Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He had no idea how he ended up here at a function this extravagant. Just him and Hyunjin trailing along at his side. It was being held in some fancy theatre; all he could see were swanky carvings across the pillars and wooden step upon wooden step. There was a large proscenium arch hovering above the theatre stage, made of stone, probably. The whole event smelt a little ‘rustic’, likely due to the worn-out wooden stage frames and the thick, velour curtains draped at either side of the stage. The whole place kind of just smelt like mothballs to Jisung. 

Below it, a podium and a large presentation board in the centre with 'Sing it, Feel it, Live it!" typed in English across the blue canvas. He cringed at the awful slogan, tugging at his dickie bowtie. 

Why did I even enter that stupid contest? he thought to himself. One of the 'perks' of the contest was entry to one of Seoul's most lucrative ‘charity galas’. He would’ve just been happy with the new phone. He didn’t even know what gala actually meant.

Jisung had simply entered a YouTube contest in which you used the creator’s sample to engineer your own song. He only entered because he was sure the slight jungle/house-style EDM mix he roughly threw together at 2:00am in a coffee-fuelled mania wouldn't ever win.

Alas, out of 16,000+ entries, annoyingly, he had won.

He had considered not going at all, but something inside of him told him that not attending a charity event based on 'increasing funding for arts and music projects in schools' didn't sit right with him somehow as someone who had studied music himself.

Also, Hyunjin, his best friend, wanted to get out of the house and into a suit, go figure. He was so statuesque and handsome; he totally rocked the tuxedo look. Jisung on the other hand, looked like a 13-year old had been swallowed by a 22-year-olds clothes. How could the blazer be so big, but the shirt collar be so damn tight?

Maybe I have a thicker than average neck, he pondered.

---

He had hoped the venue would just be a buffet and with some late 90’s musical numbers playing from some badly connected speakers, but instead he was surrounded by pompous douchebags who probably were born around the time this theatre was originally built.

"Jisung, I'm sure I saw Lee Dong-Wook over there! I am freaking out. I will literally die if I get to speak to him tonight, he's like my idol." Hyunjin exclaimed excitedly. He stood behind Jisung and had his hands on both of Jisung's shoulders. He was bobbing up and down like some hyperactive kid, ducking away as to hide from the famous actors all gathered in a circle (who likely weren't even looking his way anyway).

"Hyunjin I swear you are going to get us kicked out of a charity event..." Jisung groaned putting his hands to his forehead and rubbing at his temples, completely over the situation. He was used to being man-handled by Hyunjin; it came with the territory of being the best friend of the most chaotic man in history. Plus, Hyunjin was taller than Jisung so it wasn't like he had much of a say in the matter.

He was right though; it was kind of exhilarating being so close to celebrities. Maybe he would feel confident enough to speak to some of the other musicians. Networking is important in his field and he would be lying if he said it wasn't one of the reasons that he eventually talked himself in to coming.

Jisung was a music producer by profession, but at the tender age of 22 he had barely gotten anywhere aside from a few B-sides on some lesser known groups' songs and some commercial plays. He thought maybe if he mingled with the producers here, they might want to hear some of his work.

Who was he kidding though, the likelihood of him actually following through with that was next to none.

He would likely stand in this same spot with Hyunjin all night.

---

Sometime after, Jisung noticed a brunette girl with a slicked back ponytail had started walking around with a platter in her hand, bowing and smiling at the guests with a smile so fake plastered across her face Jisung thought she would end up permanently in that position if the wind changed.

Jisung considered that he hadn't eaten since 10:00am this morning when Hyunjin had started his 8-hour prep for the nights' event. Jisung on the other hand literally jumped in the shower, ran shampoo through his yellow hair and then got out and dressed. He thought he maybe should have at least invested in a toning shampoo. Oh well. Hyunjin insisted on the eyeliner, though.

He decided to make a beeline for the food. Maybe if he ate enough it would fill the ever-apparent void of actually being here.

Jisung span around on his heel and grabbed Hyunjin by both arms firmly. He let out a deep sigh and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Hyunjin I'm going to grab some food okay? Please, do not do anything stupid or embarrassing whilst I'm gone..." he raised his eyebrows to highlight the importance of the situation. 

"I won't! Sheesh, you don't trust me!" Hyunjin clapped back with a pout, slapping his hands away childishly.

"You have given me plenty of reasons not to leave you alone before. Literally multiple times." Jisung said, rolling his eyes so far back in to his head he was sure he could see his own brain stem. If that was possible. With that, he was slipping away to find the Holy Platter of Canapes.

Please don't be pretentious, please don't be pretentious, he repeated to himself. He was met with a tray of 'camembert and prosciutto parcels' or 'anchovy-lemon brioche bites with pickled crayfish', or something like that.

Ick.

He sighed - he was more of a sweet over savoury kind of guy anyway. He grabbed one in between his index finger and thumb and did his best to eat the entire thing, ignoring how rancid it tasted to him as to avoid the embarrassment of walking up to the girl and then just walking away. He didn't want another awkward memory to dwell on for the next fifteen years, he had enough of those to last a lifetime.

He turned back in the direction of Hyunjin, apologising to the people he was trying to weave around. As he was walking, he grabbed two half-filled champagne flutes from another silver tray and made his back over to their 'corner of the circle' as he called it. He wasn't a big drinker by nature, he didn't really like the taste, but sometimes he could make an exception.

---

As he saw Hyunjin’s meticulously chiselled side profile come in to focus he stopped dead in his tracks. Oh no. Hyunjin was talking to someone, and not just someone, a whole group of people, and they looked, their age-ish? Man, this is not what he needed.

He cussed Hyunjin out in his head and continued walking over, focusing on the pattern of his breathing way more than he was before. He hated being in a group with people he didn't know and here's Hyunjin, life and soul of the party, doing just that. Go figure.

"Jisung!" Hyunjin excitedly exclaimed at him, giving him the widest grin possible as he clapped his hands together loudly. His eyes were beaming, as if the other boy hadn't been gone literally five- or six-minutes max.

The group of people turned around to look at him. Oh, wow. There really were some famous faces here to say the least.

He recognised Lee Felix, the Australian-born, Korean heartthrob. Next to him was Kim 'Voice of an Angel' Seungmin and then someone else, who he didn't know. He was shorter, with a well-defined muscular jawbone and dyed blonde hair; it was a similar shade to his own. He looked so broad compared to Hyunjin, who definitely had more of a 'sleek body', if that made sense.

Not that Jisung ever looked at Hyunjin ‘like that’ (at least not since his first year of high school).

"Jisung, can you believe this? I'm standing with Lee Felix, Kim Seungmin and Mr. Bang Chan. It's incredible, what an honour!" Hyunjin exclaimed, his laugh was so contagious the other men laughed along with him and Jisung felt the second-hand cringe overtake his body. He grimaced but smiled a little as to not attract unwanted questions. All he could hear was 'Oh stop it!"

Ick.

"This is my friend Jisung, he is just stepping into the music industry himself, he's a producer!" The other men nodded their heads in approval, likely faking some interest.

Please Hyunjin, please no. I’m asking you as a friend to shut your big mouth right now. Jisung begged with his eyes for him to stop talking, hoping they had known each other long enough that they pick up on these non-verbal cues. Hyunjin understood immediately and led the conversation in a different direction.

"Jisung, Mr. Bang Chan here is an agent, he told me I should come and audition for the company he works for! He is also The Lee Minho's Manager!"

Jisung could feel excitement in his Hyunjin's voice and he was doing that same little arm and hip ‘wiggle’ he did whenever all the attention was on him. Mr. Bang Chan turned to him gripping on to his left arm slightly.

"I near enough noticed you from across the room Hyunjin. I honestly thought you were another one of those ‘token models’ they have to pay to appear at these kinds of boring events!” The man scoffed, sipping at his drink casually.

His accent was kind of funny, Jisung wasn't sure about him. He was leaning in to Hyunjin a little too close for comfort and he obviously had a way with people. Hyunjin just laughed rather coyly, swatting Chan on the arm playfully.

Ick.

"I am seriously not good-looking enough to be a model!” Hyunjin replied, taking the champagne flute from Jisung's hand that he had now been awkwardly holding long enough for it to likely be grossly warm at the bottom.

As if listening to Hyunjin talk about himself wasn't bad enough, now he had to listen to other people do it...

Stop being such a bitch, Jisung thought to himself. You should be happy for him, he's your best friend. Suddenly, his train of thought was cut short, as another man turned to face him.

"I'm Kim Seungmin, nice to meet you!" The softer-looking, ash-blonde boy said, although Jisung already knew who he was. The other man extended a hand to him. This was new. He took his hand and shook it. It was a pretty 'western' introduction, but he considered that Kim Seungmin travelled the all over the world on his tours, so it made sense. He knew that he spoke English near to fluency too, Jisung was definitely in awe of him, especially as he knew they were the same age.

"What type of music do you produce then, Jisung, was it?" the other man continued.

"Um, yeah it's Jisung. My name, I mean, and well..."

Suddenly, he was cut off by a loud plosive noise, followed by a screeching sound that forced everyone in the room to stop what they were otherwise doing. Jisung knew that ear-splitting microphone feedback noise from anywhere and his eyes moved from Seungmin to the stage podium, where someone was standing beneath the arch way. The room went quiet in anticipation.

"Hello, everyone, does this thing work?" The voice said, Jisung could see the silhouetted figure pat the microphone and laugh a little into it. The crowd followed in tandem, giggling along.

Suddenly, the floodlights came up to illuminate the entire stage.

"There he is! The man of the hour!" Mr. Bang Chan exclaimed, loud enough so the entire rest of the auditorium could hear. Jisung squinted his eyes a little to try and see who he was talking about. Covering his brow with his hand to dim the light a little.

---

Standing centre stage was The Lee Minho.

He was a renowned drama actor, professional dancer, clothing model, brand ambassador, singer, choreographer, TV personality, recently turned musical theatre leading man - you name it, he did it... It was infuriating.  

The entire room erupted in clapping suddenly. It was honestly a bit overwhelming for Jisung, but he joined in as to not look out of place.

Although he wasn't too clued up on musical theatre, it made sense that someone like The Lee Minho would start a ‘charitable organisation based on increasing funding for arts and music projects in schools'  mere weeks before his Leading-Man Musical Debut…

Typical headline grabbing behaviour, very smart. Jisung wasn't sure if he was impressed or sickened by the idea of the man using charity as a form of advertisement.

And just like that, Jisung stood there awkwardly sandwiched in between people he didn't even know for the next fifteen minutes listening to The Lee Minho deliver some tear-jerking speech on the ‘lack of creative programs and artistic freedom for children’ and how they had to 'make a stand'.

If he hadn’t already rolled his eyes hard enough at Hyunjin, he could definitely see his brain stem now. He promptly downed his champagne and fetched another. He didn’t really like the taste.

Ick.

Chapter Text

Jisung could feel Hyunjin vibrating next to him.           

"Calm down!" he whispered through gritted teeth, lightly pinching the skin at his right wrist. It seemed the idea that The Lee Minho was walking over to their little horde of weirdly acquired new acquaintances had excited Hyunjin somewhat. Well, that was an understatement. Hyunjin pinched him back, with more force, making Jisung let out a little 'ow!"

Lee Minho was devastatingly good-looking; disgustingly so. Jisung thought it was almost criminal. He might sue him; he’d seen enough legal shows to know how to sue someone by now, he thought.

His dark hair slightly parted at the side and his skin looked flawless, likely from whatever stage makeup they had slathered on him. Jisung could even see the slight red tint to his lips, not that he was looking at his lips.

He had taken his blazer off, so he was just in a crisp, white shirt, he had oh-so casually rolled up the sleeves, probably to appear more down-to-Earth. He had a sky-blue tie on which matched his eye colour. The sky-blue colour seemed to be the representative colour of the charity he was ‘supporting’. He stopped every now and then to receive a bow or a pat on the back from some random, wealthy benefactor. Great acting, 10/10, Jisung thought.

He would be lying if he said he didn't use to have a bit of a schoolboy crush on the man in front of him, but that a few years ago in high-school though, and everyone had a crush on him too, Jisung was just following suit.

---

"Minho, Minho, Minho, you never fail to rouse a crowd!" Bang Chan exclaimed excitedly. As he entered the circle, he clapped both hands on Minho's shoulders pulling him in for a hug, grin as wide as his shoulders.

Minho placed an overprotective hand across the top of his glass to ensure that Chan didn't spill it in his excitement.

"Seriously Minho, every time I see you up on that stage, I forget how brilliantly charismatic you are!" Lee Felix cuts in, scrunching his eyes together tauntingly.

"Oh stop sucking up Felix, you know you're already going to be cast in my next routine!" Minho said, poking at his chest. The other Lee let out a breathy chuckle and the others followed suit.

"Seriously though, great work, you looked so good up there. The videographers are working on getting that up on social media as soon as possible!" Mr. Bang Chan continued.

Of course, his courageous speech was filmed, what's the point of a charity event if you can't brag about how charitable you are? Jisung thought.

'That's great, thank you Chan, that’s why you're the best!' Minho smiled at him just enough for his eyes to close a little. Jisung would think his little nose scrunch was kind of cute if he weren’t so narcissistic.

He greeted the rest of the familiar famous faces in the circle as standard, it seemed like proper etiquette to do so. Jisung had slightly backed away from the circle, opting to stand on the outskirts, kind of wondering why he was still there in the first place.

Before Minho could ask, Mr. Bang Chan interrupted.

"Minho, this is Hwang Hyunjin. All I’m saying is, you better watch out, this one's going to be after your job soon!" They all laughed, again, Hyunjin waving his hands frantically at the comment.

"A new recruit, eh? Well, it's great to meet you Hyunjin, but don't you go stealing my brand deals with that handsome face of yours!" He chuckled.

"I don't think he'll struggle Minho, look how whipped he's got your Agent already!" Kim Seungmin exclaimed.

More laughs from the entire entourage. Jisung was just about ready to clock-out mentally. In fact, he was already considering which Panorama to watch later that night if he gets back home in time for one, although he was sure he had seen them all. He had also become strangely attached to watching deep-cleaning videos on YouTube recently, rugs and trucks were his favourite, they were weirdly satisfying. Maybe he would do that instead.

"And you are?" Minho asked, turning his attention to Jisung.

Jisung hadn't even noticed all five men turn to face him expectantly. He whipped his head up after essentially ignoring Minho for the last fifteen seconds.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was a little spaced out. I'm... I'm Jisung, Han Jisung" he said, bowing more deeply than probably necessary.

Minho had a bit of a glint in his eye and a slight smirk that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Jisung started to think that maybe it was at his own expense. He was probably judging him, maybe for his too-yellow hair or the too-loose bowtie he was wearing.

"Spaced out? Is that code for 'one too many glasses of champagne', Han Jisung? Minho teased. He clinked his own champagne flute with Jisung’s' and the rest of the group laughed for the ⴄth time. It was becoming like a call and response at this point, a whole chorus of bootlicking. Jisung couldn’t stand it.

"I haven't seen you at one of these functions before Han Jisung, are you another 'new recruit'? He cocked an eyebrow at Chan before bringing his eyes back to him.

"No, he's not one of mine. Hyunjin said he is a music producer though?" Mr. Bang Chan responded, on his behalf, for some reason. Jisung immediately winced, imagining all the follow-up questions he might get. Luckily, Minho seemed to be too arrogant to care about actually following up.

"Interesting! Well, I hope everyone is having a good time, you all know how much this charity means to me so I'm really pleased you could all be here today." Minho nodded as if he was genuine about everything he was saying.

He threw back the last of his champagne and a server immediately came across to him to take it the glass away. Jisung took the opportunity to grab another flute from the tray.

"Anyway. I'm going to visit some other guests. Please enjoy yourselves and nice to meet you Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung!" Minho exited the conversation joyously with a slight bow, it was really believable.

Jisung couldn't help but watch him exit. He might have not cared for the conversation, but he certainly did kind of care about how good Minho looked when he walked away.

Hyunjin noticed immediately, shooting him a weird half-wink but the other eye kind of closed so really... It was just a blink.

Hyunjin was the only one that Jisung was openly out to, anyway. His parents still lived abroad and travelled frequently so it never really came up in conversation. He had one other friend, Changbin, who he kept in touch with from his music production classes but that was it, they weren't really close enough for Jisung to think about discussing anything other than music with him.

Hyunjin had known him for years and was pretty much his one and only actual friend in high school. Jisung didn't really mind though, he liked being alone most of the time, and on the odd occasion Hyunjin would pull him away from his own self, usually with bibimbap and movies that made them both cry more than they'd like to admit.

Who needs to come 'out' when there's no-one to come out to? He thought. He had always known and that was enough for him.

---

There was never any ill-intentions when it came to Hyunjin, he knew Jisung so well, that he could infer just from his half-wink/blink that Hyunjin was probably saying ‘If I get in to this agency, I could try and hook you up with The Lee Minho!’ He was harmless, and clueless. Jisung had tried to explain many times that he didn't have a 'type', so Hyunjin resorted to pointing out all the handsome men in the room whenever he could.

It made Jisung so painfully aware of how in-experienced he was when it came to dating. He was 22 and had only really been on a handful of dates and a lot of them turned out to be creeps. The idea of it immediately made him down his champagne in one.

His train of thought was interrupted by another glass of champagne being wedged into his hand, and then another, and then another as the conversations continued. He kept fake-laughing along to whatever it was the other men were saying, hoping he was getting the timings right.

They seemingly had all their attention focused on Hyunjin, which wasn't unusual for Jisung, especially when they went out together.

Jisung thought to himself, for a 'straight guy' Hyunjin really knew how to pull attention from men... He cocked his eyebrow. Maybe he was only 'straight' when it came to Jisung... That was an annoying, childish thought for another time, though.

He realised a few hours in that he really had not been listening to any of the conversation. The dry-ass alcohol only seemed to exacerbate his selective hearing, too. Something about modelling, recording, something. Who knows?

He excused himself to go to the bathroom. The champagne seemed to travel through him quicker than he had anticipated. By this point, the function was winding down and a lot of the older guests had long gone. A few of the other younger celebrities had decided to continue 'partying' elsewhere, not that this was a 'party' to begin with. This was a charity event.

---

He walked into the bathroom, that was surprisingly, empty. He noticed that his vision was slightly doubled. He really wasn't used to it at all. He didn't really know what he was doing, all he knew is he needed to pee, so, so bad. The seal was well and truly broken.

After washing his hands, he placed them firmly on either side of the basin to look at himself in the mirror. Yikes, it wasn’t pretty, he thought.

‘You are not drunk; you are slightly tipsy at best. You need to get yourself together. You are a grown-ass adult and you look so stupid right now…’ he said, giving himself a little pep talk internally. Or was it even internally?

He didn't really know if he was speaking out loud or not by this point.

The room was definitely rotating now, he can’t have just been imagining it.

He started to sing, one of his own songs. He called it an English title 'Close'. He knew English song titles got better views on YouTube with the algorithm. He started singing a little louder. He hadn't heard anyone in the bathroom so, fuck it.

'Name, age, where'd you live?' he belted. He giggled at the sound of his voice echoing throughout the room. It only got funnier as the time went on.

Weirdly, the alcohol and copious amounts of laughing and talking over the sound of a crowd had warmed up his vocal cords pretty well. He was actually pleased with how on-pitch he sounded, although the acoustics of the empty bathroom didn't quite cut it for him.

He dried the remaining water off his hands (that he hadn't flicked off in passionate song) on some paper towels and turned to leave. As he did, the door swung open, causing Jisung to lose balance a little. He didn't fall over though, he didn't think.

He wasn't sure, he couldn't really remember.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything" someone laughed; the words were soft but with good diction. Jisung looked up towards him after finding his balance against the wall.

Oh.

It was The Lee Minho, in all his half-cuffed sleeved, only slightly tucked-in shirt, tie loosened goodness. His shirt was basically hanging off him at this point, only really holding on by a few buttons at the bottom, Jisung could see his collarbones sticking out. It was mildly obscene and Jisung thought he needed to look away but couldn’t. He tried to regain his composure,

"It's okay, I would have probably fallen over myself even if I wasn't six glasses deep" Jisung finally responded. Or was it seven glasses?

All he knew is, he was much more confident when away from the crowd, and with aforementioned six-to-seven glasses.

Minho chuckled at him,

"Six glasses, huh? For someone of your size?" he teased.

What was that supposed to mean? Jisung huffed a little, he wasn't much shorter, although he knows he was slightly smaller in stature.

Minho walked across to the mirror and placed a black, leather over-the-shoulder bag on the side of the sink. He took out a small white case and some contact lens solution and proceeded to wash his hands. He plucked the blue lenses from his eyes and placed them into the case, snapping it shut and blinking desperately for a few seconds after so his oxygen-starved eyes could catch a break.

"Oh, thank God" he exhaled, placing the case and solution back in his bag.

"I absolutely hate wearing those things. They're not even prescription."

"Why did you wear them then?" Jisung asked, rather innocently, still holding on to the wall. He was aware he was slightly slurring his words but tried his best to sound like a reasonable human being in front of the 'celebrity'.

"Well, Chan insists. Also, because they look rather good on me, right? Minho responded. Spinning himself around playfully so he was now leaning with his back against the basins facing Jisung.

"Is that a rhetorical question, because you kind of answered it yourself…?" He knew it wasn't, but he didn't want to admit that yes, he really did, look good with either eye colour. He’d look good in anything.

"Yes, I guess it was. Don’t get me wrong, I still think I look good without them. But, they're the colour of the charity I endorse though. I wanted to make a lasting impression" Minho said with a soft smile.

"Ah, yes, your 'charity' yeah, I get it" Jisung slurred, chuckling a little and tossing a finger gun at the older man messily.

Minho tilted his head and opened his mouth only to shut it again. It seemed like he was working out what to say. That or Jisung's brain was malfunctioning and he was having a nasty case of déjà vu.

He wasn't sure, he couldn't really remember.

"Why such weird emphasis on the 'charity'? Minho asked, rather accusingly.

Jisung laughed a little, then pushed himself away from the wall. He hoped it wasn't dusty because he couldn't afford the dry-cleaning right now. He pulled both his hands up defensively at the accusatory tone Minho was using.

"I'm just saying, the timing, right? You're going to appear in a new musical so you con-ven-ient-ly come up with a ‘charity’ about ‘music and theatre programs for schools’, clap, clap." he started sloppily clapping, not loud though, more like a seal. He walked (or stumbled) a little closer to Minho, becoming slightly more overconfident as the alcohol soaks in.

"Very well orchestrated." Jisung says, placing a finger messily on his chest. He didn't manage to say 'orchestrated' properly in his stupor, but it was a surprisingly good attempt.  "I really believed your speech. Though it's sad you don't really care about music programs, I was a lowly music student once upon a time!" Jisung pouted at him, drawing his bottom lip out.

He couldn’t stop himself. Regular Jisung would never be this inherently bold.

Minho spread his tongue across his top row of teeth and dramatically opened his mouth with a smack, a grin suddenly appearing across his face.

"It is real charity Han Jisung, I’ve spent eight months helping to develop it myself and I’m the main sponsor and the event organiser. And I do care, actually. Way more than you think." Minho retorted. 

Jisung tried to wink, but couldn’t, opting instead to press his index finger to his mouth in a 'shhing’ motion.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Visit a couple of schools, get the parents to increase your ticket sales, yada, yadaaa…" Jisung trailed off, he was laughing now. If he wasn’t so funny, it might have pissed Minho off, but the older remained level-headed looking at the mess of a man in front of him.

"Children should have more opportunities to pursue music and acting, rather than having mundane subjects and sports pushed on them all the time. Kids aren't allowed to be creative these days, arts programs are severely under-funded, that's why I started helping this charity, Han Jisung." He said, matter-of-factly, cocking his head to the side in a way that was a little sassy. Jisung thought it was kinda hot.  

He slightly pushed Jisung backwards with both hands, not in a violent way, just enough to distance him from the smell of champagne on Jisung's breath. He kept his hands on his shoulders to support him for a few seconds as it was obvious he couldn't do it himself.

"Wait, you're actually serious?" Jisung laughed, opening his mouth in surprise. "You're honestly telling me that you're actually a semi-decent person who cares about public schools? In your profession? I don't believe it. I’ve known people like you." Jisung snorted, though it wasn't super malicious. Minho inhaled a little, feigning fake offence.

"People like me? Well, I would like to think I'm a good person, thank you very much." Minho said, Jisung's laugh was contagious by this point. Minho started looking slightly insulted for just for the fun of the show.

He was looking directly at him with a dopey expression on his face. Jisung wondered how the sky-blue lenses were able to mask his deep, deep, deep brown eyes so well. They really were dark.

And why did he have four of them?

"Okay wise guy, humour me then. I think I'm a good person but what do you think of me then, Han Jisung?" the actor asked. He crossed his arms, "Seeing as you're the expert in analysing people you’ve never met before?" he finished.

"I was thinking..." He closed his eyes a little. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, or like maybe in his skull? Was his skull a shell? Was that the ocean? He could definitely hear the ocean.

He wasn't sure, he couldn't really remember.

"I was thinking... I was think-ing, that only in my wildest, hormone-driven, 18-year-old fantasies I would be locked alone in a bathroom with a half-dressed Lee Minho".

That was the last thing Jisung said before he fell to the ground with a soft 'thud'.

Or at least, he thinks that was the last thing he said.

He wasn't sure, he couldn't really remember.

Chapter Text

Jisung felt the soft tickle of a breeze on his toes.

As he pulled his eyes apart wearily, he winced at the small glimmer of light spread across his black pillows. The curtains were half closed, and the sun was breaching its position and intruding Jisung's vicinity. He didn't like it at all. Fuck the solar system, he thought. 

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He could see he still had a little eye makeup on from the previous night. He hadn't even worn that much, only what Hyunjin insisted on. He said that ‘eyeliner was sexy’. Sexy wasn’t really in Jisung’s vocabulary, though. He could not be dealing with an eye infection on top of this pounding headache. He hadn't had one since his Lasik, thank god he wasn't wearing lenses because he would have definitely fallen asleep in them...

He suddenly remembered the bathroom last night; Minho had come in to remove his contacts.

Jeez, it was so fuzzy. His eyes were so dark under those lenses.

He pushed himself up on to his arms to have a look around the room, expecting the worse.

To his surprise, he was in his own bedroom. His boring, mundane bedroom, with grey walls, grey sheets and way too many notepads sprawled around the place. It was a mess. There was a totally organised heap of clothes in the corner of his room just outside of the closet and his desk contained around ten different cans of energy drinks, Ttingjak Mochi Roll cartons and a Pringles can that had been sitting there way longer than he would like to admit. He was sure if he opened it a small Demogorgon would slink out of it.

He cringed at the idea that someone had seen his room like this, he didn’t often entertain, and on the odd occasion he did, he would clean up beforehand and then hit them with the ‘sorry for the mess, I didn't have time to tidy up!’ line. It was a classic.

He noticed his new phone sitting on the edge of his bedside table lying screen down next to his perfectly safe wallet. He held his breath as he turned the phone over. It was completely undamaged, no breakage, no cracked screen. The phone was one of his prizes from the competition; thank God it was okay.

It was only 6:14am.

He saw one missed call from Hyunjin at 23:49pm, and another at 12:02am, then another call at 12:32am from ',,mmnfjop'.

Interesting.

That must have been as the event was officially ending, he thought.

Suddenly he thought back to the night before again.

He was last with The Lee Minho at the party; the lenses... the shirt, kind of off, kind of on. He could see pretty much his whole chest. Jisung's brain went into overdrive and he started squeezing his eyes together to try and remember any semblance of anything. Why on Earth were Lee Minho's collarbones legitimately the only thing he could remember?

Don't answer that, he thought.

He must have made such a fool of himself in front of the most famous person he’s ever met. There goes his chances in the industry. He sighed.  

After some timed, relaxed breathing, he told himself to ‘just stop worrying’. That’s what his Mother would usually say to him whenever he got anxious.

Just stop worrying!

She wasn’t the best at ‘empathy’ if it wasn’t apparent already.

It wasn't like he was going to ever see The Lee Minho again (unless he paid him a visit in a less than wholesome dream) so why did it matter? He sighed again and pulled the blanket off. As soon as he lifted the blanket, he felt the full impact of the familiar breeze on his skin. It was always a little windy in here. He'd text the Landlord about that eventually.

He had no shirt on, and just a pair of grey joggers, no wonder he was cold. The small slither of sunshine felt comforting against his chest. He grabbed his phone and put in in his sweatpants pocket and grabbed a plain black t-shirt from the floordrobe and shoved it on, it smelt pretty foisty but honestly, he didn't care at this point.

---

He waded out of the bedroom to the living room area, feeling the familiar stick of the laminate. He should mop the floor if he has time after writing today.

His fancy dress shoes and socks were sprawled out across the front door mat, and his blazer, shirt and tie were sprawled out across the couch.

Where on Earth was the bottom half of his clothes?

Interesting.

What if Lee Minho came back here last night…?

No, absolutely not. He would never be that stupid.

But he was drunk... And his clothes are...

No, absolutely not. Not in a million years.

He cast the idea from his mind, way out, like out-to-sea way out. Like stranded-on-Gulliver’s-Island way out.

Jisung had never gone the technical ‘whole way’ before. He knew he was a late starter or whatever. The idea of it pretty much terrified him a little, and definitely not with someone he was not exclusive with. So, he highly doubts even drunk Jisung would be okay with it. Right?

Plus, he thought Minho must have people that makes sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen, right?

Well, at least if he did, there would be some bragging rights...

No, that was not the right thing to be thinking. For fucks sake, Jisung.

He slicked his hair backwards in his hands, the pressure of his palms on his forehead released his tension headache a little, only momentarily.

He sat down on the sofa, very aware of how sore his back was. He scrunched a mustard-yellow, crushed velvet cushion to his chest and nuzzled into it. It was soft on his swollen cheeks.

He noticed there was a folded-up piece of paper on the coffee table, he had to do a double-take to bring it in to focus as his eyes were so sore.

He sighed, and decided to take the plunge, whatever it was. A part of him really didn't want to know what happened but he knew he should read it.

Maybe it was a restraining order, he thought, as he unfolded it.

It was a hand-written note. He could immediately tell the penmanship was Hyunjin's by the how big each letter was and the way it looked slightly italicized. Phew. 

---

"To: stupid Han ㅋㅋㅋ ~ ♡

Wow, and you said i would be embarrassing if left alone!?

(Sorry, couldn't help myself)

You were seriously out of it last night, now i see why you don't drink, man ㅋㅋㅋ

We took a taxi home after LEE MINHO found me to tell me you had hurt yourself in the bathroom (i won’t even ask) and you were so violently ill afterwards you puked in said taxi - it was horrific.

You said you had six glasses, but the waitress said it was definitely in the double digits ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Sorry you ruined your dress pants, but it was kinda funny. Anyway, i gave you water and tucked you in safe and sound like the bestest best friend i am. Thank you for taking me to the event! i actually had so much fun! i hope you feel okay in the morning!

Also thank you for agreeing to come with me to my audition ;)

Love you!

Hyunjin- ♡

---

Interesting.

Jisung cringed so hard. That poor taxi driver. This is why Jisung never drank. He had to accept the fact that his petite frame was not built for any more than a few glasses. He'd not really been the 'party goer' so his tolerance was always questionable, a.k.a; he had no real idea where his limit was whatsoever.

The biggest sigh of relief was that Minho hadn't taken him home last night. He guessed it probably made sense that he had to stay there until everyone else left as it was his own event.

He was glad. Hyunjin had already seen his messy apartment tons of times so it wasn't as big of a deal to him now if Hyunjin saw it in this state.

He took his phone out of his pocket and shot Hyunjin a text.

To 현진

1.) Thank you. Love you 651903585%

2.) I have never in my entire 22 years had a headache this bad.

3.) Do I really have to be dragged to an audition…?

4.) Seriously tho, no jokes, love you man~

He sprawled out across the two-seater sofa smushing the back cushions down just like his Mother used to scold him for. Hyunjin text back nearly immediately. Jisung's eyes had already glazed over and he knew he didn't have the energy to text back. He unlocked his phone and just read.

To 한

no need to thank me, your embarrassment is reward enough ㅋㅋㅋ and yes, you need to come!! you've auditioned for this kind of thing before and it would help calm my nerves! plus you said you would yesterday, not that you would remember 😁xx

He groaned, remembering the short period of time when he was an ‘idol trainee’. It was not something he wished to relive, ever.

Hyunjin likely was just saying that he had agreed to accompany him to his audition, but he thought it was probably the least he could do considering Hyunjin got him back home safely with phone and wallet intact.

If only his dignity was intact...

Can't win 'em all, he thought. Oh well.

Man, he really needed to focus on his new remix today.

With that, he drifted off again, latching on to the mustard pillow, not waking up again until nearly ten hours later.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

"JYP?!" Jisung screamed in disbelief, attracting the attention of a few onlookers. “You're telling me Mr. Bang Chan works for JYP Entertainment?!" he asked, completely astonished.

Hyunjin simply smiled and placed his hand on Jisung's right shoulder from behind him, ushering him forward. He swung a laptop-style bag excitedly with his other hand. It was light, it only contained a few photographs and his phone.

"Of course, Lee Felix is under JYP and so are Kim Seungmin and Lee Minho, what’d you think?!" he said to him, playfully.

Jisung hadn't even considered that this was the place where The Lee Minho worked. Luckily, the likelihood of running in to him was pretty low, considering how busy he probably was. He was undoubtedly rehearsing for his big musical debut on top of other things.

He also likely didn't live in any kind of 'dorm' by now, as he was older. He had been one of very few idols who had managed to excel as a solo star after their group disbanded, so he probably got a bit of special treatment.

Still, his stomach knotted a little at his name, the familiar feeling of embarrassment Jisung had gotten so used to. He pushed the thought aside like he did with most of his general concerns.

Ugh.

They stood outside the building and gawked up at it. The entire front of the building was made of polished, crystal-clear glass panels. Jisung hated cleaning his own windows enough, he couldn't imagine having to clean all of those. At the top of the building was the 'JYP' sign in blue. Jisung marvelled at it for a while.

He could only dream to produce for a company like this.

JYP was such a huge conglomerate, and over the past few years they'd expanded even further, branching out into all kinds of different sectors other than just music. They had a fully-fledged team of actors, directors, producers, runway stage managers, models, influencers, you name it. They were making waves.

Maybe Mr. Bang Chan really was, quite a big deal. Jisung audibly gulped.

---

There was a revolving door at the bottom entrance, which Hyunjin excitedly pushed through, not forgetting to grab Jisung by the arm, forcing him into the same tiny compartment rather awkwardly as they both shimmied through. Jisung had his red headphones around his neck which decided to get caught in the door not once, not twice, but three times consecutively. The two ladies at the front desk giggled at the sight of them. Dumb and dumber.

The entire place looked so sleek, with grey marble walls and sandy beech-wood desk. A large grey stone was mounted at the bottom of the entrance desk for some reason, and there were multiple potted plants and things that Jisung found quite aesthetically pleasing.

Maybe he should get a cactus or something to look after, he could call it ‘Spike’.

Hyunjin approached the desk and let out an inconspicuous-ish breath to relax his nerves before speaking.

"Good afternoon, my name is Hwang Hyunjin, I am here to see Mr. Bang Chan? I think I'm due to see him at 1 O'clock."

As Hyunjin checked in at the desk, Jisung immediately saw the slightly older women's eyes light up.

The Hyunjin effect.

"Fantastic, Mr Hwang, please take a seat, he will be with you shortly!" She beamed. She could tell the other younger, blonde, receptionist girl was too nervous to say anything to him. He could also tell Hyunjin just absolutely loved the effect he had by the way he pushed his jet-black mane out of his face to show off his jawline.

Hyunjin looked really good with long hair parted down the middle. Such a show-off.

Ugh.

It was weird, Jisung expected them to give Hyunjin a number tag, or sit him down with other auditionees in a studio room; but Hyunjin was the only one here aside from a few stragglers at the other side of the waiting area chairs. The stragglers were definitely too old to be auditioning, too. They were less ‘Wonder Girls’ and more ‘Wonder Grandmas’.

The whole thing felt kind of, odd.

They sat in the chairs for over thirty minutes and took in the room. It didn't really resemble the smaller building he had trained in a few years back; he decided this building probably had like twenty floors.

Hyunjin was bouncing his knees impatiently, which in tandem jiggled Jisung's chair. He was getting restless and Jisung could understand why, but it was pretty normal for these auditions to run over though, from his experience.

Suddenly he heard the faint 'ding' of the elevator and both of the receptionists stood up abruptly, smiling with pearly whites all on show.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Bang!" they said, almost robotically, as they bowed.

Wow. That was some 'The Shining'-level shit, Jisung thought. Creepy.

With that, Hyunjin also rose to his feet, and Jisung thought he should probably do the same.

---

Mr. Bang Chan exited the elevator, fully suited and booted. Jisung couldn't imagine running auditions in a sweaty dance practice room in full suit. It was so weird to him. His shirt was black, his pants were black, his blazer was... well, black. The tie he was wearing was more of a very, very, very deep grey maybe. (It was black.) This time he had his dyed blonde hair was pushed away from his forehead with a bit of a 'swoop' - for lack of a better word on Jisung's part.

He was with someone else too, of whom was carrying a laptop bag, another bag over his shoulder and holding two coffee cups with 'JYP' emblazoned on them. He looked a little younger than Jisung, with a fairly chiselled jaw and dark brown hair covered slightly by a black beret-type thing on his head. He looked fashionable. Probably a Personal Assistant or an intern or something.

Both the boys bowed as the older man began to speak.

"Hyunjin, I am so, so sorry to keep you waiting, you can't even imagine how busy my day has been." He placed his hand across his own chest to mimic where his heart was. "Honestly, I'm never usually this late to anything. Jeongin, do you want to give Hyunjin his coffee?" he asked, gesturing to Hyunjin with his head whilst he fiddled with his own sterling cufflinks and patted himself down frantically.

"Oh, of course. This is for you!" the younger boy said. When he smiled Jisung noticed that his eyes fully disappeared; it was really endearing.

"Oh, thank you very much. You didn't have to, though. We really weren't waiting long!" Hyunjin accepted the coffee from the maybe-intern with another small bow. Jisung snickered a little, side-eying the taller boy; he knew Hyunjin only drank iced-coffees.

"Ah, well look who we have here, Mr. Han Jisung!" Bang Chan turned his attention to Jisung suddenly upon hearing him giggle. "I almost didn't recognise you. I guess I'm more used to seeing you face down on the floor!" He raised his brows and let out a small laugh, gesturing to Jeongin to laugh too, which he did.

Ugh.

Jisung grimaced, and Hyunjin chuckled a little but quickly stifled himself through gritted teeth, noticing Jisung's slight insecurity seeping through.

Jisung wasn't sure how he was going to play this. He decided it was best to not be a little shit for once in his life, no matter how many retorts were swirling around his brain. This day was really important to Hyunjin, so he pushed aside his pride for a brief moment before speaking.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm really sorry about all that Mr. Bang Chan. I mean, luckily Hyunjin was there to look after me, at least. He has always been exceptionally reliable. Really he's kind of an asset." Jisung said, emphasising as many good trigger words as he could remember from his careers class at school.

"Ah, of course he is! That's good to hear. What, with Hyunjin at your side and Minho practically carrying you bridal-style to your taxi, I'd say you were in pretty capable hands." He leaned in closer to Jisung and flashed him a quick wink.

Jisung really hated winking, and now he super-duper hated it.

It was new information. He hadn't really asked Hyunjin to elaborate on the nights' antics as... Well, to put it bluntly; he really didn't want to hear them. He thought he should leave well enough alone and try and forget it ever happened. Like a fever dream. 

So, it turns out The Lee Minho physically carried him to the car. He must have looked like such an embarrassment.

"Maybe I'll bill you for ruining his outfit for the night! Stylists aren’t cheap!" Bang Chan finished with a chortle.

Jisung rubbed his neck apologetically, his temples stung at the idea of what on earth he could have possibly done to ruin his own pants as well as another persons' entire outfit. Jeez.

Hyunjin intercepted, trying to swing the conversation back around to the matter at hand. He gestured to his own bag.

"So, Mr. Bang, I've brought some head-shots and I’ve also done some choreography in the past, I have some things that I think might--"

"Ah, don't worry about that Hyunjin. I'm taking you to lunch, my treat. Whatever you want. We can discuss everything there. Plus, it's not like I'm going to need those head-shots anyway, I have two perfectly functioning eyes and can see how good-looking you are." The older responded.

Jisung noticed Hyunjin blushed a little awkwardly at his words.

"Oh, I thought this was an audi--"

"And please, call me Chan, ‘Mr. Bang’ is a bit too formal for me, Hyunjin." Chan smiled. He gestured for Jeongin to take Hyunjin's bag for him, to which Hyunjin politely declined. "Jeongin, take lunch earlier, I'm going to be spending lunch with Hyunjin here. Take an hour, it might be a little over depending on if we get dessert." He smiled in Hyunjin's direction.

The younger maybe-intern boys' eyes lit up immediately. Jisung considered maybe this was longer than his average lunch break. Life of a trainee was hard enough with the tough feedback from the Mentors, so he only imagined what being an Assistant to a Mentor must be like. He shuddered.

Ugh.

Hyunjin gave him a 'will you be okay here?' kind of look, and Jisung simply nodded. Jisung wasn't sure if the comment was legitimate, or if Hyunjin was highlighting his own discomfort for...

Whatever this scenario was…

Hyunjin looked a little nervous and Jisung picked up on it immediately.

"You have your phone, right? Shoot me a text as soon as you're done." Jisung said protectively, but not enough to arouse any suspicion. Hyunjin just nodded and smiled at him.

He didn't really like the vibe he got from the older man, but he considered that Mr. Bang Chan was famous enough to not risk his own reputation or do something stupid, right? JYP had always been a squeaky-clean brand with morals to uphold. I’m sure Hyunjin is in perfectly capable hands, Jisung thought.

Mr. Bang Chan reached into his pocket to pull out his sunglasses and escorted Hyunjin through the revolving door. As he did, he saw the maybe-intern shoved all of the bags at the reception desk with the two women situated there, who scooted them behind the desk.  He saw the boy comedically drop to his knees in a little praying motion with the biggest grin across his face. Both of the women laughed in affirmation. They gave him a little nod that seemed to say ‘behave yourself’ before he near enough skipped back down the hallway to the elevator. He was, rather charming, to say the least.

---

Jisung decided to make himself scarce.

He had heard that there was a fairly well-known organic café situated in the other building. Cake was always a good way to pass the time, he thought. Plus he could potentially spend a little time jotting down some lyrics in the notes app on his phone. He had really been neglecting his remix and his deadline was so near.

Or, maybe he’d end up watch some terrible Netflix documentary the entire time.

More than likely.

He pushed through the revolving door, making sure he didn't get his headphones trapped in the contraption, this time.

But he did.

Ugh.

Chapter Text

Jisung stat at one of the smaller two-seater tables at the Soul Cup Café. The table was a polished sandalwood and the stool he was sitting on matched. Propped above the till was a big black board that said ‘WE CARE ABOUT YOU. WE CARE ABOUT THE EARTH’ in a bold, white font. More plants were scattered around, and he could just about spy inside of the big red coffee-cup decor in his periphery. He had seen this place in Vlogs before.

The stool didn't have lumbar support and he was still partially bruised from the weekend, so his back was kind of killing him. He tried to forget about it as he plucked his red headphones from around his neck where they had been dangling. Untangling the wires pissed him off a little and he found himself giving up and leaving a bit of a kink in one side. Fuck it, he thought.

He plugged them in to his phone via the jack and nonchalantly sipped at his americano. The taste was pretty good, which it better have had been because it cost him nearly 5700₩ for a single cup that was rather on the small side. He really needed this song finished and sent off; his bank balance was looking abysmal.

He didn't want to think about it.

As he opened his phone, he surprisingly had a message from 'Changbin🐖🐰'. They kept in touch on occasion. Changbin had written a new song and wanted Jisung's input on it before he uploaded it to his Soundcloud. It was satisfying to know his opinion meant something to him. He would never admit how much he really admired Changbin musically. He would never hear the end of it.

The attachment was called 'Streetlight_Demo_06_raw vocal_v2.mp3" - catchy title.

He listened to it in its entirety. It really was beautifully heart-breaking, and he knew 'raw' meant no backing, but the lyrics really were also pretty raw. Changbin had written the lyrics himself.

He wondered who had helped him arrange it.

As he was getting to the end of the song, he found himself turning it up. The gaggle of teenage girls that sat in the corner were being so noisy he could still hear them through noise-cancelling headphones. He grumbled and shot one of them a dirty look. She didn't seem to care; she was pre-occupied looking at whatever she was looking at towards the front of the café.

"It's him! Oh my god it's him, don't look, oh my god, oh my god!" one of them screeched, quieting down towards the end of the sentence, and launching herself down lower in the seat. The other girls followed suit and he saw a few of them get their phones out.

If they were trying to look inconspicuous, they weren't doing a particularly good job of it.

Jisung rolled his eyes and thanked his lucky stars he gave up on the idol dream. He couldn't handle this much attention on him by a bunch of strangers he didn't know, even the thought of it raised his heart rate. That's why production suited him so much more; it was more behind-the-scenes work. He felt bad for whatever poor sap had to walk past these vultures.

---

The sound of small stifled squeaks became more apparent, as the door swung open and the little bell rang. He could hear a crowd of people forming outside, followed by multiple camera shutter sounds and the odd honk of a car horn. He had to admit, it piqued his interest.

He turned around to face the door and check what the commotion was about. A guy was being escorted through the door by two probably nine-foot-five bodyguards who had formed a semi-circle around him. They looked like two Terminators, Jisung thought.

The smaller man, presumably the ‘idol’ everyone was interested in, was dressed in all black with a white mask covering half his face. It was a bit hot for a black, duffle coat, in his opinion.

Dark, ash-blonde hair was peeking out from under a plain black cap as he made a dart to stand in the line. Poor guy can't even get a coffee on his own, he thought. Jisung would not be able to survive without coffee.

One of the girls from behind giggled to her friend; they exchanged arm punches for a little while. One of the girls got up, kneeling in her chair, and suddenly shouted 'Lee Minho!' as quickly as she could. As the man turned around, she fell back in the chair, looking around, pretending nothing had ever happened. A chorus of effeminate titters filled the room and he was being filmed by about five different smartphone cameras.

Honestly, they were like those hyenas from Lion King or som--

Wait, what? What did she say?

Lee... Mi--

Oh, dear God.

The man pulled his mask down, exposing his mouth to give the girls a little smile, he looked a little bit dead behind the eyes, like this probably happened too much. He waved at the cameras and gave them a quick 45° peace sign against his cheek.

It was him alright. He must have died his hair for the stage show. Jisung preferred his natural dark hair, but he still looked frustratingly flawless as a blonde.

He didn't want to think about it.

---

Jisung tried to consider what the actual, mathematical chances of seeing The Lee Minho again were. Then he considered that humans had physically sent chimpanzees to outer space, so really the chance of just running in to someone who works in the building you're in, was actually quite high in comparison.

He felt himself ducking down involuntarily as to not raise any unwarranted attention. He was so dumb for coming here.

Unfortunately for him, his combination of bright purple hoodie, red headphones and chunky MLB Red Sox platform sneakers weren't exactly the most inconspicuous of looks. Jisung did tend to stand out a little; he made some quite distinctive fashion choices. It probably came from only having one decent friend and Hyunjin was way too nice to tell him to change his up ‘unique style’, as he called it. Minho had only ever seen him in a tuxedo though, so he doubted that Minho would recogni--

"Han Jisung?"

Jisung spluttered a little of his coffee out in surprise. He felt it back-up through his nasal passage. Oh god what was happening. His nose was burning a little and he coughed hard, slapping his chest with his fist a couple of times. The girls behind him were laughing. What a fucking cliché.

"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to!" Minho said, eyes wide open, frantically pulling at the napkin dispenser and bringing some over to him.

"No, it's okay, don't worry about me! I didn’t need to breathe..." Jisung said, regaining his composure and wiping his nose with said napkins.

He was not having a good face day; his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and he'd decided to eat spicy cup ramyeon at 6:00am which always puffed his face up more than usual. He found it difficult to look at Minho directly. One, because he was embarrassed as all hell about the other night. Two, because he was scared of what he might say seeing him in his casual attire.

What am I talking about? This man literally scraped me off of a bathroom floor, Jisung thought.

"Can I sit here? I was going to take-out but seeing as there's a spare seat?" Minho asked with a grin. He gave his bodyguards a little nod to affirm that he knew the other boy. They un-puffed their beastly chests a little at the gesture.

"Uh, sure, go ahead…" Jisung stuttered and looked around, a little panicked, as Minho placed his bag down next to the table. He recognised the leather shoulder bag from the other night.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Minho said, placing his drink down on the table. Jisung he noticed was also an Americano kind of guy.

He was also very aware of the cameras in his direction; it made him increasingly nervous, he could feel his hands shaking a bit.

"Don't worry about all that, no-one's allowed to post anything online, JYP pretty much own the rights to my own face." The elder laughed, taking the lid off of his coffee.

"Yeah, sorry it's just, it's not something I've personally dealt with I guess." Jisung gritted his teeth a little and decided to squeeze his fists tight to stop them from shaking. Minho calmly span himself around to face the girls.

"Good afternoon Ladies. I'm really flattered that you're all fans. I was wondering if it were okay if you could stop filming just for a little bit whilst I catch up with a friend here? I promise to grab a selfie with you all before I go, is that okay?" He said to them, rather sweetly.

The girls flailed about together for a few seconds and agreed to his request, the reward of a Lee Minho Oppa Selca was too much for them to say no to.

"Thank you all so much!" he shot them a wink before turning back to face him.

Jisung really did hate winks.

The girls all let out a noise that Jisung only imagined dolphins could hear with clarity it was so high-pitched. He also thought one of them was probably still filming, but it was better than nothing.

"Thank you, I didn’t want to hog all your camera time." Jisung said, trying to regain his composure.

"I've told you time and time again Jisung, you don't have to thank me." The words came out teasingly. He cocked an eyebrow whilst gently blowing the top of his cup and reaching for a wooden stirrer, watching Jisung whilst he did it.

"Time and time again?" Jisung questioned, raising his pitch at the odd choice of words.

"You were thanking me a lot the other night too, I had to beg you to stop thanking me by the end of the night but you were pretty insistent that you owed me!" he laughed a bit too hard, and Jisung wished there was a back to this chair so he could slink down in it.

Or maybe a tectonic plate could just shift, and he could be swallowed by the ground. He was sure the fiery depths below would be less painful than this.

Minho continued, “You weren’t super clear on what you owed me, though—"

"Oh god, please...” Jisung interrupted, grimacing. "I couldn't remember a single thing when I woke up and I've been successfully avoiding all conversations relating to that night, up until now..." He groaned and rubbed at his eyes messily.

"Pah. It's okay, it’s probably in your best interest that you don’t remember what you said to me…”

Jisung covered his entire face, he’s really doing this, huh?

Minho continued, “You are a very handsy drunk, honestly it would have been kind of cute if you hadn't spent most of the night calling me a ‘money-grabbing narcissist’..."

He wasn't sure what was worse, the incessant name calling or being referred to as 'handsy' by the most attractive man he’d ever laid eyes on. What the hell did that even mean?!

He didn't want to think about it.

"Anyway…" Minho continued, his eyes locking on to Jisung’s for way longer than comfortable. The same big, brown eyes from the other night, “Did you come here to apologise for my shirt and tie, or are you just stalking me?"

Jisung felt his cheeks turn pink, it was suddenly very hot in the room, it was probably the steam from all the coffee machines, he thought.

"What?! No!" Jisung coughed out, a bit too loudly. He found himself lowering his voice as to not attract unwanted attention from the girls behind.

"It's not unusual for someone to come and get a coffee at a café, you know. It’s sort of what they’re known for. Besides, what about you, huh? I would have thought you'd be out giving passionate, awe-inspiring speeches about the lack of funding in our schools!" Jisung said, mockingly.

He might not have had the guts to talk back to Mr. Bang Chan, but it felt a little different with Minho, he wasn't really sure why that was considering he barely remembered their first encounter, but something about the other man told him that he seemed to be able to give it back a little better.

"Ah-hah! You said you didn't remember anything, you little liar" Minho retorted, smugly, scrunching his nose at him and flicking a little coffee in his direction from his stirrer.

"Okay well I remember that bit, maybe a little, but..."

"And you're telling me you just so happened to come to my company’s café out of all the cafés this side of the Han river? Major stalker vibes, Han Jisung. I should have known by the way you were ogling me the other night that you were a bit of weird one." He tapped off his stirrer and placed it down on the napkin, finally taking a victory sip of his drink with a smirk.

Jisung felt his cheeks turn red, it was definitely ridiculously hot in the room, it was certainly the steam from all the coffee machines, now.

He hated to admit it, but Minho had won. He was an honourable man; he knew when he was beat.

---

He settled on a low moan and a slump down to the table. After a comfortable silence, he thought he better give at least a partial explanation to why he was here, even if to just fill the silence.

"If you must know, your boss is, well. I think he is going to hire Hyunjin as an idol, or a model or something for your company. I’m only here to wait for him after his audition."

"Oh, yeah, the boy from the other night, the really handsome one. He was so sweet, you're lucky you have a friend like that" Minho said. Jisung wasn't sure if it was patronising or not, Minho had that kind of tone where you weren't really quite sure if he was being sarcastic or not at any given time.

Jisung pretended not to be offended at yet another guy acknowledging how good looking Hyunjin was over him.

Damn it.

"Your recruitment methods are weird.” Jisung said, “Though, if I got an all-expenses-paid lunch I might think about applying too…" he finished, dryly. He took another sip of his own coffee.

Minho suddenly looked a little bewildered, not dramatically, but just enough so that Jisung could tell there was a slight switch in the atmosphere.

"Oh? Chan only really takes me to lunch usually. He says company lunches are only for the ‘big hitters’ like me. He must be pretty keen on hiring your friend for him to do that. I’m not sure if I should be offended!" Minho said, trying to find the funny side.

Oh. So, it wasn't normal behaviour?

Jisung didn't like this for some reason. He didn't know why but he didn't like it... Hyunjin was too nice for his own good sometimes.  

Speak of the devil and he shall appear… In text form.

Jisung’s phone pinged loudly, startling him a little bit, pulling him from his thoughts. Hyunjin had text him telling him he would be 'back outside the JYP building in five minutes'. Jisung shot him an 'omw' text back.

"Hyunjin just texted me. I should probably get going." Jisung said. He really didn't need to leave so quickly; he was literally about 10 metres from his destination, but he felt his hands were getting a little sweatier than before. He took the last swig of his coffee before setting the mug back down.

"Well, thanks for letting me sit here, Han Jisung. Frankly, it’s been a pleasure." Minho said, it was a bit softer than before but still with the same cynical tone.

"No problem, Lee Minho.”

“You can just call me Minho if you’d like. It would probably make you sound a little friendlier than you are.” The elder quipped back.

“Noted, and likewise. But, like… Not ‘Minho’, Jisung instead, like my name--” Goddamn it.

Minho had made these eyes at him that were really not fair, and he lost his trail of thought.

Minho scoffed at him; he was clearly loving it. Jisung probably thought he got this all the time from fans who were a little flustered to meet him.

“Thanks for, like, I don't know, everything, I guess. And for the other night. Mr. Bang Chan said that you were actually kind of nice to me. Sorry about that… Again. And your shirt or whatever if I actually ruined it." Jisung said. He put his headphones back around his neck and stood up to check his pockets to ensure he still had his phone and wallet. "Well, see you arou--"

"Hey, you know, if you really wanted an all-expenses-paid lunch courtesy of JYP, I could arrange that" Minho said, bluntly.

It caught Jisung off guard, he blinked a few times, he rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Oh, I mean, I was just joking earlier..."

"Well, I'm not. How about it?" Minho asked, as if it was the most comfortable thing in the world.

Did people just do this?

Did people just ask people out to eat?

Jisung could never.

"Here's an idea, maybe we can have lunch and you can come to one of my shows? First matinée performance is this upcoming Saturday." Minho said, calmly, taking another sip.

What the heck was going on here?

For some reason, it kind of sounded like he was being asked on a date.

It actually, really, sounded like he was being asked on a date.

He stood there, a little expressionless, as he decided what he was going to say.

"Isn't that like, kind of a bad idea? You have a lot of followers and cameras and stuff around you and... I don't know if I'd be... Or like, I wouldn't want you to--"

"It's fine, honestly. Don’t worry about that kind of thing. I know places. Plus, you can’t really say no. I have your number anyway, you insisted on giving it to me, remember?" he said playfully.

Jisung didn't remember.

He thought back, and it hit him. Minho must have been the illustrious ‘,,mmnfjop’ contact he had magically acquired over the weekend. It was a shame he’d have to change the contact name, he had grown quite attached to ,,mmnfjop. He had given them a tragic back story and everything.

"Um, yeah, I guess I could. I mean, have a lot of projects going at the moment but maybe I can find time... Thanks".

Wow, that wasn't even slightly convincing, he thought to himself.

He flashed Minho a somewhat-awkward, boxy smile and a small wave and made his way past the two burly men standing near the door. He could still hear the camera shutter sounds flickering outside and he was praying that no-one was taking his photo.

He didn't want to think about it.

Chapter Text

"Wait, you're honestly telling me that you had a coffee date with Lee Minho, even after the other night!?" The two men had decided to take the bus back to Jisung's apartment. They had pretty much an entire afternoon and night to kill as Hyunjin’s ‘audition’ was so short.  

It was humid and the side of the arm rest was sticky. It wasn't pleasant. Hyunjin had physically recoiled at the idea of taking the bus but Jisung decided it was way cheaper than a taxi and his funds weren't looking great right now. They decided to sit opposite to from each other at the back, they really could not be dealing with sharing body heat in this temperature.

"Hyunjin, we just so happened to bump into each other it wasn't a planned thin--"

"Oh yeah, yeah!" he waved his hands as dramatically as ever, "You little shit Jisung, I should have known there was an ulterior motive to you actually leaving your apartment!" Hyunjin lifted his leg up and started digging his foot in to Jisung's side. He continued, "I'm hurt, I thought you were doing me a solid!" He pouted and continued nudging into his side until Jisung grabbed his ankle.

"Gah, stop it, you're so annoying Hyunjin." He shoved his leg off of his lap until it dropped with a thump. "I'm serious it was totally not planned. You really think I'd want to have a date, especially with a celebrity, dressed like this?" Jisung asked.

Hyunjin looked him over, from head to toe. Twice.

Three times.

Okay, sheesh, no need to linger too long, Jisung thought.

"Yeah, you're right, you do sort of look like shit." Hyunjin said, nodding at him.

"Thanks so much. Guess we can't all be perfectly chiselled models now, can we?" Jisung waved his hands around in front of him to emphasise the 'model' part. Hyunjin shrugged it off, laughing and rolling his eyes.

"Well, you've just gone to lunch with a rich, Australian, Neo from the Matrix, aren't you gonna spill?" Jisung said. He had hoped Hyunjin would get his 'dressed-in-all-black' Matrix reference, but it sadly, went over his head.

He made a mental note to put that on his 'Things Hyunjin needs to watch to appreciate my cultural references' list. He had too many lists.

"Well, there wasn't much to say really. He pretty much just told me I was really, really good looking, and he had ideas for brands and stuff that would want to use my likeness if I was interested. It was actually pretty casual… We didn't really talk about any other idol stuff; he didn't seem that interested in my dancing or singing or anything, just my face. I don't know..."

Ah, so Hyunjin had pretty much just had to exist and that was enough for him to be scouted by one of the biggest agencies in South Korea. Typical. If only it were that easy for him.

"Did he say what you would get paid, or?" he enquired. He knew it was a little intrusive, but he thought Hyunjin stupidly might have been too polite to ask something like that over lunch.

"Well, look at this email, this is for one job." He reached for his phone and scrolled down to an email Mr. Bang Chan had forwarded to him and tapped it. Jisung took the phone in his hand and almost dropped it looking at the figure in front of him.

Holy.

Shit.

"Per hour?!" Jisung shrieked. He noticed the bus driver looked at him through the rear-view mirror and tutted at him a little. Jisung could only imagine he was probably thinking 'damn millennials' or something.

Hyunjin slapped a hand over Jisung's mouth and awkwardly looked around to ensure no-one else was listening in, grabbing his phone from Jisung’s hand.

"He'd said I would gain commissions from online jobs too... He said online stuff gets way bigger pay-outs as well as securing future work with the same clients and stuff…" Hyunjin admitted, he almost seemed a little embarrassed, which was very unlike his usual boisterous self.   

Jisung was in awe. He always felt a little jealous of Hyunjin, but this time, he was actually, genuinely kind of happy for the taller boy. His dance crew had disbanded before it had even gained traction and he was really not in a great place career-wise. He’d tried out for a few companies before, but he never really found what he was looking for. He was just lucky that he had some, let's say, 'family funds' to back him up for the time being.

“This is so great Hyunjin!” he started,

“…So why is there something you’re not telling me here?” Jisung said. He could see straight through the boy in front of him. Jisung knew something was troubling him; Hyunjin was about as subtle as a brick through a window when it came to his feelings. The boy would cry just watching someone else cry. Hyunjin lifted his head a little.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really, I’m happy Jisung.”

Jisung wasn’t buying it for a second.

“Hwang Hyunjin. If there is anything I know better than obscure Western movie references, it’s that you’re a terrible liar. Spill.”  

“Well… it’s just…” the other boy started.

I knew it, Jisung thought.

“It’s that, Mr Ba—I mean, Chan, he kind of wants me to…Like, I guess, go to lunches and functions and stuff with him? Not like dates or anything. He said he’d pay for it all as long as I was happy to just be there. It’s no big deal. I don’t know, I guess it’s just--”

“Oh my God.” Jisung’s mouth fell open. “Hwang Hyunjin…. Are you telling me… You have a Sugar Daddy?!” Jisung exclaimed rather matter-of-factly, way louder than should be said on public transport.

“What?! Oh my God! No, shut up! And keep your voice down, sheesh!” Hyunjin launched himself across the seats and slapped his hands across Jisung’s face again in embarrassment, glancing at the older lady sitting a few rows ahead to give her a quick bow and apology for his friends’ chaotic outburst.

Jisung snickered a little at the idea of the shorter man pulling Hyunjin around like some soccer wife. Magnificent.

“Oh my God…. This is… Wow.” Jisung laughed.

“Please don’t make this a big deal Jisung, I know it sounds kinda weird but it’s really not like that!” Hyunjin pleaded with him until the other boy finally composed himself, wiping away the tears that were running down his cheeks.  

“Well. Honestly, I’ve got to hand it to you Hyunjin, you’re not even openly gay and you still manage to bag more men than I do…” Jisung said with a wildly over exaggerated sigh and a slow clap.

“It’s just like, a couple of events, that’s all! And what do you mean ‘openly’ gay?!” Hyunjin said, kicking him in the side again.

“Ouch! I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Jisung was really laughing now.

---

Their stop came up, and Jisung hit the bell causing the bus to come to a standstill. They bowed to the driver and walked down the back street to the apartments. Jisung noticed there were some building works near his particular apartment block, luckily, he was situated on the ground floor. He was disheartened to see that none of the builders were in the slightest bit attractive.

It was a little past 4:00pm, so they decided to watch some anime online on Jisung’s laptop. Changbin had recommended Tower of God to him earlier in the week so they thought they’d go with that.

It was kind of amazing. Jisung thought.

Hyunjin had also kindly offered to pay for takeout, too. Had he told that boy he loved him dearly, recently?

Jisung thought maybe Hyunjin considered he had something over the other boy now that he knew his little secret.

Throughout the episodes they watched, Jisung noticed that Hyunjin's phone was blowing up constantly throughout the show to the point where it was kind of bothersome.

Jisung’s didn’t make a sound.

As usual.

Chapter Text

It was Thursday.

Jisung sat at his desk. It was cool in his room as usual, the same familiar breeze tickling his toes.

He didn’t really mind it; it had been really humid the last few days and it was just starting to settle down. He preferred the colder months anyway.

Most of the time when asked he would joke that it was because he was cold-hearted. Actually, it was because he wore hoodies 90% of the time and he couldn’t stand feeling hot in one.

His Mom used to yell at him if he wanted to turn the heating up in the winter months. “Just put on more layers, we’re not made of money!” she’d say, going on her third all-inclusive, trip abroad of the month. It had become a weird comfort of his to wear hoodies since, they were like a warm squeeze in his lonely apartment.

God, as if he couldn’t get any more pathetic, he thought. All he needed now was like, some cats, then he’d be really be the old cat spinster that lives alone.

He had managed to push all the half finished off cartons along to one side of his desk, so he had some space for his laptop, midi keyboard and mixer, just about. (They overlapped, just a little.) He had been there for a few hours trying to find a nice presence on his new melody.

He had been switching between the same 2 to 4kHz frequencies for over an hour. Nothing sounded quite right in his opinion. He had managed to get pretty much the entire track completed before he sent it to Changbin for analysis. Changbin gave him some tips on how to improve the song, and of course, for Jisung, that meant that he had to re-do it entirely.

On top of that, he had been struggling to sleep again recently, managing to finally fall sleep at around 4:00am for the last few nights. He had been having recurring nightmares again. It sounded stupid whenever he explained it to Hyunjin. Not many other 22-year olds are scared of crocodiles, he guessed.

He swigged on his convenience-store-bought energy drink as he bashed at his keyboard some more. He grabbed out his notebook from his second drawer, hoping that some the lyrics he wrote out sloppily last week might be a bit of inspiration.

They weren’t.

He listened to Changbin’s ‘Streetlight’ again, hoping that might be a bit of inspiration.

It wasn’t.

And now he was just kind of un-inspired, and also really sad. Thanks, Changbin.

He heard his phone vibrate and figured it was likely Hyunjin letting him know that Mr. Bang Chan was taking him to another fancy lunch with whatever famous idol, like he had every day since their first meeting. He had spent the last three days with him pretty much solidly; Jisung hadn’t seen him since their Tower of God marathon.

The whole ‘Sugar Daddy’ thing was still funny to Jisung and he let out a little chuckle thinking about it.

Was it weird, to laugh on your own? Probably. He thought.

To his surprise, as he swiped the screen across and typed in his passcode, it wasn’t Hyunjin’s name that came up. It was the elusive ‘,,mmnfjop’.

Ah yes, his close friend ‘,,mmnfjop’. They’d been through a lot together lately; with the tragic passing of their great-Aunt and the un-timely return of their estranged Father…

Jisung’s eyes opened wide with the sudden realisation that holy shit; The Lee Minho did actually contact him.

It was probably just one of his associates, he thought.

There’s no way this could actually be him.

He tapped on the message.

To: 한

Hey, it’s me, Mr. Money-Grabbing Narcissist 🤪~ ㅏㅏㅏ

I was wondering if Mr. ‘Pretends-He-Has-Plans-When-He-Clearly-Doesn’t’ is available?

M x”

---

Oh my God.

Jisung just sat there for a little while, trying to digest everything that was happening.

He still didn’t know what he had possibly done to warrant being texted by the most attractive man on planet Earth. He couldn’t account for the other planets unfortunately as he had no prior experience of them personally.

It felt weird, like there should be a catch somehow. The Lee Minho couldn’t genuinely be interested in a guy who insulted him, passed out on him, and then proceeded to spit coffee out of his nose at him.

It didn’t make any sense.

Still, he couldn’t pretend like he wasn’t giggling like one of those foreign schoolgirls at the café at the prospect. He was also being incredibly casual in tone, more so than he would ever expect someone of Minho’s popularity to be in this situation.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

Well, good evening Mr. Money-Grabbing Narcissist.

He’s still not forgiven you for calling him a stalker so unfortunately, he can’t pull himself away from his fake plans at the moment. Plus, how do I know you’re the real deal? You’re just some random number saved to my phone… :/ Jisung x

Jisung considered if there was a funnier response, but he thought what he had put was pretty decent and would probably make Minho laugh a little at least. He definitely wasn’t going to lose this round. He pressed ‘send’ on the text and held his breath. He had to remember to tell Hyunjin about this when he got home from his… Whatever it was.

His phone vibrated again.

To: 한

Well, that’s not good enough. He owes me, too!! 🙀

The real deal??? I’m insulted. No-one could pull off being me this well~! [IMG: Attachment (1)]

I was wondering if you’d thought about lunch? I ok’d with my people on my end. I have a place I go to away from everything if you’re interested ✌️✌️

M x”

Jisung couldn’t help but take a little inhale, sucking in air through his teeth, beaming at the invitation. He had seriously thought Minho was just being polite last time he offered.

He felt his emotions bubbling up a little inside him and had to remind himself to sit down, be humble. Minho had replied to him so fast for someone that he imagined was constantly busy; it was pretty flattering to Jisung. He hadn’t been on a date in six months, and here he was, being invited on one by one of Korea’s Elite.

He seriously needed to pinch himself.

He re-read the message a few times to make sure that he hadn’t misinterpreted anything; he couldn’t handle the embarrassment if it all turned out to be one big joke.

He did think that Minho’s emoji usage was questionable, as well as the picture that he had attached of himself. It was him, in the dance studio mirror, wearing a simple white t-shirt and black Adidas pants, throwing out a peace sign with some weird kind of filter that super-imposed a set of pineapple glasses on him. It was…

Different.

Well, he didn’t know what it was, but it made him laugh, regardless.

It also kind of distracted him from the fact that he was probably, right at this moment, rehearsing for a Leading Role in a musical which was going to be watched by thousands of people.

Because oh yeah; Minho was literally famous, and he wasn’t.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

Wow that filter usage is – just, WOW?

Oh yeah lunch, I’d totally forgotten. I guess I could do that, I can’t say no to an all-expenses-paid lunch, can I? And a free show? I’ve heard there’s a musical thing on, maybe you’ve heard?

Jokes aside, I do actually (and seriously) need to finish this song I have been working on for a while. I’ve been slaving over it for too long, so I won’t actually be able to do anything until then. I told myself I’d lock myself in my apartment until it’s finished. Try not to cry too much... ☹

Jisung x

He put his phone down on desk anxiously. He didn’t want to say anything that would ruin the friendly banter they had going on; it was much to Jisung’s style.

---

Jisung sat waiting for the response for a few minutes.

I’ve written too much.

I’ve put him off, Jisung thought.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed again. Jisung grabbed it quickly before realising that the buzzing wasn’t stopping.

Minho was phoning him.

Oh no, Minho… He’s one of them, Jisung thought. He was one of those types of people…

The ones that liked to make phone calls.

Jisung shuddered. he would prefer thirty-nine consecutive text messages over a phone call.

Look at the positives, he told himself. At least it wasn’t a video call; he hadn’t showered all day and seeing a (likely sweaty) Minho would probably make him need two-or-three showers more, minimum.  Plus, this did mean he could re-affirm that it definitely was Minho on the other side of the phone.

It had been ringing for about fifteen seconds now, he suspected. He needed to answer it soon before Minho gave up. His heart was pounding so badly it hurt his chest a little. He took a deep, timed, inhale, repeating ‘you can do this, Jisung’ to himself a few times in his head before exhaling again.

He swiped on the call icon to unlock the phone.

“Hello?” He said.

 – A solid start.  

“Why hello there, Han Jisung.” Minho playfully cooed at him. He had only met him twice but somehow; he knew exactly what expression was on his face just by his intonation.

He felt tense and he didn’t understand it. He’d managed to have near enough a full conversation with him a few days ago in person, so why was this making him so nervous? Minho continued,

“So, I was thinking...”

“Don’t hurt yourself?” Jisung cut in, smirking a little. It was a classic line, never failed.

“Hah. Funny. You’re working on a song, right?

“Well, yeah…”

“So, why don’t you come down to the studios here? A few of them are free and the equipment is probably ten times better than whatever you have in your apartment.” Minho teased.

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Jisung’s mixer was on its last legs. Plus, one of the mic inputs was stuck as Jisung had managed to spill pineapple juice on it. He probably shouldn’t have been using it as a makeshift coaster, though, in the mixers’ defence.

“Are you serious? Isn’t that like, breaking and entering, or something? I’m not a criminal, Lee Minho” Jisung replied.

“No, not a criminal, just a stalker… Plus, it’s not breaking and entering if you’re invited, dummy.”

“There you go with the ‘stalker’ again, but I don’t see me calling you randomly after only meeting twice...”

“Hmm… Touché, Han Jisung.”

Jisung felt pretty good about that one.

Minho continued, “Anyways. Come down to JYP, walk straight past and around and there’s an education training centre thing and a cark park behind. I’ll have someone meet you to let you in out the back.”

“Wait… You’re actually serious?”

“Of course! You can’t really come in through the front, now can you?”

“No, not that. I mean, like…”

Jisung searched for the words for a little while. He didn’t want to come across as pathetic, but he did really want to know if there was some kind of ulterior motive in play. He may have been a little shit, but damn he was a sensitive little shit.

“Why are you being so nice to me? I’ve pretty much caused you nothing but stress since we met. Am I being pranked? What am I missing here?” He said.

“Stress is a bit of an over-exaggeration, Han Jisung. Plus, honestly, I guess I don’t know either. I’ve asked myself that too. Maybe seeing you in such a pitiful, lowly state the first time we met made me want to take care of you… You obviously need it.” He could hear Minho grinning through the phone.

“Ugh… Stop. I’m serious I don’t want to think about that night ever again...” Jisung whined.

“Pah, I’m sorry. Anyway, get here as fast as you can and you might make it back before Channie does!”

Jisung cringed at the nickname. ‘Channie’ was what Hyunjin had started referring to the other man as, too.  He wasn’t sure if it was for show or a legitimate sign of affection; all he knew is it made him dry heave, regardless.

“I won’t take no for an answer, Han Jisung!” He heard Minho make a little kissy sound.

And with that, he hung up.

Jisung dived on his bed, weighing up his options.

On one hand, this could be a trick, and he gets the bus to the Gangdong-gu and no one is there to meet him. He would be a little embarrassed, probably, or definitely, cry a bit, then fill the void with some random Marvel film and eat Neapolitan ice cream until he forgot about it.

On the other hand, there was the slim possibility that he would actually get to see Minho again and get to work in a professional studio again for the first time since he left college…

He looked at his phone again, clicking on the ridiculous image that Minho had sent him.

It was worth a shot.

Chapter Text

I cannot believe I am doing this. I cannot believe I am doing this.

Jisung stood at the crossing as he waited for the traffic light to change, before getting a little restless and shuffling across the street anyway. He had a large-ish carry-on to hold his mixer and laptop. The long shoulder strap was precarious, and he didn’t want to risk anything happening to it, so he carried it by the smaller handles instead, heaving it across the road. 

He paced around a little, he could see the JYP building clearly and needed to find a way around it. The street was busy as usual, even at 2:00pm. He checked the signs for the training centre/car park Minho was talking about. Checking his Naver maps every now and then. 

Oh.

It actually did exist.

He saw said training centre, and traipsed down the alley adjacent. 

That’s a good start. At least he wasn’t lying, Jisung thought.

---

He took the short walk behind the alley area to the back of the buildings. He could see two employees in loosened shirts, out having a cigarette, casually sitting on the back steps.

Jisung thought this place really looked like the place where Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed...

Hopefully, that doesn’t happen to him though, he thought, but honestly, he wasn’t convinced. It looked for a prime place for an abduction and he would definitely be easy pickings.

He stood out the back awkwardly, pulling at the collar of his hoodie, it was still humid and out the back of the building he could feel the warmth from the extractor fans, presumably from the kitchens of the buildings inside. He checked his phone a couple of times, it was now 2:10pm, he’d only been there ten minutes, but it felt like hours.

Coming into his view from across the road, he saw the same two burly men he had seen before the other day at the café. He assumed they were Minho’s ‘bodyguards’ or something. The one on the right was taller, carrying two large duffel bags and wearing a black polo-shirt and white mask. The mask-less one pointed to him from across the street. They picked up pace to meet him.

“Mr. Han Jisung?”. Jisung turned to face the direction of the man.

“Yes, um- Hi, yes, that’s me…” Jisung said.

“Did anyone come with you you here today?”

“Um, no, it’s just me, on my own.” Jisung confirmed, with a slight nod. He tried to maintain eye contact, but he knew that most animals took eye contact as a threat, so immediately ducked his head down a little.

“That’s fine. Come on through!” Maskless smiled at him briefly, taking his bag with a disgusting amount of ease. He unzipped it and looked inside, presumably to check there wasn’t a body in there, or something.

There wasn’t.

Maskless gave him a little nod, and Poloshirt put a re-affirming hand on his back to usher Jisung along as they walked to the door, which relieved his unease somewhat. Although he was very aware that the taller man could probably crush his skull in his bare hands, The Mountain style.

He watched as the men unlocked the back door, it needed a key and a pass-code. Better safe than sorry, I guess. As they went through the back area there were a few sets of grated, metal stairs they had to climb, with no elevator in sight.

Jisung played it cool and pretended like he wasn't about to die for overexertion. This was probably the most exercise he'd done in a while. He used to be pretty up on his exercise regime when he was a trainee, but as he pretty much spent his entire days indoors, working on his music, he'd slacked off a bit.

Or, entirely.

Did crying at rom-coms count as exercise? He’d read that you could burn 70 calories by crying for an hour.

Finally, they came to another locked door which opened up into a hallway. As they walked through Jisung observed it suddenly felt a lot more homely and noticeably, even warmer. This looked like the average JYP aesthetic he had seen the other day.

As he went through, he could smell the plants again. The whole building was full of plants, some were even mounted on the walls. Jisung had never seen anything like it. He was in a corridor, bumbling down the shoe-scuffed, blue linoleum below his feet. He could see tons of other doors to rooms branching off here and there. He could hear the low rumble of music coming from every direction; there were probably a lot of practices running right now.

Maskless walked him down past a few of the doors and then down the rest of the hallway. They stopped as they came to one of the doors.

“Here ya go, Champ.” Poloshirt chuckled to him, settling his bag down next to his feet. Maskless patted him on the shoulder before they both sauntered off down the rest of the hall and entered the elevator at the other end.

Oh, now there’s an elevator…

---

Jisung was a bit perplexed.

Was he meant to just, go in?

There was a small window at the door they had stopped at. Jisung peered through a little. There was some weird reflection across the glass which was making it a little tricky to see through, but he could see that it was a dance studio by the number of mirrors in the room.

He saw the outlines of dancers, tons of them, all dressed in casual grey sweats and t-shirts. 

They were perfectly in sync for every move, swinging their arms in a domino effect into the centre of the formation. In the centre, was The Lee Minho, or-- just Minho, standing over someone who was lying down. He was wearing the same black Adidas pants from the filtered photo Jisung had on his phone, but with a light-grey striped t-shirt and a red headband that pushed back his newly blonde hair a little. Jisung watched him as he fell to his knees, both hands cupped dramatically around the actresses’, who Jisung assumed maybe was like, dead or something.

He didn’t know much about musicals.

After a while, he rose to his feet, head in his hands, whilst the dancers all ‘collapsed’ around him. By the end of it, Jisung could see all the dancers and Minho were panting heavily, they must have been working at the number for a while. Minho’s his shirt was stuck to his back with sweat; Jisung could see every single muscle in every movement he did. He was so fluid as he moved across the room. It was incredible to watch how his body worked. 

He gulped, hard.

After watching them for a while, the dancers started cheering, relaxing themselves. Some of them slumped against the walls at the back, some fetched water bottles and Minho was sloppily clapping, moving towards the chairs at the side.

Minho turned around to find his own bag, facing away from the door, unzipping it, and pulling out a water bottle. He tipped his head back, dangling his water bottle downwards over his lips, squirting the water into his mouth without touching the nozzle.

Now why on Earth did he have to do that?

That is totally unnecessary.

Completely unacceptable, Jisung thought.

He watched as the older man then dabbed his forehead with a hand towel and checked his phone, before looking towards the door suddenly.

With a smirk.

Fuck.

---

As Minho walked towards the door, there was a little arrogance in his walk as he dragged his feet. It made Jisung roll his eyes. He swung the door open rather dramatically, rolling his head backwards and letting it lull near his left shoulder. He propped the door open with his foot before leaning himself against the door frame.

“Can I help you?” Minho teased, shooting him a little grin as he casually drank from his water bottle.

“Yes, actually. I think you probably can. I’m looking for Lee Minho?” Jisung swiped his bangs from his eyes and then placed his hands in his jeans pocket, feigning that he was totally relaxed.

“Ah. I know the guy. Good looking, effortlessly talented, gifted in pretty much every way?”

“You must be confused… I’m talking about Lee Minho, not Lee Felix…” Jisung said innocently, raising his eyebrows. Jisung saw Minho swipe his tongue across the inside of his cheek in offence.

“To be honest, you’re looking a bit more confused than I am, Han Jisung. Enjoying the show?”

“Um, sorry I didn’t mean to watch in or anything. Those men just kinda, brought me here… I guess.” He gestured to the elevator.

“You can come in, if you want, you don’t have to just stand there looking pretty”. Minho quipped.

“Pretty?” Jisung scoffed. “I’ll have you know under this hoodie I’m practically the Hulk; super manly. Huge, in fact…” He pulled his bag through the door and propped it up against the wall, pulling the door closed behind him.

“Is that so? Unfortunately, I don’t really have the time to find that out for myself today.” He retorted, turning to walk towards the music system.

Jisung felt a blush transcend his entire body. His ears were literally on fire, could your ears just catch fire? Spontaneous combustion, he’d heard about that. That was definitely happening to him. He was too young to die, he thought.

Minho switched the music off, causing all the dancers to turn to look at him.

“Great work today guys, take a late lunch, one hour, don’t cool off too much or you’ll get stiff! Jumping jacks whilst you eat!”

All the dancers giggled and nodded in agreement. A number of them sauntered off down the hallway. Some of them stayed in the room, sitting in pairs or trios, mindlessly looking at their phones.

Jisung moseyed further into the room little timidly, rubbing the back of his neck. Minho walked over to a small desk that had a computer system set up on it. He grabbed a thick book and rummaged in the drawer below the desk for a pen.

“It’s kinda dumb but I have to make you sign something, you know. Like, to say that you’re here…” Minho rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, like, fire safety or something. Oh, and to make sure that I’m not letting a criminal in to the building or anything.”

Jisung laughed, as he sprawled his signature down in the book. He dotted the “I” in his name with a little heart, smiling widely at the older man with closed eyes.

“Cute.”

“I do try.” Jisung replied dryly.

“Well, come on Dummy, I’ll show you where the recording studios are down the hall. There should be two free.”

Chapter Text

Jisung looked around at the set up; it was phenomenal. There was a full sound-proofed, 12mm toughened glass recording booth, three digital converters mounted on the walls, two sets of nearfield monitors, a standalone audio interface rack... There were three computer chairs at the desk, and the mixers reached all the way from one side of the desk to the other. It was all Jisung could dream of.

Minho casually placed Jisung's bag down next to the middle chair, gesturing at it.

"See, I'm a man of my word! You can hook up your computer to this one here. It should be fine for a while." Minho looked at a board mounted near the door on the wall, it seemed to be another kind of sign-in sheet. "Actually, you have all day. No one’s due to use this one until tomorrow morning."

"Well, with how long this has taken me so far I wouldn't be surprised if I'm here all night..." Jisung let out a breathy laugh; he wasn't even exaggerating, that's the sad part.

"Well, at least you'd have great company!" Minho beamed. He ignored the 'look' that Minho gave him after that.

He looked around in awe again, propping his bag down. He sat in the middle seat, before untangling this laptop charger and plugging his external hard drive in to the USB. Jisung hadn't used professional tech like this since college, he hoped he remembered what to do. He'd be lying if he didn't say he was a little nervous to mess something up, but it was definitely exciting.

You're literally in a sound-proofed room with The Lee Minho and you're excited about the audio equipment? He thought.

"Thank you for this, you seriously didn't have to. Like, seriously. I’m really grateful." Jisung said softly, almost in disbelief. 

Minho slumped next to him on the left chair, spinning it around until his right knee touched Jisung's.

"Well, if you didn't then you wouldn't have gotten out of your apartment, would you?" Minho said softly. "You need to finish it so we can go on our lunch date, remember?"

Jisung shook his head gently with a ‘pfft’ escaping his lips. It was pretty difficult to mask the slight smile on his face, pulling his focus back to the screen he was using.

Suddenly, they heard a loud thump and the click of the door.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone had booked this--"

It was Mr. Bang Chan. He had barged into the room with a gym bag over his shoulder and sunglasses perched on top of his (now rather curly) blonde hair. He had a white shirt on with black blazer hitched under his other arm. He looked at the wall chart with a bewildered look on his face, then to Jisung, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, Han Jisung, what a pleasant surprise? Minho didn't tell me you two had kept in contact. That must have slipped his mind?" He darted his eyes towards Minho, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Not that my personal life is any of your business, Chan..." Minho retorted leaning back in his chair dramatically, looking back to his phone, dismissing his comment.

"Well, your personal life no, but maybe if you're having randoms in the studios whilst I'm out of the building it might be worth doing a little background checking, don't you think?" He slumped his bag down near Jisung’s and placed both of his hands solidly on the backs of their chairs before shooting Minho a quick wink.

Jisung super-duped hated winks, now he super-duper-ultra hated winks.

He looked back to Jisung afterwards with a smile on his face. He could that that the older man was trying to play it off as a joke, but Jisung could tell there was at least a little venom in his words when he spoke.

Chan was sort of right, technically. Minho had allowed him in here with all this equipment without really knowing him all that well at all. He could be a thief, or a murderer or a thief that committed murder.  

"Oh Channie, relax. Jisung is trying to finish a song and I said he could use some of the rooms here as they were free. Is that a problem?" He flashed him the biggest puppy dog eyes you could imagine. Jisung was half disgusted that they were not directed at him and half impressed by how much power he seemed to have over the older man despite the fact that Chan was almost his boss.

He couldn't lie, if it were him, he'd give in.

He's only a man. 

"Not at all Minho, whatever you want, as long as everything is left the way it was at the end of the session it's no problem at all on my end." Chan said calmly, smiling back at him.

He pulled up the third chair that was in the corner and positioned it next to Jisung. It was a little close for comfort and he could smell Chan's cologne from where he was; it smelt like the sea. Which was ironic because he was literally drowning in it. He watched the older man loosen his top button slightly and roll both of his sleeves up before settling in next to him.

He looked... Vascular, Jisung thought.

Ew, what the hell kind of thought was that?

Jisung quickly brushed the thought aside.

---

Chan had only been in the room approximately five minutes but Jisung had heard Chan's message tone probably close to seven thousand times.

Ping, ping, ping.

Chan took his phone out of his pocket and smiled at it a few times, tapping away merrily afterwards. Every time he laughed it was one of those exaggerated laughs where someone is trying to get you to why ask why they were laughing. Jisung didn't fall for the trick, deciding focus on working on his track.

It happened, again, and again until Minho finally took the bait with a sigh. Jisung thought it was probably just to shut him up.

"Are you going to let us in on the joke or continue laughing to yourself?" He said, calmly. Spinning to face him in his chair, glancing across Jisung to look at the older man.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it" Chan said, snickering to himself.

"Okay, I won't--"

"It's just, Hyunjin." Chan interrupted.

Jisung jerked at his name a little.

"He has already scored two huge brand opportunities and he's been in the agency for like a week. It's insane. I literally have Directors messaging me non-stop about him asking for availability to work with him. He's going to be a big hitter."

"That's great, Chan. Sounds like he was a good recruit, congratulations." Jisung noticed Minho was not really that interested in what he was saying, but he continued to stroke his ego, smiling softly. Jisung was sort of listening, just nodding along.

Jisung knew about Chan and Hyunjin's little 'proposition'. He had rather appropriately named it 'The Daddy Deal', much to Hyunjin's dismay. He also imagined that Chan had likely told Hyunjin not to tell anyone about it. Jisung felt a little smug being in on it the whole time without the other man knowing.

“It’s amazing how well he’s gelled here. Everything is just so new and exciting for him; it’s refreshing to have someone so enthusiastic and willing.” Chan said.

He saw Minho side-eye the older man a little, shaking his head before a small sigh escaped his lips.

It made Jisung feel, kind of weird.

"So, where is Hyunjin today, is he here?" He asked, trying to fill the awkwardness.

"Oh, he had a shoot this morning starting from like 4:30am. He was so professional about it. I actually let him go home early after lunch because I've been so impressed with him."

"Wow, that's not like you Channie, usually you run people down to the bone." Minho said with a wide smile stretched across a straight face, following up with a laugh. Chan laughed soon after. Jisung thought he should probably laugh a little too, as to not be left out.

After a while he watched the older man push himself all the way back in his chair until he was practically 180°, linking his fingers loosely to lay flat across his chest. Jisung wondered why he was still here in the first place; he didn’t actually seem to be doing anything.

They sat in relative silence for a while, just the sound of Jisung's clicking and Minho's tapping on his phone keypad could be heard. It was great, peaceful almost.

---

It lasted all of ten minutes, if that.

"Well, what are you working on then Jisung?" Chan asked, inquisitively. He leant back in again towards him, peering across his shoulder to look at his laptop screen.

"Oh, it’s... It's like, a kinda pop-electro-ish song I'm working on for a small agency for a group. I'm trying to work out the brass. It's nothing big, I've just been finalising it for a really long time and need to get it right." He had hoped he had summarised it well enough so that no further questions could be asked.

"Want me to give it a listen? Producer-to-Producer feedback is always valuable, especially from a professional." Chan said. The way he said it implied that there wasn't really an option for Jisung to say no and although the ‘professional’ tag may have made him seethe just a little; maybe it actually might help him considering how vast Chan's knowledge likely was.

Whilst he was listening to the song, Jisung pushed himself outwards with both hands to wheel himself away from the desk so that Chan could sit a little closer to the screen. It wasn't like it amplified the sound or anything, so he didn't really know why he did it.

At least Minho was in his periphery now.

His eyes wandered across to him, who was giving him an 'I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd be here' kind of doe-eyed look. Jisung just smiled at him; he looked really cute. His post-rehearsal hair was slightly fluffy and Jisung really liked how he looked with his hair pushed back.

Jisung felt a bit proud that Minho was already so comfortable with him after such a short period of time. Most idols he had unfortunately met before wouldn't be seen dead without their hair and makeup done, he thought.

Then again, not all idols were as naturally attractive as Minho was, he thought.

Minho had obviously noticed that Jisung was staring at him by this point, as he covered up his face with his hands and mouthed "Stop it!" at him before looking back to his phone.

After a few minutes, Chan removed the headphones. His facial expression was spectacularly neutral. Jisung gulped and felt himself gritting his back teeth a little. He already thought Chan wasn't particularly fond of him from their previous encounters, so he could only imagine this was going to end badly and Jisung was probably going to have to re-write the song for the seventeenth time.

"This is, really, pretty good. Is that you, singing?" he asked.

Minho's head darted upwards unexpectedly; he had a questioning kind of smirk on his face.

"Oh, yeah. It's obviously just for the guide version..." Jisung said.

"It's fairly high; it's definitely in a woman's key. But hey, you still managed to hit most of the notes. Pretty good." Chan replied.

It was a back-handed compliment, but Jisung would take it. Although he knew he had hit all of those notes perfectly, thank you very much.

"The vocal quality is really low though; it sounds like you recorded it in a paper bag. You should re-record. You can use the isolation booth in here if you have time. If you want to, that is."

Hmm.

Maybe Chan was warming up to him?

"Really? That would be awesome, thank you, so much, honestly."

"Maybe you should re-record after some food, Jisung?" Minho quipped. "I have twenty minutes until I need to be back in the dance studio for rehearsals, fancy grabbing something from the canteen then I’ll leave you to it?"

Jisung was a little puzzled. He hadn't actually managed to get anything done yet.

“Oh, I mean, I’ve only been here like ten mi—”

“Great! Let’s go, okay?” Minho interrupted, yanking Jisung by his hand, nearly knocking his laptop off the desk. He barely had enough time to stabilise it before they were heading out of the studio.

Jisung wasn't particularly hungry, but he could sense that Minho was either: One, trying to get him alone. Or two, trying to get Chan to leave so he could continue his work in peace after.

Jisung rather liked both options.

He wasn't sure what to make of the Australian just yet. 

Chapter Text

Minho slipped his arm around Jisung's to link them loosely as they both exited the studio room.

"That's why I told you to get here as quickly as you could, preferably before Channie got back..."

"Hey, I did my best!" Jisung groaned.

As they travelled down the hallway again, Minho offered to give him a flash 'tour', pointing out every room and which idols tended to train in there. It was pretty mind-blowing that Jisung was here; it felt like he was with royalty. He wasn't listening much; he was much more entertained watching Minho bouncing around proudly.

"That is the Michael Jackson room, and that is the Bobby Brown suite" He exclaimed. Jisung thought he was surprisingly hyperactive for someone who appeared so mature and mysterious in all the dramas he had been in. He'd also been in rehearsals all day, so Jisung had no idea how he kept it up. He was exhausting, but in a good way.

Minho insisted they take the stairs as the canteen wasn't 'that far down'.

Jisung determined that was a lie.

They both traipsed down five sets of stairs.

---

As they walked into the canteen, Minho greeted everyone in the room immediately. Everyone greeted him back with a smile and a 'Good afternoon Minho!".

He is so naturally outgoing, Jisung thought.

He instead, opted to duck slightly behind the older man as they entered the room. He noticed a few of the female JYP idols were sitting at a larger table in the middle chatting excitedly about their successful comeback. He didn't know all of their names, but he did recognise a few of them.

He also saw Lee Felix and Kim Seungmin sitting together at a table in the corner, too. They were sitting arm-to-arm, giggling affectionately looking at something on Felix's phone whilst they shared one set of headphones between them.

There were a ton of other people Jisung assumed were staff, all in black and chatting loudly amongst themselves scattered throughout the fairly boring room. No one was particularly focused on him, but he did notice a few of them give him a double-take. Jisung wondered if it was normal for 'regular' people to be in here with the idols. He presumed not.

As they walked towards the line, Minho handed Jisung a tray for the buffet.

"I'm going to have Bulgogi, what about you?" Minho asked him sweetly.

"I-I'll just have whatever you have, I guess". Jisung slightly stammered back.

"Trust me, no matter what you have, it's all amazing. All organic and prepared by some of the best Chef's in Seoul. Have as much as you like." Minho said, poking him in the ribs, pulling him back in to the conversation, noticing the other boy was spacing out.

"Oh, thanks." Jisung muttered quietly.

The food did look delicious, it was definitely better than the packaged crap he had been eating at his apartment. The only time he really got a cooked meal was when Hyunjin ordered takeout for them both. He placed a hefty amount of salad on the first plate and opted to fill a second bowl with some Gyeranjjim. It looked incredible. 

"Don't worry, this doesn't count as your ‘all-expenses-paid lunch courtesy of JYP’ by the way. I will take you out for a proper lunch-date, but in the meantime, this will have to do for now!" Minho said with a laugh, he cracked the widest grin in Jisung's direction.

Jisung dropped his head a little, to mask the small smile creeping across his face. He couldn't help but smile back at the word 'date'. Internally he was screaming, but he didn't want Minho to know he had that kind of power over him. Minho was so great at breaking his tension, he felt like for some reason the older man could sense when he was feeling anxious.

Jisung couldn't believe there were people this bold in real life.

He thought they were a myth; extroverts. He shuddered. 

"You know, I never technically agreed to lunch with you..." Jisung joked, his words trailing off as he sauntered past Minho in the queue. "I said maybe I'd go if I finished my song". He used the tongs to finish off his meal by slinging some rib-eye on his plate, deciding to pair it with soybean paste.

"I offer up our studio and this is the thanks I get? And I'm the snob?!" Minho huffed, pulling some disposable chopsticks from the dispenser, and placing a set on Jisung's tray.

Jisung noticed Minho heading over in Felix and Seungmin's direction once his tray was suitably full. He was a little starstruck again, and this time he wasn't even tipsy enough to fake it. He felt the familiar bubble of anxiety creeping up on him a little as he followed Minho across, sticking fairly close to his side.

"Are you okay? Cat got your tongue?" Minho shot at him as they headed over towards the two other men. "I guess I just have that impact on people..." Minho smirked, flipping his bangs dramatically out of his eyes.

"No, it's just that, I feel kind of like I shouldn't be here, that's all." Jisung replied, making sure he was being suitably quiet.

"Don't be stupid, I invited you, Dummy. Let's sit."

---

Before Jisung had any time to argue, Minho had launched his leg over the stool at the table the other boys were sitting at. Jisung had no choice but to follow. He still was in awe that he was sitting around a table with three of the biggest selling artists in Seoul. He couldn't have imagined anything like it.

"Felix, S'Minnieee!" Minho cooed at them, wiggling his finger as if they were babies, flicking at Seungmin's bottom lip across the table.

Seungmin rolled his eyes at the elder and swatted him away. Jisung assumed it was not a nickname he was particularly fond of.

"You remember meeting these two, right Jisung?" Minho joked.

"Oh, of course, Lee Felix and Kim Seungmin." he said. The other two boys smiled at him.

"The producer right, Han Jisung?" Seungmin said.

"Oh, you were at the event last week! I knew I recognised you!" Felix said warmly, resting his chin on his cupped hands. “Hi again!”

"Yeah... I was, there." Jisung stuttered and decided now was the time to shovel as much food into his mouth as he possibly could. Minho scoffed at him a little, playfully swiping at soybean paste that had dripped a little down his chin.

"Sorry we couldn't stick around for the whole night Minho. You know how rehearsals around here have been. Schedules are crazy..." Felix said.

Jisung breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that they hadn't seen him in his inebriated state at the end of the night. Maybe he would be able to network a little, after all, he thought.

"Don't worry. I was just glad you could both come at all. You know it really means a lot to me." Minho said, "And tell me about it, I have Chan on my ass constantly these days.”

"I have a vocal lesson right after lunch and I literally just came back from one... I'm trying to improve my head voice!" Seungmin said cheerfully. The boy swung his shoulders back and lifted his head. Felix beamed at him proudly from the side.  

"I think your falsetto is pretty amazing actually..." Jisung piped up. “Especially as you’re a baritone”. Jisung was almost kind of proud of himself for managing to impact the conversation.

He was slightly more comfortable around the other two men knowing that they hadn't seen his antics from the previous weekend.

"Well thank you Jisung. It's definitely not amazing though. I am going to work as hard as I can to improve it! I have a new producer coming on board for my newest mini album, so I have to make sure I’m in tip-top form!" He exclaimed.

After some general titter about how exhausted they all were and about their packed-out schedules, Seungmin placed his chopsticks on his plate and lifted his tray from the table. He walked over to the clean-up station and placed his bowl in the sink area.

He waltzed back over to the table, buttoning up his cardigan a few more notches and grabbing his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Well, I better go to my second vocal lesson of the day. See you around Minho, and nice to meet you again Jisung, hope you enjoy the food!"

"Seungmin, I'll walk you there, it's on my way to the dance studio!" Felix said, rising from his chair quickly. He gave them a little wave and an English 'Bye Guys!' as he weaved his arm around Seungmin's, re-attaching himself to his side. The freckled Aussie seemed so much cuter than his stage persona gave off... It suited him though, he was pretty adorable, Jisung thought.

"God those two, literally like Ying and Yang. I never see them apart these days." Minho said, shovelling a full perilla leaf full of bulgogi into his mouth. "Su-sp-icious..." Minho jokingly said with full cheeks.

"You think they're...?" Jisung looked towards the door to watch them exit. He looked back to Minho who had just about managed to swallow the rest of his food.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe not, I might be looking too far into it. Felix is pretty clingy in general…” He exhaled. “Ugh, just give me this one! It's hard being one of the openly out idols, you know!" Minho teased.

He had remembered hearing about Minho coming out when he was in high school; he remembers the social trends and the headlines quite clearly. All of the girls at school were sobbing for days, mourning the loss of their imaginary chance with 'their Oppa'. Jisung was unsurprisingly, pretty chuffed at the situation, not that anyone knew apart from Hyunjin.

To begin with, it seemed pretty likely that he would crash and burn considering where they were from, but strangely, it hadn't massively effected Minho's career, more of a sudden drop followed by a slow and steady upwards climb. He had been releasing solid records for three years without too much trouble. Jisung put it down to how great Minho's voice and performance was, no one could say he wasn't talented even if they didn’t respect his lifestyle.

He’d also decided to focus a little more on his acting rather than his singing, as he knew that his sales would likely take a hit. He imagined a lot of his male fans became a little worried to openly support him.

It made Jisung a little mad to think that people felt that way in this current day and age, but at the same time, he admired Minho for not denying it, and being open with who he was. He could have outright denied it, he thought.

Jisung wondered what his parents would think if he actually ever mentioned it.

Maybe they knew already? Who knows.

Minho’s confidence gave him a glimmer of hope that the country would be a little more forthcoming moving forward, although he knew you couldn't please everyone. Jisung was just glad that the representation was improving.

"Maybe they are, maybe they’re not. Hey, at least I guess I have you, now Han Jisung." Minho shot him a wink.

He hated them, but maybe he could look past it as it was Minho.

"I don't remember ever telling you I was…?" He said, rather innocently.

"You don't remember telling me anything, Jisung."

"Touché, Lee Minho." Jisung retorted.

"Also, it's nice to be able to talk to someone not just about schedules and how tired I am. Just having an average conversation; wow. I'm so not used to this!" Minho said.

"So, you kinda just told me that I'm 'average' compared to your other successful friends? If I'm not mistaken?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Minho pushed at his chest gently. "I just mean, someone that is a little more grounded? I don't know!"

"No, I absolutely do not know. Plus, all we've really talked about is me being a drunken mess and my not-so-satisfactory music equipment up to this point."

"Oh, and about how attractive you find me..."

"I don't remember ever telling you that you were attractive..."

"You don't remember telling me anything, Jisung."

"Touché, Lee Minho…" Jisung mimicked.

---

Both of them finished off their food. It was quieter in the canteen now, as it was nearing 3:30pm and Minho needed to get back to his rehearsals.

“So, lunch on Saturday. The performance is at 3:00pm so if we say 12:00pm, would that work for you? I obviously need time to get in to costume and stuff, like an hour or so before" Minho smiled at him, tilting his head a little at the question. 

Jisung considered playing hard-to-get, but let’s face it, he wasn’t exactly going to get another shot at a guy like this again, he thought.

“Um, yeah that sounds great. I mean, where would we be going?” he asked.

“I’ll text you the address okay? Just, obviously, goes without saying, don’t tell anyone if you can avoid it. I don’t want anyone to turn up.” Minho warned him. “Plus, maybe wear a mask”. Jisung nodded.

Jisung thought it was probably a bit tiresome having cameras following you around all the time. He considered that maybe an openly gay idol out for dinner with a guy might be a significant talking point for the vultures online. It made Jisung regret his acceptance of the invitation a little.

Minho continued, “Oh, and Jisung? Maybe avoid the brightly coloured hoodies, next time, yeah?” Minho teased, yanking at his hoodie string so now one side was annoyingly longer. 

“Hah. I think I can just about manage that”. He said, a little embarrassed, yanking at the right one to even it out again.

“Don’t worry though. About everything, the public and stuff. Honestly, there’s nothing to worry about. I'm a pro at this by now.”

Minho had obviously picked up on his concerns again. He was getting strangely good at that.

“'Just don't worry'... Ha, that’s probably a little easier said than done!” Jisung said. 

“No-one will see, I promise, okay?” He grabbed Jisung’s bicep softly, pulling him towards the door. “C’mon. I’ll walk you back to the studio, come and find me when you’re done so the guys can let you out the back again, okay?”

Jisung nodded to confirm, he was missing Poloshirt and Maskless already.

Much to Jisung’s relief, Chan had left the studio before he got back.

He managed to find the perfect resonance on his track, and even was able to start penning another song.

Chapter Text

To 현진

Hyunjin I need HELP. What do you prefer, outfit one or outfit 2? [IMG: Attachment (2)] I think the grey shirt is less conspicuous than the green check so maybe I’m leaning towards that. xx

Jisung attached two selfies nervously. One he had an only-slightly-creased forest-green plaid shirt buttoned to the top and black jeans. The other was a grey shirt with a black collar. He wasn't great at selfies but he hoped that he'd shown what he needed to. 

To 한

omg what is that pose you’re pulling?? ㅋㅋㅋ

on my life I couldn’t imagine the day my best friend is dating Lee Minho. It’s crazy!!

def the grey shirt with the black pants. you need to style them better though, lemme just [IMG: Attachment (1)] - tuck your shirt in and wear it like this!! Do you have a thin belt or something? 😁xxxx

Hyunjin had attached a mirror selfie of himself, standing at a weird diagonal angle to fit himself in frame, wearing a blue shirt tucked into his pants with a brown belt sitting above his hips. The buckle looked like some kind of designer logo he didn’t recognise. He did always look stylish, Jisung could probably just about manage that. He didn’t have a bucket hat like Hyunjin did, but they’d be eating inside, anyway.

Jisung always envied Hyunjin’s keen eye for fashion; he even matched his accessories; he really applauded the effort he put into his appearance. In this picture though, Hyunjin was wearing silver earrings, with a gold watch. It was unlike him not to entirely match. Interesting.

To 현진

I’m not pulling a pose I’m just standing there!

Why are you excited? You practically work with him now you dummy, plus we’re not ‘dating’ we’re going on one date.

Nice watch btw? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear that before? Is it new?

Last thing; would a denim jacket be okay or no? xx

He clutched at the jacket. It was grey, acid-washed and a little older, but it was the only ‘neutral’ outerwear he had. He was trying to take Minho’s advice about being as unassuming as possible if they were going to be out in public together. He slung it over his shoulder, then immediately cringed at how ridiculous he looked. Opting to just put it on, instead. 

To 한

yeah, i know but i could just never imagine it a few weeks ago, you know?? Things have happened so fast with everything between you two!! ♡

oh the watch, yeah thanks, Chan kinda got it for me as a gift.

it’s fine just bring the jacket just in case i guess, worst case scenario you can just hold it, it’s no big deal!xxxx

Jisung sighed, laughing to himself a little under his breath. 

To 현진

You’re really gonna just gloss over that comment, huh? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ… xx

To 한

siiiiigh …it’s just a watch Jisung. xxxx

To 현진                                                                    

Just a watch?! If you smelted that watch down, you’d probably be able to afford a down payment on a freakin’ house. You could invest in a small island. I could probably buy my own studio!

In fact, I could buy my own island and put a house and studio on it. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

careful not to fall over, the weight of that thing you probably won't get back up :D xx

To 한

OKAY I GET IT. I mean I couldn’t say no, could I?! It was a gift xxxx

To 현진

No, I guess not, wouldn’t want to make Daddy mad ㅋㅋㅋ

Thanks for helping me pick my outfit anyway. You’re coming tonight right? xx

To 한

i’m going to pretend like I didn’t read that… ¬¬

yeah i’m going!! i wouldn’t miss it. plus chan is obviously going and i think he’s taking me out to lunch today or something before the show

don’t say anything or i'll end you. xxxx

To 현진

I. AM. STAYING. SILENT.

I’ll text you after my date and probably see you after the show.

Enjoy your lunch ;) xx

Jisung slipped his phone in to his pocket, giving them a feel to ensure he had his wallet too. 

One lunch, one musical. He said, mentally preparing himself.

He didn’t really know what to expect other than what he had seen of the dance practice he had accidentally watched when he went to the studios. He and Minho had been texting a lot since then, and he told him it was a tragedy about a fated couple, so to ‘prepare himself for some tears.’

“I don’t cry easily” Jisung had replied.

Hah.

Jisung cried at Finding Nemo.

Minho had also sent him details of a restaurant called Jungsik in Gamnam-gu. He looked it up online and saw that it had two Michelin stars. According to Minho there was an area that idols went to see friends and family and go on dates, situated at the back of the store where none of the public could bother them. He said he knew the owner. 

He couldn't lie and say he was totally fine with the situation, but Minho had promised him that nothing bad would happen and for some reason unbeknown-st to Jisung; he had started to trust him. 

He also couldn’t lie and say he didn’t squeal a little when Minho had referred to it as a ‘date’ again. 

He looked himself up and down in the mirror, making sure he was happy with the end result. He was glad he went with the grey shirt; it was a lot newer and maybe more expensive looking considering where they were going. He decided to wear some of the accessories that his Mom bought him on one of her trips.

Were three rings too much? Maybe just two rings would be better, as long as they matched right?

I have literally no idea, he thought.

He seriously considered the eyeliner again, but he didn't trust himself to not inflict actual bodily harm on himself. If he went blind, he wouldn't be able to see Minho. That would be a travesty, he thought. 

He took a folded-up, black mask from his drawer and slipped from his room across to the front door, grabbing his keys from the bowl as he skidded out in the direction of his bus stop.

Chapter Text

Jisung waited patiently at the meeting point. Minho had specifically asked him to meet him outside the back of the restaurant. It was becoming a habit of Jisung’s now. He wasn’t particularly fond of hanging out by the garbage, but he thought it was better than exposing Minho to even more of the public eye.

 He put his mask on and pushed his fingers back through his hair. Now that he thinks about it, maybe a more natural colour would have been more discreet.

He felt his phone vibrate. He pushed his hand in to his pocket, only just realising how sweaty his palms had become. He swiped it out and saw ‘,,mmnfjop’ across the notification. He really needed to change that name, but he had grown strangely attached to it.

Jisung thought, would it be unusual for Minho to cancel? Jisung figured Minho probably had commitments that he had to change all the time. He took a deep inhale, almost expecting the worse.

To: 한

No bright purple/green hoodie? Proud of you ;)~

M x”

Jisung looked around suddenly, checking behind him and across the street, where he saw Minho, and the ever-so-familiar Maskless and Poloshirt. This time, Poloshirt wasn’t actually wearing a polo-shirt, but he didn’t want to refer to him as Crewneck moving forward. Jisung considered he really should stop adding so much emotional sentiment to people and things he didn’t know. His trail of thought was interrupted.

He saw Minho moving closer, bringing him more in to focus, the mid-afternoon sun rays bouncing off of his profile as he laughed with Poloshirt. Jisung exhaled deeply, he really was otherworldly.

He was wearing his same duffle coat, but it was unbuttoned so that Jisung could see his black and white Louis Vuitton turtleneck underneath, tucked into pinstripe khakis that seemed a little high-waisted. It almost kind of look styled the same way Hyunjin told him to.

His blonde hair seemed to have been dyed a little blonder, a bit more ashy this time. It was tucked into a hat, but Jisung could still see a little strand or two slipping out of the side. It seemed like his makeup was a bit more prevalent than before; his eyes were a little smokier and bronzed.

"I guess berets are the thing now? I saw Chan's Assistant wearing one the first time I met him too." Jisung said as Minho approached him.

"Ah, Jeongin?" He clutched at his shoulder bag, re-adjusting the strap, and pulling it off to hand it over to Maskless, who accepted it with a smile before bowing to him and heading off in the other direction.

Maskless was his favourite, he thinks.

"Jisung, berets have been the thing ever since I made them 'the thing'" Minho said, dipping his head around to look at him.

“Ah, I see, ever the trendsetter.” Jisung replied dryly, putting his hands in his pockets then re-adjusting his mask a little.

“I do try.”

Jisung could smell the slight subtle smell of vanilla as Minho yanked him across to the entrance.  

---

As they walked in, Jisung could see the people waiting at the bar looking at him indignantly; He felt a little awkward skipping ahead in the line when he saw the looks on some of their faces. Some of them also seemed to notice who had come in even though Minho was wearing a mask. He saw them grab their phones out of their bags and pockets and snap some quick photographs of him.

Some of them will probably see his show later, Jisung thought.

"Minho!" someone called from behind the bar. A figure slipped out from behind it, moving towards them.

Minho walked up to the older, weathered looking man with a black waist apron on, who placed a hand enthusiastically on his shoulder, greeting him with a rather aggressive handshake swiftly into a tight embrace. It looked like the bigger man was engulfing him.

"So good to see you Minho, have you been well? I've booked out your usual spot!" the man said, loosening his grip on the poor man.

"Gah- Thank you so much Hee-Jae, I'm great thank you. I've been looking forward to eating here all week!"

The man bowed to Jisung too and excitedly ushered them through the entrance room. He noticed all of the waiting staff gave Minho a little bow as he walked past, he must come here a lot. Jisung ducked behind him a little, leaning forward to stage whisper in his ear.

"Your usual spot, eh? You bring guys here often?" Jisung snickered, trying not to seem too outwardly offended.

"Pah. Not quite." Minho responded with a little laugh, dipping his head backwards to glance at him. "You know Jisung, I was actually going to say that you look really great today, but maybe I've changed my mind..." He said, sticking his tongue out at the younger man.

---

As they walked through the restaurant area, Jisung wanted to immediately take his denim jacket off.

The walls were lined with expensive-looking wood up to the tall ceiling which had a ton of twinkling spotlights mounted across it to slightly illuminate the room. Everything he could see was cream and ash wood, from the tables to the floor. With all the white velvety upholstery, Jisung would definitely have to get something he couldn't easily spill. All of the empty tables were set with some of the most extravagant silverware he had ever seen; in fact, some of it he wasn't convinced even actually served a purpose. Why do you need a fork, another fork and then a baby fork?

He dropped his head down a little and took a precarious look around. He could see heads turning again as soon as Minho walked into the room. The man quickly escorted them through to a boothed area behind the main dining room. They were fairly spaced out burgundy and mahogany booths separated by thicker walls, presumably so no one could eavesdrop on conversations. It was a strangely different kind of ambiance.

Jisung suddenly felt like he was in The Godfather.

Jisung slipped his denim jacket and his mask off, pushing them down to furthest end of the booth. Minho shimmied into the other side, gliding his waist through, and removing his own jacket afterwards in tandem. Jisung noticed that he couldn’t really see anyone in the adjacent booths from where he was sitting.

"Your usual drink Minho?" The man asked with a smile beaming across his face.

"Yes, please, Hee-Jae, that'd be great. Jisung?"

"Um, I'll just... I'll just have a water..."

Minho side-eyed him a little, snatching Jisung's menu from his hand, handing them over to the man.

"Maybe two of my regular, thanks Hee-Jae."

The man nodded his head in agreement, then bowed to them before rushing off to prepare them.

"You can order whatever you like Jisung it's not a big deal!" Minho laughed. Jisung watched as he stretched a napkin out in front of him.

"I just... I don't know. I'm not used to this kind of place I guess; I don’t want to be a burden or anything.” Jisung watched as Minho shook his head whilst peering at the main menu. “Plus, you can't honestly expect me to drink around you ever again after last time..." Jisung groaned.

"Hah, fair point. My bad."

The man had brought back two Watermelon Mojitos in tall hi-ball glasses, filled with crushed ice. There was a lime wedge hanging off the side of the glass.

"Wow, this is... The gayest drink I've ever seen. Amazing that you ever had to even come out."

---

Jisung hadn't been on a date in months, and certainly not one like this. It was such an unfamiliar setting it caused his anxiety to kick in a little. He was usually so confident in his retorts to Minho, but whenever he was in busy places like this it caused him to freak out just a little. It had been the same in the dance studio, and in the canteen. He never felt quite himself in those kinds of situations.

At least it was technically just the two of them here in this booth; he wouldn't have managed in the main restaurant area, he thought. Minho had promised him that they wouldn’t be seen here.

"You know, you're terrible at lunch dates. You're not even trying to make small talk with me." Minho said, resting his elbows just slightly off the table and linking his fingers to rest his chin upon them. He had a little pout on his face that Jisung really wanted to--

"I'm sorry, I told you I'm not used to this!" Jisung pouted back. "Besides, the rather attractive... Menu in front of me, has me distracted." He picked the menu up, scanning over it.

"Ah, yes, the attractive menu." He laughed. "The rib-eye here is incredible, or like, go for this one" He pointed at Jisung's menu near the bottom of the page, tapping at it. "It's like a crispy duck and dried fig, it's amazing."

As long as it's not 'Camembert and Prosciutto Parcels' I'm good..." He said, reliving his previous ordeal with a shudder.

"Trust me, it's the best. You won't regret it." Minho beamed across the table at him.

God he was so, cute. Jisung really couldn’t stand it.

"Sounds great. I feel kind of bad though, like, you've been so nice to me. I really don't deserve it, at all." Jisung placed the menu down and wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants.

"Stop saying that Jisung! What's the point in being a money-grabbing narcissist if you can't spoil people every now and then?" Minho taunted. 

"Oh, come on, you know I didn't mean that, that was just a..."

"-It's okay, I’m just joking. I get that a lot. It takes people a little while to get to know the real me, you see, if they're lucky enough to get a chance, that is…" Minho gave him a little wink as he sipped at the top of his drink.

Hmm, maybe his hatred for winks really was subsiding.

Jisung laughed, but internally he felt bad. He hadn't really considered what Minho probably has to go through on a daily basis. What, with the public following him around, gruelling schedules, lack of sleep. Well, Jisung understood the last one, but the rest... He was just glad that Minho seemed to have a good head on his shoulders to deal with it.

---

Minho was right, the crispy duck was kind of amazing. Probably the best thing he'd eaten in a while. He really needed to start taking some cooking classes or something when he could afford it.

He and Minho had been discussing the rehearsals and Jisung's recent projects for a little while whilst they ate. Jisung also learnt that Minho was an only child and had three cats who’s names he would probably mix up because they all sounded so similar.

Minho had also suggested that he speaks to the ‘Execs’ at JYP about listening to some of Jisung's stuff. It made him blush a little at the thought that some of the higher-ups in a huge company like JYP would give him the time of day. He had noticed that the conversation had become, surprisingly easy.

Jisung had almost started to forget who the other man was to everybody else outside of their little booth. 

"I have a lot planned, it's pretty exciting stuff!" Minho said animatedly.

"Yeah, how long does the show run for?"

“It's a three-month run but it's likely going to be extended if Channie has anything to do with it.”

Suddenly, Minho's phone pinged.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, in text form.

"Ugh, go away… This is on my own time." Minho muttered under his breath. He swiped at his push notification to silence it, rolling his eyes.

"Chan's pretty demanding huh?" Jisung enquired, a smirk across his face.

"Is that a rhetorical question, because you kind of answered it yourself?" Minho said with a dry laugh and a sarcastic swig of mojito.  

Jisung was sure he'd heard that line from somewhere before…

"Oh, just, I kind of get that vibe. Chan messages Hyunjin constantly, I think I'm starting to hear that alert tone in my nightmares. He's bringing Hyunjin to these events and things all the time. I don’t really know if they’re a thing, or if he’s just arm candy. Either way, it’s pretty cringey seeing them together."

"Trust me, been there, done that, unfortunately." Minho said, casually stealing some of Jisung’s Gaji namul out of his bowl.

Jisung tilted his head a little.

Interesting.

He wasn't even officially dating Minho, he didn't think, so why did that irritate him so much? He suddenly felt like he needed to defend his honour or have a fight-to-the-death or something, maybe a joust. Not that he would ever win against Mr. Bang Chan in a joust, he thought. Maybe a staring contest was more 'in his league'.

"Is that so?" Jisung remained cool, trying to concentrate on his food.

"One of the reasons I went solo Jisung, is because I couldn't stand how overbearing he was to the rest of us. We were meant to be a team. There's being a Leader and then there's being a Dictator. I'm too young and free Jisung, he couldn't control me very well." Minho laughed.

Jisung wondered if Minho had noticed the irony in the fact that Mr. Bang Chan was now his actual agent. That's about as controlling as one could be...

He didn't know much about the group Minho was in before. His group was under-marketed by the company to the point where Jisung didn't think they were together even a year. He wasn't really up to date with 'idol scandals' so his knowledge was lacking a little. Was Mr. Bang Chan a member? This was news to him. Minho continued,

"They wanted to launch me solo and I guess my debut took off and the others kind of just went their separate ways or joined other companies. JYP decided to keep Chan on after the group disbanded, too. I mean, he's really talented, after all, you've heard his stuff presumably."

Jisung nodded slightly to confirm.

Whatever.

"Well, he ended up becoming a lyricist for me, then a producer, and then after that, somehow, I was roped in to hiring him as my agent…" Minho sighed.

"How on Earth did he manage that?" Jisung asked him.

"Well, he's kind of... Well, I guess..." Minho was looking around the room, pretty much everywhere else but at Jisung. It felt strange. He wasn't used to seeing a flustered Minho. He was always able to come back with a funny quip or retort, it was one of the things Jisung found really attractive about him. He was still laughing a little, but something about the conversation made Jisung think he may have pried a little too far.

"He's... Persuasive when he wants to be, let's just leave it at that." Minho said with a stifled laugh, focusing his attention back to his food.

Oh.

Jisung was creating quite the picture of Mr. Bang Chan in his mind. It was bad enough with Hyunjin, but Minho being in that picture at some point was something he really didn't like.

"So, were you two, like, a thing? Or something...?" Jisung shrugged and tried to play it super casual, focusing on the side dish in front of him indifferently. Just act cool, it's not a big deal.

Minho let out an awkward laugh and pulled at his collar with his index finger a little.

It was probably meant to be funny, Jisung thought.

"Yeah, we were. We kind of, dated, for a while back then, ages ago now though. Years ago." Minho confirmed with a laugh.

Oh.

Okay then.

Jisung opened his eyes widely and played it off comically as he always does with a high-pitched “Hmm, is that so?"

"I thought after I'd gone solo that he'd mellowed out a little. I really believed he had turned a corner, so I gave him another chance. Chan has a bit of a thing for men 'our style', as he calls it… Ugh, makes me seriously cringe thinking about it..." Minho said, letting out a full-body shudder as if he was re-living something heinous.  

"Your style?" Jisung cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, like, mine and Hyunjin’s kind of… Style, I guess…”

"'Good looking', is what you're trying to say. Don't worry, you can say it." Jisung cut in, chuckling, trying to ease a little bit of the tension.

Minho burst out laughing, swatting at him on the arm across the table.

"That's not what I meant!" Minho said. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about that Jisung, it's long over, like, way over." Jisung watched him smirk, god it was so freaking irritating. Irritating, but super attractive.

It was irritractive™.

Two could play this game.

Jisung put his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands playfully, locking eyes with him from across the table.

"Why would I be worried? Why do I care who you date, Lee Minho?" Jisung said. Fluttering his eyelashes and flashing the older boy an even more irritating smile back.

"Pfft. You really are annoying aren't you, Han Jisung?” He lightly pushed at Jisung’s arms until his chin slipped off his hands. “I'm just saying, that ‘door’ or whatever, has been closed a rather long time. Way closed. I've actually been single quite a while if you can believe that.” He laughed. "If that interests you, for whatever reason". He looked back at him, a knowing grin lighting up his face.

Minho reached across the table, gently touching the back of his hand; his hands were super soft, Jisung thought.

"Hmm… Well, it just might, you kn--

"Well isn't this a sight for sore eyes!"

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Literally, this time.

It was Chan, and Hyunjin.

Jisung honestly couldn’t believe the timing; he wanted to scream into the void.

He quickly pulled back and removed his hand from Minho's, awkwardly brushing his bangs back from his face, leaning back to his side of the booth.

"Minho, you didn't tell me this was where you were going before the show! What a coincidence." Bang Chan exclaimed, throwing his hands up in ‘surprise’.

"This is where I always come Chan but sure--"

"You guys wouldn't mind if me and Hyunjin joined you? My treat, whatever you want." Chan said, enthusiastically.

Hyunjin greeted them both with a warm, yet slightly awkward smile across the table, bowing just a little in Minho’s direction as he was technically, his senior.

The Australian swiped his hand playfully at Jisung as if asking him to 'scoot over'.

"We've actually already had our main course--" Minho said, sighing, but ultimately, he moved across. Jisung could see how irritated Minho was, but he was too polite to say no.

Jisung watched as Chan sat down at the opposite side of the booth, draping his arm around Hyunjin's waist. He thought he would have probably liked to put it around his shoulder, but Hyunjin was taller than him.

Jisung had to try hard not to laugh at the sight.

Jisung found himself a little distracted by how weirdly overly affectionate Chan was to his friend considering he thought their ‘deal’ was meant to be incognito. There was only so much cringe he could take and watching Chan brush strands of hair behind Hyunjin’s ear was definitely hitting that limit. The weirdest part was, Hyunjin wasn't really stopping him at all.

He looked across at him, clocking him awkwardly across the table. He could see that the other boy's ears had turned completely red.

Jisung was a bit confused, to say the least. 

Chapter Text

Chan had insisted that it was time to get going for his show preparations. Hyunjin, Minho and Jisung had been discussing the show in detail. Jisung rather liked how close he and Hyunjin had become in the short period of time they’d known each other. Minho was naturally outgoing and Hyunjin could be when he wanted to be, though he rarely took the lead in conversation.

The atmosphere between the group was somewhat awkward, as Jisung wasn’t really quite sure how to react around Chan now that he knew he was previously ‘involved’ with Minho. It made him over-analyse every little thing the older man did. He was sure he was over-reacting, after all, he had literally been draped over Hyunjin ever since they met.

Jisung and Minho decided to forgo dessert. Whatever got them out of that situation quicker, the better. Jisung was slightly pissed about it though; there was a toffee cheesecake on the menu as well as something called ‘Fall in the Chocolate’ which sounded much to Jisung’s taste.

Chan had so kind-heartedly agreed to pay Minho’s tab entirely, insisting that it was his ‘job’ to look after his artists.

It also seemed to be his job to piss Jisung off.

“May I say goodbye to Hee-Jae before we go?” Minho said sweetly to the waitress who had brought over their bill. She nodded politely and went to the kitchens to find him.

“We seriously do not have time for this Minho, we’re cutting it fine as it is…” Chan huffed, getting out of his seat, and throwing his coat on. Hyunjin followed suit.

“Channie, you know I won’t go without thanking Hee-Jae.” He pushed his hands down on the table, rather forcefully, Jisung thought, before pushing himself out of the booth to walk towards the bar staff. He saw the older man come out from the kitchen with his hands in the air and give Minho a tight bear hug again, lifting him from the ground a little.

Jisung was a bit perplexed, but he found the whole situation quite endearing. He reached out to grab his own coat and took his mask from his pocket, slipping it back on. He grabbed Minho’s coat too, just to make sure he didn’t forget it. What a gentleman, he thought.

“God, you’d think as Minho practically paid for this dump that old dude would be the one thanking him, not the other way around.” Chan sighed, rolling his eyes whilst fixing his collar.

Jisung watched as Hee-Jae cupped Minho’s face between his hands, squishing his cheeks together whilst smiling at him, laughing along with the rest of the staff.

---

All four of them had decided to take a taxi back to the theatre, figuring it would be easier than walking through the restaurant and public areas. Which of course, Chan paid for.

Maybe Hyunjin had the right idea; having a Sugar Daddy sure did seem to come with some perks.

Once again, Jisung had to sit directly opposite him, watching him playfully lean in to Hyunjin, positioning his hand on his thigh every now and again.

Ick.

Jisung saw Maskless and Poloshirt happily waiting for Minho outside of the venue once they got out of the car. They had gone in through the back-entrance stage door where the artists usually greet fans afterwards, as there was already a crowd outside waiting for him out the front entrance. It seemed like some of them had been there for quite a while. Some had even brought chairs.

Minho wasn’t the first idol to branch into musical theatre, but Jisung thought he probably was one of the more popular ones.

Being in a theatre reminded Jisung of the first time he met Minho. It had similar décor, the same mothball-esque smell and it was just as dusty and pretentious. Although this time, the interior chairs were more of a teal blue, rather than the dusky red. 

All four of them were greeted by the Stage Director behind the stage, who was flying around frantically trying to prepare everything. Chan had called Jeongin and asked him where he was, he was ‘late for being early’ as the older man called it.

Minho had taken Jisung by the hand and lead him out of the curtains and up on to the stage so he could get a ‘feel for it’. He stood out on the apron, looking out across the seats. He could feel the heat of the stage lights shining down on him. It was hard to believe all these seats would be filled in an hour and a half’s’ time. The idea of entertaining this many people was pretty astonishing to him, but it didn’t seem a lot in comparison to the stadiums that Minho had performed at in the past.

“Isn’t this theatre amazing!” Minho beamed at him. “I love the feel of this place, it’s so cosy. Here come stand stage left. Look that’s the loge you’ll be in, you’ll get a great view!” He grabbed Jisung by the shoulders, shimmying him across the stage to look out at the viewing box in the auditorium. Jisung looked up in total awe. Jisung didn’t have the heart to tell Minho he had a slight of a fear of heights. It was only a teeny fear, right?

“Minho, stop messing around now please, it’s time for makeup, we don’t have long!” He heard Chan call out.

---

They headed backstage to Minho’s dressing room, all of the makeup artists greeting him politely as they both walked in. The room had brick walls, with a large oak makeup table stretching across the side of the room. The mirrors were illuminated and the curtains at the window were firmly drawn so that only artificial light lit up the room. There were tons of bouquets arranged around the room already of varying colours.   

Oh. Jisung hadn’t thought about that, he hoped Minho didn’t mind.

“Ugh, don’t people know it’s bad luck to give flowers before the performance?!” Minho groaned, glancing at the cards to check who they were from. “Remind me to scold Sminnie when I next see him!” he laughed, placing the flowers down after taking them to his chest and inhaling their scent.

“I’m sure you’ll do great, Minho, don’t worry about it.” Jisung laughed, standing rather awkwardly in the corner.

Minho dropped his leather shoulder bag in the room on a chair in the corner and fished him out a navy-blue and white wristband with ‘VIP’ written on it along with some floral pattern.

“Here, this is for your seat, you’re my plus one. Just show this at the loge door” he said, moving in closer to him and adhering it to Jisung’s wrist. As he looked down Jisung could notice how long and thick Minho’s eyelashes were. It wasn’t something he usually noticed on a person, he thought. Minho continued,

“The ticket says 3:00pm, but it will be a 3:30pm start. Kind of a theatre trick to stop late-comers coming in halfway through the show, you know?”

He didn’t know. All that he knew was that he was very aware that Minho hadn’t really let go of his hands since he put the wrist band on him. Minho was lightly gripping on to his ring and pinky fingers.

“Anyway, I need to get ready now, hopefully you can stomach a little more of Channie and Hyunjin until the show starts…” Minho squeezed his hands, smiling at him affectionately.

Jisung groaned. The idea of being in the viewing box with both of them made his stomach turn.

“Sure, I’ll get going.” He looked at the makeup artists all huddled around. It made him uneasy to see that so many people saw them holding hands, but he assumed they were all approved by JYP and tied into non-disclosures, or something.

He looked at Minho a little nervously, what was the protocol here?

A pat on the back, a hug? Why was it so hot in here?

“Um, break a leg, or whatever they say usually…” he said, nodding as he backed out of the room, throwing a small parting wave.

“Come back here afterwards okay, don’t go too far!” Minho shouted, leaning his upper body out of the door to watch as Jisung headed down the hall.

---

“Jisung! Hey, over here!” Hyunjin called across to him. Jisung showed his band to the usher outside of the door.  

Jisung looked around. There were only twelve seats in the viewing platform, four in each row, and Chan and Hyunjin had positioned themselves at the furthest edge of the front row. There was absolutely no way he was going to sit in that third seat. Luckily, he recognised a few of the other people, too.

Minho had probably reserved this for a few members of JYP. He saw two of the girls from their senior group sitting in the back row.

“Jisung! Nice to see you again!” Lee Felix had exclaimed. He and Kim Seungmin were sitting in the midrow of seats. Jisung chatted with them for a while, just basic small talk about how they were doing and how excited they were for the performance. They had said Minho had been working until nearly 1:00am most nights, which Jisung already knew, because he’d been texting him pretty much every night solidly by this point. Jisung was kind of running out of things to say but he figured maybe he would prefer to sit with them than watch whatever that was, in front. From the corner of his eye he could see that Chan had his hand wrapped around the back of Hyunjin’s chair, stroking his left earlobe every now and then. It made him wince.

Shortly after, Jeongin came into the room. He wasn’t sure if this was work time or not, but he was dressed for the occasion in a black button up and slacks. He had a long grey blazer over the top. How was this kid younger than him but dressed twelve times better than him?

Jeongin walked to sit in the front row with Chan, who quickly dismissed him and told him to sit in the row behind because Chan ‘had to be able to signal the photographers’. Jisung felt a pang of resentment in his chest, this kid was way too cute for someone to speak to him like that.

The maybe-intern put his bag down in the second row and Jisung followed suit.

“Hey, I’m Han Jisung”.

“I’m Jeongin, nice to meet you.” He gave Jisung a bow.

“You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” Jisung enquired.

“Not at all! Jeongin excitedly moved his bag and slipping in next to Felix. “You are the man from the other week who came to the agency with Hyunjin, right?”

“Um, yeah, the very same.” Jisung had snuck a bag of sour candies into his bag. He offered one to the younger boy who kindly accepted with a smile.

---

The lights went down, plunging the auditorium in to darkness other than one small stage light at the back. He saw the female actress that he had seen the other day in the studio appear from the back curtain. She was tiptoeing around the stage in some plain, beige jeongi with a white sheep-skin type throw over her shoulders.

From what Jisung surmised from what he watched and outcast from society, or something.

Jisung was amazed how tense the story was becoming. The ‘paupers’ did their own dance, it was spectacular. Jisung could appreciate the skill required for choreographed routines after training as an idol. Dance was no joke, it was exhausting and had to be meticulously finished from head-to-toe.

Minho finally appeared on stage. He heard a few claps from the audience when he did, but it clearly wasn’t the atmosphere for that kind of reaction. Minho was wearing some kind of purple, silk hanbok with fuller sleeves and a gold neckpiece. He had a gold embroidered coat over the top of the purple underlayer, which was cinched at the waist with a belt that was covered in jewels. Jisung had assumed he played more of a ‘regal’ role.  

As Jisung relaxed back in his seat to watch yet another pristinely choreographed routine, all he could focus on was Minho. His lines were incredible, every movement was sharp and clean.

Jisung felt a weird pang of pride in his chest seeing him demand and finesse the stage. He swore that for a few times in the performance where Minho had to longingly stare off into the distance, he had looked to the viewing box.

It was too much. This whole day was too much.

Jisung had searched deep to try and work out what had possibly happened in the last few weeks to warrant Lee Minho coming into his life. For some reason there was still an air of fear, he couldn’t quite believe any of it was happening but yet it seemed really easy. At the same time, Minho seemed kind, much kinder than he had anticipated. Things were kind of, comfortable with him.

Jeez. He was falling, hard.

Deep, deep into the abyss.

Minho’s character had seemed to warm to the pauper girl; Jisung watched as his character became slowly outcast by his peers, too in a desperate attempt to woo her. The entire thing was full of cliché but Jisung rather enjoyed that. This was the same guy who had been having ‘The Notebook Night’ annually with Hyunjin since he was 14 years old.

He could feel his lip quivering slightly but tried to stifle it best he could, but it was definitely coming to its ‘fated end’ as Minho had put it. He didn’t want to look like a cry-baby. Get yourself together Jisung, you have to see him after this.

Hyunjin, a few rows down, on the other hand, was audibly blubbing like a new-born whale, leaning into Chan further, who was rather embarrassingly trying to get him to quiet down a little.

Jisung watched as the final chorus piece ran its course, it was the same routine he had watched earlier in the week in the studio. It looked even more impressive in costume.

The entire audience ruptured into applause and got off of their seat to give the cast a standing ovation. The cast pointed to the band section, then to the chorus, then the leading actors took their own bow. Once Minho took his solo bow Jisung could hear the difference in the audience. The sound of fanboys and fangirls was slightly more noticeable, now.

His hands were physically stinging for clapping continuously for over five minutes whilst they exited the stage.

The audience all shuffled around, moving in their seats to manoeuvre to the exit doors. Jisung went to put his mask back on and tuck his sour candy in to his bag; turns out Jeongin had eaten them entirely and bolted. The kid was lucky he was cute.

Hyunjin turned around to him, patting furiously at his puffy cheeks. His eyes were pink, presumably from all the rubbing.

“Oh my God, I’m not kidding Jisung that was the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life! I don’t think I’ve ever cried this much.” He wailed.

Slightly melodramatic, Jisung thought, but hey, this was theatre, after all.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I really enjoyed it.” Jisung retorted.

“Hyunjin, you better head off, you have a massive shoot tomorrow. Maybe a cucumber cream tonight, you’re a bit puffy.” Chan said, cradling his head in between his hands and wiping his cheeks with his thumbs.

“Big shoot?” Jisung said inquisitively whilst throwing his jacket back on.

“Yeah, Hyunjin secured a deal with Seoul Foods, it’s pretty huge.” Chan said, looking back to look at him with the widest eyes. “Come on, you should get going Jinnie, shoot is at 9:00am.” He put his arm around Hyunjin’s waist again before shuffling him across the seats.

---

Jisung found himself awkwardly standing outside of Minho’s dressing room again after finally making it through the masses. He’d spent about half an hour just trying to navigate his way through the hordes. He made his way back through the cloakroom area and behind, flashing his ‘VIP’ band as he went along.

There was a small crowd of people waiting to greet him in the hall outside his room, including most of the people from the viewing booth and a few other older people. Jisung bowed to as he shuffled away a bit further down the hall past them. He’d put his mask on just in case there were any reporters or anything, but most of them looked like friends and family.

As Minho finally came out of the room he was just in a simple white t-shirt and blue tracksuit pants; the same red headband from before pushing his hair backwards with a white towel thrown across his shoulder.

More and more flowers were enthusiastically thrusted into his arms. He looked to be in his element.

Minho latched on to one of the middle-aged women, who kept caressing his face and smiling at him telling him how wonderful he was. Minho must have a way with everyone, no matter their age, Jisung thought. He rather enjoyed watching the older man light up at the sight of the people around him.

Once the crowd had died down, Minho had finally noticed Jisung hanging around awkwardly at the end of the hallway with his hands in his pockets as was his default setting.

“You just gonna lurk there, stalker?” Minho asked sarcastically, leaning against the door frame again. He was trying to be flirty again, but his excitement from the buzz of the performance meant he just kind of looked like a giggling mess and kept breaking character.

“Um, no, I was just waiting for everyone else to get their turn with you, your highness!” He laughed.

Minho ambled across to him excitedly, grabbing either side of his unbuttoned jacket and pulling him forward in to a tight hug. He slipped his arms behind the back of Jisung’s jacket so he could feel his fingers squeezing his back in excitement.

“They said bad rehearsal means a great opening show, and they were right. It went so well!” Minho muttered in to Jisung’s shoulder, pushing his cheek tightly against it.  

“Your rehearsals were pretty good from what I watched…” Jisung said, pulling down his mask.

“I’m really happy you came to the show, Jisung.” Minho said to him softly, slipping his hands out from under Jisung’s jacket and leaning up to wrap them loosely around his neck. “Thank you, I mean it.” Jisung decided to rest his own arms around Minho’s waist.

“Me too, I actually really enjoyed it, and I didn’t cry.” Jisung smiled at him softly. Their faces felt really close. It made Jisung’s heart skip a beat or two.

“I don’t believe you.” He tilted his head, giving Jisung a rather questioning nose scrunch.

Jisung wondered if the slight head tilt was an invitation.

 “So, we’re really gonna be like this in public, huh?” Chan said with a sardonic tone, waltzing down the hall with a rather obnoxiously large bouquet of white lilies.

“Why not, works so well for you? You and Hyunjin are pretty much attached by the mouth, at this point.” Minho said, grinning. He loosened his arms from around Jisung’s neck, sliding them down to just hold Jisung’s fingers loosely.

Jisung smirked a little, then ducked his head down a little to hide it from Chan.  

“Minho, you have another performance at 7:30pm so I think it’s probably best we get the case together to de-brief and photo-op with the Stage Manager. There’s a gaggle of fans outside too, do you want to greet them today or just leave it?” He shoved the bouquet towards Minho, forcing him to let go of Jisung’s hands at their mass.

This was a performance, not a funeral, Jisung thought, wincing at their overbearing smell.

“Oh, I-I mean, I’d like to go out there and see some fans if, if I can!” Minho stuttered, trying to wrap his arms around them.

“Great. I’ll make the rounds and gather everyone. You should probably change into something a little more photo-ready.” He suddenly turned to face Jisung. “Are you taking a taxi back, Jisung?”

Oh.

The question was pretty sudden and Jisung didn’t really expect it. He buffered a little.

“Oh, um, yeah I probably should.” He saw Minho rolling his eyes at how awkward the situation had needlessly become once again for the second time in one day.  

“I’ll call you one, I’ll put it on the company card, don’t worry about paying.” Chan said abruptly, smiling at him, throwing him a thumbs up.

Jisung had a feeling that Chan wasn’t going to leave on his own accord before Jisung did. So, he took Minho’s hand and gave it a little squeeze before awkwardly shuffling backwards to return down the hallway.

---

“You really need to do better, Minho” Chan said,

“Chan, no one un-authorised is allowed back here, you know that.” Minho said, crossing his arms across his chest.

“That’s not what I meant.”

---

Chapter Text

It was Hyunjin's first shoot with a 'big brand' today. Jisung couldn’t lie and say waking up at 7:00am when he went to bed only four hours earlier was particularly the easiest task, but he had decided to be the bestestest, best friend possible and pay him a visit for his first time on set. Hyunjin had told him he was going to be a poster boy for Seoul Foods’ new Banana Milk…

He couldn’t quite afford a food cart, but Hyunjin was pretty sentimental anyway. He’d probably just be happy that he turned up, Jisung thought.

Plus, perhaps he may have hoped to maybe, accidentally, completely-not-on-purpose bump into Minho during one of his rehearsal breaks, too. 

He was feeling pretty awful about how they were forced to leave things the night before; no thanks to Mr. Bang Chan. As Chan would likely be with Hyunjin for the entirety of his shoot, he thought he actually might get some alone time with Minho for a while, which was much needed, in his opinion.

Minho had re-assured him that his evening performance went smoothly afterwards though, without a hitch. He had stayed behind to sign autographs and take photos with fans afterwards until around 1:00am. Jisung knew it was somewhat cringey, but he needed to make sure Minho got home safely. He was working on a new project anyway so staying up late didn’t really phase him. He’d recorded an acoustic set of one of his songs.

He walked through the grey revolving door of the JYP building; he didn’t even get his headphones caught this time! He was greeted by the two familiar receptionists as he went through.

He made his way through the waiting area and down the hallway, pressing on the elevator button to summon it from whichever of the twenty-thousand floors it was on.

Suddenly, he heard a loud thump followed by what sounded like a flock of seagulls flapping, or something. He could hear that the noise came from a door just slightly ajar, opposite him. He peered his head into the room just a little, he didn't want to overstep or accidentally listen in on a business meeting or anything…

On the floor in a heap was Jeongin, a few folders, an armful of bags and reems paper sprawled out across the floor of one of the conference rooms.

"Jeongin? Are you okay, do you need some help with that?" Jisung put his arms out to catch some of the bags that were slipping out of either side of the maybe-interns’ arms before helping him to his feet.

"Oh, thank you, it's okay though, I have it." He stuttered, scrambling to balance the folders in his hands before they slipped off, too.

"It doesn't look like it. Here." Jisung dropped to his hands and knees, grabbing at the papers, and tapping them on the floor to straighten them in his hands. He re-arranged up the folders in Jeongin’s grasp and removed two of his bags, holding them, one in either hand. "There, is that okay?"

"Yeah, thank you, Mr... Han." The younger boy retorted, bowing at him a little.

"You can honestly just call me Jisung. We've met a few times, right? Plus, you'll hopefully see me around a bit more." He said with a faint smile on his face.

"Ew, because you're Minho's boyfriend?" The younger said sarcastically, looking back to him with a grimace.  

"I- I mean... No, not really." He muttered.

Technically neither of them had made anything ‘official’ yet, but hopefully he wasn’t just grossly misreading Minho’s insanely obnoxious flirting as something platonic… There definitely was something between them, Jisung just didn’t really know what to call it.

"Whatever you say, but just know I have ears around here!" Jeongin said enthusiastically, smiling at him until his eyes disappeared into his cheeks. “Though, just so you know, dating Minho is kinda gross so good luck with that!”

Jisung warmly smiled at the younger boy.

He followed him a little further down the hallway, they stopped at a room Jisung hadn’t been to before. Jeongin managed to pull the door handle down with this elbow and jab his side into the door, pushing it open and putting his back against it to keep it open. He watched as the younger boy furiously smashed his forehead against the light switch to turn it on, Jisung wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t utterly hilarious; and Minho was the weird one?

They were in some kind of smaller room with lime green walls. There was a computer desk situated in the middle. The desk had two monitors and there was a little mixer plugged in. Jisung noticed there was also an acoustic guitar propped up against the wall. Jisung had to blink a few times in disbelief; it was a Gibson Hummingbird. Jisung gulped, he wanted to just pick it up and feel the strings, but he considered that was probably a pretty weird thing to do. Across in the corner, there were three shelves; the top consisted of a few little miniature spirit bottles from different around the world and some Dragonball collectibles.

As he dropped the bags down in the corner, he helped Jeongin lift the snap folders across the room to place them on the shelves with the others that looked similar, straightening the backs out against the wall.

Jisung watched as the maybe-intern fished a little set of keys out of his pants’ pocket. He swaggered across to the computer desk and promptly opened the top draw of it. He pulled a bag of Pepero milk chocolate snacks out, ripping them open and shoving a few into his mouth.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Bang Chan never notices they’re gone, I fill them up every now and then… On his own card.” Jeongin said, smirking with his mouth full. He shoved the bag playfully in Jisung’s direction. “Want one?”

Mr. Bang Chan?

This was Chan’s room?

He meandered across to the desk, taking a few out of the bag and nibbling on them as he looked over the desk. He could see paperwork and post-it notes peppered across the messy bureau; it was quite overwhelming.

He saw a calendar off to the side, ‘Lee, Minho: Schedules’ written on it.  

He must be so busy, Jisung thought. He could see how every box in the next two weeks was solidly filled with sprawls and times. Weirdly, beyond that, there wasn’t anything apart from the musical scheduled in for him for the rest of the month. Maybe he gets his schedules two weeks at a time, Jisung thought.

It also looked like he was meant to have a photo shoot today, but it was cancelled and replaced with another rehearsal, instead.

It suddenly dawned on him just how nosey he was being.

“Um, I didn’t mean to pry or anything, it was just there.” Jisung said, shooting an repentant look in Jeongin’s direction. The boy didn’t seem to care, as he was currently taking a selfie of himself sitting in Chan’s computer chair with a haughty look on his face and a finger gun pointing at the camera.

“Yeah, whatever gets you to sleep at night. Just don’t tell Mr. Bang Chan we were here because he’d hang me out to dry and I kinda need this job.” He relaxed in Chan’s chair, leaning all the way back and stretching his legs out straight in front of him to rest them on the desk and across the computer keyboard.

This kid was bold, Jisung kind of liked him.

“I mean, he trusted you with keys?”

“Oh yeah, I’m a gwood ‘wickle errand boy you see.” He pouted at Jisung, giving him remorseful eyes before bursting out in to laughter. “He only gave me keys so he doesn’t have to carry all of his own shit around all the time. He exhaled, “He’s such a dick, honestly.”

Yeah, he definitely liked him.

“Well, I better get going Jisung, thanks for helping me. Hyunjin is meant to have a studio session in about forty minutes and I have to lug three crates of complimentary Banana Milk to Dressing Room Eight!”

“Well, I was going to visit him anyway, so I’ll come with you, if you want.” Jisung said, turning to follow him out.

“You’re brave.” The younger boy snorted.

“Says the one who had his feet on his boss’ desk.”

---

They came to a studio room situated just outside of the dressing rooms. Jeongin gave a little precarious knock before going inside. He and Jisung had managed to lug the crates of Banana Milk all the way down the 4^th level hallway to the top, positioning two of them outside the door.

It was way too much exertion for Jisung.

Jeongin propped the door open with one, scooting it inside of the room.

“Mr. Bang, do you want these now or should I take them to the canteen, or something?” He asked politely. He exerted considerably less ‘little shit’ energy when he was talking to Chan, Jisung thought.

“Jeongin, there you are.” He snapped.

Jisung took a questioning step in the door, peeking his head through. The older man softened up a little upon seeing him, flashing Jisung a smile.

“Ah. Han Jisung! I’m seeing you all over the place at the moment!” He said enthusiastically. Jisung felt the heavy coating of obvious sarcasm seeping through his pores. “Jeongin, please just get rid of that stupid milk as quickly as you can. I don’t want it hanging around in the doorways.” He said, rubbing at his brow fervently.

“I thought it was a gift for Hyunjin and the crew?” Jeongin asked.

“Hyunjin is not drinking that sugar-filled crap. It’s not organic; just get it out of here.” He gestured at Jeongin to move it from out of the doorway with his hand. “Make sure you’re back in ten”.

Jisung watched as Jeongin bit his bottom lip, masking his anger with a smile and turning back to pull the crate back out again; he clocked Jisung for a while as if to say ‘See what I deal with?’

Jisung went to help him when he was stopped by Chan suddenly patting him on his shoulder.

“Jisung, I’m actually glad you’ve stopped by.” He pulled him by the arm gently in through the door, just to the side of the room and peered around, checking that no one was in his vicinity.

“About last night...”

Oh no.

“…Gah, this is, awkward for me to say.” He rubbed at his neck a little and smiled, ducking down to stifle his voice a little as he spoke. “Look, Jisung, I don’t want you to think that I’m being difficult or anything, about you and Minho.”

“O-oh, of course not, I didn’t think you were being--”

“It’s just that, obviously, Minho can’t really have any bad publicity with his theatre schedules right now. It would be bad for ticket sales, you understand right? It’s nothing personal, at all.”

Jisung failed to see how being referred to as ‘bad publicity’ could possibly be interpreted as anything other than something personal. He considered for the sake of his own sanity he’d go along with it for now.

“Of course, Mr. Bang Chan. I know he’s worked really hard for it and it’s not really my intention to distract him or bring him unwanted press or anything.”

“Yes, that’s exactly it! Unwanted press; you worded it so much better than me. Thank you for being so understanding about it all. I have absolutely no problem with you being friends though; I just think maybe it would be better outside of work events, is all.”

Friends? Did he just say ‘friends’?

Oh man.

Jisung had watched 14 seasons of Forensic Files and 8 seasons of Dexter on Netflix. He knew how to dispose of a body at this point and he was just about ready to put what he’d learnt in to practice.

“Sure, Mr. Bang Chan, that’s fine, I don’t—"  

“So, with that being said, moving forward…” He moved closer towards Jisung, putting both hands on his shoulders now. “I thought you just better know that technically, even if Minho is ‘on break’, he’s still on company hours when he’s in the building. So, if that is the case, you should probably just run it past me if you’re going to ‘drop by’. Okay?”

You have got to be kidding me.

“Oh, yeah that’s- that’s fine.”

It absolutely was not fine.

“…No problem at all.”

It absolutely was a problem.

“Actually, Mr. Bang Chan, I’m actually just here to wish Hyunjin luck for his shoot. I wasn’t planning on staying long or anything.” Jisung peered his head around one of the white muslin back-drop stands. He couldn’t see Hyunjin on set. There was a stool set up, so he figured it was nearly time for the shoot.

“That’s so kind of you. I’ll let him know you stopped by.” Chan said, putting his arm around Jisung to walk him back to the door.

“Is he not here yet?” Jisung enquired.

“He’s in the dressing rooms at the moment, getting ready. Plus, this is kind of a closed set; everyone has to be accounted for.”

Jisung could feel his back teeth grinding against each other.

“Oh. No worries, I guess I’ll just text him or something…” Jisung couldn’t believe this, first Minho, and now he wasn’t even allowed to wish Hyunjin good luck?

“That’s great!” he shuffled Jisung across to the door and promptly spun himself around, “I’m glad we got to talk Jisung. Take care of yourself!” he shouted whilst disappearing behind one of the lighting rigs behind the curtains.

Jisung felt well and truly defeated.

He closed the door behind him, he could still hear Chan shouting commands from inside. Who the hell did he think he was, telling him who he could and couldn’t see?

Plus, Hyunjin loved banana milk, damnit.  

He decided to drop Minho a quick text to check if it was worth him stopping by his rehearsal as he was in the building. Chan likely would never find out, as he was probably too busy ordering Jeongin around and making kissy faces at Hyunjin, Jisung thought. He already knew which studio Minho rehearsed in, but he felt awkward barging in. To his surprise, Minho responded immediately:

To: 한

Morning 😊! Um, rehearsals haven’t even started yet Jisung! It’s like ten-to-nine in the morning you Dummy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Wait, what are you doing here?!?!?

Practice starts at 9:30am if you want to keep me company for a bit 😉~

M x”

That was exactly what he wanted to do.

---

He hovered outside of Minho’s usual dance space. Checking through the little window in the top. The lights were up, and he could see that only Minho was in there. He figured he probably had about twenty minutes before some of the other dancers started arriving. He knocked on door, making Minho peer across and nod at him as if to tell him to let himself in. He opened the door, deciding to hover by computer at the side.   

“Wow, Han Jisung awake and in the flesh this early?!” Minho said, sarcastically, covering his mouth in fake surprise. “What do I owe the honour?”

“I thought I’d just stop by. Hyunjin has a shoot today and as I was already in the area, I thought I’d grace you with my presence.” He said playfully, picking up on the older man’s sarcasm. He watched as Minho strolled across the studio towards him.

“Did you sleep at all after I went to sleep?” Minho asked rather curiously. He stroked softly under Jisung’s chin then pinched it in between his index finger and thumb, pressing his cheeks together a little. “You need to look after your body clock better, you’ll get worn out!” he said, pouting.  

Jisung swatted his hand away. “Says you, you’re constantly busy! Plus, I actually managed to record last night, it’s just like a demo but I don’t know. I think it’s kind of good, actually. I was thinking maybe--”

“Someone here might want to listen to it?” Minho asked inquisitively. Jisung blushed slightly, dipping his head a little lower.

“I don’t know if it’s that good yet…” Jisung responded.

“Ah I see.” Minho’s voice suddenly sounded a little lower than usual. Jisung looked back to him, a little perplexed at the tone. “So, you’ve been using me to get somewhere in the company, Han Jisung.”

Jisung suddenly darted his head up in confusion. Minho had his arms firmly crossed over his chest.

He suddenly grabbed Minho’s forearms with his hands, pulling him closer and locking their eyes together instantaneously as he held his gaze.

“What! No, Minho of course not, I would never do that to you!” He shook his head frantically, hoping that Minho would see the honesty in his eyes.

“Jisung…” He exhaled, removing Jisung’s hands slowly from his arms and holding them down.

“Jisung… I’m just joking. You Dummy.”

Wow.

He felt as if every bone in his body had turned to putty. He was silent for a moment.

Add that to the ‘Core Memories,’ he thought.

“Oh my God…” he said, letting out a deep, exasperated sigh; embarrassment washing over him. He slumped down to a squatting position, wrapping his arms around his head and groaning.

Minho continued, “Of course, if you want me to pass it on Jisungie, I will totally do that for you.” He said, chuckling to himself.  

“Don’t do that, you scared me!” Jisung exclaimed, springing back up to his feet and lightly hitting him on the chest. Minho grabbed his forearms and yanked him in closer, wrapping himself around Jisung’s waist. He felt the older man linking his fingers behind him to secure him in place. Jisung continued,

“I mean it, you don’t have to do anything like that for me, it’s totally not a big deal!” Jisung said, eventually letting go of the remainder of his panic.

This man is going to be the death of me, he thought.

He settled his arms over Minho’s shoulders loosely, even though the other man was slightly taller, so it was a bit awkward feeling.

"Your voice is so nice though Jisung; you could probably be really successful if you pushed yourself. Do you ever sing your own songs? Have you thought about it?" Minho's eyes met his again, but this time, they were so much closer.

"My voice? No, I don't really sing or anything, I just write the songs..."

Wait, what?

"Anyway, how would you know what my voice sounded like?" He inquired.

Jisung questioned if he had been spied on by Minho's crew to check that Jisung was worthy to be in his presence before he came here. Like a home visit before you buy a turtle or something.  

"I've heard you sing." Minho said with a smirk.

"Oh, have you now? And when was that, may I ask?"

"Actually, in the bathroom at my 'pretentious-charity-event'. He teased. Jisung physically recoiled at the memory, slumping backwards before Minho pulled him back up by his waist.

"I had listened in at the door before I came in, you were singing, super loudly; almost embarrassingly so." Minho continued. He was obviously quite proud of himself.  

Holy hypertension.

"You were there the entire time? Oh my God... Your first impression of me is honestly the most horrific thing conceivable. I can't even believe you’d still want to see me after that..." Jisung groaned.

He would never live that night down.

“You’re so cute, Jisung.” Minho said quietly.

“I do try.” Jisung replied dryly.

They stood there for a moment, just them and the sound of the computer whirring in the background.

It was calm, relaxing almost.

“Anyway, I kind of felt like we were, a bit, interrupted last night...” Jisung said, summoning every fragment of courage he had in his body, which generally, was not a lot. It was bold, he could almost feel how red his face had become.

“Oh?” Minho said, cocking his head a little to the side.

“Yeah, I kinda thought you were going to… Or we, were going to…” he trailed off, a little too embarrassed to say what he was so desperately trying to say.

Minho smirked at him teasingly, clearly pretending he had no clue what Jisung was talking about.

“We were going to, what?” he said curiously.

Jisung sighed, dropping his head down to his chest, letting out a breathy laugh.

Minho must love watching him suffer. What a menace.

He pulled his head back up to gaze at the other boy, who proceeded to bridge the distance between them, pressing a small, chaste kiss to his lips just for a few seconds.

Minho’s lips were smooth and kind of, delicate-feeling, Jisung thought. It almost tickled. He kissed back just a little, but really, he was too surprised to actually respond as enthusiastically as he would have liked to.

“Is that, what you wanted?” Minho quipped.  

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted…” He smiled back, re-attaching their mouths again with a little more fervour, allowing their lips to slot together for a while longer. Jisung felt like a weight had been lifted for some reason.

When Minho pulled away from the kiss, he lingered for a little while with his forehead pressed against Jisung’s.   

“You really had to make it so that our first kiss was in a clammy studio room when I’m wearing sweatpants, huh? Honestly Jisung; despicable.” He said, shoving at his hips to push him backwards in feigned outrage.

“Well, don’t get used to it…” Jisung laughed, “Chan basically told me to not come back here unless I have his permission to do so from now on…” He rolled his eyes indignantly, shoving his hands in his pockets at the specific lack of Minho they were missing.

“You’re kidding?” He sighed. “That man… What on Earth is his problem?!” Minho said with a sigh, he pushed his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, I just think Chan kind of… Doesn’t like me, is all.” He laughed faintly; it was a bit of an understatement, he thought.

Minho pulled him closer again, this time clutching behind his neck softly with both hands, cradling each side of his head in his palms.

“You’re right.”

“Huh?--”

“He doesn’t like you.” Minho laughed.

“Wow, say it like it is, huh?” Jisung said. He couldn’t even be surprised at this point.

“Hey, I can’t lie to you. Chan thinks you’re a distraction to the rehearsals and stuff. I can’t say he’s totally wrong. You are quite distracting.” Minho said, cocking an eyebrow.

“I do try.” Jisung replied dryly.

Jisung didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day.

However, he was damn sure how he wanted to spend the remaining twelve minutes and twenty-four seconds they had alone: Firmly attached to Minho’s face.

Chapter Text

“So, Jisungie, I’m going to do a speech at Daeil High School on behalf of ‘Sing it, Feel it, Live it’ if you want to come along? It’s next Friday afternoon, just after lunch time.” Minho said, smiling sweetly. He was currently tapping away at the computer, setting up the playlist ready for the rehearsal to begin.

Oh, another awe-inspiring speech?” Jisung teased, making Minho sneer at him. “Will Channie, be there? Do I need to get a permission slip?”

“No, Channie won’t be there.” Minho scoffed. “He doesn’t have any interest in the charity outside of good publicity. Once my first speech was uploaded, he completely lost interest in the cause. Actually, you almost inspired me to do it with your teasing, so I organised this myself with Hee-Jae and Eun-Hye.” He briefly played one of the songs out loud to check the volume before switching it off again.

Jisung cocked an eyebrow, he was sure he’d heard one of those names before, Hee-Jae.

“That’s, the man, from the restaurant, right?” Jisung asked.

“Yes, they’re kind of like, family friends. I help them out when I can. Hee-Jae’s wife is a teacher there, she came to wish me luck after my show and I told her I wanted to visit the school if I could. She was so pleased; she loves the arts. Hopefully, I can manage to get there without the schedule being leaked. Though, it’s fairly difficult to do anything charitable without someone showing up and making a scene for a story.” He sighed, shaking his head a little.

Jisung stared at the older man in astonishment for a brief moment.

He felt like Minho should have badgers, rabbits and gazelles bounding merrily behind him and birds harmonising with every precious thing that came out of his mouth.

There was no way one person was this perfect, Jisung thought.

How on Earth could he have been so inherently wrong about someone? From their first meeting Jisung had pretty much assumed he would be like every other idol or wannabe he’d met.

It truly wasn’t the case, at all.

He started watching as Minho stretched out his hamstrings, warming up for the practice. Jisung sighed. Even when he was doing something mundane, he was pretty mesmerizing.

“I mean, sure, if you’re okay with that I’d love to come.” He responded.

“Great. We’ll sort out the details and dynamics closer to the time.” He stroked his hand across Jisung’s left cheek. “Before that, when’s our next date then, hmm?” He teased, pinching it a little.

“Oh, I don’t really mind… I mean, I’m more of a ‘stay-at-home-and-watch-movies’ kind of guy over doing anything fancy, I guess.” Jisung retorted. He knew that Minho was just joking, but it was kind of true; the pressure of these high-profile dates did get to him a little. He definitely was a little out of his comfort zone in theatres and restaurants.  

“Hmm, I’m sure that can be arranged. Let me know when you’re free and I’ll pay you a visit off schedule, then?” Minho quipped. “Obviously, I’ll be incognito.”

“A visit? Like-- Like to my apartment?” Jisung stuttered.

“Well, you can’t exactly just waltz into mine, can you?” Minho laughed. It was tinged with a slightly bittersweet feeling. Jisung remembers Minho telling him at the Jungsik restaurant that people often waited for him outside of his apartment building once his schedules for the day were over. It was a frightening thought, to say the least. It was probably Jisung’s worst nightmare, behind crocodiles.

As the dancers began to fill the room, Jisung was convinced to stay and watch some of the practice for a little bit, watching three or four of the routines from the show. It looked slightly less impressive out of costume, but it was still pretty phenomenal to watch professionals at work. He also rather enjoyed admiring Minho’s dancing.  

Minho introduced him to a few of the chorus dancers, which made Jisung a little uneasy, but they seemed welcoming enough. That, or they literally didn’t care who he was, which, would also make sense. Minho didn’t introduce him with any kind of ‘title’; Jisung probably thought it was best that way.

After a while, he decided he should probably get home and work on his music.

He was feeling particularly inspired.

He shot Minho an awkward two-finger salute-wave as he mouthed “I should get going” in his direction as to not alert any of the dancers. Minho raised his hand, signalling the other dancers to take a break as he swanned towards him, completely un-phased by stopping the rehearsal, unlike Jisung.

Minho escorted him out of the exit, closing the door around his body just enough for his head to poke out of the door so that nobody could see them. He looked down both sides the corridor before giving Jisung a soft, parting peck goodbye.

“Send me that song, okay?” He said sweetly, watching as Jisung travelled down the hall towards the reception. Jisung turned back to him briefly.

“I will, but it’s not finished so don’t have high expectations!” he shouted back, laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Message me when you’re free, Dummy”. He watched as Minho shot him a wink as he slowly disappeared behind the door.

As he travelled back down the hall, he looked back to check and see if Minho had really gone.

He spun around, balling his fists up and giving the air a little punch in excitement, because, yeah, that had actually happened.

His cheeks were in pain he was smiling so much. He felt like that waitress from the charity gala.

He stopped as he entered the main entrance again, clocking the two receptionists who smiled at him amiably seeing his beaming face. He had started referring to them very un-inspiringly as ‘Blondie’ and ‘Nails’, as the older of the two had long nails that he would hear infuriatingly tapping against the keyboard when he sat in the waiting area. One day, he’d learn their names for real. He smiled back to them, stopping in his tracks.

You know what?

Fuck what Mr. Bang Chan had said.

He was going to wish Hyunjin good luck, in person.

He knew he probably shouldn’t push his luck considering their earlier altercation, but he was riding the high of finally getting somewhere with Minho and his adrenaline was spurring him on to be a little outlandish. What could be the harm? He asked himself, Chan had already pretty much banned him from being in the building at the same time as Minho, so he didn’t have much to lose.

He turned back around and headed back to the elevator; much to the confusion of the receptionists.

It was much easier to get to the 4^th floor now that he wasn’t carrying crates of banana milk around. He remembered that Jeongin had mentioned that Hyunjin was in ‘Dressing Room Eight!’ and suddenly, Jisung was grateful to have the weird ability to remember the most mundane of information.

When he got back to the fourth floor, he precariously peered his head through the door he and Jeongin had come to before, trying to make as little noise as possible. He could hear there were a lot of people in the room.

It was considerably louder than it had been before; likely due to all the staff rushing around preparing the sets and manning the equipment. He knew some of the dressing rooms were off of the studio rooms, so he’d have to make his way across. Luckily for him when he came in, he saw no sign of Mr. Bang Chan, though he didn’t see any sign of Hyunjin, either.

Weird.

He saw Jeongin again, standing by a trolley cart, quietly nibbling at the snacks on the table situated off behind one of the white screens. Jeongin noticed him immediately and gave him an apprehensive cock-of-the-eyebrow. Jisung darted across to him, ducking down as to not arouse any suspicion.

“Jisung? What are you doing here? Come for banana milk?” he said, with a mouthful of shrimp crackers.

“Shh, I’m sneaking in to dressing room eight to see Hyunjin, don’t tell Mr Bang Chan. Okay?”

“You are ballsy Jisung, I have to hand it to you.” The younger boy raised his non-greasy shrimp-covered hand, giving Jisung a little fist-pump and an impressed nod. “I won’t say a word!”

He noticed a dressing room door with ‘EIGHT’ written in English across it, it was slightly ajar. Luckily, it didn’t need a keycode or certain permissions or anything. That was a good start, maybe this would be easier than I thought it would be.

The problem was, as he got closer, he could hear Chan’s voice coming from inside of the room.

That, made it considerably less easy.

His voice was as loud and as obnoxious as ever so of course he could hear it; Jisung internally groaned at what stupid excuse he would have to make up if Chan caught him here after his earlier warning.

After a bit of dithering around outside of the room, Jisung noticed that Chan’s voice had tempered a little, it sounded like when he had pulled Jisung aside earlier, somewhat stifled, like he didn’t want anyone to hear.

Jisung knew he shouldn't listen to the conversation.

That would be intrusive and wrong, Jisung, he told himself.

But the door was already kind of open, he just needed to push it a fraction more…

Your parents raised you better than that, to listen in to someone else’s conversation is a total violation of privacy, Jisung.

But he had already come so far, and the door was right there…

You should take the moral high-ground, Jisung. 

Fuck it.

He took a few steps closer, just barely peeking in, pushing it open the door an inch wider, making sure he didn’t push it too far and it didn’t make a noise.

From where he was situated, he could mostly see clothing racks. He could make out Chan’s back; he was so broad he nearly covered Hyunjin from sight entirely. He was standing behind him, leaning over him as Hyunjin was sat in the dressing room chair. Hyunjin was in full make-up from what he could see in his slight view of his reflection the mirror.

Jisung wondered if he was getting ready to change sets, or something. It’d only been a little over an hour and a half since he left before, it couldn’t possibly be over.

"You look so good today Hyunjin, it's unreal. You're honestly unreal." The Australian said, shaking his head in astonishment at the sight of him.  

"Chan, come on. It's just... It's really not that kind of shoot. It's for banana milk for goodness sake. Totally not a flattering concept." He said sarcastically, awkwardly laughing and shaking his head in disapproval of the comment. He swept a piece of hair behind his ear, which Chan proceeded to tuck in for him. He had a habit of doing that, Jisung had noticed.

He watched as Chan placed his hands on Hyunjin's shoulders, squeezing at them slightly as if he were about to give him a massage. Hyunjin let his head relax, winding his neck backwards and then rolling it forwards again to relieve the tension in his upper body as Chan rubbed at his shoulders just a little. 

"I know, but, you're just so effortlessly hot no matter what you wear, you know that right?" He said teasingly, leaning down to speak in to Hyunjin's ear, slightly softening his words as he spoke. He saw Hyunjin shudder a little at the sensation of air on his ear before he started laughing slightly.  

"I mean… You shouldn’t call me hot at work. Especially, here on set Channie, it’s--"

“It’s, what?” The older man started lacing his fingers under the neckline of Hyunjin’s undershirt. The button up shirt he had on over top was already partially un-buttoned, Jisung had assumed, or hoped that he had un-fastened it himself to change into his next outfit. As he did so, Chan was trailing his nose lightly down the side of Hyunjin’s neck as he got closer.

Jisung suddenly felt like maybe he shouldn't be here...

"Channie...” he grumbled. “Stop, your-your hands are kind of cold..." Jisung saw him jerk his head to the side with a slight wince at the cool feeling. He grabbed on to Chan's hands, sliding them back up to his shoulders instead, leaving his hands resting on top of the older mans’.

Chan stretched his fingers out under Hyunjin's to pry his hands open, then he linked their fingers tightly together, smiling at him in his reflection in the mirror.

"All the more reason to warm them up, right?" He near enough purred, nuzzling back in to Hyunjin’s neck.

Jisung honestly wanted to gag.

Then, Jisung saw Chan start to scatter kisses behind Hyunjin’s ear.

Nope.

I’m out, Jisung thought.  

He decided to make himself scarce, quickly, turning heel and darting away from the door to rush back through the studio room. He clocked Jeongin again as he winced.

“I know, gross, right?” Jeongin said casually in passing, nonchalantly sipping on his banana milk as Jisung swiftly crossed him to the exit.

This probably feels like what hell would feel like. Jisung had always joked about belonging in hell, and now he’d ended up there. What a coincidence.

He pulled the door firmly shut, before crashing his back against the nearest wall and throwing his head back to give himself a little breathing room. His heart was beating so fast.

---

So much for 'just a Sugar Daddy' Jisung thought.

He had a weird, empty kind of feeling in his stomach. The whole ordeal was so strange to him.

Was it embarrassment, disgust, anger?  

He didn’t really know.

He knew a part of him definitely felt hurt. Had Hyunjin had been lying to him this whole time about the nature of his relationship with Chan? Hyunjin had said he was just in it for the gifts and the deals, but it certainly didn’t seem that way to Jisung. He wracked his brains to try and understand why he would possibly keep something like that from him.

Firstly, they were best friends. They had never kept anything from each other before. Hyunjin was particularly bad at keeping secrets anyway. The guilt always got to him and he’d usually end up caving to the burden and telling him the truth anyway. Hyunjin never made a good Mafia; Mafia’s didn’t tend to burst in to tears at the slightest hint of pressure…  

Secondly, Hyunjin had maintained he was straight their entire friendship. He’d only ever dated girls in the past and he’d always comment on who the prettiest girls were in whatever female idol group he was currently obsessing over. He’d maybe say that an idol was handsome, or he looked up to them, but Jisung didn’t think he’d ever been attracted to a guy before.

He’d even spectacularly rejected Jisung’s initial advances when they were at high school. Jisung had told him that he thought he might like boys ‘that way’ and how Hyunjin had helped him ‘realise it’. He specifically remembers Hyunjin telling him; “If I can’t be attracted to someone as amazing as my own best friend, I must be straight!”

Jisung cringed. Every now and then he was reminded of that line word-for-word; it was morbidly etched on his brain. Another horrific Core Memory, he thought.

He didn’t feel that way about Hyunjin now, he hadn’t for a long time, but it didn’t make it feel any less weird when he thought about this situation. Sexuality was never linear, right? So, maybe he’d changed his mind, or his inclinations, or whatever.

Or maybe, Hyunjin was attracted to other men, just not him.

Jisung considered if the empty feeling he felt in his chest was, in fact, jealousy?

He shook the feeling off. He put the sentiment down to simply being shocked at what he had seen. His head was still trying to process everything. Afterall, he had literally been lip-locked with Minho less than twenty minutes earlier and up until this very point he was feeling considerably happier than he had felt in a while.   

Well, if Hyunjin did like guys, Jisung was incredibly disappointed at his horrific preferences in men.

Because thirdly, Chan was a dick.

Chapter Text

Jisung had been loitering in his apartment for a few days. It felt like his computer chair had become a permanent part of his body. He’d been mostly working on projects that he’d been sent for arrangement, and he knew he had to make a dreaded trip to the sort out his tax returns. He’d also made one quick trip to collect his prescriptions. He sighed.

Being adult was hard, he didn’t like it. He missed watching Looney Tunes.

On top of that, he knew he was still slightly stressed out about The Daddy Deal situation. Though, he would have to think of a new name for it now, he thought, considering the change of events.

Maybe he should call it ‘The Deception Deal’ or ‘The Dishonesty Deal’. Although, they definitely didn’t have the same ring to them. 

He really couldn’t get his mind off of it, for some reason. To add fuel to the fire, Hyunjin hadn’t texted him in nearly three whole days, which was incredibly weird considering who we were talking about, here. Hyunjin was the kind of person to wait until 12:00am on the dot before sending you a paragraph-long Happy Birthday message he’d been meticulously preparing an hour ahead of time, likely with tears in his eyes.

---

It was nearing 3:00pm, he knew Minho would be due out on stage soon for another matinée performance, so he sent him a short, but sweet, good luck text as he had done for every show so far.

He hovered over Hyunjin’s name, which was sitting under Minho’s and Changbin’s by this point. Jisung didn’t think he’d ever see him out of the top two contenders’ slots.

He decided he should probably attempt to contact him, although he didn’t know if he’d be at work or in a shoot on a Saturday. He also didn’t really know what to say. Let’s just keep it casual, be cool, Jisung thought. Afterall, Hyunjin had no idea what he had witnessed in the dressing room.

To 현진

Hey man!~

Haven’t heard from you in a bit; must be your crazy JYP schedules nowadays. ㅋㅋㅋ. We didn’t have our monthly dramathon!

Hope work is going well! Xx

He sat there, floating over the send button. He took a deep breath and tapped it as he rose from his desk. He wasn’t totally happy with it, it wasn’t nearly sarcastic enough, Hyunjin would probably sense that something was off.

He unplugged his laptop from the outlet and slumped down on to his stomach on his bed, opening the lid to check his emails and his socials. He didn’t really know why; he didn’t really use social media other than to get updates from his Mom about her travels every other month when she could remember to.

To his very pleasant surprise, he saw a headline that caught his eye as he was scrolling.

‘Lee Minho: “I’m just trying to do my best for the community” Korea’s Leading Man enrols on school tour to promote arts funding at schools.’

The article headline gave Jisung butterflies, he felt his hands scrunch up seeing his name. It was so weird seeing headlines about your own boyfriend.

Or wait, they weren’t actually boyfriends yet.

Jisung slipped into a state of minor existential turmoil. If Minho had been the one to ask him on a date first, and Minho had been the one to initiate their first kiss, did that mean it was Jisung’s turn to… make this official? Or maybe it was just too soon?

He didn’t really know the ins-and-outs of being someone’s’, ‘something’.

He looked back at the photo they were using in the article; it was a well-shot image of Minho smiling widely, standing next to the podium from his charity event where they first met. His crisp white shirt, light-blue tie, and dark brown hair. He thought back to the restroom, and the last memory he remembered; Minho coming into the bathroom in his half-cuffed sleeved, only slightly tucked-in shirt, tie loosened goodness. It made him laugh how far they’d come since then.

He shuddered at how cringey he was being, before rolling over to lay on his back. He relaxed his arms above him, staring up at the ceiling, before grabbing one of his pillows and clutching it against his chest. He wished it were Minho.

Sheesh, Jisung, stop…

Jisung had been thinking recently about what Chan had said to him on the set of Hyunjin’s shoot. ‘Bad publicity’ is what he had referred to the idea of Minho dating him, as. He understood the pressure Minho was under, but it didn’t make it feel any less bad on his part.

For a slight moment, he wished Minho just, wasn’t so well-known, wasn’t so talented, wasn’t so Minho. That way, they could be each other’s ‘something’ without Jisung needing to constantly worry about it. In fact, maybe that’s why they hadn’t really touched on the nature of their relationship. They kind of just went with the flow.

He considered if they would be the same if Minho had a different profession, or if they’d met in another way, would it be different?

He heard his phone vibrate.

Speak of the devil, and he—well, you get it by now.

To: 한

Thank youuuu. I’ll do my best~

It’s just me, the cast, and the Stage Manager this afternoon, no Chan to watch over me! Free as a biiiird! If only it were tonight you had come to see me, instead of that first time ㅋㅋㅋ ✌️✌️

xxx”

He smiled. Despite of the anxiety he felt about sneaking around, at least the feeling of actually being with Minho always felt worth it, he thought. He couldn’t help but light up whenever he saw his ‘name’ appear on the screen. He was so head-over-heels for ,,mmnfjop.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

Ugh, if I would have known I would have come to see you again today! :/ By this point I pretty much know all the script, the songs, the dances, everything. Maybe I could take the leading role?

Where is ‘It’ tonight then? Xxx

To: 한

You wish, maybe we could modernise the story a little and have two leading men 😘

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ ‘It’. Jisungie, he is still my producer and boss. Someone’s getting too big for their boots… And your shoes are tall enough ㅋㅋㅋ ~

God knows though, off on some date somewhere with Hyunjin. They’ve gotten pretty close, weirdly, I’ve gotten kind of used to it. Plus it gets him off my back for a while, and in turn, yours too!

~Finishing touches now!~

xxxx”

Jisung stared at the message for a minute or two. Chan was with Hyunjin. He shouldn’t be surprised.

Maybe Jisung was just being a clingy, overprotective friend. Afterall, Hyunjin was one of two friends he actually had and now there was a significant lack of his presence.

Was he being petty?

He didn’t technically owe Jisung an explanation of where he was or who he was with, right?

Maybe he was just waiting to tell Jisung the right way, or something.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

I don’t think the world would be able to handle having TWO overtly attractive men on stage :/ plus, doesn’t the other lead die in the end!?

HEY. Excuse you. I’m not insecure with my height or anything, I just like the shoes!

Weird, Hyunjin never mentioned it or anything. Yeah, I guess as long as Hyunjin is happy, and Chan isn’t in our business it can’t be all bad (: Xxx

He didn’t really fully believe what he was saying, but he didn’t want to start any unnecessary ranting before Minho went on stage.

To: 한

Hmm. You’re right, you would have to die. Maybe I would sweep in at the last minute and save you 🤪 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ pfft, you’re short so, whatever you say!

Speaking of our business, that movie night? How about tomorrow?? I have no shows on a Sundays!!!

<3 I’m going on now!!!!~ 🙀 Enjoy!!~ [IMG: Attachment (1)]

xxxxxxx

Jisung rather appreciated how Minho always got a little hyperactive before and after his shows. He could see just by how he was typing how excited to perform. He’d attached a selfie of himself in his first purple costume with the other dancers around him throwing up some more peace signs, with his tongue poking out to one side. Of course, he had applied a filter that gave them all dogs’ ears and little bowties; as was so typically Minho. He looked like he was having a good time with the cast. Guess that’s what happens when Chan isn’t around.

Wait.

Tomorrow? He skimmed back over the text, blinking his eyes a few times in scepticism.

Minho wanted to see him, at his apartment, tomorrow.

But tomorrow was like, the day after today, he thought.

Jisung couldn’t even lie and say that he had plans; because he didn’t, he never did, and Minho was painfully aware of that. He also couldn’t even use the Hyunjin excuse, as Minho and he worked together at the same company, if that’s even where Hyunjin was these days.

He texted Minho back quickly, even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to respond for a while until he’d finished performing.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

Break a leg! (: <3

Tomorrow?! That gives me like, no time to prepare whatsoever!

You’re lucky I want to see you so much. ¬¬ Ick.

Xxx

He sprang to his feet shoving his phone in his pocket and launching himself off of his bed, just catching his laptop as it nearly hurtled to its demise.

He had to clean up, fast.

What was he going to wear?

What movies did Minho even like?

Did he have to cook? He couldn’t even cook microwavable rice properly, how was he meant to cook for someone else?

He started grabbing at his floordrobe in a panic, separating them into darks by throwing them in to opposite sides of the room. He may let Hyunjin in here like this, but there was no way Minho was going to see it.

Since when were there were so many empty cartons of food in here? He really needed to organise a better space for making music rather than his desk, he thought. He was basically living at it; and it definitely looked like it. He’d even have to take the Pringles-can-Demogorgon out.

Maybe he should start in the living room, as that’s where they’d be mostly?

Or maybe, they would be in here… At some point.  

Oh.

God.

He cast the idea from his mind, way out, like out-to-sea way out. Like stranded-on-Gulliver’s-Island 2, way out.

Get it together, get it together, get it together. He thought, frantically gathering one of the piles in his arms. He skidded across to the living area and through to the kitchenette, launching the clothes in his washing machine, slamming the door shut and searching through the cupboard under the sink for detergent. Don’t tell me I’m out… He begged, shaking the bottle violently upside down.

Now that he looked around, the kitchen was pretty messy too, ugh.

It was going to be a long day, he thought.

He suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

That’s weird? He thought Minho would definitely be on stage by now.

He grabbed his phone and checked the notification. It was Hyunjin. He’d almost forgotten he had even texted him in the first place.

To 한

Hey man. gah, sorry, i've been so busy with shoots and stuff i completely forgot about dramathon this month, maybe we can do a longer one next month or something!  

work is great, i’m going to an actual movie premiere later this evening and tomorrow i have a shoot in Ansan for a new brand! i even had a girl come up to me today and ask if i was hwang hyunjin! so surreal to be recognised in public.

hope everything’s good on your end too

xx

To 현진

Wow, that sounds huge man, congratulations, you’re doing so well - I’m super proud of you!

Yeah, just let me know when you’re free, I’ve been missing you a bunch best frienderino!

Everything is good here! Minho passed on that song I was telling you about a few weeks ago and the executives at JYP so I’m waiting to see what they think! I’ve finished a few more songs that I’m really happy with recently (:

PS Minho’s coming round tomorrow, maybe you can help me pick out an outfit again? Pah. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ xx

To 한

Wow he’s coming to your house? must be serious! congrats man.

i'd love to help but i'm at the company building helping chan with something so i can’t really be on my phone for too long.

sorry, just be yourself though, you’ll be fine

xx

Jisung slid his phone back into his pants pocket.

Hyunjin, didn’t want to help him in a clothing-crisis? He never thought he would see the day. 

No, it didn’t make sense.

Jisung assumed he just seemed a little off because he was tired and working hard at JYP and that was it. Yep, that must be it. He probably shouldn’t over-analyse the weird way he was acting, or the complete lack of interest in literally anything he said.

He shouldn’t think too deeply into it, he told himself.

Although, Minho had told him that Chan and Hyunjin ‘off on some date somewhere’, so why would he say he was at the company building? Definitely a strange location for a date...

So, he was lying, again, Jisung thought, pushing his hands through his hair.

Jisung couldn’t shake the feeling that he was slowly losing his best friend.

Chapter Text

Jisung had agreed to meet Minho behind his apartment buildings. He pulled his neck further in to his green hoodie, it was pretty cold out tonight, which was usually to Jisung’s liking but he had been waiting for the man outside for over fifteen minutes. Celebrities, sheesh.

It was around 7:30pm so it was pretty dark out, so he was sure no one would recognise Minho out here. Jisung’s block was pretty far out compared to Minho’s usual routes too. He couldn’t imagine someone would travel this far just to follow him. He watched as Minho’s regular black car pulled up in the parking lot. He could just about make out Maskless and Poloshirt sitting either side of him to block him from view, although the windows were already tinted. He gave them a little wave. He could see Minho was in his regular black coat, black mask ensemble as he stepped out of the car door.

---

He hesitated and put the key in the lock and turned it until the tumbler was heard. It opened with a creak. Jisung sighed, he could feel the same familiar breeze of his apartment and immediately felt guilty for bringing someone like Minho here. He dropped his keys into the little glass bowl and kicked his shoes off without bothering to un-lace them. He managed to kick them off in the general direction of the door, he thought.

Minho chuckled a little under his breath, and removed his own shoes in tandem, though he preferred to not ruin the heel counter and opted to take them off with slightly better execution than Jisung had just displayed. He placed his shoes at the edge near the door before slipping his black duffle coat off of his shoulders, slinging it over his left arm. He removed his mask and scrunched it up into his pocket.

Jisung offered to take his coat. His eyes darted around the room a little, and he opted to place it on the back of one of the spinning stools situated by the counter island of the kitchen area of his front room. Good enough, he thought. He should invest in a coat stand, or something.

As he turned back around, he buffered a little, looking at the bright red, silk shirt Minho was wearing. He had paired it with some kind of thin, black strip of material around his neck, Jisung didn't really know what to call it. A choker, maybe?

All he knew is he looked amazing as always. He also imagined that the small piece of fabric was worth more than half his rent.

"Do you like it? It's new." Minho said, acting so casually, as if he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was causing Jisung to have palpitations.

Who wears something like this to a casual movie night? Well, not my place to complain… Jisung thought.

Minho kept surprising him.

It was at this point where he realised that he had just been staring at Minho for way too long, like some weird creature; like an octopus, or a snake, or something like that. He had seen on National Geographic that snakes don't have eyelids so they can't blink.

…Anyway.

It was less ‘objectification’, and more of an 'unconscious decline' as he ran through his inner monologue.

"It's um, it's really nice. Like, really nice." Jisung said, it came out a little breathier than he had anticipated.

Minho faintly smiled at him, scrunching his nose and his eyes curled up in to a soft, crescent-moon shape as he stroked Jisung lightly under the chin.

"Shall we sit down?" Minho continued. He clapped his hands together preppily as to try and relieve the slightly awkward tension in the room.

"Oh, of course, I should have asked you that, sorry, go ahead. Take a seat wherever!" He said, placing an oh-so-sweaty palm to the back of his neck in some kind of attempt to comfort himself.

Jisung felt out of his depth. Having Minho at his own apartment felt like a different thing altogether.

Especially as he was wearing... That.

"Aren’t you going to come and sit with me?" Minho cooed, fluttering those damn eyelashes again, patting the other couch cushion next to him.

Jisung perched on the other side as to not mess up the intricate cushion arrangement he definitely didn’t set out deliberately before Minho arrived at his door in a manic hour-long ‘finishing touches’ cleaning-spree beforehand.

"Sorry, I can't say I really entertain here much... It's honestly more like a workplace than a home at this point." Jisung apologised.

"I think it's cute Jisungie; you worry way too much." Minho said calmly. His expression was so soft, it made Jisung’s heart flutter a little.

Minho slightly turned his body towards Jisung and placed his left arm confidently around the back of the sofa. It was incredibly casual. It only made him all too aware of how low-cut the shirt he was wearing actually was, as the angle parted it just a smidgen.

“Um, do you want a drink?" Jisung asked, launching himself upwards, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Sure, what do you have?" Minho asked.

Jisung got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchenette, opening one of the top cupboards. It had a few liquors that his parents had collected from other countries and gifted him, nothing exciting though. Jisung really never thought about consuming alcohol literally ever again after that night.

"I don't have anything fancy though, just some Cheongju or a random red wine my parents brought back from their travels in Europe. It's called... Chateau, la lag-une…" He stumbled a little with the pronunciation. "Vin de... Bord-eaux!" he continued.

"Sounds great, let's go for that then!" Minho retorted, matter-of-factly. He was fiddling with one of Jisung’s souvenir aquarium coasters, ready to greet his wine glass with it.

Note to self, buy more mature coasters when inviting an attractive man over to your apartment.

He poured two glasses of the wine and handed one to Minho before sitting himself back down next to the older man. It was too soon for him to be ruining another outfit, so he opted to try and drink it a little slower, this time.

---

"So, Han Jisung."

"So, Lee Minho."

“So, I listened to that song.” He commented, taking a comedically-pretentious sip of his wine.

“I told you not to! It’s not finished!” Jisung sighed, slumping his shoulders down.

“Well, I had to see if it was actually worth passing along, don’t you think?” He turned to look at him, smirking. “I have a reputation to withhold, you know?” he teased.

“Well, I guess. Still, it’s really nothing.” Jisung said, dipping his head a fraction.

“I think it was amazing, Jisung. Honestly. Did you write it all yourself?”

"Ugh, yeah, I did. I wrote it after watching some dumb American movie. About two strangers, they fall in love blah, blah. It was a romcom, but also kinda sad, you get the idea..." Jisung winced painfully remembering just how much he and Hyunjin had physically wept at the film.

Jude Law, man. 

"Two strangers, eh?" Minho cocked his left eyebrow suggestively. "How oddly relevant to our current situation..." He left his hand on Jisung's kneecap and decided to squeeze it just a little, which did not go unnoticed on Jisung’s end.

He felt like he could suddenly feel his own pulse through his kneecap. Was that a thing that was possible? Did kneecaps have pulses?

"Yeah I guess, except you didn't get hit by a taxi, and you haven't fallen in love with me yet."

---

Oh god.

Why did he say that?

Goodbye world, Jisung thought.

This is my stop.

Here lies Han Jisung, apparent cause of death: Cringe-induced comatose followed by an obvious inability to form coherent and appropriate sentences when they're required.

The silence in between Jisung's overly confident statement and Minho's response felt like it went on for an eternity or three. He felt like he’d aged by approximately fifty-two years.

"Well firstly, I'd rather not be hit by a taxi, so if I can avoid that part..." Minho removed his other arm from behind the sofa, pressing his back against in the inside of the arm rest and crossing his legs so he was facing Jisung head on, still resting his hand on his knee. “And no, maybe not yet, but I guess there’s time for that, right?" He smiled coyly.

Jisung let out in internal sigh of relief.

Minho lifted his glass with his other hand, Jisung followed suit, clinking them together in unison.

"Plenty of time for you to realise that I'm actually pretty dull and get bored of me!" Jisung said, only taking a tiny sip.

Self-deprivation was always a reliable 'back-up humour' option for him when he wanted to diffuse a situation.

Minho was driving him crazy, he felt like he was going into cardiac arrest just looking at him. He wasn’t even doing anything.

"Trust me, that won’t happen. Anyway, are we going to watch a movie, or not?" Minho grabbed one of the gaudy mustard cushions and suddenly launched it at Jisung. Jisung did a pretend little shocked face before getting up fetch a selection of DVD’s.  

---

They decided to watch a psychological thriller that came out a few years ago. Jisung didn't take Minho to be a horror kind of guy.

Minho kept surprising him.

He had explained that regular horrors don't scare him, it's the really deep ones about the human psyche that keep him up at night.

Oh great, incoming sleep paralysis demons, he thought. Jisung was actually okay with horror films, but what was it was far from the romantic situation that he had envisioned in his head. What's wrong with just watching a comedy, or a romance film? Oh well, he better suck it up.

They sat through the DVD screens and trailers for the full cinematic experience. Jisung had also decided to order Thai food in; he really couldn’t be dealing with messing up the kitchen he’d spent hours cleaning. Also, he considered giving Minho food poisoning wouldn’t be great for the front row theatregoers.

"If you get scared, you're more than welcome to scoot in a little closer to me. The silk is pretty soft…" Minho teased. He had obviously caught on to Jisung staring at it a bit too long.

Jisung didn’t hesitate and immediately scooted in closer to his side.

"Oh- I mean, the film hasn't actually started yet, we're just at the DVD menu..." the older stated, laughing.

"Well, you're right, I do like this shirt, a lot." Jisung's blushing cheeks were well-masked by his ever-so-on-point comedic timing.

He nuzzled closer to the space between Minho’s side and upper arm. Jisung could smell Minho's very faint vanilla smell again. He remembered when he took Minho to be the kind of guy that would be smothered in some nostril-violating aftershave.

Jisung was almost falling asleep tucked away soundly under Minho’s arm with a full stomach. He had a bad sleeping pattern as it was but feeling so comfortable and secure was making him dozy. Every so often, Minho would whisper "You okay?" to him and nudge him a bit just to check he was all right with the horrific scenes he was pretending to watch. It was a really sweet gesture, and Jisung appreciated it a lot.

He also, really appreciated the red silk.

---

They managed to sit through eighty percent of the film, when suddenly Minho's phone sounded against his side, which made him jump a little. It caused Jisung to have to shift from his rather comfortable position tucked away in Minho's side. He didn’t fully mind, he was starting to develop a giga-case of pins and needles anyway.

He turned to position his back to the armrest, leaning against it and stretching his legs out across Minho’s thighs. He looked across at the older man.

“You know, there’s no phones allowed in the cinema!" Jisung exclaimed. He was trying to make a joke, as he could see that Minho did not look impressed when he looked at his phone.

It wasn't the first time, Jisung had heard Minho's phone a few times throughout the night but had decided to ignore it. Minho had been actively avoiding it too, it seemed. It appeared like he was coming to the end of his tether.

"It's Chan... Again. I’m about to lose it." Minho said, sitting up a little further in his seat, throwing his head back. "This is not work time, he seriously needs to get a life." Minho said, obviously exasperated.

"What does he want this time...?" Jisung enquired.

"He texted me said he has something important to tell me and for me to call him…" He eased back a little, turning to face Jisung again. “He is so, exhausting.” He rubbed his eyes to relax his scowl then placed his hands back down over Jisung’s shins. "I really couldn't care less. Anyway, I have something much more important, here."

"Wow, that's kind of rebellious of you, Lee Minho. You could get in trouble." Jisung said, wryly.

"Maybe I want to get in trouble, Han Jisung."

They stared at each other for just a few seconds.

Without warning, Minho grasped both of Jisung’s shins, tugging his legs down lower so that his head dropped off of the arm rest, so he was almost laying down flat across the two-seater. He quickly closed the space in between them by swinging himself across his lap, placing his knees at either side of Jisung’s thighs.

He latched his left hand around his neck, tugging him upwards and crashing their lips together messily. The right hand shortly joined suit on the other side of his neck to pull him upwards some more. Jisung propped himself on his forearms and elbows to stop himself from collapsing down on to his back.

Oh.

Well, shit.

Jisung felt like the entire world suddenly stopped revolving.

He was glad Minho made the first move again. He had seriously lost his nerve after his terrible one-liner earlier. Or maybe he just liked it when the older man took contr—

…Sheesh, Jisung.

As he exhaled into the kiss, he finally allowed himself to relax his shoulders a little; his eyes finally fluttering shut. He found himself ghosting his hands hesitantly, he didn’t have a lot of manoeuvrability with Minho’s weight on top of him, so his hands were just kind of just there clutching at the air around him.

He could feel Minho's mouth moving against his and started to follow suit, their lips eventually synchronising. It was certainly less delicate than when they had kissed before, Jisung thought. He tasted a little of the red wine, which he wasn't particularly a fan of, but mostly all he could focus on was the heat of Minho’s lips forcing his own lips apart over and over. He felt Minho lightly nip at his bottom lip, drawing it in to his mouth.

He would probably never get enough of this.

Minho weaved his fingers under the bottom of his hoodie with one hand, with the other still attached to his neck. His fingers were kind of frantic as he had his eyes closed, but Jisung knew exactly what he was trying to do. Suddenly, the older man yanked at it in one swift motion.

It got a little caught around his neck, so Jisung lifted himself forward a little and opted to help him take it off before he ended up decapitated, or something. Minho immediately shoved his hands back tightly around the base of his neck to continue kissing him as soon as it was tossed aside. Jisung didn’t think he even stopped to breathe.

After a few seconds Minho relaxed his vice-like-grip from the back of Jisung's neck, moving to find a new resting place flat against his chest, as he playfully shoved Jisung down so that he was now lying completely on his back against the couch cushions.

With his arms freed, Jisung’s hands comfortably found Minho's hips as he wrapped his fingers around his sides.

He felt a little daring; heck, Minho certainly was, why shouldn’t he do the same?

His red shirt had come untucked at the back, so he shoved his hands under it and started exploring the small of his back gently with his palms. Jisung could feel the delicate silk material swiping at the back of his knuckles. His skin was so smooth. Jisung liked how it felt beneath his fingertips.

Minho abruptly pulled away from his lips, leaving Jisung practically whimpering at the loss of contact. He then directed his attention downwards to Jisung's jawbone, firstly planting small kisses down it, then latching on to it and trailing his lips down the left side of his neck.

Oh.

Well, fuck.

Minho kept surprising him.

Jisung’s brain was entirely shrouded in a fog, by this point.

He wasn’t sure he even knew his own name anymore. Jan Hisung?

“Well, shit, Minho…” He babbled, attempting to pry a word or two in between each movement. “I- I would say ‘take me to dinner first’, but you actually did do that…” Jisung joked breathily, half-lidded and entirely broken. He found himself throwing his head back a little to allow the older man more freedom.

He felt the hot sensation of Minho’s breath against his skin as he was laughing into his kisses against his clavicles. It shouldn’t have been as cute as it was, considering their current situation.

Suddenly, Minho’s phone started buzzing again. Jisung let out a little ‘ugh’ at the tone.  

Minho abruptly pulled himself up to look at him directly, “Just… Ignore it.” He said through bated breath. His eyes were darker and more desperate than Jisung had ever seen them before. He leaned forward, kissing him quickly on the lips again before impatiently continuing back down to his chest.

Jisung trailed his hands downwards down Minho’s sides--

It kept ringing.

Then he wrapped them both around the outer side of Minho’s thighs, squeezing at the denim material stretched across them—

It was still ringing.

Jisung tried to ignore it, he really did.

He wanted to focus on nothing but the magnificent man literally on top of him, but it just didn’t stop.

Chan was calling him now.

He gripped Minho’s hips tightly to steady him and hold him in place, “Minho, maybe it is actually important?” Jisung muttered through stagnant breath.

“No, it’s just Chan, being Chan.” He growled, clutching at the hem of Jisung’s t-shirt, tugging at it before Jisung grabbed his wrists with to stabilise him and pull it back down, chuckling a little at how needy he had become.

“He’s been contacting you all night; maybe you should just check to see if everything is okay?” Jisung honestly couldn’t believe what he was doing. He was telling Minho to respond to Chan, over doing, what they were just doing. He must be crazy.

Minho pushed himself up a little until he was just hovering, legs still wrapped around his waist, straddling him. Jisung thought he looked sickeningly adorable when he was a little irritated.

“You have got to be kidding me…” He groaned, shaking his head a little at him. His kiss-swollen lips were wide open in frustration. He passive-aggressively blew the right side of his bangs up from one side of his mouth in exasperation with a ‘pfft’. Jisung couldn’t help but snicker at it a little. So cute.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Han Jisung.”

---

Minho had taken the call just outside the front door, with the door slightly pulled to.

Jisung took the time to slump himself back against the sofa chair to cool himself off, for lack of a better term.

Jisung was almost thankful, almost. Any more of whatever that was, Minho might become aware of how painfully inexperienced he was.

Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it, he thought.

He could just hear Minho outside. He had noticed that his tone had become a little frantic as he spoke, it was starting to worry him.

Jisung knew he shouldn't listen to the conversation.

That would be intrusive and wrong, Jisung, he told himself.

But technically, this was his Minho he was talking about, he was just being attentive…

Your parents raised you better than that, to listen in to someone else’s conversation is a total violation of privacy, Jisung.

Even if it’s just to make sure that he’s okay…

You should take the moral high-ground, Jisung.

Fuck it.

He proceeded to wade across to the door, just outside of it, to try and listen in to see if he could catch glimpses of what Minho and Chan might be talking about.

"This is a joke. No! They can’t do that! I’m literally the backbone of the entire organisation!”

A silence fell over him.

"They said I did what?! I wouldn’t, ever!”

Another silence.

“Not at all, you know I wouldn't lie to you Channie!”

Jisung cringed. He hated it when Minho referred to him as ‘Channie’. Jisung could only hear snippets of the conversation, but he knew something was very, very wrong. He scooted a little further away from the door as he heard Minho hang up the phone. When he came back in, he looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

“Minho? W-what’s wrong?” Jisung asked, noticing rattled he looked.

“They kicked me.” He said, plainly.

“What, who?”

“They kicked me off of the board of Sing it, Feel it, Live it." He shook his head in total disbelief. “Apparently, I retracted my financial contributions and had been embezzling funds that were for the events. I—I don’t even know what to say… I would never do anything like that…” He choked out.

Jisung quickly pulled the door close and lead him back to the couch by the hands to settle him back down. He looked at Jisung in complete disbelief. 

“Jisung, I would never do that, I don’t even need the money! You know how much this charity means to me; I was meant to do that speech next week too! I don’t… I don’t understand…”

“I know, I know. Come on.” Jisung pulled the older man closer, this time cradling his head to his shoulder. He could feel Minho’s shallow breaths. This was the first time Jisung had ever seen him so vulnerable in the time they had known each other.

“Hee-Jae and Eun-Hye are going to be so disappointed. I’d planned out the activities and everything, it was going to be so great.” He said, he looked downwards, squeezing his eyes tightly shut against his shoulder to resist the tears that were on the verge of escaping. “Imagine what will happen if the press gets hold of this, how am I going to…” He pulled back a little, swiping the back of his hand across his face.

“Minho, it’s okay, it’s obviously just a misunderstanding. You’ll resolve it, I promise.” He commented, stroking lightly at the back of Minho’s hair.

“First the Seoul Foods endorsement fell through, then the Jeju Weekly Magazine shoot was cancelled, and now this. I don’t even…” Jisung could see tears welling up again as he choked out his last few words. “What is happening to me, am I losing it!?”  

Wait, what?

Seoul Foods?

“I need to sort this out, I need to sort this out with Channie.” He said, pulling back and dabbing at his bottom lids. He took a deep breath and slapped his hands down on his knees to push himself up from the couch.

“Minho, it’s late and you’re upset…” Jisung arose from the couch too, reaching out to take his hand. “You should probably get home and deal with it in the morning. I’m sure there won’t be anyone available to handle it now.” Jisung commented.

“Jisung the quicker this is resolved the faster we can stifle any press; I need to sort this, now. Channie works until late anyway.” He squeezed Jisung’s hand before letting it fall back to his side.

“You’re going back to the company, at this time?” Jisung asked.  He watched as Minho bolted across the room to the kitchenette and grabbed his coat from the back of the stool, sliding it on and unfolding the collar out.

He got his phone out, presumably to summon Poloshirt and Maskless back.

Jisung was in shock, he didn’t really know what he could do that might help the situation at all. Minho continued,

“I’m so sorry for ruining the night Jisungie, but I need to sort this out. Everything was amazing, though.” He apologised.

Jisung walked him over to the door again; a little dazed at just how quickly everything had unravelled.

He unlatched the door for him as he leant down to put his shoes on.

“Just, be careful, okay?” Jisung said, catching his eye as he stood back up. He could see how panicked and tearful he was. It kind of broke his heart.

With that, begrudgingly, Jisung opened the door and stepped outside with him. He could feel how truly cold it was now that he was just in a t-shirt; he wrapped his arms around himself tightly to stop him from shivering. He watched as Minho dipped past him, turning back to plant a quick goodbye kiss to his lips before he walked down to the parking lot, weaving in and out of the parked cars in a hurry.

Jisung headed back into the ‘warmth’ of his apartment, pulling the curtain ajar to check he left safely. He saw a few cars exit the parking lot through his window, he presumed the second was Minho’s as it came from roughly the area they had parked in before and it looked like his signature shiny black car.

Jisung grabbed his hoodie from the floor and threw himself back on to the couch in a slump, contemplating, clutching it against his chest. He could just faintly smell vanilla on it.

Something didn’t feel right.

Chapter Text

Jisung awoke to the completely non-familiar sound of his ringtone sounding at 8:00am, forcing him to spring upwards and nearly put his back out. He wasn’t used to the early morning sun screaming through the opening in the curtains, and he certainly wouldn't ever welcome a phone call this early in the morning.

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table, looking at the notification. It was Minho. He swiped across the screen to accept the call. He’d gotten used to Minho being a ‘phone call’ person, by now. He almost kind of enjoyed it.  

This didn’t mean he was ever going to make a doctor’s appointment over the phone, though.  

"Hey you!" Minho said with the fakest enthusiasm Jisung had ever heard. He was trying to sound his usually flirty self, but it was tinged with a light sprinkling of guilt.

Well, you should feel guilty, Jisung thought.

Minho had left his apartment at nearly 10:00pm and didn't even think to text to let him know what was happening or inform him if he had even gotten home safely. Jisung had stayed up until 2:30am waiting for news that never came. He was too nervous to even work on anything music-wise, so he ended up anxiously sitting up in bed, scrolling through social media to see if anything had been posted about the embezzling situation. Luckily, he couldn’t find anything in the mainstream media.

"Minho, thank God..." He exhaled, realising he should probably stifle his irritation; Minho was probably feeling sensitive about the situation and he didn’t want to seem unsympathetic. He leaned up so he was perched upright in bed, rubbing his left hand across his eyes. "You didn't even message me when you got home, I was so worried. Please don't do that kind of thing, it really--"

"I'm so, so, sorry Jisungie, it was... A really long night." He cut in, sighing. Jisung noticed he sounded a bit worn out; they must have been there until late last night.

The idea of him and Chan being alone together in the company building at night, really didn't sit right with him for some odd reason. He knew he was probably just being immature, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed when Minho’s first action in a crisis was to want to see Chan.

Calm down, it was business-related, he had to remind himself.

"It's fine, as long as you're okay..." He pushed himself up to sit on the side of the bed, dangling his legs over the side. "So, what happened?" He enquired, still a little drowsy.

He wandered over to his mirror, jolting a little at the morning-monster staring back at him. He went in his closet to pick out a shirt, he wasn't used to not just grabbing something from the floordrobe.

"I had a meeting with Channie. He made some calls. He's convinced that he's sorted it out as far as he can for now." Minho replied.  

"Did he say anything about the press finding out, or if he'd seen anything?"

"He said he'd been on the phone all afternoon before he could get in contact with me to set the rumours straight before they went too far. He didn't get anywhere with the actual board though; they still don't want me at the Sing it, Feel it, Live it events unless I can prove it was a misunderstanding and I reimburse the funds I supposedly 'embezzled'..." He heard the older man tut a little. Jisung knew that Minho wouldn't ever do something like that, even he knew how absurd it sounded.

"I'm so sorry Minho, I know it meant a lot. At least there's a chance to--"

"I don't care about the money, at all, I'd rather just pay that myself. All I care about is getting back on the board and clearing this whole mess up." He sighed. He could hear the light scrape of cutlery on porcelain, so he assumed Minho was at breakfast.

Jisung slid his slippers on from underneath the bed and dragged himself out to the kitchenette, lazily dangling the phone against his ear, perching it up with his right shoulder.

"Did he find out who had retracted the contribution, or whatever they said you did?" Jisung asked.

"Well, Channie and I were discussing it at length, and he thinks… He thinks that maybe there's a possibility that someone was able to withdraw it in my name, like someone’s selling my information or trying to, I guess, sabotage me or something."

"Sabotage?" Jisung said, tilting his head a little at the strange suggestion. “In what way?”

"Yeah, like, Channie said he has noticed some things, and I’ve been noticing them too, recently. Like, brands deals being cancelled last minute, increase in paparazzi around the building, phantom ticket sales, that kind of stuff. He says he thinks it might be like, a smear campaign or something."

"Why on Earth would anyone do that?" Jisung questioned, propping his phone against his ear to open his refrigerator. Was leftover Thai food considered a nourishing breakfast?

"We don't know. At first, I thought it might be like, a disgruntled fan or something. Then Channie said he's even noticed he is being targeted a little too. He said some transactions have been going out of the company account too without authorisation..."

Well, shit. That certainly seemed more serious.

Jisung hoped that it wasn't just Jeongin filling up Chan's snack drawer; there's only so many Choco pies one boy could buy on his Boss’ card. Minho continued,

"Also, he said he thinks someone was in his office the other day without permission and some stuff was moved around. He said my schedule sheet wasn't in the same place it still was, which maybe means someone could have been looking for my schedule. He thinks someone may be... Trying to get to me."

Oh no.

He felt his chest tense up.

Jisung swallowed hard, trying to regain his composure. He felt his breath hitch. Minho continued,

"Honestly, I'm a little freaked out Jisungie. I don't really know why someone would try and 'ruin me', or whatever, but the idea that they could have been in the building... It makes me, just... I don’t know." His voice trailed off a little, he could hear the other man shudder at the idea.

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this--"

"He says it must be someone internal too, who had access to the company, which is the really weird thing. I’ve never had anything like this happen before so if there is someone out to get me, it must be a recent thing." He commented.

Jisung considered that JYP was a colossal building, there were over twenty floors. There would be hundreds of staff travelling through it at all times. It would probably be easier to find out who Minho didn't come in to contact with on a daily basis.

"So, with that being said..." He paused, taking a deep breath in. "Chan has asked to speak to you."

Jisung froze.

"Speak to me? Why?" He enquired. Deep down, he knew why.

"It's nothing personal Jisungie, I promise you. He has asked most of the newer employees and dancers and choreographers and stuff to come in. He's interviewing all the cast and crew, too to see if anyone knows anything. He's even interviewing Hyunjin later this afternoon." Minho tried to explain it to him with a level-head, but honestly it just made him feel worse.  

There it was again; it's 'nothing personal'. Jisung found it bizarre how every time he’d heard that phrase recently it had followed by something completely personal.

Chan didn’t like him, that was a given, but he was even interviewing Hyunjin? “Mr. Effortlessly-hot-in-everything-you-wear?” as Chan had referred to him as? Jisung considered this must be a serious enough matter if Chan were potentially even considering his own boyfriend could have had something to do with it.  

Suddenly Jisung felt a chill creep over him, and it wasn't just the familiar breeze of his badly isolated apartment sifting through his toes.

It felt like, guilt.

It was balling up inside of him and trying to claw its way out of his chest.

It was him in Chan's office, but all he was doing was helping Jeongin and eating milk chocolate, right? Enjoying milk chocolate in one’s own downtime is was not a punishable offense, he told himself. He knew he didn't actually do anything untoward whilst he was in there.

He should tell Minho everything he knew.

Ah yes, technically I was in your ex-boyfriend, forward-slash current Boss' office looking at your work schedule and eating Pepero snacks with a kid I pretty much just met unbeknownst to Chan. And yes, technically I did come to your building to find Hyunjin and then get kind of get kicked out by Chan, only to sneak back in to see him anyway a few hours later to end up creepily spying on them sucking face behind some clothing racks.

That sounds perfectly sane. Minho would understand that, right?

It would be easier if he just came clean now, clear up all the misunderstandings.

So, why wasn't he able to say anything?

"I mean... Yeah, sure I guess that's fine. I just... It makes me a little nervous is all." Jisung stumbled over his words a little. He knew didn't perform well in high-pressure situations and the thought of having to be interrogated by Chan terrified him even more.

"I'll be there with you, please don't be worried; I do trust you. He's just being as thorough as he can be. He may be a bit of a pain in our sides, but he does have my best intentions at heart. I hope you understand." 

"Of course I do, Minho." Jisung replied as calmly as he could.

If it were just to make sure that Minho would be safe, Jisung would have to oblige.

"I'm so sorry for ruining the evening last night. You were right, I should have just left it until the morning, I don't really know what I was thinking." He apologised. It was actually one of the first times he recalls Minho ever admitting Jisung was right. He was always usually pretty self-righteous about that kind of thing. Annoyingly, the situation was a little too serious for him to hold it over the older man, though. Maybe another time.   

"It's understandable, I don't blame you at all. I still had a good time, anyway." He reassured him.

It was still one of the most comfortable dates he had ever had, despite the bitter way it had ended.

"Me too, I was actually having a very good time up until that point." he laughed, trying to bring the conversation up. Jisung suddenly thought back to what they were doing before--

Oh.

Yeah, he remembered.

"Pah. It definitely seemed that way..." Jisung said weakly. He scraped his leftover noodles into a bowl before putting it in the microwave.

"Sorry for like, pouncing on you, or whatever." Minho said, rather coyly. "I guess Chan was right about you being a bad influence". Jisung softly chuckled down the phone at him and rolled his eyes.

He found it slightly ironic that someone like Minho would consider him to be in any way a bad influence considering Minho was the one near-enough consuming him the night before. He was pretty sure he could hear the Jaws theme song playing in his mind when he replayed last night's sequence of events in his head.

"Pffft, says you, showing up in that shirt…" Jisung retorted. They both smiled down the phone, relaxing a little into a comfortable silence between them.

"Hah. Anyway, I need to get going. I have my accountant here, so we need to run through some stuff before everything happens. If you could be here for midday tomorrow, would that be okay?” He could hear other voices down the phone now, he assumed Minho was starting work early today, considering the situation.

“Yeah, Minho, that’s fine. Of course.”

“Thank you so much Jisungie, you’re being so understanding. Honestly, I wish it weren’t like this. I wish we could just laze around like normal people and watch movies together all the time.” He grumbled.

“Yeah. Me too.”

It hurt Jisung to hear him be so down on himself. Minho was so talented, and he deserved his success; but he would be lying if he said it wasn’t the bane of their relationship.  

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I’ll text you in the morning like I usually do, anyway.”

---

Jisung shoved the semi-warm breakfast noodles into his mouth, lapping up the now slightly-congealed shrimp soup paste.

He knew he should tell Minho about Hyunjin landing the Seoul Foods deal. It has been eating away at him since last night. There was no way it was a coincidence, Jisung thought. He had found it kind of weird that Hyunjin was able to bag a shoot with such a lucrative, successful company in such a short period of time, but he had put it down to how much Chan was promoting him.

He considered the implications too for a split second too; this would more than likely mean that Hyunjin would have had something to do whatever was going on with Minho, and the timing of him being hired at JYP would kind of, add up.

It also could explain why Hyunjin was being so distant...

What was he saying?

There's absolutely no way he would do something to Minho, right?

Jisung knew he was excited for his newfound 'recognition in the industry', but he wouldn't sabotage somebody else for his own sake, especially not someone Jisung was interested in. This was Hyunjin we were talking about.

Unless Chan really had gotten into his head…

He shook off the idea.

It seemed ludicrous.  

Chapter Text

Minho had agreed to meet him at the standard place; the JYP dumpsters that had almost become his second home, outside the back of the building. It was midday, around 12:00pm. Jisung had arrived a little earlier because he knew the bus would likely get stuck in traffic at this kind of time and he wasn’t particularly sure of how formal a situation this was. He didn’t wear a shirt or anything like that, but he was painfully aware of how this conversation could go.

Chan would probably say it was his fault somehow. That he really is a bad influence on Minho and try and stop them from seeing each other. He and Minho had already discussed that via text this morning. Minho wasn’t about to let Chan rule over him at work, and at home too. “He’s my boss Jisung, he has no say over my private life!”

He re-assured Jisung that there was nothing to worry about, over and over. It did make Jisung feel a little better, but he was still reeling over the anxious feeling in the bit of his stomach.

Poloshirt, Maskless and Minho came to meet him outside the back entrance. Minho was in his usual get up, black coat and black mask. Today Maskless had a mask on, but Jisung wasn’t about to start referring to him as Masked moving forward.

Once they were through the key-padded area, Minho unhooked his own mask from his ear and slipped it down past his chin.

“That’s great guys, I’ll be fine from here. You can go.” He politely said to the bulkier men, who nodded in approval. Minho bowed at them as they exited.

Once they were gone, Minho turned back to Jisung, taking his hands gently in his own.

“I know how you feel about Chan, Jisungie. He’s just looking out for me here, I promise if he says anything out of line, I’ll step in. Okay?”

“Pfft, you think I’m worried?” Jisung said mockingly, cocking his eyebrow and pulling on Minho’s hands to draw him in closer, linking their fingers together as he did.

“Oh, no, I’m sure you could take him on.” Minho laughed. He looked at Jisung a little dozily, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips before they headed up the stairs again.

The same five sets of stairs.

Now that he was more of a regular in the JYP building, he wondered where he could apply for his own complimentary stair lift.

---

Jisung had a glance around the lime-green office. He and Minho were sitting on one side of Chan’s desk whilst the older man rummaged around near the shelving units with his phone leaning against his shoulder to hold it to his ear. Minho pulled his own phone out, tapping at it nonchalantly as Jisung just found himself trying to stop his legs from bouncing by pushing them down with his palms.

“It’s okay, don’t worry!” Minho whispered to him, looking up from his phone, giving him a quick wink.

Chan wandered back across to the desk and sat behind it.

“Honestly, some of these companies need to consider making tangible offers before they even bother coming to us…” Chan sighed. He shook his head, setting his phone at the side of his table and picking up a pen that was positioned on the edge of the table. He clicked it against his thumb to extend it.

"Anyways, good afternoon everyone!” He smiled. Just the slightest grin, but it was enough to put Jisung on edge. “As you know, today is relatively informal. I have the senior accountants manning everything finance-wise beyond this point, relating to the charity funding. This is less about the accounts and more in regard to Minho’s safety. Okay?" He was scribbling something in an A4 notepad next to his keyboard. The whole ‘note-taking’ ordeal certainly made it seem pretty formal to Jisung.

"Um, of course, that’s fine." Jisung had to accept it. He’d watched quite a few detective shows; he knew his rights. He should ask for a lawyer to be present in the room, he thought, but the problem was, he didn't actually have a lawyer.

"So Jisung, as you know, or as Minho has probably told you, we've been looking into some questionable happenings that have been going on in the past month or so. It's really just to make sure Minho is safe in the company, as we suspect the person involved could be someone internal."

He looked at Chan, he had never seen the man look quite so official. He was always suited up and looking proficient, but something about his demeanour seemed, different; more authoritarian. Jisung nodded his head to signify that he understood.

He understood he was likely about to be verbally skinned-alive for no apparent reason other than the older man’s sick pleasure, Jisung thought.

“Don’t worry or anything though, it’s honestly all about just working out who has been where, okay?” Chan said calmly.  “So first, you've been attending some of Minho's dance rehearsals recently, over the last few weeks?"

Minho suddenly interjected.

"I mean, he has been, but he was invited in Channie, by me." Minho said softly, rolling his eyes a tad to glance at him.

"Yes, and that's okay. I just want to know which rooms you accessed whilst you were within the building, just so everything can be accounted for, it's nothing major." He looked back down to his little notepad, awaiting a reply. Then he looked back up, catching Jisung’s eyes. Jisung swallowed.

"Um, well, the Madonna Dance Studio room obviously, and the Recording Studio and Isolation Booth, the Michael Jackson room… And the canteen that other day, but I think that's it." Jisung replied solemnly. He tried to recollect any other places he’d been, flicking his tongue against his cheek. “Oh, and the stairwell entrance hallway bit that I have to come through out the back.”

“Out the back door? How did you get through the passcode?” Chan casually asked whilst sprawling across his page.

Shit, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that part.

“Oh, Maskle-… Um, Minho sends two of his staff out to meet me, to let me through.” He commented.

"Okay, not a problem. You haven’t accessed any computer systems whilst you were in the building?

“No, I haven’t—"

"No one’s personal lockers?”

"No, not at all.” He watched as Chan was seemingly jotting down what he was saying again. “I literally just watched performances because Minho asked me to, and I guess I was just in the communal area parts as well like everyone else.” He felt Minho place his hand on Jisung's thigh next to him, turning to face him a little and give him a mellow, understanding look that seemed to say, ‘you’re doing great, sweetie’. Jisung didn’t feel great, though.

“Have you been in any other personnel rooms, since you started visiting?” Chan said, out of nowhere.

“I don’t… No, I don’t think so.” Jisung tried his best to recall.

Chan bit at his lower lip a little, sucking it in to the right corner of his mouth. He tapped his pen on the paper a few times after writing, then he placed the pen down. He exhaled, interlocking his fingers in front of him and resting his chin on top of them.

“Jisung. Have you ever, been in this room before? My office?”

Oh shit.

How could he have forgotten?

“What, why would Jisung need to come in here?” Minho scoffed. “I’ve never even shown him this part of the building, Channie.” Minho laughed, squeezing at his thigh a little.

Jisung went cold.

This is why you should have just said sooner, he thought. Now it’s going to seem ten times more suspicious…

Great job, past Jisung.

Suddenly, Chan piped up again.

“Yang Jeongin, my intern, told me that you and he had been in my office on Sunday afternoon.” Chan said, matter-of-factly. “This very room.”

Minho shook his head, still scoffing a little. He turned his head to look at Jisung.

"Why on Earth would Jisung need to come in here-"

"-And you were aware Hyunjin had a photoshoot in the building that day because I told you about it the night before when we attended Minho's performance, Saturday evening. So, you knew that me and Hyunjin would otherwise be pre-occupied and this room would be empty?” Chan cut in.

Jisung could almost swear he saw the older man grin a little, not that Minho would have noticed, as he was currently boring holes into the side of Jisung’s head in confusion.

Jisung was stunned; there was no way this was happening.

This suddenly felt very Silence of the Lambs.

And Jisung was definitely the lamb.

All this, over some goddamn banana milk, he thought. He knew he preferred strawberry.

"Channie, that’s insane. There must be a mistake, Jisung wouldn't--"

"No, he's right." Jisung cut in tentatively. Jisung turned to look at him, he saw Minho’s eyes widen in surprise and his brow furrow.

Strike one.

"It was me, but I swear, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to help Jeongin out, he had lots of stuff to carry, all these papers and bags, a-and there was like, these crates of banana milk for Hyunjin’s shoot and it was heavy so I just tried to help him by-“

"Wait, what shoot...?" Minho said, questioningly.

"Hyunjin’s shoot. He had that banana milk shoot and they gave him these big courtesy freebies and stuff and they were just too heavy for one person, especially someone as young as Jeongin so I just offered to help is all I didn't touch anything or if I did I didn't mean to move anything or-or"-- He started to panic; he could feel his throat had started to dry out as he was talking. The words were just coming out quicker than he could justify them in his brain. “Honestly Mr. Bang Chan, I didn’t move or touch anything I swear it, I just wanted to help him that’s all, nothing more.”

“Okay, that’s understanda—” Chan went to speak, but Minho interrupted him.

"Wait, banana milk? As in Seoul Foods?" Minho said, looking across the table to Chan. "Hyunjin was cast for the Seoul Foods deal over me? How is that even possible? He's a rookie?" He looked offended, pulling his hand away from Jisung’s thigh and placing his palm to his chest in disbelief.

Jisung felt his own breathing hitch again.

Strike two.  

"Well, yeah? They contacted me saying that they'd had word we had a new up-and-comer and that someone had referred him for interview. Why are you surprised Minho? You cancelled your try-out, remember?" Chan said condescendingly, shaking his head to stifle a laugh and looking back down at his notepad.

"What are you talking about? I didn't cancel anything?" Minho said. He had an apprehensive look on his face, which seemed to be a mixture of shock and confusion. Shocusion™.

Jisung was just as shocused as he was, by this point.

"You emailed me telling me that you didn't want to attend the interview, and to offer it to other applicants instead? You even said that you personally thought Hyunjin would be a good candidate and that he had the look for the shoot!" Chan said, laughing a little in disbelief. “Honestly, you have a memory like a goldf-“

"No, I absolutely did not cancel the interview!” Minho shouted across the room, slamming his hands down on the edge of the desk.

Everything rapidly went silent in that moment.

Chan suddenly tilted his head. A concerned look spread across his face for a moment as he reached into his blazer pocket to dig out his phone.

"Wait, you're saying this email isn't from you?" He promptly unlocked his phone and scrolled his finger down the screen a few times to locate the email in question. Then he slid his phone across the desk in front of him.

Minho snatched the phone abruptly and read over it. After a minute or two he placed the phone carefully down on the table. He looked back to Chan, and then to Jisung, before sinking his head down to look at the desk in disbelief.

"No, I didn't send you that Channie. That is not from me." He exhaled.

"It's your email address, isn't it?" Chan asked.

"Oh my god." Minho placed his head in his hands, leaning across the table in shock. When he pulled back up, Jisung noticed that his eyes looked glossy, as if he might burst into tears any moment. "Someone… Someone can access my emails now, too?" He spat out, through shaken breath.

His eyes darted around the room a little in panic. He looked like a rabbit in headlights.

Jisung reached across to him, just grabbing his thumb to show him he was there. Minho gave it a tiny squeeze back in affirmation.

"This has gone too far. I guess we need to call the execs in, the authorities too." Chan said, getting up from his seat, rubbing at his temples. "It’s never just easy, is it?” He laughed, seemingly trying to make a bit of a joke to ease Minho’s worries. “Has anyone been close to you recently, able to access your phone or your computer?"

"No, I don't... I don't think so..." Minho said, trying to stifle how upset he sounded.

Chan pulled a tissue out of the dispenser on top of his filing cabinet and walked over to offer it to him, placing his palm firmly on Minho's back. Minho let go of Jisung’s thumb to accept the tissue and dab at his face a few times.

"Come on, it's okay. We will handle this; everything is fixable. Until then, I say we need to ramp up security, maybe put a few provisions in place for your well-being. Yeah?” Chan said softly, trying to re-assure him, patting at his back.

“Y-yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Channie” He said, sniffling, balling the tissue up to his nose.

“Jisung, maybe you could take Minho to get something to eat, he’s obviously a bit upset and could probably use the company right now.” Chan turned to him, giving him a smile, moving his hand up to place it on Minho’s shoulder more firmly.

Once Minho had composed himself, he looked across to Jisung, before nodding in agreement.

“Oh, sure, of course, no problem.” Jisung responded. “Is, that all you wanted to know from me? Are we done with the questions and stuff?” Jisung asked innocently. For some reason, he had a feeling this would go a different way.

“We’re done here Jisung. You admitted to being in my office and gave me a reason as to why you were in here, that’s really all I needed to know. You were very upfront; I really appreciate your honesty.” The older man said, nodding at him, running his hand through his own hair. “I have slightly more pressing matters now I know how deep this goes. If I need you though, I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Oh, sure thing, t-thank you.” Jisung said, rising from his chair, somewhat bewildered.

That went, strangely well.

Too well?

Chan was being surprisingly warm to him.

Jisung leant over to Minho to stroke the back of his hair gently, giving him a closed mouth smile. Minho slipped out of his chair, pushing it back under the desk.

Chan looked back to Minho again, leaning a little closer to him so their eyes could meet.

“We’re going to sort this out okay? I don’t want you to worry about anything. Your safety will always be the priority.” Minho nodded at him, dabbing at his eyes again before taking a breath out. “Maybe take some staff with you if you want” Chan commented.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine once I get some food in me, thank you Channie.” He leaned in to give him a quick hug. Chan wrapped his arm around Minho’s back, patting it.

When Chan leaned forward, Jisung could smell his aftershave.

It didn’t smell as pungent as he had previously thought.

In fact, the more Jisung thought about the situation, the more conflicted he became.

Was Minho right?

Maybe Chan really was just trying to look out for him. Sure, he had pissed Jisung off by telling him to pre-warn him if he was coming to see him, but he never explicitly told him to stay away from him. He let him use the studio booth, and he paid for their dinners and taxis. In fact, all of the animosity Jisung felt for Chan came from his own-drawn conclusion that Chan was still interested in Minho from what he’d witnessed at the restaurant and the theatre…

Maybe he really was just trying to make sure that the press didn’t interfere with them.

That, on top of being obviously attracted to Hyunjin and scoring him this sought-after job; had Chan had never technically, done anything inherently wrong?

Except, maybe be a little excessively affectionate in public and some cringey dressing room pick-up lines.

Jisung was hypothetically drowning, taking in all this new information.

Minho potentially had a stalker.

Chan was potentially not a bad guy.

Jisung’s brain was potentially about to implode from the pressure.

He switched his concerns, focusing a little more on getting Minho out of that lime-green nightmare room and across to the canteen to eat to clear his head. He slipped his arm around Minho’s waist and opened the door for him, escorting him out by wrapping his body around him as he exited. As he left, he looked back to Chan, who was still somewhat smiling at them both. He gave Chan a feeble bow before quietly closing the door.  

They both slipped out into the main downstairs hallway. Jisung could see Nails and Blondie looking at him, just still in view. They looked away as soon as he glanced in their direction, like a couple of school kids that had been caught doing something that could get them in trouble.

“Are you okay?” Jisung asked. He knew from experience that probably was not the best question to ask to someone who was already on the verge of tears, but he couldn’t come up with anything more tangible in the heat of the moment.

“I don’t really know. I’m, I’m kind of, scared? I guess?” Minho said breathlessly.

“That’s completely understandable Minho, you’ve been through a lot the last few days.” Jisung pulled at Minho’s wrist a little to swing him around to face him and wrapped his arms around the older man’s waist.

“Jisung, we’re in the foyer area, there’s windows everywhere. We really shouldn’t be touchy out here. Let’s just go and eat, okay?” He said, rather soberly, pushing Jisung’s arms back down.

---

As they walked into the canteen, Minho didn't greet everyone in the room immediately like he usually would. It was weird for Jisung to see the naturally-outgoing Minho in such a nervous decline. He recalls the last time he was in here; it was him ducking behind Minho, letting him take the lead, today, it was nearly the other way around entirely.

Jisung thought he was probably just feeling a little worried, which Jisung could totally understand considering the circumstances. However, Jisung doubted that whoever was behind this would be in the idol canteen, though. Unless the stalker had a particular hankering for fried chicken.

As they made their way to the queue, Jisung spotted Hyunjin across the room at the head of one of the tables. He hadn’t spoken to him since their last bout of exchanged text messages.

He was sitting on a table of idols that Jisung didn’t recognise many of, as well as Kim Seungmin sitting adjacent at the other end. It was dead-on lunch time the dining area was fuller than normal.

Jisung watched him for a moment, he was cheerful and laughing along with whatever terrible jokes were being told, patting one of the other men on the arm. He looked like he was enjoying himself, Jisung thought. He wondered if he should say something.

“What are you looking at?” Minho asked.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just Hyunjin is over there, is all. I haven’t seen him in a while.” Jisung said, somewhat apologetically. “What were you thinking of having to eat today?”

“I’m not that hungry, Jisung, I’ll just have some salad or something.” Minho replied, solemnly. He was in no rush to enter the queue, at all.

“You said that you would feel better after you ate?” Jisung commented.

“That was just so that I didn’t worry Channie. I really feel kind of… Well, nauseous actually.” Jisung could see his entire face was pale; he’d barely been able to give Jisung any kind of eye contact since they left Chan’s room.

“Do you need to see someone, a Doctor? Or is it because of—"

“I’m just uneasy about this whole thing Jisung. I think I should probably go home and get some rest or something.” Jisung looked to him, mouth slightly ajar in surprise. “I think I will see if Channie will okay it and call me a ride back to my apartment.” He walked across to the side of the room, leaning against the wall. He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and started tapping at the screen.

Jisung didn’t know idols could just ‘go home’.

“Of course, I mean, if there’s anything I can do—”

“There’s nothing you can do to help really, Jisung. Don’t worry about it, though.” He looked at his phone again, it had pinged instantly. “Do you want to go over and see Hyunjin? You don’t have to wait up.” Minho said, looking back to him.

“Um, I mean… No, it’s okay. I’ll wait for you.” Jisung said. A tiny part of him really did want to see Hyunjin but he figured it would be horrific timing, on his part. Jisung thought he should probably wait for Maskless and Poloshirt to escort Minho away before he bolted.

Before the silence got too painful, Chan waltzed into the canteen with Jeongin at his side. Chan was smiling as if nothing had really happened just moments before. He greeted all of the other idols as he entered the room with a bow, and they all courteously greeted him back. He clocked Minho standing at the side of the room.

Jisung noticed Jeongin clock him, too, then peer back down anxiously to look at his feet.

“Right, there you are. Come on then, I’ll drive you back home.” Chan said in Minho’s direction, taking his bag from the intern.

Jisung faltered.

“Channie it’s perfectly fine, I can just take a company cab.” Minho said, surprised by his offer.

“No, no, it’ll take too long. I don’t want you here if you’re feeling upset.” He pulled his keys out of his coat pocket, Jisung could see the little Lamborghini Bull key-ring dangling from them. “Come on, I’m seeing one of the creative directors at Starship Entertainment at 2:00pm anyway; it’s close to your apartment. We’ll bring some staff, too.” He commented.

“Okay then, sure. Let me just go get my shoulder bag from my locker though first.” Minho said.

“No problem, I’ll just let Jinnie know where I’m going, too.” Chan said graciously, looking across the canteen at Hyunjin. He put his hand to his heart when he said it, shaking his head at disbelief again, presumably marvelling at Hyunjin’s outstanding visual from across the canteen.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay without you for ten minutes Channie” Minho commented, chuckling to himself.

“Ah, maybe, but I’ve barely seen him today and call me a hopeless romantic but…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it! That’s enough of that you sap! I’ll get my stuff.” Minho said, laughing and rolling his eyes at him. “One second Jisung, just wait here.” He sauntered off to find his things.

Jisung didn’t really know if he had any other option than to ‘just wait here’.

What the hell was going on? Jisung thought.

He watched as Chan went over to Hyunjin and placed both of his hands lovingly on his shoulders. He was still smiling and chuckling along with the other idols when Chan leaned down to whisper in his ear, so he flinched a little at the contact. Then he just nodded and flashed him a shy-looking smile as the older man strolled back towards him.

When Minho finally returned, he gave Chan a thumbs up to indicate he was ready to go, placing his bag over his undone duffle coat.

“Do you want me to drop you off too, Jisung? Or call you a taxi?” Chan enquired.

“Oh, no, thanks, I like the fresh air.” Jisung stuttered. It was totally a lie. He would way prefer to be indoors doing nothing than outdoors doing literally anything. Jisung dug his mask out of his pocket, sliding it over his mouth.

They all headed out of the front entrance. Jisung looked back into the canteen before he left, noticing Hyunjin glancing at him before he left. As soon as he saw Jisung look back, he continued eating.

---

There were quite a few more photographers outside the front of the building since he’d been there last. They immediately started taking photos of Minho and, in turn, Chan. Jisung just ducked behind them, leaving enough space so that nothing was particularly obvious. Not that Minho had so much as even glanced at him the whole time they had been out of Chan’s office.  

Minho turned to him before following Chan along to his car, covering his mouth with his hand to the cameras.

“I’ll talk to you in the morning or something, okay?” he said. Jisung could barely hear him over the people that had amalgamated in front of them coupled with the midday traffic.

At least he actually said something, Jisung thought.

“Yeah, sure.” he responded. Minho gave him a wave goodbye, and Jisung opted to slouch off down to the back street he was so familiar with, crossing his regular dumpster companions.

He thought maybe he should climb in one, and never come out.

Strike three?  

Chapter Text

Jisung felt the soft tickle of a breeze on his toes again.

As he pulled his eyes apart wearily, he winced at the small glimmer of light spread across his black pillows.

Jisung tended not to open his curtains. They protected him from the breeze, and he hated that he could see the little dust particles in his room when he had them open.

He lazily rolled over to starfish himself across his bed, gripping his second pillow to his chest tightly.

He had slept through the night without waking once, which was a rare feat for him, especially considering how anxious he had felt all day. He imagined being so apprehensive and tense for a full day probably tired his body out.

To distract himself from how stand-offish Minho had been to him, he tried to focus his energy into his music. Last night he focused on sending off a new song for processing and even updated his references.

Changbin had even listened to the song told him that the song was 'perfect' the way it was. Hearing that from Changbin always made him feel a little better, but it was definitely going to take more than that numb the unease he was feeling.

He took a deep inhale, swinging himself back across to launch his hand at his bedside table. He looked immediately to his phone to check for any messages, as Minho had told him he would text him.

He had set the first picture Minho sent him with the Snow filter on as his background picture on his phone. It made him laugh whenever he saw it; seeing Minho's face in the morning had become a highlight of his routine up until this point. He considered at the time this seemed about appropriate considering they'd been comfortable for a few weeks. Though now, it just kind of hurt to see his face smiling back at him, compared to how he was with him yesterday.

He swiped across his phone to unlock it and saw his ever-familiar morning text from him, sent at 6:30am, it was a lot earlier than he'd usually text, Jisung thought. It was currently 10:36am according to his phone; so Minho would definitely be in rehearsals by now.

Jisung's heart suddenly dropped looking at the sheer length of the message he’d been sent.

He knew deep down in his heart that an essay-sized message like that, was likely never good news.

He gulped.

To: 한

I'm feeling a bit better after yesterday, I have two staff with me pretty much at all times now whilst Channie handles things behind the scenes with the execs. Channie has convinced the board of SFL that there was a misunderstanding and they've rectified it seemingly without anything going to press.

I'm heading down to Sejongno today for a dress rehearsal. Next leg of the musical is at the Sejong Center so I'm gonna be a few hours away for a few days or so, which I think will do me some good.

I've been thinking, and I really, really thought about it hard yesterday after everything. It's probably a good idea if we put things between us on hold. This whole thing has messed me up a little and I'm finding it a bit difficult to trust people around me rn. I hope you understand. I'm sorry I couldn't call, but it's early and I knew you wouldn't be awake anyway. Plus it's kinda hard for me atm, Channie said I probably shouldn't even be texting considering the circumstances and I trust his judgement.

I'm so sorry.

M xx”

A heavy sensation washed over him, he couldn’t quite describe it.

It felt like a dull ache spreading across his entire body as he finished reading the message.

Then, he felt a crushing sensation against his chest. He considered it was probably his heart, breaking into hundreds of tiny pieces.

He could feel the tears bubbling up inside of him, but he tried to keep his nerve.

He didn't know if it was appropriate to text back; the text seemed pretty cut-throat. However, Jisung felt he had some things to say, even if it were just to get them off of his chest.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

I’m glad that you are feeling a bit better today and I completely understand if you want to have a break Minho; but please know I haven't ever done anything to hurt you in the time we've spent together. I know it sounds crazy because of the timing of when we met and when this all started, I know that, but honestly I would never set out to hurt you, I really hope you believe me. I was really starting to fall for--

Jisung could feel the tears really welling up now, his sinuses had started stinging and he couldn’t keep his lip from quivering. He tried to stifle his tears the best he could by screwing his face up, raising his head to the ceiling, but it just forced them out quicker.  

He ran his finger against the back button, deleting the entire message.

He had only really known Minho for a short time, but this had hit him harder than he'd ever been hurt before, which was a rare feat considering Jisung didn't have a massive amount of people in his life anyway.

He started typing again frantically, trying to find something better to say, when suddenly he heard his doorbell ring.

That's weird.

Jisung didn't even realise he actually had a doorbell. He had just assumed it had never worked, much like most of the electronics that came with apartment when he started renting it.

A working doorbell?

The more you know, Jisung thought.

Usually if it were Hyunjin, he would text to let him know he was coming over beforehand so Jisung could at least tidy away anything gross or days-old before he arrived. Although, since Jisung had been dating Minho he had made more of a conscientious effort to keep his apartment tidier. He wondered if that would fall apart, too.

It also, couldn’t be Hyunjin, seeing as he wasn’t even seemingly on speaking terms with him, either.

He rubbed at his eyes before grabbing his same old purple hoodie from the back of his desk chair and pulling it over his head before making his way through to the living area, and finally wading to the front door. He felt himself slide on the laminate a little, it was a nice change from the familiar stick.

He unlatched the door chain and unlocked the bolt, pulling the door open just a fraction to see who it was, poking his head out. There was a man standing on the steps.

"Mr. Han Jisung?" The man said. He looked to be a little older by the lines around his eyes, but the rest of his face was covered by a black face mask. He had a large burgundy scarf wrapped around the bottom of his chin, black beanie on top of his head and he was wearing a grey, waterproof windbreaker; but it didn't appear to actually be raining.

"Y-yes? That's me?" Jisung said with a hint of confusion in his tone. He pushed the door slightly further open. "Can I help you?"

He hadn't remembered ordering anything online, and he certainly wasn't ready to try and be converted to some random religion at a time like this.

Suddenly, the man reached behind him and pulled something up from under his arm, pointing it directly at him.

It made Jisung flinch.

A bright light went off.

---

It was a camera, a big one. The man had taken a photo of him, right of his face. Jisung heard the shutter sound repeating multiple times, over and over.

The flash stunned him momentarily before he even realised what was happening.

"So, you are him!" The man shouted at him. "How did you meet Lee Min-"

Jisung slammed the door shut immediately in a blind panic, spinning himself around to lay his back flat to the inside of the door to take a breath. He could hear the man was still banging on his door outside. He darted across to the window to peek out of the curtain near the front just a smidgen.

There were maybe five or six other photographers outside the apartments' gate that Jisung could see. He had no idea how the other guy had managed to get past the buildings’ gates in the first place.

He literally must have climbed.

Jisung suddenly felt even sicker.

Oh no.

Minho and he thought they were being careful when they were together, making sure they took separate cars whenever they met. Minho would always wear a full mask when he came to Jisung's apartment and Jisung hadn't even been to Minho's house yet. Minho had even been referring to Jisung as one of his 'new producers' as to not rouse any suspicion to any of the outsiders that visited JYP.

He considered who had seen him, the chorus dancers, the maybe-intern, the idols in the canteen. Everyone was suddenly running through his mind.

He knew he hadn't been imagining it.

Jisung was sure he felt that somebody was following them for the last few days; like there were a few more cars than normal in his complex's parking lot. He generally put it down to his anxiety, but he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Someone must have spotted them out together and kept tabs on their whereabouts. The idea that someone had been following him was a feeling that he couldn't get over.

Jisung felt the familiar bubble of panic kicking in; it was punching at his rib-cage repeatedly, over and over, nudging the air out of his lungs as he tried to desperately hold on to it. He slumped down on the couch and pulled his knees to his forehead as he always did, focusing on his breathing as best he could. He was shaking so badly he could barely hold his legs in place. 

This is not happening, this is not happening, he repeated to himself.

He started sweating, profusely. Everything was pounding faster and faster and he felt so light-headed; like all of his fluids had suddenly been drained from his entire body in an instant.

He sank off of the couch, sliding down to the cool floor below.

Being close to the ground felt comforting, somehow.

---

He wasn't sure how long he was down there.

After a while, he felt the air slowly returning to his lungs, and his breathing start to steady.

Jisung swallowed hard, feeling how dry his throat had become.

He suddenly remembered what had transpired, and ran back into his bedroom as quickly as his weakened legs could take him. He grabbed his laptop from his desk, throwing it on to the bed, flipping the lid up and frantically tapping in his password.

He opened up whatever social media site came to his mind first.

Oh no.

'Lee Minho' was trending.

There were articles with the highest up-votes on the main page of multiple websites.

And there were, also, pictures of him.

One of the articles was three pages long. One of the pages had links to a slideshow of all the images they had gathered of the two of them together.

He saw a picture of himself at the Jungsik restaurant booth, sitting opposite Minho, with Hyunjin on the other side; they were all laughing together. He clicked across to the next image.

The next photo was just him and Minho, holding hands slightly across the table.

The next image was them outside Jisung's apartment block. It was just after Minho had left his apartment after speaking to Chan on the phone about them removing him from the board. He hadn't put his mask back on when he left because he was so panicked, and Jisung was just standing in his t-shirt so it was recognisably him. It wasn't even that long ago...

There were plenty more, as he clicked through.

How long had this been going on?

He looked through some of the comments on the article.

1.[+424, -95] Who is he though? Where did he come from suddenly? What's his name?

2.[+397, -15] Who is the handsome one across the table though? Looks like he picked the wrong guy ㅎㅎㅎㅎ!

    ↓anonymous: [+203, -10] Hwang Hyunjin, new face of JYP ent, most handsome man I have ever seen!!!

    ↓miHyuk103: [+190, -9] he is so handsome, he will be the next big thing over this guy ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

3.[+209, -193] First he comes out as gay in public as an idol, then he dates a no-name? he must not want a career.

4.[+203, -80] Lee Minho dating a fan?? 

5.[+189, -52] What idol in their right mind would be seen sneaking out of a random person's house at night?! sets a very bad example!!!

He slammed his laptop shut and threw himself on the bed on his stomach.

He started sobbing uncontrollably into his pillow, he couldn't even panic anymore.

What was the point?

He knew this was coming. He knew it was coming but he had grown so comfortable with everything that he had pushed the thought aside. He suddenly thought about the comments, and he wondered what Minho would think. Chan was right, they were too public about everything, despite trying their best to be secretive.

Maybe it was best that Minho never saw him again.

How could he have been so stupid? He should have known that this was not going to last forever.

---

He knew he needed to speak to someone, anyone. His therapist had always advised him to have someone to openly confide it, although it seemed fairly redundant now.

He couldn't speak to Minho; he wanted nothing to do with him.

Hyunjin hadn't even so much as looked in his direction in over a week.

His Mom and Dad didn't know anything about his situation at all, so they were out of the running, too.

Did he really have no-one?

In a last-ditch effort to try and not be alone at such a low moment, he realised, there was maybe one other person he could speak to.

He thought about messaging Changbin. He knew they weren't as close, but he hoped that as they had made music together and hung out in college it might just be enough. He pulled out his phone again and started compiling a message. 

To: Changbin 🐖🐰:

Hey, I know this is really random, but are you around to hang out? I’m going to be in Yongin for a day if you're not busy? One drink like old times? Dw if not!

J xx

Jisung considered that the route to Yongin would probably take him at least forty-five minutes to an hour. He sighed thinking about the fares.

He also considered that he had straight-up lied and would have to make up some excuse as to why he was in Changbin’s city in the first place.

It was worth it though, there was no way he could be in this apartment on his own with those vultures outside of the gates. That is, if Changbin actually considered them close enough these days to want to see him.

He felt the vibration of his phone in his hand.

To: 한 (🎵):

bit random dude! ㅋㅋ I mean, I'm at the studios until probably gone 5pm but yeah sure thing man!! Would be cool to see you and have a drink. feel free to drop in earlier if you want to have a look around the new studio, just casual sessions today, no schedules Xx

He breathed a sigh of relief. He considered that Changbin was probably the kind of person who would be pretty clueless about idol scandals or stuff of that nature so he wouldn't pry to deeply in to Jisung's random trip to see him. 

He just knew he needed to get out and try and focus on something else, if that were even possible.

It was teetering on midday by this point, so if Jisung headed out soonish he’d be in Yongin for around 2:30pm.

He considered how he would do that, exactly. There were photographers outside of his front door, so he’d have to take the long way around the back of his complex’s outbuildings, which added at least fifteen minutes on to his walk to his regular bus stop.

Maybe he should go to another one, just in case, he thought. The vultures had probably seen which bus stop he goes too, as well. 

He slunk back to his bedroom and got himself dressed. He had chosen an inconspicuous outfit, just dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He also swapped his purple hoodie to a black one and paired it with a navy beanie he barely wore to try and cover as much of himself as possible. He’d usually prefer a brighter colour, but considering the circumstances, it might not be the best time to stand out.

He pocketed his phone and wallet and swiped the keys out of the little bowl by the front door. He took a slight glance out of the peephole; there were still around three or four people buzzing around the front gates, all clad in black and grey.

He made his way out of the back door to his communal veranda, heading off behind the apartments, zipping his hoodie up to his neck. He couldn’t see anyone flock towards him, so he headed for the alleys behind.

Hell, he’d become quite accustomed to hanging around in alleys by this point.

He was nearly a pro. 

He had literally nothing to lose, anyway.

Chapter Text

Yongin.

He vaguely remembered coming here when he visited Everland when he was a kid with his Mom and Dad. It had been so long though; it wasn't like everything was flooding back to him. As he got off the bus, he got out his phone and used the Naver maps to try and locate Changbin's studio.

Yongin was surprisingly green, everything felt a lot fresher here. He took a deep breath in, taking in the scenery around him. He couldn't believe all of this was only an hour away from his cement apartment block.

He felt like if he walked a little way into the fields, he could have his own Sound of Music moment it was that void of other human beings. Minho had recommended him a few musicals- never mind, Jisung thought.

He walked down a dirt path outlined with an old wire fence, all he could see around him were fields and the occasional farmhouse. He wondered if he had gotten the location wrong. On top of that, everything was uphill, so the heat was getting to him a little; he did feel a little light-headed.

He stopped for a moment, messaging Changbin to make sure he was going the right direction. 

The Studio Changbin owned was family-run and was a commercial space where tons of other producers were able to work too. In all honestly, Jisung had always wanted to visit, but never really had the guts to do anything about it. Looking around at the size of some of the scarcely populated farmhouses and colossal buildings in this place, he imagined it would be super expensive to live and work here. Jisung had always known that Changbin was well off, but this entire area looked like some idyllic stock-photo, or something.

Changbin sent him directions down to the studio, it was tucked away in a wooded area surrounded by camphor trees fairly out-of-sight. The outside of the building had a glass front, but the panels around it were stacked with varnished wooden beams, presumably to fit in with its surroundings.

It felt, really peaceful.

He walked through the pull door, inside it was a dusky orange colour, the lights were low, so it almost felt like it was later than it was. He could see vinyl records mounted on the walls and there was a speaker in each corner of the room that quietly played a contemporary R&B song in the background. 

Jisung observed there were people standing around some wooden lockers off to the side of the room, in casual hoodies and jeans.

"Hey, I'm- I'm here to see Changbin?" Jisung said nervously. He wasn't sure if he was expected by any of the other people here. It didn't seem too formal, like he had to check in or anything. All of the people in front of him looked no older than he was.

One of them opened a door and shouted through to whoever was inside it, who responded with Changbin’s whereabouts.

"Yeah, he's in Studio Room 3" They commented, giving him a nod before they headed out.

"Thanks, that's great." Jisung obviously had no idea where this supposed room was, but he thought he'd just follow the direction the man had pointed him in. It can't be that hard to find, right?

Turns out, it was quite a lot larger than it looked from the outside.

Like Mary Poppins’ bag or something, he thought. That was another musical--

After some mindless wandering, he came to the door. He looked above it, the 'Recording' sign wasn't illuminated, so he knocked twice. After no response he knocked again, this time harder.

He considered the room is sound-proof…

He opened the door and went inside, Changbin was sitting in the middle seat relaxing, looking at his phone.

"Working hard I see?" Jisung asked quietly with his head just poking in the door, shocking the other man a little.

"Jisung! Nice to see you man!" Changbin jumped up from his seat and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him in to a one-armed man-hug. It seemed just like the old college days, only now, Changbin was about ten times more muscular and he had a slight blue tinge to his hair.

"You look good, dude!" Jisung said, fairly surprised at his new look. He had almost pulled Jisung off his feet with pure brute force alone.

"And you're... Blonde! Interesting choice!" Changbin laughed, scoffing at him and patting at his overly-dyed scalp.

"Ugh, don't, I'm about this close to shaving my entire head I've been so stressed." Jisung joked back, slumping down on the computer chair next to Changbin and dropping his bag down. He didn't bring his laptop, but he had brought his external hard-drive just in case Changbin wanted to listen to any of his stuff.

"Stressed? Work stuff? Sucks being self-employed dude, I can vouch for that..." Changbin said, rolling his eyes.

"I mean, partially that, but in my defence, I don't own my own studio like you do Rich Boy." Jisung teased, forcing a cocky smile from Changbin.

"Ey, it's not mine, it was a family investment!" He laughed, shrugging the comment off.

"It's incredible, honestly Changbin. The feeling of this place is amazing." Jisung sighed. He could only dream to own something like this one day.

"Thanks man, we worked really hard on it." 

They went through some of Changbin's newer works. Some of them blew him away, he was so talented Jisung was in awe. It's hard to believe he started as an idol dancer.

Probably wouldn't mention that though, or he might get punched, Jisung thought. Changbin could be pretty scary when he wanted to be. All other times though, he was a teddy bear.

They also freestyled a little over a track he had been playing around with, it was comfortable between them, which was lucky for Jisung because he'd been so anxious the entire journey here. The melody actually turned out pretty well in his opinion.

It was a different feeling, to have someone else with you. It inspired him to work harder for some reason.

All of his problems seemed to melt away.

Which was odd, considering his life was currently an endless vortex of despair and misery. That had been set on fire. Then put out. Then set on fire again.

But at this very moment, all of his problems seemed to melt away.

Jisung offered to help him pack up his equipment and sort the studio out a little after they were done. It had gone 6:00pm, which was later than expected but time had managed to get away from them as they were enjoying each other’s’ company and making so much progress.

"How about that drink then?" Changbin said, throwing his bag over his shoulder and tapping away on his phone to sort out some transport for them.

"Yeah sure, where were you thinking?"

---

They ended up in some downtown trendy bar, it wasn't too overbearing though, luckily. It was a weekday, so it wasn’t overly populated. Plus, it smelt a little bit like elderflower, which Jisung liked.

Jisung assumed Changbin would be the kind of guy who would go somewhere on the down-low; he was just that kind of person.

The lights inside were all lavender-tinted and under the bar there was another blueish-purple neon strip illuminating it. The decor was all black marble-finish, with more illuminated neon signs on the walls that were covered in white fairy lights. It was pretty difficult to really make anything out through the ambience. Jisung considered this was probably what was deemed a ‘cool’ place to hang out for regular people his age.  

They sat at the main bar, which was mirrored and wrapped around in a semi-circle. There were only two other guys there and Changbin and Jisung propped themselves up at the other side directly below the ever-so-trendy 'Gin O'Clock' sign.

Jisung told Changbin that he would just have 'whatever he was having' which was a mistake, as Jisung was greeted with a pint of some kind of flavoured stout. He wasn't sure if there was a slight chocolate aftertaste, but it did actually make it slightly more bearable.

What Jisung wouldn't do for a Watermelon Mojito with lime-

"So, I never asked, why are you even in Yongin, anyway?" Changbin asked spinning slightly to face him and, sipping on the froth of his drink.   

"Um, needed to clear my head a little..." Jisung waivered, looking down at his hands as he spun his glass slightly in his palms. He needed to find a realistic excuse. "Plus I... I have a relative here."

"No, you don't." Changbin said, looking him directly in the eye with a smirk on his face.

Oh yeah, he forgot Changbin would always call him out on his bullshit. This wasn’t Hyunjin we were dealing with, here.

"Okay... Fine." He put his hands up as if he were surrendering for a moment. "Honestly, me and Hyunjin kind of aren't really speaking and I went through like... I don't know, a break-up kind of, I guess? I mean, we weren’t like official or… I don't really know. I just needed to clear my head. Yongin is pretty good place for that kind of thing." He cupped his drink in his palm and took a sip.

"You're not wrong man, and I'm sorry to hear that. But honestly, I'm glad you messaged, things were getting a little stale in the studio, it's nice to have you around." Changbin placed his hand on Jisung's shoulder and shook him just a little.

It was a nice gesture and Jisung really appreciated it more than he let on. Changbin continued,

"Don't look right now, but the girl with the short black hair on the table three down from us is so watching you, man." Changbin said, poking his eyebrows in the direction of the mirror behind the bar. They could see the reflection of a few of the closer tables. 

Oh yeah.

Changbin didn't know that he literally could not care less about some random girl looking at him. In fact, he probably thinks that Jisung had been through a breakup with a girl and this would be a good way to get his mind off of it…

He looked in her direction in the mirror. She was cute. Definitely not his type though...

It was at this point, that Jisung realised, she wasn't looking at him because he was so deathly attractive, or at least, not entirely. She had her phone out, she was looking at him, and then her phone with a questioning expression. Her other friend looked uncertain, too, like they had seen something, like...

The articles...

Jisung had totally forgotten his picture had been all over the top-trending sites this morning. She looked like she was trying to summon the courage to get up and look at him to confirm if it were him or not. Jisung pushed his head down lower and took a gulp of his drink. If he weren’t in a bar, he’d put his hood up, he thought.  

"Wow, you're still no good at flirting." Changbin laughed, taking another sip of his beer.

“I think I need something stronger than this…” Jisung said sarcastically.

“Tequila, it is.” Changbin said, with a wide toothy grin spreading across his face.  

After a few more pints, two rounds of tequila slammers, two smooth sojus each and a fruit cider or two, the conversation between them was definitely more animated than before, to say the least.

Jisung couldn’t remember the last time he laughed this hard. It felt like a well-deserved dose of serotonin because damn, he was severely lacking it. Everything felt way more enhanced than before, like every little joke that Changbin made was literally the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

Strange, considering Changbin was the butt of the jokes, most of the time.

Luckily, the two girls had stopped watching him and left the bar, presumably to continue their night elsewhere, so Jisung felt more comfortable letting himself go a little. He had even grown to like the taste of most of the things he was drinking, which was odd.

He should have known by this point, that him and alcohol were never a particularly great mix.

---

"Wait, wait. So, let me get this straight.” Changbin slightly slurred, leaning closer in to Jisung to whisper to him, as Jisung had done to him. “So, you're dating Lee Minho?!”

"Was, dating Lee Minho... Not really anymore." Jisung whispered back messily.

"The famous actor and singer, Lee Minho?"

"The very same." Jisung half-murmured, in between bittersweet giggles and the odd hiccup.

"And now you're not dating anymore because Minho's email was hacked, and someone followed him somewhere, and they took photos of you and money was taken from an account...or something...And you were trending… And now he thinks it's you, but it isn't you?"

"That's... That's pretty much the gist of it, yeah." Jisung grabbed his third vodka shot, downing it in one.

"Well... Shit man. That's... That's nuts." Changbin said in disbelief, wide-eyed.

"Yep." Jisung said, matter-of-factly.

Changbin suddenly burst in to laughter and that in tandem made Jisung laugh, too. Luckily being around Changbin had mellowed him out a little, it was definitely a good idea to come here. If he were on his own, there was no way he would be finding this situation funny at all.

The alcohol probably helped, too.

He was also internally impressed that Changbin hadn’t made a big deal about him being interested in guys. In fact, as soon as Jisung mentioned it, he didn’t really say anything at all. It wasn’t Jisung’s intention to even mention it at all, but he considered he was a very open and emotional drunk and he wanted someone to complain to.

Why would I think that Changbin would have a problem with it? He didn’t know why he gave the other man so little credit. Changbin was such a good guy, Jisung thought.

"But on the level; you actually didn't do it?" Changbin asked jokingly. Poking him in the middle of his chest.

"No, I didn't!" Jisung replied, swatting his hand away, nearly losing his balance.

"Why not? Dude must have had tons of money!" Changbin scoffed and Jisung just gave him 'the eyes'. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" He snorted.

"It's just the timing, it's just bad. Plus, Hyunjin was hired there at the same time and he's getting all these roles in the company, so it just makes it look ‘extra suspicious’." He added little quotation marks with his fingers to add emphasis his words. It was something he’d learnt from western comedy shows. He didn’t really know what it actually meant, though.

"And you're sure it's not just your friend, trying to one-up him or something? From what you've told me about him he is a bit dramatic." Changbin commented.

"He is, but he honestly he wouldn't hurt a fly. I just... He's been off too because of his... I don't know... Boyfriend, maybe? I don't know what they are. It's Minho's agent, Mr. Bang, I seriously can't help thinking he had something to do with it, but he was so nice to me last time we spoke. I'm probably just out of my mind…” Jisung’s eyes wandered off to the bottom of his pint glass.

Another one down.

Changbin suddenly cocked his eyebrow, leaning in closer to him.

"Mr. Bang? What, as in Bang Chan, the producer? From JYP?" His tone had shifted a little bit.

"You know him?" Jisung said, trying to shake out the last few drips of his drink from the bottom of the glass by tipping it upside down.

"Know him? I know him very well. He arranged the first version of Streetlight for me." Changbin said with a sigh, looking back to his own drink.

You have got to be kidding. Every single one of the three people in his life somehow knew Bang Chan. The World-renowned producer.

Gag.

Jeez, give me a break, Jisung thought.

"Dude is sketchy as hell Jisung, Lee Minho's doing you a favour by not hanging around you when he's on the scene, I'm telling you." Jisung looked up to the older man, catching his soured expression. He wasn’t pulling that face because of the taste of his drink, either.

"What do you mean?" Jisung enquired, finishing up with a hiccup.  

“He interviewed me for JYP, not long ago. Dude was full-on, like super full-on. Then he ripped me off ‘cause I wouldn't go on a fucking date with him or something. Such a weirdo." Changbin took his penultimate sip of drink before continuing. "I told him I didn't like guys and he ripped me off." he said, chuckling into his drink as he finished it.

"He ripped you off?" Jisung's mouth dropped wide open.

"Yeah, he told me that if I released my song with his arrangements, he'd get me ‘black-listed from ever working in Seoul’. So, I ended up taking it to a different producer and he found out somehow and he was mad about that, too. Then he started back-tracking saying I wasn't his 'style' anyway." He scoffed. "Dude is seriously nuts."

"When was this?" Jisung asked.

"I don't know, five or six weeks back, when I first sent you the track in its entirety." Changbin said with a little uncertainty.

Just before Hyunjin's 'audition', Jisung thought. Well, it adds up. He tried it with Changbin, Changbin rejected him, and then went for Hyunjin and now they're dating.

Nothing suspicious there. Right?

"Honestly, dude wouldn't stop messaging me after, telling him how much of a ‘mistake I'd made’ and telling me that he could 'ruin me'. I had to block his number, then he found my personal email address somehow. So weird that you brought him up; I thought I'd shaken him off" He laughed, looking at Jisung’s confused, slightly rattled expression.

"When did you last speak to him?" Jisung said.

"Probably just over a week ago?"

"Only a week ago?!" Jisung exclaimed, so loudly that he darted upwards and so that the bar man gave him ‘the look’. Changbin faintly waved to the man as an apology before lowering Jisung back down to his stool by pushing down on his shoulders.

That, is certainly more suspicious, Jisung thought. That would mean that Chan was pursuing Changbin at the same time as Hyunjin…

"Honestly, I'm not even the first Jisung, I'd been warned about him by some Cube producers before, but I considered I'm pretty tough, I could probably take his shit. That crap went on for ages." Changbin sighed, "You want another?"

"Yes, please. If you don't mind."

He thinks he may have had two to three more.

He wasn't sure, he couldn't really remember.

---

Jisung ended up in the bathroom before they left. It was surprisingly, empty. He noticed that his vision was slightly doubled; hell, it was tripled.

He really wasn't used to it at all.

He didn't really know what he was doing, all he knew is he needed to pee, so, so bad. The seal was well and truly broken.

He placed his palms firmly on either side of the teal-coloured basin to look at himself in the mirror. His eyes were so red and blood-shot and he couldn’t really focus on them. He considered it was a mixture of the tequila, stress, and his severe lack of sleep.

‘You are not drunk; you are slightly tipsy at best. You need to get yourself together. You are a grown-ass adult and you have fucked everything good that you had up somehow.’ he said to himself internally.

Or was it even internally?

He didn't really know if he was speaking out loud or not by this point.

Suddenly, he thought about what Changbin said about Chan, nearly ripping him off. Changbin of all people; he was too good of a guy for Chan to ruin, too.

He was unexpectedly fired up, with twelve-thousand emotions flying around inside his head at once.

He was enraged, at Minho, at Chan, at Hyunjin, at Jeongin, at banana milk, at everything.

Worst of all, he was mad at himself momentarily before he snapped out of it.

No. He didn't deserve this; he hadn't even done anything wrong! Why did everyone treat him like this?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, trying to blink quickly to re-focus his eyes. He could make out the brief, blurred outline of Minho’s photo as his wallpaper, he sneered at it a little. 

There was so much adrenaline coursing through his veins, everything was pulsating.

Firstly, Minho.

Stupid fucking Minho. Who does he think he is? Thinks he is so much better than me, Jisung thought. So charitable and kind for show but behind the scenes he's a douche. Makes me fall for him and then throws me aside because I'm not a 'somebody' like he is.

Yeah. That's what he'd say.

I’m going to tell him that, Jisung said to himself.

He'd not tell him how much he means to him and how much he cares about him. That he's the first person he thinks he's ever fallen for this deeply. He definitely wouldn't tell him how much he can't stand even one day without a message from him.

He hovered over his name, suddenly considering not sending anything.

You're too drunk right now Jisung, this is a dumb idea.

There was a little voice in his head, telling him to stop, but the longer he dwelled on it and the more time that passed, the more numb to it he became.

He typed out his message.

To: ‘,,mmnfjop’

"you have reall y messedf me up. how dare you do this ?yoiuj know i really careabout youy so much an d i havent don antyning wrong. youre' bnreaking myheart"

That's right, isn't it?

He pressed send.

Next on his emotionally-riled-up-agenda, was Hyunjin.

Stupid fucking Hyunjin. Who does he think he is? Gets a job at JYP and now all he cares about is himself, Jisung thought. All he cares about is brand deals and becoming famous. Hyunjin is a superficial, lying jerk. That's why him and Chan are together; because they're so alike, both narcissistic fucking fucktards.

Fuck.

He wouldn't tell him how much he desperately missed his company and how lonely he felt without his best friend to support him and look after him when he was feeling worthless.

To 현진

"you aree supposed to be my nbest friend na dyou have been ignormiong me an di ndont know why or what idid wronbg. eveyr one hates me. an dMinho hates me an d mayvb e it was better if i wasnt even aroujnd anymore."

The message sent.

In his mind it made complete sense, but he was so drunk he didn't really notice the fairly sinister implications of what he had written…

‘Maybe it was better if I wasn’t even around anymore.’

He pushed his phone back in to his jeans pocket, struggling a little with how tight the denim was around his knuckles.

The room was definitely rotating now, he can’t have just been imagining it.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He wrestled with the tight denim pocket again, creeping a few fingers in to try and slide it out. The phone was so loud it made the pressure inside his ears change.

He couldn't read the name; he was too far gone.

"Y-Yes?" He said.

"Jisung, what the hell is going on, what is that text you just sent!?" It was Hyunjin. It sounded like he was being hushed, like someone might be able to hear if he spoke too loudly. Jisung took a wild guess at who it could be who was listening in... "Jisung, please don't do anything stupid, I'm begging you. I can come and see you?" He said frantically.

"W-Who are you with? Why don't you want to speak to me out loud?" Jisung slurred.

"Ji, I'm at the studio, I want to see you, I really do. I can't explain right now but I promise I'll come. You know I care about you so much. Please, stay safe, okay?" Hyunjin begged over the phone.

"Well it’s not gonna happen, Hyunjin. I'm out with another friend right now, so screw you. Who do you think you are? We have been friends for years." Jisung stammered breathlessly.

"Okay, tomorrow then!? I promise I will make time--"

Jisung lost his grip and dropped his phone in to the sink. He saw that the screen shattered, it felt like slow-motion.

The noise startled him, then he slumped to the ground with tears forming in his eyes.

"Jisung?! Jisung?! What happened?!" Could just be faintly heard over the microphone, echoing off the porcelain sink.

Changbin leant forward to take the phone from the basin carefully, making sure not to cut his fingers on the broken glass. He'd snuck in the bathroom whilst Jisung was texting to check if he were okay as he'd been gone over fifteen minutes.

Clearly, he wasn't okay.

He knelt down and put his arm around Jisung’s shoulder, propping the phone up just in front of his ear with his other hand. 

"Um, hi. I went to college with Jisung, I'm a friend. I'll take him back to my spare room and he can sleep it off and I'll send him back home tomorrow, okay?" He said, apologetically.

"Who- Is this Changbin? The music guy?" Hyunjin replied sounding relieved and more animated than before.

"Yeah, it is. I'll look after him, don't worry."

"Oh, thank God. Thank you so, so much Changbin, I owe you."

The other man could tell he really meant it.

"Don't mention it."

Chapter Text

Jisung awoke to the unfamiliar sight of a plain beige room, where he was sleeping on the top bunk of a wooden bunkbed, covered in a cashmere blanket with cartoon pigs on it. Changbin had been shaking him lightly to wake him up, cooing at him, forcing him to grumble at the sunlight peeping through the open window.

Who opens curtains? Ugh.

“Hey man, how are you feeling?” Changbin said gently, handing him a glass of water. Jisung propped himself up using his forearms, he could barely open one eye because of the light.

“I’m feeling like I was hit by a truck, then reversed over, then hit again.” Jisung groaned, accepting the water, and taking a small sip.

“I mean, I can’t say the reality is any better” Changbin laughed at him, rubbing the top of his head like a dog. “I might have saved you, but I couldn’t save your phone, sorry man.” He handed him his phone; it was shattered across the screen. Luckily, he could still read the words on it, as there was no way he could afford to replace it.

“God I’m so sorry, I came here to see you and have a good time, not to have you scrape me off of the bathroom floor…” Jisung whined, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Honestly, seeing you like that was a good time” Changbin retorted. “You were so boring in college.” he scoffed at him.

Jisung reached behind him and swung one of the pillows at Changbin who barely ducked from it, giggling like a school kid.

“Come on, you can borrow some stuff from me, most of your clothes are stained with god-knows-what. Gives me an excuse to have you back at the studio sometime later, yeah?” Changbin smiled at him softly, and Jisung nodded sleepily.

Changbin was such a good guy, Jisung thought. He would love to come back here and finish up that freestyle they had worked on together.

After Changbin had forced Jisung to have some blueberry pancakes on his incredibly questionable stomach and set him up with some joggers and a t-shirt, he also offered to call him a taxi all the way back to his apartment in Seoul.

Jisung politely declined, somewhat amazed at the proposal. The cost of a taxi from Yongin to Seoul would be astronomic. Changbin had already done enough for him this trip, there was no way he could accept that.

He decided to take the train as he hugged Changbin goodbye outside his front door and headed down to his gate.

“Catch you around, you drunken mess!” Changbin shouted at him as he left the front yard.

“Hopefully in the near future, Rich Boy!” Jisung shouted back to him.

He grabbed out his phone to pull up his Naver maps out ready to find the nearest station, angling it to see through the cracks across the screen. He headed down another Yongin-like dirt track, taking in more of the scenery as he did.

Once he had boarded the train, he knew it was a mistake to not take up Changbin’s generous deal.

You should have just accepted the offer, Jisung, he told himself.

The train was so bumpy he felt like he could projectile at any given moment, which probably wouldn’t bode well for the elderly woman sitting next to him who kept giving him daggers the entire journey.

Ick.

---

Once he approached his apartment, he could see four or five photographers outside of his house again. They suddenly became animated as soon as they saw him. He sighed, pushing on ahead and trying to ignore them best he could as they shouted questions at him as he put his keys in the door.

Once inside, he felt relief to finally be at peace. It was always difficult for him to be away from his apartment too long, he always needed time to recharge after doing anything moderately sociable and the vultures outside, didn’t help.

He tossed his keys in the little bowl and headed to the bathroom, taking a couple of painkillers from the cabinet for his headache and splashing his face with water to try and wake himself up a bit. He thought he should really stop looking in mirrors, he never liked the beast that stared back at him. Yikes, he looked even worse than the day after he met Minho, he thought.

He decided he really shouldn’t waste the day. It was only 2:00pm, so he decided to relax and watch some dramas on his big, new TV. He may have ruined his phone, but the TV was a good form of solace for him. Though, it was difficult to find something that he hadn’t already seen, by this point.

On the odd occasion, he got the random motivation to wash up a few dishes and sweep his floor. It made him feel better, somehow. He suddenly felt like an adultier, adult.

It was gone 7:00pm, when he heard a knocking at his back door.

It startled him, no one really ever used that door. He figured it was maybe the vultures going way too far. He got up apprehensively, moving quietly towards the door, making sure he didn’t make his floor creak in the process. His back door didn’t have a peephole, so he tried to look through the keyhole, instead, as it was an old fashioned-style lock that even used a skellington key.

Yes, his apartment really was that old.

Jisung could tell it was Hyunjin, he recognised those eyes anywhere, even when the rest of his face was covered with a black mask. He swiftly crossed back to the key bowl at the front of the living area, skidding across the silky laminate to grab the back-door key.

He turned the tumbler in the back door, struggling with the sticky key a little bit. He pulled the door open just enough to put his head out. He needed to make sure there wasn’t anyone else around.

"Jisung." Hyunjin said, sounding relieved.

“H-Hyunjin? Is there anyone out there?” Jisung asked back.

"There were just one or two photographers out front, so I thought I'd come round this way. Don't worry, I'm covered entirely."

Jisung opened the door a little wider to let the other man in, who was shuddering slightly in the cool air.

Once he was inside, Jisung stood awkwardly, not really knowing what to say, shuffling his socks against the floor. It'd been so long since he'd seen Hyunjin, it felt uncomfortable between them somehow. He couldn't even pretend like it didn't.

"Come... Come in, I guess?"

Hyunjin slipped out of his shoes and proceeded to pull his bag, beanie and mask off, slicking his fingers through his newly long, blonde hair.

"Wow, you make blonde look so much better than me." Jisung said, completely not surprised.

God, everything Hyunjin did was just, better than him.

"Thanks." He said, with a slight awkward smile, struggling to keep eye contact. "Jisung..."

What?" He snapped back.

"I've really missed seeing you, is all."

"Well, that's kind of hard to believe, in all honesty." He said, clapping his hands together sarcastically before spinning himself around and making his way over to the couch, leaving Hyunjin standing in the hall space.

Hyunjin looked nervously around the room, it was like nothing was familiar anymore. Jisung had definitely kept the place tidier, but that wasn't really why he felt unfamiliar. It had been a few weeks since he was here.

"Jisung, you really scared me yesterday, you know that?" His tone had changed. Jisung could tell he was trying to hide his feelings, but honestly, he sucked at it.

"Hyunjin, I was drunk, and I didn't mean to send that, it was just... Dumb." He rolled his eyes and slumped himself down on the right-hand side of his couch with crossed legs. "Anyway, what does it matter?"

"Don't ever say that, you know you matter to me!" Hyunjin said frantically, pacing over to stand next to the TV. Jisung tried to pretend he wasn't really there but he insisted on blocking his view.

"Again, kind of hard to believe, in all honesty." Jisung picked up the remote, and lethargically flicked through the channels.

Hyunjin launched himself down at the other side of the sofa, facing Jisung and grabbing his hands in his palms. He started to shake him.

"Jisung, I'm sorry. I can't even begin to explain how sorry I am. I never want to hear anything like that from you ever. Please just know that it's been hard for me, too, not seeing you." He pleaded.

"Wow Hyunjin, it's been so hard for you, really? Must be so hard being so successful, huh? Everything is so hard for you!" He said, coated with thick, heavy sarcasm. Hyunjin let go of his hands and looked down to his lap ashamedly, exhaling a little, just letting Jisung vent. "You literally ignored me at the JYP canteen in front of all of your new-found idol friends. It didn't seem that 'hard' to me..." He grabbed a cushion, gripping it to his stomach and focusing back on the tv again, pretending as if it made no real odds to him.

He thinks he was pulling it off well. Hyunjin deserved to suffer what he had put Jisung through, he thought.

"I wasn't ignoring you because of them, I just... I really can't explain but just please, trust me, as your best friend, please know that I didn't mean it. It's, really complicated."

"What, us being friends, is suddenly 'complicated'?" He sighed in disbelief. "Let me guess, 'nothing personal', right?" He rolled his eyes, flicking back to a high-school teen melodrama. All the actors looked way too old to be playing high schoolers, in his opinion.

“That’s not what I meant, Ji, please believe me. I’m so sorry.” Hyunjin sighed to himself, the guilt clearly consuming him.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Jisung replied, shrugging him off. It felt petty, but he felt like it was warranted.

Jisung focused on the screen as Hyunjin sunk his head down, settling into a strangely calm atmosphere. He fidgeted in his seat a few times, removing his coat in silence, and slumping it over the arm of the couch.

He positioned himself so he was sitting completely upright with his hands in between his legs anxiously. It was pretty different from their regular cuddlefests and even Jisung realised that he really had missed their skin ship. After a few moments, Hyunjin piped up.

"You've seen this show, before…" He said quietly, barely under his breath, looking at Jisung with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Jisung glanced back at him, and then back to the screen.

"I know, but it's one of my favourite dramas ever, and it's-"

"Your favourite episode." Hyunjin replied. Jisung peeked across to him again.

"Yeah, it's the one where-"

"Eun-byul and Do-hyun have that scene in the greenhouse, on the school rooftop-“

"Yeah, with the slow-dance in the rain and the rainbow and then-"

"Jin-woo sees them then gets jealous and reports them to the Principle."

"Yeah. I freakin' love this episode."

"Me too."

Jisung watched as the other man rose from his seat. Walking across back to the hallway area and unzipping his bag. He fiddled around with it a little before holding up two bags of Kkokkalcorn in one hand and a large bag of honey butter chips in the other.

"I brought snacks..."

Goddamn it, Hyunjin.

Jisung was so weak.

"Well, why didn't you say so? I'm starving." Jisung responded.

---

Eun-byul, you have been my best friend since we were kids. I would never do such a thing! I would never hurt you, it's all a misunderstanding! Jisung mimed along, munching on his salted popcorn snacks a little too loudly in his excitement, gripping at the cushion on his lap.

Jin-woo, you have been hiding things from me, I know it was you who framed me and Do-hyun. I honestly can't even recognise you anymore! Hyunjin dramatically mouthed, flicking his head to the side dramatically, clutching at his chest.

"Wait, wait, here it comes, here it comes!" Jisung shouted, rising from his seat pre-emptively. Hyunjin leaned up on his knees to deliver the killing line with him in chorus.

"You're not the person I thought you were!" They shouted.

"Ooooooooh!" they both screeched, scrunching their fists up and kicking their feet against the couch like school children.

Hyunjin grabbed on to Jisung's arm in excitement, locking his fingers across his forearm, and it sent a strange, familiar warmth through him.

Jisung gripped his arm back, clutching at his bicep excitedly.

He was surprisingly more muscular than Jisung remembered.

"Woah, have you been like, working out or something?" Jisung asked, slightly confused at his newfound mass.

"Yeah, I kinda have.” Hyunjin said, stifling a laugh.

“Ew, first you ignore me, then you become someone who exercises… I can’t even recognise you anymore!” Jisung mocked, quoting the line from the drama. He and Hyunjin laughed among themselves for a little while. Hyunjin continued, a little breathless from the laughter.

“The agency says it's best to keep myself fit, especially because I'm doing this photoshoot soon where I have to be like, just draped in a sheet or something and it's in black and white so I want to look good, I don't know. All I know is I've been working hard at it! It’s killer.”

"Just, draped in a sheet?" Jisung asked, picking up literally only that part of the conversation. He mostly droned the rest out.

"Yeah, like, it's some artistic thing about the male form, or something. I don't know." He said, rather nonchalantly for Jisung's taste.

"What, you'll be like, naked?" Jisung asked, wincing.

"Ew man!” He punched Jisung lightly on the arm. “Don't think of it like that! It will be a tasteful shoot. All professionals, really renowned photographer, too."

"Hyunjin? You're literally the man who won't even wear a button up unless it's buttoned right to the top?" Jisung said, slack-jawed.

Hyunjin fidgeted in his seat, pushing a strand of hair out of his eyes, still trying to keep the conversation fairly light.

"Jisung it's no big deal, I'm 22 years old now, I'm an adult. You know I've into that kind of photography style myself."

No, he didn't know that.

"Is that what you're telling yourself, or is that what Chan is telling you?" Jisung asked. He couldn’t really believe that Hyunjin would actually sign up for that kind of thing.

Hyunjin looked at him suddenly, his brows furrowing a little. He placed his hands in his lap, rubbing at his left palm with this right thumb. Jisung noticed that he couldn't even look him in the eye for some reason.

"It's just another job, Jisung." He said, reassuringly, shaking his head.

"I mean... Whatever you're in to, I guess!" Jisung shouted sarcastically.

"Jisung please keep it down, you're being a little melodramatic..." Hyunjin groaned.

"Keep it down? Why so secretive Hyunjin? No point in hiding it; people will literally see you. And I mean like... All of you." Jisung retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I mean, he-Chan, says it's not for a big brand or anything, it's like a smaller up-and-coming company, and he said it would be like, tasteful and artistic and it could open a lot of doors for me outside of food brands."

"Oh my god, this is insanity. I knew Chan would have something to do with this. Could you even imagine what your parents would say if they saw-" Jisung flopped back in his seat in disbelief, shaking his head.

He knew Hyunjin was a bit of a yes-man, but this was on another level.

"Hyunjin, you're so new to this and you're just starting to get recognised, why on Earth would you need to do this so early in your career for...?" There was a long pause whilst he decided what to say next.

He needed to say it.

He needed to.

This was probably the only opportunity he was going to get. Jisung continued,

“What the hell is going on between you and Chan? Like, I'm serious.” Jisung said, cutting to the chase.

He had been wanting to ask for longer than he realised. It had been so pent up inside of him for so long.

“Jisung, please don’t start, you know what it's like-" Hyunjin scoffed.

“No, actually Hyunjin I don't. At all. I haven't understood this for a long time now." He paused. "So what, is this for real then?”

“What do you mean?”

"So, you’re… What, you’re not straight anymore or, experimenting, or what? What gives?”

"What on Earth are you talking about!?" Hyunjin replied with a cynical tone.

"Hyunjin. You know I would never force anyone to label themselves anything but... Every time I saw you two, you were all over each other. What do you expect me to think? You said it's for show but, I noticed some things... Do you have feelings for him, or something? I'm seriously not convinced he'd be entirely faithful to you Hyunjin, I'm just worried about you."

Jisung placed his arm on Hyunjin’s shoulder, it suddenly made the taller man wince. Jisung was a little shocked at his minor flare-up.

"Jisung, it's totally not like that at all. It's just part of the deal, you know that." He said, rather monotonously. He looked back to the TV. “I’ve already told you.”  

Jisung wasn't particularly in the mood to be patronised. Something inside of him suddenly sparked, he wasn’t about to be made to feel like he was in the wrong, again. He continued,

"You know... I saw you and him after your Seoul Foods shoot." Hyunjin snapped back to look at him, looking a little lost for words. "I went to surprise you, but he told me I wasn't allowed to see you." Hyunjin furrowed his brow in confusion, a little taken-aback. "I came back afterwards despite of what he said, but you were with him. I know I should have told you and I know I shouldn't have been spying or whatever but... Hyunjin, for some kind of 'deal' that's exclusive to 'functions and lunches' you sure were enjoying whatever was going on under your shirt."

Jisung was a little embarrassed to tell Hyunjin any more than that. Hopefully, he got the message because he really didn't want to elaborate.

“What did... What did you see?" Hyunjin said, Jisung couldn’t quite make out what expression he was giving him, which was odd for them. He looked guilty, Jisung thought.

"Enough, trust me. I don't care if you're confused or whatever, I just don't like it when you lie to me about something that import-"

"-Jisung, I wasn't lying, we are not together. I told you I'm straight. I'm just, I don't know." He pushed his bangs aside a little, tensing up in his chair before taking a moment to regain his composure, searching for the right words to say. "It's- it's just easier to get picked for brand things this way, that's all it is."

"Wait, so you're honestly just letting him throw himself all over you for the sake of a few gigs?"

"I just—” He stammered, before recovering his poise again. “There’s this really big brand that’s interested and I need Chan to pick me for it, it’s like, a sub-brand of Yves Saint Laurent but it's going to be a big campaign-”

“You're joking." Jisung recoiled, totally stunned. "Do you actually hear yourself? Are you that desperate for these jobs that you'd do this kind of stuff? Jesus Christ Hyunjin. What happened to ‘I want to be a dancer? or 'I want people to appreciate my dancing and not my looks'?

"Jisung stop, you're really being too much right now." Hyunjin said holding his hand up at him.

Usually, when Hyunjin told Jisung he was 'being too much' it was usually because he was right.

"I'm being too much?! What the fuck?" Jisung snapped.

Hyunjin looked at him in confusion at his sudden eruption.

"I'm an adult, I can do what I want Jisung... Plus, I know you and Minho are probably mad at me because I was picked for the Seoul Foods shoot over him but please don't take your anger out on me because you know I hate it when you do that--

"-What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Minho's obviously mad because the deal was his, and I was hired for it over him. You're his boyfriend now so you're all antsy over it too, I guess. I can't help that kind of thing Jisung, it's not my fault they chose me over him."

Jisung was dumbfounded.

"Firstly, Minho is not my boyfriend. He ditched me about as quickly as you did. Secondly, Minho didn't give a shit about that kind of stuff anyway Hyunjin. Money didn't matter that much to him, as it apparently does to you." He got up from his seat abruptly, pacing across to the window. Hyunjin jumped up after him, following suit to argue back.

"Oh yeah, so now I'm the bad guy for caring about my job and reputation? Maybe Minho should worry about money a little more, then he wouldn't have to resort to stealing money from a charity."

Jisung quickly spun back around to look at him in disbelief. He could feel himself balling his fists in fury.

"What?! That was a fake rumour, how the hell did you even know about that?!"

"Jeongin told me what happened, honestly with what Chan says about him, I can't say I'm surprised." He said, scoffing and tutting his head up.

"I- I honestly can't even recognise you anymore." Jisung said in astonishment. "Being in this company; it's fucked you up or something, I don't know." He couldn't even begin to fathom what the hell was going on in the other man’s head. He felt his lip shaking a little.

"Oh, please Jisung. I'm just trying to do what's best for me and my career. Why can you just never be happy for me, why have you always got to patronise me and make me feel like I'm the bad guy? What do you want me to do, give Minho my deals?!"

"You're not the person I thought you were, Hyunjin." He gritted his teeth, no longer able to hold it back. "Tell you what, instead of that, how about you go back to your tasteful nudes and your shitty little show-boyfriend, hmm? And whilst you're at it, how about you find yourself some self-respect, because you clearly fucking need it these days!"

Jisung was so filled to the brim with rage. He had never fought with Hyunjin like this, ever, in the entirety of their friendship.

Jisung's heart was beating so fast in his chest, it really, really hurt.

In every conceivable way imaginable.

A silence filled the room again. This time, it was piercing. Jisung felt like his entire body had turned to stone. All they could hear was the sound of Jisung's laptop humming softly in the background and the sound of the builders on the scaffolding out the back side of the apartment complex in the distance.

Hyunjin suddenly stormed back to the couch and snatched his coat from the armrest, promptly turning heel to head towards the back door in a frenzy. Jisung could hear how breathless he sounded.

Jisung watched as Hyunjin viciously grabbed the door handle and pulled it down with force until the catch clicked.

Then, he just stood there, looking at the door for a moment.

His head dropped down, then he released the handle, letting his arm slump to his side.

Jisung heard him exhale loudly.

Another silence.

It was deafening by this point.

Jisung didn’t know what was happening.

"I'm scared of what will happen, if I say I don't want to do the shoot." Hyunjin sluggishly turned a little, just enough so Jisung could see his nose’ profile.

Jisung was still fired up, panting heavily. He didn't handle confrontation well, so he felt like he could cry at any moment. Hyunjin probably looked the same if not worse, knowing him. He continued,

"I wasn't enjoying it, whatever you saw after the shoot. I never have. I hate it, it makes me feel awful, Jisung. I just don't really know what to do about it." He turned back slowly to face him, exhaling to calm himself down. “I can’t stand him touching me like that.”

Jisung moved forward towards him apprehensively, closing the space between them.

He grabbed at him suddenly, taking his wrists in both hands. It was slightly more forceful than he had intended but he was still riled up from his previous upsurge.

"What...? What on Earth do you mean by that?" Jisung asked in shock.

"Well, it's just that, you're right. I am letting him do what he wants, but it's not because of the deals, that's just how I try to justify it, I guess. It's..." Jisung could see his bottom lids brimming with tears. He looked upwards and took a large breath in to stifle them but Jisung knew it was only a matter of time. "I think he wants me to do the shoot because, he'll be there, looking at me, like that. I don’t know."

"What, why would he…? What are you talking about Hyunjin? Tell me." Jisung knew Hyunjin too well to know that this wasn't the end of the story.

He suddenly felt his stomach doing kick-flips inside of him.

Jisung could see Hyunjin's breathing had shallowed; as he looked at him, he realised that he looked exhausted, he could barely make eye contact with him. "Hwang Hyunjin, you tell me right now. I'm serious." Jisung swallowed, hard. "Has he ever, tried anything with you, when you didn't... Or--" Jisung struggled with the words.

He couldn't really believe what he was hearing let alone find the right words to describe it. He’d never been in a situation like this before.

"Jisung, please don't, it's too much right n-" His voice shattered.

There it was again, it's too much.

"Hyunjin, I'm serious. Has he tried anything with you?"

"It's just, maybe it's nothing, it's really… We might’ve--"

Hyunjin's voice hitched mid-sentence again and Jisung could tell that was it.

Floodgates open.

Jisung fought back the unease in his stomach. His vision went a little hazy in his panic.

He yanked the taller boy forward to meet him in a tight embrace, cupping his hand behind his head. Hyunjin squeezed him tightly in return and allowed himself to cry. Jisung could hear his sobs as he buried his head over Jisung's shoulder. His chin was bony but Jisung didn't care.

"Hyunjin, why didn't you tell me? You know we tell each other everything?"

"I'm- I'm so sorry Jisung, I didn't know what to do, I was… I was embarrassed that I let it get that far and I didn't... I don't know, I'm- so- sorry." He could barely get the words out through hitched breaths.

Jisung stroked his back a little with his other hand.

“It’s okay, it’s okay” he hummed to him.

"Chan said that I wasn’t allowed to see you anymore and I couldn't talk to anyone else about it so I didn’t know where to go. I was worried what he would do if I didn't listen to him, that's why I didn't speak to you at the canteen, because I saw he was there with you. I've honestly missed you so much, I'm so sorry." He sobbed.

"Don't be sorry Hyunjin, I'm the one who should be sorry. Jesus, I'm so fucking sorry Hyunjin-"

"I didn't mean that stuff I said- I just--"

"I know, don't worry about that right now. This is about you; you need to be safe." Jisung squeezed him a tighter until his knuckles went a little white. "That's it then. You are getting out of that company Hyunjin. I don't care about the money, I don't care what you've been promised, we are getting you out of that company, that's final. I don't want anything to do with that man- that thing."

"But… Minho? What will happen when--"

Jisung cut him off abruptly.

"I told you, Minho and I aren't together, Hyunjin. He called it all off after the photos came out. Did you not see?"

"No, I'm sorry. Chan made me delete my social media pages, I haven't seen anything online for weeks."

That fucking... Ugh. 

"It's okay. Look, stop crying." He pulled back a little to force eye contact with him, cradling either side of his head with both hands. He swiped each thumb over his cheeks to wipe the tears away and pry his eyes open a little more.

"Anyway, how dare you think I would ever put a guy over your safety. You're my best friend Hyunjin, don't you ever think that, ever, I'm fucking serious." Jisung was almost shouting, and the outburst caused his lip to quiver a little and then, just like that, they were both crying.

Hyunjin's weight gave in to Jisung's shoulder.

---

Suddenly, Jisung's phone started ringing.

He let it go to voicemail.

Chapter Text

Voicemail(1) UNKNOWN NUMBER

"Hi, um, Jisung. It's Jeongin, from JYP. I just wanted to um- I don't know. I wanted to...
Look, I really need to talk to you. I know you don't really know me and I understand if you don't want to talk to me again because I wouldn't want to talk to me either. I know you're probably mad at me; I told you I wouldn't tell Mr Bang on you and I did, I just didn't know what to do. If you're mad, I totally understand.

Anyway, it's about Minho. I'm kind of worried about him and I have some stuff I need to tell you. 

It's my day off on Sunday, so if you can I'd like to speak to you in private. Please let me know, I guess. I'm really sorry again.

I'll bring Pepero snacks, I promise!

Um, yeah.
Let me know, bye." 

Chapter Text

A few days had passed since Jisung received Jeongin’s voicemail, and today was Sunday.

Since the news about him and Minho was squashed, he considered he didn’t really have anything to lose by seeing the younger man.

JYP had released an ‘official statement’, implying that Jisung was a one-time Producer of whom Minho was collaborating with for one of the songs on his up-and-coming album; nothing more than that. Since then, the photographers had stopped swarming his apartment complex, much to Jisung’s bittersweet relief.

He was happy to be away from the cameras, but mostly it made Jisung feel like it really was the end. When Minho had expressed his desire to ‘put a hold’ on their relationship, he thought there was a slim chance that it could be rekindled, but now, he wasn’t so sure.

Chan had painted him to be such a bad guy, he wasn’t surprised that Minho wanted nothing to do with him. He knew it was a risky move to try and stay involved; Minho hadn’t even contacted him once since he ended it, not even responding to Jisung’s drunken text. Even Hyunjin had responded to that text, and he was literally banned from even speaking to him by that creep. 

Maybe he was being overly attached, he thought. After all, it had only been a few months that they had known each other so maybe Minho had gotten over it by now.

Or maybe Jisung just liked him more than he liked Jisung.

Which wouldn’t be surprising, he thought.

So why was he here, sitting in park, awaiting news from Jeongin about him?

He waited patiently next to the gravel path on the rickety wooden bench. The bench was pretty hidden behind some taller pine trees and he was sitting next to a pretty, pink camellia bush. Jisung always loved the smell of flowers, they calmed him somewhat and helped him relax his breathing.

It was murky outside, and fairly humid; making him sweat a little uncomfortably in his green hoodie. He considered Jeongin probably didn’t want to be seen around the JYP building, but a park was pretty much as cliché as one could be for a secret meeting location…

He felt like Forest Gump sitting on his lonesome whilst runners and dog walkers walked past him with their significant others and friends.

God, he hated people, especially happy ones.  

He wanted to be mad at the intern, too, but honestly, there was something about him. He was way too charming for his own good, even when he was being a little shit. He remembers how ashamed Jeongin looked in the canteen, it almost made him feel sorry for him.

He heard the sound of bike tyres crunching on the loose gravel of the carpark that connected to the path. Over the hill he could see the intern coming in to view rapidly over the horizon on his bike. He was in a mint-green graphic t-shirt with light blue overalls hanging off of one arm. They were ripped at the knees and rolled up at the bottom. Jisung considered it to be way too hot for overalls but beauty is pain, he thought. Maybe fashion is the same.

“Jisung, you came!” he shouted in relief, whilst hopping off one side of his bike. He kicked the stand and propped the bike up, wiping the sweat from his brow and heading over in Jisung’s direction.

“Well, you said you were going to bring Pepero snacks... How could I refuse?” Jisung said half-heartedly.

“Thank you.” He swung his backpack off and actually took a bag of Pepero White Chocolate Twists out, to Jisung’s surprise.  

“I’m sorry for telling on you before. Mr. Bang said I could lose my job if I lied; I didn’t know what to do. I’m so sorry Jisung.” He apologised, handing the snacks to him, and bowing a little. “You’ve been really nice to me and I let you down and it made you look bad.”

“It’s okay, I know what it’s like. He’s pretty… He’s a-” Jisung searched for the words, but nothing could really describe Chan, other than-

“-A dick.” Jeongin interrupted, completely without remorse.

“Yeah, that…” Jisung chuckled.

They both laughed between them, which relaxed the tension in the air. Jeongin swung himself on to the bench next to Jisung. It shook so much that Jisung thought the wobbly bench slats would fall apart at the slightest touch; much like his entire life.

They shared a few of the snacks but they had mostly melted into a puddle of white chocolate in a bag with some cookie floating around in it due to the heat.

---

“You said that you were worried about Minho, is he okay?” Jisung asked innocently, he tried to be blasé; not really knowing if Jeongin knew what had happened between them in its entirety.

For all Jisung knew, Jeongin could be in on it, too, so he had to keep his guard up at least a fraction.

“Yeah. Well. I think Mr. Bang is… like, holding Minho captive or something…” He said nonchalantly.

“What?!” Jisung recoiled at his comment, jolting the bench again.

“Not like, physically!” Jeongin replied, holding his hands out in front of him defensively then dropping them to steady the bench before it caved in.

“Oh, sheesh. Find the words first, then say them second…” Jisung said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Well. It’s just that, he’s not really been himself and Mr. Bang follows him everywhere, and I should know, because I follow him everywhere… Minho seems really miserable, since, well…” He floundered his words a little. “Ever since the news about you and him came out. Since then, Chan hasn’t really left his side.”

Ah. So Jeongin did know. Jisung held his head lower, a twinge of resentment flowering in his heart. Minho had really been miserable because of him. He knew the bad publicity would affect him, but he didn’t know it would make him miserable.

Jisung wondered if Jeongin thought he was the stalker, too.

“And it’s… It’s Mr. Bang, that cause all of this… I think.”

“What do you mean?” Jisung questioned.

He looked at the younger man. He noticed that he tried to speak a few times but clearly couldn’t find the words, and his hands were shaking in his lap.

Jisung watched as he audibly swallowed.

“Mr. Bang followed you and Minho to your apartment, that time, when you were together.” Jisung raised his head to look at the younger man in astonishment. “I think he took that photo of you two, outside of your house and sent it in… You know, to Dispatch, and those other big gossip websites…”

“What?! Are you sure?” He questioned, turning his body to face him intently.

“Yes, well, I’m not 100% exactly, but I’m pretty sure because… Because, well, I was there, in the car...” He floundered a little, raising his shoulders up to his ears before dropping them down again.

“W-What?!” Jisung yelped.  

“I was in the car too… Chan said he would take me home, which I knew was weird because my house isn’t anywhere near his apartment. I don’t know why I accepted it; I knew he was being too nice to me. He has been doing that recently; he has been being kinder to me, like, more skin ship and stuff. Paying me compliments… It’s kind of creepy. Turns out, I think it was because my house is kind of close to yours and he wanted an excuse to go there.”

Jisung hoped that that was the only reason he was being friendlier than usual. He listened to him intently as he tried to take in what he was hearing. He let the younger continue,

“He had called Minho and let him know about the news about being kicked off of his charity thing and told me we were going to stop by on my way home and pick Minho up because he was upset. Chan got out of the car, I thought to meet him. I wasn’t really paying too much attention; I was playing a game on my phone, but I heard the camera sound and it made me look out of the window. It was dark and the windows were tinted so it wasn’t super clear. Suddenly he comes back in, without Minho. He said Minho had got his own car instead, so we didn’t have to pick him up after all... I noticed his phone though; it was still on the camera mode when he got back in.”

Jisung thought back again. The second car leaving the carpark that he had seen leave through the window… Could it have been a black Lamborghini…?

“When I saw the photos online, I knew I recognised the place even though I wasn’t paying much attention.” Jeongin said. “I’m sorry it took me until now to tell you, but I didn’t really know how to get hold of you...”

Jisung suddenly thought back to the Jungsik restaurant, too. The only person not in the photos of them together, was Chan. Chan did keep stepping out to ‘take calls’ throughout their time in the restaurant but Jisung considered this was probably pretty normal as Chan was usually glued to his phone anyway. 

Interesting.

“Wow…” Jisung tried to process the material in his mind. “Why would Chan want to expose us? He spent pretty much his entire time trying to keep us a secret from the public.” Jisung questioned.

“I’m not sure. I think he wanted you away from JYP, and maybe this was the easiest way, but I’m not really sure why…”

Jisung knew exactly why Chan wanted him out of the picture.

Chan had no intention to try and win Hyunjin over romantically, he was just using him for some sick little fantasy in the meantime. Like a side-quest in a video game. That would explain why he was seeking out Changbin at the same time as him, too. He shuddered at the thought.

His real goal was always Minho.

He should have trusted his own instinct about the older man from the start.

“I know it’s none of my business Jisung, but I feel like I owe you a little, after getting you in to trouble… Minho, I want you to know that he misses you a lot. I think he thinks you have given up on him since the photos came out. He seems really unhappy without you, which is gross, but it’s true.” Jeongin said, grimacing. “I just don’t want Mr. Bang to take advantage of how miserable he is…”

“If he missed me, why wouldn’t he just get a message to me or something to me? Does he not speak to Hyunjin, or anything?” Jisung asked.

“Hyunjin and Minho don’t really talk anymore, I don’t know why.” Jeongin said, a little dejected. “Us three used to talk and go out to eat a lot but recently Hyunjin and him haven’t really been speaking much. I think something happened between them but I’m not sure.” He shrugged, looking back down to the ground.

A particular comment that Hyunjin had made about Minho in their argument at his apartment the other day stood out to Jisung for some reason.

“…Honestly with what Chan says about him, I can't say I'm surprised.”

Whatever it was Chan had told Hyunjin, it obviously painted Minho in a bad light.

What did Chan possibly have to gain from pitting Hyunjin and Minho against each other?

This weird, wild, web of whatever-it-was was getting far too complicated for Jisung’s liking. All he knew was that the spider, was definitely Chan. With how out-of-control this whole situation had gotten, he could compare him to Aragog, but Chan definitely wasn’t that gigantic.

He took a breath.

“Well, Minho messaged me to say that we were over, Jeongin. If he missed me, he could have texted me any time after that. He ended it with me a while back.” Jisung rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to give himself false hope, but if he had pushed Minho back into the arms of Chan, he’d never forgive himself.

“Well… That’s kind of the other thing I needed to talk to you about…” Jeongin said, lowering his head down. Jisung turned back to him.

Jeongin slowly reached into his overall pocket, digging around in it for a few seconds.

“I found it in Chan’s drawer when I was filling up the snacks. I decimated two bags of Lotte Milk Mints in one sitting so I needed to fill it up again… It’s Minho’s phone. I charged it and found your number, that’s how I was able to contact you.” He held the phone out to him.

“What?” Jisung grabbed the phone, taking it in to his hands and looking it over. He acknowledged the recognizable black phone case with the striped strap across it. It had his credit card in the card holder on the back. Jisung had always thought it was pretty dangerous to hold your card with your phone, but Minho was trusting of everyone in the company for whatever reason.

He swiped across the screen, 26 messages, 9 missed calls, 4 voicemails. Damn, that was probably more correspondence than Jisung had ever received in his life.

He didn’t know the passcode, so he couldn’t check to see who they were from.

Not that he would.

He definitely wasn’t that nosey.

…Well.

Jisung also noticed that his background was a photo of him. Minho had often texted him until the early morning, which would usually descend into them sending half-gross, half-endearing selfies to each other to see who could send the weirdest one. One of his random 1:00am selfie chain pictures, was Minho’s background. He was doing his usual ‘puffed-up-cheeks and boxy smile’ with a complimentary sideways peace sign that Minho liked. His heart fluttered, just a little.

“Does Minho know it’s in there? Did Chan like, confiscate it or something?” He cringed at the absurdity of it, but actually, he didn’t put it past Chan considering he’d banned Hyunjin from keeping social media accounts. Plus, Minho had always said that he was controlling when they were… ‘Together’, too.

Ugh.

“That’s just it… Minho said he lost it a week or so ago. He’s been looking for it for a while and Mr. Bang just acts like he doesn’t know anything about it… He even bought him a new phone because they couldn’t find it...” Jeongin took the phone back from his hands, placing it back in his overalls. “I need to put this back before he realises it’s gone tomorrow but I had to bring it to show you I wasn’t lying.”

Jisung took out his own phone from his jeans pocket, checking through the last messages. The last message Minho sent him. He scanned over it.

Maybe Minho had had a change of heart, but he wasn’t physically able to message Jisung back to call off their break after everything calmed down...

That wouldn’t explain the official statement he released, though.

“That credit card in Minho’s phone case. I have used that card before when Chan has sent me on coffee errands and stuff. I just know it; I recognise it.” Jeongin said. “The card was cancelled because Minho couldn’t find it, so it can’t be traced back but I’m sure it’s probably got something to do with his donation being retracted. I don’t know how long it was missing for…”

Jisung felt light-headed at all the new information. Jeongin continued,

“... I don’t know. Recently, I’ve felt, kind of weird about Mr. Bang, I can’t put my finger on it. But I don’t think Minho will believe me personally, and I don’t want anyone to know I’ve been snooping around, or I’ll lose my internship and I’m so close to finishing. All I know is, Mr. Bang is stopping him from contacting you, Jisung. I think you need to try and speak to him; not that it’s any of my business or anything.”

“How though?! I don’t even know what to do Jeongin. I can’t just waltz in to the JYP building and demand an audience with him. I’m sure Chan probably has my face on a dartboard, or something.” Jisung said in awe.

He was sure Nails and Blondie had probably been in on the whole thing somehow, he never liked them quite as much as Maskless and Poloshirt. The whole of JYP had probably found out what had happened by now. Maybe they would have a ransom for his capture.

“Minho and Chan are going to Jungsik Restaurant tomorrow for a ‘business lunch’ at 2:00pm, you’ll find him there. The man and lady there, they’re Minho’s friends that he’s known since he was a kid. I’ve met them a lot of times and Minho always insists on going there over anywhere else. Please don’t tell anyone I told you, I could get in serious trouble for leaking schedules. Please.”

“Yeah, I know the place. And don’t worry, I won’t, I promise.” Jisung held his pinkie out, linking it with the younger mans and shaking it.

“You’ll have to see him tomorrow, as Minho’s schedule has suddenly become much, much busier recently, all these new deals and stuff that Chan is scoring him. You won’t get many opportunities.” Jeongin warned.

“Got it. Thank you Jeongin.” Jisung said, releasing his pinkie.

“Don’t mention it, I hope it all works out for you, Jisung. You’re kind of a cool guy, I guess. Your fashion sense really sucks, though. Sorry but I can’t help you with that.” He slapped his hands down on his denim-clad knees to push himself up from the bench, shaking it as he departed.

Jisung scoffed at him warmly.

He watched as the intern kicked the stand back up against his wheel and swung one leg over the bike. He secured his bag straps firmly around his shoulders with a click and then cycled off into the distance, giving him a wave as he did.

“If you can get that dick fired, I promise you; all the banana milk you can drink!” he heard the younger shout from across the horizon.

“Deal, but I prefer strawberry!” Jisung shouted back.

Chapter Text

Jisung had slightly dressed up for the occasion. He was wearing a baby-blue button-up shirt and plain black slacks. He had also brought a black hoodie and mask, due to the obvious. He held it over his arm as he approached the front door of the restaurant, exhaling as he walked through. 

He felt the temperature rise as he entered, and he heard the sound of people’s voices softly buzzing in the background. He recognised the familiar classy, ambience. He stood in the small queue and wandered forward when it was his turn to approach the counter.

“Good afternoon! Do you have a reservation, Sir?” The girl at the counter said. She was youngish, with braces and had her hair neatly pulled back in a ponytail.

“Um, no, actually I don’t.” He said, quietly, trying not to rouse any attention.

“Oh. Unfortunately, Sir, we are fully booked for this lunch period, I’m afraid. Can I book you in for another time? Or there may be a dinner slot open if you would like me to check for you?” She responded.

“Actually…” He stuttered, trying to think of something tangible to say. “I’m here with Lee Minho – he has a reservation here at 2:00pm. It may be booked under ‘Bang Chan’, or ‘JYP Entertainment’?” He said, barely taking a breath, trying to remain casual on the outside.

“Oh, JYP staff?! Let me check for you. Bear with me.” She beamed, wandering off behind the bar.

Jisung’s heart was racing, he wasn’t great with lying, it sent his anxiety through the roof. Surely the girl would notice there were only two seats reserved, unless Hyunjin was invited too... God, he hoped not.

She came back through a tasselled door behind the bar area with a smile on her face.

“That’s fine sir, but unfortunately your table isn’t ready yet. Would you like a drink whilst you wait at the bar?”

Holy hell, that actually worked, Jisung thought.

“Um, sure. That’s great, thanks. I’ll get a Watermelon Mojito, with lime, please?” He responded.

“Of course, coming straight up.” She turned to put the order through the computer system. 

“Watermelon Mohito with lime?” He heard a voice say from the behind the bar again. “That can only be my favourite boy! You’re early!” the husky male voice said.

The man from before. Hee-Jae, he thought, if he had remembered the name correctly. He strolled out through the beaded-tassels and noticed Jisung, who had moved from the queue to perch on the middle bar stool.

He faltered when he saw Jisung’s face, he was obviously expecting Minho.

“Oh?” He said, questionably.

“Um. Hi, I’m Jisung.”

This was such a bad idea. Jisung really had no idea what he was doing and now it was going to seem even worse. Once Minho found out he’d been pretending to be going to lunch with him, it would really cement the whole ‘stalker’ thing…

“Oh! The boy from the other week! You must be Minho’s partner. I’m sorry I never properly introduced myself to you! I’m Hee-Jae.” He grabbed Jisung’s hand and shook it, bowing as he did. It was so strange to have the older Manager of an establishment bow at him; he really didn’t feel worthy of it. “Minho has booked for 2:00pm, is that a mistake? I can set the table up earlier?” He man asked him.

“No, I’m just… I’m here early. I-I’m… I’m going to surprise him, you see. He doesn’t know I’m here but…”

“Oh, a surprise! That is so kind of you, young man. Minho really was right in choosing you! Honestly, he never stopped talking about you for a second the last time I saw him. I’m so happy he has found someone; he is such a sweet boy and you seem such a good match.” The old man smiled at him amiably, cupping Jisung’s hands in his delicately. By the weathered lines on his face Jisung could tell he had lived such a happy, care-free life. The elder eventually let go and reached for a glass above the bar.

Jisung felt guilty again, he shouldn’t be here claiming to be something he’s not. Minho obviously had not seen Hee-Jae since they ended things.

“What is the surprise for?” The man asked him, staring diligently whilst pouring some watermelon juice into the cocktail shaker and giving it a fervent shake next to his ear.

“Oh… Um…” Jisung stuttered.

Minho’s birthday was in late October and it was August. He hadn’t finished his spell in his musical yet, so he wasn’t anywhere near the last performance. He also hadn’t finished his album, so they couldn’t celebrate that either... Celebrating one of Minho’s cats’ birthdays didn’t seem tangible, either.

He thought of the first thing he could.

“Oh, I just… I wanted to… Ask him to-to be my b-boyfriend. This is where we came for our first date so I thought it would be memorable…” Jisung said.

Holy fuck.

Why did he say that?

Why the hell did he say that?

Wow, that hurt.

“Oh, aren’t you the sweetest! Eun-Hye, my wife, she will love you.” He beamed. “She is a hopeless romantic too, much to my dismay!” He chuckled. Jisung laughed along with him, still reeling from the lie he had made up.

He watched as the man sliced his lime up and pushed it against the side of the glass to secure it. He added a straw and pushed it to Jisung along the bar. Jisung thanked him and reached for his wallet.

“No, no, you don’t pay for drinks here. Any friend of Minho’s is a friend of ours!” He beamed.

There it was again, the pulling pang of sheer guilt.

“Thank you so much. Um, if you don’t mind. When Minho arrives, could you not tell him I’m here? I want it to be a surprise, you see.” Jisung stuttered, trying to maintain his composure.

“Of course! Your secret is safe with me, Jisung! Some of the back booths are not reserved. I will find you somewhere inconspicuous!” The elderly man squinted at him again, clearly excited at the prospect of Minho being oh-so-romantically courted. Jisung considered that Minho must really care about this family for them to speak of him so highly.

---

He was sitting at a table at the back again, the mahogany, burgundy-embellished booths out of sight of the other diners where they had been before, but this time it was a different, smaller booth further towards the corner.

He ducked his head as he saw Chan’s familiar bleach-blond locks reflecting off of the glass door. He was, as usual, dressed in a three-piece black suit. Minho followed after him, smiling. Jisung’s breath hitched seeing him again for the first time in a while.

His hair was it’s natural, silky dark brown again; it reminded him of when they first met.

He was wearing a white button-shirt, with a dark grey cardigan and black skinny jeans. He looked a lot more casual than Chan but even the simplest outfits looked good on him.

Don’t get emotional, Jisung, he reminded himself.

He clocked eyes with Hee-Jae as he escorted them through. It made him duck down further, ensuring that Minho and Chan didn’t see him in their periphery.

He sat there watching as Minho’s regular Mojito was whisked out to him, and then their soup starter, and then their main courses…

He realised, he had been there, eating nothing, for over thirty-five minutes. Hee-Jae might get suspicious.

Jisung thought to himself internally; there was no way he could just head across to the table. Chan would likely have him escorted away as ‘Minho’s stalker’, and Hee-Jae would likely get some kind of blame for allowing him near Minho and not checking the reservation. He didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, especially not someone Minho cared about.

He decided to slip out to the bathroom, in the hopes that Minho’s two large, hi-ball mojitos would eventually mean he ended up in there at some point…

What if Chan came in first? He thought.

Well, it was a good 22 years while it lasted, if that happens.

Or was it?

Well, it was 22 years, anyway.

The bathroom had a slightly nautical theme, and there were four navy-blue cubicles. He decided to wait in the second one, locking the door. He waited and waited, letting out sighs of disappointment whenever someone other than Minho came in. He had been there so long; he was just about ready to flush himself to Australia and start up a new life.

He’d picked a new name, Peter. Peter Han. It was perfect. Australia could be like his Neverland.

Suddenly, he heard the door open again with a creak.

He thought he smelt the delicate smell of vanilla wafting from the door as it closed.

---

This was it.

The smell was so subtle, but he could just tell it was him. Something in his intuition.

He took a deep breath and unlatched the door, peering around it. Minho was looking in the mirror, dabbing at his forehead with a tissue.

Jisung clocked him in the reflection, standing just behind him off diagonally. He watched as Minho jolted towards the basins as he noticed him. He spun around suddenly, throwing his hands up in front of him, dropping the tissue to the floor.

"J-Jisung?!" He shrieked.

“Minho!” Jisung paced across the room, putting his hand over the older man's mouth to try and settle him a fraction.

He saw Minho start to panic a little, thrashing his arms up more, so he removed it quickly.

Maybe shoving your hand over someone's mouth when they already thought you were a stalker wasn't the best move...

For fucks sake. Good start, Jisung, he thought.

"Please don't panic, please, I'm seriously just here to talk to you!" Jisung said, stifling his voice as much as he could.

"In the bathroom?! Get off of me!” He shoved Jisung backwards and sank closer to the other wall in a defensive slump. “How did you know I was here?!" He shouted. Jisung kept shh’ing him and grabbing at his arms to try to calm him down.

"Minho, please! Please listen to me! We don't have much time before Chan gets suspicious and realises I’m in here! Please let me talk!" He pleaded, staring into deep brown eyes.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?! You nearly gave me a heart attack, Jisung!” He said, shaking Jisung’s arms off of him again.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll be quick!” He put his hands up defensively to show he had nothing to hide, he could sense how badly this had gone.

“Pfft, and what makes you think I want to listen to anything you have to say to me?” Minho spat back at him; his words laced with bitterness.

Minho kept looking away in amazement at his sudden appearance. Jisung was ducking his head around crazily trying to make eye contact with him best he could; hoping that Minho would see the sincerity in his eyes.

“Look, after I’ve said what I need to, I can leave you alone forever if that’s what you really want, I swear.” Jisung moved backwards a little more, holding his three-fingers up in Scouts Honour with his other hand on his heart.

He watched as the older man relaxed just a fraction, eyes still filled with fury. He pulled at his collar a little as Jisung had messed it up grabbing at him, straightening his shirt out with his hands after.

“Fine, whatever. Make it quick, though.” He said indignantly, patting himself down.

Jisung took another deep breath. He had been rehearsing what to say, but most of the lines had taken a vacation, far away from the now empty cavern that was his brain.

“Firstly, I’m sorry that everything happened, but I swear, none of this had anything to do anything with me. You don’t have to believe me but just know that I do- I still do, really care about you and I wouldn’t hurt you. I know Chan made it seem like everything pointed to me but that’s not true.”

Minho looked at him in amazement. Jisung couldn’t quite make out what he was thinking.

"You wouldn’t hurt me? I lost everything I cared about, had my reputation almost ruined, and now you’re just creeping back into my life, pestering me in a goddamn bathroom?! This is insane.” He said, rubbing at his temples in astonishment. He paced back across to the basins, putting his hands down on the edge of the counter. He looked at Jisung in the mirror again before continuing,

“And don’t worry, Hyunjin seems to be doing just fine, by the way.” He cocked his head to the side. “He’s not here though, so maybe you stumbled across the wrong person in this particular bathroom rendezvous.” He hissed, passive-aggressively.

"What? This isn’t about Hyun-“ Jisung tried to comment, but Minho cut him off.

"Isn’t it? I don't know Jisung, I really don't know. How about you fucking tell me if it is or it isn’t?" He was staring at him with such intent, he felt the older man’s scold bounce off the mirror and penetrate his heart from across the room.

"Minho, what the heck has any of this got to do with Hyunjin?” Jisung enquired.

"You knew Hyunjin got casted in that shoot over me." Jisung tried to get a word in, but Minho cut in again. "You never told me."

"I didn't even know what it was for and I didn't know you were meant to get it, either. I don't know how any of this stuff works!" He took a step towards Minho and placed his hand on Minho’s forearm to try and relax him.

He was completely exasperated. He wasn’t here to discuss banana milk brand deals, he needed to warn Minho about Chan.

“Oh please!” Minho said, flipping his hair out of his eyes and shrugging the arm off, turning to face him directly again, pointing his index finger at his face. “You staring at him across the canteen all the time, visiting him on set? He was at your apartment the other day, too. Wasn’t he, after work? Pretty late, wasn’t it?” He could see Minho’s eyes glimmering.

Jisung recoiled suddenly.

How the hell did he know that? Minho continued,

“How dare you? A week and a half after you end it with me?!”

This was insane.

What the hell was going on?

There was a moment's silence as Minho looked at him.

He could see Minho scanning his face; he felt totally vulnerable.

"I know you have feelings for Hyunjin, Jisung. I’m not totally fucking stupid. Channie has told me everything."

Of course he has, Jisung thought.

Was he just born with a target slapped on his forehead?

"Minho, that is not true." Jisung said, defensively, shaking his head.

"Don't lie to me Jisung. Do you have feelings for Hyunjin? Did you have feelings for him the whole time, even when you were with me?" He could see Minho's brows raise cynically, and his lips close tightly.

Jisung balled up his fists. This was not the time to lie and he didn’t want to lie to him, either. He’d lied enough and it had caused more harm than good.

"I-I mean... Maybe when we were like teenagers but definitely not when I was with you, I promise! It was a schoolboy-crush at best; I wasn't even sure if I was gay back then, Minho! That was literally years and years ago!”

"So, this was the game plan from the start then. Both of you come and work at my company, steal all my work and I'm just cast out? You and Hyunjin spend the rest of your days together at JYP, happily ever after?” He scoffed at Jisung and turned away from him again. “God you must really think I’m a fucking idiot." Minho snapped, laughing sarcastically, and swiping his tongue across his top row of teeth with a smack.

"What-- I-- Minho that is the craziest thing I have ever heard!" Jisung was completely dumbfounded.

"And then, what, you just up and leave, and you don't even try to contact me or anything? You may think I have my shit together because of how I appear on screen Jisung, and I know you think that kind of stuff probably doesn't affect me but it does, and you hurt me, a lot. You just bailed Jisung, it really messed me up." He was trying to keep his cool, but he could see the older man falter a little behind his facade.

"What are you talking about--I bailed? What?” Jisung replied in confusion.

"I know the headlines were bad, I know what people were saying about us, but I didn't think you would give up on us that easily; I thought we could get through it and that you actually cared about me. Obviously, I was wrong.” Jisung heard him exhale again. “Oh, and by the way, usually people have the decency to actually tell the other person they are ending things before they move on to someone else, for future reference." He cocked his head to the side.

"Ending things?” Jisung said, stunned. “You-you broke it off with me! I didn't think you wanted to see me after that meeting so I assumed you thought all of that bad stuff was happening because of me!"

"What!?” He threw his hands up in total exasperation. “Jeez, Jisung I may have had a bad day considering I'd just discovered I'd been being stalked, but me being a little moody because I felt sick isn't me breaking up with you!"

"You literally messaged me, the day after that meeting, telling me that you were ending it!” Jisung shouted back at him, slack-jawed.

“What on Earth are you talking about?!”

They stared at each other, completely speechless for a few seconds.

“I literally have the text!" Jisung exclaimed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and scrolling to their conversation.

Minho reached across and snatched the phone from his hand, squinting through the cracks to look at the message, reading over it quickly.

"I didn't write that Jisung..." Minho closed his eyes and took a breath, realisation washing over him. “So, I didn’t lose my phone. Why am I not surprised?” Minho shook his head, and then pushed his hands over his face and through his hair.

---

It suddenly dawned on Jisung.

There was no break-up, at all.

There wasn’t even a ‘break’.

Which means that Chan likely composed that message to keep Jisung from coming back to JYP after that meeting.

Another set up.   

Jisung felt the anger simmering within him again, but externally he was strangely calm. He should have known by now. Chan made it look so real; probably a pro at this if Changbin's story was anything to go off of.

"So, the stalker... They have my phone, too. I- I thought I had lost it." Minho swallowed, half with upset and half with irritation of how far it had gone, yet again. His eyes started to fill with tears, for real, this time.

Jisung took a deep breath to calm himself down after his outburst.

"Minho. There is no stalker. That is what I am trying to tell you!” He turned to face him head on. “Chan has your phone in his office. I can't prove it right now, but you have to believe me. He's been lying to you this whole time, trying to frame me. He was the one who cancelled your Seoul Foods shoot for Hyunjin. I saw your schedule, and everything was crossed out." Jisung said, matter-of-factly, trying to get his point across.

"That's insane Jisung, he's my agent and we’ve been friends for years, why would he frame-"

“Because he still fucking wants you, Minho!” He stared deeply into his eyes. “How can you not even see it?!”

“That’s impossible Jisung. It’s been so long, and he’s with Hyunjin now-“

“No, he’s not. He doesn’t care about Hyunjin at all. In fact, he has been hurting Hyunjin too. It’s not my place to tell you about it in detail but it’s true.” Jisung said, staring at him in exhaustion.

He just really wanted Minho to understand.

"That's why he brought up me being in his office, he knew it was unrelated to the stuff happening to you, but he wanted to mess with me and make me think you were blaming me, then he sent me that text. Now, he’s trying to convince you there’s something between Hyunjin and me and there is absolutely not. I have only thought about you ever since I first met you. Honestly, you’re still all I think about."

Minho stirred, looking to the floor in disbelief, his mouth slightly opened. Jisung continued, mustering all of the courage he possibly could.

“This ‘nice guy’ thing he’s doing right now, you said it yourself, last time you thought he had changed too, but he doesn’t change, Minho. He submitted those photos of us, too. He’s gone completely out of his mind trying to keep us apart.” Jisung groaned.

“Why would… Why would he—" Minho muttered.

"Listen to me because we don't have time for this.” He lunged forward and grabbed Minho’s face, pulling him closer to look at him directly.

He looked stunned for a few seconds, eyes still glistening with tears. Then Jisung slid his hands down Minho’s arms, taking his hands into his, a little gentler this time, stroking over the back of his knuckles with his thumb.

His hands were still so, soft.

“You are the only person who has been on my mind these last few months. You can't even imagine much you mean to me and how much I care about you, which is so dumb, because we haven't even known each other that long, but there’s just something there, I can’t explain it. Chan can obviously sees it too. I would never lie to you or do anything to hurt you. That is the truth, I promise.”  

“J-Jisung… I don’t know what to say-” Minho stammered, looking at him, desperately trying to understand.

"Fine, then don’t. You don’t owe me anything, you don’t even have to believe me. I just don’t want him to hurt you, or anyone, anymore." Jisung exhaled, staring into the other man's eyes. He could feel his own eyes stinging a little now, too. “You don’t have to take me back, I mean that. Just know that there is literally no-one else I would have preferred to pick me up off of that bathroom floor, Minho. So, if that’s all there is to this, then that’s fine, if that’s what you want.” Jisung’s voice cracked at the end of his sentence as he felt a tear of his own travel down his cheek.

Minho stared at him, then he tightened his grip on Jisung’s hands for a brief moment before he abruptly letting go of them, making Jisung’s hands slump to his side.

Well.

There was his answer.

At least he got to say what he needed to, Jisung thought.

Minho unexpectedly lunged forward, grabbing Jisung's nape with his left hand, and pulling him forward to connect their lips together.

It was needy, and desperate, Jisung could taste the tears that had fallen down Minho’s cheeks on the corners of his mouth, too. The older man pulled back for a moment, placing his other hand behind his neck, too, cradling his head in between his fingers. He opened his eyes and pulled Jisung back just a fraction to look at him, their faces only centimetres apart. 

“C-can you prove it? That he’s done what you’re saying? For real? I’m not messing around anymore.” He could tell that Minho wanted to believe him but it’s unlikely he’d just take Jisung’s word for it considering how much Chan had done for him over the years.

“Y-Yes. I just need some time, and maybe some audience or some way of exposing it.” Jisung responded, nodding at him diligently.

They kissed again, this time Jisung snaked his arms around Minho’s back to pull him in as closely as possible, leaning him backwards slightly with how tightly they were pressed together.

He pulled back and rested his head in the crook of the taller man’s neck in pure relief. He squeezed him so tightly, not wanting to let go.

All the anguish he had felt about Minho had slipped away, for just a moment.

Minho ended up pulling back to Jisung's lips for more, somewhat pulling at the slightly-too-long hair near his nape and peppering smaller kisses in between each of his words.

"I- have- missed- you- so- much, you- don't- even- understand- the- half- of- it." He said. Minho rested his forehead against Jisung's, exhaling shakily.

"I've missed you too, you don't even understand the whole of it." Jisung said through bated breath, inhaling Minho’s vanilla scent around him every time he pressed their lips together.

Minho scoffed at him for his terrible word play, sniffling a little afterwards. Another singular tear rolled down the older man’s face and Jisung used his thumb to wipe it away.

“I was so scared that you were hurting because of me, because of what the press was saying, I’m so sorry.” Jisung said, pressing their foreheads together again.

“I don’t care about the press Jisung, I’ve dealt with it before, and I’d happily deal with that again if it meant we could be official. I was scared that I had pushed you away.”  

“Pfft, let’s be real, it wouldn’t be me breaking up with you, would it? You’re way out of my league…” Jisung said, chuckling a little through his own sniffles.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching outside the door; they sounded like the tapping of a specific make of expensive dress shoe that a specific Australian tended to wear to work. Then, they heard a muted “Minho?” from outside the door.

Fuck.

Jisung looked at him suddenly, Minho shoved him backwards and quickly wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve, turning back to the basin.

Jisung decided to dart into the nearest cubicle and pull his legs up to his chest so that they didn't show from the outside. He pulled the door nearly closed but open enough that it seemed like no one was in there.

"Minho?" Chan called out again, peeking his head through the door. "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying? Your mouth is puffy?" Chan said, tilting his head towards him to inspect his face.

"No no, I'm fine. It's just the Ddeokbokki was so hot it's making me sweat. My shirt is sticking to me, I just needed to freshen up a little."

Wow, Minho was a much better liar than he was. Must be the whole ‘actor’ thing.

"Ah, well I did try and warn you it was hot. Maybe you need a cucumber cream tonight, puffy." He teased.

He could hear Chan's shoes getting closer to him as he wandered closer to the cubicle. If he pushed the door open, it was over for Jisung.

He held his breath.

Luckily, he heard him turn around again, walking back towards the basins.

"You know, you look so good today Minho, it's unreal. You're honestly unreal."

"Channie, give it a rest, you dog." He let out an exasperated laugh, patting his forehead with a tissue.

"No, I mean it, you look so nice tonight. Can't I pay you a compliment?" The older man said questioningly.

"I guess so... I probably wouldn't be too happy about it if I were Hyunjin, though."

"Ah, Hyunjin and I aren't really like that anyway. It's all casual."

Jisung felt his back teeth scraping against each other at just the mere mention of Hyunjin's name slipping out of Chan’s mouth.

How fucking dare he?

"Casual? I thought you were an official item. What happened to 'Mr. Hopeless Romantic'?" Minho enquired.

"Hmm, well, I mean, obviously Jinnie is super attractive and all, but it's difficult you know, sometimes I feel like I need someone who can hold their own a bit better than him. He just seems so… Dependant on me. It’s like- like I need that... Spark. You know?"

Jisung hoped and prayed they would leave soon, because if they discussed Hyunjin any more Jisung knew he would kick through the damned door, De Niro style.

"Speaking of spark, I was thinking, as I haven't heard from Jisung since the exposé piece, that I should try and contact him again. At least just to apologise for everything that happened. What do you think?” Minho questioned.

He was obviously trying to gauge Chan’s reaction. Jisung wishes he could see the look on his face, he imagined it was a mixture of irritation and fury. Furitation™.

"Minho, I’ve told you; you need to get over this. You know I’ll advise you against it. You were ‘careful’ last time, remember? Look what happened. Our PR team had enough trouble covering that whole mess up in the first place, you really want to go there again?" He scoffed.

"Channie, I didn't say yes to that 'official JYP response', you okayed it on my behalf." He sighed.

Of course, he did, Jisung thought.

"Please Minho, it was for the best. Your brand reputation tanked, we had to do it. Besides, you know you and Jisung weren't a good match anyway. It's best that you just focus on your work and try to forget about him. Plus, if he cared about you, he would have stuck around. I know I sound like I'm being harsh but it's true. I told you as soon as those photos came out, he wouldn’t be able to handle it..." He sighed. “Poor kid bailed, but it’s not surprising.” The older man tutted.

That confirmed it, Chan definitely sent that text, Jisung thought.

"Hmm. I guess you're right..."

"I always am, you should trust my judgement. I mean, after all, since he's been out of the picture, nothing bad has happened right?" Chan said, persistently.

"You really think it was all him, all of this stuff, huh?" Minho asked.

"I mean, you don't have to be a genius to put two and two together."

"Maybe you’re right Channie. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for letting me hold a ‘Sing it, Feel it, Live it’ event at the JYP building on Wednesday night. It's been so long since we've done a black tie, 7:00pm start-type for one of these events." Minho said, randomly.

Jisung noticed that Minho put particular emphasis on the day and time...

Cunning.

God he was so smart.

It was, kinda hot.

Not the time Jisung, he thought.

"Oh? You've already thanked me Minho, it's no problem. I know that little Charity thing means a lot to you. God knows why." The Australian sighed, Jisung could hear his eyes roll from the stall.

"It does. Thank you. Honestly, thank you for letting me hold the event. I'll probably come through the back entrance, just to hold off the photographers. Minho commented.

"Okay? You're acting strange Minho, must be the heat. Let's get back to the table and get dessert…” Chan said, ushering him out of the door.

He waited a few minutes to ensure that they had probably gotten back to their booth before traipsing out of the cubicle.

JYP building, this Wednesday, 7:00pm, back entrance.

Got it.

Chapter Text

Jisung watched as Hyunjin was slumped out on his bedroom floor with his knees folded under him. He stared at himself in the floor-length mirror, smoothing his hair down with his hand.

"I can't do it, Jisung. I just can't." Hyunjin said breathlessly. He started pulling at his white shirt collar anxiously, trying to loosen his tie a little.

Jisung turned to look to him from across from where he was sitting at his desk. He was drying his newly dark-brown hair with a towel that was now stained with the red-based dye. He pulled the towel off from his head and placed it over his shoulders.

"That’s okay. It's fine Hyunjin, I meant what I said. You don't have to say anything at all if you're not comfortable. I know it's hard for you." He retorted.

Jisung couldn’t fathom having to see Chan again knowing that he had been putting Hyunjin through. Hyunjin, on the other hand, had been dealing with it for months…

"I just... I don't know what I could say, Ji. I don't even have any proof of anything... Why would they believe me?" He said, lowering his head to look at his hands.

"I saw what happened Hyunjin, I can be your witness!" He appealed.

"Like they'll believe that Jisung. You're my best friend, of course you would defend me." Hyunjin lowered his eyes to the ground in defeat. “Plus, I just have the feeling that this kind of thing, it’s… I don’t know, I think he may have gotten away with this kind of stuff before. I just have a feeling...”

Jisung winced a little; Hyunjin was probably right. He launched himself off of his chair and paced around his bed, snapping his index finger and thumb over and over to try and think of a new strategy to expose Chan.

Chan had a lot of pull in the company, he was one of their best producers. He wouldn’t put it past him for this kind of thing to have been covered up before…

He had agreed to meet Jeongin at the party inconspicuously, who had the keys to Chan's office. If anything, he wasn't going to get away with stealing Minho's phone and card and Jisung would finally have the proof he needed in that regard.

He just wished there were a way he could bring Hyunjin some kind of justice from his ordeal, too.

"Hyunjin, whether you want to say anything or not, I promised you that you would get out of this. I don't want to make you have to play along with this if it hurts you—”

"No. Jisung. I've told him I'll be there; I'll just try and act ‘normal’ for as long as I can until you can prove to Minho something is going on…" He sighed. Jisung felt guilty, he didn’t really want to have to put Hyunjin through more than necessary. The taller boy looked back to him, "What exactly is your plan, anyway?"

"Well, that's the thing…” Jisung rubbed at his neck before placing his hands on his hips.

Without Hyunjin’s confession that Chan had been making sexual advances at him, there wasn’t really much to go by. Jisung continued,

“I don't really have one... I just figured if we made enough of a scene something would give. There's going to be photographers at the event so surely we can expose him somehow..." Jisung sat down at the edge of the end of his bed, next to Hyunjin who was kneeling on the floor with his back to it. Jisung combed his fingers through his own wet hair, looking in the mirror at his less obtrusive hair colour. Hyunjin looked back up to catch Jisung’s eyes in the reflection of the mirror.

"I have a bad feeling, Jisung. I just… I don't think he'll go down without a fight..." Hyunjin said, he turned back to look at him from where he was sitting. Jisung patted his head softly, sifting his fingers through his blonde hair.

"I'm worried too, Hyunjin, but I'm willing to take the chance if it means you can be okay again."

"Thank you Jisung. You're the best friend anyone could ever have."

“I know I am, you don’t have to remind me.” Jisung said teasingly, smiling at him, making Hyunjin roll his eyes and look back to the mirror.

Jisung got up and walked across to the back of his door pulling a black tie off of it and, swapping out the towel in its favour.

He had to make sure he was ready to enter the backdoor entrance at JYP by 7:00pm and it was coming close to the time that the last bus would leave his stop so he had to make sure he was there on time or he’d miss his chance.

He also had no way of contacting Minho to ensure he would be there since he didn’t have Minho’s new number.

He just had to trust him.

Chan had messaged Hyunjin in the meantime, implying he wanted Hyunjin to come over to his apartment before the event, but he had successfully avoided it by claiming he and Jeongin were sharing a cab there.

It was smart, Jisung thought. Surely Chan wouldn’t try anything with the younger man around?

Though, Jisung wasn’t really sure of just how low he would stoop.

Hyunjin called himself an individual taxi to Jisung’s apartment. It arrived fairly promptly once they had suited up and donned a slight smokey eye, compliments of Hyunjin.  

“I’ll get the driver to pick Jeongin up on the way, so it seems legit. He lives close by to your apartment.” Hyunjin said.

“Look after him, won’t you?” Jisung asked.

Hyunjin looked to him, a little surprised, then simply smiled and nodded before sliding his own coat on and slipping his feet into his shoes.

---

Jisung was dropped off at the corner of the road, a little further than where the bus would usually stop. He noticed the regular stop wasn’t in use due to a ‘public demand’.

He stood at the crossing as he waited for the traffic light to change, before getting a little restless and shuffling across the street anyway. It was 6:45pm, and annoyingly the entire street was lit up with people. The event being held at the JYP building meant the entire road had been cordoned off and the whole building was buzzing.

There was a sky-blue ‘red carpet’ outside the front, with some of the general public standing around it. Most of the ‘celebrities’ and benefactors had already arrived in the building, likely over an hour ago. The people that were left were the people who would wait for the idols to come out afterwards. Unfortunately for Jisung, there were a lot of them.

He paced around a little before deciding to take the plunge and took the short walk behind the alley area to the back of the buildings near the training centre. He was wearing his black hoodie over-top of his suit, with his black backpack over his shoulders, just with his laptop in it.

It was a little too early for it to be dark, but he thought if he were wearing black, he could make a quick getaway if it were warranted.

He stood outside the back, which had been cut off by some criss-crossed chains and some yellow warning tape. There was also a newly mounted ‘No unauthorised persons’ sign above the door...

That was new.

Honestly Chan, I’m flattered, Jisung thought to himself.

He had no idea how Minho expected him to get through, though.

He peered his head around a little and tugged a few times to see if the chains were something he could slip through, though it wasn’t looking likely.

He started humming the Mission Impossible theme to himself, before suddenly hearing the back door swing open.

Maskless poked his head out and gave him a little nod. He walked out of the backdoor and pulled a set of keys out, unlocking the padlock to let Jisung through the chains. He put a re-affirming hand on his back to usher Jisung along as he punched in the keycode. They walked through the first, chilly entrance door; it was so dark he could barely see.

He felt like he was about to throw up from nerves, and the darkness only exacerbated the feeling.

They walked through the entrance again as they always did; up the five sets of steel steps before they got to the main hallway door.

He was so anxious he didn’t even notice how out of breath he was, this time.

"Jisung! Is that you?!" Someone exclaimed in an excited whisper.

"Minho?" Jisung said, squinting.

“I barely recognised you with your dark hair! Thank god you got my hints." Suddenly Minho appeared in his line of vision.

The lights were out in the hallway, as no one was meant to be up here. Only the green emergency lights were active, barely enough to light the corridor. Minho had his phone light on too, just to give them some clarity. He was wearing his regular sky-blue charity-event tie and blue contact lenses.

“Well, it didn’t take a genius to figure out.” Jisung said, throwing a cocky smile at him.

Jisung thought his little centre parting was cute, it highlighted the size of his now-blue eyes through the green of the lights.

“Oh, thank God, because you’re miles from a genius.” Minho teased back, throwing his arms around the shorter man, squeezing him tightly with both arms, squishing their cheeks together. "I knew I could trust Kang-min to let you in." He smiled fondly at his staff member over Jisung’s shoulder.

"Kang-min? Who’s Ka--?" Jisung pulled away from the embrace to look the other man, too.

Oh my god...

No, he couldn't believe it.

"Kang-min? Wait, who? Maskless?"

He turned to look at Maskless, who bowed at him, before mysteriously exiting down the hall without saying a word…

"Maskless? What..?" Minho muttered.

"Nothing. Nothing." Jisung replied.

“Okay, whatever. Right, have you seen Jeongin yet?” Minho asked him impatiently, linking their fingers and shaking Jisung’s hands up and down as the adrenaline pumped through him.

“No, not yet, Hyunjin was taking a cab with him. By now, they’re likely in the main Auditorium as they left before I did.”

“Well that’s were Chan will be, too. I have to get back in there and mingle with the guests too before he notices I’m gone. Even the CEO of JYP is here tonight Jisung, it’s absolutely huge. We’re expecting at least 300 people, around 70 of those are big-name idols. Only the blue-carpet was televised for the 5:00pm news, but there’s plenty of press and photographers here. We’re expecting lots of articles online tomorrow, that kind of stuff.”

Jisung looked at him with a worried expression on his face. He had no idea what he could do other than expose Chan’s fraud now that Hyunjin had backed out, but he figured maybe that was enough.

Surely if your agent was stealing your belongings and composing fake messages on your behalf it was enough to warrant that person leaving the company? Jisung thought.

If the CEO of JYP was here, it should be an easy exposé as soon as he got his hands on that phone...

He just wished there were a way to expose the other things Chan had done...  

He was suddenly filled with determination.

---

Jisung waited fifteen minutes in between Minho entering the auditorium again before he slipped inside, opening the large swing doors, and keeping his head low down as to not arouse any suspicion. Luckily, his darker hair made it easier to blend in, over his previous bright yellow tresses.

The room was regularly used for trainee performances, he assumed, but the auditorium seating had been folded away so the room was just a gigantic empty space, buzzing with people in suits and mid-length colourful dresses.

The room had a black vinyl floor and there were multiple circular tables on the left and right sides of the room that would seat maybe eight to ten people each. The tablecloths were all sky-blue and there were little flower arrangements at each one, standing next to two bottles of wine per table.

Down the middle was an outlined walkway, presumably for the charity speakers to walk down, up to the steps and on to the stage. The stage itself was smaller and less rustic-looking than the theatre one, but with the same wooden podium that Minho had stood at for his speech before. Wrapped around the stage was a rather obnoxious balloon arch arrangement.

What is this, a freaking school prom? Jisung thought to himself.

The logo was once again emblazoned on the front of the podium as well as being projected on the screen behind it.

He told himself, if he gets out of this intact, he definitely would convince Minho to change the charity’s terrible name to something, less wordy.

Around the edges of the room just away from the walls, there were multiple longer buffet-type tables that had snacks and drinks laid out. One of them even had a semi-melted ice-sculpture of a microphone on it… Jisung rolled his eyes at the cliché.

He ducked around a little, trying to see if he could easily make out who the CEO of JYP could be. Turns out, it was pretty hard to recognise people all dressed in the same black suit.

He saw Hyunjin from across the room, chatting to Lee Felix, who was wearing a little yellow polka dot bowtie. He had a slight lilac tinge to his hair that Jisung thought only he could pull off.

They were smiling, but Jisung could tell that Hyunjin was nervous.

Something in his best friends’ intuition.

He tried to get a little closer to him, weaving himself around the tables and in between the groups of people.

As he approached, he saw a board with the ‘Schedule’ for the evening laid out. It documented who was going to speak, and when. Jisung could see that Minho, was the last speaker of the night.

As well as that, there was a fully labelled table-plan containing all of the names of the big wigs that were attending and where they were sitting. He reached for his phone, tapping on the Naver app and searching for the CEO’s name, and trying to locate it on the board.

Before he could, Jisung suddenly heard a gaggle of people become quite animated next to him, which made him dodge out of the way and behind the board just in case people looked in his direction.

The horde involved a few older people, surrounding none other than Minho, all laughing along with him whilst he held a drink in a rocks glass, casually in his left hand.

He obviously just gravitated towards him, or something.

He didn’t want to get too close to Minho, as Chan would likely be scouting him out at some point.

“That’s hilarious, I’m sure I’ll have to look out for that film if I’m ever in the country again!” Minho chuckled to the other benefactors, who were all captivated by him.

There he was, Mr-Naturally-Outgoing at work.

Minho also noticed Felix and Hyunjin standing at the corner and excused himself from the conversation to go and welcome them, too. Jisung listened in, staying close to the edge of the room.

Minho enthusiastically hugged Felix, who was beaming cheerfully as soon as he saw the older man.

“Minho this is absolutely amazing! I cannot believe you organised all of this!” The plucky Australian looked around in wonder, looking at all the bright stage lights and little decoration details.

“Thanks Felix, it’s taken a while, but we got there in the end!” He responded.

Minho turned to Hyunjin, who bowed to him nervously, he could see that Hyunjin's lower lip was a little red from gnawing at it.

"Hyunjin, nice to see you."

"You too, Minho." Hyunjin said, respectfully.

They looked at each other a little awkwardly and Minho gently span his clear drink in his hand.

It was weird for Jisung to see the two people he cared about the most pitted against each other, and because of him, no less. Luckily, Minho decided to break the tension first.

“Felix, would you mind if I just had a word with Hyunjin, here? I don’t mean to be rude or anything.”

“Oh, no, it’s not a problem! I need to meet Min anyway, we are wearing matching bow-ties! It’s so cute!” Felix said enthusiastically before giving them a little English “Bye!” and bounding off past the other guests nearby. Minho scrunched his nose up at the younger man before he left.

Jisung wondered to himself how one tiny person could be such a ball of sunshine. It was truly a talent… He could never be that enthusiastic all the time. It looked exhausting.

"Hyunjin. I- I wanted to apologise, for how I’ve been around you, recently. I let Chan convince me that you were competing with me for my spot in the company. For that, I apologise." He bowed at him, and Jisung could tell he was sincere.

"You don't have to apologise Minho, I did get a bit wrapped up in myself, I'll admit…" He responded, rubbing at the back of his neck timidly.

"That can happen in this business. You just have to remember what is important, I guess. It’s funny, I was convinced there was something going on, between you and Jisung, too." He snickered.

Jisung watched as Hyunjin dramatically recoiled at the idea, throwing his hand to his chest, and grimacing in disbelief.

Sheesh, like I’m that bad… Jisung thought. Minho continued,

"There was a part of me that thought you were the one sabotaging me. So, I apologise for that, too... I've been a little out of my mind, I guess…" Minho said in exasperation, laughing weakly.  

"Okay firstly, eww. Jisung!? That is so gross. Secondly, I’m serious, you don't have to apologise Minho. I feel awful about everything that's happened since I've been here. Chan told me... Well, he made out that you were, well, that you got around a little, and that you were just using Jisung."

Jisung head jolted up suddenly, his head bobbing like a little whack-a-mole at the mention of his name. Minho's eyes widened, he blinked a few times in disbelief, putting his own hand to his heart.

"He told you what?!" he said in incredulity.

"He said that the reason you didn't get the Seoul Foods shoot is because your... 'Wild' image didn't fit the clean-cut concept anymore and that you were a little out of control... He said you were sneaking around, and then the news about the charity money thing went around JYP and I really bought in to the whole thing... I'm sorry for assuming the worst about you." Hyunjin bowed back at the older man again.

Jisung and Minho scoffed at him in disbelief in perfect synchronisation, unbeknownst to Minho.

Minho leant in close to Hyunjin, looking around a little before placing his hand gently on his shoulder and whispering to him.

"Well, I sincerely hope you two have some good dirt on Channie, because if you don't take him down, I will, personally, with my own bare hands and teeth." Minho said, straining through a tight grin.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear…

In his standard black three-piece with accented sky-blue tie, that seemed to perfectly match the one that Minho was wearing…!

You have got to be kidding me, Jisung thought.

Chan was approaching rapidly, and Hyunjin decided to duck away, manoeuvring himself quickly through some of the other people to try and remove himself from the situation.

“Minho!” Chan shouted enthusiastically from across another social circle.

“Channie, hey.” Minho responded, taking a rather large swig of his drink.

“Look at us, sight for sore eyes. Matching ties, hah.” He wiggled his eyebrows somewhat suggestively. “Don’t people call this, a couple look?” he questioned humorously.

“Ew, stop Channie, I just ate.” Minho said begrudgingly, rubbing at his stomach. Chan laughed along, not knowing how sincere the other man was being in his comment, assuming Minho was being his ‘typical catty self!’ or whatever picture most people painted of him.

“Pah, alright, alright!” He took a swig of his champagne before continuing. “Have you seen Hyunjin? The CEO has been trying to scout him out all night to congratulate me—him, on his successes.” Chan said, wiping at his lapel.

“No, sorry. I haven’t seen him tonight yet.” Minho responded, completely deadpan.

“Hmm. Oh, Minho, I’m so sorry. I spoke out of place; I know that bringing up Hyunjin around you is a touchy subject at the moment because of… Well, you know. I’m so sorry. It was hard for me to hear too, luckily we can all move on from it, right?” Chan lifted his champagne flute into the air.

Jisung closed his eyes for a moment, squeezing at his own palms in frustration at what he was hearing.

“It’s okay Channie, I don’t blame Hyunjin. Afterall, you said it was Jisung that had feelings for him, right? And sure, let’s just, forget about that for tonight. Shall we?” Minho asked, holding his drink up, too, to clink their glasses together.

“Fantastic, I’m so glad you’re getting over it, Minho. Still, even with my lingering feelings about Hyunjin, he was still meant to be here… No Jeongin either… These employees honestly think they rule the place. They just run around doing whatever they want.” Chan said with a sigh.

“Maybe they’re just enjoying themselves, for a change, Channie?” Minho responded sarcastically, taking another sip from his drink. “This is a charity event.” Minho laughed.

“Maybe you’re right Minho. You always have the right thing to say when I get ahead of myself.” Chan sighed dreamily. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s me that helps you, or if you help me, sometimes.” He chuckled.

Jisung felt the pain of second-degree cringe overcome him listening to Chan try and pull his nice-guy card again…

“Well, you have always been a bit controlling Channie, you probably do need to work on it.” Minho said with a groan, trying to keep the conversation light, looking at the older man.

“Maybe you’re right. You have always helped me with that, though, Minho. That’s why we’re such a good cou-team.”

Jisung watched uneasily as Chan seemed to oh-so-casually move inwards towards Minho, until they were painfully close. Jisung could see Minho trying to focus his eyes literally anywhere else other than the other man.

Chan tucked Minho’s loose tie into his blazer, which was buttoned to his chest. Then he swiped some of Minho’s hair from falling into his eyes, tucking it behind his ear. Jisung noticed that his hand softly stroked the left side of Minho’s jaw as he moved his hand away.

Jisung suddenly wondered if it was time for that joust he'd been thinking of...

“We have always complimented each other so well, don’t you think?” Chan said, looking up at him, flashing him a smile.

“Sure, whatever you say, Channie.” He subtly pulled away from his touch, which Jisung was incredibly grateful for.

He wasn’t going to be able to continue eavesdropping for long if this carried on...

Though by this point, he was pretty much a pro at it.

Luckily, everyone turned to face the stage, as the microphone abruptly sounded for the first speaker to deliver the first speech of the night.

Chapter Text

Three people out of the six had already given their awe-inspiring speeches. After every speech, all the people there got up and mingled again, giving Jisung a chance to re-distribute himself in the room so he didn’t look out-of-place.

He still hadn’t managed to find Jeongin, despite trying his best to scout the boy out. Mostly he’d been keeping a close eye on Chan. He just hoped that Chan hadn’t gotten to Jeongin, first.

Jisung ducked behind a group of people who were also all dressed in tuxedos. He lingered just around the corner of the table that Hyunjin was hovering around. He saw Chan marching towards him from another table. He stayed just closely enough that he would be able to assess the situation and hear what the older man was saying.

"Hyunjin, there you are? I've been worried. Didn't you get my texts? Where is Jeongin?" Chan questioned him, demandingly.

Well, at least that meant that Chan wasn’t on to his and Jeongin’s plan.

"Oh, I’m sure he’s around, but I haven’t seen him since the cab… Sorry for not responding Channie, I was busy getting ready for tonight. I went shopping for this new shirt, do you like it?" He said, softly, trying to redistribute The Australian’s anger.

Jisung noticed how well he was keeping his nerve. Jisung hated the nicknames and the cooing, but Hyunjin obviously went along with it as he didn’t want to aggravate the situation.  

"Hmm, not really something that would warrant you not being able to get in contact with me, Jinnie." Chan huffed, scanning his body with his eyes.

"I'm sorry Channie. It won’t happen again.”

The older man looked at him with suspicious eyes, bridging the gap between them.

"You better not have been at Jisung's again, Jinnie. I've told you already; it's not safe around him. I told you that last week when you went round. I let it go then, but I swear… You know honesty is the most important thing to me and I'd be really disappointed if I found out you were lying to me." He whispered to him.

"No, of course not Channie, I was just trying to look nice... For... For you.” Hyunjin replied.

Christ.

Jisung pulled his eyes tightly together and held his breath.

Hyunjin shouldn’t have to do this.

He heard Chan let out a chesty little laugh. He looked around the room slightly, then cupped Hyunjin’s face, moving a strand of misplaced hair behind his ear.

"You’re so good Jinnie. Well, you know you look phenomenal, as per usual.” He purred. “Let's get a photo together, hmm?" He hummed, leaning in closely towards him.

"I- I mean... Of course, Channie."

Chan grabbed him by the forearm and lugged him towards the photography area. There was a sky-blue background filled with clouds to represent the charity colours. The logo also emblazoned on the back.

They posed first, Hyunjin cracking a convincing smile through his discomfort, then they started throwing up some finger hearts to the camera. Chan wrapped his arm around Hyunjin's waist and Jisung watched as his hand moved down to his back, then a little lower.

He couldn't take it.

He felt himself convulse a little.

If he blew his cover now, he'd surely be kicked out, but he just couldn’t do it.

Watching his friend have to go through this just for the sake of it made him feel sick to his core.

Hyunjin didn’t, and shouldn't, have to do this.

His fight-or-flight reflex kicked in, and he was suddenly pumped with adrenaline.

He didn't know what had come over him recently but protecting Hyunjin was a priority to him now.

"Hyunjin!" Jisung called out to him, appearing from behind a crowd of people gathered at the buffet table. Hyunjin looked back to him, eyes widening in surprise, or more likely, fear, of how the older man might react when seeing him.

Jisung clocked Chan as he looked away from the camera. He noticed the older man almost comically try and hide his obvious resentment. He wasn’t subtle, to say the least.

He was about as subtle as a brick through a window.

"Han Jisung?" He questioned, with a tiny smirk appearing at the left-hand side of his mouth.

"Mr. Bang Chan. It's... Nice to see you again." Jisung said, plainly.

"Jisung, I'm very surprised to see you in all honesty…" he said through a menacing smile. "May I ask how you came to be here? It's just that, this is a private event and you couldn't win your way in, this time." He chortled.

"Um, Kim Seungmin invited me as a plus one." Jisung said, tilting his head a little. He didn't want to let the older man know that he and Minho were back together, and he definitely couldn’t tell Chan that he and Hyunjin had gotten ready together.

He figured that would anger him enough to have Chan get him kicked out of the function on the spot. Not to mention how badly Hyunjin might be treated if he knew.

"Interesting." Chan looked towards Hyunjin. He took Hyunjin's hand and squeezed it in his in palm, yanking him forward, causing him to tumble towards him so they were nearly chest to chest. "Jinnie, how about you fetch us a couple of drinks, okay?” He cooed. “I'd love to have a little catch-up with Jisung, here." He stroked Hyunjin under the chin with his index finger and thumb, leaning towards him as if he were about to kiss him. Hyunjin recoiled a little, nodding frantically.

"Sure! O-Of course, Channie..." Hyunjin looked at Jisung as he slipped past him with a nervous look in his eye, heading towards the drinks table.

Jisung heard Chan exhale loudly, then he laughed sardonically, clearly amused at the situation.

"Well… Han Jisung? I thought I had seen the last of you when you were caught cavorting around the place with Minho. Don't you think you being here is putting Minho in a bit of an awkward situation right now? Surely some of the photographers would recognise you as the ex-JYP producer?”

“Actually, if anyone would recognise me from those photographs Mr Bang Chan, I would assume it would be you. Considering you were the one that took them, after all.” Jisung said with surprising vigour; purely riding on his instinct.

Chan furrowed his brow.

Jisung could see him seething behind his dark eyes.

"Maybe we should talk about this, somewhere else, ey, Jisung?" He said, calmly.

He abruptly grabbed Jisung forcefully by the bicep and yanked him into the direction of the Auditorium doors, swinging past large groups of people huddled around the tables, smiling at them as if it were a mere joke between them. Jisung could feel his nails digging into his skin and had to run to keep up with the other man’s pace.

He marched him in to one of the smaller recording studios off of the hallway, the closest one he could find, and threw him inside it until he near enough collided with the computer chairs tucked under the desk.

"I don't know what you think you have heard Jisung, but I suggest--"

"I know what I've heard, Chan. I've heard every little lie you have told about me." Jisung said plainly.

"I think all of this talk about stalkers has got you a little messed up. How about we discuss the terms of you breaking into this event to clearly try and find Minho, and then you can be on your way? Hmm? We all know you weren’t invited here." Chan laughed.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jisung said through gritted teeth. "You were the one who sent in those photos of me and Minho to Dispatch. Plus, there was no one else there that was able to take the ones at Jungsik, either." 

"Pah. Jisung, you're being ridic-

"No, I'm not. In the pictures, it was me, Hyunjin and Minho. You weren't in them... No one else was authorised to come in and Hee-Jae wouldn’t let anyone else intrude on Minho unless he knew them.” Jisung said, warily.

"That's ridiculous Jisung, you shouldn't make claims you can't prove." Chan retorted, crossing his vascular arms across his chest.

"Did you follow him, to my apartment? The night you said he was dropped from the committee?"

Chan leaned in closer menacingly, clearing his throat before he spoke.

"You're really overstepping Jisung. You know that, right?" He muttered.

"You were still following me, even after you sent me that text. You have access to Minho's work email, for one. I wouldn't be surprised there wasn't even any money from the taken account in the first place… You stole his phone too. All of it. It was all you…"

Chan pushed his tongue against the inside of his left cheek.

Jisung was on a roll.

The words were flowing out of him like a constant stream of consciousness, and he couldn't stop.

"You're also the one who retracted the contribution. You got him kicked as a sponsor for SFL all because you couldn't stand him doing something he actually enjoyed and cared about instead of making you money."

Jisung took a deep breath after his outburst.

It felt relieving to get everything piled on top of him off of his shoulders.

Though he couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t laced with terror at what Chan would say in response.

"Oh please. Minho can't handle too many things at once. He's a bit of a Prince like that. He needs to focus on his live shows right now anyway. Whenever he gets too wrapped up in all this ‘boohoo, woe-is-me' crap he gets distracted. In a few months he'll forget about it anyway, it's no big deal."

Jisung tilted his head in confusion.

"Wait… So… You admit it? You're the one who has been sabotaging him."

"Pfft, don't be stupid. Why would I ever sabotage Minho? He's my number one, you know that right? Plus, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I was simply making sure Minho didn’t get side-tracked. Afterall, you were the one in the photos, weren't you? Wasn't it a bit silly of you to be out in public not wearing a mask anyway, Jisung? You should have known what would happen if the press caught wind; as I had already warned you… I guess it's not your fault that you're a nobody, though." He said, staring at the smaller man.

"You can't even begin to imagine how much shit you have put him through..." Jisung said, staring directly back at him, trying to hold his nerve.

"Oh? And suddenly you speak for him now, do you? Besides, he needn't worry, I got him back on the board, didn’t I? Thanks to Channie, he's in better condition than he's ever been before. Suddenly, all these brands are interested again! Strange how things work out, and he still got to keep his stupid little charity committee." Chan cocked a smile, pushing his hands through his hair. "You know, I've never seen his brand reputation so low as when he was seen out with you. You had to get yourself involved and practically ruin his career, didn't you? You should know, guys like you don't get to pick guys like Minho." He laughed.

Jisung hesitated.

Having his biggest insecurity laid out in front of him caused his throat to swell a little as he felt his adrenaline high wavering.

Minho had told him that no matter what happens, he wasn't going to let anyone drive him away. He needed to remember that and stay strong.

That being said, the anxiety wrapping around him kept tapping him on the shoulder; reminding him that he would never be good enough for Minho.

Deep down, maybe Chan was right?

No.

Not this time, Jisung thought.

"Minho and I are good together, and you're not going to ruin that."

Suddenly, Chan scoffed at him, relaxing some of the tension from his shoulders with a shrug. He watched as what looked like a semblance of empathy flashed through the older man’s eyes, although Jisung was smart enough not to trust its authenticity.

"Hey, look. You're a sweet dude Jisung, maybe I would even go as far as to say that you're even a little talented, but you know you're in over your head, right?" He said, patronisingly. He took a few steps forward and placed his hand on Jisung's shoulder and Jisung immediately wanted to shrug it off. He saw a smirk forming across the older man's face. "You know about us, don't you? Or hasn't he told you?" Chan laughed.

Jisung's stomach clenched.

“I do feel sorry to be the one to tell you Jisung, considering how clearly obsessed you are with him, but... There’s always been an unspoken thing between us, you know?" He slumped his arm off of Jisung’s shoulder and lackadaisically pushed the first chair under the desk. "I have done so much for him in his career, scored him big opportunities..."

He strolled to the other side of the studio room lazily, then leaned on the back of the third chair, snapping his eyes back to Jisung’s before continuing,

"Plus, I mean on a more personal level; if you don't mind me sharing? He's always kind of, belonged to me, I guess you could say. There's always that connection, you know? When you give your whole self to someone for the first time, you know?”

Jisung's heart sank.

Deep, deep into the abyss.

He knew exactly what the older man was implying.

He felt his chest tighten, his heart felt like it had been ripped from his upper body and stepped on.

He couldn't believe the depths this man would go to just to hurt him; and for what?

There shouldn’t be people like this, Jisung thought.

He tried to respond, but Chan cut him off.

"Since you've been gone for a while, there's definitely something blossoming between us again; it’s inevitable. I guess he just can't deny his type. You can't honestly think you match up with me?"

"That is not true. M-Minho has no feelings for you at all, you're just a f-fucking liar." Jisung nearly choked at the end of his words.

The atmosphere turned colder as Jisung tried his best not to faulter under Chan’s gaze, but he was verbally collapsing, and his words were starting to hitch.

"Strong words coming from a talentless, obsessed, fucking nobody.” Chan snapped. “Don't think for one second that you meant anything to him, Jisung. I'll have him singing my name by the end of the night, trust me." Chan mocked.

He shoved the chair he was leaning on under the desk and strolled past Jisung towards the door nonchalantly, smoothing a stray curl down as he did.

Jisung felt his wrists pulsating at the blood flow and his temples thumping. His emotions were taking over his body.  

Listening to the older man talk about Minho like that lit a fire inside of him. It took every ounce of courage in his body to shout back out to the older man.

"You're wrong. Minho and I care about each other. And maybe we'll find a different company, one that's better than this!" He screamed desperately.

"Good luck with that, Jisung." Chan said through a smirk, grabbing the door handle.

He wasn't about to let him walk away.

"And what about Hyunjin, huh!?" Jisung desperately shouted with the remaining energy he had. He watched as Chan stopped in his tracks. "How dare you say this stuff about Minho when you know what you've been doing to him!"

"Oh Jisung, please, Hyunjin is a bit of fun, but you should know, I don't just settle for second best option. "

Jisung watched in disgust, as Chan just laughed and proceeded to yank the door open.

"He tells me things about you, you know! The shoots that you make him do, the way you look at him and the things you've done to him!" Jisung cried out, with every last hint of energy in his body.

He watched as the older man took a step outside of the door.

He looked down the hallway, left, then right, before stepping back into the room, closing it again slowly as he did.

He turned back to face him directly.

Chan suddenly dived at him. He grabbed him by his collar with both fists buried deeply into the material of his shirt. Jisung could feel his rings digging into his neck on either side.

Chan lifted him from the floor and slammed him backwards in a frenzy.

He felt the forceful, blunt impact of the 12mm toughened glass of the booth directly behind him.

He suddenly felt a seething pain ripple from the back of his skull.

For a moment he was completely stunned; he could feel a pulsation in his ears coupled with a high-pitch whining noise that seemed to last an eternity.

He tried to force himself to blink, to try bringing his vision back in to focus, but everything was hazed.

He could feel his own blood pooling at the back of his head, seeping through his hair down his neck and under the back of his shirt.

His head was lulling, and he couldn't bring his neck to support it through the shock.

Then, Chan's hot breath on his face; he was so close to him.

Jisung felt completely helpless.

More helpless than he's ever felt.

"Listen here, you little shit. I'm tired of you, okay? I've been tired of you ever since I first laid eyes on you. Whatever Hyunjin has told you about us, he's obviously just getting himself a little confused." He saw Chan smirk a little through his rage. "I couldn't count the times he's told me how badly he wants me, how much he needs me. The poor boy just doesn't understand his own sexuality yet; he can't help it I guess."

Jisung gritted his teeth, partially at Chan, and partially at the pain consuming the back of his head.

"Don't worry though, I'm over the whole thing in all honesty, it was fun for a bit with him but honestly he’s way too uptight. A little boring, even. Watching Minho perform recently, watching how his body works, it just reminds me of how good he was..." Jisung tried to turn away from his face in disgust but Chan jolted him back to look towards him directly. "Don't worry though Jisung, I'll break things off with your friend once I get Minho back. I'll try not to hurt him too badly; he is so delicate. Honestly, I feel like I could fucking break him if I wanted to." He scoffed.

"He told me everything. He... He hates you…" Jisung snapped his eyes back to meet Chan's. He was starting to regain his vision a little. "You know what you’re doing. You’re a- you’re a-“

"I'm a what, Jisung?" He could feel the older man pushing him backwards, angling him so he could speak directly into his ear, hissing a little as he did. The pressure caused the gash in the back of his head to sting so badly from the contact. “It’s unfortunate that I’ll have to end his contract soon, but let's face it, I didn't hire him for his so-called fucking 'talent', did I? All he's good for are his looks and even he knows it. He snapped. "Hell, even you can appreciate that about him, right?"

Jisung swallowed at the sudden accusation.

"Oh, yeah, he told me about your little crush on him, we both laughed about you for fucking hours. He even had to deny his own sexuality let you down gently. Wow, that must really suck for you, being so unattractive that even your own best friend didn't want you, either."

Chan shoved him back again, releasing his collar in disgust, causing him to fall to the ground in a heap, blood still trailing down the back of his head and dripping down the glass.

"Isn't it kinda funny? Both of the men you've wanted, both want me. That must really suck, huh? Well, I guess we can't all be winners. Some of us have to be losers.”

Jisung's heart ached. The back of his head was throbbing, and he felt the warmth of his own blood trickling down his back turning cold. He tried to speak back but the words wouldn't come out. He wanted to shout something, anything, but the words just weren't forming.

"No one will believe anything you say anyway. If I hear you mention anything about Hyunjin, I'll have you blacklisted from ever working in any company in Seoul again." He patted himself down and wiped his hands on his pants before straightening up his blazer. "Now get the fuck out of here. If I ever see you around here again it won't go well for you." He walked towards the door again, pulling it open with so much force Jisung felt the floor vibrate underneath him.

He turned around one last time to face Jisung.

"And it goes without saying, but if you ever speak to Minho again; or so much as even look in his direction, I'll fucking end you myself. You need to learn, I never lose, Jisung." He hit the light, then slammed the door shut, plunging Jisung into darkness.

Only the dim, red 'LIVE' sign above the booth was illuminating the room, just enough for him to barely see the outlines of the chairs next to him.

---

It was so quiet.

He could just about hear the faint ringing in his ear which seemed to nearly match the frequency sound of the microphones above his head that were buzzing softly, occasionally squealing with feedback.

Everything around Jisung was hazy. His breaths were so sharp and quick that there was barely enough time in between each for him to let out a sob. He tried to badly to latch air into his lungs, but it felt impossible, like there was someone pushing back on his chest.

He pulled himself to a sitting position and wrapped his arms around his legs, tucking his head in between his knees tightly like he always did. His heart was hurting so badly, and he couldn't stop trembling all over.

He could feel the sweat pooling on his forehead against his arms. His chest was painful now, and he tried to re-focus himself, but it stung.

His breathes quickened again. He squeezed his eyes together to relieve some of the tension, but it was worsening rapidly. He tried to take a breath through the pain, then another, but they were too fast for him to catch up.

He finally slumped his head towards the side so that his tears slid down his neck.

Please, someone please, was all he could think through the fog.

He noticed the booth was opened just a little; then he saw a pair of black dress shoes in his peripheral as he cried. He lifted his head just little, hissing at the pain at the back of his skull.

His gaze was met with a set of shimmering, dark eyes.

It was Jeongin.

He saw nothing but sheer panic in the young interns’ eyes. It almost mirrored his own. 

He had a carton of banana milk and an empty plastic buffet dish clutched tightly against his chest. Jisung could see his hands were shaking.

"J-Jeongin... What are you-"

"Jisung, I'm... I'm so sorry, I hadn't eaten all day so I... I never get a proper lunch break when I'm working so I just... I sneak out when I can get away from him. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I snuck in here because it was quiet. I didn't know anyone was in here, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to listen in--"

The younger man suddenly burst in to tears and started to howl uncontrollably.

All Jisung wanted to do was tell him it was going to be okay, but he couldn't even tell himself that.

"I'm so sorry. I-I don't know what to... I'm- should I call for help? Your head is bleeding really badly!" His cries turned to sobs as he knelt down beside Jisung, dropping his leftovers to the ground, landing on his knees. He nervously hovered his hands over Jisung and then stirred them around a little in panic, not wanting to touch the wound on the back of his head in fear of hurting him.

Jisung stared at him for a moment.

He had to stop Chan; he knew it.

This couldn't go on any longer.

He couldn’t turn back now.

He couldn’t let him hurt anyone else.                          

“J-Jeongin, did you get the keys again? We need to fix this, now… There won’t be any more chances.” Jisung said, wincing as he tried to lift himself up with his palms.  

“Y-Yes, I have them. It took a lot longer than I-I thought, but I got them.” he said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

“Help me up, we need to go, no-now.” He stuttered.

Jeongin wrapped his arm around Jisung’s shoulder to stabilise him. He was taller, so Jisung leant against him a little before pulling himself up to his feet shakily.

Both of them exited to find Chan’s office, with Jisung barely able to keep his eyes open.  

---

Jisung held Jeongin’s black cardigan against the back of his head, applying pressure as they took the elevator back down to the ground floor. Eventually the bleeding had near enough ceased, but he still felt nauseous and his hearing didn’t feel quite right since the altercation. Jeongin had to keep steadying him every time his head drooped down.  

Jisung could see the dread on Jeongin’s face, his hands trembling on the elevator button.

They came to their stop in the regular grey hallway next to the entrance, the smell of the plants penetrating Jisung’s nostrils.

He was so dazed they smelt amazing to him.

They finally made their way down the hall to Chan’s office. He looked around the rest of the reception and entrance to ensure that no one could see them. There were still some members of the public hanging around the front, so they dodged around the furniture the best they could, opening the door of Chan’s room and peering in. Jeongin turned the light on and illuminated the green nightmare room again.

It was so, so bright, and everything was doubled.

He really wasn’t used to it.

Jisung noticed his desk was a lot tidier than it was previously, with less paper thrown around the place and his small array of stationary was neatly organised in a set. Jisung also noticed a black photo frame standing on the desk. Inside of it, was what vaguely looked like a photograph of Chan and Minho at the beach. The photo appeared old, and Minho’s hair looked like it was black. It looked like it could have been taken when they were together, before.

He grimaced, picking it up in his hands to scan over the image, screwing his eyes together forcefully to try and get his eyes to converge on it. His pupils had other ideas, though.

He started to think it had been put there on purpose.

“Um, Jisung?” Jeongin said, nervously. “You should look at this...”

Jeongin had opened the drawers to re-re-steal Minho’s phone again.

But the phone wasn’t there.

Jeongin had frantically searched for it, but it had been replaced with a singular, yellow post-it note. Jisung darted across to the drawer, picking up the note and looking at it in horror.

“I never lose.

‘M’ xx”                                           

---

He picked up the photo of Chan and Minho in his shaking hands and launched it across the room with all his might, shattering the glass against his filing cabinet.

The power of the throw caused him to collapse to the ground.

Chapter Text

“Jisung! Jisung please get up!” Jeongin screamed, rattling his face between his palms.

He started shaking him from side-to-side, making him groan.

Jisung waivered, hearing the intern’s voice tremble. Jeongin lit up upon seeing him blink his eyes open a few times. Jisung managed to pull himself up to lean on his forearms. The nightmare green was too bright, he couldn’t do it.

“Jeongin, he has the phone… I don’t know what… I don’t know what to do. H-He’s won, hasn’t he?” Jisung’s words were breaking, he felt like he was falling apart.

“He hasn’t Jisung, I promise. I will fix this, trust me!” Jeongin said frantically. “You need to go to the hospital, Jisung. You’re not okay!”

Jisung heard his phone ping loudly. He reached into his pocket and squinted through the cracks. The phone was hard enough to read when he wasn’t in this state. The cracked screen as well as the photophobia made it near impossible to make out the words.

It was Hyunjin’s name on the notification.

To 한

Ji, where are you? It’s nearly Minho’s turn to speak and I haven’t seen you all night. I don’t know if I can do this any longer, Chan’s getting worse and he wants me to stay with him tonight. I can’t stand this.

Please do something

xx

Jisung felt sick – Well, he already felt sick, but this time it was consuming him entirely thinking about Hyunjin’s situation. He had no evidence, he had no proof of anything ever happening, all of the producers he’s worked with likely would side with him in fear.

Still, he knew he had to fight with every last inch of his energy.

Although physically, there wasn’t much fight left in him.

Jeongin helped him back to his feet again and placed both hands on his shoulders to support him. He looked at Jisung, suddenly more determined than ever.

“I promise Jisung. I need your laptop, but I will make this all better, I promise!” the intern screeched. He removed his arm from Jisung’s shoulder, and linked his pinkie finger with Jisung’s, shaking it gently.

“I promise.”

---

Minho felt like giving up.

He was the last speaker, and his turn at the podium was swiftly approaching.

He had his speech memorised down to a T, but his nerves were less about the audience gathered in the auditorium, and more related to a specific lack of a particular 5’7, usually hoodie-donning, Incheon man.

It had been well over an hour and a half since he had last seen Jisung, and the event was winding down into the longer speeches and videos already.

Minho had no idea what was taking Jisung so long.

The worst part was, he had to be around Chan for most of the night, who had insisted on following him around like some overprotective bulldog. Minho was a cat person, anyway.

Once he had managed to pull himself away from the older man, he stood anxiously, awaiting his time at the podium.

He didn’t get nervous generally, but knowing that Chan was in close proximity, seemingly with no indication of being ‘exposed’ too soon agitated him. He thought he trusted Jisung to pull through with his ‘evidence’, even if that meant that his now-distorted reality of Chan wasn’t real.

He had known Chan a long time, they had spent a vast majority of their time at JYP together and a peculiar part of him felt some remorse for what had happened between them, although it was a long time ago.

He remembers the broken look on Chan’s face.

Firstly, when he told them he was leaving the group they debuted in.

Secondly, when he broke the other man’s heart.

It took years for them to rekindle their friendship, and Chan had never been quite the same since.

He had to keep reminding himself, that it wasn’t his fault Chan had turned out the way he did; he didn’t owe him anything. It wasn’t his job to live treading on eggshells around him and it certainly wasn’t his job to fix him, either. Chan had been given many chances, Minho thought.

Though it didn’t stop him from dwelling on the guilty feeling, every now and again.

A small, persistent thought swept across the ridges his brain; what if Chan had been right? What if it really was Jisung messing with him all along?

Maybe Minho was too trusting of the seemingly perfect 5’7, usually hoodie-donning, Incheon man.

He shook his head, shaking off the thought. He had to trust him.

Right?

So, where was he?

---

Chan and Hyunjin were sitting at the very front table on the left-hand side of the auditorium; Chan’s hand comfortably perched on Hyunjin’s thigh.

Hyunjin looked back up nervously as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He had managed to sneak out to the bathroom to text Jisung earlier, but now that Chan and he were settled at their table, he’d likely not have a chance again. He badly wanted to read Jisung’s response, but he knew Chan was watching.  

The rest of the attendees all took their own seats at their designated tables as the microphone indicated it was almost Minho’s turn.

A tall, slender man with round glasses approached the stand, his grey hair combed over the top of his head. He coughed a little, before speaking into the microphone.

“For our last speaker tonight, we will be reaching out to one of this current generation’s true performing arts stars. A someone who has participated in performance since he was a child and managed to sculpt a successful image in the industry at JYP Entertainment over the past five years. He is not only a drama actor, professional dancer, singer, choreographer – the list goes on!” The audience giggled at his jokes and Minho found himself shaking his head graciously as everyone looked to him standing at the side of the stage area. The man continued,

“Not only is he extremely talented, he has also been extraordinarily forthcoming and generous throughout his spell as Main Sponsor and Event Organiser for ‘Sing it, Feel it, Live it’. In the last six months alone, he has donated nearly 120 million won to the project as of this month towards good causes.”

Chan coughed and spluttered in the front row in disbelief as the vast sum was read out.

He had no idea that Minho had reimbursed the falsely embezzled funds and even doubled the amount.

The audience let out little woops and cheers at the announcement, making Minho blush a little under the stage lights as some large-scale video cameras swung towards him to record his reactions.

“That is why, tonight we are honouring our last guest speaker and our first ever, Sing it, Feel it, Live it VIP award recipient! Congratulations, Mr. Lee Minho!”

The audience exploded in applause from both sides of the room, and Minho was ushered up to the standby one of the stagehands in shock. The man reached off stage to present him with a golden microphone trophy, the microphone details were accented in sky blue metallic paint. On the front it had ‘Sing it, Feel it, Live it! – VIP Award 2020” embossed across it. Suddenly the photographers started snapping him up, flashes going off from every direction.

Chan quickly removed his hand from Hyunjin’s thigh, to instead stand and clap obnoxiously loudly for Minho, beaming with pride from the side-lines.

"Oh. Wow. Thank you all so much. This is... Wow. I don't expect any kind of reward for this kind of work, honestly being here feels reward enough." Minho said nervously. The spotlight was moved to focus on him, illuminating him in the centre of the stage. He continued,

“This foundation... It really means a lot to me and a lot of the families close to me. I-I want to thank everyone for being here today for such a raw celebration of performing arts... I believe that the arts; music, acting, singing are a great way for children to express themselves and be who they really are, without judgement. I believe, that's really important…”

He looked at the trophy again in amazement, then swept his eyes across the room at everyone’s slightly blurry faces in the distance. He saw Chan in his periphery.

“None of this would have been possible if it weren't for a multitude of great people...”

Chan straightened his lapel in the front row, awaiting his shout out.

“It's often hard to be in this line of work, but it's times like this when you really realise what is important. So, firstly, I'd like to thank Hee-Jae Kim and Eun-Hye Kim, who are the family that supported my dream for so many years when I was younger and even helped my Mom put me through performing arts school. I'm so grateful that I was able to give you back something in return and that we have remained close up until this day.”

He looked to the two seats he had reserved for them at one of the closer tables on the right-hand side. Both of the elders smiled at him, Eun-Hye raising her hand gently to her chest as she waved with the other one. Minho waved back at her, causing the audience to ‘aww!’ at their interaction.

From the front row, Chan rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. Minho continued,

“I'm also thankful for all the donators and benefactors that keep this charity moving forward and developing. These events have gone from strength to strength and I'm honestly so moved… Also, my fellow JYP companions, who are advocates for keeping performance alive and inspiring young people to want achieve their dreams and bringing strength to so many children with their music and dancing.” He said, signalling to his senior artists and other groups.

He could see Seungmin shy his head away in embarrassment a little, and Felix shot him a rather large grin and a little thumbs up. Which made the audience squeal at his charm, once again.  

Suddenly, he heard a little voice in his head.

He looked around, stumbling over his words a little.

It was unlike him; he was usually so good at on-the-spot improvisation.

“That being said, I'd also like to thank the person that gave me the strength recently...” Minho said hesitantly.  

Chan finally looked back up again, straightening his body.  

Minho took a deep breath.

“…My boyfriend, Jisung, for being so supportive of my theatre work this whole time…”

The room filled with enthusiastic patter and surprised gasps. Suddenly a multitude of camera shutters and beeping sounds were heard. A few of the reporters even took out their phone cameras as they didn't have time to set up their recordings before they missed the rest of the speech.

Minho glanced back to the front row and watched as Chan sat in shock.

He angrily stood up and looked around the room, gawping at the commotion Minho had caused. Chan suddenly shot his head back to lock eyes with him, giving him daggers, gesturing at his throat to cut it out. Minho continued, talking into the microphone apprehensively.

“Jisung?” He looked over all of the tables, even to the chairs at the back that didn’t have an associated table. “J-Jisung? Where are you?”

He glanced around again, then again; the auditorium was pretty huge but not so large that he wouldn’t be able to see him if he were there.

What felt like minutes passed, and the people in the audience started to talk amongst themselves at the awkwardness of the situation.

Minho started to falter; he suddenly felt a twitch in his heart as it filled with nervous energy.

“Jisung?” He repeated, one final time.

Chan walked towards the stage, putting his palms of the edge of it to get closer, hyper-aware of the cameras around. He tried to keep his voice low but just enough so Minho could hear him from where he was standing in the centre.

“What the hell are you doing Minho?! You’re going against the official statement we released. You’re embarrassing yourself in front of these cameras and the CEO!” He hissed.

Minho heard him through his aggravated stage whisper and looked ahead in disbelief, taking another glance around the room, trying to shield his eyes from the lights as he did. Chan continued,

"I told you Minho…” He took a deep breath. “Look, I saw him here earlier. I know you invited him.” Minho glanced back down to look at him again. “I hate to tell you, but he took off about twenty minutes ago, just before your speech. He told me it was for the best… I knew I was right about him.” He sighed, shaking his head.

Chan slid his hands off of the side of the stage lethargically, turning around, lumbering back to his seat to throw himself down on it in exasperation at Minho’s actions.

Minho felt his heart aching as he looked back to the area where most of the photographers were. Some of his senior female artists were giving him empathetic looks and even Felix and Seungmin were wearing sorry expressions on their faces.

He placed the microphone on the podium, making it shriek. He felt the tears brimming but needed to hold it in in from of the cameras. He started to walk off of the stage, when suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound.

He looked back down the centre of the room to where the doors were.

He watched, squinting, as a 5’7, usually hoodie-donning, Incheon man barged through the large auditorium door by forcing his body into it.

Everyone in the room turned around to look at the commotion.

Minho noticed the large, dark red stain down the left-hand side of Jisung’s collar and sleeve. It travelled all the way down his entire left side.

“Jisung?!” He screamed, darting down the stairs and through the middle walkway.

Jisung ambled down to meet him in the middle best he could, with the audience letting out squeals at his bloodied appearance. He even saw a couple of the woman jump out of their seats in his dazed state.

Jisung couldn’t run as he felt so nauseous, but he saw Minho coming close to him and tried his best to bridge the distance. He could barely keep his eyes open.

“What the hell happened to you?!” Minho shrieked, grabbing his shoulders, and pulling him forward to try and meet him in an embrace. He found himself pulling his hands back in surprise at how off-balance Jisung seemed when he touched him.

“He happened.” Jisung said, pointing dizzily to Chan at the front table. He could see two of him.

The rest of the audience switched their focus to Chan, to look at him in shock. Hyunjin jumped out of his seat too, darting backwards from the Australian in realisation in why he hadn’t seen Jisung in so long.  

Minho snapped his head backwards too, seething. Incensed, confused tears were forming in his eyes at the idea that Chan could have possibly done this him.

Chan jumped up in self-defence, throwing his hands up cautiously.

“What the hell is going on?! Who let this man in here?!” Chan shouted. “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the man that has been stalking Minho for over two and a half months; he has well and truly lost his mind. Someone get him out of here! Where is the security, why is no one helping?!” Chan shouted in a panic, looking around the room and gesturing at Jisung for someone to remove him from the premises.

Minho watched as the security guards situated around the room noticed and jostled nervously into action, marching towards them.

“No, wait, wait!” Minho said, holding his hands out protectively, turning himself around to face each one in turn.

“Jisung is not a stalker. He’s my boyfriend, the article dismissing our relationship was a false report and had nothing to do with me. I know this man.”

“This is absolutely ridiculous Minho! He was not invited! One of you, get him away from my client!” Chan shouted, shaking his head in fake disbelief.

He started walking towards them, and Minho found himself angling his body to protect Jisung from Chan instinctively. He was starting to slump downwards, not really able to keep himself upright any longer.

“Don’t come near him. I mean it, Chan.” Minho nervously murmured at him.

Chan looked at him in utter shock.

“Minho, what the hell are you thinking right now?! This man has caused you nothing but problems ever since you met him. You’re really going to be controlled by him!? I have known you for years, looking out for you, protecting you, caring about you! You’re just going to believe this nobody, over me?!”

Minho faltered. Looking back to Jisung’s head, then back to Chan.

“D-Did you do this to him?” He asked, solemnly, locking eyes with him.

“Of course not Minho! It’s just another one of his and Hyunjin’s stupid schemes!” Chan shouted, looking back to Hyunjin with venom in his eyes. “Both of them are in on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did this to himself to get you to feel sorry for him.” Chan said accusingly.

“What?!” Hyunjin piped up too, nervously looking around at the photographers who were now shooting him, as well. “Please Minho, I had nothing to do with this!”

“Chan… Is lying… Minho…” Jisung said feebly. He wobbled a little as he spoke as his knees caved.

Minho helped him down, placing him on the floor gently, kneeling next to him and propping his head on top of his own knees.

Minho tapped at his tear-stained cheeks to try and keep him up.

“It’s okay, stay awake, okay?” Minho fussed at him.

“Oh please, this is laughable. This stalker is stringing you along and using you for your fame Minho!” Chan exclaimed, throwing his hands on his hips, mouth agape.

The Australian watched Minho staring at Jisung, sick with worry and tears in his eyes at the sight of the younger man.

It made the Australian reel internally. Chan continued,

“They’re conspiring against us Minho, so they can both get in to JYP; they’re in to together! Plus, Jisung has feelings for Hyunjin!” Minho looked back to Chan as the elder continued, “My Hyunjin! He is trying to steal Hyunjin away from me!” He bellowed, suddenly re-invigorated by his new story.

The audience looked back to Hyunjin. The sudden ‘scoop’ unveiling that Chan had been romantically linked with the ‘new JYP up-and-comer Hwang Hyunjin’ suddenly lit the audience up all over again.

Hyunjin looked around in panic as the flashes started going off.

Hyunjin felt like he could just burst into tears, he couldn’t be ruined like this.

Not by the man that had caused him so much misery.

He had told Jisung he couldn’t do it earlier in the night, but it was now, or never.

He wasn’t going to be weak anymore.

“No…! That’s not true!” He pleaded, looking around at all of the cameras. “Jisung isn’t stealing me from you Chan… Be-Because I was never with you! You’re just a—”

“Jinnie, I suggest, you stop talking, before you make it worse.” Chan snapped back at him incredulously.

“No… No, I won’t! And don’t call me that!” He said, locking eyes with the older man before turning back to the reporters next to the stage. “Mr. Bang Chan has been lying this whole time, we were never an item, he’s just a creep. He’s all over me, even though I tell him to stop.” He turned back to him again. “I would never be with you; I can’t even stand being around you!” He screamed.

“Hyunjin!” Chan hissed.

“I tell you to stop touching me all the time, and you don’t… You… You make me feel sick to my fucking stomach!” Hyunjin shouted with every last inch of might in his slender frame, eyes ready to burst. His legs bucked a little as his own knees gave in to his weight and he stumbled backwards slightly.

Jisung was suddenly brought back to the conversation for a moment, as he had never heard Hyunjin cuss before.

The audience frenzied at his allegation and Hyunjin’s agonizing outburst.

Minho’s mouth dropped wide open at his claims. Jisung had warned him that Chan had been hurting Hyunjin, but he didn’t know to what extent. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Chan looked around the room, in disbelief.

Everyone in the room had their eyes locked on him.

“That is not true! He’s lying…! Wow, I gave you everything Hyunjin, and you treat me like this? You make up stories about our relationship because you’ve been stringing me along all this time!” He pleaded, raking his hand through his slicked back blonde locks.

Minho looked back across to Chan, who was retreating backwards slightly, unsure of what to say.

Minho could almost see his thoughts ticking over as he scrambled over his words. Chan continued,

“I-I even cancelled all of Minho’s shoots and endorsements… Because you asked me to, because I just loved you so much! Now you’re turning against me for Jisung! I can’t believe it!” Chan pointed at Hyunjin directly, as his lip started quivering and tears began forming in his eyes.

The audience went silent for a moment at Chan’s equally emotional retort. He heard a few gasps.

Hyunjin was completely speechless.

“You-You, cancelled my shoots? You, Channie?” Minho said, looking up to him. Chan whipped back to face him desperately.

“Yes, okay, fine! It was me Minho, but please understand.” He walked towards Minho a little closer, pointing his finger at Jisung. “Hyunjin and Jisung had been planning this the whole time. They made me… They made me fall for Hyunjin and then used me to get to you. They convinced me to give Hyunjin your roles to help boost his career. I can’t—I can’t believe this.” He turned back to Hyunjin. “I cannot believe you used me like this Hyunjin… I told you that I was in love with you and you used me.”

Jisung’s own eyes opened a little through the cloudiness. Even in his half-conscious state, he could still hear the incredulous lies spilling from Chan’s mouth. Chan continued,

“As soon as I secured Hyunjin those promos, you two made it obvious that you were always in it for each other. That’s why Hyunjin was at your apartment the other night, too. You have been seeing each other since the start, behind mine and Minho’s backs! You never cared about either of us!” Chan said matter-of-factly, then looking back to the cameras, acting as if he was just hearing this ‘breaking news’ for the first time. “I cannot believe I was manipulated like this!” The Australian tried to ‘stifle’ his tears by pulling his forearm across his eyes.

Hyunjin stood up again, unable to even form the words to defend himself, so he just stammered instead, as the cameras recorded him floundering.

He was so stunned; he had no clue what to do.

He looked like a rabbit in headlights.

Minho looked at him hesitantly before looking back to Jisung.

“J-Jisung? Why isn’t he saying anything? W-why isn’t he saying it’s not true?”

“No… Minho, it’s not true…” He muttered, through quiet breaths. “Please, please, believe me.” He pleaded.

“I-I… Jisung. I’m-I’m trying to...” He faltered, looking back to Chan who was still crying, shaking his head at him through his tears.

The older, stronger man in front of him was in such a state.

Minho had only seen him this way two other times.

It was hurting him to see him like this again and the guilty feeling was returning.                

“Minho… You have to believe me. They’ve been planning this since the first day they wrangled their way in to your first event. You know how much I adored Hyunjin; it’s because it was all a set up. Jisung knew I’d fall for him; he’s perfectly my type…” Chan said, through bated breath. “I’m so sorry, I let you down. I was weak for him.”

Minho looked back and raised an eyebrow at the Australian, suddenly remembering.

“What about the spark? You said at Jungsik, that... There was no spark with him… The other night, you said that... You were casual…” Minho said, looking down to the ground, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

“I only said that because I was scared of falling for him this badly, Minho. Deep down, I knew that it was Jisung he wanted from the start and I just couldn’t have my heart broken like that... You have to believe me.” Chan wept; every word punctuated with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Channie, I-I don’t know what to do…”

“You have to believe me Minho, I would have never done those things to you on purpose. You’re my number one, you know that! I only did it because he asked me to! I’m so stupid and I’m so sorry.” Chan pleaded, desperately.

“Channie…I-”

“Minho… No… You can’t believe this again…” Jisung pleaded through bated breaths, trembling in his arms. Minho looked to him, then to Chan.

“Minho, you mean everything to me.” Chan said tearily, looking at him directly in the eyes.

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching sound, that caused everyone in the audience to cover their ears. It sounded like the noise Jisung could hear in his head but louder.

Well, it actually sounded like the feedback of a microphone, he thought.

Jisung knew he was delirious, but he could clearly hear the sound of his own voice blasting through the auditorium speakers.

It felt like a really bad case of déjà vu.

“And what about Hyunjin, huh!?" How dare you say this stuff about Minho when you know what you've been doing to him!”

Then he heard Chan’s voice booming back, shortly after.

"Oh Jisung, please, Hyunjin is a bit of fun, but you should know, I don't just settle for second best option."

Chan stood perfectly still for a moment.

The sudden reality of what was happening washing over him as his face contorted in horror.

“What-What the hell is this?!” Chan shouted in outrage. “Where is this coming from!?” He panicked, looking around the room desperately, then looking back to the stage.

"He tells me things; about you, you know! The shoots that you make him do, the way you look at him and the things you've done to him!"

In the middle of the room, standing on the sky-blue stage at the wooden podium, with Jisung’s laptop, was Jeongin.

He had a little blood on his shirt, likely from helping Jisung to the hall just in time for Minho’s speech. His cheeks were rosy pink and he looked drained.

Then, the entire audience all watched as Jeongin tapped the volume up button furiously, smashing at the keyboard.

The intern stared at Chan as he played the recording even louder through the speakers.

Suddenly, they heard a monotonous thump, that was so loud it made everyone in the room flinch. It was the sound of Chan forcing Jisung into the glass of the isolation booth; it echoed throughout the auditorium.

“Listen here, you little shit. I'm tired of you, okay? I've been tired of you ever since I first laid eyes on you. Whatever Hyunjin has told you about us, he's obviously just getting himself a little confused. I couldn't count the times he's told me how badly he wants me, how much he needs me. The poor boy just doesn't understand his own sexuality yet; he can't help it I guess."

Chan snapped his eyes back across to Hyunjin, who had his mouth wide open in shock. He glanced back to Chan in disgust, shaking his head from side to side at what he was hearing. Chan watched as he mouthed ‘You liar’ in his direction.

“Don't worry though, I'm over the whole thing in all honesty, it was fun for a bit with him but honestly he’s way too uptight. A little boring, even. Watching Minho perform recently, watching how his body works, it just reminds me of how good he was...”

He then looked over to Minho who had lifted his head up at the sound of his own name in aversion. He was still cradling Jisung in the middle of the walkway, just listening intently.  

“Minho… It’s not what-It’s not what it sounds like, it’s a set- it’s a set up!” Chan pleaded desperately. Striding towards him. “This is crazy, it’s… it’s fake! It must have been them, they-” He shouted, trying to get closer to him.

“Don’t.” Minho snapped, glaring directly at him. “Don’t you dare come any closer to me.” Chan stopped in his tracks as the rest of the auditorium listened on.

"Don't worry though Jisung, I'll break things off with your friend once I get Minho back. I'll try not to hurt him too badly; he is so delicate. Honestly, I feel like I could fucking break him if I wanted to."

The whole audience gasped at the sound of the Australian’s vicious language.

All of the idols that Chan was acquainted with looked on in astonishment with every line he delivered for the next few minutes.

“…And it goes without saying, but if you ever speak to Minho again; or so much as even look in his direction, I'll fucking end you myself. You need to learn, I never lose, Jisung.”

Jisung leaned up a little, pushing himself up through the pain, on to his elbows as the end of the recording played.

He audibly winced at the agony, making Chan look back to him.

“Hey, Channie… Looks like… You lose...” Jisung muttered grimly.    

He dropped his head down, sagging further down into the warmth of Minho’s arms.

He was so glad he got to be a sarcastic little shit, one last time, before he eventually slumped down and slipped out of consciousness.

---

“Someone, please call an ambulance!” Minho said in a panicked state, looking around the audience, who were completely stunned. “And get him out of here!” Minho pointed to Chan, glaring at him with so much revulsion in his stare Chan could have spontaneously combusted.

Maskless and Poloshirt swung across the floor, winding down towards Chan with two other staff, all four of them grabbing him from behind by his biceps and forearms as he struggled.

“Get your fucking minions away from me! Don’t touch me!” Chan screamed.

Hyunjin whipped his phone out of his shoulder bag, tapping at it frantically to unlock it, calling for an ambulance for Jisung.

“This is ridiculous! I literally made this corporation what it is today!” Chan screamed, thrashing around. “Minho, tell them!” He turned back to him. “Tell them I’m the fucking backbone of this shitty company!”

All the idols looked on in disgust, some covering their mouths in surprise at the sudden turn of events. Afterall,

This was a charity event.

In the corner of his eye, sitting off to the left of Jisung and Minho at one of the tables, Chan saw Wook Jung, the Chief Executive Officer of JYP Entertainment, slowly arise from his seat, pushing his glasses up as he did. Next to him, was J. Y. Park.

He was slack-jawed.

Chan turned to stone upon meeting his gaze, then he finally went limp in the security’s arms, dropping his head to his chest in realisation of what he had said.  

Minho watched as he finally submitted; the guilty feeling finally washing away.

Chapter Text

Jisung felt the soft tickle of a warm breeze on his toes.

As he pulled his eyes apart wearily, he winced at how bright the room was around him compared to his usually fully black and grey bedroom. The sun was breaching its position and intruding Jisung's dazed vicinity. He didn't like it at all. Honestly, fuck the solar system, he thought.

Today, he suddenly felt more photophobic than he'd ever been before. The curtains in this room were a light aqua-blue color and flowing a little, the warm breeze making the curtains dance in the wind.

To his side was a small, white, wheelie side-table with some colorful flowers standing on it and a few cards tucked underneath the vase. He could smell the petals in the breeze, it felt soothing to him.

He fidgeted a little, moving around in the bed sheets.

The bed was super loud and metallic sounding and the white sheets felt starchy, like there wasn't enough fabric conditioner in the world to stop them from feeling like crate paper.

As Jisung sat up, he saw Maskless and Poloshirt standing by the door. It shocked him and he pulled backwards, making him suddenly aware of the dull ache at the back of his head.

“Ow, fuck!” Jisung accidentally muttered under his breath, trying to stay discreet in front of Minho’s older staff.

"Morning, you." A voice said, softly. "Hyunjin and Jeongin have gone to the vending machines to grab you some food."

It was Minho.

He was sitting in a chair, with small glimmer of light spread across his hair and face.

He looked ethereal as ever.

Jisung watched as he got up from his little, blue plastic side chair at the edge of the room, looking up from what he was reading.

He looked beautifully exhausted, in his shirt from the night before with a few buttons undone and his tie removed, hanging over the side of the armrest.

Jisung could see in his eyes that he had probably been up all night. His makeup from the night before was still present, smudged under his eyes making his dark circles appear even darker.

"Minho… God, my head, is it still attached?" He shifted his body a little to sit up further against the headrest of the bed. He hissed a little at the pain again, finally finding a comfortable position.

Minho got up from his seat, placing his magazine down on the floor next to Jisung's bag and laptop. He grabbed the back of the chair and lifted it, strolling over to Jisung's side, and placing it next to him so he could sit beside him. He sat back down and tugged Jisung's hand in to his own.

"It's still attached. Don't move around too much okay?" He said softly, looking up from his magazine. "You might agitate your stitches." He warned.

With his other hand, he softly brushed Jisung's hair back across his forehead and out of his eyes.

"Stitches?" Jisung put his hand to the back of his head, feeling the bandage.

Oh.

The lump on the back of his head was so big he felt like he'd sprouted another, smaller Jisung from the back of him.

He felt like Professor Quirrell but much cuter and five times more delirious. 

"Yeah, your head was cut quite deep and you were pretty badly concussed. They stitched you up and gave you some gas and air, though." Minho explained.

"Judging from how bad the lights are hurting, whatever they gave me was a hell of a lot stronger than just gas and air... " Jisung said sarcastically.

It felt almost as if he had a killer hangover from hell.

Though by now, he was pretty used to those, too.

Minho let out a stifled breathy laugh, looking at him through empathetic eyes and pinching at Jisung's cheek.

"The nurse said some concussions might be bad for a few days. So, you might feel dizzy and light sensitive for up to a few weeks but after that you should be fine."

Jisung nodded along.

Only a small brain injury, Jisung thought.

Not that there was a lot of brain beforehand.

95% of his brain was mundane information no one cared about.

And the other 5% was movie references.

He thought back to the night before; Chan walking towards him, with a speechless Hyunjin shouting at the cameras as Minho leaned over him. He remembers hearing his own voice, then Chan's voice. Then the sound of the glass thump. Then it went totally blank.

"Wh-what happened last night?"

"Well... It turns out, Jeongin had managed to record yours and Chans' conversation whilst you were in the isolation booth. He managed to use your laptop to download it and Bluetooth it to the auditorium speakers.” Jisung looked at him in awe, mouth slightly agape. “Shortly after you passed out Chan was pretty much fired on the spot by Wook Jung, in front of all the cameras, then he was escorted out by the Police.” Minho took an exasperated breath.

“The Police!?” Jisung shouted.

“Yeah. They want to speak to you at the Police Station after this, as well; about everything that's happened once you're a bit more awake. They’re discharging you after this so we can head down straight away. They found my phone and my card in his sports bag, too. You were right about it all."

Jisung blinked a few times in a daze, trying to take in all of the information seeping in. Minho continued,

"It's front page news today, what Chan did to you. Chan's face is everywhere."

"Has Hyunjin spoken to the Police, about, everything?" Jisung questioned.

"Not yet; they're more focused on your assault at the moment. They were asking for eyewitnesses and personal accounts first."

Jisung grimaced, shaking his head. He wanted nothing more than for Hyunjin to get his justice for the situation. He didn’t even care about his injury, he just wanted Hyunjin to be okay again. Minho continued,

"Don't worry though, I spoke to Hyunjin afterwards in the ambulance. He told me everything that had happened since they met... He is willing to speak to the authorities about the other things that happened, too. I told him he didn't have to if it was too hard on him, but he said he wanted to after everything he'd put us all through."

"And... Jeongin... Is he okay?"

"Jeongin's totally fine. If anything, it was lucky he was in the right place at the right time. He was pretty much the sole witness, so he spoke to the Police first and explained what had happened. Most of the awful stuff Chan said was caught on tape anyway so, whatever happens Jisung, he's not going to get away with it anymore."

Minho looked at him for a while, trying to gage the blank look on his face.

Jisung wasn't really sure how he felt.

He was relieved, sure...

But, was this really it?

It was just over?

All the pain and anguish that he'd been feeling over Chan, over Minho and Hyunjin, it was over just like that? Plus, what would happen to them all now that Chan was out of the picture?

It felt surreal, like a fever dream.

That or his concussion had him feeling delirious, which was also, fairly probable.

"I'm so sorry for this Jisungie. I can't believe this all happened. I feel awful for everything I've put you through these last few months." Minho said, closing his eyes and lowering his head. Jisung couldn’t help but focus on his long lashes.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for? You're not the one who did this to me, Minho."

"I know, but if I hadn't let you get roped in to all this mess with Chan, you'd not be laying in a hospital bed right now. I'm so sorry it came to this, I really am. I hope you can forgive me." He tightened his grip on Jisung's hand, and moved his other hand to his too, pulling them together in a little bundle of palms, fingers and thumbs.

"Minho..." Jisung let out a little laugh. "If I didn't get 'roped in to all this mess', I wouldn't have even met you. Honestly just that alone, seems worth losing a few pints of blood for, to me. Anyway, I have plenty more where that came from, right?" He said, dryly.

"A few pints? Pfft, come on; now you're just being a hypochondriac..." Minho chuckled beside him, closing his eyes, and shaking his head at the younger man.

"Besides, doesn't this make me super manly now, though? The way I barged into the hall; hanging on for dear life, the blood-stained clothes, fighting desperately for the man I love?" Jisung said, proudly animated, before stumbling on his breath once he realised what he had said.

Oh god.

A slip of the tongue.

He was delirious after all, right?

He totally didn't just use the 'L word' to Minho after knowing him for less than three months, right?

Minho just smiled at him lovingly, raking his eyes over Jisung's soft features, his eyes lingering on the other man’s mouth.

"Oh yeah, totally manly… My hero." Minho said dramatically, eyes widening again. He softened his grip on Jisung's hands and leant across him, planting a delicate kiss to his lips.

"You have some stuff from Changbin over there. Plus, your Mom sent you gummies and chocolate, too. Oh. And a cactus, for whatever reason." Minho said, gesturing to the colorful gift bags near the door.

He’d always wanted a cactus; he’d call it Spike.

Wait.

What?

"My Mom?!" Jisung screeched. Darting away from the headrest with a wince.

"Yeah. She tried to call you, but you were sleeping." Minho retorted.

Jisung sat wide-eyed. His Mom never tried to call.

Jisung thought about it for a moment; if this whole situation with Chan really was ‘front page news’, not only was his Mom likely aware that he'd been beaten up, but also that he was dating.

That he was dating a celebrity.

That he was dating a celebrity, that was a guy.

"I hope you don't mind that I answered-"

"What?! You answered it?! Minho! Minho, that's insane! I haven't spoken to my Mom in any way that wasn't a crappy two-line email or cringy social media comment in years! She doesn't even know that I'm--

"Yes, she does, Jisung." Minho said, a small, re-assuring smile spreading across his face.

"Oh my god... Oh my god. She's mad, isn't she?! God, I never thought I'd ever have to actually face it." Jisung groaned, he couldn’t even imagine the looks on his parents faces. The fact that he hadn’t even had the chance to tell them personally rubbed him up the wrong way, too. Though he wasn’t sure if he would ever have had the guts anyway.

"Well, she's not mad. It will take some adjustment, but she said she always knew, anyway." Minho explained to him.

"S-she did?"

"Plus, not to brag, but if my son brought home a successful, handsome, talented guy like me, I'd be pretty impressed, too. I'm sure I can win her over." Minho said smugly, removing his hand from Jisung’s and brushing off his shoulder.

Jisung swiped at him weakly with his hand.

"Stop joking, this is serious! I was literally just outed to everyone!" Jisung groaned.

"I know it is, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself." He smiled. "Hey, we can face it, right? We can always visit in person at some point if you'd like to smooth anything over, anyway."

He linked his hands with Jisung's again as they heard a small commotion approaching from the hall. 

"Also, as I unlocked your phone. I noticed something. Is there any reason that my name is 'comma, comma mmnfjop', in your phone?" Minho said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.  

"Oh… Honestly, I have no excuse. It's just what I named you on the first night we met, so it's kind of... nostalgic? I don't know. It's cringey, I know..."

“Cute.”

“I do try...” Jisung replied wryly.

"Jisung, you're awake!"

Suddenly Hyunjin and Jeongin barged through the door, Jeongin first, with his arms full of snacks. Hyunjin grabbed on the intern's hood to pull him back a little before his excitement ended up winding him.

“Hyunjin, Jeongin… Hey.” Jisung said, smiling at them both as they entered.

“We brought the Classic Pepero and there’s some Ppushu Ppushu in BBQ Flavor if you want, and there’s more.” He shuffled over to Jisung and unleashed the mass of snacks on to the foot of the bed, spreading them out.

Jisung smiled at him.

This kid.

“How are you feeling?” Hyunjin asked, gently closing the door.

“I’m feeling like I was hit by a truck, then reversed over, then hit again.” Jisung responded, shifting himself a little. “How are you feeling, Hyunjin?”

“Nervous, I think. I’m not really sure.” He said through bated breath. “Are you going down to talk to them straight away?”

“Yeah, we are. You guys can come with, if you want to.” Minho responded on Jisung’s behalf.

Both of the boys nodded their heads in agreement. 

Suddenly one of the Doctor’s knocked gently before wandering in with a clipboard in her hands.

"Okay Mr. Han, you're free to go. Please ensure that you don't get your sutures wet for at least 48 hours and refrain from any rigorous activities for a week or so at least." She said softly.

Jeongin scoffed at the comment, making Minho slap him on the wrist in annoyance.

"I've written up a standard pain-relief prescription to manage your symptoms. Just be aware that the dizziness and nausea may return momentarily from time-to-time but should wear off in a few days. If it doesn't in a week, contact us straight away." Jisung nodded at the older woman. "If you have any issues with your sutures you can contact your local Physician, too."

"Thank you, that's great." Jisung said, moving slowly to pull himself to the side, slipping off the edge of the bed. Minho placed his hand on Jisung’s back to help escort him out. The Doctor turned to him one last time,

"I've given your boyfriend a leaflet regarding maintaining your injury at home and general aftercare." Minho smiled at him, waving around a pink leaflet titled 'Scalp, Skull or Brain Trauma! Department of Neurology'. "I hope everything goes well for you.” She finished, with a slight parting bow. 

---

All four of them waded through the In-Patients building with Maskless and Poloshirt in tow. They made their way through numerous white and blue tiled corridors, Jeongin occasionally sliding across the floor in his shoes as they went. They probably got lost at least six times trying to find their way out of the colossal hospital.

Hyunjin and Jeongin wandered a little bit ahead, to give Minho and Jisung some space. Maskless and Poloshirt retreated a little further back, too.

"You told the Doctor, that you were my boyfriend?" Jisung asked innocently, with his hands in his pockets.

Minho turned to look at him, scrunching his face up in confusion.

"Yes, is there a problem with that? They wouldn’t let me sit there if I weren’t your ‘household spouse or partner’ anyway…” Minho joked, rolling his head backwards. 

"No, no. It’s totally fine that you said it. I just- I don't remember you asking me to be your official boyfriend, Lee Minho?" Jisung joked smugly.

"Well, if you don't get off your high horse, you'll swiftly become my ex-boyfriend, Han Jisung." Minho scoffed in response.

"Oh. I see how it is. Because I'm super manly now, I have to be the one to ask you? Pfft, all these stereotypes." He removed his hands from his pockets and raised them defensively in front of him.

"Okay, Mr. Super-Manly, I guess we're we going to just casually ignore the fact that you pretty much told me you were in love with me in there, too? Sounds pretty sappy, to me."

Jisung felt a blush transcend his entire body.

So he did hear it.

His ears were literally on fire.

"God... I didn't... Guh. I meant like...-"

"-Jisung. Don’t worry. If it makes you feel any better; I'm kinda falling in love with you too... Just don't go bragging about it or anything... You'll ruin my reputation. It's nothing personal."

"I..."

Minho sped off ahead of him to catch up with Hyunjin and Jeongin, placing his hands on their shoulders, expecting Jisung's floundering reaction behind.

This man is going to be the death of me, Jisung thought.

As they approached the foyer, the entire front of the entrance wing comprised of glass panels. Jisung could see a crowd of people and photographers swarming outside of the doors.

"Are you okay? Do you want to wait for it to die down a little?" Minho asked, slipping his arm around Jisung's waist.

"No, it's fine. I'll be okay. I'll have to face it anyway. It's just the flashes are pretty bright..."

Jisung took a deep breath as he strolled through the automatic door.

Immediately the crowd started shouting questions and demands at him, cameras illuminating all over the place. He had to hold his hand to his face to try and block out some of the lights. A few of the hospital security as well as Maskless and Poloshirt tried to direct them away, making barriers around them with their arms. They were shouting 'no flash photography!' at a number of them.

"Han Jisung! What was the motive?!"

"Mr. Han! Did you hit him first?!"

"Does this mean you will take Bang Chan's place at JYP entertainment?!

Jisung scurried along into the back of Minho's black Jeep, with Minho, Hyunjin and Jeongin piling in shortly after. Jeongin decided to sit in the front with the driver, shouting 'shotgun' first as he exited, citing not wanting to sit next to ‘Minho and Jisung being gross’ as his valid excuse. 

Jisung suddenly became a little nervous knowing they were going to the Police Station.

He wasn’t really sure why, though.

He was delirious, so what if he said the wrong thing?

“I was thinking, after this, you should stay at mine for a while, just so I can watch over you and help look after your stitches.” Minho said sweetly. “We can stop by your house and get your stuff, if you want. If not, you can borrow some stuff of mine.”

“Really? What about the people outside of your apartment? Won’t they see me?” Jisung enquired.

“Jisung, I think, there’s a strong chance that the public might already know you’re my boyfriend already… Trust me. You'll find out later when you watch the news.” He laughed. "Plus, I have three tiny mouths to feed!"

--

Jisung gave his side of the events over the next hour or so whilst the other three men waited in the reception.

He explained as best he could to the Officer, talking about the phone, the email, the stalking accusations, all of it.

From the empty threats, to the very real threats.

The Police had said that since their altercation, four to five other aspiring producers or ex-JYP employees had already come forward about him, too, and it had barely been a day. It made Jisung feel proud to be there.

He may have lost a braincell or three in the process, but it seemed worth it, now.

They asked if he wanted to press charges.

He said yes.

The medical reports had been sent through, and with an eyewitness, an audio recording, 300 guests at the event and personal accounts from Minho and Hyunjin, Jisung felt pretty assured that Chan would get what was coming to him after all this time.

He knew the older man would probably try and find some way of pleading not guilty or pinning it on him, but for some reason, he just didn’t care.

He had to focus on himself now. The press were probably going wild over him, but he’d tried to avoid all social media, at least for now. He knew it was going to be a struggle to deal with it all, especially considering his social anxiety, but maybe on the flipside, it might give him the exposure that he always needed to make a name for himself in music, if it were still on the table for him.

He thought about it deeply for a while, pondering about his future.

He and Minho were together now, and Hyunjin was safe. He’d also made friends in Jeongin, Felix and Seungmin too as well as managing to reconnect with Changbin a little in the meantime. Plus, he thought he’d probably always be able to rely on Maskless and Poloshirt, at least.

He’d managed to add four more contacts to his phone, although he could barely see if he’d typed them right through the cracks in the screen.

Everything felt strangely bittersweet, tinged with a hint of sadness, but overall, he felt like the weight of the last three months had been lifted finally as he saw Hyunjin take a deep breath and turn in his chair to look at him, eyes glistening a little.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jisung asked him, squeezing at his kneecap.

“Yes. Positive, Ji. I can do this.” Jisung watched as he balled his fists up tightly and arose from his chair. He pushed his hair back and made his way through to the other room, closing the door quietly behind him as he did.

Minho nudged his head against Jisung’s shoulder, carefully as not to hurt him.

He even looked angelic as he yawned, Jisung thought. He assumed he’d probably been up for over 30 hours straight just to make sure Jisung was safe.

Jisung turned his head a little to kiss him on the forehead, then relaxed back, allowing Minho to softly lay his head on his shoulder, his eyes closing every now and then.

They took it in turns to casually munch on the Pepero snacks from Jeongin, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor in between their chairs on his phone, lifting the bag up to them behind him.

---

Later that night, all four of them decided to stay at Minho’s apartment, as they all collectively decided they didn’t want to be alone, especially Hyunjin.

Jisung hadn’t had a sleepover in a while, not since his pre-argument period.

They waded through the photographers again who were gathered around as they pulled up to Minho's street in the Jeep.

Jisung noticed that the photographers that were there, Minho seemed to actually recognise and he even waved to a few of them. They seemed to respect their boundaries a little more than Jisung had expected. Some of them even wished him a ‘speedy recovery’ and bowed to him as they made their way to the foyer area, Minho tapping in the keycode.

They must be regulars, Jisung thought.

Minho lived in an apartment complex, East of the Han River only around a fifteen minute drive from the JYP building. It was super high up, and it triggered Jisung’s Acrophobia a little, but he was still pretty delirious, and so tired, that he barely cared. He wrapped himself loosely around the older man with his eyes semi-closed, as they walked through the meticulously clean, cream hallway.

They took the elevator up, Jeongin bounding in excitement to finally see Minho’s ‘rich guy house’. Jeongin was pretty much the only source of vitality between all of them now, as it had been a pretty long day.

Jisung felt like all the energy had been sapped out of him; he was emotionally drained. He could barely make a fuss about how nice his own boyfriend’s apartment was when he entered it.

It smelt faintly of vanilla, and the decor was freshly white and bright. Everything looked like it was from a music video, and the ceilings were so high that Jisung got dizzy trying to look up to the glass chandelier hanging above them. The lights came on automatically when they walked in, spurring a little “ooh!” from Jeongin.

They all settled in at either side of the probably ten-person white-leather corner couch, Minho and Jisung on one side, and Hyunjin and Jeongin on the other.

One of Minho’s orange and white cats (that Jisung probably wouldn’t remember the name of because they were all so similar) came and laid down gently on his lap. Minho explained the differences between the three cats in detail, but still…

He was pretty delirious.

He couldn't really remember.

Though, he did feel strangely honored to be accepted by one of Minho’s little trio, whichever one it was.

Maybe, Soonie, he thought.                                                                                                       

Minho fetched them some fluffy blankets and soft, feathery pillows as they settled down for a comfortable night in, watching some terrible drama that Hyunjin and Jisung had already watched sixteen times between them.

Minho laughed along in adoration of Jisung mouthing the words to literally every line.

As the adverts ran, they chatted amongst themselves, all piling up a little closer, enjoying each other’s company for the first time in a while. It was a strange group, just the four of them without the constant interference of Chan, but Jisung felt a strange sense of pride bubbling up inside of him. It was the first time they’d all been together like this. It should have been awkward, but it wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

“So, I was thinking, does this mean my internship at JYP is over?” Jeongin asked, laughing rather dryly.

“I guess so, Jeongin.” Minho replied halfheartedly, reaching out and placing his hand on top of the younger man’s head, and sifting his fingers through his silky, brown hair.

“Well, I guess I could always sell Banana Milk. I do have a rather large supply...”

They all fell asleep in turn. Hyunjin first, who was out like a light before the end of the episode had even finished, then Jeongin, then Jisung. They lay bundled up in white, fuzzy blankets with just the low drone of the late-night commercials playing in the background that Minho had slightly turned down before drifting off last, with Jisung’s head laying on his lap.

That night, Jisung dreamed of jamming with Changbin and Minho in the luxurious JYP studios, working on Minho’s new album, whilst Hyunjin was practising choreography just a room or two away. Jeongin's face was plastered over every advertisement on each of the vending machines, as the new poster boy of Seoul Foods’ Banana Milk...

Chapter Text

"Gah! I'm so sorry, I’m later than I expected!" Minho shouted, launching his shoes off in the direction of the shoe rack. They skidded against the hardwood and ended up across the hallway. He had his arms full of bags of groceries and snacks for later on the evening with his keys dangling precariously off of his ring finger.

He was shivering, it was freezing outside, and he didn’t have his coat done up.

"Hey, I just cleaned the floor!" Jisung shouted from the living area, shooting him an offended look.

"Oh shut up and help me, Dummy!" Minho jeered at him, blowing his bangs out of his eyes in annoyance.

God he was so cute.

Jisung poked his head up to look at him from one of the large, navy-blue leather bean bags sprawled across the floor in front of the TV. He got up with a rather substantial sigh and made his way across to the hall.

He studiously straightened Minho's shoes out next to the mat mockingly, making sure he was watching, before grabbing two of the bags from his arms and following the older man into the kitchen.

He placed them on the white, marble kitchen island for Minho, steadying them with his hands.

It didn’t stop three onions tumbling off the table though, as he scrambled to grab all them in his arms.

Jisung noticed Dori sitting in one of the fluffy ‘cat houses’ (that Jisung could only describe as a cat mansion) that Minho had insisted they purchased when they moved in. He slid towards her and scooped her up in his warm, hoodie arms, bringing her across to Minho; lightly clutching her paw and waving it at him.

"How did it go? Did he like it?" Jisung said, in his best 'Dori' voice.

Really, it just sounded like every other impression he did for any character, literally ever.

"Gah. Good evening, you." Jisung watched as Minho softly scratched the youngest cat under her chin. "Seungmin loved it Jisungie! He said it's the best track you've ever produced for him. He's honestly so excited. I think he wants it on the album! He'll probably be a little late tonight ‘cause he has a late rehearsal, but he's definitely going to make it. He and Felix are coming together." Minho said excitedly, wiggling his eyebrows.

He watched as Minho began opening the bags up to unveil a whole host of bagged snacks and bottles of god-knows what, that Jisung would probably see again at some point in the night if he wasn’t careful this time…

"Oh! That's awesome! I'm glad he likes the song, too. It's so great for his range." Jisung said, re-arranging Dori so she didn't wriggle out of his arms and leave him with more cat-scratch constellations than he already had covering his body.

He loved animals, but that didn’t mean the triplet of cats were particularly fond of being dragged out of their old stomping grounds.

"Maybe, you're just great at writing songs?" Minho said, cocking his eyebrow at him, leaning against the island counter vivaciously.

"It could be that, too." Jisung said, shaking his head in breathless anticipation. "Honestly, it's hard being this talented. And attractive, did I mention attractive? Cause that, too."

"Cute." Minho scoffed.

"I do try." Jisung replied, dryly.

"This is awkward, because I was talking to Dori..."

"Pfft."

Minho slid around the island, planting his arms solidly over Jisung's shoulders to pull him closer, kissing him sweetly on the lips and in doing so, nearly crushing poor Dori in a Jisung-Minho sandwich.

"You guys..." Jeongin whined from across the living room, peering through the serving hatch opening in the wall from his beanbag, rolling his eyes with a grimace.

"Hey, come on, we've only been living together for like two weeks, can't we be a little gross?" Jisung huffed, as Minho scooped Dori up and placed her back in her mansion.

"Are we going to watch The Notebook, or not?!" Hyunjin screamed excitingly, poking his head up from the other couch. "It's getting later!" He shouted desperately, running his hands through his hair.

It was supposed to be their annual The Notebook Night, but the house-warming party Minho had meticulously planned out just happened to fall on the same night. So, tonight was a big occasion for both of them. Jisung and Hyunjin managed to convince Minho to let them watch it first (it’s a tradition!), with the promise that they'd help set up for the party, afterwards.

"I'll help you out in the kitchen, if you want Minho?" Jeongin exclaimed, rolling himself out of his beanbag and up to his feet.

"Oh, sure Jeongin. I didn't know you could cook?"

"Well, I can't, but I have a feeling this movie is going to be next-level bad." The younger said, bounding towards the kitchen.

"Jeongin, it is not bad! It is a timeless, classic, love story! It's a masterpiece!" Hyunjin exclaimed in offense, as dramatically as ever.

Hyunjin leant across to the other side of the couch, grabbing one of Jisung's signature crushed velvet, mustard cushions that Minho and Jisung had decided to bring along to their new apartment. He launched it at the now ex-intern.

---

Minho sat through the entire film, Jisung could tell he wasn’t really that interested but it meant a lot to him that he’d be there for his and Hyunjin’s traditions. They had all become close in the last year and spent so much of their time together that it would be weird if they didn’t all watch it together, by this point.

After the film, Minho and Jeongin started getting to work on their Baechu Geotjeori, Minho telling Jeongin how to cut various vegetables and watching over him like an older brother. Jisung tried to help as best he could but honestly, he was a terrible cook, and Minho was a great one; their dynamic was pretty much perfect, Jisung thought.  

Hyunjin decided to help by washing up as they went along and preparing the decorations for the evening. He was thorough, making sure to space out the helium balloons he'd inflated and match the colours wherever he could. Minho had decided on a blue, white and gold theme, for whatever reason.

Jisung laid the dining table as Minho started to ready-up his dishes. It looked and smelt amazing. The smell of green onion and garlic attacking his nostrils.

Jisung’s main role, however, was obviously, DJ.

He had spent the night before painstakingly picking the perfect songs for the party playlist. There had to be JYP songs, obviously, as well as the standard party classics mixed in with what Minho would describe as ‘mingling music’, whatever that meant...

The finishing touches were laid out and Jisung ran around organising the cushions and pushing the chairs under.

Minho went to get changed, coming back in a loose, black button-up shirt and Jisung’s favourite jeans of his. He’d rolled the sleeves up and changed his earrings, too. He had his signature light blue contact lenses and evening smokey-eye that just did something rather unspeakable to Jisung’s senses…

He figured he probably should change out of his purple hoodie and tracksuit bottoms before the night started…

---

A few of his newer music production team showed first, then some of their senior group members, Minho’s castmates, and then some JYP trainees they knew, too. Minho had invited his younger cousins, and of course, Eun-Hye and Hae-Jae, along with their sons who were a few years under Minho’s age that he’d known his entire life.

Seungmin arrived shortly after, Felix following closely behind.

Jisung welcomed them in warmly; it was lightly raining and super cold outside. Jisung suddenly felt blessed to have central heating that actually worked, now.

Seungmin helped Felix take his oversized fuzzy black coat and scarf off, both of them giggling as he unwrapped it, spinning the blonde around as he unravelled him. Felix had baked them some muffins in a rather large plastic container with a red gift ribbon sitting on top of it. Seungmin carried a bottle of wine and a gift bag in one hand as he placed the other rather comfortably on the small of Felix's back to scoot him forward.

"Wow, Minho this place is amazing!" Felix exclaimed, looking around in awe, clocking him from the kitchen.

"Thanks Felix! It's not like my old place. The old place was so over-the-top and expensive. Plus, those apartments were so high up it honestly made me nauseous. Jisungie and I decided we wanted something a bit more homely, at least." Minho said, slipping his arm around Jisung’s waist to pull him in a little closer.

"It's just the right amount of fancy!" Felix said, shoving the container of treats into his arms. "These are for you! They're double chocolate chip with chocolate icing."

"I'll take those…" Jisung sang, swiping them from Minho’s grasp.

Death by chocolate, sounded much to Jisung's taste.

"You're getting so good at baking Felix, I'm going to struggle to get into any costumes at this rate... Luckily the show’s over for this season…" Minho said, exasperated, clutching at his stomach.

Felix gave him the widest smile before looking back to Seungmin.

Jisung took the muffins to the kitchen, to find a serving plate of some kind for them.

Felix’s baking was no joke.

Jisung wasn’t going to be able to hold out just looking at them, for long.

In the kitchen, he found Hyunjin, standing by the counter island, looking at his phone with a rather sombre look on his face. He was standing with a few other trainee’s that he and Jisung had met at JYP before Hyunjin left. He was smiling with them, laughing at their jokes, though not as wildly as he usually would.

Jisung considered he was probably just nervous as they all hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“Hey everyone. Felix baked these; anyone want one?” Jisung said, bringing attention to himself. He laughed at the irony of himself being the host at one of these types of ‘functions’ that he used to hate.

He felt like such an adultier-adult, these days.

Hyunjin smiled and nodded at him. As they all tucked in, Jisung joined the conversation, talking about the trainee groups’ up-and-coming debut. Jisung had even worked on their debut song, which he was sure was going to be a hit. He’d created the perfect amount of ‘chart song’ mixed with his ever-signature EDM, contemporary vibe. It was genius; if he did say so himself.

Jisung had been producing for JYP for over six months now, it felt like a dream come true, and it definitely paid the bills better than being self-employed.

Hell, it paid the bills twice over.

Not that he’d let it get to his head, or anything…

Jisung watched as Hyunjin checked his phone again, his smile faltering just a little bit before he snapped back to reality.

Jisung put his hand on Hyunjin’s shoulder, which caused him to flinch just a little.

He widened his eyes in surprise, realising what he had done.

Hyunjin excused himself from the room, slipping around through the trainees, and Jisung knew to follow him.

Something in his best friends’ intuition.

---

Jisung found Hyunjin sitting on the baby-blue guest room bed in the spare room, perched on the side, brushing his now nearly grown-out blonde ends backwards in his palms with a broken sigh.

He knocked slightly on the door that was ajar, peering his head in and keeping his voice down.

"Hyunjin?” He opened the door a little further. “Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to touch your shoulders. I know you don't like- I wasn’t thinki-"

"Don't worry Ji, it's not that, it's just... It's, weird. You know?" Hyunjin said, sighing deeply.

He leaned back on his palms, looking to the ceiling, his shoulders pushed up against his cheeks.

Jisung tilted his head a little at the taller man, with an empathetic smile on his face. He wandered in, sitting himself down beside him.

"I saw his face on the news again today, about his sentence... It seems unreal that it's finally all over, now. It’s been a year already. It's gone on for so long..." Hyunjin sighed.

"Hyunjin, that’s the way these things go, there was so much to investigate. We knew he’d drag it out as long as he could, too. But hey, you're not going to see him again, in fact, no one’s going to see him again, for a long time. I promise." Hyunjin smiled at him, his face softening as he looked back down and towards him. Jisung continued,

"Plus, if you didn't come forward, no one else would have, right? I know it hurts now, but you did the right thing. You're so much stronger than you give yourself credit for." Jisung said, putting his arm around the other man and pulling him closer to pull the sides of their heads together.

"I know Ji, I'm glad. Honestly, it's a good feeling, it's like, relief, I guess. It's just surreal."

"I know. As long as you know, you have us all. Plus, between you and me, it's pretty obvious you're better on your own, anyway. You never needed him, or anyone to get you to where you are. You're talented, your fans love you as much as we do."

“Thank you, Ji. That means so much."

Hyunjin had decided to leave JYP after the entire ordeal. He'd signed with a different agency as a soloist, focusing mainly on modelling. He loved to dance, but he knew that modelling was a safe option for him. He'd managed to remain in his Seoul Foods contract too, thanks to Minho, who had given him a glowing reference when he moved companies.

Jisung had asked if he had wanted to re-audition at JYP just a few months ago now that Minho was heavily involved with the trainee recruitment process, but he had respectfully declined, saying that his ambitions had ‘changed’ slightly.  

He'd signed to a company that that at least let him train in dance on the regular though, much to Hyunjin's relief, even if he weren’t going to become an official ‘trainee’, he still wanted to dance in the meantime; just not as a job.

Hyunjin had gained quite the following during his stint at JYP and managed to score himself a legion of fans and supporters who had been behind him since everything was revealed. Once the trial had finished, Hyunjin was swarmed with praise for bringing such a serious topic to light and managing it so well.

He even had his own Youtube channel where he posted vlogs, dance rehearsals and self-produced songs, with Jisung's help.

He’d been doing a monthly series called Hyunjin's Counselling Center, which the fans appreciated, where he could talk about more serious issues. It made a change for an idol to be so open about those kinds of topics. It was Jisung’s favourite thing that Hyunjin had ever done; he had such a bright personality and he shone behind the camera.

“Thank you, Ji. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this year if it weren’t for you and Minho, and even Jeongin, I guess…” he laughed, cutting the tension slightly.

“Hey, everyone needs a reassuring banana milk, every now and then.” Jisung laughed. “Come on, let’s get back to see everyone, okay?”

---

Changbin rocked up, fashionably late as per usual, in just a black shirt and grey, ripped jeans with a grey coat over top. His hair was a slightly ashy brown-blonde. It was slightly tousled for the occasion and he had some intense, chained, ear-cuffs on both ears.  

"Hey man!" He slapped his hand in to Jisung’s and pulled him in for a hug, squeezing him so tightly he nearly lifted him off of the ground.

Then he put his gift down at the side and removed his jacket. Jisung grabbed it and walked across to the small cloakroom just next to the front door.

He really was getting good at this ‘hosting’ thing.

"Did you get that new mix? I added some bass synth, I think it sounds so good." Changbin said.

"Changbin, we're at my house-warming party. Can we not talk about work, for like five minutes?" He moaned, putting his arm around the older, yet shorter, man and ushering in him to the main living space where everyone else was.

"Well, maybe you should have a few more tequilas and a couple more sojus and maybe we'll find funnier things to talk about, lightweight." Changbin scoffed.

"Pah, very funny, Rich boy."

"Says you… Look at this place, it's insane. Loads better than that dump you were in before, no offense." He held his hands up defensively with the widest grin across his face.

Changbin was as forward as ever.

"None taken."

Maybe a little taken.

Jisung had grown slightly attached to his breezy windows, weather-torn laminate and his old sticky door that required a Skellington key...

"Gotta say, JYP certainly pays better than self-production. Feels amazing." Jisung hummed.

"Yeah, probably helps that the dude you're with owns a pretty hefty share of the company, these days, eh?" Changbin teased, prodding at his stomach.

"Hey! I pay my way, thanks very much."

"I'm kidding. I'm proud of you, you know I am." Changbin said, now petting the younger man sarcastically on the top of his head.

“Changbin!” Hyunjin said, clocking him from across the room as he was standing with Minho. Both of them shot Changbin a wave as he entered the room.  

Jisung and Changbin worked together so often these days, so Hyunjin and Minho had been introduced to him already on many occasions.

Plus, Hyunjin had insisted that he ‘owed’ Changbin for that time he looked after Jisung in his drunken stupor; no matter how much Jisung insisted that he would much rather literally never talk about it ever again…

Hyunjin had even invited Changbin for a studio session with one of his company’s producers and they’d been fairly close ever since. Jisung thought that Changbin appreciated the company as much as he did. Jisung and Changbin were both teaching Hyunjin how to rap too, he had a bit of a knack for it, to Jisung’s surprise.

Jisung was still working under JYP, but Changbin composed under his own pseudonym. Minho had recommended personally him to J.Y.Park, but Changbin said that JYP wasn't really 'his style'.

It was comfortable. Jisung and Minho travelling to Yongin every once in a while, and Changbin coming down to JYP on occasion, too. They still had creative freedom, they just had a few more people to share it with, now.

Changbin headed over to Hyunjin and Minho to try and mingle, as they were the only people here that he knew.

Jeongin re-entered the room, wine glass in hand, hollering at Jisung.

“Jisung! I think it’s time for a speech!” he said, rather enthusiastically for his normally dry, self. He was rather bouncy, Jisung thought. One too many glasses of champagne, maybe.

“I’m not really good at that kind of stuff, Jeongin… Plus, how many have you had?” He laughed.

“Hey, it’s a weekend, Minho said I can have Sunday off so I’m enjoying myself!” He retorted, raising his glass to Minho across the room, who shot him a confused ‘what?’ under his breath.

“I guess it’s just weird to see you drinking anything other than banana milk, these days...”

“I’m an adult Jisung, I drink coffee now.” He said, wearing a smug expression across his face.

“Really?”

“Well… I drink coffee milk. But it’s practically the same thing, right...?”

Jeongin had passed his internship in administration; Minho ended up signing him off after Chan was fired. He was on a year contract, which expired shortly after his stint at JYP came to an end.

Minho decided he would rather keep the boy around, making him his own Personal Assistant and the new Event Organiser for SFL, as he decided that he’d put Jeongin’s qualities to good use.

Jeongin had a natural optimism and wanted to stay at JYP to learn more about production, too. Jisung happily obliged in training him, so he was building quite the little team.

Plus, it helped that he’d been deemed a ‘hero’ by the news outlets and had won over the hearts of many fans as the adorable, courageous maknae of JYP. His fanbase had become almost as huge as Hyunjin’s, and their vlogs and lives together always amalgamated tons of views.

He had found two older brothers in Maskless and Poloshirt, too, as they all worked closely with Minho.

Jisung still, couldn’t manage to call them by their first names.

“Everyone, is it okay if we all gather?” Minho said, making his way across the room and clinking his wine glass with a little spoon.

It was pretty cliché, in Jisung’s opinion.

“Really, you’re actually going to do a speech? You celebrities don’t change…” Jisung joked. The rest of the guests laughed as Minho less-than-glamorously stuck his tongue out back at the younger man. The rest of the friends and family scooted in a little closer around them.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming tonight. Jisung and I are really excited to have you all here. You guys are like family to us and we’re excited to start this new chapter!” He beamed. “Finishing up the live shows after everything that went on, was pretty exhausting, and I know Jisung felt the same. We’ve been working so hard on the new album, too, that I’m glad to just spend some time with friends and have a good night tonight. So, cheers, everyone.” He said, raising his glass to the high ceiling.

The rest of the guests raised theirs; Eun-Hye grabbing Minho by his cheek as she always did, smiling at him through scrunched up eyes. Hee-Jae threw his arm around Jisung, pulling him in closely to his side.

---

It had gone 9:00pm, and Jeongin and Felix were practising some random dance they’d seen in a compilation online, whilst Seungmin took it upon himself to try out Minho and Jisung’s new Karaoke machine in the spare room. It had become increasingly funny as the night went on.

Changbin gave a rather impressive vocal performance for a rapper, and Jisung and Minho even decided to do a little duet together, an improvised song about their joint love for Iced Americano.

After his own performance, Jisung looked around in awe at his friends, all together in his new apartment. He finally felt at home, and it wasn’t because of the central heating. It almost felt like they had turned a page, even though it wasn't a new year or anything. Something just felt different; like the feeling when you'd trained for a marathon, and once it was over, you didn't really know what do with yourself. A strange satisfaction. 

At least, Jisung thought that was probably what it was like.

He'd never actually run a marathon... 

Minho slumped down next to him, pushing his bangs out of his face, then interlacing their fingers as they sat.

“Han Jisung, enjoying yourself at a social function?” He said, dipping his head down to look at him.

“Yeah. I am, actually.”

Suddenly, Jisung heard his phone ping. It wasn’t a regular message tone, it indicated that he’d received an email.

An email?

Who emails?

He unlocked his phone to reveal his newest Snow-Filter background of Minho and tapped on the email icon to open it.

It was from his Mom.

---

Jisung,

Thank you for the invite. I’m sorry I didn’t respond sooner, the time-zones are different here and we have been off the grid! I found it difficult to write this too; I hope you can forgive that.  

I know this year has been difficult for you, and I know that you have a lot going on and I wish I’d been there more physically, as I have missed you so much.

I am sorry it has taken me so long to say, but you are my only son and I will love and cherish you for my life and in to my next one.

I will definitely come and see you and Minho before the year is over. I would like to meet him if you will have us. We are celebrating Chuseok back home this year and we would love to see you both if we can. I’ve sent you a house-warming gift; it’s a new guitar. Hopefully, it should be delivered soon.

I love you very much Jisung, and I always will.

---

Jisung slid across the laminate in his socks, still a little tipsy from the party. It was nearly midnight, and the guests, all bar Hyunjin and Jeongin had left for the comfort of their own homes. Hyunjin was out like a light in spare bed, and Jeongin had unceremoniously passed out on Jisung and Minho’s probably ten-person white-leather corner couch, still with the karaoke microphone in hand after the most intense trot performance Jisung had seen to date.

Minho was in the kitchen, washing up some of the platters from the evening.

“I can help if you want... You did the cooking; I feel like I’m not contributing!” Jisung whined, popping his head through the kitchen serving hatch opening like a meerkat.

“What are you talking about? Sliding around on the floor is definitely contributing… You drunkard.” Minho said sarcastically, turning back to look at him.

Jisung sulked, making his way across the kitchen to him. He slid his arms around Minho’s body, grabbing his shirt sleeves, controlling the older man’s arms with his hands. He made Minho’s hands rub little circles around the plate he was holding on to.

“See? I’m helping!” Jisung joked, making Minho scoff at him.

Jisung moved across to pick up some of the empty containers for some of the extra party food that Minho had handed out throughout the night, putting them in the recycling bin, before filling up the cats’ water bowls. It felt so domestic, like he’d aged by approximately fifty-two years.

“I hope my Mom likes you when she meets you finally.” Jisung said suddenly, out of nowhere. “It’s taken her so long to want to physically meet you…”

Minho turned to face him, peeling the gloves off, and placing them down next to the basin.

“Maybe she’s star struck? Can’t say I blame her.” Minho joked. Jisung tapped him against the chest, laughing a little from the comment but then trying to keep a straight face through his drunkenness.

“Not funny!” He retorted.

“Jisungie… I’m sure it will be fine. We’ve spoken on the phone a few times, and you’ve talked about it long enough over email. It’s just a different thing accepting us in person, I guess. We should be thankful. I'm sure plenty of people who wouldn’t accept it at all. All things considered, it’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, I guess. After the chaos of this year, it’d be nice to be able to see her again, but only if she’s accepting of you, though. I’m not going backwards, anymore.”

“Well, I should hope so because I’m not going anywhere any time soon. Plus, I’m tied into this apartment with you now…” Minho said, with a fake 'disgusted' look on his face. He put his arms over Jisung’s shoulders loosely, as he always did. It made Jisung waiver a little bit as he pulled him closer. Minho continued,

“Gosh, your breath reeks of champagne. It kind of reminds me of when we first met in that dingy bathroom…”

“Wow, what a terrible memory to relive, meeting me?! Horrific!” Jisung said, in feigned offense, tutting his head backwards. “Honestly, a travesty! I’m so sorry for putting you through that!”

Minho just smiled at his theatrics drowsily, his sleepiness starting to get the better of him after a busy day. His eyes closed a little, as he just stared at Jisung through his long lashes in silence.

“What? Did I get Prosciutto Parcel on my face or something?” Jisung asked sarcastically, pouting at the older man.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then, what?” He cocked an eyebrow as he pulled Minho closer with both of his hands spread out on the small of his back.

“Can I not just admire the man I love? Is that a crime?” Minho quipped defensively.

“Please, I’ve dealt with enough crimes this year—”

Minho leaned in, pressing his lips to Jisung’s, and parting them with his own. Jisung responded willingly, angling his head to the right to deepen the whole exchange as he felt his mind fogging up.

Oh.

Jisung felt like the entire world suddenly stopped revolving, as he pulled Minho closer until they were chest-to-chest and a little breathless.

Minho leaned back a little to press their foreheads together for a few seconds, smiling at him.

“How did I get this lucky…?” Jisung said, half-slurred, breathing in the faint vanilla smell surrounding him.

“Hey, I’m just as lucky as you are, Dummy… Come on, I need to get this makeup off and take these contact lenses out. My eyes are killing me.” He planted another soft kiss to Jisung’s lips before retreating out of the kitchen and up the stairs, putting his little grabby hand out behind him as if to tell Jisung to follow him.  

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a sec.” He said, watching Minho lovingly as he exited the room.

He took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep, relaxed breath to try and sober up a little.

This man is going to be the death of me, Jisung thought.

Or at least, he thinks that’s what he thought.

He couldn’t really remember.