For some reason, getting Yixing's friends to forgive Joonmyun seems to be much more difficult than it had been to even win Yixing back. They're all pissed at Joonmyun for what he has done – which is, in Joonmyun's opinion, more than understandable – and if it wasn't super illegal and all that, most of them probably wouldn't hesitate to murder his ing face off.

At least that's what Minseok says. He's one of the few who will be easy to appease, seeing as he was never all that angry to begin with. It actually seems like he has already forgiven Joonmyun completely, and he's happy to help, too, sharing with Joonmyun how everyone else feels about the situation. There's Chanyeol, who's pretty much incapable of hating anyone at all, and who will accept Joonmyun's apology without much coaxing since he just wants everyone to be friends. There's Sehun, who, true to word, doesn't really care about anything unless it involves Zitao. At the moment, the two of them are going through a dry spell because, as Minseok so eloquently put it, Zitao is 'too emo to ', and that's what's making Sehun grumpy more than anything. Joonmyun just needs to make Zitao happy again, then Sehun should automatically come around, too.

It's everyone else that's the real task, and the best way to go about fixing things – the only way, really – is to talk to every single one of the people Joonmyun has managed to make angry. So that's what he decides to do. On yet another Friday night, he finds himself making his way to the bar once again, now accompanied by Yixing. The closer they get, the more anxious Joonmyun becomes, worrying what will happen to him this time around. Joonmyun was once told that the official name of the bar, the name Kris had chosen for it, is The Dragon's Den. They had all had a good laugh about it at the time. It's a lot less of a laughable matter when Joonmyun feels like the place he's about to enter is actually the lair of a dragon.

He halts on the spot once the place is within sight. Yixing stops with him, turning to shoot him a confused look. “What's wrong, babe?”

“To tell you the truth, I'm...” Joonmyun lets out a meek chuckle. “I'm pretty terrified right now. The last time I came here didn't exactly go very smoothly.” At the sight of the questioning frown on Yixing's face, Joonmyun realizes that he never actually told Yixing about that. Joonmyun clears his throat. “They kind of... berated me for a while and then kicked me out,” he admits. “Literally.”

“They did, huh?” Yixing says. His tone is a lot like that of an angry mother about to have a Word with a disobedient child.

Joonmyun squeezes his hand. “I honestly deserved everything they threw at me,” he assures Yixing, who seems less than pacified, and Joonmyun worries he has somehow managed to do the seemingly impossible and made everything much worse for himself, so he quickly says: “How about we just go inside for now?”

Minho is standing by the door again today. He smiles in greeting and pulls up the rope when he sees Yixing, but frowns when he sees Joonmyun and holds out his hand to stop him. “Sorry,” Minho says. “I can't let him in.” Joonmyun's heart skips a beat. In a very uncomfortable way. This is exactly what he had feared would happen.

“What?” Yixing says. “Of course you can. He's with me.” He motions to enter the bar, tugging Joonmyun along by the hand, but Minho stops them again.

“Orders directly from the boss,” he says. “Sorry.”

Now Yixing looks pissed. It's a little scary because Joonmyun rarely sees him like this. He has only experienced it twice before and those were not pleasant encounters, so even if the anger is not directed at him, it still makes him gulp when Yixing turns to him. “Wait right here,” he says. “I'm going to go have a quick conversation with Yifan.” He's gone before Joonmyun can tell him to go easy on Kris, and Joonmyun is left standing outside with Minho shooting him cautious looks.

It feels like it takes a long time, but in reality it probably only takes a few minutes, before Yixing returns with Kris following closely behind him. Kris looks Joonmyun up and down a few times with narrowed eyes until Yixing elbows him in the ribs and glares very pointedly at him. Kris lets out a defeated sigh, shoulder slumping. “Alright, let him in,” he grumbles.

Minho looks confused. “But you said–”

“I know what I said, Minho,” Kris cuts him off. “And now I'm saying something different. Just let him in, okay?” Minho seems no less confused, but he pulls aside the rope nonetheless, mumbling something about Kris being bipolar. Joonmyun shoots him an apologetic smile as he goes inside.

The place is just as bustling as usual, people occupying the floor as well as most of the booths. Kris looks at Joonmyun one last time, almost like a silent warning, before motioning to walk off. Now or never, Joonmyun thinks to himself. “K-Kris?” he blurts out, and Kris turns back around to look at them, crossing his arms over his chest. Joonmyun swallows something. He needs to do this right, he needs to not up more than he already has. Kris could probably slap his head clean off with one of those massive monster hands if he wanted to. “I'm... really sorry.” Kris raises his eyebrows, but doesn't say anything, so Joonmyun goes on: “I know I screwed up and caused a lot of trouble, and I just wanted to say I'm s–”

“Don't apologize,” Kris says, and now Joonmyun is the one to be surprised. “I don't want to hear it. Honestly, I don't trust you for right now...” Joonmyun's heart drops. “...but Yixing obviously does, for whatever reason, and that's good enough for me. I trust him.”

“So... we're good?”

Kris looks him up and down one more time, critically, and Joonmyun has to try his best not to squirm. “Sure,” Kris finally says. “We're 'good'. Just know that if you ever hurt Yixing as badly as this again, I won't be as forgiving.” He leaves without giving Joonmyun a chance to thank him.

“That went well,” Joonmyun says dryly, and Yixing pats him on the back.

“It could have been worse.” Joonmyun definitely doesn't doubt that.

They find Zitao and talk to him next. As usual, him and Sehun are attached at the lips, making out with all the vigor of a pair of high schoolers even though Joonmyun knows they're both well past that age. He feels bad about interrupting them when they're obviously in the middle of Something, but he has to get this off his chest. It goes a lot easier than Joonmyun had feared. Zitao accepts his apology almost before Joonmyun has even finished his sentence, and he cries and hugs first Joonmyun, then Yixing, then both of them, tightly to his chest. He goes back to Sehun, upbeat and giddy, and Sehun stares at Joonmyun and shoots him a somber look that is probably his version of a smile. Joonmyun walks away from the encounter feeling a little dizzy and disoriented but happy that things worked out in his favor.

Last, but most certainly not least, is Baekhyun. He already knows they're there, and possibly also why they're there, since he's been sneaking glances at them when he thought Joonmyun wasn't watching. Still, when Yixing and Joonmyun start making their way towards Baekhyun, he casually turns his back to them and acts as if he hasn't even noticed their presence. He doesn't turn around until Yixing calls his name. “Oh?” Baekhyun says, feigning surprise. “What is this? My best friend? My best friend, who didn't even call me to say he had finally returned?”

“Stop being such a damn drama queen, you assbutt,” Yixing scolds, but there's a smile on his face as he does so. Baekhyun huffs, offended. He doesn't resist or protest when Yixing walks around the bar counter to give him a proper hug, though.

Afterwards, Baekhyun looks at Joonmyun, giving him a judging onceover much like Kris had done earlier. “I thought we made it pretty clear last time that you're not welcome here anymore,” he says.

“Seems like things have changed,” Joonmyun says. He looks at Yixing for backup. Yixing just nods, coming back to stand by his side for moral support... or whatever.

Baekhyun looks back and forth between them. “So you guys are back together now, I assume.” This time the words are aimed at Yixing, who responds with a cheerful:

“Yep!”

“Hmmm.” Baekhyun narrows his eyes at Joonmyun, intimidating, and Joonmyun gulps around the lump in his throat, contemplating running away.

Yixing places a hand on Joonmyun's lower back, and it serves as a great form of reassurance, so Joonmyun pulls himself together, taking a deep breath and standing up straighter. No. No more running. He needs to do this. “Listen, Baekhyun, I–”

“No, you listen,” Baekhyun cuts him off. He leans in close and speaks in a harsh tone so unlike the bubbly demeanor Joonmyun is used to from him: “I don't know what made my ditzy friend here agree to take you back, but you should know that I think he's way too nice for his own good, and that I sure as hell won't forgive you as easily as he did. You're going to have to work hard if you want to get back on my good side. Really hard. I'm a tough cookie. I'm not–”

“I'll give you Jongin's phone number.”

Freezing mid-sentence, Baekhyun stands there for a while with his mouth hanging open as he gawks at Joonmyun. “Wait,” he says. “Really?” He stares even harder, eyes widening with unveiled interest, as Joonmyun reaches into his pocket to pull out the small slip of paper he meticulously scribbled on before coming here. Earlier, he had asked Jongdae for Jongin's number, saying that Yixing needed it, and Jongdae had texted it to him without any further questions. Joonmyun sends out a silent apology to both brothers for using them for his own personal gain. He's sure Jongdae will be the opposite of happy when he finds out that Joonmyun fed his baby brother to the wolf.

Baekhyun looks between the paper, Joonmyun's face, and Yixing a few times, as if he's trying to decide (even though the greedy look in his eyes makes it pretty clear that he has already made his final choice). Then he reaches out and quickly snatches the phone number from Joonmyun's hand. “Apology accepted?” Joonmyun says.

“You're lucky I trust Yixing so much,” Baekhyun sniffs and, well, good enough.

Joonmyun smiles at Yixing, who looks mildly horrified by this turn of events. “I don't know if that was the best idea,” he says.

“What do you mean?” Joonmyun asks, and Yixing pulls a face as he watches Baekhyun cradling the piece of paper in his hands as if it's his Precious.

“He has asked me for Jongin's number plenty of times, but I didn't give it to him since Jongin is a sweet kid and I know Baekhyun can be very... Baekhyun.”

That makes sense, Joonmyun supposes. He had had similar qualms about the matter, and in hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have thrown Jongin under the bus like that, but it's too late to go back now. What's done is done. “In times of need, one must resort to desperate measures,” Joonmyun says sagely. “That or you're just a better person than I am. A little birdie told me you're way too nice for your own good.”

“Shut up.” Yixing shoves Joonmyun playfully, laughing, and once again Joonmyun finds his heart beating out of control at the sight of Yixing's beautiful smile, the way his eyes curve up, the way his dimples dent his cheeks. Like Baekhyun said, Joonmyun is most definitely lucky.

Wrapping his arms around Yixing's waist, Joonmyun fits himself against Yixing's side, because he can, and he presses his lips to the skin behind Yixing's ear, right where the musical note tattoo is. He's proud of himself for being able to do public displays of affection like this, even if it's something small. Just a couple of months ago, he would have panicked at the mere thought of hugging Yixing with other people around, but now he's a changed man, and he feels so much happier this way.

So Joonmyun holds Yixing even tighter and asks: “That's everyone, right?” It's a relief to be able to go back to normal, or at least to something that's closer to how things used to be. Even if Yixing's friends are still tense around Joonmyun, even if they don't fully trust him yet and are still suspicious of his intentions, he feels better knowing that he can come back to this place without having to fear for his own well-being. As long as Yixing is by his side, Joonmyun is safe.

“Everyone for now,” Yixing affirms, then frowns. “I'd probably give Kyungsoo a little more time to calm down before you talk to him. He can get a little... stabby.” Joonmyun raises an eyebrow, questioning Yixing's choice of words but at the same time scared to hear the explanation. Yixing just shoots Joonmyun a look that says he really doesn't want to know, and Joonmyun decides to follow Kris and Baekhyun's example and trust Yixing.

~*~

A/N: ah yes. here we see yet another one of those chapters that is pretty much pure filler but also pretty important to the overall story. y'all know joonmyun needed to make all of yixing's (and now, I guess, also his) friends forgive him. it's still going to take some time and some work before everything is back to normal, but this is a start, at least. uhm. yeah. that's all there is to say, I guess? so, as usual, thank you all for reading, hearteu hearteu. ♥

ps. since this chapter is so silly and the author's note is so short, how about a game? there are three (intentional) references in this chapter. two of them are video game references, one is a TV show reference. find them and message me (don't write it in a comment, as it would make it easy to cheat), and I'll answer any question you want to ask me about anything. :))) I'll even give you a hint: one of the references is the title of this chapter.

pps. "precious" is technically a reference as well, but that's too easy. ;)))