“’Ohhh ’ what?” Chanyeol immediately called out from his room, opening the door and coming back out into the den. The warily concerned look on his face turned Sehun’s throat to a Jell-O-like consistency.

“Nothing,” he answered, fighting to maintain normalcy in his voice and his characteristic poker face. He closed the laptop before looking up at the man towering over him. “I deleted the file,” he said simply, accompanied by a of his lips.

“So what was the “oh ” for?” Chanyeol asked, arms folded tightly over his chest, clearly still holding an anger seldom seen from him.

He frowned. “I told you, it was nothing.”

Chanyeol was still not happy, and his uncharacteristically sharp glare gave the very transparent impression that he was not buying it at all. “You never say that over ‘nothing’. I’ll give you amnesty if you tell me right now whether or not something happened, but if I find out later…”

Sehun did not like repeating himself, as was evidenced by his increasingly aggravated expression.

“I’m telling you-“

“He sent the file to Tao by accident,” Kai said, immediately rising from his cat nap into a sitting position. When the two men in front of him only stared at him, dumbfounded, he dispassionately examined their faces. “What? Is that not what happened?”

“Well… yeah, but-“

“You WHAT!?!?” Chanyeol screeched loudly enough for half of Gangnam to hear.

“Hyung, you said he got amnesty…” Kai sighed, one eyebrow sliding upward.

“I said he did if he told me!”

“He didn’t get a chance to. Besides,” he said, pausing for a moment to let out a yawn as he stretched and stood from the sofa, “He’s the least of your worries. Tao is still pissed at Baekhyun about the day before yesterday. Who knows what he’ll do with that file-”

‘TAO DELETE THAT RIGHT NOW’
‘AS YOUR HYUNG I COMMAND YOU TO DELETE IT’
‘THIS IS CHANYEOL’ –Me, 3:00 p.m.

“That little , he’s not responding!” Chanyeol grunted, staring death at Tao through Sehun’s computer screen. The other two could only blink at how quickly he’d shot over to the computer; meanwhile he took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, shutting his eyes and trying to contain his anger but looking like pot about to boil over.

“Sehun-ah, you know you might have just killed our group, right?”

The youngest clicked his tongue. “Oh come on, quit overreacting. It was an accident. Besides, Tao would never do something like leak it to the public. He’s not like Baekhyun-”

He stopped himself when he realized the unintended implications of what he’d just said, but it was too late.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking about, you bratty son of a-“

“Hyung,” Kai said calmly, taking a protective half-step in front of Sehun as Chanyeol’s rage began to boil over. “Sehun, let me talk this out with him. Now,” he added when Sehun didn’t back down from where he was standing with his chest puffed out slightly, leaning forward, challenging the older and taller through his body language.

“Fine,” Sehun spat out before he walked around the two, not bothering to tear his glare from Chanyeol’s until he’d passed him.

“Hyung, I agree with you,” Kai started in order to draw back Chanyeol’s attention once Sehun slammed the door to his room, “He ed up big time, and if I were you I might’ve knocked him out cold, but what he did was an accident.”

“You don’t 'accidentally' record-“

“Other than that it was an accident. Tao, on the other hand, has got blackmail, anger, and a vengeful streak, and while you’re busy yelling at Sehun, Tao’s probably plotting exactly how he’s going to use the three. We need to call him before he figures it out.”

“Hey, Kai.”

“Hey Tao,” Kai responded when the older answered the phone. “I hear we’ve got a situation.”

“Situ-? Oh, this is about the file, isn’t it.”

“Yeah. Sehun sent it by accident, so could you just delete it, please?”

“Why are you the one calling me about it?”

“That’s not important. Just delete it.”

“Did you forget that Baekhyun just uploaded a video of me-“

“No, but this is on a totally different scale. Just what are you planning to do with it?” Kai had to use his forearm to hold back Chanyeol, whose hands had become very grabby upon hearing the possibility that Tao would do anything other than get rid of the file.

“Dunno yet. But you’re stupid if you think I’m throwing this chance away.”

Kai scowled, partially disappointed but mostly annoyed. “What do you want?”

“'Want'?”

“What’ll it take to get you to delete it?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I’m not going to-”

“Zitao.”

“C-Chanyeol?”

In the background, Kai could be heard in pain. Tao swallowed involuntarily.

“You’re going to destroy that file, or I will destroy you and your computer.”

“Care that much about your little toy?” Tao laughed when he heard Chanyeol snarling. “Sorry, hyung, but I’m not letting what the bastard--or you, for that matter--did go unpunished.”

“It’s not. Even. That. Bad,” Chanyeol said, clutching the phone with white-hot knuckles.

“’He was having a dream about baking cookies with Sehun.’ Baekhyun publically leaks a video of me saying Sehun’s name in my sleep, and instead of telling the truth and saying that it was just random talking, the excuse you trick me into agreeing to is that I was having a dream about baking cookies. The hell what kind of excuse is that!? SM has been on my for a year about me and Sehun, and now Baekhyun goes and pulls this . Naturally, no one believes it. EXO-L’s blowing up, social media’s blowing up, and there is no way I’m going down without both of you along for the ride.”

“Listen here, prick,” Chanyeol growled. “In a few months no one will remember some dream you had. You share this with anyone, and this entire ing band is going underwater, you hear? Do you really want to be paying SM out your for the remainder of what we owe them?”

“…You have a point,” Tao conceded. “Fine. There’s more than one way for me to dish out your comeuppance. This conversation’s done.”

“Tao-“

No response.

Chanyeol nearly launched the phone in his hand across the room until he remembered that it belonged to Jongin. Speaking of whom: The dancer was still on the ground, rubbing his elbow at the place it had contacted the ground when he had been shoved to the floor during their very short fight for the phone.

Chanyeol's anger began to dissolve immediately. “Sorry…” he mumbled sheepishly, helping the younger to his feet and returning the phone that was almost smashed to bits to him.

“It’s whatever. I’m… guessing that didn’t go as hoped.”

“He’s probably not gonna leak it publically, but he’s not deleting it either.” Chanyeol took off his hat before quickly replacing it, pensive. “You don’t think he’s gonna…?”

“I think we’re both thinking the same thing,” Kai replied matter-of-factly.

Chanyeol hissed.

If what they were thinking was right, this was not likely to end smoothly at all.