Changkyun had thought that Jooheon would forget all about his ‘prove Hyunwoo has a girlfriend’ plan come morning.  He had been sorely mistaken. The first thing Jooheon had said to him when they’d woken up had been “I’m telling you, it’s a girl.” And now it was a week later and he still wasn’t letting up.

They were sitting side by side on the floor of the dance studio taking a well-earned break. They had a comeback lined up and were learning the choreography that went along with the title track. So far it had been brutal, complicated to learn and physically demanding. It would be worth it though once they were done. It looked good even when people started off on the wrong foot or stepped in the wrong direction so once they all got their heads around it it was going to look amazing.

“He’s doing it again.” A still slightly out of breath Jooheon said, interrupting his musing and handing him a water bottle. A glance across the room told Changkyun that by doing it again Jooheon meant Hyunwoo was looking at his phone and smiling. Wonho and Kihyun were also looking at their phones. Kihyun was even smiling as he did so. Funnily enough Jooheon chose to gloss over this fact.

Changkyun shrugged. “He’s happy. So what?”

“But what has he got to be happy about?” Jooheon asked. “Our choreographer is trying to kill us.”

“Which means he’s definitely enjoying himself.” Whether he was in the gym or in the dance studio, pushing his body to the brink of exhaustion was something Hyunwoo seemed to like to do making Jooheon’s logic flawed.

Jooheon just shook his head and went back to observing Hyunwoo as he typed something else on his phone, smile still on his face.

~~~~ ~~~

“Are you stalking him now?” Changkyun asked and Jooheon nearly jumped out of his skin.

They’d just had a meeting with management to discuss their upcoming comeback and the tour the company were planning for afterwards. After being released most of them had decided to head back to the dorm. Hyunwoo however had told them he was going to the gym.

Thinking he was crazy Changkyun had fallen into step next to Hyungwon who was trying to decide on which drama to catch up on now that they had a couple of hours of free time and wanted a second opinion. They’d almost made it as far as the foyer and Hyungwon had almost decided on what he was going to watch before Changkyun realised Jooheon wasn’t behind them. Worried at the thought of Jooheon in detective mode roaming the corridors of Starship alone he’d murmured something to Hyungwon about leaving his phone behind and had started retracing his steps.

And he’d found Jooheon standing at the junction of the corridor that lead to the gym, his back pressed to the wall. He could hear what sounded like Hyunwoo’s voice coming from around the corner.

After getting over his near heart attack and taking in who it was that had startled him Jooheon was hissing “Sssh!” and yanking him back to stand against the wall with him.

Changkyun responded with a roll of his eyes which Jooheon, as usual, ignored.

They stood there quietly for a few seconds trying to hear what it was Hyunwoo was saying, he was standing a little too far away for them to make out actual words, and then Jooheon had an idea. “We should walk out there.” He suggested, turning his head so he could whisper it to him. “If he hangs up as soon as he sees us then we’ll know he doesn’t want us to know who he’s talking to.”

Jooheon was standing so close Changkyun could feel his breath on his ear and his own breath caught in his throat. It tickled and made his chest feel inexplicably warm. He tried not to let on. If Jooheon realised that blowing on his ear was enough to make him shiver he’d start doing it all the time. Getting a reaction out of him seemed to be one of his favourite pastimes. “But if we go out there then we’re going to have to go to the gym.” He said, trying to sound casual. It was the only place the corridor they were on actually went. They could hardly walk around the corner, greet Hyunwoo and then turn around again. That would look highly suspicious.

“That’s okay.” Jooheon told him. “If you don’t have workout stuff there then I have a load in my locker you can borrow.”

No, it wasn’t okay and it had nothing to do with the fact he’d probably have to borrow Jooheon’s clothes. They’d be a little too big but he could deal with that, and anyway Jooheon’s clothes always smelled pretty good. So did Jooheon but that was neither here nor there. The problem was that after a week of never ending dance practice he was aching. He just wanted to go home and sit on the couch, maybe mindlessly watch some of that drama with Hyungwon.  

Before he could escape though Jooheon had grabbed his wrist and was dragging him around the corner.

And just as Jooheon had predicted Hyunwoo stopped talking as soon as he saw them. “I have to go.” Changkyun lip read more than heard him say and he was hanging up.

“I thought you were all going back to the dorm.” Hyunwoo said as they approached. He looked confused and Changkyun didn’t blame him. Jooheon had been complaining about how tired he was all day and the gym had never been Changkyun’s first choice when had free time.

“We thought you might like some company.” Jooheon said brightly.

“Oh.” Hyunwoo said, his brow furrowing. And then he was smiling. “Company would be great.” He told them. Changkyun got the feeling the smile was a little forced and wondered if it was Jooheon’s and his absurd thought processes rubbing off on him.

Then he realised that telling Hyunwoo they were there to keep him company meant they would have to stay in the gym as long as he did and he was responding with a forced smile of his own. “Good.” He said. He’d been hoping he’d only have to put in minimal effort and then leave but that wasn’t going to happen now. Fantastic.

~~~~ ~~~

“I hate you.”

He and Jooheon were finally on their way out of the building and if he’d thought his muscles had been aching before it had been nothing compared to what they were doing now. They were practically screaming at him in protest and all he was doing was walking down the hall.

Jooheon didn’t seem overly concerned by Changkyun’s confession. “Did you see who went in there when we came out?” He said, ignoring it entirely.

Changkyun nodded. It had been a group of female trainees about their age. And Hyunwoo had still been in there finishing up in the shower. He could see where this was going.

“I bet that’s who he was talking to.” Jooheon said, proving him right.

“What? All five of them?” Changkyun asked, unable to help himself.

Jooheon gave him a withering look. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

He did but he wasn’t in the mood to pander to him. “If one of them is Hyunwoo’s secret girlfriend then why would she drag four of her friends along with her when she was going to meet him?” He asked, shooting Jooheon a withering look of his own.

“To make it look like bumping into him was an accident.” Jooheon said, his answer immediate.

It sounded pretty far-fetched to Changkyun but Jooheon seemed convinced he was right.

“A trainee makes sense.” He carried on, not giving Changkyun a chance to argue. “Where else is he going to have met someone other than here? We don’t go anywhere else.”

There were plenty of other places Hyunwoo could have met someone. Broadcasting stations, photo shoots, the coffee shop on the corner of their street… but saying so would only cause Jooheon to extend the radius of his girlfriend search to beyond company walls and that would only make things worse. So Changkyun kept quiet.

“Maybe I should talk to one of the trainees.” Jooheon said, more to himself than to Changkyun. “Ask them to keep an eye out for me. Get them to report anything suspicious.”

That sounded like a terrible idea but he knew that telling Jooheon so would only make him want to do it more. So Changkyun tried a different tack. “But how will you know the person you ask isn’t his girlfriend?” he reasoned. “Or a friend of his girlfriend. They might feed you false information.”

Jooheon slowed down as he considered this. “You’re right.” He said finally. “I’ll just have to do my own research.” And then he was striding off down the corridor with purpose.

Changkyun was left fighting the urge to hit his head against the nearest wall.

~~~~ ~~~

Jooheon’s research consisted of asking every trainee who was around their own age who their favourite member of Monsta X was and making a note of it. It meant Changkyun had found himself pulling his friend away from more than one confused looking young woman over the last couple of days. People were going to start thinking Jooheon was the one dating a trainee if he kept cornering them and he could do without that.

And now they’d snuck out of the dorm after returning from practice, again suspicious behaviour if you asked Changkyun but Jooheon never did, and were sitting in a coffee shop looking over Jooheon’s notes.

His notes consisted of a crumpled piece of paper with the words ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘Maybe’ scrawled across the top. There was a list of names written under each header with various notes were scribbled next to them, notes like ‘said Minhyuk but looked shifty’, ‘wouldn’t commit to one member’ and ‘definitely a Kihyun fan, owns a notebook with his face on it.’ One name in the ‘Maybe’ column simply had the letters ‘I.M’ written next to it in English. “What’s that about?” Changkyun asking, tapping his stage name with his finger. “Why is she a maybe?”

“Because there’s no way you’re anyone’s favourite member.” Jooheon told him sounding entirely too pleased with himself.

Changkyun scowled and kicked him under the table.

Jooheon winced. “I’m kidding.” He protested. “Actually I was surprised you weren’t more people’s first choice. I mean other than me you’re my favourite member and I always thought I had pretty good taste.”

Changkyun was pretty sure he was still kidding but he decided to take it as a compliment anyway, murmuring a reluctant. “Thanks.”

“She’s on the maybe list because if I was dating Hyunwoo hyung and someone asked me who my favourite member was I’d say the opposite to throw them off. Swap the leader for the maknae.” Jooheon explained, satisfied that his apology had been accepted.

Changkyun supposed that sort of made sense. It was just a shame Jooheon’s overall research method was stupid. “How often has he bumped into these people? Once, twice? It can’t be much more than that.” Hyunwoo didn’t exactly have a reason to be talking to the trainees. Changkyun found it very unlikely he’d spoken to any of them enough to want to start dating them.

“That’s all it takes.” Jooheon said. “Some people only have to see someone once to fall head over heels.”

Changkyun had never been a believer in love at first sight, he’d always thought love, or at least the lasting kind of love was something that grew out of friendship. “Even if that’s true,” he said, still unconvinced, “which it isn’t, then it means it’s just as likely that Hyunwoo hyung’s dating the girl behind the counter or the girl that cleans the practice rooms as it is he’s dating a trainee.” He’d probably spoken to them much more often than he’d spoken to any of the trainees. Changkyun had. He didn’t know much about the former but he knew a bit about the latter. Her name was Solmi, she was two years older than him, she had a younger brother his age and she was studying Art History at school. It was more than he knew about any of the trainees he passed in the halls.

Jooheon gave this some careful consideration then shook his head. “I don’t think he’d risk dating someone who had less to lose than he did if news of their relationship got out.”

Changkyun was pretty sure Solmi had just as much to lose, her job for one. She was employed by the company too after a;;, even if it was only as a cleaner but he didn’t say so. “He’s not actually dating anyone though, is he?” he said instead. “So he’s not going to lose anything.”

But Jooheon wasn’t paying him any attention, he was lost in thought. “It’s a girl group member.” He blurted out after a few seconds of silence. “I bet her met her during out last lot of promotions. He thought she was cute, he said hi, they exchanged numbers…”

“No.” Changkyun interrupted him firmly before he could get too carried away. “No he didn’t. It didn’t happen. He’s not dating anyone and he especially isn’t dating a girl group member. This is getting ridiculous.”

“It has to be a girl group member.” Jooheon insisted. “And I’m going to prove it.”

Changkyun let his head drop onto the table in front of him with a groan.

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A/N: Hi! Just wanted to thank you to everyone who's read, subscribed and commented so far. Comments always make my day. And this has been so much fun to write so far so I'm really glad people seem to be enjoying it.