PROJECT: SEVENTEEN. seventeen au

IMBALANCE.

let's start from the top, shall we?

it was a wednesday afternoon when things started to roll downhill.

of course, there were numerous things that were obviously the main fuel to the fire- like jieun's abnormally bad mood that day, and the fact that tw's activity had gotten more frequent and yet they still haven't come up with something to do. those were the two biggest things, the main ingredients, the overall stars of the show that complete our main course.

but there were other, much smaller things caused by the two biggest events. these are the spices, the herbs that make our soup of misery even tastier- take seungcheol stressing over everything, for example. or jihoon being more closed off than usual. or jeonghan's comebacks on the line between sarcasm and sincerity, or dino whining even more. these small, unnoticeable little traits slowly set their nerves on fire, creating small cracks in their friendship that were too tiny to be seen or accepted.

but on the bright side, kiro has come back! though he wasn't present on that particular wednesday, the agent did come by with jieun every other day. what a time to rejoice, right?

for others, it was not.

we arrive at the current scene located at the basement, where the thirteen boys held a brainstorming session on what they plan to do and what kind of evidence they have. the ac's turned up high, and papers are scattered on the floor below. jeonghan claims his throne on the couch, dino and hansol lay down on the floor. minghao sits on the table with his legs dangling from the edge, nibbling on an orange seungkwan gave to him while listening to jihoon and mingyu slowly get into a heated argument.

ah, arguments. take a seat, grab an orange. let's tune in, shall we?

"you guys, seriously," jihoon sighs, black hair falling in front of his eyes. "stop pressuring me to finish the plan! it-it requires time, and we need to finish this in a logical and practical manner before-"

"but fuck practical, hyung!" mingyu says in an outburst. "can't you see? people's lives are in danger out there. we don't need to be practical-"

"but why? tell me, kim mingyu- if we don't think through this first do you think we won't die?" jihoon snaps back.

mingyu sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "but hyung. hyung. we're running out of time! we need to come up with something fast, so if you could brush off your traditional ways for a moment maybe we could-"

"if you fixed your attitude, shut up, and actually help me work on the plan, maybe you'd already have one by now." he glares up at mingyu with all the anger his body could contain, eyes shaking in frustration. "how do we even fucking start if we don't know who's in the group? how do we even start if we don't know who to attack?"

the room falls silent. jihoon had a point. jisoo, jeonghan, and seungkwan had already researched the best that they can, but all that remained in their searches were partially false rumors,  half-witnesses, and unconfirmed guesses. there was no use in continuing.

"we're not pressuring you, jihoon," seungcheol speaks up gently from where he reclined in a swivel chair. "it's just really frustrating. i myself couldn't come up with ways to somehow...help."

jihoon sighs. "i know. it's alright." then slowly, he looks up at mingyu with apologetic eyes. "sorry for yelling at you like that."

mingyu grins tiredly, the tips of his canines peeking out. "it's okay, hyung. it's just that- it's been weeks and we had nothing to do but just lay around here and wait, while those fuckers rob and destroy our city. it's tiring."