Things were awfully awkward at the Wu-Oh household ever since the explosive outburst and fight that the brothers had. Sehun was still fuming at Yixing's insinuation that Sehun did not care for his parents. 

Sehun would normally do anything at the cost of everything if it meant making his ge happy, but this was too much. Sehun did not go out on too many dates, he did not often give people chances. He mostly dealt with flings, not that he was exactly the kind of person to get around, because he wasn't. He just never really had relationships either. 

It felt right with Jongin and he wanted to see if whatever they had would turn into something more. It was also the fact that he realized it was time for Yixing to learn a damn lesson. Sehun always sacrificed for Yixing and he could not sacrifice any more chances at the expense of his happiness. Yixing had this extreme prejudice against cops and the dangerous lives they lead, he felt it was safer to stay away from them, in order to stay away from danger. It was why Yixing had cut all ties with any of their father's police friends and became a mechanic. 

Yixing had once had colourful dreams of becoming a cop and then a detective just like their father. He had wanted to make the world a safer place for everyone.

Alas, Yixing's dreams were crushed along with his tendency to love. Yixing had never known his birth mother who died in childbirth, it was a weight that Yixing always beared as his own, no matter how much everyone told him he was not at fault. He had even asked to take his chinese mother's maiden name instead of his father's. 

It was a loss felt deeply by their father. He had gone to grief support groups where he met Sehun's mother who had just lost her elder brother to cancer. 

They had hit it off with each other and soon enough they got married. Yixing was ecstatic to have a mother figure and was even more happy when his little carrier brother was born into the world, small and adorable. They were 4 years apart, so obviously Yixing pretended he was Sehun's father even though the age difference wasn't all that big. 

When their parents were brutally married, Yixing took it extremely hard and locked himself away from everyone and everything. He had not let another person into his life since and reserved all his love and attention to his only remaining family, Sehun. It was extremely unhealthy but Yixing felt as if he could not afford any more loss in his life and so he did not develop feelings or friendships for people he would inevitably have to mourn or would have to mourn him. 

Sehun felt himself let out a deep sigh. He knew why Yixing behaved in such a manner. He understood exactly who the Macha were and the threat they posed. He promised not to let himself get tangled up in this again, for Yixing's sake. 

Whatever was Yixing's reasoning though, he still should not have said what he said or yelled at Sehun like that in front of Jongin. This was it, Sehun was going to go out with Jongin and it was either going to work or it wasn't but that wasn't Yixing's decision to make, it was Sehun's. 

Sehun went into the kitchen and checked the table for the food he had put out for Yixing. It was gone and there was a drying plate in the dishwasher. At least Yixing wasn't too upset to eat. 

Sehun walked to Yixing's door and knocked on it. "Ge, are you in there? Can I come in?" A grunt was heard in response and Sehun translated that to mean yes. 

"Ge, just so you know, I am not here to apologize. What you said was wrong." Sehun started but was cut off with a sharp glare from Yixing. "Sehun, I don't need you to patronize me, you're not my father. We don't have one, remember?" Yixing said with extreme sarcasm. "Yixing, cut your attitude. I came to tell you something-" Sehun took in a calming breath, "I came to say that I love you and that I respect you. I understand that you worry for me and that you just want me safe. I promise I will keep myself out of any Macha business but please ge, I feel a connection with Jongin and I want to give this a shot. Be understanding about it." Sehun pleaded. 

Yixing looked over at him with tears in his eyes. "I'm just so scared Hunnie. I'm sorry for snapping at you but I can't afford to lose you, I just can't. I will try to be more understanding about this and come to terms with your relationship. I will not try to stop you."

Sehun smiled and pulled Yixing into a hug. Yixing just sobbed into Sehun's shoulder. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the brothers had their heartfelt moment, Yixingagreed to properly meet Jongin and get to know him. 

Jongin was informed of this. He felt happy that Sehun and his ge were able to work everything out accordingly. He was a little afraid of Yixing, after hearing about his uncle knowing Yixing he asked around about him and found out that Yixing was in the academy, top of his class, before he dropped out in his last year, just after his parents death. 

Jongin completely understood where the older was coming from and hoped he could get approval from him concerning his relationship with Sehun. Sehun was just the type of person that constantly left you wanting more, and Jongin wanted alright. He wanted to get to know Sehun better and become someone Sehun could rely on. 

He was going through more about the Macha case, Jongin was onto something, he could feel it and he decided that he was going to continue working on it tonight, he needed to get the ball rolling. He grabbed the case file and took it to his car, he was going over to Sehun's for dinner. 

When he reached, he knocked on their apartment door, having been let onto the building by a kindly old man, not realizing that the case files were still in his hand. Sehun opened the door and let Jongin in with a brief kiss to the cheek. "Thank you so much for coming so last minute Jongin. I'm sure you were busy. What with such an important job." Sehun said in a teasing but grateful tone. 

Jongin smiled, he just loved Sehun's sense of humour and his ability to make light of any situation. This is what Jongin meant by being intrigued and entranced by all of Sehun. "Sure, my job is important but it's nothing compared to a cafe worker. Just imagine what chaos this world would be in without people to make coffee on the go for all those people who need it to function." Jongin happily played along.

Sehun giggled and headed into the kitchen area, beckoning Jongin to follow him. Jongin stepped into the kitchen and was bombarded by different scents and aromas. He could see sweet and sour chicken surrounded by different vegetables and stir fried noodles. It was quite a perfect family meal and it looked and smelled absolutely delicious. 

"Sehun, it looks and smells so amazing. I can't wait to try it. Did you make it?" Jongin asked genuinely curoius. Sehun shyly nodded. Damn how could I ever let go of him now. Sure it would be difficult to let go of such a beautiful, funny and kind soul, but one that can cook. Jongin thought. 

"Ge, he's here." Sehun yelled out to the hallway. Slowly the door opened and Yixing stepped out looking extremely handome in a nice long sleeved sweater and jeans. Jongin thought that Yixing was exactly the type of guy his friend Junmyeon would go for, in looks at least. Now Jongin just had to get to know him and if he was good, he would introduce the two of them. 

"Hello Jongin. I just wanted to apologize to you sincerely for the way I behaved. It wasn't appropriate to do in front of you and it wasn't the correct way to let Sehun know my opinions. You have to understand that I care for Sehun very deeply." Yixing said. Jongin smiled and thought he was going to introduce Junmyeon to Yixing for sure. 

"It's no problem Yixing hyung. I completely understand and I accept your apology." Jongin said sincerely. He hoped to develop a good relationship with Yixing. 

"Come sit, you guys." Sehun said, setting glasses filled with what looked like mango juice onto the table by each plate. Both men complied and sat at the table. It was only after Jongin was seated did he realize what was in his hand. "What's that?" Yixing asked pointing to the files. 

"Oh, I didn't even realize I had that. It's just some work I had to take home. I know how you want Sehun to stay away from any cop related work and I swear I have every intention of following your wishes. I know how this looks and I'm so, so sorry, just forgive me-" Jongin was cut off by Sehun's loud giggles. 

"Ge, you'll have to forgive Jongin here. He rambles a lot whenever he's nervous. Relax Jongin-ah." Sehun forced out from between giggles.

"It's alright Jongin. I'm not so unreasonable and naive to expect that you can completely seperate work and Sehun. I realize if things work out between you both that you will be back and forth between each other's apartments, preferably yours, I do not wish to know or hear what you guys get up to. So I know he'll be around such things. Just ensure that Sehun is protected as well as you can, that's all I ask." Yixing said with a pointed look. 

"Yes, hyung. I will make sure that Sehun is protected." Jongin answered with a salute. Yixing looked super proud with a smirk on his face. "Good, now hand me that file so I can look at it and take some food and eat it before you hurt my baby brother's feelings and I am forced to hurt you. You better be prepared cop boy because I'm sure I can kick your ."

Jongin wondered if it was okay to share confidential police information with Yixing but given their father's position and Yixing previously studying at the academy, he figured it would be okay. He silently handed the file to Yixing, not minding what he said. 

"Ge, I think you're a bit too old to be agile enough to hurt anyone." Sehun said smugly. "Aren't you around 40 years old. "Yah, you brat. I'm only 31." Sehun smiled, "Turning 32 and besides once you touch 30, you might as well just start considering yourself 40." 

Yixing slapped the back of Sehun's head. "Jongin, how old are you?" Yixing demanded. "I'm uh- 28 years old sir. Turning 29 in a few months, when January hits." Jongin answered confused as to why the conversation suddenly turned to him. Was Yixing going to start the interrogation already? "See Hun, your boyfriend is almost 30, which is practically 40 according to you. How does it feel to date such an old man. Do you call him daddy?" Yixing childishly questioned Sehun instead. 

Sehun got a mischevious glint in his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I just dream about calling him daddy. It's my kink so you better hope I do visit his place more often otherwise you'll be hearing a lot of it." Sehun said in an uptight voice. 

Yixing's jaw dropped. "Okay, I know you were just joking but that's nasty. I'm just going to pretend I never heard that and ignore you from now on as I analyze this file." Yixing quickly said as he opened the file and went through its contents. 

As Jongin and Sehun ate, exchanging small talk and little teasing jokes, Yixing kept reading completely into the case. "Jongin did you notice this." Yixing suddenly jumped in as Sehun was washing the dishes after clearing the table and Jongin was wiping everything down and throwing away all the trash. 

Yixing laid the open case file on the table pointing at a specific point on the page. "There activity has been really spaced out, not really making sense. But if you look at each of the victims and take the name of each street they were killed on, in order, it spells free. And if you take each victim who had the lotus branded into different parts of the body, besides the hip and take the first letter of each body part it spells ridge. See, rib, iris, dimple as you can see, the victim has a deep dimple visible even under the brand, gut and ear."

"Of course, freeridge. I noticed that the streets spelled out free and I was looking at the body parts. I found it extremely strange, very out of their ordinary pattern. I suspected it spelled the rest out but I didn't get enough time to look at it, that's the reason I was taking it home. This must be the name of their base, out on freeridge street. Yixing, you're a genius."

"They left these clues on purpose. They aren't so sloppy, this was intentional. It is a taunt to call someone out, probably me. The reason I left the academy was to protect Sehun, I knew that if I pursued this I would get myself and him killed, so I dropped out. They're calling me, son of Detective Oh. It's about time I follow Sehun's example and stop being so afraid and take a chance, I'm doing that final exam and Jongin we're solving this and taking these sick bastards down."

"Ge, are you sure?" Sehun asked with worry evident on his face. "I'll be fine Hunnie, they'll allow me to continue where I left off and get on this case for sure. Now we just need to figure out how Jongin and I can get in undercover because that's the only way to solve this. Dad's mistake was taking this case as a cop and letting them destroy him for the cop he is. It's time to take this the underhanded way and destroy them from the inside." Yixing said with determination. 

"Just one question before I agree to this all. Do you think you can meet my friend Junmyeon for a blind date, Yixing?" Jongin asked just as seriously.