Expectations [양정원/이희승]

《chapter 2》

He was getting more and more irratible as his skin crawled underneath the bright lights.

"Guys, can you please just sit down and let them do their job." Jungwon scolded his group members for what felt like the 20th time.

"We are not even doing anything, Hyungie" Niki complained, but guiltily let his hands sink into his lap instead of messing with Jake's hair.

Jungwon just huffed, and the makeup Noona looked irritated when jake stuck his tongue out at Niki, who now couldn't retaliate for his own messed up hair anymore.

"Jake-hyung" Jungwon warned, now feeling sympathy for their staff for having to deal with their shenanigans all the time.

Jungwon too sounded exhausted.
He tried his best not to show the sleepless nights to any cameras around, but he couldn't hide from his members, even if he tried.

"Hey Jungwon-ah, you good?" Heeseung had emerged out of the wardrobe, looking like an expansive painting.

Jungwon had to swallow for a second to calm his racing thoughts.
"Yes, Hyung. I'm fine. Are the others done changing, too?"

"We're all set. But you're not fine, don't lie to me. What's up?"
Heeseung pressed on, one hand now holding onto jungwons shoulder, eyes searching Jungwon's face for any sign of discomfort.
He didn't know whether he was trying to comfort or trap Jungwon with his grip.
But it did feel weirdly grounding.

"I just ... didn't get enough sleep, I guess, and they are being a little difficult right now," Jungwon said, looking over at their pack. He hasn't even meant to open up about his concerns so quickly, but his drained mind couldn't help it.

Sunghoon was repeatedly poking his fingers into Sunoo's sides, who in turn shrieked loudly, everytime they made contact.

Heeseung nodded, eyes still looking into Jungwon's and gave his shoulder a little squeeze.
"Okay, I got it."

With that, Heeseung finally loosened his grip on Jungwon and turned around to his pack members.

Jungwon almost sighed in relief when he finally got some peace and quiet, not even 10 seconds later.

He didn't know how Heeseung had done it, nor did he really care. It was finally silent.

His head finally felt like it wasn't going to explode all over these expansive designer clothes, that none of them would ever wear outside of this studio. Except for Jeongseong, maybe.

A few hours later, and a few cups of americano later - which, now that he thought about it, kept reappering in his hands magically - they were finally let off from their photoshoot and sent home by a manager.

On the way home, he was the second to last to enter the van, only followed by Heeseung, who had made it a habit to always be the last to enter a space, maybe to make sure noone was left behind. Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with having to fight for a seat and just settled for whichever seat was left.

Jungwon sat down next to Jay and Sunoo, the ones that were often considered closest to him.

"Jungwon-ah, can we get take out when we're home?" He was greeted by an innocently smiling Omega, who immediately gripped onto his arm and Jungwon almost laughed at Sunoo's use of aegyo for such a petty thing.

"You know we can just make Tteokbokki at home, right?"

"Jay-hyung doesn't want to cook and I'm starving." Sunoo whined and everyone laughed at his dramatics.

Jungwon pulled his arm out of Sunoos vice grip and looked at the others.

They all looked exhausted and hungry, he quickly determined.