Sehun burst inside one of M-LX's hospital rooms, eyes glistening with tears.

"Hyung!" he screamed, running towards Kai's hospital bed. "Oh my god, are you okay!?"

Kai raised a brow at the boy, watching him cling to his arm for dear life. "Sehun, I'm fi-"

"Jesus, I thought you were going to die!" he exclaimed. "I thought you weren't going to make it!"

"Someone please get him off me," Kai pleaded, turning to his friends that were filing inside the room.

"Let go of him, buddy," Chanyeol said, pulling him away from the teleporter. Sehun's lower lip jutted out as he sulkily went back to the end of the room with Chanyeol.

"You guys are all here," Kai chuckled, still lying on the bed in his hospital gown with a blanket over him. "This is quite touching."

"Except for Xiumin," Lay said. "I think he's running some errands."

Suho went to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Never been better," he assured. "Since Lay healed me pretty quickly, they didn't need to do much work on me, so I'm fine." He grinned, while Suho ruffled the top of his head. He turned to look at the others, but then his eyes found Hyerin's and his smile faltered.

The girl's face fell as she noticed the obvious change in the boy's expression. She slowly walked towards his bed and watched as his head lowered.

"Is something the matter?" she asked worriedly.

"I-" he stuttered. "I'm just happy you're okay."

"Well it sure doesn't look like it!" she scoffed, lightly pushing the boy. "Seriously, Kai. What's going on?"

"No. It's nothing," he mumbled, looking up at them once again. "It's just that Lucy told me something."

"Well," Baekhyun shrugged, "what is it?"

"She told us to watch out," he said quietly, watching their faces harden. "She said that there's something coming up. She even told me to just quit M-LX because people we would much rather leave unharmed will end up getting involved in this mess."

He sighed, running a hand through his dark locks. "She knows about M-LX," he said lastly.

Everyone quieted down with sullen expressions.

"We were too careless," Kris muttered, breaking the silence. "We never knew if we killed every one of our enemies. For all we know some of them must have survived and told whoever's behind this that there are people like us trying to prevent them from doing what they do."

"That, or someone's spying on us," Suho added. "It's true that we clean up our mess afterwards to leave no traces of our existence whatsoever but is that the enough?"

"Hey, remember that big guy with Lucy in that warehouse?" Chanyeol asked, folding his arms and tilting his head in wonder. "Maybe he has something to do with this."

"Obviously he does," Tao replied. "But is he simply just Lucy's sidekick?"

"No. No he's not," Chen spoke up, eyes concentrated down on the ground as he recalled the events of their mission.

He snapped his fingers, finally figuring it out. "The nightcrawlers. The nightcrawlers were with him inside that room. He must be the one behind that robbery a while back during our first mission."
"It seems like it." Lay nodded, placing an index finger on his lower lip. "They must be planning something together, although I have no clue what that could be."

"Well, whatever it is, it's not going to be pretty," Kris sighed, massaging his temples. "We need more information than this."

"Don't worry, I'll work on it later tonight," Chen said.

Tao raised a brow. "But tonight's the dance, isn't it?" 

Chen's eyes widened. "Oh , I forgot!"

"Speaking of the dance, what time is it right now?" Sehun asked.

Suho looked down on his watch. "It's 2:30 in the afternoon."

"Damn, we haven't gotten lunch yet!" Chanyeol stomped his feet. "I'm so hungry!"

"Then we better go get something to eat so we can prepare early for the dance," Suho said, standing up from the teleporter's bed. "We'll get going now, Jongin. You'll be able to go to the ball, right?"

"Hell yeah. Just one more examination today and I'm good to go."

"Alright. Hyerin, let's go."

"I'm staying," Hyerin said, earning a surprised look from Kai.

Suho was a little wary at first, but decided to let it go. "Alright then. Don't take too long. I'll see the both of you later," he said, following the others out of the room.

Once the door shut closed, Kai turned to Hyerin, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Afraid you'll miss me already?"

"Kim Jongin, you are lying to me." She pulled a stool beside the bed and sat on it. "What was that look on your face earlier? I know something's wrong so just spill it."

Kai stared back at her eyes that were struggling to look unfazed. It unsettled him how she was the one worrying about him when it was supposed to be the other way around.

Ever since the day he came face to face with Lucy, he couldn't get her words out of his head, especially about Hyerin dying. He didn't want to believe it, and it just may be a stunt to make him distracted, but something in the way that witch said it made him scared; scared for himself, scared for them as a whole, and scared for her.

He could tell she was getting uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. Sighing, he placed his hand behind her neck, and pulled her closer to him.

He leveled his gaze on hers. "Promise me that from now on, you're going to be extra careful. No matter what you're doing, no matter you go," he whispered, trying to hide the panic in his voice. "We can't take anymore risks, Hyerin, and of all people, you should know that."

He watched her face contort into concern, and Jongin wondered when he started to care so much. It wasn't like they've known each other for years. They were simply close friends who teased each other a lot. So what was it? What was so special about this girl to make him worry so much like this?

"Kai, if something's the matter you can tell me, really," she said, placing a hand on his arm. "What brought this all on?"

He gave her a weak smile before pulling her into a hug. He closed his eyes before whispering, "Nothing. I just realized how important you're becoming to me."

---

Hyerin closed the door behind her, surprised to be met by the others waiting outside.

"Hi, Hyerin!" Sehun greeted, waving his hands cheerfully.

"What are you guys still doing here?" she asked. "I thought you were going out for lunch? It's already three in the afternoon." She glanced down at her watch briefly. "Aren't you still going to fix up for the ball tonight?"

"We are." Baekhyun nodded. "But we decided to just wait for you."

Hyerin looked at them weirdly. "Why?"

"Because we don't want to leave you behind, silly!" Sehun chuckled. "Wherever you are, that's where we are," he said winking at her.

"Ooh, that reminds me of what D.O. said to Hyerin!" Xiumin said, placing a hand around the girl.

Kyungsoo raised a brow. "What who said to who?"

"Woah!" Hyerin exclaimed, shoving Xiumin away. "Where the hell did you come from!?"

"He said, 'I'm not going anywhere you're not going'," Xiumin teased, putting up a love-struck face as he copied Kyungsoo. "That was so cheesy!"

"I said that!?" Kyungsoo demanded, blushing furiously despite himself. "What the ?"

"Seriously, man. You've done a lot of things you're not going to be proud of," Tao chuckled, giving the boy a sympathetic squeeze.
 

"Hyerin!"

Hyerin turned around to the sound of her name and was surprised to see Chanyeol running with two little boys in each of his hands. "Hyerin!" he yelled again, looking childish and simply adorable with the two children.

She stared, mortified. "Are these your kids, Yeol?"

"No, stupid! The only kids I'd be willing to have is if I had them with you." Chanyeol winked. She rolled her eyes. "These are Xiumin's little brothers."

"Xiumin's little broth-" She turned wide-eyed at Xiumin. "These are your brothers!?"

"Yup!" Xiumin skipped happily towards the two mini-versions of him and pulled them towards the girl. "Alright, so this is Minhyuk," he put a hand on top of the head of the boy with sharp eyebrows and short hair, "and this one is Minhyun." He pointed down at the one with softer features and slightly longer hair. "Kids, this is Hyerin noona. Say hi!"

The one on the right with the soft features bowed. "Hello, Hyerin noona. I'm Minhyun. It's nice to meet you."

"You're ugly," the one on the left, Minhyuk, spat bluntly.

Hyerin raised a brow at Minhyuk. She pointed a finger at him while turning to Xiumin. "This one takes after you, Xiu."

"Yah!" Xiumin gave the bratty little boy a scolding look. "You stop being a disrespectful little and greet her properly!"

"It's fine," Hyerin waved it off, lowering herself to Minhyuk's level. "You're going to need all that spunk in the future, buddy. Keep it up," she whispered, giving the boy a playful wink and ruffling both their heads.

"Well, I better go now." She stood up from kneeling. "I have stuff to do at home."

"So you're really not going to go to the winter formal, Hyerin?" Suho asked, a little disappointment seeping through his voice. He did work hard on the event, and he wanted everyone important to him to be there.

"Sorry, but no." She gave him an apologetic smile. "You guys have fun, though. I'm sure there'll be lots of pretty girls out there!" she laughed. The others gave her an are-you-serious look.

She shrugged. "What?"

"You're actually serious about not going?" Baekhyun asked, adjusting his glasses. He figured he would want some company at the ball while the others were off dancing.

"Yeah and besides, I don't have anything to wear anyway so...yup." She was itching to go home after a long day. It's been a while since she stayed home doing nothing.

"You are such a bummer sometimes," Sehun complained, glaring at the girl.

"Well, I kind of have a lot to do at home so," Lies. "Sorry about that. I'll make it up to you guys next time, though. Bye!" she said quickly before running to the nearest exit and disappearing.

"Psh," Kyungsoo scoffed. "Who needs her, anyway? Just leave her be."

"Oh, no we aren't!" Chanyeol exclaimed.

Tao smirked. "Did you think we would let her off easy?" .

Kyungsoo raised a brow. "Uh...yes?" 

"Guys, I still think this isn't a good idea," Suho uncertainly said.

Kris shook his head. "Just let them do what they want, they're going to get their asses kicked anyway."

"Team, let us huddle!" Chanyeol ordered. With that, the others compressed and placed their hands in the center. Suho, Kris, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun unwillingly joined in.

"Okay, gang," Chanyeol put on his game face, "It's time for Operation '-It-Let's-Get-Hyerin-To-Attend-The-Dance-Whether-She-Likes-It-Or-Not-Because-YOLO' begin!"

---

It was around five in the afternoon already and students from Yeongnam were fixing up for the formal dance. It had been a popular topic for the past week since the president himself was the one who organized it, and now that the day finally came, they were all hyped up about the event.

Hyerin was sprawled on her bed in her home clothes, hair in a very messy ponytail. Her laptop was laid on her lap as she watched a recently aired psychological drama she thought was interesting. Her left hand was inside the bucket of popcorn, while the right held a spoon of Nutella.

She would rather do this the whole day than stay up all night for some unimportant dance. It wasn't because she hated formal gatherings; in fact, she quite liked dressing up nicely and also seeing other people dress nicely. But today was just one of those days where she would choose to do nothing over caking her face with make-up.

" the ball," she mumbled with a full mouth as she opened a box of Whoppers, "too much hassle."

Hyerin almost choked when she heard a loud thump from outside her room. She straightened up, and with wide eyes, took her headphones off to listen to the noise.

Another thump was heard, and then furious whispering after. Although she was wary of whether it was just her dad or an intruder, she chose the latter because Myungjae would not make that much noise.

With eyes not leaving her door, she tucked her hand under her pillow and retrieved a Swiss knife.

After what seemed to be forever, her bedroom door opened with a bang and she flung her knife in the air. It flew across to the other side of the room where the door was, and she was instantly horrified to see that it was Kai standing there, not a kidnapper, not a burglar.

Her breath hitched, as it was merely a few meters away from the boy. Fortunately, he managed to teleport away in time. Now it was about to hit Luhan, but with fast reflexes, he stopped the Swiss knife from stabbing him in the face with his telekinesis.

Luhan raised a brow at the girl. "Really, Hyerin? First time stepping into your house and you greet us with knives to our faces?" With the knife gravitating in the air, it carefully flew to where the girl sat. She caught it effortlessly with one hand, still dumbstruck.

All at once, twelve boys came flocking inside her bedroom.

Chanyeol and Xiumin were already tinkering with random things on her shelves. "Wah! So this is Hyerin's room!" 

"Wow, your bed's so comfy!" Tao laid down beside her while Kyungsoo followed him to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

Chen put a hand to his forehead. "Ugh, this is such a bad idea." Kris and Suho nodded in agreement.

"You still keep these ugly bracelets?" Lay snorted. "These were way back in 5th grade."

"Oh my gosh, we're actually in a girl's room!" Sehun snickered childishly.

"Wow, it's surprisingly neat," Baekhyun remarked.

"What are you watching?" Tao asked, taking the laptop from her lap and facing it towards him.

"A jar of Nutella? Chocolate? Popcorn?" Kyungsoo scoffed, giving the girl a judging look. "No wonder you're so slow during training these days. You eat like a ing pig."

Kris raised a brow in amusement. "So you watch her during training?"

"That's not what I meant!" Kyungsoo exclaimed in defense.

"Oh, what's this?" Kai asked, picking up the only stuffed toy in her room from her shelf. "Hey, isn't this Keroro?" he asked, looking at her in amusement. "You like Keroro?"

Now that he mentioned it, her room was actually filled with a lot of Keroro – Keroro plushie, Keroro bed sheet, Keroro lamp, Keroro pencil case, Keroro erasers, Keroro stationary, Keroro towel, her old Keroro school ba–

"Don't you ing touch that!" Hyerin screamed, taking a handful of popcorn and throwing it at Kai. The boy immediately teleported out of the way.

"What are you all doing here!?" she demanded, finally recovering from the shock they gave her earlier. "Why are you invading my room!? Is there an emergency or something!?"

"We'll tell you if you tell us about your little Keroro addiction," Tao teased, earning a few laughs from the others. She shoved a chocolate bar in his mouth before standing up from the bed and getting her robe. She was wearing her Keroro pajamas, too.

Her face turned an impossible shade of red as she continued to scream her head off. "Whatever, I don't care! Just get the out of my room! No, get out of my house! I said I'm busy!"

"Yeah, busy watching dramas from her laptop," Kyungsoo deadpanned.

"GET OUT!"

"Nope, not until you promise us you're going to the dance tonight!" Sehun said, crossing his arms.

"I already told you, I'm not going!"

"Well too bad, because you are." Kai stuck his tongue out. "We already told your dad about the dance and he said you're going."

"Yup, he even got you your outfit already!" Xiumin said cheerily as he brought in a big black box. He dropped it on the girl's lap.

She looked at them helplessly. "Why are you doing this to me?" she groaned in defeat.

"Because we love you and we don't want you to be a loser," Xiumin explained.

"But-"

"Nope. No buts."

She glared at them one last time before opening the box. Chanyeol stopped her from doing so. "Ah, ah, ah! I don't want to see it! I don't want to see it! I want it to be a surprise so I can fall even more in love with you when I see how pretty you are tonight!"

Hyerin gave him a deathly glare.

"What? I hear a lot of guys say that in romance dramas."

"Can you all just please leave my room? Please?" she asked, collapsing down on the bed with the popcorn beside her spilling all over the comforter.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Be ready, okay? One of us will pick you up at seven!" Xiumin reminded. "If you're not fixed up by then you will face the consequences." He pointed at her warningly before shutting the door behind them.

Hyerin couldn't believe it. The one thing she asked was to have the day to herself and they just had to ruin it.

She picked up the Swiss knife from the floor and flung it at the door, hoping it would get past the thick wood and hit one of them in the head.

"ing asswipes!"

A/N: There wasn't much going on in this update, and I admit it's kind of a filler chapter. What I'm trying to do with this is to show you how they are still quite young, and although they're pretty badass now, they're really just a bunch of kids who still fool around, take care of their little brothers, invade each others personal space and have favorite anime characters no matter how kick- they are. Sometimes, I also forget that they're teenagers, and I guess this is also a reminder to myself that they're still pretty young and cannot handle everything the world throws at them. (or what i throw at them)