Jongin’s stomach drops for a moment, the panic from Baek’s text messages shaking him wide awake. He takes a small gulp before carefully rolling to check the other side of the bed.

A mess of dark hair pokes out from the top edge of the comforter. During sleep, Kyungsoo had ended up pulling the blankets and sheets up and over most of his face. Jongin smiles to himself as he observes him cocooned into a blankety bundle, only a hint of dark brows visible. There’s a strong urge to through his messy bed head, but Jongin keeps his hands to himself: Kyungsoo deserves to rest.

He slides off the bed slowly, careful not to disturb Kyungsoo’s slumber. He bends over to grab the dirty clothes on the floor and winces a little. Okay, Kyungsoo’s prediction from last night was correct: He is a bit… tender. It’s not painful, but there’s some soreness, like the kind from a moderate workout. No morning jog for him today, that’s for sure. After putting the dirty items on the floor into the laundry basket, he quietly grabs fresh casual clothes from his closet and uses the bathroom.

As he washes his hands, he looks in the bathroom mirror and sees his (now very obvious to him) flesh-colored in the shower behind him. His cheeks heat up again, realizing this is probably how Kyungsoo discovered it yesterday, truly without having to snoop. Should he bother to hide it now?

“Do you know how hot that is, to see evidence of how you get off? Don’t be shy.” Kyungsoo’s words from this morning come back to him, and they’re so powerful that Jongin has to grip the sink to keep his balance as his face flushes crimson. Oh wow. Wow wow wow, he really had . with Dy- with Kyungsoo. And it was, well, about a billion times better than he could’ve ever imagined? Everything still feels surreal, but in the best way possible.

He smiles to himself while he gets dressed, noting just one small hickey near his collarbones where Kyungsoo had lavished extra special attention while driving him wild with murmured . Damn, he had trouble shuttering away naughty thoughts to avoid constantly touching himself to Dyo’s voice before, but now it’s gonna be completely impossible. How’s he supposed to behave at wor--

Work. He should give Baekhyun a call and see if everything’s okay.

He carefully exits the bathroom and tiptoes out of his bedroom, closing the door softly behind him. While rummaging in his fridge for items to make a decent breakfast for once, since he has a very important guest to cook for, after all, he texts back to the unknown number:

I’m awake now. Gimme a call.

Jongin sets his phone down on the counter to fiddle with some of the leftover containers in the fridge from his dinner with his parents a few days back, but the phone is buzzing the moment it hits the countertop. He blows out a big gust of air in amusement before reaching over and picking it back up.

“Hi, Baekhyun. Or should I call you by whatever your real name is, since we’re evidently talking on cell phones outside of the office now,” he deadpans, barely suppressing an eye roll and a smile. Rules, what rules, apparently.

“Nevermind that.” It’s curt. Very unlike Baek to wave off small talk.

Jongin feels a spike of concern. “What’s wrong - is it the team that’s out of town? Are they in danger?”

“What? Nah, I took care of that last night. Actually, Chendy were already unraveling it when I got ahold of them.”

“Chendy.” He snorts at the couple name. Okay, maybe it’s actually really cute. What kind of couple name would he have with...

Baekhyun’s continuation drowns out his thoughts. “They both sensed a trap while navving and-- But that’s not the point right now. They’re fine, the team’s safe: those details can wait.”

Jongin breathes a sigh of relief and returns to his quest to figure out breakfast. “Okay, good. I’m planning on taking the day off today, by the way. ‘Sick day’ and all.”

“Where are you right now?” Baek demands, more intense than usual.

“At home, like usual at this time.” Jongin holds the phone between his ear and shoulder as he tries again to multitask, pulling out the leftover containers.

“Oh good,” he sounds relieved. “And where is Dyo?”

Jongin stares at his bedroom door for a long second. “Why.”

“Holy ing , please don’t tell me he’s there, too.”

It rubs Jongin all the wrong ways. He has to restrain himself from slamming his fridge door closed as he straightens up, bristling from the judgment and shock in Baek’s voice.

“It’s not really any of your business.”

“, Jongin, this is bad. I can’t believe--”

“Excuse you, Mr. Double-Standard. You are in no position to lecture me here. You just told me last night you’ve had an affair going on with our boss for ages. And you seem to have no problem with ‘Chendy’ and their newfound relationship, so just lay off the--”

“It’s not like that!” Baekhyun’s outburst is sufficient to make him stop and listen. “Look, after everything you told me last night, about how personal you two were getting, the fancy coffee machine, imported chocolates for God’s sake… I realized how out of the loop I was. So I did some digging.”

“You’re an .” Typical of Baek to be a nosy little .

“Shut up and listen to me! We don’t have much on this guy. His name is Do Kyungsoo, mother is Do Sunmi. She’s been missing since 2007. There’s no father on record.”

Jongin’s stomach churns. He doesn’t want to hear this. Not from Baekhyun, not like this. It’s not his place to learn Kyungsoo’s past without his explicit blessing, especially when Kyungsoo has already been vulnerable in telling him about his homelessness. The story leading up to that should be his and his alone to share. “Baekhyun, stop. Stop telling me and stop looking into him,” he says resolutely.

“I’m not here to gossip - I’m trying to look out for your naive .” He’s snippy, but the strain in his voice is sincere, not playful like