Adjusting to Hyuk in the dorm room was easy. He got along well with Hongbin and Wonshik, he was (mostly) clean, and he actually contributed to their music. The two humans eventually forgot that he was an alien.

The only problem was that he ate too much and how he made Wonshik feel like a third wheel.

Sanghyuk and Hongbin acted really weird around one another, and not in the cute way you’re thinking of. It was just weird.

One distinctive thing that made Wonshik feel really funky was when the two of them just stared at one another. Once again, not in the cute way; it was far from a gaze. It was like some sort of hypnosis and it needed to stop.

One of the times he walked in on them when they were at it, Wonshik called for a family meeting.

“Family meeting! Right now! Right on this couch!” Wonshik yelled as Hongbin and Hyuk broke eye contact to look at him at the same time. It was creeping Wonshik out, so he jumped over the back of the couch to plop down right in between them.

Wonshik placed a hand on each of their knees- his right on Hongbin’s and his left on Sanghyuk’s. “Boys, this needs to end.”

“What needs to end?” Hongbin asked as he attempted to flick Wonshik’s hand off.

“The thing you guys are always doing!” Wonshik exclaimed as he turned slightly to face Hongbin.

Hyuk was next to speak. “What thing?”

“The thing you were just doing not one minute ago!” Wonshik kicked his legs around and whined. “It’s freaking me out!”

“We were just sitting here and watching TV, hyung.” Hongbin gestured to the television that was indeed on.

Wonshik took his left hand off of Sanghyuk’s knee so he could point right in Hongbin’s face. “No. No, you guys weren’t just ‘watching tv’.” He put little air quotes around Hongbin’s words. “The only TV you were watching was,” Wonshik slowly turned so he was now pointing at Sanghyuk “the one in this guy’s head.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sanghyuk gently pushed Wonshik’s hand away. “This is prejudiced against aliens.”

Wonshik gave up on trying to figure out what Hyuk was doing (for now) and left to go get a breakfast biscuit.

Once he returned, only Hyuk was sitting on the couch.

“Where did bean boy go?” He asked with a mouth full of biscuit.

Sanghyuk shrugged without taking his eyes off of the TV screen. “I think he said something about going to the studio for a while.”

This was it. The perfect opportunity to interrogate Sanghyuk on his alien antics.

Wonshik tossed his bag dramatically across the room as he made his way towards the couch.

“We’re gonna have a chit-chat.” He declared as he grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “And it’s gonna happen now.”

Sanghyuk sighed, but gestured for Wonshik to sit next to him, and so he did.

“What are you doing with Hongbin? The weird staring thing? I’m not gonna fall for the innocence card here, because we both know it’s bull.”

“I don’t gotta tell you nuthin’!” Hyuk screamed as he whacked the breakfast biscuit right out of Wonshik’s hands and onto the cold, hard floor. Wonshik gasped as Sanghyuk made a break for the front door.

Wonshik would have chased after him, but he was still in shock. His precious biscuit was now on the ground- inedible, abandoned, and cold. This world was far too cruel for this young man to take.

Once he finished sulking, Wonshik decided that he should locate Hongbin and move him to a safer location. He crossed the room and retrieved his discarded bag. He dug around until he found his phone and dialed Hongbin’s number.

Hingbean picked up after several rings. “What’s up, Hyung?”

“Where are you, Lee Hongbin?” Wonshik almost shouted as he frantically opened the door to their apartment.

“Nowhere important. Why do you ask?”

Wonshik rolled his eyes at Hongbin’s vagueness. “By chance are you meeting up with Sanghyuk?”

Hongbin chuckled on the other end. “I mean, he told me not to tell you that I was meeting him-”

Dangnabbit! The alien scum has already reached him! Wonshik just had to convince Hongbin back to him, or scare him back.

“Hongbin, you have to listen very closely,” he whispered into the phone. “Are you alone?”

“Uh, yeah. I g-guess.”

Hongbin was nervous. Good.

“I overheard Sanghyuk talking on the phone with IX.” He brought his knuckle to his mouth to bite down a laugh. “They were talking about us- you specifically.”

“W-what did they say?”

“I didn’t get to hear much of the conversation, but they said something about out your brain.” Wonshik was grateful that he went snooping around in Hongbin’s stuff constantly. He was casually reading his journal yesterday when he stumbled across an entry titled “Aliens!?1/??!/1//”. The whole page is a rollercoaster, but he talks about how concerned he is that the aliens are going to out his brains and how it’s been a concern of his for a while.

“I think they told Hyuk to get close to you so he could harvest your brain, Hongbin.”

“Oh my god.” Wonshik could tell that Hongbin was now running. “What should I do? Where should I go?” Hongbin panted on the other end of the phone call.

“Run. Run away and never return.”

“Wonshik, this is an inappropriate time to quote The Lion King.”

“Sorry, sorry. Well, just come back to the apartment. We’ll come up with an attack plan then.”

“Thank you, Wonshik. See you in a bit!” The line went dead before he could reply, so he shoved his phone back into his pocket with a sigh of relief.

Hongbin was safe.

For now.