidentally messy. Beomgyu was wearing a hoodie that might have been Taehyun's but nobody was going to comment on it. Kai looked like he'd gotten approximately fifteen more minutes of sleep and was functioning purely on youth and determination.

Taehyun himself had opted for comfortable clothes—black jeans, a gray sweater, nothing fancy. This was a planning meeting, not a photo shoot. He needed to be able to focus, not worry about whether his outfit looked good.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn't need to check it to know it was probably Hoshi asking if he'd stretched. Again.

"Everyone ready?" Soobin asked, doing his leader thing where he counted heads like they were toddlers on a field trip.

"Define ready," Beomgyu said.

"Physically present and not actively panicking."

"Then yes."

"Good enough."

They piled into the van, their manager already waiting in the driver's seat looking like he'd aged several years since yesterday. "Morning," he said, which came out more like a sigh.

"Morning," they chorused back, equally resigned.

The drive to HYBE was quiet, all of them on their phones, watching the group chats with a kind of horrified fascination. The messages had not stopped. If anything, they'd gotten worse.

**[Collabocalypse 2025]**

**Hoshi [9:37 AM]:** FIFTEEN MINUTES
**Hoshi [9:37 AM]:** FIFTEEN MINUTES UNTIL WE MEET
**Hoshi [9:38 AM]:** IS EVERYONE EXCITED
**Hoshi [9:38 AM]:** I'M EXCITED
**S.Coups [9:39 AM]:** We can tell
**Hoshi [9:49 AM]:** I'VE BEEN EXCITED SINCE 5 AM
**Woozi [9:50 AM]:** We know
**Woozi [9:50 AM]:** You told us
**Woozi [9:50 AM]:** Several times
**Hoshi [9:51 AM]:** BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT
**Jeonghan [9:51 AM]:** What's important is sleep
**Jeonghan [9:51 AM]:** Remember sleep?
**Jeonghan [9:52 AM]:** That thing normal people do?
**Hoshi [9:52 AM]:** SLEEP IS—
**S.Coups [9:52 AM]:** I swear to god
**S.Coups [9:52 AM]:** If you finish that sentence
**Hoshi [9:53 AM]:** ...
**Hoshi [9:53 AM]:** for the weak?
**S.Coups [9:53 AM]:** THAT'S IT
**S.Coups [9:53 AM]:** BLOCKED

"He actually blocked him," Yeonjun said, staring at his phone with wide eyes.

"Good," Soobin said. "Someone needed to."

"But like, will he unblock him? Or is this permanent?"

"Probably until we get to the building," Taehyun guessed. "Hyung seems practical."

As if on cue:

**S.Coups [9:54 AM]:** Unblocked
**S.Coups [9:54 AM]:** But I'm not happy about it
**Hoshi [9:54 AM]:** ❤️
**S.Coups [9:55 AM]:** Don't heart me
**Hoshi [9:55 AM]:** ❤️❤️
**S.Coups [9:55 AM]:** I'm going to block you again
**Hoshi [9:55 AM]:** ❤️❤️❤️

"They're insane," Beomgyu observed. "Like, clinically insane."

"We're going to fit right in," Kai said brightly.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

---

**9:52 AM - HYBE Building, Conference Room 3**

They arrived eight minutes early because Soobin had anxiety and also a pathological need to never be late to anything ever. Eight minutes early was actually late for Soobin, who preferred to arrive fifteen minutes early and then spend that fifteen minutes panicking quietly in a corner.

The conference room was already complete chaos when they walked in, which should not have been surprising but somehow still was. It was like expecting a hurricane and still being shocked when the hurricane actually showed up and wrecked everything.

Someone—definitely Hoshi, it had his energy signature all over it—had pushed all the chairs to the walls and was using the open floor space to demonstrate formations to a bewildered Jun, who looked like he'd rather be literally anywhere else. Hoshi was gesturing wildly, making swooshing noises, occasionally doing small jumps to illustrate points that probably didn't need illustrating.

DK was at the craft services table, stress-eating snacks with the focused intensity of someone taking an exam. He had a small pile of granola bar wrappers next to him and was working on what appeared to be a bag of chips. Every few seconds, he'd shove a handful in his mouth, chew contemplatively, then reach for more.

Mingyu had claimed an entire corner and was showing Yeonjun something on his laptop with the enthusiasm of a kid showing off his Pokemon card collection. Yeonjun looked interested but also mildly terrified, nodding along to whatever Mingyu was saying, occasionally making sounds of agreement that might have been actual words.

Seungkwan was in another corner doing vocal warm-ups in what appeared to be an ongoing competition with himself to hit higher notes. He was going through scales, his voice climbing higher and higher, and every time he hit a particularly impressive note, he'd look around to see if anyone had noticed. Nobody had noticed except Taehyun, who was watching with professional interest.

Joshua was sitting on the couch, tuning a guitar he'd brought for no apparent reason—or maybe there was a reason, but nobody had thought to ask. He was plucking strings, adjusting pegs, looking serene and unbothered by the chaos swirling around him like he'd achieved some kind of enlightenment.

Vernon was sitting upside down on a chair near the window, feet up where his head should be, head hanging down, scrolling through his phone like this was completely normal behavior. Like sitting upside down was just how he existed in the world.

And Woozi sat in the eye of the storm, headphones on, laptop open, utterly unbothered by the chaos swirling around him. He could have been in his studio, or a library, or the middle of a tornado for all the attention he paid to his surroundings. His focus was absolute, his expression calm, his fingers moving across the keyboard with practiced precision.

Taehyun had never seen anything like it.

"Is it always like this?" Soobin whispered to S.Coups, who'd positioned himself by the door like a tired shepherd watching his flock of very chaotic sheep.

S.Coups smiled weakly, the smile of a man who had seen things, experienced things, and learned to accept them. "No. Sometimes it's worse."

"How is that possible?" Soobin's voice cracked slightly on the last word.

"You'll see." S.Coups patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Give it a week. You'll understand."

"That's not comforting."

"It's not meant to be. It's meant to be honest."

Taehyun slipped in quietly, trying to find a spot that seemed safe, which was difficult because nowhere seemed particularly safe. Hoshi was too close to the entrance, DK might try to make conversation, Mingyu looked like he was about to recruit more people to look at his laptop. He ended up near the window, next to Jeonghan, who was observing the chaos with the serene expression of someone who had long since accepted his fate and made peace with it.

"Surviving?" Jeonghan asked without looking away from the chaos, his voice pleasant and calm like they were discussing the weather.

"Barely," Taehyun admitted. "It's only been a day."

"That's the spirit." Jeonghan smiled at him, and it was a genuinely nice smile, warm and welcoming and slightly terrifying in its knowingness. "You'll get used to it. Eventually. Probably. Maybe."

"That's three different levels of certainty."

"That's because I'm not actually certain," Jeonghan said cheerfully. "Some people never get used to it. They just learn to cope."

"That's even less comforting than what S.Coups-hyung said."

"I'm not here to comfort you. I'm here to prepare you for reality."

In the back of the room, Beomgyu had flipped his camera to selfie mode, narrating like a wildlife documentarian on a nature show. His voice was low and serious, David Attenborough impression in full effect. "Day one: TXT has entered the Seventeen habitat. Results are catastrophic. Taehyun has been abducted by four separate hyungs. Yeonjun is experiencing rapid cultural assimilation. Soobin is now functioning as God. Huening Kai is—" he turned the camera dramatically, "—eating all the studio mints."

Kai, caught with a handful of mints, blinked innocently at the camera, looking like a guilty puppy. "They're sugar-free."

"You've had eight," Beomgyu said, still in documentary voice.

"I'm growing."

"You're twenty-two."

"Growing emotionally."

Soobin pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture that was becoming increasingly familiar over the last twenty-four hours. "This is why we can't have nice things."

"We have nice things," Kai protested, popping another mint. "These mints are nice."

"Those are communal mints."

"Not anymore."

Across the room, Joshua leaned against the wall with the serenity of someone who had watched this kind of chaos happen once a week for ten years and had achieved some kind of zen acceptance about it. He and Kai had bonded during yesterday's setup over music trivia and a shared love of mint chocolate, which apparently extended to regular mints as well. Now, he offered Soobin a sympathetic smile that said 'welcome to the family, we're all suffering together.'

"Is it always like this?" Soobin asked Joshua, apparently needing multiple confirmations of this fact.

Joshua smiled gently. "You already asked Coups that, didn't you?"

"I'm hoping for a different answer."

"Sorry to disappoint," Joshua said, not sounding sorry at all. "But if it helps, you get used to the chaos. It becomes almost... comforting after a while."

"That sounds like Stockholm syndrome."

"Maybe it is," Joshua agreed pleasantly. "But at least we're all experiencing it together."

Jun, still trapped in Hoshi's formation demonstration, draped himself across the couch like an off-duty cat when he finally escaped, looking exhausted. He offered lazily, "You should've seen the time Dino lost his phone and accused Woozi of theft."

"I thought he took it!" Dino shouted from across the room, mid-bite of his protein bar. Bits of protein bar flew out of his mouth as he spoke, which he seemed completely unbothered by.

"You cried," Jun reminded him.

"I was emotionally vulnerable!"

"You accused the quietest person in our group of being a phone thief."

"It was a possibility!"

"I took it," Vernon added from his upside-down position on the chair, still scrolling through his phone, not even looking up.

Everyone turned slowly, moving in synchronized confusion.

Vernon looked up—or down, given his position—and blinked at them. "What? It was funny."

"Monster," DK whispered, genuinely horrified.

"Demon," Seungkwan added.

"I know," Vernon said happily, going back to his phone.

Woozi finally stood, removing his headphones with deliberate slowness, brushing off his lap as if shaking off static. The shift in his body language changed the air in the room—calmer now, a thread of seriousness tightening around the room like someone had pulled an invisible cord. Everyone noticed. Everyone responded.

"Alright," Woozi said, voice cutting through the chaos with practiced ease. "Focus. Let's talk music."

Just like that, the studio quieted. The temperature changed. Chaos pulled back like the tide, leaving something cleaner, sharper beneath: clarity. Focus. Purpose.

Taehyun watched it happen with fascination. One word from Woozi, and twelve chaotic individuals became twelve professionals. It was like magic.

Or possibly fear.

Probably both.

---

**10:15 AM - The Real Meeting Begins**

*S.Coups' POV*

Coups watched as Woozi stood up, the familiar signal that playtime was over and it was time to work. He'd seen this transition hundreds of times over the years—the way Woozi could command a room without raising his voice, just by shifting his energy.

The chaos settled almost immediately. Thirteen members of SEVENTEEN and five of TXT, all focused now, all ready to listen.

This was good. This collaboration could be really good if they did it right.

Woozi flipped his iPad around to display layered project tabs, multiple tracks open, colors coordinating different elements. Coups had seen these already—they'd discussed the general structure last week—but seeing it laid out now, with TXT here, made it feel more real.

"We're building six songs," Woozi explained, swiping through the tabs. "Three full-group tracks. Three unit tracks. One for each unit—vocal, hip-hop, performance."

The TXT kid—Taehyun—leaned forward, and Coups noticed the analytical look in his eyes. A producer's look. "Three big anthems, three smaller focus tracks?"

"Exactly," Woozi said, and Coups caught the approval in his tone. "All orbiting a central theme, but sonically and emotionally distinct. We want every member to feel essential. No filler. No benchwarmers. Everyone contributes."

"That's ambitious," Soobin—TXT's leader—murmured.

Coups understood that reaction. When they'd first planned this out, he'd had the same thought. But ambitious was how SEVENTEEN operated. Go big or go home.

"That's how we work," Coups said, stepping forward. Time for the leader stuff. "Bumzu, Slow Rabbit, and Woozi will lead the full-group productions. The unit tracks will be more... open lab. Flexible. Experimental."

He watched TXT's reactions—the way they nodded, processed, accepted. Good kids. Professional.

Then Woozi said something that made everyone pause.

"And we're bringing him in for those." Woozi jerked his chin toward Taehyun. "I asked for demos. He brought some heat."

Coups watched Taehyun's face carefully. The kid looked shocked, genuinely shocked, like he hadn't expected to be acknowledged like this. That was... concerning, actually. How often did this kid's work go unrecognized?

*Taehyun's POV*

The words landed like a firework no one had seen coming.

Wait. What?

"Me?" Taehyun said, barely above a whisper, his voice coming out smaller than he intended.

Woozi met his eyes evenly, expression serious and sincere. "Yeah. You."

Taehyun's thumb hovered above his screen, frozen in mid-scroll. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "I just thought... I didn't know you—"

"I didn't either," Woozi cut in, not harsh, but firm. Matter-of-fact. "Until Slow Rabbit sent me your stuff."

Taehyun's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "He did what?"

Woozi smirked faintly, like he'd been waiting for this part, saving it for the right moment. "He sent me a folder called 'Taehyun fire, open this now.' In English. With the fire emoji. Three times. So I opened it."

There was a collective noise from the group—half surprise, half impressed laughter, whistles and gasps and sounds of appreciation. Slow Rabbit had receipts. Slow Rabbit had gone rogue. Slow Rabbit was apparently Taehyun's secret hype man.

Taehyun looked like he might physically combust. His face was turning red, ears burning, hands clenched on his lap. "Oh my God."

"You didn't know he did that?" Seungkwan asked from across the room, eyes wide with delighted surprise, leaning forward like this was the juiciest gossip he'd heard all day.

Taehyun shook his head slowly, utterly stunned, looking like someone had just told him he'd won the lottery and also that the lottery was a practical joke. "No—I mean, he asked if I had things I was proud of, said he wanted to hear my personal projects, but I thought it was just for reference. Like, creative inspiration. I didn't think he was going to—" he gestured vaguely at the air, "—send it to other people. To you. To Woozi-sunbaenim."

"Don't call me sunbaenim," Woozi said immediately. "Makes me feel old."

"You are old," Vernon said from his upside-down position.

"I'm twenty-eight."

"Ancient."

"I will fight you."

"Can't fight me if you can't catch me," Vernon said, then deliberately closed his eyes, still upside down, like he was taking a nap. "And I'm very fast."

"Can we focus?" S.Coups said, though he was smiling.

Woozi turned back to Taehyun, expression softening slightly. "Thought what?" he challenged gently, voice kind but insistent. "That it wasn't worth hearing?"

Taehyun flushed deeper, but said nothing, because that was exactly what he'd thought. He'd never thought his personal projects were good enough for professional attention. They were just things he made for himself, experiments, explorations, ways to process his thoughts through music.

There was a long pause. The room was completely silent now, everyone watching this moment unfold, understanding instinctively that something important was happening.

Then Woozi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, gaze unwavering and intense. "You've got instincts. Texture. You hear the shape of a song, not just the melody. That's not something you teach. That's something you're born with. That's something you nurture. And you have it."

Taehyun swallowed hard, throat suddenly tight, not trusting himself to speak.

"And frankly," Woozi continued, voice firm and certain, "we'd be idiots not to use it. Absolute idiots. We'd be leaving resources on the table. We'd be wasting potential. And I don't waste potential."

No one said anything for a moment. Not because it was awkward—but because it meant something. Because in a room full of industry veterans, musical architects, and idols used to walking tightropes for perfection, one quiet voice had finally been seen. Had finally been heard. Had finally been valued.

Beomgyu gave Taehyun a nudge with his knee under the table, supportive and proud. "Go on, then, prodigy. Play it."

Taehyun, still stunned but with a flicker of fire in his chest now—something warm and bright and real—finally tapped one of the demo files on his phone with shaking fingers. He connected to the room's speaker system, took a breath, and pressed play.

A low hum began, then a brittle synth swell—something cold and shimmering and atmospheric, with a heartbeat of bass pulsing underneath like a living thing. It was raw. It was imperfect. The mix wasn't polished, some of the transitions were rough, there were elements that needed refining.

But it was real.

It was honest.

The room stilled, everyone listening with professional attention, heads nodding slightly to the beat, eyes closed in concentration. Even Vernon had righted himself in his chair, feet back on the ground, phone forgotten, just listening.

And even though the track had no lyrics yet, no final polish, no perfect production, it spoke loud as a scream: Taehyun wasn't just showing a demo. He was handing them a piece of himself. He was offering his art, his heart, his hidden self that he kept tucked away because he didn't think it was good enough.

And now they knew exactly what to do with it.

"You made this?" Joshua asked when the demo ended, brows lifting with genuine surprise and admiration. "Like, actually made this? All of it?"

Taehyun nodded once, not trusting his voice.

Vernon sat up fully now, suddenly serious, all trace of his earlier chaos gone. "I don't see your name on credits," he said, voice flat. Statement of fact. Accusation hidden underneath.

That line hung in the air, heavy and weighted with implication.

Taehyun's voice, when he spoke, was steady—but distant, practiced, like he'd said these words before and had learned to empty them of emotion. "Sometimes they leave it off. Say it looks cleaner with only staff names. Makes the production seem more... cohesive. More professional. I don't argue."

Beomgyu's jaw tightened visibly, muscle jumping in his cheek. He'd heard this before. They all had. Taehyun never complained, never pushed back, just accepted it. "He works on nearly every track," Beomgyu said, voice hard. "Nearly every single track we release. No credit. It just says 'TXT' in the liner notes if it says anything at all."

Hoshi sat forward, all wide eyes and quiet fury, hands clenched on his knees. "That's not okay."

"It's alright," Taehyun said automatically with a practiced smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I do it for the music. The music is what matters. I don't need recognition, I just need—"

"But the name matters," Woozi interrupted, voice soft but absolute. "We fight to get ours listed. We fight every single time. Every name, every credit, every contribution. You shouldn't have to disappear. You shouldn't have to be invisible."

S.Coups was already typing on his phone, thumbs moving fast and certain. "He's co-producer on anything he touches. No exceptions. I'm texting the production team right now. Setting the precedent."

Taehyun blinked, clearly not used to being seen like this, protected like this, valued like this. His hands were shaking slightly. "You don't have to—"

"Non-negotiable," Woozi echoed, voice firm. "And I want every demo you've got after this. Every single one. Finished, unfinished, doesn't matter. I want to hear all of it."

Taehyun swallowed, throat working. "Got it."

And maybe it was nothing—but his spine straightened, just a bit. His shoulders went back. Something in his expression shifted from resigned to... hopeful. Like a door had opened that he'd thought was permanently locked.

The others noticed.

Yeonjun was smiling from across the room, proud and a little teary, blinking fast and looking away. Soobin looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, his lips pressed together, jaw working. Kai just gave Taehyun a thumbs up, grinning so wide his eyes disappeared, radiating pure supportive joy.

From his pocket, Taehyun's phone buzzed. He glanced at it.

**[TXT - Just Us]**

**Yeonjun:** proud of you
**Soobin:** So proud
**Beomgyu:** knew you'd make it happen
**Kai:** taehyun best producer
**Kai:** also best everything

Taehyun's eyes stung slightly. He looked up at his members, at his boyfriends, at the people who'd been supporting him quietly all this time, and managed a small smile. Genuine this time.

"Alright," Woozi continued, reclaiming the space, steering them back to business. "TXT members can double-dip. You'll be bridges. Connective tissue. That's the whole point—combining our groups, our styles, our strengths."

"We're sacrificing them to the unit gods," Jeonghan whispered to S.Coups, loud enough for everyone to hear, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Love that for us," Hoshi said cheerfully, not even pretending to whisper.

"We're right here," Yeonjun said.

"We know," Jeonghan said sweetly.

Woozi pulled up his notes again, reading from his iPad. "Soobin and Kai to vocal unit. Beomgyu and Yeonjun to hip-hop. Yeonjun's also in performance because apparently he has energy to burn."

"I really don't," Yeonjun said weakly.

"Too late. Already decided."

"And Taehyun?" Hoshi asked, already gripping the table like it owed him a personal favor, eyes bright with anticipation.

"Vocal and performance," Woozi said, meeting his eyes with certainty.

Hoshi threw both fists in the air like he'd just won the lottery. "YES! MY SON! MY BEAUTIFUL TALENTED SON!"

DK burst into fresh sobs. Actual sobs. Real tears streaming down his face, hands over his face, shoulders shaking. Joshua patted his back sympathetically, used to this, while Seungkwan handed him a tissue box from nowhere.

"They're ALL my sons now," DK wailed through his tears. "All of them!"

Taehyun just sighed, but he was smiling. "Will I have time to sleep?"

"No promises," Soobin replied, patting him sympathetically on the shoulder.

"Tyun-ah," Kai whispered, appearing next to Taehyun suddenly and handing him a studio mint like a peace offering, like a sacred ritual. "For strength."

"Thanks, Kai-ya."

 

As the assignments settled in, as people started checking their phones and whispering to each other and processing the information, Seungkwan stood dramatically, raising a hand like a knight pledging to a fallen king, eyes shining with theatrical emotion. "We shall not let your work go unnoticed, Producer Kang Taehyun."

Beomgyu nodded solemnly, hand over his heart. "He has ascended. From ghost to legend."

There was laughter, but beneath it—something firmer. Pride. Respect. Recognition. The kind that didn't need to shout to be heard.

"Alright," S.Coups said, clapping once to regain attention, falling easily into leader mode. "We'll start scheduling preliminary unit sessions this weekend. First songwriting meetups will be smaller, then we pull it together as we go. Group vocals start next week, choreography table reads the week after. Everyone will get individual schedules by tomorrow."

Jun slumped dramatically over the couch arm like he'd been shot, hand to his forehead. "Is this a comeback or a military campaign?"

"Both," Woozi said flatly. "Prepare yourselves accordingly. Stock up on energy drinks. Make peace with sleep deprivation. Say goodbye to your families."

"Dramatic," Jeonghan observed.

"Accurate," Woozi countered.

Joshua smiled gently, already pulling out his notes, writing things down in neat handwriting. "We'll take care of each other. That's what matters. We're a team now."

Huening Kai lifted a studio chair like a sword, eyes bright with innocent excitement. "For the realm!"

"No swords," Soobin groaned, reaching for the chair. "Put that down. That's not—that's furniture. That's not a sword."

"Everything's a sword if you believe," Kai said wisely.

"That's not how swords work."

"Sounds like something someone without a sword would say."

Someone—Mingyu, probably—added the group chat name on the whiteboard in thick black marker: **Collabocalypse 2025**.

Perfect.

---

**12:30 PM - Unit Group Chats Appear**

*Woozi's POV*

Woozi created the three unit group chats while people were still talking, organizing, figuring out logistics. No point in delaying—they'd need these to coordinate schedules and share ideas.

He named them quickly, allowing himself a moment of dry humor.

**[Vocal Unit - The Choir™]**
**[Hip-Hop Unit - Send Help]**
**[Performance Unit - The Thunderdome]**

He hit send on all three invitations simultaneously.

Everyone's phones buzzed at once, the sound rippling through the room.

"Who named these?" S.Coups asked, looking at his phone with that particular expression he got when Woozi did something mildly chaotic.

"I did," Woozi said, not looking up from his iPad. "Problem?"

"The hip-hop one is concerning."

"It's accurate," Vernon said from his corner, already typing in one of the chats.

"That's what concerns me."

Woozi allowed himself a small smile. The chats immediately started exploding with messages—he could hear the rapid-fire buzzing around the room.

*Vernon's POV*

Vernon looked at the chat names and had to appreciate Woozi's sense of humor. The Thunderdome for performance unit was perfect—Hoshi would absolutely run with that energy.

He opened the hip-hop unit chat and saw Mingyu was already typing.

**[Hip-Hop Unit - Send Help]**

**Mingyu:** WELCOME TO THE UNIT
**Vernon:** rip your sleep schedules

He meant it, too. Hip-hop unit sessions could go for hours when they got in the zone. He glanced over at Yeonjun and Beomgyu, who were reading their phones with matching expressions of dawning realization.

**Wonwoo:** rip your sanity
**S.Coups:** Can we be positive
**Vernon:** no

Honesty was important, Vernon felt. Better to prepare them now.

**Beomgyu:** what have we gotten into
**Yeonjun:** i don't know but i'm scared
**Mingyu:** DONT BE SCARED
**Mingyu:** BE EXCITED

Vernon typed quickly.

**Vernon:** be terrified
**Vernon:** its more accurate

*Seungkwan's POV*

Seungkwan looked at his phone and immediately had opinions about the vocal unit chat name.

The Choir™. With a trademark symbol.

"I actually love this," he announced to no one in particular, then immediately started typing.

**[Vocal Unit - The Choir™]**

**Seungkwan:** OFFICIAL VOCAL UNIT ROLL CALL

He needed to know everyone was paying attention. This was important.

**DK:** PRESENT
**Joshua:** Here!
**Jeonghan:** here

Jeonghan's lowercase response was so typical. Seungkwan smiled despite himself.

**Woozi:** Here
**Soobin:** Present
**Kai:** hi!
**Taehyun:** here

Good. Everyone was accounted for.

**Seungkwan:** PERFECT
**Seungkwan:** now let's discuss HARMONIES
**Woozi:** It's noon

"So?" Seungkwan said out loud, even though Woozi was across the room and couldn't hear him.

**Seungkwan:** PERFECT TIME FOR HARMONIES

He saw Woozi shake his head without looking up from his iPad, but there was a small smile there. Seungkwan counted that as a win.

*Taehyun's POV*

Taehyun stared at his phone, watching three different group chats explode simultaneously. He was in two of them—vocal and performance—and both were already filled with messages.

"This is a lot of group chats," Kai said next to him, looking equally overwhelmed.

"Four," Soobin counted from his other side. "We have four group chats now."

The main collaboration chat, plus three unit chats. Taehyun did the math—between all of them, that was probably going to be hundreds of messages a day.

"And they're all chaotic," Beomgyu added, scrolling through his hip-hop unit chat with wide eyes.

"Welcome to the collaboration," Woozi said dryly from across the room, somehow hearing them despite the distance and general noise level.

Taehyun looked down at his phone again. In the performance unit chat, Hoshi was already sending motivational messages. In the vocal unit chat, Seungkwan was planning their harmonic future.

This was going to be his life for the next three months.

He found he didn't mind as much as he thought he would.

---

**1:45 PM - Lunch**

They ordered food because nobody had the organizational skills to leave the building and also because someone—DK—had started crying again and they needed to wait until he calmed down before they could move him anywhere.

Taehyun found himself in the quiet corner of the room with Woozi, Vernon, and Minghao. The eye of the hurricane. The place where chaos couldn't quite reach, where the noise faded to manageable levels, where you could actually hear yourself think.

"Two units," Vernon said, munching on his sandwich with surprising delicacy for someone who'd been upside down twenty minutes ago. "You ready for that?"

"Not even a little bit," Taehyun admitted honestly, picking at his own food. He wasn't very hungry, too wired with emotion and adrenaline.

"Honest. Good." Vernon smiled, and it was a genuine smile, warm and real. "Hoshi hyung's intense but he's great. Best choreographer I've ever worked with. And vocal unit's pretty chill when Seungkwan's not being dramatic."

"I HEARD THAT!" Seungkwan yelled from across the room where he was apparently eavesdropping on multiple conversations at once.

"See?" Vernon said calmly, taking another bite. "Proves my point."

Woozi was quiet, just eating and scrolling through production notes on his iPad, occasionally making small thoughtful sounds. But then he looked up at Taehyun, really looked at him, eyes sharp and assessing.

"Send me everything you've got," he said. "Finished, unfinished, doesn't matter. I want to hear all of it."

"Really?" Taehyun's voice came out smaller than he intended.

"Yeah." Woozi's expression was serious, sincere. "You've been hiding your work for too long. Not anymore. That ends now."

Something warm and bright settled in Taehyun's chest, something that felt like hope, like possibility, like being seen.

Minghao, who'd been silent until now, just observing with his quiet intensity, finally spoke. "You'll fit in well here. I can tell."

"How?"

"You listen before you speak. That's rare." Minghao took a sip of his iced americano, ice cubes clinking against the cup. "Also Hoshi already loves you, so you're set."

"He doesn't even know me."

"Doesn't matter. He's decided. That's how Hoshi works." Minghao smiled slightly. "Once he decides someone is his person, that's it. You're his person now. Might as well accept it."

"That's slightly terrifying."

"It is," Minghao agreed pleasantly. "But it's also nice. Hoshi's loyalty is absolute. You'll see."

---

**3:00 PM - Unit Sessions Begin**

*Woozi's POV*

"Alright," Woozi said, checking his watch. "Units split now. Three hours to get acquainted, figure out dynamics. We're not diving into actual work today—just introductions, comfort building."

The room started to organize itself naturally. Vocal unit members gravitated toward each other, hip-hop unit did the same, performance unit was already stretching by the mirrors.

"Remember," S.Coups added, "this is day one. Don't push too hard. Just see how you work together."

---
Got it! Here are just those three expanded unit practice scenes with more SEVENTEEN member POVs:

---

**3:00 PM - Vocal Unit (Studio A)**

*Taehyun's POV*

Studio A was quieter than the main space, more intimate. The room smelled faintly of coffee and had that comfortable, lived-in feeling of a space that was used often but cared for. Taehyun settled into one of the chairs arranged in a loose circle, watching as the others filed in.

Kai took the seat next to him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. A small comfort, having his member nearby. Soobin sat on his other side, already looking more relaxed now that they had a clear purpose, a defined task.

"Okay," Woozi said, pulling up a chair and setting down his ever-present iPad. He looked more relaxed here too, away from the larger group chaos. "Today we're just getting comfortable. Running some warm-ups, seeing how voices blend. Nothing formal. No pressure."

Taehyun appreciated that. No pressure. He could do that.

"Should we start with breathing exercises?" Joshua suggested, already pulling out his guitar from its case in the corner. His movements were careful, practiced, like he'd done this thousands of times.

"Good idea," Woozi agreed. "DK, you want to lead?"

*DK's POV*

DK stood up, feeling that familiar warmth spread through his chest whenever he got to teach something he loved. Vocal warm-ups were his thing—had been since training days. He loved watching people discover their voices, find their range, grow confident.

"Alright everyone," he said, clapping his hands together with a smile. "Let's stand up. We'll start simple."

They formed a loose circle, and DK started them on basic breathing exercises. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. Nothing complicated, just foundational stuff. But he watched the TXT members carefully—Taehyun had good breath control, steady and measured. Kai's breathing was a little shallow, nervous energy making him rush slightly. Soobin was focused, methodical.

"Kai-yah," DK said gently, stepping closer. "Try to breathe a little deeper. From your diaphragm, not your chest."

He demonstrated, hand on his own stomach, and Kai mimicked him. Better. Much better.

"Like that! Perfect!" DK beamed. Kai smiled back, looking less nervous now.

They moved through scales next, simple progressions up and down. DK listened carefully to how their voices worked—not just individually but together. Seungkwan's projection was powerful as always, filling the room effortlessly. Jeonghan's voice was light and airy, floating on top of everything. And the TXT members...

"Taehyun-ah has good control," DK said to Woozi during a brief water break. "And Kai's tone is really sweet. Soobin has this steadiness that grounds everything."

"I noticed," Woozi said, making notes. "They'll blend well with us."

*Seungkwan's POV*

Seungkwan had been skeptical at first—not of TXT's talent, but of how quickly they'd be able to mesh with SEVENTEEN's vocal unit. They'd been singing together for years, knew each other's quirks and habits and vocal ranges by heart. Adding new people could throw off that balance.

But watching Taehyun during the warm-ups, Seungkwan found himself impressed. The kid had good instincts. When they ran through a simple harmony exercise, Taehyun didn't try to dominate or stand out—he listened first, found the pocket where his voice fit best, then filled it perfectly.

"You've done a lot of harmony work, haven't you?" Seungkwan asked during a break, sitting down next to Taehyun.

Taehyun looked surprised by the question. "Some. We do a lot of layering in our songs."

"It shows. Your instinct is to listen before you sing. That's rare." Seungkwan meant it as a compliment, but Taehyun's ears went red like he didn't know how to take praise.

"Thanks, hyung."

*Joshua's POV*

Joshua strummed his guitar softly, watching the group dynamics develop with the quiet observation that had always been his strength. He'd pulled out his guitar partly because they needed accompaniment, but mostly because having something to do with his hands helped him think.

Soobin was good—really good. Solid technique, clear tone, and he had this quality of making everyone around him sound better just by being there. A true team player. Joshua appreciated that. There were vocalists who wanted to shine individually, and then there were vocalists who understood that the group sound was more important than personal glory.

"Soobin-ah," Joshua called during a transition between exercises. "Your falsetto range—where does it sit comfortably?"

"Um," Soobin thought for a moment. "Around E5? Maybe F5 on a good day?"

"That's good. That'll work well with my range." Joshua played a quick progression. "Try this."

He sang a line, then gestured for Soobin to join him on the second repetition. Their voices blended beautifully—Joshua's warmth and Soobin's steadiness creating something richer than either voice alone.

"Oh," Woozi said, looking up from his notes. "That's nice. Really nice. We're using that."

Soobin looked pleased, a small smile on his face that made him look younger.

*Jeonghan's POV*

Jeonghan had been mostly quiet, just observing, adding his voice when needed but not pushing. He liked to understand group dynamics before inserting himself too forcefully. It was a habit from years of navigating thirteen different personalities.

But he was watching Kai with interest. The youngest TXT member had a lovely voice—sweet and pure, with a quality that made you want to protect it. But he was nervous, second-guessing himself every time he had a solo moment.

During a water break, Jeonghan sidled up to where Kai was sitting, looking at his phone with furrowed brows.

"You're overthinking," Jeonghan said gently, sitting down next to him.

Kai looked up, startled. "Hyung?"

"I can see it. You're thinking too much about whether you're doing it right instead of just doing it." Jeonghan's voice was kind but knowing. "Your voice is beautiful. Trust it."

"I just—" Kai hesitated. "You all have been doing this together for so long. I don't want to mess up the sound."

"You won't," Jeonghan said with certainty. "You know how I know? Because you care. People who care don't mess up the sound—they enhance it."

Kai looked at him with those wide eyes, processing, then nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll try."

"That's all anyone can ask."

*Woozi's POV*

Woozi sat back and listened as they ran through another progression, this time with everyone singing together. Eight voices, eight different tones and textures, and somehow it was working.

DK's power grounded the lower harmony. Seungkwan's projection cut through the middle with perfect clarity. Joshua and Soobin were blending beautifully on the falsetto parts. Jeonghan was adding those airy top notes that gave everything a dreamy quality. And Taehyun and Kai were filling in the gaps, finding spaces that Woozi hadn't even realized were empty.

"Nice," Woozi said when they finished. More than nice, actually, but he wasn't going to get too effusive on day one. "Good foundation. We'll build on this next session."

He made notes on his iPad—ideas for harmonies, which voices to pair where, what kind of song would showcase these particular combinations.

It was comfortable, easy. No pressure. Just voices finding each other, figuring out how to work together. This was the best kind of first session—the kind where you could already hear the potential, already imagine what it could become.

"Same time tomorrow?" DK asked, looking around at everyone.

"Same time," Woozi confirmed. "We'll start working on actual material then."

As everyone started packing up, Woozi caught Taehyun's eye. "Your instincts are good. Don't second-guess yourself."

Taehyun blinked, surprised. "Thank you, hyung."

"Just fact," Woozi said, shutting his iPad. But he was pleased. This unit was going to be good.

---

**3:00 PM - Hip-Hop Unit (Studio C)**

*Yeonjun's POV*

The hip-hop unit's space had completely different energy—louder, more bass-heavy, the air practically vibrating with the beat Mingyu had already queued up. The studio was smaller, more cramped, with equipment everywhere and the distinct smell of leather and coffee.

Mingyu was at the controls with his laptop, looking like a kid in a candy store, already excited about something. Vernon was sitting cross-legged on the floor, scrolling through his phone but clearly listening to the beat. Wonwoo stood near the speakers, hands in his pockets, quiet but present. S.Coups had claimed the couch, watching everything with that leader attention Yeonjun recognized from Soobin.

Yeonjun found himself next to Beomgyu, both of them looking slightly out of their depth.

*They've been doing this for years*, Yeonjun thought, watching the easy way the SEVENTEEN members moved around each other. *They know each other's styles, their strengths, what works and what doesn't. We're the new kids here.*

"You good?" Beomgyu asked quietly.

"Yeah, just... taking it in."

"Same."

"Okay!" Mingyu announced, spinning his chair to face them with that bright energy he seemed to radiate constantly. "So I made some beats last night. Just rough stuff, nothing final, but I figured we could start with something to vibe to."

He played the first beat—something with a hard kick and a melodic sample that felt both nostalgic and new at the same time. It was good. Really good.

"Freestyle day," Mingyu continued, adjusting the volume. "Just mess around, get comfortable. No pressure, no judgment. We're just feeling each other out."

*Vernon's POV*

Vernon stood up from his spot on the floor, stretching slightly before moving to the mic. He'd done this hundreds of times—freestyle sessions with the hip-hop unit, just vibing, just playing. It was one of his favorite parts of the creative process, before things got serious and structured.

He put on the headphones, waited for Mingyu to restart the beat, and just... went.

His flow was relaxed, conversational. He rapped about nothing important—waking up late, coffee being too hot, seeing a dog on the way to the studio, random observations that meant nothing but felt right over the beat. The lyrics were half English, half Korean, switching between languages so naturally he didn't even think about it anymore.

When he finished, he just shrugged and stepped back, catching Yeonjun and Beomgyu watching him with interested expressions.

"That was cool," Beomgyu said, and Vernon could tell he meant it.

"Your turn," Vernon said, gesturing to the mic. Might as well jump in.

*Beomgyu's POV*

Oh no. Oh no no no.

But Beomgyu was already moving to the mic because backing out now would be worse than potentially messing up. He put on the headphones, waited for Mingyu to restart the beat, and took a breath.

Then he just... went for it.

His style was different from Vernon's—more energetic, more punch to it, more playful. He rapped about the first random things that came to mind—the weird breakfast they'd had, Hoshi's ceiling smoothie disaster, getting lost in the HYBE building yesterday. He stumbled over a word halfway through and laughed at himself, which somehow made it better, more real, and he heard Vernon laugh too from behind him.

When he finished, slightly out of breath, everyone was nodding along.

"Nice energy," S.Coups said from the couch, and coming from the leader of SEVENTEEN that felt significant.

"You've got good rhythm," Vernon added. "Natural sense of where the beat sits."

Beomgyu felt his face heat up with the praise. "Thanks."

*Wonwoo's POV*

Wonwoo went next, stepping up to the mic with his usual quiet confidence. He preferred to observe first, understand the vibe, then contribute. Now that he had a sense of where everyone was at, he knew what to add.

His verse was different from Vernon's lightness and Beomgyu's energy—lower, slower, more deliberate. He rapped about shadows and late nights and the space between thoughts, his deep voice sitting perfectly in the beat's pocket. It created contrast, dimension, made the track feel more complete.

When he finished, Mingyu was nodding enthusiastically. "That's what I'm talking about! That's the texture we need!"

*S.Coups' POV*

S.Coups watched as Yeonjun stepped up to the mic next, and he could see the nervousness in the younger rapper's shoulders, the way he adjusted the headphones twice before starting.

But then Yeonjun started rapping, and Coups sat up a little straighter.

The kid was good. Really good. His verse wasn't perfect—he was too in his head at first, too focused on technique, trying too hard to impress. But then Beomgyu shouted "let's go!" from behind him, and something shifted. Yeonjun's shoulders relaxed, his flow smoothed out, and he just rapped.

When he finished, breathing hard, eyes bright with adrenaline, Coups spoke up.

"Your flow's clean," he said, and he meant it. "You've got good rhythm. You know when to push and when to pull back."

Yeonjun looked surprised, pleased. "Thank you, hyung."

"Really nice control," Wonwoo added. "Natural musicality."

*Mingyu's POV*

Mingyu was practically vibrating with excitement. This was going so well. Way better than he'd hoped for a first session.

"I told you," he said, grinning at Yeonjun. "We're gonna make something sick."

They spent the next hour just playing with different beats, different styles. Sometimes they went one at a time, sometimes they tried passing verses back and forth like a conversation. Mingyu kept switching up the instrumentals—faster, slower, different vibes—just to see how everyone adapted.

Yeonjun and Beomgyu started to relax more as the session went on, their verses getting more confident, more playful. Vernon and Wonwoo were vibing off each other in that telepathic way they had. S.Coups jumped in occasionally with verses that reminded everyone why he was the leader.

"What do you think?" Mingyu asked during a break, pulling up a new beat he'd been working on. "Faster or slower for the next one?"

"Faster," Vernon said immediately.

"Slower," Wonwoo countered, a small smile on his face.

"Different opinions," S.Coups observed with amusement. "Yeonjun, Beomgyu—you two decide."

Beomgyu and Yeonjun exchanged a look, and Mingyu could see the moment they realized their opinion actually mattered here, that this wasn't just a test—they were actually part of the unit.

"Um, faster?" Beomgyu said. "Let's try something with more energy."

"Faster it is," Mingyu said, already adjusting the tempo.

The next beat was aggressive, demanding, the kind that made you want to move. Beomgyu grinned when he heard it.

"This is the kind of beat that makes you want to go hard," Vernon said, nodding along.

"Then let's go hard," S.Coups said, standing up from the couch.

*S.Coups' POV*

By the end of the session, Coups felt good about this unit. Really good.

They had balance—Vernon's versatility, Wonwoo's depth, Mingyu's energy, and now Yeonjun's clean flow and Beomgyu's playful rhythm. It was different but it worked. They complemented each other.

"Good first session," he said as they were packing up. "We'll start actual writing next time, but this was important. Getting comfortable with each other."

"This was fun," Yeonjun said, and he sounded surprised by that, like he'd expected it to be stressful.

"It's always fun," Mingyu said, slinging an arm around Yeonjun's shoulders. "Even when it's hard work, it's fun. That's why we do it."

Coups watched them leave—Mingyu already pulling up something on his phone to show Yeonjun, Beomgyu and Vernon talking about something that made them both laugh, Wonwoo following quietly behind.

Yeah. This was going to be good.

---

**4:45 PM - Performance Unit (Dance Studio, 3rd Floor)**

*Taehyun's POV*

By the time Taehyun and Yeonjun made it to the dance studio on the third floor, they were both already a little tired from their earlier sessions but still buzzing with energy. The vocal unit practice had been good, Yeonjun's hip-hop session had apparently been fun—they'd compared notes in the elevator—and now this.

The studio was bigger than the others, with full-length mirrors along one wall and a professional sound system that was currently playing warm-up music. The space smelled like dance studios always did—a mix of sweat, wood polish, and determination.

Hoshi had apparently been there for a while—there was tape on the floor marking out what looked like formation positions, his water bottle and towel had already claimed a corner, and he was in the middle of the space doing what looked like a complicated turn sequence, his body moving with controlled power.

"You're here!" Hoshi said brightly when he spotted them, not even slightly out of breath despite the complex moves he'd just been doing. "Perfect! We're all here now."

Jun was stretching against the barre with that effortless flexibility that made everything look easy. The8 was in the corner doing some kind of meditation breathing, centered and calm. Dino was retying his shoes, looking fresh and energized despite it being the end of a long day.

"Okay," Hoshi said, clapping his hands together with infectious enthusiasm. "First session. We're not going to kill ourselves today—"

"Yet," Jun interjected quietly from his stretch.

"—yet," Hoshi agreed cheerfully. "Today we're just figuring out baselines. What everyone's comfortable with, what we can push, how we move together. Think of it as... getting to know each other through movement."

*Hoshi's POV*

Hoshi loved first sessions. Loved the potential of them, the discovery. He'd been doing this long enough to be able to read dancers quickly—their strengths, their weaknesses, how they learned, what motivated them.

"Let's start with basics," he continued, moving to the center of the room. "Just so I can see how you move. Taehyun, Yeonjun—don't worry about trying to impress anyone. Just dance how you normally dance."

He started them with a simple warm-up routine, something he'd done thousands of times with his own members. Basic stretches, simple combinations, nothing too complex. But he watched carefully—not just what they could do, but how they did it.

Taehyun moved with precision. Every motion was deliberate, controlled, placed exactly where it should be. Technical. Clean. The kind of dancer who thought about every movement, analyzed it, perfected it. He'd be good for the detailed, synchronized sections.

Yeonjun had different energy—more fluid, more expressive. He attacked movements with enthusiasm, sometimes sacrificing technical perfection for emotional impact. But that wasn't a bad thing. That kind of energy could make choreography come alive.

"Good," Hoshi said after they'd run through the warm-up a few times. "Your foundations are solid. Both of you have good control."

Taehyun looked surprised by the praise, like he hadn't expected it. Yeonjun looked relieved.

*Minghao's POV*

Minghao watched from his spot, observing the new members with quiet interest. He'd been doing this—dance, performance, movement—since he was young. He could read bodies the way some people read books.

Taehyun interested him. The kid moved like someone who'd trained hard, who'd worked to perfect his technique. There was no wasted movement, no extra flourish. Everything had purpose. That spoke to discipline, to dedication.

During a water break, Minghao approached him. "You've done a lot of technical training, haven't you?"

Taehyun looked up, surprised. "Some. We all have."

"It shows. Your lines are clean." Minghao demonstrated a position. "But don't be afraid to break the form sometimes. Perfect technique is important, but so is feeling."

Taehyun nodded, processing. "I'll try."

"You're already good," Minghao said. "Just trust yourself more."

*Jun's POV*

Jun had finished his stretching and was now watching Hoshi put Yeonjun through a more complex combination. The kid was keeping up—barely, but keeping up. Hoshi had a tendency to push hard even in "easy" sessions.

"Hoshi-yah," Jun called out. "Maybe ease up a bit? It's day one."

"This IS easy," Hoshi protested.

"For you, maybe," Dino muttered, and even though he was executing the combination perfectly, there was sweat on his brow.

Jun moved closer to where Yeonjun was catching his breath. "You're doing well. Hoshi has no concept of 'beginner level.'"

Yeonjun laughed, breathless. "I'm realizing that."

"The key is not to match his energy," Jun said conspiratorially. "That's impossible. Just find your own pace within the choreography."

"That's good advice," Yeonjun said gratefully.

*Dino's POV*

Dino had been the youngest in SEVENTEEN for so long that having younger people to work with felt strange but good. He'd always been the one learning from his hyungs, and now he could be the one offering guidance.

He noticed Taehyun watching the mirror intently during a break, probably analyzing his own movements, being self-critical. Dino recognized that tendency—he'd done it himself for years.

"Hey," Dino said, coming up beside him. "You're doing really well."

"I messed up that turn sequence," Taehyun said, still staring at the mirror.

"Everyone messes up turn sequences. That's why we practice." Dino smiled. "But your recovery was good. That matters more than not making mistakes—it's how you handle them."

Taehyun looked at him, seemed to consider this. "Thanks."

"First day with Hoshi-hyung is always brutal," Dino added. "But you're keeping up. Both of you are. That's impressive."

*The8's POV*

Minghao watched as they ran through another combination, this one slightly more complex. Hoshi was in his element, demonstrating with power and precision, and the others were trying to match his energy.

But Taehyun and Yeonjun were flagging—understandably. They'd already had sessions with their other units today. They were tired.

"Hoshi-hyung," Minghao called out. "Water break."

"We just had a water break—"

"Another one," Minghao said firmly, in that tone that even Hoshi didn't argue with.

Everyone gratefully grabbed their water bottles. Yeonjun looked like he might collapse, but he was smiling. Taehyun was breathing hard but his eyes were bright with that particular intensity that came from good exhaustion.

Minghao sat down next to Taehyun. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Taehyun admitted. "But good. This is... it's different from our usual practice."

"Hoshi-hyung's style is very intense. But you're adapting well." Minghao took a sip of water. "Your body learns quickly. I can see it—each run-through, you're making adjustments, improving."

"I'm trying," Taehyun said.

"That's all that matters."

*Hoshi's POV*

By the end of the two-hour session, Hoshi was pleased. More than pleased—excited. Both TXT members had good foundations, good instincts, good work ethic. They were tired, yes, but they hadn't given up, hadn't asked to stop, had kept pushing.

"You both did really well," he said as they were cooling down. "Like, seriously. I know I pushed hard, but you kept up."

"Barely," Yeonjun panted from where he was sprawled on the floor.

"Barely is still keeping up," Dino said, offering him a hand up. "First day with Hoshi-hyung is always brutal. But you survived."

"The question is whether we'll survive tomorrow," Taehyun said, accepting a water bottle from Minghao.

"You will," Minghao said calmly. "Your body adapts quickly when you're young. You'll be sore, but you'll be fine."

"I don't feel young right now," Yeonjun groaned. "I feel ancient."

"That's normal," Jun assured him from where he was still on the floor, having apparently decided not to move. "I feel ancient every day."

"Should we be concerned that you haven't moved in five minutes?" Taehyun asked.

"No, this is normal. I'll get up eventually. Probably."

Hoshi grinned, looking around at his unit. This was good. Different dynamics than usual, but good. The TXT members brought fresh energy, different styles, new perspectives.

"Good work today, everyone," Hoshi said. "Rest up. Tomorrow we'll start on actual choreography."

"Can't wait," Yeonjun said, and despite looking exhausted, he actually seemed to mean it.

Yeah, Hoshi thought. This was going to be really good.

---

**6:30 PM - Main Rehearsal Space, Everyone Together**

By the time everyone made it back to the main rehearsal space, the energy was completely different from this morning. Softer, quieter, everyone moving a little slower. Nine hours of work settled into their bones.

Taehyun dropped his bag by the door and looked around. Kai was already on the floor near the windows, eyes closed, just breathing. Beomgyu had claimed three chairs pushed together. Soobin sat against the wall, still somehow looking put together despite the long day.

The SEVENTEEN members were scattered around too. DK and Joshua sat together on the floor, sharing what looked like crackers. Vernon and Wonwoo occupied the couch in comfortable silence. Jun was lying completely flat on the floor, staring at the ceiling like it held the answers to life's questions. Hoshi was still stretching—because of course he was—while Seungkwan watched him with fond exasperation.

"Everyone survived," Jeonghan observed from where he sat cross-legged by the mirror.

"Barely," Yeonjun said, finding a spot on the floor next to Kai.

"That counts," Jun said from his horizontal position.

"Does it though?" Beomgyu asked.

"I'm going to say yes because I'm too tired to debate," Soobin said.

There was quiet laughter, the comfortable kind that came from shared exhaustion.

*S.Coups' POV*

Coups did a mental headcount—all eighteen accounted for, all alive, all relatively functional. Good. He pushed himself up from where he'd been sitting, feeling his own tiredness but pushing through it because that's what leaders did.

"Before everyone disappears," he said, not loudly but everyone heard him anyway, "let's talk about tomorrow."

People shifted slightly, turning their attention to him without moving much. No one wanted to move more than necessary.

"Tomorrow's a bit different," Coups continued. "Morning is the production meeting. Woozi, Slow Rabbit, Bumzu, and—" he looked at Taehyun, "—Taehyun will be working on the foundational tracks."

Taehyun sat up a little straighter, nervous energy visible in the way his hands moved.

"Just us?" Taehyun asked.

"Just us," Woozi confirmed from his spot. "Bring your laptop, your demos, any ideas you've been sitting on. We're going to map out the sonic direction for all six tracks."

"That's a lot for one meeting," Taehyun said quietly.

"It's a starting point," Woozi said. "We won't finish everything, but we'll get the foundation. You good with that?"

Taehyun nodded, though he looked like he might throw up from nerves. "Yeah. What time?"

"Ten AM. Studio 6."

"I'll be there."

"Afternoon is unit practices again," S.Coups said. "Same schedule as today. Everyone good with that?"

There were various sounds of agreement, some more enthusiastic than others.

"My legs are going to fall off," Yeonjun said.

"No they won't," Hoshi said cheerfully. "They'll just feel like they will. There's a difference."

"That's not comforting, hyung."

"It's not meant to be comforting. It's meant to be accurate."

*Mingyu's POV*

Mingyu looked around at everyone, feeling that warmth in his chest that always came after good work days. Yeah, they were all exhausted, but it was good exhaustion. The kind that meant something.

"Hip-hop unit did well today," he said, because he needed them to know that. "Yeonjun, Beomgyu—you both have really good instincts. Just trust them more."

Yeonjun's ears went red. "Thanks, hyung."

"I'm serious," Mingyu continued. "The way you adapted to different beats, found your pocket in the rhythm—that's not something you can teach. You either feel it or you don't, and you both feel it."

"Mingyu-hyung is very passionate about hip-hop," Vernon observed.

"Someone has to be," Mingyu said. "Might as well be me."

"He's going to send us like fifty beats tonight, isn't he?" Beomgyu asked Wonwoo.

"At minimum," Wonwoo confirmed.

"I like making beats!" Mingyu protested. "Is that a crime?"

"No, but it's a lot," Yeonjun said, but he was smiling. "I'm still getting through the forty-seven from last night."

"And? Did you like them?"

"Yeah, actually. A lot of them were really good."

Mingyu beamed. "See? This is why I do it."

The conversation drifted for a bit, comfortable and easy. People started pulling out snacks, sharing water bottles, settling into the space like they had nowhere else to be even though they were all exhausted.

*Taehyun's POV*

Taehyun found himself sitting between Kai and Minghao, an unexpected but comfortable position. Kai had finally opened his eyes and was eating the crackers DK had passed over. Minghao was just sitting quietly, present but not demanding attention.

"You're nervous about tomorrow," Minghao said, and it wasn't a question.

Taehyun glanced at him. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only if someone's paying attention." Minghao's voice was calm, grounding. "Production meetings are intense, but Woozi-hyung is good at what he does. He won't waste your time or dismiss your ideas."

"What if my ideas aren't good enough?"

"He wouldn't have asked you to bring them if he thought that."

It was such a simple statement, but something about the certainty in Minghao's voice made Taehyun believe it a little more.

"The hardest part," Minghao continued, "is trusting yourself. Everything else is just work."

"How do you do that? Trust yourself?"

Minghao considered this. "Practice. Same as anything else. You do it scared until one day you realize you're not scared anymore."

Kai leaned his head on Taehyun's shoulder, a casual gesture of support. "You're going to be great, Taehyun-ah."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. You always are."

Taehyun felt his throat get tight. He didn't know how to respond to that kind of easy faith, so he just sat there, letting Kai's weight ground him.

*Hoshi's POV*

Hoshi had finally stopped stretching and joined the group, sitting down in the loose circle that had formed. His body was tired but his mind was still going, still thinking about choreography, about formations, about all the possibilities.

"Performance unit," he said, and Taehyun and Yeonjun both looked at him. "You both did really well today. I know I pushed hard—"

"Understatement," Jun muttered.

"—but you kept up. That's what matters. Your foundations are strong, and we can build on that."

"Are all your practices going to be that intense?" Yeonjun asked.

"Yes," Hoshi said honestly. "But you get used to it. Your body adapts. Your stamina builds. And the end result is worth it."

"If we survive," Yeonjun said.

"You'll survive," Dino assured him. "We all did, and Hoshi-hyung was even more intense when we were younger."

"That's terrifying," Beomgyu said.

"That's dedication," Hoshi corrected cheerfully.

The conversation kept flowing, easy and comfortable. People were starting to relax more, the initial awkwardness from this morning completely gone. Mingyu was explaining something to Yeonjun with animated hand gestures. Vernon and Beomgyu were looking at something on Vernon's phone, both of them smiling. Joshua had his guitar out again, just strumming quietly, and DK was humming along.

*Woozi's POV*

Woozi watched it all from his spot, not participating much but observing. This was good. Better than he'd expected, honestly. Sometimes when you put groups together for collaborations, there was awkwardness that lasted weeks. But this felt natural already.

His phone buzzed. A message from their manager saying the cars were ready whenever they were.

"Alright," Woozi said, standing up. "Cars are here. We should head out."

There was a collective groan, but people started gathering their things. Slowly. Very slowly.

"Do we have to?" Jun asked from the floor.

"Yes," S.Coups said. "Come on, up."

"But I'm comfortable."

"You're on the floor."

"It's a very comfortable floor."

Jeonghan reached down and physically pulled Jun up, which seemed to be the only thing that worked.

People started moving toward their bags, putting on shoes, gathering belongings. But the energy was reluctant, like no one actually wanted to leave yet despite being exhausted.

*DK's POV*

DK found himself near Kai, who was trying to tie his shoes but looked like he might fall asleep in the process.

"Today was good," DK said, because he wanted to make sure Kai knew that.

Kai looked up, smiling. "Yeah, it was."

"The voice memo this morning—was it too much? I got excited and kind of went overboard—"

"No!" Kai said quickly. "It was really sweet. I listened to it three times."

"Really?"

"Really. It made me feel... I don't know, welcomed? Like you actually cared, not just for the cameras or professionalism."

DK felt his chest warm. "I do care. All of us do. You're not just collaborators—you're, like, part of the family now."

"That fast?" Kai asked, but he was smiling.

"That fast," DK confirmed. "That's how we work. We don't do things halfway."

Kai finished tying his shoes and stood up. "Thanks, hyung. For the song. And for today."

"Anytime," DK said, and meant it.

*Soobin's POV*

Soobin had finished gathering his things and was doing a mental check of his members. Yeonjun was with Mingyu, still talking about something music-related. Beomgyu was laughing at something Vernon said. Kai was with DK. Taehyun was—

Taehyun was standing a little apart from everyone, just watching, taking it all in with that observant expression he got when he was processing things.

Soobin moved closer. "You okay?"

Taehyun looked at him, then around at everyone—eighteen people who this morning had been strangers and now felt like something more.

"Yeah," Taehyun said quietly. "I'm good. Just... taking it in."

"Big day."

"Yeah."

"You nervous about tomorrow?"

"Terrified," Taehyun admitted. "But also excited? Is that weird?"

"That's normal," Soobin said. "The good things are usually scary too."

They stood there for a moment, just watching their members interact with SEVENTEEN like they'd known each other for months instead of hours.

"We're going to be okay," Soobin said, and he meant it.

"Yeah," Taehyun agreed. "We are."

The goodbyes took another fifteen minutes because nobody seemed to know how to just leave. There were hugs—DK hugged everyone twice, Hoshi made Taehyun and Yeonjun promise to stretch before bed, Mingyu was already pulling up beats on his phone to show Yeonjun one more thing, Seungkwan was arguing with someone about something that made everyone laugh.

"Okay, seriously," S.Coups finally said. "We need to go. We all need to go."

"Fine," Hoshi said dramatically. "But same time tomorrow!"

"Same time tomorrow," everyone agreed.

Finally, FINALLY, they started moving toward the doors. TXT headed toward their van, SEVENTEEN toward theirs, but there was still chatter, still people calling out last things to each other.

"Rest well!" Joshua called.

"You too!" Soobin called back.

"See you tomorrow, Taehyun-ah!" Woozi said. "Don't forget your laptop!"

"I won't!" Taehyun promised.

And then they were separating, getting into their respective vans, the HYBE building getting smaller behind them as they drove away.

---

**7:15 PM - TXT Dorm**

The dorm was quiet when they walked in, that particular kind of quiet that made you want to whisper. Evening light filtered through the windows, soft and golden.

"I'm exhausted," Kai announced, dropping his bag right in the middle of the entrance.

"Move your bag," Soobin said automatically, already moving toward the kitchen. "Someone's going to trip."

"Too tired to move it."

"Kai."

"Fine." Kai moved it approximately six inches to the left. "Better?"

"That's worse. That's actively worse."

But Soobin was smiling as he said it, and Kai was grinning, and the familiar banter felt like coming home.

*Yeonjun's POV*

Yeonjun made it to the couch and collapsed face-first into the cushions. Every muscle in his body was screaming. Hip-hop unit had been fun, performance unit had been brutal, and now he was paying the price.

"I can't move," he announced to the cushions.

"Then you can't eat dinner," Beomgyu said, stepping over him.

"I'll starve."

"Dramatic."

"I'm in pain."

"Also dramatic."

But Beomgyu sat down on the floor next to the couch, close enough that Yeonjun could see him without moving his head. "Today was good though, wasn't it?"

Yeonjun turned his head slightly. "Yeah. Really good."

"Mingyu-hyung is so enthusiastic."

"He really is. He's like... a human energy drink."

"Vernon-hyung is nice," Beomgyu said, and his voice did that soft thing it did when he was talking about someone he liked.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. He's funny. Like, actually funny, not trying-to-be-funny funny. And he's really good at what he does."

"You like him," Yeonjun observed.

Beomgyu's ears went red. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

"We just met today."

"And?"

"And... I don't know. He's cool." Beomgyu was fidgeting with his phone, not looking at Yeonjun. "He sent me a beat earlier. Said he thought I'd like it."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. It was really good." Beomgyu finally looked up, meeting Yeonjun's eyes. "Is it weird? That they're all being so nice? Like, genuinely nice, not just professional nice?"

"I don't think it's weird," Yeonjun said. "I think that's just how they are."

"Mingyu-hyung really likes you. Like, a lot. He kept complimenting your flow."

"He's just being nice."

"No, hyung. He meant it. I could tell."

Yeonjun felt his face heat up. "Stop."

"I'm just saying."

"Well stop just saying."

But they were both smiling.

*Taehyun's POV*

Taehyun had gone straight to his room to change into comfortable clothes—sweatpants, soft hoodie, the uniform of being home. He could hear his members in the living room, their voices a comfortable background noise.

Tomorrow. Production meeting tomorrow. With Woozi. And Slow Rabbit. And Bumzu. People who actually knew what they were doing, who'd been producing professionally for years.

And him.

He looked at his laptop on his desk, thought about all the demos saved on it. Work he'd done late at night, ideas he'd played with, things he'd been told weren't quite right for official releases. Tomorrow he had to bring all of that, show it to people whose opinions mattered, whose judgment could—

"Hyun." Kai appeared in the doorway. "Stop spiraling."

"I'm not spiraling."

"You're absolutely spiraling. I can see it from here." Kai came in, sat on Taehyun's bed without asking, made himself comfortable. "You're going to be great tomorrow."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true. And because you need to hear it until you believe it."

Taehyun sat down next to him, shoulders touching. "What if they don't like my stuff?"

"Then they don't like it and you make new stuff. But I don't think that's going to happen."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've heard your demos. They're really good, Taehyun. Like, really good. You just don't believe they are because—" Kai paused, choosing his words carefully, "—because you've been told they weren't for so long."

That hit somewhere tender, somewhere Taehyun tried not to look at too closely.

"But Woozi-hyung believes they're good," Kai continued. "And he wouldn't say that if he didn't mean it. He doesn't seem like the type to lie to make people feel better."

"He really doesn't," Taehyun agreed.

"So trust him. And trust yourself."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, just existing together. From the kitchen, they could hear Soobin starting to cook something, the familiar sounds of home.

"Come on," Kai said eventually, standing up and pulling Taehyun with him. "Soobin-hyung is making dinner and you need to eat."

"Okay," Taehyun said. "Okay."

---

**7:30 PM - SEVENTEEN Dorm**

The SEVENTEEN dorm was already in full chaos mode by the time everyone got back. Someone—probably Hoshi—had music playing. There were bags dropped everywhere. Shoes scattered in a way that was definitely a tripping hazard.

*Mingyu's POV*

Mingyu headed straight for the kitchen, because cooking was his way of winding down after intense days. He pulled open the fridge, surveyed the contents, and started planning.

"What are you making?" Dino asked, appearing at his elbow.

"Not sure yet. Something with protein. We all need protein after today."

"We need sleep."

"We need food first, then sleep."

Wonwoo appeared next, moving around Mingyu with that silent efficiency they'd developed over years of sharing space. He pulled out rice, started the cooker without being asked. Vernon followed, grabbing vegetables. They moved around each other like a well-oiled machine.

"Did today go well?" Wonwoo asked, his voice quiet under the music playing from the living room.

"Really well," Mingyu said. "Better than I expected. Yeonjun and Beomgyu have good instincts."

"You like Yeonjun," Vernon observed.

"I like all of them."

"You LIKE Yeonjun," Vernon repeated, emphasis on the like, and Mingyu felt his ears heat up.

"He's talented. And he works hard. And he's... nice."

"Mingyu-hyung has a crush," Dino sing-songed.

"I don't have a crush. I have professional admiration."

"Those aren't mutually exclusive," Wonwoo said calmly, chopping vegetables with precise cuts.

"I hate all of you."

"No you don't," Vernon said, smiling.

And Mingyu didn't. He really didn't.

*Jun's POV*

Jun had made it to the couch and had no intention of moving. His whole body ached in that good way that came from proper dance practice, but he was also very aware that he wasn't eighteen anymore and recovery took longer now.

Minghao sat down next to him, close enough that their shoulders touched. Comfortable. Easy.

"Taehyun's nervous about tomorrow," Minghao said quietly.

"Production meeting?"

"Yeah. He's scared his ideas won't be good enough."

Jun turned his head slightly to look at his boyfriend. "But they are good enough. Woozi wouldn't have asked him otherwise."

"I know that. You know that. Taehyun needs to know that."

"He'll learn," Jun said. "Same way you learned. Same way we all learned."

"I hope so. He's got talent. Real talent. Would be a shame if insecurity held him back."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, just existing together. From the kitchen, they could hear Mingyu and the others starting to cook, the familiar sounds of their home routine.

"Today was good," Jun said eventually.

"Yeah," Minghao agreed. "It was."

*S.Coups' POV*

Coups found Jeonghan in their shared room, already changed into comfortable clothes and looking significantly more relaxed than he had all day.

"Everyone survived," Coups said, closing the door behind him.

"They did," Jeonghan agreed. "Better than survived, actually. They thrived."

"TXT seems good."

"They are good. Genuinely good. Not putting on a show, not trying too hard. Just being themselves."

Coups sat down on his bed, feeling the exhaustion settle into his bones now that he was finally in his own space. "Think this collaboration will work?"

"I know it will," Jeonghan said with that certainty he had about people, that ability to read situations that had always amazed Coups. "The dynamics are right. Everyone's committed. And there's genuine respect both ways."

"Woozi seems excited about working with Taehyun."

"He is. Did you see his face when Taehyun was talking about production ideas? He was actually engaged. Not just polite listening, but actual interest."

"That's rare."

"That's why I think this will be special."

From somewhere in the dorm, they heard Hoshi laughing about something, DK's voice joining in, the familiar chaos that was their everyday life.

"Home," Coups said quietly.

"Home," Jeonghan agreed. "With eighteen people now instead of thirteen."

"That's a lot of people."

"We've handled worse."

And they had. They really had.

*Woozi's POV*

Woozi sat at his desk in his room, laptop open, going through the schedule for tomorrow's production meeting. He'd worked with a lot of people over the years—idols, producers, songwriters—and he'd gotten good at reading talent quickly.

Taehyun had it. Real, genuine talent. The kind that couldn't be taught, could only be nurtured. His instincts were sharp, his ear for music was natural, and his ideas—the ones Slow Rabbit had sent him—showed real creativity.

The kid was just scared. Scared of not being good enough, scared of being overlooked, scared of all the things that came from years of not being properly credited.

Tomorrow would be interesting. Tomorrow they'd see what Taehyun could really do when given space and encouragement.

Woozi made a few more notes, saved the file, and closed his laptop. Tomorrow. But first, he needed to eat whatever Mingyu was cooking and then sleep for eight hours.

He could hear the others in the living room and kitchen, the familiar sounds of home. Seventeen years together and counting. And now they were bringing in five more.

Yeah. This was going to be good.

---

**8:45 PM - TXT Dorm, After Dinner**

They'd eaten Soobin's ramyeon, cleaned up together, and now everyone was scattered around the living room in various states of relaxation. The TV was on but nobody was really watching it.

*Soobin's POV*

Soobin watched his members, doing that thing he always did where he mentally checked that everyone was okay. Yeonjun was on the floor doing stretches Hoshi had apparently instructed him to do via text. Beomgyu was on his phone, texting someone—probably Vernon based on the smile on his face. Kai was half-asleep on the couch. And Taehyun...

Taehyun was at the table with his laptop, already going through his demos for tomorrow.

Soobin moved closer, sat down next to him. "Hey."

"Hey," Taehyun said, not looking away from the screen.

"You're going to be great tomorrow."

"Everyone keeps saying that."

"Because it's true." Soobin gently closed Taehyun's laptop. "And because you need to stop working and rest. Tomorrow's a big day. You need sleep."

"I just want to make sure—"

"Taehyun." Soobin's voice was gentle but firm. "You're ready. Your demos are good. You're good. Now close the laptop and come sit with us."

Taehyun looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay."

"Okay."

They moved to the living room, joining the others. Taehyun ended up between Kai and Yeonjun, and within five minutes Kai was asleep with his head on Taehyun's shoulder, and Yeonjun was showing him something on his phone that Mingyu had sent.

This was good, Soobin thought. They were good. Tomorrow would be good too.

"Bed in thirty minutes," Soobin announced to the room.

"Yes, leader," everyone chorused, not meaning it.

But they'd all go to bed eventually. They always did.

And tomorrow they'd do it all again.

---