Sanghyuk should have known that it was a bad idea to ask Hakyeon to help him. The moment the nurses ushered the six boys to return to their wards, the six boys gladly obeyed. Because the costumes were in the shared ward of Sanghyuk, Hakyeon, and Taekwoon, they were tasked to choose the outfits—with Sanghyuk in-charge of creating the master plan. While Taekwoon was pretending to help by staring at the plan that Sanghyuk had written while lying down on his bed, Sanghyuk was sprawled on his own bed and Hakyeon was busy with the clothes.

“I like these shorts and skirts. We have to use them.” Hakyeon firmly said as he rummaged through the clothes that he had spread out on his bed. He was grinning widely, ignoring the horrified looks from both Taekwoon and Sanghyuk.

“Can we wear something that is not very nightmare inducing?” Sanghyuk asked, trying to save himself from wearing such a little piece of clothing. First, it would be very uncomfortable for both the boy and anyone who would see him. Next time, they might not bring him to the mental hospital, instead, he might be sent to a shaman to see if any bad spirits had possessed him. Second, the clothes were not good for the mental health. “At least let us wear some stockings or leggings.”

“Why are you so demanding?” Hakyeon frowned. “Fine, let’s make you wear the black shirt with colorful pattern, the leopard print skirt, and a black leggings.” He suggested. Showing Sanghyuk his chosen outfit. It was not that pretty—if you’re not an idol, why would you wear such a disturbing leopard print skirt?

Sanghyuk inspected the outfit with his eyes before standing up and walking over to where Hakyeon was. “You have no fashion sense. Thankfully, you’re a trot singer, not a stylist for some K-pop idols.” He muttered then he went to inspect the other clothes and noticed that those were not better. “On the second thought, I’ll be using the clothes that you suggested.” He told Hakyeon, not wanting to sacrifice himself for the others. He was sure that they could stand the embarrassment better.

“Good.” Hakyeon grinned in approval. “Because I already chose the attires for the others. We’ll look completely fabulous. Our concept would be Wonder Girls and we’ll dance to their songs.” He said.

“Sure, sure.” Sanghyuk dismissed Hakyeon’s words as he was more interested in the clothes that the others would wear. It was going to be funny and he would laugh his head off—if only he was not wearing girl’s clothes as well. “Now, hyung, tell me what you’re going to make them wear.” He requested, trying not to sound so excited for the hell that the others would have to go through.

Hakyeon smiled, widely, really happy that someone was willing to listen to him babbling about the clothes that he personally picked. “Okay, so, first of all, we’ll let Hongbin wear this black and red skirt, black polka-dots stockings, and of course, leopard print sleeveless outfit!” He boasted. “I can totally imagine Hongbin wearing it and slaying everyone.”

“But Hongbin hyung has broad shoulders. His arms are also muscular. Wouldn’t that give away the fact that we’re not girls?” Sanghyuk asked, his eyes furrowed. He shivered at the thought of Hongbin wearing such clothes with that big body of his.

Hakyeon shook his head. “Don’t worry. There are a lot of girls who workout nowadays. Plus, if we put enough make-up, Hongbin could pass as a girl group member. Or we can give her a long wig to cover her shoulders. The nurses and guards around here are a bit stupid, you know? They don’t catch up fast.”

“Stupid? Speak for yourself.” Taekwoon, who was still lying on his bed, scoffed but he was ignored.

“Next is Jaehwan’s outfit. Because Jaehwan is almost as y as me, I will give him a sleeveless black top and a leopard print tight pants. He’ll wear lots of accessories and a big black belt. He’ll slay people when we raises his armpit for everyone to see.” Hakyeon dreamingly stated.

Sanghyuk paled at the thought. “Please don’t make him do that.”

“Why not? It’s a good idea.” Hakyeon argued. “Anyway, me, as the main star, will wear a black tank top with a leopard print cardigan over it. To be hotter than I already am, I will wear black shorts and black leggings. Lastly, I’ll put on fake s.”

“Why do you need fake s?” Sanghyuk asked, confused.

“Uhm… to be a very y girl?” Hakyeon stated as if it was an obvious thing. “I’m the main star, you know. I have to grab everyone’s attention.”

Sanghyuk deadpanned. He had seen it coming. “You do know that we’re doing this because we do not want attention, right?” He asked though he already had an idea about what would Hakyeon’s answer be.

“If we don’t want attention, why dress up in the first place?” Hakyeon huffed, showing his disapproval. “We could have just left like this, without putting much effort. You’re just trying to make things hard for everyone. Are you a fool or what?”

Sanghyuk stared at Hakyeon in disbelief. Indeed, the older guy’s stupidity was endless. “Your level of stupidity never fails to baffle and amuse me at the same time, hyung.” He sighed, accepting defeat because he was aware that winning a stupid argument with Hakyeon was not possible. Arguing with the older guy was like digging your own grave, in the end, it would not do you any good. “Never mind, hyung, just continue with the clothes. What would Wonshik hyung wear?” He changed the topic.

Almost immediately, Hakyeon’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, turning his attention back to the clothes that were forgotten only for a few seconds. “As I was saying,” He started, picking up the next set of clothes. “Because Wonshik seems to be more fabulous than Jaehwan, I would let him wear the leopard print jacket over his black tanktop. He’ll also wear pink shorts. And his skin tone stockings has stars as its design. Wouldn’t that be so adorable? Oh, and his kitty headband too!” He sounded and looked so excited as he showed off the headband.

Sanghyuk seriously could not imagine Wonshik wearing all those but he decided to just agree because arguing with Hakyeon was just tiring. “All right… where’s Taekwoon hyung’s?” He asked, almost too eagerly. If he was excited for something, it would be the fact that Taekwoon would dress up as a female as well. It would be a hilarious sight that Sanghyuk would remember even in his grave—swear, even if he were dead, he would wake up if it meant seeing Taekwoon in female clothes.

On the other hand, Taekwoon was nowhere near amused. As if he had forgotten that he was part of the plan, he had a horrified look on his face as he stood up and walked towards the direction of Hakyeon and Sangghyuk in orther to make sure that he would not be wearing anything weird—but what did he expect of Hakyeon anyway?

“Taekwoon would be wearing this red lace dress. Red is for passion, you know? And he’d wear Azalea on his head.” Hakyeon showed them the dress. If it was any beautiful celebrety who would wear that, it would not be so horrifying but the fact that it would be Taekwoon was almost nightmare-inducing.

Taekwoon’s eyes widened and he paled at the sight of the dress. He could not seem to hear anything, not even Sanghyuk’s loud laughter. He was doomed and there was nothing that he could do about it.

“You sound like a squeaking mouse.” Hongbin commented, referring to Wonshik. The two boys and Jaehwan were sprawled all over the floor, practicing their female voices—courtesy of their great teacher, Jaehwan. As expected, neither Hongbin nor Wonshik were learning something. They were amazed due to the voice of Jaehwan but they could not do what he was doing. He’s a freakin’ professional! It was as if he was living his whole life, pretending to be a girl so he was so used to everything. That had to be the best explanation.

“I do not sound like a squeaking mouse. You sound like a dying goat.” Wonshik snapped at Hongbin.

“Oh, really? Well, dude, stop trying to be a girl. You’re hopeless—from your appearance to your voice.” Hongbin pointed out, rolling his eyes in the process. “At least I am prettier than girls. I don’t have to sound like one when I could just smile and wink. That will be enough to knock out all the guards. They’ll faint because of my beauty.” He said, his sass and narcissism were coming out.

“Stop!” Jaehwan screamed on the top of his lungs in a voice of an old woman. Hongbin and Wonshik immediately knew where this was going. “Did I bring you here to fight? Are you seeing each other to fight? I am very tired now. I did not know that you would be like this. You’re good without each other, you don’t need each other. You two probably think like that, I understand. But you should learn to accept each other’s flaw. If it’s love, you should learn each other’s flaws too. Many worries might be inside your head right now. ‘Would I be dislike because I am lacking?’, ‘Would that person be disappointed if you find out about me’, all those worries should be erased. Why? Because if it is love, no flaws would be big enough to end it, no mistake is severe enough to cut the ties.” He babbled.

Hongbin raised an eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about? Is this suddenly a love counseling? Can’t we act and talk like normal people for once? When will the day that such thing would happen?” He asked, so done with Jaehwan’s weirdness.

“This is a mental hospital, what do you expect?” Wonshik retorted, sounding smart for once. “And he’s Jaehwan hyung, don’t expect too much from him. He’s already working hard in teaching us to speak like a girl properly. And you don’t act normal yourslef. Why do you have to be so rude to Jaehwan hyung?” He, of course, stood up for his precious Jaehwan hyung. As usual, he was the number one protector of Jaehwan—just like how Hongbin was to Sanghyuk.

Hongbin rolled his eyes. “Let’s just give up. I’m not going to open my mouth during our escape.” He said, accepting defeat. Then, he turned to Jaehwan. “Jaehwan hyung, just take care of speaking. As long as you don’t say anything stupid, we’re off the hook.” He confidently said.

“Yes, sir!” Jaehwan nodded his head, grinning as cute as he could.

“So cute!” Wonshik cooed, pinching the cheeks of Jaehwan. As if a thought just hut him, he froze on his spot. “By the way, is Hakyeon hyung really going to choose our clothes for this escape? I don’t want to wear anything funny! And I can already tell that Hakyeon hyung is thinking of something funny!” He whined—something that he did not know he would be doing in his life.

Hongbin looked terrified after hearing Wonshik’s statement. Now that he think about it, it was really scary. Dang, he would not mind anything as long as there was no animal printed clothes—he could almost feel that Hakyeon would go for that style since he seemed like an old woman sometimes. “He’s not going to make us wear ugly dress, right? He would not make us look ugly? Right? Right?!” Then, he panicked, not wanting to be ugly.

Taekwoon was not happy and he showed it well—surprise, surprise, Hakyeon ignored his glares. The soccer coach was looking for the right timing to do something about his red lace dress. He could not just give up because it felt like offering himself to the devil. He knew that he had to do something. As he laid on his bed, he was still glaring at Hakyeon who was inspecting the clothes as if they would change colors all of a sudden.

“Taekwoon hyung, is that okay with you?” Sanghyuk asked Taekwoon, snapping the latter out of his deep thoughts regarding the crazy choices of outfit. The youngest was sprawled on the floor, drawing out a map as he planned the escape like an expert he was.

“What is?” Taekwoon asked, not aware of what Sanghyuk was asking.

“Hyung, please pay enough attention.” Sanghyuk whined a bit. “I said that we’re going to escape before six in the afternoon since the visiting period is only until six. We won’t talk to anyone and just go on our own way without a word. The only problem is Nurse Park because she seems to know us well. But we’ll just ignore her. Is this plan good enough for you?”

Taekwoon nodded his head, not really caring. He actually did not care about the method as long as he would get to escape—except if the method was him wearing a red lace dress then that was a no-no. “But why are you asking me? Ask the others.”

“You want me to ask him…?” Sanghyuk raised an eyebrows, tilting his head a bit before pointing at Hakyeon who was practicing his performance of ‘24 Hours’ by Sunmi.

Taekwoon choked on his saliva at the sight—it was traumatizing as hell. Once again, he was reminded that he was in a mental hospital and that Hakyeon was probably the craziest one in there. It was a wonder why he was still under observation when he should be quarantined alone. Why couldn’t the doctors see that? Taekwoon whipped his head back to Sanghyuk’s direction then shook his head.

“See?” Sanghyuk snorted, going back to what he was doing.

“Hyukkie, I’m going to pee, accompany me to the toilet.” Hakyeon spoke up all of a sudden.

“Ask Taekwoon hyung, I’m busy.” Sanghyuk replied, indifferently.

“I accompanied him a while ago.” Taekwoon retorted, rolling his eyes.

Hakyeon frowned and hit Sanghyuk’s head. “Let’s go, kiddo. I’ll teach you my secret as a woman.” With that, he dragged the poor boy with him, opening the door that no one really bothered to lock because Hakyeon would open it with no effort anyway.

Taekwoon rolled his eyes once again when the two boys were gone. He decided to take a nap but not after glaring at the innocent red outfit again. He was about to close his eyes and sleep when an idea entered his mind. His eyes widened and his lips curved into a wide grin. There was, after all, a solution to his problem and he was so going to do it.

“Woonie!” Hakyeon exclaimed in horror, seeing the horrible state of the familiar red lace dress on the floor. He just arrived from the toilet with Sanghyuk closely behind him. “Why did you cut it?!” He asked Taekwoon, his nose flared at the sight. He could not understand how someone could do such thing to an innocent clothing.

“I did not cut it. I tear it apart.” Taekwoon muttered, not hint of shame or regret was heard in his voice. He did what he thought he should be doing and he had done it so well. Tearing a dress apart was not as shameful as a muscular man wearing it—no offense. Taekwoon just couldn’t see himself wearing such thing and sporting it rather well. Screw Valak and killer clowns, Taekwoon in a red lace dress was the real thing.

While Hakyeon weep over the dress (asking for forgiveness because he could not save it from Taekwoon’s hands), Sanghyuk stared at Taekwoon as if he had lost his mind. “Taekwoon hyung! How can you cruelly tear it apart. We have to use that for our escape though. What are you going to wear now? We’ll get caught!” The youngest reprimanded the soccer coach.

Taekwoon groaned. “I saw a leg cast. I’m going to wear it along with a black cap. We don’t have to be girls, not all of us should dress as girls because that’s suspicious. Just let me wear normal clothes.” He reasoned out.

“That’s not fair at all. Can we change clothes? You wear the skirt and I wear the cast.” Sanghyuk suggested, hoping that Taekwoon would be very nice even just for a few minutes—seconds, even.

“That’s a bad idea. We did not do this to be fair, we are doing this to escape. Just stick to your role, youngest one.” Taekwoon had a smirk on his lips as he spoke. “Or if you want, you can tear your clothes apart too and look for alternatives.”

Sanghyuk liked the idea so he nodded his head. “I’ll do the latter.” He said, trying not to grin so that it would not be too obvious in Hakyeon’s eyes.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Hyukkie, don’t. Just don’t. Or I’ll never leave you alone for the rest of your insane life.” Hakyeon threatened Sanghyuk. To others, it did not seem to be a very big deal but to Sanghyuk who had dealt with Hakyeon in many occasions, it was more effective than any existing death threat there was.

“Fine. I’ll stick to wearing that… that thing.” Sanghyuk bitterly agreed.

Hakyeon happily laughed, showing them a contented smiled. “Then, I guess we’re already prepared for our great escape? We should inform the others about our plans. Let’s have a meeting tomorrow during our hanging out time. We’ll do well, I am sure of that.”

Author's Note: 

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, Sweatervest_Suho, hongbeann, love_kris, Hala-bear, Zhuchu, Lola20, pink_baekbaek, vixxcha, Uvichan1, nam-seok, and bcpfgrg thank you so much! It means a lot to me.