A/N: I think I'm focusing too much on iKON oops

“It’s about time.” I sigh and lean forward. “Here’s what we do.”

My brothers submit to my leadership for now. After all, I was the first one who saw Snake, really saw him, and not his mask.

“He likes to play it safe,” I begin. “Even back then, he took only petty cash, doctored the accounts just a little. You guys wouldn’t even have noticed if you hadn’t put me on the books, Tiger.”

“Probably true,” he agrees.

“The retaliation, in his eyes, is too extreme. He’s crippled for life, lame in one leg, just because he stole a little money. We even disfigured him.” I hold up one hand to stop the protests.

“He had it coming, though. Should have known he wasn’t clean of Rooster’s influence,” Monkey mutters.

 I ignore him. “I know that it was because of what he did to me. But in his eyes, I’ve only every been a weak little girl. And I ruined his life.”

Everyone’s frowning by now.

“Weak? Snake probably doesn’t think you’re weak,” Ox rumbles.

“He left before I really started learning how to fight,” I reason. “And nobody else knows I’m an active member. So the plan is like this: we keep him unaware of my talents.”

Rat sputters. “Then he’ll think you’re an easy target!”

I raise my brows at him.

“Exactly,” Tiger agrees. “But that’s what we want.”

“If they know she’s the consequence, or even if they just know she can fight, they’ll send more people after her than if they think she’s just our cook,” Rabbit explains, eyes harder than I’ve seen. When it comes to my protection, Rabbit is as far from fluffy as you can get.

Monkey gasps. We all look at him.

“What if they think she’s our... that?” he sputters.

Horse hits him on the head indignantly. “What do you think you’re implying?”

I hum thoughtfully. “You know, Snake might be dumb enough to believe I’m having –” Monkey shrieks, clapping his hands over his mouth in shock at my crudeness. “–with all of you.”

Everyone started freaking out.

“What the hell?”

“When did we ever–”

“Don’t even–”

I flap my hand at them exasperatedly. “Chill out, guys. You know that’s not what I meant.”

They subside unhappily and uncomfortably.

“You all know that Snake has a problem with insecurity. Even back when I just came,” I began, deliberately choosing my words. My brothers cast their eyes down guiltily. “He was Rooster’s right-hand man, but he hated him because he wasn’t him, wasn’t Dragon’s second.”

“Snake is always going to believe that you have something he doesn’t have. Right before he left, remember, he tried–”

“Yes, yes,” Monkey cuts, in slightly shrill. “We all remember.” He clutches the Buddha pendant around his neck as if he can ward off my coarse language.

“You’re such a prude,” I scoff fondly, rolling my eyes. “Anyway, since he saw me that way and you guys stopped him, he probably suspects that we” I hesitate on purpose and glance at Monkey, grinning evilly. “bone.” My poor ge turns pink and mutters under his breath, clutching the pendant harder.

Tiger rolls his eyes and gestures for me to continue.

“So, his pride is probably hurt enough that he hasn’t even begun to think that I might be Jackson.”

The doorbell rings while everyone is considering this.

Rabbit, Rat and I look at the monitors. “It’s Bobby,” I say out loud, raising my brows.

“That punk with the small eyes?” Horse asks.

Ox grumbles. “What does he want?”

I narrow my eyes at Rat, not really angry. “You had to rat me out? Pun intended.”

He shrugs cheerfully. “They can’t stop you from across the ocean?”

I shrug, also cheerful. “True.”

Before I pull the cave door open, I turn back slightly and ask, offhandedly, “Rat, what happened to the sniper?”

He smiles at me, more a savage baring of teeth. “What sniper?”

I grin back and, to the soundtrack of my other brothers’ protests, head out to get the door.

It’s only as I’m pulling the door open that I realize, in the heat of things, I’ve made a stupid mistake and forgotten my wig. . I adopt an awkward, slumped forward position.

“Annyeonghaseyo, hyung,” Bobby greets. He can’t help but to notice my posture. “Um...”

“Pulled a back muscle,” I improvise, grimacing slightly.

“Ah,” he says, sympathetic. “Sorry to hear that. Uh,” he hesitates, then backs up a step nervously.

“Uh?” I echo.

“I was wondering if Minhee was here,” he says finally, blushing. “She said she was going somewhere earlier, but it’s late now.” He fidgets.

Oh. .

“Poor guy.” Rat’s voice comes through my earpiece. “Another one bites the dust.”

I grit my teeth and stop myself from rolling my eyes. It’s not like I meant it.

I sense Rabbit coming up behind me. “Actually, yes,” Rabbit-hyuk says.

 “Yes?” I raise my brow at him.

“Yes. Came in a little while ago while you were occuppied. Go get her, and then get some rest,” Rabbit-hyuk prompts. His eyes say you broke it, you fix it.

I flash my teeth at him in some semblance of a smile and leave the door, activating my mic as I go. “Should probably ask him in,” I say quietly.

 “Come on in and sit,” Rabbit-hyuk says immediately. “Minhee will be right out.”

“Minhee-ya,” I call out in a brotherly voice, disappearing into my room. I swipe Minhee’s wig off the shelf.

“Rat, really? ‘Another one bites the dust?’” I complain under my breath.

“God knows you charm enough women when you’re Jackson,” he replies, but I catch something in his tone that says that’s not all he’s talking about. I file that away for later notice.

“Not no.” I hear Horse snicker in the background.

I rummage through the bags of clothes I haven’t organized.

I hear Bobby walking in and taking a seat on the couch. “Thanks, hyung.”

Donning the wig and an oversized tee, I step out again, acting surprised to see Bobby. He stands up quickly when he sees me.

“Bobby-ah,” I greet him. “How did the rest of practice go?”

“It went really well! Must have been the food you cooked us,” he replies, grinning.

“So, why’d you drop by?” I ask.

“Oh, um, so the thing is,” he fumbles, voice dropping lower.

I hear suppressed snorting through my earpiece and struggle not to laugh.

Instead, I smile at him encouragingly.

“GD-hyung thinks you’d be a good fit for YG, and we agree,” he says, looking guiltily towards the direction where Shin Minho had disappeared to earlier. “I remember your oppa said that you should audition yourself and stuff but I thought I should tell you.”

I stifle a laugh as Rabbit-hyuk barely stops himself from looking outraged, but then I hear the arguing from my other brothers. Oh crap.

“I barely talked to GD,” I point out, ignoring the mess for now.

“He watched you talk to us, I guess,” Bobby reasons.

“How do you know I can sing or dance well?” I ask.

He’s taken aback. “W-well,” he hesitates. “I guess I thought since you seemed pretty serious about it...”

“That’s a lot of guesswork,” Rabbit says solemnly as he goes back into the cave.

Bobby turns to look in his direction, eyes wide.

“Bobby-ya,” I call his name so he whips his head back to look at me. “So let’s say I can sing and dance, but I’m not a good fit. How much trouble does it get you guys in?”

He furrows his brow, not comprehending.

“If your CEO doesn’t like me, how much trouble do you end up in?” I rephrase.

“Oh, I’m not important enough to bring you up to Yang Hyunsuk sajang-nim,” he replies, flustered again. “It would be GD hyung or TOP hyung. Umm... I don’t think they would get in any trouble at all, actually.”

“So it doesn’t cost them anything, but does it gain them anything?”

He looks confused again. “What?” He thinks for a bit. “No, not really.”

I frown. Am I overthinking things? “What did he say exactly?”

“Well, he asked about how we met and we told him about what you guys do, and then Mino mentioned that you were thinking about auditioning for acting, singing, or dancing,” he relates. “Then he said that you fit in with us well.”

I laugh. “Ah, I see. Well, gomapta, chingu-ya, but I think you’re reading into what he said too much. Not to say I don’t think YG is a great agency, but that I think I should make my own way like you guys did. Don’t want to take the easy road to fame, if you know what I mean,” I explain.

Bobby looks slightly crestfallen, but I smile at him and he automatically grins back, eyes curving like cute little crescents. Aw, he’s such a puppy.

I break eye contact first when his phone rings. I tilt my head at it and say, still smiling, “Sounds like somebody wants you.”

He picks it up. “Eo.”

A demanding and tinny voice makes Bobby wince and hold the phone farther from his ear.

“Ah, araso, I’ll be right back!” he finally says before hanging up, looking harried. “I told the kids I was going to the convenience store. They’re waiting on their drinks.”

“I’m surprised you’re energetic enough to walk anywhere,” I laugh.

“Right? All thanks to your yummy cooking,” he grins.

“None of the other boys volunteered to come with you?”

“I didn’t tell them I was coming up here,” he admits shyly.

Oh dear god.

“You don’t get to see your friends often?” I ask, hoping to change the subject.

“Normal people friends?” he asks a little disconsolately. “I made friends with other trainees, and people that I met on shows and stuff, but I don’t really have any friends other than that here.”

“Ah, you grew up in the US,” I remember.

Bobby nods glumly.

“Well, I count, right? I’m your token normal person friend,” I volunteer.

He cheers up a little. “Gomapta, chingu-ya,” he echoes my thanks from before.

Great. Here’s to hoping he thinks better of risking this friendship.

“Let’s go to the convenience store?” I suggest. “Don’t want to keep the others waiting too long.”

He looks hesitant.

“We’ll tell them we bumped into each other downstairs. Just let me get changed.” I get up and move into the bedrooms before he can protest. I throw a pair of uni sweatpants on and twist the wig into a bun under a hat. I hesitate, then pop into the cave to grab a switchblade. It can’t hurt to be a little more armed, given the current state of things. My brothers, still on the video call, nod at me approvingly, though they still look disgruntled about my newfound friendship.

Rat looks at me with a grin that says I won’t like what comes out of his mouth next.

“Don’t start,” I warn him.

“I was just going to say, be careful,” he says innocently, then turns serious. “Be careful.”

I sigh and go to hug him. “I’ll only be out for a little bit. We’ve got a CCTV on the convenience store, too.”

Rat looks at Rabbit to confirm. Rabbit nods and waves me out.

I blow everyone a kiss before I think about doing it, then bolt out the door before they realize I’m really female. Even I’m embarrassed.

“I was going to warn you to cover up, but I guess you thought of it,” Bobby notes when I re-emerge. “Mian, it’s going to be kind of hard to be friends with me.”

I shrug. “The difficult things are the only things that are really worth it,” I say before I can stop myself. It’s not him I’m thinking about, it’s being with Zodiac, my brothers.

He seems to appreciate the comment, though, taking a moment to just look at me. I busy myself tying my shoelaces.

“Careful with that,” Rabbit’s voice warns in my earpiece, but his voice is warm and he’s laughing slightly.

“We love you too, kid,” Ox rumbles, also with laughter in his voice. “Don’t lead him on, now.”

“Oh come on, she friendzoned him already,” Rat retorts. “It seems our Qilin has the ways of women naturally within her grasp.”

“Make good choices!” Monkey calls out distantly.

I refrain from rolling my eyes.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” I call out.

“Araso,” Rabbit yells back, opening the cave door. “Keep your phone on!”

“Fine!” I grab my phone, some bills from the counter, and leave with Bobby on my heels. The locks whirr shut behind me.