“What are you smirking about?” Kibum raised his eyebrow at Minho, who was eating his cereal slowly, a big grin sitting on his face as he chewed.

”What?” Minho asked innocently, his eyes shifting once from his breakfast to Kibum, then back to his breakfast.

Key eyed his brother suspiciously. “What do you know, rat?”

Minho hummed, enjoying the leverage he had for this moment. “Mm, something.”

”About what?”

”Appa.”

”Spill.” Kibum demanded.

Minho smirked mischievously. ”What will you give in return?”

Key rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”

”Week of chores.” he simply said.

Kibum sneered. “Forget it. There's no way you have something worth a week of chores.”

”Sure about that...?” Minho grinned. Everyone knew how Key loved his tea.

“... Fine! Just tell me.” Key looked at Minho expectantly.

Minho smirked triumphantly. “Follow me.” The pair hurried up to Minho’s room where he held his camera. He connected the feed from from his camera to show on his laptop.

Shown there was the scene from Taemn's birthday party. Minho had been trying to get establishing shots of the landscape near the house. He sat knelt beside a bush when he noticed his dad walking out to a car. Minho had caught it all on video: Onew going out to Joon’s car, hugging, looking around.

Key's jaw dropped. "You've had this this whole time?"

Minho nodded, “This explains why Appa has been so happy lately.” He commented, watching the video with a cute smile. "Isn't it great?"

"Great? That Appa is still dating that rando? Give me that." Key snatched the camera, disconnecting it from the laptop. "He has explaining to do."

"Why?" Min's eyebrows furrowed.

"Minho. He lied to us." Key couldn't see what didn't Minho understand about that.

"So?" 

"Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" Key rolled his eyes, leaving to find his dad.

“Dad!!” Kibum sweep-searched the house looking for Onew, Minho’s camera clutched tightly in his hands.

“Dad!” Key found his father in the backyard, finally cleaning up the party decorations from a week ago. “This is total bull!” 

Onew’s head spun from his task of folding chairs to face his son. ”Whoa! Use better words, Key.”

”Um, how about ‘you totally lied to us.’” Key crossed his arms as he huffed. “You’re still seeing Joon!”

”Whaaat? No, I’m not.” Onew denied as he turned back to his chairs.

”Minho caught you on camera, dad.” Key played the video back, showing his dad.

Uh-oh. Caught.

”Damn that quiet kid.” Jinki mumbled in reference to Minho. “... Okay, yes, I’ve been talking to him. But we’re just friends.” Onew tried in response to Key’s scoff. “What do you expect me to do? Your old, lonely dad has no friends.”

”Dad, how is it fair that you can keep seeing your boyfriend but I can’t keep seeing mine. I mean, what about all that ‘I’m gonna get my priorities straight, Key!’ stuff! Was that also a load of bull-!” Key stopped his sentence when his saw the look his dad shot him.

”Dad.” Key whined childishly, stomping his foot.

”Firstly, Key. I am a grown up. I can do whatever I want. But, I am not seeing him anymore. Am I not allowed to have friends either?” He asked rhetorically as he traveled back and forth, stacking chairs with his angry teenager tailing him. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of his charcoal grill. “Do you think I should grill this weekend?” 

However, Key didn’t let Onew change the subject so easily. ”Puh-lease, Dad. Friends? I’m not stupid.”

”So... I shouldn’t grill this weekend? I got turkey burgers from the market.”

Key glared, not nearly as amused with the situation as his dad was.

Onew chuckled. ”Kid, I don’t know what to tell you. I stopped seeing him. All he did was bring a birthday present for Taemin. End of story.”

“Sure, whatever, Dad.” Key huffed, stomping back into the house.

And just like that, Kibum’s attitude problem was back.

In all fairness, Onew wasn’t lying. He really hadn’t been seeing Joon romantically since the break up about a month ago. However, he’d still been talking to Joon for most of that time. Which in hindsight, may have been a bad idea. As it turns out, spending all this time getting to know Joon as friends was making him irresistible to Onew. He was realizing that Joon was his ideal guy. Confident, smart, charming, playful. He was ambitious and successful. They would talk on the phone about everything, have debates, share stories. Onew thought about Joon around the clock, sometimes giggling idiotically at a text from earlier or wondering what the singer was doing. The closer they got, the more Onew realized how deeply he was falling.

Still...

"Are you serious, Dad?! You must be kidding me! I do not believe this! Why are you treating her like this!? Why..." tears swelled in Key's eyes. "Why don't you care anymore...?!"

He didn't know if his family was ready for that. 

He suddenly felt a buzz in his pocket and reached for his phone.

J: Drinks tonight? The guys have been bugging me to meet you. No pressure though ;)

Onew chewed his lip in thought. He hadn't gone out in such a long time and it would be nice to get away from the kids for a night. 

O: Sounds fun :))

J: Great! Pick you up at 9 :).

The pair met up with Joon’s friends at a karaoke bar downtown. Onew was thrilled, but also a little worried. Joon's friends seemed so exciting from the stories that Joon had told. Onew just wanted to be able to impress them.

When Joon and Onew entered, they found the other pair quickly. And it looked like they had already started ordering drinks.

“Okay, so Onew, this is Cheondoong and Mir. Guys, this is Onew.” Joon introduced, and the gentlemen enthusiastically shook hands.

”It’s so great to finally meet Joon’s famous friends! There’s Mir, the cool, hip friend. And Cheondoong, the loyal and supportive friend.” Onew grinned.

”Us? How about the guy who has our Joonie smiling from ear to ear every day?” Cheondoong winked teasingly as the group sat at the table.

”Is that so, Joonie?” Onew teased.

"Wow." Joon smiled shyly as his head shook in disbelief. ”Two minutes into this and I’m already regretting it.”

”The night is young.” Mir grinned as he grinned as he raised his glass. Cheondoong and Joon followed, looking at Onew expectantly.

Onew blinked for a moment, then hurried to raise his glass as well. He hadn’t touched a drink in years, but for the sake of impressing Joon