Yixing and Suho had finished their late lunch only after Joonmyeon had exhausted himself of all of his questions.  By the time they were done and Joonmyeon had paid for the check, it was still only 4 in the evening.  The entire “date” had consisted of Yixing trying (and for the most part failing, considering he was a new recruit himself) to answer Joonmyeon’s plethora of questions.  Luckily however, by the end of lunch, Yixing had properly learned Joonmyeon’s and Kris’ names and had given a brief description of the other members of the guild.

After Yixing explained what guilds did, as Joonmyeon, being as sheltered as he was, had no idea of their purpose, the other had quickly accepted Yixing’s subtle offer of joining.   Yixing didn’t mean to ask for the other to join at first, however he liked Joonmyeon’s company and wouldn’t mind having at least one sane person to talk to while he worked for Hui Qi (not like she would ever let him leave, but he didn’t know that).

The pair was originally planning on heading back to the guild (as they had been out for quite some time already), however Yixing thought it would be appropriate to stop for groceries first.  He was most likely going to be asked to make dinner once they got home after all.  “I know we just ate, but would you mind coming with me to get some ingredients for dinner tonight?”

“For the guild, right?  Sure, why not!  I’d love to meet all the other guild members in person!  They seem like such interesting people!” exclaimed Joonmyeon.  He felt a bit guilty for overwhelming Yixing and decided the best way to help was through grocery shopping and cooking.  “I’d also like to assist you with cooking.  As a teenager, I often helped my mom with preparing the food, so I do have some areas where I can help you.  I mean, as long as you’re okay with that.  I wouldn’t want to impose or anything.”  Joonmyeon panicked a little, not wanting to be a burden to Yixing, especially if he was going to help him.

To stop the flailing, Yixing grabbed Joonmyeon’s hands and squeezed them tightly.  He smiled brightly and replied, “It’s alright.  You’re no burden.  I’d be glad to receive some help.  After all, I’ll be feeding more mouths from now on, and it’s best to stock up on ingredients for the future.  Here, this shop’s good.  I often come here because of the great deals I can find.”

With a happy smile, Joonmyeon squeezed Yixing’s hands back, and they entered the store hand-in-hand.  After an hour or so, the two stepped back out, bags full of a week’s worth of food.  Joonmyeon looked at his watch and exclaimed, “Oh my!  Look at the time, it’s already a little over 5pm.  Shouldn’t we be heading back to the guild, Yixing?”

“Oh, that’s right.  We should.  We might need to hustle a bit to get back to the guild in time to finish making dinner by 7,” remarked Yixing, hoping Hui Qi had no qualms about him hanging out with the new recruit this late.  The two picked up their pace and headed back towards the guild.  They chatted a bit before Yixing announced, “This is, uh, Mirage.  It’s… home?”

Joonmyeon’s eyes widened as he took in the scene.  The guild was in shambles.  Contrary to the houses he’d seen (and lived in) before, it looked a bit lonely and desolate.  

“You don’t have to be afraid.  Although the exterior is cold and a bit broken, the rest of the guild is much warmer than this,” comforted Yixing.  He then heard a deep, menacing growl.  “That’s his name?  , I’m going to kill that Yixing if I ever get my hands on him!”  Yixing was ever so confused by the male voice’s fury (he thought he had only done nice things throughout his lifetime), so he carefully opened the creaky door and responded with, “What’s going on… and why does someone want to kill me?”

“Yixing!  You’re back!” exclaimed Hui Qi, bouncing over to the man to sling an arm around his shoulders.  Yixing just stared at Hui Qi in shock, not sure of what to make of this new bubbly (and quite frankly, creepy) Hui Qi personality.  “And I see you’ve brought back our target as well.  Good job, Yixing.”  Letting go of him, she turned to Joonmyeon, hand outstretched, and greeted, “Hey there!  My name’s Hui Qi and I’m the leader of Mirage.  I’m assuming you’ve heard some things from Yixing about our guild, considering it took you both so long to get back.”  A small smirk appeared on her face before Joonmyeon heard a growl coming from the couch.  It was then he realized that it was his friend Kris sitting there.

Oblivious to the tension hanging in the air, Joonmyeon placed the bag of groceries down on the ground, and shook Hui Qi’s hand with a wide smile adorning his face.  Although this Hui Qi seemed a bit different than the one Yixing described, he let it slide, instantly liking this personality better.  “Yeah, actually, Yixing’s told me interesting things about Mirage.  Therefore, I came here to meet everyone!”  Letting go of her hand, Joonmyeon turned to the rest of the guild and bowed while introducing himself.  “Hi!  My name is Joonmyeon and it’s very nice to meet you all!”

“God damn it Joonmyeon! Why the hell are you introducing yourself to these animals? There is no way I’m letting you join this filthy guild!”  Kris roared once again from his spot on the lumpy couch.

Joonmyeon pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  “But I want to join.  Xingie made the guild sound like so much fun!”  He ended his statement with a harrumph and turned his head away from Kris, coincidently towards “Xingie” himself.

“Holy crap, Yixing!  When did you two get on a nickname basis?  We haven’t even done that yet.”  Sehun asked as Tao and Hui Qi nodded in agreement.  Yixing flushed a deep shade of pink and timidly answered, “I didn’t know about that nickname until just now… Please don’t look at me like that Hui Qi… I swear there’s nothing going on between Joonmyeon and I.”  He could see her wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

All of a sudden, Kris bellowed, “NO NO NO.  HELL TO THE ING NO!”.  He shot up from the couch and attempted to hop his way over to Joonmyeon, however just before he could steady himself before the man, he stumbled and tripped.  He fell face first onto Joonmyeon’s feet, lips smashing into his shoes, unintentionally kissing them (like a servant to his king).

Hui Qi cackled, hard.  She couldn’t believe the scene unfolding right before her eyes.  Kris Wu was kissing his “cheating boy toy’s” feet right smack dab in the middle of the guild’s living room.  She would not get a chance like this ever again.  “Oh my , man.  Quick, Sehun!  Snap a picture of this and send it to Yejin!  She’s gonna freaking love this.”  Sehun eagerly complied and pulled out his phone (Hui Qi was too busy posing next to Kris to take pictures herself), taking multiple angle shots of the two who were still frozen in shock.  He also got in a few shots of Hui Qi kneeling next to the pair, an amused look in her eyes.  With a quick press of a button, the photos were sent to Yejin (as well as Hui Qi and Tao) and were saved on his phone for “safe keeping”.

Kris whipped out of his stupor and looked up at Hui Qi.  “Di-Did you just say Yejin?  Like, Lee Yejin, president of the school newspaper, Yejin?”