A/n: Guess who's come crawling back.... (정말 죄송해요 ㅠㅠ I'm very sorry. I haven't been able to write anything since school started. My life has gotten wild. I'm sorry. I just - gah, sorry. I'm back now, for a little at least.)

“What the – why are you here right now?”

Kyungsoo’s mind was buzzing, drowsily comprehending the situation he was pretty sure was actually impossible. This couldn’t be happening, none of this could be happening…

“Really, Kyungsoo, give me a little credit. And don’t act like I didn’t just catch you making out with pretty boy here when your parents are on the other side of that door, no doubt oblivious to the whole thing.”

“Why are you here?” Kyungsoo repeated in a hiss, because even if he was totally caught off guard here, he couldn’t help the influx of emotions that came at the sight of this… there wasn’t even a horrible enough word; “” didn’t begin to cover it.

Behind him, he felt Jongin’s arms snaking around his waist in what felt like a protective gesture. Even not knowing the situation, it wasn’t hard to see how Kyungsoo was reacting – fuming, he was absolutely fuming. Still, Kyungsoo slapped his arms away.

“Hyung,” Jongin protested softly.

“The both of you need to get the hell out of here,” Kyungsoo snapped, turning back to shoot Jongin a glare.

“Don’t think so. I have a dinner to attend.”

Kyungsoo’s jaw dropped, and he heard Jongin asking Who is she? but he was too stunned to answer.

“No,” he said in disbelief. “You – can’t-”

“Be Hyunjoon’s girlfriend? Oh, but I am.”

His father must have known; there was no way he wouldn’t know she’d be coming here. That she was the girlfriend. That was why he’d wanted to have dinner at Kyungsoo’s house, with Kyungsoo. He felt sick.

“Kyungsoo-”

“She’s my ex, Jongin,” Kyungsoo finally answered irritably. “And apparently she’s dating someone twice her age now.”

“Age is just a number,” she sing-songed. “And so is the amount of money in his bank account. Which one do you think I care about?” She gave a wink, and Kyungsoo’s stomach churned.

“You’re not having dinner in my house, Hyemin,” Kyungsoo told her indignantly. “You’re not coming in for any reason. Go the hell away. I told you you aren’t welcome here anymore.”

Hyemin just tisked at him. “Two years and you’re still not over me, huh?” She stepped forward, pinching his cheeks and then squishing them. He glared up at her – she was wearing heels, but she’d always been taller than him anyway, so it didn’t help anything. “Right. I’ll just text Hyunjoon oppa and tell him I saw you quite passionately kissing some boy in the hall and I was so appalled that I refuse to eat with you or your parents. Your father will appreciate that, won’t he?”

Kyungsoo could feel himself being manipulated, knowing what she was trying to do, and he hated himself for having to give in. But he knew she could convince her boyfriend to drop out of the client deal, and if that didn’t make Kyungsoo’s father furious, the fact that he was kissing a boy just feet away from him would be enough for him to disown Kyungsoo completely.

“I wasn’t kissing him,” Kyungsoo defended himself. “He’s the one who attacked me. I didn’t ask him to, or want it.” This was true. Even if there had been a moment there when he’d been caught up in it… But that had just been foolishness; he’d been surprised, and also not kissed – not like that – in over two years, and he’d been too taken aback to react. His body wouldn’t deny that it had felt… rather nice, but that didn’t mean he liked it, or liked Jongin.

“Oh, I see,” Hyemin said, dripping sarcasm. “So it wasn’t your tongue that was in his mouth, then?” Kyungsoo felt heat creeping up his neck to his ears and cheeks, and looked away embarrassedly.

“Whatever. You can come in, but don’t you dare – ever – mention that to your boyfriend, or anyone else,” Kyungsoo demanded. “I mean it.”

Hyemin was smirking now. “What do I get in return, then?”

Kyungsoo just glared. “You get to torture me for the whole evening, which I have no doubt you’ll do. What more do you want?” Her grin widened, and abruptly she was leaning forward and kissing him for a long second, before pushing past him and letting herself inside his apartment. From inside, Kyungsoo heard his father asking where he was, and she claimed he was just talking with a neighbour. She turned back and give a wink, and then mouthed at him to hurry up. He knew it was a threat; if he didn’t get in there fast, she’d start spilling things.

“Who the hell is she?” Jongin asked when the door was shut. Kyungsoo’s head was spinning a bit from being kissed by Hyemin. “Or maybe, what is she? You seriously dated her?”

He wanted to tell Jongin that he hadn’t exactly had much of a say in it, but that didn’t matter. “You get out of here, now,” he snapped instead. “I mean it. Don’t come back here tonight, I don’t care what your reason is. You messed things up enough for me for one night.”

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Jongin muttered.

“I don’t have to do a damn thing for you,” Kyungsoo shot back icily. Jongin just reached up, hand going to the side of Kyungsoo’s neck and soothingly. Kyungsoo only felt a bit comforted by the action.

“Really though, be careful tonight, okay? I don’t want that hurting you.”

Kyungsoo shrugged his hand off. “She’s already done that a thousand times. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“

“So, Kyungsoo, are you seeing anyone lately?”

Kyungsoo was certain this was the most painful dinner he would ever go through. He was also very sure his father had pulled it together to test Kyungsoo, see just how much of a disappointment he was.

“Not really, no,” Kyungsoo answered, very calculated. He had to sound calm, uninterested. He took a sip from his wine glass.

“Really?” Hyemin asked challengingly. She raised an eyebrow, giving a tiny smirk. “No one at all?” Kyungsoo only shook his head. “That’s too bad.” She turned to her current boyfriend, saying, “Kyungsoo and I dated when he was in high school.”

“Did you?” the man replied good-naturedly. He wasn’t young, after all; he knew better than to be jealous of an old relationship.

Hyemin nodded. “In the end, we were too different, and decided it would be better to call it off.”

Is that how it happened? Kyungsoo remembered it a little differently, but said nothing. No need to make a scene calling her out for being an abusive drama queen.

For the rest of the night the girl brought the spotlight back on him in ways to clearly make him uncomfortable, and it was extremely obvious that she was enjoying watching him squirm. His father seemed to enjoy it too, adding input and joining Hyemin’s torture whenever he got the opportunity to do so subtly. Kyungsoo’s mother said nothing, Hyunjoon didn’t even seem to notice. Only the girl – Hyunjoon’s daughter, Gayeon – seemed to be on Kyungsoo’s side. Although she never called anyone out for anything, she always seemed to change the subject when the harassment became too much for her. Whether because she had feelings for Kyungsoo or because she was just a decent human being, Kyungsoo didn’t know; but he really appreciated it.

At the end of the night, the trio made their leave; a hug from Hyemin, a handshake from Hyunjoon, and a bow from Gayeon. The latter had been overly formal to him all night, so he wasn’t too surprised by that. He was surprised when she asked if she could add his number in her phone. Of course, he had no choice but to say yes, but he didn’t even really mind. She seemed nice; he might even want to date her in different circumstances.

But Kyungsoo was never that lucky, especially not in his love life. He would likely never see Gayeon again, and see Jongin too soon. And if he never saw Hyemin again, it wouldn’t be soon enough.

“

“Okay, but do you not see the great flaw in that whole thing? If you kill him, he’s dead. That’s what we’re trying to save him from here.”

“Chanyeol, what’s happening?”

“Hold on, Baek – yeah, but, you just can’t kill him. That doesn’t even make sense.”

Baekhyun sat up, watching as Chanyeol’s frown deepened as he spoke. Who was he talking to? Was it Sehun? Or some other guard? There wasn’t anyone else Chanyeol was interested in saving other than Luhan, as far as Baekhyun knew. But… they’d given up on this now. There was nothing left, Chanyeol had said so a hundred times. Unless he’d been covering that up, because he was actually still trying and wanted to impress them…

He had to grab a couch cushion to restrain himself from jumping into Chanyeol’s lap and hugging him to death. Chanyeol was seriously the greatest boyfriend in the world.

“What happens if he does die, though? … Yes, but how good are you with a gun anyway? You could hit something vital. … It just seems too dangerous. If you managed to get him out only to die by your hand, that’s even worse…”

Baekhyun was biting his lip, only hearing half the conversation but having an idea of what was being discussed here. He touched Chanyeol’s thigh lightly and then shook his head when the younger looked, hoping to wordlessly convey his disapproval. There was too much risk involved. Chanyeol only nodded once and went back to the conversation.

“There’s gotta be a better way to do this. There has to be.”

“Can’t he just pretend to shoot him?” Baekhyun wondered softly. Chanyeol relayed the question, but then shook his head, muttering, needs to be a sound. Slumping back against the couch, Baekhyun pouted. He didn’t want Luhan to be shot; that was extremely dangerous. People taken to hospitals in critical conditions these days were just left to die so they could add to the death count. Unless Sehun just shot him in the foot or something, then took him back to his apartment to patch him up and let him heal, there wasn’t really a safe way to do this.

“Wait, ‘Yeol,” Baekhyun said abruptly. “He can. He can pretend to do it.” Chanyeol frowned at him, shaking his head once more, but Baekhyun went on. “He can shoot the floor or something. He doesn’t actually have to target Lu – Lu can just pretend he got hit, fall down dead, and then get carted out.” This was only really a guess, because he didn’t actually know what happened to killed prisoners, but it was more than nothing.

And Chanyeol could see that. “You… might be right…” He passed on the idea to Sehun, and it grew quiet on their end for a moment. At last, Chanyeol said, “Sehun, you don’t have a few days. There’s no time left, we need to do this now…” And then they seemed to discuss the time limit further, and a few moments later, Chanyeol hung up after he said firmly, “Let’s just get this done this week, okay?”

If they could get it done at all. He didn’t mention that part.

Baekhyun was waiting the second he put down his phone, pouncing on Chanyeol and hugging him so tightly it was painful for both of them. He kissed Chanyeol’s shoulder and neck where he could reach repeatedly, and eventually pulled back to kiss his mouth too, until he couldn’t breathe anymore and pushed the younger down, lying on top of him.

“He’s gonna be okay?”

“He might.” And Baekhyun could tell Chanyeol was trying to sound pessimistic, but there was hope in his voice too. “Sehun said he needs to think everything out, plan everything, but if it’s all okay and he pulls it off, then yes.”

Baekhyun hadn’t felt this happy, this hopeful, in months. And it was probably dangerous because if it didn’t work out, it would only make everything that much worse, but right now he was out of his mind with joy and it was hard to keep it all together.

He glanced at Minseok’s room. “When do you work, ‘Yeol?”

“I’ll go in an hour,” Chanyeol said after consulting the time. “Why?”

Baekhyun rolled off the couch, dragging Chanyeol up with him and pulling him along into the bathroom. When safely inside, he locked the door and turned to face Chanyeol, quick to pull him close and begin kissing him urgently. He started tugging of pieces of the younger’s uniform as well as his own clothes, and Chanyeol seemed very stunned and confused but eventually began helping strip each other. It wasn’t long before he was pushed into the shower, turning on the water and letting it run over them.

An hour was enough time for Baekhyun.

“

Getting you out.

These were the three words on the paper Sehun dropped as he passed by Luhan’s spot. Luhan had picked up the page and studied it quickly, then flipped it back to find a list of instructions, evidently for him to follow in order to be saved successfully.

By this point, Luhan had lost track of the days. He didn’t know how many were left, but he thought there weren’t many. Maybe there were; it all just felt like one endless day to him now. He was sure it was at least mid-November by now, meaning less than two weeks until it would be over. Sehun hadn’t acknowledged him in ages now. But who else would he have left the note for? No one else, as far as Luhan knew, understood Korean…

Luhan studied it carefully, too tired to actually be hopeful. These last days had been draining on him, on his spirit. It was easier to give up than keep having faith in a hero that didn’t exist. He would go through with it, of course, but his expectations weren’t too high on whether they succeeded or not. He didn’t really care anymore.

He explained it all to Yixing, who at least was excited for him. Luhan promised he would try to get Sehun to help him out of there, too, but Yixing assured him it would be alright either way. After the past month or more together, though, Luhan felt very close to the other boy, and he didn’t want to lose him now. He had told Yixing about Korea, and they talked about how they could live together if they made it out. The three of them, with Minseok, all in a little apartment. Yixing could work in a Chinese restaurant until he was good enough in Korean; Luhan had already begun teaching him bits and pieces. So Luhan had become attached, to the dream of a future where he wouldn’t have to be separated from Yixing. They were a package deal now; if one got out, they both did.

When Sehun got Luhan out, Yixing would go too. That wasn’t a wishful thought. It was a fact.

“

When Sehun called Chanyeol back, it was Minseok who answered the phone. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had gone off to shower together – which had been happening all week now, and Minseok didn’t really mind. Before he would have taken it as a window of opportunity to break out from their eternally watching eyes, but now there was no need for him to escape. There was a new plan, and even though they were coming very close to the end now – barely over a week left until December – Minseok was painfully hopeful. This was all he had left to hope for.

“Sehun?”

“This isn’t Chanyeol…”

“No, he’s busy with Baek,” Minseok explained. “It’s Minseok.”

“Oh.” Sehun sounded a bit reluctant to say more. “I thought you sounded familiar. Does busy mean call back in an hour then?”

As he was saying it, Minseok heard loud groans in the distance (he was, unfortunately, very used to this by now), and said, “No, just wait a couple minutes. They’re done now.” And indeed, the water shut off a moment later. (Minseok was too familiar with this scene. It was kind of gross, honestly.) He shuffled over to the bathroom door and knocked, calling Chanyeol to say Sehun was on the phone. There were the sounds of grumbling and fumbling, and then Chanyeol was on the other side of the door, towel (and a pair of arms) wrapped around his waist.

“You’re paying the water bill,” Minseok told them as he passed the phone on to Chanyeol. “There is no reason for having showers that long every day. Twice a day.” Chanyeol just gave a shy grin and closed the door, taking the phone with him.

Minseok went to his couch, waiting for news, wishing he knew what was going on already. A couple minutes later the bathroom door opened, but it was only Baekhyun coming out, pouting slightly. “He kicked me out for distracting him,” Baekhyun mumbled, pulling on his shirt and taking a seat beside the older. Minseok just rolled his eyes in amusement.

“You guys are seriously…” He couldn’t even think of an appropriate word for them (although the word would definitely not be “appropriate”).

“He was gonna break up with me,” Baekhyun said suddenly. Minseok raised his eyebrows, eyes flashing to the other, who was nodding slowly. “Right when Sehun called the other day. He told me later.” Minseok didn’t know what to say; he didn’t even know how to ask what had happened, why they were going through that out of nowhere. He had a feeling he was a great contribution to whatever issues the two had.

“I can’t even remember talking to him since you’d come back,” Baekhyun went on quietly. “Other than like, coordinating our schedules, and asking about you. I don’t even think I saw him outside of those times. Isn’t it terrible that I can’t remember if my own boyfriend was gone? I didn’t even notice he was missing, I was just feeling so empty… I was probably empty because I didn’t have him with me, on top of everything.

“He just… is afraid of what’s gonna happen to us later. And so am I. I don’t know what it’s gonna be like,” Baekhyun shrugged, and Minseok knew he was afraid. Things would be messy after all of this. That was scary. “But I would rather go through it with him than without him, you know? It’s easier to not be alone, and anything is better with Chanyeol.”

Minseok nodded, taking Baekhyun’s hand and squeezing it. “Don’t you leave him for anything,” he told the younger softly. “Even when he thinks he’s looking out for you. You guys are meant to be together.”

“I don’t need any cheesiness in my life right now, hyung,” Baekhyun laughed. “I’ve been bad enough all week.”

“Good,” Minseok grinned. “Stay that way your whole life with him.”

Baekhyun made a joking half-committal grumble of affirmation, and then broke into a matching grin before leaning on Minseok’s shoulder. They waited in comfortable silence after that until Chanyeol finally left the bathroom, still shirtless (which Baekhyun didn’t mind, and Minseok could understand why). But neither of them really could afford to spend any time admiring the youngest’s body, instead focusing on his face to see what reaction he had to the phone call he’d just received.

On the bright side, he didn’t look entirely devastated by any means. More than anything, he just looked a bit nervous, reluctant about the information he was withholding, anticipating whatever their reaction would be. Which meant the plan was still in action – they just weren’t going to like it.

“Just say it,” Baekhyun ordered him, voice wavering a tiny bit. “Whatever it is, you might as well just get it out now.”

Chanyeol approached the couch, and Minseok shifted down to make space for him beside Baekhyun. However, Baekhyun kept distance between them as Chanyeol sat, and Chanyeol didn’t even acknowledge either of them, staring at the floor in front of him.

“You’re not gonna like this,” he muttered, and Minseok knew this was directed at Baekhyun, not himself. Minseok would cease to exist to the two of them for this conversation, he had a feeling. “But it’s happening anyway, okay? It’s for Luhan hyung’s sake.”

Baekhyun was biting his lip very hard, and Minseok suddenly remembered him saying once that Chanyeol liked it when he did that. That had been when they’d first started dating, back when they had been unbearably cheesy (yes, they were bad now, but Minseok seriously refused to be in the same room as them back then – which wasn’t really a bad thing because that was back when Chanyeol was super jealous and possessive whenever Minseok was so much as mentioned) and awkward, and Baekhyun had blushed bright red whenever he told Minseok about how Chanyeol had held his hand (don’t even ask about the first time they kissed). One day he’d been talking and just, out of nowhere blurted that he thought Chanyeol had a lip-biting kink, and then he’d turned into a tomato – a very embarrassed tomato. He said whenever he started thinking or bit his lip when he was embarrassed, Chanyeol would suddenly start tripping over his words and fanning himself aggressively (which Minseok had thought was normal behaviour for the boy, but maybe not). A couple months later, Minseok had managed to pry out of Baekhyun – with some serious effort – that his lip-biting had resulted in them having for the first time the previous night. (Even Minseok sort of ended up blushing at how awkward Baekhyun told him it was. But hey, they’d turned out alright.)

He wondered if Chanyeol had just grown immune to Baekhyun’s lip-biting now or not. It probably didn’t really matter that much at the moment. He also wondered if Baekhyun was doing it intentionally now to weaken Chanyeol, or if he was just doing it out of his nervous habit. Perhaps it was both.

“Spit it out, ‘Yeol,” Baekhyun demanded weakly, before returning to worrying his lip.

“I have to go to China.” The words fell on silence, but Chanyeol continued. “Like, tomorrow. I have to help Sehun out. Or, I have to help Luhan out.”

“No,” Baekhyun said immediately. “You’re not going over there-”

“It’s that or Luhan dies-”

“Well, find another way then!”

“There is no other way, Baekhyun!”

“I’m not losing you, Chanyeol!”

“I’m going whether I have your approval or not, so you might as well just accept it. I don’t want to fight you on this.”

“Well I’m fighting you on it. You are not going.”

Minseok sat back, staying out of the way. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this. What exactly did Chanyeol going to China mean? On one hand, of course he wanted him to, because he needed to save Luhan. On the other, it could be dangerous. Chanyeol hadn’t even explained the plan.

“Baekhyun – Baek, Sehun can’t do this alone, and there’s no one else,” Chanyeol said, keeping his voice steady and reaching for Baekhyun’s hand carefully. Baekhyun glowered at him but let his hand be held, although he made no move to hold Chanyeol’s back. “I have to go. I’m not even going inside the prison – not past the outer walls. All I have to do is drive the getaway car.”

“Chanyeol!”

Although Chanyeol seemed to have been trying to joke around to lighten the tension, Baekhyun wailed at his last line. “That’s dangerous! You can’t do that – you’ll get killed!”

“No, trust me, I won’t. I know how these things work. I just have to show them my guard ID and they’ll give me a van. That’s where the dead bodies go, or where Luhan will be brought. Then I just drive out, drop Lu hyung off, and return the van. That’s it. I’ll be home the day after. With Luhan.”

Well, that was enough for Minseok.

Not so much for Baekhyun.

“If’ it’s so easy, let me go.”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” Chanyeol snapped. “No. That doesn’t even make sense. You aren’t a guard, you can’t become one overnight. It would be too much work to find a uniform and create a fake ID, and anyway, they have records. They would search your fake number and you wouldn’t show up – or someone else would that wasn’t you. Then you’d be screwed. I can do this without raising suspicion. I’m going tomorrow.”

At that, Chanyeol stood, and Baekhyun grabbed his arm, clinging desperately as if Chanyeol were leaving him right then. “’Yeol-”

“There’s only a week left, we don’t have time to come up with a better plan,” Chanyeol told him. “There isn’t a better plan. This is what we’re going with here. Let go of me.”

“I’m not letting you go…” Minseok couldn’t tell if he meant of Chanyeol’s arm, or about the other going to China. He held on to the younger relentlessly anyway. “What about your work back here? They’ll notice you’re missing, and that you signed in over there. They’re gonna get suspicious.”

Chanyeol managed to pry Baekhyun loose, pushing him down lightly to sit on the couch and behave while he started to move towards the bathroom. “I don’t know how, but Sehun managed to work that out. He didn’t really say much, just that he got it covered. Everything’s set – I have to go tomorrow, and come back Tuesday, whether I have Luhan with me or not.”

Minseok cringed at that. “Did he say anything about that?” he wondered quietly. “Like, how likely it will be to… all of it…”

For a second, Chanyeol disappeared in the bathroom, and then re-emerged, pulling a shirt over his head. “He’s pretty confident, honestly,” Chanyeol said assuringly. “Like, obviously things could go wrong, but he doubts they will.”

“And if they do?”

Silence.

Well. That was promising.

A/n: I know this wasn't as long as some chapters, but I hope it was at least a little bit satisfying. ㅠㅠ Also, we're getting so close to the end!

Also, I think I've mentioned it before, but yes, this will end before Kaisoo's storyline does, and yes, there will be a Kaisoo spinoff/sequel after this is done. So don't expect to see them much in the last chapter(s), because they will have a whole other fic for themselves (although I don't think it will be much more than 10 chapters. We'll see~)