"All right," Jeonghan brushed his long hair to the side and tied it into a loose ponytail, watching as the dancers hesitantly pulled up their own chairs to form a circle smack in the middle of the practice room, "There are a lot of things I'd like to ask and sort out, like why Minghao and Junhui were ready to rip each other's throats out just now, why Soonyoung looks like a sunburnt hamster, and- please don't tell me that's a hickey, Chan." Jeonghan let out a long sigh, sliding a hand down over his face in an attempt to clear his mind of dark thoughts before continuing, "But let's start with the oldest and most blatant question, what exactly is going on with you guys?"

The dancers glanced at each other uncomfortably around the circle, exchanging uncertain glances. Junhui, Minghao, and Chan then rested their gazes on Soonyoung, as though telling him it was his decision on how to go forth with this.

Swallowing nervously, Soonyoung was suddenly overly aware of how dry his throat felt as he looked across towards Jeonghan, forming eye contact, "We're getting kicked out."

"You better not be ing around, Kwon Soonyoung-"

"Why would I joke about something like that?" Soonyoung sighed, rubbing his temple tiredly, "Anyway, the company is running low on funds, they figured they need to cut some people off, unless we can reach this quota by the deadline."

The dancers waited with their breaths held for the vocalist's reaction. Jeonghan was looking at each member in turn, hoping that this was just some sort of elaborate joke they were trying to pull, he wouldn't put it past this particular playful unit. Alas, there was only dead seriousness in their eyes, and dread began to fall upon the angel of the group.

"Please don't tell anyone else." Minghao added, fiddling with his fingers nervously.

"No, I have to tell Seungcheol," Jeonghan watched as looks of alarm flashed across every member of the Performance Unit, "I'm sorry, but out of everyone, I think he deserves to know the most, he is our leader after all," getting up from his seat, Jeonghan went around the circle, rubbing each dancer's shoulder warmly, "Don't worry. We're a team, and even before that, we're family, and we won't let anyone get hurt."

With that, their "mother" exited the room, heading immediately to where Seungcheol possibly was.

Soonyoung collapsed backwards in his seat, "Well, we got that out."

"Yeah, but it still feels like ." Junhui spat out, storming out of the room.

Junhui didn't know how long he spent just lying on the rooftop, staring at the starless and moonless sky. It's funny how closely the sky could reflect one's mood, Junhui noted to himself. Just when he was about to drift off to sleep then and there, he heard shuffling as a familiar figure laid down next to him.

"What are you doing here?" Junhui scoffed, his voice barely a croak as he was reminded of the previous event in the practice room.

"Checking on you." Minghao replied, his voice nonchalant, as though he wasn't just trying to smash Junhui's face into the floor a couple moments ago.

Junhui rolled his eyes, rolling over onto his shoulder so that his back was to the younger Chinese male. He heard shuffling behind him and guessed that Minghao had probably moved closer anyway.

"Look, I'm sorry about before," Minghao started, prompting himself up by the elbow, "I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry for lashing out and almost kicking your ."

Junhui let out another scoff, "Don't worry about it, the only reason why I got mad was because you were right. Plus, don't flatter yourself, I could have kicked your ."

Minghao let out a chuckle, scooting over closer as Junhui flopped back down onto his back, his face turned to smile at the younger. After a moment of just grinning stupidly at each other, Minghao rolled over onto his back as well, letting out a sigh towards the sky, "I missed this."

"Yeah." Junhui grunted in agreement, his left arm coming up to hook itself around Minghao's right.

The air fell silent again as they listened to each other's breathing, the calmest they've been in each other's presence since the whole Performance-Unit-getting-cut fiasco.

"What happened to us?" Minghao finally asked, his right arm tugging Junhui's closer, "We used to be best friends."

"More like, they made us to be best friends," Junhui corrected, running his hand down to brush the tip of his fingers against Minghao's knuckles, "As the only Chinese members, we related to each other more, and we helped each other out," the older let out a wary smile at their pre-debut memories, "but as time went on, I guess we didn't need each other as much, and you found... better friends." Junhui finally choked out, Mingyu's face appearing in his mind, remembering how the two had gradually grown closer once Minghao was able to have complete conversations with the others without having Junhui translate for him, and well, in turn, the two China line members had less and less interaction as time passed on.

As though reading his mind, Minghao's hand flew up to grab Junhui's in a firm grip, "Ge, Mingyu is not a better friend," to get his point across, the younger had switched to speaking in Mandarin, "and I hope you don't think I have more fun without you or I'm happier with other people. In the first place, I didn't hang out with you because I had no choice, nor was it because I felt obligated as part of China line."

Junhui laughed dryly, watching as their fingers intertwined, "I'm glad Mingyu takes care of you though, as more than just a friend." He added with a teasing tone.

Minghao rolled his eyes, "My point is... no one can replace your role to me, Jun-ge."

"I know..." Junhui sighed, letting their hands fall to the ground, fingers still locked together, "Moving on doesn't mean throwing away."

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING?! WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?! ARE THEY HAVING AN AFFAIR OR NOT, HYUNG, I SWEAR TO GOD-"

"Mingyu... I can't... breath..." Soonyoung choked from the doorway as the younger male shook him vigorously by the shoulders, eyes popping out at the two Chinese members' intimate position.

Breaking apart, Junhui and Minghao made their way to their two eavesdroppers, the younger immediately pulling Mingyu off Soonyoung, assuring him that everything was fine while Soonyoung breathed in large gulps of air hungrily.

"You heard everything?" Junhui asked, rubbing Soonyoung's back as the other slowly recovered.

"Pretty much. I was worried about you two so I followed you guys up, Mingyu tagged along on the way." Soonyoung explained, finally breathing again at a normal pace, "So did you sort everything out?"

Junhui glanced over at Minghao who was now trying to pry off Mingyu's death grip so that they could walk properly down the stairs, "Yeah... I guess we did."

Junhui sighed, it was a rare day off, and yet the air already felt heavy at breakfast. From the look Seungcheol gave him when he entered the dining room, Jeonghan must had wasted no time in filling him in on their situation yesterday. He half-expected Seungcheol to make an announcement when everyone arrived, but breakfast time passed surprisingly normally with the usual bantering among members, most still trying to shake off sleep.

Once he's cleared his plate, Junhui excused himself from the table, but before he could exit the room completely, he felt a strong grip on his wrist, forcing him to turn around, "Where are you going?" Jihoon asked, eyes wide with panic, his grip on Junhui was starting to feel like it'd leave a bruise.

Trying not to wince from the pain, Junhui gave a smile, "I thought I'd just go back to my room and, well, relax for a change." He felt Jihoon's grip loosen slightly and his shoulders slumped in relief.

"I'm finished here as well, do you want to hang out in my room?" Jihoon asked, already moving towards said location before Junhui could respond, dragging the latter along stubbornly.

Before he even realized it, Jihoon had pretty much shoved Junhui into his room, closing the door behind him. The taller boy looked around, slightly puzzled by the situation. He then began to panic, wondering if Jihoon was planning on continuing their conversation from last time in the studio, "So, um... what do you plan on doing-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Jihoon tackled him onto the closest bed, pinning Junhui down onto the mattress, his hand reached behind the pillow, revealing what appears to be a... tie?

"Woozi?" Junhui tried again, but the other's expression was blank as he began to form a knot with the newly bought fabric, and Junhui realized too late that his right wrist had been secured to the bedpost which he could only hope to be Jihoon's.

"As I thought, it's not tight enough..." Jihoon muttered, his nails clawing at the knot, causing a couple of loose threads to slide out.

"It's, um, pretty tight..." Junhui scowled, wondering if Jihoon needed help selecting ties.

"Nothing will ever be tight enough..." Jihoon continued, not listening at all as he ran his hand down Junhui's face, with ghostly light touches, "What do I have to do to bind you to me?" The smaller male whispered, leaning down to nuzzle his cheek in the crook of Junhui's neck, they seemed to have resumed their position in the studio before Seungcheol interrupted, and without the tie, of course.

Junhui allowed the silence to draw out for a couple more minutes as he pondered the situation. Apparently Jihoon was trying to bind him, literally.Why? His free hand came up to ruffle Jihoon's hair in a soothing manner, "You don't have to bind me, I'm not going anywhere," he whispered in the younger's ear in what he hoped to be an assuring tone, "I promise." When the vocalist made no sign of budging, Junhui continued on calmly, "Have I ever broken a promise?"

"In 2012-"

"Since 2013?" Junhui interrupted, tugging Jihoon's head down gently so that his words were muffled by the dancer's shoulder.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and shook his head reluctantly.

"Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about," Junhui declared, pushing himself up to a sitting position with Jihoon still on top, he brought his face close to Jihoon's so that the tips of their noses were rubbing gently against each other, "Trust me."

Jihoon let out a sigh, closing his eyes as Junhui continued to caress and nuzzle against him, showering him with gentle comforting touches. Without thinking, Jihoon leaned in closer, brushing their lips against each other by accident, but he was too absorbed in Junhui's warmth to care or move away as their lips continued to "accidentally" brush over one another. These "accidents" repeated themselves a couple more times until Junhui finally pulled away, his free hand gently tilted Jihoon's chin upwards so that they were looking into each other's eyes.

At a painfully slow pace, Junhui began to draw their faces closer once more, this time there would be no excuse for any "accidents" to happen. Jihoon's heart pounded loudly in his ears as he felt Junhui's warm and now familiar breath against his skin, the gap between them closed, and Jihoon thought it was strange how right it felt with their lips locked together and how empty it felt when it ended.

His mind went fuzzy as he felt something wet and soft trailing the shape of his lips, and looked up to see Junhui's eyes slightly clouded over, having just enough self-control to wait for Jihoon's consent before delving his tongue in eagerly, exploring and claiming the new territory as his.

"It's okay, I'm sure they're just having some man-to-man talk, both of them are far too dense to- SON OF A BISCUIT!" Seungkwan spluttered as he opened the door to the sight of his two closest hyungs having some sort of wrestling match, granted the two had broken apart immediately at the loud interruption but the image was now burned in poor Seungkwan's mind forever.

"O-oh wow..." Seokmin blinked, looking past Seungkwan's frozen figure, his eyes darting from Junhui's bound hand, their entangled legs, and well, to the scene as a whole, "I definitely wasn't expecting to see Jihoon-hyung on top."

"That's not... That's my bed..." Seungkwan groaned, sliding onto the floor, completely drained.

Once things had calmed down with Junhui's hand free and their bodies untangled, Seokmin and Seungkwan sat their two hyungs down eagerly (mostly on Seokmin's part, Seungkwan still seemed like he was fuming).

"We came to check on you two because- oh right, Seungcheol-hyung and Jeonghan-hyung were looking for you, Jun-hyung." Seokmin said, prompting Junhui to stand up and excuse himself, almost too relieved for the lucky break.

Jihoon grabbed onto Junhui once more alarmingly, the dancer leaned down to plant a soft kiss on the vocalist's forehead, "I'll be right back. You know where to find me anyways." He gave Jihoon's hand a reassuring squeeze as the latter reluctantly drew back his hand, allowing Junhui to take his leave.

Jihoon continued to stare after the direction Junhui left in, as though he could still see him through the walls. Seokmin coughed lightly, "So who confessed first?"

"Huh?" Jihoon jumped, for a moment forgetting about the other two in the room.

"I see you and Jun-hyung finally got together." Seokmin's smile began to slip when he saw the growing bewilderment in Jihoon's eyes, "Please tell me somebody confessed."

"We... kind of just went with the flow..." Jihoon admitted sheepishly as Seokmin and Seungkwan made exasperated expressions.

"And was performing on Jun-hyung part of it?" Seungkwan asked, eyeing the piece of fabric that was now thrown into a corner warily, as though he was expecting it to jump up and eat them alive.

"That wasn't... I... don't know." Jihoon finished lamely.

"I didn't know you were into that sort of kink. Did Jun-hyung ask you to tie him up?" Seokmin pressed on, whether it was for his own entertainment or out of actual curiosity, Jihoon wasn't sure. Instead of answering, Jihoon simply buried his face into his hands, praying that a black hole would open up underneath him and save him from this torture.

Seungcheol and Jeonghan were talking in the kitchen with the rest of the Performance Unit when Junhui arrived, his heart sank when he saw the distressed looks on the other members, wondering what else could possibly go wrong today.

"Mind filling me in?" Junhui asked, leaning against the counter tiredly.

Seungcheol glanced at him and moved closer, "You know how the company insists that you guys need to reach the quota on your own?" Junhui nodded, not sure where the conversation was going, "Well, don't you think it's odd? If they don't have enough funds to care for a group, it'd make more sense for the group to raise money as a whole. Why are they picking on you guys specifically?"

"Well... since we'd be off having separate events, the company would be receiving both payment from your events and ours- no, wait, they said only the money the Performance Unit earns will be counted..." A scowl began to form on Junhui's face.

"Exactly. Besides, the only time we're actually going to be having this event 'juggle' is on the final day, yes? The music show?"

"Right."

"So technically it'd be the same if they just had the whole group put on extra shows or events, like what you guys have been doing while the rest of us have been basically lazing around. When you guys have free time, the rest of us are at an interview, there's been hardly any overlap." Jeonghan added, coming over to help Seungcheol explain, "Not to mention all of these extra events with new partners are definitely costing a lot more money, yet just yesterday I overheard the manager talking to Jihoon about getting new equipment for the studio soon, you'd think they'd be more on a budget with a claim like this."

Junhui his lips nervously, a slight tremble in his voice, "So... what are you implying?"

"The company doesn't plan on keeping you in the group from the start," Seungcheol declared, his tone grave, "It's probably something like this- If your show ends unsuccessfully, you get kicked out as promised, but if your show ends successfully, they are probably planning on splitting you from SEVENTEEN as an entirely different group, you will no longer just be a 'unit'."

Junhui just stared at Seungcheol blankly, looking towards the other members, hoping that they were just pulling some prank. When nobody responded, he broke into a dry laugh, "T-that doesn't make any sense... in the first place, if they valued us so much that they'd want us to form a group ourselves, they wouldn't want to kick us out."

"That's why they're giving you guys all these extra lessons and promotions, they're sure that it won't fail."

"Which means..."

"What's the point? Either way, they don't plan on letting us return to SEVENTEEN after the show!" Chan blurted out, his eyes red, looking close to tears, "If that's the case, I'd rather have the show fail."

"Hey, now..." Jeonghan walked over to comfort the maknae, "An idol should never let down their fans, no matter what the reason is. Also, even if they split you guys off, there is still a chance for us to meet as long as we remain in the same industry."

"But it won't be the same..." Minghao's voice wobbled as Jeonghan put an arm around the two youngest members in the room.

"I can't leave." Soonyoung finally spoke, his expression serious, the usual playful joker demeanor completely gone, "We can't leave."

Junhui nodded in agreement, remembering how desperate Jihoon looked when he was just leaving the room, he didn't want to imagine how he would react if Junhui broke the one promise he asked Jihoon to trust him with.

Seungcheol only looked at them silently, deep in thought until Hansol broke into the circle, running over to Chan immediately, "Who made Chan cry? I won't hold back even if it's you, Seungcheol-hyung!" The younger boy exclaimed, wrapping his arms protectively around his precious lover.

Seungcheol shook his head, having not gotten over the frightening scene from yesterday. He walked over to Soonyoung, patting the Performance Unit leader's back gently, "Let's go talk to the manager, the company owes you an explanation."

Seokmin returned to his room after Jihoon's finally had enough of his and Seungkwan's teasing, throwing both of them out, ignoring the fact that it was also Seungkwan's room. Naturally, he was surprised to see Soonyoung in there, his head hanging low as he leaned forward from Seokmin's bed.

"Soon? What's wrong?" Seokmin glided over to his side immediately, but Soonyoung was quicker. The latter reached up and pulled the lead vocalist down in a bone-crushing hug, using so much force that Seokmin thought he was definitely going to lose a rib. Nonetheless, Seokmin still reached up to Soonyoung's disheveled blue locks.

"I'm sorry..." was the only thing Soonyoung mumbled out as he pulled Seokmin closer, "I'm sorry..."

"Either you keep the Performance Unit, or we're all leaving. We're a team, if one of us leaves, we'll all leave, together." Seungcheol had declared to the manager, who was helping them communicate to the CEO through his cellphone, "When you gave us those rings, the contract was already set. The thirteen of us will be together forever."

"Another company has offered to buy the Performance Unit, we are no longer in charge of them."

"What?!" Soonyoung and Seungcheol both exclaimed.

"They're only still allowed to continue activities as SEVENTEEN until the deadline given, then they will have to pack their bags and move-"

"With all due respect, my argument still stands." Seungcheol pressed on desperately, "if they can't stay, we'll all resign."

"You think cancelling a contract is that easy? Lawsuits will have to be made. While I'm sure you boys are willing to throw everything on the line for each other, this doesn't just concern you, your families will also be involved."

It was hopeless, and Soonyoung was almost at his limit. What should I do...? He looked up helplessly at Seokmin, who only looked back with equal worry. Suddenly, almost entirely on impulse, Soonyoung blurted out, "Let's get married!"

"W-what?" Seokmin blinked, shocked by the sudden change in Soonyoung's tone.

"It's perfect. If we're married, they will have to let us be together. I can't save everyone else, but at least they won't be able to separate you from me-" Soonyoung continued to ramble on, sliding his hands down under Seokmin's and gripping them tightly against each other, "Will you marry me?!"

"Okay, that's enough." Junhui threw a book at Soonyoung, causing the latter to let go of Seokmin's hands before he could even give a response.

"Rude." Soonyoung grumbled, rubbing the back of his head where the book had landed its blow.

"Yes, rude, I was reading that." Wonwoo muttered from somewhere behind Junhui.

"What do you guys want?"

"Just worried about our roommate, and rightfully so." Junhui shrugged, walking in with Wonwoo, they each grabbed an arm and hauled Soonyoung out of the room, leaving Seokmin still very much confused and dumbfounded.

"Were you seriously going to propose to him under those circumstances? I swear, there is not a single romantic bone in your body." Junhui hissed as they made their way down the hall, Wonwoo had turned back to retrieve his book.

Soonyoung sighed, "I guess you're right... I gave in to desperation..."

"We'll figure this out." Junhui promised. We have to figure this out. "Anyway, you better think of an excuse for Seokmin tomorrow."

"What are the chances of a meteor hitting Earth sometime between today and tomorrow so that all our problems can be magically abolished?"

"Along with ourselves."

"Best case scenario." Soonyoung shrugged.