Weeks passed and EXO-M came back to Korea. 

With Aaron's extra help that he hadn't had before and Minhyun now knowing about the cross-dressing issue, Minki was able to sneak out easier and faster, often yelling for one of the others to help him with a wig or fetching the stockings that had somehow made their way into Jonghyun's room. 

All in all, life in Nu'est's dorm had returned to the state they were before Minki started sneaking around behind all of their backs and life, for Minki at least, could not have been better. 

So of course something had to change. 

“Why do we have to do sports?” Minki complained on their way to the Idol Olympics. 

Dongho, sitting beside him, snorted and elbowed his smaller friend in the ribs, “I never thought you'd complain at getting to hang out with those EXO guys,” he teased and Minki flushed pink. 

“Shut up,” he grumbled, “you're just happy because you get to meet Luhan hyung at last.” 

“Ahh Luhan hyung,” Dongho sighed dreamily, draping himself over Minki, “the one and only other guy who could possibly steal my heart.” 

“I didn't know you were close with EXO,” Jonghyun commented offhandedly. 

“Jeonghwa used to tutor some of the Chinese members in Korean since she lived there for a bit when she was younger,” Minki explained, “since they've had so much free time they met up with us sometimes while we were out so I've gotten pretty close to some of them. Mostly just Tao hyung and Luhan hyung and Yixing hyung and Sehun hyung. Kris hyung doesn't like me very much.” 

“Is that why he came over that one time?” Minhyun asked curiously, hanging over the back of Minki's seat until Aaron pulled him back, telling him that he'd crack his head open if the manager hyung braked too sharply. 

“Maybe?” Minki said, tilting his head in confusion, “when did he come over?” 

“The night you met the rest of the EXO-M hyungs,” Dongho said, “he'd only ever met Tao hyung before,” he explained to the others, “he and Jeonghwa are the same age so he's the one she's closest to.” 

“Hey,” Jonghyun said suddenly, “if Jeonghwa's older than you, then why do you two never use honorifics when talking about her?” 

“Jeonghwa and I decided to not use honorifics on our first date and Dongho yah's just plain rude,” Minki said smoothly. 

“She said that 'noona' makes her feel old!” Dongho immediately protested, gratefully nudging Minki's foot with his own. For a second there he hadn't known how to respond. How are you supposed to tell your friends that the person they think Minki is dating doesn't exist? 

“You should still be polite Dongho,” Aaron drawled lazily. 

“But we don't call you hyung!” Dongho protested. 

“That's cos you lot are like my annoying kid brothers. Or the annoying kids who live across the street, more appropriately, either way, I'm just not used to having honorifics being used on me. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use them on other people just because they're the same age as me.” Aaron explained, only half paying attention to what he was saying as he tried to compose an email to Amanda on his phone. 

“You call Luhan hyung hyung,” Minki pointed out, cutting over the top of Dongho's retort. 

“That's because he's Luhan hyung,” Dongho sighed dramatically, flailing over his friend again, “I mean come on, you've seen his face! It's as if the sky opened up to the heaven's above and God himself carved the most beautiful face in existence for us mere humans to worship.” 

“Yixing hyung says he doesn't shower as much as he should,” Minki said boredly, texting Luhan hyung to warn him about the crazy fan that was his best friend. 

“LUHAN HYUNG IS PERFECTION AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU SPEAK OF HIM THUS!” Dongho yelled at his friend, punching his arm. 

“If you bruise me Luhan hyung's going to hate you,” Minki informed Dongho, “he's already decided that if I ever break up with Jeonghwa we should date and then take over the world. I think Yixing hyung was somehow involved with that too...was it a polyamourous relationship?” 

"No fair, why do you get propositions when you already have a girlfriend?" Dongho pouted. 

"Yeah Minki, stop hogging all the attractive people." Minhyun chimed in, leaning forward against the middle row of seats again and srugging off Aaron's warning hand. 

"You're straight." Minki pointed out. "You wouldn't be interested in a with Luhan hyung and Yixing hyung anyway." 

"You don't have to be gay to appreciate the attractiveness of those guys." Minhyun pointed out. "That would be like me not thinking you're attractive just because you're a guy and I don't like guys." 

"Yah Hwang Minhyun!" Minki said, twisting in his seat to stare wide eyed at his friend, "have you been ing on me in the change rooms?" 

"And watching you while you sleep." Minhyun grinned. 

“Oh look,” Jonghyun said, speaking up for the first time to cut across their bickering, “we're here. Remember to do your best guys. Try to win as many medals that you can and cheer for the After School noonas please.” and then before anyone could respond he darted out of the car and went off to greet their sunbaes. 

“What was that about?” Minki asked Dongho quietly as the others all piled out of the van. 

“I have absolutely no idea,” Dongho replied, just as quietly for once, “maybe he's a homophobe?” 

“Kim Jonghyun?” 

Dongho shrugged uncomfortably, “you never can tell,” was all he said. 

Minki frowned. He didn't like the thought of one of s, one of his closest friends, being a homophobe. 

“Let's just hope that you're wrong,” the slight blond said at last. 

-SceneBreak- 

“Luhan hyung! Light of my life! Song of my heart! Angel of my soul! We meet at long, long last!” 

Yixing hid a giggle behind his hand as Minki kicked his best friend in the back of the knee, hard, causing the other boy to fall over. 

“Stop being so weird,” the blond ordered as Dongho picked himself up like this was an everyday occurrence (it wasn't but it happened often enough that the boy was used to it anyway) “you're going to weird out my second favourite hyung and then he won't want to be friends with me any more.” 

“Minki ah, hello~” Luhan sang, slinging his arms around the younger boy, “who's your friend?” 

“This is Dongho yah,” Minki said, hugging Luhan back quickly, “be careful around him, he's apparently saving his ity for you.” 

“Because that's not creepy...” 

“Tao hyung~” Minki's face transformed into a wide, unadulterated grin as he moved over to his boyfriend, “this is why I haven't introduced you guys yet. But how are you this morning?” 

“Minki the fans,” Dongho muttered, glancing worriedly at the stands. 

“Go sigh over Luhan hyung, Dongho, and mind your own business,” Minki retorted over his shoulder as he walked off with Tao and Sehun, “I'm not stupid.” 

-SceneBreak- 

“Watch yourself Oh Sehun,” Minki muttered behind a water bottle, “that's my boyfriend you're all over.” 

“Go do fanservice with one of your own members then. Maybe go save your supposed best friend from Luhan hyung and Yixing hyung.” 

Minki snorted, “Dongho deserves all her gets from those two and more. You wouldn't believe how annoying he's been since he fell in love with Luhan hyung's face.” 

“I'm pretty sure I know all of that,” Tao smiled shyly and Minki kicked him gently in the leg. 

“Hush you,” the youngest boy ordered without any heat. 

“Guys,” Sehun butted in, shifting so that he was wedged in between the two, “I hate to break up the love fest, but that's kind of why I'm here with you guys in the first place. Stop being all lovey dovey in public or the fans will catch on.” 

“Annoying.” Minki sniffed at the elder boy. 

“Minki ah!” Minki was engulfed in a hug by a sweaty Minhyun, “you missed your race.” 

“Oh did I? My bad, I must have missed manager hyung, and the ten announcements.” Minki said drily, “Tao hyung, Sehun hyung, this is Minhyun ah, my very-annoying-but-not-as-bad-as-Dongho-yah member and best friend.” 

“Coming from you that's not a compliment,” Minhyun complained, shoving at Minki's head. 

“If you ruin my hair the fans will get on your case for magnae abuse,” Minki commented, brushing said hair out of his face. 

“It's the Idol Olympics,” Minhyun complained, “you're supposed to get all sweaty with ruined hair and no make up. That's the whole point of them.” 

“No, the point is that the fans get to see us acting “normal” and such with our members as well as those from other groups.” Minki countered, “normal for me is not exercising and sweating when I don't have to. And I'm doing plenty of fanservice which you will all thank me for later when the fans get upset because you guys didn't do much except for Dongho yah fanboying over Luhan hyung and the After School noonas.” 

“You're no fun,” Minhyun pouted, draping himself more heavily over Minki, “even Dongho yah's more fun then you.” 

“Given the things you and Dongho yah get up to, I'm going to say that it's a good thing you don't think I'm as “fun” as him.” 

Sehun snorted, “they're worse than Kris hyung and Jongdae hyung,” he said to Tao who smiled in response. 

“So what's Jeonghwa like?” Minhyun asked snidely, shoving Minki. 

“Huh?” 

“Minki said you guys knew her and that's how you met?” 

Minki buried his face in his hands. 

“You haven't told him yet?” 

Minki shook his head wordlessly, “sorry Hyung,” he said, not looking up, “I'm gonna go find Dongho yah or something.” the blond stood up and stumbled off without looking back at the three on the ground, Tao following soon after. 

Minhyun looked to Sehun in confusion. 

EXO's magnae sighed and looked around to see if anyone was close enough to eavesdrop before motioning the younger boy closer, “Tao hyung is Jeonghwa. Well, Minki's Jeonghwa anyway. We thought Minki was Jeonghwa for a while until Kris hyung found out accidentally and told us all.” 

“Wait...I'm confused.” 

“It's not that confusing Minhyun ssi, Tao hyung and Minki ah are dating.” 

-SceneBreak- 

Minki laid his head down in Luhan's lap, “I messed up Hyung.” he murmured. 

“What happened?” Luhan asked, the younger boy's hair. 

“Minhyunnie,” Minki sighed. 

“He found out?” Dongho asked, leaning over his friend. 

“Mmm, he asked Sehunnie hyung and Tao hyung about Jeonghwa. I left before they said anything but I'm pretty sure Sehunnie hyung would have told him.” Minki sighed again, “I should have told him earlier. He was just so happy at the thought I had a girlfriend you know? And I didn't want him to know I'd been lying to him...” 

“You should go explain things properly,” Yixing commented, “otherwise he's going to be more upset.” 

“I'll talk to him in a bit. I think I'm going to start crying if I have to face him now.” Minki said tonelessly, “Him or Sehunnie hyung or, God forbid, Tao hyung.” 

“Why Taozi?” Luhan wanted to know. 

Minki was silent for a while, grabbing Luhan's hand and playing with his fingers, “I let him down,” he said quietly at last, “he told all of you hyungs. He told you all ages ago.” 

“Technically he only told Duizhang...” 

“But you guys still know. Even your managers know. But everytime I think about telling someone all I can think of is it somehow getting out and getting back to my family and-" 

“I'm sure Zitao doesn't mind you not telling all your members or your manager or your family,” Luhan interrupted gently, “what's most important is your safety right? So you should take your time with telling people, wait until you're ready and all that.” 

“It's not fair,” Minki said softly, “we shouldn't have to hide like this.” 

“No one should,” Yixing said, “but the world isn't perfect and sometimes it's just better to hide your true self, even if it makes you feel like the worst person in the world. Especially in our line of work...” 

“I know,” Minki sighed, “don't go getting all serious hyungs, the fans are watching,” he added with a wry smile. 

-SceneBreak- 

“You okay?” Aaron sat next to the Chinese boy and handed him a water bottle, “you seem pretty out of it and Minki would probably kill me in my sleep if I didn't at least ask.” he explained when Tao stared blankly at him. 

Tao took the water bottle with a murmured thanks. 

“Is-” Tao started after a pregnant silence before stopping himself to think some more about what he really wanted to say, “Minki ah said something earlier,” he started again, “about his family...” 

“About gays?” Aaron clarified. When Tao nodded Aaron sighed, opening his own water bottle and taking a long gulp. “They're homophobes,” he said bluntly, “Minki ah...his family is very conservative. The amount of grief they've given him over his concept ever since debut is ridiculous...Before then I used to wonder why he hadn't told them about it all before then but...We went to Busan to film a variety show...That was the first time I met his family...” Aaron glanced up at Tao from his water bottle, and then back down, “It wasn't what I expected,” he said heavily, “Minki didn't say anything about it, just sort of...took it all in stride I guess, but you could tell he was really cut up about it. We still don't know all that much about his family really, only the bits and pieces we've managed to work out from the little he tells us.” 

“He doesn't talk about his family?” Tao couldn't imagine not talking to the other members about his family. He couldn't imagine not knowing about the other's families either. About Lu's strict parents and Chanyeol's awesome noona, about Yixing's kind grandmother and Sehun's annoying hyung. Even Kris would tell them stories of his family, from back in China and then later in Canada. They were family, brothers. They were one. 

“No, he talks about them. He just doesn't tell us about them.” Tao gave Aaron a quizzical look, how could you talk about someone and not tell the person you were talking to about them? “He'll drop an anecdote about the time his hyung threatened to break his arm if he told their parents about his stash, or tell us about the time some random ajjusshi came to their house thinking it was his own and Minki's mum ended up making him stay for dinner where he told them his life story. Little things like that which don't really give away much about the people themselves. 

“It's really hard for him to talk about. I think he's opened up to Dongho yah a bit more than the rest of us though, and none of us want to pry. Minki ah...he doesn't like burdening others with his problems. Would rather that he just suffered quietly with no one else even knowing about it. That's the only reason I'm telling you this by the way. Because I think you really ought to know this but I know Minki would never be able to bring himself to tell you himself.” 

“Is that why he didn't tell Minhyun ssi about us?” 

“Minhyunnie knows?” Aaron looked at Tao in surprise so Tao sighed and explained what had happened. About Minhyun coming over and asking them about Jeonghwa and Minki leaving, obviously upset. About how he had followed his boyfriend and overheard his conversation with Lu and Yixing and Dongho and was too much of a coward to speak up. “Ah, okay then. Yeah that's why. Jonghyun doesn't know either. Minki's probably really worried about that right now too. Jonghyun was really quiet while the others were all joking about being gay on the ride over here this morning, Minki's probably afraid that he's like his family...” 

-SceneBreak- 

“Minhyunnie,” Minki said quietly as he neared where Minhyun and Sehun had been joined by Jongin and Chanyeol and Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, “can we talk?” 

“Sure.” 

Minki thought the other boy looked relieved as he got up and said his goodbyes, but that may have just been wishful thinking. 

“I'm sorry,” the blond began as soon as they were out of earshot from the EXO hyungs, “I should have told you about me and Tao hyung earlier. I just...I didn't know how.” 

“It's okay,” Minhyun said quietly, “We all know you're not the best with words, plus I know it's a really touchy subject...” 

The two walked in silence for a while, stopping to bow and greet their sunbaes every now and again. 

“So are you...” Minhyun trailed off until Minki fixed him with a pointed stare, “are you... gay?” 

Minki was thoughtful for a moment, “you know, I never actually thought about it all that much. It started out as fake you know, a publicity stunt only I'd never dated anyone before so I needed to know what it was like so I could fool the media and fans. But then...somewhere along the way it just...stopped being so fake I guess.” Minki glanced at Minhyun from the corner of his eye as they walked before continuing, “I really like Tao hyung. More than I've ever liked anyone like that,” he was blushing, he could feel it; the blood pooling beneath his cheeks, “But...gay? I guess... I think I am. I mean. I've never really looked at girls in that way, nor guys but now... I guess I start to notice them a bit more?” Minki shrugged, his uality was quite low on his List Of Thing To Care About Today. 

“Not me I hope,” Minhyun said, jostling Minki's arm playfully with his own. 

“You with that skinny little ? No thank you.” Minki snorted. 

“So we're okay?” The blond asked hesitantly after a beat of silence. 

“Yeah we're cool bro, but I'm going to be watching to make sure you don't check out any of the members in the change rooms.” 

“Oh please, as if any of you are my type. You're not even that good looking Hwang Minhyun.” 

Then the two had to pause their walk so that they could have a small scuffle. Minhyun messed up Minki's hair so Minki stepped on his instep in retaliation. 

“But if you never looked at girls in that way,” Minhyun said after a minute or so of comfortable silence once they had resumed their aimless walk, “then what's with your collection?” 

“I am going to kill Kang Dongho,” Minki growled, “but to answer your question: it's . I mostly watch it for the kinks so it doesn't really matter who's playing them out.” Minki shrugged. 

“Minki ah! Minhyunnie! There you two are!” Dongho was panting as he jogged up to them, “Hyung says we have to do the relay now and that Minki ah can't skip out again or he'll be grounded until after next comeback and won't be able to go on dates with Jeonghwa.” 

“Relay is it?” Minki asked, a dangerous glint in his eyes. 

“Yah, Kang Dongho,” Minhyun said urgently. 

“Yeah?” 

“Run.” 

And with that Minhyun took off, running in the direction of the group of people waiting to start the race with Dongho and a very angry Minki on his heels.