Mijoo was sitting at her breakfast table at eight o'clock the next morning, half way through a bowl of cereal, when a knock came at her door. Abandoning her breakfast she padded over, still in her pajamas, and opened the door. On the other side stood a boy, who couldn't have been much younger than herself, with his hands in his pockets and a bored look on his face.

"You really shouldn't open the door for just anyone. What if I had been here to kill you?" The boy scoffed before walking past her into her apartment. Mijoo blinked, staring at the space in the hallway the boy had just vacated. 

"Um...good morning to you too?" Mijoo said closing the door behind him and following him into her living space. "I take it you're Seungmin?"

"Yep," The boy replied looking around her apartment, hands still in his pocket. "Nice place."

"Um thanks...that was....fast" Mijoo commented, "I only just talked to the boys last night." 

"Well we have to work fast if we don't want to end up dead. Felix filled me in while we were setting up in the apartment across the hall. Did you really say you were Chan's girlfriend?" Seungmin asked kneeling down to pet her cat who had come over to say hello. 

Mijoo's face turned bright red at the memory, "Uh...yeah....I was just....I was just trying to get past the guard so I could talk to someone in Stray Kids.....you've already moved in across the hall?" 

Seungmin nodded not looking up at her, "Like I said we have to work fast. It's certaintly not done by any stretch of the imagination, but it will do for now. ...What's his name?"

"O-oh...that's Brian." Mijoo answered looking down at her orange tabby who was currently purring from all the attention.

"Nice to meet you Brian." Seungmin said to her cat, giving him one last pet on the head before standing. "Well...let's get started."

Mijoo blinked. "Started with what?"

"Going over your schedule, talking about our cover story, ya know...the usual." Seungmin answered putting his hands back in his pockets.

"The usual...right...I don't know what's usual about any of this but ok." Mijoo mumbled to herself going to sit back down at her small dining table, Seungmin following behind and sitting opposite her. 

"Well you'd better start getting used to it, cause you're a Stray Kid now." Seungmin responded leaning back in his chair.

"Why am I...what does that even mean?" Mijoo questioned, lifting her spoon out of her bowl of cereal and dropping it dejectedly. It was all soggy now. 

"Well, you saved Felix's life. Think of it like a debt. We owed you, and for people like us it's never a good idea to owe someone. Now there are a number of ways that could have been repaid. We could have literally just paid you off and given you money. If you needed someone killed we could have taken care of that for you, life for a life, .....that kind of stuff," Mijoo made a face at him, but Seungmin just continued, "Ultimately the decision of how you're repaid would be up to you, Felix, and Chan. However Felix, being the person he is, took matters into his own hands, especially after the stunt Jisung pulled."

"Stunt? ...What did he do?" Mijoo asked confused. 

"He tried to claim that him saving you from Mark that day by the alley was enough for repayment. He was probably just trying to move past this whole mess, but like I said, repayment is decided by the parties involved and the boss. Jisung crossed a line and it was enough leverage for Felix to get what he wanted." Seungmin explained.

Mijoo remembered back to how Jisung kept insisting that she wasn't their problem anymore. Is it really such a big deal to owe someone, that he would go to all that trouble? "What did Felix want?" 

"Full protection." Seungmin said leaning forward and looking her in the eyes. 

"And what does that mean?" Mijoo pressed. 

Seungmin waited a moment before answering, his eyes still searching her face for...something. Mijoo didn't know. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Gangs can protect neighborhoods, businesses, and people, but it usually comes with a price...and a threat to stay in line and pay on time. But full protection means..." Seungmin thought about it for a moment, drumming his fingers on the table and looking around her apartment. He spotted a shelf on the wall where Mijoo had a picture of herself with her mom and dad. "Well ....it's like family." He said nodding towards the picture. "We protect our family, we look out for them, they get top priority and special treatment from us. Full protection means you get the family treatment, and that you're recognized as part of the family. I don't know why Felix would repay you with full protection, but he did, and let me tell you the guys are piiiiiiiissed." Seungmin's face lit up with a cheeky smile, completely changing his countenance. "Honestly it's pretty hilarious." 

"You said that I would get a say in all this, but I didn't. I got sent out into a hallway like a child while they argued about it." Mijoo pointed out.

Seungmin shrugged. "That's true, but Chan doesn't really like people seeing him get upset. So maybe thats why" Mijoo frowned, but didn't argue. "But anyway ...back to the reason I'm here. Woojin got me transfered over to your university last night and enrolled me in all of your classes. Let's start by going over what you would consider to be a normal week and talk about your routine."

Over the next several hours Seungmin and Mijoo pieced together a cover story for why Mijoo suddenly had a new shadow. They decided that introducing Seungmin as her cousin would be the least suspicious, although Mijoo said that Nayeon would be suspicious no matter what they picked as their story. They then moved on to talking about her routine, going over where she would usually hang out, who she usually would talk to, and what her relationship was to them. 

"Man you spend a lot of time at the library..." Seungmin noted looking over some of what they had already talked about. He had broken out a pen and notepad as they talked to take notes. Mijoo blushed as she thought about the reason why, it certainly wasn't because she was a giant book worm. Seungmin raised his eyebrows at her, "Oh? What does that face mean?" He asked. 

"It's nothing..." Mijoo denied, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Listen I'm going to be spending a lot of time with you, I'm going to find out eventually." Seungmin pointed out.

Mijoo ducked her head, "Well... there's a guy that works there who I'm interested in." Mijoo admitted not looking up at Seungmin.

"Yeah that makes more sense now..." Seungmin replied looking back at his notes. "What's his name?" 

Mijoo bit her lip. "It's Jaehyun... We're kinda friends I guess... Mark knows about him though..." 

Seungmin nodded and made a few more notes. "Ok... That might be a problem. News is already spreading that you're Chan's girlfriend. That means you can't pursue a relationship with this Jaehyun guy. For one it would make Chan look bad if people thought his girlfriend was cheating on him. And second, it would put Jaehyun in more danger if you did." 

Mijoo deflated at his words, "Oh... I guess that makes sense ..." She pouted. There goes my chance with literally any guy for the rest of my life I guess. I'm going to die alone and single....and probably early at this rate.

Seungmin smiled at her and kicked her lightly under the table. "Hey don't worry about it. You haven't even really gotten to know Chan yet, maybe you won't hate being in a fake relationship with him. I certainly think you could do worse. Imagine if you had said you were Jisung's girlfriend, you would be stuck with pretending to be his girlfriend and I can assure you....that would be way worse. Although ...I do think that would have been the thing to finally send him over the edge, which I would have loved to see ...oh well...it's bound to happen eventually."

Mijoo gave him a small smile back. "You're right....that would have been much worse. I'm pretty sure he hates me"

Seungmin hummed, "Well I'm not going to tell you that he doesn't hate you, but I will say that it takes Jisung a bit to warm up to people. He's kind of a fight first, get to know you later kind of guy."

Mijoo bit her lip again, "Um...well then what's Chan like? I haven't really spoken to him before, besides the day that Felix almost died and that wasn't really a proper conversation."

"Chan is...." Seungmin thought about it for a moment. "He's... well he's dedicated. He's dedicated to Stray Kids and he really doesn't give much time for himself. He's strict, but fair...or as fair as one can be. I mean...every one of us would die for him. I certainly wouldn't work for anyone else and none of the other guys would either."

Mijoo nodded, thinking to herself "Oh...well he sounds...nice...I guess..."

Seungmin laughed. "I don't know if 'nice' is the word I would use to describe the leader of a gang...but sure...he's nice."

"Oh, right....... so um speaking of that...I'm not really sure how this is all supposed to work. I mean you all seem pretty trusting of some random girl who is just walking into your life and business." Mijoo pointed out. 

"Oh we don't trust you at all. I'm not just here for your protection, I'm here to protect Stray Kids. That means I make sure you don't do, or say, anything stupid. I hate to ruin this nice little talk we've been having, but if I have to kill you to protect Stray Kids then I will." Mijoo felt a chill run down her back at his words. "Full protection gets you a lot, but at the end of the day you're the only one who can threaten that." 

"Noted..." Mijoo breathed out, feeling like the last of her oxygen was leaving her body with that word. 

"But hey, don't do anything that will make me kill you and we'll be all good!" Seungmin smiled at her. "So want to get dressed and go running together? You said that you been putting that into your routine, might as well get started today. I used to go running with Felix, but it's been a while. Would be good to get back into the routine."

Mijoo nodded, She had started to think that she was going to like Seungmin as they had been talking together, but with only a few words she was reminded of the postition she was really in. She had gotten herself involved with dangerous people, and if she wanted to stay safe....stay alive, then she needed to stick with them.

They had just finished their run in the universities gym when Mijoo's cell phone rang. Looking at the caller id she was surprised to see that "Babe" was calling her. Confused she answered the call. "Um...hello?" She asked. Seungmin was sitting next to her on a bench and made a motion asking who was calling. Mijoo just shrugged at him. 

"I need to see you at the apartment in 10 minutes." A deep voice said on the other end. 

"Uh...who is this?" Mijoo asked her brows furrowing. 

The man on the other end sighed. "It's Chan. Felix told me he gave you my number."

Mijoo's mouth opened in surprise and her face started to turn red. "O-oh...yeah he did...he just...the contact he put you under wasn't your name so I was...just confused...sorry..."

"What did he put me under then?" Chan asked and Mijoo could hear the confusion in his voice. 

Mijoo coughed, "Well, uh....he put your caller id as...um.....babe...." She muttered out. Beside he Seungmin started laughing, having figured out who must be calling. There was silence on the other end of the line. "Um don't worry I'll change it" She breathed out in a rush.

"Don't" Chan stopped her, "No....it's probably for the best this way. It would be suspicious if it wasn't a pet name or whatever people in a relationship have for their caller id. I'll have to do something similar I suppose." Chan sounded defeated and Mijoo couldn't blame him. "Anyway, I'm on my way to the apartment, I'll be there in 10."

"Ok, Seungmin and I just finished up at the gym, we should be back around the same time." Mijoo responded. 

"Good." Chan replied before hanging up abruptly.

Mijoo looked at the phone surprised before looking over at Seungmin who was still giggling. "I take it gang members don't usually say goodbye." She noted. 

"Not really." Seungmin shrugged. "So how was babe?" He questioned, smiling deviously. 

Mijoo bit her lip and tried to fight the rising blush on her cheeks. "He's meeting us at the apartment in 10 minutes so we'd better head back." She answered standing up.

"Oooooo I get to see the couple in action, how exciting." Seungmin quipped. Mijoo frowned and went to hit him on the shoulder but he bounced out of the way. "Come on let's not keep your beau waiting." He winked before sauntering off.  

Mijoo sighed before following after him. Really.......what have I gotten myself into.....

I regret writing a gang au.

Lol ok that's not true, but like I struggled. I never intend for updates to take a month. I really don't, I would love to write consistently and have these up once a week and just be pounding out the chapters. Maybe someday. I hope you all like his update. 

Love Always,

Ashton