It really, really wasn’t that he was angry at them for kissing.  Kris had heard the same directive, and passed it on to the rest of his team as well.  And they’d all spent five torturous minutes in as many different combinations as possible – a full half hour when they were all done – getting comfortable with kissing and touching.  It was no big deal; he’d really hated it with everyone except Lay, who was an exceptional kisser, and Tao, who set his heart fluttering.  In fact, he was pretty sure that it was his suggestion that lead Suho to seek out the members of Exo-K and – well, basically proposition them.  But instead of doing it as a group, as Exo-M had done, Suho – embarrassed beyond rational thought by the idea – had approached them singularly.

 

 

And Baekhyun – who everyone knew was head-over-heels in love with Chanyeol – hadn’t understood, and walked in on them. 

 

 

The implications were making Kris’ head hurt. 

 

 

Now Chanyeol was glaring at him.  “What do you mean, Baekhyun’s missing?”

 

 

“Has the point of this entire fiasco passed you by entirely?” Luhan snapped, restrained only by Sehun’s grip on his shoulder. 

 

 

“He saw us,” Chanyeol said, defensively.  Kris’ temples throbbed.  “I still don’t…”  He paled, and glanced at Suho.  “He’s jealous?”

 

 

“Hurt,” Kris said tersely. 

 

 

Chanyeol’s face turned white.  “He likes Suho,” he said, with such conviction that Kris almost agreed.  Luhan let out an unintelligible snarl, and then several things happened at once. 

 

 

Suho also went pale, and glanced over at the door, his mouth hanging open. “What?”

 

 

Luhan lunged for Chanyeol and was subsequently tackled to the floor by Sehun and Xiumin, who were obviously intent on preventing bloodshed.  Tao’s voice rose above the sudden chaos.

 

 

“Baekhyun!  Where are you!?” 

 

 

“Everyone shut up!” Kris bellowed, and into the sudden silence, Luhan’s heavy breathing was the only thing audible. 

 

 

“What do you mean, you don’t know?  We’re worried about you.” 

 

 

Kris held out his hand for the phone, and felt his eye twitch when Tao waved him off. 

 

 

“All of us.  Luhan’s ready to kill Chanyeol for you, if that’d make you happy,” Tao said. 

 

 

“Tao, give me the phone!” Kris whispered.  Tao shook his head. 

 

 

“Okay.  You need to at least tell me where you are,” he said into the phone. 

 

 

“Kill me?” Chanyeol whispered.  Suho, who was quicker on his feet than Chanyeol at that moment, put it together faster. 

 

 

“Chan, he likes you.”

 

 

“Yeah,” Luhan growled breathlessly from the floor.  Sehun was practically sitting on him, his knees straddling Luhan’s ribs, and pinning his arms over his head.  Xiumin had ahold of his legs.  “At least he used to, before you thoughtlessly broke his heart.  You’re such a jerk, Chanyeol,” he added in Chinese. 

 

 

Behind them, Tao was continuing.  “Find a road.  An intersection.  We’ll come get you.  Baekhyun.  Hey, no, listen.  You really don’t understand, and you have to come – Baek – Baekhyun!  Baekhyun!”

 

 

Kris grabbed Tao by the shoulders and shook him.  “What happened! Where is he?”

 

 

“He said, ‘river.’  He doesn’t know which way he went, but then he yelled and the phone cut off.  I don’t know where he is.”  Tao slumped in Kris’ hold, and dropped the phone limply.  Chanyeol came around Kris and pushed him.

 

 

“What do you mean the phone cut off?  Where is he?  Someone explain this to me!”

 

 

Lay jumped on Chanyeol before Kris could properly get to him, which, with the way Kris was feeling, might have saved lives.  Suho remained in the corner, silent.  While Lay whispered urgently in Chanyeol’s ear, Kris was thinking.  Tao looked like someone had just told him his dog died; dejected and pathetic.

 

 

“Tao,” Kris said.  “You’re coming with me. We’re going to go look for him.”

 

 

“We’re coming with you!”

 

 

For a moment, Kris thought something was wrong with his hearing, but as Luhan and Sehun crowded in, he realised that they’d simply spoken in tandem, their argument over.  “Fine.  You guys go right, we’ll go left.  Lay, Suho, you go straight.  Keep in contact by phone.  Kai, Kyungsoo.  Can you two man the doors and wait in case he comes back?”

 

 

They nodded. 

 

 

“Xiumin and I will go call the managers.  Maybe the police, too?”

 

 

“Keep the police out of it until we know more,” Kris commanded.  He felt like a general for a moment, and was divided over the sensation.  Part of him enjoyed being in charge, delegating tasks and ordering the others around.  The other half of him was struggling with an oncoming migraine because of the hassle.  He was also considering the long talk he was going to have with Suho about his leadership skills.  And doubling the magnitude of his headache, he realised suddenly that the issue that started everything – the demand for fanservice – was still something that needed to be addressed by all of them as a group.  At Kris’ suggestions, Exo-M kept an eye on the internet, and he was fully aware of the fangirls ideas and terms – things like ‘bromance’ and ‘skinship’ that were baffling at first, but when a deeper look was had made striking sense – that the whole group was going to have to get used to. 

 

 

But first, the search for Baekhyun was on.