Three hours and zero texts from both Yixing and Lu Han later, Minseok was starting to get worried.

            “Should we head back?” Minseok asked warily as he watched his boyfriend lose to another bot on League of Legends. Jongdae just rolled his eyes and started up another game.

            “They’ll be fine,” he insisted, but Minseok wasn’t so sure.

            “How do you know? They could have—”

            “Look,” Jongdae quit the game before the round started, and turned to face Minseok. “Lay hyung is a lot more emotional than he first lets on. If anything bad happened with Lu Han, he’d be in tears calling me within seconds.”

            “But he may not,” Minseok argued. “I mean, he knows you helped set this whole thing up, so maybe he won’t wanna talk to you if it went poorly?” Jongdae shrugged the statement off with a wave of his hand.

            “Hyung’s not the type to hold grudges like that. Besides, I really don’t think it’ll go bad in the first place.”

            “What makes you so sure?” Minseok wanted to believe Jongdae, but he couldn’t stop his inner skeptic, his inner cynic.

            “Because hyung really cares a lot about Lu Han.”

            “Wait, what?” Jongdae sighed, bringing his feet up to lay on the seat, curling his body into a ball so he could hug his knees.

            “I know I said I didn’t know anything about their little courtship deal, but that’s not exactly true.” Minseok raised an eyebrow at this. “La…Yixing hyung’s been talking for a while about this guy who lives in the same apartment complex as him who kept stopping by to have meals together or give him gifts. Knowing what I know now, I’m guessing that guy was Lu Han. Hyung’s kinda dense though, so he didn’t realize that Lu Han was flirting with him until a month or so ago when he had to straight up tell him. Then, last week, Lu Han presented a bracelet to him for a courting present, and he said he’d consider it. Of course, the day after that, news of the engagement broke and well… you know the rest.

            “But before that, Yixing hyung would always get this… dreamy look in his eyes whenever he talked about ‘the neighbor.’ Half of our conversations would just be about what new things his neighbor brought or the fact that his neighbor offered to help out at the upcoming garden club meeting.” Minseok snorted at that, as images of Lu Han in full gardening gear came to mind. “Even when he didn’t know Lu Han was flirting with him, he had stars in his eyes for him.”

            “…You’re really confident in this, aren’t you?” Minseok asked, and there was a sort of sadness in Jongdae’s smile that struck his heart hard.

            “I have to be—it’s all I can rely on now.”

            Minseok’s breath hitched at the words, and the sight of Jongdae lightly tilting his head and resting it on his knees had his body moving before he could stop it. Everything in him, every fiber of his being was telling him to protect his boyfriend, to protect his mate, and he was powerless to stop it as he was jumping forward to pull the boy into his arms immediately. Wrapping his arms around Jongdae’s shoulders so his abdomen was lightly pressing against the boy’s knees and his face was slightly buried in his hair, he kept his boyfriend in the tight embrace.

            “Hyung?” The word, the honorific, although so simple, only weighed down on Minseok’s heart more. Jongdae was cheeky: he never addressed him properly unless he was really feeling down. Usually it would just be “Minseok” or a lilting “Minnie,” but never “hyung.” But now, when he was vulnerable and lost in his own thoughts, the word flowed out like water.

            “You have more than that to rely on,” he said lowly, pulling away slightly only to cup Jongdae’s cheek with one hand, tilting his head up so they were eye-to-eye. “You have allies. You have Yixing, you have Lu Han. You probably even have your brother, if you decided to tell him. And most of all, you have me.”

            “…Do you have to be so cheesy all the time?” Jongdae eventually muttered, but Minseok could see the redness at the tips of his ears and the slight curl-up of the corner of his lips.

            “C’mon,” he said, standing up and pulling his boyfriend with him. “We shouldn’t stick around for much longer, or else your family’s gonna find you. It’s getting late, maybe we could—”

            “Uh, Min?” Jongdae interrupted, pulling away with what was now a full blush. “I know we’re kinda tucked away, but maybe not so close in public.”

            Minseok stopped when he realized just what he had done. Frantically glancing around, he saw that thankfully no one had really noticed their little moment together, as most people were focused on their gaming. Still, Jongdae was right. With everything surrounding them, they had to be ready at a moment’s notice to escape from any watchful eyes or bodyguards ready to chase after them. As sweet as it was, they couldn’t afford to do anything too touchy in public for now, not ‘til they fixed this whole situation.

            He pulled himself from his thoughts at a ringing sound, and just a second later he realized it was from his phone. Nearly dropping the device in his haste, he immediately pulled it out to see a single text from Lu Han.

Yo, where are you nerds? We’re going out for dinner, my treat.

            “I told you things would be okay,” Jongdae chirped as he read the message over his shoulder. Minseok chuckled and nodded, grabbing his coat and walking with his boyfriend to the front. Even though he still felt a bit uneasy about the whole thing, he did have to admit he had a bit of a tendency to overreact sometimes. Maybe he was just—

            He froze.

            “Stop,” he hissed, pulling Jongdae back from walking any further. He didn’t care how odd they must have looked, stopped in the middle of the room. All of his attention was focused on one thing—or, rather two.

            “Hey, what gives?” Jongdae asked, but he was smart; he kept his voice low just as Minseok had.

            “Look there,” he said, nodding his head over to the target of his stares as he pulled them away. He’d recognize those figures anywhere, the same ones that had spent many a times glaring him down or chasing them across town.

            “Sehun, Jongin?” Jongdae whispered breathily, clearly surprised. The pair weren’t looking at them, their backs turned as they stared down the computer screen instead. Still, Minseok wasn’t one to take chances, tugging them away so that they were completely out of the duo’s sight range.

            “How’d they find us? Did we accid—”

            “They’re off-duty,” Jongdae cut in. “Look.”

            Minseok glanced back over, and it was true: it didn’t seem like either of the bodyguards had come for them. For one, they weren’t dressed for the job. Rather than the usual slicked back hair and firmly pressed black suits, they were casual in normal clothes—jeans, hoodies, t-shirts, and the like. Besides, from what he’d heard from Jongdae, the pair were supposed to have a night-off, with some of the others on security to handle “guarding” him for the rest of the day once they’d safely picked up Yixing from the airport. Still, just because the two weren’t there for them, they couldn’t be reckless.

            “What do we do?” Minseok asked his boyfriend, who had his head down, pensive. “We have to check-out and pay, but they may see us.”

            It was true. Even though their attentions seemed to be focused on their game, they were still seated with their fronts facing the door and the front desk. Were they to look up, they’d see them perfectly, and seeing as practically everyone was on high alert with the engagement news, he had a feeling it wouldn’t end well.

            “We’ll get in line separately,” Jongdae finally said. “I’ll go first, actually pay for us, and get out quickly. Leave a couple between us, and then get in line, so if they see you, they won’t see me near you. The line should hide me, but if they get any closer to me, distract them or something. Once I’m out, wait a few seconds and then follow.” Minseok nodded.

            “I can do that,” he said. “But will you be okay outside by yourself? I mean—”

            “If you spew some about it being dark out and me being alone, I’m breaking up with you,” Jongdae deadpanned, and Minseok chuckled.

            “Not that,” he assured, though he’d be lying if that thought hadn’t been going through his head before. Some habits were hard to break, after all. “I mean, even if those two aren’t on you today, who’s to say the others aren’t?” Jongdae shrugged.

            “I’ve spent my whole life evading my ‘captors,’” Minseok snorted at the nickname, “I can do it now for a few minutes. Unless, that is, you don’t trust me?” Jongdae raised a single eyebrow in judgement, and he immediately had his hands up in defense, face flushed.

            “O-of course I do!” he stammered out, flustered, only calming down when Jongdae started crowing in laughter loud enough to make a nearby gamer shush them.

            “You’re so cute when you’re shy,” he cooed, pecking him on the cheeks before walking past him with a ‘V’ sign. “See you outside, Minnie~”

            “…Right,” he said, but his boyfriend was already gone, slipping past Sehun and Jongin with practiced ease to slip into line.

Luckily, someone took a spot behind him in line pretty quickly—some broad-shouldered Beta that hid him pretty well. With a wistful sigh, he started making his way up to the line as well. Someone closer to the front was already heading to the desk, so it looked like there’d at least be two people between them. That was safe enough, right?

            “!”

            The sudden curse startled Minseok way more than he was willing to admit, and he practically froze as he saw the very pair he was trying to avoid start making a commotion in the middle of the cybercafé.

            “Ha, you owe me now, assho—!” Minseok flinched back as a raised fist smacked into his arm. Silently cursing the narrow walkways, he could put on a weak smile as the pair turned to him. “I’m so sorry, I got excited and—oh.”

            “Yo,” Minseok greeted lightly as he resisted the urge to rub at his arm. “Sehun,” he looked to the one who had screamed out first, then to the one who had practically punched him, “and Jongin-ssi, right?”

            “Y…yeah,” Sehun confirmed, standing to greet him properly as Jongin followed suit. “It’s good to see you, Executive Kim.”

            “Call me Minseok,” he said easily. “I don’t want to be reminded of work over the weekend, y’know?”

            “Of course… Minseok hyungnim.” Stiff as always. Figured.

            “I’m surprised though, hyungnim,” Jongin pitched in with Sehun nodding in agreement. “This didn’t seem like a place you’d be interested in.”

            “Oh c’mon, I’m not that old, am I?” he joked, grinning as both the boys flustered to correct themselves. “Besides, I’m here with someone.”

            “Someone?” Sehun’s eyes went sharp at that, and Minseok gulped at that. .

            “Uh, yeah, gaming’s always more fun with others anyway, right?” He tried to play it off smoothly, but he couldn’t help but steal a glance at Jongdae over Jongin’s shoulder. He felt relieved when he realized the boy was done, walking to the door to head out, but he tensed again when Sehun noticed his glance. Before the boy could turn around to see who it was, he continued hastily. “It’s just a friend though.”

            “Not your courter?” Sehun blurted out, attention focused back on Minseok. The older breathed out a laugh as he saw Jongdae slip out of the building just as Jongin elbowed Sehun harshly. “Ow.” Minseok gulped lightly as he noticed that Jongin seemed to be doing something on his phone, but he didn’t have a chance to focus on it as Sehun was speaking again. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate.”

            “It’s alright,” Minseok smiled, almost feeling a bit bad. These two were probably just kids, after all—it was understandable if they were curious. “It’s probably been all over the news, huh?”

            “Hn,” Sehun hummed in agreement, and Minseok took that as the end of the conversation and his chance to leave.

            “Well, I should be going, but I’ll probably see you boys later,” he chirped pleasantly, but froze when he turned to realize Jongin wasn’t by them anymore. When had he left? Did he see Jongdae?

            “Of course,” Sehun said, either not noticing or caring that his partner was gone. “Have a good night, hyungnim.”

            “You too, Sehun-ssi.”

            The smile and wave he gave the other was weak, but he couldn’t find himself to care as he stalked to the front door, barely able to stop himself from running as he did so. He didn’t bother keeping up the whole ‘waiting in line charade,’ too concerned for Jongdae to care. The reasonable part of him mind also figured that Sehun could easily assume that he paid in advance.

            He just about had his hand on the door handle, ready to push it open, when he heard a call to him.

            “Minseok hyungnim!” Jongin was suddenly by him, though his voice was surprisingly low. He froze, glancing over to see that Sehun hadn’t taken notice, and was instead back to gaming. “Hunni—Sehun is a little oblivious.”

            “Is… is that so?” Minseok said warily, struggling to keep up a pleasant smile. He couldn’t stop it from falling though, as suddenly, something was being pushed into his hand. It was a piece of paper, folded up, and his expression quickly morphed into one of confusion. “Wha—”

            “Take care of Chennie hyung, please,” he whispered, and there was something in his eyes that had Minseok freezing. A sincerity, a plea that would have never before graced his face in front of Minseok. It lasted only a second, though, and right after, he was straightening his back and cooling his expression. “Good night, get home safely.”

            “I will,” he responded airily, still somewhat dazed. “Enjoy your night, Jongin-ssi.”

            “Thank you, hyungnim.” With that, Jongin was turning away, but Minseok called out to him once more.

            “Hey, Jongin-ssi.” The boy turned back to look at him in confusion. “Make… make sure your boss brings all the files to the meeting Monday, okay?” There was something that flashed on Jongin’s face, a knowing smile and upturned eyes, before it was expressionless once again.

            “Of course, hyungnim.”

            Knowing not to push his luck, Minseok stepped out of the building quickly after saying good night pleasantly to the woman at the front desk. He was only a little surprised, then, when just seconds later, Jongdae pounced on him.

            “They saw you, didn’t they?” He was firing off questions immediately, giving his boyfriend no chance to keep up. “I heard them talking to you, did they suspect anything? Oh god, what if they—hey, what’s that?”

            Noticing that he still had the folded piece of paper Jongin had given him in his hand, he obediently handed it off to his boyfriend. Jongdae grabbed it quickly, unfolding it and reading through it as Minseok moved them over to somewhere that wasn’t right in front of the cybercafé.

            “This…” Jongdae started, before looking up at him in shock. “How’d you get this?”

            “Jongin gave it to me,” he answered. “Said that Sehun’s oblivious and asked me to take care of you.”

            “These are messages and timesheets about patrols,” Jongdae explained. “Whenever I’m not at home without someone assigned to watch me—or if I’ve escaped—then my parents always set up patrols around the busy streets to try and find me, since I turn off GPS on my phone all the time. It’s why we always end up running into someone from my family’s security when we’re out on dates. These are from after I snuck away with Yixing, meaning these are for tonight. Jongin must have screenshotted them from his phone and printed them out when you weren’t looking. But why?”

            “Looks like you have more allies than you think,” Minseok said with a cheeky smile, that smile only growing when his boyfriend blushed and smacked him lightly on the chest.

            “Stop that,” he whined, before going back to the paper and scanning it. “Get your phone out and text Lu Han, I know where we can go for dinner.”

----

            “You know, I think you guys should just go through with it.”

            Minseok set his fork down to stare at Yixing in confusion and speculation as the man spoke, expression a bit dazed and thoughtful.

            “Go through with what, Xing? The wedding?” Jongdae asked, and Minseok noticed how Lu Han fist clenched in tense anger almost immediately.

            Yixing noticed too, rolling his eyes as he placed a hand over the other’s fist calmingly. Minseok said nothing at this—neither of the two had said anything about how their ‘talk’ went, but it seemed things were, if not back to normal, at least better than before. Instead, he just set his fork down and listened, trying to ignore the fact that the pair reeked of each other and making a note to himself to clean his bedsheets tonight… just in case.

            “Of course, not the wedding,” he clarified, smiling as Lu Han relaxed, “but at least all the stuff before it. The planning, the prep, all of that.”

            “Wouldn’t that be pointless, though?” Jongdae asked as he grabbed a piece of the bulgogi they had on the grill and ate it.

            The restaurant that Jongdae had ended up picking was a pretty secluded, out-of-reach place on the other side of town. It was the easiest place to get to without any of them, including Lu Han and Yixing, risking running into Jongdae’s patrollers, and it was quiet enough for them too. That had become an unspoken rule for him and Minseok since they started dating. The quieter, more unassuming the restaurant would be, the less likely it’d be that they’d run into someone they knew—whether a business partner, family member, or someone else—and the less likely they’d be caught. Plus, by doing this, they’d found plenty of hidden jewels in the city, so it was a winning situation either way.

            “I agree,” Lu Han pitched in. “If we wait until around wedding time, then we’d have already started the bonding rituals and we’d be locked in until we, uh… mated.” At that last word, his face went pink and he looked away, but Yixing just shook his head and ignored him.

            “I’m not saying wait for the wedding,” he explained, and three pairs of eyes were on him immediately in curious uncertainty. “Just ‘til they’ve gotten it out of their systems. I mean, the wedding’s after your New York show, right?” He turned to Lu Han in confirmation, who nodded.

            “The day after,” he said, and Yixing nodded thoughtfully.

            “That means it’s, what, six months away? Meaning they’ll probably start pushing for the bonding in five months, so that’s our deadline. Let them go along with it for a month or so before you do anything. That’s at least long enough for it to all be out of the news cycle, meaning you guys also won’t be as heavily watched. If you tried anything now, you’d probably be crushed down immediately—I mean, just look at today!”

            It was true: with all of the close encounters they’d just had today, for a simple get-together (if it could really be called that), it’d be a wonder if they could break up the engagement any time soon.

            “So we just have to sit and wait?” Jongdae asked with a pout, and Minseok rubbed his shoulders in comfort as Yixing sighed.

            “I don’t like it either, but it’s all we have for now. I’ll try to adjust my schedule so I can come by Korea more often, to ‘help with the wedding plans,’ or whatever makes Chennie’s parents happy. That way, we can come up with a plan and I can help cover for you two,” he looked at Minseok and Jongdae, “while you go on dates and whatnot.”

            “No one at work suspects anything, right?” Lu Han asked Minseok, and he shook his head.

            “They all think I’m being courted by some big, strong Alpha,” he said, noticing his boyfriend’s pout. Curling his arm around the boy’s waist, he pulled him in close and continued. “Well, they got the big and strong parts right, at least.” Lu Han and Yixing both chuckled when Jongdae visibly brightened at that.        

            “That means you guys can probably fend off suspicion too, at least until you finish up on the deal this month. People never suspect business partners— trust me, I'd know.”

            “...how, exactly?” Yixing asked pointedly. Minseok couldn’t stop himself from snickering as his best friend stammered out a flustered response.

            “I mean, I wasn’t—er, I was, but—wait uh—it was—but Minseok was—I’m sorry?”

            “Wait, Minseok was what?” Jongdae asked, incredulous, and Minseok froze.

            “Uh… It was a long time ago?” he squeaked pathetically.

            “Kim Minseok, I can’t believe you!”

            “We didn’t actually date,” Lu Han clarified pathetically, and Yixing rolled his eyes.

            “That makes it worse!”

            So he said, but Yixing was grinning while Jongdae was flat-out guffawing. It wasn’t long before all of them were laughing their heads off, the hysterics only growing as Lu Han accidentally elbowed himself trying to give Yixing a sneaky hug. Had they cared, they probably would’ve taken note of the commotion they were making, but they didn’t.

            This was their time, and they were going to enjoy it as they wanted to.

a sweet little update for my sweet little readers
ok sorry i know that was gross i'll never say that again 

anyway
things are really starting to roll now so that's fun + some development for nini see i told y'all it wasn't all bad
we'll start winding down on the story pretty soon (next few chapters I think) so stuff'll be interesting to say the least haha

also out of curiosity tho would you guys be interested in a snippet on how the LayHan talk went down? it wouldn't be much since i want to focus on the XiuChen mainly but it'd be a single chapter 'extra' sort of thing 
i'll toss in a poll so you can vote if you don't wanna comment but if you do wanna comment on it lemme know how much you'd want (i.e., if you just wanna see the talk or if you wanna see some more backstory on how layhan met and how gay lu is for xing they fell for each other or whatever)

aight that's it for now see y'all later hope you're streaming kokobop and not dying like i am (what's your favs on the album tho lmk im curious)