Holy ..., is all Jiho can think as he makes his first attempt to peel himself off his bed. He brings a hand to his head, applying slight pressure to try and ease the throbbing against his temples. There’s a tap on his shoulder and he turns to see Taeil, father figure that he his, holding two ibuprofen in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Jiho manages a whispered “thank you” -too afraid that his own voice will cause him more discomfort if he speaks too loudly-, pops the pills into his mouth and chugs the water down, wiping away the small stream that misses his mouth with the back of his hand.

They spend a couple of minutes sitting in silence as Jiho breathes deeply in an effort to ease the tension in his head. Finally, Taeil asks,“So...how’d it go?”

Jiho takes a moment to reflect and realizes that he owes Kyung a good verbal lashing for getting in the way last night; so before he goes on to explain the night’s events to Taeil, he makes his way onto Kyung’s bed and shakes him awake.

“Dude, what the ?” Kyung grumbles as he flails his arms at Jiho, feebly.

“You ing ed me last night, !” Jiho says in a tone that’s somewhere between speaking loudly and yelling.

“Oh my god, if I hadn’t made you leave she would’ve found you!” Kyung responds in the same tone as he sits up in his bed.

“Who?”

“SHE was there last night! She musta recognized me ‘cuz she asked who I came with.”

Jiho’s eyes widen in horror. “What the ...what did you tell her?”

“I didn’t answer her, I just acted like I couldn’t hear her and then told her I had to take a piss...that’s when I came to find you so we could get the outta there before she saw that you were with some chick!”

Taeil speaks up for the first time since Kyung was woken up by Jiho, “Wait, what chick?”

“Hyu-” Kyung starts to say but Taeil interrupts him.

“No, not her,” Taeil says to Kyung with a tone that reeks of ‘everyone in this building knows about Jiho’s ty relationship with her, ’, but in a subtle way that only Taeil is capable of. “I mean the girl Jiho was with, who was she?”

“Oh that was-” Jiho begins before realizing that he doesn’t remember ever getting her name. “... I didn’t catch her name...”

“...REALLY, JIHO? A fine- chick like that and you didn’t get her name? Did you even get her number??” Kyung says, sounding almost offended.

It takes a second but Jiho’s fogged up memory clears enough for him to remember that he did indeed exchange numbers with the mystery girl from last night. He shifts his bedsheets over to reveal the jeans that he wore to the club (he’d shimmied out of them when he noticed how uncomfortable it was trying to sleep in them). When he pulls out the phone he comes to a shocking conclusion... It’s not his.

The is this ...., he thinks to himself.

The other two males in the room know something is up; there’s no way Jiho snuck away sometime yesterday and got a pink phone case and a Rilakkuma phone charm to hang off of it...

The bandmates all look at each other, still not entirely sure what’s going on right now, but they’re blindingly aware that someone, somewhere has their friend’s phone.

Jiho’s heart is pounding erratically in his chest and he’s doing his best not to freak the out, but to no avail.

A second later, the phone vibrates in Jiho’s hand to the tune of Nicki Minaj’s “Did It On ‘Em” and Jiho nearly has a heart attack.

“, , , , ,” is all that comes out of his mouth as he stares at the phone in fear.

“, who is it?” Kyung’s voice cracks a bit as he asks.

Jiho snaps out of his stupor long enough to focus on the name that’s currently popping up on the screen: Ji-Kitty. Jiho continues his stare down with the phone until the ringtone comes to a halt within the next few seconds. It restarts as another call is received by the same contact. This time Jiho takes a good look at the actual number and comes to a surprising realization.

It's HIS phone that's calling.

"Holy , that's my phone number you guys!"

Taeil rolls his eyes and shakes his head at the younger member, "then ANSWER it Jiho!"

Taeil's words work as a quick slap to Jiho's head, bringing him back to reality quickly enough for him to answer before the ringing stops again.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I need my phone back, and I'm sure you do too," says the female voice on the other side, "meet me behind the club at 3PM so we can swap."

"3PM?"

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No there-" Jiho starts, but Kyung hits his side with the back of his hand and mouths 'INKIGAYO'. Jiho mouths back 'oh ' before responding on the phone with, "er- yeah, there is actually a problem. I've got plans at 3."

"Well, that's all the free time I have today so I guess you'll just have to live without your phone until tomorrow at 3PM, instead," the girl's voice says firmly.

Are you ting me right now? Jiho thinks to himself, How the are you dictating when I can get MY phone back?

"Fine," Jiho sighs, "tomorrow at 3, then."

"Good. Make sure you come alone."

The call ends before Jiho even has a chance to question why she mentioned coming alone.

"So?" Taeil asks, "what's the verdict?"

Jiho lets out a heavy sigh as he flops back onto his bed, phone sliding out of his hand next to him. "We're meeting up tomorrow behind the club at 3PM."

", so you have to go a full day without your phone? That's rough, man..." Kyung says empathetically.

"Well, if that doesn't teach you to pay attention to where your phone is when you're drunk, I don't know what will," Taeil says in his patriarchal 'i-told-you-so' voice, clearly referencing all the other times Jiho's misplaced or forgotten his phone in just about every place you could think of -most of them while he was actually sober.

Taeil starts heading out of the room to continue on with his day until Jiho calls over to him.

"Wait! If I have to sneak out tomorrow during practice you'll cover me right?" Taeil smirks, obviously able to read the worry on Jiho’s face.

"Is the sky blue?" He asks rhetorically. "Of course I'll cover for you. Just do me a favor and be more careful next time, alright?"

"Thanks, man," Jiho replies, relieved. "I appreciate it."

"I know you do," Taeil says, "enough to pay for a new tropical fish for my tank back home!" He slips out of the room before Jiho even has time to process that Taeil, the father-figure, has just blackmailed him.