DISCLAIMER:

Your author has been enjoying the holiday season too much, and had too many shots of whiskey last night.

She has been kneeling with her hands held above her head for the past 2 hours as a punishment.

She apologizes sincerely for the short chapter and late update.

Thank you for your attention and happy holidays!

Sungjae was glad that things were back to normal for him and Peniel. Although Ilhoon has gotten a little more attached to Peniel and a little less to Sungjae, it meant they could all hang out as the maknae line again and Sungjae didn't mind that. He loved hanging out with his boyfriend and best friend at the same time, and the fact that they all got along so well made Sungjae happy. He smiled to himself as he watched Peniel cover Ilhoon's body up with his jacket and slipped a neck pillow under his head as the younger man snored lightly. He loved how angelic Peniel looked when he took care of Ilhoon and himself. Peniel must have noticed his gaze, as he looked up and met Sungjae's gaze.

"Oh, sorry I borrowed your neck pillow for Ilhoon. I don't want him hitting his head against the window, the van gets quite bumpy." Peniel smiled innocently, completely unaware that Sungjae didn't mind at all that he took his pillow.

"It's okay, I have a better pillow." Sungjae laid his head on Peniel's broad shoulder. His head fit perfectly in the crook of Peniel's neck, the same way Peniel's slender fingers fit in Sungjae's big hand.

"Not as good as mine." Sungjae felt the weight of Peniel's head on his after Peniel's soft lips left a kiss on his forehead. The way Peniel laid his head on Sungjae's was different to how Sungjae leaned onto Peniel. Sungjae completely trusted Peniel and shifted all his weight onto Peniel. But for Peniel, he would never lean completely onto Sungjae, even if it was just his head. It was always touching his own head lightly, but he could barely feel any weight. Sungjae knew it must have been because he didn't want to crush Sungjae even a little. Sungjae liked how protective Peniel was without letting anyone else know. It was perfect.

"Our hyungs look pretty comfortable too." Sungjae pointed at Hyunsik and Minhyuk, who were sitting in the middle with Changsub. Minhyuk and Hyunsik were leaning onto each other, and Changsub was sprawled out in his seat and had his face pressed into the side of Minhyuk's shoulder. Eunkwang was sleeping comfortably in his seat at the front next to their manager who was driving and singing out loud to Block B. Sungjae could feel his own eyelids getting heavy from all the late nights he had lately, and snuggled a little closer to Peniel. He wanted his Donggeunie hyung's scent surrounding him while he slept, so he'd feel like he was keeping him safe.

"Donggeunie, can you help me with my English assignment? I can't understand this at all!" Peniel felt a light tap on his shoulder, and looked up from his iPad to meet Minhyuk's huge grin.

"Oh, sure." Peniel wasn't sure what made Minhyuk so happy, but he nodded and followed Minhyuk to the corner of the studio. He watched Minhyuk lay down on his stomach and pat the empty spot on the floor next to him. Peniel sat down obediently, and looked around Minhyuk.

"Hyung, where's your assignment?" Peniel asked, but got no reply other than a sweet smile from his Minhyukie hyung. He was batting his eyelashes at him and nudging him with his elbow, and Peniel had no idea why. He felt hopelessly clueless, quite honestly.

"Minhyukie hyung, please tell me what's going on." Peniel begged with his puppy eyes. He hated doing aegyo, but if it could get him the answers he wanted, he'd go for it.

"Hyunsikie told me about you and the idiot over there." Minhyuk lifted a finger and pointed at Sungjae, who was singing Rising Sun and jumping around with Eunkwang and Ilhoon, then started drawing circles in the air with his finger in front of Peniel's face. Should have known it, Peniel thought to himself and he felt his cheeks glow red. He quickly brushed Minhyuk's hand away and avoided his eyes, but Minhyuk caught his hand to his surprise.

"Hey hey it's okay, our boyfriends exchanged secrets. And they're going to stay as secrets." Peniel didn't really feel reassured, but he trusted his Minhyukie hyung so he nodded. Minhyuk placed his chin on his free hand and smiled dreamily at Peniel.

"Wh...what?" Peniel stuttered a little, feeling quite embarrassed still by the whole situation. He hadn't confirmed with Sungjae about keeping their relationship a secret, but he assumed that it should stay that way. He wasn't used to Minhyuk talking so openly about Sungjae's and his relationship.

"My little baby is growing up~" Minhyuk finally bursted into giggles and swung Peniel's hand in his happily. Peniel's cheeks felt like they were on fire. He loved his Minhyukie Umma to bits, but he couldn't quite handle the embarrassment. He didn't think things could get even more embarrassing, but who was he kidding, he was with Minhyukie Umma. 

"Aigoo I'm so proud of you you know. I saw it coming anyways but gah, you two are so adorable." Minhyuk pinched Peniel's cheeks and snuggled up to him. Peniel felt like digging a hole in the ground, jumping in and never getting out again. He sat in silence, letting Minhyuk wrap his arms around him and make small humming noises. Peniel was sure that Minhyuk was the biggest PenJae fan ever. Peniel's eyes moved towards Sungjae and his hyungs, who were still goofing around with the karaoke machine. Sungjae and Ilhoon were fighting over the microphone to sing Crayon, and Eunkwang was screaming out random English words. Peniel let out a content sigh and patted Minhyuk's hand, and when he was sure that Minhyuk was looking at him, he nodded at the childlike trio.

"Ah, this is making me miss my Hyunsikie. I'll see you later." Minhyuk got up and waved goodbye to Peniel, he headed towards the door to the practice room next door. Peniel didnt feel like joining the crazy trio, so he stayed where he was and watched them quietly, but Ilhoon noticed he was sitting alone right away and went over to drag him to the karaoke machine.

"Peniel hyung in da house~" Ilhoon grabbed the microphone from Eunkwang's hands and started acting all gangster. Peniel giggled and wrapped one arm around Sungjae while Ilhoon continued his gangster rap. 

"Yo Peunielll my boo how's it's going??" Eunkwang yelled in English excitedly, and Peniel playfully gave Eunkwang a shove, pretending he was pissed off with his broken English.

"Yah!! Peniel is my boo!!" Sungjae yelled and tackled Eunkwang to the floor, pretending to punch Eunkwang, and Eunkwang played along, groaning exaggeratedly. Peniel and Ilhoon exchanged a knowing look, and giggled. Yes, the maknae was actually pissed off.