The next day when Jeonghan woke up his body felt heavy and his head fuzzy. Had he really drunken that much? It took him a moment to realize where he was, but he soon recognized the room as the apartment above the club where Minghao lived. It took him another moment to become aware of the warm body next to him. He looked over and saw none-other than Minghao himself sleeping next to him peacefully. It was almost funny how sweet he looked sleeping. Jeonghan slowly sat up and groaned. He had known better days.

“You're awake!” Seokmin immediately got up from the floor, where he had been sleeping, and made his way to the bedside. “How are you feeling?”

“A bit woozy, actually. What the hell did I drink last night? How did I end up in bed with Hao?”

“Well, Wonwoo is on the couch and he refused to sleep on the floor like I did.”

“Okay, but why are we all here in the first place? Where is Jihoon?”

“Oh! That reminds me! He told me to call him as soon as you woke up. I'll be right back!”

“Stop being loud.” groaned a groggy Minghao. He opened his eyes and saw someone staring it him. He was suddenly wide awake when he realized it was a confused Jeonghan staring at him and he sat up. “Do you remember last night?”

“I...” Jeonghan tried to recall the night before but he realized there were a lot of gaps and blurs. It was an unsettling feeling. “Seriously, I don't remember drinking that much.”

“You didn't. You were drugged, man.”

“Oh.... By whom?”

“We're not sure. Do you remember anything?”

“Ehm, I don't know.” He tried again to recall last night, but the more he couldn't the more it stressed him out and his mind went blank, “I...did you guys find me before...like...anything...”

“Yeah, don't worry. Whoever drugged you didn't get to you.” Minghao sweetly his friend's hair, “If they had and they'd done anything to you I would have killed them.”

Jeonghan chuckled, “Knowing you, you might actually would have.” He smiled softly at this friend, “Thanks.”

Minghao nodded before his attention was drawn to the silent figure that now stood next to the bed. Wonwoo, who had entered the room in complete silence, stood there holding a large glass of water. He handed it to Jeonghan. “Here. Don't try to force yourself to remember too much right away. Have some water. Wait for Jihoon to get here. We'll talk then.”

About fifteen minutes later they heard the sound of Jihoon's motorcycle pulling up outside. Jeonghan, and Seokmin sat around the coffee table in the living room. Wonwoo moved to open the door to let their leader in. The small man took of his jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. He walked over to Jeonghan and looked him over. “You look okay. How are you feeling?”

Jeonghan shrugged, “Confused mostly, but not bad. You look like you haven't had much sleep.”

“Yeah, thanks.” He looked around and found they were missing one person. “Where's Hao? I'd like to talk about last night.”

“He's still in the shower, but he said we could start without him. Unless some important information was revealed. Or unless we'd make any decisions. Or unless you brought snacks.”

Jihoon shook his head. “The thing is. I'm already pretty convinced who was behind this, but I want to hear what you remember yourself, Jeonghan. Without any of us planting ideas in your head. So,” he sat down in the chair opposite the couch Jeonghan was sitting on, “What do you remember?”

Jeonghan sank back into the couch and closed his eyes, “I...I remember the start of the evening. I remember greeting the first guests. Nothing unusual. I remember talking to you in your office. I remember going back down again and talking to more people. I...I showed the Rubies, those idiots, to a private booth. Although I think one of them wasn't there or maybe he joined later, I don't really remember. I also talked to Chan.”

“Who?” Jihoon asked.

“Chan. That small one from the Carrots. Maybe you know him as Dino.”

“Why did he talk to you?” This was the information Jihoon wanted, what he had expected, really.

“I...I think I talked to him first. He's so adorable. I want to adopt him. I always because I know it bothers him.”

Jihoon's mouth twitch involuntarily at the thought of his friend talking so endearingly about such a low-life, “Did he seem upset by this?”

“Not more than usual. I think...I...” Jeonghan sighed. He opened his eyes and sat up straight again, “I don't remember, okay. I know I talked to him, but I don't remember the actual conversation. I think I made a joke about how babies shouldn't be allowed to drink and I might have taken his drink from him or he gave it to me or something.”

“Did you talk to any other members of his gang?”

“Maybe. I vaguely remember another person there, but I can't recall who it was. It might have been their leader, Joshua. Or someone else. Or I might be mixing up conversations. It's all pretty vague.”

“It's clear enough for me.”

“What do you mean?” Jihoon seemed to have heard enough to draw a conclusion about last night, but Jeonghan was still confused. In that moment Minghao joined them, hair still damp from the shower.

“Did I miss anything?”

“Jeonghan was just telling us what he remembers.”

“And?”

“He doesn't remember much, but if I wasn't already convinced it was those losers who did this, I am definitely convinced now.”

“What about the Rubies?” Minghao didn't feel the same level of conviction about it being the work of the Carrot gang as Jihoon did.

Jeonghan sighed, “Like I told the others, I just showed them to a private booth. They're s but they have money.” He got up from the couch and stretched his arms behind his back, “Look guys, I wish I could remember who it was, but I don't. The fact of the matter is that in our line of work there will always be scumbags. I'm already over it. I'm going to take a shower.” With that he walked away and left the others behind in the living room.

“So, that's it?” Minghao asked, mostly directed at Jihoon, “We're just going to let it go?”

“He said he doesn't remember much. Maybe it's for the best to let it go. What can we do anyway?” Wonwoo replied, but Jihoon shook his head.

“There is no way I'm just going to 'let it go'. This was unacceptable. Someone out there thought it was okay to come into my club and drug one of my people? No way I'm going to let that slide.”

“But, we don't even know who did it.” Seokmin said with a soft voice.

“Don't we?” Jihoon replied in a calm, but dangerous voice.

Minghao clicked his tongue, “I don't know. I know you think you know, but we're not really sure, are we?”

Jihoon remained silent after that, but the others could tell he hadn't let it go. No, not at all.

<>

It was a few days after the night they had gone to the club opening. Seungkwan had not enjoyed himself. The music wasn't his style, his friends drank too much, his bathroom hook-up fell through, and in the end all he did was lose time to work on all of his projects, papers, and all the other things he was working on. He had so many extra-curricular activities he had almost forgotten what his major was. The pressure he put on himself was too much sometimes. His friends often reminded him that not even his parents, who were known to put a lot of pressure on their son to succesfully succeed his father as owner of a chain of fancy hotels, needed him to be this picture perfect.

Yesterday hadn't been a good day and today wasn't any better. The deadline for the university's newspaper was due in a few hours and he was still waiting on a piece about one of their professors who was awarded some prestigious price for his research and a few fluff pieces. Normally, as editor, he would be far more on top of his writers when a deadline was approaching, but he had been swamped and it didn't help he was busy having a secret affair that he tried to hide from all of his friends. As soon as he saw the person he had been waiting for enter the workroom he stormed over to him.

“Hong! Where have you been? You do know the deadline is in a few hours right? I need time to go over whatever you wrote to make sure it's on par with this paper's standards.”

“Relax, Seungkwan. I have it right here. And, like always, I'm sure it's 'on par with this paper's standards'.” By now, Jisoo was used to the editor's outbursts, but that didn't make it more fun to deal with.

Seungkwan ripped the papers from his hands and glanced over them real quick. He felt his stress levels going through the roof. “Are you kidding? What is this? Where is the article about professor Kim?”

Jisoo looked at him confused, “Professor Kim? The deadline for that is not until next week!”

“Are you stupid? He's getting his reward tomorrow, why would we write about him next week? This is great. Just great. Can't you do anything right? Maybe you should spend less time with your druggy-good-for-nothing-loser-friends hanging around in clubs.”
 

“I mistook the deadline, I'm sorry. I know you're stressed, but I don't appreciate you insulting my friends, Seungkwan. I already started the article, I'll finish it and get it to you before the deadline, okay?”

“No. No, nevermind. Just leave. I'll do it myself.”

“Why? I said I'll finish it in time. Why do you always have to be so-” Before he could finish what he was about to say he was interrupted by someone walking passed him to get to Seungkwan. He bumped Jisoo out of the way with his shoulder in the process.

“Sup, Boo. You want to have lunch?” Seungcheol asked Seungkwan, completely ignoring the other man in the room.

“I can't. Because certain people” He shot a foul look in Jisoo's direction, “insist on making my life even more stressful than it already is.”

“Oh yeah? That's not very nice of them.” Seungcheol directed his gaze toward Joshua and looked him up and down. “Don't you think you should leave? You're upsetting my friend. I don't like people who upset my friends.”

“He's the one upsetting himself, really.” Jisoo shot back.

The taller man got closer, “Excuse me?”

Jisoo swallowed. He wasn't exactly afraid of him, but he was very well aware that the man he knew as S.Coups was more powerful than him, in several ways and it was probably for the best not to provoke him in a one-on-one situation. “I just meant that I made a mistake that I'm totally willing to rectify, but he insists on doing it himself.”

“If Seungkwan said he's going to do it himself, why are you still here? Get lost, pretty boy. He clearly doesn't need your help.”

Jisoo decided not to argue with either one of them and left.

“You and your thirst can go too.” Seungkwan said to his friend, “You're distracting me and it's giving me stress.”

“My thirst? What the are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about your obvious yearnings for 'pretty boy' just now. Pretty is clearly your type, I saw you ogling that guy who showed us to our booth at the club yesterday, too. Really, Cheol.”

“Wha-, I didn't oggle anyone! And I don't have yearnings either! Especially not for anyone from another gang, man!”

“That's all very interesting, but I don't care who you want to sleep with. Please go now and let me work!” He started pushing Seungcheol out of the room, but before he was completely out the door Seungcheol stopped him.

“I'll go, but you seem more stressed out than usual. Are you okay?”

“Everything is just annoying today. Nothing is going the way I want and I have about a million things I need to do. So just leave me alone and I'll be fine.”

“All right. Come hang out later, yeah? Mingyu has discovered he likes Mexican food now and he's making tacos.”

Seungkwan nodded his head and waved with the back of his hand as he sat down at his desk. He looked at his phone one last time before getting to work. No messages. Well, no messages from the person he secretly wanted messages from. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, put his phone face-down on the desk and started working.

<>

The following day Jun, Chan, and Hansol were busy with a Ms. Pacman tournament (one of the many classic arcade game machines they had collected in their hangout over the years) when Jisoo came in. He stood in the doorway for a few moments before the others noticed him. As soon as they did they stopped playing. Something was wrong.

“Shua?” Chan asked carefully. “Are you okay? You don't look so good, man.”

Jun walked closer and examined his face, “Are you sick?”

Jisoo blinked a few times as if he needed some time to figure out what to say, “I...I got expelled.”

“What!?” They asked almost in unison. “What are you talking about?” Hansol asked.

Jisoo walked over to the couch and sat down, the others gathered around him. “I was called into the headmaster's office this morning. I was told 'certain things' about me had been brought to their attention and they were forced to terminate my enrollment. Effective immediately.”

“Things? What things?”

“They said they had proof of me selling drugs to other students.”

“That's a lie!” Chan said angrily. “You have never sold drugs to anyone!”

“Did they show you the proof?” Jun asked in a calmer manner.

Jisoo shook his head.

“Of course they didn't,” Chan continued, “they don't have any because he never sold any drugs!”

Jisoo buried his head in his hands, “It was so humiliating. They escorted me off the premises with everyone watching. S.Coups, the Ruby leader, was just staring at me with a stupid smirk on his face like watching my life being ruined was just something entertaining for him...” He looked up, his eyes wet, “I...I'm so sorry guys.”

The university Jisoo went to was one of the top universities of the country and it hadn't been easy getting in. Especially considering how high the tuition was. Even with the scholarship he had gotten he had to work two part-time jobs to make it work. It was the same one all the rich kids attended, although their parents could easily afford it. Jisoo was the only one of their group who was attending such a top-class educational institute. Sure, Vernon was enrolled in the local community college but he barely attended any of his classes, Jun had decided not to go to college after high school, and Chan got kicked out of school last year. They had all been so proud when Jisoo had gotten his acceptance letter. He was supposed to be the one to really make it, to break away from the life they were leading now. Even if Jisoo himself was very grateful for his life, he felt the others were looking at him to show them they were capable of making something of themselves.

“Don't apologize! You did nothing wrong!” Chan shouted again.

“Chan's right! We can fight this! They have nothing on you!” Jun agreed.

Jisoo sighed, “There's no point. Do you really think I'll have my scholarship after this? Even if I did, fighting something like this will probably take a lot of time and I'll fail this semesters classes. I'd have to redo everything and my scholarship wouldn't last that long. I can't afford it on my own...”

“ those Rubies!” Hansol stood up, his blood was boiling. “Who the hell do they think they are? What makes them so great that they get to use their money and power to ruin other peoples lives? I'm going to...I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something!”

“Hansol, please! I'm not even sure one of them had anything to do with it!”

“You're kidding, right? Of course it was them! You told us yesterday how you had a fight with S.coups and B-...and Seungkwan. S.coups was enjoying watching you getting kicked out. They always do like this. They see something or someone they don't like and they just...ruin it. Just because they can.”

“Yesterday wasn't a fight. It was...Boo Seungkwan being Boo Seungkwan. He's always stressed about something. I only had to be around him for the newspaper, but damn...” A weak smile appeared on his face, “At least I don't have to deal with that drama anymore I guess.”

“No, that. This is ed up.” Hansol grabbed his jacket from the place on the floor where he had thrown it down and walked out the door, slamming it shut.

“Should we go after him?” Jun asked.

“Nah, just let him cool down. He's probably just going for a ride on his bike.” Chan replied.

_________________________________________________________

Also posted on AO3. Next chap will be Verkwan heavy!