I didn't like Seokjin's idea, at all.

Fooling the other members and the fans was already enough for me to go crazy and therefore the thought of lying to Mingyu too just didn't seem like a good plan. It was simply too much pretending for me to handle and so I told Seokjin that I didn't want him to pretend to be my boyfriend, making him quite upset. 

"I thought that you would like the idea, though", he pouted, looking at me with a face which screamed rejection. I laughed at that, thinking that Seokjin looked pretty cute with that expression. 

"Well, actually, it is a good plan. But I don't think I can handle it, you know?", I explained to him, making him nod: "Yeah, I get that. But how about we just try it? It's not like we have to pretend right now anyways. We'd have to wait for at least a month so that Mingyu would actually believe that you forgot about him and fell for me instead."

He was right. 

"Let's just meet up once or twice a week and you tell your members that you're meeting a friend. Try to be as cold towards Mingyu as possible, so that he thinks you don't care about him anymore. And then, after about a month, you can just tell him you're over him and that you're dating me. I mean, it's not like we have to pretend that much. Actually, I don't think Mingyu will want to see me. Maybe he'll want some pictures or a phone call for clarification, but that's it", Seokjin explained his plan in detail, trying to convince me that it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

"But what if he tells other members or even worse, your members get to know about this thing? What about the fans?", I asked, worried. Seokjin shrugged his shoulders at that, smiling: "Mingyu doesn't sound like a person who'd like others to know about you being gay. Think about it. The one thing that matters to him is for Seventeen and himself to become famous, so exposing you and making a scandal would be the last thing he'd do."

Again, he was right. 

Since a scandal was something our band didn't need at all, Mingyu wouldn't risk it by telling others about me being gay. Seokjin's plan suddenly seemed quite attractive and since I was so desperate to find a solution to all my problems, I told myself that this was it. That Seokjin's idea was a way for me to stop Mingyu from hurting and hating me. 

And that was all I wanted.

Honestly, I didn't even think about Mingyu being my friend again or possibly falling in love with me since I was well aware that those things wouldn't happen. I just wanted to live in peace, without being pressured by Mingyu, without feeling guilty for loving him. 

"Alright then", I said after having thought about everything once again: "Let's do it. But as soon as I've told Mingyu about you being my boyfriend, you can't back down, okay? You have to promise me that you're going to stick with me until the end."

Seokjin smiled at my words, clearly liking the decision I'd made: "Alright, I won't let you down, I promise."

Seriously, the whole thing was absurd and I had no idea what I was doing, but seeing Seokjin's bright smile which indicated just how happy and excited he was, I instantly felt myself calm down. Somehow, just by smiling at me like that, he was able to give me the hope that I needed.

It was strange, but I trusted him completely, thinking he was helping me because of his kindness, because he simply wanted me to be happy again. I didn't even think about him wanting to gain something from pretending to be my boyfriend.

And that was a huge mistake.
______

I arrived at our dorm at around three, still a little overwhelmed because of the agreement I'd made with Seokjin. And since I was quite out of it, I totally didn't think about the situation that was going on at home. After all, I'd left the dorm without a word and came back about six hours later, probably having worried the other members to death.

So instead of being met with cheerful and happy welcomes, I was yelled at by almost every member as soon as I walked into the living room. It was quite sweet, to be honest, how enraged and worried everyone was when seeing me come back home without a scratch. 

"Who do you think you are, not telling us that you're going to leave? Do you know how worried we've been all day? We searched for you almost everywhere! The company, the convenience store, the library. We even called your parents!", Mingyu screamed at me, louder than anyone else. It was funny, really, just how angered he looked when in fact he didn't care about me at all. I laughed at him, knowing that he'd probably been pretending to be worried about me for hours.

"This isn't funny, so stop laughing. Honestly, Wonwoo, you can't just leave without telling anyone", Seungcheol told me in much calmer tone than Mingyu had. Sighing, he sat down on our couch: "At least you're alright. We thought something happened to you since you didn't pick up your phone. Mingyu even started crying, saying everything was his fault."

I was shocked at that.

Mingyu having cried because of me was something that I couldn't have imagined nor dreamed about. It was such a surreal thought that I didn't even believe Seungcheol's words, thinking that he must've been confused or simply seen wrong. Perplexed, I looked at Mingyu who just stood there, not even looking at me at all.

And suddenly, it hit me and I knew what was going on. Mingyu had been pretending, nothing more. He'd started crying not because he was worried and scared, but because he wanted the others to think that he was. Laughing at how stupid I was for even thinking Mingyu would cry because of me, I earned many annoyed stares from the other members. 

"Can you shut up already?", Jihoon hissed, clearly not wanting to put up with my weird behavior anymore: "First, you leave the dorm without telling anybody and then you come back and don't even say sorry but just laugh the whole time!"

"Sorry, really", I chuckled, not even able to apologize in a serious way: "I just forgot, seriously. I didn't want to wake anyone up and forgot to text you guys. I guess my battery died because I didn't hear a call."

"Where did you even go?", Jeonghan asked, furrowing his eyebrows. At first, I contemplated whether I should tell them the truth or just lie, but Seokjin's plan came back to my mind and I knew that telling the truth was actually a good idea. And so I said that I'd met up with a friend, making everyone give me confused looks, obviously not believing me.

"You don't have friends", Mingyu stated, chuckling after doing so, making my cheeks burn in embarrassment. It was the truth, though. I'd never really had friends besides the members and therefore it must've sounded like a lie when I actually told them the truth.

"Well, I befriended someone", I answered, smiling a bit when saying that. Actually, I was proud of having found another friend besides the members, even if Seokjin felt more like a mentor and accomplice. I didn't even know if he was a friend, to be honest. We hadn't talked about our relationship since he mostly concentrated on my problems, trying to find a solution for me.

It didn't really matter, anyways.

I was sure that I could trust Seokjin and thought he would help me out of my misery which is why I didn't even have to know in what kind of relationship we were. I simply thought of him as my savior, as someone I could rely on for the rest of my life.

"How did you even find a friend? We've been way too busy these last few weeks", Seokmin stated, making other members nod in agreement. It was funny how everyone seemed to be perplexed about me actually being social enough to befriend someone and so I started laughing once again, liking everyone's confused faces.

"We met backstage at Show Champion a few days ago. You know Bangtan, right? He's one of their vocals, Kim Seokjin", I told them, giving them a proud smile: "He sort of helped me out that day and yeah, we started talking and that stuff. He's very nice."

Of course, I knew I couldn't tell them the whole truth, but I didn't want to lie either and so I said as much as I could, liking how my words totally fitted into Seokjin's plan. The members seemed to be taken aback at what I'd said, probably not believing that I, Jeon Wonwoo, had managed to befriend another idol. And not any idol but a member of Bangtan, a pretty popular and well-known group, too.

"Ah, so that's why you were gone for such a long time", Soonyoung concluded, smiling: "I kept wondering what you were doing for so long but now I get it. You were making a friend."

"Woah, that's so weird. You're way too awkward to talk to the staff but manage to befriend Kim Seokjin", Seungkwan commented, totally amazed by the news: "Even I haven't really talked to Bangtan yet since I was too shy to do so but you out of all people make friends with one of their members? How?"

"I don't know, I guess we just clicked?", I only replied, laughing a bit when everyone looked at me, either amazed or simply confused, as if they were trying to understand my words: "Come on, guys. It's not that weird. Seokjin-hyung is simply a good person and gave me some advice."

"Seokjin-hyung?", Mingyu repeated my words, looking at me in annoyance: "You call him Seokjin-hyung?"

"Yeah, of course. What else should I call him?", I laughed, confused by his somewhat dark expression. He seemed to be mad about something, but I couldn't comprehend what that was.

"I don't know, maybe Sunbaenim? Don't you have any respect for him?", Mingyu asked, or more like complained, throwing me off-guard with that question. I hadn't even thought about calling Seokjin differently, thinking that Hyung was a nice way to address him. 

"Wait, you didn't tell Mingyu about this either?", Soonyoung asked and for some reason, everyone seemed to be taken aback about that even more. I was about to answer, but Mingyu storming off without saying a word stopped me from doing so, leaving me there with my mouth opened widely, my mind not quite understanding what was going on.

"You make a new friend and don't even tell Mingyu about it? Woah, if I was him I would be mad too", Seungkwan told me and by the looks of it, the other members seemed to agree with him. Honestly, I didn't understand what they were getting at, but I knew that I should follow Mingyu, not for his but my own sake. 

He'd probably been pretending to be mad so that the others wouldn't get suspicious, but I was sure that he would actually get furious if I didn't follow him and pretend to be worried. I had to go along with his act, that much I was sure of.

And so I followed him, knowing I didn't have another choice but to do so.

"You're quite good at the whole pretending thing, you know", I complimented as I entered our room and saw him sitting on top of his bed, his face not showing a single emotion.

"Apparently you're quite good at some things too, aren't you?", he laughed at me, suddenly giving me that annoyed expression again: "What happened that day at Show Champion? Because I honestly don't believe a word you said back there. You made a friend, really? You? Cut that bull, Wonwoo-hyung, I know you well enough and let me just tell you, you're not someone who befriends random people."

He was mad, very mad. And I didn't understand why.

"But I did? After you left the restroom, Seokjin-hyung talked to me and-"

"Wait, he was there that day? In the restroom? Didn't he hear our conversation then?", Mingyu cut me off, shocked: ", he's not blackmailing you, saying he's going to tell someone about you being gay, is he?"

I laughed at that.

Mingyu seemed to be worried about Seokjin knowing that I was gay and it was funny, because I knew that he actually only cared about our group being affected by a scandal instead of thinking about me. 

I shook my head, telling Mingyu that Seokjin wasn't blackmailing me, making him let out a relieved sigh: "Good, for a moment I thought it was over for us. This is dangerous, him knowing that you're gay, I mean."

Once again, I felt the urge to just laugh at Mingyu and tell him that he was completely wrong with that assumption. Since Seokjin was gay himself, it was quite ironic how Mingyu feared him knowing about me. Suddenly, I knew just how much I could play around with Mingyu now that I had Seokjin backing me up, thinking that I wouldn't have to fear his words anymore because I could always fight back.

Just like that, I felt strong enough to win against Mingyu.

"Seokjin-hyung actually helps me, you know. He's okay with me being gay and completely supports me", I told him, smiling happily. Mingyu furrowed his eyebrows at that, confused: "And why would he do that? Why would he help a complete stranger with a problem like yours, that's just stupid."

To be honest, I loved how perplexed he was. Mingyu obviously didn't have the slightest idea why Seokjin would support me and so I felt the sudden need to enlighten him, smiling while doing so.

"Because he's gay, too."
______

A/N: Well well well, Wonwoo is quite brave now that he has Seokjin backing him up, isn't he? I hope you got the hints I was giving (there are like four in this chapter??) because they're pretty important haha

On another note, I'm very emotional today because of Seventeen calling Wonwoo earlier and him sounding so cute but exhausted :( I hope he's getting better... OH AND NOT TO FORGET VERY NICE MV AND THE ALBUM AHH THERES TOO MUCH HAPPENING TODAY???

Yeah, so, thanks everyone for taking your time during this busy and exciting day to read this (pretty boring) chapter. I've honestly started to love you guys!