Today was the kind of day Jihoon liked. Nothing really happened, he could just stay in his office all day getting some work done. He didn't mind that Wonwoo and Minghao were currently in his office with him. They were nice and quiet. Wonwoo was sitting on the couch, laptop on the coffee table, alternating between working on the club's administration and working on an essay that was due soon. Minghao sat next to him, busy with his phone. Every once in a while Minghao would leave to take care of something and he always brought back coffee. Yes. Jihoon liked these kinds of days.

His work vibe got interrupted when Jeonghan and Seokmin entered his office. They were not so good at the quiet. Especially Seokmin.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I just bought a crazy amount of donuts and I'm here to share!” Seokmin announced with an amount of glee that was far too much for donuts. He offered them to Wonwoo and Minghao before placing the box on the desk in front of Jihoon. Jihoon's face said why did you buy this many donuts you idiot but his hand was reaching out for the pink-glazed one. With sprinkles. He then turned his attention to Jeonghan who had sat down on the armrest of the couch.

“And why are you here? Did you come to offer me something like my good friend Seokmin has?”

“Just information.”

Jihoon didn't say anything else and Jeonghan knew him well enough to know that it meant he wanted him to continue.

“They've arrested Vernon for driving that motorcycle he stole from us a while ago through the Ruby's hangout. No-one was hurt.”

Seokmin looked shocked and almost dropped his donut, “He drove a motorcycle through their house? That's crazy!”

Minghao shrugged, “He said no-one got hurt. I've seen crazier things. This one time I-”

“How did they know it was Vernon.” Wonwoo interrupted. “Did they catch him on the scene?”

“No. Mingyu asked me for some info about our stolen motorcycle because he thought he recognized it. He let me know they arrested him a few hours later.”

At this Jihoon frowned and momentarily put his donut down. “Look, babe, I don't care who you sleep with as long as it's just . But I can't say I like you discussing this kind of stuff with people from outside our group.”

“Relax, Jihoon. I only told him about that bike Vernon stole and has been riding around on. Isn't it better they know it wasn't us who drove a motorcycle through a building?”

Jihoon sighed and picked up his donut again. He knew Jeonghan would never give away any real valuable information, but he'd still preferred it if he didn't give away any information at all. Although in this case it was probably the best thing to do.

Minghao scoffed. “You're still ing around with that tree?”

Jeonghan cocked his head to the side and blinked at him innocently, “If I didn't know any better I'd think someone is a little jealous.”

“Of you? Ha. Don't make me laugh.”

A smirk painted Jeonghan's lips now, “I meant jealous of Mingyu for getting to experience the wonder that is me, but I guess it's me you're jealous of. I didn't know you liked trees, Hao.” he finished with a wink.

Minghao scoffed. “Whatever.” He put Jeonghan on mute and focused his attention on Jihoon. “You know the Carrots probably think it was the Rubies who got Joshua expelled. Maybe they got so pissed that they ran their motorcycle through their place.”

“Maybe. Either way there is no need for the Carrots to know that it wasn't them.”

Jeonghan had walked around the desk and now stood behind Jihoon's chair. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “Don't you want some credit for your hard work, Hoonnie?”

“Not really. Better if they don't know it was us, actually. Besides. It wasn't that hard. Most people are either easily scared or easily corrupted.”
 

<>

Seungkwan hadn't heard from Hansol since he bailed him out. He knew they hadn't made up or anything, but he had expected some sort of contact. He barely slept because he kept waiting for his phone to let him know he had a new message. But morning came and still nothing. Maybe Hansol was really dense and didn't realize it had been him.

Of course he hadn't told his friends about bailing Hansol out and he was afraid to go to their hangout right now. Afraid to tell them, afraid what their reaction would be. What would he even say? He was trying really hard to come up with an excuse that didn't make it seem like he just betrayed his friends and helped one of their enemies. But the thoughts about his friends kept being pushed away by thoughts of Hansol. So Seungkwan decided he needed to talk with him first. It was still early so he probably had some time before his friends would go to the police station to make their statements and find out Hansol wasn't there anymore.

Seungkwan didn't want to talk over the phone. They had never talked over the phone. Also, he wouldn't know what to say. It would be easier talking to him face-to-face. Probably. At least he could use hand gestures and body language and stuff. The only problem now was finding Hansol. He wouldn't be at work right now and Seungkwan didn't actually know exactly where he lived, so he went to the one other place he knew of where he could be.

He knew where their hangout was even if he'd never been there. The door looked disheveled, the paint was chipped and faded, and there was a hole where there used to be a doorbell. Seungkwan took a deep breath and knocked. He wasn't sure someone would even be there this early, let alone Hansol. He knocked again, a little louder this time. He could here a muffled voice from behind the door “Yeah, yeah, I'm coming I'm coming.” The door opened with a creak. In the door opening stood the small boy (man? Baby?) Seungkwan only knew as Dino. He looked at Seungkwan with a weird kind of amusement in his eyes.

“What do you want Ruby? Selling bibles or something?”

“Why would I be selling bibles? I-” Seungkwan stopped himself from rambling and composed himself, “Is Vernon here?” He decided it was best to call him Vernon for now.

“What's it to you?” Chan asked with a scoff, looking him up and down.

“Now, now.” Another man, much taller, said as he placed an arm around Chan's shoulder. “Let's be polite. This Ruby here came to visit us normal folk. He's looking for Vernon who isn't here right now, but I think we should ask him to come inside to wait for him. Don't you?” They exchanged a look between each other that Seungkwan couldn't understand before moving out of the way and gesturing for him to come inside. Against his better judgment that's what Seungkwan did.

Once inside the tall one pulled up a chair and placed it in the middle of the room. “Come on, don't just stand there. Sit. I'm Jun, by the way.”

“Boo Seungkwan. I can stand.”

“Oh we know who you are, don't we, Dino? Now. Sit.”

“That's really okay.”

“We're just being polite here, Ruby.”

Seungkwan could feel the tension in the air. He probably should have listen to the bigger part of his brain saying it was not a good idea to enter the hangout in the first place. But he was here now and sitting down as told seemed to be the better idea here. What else was he going to do? They wouldn't just let him walk out and Seungkwan wasn't much of a fighter. So he sat down on the chair. Jun standing behind him. Next thing he knew his hands were being tied behind his back by Jun, while Chan was getting his legs.

“Wait! What are you doing? Stop! I'm not here to cause any trouble, I just need to talk to Vernon!”

“You don't need your hands or arms for talking, Ruby.” Jun replied.

“In fact, you should be grateful that we're only tying you up instead of breaking any limbs.” Chan added.

Seungkwan let out an angry huff and he would have shrugged his shoulders if he could have. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Huh.” Chan gave Jun a somewhat surprised look, “I was kind of expecting him to start crying. He seems the type to start crying, doesn't he?”

“Crying while pointing out your flaws.” Jun agreed.

Seungkwan was about to offer a snappy comeback when they were all started by a voice coming from the door. “What's going on here?” Jisoo asked. He and Hansol walked inside, taking in the sight of Jun and Chan and a tied up Seungkwan.

“This Ruby came over here looking for Vernon for some reason. So we were polite and told him he could wait inside.”

Jisoo removed his coat and neatly hung it on a hanger, “Did you really need to tie him up, guys?”

Hansol didn't listen to what the others were saying and walked towards the chair. “What are you doing here, Seungkwan?”

“I came to talk to you, because...”

“He probably just wanted to know why you were out of jail after they got the police involved like a bunch of cowards.” Dino answered before Seungkwan could say any more.

“How brave was he when he ran a motorcycle through a house with people inside? Anyway, I'm not the one who reported him.”

“You weren't?” Hansol asked, still ignoring his friends in the room.

Seungkwan rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, “Why would I first report you and then pay your bail? That doesn't make any sense Ha...non”

Hansol shrugged, “I dunno. Mood swings.”

“Dude. For a sec I thought he was going to call him Hansol. That would've been weird.” Jun whispered to Jisoo. But Jisoo was too focused on the way Hansol and Seungkwan were talking to each other to hear him. What was going on. He had barely ever seen them in the same room, let alone talking to each other. Something was off.

“And another thing” Seungkwan continued to say to Hansol. “If you knew it was me who bailed you out why didn't you contact me?”

“Why did you leave right after bailing me out? Hansol shot back.

“I...I didn't know what to say or maybe I was just scared of what you would say.” He added that last part with a small voice.

“Why would you bail him out, Seungkwan? What do you care?” Jisoo asked sharply, interrupting them.

“I...I just...I don't like to involve the police in any gang related issues.”

“I still don't get it, Seungkwan!” Hansol, not paying too much attention to Jisoo's questioning gaze, “You don't make any sense. You say one thing, do another. Can't you just do what you say and say what you mean?”

“And can you just admit that what you did was stupid, irresponsible, and dangerous! You, and your whole gang for that matter, need to develop some common sense!” Seungkwan knew that this wasn't why he had come here. He wasn't sure exactly why he had come, but yelling at Hansol wasn't it. He was busy trying to calm himself down and shut up his mouth that sometimes said things his mind didn't mean, when Chan decided it was time for some action.

“He keeps insulting us. Trying to cover his ! Rubies always think they can get away with anything. Thinking he can just come to our turf and say whatever bull he wants. Punch him, Vernon!”

“What?”

Jun nodded in agreement with their youngest member. “They even got Joshua expelled, remember?”

“Excuse me, no we didn't” Seungkwan said more annoyed at the false accusation than scared of potentially getting punched in the face by the person he was secretly in love with.

“No-one was talking to you!” Jun yelled in Seungkwan's direction. 'Come on, Vernon. He seems to think he can talk to you like he knows you or something. He clearly thinks he's better than us. Punch him!”

“Normally I don't really condone violence, but I'm not in a good mood and I can't deal with Seungkwan talking.” Jisoo added as he shook his head in a defeated manner.

“See! If Joshua of all people says to do it...”

Hansol stopped to think for a moment to consider his options here. The easiest one would be to just punch Seungkwan. Punch that pretty, cute, adorable face. Or...

Seungkwan's heart started to pound as Hansol got closer. He couldn't read the expression on his face. Was he really going to get punched in the face? By Hansol. He understood the situation they were in. Even if Hansol didn't want to punch him (and Seungkwan wasn't even sure if that was the case), did he have much of a choice? Hansol got even closer and Seungkwan closed his eyes. He waited for the pain. But it didn't come. Hesitantly he opened his eyes only to find Hansol staring straight at him. He leaned in and kissed Seungkwan on the lips.