JiYong was jolted from his nap. He was incredibly glad that there was no glass furniture on the premises because it all would have been shattered with all of the high-pitched squealing that was emanating from the living room. He shuffled down from his bedroom to witness complete chaos. 

    YoungBae and DaeSung were clinging to each other on the couch and kicking their feet in the air, pointing accusingly at the computer monitors. Inhumane screams escaped from their vocal chords, high enough to cause TOP to cover his ears out of pain, though he hihmself could not contain the grins stretching across his face.

    Taking a breath, TOP steeled himself for the onslaught of noise before removing his palms from his ears and digging through his pocket for his phone. He needed video of this. He endured the screeching for a few seconds and recorded before ending the video, clapping his hands back over his ears and kicking out at YoungBae.

    The effect was instantaneous. YoungBae’s excited whooping transitioned instantly into a pained squawk as he let go of DaeSung and clutched his side. DaeSung turned around, screams stopping to see what had happened.

    “What the hell was that for?” YoungBae shouted indignantly.

    “You’re making my ears bleed.” TOP sniggered. YoungBae rubbed at his side, grumbling under his breath. DaeSung, now clinging happily to a pillow, giggled furiously before turning back to the screens.

    “But how ing cute was that?” YoungBae exulted, pointing at the camera. “They kissed! That was the most innocent thing I have ever seen!”

    "Excuse me, what?" JiYong stopped short, eyes frozen in a half-lidded state. 

  "Did you not hear us?" DaeSung said wistfully, leaning back into the sofa. "They kissed. Our ship has become canon."

    “Context please." JiYong replied dryly. 

    “I'll give you better than context. Have a dramatic reenactment.” YoungBae automatically shoved DaeSung’s head into his pectoral. “DaeSung is Jordan. I’m Chen.” They both plaster cheeky smiles onto their faces. “And we’re like, romantically looking at each other.” Their gazes met, both YoungBae and DaeSung both trembling from their attempts to stifle their laughter. “And then, like, Jordan hesitates just the slightest amount.” DaeSung automatically plastered a dramatically pensive look on his face, gazing into YoungBae’s twitching face.

    “And then, she gazed into his face.” DaeSung whispered dramatically, and then leaned in. “And then she quickly tilted her face up...” The two made kissy faces at each other, gradually getting closer and closer to each other. Right before their lips touched, they whipped apart.

    “And that’s what happened.” DaeSung grinned. “I can't believe you missed it.”

    “Well, if they kissed, they’re going to do it again.” JiYong snorted. “Though I'm probably not going to be as excited as you too.”

    “ for you.” DaeSung snarked. His face suddenly brightened. “I need to tell Michelle, she’d want to know.” But a small shadow lingered in his mind. His intuition told him that she hadn’t been happy when he reported Jordan and Chen’s developing relationship. Nonetheless, he rapidly typed out a message and sent if off, heart in his throat as he waited for her reply.

    JiYong was similarly preoccupied with the amusing scene that just played out on the couch. But in the back of his mind, there was a prickling fear. He had no idea how to narrate this for the weekly report. The minute he insinuated a romantic relationship, the entire experiment took on a risk that he did not want to deal with. He would have to cherry pick the video segments he sent in, otherwise there were repercussions that he didn’t want to think about.

    The team leader glanced up from the screen for a moment, only to see DaeSung looking over at him, only a trace of levity still on his face. Their eyes met; JiYong saw the same worry reflected in DaeSung’s expression.

    Sighing, JiYong looked back over at the monitors, his eyes softening at the sight he saw there. Jordan, in a rare moment of shyness, was looking down at her fingers, while Chen nuzzled at the nape of her neck. He thought back through the footage that they collected.

    He recalled the moment of Chen and Jordan’s venture with scrambled eggs, of their snowball fight, of their friendly dinners with their neighbor. He was willing to share those moments, ones that showed their newfound closeness, without compromising the details of the other emotional aspects there.

    He glanced at the tablet that sat on the table in front of them. The noise of TOP and YoungBae’s chatter faded into the background as he got lost in his thoughts.

    He could delay the end of this experiment. He would.

Jordan couldn’t say how much time they had spent on the couch. Chen had pulled away, a blissfully innocent smile on his face. There were no words exchanged, of course not. After they’d separated, he immediately bridged the gap between them again and rested his forehead against hers. Jordan curled back into his embrace and rested her head on his chest.

But unfortunately, time was ticking, and Jordan knew that there were too many things to do for her to just idly sit there. For one, the full moon was coming up very soon and she needed to double check the exact dates. She also needed to feed the two of them until they actually left for the mountains and she would not be able to do much with an empty refrigerator. And that necessitated grocery shopping.

With a sigh, Jordan concluded that there was no viable reason to just sit there with Chen. She had to be productive and she wasn’t looking forward to doing the chores that needed to get done.

Thinking about yesterday’s trip to the grocery store, Jordan decided it would be in Chen’s best interests to leave him with Sylvia so she gave her neighbor a quick call.

“Sylvia.” Jordan said softly, tugging on Chen’s hand. She pocketed the cellphone before standing. “You have to put clothes on. Come on.” He meekly stood, following her up the staircase.

For the first time, he didn’t put up a fight as Jordan slipped a long sleeve shirt over Chen’s head. She let her fingertips trail against the heat of his skin, which seemed to take on a different meaning. Jordan got out their coats and began to head downstairs, leading Chen behind her. At the front door, she gestured for him to hold out his arms and slipped his arms through the sleeves. But before she could put on hers Chen reached out for for her coat. Puzzled, Jordan handed it over and observed him with a raised eyebrow as he rubbed it against the side of his neck and under his chin.

Before she could voice any of the questions that crossed her mind, she was suddenly tugged forward by Chen’s hands. Jordan stiffened in confusion as Chen brushed the underside of his chin against her hair and rubbed his cheekbones against the side of her neck. Jordan could feel her skin blushing from their proximity, could feel the waves of heat coming off of Chen’s skin.

Lost, Jordan glanced over at the cameras, casting it a questioning look. She had no idea what was happening, and wouldn’t mind getting some insight.

Unexpectedly, Jordan felt a vibration in her pocket. Letting Chen continue doing his...thing, Jordan pulled out the cellphone and checked the message.

From: JiYong

    He’s scenting you. Marking you as his territory. It’s a werewolf thing, to keep others away.

    Jordan hesitated, glancing down at Chen, who was now nosing around at her shoulders. Jordan felt goosebumps rise on her skin as his lips brushed against the skin of her collarbone. She brought the phone to her eyes again, glancing at the message. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt being regarded as territory but she could only assume that it probably meant something different for werewolves. She surmised that that meant that she was his, which didn’t seem quite as unappealing.

    Chen broke Jordan’s attention on her phone by gently grabbing her other hand and leaning into her palm before brushing the inside of her wrist against his neck. Jordan couldn’t help but smile and gently scratch her fingertips behind his ear. Slipping her phone into her pocket, she freed her other hand to scratch his other ear as well. Rewarded with purring, she indulged in the action for a minute.

    Chen, seemingly satisfied with how she smelled after a couple sniffs, allowed Jordan to lead him by hand next door where Sylvia greeted them both with a smile.

    “Come on in, I have food for you.” Sylvia chattered. “Got a new recipe for you to try.” But Chen didn’t let go of Jordan’s hands and pouted when Jordan unclasped their fingers, reaching out for her again. Jordan left him at the doorway, the feeling of Chen’s fingertips lingering on the inside of her wrists.

    Jordan went out of her way to go to a different supermarket this time, the memory of the manager from the day before still fresh in her mind. Before getting out of the car, Jordan pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number with a sigh.

    “How can I help you, Jordan?” She heard the nasal tone of the orange-haired team leader.

    “The footage from the store yesterday. I need it by the time I get back home. You can probably get it faster than I can since you have connections. That’s the only reason why I’m asking.” Jordan responded. “Since I can’t fire him directly, I need figure out a way to do it indirectly.”

“Ah.” He muttered shortly. “You got it.” She heard a beep as the line cut.

“Way to hang up on me, .” Jordan grumbled, before opening the car door and exiting.

Shopping was easier now that she knew what to look for. As usual, she ordered an inordinate amount of meat from the counter, again gaining more questions about whether or not she was hosting a party. She answered the question blithely with a smile, and moved on. She went through the produce section, buying the vegetables and proteins she knew he liked: broccoli, cabbage, carrots, green beans, and tofu, amongst others. Of course, she also stopped by the frozen food area to grab bags of Chen’s favorite dinosaur chicken nuggets.

She questioned what the researchers’ budget was because the weekly shopping trips alone cost a few hundred dollars each. She could not imagine feeding Chen everyday on her own budget, even if she technically could afford it. She was lucky that she had saved so much of what she’d earned before she’d gone to prison. For a moment, Jordan wondered if she could access her bank accounts or if they were accessible at all.

Jordan shook herself from those thoughts. There was no chance she could access to her bank accounts without the researchers becoming suspicious and no way for her to escape her circumstances. With a sigh, Jordan summoned her strength and forced the overburdened cart forwards towards the checkout counters. She waited in line, rolling up her sleeves and fanning her face from the effort. By the time the cashier had gotten to her, she was less sweaty and more presentable. Not only that, but there was no longer anyone behind her to witness it, because everyone one had moved to a different line when they saw the mountain in her cart. She grinned sheepishly at him as she loaded the never-ending stream of items onto the conveyor belt, sorry that he had to scan and load every single one. By the time the both of them had finished, Jordan was surprised to see that the cashier was still smiling and genuinely in good spirits.

“Sorry, our card reader is broken, I can swipe it over here at the register if you hand me your card.” The cashier grinned apologetically.

“Oh, that’s totally fine.” Jordan reassured, reaching out to hand the card over. She quickly shrank back when the cashier’s eyes passed over the ugly scars on her forearms. Jordan tried to discreetly roll her sleeves back down. She felt like the raised lines were scorching through the cotton of her sleeves so anyone could see. She’d gotten too used to Chen and his unending acceptance.

“You shouldn’t have to hide those.” The cashier’s voice cut through her thoughts. She glanced up. He nodded at her scars understandingly. “It probably isn’t my place to say, but I’ve been there before. They’re the scars you bear from a battle you won against yourself; wear them with pride.” Jordan wanted to protest, that her scars came from different circumstances, though no less difficult. But she let the words sink in, and the vice-like hold she had on her sleeves loosened.

“Thanks.” She said softly. Neither said anything further, but the silence that followed was comfortable.

However, when Jordan was alone in the car again, going down the freeway on autopilot, she once again drowned in her thoughts.

Her scars were not a personal battle; they were not a sign of strength or of a mental monster defeated. They were simply scars, scars that were evidence of a choice between hollow aching pain and searing agony. A choice between endless guilt or unending loneliness and solitude.

What pride could she have?

Jordan never thought of her scars as battle wounds, they were brands that were burned into her skin. They were permanent, ugly reminders of people who were money-hungry, and cruel, and ignorant. Jordan clenched her fingers around the steering wheel and tried to force YG from her thoughts. She had other priorities.

As Sylvia puttered around the house, cleaning up and generally trying to keep herself busy, she couldn’t help but steal amused glances at the boy currently sitting on her couch. After Jordan dropped Chen off with her, he hadn’t stopped gazing out the window, waiting for the moment that she came back.

Food was the only thing that managed to coax him away from the door and even then, he simply grinned at her after finishing, washed the dishes and then returned to his perch on the couch.

It was adorable, his attachment to Jordan. Sylvia wasn’t sure if Jordan even noticed it, how much he gazed at her. Whenever Sylvia told her stories over lunch or dinner, Jordan watched her intensely, but Chen only ever had eyes for Jordan. The silent boy would only gaze adoringly at her, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly as Jordan reacted to her stories. Sylvia had never seen a boy so in love in her life.

His searching gaze did not leave the window; he barely blinked as he waited. After a while, he seemed to detect something that Sylvia could not, noticeably perking in his seat, foot tapping in excitement. Soon after, Sylvia heard a car engine pull up in the driveway. Chen instantly jumped to his feet, dashing towards the door. He struggled with the lock and had to wait for Sylvia to hurry over and open it. By the time she managed to get Chen to stop hovering around, undo the lock, and open the door, Jordan was already waiting on the other side. Jordan waved at Sylvia, giving her a small smile, and extended a hand out for Chen to take. He did without hesitation; Sylvia could see him beaming in delight. Sylvia waved back and gently pushed Chen out the doorway.

Chen hesitated for a brief moment, before turning back to Sylvia, stooping down and giving her a quick peck on the lips. Sylvia paused, stunned, and in that time Chen took the opportunity to spring back towards Jordan, who was clad with an equally shell-shocked expression.

“I....I am so sorry....” Jordan whispered. “I’m so sorry. I haven’t told him that that’s not okay for everybody. I’m so sorry... Let me just...get him back home really quick-” Jordan bolted, tugging a bemused Chen behind her.

Sylvia wordlessly held a hand up to , a blush rising in her cheeks even as amusement flared in her veins.

“Oh my...” she giggled. She glanced back towards the portrait hanging in the threshold. “Sorry Taekwoonie.” She turned and closed the door again, still giggling to herself. She didn’t bother with the lock, she had a feeling that Jordan would be rushing over to offer profuse but unneeded apologies soon anyways. Besides, Jordan had left her car in the driveway in her rush to get away.

    As soon as Jordan managed to enter the house, she turned and smacked her forehead against the doorframe. Jordan had no idea what to do with him. Of course, Jordan hadn’t exactly explained the context of kissing, or what it signified, Chen had every right to take it as a normal gesture humans shared with each other. She banged her head on the doorframe another two times before turning to Chen, who was regarding the red mark on her forehead with concern.

    “Only Jordan.” Jordan reached forward to cup his face in her palms and gazed straight into Chen’s eyes. “Kiss Jordan.” He must have thought of it as an order, because he immediately leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Jordan spluttered, gripping his shoulders to move him back. “No! Chen!” She exclaimed, frustration leaking into her voice. “Kiss Jordan. No Sylvia.” Jordan cringed, she couldn’t believe that she had to say all of this out loud. She never thought she would have to explain kissing to someone. “No kiss Sylvia. Only Jordan.” Jordan pointed at Chen again, reiterating what she said before. “Kiss Jordan. Understand? Yes?”

    Jordan couldn’t tell if he understood, but judging from the slight quirk in his eyebrows, he seemed to intuit that she wasn’t pleased with him. Knowing that she’d done all that she could, Jordan sighed and gestured for Chen to bring the groceries in, only to realize that she’d left her car in Sylvia’s driveway.

    Chen jerked forward to put his hand on the doorway before Jordan smacked her forehead against it again.

    After the embarrassment of going back to Sylvia’s and profusely apologizing for Chen’s behavior, to which Sylvia just giggled and told her to apologize to TaekWoon’s portrait, she drove the car home. She made Chen carry in and sort all of the groceries once she got through the door. She, on the other hand, chose instead to collapse face first into the couch and wonder what her life had come to.

    After a few moments of groaning into the sofa cushions, Jordan recalled the grocery footage that the researchers should have emailed to her by now. Jordan stretched out, straining to reach the laptop at the edge of the coffee table. Once she managed to hook one finger around the edge, she pulled it towards her and opened up a random social media site.

    Jordan never was a massive fan of the black hole of fake news, clickbait, and overzealous pictures of people's lives, but it was excellent for spreading videos that displayed the dark side of humanity. As such, she created a fake account, using one of the many fraudulent emails that she used to have and sent the video to several video-sharing pages with the title: “Check this out, makes me lose my faith in humanity!” She nearly gagged. She used to hate people who shared content like this. Now she had become one of them.

    Job done, Jordan pushed her laptop away continued to laze around on the couch. She knew the video would make its rounds through the rest of the video-sharing pages and the manager would get what he deserved. Glancing over at Chen, she noticed that he was basically finished sorting the groceries. He held a carton of juice in one hand, eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked at the label. Jordan noted that teaching him numbers and the alphabet was probably a worthy investment. She’d figure out how to go about it later.

    After snapping her laptop shut, Jordan heaved herself to her feet and headed towards Chen. It was about time for lunch and she should probably begin making food. Chen glanced at her as she wandered over, a smile lighting up his face. As she placed her hands on his hips to move him out of her way, Chen leaned in and gently nuzzled against her temple. Jordan’s lips quirked as she turned to look at him, and rose higher when he pressed his lips against hers. Jordan closed her eyes and soaked in the warmth that pressed against her, trickling into her belly and down her spine. But she couldn’t stay there forever even if she wanted to, so she pulled back, planting a kiss on Chen’s nose before opening the refrigerator door. Chen cocked his head in curiosity, eyes crossed to stare at his own nose. He turned back to Jordan and cupped her face in his hands, leaning forwards to lightly press his mouth to her nose, emulating Jordan’s earlier actions. Smiling, Jordan nodded before attempting to push him away and pull out a couple of ingredients. Grinning, Chen let her grab food before wrapping his arms around her waist.

    Despite having only learned it yesterday, and just now realizing that kisses weren’t reserved only for the lips, Chen seemed to have an affinity for kissing. As Jordan moved around the kitchen, Chen waddled along behind her, brushing feather-light kisses against her jawline, her cheekbones, her shoulders, her neck, anywhere he could reach. Every once in awhile, he’d move her head so he could place a peck on her nose or mouth. Jordan simply could not keep herself from smiling when she felt Chen’s lips peppering her with kisses and his nose nuzzling into her hair. A blush bloomed on her cheekbones, a small sliver of shyness quivering in the back of her chest. Only occasionally did Jordan reach down to loosen Chen’s arms around her waist so that she could move more freely, and even then he latched on again as soon as she was still.

    In high school, Jordan had never liked guys who clung to her like a leech. She had always independent. She was a girl who needed her space, who didn’t like guys who always pestered her with texts or always needed to be with her.

    But things were different now. Whenever Chen shifted, it seemed as if the areas no longer touching him yearned for his presence again. The soft pillows of his lips left feverish imprints every time he pulled away. Jordan, with a sturdy chest behind her and his arms around her waist, couldn’t think of another place she would rather be. Jordan leaned back into Chen’s weight, soothed by the onset of rumbles in his chest.

    For the first time in what seemed like forever, contentment settled into her chest. It soaked into her bones and her muscles, making its home, there to stay.

SeokJin sighed from his position behind his receptionist desk. It was days like this that made him wonder why he decided to be a part of NamJoon’s technological venture.

    He was perfectly aware that their fancy glass building and their flawless, professional website was simply a facade for the slightly shady under-dealings that they were actually doing.

Now, SeokJin had no problems with the “business” that his boyfriend and his friends ran. After all, he had fully supported Jordan when she decided to become a hacker. But sometimes he wished that he had gone on to become a nurse like he had originally planned and not be the person who patched up wounds when JungKook, Jimin and HoSeok were injured during a mission gone wrong. After all, those three were stunningly perfect with their heists. Most of the time, he very rarely had anything to do.

    Like today, for instance. He was left alone in the lobby, aimlessly spinning around in his office chair, while YoonGi napped in the main office. Fed up with staring at the walls, SeokJin pulled out his phone. He went through all of his social media, mindlessly scrolling through his friends’ posts and the viral videos that he couldn’t give a single about.

    But he quickly noticed that many of the posts displayed the same video. He saw another float by, littered with angry and sad reactions, and finally gave into his curiosity. Irritation and anger flooded through his veins as the video progressed, focus fixated on the manager in the video. He closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to cool down his irritation. Against his better judgement, he scrolled down further, skimming through the comments.

    That manager should be fired, I cannot believe he said that.

The manager did a great job, kids like that retard are the reason why society is falling to . ing millennials, man, think they’re all entitled to everything. I bet that girl was going to use depression as a sob story to get out of paying for things that everyone else has to work hard and pay for.

I’m losing faith in the human race.  

    This is probably not the best place to say this, but does anyone else think that the guy (not the manager) is pretty hot? I would defend him too.

    He rolled his eyes, especially at the last comment. Here, we had a sick display of disdain for mental illness and ableism, and people only cared about the poor guy’s looks. But despite his contempt, a part of him prickled with curiosity, so he scrolled back up to the video. SeokJin replayed the video, one hand clenching as anger flooded through him again.

    The guy was attractive, he admitted. SeokJin would kill to have cheekbones like that. He glanced at the girl who had stepped in front of the guy and froze. Rewinding the video, he played it again and paused on her face.

    How hadn’t he noticed before?

    “YOONGI!” He shouted, hearing a startled cry from the other room. “Get in here!”

    “What, Jin?” YoonGi wandered over, ruffling at his hair.

    “Look at this.” SeokJin started the video from the beginning and pointed at the screen. “Isn’t that Jordan?”

    “WHAT?!” YoonGi’s voice instantly cleared up, and he leaned closer to SeokJin to take a look. His eyes widened at the scene. “I thought she was in for life?” SeokJin hurriedly dialed NamJoon’s phone number.

    “Joon, gather up the boys and get to base. Right now.” He didn’t give his boyfriend any time to respond before quickly hanging up. He erratically paced the room, deep in thought. After watching the video one more time, YoonGi retreated to the office and returned with a laptop, trying to trace the video’s original IP address so that he could find who posted it.

    It didn’t take long for NamJoon to storm through the entrance. His face was dripping with sweat, eyes frantically searching for SeokJin. When they found the figure they were looking for, he immediately dashed towards him and rested his hands on SeokJin’s arms.

“What’s wrong? Kookie, Hobi, Tae, and Jimin are on their way.” He paused, gulping down a break and resting his hands on his knees.

“Breathe, Joon.” SeokJin rifled his fingers through NamJoon’s damp hair. “I want to wait until everyone is here.” NamJoon nodded, breathless and slumped down onto SeokJin’s desk.

It was nearly fifteen minutes later that SeokJin heard tires screech in the parking lot, closely followed by the thud of slamming car doors. The last four members of their ragtag team sprinted into the building, all with fear on their faces, breathing hard.

“Hyung, what happened?” Jimin gasped. TaeHyung scanned the room, as if expecting the problem to be in the room. JungKook and HoSeok had their fingertips at their sides, read to withdraw their weapons at any moment. SeokJin shook his head at them, to which they relaxed and drew their hands away. Looking around to double check that everyone was present, he took a deep breath and glanced at YoonGi before making the declaration that he knew would wreak havoc on the team.

“Jordan’s out of prison.”

***

(This is going to be a long Author's Note, y'all. Hang in there XD)

Hi everyone! Firstly, thank you Shooka24 for being my beta for this particularly rough chapter. Thank you for dealing with writing that was fueled by sleep deprivation and caffeine.

Next, a massive shoutout to Korekrypta! Thank you so much for putting this story on your recommended fics list. I am so honored that you like this story so much, and hope I live up to your subscribers' expectations.

Shoutouts to all of those who upvoted: k_nana, raliya6, ebbybabes, christineelam, overdosedbyexo9339, saphira20, smallestfox, Linessa, Soraya6, loyal-fan, cjjaelin, inspiritgirl143, Malovalent, exoshidae30, Gongchan96, MiruMaroMo, xLacey, tangentheart, angelic99, thesleepingsound, girafferabbit, Scarierthanakitty, and Nanouk! I love and appreciate you all! 

Hello, new subscribers! Welcome to the family XD Seriously guys, thank you so much for your guys' comments and support. It mean so much to me. I've said this before, but I really never thought that a story I thought up one summer would recieve all of this positive feedback. To be honest, I didn't think anyone would read it! I'm so, so happy that you all enjoy Experiment 11. You guys give me drive to keep writing. So I just wanted to let you guys know that you're the best.

As always, leave comments, I read them all! See you next update!