Jeonghan liked minding his own business sometimes. And everyone knew that he liked minding his own business at the porch of the second floor where he and six other members lived. It was an unwritten rule that whenever he was seen on the porch with earphones and a bag of snacks that he fancied, he must not be disturbed. He Who Wakes Jeonghan From His Sleep was bound to suffer from unknown consequences.

Sunny afternoons in the winter were always the best being spent alone. The fatigue from performing nonstop for the past few weeks leading to New Year was really taking a toll on him. He stretched out his body as comfortably as possible on the outdoor bench that Mingyu had installed for them a few weeks after they had moved in. The world ascended into peaceful darkness as he covered his eyes with the back of an arm. A slow ballad was playing in his ears. Heaven.

“-han hyung, hyung!”

Jeonghan's eyebrows furrowed underneath his arm. He must had been hearing things. He shifted his leg from the ground and slung them over the bench handle.

“Jeonghan hyung, please wake up!”

The voice could no longer be blatantly ignored as a pair of hands tore Jeonghan’s arm away from his face, forcing him to face whatever trouble that was serious enough for one of his flatmates to intrude his space.

“What?” Jeonghan muttered with a grimace, squinting to block the gleaming sunlight out.

It was Seungkwan. He was wearing an oversized hoodie and a rather panicked look on his face. Very unusual indeed. He was normally the one who was the best at dealing with ad hoc situations, given his natural talent in receiving jokes during variety shows.

“Hyung, you have to see this!” He shoved his phone into Jeonghan’s face impatiently.

“I don’t have my glasses on,” Jeonghan reminded him tiredly, pushing the phone away to stop his eyes from hurting. “What happened?”

“Misfetch published something today, and…” Seungkwan trailed off hesitantly. Without glasses or contact lenses, it was rather hard for Jeonghan to observe his expression.

“So what? They’re a news website. They publish things everyday,” Jeonghan said, half jokingly.

“No, you don’t understand,” Seungkwan said, this time with his head lowered slightly, as if he was a kid caught cheating during an exam. “They wrote something about you, hyung.”

Jeonghan blinked at him blankly. “Me?”

“Yeah, and they said that you were…” Seungkwan’s biting back on his words was starting to get on Jeonghan’s nerves, especially after being awoken from his pleasant daydream.

“Just spill.”

“Okay, okay, just- they wrote that you were dating…someone. And - I know it’s impossible, right? Like, it’s literally impossible for you two to date, but - ”

At this point Jeonghan was a hundred percent certain he was being pranked. It would be a good timing for a prank like this in New Year, when scandals and rumours were flying around like birds in the sky, stirring storms among fans. He had always considered himself one of the least likely members in Seventeen to be involved in scandals. He rarely left the house during holidays, for starters, because he needed to sleep whenever he was off work. He wasn’t really friends with a lot of people in his field besides from s, and would not hang out with them unless someone he knew well was also invited. In other words, he would never be seen at undesirable places with anyone that was scandal-worthy. Jeonghan picked up his reading glasses from the side table and grabbed Seungkwan’s phone from his grip.

 

The shockingly bold title read:

 

BREAKING: SEVENTEEN’S LEADER S. COUPS AND JEONGHAN REPORTEDLY DATING

 

“Um. What is this?” Jeonghan asked, slightly confused. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes again to make sure he wasn’t imagining things or had completely lost the ability to read properly.

“I told you,” Seungkwan said promptly. “Misfetch wrote something about you. And Seungcheol hyung, I guess.”

“So, is Seokmin in this with you, too?” Jeonghan rolled his eyes dismissively and handed the phone back to Seungkwan, who looked overwhelmed with nervousness. If Jeonghan was the one to prank someone with a fake news article instead, he would have picked a way more interesting and believable title.

“No, hyung, it’s not a prank, I swear to god it isn’t,” Seungkwan stammered, pointing at the website url and logo. “See that? Misfetch official website. Why would I ever lie about something so serious?”

“Oh, so Mingyu is in this as well, huh?” Jeonghan stood up and stretched his sore arms. He remembered Mingyu making a promotion website in their pre-debut days; it was scrapped in the end, but well-made nonetheless. Certainly it would be a piece of cake for him to make a fake website. “I’m gonna go down and get some coffee. You wanna come with?”

“Hyung - ”

Before Seungkwan could say anything, Jeonghan slid the glass door to aside and entered the living room. A couple of other members were there; Jisoo, Junhui, and Mingyu. They were all staring Jeonghan down so intensely that he couldn’t just walk past without acknowledging them .

“What’s the deal with you guys?” Jeonghan snapped.

“You saw the article, didn’t you?” Jisoo asked him slyly.

"Yeah, if you mean the obviously fake article, I did," Jeonghan replied without missing a beat. Knowing Jisoo, he was the ringleader of this entire mess. “Nice prank, guys. I appreciate the hard work but I'm too smart for this.”

“No, hyung, all jokes aside, I just can't imagine you and Seungcheol hyung not telling us about this.” Mingyu stood up abruptly and Jeonghan was taken aback by how pissed off he seemed. “You always say that we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other, so why didn’t you guys say anything? Don’t you think that us finding out through a news article is the most hurtful thing ever?”

Junhui nodded silently, and proceeded to look at Jeonghan with anticipation, waiting for his response which would probably spark a heated debate.

“Guys, the prank is over. It’s not funny anymore. So stop this nonsense and give me some peace.”

“I told you, hyung, it’s not a prank,” Seungkwan said in desperation.

“Alright. I am leaving right now. And I’m not getting drinks for any of you," Jeonghan waved his hands in disdain as he walked towards the door. "By the way, nice acting skills, Mingyu.”

When the door opened Jeonghan almost bumped head first into Seungcheol, who was just about to turn the door handle. He swiftly took a step back and was about to come up with a joke to tease his friend's bed head and untimely outfit but stopped when he saw Seungcheol's expression. He seemed almost as panicked as Seungkwan's.

This day was just getting stranger and stranger, Jeonghan thought to himself.

"What happened?" he asked in concern. If something did come up and it made Seungcheol rush up the stairs (before pausing his video game) in his pajamas, then it must be really, really serious.

"Tell everyone to gather downstairs, five minutes later," he said, taking a deep breath. "We need to talk."

 

***

 

The atmosphere was as tense as the backstage of their debut showcase. It was distant memory but Jeonghan still remembered how he could hear everyone's heart pounding in anxious unison as they prepared to step on the stage. Seungcheol was waiting for everyone to settle down on the ground in a circle, as they always did, before they started their emergency meeting. The others were either looking as confused as Jeonghan was with a toast in their hands, or looking back and forth nervously like Seungkwan.

Did someone get into an accident? Jeonghan did a quick headcount but everyone was there; well, everyone was physically there, but some were obviously dozing off, still submerged in their afternoon nap. Wait, are we actually going bankrupt?

He didn't have time to collect his thoughts before Seungcheol finally broke the silence and said, "So, as you might or might not know, Misfetch published a very...article today. About us. Me and Jeonghan."

No. ing. Way. No ing way would Seungcheol miss a game to do this.

"Please, Seungcheol, just please let me go back to sleep," Jeonghan sighed.

"Jeonghan hyung, what are you talking about?" Soonyoung exclaimed, looking absolutely appalled. "This is serious business!"

"I know I'm being pranked already, just let it go."

"This is not a prank," Seungcheol said, closing his eyes as if in pain. "I wish it was, but it's not. And now we have to deal with it."

Jeonghan looked around the circle. Everyone was visibly distressed by Seungcheol's statement and nobody dared to make a sound. He gulped, heart pounding even louder now.

"Seungkwan," he said softly. "Can I please see the article again?"

Seungkwan compliantly took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Jeonghan after unlocking it. Jeonghan scrolled down the article and the low resolution pictures alone were enough proof that s were, in fact, not joking.

"," he said aloud.