(( Hello all! And welcome back from the mini-hiatus. I'm so glad that no one seemed angry about it, and it's a good thing that it happened because I got really sick twice during it, so I wouldn't have been able to write anything during most of it anyway >0<

But we're back now! Know who else is back? Sanghyuk and he's got a friend
Also KaiSoo, because they're a pairing I feel like I ignore a lot in this, and I am sorry to KaiSoo fans ))

"You can't be serious."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Kyungsoo sighed, shoulders sagging a little. "It'll only be for a little while. An hour at most since I don't get off work in time to make it there before. Please Jongin?"

"Did you forget about last time already? You really want to leave me alone with Sanghyuk when you know he hates me?"

"That was over a year ago, he's... Matured a little. And he doesn't hate you."

"We both know that's a lie," Jongin deadpanned, Kyungsoo shaking his head.

"If you go and watch over Sanghyuk's play date, then I'll take you out for fried chicken," the older offered, easing a little when Jongin perked up, frowning again a moment later when he seemed to remember what he was going to have to go through to earn said reward.

"There's plenty in the kitchen, I'm sure there will be something that they want to eat. Sanghyuk knows how to cook, but he's not allowed to use the stove unless I'm home," Hongbin explained, sliding into his shoes. "And he knows it, but I'm making sure you do too because I know him and he's the type to try and convince you otherwise," the red haired male added, eyes shifting to where the blond was sitting at the foot of the stairs. “And now that everyone knows the rules, you’re going to be on your best behavior, right? Because you know if you’re not, Hyelin won’t be allowed to come over anymore.” Sanghyuk frowned at the red haired male before sighing and giving a nod.

“Good,” Hongbin finished, turning to Jongin who tried to paint on a smile. “I can’t thank you enough for this,” he said, opening the door to reveal a girl with boy-short dark brown hair who’s hand was held up as if she was about to knock. “Ah, Hyelin, welcome,” Hongbin smiled, and the way her cheeks bubbled up when she gave one of her own made Jongin ease a little. She was so cute, it made Jongin wonder if this was Sanghyuk’s new crush. He hoped that the blond at least was over his crush on Kyungsoo, since it would make the whole afternoon run a lot smoother for everyone involved. “Since I have to pick up a shift at work, he’s going to watch over Sanghyuk and you,” he explained, and Hyelin looked over at Jongin and nodded, giving a small wave, turning her attention back to Hongbin after.

“Depending on when Dasom-Unnie finishes with her photoshoot, I might get picked up a little later than planned,” she stated, Hongbin stepping to the side to allow her to enter and he stepped out as she slid out of her shoes.

“Have fun,” Hongbin called and Jongin gave a stiff wave as the door shut behind the older, his shoulders sagging a little.

Everything will be okay. You just have to get through this, and then Hyung will treat you to fried chicken and-

“I don’t want to do that, it sounds dumb!” Jongin spun around startled as he watched Hyelin all but throw Sanghyuk onto the ground, pinning him face down with one arm wretched behind his back.

“I’m older, so we do what I want to do! Plus that’s how you treat guests.”

“You’re a pest, not a guest!” Sanghyuk argued back, Hyelin tugging his arm a little higher up his back, his free arm hitting the ground as if it would help.

“Show some resp-” Hyelin cut off when Jongin picked her up off of the blond, and she looked up at him, as confused as he felt alarmed.

“Why are you two fighting, you’ve been here for three minutes?” Jongin asked, Sanghyuk sitting up and rubbing his sore shoulder as Hyelin shrugged. “You don’t know why you’re fighting?”

“We weren’t fighting, we always play like that,” Hyelin stated, Jongin’s mind stuttering for a moment, his eyes shifting to Sanghyuk.

“Why would you want to spend time with someone who pins you to the ground?” he asked, the blond offering a shrug.

“Because we’re best friends.” Jongin looked from one to the other, regreatting this whole thing more and more with each moment that passed.

“Why do you say you’re best friends if you’re treated like that?” He earned another shrug after Sanghyuk stood, bumping shoulders with Hyelin, which seemed to jostle her enough that he was able to hook his arm around her neck and pull her into a head lock, ruffling her hair with his fist. The brunette squeaked, flailing in the other’s hold, Jongin taking a small step back and watching the pair.

“See, he fights back,” Hyelin stated, looking up at Jongin from the head lock once Sanghyuk deemed her hair messed up enough. Jongin stared at the two long enough for Sanghyuk to roll his eyes and release Hyelin, who straightened and looked Jongin over.

“Hey, is this that guy you’re always talking about? That Hyung you’ve got a crush on?” Hyelin asked, erasing the older’s hope that Sanghyuk was over his crush, and he cringed at the offended noise that the blond made as he gestured at Jongin.

“Of course not! Kyungsoo-Hyung’s cute, not gross like him!” he exclaimed, Hyelin’s arms coming up to cross loosely over her chest and she shrugged.

“Well, your Hyung seems to think he’s cuter than you since they’re dating,” she mused in an innocent tone that had Jongin cringe, mentally muttering ‘ouch’ as Sanghyuk frowned deeply at her. “Unlike my lovely Hyojin,” she continued in a cooed tone, her hands coming up to hold her own face as she giggled.

“Oh, did she finally acknowledge your existence?” Hyelin’s amusement with the game disappeared and she turned to him sharply enough that his hands came up as if to fight off an attack.

“Maybe we should get the two of you something to eat,” Jongin cut in, Hyelin’s hand slowly uncurling from the fist it had formed and her shoulders relaxed. Jongin started towards the kitchen, giving a concerned frown to Sanghyuk who moved in front of the doorway.

“We can make food, we’re old enough,” He pouted, Jongin opening his mouth to argue only for the blond to cut him off. “I know, no stove,” he scoffed, turning and making his way through the kitchen doorway. “C’mon Hyelin,” he called, the brunette leaning back and landing a kick on his that almost knocked him forward.

“That’s Hyelin-noona to you,” she corrected and Jongin sighed, shaking his head. He made his way into the living room, dropping himself on the couch with a sigh. He checked his mobile for any updates from Kyungsoo about if he was getting off work anytime soon, scrolling through a couple of social media sited and dropping his phone when there was a loud boom from the other side of the house. He jumped to his feet, darting through the doorway of the living room, down the entry-hallway, and towards the smoke that was coming from the kitchen doorway. He squinted through the gray cloud, eyes widening despite the fact that it showed him that his eyes weren’t the only thing burning.

“He did it!” Hyelin exclaimed at the same time that Sanghyuk made the opposite accusation, the pair pointing one finger at each other and the other to the microwave which was currently in flames. Jongin grabbed the first towel he could, hurrying over to cover the flames with it in the hope that it would extinguish the fire, coughing a little on the smoke.

“What /happened/?” Jongin demanded, spinning around to face the two.

“We were cooking, duh.”

“Cooking doesn’t mean the same thing as blowing up your microwave,” Jongin argued, and Sanghyuk shrugged.

“We were making a sauce in the blender, and it was cold so we put it in the microwave.”

“ ‘It’? You mean the blender?”

“What else would I mean?” Sanghyuk spat back, Jongin’s hands coming up to rub his face.

“Blenders have metal, and metal should never go in a microwave! You’re old enough to know that!” He exclaimed, his heart sinking a little when Hyelin shrunk at his tone. He took in a deep breath, letting it out as a slow sigh, rubbing his face with his hand. “Go sit in the living room while I clean this up,” he ordered in a defeated tone and the duo made their way out of the kitchen. 

Jongin scrubbed the microwave as hard as he could, but when rubbing the same area for a solid minute didn’t make it look any better than it had before he gave up and decided he would offer to buy Hongbin a new microwave, seeing how he was the one to let the two cook unsupervised. He washed his hands before making his way into the living room, half expecting something in that room to be in flames as well. He arched an eyebrow when Sanghyuk was quick to turn off the television, holding the remote behind his back as if that would hide the look of ‘we were doing something we shouldn’t have been doing’ on both of their faces.

“Why don’t you two go play instead of… whatever it was you two were doing?”

“Fine, we’ll play,” Sanghyuk started, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach when their lips quirked up in mischievous smiles simultaneously.

“But you have to play with us,” Hyelin finished, Jongin biting back a displeased groan.

“What do you want to play?” He asked, knowing he was going to regret the question as soon as it passed his lips. They exchanged a look before each took a hold of one of his wrists, dragging him back into the kitchen where he was forced into a chair.

“You wait here, we’ll be back,” Hyelin said, a giggle to her tone that would have been cute if Jongin wasn’t starting to worry for his safely, watching the two dart from the kitchen, followed by what he was sure was the sound of them rushing upstairs. He heard their footsteps again about the time that he was starting to wonder if they were playing a joke on him and not actually going to make him play with them, and he frowned at what they dropped on the ground in front of him.

“We’re gonna do a magic trick,” Sanghyuk said, Jongin’s eyes trailing over the ball of yarn, jump rope and plastic handcuffs that he could make out from the mess they had laid out, Hyelin being the first to kneel down and pick something up. He closed his eyes to ignore the grin on Sanghyuk’s face as Hyelin cuffed Jongin’s arms behind the chair and a tug gave him the sinking feeling that she had looped it through the bars of the back of the chair, so unless he got out of the cuffs, he wasn’t going anywhere without the chair. Next came the ball of yarn, which they continued to pass to one another around and around the dark haired male while he sat there wondering how he let himself get in the middle of all of this. By the time he was pulled out of his self-pitying thoughts, Sanghyuk was tying the jump rope in as many knots as he could and after the duo took a step back to admire their handiwork.

“Alright, I’m all tied up now, what’s your magic trick?” Jongin asked, struggling a little against him bonds.

“The trick is for you to get out of it,” Sanghyuk stated, Jongin’s jaw dropping.

“What?” He asked, the blond rolling his eyes.

“I swear you’re stupid or something. I said the magic trick is for you to get out of it,” he said, crossing his arms loosely over his chest. Jongin blinked, eyes flickering from one to the other before Sanghyuk scoffed, turning to the brunette.

“I’m bored of this, wanna go play video games?”

“Sure!” Hyelin replied brightly, the duo turning and leaving the kitchen while Jongin squirmed.

“Hey! Get back here and,” Jongin trailed off, huffing a sigh and letting his head roll back and thunk against the kitchen wall.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo called as he opened the front door after several knocks offered no sign that anyone heard him. He peeked in the livingroom, where Sanghyuk’s eyes were glued to the television and the girl sitting beside him kept poking him in the side, messing with his concentration. He opened his mouth to call to the blond when he heard a thunk from behind and he turned, eyebrows knitting together when it seemed like the noise had come from the kitchen. His gaze flashed to the two playing before he made his way down the hall, the thunking growing louder as he could make out Jongin’s voice.

“I’m such an idiot.” Thunk. “Why did I let them do this?” Thunk. “Why did I agree to this? Fried chicken isn’t worth this.” Thunk!

“Jongin, what are you doing?” The dark haired male’s eyes flashed open and he looked over at Kyungsoo, perking up like he always did when he saw the older before his lips formed a pout.

“Conceding defeat.”

“What?”

“I don’t know who decided that those two should be anywhere near each other, because they blew up the microwave with the blender and then tied me to this chair,” Jongin stated, Kyungsoo fighting back a small giggle before crossing the kitchen once he dug out a pair of scissors from one of the drawers to cut the other free.

“You really suffered these past couple of hours, haven’t you?” Kyungsoo asked softly, making Jongin a little hesitant to nod. It wasn’t as if the two were completely awful, but he had a hard enough time handling Sanghyuk by himself last time, let alone him and his new partner-in-crime. “I’m sure that Hongbin is as thankful that you put up with them as I am,” the older added, placing a hand on Jongin’s face and a kiss on his forehead once he was free.

“I guess…” Jongin mumbled, rubbing at the indents the plactic cuffs left on his wrists and looking in the direction of the front door when he heard the bell ring. Kyungsoo made his way to the door, the light brown haired girl on the other side fidgeting a little.

“I’m looking for my sister, I think this is the address she said she was going to be at.”

“Unnie!” Kyungsoo didn’t have time to call to the two before the short haired girl that had been with Sanghyuk was at the doorway, bouncing excitedly as the other pet her hair softly.

“Hey, why’s you run off, we were in the middle of…” Jongin watched Sanghyuk’s jaw drop a little while Hyelin snuggled into the side of the long haired female in the doorway and she looked to him, offering a smile.

“You must be Sanghyuk. My name’s Dasom, I’m Hyelin’s older sister,” she said, Jongin’s eyebrow arching when he noticed the blond’s ears turning pink.

“B-bye!” he stammered, turning and darting from the entryway and up the stairs, Dasom frowning a little.

“Did I say something wrong?” She asked, looking to Kyungsoo, who’s lips had quirked up in a small smile.

“He’s just a little shy when it comes to new people,” he said and she offered a nod, looking down to Hyelin. 

“Alright, time to head home. Dad’s going to be a little late, so that means it’s our turn to make dinner.”

“Okay, but we have to make sure not to put the blendar in the microwave,” Hyelin said with a giggle, the older giving her a confused look before she shook her head and ruffled the younger’s hair.

“Thank you for watching over her,” Dasom added, giving the pair in the doorway a wave goodbye, leading Hyelin from the house after. Kyungsoo closed the door, looking up to see if Sanghyuk was sitting at the top of the stairs in sight as usual. When he saw neither hide nor tail of the blond he turned his focus to Jongin.

“Since you went through hell, how about we go to fried chicken, and after we can go to that ballet you’ve been wanting to see?”