All the people standing around the living room had their eyes on Soonyoung. Waiting for him to explain what had happened that caused Mingyu to be in his current hot and bothered state.

“So that phone call I got earlier was from Woozi asking me to come meet him at his club.”

“And you just-” Seungkwan started but stopped when Soonyoung held up his hand to tell him to let him talk.

“Of course I wasn't going to go over there alone. I decided to take Mingyu because that The8 guy has a for him so I felt it was less likely he would punch him. I hadn't anticipated that it would be Mingyu who was going to throw a punch.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, what's up with that, Gyu?” Seungkwan eyed Mingyu and walked over to him. He lifted his hand and examined it, “It doesn't look so bad, did you ice it or was it just a very weak punch?”

Mingyu jerked his hand away from Seungkwan, “I...Woozi kept talking to Soon and I wanted him to stop so...” he let out a big sigh, “But I regret it now...I unwillingly set something in motion with that punch.”

“That sounds ominous. Are we at war with Daebak now?” Seungkwan asked.

“No...worse...the opposite! Sort of.”

“I'm confused.” Seungcheol said. “What's the sort of opposite of war that's worse?”

“Guys, “Soonyoung spoke up again, “Will you just let me finish? Before Mingyu punched him he was telling me about how he had some people digging for dirt on me, maybe on all of us, who knows. Anyway, he said his people hadn't actually found anything yet and it wasn't him who leaked the info. He's going to find out who it was and take care of it.”

“Why?”

“That's what I asked. He was pretty vague to be honest and I still don't get why he felt the need to tell me. Said he's trying something different. Whatever the that's supposed to mean. Anyway, since he's going to do what he's going to do regardless, I made an agreement with him. We're both going to try to find out more and keep each other updated. Something of an alliance, a truce. He also invited us to have a drink at his club some time. Carrots too.”

Mingyu scoffed, “Did you two decide all this before or after you had in his office?”

Soonyoung looked back at his friends, who were all gaping at him with disbelieve, with an innocent face, “What? It's not what it sounds like.”

“It's exactly what it sounds like! You told us to get out and then you two started...”

“Okay, fine. It is true, yes. I had the . In the office. With Woozi.”

“So Woozi invited you over to tell you that he's investigating who's responsible for the article, you don't believe he's innocent in all this and then you had with him? Weird flex, dude.” Seungcheol said.

“I was stressed. He looks like he's always stressed. It was just what we both needed in that moment.”

“Hey I get that can be a good stress reliever sometimes, but this is Woozi we're talking about.”

“What can I say? The mood arose, he felt it, I felt it, it happened. Maybe this was exactly what we needed to do. Before that he wanted us to leave, after he was willing to agree to sort of work together.”

“I know I'm the last person who can give you for going with the mood,” Seungkwan said, “but getting involved with Woozi? Is that really such a good idea? How can we trust him?”

“We can't. I don't trust him and I doubt he trusts any of us. But I trust him just a little bit more if I feel like I know what he's up to, you know. There's no harm in getting a bit closer to those we don't trust as long as we keep in mind that we don't trust them.”

Seungcheol sighed, “Fine. Okay. Whatever. It happened. It would have been nice if you just would have told us before you went over there though. It could have been dangerous, man.”

“Hello, are we all forgetting I was right outside! They told me and The8 to get out so they could bone!”

“You stayed there and listened? .” Soonyoung replied.

“What? No! I- That's not what happened...I...Fine. Whatever.” Mingyu threw his hands in the air. “Why don't we all just sleep with everyone! Let's invite over the rest of the Carrots and the Daebaks and all go out for karaoke, get drunk, and have a massive for all I care! I know I could use some goddamn stress relief!”

“What's wrong with him?” Hansol whispered to Seungkwan, but he shrugged. Mingyu was really in no position to judge Soonyoung after the affair he himself had with Jeonghan.

“That's actually not a bad idea.” Soonyoung mulled it over in his head.

“A massive ?”

“No, no, what he said before that. Invite everyone out. See how they react to that. Woozi said we were free to come by for a drink at the club, but that's his turf. I'm curious to see how willing he would be to meet somewhere else. How about in a week or so we invite them out. Say we want to update how our investigations are going and deepen our friendly truce.”

“Okay, fine. But don't say it like that, it sounds creepy.”

“Maybe,” Jisoo spoke up, “it might be a good idea if we don't just invite them through Woozi. I can invite Wonwoo to come, we have a class together. Maybe someone can contact Jeonghan. That way we're reaching out to more of them, not just their leader.”

They all nodded and agreed. Getting a bit closer to the Daebak gang. What could possibly go wrong?

<>

Wonwoo was on his way to see Jihoon. He felt bad about how they had left things and he wanted to talk it out. What he hadn't expected was to run into Minghao together with Mingyu going in the same direction.

“We're just heading back.” Minghao was quick to tell him without even being asked anything.

“Back to what? Where's Hoon?” Wonwoo questioned.

“Woozi,” Minghao felt the need to stress the fact that they were joined by a non-member, “is in his office. With Hoshi.”

“Alone? Why?”

Wonwoo didn't get an immediate answer to his question because the office door opened as they arrived. Soonyoung stepped out and gave both Wonwoo and Minghao a courteous nod as he walked passed them. “Come on Mingyu. Time to go.”

While Minghao escorted their two visitors out in silence, Wonwoo went into Jihoon's office.

“What's going on? Why were they here?”

Jihoon was sitting at his desk, head resting on one of his hands, “Have you come to yell at me some more?”

“No,” Wonwoo replied as he sat down on a chair facing the desk, “I came to talk to you. I don't like it when we fight.”

“We never fight.” Jihoon sighed and sank back in his chair, “Or we never used to anyway.” Their eyes met and they exchanged a small smile. Jihoon straightened himself up again, “Look. I heard you before. You were right. I feel less and less like I know what I'm doing and it's too easy to slip into a pattern that mimics my father's ways. I don't want that. So I called him here. Hoshi. I want to know who exactly is behind that article. If it was one of the guys I had on it...well...I'll deal with it accordingly.”

“So what exactly did you tell Hoshi?”

“That I was going to find stuff out and that it wasn't my intention for any of this to go public.”

“And what did he say?”

“Well, of course he wasn't so willing to let me handle it at first, but we've agreed to-”

“What the , Jihoon!?” Minghao startled both of them with his loud voice. He was never loud. He marched right up to the desk and stared down at Jihoon. “Well? What was that?”

“I-”

“What's wrong?” Wonwoo wanted to know.

“Did he tell you what he did?”

“Invite Hoshi over to talk? You can't be that shocked. I just saw you together with Mingyu so you must have known they were here?”

“That's not what I'm talking about! He told me to leave the room together with Mingyu and before I knew it they were...they were...doing...stuff.”

“Stuff? What stuff?” It wasn't until now that Wonwoo noticed how disheveled Jihoon's hair looked and the few loose buttons on his shirt. Not to mention the fact that all the things on his usually tidy desk were in disarray.

Jihoon didn't look either of them in the eye, “Just...we just...I had with him.” he mumbled.

“You had with Hoshi!?” Wonwoo yelled out, matching Minghao's noise level and state of shock.

“Well, well,” A honey-glazed voice said from behind them. All eyes turned to Jeonghan leaning in the doorway, “About time, too.” He made his way into the room, followed by a quiet Seokmin, “I was worried your ity was growing back, baby.” Jeonghan sat down on Jihoon's desk, close enough to be able to reach his hair. He ran his fingers through it, “Your hair's all messy, Hoonie. Is he a hair grabber?”

Jihoon gently slapped his hand away. He didn't want to talk about this with him. With any of them for that matter. “Can we just forget about it?”

Jeonghan looked him over in silence before he stood up again, “What exactly are we forgetting? The part or the fact that he was even here in the first place? Or was that the only reason he was here? Did you get yourself a little friend with benefits that you forget to mention to any of us?”

Jihoon scoffed, “Don't be ridiculous. I'm not you.” If he had been looking at him Jihoon would have seen Jeonghan's expression fall. Just for a second before it was back to his seductive playful smile, “All right, all right. No need to get all offended. I'm not the one who just had in your office.”

“Ehm...” Seokmin said softly, “So, why was he here?”

“They.” Wonwoo corrected him, “I saw Hao walking up with Mingyu.”

“Oh?” Jeonghan's interest was peeked, “Don't tell me you two...?” He wiggled his eyebrows in Minghao's direction. Jeonghan laughed seeing his reaction. “Oh, if looks could kill.” He turned his attention back to Jihoon, still wanting an explanation of what was going on. “Was it about that article? I thought you didn't have anything on him yet?”

Jihoon shook his head, “I didn't. At least not as far as I knew. And I never would have made it public just like that. Which is why I want to know who did. I just called him over here to tell him that.”

“Why?” Jeonghan questioned, “Isn't he just going to think you're trying to cover your in case it turns out it was someone connected to you?”

Jihoon nodded slowly, “Yeah, well, I partly am, aren't I? It was a mistake to trust my father's men. That reminds me, Hao, get those buffoons over here. We need to talk to them.”

Minghao nodded.

“Anyway,” Jihoon continued, “Of course he didn't trust me. He would be stupid to. I was hoping he would just see it as me trying to do the right thing, sort of. Which is also part of why I called him I guess. I was hoping I could get him to agree to let me handle it after I told him that even if it was one of my guys, they would get what's coming to them. But he's a stubborn son of a . In the end we agreed to a kind of partnership where we keep each other informed about what we find out and if we find the person or persons responsible we'll deal with it together.”

“Well, I think it's great.” Jeonghan said, “I've said it before, Jihoon. It's not a bad idea at all to be on their good side. Like it or not, they have power in this town. Or their families do at least. Especially now that the Rubies and Carrots are like peas in a pod, it's best to keep an eye on them. Something about enemies closer, right?”

<>

Everybody had stayed over at Seungkwan and Soonyoung's place that night. Seungcheol and Jisoo shared the spare bedroom that Mingyu often crashed in, while Mingyu himself had reluctantly crawled in bed with Soonyoung. The next morning after breakfast Hansol and Jisoo had left together and Seungkwan was by himself in his room. He was sitting on his bed with one of his textbooks when there was a knock on the door. Soonyoung's head peeked into the room, “Can we come in?”

Seungkwan nodded. Soonyoung, together with Mingyu and Seungcheol, walked in. Mingyu and Soonyoung sat down on either side of him while Seungcheol remained standing in the middle of the room.

“Do you want to talk?” Soonyoung asked him.

“About what exactly? You ing Woozi?”

“N-no...about what happened with your dad yesterday.”

“I told them mostly what happened,” Seungcheol explained, “but we just wanted to check in. See how you are.”

“Oh, that. I'm over it.”

The other three exchanged unsure looks between themselves. They found it hard to believe that he was 'over it' just like that. His father had a long history of making Seungkwan feel terrible and Seungkwan had an equally long history of covering up how he was feeling because of it.

“Seungkwan...” Mingyu tried to nudge him in the direction of opening up to them.

“Guys, really. I'm fine. I already talked about it with Hansol and I told him I was fine.”

“But...”

“This reminds me!” He locked a sharp gaze onto Seungcheol, “What the were you doing going over to my boyfriend and offering him money to dump me? Were you trying to test him or do you really think I'd be better of without him?”

“Eh...” Seungcheol certainly hadn't expected that to come up right now.

“Well?”

“Ehm...a bit of both? In my defense that was before he punched your dad in the face.”

Seungkwan narrowed his eyes, “I'm assuming you did this under the impression that you were acting in my best interest?”

“Of course! I'd give all the money in the world for your best interest! I was just...wrong about what's best for you.”

Seungkwan pursed his lips and nodded. The last thing he wanted right now was another fight with one of his friends. Not with all the going on. So he stood up and inhaled a good lung full of air. He was going to let this one go. He had other things on his mind. “Anyway. It's nice of you all to see how I'm doing, but I don't have time to hang around here to convince you that I'm fine. I need to go and write one of the best papers that has ever been written! I'm going to the library so I won't be distracted by any of you. Except for you Mingyu, you're coming with me!”

Mingyu groaned, “Why do I always have to get dragged around by you guys? Doesn't anybody care that I have a painting to finish!”

“Don't pretend like you don't have stuff to do as well! Time to get you ready for that class you've been failing! You can paint later!” He turned back and looked at Soonyoung, “Are you still meeting your dad later? Let me know how that goes, okay? I'll be back before dinner time.”

Soonyoung nodded, “Yeah. Sure.” He watched Seungkwan drag a reluctant Mingyu from the bed, “Seungkwan?”

“Yeah?”

“It's okay to not be fine. You know that, right?”

“I'm fine.”

<>

Hansol and Jisoo were driving in Hansol's car on their way to the hangout. They'd promised to update Jun and Chan on the latest developments.

“So...did you sleep okay?” Hansol asked, half an eye on Jisoo.

“I did, thank you.”

Hansol nodded, “Good, good. That's good.” It was silent again. They both knew what Hansol really wanted to ask, but Jisoo enjoyed watching him struggle with his own awkwardness. When he cleared his throat for the third time though, he couldn't take it anymore.

“Me and Seungcheol made out, but we didn't sleep together. I mean, we slept in the same bed, but we didn't have .”

“Did I ask that?” He was seriously confused because he had been trying to find a subtle way to ask about what was going on with those two, but he didn't think he had actually said anything out loud.

“No, but I know you wanted to know.”

Hansol chuckled, “Sorry, I'm just curious.”

“I understand.”

“So...are you two together now?”

“Sort of? We've established that we both like each other, but we're not really in a boyfriend place. If that makes sense. For now we've decided to keep it casual with no labels or strings attached.”

“Sounds complicated to me.”

Jisoo chuckled and stared out the window. He smiled thinking back about how he had felt cuddled up to Seungcheol all night. Simply being with him. It was enough for now.

<>

Soonyoung knocked on the door of his father's office. He had tried to ignore the looks he got from the staff as he made his way over there. Of course everybody knew. Some people looked at him with sympathy, close to pity. Others looked like they thought he had absolutely no business being there. A few didn't seem to care either way.

His father sat at his desk and gestured for his son to sit down.

“So?” Soonyoung asked, “What's the verdict? Do you want me to change my name and disappear in a boating accident?”

His father did not look amused. “This is not something to take lightly, Soonyoung. Granted, not everybody cares about our personal circumstances when it comes to the business, but some do. Some important, influential people. Investors, board members, clients.”

Soonyoung scoffed, “I'm not taking it lightly, dad. I'm pissed off that somebody thought it was okay to just-”

“I don't want to focus on who or why. I want to deal with what we do next.”

“You don't care about who did this to us?”

His father sighed. “Listen son. I did this to us, didn't I? It would be easy for me to get angry about our personal affairs to be brought to light like this, but it wouldn't change anything.”

“Ok...I guess. So now what?”

“Well, it was always the plan for you to come work here and eventually follow in my footsteps. I know we agreed that you would take a summer internship here this summer, but-”

“Say no more, I get it. It's not gonna happen. You can't have your bastard son taking over your business.”

His father looked at him in a way that Soonyoung hated. He looked at him with pity and guilt. “I need you to hear me when I say this. You are my son, you always have been and you always will be. I know I am not a perfect father, but I will always be your father.”

Soonyoung felt weird listening to his father's words. It was comforting and aggravating at the same time. The fact that his father felt like he had to confirm the fact that he was still his son, made him feel like his father had struggled with the issue. He must have.

“As for the business...I think it would be better if we don't involve you just yet. Think about what you want to do with your future, too. If you still want to take over then we'll make it happen. But, if you should find a different path for you to follow, well...it would be easier for you to do so now.”

Soonyoung didn't say anything. Of course it would be easier. Easier for his father. Easier if he wasn't going to be a part of this family business. He made it sound like he had given his son freedom to choose his own path, but to Soonyoung it just felt like he was being pushed off the path he had been on his whole life.

<>

“Well, Seungkwan isn't coming. He's keeping Mingyu hostage at the library again.” Soonyoung said as he hung up his phone. He and Seungcheol were outside waiting for the others to arrive. They had extended the planned invitation for a karaoke party night to members of Daebak and were about to find out if any of them would actually show up.

“Again?” Seungcheol replied, “Those two practically have been living there for the past week and half. Should we be worried?”

Soonyoung shrugged, “At least Seungkwan isn't doing it alone like in high school. He's dragging Mingyu along with him in his study pit, so I'm not too worried.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

A car pulled up and the members of the Carrot gang, minus Hansol, stepped out of it. Jisoo walked over to Seungcheol and kissed him lightly on the cheek, “Hansol picked up another shift at his waiter job so he won't be coming.”

“How long are we going to wait for any Daebaks to show up? I still think it's a terrible idea in the first place, by the way.” Chan said.

“Oh, ehm, I asked The8 like you asked,” Jun spoke up, “but he just left my messages on read...”

Soonyoung sighed. He was about to suggest they just go in when they could hear the sound of motorcycles getting closer. Two big motorcycles pulled up and stopped right in front of them. Jeonghan, who had been riding on the backseat of one of the two motorcycles, took of his helmet and smiled. “Wow, a whole welcome committee. I feel honored.”

Soonyoung watched as the other two people removed their helmets to reveal Wonwoo and DK and he clicked his tongue, “Woozi not coming?”

Jeonghan shook his head, “He and The8 are busy tonight. But don't worry,” he said as he walked passed Seungcheol and Jisoo, “I know how to have a good time way better than they do anyway. Shall we go in?”