Lay blinked cluelessly as he joined the other three members of EXO-M at their kitchen table. He hadn’t yet taken the time to read the group messages, partially out of annoyance that no one seemed to be responding to his question of whether or not they needed milk (he’d bought some anyway, and if it ended up going to waste it would be on their consciences,) but mostly because he figured he could just asked what conclusion they came to on, if what he saw from the one or two messages he did catch was any indication, a highly confounding issue.

He didn’t expect what he got.

“Eh? Chanyeol and Baekhyun are dating?”

“Dating? Who knows. ing? Yes.”

Lay nodded slowly at Xiumin’s answer before replying, “So what did you guys decide to do?”

Jongdae sighed softly. “I mean, there’s only really one thing we can do.”

Tao looked away before opening his own mouth to speak.

“I don’t feel comfortable with them in our group.”

Jongin jumped when the silence in their room was broken by a highly frustrated grunt from Chanyeol followed by the sound of a cellphone making its mark in the drywall in front of the bed.

“Chanyeol?” Jongin asked timidly, flipping over in bed to look at the other, who had his back turned. “You okay?”

“Do people who are ‘okay’ tear the wall a new one with their phone? No? I didn’t think so,” he snapped with a voice on the verge of breaking.

Jongin looked down where the phone had landed to see that the screen was still on. Somewhat afraid of the unprecedented state of aggravation Chanyeol was in, he slipped almost noiselessly out of bed and crept over to retrieve it and see just what had tipped Chanyeol's anger over again.

“I’m sorry…” Chanyeol finally said. “It’s just… this is…” His words wavered before waning down to a whisper.  “It’s the worst day of my life, Jongin. And to add insult to injury, this happens.”

“If this is the worst day of your life, it can only get better,” Jongin said, pressing the power button on the phone. “Anyway,” he continued before Chanyeol could disagree, “don’t worry about the package. Not like it’ll get through security.”

“It’s not the package itself,” Chanyeol murmured, turning so he was facing the ceiling. “It’s… We have so many fans that want to see skinship, and fantasize about us being in relationships and whatever we do behind closed doors. But if we actually did the things they ‘wish we did’, it would be scandalous. An outrage.” He turned back toward the wall, his body deflating into the bed. “An abomination. I mean, it’s bad enough that people ize things like this, but when they ize it and are against it…? And on top of that, the fans who say they love us so much… When they don’t love the real us… It’s disgusting, Jongin, I… I don't even have words to...”

Chanyeol didn’t realize he was sobbing until he felt Jongin’s calming hand on his back.

“You’re getting too far ahead of the situation,” the younger murmured as he began to rub soothing circles. “Let’s focus on one thing at a time. Focus on how to convince Tao to delete the recording. We’re going to China tomorrow, remember? One thing at a time.”

In his state of worry he had forgotten all about the sudden schedule change that would have them filming a variety show abroad later in what was technically the same day. Ironically, that was what had gotten him going in the first place. The thought of Tao outing him and Baekhyun in front of a studio audience, in front of the world; the disgusted faces of their so-called ‘fans’; trying to calm himself down by going on Facebook and running into that post.

“Yeah…” Jongin’s hand was practically draining the testosterone and fear-fueled adrenaline from him, and all that remained was the melatonin that had so far been masked. “One thing at a time…” he muttered as he finally drifted off into a tearful and wary sleep.

Chanyeol didn’t know if it was a gift or a curse that he didn’t get to see Tao right up until it was nearly time to begin filming. EXO-K was rushed into the studio about ten minutes before six, and with retouching their makeup and fixing their outfits, there was hardly any time for them to see each other, much less exchange words. This was partially facilitated by efforts on the part of Kai and Sehun to ensure that whatever small chance of interaction between Tao and Baekhyun or Chanyeol existed was never actually realized.

“They know,” Sehun murmured so suddenly to Kai that he didn’t even know what Sehun was referencing.

“Huh?”

“The EXO-M hyungs. They know.”

Kai’s eyes followed Sehun’s line of sight to where his eyes were locked onto Lay. The way in which his gaze fell unnaturally often toward Baekhyun or Chanyeol, especially when the two got close, was a dead giveaway. If Lay knew, Tao had to have told the rest of them as well. Xiumin and Jongdae were just capable of hiding it.

They didn’t have much time to think about it, as “T minus one minute to show time!” was called out by a staff member, and the boys were lined up to head out onto the stage. Kai and Sehun existed as the only buffer between Tao and Chanyeol, the latter of whose eyes were nearly burning into the back of Tao’s head. Kai didn’t even have to turn around to know how tense Chanyeol was; he merely reached behind himself and tapped him on the index finger.

His message was conveyed perfectly clearly.

“One thing at a time. Forget about Tao. Forget about the situation. Just focus on getting through this.”

Chanyeol sighed heavily. Tao smirked. Sehun glared. Kai ran his tongue across the sharp edge of his teeth.

“Without further ado,” the MC said as he smiled toward the boys, “please welcome our guests for today, EXO!”