Sehun was in a bad mood. A really, really bad mood. First of all, the secret that Baekhyun had revealed to him last night had shocked him to the core, he still wasn’t unsure if it shocked him because they both hid it so well or because neither of them had trusted any of them to tell. Then there was the fact that this whole ordeal was technically their fault. Sehun didn’t really like putting things this way but it was the truth, their lack of care had led to this and it was Baekhyun who paid dearly for their secret.

Finally, Kris had caught him and Baekhyun on the couch and he wasn’t happy; he had lectured Baekhyun for sleeping on such a place while recovering, he actually stopped two minutes into the scolding because he couldn’t resist Baekhyun adorable sleepy face, but even Baekhyun couldn’t stop Kris from smacking Sehun in the back of his head. It really didn’t help that Minseok had been perched on the coffee table, watching everything unfold with an amused smirk in his face.

However, his morning slightly improved when he noticed that Baekhyun seemed to prefer his company to the rest of the members; actually, he had woken up to the precious sight of Baekhyun’s sleeping face, when he pressed a kiss to his hyung forehead, the boy’s eyes fluttered open and presented him with a brilliant smile and right now, while eating breakfast, he was all snuggled up to his side and, to Sehun, it was perfect. From time to time, Baekhyun would feed him little bites of food and frankly, Sehun wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but Kris was watching them carefully and glaring at him, so he refrained.

When Yixing managed to pull Baekhyun into the living room to play videogames with him, Sehun pulled Jongin and Chanyeol aside and led them to the study, stating, in an urgent tone that he needed to speak to them.

“What’s up, Sehun?”

“I don’t know how to approach this subject, so I’ll just say it: I know about your relationship.”

“Baekhyun told you, didn’t he? He told me he would keep it a secret!”

Chanyeol didn’t seem very happy when Sehun told about his discoveries but Jongin was quick to calm his boyfriend down; he grabbed Chanyeol’s arm and gently caressed his face with the other hand.

“Calm down. Baekhyun must have told him for a reason. The last time that we failed to listen to Baekhyun something bad happened, let’s hear Sehun out, please!”

It was very interesting to see, at least in Sehun’s perspective, to see how fast Chanyeol deflated just with some simple words. He wondered if Baekhyun had the same effect on him. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Chanyeol nodded at him to continue.

“Last night Baekhyun told me he had caught you two once somewhere and that's how he knew about you two.”

“That’s true but why did he needed to tell you that. It was our secret. He kept our relationship hidden for a reason.”

“Whatever reason you had caused this all problem.”

Chanyeol and Jongin looked at him surprised and confused.

“What do you mean?”

Sehun could see perfectly well that Chanyeol suspected where this was going on.

“Baekhyun wasn’t the only one who caught you two that night. I’m guessing Sooyoung did too and, for some reason, she’s blackmailing Baekhyun.”

After hearing that Chanyeol slumped on the floor, scaring Sehun and Jongin.

“I can’t believe this.” He whispered, though loudly enough for them to hear. “He’s been through hell and back and it’s our fault.”

Jongin recoiled at the words as if he was slapped and Sehun, taking notice of his hurt look, was quick to try to calm them down.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this Chanyeol; you had no way of knowing this would happen. No one is blaming either of you. It was an unfortunate event and, right now, our priority should solve it. So please, straight yourself up.” He leaned into Chanyeol’s ear to whisper. “And comfort Jongin please, it’s hard enough to him already without you to rub it in his face.”

Chanyeol looked at Jongin and noticed his hurt face. He sighed deeply before pushing Jongin into his lap and hugging his younger boyfriend.

“I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. We have to face it up that this situation could be avoided if we were more careful. Us: as in you and me. I love you …”

Sehun decided to leave at that point, the conversation had took a more personal route and he wanted to give his friends their privacy. He shut the study door quietly and made way to the living room, where an enthusiastic Baekhyun greeted him, with a peck on the cheek and a snuggle on the couch.

So far, Sehun had spent a good two hours just in Baekhyun’s company. Tao was still sleeping, Kyungsoo had left with Yixing and Junmyeon to go shopping for lunch, Chanyeol and Jongin hadn’t left the study yet and Minseok had taken some pity on him and had bugged Kris to go help him with something. So he just had spent a lovely time, lying on the couch, watching TV and chatting with Baekhyun, who was sprawled on top of him.

He thought about what Minseok told him, the advice he had gave him and now, looking at Bakhyun’s lovely face, the words made every sense; he had to tell Baekhyun about his feelings, he wasn’t ready for someone to come along and take him from him. Even the thought of it was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

He looked down at the beauty, which had his head resting on his chest, chatting about whatever movie he was watching, because truth to be told, Sehun couldn’t care less.

Baekhyun stop talking when he realized that Sehun wasn’t paying any attention to what he as saying. He tilted his head backwards to look at Sehun.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

Sehun smiled at him and pulled him up, so that he could look at Baekhyun in the eye comfortably and vice versa while Baekhyun adjusted himself, wrapping his arms around Sehun’s neck. He looked so beautiful, that Sehun couldn’t resist leaning forward and kiss him and to hell with everything. He was actually relieved when Baekhyun tightened his grip on his neck and pressed his lips a tiny bit more against his. It was soft, unhurried, gentle and yet, it was the most amazing thing that he experienced in a long time.

When their lips parted, Sehun cradled Baekhyun’s face and peppered his face with tiny little kisses that made Baekhyun smile radiantly.

“I love you.” Muttered Sehun against Baekhyun’s skin, noticing the way that Baekhyun’s eyes widened a bit “You can’t possibly image how much I love you.”

“If it as much as I love you, than I’m okay with that.”

Sehun wasn’t sure if he melted with Baekhyun’s smile or with his sentence.

“Just okay?”

“Perfect, actually.”

And that was that; no tears, no effusive, dramatic reactions, just a simplicity that both of them appreciated. Love was meant to be like this: uncomplicated.

To say that Sehun’s mood had improved was an understatement, especially when he got to spent the rest of his morning with Baekhyun in his arms, trading sweet kisses and soft caresses.

Chanyeol and Jongin only came out of the study after lunch. They marched directly to the living room, where everybody sat watching a movie, excluding Baekhyun who was napping in Sehun’s arms and Kris who was very busy glaring at the maknae, who was too elated to notice.

Chanyeol cleared his throat once, drawing attention to Jongin and himself. Their appearance was something; both of them had tear-streaked faces and red eyes.

“I’m glad you’re all here together. Sehun, wake Baekhyun up. We both need to talk to you.”

Sehun nodded and, very gently, started to peck Baekhyun’s neck, slowly dragging him to consciousness. The sight of a waking Baekhyun was extremely adorable but the tension that both Jongin and Chanyeol exuded was made it hard for everyone to enjoy the moment. As soon as Baekhyun was coherent enough, Chanyeol opened his mouth.

“Jongin and I have been in a relationship for the last seven months.”

“Okay…” Commented Jongdae while everybody was stood where they were, speechless “And why aren’t you suddenly telling us this, after seven months of secrecy?”

“It’s not that we didn’t want to tell you but we were kind of afraid of your reaction and, honestly, it was kind of exhilarating to have this secret.”

“…”

“Shut up Jongdae.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Apparently, Junmyeon had regained his voice and he wasn’t too happy with them. “Hiding this for seven months? That is a big thing! You should have come to us and told us sooner. How could we have your back in case something happened?”

Jongin breathed a little bit better when he understood that Junmyeon wasn’t against their relationship. Unconsciously, he grabbed Chanyeol’s hand in his. Junmyeon noticed that.

“I don’t have any problem with your relationship…”

“None of us have but seriously just don’t be like new couple over there.” Interrupted Jongdae pointing at Sehun and Baekhyun.

“And how did you come to conclusion that we are a couple Jongdae?” Asked Sehun while playing with Baekhyun’s slender fingers.

“I’ve seen enough Disney movies to recognize mushy romance when I see it!”

That made everyone laugh and Chanyeol noticed that neither of the two boys denied being a couple. He made a mental note to interrogate Baekhyun or Sehun latter.

“But seriously. You should have told us“ Stated Junmyeon “What if someone found out?”

“Someone did find out. That’s the problem.” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun at this point, sending him a silent message.

“What do you mean?” Asked Kyungsoo.

“I found them once.” Everyone turned to look at Baekhyun, “It was late at night, and I was leaving the company. I noticed that one of the rooms had the lights on and thought that maybe it was Taemin, so I went there to say hi. I found Chanyeol and Jongin instead.” He stopped talking, hesitating in continuing the story. Chanyeol nodded at him, telling him to keep going. “I left a bit after finding them and I saw Sooyoung noona, so I went to say hi but I scared her and she dropped her phone. I picked it up from the floor and I looked at it, on the screen was a picture of Chanyeol and Jongin kissing. I asked her why she had the picture and what she was going to do with it, when she didn’t say much I deleted it. But she had already sent it to her email.”

“And that’s when she started to blackmail you.”

“Yes.”

“So this is your fault. Well done you idiots.”

Minseok closed his eyes; Kris really needed some anger-management classes.

“You stupidity amazes me. First of all, who goes hump someone in a place full of people when they want to keep their relation secret? And why the heck couldn’t you trust people. We are all in this predicament because of your idiocy …”

“Kris! That’s enough.” Cut Baekhyun harshly, making the older boy look at him in shock. “There is no need to make them feel worse than they already do” He said, pointing to Jongin, who had tears in his eyes, and to Chanyeol.

“We need to stop to try and blame everyone and their dogs for this matter.” Pointed out Sehun “Right now, we don’t any more fights, we need to stick together and think how to solve this problem. Sooyoung is the enemy right now.”

“Sehun is right!” Said Minseok grabbing Kris’ arms and making him sit on the couch, giving him a pointed look.

“Ideas anyone?”

“I kind of have one”

“Then please, Kyungsoo, go ahead.”

“Baekhyun said that Sooyoung sent the picture to the email, so if we can access to her phone or laptop, or something, we can hack her account. I know someone who can do it.”

“Who are you hanging with Kyungsoo? Really, next thing I know, you’ll be a mafia boss.”

Jongdae didn’t receive any kind of response from Kyungsoo, just a slipper thrown to his head, a couple of seconds later.

“Won’t that be hard? I mean to get something out of the dorms seems an impossible mission.”

“And how do we know that is enough?”

“I know she hasn’t been home in a while. After the Jessica thing, she told me her manager hadn’t let them, in fear that their families would instigate them to do the same.” Revealed Baekhyun.

“So that’s it. We just need to go to the dorms and snag her laptop or whatever technological device she uses.”

“Baekhyun, do you know if there is anyone else involved?”

“No, there isn’t. She made it clear she was acting alone. The thugs she hired don’t know a thing about her motives; they only care about the money she gives them. She is very afraid that somehow, someone knows she’s behind all of this.”

“That is actually a good thing” Minseok said after hearing those words “If she is so obsessed, as Baekhyun say, to hide this from everyone, she won’t spread this picture, she will have it in a place that she’ll think no one can get.”

“How do we get inside? There are cameras on the building and there are people guarding it.”

“We need decoys” Told them Chanyeol “Someone to distract the guards, as for the cameras it’s really simple, we just need to cut the power on the entire building and the cameras should be no problem at all.”

“Chanyeol and Yixing can do that, maybe?” Both boys nodded at the implicit request.

“What about the decoys?”

“I think that we should go with someone petite and cute. So that rules almost all of us.” Commented Jongdae. “Our best options are Minseok and Baekhyun.”

“No!”

Kris and Sehun were quick to dismiss that idea, although Sehun was kind enough to explain why. Kris simply refused to meet everyone’s eyes.

“Baekhyun can’t go anywhere near them. If Sooyoung finds out, Baekhyun might be in danger.”

That actually made perfect sense and Jongdae and the others agreed with his reasoning.

“What about sending Kyungsoo?”

“Kyungsoo is scary. He will scare people. Unless he doesn’t talk and just stares prettily at people.”

“Jongdae, one day Kyungsoo will kick you in the nuts and no one will do anything to prevent it.”

“So, I guess Minseok and Kyungsoo it is then. And we’ll use Sehun, Tao and Jongin to search on the dorms. Jongin actually knows how to pick locks, so that’s a plus and they are all athletic.”

“So, we are really giving this a try?”

“I guess we are.”

“I’m not comfortable with it nor do I agree with it.” Predictably, Baekhyun wasn’t really okay with their plans “What if anything goes wrong?”

Kyungsoo was actually the one to move forward, he grabbed Baekhyun’s hands in his, under Sehun’s supervising eyes, and squeezed them.

“Baekhyun, at the moment, we don’t have any other viable option. I get what you are trying to say, but this is been going on for longer than it should, if there is a way for us to stop this, we will try it. We don’t want to see you hurt anymore, okay?”

Baekhyun sighed. He knew that they would go ahead with this no matter what. It warmed his heart as much as it pained him; he was truly afraid of getting one of them hurt. Seeing the hesitance in Baekhyun’s eyes, Kyungsoo hugged him. Baekhyun slid from Sehun’s lap into Kyungsoo’s arms and laid his head on the crook of the younger’s neck.

“We got your back Baekhyun. This will end, okay? Trust us!”

Baekhyun nodded. Sehun watched in approval as Kyungsoo rubbed comforting circles on the other’s back. He didn’t really liked people touching his boyfriend, and damn if he wasn’t proud to call himself Baekhyun’s boyfriend, but he knew that Baekhyun needed this kind of support from his friends, a physical reassurance that everything was going to be alright.

“So it’s settled then? We are doing this?”

“We are. We just need some little time to perfect this crazy plan.”

“Well. I hereby declare the witch hunting season open.” Finished Jongdae with a huge smirk on his face, mirroring the faces of everybody in the room.



A/N: One more chapter. This story is almost ending. One more chapter, two at the most and it's ending. I hope you like this new chapter.

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