Taekwoon stirred when he felt a cold draft of air on his skin, he frowned, feeling the low throbbing beginning at the back of his head as he reached for the blanket to grumpily cover himself up and go back to sleep. Work and sunshine could take a hike if it meant waking up and dealing with the massive hangover he could feel coming. His hands only came in contact with skin, warm, skin. His eyes shot open as he gaped at a half Hakyeon lying in bed next to him as he looked down at his own dishevelled half form. He let out a low curse when he shifted to feel a very sore lower back. His eyes widened when he noticed a bruise on Hakyeon’s arm. Throwing the hangover aside for a brief second he cleared his throat.

“Cha Hakyeon! What the hell happened last night?!”

Hakyeon’s eyes sluggishly opened as he looked at Taekwoon, mildly confused before shifting to see that the two of them were nearly and lying in bed together. He jolted, nearly falling off the bed as he blinked at is now hyperventilating friend.

“What happened?!” he asked as Taekwoon shot him a glare.

“I asked you the same thing!”

“Well, I don’t remember, you were drunk as hell and we left the club! That’s all I remember!” Hakyeon shot back.

“Why are you bruised and why am I in pain?!” Taekwoon bellowed, this was getting weirder and weirder.

“If I knew, we wouldn’t be confused.” Hakyeon spat back as he held the sheets up to protect whatever was left of his dignity. Taekwoon cringed at the sound before sighing, holding his head in his hands.

“What are we going to do now?” he mumbled, only to have his phone ring. Reaching over, he noticed it was Sanghyuk calling.

“What?!?” he spat out as Sanghyuk chuckled at the other end of the line.

“Minah was worried about you and Hakyeon so she asked me to check on you guys. Especially after you landed on your and took Hakyeon down with you. You also tried to strip in the car because it was apparently ‘too hot’.”

“Urgh. Why are you telling me these things.” Taekwoon grunted as Sanghyuk laughed.

“So you’d get embarrassed and also because Minah will strangle me if I don’t get a response. She looks pretty grum- OUCH ALRIGHT I’LL CHECK ON HAKYEON!” Hyuk’s voice rang through the speaker making Taekwoon hold it away from his ear and Hakyeon to flinch at the sound “could you hand the phone over to mom?” Sanghyuk asked in monotone as Taekwoon tossed the phone at Hakyeon and proceeded to get his together to the best of his ability.

“Can’t take the day off Minah, Hyuk will give us hell for it. We’ll be there soon enough, it’s just ten. Why are you in the office so early though?” he heard Hakyeon sigh into the phone “alright, we’ll see you there, bye.”

“Apparently Sanghyuk and Minah decided to grab breakfast together a little earlier and then head to work. Sanghyuk crashed at a friend’s place close to Minah’s place because it was too late to go back home.” Hakyeon filled Taekwoon in as Taekwoon shot him an odd look before heading into the kitchen to make coffee no doubt.

They found themselves lumbering into the office at around an hour later, still sluggish and sensitive to light and sound. Haneul was in her cubicle busily typing away, Sanghyuk was in Hongbin’s office and Hongbin appeared to be scarred by whatever Hyuk was showing him. Jaehwan was pestering Wonshik by holding up a sketchbook outside his office while Wonshik tried to hold a meeting with his team. Everything was as usual in the office and Hakyeon simply patted Taekwoon on the back before heading to his department. Taekwoon sighed, squinting in the light before heading towards his office.

Opening his mobile phone, he saw that the group with all the heads had several notifications which somehow involved a bizarre video of Sanghyuk, Wonshik, and Hongbin throwing money around (Taekwoon prayed it was fake money); a picture of him and Hakyeon on the sidewalk with his face twisted in pain and Hakyeon holding up a peace sign while sitting on his arm; a picture of Haneul holding Jaehwan’s ear; Hakyeon dozing on the bar counter while somewhere in the background he seemed to be conversing with a pretty bartender who was nearly climbing over the counter with the way she was leaning over it. He paused when he saw a video of Haneul screaming as Minah took a shot of tequila and cringed, only to have Sanghyuk laugh and loop his arm around her shoulder, making her shoot a peace sign at the camera with him. He cringed at the sound but continued to scroll over Hongbin wailing over how he looked like an absolute idiot. Hakyeon wondered when he had fallen asleep on the counter. Jaehwan and Wonshik had now gotten down to calling Haneul Dancing Queen as she proudly accepted the title.

Taekwoon set his phone aside.The shenanigans were a bit too much for his sluggish brain as he turned over to start working. He had just two hours till lunch and a meeting right after with Hongbin’s team. He had a grand total of an hour’s work done when his office door flew open and Haneul stormed in.

“You are a slow oaf! He asked her out to lunch!” she bellowed, making him flinch at the sound and wonder if he was the only one who was hungover.

“Is this commentary for a drama?” he asked as Haneul slammed her hand on the table.

“Han Sanghyuk asked Kim Minah out to lunch you stupid slow cat man idiot.”

Giving Taekwoon’s shocked and slow brain very little time to process, she went on into a rant.

“I knew she seduced him that day. I just knew it. Who takes so many pictures together? Half my phone’s memory was full thanks to that giant lump of human taking so many pictures with her. I knew it I just knew it. I didn’t expect him to pull any moves but here he is asking her out to lunch!”

“They took pictures together on your phone?” Taekwoon blinked as Haneul whipped her phone out and showed him what could be described as a folder of selcas of Hyuk and Minah outside the office pantry.

“See!” Haneul said, waving her phone in his face and barely giving him time to actually see the incriminating evidence. “Why won't he like her? She is gorgeous and smart and clever and witty. And why won't she like him? Unlike you, Sanghyuk makes a move when he likes a girl!”

“Haneul” Taekwoon said, only to get ignored as she paced up and down his office while ranting to herself.

“And they are close in age. The same year of birth in fact. And she laughs at all his jokes. She actually smiled when he hummed the stupid Star Wars soundtrack. And of course he likes her. Have we seen Sanghyuk let anyone pull his cheeks or boop his nose? Other than Injung of course. Everyone loves Injung. I love Injung too” she digressed.

“But Injung is a little child and is very naive and hence likes A SLOW HAMTARO WHO WON'T MAKE A MOVE!!!” she exclaimed in extreme distress.

“Kim Haneul, please get out of my office” Taekwoon said, closing his eyes and leaning back on his chair. While he was concerned about the recent developments, he simply didn't have the mental capacity to process her loud antics.

“Fine. Be that way. I'll get out of your office and you can watch Minah get out of your life and you can die an old spinster who flirts with bartenders in shady clubs. Or whatever the male equivalent of the word is. I am too hungover to remember” Haneul huffed, folding her hands.

“You… are ‘too hungover’?” he asked, feeling murderous. He opened his eyes to see Haneul leaning over the window sill to look outside. He whined as the bright afternoon sun hurt his eyes and regretted not wearing shades.

“I can see them leaving now. I am going to follow them. Hyukkie is too evil for Minah and Minah is too amazing for him. His heart will break. And she is my biker sunbae above everything else. Goodbye Jung Taekwoon. Good. Bye” Haneul yelled, slamming the door behind her.

Taekwoon wondered what he had done wrong in life to deserve a day as horrible as this was turning out to be. Had Sanghyuk really asked Minah out? Was it lunch as friends or a lunch date? Didn't they have breakfast together too?

He stared in the direction that Haneul had gone in and sighed. He texted Hongbin asking him to postpone his meeting to tomorrow. Lunch date or not, he had to save Minah from Haneul. Groaning as he got out of his seat he headed out for the door only to see Haneul speeding into the pantry rather than exiting the building. He frowned for a moment before he spotted Hakyeon hurrying out of the pantry looking incredibly worried. Hakyeon spotted Taekwoon and came over to him.

“Why is Haneul pulling all the chocolate out by the bag?”

They paused, looking at each other, their memories taking them back to 2013 when the infamous chocolate incident had taken place. Cursing, they began panicking.

“Listen, I’m bringing the other three in, they will try and do any possible damage control. You go in and try and avert as much chocolate consumption as you can without getting punched in the balls.” Hakyeon quickly said as Taekwoon nodded, making his way into the pantry. Haneul had ripped a bag of chocolates open and was opening as many as she could before stuffing with them. He edged closer to the table she had placed the many bags in.

“Why are we eating so many chocolates?” he asked carefully.

“Because my OTP has been wrecked by an even better OTP and I don’t know what to do so before I break up the new OTP I will try and cope with as much chocolate as I can.”

“I don’t know what on earth you are going about, but if you’re coping for crashing Sanghyuk and Minah’s lunch, would you rather I take you there?”

“Why? So that you can mess up their date? Wait. Tell me that’s true!” Haneul exclaimed.

“Umm.. will that get you to stop eating chocolate?” Taekwoon asked.

“What even is chocolate in front of an OTP that needs my help?” Haneul asked, tossing the bag over her shoulder. She stood up too fast for Taekwoon to follow and ended up dragging him along.

“Excuse us gentlemen!” she yelled marching right through the group. Hongbin and Hakyeon stumbled as Taekwoon crashed into them but kept walking right through Wonshik and Jaehwan who were just confused.

“Uh… should we save Taekwoon?” Wonshik asked. Jaehwan scowled when Taekwoon stumbled again and onto Haneul this time. She groaned and pulled him closer to hold him by his arm as they walked towards the elevator.

“I can see the bag of chocolates left behind. Maybe Taekwoon managed to avert the crisis” Hongbin shrugged.

“That did not look like the face of a man who was safe from Haneul’s wrath” Wonshik said, watching at how Haneul flicked Taekwoon’s forehead and then guiltily patted it to soothe the pain.

“Maybe we should follow them. Just to make sure that Taekwoon is safe” Jaehwan said, nodding to himself.

“It’s Taekwoon. He can handle himself with Haneul” Hakyeon said.

“I wouldn’t know - Jaehwan!” Wonshik exclaimed as Jaehwan dragged him away.

“No time to chitchat we have a Bosscat to save!” Jaehwan yelled.

“Do you really think Taekwoon will survive?” Hongbin asked Hakyeon.

“As long as more chocolate isn’t involved, Taekwoon will be fine” Hakyeon assured him.

-x-

The waiter kept a slice of chocolate cake in front of Haneul and Taekwoon. Taekwoon thanked the waiter while Haneul moved about, restless because they were blocking her line of sight.

“I can’t believe you were serious about following the two of them” Taekwoon said, trying to hide his face lest Minah and Sanghyuk notice them.

“I totally was! I can’t believe you aren’t serious when your girl is being stolen from right under your nose!” Haneul said, pulling her cake over.

“Friends go on lunches together! We are on a lunch, together” Taekwoon argued.

“No. They are on a lunch together together! We are just here together!” Haneul shot back. Taekwoon shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. Why did he suggest bringing Haneul here in the first place? Maybe he should just give up and enjoy the food instead.

“Look! They are sharing food. It’s so damn cute. I hate it” Haneul grumbled, watching as Sanghyuk swiped a cherry tomato from Minah’s salad. Minah frowned but shook her head and added more vegetables to his cold noodles which made Haneul frown. She turned to look at Taekwoon who was sneakily trying to eat a piece of the chocolate cake.

“Jung Taekwoon! Focus!” Haneul hissed, hitting his hand.

“Let me eat a bit of the cake!” he protested as she pulled him closer to her. At least from this position he could watch HyukMin and hopefully would focus and pick up a thing or two from the suave maknae.

“Why do they have to sit so close together?” Jaehwan asked, digging into his bibimbap. He mixed the ingredients furiously, almost causing the egg on top to fall out.

“Is he eating from her cake too?” Wonshik asked, frowning at the duo. They were awfully cozy today. And Taekwoon had ordered food for her too. Haneul never let anyone else order for her!

“Maybe we had this all wrong. Maybe Taekwoon didn’t need to be saved from Haneul. Maybe they were just pretending so that they could sneak out on a date together” Jaehwan said.

“What? Haneul and Taekwoon? No ways” Wonshik protested.

“Look at them!” Jaehwan said, gesturing to the duo two tables away from them. He pulled his chair closer to Wonshik. “If I sat this close to you and hooked my arm in your arm and let you eat from my plate, what would people assume?”

Wonshik raised an eyebrow at Jaehwan who put his arm around his own and snuggled into it while eating from his plate of chicken.

“Omo…” the owner said, when she accidentally came to deliver their soft drinks at the wrong time.

“Ahjummonim!” Wonshik said, flustered by Jaehwan’s acting.

“Ah there there. It’s okay. I am very progressive for my time. And you two make a cute couple anyway! I won’t disturb you two okay?” the elder lady said, placing their drinks on the table. “Be comfortable!” she said as she left.

“Seeeeee! The ahjumma assumed we were couple! I am doing the same exact thing Taekwoon is!” Jaehwan cried, pulling away.

“You’re misunderstanding it. Taekwoon likes Minah!” Wonshik pointed out.

“Wonshik open your eyes! Minah likes Sanghyuk! They are here on a date! And Taekwoon likes Haneul because they are here on a date too!” Jaehwan said, gesturing to the two tables in question. Sanghyuk had his head on his hand, elbow on table while smiling at Minah who was blushing into her coffee. Haneul was smiling at Taekwoon while pulling his ear. Taekwoon looked like he was in great pain but Wonshik knew that Taekwoon always exaggerated it.

“Are they… really on a date here?” Wonshik asked, suddenly not so sure anymore.

“They are definitely on a date. Just looked at them” Jaehwan said. He stabbed the egg that had somehow managed to survive the rough mixing of the rice and vegetables earlier and the liquid oozed out.

“They are definitely on a date. Just look at them” Haneul said. She frowned at Taekwoon who was suddenly extremely fascinated by the molten chocolate flowing out of the chocolate cake.

“It’s so cute and simultaneously so gross. Look at Minah. She is blushing” Haneul said with a sniff.

“And he is giving her his jacket. So romantic. Why aren't you more romantic?” she asked hitting him on his bicep.

“Why aren't you more romantic?” Jaehwan mimicked. The two of them had shifted to be close enough to hear whatever Haneul and Taekwoon were talking about. “Why do you expect that cold cat to be romantic?”

“Actually Taekwoon is quite romantic” Wonshik said thoughtfully.

“Who’s side are you on?” Jaehwan asked with a glare.

“I think Haneul is ordering coffee” Wonshik said, listening in to their conversation.

“I bet she even knows his favourite coffee” Jaehwan sulked.

“Everyone knows Taekwoon loves cafe lattes” Wonshik reminded him.

“I don't care” Jaehwan said, accidentally snapping his chopsticks.

“What does a girl have to do to make you act romantic? Do you need coffee? Should I order you a latte?” Haneul asked, in great distress.

“A coffee will help me deal with your stupidity so yes go ahead” Taekwoon deadpanned.

“Excuse me! Can I get an iced cafe latte please?” Haneul asked, smiling at the waitress extra hard. She heard the sound of wood breaking somewhere but ignored it for the matter at hand.

“Okay so here is the plan. We get the coffee and you drink it in oneshot and then walk over to their table and grab Minah’s hand and run” she strategized.

“Okay I think we have had too much sugar for the day” Taekwoon said pulling the cake away.

“No I have not. Don't think that I haven't noticed how you ate my cake while I was busy on the lookout!” Haneul argued.

“I did it to save you. You'll become fat if you eat too much chocolate” Taekwoon said. The sound of Wonshik and Jaehwan gasping was masked by Haneul’s own gasp.

“I am not fat!” she argued. (“You tell him pretty flower!” Wonshik said in the background.)

Taekwoon cupped her face and squished Haneul’s cheeks. “You are definitely getting there.”

Haneul looked downright murderous while Taekwoon turned his attention to Minah and Sanghyuk. He stopped when he saw the younger man do aegyo and make Minah smile.

“Why aren't you cute like that?” Haneul asked with a huff before pausing :”oh my god. Is Han Sanghyuk. Devil incarnate ACTUALLY doing aegyo for Minah? You’re out of the game Jung Taekwoon. It’s the end of this OTP and the rise of the maknae OTP. My small babies...except Hyuk, he’s a giant…will their babies be tall? Oh oh oh will they have Sanghyuk’s nose and Minah’s brains? That’s so cute. Oh wow, she’s holding his hand across the table and nodding. Oh my god he asked her to marry him and she said yes. THis is so cute and low key! He knows Minah so well.”

“Haneul” Taekwoon said through gritted teeth, more at Hyuk and Minah, but Haneul seemed to be adding salt to his wounds.

“Oh my god Taekwoon, why are you not romantic at all?!” Haneul wailed, grabbing the attention of the entire cafe including Minah and Sanghyuk who turned in their direction. Hyuk was handing the bill back to the server.

“Great.” Taekwoon grumbled as Jaehwan snapped another chopstick and Wonshik sighed.

“She’s dating Taekwoon and she wants him to be more romantic. Why couldn’t she just pick a romantic guy?”

“Like us!” Jaehwan grumbled.

“Yeah! Like us!” Wonshik agreed placing his hand on Jaehwan’s in agreement.

“Hey look! Jaehwan and Wonshik are here too!” Minah’s voice travelled causing the two to look up at the group by Haneul and Taekwoon’s table. Hyuk was walking over with two paper cups of steaming hot coffee and handed one over to Minah and she grinned at him.

“Why didn’t you guys join Taekwoon and Haneul? It’s so odd that four of you are here and yet you’re sitting at different tables.” he blinked at the two as Jaehwan and Wonshik froze. Why hadn’t they thought of that?!

“We should head back though,” Minah piped up “I need to go over those files you sent me.” she added, looking at Wonshik as he nodded dumbly. Hyuk nudged her and the two made their way out of the cafe after waving goodbye to everyone. There was a silence as Haneul waved at Wonshik and Jaehwan to join them.

“I just had a thought,” she began, taking a sip of Taekwoon’s coffee, ignoring his glare “why did Hyuk say that you guys should have joined us instead of saying that all of us should have joined Minah and him?”

More silence ensued.

“WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR BABY DUCKLING! JAEHWAN, WONSHIK! I CHOOSE YOU!” Haneul piped up again as Taekwoon sighed, considering leaving the cafe.

“Huh?” Wonshik said through a mouthful of his burger.

“We must protect Duckling from the demon Sanghyuk…”

“Little late for that.” Taekwoon grumbled.

“Shut up you lousy cat, I’m doing this for you. Anyway, thanks to my knowledge of all things Supernatural…”

“You mean the show, not actual supernatural stuff.” Taekwoon rolled his eyes.

“Interrupt me again and I will officiate their wedding.” Haneul snapped at him before turning to the other two amused listeners. “Right, getting to the point. We need to keep the demon away and I need you two.”

“Why not Taekwoon?” Wonshik asked suspiciously.

“Have you not seen how inept he is at keeping a girl?”

“Excuse me, I will fire you for that.” Taekwoon glared.

“Don’t make me go back to your college track record.” Haneul threatened.

“I should go to court and sue you for defamation, slander, and what not.” Taekwoon mumbled as Haneul turned back to the now confused Jaehwan and Wonshik.

“I will need your creative skills and your admin-ing skills.” she said confusing them even further.

“How will we help keep Sanghyuk away from Minah?” Jaehwan asked.

“We will need a lot of salt.”

Helllllllooo! I'm sorry we're taking so long with updates these days. We're both working now and I've hit a bit of a writing rut. Thank god I have my beloved co-author inspiring to get my groove back <3 - Ryukai