Baekhyun was distracted, that much Chanyeol could tell. He had been since Chanyeol arrived here all bloody and hurt. Baekhyun wasn’t really one to talk about his feelings with the younger and Chanyeol never was one to push unless he needed to. Baekhyun was still smiling as he stitched up the second wound Chanyeol hadn't really even realized was there. He was far from okay however. Just because Chanyeol and Baekhyun didn’t share their feelings with each other did not mean that they didn’t understand each other. It wouldn’t be far off to say that no one knew them better than how they knew one another. It was this that makes Chanyeol pull himself up into a sitting position as Baekhyun’s shaky hands drop the needle into the already bloody pan. 

“Hey Baek,” Chanyeol begins, “how are you dealing with all this?” 

Baekhyun lets out a deep and unrelieved sigh. The sound itself is heavy and he clearly didn’t bother trying to hide the shakiness of his voice. “Better than I thought I’d be. Better than Tae is.” 

Chanyeol gives a crooked, half attempt at a smile as he carefully studies Baekhyun’s movements. The latter is unsteady and Chanyeol can tell he’s moments away from breaking down if he doesn’t let go of all he’s holding in soon. “Tell me about it.” Chanyeol says, his voice low and soft. 

Baekhyun shakes his head, but begins speaking anyway, his voice utterly exhausted. “I could have lost him. I thought I did.” 

Chanyeol hums, urging the other to continue. “I shouldn’t have left him alone.” 

“You couldn’t have kept all this hidden forever. Taehyung would’ve eventually gotten caught in something dangerous.” 

“That’s my point, Yeol. This should never have happened. Everything I do, everything I’ve built and destroyed, has all been for Taehyung. To keep him safe and happy. All I’ve ever wanted is to give him something good.” 

“Well he’s got you Baek.” 

Baekhyun scoffs. “I’m not enough. I’m barely a step up from the was in before me.” 

Chanyeol growls, the movement he makes too quick for his body’s liking. “You’re a hundred thousand times better than that son of a Baek. Taehyung knows it too and he’d be perfectly happy if you weren’t a millionaire who gave him everything his heart desired as long as you did what you do; care about him.” 

Baekhyun sighs again and looks down, afraid to speak. He shakes his head, but says nothing as he lets himself back on his bed. Chanyeol’s lips twitch as thinks of something else to say, but comes up short and decides to just stay quiet in favor of letting Baekhyun properly soak in his words. 

It took only a couple minutes for Baekhyun to quickly stand up, his whole body suddenly rushing and far less shaky than it was. “I have someone I need to call. Get some rest, I’ll take care of this.” 

Without another breath wasted Baekhyun had darted out and left Chanyeol alone on his bed. 

***

They return to Jisoo’s apartment soon after they left Baekhyun’s place (once again thanks to Rosé’s driving), Chanyeol in tow behind them. It was pretty much immediately that Jisoo made it to her mess of computers to begin analyzing the fingerprint found on the paper. “This,” she says, “is an algorithm I made a couple years ago. It takes every possible organization of known words possible in over fifteen languages and based on a couple of inputs or keywords I put in, it deciphers coded messages.” 

“So it’s a digital cypher.” Rosé confirms. 

Jisoo nods and shrugs. “Why didn’t you just lead with that?” Lisa questions, tossing herself down on the couch and pulling a laptop into her lap. 

Jisoo mimics the words under her breath as she turns back to her computer, typing some more into it. “And this,” Jisoo takes the small paper from Rosé and puts through a small scanner of some sort, almost immediately the paper showing up on the TV screen. “Will take the fingerprint and run it through any and every system from here to Canada.” 

Rosé steps nods, gives Jisoo a small bit of praise and makes her way past Chanyeol to Lisa. The two youngest both look at the laptop screen, searching for something that Jennie can’t quite see. Chanyeol is suddenly all caught up in talking with Jisoo about her computers and how they work, Jennie can hear the other two whispering indistinctly over whatever is on the computer, all the while Jennie is standing alone in the back of the apartment with nothing to do. 

The thought hits her suddenly, the way a freight train would smash into a tumbleweed, but she can’t help but think that maybe Rosé was right about her earlier. Sure, the latter was a con artist, Lisa was an ex-assassin, Jisoo was a hacker and only God and Baekhyun knew what Chanyeol did, but Jennie was a murder. Cold-blooded and violent. There was nothing to be gained from her kills, but her satisfaction. She couldn’t use the excuse of she was shaped by gang members who raised her because she shaped herself to be like this. 

It’s the far too common feeling of emptiness that begins creeping inside Jennie’s bones that makes her consider leaving. She could find Daesung on her own, she was close before and it wouldn’t be that hard to go back to being truly alone. She had growled and turned, her hand on the doorknob when Chanyeol had made his way int