“Wait,” Hyorin frowned, “are you saying that they like her? They only just met her!”

“We aren’t saying that,” N assured her, “it’s just……”

“They think she’s really cute,” Ravi shrugged.

“And after dinner they think she’s nice, too,” Hyuk added.

“So no crush,” Hongbin finished, “at least, not yet. Give it a little while and then ask us again.”

“this isn’t a bad thing,” N assured her, “it’s good if they have a crush on someone. It shows that they’re healing after, well, you know.

“Yeah,” Hyorin sighed, “I’m just…….I’m worried about how this could become bad.”

“What do you mean?” Ken asked.

“For starters,” Leo sighed, “there’s Jiwoo’s feelings to consider.”

“Oh,” the other five winced, “right.”

“But what are the chances of BamBam falling for Kihyun?” N said, trying to downplay the concerns of his brother and lover, “he’s still a little kid at heart. Romance and stuff like that are--.”

“Something he’s very capable of,” Ken interrupted, “trust me on that.”

“So,” Hyuk frowned, “what you’re saying is that someone is going to get hurt and it’s likely going to be Jiwoo.”

“Pretty much,” Ken sighed sadly.

This did not please the six demons at all. They’ve come to view Jiwoo as a little sister over the years. She was such a kind, friendly soul. Very few people hated her and those who did could only come up with stupid, petty reasons to justify their hate. She was especially close to Hongbin thanks to their shared love of photography, so knowing that she was destined to be hurt pained him the most.

“Should we step in?” Hongbin wondered, “maybe……maybe now would be the time to tell BamBam how she feels.”

“Hongbin is right,” Ravi nodded, “if he knows her feelings, then maybe…….maybe he can……I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Ken questioned.

“Well,” Ravi replied, “knowing how Jiwoo feels isn’t going to change how he feels. If he doesn’t like her that way, telling him that she likes him isn’t going to do much. I mean, what can he do?”

“Turn her down,” N suggested, “he can sit her down and kindly explain that he doesn’t like her.”

“That might help or a while,” Leo pointed out, “but when she sees him chasing after her cousin?”

“That will hurt no matter what,” Hyorin sighed, “maybe even more if he’s already turned her down.”

“So what you’re saying is,” Hongbin scowled, “our hands are tied. We can’t do anything without Jiwoo getting hurt.”

“Something else we aren’t taking into account,” Leo spoke up once more, “is what about BamBam’s brothers? How do they feel? Will they pursue Kihyun as well?”

“Crap,” Hyuk sighed, “totally forgot about that disaster waiting to happen.”

“Do you think it will be very bad?” Hyorin asked, “I mean, they are brothers after all.”

“Ask your dads,” Ken winced, “before they decided that they would let your mom decide what to do, things got a little……..nasty.”

“Really?” Hyorin questioned, never having heard this story before, “what happened?”

“You dads never told you?” Ken laughed, “it was actually kind of funny in a way. How they kept trying to sabotage each other until Yong Guk finally stepped in a chewed ‘em out.”

“He threaten to throw them out,” Hyuk added, laughing along with everyone else, “it was awesome.”

“Best use of Ken’s powers ever,” Ravi nodded, “so happy we were all spying together that night.”

“Spying?” Hyorin started to ask before she remembered VIXX’s……..darker past.

It was so strange for her now to recall stories she’d heard about VIXX during that time. None of those stories were good and they’d really shaped how she acted with VIXX when they first met. It was so weird thinking of that time now. Now she knew that they had kind, generous heart. Now she was in love with the six of them.

It made those darker times painful to think about.

“Hey,” N smiled softly, moving to pull her into a hug, “it’s ok. Everything’s alright now.”

“Those days are long gone,” Leo added, moving to Hyorin’s other side, “and we’re here now, with you.”

“Don’t be sad, alright?” Hongbin smiled, contemplating using his power to make her feel better before deciding against it. It was best they dealt with these feelings themselves now instead of pushing them down until later.

“Come on,” Hyuk grinned, “smile for us and we’ll tell you all kinds of embarrassing stories about your dads.”

“Alright,” Hyorin couldn’t help but giggle, “I’m alright.”

“Good,” N said, moving around so that he could rest his head on her lap.

“Hyorin hog,” Ravi teased, moving to the bed so that he could rest his own head on her stomach.

“Hey,” Ken scowled, “now both of you are hogging her. She’s our girlfriend to, you know.”

The sad atmosphere quickly dissolved after that, the room instead being filled with laugher from those inside.

None of the seven were aware of the one watching from outside. The figure just stood there and watched for a while before fading into the night.

A/N: ya know, I feel kind of bad whenever I reference ‘My  Twelve Guardians’ or ‘Trusting Demons’ because I know not all of you have read those fics. But then I can’t not reference the events of those stories either. Not if I want this story to tie into them. It’s a double edged sword, a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ kind of deal. Also, noticed that when I posted the last chapter I accidently hit the ‘mark this story as complete’ option. Wow. Just……wow. If that isn’t a comment on my brain-deadness then I don’t know what is hahaha god, do I feel like a dumb after that or what. -_- I feel like the ing queen of dumb land for that little screw-up.