Baekhyun huffed loudly in annoyance as he paced around his room. A week had passed and their manager hadn't called them for anything, and they were in the peak of promotion season. They should be out there in concerts and interviews, not here locked in their rooms.

Earlier that morning he had argued with the group, his mood being on the worst side since then. He groaned ruffling his hair annoyed and threw one of his Pokemon pillows across the room. This was all his manager's fault... And his own fault for being so careless the man thought.

"Wow, someone's rather moody today" Chanyeol commented, picking up the pillow from the floor.

"You have no idea Yeol" Baekhyun mumbled glaring out the window. Yet another message of the man that was in this mess with him arrived, making him smile for a moment.

"You should go meet him" Chanyeol said pointing at the phone. Baekhyun blinked and looked back before looking down at his phone with a sigh.

"I don't think so man.... I'll probably get followed and it will be worst, everything could just end in disaster" Baekhyun said with a sigh. He was dying to go, if it were for him, he would have been there long ago, but he couldn't. He didn't dare go out and cause more troubles. All these last days had been all about him getting beat with eggs and insults, either that or a bunch of embarrassing things the fans sent him.

"Then why doesn't Woodstock help you? He could at least come or pick you up somewhere" Chanyeol suggested sitting on his bed with a shrug.

"I told him not to, he's dying to get involved, but it will only cause more commotion" Baekhyun answered taking off his socks. Chanyeol hummed in understanding, nodding as he rubbed his chin deep in thought.

"I could cover up for you then" Chanyeol said looking at his best friend. Baekhyun stopped and looked at him, hope shining in his eyes.

"You would do that? Really?" Baekhyun asked the other, the same hope Baekhyun could see in his eyes being heard in his voice. Chanyeol nodded with a grin and got up.

"Sure man, that's what friends are for" Chanyeol grinned ruffling Baekhyun's hair.

"Gosh thank you! I don't know what I did to have a friend like you, but thank you!!!" Baekhyun said getting up and crush hugging him. Chanyeol chuckled and nodded, hugging him back.

"No problem bro, now hurry and go" Chanyeol smiled at him, pulling back from the hug when Baekhyun pulled back.

"Wait! Now?!" Baekhyun said getting even happier.

"Yeah now man, hurry!!!" Chanyeol shooed him with a chuckle handing him a backpack. Baekhyun grinned and nodded, preparing the backpack he just got for the time he would be out. Chanyeol chuckled looking at him run around the room, putting the lock on the door so no one would see them.

"Wait" Baekhyun stopped dead in his tracks, taking his phone and a notepad that was on Chanyeol's bedside with a list of anime he wanted to see.

"Here, if something happens call me, but if it's extremely necessary, you can find me here" Baekhyun said, giving him the hotel and room number he would meet up with 'Woodstock'. Chanyeol took the paper and checked it, nodding when he looked up.

"I will man, if something happens I let you know" Chanyeol reassure his friend with a serious look. Baekhyun smiled and opened the window, looking around before covering himself with a face mask and a hoodie as usual.

"Be careful Baek" Chanyeol whispered, earning a thumbs up from the other. After that, Baekhyun disappeared in the night, avoiding the fans that roamed the streets with ease and excitement.

Chanyeol chuckled and rubbed his hands together after closing the window, a sweet plan of taking double rations of snack taking place.

-

Suho sighed while he skipped to the pictures that had caused the whole problem for Baekhyun in the first place. SM had managed to put them down from most of the media, but they still had copies of them.

"Come on... " the man mumbled, folding his legs and placing the ipad on the bed. He didn't know what he had been looking for these past hours, but he just kept staring at them, eyes squinted in the search for something.

As he was about to skip the last picture, which was the one where you couldn't tell much besides Baekhyun closing the curtain, when his eyes caught something.

"Wait... What's this" Suho whispered, pinching in the picture. He frowned at the blurriness of the picture and sent it to his email. The leader opened his laptop and opened one of his many applications for picture editing. He opened the picture and slowly enhanced the image.

"And here I thought these apps would be useless" Suho chuckled under his breath as he kept enhancing the image. His brows knitted together as he started to recognize the face that peeked between the curtains, the one that was unrecognizable before because of the blur.

The man blinked, his eyes widening as he recognized the man that had been with Baekhyun that day. That lightly tanned skin, the blonde hair, the height, that smile that they hadn't seen in a long time.

"I-It can't be" Suho whispered, his head snapping up when the main door opened with a loud bang.

"Surprise!! Now where's the ?!" The manager's angry voice boomed through the dorm.

"" Suho muttered closing and hiding his laptop under the mattress before running out to the living room.

"Ah, Suho, there you are" the manager said looking down at the leader. Suho sighed and placed a hand on his chest walking foreword to where the other few members were.

"Manager, you startled me, what's up" Suho said looking around before focusing on the man.

"I was told the sneaked out again" the manager said crossing his arms, looking at Suho in the eyes as if he expected for the young man to admit something.

"What do you mean? Wasn't he in his room?" Suho asked, completely lost. The manager growled and marched to the bedroom hallway, pushing Suho out of the way harshly. Jongin rushed to Suho and steadied him up, glaring at the manager in distaste.

Jongin didn't knew what to make of all this. For a part he wanted to stand for Baekhyun since he was a great trustworthy friend, and there was no way that loving someone could be bad. On the other hand he wanted to stand on the manager's side, since he had been very nice and had helped them become famous at first. Now, Jongin knew on whose side he would be, he wouldn't support someone that hurt his friends for self-benefits.

"Are you ok Hyung?" Jongin asked, looking at Suho concerned. Suho nodded and stepped away from Jongin with a thankful smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you Jongin" Suho said honestly before following the manager. Jongin followed his hyung closely, looking at Kyungsoo worriedly when he came stumbling out of his room.

"Where is he?!" The manager's voice came from his and Kyungsoo's room. Kai widened his eyes and ran inside, just in time to see the manager destroying the room and looking out the window before marching out and heading to Baekyeol's bedroom.

"What the hell manager! If you were told that he sneaked out, then he shouldn't be here!" Kai growled walking out of his bedroom and following the crazed man.

The man scoffed and kicked the door of the other bedroom open to look inside. Chanyeol looked up from his laptop and took his headset off, pausing the one piece episode he was watching.

"Hey manager hyung, what's up" Chanyeol said putting his bowl of chips to the side. The man marched to the sitting man and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Where is your faggy friend?" The man snarled with a glare. Chanyeol just raised an eyebrow looking at the man in the eye.

"First off, that's offensive, second off, I thought he was in the living room" Chanyeol said in an even voice, looking clueless of his friend's whereabouts.

"As if I care if I offend him or not, he doesn't deserve to be respected, he should have thought it twice when he did what he did, he should have killed himself instead, that would have been better than this" the manager spat, pressing right on Chanyeol's buttons. With gritted teeth, the usually calm and gentle giant rose up, towering over the manager with a glare and gritted teeth.

"I don't know where my best friend is right now, but if I knew, I would never betray him, and even if he's not here, I won’t allow you to say those things about him" Chanyeol said in a low voice before inching closer.

'I'm a little rusty, but at least I know how to look after myself, for example, if someone has you gripped like this by the collar of the shirt, you first need to stand your ground, then slap their hands away when their guard wavers, and take your own hold, then you can proceed to do what you will do' Chanyeol remembered a time where he had asked Baekhyun how did he never get scared when someone threatened him, and how did he use the self-defense. So that's Chanyeol did.

In a quick move the manager's hands flew away from the neck of his shirt and his own hands darted foreword. Instead of gripping the neck of the shirt he took a strong grip of the manager's neck.

"From now on, this is what awaits for you every time you talk about my friend" Chanyeol threatened in a low voice.

"Baekhyun went south when he sneaked out, he went by the road that leads to the bubble tea shop Sehun likes, I saw him on my way back from getting some food" Jongin said in a low voice looking at the manager. Chanyeol looked baffled at his bandmate, his grip on the man loosening. The manager smirked and yanked himself away from Chanyeol, walking out the door and patting Jongin on the shoulder.

"Well done kid, Yixing, come with me my boy! This is all thanks to you!" The man called as he walked towards the door, dragging Sehun and Xiumin along. The rest of EXO looked at Yixing dumbfounded, unable to believe that this was all Lay's doing.

Said man looked around, meeting eyes with everyone before silently walking past them. All the eyes were still glued on him until he walked out the door of the dorm and closed it behind him.

Chanyeol's first reaction was to curse and scream.

"That ! I should have known!! The way he was always so observant! He was on the lookout! His room is right next to ours! He saw Baekhyun getting out!" Chanyeol huffed running a hand through his hair. He stopped dead in his tracks before looking at Kai with a glare.

"And you gave them a lead!" Chanyeol shouted, running for Kai. Jongin's eyes widened as he jumped back some steps to avoid Chanyeol and ran to the living room. He jumped over the couch and stood behind it to put some space between himself and Chanyeol.

"Wait wait! Chanyeol stop! I lied!" Jongin said waving his hands in front of him to stop the taller. He closed his eyes tightly when he saw Chanyeol's fist heading straight for his face, bracing himself for the impact.

"What?" Chanyeol's deep voice asked, making Kai squint an eye open. The shorter man gulped thickly, still with his hands in front of him as cover up.

"I lied, I d-did see Baekhyun o-on my way back from getting some f-food ... B-but I saw him heading to the city, that's i-in the whole opposite direction from where I told them" Kai stuttered, slipping to the side to get out from behind the couch and get even more space between Chanyeol and himself.

"Wait.... He bought us some time" Suho said, looking from Kai to Chanyeol and then back at Kai. Chanyeol nodded and slowly grinned, launching at Kai and trapping him in a tight hug, pulling a startled yelp out of the tanned man.

"God Jongin! I could kiss you right now! But I won’t" Chanyeol chuckled placing the man down. Jonging chuckled dizzily before falling face first on the couch to catch his breath.

"Great, you broke him Yeol" Chen said, crossing his arms looking at the fallen man on the couch. Chanyeol chuckled scratching the back of his head, looking at Kyungsoo when the wide eyed man called for everyone’s attention.

"Jongin just bought us some time, we should use it, either help Baekhyun get back here or get completely away" Kyungsoo said crossing his arms. Everyone nodded in agreement, everyone getting into planning mode. Suho took his phone and called Baekhyun's number, the call going instantly to the voicemail.

"He's not picking up" Junmyeon announced with a huff. Chanyeol rubbed his chin before perking up.

"Baekhyun left me a note with the name of the hotel he would be at and the room number" Chanyeol said looking around.

"Then what are we waiting for? We only have so much time until the manager figures out we tricked him! Let's go!" Kyungsoo ushered, walking out of the dorm already. One by one the guys moved on, taking their wallets and keys on their way out.

"Wait! I think I found out something you guys should know!!" Junmyeon shouted over, running back to retrieve his things before running off to catch up. They took their spare car and drove off, everyone ignoring Suho's whines and focusing on Chanyeol who knew the hotel and room and Kai who knew the streets better.