Mijoo was horrible at poker. After the fifth time losing all of her m&m’s to Jisung and Felix, Felix finally had mercy on her and decided that they should play UNO instead. The boys were just as competitive at UNO as they were with poker.

“Ok, why don’t we do something that’s not a game,” Felix suggested after they both lost to Jisung in what Mijoo believed to be record time. She suspected he cheated.

“Like what?” Mijoo asked, sitting back farther on the couch.

Felix shrugged, “Movie marathon? It’s lunch time so I could order us delivery and we could just veg on the couch.”

“Depends, what do you want delivered and what do you want to watch,” Jisung spoke up.

In the company of Felix, Mijoo and Jisung had come to some sort of truce. Jisung didn’t acknowledge her presence, except when he was taking her m&ms or laying down a draw 4 against her, and she was more than happy to ignore him. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen once Felix left however, eventually they would have to interact and that thought didn’t bode well with her.

“Well I mean, I was think-” Felix was interrupted at the sound of knocking at Mijoo’s front door. Immediately both boys sprang up from their positions on the floor next to her coffee table and pulled out guns she didn’t even know they were carrying. Mijoo’s eyes widened as they moved to flank either side of the door, ready to shoot if it was the wrong person.

“Mijoo are you there? I brought some soup over, I know you can take care of yourself, but I was starting to get worried since you weren’t answering my texts!” The voice of Nayeon, her best friend, called through the door. Mijoo felt her heart drop into her stomach as she quickly looked down at her exposed arms and legs which clearly showed bandages and healed lacerations all over them. Nayeon tried the door knob and even though she couldn’t see her, Mijoo could practically feel the frown on her face when her key didn’t work. “Mijoo are you awake? Did you change your locks?”

Mijoo looked around panicked, not sure what to do. Jisung grabbed a blanket that had been on the couch and threw it over her before silently nodding towards the door. Mijoo got the message loud and clear, quickly wrapping the blanket around her, covering her from neck down to her feet. “Hold on I’m coming,” She called out as she shuffled towards the door, making sure she was covered and that Felix and Jisung couldn’t be seen before she opened the door.

Nayeon visibly relaxed as she came into view. Her blue hair was swept up in a messy ponytail and she wore a brightly colored 50’s style dress with a cardigan resting over her shoulders. “There you are. I was so worried when you didn’t text me back,” She breathed out upon seeing Mijoo.

“Hey Nayeon, I’m so sorry I meant to text you, I’ve just… I’ve just been so out of it I forgot.” Mijoo replied, honestly.

Nayeon shrugged, “It’s ok. I know how it can be when you’re sick. Remember last year when I caught that flu and slept for like six days straight?” Nayeon recalled smiling at her friend, “Well I brought you some soup to help you feel better and I thought I could help you with some cleaning while you’re down for the count.”

Mijoo’s grip on the door tightened as she tried to think of a way to keep Nayeon from entering her apartment. “You’re the best Nayeon, but I don’t want to get you sick…” Mijoo trailed off hoping that Nayeon would be deterred.

Nayeon rolled her eyes, “Oh please like being around you is going to do me in.” Mijoo couldn’t tell her that was exactly what she was afraid of.

“I really appreciate it, but I’m really not up for it right now. Seungmin’s already been over to help with cleaning so there’s not really anything for you to do.” Mijoo pushed back. She hated lying to her friend, but how could she ever explain the truth.

Nayeon sighed and shrugged, “Oh well, You have my number if you change your mind.” Nayeon lifted up the thermos of soup and gave her another smile, “You’ll at least let me give you the soup right?”

Mijoo matched her smile as best she could and carefully grabbed the soup so that the blanket didn’t fall and reveal anything, “Of course, I wouldn’t be able to survive without your soup to make me feel better.”

“Ok well call me if you start to feel better or if you need help with anything, I will come running like a horse at the Kentucky Derby,” Nayeon said. She turned as if preparing to walk away, “Oh hey, did you change your locks?”

“Oh yeah, I did,” Mijoo nodded, knowing there was no way she was going to be able to lie about the brand new locks on her door. “There have been a string of break ins in the complex, I just wanted to be a little safer.” She lied, surprised how quickly it fell from .

“Oh really! I hope whoever it is gets caught soon then. If anyone tries anything-” Nayeon made a slicing motion over her neck, “I’ll take em out for you. Nobody messes with my bestie and gets away with it.”

“You’ll be my first call,” Mijoo forced. “See you later.”

“You bet. Feel better my love!” Nayeon called back before turning and walking towards the elevator, her ponytail bouncing with each step.

Mijoo shut and relocked the door. The tension she had been holding in her shoulders finally easing up. If she wasn’t sure that it would be incredibly painful she would have fallen to the floor in relief.

“Good cover,” Jisung nodded to her as he holstered his gun causing Mijoo to turn and blink at the compliment.

“She seems really nice!” Felix bounced up next to her, his gun disappearing just as fast as it had appeared as if nothing had happened. “What kind of soup did she bring?” He asked looking over her shoulder at the thermos.

Mijoo lifted it up and unscrewed the cap. “Smells like lotus root,” she offered.

“Is there enough for all of us?” Felix asked, sniffing the air, “it smells really good.”

“It is. Considering how much you two eat though I don’t think this would be enough for more than just myself,” Mijoo answered.

“Ok, we can still order out then.” Felix nodded. If he was disappointed he didn’t show it. “I’m thinking we order some bibimbap and tteokbokki from Wooyoung and charge it to Chan’s account.”

“Won’t that upset Chan? Spending his money without him knowing?” Mijoo asked, going to sit back down on the couch. The man already saw her as an inconvenience. What would be the point of making him dislike her further?

But Felix just waved off her concerns, “Eh it’s fine. Besides since Wooyoung is an Ateez and since we’re watching you this is basically a business expense. Which means… we can order as much as we like.” Felix’s smile took on a devious look which Jisung mirrored.

“Woojin won’t like it but since when have I ever done something that he thinks is a good idea,” Jisung added, speaking to Felix.

The two boys' plan to rack up charges to the gang's account was interrupted by the ringing of Felix’s cell phone, which he quickly answered. “Hey what’s up Chang-” Felix’s sentence petered out as Changbin interrupted him. “HE WHAT!” He yelled out, his whole body becoming rigid as the man on the other end continued to speak, “You’ve gotta be in- ok I’ll be right there. 10 minutes tops.”

Felix hung up his phone and shoved it in his back pocket, “I gotta go like... right now.”

“What’s happening?” Jisung questioned, crossing his arms.

“Remember how Hyunjin said Chan was doing something stupid?” Felix asked, a concerned look covering his features. “Well make that Chan is doing something so incredibly stupid and he didn’t bring any back up,” He stressed.

Jisung closed his eyes and let his head fall back towards the ceiling before running a hand through his head. “Let me guess you get to go and I have to stay here as a babysitter,” He sighed, frustration lacing his voice.

Felix gave Mijoo and Jisung a guilty smile, “Yeah, sorry Ji, boss’s orders. Besides from what I’m hearing Zico and them mostly got away.”

Mijoo sat up straighter at the name Zico, “What??”

Felix looked towards her, eyes wide, “Oops, didn’t mean to say that. I gotta- uh I gotta go!” With that Felix practically ran out of her apartment quickly grabbing his coat on the way out, leaving Jisung and Mijoo alone.

“Felix, more like Flee-lix am I right,” Mijoo tried to joke and lighten the mood after the sound of her apartment door closing filled the room, but Jisung’s withering stare told her it didn’t quite work.

Instead Jisung just pulled out his phone and moved towards the kitchen. Mijoo heard him ordering the food they had been talking about before Felix’s phone call. Mijoo looked down at the thermos which was slowly warming her hands, noting the scars that were starting to heal which were peeking out from under the blanket that was no longer tightly wrapped around her. Realistically how would Nayeon react to what happened? Probably march her straight down to the police station and never leave her alone again. She missed her friend.

The rest of the afternoon passed by in an awkward quiet. A delivery boy Mijoo thought looked vaguely familiar delivered the food Jisung had ordered and before leaving had shared a quick whispered conversation. Before leaving the boy sent Mijoo a cheeky wink before disappearing behind the closing door.

The two of them ate in silence, with only the sound of the TV to make noise in the background. Neither of them were watching it, but it was better than the stifling quiet when it was off. To his credit, Mijoo was happy that he wasn’t yelling at her. She would much rather take a quiet Jisung to one that caused her to break her drinking glasses.

“I-” She spoke up breaking their silence as Jisung put away the leftovers in her fridge. “I’m sorry I threw a glass at your head.”

Jisung stilled in front of the fridge, not turning around immediately. When he did Mijoo couldn’t see what he was thinking, his face stayed in a neutral expression. Not a look she had seen from him before. “People in this business don’t apologize,” He said finally.

Mijoo resisted the urge to frown at him and instead chewed on her lip, “What if you do something you regret? What if you do something you didn’t mean to” She asked.

“You live with it and move on. We don’t have time to think about regrets or make mistakes,” Jisung said walking forward and leaning this back against the kitchen bar, facing her.

“But everyone makes mistakes,” Mijoo pointed out.

“True, but we can’t afford hesitation, we can’t afford to second guess ourselves. If we do something we stick with it till the end, even if it may have been a mistake,” Jisung responded. He paused for a moment before continuing, “do you know why Felix is still alive?”

Mijoo did frown at that, “because I found him in that alley and saved his life?”

“That’s part of the reason, you didn’t hesitate to take action, but the main reason is that the guy who was sent to kill Felix did hesitate. He made a mistake. GOT7 certainly isn’t taking the time for him to feel bad and apologize, they’re trying to fix their mistake and that mistake resulted in you.”

Mijoo knew that he wasn’t calling her existence a mistake, but she still narrowed her eyes at him at his tone of voice. “Why did GOT7 try to kill Felix?” She asked, deciding to take advantage of his talkativeness.

Jisung looked at her, seemingly trying to decide if he should tell her or not, eventually he gave in. “Killing Felix would be like killing Stray Kids. Chan might be the head, but Felix is the heart and without him we wouldn’t survive. Chan would do anything to get back at them and would be reckless. When we get reckless that's when we make mistakes we can’t afford,” He offered.

“Are they brothers? Felix has him saved as ‘big bro’ in his phone and he seems to… get his way,” Mijoo asked.

Jisung sighed, “You ask way too many questions. They aren’t blood related, but they might as well be. Chan has been taking care of Felix since he was a kid.”

“Seems to me like he still is a kid,” Mijoo spoke softly, looking away from Jisung. He hummed in response, but didn’t say anything more. “Well, even still,” She said looking back up at Jisung. “I’m sorry I threw a glass at your head. I don’t care if you all don’t apologize for your mistakes, because I do.”

Jisung didn’t hide the surprise on his face well, but he quickly masked it, “Well- uh..ok then I guess.”

“You’re supposed to say ‘apology accepted,’” She explained, shaking her head. Trying not to smile too much at the fact that the man had no idea how to deal with an apology.

“Oh, I.. I knew that. I was just about to say it! Apology accepted. There, see, I said it,” He huffed out, but Mijoo noticed it lacked the usual vitriol he usually sent her way. Mijoo hoped it was a sign of him warming up to her.

The conversation ended there and the two of them fell back into silence. Mijoo settled on watching TV while Jisung spent most of his time on his phone. After a while the sound of a key was heard being inserted into Mijoo’s door, and the handle turned. Jisung was up in a flash with his gun making another reappearance.

Chan followed by Changbin, Hyunjin, and Felix came through the door. After realizing it wasn’t anyone who posed a threat, Jisung put away his gun. Mijoo stood up from her spot on the couch taking in the appearance of the four men. Chan, while still in a suit, was missing his suit coat and had rolled up his sleeves with his tie very haphazard. He looked like he had been running a hand through his hair, messing up what had once been perfectly styled. Mijoo resisted the urge to go over and try to fix it. Hyunjin looked unruffled as ever, meanwhile Changbin looked like he had taken a few beatings and grazed by a few bullets.

“Bin you look like !” Jisung exclaimed, pointing out the obvious.

“Are you all ok?” Mijoo asked, stepping closer, drawing Chan and the men’s attention towards her.

“We’ll live,” Chan replied, looking her over. Mijoo had left the blanket on the couch and she realized that Chan was seeing the extent of her injuries for the first time. She felt oddly exposed as he looked at her arms and legs.

Changbin scoffed, “The same can’t be said for Jaehyo.”

Jisung’s eyebrows raised towards his hairline, “You killed Jaehyo? What the hell Chan!”

Chan’s attention turned towards Jisung, “In my defense I was planning on killing all of them.”

Jisung’s eyes practically bugged out of his head, “You WHAT?! Without backup?! Are you insane?”

“Oh I’m pretty sure that’s not in question,” Hyunjin snorted as came to stand by Mijoo and lifted up one of her arms, examining the bandages. “We’ll change these one more time before you go to sleep tonight,” He told her.

Mijoo ignored Hyujin, “Jaehyo’s dead?” She asked, looking towards Chan.

Chan looked back at her and nodded, “He is. Thought I would be able to get a few more shots in before everything completely went to , but Zico must have been expecting something like this to happen.”

“I was ing out by the car like a ing when I suddenly hear shots ringing out. I had already called Hyunjin earlier, cause I didn’t like where this was going , but this er gets himself into a fire fight and leaves me outside! I called Felix before running in to save his ,” Changbin shared, colorfully.

Chan shot Changbin a dirty look, “I was fine, you didn’t need to call Felix”

Felix sighed and rolled his eyes, “Chan by the time I got there everyone was gone and the show was over. I wasn’t in any danger.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Chan said almost shouting, surprising Mijoo. “I tell you to stay out of trouble, to stay out of danger and you do it! I don’t care who calls you, or what they say.” Mijoo was seeing Chan angry, really angry for the first time.

“I’m not a child anymore Chan!” Felix argued back, his anger getting the best of him. “You can’t protect me from everything! You can’t put me in a box and expect me to just sit there like a doll while you all are out there risking your lives for each other!”

“I’m the leader of Stray Kids! That means I decide who puts themselves in danger, I make the decisions. You go off script once and it ends up with you almost dead! Never again! Do I make myself clear?!” Chan had gotten up into Felix’s face, with a dark and serious expression on his face.

Felix stared him down, his jaw clenching as he met Chan’s gaze. “Understood,” He growled.

The rest of the members of Stray Kids and Mijoo didn’t dare move as Felix left the apartment, slamming the door on his way out. Mijoo was terrified to even breathe. “Anyone else have a problem with how I’m running things?” Chan snapped, looking at everyone.

Changbin sighed, sitting down on one of the barstools, “Chan, Felix isn’t questioning your leadership. He’s just frustrated. You would be too, if you were in his position.”

Chan closed his eyes and let out a breath, some of the tension leaving his shoulders, as he took a moment to think. “You’re right,” He sighed out, finally opening his eyes. “I’ll call him later to talk to him once he cools down,”

Mijoo wondered if she was allowed to sit down again, her legs were starting to get tired from her injuries, but at the same time she didn’t want to draw Chan’s attention back to her and set him off again.

“Yeah, you should,” Hyunjin said point blankly. Chan’s ire seemed to have settled, because his only response was to roll his eyes at the man.

“Hey doc, once you’re finished taping up the mummy over there, think you can spare some seconds to look over my war wounds?” Changbin asked, jokingly.

“War wounds my ,” Hyunjin muttered under his breath.

“I need to call Hongjoong about all this,” Chan stated to Jisung and Changbin. “Get him up to speed with what’s going on and what to be on the lookout for. Besides we have to deal with-” Chan looked over towards Mijoo, who at this point was slightly swaying on her feet. Hyunjin finally helped her sit back down, after noticing her struggle. “-something else has come up. Another… problem. May turn into a big problem, but I don’t know yet.”

Changbin and Jisung nodded before turning to talk to one another by the kitchen. Chan walked over to where Hyunjin and Mijoo were on the couch. “How are you healing up?” He asked.

“Her smaller injuries are starting to scar and heal and everything seems like it will be fine in the long run, besides the scars she will have. Nothing too bad, and no infections. So overall things are going well,” Hyujin spoke up, speaking for her as if she wasn’t there.

Chan nodded towards Hyunjin before turning his eyes on to her, “Everything hurts,” was all Mijoo could bring herself to say under the strong gaze of Chan. “But, thank you… for at least killing Jaehyo, He was-he was one of the men- that…”

Chan held up a hand and stopped her, “I figured he was. That tends to be his specialty. Next time I’ll make sure to get the rest of them.” While he didn’t say it, the words ‘for you’ hung in the air like an unsaid promise.

Chan nodded to the both of them before heading out of the apartment. Leaving her now with just the three men. Hyunjin made quick work of changing her bandages again before going to help Changbin with his own injuries.

While they were occupied Jisung made his way over to where Mijoo was sitting, “So…” He started, “didn’t want to give Chan a lesson on apologizing huh?”