precarious [pri-ˈker-ē-əs] adj - characterized by a lack of security or stability that is threatened with danger.

“It’s just a small cut, it’s not like I’m going to die,” Sehun muttered under his breath, embarrassed by the attention he was receiving from Mihyun. He perched his chin on top of his fist that was resting upright against his knee, and stared at Mihyun who was focusing intently on wrapping a bandage around his injury.

“You say that yet you would huff childishly and sulk if I gave you no attention,” Mihyun responded matter of factly.

Sehun’s cheeks flushed a color of bright red, and he shot a dirty look at Luhan who was silently giggling beside them. “Why are you so happy, huh?” he grumbled as he picked up a stray cotton ball to throw in Luhan’s direction, innocently looking away when Mihyun shot him an exasperated look.

Luhan’s grin only spread even wider at the sound of Sehun’s unhappiness, and he patted him cheerfully on the back before holding up his white board. I’m going to find Jaesuk.

“Luhan and Jaesuk have been getting pretty close, haven’t they?” Mihyun mused quietly to herself, her eyes crinkling at the thought of unusual friendship.

“Yeah, that’s probably why Hyung’s been so much of a brat lately,” Sehun scoffed under his breath. He continued gazing at Mihyun who was completely unaware of the attention that was trained on her.

“All done!” Mihyun smiled proudly as she gently patted the fresh bandage. She glanced up to meet Sehun’s eyes just a split second before he darted them away.

“Like a child,” she commented, breaking out into a smile when Sehun shot her a dirty look.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you, you’re the one who actually is a child,” Sehun scoffed.

Mihyun pursed her lips and nudged Sehun’s ribs with her elbow, “Wouldn’t that make you a e? You’re in love with this child, aren’t you?”

Sehun opened his mouth to retort, but ended up closing it when he couldn’t come up with anything clever enough to rebut with. He held up his hands in defeat and chuckled, “Alright, you win.”

Mihyun gleamed up at him, and he resisted the urge to reach down and pinch the younger’s cheeks. In exchange, he simply brushed away a stray strand of hair, gently tucking it behind Mihyun’s ear. “You’ve changed a lot.”

A brief, peaceful silence settled between them as they both thought over Sehun’s words.

“We’ve both changed,” Mihyun smiled lightly, Sehun nodding alongside her in agreement. “It felt like just yesterday that you treated me as if I was the dirt beneath your shoes.”

Sehun scrunched his face at the memory, and ran his fingers through Mihyun’s hair as a late apology for his rude behavior.

“And it was like just yesterday that you always had a stoic expression on your face and spoke like you had a stick up your ,” Sehun smiled as he patted Mihyun’s hair. He easily avoided the fist that went flinging in his direction, and he wrapped his fingers around her outstretched wrist to pull her into a hug.

“I’m glad we changed,” Sehun breathed into her hair, smiling when he felt her nod her head.

“And it was like just yesterday that you guys would keep to yourselves and talk from a distance,” Jaesuk pitched in as he popped up besides them to pull them apart. “I miss those days.”

“Hyung, has anybody ever told you that you’re really annoying?” Sehun glared darkly as he smacked Jaesuk’s arm away from his own. He reached over and pulled his hand off of Mihyun as well, just for good measure.

“No,” Jaesuk responded without skipping a beat. “Come on Agashi, Luhan is waiting for you to come out so I can drop you off at the Noye house.”

Mihyun nodded her head as she walked towards the door with a thoughtful expression on her face, “I haven’t seen them yet after the browsing event yesterday. I wonder how they are faring now.”

“I’m not sure what you were expecting,” Sehun started slowly with a gaping mouth, “but I don’t think this was it.”

“Mihyun! Sehun! Luhan!” Baekhyun cried out happily as he ran towards them! He dodged all the bodies energetically busling about, and he reached them with a wide smile stretched across his cheek.

“What the hell happened here?” Sehun asked with narrowed eyebrows. He abruptly pulled Mihyun aside to avoid the Noye that was about to have gone running into her, and stared at the amount of Noyes swarming in and out of the cage he had spent several years growing up in. “Why are so many Noyes gathered here?”

“They’re here to help,” Baekhyun laughed as held up his arms to gesture to the new aid. “Word about our… little operation spread, and it looks like Noyes are starting to get curious.” He reached forward and clasped Mihyun’s hands into his own as he gazed into her eyes, his own crinkling into small crescents, “You’ve restored hope.”

Mihyun stood there in complete silence for a few seconds as she processed the words Baekhyun had just informed her. The corners of her lips lifted into a small smile, and she reached forward to ruffle the front of Baekhyun’s already messy hair, “No, you all did.”

Before Baekhyun could even respond, she clapped her hands loudly together and announced, “There are much too many people here; it will catch the suspicion of the guards. Please send only one member from each cage housing, and they will relay all the information back to you all.”

Although her words weren’t spoken at such an audible tone, they were immediately obeyed by the surrounding Noyes. The crowd quickly diminished until only a good 15 people were left, all staring at Mihyun eagerly to find out what they were to do next.

While Mihyun speaks to them, the rest of the boys look on with proud smiles stretched across their faces.

“This might actually work after all, won’t it?” Chanyeol murmured with bright eyes as he gently squeezed Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Of course it’s going to!” Baekhyun nodded confidently. “Look at how much the support has risen!”

“Too much, if you ask me,” Youngjae scoffed with narrowed eyes. He gestured to the small crowd in front of Mihyun, “With this many people, people are bound to talk, you know. Just let one little loose mouth go, and the whole staff of guards will find out about this little plan.”

“I guess we’ll just have to keep this loose mouth under control, won’t we?” Jongin snarled as he stepped towards him with a dark glare and clenched fists.

Youngjae held up his hands and chuckled bitterly, “Don’t worry about me. I may be a lot of things but I’m no betrayer.”

“I have my doubts,” Jongin growled in return, easing off when Baekhyun shot him a warning look.

“Don’t fight, you guys,” Baekhyun piped up as he gazed at Mihyun who was intently talking to the crowd that surrounded her. “From the looks of it, I think we have a pretty good chance of pulling this thing off.”

“Please Jongdae, please!” Mihyun pleaded as she trailed after him in the hallways, ignoring the looks of surprise people were shooting her way. Previously it had been Jongdae chasing after the tail of the ice queen with his idiot friends trailing behind, but not it seemed as though the situation was switched.

“No! I said no and I mean no!” Jongdae exclaimed in return, biting down on his bottom lip as his eyes shot in all directions, hoping nobody was eavesdropping on their conversation. He dropped his voice to an almost inaudible tone and hissed, “You aren’t going to change my mind, so just drop it.”

“Jongdae, please. You’re one of the only few people I can trust. You know I wouldn’t be asking you for such a big favor if I didn’t think this was completely necessary,” Mihyun persisted as she cut in front of him.

“Mihyun, I’m grateful that you think so but this is just… this is just pushing it too far. What if we get caught with them? I’m not going to let Junmyeon get hurt when I’ve just patched together our friendship.”

“Why would I get hurt?” Junmyeon piped up as he popped in from behind the pair. “What are you two talking about?”

“It’s nothing important,” Jongdae responded as he waved Junmyeon off. “Mihyun is just trying to persuade me to do something ridiculous.”

“Are you talking about the whole Noye thing?’ Junmyeon asked with a cocked head. “Because I already told her it was fine.”

“You what?!” Jongdae exclaimed incredulously, spinning around sharply to gawk at his half brother. “Do you know what you just agreed to?!”

“Well yeah,” Junmyeon nodded his head thoughtfully. “Mihyun explained her situation pretty well. If we’re helping others, then why not, Jongdae? I mean all we’re going to be doing is keeping a few Noyes in our hou—”

“Do you want to get killed?!” Jongdae exclaimed, immediately slapping had hand against Junmyeon’s mouth to stop him from blurting out anymore. He lowered his voice to a hiss, “We’re in public, Junmyeon. You can’t just say stuff like that and not expect anybody to be listening in.”

His eyes darted around to glare at the people who were attempting to discreetly listen in on their conversation, and he heaved a sigh of annoyance. He wrapped his hand around both Mihyun and Junmyeon’s wrists and dragged them into an empty classroom down an abandoned hall. After securely locking the door behind him, he spun around to face the pair with his hands pressed against his hips.

“It’s two against one, Jongdae,” Junmyeon shrugged with Mihyun nodding her head enthusiastically beside him.

Jongdae opened his mouth to retort, but allowed his jaw to hang open for a few seconds as he mentally thought Mihyun’s proposition over. He let out a loud groan once he set his eyes on the pleading expressions of both Mihyun and his brother, and threw his arms up into the air, “Fine.”

“Asa!” Junmyeon grinned, turning to give Mihyun a high five.

“But we’ll only take a few!” Jongdae exclaimed with an outstretched finger. “Only three, you hear that Mihyun?”

“Did you say 15?” Mihyun cocked her head. She turned to Junmyeon, “He said 15, right?”

“I think he did,” Jumyeon nodded his head in agreement.

“You guys are terrible,” Jongdae snarled, curling his upper lip in annoyance.

“We know,” Mihyun and Junmyeon piped up simultaneously.

“I have to pick something up from the library so I’ll go on ahead, Jongdae. Meet you out in front of the front gate!” Junmyeon called out after glancing down at his watch. He waved Mihyun a good bye and sped out of the room.

“Jaesuk and the boys are waiting from me outside, so I’ll see you later, Jongdae,” Mihyun smiled as she began to follow after Junmyeon’s foot steps.

“Wait,” Jongdae called out.

Mihyun stopped mid step and glanced over her shoulder, “Hm?”

“I… I heard about what’s going on with your family’s business. I just… I guess I wanted to know if you were doing alright,” Jongdae murmured as he rubbed the back of his neck. “If you need any help you can just ask me for it, you know that.”

“I just did,” Mihyun responded with a cocked head.

“I mean… I mean help with yourself, you know,” Jongdae clarified. “Not for other people.”

Mihyun remained silent for a few seconds before she smiled at Jongdae’s kindness. “Thanks, Jongdae. I really appreciate it, but I’m perfectly fine.”

“You’ve changed a lot, haven’t you?” Jongdae responded slowly, nodding his head in agreement with himself.

Mihyun let out a small laugh, “Everybody seems to keep saying that to me lately.”

“It’s because it’s true,” Jongdae shrugged. “Maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but you’ve changed a lot, Mihyun.”

“No,” Mihyun shook her head with a small smile lingering on her face. “I’ve noticed it.”

She held up her hand and waved it gently in Jongdae’s direction. “I’ll see you later, Jongdae. I don’t want to keep them waiting any longer.”

“What took you so long? You were literally gone for like 2 hours,” Sehun huffed as soon as Mihyun climbed into the back seat of the car.

“We’ve been waiting for ten minutes, Sehun,” Jaesuk deadpanned, rolling his eyes at the boy’s childish behavior. “If this is what love does to you then I obviously never want to experience it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sehun responded matter of factly.

“That’s because you’re stupid,” Jaesuk shrugged in response.

“Do you want to fight, Hyung? Let’s go right now,” Sehun growled as he began to launch himself out of his seat.

He was pulled back by Luhan who inaudibly scolded him for his childish behavior. Sehun opened his mouth to protest as to how it wasn’t his fault, but pressed his lips together reluctantly. Instead, he kicked the back of Jaesuk’s chair for good measure, smiling satisfactory when Jaesuk let out a loud “Umpf.”

“You really are such a child, Sehun,” Mihyun shook her head. “If I had discovered your true character earlier I think I might have thought twice about choosing you in the hallways.”

“You don’t mean that,” Sehun shrugged confidently.

“What a brat,” Jaesuk muttered under his breath. He let out another groan when Sehun aimed another rough kick to the back of his chair, and he whipped his head angrily around the glare at the culprit. “I am driving, kid! I could easily drive us into a pole and kill us all, just so you know.”

“But you wouldn’t,” Sehun responded, the corner of his lips lifting into a knowing smirk.

“I’m going to strangle him,” Jaesuk growled under his breath as he turned back around to focus on the road. “I’m going to strangle him and throw him into the ocean and laugh as sharks chew apart his body.”

“Rude,” Sehun added in.

“Sehun, would you please stop making Jaesuk more frustrated than he already is? I’d rather he not drive us into a pole, thank you very much,” Mihyun sighed as she nudged Sehun with her elbow.

Deciding to change the topic in the car to something else, Luhan scribbled quickly scribbled across his white board to hold up towards Mihyun. Did Jongdae agree?

“It took some persuading to, but he did,” Mihyun nodded her head in satisfaction. “What about you? I don’t think Yixing would give you too much of a problem.”

“He agreed right away,” Sehun nodded his head. “He even offered to open up his storage house as well. It’s not very homely, but it could easily fit a good 50 of them until official legislation is released.”

“Of course, leave it to Yixing,” Mihyun smiled.

“Still, I don’t think that’s enough room. Where else can we let them stay?” Jaesuk asked. “We can’t keep any of them under anything of the Han family, for I’m pretty sure that’s the first place officials will look.”

“I can still ask Daehyun if he’s willing to help. Even if he isn’t I know he won’t tell a soul,” Mihyun responded thoughtfully. She let out a worried sigh and leaned her head against the cold window.

“We’ll figure something out,” Sehun added lightly as he gently took Mihyun’s hand into his.

“No lovey dovey stuff in my car,” Jaesuk called out as he shot the pair a dirty look through his review mirror. “Luhan, you’re on patrol!”

Luhan’s hand flung to his head to salute him before leaning over to pull Sehun and Mihyun apart.

“Hyung!” Sehun exclaimed, shooting Luhan a look of betrayal.

Luhan shrugged with a guiltless expression. I’m just doing my job.

“We’re here. I’ll come pick you guys up in two hours, alright? Agashi, I’ll go check on the bank statements now to see how it is going,” Jaesuk called out as the trio climbed out of the car.

“Jaesuk, before you do that take a break, okay,” Mihyun smiled as she reached out to pat him on the head.

Jaesuk made a face at her words, “Why would I want to do that?” He turned to Sehun and gave him a two salute before driving off, “Now you can knock yourself out, kid.”

“You know,” Sehun nodded approvingly as he wrapped his arm around Mihyun’s shoulders. “Sometimes that Hyung isn’t that bad.”

“Mihyun, can I—”

“No,” Sehun growled as he immediately pushed the girl behind him. He glared at Jaemin threateningly and barred his teeth, “Now get out.”

“Calm down your pet, will you?” Jaemin sighed as he took a step back. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“Don’t calm him that,” Mihyun snapped back with a hard look. She gently pressed her hand against Sehun’s upper arm and lightly pushed him backward. “What do you want?”

“To talk,” Jaemin answered with crossed arms. His eyes darted around the room, and he flinched under the dark glares of the other occupants. “Alone, please.”

“What about?” Mihyun asked cautiously.

“Your… your plans,” Jaemin responded after a moment of pause.

Mihyun tensed for a split second before immediately relaxing her body. She couldn’t give anything away; not only hers, but everybody’s life depended on it.

“What nonsense are you trying to spout now?” Mihyun scoffed. She nodded her head towards the cage entrance, “Let’s go.”

The pair traveled not too far away from the cages, but far enough to be out of earshot from snooping ears.

“Now what are you talking about?” Mihyun asked with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. “Because if you’re trying to accuse me of something I’m not going to stand for it.”

“I know something’s happening, Mihyun,” Jaemin responded immediately. “I know you’re brewing something together with those other Noyes of yours. The guards have been telling me. They said that random flocks of Noyes are being caught sneaking through the halls around the cage of your… friends.”

“And why would that have something to do with me?” Mihyun asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Why would it not? I’ve been running this place since the moment I could walk, and nothing like this ever happened until you started showing your face around here. I’ve been nice while it lasted, Mihyun, but I’m not going to—”

“This is what you call nice?” Mihyun chortled. “Then I would like to see how you look when you’re mean.”

Jaemin’s eyes flashed dangerously and he let out a low growl, “I should warn you not to mess with me, Mihyun.”

“I should say the same thing to you, shouldn’t I?” Mihyun responded without skipping a beat.

Jaemin opened his mouth to respond, but clenched his teeth angrily, “Anyways, I was just trying to give you a warning, Mihyun. If you try anything, and I mean anything, I will make you go through hell.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Mihyun responded dryly, not flinching against the deathly glare Jaemin had trained on her. She watched as Jaemin spun sharply on his heels, stomping angrily down the hall and out of sight.

“What did he want from you?” Baekhyun asked immediately once she stepped back into the cage.

“What did he say?” Sehun demanded with narrowed eyes of concern.

“We have to be more careful from now on,” Mihyun stated after a long period of silence. Her eyes flashed with worry and concern as she gazed into all of their eyes. “And we have to act quickly.”