pandemonium

Name: Kang Haneul
Age: 18
Previous Profession: Radio Host

Today, the third official member of the up and coming boy group Pandemonium has been revealed! This time in the form of the popular radio host, Kang Haneul! Popular for his frank opinions and sweet, calming voice, high school girls all over the nation have long been swooning for the handsome young Haneul even without having seen his face before. Now that we've caught a glimpse of the attractive male, we can certainly understand the hype! We can't wait to see the last three members revealed!

"If you've fallen for Haneul's angelic sounding voice when he speaks, your heart will melt when you hear him sing."

One month later...

There are few things that Kang Haneul actually dreads, and visiting Thing One and Thing Two are certainly near the top of the list (after insects and selfish people, coughSangjeoncough). Of course, since he was recently having skin problems and was breaking out in small amounts in conspicuous places on his face, he was going to be visiting the horrifying twins more often than he would have liked - which would have been ideal to be never. Despite his status as the resident noona-killer (having easily charmed Boyoung and Yoonae with his cute personality the instant they met him), he just could not bring himself to feel any form of comfort around the two. Ever, even after three months already.

Perhaps it was the way they his face gently when they thought he wasn't paying attention, or perhaps it was the hungry way they watching with hungry eyes as he awkwardly removed his clothes in front of them on command, just praying for his life that this would go quickly. Whatever it was, he dreaded seeing them more than any of the others and that was saying a lot considering that Sangjeon would even usually have screaming nightmares about the Things underneath him. So as they trudged their way up to make-up and dress that morning after having already to endure Jangsuk's dance training session, Haneul's heart felt exceptionally heavy as if he might just want to curl up and disappear into a corner.

“... And then Pororo did the cutest- Hey Haneullie, are you even listening to me?” Kyugeum chirped unsurprisingly cheerfully as he poked Haneul's cheek, happily skipping along side the smaller boy. Unlike the apprehension that was practically radiating off of Haneul, the blonde male was not really afraid of going to see the Things despite his discomfort taking clothes off in public since ever since day one, the hyung-line had taken a protective stance with Kyugeum, often forming a protective barrier between the shy boy and the creepy twins so that he could change in peace.

But Haneul had no such protection, he just had that smart mouthed idiot Sangjeon who wouldn't help him even if they were the last two guys on the planet left with those crazed girls (heaven forbid that to ever happen), as those two were usually left by the hyung-line to change on the other side of the room. And as always, when the twins weren't able to get one group, they went for the other with even more intensity, which usually ended up being the poor maknaes, who squirmed under their intense stares. “No, I wasn't listening Kyugeum-hyung,” Haneul bluntly stated without a bat of the eye, and he didn't see the point in lying to Kyugeum about his bad listening habit.

Taken aback by such a straight-forward answer for a moment, Kyugeum blinked innocently but then smiled broadly as he took a deep breath and beamed brightly once more, “Oh, okay! I'll just start the story over again! So!" He was rarely affected by Haneul's over-honest nature and always simply took what the maknae said in stride because even as happy-go-lucky as he was, Kyugeum at least knew that Haneul really didn't mean any harm from what he said, prompting him to launch once more into his detailed recap of what happened in the latest episode of Pororo - which caused a few of the other members (Sangjeon and Jinsung) to groan in exasperation. It was enough for them to be constantly bombarded by the Pororo theme song being obnoxiously hummed by Kyugeum at home, they didn't need it here either.

As they ascended the last flight of stairs to reach the make-up studio of horrors, Haneul felt himself getting more and more antsy, silently wondering why they even had to be styled just to go about town in the first place. Like seriously, who was going to be staring at them that closely (besides the Things that was) when they weren't even technically idols yet? Dojung's explanation was hardly satisfying either when Haneul asked him earlier the week as he was the type of person that liked to keep secrets and see them suffer. All their enigmatic manager had said after giving a slight smirk was, “You're going to have to get used to it eventually, so why not start now?”

Haneul was well aware as anyone else in the group that the company had started releasing teasers for the group through the media, showing off one member per month to build up hype for their debut. So far, Jinsung and Sangjeon's pictorials had caused quite a stir as people began anticipating this “group of stars” that would supposedly take the music industry by storm with their innovative approach to being an idol. By innovative, Haneul guessed they really just meant insane. Seriously, was there ever a group that released sixteen songs for their debut album? Only Pandemonium apparently, and he was going to be caught in their cross fire.

This was either going to be a complete success or an utter failure, and Haneul wasn't really sure if he was ready to suffer the consequences - he didn't even realize that was happening until very recently (aka, yesterday). Already they spent almost unbearable amounts of time in vocal practice and working on composing the songs, and by all the expectations pouring in the door, it was just going to get so much more worse. He could only imagine how much more intense things would be once they started recording the actual songs in the coming months and started working through the choreography to actually debut in three months... All members that would have solos were expected to do almost all the work for the solo alone so that it really would be theirs. Now tell him if that wasn't insane.

Seeing as almost every single member had a solo or a duet, everyone had been spending grueling amounts of time working to themselves or with their partner on getting their songs put together and getting them approved by Ziapolean, the little newspaper wielding dictator who beat them senseless every time they made a mistake or their music wasn't up to par with his high expectations. And since he, Jinsung, and Sangjeon worked as composers, producers, and lyricists with Zian most often, they were often the most abused and hated on by the grumpy little fashionista who expected perfection from the amateurs; that was something Haneul just wished that he could fight against, but nope, anything that happened in the studio was in Zian's kingdom of power.

To say it was hard to meet his expectations would be an understatement. Haneul couldn't honestly understand why they all had to have such an active role in the creation of the album, but the CEO had specifically required that they all play an active role and, as he had said, put their money where their mouths were. Great, ing all this responsibility on themselves - surely the big companies hardly did that to their trainees, right? It was annoying, really, to have such high expectations sitting on his shoulders. Most trainees spent years training for debut while they were given a deadline of six months. And it wasn't something that they were just going to be given any more time for; if they weren't ready to debut in six months, the project would be dropped and they'd return to their old lives and their old professions. Just like nothing happened - but that was impossible because at least something happened to all of them.

Really, the CEO must be crazy to think they'd be ready to debut within the next three months. They had already been training these past three months spending almost every day from dawn until dusk working their butts off and they still didn't have everything ready . Six months, sixteen songs that they had to help compose and choreograph, and several MV's and pictorials - to Haneul, it seemed like an impossible accomplishment. If most veteran idols wouldn't even dare to think of something this scale, how could they say that they could do it?

How could the six of them pull off such a feat? The question continued to swirl through his head, invading his every thought to the point that it felt as if his head was buzzing with that question over and over. Haneul then sighed, unable to find an answer to that question and ran his hand through his hair abruptly, hating that this situation was turning him into such a negative person all of a sudden. He had always tried to be at least fairly positive all the time about everything, knowing that his life didn't have a huge impact on the rest of the world. His struggles, in the bigger picture of the world, weren't really that bad. In fact, there were probably thousands of young males out there that would die to be given the opportunity he was given - to have a shot at the big fame that they probably worked their entire lives off for while he just happened to be be in the perfect place at the perfect time.

But he could still dread seeing those twins, damn it.

“Oh! There you are, my jagiya's,” Jisun purred out as they reluctantly shuffled into the room, being her usual horrifying self and asserting without fear that they were hers, treating the mass of younger males as if they belonged to her. And instantly at the sound of her terrifying voice, Haneul made a face as he wiggled his fingers free from Kyugeum, his favorite skin-ship partner. The blonde male seemed to not particularly like the loss of affection, a pout forming with wide eyes turned towards Haneul, which after just a look over at the older boy, caused him to relent and grab Kyugeum's hand again despite knowing the twins hated it when they banded together.

Jisun's eyes narrowed at their joined hands, and it was almost as if they could start to see the steam shooting out of her ears at the display of affection, “Haneullie darling, I believe Jihyun wanted to see you first to work on cleaning your face!” She was trying to sound sweet and nonthreatening as much as possible, but there was no mistaking the fearsome agitation in her voice as she demanded they separate. Stunned to silence, Kyugeum could only squeeze Haneul's hand in to show the maknae his support as the younger male was separated from the pack by the glaring lioness. It was dangerous to face the twins alone, and here he was, having to swallow down some confidence and step forward to the noona who was even shorter than he was.

“Haeyeonnie, Taechullie, you guys are also supposed to go to makeup first,” she continued to snap out - Jisun was feigning innocence, but everyone knew she was trying to split the group up strategically so that she could finally catch a glimpse of poor Kyugeum's exposed flesh despite the males vehement protest. They hesitated for a moment, staring with wide eyes at each other first then at the devious coordinator who seemed to think she was being clever. “Move it,” she then growled between clenched teeth at the two of them, her jaw tight with anger and hidden threats of torture the moment she cornered one of them.

Taechul couldn't help but cast a concerned glance at Kyugeum, suddenly prompted by the silent plea of aid for the blonde boy in Haeyeon's widened eyes as he replied back with his usual suave slickness, “Well, Jihyun can't do our makeup all at once, so maybe I can help you pick out our outfits~” In an attempt to protect Kyugeum, he was sacrificing himself to the hungry beast, flirting openly with her with an inviting smile that got a glare from Jinsung in an attempt to turn her unwanted attention on himself. It was an admirable attempt, but Jisun wasn't falling for it - she could smell the bait and laughed softly, smiling wickedly at Taechul.

“Oh,” she said in her deceiving sweet voice, “You'll get your turn, you naughty boy you,” she said with a wink that sent chills of horror down the spines of the hapless onlookers and dragged the confident smile off of Taechul's face as it turned something alike to horror. Honestly at times like these, the boys couldn't help but sometimes felt like a bunch of sheep that were pushed into a den of hungry lionesses... And as bad as it was for those sheep, it wasn't at all a pleasant feeling at all for them either. So with one last regretful look at Kyugeum, Taechul reluctantly joined the group that would be getting skin treatments and their makeup done with the eerily quiet twin while a grinning Jisun whipped out her measuring tape that she often used to molest the young males under the guise of taking their measurements.

The three remaining instantly cowered together in a vain effort to do the whole "Strength in numbers" even as they couldn't help but share an uneasy look as the predator stalked closer to them, cornering them with an evil look in her eyes. Their experiences were always almost something like out of a horror movie... The helpless victims unable to do anything while the serial killer came closer and closer...

Meanwhile, Jiyun was quietly asking her three victims to take a seat as she prepared the various products she would be using on their skin and hair today, seemingly more benevolent than her vicious twin was. But that was hardly the case, as shown by the way the three seemed to look up in prayer before hesitantly ascending into the torture chairs (aka make-up chairs). What was even worse was that most of them had been breaking out due to stress recently and needed intensive treatments to keep their skin clear of blemishes and redness - which was where the more subtle yet even more freakier twin came in to "take care of their skin". Miserably huddling on his seat and trying to not catch Jiyun's attention since the one who always did got to get her "treatment" first, Haneul secretly tried to watch Jisun molesting Jinsung through the mirror as the grumpy older male had volunteered to go first to protect the cowering younger males... Hyung's duty, Haneul thought he could hear from here. But as he narrowed his eyes to focus on what was going on, his staring was suddenly cut short as Jiyun grabbed his chin gently and forced him to look at her. big brown eyes filling up his entire vision.

“Your skin... Is really soft,” she gasped out breathlessly, running a finger along his cheek gently with her face turning pink as she had another one of her weird and probably inappropriate fantasies involving the boys. They had come to the conclusion that when she blanked out (as she often did, Taechul even swore that she did that at least six times when she was doing his face), Jiyun was definitely having some creepy and probably explicit day dream about them, solely based on the way she would turn a blushing pink and sometimes mumble strange things like, “Oh my, you're so much bigger than I anticipated.” or even worse, "Mm, there... That's so tempting, you want that, hm~?" Nevertheless, they couldn't decide which twin scarred them more every time they left - Jisun, emotionally, or Jiyun, mentally.

“Yeah, you've said that before,” Haneul blandly answered back, doing nothing now but staring blankly at a point behind her head as he feared making direct eye contact - it was just as dangerous as provoking the Thing Two really. “Let's just get this over with,” he grumbled quietly, trying to see what was going on with Jisun as he swore he heard someone in that direction yelp, an almost shriek-like one, most likely... Could it be Kyugeum? Kyugem, their precious penguin, getting molested by the Thing Two- No, he had to know what was going on!

“Move, would you,” Haneul mumbled, suddenly craning his neck around unsuspecting Thing One's face to look at the mirror again, desperately just hoping that Kyugeum was alright... And as if his wishes had been answered, he couldn't help but sigh with relief when he found it to be Sangjeon instead trying to cover his half- body while simultaneously slapping Jisun's hands away as she tried to touch him. And even though there was an urge to shout out that it was karma getting him back, Haneul had to say that he was feeling quite a bit of pity for the nearly scrawny boy as he struggled to escape from the Thing's grasp.

And almost as quickly as she had lapsed into her thoughts, Jiyun was back as she then obscured his view of the group behind them and smeared some type of smelly ointment all over his face, taking her sweet time to cup his cheeks and massage his forehead. Now, all Haneul could hope was for her to hurry up... Which she certainly didn't considering that even when she moved onto Haeyeon and Taechul, he could swear that he could still feel her fingers on him. But even as an involuntary shiver crept its way down his spine, he cautiously opened his eyes to see her spreading the same weird stuff on their faces as she stared deep into his hyungs' eyes, touching their faces with the same creepy smile. Needless to say, they were too just trying to squeeze their eyes shuts in order to help endure the ordeal of the creep hands on them.

In the back of the room amid all the panicking noises that the boys were making, Jisun had finally cornered Kyugeum. The lioness had cornered the poor penguin in the corner, the blonde male very much in fear from his quiet whimpers as he clutched his shirt tightly against him even as she smiled at Kyugeum. And around them, Sangjeon and Jinsung were doing their best to distract her from the panicking boy, either trying to bribe her away by awkwardly showing off their torso or just by making a ruckus as she demanded Kyugeum remove his sweatshirt in order for her to get an accurate measurement - there was nothing stopping her from what she wanted to get right now.

“It's either that or I measure your little friend down there,” the shameless lioness growled out as she shot a meaningful glance at Kyugeum's pants area, causing the poor male to flush a deep red - because really, even he knew what she was meaning, and there really seemed like there was no hope for him at all. Or for any of them once she was done with him. Haneul, stuck in his place as the other twin returned to keep him immobile with a face mask that might as well be sticking his entire body to the chair for all the "carefulness" she was doing, tried his best to glare at Jisun through the mirror, wishing evil looks alone could set a person on fire. Only if, because if they could... needless to say they'd be safe from Jisun and then her twin afterwards for the rest of their lives. There was no doubt about it, he was sure everyone had glared daggers at the pushy ert at least once and for most of them, definitely more than once.

It really seemed that at times, Yoonae was the angel of mercy as with her maternal sense, she would always seemed to come in at the right moments to save them from whichever evil staff member they were suffering from. Whether she swooped in when Youngwoo was working them half to death and demanded they get their rest for vocal practice, or stormed in and told the crazy twins that they needed to hurry up because they had a lot of work today, the vocal trainer was always coming in and saving them when they needed it most - and they couldn't have been more grateful for it now than any time before.

“Excuse me, Jisun-ah, is that really appropriate?” her heavenly voice sending waves of relief crashing through the hearts of every single male in that room that they practically could have cried out in relief as all turned towards her with the expressions of those who had not seen the light for many years. On the other hand, Jisun froze with her eyes wide, her hand halfway under a squirming Kyugeum's shirt, and then turned her ferocious glare at Yoonae.

“Noona! Yoonae-noona! Thank god!” Haneul was already up and hugging Yoonae in a flash, hardly caring that he had almost bowled over Thing One in his haste, truly grateful from the bottom of his heart for her sudden appearance. She seemed to sense his undying relief and gratitude, smiling warmly down at him and patting Haneul on the head reassuringly, having heard from Dojung (who had seen the last of it, but considering the fear freezing up his heart too, couldn't somehow find the courage to rush in and save them in case he too got caught in their grips) that they were with the terrible twosome and would probably need rescued. The manager would never admit it, but even he feared the twins who often eyed his well-covered body with evil intentions that he would rather not know ever.

With her eyes softening, Yoonae gently reassured the maknae, “It's alright Haneul, I'll take care of everything now." She could only really just wonder just what kinds of horrors these boys were subjected to when they were left alone with the seemingly unstable young women who made up the coordination department. One look at Sangjeon's bare chest and Jinsung's exposed legs told her most of what she needed to know, and the fact that they avoided eye contact left her feeling more than a little protective of the poor young men - they were like her children, and there was no way she was going to let something like this continue happening. “Boys, go ahead and dress, I'll speak with Jisun-ah and Jiyun-ah,” she ordered kindly with warm smiles all around for the males in the room, much to the relief of the two as they immediately began pulling their clothes back on without haste, their faces burning red.

But the lioness was still not to be deterred, as Jisun snatched Jinsung's pants out of his hands even as he protested gruffly.“Stop right there,” she demanded nastily, her tone scaring the two so much that they actually stopped dressing while the others looked on in mixed levels of horror and fascination, torn between just continuing on or really stopping. This was now a women's battle and they were just caught in the cross-fires. Jinsung couldn't even seem to choose between glaring at Jisun or shooting icy looks at Taechul, who had a broad grin on his face even as it was plastered on with nasty-looking green goo at the sight of those shapely long legs.

However, Jinsung was way over this now as he instantly snatched his sweatpants back from the enraged coordi, feeling courageous since Yoonae was there. “No,” he snapped back darkly, pulling his pants back on and gesturing for Sangjeon to do the same, the orange-haired male taking no time to immediately slip on his shirt with a relieved sigh. Haneul couldn't help but feel immensely grateful that the two had done so much to protect Kyugeum; it was common knowledge by now among all of them that the hyperactive blond didn't want to remove clothing in front of anyone because he was shy about his body.

And though Kyugeum was older than he was, even though he was derpy and more than a little dumb, Haneul felt protective over him - who wouldn't? But it was just like Kyugeum sometimes seemed to be a little possessive of Haneul, demanding that the maknae call him oppa and asserting that Haneul was only his dongsaeng. Sure he was the youngest, but by the way the older male seemed to cutely demand it in such a manner that made it not seem like a demand at all, Haneul couldn't help but give in. It might have been sudden, but he was thinking that there might... There really might just be something there more than just friendship between them. Maybe.

Kyugeum never looked at him weird when Haneul felt lonely and needed to hold someone's hand, and Kyugeum never seemed to get offended when Haneul offered his opinion, even when the opinion was negative. He was an open and kind person who never failed to bring a smile to the maknae's face with his silly actions and/or his super-loud voice, and Haneul was grateful for the boy. He had experienced such a lonely childhood without the normal contacts that most kids his age would have gotten from school, but Kyugeum seemed to make up for all those years in just a day with his energy and friendliness. A person could never feel lonely with the awkward penguin around, especially when he was insisting for people call him strange things and giggling relentlessly at his own dumb jokes.

Almost throughout his entire life, Haneul had always had to be strong since he didn't get to spend much time with anyone besides his grandfather. There wasn't many people out there who would even want to listen to him, to be honest. So he always had to keep his pains and worries to himself because he didn't want to burden people with them or cause any more trouble than he felt he already had - he was meaningless in the bigger picture, and complaining about himself wasn't going to do anyone any favors, especially himself. With Kyugeum, however, it was like those pains and worries just disappeared; like the night fleeing before the sun. He had no time to think negatively when Kyugeum filled up all the empty spaces with his cheer and brightness, warming him up with this unexplainable feeling.

But he'd never let that blond idiot know - not now, and not in a million years. It was completely and utterly obvious to him that Kyugeum was too oblivious to notice that Haneul had such a weak spot for him. So instead, he simply sighed and shook those weird thoughts from his head since they were really making him feel weird things, absentmindedly peeling the mask on his face as it had long since dried and they would soon be moving onto Yoonae's vocal lessons. Haeyeon and Taechul had already peeled and washed their face masks while the Thing One was back to being awkward and avoidant again, the two males often giving cautionary glances at her while carefully applying a toner to their skin and then finishing the treatment with a specialized lotion. Really, they didn't need Jiyun's help that much at this point when they could do everything themselves before going over to chat with Yoonae as the other three made their way over as well.

As the six reunited together around the vocal trainer, Kyugeum couldn't help but smile brightly at Haneul like he was seeing him for the first time in years, causing the maknae to roll his eyes though he couldn't fight the smile that broke out across his lips. “Haneullie! It's been so long!” the blonde male cheered happily as he scooped the shorter boy up into a hug that Haneul half-heartedly protested.

“It's only been like thirty minutes, hyung,” he grumbled, feeling his face heat up a little at the physical contact with the older male - especially when they were under the scrutiny of so many eyes around them at the moment.

Completely unfazed by the publicity, Kyugeum let out a girlish squeal and whined cutely, “Has it really only been thirty minutes?” And on a moment's whim, he also did a fairly pathetic aegyo aimed at Haneul that probably would have made Boyoung nearly have a crying fit from the patheticalness of it if she had seen it, but simply earned a disgusted grunt from Haneul as he looked away in embarrassment. Unknowingly, he also had the attention of Taechul, who had been curiously watching their affection with a knowing smile through the mirror as he wiped the remnants of the face mask off. “I missed you, Neullie. Ooh cute!” he then gasped and squealed, energetically clapping his hands, “I made a cute nickname for you~ Do you like it?”

He was suddenly close enough that Haneul could smell the fruity flavored gum that Kyugeum had been chewing, but that wasn't the only thing that he noticed... Those wide doe eyes blinking innocently at him and long lashes batting cutely... Haneul instantly blushed and shoved him away, suddenly overwhelmed by the closeness in a rare moment of actually not wanting skinship near him. The action startled Kyugeum, who gasped and had a confused expression on his face, which made Haneul regret it almost instantly as he smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, it's a really cute nickname, Geummie,” he then mumbled quietly, trying to fight the blush from breaking out across his face.

Kyugeum didn't notice, or didn't seem to notice, as his attention was now more busy with screeching about how cute Haneul's nickname for him was, “GEUMMIE! I'm Geummie! That's so daebak~! I LOVE it!”

If Taechul was the Batman of cuddles, Haneul was his Robin for reasons that were way too apparent to everyone. The two would always somehow find endless amounts of energy and entertainment in sneaking up behind the other members and groping them thoroughly, then running away snickering as their victim would be left to try and figure out what just happened to them. Most of the members hadn't found a way to accept this yet, and that was exactly what the self-proclaimed Touche-Feele superhero pair liked it. As for today, they had been home only for thirty minutes after another long day training, but that hardly deterred them from going onto another "touchy mission".

With a knowing smile and nod between Haneul and Taechul, the first victim was Jinsung. The male was curled up into a ball half-asleep when without a moment of hesitation, Taechul fearlessly slipped up next to him on the seat and began sensually his thighs with delicate and feather-light fingers. And after a moment of his eyes flashing open and trying to even comprehend what was going on, the smaller male then whined and whimpered, promptly rolling away to the other side of the couch and half-heartedly swatting the amused Taechul that just instantly crawled after him. It wasn't until after some muffled noises coming from Jinsung as the larger male continued his administrations that he finally ended up rolling over and kicking Taechul away with muttered complaints and promises that he would one day make his hyung suffer.

Meanwhile, Haneul was on his solo part of the mission as he left with what sounded like moans behind him on the couch, peeking around the corner with a smug smirk on his face as he sighted his target. Sangjeon was then happily wandering through the house quietly singing along to the ballad he was listening to on his iPod in a horrid voice, completely unaware of his surroundings or what was going to happen to him... When with the practiced pounce of one who had done this so many times before, Haneul snuck up behind him and teasingly his chest before running away snickering like a maniac - mission success!

As the two had been sharing a room for three months now, they had actually learned how to tolerate each other - somewhat. Although they still bickered often and Haneul still thought Sangjeon was a selfish little princess, it didn't mean the tone-deaf male was safe from his random bursts of affection, and more than once Sangjeon had woken up to maknae in his bed because sleepy Haneul wanted cuddles. And even worse, more than once, Haneul had bit the explosive male in his sleep as well. After this had happened the first time and they were left awkwardly staring at each other in the middle of the night, they had agreed silently not to tell anyone as they were both so thoroughly grossed out by the other that they didn't need anyone else knowing that Haneul was a night time cuddler.

“DON'T TOUCH ME!” Sangjeon shrieked after he had yelped in surprise and literally fell over, unable to do much more than shoot an angry look at Haneul and throwing a shoe at the giggling Batman-Robin pair as they moved onto search out their next victim, Haeyeon.

Their resident ahjusshi was seated in the dining room area reading some random English book he had borrowed from Jinsung with his dog curled up in his lap - and by reading, it was really just more like he was staring at the words on the page hoping he'd suddenly understand them in a moment of inspirational epiphany, but it was a losing battle already from the start.

“Ooh Haeyeon, your muscles are so heavenly,” Taechul commented in a low purr as he squeezed Haeyeon's built biceps and moved his roaming hands down Haeyeon's chest while the victim, confused with that signature expression plastered all over his face, thanked him awkwardly. Deciding to let the Batman take the control on this situation, Haneul simply laughed even harder at Haeyeon's confusion, patting the naïve hyung on the head before turning towards Taechul with a highly amused grin. “Okay, now to find Kyugeummie~!” Taechul announced cheerfully, wiggling his eyebrows and already anticipating hunting down his next target. Without Haneul noticing, Taechul was watching him intently for a reaction...

Which he immediately got as Haneul instantly narrowed his eyes and ordered, “Don't touch Kyugeum,” then suddenly backpedaled when he realized what he had just said, laughing to cover up his blurted out thought, “I mean, that idiot wouldn't even have a good reaction, you know?”

Ah, that was exactly what Taechul was looking for as he bit back his smile, but his dimples were giving him away as his eyes sparkled with knowledge. “Kyugeum has good reactions, Haneullie. Are you sure there isn't a... Different reason you want me to leave Kyugeum alone?” he asked almost coyly, leaning to to gauge the maknae's reaction better. It wasn't hard to tell that Taechul was, hands down, the most observant person in the dorm. Having grown up protecting his younger siblings and taking care of them, he easily occupied the realm of a motherly figure for the younger boys when they needed it most. Even more, he actually liked taking care of people, and couldn't help but feel like it was part of his duty as the eldest to give the others little pushes when he felt they needed it.

Haneul scoffed then, cursing himself for even having let that thought into his head in the first place as he grumbled, “No, that's the only reason hyung. Go molest Jinsung some more, why don't you." This simply earned him a knowing smile from Taechul, who with a quick hair ruffle given to the now grumpy Haneul, easily agreed to go and attack his half-asleep room mate with cuddles, leaving Haneul to search for Kyugeum on his own.

Kyugeum, he discovered after a bit of snooping into the various rooms since the blonde penguin seemed to have waddled away instantly when they all piled home, was sitting up in his room blogging about the members of Pandemonium, as he had been asked to do by Dojung. He was supposed to hype the band by telling fun little anecdotes and keeping a vlog about his experiences, acting a bit like the publicity manager to help out with the group. When it wasn't that, he was usually the one to make the crazy ideas to implement into whatever they were doing at the moment. But when Haneul stepped in, Kyugeum instantly paused the video and grinned, waving the maknae over with an impatient hand. “Neullie~! Come here!” he demanded in that cute way of his that made it seem like he wasn't really demanding things - it was so effective that even Sangjeon couldn't resist his charms.

And those charms were working well as ever even as Haneul rolled his eyes and pretended he didn't want to. “What're you doing?” he asked as he casually saunted over to where Kyugeum was laying on his bed, causing the older male to grin hugely as he scooted over to make room for Haneul, the two laid on their stomachs next to each other.

“Uh mai gaud, I was just talking about you on my vlog! It's really exciting, you should check it out sometime, ya know~?,” Kyugeum chirped out excitedly, pinching Haneul's cheeks despite the maknae's protesting before continuing on in the same cooing tone, “I wanted to tell everyone that you call me oppa, and that you're my favorite dongsaeng! You do so many cute things, I can't even remember them all, Neullie~"

This was really just warming Haneul's heart more than he actually wanted it to as he fought the blush that was threatening to overtake his features. Yeah, it was much more easier for him to pretend to hate Kyugeum's affection and touching all he wanted, but he knew he wasn't really fooling anyone with his tough act. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't stop doing so though. “You're so weird, Geummie, I think it's trying to catch onto me right now” Haneul mumbled with his head turned away to hide that smile creeping onto his features, though of course he secretly pleased that Kyugeum was saying such things even though he was positive the human penguin was oblivious to his budding feelings.

Undeterred, Kyugeum just laughed in his obnoxiously loud way and clapped his hands together happily, too loud to hear when Haneul quietly added, “... Oppa."