"Hey, guys, sorry for leaving all of a sudden, we were- what are you guy doing?" Jisoo blinked upon entering the living room, the two younger members following behind him also looking stumped at the sight of the other members.

The six members were basically splayed out in different corners of the living, all looked as though they were ready to look death in the face by tomorrow, dark eye circles and everything. Jisoo swore that he could see their souls literally floating out of their mouths, threatening to leave the world of the living at any second.

"Showing the company how sad, depressed, and incomplete we are without the Performance Unit." Jeonghan explained from his place on the sofa, his eyes empty as he stared up at the ceiling, "You guys hurry up and grab a spot, too."

"Um, how about no?" Jihoon arched an eyebrow as he tried very hard not to just bolt out of the room in case his fellow member's idiocy catches onto him, "Is that makeup?"

"Yup, waiting for real ones to form would take too much time." Jeonghan replied, showing him the dark shade of eye-shadow they were using.

"I'm good." Jisoo smiled awkwardly as Jeonghan attempted to apply some on him.

"Anyway, where were you guys?" Seungcheol asked, a visibly tired look on his face as he looked from his spot on the floor.

"We were visiting the Performance Unit-"

"What?! By yourselves?!"

"Just thought Jihoon had some unfinished business with Jun, and-"

"Jisoo, you're a genius." Jeonghan's eyes were suddenly wide open as he sat up from the sofa, just as Seungcheol faceplanted right into the carpet, "We can use that!"

"Use what?" Jihoon cringed, knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"You, Mingyu, Seokmin, and Hansol should go on double dates! Well, there are four of you, so I guess it'd be a double double date, but you get the idea," Jeonghan rambled on, now hopping up and pacing around thoughtfully, "this needs to be done in broad daylight where anyone can see you. Better yet, someone who runs a fansite."

"Where are you going with this?" Seungcheol rubbed his temple tiredly.

"Don't you get it? If word goes out that these guys are actually dating each other, fans may sign a petition for them to come back!" Jeonghan threw his hands up triumphantly, congratulating himself for thinking up such a brilliant plan, "And you guys will get to spend time with you significant others for an entire day even if it doesn't work, so it's a win-win."

"I don't know, it still sounds bizarre to me." Jihoon grumbled.

"I don't care as long as I get to see Minghao." Mingyu chirped happily, seemingly pleased with the plan.

Seokmin only smiled, sitting up from his spot on the table, "If that makes Jeonghan-hyung happy."

"Yeah, yeah." Hansol had replied nonchalantly, busy deciphering Mingyu's handwriting regarding the Performance Unit's new address.

"Terrific, I'll help you book the place tomorrow after I've looked up all the popular places fansite owners stakeout at." Jeonghan said gleefully, immediately zooming off to his room to do his "research".

Jihoon only blinked as the rest of the members got out of their zombie disguise and started chattering noisily again as usual. Sometimes he wondered if he should consider bringing back his whole guitar-swinging period to be heard, but, well, he wasn't going to complain too much if it meant more quality time with Junhui. Still, something just didn't sit well with him.

"By the way, Mingyu-hyung and the others are coming over to take you guys out on a date. Well, basically we're all going on a date together, according to Jeonghan-hyung's plan." Hansol explained with Chan sitting between his legs, tucked comfortably under his chin.

"Plan? What plan?" Minghao scowled lightly.

"Well, first of all, we're going to stop by that coffee shop the members usually hang out at, and then we're going to Soonyoung-hyung's favorite park, and then-"

"No, I meant what do you mean this is according to Jeonghan-hyung's plan?"

"The plan to get you guys out of here and back with us." Hansol replied nonchalantly, shrugging as he continued to nuzzle the younger boy in his arms affectionately, "Where you guys belong."

"...Okay, and how is a group date going to fix that?" Minghao sighed, just a little relieved that he wasn't present for one of Jeonghan's "enlightened" moments.

"Something about prompting the fans into signing a petition... I'm not sure how that part is going to work out either. But hey, I'm not saying no to a date with this guy." Hansol said, giving Chan's hand a squeeze.

Minghao rolled his eyes, young people these days have no restraint. "Well, I guess it would be a nice change of pace?" The younger Chinese dancer sighed, half because he knew no one's survived going against Jeonghan before, and half because he was actually looking forward to spending time with Mingyu, mostly for Mingyu's sake, of course.

Junhui looked at Hansol with disbelief, "And Jihoon was okay with it?"

"Obviously not, I'm sure Jeonghan-hyung just didn't give him a choice." Soonyoung scoffed, already in his room looking for the perfect outfit.

"...Well, at least one person is eager." Minghao sighed, finishing up the rest of his breakfast.

As the couples filed into the coffee shop and sat down at their usual spot with the group, they heard cameras immediately going off from outside but tried very hard to ignore them. At least Junhui was having a hard time, the others all seemed too occupied with catching up with their partners. He glanced across the table towards Jihoon, who wasn't trying to hide his annoyed expression at all. "Annoyed" didn't even begin to describe the look on his beloved's face, he was definitely, painstakingly, obviously, pissed.

Junhui coughed lightly, looking at his menu, "So, um, what are you getting?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant while ignoring the sloppy, disturbing kissing noises coming from Soonyoung and Seokmin's table, most of the noise was coming from Soonyoung as he continuously showered his claimed love of his life with affection. To be fair, the two probably had the least chances to interact since their leave, which was only a day ago, but still, Minghao, Junhui, and Chan were able to have a very short catch-up with their lovers yesterday while Soonyoung suffered.

Jihoon's jaw was clenched, his fingers holding the menu so tightly that crinkles were starting to appear on the pages.

"Um, how about I hold that for you?" Junhui tugged the almost ruined item out of Jihoon's fingers, "Just tell me when to turn the page."

Jihoon shook his head, "I'm good."

They fell into awkward silence until the waiter came over to take their order, but after that, more silence.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" Junhui asked, putting down his cup, "I mean, I know you prefer to tone down all the touchy-feely stuff in public, but this is ridiculous."

"It's fine, don't worry." Jihoon grumbled, playing with his teaspoon as sunlight reflected onto it, attempting to aim the reflected light into Soonyoung's eyes and successfully blinding him.

Okay, so he was going to do this the hard way. Junhui thought, Well, that works just fine for me. "But Jihoonie~ yesterday you told me you loved me, but today you're acting so cold! Are you tired of me already?" Junhui pouted, tilting his head upwards in a puppy pout, something that Mingyu taught him to do as it's apparently proven to be effective for Minghao.

The corner of Jihoon's mouth twitched, but no response came.

Junhui sighed and decided to distract himself by playing with the paper wrappers that the straws came in instead.

"I'm sorry, it's just... this wasn't how I pictured our first date." Jihoon finally admitted, his tone heavy, a hand sliding over the table to play with Junhui's fingers, "It's so unromantic with the other guys here, and I was really hoping that I could take you somewhere new on a date instead of the usual hangout spots." He muttered, threading his fingers between Junhui's.

Junhui looked at him quizzically, "That's what you were annoyed about?"

"THIS IS YOUR FIRST DATE?!" Mingyu and Soonyoung hollered at the same time.

There was death in Jihoon's eyes as he lowered his gaze, suddenly very interested in the foam pattern forming on his latte, "I mean, I know I'm not the most romantic person either, but... you deserve better." He finished with a sigh, slapping a hand on Soonyoung's face to close the latter's mouth.

Junhui hurriedly shook his head, ignoring the others' stares, "No, no, that's actually really sweet of you to think, but I'm really fine with this! It's fun with the others around, I mean, sure, it'd be nice with just us, but what I mean to say is-"

Junhui's eyes grew wide as Jihoon leaned over, cutting his sentence short by giving a small peck to his lips.

"Go on, you were saying?" Jihoon asked, settling back into his own seat, a slight smirk on his face as the tip of his tongue poked out and ran itself over where their lips briefly touched. Junhui could have sworn he heard a sigh of content come from the smaller guy as he studied Junhui's shocked expression.

"I love you." Was the only thing Junhui could stutter out.

Jihoon scoffed and rolled his eyes but with a satisfied grin.

"Sometimes I think you're the worst out of all of us." Soonyoung commented, cringing.

Seokmin tugged gently on Soonyoung's collar, "Which is why you don't have to worry about them, meanwhile... I believe I'm losing some attention here?" He smiled teasingly as Soonyoung immediately began to shower kisses over him again.

Chan made a face at the older couples, "Amateurs."

"Play nice, it's not a competition." Hansol soothed, running his hand through Chan's hair lovingly.

"Well, he's right." Minghao shrugged, sipping his tea calmly, "I do feel bad that Jihoon-hyung and Jun-hyung have to have their first date under these circumstances though."

Mingyu bobbed up-and-down his chair excitedly, "Yeah! Our first date was perfect! You remember, Hao? It was-"

"Like a dream come true, yes, yes." Minghao reached over to give a calming pat to his boyfriend.

Mingyu nodded happily, his metaphorical tail wagging.

"Good, good, that's it." Jeonghan smirked evilly as he scrolled through the pages and pages of "couple sightings" fansites are uploading onto social media, then suddenly stopped short, "I've made a terrible miscalculation."

"What is it now?" Seungcheol sighed, putting a glass of water down on the table that was meant as "refreshments" for Jeonghan.

"Forbidden love, Seungcheol, everyone likes forbidden love. The fact that these couples would be so appealing is because they are separated by a tragic border-"

"Okay, you're starting to sound a lot like Jisoo, so can you please just get to the point?"

"We need them to stage a breakup."

"All right, that was probably too big of a jump, mind rewinding a little before the point?"

Jeonghan sighed, getting up to pace back-and-forth again, "The fans have already seen them happy together, but just that isn't enough to get them to start a petition, now they need to see them unhappy and specifically because of this separation."

"Yeah, still lost here."

"Something like... they're breaking up because of the long distance. Fans who don't want to see them breakup will start the petition to 'shorten the distance', and by shortening the distance I mean bring the Performance Unit back. It's fool-proof!"

"Suuuure..." Seungcheol grumbled unenthusiastically, "You know, I think you're just having too much fun with this-"

"No, no, listen to me Seungcheol, this will work!"

Seungcheol sighed heavily as Jeonghan went back to his computer doing whatever research he needed for the next step of his plan, "It better..."