Arctic Fox Security

K-pop info and glossary

A note for context before you read: This is an AU.  EXO is still EXO, but Infinite is not an idol group.

Infinite’s Nam Woohyun’s name is 남우현.  남우 sounds like 나무, or “namu,” the word for tree.

Sungyeol with earrings and ponytail.

Sunggyu’s haircut during “Back.”

I write about men having sex with other men.  You must be eighteen or older to read my fiction.  This site is for consenting, responsible adults only.

            Sungyeol was lounging in his favorite spot, in front of his monitor array with a cup of coffee in hand, when his boss’s voice came through his headset.  “Everyone on call, check in.”

            One by one, everyone sounded off.  “JD, checking in.”

            “Namu, checking in.”

            “H, checking in.”

            “Info, checking in,” Sungyeol said.

            “L, checking in.”

            “SJ, checking in.”

            “Okay,” the president said briskly.  “Namu, report.”

            “Just got out of the meeting with management over at SM,” Namu said.  “I’m meeting EXO at their dorm in an hour.  The higher-ups want to keep their product safe, and management’s been ordered to cooperate, so we’re operating with full authority.”

            “That’s just how the big boss likes it,” Sungyeol said, grinning.

            “We’ll see how cooperative EXO is,” H said.

            “Idols,” L muttered.

            “JD, SJ, meet Namu at their dorm, do a full sweep,” the president said.

            “Yes, president-nim,” JD said.

            “Sending you blueprints of their dorm now,” Sungyeol said.  “Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, big living room, and what looks like a laundry room.  One door.  On the twenty-eighth floor of a thirty-story complex, four banks of elevators, three levels of underground parking, you’re going to have a lot of traffic in there, a lot of people in and out.”

            “A four and two?” SJ asked.  “How many residents?”

            “Nine members,” Namu said.  “Managers come and go but don’t live there full-time.  Housekeeper comes in every day to clean, do laundry, and stock the fridge.”

            “Housekeeper,” Sungyeol said, already on it.  “Fifty-seven years old, unmarried, she’s worked for EXO for ten months now, worked for another SM group for three years before that, used to clean houses for single businessmen, no kids, no priors.”

            “Where’s that deep background on the managers?” the president asked.

            “Have it for you in seventeen minutes,” he said, checking his downloads.

            “Mmm.  Namu, get him a list of other staff.  Stylists, choreographers, whoever works with them on a regular basis.  The PDs and writers and cameramen from their last projects.  You’ll need to look at sasaengs, fan sites, and antis.”

            “Yes, president-nim,” Sungyeol said.

            “On it,” Namu said.

            “Get back to me with a duty roster.  And get me a comprehensive workup of their building’s security.  Out.”

            The call ending, Sungyeol tapped his headset.  Turning EXO’s latest album back on, he sipped his coffee.  All right.  Time to get to work.

            Suho had a mutiny on his hands.  His members were arguing and cursing and gesturing wildly.  He couldn’t blame them; he’d had all of these objections himself, when management had told him about this plan last night.  But he couldn’t let them become so vehement like this.  “Everyone sit down,” he said firmly, giving them his “and I mean it” look.

            They sat, some with dramatic displays of reluctance.

            Once they were all assembled on the chairs and couches in front of him, he nodded thoughtfully.  “I understand.  I don’t like it, either, but it isn’t up to us.  I didn’t think that our security problems were that bad, but it seems like management hasn’t been telling us anything.  There were more threats than we realized.  At the company building, and here, too.  Notes and packages and all sorts of things.”

            “Threats, like, ‘Hey, stop stealing my oppa’s spotlight or else?’” Baekhyun asked.  “Or like, ‘Hey, asshole, I’m coming to kill you?’”

            “Some of both,” Suho admitted.  He didn’t want to scare them; what management had told him last night still had him on edge.  “It’s bad.  They either have to go to the police, or handle it privately.  So we’re doing it this way at first.  If this new security team can’t solve things, we’ll have to let the police step in, and I don’t think that’ll be good.  It’ll only cause problems.”

            “Every celebrity gets some threats,” Xiumin said.

            “I’m not saying that I like being followed by stalkers everywhere I go, but I don’t want to be followed around by extra security guards, either,” Chanyeol said.

            “This isn’t a choice,” Suho said.  “We’ll endure it for a few weeks, and management will decide how it’s going.  Let’s just cooperate and make the best of it.”  With his members right in front of him, he remembered the worst of the threats, and a shiver ran up his spine.  “Maybe we’re too used to brushing these things off.  I would never forgive myself if something happened to any one of you.  Your safety is too important.  Let’s take this seriously.”

            Lay frowned, and Kai nodded.  “Okay, hyung,” Chen said.  “We’ll cooperate.”

            One of EXO’s managers met Woohyun downstairs and let him into the building.  They made small talk and went into the building’s security office, where he shook hands and covered the basics.  The manager escorted him upstairs.  When the elevator doors opened, he checked his watch and said, “My team should be here by now.  I’ll go back down and bring them up, if that’s all right.”

            The manager agreed and stepped out.  Woohyun smiled as the elevator doors closed.  He went down one floor, then got out and strode casually down the hall.  Stepping through a door marked “exit,” he took a cursory glance around, then tapped his earpiece.  “Twenty-seventh floor, north stairwell.  Where are you goons?”

            Feet clattered from above and below.  SJ and H strolled up together; JD jumped over the railing, landing lightly from the floor above.  L coolly pushed open the door Woohyun had just come through and joined them.  “This place is about as secure as loose seaweed,” SJ said.

            “I’ve had more trouble getting through baby gates,” H said.

            “Put it in your reports,” Woohyun said, heading up the stairs.  “Best behavior today, understand?  SM’s willing to shell out a lot of money to keep their pet project safe.  But spoiled idols are used to getting what they want, or they’ll cry to their CEO and get us fired.  Play nicely.”

            “Got it,” JD said.

            “I hope that you all went over the brief,” he added.  “You’ll hurt their feelings if you don’t recognize which one’s which.”

            “Leader, Suho, also known as Kim Joonmyun,” Info said in his ear.  “Born in 1991, trained with SM for seven years.  Oldest, Xiumin, also known as Kim Minseok, 1990, looks like Sohee?  Looks like a chipmunk to me.  Shortest member.  Chinese guy, Lay, real name Zhang Yixing.  1991.  Byun Baekhyun, 1992, second main vocal, look for the guy with the sad eyes and downturned mouth.  Chen, or Kim Jongdae, 1992, main vocal, I don’t know, just go with the one who’s definitely not the visual in the room.”  SJ laughed.  “Park Chanyeol, 1992, tallest guy in the room, big ears.  D.O., real name Do Kyungsoo, 1993, short, huge eyes, he’s an actor.  Let’s see, Kai, real name Kim Jongin, 1994.  I don’t know, he’s third tallest?  He’s a dancer.  Just figure him out by process of elimination.  And Oh Sehun, 1994, second tallest, chic face, he’s the maknae, looks like his hair’s blond right now.”

            “Leader Suho, chipmunk Xiumin, Chinese guy Lay, sad guy Baekhyun, ugly guy Chen, tall big-eared guy Chanyeol, actor looks D.O., tall blond guy Sehun, and Kai,” SJ said.  “Got it.”

            “Or you could just read the info packet I sent,” Info suggested.  “You know, the one I sent last week, and reminded you to read yesterday.”

            “No, this is great, thanks,” SJ said.  H laughed.

            “Too bad,” Woohyun said.  “You missed out on some interesting reading about their fictional superpowers.”  At EXO’s door, Woohyun rang the bell.  “Try to remember to smile once in a while.”

            “Oh, I’ll tell you jokes,” Info offered.

            “Ending call,” Woohyun said, tapping his earpiece.

            Their manager led five men into the dorm.  Baekhyun got to his feet, bowing in greeting.

            “I’m EXO’s Suho,” Suho said.  “These are our members.”

            “Namu,” the guy in front said, shaking Suho’s hand.  “Arctic Fox Security.”  He was good-looking, wearing an expensive suit, his thick hair slanting across his forehead.  Behind him, there were two guys dressed in plain, black clothing, black caps pulled low over their eyes.  There was also a guy in pretty, summery yellow playing with the doorknob and a guy in red polka-dotted pants and a blue animal print shirt with a green backpack, his gray baseball cap on backwards, who was staring up at the ceiling like there were fascinating mysteries written up there.  “They’re going to go over the apartment and check out your security, if that’s all right.”

            “Oh, sure, that’s fine,” Suho said.  The guy in yellow and the…clown?...split up.

            “Now, don’t tell me,” Woohyun said, smile lines appearing on either side of his mouth as he studied the members.  “You’re Xiumin, you’re Chanyeol, and you’re Sehun.  Baekhyun, D.O., and Lay?  And you’re Chen, and you must be Kai.  Was I close?” he asked, chuckling.

            “You got it right,” Kai said, grinning.

            Suho invited them to sit and offered drinks.  Accepting a glass of water, Namu sat down with them comfortably.  The two guys in black hung back, arms crossed over their chests.  Baekhyun was already unsure about having them around.  This wasn’t really necessary, was it?

            “We don’t want to disrupt your lives, or make your fans or families worry about you,” Namu said.  “Most of what we do won’t involve you directly.  We’ll assess your security measures, analyze the threats you’ve been receiving, monitoring, surveillance.  We’ll need someone from our team to be with you at all times, but since you spend most of your time together, working, that shouldn’t be very difficult.”

            His smile was reassuring, and Baekhyun wanted to relax and believe him.  Sehun asked, “What, I’m sorry,” and leaned forward hesitantly.  “What does that mean, with us at all times?”

            “You just mean when we’re out, going to schedules?” Baekhyun asked.

            “You’re not, like, going to follow us into the bathroom, are you?” Chanyeol asked with a nervous laugh, glancing at the two guys in black standing over Namu’s shoulder.

            Namu, what kind of name was that?  Was he a tree?  Was that a code name?  Did these guys actually have code names?

            “Yes,” Namu said.  “It isn’t any more fun for us than it is for you,” he added with a chuckle, and Suho smiled.  “But we can’t let you get hurt on our watch, and that means that we have to be with you no matter what, so that we can protect you at all times.  It might be frustrating now and then, but it’s for your safety.  And you’re very precious to a lot of people, so we have to do our best.”

            Baekhyun nibbled on his thumb, thinking that over.

            “We’ll need you to agree not to go anywhere without us,” Namu said.  “It might take some organization, since there are more of you than there are of us.”

            “Including individual schedules?” Suho asked.  “Some of the members have their own activities right now.  D.O., especially, he’s filming a drama.”

            “And what about our social lives?” Kai asked.  “Our private lives?”

            “Yes, we’re going to need to be with you then, too,” Namu said.  “It’s uncomfortable for everyone if you’re being followed by a security team, so you can tell people that we’re new managers.  Rookie managers still learning the ropes.   It might be awkward when you’re out with your girlfriends, but it’s for their safety, too.”

            “Girlfriends,” Chanyeol repeated.  “I wish.  We’re idols, we can’t date.”

            “No?” Namu asked.  One of the guys in black turned aside, touching his earpiece and mumbling something.

            “No, we aren’t allowed to have girlfriends, we can’t date at all, our fans would hate it too much,” Chanyeol said.

            Namu nodded.  “When your phone rings, put it on speaker for me, please.”

            Chanyeol frowned, pulling out his phone.  “Who-”  Sudden ringing interrupted him.  Laughing, he answered the call.  “Hello?” he asked, his tone curious.  Wondering what was going on, Baekhyun leaned closer.

            “Chanyeol was out with the same woman three times last month,” a voice said.  “Xiumin meets his lady friend at dance clubs in Gangnam.  Very pretty, older than I would’ve expected.  Kai seems to be dating Shinee’s Taemin.  Sehun seems to like getting his cock sucked in public bathrooms.  Can’t find anything on Lay, he’s either more discreet or doesn’t date at all, sorry, buddy.  Suho-”

            “What the hell is this?!” Chanyeol demanded, hurriedly ending the call, red to the tips of his ears.

            “What the fuck,” Sehun said, blinking hard.

            “If we can find the information, so can anyone who wants to hurt you,” Namu said.  “If the threats against you are real, then the people around you are in danger, too.  When you go out, we will go with you.”

            Baekhyun hugged himself, shivering.  He knew that with sasaengs and paparazzi always around, he couldn’t count on anything being private, not really.  But holy shit.  What kind of information was out there about him?  And who was looking at it?

            “Lying to us and sneaking around won’t help you,” Namu said.  “We want to help you, but for us to be effective, you have to help us, too.  We’re not here to judge you, this is about your safety, and we take our responsibilities seriously.”

            “Can we at least know who all of you are?” Chanyeol asked.  “If you’re going to know everything about us?”

            “Of course,” Namu said.  “This is H, and this is L.”  He gestured to the two men behind him.  H waved; L nodded.  “They’re going to be your primary bodyguards.  Their only purpose in life for the next few weeks is to keep you safe.  The other two are SJ and JD.  They’re our security and threat experts, but they’ll be taking bodyguard shifts, too.”

            “You all only have initials?” Lay asked.

            Namu smiled at him.  “We like to be efficient.  When we’re working in the field, we don’t like titles or hierarchies, it can get in the way of doing our jobs.”

            “Who was that on the phone?” Suho asked.

            “He goes by ‘Info,’” Namu said.  “He’s our information expert.  You might not ever meet him, he doesn’t like to be away from his computers for very long.”

            Baekhyun hoped that Namu intended to stick around.  At least he put a friendly face on all of this.

            “If we can go over your activities and schedules for the next few weeks, we can figure out who needs to be where, and when,” Namu said.

            Going over that took a while.  Namu had questions about the locations and who they’d work with once they were there.  They were still discussing it when the clown came out and asked, “Can someone take me to look at the cars you’ll be using?  The vans?  Are they here?”

            “Three of them, in the garage,” Suho said.

            “I’ll take you,” their manager said, getting up.

            “So far, so good?” Namu asked the clown.

            “SJ found an iridescent 517,” the clown said.  “Making sure there aren’t any more.”

            “A what?” Chen asked.

            “A bug, a listening device,” Namu said.  “Which room?”

            “One of the bedrooms, on the bedframe.”

            “What?” Baekhyun asked, shocked.  Someone had bugged their dorm?  Bugged a bed?!  “Whose bed?”

            “I don’t know,” the clown said, hitching his backpack higher on one shoulder.  “Whoever has pink sheets and has a bunch of shoeboxes stacked under the bedframe.”

            “What?” D.O. asked, his eyes widening.  “What, you found a bug under that bed?  The room beside the bathroom?”

            “Yeah, that one,” the clown said.  “Sorry, is it yours?”

            “Holy fuck, how long has it been there?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Oh my god,” Chen said, putting a hand on D.O.’s arm.

            “It’s okay, the 517 only records, it doesn’t transmit,” the clown said.

            “We’ll remove it and put another in its place, and wait to see if someone comes for it,” Namu said.  “Whatever’s on there, they’ll never hear it.”  He looked at D.O. steadily, and his voice was so reassuring, Baekhyun breathed a little easier.  Things were still horrible all of a sudden, but it wasn’t quite that bad after all, maybe.  At least they had experts on hand, someone who knew what to do, people who spoke from experience and seemed to have it all under control.

            Having some security team around still seemed like it would be kind of awful, but Baekhyun was starting to believe that they really needed them.

            While SJ and JD took off to go over the SM building, and Namu made polite, reassuring conversation with the clients, Hoya and L strolled around, looking things over for themselves.  “Think they’ll cooperate?” Hoya asked under his breath, opening the fridge.

            “Some of them,” L said.

            Yeah.  Some of them seemed okay, so far.  Finding the bug might have rattled a few of them enough to make them compliant, at least for the first few days.

            “Blowjobs in public,” L muttered.

            Hoya snorted.  “They eat well,” he observed, closing the fridge.  “Seems like Baekhyun and D.O. have the most personal schedules coming up.  Which one do you want?”

            “You take the older one, I’ll take the younger one.”

            Hoya nodded.  Being older than the client helped.  Older clients had trouble respecting their authority.  That might be a problem this time around if Xiumin realized that he was older than most of them were.  “What is Baekhyun filming, ‘Good Time Circus?’  What is that, a variety show?”

            L gave him a look.  “You know I don’t watch TV.”

            “Sounds like a variety show.”

            “Weren’t you listening when they talked about their schedules?  I think they explained it.”

            “I was taking a nap.”  With a job like this one, he’d have to be on duty and on patrol a lot, so it helped to grab some rest whenever he could.  Even standing up with his eyes open.  “Rock, paper, scissors for first shift tonight?”

            Arctic Fox Security.  While Namu and Suho talked, Xiumin looked the company up on his phone.  He couldn’t find anything.   During a break in conversation, he asked, “Namu, do you have a business card?”

            “Sorry, I don’t have any,” Namu said.  “But do you all have your phones?  I want you to put this number in your phone.  Call it if anything happens.  If you don’t feel safe, if anyone threatens you, for any reason, call this number.  Any time of day or night.  It’ll get you straight to Info, and he can get in touch with any of us.”

            When Namu reeled off the number, Xiumin saved it in his phone.  “Is it a big company?  Is it a small, private one?  How many employees, who runs it?”  When everyone started giving him strange looks, he laughed.  “What, I can’t ask?  This is us trusting them with our lives, isn’t it?  I just want to know who we’re working with.  They obviously know everything about us already.”

            “It’s a small company,” Namu said.  “That’s why no business cards or anything like that.  We don’t have investors or other teams or anyone else.  Since we’ve taken on this job working for you, we won’t take on anything else, so all we care about right now is you.”

            “You don’t even have a website?” Xiumin asked.  “How did our company find you?”

            “We work by word of mouth,” Namu said.  “We don’t want to advertise, since we aren’t big enough to take on a lot of jobs at once.”

            “Who else have you worked with?” Chen asked.  “What kinds of jobs do you normally do?”

            “We’ve done a few different kinds of things,” Namu said.  “Corporate espionage, finding out who’s been selling secrets.  A major CEO who was getting death threats.  A custody dispute involving a kidnapping.”

            “Then death threats like this, you’ve seen this before,” Lay said.

            “Yes,” Namu said.  He smiled.  “And we’ve left all of our clients safe and happy.”  His gaze drifted and he tapped at his earpiece.  After a moment, he got up.  “If you can excuse me, we’re going to have a quick team meeting.  You won’t mind if we step into one of the bedrooms?”

            “Oh,” Suho said, standing.  “If you’re all going to be here, staying with us for weeks, shouldn’t you take one of the bedrooms for your own?  We can share the other rooms, or a couple of us can sleep out here.”

            “No, we don’t want to add to your inconvenience,” Namu said.  “We don’t want to intrude and disrupt things more than we have to.”

            When Namu, L, and H went into one of the bedrooms, Xiumin asked, “A company without even a website?”

            “I don’t know, do you want to find your security company on Twitter?” Baekhyun asked.  “I don’t know if I could take them seriously.”

            “Is it Namu’s company?” Xiumin asked.  “Is it Info’s company?  Who’s in charge?  Why don’t they have real names?”

            “I’m sure that their real names are on the contract,” Suho said.  “Our company chose them out of everyone.  I’m sure there’s a reason.”

            Xiumin wondered if he could get a look at that contract.

            After a few minutes, faster than Xiumin had expected, they were back out of the bedroom.  “Now that we’ve met you and gotten a better idea of the situation, I’m going to go meet with SJ and JD,” Namu told them.  “L and H are going to go pack up a few things they’ll need, and then they’ll be moving in for a little while.  They’ll be with you wherever you go, but don’t worry about feeding them, they’ll take care of that themselves.  You’ll see them regularly, and SJ and JD will fill in.  I’ll check in with you and get daily reports from the team, and remember that you can call Info at any time, day or night, if you need us for anything.  All right?”

            “Thank you,” Suho said.  “I think that we’re only starting to see how bad our situation is, and we’re grateful for your help.”

            Xiumin had to admit, however he felt about these particular people, they did need the help.  He’d been trying to accept all of the invasions of his privacy as just part of the job, something any celebrity had to put up with to some extent.  But bugging their dorm?  Someone was going too far, and he’d be relieved if Arctic Fox could get to the bottom of it.

            Baekhyun had wondered what sharing the dorm with a bunch of strangers would be like.  But the men in black didn’t seem to be sharing the dorm in any normal way.  They had to sleep sometime, he assumed.  And they had to shower, or at least shave and use the toilet, but he never saw them in the bathroom.  They had to eat, but they were never in the kitchen, taking up space.  They were in the dorm all night, and they were still there the next morning, but they were more like creepy mannequins than actual people.  They just lurked around silently.  He’d completely lost track of which one was which, and his members weren’t sure about that, either.  When Sehun said that the good-looking one was L, Baekhyun had no idea what the maknae was talking about.  There was a good-looking one?

            When Baekhyun saw one of the other ones in the dorm all of a sudden, he asked Suho, “What’s he doing here?”

            “SJ?” Suho asked.

            “Sure.”  The one who dressed in normal colors, not in all black and not like a clown.

            “He’s going to stay here after we go, to go over the dorm again and meet the housekeeper.  And he said something about building security, I think that they want to talk to the building manager, and go over some CCTV footage, and things like that.”

            “Can they find out who left that bug under D.O.’s bed?”  It freaked him out.  He couldn’t even pee in his own toilet anymore without wondering if he was being spied on.  It was creepy.  “There aren’t more, are there?”

            “That’s their job,” Suho said.  “That’s what we hired them for.  They’ll take care of it.  Don’t let it worry you, you just do your job and they’ll do theirs.”  Taking a close look at him, Suho put a hand on his shoulder.  “Don’t let all of this become a distraction.  That’s why we have our company and management, so that they can worry over details and handle things behind the scenes.  You sitting up at night fretting over it won’t help anyone.  Do your best for EXO and EXO-L.”

            He knew that Suho was right, but it was easier said than done.

            The men in black got into their vans with them and rode to their first schedule.  Lurked around the dressing room.  Stood with their managers behind the cameras.  When a PD asked if they had new managers, Baekhyun laughed and stammered out some kind of awkward answer.  Suho rescued him with an explanation about training new managers and needing to expand with so many individual activities lately, and apologized if having so many people around was inconvenient for the staff.  She cheerfully let it go, and Baekhyun tried to remember how Suho had worded all of that, in case anyone else asked again later.

            When they left, their manager drove him over to the production building to film for “Good Time Circus.”  When the van stopped, he hopped out.

            One of the men in black got out with him.

            And the clown-dressed guy greeted him cheerfully and climbed into the van.  Like someone boarding a public bus!  “Is this a bus stop?” Baekhyun asked, bewildered.

            “Bus stop was two blocks back,” the man in black said.

            Baekhyun peered under the brim of his cap, trying to figure out if this was the good-looking one or not.  Hunh, he just might be.  The way he met Baekhyun’s eyes so directly, and refused to have any expression whatsoever while doing it, was kind of intimidating, though.  “Are you L?”

            “H,” he said.

            Okay.  “What does that stand for?”

            “What does Baekhyun stand for?”

            “It doesn’t stand for anything, it’s my name.”

            “H is my name.”

            “What was SJ, I mean, JD?  AB, CD, what was he doing here?” Baekhyun asked, starting for the entrance.

            “Advance sweep.”  When Baekhyun gave him a puzzled look, he added, “Checking out the building.  Looking for bombs, booby traps, unsavory characters, whatever.”

            “More unsavory than you?”

            “Oh, you’re the funny one,” H said, holding the door open for him.  “Ah, I see.”

            He grinned at that and went inside.

            He tried to follow Suho’s advice and focus on his job, on performing.  He was an idol, not an advance sweeper or whatever, so he’d go ahead and be an idol and let the alphabet guys worry about bugs and bombs.  Booby traps, that must have been a joke.  Wasn’t that for cartoon characters?  Did anyone booby-trap anything in real life?

            Filming took hours.  H was probably bored, but he couldn’t do anything about that.  He kept expecting H to sneak out, wander away, go make a phone call or something, but every time he looked over, H was in the same spot, leaning against the wall, arms crossed.  It became kind of reassuring, actually.  If his life was really in danger and someone wanted to run at him with a knife all of a sudden, at least his bodyguard would be there to watch it happen.

            He got the chance to show off some of his hapkido skills during filming.  It had been a while since he’d gotten to do that, and he felt pretty proud of himself.  When filming ended, he thanked everyone.  As he walked out, H fell into step beside him.  “You’re pretty good at that.”

            “Thanks.”  He glanced at H, wondering.  “Do you do martial arts?”

            He shrugged.  “Some.”

            “Which one?”

            “Some.”

            “It’s good that you feel like you can confide in me so much,” Baekhyun decided.  “I’m glad that we’re becoming so close.”

            H nodded and kept walking.

            They stepped outside, and then Baekhyun suddenly remembered something.  “Wait, I forgot.  When my manager’s not with me, I have to call a cab to get back to the dorm.  Sorry, you’re here, so I wasn’t thinking.”

            “A cab like that one?” H asked.

            Looking ahead, he saw a taxi parked by the curb.  How, what?  “Did you call that?”

            “We have to get back somehow, don’t we?”

            Okay, then.  “You’re terrifyingly efficient, aren’t you?”

            “That’s what you’re paying me for.”  H reached for the door, then turned to him.  “Only use this cab company from now on.  No other companies.  If you have to get somewhere, no subways, no buses, just call this company.”

            “Why, is it the only safe one?”

            “Not safe,” H said.  “But safer.”

            That was something pleasant for his growing anxiety to chew over while they rode back to the dorm.

            That night, they went to the SM building to practice.  Before practice started, Xiumin slipped down to the offices.  “Hey,” he said, heading over to a secretary’s desk and flashing his celebrity smile.

            “Xiumin-ah,” she said, smiling back.  “What can I do for you?”

            “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” he said, leaning on her desk.  “We have these new ‘managers.’”

            “Ah, Arctic Fox,” she said, nodding.

            “Right,” he said, his smile widening.  “It’s so weird, I don’t know anything about them.  Have you heard of them before?”

            “I don’t know,” she said.  “I’ve only heard that the representative who’s been coming in for meetings is very handsome.  A lot of charm, a lot of grease.”

            That was definitely Namu.  “Didn’t they sign a lot of contracts and things?  Have you seen the paperwork?”

            “Oh, paperwork?  Nothing like that comes to me, Secretary Kim files all of that.”

            “Secretary Kim, right.”  He smiled again.  “I was just wondering, an expensive security company like Arctic Fox, do they even do things on paper?  Or is it all electronic?  I guess they have e-files or something like that.”

            “Wouldn’t there be both?” she asked.  “No matter what, the CEO wants it in writing, to be sure, but there are always scanned copies, in case of a fire.”

            So there were paper files locked in a cabinet somewhere.  And electronic copies hidden in someone’s computer files.  Two different copies of the contract that he had absolutely no way to get to.  He either had to figure out how to break into SM’s offices without being caught, or turn himself into an expert hacker.

            Chanyeol couldn’t sleep.  Suho had come through a few hours ago to remind them to go to bed.  Lay had turned off the overhead light and gotten into bed a little while after that.  The dorm was quiet.  But he couldn’t sleep.

            He was staying up, headphones on, pretending to work on music.  But he was just screwing around aimlessly, playing around with settings, pricing more software.  He was avoiding going to bed, because this whole death threats and bugged beds thing had him kind of freaked out.  If he got into bed, he’d either stay there for hours wide awake, turning everything over in his mind, wondering how real the threat was and how much danger his members were in and if someone was after D.O., or he’d fall asleep and have nightmares, like last night.

            His phone rang.  It was a sasaeng’s number, so he didn’t pick up.  But it made him think.  They’d said to call any time, right?  They’d said day or night, hadn’t they?

            He dialed.

            “Info here.”

            The immediate answer took him by surprise, and he opened and closed his mouth soundlessly for a second, figuring out what to do now that he actually had someone on the line.  “Hi,” he finally said.

            “Park Chanyeol,” Info said.  “Is this an emergency?”

            His tone was conversational, like they could be friendly with each other.  Chanyeol said, “Um, no.  Not really, no, there’s no emergency.  I just, uh.”

            “What’s up?” Info asked.

            “Sorry, I.  Were you asleep?”

            “No.  Just doing some research, putting together some reports, botting.”

            “Botting?” he repeated.

            “Got a few warriors going around collecting ore for me.”

            Collecting ore?  “Is that Starcraft?”

            “No, World of Warcraft.  You don’t play?”

            “No, I’m not really into videogames.”

            “Mmm, you spend your free time on music.”

            “I…  Are you spying on me?”  He didn’t know if he meant that question as a joke or not.

            “It’s not a secret, is it?  You post all about it on-line all of the time.  That last thing you put up was kind of iffy, didn’t really do it for me, but that longer piece you posted last week, I liked that.  Nice beat, it’s good stuff.”

            Who was this guy?!  Chanyeol felt kind of dazed.  “You’ve been listening to my music?”

            “What else do you post it on-line for, so that complete strangers won’t listen to it?”

            He blinked at that.  Info was right, that was the point, wasn’t it?  It was up there for complete strangers to listen to, so how could he be so surprised that a complete stranger knew all about it?  “You liked it?”

            “Yeah, it’s not bad.”

            “Thanks.”  He rubbed his ear.  “Um.  I…”  He didn’t know where to start.  “That bug they found under D.O.’s bed.  What’s up with that?  I mean, can they find out where it came from?  Are there more of them?  Should we be looking for them?”  When he’d gone to his closet for a shirt that morning, he’d ended up pushing hangers aside and peering in all of the corners and knocking on the back panel like he might find a secret compartment.  He didn’t want to be paranoid, but it was hard not to let his imagination go everywhere.

            “We’re working on it.”  He said “we,” not “they,” like he was on the case, too.  That was reassuring; it was a team-wide effort, not just something one guy spent a few minutes on.  “Right now, we don’t have a lot of answers.  But, listen, between you and me, a 517 is old technology.  No one serious would use that, considering what else is on the market these days.  The whole iridescent line is pretty much dead.  So either it’s someone who’s broke and that’s the best they can do.  Or it’s some amateur who doesn’t know anything about anything, who got his hands on a bug practically by accident.  It doesn’t transmit, so they don’t even have anything on you, unless this is their second or third one.  And if it’s someone who has enough access to your place to be in and out often enough to swap out bugs, then it won’t be hard to narrow that down.  And if it was a one-time thing where a complete amateur tried to bug your place for fun one time and hasn’t even gotten back in to recover the 517, then it doesn’t seem like that much to worry about.  You’re successful idols, people want juicy gossip, someone tried to seize an opportunity and maybe didn’t do that great a job of it.”

            Listening to Info break it down, Chanyeol started to see his point.  He was so knowledgeable, and he made it all seem so logical, Chanyeol’s anxiety began to fade.  “Then maybe it’s just a fan who snuck in one time?  A sasaeng?”

            “Maybe.  Is it pretty easy to tell whose bed is whose?  Would a fan be able to tell on her own that it was D.O.’s bed?  I don’t have eyes on the room, SM wouldn’t give us permission to photograph inside the dorm.”

            “Yeah, there are fan signs and artwork and crap all over our dorm, D.O.’s stuff is around his bed, it’s easy to tell.”  He could guess why Info was asking.  “Then you think they were targeting D.O. for sure?”  Shit, that made his stomach sink.  He’d rather have someone after him than after D.O.  “He’s such a good kid, he hasn’t done anything to anyone.”

            “That’s the wicked truth of life,” Info said.  “It isn’t about how good he is or not.  The world isn’t villains versus heroes, it’s villains against all of us, any of us, whoever they catch in their sights.  Whoever planted that bug chose D.O. because she loves him, or because she hates him, or because she’s obsessed with him, or just for fun, just on a whim, just because she could.  He could be full of integrity or full of shit, she had a bug and she was going to plant it somewhere.”

            Chanyeol couldn’t wrap his mind around that at the moment.  “But you’re going to catch her, right?  Whoever it was?”

            “We’re doing our best,” Info said.

            Chanyeol wanted to believe him.

            Baekhyun could tell H and L apart now.  He was getting better at doing it at a glance.  Even with their all-black clothes and their brims pulled low, he was picking up on differences in build.  H had a more pronounced arch in his back and a more defined jawline.  Perfect posture.  And a sexy mouth.  Probably.  In the eyes of people who cared.

            Sehun was right, L was good-looking.  But Baekhyun thought of H as “his” bodyguard.  When he was waiting for “Good Time Circus” filming to start, and the two of them were alone in the green room, he asked, “What am I supposed to call you?  In front of people?”

            Seated beside him on the couch, H was watching the closed door.  “I’m your manager, right?  Call me manager-nim.”

            He frowned.  “That sounds too formal.  We’re closer to our managers than that.”

            He wouldn’t look away from the door.  “I’m new, we’re not close yet.”

            “I could call you hyung-nim.”  He wondered how many years older H was.  At least five.  “When were you born?”

            “Before you.”

            “Well, obviously.”  He prodded Hoya’s arm.  He met solid muscle.  “Can you at least look at me when we talk?”

            “No, it’s okay, I know what you look like.”

            Ordinarily, he’d never be rude to someone older, someone he worked with, someone he was supposed to treat respectfully in a professional capacity.  But something about H’s dismissive attitude just invited him to see how far he could go, made him want to provoke a reaction.  “I could call you, ‘Hey, asshole,’” he suggested.

            “You wouldn’t be the first.”

            He couldn’t help it, he laughed.

            H glanced at him, a quick glance, a quick smile.  A real smile, it looked like.  And then H got up, and the door opened.  As a writer leaned in to ask him to come on set, he realized that H had known that someone was out there way before he had.  And also that H had moved directly between him and whoever was coming in.  He was pretty sure that was so that in case someone came in to assault him, to strangle him or stab him or curse him out or, god, shoot him or something, they’d have to go through H first before getting to him.

            Part of him thought that was freaking ridiculous.  No way was that kind of vigilance necessary, right?

            And part of him wondered how the hell he was supposed to feel about someone who was so matter-of-factly willing to take a bullet for him.

            D.O. couldn’t sleep.  Last night, he’d lain awake for hours, listening to Kai and Sehun snore.  When he’d finally dropped off at some atrocious hour, he’d slept fitfully, having fragmented nightmares about bugs under his bed, real bugs, huge black beetles crawling up over his sheets.  He’d wakened in a panic, and he’d felt on edge all day.

            He couldn’t wait for this to be over.

            Unable to fall asleep again tonight, he sat up in bed for a while, killing time on his phone.  After a while, for something to do, he got up and went to the bathroom.

            He padded around the dorm quietly.  He could hear Chanyeol talking to someone.  On the phone?  Talking to one of the new bodyguards, maybe.

            One of the bodyguards was asleep in the living room.  Curled up on the couch, a throw pillow tucked under his head.  Still fully dressed.  He had his earpiece on and everything.

            D.O. wondered what kind of life this was for them.  They were probably well-paid - - he hoped that they were well-paid - - but was this all their lives amounted to?  They had to have friends, families, hobbies, didn’t they?  Did they put all of that on hold to do this?  Maybe they lived really full, rich lives in between jobs.  He tried to imagine them with friends, grilling in the backyard, laughing, kissing their girlfriends.  Wives?  Boyfriends?  People who knew their real names?

            He went into the kitchen.  He opened the fridge but didn’t want anything inside of it.  He was closing the fridge again when he became aware of someone behind him.  He turned swiftly, pivoting immediately, not letting himself get all up in his head about it, wanting to confront the reality immediately.

            It was one of the bodyguards.  The other one.  L, he thought.  He stared for a minute, and maybe L stared back; it was hard to tell with the hat pulled so low.  Finally, he said, “Hi.”

            “Hi.”  L turned and started to walk away.  Hesitated, turned back to D.O.  “You can go back to bed.  Sleep for a while.  I’ll wake you up if anything’s wrong.”

            He watched L walk away.

            He poked around the kitchen for a minute, fruitlessly.  When he went back through the living room, L was pacing around silently.  He said, “Night,” and L said, “Good night.”

            He went to his room and got back into bed.  Closed his eyes.  Thought about L out there, doing nothing but spending all night keeping watch, making sure that no one got in.

            He fell fast asleep.

            Xiumin was in his room when Suho called, “Members!  I’m leaving now!”

            “Bye!” Sehun called.

            Xiumin sprawled on his bed for a while.  Finished his book.  Jacked off.  It occurred to him that he and the other members were probably alone in the dorm.  Actually, really alone.  D.O. had a meeting, so that took L out of the picture.  Baekhyun had an interview, so there went H.  Chanyeol and Lay had gone to the studio, and JD had gone with them.  Kai was out with Taemin and SJ.  Namu had been around, but if he’d gone out with Suho, then there was no one left in the dorm.

            They’d probably left a manager behind to baby-sit, but one of the regular managers wasn’t the same as one of Arctic Fox’s goons.

            He wondered if he should grab this opportunity to go out.  Get away for a while, get laid.  Their new security goons were clamping down pretty tightly.  The last time they’d gone to practice, and he’d tried to go down to the offices for another shot at digging information out of the secretaries, L and H and Suho had all forbidden him to leave without his very own bodyguard escort.  He couldn’t go anywhere unsupervised; the most freedom of movement he had was wandering from one room to another here at the dorm.

            But if there wasn’t anyone around to stop him except a bored manager, what the hell was he doing sitting in his bedroom?

            He hopped up and went to check.  Maybe there wasn’t even a manager on the premises at all!  Maybe they’d figured that a few members milling around their own dorm were safe enough to be left alone for a couple of hours.

            He went into the living room and stopped short.  A complete stranger was seated on his couch, slumped back and heavy-lidded, watching TV.  “Who the hell are you?”

            Blinking, he sat up.  White T-shirt, tight eyes, bad haircut.  “Xiumin.”

            “I’m Xiumin,” he corrected, striding forward.  “Who are you and what are you doing in here?”

            He got up; he had the same earpiece that the Arctic Fox guys wore.  “I’m on guard duty.  I have to take a shift, there’s no one else.”

            “Right.”  He was probably telling the truth, but Xiumin saw no reason to go easy on him.  Xiumin dialed.

            “Info here.”

            “There’s a stranger in our dorm,” Xiumin said.  He didn’t bother to introduce himself; if it was true that Arctic Fox only took one job at a time, then Info would know what “our dorm” was.

            The guy touched his earpiece and said, “He means me, he’s talking about me.”

            “Okay, a stranger on the premises isn’t good,” Info said.  “Text me a photo of him.”

            Raising his phone, he snapped a photo of the guy, then texted it.

            “Mmm.  Okay, yeah, don’t call the police, don’t stab him in the face,” Info said.  “He’s one of us.”

            “So I shouldn’t stab him in the face,” Xiumin repeated.

            “No stabbing!” the guy exclaimed.

            “Well, you can keep a knife on you, just in case,” Info said.  “But you should be okay, he doesn’t make a lot of sudden movements.”

            “I can hear you,” the guy said.

            “I have a lot of work to do, so much to get done, I’ll have to hang up now,” Info said, and the call ended.

            Xiumin studied the new guy.  “What do I call you?  A?  Q?  X?”

            “Kim, my family name’s Kim.”

            “You and everybody else.”  Xiumin studied him.  “What’s with your hair?”  It was shaved on the sides and spiky on top, with hash marks cut above the temple.

            Looking self-conscious, he touched at the sides of his head.  “It was an experiment.”

            “A failed one.”  He went back to his room and got dressed.  Tucking his wallet and his phone in his pockets, he headed for the front door.

            “No, no.”  Kim was off of the couch and moving toward him.  “Where are you going?  You can’t leave.”

            “Yes, I can.  I can do whatever I want,” he explained, putting on his shoes.

            “No, no,” Kim said again, putting himself between Xiumin and the exit, plastering his back against the door and spreading out his arms on either side.  “You can’t go anywhere, not on your own.”

            “I can, and I am.”  His shoes on, he faced Kim down.  “Out of my way.”

            “I’m sorry, no.  This is about your safety!  When one of the others gets back, when someone can go with you, you can go out then.”

            He considered his options.  It seemed like starting a physical fight over this would be an overreaction.  “You’re seriously keeping me here.  Against my will.  This is a violation of my rights.”

            “It’s for your own safety.  Your company hired me to keep you safe, not to let you run around getting assaulted in the streets.”

            “I’m going to go to a club and meet friends.  It’s really not some serious threat.”

            “Meet your friends here.  They can come over.  Turn on music and dance, aim a flashlight around, it’ll be just like a club.”

            That had never occurred to him.  “They can come here?”

            “If you give Info their names and let us pat them down.”

            Pat them down!  Was he kidding?  “You’re not treating my friends like criminals!”  He couldn’t believe this.  “You’re treating me like a criminal!  Locking me up inside my own home!”  Fuck it.  “This is bullshit,” he accused, backing away.  “This is bullshit.”  Turning away, he went to his room.  He slammed the door and threw his wallet onto his bed.  Then he called management.

            Sunggyu sat on the floor with his back against the door.  He wanted to be in place in case Xiumin decided to run for it.

            He was rubbing his fingers over the razor marks in his hair when he heard a quiet beep in his ear.  Touching his earpiece, he said, “Here.”

            “President-nim, I have to make a report,” Info said.

            “Go.”

            “I just got a call from SM’s second-in-command.  Apparently one of your operatives is at EXO’s dorm right now, and he’s pissing off the talent.  One of the EXO members called to make complaints, very angry complaints, about a guard named Kim.  His behavior is very unprofessional.”

            Sunggyu tipped his head back against the door, then rolled his eyes at the ceiling.  Right.  Great.  “I’ll talk to him.”

            “I really think that you should,” Info said.  “So unprofessional, we can’t have someone in the field who behaves this way.  Maybe you should dock his pay.”

            “Maybe I should keep him out of the field and back at the office, and send you out on guard duty next time.”

            “Everyone deserves a second chance,” Info said hastily.  “I’m sure that he’s doing a great job, it was all a misunderstanding.  Info out.”

            Sunggyu drew his knees up, looping his arms around them.  Idols.  He heard movement and immediately cut his eyes to the right; Xiumin strutted across the room.  Guessing that Xiumin hadn’t noticed him still by the door, he spoke abruptly.  “Aren’t you old enough to be in the army by now?”

            Xiumin jumped about a mile, shrieking.  Whirling around like an angry hedgehog, Xiumin stared at him.

            “Not old enough to serve?” Sunggyu asked innocently.

            “I will,” he insisted, glaring hotly.  “I haven’t been able to go yet.  We’ve been promoting, we have concerts, I have responsibilities.  I’m not just putting it off, I’ll go soon.”

            “Mmm.”  He nodded like he was super, duper convinced.

            Xiumin shot him a dirty look and stormed off to the kitchen.

            Smiling to himself, he relaxed and waited.

            It was Hoya’s job to notice things.  He was there to keep an eye on the premises, but he couldn’t be completely oblivious to the EXO members.  So he saw a few things.  And he picked up on a few consistencies.  Like how Kai and Lay stood really close to each other in corners, whispering.  And how Lay would leave Kai’s room looking really flushed, or how Kai would leave Lay’s room looking gleeful and triumphant and rumpled.  Or how every night they’d go into Kai’s room and close the door and play loud music that covered the sound of anything else they might be doing in there.  Or then there was the time that he walked into the kitchen and saw them making out, Lay’s hand in Kai’s hair, Kai’s hand down Lay’s pants.  So, yeah, clues added up.

            He mentioned it to the president, just in case it became relevant.  He wondered if any of the other members were gay.  Or bi?  It was probably inappropriate to perv on the client, but he was around them twenty-four hours a day, and it was hard not to notice when handsome guys with toned bodies strolled around shirtless in front of him.  Or when they wrestled on the couch.  Or when they jacked off in the shower.  Chen and Xiumin seemed to masturbate a lot.

            They all had to coexist, but there was no reason to make things more awkward or inconvenient than they had to be.  Kai and Lay were still sneaking around, and he was pretty sure that they weren’t actually trying to hide from their own members, which meant that they were trying to hide from him and L.  He wanted to let them know that they didn’t have to bother being discreet, but he wasn’t sure how to start that conversation, aside from walking in on them again, and applauding cheerfully instead of silently backing away before they noticed him like last time.

            He was alone with Baekhyun, in a dressing room, when he finally broached the subject.  He was more used to talking to Baekhyun than to the others.  Baekhyun was playing a game on the phone, seated on a stylist’s chair.  He’d dragged his own chair away from the table, placing himself between Baekhyun and the door.  “You and the other members,” he said.

            Baekhyun’s head popped up, and he looked at Hoya with happy interest, the way he did whenever Hoya initiated conversation.  He always seemed really curious about what Hoya might say next.  It was kind of…  Nice?  Embarrassing, but flattering?

            Hoya rubbed at his mouth, getting himself back on track.  “If there are things that you normally do in your private lives, around the dorm, you don’t have to stop doing it just because we’re around.  We don’t judge.  We don’t care,” he said honestly.

            “Like…  Like what, what are you talking about?” Baekhyun asked, leaning forward, studying his face like he was really interesting.

            He’d thought that to be polite, he should be discreet, but he wasn’t trying to start some elaborate back-and-forth.  He decided to skip the discretion.  “Like we’re not homophobic, and we don’t care what you do with your cock, so if you want to screw guys, go ahead.”

            “What,” Baekhyun said, jerking back in a sudden state of panic.  “What, what, no, what?”

            Maybe Kai and Lay were trying to hide from their members, if this was how they reacted to the basic concept.  “Shit, how old are you?” Hoya asked.  “Don’t knock your whole chair over.  It’s sex, not serial murder.”

            “I, I don’t, I, oh.”  Red-faced, Baekhyun breathed anxiously, patting at his hair.  “I just didn’t, I didn’t…”  He bit his lip worriedly, and then he gazed at Hoya in what looked like, seriously looked like, really, really looked like yearning adoration.  “How did you know?”

            How…  Oh, hell, no.  Shit, Hoya had not seen this coming.  Baekhyun had freaked out because he’d thought that Hoya was talking about him.  “There are nine of you, it’s statistics,” Hoya said, since having a whole back-and-forth about, “Oops, sorry, I was talking about those other guys, didn’t mean to uncover your secret sexuality,” seemed like it wouldn’t end up anywhere good.  “Some of you are gay, or bi, or left-handed, or allergic to something common, whatever.”

            “Statistics,” Baekhyun repeated, squirming in his chair and looking Hoya over like he couldn’t help it but he really needed to.  “So, at Arctic Fox, which one of you is gay?”

            He could say that it wasn’t any of Baekhyun’s business, because it wasn’t.  He could say that it was against company policy to divulge personal information, because it was.  But that would only hurt Baekhyun’s feelings.  And he felt reluctant to do that.

            He was uncomfortable with his reluctance.  He shouldn’t care about Baekhyun’s feelings.  The client’s feelings weren’t his priority; that was for Namu to handle.

            The fact that he cared about Baekhyun’s feelings meant that he should be stricter with himself, and draw a firmer line, and keep things professional.

            Or he could just tell the guy that he was gay.  He already knew so much about Baekhyun’s life, and habits, and day-to-day activities, that it wouldn’t hurt if he gave a little in return.  Hell, he knew how often Baekhyun took a dump and how long it usually took and which ballads Baekhyun sang to himself during it.

            He also had to factor in Baekhyun’s sudden flushed, shy, “please, hyung, do me,” expression.  Someone fell in love with L on pretty much every case they handled.  It was the bodyguard thing; people were under stress, they felt anxious, they were grateful, and all of that got confused into some strange sexual impulse towards the person they trusted to rescue them.  Baekhyun wasn’t responding to him, personally, but to whatever Baekhyun thought that he represented.  Encouraging that attention would be cruel.

            “We, uh…”  He had no idea what to say.  Hearing footsteps, he leapt to his feet.  Desperate, he hoped that whoever was out there would walk in and cause a distraction.  “Uh…”

            The door swung open.  “Baekhyun-ah, it’s time, let’s start.”

            D.O. trudged back to the dressing room emotionlessly.  Filming was going well, probably; the director seemed happy with him.  He thought that maybe it should be a relief to have this role; he could escape into his character, escape into someone else’s life.  But he couldn’t get himself out from under this cloud of dread.  Acting was joyless; it was going through the motions, and as soon as the scene was over, he was right back into his own life.  He felt a constant whisper of paranoia under the surface of his mind.  Was his food safe or poisoned?  Was the make-up artist going to stab him in the eye?  He knew that those thoughts were unreasonable, and he tried not to let them affect him, but being on edge every day, all day, was exhausting.  He wasn’t sure that he was capable of thinking clearly at all.

            When they got to the dressing room, L stepped in front of him, like usual, and opened the door first.  Moving automatically, he followed, ready to get his things and go home, looking forward to being among his members, in his dorm.  Even considering the bug, the dorm was the place he felt safest.

            L put out a hand, holding him back.  He tried to see past L into the room, but L said, “Someone’s been here.”  Reaching back without looking, L put a hand on his waist, guiding him to the side, away from the doorway.  “Wait here, and scream if you see anything.”

            Someone had been there?  How did he know, how could he tell?  Did it matter?  Maybe a stylist had come back to pick up a tool, maybe staff members had wandered through.  It was supposed to be his private dressing room, but there were people all over the building, in and out for different reasons.

            He hung back for a second.  Then, curious, he peered around the doorjamb.

            L was prowling.  There was no better word for it.  Silently, moving on the balls of his feet, he prowled around the room.  Touching nothing, he circled the table in the center of the room.  He slowly surveyed everything on the table, staring at fixed spots for long moments.  He stopped beside the wardrobe but didn’t open it.  Then, silently, he came out again.  Pulling the door shut, he whispered, “It’s all right, you’re safe.  You’re fine,” and touched his earpiece.

            “What,” D.O. said, his heart pounding, his voice coming out low and dry.  He licked his lips and tried again.  “What is it, what’s going on?”

            “I’m with Do Kyungsoo,” L told someone.  Probably Info.  Staring into his face, D.O. wanted to grip the front of his shirt and demand answers.  “Intruders in his dressing room, hiding in the closet.  I heard two voices, giggling, female.”

            Giggling?  Fans.  Oh, god.  D.O. felt terror and life drain out of him.  Fans.  It was just fans.  “Oh, god,” he mumbled, slumping forward against the wall.

            “Yes.  Yes.  No.  Yes,” L said.  “Got it, L out.”  He tapped his earpiece.  “You okay?”

            Lifting his head, he wanted to punch L.  “You fucking terrified me!”

            L’s gaze flickered, like he wasn’t sure how to feel about that, and then he said, “Sorry.”

            “Can we just let them out and go home?” D.O. asked.

            L shook his head.  “I have to stay here to secure the scene, and I can’t let you out of my sight.  Namu’s on his way.  Once he gets here, he’ll deal with them, and I’ll take you back to the dorm.”

            “Deal with them?” he repeated.  “They’re just fans, they probably wanted to surprise me or watch me change clothes or something.”  Which was creepy, but since he’d been imagining someone leaping out to stab him, it seemed not that serious.

            “They might have information we can use.  Fans talk to each other.”  L’s gaze darted to the side, and his posture shifted.

            Immediately, D.O. tensed, but it was only a writer, passing by with a benign smile.  “Good work today,” she said on her way by.

            “Thank you, you’ve worked hard,” he said, bowing.  As soon as she was gone, he rubbed the side of his head.  He couldn’t live like this.  He couldn’t be constantly on alert.  “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”  It was like being under siege.  Never knowing where the next attack might come from.  And it was ridiculous, it was nonsensical, nothing had even happened to him.  A useless bug, probably someone’s idea of a prank.  Fans giggling to each other, just sneaking around for fun.  He was getting worked up over nothing, and he couldn’t make himself calm down.

            “You’ll feel better once you’re back at the dorm,” L said.

            That was exactly what he’d been thinking.  “It’s better there.  I don’t know if it’s safer, but it feels that way, anyway.”

            L nodded, gaze slowly roaming the hallway.  D.O. was sure that he didn’t miss a detail.  “Home base.  It’s where you relax with your members.  You’re all close, you make each other feel better.  It’s reassuring to be around them.”  Finished looking from left to right, he went from right to left, constantly scanning.

            That was all perfectly true, but D.O. didn’t usually put it into words.  Considering the circumstances, it seemed foolish to be surprised by how perceptive L was, but he hadn’t expected L to pick up on the emotional nuances of his interpersonal relationships.  “How’d you know that someone had been in there?”

            “Water bottle was missing.  Trash can was moved.  They probably went through it.”

            He wouldn’t have noticed any of that.  If he had noticed it, he wouldn’t have thought anything of it.  He would’ve gone in, oblivious, and changed clothes, and talked to his manager.  Private conversations with no one else around.  Standing around in his underwear.  With no idea that people were watching, listening.  Uneasy, he leaned his shoulder against the wall, feeling better with that physical support.  “I’m glad that you were here.”  He swallowed, feeling ill.  “Thank you.”

            “I don’t think that they would have assaulted you,” L said, meeting his eyes.  “But it’s a violation of privacy, anyway.  It’s okay if that upsets you.  It’s a normal thing to get upset about.”

            He nodded, breathing in carefully.  L’s permission to be upset felt so much like empathy that he wanted to cry.

            Namu and SJ showed up.  Namu was very kind and encouraging and respectful.  When he admitted that he just wanted to get his clothes and leave, Namu nodded and asked, “L, do you want to stay to talk to them?  SJ can take him back to the dorm.”

            “No,” D.O. said.  “If it doesn’t make a big difference, I’d rather go back with L.”  It would make him feel safer.  He was used to having L nearby now, used to L’s quiet presence, used to having a figure in black within sight at all times.

            “Sure, that’s fine,” Namu said.

            “I’ll get your things, you can change in the other room,” L said.

            “I’ll check it out,” SJ said, and slipped across the hall.

            L went into the dressing room and came back with D.O.’s clothes.  They went across the hall.  Alone in there with L, he undressed and put his own clothes back on.  L’s back was to him, deliberately affording him privacy.  He thought about how many times he changed in semi-public spaces, how often he had to undress in front of other people, how many times they adjusted his clothes for him, fixed his hair, wiped up his sweat.

            Dressed, he said, “Okay.”  L looked at him, then led the way into the hallway.  Namu and SJ were nowhere in sight.  He wondered what they were going to say to the girls.  “They’re not going to - - it’s not like an interrogation, is it?”

            “They’re just going to talk to them.”  L glanced at him.  “It’s easier to get information out of people by befriending them and empathizing with them than by being harsh.”

            In the cab, L snapped a photo of the driver’s information and texted it to someone.  Probably Info.  He always did that.  It was a habit that D.O. was considering picking up, once Arctic Fox wasn’t around anymore.  But who would D.O. text it to?  A manager, maybe.  Maybe he and Kai could both do it, and text the photos to each other.  Be paranoia buddies.  “Do you do that all of the time?” he asked.  “Not for clients, but in your own life?”

            “I don’t take taxis.”

            Ever?  “Do you have a car?  What about when you drink?”

            “Yes.  I don’t drink.  Not enough to get drunk.”

            “What kind of car do you have?”

            “Sedan.  Black.”

            “Not sporty or flashy?”  The way the Arctic Fox guys acted like they were constantly in a spy novel, he’d thought that they must drive cars from spy novels, too.  Something top-of-the-line with a gleaming hood.

            “Don’t want to attract attention.”  He touched his ear, said, “You’re kidding,” scowled, and then looked disgusted.  “Okay, okay, L out.”  Somehow, it was a very human moment; that had been an unprofessional, almost petulant look.  “We have to make a stop, Park Chanyeol wants you to pick up dinner.”

            Early morning; the dorm was quiet.  L washed up at the bathroom sink.  When he patted his balls dry, his dick asked for more attention, but he ignored it.

            When he got out of the bathroom, H handed him a cup of ramen.  He ate quickly.  When he was between jobs, sex and food were sensual pleasures, his favorite indulgences.  When he was working, they were bodily functions.  He slept because he had to, ate because he had to, jacked off if he got a chance.

            “I need to switch,” H said.  “Take Baekhyun for me for a while.”

            He shook his head, immediately resisting the idea.  “D.O. trusts me.”

            “He’ll trust me, too.”

            “What do you need to switch for, why?”

            H grimaced.  He clearly didn’t want to answer.  “Look, it…”  He sighed, having trouble meeting L’s eyes.  “He has a crush on me.”  When L snorted with laughter, he said, “It’s uncomfortable!”

            L snorted again and kept eating.  “Deal with it.”

            “We’re supposed to discourage it, right?  You take him to his photo shoot today.”

            “Don’t be so sensitive.  It’s part of the job.  He’ll get over it.”

            “He wants to know if I’m gay.  What do I tell him?  Yes?  No?  None of your business?”

            L shrugged, slurping up the last few noodles.  “I tell women that I’m gay, and I tell men that I’m straight.”

            “It works?”

            He nodded.  “They feel like it’s not a rejection, I can’t help it.”

            “Does D.O. have a crush on you yet?”

            “Yet, what do you mean, yet?” he asked, laughing.  Like it was inevitable!  “No.  But he trusts me, he feels more comfortable when I’m around.”  He didn’t mind that.  He just hoped that he could pull through when D.O. needed him.

            Suho let Namu into the dorm.  The Arctic Fox guys wore clothes like they had uniforms.  H and L were always in black jeans, black caps, and long-sleeved black T-shirts.  Kim was always in jeans and a too-big T-shirt in white or gray.  SJ was always in something light and summery.  JD was always in something bright, patterned, and atrocious, backpack slung over one shoulder.  And Namu was always in a black suit, white shirt, collar unbuttoned.  Very smooth, professional, and handsome.

            They sat down on the sofa together.  “I wanted to catch you up on what happened yesterday,” Namu said, unbuttoning his jacket.

            “Yes, please.”  D.O. had talked to him about it, and Namu had talked to him about it briefly, but they’d agreed to discuss it in person.  He was really glad that Namu didn’t ignore him in favor of always going through management; Namu checked in with him regularly, at least twice a day, keeping him informed and asking if he had any complaints or questions.  “What happened, how did they get into his dressing room?”

            “We’re talking to security on site about that,” Namu said.  “One of them has an older sister who’s dating someone on staff, so it seems like they got in through a personal favor from someone who knew better.  In other words, the kind of security breach we see all the time, and not a very nefarious plot.”

            Namu’s smile was so reassuring that he smiled back, feeling encouraged.  “So it’s more about people with good intentions, or even selfish intentions, doing foolish things for people they care about.”

            “Exactly.  That makes the whole thing seem like a crime of opportunity.  They discovered that they had an in, and they used it.  They wanted to be close to their idol.  They didn’t even have very concrete plans.  They were excited to have snuck in and found the right dressing room at all.  They were only thinking about D.O., but they didn’t know what they’d do with him if they really saw him.  Take photos, try to talk to him.  They stole his water bottle because he’d put his mouth on it.”

            “Did they get to keep it?” Suho asked.

            “Of course,” Namu said, chuckling.  “It meant so much to them, I couldn’t take it away from them.  I’m not heartless.”

            Suho laughed.  “Now you’ve rewarded them!”

            “Well, they’ve helped us out, too,” Namu said.  “I don’t think that they’ve been involved in anything before, no stalking or other activity like this.  But they’ve told us about some other fans they talk to on-line, and some rumors.  We have information about some private group chats they’ve been a part of, and that should give us some more leads.”

            “Then you can find out who’s been threatening us?  You think it’s definitely a sasaeng?”

            “Our theories have been that it’s a fan who’s gone too far, an anti who’s gone too far, or someone you’ve worked with.  If we can dig deeply enough into your fan base, then we’ll either find out who’s been threatening you, or rule out fans as a category, which means that we can intensify our focus on other areas where we’ll be more productive.”

            Grimly, Suho nodded.  This was all going more slowly than he’d hoped.  In movies, it seemed like hackers got this kind of information in a matter of minutes, not days.  But at least it was something.  At least Namu had some idea of what to do, where to start.

            “We’re working on it,” Namu promised him.  “I know that you just want this all to be over.  We’re doing everything we can for you.”

            “Maybe we should have hired a bigger company.”  When the words were out, he regretted them.  Wincing, he explained, “I don’t want to seem ungrateful!  I’m very thankful for everything that you’ve done for us.  But if you had more people, more hackers or researchers or something…”

            “I get it.”  Namu’s smile was understanding and self-deprecating.  “But when you get big firms, they have other clients, other business, other paychecks.  Right now, EXO is all that we care about.  They have more guards, but they rotate through their roster more.  L walked into D.O.’s dressing room and knew that something was wrong because the water bottle wasn’t where it should have been.  He’s been with D.O. every day, he knows that D.O. takes one last drink before leaving and places the bottle on the edge of the table before walking out, he knew that it wasn’t where D.O. had left it.  With another firm, they won’t catch those details.”

            “D.O. does that?” Suho asked.

            Namu chuckled, and it was such a warm sound that Suho laughed with him.  “He does, according to L.  We know all about EXO now.”  He shifted closer, and Suho leaned in, interested.  “I wanted to talk to you about that, too.  We’re in your dorm every day and all night.  But we’re here for your safety, not to dig through your cabinets and talk to tabloids.  We respect our clients’ privacy as much as we can, and we don’t judge, and we sign non-disclosure agreements.  If your members feel shy or think that they have to hold back while we’re here, you can reassure them.  Private behavior, sex, those things won’t shock us.”

            Suho licked his lips.  “We have our reputations to protect.”

            “We know that Kai and Lay are together,” Namu said.  “We know that Baekhyun’s gay.  We know that Sehun likes sex in public places.  If you and your members normally watch porn in the living room, or invite people over, or whatever it is that you do, that’s fine, we don’t want to get in your way.  If you do drugs-”

            “Drugs!  No!”  He couldn’t let people go around thinking that EXO was on drugs!

            “If you do drugs,” Namu repeated calmly.  “Then you’ll need to tell us who’s on what, and when.  We need to know about it, if anyone’s high, at any time.  Protecting someone who’s high is very different from protecting someone who’s not, no matter how discreet or in control you think that you are.”

            “There’s nothing like that, we don’t do drugs,” he insisted.  The sex, though.  “I don’t know about the rest of it.  It’s been kind of nice, having you here.  It’s so awkward, when the members jack off and have sex all out around the dorm.  It’s better when they keep it to their rooms.  I don’t need to see all of that, it’s embarrassing.”

            Namu laughed, shoulders shaking.  “I’ll leave it up to you, then, if you want to leave things the way they are for a little while longer.  Give you a break from the sex show.”

            “Yes, good.  Thanks,” he said, feigning relief, and they laughed together.

            D.O. sat up quickly in bed.  Fumbling for his phone, he didn’t breathe until his screen lit up.  He was glad to see the brightness.  He turned on his flashlight app and shone the light around the room.  Everything was still and quiet.  Everything was familiar and in its place.  Sehun and Kai were in their beds, deeply asleep, like they were supposed to be.  The closet doors were open so that he could see right in.

            He got up.  His vivid nightmare haunted him, and he moved out into the hallway, needing motion, reassuring himself that things were normal in the rest of the dorm, too.

            He needed companionship.  He thought about crawling into Kai’s bed.  He peed and reminded himself that he was safe.  He was in his own dorm.  He was fine.  He could sleep soundly with Arctic Fox on guard.  He pictured white foxes prowling around the dorm.  Remembered L prowling around his dressing room.

            He wondered if L was up and awake.  In the hallway, he saw H.

            L was on the couch, asleep.  Slumped over the armrest, his head on his arms, his hat about to tumble out of his lap.  With his hat off, and his face slack in sleep, he looked young.  Weirdly young.  For the first time, D.O. wondered exactly how old he was.

            D.O. wanted to be between him and the armrest.  It seemed like such a safe, secure space to be in.

            Sitting down beside L, D.O. curled his legs up behind himself.  Relaxed against the back of the couch.  Wanted to relax against L’s shoulder instead.  He scooted closer, as close as he dared, as close as he could without touching.

            He told himself that he’d just stay there for a little bit, until he got sleepy again, and then he’d go back to bed.

            He stayed right where he was, and he was fast asleep in minutes.

            “How old are they?” Xiumin asked.

            “How old’s who?” Lay asked, chewing.  They were all in the dressing room together, eating, resting, milling around.

            “Our new managers,” Xiumin said.

            “I’ve wondered about that, too,” Baekhyun said.

            “They’re right here, just ask them,” Chen said, laughing, gesturing to where H and L stood by the door.

            “No, they won’t answer,” D.O. said.

            “They just say, ‘Older than you,’” Baekhyun said.  “So, they’re one hundred years old, I guess, I don’t know.”

            “One hundred years old with an ass that tight?” Sehun asked.  “What’s the secret?”

            “Maknae!” Suho exclaimed.

            “Oh, they don’t care,” Sehun said.

            “They won’t answer questions?” Chen asked.  “Why not?”

            “They don’t ever say anything,” Baekhyun said.

            “JD talks all of the time,” Chen said.  “Did you know that he’s a bombs expert?  That’s what he was hired for, to defuse bombs, isn’t that freaking amazing?”

            “What else does he tell you?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Anything about the company?” Xiumin asked.

            “We talk about all kinds of things,” Chen said, laughing.  “You’re so intense all of a sudden!  He told me about serving in the army, and he let me try his earpiece and call Info on it, and we cooked ramen together.”

            “Do you know his real name?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Um, just his family name, it’s Jang.  Jang something.”

            “Is that where the J comes from?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Is that how all of their names work?” Xiumin asked.  “So L is Lee something?”

            “Lee!” Baekhyun called, watching L closely.  “Lee-ssi!  Lee Minho!  Lee Sungmin!  Lee Seunggi!”

            “Nope, nothing,” D.O. said, when L didn’t respond.

            “We can sneak up on him and try some more later,” Baekhyun decided.

            “I don’t think he’s very easy to sneak up on,” Kai said.

            “Wait, though,” Sehun said.  “You made ramen together?”

            “Your ass is pretty tight,” Hoya told L, later.

            “He was talking about you,” L said.

            Hoya grinned.  “I know, I was just trying to make you feel better.”

            L laughed and mock-punched him.

            Xiumin had to talk to JD.  Jang Dongwon?  Jang Doyoon?  But until then, he still had work to do.

            He wasn’t even near the practice room door before L was in his way.  “How many times do we have to go through this?” L asked.

            “I’m going downstairs.  I’ll be right back,” he said.  “No one’s going to murder me in the hallway, and I swear that if someone does, I’ll send my ghost back to forgive you.  Okay?”  He reached for the door handle.

            “No,” L said, in between him and the door, one hand splayed against the door to hold it shut.

            “You work for me,” Xiumin said.

            “I work for the same people you work for.”

            “Then we’re co-workers.”

            “I was hired to keep you safe.  You can go if you have someone to go with you.  Since H is out with Suho, and I have to stay here with your other members, you can’t leave.”

            “I’m safe!  This building is safe!”

            “Good, just in time,” L said, and opened the door.  “Xiumin has to go steal office supplies or fuck trainees or something, go with him.”

            On the other side of the door, Kim blinked at Xiumin.  “This is a new side of you.”

            “Shut the fuck up,” he muttered.  Brushing past Kim, he headed down the hallway.

            Of course Kim followed him.  Right behind him, on his heels.  Of course.  He ignored it.  As soon as he got onto the elevator, he jabbed the button to close the doors, but Kim got through, anyway.

            Hands clasped behind his back, Kim studied the ceiling.

            The doors opened.  “Hair not growing back yet?” Xiumin asked, getting off of the elevator.

            “No taller yet?” Kim asked him.

            Cute.  Hilarious.  Slowing down, he tried a few doorknobs.  Locked, locked, locked.  “Do you know how to pick locks?”

            “What kind of responsible, law-abiding citizen would I be if I knew something like that?”

            He found a door that opened.  He went in and turned on a light.  “Watch the hallway and tell me if someone comes this way,” he said, heading for a desk.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Stealing office supplies and fucking trainees.”  He sat down and turned the computer on.  While it went through the starting screen logos, he wondered how to make it give him what he wanted.  The computers were all networked together, right?  So he just had to get into the system and dig around.

            He started opening folders.  He wasn’t even sure whose office this was.  “So what’s your specialty?” he asked as he clicked around.

            “Hmm?”  Kim was in the doorway, fingers idly twisting in the hem of his too-big T-shirt, trying to keep an eye on Xiumin and the hallway at once.

            “Your specialty.  Like Jang-whoever plays with bombs.”  L and H seemed to be the primary bodyguards for a reason, and they were built like they might actually be able to take or throw a punch.  Kim didn’t have the right build, he was all square shoulders and nothing else.  Watching him toy with the hem of his shirt, Xiumin realized that he had pretty hands.  Slim hands with smooth, graceful fingers.

            What a weird thing to notice.  Shaking it off, Xiumin went back to opening folders.  “What’s your specialty?” he asked again.  “Bombs, spying, car chases, research, search and rescue?”

            “I fill in,” he said.  “I help out when the team needs an extra body.”

            Search!  He could try searching!  Okay, search for what?  He typed “Arctic Fox” into the field.  What were these results, what was this crap, what the hell system was SM even using?  He didn’t know if this interface was too new or too old, but it wasn’t what he was used to.  “So you’re just the guy they call to come in when the real pros are busy?”

            “You don’t have to make me sound useless,” he objected.

            He studied the file names in front of him and clicked on one.  Frowning, he tried another, then another.  These were all internal memos from the higher-ups to his managers and back, discussing whether to hire Arctic Fox or not and how much to tell Suho about it.  He wanted to give up in annoyance, but if this was all the information he had in front of him, he might as well see if there was anything useful in it.  He read quickly.  The memos were deliberately vague in places and pretty basic in others.  One of the notes between the top executives made some reference to how they’d gotten in touch with Arctic Fox, something about a military friend’s recommendation.  “Are you guys from the army?”

            “What?”

            “Is that where you met, or is that how they recruit you?”

            “Should you bring up the army so easily?” Kim asked.  “Isn’t that a sensitive subject, with you putting it off for so long?”

            “That’s where Jang-whoever got his training, right?  The army?” he asked, still reading.  “Is that where - - oh!  Oh, sorry, I forgot, you don’t have any specialized training.  You’re useless.”

            “I don’t like you so much after all.”

            “Oh, did you, before?”  He tripped over a sentence.  His eyes widening, he went back and re-read it.  Then he read it out loud.  “‘They’re just a bunch of kids, as young as born in ’92 and ’93, but they have the right mentality.  I only want to turn to someone that we can trust,’” it continued, “‘and the commander says that we can trust the fox.’  The fox,” he repeated.  He stared at Kim.  “Born in ’92 and ’93?!  What the hell, how old are you?”

            “What?” Kim asked, blinking at him.

            On his feet and around the desk, he moved in.  Kim tried to pull away, but he planted a hand squarely on Kim’s chest, pushing Kim back against the doorjamb.  Staring into Kim’s face, he narrowed his eyes.

            “What, what, this isn’t right,” Kim said, still trying to inch away.

            Xiumin scrutinized Kim’s face.  It was completely unlined.  His cheeks were way too smooth.  His skin looked soft.  “Fuck, they sent a bunch of kids to watch over us?”

            “I’m not a kid,” Kim protested.

            “You’re freaking Chanyeol’s age!  D.O.’s age!”  He couldn’t believe it.  “I knew that SJ looked too young, I knew it, I thought that was weird as soon as I saw him.”

            “It’s not-”  Kim cut himself off and blinked at Xiumin.  “Are you speaking informally to me?”

            “Why shouldn’t I?”  God, what the hell.  “They hired a bunch of kids,” he said to himself, walking out.

            “At least - - hey, at least turn off the computer, how does this look?” Kim asked.

            “Don’t have time, I’ll be late for practice.”  He pushed the button for the elevator.  “Should you still be up so late?  Don’t you have homework to do?  A spelling test tomorrow?”

            “Speaking so informally,” Kim said.  “I’m in charge of your safety, you know!  You could be more respectful!”

            “To a child?  I don’t think so.”  He got onto the elevator, then reached a hand out.  “Let me help you in, I know these can be scary for toddlers.”

            “You think you’re so clever,” Kim said.  And then he took Xiumin’s hand.

            Xiumin hadn’t actually expected him to do it!  Not left with any other options, he pulled Kim into the elevator.  He pushed the button for their floor.

            He didn’t drop Kim’s hand until they’d both stepped out of the elevator again.

            Kim coughed and wiped his hand on his shirt.

            Xiumin made a big show of wiping off his own hand, too.  “Kids always have such sticky fingers,” he said, and Kim laughed.

            “Wait, they’re younger than I am?” Lay asked.  The members were assembled in the kitchen, getting drinks from the fridge and passing them around.

            “’92 and ’93, that’s what it said,” Xiumin said.  For once, there were no bodyguards in sight.

            “That can’t be true,” Baekhyun said.  “That’s my age!”

            “SJ looks really young, though,” Sehun said.

            “Info sounds young, too,” Chanyeol said.  “Like, he’s really smart, but he’s also fun.  Really fun.  He talks to me like Baekhyun or Kai or somebody.”

            “Kai’s a baby!” Xiumin exclaimed.

            “He’s not that young,” Lay said.

            “He’s not old enough for me to trust him to take a bullet for me,” Xiumin said.

            “Oh, god, don’t say things like that,” Baekhyun said, shivering.

            “Namu’s at least five years older than I am,” Suho said.  “He has to be.”

            “How old is L, do you think?” Chen asked D.O.

            “I don’t know,” D.O. admitted.

            “It’s hard to tell with someone who always wears a hat and never speaks,” Baekhyun said.

            “They’re living here, right?” Sehun asked.

            “Did you just notice that?” Kai asked, laughing.

            “No, ha, shut up,” Sehun said.  “I mean, they’re staying here.  They shave here and change their underwear here.”

            “I don’t know, do they?  Are they old enough to shave?” Xiumin asked.

            “Do they wear underwear?” Baekhyun asked.

            “So many questions,” Chanyeol said, laughing.

            “Hyungs,” Sehun said.  “If they live here, they’re keeping their stuff here.  Where is it?”

            Xiumin couldn’t believe that he’d never thought of that.  “They must have bags,” he realized.  “An overnight bag, something, at least.”  He couldn’t remember seeing even one anywhere.  “Where the hell are they, then?”

            “Oh, behind the couch, maybe,” Chen said.  “That’s where JD puts his backpack.”

            “He takes that thing off?” Baekhyun asked.

            “What’s inside it?” Xiumin asked.

            “I don’t know,” Chen said.

            If H and L were staying in the dorm, then their stuff was in the dorm.  Behind the couch.  And if it was behind the couch, then Xiumin had access to it.  Right there in his very own dorm.  “I need you to cause a distraction,” he told D.O.

            “Cause a distraction?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Are we in a movie?” Chen asked.

            “Members,” Suho said.  “Let’s not go too far.”

            “You know they’re trying to help us,” Kai told Xiumin.  “I think we can trust them.”

            “I trust them,” D.O. said.

            “Of course we can trust them,” Suho said.

            Xiumin pretended to agree.  He did agree.  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Arctic Fox.  He didn’t think that they were nefarious or out to get him.  They were just doing their jobs.  It just irritated him to have them around.  They were too secretive.  It annoyed him.  If everything was so aboveboard and everyone was so trustworthy, why couldn’t he know more about the people who were so selflessly saving his life?

            He waited half an hour, and then he talked Chanyeol and Sehun into causing a distraction for him.  H and L were both in the dorm, so he’d need to get both of them out of the living room.  He, what was the term for it?  Did surveillance?  Cased the joint?  Determined the target’s location?  He looked behind the couch and saw two black bags.  They were identical.  Soft black leather, big enough for a change of clothes and not a whole lot more.  He imagined that one was filled exclusively with extra black caps, just in case.

            While he was waiting for Suho to forget that he’d said anything about causing a distraction, he asked, “Why do they always have those hats on, anyway?”  He said it in the hallway, knowing that both H and L were probably within earshot.  “Do they have lice?  Really bad dandruff?  Maybe they have bad haircuts like that useless Kim.”

            “L’s haircut is normal,” D.O. said.  “Kind of boring.  Like yours.”

            Grinning, he punched D.O.’s arm, and D.O. punched him back.

            “H has great hair,” Baekhyun said.  “It looks really thick.”

            “Seriously,” Xiumin said.  “When are you going to suck his cock?”

            “Hyung!”  Baekhyun looked mortified.  “That’s not - - why - - I - - why?!  Don’t say things like that!  Someone could misunderstand!”

            “But you always look so good, sucking mine,” Xiumin said, grinning.  “He’ll probably love it.  He’s not getting any action, hanging around here.  We might as well keep him entertained, right?”

            “I - - fine, then, you suck it,” Baekhyun said, flustered and embarrassed.

            “Eh, I’m only into hyungs,” he said.  “I bet Sehun would do it.”

            “You and your hyungs,” Baekhyun said.

            “You know we all think you only insist on only being into hyungs so that we’ll all do whatever you want and you don’t have to reciprocate,” D.O. said.

            He grinned.  “But it’s working, so why would I change it now?”

            “Is it okay, I mean, we can’t just have sex with our bodyguards, can we?” Baekhyun asked.

            “I think that’s a line we shouldn’t cross,” D.O. said.

            “I bet that Sehun and Chen would do it,” Xiumin said.

            “Are there, like, rules against it?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Are you asking for a friend?” Xiumin asked.

            “I, I’m not, it,” Baekhyun said.  “I - - but he’s so good-looking, right?  I’m not the only one who sees it?  He’s so freaking sexy, I want to rub myself all over him.”  He was so happy about it and so desperate that Xiumin almost felt bad for teasing him.

            “L?” D.O. asked.

            “What - - no!  H, H, I mean H,” he said.

            “He’s hot,” Xiumin said.

            “I love the way he moves, have you seen it?” Baekhyun asked.  “He’s so light on his feet, he moves like he’s really in control of himself.”

            “You really just need to blow him,” Xiumin said.

            “I can’t just do it!” Baekhyun exclaimed, blushing.

            “Is it okay to have that kind of relationship with them?” D.O. asked.

            “Blowjobs aren’t relationships, who are you, Lay?” Xiumin asked.  “Just make a move, tell him you’re hot for it.  He’ll probably be grateful for the attention, he probably hasn’t gotten laid since they took this job.”

            “I haven’t gotten laid since they took this job!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

            Yeah, they were killing the dorm sex vibe.  “You can always go down on me,” Xiumin offered.

            “Or me,” D.O. said.

            “Or me!” Chanyeol called from another room.  “If you need more options!”

            Hoya had noticed Xiumin making a big effort to be discreet about looking behind the couch.  Xiumin seemed like one of those people who would rather focus on them than on the threat they were protecting him from; it was easier to concentrate on what was right in front of him than on the frightening reality of outside danger.

            Hoya mentioned to L that he’d seen Xiumin snooping around.  It wasn’t like Xiumin would find anything interesting in there, besides socks and energy bars.  But he didn’t want Xiumin to get any ideas about his knives.

            He was on the couch when he heard horrible choking, retching sounds from the kitchen.  Pushing himself to his feet, he also heard excited yelling from the bathroom.  Seeing L head for the kitchen, he went in the other direction.

            As he moved, he was keenly aware that they were leaving the front door unguarded.

            “Everything okay?” he called.  He stepped out of the living room, moved through the doorway and just out of sight, and then pivoted, looking back into the room.

            Xiumin was heading straight for the couch.

            He hung back, wanting to be sure.

            Xiumin quickly nudged the couch, squeezing behind it.

            As soon as he was back there, wedged between the couch and the wall, Hoya moved in.  Quick and silent, across the room in a flash, Hoya grabbed his wrist and wrenched it up behind his back.

            Crying out, Xiumin arched.  Hoya wasn’t doing anything that would cause damage, wasn’t really hurting him, but he wasn’t used to being grabbed.  “Ow!  Ow!  Fuck!  Ah!  Let go!” he shouted when he figured out that he wasn’t in any danger.

            “What, what - - hyung!” Suho exclaimed, hurrying over.

            “What happened, what is it?” Chen asked, members spilling into the room from all directions.

            “He was trying to get into our stuff,” Hoya said when L walked in.  “They just wanted us out of the room.”

            L rubbed the back of his neck, looking rueful.  “I should’ve caught that.”

            “Amateur.”  Stepping back, he let Xiumin go.

            “I’m sorry,” Suho said.  “This shouldn’t have happened.  You’ve been working hard, and we’re grateful for everything.  We’ll respect your privacy from now on, we understand how important it is.”

            Xiumin glared at Hoya, but he looked ashamed.  “Sorry.”

            “What do you think you’re going to find?” Kai asked.  “They don’t have anything weird.”

            “Do they?” Chanyeol asked with a nervous smile, gaze darting from Hoya to L and back.  “You don’t have anything weird, do you?”

            “It’s socks and underwear,” Hoya said.  “Toothpaste, a razor.”

            “I packed a book,” L said.  “I never get a chance to read it, but it’s there.”

            “Which book?” D.O. asked.

            “So you’re old enough to know how to read,” Chanyeol said, eyeing them and grinning.

            “It’s a novel,” L said.  “It’s supposed to be good, I don’t know.”  He was getting shy with the entire room’s attention on him; he was starting to blush.

            And it was charming everyone; one by one, the EXO members started to gaze at him as if they wanted to nurture him or strip naked and offer themselves to him.

            Rolling his eyes, Hoya coughed into his fist.  A few of them managed to come out of it and glance in his direction.  “No more snooping around and going through our stuff from now on, or should we find somewhere else to leave our bags?”

            “We’ll respect your privacy,” Suho said.  “We’re very sorry.”

            “Yes, it won’t happen again,” Xiumin said.  “Have you had any sex since you started working here?”

            “What happened to respecting privacy?” Suho asked, turning pink.  “Hyung, that’s none of our business.”

            “I just thought, they’re going through a dry spell, we’re - - some of us - - going through a dry spell.”  As Xiumin spoke, he cast a telling glance at Kai, who grinned wickedly at Lay, who blushed happily.  “Maybe we can help each other out.”

            “Help - - oh, no, no,” Suho said, shaking his head.  “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

            “It’s up to the individuals, isn’t it?” Xiumin asked.  “Anyone who isn’t into it doesn’t have to do it.  But if someone wants to do it, it’s not going to destroy this whole secret operation if someone gets a little head once in a while.”

            “Secret operation?” Chen repeated.

            “We’re really in a movie, aren’t we?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Who’s the leading man, Namu?” Chen asked.

            “L, probably,” Sehun said.  L gave Hoya an exasperated look and ran his hand over his hat, trying to pull it more snugly down.

            “I think that fraternizing like that is a bad idea,” Suho said.  “I want to discourage it.  Arctic Fox is here to work, and they’re very dedicated to their jobs, and I think that we should leave them alone.”

            “So sex is on the table,” Sehun said.

            “Is, is it really?” Chen asked.  “No, I heard what you just said,” he added quickly when Suho looked at him.  “But you only said ‘bad idea’ and ‘discourage.’  Not that we can’t or it’ll get them fired.”

            “Get us fired?” Hoya asked.  He hadn’t realized that was a consideration.

            “No one’s getting fired,” Suho said.  “But we’re all adults.  I think that Arctic Fox is mature enough and professional enough to make responsible choices.  I’ll leave it at that.”

            Oh, hell.  He wouldn’t tell his members that sex was forbidden; he wanted L and Hoya to do it for him.  That was a neat little trick.  It made sure that sex wouldn’t happen, but he wouldn’t be responsible for anyone’s frustration or hard feelings.

            “Do you, um, do any of you have sex with guys?” Chanyeol asked.

            “I’m straight,” L said.

            “Straight, I’m straight,” Hoya said.  Somehow that hadn’t sounded convincing at all, but if he tried to reiterate the point, it would only sound ridiculous.  “I’ll go check in,” he told L, touching his earpiece.

            “Check in with who about what?” L asked, laughing at him.

            “Important things,” he said, and went to the kitchen.

            Sungyeol was searching through old chat logs for certain keywords when Chanyeol’s call came in.  “Hey,” he said.  An alert popped up on one of his monitors; Chanyeol was on World of Warcraft.  He logged out of one account and into another.  “Did you get the gold I sent you?  Buy some new gear.  Start with boots for your priest before you do anything else.  You guys looked great at that festival today.  Baekhyun looks way hotter with all of that eyeliner.”

            “Are you gay?”

            “Am I gay?” he repeated.  He laughed, suddenly self-conscious.  “No, I’m bi.  Why?”

            “Do you ever leave your office?  Your desk?  Your - - where are you, anyway?”

            “I’m at the office.  The illustrious Arctic Fox headquarters.”

            “Where is that?”

            He hadn’t expected this to come up.  Why had he not expected this to come up?  It hadn’t occurred to him that Chanyeol would try to see him.  Visit the office.  Meet him in person.  And Chanyeol wanted to know if he was gay?  Holy shit.  “Dude, you’re an idol.”

            “So?” Chanyeol asked, like that shouldn’t make a difference.  “So what?”

            “Idols have reputations to protect.  You can’t date, you can’t screw around, aren’t there rules?  You shouldn’t even be on the phone asking strange men if they’re gay.”

            “We’re not strangers.”

            “We kind of are.”

            “You know everything about me.”

            “Okay, and how much do you really know about me?”

            “You’re a tech geek-”

            “Oh, come on, that doesn’t count.”

            “You drink way too much coffee.  I don’t think that you ever sleep.  You play World of Warcraft and care too much about it.  And you seem kind of eager to have someone else to play with.  You’re logical, you like to figure things out and think things through.  You like information, you like to know things.  But you like to share what you know, too.  You like to be in the middle of things, you like to know what’s going on, you always seem to know what everyone is up to.  You’re friendly.  You sound young when you laugh.  You look at stuff for what it is, you don’t say things just to flatter me or make me feel better, you’re honest and direct about it.  But you’re nice, too.”

            Biting his lip, Sungyeol didn’t know what to say.  He hadn’t expected a reply like that.  He’d never imagined that Chanyeol thought all of those things about him.

            “What do you look like?”  When he didn’t answer, Chanyeol said, “Come on, you know what I look like.”

            “I don’t look like an idol,” he said.

            “Are you tall?  Short?  Skinny?  Fat?  Ripped?”

            “Not as tall as you.  My ears don’t stick out as far, either.”  Embarrassed, he shook his head, trying to get himself together.  “We can’t do this.  Come on, you aren’t interested in me.  What’s going on with EXO these days, anyway?  Baekhyun’s hot for H, you think you want me, I think that Chen and JD are ready to move in together.  Are you all super horny, or what?”

            “If I say yes, will you do something about it?”

            Scandalized, he burst into laughter.  “Shit!  Park Chanyeol coming on strong!”

            “You’re into guys, you think I’m good-looking, we get along, come on,” Chanyeol said.

            “You don’t really want to date me.  You’re in the biggest idol group in Korea right now, you’re a freaking celebrity, you don’t want any boyfriend at all, and you definitely don’t want me.  And I don’t need casual sex, I’m not interested in some quick screw, no matter how hot you are.”

            “You want a boyfriend?”

            “No.  What the hell would I do with a boyfriend?  Go out on dates?  I have shit to do here.”

            “So a boyfriend who’s away a lot, on tour, filming in China, promoting in Japan, someone who can only see you once in a while and has to survive in phone calls in between, a long-distance relationship, that would be pretty convenient for you, then.”

            Um.  Well, now that he mentioned it.  “You’re an idol,” he protested weakly, trying to keep that in mind, trying to remind himself that it would never work.

            “If I can’t come to see you, then you should come to see me,” Chanyeol said.  “What kind of boots should I get, are these really that bad?”

            Go to see him?  “Your boots are complete crap, everyone around you is laughing at you, trust me.  Go to the auction house.”  He told himself not to do it, but he was already opening EXO’s calendar, checking out where they’d be over the next few days.

            When Suho woke up, one of the first sounds he heard in the dorm was sex.  “Unh, oh yeah, unh.”  Chen having sex, noisily.  “Oh, give it to me, oh!”  Ecstatic, rhythmic moaning.  “Unh, unh, oh, yes, yes!”

            Aroused and embarrassed, he guessed that his members must feel more comfortable with the Arctic Fox guys around.  Then he wondered if Chen was having sex with the Arctic Fox guys.  But as he moved around the dorm, he saw H and L in the living room.  Relieved, he was glad that no one had crossed that line.  It was really better for everyone if they didn’t start confusing their personal and professional relationships.

            Smiling, shirtless, looking very relaxed and affectionate, Chen walked to the front door.  With JD.  “I’ll see you later, okay, hyung?” he murmured, his fingers playing over JD’s backpack straps.

            “I’ll come back tonight,” JD said.  His hand slid into Chen’s hair, and they kissed.  Chen moaned, fingers hooking around the straps, pulling JD closer, their tongues slicking together.

            Suho wondered if he should talk to Namu about this.

            As soon as JD was gone and the door was closed, L and H casually strolled past each other, high-fiving on the way by.  Seeing that, Chen laughed.

            “Chen-ah,” Xiumin said, heading straight towards him.

            “No!” Chen said, backing up, putting his hands up.  “No, I’m not telling you anything.  JD hyung trusts me, we’ve talked a lot, and I’m not giving you any more information about him.”

            “Was it good?” Chanyeol asked.  “It sounded really good.”

            “Oh my god, it was amazing,” Chen said.  “You don’t even know, he’s good at everything.”

            “I guess now we know, statistically, which one the gay one is in Arctic Fox,” Baekhyun said.  He said it like it was a joke, but then his eyes cut to H and he looked miserable.

            “I found the bi one,” Chanyeol said.  “Info, he says that he’s bi.  He won’t tell me what he looks like, just that he’s short and he has cute ears.”

            “You’re trying to date someone over the phone?” Sehun asked.

            “They talk all night, every night, all morning, every morning,” Lay said.

            “What year is this?” Chanyeol asked.  “People date people they meet on-line and stuff all of the time.”

            “But then they meet in person,” Suho said.

            “I’m going to visit him, I’m going to go and see him,” Chanyeol said.  “As soon as he tells me where he is.”

            “He could be anywhere, couldn’t he?” Xiumin asked.  “He’s just a disembodied voice.  He could be in another country.”

            “No, he said that he’s at their office.”

            “They have an office?” Xiumin asked.

            “Is it in Seoul?” Kai asked.

            Suho noticed Chen disappearing around the corner, and smiled.  It was good, at least, if Chen and JD were sexually involved, that JD confided in him.  And after how much Xiumin had acted up, trying to sneak into H and L’s bags, Suho didn’t mind at all if Chen kept that information private.

            D.O. went over his lines again while the make-up artist worked on him.  When she started on his eyes, he lowered the script, but he kept reciting the lines to himself, mumbling.  “I’ve never said that I won’t do it.  I only told you that I can’t…  I only told you that I couldn’t…  I only told you…”  Shit, what came next?

            “I only told you that I can’t be what you need me to be right now,” L said.

            He blinked, surprised.  “That was right,” he said.  His back to the room, he looked in the mirror; L was seated on the couch, behind him.  “Do you know my lines better than I do?”

            “You go over them a lot,” L said.  “And you left it sitting out, so I read it.”

            As soon as the stylist gave him room to move, he twisted around in his chair.  “Can you run lines with me?”  As soon as the question was out, he regretted it.  “It’s too much to ask,” he realized.  “It’s just that, with the other members.  I feel like it’s awkward, that I have so many roles and they don’t, and it seems like rubbing it in their faces.”

            L licked his lips, then nodded a little.  At that nod, D.O. felt very strange inside, fluttery and light.  “Not here, I don’t want to be distracted.  But when H or someone else is around, yeah, we can try it.”  He chuckled, one side of his mouth lifting in a half-smile.  “I don’t have to be any good, do I?  I just have to read the other parts so you can rehearse.”

            “You can be terrible, it’s still great,” D.O. said.  “Thank you, I’ll be really grateful.”

            L smiled at him, then went back to watching the door and the stylist.

            He felt really, really good about this.  Facing the mirror again, he couldn’t take his eyes off of L’s reflection.  That straight nose, those muscular shoulders.  L was with him constantly, protecting him, looking out for him.  But that was work.  It was loyalty that SM paid for.  But this was something that L was doing just for him.  And it felt like a huge gift.

            It was the earrings that Chanyeol noticed first.  He was walking down the hallway with his members, bowing politely to a couple of staff members and other idols on the way.  And there was this guy up ahead with piercings all up around the rim of his ear.  He was tall and skinny, long body, all elbows, wearing a T-shirt and jeans and a long, thin, tan cardigan.  Big eyes, very sexy red mouth, and he had his hair pulled back on top in a little ponytail.  He was good-looking, a really handsome guy, but the piercings and hair and everything, it was a really sexy look.  Chanyeol kind of wanted to do him.  “Hi,” Chanyeol said when they passed, and the guy looked surprised, eyes going round, lips parting, and stammered out a, “Hey.”

            Chanyeol wondered who he was.  Hoped to see him around again.

            L kind of liked running lines with D.O.  It gave him something to do, a way to fill his time around the dorm besides watching Suho watch TV.

            The more they did it, the more comfortable he became with it.  They sat within sight of the door, so he could keep an eye on it whenever H left the room.  With Kai and Lay having sex in one of the bedrooms, and Chen and JD cooking and laughing and talking in the kitchen, and H strolling around, it was kind of a nice moment.  They went through the scenes over and over again, partly so that D.O. could memorize the right words, but also so that D.O. could try different inflections, delivering the lines in different ways.

            It was really interesting to him, to watch D.O. go through the process of trying out different emotions on the same lines.  He became fascinated by the choices that D.O. made.  He liked how D.O. could get into it and seem genuinely caught up in the scene, eyes wounded, lips quivering, and then totally break out of it and say, “No, no, let me try it again,” in a totally normal tone of voice like nothing was going on.

            D.O. was only doing one character’s lines, so L had to be everyone else.  It was okay in one-on-one conversations, but when there were multiple people in the scene, he tried to do different voices, to distinguish the characters.  The first time he did it, raising his voice for one and lowering it for the other, D.O. laughed, breaking the moment.  Embarrassed, he asked, “No, no good?”

            “It’s good, it’s cute, do it again,” D.O. said.  “It helps, it’ll help me keep everybody straight in my head, thank you.”

            He felt a little self-conscious about it at first, but he got into it.  And he tried sounding actually angry when the characters were pissed off, and breezy and flirty when they were teasing.  It was fun.  “This is neat,” he said when they were finished, handing the script back.

            “Thank you, a lot,” D.O. said.  “I really mean it.  You’ve helped me so much.”

            “You practice the lines so many ways, how do you know how to say it when they’re filming?  The director tells you what he wants?”  L had been with D.O. on set and during discussions with the director, and he didn’t remember a lot of talk about it.

            D.O. made a face.  “Well, with this director, it’s really up to me.  Another director, on another project, we talked a lot about it, and we’d do a lot of takes, so he had a lot to work with.  This one, he’s more concerned about getting everything done on time and following the shooting schedule, so I have to nail it the first time.”

            “That seems like a lot of pressure,” L said.  “And a lot less fun.”

            D.O. smiled at him.  “Yeah, it’s both of those.”

            He got up, putting down a hand and pulling D.O. up, too.  Curious, he asked, “What other project was that?”

            “Oh, a movie.  Stealing Men’s Hearts.  I was the younger brother of the female lead.”

            “Is it out?  Can I see it?”

            D.O. smiled at him.  “It’s in theaters right now.  I had to do a ton of press about it.  And now I feel like all of that was a waste, if you’ve never even heard of it.”

            He laughed.  “Sorry.  It’s my fault, I don’t pay attention to things like that.”

            “We can go to see it.  You can go, I mean, or.”

            Going to the movies.  D.O. didn’t go out in public as an average citizen very often, but if he went out to the movies, it would be an opportunity for any of his stalkers to show up and hover around him.  Which meant that it would be an opportunity to lure them out and get a good look at them.  But L didn’t want to tell D.O. that just yet.  “Yeah, maybe we could go when you have a night off.”

            D.O. smiled at him.  “Okay.  That’d be good.”

            “Lee Sangyoon!” Baekhyun said suddenly from behind him.

            He rolled his eyes.  D.O. laughed and said, “No, I don’t think that’s it.”

            “Lee Taemin?” Baekhyun guessed.

            Xiumin had to go out.  He needed a night out, a break from stress and work and PD’s and managers and all of it.  He wanted to be somewhere besides a dressing room or the dorm.  He called a friend, made plans to meet, and got dressed.

            When he made it the whole way to the front door without anyone saying a word, he knew that it was too good to be true.

            When he opened the front door and saw Kim standing there waiting for him, he couldn’t believe it.  “You.”

            “Ready to go?” Kim asked.

            He turned around and gave H the finger.

            H smiled and waved.

            “Just don’t cramp my style,” he warned Kim as he stepped into the hallway and closed the door.

            “No, no, I wouldn’t do that,” Kim said.  They walked in silence for a second.  “You have style?”

            They took a cab over to the club.  He texted his friend to say that he’d made it, and she said that she’d be there in a minute.  He got a private room and tried to order a drink.  Kim interrupted and said, “Get something in a bottle.”  Then Kim told the waitress, “He wants to open it himself, please.”

            A bottle he had to open himself?  Why, so no one slipped something into it?  No one was going to drug him!  He wanted to argue against Kim’s paranoia, but he didn’t want to get into a whole fight over it.  He’d come out to get away from this shit.  “Fine, right,” he said, impatient to play along to get Kim to shut up.  He ordered two bottles of beer, both for himself.

            They sat alone, waiting.  He drank and texted his friend.

            Across the table, Kim clasped his hands in his lap and nodded, looking around.  “This is a lot of fun.”

            “Shut up.  She’s bringing friends, they’ll be here in a minute.”  He wouldn’t have shown up so early himself if he hadn’t been so ready to get away from this constant surveillance.

            “You have a fetish for dirty socks?” Kim asked.

            “What?” he asked, taken aback.

            “You like to sniff old panties?”

            “Sniff - - what the hell are you talking about?”  And then he remembered.  L and H’s overnight bags.  Embarrassed, he kicked Kim under the table.  “I wasn’t trying to see anyone’s socks!  I thought they’d have information in there, ID or something.”

            “Oh, is that your story?  Good, that’s good, that’s convincing.”  Kim nodded to himself.  Looked around the room.  Winced and reached down, rubbing his shin.  “Ow.”

            Like it still hurt.  “Where do you go?  When you go out?”

            “I don’t go out.”  He straightened, grimacing.  “You have hard toes.  Pointy.”

            “It’s just my shoe, and you’re fine.  You don’t go out at all?  What do you do at night?”

            “Baby-sit idols.”

            Xiumin gave him a fake smile.  “Ha, ha, ha.”

            “I read, sometimes.  I hang out with my friends.”

            “Which friends?”  Xiumin tried to picture it.  A bunch of guys with bad haircuts sitting around together.

            “Just some Army guys, mostly.”

            “So you’ve already served.  Is that why you can’t shut up about it?”

            Kim smiled at him.  “I’m just teasing.  As long as you go when it’s time, you don’t have to rush it.  It’s not always good to go too early.”

            He felt weirdly sensitive about it, now that Kim was being so nice and understanding about it.  He was embarrassed.  “I’m going to go.  It’s not like I’m trying to get out of it.”

            “I know,” he said sincerely.  “You have a big career and a big company and a lot of fans.  It’s not only up to you, it has to fit in with what they want, too.”

            “So is the army like your whole life?  What’d you want to do when you were younger?”

            “Ah.”  He grinned, ducking his head and rubbing at his hair.  He looked so bashful, Xiumin was amazed.  “I wanted to be in a band,” he said.  “I wanted to be a rock star.  But music isn’t a real career, so.  I went to the army instead.”

            “You wanted to be a rock star?” Xiumin repeated.  Maybe that explained the haircut.  “What, do you play the guitar?”

            “I sing,” he said, sitting up straighter, getting a little boost of pride.  Then he looked shy again, dropping his gaze, one thumb rubbing over the other.  “I wanted to be a singer.”

            Really.  “Music is a real career,” Xiumin said.  And then he wished that he hadn’t said it, because it seemed cruel.  Because maybe this wasn’t all talk, maybe Kim actually had dreamt of being a musician someday, and here he was, making a genuine success at it, and Kim had given up on it, and who the hell was he, to flaunt his success in someone else’s face?  “Were you any good?”

            He met Xiumin’s eyes, and he smiled a tiny bit.  “I was loud.”

            He laughed.  “Okay, that’s part of it.”

            “Did you always want to be a singer?” Kim asked.

            “Um.”  Well, kind of.  “I wanted to be a performer.  I wanted to be onstage.”  He shifted in his seat.  “Being an idol’s not only about the music.  You have to be good at interviews and photo shoots, you need variety skills and acting ability, you have to be able to dance, all kinds of things.”

            Kim nodded.  “And you have all of those things?”

            “Some of them,” he admitted with a grin, and Kim laughed.  “I’m working on it, I’m picking it up as I go.”

            “You’re good-looking, that’s a big part of it, being an idol.”

            “Thanks.”  Embarrassed by the praise, he smoothed his hair.  “I’m too short, really.”

            “You’re very tiny,” Kim agreed, nodding, and Xiumin laughed.

            They talked for a while longer.  Xiumin finished both of his drinks.  “Do you want to order something?”

            “No, I can’t drink on the job.”

            “You can have water or something.”

            “No.”  He hesitated, then explained, “I might have to pee, and I can’t worry about those things when I’m supposed to be looking out for you.”

            What?  “I’ll go to the bathroom with you, then, we can both go.  I’ll have to pee at some point, too.  Those other goons are always following me into the bathroom.”  His phone beeped.  His friend had sent a photo.  Of herself tucked up in bed, with another guy, flipping him off.  “Oh, you fucking asshole,” he breathed.

            “Bad news?” Kim asked.

            “She - - oh, this asshole,” he said, amazed.  “She’s standing me up.  She’s not coming, she’s at home.”  He shoved his phone in his pocket, too pissed off to trust himself to reply.  “It’s payback,” he realized.  “I haven’t seen her lately, she’s mad at me.  I only call her up when I want to get off, and then I was seeing someone else, and - - whatever.”

            “Your private life is kind of a mess,” Kim said.

            “Let’s go, let’s get out of here,” he said, getting up.  “Let’s go to karaoke.”

            “Will that help you to get laid?” Kim asked, standing.

            He’d just get Sehun to blow him when he got back to the dorm.  Too bad L was straight.  Curious, he eyed Kim.  “You interested?”

            “In what?” Kim asked, and then he did a dramatic double-take.  “No!”

            “Okay, just asking,” he said, laughing.  “Are you straight?”

            “That’s private!”

            “Married?  Wife, kids?”

            “If I had kids, I’d be baby-sitting them, not you,” Kim said.

            “I’m going to make you drink four bottles of water, and then I’m going to run up and down the streets all night so you can’t get to a bathroom,” he decided.

            “You come up with a lot of fun activities,” Kim said.  “Sitting alone in a room drinking by yourself.  Jogging up and down the sidewalk for hours.  I’m really surprised that your friend didn’t want to come out and meet you.”

            “Lucky you,” Xiumin said, grinning, slinging an arm around Kim and guiding him to the door.  “You get me all to yourself.”

            “Yes,” he said.  “Yes, lucky, lucky me.”

            Chen kissed down Dongwoo’s chest slowly, planting soft kisses on Dongwoo’s skin, breathing hot, moist air over a tight nipple.  When Dongwoo slid a hand in his hair, he crawled back up for a kiss, and when Dongwoo’s tongue slid into his mouth, he moaned, sinking down onto Dongwoo’s body.

            Groaning, Dongwoo rolled them over, muscular and sinuous against him.  On his back, kissing hungrily, he wrapped both arms around Dongwoo, and when Dongwoo nudged his thighs farther apart, he moaned, shuddering, as Dongwoo’s knuckles skimmed up his inner thigh, caressing him, fingers brushing his cock.

            Xiumin was drunk.  Drunk and horny.  Very, very horny.  He couldn’t get Kim to sing for him, so he sang.  He got Kim to drink, even if it was only juice and soda.  They talked a lot, and it was good.  For a useless hired goon, Kim was a lot of fun.  He liked how happily Kim laughed, head thrown back, cheeks flushed, and once they got going, they talked about everything.  He said more to Kim than he’d said to anyone outside of the group in weeks.

            “I need to take a piss,” he realized, squirming.  He got up and added, “You have to take a piss.  Come on.”

            They went down the hallway to the bathroom.  Kim went in first; and then he had to stand by the door, waiting, while Kim checked the stalls for ticking bombs or whatever.  “God, I have to go, can you move faster?” he asked, shifting his weight and trying to hold it.  “Shit, what, there’s no one hiding in here with a crossbow, can I go already?”

            “You’re very fussy,” Kim said.

            “I’m a grown man who has to wait for permission to take a piss!”

            “I think there’s porn like that.”

            “And you watch it?”

            “No!  Okay, you can do it now.”

            “Thank god.”  He hustled over to the urinal.  He groaned in relief as his bladder emptied.  Oh, that was nice.  Okay.  He zipped up and washed his hands.  “Okay, your turn.”

            “My turn what?”

            “To take a leak.  Go ahead,” he said, grinning, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the sink.  “I’ll stand watch.”

            “Pervert,” Kim said.  “Does that door lock?”

            “No, why would it - - I think it locks,” he realized, going over to it.  He locked it, then tugged on the handle.

            “Good.”  Kim went over to the urinals.  “Don’t go anywhere or do anything.”

            He considered waiting until Kim was mid-stream, and then making a run for it.  But it didn’t seem worth it.  Sidling over, he stepped in nice and close.  Mostly he was trying to creep Kim out, and apparently it was working, because Kim was mumbling, “Stop it,” and trying to edge away.  While he was there, he glanced down, taking a brief look.  He didn’t expect to see much, it was more for the sake of being able to tease Kim than anything.  But then he took a second look, and then he blinked and took a more serious look.  Damn, Kim was hung.

            “Pervert,” Kim mumbled again, tucking himself away.  “I hope you don’t do this to everyone you’re in a public bathroom with.”

            While Kim went to the sink, Xiumin rubbed himself.  They were alone, and the door was locked, and his hormones were racing.  “C’mere and suck my cock.”

            “You speak very informally and very disrespectfully,” Kim said, washing his hands.

            “Okay.”  He cleared his throat.  “C’mere and suck my cock, now.”

            Wiping his hands on his shirt, Kim frowned.  “This isn’t very seductive.”

            “You have a very big cock,” Xiumin said, running a hand up his chest.  “I love it when dongsaengs with very big cocks get on their knees and blow me.  It really gets me off.”

            Backing away, Kim asked, “Are you supposed to talk like this in public?  Isn’t it against your idol rules?”

            “No cameras in bathrooms.”

            “You’re very drunk, I think.  I should get you back to your dorm before you do something you’ll regret,” Kim said, still backing away.  “Like proposition strange men in public bathrooms.”

            Gripping a handful of Kim’s shirt, he backed into a stall, pulling Kim along with him.  “Do you want me to blow you, instead?” he asked.  “But I only blow hyungs.”

            “You’d suck it if I were older?” Kim asked, putting a hand on his hip and guiding him against the wall.

            “Yeah,” he said, turned on, breathing hard, shoulders against the wall.  He squirmed on purpose, and Kim’s hand tightened on his hip, stroking him.  Fuck, this was hot.  “It’s such a shame for you.”  His cock was hard, uncomfortable in his pants, and he undid his fly, pulling it out, rubbing it, groaning when Kim moved closer.  He was penned in between Kim’s body and the side of the stall.  Tightening his fist in Kim’s shirt, he lifted his face, wanting a kiss.  “Too bad,” he whispered, staring up into Kim’s eyes.  “I look freaking fantastic with a cock in my mouth.”

            Kim kissed him.  Groaning, he kissed back, so fucking horny, so fucking turned on, god, he hadn’t expected Kim to really do it.  Kim pushed his hand aside, fingers wrapping around his hard-on, and the sensation of Kim’s smooth, confident hand on his bare cock sent pure pleasure shooting through him.  “God, oh,” he gasped, thrusting into Kim’s fist.  “Unh, god, get me off.”

            Kim’s kisses were deep and kind of aggressive, and he kissed back hungrily, loving it, turned on by everything about it.  His cock throbbed, every stroke of Kim’s hand intensifying his pleasure, making his whole body shake.  “Fuck, oh,” he groaned, shuddering.  He turned, covering Kim’s hand with his, making sure that it stayed on his cock, his pants and underwear around his thighs.  “Hump me,” he panted, arching his back, thrusting his ass out.  “Grind that big cock against me like someday I might let you fuck me.”  God, he wanted to feel it against him.

            “You like this?” Kim asked, grabbing his waist and pushing against him.  Pinned against the wall, he moaned, Kim’s assertiveness giving him a thrill.  He could feel Kim’s hard-on, and he rocked back, rubbing his ass over that sexy bulge.  “This is what you want, this is how you like it?”

            “God, ouunnnhh, yes.”  He couldn’t stop moaning, his hips bucking, Kim still jacking his throbbing cock.  “Unnh, hump my ass,” he groaned, one hand braced against the wall.  “Hump me hard with that big cock, call me hyung, say it.”

            “Want me to say it?” Kim panted, grinding against his ass, rocking him right up against the wall, so crude and rhythmic his whole body ached.  “Want me to beg you for more, Xiumin hyung?  Want me to be grateful to get you off, Xiumin hyung?”

            “Oh, unnnh, yes, yes!”  Crying out, he came, pleasure turning into a shattering pulse of raw ecstasy.  Rubbing his ass against the thick bulge of Kim’s cock, he made helpless, high-pitched, mewling sounds as his cum landed sloppily on the wall.  Oh, god, that had been a good one.  Moaning, he let his forehead drop against the wall and tried to catch his breath.

            Kim patted his thigh, kissed the back of his neck, and moved away from him.

            “Shit.”  Feeling goofily happy, he tugged his underwear up, did his fly.

            Kim reached around him and wiped toilet paper over the mess he’d made on the wall, then flushed it.

            Rubbing at his face, he turned around.  Okay.  He was drunk and he’d just gotten off in a bathroom.  “Non-disclosure agreement, right?”

            Kim nodded at him.  “Right.”  With an affectionate smile, Kim put an arm around him, guiding him out of the stall.  “Come on, Xiumin hyung.”  Kim still had a hard-on, and god, that turned him on.  It really aroused him to leave dongsaengs hanging, and the bigger the erection, the better.  “It’s time to go back to the dorm.”

            Chen loved making out with Dongwoo.  They were in the dorm, on the couch, and he hadn’t had breakfast yet, hadn’t gotten dressed yet, but it was so hard to think about doing anything other than sitting there kissing Dongwoo.

            His fingers brushed Dongwoo’s earpiece.  “Can you take this off?”  It was really sensitive, and he didn’t want to call Info by accident.

            “Mmm, no, can’t, on duty, working hours,” Dongwoo said, kissing him again, one hand sliding down the back of his boxer-briefs.

            When Dongwoo cupped his ass, he groaned, pushing Dongwoo down across the cushions.  “What if I call Info?”

            “Then he’ll listen in.”

            Surprised, he laughed.  “While we’re screwing?”

            Dongwoo gave his ass a squeeze, and he squirmed, and Dongwoo grinned at him happily, wickedly.  “Sometimes when he gets bored, he watches porn and narrates it to us.  It’s funny, porn sounds kind of sexy and kind of silly when you just describe it.”

            “How do those things work?” Sehun asked, coming over.  “You can just say ‘I want to suck on your fat, hairy balls’ and everyone can hear it?”

            “Sure,” Dongwoo said.  “This button calls Info, and this one calls everybody.”

            “What’s that one?”

            “That one calls the fox.  We don’t touch that one.”

            “The fox?” Xiumin asked.

            Aw, shit, Chen hadn’t realized that he was around.  “Aren’t you still sleeping it off?”

            “Yes, so whisper,” Xiumin said, rubbing the side of his head.  “There’s an actual fox?  An arctic fox?”

            “President-nim,” Dongwoo explained.

            “Don’t tell him anything,” Chen said.  He kissed Dongwoo again, then tapped the first button and whispered, “I want to fuck your hot, tight ass.”

            Dongwoo laughed.  “He says, ‘Hi, Chen.’”

            “Hi,” Chen said cheerfully.  He kissed Dongwoo again and got up.  “I wish you could come with us today.”

            “I have to go knock on doors.”

            “You call your boss ‘the fox?’” Xiumin asked.

            “We call him a lot of things,” Dongwoo said.  On his feet, he slung his backpack over one shoulder.  “I’ll be back later to go with you guys to dinner.”

            “Okay.”  Chen kissed him.  “Bye.”

            “The fox,” Xiumin said, trailing them to the door.  “The Fox?  Like the Green Lantern and the Batman?  Do you guys give yourselves superhero names?”

            Dongwoo glanced at him.  “Don’t you have superhero powers?”

            Xiumin’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and Chen burst into laughter.  “I think he got you on that one!”  One last kiss, and Chen opened the door.  “Bye, hyung.”

            Chanyeol stood in the doorway, watching the hallway.  They didn’t have enough security guards in the dressing room for one to go with him, since Namu was already off with Suho and L was taking guys back and forth to the bathroom.  So he stood in the hallway, and H stood there with him, and they both listened to Xiumin ramble.  “So there’s a president,” Xiumin said again.

            “Mmm,” Chanyeol said, watching people come and go.

            “But it’s not Info.  Or they wouldn’t need a different button for Info and The Fox.”

            “Mmm.”  No one out there was the right size and shape.

            “There’s a president.  And there’s an office.  So they must lease office space from someone.  Do you think it’s a tiny piece of a big company?” Xiumin asked suddenly.  “Or it is really just a few guys?”

            “They keep saying they’re small and independent,” Chanyeol reminded him.

            “Namu, L, H, SJ, JD, Kim Useless, Info, and President Fox,” Xiumin said.  “So eight guys total?”

            “Info gets his own coffee, so I don’t think they have office assistants,” Chanyeol said.  Oh!  There he was!  Tall and sexy, with his hair pulled up.  He had on jeans and a T-shirt again, and a long, thin, blue cardigan with the sleeves pushed up.  Chanyeol leaned out of the doorway, and H put a hand on him, tugging him back.

            The guy saw Chanyeol and looked a little bit startled.  “Hi,” Chanyeol said, and the guy smiled happily, shyly, and said, “Hi,” back, and bowed, and kept going.

            Chanyeol started to go after him, but H dragged him back into the room.  “Nope, sorry.”

            “But I have to - - I just - - he’s getting away!”

            “Who?” Xiumin asked.

            “The guy!  The hottie!”

            “There’s a hottie?” Xiumin asked, trying to go see.

            “There are no hotties.”  H pushed them both back and closed the door.  “I didn’t know you were just standing here scouting for ass.”

            “You saw him, right?” Chanyeol asked.

            “I see everything, it’s my job.”

            “But he’s hot, right?  He’s so sexy.  I can’t believe his mouth.”

            “Too many piercings,” H said.  “Kiss his ear and you’ll cut yourself.”

            “If you see everything, have you seen him before?  Does he work here?  Is he on staff with one of the companies?”  He was so hot, was he an idol?  But he didn’t dress like an idol, and he hadn’t introduced himself like a hoobae would have.

            “I’m a bodyguard, not a dating service,” H said.  “You’re in a room full of hot guys with sexy mouths, go talk to one of them.”

            Chanyeol looked over his members and laughed.  “I don’t like any of them.”

            “You think we have sexy mouths?” Xiumin asked H, grinning.  “Who, who exactly, do you think has a sexy mouth?”

            “Not you,” H said.

            “He probably means Kai, Kai has a sexy mouth,” Lay said.

            Kai flashed him a knowing grin.  “Thanks, hyung.”

            “Baekhyun has a cute mouth,” Xiumin said.

            “Oh, god, just don’t,” Baekhyun said.  He got up from the couch, turned in a circle, and threw his hands in the air.  “I can’t even walk out!  What is this, I can’t even walk away?”

            “L will be back in a second, I’ll walk you out then,” H said.

            “I don’t want you to walk me out!” Baekhyun exclaimed.  “I don’t even fucking want you around me!”  Chanyeol felt awful for him.  Turning away, he ran his hands through his hair, mumbling, “I don’t mean it, I didn’t mean that.”

            “It’s okay,” Chen said.  “It’s been difficult.  Come on, come here, sit back down.”

            “I hate this,” Baekhyun said, dropping down onto the couch.  Chen put an arm around him and he leaned back with a miserable expression.  “When is this just going to be over?”

            No one had an answer for him.

            When Baekhyun went for his interview, SJ went with him.  H was supposed to go with him; H was always with him, everywhere he went, no matter what.  But H stayed with the other members, and SJ took him, instead.

            H didn’t say a word about it, and SJ didn’t explain, and he didn’t ask.  Maybe H was tired of him.  Maybe it was just some business decision, some basic roster change.  It probably wasn’t personal.  H didn’t have personal feelings, not about him.

            When he got back to the dorm, he went to the kitchen to get something to eat.  Some of the other members had gone out for dinner; he should have gone to meet them.

            H came in.  He pretended not to notice.

            “How was your interview?”

            “Fine.  It was fine.”  He wanted to snap something rude, like, “Don’t even fucking pretend that you care,” but he didn’t have the nerve.  He kept his head down and tore open a package of ramen.

            “You-”

            “I can’t,” he said, throwing the package down.  Little crumbs of dried noodles scattered everywhere.  He couldn’t do this.  “I’m going out,” he said, because he couldn’t think of anything else.  He turned toward the door, but H was in the way.  “I’m going out, I’m meeting my members, I’m going to the restaurant.  SJ can take me.”  He was looking everywhere but at H’s eyes because he hated this, he felt horrible, he was upset but he didn’t want a confrontation.

            “I’ll take you.”

            “I don’t want you to take me!”  It wasn’t true.  He felt like crying.  “You don’t want to take me.”  That was true, and it was so much worse.

            “I want to take you.”

            “You don’t even like me!”

            “I like you.”

            “What, how?” he asked, not believing that for a second.  “What, as a friend?”

            “Yes,” H said.  “I like you as a friend.”

            Surprised by that, he reconsidered.  “Are we…  Do you want to be friends?  Can we be friends?”  He didn’t want to be friends.  But he kind of did.  He’d really thought, before, that they could really get along.  He loved H’s sense of humor.  That was why he was so attracted, because he’d felt so much possibility between them.  But if sex was out of the question, maybe…  Maybe they could be friends.

            “Yes,” H said.

            “Can I speak less formally and call you hyung?”

            “When I’m off-duty.”

            “Are you ever off-duty?”

            “God, I wish.”  H gestured him on.  “Come on, I’ll take you to your members.”

            “H hyung,” he said, trying it.  “Can we go to dinner sometime, just us?”

            “When I’m off-duty.”

            “Can I meet your girlfriend?”

            “When I’m off-duty,” he repeated.  “And if I ever get one.”

            He grinned.  “You don’t have a girlfriend?”

            “Don’t have one.”  He touched his earpiece, telling Info to call them a cab.

            “I can introduce you to a lot of idols.  Do you want to meet Red Velvet?”

            “Is that a girl group?”

            He stared at H, then burst into laughter.  “Shit, you really don’t care about idols, do you?”

            “I’ve heard of SNSD,” he said.  “They’re from your company, aren’t they?  I know them.”

            “They’re some of the most important sunbaes in the industry!  Do you know, can you do, ‘Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby,’” he said, doing the dance, scooting around.

            Smiling, H nudged him.  “That was cute, do that again.”

            “It’s just,” and he did it again.  H watched, still smiling.  Suddenly self-conscious, he laughed, fixing his hair.  “They’re better at it.”

            “You’re cute,” H said.  “You’re a good dancer.”

            “I’m not,” he said, embarrassed.

            “You are, I’ve seen you onstage, you’re great.”

            “You watch that?”  He bit his lip, feeling super awkward and self-conscious and fluttery and shy.  “I thought you were watching the exits and glaring at cameramen and things.”

            “I do,” he said.  “But I watch you, too.”

            He gazed into H’s eyes, and H was still smiling, right at him, and he felt jumpy and hot and shivery all over, and god, he had the biggest crush in the world.

            Licking his lips, H ducked his head, turning away.  “So, uh.  Cab’s on its way.  Is that, uh, are you ready to go?”

            “I’m ready.”  He was so hot for H, and H wanted to be his friend, and he felt a hundred times better.  “You have to tell me when you’re off-duty.  What about my vocals, do you like my vocals?”

            “What?” H asked, walking with him to the door.  “Oh, do you sing?”

            “I want to try a death knight, can I play a death knight?” Chanyeol asked, in front of his computer that night.  “They look so cool.”

            “Not yet.  If you’d stop picking up a whole new character every day and just focus on one, that would help,” Info said.

            “Death knight,” he said to himself.  It just sounded cool.  “I’m kind of cheating on you, is it okay if I cheat on you with another guy?”

            “Are we breaking up already?” Info asked.  “I knew you were a heartbreaker.”

            “I - - oh!  What killed me?” he asked, shocked as his character collapsed onscreen.  “Who got me?”

            “That big old boar you walked into.”

            Wait.  “How do you know that?  Can you see me?” he asked.  He looked around his bedroom first, like a complete fool, and then he looked around the game, onscreen.  “Are you watching?”

            “Maybe.”

            “You have eyes everywhere,” he said, grinning.  “I should have you find out who the sexy hottie is for me.  Or is it weird to ask my boyfriend to do research on the guy I’m cheating on him with?”

            “We’re not actually boyfriends.”

            “Yes, we are.  And I’m not really cheating.”  He’d been joking, but now he felt kind of bad about it.  “It’s just there’s some hot guy around lately.  He’s really handsome.  Tall and sexy, he has really pretty eyes and this gorgeous mouth, and he has these sweaters, and these piercings, and this ponytail, and if it weren’t for my bodyguards cockblocking me, we would’ve made out by now.”

            “Piercings?” Info asked.  “Did you say ‘ponytail?’”

            “He has a bunch of holes in each ear.  I don’t even wear earrings, I mean, you’ve seen my ears, I don’t need to draw a whole lot more attention to them.  But he’s really hot.  Anyway, I just want to find out who he is.  He’s so cute when he says hi, I wonder if he’s a fan.”

            “Isn’t everyone a fan?”

            “Mmm, basically, yeah, pretty much,” he agreed, and Info laughed.  “Maybe it’ll be a race.  If you get to me first, you’ll win.  And if he gets to me first, I might have to cheat on you.”

            “If he gets to you?” Info asked, laughing.  “What makes you think that he wants you?”

            “I’m very good-looking!  You just said it, everyone’s a fan.”

            “Well, I guess you’re not ugly,” Info said, and chuckled.  “Okay, good luck.”

            “If you come to meet me, I’ll throw him aside.  I won’t even look at other guys, if I can see you.”  He really meant it.  The hallway hottie was fun, a distraction, but if he could be with Info, he wouldn’t want anyone else.

            “I’ll think about it,” Info said.  “The boar!  The boar!  No, it’s behind you!”

            Baekhyun was in the practice room with Chen and D.O., waiting for everyone else to show up.  He was working on his footwork, and also watching H in the mirror, when Chen asked L, “Can you call Dongwoo hyung?”

            Dongwoo hyung?  What - - oh, shit, was that JD’s real name?  He wondered if he should tell Xiumin.

            “Sure.”  L fiddled with his earpiece.  “Chen wants to talk to you.”  He leaned in, and Chen leaned in, and Chen said a lot of soft, flirty, sexy things.  Turned on, Baekhyun drifted closer.  L grinned and said, “Keep going, he wants to hear more.”  Chen chuckled and put his hand on L’s shoulder, whispering.

            When Chen was finished, and L ended the call, Baekhyun thought about calling up H and saying things like that.  Chen was comfortable saying filthier and more romantic things than he was, though.  He’d probably just get self-conscious and say something really boring.  It made a nice fantasy, though.  Whispering all sexy up in H’s ear.

            Sidling up to L, he asked, “Can you call H on that thing?”

            “Or you could talk to him,” L said.  “He’s right over there.”

            “No, I have to say very special things that I can’t just say so boldly to his face.”

            Giving him a patient, amused look, L touched the earpiece.

            “H here,” H said on the other side of the room.

            “Hold, someone wants to talk to you,” L said.

            Baekhyun leaned in, wrapping a hand around L’s arm and pulling L closer.  “Hyung,” he whispered.  “Hyung, buy me dinner sometime.  I want you to take me somewhere nice so I can eat well.”  He was trying to use a sexy voice, but it sounded so funny, he kept snickering.  Across the room, H was laughing.  “Hyung, really, I want you to take me to the movies and buy me popcorn,” he whispered, trying to make it seductive, like nothing turned him on more.

            “Sexy popcorn?” L asked, grinning.

            “Yeah, sexy popcorn,” he breathed.  “So much butter, dripping everywhere.”

            “Tell him I want nachos,” H said.

            “Yeah, nachos,” he panted, moaning a little, like nachos really did it for him.  “All of that thick, melted cheese, ooohh, so hot in my mouth.”

            “Oh, god,” L said, bursting into laughter and pushing him away.  “L out, L out!”

            “Well, that was weird,” H said.  He walked over, stretching, rubbing the back of his neck.  “Ugh, I’m hungry,” he said, like he was starting a new conversation.  He patted his stomach and checked his watch.  “When are we getting out of here?  I could really go for some food right about now.”

            “Oh, you’re hungry?” Baekhyun asked, grinning.  He ran the backs of his fingers over H’s stomach.  So firm, ooh, that was nice.

            H glanced down, then lightly slapped his hand away, blushing.  “Yes.”

            “Hungry for popcorn?” he asked.  He reached out again, and H smacked his hand down.  “Ooo!”  So dominant, so sexy.  “I can’t touch?”

            “No touching.”  Laughing, H pushed his hand away again.  “Stop!”

            “It feels like you have a real six-pack.  Can I see it?”

            “Sure,” L said, reaching for H’s shirt.

            “Ya!  Back up!” H exclaimed, twisting away.

            “Can we see yours?” Chen asked L.

            “You’ve seen all of ours,” Baekhyun said.

            “Ours?  Since when do you have abs?” Chen teased.

            “You’ve seen Chen and Suho hyung’s,” he said instead.

            “Mine?  What, um, no,” L said, starting to drift away.  “No.”

            “No, no, we’re on duty now,” H said.

            “Right, we’re working,” L said.

            “Very serious work,” H said.

            L licked his lips and strolled around.

            H rubbed his mouth and eyed the door.

            “Bodyguards and spies in movies are way sexier than this,” Baekhyun said.

            “Going to file a complaint?” Chen asked.

            “Yes, I demand guards who walk around shirtless and do the move, you know the move?”  He shoved Chen against the wall and covered Chen with his body, standing over Chen protectively, breathing hard and looking around in all directions.  “Someone who does that.  What?” he asked, laughing, when Chen laughed and pushed at him.

            “What are you doing, protecting me from an explosion?” Chen asked.

            “It’s in all of the movies!”  He did it again, or he tried.  “It doesn’t work if you’re giggling!”

            “I think you’re doing it wrong,” Chen said.  “I’ll ask Dongwoo hyung to show me later.”

            God, Baekhyun was jealous.  “Stop calling him that, you’ll slip up and say it in front of Xiumin hyung.”

            “I like him so much,” Chen said.  Relaxed against the wall, he was running his hand lightly up and down Baekhyun’s side, so Baekhyun stayed there, too close, kind of liking it.  Maybe they could make out later.  “He’s so funny, and he’s so sexy, he’s the best.”

            “I guess.”  He was happy for Chen, but he wasn’t sure what was really going on.  Like, when this mess was all over and Arctic Fox left, would the two of them still see each other?  Was Chen just going to have a boyfriend now?  Like an actual, real boyfriend?  “Seriously, what about his clothes, though?”

            Chen grinned, squeezing his waist.  “Do you only like guys who wear the exact same thing every day?”

            He glanced over his shoulder at H.  “I don’t think those are literally the same pants.  I think he has different pairs and they just all look the same.”

            “They’re not all the same,” D.O. said.  Baekhyun jumped; holy shit, he’d forgotten that D.O. was there!  So creepy and so quiet.  “L’s pockets are different.  There are three pairs.”

            L glanced over at D.O., looking surprised.

            H cupped his hands over his own ass and looked down at himself.

            “How many pairs do you have?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Three,” H said.

            “What about your underwear and stuff, how do you do laundry?” Baekhyun asked.

            “You know there’s a washer and dryer in your dorm, right?” H asked.

            “They never use it,” L said.

            What?  “You just do your laundry in our dorm?  When?”  Baekhyun was fascinated.  He’d had no idea.  But that was so normal!

            “No,” H said.  “No, we leave our dirty laundry in the hallway and chirp like a bird three times.  Then Namu rappels down the side of the building and climbs into the next apartment.  He walks it over three blocks and leaves it on a doorstep with a red door and knocks twice.  Then-”

            “All of that for laundry!” Chen said, laughing.

            “No, hush, I want to hear the rest,” Baekhyun said.

            “We use your washer and dryer,” H said.

            “And our detergent and stuff?”

            “No, we have our own.”

            “What?  Use ours,” Chen said.

            “No, maybe superspies have to use special soaps so that no one can smell them when they’re sneaking around,” Baekhyun said.

            “It’ll confuse people if we smell like idols,” H said.

            “What do idols smell like?” Baekhyun asked, sniffing the front of his own shirt.

            “Sweat, mostly,” Chen said.  “Lots of gross sweat.”

            The rest of the members showed up.  D.O. only listened with half an ear as Suho went over their upcoming schedules.  His mind was still on what had happened a few minutes ago.  Baekhyun and H, Chen and L, joking around, playful, teasing each other.

            It was good for everyone to get along.  It meant that they were all more comfortable with each other now.  It had to be a good thing.

            H was funny, and L was cute.  They were easy to get along with.  Easy to like.

            Maybe too easy.  There had been these strange stirrings in D.O.’s heart for a few days now.  Desires.  Preoccupations.

            L’s muscular shoulders.  The way L licked his lips.  Those gorgeous dimples.  How adorably shy L’s smiles could be.  He was adult, he was masculine, but there was something very sweet about him sometimes, something very young and affectionate.

            When they were together - - well, they were always together.  When they interacted together, when they talked, when they ran lines, he felt like he was with a friend.  A real friend, someone his own age, someone he was close to.  It was tempting to slide into informal speech, to confide in L, to open up.  He wanted to talk about his joy in his work, and his stress and his fear, and the car he’d been thinking about buying for his parents.  He wanted to tell L about his nightmares.  He wanted to confess to how important it was to him, now, to have L with him, how much better and safer he felt, knowing that he could count on L to look out for him.

            But some of that was too personal, too intimate.  And some of it would be too boring.  L wouldn’t be interested in all of those things.  They weren’t friends.  Now that they all spent so much time together, and they all lived together, they were getting to know each other so well, it seemed like friendship.  It seemed almost domestic.  But it wasn’t.  This forced intimacy wasn’t real.

            It was like how well the stylists knew him.  They knew all of his measurements and his tastes, they watched him change and fixed his clothes for him.  But they were only so familiar with his body because they had to be.  He wouldn’t have invited them to touch him or dress him or know him so well at all, if it were up to him.

            He wouldn’t have invited Arctic Fox into his life like this, either, given the choice.

            Or.  Or maybe he would have.  He’d be glad to have a friend like L.  He’d invite L in and keep L, if he had the chance.

            But that wasn’t how things had happened.  L was here because The Fox had sent him here, and he’d leave again once the job was over, and whatever happened in between was just work, for him.  So it shouldn’t be, couldn’t be, personal for D.O., either.

            Although if Chen tucked in that close and whispered sexy things in L’s ear again, there was going to be trouble between them.  What the fuck.

            “What, you want me there?” Sungyeol asked.

            “You can tap into the CCTV feed and get the footage we need,” the president said.  “But I want you there, in the theater.  I want as many of us on site as possible.  Being there in person gives you a feel for the room.  Sometimes it’s easier to see what’s out of place when you’re in the middle of it.”

            The blueprints were on one of the screens in front of him.  Namu, JD, SJ, and the president were gathered around, looking over his shoulder.  “What do you want us to do, watch the exits?” SJ asked.

            “If they’re after EXO, they’re going to want to be near EXO, to see them,” the president said.  “Before and after the movie, you take this exit, you take that one, you keep an eye on these doors, I’ll watch over here.”  He gestured at the blueprints.  “Namu, you stay with EXO.  During the movie, SJ, I want you in the lobby, keeping an eye on things.  Info, you come in and sit near the door, watch who comes and goes.  We’ll all be in the theater.  Spaced out, low profile.  I want to know who comes in, who goes out, who spends more time watching EXO than watching the movie.”

            “Got it,” Sungyeol said.  “Could you do me a favor and not tell Chanyeol that I’m there, or that you know me?”

            “Good,” Namu said, grinning at him.  “It’s embarrassing when people think that we know each other.”

            “We’re all going?” D.O. asked, looking around as his members put on their shoes and fixed their hair.  “Why are you all going?”

            “Namu asked us to,” Suho said.  “It’s an excursion.”

            “Can’t we see a different movie?” Chanyeol asked.  Then he gave D.O. a wide-eyed look and laughed.  “No offense!  No, I like your movie.  But I’ve already seen it like three times.”

            “Imagine how he feels, he had to film it and then spend a month promoting it,” Kai said.  “He’s probably more tired of it than anyone.”

            “I wanted to explain,” L said, watching D.O. from under his cap.  “If you all go out to an accessible, public place, the people who are interested in you might follow you there.  We can see who shows up.”

            “We’re bait.”  He had a sinking feeling.  “You just wanted to go out to make me bait.”

            “I want to see your movie,” L said.  “But this is an opportunity, too.  The rest of the team will be there.”

            “Is Info coming?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Will President Fox be there?” Xiumin asked.

            “You’re obsessed,” Chen said.  “Both of you.”

            “This could be an informal, safe way to see who’s tracking us,” Suho said.  “Maybe they’ll catch someone, or at least they’ll be able to rule people out.  Namu said that the danger to us is really, really low, but they might be able to get some helpful information.  And no matter what, we all get to see D.O.’s movie.”

            “Again,” Sehun said, and Chen laughed.

            D.O. wanted nothing more than to stay home.

            Ten minutes in, Chanyeol couldn’t recite the lines along with the actors anymore, because Suho kept shushing him.  Bored, he looked around.  He could be in the next theater over, watching something else.  Or he could be back at the dorm, playing World of Warcraft.  He wondered what Info was doing.  Were there cameras in here?  Was Info watching?  He craned his neck, looking around, looking for a camera he could wave to.

            JD and Chen were snuggled up.  Baekhyun was hugging himself and chewing on his fingers.  In the lobby, H had asked him if he wanted to buy any buttered popcorn, and he’d squirmed and shivered and practically rubbed his cock, he’d been so flustered, and apparently he still wasn’t over it yet.  D.O. was sitting unnaturally still, which was typical, but he was also looking at the floor, not the movie, and he looked so glum, Chanyeol had no idea what was so wrong but wanted to go over and hug him, anyway.

            There were a bunch of complete strangers around.  He could pick out a couple of sasaengs in one corner.  Suho had told Namu about them already.  Namu and Kim were both in the theater, too.

            Hey!  Gripping the armrest, Chanyeol stared.  There, in the back corner.  It was the hottie!  What was he doing here?  Was it a coincidence?  Was he a stalker?  Oh, god, was he the one sending them death threats?!

            It was definitely the hottie.  When someone walked up the aisle, he looked over, glancing up, giving Chanyeol a better look at his face, and there was no question, it was the same guy.  Ponytail, earrings, mottled gray T-shirt, tan cardigan.

            Coincidence, it had to be a coincidence.  This was a popular movie, all sorts of people came to see it.

            Maybe he was a stalker.  Maybe that was why he was around at random.

            Maybe he wasn’t dangerous, though.  Maybe he was just a fan.  Maybe he just wanted to watch his idols watch a movie.

            He’d better at least be a fan of Chanyeol!  If he was there to see Suho, really, that would be too much.

            Chanyeol wondered if the Arctic Fox guys had noticed him.

            Should he say something?  Warn the hottie?  Warn the foxes?

            Yes.  No.  Oh, shit, he didn’t know.

            People were noticing his staring.  Kai nudged him.  H looked at him past Baekhyun and whispered, “What?  What’d you see?”

            He hesitated, but he felt like he needed to be responsible.  “I…  That guy, in that corner.  He’s the hottie I’ve seen around in the hallways.  The guy with the earrings.”

            “Sexy mouth?” Baekhyun whispered.

            “That guy?”  H glanced over and nodded.  “We’ve got it.”  He touched his earpiece and whispered something, covering his mouth.

            Chanyeol felt weird and guilty.  He could imagine Info sitting on front of a bank of screens, zooming in on the back of the hottie’s head, sending his image into a database, digging up all of his secrets.  He was probably just some innocent, well-meaning guy out for the night.

            Although, why was he alone?  A guy like that could get a date easily.  It was weird for him to be on his own.  Oh, shit, maybe he really was a stalker.

            Xiumin’s ass was about half an inch from his seat when L grabbed his wrist and whispered, “Where are you going?”

            “To the bathroom, I have to take a leak,” he whispered.

            “Not now.”

            “You want me to piss myself in public?” he whispered.

            “Yes,” D.O. said.  “Yes, that’s exactly what we all want.”

            Xiumin gave him a look.  What was going on with him lately?  “Good, you’re about to get your wish.”

            With one hand still around Xiumin’s wrist, L touched his ear and muttered something.

            JD started to get up.

            “Not him, I want the useless one, Kim,” Xiumin whispered.

            “We don’t take special requests,” L said, releasing him.

            Ah, screw it.  He went, and JD went with him.  It wasn’t remotely sexy.  When he got back to the theater, instead of going to his members and his seat, he went over and sat beside Kim.

            “What, what are you doing here?” Kim whispered.  “Go away.”

            “Enjoying the movie?”  He sat back, getting comfortable.  He tapped his fingers against the armrest.  JD left him there and went back to Chen.  “So what’s up with the hottie?”

            “We’re working on it.  Be quiet, people are trying to hear the movie.”

            He watched for a while.  It was a good film.  He brushed his fingers over Kim’s thigh.  “Come to the dorm tonight.  I want to talk to you.”

            “You don’t want to talk.  You want to do other things.”

            He grinned, his gaze flicking over Kim.  “You know what hyung likes.”

            Kim blushed, shifting in his seat, edging away.  “I’m busy, I’m working.  Go bother somebody else.”

            So sexy, so young, and responsive.  He couldn’t wait to have Kim writhing on his cock.

            Xiumin was sitting with Kim.

            JD and Chen were snuggled up together.

            Lay was feeding Kai popcorn.

            Namu had his arm around Suho.

            D.O. studied his knees in the dark and waited for it to be over.

            When L laughed, he looked up, surprised.  L was smiling, gazing happily at the screen.

            D.O. hadn’t expected him to watch the movie for real.  Not once it had become clear that this was all a trap, a way to bait their stalkers.  He was really watching the movie?  And enjoying it?

            When the credits came up, D.O. was more than ready to leave.  He’d been ready to go back to the dorm the second he’d left it.  But L said, “We need to stay here for a couple of minutes.  See who clears out and who lingers.”  Leaning past him, L said, “Act normal, play with your phones for a minute,” to the other members in a quiet voice.

            They nodded.

            L took a slow, casual look around the theater.  He stretched, yawned, pretended to be killing time, just a normal guy, glancing around.

            D.O. cradled his phone in both hands and waited.

            “You didn’t like it?” L asked him.  “Is it weird, watching your own movies?”

            He blinked and decided that he might as well answer.  “Sometimes it’s fun.  Especially the first time.  I get to see all of the takes they used, and I get to see all of the scenes I wasn’t in.  I love seeing it for the first time, the way it all comes together.  And it’s kind of exciting, seeing your own name in the credits,” he admitted.  “But it’s awful, watching my scenes.  I always wish that I’d said it all differently or made a better expression.”

            “I thought you were great, in this one,” L said.  “Do you always cry for real?”

            “Oh, the crying scenes?  Yeah.  When I can.  One director didn’t want me to, he just wanted to use fake tears the whole time, but most directors want me to cry for real, they want it to look natural.”

            “That sounds really hard.  Making yourself cry.  It’s kind of an awful thing to do to yourself.”

            “It is?” he asked, surprised.

            “Yeah, I mean, don’t we usually try not to cry?  People want to be happy so much they’ll do all kinds of weird things and drugs and whatever just to feel good.  And then you stand there and make yourself miserable on purpose.  If you make someone else cry, you’re an asshole, but you do it to yourself?  It’s just a strange part of your job, it sounds rough.”

            “It’s kind of weird,” he realized.  “Once I got so into it, I couldn’t stop crying, and when the take was over, the other actor wanted to congratulate me on doing so well, and I was still crying, and it was terrible, it was too awkward.”

            “That is awkward,” L said, touching his shoulder.  “Stop doing such sad movies.”

            He laughed, amused by the advice.  “I have to do what my company wants me to, I’m grateful for whichever roles I get.”

            “That - - ah, hold on.”  He touched his earpiece.  “Okay, the first van’s going now.  Xiumin, Kai, Chen, Suho, you can go.  Chanyeol, too.”

            “What about Lay hyung?” Kai asked, slowly getting up.

            L shook his head.  “Second van.”

            “Does it make a difference?” D.O. asked.

            L nodded but didn’t say anything, just moved aside so that Kai could get past him.

            Once Kai was gone, D.O. asked, “What’s the difference?”

            “Your favorites get to leave and the rest of us have to stay here to watch the movie again?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Don’t be mean, it’s a good movie,” Lay said.

            D.O. stared up at L.  The longer L refused to answer his question, the more intensely he needed an answer.  If it didn’t matter, then L would’ve told him by now.

            Casually scanning the theater, L sat down again.

            “What is the difference?” D.O. demanded, doing his best to control his voice.

            L’s expression flickered, and he looked uneasy for a second.  “Namu will explain when you get back.”

            “I don’t want Namu to explain it,” he said.  “I want you to tell me.”

            “This is weird, why can’t you say it?” Baekhyun asked.

            “What do the four of us have in common that they don’t?” Lay asked.

            “I don’t know, nothing,” Sehun said.

            “You get more death threats,” H said.

            The world stopped.

            L swallowed and looked down.

            “I don’t want to have that in common,” Baekhyun said.  His voice shook with nervous laughter.

            “The four of us?” Lay asked.  He sounded horrified.  “D.O.?  The maknae?”

            D.O. felt stunned.  He felt numb.  He wanted to demand answers but he couldn’t come up with coherent questions.  He wanted to cry.  He was going to cry.  Blinking, he got up.  Sat back down again.

            “This is a fun club to be in,” Sehun said.  “Great, right.”  He pawed through his hair and took a deep breath.  “Fine, this is fine with me, no problem.”

            “A lot of them don’t mean anything,” H said.

            “Okay, but they’re death threats,” Baekhyun said.  “I think they all mean something.”

            “But the other members?” Lay asked.  “They don’t get as many?”

            “Good, that’s good,” Sehun said.  “That’s good, right?”

            “Yes, fewer death threats is better than more of them,” Baekhyun said.  “God, I’m sorry, I’m losing my shit.”

            They sat there for a few more minutes.  Then L and H touched their earpieces.  “Got it,” H said, and L got up.  “We can go, the van’s waiting.”

            They barely spoke during the ride home.  When Lay reached over and took D.O.’s hand, he squeezed Lay’s fingers and was grateful for the contact.

            They took two separate elevators up, H and Baekhyun and Sehun in one, L and Lay and D.O. in the other.

            When they walked into the dorm, D.O. took off his shoes automatically.  He felt weighed down.  Like his clothes were too heavy, his jacket pulling on his shoulders.  He took his jacket off and didn’t feel any better.

            “Your faces!” Suho said.  “What is it, did something happen?”

            D.O. hugged him, clutching at him, nose buried against his shoulder.

            “Dongsaeng-ah.  What’s this?” Suho asked, hugging him back.  “Everything’s all right?”

            Suho patted his back, and he took a slow breath, steadying himself, resting his chin on Suho’s shoulder.  “Everything’s fine.  We’re fine.”  He wasn’t ready to let go yet, but he felt better now.  “Just glad to be home.”

            Chanyeol didn’t want to bother Info if he was working.  Well, he was always working.  But it seemed like with the trip to the movies, he’d have a lot of people to identify or backgrounds to research or whatever.

            Still, Chanyeol was used to checking in with him.  They talked every night.  Literally, every night.  It was hard just to get up and go to bed without at least saying hi.

            He waited until it was late.  The room was dark; Kai was there, asleep in bed with Lay.  Baekhyun and Lay and Sehun and D.O. were really weird and clingy all of a sudden, but if something had happened at the movies after Chanyeol had left, they weren’t talking about it.

            He logged into World of Warcraft and messed around for a couple of minutes.  He thought about sending mail to Info’s character, but he couldn’t remember how to spell its name.  Shit, why hadn’t he written it down?

            He called.  He’d keep it brief.  Totally quick.  He’d just say hi.

            “Info here.”

            “Park Chanyeol here.  What would my code name be?  PC?”

            “Like a PC room,” Info said, laughing.  “That’s cute.”

            “You’re cute,” he said, and then he felt embarrassed about it, and then he laughed.  He loved talking to Info.  This was one of his favorite parts of the day.  “Are you busy, should I hang up?”

            “It’s okay.  What’s up?”

            “Went to the movies tonight.”  He made his warrior dance.  It looked really goofy.  “Did you guys get the information you wanted?”

            “We got some decent stuff.  Thanks for going out and being bait for us.  I know it’s not always easy, but we wouldn’t have done it if we were like putting you in serious danger.  You guys all know that, right?”

            “I know,” he said, surprised.  “I know, it’s not like that.”

            “Okay.  Well, tell your members.  L’s really upset with us for freaking D.O. out.”

            “L gets upset?”

            “He’s so emotional all of the time.  And then I feel bad because he feels bad.”

            “That…  Sorry.  We’re fine, really, D.O.’s fine.  It’s just stress, we’re okay.”  Now he felt bad that Info felt bad that L felt bad that D.O. felt bad.  Like they were just passing a virus around, depressing each other.  “The hottie was there tonight, did they tell you that?  That was just a coincidence, right?  He’s not nefarious.”

            “The hottie, god, do you have to call him that?”

            “Yes,” Chanyeol said, and laughed.  “Yes, he’s such a hottie.”

            “So embarrassing,” Info said.  “God.  Yes, I know all about it, but I can’t tell you anything.  It’s an ongoing investigation.”

            “Did you get that line from a police drama?”

            “Probably,” he admitted, and Chanyeol laughed.

            Someone was shaking Sunggyu’s shoulder.  “No,” he complained, pushing hands away, squeezing his eyes more tightly shut.

            “What are you doing here?” someone asked, crawling on top of him.

            Who the hell - - oh.  Squinting, he pushed Xiumin off of him and sat up.  “What do you want?” he mumbled, curling forward and rubbing his eyes.

            “What are you doing here?” Xiumin repeated, leaning on his shoulder and practically crawling on his lap.

            Was he a jungle gym for chipmunks?  “Sleeping, I was sleeping.”  He yawned.  “What time is it?”

            “Since when do you sleep over?”

            “L had to leave, and I can’t leave H here all on his own with all nine of you.  You’d try to hit him over the head with a frying pan and make a run for it.”

            “Joke’s on you,” Xiumin said, grinning.  “I don’t know where the frying pans are.”

            Amazed, Sunggyu laughed.  “Are you a man or a child at home with his mother?”

            He grinned, cheerful and unrepentant.  “I’m an idol.”  He ran his fingers through Sunggyu’s hair, and when he stroked the sides, where it was shaved, Sunggyu shivered, feeling a little frisson of pleasure.  “Ooo.”  He toyed with Sunggyu’s hair some more.  As long as he was staying, Sunggyu decided to be comfortable and put an arm around him.  “Where did L go?  Why did he leave?”

            “He was getting upset and I told him to take a break.  Get his head together.”

            “Upset?  What’s he upset about?”

            “Personal stuff.”

            “Awake?” H asked, walking over.  He nodded.  “Take over, I’m going to take five.”

            “Take ten,” he said, feeling generous.

            H got his bag from behind the couch and went to the bathroom.

            “Do you have a bag?” Xiumin asked, peering behind the couch.

            “Didn’t bring one.”

            “Useless and unprepared.  You don’t even try to be professional.”

            “You’re informal, disrespectful,” he counted on his fingers, “inappropriately sexual, what else?  A terrible host, you haven’t even started to offer me breakfast.”

            “I can order something to be delivered,” Xiumin said.  “What do you want?”

            Sunggyu hadn’t actually expected him to do it.  “What, now?”

            “You want food, I’m hungry, let’s get something.  What do you like?”

            “You really don’t cook at all?”

            “What, do you?”

            “I have to if I want to eat.  I don’t have housekeepers.  Here, when H gets back, I’ll show you how to cook eggs.  Do you have eggs?”

            “I don’t know, I don’t do the grocery shopping, either.”

            He was so spoiled.  So spoiled and demanding and full of himself.  And so sexy, with his confidence and his humor and his pretty eyes.  Sunggyu wanted to spend a whole day just teasing him and talking to him and making him laugh.

            H got back exactly ten minutes after leaving.  Sunggyu took Xiumin to the kitchen and made him find the frying pan.  Sunggyu made eggs and rice and things, and tried to teach him what to do, what the steps were.  He mostly listened, and he felt up Sunggyu’s ass a lot, and they talked about food, about what they’d eaten growing up.

            When everything was ready, they sat down to eat.  Xiumin took a bite, laughed, and covered his mouth with one hand.  “This is terrible!”

            “I didn’t say that I was a good cook,” Sunggyu reminded him.  “Eat.”

            He laughed again, and then he ate everything anyway.

            When D.O. got up that morning, he hugged Kai.  Before they went onstage, he hugged Sehun.  When he left for filming, he hugged Suho.

            He and L were in the dressing room, running lines, when he asked, “What do they say?”

            “What do what say?” L asked.

            He didn’t want to have to say it.  And it was such a pressing weight on his mind, he found it hard to believe that it wasn’t the only thing everyone else was thinking about, either.  He realized that L had other things going on, other ideas, other thoughts.  And then he took a closer look and reconsidered that.  L looked burdened and regretful in a way that made him certain that L knew exactly what he was talking about.  “What do they say?” he repeated.

            L breathed in and looked down.  Turned the script this way and that.  “Namu-”

            “I don’t want Namu to tell me, I want you to tell me.”  Maybe that was Namu’s job, maybe Namu was the one who was supposed to put a reassuring face on the problem, but L was the one that he dealt with.  L was the one who was actually by his side when things happened.

            “They’re just…  They’re death threats.  They say threatening things.”  Inhaling, L sat back and looked uncomfortable.  “Let’s not talk about it.”

            “Have you seen them?”

            He nodded.

            “Can I see them?”

            He shook his head.  When D.O.’s mouth opened, he said, “No.  No, how can that help, what will you do?  You’ll just - - the images get stuck in your mind and they’re just in there, that thing you’ve seen, for the rest of your life.  It’s better if it’s vague, it’s better if you don’t look.”

            “Is that how you would feel?  If it were you, if someone were threatening you?”

            “This isn’t about me,” he mumbled, frowning at something off to one side.

            “I want to see them.  Do I have to ask Namu, is that how it works?”  When L only frowned at him, he asked, “You won’t do it for me?  Okay.”  He picked up his phone.

            “Why are you so stubborn?” L asked.  “You’re only hurting yourself.”

            “Info here,” someone said on the other end of the call.

            “It’s Do Kyungsoo.  I want to see the death threats.”

            L stared at him with wide, unhappy eyes.

            “You want to see them,” Info repeated.

            “Yes, I want to see them.  All of the ones made against me, I want to look at them.”

            “Uh, okay.  I’ll, uh, we’ll get back to you on that.”

            “I want to see them tonight,” he said, and he hung up.

            Baekhyun got back to the dorm to find everyone getting ready to leave.  “What is this, what’s happening?”  He barely had room to take his shoes off, with members pushing past him to put on theirs.

            “Going out,” Sehun said.

            “Yeah, I can see that, maknae, good call.”

            “Namu’s bringing some stuff over for D.O. hyung to look at,” Kai explained.  “If you want to see it, you can stay, but Lay hyung doesn’t want to be here to see it or overhear them talking about it, so we’re going out.”

            Some stuff?  Some - - “Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about?”

            “Evidence,” Chanyeol said, putting on shoes and holding onto Baekhyun for balance.  “Let’s just call it evidence.”

            Evidence sounded clinical, but at least it was better than saying “death threats” over and over.  “We can’t all leave.  Shouldn’t someone stay with him?”

            “Xiumin hyung and Suho are staying,” Lay said.

            Then it would be okay if he left?  He could trust the hyungs to handle it, to look out for D.O., right?  Oh, thank god.  “Then I’m so out of here.  Where are you all going?”

            “Practice room,” Kai said.

            “Dinner,” Sehun said.

            “Going to look for Arctic Fox headquarters,” Chanyeol said.

            Really?  “How?  Where?” Baekhyun asked.

            “I have no idea,” Chanyeol said.

            Baekhyun laughed.  “I’m in!”

            “Namu’s ten minutes out,” Info said in L’s ear.

            “I’ve got Chen,” JD said.  “We can stay until Namu gets here, if the others want to leave first.”

            “I’ll go with Baekhyun and Chanyeol,” H said.

            “I’m in the elevator, I can take the members to the practice room,” SJ said.

            “Then we need someone to take Sehun to dinner,” Info said.

            “L can do it,” SJ said.

            “L should stay with D.O.,” H said.

            “That’s not how we do things,” SJ said.  “We’re not here to hold hands and wipe tears.  Namu can handle it.”

            “Then Namu can take Sehun out, and I’ll go over the evidence,” L said.

            “Is that okay?” JD asked.

            L licked his lips.  He couldn’t leave D.O. to face this without him.  D.O. counted on him to be around.  “We do what’s best for each client, right?  He’d rather hear it from me than from Namu.  I’ll do it.”

            He waited for the president to shoot him down.  There was only silence.

            “All right,” Namu said.  “I’ll hand it over to you, and I’ll take Sehun.”

            Baekhyun and Chanyeol stood in the lobby for a while, trying to decide where to go.  Then they sat in the back of the cab for a while, trying to decide where to go.  Chanyeol thought that the offices must be in Gangnam.  Baekhyun didn’t think that they were really as posh as superspies were supposed to be.  “I think their office is like in Busan or something.”

            “We’re not going to Busan tonight,” Chanyeol said.  “What are you talking about, why Busan?”

            “Not one of them speaks in dialect, right?” Baekhyun asked.  “That’s kind of weird, isn’t it?  Statistically, someone’s gay, so statistically, someone’s from outside of Seoul.  Especially if they all met in the army, it’s not like everyone in your army unit’s from the same neighborhood, right?  I think they only all speak the same way because it was trained out of them.”

            “Maybe their offices are all the way out on Jeju Island!”

            “What should we do, should we call around?”

            “Who would we call, though?” Chanyeol asked.

            “I don’t know.”  Baekhyun stared at the side of H’s face.  “If only we knew someone who had any clue, any clue at all, about where their office might be, and could give us a hint.”  H didn’t blink.  “One hint, just a tiny hint.”

            “Let’s try beating it out of him,” Chanyeol suggested.

            “Right, that should totally work.”  Color and movement caught Baekhyun’s eye, and he saw Chen and JD getting into the cab in front of them.  Chen waved, and Baekhyun waved back.  “Follow that cab.”

            “Why does everyone think that we’re in a movie?” Chanyeol asked.

            “No, seriously, we have to follow their cab,” Baekhyun said.

            “You’re Chen’s stalker?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Plot twist,” H said.

            “Oh, now you have something to say?” Baekhyun asked.  H grinned at him.  “Where did Chen say that he’s going?”

            “He didn’t,” Chanyeol said.  “I don’t remember it.”

            “He might be going somewhere JD wants to go.  Like to where JD works.  JD knows everything about Chen’s job by now, right?  Wouldn’t you want to show your sexy new boyfriend all around your swanky superspy office to impress him?”

            “Okay, but did you just say that Chen is sexy?”

            Choosing not to answer that, Baekhyun grabbed H’s hand.  “Don’t you dare call JD and warn him.  You work for me, and I’m on a mission.”

            Their cab followed Chen’s.  About two blocks in, Baekhyun realized that if JD was half as alert as H was, he’d probably notice the same cab following him for the whole trip.  So he wouldn’t go anywhere incriminating.  Aw, shit.  Baekhyun didn’t mention that to Chanyeol, though; it was fun to play spy games, anyway.  And maybe JD wouldn’t notice.  Maybe Chen was too distracting.

            “We need triangulating software,” Chanyeol said.  “Like they have on TV.  So when I’m on the phone with Info, I can triangulate the call, and figure out his location.”

            “So all we have to do is take over a police station and steal their technology,” Baekhyun said.

            “Do ordinary police stations have that stuff?” Chanyeol asked.

            “I’ll bet that Arctic Fox does,” Baekhyun said.

            Chanyeol laughed.  “How does that work?  We break into their offices to steal their technology so we can figure out where they are and break into their offices?”

            “Okay, if you’re going to nitpick, then you come up with the big ideas,” Baekhyun said, laughing.  H smiled.  Baekhyun hadn’t let go of his hand yet.  It wasn’t a very sexy, romantic way to hold hands, but he hadn’t pulled away, so Baekhyun counted it as a win.

            They went into a neighborhood that Baekhyun didn’t recognize.  Sort of a business area with a bunch of multi-story offices, but nothing all posh and swanky.  JD and Chen’s cab pulled over, and they got out and went into a tall, brown building, the most boring building that Baekhyun had ever seen.

            “What is that, are their offices in there?” Chanyeol asked.  He sounded disappointed.

            “Out, out,” Baekhyun said, shooing Chanyeol out of the car.

            “We have to pay,” Chanyeol reminded him.

            “We’re losing them!”

            “They’re inside the building, how far can they go?”

            “They’re where inside the building?”

            “Oh, shit!”  Chanyeol hurriedly paid, and they rushed inside.

            There was nothing there but banks of elevators.  Not even a secretary or lobby guard or anything.  For a second, Baekhyun didn’t know what to do, just ride the elevators up and down, looking and hoping and listening at doors?  Then he saw a directory on the wall.  Rushing over, he scanned the office listings for Arctic Fox.  For Arctic anything.  For anything about security.  “This is a bunch of accountants and consultants!”

            “It’s a front, one of these businesses is a front, so their enemies can’t find them,” Chanyeol said.

            “What enemies?  Why would they have enemies?”  While Chanyeol kept reading the directory, Baekhyun turned to H.  “Do you have enemies?”

            H rubbed his jaw and looked thoughtful.  “There was that kid I tripped back in elementary school.  He really held a grudge.”

            H was so full of shit all of the time, Baekhyun loved it.  “Great story, you should tell that at parties.”

            H raised his eyebrows.  “Thanks, I do.”

            “This is worthless,” Chanyeol said, and pushed the button for the elevator.  “Let’s just go up and look around.”  He rubbed his hands together like a villain.  “They’ve gotta be up there somewhere, and we’re going to find them.”

            D.O. found all of this a lot easier to take with Xiumin right next to him, with Suho being very strong and determined and deliberately calm, with L seated across from him and explaining it all personally and looking into his eyes.

            It should not be this difficult to find someone dressed like a clown.

            It wasn’t until ten minutes into their floor-by-floor search that they figured out that they could call Chen’s phone and listen for the ring.

            Five minutes after that, Baekhyun wondered, “Did he turn his ringer off?”

            “What I want to know is, why he isn’t answering our calls,” Chanyeol said as they wandered the halls.

            Because he was with his boyfriend.  Augh, Baekhyun was jealous.  “They don’t know we’re looking for them, do they?”

            “Why would JD be coming to see his tax accountant now, with his date?” Chanyeol asked.

            “It’s so late, all of these offices are closed, anyway,” Baekhyun said.

            “Those assholes,” Chanyeol said.  Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he stared at Baekhyun.  “They did this on purpose.”

            “They gave us the slip!”  Shit.  “Should we be impressed with JD’s getaway skills, or should we be pissed at Chen for ditching us and treating us like this?”

            “Both, both,” Chanyeol said.  “Impressed by JD and pissed off at Chen.”

            “Good job, JD!” Baekhyun said.  “Ugh, Chen, I hate you!”

            “So, now what?” Chanyeol asked.  “Do we break into a police station and steal triangulating software?”

            “I still don’t think that’s something that just every police station has.”  Baekhyun slumped back against the wall.  “Let’s just stay here.  We’ll live here from now on.”

            “In this hallway?”  Chanyeol took a dubious look around.  “The third floor was nicer, let’s at least live there.”

            “How was the third floor nicer?”

            “It had those potted plants.”

            “Those weren’t real.”

            “They looked nice!  At least somebody made the effort.”

            Chuckling, Baekhyun straightened.  He slung an arm around Chanyeol, and Chanyeol slung an arm around him, and they headed back towards the elevators.  “Let’s go out.  Eat a lot.  Get sloppy drunk.  Talk H into a three-way.”

            “Three-ways aren’t so great.”

            “They’re fun!”

            “One-on-one is better.  Or, like, five at once.  Three’s just a lot of awkwardness, it’s never satisfying.”

            “When have you been with four other people?” he demanded.

            “I told you about that,” Chanyeol said as they got onto the elevator.

            “No, you didn’t!  I’d remember - - wait, that time with the members?”  When Chanyeol nodded, he rolled his eyes.  “That doesn’t count!”

            “Why doesn’t it count?  There were five of us, we were all naked and doing things, I got off like three times.  I think that counts!”

            “Sex with the members doesn’t count.  That’s not some amazing orgy, that’s just you getting bored and Sehun being easy.  There are so many of us, crowding around and bumping into each other, I lost my virginity getting into the van.”

            H snickered, then covered his mouth with one hand and tried to look serious.

            Baekhyun grinned.

            They went to dinner.  They went back to the dorm.  D.O. and Suho were closed up together in D.O.’s room, and Xiumin didn’t want to talk about it.  Baekhyun was really horny, so he went down on Xiumin, and thought about going down on H, and came fast in his own hand.

            “How’d he take it?” Hoya asked.

            L gave him an unhappy smile.  “He’s really tough.  He’ll be okay.”

            “Lee Taemin!” Baekhyun shouted.

            L didn’t respond.

            Wait, maybe he’d already tried that one.  Um.  “Lee Dongwook!”

            No reaction.

            The front door opened.  Chen and JD came in, looking relaxed and cheerful.  “Kim Jongdae!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

            “Well, no, that’s not it,” L said, and H laughed.

            Ignoring them, Baekhyun went over and gave Chen a quick shove.  Chen shoved him back, laughing, bright-eyed, and asked, “What?”

            “You ditched us!  You’re a sneaky fucking asshole.  Where did you go?”

            “We went to dinner,” Chen said, smiling at him, all happy and smug and irresistible.  “We just had to make a stop first.”

            “What was that place?” he demanded, looking from Chen to JD and back.  “Is one of those offices a front, is that where Arctic Fox is?  Is that where you keep your secret lair?  Is that where one of your undercover identities works?”

            “I don’t know, I’ve never been there before,” JD said.  “It just looked convenient.”

            Woohyun sat down beside Suho on the couch.  Suho looked so somber, so thoughtful and grim, that he put his hand on Suho’s back, wanting to reassure.  “How did everything go?  Did you have any questions about it?”

            Suho glanced at him, gave him a grim half-smile, then sat up straighter, putting on a more public face.  The leader, needing to be strong and capable.  “It’s difficult.  The members are upset about it.  I’m upset about it.  But D.O. really wanted to see it, to know about it for himself.”

            “Everyone’s different,” Woohyun said.  “Some people want to confront it and face it.  I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to walk you all through it.  L thought that D.O. would be more comfortable with him.”

            Suho nodded.  “He trusts L a lot, I think he feels safer when L’s around.”  Then Suho smiled at him.  “He did well, but I prefer you.  You have a different way with people.”

            Smiling in return, Woohyun rubbed Suho’s shoulder.  “If you could put that in writing for the president, I’d be grateful.”

            Suho laughed.  “I’ll be sure to give a very positive report.”

            Xiumin sat up in bed.  Turned on his lamp.  Looked over at the other bed; Baekhyun was asleep, hair all over his forehead, lips parted.

            Xiumin toyed with his cock and called Info.

            “Info here.”

            “Where’s Kim?”

            “Kim?”

            “I need to talk to him.”

            “He’s, uh.  Is it important?”

            “Yes, it’s important.”

            “Is your life in danger?”

            Technically, a half-hard cock wasn’t an emergency.  “Where is he?”  He only filled in when they needed him, so he probably wasn’t on-call at all times like everyone else was.  “At home?”

            “I can have him get back to you.”

            “Yes.  Tell him that it’s important.”  Xiumin hung up.  Gave his cock a few more tugs.  Thought about Kim’s hand on his erection, Kim’s hard-on thrusting against his ass, Kim humping him against the wall.  In seconds, he was full-on masturbating, working his cock and moaning to himself, picturing Kim’s full lips and big cock and whimpering ecstatically.  He came hard, gasping for breath, spurting thick gobs of cum.  Yes, ah, god damn, yes.  Catching his breath, he grinned down at his lap.  Soon, soon, he’d come in that hot dongsaeng’s grateful mouth, and it would be fantastic.

            Now that he wasn’t so horny anymore, he felt kind of hungry.  He told himself to go to sleep and ignore it, but sleep wasn’t his friend these days.  Not wanting to dwell on his nightmares, he got up.

            He went to the kitchen and poked around.  Didn’t see anything he wanted to eat.  He thought about ordering something.  Thought about Kim’s disgusting eggs.

            They hadn’t been that hard to make.  The steps had all been pretty simple, actually.  He could probably do better if he tried.  He found the frying pan and went to see if there were any more eggs.  The texture was the main problem, they shouldn’t be so weird and dry and rubbery.  And the flavor, it just needed a little more seasoning, right?  He got to work.

            Baekhyun rolled over.  He smelled food.  It was a weird mix of awful and delicious scents.  Like something had burned but something else was making his mouth water.

            He checked the time.  Ugh, why would anyone be awake now?  That was ridiculous, this was no time to be conscious and moving.

            He wondered if H was awake.  He got out of bed and went to go see.

            The good and bad smells grew stronger.  Padding around barefoot in boxer-briefs and a T-shirt, Baekhyun found L strolling around the living room.  Xiumin was in the kitchen, cooking.  That didn’t make any sense at all.  “Are you cooking?”

            “No, I’m rowing a boat,” Xiumin said.  “Taste this.”

            He accepted the mouthful of eggs that Xiumin fed him.  Mmm!  Creamy, buttery, cheesy.  He swallowed and asked, “Can I have more?  What else are you making?”

            When he tried to investigate whatever was on the stove, Xiumin nudged him aside.  “Not now, I’m still working on it.  You can have some later.”

            Mmm.  “Thanks, hyung.”  He kissed Xiumin’s cheek, excited about good food made by an actual person he knew and not handed to him in a plastic bag.  “I’ll be back in a minute.”  Licking his lips, he went back to the living room.  Where was H?

            Had H gone home?  Was that allowed?  Had he gone off-duty and not said anything?  Logically, Baekhyun knew that was a totally normal and acceptable thing to do, but it stung, anyway.  “Where’s H?

            L gestured.  “Laundry room.”

            Oh!  Well, that was only a few feet away.  Relieved, feeling much better, Baekhyun went to the laundry room.

            H was on the floor.  Shirtless.  Doing push-ups.  Baekhyun could see every rippling line of muscle in his naked back.  Shit, Baekhyun was excited to see him with his hat off, and now he was shirtless, too?

            “Thought you were asleep.”

            He was still exercising, up, down, up, down, the muscles in his arms bulging, his pose giving Baekhyun a fantastic view of his high, round ass.  He only sounded very faintly out of breath, and it was a complete mystery how he even knew that Baekhyun was in the room.  “This is worth waking up for.”

            He laughed at that and got to his feet.

            “No, don’t stop, I…  Oh.”  Fascinated, Baekhyun stared.  Hello, perfect six-pack.  Hello, delicious, tiny nipples.  Hello, sexy, black treasure trail.  Wow, this was a lot to look at.  A lot to take in, all at once.  A faint sheen of sweat was making his bare skin look kind of shiny and lickable.  Very, very lickable.

            “I can see how, living here, you’ve never seen a shirtless man before,” H said.

            Oh, there was a big difference between looking at some annoying dongsaeng he scolded for hogging the shower and had to take footwork advice from, and looking at some sexy, confident man who laughed at all of his jokes and made his emotions tumble around each other in chaos.  H reached for a shirt and he got there first, picking it up and stepping back.  “No, don’t…  I never get to look at you.”  It wasn’t just being shirtless.  It was being hatless, too.  He had a much, much clearer view of H’s eyes.  Of H’s thick eyebrows and smooth forehead.  Of all of that thick, black hair.  He stood there, drinking in all of the details, wanting to remember this.  “Is that your real nose?”

            “What?”  Laughing, he touched his nose.  “Yes, it’s real.  Why, is that your real nose?”

            “Never, ever ask an idol that.”  He drifted closer, biting his lip.  “But you’re so handsome.”

            Raising his eyebrows, H waved a hand in front of Baekhyun’s face.  “Sleepwalking?”

            Baekhyun laughed, clutching H’s shirt, stopping only inches away.  “No, I mean it.”  He still had his earpiece on.  “Can you take that off?”

            He shook his head.  “Still on-duty.”

            “Can you be off-duty?”

            He studied Baekhyun for a second, and even that tiny moment of perusal made Baekhyun’s heart flutter, because it meant that he was considering it, that he was thinking about doing it just because Baekhyun had asked him.  Then he tapped his earpiece and said, “Taking five.”  A second later, he said, “H out,” and then he took the earpiece off.  Set it on top of the washing machine.  Rubbed his ear.

            He shouldn’t have looked any different with the earpiece or without it.  It was just a detail.  But he looked different, somehow.  His expression was more relaxed, more open.  His posture was still perfect, but it didn’t look as stiff.  He looked younger.  Happier.

            There was another side of H.  The everyday person inside the bodyguard suit.  Baekhyun had known that he was in there, but now Baekhyun could actually meet him.  The real him.  Face-to-face.  “Hi.”

            H smiled.  “Hi.”  He relaxed, one hand back on the washing machine, one knee bent.  “What are you doing up?”

            “Nightmares.  We’re all having them, I think.”

            H nodded.  “When I sleep, I can sleep in your room, if you want.  If it would help.”

            He’d had no idea.  “You can do that?  Why didn’t you tell me!  Yes, yes, sleep in my room.”

            “We usually wait until the client asks for it.  It can be a violation of privacy, your bedroom is a personal space.”

            “No, no, I want you to sleep in my room.”  He wanted H to sleep in his bed.  And not even for sex.  Okay, for sex, too.

            “If it’s okay with Xiumin-”

            “He won’t care.  But we don’t have a third bed.  What do you do, like, set up a cot?”

            He shrugged.  “I sleep on the floor.”

            “You know, my bed’s, like, really comfortable.”

            He smiled.  “I sleep on the floor.”

            He wasn’t ready to give the shirt back yet, so he didn’t.  “Is there anything you’ve wanted to tell me that you couldn’t?  That you’re too professional to say?  Like are there times you want to tell me to shut up or warn me that my feet smell bad?”

            “The feet thing.  There is a member…”  H’s voice trailed off and he winced.

            “I know!  I know, I’m sorry, we’ve talked to him about it.”

            H smiled.  “You smell pretty good, though.  Are you using a different soap this week?  It’s nice.”

            “You…  Yes, I ran out, I started using a new one.  You can tell?”  He sniffed his own forearm.  “You can smell me?”

            He was still smiling.  “We’re together a lot.  It happens.”

            Nervous, bold, shy, he put his hand on H’s forearm.  Nothing happened, H didn’t pull away or ask him what the hell he was doing, so he left it there.  Rubbed a little bit, stroking up and down, feeling warm skin, firm muscle.  “I have a little bit of a crush on you,” he admitted.

            “Eh, it’s the bodyguard thing.  It happens.”

            He shook his head.  “I don’t think it’s just that.”

            “You’re cute,” H said.  “That’s something, one of the things I’ve wanted to tell you, that I haven’t said.  You’re really cute.”

            Flattered, blushing, he said, “You said it to me once.  The other day.”

            H was looking right into his eyes.  “I’ve wanted to say it a lot more times than that.”

            Baekhyun stared at him, heart pounding.  Completely out of words, but all full up on love.  Was it, was it maybe, was it okay to wonder if H was maybe not so one hundred percent completely straight?  And if H might maybe just a little possibly be attracted to him?  Did a lot of straight guys say things like that and then gaze into people’s eyes with this emotional, intense smolder?  People who weren’t women?

            Beep!

            Baekhyun jumped, alarmed, completely startled, throwing the shirt up into the air.

            “Thanks,” H said, catching the shirt on its way back down.

            Recovering, Baekhyun hugged himself, shivering.  “What was that?”

            “Alarm,” H said.  “Five minutes over.”  He pulled his shirt on.  Then he put his earpiece back on and said, “H, checking in.”

            Shit.  Private time was over.  “How often do you get to take five-minute breaks?”

            “When I need to.  If there’s someone else on duty who can handle it.”

            Baekhyun watched him put his hat on.  It felt like losing a piece of him.  Baekhyun wanted to remind him that he’d promised that they could hang out when he was off-duty, but it might sound like whining or begging.  “How long do you go between jobs?”

            “Hours, days, weeks, months.  Depends.”

            He was already walking out of the laundry room.  Baekhyun followed him.  “Do you have a second job?  Or do you just have that time to yourself?  What do you do?”

            “Relax.  Sleep.  Work out, train.”  In the living room, he looked at L.  “Everything good?”

            L nodded.

            He tucked his shirt in and turned back to Baekhyun.  “There’s a training course that a buddy of mine runs.  Three-day event, hiking, running, hauling boulders through ditches.  JD and I go and do that when we get a chance.”

            Was he a masochist?  Baekhyun was impressed.  “The rest of your team doesn’t go?”

            “Bunch of wimps,” he said.  “SJ’s not strong enough, Info gets too competitive and hurts himself, Kim complains and whines and fusses like a baby the entire time.”

            “But this is what you do for fun?”

            He nodded, rubbing his elbow.  “It’s a personal thing.  A test of your own determination.  I like knowing my limits, I like seeing how far I can go.”

            Baekhyun had to admire that.  “I wonder if - - ah, no, management would never let me.  They’d be worried, I might hurt myself, I have to be able to dance.”

            “Baekhyun-ah!  C’mere!” Xiumin called.

            Oh, food!  “Can you eat?” he asked H.

            “No, go ahead,” H said.  “I’ve been smelling burned eggs all morning.  You enjoy it.”

            He squeezed H’s arm, wanting one last bit of contact, and then he went to have breakfast.

            “Info here.”

            “Is the hottie dangerous?”

            Sungyeol groaned, flopping back in his chair, letting it roll back and swivel to the left.  “Do you have to call him that?”

            “Yes.  Hotties are hot, I can’t deny it.”

            But he wasn’t - - oh, whatever.  “No, he’s not dangerous.  Don’t worry about him, he’s not after you.”

            “Are you on Jeju Island?”

            “Right this minute, no, but I’ve been there.”

            “On vacation?”

            “Work.  Corporate espionage, insider trading, a bunch of old men fighting over money.  This job’s a lot better.”

            “None of them would play World of Warcraft with you?”

            He laughed.  “They really missed out.”

            L let Sunggyu into the dorm that night.  They talked for a minute, quietly, about some developments.  They were in the middle of that discussion when Xiumin asked, from behind him, as informally as possible, “Where have you been?”

            Sunggyu’s expression must not have been good, because L stared at him for a second, then turned away, laughing, coughing.

            He took a few tries to get his face right, and then he finally turned around.  “Working, I’ve been working.”

            “Oh?  Made yourself useful for once?  Did the Fox send you scampering around on errands?”

            “There’s no Fox.”

            “There isn’t?” L asked.  Sunggyu scowled at him, and he strolled away, smiling.

            “I told Info that I needed you last night sometime.  Can you just neglect your clients like this?”

            “I was working,” he repeated.  “If you need to be rescued from kidnappers, call H.  If you need someone to touch your naughty parts, ask your members.”

            Xiumin sat on the arm of the couch.  “Working on what?”

            “Talking to people.  Getting information, putting things together.”

            “Like a detective?”

            “Kind of.”  He sat on the couch.

            Xiumin slid off of the arm and right into his lap.  It was such a smooth little move that he laughed; he hadn’t seen it coming.  “I want you to sleep in my room tonight.”

            “You can’t have me at your beck and call.  I have things to do.”

            “At four in the morning?”

            “Sometimes.”

            “So sometimes not,” Xiumin said.  “So you can sleep here tonight.  Tell me about JD.”

            “What about him?”

            “How long have you known him?”

            “Couple of years.”

            “How old is he?  Does he come from a good family?  Does he have a lot of boyfriends?”

            Was Xiumin trying to get information on Arctic Fox?  Or protecting Chen?  Maybe both.  “He’s a good guy.  He’s very loyal, he’s honest.  He has a good family, he’s close with them, he’s a good son.  He likes sex but he’s bad at relationships, he’s dated a few guys since I’ve known him but he hasn’t had a boyfriend.”

            “Is he really a bomb expert?”

            He nodded.  “He’s one of the best.  It surprised me, I thought that he seemed too foolish, but he’s impressive.  And he’s a very good employee.  Loyal, hardworking, he’ll do anything he’s told.”

            “What kind of money do you guys make?  But if JD’s a specialist, he must make more than you.  And H and L put in so many hours, they make more than you, too.  Whatever we’re paying you, you have to split it eight ways, but it wouldn’t be split evenly.  Do you make enough to live?”

            “Don’t worry about my money.  Why eight ways?”

            “You, L, H, JD, SJ, Info, Namu, and the Fox.”  He studied Sunggyu’s face intently.  “Why, who did I miss?”

            “Chen seems nice,” he said, pushing Xiumin off of his lap and getting up.

            “Who did I miss?” Xiumin demanded, pulling on his arm.

            “So noisy,” he complained.  “And so nosy!  Why do you have to know everything all of the time?  Just let people do their jobs.  We’re trying to help you!”

            Xiumin looked fed up and frustrated.  Then he said, “I’m going out, and I need a bodyguard, so you’ll have to come with me.”

            “Someone else-”

            “You’re coming with me.”

            “Where are you going?  To meet friends?”

            “No, just the two of us.”

            The two of them?  Alone?  “Let’s stay in,” he suggested, sitting down and pulling Xiumin back into his lap.  “Wouldn’t you rather stay in?”

            “Mmm, that depends,” Xiumin said, putting an arm around his shoulders and giving him a wicked, enticing smile.  “Would you rather suck my cock in a karaoke room or here in the dorm?”

            Suck his cock!  “You make a lot of assumptions.”

            “But you know what I like,” Xiumin said, fingertips sliding along the curve of Sunggyu’s jaw, tipping his face up.  Xiumin’s smile was knowing and seductive.  “And I think I can guess what you like.”

            He was so sexy, and so sure of himself, it would probably be rude to laugh in his face.  “What I like is private, and what you like is…kind of strange, I think, and if you want to go out, Namu will go with you.”

            “Mmm, it’s not so strange,” Xiumin murmured, leaning closer, his lashes drifting downward, his thumb brushing Sunggyu’s lips.  “I just want to see my cock in your mouth.  I just want to see your big cock standing up tall and hard.  I just want to leave you aching and begging and squirming.  Nothing wrong with that.”

            “Do you ever get your dongsaengs off?” Sunggyu asked.

            “Sometimes I watch them jack themselves off.”  Xiumin’s lips curved in a smile, his thumb rubbing over Sunggyu’s lower lip again, more deliberately this time, slow and sensual.  “Would you like that, dongsaeng-ah?  Would it turn you on if I watched you play with your huge, hard cock?”

            Shit, it was hard right now.  “Inappropriately sexual,” Sunggyu insisted, pushing him aside.  “You are inappropriately sexual.”

            “And you love it.”  Right back on top like he’d never moved, Xiumin kissed him.  Kissed him right on the mouth, hand running up the back of his neck, fingers sliding into his hair.  He told himself not to kiss back, that this wasn’t right, but his tongue was already in Xiumin’s mouth and he was pulling Xiumin more snugly against his hard-on.

            “Oh, Kim, what is this?” L asked.

            “What would the president say about this?” H asked.

            “He wouldn’t like it,” L said.

            “So strict, he really doesn’t approve of behavior like this,” H said.

            “Mmm, then he would hate what we did in the bathroom,” Xiumin said, nipping at Sunggyu’s lower lip.

            “What did you do in the bathroom?” they asked.

            “Details, details,” H said.

            “I want to know everything,” L said.

            “Fuck both of you,” Sunggyu said.  “Really, really, I can’t,” he told Xiumin, getting up.

            Leaning back against the arm of the couch, Xiumin eyed his hard-on.  “Turning coward?  Carrying a big stick like that and you don’t have the nerve to stand up to your boss?”

            “What - - stop staring at it!”  Embarrassed, he tugged his shirt down over it.  “I’m leaving, I have to go.  Namu will come if you need anything.”

            “What was that about a bathroom?” H asked.

            “I didn’t read anything about that in your reports,” L said.

            “Don’t go too far,” Xiumin said.  “Remember where you’re sleeping tonight.”

            “I’m not sleeping in your room,” Sunggyu warned him.

            “Good, I’ll be there, the floor will be too crowded,” H said.

            Xiumin grinned at them.  “Seems like someone’s going to have to share a bed.”

            “Good.  We’ll take the bed, you can sleep on the floor,” Sunggyu told him.  “Agreed?  Good.  I’ll be back later.”

            “Not agreed!” H called after him as he walked away.  “I don’t want to sleep with you!”

            “Here.”

            “President-nim,” Sungyeol said.  “It seems there were some details missing from your report.”

            “Don’t start with me.”

            “Must just be an oversight.  If you’ll tell me now what happened in the bathroom, I can add that in for you.  Clear everything up.”

            “Out,” the president said, and hung up on him.

            He laughed and went back to work.

            L was on the couch in the dorm, watching Suho watch TV, when D.O. came and sat beside him.

            He wanted to stroke D.O.’s hair and say something reassuring.

            D.O. just sat there for a while.

            “Do you want to run lines?” he offered.

            D.O. shook his head.  “Not now.”  A moment passed.  “Thanks, though.”

            “Whenever you want to.”

            D.O. looked around the room.  Looked at him.  “Can I borrow your book?  The one you brought with you?  Unless you’re reading it, if-”

            “No, I mean, yes.  You can read it, I haven’t even started it.”  He got up and dug it out of his bag.  Sitting down again, he handed it to D.O.  “It might be boring, I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

            “Thank you.”  D.O. smiled at him, then got up and left.

            “Oh!  Hold on, can we stop here?” Chanyeol asked, looking up the block.

            “No,” Baekhyun said.

            “Why?” his manager asked.

            “I want to stop here, it’s my favorite place.  I haven’t been here in months but I was telling Info all about it.  I want to pick up some bread, they have these great cream pastries and things, and we can get sandwiches.  I’ll be quick.”

            “No!  If you go in, then H has to go with you, and if he goes, then I have to go,” Baekhyun said.  “I don’t want to run around watching you buy bread, I want to go back to the dorm.”

            “You whine like the maknae,” Chanyeol said, unbuckling his seatbelt.  “I’m going in.”

            “God, I can’t stand you,” Baekhyun muttered.  “You know we don’t even have any make-up on.  What will people think when they see your bare face?”

            “That you look worse than I do, so I’m okay.”

            “They get cranky when they haven’t slept,” their manager told H.

            “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” H said.

            “Is it even open this late?” Baekhyun asked as they got out of the van.

            “It’s all lit up, and there are people inside, and the sign says ‘open,’” Chanyeol said.

            “So, no, probably not,” H said.

            They went in.  Baekhyun and H started whispering to each other, and Chanyeol ignored them, getting in line, reading the menu.  He couldn’t believe he’d stopped coming here!  He’d used to come in all of the time.

            Deciding on his order, he tucked his hands in the pockets of his jacket.  He wished that he’d brought a hat.  Maybe he could borrow H’s.  A woman was staring at him, and he smiled at her, bowing slightly, trying to be polite.  Looking away, trying to act normal, like he wasn’t being stared at, he glanced around.

            Earrings.

            Earrings and ponytail.

            The hottie!  It was the hottie!  He was standing in the other line, ahead of Chanyeol.  He was looking down, at his phone, texting or something.

            Chanyeol wondered if he should tell H.  But a good security expert would’ve noticed the hottie already.  And Info had said that the guy wasn’t up to anything.

            “Excuse me,” he said to the woman beside him.  “Excuse me, I just, I know him.”  He crept forward a couple of steps and touched the hottie’s arm.  Another cardigan, thin but really soft.  “Hello?”

            He glanced at Chanyeol over his shoulder, and then he froze.  Nothing moved at all, just his eyes, getting bigger and bigger.

            “Hi,” Chanyeol said, even happier and more nervous now.

            He blinked, and then he finally turned the rest of the way around, his gaze flashing all over in all directions.  “Um,” he said, and he cleared his throat.  “Sorry, excuse me,” he said.

            Wait!  Was he trying to leave?  “Where are you going?” Chanyeol asked, following him.  He walked out of the line, towards the door, and then he stopped, caught, looking worried, touching the side of his head.  “I think we know each other.  I’ve seen you around.  My name’s Park Chanyeol.”

            “Yeah, I know who you are.  Shit, I - - I have to go, okay?”  He was moving towards the exit again.

            “Wait, what’s your name?” Chanyeol asked, following him.  What was wrong?  Why was he being like this?  Was he shy?  “Who do you work for?”

            Out on the sidewalk, he started to go one way, then turned and went another, then stopped short and stared at Chanyeol.  “What, are you following me?”

            “Do you come here a lot?”

            “No, first time.”  He walked a few more feet, then stopped and glared at Chanyeol.  “Going to follow me the whole way to the bus?”

            They were almost the same height, almost eye-to-eye.  Chanyeol hated that he was so tense, and didn’t understand it.  “Can’t I know your name?  I won’t follow you anymore, I don’t want to bother you.  I’ve seen you around, I even saw you at the movies the other night.  We’ve said hi a couple of times, maybe you don’t remember?”  As long as he kept talking, the hottie was still listening, so he kept going.  “It’s funny that we bumped into each other here, this is my favorite place, I used to come all of the time, but I haven’t been here in months.  You’ve never been here before?  I didn’t chase you out, did I?”  He kind of had, and he felt bad about that.  “I’m sorry, you should go back in.  It’s good food, you’ll like it, they have great sandwiches.  You can go back in, order whatever you wanted to order.  I could buy, we could eat together.  Or I’ll leave you alone!” he offered quickly.  “I’ll never eat here again, it’ll be your place from now on.”

            The hottie smiled a little at that.  “I’ll go,” he said, taking a step back.  “I have things to get back to, I have stuff to do.  But go ahead, go back in and get your food.  It was nice to see you,” he said, and he turned and walked away.

            “Was it?” Chanyeol called after him, bewildered.

            He turned for a second and waved, and he smiled before he continued on again.

            “I like your hair!” Chanyeol shouted.

            “You are so freaking pathetic,” Baekhyun said behind him.

            “What is that, thirteen holes in one ear?” H asked.

            “Seven,” Chanyeol said.  “It’s seven.”

            “Not very good with numbers?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Eh, counting,” H said, and shrugged.  “You want to go back in?”

            Yes.  No.  Yes.  “Guess we might as well,” Chanyeol decided, heading back.  “I’m still hungry.  If I buy stuff for Info, can you get it to him?”

            “I can give it to one of the team to take to him, if it doesn’t have to be in the next hour.”

            “You’re sending him food, now?” Baekhyun asked.

            “I told him about this place the other day, and he’s never been here.  He might like it.”  And now that the hottie had run away from him and bruised his heart, he wanted to make sure that things were good with Info.

            He wished that they had a real relationship.  It would be easier to take not meeting in person if he could get Info to agree that they were a couple.  Okay, so he didn’t know Info’s actual name and he wouldn’t recognize the guy in a crowd, so maybe it wasn’t the typical boyfriend set-up.  But he trusted Info.  They could talk about anything.  It was a more satisfying relationship than the last half-dozen people he’d tried to date.

            “Seven holes in one ear,” Baekhyun said.  “I don’t have seven holes in my entire head.”

            “Yes, you do.”

            “Where?  I have two ears, one mouth, and two nostrils, that’s five.”

            “Don’t your eyeholes count?”

            “No, they don’t count!  They have eyes in them!  That’s where I keep my eyeballs, thank you.”

            The line moved forward.  Chanyeol wondered what to order.  He wondered what the hottie had intended to get.  He wished that he could sneak into the food bag himself and be delivered to Info.

            “Delivery!”

            “Hey,” Sungyeol said, turning down the music as JD walked in.  “What’s that?”

            “Dinner for you.”  JD handed him two brown paper bags.  “And I am going upstairs to sleep.  Good night!”

            “Sleep well.”  Curious, he opened the bags.  Delicious food!  Hungry, grateful, he dragged everything out of the bags, eager to devour.  Then he recognized the logo on the packaging and froze.

            A slip of paper drifted onto the floor.  He picked it up.

            It was a handwritten note.  Eat well!  I hope that you like it.  Other hotties make a nice distraction, but you’re the hottie I want to be with.  –PC

            He read it again.  “What a fucking mess,” he said to himself.  Remembering what Chanyeol had yelled after him on the sidewalk, he touched his hair.  Chanyeol was going to hate him when this was over.  But for now, food was food.  He ate, and he read the note again, and he called L.

            “L here.”

            “Park Chanyeol thinks that I’m a hottie.”

            “Yes, I’ve heard. We’ve all heard.  Everyone you know, and everyone he knows, is completely aware of that.”

            “You know the guys he hangs out with.”

            “Yes, I’m looking at one of them right now.”

            “They put their faces on magazines.”

            “I guess they do.”

            “And posters and billboards.  And he thinks that I’m a hottie.”

            “Okay.”

            “He likes my hair.  He chased me up and down the sidewalk.”

            “Mmm.”

            “Maybe subconsciously, he knows that it’s me.  Maybe he recognizes me without realizing it.  He knows my voice.”

            “Mmm.”

            “I think he likes me.”

            “Yep.”

            “But what do I do about that?”

            “You could ask him out sometime.”

            It seemed like a very normal answer for a very normal next step in a very normal relationship.  If Sungyeol were the kind of person who excelled at normal relationships, he wouldn’t have this life.  “Info out.”

            L smiled to himself and glanced at the door.  He didn’t say anything else, and he shifted a little on the couch.  D.O. wondered if the call was over.  “Who’s asking who out?”

            “Mmm?”  He looked at D.O.  “Oh, nobody.”

            Maybe it was Namu and Suho.  Although he couldn’t picture Namu calling L on the job to ask for dating advice.

            L was still looking at him.  With an interested, curious expression.  Wondering what that was about, he waited.  After a minute, L asked, “Are you on the cover of magazines?”

            “Yeah, a few.  Some with the other members, and some by myself.”

            “Do you have copies of them?  Can I see them?”

            “Uh…  The company has copies, I can get some for you.”

            L smiled at him.  “I’d like to see that.”

            “It’s not very exciting,” he said.  “It’s just me, I just look like this.”

            L’s dimples were really charming.  “I like the way you look.”

            And now he felt that happy, swelling sensation in his chest he only ever got around L.  “Well, thanks.  I’ll, um, I’ll get some copies for you, then.  Be prepared for some bad clothes, though,” he added.  “And maybe a couple of awkward haircuts.”

            “Bad clothes?  I thought an idol on a magazine cover would only wear expensive things from stylists and top designers.”

            “Yes, we do,” he said, keeping a straight face.  “Bad clothes.”  L laughed.

            Baekhyun stayed up.  He was in Chanyeol and Lay’s room for a while, but then Lay wanted to have sex with Kai, and Chanyeol wanted to call Info, so he went to the kids’ room, instead.  D.O. was reading a book.  He got head from Sehun and went to Suho and Chen’s room.  Chen and JD were asleep, and Suho was having an earnest conversation with Namu.  Bored, he went to his own room.  Went on-line and looked up search terms like “army training course” until he found videos and descriptions of the kind of event H had described.  Shit, that looked hard-core.  H did this for fun?  That was so sexy, he got all turned on.  Maybe jacking off to videos of guys scaling walls and crawling under barbed wire wasn’t his proudest moment, but, damn, it really worked for him.

            When he finally dozed off, he had nasty, disjointed dreams.  Waking up, shaken, he rolled over, just breathing for a minute, reminding himself that he was safe, he was whole, his members were okay.  He didn’t want to be a needy jerk, but he really wanted to go out there and make sure that H was still in the dorm.  Trying to reassure himself, he turned on the flashlight on his phone.  He’d go out and buy a freaking nightlight if he weren’t too ashamed for Xiumin to know that he wanted one.

            Xiumin was on the other bed, safe and sound.  Totally alive and healthy.  Good.

            And H was on the floor.  For one horrifying moment, he thought that he was looking at a dead body, and his whole life fell apart.  But then he realized that it was H, and that H was asleep.  Not dead.

            H had agreed to sleep in his room - - had been the one to bring it up, the one to offer it - - but somehow he still hadn’t been sure that it would actually happen.  But here it was.  H.  Asleep.  On his floor.  Right beside his bed.  Hat off and everything.  Earpiece still on, but, whatever, this was amazing, he’d take what he could get.

            He didn’t want to embarrass himself.  And he didn’t want to be any more clingy and needy and pathetic than he’d already been.  But, screw it, no way was he staying alone in this bed when he had such an incredible alternative in front of him.  Slipping out of bed, he got right down on the floor.

            He hesitated.  He couldn’t just - - could he?  But he really, really wanted to.  He put a tentative hand out.  Drew it back.  Leaned in cautiously.  Tucked himself right up against H’s side, rested his cheek on H’s chest, just went straight for it and stretched his arm across H’s waist.  Once he was snuggled in like he was cuddling his very own teddy bear, he closed his eyes.

            He spent a few seconds worrying about how he was going to explain this and what H might think, and then he was out.  Totally passed out.  He slept like a log.  Deep, heavy sleep.

            He didn’t wake up until he felt someone picking him up.  Literally picking him up off of the floor.  His brain told him that was a very strange thing to be happening to him, and he started to open his eyes, but then he heard H’s voice, and he thought, oh, okay, and relaxed again.

            “You’ll stay with him?” H asked.  He was back in his bed.  He rolled over.  Soft pillow.  Nice pillow.  He missed having H beside him, but he could still hear H’s voice, so everything was okay.

            “Yeah, I’ll be in here,” someone else said.

            He was asleep again.

            Xiumin got out of bed and almost tripped over the body on the floor.  What the hell!  Catching himself on the nightstand, he hopped for a second until he recovered his balance.

            Kim.  Kim - - why the hell didn’t anyone have a proper name anymore?  Kim what, Kim Dongwan, Kim Kibum, Kim Soohyun?  Kim Minseok?  Now that would be interesting.  Kim whoever he was, he was asleep right there on the floor, on his back, in jeans and a white undershirt, with what looked like his T-shirt rolled up for a pillow.  It was so sad, Xiumin wanted to scold him.  They had beds!  They had pillows, why couldn’t he ask to borrow a pillow?  Why was he even - - but Xiumin knew why.  Because Xiumin had asked him to.  One thoughtless comment, random nonsense flying out of Xiumin’s mouth, and now here he was, asleep on the floor with no pillow.

            Xiumin remembered what he’d said about JD.  “And he’s a very good employee.  Loyal, hardworking, he’ll do anything he’s told.”  Yeah, well, apparently he wasn’t the only one.

            For a minute, Xiumin just watched him sleep.  With every second that passed, Xiumin’s heart softened more and more.  What had happened in the world, that Xiumin was someone people went to so much effort to guard and protect?  What had happened in Kim’s life, that he’d gone from wanting to be a rock star to sleeping on some asshole’s floor in his undershirt?

            Should he wake the guy up?  If he was asleep, might as well let him sleep.  Xiumin wasn’t sure how much sleep he got; H and L barely seemed to get any at all.

            Xiumin hated just to leave him there, though.

            Well.  If nothing else, at least Xiumin could make sure that he woke up to a good breakfast.

            A familiar, soft beep.

            “President-nim,” Info said quietly in his ear.  “You asked me to wake you up to let you know that you have a meeting at ten.”

            “Yeah, yeah,” Sunggyu mumbled.  He sat up.  Pawed at his stubble.  Tried to open his eyes.  Gave up on it.  Listened to Baekhyun snore.  Remembered his meeting.  Convinced his eyes to open.  Got up.  Put his shirt back on.

            “About time you got up,” Xiumin said from the doorway.  “Come on, I made breakfast.”

            “You don’t make things.  You buy them and have them delivered.”

            “Do you want to eat or not?  Come on.”  Xiumin took him by the hand and pulled him across the dorm.  “I made it for you, so act grateful, even if you don’t like it.  I don’t do all of this for just anyone.”

            The kitchen table surprised him.  It was a real breakfast.  And it wasn’t in little delivery boxes, it was in bowls and on plates.  “Where did this come from?”

            “I made it.  I cooked it.  Sit,” Xiumin said, pulling out a chair and pushing him into it.

            “So pushy,” he mumbled to himself.  Everything looked great.  There was rice and soup and all sorts of things.  “You made eggs?”

            “I’ve been practicing.”

            Curious, he tried some.  Oh!  “This is good,” he said, digging in.  “Are you lying to me?  Did you buy this?  Is it from the housekeeper, did she make it?”

            Xiumin smacked him in the back of the head.  “I told you!  I cooked it.”

            The things he put up with.  The insults and offenses he endured.  He comforted himself with the knowledge that his nobility and sacrifice would be rewarded in his bank account.  And at least the food was delicious, that helped.  He ate everything, while Xiumin sat and watched him with a bright, satisfied expression.  “It’s delicious,” he said.  “You’ve cooked well.  Thank you.”

            Xiumin smiled.  Having seen that smile before, Sunggyu expected him to praise himself or ask for a blowjob.  Instead, he just said, “You ate well.  Maybe I’ll cook again sometime.”  Then he got up and said, “I’d better clean all of this up before the members wake up, they’ll start wanting me to cook for them, too.”

            “You won’t cook for your members?” he asked.

            He snorted, gathering dishes.  “Hell, no.  I told you, I’m not doing all of this for just anybody.”  He picked up a bowl, then said, “Maybe if we win an award, or they start offering blowjobs, or something.  But I’m not doing it for nothing.”

            “Do you think that I owe you a blowjob now?” Sunggyu asked.  He thought that it was best to be clear.

            “No.  This meal’s free.”  Xiumin dropped a kiss on the top of his head and went to the sink.  “But any time you want to offer a blowjob, I’m here.”

            “That’s good to know,” he mumbled.  He touched the top of his head.  He had no idea what was happening here, but it was very disturbing, and he was starting to like it.

            It had to be a weird thing to be proud of himself for, but Baekhyun was really glad that he’d slept so well.  It felt like an accomplishment.  Like a baby who’d slept through the night for the first time.

            When he saw H in the living room, he felt kind of self-conscious.  “Um.”  H looked at him.  Tucking a knee under himself, he sat beside H on the couch.  “Did you pick me up?  And put me back in my bed?”

            “I didn’t want to leave you on the floor.”  A flicker of a teasing smile.  “Should I have let you sleep with Kim?”

            On the floor?  “No, no, that’s okay,” he said, laughing.  “Is it okay that I - - I mean, I don’t want to - - you just made the floor look so comfortable, you looked so cozy down there, I thought that I was missing out.  I just wanted to try it, you know, see what I’ve been missing.”

            “It’s fine, it’s great,” H said.  “The floor’s the real craze.  I don’t think this whole ‘bed’ concept is ever really going to take off.”

            “No, it’ll never be very popular.”  They smiled at each other, and Baekhyun laughed.  “So, uh.  Any time you want to sleep on my floor again, go ahead.  It’s available.”

            “Okay.”  H nodded, still smiling.  “I’ll give it another shot.”

            “Info here.”

            “I was thinking.”

            “Hi, PC.”

            “Right, hi.  I was thinking, what if you send me a photo?  Not of you!” he said quickly.  “Not of all of you.  I mean, like, an ear or a toe.  Your ear or your toe.  Not just anybody’s toe, that would be weird, that might get kind of gross.”

            “So you have a foot fetish.”

            “That, uh, we can talk about that later.  But what I’m saying is,” he continued, while Info burst into laughter.  “I’m saying that if you don’t want to send me a selca, you can send me a partial.  Let me see your ear.  Or your elbow.  Maybe a knee, I could look at a knee.”

            “Is this a discreet way of asking for a dick pic?”

            “If I wanted a dick pic, I’d ask for one,” he said.  “I’m asking for a toe.  And I can tell a cock and a toe apart.”

            “I hope so, or we need to talk.”

            They talked for a few more minutes, and then Chanyeol had to go.  He was in the van a while later when he got a text message.  It was a photo.  From Info.

            A photo of a knee.  A naked, bony knee.  He sat there and admired it for a while, and then he showed it to Suho.  “This is my boyfriend.”

            “Your boyfriend is a knee,” Suho said.

            “A sexy knee,” he clarified.

            “Is that your knee?” Suho asked.  “Chanyeol-ah, are you dating your own knee?”

            “What the hell is this conversation?” D.O. asked, turning around in his seat to look at them.

            “It looks like your knee,” Baekhyun said, leaning in to see.  “That’s so your own knee!”

            “It’s not!  It’s Info’s!” he exclaimed.  “Dating my own knee, don’t be weird.  It’s Info’s knee.”

            “It looks like yours,” Baekhyun said.

            “It does not!  I can tell my own body apart from my boyfriend’s.”  It didn’t look like his knee at all.  His knee was boring.  This was a very sexy knee.  “At least my boyfriend’s way better-looking than yours.”

            “I don’t have a - - oh, fuck you,” Baekhyun said.  “Enjoy dating a knee.”

            “It’s one more body part than you’re dating,” he said, and ducked.

            Xiumin couldn’t find what he wanted anywhere in the dorm, so he went out and bought it.  Then he rolled it all up and tucked it behind the couch.  Then he put a note on it: For Kim.  Just to be clear.

            Sunggyu went upstairs to find JD and Chen on his sofa.  “What is he doing here?”

            “Visiting,” JD said, getting up.  “Are you hurt?”

            “No.”  He limped to the bathroom and took off his pants.  They were torn, but maybe ripped jeans were fashionable these days, EXO didn’t seem to own any jeans with intact knees.  The blood probably wasn’t very stylish, though.  Nudging the jeans aside with his foot, he opened the medical kit.

            “What happened?” JD asked, coming into the bathroom.

            “I fell.”  He washed his knee and the palm of his hand.  JD took over from there.  It stung, and he cursed under his breath.  JD put a bandage on his knee, but he didn’t want one on his hand.  It would just get in the way and look obnoxious.  He went to his room.  He wanted to fall into bed.  It had been a long, lousy day.  He stood there for a minute, looking at his bed.  So comfortable.  Then he dragged on another pair of jeans.

            “Going back out?” JD asked when he passed the couch.

            “Going to EXO’s dorm,” he said, putting his shoes back on.

            “We’ll come with you,” Chen said.

            He didn’t mind.  “All right, come on.”  When they came over, he tapped Chen’s cheek.  “Don’t tell anyone about this place.  Not anybody, understand?”

            Chen smiled at him.  “I understand, I won’t say anything.”

            “What do you need to do at EXO’s dorm?” JD asked.

            “Sleep on Xiumin’s floor.”

            “I can do it, if you want to stay here.”

            He sighed.  Shit, that was tempting.  “I think he wants it to be me.”

            “Why you?” JD asked.

            “I don’t have any idea,” he said, resigned to it.  “Let’s go.”

            On the floor in the dark, Hoya opened his eyes to find Baekhyun snuggling up against him.  “We have to stop meeting like this.”

            “Ssshhh, you’re asleep,” Baekhyun whispered, resting his cheek on Hoya’s chest.  He hugged Hoya’s arm.

            “Right, fast asleep.”  He closed his eyes again.  It wasn’t the worst way to sleep.

            When Sunggyu got to EXO’s dorm, L gestured behind the couch.

            He looked back there, wondering what he might find.  L’s bag, H’s bag, and…  “What is that?”

            “It has your name on it.”

            “It has everybody’s name on it, who isn’t named ‘Kim’ around here?”

            “Xiumin put it back there.”

            “So it’s his.”

            “It’s yours,” L corrected him.

            “That weird, sexy chipmunk.”  He picked it up.  It was a bedroll.  With a pillow.  “Did he buy this for me?”

            “SJ went with him.  He asked about your favorite color.”

            “Purple is not my favorite color.”

            “SJ hates you.”

            Ah.  He nodded, studying his new present.  “This was a very nice thing to do.”  Xiumin was a very interesting person.  “Did he get one for H, too, or you?”

            “Nope.”

            “Good, you don’t need to be comfortable.  Turns you soft.”

            L smiled at him.  “Understood.”

            Baekhyun felt himself being picked up.  “H,” he mumbled, not sure how awake he was.  He was back in his bed.  “Don’t go far,” he said, rolling over.

            “I’ll be around,” H said.

            Good, that was good.  He went back to sleep.

            It was a very nice bedroll.  Almost cushy.  Very satisfied, Sunggyu settled in comfortably.

            “Delivery,” Namu said, carrying a box into the dorm.

            “If it’s a new car, it’s mine,” Sehun called.

            “Not a car,” Namu said.

            “Imagine if it had been, though,” Sehun said.  “It would be all mine now.”

            “Okay, the next new car I carry in here, it’s all yours,” Namu promised.

            Assuming that it was for Suho or something, L was surprised when Namu called, “D.O.?”  On alert, he watched Namu more closely, wanting to get to his feet, to check on it himself.  If Namu had it, it must’ve been checked out, it wasn’t a box full of dead rats or anything, but he still wanted to make sure.

            “Here,” D.O. said, coming out from his room, book in hand.

            “From SM,” Namu said, handing him the box.  “They said that you asked for it.”

            “Thanks.”  Looking puzzled, D.O. opened the flaps.  Then he smiled and came over and sat beside L.  “Magazines,” he explained.

            Oh!  “Let me see,” L said.

            D.O. handed over a stack.  They were real magazines, colorful and glossy.  Some of them he’d never heard of, but some of them he recognized.  They all had D.O.’s face on the cover.

            “Wow,” L said, amazed.  “You’re for real famous.”  It was one cover of D.O. after another, that distinctive mouth, those intense, staring eyes.  At the bottom of the stack, he saw one that made him smile.  “You look really happy.”

            “It was a good shoot,” D.O. said.  “A good day, the photographer was fun to work with.”

            “How does that work, what makes a photographer fun to work with?  More than the rest of them?”

            “Personality, mostly.  If we get along, if he’s relaxed.  Some of them are slow, or they don’t communicate well, and I end up holding the same pose for so long it doesn’t feel natural anymore, or I’m not sure what they want.  And then I get bad photos.”

            “I like photography,” he admitted.  “But I never got to work with people, I just took photos of places and things.”

            Interest lit up D.O.’s expression.  “You’re a photographer?”

            “No, no.  Not now.  I was, in the army, it was part of my duties for a while.”

            “Why, what’d you take photos of?”

            He laughed.  He wished that he could answer.  “That’s classified,” he admitted.  “Sorry.”  He ran his hand over the magazines in his lap.  “Do you have to give these back, can I hold onto them?”

            “You want to keep them?”

            “I want to read them.  There are interviews and articles about you.”

            D.O. looked pleased but kind of embarrassed.  “Okay.”  He fiddled with the empty box for a second.  “You could try photography again, now.”

            “I don’t - - that’s more JD and SJ’s thing, they do that kind of surveillance.”

            “No, I meant, you could just have a camera.  Take photos.  Of whatever you want.  As a hobby.”

            Oh.  “I guess.”  He scratched his head, not sure about it.

            “Do you have other hobbies?”

            He smiled.  “JD says that I’m a natural creature of habit.  I eat, I sleep, I have sex, and then I do it all over again.”

            D.O. smiled, blushing.  “Those are good hobbies, I guess.”

            Xiumin wanted to make breakfast for Kim.

            He told himself not to bother.  It was too much work.  He wasn’t responsible for feeding Arctic Fox.

            He made breakfast for himself instead.  Just himself.  Only he made too much.  Enough to share with one other person.

            “Oh!  You made eggs again,” Chen said behind him.

            “Not for you,” he said.

            “Kim,” JD said, and Xiumin turned away from scooping eggs onto a plate to see Kim walking into the kitchen.  “How’s your knee?”

            “Fine, it’s okay.”  Kim ruffled his own hair, his gaze already on Xiumin’s plate.

            “You’re not still limping?”

            Limping?  “What happened to your knee?” Xiumin asked.

            “I’m fine, I said,” Kim said, looking uncomfortable.

            “What happened?” Xiumin repeated.

            “I fell, people fall sometimes.”

            “You should change the bandage, to make sure,” JD said.

            Xiumin shoved Kim into a chair and thunked the plate in front of him.  “Let me see it, how bad is it?”

            “It - - I already said that it’s fine!” Kim said, exasperated.  “Can I eat this?”  He leaned away slowly, eyeing Xiumin.  “What will I owe you?”

            “You can eat if you show me your knee.  The injured one,” he clarified.  “What happened to your hand?!”

            “I fell!” he exclaimed.  “Haven’t you ever fallen?  It’s not such a big deal!”

            “What did you do, throw yourself down on gravel?”

            “My eggs are getting cold,” he complained as Xiumin held his hand up, investigating it.

            “Deal with it.”  It wasn’t so bad, just a scrape across the heel of his hand, like he’d caught himself when he’d fallen.  It looked like it would hurt, though, if he had to squeeze or pick anything up.  Letting go, Xiumin squatted down and pulled up the leg of his jeans.

            “Mmm, delicious,” Kim said, chewing.

            “Glad you like it.”  Xiumin peeled aside the bandage and winced.  Shit, that looked like it hurt.  “Have you taken anything?  Pain medicine?”

            “I don’t need medicine.”

            “Chen-ah, go get aspirin.”

            “I don’t - - why is he going?” Kim demanded.

            “Because his hyung told him to,” JD said.

            “The power of a hyung,” Kim said wistfully.  “I think that I used to have that.”

            “You need a new bandage, you bled on this one,” Xiumin said.  “Chen-ah!  Bring me Suho’s first aid kit!”  He slapped Kim’s calf.  “Take better care of yourself!  What are you going to do if you get hurt?  You’re lucky this wasn’t worse.”

            “Don’t hit me!  How is that going to help?”

            “Finish your eggs.  JD, there are more in the pan, give him more, and get him some rice, it should be ready.”  He took the first aid kit that Chen brought him.  He gave Kim aspirin and told Chen to get Kim something to drink, and then he put ointment on the scrapes on Kim’s knee and applied a new bandage.  Feeling better, he got up.  “Let me see your hand.”

            “I don’t-”

            “God, you’re so whiny,” he said, taking Kim’s hand.  He put some ointment on it, gingerly.  “What were you doing, chasing down suspects?”

            “Kind of.”

            That took him by surprise.  Wait a second, had Kim gotten hurt on the job?  He’d assumed that it had happened, oh, while Kim was skateboarding with friends or something.  Or Kim had tripped in a parking lot, something random like that.  “Did you fall while you were working?”

            “All I do is work,” he said.

            Obviously, there was some element of danger to this job.  People wouldn’t keep talking about bomb experts and death threats otherwise.  But so far, no one had actually gotten hurt.  No one could sleep and half of his members were unraveling, but now there was an element of physical injury.  Very mild injury, a minor scrape, but still.  It seemed very significant to him.

            They’d hired Arctic Fox to keep them safe.  To deal with the danger so that they wouldn’t have to face it.  So that if it took a toll on anyone, it would be on Arctic Fox, not on them.  “What happened?” he asked.  “What happened exactly, you were really chasing someone?”

            “I was, and I caught up with him.  He has a very depressing home life and he thought that hurting Sehun would help him.  Namu’s taking the report to your company today, they’ll decide whether to go to the police.”

            Dazed, Xiumin pulled out a chair.  He just leaned on it for a second, and then he sat down.  “You actually caught someone?  One of the people threatening us, threatening Sehun?  You actually - - we can turn him over to the police?”

            “Yes.”

            Then this worked.  Their methods worked.  They were actually doing it.  They’d crossed someone off of the list.  “You’re sure that it’s the right guy?  He admitted to it?”

            “He recorded a confession for me.”

            He’d just confessed?  Or Kim had chased him down and...  “Did you beat him up?”

            “Physical assault is illegal.  I wouldn’t do something like that.”

            His knuckles weren’t bruised.  Maybe he was telling the truth.  Or maybe he was full of shit.  But if he’d punched someone who’d been sending freaking death threats to Sehun, Xiumin didn’t have a problem with it.

            Xiumin really wanted to thank Kim, but there was no way that he could do that without getting sentimental and weepy.  Sehun was safer today, safer because of Arctic Fox, because of Kim.  This whole mess had been stressful as fuck, and today things were better, and Xiumin felt relief unlike anything he’d ever known.

            “Breakfast was delicious,” Kim said.  “Thank you, that was very nice.  And thank you for the bedroll, too, it’s comfortable.”

            “Good.”  He wanted to hug Kim.  Not just a brief, casual hug, but an intense hug, where he held on for too long and cried.

            “Okay.”  Kim got up.  “I’d better go, I have reports and interviews and things.  I’ll come by later.  To check on everybody.”

            “Yeah.  Okay.”  Clearing his throat, he got up.  “See you then.”

            Kim studied him for a second, then left.

            He wanted to tell Sehun about the confession from the guy.  No, he’d tell Suho first, to be safe.  No, he’d hug Sehun first.  He needed to hug someone, damn it.  “C’mere,” he said, grabbing the first person he saw.

            “Okay,” Lay said, hugging him.  Lay was solid and warm and familiar.  “It’s okay, hyung, we’re okay.”

            “Yeah.”  They just might be.

            D.O. took L’s book with him wherever he went.  From schedule to schedule.  From room to room around the dorm.  It was a security blanket, but it was one that people didn’t really question.  He didn’t think anyone paid enough attention to realize that he’d read it cover to cover more than once, and that when he read it now, he opened to any page at random.

            It was a good book, but that didn’t matter much.  He held onto it because it belonged to L.  Because he couldn’t carry L with him from room to room.  Because he couldn’t tuck L under his pillow at night.  He felt very attached to L, and he felt a very strong impulse to cling.  But he wasn’t going to give in to that; he wasn’t going to burden L with that kind of pressure.  He’d heard his own members and the Arctic Fox team refer to “the bodyguard thing,” and he recognized that was a part of his strange yearning.  He didn’t want to bother L with it, and he didn’t want to be a cliché, and he didn’t know how to untangle his desires and his obsessions and his anxieties from each other.  So he carried L’s book with him, and no one asked him about it, and he tried to tell himself that he was coping.

            Hoya was watching Suho watch TV when he heard some of the members chanting, “Go!  Go!  Go!” in the hallway.  At the eruption of cheers and laughter, he glanced towards the hallway, then at Suho.

            Suho met his eyes, then looked over at L.  “Well, one of us should check on them.”

            “Rock, paper, scissors?” L suggested.

            Hoya lost.  Getting up from the arm of the couch, he strolled over.

            Baekhyun and Kai were side-by-side on the floor in the hallway, on their stomachs, squirming forward.  Chen and Xiumin were behind them, cheering them on, and Lay and Sehun were in front, urging them forward.  Kai was clearly ahead.  “Ya, ya, out of the way,” Xiumin said, and Hoya backed up.

            Kai reached Lay and Sehun first, and everyone cheered.  Baekhyun collapsed, looking exhausted, rolling onto his back and sprawling out, hair tousled across his forehead, arms splayed.  “I was close, right, I was close,” he panted.

            “You were so far behind!” Chen exclaimed.  Crouching down, he patted Baekhyun’s stomach.  “You were really awful.”

            “Whew!”  Kai grinned, and Lay gave him a congratulatory kiss.  “Want to try it?” he asked Sehun.

            “Sehun can go against Chanyeol, they both have wingspan advantage,” Baekhyun said.  Chen dragged him to his feet, and he smiled at Hoya.  “How’d I do, how was my form?”

            “You had form?” Hoya asked.  “What is this, the hundred-meter wiggle?”

            “We’re army crawling!  Under invisible barbed wire,” he explained.  “Like in the obstacle courses.”

            “Oh.”  So that’s what that had been.  He could almost see it.

            “We didn’t get it right?” Kai asked.

            “Try using your arms and legs more.  Get off of your stomach.  You’re crawling, not slithering.”

            “I think that you should show us,” Baekhyun said.

            “Yes, I think we need a demonstration,” Chen agreed.

            “Sure, good,” he agreed.  “L!”

            “Not him, you!” Baekhyun said.

            “It looks better when he does it,” Hoya explained.

            “Everything looks better when he does it,” Sehun said.

            Hoya went back out to the living room, trailing EXO members.  “They need you.”

            “For what?” L asked.

            “Show them the low crawl and the high crawl, their technique’s terrible.”

            “Wait, there are two different kinds?” Kai asked.

            “My research said nothing about this,” Baekhyun said.

            “You should demand a refund on those crappy websites you read for free,” Chen told him.

            “I’m going to!”

            “Why are you researching army crawls?” Suho asked.  “Baekhyun-ah, we’re not in so much danger that we need military techniques.”

            “No, it’s not that!  Thanks for bringing that up, though,” Baekhyun said.  “No, I wanted to see if I could do obstacle course stuff.”

            “We don’t have any logs or boulders or mud or barbed wire, so it’s difficult,” Chen said.

            “Go ahead, show them,” Hoya told L.  He saw no reason to let this go; humiliating L was too much fun.

            “Your technique is better,” L said.

            “No, you’ll be great, go ahead.”

            “I think whoever’s better at it should show us,” Baekhyun said.

            “I think that L should show us,” Sehun said.

            “I’m terrible at it, he’s the supersoldier,” L said.

            “I’m a what?” Hoya asked, laughing.

            “You’re a supersoldier?” Baekhyun asked, clearly loving the idea.

            “No!  That’s not even a real term!” he exclaimed.  “What are you saying, don’t give them ideas,” he told L.

            “I can’t do it without barbed wire,” L said.

            “Oh, right,” he agreed.  “That’s true, we can’t do it under these conditions.”

            “We’ll ask JD, he’ll do it,” Chen told Baekhyun.

            “But is JD a supersoldier?” Baekhyun asked.  “I don’t think that he’ll do it right.”

            “There are no supersoldiers, there’s no such thing,” Hoya said.

            “Were you in a special supersoldier unit?” Baekhyun asked.  “Was it a secret unit, is that why you have to act like supersoldiers aren’t real?”

            “Yes, I’m a secret supersoldier,” Hoya said.  “With a secret supersoldier identity.  And a supersoldier cape and tights.  And a big S on my chest.”

            “Yeah, I can see you in tights,” Sehun said.

            A faint beep in his ear.

            “Here.”

            “President-nim, Xiumin’s calling for you.  Should I put him through?”

            He sighed, ruffling his hair.  “Yeah.”

            “Okay, you’re both on the line,” Info said.

            “Hey,” Xiumin said.  “How’s your knee?”

            “It’s fine.”

            “Okay.  I made a couple of lunchboxes and stuck them in the fridge, so if you want to get one later, or take one with you, you can.”

            “That was nice of you, thank you.”

            “And - - who’s on this call, who can hear me?”

            “I’m here,” Info said.

            “Non-disclosure agreement?”

            “Applies to me, too,” Info said.

            “Good.  If you want me to watch you get off later, we can do that, or Sehun’s willing to blow you, if you want it.”

            “You’re very preoccupied with sex,” Sunggyu said.

            “I’m preoccupied with your cock,” Xiumin said.

            Info had a sudden coughing fit.

            “You can blow me, Sehun can blow you, we can have ourselves some real fun.”

            “That’s a very...obscene offer,” Sunggyu said.  “And it’s a generous offer!  Thank you for the lunchboxes, I’ll look forward to them.  I’ll hang up now.”

            “I’ll look forward to seeing you later,” Xiumin said, and hung up.

            “He’s a lot of fun,” Info said.

            He didn’t take Sunggyu seriously.  At all.  But he was being very nice all of a sudden.  “How did he go from ordering every meal he eats to making all of this food?” Sunggyu asked.

            “He’s been downloading cookbooks and watching a lot of cooking videos on-line,” Info said.

            That was the good thing about talking to Info; asking him a question could lead to getting an informative answer.  “Under the non-disclosure agreement, you will never mention to anyone that some idol wants to put his junk in my mouth.”

            “Understood, president-nim.”

            Toes.  Chanyeol had a photo of toes.  Not the big toe or the pinky, but the three toes right in the middle.  A perfect row of bare toes.  Very smooth, freshly trimmed toenails.  Such clean, attractive toes.  He could kiss those toes.  He would totally be willing to do that.

            Maybe he was getting photos of the sexiest parts of Info first.  Maybe these were the parts Info was more confident about, and the rest of Info wasn’t quite so good-looking.

            Or maybe these were the boring, basic parts and the rest was even better.

            Either way, he was okay with it.  Either Info was seriously freaking handsome, and he was about to have himself a gorgeous boyfriend.  Or his boyfriend had the sexiest knees in the world, and lovely, kissable toes, and the rest of Info was kind of a mess.  But he’d fallen for the guy who talked to him every night, someone smart and logical and competitive who loved knowledge and had a terrific, youthful, happy laugh.  If he wanted looks, he could date an idol.  He wanted Info.  And Info would always be a hottie in his eyes.

            “We have practice now?” Sehun asked.

            “What, so suddenly?” Baekhyun asked.

            “That’s okay,” Lay said.

            “God, I’m already exhausted,” Xiumin said.

            “I know that it’s sudden, but it’s important,” Suho said.  “Everyone, in the vans.”

            Baekhyun grumbled, but only under his breath, where Suho wouldn’t hear.  He was in a lousy mood already, anyway.  The only Arctic Fox guys around were L and SJ; H had freaking disappeared on him.  Not cool, not cool at all.  It was almost like pinning all of his sexual desires and romantic hopes and sense of security on one person who had no real allegiance to him and was only around him to collect a paycheck was a bad idea.

            When they got to the SM building, they went up to their practice room.  And walked into a playground.  Laughing, Baekhyun pushed Sehun aside so that he could see better.  H and JD and Namu were there, with hula hoops and traffic cones and kickballs.

            “What is this?” Xiumin asked.

            “An obstacle course,” Namu said.

            “Idol-style,” H added.  “Less risk of injury.”

            “Did you know about this?” Baekhyun asked Suho, and Suho just laughed at him, looking all proud and happy.  What a jerk!  He hugged Suho.

            “It looks fun!” Chen said.

            “Get in three teams of three,” Namu said.

            “Beagle team, maknae team, hyung team,” Kai said.

            “Oh, we’re going to slam your asses,” Chanyeol said.

            “Beagle team bringing the smack talk,” L said, laughing.

            “Talk is all that team is good for,” Sehun said.

            “Ooohh!” everyone exclaimed.

            “Okay, SJ will demonstrate the course for you,” H said.  “Go ahead.”  He stepped back, gesturing.

            “JD can do it,” SJ said.

            “Oh, me?  Okay.”  JD tucked his shirt in.

            It was a great course!  They had to slither - - army crawl - - under ropes without setting off the bells, and they had to hop through rings, and they had to carry each other around the “perimeter” while dodging balls, and all kinds of stuff!  Baekhyun loved it.  “After we all do it, you should have to do it, too,” he said.

            “I’ll play,” Namu said.

            “I’ll be on the team Namu’s not on,” SJ said.

            “No, we can’t, we don’t have the right number of people,” H said.

            “Too bad,” L said.

            “Where’s Kim?  He can do it,” Xiumin said.

            Like four of the Arctic Fox guys reached for their earpieces at once.  Laughing, Namu asked Info to send Kim to EXO’s practice room.  “We’re practicing maneuvers.  We need him on site.  Yes.  Yes.  Namu out.”

            “He’s not on my team,” H said.  “I’ll take JD and L.”

            “You’re not sticking me with the two of them!” SJ protested.

            “Too late, sorry,” L said.  “Good luck.”

            “Let’s have team coaches,” Suho suggested.  “Namu can cheer our team on and tell us what to do.  Tell us what to look out for.”

            “I call H,” Baekhyun said.

            “No, JD,” Chen said.  “He’s more positive, he’ll encourage us.”

            “H is a supersoldier,” Baekhyun argued.

            “There’s no such thing,” Chen said.

            “I want Info to cheer for us,” Chanyeol said.

            “What, over the phone?” Chen asked.

            “Info is a voice in your head,” Baekhyun said.

            “He has toes!  And a knee!  At least one knee!”

            “Are they waiting for spare parts to come in before they assemble the rest of him?” Chen asked.

            “Don’t say mean things about my boyfriend,” Chanyeol said.  “I can’t say anything mean back, I’m afraid that your boyfriend will blow me up.”

            “Your boyfriend is a knee,” Baekhyun said.

            “Your boyfriend is a supersoldier,” Chanyeol said.  “He doesn’t exist.”

            While everyone laughed, Baekhyun raised a threatening fist.

            “Okay, guys, don’t smack talk your own teammates,” Namu said.

            “Beagle team,” Sehun said.  “All talk.”

            Deciding to ignore Chanyeol’s nasty and totally accurate comments, Baekhyun focused on the course.  The maknae team went first.  Kai was terrific at all of it, which made him worry about his own team’s chances.  He was stuck with Chanyeol and Chen, so he was pretty much his own team’s ace.  D.O. was good at it, because D.O. was a creepy little freak who was good at everything.  Sehun got all tripped up in the hula hoops and ruined the team’s time, though, which was great.

            Even just watching the other members attempt the course was fun.  It was a hilarious competition, and they all played around with it, cheering each other on, taunting and teasing.

            Kim came in, took one look, and walked out again.  Namu had to chase him down and drag him back in.

            Before the hyung team could start, Xiumin wanted to know what they were competing for.  “What do we win?  Dinner?  Blowjobs?  First in the shower for a week?”

            “Not the shower, I hate showering after you,” Sehun said.

            “Why?”

            “Because you always jack off in there and I feel like there’s cum all over the wall.”

            “If I could come in you more often, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Xiumin said.

            “So if we win blowjobs and the shower, that solves all of those issues,” Lay said.

            “You already get plenty of blowjobs,” Chen said.

            Sehun high-fived Kai, who laughed.

            “I want to win blowjobs,” Chanyeol said.

            “Do you get a lot of blowjobs from your knee?” Baekhyun asked.

            “No one’s winning blowjobs,” Suho said.  “Dinner, that’s good, whoever wins gets dinner.  Losing team has to pay for it.”

            “You’re really killing my motivation to win,” Xiumin said.

            The hyungs did well on the course.  Not as well as Kai, but they didn’t get tripped up as badly as Sehun, so their overall time was good.  For a minute, they were ahead.  Then they got to the part where two of them had to carry the third one while Arctic Fox threw balls at them.  They started arguing over who was strongest and who was lightest, and who should carry whom, and Baekhyun was glad, because it was messing up their time.  Namu called out, “It’s not about ego or pride!  It’s about teamwork and getting everyone to the finish line together!”  All of a sudden they were much more cooperative, and Xiumin and Lay carried Suho around the room, ducking and dodging and trying not to trip.

            Baekhyun didn’t want to fall into the same trap, so he told Chanyeol, “We’ll carry Chen.”

            “No,” Chen said.  “We’ll carry you.  I’m stronger than you, and you’re lighter than I am.”

            “But I can dodge the balls better than you.”

            “You’re little, you’re easy to carry,” Chanyeol said.

            “I’m not that easy!”

            “It’s not about pride and ego, Baekhyun-ah,” Chen said, patting his head.

            Oh, that was just obnoxious.

            Chanyeol and Chen were both terrible at army crawling, and they set off the bells a thousand times, and Baekhyun couldn’t believe that they were going to have to buy a bunch of smug maknaes dinner.  He went as fast as he could, to make up for it.  When they had to carry him, they almost dropped him, and it was so bad that the hyung team insisted that his ass had touched the floor.  It totally hadn’t!  They ended up with the worst time of all three teams.  Chen blamed Chanyeol’s awkward, huge feet, and Chanyeol blamed Chen’s ass for setting off the bells too often, and Baekhyun thought that everyone could agree that he’d done super well, and that was what really mattered.

            “Okay, JD and L on my team,” H said.  He and L took off their hats, fixing their hair.

            “Team, what team?” Kim asked.

            “You’re not sticking me with the two of them,” SJ insisted, his hands on his hips.

            “Two of who, two why?” Kim asked.

            “What are your team names?” Chen asked.

            “Tree team and failure team,” Namu suggested.

            “I’m on the ‘I’m not playing, good-bye’ team,” Kim said.

            “We should do it, even if it’s silly,” JD said.  “It’s a team-building exercise, it’s good for teamwork and cooperation.”

            “The president loves stuff like this,” H said.

            “Does he?” Kim asked.

            “Does the president do things like this?” Xiumin asked.

            “I pictured him like an old man in a suit who just tells everyone else what to do,” Sehun said.

            “Oh, he loves telling people what to do,” SJ said.

            “It’s his specialty,” JD agreed, laughing.

            “Maybe he’s a supersoldier,” Chanyeol told Baekhyun.

            “I’ll do it,” Kim decided.  “But I’m going last.”

            “Our team can be first,” JD agreed.  “I’ll start.”

            “Fighting!” L urged.

            “You hold the timer, I don’t trust them,” Kim said, taking it from Namu’s hand and giving it to Suho.

            JD began the course, and Baekhyun realized that he’d only been doing it for fun during the demonstration.  All of a sudden, he was doing it for real, and it was a completely different experience.  He was fast, and nimble, and sinuous.  He didn’t make one wrong move, not one misstep, not one.  He sped through the course like lightning.

            Baekhyun didn’t have time to ask Chen, “What the hell?” because as soon as JD was finished, L was in it.  L was bigger than JD, but he looked really strong.  He powered through the army crawl fast.  He wasn’t as weirdly graceful as JD, but he was light on his feet when he needed to be.

            So this was how professionals did it.  Shit.  Baekhyun was getting kind of turned on.

            The whole time L did the course, H was stretching, shaking out his muscles, warming up for it.  Shit, this was serious business.  As soon as L was through, JD shouted, “Go!” and H dove under the bells.  Shocked, Baekhyun grabbed hold of Chen.  H took the course like an expert, like he’d been practicing and learning the course for months and had every nuance of it down pat.  He was quick, and he was competitive, aggressive.  As soon as he got to the end, he said, “Come here,” but JD was already in motion, and he had JD in his arms.

            Namu’s team was way more aggressive in hurling balls at H’s team than they had at EXO, which Baekhyun was kind of grateful for, because it was like a red blizzard all of a sudden, balls flying thick and fast.  H carried JD alone, L right behind him and calling out warnings.  Baekhyun hadn’t realized that they could finish the course that way; the EXO members had all teamed up to carry in pairs.  “Ah!  Watch out!” Chen exclaimed when a ball almost slammed right into L’s side.  L ducked and rolled and went right across the finish line.

            “Time!  Time!” H called, dropping JD.

            “Whoo!”  JD hopped up, laughing.  “Let’s do it again!”

            “God, my heart’s racing,” L said, rubbing his chest.

            “I think that we looked that good when we did it,” Chanyeol told Chen.

            “Yeah, their time could never beat ours,” Chen agreed.

            God, that had been sexy.  So, so sexy.  Baekhyun wished that he’d pushed harder for that “blowjobs for the winners” idea.

            After seeing H’s team, Baekhyun didn’t have any hope for the other team.  Namu was a corporate suit, not a supersoldier, and SJ was too skinny, and Kim was a useless hoobae.  No way could they really compete.

            SJ went first.  He was skinny, but he was really lithe, really graceful, and he seemed determined not to let the others show him up.  He went through the course with way more intensity and aggression than Baekhyun had expected.

            While SJ went, Namu prepared.  He took off his jacket, and then he took off his shirt.  Ooohh, there were muscles under that suit.  Namu was kind of ripped, god damn.  He studied the course with fire in his eyes.  It was like the nice guy was gone and the beast was coming out and oh, god, who were these people?

            Namu stormed the course with just as much ferocity as the rest of Arctic Fox.  They were strong, agile, in perfect control of their bodies, completely aware of their surroundings, and they made the course look easy, like a child’s toy.

            “Almost your turn,” H said to Kim.

            “Don’t fuck this up for us,” SJ said.

            His hands hovering on either side of his head, Kim stared at the course in desperation.  “Fuck, fuck, I hate all of you,” he said.  He looked so nervous, Baekhyun was sure that he’d just land right on top of the bells instead of slithering under them.  He wiped his hands on his jeans.  He stared at the course like he was trying to memorize it, and he was so anxious, Baekhyun empathized with him.  It had to be hard to follow up his sunbaes’ performances.

            And then he breathed in, and his shoulders went back, and his chin went up, and there was a completely different look in his eyes.  Shocked, Baekhyun shivered.

            “Done, go!” Namu shouted, hitting his mark.

            Kim went for it.

            “Fighting!”  “Yes, yes!”  “Do it, do it!”  “You’ve got it!”  Namu and SJ cheered him on the whole way, but Baekhyun didn’t think that he needed it.  Baekhyun didn’t think that he needed anyone else to be in the room.  This was a fight between Kim and the course, and the course had lost as soon as Kim had looked at it.  He wasn’t as strong as L or as sinuous as JD, but he wanted it more than anyone.  He was full of determination and fight, but he didn’t have SJ’s aggression or Namu’s fire; he had pure confidence and sheer force of will.  He’d decided to win this thing, and nothing would stand in his way.

            As soon as he got to the others, SJ jumped on Namu’s back.  They sped through a barrage of balls.  Crossing the finish line, Namu kept going, crashing into the wall.  As SJ slid off of his back, he burst into breathless laughter.  “Did we finish?”

            “Did we win?” SJ asked, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

            “Oh, I died,” Kim said, collapsing onto the floor in slow motion.

            “Don’t tell me that we lost to them,” L said.

            “I can’t live that down,” H said.

            “Namu team wins,” Suho reported.

            SJ applauded.  “We did it,” Namu said, rubbing Kim’s shoulders.

            “I want a rematch, the timer’s biased, Suho’s been on Namu’s side from the start,” H said.

            “What do we win, dinner?” SJ asked.

            “Blowjobs?” Namu asked, laughing.

            “A raise, I want a raise,” SJ said.

            “Our team captain will buy your team dinner,” L said.

            “Team captain?” H repeated.  “Wait, wait, no.”

            “You made this course and you lost,” L said.

            “Oh, that’s embarrassing,” Chen said.

            “Embarrassing?” H repeated.  “Which team had the worst time, again?  Whose team was that?  Let’s double-check.”

            “I’m not a supersoldier!” Chen protested, laughing.

            “Let’s all go, I’ll pay for everyone,” H said.

            “You will?” JD asked.

            “On the company card,” he said, grinning.

            “I don’t think that the president will like that,” JD said, laughing.

            “He’ll get over it,” H said.

            As everyone talked and joked and compared times and headed for the door, Baekhyun looked the course over again.  It had been fun.  It had been kind of exhilarating, going through it.  A personal test.  The real thing had to be a hundred times more intense, at least.  He could see why H liked it.

            “You were great,” H told him.

            “Not like you.”  H’s hat was back on already.  “This was really great.  Thanks for setting it up.”  It had been terrific to play with the members, to forget their stress and cheer each other on.  They’d needed this.  And watching H play supersoldier had given him a hard-on.

            “Sorry there’s no barbed wire,” H said.  “Maybe next time.”

            “Next time would be great.”  He couldn’t wait to do this again.  “So those courses that your friend runs, that you go to sometimes.  Even if I can’t do it myself, can I watch?”

            “They discourage that, but you might be able to check it out if I pull strings.  Why, you want to take a look?”

            “I want to watch you crawl through mud with a knife clenched between your teeth.”

            H nodded, rubbing his jaw.  “That is one of my best looks.”  Then he smiled, nudging Baekhyun toward the door.  “Come on, you can eat as much as you want, I’m buying.”

            “Sounds like the president’s buying,” he said.

            “But I’m the one using his card.”

            “Oh, well, then, that’s definitely very generous of you.”

            “I think so,” he agreed, and they smiled at each other.

            When JD helped Kim to get up, he winced.

            As soon as he saw that, Xiumin was across the room and at his side.  “You shouldn’t have done this.  How’s your knee?”  Xiumin took his hand.  He wasn’t bleeding, at least.

            “It’s okay.  It just stings a little, you don’t have to worry.”

            Not convinced, he wanted to see it for himself.  He squatted down and rolled up the leg of Kim’s jeans.  Bleeding again, fuck.  That goddamned army crawl.  “There’s a first aid kit downstairs, we’ll use it before we go.”

            Kim sputtered and tried to disagree, but he disregarded it.  Downstairs, he told the others to go ahead, that he and Kim would be there in a minute, and then he took Kim into an office.

            While he was applying more ointment, Kim said, “You did well.  You’re stronger than you look.”

            “You’re tougher than you look, too.”  There was a lot more to Kim than he’d realized.

            “The lunches are very nice.  Very tasty.  Thank you, it’s nice of you to do that for me.”

            “Maybe I’ll make some more.”  Finished taping a fresh bandage, he got up.  Then he sat on Kim’s other knee.  “Come back to the dorm after dinner.”  He toyed with Kim’s bangs.  This haircut was really growing on him.  It was distinctive.  “I want to…”  He wanted a lot of things.  “I want to make you feel good.”

            Kim nodded slightly, then tucked his lips in, looking down.  His expression was thoughtful and regretful, and that made Xiumin’s gut twist unpleasantly.  Meeting Xiumin’s eyes again, he said, “It isn’t personal.  It isn’t a personal thing at all.  But there are rules.”

            “Then they’re rules that you’ve already broken.”

            “I did,” he admitted.  “I broke them, and that’s my fault.  I take responsibility for that.  I got carried away, and I made a mistake.  It’s not personal,” he repeated earnestly, like that was supposed to mean something.

            “It feels personal,” Xiumin said, getting up.  “If you’re taking responsibility, I hope that you take responsibility for that, too.  I hope that you take responsibility for shoving me aside and making me feel like shit.”

            Kim looked pained.  He reached out, his eyes beseeching.  “Xiumin-ah-”

            Outraged, he slapped Kim across the face.  “Don’t you ever speak so informally to me again.  Don’t you ever take me so lightly.”

            He swallowed, lowering his head.  “Yes,” he said, balling his fists in his lap.  His voice was quiet.  “I understand.  I’ve been wrong, I won’t take you lightly.”

            “Fuck you,” Xiumin said, as rudely and as scornfully as he could, and he left.

            Kim didn’t show up to dinner.

            Suho was glad that they’d done the obstacle course.  It had given his members a happy night, a fun event.  They had good memories of it, and they teased each other about it, and they joked around, challenging each other to future match-offs, getting creative in describing how they might build their next course.

            They’d all seen a new side of Arctic Fox, too.  Just remembering seeing Namu’s shirt come off made Suho’s stomach turn somersaults.  Remembering the way Namu had fucked him that night made him ache.  He’d needed it, he’d needed the pleasure, the release, and Namu had given him everything.

            The next morning, he’d moaned, feeling Namu’s fingers slip inside him again.  “Do you provide all of your clients with this kind of service?” he’d asked, breathless, pleasure spinning through him.  “Or is this preferential treatment?”

            “Mmm.”  Slow, sexy kisses, and then Namu had grinned at him.  “We bill for it under ‘additional services.’”  Fullness, penetration, Namu’s erection nudging into him, and he’d groaned, trying to pull Namu closer.  “So let’s make sure that you enjoy this,” Namu said, thrusting deeper, setting off riotous, ecstatic sparks.  “Want to make sure that you get everything your company’s paying for.”

            Chanyeol printed out his photo of Info’s knee.  Then he printed out his photo of Info’s toes, and hung them on the wall, side-by-side.  Then he hung up his new photo of Info’s ankle.  Standing back, he put his hands on his hips and studied his photos.

            He was very happy with his photo collection, and he couldn’t wait to watch it grow.

            Unfortunately, Lay thought that having photos of random disembodied body parts on the wall made him seem like a serial killer, so he had to take them down.  He put them in a photo album instead.  He kept the album on his desk so he could look at Info whenever he wanted.  He wasn’t sure that he could jack off to the photos, but he gave it a shot, and it turned out to be alarmingly easy.  He started imagining coming on Info’s knee, or shooting his load all over Info’s toes, coming on Info’s toes and then sucking it off, his tongue slipping in between Info’s sexy, bare toes, and he came so hard he cried out like a wild animal and Sehun came in to check on him.

            H spoiled Baekhyun, treating him like a little kid.  All of a sudden Baekhyun wasn’t mature enough to sleep without supervision.  H had been sharing sleep shifts with Kim, so Baekhyun always had someone on guard, but Kim wasn’t sleeping over anymore.  Kim was barely around anymore, period.  Probably out chasing down suspects or something.  And falling on his face.

            Since JD was constantly around Chen, anyway, he was in the dorm a lot.  So Baekhyun slept in Chen’s room.  Suho slept in Baekhyun’s bed.

            Xiumin didn’t care.  No one seemed worried about his sleep patterns; no one asked if he wanted security around or not.  But he was fine, anyway.  He was an adult, he didn’t need baby-sitters, and he didn’t need guard dogs, or guard foxes, sleeping on his floor.

            The purple bedroll was still tucked behind the couch.  He considered throwing it out, but he left it.  L could use it, for all he cared.

            One day he cooked a ton of delicious food.  One day he decided that he was never cooking again.  One day he made a bunch of stuff, then decided that it wasn’t good enough and threw it all away.  His members were upset with him for wasting food, but screw it.  He hadn’t made it for them, anyway.

            “Okay, if they’re two to a room, then they’ll need four of us to room with them,” JD said.  “No, five.”

            “Three to a room, plus three of us to stay with them,” SJ said.

            “They’re too famous and important to stay three to a room,” Namu said.

            “JD and Chen in one room, Suho and Namu in one, H and Baekhyun, L and D.O.,” Info said.  “Then, say, Sehun with JD and Chen, Xiumin with Suho and Namu, uh, Chanyeol with L and D.O., and Kai and Lay with H and Baekhyun.  Good?”

            “No, but that doesn’t work,” L said.  “If I have to stay up on guard all night, and stay with them all day, when do I sleep?”

            “So three idols and two of us to a room?” Info asked.

            “They won’t like that,” Namu said.

            “If it keeps us alert and them covered, it’s the best way,” JD said.

            “So JD and Chen and-”

            “No,” Sunggyu said, cutting Info off.  “We’re going to work, not to play grab-ass.  Assign rooms based on safety, not based on where JD wants to put his cock or what turns Suho on.  Hotel security has more leaks than a sieve, we can’t afford to be distracted or make mistakes.  If you like these idols enough to put your cock in them, then like them enough to keep them safe, too.”

            “Understood,” Info said.

            “We’re traveling in three shifts,” Suho explained.  “Your plane assignments will be your room assignments, too.  We need to sleep three to a room, so that the Arctic Fox team can make sure that our rooms are secure.  If we’re too spread out, they can’t keep an eye on us.”

            “Do we get to choose our own roommates?” Lay asked.

            “No,” Suho said.  “The Arctic Fox team and management have already decided on that.”  He checked his phone.  “You’re going with Xiumin hyung, Baekhyun, JD, and Namu.  I’m going with Chen, D.O., H, and Kim.  Chanyeol, Kai, and Sehun are going with L and SJ.”

            “What?” D.O. asked.

            “That’s not right,” Baekhyun said.  “Did you read that wrong?”

            “I’m going with L,” D.O. said.

            “It’ll be okay,” Suho said.  “They’re all well-trained, they’re all professional, we’ll be safe no matter what.”

            “We’re with H and Kim,” Chen told D.O.  “We’ll be super safe, I wouldn’t worry about a thing.”

            “I’m with the clown and the suit!” Baekhyun exclaimed.  “What the hell, why can’t I go with H?”  Was this on purpose?  Were they splitting them up on purpose?  Was H trying to shake him loose?  Was the Fox worried that they were getting too attached?

            “It sounds randomly assigned,” Kai said.  “I don’t think there’s a lot of meaning behind it.”

            “Random, except that no one’s together,” Baekhyun said.  “If it were random, somebody would still be together.”  No, this was deliberate.  Someone was making sure that they were all separated.  “The Fox is behind this.”  As soon as the words were out, he heard how dramatic they sounded.  “Okay, maybe not.”  But he hated it, anyway.  Maybe he couldn’t switch the plane assignments, but he was definitely getting into H’s room, one way or another.

            D.O. packed methodically.  Toothpaste.  Razor.

            “Hey.”  L was in the doorway.

            “Hi,” he said without looking up.  He tucked clean socks next to his bathroom kit.

            “I have to go now.  I have to take your members to the airport.”

            “Bye.”  Clean underwear.

            “I’d stay and go with you if I could.”

            “Bye.”

            “You know I mean it.”

            “Bye,” he said again, walking over to his closet.

            L sighed.  “Here, maybe you can read this on the plane.”  L put something in his bag and walked away.

            He stood in front of his closet, looking down at nothing.  He heard people say good-bye.  He heard promises to meet up at the hotel.  He heard them leave.

            He walked over to his bed.  There was a package sticking out of his bag.  Gift-wrapped.

            He unwrapped it.

            It was a book.

            He studied the cover for a minute.  Then he sat down and opened it to the first page.

            Baekhyun was used to having H around.  He was also used to having L around.  Not as often as H, but almost constantly.  Being stuck with only JD and Namu was weird.  He felt like he was with the second string; he wanted the real thing.  Probably, based on what he’d seen at the obstacle course, JD and Namu could handle whatever came up just fine, but, still.  He was used to guys dressed all in black.  The suit and the clown just weren’t the same.

            They were nice, though.  They were both really friendly.  Namu was kind of flirty, and JD was kind of deep and goofy at the same time, a little offbeat, going at his own pace.  If Baekhyun had been looking for friends, they would’ve been great.  But he was looking for supersoldiers, and he just wasn’t sure about them.

            When they all got to Japan, Baekhyun acted like everything was cool, everything was normal.  Press conference, practice, dinner, all good.  Then, as soon as he got back to the hotel, he texted Chen.  “Let’s switch.  Meet me in the hallway.”

            “Yes,” Chen texted back immediately.

            Baekhyun hopped up and headed for the door.

            “Wait, where are you going?” JD asked.

            “Just next door,” he said.

            “I’ll go with you,” JD said.

            “Namu can come with me,” he said.

            In the hallway, he shook hands with Chen, then went into Chen’s room while Chen went into his.  “Hi,” he said, walking in.  “Which bed’s mine?”

            “None of these,” Suho said.  “Baekhyun-ah, don’t be like this.”

            “No, it’s okay, Chen’s taking my spot.”  He crawled onto the bed that D.O. was sitting on and sprawled out.

            “Leave him,” Kim told Namu.  “We’ll take him back later.”

            “All right.”  Namu murmured something to Suho, who blushed and kissed him.  He left, and Baekhyun made a big show of getting very comfortably settled in.

            Suho and H talked.  D.O. read.  Kim had what sounded like a really boring conversation with Info.  It was all so exciting that Baekhyun actually fell asleep.

            D.O. finished his book.  He got up and got ready for bed.  Washed his face, brushed his teeth.  He couldn’t wander the hotel in his underpants, so he put on a robe.  Then he asked H to call L for him.

            “To say what?” H asked.

            “To meet me in the hallway.”

            H got up and walked him to the door.  He went out; L was waiting for him.  His new book in hand, he went into L’s room.  L followed him in and closed the door.  He took off his robe, and then he crawled in bed beside Sehun and tucked his book under his pillow.

            “You okay?” Sehun asked, putting an arm around him.

            “Mmm.”  He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

            “What am I doing?” L asked, rubbing the back of his neck.  The room was dark, lit only by a lamp in the corner.  It was quiet; Sehun and D.O. were in one bed, Kai in the other, Chanyeol on the phone in the bathroom.

            “Nothing,” SJ said.  “He’s doing everything.  He’s the one who came over here, you didn’t ask him to come.”

            “I must be doing something.”  From across the room, he watched D.O. sleep.  Had he seemed too interested, too encouraging?  Maybe he shouldn’t have asked for the magazines.  Maybe he should’ve let other guys take more shifts.  But he really liked the magazines.  And he liked being with D.O.  Liked it too much, maybe.  That was the problem.  Groaning, he slumped in his chair.

            “Get some sleep,” SJ advised.  “The couch looks comfortable.”

            Sunggyu’s attempt to keep things professional had lasted not even an entire twenty-four hours.  Maybe these idols were too used to having their own way.  Or maybe it just wasn’t worth it.  They were tense, they were scared, they wanted to distract themselves with bodyguards and sexy abs.  If playing around at having crushes helped them to get through a hard time, then, okay.  It wasn’t the first time that someone had latched onto L, and it wouldn’t be the last.

            It was the first time that someone had latched onto Sunggyu, though.  First time in this particular way.  And it hadn’t gone very well.

            He didn’t think that Xiumin had any plans to forgive him.  But that was okay.  He told himself, very firmly, that it was okay.  Xiumin was going through a lot, having a lot of emotions, and if Xiumin needed to hate him for a while, he could take it.

            “Who’s he, is that your manager?” the stylist asked.

            D.O. followed her gaze.  Of course she was talking about L.  He’d learned over the last few weeks that there were two kinds of people.  The ones who treated managers as interchangeable pieces of furniture, and the ones who asked about L.  “He’s new.”

            “Good-looking,” she said.

            “Yes.”  It didn’t embarrass him to say it; it was a fact, L was handsome.

            “Your company should sign him.  Give him an actor contract, not a manager’s job.”

            “I think that he’s happy doing what he’s doing.”

            A few minutes later, D.O. saw her approach L.  She initiated conversation, and she flirted.  L talked to her a little bit, but when she touched him, he pulled back.  He always did that, when someone hit on him.  Always pulled back.  That was why D.O. never touched him.  It would hurt too much if he pulled back.  And it would imply too much, it would confuse things, if he didn’t.

            The EXO members had time off to run around Japan on their own.  Everyone had a different idea about what he wanted to do.  They all gathered up in Suho’s room, dressed in their ridiculous sponsored clothing, and argued over who would go where.

            They didn’t make any progress, so they played rock, paper, scissors.

            Baekhyun won first.  He looked thrilled and a little nervous about that, like he was afraid that someone would take his opportunity away from him.  He said, “I’m going by myself,” and then grabbed H’s hand and left.

            Chen won next.  “Bye, have fun,” he said, taking JD and leaving.

            Suho won and took Namu.

            Lay won.  “Come with me?” he asked Kai.

            “Of course, hyung,” Kai said.

            “We, oh, we shouldn’t take L, I think,” Lay said.  “Do you want to come?” he asked SJ.

            “Sure,” SJ said.

            “Don’t leave me alone with them,” Sehun said.  “Let me come with you.”

            “Sure,” Lay said.

            Lay, Kai, Sehun, and SJ headed for the door.

            Chanyeol looked from D.O. to L, and then from Xiumin to Sunggyu.  “Wait, wait, I’m coming, too,” he said, hurrying after them.  “Don’t go without me.”

            The door closed.

            Xiumin looked at D.O.

            “All three of you can go,” Sunggyu suggested.  “Go shopping.  Spend all of your fans’ money.  Have dinner.”

            “I think we’ll just go on our own,” D.O. said.  His gaze on Xiumin, he edged towards the door.

            L moved with him.  “You two be okay on your own?”

            No.  No, they wouldn’t.

            Slowly, D.O. reached behind himself.  He opened the door, eyes still on Xiumin.  Then, “Run,” he said, and he rushed out.

            Laughing, L hurried after him.  “Wait!”

            Xiumin just stood there for a minute.  Then he went over to the mirror and fixed his hair, like anything had been wrong with it in the first place.  His gaze on the mirror, he said, “Don’t speak to me.  Don’t expect me to speak to you.  I don’t know you, you’re not with me, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t exist.”

            “Got it,” Sunggyu said.

            Xiumin walked out.

            Sunggyu went with him.

            Zipping around the rollerblade park, Baekhyun laughed.  H was always right behind him, hot on his trail, and it was fun, exhilarating, like being chased.  He kept speeding up, to see if he could get away, but H was unshakable, right on his heels, the whole time.

            Taking a turn too fast, he spun himself, unbalancing.  H caught him around the waist and steadied him, then gave him a shove, sending him off again.  Shouting, loving it, he sped away, and H raced after him, catching up easily.  He grabbed H’s hand, and they skated together, racing and circling.

            At the café counter, D.O. placed his order.  Then he glanced at L.  “Do you want anything?”

            L hesitated, then spoke directly to the barista in graceful Japanese.  Better Japanese than D.O. had just used, finishing with a gorgeous, dimpled smile.

            As soon as they sat down, D.O. said, “You know Japanese.”

            “Mmm.”  L sipped his coffee, then smiled.  “So do you.”

            “You seem really fluent.  Have you been to Japan before?”

            “Mmm.  I just learned it in school, like anybody.  And then I had to use it in the army.  And the Fox sent me here a few times.”

            “Why’d you have to use it in the army?”  Then he wondered, “Is that classified, too?”

            “Yeah, sorry.  You and your members all seem multi-lingual.”

            “Yeah, they have us studying Japanese and Mandarin and English.  We have to promote in different countries and sing in different languages.”  He tried his coffee.  Hot!  But, mmm, it was good.  “This is nice.  Can I practice my Japanese on you?  While we’re here?”

            “Sure.  It’ll give me a chance to practice mine, too.  It’s easy to get rusty.”  Then L said something in Japanese.

            He stared at L, trying to replay the words in his head, but it didn’t work.  “Sorry, what?”

            L smiled at him and asked it again, more slowly this time.  “Which country do you like promoting in the best?”

            Oh!  “Korea,” he said.  “But I’m grateful to be able to perform and promote anywhere.  I love seeing EXO-Ls in different countries.  Especially outside of Asia, that’s kind of amazing, that we have fans so far away.  It’s incredible, they don’t even know Korean, but they sing along.  It’s exciting performing in Japan and China, we get such big crowds, so many people.”

            “Okay,” L said, grinning at him.  “Now say it in Japanese.”

            “Korea,” he said, and he was finished.  “That’s my answer.”

            Laughing, L gave his arm a light push.  “Come on, give me more words than that.”

            He smiled, feeling really warm inside, and not from the hot coffee.

            Sungyeol took a photo of his wrist.  Then the back of his wrist.  No, the other side was better.  Should he take it from farther away?  Maybe he should zoom in and crop it.  No, now it just looked weird, all lines and blue veins.

            An alert went off and his head popped up.

            D.O. was carrying his new book.  L didn’t know if it had been a really good or a really bad idea to give it to him.  Maybe it was a good sign that he was carrying around the new one; it meant that his attachment to the first one hadn’t been unbreakable.  “Do you like it?” L asked.

            “It’s good,” D.O. said.  “It’s better than the other one.  Have you read this one?”

            “Yeah.  That’s why I gave it to you, I thought, I don’t know, I thought that you might like it, too.  I read it like four times last year.”

            “It’s kind of romantic.”

            “Do you think so?”  That idea interested him; he hadn’t seen it that way.  It was a novel about a military unit that formed just as the war was ending.  “How?”

            “The bond between the guys in the unit.  The way they all grow to understand each other.”

            “Their camaraderie?”

            “Yeah.  They have such a strong bond.  Over little things.  I think it’s about how they expect to face death and carnage, and they think that they’ll become a team and bond over that, and then the war ends and they don’t have to deal with anything like that.  But what they don’t realize is that they’re bonding over everything else, that just coming to understand each other and work together forges a strong bond, anyway.”

            “Is that what it’s about?” L asked, engrossed in the idea.  He suddenly came to see some of the chapters in a whole new light.

            “What do you think it’s about?” D.O. asked, sounding curious.

            “I just liked the sentences,” L said.  “The writing, I think that it’s really pretty.”

            “It’s really nice,” D.O. said.

            “It’s like poetry in places.”

            “Like the way he describes their first meal together.”

            “Yeah!  I read that part a bunch of times.”  L wanted to read the book all over again, with D.O.’s interpretation in mind.  “Which books do you like, what do you read?”

            Xiumin went shopping.  Bought a ton of stuff and told them to ship it back to his dorm.  Went to dinner and ordered delicious dishes he’d never tried before.

            He pretended that he was alone.  He moved through stores and along streets like he was completely on his own.  Independent, unfettered.  He refused to acknowledge that there was someone at his side, someone hovering, someone holding doors for him and seated across from him at the table.  He looked past, around, right through Kim.

            As far as he was concerned, there was no one there.

            After dinner and some more shopping, he got dessert.  He walked while he ate.  Walked until he had no idea where he was and no clue how to get back.  His tired feet carried him to a bench, and he sat.  Watched neon lights.  Watched people pass.  “You can leave,” he said to no one.  “You can say that I ditched you.  I’ll tell the Fox that it was my fault.”

            “Do you really want me to go?”

            “Yes.”  He knew that he was being an ass.  He also knew that he was lying.  If Kim actually left him stranded, he’d be even more upset than he already was.  And he was really fucking upset.  Way more upset than he should’ve been, more upset than made any sense.  He didn’t know why, either.  Maybe he was more stressed out about the death threat thing than he’d realized, and it was blowing his other emotions out of proportion.  Maybe he was more attracted to Kim than he’d realized.

            He wondered when was the last time Kim had eaten.

            He wondered when was the last time that Kim had gotten to go to the bathroom.

            “I think that when all of this is over, when I’m on another job, maybe we could talk,” Kim said.

            “Talk?  I don’t have anything to say to you.”  He hadn’t glanced over in Kim’s direction yet; he was talking to the air, the sidewalk, the neon lights.

            In his peripheral vision, Kim shifted.  “There are some things that I’d say to you.  A lot of different things.  Some of it - - I think that some of it might surprise you.  But I could tell you that you’re not the way that I thought you were.  There are a lot of different sides to you that I didn’t know were there.  You’re complex, you interest me.  I’m sorry if you think that I don’t take you seriously.  I won’t take you lightly again, I won’t make that mistake.”

            It sounded like an apology.  It sounded kind, in parts, and maybe he should be grateful for that.  But it didn’t sound like a confession.  It didn’t sound like desire or romance.  It didn’t sound like what he’d wanted to hear.

            He felt.  Sad.  Regretful.  Lonely.  He’d wanted something, or tried to create something, or seen the possibility for something.  And now it was gone.  He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, besides everything.  He looked down for a minute and felt hollow inside.  And then he got up, putting his hands in his pockets, and trudged back up the sidewalk, the way he’d come.  He didn’t know how to get back from here, but he’d figure it out on his own.

            D.O. and L finally found the bookstore they’d been looking for.  It was still open, and they wandered up and down the aisles, taking books off of the shelves, opening to random pages and reading passages to each other.  Some were hilarious, and some were badly written, and one was so racy that L blushed and took the book from his hands and shoved it back onto the shelf, and one was so moving that they decided to buy it.

            L turned aside for a second, saying something the way he did when he had to check in with Info.

            D.O. was putting a book back when L’s fingers circled his other wrist.  “Look at me,” L said quietly, gently.  L had never spoken to him with such deliberate tenderness before, and he froze, knowing that something had to be wrong.  Swallowing, he made himself meet L’s eyes.  “There’s someone here, four aisles over, and I think that she followed you here.”

            “From the other store?”

            “From Korea,” L said gently.  “You and I are going to stay here in the store, here in public, where it’s well-lit, with people around, until the rest of my team can get to us.  Info’s sending them here now.”

            L was being very calm and very steady, and D.O. was grateful for that, because he felt like he was slowly coming apart.

            “We’ve been keeping an eye on her, but she wasn’t high on our priority list.  She’s sent a lot of letters, a lot of mail, but it hasn’t been threatening.  Just an unusually high volume, and a lot of emotional intensity.  The kind of thing that might tip over into rage, but hasn’t yet.  She might just be here to be close to you, because she likes to be near to you.  Sometimes when you travel, people feel like you’ve gone too far away, and they miss you, or they feel abandoned, so they get upset, and they try to follow you, if they can.”

            “Should I, should I, what should I do?”

            “Don’t look at her,” L said.  “I need you to act, okay?  Act like everything’s normal.  We’re going to stay in motion, we’ll keep walking around, just go where I go, nice and slow, casual, but not too long in the same place.  It’s a big store, there’s plenty of space for us.  I want her to stay long enough for the team to show up, but I don’t want her to approach you.”

            Act.  Acting.  “Normal,” he said.  He looked down at the book in his hands.  It was just a fan.  A stalker, but not the violent kind.  Yet.  He wondered what would’ve happened if L hadn’t been with him.  If he ever would have noticed her.  Maybe if he’d been out with one of the members, Sehun or someone would’ve recognized her.  Maybe if he’d been out by himself, on his own, she would’ve come over and asked for an autograph.  Maybe she’d come over and stab him for flying out of the country and leaving her behind.  Breathing evenly, he took another book from the shelf.  “This one looks good,” he made himself say.

            “Weird cover,” L said.

            It was, actually.  “What is that, a cow’s face?”

            “Cow, no, it’s a dog.”

            “That’s not a dog, how is that a dog?”

            They talked, and they read books, and they moved through the aisles.  He didn’t look around, just stayed in a bubble of his immediate surroundings, the shelves on either side of him, L.  L’s black hat and muscular shoulders and strong hands and warm eyes.

            L really could’ve contacted Info and not said a word to him, could have kept him in the dark, could’ve distracted him with chatter and dimpled smiles until the others showed up.  But L had told him what was going on.  Respected him enough to include him, not just work around him.  Whatever the differences in their life experience and their access to classified military information, L respected him, and that meant a lot to him.  “Let’s buy two of these,” he said.  The books they’d decided to buy, he was holding onto; they both wanted L’s hands free.  “Two of each of them, so we can both have a copy.”

            “We can read them together, and talk about them,” L said.

            He really liked that idea.  “Now we just have to remember which aisles we found them in.”

            They looked at each other, and they smiled helplessly.  D.O. had no idea which shelves the books were from; they’d been all over the store, and L had kept them moving kind of haphazardly.  “Or we could just buy these, and we could read them to each other,” L suggested.

            “What, aloud?”

            “Is that too weird?” L asked, his smile self-conscious.

            “No!  That’s great.”  It would be incredible.  “I’d love for you to read to me.”

            “I thought that you were going to read to me,” L said, laughing.  “Oh, but should I read?  Would that be too much for your voice?”

            He hadn’t thought of that at all, but it made a convenient excuse.  “Yeah.  It’s probably better if you do it.”

            L gave him a speculative look, and for a second he thought that L saw right through him.  But in the end, L just smiled and said, “Okay.  It’ll be fun.  I like the way you interpret things, it’ll be cool to see what you think.  Let’s get some shorter ones, too, there’s a short story section.”

            When H put his hand to his ear, Baekhyun assumed that it was just normal stuff, the team checking in, Info passing along a message.  Then he looked around, his gaze very focused, sweeping over the street, the people around them.  On alert, Baekhyun looked around, too, trying to see something out of the ordinary, wondering what he was looking for.  Tense now, Baekhyun moved closer to him, and he put his arm around Baekhyun, drawing Baekhyun aside on the sidewalk, closer against a store.  He named the block they were on, and then he said, “I have Baekhyun with me.”

            Baekhyun wanted to ask what was going on, what was happening, was everything okay, were the other members safe.  He wanted answers and reassurances.  But he bit his lip and held himself back, not wanting to distract and interrupt, not if H needed to focus.

            H listened intently, still scanning the street, and Baekhyun wanted to grab at his earpiece and listen, too.  “Got it,” he said, and then there was horrible, tense silence, and then, “Got it.  H out.”  He touched his earpiece and told Baekhyun, “We’re going to the corner, Info’s sending a cab.”  He was already heading up the sidewalk, his arm around Baekhyun.  “A stalker followed D.O. here, she flew in from Seoul, she checked into our hotel, and she’s at the same bookstore D.O. and L are in right now.”

            “A stalker, what do you mean, a stalker?” Baekhyun asked.  “Like the ones that follow us around and take photos or the ones that plan our funerals?”

            “More like the ones who think they’re secretly married to you,” H said.  “I want to drop you off at the hotel first, but we want to talk to her, so we have to move now.  So I have to take you with me.”

            Good.  He didn’t want to be dropped off and left behind.  He wanted to be with H.  And D.O.  He needed to make sure that D.O. was okay.  He was mostly confident that D.O. would be okay, physically, but this was all unnerving.  “I won’t get in the way of your maneuvers or whatever.”

            “SJ’s taking Sehun, Lay, Kai, and Chanyeol back to the hotel.  The other guys are meeting at the bookstore.  I might not be able to stay with you, it depends on how the president wants to handle it, but you’ll be fine, the rest of the team will take you back to the hotel and stay with you.”

            He pretended to agree to that, but he had no intention of being separated from H.

            Xiumin thought that he heard Kim talking, but he ignored it.  Kim was probably talking to Info.  Calling for a cab or something.  He felt like he’d been walking forever.  He thought that he recognized the street they were on, and he seemed to be in a better area of town, now.

            He was being pointlessly stubborn.  What did he think that he was doing, proving a point?  To himself?  To Kim?  This was all meaningless.  If Kim called a cab, he’d take it.  He’d just get in and go back to the hotel, and he’d rest his feet and hear all about whatever the other members had spent the evening doing, and he’d pretend that he’d never felt anything for some sexy, useless dongsaeng with a bad haircut.

            “Xiumin.”  Kim’s hand was on his arm.  Immediately, he jerked away, but Kim said, “This is business.  D.O.’s stalker showed up, L needs me.  I have to go, and you have to come with me.”

            Shoving personal crap aside, he turned, looking up at Kim.  “Is D.O. okay?  Where is he?  At the hotel?”

            “They’re in a bookstore, and we’re going right now.”  Kim opened the door of a cab.

            Action first, questions later.  He got into the cab.  In whispers, Kim explained the situation.  It didn’t seem like a huge catastrophe, which was a relief, but he could tell that Arctic Fox took it seriously.  Considering everything, he said, “If you were on your own, and L called, you’d all go and handle it.  But you’re all out with us, shopping and shit, and now you have to drag us around and worry about who’s going to watch us.  Why didn’t you just lock us up in our hotel rooms all evening?”

            “Your company wouldn’t like it.”

            “Since when does SM care whether we go out shopping or not?”

            “You’re one of their most lucrative products.  When you complain, they get agitated.”

            He wanted to argue, but then he remembered that he’d complained.  About Kim.  To management.  On purpose.  To get Kim in trouble.  He’d deliberately caused problems.  He’d talked to management, and management had talked to the Fox, and the Fox had told the goons to let the EXO members have their way.  And now the goons had to worry about baby-sitting in the middle of actually doing their real jobs.

            And he was surprised that Kim wasn’t head over heels for him?

            Kim was on his phone, looking at what seemed to be a GPS app.  He touched his ear and asked, “Everyone on call?  Check in.”  Then he said, “My ETA, two minutes.  No, you stay with D.O.  If she’s still in place, I’ll wait until the three of you are there.  H, JD, we’ll intercept.  Then I want JD and Namu to take EXO back to the hotel.  Info, I need a location.”

            They couldn’t need four people - - five, including L - - to go up to some sasaeng and ask her what she was up to.  But they needed enough people around to juggle the members and baby-sit.  “Just let me go back to the hotel and get out of your way,” Xiumin said.  “This is stupid, she’s just a fan, she probably just wants to follow him around and take photos.  I can get back to the hotel by myself, I’m holding you back like this.”

            Kim looked at him.  “Do you want me to take you seriously?  I take you seriously.  I take your safety seriously.  I take my work seriously.  Maybe you can only think of me as a dongsaeng, but do you let Suho lead you sometimes?  Let me lead you when it comes to this.  Do what I say and let me make the decisions.”

            Resisting the impulse to argue, he nodded.  He wanted to insist that he could go back to the hotel, that he’d be safe, that it would be easier if he got out of the way.  But he hadn’t known that D.O.’s stalker was around; there might be other things that he didn’t know, either.  He trusted Suho when it came to EXO; he could trust Kim when it came to Arctic Fox.

            He wondered why Kim seemed to be leading the team right now.  Maybe because whoever was first on the scene got to take charge?  Maybe this was Kim’s specialty, tactics?

            When the cab stopped, Kim took a look around before getting out.  “Stay close,” he said, guiding Xiumin out and closing the door.  “I don’t want to have to worry about where you are among other things.  We won’t go in yet, she’ll see you and I don’t want you to be a distraction.”

            He was in the goddamned way!  “Just let me go back to the hotel and-”

            “No.”

            “Then let me help, let me do something.”

            “On site, exterior, waiting,” Kim said, probably to Info.  His voice was slightly different when he spoke to the others; his words were tighter, quicker, more clipped.  No emotion, all business.  To Xiumin, he said, “When Chen gets here, don’t acknowledge him.  They’ll stay on the other side of the door.  Someone might recognize you or him, especially if you’re together, and I don’t want someone going inside making a fuss about EXO and causing a distraction.”

            Xiumin hated this.  He hated that D.O. was inside and he couldn’t help, couldn’t at least be with D.O., couldn’t say anything supportive.  He’d called Kim useless, but he was the useless one.  He was worse than useless; he was dead weight that Kim had to drag around.

            Couldn’t he go in?  Talk to her?  He could distract her attention from D.O.  He could sign autographs.  Ask her if she’d been at the concert.  Give the team time to get in place.  Give D.O. a chance to get away.  D.O. had to be a wide-eyed ball of stress; why was he standing out here doing nothing?

            A cab pulled up.  JD and Chen got out, and Xiumin pretended not to notice, pretended to be engrossed in the window displays.  “What the hell is happening?” he muttered under his breath.

            “She’s still inside,” Kim said.  “She’s gone from staying four aisles away to following two aisles away.  She’s not pretending to browse anymore, she’s openly filming.”

            Xiumin couldn’t stand this.  He had to go in there.  He-

            Kim grabbed his arm.  “EXO with JD, H with me, now, now, we’re intercepting.”

            That wasn’t the plan!  “What’s happening, what the fuck is happening?” Xiumin asked as Kim shoved him across the sidewalk.  H, H wasn’t even there, what-

            JD grabbed him, pulling him aside.  Baekhyun ran over to him, and H bolted past, sprinting through the doors after Kim.  “What is it, what, what, I thought we were waiting for Namu, is everything okay?” Baekhyun was asking, breathless, anxious.

            “It’s fine, it’s fine, L doesn’t think that she’s armed,” JD said.  “She got too close, she tried to make contact.”

            “What is, I mean, she’s just a fan, though, I mean, a stalker fan, but just a fan, right?” Baekhyun asked.

            “We’re not allowed to let any of the subjects make contact,” JD said.  “Even if she just wants to talk to D.O. and say hi and get an autograph, once we identified her as a potential escalating threat, we can’t allow contact.”

            “Can’t allow it?” Chen repeated.

            “It’s in the contract,” JD said.  “Namu’s coming, he’ll go in and get D.O., and then we’ll go back to the hotel.”

            So Xiumin couldn’t have gone in to talk to her.  Couldn’t have been a distraction, couldn’t have helped.  SM and the Fox wouldn’t permit it.  He could’ve blown it.  What would’ve happened?  SM would have terminated the contract?  Arctic Fox would be fired?  Fired without even getting paid?  If he got Arctic Fox fired, if management sent the team away, D.O. would never, ever forgive him.

            “Is it over?  What’s happening?” Baekhyun asked, pressing against the window, trying to see inside.

            “H and Kim are taking her out the back, L’s going to go with them,” JD said.  “It’s fine, there’s nothing to worry about, D.O.’s probably just a little sick of this store now.  Nothing happened, nobody’s in any danger.”

            “It’s just over?  They’re just leaving?” Baekhyun asked.

            “They need to talk to her in private, so Info found them - - oh!”  JD turned around; Namu and Suho were getting out of a cab.

            Immediately, Suho jogged over to them, wide-eyed and pale with worry, grabbing their hands, looking intently into their faces.  “Everyone’s okay?  You’re okay?”  Namu was already heading inside, and as soon as they said yes, Suho went right behind him.

            If Suho could go in, then Xiumin was going, too.  He followed, grabbing the door and entering behind Suho.  “No, Xiumin,” JD said, but he ignored it.

            “I’m, I just, I,” Baekhyun said, and then he was behind Xiumin.

            “Let’s not make a scene,” Chen said, following.

            D.O. was standing with his back to them.  L was facing him, standing really close, talking to him quietly.  L spotted them over his shoulder and must have said something, because he turned around.  He had a worried, stunned expression and an armload of books.  Suho grabbed him, hugged him, and he said, “I’m okay, I’m okay.”

            Namu took the books from him, and he hugged Suho back.  Suho was saying, “It’s okay, you’re okay,” and D.O. was still saying, “I’m okay,” and Xiumin stupidly asked, “Are you okay?” anyway.  Baekhyun laughed, sounding nervous and relieved at once, and said, “I think he’s okay,” and Namu said, “I’m glad,” and stroked D.O.’s hair.

            Suho wasn’t letting go, so Xiumin added to the hug, needing to hold onto D.O. for a second.  Baekhyun and Chen piled on, and the five of them just stood there for a minute, leaning against each other.  “Can’t breathe,” D.O. finally said, so they peeled themselves away.  Suho squeezed Xiumin’s shoulder, and D.O. took his books back from Namu, carefully making them stack up evenly.

            “I have to go,” L said.

            “To where H is?  Great, I’ll come along,” Baekhyun said.

            “We’re going back to the hotel,” Namu told Baekhyun.  “I think that the other members will be glad to see you.”

            “I’ll be glad to see them,” Chen said.  “Let’s never separate again.”

            “Go ahead,” JD told L.  “We’ve got it.”

            “It’s okay,” D.O. said.  Then he told Namu, “I have to buy these before I go.”

            “Is that really important right now?” Baekhyun asked.

            D.O. stared at him with creepy intensity.  “Yes.”

            “Okay,” Namu said, putting a hand on his shoulder.  “Let’s go up to the register.”

            Xiumin had expected D.O. to have way more trouble separating from L, but he just let Namu steer him quietly away.  L watched them for a second, then turned and left.

            Baekhyun held Xiumin’s hand as they followed D.O. to the register and while D.O. paid.  Xiumin didn’t mind.  It was hard, lately, to know how clingy to be.  Xiumin didn’t want to look weak, especially since it would only unnerve the younger members, but he was starting to think that he wasn’t holding himself together as well as he’d thought.

            They took two cabs back to the hotel.  They went into the room where the other members were waiting for them, and everyone sat on the same bed together, talking at once.  They all had a hundred questions.  JD and SJ stood by the window, and Namu stood by the door, having periodic, fragmented conversations with Info.  Xiumin would’ve given anything to have an earpiece of his own, to be in on those calls.

            D.O. told them what had happened.  It all sounded kind of anti-climactic.  “We were talking, I was reading a book, it was a fantasy story about a princess and her unicorns.”

            “Okay, details on the book later, maybe,” Baekhyun said.

            “I’m sure it was a good book,” Lay said reassuringly.

            “All of a sudden L moved right in front of me, with his back to me, and he was whispering something about, ‘Now, now,’ and there was a woman.  I didn’t look at her, I just, I kept reading,” D.O. said.  He was talking too slowly, but his voice was mostly steady; he was tucked right up against Suho’s side, with Suho’s arm around him.  “L was asking her very politely if she could turn around, if she could give me privacy, and then Kim and H were there and he asked her if she could go with them, that they wanted to talk to her about me.  She asked, ‘About my Kyungsoo?’”  His eyebrows contracted for a second.  “She sounded like that made her really happy.  They said yes, SM had sent them, they wanted to talk to her about me.  Then they left.”

            There was a moment of silence after D.O. finished.  Then Baekhyun asked, “That’s it?”

            “Thank god that’s it!” Sehun exclaimed.

            “I don’t want more than that,” Kai said.

            “Yes, no, I know,” Baekhyun said.  “Sorry!  I’m not saying that I wanted like a machete fight!  But it’s not very supersoldiery.”

            “Supersoldiers aren’t real,” three of the members said, and Suho smiled, rubbing D.O.’s back.

            “I’m glad that you’re okay,” Suho said.

            “Yeah,” D.O. said.  He glanced at Suho and smiled a little.  “Me, too.”

            “And now you have all of these fun books to read,” Chen said.

            “I can’t read these new ones,” he said.  “L’s going to read them to me.”

            “He’s going to read them to you?” Chanyeol asked.

            “That’s really cute,” Chen said.

            “First Chanyeol’s dating his own knee, and now D.O.’s part of an eighty-year-old married couple,” Baekhyun said.  “Do you want to buy matching rocking chairs, too?”

            “Rocking chairs can be really comfortable,” Lay said.

            They stuck to the room for the rest of the night, staying under Arctic Fox’s protection.  Lay wanted to go and grab his bag, but since the other rooms hadn’t been secured yet, they wouldn’t be able to get their suitcases until later.

            They ordered room service.  Half of them ate everything in sight; half of them picked at their food, distracted.  They talked about bullshit and watched TV and played music like nothing was going on, and they speculated on what exactly Kim and H and L were doing and what might happen to the stalker.  The bed that D.O. was on became the place for silent snuggling and anxious tension, and the other bed became the place to pretend that nothing was wrong and argue over videogames and kick each other for being annoying, and they mostly gravitated back and forth as their moods went up and down.

            Eventually, they started to fall asleep.  Chen and Lay first, and then Sehun.  Chanyeol tried to stay awake on purpose, wanting to talk to Info, but after Xiumin told him that Info was too busy to talk to him and had a lot going on, he gave up.  Around dawn, only D.O., Baekhyun, and Xiumin were awake anymore.

            D.O. curled up back-to-back with Kai and read his book.  Baekhyun sat by the window and chewed on his thumb.  Xiumin took a bath for lack of anything better to do.  He told himself that he was totally relaxed.  He ran his bare toes around the faucet.  He wondered what Kim was doing.  He wondered what the hell he was doing.

            Having a sudden thought, he got up.  Feeling purposeful, he dried off and put on a robe.  Then he went out and dug around the hotel room until he found some stationery.  He sat down, pen in hand.  How could he start?  “What’s your president’s name?” he asked.

            “Hmm?” SJ asked.

            “The Fox, what do I call him?”

            “Oh, just president-nim.”

            No one had a real name, it was ridiculous.

            President-nim,

            I’m writing to thank you for taking on this special work.  I also want to thank you for hiring and training such exceptional employees.  I’ve been in close quarters with them and seen how dedicated, skilled, and experienced they are.  The people they’re looking over are the most precious people in the world to me, and I’m grateful, knowing that they’re in such capable hands.  When I heard about your team, I was skeptical, but I regret my attitude now.  I was selfish, thinking only of myself and my personal routines, but I understand better now.  I’m grateful to your team for their hard work in keeping EXO safe, and I’ll write to my company’s CEO to say the same thing.

            With a bowed head,

            Kim Minseok

            EXO’s Xiumin

            To keep his word, he wrote a second letter, this one to SM.  Feeling better, he went over to the windowsill.  “Come on,” he said, dragging Baekhyun over to the bed.

            “Wait, but,” Baekhyun said.

            “You need sleep.  We have things to do tomorrow.  H is fine, he’s with L and Kim, you’ll see him later.”  Xiumin pushed Baekhyun down onto the bed, against Chanyeol, and scooted in.  “Go to sleep.”

            In the hotel hallway, L gravitated towards the door on the left, but Sunggyu squeezed his shoulder and guided him to the next door on the right.  “I just want to check,” he said.

            “If you go in, you’ll cause a disturbance,” Sunggyu said.  “Let them sleep, you’ll see them in the morning.”

            “If he doesn’t know how to get in and out of a room without causing a disturbance, fire him,” H said.

            Sunggyu unlocked the door and froze.  Chaos.  The room was a mess.  They wouldn’t have left it like this.  EXO might be messy but they didn’t trash rooms.

            Silently, he gestured.  He and L moved forward, H going to the left.  They crept through the room to verify that it was unoccupied.  No one behind furniture, no one in the bathroom, no one in closets or nooks.  While Sunggyu reported to Info and checked in with SJ, H and L went to check out the third room.  The room SJ was in was fine, and H and L reported that the other room seemed unviolated.

            Just this one, then.  Sunggyu decided to let Namu and JD sleep, and let SJ stay with EXO.  He had L photograph everything while he and H followed, looking for clues.  “This was Lay, Xiumin, and Baekhyun’s room originally,” he said.

            “Yes,” Info said.

            “Who slept here last night, who would a stalker see coming out of the room in the morning?”

            “Lay, Xiumin, and Chen,” H said.

            “But there was no one around watching this morning,” L said.  “Was there?  Did JD or Namu report anyone?”

            “Not to me, no one in particular,” Info said.  “Want me to ask?”

            “When they wake up,” Sunggyu said.

            “So either someone pinned this as Lay, Xiumin, and Baekhyun’s room,” H said.  “Or someone saw Chen coming and going.”

            “Japanese stalker?” L asked.  “Or someone who’s in Japan because they’re in Japan?”

            “This looks angry,” H said, looking at the carnage around them.  Beds torn apart, mirrors broken, suitcases slashed and dumped.

            “Whose suitcases?” Sunggyu asked.  “That’s Chen’s.  Those two, those are Lay’s and Xiumin’s?  Then Baekhyun’s isn’t here?”

            “No, he got it this morning, it’s in the other room,” H said.

            “A fan would know that?” Sunggyu asked.

            “A stalker would know whose is whose, or at least which one belongs to her bias,” L said.

            “Some of these stalkers, they know the clothes he wears, his sizes, his brands.  Once the suitcase is open, she knows if it’s his or not,” H said.

            “Which one did she target?” Sunggyu asked.

            H and L surveyed the damage.  H crouched down and gingerly inspected the torn fabric.  “It’s almost the same.”

            Exactly what Sunggyu was thinking.  “Then she doesn’t discriminate?”

            “Everyone has a bias,” L said.  “Everyone likes or hates someone more than the rest.  She would either have strong enough feelings to protect one and vent against the others, or to attack one and ignore the others.”

            H sighed, letting go of the bag.  “These aren’t the members she’s after.”

            “She came in here looking for Baekhyun,” L said.  “That’s why she’s so pissed off.  She wanted to do whatever she came in here to do, and she couldn’t do it, because he’s not here, his stuff isn’t here.  So she tore everything up.”

            H rubbed his jaw, scratching his stubble, gazing around himself.

            “Let EXO sleep as late as they can,” Sunggyu said.  “They need the rest.  You two, pack their stuff back up, see what you can salvage.  I’ll go tell their managers about this and explain that we need to move them out of here.  Info, contact the back-up hotel.”

            “Got it,” Info said.

            When Baekhyun woke up, the only guy on duty was SJ.  Where was everyone?  “Where’s H?”

            “They’re busy,” Chen said.

            “I think they’re still dealing with last night,” Chanyeol said.  “Info can’t talk.”

            “But where, physically, where are they, geographically?” Baekhyun asked.  By “they” he meant “H.”

            “They’re following up on leads and handling a few details,” SJ said.

            Something was off.  Baekhyun counted heads.  “Who’s in the bathroom?”

            “Kai,” Chanyeol said.

            “Then where’s Suho hyung?”

            “Namu wanted to talk to him.”

            About sex?  Or about last night?

            H was coming back, wasn’t he?  Following up leads was important, and everything, but Baekhyun wasn’t sure that SJ alone was enough security to keep track of all nine members.  Xiumin would take off just to prove a point, and D.O. would wander off in search of L.

            Suho came in looking grim, and Namu came with him, carrying plastic bags.  Baekhyun’s stomach plummeted.  “Members,” Suho said.  “We need to have a meeting.”

            Chanyeol went to get Kai out of the bathroom, and Chen woke up D.O., which Baekhyun thought seemed cruel.  Let the kid sleep, for once.  They all gathered up around the foot of the first bed, and Suho stood in front of them.

            Suho explained that someone had broken into one of the rooms yesterday.  Okay, that wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the first time.

            Suho explained that she’d been destructive and trashed the room.  Shit, that wasn’t good.  They already had a reputation for disrupting the hotels they stayed in; something like this would only give them, and EXO-L, a bad reputation.

            Suho explained that Xiumin and Lay and Chen’s things had been ripped up, and that what was in those plastic bags was what was left.  Baekhyun grimaced and felt bad; tearing up hotel sheets was one thing, but targeting members’ personal property was going way too far, that was scary and mean.  He felt guilty, too; that had been his room, that would’ve been his stuff, not Chen’s.  He felt responsible; as soon as Suho finished talking, he’d apologize, and he’d personally help to replace Chen’s belongings.  He was glad that they’d been out for so long yesterday, and that no one had been around to get hurt, that the stalker hadn’t run into any of them.  Imagine if they’d come back to their rooms while she’d been there!  Anything could’ve happened.  He wished that H were around.  But now he could see why Arctic Fox was so busy this morning.  But H was definitely coming back, definitely escorting them around to their schedules, right?  H wouldn’t leave them alone with just SJ and the suit in the middle of this.

            “They think that they might know who’s responsible,” Suho said.

            “Already?” Lay asked.

            “That was quick,” Xiumin said.  “Did she leave evidence?”

            “There are a few Japanese stalkers, and there are a few stalkers who followed us here to Japan, to see us,” Suho said.  “They’re checking on where those people are and what they’ve been doing for the past twenty-four hours.  It’ll be good if we’re very diligent today.  Don’t stray away from our security, don’t accept anything to eat or drink even from staff or fans, you know the rules.  Stay with the members, look out for each other, make sure that security can hear and see you at all times.  No excuses, no walking away for just a second.”

            “Okay, hyung,” Kai said.

            “But who’s responsible?” Xiumin asked.

            “I wouldn’t say anything, but it seems like they’re pretty sure right now,” Suho said.  “Some of you switched rooms when we first came here, but we had different room assignments.  Baekhyun was meant to be in there.  It’s not definite, but it seems like she thought that she’d found his room.  Someone who’s been sending threatening notes is also in Japan right now, and she posted a bouquet of bloody flowers on-line with a ripped-up ticket to today’s festival.”

            Baekhyun?  “Me?” Baekhyun repeated.  “She was looking for me?”  Chen put an arm around him and Xiumin patted his back, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Suho.  What if she’d found him?  What if she’d found Chen or Xiumin or Lay instead?  Why the hell had he switched rooms?!

            “Ripped-up ticket,” Lay said.  “Does that mean that she’s not coming?  So she won’t be there.  That’s good, isn’t it?”

            “We think so,” Suho said.  “Arctic Fox hopes so.”  He put on his determined leader face.  “I know that this is scary, and everyone’s upset.  But we’ll be more upset if we can’t work.  We’ll be more upset if we make EXO-L anxious.  I don’t want our fans who love and support us and do everything they can to defend us, to worry.  We need to let Arctic Fox do their job, while we do ours.”

            Baekhyun knew that Suho was right, but he really wanted to crawl back into bed and stay there for a while.  Safe behind a locked door with his members.  He wanted to go home, go back to the dorm, with his members around him and H standing guard.

            “Got it,” Chanyeol said.  “PC out!”

            It sounded so much like what Arctic Fox said, Baekhyun smiled involuntarily.

            “Got it,” Chen agreed, laughing.  “Chen out!”

            One by one, the other members said it, peeling away from the pack to argue over who got the next shower, Lay and Chen and Xiumin going to investigate the bags Namu had brought of their rescued things.  “D.O. out,” D.O. said, and then just Baekhyun was left.

            Suho smiled at him, understanding and supportive.  Well, if everyone else was going to be brave and strong about it, if Chen and Lay and Xiumin were trying to be okay and get past it, he wasn’t going to be the ass who freaked out and held everyone else back.  “Baekhyun out,” he decided.  “Let’s all get those earpieces.  We can use them to stay in touch no matter where we are.”

            “Don’t we have cell phones for that?” Sehun asked.

            “No, earpieces like that would be good,” Suho said.  “Then I can contact you at any time, and always be right there, in your ear, no matter what.  I like that, we’ll get some.”

            “No, no, I think the maknae’s right,” Baekhyun said.  What had he done?!  “Cell phones are good enough, we don’t need to waste our money, we’d just lose them anyway.  Whose turn is it to shower?”

            D.O. packed his books very carefully in his suitcase, in between layers of clothing.  He didn’t want anything to happen to them.

            “You need anything, hyung?” Chanyeol was asking behind him.

            “I don’t have any concealer,” Xiumin said.  “It’s not here, I guess it’s in the other room.”

            “You can use mine,” D.O. said along with, he guessed, every other member in the group.  Hearing the chorus of voices made him smile.

            “Okay,” Xiumin said, laughing.  “I’ll just use D.O.’s, if that’s okay with everybody.”

            D.O. turned around and handed it to him, and when he took it, he gave D.O. a little kiss on the lips, which was nice.  D.O. still felt unsteady, but it was impossible to feel alone in EXO.

            Suho and Namu and SJ were herding everyone out of the room.  Baekhyun hung back.  He just had to check on a few things first.  Make sure that he hadn’t left anything in the bathroom.  Turn off a couple of extra lights; he didn’t want to waste electricity!  Maybe his shoes weren’t tied properly, that would be a problem.

            “Baekhyun-ah,” Suho said from the doorway.

            “Be there in a second.”  His phone wasn’t fully charged, he-

            “Now, we’re leaving now,” Suho said firmly.  “We don’t have time for this.  And I’m not going to coddle you by telling you that L and H are waiting for us downstairs, because you need to be able to be professional and responsible no matter what.”

            But, wait, but.  “Are they?  Are they downstairs?” he asked.

            “Yes, they’re waiting for us, now come on,” Suho said, gesturing him onward.

            “Coming, I’m coming,” he said, zooming past Suho and down the hallway.

            As EXO stepped off of the elevators and into the lobby, Hoya counted heads.  Leader, chipmunk, the tall one with the ears, the blond maknae, the Chinese guy, the actor, the ugly one, the extra one, and the sad-looking one, all accounted for.  “Let’s keep moving, out, into the vans,” he said, herding them along.  They weren’t just descriptions or just a clump of idols to him anymore; they were people.  People with habits and personalities.  He knew their interests and their senses of humor and their relationships.  He liked them, and he’d managed to work a lot of jobs without getting emotionally attached.

            Baekhyun wouldn’t get into either of the vans until Hoya gave him a push, and even then he turned around and asked, “Are you getting in, are you coming?”

            “Yes, I’m staying with you.”

            “God, thank you,” Baekhyun said, and got in.

            Their first schedule for the day was a televised interview.  D.O. took his book into the interview with him.  He couldn’t hold it on-camera, so he sat on it, instead.  “That’s my seat,” Sehun said.

            “You can stand in the back, you’re tall,” he said.

            “It’s okay, maknae, you can switch for today,” Suho said.

            After the interview, when they were in the van going to their next schedule, Suho put the members in the other van on speakerphone and said, “We have a choice, and I want it to be up to the whole group, not only my decision.  We can stay late tomorrow like we planned, and have some time to relax.  Or we get an early flight out and go back to Seoul first thing in the morning.”

            No one said anything.

            D.O. knew what he wanted, but he didn’t want to be the first one to say it.  He didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to go back early just because of him.  This was a chance for the members to relax and enjoy themselves.  Their other night out had been ruined, and he felt responsible.  “Maybe we should stay,” he finally said.  He didn’t mean it, but he tried to sound like he did.

            “Yeah,” Baekhyun said from the other car.  “Yeah, we should stay.  I mean, we usually don’t get so much free time, we should make the most of it, right?”

            “If that’s what you want,” Lay said.  He sounded uncertain but supportive.  “I’ll stay if you want to.”

            “What’s safest?” Xiumin asked.  “What does Arctic Fox want us to do?”

            “They said that it’s up to us,” Suho said.

            “They have to say that,” Xiumin said.  “You have to say that, don’t you?” he asked L.  “You all have orders from the Fox to let us have our own way in things, you’re supposed to keep us happy whenever you can.”

            L glanced at Namu, then nodded.

            “What would you do if it were up to you?” D.O. asked.

            “Lock you in a bank vault,” Namu suggested.

            “Go back early,” L said.  “Changing your plans and leaving early means that you’ll be on a flight no one expects you to take.  We can avoid a few problems and crowds.”

            “Then maybe we should leave early?” Chanyeol asked from the other car.  “It’s okay with me.”

            “It’s okay with me,” Kai agreed.

            “If we’re voting, I vote for it,” Sehun said.

            “Is there anyone who disagrees?” Suho asked, glancing at the members and then looking at the phone like he was trying to see into the other van.

            “No disagreements over here,” Chanyeol reported.

            Suho waited a beat, then said, “Okay.  We’ll leave first thing in the morning, then, and go home.”

            Relieved, D.O. sat back in his seat.  Ordinarily, he was okay with traveling, and he was always glad to see foreign fans, and he wanted their performance that night to go well.  But he wasn’t eager to drag this particular trip out any longer than he had to.  He’d be glad to be home again.

            They had three hotel rooms in their second hotel, but they all crowded into two.  They had adjoining rooms, and they went back and forth, talking and milling around, ordering food and arguing over which movies to watch.  Baekhyun loved it; it was hard to get up in his own head about his anxieties and regrets when his members were playing around and annoying each other.

            Somehow the second bathroom became the sex corner.  Kai and Lay went in there for a while, and then Chen and JD, and then Suho and Namu, and then Chen and JD again, and then Sehun and Sungjong, so that was interesting.  Baekhyun hated being jealous of the maknae, but, come on, even Sehun got a piece of Arctic Fox and he was left out?  Not okay!

            He couldn’t say that it was because Sehun was so much easier than he was.  He thought that he’d made it pretty clear that he was H’s to do with as H liked.  Had he not been obvious enough?

            L and D.O. weren’t doing it.  At least not in any normal way that Baekhyun counted.  They were side-by-side in one corner, on the couch.  L was reading aloud, and D.O. was listening intently, either gazing thoughtfully at nothing or watching L’s face.  Not wanting to bother them too much, Baekhyun and the other members kept their loudest conversations in the other room, but D.O. didn’t seem to mind them all racing around and wrestling on the bed.

            When Baekhyun heard H and JD negotiating sleep schedules, he realized that H was about to go off-duty enough to sleep.  Then JD suggested that H go across the hall to the third room for quiet and privacy.  Pretending not to be listening and not to care, Baekhyun crouched down and dug through his suitcase.  He was clingy enough as it was; he didn’t have to make it worse.  And what Suho had said earlier about “coddling” him had stuck with him; he was embarrassed.

            He waited to see if H would leave.

            H squatted at his side, close enough that their knees brushed.  “Hey,” H said.

            “I’m looking for my, um,” he couldn’t come up with anything.  His bag wasn’t that big; everything was right there in front of him.  “Going to sleep?”

            “Do you want me to stay?”

            Yes, what the hell, of course he wanted H to stay.  Maybe he hadn’t been obvious enough!  How was that possible?  “No, I’ll be okay.  You’ll be more comfortable across the hall.  Quiet and privacy.”

            “Okay.  I’ll go, then.”

            Shit.  He couldn’t believe that he was actually being generous and responsible about this.  “Okay.  Sleep well.”

            “Unless you’re lying, and you’re just saying it to be nice, and you want me to stay,” H said.  “Then I’ll stay.”

            Oh, thank god.  Ah, maybe he didn’t have to worry about being too subtle, after all.  He met H’s eyes with a guilty smile.  “I can tell my dongsaengs to shut up and be quiet and let you sleep,” he offered.  If H stayed, he could at least make sure that there were decent sleeping conditions.  “But I can’t do anything about Xiumin hyung, sorry.”

            “I’ll be grateful if you can just get D.O. to shut up for once,” H said.  “That one, the chatter’s nonstop with him.”

            He laughed.  “Do you want to sleep in the other room?  It’s quieter in there.”

            “Sure.”

            He told Kai and Sehun to hush for once, and then he and H went to the room D.O. was in.  L’s reading was steady but quiet, and when Baekhyun closed the door, Chanyeol and Chen weren’t so loud anymore.  H moved towards the chairs in the corner, and he asked, “What, the bed’s over here.”

            “The bed,” H repeated.  “That’s for you and your members, I’ll sleep over here.”

            “You’ve been up all day and night because of us.  Just get on the bed.”

            “There are nine of you and four beds.”

            “There’s a whole third room over there, they’ll have space if they want it.  Get on the bed,” he repeated.

            “Pushy,” H said, giving him an appreciative look.

            He laughed and crawled onto the bed.  H sat down.  He stretched out on his back, in case H needed a demonstration of how beds worked.  When H mimicked his pose, he rolled onto his side, tucking up in his favorite position, hugging H’s arm, his head on H’s chest.

            “Is this so I can sleep, or so you can?” H asked.

            “Both.  That’s efficient, you should like that.”

            “Mmm, good argument.”

            He closed his eyes.  He felt H breathe.  He listened to the quiet steady progression of words as L read, and to Sehun’s laughter from the other room.  He felt relaxed and comfortable and at ease, and that seemed like a terrific thing.  He fell asleep.

            D.O.’s eyes kept drifting shut.  Slowly, his eyelids lowered like his lashes were too heavy.  He’d stay like that for a minute, and then his head would dip forward.  Catching himself, he’d blink his eyes open again.  But he couldn’t stay awake; in another minute his eyes would close again.

            L kept reading.  He had so much trouble sleeping, if he was starting to go under, L didn’t want to discourage it.  When he seemed so drowsy he had more and more trouble keeping his eyes open, L put an arm around him, guiding him in.  “No,” he mumbled, sinking against L’s shoulder.

            “Is this okay?” L asked quietly.  But he never answered; he was already asleep.

            L stayed awake, keeping watch, silently re-reading the short stories they’d just gone through.  He didn’t read ahead; he didn’t want to skip ahead without D.O.

            “Okay, we’re leaving in three shifts,” Namu said.  “D.O., Baekhyun, and Lay in the first shift.  Chen, Sehun, and Suho in the second.  Xiumin, Kai, and Chanyeol in the third.”

            Xiumin nodded.  He was fine with it.  It sounded like they were front-loading the more targeted members, getting them out first before the stalkers noticed that plans had changed.  Whatever kept them safest.

            “Good, great,” Baekhyun said.  “D.O. and Baekhyun and Lay hyung and who?  Who’s taking us, who’s escorting us?”

            “H and L are taking the first group,” Namu said, and Baekhyun visibly relaxed.  “JD and SJ are taking the second group.  The third group might be tricky.  I need the three of you to be very cooperative and very alert, because Kim might not be able to make it, so I’ll be on my own.”

            “What about Kim?” Xiumin asked.

            “It’s okay, we’ll follow your lead,” Kai told Namu.

            “Kim’s doing some investigative work and some interviews,” Namu said.  “He might not finish in time, it depends on how quickly everything pans out.”

            “We’re leaving him behind?” Xiumin demanded.

            “We can do that?” Chanyeol asked.  “I thought this was like the army, or something, never leave a man behind.”

            “We can’t leave one of you behind,” SJ said.  “We have to split up all of the time.”

            “Without back-up?” Xiumin asked.  “You’ll all be in a different country.  He’ll be completely on his own.”

            “He can handle it,” JD said.

            “It’s not dangerous work,” Namu said.  “It’s a lot of asking questions and tracking people down and running into dead ends.”

            “Why is he the one you’re leaving behind?” Xiumin demanded.  “Why not one of you?  Is this just to keep us happy?  Because D.O.’s so attached to L and Baekhyun can’t let go of H?  If you weren’t ordered to do whatever we want, would Kim be the one you leave behind?”

            “We had to take a lot of factors into consideration,” Namu began.

            “So, yes, yes, you’re abandoning him in a foreign country just to keep us happy,” Xiumin said.

            “He’s as capable of doing the job as anyone else,” Namu said.  “He’s very good at what he does.”

            “As capable as anyone else?” Xiumin asked.  “How’s his Japanese, is he as fluent as L is?”

            L winced guiltily, looking away.

            “It’s the president’s call,” Namu said.  His tone was kind but firm.  “He makes the decisions and we follow the orders, that’s how it goes.”

            “Then the Fox is making bad decisions,” Xiumin snapped.

            “Hyung,” Suho said, putting a hand on his knee.

            “No, this is bullshit,” Xiumin said.  “I can’t believe that he’d compromise his own team’s safety.  Is he so weak that he’d cave to keep our company happy?  H can keep D.O. just as safe as L can, is there any question about that?  What makes L so valuable and Kim so dispensable, you think that no one here needs him?  No one here cares about him?”

            “Maybe-” L said.

            “It’s the president’s call,” Namu said again.  “He knows what he’s doing.  Kim has been working on tracking these people down, researching their backgrounds, learning their habits, all of it, since we took this job.  He’s been leading the investigation and doing Info’s footwork since we started, while L and H were escorting you here and there.  He understands the stalkers better than any of us.  And don’t worry about his being on his own.  He can take care of himself.”

            Xiumin remembered how nervous he’d looked before tackling the obstacle course.  His worried expression, his anxious posture.

            Xiumin also remembered how confident he’d been actually doing it.  The way he’d seemed to will himself through it.

            He’d gotten hurt, and he hadn’t complained once.  He’d insisted that he was fine.  He probably never would have said a word, never would have brought it up, on his own.

            Would he really be okay?  If he wasn’t okay, would he tell anyone?

            They were treating him like he was expendable.  Everyone else had a role, a specialty.  He was the one they shuffled the grunt work onto, the one who filled in and picked up.  He was treated like a part-time substitute but he put in long, physical hours.  “When’s the last time he slept?”

            “He’ll sleep when he can,” Namu said.  His tone was reassuring, but his words were complete bullshit.

            Xiumin felt furious.  Helpless.  He wanted to talk to Kim, to apologize.  He wanted to drag Kim away.  Wanted to help Kim to get another job, a better one, where all of these skills and all of this effort would be rewarded and appreciated.  Wanted to stay, to help, to provide back-up and support if no one else would.  Wanted to yell at the Fox.  “I want to talk to the Fox.”

            “He’s not available right now,” Namu said.  “If-”

            “When will he be available?”  Xiumin’s tone was sharp.  He felt merciless.  It wasn’t okay for the Fox to treat underlings any which way and never be held accountable to anyone for it.  He was damned sure going to be accountable to Xiumin.

            “You can send a message through me, or Info will record one for him.”

            “Good.  I’ll do that.”  Xiumin got up.  While he went into the bathroom and closed the door, he heard Suho apologizing for him.  Not feeling sorry at all, he called Info.

            “Info here.”

            “I have something to say to the Fox.  Record this and give it to him.”

            “Got it.  Recording now.”

            Xiumin paused for a second, gathering his thoughts.  Then he lost his temper and snapped, “Your own clients have to go through these measures to get a message to you?  This is Kim Minseok, EXO’s Xiumin, and I want to speak with you personally.  The way you treat your employees, you’re too hard on them, you expect too much.  You can’t leave Guard Kim all on his own in a foreign country doing investigative work all on his own.  You’re taking advantage.  All of your employees are great, all of your employees do a terrific job, I don’t have a single complaint about anyone under you.  But if you keep on being so demanding and forcing your employees into situations like this, putting them at risk, I’m going to have to speak my mind.  I don’t want to be disrespectful, but you can’t treat Kim like he’s so expendable.  He’s precious at home, isn’t he?  He’s precious to me.  He should be important to you, too.  Are you laughing?!” he demanded, furious.

            “No, no,” Info gasped.  He burst into helpless laughter again.

            “Fuck you,” Xiumin snapped.  Shoving his phone into his pocket, he went back out to the others.  “Okay, I’ll go with you,” he told Namu.  “But you’re breaking up with your knee,” he told Chanyeol.

            “Hyung!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

            “Hyung,” Suho said more calmly, getting up and taking his arm.  “Let’s go talk for a while.”

            He wanted to refuse, but it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go or anything else to do.  Suho took him into the other room, and he sat through a polite lecture, and then they talked about Arctic Fox, and the death threats.  Suho was so familiar and cute, he felt himself relax, and they talked about being worried for the other members, and Suho told him about how Namu was in bed, and they speculated on how upset D.O. would be if they just made out with L for a little bit.  He had to admit, by the end, he felt a lot better.

            “You like Kim a lot, don’t you?” Suho asked.

            They were holding hands kind of for no reason, but it felt nice, so he hadn’t let go yet.  “I mean…  I’m attracted to him,” he admitted.  “It’s not serious, he’s only a dongsaeng.  But he’s interesting.  I like being with him, he makes me think, he makes me laugh, he-”  Hearing himself, he abruptly stopped talking.  Was he gushing?  It was embarrassing.  “He has a great cock.”  That was what it was all about, really, anyway.  The rest of that was just, whatever, it was nice, but he was only there for the cock.  It was sexual interest.  Purely sexual.

            “The rest of Arctic Fox seems to like him,” Suho said.  “Namu smiles every time he talks about Kim.”

            “Sure, he’s likeable.”  Thinking about him brought a strange, tight feeling to Xiumin’s gut.  He didn’t like that.  He didn’t like feeling so twisted up and emotional over some random guy, especially not someone younger who was paid to spend time with him.  But he couldn’t seem to stop it.  “I wish that he were coming back to Korea with us,” he said.  As he heard how that sounded, his voice got quiet over the last couple of words; it sounded like he meant it as a personal thing, like he missed Kim or something.  He’d only meant it on a professional level, for Kim’s sake.

            “He’ll join us soon,” Suho said, and the empathy in Suho’s expression made him look away.

            “Yay, we get to leave first,” Baekhyun said.  “Most hated members unite!”

            Lay looked horrified; D.O. stared at him with huge, wide eyes.

            “T-t-too soon?” he asked, feeling awful.

            “Too soon,” H said, clapping him on the shoulder.  “Do the hugging thing, we have to go.”

            He was an adult, he didn’t have to - - well, okay.  While all of the other members hugged D.O. and Lay, he joined in, squeezing everyone tightly, one by one.  “See you back at the dorm.”

            “I love you.”  Chen kissed his cheek.  “Stay safe.”

            L was unlocking the room door.  Baekhyun squeezed D.O.’s hand and looked into his face.  “These rookie managers are great, but we’re here, too, okay?  Lay hyung and I will be with you the whole time.”

            D.O. nodded solemnly.  “I’ll be okay.”

            “We’ll all be okay,” Lay said.  “We, oh,” he said, and Kai cupped his face in both hands and kissed him.  It was a long, deep kiss, and when Kai let him go, a slow smile dawned in his face, dimples appearing.

            “Take care of them,” Kai ordered L and H.  “Good care of them.  All three of them.”

            L nodded, and H said, “We will.”  L opened the door.  Lay was still gazing sweetly at Kai, looking captivated; Baekhyun took his arm and turned him around, guiding him out.  D.O. came with them, silent, gripping a book.  Baekhyun kind of wanted to turn around and look at the members again, say good-bye again, but this didn’t have to be some huge farewell party.  They were just taking three planes to get back to Seoul, like they took two vans to get back from practice.  No big deal.

            “So,” he said, as they approached the elevators.  H pushed the button.  “We’re getting there first, we’ll have the whole dorm to ourselves.  What do you want to do to Suho hyung’s room?  I say booby trap it with water balloons.”

            Kim didn’t meet them at the airport.  Xiumin stayed close to Namu, and kept a close eye on Kai and Chanyeol.  They all got back to Seoul without incident, just another trip like any other.  He thought it was strange that they went straight to the SM building instead of going to the dorm; they weren’t under such a time crunch that they had to practice without a break.  Then Suho told him that SJ and JD had gone to the dorm to sweep for bombs, bugs, and anything else that someone might have left in their absence.  Suho asked him not to tell the other members, and he agreed.  The last thing they needed was more anxiety.

            When they did go back to the dorm, he made some kimbap and soup and other things, and he left a note on the fridge that anyone could eat it.  He kind of liked cooking.  It gave him something to do, something to focus his mind on, a way to keep busy and feel productive.  He hated feeling helpless, like outside of the bookstore when he’d had to stand there and wait, unable to do a goddamned thing for D.O.

            He told H to tell Info that he wanted Kim to call him.  “As soon as he can.  Not if he’s in the middle of something,” he emphasized.  “Not if he’s busy, not just to keep the client happy.  When he has time for it.”  H relayed the message for him, almost word for word.  He had to be content with that.

            They had busy days, running from one schedule to another, and quiet nights.  L and D.O. were always holed up together, either running lines or reading books.  Chanyeol’s photo collection was growing; he had a photo of a wrist and one of a completely unrecognizable body part that just looked like a patch of skin.  Xiumin was pretty sure that it was a close-up of an arm or a thigh, just smooth, bare skin, but Chanyeol insisted that it was part of Info’s butt.

            Kim was still in Japan.  Whenever Namu stopped by, Xiumin asked about Kim.  Was he okay?  Was he reporting in?  Did they know that he was safe?  Was he eating?  Sleeping?  Taking care of himself?  Namu always said something like, “He’s fine, he’s making a lot of progress, he’ll wrap it up and come back soon.”  It sounded reassuring, but it didn’t do anything to satisfy Xiumin.  Whenever he felt anxious or tense about his members, he could tell himself that they were well-guarded, that Arctic Fox would take care of them, that he didn’t need to worry.  But who was looking out for Kim?

            He was still in bed one morning when his phone rang.  He’d set Info’s number to an obnoxious ringtone so that he wouldn’t miss calls.  Rolling over, rubbing at his eyes, he answered.  “What?”  Was it an emergency?  His heartbeat sped up as he looked around the room hurriedly, sitting up.  Baekhyun was on the floor, snuggled up against H’s side, totally passed out.  The other members were laughing in another room.  Relieved, he felt tightness in his chest loosen.

            “Info here.  I have a call for you on a secure line.  Can I put it through?”

            Was it Kim?  Was it the Fox?  God, he hoped that it was the Fox; he couldn’t wait to get a few things off of his chest.  “Yeah, go ahead.”

            “Is it too early?” Kim asked.  “I’ll let you sleep.”

            “No!  No.”  Not wanting to wake Baekhyun, he hopped up and went down the hallway.  Lay and Chanyeol’s room was empty; he went in and closed the door.  “I’m awake.  How are you?”

            “Things are good here.  Info’s buying me a ticket, I’ll be back in Seoul tonight.”

            Oh, thank god.  Xiumin leaned against the door.  He couldn’t explain why he felt so relieved.  It was just better when everyone was together.  Better to have them all close, so that they could all look out for each other.  “That’s good.”

            Kim’s voice was soft.  “I’m sorry that you worried about me, hyung.  That wasn’t what I wanted.  You don’t have to be worried when it comes to me.”

            “No, I, I wasn’t worried,” he lied.  “You do this stuff for a living, right, you know what you’re doing.  I just thought that L was more qualified for it, to stay in Japan, with the language barrier and everything.”  He swallowed.  He couldn’t remember Kim ever calling him “hyung” aside from that time in the bathroom, when Kim had said it just to get him off.  It sounded so innocent and so sweet, he couldn’t handle it.

            “When I come back tonight, I’m going to stop by your dorm.  You won’t be too startled to see me, will you?  You won’t try to report an intruder to Info and threaten to stab me?”

            “If you still have that awful haircut, I guess that I’ll recognize you.”

            “It’s starting to grow back.  That’s good, right?  Hyung will be glad if it all grows out.”

            He could picture Kim running a hand over it, ruffling it.  God, he couldn’t deal with the way this kid made him feel.  Too many feelings, all twisted up in each other, tender and protective.  “No,” he said, and his voice caught.  He cleared his throat.  “No, I like it the way it is, you should keep it fresh.  I like this look.”  He didn’t want Kim to change for him.  Just because of his crappy comments.  He’d given Kim so much shit since the second they’d met.  He wished that he could take it all back.  He hadn’t been thinking; he hadn’t realized.  He’d been upset about his members, about his dongsaengs and their safety, and he’d taken it out on Arctic Fox.  What a shitty thing to do.

            “You like it now?”

            “Don’t worry about my opinion,” Xiumin told him.  “Don’t listen to the things that I say.  Just be safe and, and come back to your team.  They probably miss you.”

            “You say a lot of interesting, honest things.”

            “I say a lot of bullshit.”

            “I do, too, sometimes.  I understand.”

            Closing his eyes, he rubbed his forehead back and forth across the door.  He shouldn’t do this.  He really shouldn’t do this.  “Is Info still listening?  Is this being recorded or anything?”

            “No, there’s no one else.”

            “How far does the Fox want you to go to keep the client happy?”

            There was a pause, and he felt sick with himself, sick with his own pathetic desire.  Then Kim asked, quietly, “How far do you want me to go?”

            “I need to be with you.  I need you, when you come over tonight.”  What was wrong with him?  Everything was wrong with him.  He’d just told Kim to ignore him, he’d been railing against management pushing Arctic Fox to make compromises to keep his members happy, and now this?

            “Okay, hyung.”  Kim’s voice was so gentle, so understanding, that he shuddered, feeling nauseated, feeling grateful.  He was asking for something awful, and Kim was willing to give it to him, anyway.  “I’ll be there tonight.”

            Baekhyun was on the floor in Suho and Chen’s room, playing cards with Kai and Sehun, when H walked in.  He looked up; there was a bag in H’s hand.  No, no.  “Are you going somewhere?”

            “Yeah.  Just a few hours, I’ll come back here to sleep.”

            “You’re off-duty?”  Baekhyun shoved his cards at Sehun and got to his feet.  “Great, I’ll come with you.”  That was what they’d agreed on, that they’d spend H’s time off together.

            “Ah, not this time.  Being off-duty means that I’m not working, and if I’m not working, then I’m not watching you, and we’ll have to bring someone else along to guard you.”

            Baekhyun tried to argue, but he could see how that made sense.  Augh, god damn it!  He didn’t want to be selfish and ruin H’s off-duty time by forcing H right back on-duty.  But even if someone else could come along, he didn’t want that, either.  He wanted to be alone.  Just the two of them.  “Where are you going?”

            “To eat, and call my mom, and normal stuff.  Need to clear my head.  JD’s here, and L’s here.”

            To eat what, where?  What did H like to eat when he was off on his own?  What kind of food, what kind of restaurant?  He had a mother?  Baekhyun wanted to know everything about him.  “Are you going to your place?”

            “Probably stop by my place for a second.  And headquarters.”

            “Isn’t that working on your time off?”

            He grinned.  “Not if I go just to harass Info.”

            They had that kind of relationship?  Fascinated, Baekhyun burned to know more.  “Take me with you.”

            “I can’t, this time.”  H stepped right in close, cupped the side of his neck, and kissed his cheek.  “Be back in a few hours.”

            Stunned, he stood there like a fool and watched H go.  His hand rose, lightly touching at the place where H had kissed him.  At the spot on his neck where H’s hand had rested.  Had that really just happened?  Amazed, he whirled around to his members.  “You saw that!  You saw it, you witnessed it, right?  He kissed me.”

            “I was looking at my cards,” Sehun said.

            “I blinked,” Kai said, grinning at him.

            Liars!  Cheap little liars!  “H kissed me.”

            “On the cheek,” Sehun said.  “I don’t even think that counts.”

            “I thought that you didn’t see it,” Kai reminded him.

            “It sounded like a cheek kiss, more than a mouth kiss,” Sehun explained.

            What it had sounded like had been Baekhyun’s hopes and dreams and fantasies and desires and not-so-secret longing flying all over the room in a celebratory dance.  H had kissed him.  It might not mean everything that his heart hoped that it meant, but it meant something.

            Xiumin wanted to be there when Kim got back, so he was hanging out in the front room, watching cooking videos on his notebook.  L and D.O. were reading on the other couch.

            When L touched his ear, Xiumin watched, alert.  “Ah, hold on,” he said, and D.O. nodded.  He handed the book to D.O. and got up.  Opening the door, he let Kim in.  “Nice haircut.”

            It was fresh.  A little long on top, with hash marks shaved into the sides.  Had he gone out and gotten it cut again after their phone call?  Just because Xiumin had told him to keep it that way and not grow it out?

            Looking self-conscious, he ran his hand over it.  “It looks bad.”

            “It’s cute,” L said.

            Looking both flattered and insulted, Kim grabbed at him, mock-punching him.  He laughed and asked, “Have trouble getting in?”

            “Security here’s a disaster.  I walked in like I owned it and no one said a thing.”  Lowering his voice, he said something that Xiumin couldn’t hear.  That went on for a while, the two of them standing with their heads close together, murmuring.  D.O. didn’t seem to think anything of it, but Xiumin couldn’t stand not knowing what they were saying.  How were things progressing?  What had he found out in Japan?  Were the members any safer today than they had been a week ago?

            Nodding, Kim stepped away from L.  He came over and squatted in front of D.O., his arms crossed over his knees.  “Do you want to know about what I found out in Japan?”

            D.O. nodded at him.

            “Namu and L are going to sit down with you and your leader tomorrow to go over the details.  There are still a few things that your company has to make decisions about, like what they want to prosecute.  But we tracked down some of the people who’ve been sending nasty threats.  We know their names, and where they live, and where they work, and what they’ve been up to.  And I have confessions, so as soon as your company says it’s okay, we’ll hand everything over to the police.”

            Confessions?  Xiumin’s gut tightened and he stared at Kim, wondering.  These were only fans who’d gone too far, not hardened criminals.  It wasn’t like Kim had to torture and beat them to get information out of them.  Still, he wondered how Kim got them to confess, exactly.

            “What about Baekhyun’s stalker?” D.O. asked.  “The one in the hotel.”

            “Yes, we found her, too,” Kim said.

            “You keep saying ‘we,’” Xiumin said.  He couldn’t take it.  “It’s not really ‘we.’  You were there on your own.  You did this, you investigated, you tracked them down, you got them to confess.”

            “Thank you,” D.O. told Kim.

            Kim nodded and got up.  “It’s a team effort, we work as a team,” he told Xiumin.  “Even when I’m the one on the ground, the rest of the team backs me up.  Info did a lot of the work for me.”

            Xiumin needed to look at him some more.  Touch him.  Be with him.  Maybe if Xiumin held still and stayed seated, he’d leave, and maybe that would be the right thing to do.  Pushing him into sex he didn’t want, coercing him into it, it was too grotesque, and Xiumin couldn’t go through with it.  But letting him walk out wasn’t an option, either.  “Have you eaten?” Xiumin asked suddenly, shoving the notebook aside and getting up.

            “I-”

            “Good.  We’ll go out,” he decided.  “I want to go to this place in Gangnam, I saw recipes about how to recreate their stews and desserts, and I want to try them.  You can come with me.”

            Xiumin went to get his wallet.  When he came back, Kim was mumbling something to Info.  They took a cab over to Gangnam and got a private dining room.  Once they were finally seated across the table from each other and eating, Xiumin started to relax.  He neglected his meal for a while, more interested in watching Kim.  Now that Kim was here, and obviously safe, he couldn’t tell if he’d been overreacting or not.  Had he only been making an ass of himself, complaining so much about how they’d left Kim alone?  But they’d been wrong to do it, anyway.  He still couldn’t agree with it, even if it had ended up okay.

            Kim ate well, and it was good to see.  He looked tired, though.  Had he been sleeping?  Had he lost weight?  Immediately unhappy about that, Xiumin ordered more food.  “When’s the last time you had eight hours of sleep?”

            “Not lately,” Kim admitted.  “What about hyung?”

            “Well, but we’ve been promoting a lot, and we have that festival coming up.”

            Kim nodded and ate some more.  “Would you sleep better if I stayed in your room tonight?”

            Did that make him seem weak?  He wasn’t some needy kid.  It was okay for Baekhyun and D.O. to act that way, they were younger, and they were being targeted more than he was.  He didn’t have any excuse to need a human teddy bear to cling to at night.  “I’m okay.”

            More nodding; more eating.

            “I yelled at the Fox.”

            Kim coughed slightly.  “Mmm.  I heard.”

            “Did you get in trouble for it?”

            He shook his head and picked up another dumpling.  “He understands.”

            Good.  “I’m going to do it again.  I’m going to keep doing it.”

            “Why are you like this?” Kim mumbled, exasperated.  Sitting up straighter, he met Xiumin’s eyes across the table.  “You don’t have to.  You don’t have to yell at anybody.  This is my job, this is what I want to do with my life.”

            “No, it’s not.  You want to be a rock star.”

            “Aside from that,” Kim said.  “This is what I want to be doing.  If I’m not happy, I’ll deal with it.  You don’t have to worry.  And you don’t make any sense, anyway.  First you’re upset that you don’t get your own way in everything, and then you’re upset that we put you first.  You should make up your own mind before you fuss at anyone else.”

            “Don’t scold me.”

            A deep, aggrieved sigh.  “Yes, hyung,” he said, looking resigned, and he went back to eating.

            “Did you get hurt anywhere?  Did you fall again?”

            “No, I’m healthy.”

            “Where did you stay?  You didn’t keep staying in our hotel, did you?”

            “You think that’s the kind of place I stay?” Kim asked.  “Info found me rooms somewhere else.  Closer to some people I wanted to keep an eye on.  And I had to move around, I had to leave Tokyo.  EXO has scary fans in all kinds of places.”

            “Why’d you come back?  You finished everything you wanted to do there?”

            He nodded.  “Yes.  And there are some things that I want to do here.  Being here is more important right now.  I can always go back.”

            “Not without saying good-bye.”

            Kim looked taken aback, blinking a couple of times.  He held Xiumin’s gaze for a second before he said, “Yes, hyung, I’ll say good-bye first.”  He started to pick up a piece of pork, then abandoned it and looked at Xiumin more closely again.  “Should I have said good-bye?  Did you want that?  I didn’t know.”

            “It’s polite, don’t you have manners?”

            “I thought that you were angry with me.”

            “You ran into that bookstore and I never fucking saw you again.”  All of his emotions suddenly rising up into his throat, choking him, Xiumin stared at Kim across the table.  Kim had disappeared on him.  D.O. got to cling to L, Baekhyun got to follow H around like an eager puppy - - Xiumin wasn’t going to act like that, wasn’t going to be that demanding, that needy, that vulnerable.  But god damn it, that didn’t make it okay for Kim to ditch him like he’d never freaking mattered.  He knew that Kim had a job to do, and that keeping the members safe had to come first.  Okay, he was inconsistent, he didn’t want Arctic Fox to make compromises to keep the client happy, but he still wanted Kim to pay attention to him, fine, he was a hypocrite.  There was a lot of room between being coddled and being ignored.

            “I…  I’m not used to this,” Kim admitted, looking uncomfortable.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.  Usually - - it’s L that everybody likes, or it’s Namu.  I don’t usually see the clients so much, or if I do it’s not - - it’s not like this, it’s not so personal.  I try to be there for the team, but I’m not the one that clients cling to.”

            “I’m not clinging!”  He felt outraged.

            “Right, right, you’re not, no clinging,” Kim said quickly.  “I’m sorry, hyung, that’s my mistake.  I wasn’t implying that, those were the wrong words to use.”

            “You think that I’m like Baekhyun?” he demanded.

            Kim rubbed his hair, then gave Xiumin a baffled look.  “I think that you aren’t like anybody else at all.”

            He didn’t have to make it sound like an insult.  “Finish eating,” Xiumin muttered.  “I have to go back to the dorm.”

            “Did you get what you came for?  About the recipes?”

            The recipes.  Sure.  That was what he’d come here for.  The food.  “I don’t think that I’m ever going to get what I want.”  He was so miserable and frustrated, he felt filled up with thwarted yearning.  And with disgust for himself.  He couldn’t get any of this right.  He didn’t know how to.  He didn’t know any way that he could.  Maybe this situation was just wrong, too complicated.  Maybe he was just pushing too hard for the wrong guy.  Kim wasn’t interested.  Or wasn’t able.  Or was interested, but only to an extent.  Only so far.  While Xiumin felt like a bottomless well of emotion.  Confused, tangled, shifting emotions, demanding and fervent and loud but barely making any sense.  Like most of his conversations lately.  God, he was a fucking mess.  “This whole thing is getting to me,” he admitted, rubbing at his forehead.

            “That’s normal,” Kim said.  “It should get to you, this isn’t something you should sail through.”

            Yeah.  He guessed that was true.

            He paid, and they left.  In the taxi, Kim checked in with Info.  He felt kind of at a loss, unhappy, unsure about himself.  Sad and annoyed and anxious.  In the dorm, he expected Kim to drop him off and then leave, or stop to consult with L or something.  Instead, Kim asked, “Hyung, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

            For what?  They’d already said whatever there was to say.  “No.  Just - - forget it, just, you can go.”  He was tired of frustrating himself.  Kim was only going to give him one of those apologies like before, hurting him, rejecting him, trying to let him down gently but not realizing that there was nothing gentle about handing his heart back to him.

            He went to his room, and it was only when he was turning around to close the door that he realized that Kim was right behind him.  “What?” he demanded.

            “I want to talk to you for a minute,” Kim said.  One hand on his hip, Kim steered him into the room and closed the door.

            “What - - you’re kidding.”  He couldn’t believe it when Kim steered him towards the bed.  “This is Baekhyun’s bed,” he pointed out.

            “You don’t change your sheets often enough.”  Kim undid Xiumin’s fly one-handed while he tapped at his earpiece.

            “Weird approach to a three-way, but I’m in,” Xiumin said.

            “I’m on site.”  Kim’s hand was sliding down the back of Xiumin’s underwear, cupping his ass, and he ran his hands up Kim’s arms, gazing up at Kim’s face, wondering.  Wanting this, really wanting this.  “I’m going dark.”

            Going dark?  “Ooohhh.”  Xiumin watched Kim take the earpiece off and toss it onto the other bed.  So that thing really did come off.  “Are you going rogue?”

            “Just out of contact for a while.”  He pulled Xiumin right up against himself, their bodies flush, his gaze dark and intent.  “Need to do something important, something private.”

            Oh, hell, yeah.  Xiumin had needed this every day, every night, since the first night they’d gone out.  Had been fantasizing about it, dreaming about it, suffering over it.  “God, yes, c’mere,” he said, dropping onto the bed and dragging Kim down on top of him.

            Kim moved right into his arms, kissing him hungrily, pushing him down onto his back.  God, it was great, it was so great, this was exactly what he’d needed.  Kissing Kim, feeling Kim’s body against his, Kim’s hands on him, pushing his thighs apart, sliding under his shirt.

            Moaning, so turned on, god, so hard, he kissed Kim.  But something was different.  His hormones were kicking in, but they weren’t all.  He had all of these feelings.  All of these complex, contradictory emotions, bubbling up inside of him.  He wanted to get off and get what he needed, the way he would any other time, with anyone else.  Get a little kinky, have a little fun.  A lot of fun.  But this dongsaeng was too precious to him, and he felt so much tenderness, such a strong protective instinct, that he couldn’t just get to it.  Even while he was silently berating himself and telling himself not to mess up a good thing with a lot of unnecessary talking, he broke their kiss and looked into Kim’s eyes.  “Are you sure?”  He rubbed his thumb over the fresh marks shaved into Kim’s hair.  “You don’t have to do this just to make me happy.”

            “But I want you to be happy,” Kim said, and kissed him.  Cupping his face in one hand, Kim kissed him slowly, deeply, and every time Kim’s lips brushed over his, all of those soft, yearning feelings doubled, growing stronger.  “Everybody has to feel good once in a while.”

            Yes.  Yes, he just wanted to feel good.  Wanted to get away from all of the stress and worry and fear, wanted to get away from bugs and guards and constant surveillance, wanted to stop trying to be tough and just feel good.  He pulled his shirt off over his head, then shimmied out of his pants and kicked his underwear off.  When Kim cupped his hard-on, he groaned, welcoming pleasure.  “Suck hyung’s cock,” he panted.  “You know you want to.”

            “It’s not about what I want,” Kim whispered, jacking him slowly, pleasure making his back arch.  “I know what hyung wants.”

            He did.  He knew that Xiumin wanted him.  He knew that Xiumin needed him, needed him badly, all of the time, god, it was hell, being in love with him and not being able to do anything about it.  “You, you, I want you,” Xiumin panted, pressing his mouth to Kim’s for deep, desperate kisses.

            “You’re so sexy, you turn me on so much,” Kim whispered.  “I want to fuck you, I want to put it deep inside you.”

            Moaning, he dragged Kim’s shirt off.  God, hearing that really did it for him.  “Say it again, call me hyung.  I want to hear you beg me for it.”

            Kissing his neck, Kim was grinding against him, and the sensual friction of that big hard-on rocking against him made him moan, his legs tangling with Kim’s.  “I want you, Xiumin hyung, I want to fuck you.  Want to roll you over and get it in you.  Want to get you off while I’m all the way inside you, hyung, want to feel you wriggling around so hot and tight on my cock.”

            “God, yes,” he groaned, shoving Kim’s pants down, needing to be closer to that hard cock.  “Hump me, beg me for it, say ‘please,’ I want to hear you say ‘please.’”

            Kim pushed him over, rolling him onto his stomach, immediately covering him.  Gasping, deliciously outraged at being manhandled, he rocked back against Kim’s hard-on.  It was so thick, so stiff, that his own need made him cry out.  Aching, he jacked himself, and Kim thrust against him, pushing roughly, nothing but the damp cotton of Kim’s underwear between them.  “Please, Xiumin hyung, ah, I need it,” Kim panted, thrusting rhythmically.  “Please, hyung, I need you like this.”

            He was so turned on that he was squirming against Kim’s hard-on, working his hips, his ass rubbing enthusiastically against that obvious bulge.  “Again, again, say it again.”

            Kim’s thrusts mimicked sex, sending all of the right signals to his body.  The aggressive rhythm, the hardness against his ass, Kim’s body over his, Kim panting in his ear: this dongsaeng was dangerously, deliciously close to fucking him, and he loved it.  “Please, Xiumin hyung, please,” Kim grunted, breath hot on the back of his neck.  “I’m so hard, can’t you feel it?”

            “God, unnh, yes,” he moaned.  He was about to come, “Ooh, ooh,” he was right on the edge, right up against it, pleasure pushed higher with every rough thrust.  Kim’s hand slid over his, stroking his erection, and that extra bit of stimulation, that extra attention on his cock, was just what he’d needed.  “Ahh, ahh, oh!”  Coming, he shook in Kim’s arms, the ecstatic burst rocking him.  “Ah!”

            “That’s it, hyung,” Kim said, kissing the back of his neck.  Kim’s thrusts slowed down, lazier now, and he groaned, sagging across the bed, taking it.  To his ecstatic, sated body, the gentle pressure and rocking as Kim humped his bare ass felt incredible, and he whimpered gratefully, eyes drifting shut.  Dotting his shoulders with seductive kisses, Kim rubbed his waist.  “When’s the last time somebody really fucked you, hyung?”

            “Mmm.  Not for a while.”  His hand patted back, latching onto Kim’s thigh.  “Damn, I love this, keep going.”

            “So greedy,” Kim said, grinding that hard cock against his ass and making him moan.

            Such a big, sexy cock.  He must be popular.  “How often do you get it?”

            “Get what?”

            “It,” he said, opening his eyes and laughing.  “Sex, ass, guys.  Women?”

            “I don’t know, that’s private.”

            “Suddenly shy?  When’s the last time?”

            “In between jobs.”

            “You don’t get laid while you’re working?”

            “No time.  And it’s a distraction.”

            Was that true?  Xiumin rolled over, and once he was on his back, he ran his hands over Kim’s square shoulders.  Being face-to-face seemed too intimate; he liked Kim too much.  “If it’s a distraction, then what’s this?”

            “A distraction,” he said.  “That’s why I didn’t call you until I was ready to leave Japan.  You distract me.  I think about you too much.”

            He didn’t know how to feel about that.  Happy.  Guilty.  Hopeful.  Annoyed.  Knowing that if he said something he’d just ruin the moment, he kissed Kim.  They made out for a long time, exchanging deep, romantic kisses.  He was sated, fulfilled, enjoying the erotic sensations of Kim’s mouth on his, Kim’s hands stroking over his bare skin, Kim’s erection nudging against him.  Kim was turned on, horny, kind of demanding.  He loved being wanted, loved making horny, aroused guys wait, and he writhed against Kim’s cock, moaning, relishing it.

            “Never going to let me come, are you?” Kim asked, breaking their kiss.

            Smiling, blissful, he drew swirling designs down Kim’s back with his fingertip.  “Why should I?  I like you like this.”  Reaching the waistband of Kim’s underwear, he slid his palm down and gave Kim’s perky little ass a firm squeeze.  “Beg me enough, and maybe I’ll screw you later.”

            “So full of yourself,” Kim said, kissing him again.

            Ya!  He pinched Kim’s ear, nipping at Kim’s lower lip.  “Don’t speak informally to me, and don’t make me remind you again.”

            “Sorry, hyung,” Kim said, kissing him gently, soothing him.  “I’m sorry, I won’t, that’s my mistake.”

            Pacified, he indulged in long, sensual kisses.  He hadn’t been attracted to someone so much in a long time, and he couldn’t get enough of Kim.  He’d already gotten off, but he wasn’t ready to move on.  With all of the stress and anxiety on the other side of that door, he wanted to stay holed up for a little while longer, safe and happy, sharing this amazing, unexpected intimacy.  There were so many things that he wanted to say, that he couldn’t.  Circumstances were too uncertain.  His pride wouldn’t let him expose so much of himself.  But he couldn’t hold back completely, and his desire for Kim, his love, came out in his kisses, in the way he stroked and petted, in the way he wrapped himself around Kim and wouldn’t let go.

            He got so turned on that Kim jacked him off again, and he came hard, crying out as the jolt of orgasm wrenched through him, his hips jerking urgently.  While he lay there, panting, bringing himself back down to Earth, Kim’s tongue licked over his nipples and Kim’s fingers stroked back, behind his balls, caressing, god, “No, okay, that’s enough.”  He shuddered, loving it, pushing Kim aside and rolling out of bed.  He wanted it so much, he was about to just let Kim do it, and he’d already turned over enough of his heart to this dongsaeng.  He wasn’t going to start breaking his rules, too.  He didn’t care if they were bullshit rules, they were his.

            Groaning, Kim collapsed on the bed, burying his face against Baekhyun’s sheets.  “You’re fucking killing me,” he grumbled, sounding tormented.

            “Speak formally!” Xiumin insisted, smacking his ass for good measure, since it was right there.  He gasped, reaching back and rubbing his ass like that had hurt or something.  “So easily shocked?” Xiumin asked, doing it again.  It bounced that time.  Sexy.

            “You’re too much,” he complained, getting up.

            Drawn to him, Xiumin caressed his furry, black treasure trail.  There was a mark on his side, a scar Xiumin’s fingers had found earlier, pink and white.  “What’s that from?” Xiumin asked, touching it lightly, inquisitively.

            “Bullet,” he said.

            Bullet?  What?!  “You got shot?” Xiumin demanded, ready to fight someone.

            “I’m okay now,” he said, looking taken aback by Xiumin’s vehemence.

            “When?  Who the hell shot you?!”

            “It - - it’s classified.  Things happen.”

            Classified?  By who, the army?  That wasn’t possible.  By the Fox?  “What happened?”  He’d been shot?!  Xiumin still couldn’t accept it.  The idea of it, it was too horrible.

            “It’s just, it, things happen,” he said again helplessly.  “We all have scars.  Bullets and knives and things.  There are scars all over JD’s back, he was trying to disarm a bomb and he couldn’t do it in time.  He took cover, but he still got hit by some of the shrapnel.”

            “What the fuck?!” Xiumin demanded.  He couldn’t get any more coherent than that.

            “I’m okay, I’m still here,” Kim said.  “You can see for yourself that I’m fine.”

            He was running his hands all over Kim now, touching everything, needing to reassure himself that Kim was whole and healthy under his palms.  “Was it the army or Arctic Fox?  What about the bomb, when was that?”

            “It’s classified, it doesn’t matter.”

            A bullet.  Someone had shot him.  It was a nightmare.  Xiumin grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him, hard.  Staring into his widening eyes, Xiumin said, “Take care of yourself, and tell the Fox to look out for you, because if anything ever happens to you again, if you bleed one more time, I’m going to keep you safe myself.  Understand?”

            “Yes, hyung,” he said.  When Xiumin’s grip relaxed, he said, “You aren’t making any sense, though, what-”  Glaring at him, Xiumin squeezed his jaw, and he mumbled, “Yes, hyung, I understand.”

            Barely satisfied, Xiumin let him go.

            “You’re very pushy,” he said, rubbing his jaw.

            “You were in the army and you’re not used to being ordered around?” he asked, pulling his underwear back on.

            Kim studied him, head slowly tipping to one side.  “I think that army hyungs aren’t very much like celebrity idol hyungs.”

            “Not as good-looking?” he guessed, doing up his fly.

            Kim smiled.  “You are very pretty.  It’s a nice change.”

            Sungyeol heard a beep and then the president said, “Checking in.”

            “Glad to have you back,” he said, scrolling through new search results.  “Nothing new to report on my end.  SJ’s still on surveillance.  Namu’s meeting is at eight am if you want to go.”

            “No, I want to follow up on more stalkers before the festival.  Do you have any more addresses for me?”

            “Working on it.”

            “Work faster.”

            “Yes, president-nim.”  He hesitated, then said, “As long as you’re back, are you still on site?  You might want to check on something.  L said that there were some strange noises in the past hour.  Some moaning and yelling, maybe coming from Xiumin’s room?  You-”

            “Ya, do you want to die?  Tell L to mind his own business.”

            “Then you don’t think that it was anything serious?  Maybe it sounded like he was being attacked by some sort of animal.  Like a big fox.”

            “You need to come up with funnier jokes if you’re going to act like this.  Out,” the president said.

            He shrugged, grinning to himself.  “I work with what I got.”

            In the elevator, heading up to EXO’s dorm, Hoya took his earpiece out of his pocket.  He had it halfway to his ear when he paused.  Reconsidered.

            He should just put it on.

            But he wanted to see Baekhyun first.

            He was being foolish.  He could report in first and see Baekhyun second.  It wouldn’t make any difference.

            But it might make a difference to Baekhyun.

            That was a reason to report in first, wasn’t it?  He couldn’t encourage Baekhyun’s attention, it wasn’t right.

            Probably should’ve thought of that before he’d kissed Baekhyun.

            He hadn’t planned to do it.  It had been impulsive.  Spur-of-the-moment.  He couldn’t even make himself regret it.  He wanted to go back and do it again.  On the mouth, this time.

            He studied his earpiece.

            The elevator binged and the doors slid open.

            He shoved the earpiece into his pocket and stepped out.

            When the doorbell rang, Baekhyun ran for it.  L brushed him out of the way.  Up on his toes, hopeful, he held onto L’s back.  “Is it H?”

            “Mmm.  It’s some weird, ugly stranger with - - oh, it is H.”  L opened the door.

            Aw, he had his hat on!  Then Baekhyun gasped, letting go of L.  No earpiece!  Baekhyun wanted to kiss his perfect, naked ear.

            “You’re back,” L said, letting him in and closing the door.

            “I’m back,” he agreed.  He carried his bag over and set it behind the couch.

            “How was it?” Baekhyun asked.  “How’s your mom?  Did you see Info?  Is your head clear?”

            “You saw Info?” Chanyeol demanded from beside D.O. on the couch, head popping up.  “You actually looked at him?”

            “I saw him, he’s fine,” H said.

            “Oh, you’re back, good,” JD said.  “I have to go.”

            “He’s not on-duty yet,” L said.

            “Don’t rush him,” Baekhyun said.  “Here, take your hat off, get comfortable.  Do you want something to eat before you go back on-duty?  We can watch a movie.”

            H smiled and walked toward him.  Immediately, he was delighted, but he felt a little shy, too, self-conscious.  He was thrilled, but he wasn’t sure what this was about, and the room seemed huge all of a sudden; it took about an hour for H to walk up to him.  And then H hugged him.  Amazed, he held on.  H was solid and strong, one arm around him, a hand on the back of his head.  Breathing fast, he tucked his nose against H’s shoulder and closed his eyes.  He’d wanted H to hug him a hundred, thousand times.  He’d wanted it for all kinds of reasons.  He’d needed the reassurance.  He’d craved the affection.  Now it was happening, and he could feel for himself how hard H’s body was, could feel the corded muscles in H’s back.  Even more importantly, he knew for sure that H liked him.  Cared about him.  Some way, on some level, H cared.

            H kissed his cheek and let him go.  The quick press of lips took him by surprise, and he made an involuntary sound, quivering with excitement.

            Turning aside, he was already putting his earpiece back on.  This time, Baekhyun was okay with it.  Tonight, Baekhyun didn’t mind so much.  “H, checking in,” he said, and Baekhyun mouthed the words after him.  Proud of him, Baekhyun was glad to have him back on-duty.  He was good at his job, he was dedicated to it, and they were all safer with him around.  He was kind of a hero.  Not kind of; he was a hero.  An actual hero.

            “Do I stare at L like that?” D.O. whispered to Chanyeol.

            He nodded.

            D.O. blinked, then grimaced, rubbing his own cheek.  “Embarrassing,” he mumbled.

            “He’s probably used to it,” Chanyeol said.  “The bodyguard thing.”

            Maybe Baekhyun was embarrassing and too obvious, but it was starting to pay off, so maybe he shouldn’t mind too much.  A hug and two kisses?  Cheek kisses, not real kisses, but he wasn’t going to complain.  It was more than he’d had yesterday.

            The dorm was quiet, Lay was asleep, and Chanyeol was on the phone.  He split his attention between gaming and asking Info’s opinion on the music he’d posted that night.  He really liked hearing Info’s opinions on his songs.  He took Info’s advice and feedback to heart.  Sometimes when people gave his music a negative or lukewarm reception, he felt discouraged and frustrated and wanted to move onto the next piece, but Info’s comments helped him to stay energized and interested, sending him back to edit and rework the music.

            That night, after they’d talked for a while, he said, “You know about Xiumin hyung and Kim, right?”

            “L and JD told me.”

            “Xiumin hyung’s really into him.  It’s kind of weird,” he admitted.  “Xiumin hyung isn’t usually like this.  I’ve never seen him so mixed up over somebody.”

            “It might not just be about Kim,” Info said.  “There’s a lot going on, he might be mixed up in general.”

            Yeah.  Chanyeol wasn’t going to agree to that out loud, though.  Info still thought that he was only interested in Info because of the bodyguard thing, because he was latching on out of fear, like Baekhyun and D.O. latched onto H and L.  That didn’t make any sense, but he couldn’t convince Info.  “Xiumin hyung said that Kim was shot.  That he has a scar from it.”

            “Mmm.  He does.”

            “But who shot him?”

            Info chuckled.  “I can’t just tell you that.”

            “Xiumin hyung said that all of the Arctic Fox guys have scars.  JD and everyone.  Does that include you, too?”

            “I have one.”

            Alarmed, fascinated, Chanyeol sat up straighter.  “Where?  From what?  What happened?”

            “I can’t talk about it.  Sorry.  I’m okay, though, it’s just a scar, it doesn’t bother me.”

            “It wasn’t bad?”

            “It was hella bad.  That shit hurts!  Why do you think I work behind a desk?  I’m not going through that unless I have to.”

            He couldn’t help it; he laughed.  “Can I see it?”

            “What, my scar?  I don’t know.  Scars are kind of the definition of ‘identifying marks.’”

            “What?  Ya, I don’t have some international database to hunt through.”  Info was borderline paranoid.

            “It’s not attractive, anyway.  I’ll send you a photo of something better-looking.”

            “Your cock?”

            “No dick pics!” Info exclaimed, laughing.  “Come on, I’m not that kind of guy.  Here, hold on.”  A moment later, his phone beeped.  “Try that one.”

            He opened his text messages to find a new photo.  A bright, clear photo of a collarbone.  Oh, “Wow,” he breathed, lovestruck.  “God, that’s gorgeous.  I want to kiss you right there.”

            “I hope that you appreciate it,” Info said.  “I don’t show that to just anybody.”

            “Damn, you’re sexy.”  He held the phone closer to his face, staring.  Info had gorgeous skin.  So smooth.  “I want to kiss you all over.  Do people lick you there?”

            “What, like, people on the street?” Info asked, laughing.

            “No!  Boyfriends, girlfriends, people you’re dating.”

            “I don’t know, maybe sometimes.”

            “Shit, I’m so hot for you.”  He wasn’t even embarrassed to admit it.  “When can we meet in person so I can kiss you?”

            “Maybe when you’re fifty years old and you’ve forgotten all about me, I’ll track you down and knock on your door.”

            “I bet that I’ll know it’s you as soon as I open the door, and we’ll get married like two days later.”

            “Or you’ll say, ‘Who the hell are you?  Honey, call the cops, some freak’s here.’”  Then Info burst into laughter.  “Marriage!  What are you even talking about, married in two days?”

            “If I’m fifty years old, I might as well get married,” he said.  “Younger than that, I’ll still have a lot to do, but by fifty, I think it’ll be time to settle down.”

            “What are you going to do if I don’t show up?  Marry one of your members?”

            “Maybe I’ll find the hottie and marry him.”

            “You’re not still going to care about him when you’re fifty years old.”

            “Don’t you understand how hot he is?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Eh, I think he’s kind of boring.”

            “No, no, you only saw footage from the movie theater.  You have to see him in person,” Chanyeol explained.  “He’s super sexy.  He’s hotter than I am, and I’m in EXO.”

            Info snorted.  “Don’t go too far.”

            “So freaking hot,” he said with conviction.  Then he remembered how eager the hottie had been to get away from him, and his spirits dropped.  “I wish that he didn’t hate me.”

            “Hate you?”  Info sounded surprised.

            “He ran away from me, he wouldn’t even talk to me, he acted annoyed.”

            “He waved when he left.  And he said that it was good to see you, didn’t he?  That’s what you said.”

            “That doesn’t mean anything.”

            “He was probably just nervous.  Meeting a big idol and everything, maybe he was intimidated.”

            “You’re just trying to make me feel better,” Chanyeol accused.

            “You’re probably his favorite member of EXO.”

            Despite himself, he grinned.  He liked hearing that.  “You think so?”

            “Sure.”

            Pleased, he wanted to kiss Info through the phone.  “I’m your favorite member, too, right?”

            “Totally my favorite.”

            Ah, that felt good.  “Should I send you photos so you can see my collarbone, too?”

            “I already have photos of you.  I set the best ones as my wallpaper.”

            “What, promotional photos?”

            “Some promotional photos and some fan photos.”

            That sounded like a lot, but Info did have a bunch of monitors.  “Only good photos, right?  Not the ones where I’m squinting or have weird hair?”

            Info laughed.  “Don’t be so sensitive about your looks!  They’re good photos, I like looking at you.”

            “Doesn’t the Fox mind it?  That you have photos of the client all over your desktop?  Does he know that we’re dating?”

            “We’re not dating,” Info said.  “Whenever he’s here, he’s either too focused on the job to notice anything else, or he’s in the kind of mood where he scolds me over every little thing anyway, so he yells at me about this and that and the music I listen to and how much coffee I drink and why I waste so much time gaming and why I haven’t cleaned up and all of it.”

            Chanyeol grimaced.  “Ugh, is he mean?  He shouldn’t scold you like that, it’s too much.”

            “He’s okay.  He’s great when he’s in a good mood, he’s really funny and he takes great care of us.”

            Info really seemed to mean it, so Chanyeol relaxed.  “Chen knows where you are, doesn’t he?  He’s met you, hasn’t he?”

            “Don’t bother Chen, he’s a great guy.”

            “I can bother him if I want!”

            “Leave him alone!” Info insisted, laughing.  “JD brought him in a few times.  It’s a safe place for them to hang out.”

            “I’m going to hide myself in JD’s backpack and go along next time.”

            “Okay, sure.  You go ahead and do that.”

            “I will.”

            Info was still laughing.  “I’ll look forward to it.”

            D.O. could tell that something was going on.  L was checking in more often than usual.  He’d been looking at his phone, too.  D.O. wondered what he was looking at.  Was Info sending him photos of something?

            Namu came by the dorm.  He talked with Suho, and he had a short conference with L and H, and he hung around for a while, chatting with the members, being very reassuring, calming them and making them laugh.  He made everything seem manageable.  When they were getting ready to leave for the festival, he said, “It’s a big day, and there are going to be a lot of people around.  Security’s not very tight, so we’re going to have to make up for that ourselves.  It’ll be a big help if you’ll stay close and listen to directions.  We’re going to ask you to stay in the dressing room as much as possible, and trips to the bathroom will be one at a time.”

            “What’s going on?” Baekhyun asked.  “Are you on high alert or something?  Are we at code red?”

            “There’s no code red,” Namu assured him, chuckling.  “It’s what I said, a big day, a lot of people, security holes.  It’s an important day for you, isn’t it?  A lot of attention, a good career move, you’ve been practicing for it all week.  Well, it’s important for us, too, so we have to be at our best, too.  H and L will stay with you the whole time.  JD and SJ will be in the crowd.  It would be illegal for Info to look over event security’s shoulders by tapping into their video feed, so I’m sure that he won’t do anything like that.  And Kim and I will be around, too.”

            “Great, it’s a whole party, everyone’s invited,” Baekhyun said.

            “The whole team’s going to be there to look out for our safety,” Suho said.  “That means that we can let them worry about those things, and we can focus on what we have to do.  Let’s show EXO-L our best tonight.”

            D.O. nodded.

            When they went on for rehearsal, there were already people out in the audience.  They had to stop for a minute to work on the sound system, and Xiumin went to the edge of the stage, looking out.  EXO-L cheered and waved at him, and he waved back.

            A security guard down right in front of the stage turned around.  “Xiumin, back, get back.”

            He glanced down, and then he did a double-take.  It was Kim.  Dressed like event security, in a blue T-shirt and with a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.  Surprised, he crouched down.  “What are you doing here?”

            “Working, now get back.  You don’t have to be so close to the edge like this.”

            “I want to see my fans and be close to them.  You’ll keep me safe.”  Curious, he wondered, “Are you undercover?  Why do you still have your earpiece on, don’t they mind?”

            “No, I - - yes, kind of.  I’m head of security, I can do what I want.”

            He laughed.  “Seriously?  How did you get to be head of security?”

            Kim looked impatient.  “We saw this event ahead on your calendar and we knew that it would be a problem, so we made arrangements.”

            “If you’re in charge, then why is security so bad here?  Are you not very good?”

            “They have too few guards, too many holes, and all kinds of problems, but they’d rather save money than listen to me.  They’re cutting corners and assuming that everyone’s going to play nice.”

            “Things look pretty calm,” he said, and waved to his fans again.  They loved it; he laughed and threw them a heart.

            “I can see why you’re so full of yourself.”  Kim’s tone was thoughtful; he seemed serious, not mocking.  “If people got so excited over every little move I made, I might get excited about myself, too.”  Then he gestured to someone.

            “So you’ve been around to see the other groups rehearse?  How’d everybody look?”

            “I’m not here to watch the show.”

            “How long ago did you get this job?  Wouldn’t they already have a head of security?  What’d you do, take him out so you could replace him?”

            “Hyung,” Baekhyun said behind him.  “Come on, H wants you to get away from the edge of the stage.  And you’re distracting Kim.”

            Rolling his eyes, he got up.  He waved at the fans again, and then he let Baekhyun coax him away.  “There’s nothing to worry so much about, there’s no one near the stage.”

            “Haven’t you noticed how tense H and L are?  I think this is a good day to cooperate a lot and not start arguments.”

            He gave Baekhyun a shocked look.  “When have I ever started an argument?”

            They were still cracking up when they joined the other members.

            “I see her,” JD said, moving through the crowd.  The festival grounds were packed, and the crowd was very active.  Between the music and the enthusiastic screaming, it was a loud, chaotic scene.  “Four yards away.”

            “Move in,” the president said.  “Stay close.”

            “Got it.”

            They’d already spotted three of their highest priority targets, and EXO wouldn’t be on for another half hour.

            The dressing rooms were tents.  There was only one entrance flap, but L would’ve preferred actual walls to flimsy fabric.  Between idols, staff, festival crew, and hangers-on, the small tent city was busy, with people coming and going from all directions.  It was so easy to get through, another idol group had already had problems with fans sneaking around.  As far as L was concerned, it was only a matter of time before EXO-L got through.  Which might not be a huge crisis.  Ninety-nine percent of fans were decent people with generally good intentions; they just wanted to love and support their idols, and get as close as possible if they had the opportunity.

            “Coming to client,” the president said in his earpiece.  “Status.”

            “Two feet from target,” JD said.

            “Two feet from target,” Namu said.

            “With members, everything secure,” H said.

            “No one loitering close to the tent, but plenty of activity around it,” Info said.

            “With members, secure,” L said.

            “Two feet from target,” SJ said.

            “Do you want me with the client?” Namu asked.

            “No, stay with target,” the president said.

            Usually, at an event like this, the members would’ve been in a good mood, playful, joking, running around to find their friends from other groups, hanging out in other idols’ tents.  Or they would’ve rested up before the performance, taking naps.  Tonight, they were jittery.  They couldn’t distract themselves by seeing friends, because Arctic Fox wanted them inside the tent and together, to keep an eye on them.  They couldn’t relax enough to nap.

            D.O. sat in a corner, out of the way, and read his book.  Around him, his members were warming up their voices and practicing choreography, expelling nervous energy.  He didn’t keep an eye on the door; he didn’t look up at every sudden noise.  He told himself to stay calm, that everything was fine, that he was perfectly safe.  He kept his eyes on the page in front of him.

            One of their real managers told them that it was time to go on.  He got up.  While he was taking a last drink of water, he heard raised voices outside of the tent.  One voice, loud and authoritative.  “I want this area clear!  The whole way from this tent and down the aisle, no one should be here now!”

            The members were gathering up, checking their mikes, fixing their hair.  As D.O. set down his water bottle, someone came into the tent.  It was only Kim.  Telling himself to relax, he slowly put aside his book.  Suho didn’t say anything about how he dragged it around to schedules, but he was pretty sure that Suho would draw the line at carrying it onstage.

            “Come, come, quickly,” Kim ordered, gesturing them onward.  “Stay together, no straggling.”

            They stuck together.  As they rushed from the tent to the stage, the whole way, D.O. kept a hand on Lay’s back, staying close.

            The crowd was huge, and every inch seemed lit up with EXO-L’s lightsticks.  D.O.’s voice wobbled on the first song, but he immediately got himself together, and everything was solid after that.  Suho wasn’t going to let EXO-L see that anything was wrong, and wasn’t going to let them, either.  D.O. did his best, and Baekhyun and Kai gave it everything, and Xiumin freaking nailed it, and by the end of the last song, they were all into it, really into it.  The members were all having a great time, and EXO-L was cheering them on, and D.O. didn’t want it ever to stop.

            Baekhyun had gotten so carried away that he’d forgotten to conserve his energy, and when they left the stage, he was a little dizzy, exhausted.  He followed Sehun, bouncing a little, feeling really good about their performance.  “EXO-L has so much energy!”

            Automatically, he looked for H.  This close to the stage, there were a bunch of people around, staff and crew, even with Kim ordering everyone to get back.  So loud and bossy!  He looked over his shoulder and saw Namu right behind them, close, somehow managing to keep a look out in all directions at once.  He hadn’t seen Namu all night.  And where was H?  Frowning, he turned around, scanning the people in front of him.

            And saw someone lunge forward, knife in hand.

            It was all so fast, and so sudden, that D.O. barely knew what was happening.  He was walking, following Suho, taking his mike off.  His mind was still on the show, on the crowd.  And then L was beside him, pushing him, and he heard Baekhyun cry out, and someone screamed.  L’s arm was tight around him and Suho was whirling around and Kim was yelling, “L, Namu, go, go,” and H was shouting, “Down, she’s down!”

            “To the tent, back to the tent,” L ordered, letting him go with a shove.  Gasping, he didn’t look, he just obeyed, scurrying, grabbing at Suho’s hand, or maybe Suho had grabbed his.  Event security in blue rushed past, but he just hurried for the tent.

            “H, H,” Baekhyun gasped, but Namu was pushing him forward, not letting him stay, not letting him look.  He’d seen someone, a woman, a girl, run towards his members.  She’d had a knife, a knife in her hand, a big knife.  L had jumped in the way, right in front of the knife, and H had come out of nowhere, right behind her, materializing out of the shadows, and grabbed her.  In an instant, the knife had been on the ground, and so had she, H pinning her arms back and planting a foot right on top of the knife so no one else could pick it up.

            Baekhyun wanted to stay.  He wasn’t ready to move on yet; he was still processing what he’d seen, still absorbing it, the one split second when everything had happened all at once.  The knife.  The lunge.  L suddenly in the way.  H so quick and precise, like it was all a dance they’d choreographed ahead of time.

            He stopped again, wanting to go back.  Xiumin put an arm around him and dragged him forward, carrying him along with the rest of the members.  “Come on, you know the rules, no stragglers,” Xiumin said.

            In the tent, Suho was counting heads and touching everybody, grabbing shoulders and squeezing arms, making sure that everybody was there.  “Are you all right, are you all right, is anybody hurt?”

            “I’m okay,” everybody was saying.

            “She didn’t get anybody, H stopped her,” Baekhyun said.  Unless - - he stared at L, suddenly second-guessing his own memories.  “Did she, what about you, are you-”

            “L’s fine, we’re all fine,” Namu said.  “No one’s hurt, not even a little bit.”

            “What happened, though, what’s going on?” Chanyeol asked.  “I heard screaming.”

            “I didn’t even see anything, I just ran,” Kai said.  “No one’s hurt?”

            “There was a, a person,” Baekhyun said.  Hadn’t anyone else seen?  “She had a knife.”

            “A what?” Kai demanded.

            “She came right out of nowhere, like from behind the speakers,” Sehun said.  “She went straight for, I mean, she was trying to, I…”

            Baekhyun didn’t want to go into detail about that, either.  “L got in her way and H stopped her.  I didn’t even see where he came from, he was just there.  Like he knew what she was going to do ahead of time.  He…”  Baekhyun didn’t know how to describe it.  “He knocked her down.”  That wasn’t right, that didn’t explain it at all; that made it sound too clumsy.  “It was really fast.”

            “She’s been high on our list from the beginning,” Namu said.  “I’ve been following her around for the past two hours.  When she snuck backstage, during your second song, I traded places with H.  He’s a little better at takedowns than I am.  Just a little!”

            During their second song.  While they’d been up there performing, loving the crowd, she’d been sneaking around with a knife, waiting for them.  Baekhyun shivered, and Chen hugged him.

            They were all so rattled, they didn’t know how to act.  They could hear the ending stage, all of the other idols grouping up for the last song.  The festival was ending without them.  EXO-L was going to wonder where they were.

            Suho asked when they could leave.  Namu said soon, they just had to wait for SJ and JD.

            The members waited awkwardly, no one knowing what to say.

            After a while, a bunch of guys from event security showed up, and Namu said that it was time to go.  They walked out in a group, holding hands.  JD and SJ were waiting for them at the vans.  Baekhyun wished that H were there, but maybe H was too busy.  Maybe there was a lot of paperwork to fill out after a takedown.

            They went back to the dorm.  They sent out for a ton of food.  They all sat in the front room together and ate.

            After a while, beside him, D.O. said, “You don’t all have to look so worried about me.  It’s not just me, it could have been any of us.”

            “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Chanyeol asked.

            “The important thing is that everyone’s all right,” Suho said.

            “L’s a hero,” Sehun said.

            “H is a hero,” Baekhyun said.  “You all should have seen him!  He came out of nowhere, like a ninja out of the shadows, and he grabbed her arm, like, ‘Not today, young lady, not today,’ and then-”

            “Oh, he had dialogue, now?” Chanyeol asked, laughing.

            “Are you writing a movie?” Chen asked.

            “He totally did!” Baekhyun insisted.

            “I didn’t hear that,” Suho said.

            “I didn’t hear anything except Kim’s shouting,” Xiumin said.  “God, he’s pushy.”

            “He was in charge!” Chanyeol said.

            “If this Arctic Fox thing doesn’t work out for him, he should get a job bossing people around,” Sehun said.

            “So, you’re saying, a job as a manager at SM?” Chen asked.

            “Or a leader,” Baekhyun said, shooting a sly look in Suho’s direction.  Taking immediate exception to that, Suho laughed and shoved him.  D.O. smiled, so he laughed and flopped over dramatically, like Suho had been too rough, and D.O. helped him back up.

            Things had been quiet for a while, in L’s ear and around the dorm.  Most of the members were holed up in their bedrooms, talking and processing.  Xiumin was cooking.  JD and Namu were giving Chen and Suho comfort sex, so SJ and L were on duty, keeping an eye on the door, patrolling.

            D.O. was silent and still on the couch.  He was leaning against the armrest where L usually slept.  His book was on his lap, but he wasn’t reading it.  He wasn’t doing anything.  Just sitting there.  Watching L, sometimes.  He was so quiet and still, it was hard to tell how he was doing.  One by one, his members came out and talked to him.  It didn’t seem to be orchestrated, it just happened, each one of them sitting down and talking with him for a few minutes.  He didn’t have a lot to say, but he cracked a few smiles, and he hugged them.  And when they left him, he went back to watching L in silence.

            JD came on duty and gave L a break.  He went to pee and wash up.  He took his hat off and then his earpiece, too, and then he rubbed at his face and just stood alone in the bathroom for a couple of minutes, blanking out, giving himself permission not to be on constant mental alert.

            He ate a protein bar, but it wasn’t enough.  He went to the kitchen to make instant ramen, but Xiumin told him to eat what was already made.  A home-cooked meal?  He tried to be polite and not take too much, since Xiumin had so many other people to feed, but on his first bite, his body recognized real food and after that, he couldn’t get enough.  He ate everything Xiumin put in front of him, and he didn’t worry about a thing, and he felt relaxed, truly relaxed, for the first time in a while.

            He thanked Xiumin, and he got up and stretched.  When he went back to the front room, it was empty, except D.O. was still there, in his spot.  Smiling, he scratched his ear, rubbing where his earpiece usually sat.  “Want me to sleep on the other couch?”

            “No,” D.O. said, gazing up at him.

            But D.O. wasn’t moving.  Suddenly self-conscious, he blushed.  He’d been sleeping against that armrest for weeks now.  It was his space, his makeshift bed.  D.O. knew that, if anyone did.

            Maybe he was assuming too much.

            He put his earpiece back on and told Info that he was taking a few hours to sleep.  He scrubbed his hand through his hair.

            D.O. was still there, patiently watching him.

            Cautiously, he took a step forward.

            D.O. scooted down a little, curling his knees in, getting comfortable.

            He knew how D.O. felt.  He knew what it was like to need comfort.  To need to feel reassured and secure.  To need to feel the human warmth of another person close.  He sat down like he would any other time, and he leaned against D.O. instead of the armrest.  Wrapping his arm around D.O.’s waist, he slumped comfortably and used D.O. for his pillow.  Exhaling, relaxed, he closed his eyes.

            He liked this.  He liked knowing exactly where D.O. was.  He liked knowing that anyone trying to get to D.O. would have to go through him.  He wished that he’d been able to sleep this way for all of these weeks.  He was going to get some great rest tonight.

            Baekhyun couldn’t sleep.  He kept seeing people lunging at him from dark corners.  He kept remembering Suho in the tent, reaching out, touching everyone, making sure that everyone was still whole and safe.

            He padded around the dorm.  D.O. was passed out on the couch, snug between L and the armrest.  It was so sweet and pathetic that Baekhyun honestly felt bad for being so freaking jealous.

            JD was standing by the front door.  When Baekhyun walked over, he smiled.  “Need something?”

            “Um.”  He considered working the conversation around to the real point, but he didn’t need to be subtle.  “When is H coming?”

            “He finished up with the police for now, and they won’t want him back for another day or two, so Kim sent him home.  He’ll be here in the morning, I think.”

            In the morning?  He’d gone home?  Baekhyun was glad for him, that he got time off and everything.  Yay for him, that was great.  But now Baekhyun was alone.  Without him.  Not technically alone, there were a bunch of other people around.  But no H.  Not until tomorrow morning?  “Okay.”

            So, no sleep for Byun Baekhyun tonight!

            He went to see what Xiumin was doing in the kitchen.

            The answer turned out to be finishing up: Xiumin was putting a bunch of food in the fridge, all wrapped up and in plastic tubs.  “What are you doing still up?”

            “Nothing.  Not tired,” he lied.  “Can I-”

            Xiumin slapped his hand away and closed the fridge.  “You can’t eat so late at night.  Go to bed.”

            Sure.  Tomorrow.  When H was around.  “D.O.’s asleep in the living room.”

            “Yeah, I saw.”  Xiumin started the dishwasher.  “Come on.”  Xiumin herded him out of the kitchen.  “If tomorrow’s half as interesting as today was, you’ll need some sleep.”

            He decided not to argue about it.  He’d just play along until Xiumin was asleep, and then get back up.  It would kill time, anyway.

            But in their room, Xiumin pulled on him and said, “C’mere,” and he ended up on Xiumin’s bed.  Not even in a sexy way, just spooned up.

            “Are we playing D.O. and L?” he guessed.

            “We’re playing that we’re both tired and we need sleep, so close your eyes,” Xiumin said.

            He closed his eyes.

            It wasn’t H.  It wasn’t the same.  But it was nice.  And with Xiumin snugged up against his back, his insecurities faded a little.  Pretty soon, he was asleep.

            Dongwoo opened the door, surprised.  “What are you doing here?” he whispered.

            “Checking in.”  Kim glanced around, taking in D.O. and L on the couch, SJ lounging in a chair.  The rest of the dorm was quiet.

            But he could check in without showing up.  That was what the communicators were for.  “It’s fine here, they’re all asleep.  You should go home.”

            “Yeah.  Okay.”  Instead of leaving, Kim went down the hallway.

            Dongwoo waited.  Watched L and D.O. sleep for a while.  Recited poetry in his head.

            Kim came back.  “Yeah, they’re okay.  Need me for anything?”

            “Nope,” SJ said.

            “Okay.”  He left the dorm.

            Dongwoo locked the door behind him.

            Laughter.

            Baekhyun heard laughter.

            Waking up, he started off his day relieved.  His members were laughing.  Everyone was safe.  They were happy, in good moods, and it was okay to laugh.

            As he crawled out of Xiumin’s bed, he heard voices in the front room.  Chen, and then Sehun, and then: “I don’t even watch TV, and I know all about that episode.  Isn’t it your job to pay attention to pop culture?”

            H’s voice.  H was there.  Here, here in the dorm with them.  Suddenly wide awake, Baekhyun jogged across the dorm.

            He was there, standing right in the middle of the room, looking as real as if it were any ordinary morning.  Black hat, earpiece, shirt tucked in, feet set apart.  He looked over when Baekhyun ran in, and he smiled.  “Good morning.”

            “Oh, thank god,” Baekhyun said, and hugged him.

            “Oh, okay,” H said, and hugged him back.

            “You’re never that happy to see me in the morning,” Sehun said.

            “Have you seen your hair first thing in the morning?” Chen teased.  “No one’s happy to see you when you look like that.”

            “What happened?” Baekhyun asked, still not letting go.  He ran his hands up and down H’s muscular back, reassuring himself.  “You had to talk to the police?  Are you in any trouble?  You didn’t get hurt or anything, did you?”

            “It’s nothing, I just had to explain what happened and answer some questions.  I’m not in trouble for anything, I didn’t do anything wrong.  I’m not hurt, no one’s hurt.”

            Good.  Good.  Okay.  “You’re a hero.”  He was so proud, he wanted to go write up a commendation and post it up all over the city.  “You’re an actual hero.”

            “No, I’m really not.”

            “You are.”  He’d been so quick.  So decisive, so efficient.  There hadn’t been any dithering, no trying to protest or struggle, just sharp, sudden movements and it had all been over.  It was easy to look back now and feel relieved that no one had gotten hurt, but no one had gotten hurt because of Arctic Fox, because of H and L, because they’d known exactly what to do and exactly how to do it.  Their quick thinking and immediate actions were why EXO now had an interesting story to tell on variety shows instead of something worse.  “Thank you.  Has anyone thanked you yet?  Thank you.”

            “I - - you’re welcome, but you don’t have to say that.”

            He started to back up, but he’d only moved a couple of inches away when he realized that he wasn’t ready to let go yet, after all.  Not ready to let go, no.  He moved right back in, getting another hug.

            H patted his back.

            He exhaled, glad to be right there in H’s arms, up against H’s hard body.  He tucked his fingers in H’s belt loops and asked, “How long can I stay here?”

            “I don’t have anywhere to go for another forty-three minutes,” H said.

            He smiled.  “Good.”  Mmm, H smelled nice.  “You slept at your place?”

            “I slept at headquarters.  I wanted to be close in case you needed me.  In case the president needed me, I mean, the president.”  He cleared his throat and stroked Baekhyun’s spine.

            He hid his smile against H’s shoulder.  He started turning in a gradual, shuffling circle, and H moved with him.  Like they were slow dancing.  “Do you have cots there or something?”

            “Or something.”

            “You can take me there when you have time off.”

            “It’s boring.”

            “Supersoldier headquarters can’t be boring.”

            “It’s just an office and an apartment.”

            “And equipment?  Is that where you store your equipment?”

            “Right.  Our equipment.  It’s where we keep our secret X-ray glasses and our space satellites and our remote-controlled robot people.”

            “And your capes and tights,” he added.

            “Yes.  And our capes and tights.”

            “And the Batmobile,” he whispered, and H cracked up, laughing, chest shaking against his own.

            The first thing they did that morning was go to the SM building for a big talk.  A lot of upper-level management was in the room, and all of the managers they were currently working with.  Xiumin sat back and let the other members do most of the talking, but there wasn’t much of it to do; management seemed to have a lot to say, instead.

            Because it was private SM business, no one from Arctic Fox was allowed in the room, not even Namu.  D.O. was holding his book.  Baekhyun chewed on his thumbnail and glanced at the door a lot.  Xiumin thought that it was bullshit that they were supposed to trust Arctic Fox to keep them safe and be with them constantly and oversee every move they made, but having one bodyguard in the room while they discussed the aftermath of the attack they’d thwarted was too much?

            Management wanted to make sure that they weren’t too freaked out over D.O. almost being sliced to death, especially after everything that had happened in Japan.  Once Suho said that they were all okay and they were just as committed to EXO as before, the conversation turned to how to proceed.  Which stalkers to turn over to the police, how hard to press for prosecution, what to tell the fans, what to tell the press, how to spin all of this on variety.  Xiumin started to tune it all out; they were going to decide all of that on their own, they were only pretending to care about EXO’s opinion.

            “You have a big decision ahead of you,” someone said with a cheery smile.  An assistant spread out photos in front of them, all down the table.  “Which dorm do you want to choose?”

            “Which dorm?” Lay repeated.

            “You’re going to move,” someone explained.  “It’s time for an upgrade.”

            “These are really nice places,” Chanyeol said, sliding a few photos over to Kai.

            Xiumin shoved aside the photos in front of him, not even looking at them.  “Which dorm did Arctic Fox recommend?”

            “Hmm?” someone asked.

            “They’re all good places,” someone else said.

            “But which one’s the safest?” he asked.  “This isn’t about an upgrade, is it?  It’s about security.  We aren’t safe in our dorm, building security’s terrible, Arctic Fox said that from the beginning.  Have they seen these dorms, have they rated them?  Did you talk to Namu about them, or to the Fox?  What did they say, which one’s safest?  I want to move there, I don’t care about anything else.  Somewhere with a tiny bathroom and no kitchen is okay with me, right now, as long as the members are safe.”

            “Yes,” Suho said.  Xiumin blinked; he’d expected Suho to smooth things over, not agree with him.  “I think that whatever is the safest choice is the best choice for us.  The members’ safety is my top priority these days.  We can stay in sleeping bags in the practice room if it’s safer.  If these are our choices, then I’d like to move to the one Arctic Fox likes the best.”

            “I’d like that, too,” Lay said.

            “Well, then, we’ll go with the president’s recommendation,” someone said, gesturing to the assistant to gather up the photos again.  “They’re all excellent, you’ll be very comfortable.”  As if they hadn’t just emphasized that comfort didn’t matter.

            “Speaking of Arctic Fox,” someone said, leaning forward, “you won’t be in this situation for much longer.  They’ve turned over a lot of information.  The problems, the threats, that’ll all be over soon.”

            “I’d give it another week, maybe,” someone agreed.  “Not even that long.”

            “It’ll all be over soon, and things can go back to normal.”

            “You’re firing Arctic Fox?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Not firing,” someone said.  “But they’ve fulfilled your contract.  We hired them to keep you safe and track down who’s sending death threats, and they’ve done both of those things.”

            “What’s going to happen?” Baekhyun asked.  “They’re just going to go away?”

            “I’m sure that they have other jobs to work on.  And it’s been inconvenient and expensive, hasn’t it, always being surrounded by security guards?  You’ll be able to go out as you like from now on, like you could before.”  She smiled.  “You’ll be glad for that, won’t you?”

            While Suho replied politely, Xiumin plotted.

            When the meeting ended, D.O. stood up to bow and say good-bye.  He listened politely as everyone in management patted his shoulder and told him to find strength.  A couple of them made meaningless remarks on the book he was holding.  He felt like he’d never been so sure about what mattered to him.  His members were more important to him than ever.  They’d gone through all of this with him.  They’d stood beside him.  They’d worried about him, and he’d worried about them, and no one had tried to point fingers or pin blame.

            L, H, everyone in Arctic Fox.  They’d protected him.  They’d looked him in the eye and explained what was happening.  They’d been ready, at any moment, to throw themselves between him and danger.  They’d worked tirelessly to keep him safe.

            These people didn’t get him.  Even the ones who’d known him for years now, people he saw all of the time, people in charge of his career and all aspects of his life.  They’d kept information from him.  They’d let threats pour in and pile up, and not done anything about it until now, when it was almost too late.  They’d tried to brush it all aside and cover it all up and keep it away from him, like he wouldn’t want to know.  Like he didn’t need to know.  They hadn’t even told Suho about it until after they’d decided to hire Arctic Fox.

            They wanted to protect the talent.  Shield and coddle the talent.  Like he was an infant, not an adult, not a professional.  They didn’t think of him as someone with common sense or maturity; they didn’t think of him as a real person, only as a product.  And they didn’t want to take the risk that an unhappy product wouldn’t sell well.

            Even in the middle of this fiasco, when someone had tried to stab him last night at an event they’d sent him to, they’d tried to frame picking out a new dorm as a happy adventure, with glossy photos to tempt his eyes, like he was choosing a shiny new dream car.  The list of dorm features they’d handed Suho included details on floor space and the number of refrigerators and the built-in shelves they could use as a trophy display case.  Nothing about security features, not a word about locks or alarms or doormen.

            They didn’t take EXO seriously.

            But they needed to keep the product happy.  Xiumin had been complaining about it, but it was an interesting point.  He wondered if he could use it in EXO’s favor.

            As management filed out of the room, Baekhyun looked at Suho.  “Did you know that we were getting a new place?”

            “Namu talked about it a few times.  He asked if there were features that we absolutely had to have, or if we had a wish list.  I told him that all I cared about was safety.  A good security system, somewhere we won’t have to worry about anyone sneaking in.”

            Then Suho had already explained that?  “I wonder where the Fox lives.  His place has to have good security, right?  Let’s move there.”

            “Where the Fox lives?  Can we afford it?” Chanyeol asked.

            Chen snorted.  “Don’t joke.  I know how much you make.”

            L and H came in.  “Ready to go?”

            “Um, hey,” Baekhyun said.  “So do you guys have your next job lined up already, or what?  Is it good?  Going to stop a kidnapping or rescue a top actress?”

            “No,” H said slowly.

            “We don’t have another job,” L said.

            “But you’re leaving us,” Chanyeol said.  “Was anyone going to say anything about it?  How long have you known?”

            L frowned.  “We’re wrapping up a lot,” H said.  “But we aren’t going anywhere until the contract’s up.  And that’s not for, what, two weeks?”  He glanced at L, and L nodded at him.

            “They said one week,” Chen said.  “Less than one week.”

            “They did?”  H looked taken aback.  “I didn’t know.”

            L moved aside, tapping his earpiece, mumbling something.

            “Maybe there’s been some miscommunication,” Suho said.

            “Maybe management and the Fox are making decisions and not bothering to tell anyone,” Xiumin said.

            “What about our new dorm, what’s going on with that?” Sehun asked.  “Are they moving us somewhere safe?”

            “It should be the Pecan Building,” H said.  His gaze pinged from one face to another.  “No?  The president settled on three.  The Pecan was the best, and there were two others.  We checked them out.”

            “Tell them that’s where we want to live,” Xiumin told Suho.

            “I will,” Suho said.  Baekhyun believed him.

            L came back away from the corner.  “The president says that we’re staying until the end of our contract.  We’re signed through for two more weeks, and he hasn’t heard anything different.  Neither has Namu.”

            “Good.  That’s settled, then,” Baekhyun said, forcing himself to accept it.  “Two more weeks.”  It wasn’t long enough, but it was better than a few days.

            “You talked to the Fox?” Xiumin asked.  “He’s sure?”

            “Yes,” L said.  “Two weeks.”

            “Okay.  I have to speak to someone before we go.  I won’t take long,” he promised, already heading for the door.  “Five minutes, I’ll be right back.”

            “Where are you going?” H asked, following him.

            Damn it.  “We should’ve hired a bodyguard just for that hyung,” Baekhyun said.

            “Make sure it’s someone older,” Sehun advised.  “Someone he’ll listen to.”

            “Oh, does he listen to hyungs?” L asked.  “I thought that he only listened to Suho.”

            “He’s usually much quieter than all of this,” Suho said.  “He’s been agitated lately.”

            “I wonder why,” D.O. said, and half of the members didn’t even know how to take that, and Baekhyun burst into happy, helpless laughter.

            “Where are you going?” H repeated.

            “Not far, I won’t leave the building.”  Xiumin walked over to Secretary Kim.  “Hi, how’ve you been?”

            “Xiumin-ah, hi,” she said, smiling.  “You look well.”  Her smile faltered.  “I’m sorry, I heard…”

            “It was scary, yesterday,” he told her, leaning against the edge of her desk.  Pretending to scratch his arm, he pulled up his sleeve, showing off his muscles.  “Thank god that Arctic Fox was there to rescue us, right?  We owe them so much, I actually wanted to see if I could do something for them.  Do you have their employee information?  It should be with their contract.”

            “Employee information?” she repeated.  She turned her attention to her computer, looking doubtful.  “I don’t know if we have anything like that.  Let me check.”

            “Just simple things, names, addresses.”  Using the excuse of peering at her monitor, he leaned closer.

            Turning pink, she mis-clicked a couple of times.  “Ah, well,” she murmured, flustered.  “Um, here, well, the contract’s here, but I don’t see…”

            “Could you print that out for me?”

            “Print it?”

            “It’ll have the address and some names, won’t it?”

            “Let’s see.”  She opened the file.

            Quickly, intent, he scanned the contract.  Arctic Fox Security, blah blah blah, he didn’t see an address anywhere.  No names, only things like “Arctic Fox Security” and “the company” and a lot of legal jargon.  There, wait, at the bottom.  “Kim Sunggyu,” he said, and he repeated it to himself, committing it to memory.  “Kim Sunggyu.  Do you have an address for him?  When you need to mail things, copies of the contract, where do you send them?”

            “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “Usually the tree comes by and picks things up.  He picks things up or drops them off in person.  Or we e-mail and fax, things like that.  I don’t think that we have an address.  But I can ask for one.”

            “Could you?” Xiumin asked, flashing her a smile.  “I’d really be grateful.”

            He talked to her for another minute.  When he left, H accompanied him to the elevator.  Inside, H tapped his earpiece and said, “H here.  Red alert, code red, emergency status, EXO’s Xiumin knows the president’s name.  I repeat, emergency status, EXO’s Xiumin knows the Fox’s name.”

            “Mock me all day long,” Xiumin said, grinning.  “I don’t care.”

            “What are you going to do?” H asked, dropping his hand.

            “Look him up.”

            “You think he’s the only Kim Sunggyu in the world?”

            “I’ll just look for distinguished military service or something.”

            “Classified.”

            “Not all of it.”

            “All of it,” H said.

            “What, even the years he served?”

            “All of it,” H repeated.

            “She’ll get me the address, anyway,” Xiumin said.  He wasn’t going to give up.  “And if she doesn’t, I’ll get it out of Chen.  He’ll tell me anything if I ask him right.”  He studied H and smirked.  “Or I’ll just wait until you take Baekhyun, and get him to tell me.”

            “What makes you think…”  H blushed and cleared his throat, giving up.  “I’ll tell the president to expect you in about two weeks, then.”  Xiumin laughed.

            Suho was in his room late that night when D.O. came in and sat on his bed.  “Hey,” he said, sitting up.  Ruffling his own hair, he wondered how long D.O. was going to carry that book around.  Even in the dorm.  He wasn’t going to ask; he wanted to give D.O. room to work things out.  The last thing D.O. needed was more pressure.

            “I need you to tell management something,” D.O. said.  “Tell them that you’re worried about me.  You think that I’m more upset than you realized.  You’re worried that all of this is getting to me.  Not that I’m cracking, but I’ve been under a lot of strain.”

            Suho wanted to be sure that he understood.  “Should I be more worried about you than I already am?  Have I underestimated how upset you are?”

            “No.  Just tell management about it.  And tell them that I’ve become very close to Arctic Fox.  I rely on them a lot.  Since they’ve been with us so much, and they saved my life.  I’m very grateful, and they’ve - - they’ve taken on a hyung’s role.  Looking out for me.  We’ve grown close.”

            “Okay.”  Suho was willing to play along.  “I can say those things.  Is there anything else?”

            “Tell them that even after the contract’s over, I might need to keep seeing them a few more times.  This has all been so rough on me, I’ll probably have some trouble letting go.  It’s better if no one interferes.  It’s a period of transition for me,” he added.

            “Okay.”  Suho stroked D.O.’s hair, smoothing it back from his forehead.  “I’ll explain everything.”

            Uh-oh.  Sungyeol read the message again, then touched his earpiece.

            “Here.”

            “President-nim, you just got e-mail from SM.  They, uh, they’re excusing us from the last days of our contract.”  When the president didn’t reply, he added, “It says thanks for your great efforts, great results, meeting with Namu tomorrow, and then it says that they’ll take it from here and after L brings D.O. back from filming tomorrow, they don’t think that they’ll need us again.”

            “Tomorrow,” the president repeated.

            “Yes.  They look forward to learning the results of our final investigations at the meeting tomorrow.”

            “Okay.  Tell Namu to follow up to confirm, and then tell the rest of the team and Suho.”

            “Got it.”

            “Out.”

            Sungyeol read the message again.  So it was over.  Just like that.  They weren’t even going to get to finish out the rest of the contract term.

            This was what they got for being so good at their jobs.

            D.O. was in the dorm, running lines with L.  Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Sehun were on the floor, playing cards.

            In the middle of a line, L broke off and put his hand to his ear.  Across the room, H said, “H here,” and a beat later, L said, “L here.”

            D.O. watched his face, wondering what was going on.

            L frowned, and then he looked troubled.  Really troubled.

            “Tomorrow?” H asked.

            The other members had fallen quiet.

            “Yeah, okay,” L said.  He glanced at D.O. and then away again, biting his lip.

            “Understood,” H said.

            “Yeah, got it,” L said.

            “H out.”

            “L out.”

            H walked around the room.

            L blinked and looked hard at the script in his hands.  “Where were we?”

            D.O. pushed the script down.  “What happened?”

            “What’s tomorrow?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Nothing,” H said.

            “Namu will…”  L sighed.  “You don’t want Namu to tell you,” he guessed.

            “I want you to tell me,” D.O. said.  “What’s happening tomorrow?  An arrest?  Was there a new threat?”

            “We’re, um.”  L swallowed and toyed with the script, flipping forward a couple of pages and then flipping back.  D.O. stared at him, needing him to speak.  “We’re leaving tomorrow.  We’re finished, the job’s over.  Once I bring you back from filming, that’s the end of it.”

            Tomorrow.  It was too soon.  It wasn’t supposed to be this soon.

            “Why?” Baekhyun asked.  “It’s only been a few days since someone tried to stab us!  All of a sudden you’re leaving?”

            “It’s okay,” L said, looking from D.O. to Baekhyun and back again.  “The rest of the team’s been doing a lot of investigating and putting a lot of information together.  Your company knows who’s behind all of the worst threats, you can prosecute if you want to.  You’ll be a lot safer now, and Namu’s been talking with your management about what to do from now on so that it doesn’t get this bad again.”

            “So we’re safe now?” Sehun asked.  “Safe-ish?”

            “Yes,” H said.

            “They’re letting us go because we did what they hired us to do,” L said.  “It - - it’s a good thing.”

            Right.  A good thing.  D.O. took the script from L’s hands and folded it up.  “You have free time between jobs.  Do you have any plans, anything you have to go do, family you have to see?  Will the Fox need you right away?”

            “We usually go into HQ once the job’s over,” L said.  “We eat pizza and talk about the job and compare notes.  See who had the hardest shift and who got hurt the most and all of that.”

            “And the president scolds us for everything we did wrong,” H added.

            “And we drag Info away from his desk for once,” L added.  “But after that, I don’t have any plans.”

            That sounded nice, actually.  It sounded like a good way to unwind and bond.  Considering the stress they were under, that was probably a vital part of what kept them coming back for the next job.  D.O. wasn’t going to begrudge L a night with the team.  “Then after that, you can come over?”

            “Come here?” L asked.

            “To read.”  And make love to him.  But they could discuss that part of it later.

            L smiled at him.  “Sure.  I’ll come over for that.”

            “Who got hurt the most this time?” Sehun asked.

            “Probably Kim,” H said.

            “Who had the hardest shift?”

            “Kim always thinks that he had it the worst,” L said.

            “He complains too much,” H said.

            “And SJ always thinks that he had it the worst.”

            “He complains too much,” H said.

            “And then Namu says that it’s really difficult having to keep everyone happy all of the time,” L continued.  “And then Info says that he has it the worst of everybody, stuck at the office staring at a bunch of code while we’re all running around in the fresh air.”

            “How can they have it the hardest?” Baekhyun asked.  “You have to stop people from being stabbed.  And doesn’t JD disarm bombs?”

            “Yeah, but they’re just bombs, they’re not that dangerous,” H said.

            L laughed, and D.O. smiled, watching him, enjoying him, wanting to kiss his dimples.

            “Are JD and Chen going to stop seeing each other?” Baekhyun asked.  “What about Suho hyung and Namu?”

            “Info and I aren’t going to stop seeing each other,” Chanyeol said.

            “You and Info don’t see each other now,” Baekhyun pointed out.

            “Once we’re not Arctic Fox clients anymore, it’s okay to see each other, isn’t it?” Chanyeol asked.

            “But they’re only around us in the first place because they’re working for us,” Baekhyun said.  “Once the job’s over, they don’t have any reason to come around anymore.”

            “People don’t only show up to hang out with us because they get paid to, that’s really messed up,” Sehun said.

            “L just said that he’s coming over to see D.O.,” Chanyeol pointed out.  “And Info’s going to invite me over any day now, I can feel it.”

            “Are we really safe?” Baekhyun demanded.  “Are we actually safe, or are you just leaving because you have to?”

            “You’ll be safer if your company takes the information we’re giving them and quietly prosecutes,” H said.

            “Look, it…”  L scratched the back of his head.  “There’s always some risk.  You’re always going to have a lot of excited fans, and some of them are going to go too far.”

            “And some of them are going to track every move you make,” H added.

            “But for idols, you’re safe,” L said.  “The people threatening you and leaving scary packages and showing up where they shouldn’t be, we found them.  The worst of it’s over.”

            D.O. was relieved.  He’d been so scared, anxiety had eaten away most of his emotional resources, so he was having trouble being completely in touch with his relief.  Internally, he still felt tense.  But he believed in what L was telling him.  He was safer now.  His members were safer now.  They really might not need Arctic Fox on duty anymore.

            “Thank you,” Sehun said.

            “I still think that tomorrow’s too soon,” Baekhyun said.  “Just randomly on a Wednesday?  What ends in the middle of a Wednesday?  You should finish the week.  And then there’s the weekend.  Maybe Monday should be your last day.”

            “It’s okay,” D.O. said.  “If they think that we’ll be okay without them, then we will.”

            L smiled at him, and he smiled back.

            Suho made Namu explain everything to him, in detail.  Management wasn’t going to tell him what kind of evidence they’d found and which people they were ready to turn in, so he got the information from Namu.  D.O. and Xiumin sat with him, and he had Info on speakerphone to interject now and then.

            When they’d exhausted Namu’s information, Suho thanked him.  “And please thank the Fox for me, too.”

            Namu hugged him.

            “Or we could thank the Fox ourselves, if you’d set up a meeting,” Xiumin suggested.

            Suho gave him a look, then rubbed Namu’s arm.  They’d probably never see each other again.  He regretted it, but he accepted it, too.  Namu had given him a lot of things - - comfort, reassurance, release, an escape, fantastic sex - - things that he’d needed in the moment, things that he was grateful for.  But he’d never mistaken it for a relationship.  “We’ll miss you.”

            “You won’t have the chance to miss all of us, I don’t think,” Namu said.  “Chen seems like he plans to keep JD around for a while.  But it’ll be good for your members to have everything go back to normal, as much as possible.”

            “What about Kim?” Xiumin asked.  “Is he coming around to say good-bye, or has the Fox sent him off on some mission?”

            “He’s finishing up some details,” Namu said.  “There are some things to follow up on.  But once L drops D.O. off tonight, any other contact is off-the-clock.”

            Suho understood what Namu was saying.  Xiumin wasn’t going to see Kim again.  There wouldn’t be a good-bye.  Whatever they’d said to each other at the festival, those were the last words there would be between them.  He winced, wishing that he could help.  “Maybe Kim could come by tonight, then, so that we can say good-bye to him.  SJ, too, if he has a chance.  We owe all of you a lot.”  He smiled to break the tension.  “I won’t ask Info to show up in person, I don’t want to go too far.”

            “I’ll let them know,” Namu promised.

            L and D.O. left the dorm.  Baekhyun dreaded watching them go.  When they came back, it would all be over.  No more Arctic Fox.  No more H.

            The door closed.  H locked it, then walked over and sat beside him on the couch.

            He wanted to lean in.  Put his head on H’s shoulder.  This was their last night together; he didn’t want to be a coward and let the moment pass without doing anything about it.  But he didn’t want to embarrass himself by asking for too much.  He didn’t want their last night to end with rejection.

            “So, you.  You have vacation plans?” he asked.

            He nodded.  “Been talking to JD about putting together our own obstacle course.”

            “That sounds fun.”  It actually did.  “The one you built for us was great.  I know it wasn’t the real thing.  But it was great, anyway.”

            H smiled at him.  “It was fun.  You were really cute.”

            Cute!  “I was very mature and manly,” he insisted.  “I was totally the best on my team.”

            “Okay,” H said.  “Mature and manly and cute.”

            He smiled at H, trying to look seductive.  “How about mature and manly and handsome?”

            “Oh, are we describing me now?” H asked.  He rubbed his jaw, nodding.  “I’m okay with that.”

            Chanyeol was messing around on his guitar when his phone rang.  It was Info!  Happy, he said, “PC here!”

            “Hey, PC.”

            “I heard it’s pizza night at the Arctic Fox office tonight.”

            Info chuckled.  “Yeah, it is.  Listen, I just wanted to give you a heads-up.  L just asked me to send a taxi, so he and D.O. will be back at the dorm soon.”

            “Shit.”

            “Yeah.”  Info made a quiet, hesitant sound.  “I - - I’ve really liked talking to you.  Getting to know you.”

            “I’ve liked it, too.”

            “You’re a good guy.  I mean, I’ve been digging through the worst things anyone has to say about you for weeks now, and the worst of it is just your fans being disappointed in you for being human.  But I like that about you.  I like that you’re a real person who messes up sometimes.  Don’t let that get to you.”

            “You’re real, too, aren’t you?” he asked.  “You aren’t just some voice-activated computer program?  That is a real person’s real knee that I’m in love with?”

            “In love with,” Info repeated.

            Chanyeol got scared for a second, but he decided not to take it back.  He’d said it, it was out there, now.

            “Yeah, I’m real,” Info said.

            He felt self-conscious now.  Had he said too much?  He didn’t want to scare Info off.  “I, uh, I have to, um - - I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

            “I…  Bye, PC.”

            “PC out!”  He hung up.  He’d just told Info that he was in love.  Giddy, he strummed happily on his guitar.

            It was like any other night.  L escorted D.O. back to the dorm.  H let them in.

            He stood there by the front door.  Rubbed his hand over the top of his hat.

            D.O. looked at him.  “It’s okay.  I’ll be okay.”

            “I don’t want to go,” he admitted.

            “I don’t want you to go, either,” D.O. said seriously.  “Come back tomorrow.”

            Right.  Okay.  That made it easier.  He swallowed.  Yeah, he could leave if he knew that he’d be back tomorrow.

            “Members!” D.O. called.  “I’m back!  They’re leaving!”

            There were cries of “Shit!” and “Wait!” as EXO members jogged in from all over the dorm.  Surprised, L was a little overwhelmed.  They hugged him, and they thanked him, and they hugged and thanked H, and he wanted to protest that he hadn’t even done anything.  He always felt this way at the end of a job; the client was always grateful, too grateful, out of proportion with what he’d actually accomplished.  He would always look back and think of what he might’ve done differently; he would always give the rest of his team more credit.  But he was the one who was there, at the client’s side, the one they got used to having around, the one they relied on.

            D.O. handed him his bag.  “Can I have your hat?”

            His hat?  He put a hand on it, puzzled.  “This one?”

            D.O. nodded at him.

            The way he felt about D.O., he’d give D.O. anything he had if D.O. really wanted it.  He took his hat off and handed it over, and then he ruffled his hair.

            D.O. set the book down and put his hat on.

            He smiled.  “Looks good.  I’ll see you tomorrow?”

            “Tomorrow,” D.O. agreed.

            Baekhyun couldn’t believe that it was over.  It was ending.  Like this.  H was going to walk out through the door and they’d never see each other again.  He felt horrible, he felt desperate, he felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.  He was going to spend the next week terrified and crying and jumping at every little shadow and completely freaking heartbroken.

            D.O. opened the door.  Baekhyun wanted to slam it shut.

            L and H walked out.  Baekhyun wanted to hurl himself at H’s back and beg.  Beg shamelessly.  Pressing his knuckles to his mouth, he struggled not to scream or burst into tears.

            “Bye!” Chen called.  D.O. started to close the door.

            Baekhyun gasped, trying to find the air to shout, “Wait!”

            Before he could get the word out, H reached back, pushing the door back open.  “Hold on a sec.”

            Baekhyun froze, his whole world hanging on H’s next sentence.

            H’s next sentence was, “Hold this for me.”  He handed L his bag.  Then he handed L his hat.  Then he asked, “Job’s over, right?” and took off his earpiece and handed that over, too.  He was himself now.  Not on-duty, not working, not guarding anyone, he was just H.  “Give me a minute.”  He walked right back into the dorm and closed the door.

            And stepped right up close and kissed Baekhyun on the mouth.

            Moaning, melting, Baekhyun kissed him back.  Grabbing onto him, thrilled, greedy, Baekhyun kissed him passionately.  It was quick and intense and it was the hottest thing that had ever happened in Baekhyun’s life, and when he pulled away, they were both out of breath.

            “Hi,” H said, chest heaving.  He licked his lips.  “I’m off tomorrow, I have the whole day free.  I’ll call you.  Maybe we can hang out.”

            Hang out?  “Yes.  Yes, yes.”

            H smiled and kissed him again, a long kiss that curled his toes.

            Running his fingers through H’s thick hair, he stole another kiss.  Gazing into H’s eyes, he whispered, “Can I see your supersoldier secret lair?  Will you show me your secret laser gun?”

            “My secret…”  H grinned at him, looking suspicious.  “Is that a euphemism?”

            He grinned right back, raising his eyebrows.  “Of course not, don’t be weird.  But about your secret laser gun, can I lick it?”

            Chanyeol was glad that the Arctic Fox guys weren’t all of a sudden abandoning them.  It would’ve been kind of traumatic if D.O. couldn’t see L at all anymore.  Even if they weren’t on-duty and guarding the members twenty-four hours a day, at least getting to hang out sometimes was good.  Knowing that they’d be around made it easier to say good-bye.  Although it was still a little weird to walk around the dorm and not see them anywhere.  Something in the back of Chanyeol’s brain kept thinking, “Oh, L and H must just be in the other room,” and then he had to remind himself: no, they weren’t there at all.  The EXO members were all on their own now.

            But he believed it when Namu said that they’d be okay.  They didn’t need constant surveillance.  The worst threats were gone, and they were moving into a new dorm with better security.  It wasn’t fair to L and H to make them stick around.  And it was probably better for the members’ mental health to let things go back to normal.

            D.O. wore L’s hat around the dorm all night.  But he wasn’t carrying the book anymore.  The hat was normal, at least; he’d be able to wear it to practice and around the airport and no one would think twice.

            Sitting down in front of his computer, Chanyeol started World of Warcraft and called Info.

            Beep!  “This number is no longer in service.  Good-bye.”

            What?  “What?” Chanyeol asked, dialing again.

            Beep!  “This number is no longer in service.  Good-bye.”

            What?  No!  “No, no, what?”  Feeling kind of frantic, he dialed again.

            Beep!  “This number is no longer-”

            “Fuck you!”  Jumping up, he went into Suho’s room.  “Hyung.  Did Namu give you another number?  I can’t get through to Info, the number’s disconnected or something, it’s out of service.”

            “I only had the main number,” Suho said.

            “It doesn’t work!”  Suho wasn’t even close to being upset enough about this.

            Suho dialed from his own phone, then frowned and hung up.  “It’s an automated message.”  He pouted thoughtfully at his phone.  “Maybe they have a new number for each job, a dedicated line for a new client, and it’s cut once the job ends.  It makes sense if we’re on a separate line, so Info knows that it’s the client calling.  Especially in case we have an emergency.”

            “This is an emergency!”

            He called over and over, all night.  It was the same every time, the anonymous voice, the impersonal message.  He checked his mail in World of Warcraft, but Info hadn’t sent him anything.

            His boyfriend had just disappeared on him.

            Chen had to escape into the bathroom to call Dongwoo.  “Hyung.  I don’t know what to do.  All of my members are losing it.”

            “Are they scared?”

            “No, no, they’re angry.  They’re upset.  Sungyeol hyung turned off the number he gave us, and now Chanyeol can’t call him anymore.  Xiumin hyung can’t get in touch with Sunggyu hyung, and he can’t leave angry messages for - - well, for Sunggyu hyung.  They’re threatening me with all kinds of nasty things if I don’t give out real names or tell them where your office is.  I don’t think that they’ll really do any of it, but it’s really not nice, anyway.  I think when H and L come over, they’re going to try to follow them home.”

            “I’ll talk to Sunggyu hyung when he wakes up.  He really should go and say good-bye, it’s not right.  Your members have been through a lot, and everyone needs closure.”

            Grateful, Chen smiled.  “Thank you, hyung.”

            “I have to go, but call me later, okay?  I love you.”

            “I love you, too.”

            The morning after pizza night, Sungyeol slept in.  Slept as much as his body could tolerate, to make up for all of the twenty-four-hour workdays he’d put in.  As soon as he dragged himself out of bed, he made coffee.  Then he took a shower.  Made more coffee and got dressed.  Just jeans and a white tank top, because he wasn’t working today.  He padded around the apartment, watched Woohyun work out, and talked to Sungjong.  Finger-combed his hair and pulled it back.

            Then he went downstairs.

            “I knew it!” Sungjong called after him.

            “I just want to check on something!”  Another sip of coffee, and he sat down.

            He checked company e-mail accounts.  SM was happy, good.  He checked on a few reports, checked on his bots.  Then he checked on the phone number he’d shut down yesterday.

            A lot of calls.  A couple from Suho.  A bunch, all close together, from Xiumin.  And a lot from Chanyeol.  One as recently as forty minutes ago.

            He sat there and looked at the log of incoming calls for a while.

            It was probably just the bodyguard thing.  Or the mystery thing; he was kind of an unknown, and Chanyeol couldn’t have him, and that made him seem sexy.  He was just a voice on the phone, a concept Chanyeol had gotten hung up on.

            But Chanyeol knew him.  They’d talked so much that they’d come to understand each other.  He couldn’t deny that all of those hours they’d spent on the phone meant something.

            As he looked at the call log, at the number of times Chanyeol had tried to call him, he wondered how long it would take for Chanyeol to give up.  How long it would take for Chanyeol to lose hope.  He felt guilty; he felt like he’d been too callous.  He should’ve done a better job of saying good-bye.  He’d been too much of a coward.

            He hadn’t meant to lead Chanyeol on.  He should’ve cleared things up earlier and told Chanyeol the truth right away.  What could he do now?  It would never work out between them, anyway, right?  It was easier to end things this way.  Wasn’t it?

            Hoya did nothing all morning.  He worked out, and he complained about everything Sungjong tried to watch on TV, and he let himself unwind.  After constantly being on alert and constantly being in job mode, he needed to get back in touch with everyday existence.

            He wondered if, now that the job was over, now that the danger was past, Baekhyun would see him differently.  He wasn’t a supersoldier, he was just a guy, and he wasn’t sure, at all, that the just-a-guy version of him would appeal to Baekhyun.

            He put on off-duty clothes, simple stuff, jeans and sneakers, a T-shirt.  L was getting dressed to go, too, in all black.  “Want to make sure that he recognizes you?” Hoya guessed.  L just smiled.

            “Are you going to see EXO?” Dongwoo asked.  “I’ll wait for you.”  He sat on the foot of the bed where Sunggyu was still wrapped up in the covers.  “Hyung, you should come, too.  At least to say good-bye.”

            Sunggyu grumbled and rolled over, dragging the sheet over his head.

            “If you don’t, Xiumin’s going to track you down,” L warned.

            “I’m not afraid of him,” Sunggyu muttered.  “Go away, I’m sleeping.”

            EXO had been back at the dorm for about twenty minutes when the doorbell rang.

            “Oh, oh,” Chen exclaimed, rushing across the dorm.

            “Is that JD?” Baekhyun asked, following him.  Half of the group clustered around the front door, like they were working out some joke about how many EXO members it took to open a door.  Five, apparently.

            They finally got it open, and Baekhyun stared.  His gaze zoomed past JD and L and settled on H.  Off-duty H.  No hat.  No earpiece.  White sneakers, not black!  Blue jeans, not black!  A normal white T-shirt with a navy blue pattern!  H was in civvies!

            “Hi,” Baekhyun said, really needing to kiss him.

            “Come in, come in,” Chen said, hugging JD and waving everyone else inside.

            JD still looked like a clown, but he didn’t have his backpack.  L was still dressed all in black, but no earpiece.  D.O. still had on his hat; Baekhyun half expected him to take it back to complete the look.

            Once they were in, Baekhyun closed the door.  He smiled at H, and H smiled at him, and he leaned his back against the door and licked his lips, wondering if it would be too bold if he just grabbed H and started kissing.  “Having a good time on your day off?”

            “Yeah.  It’s nice to get some free time.  And it’s good to be here, really gives me a change of scenery.  Refreshing,” H said, his gaze scanning the same room he’d practically lived in for weeks now.

            “Do you want to go to your place?” Baekhyun asked.  “With me,” he added, to clarify, and H laughed.  “With me, take me to your place, do you want to go together?”

            “Eh, I haven’t been there in a while,” H said.  “Maybe you can help me find it.”

            “Wait, nobody go anywhere,” Chanyeol said.  “I have to talk to Info.  I need just a phone number, something, I don’t even have to go to see him if he doesn’t want me to, but I need to talk to him.”

            “Can you really just so easily walk out of here?” Xiumin asked.  “With someone you don’t even know?”

            “How do we not know each other?” Baekhyun asked.  “Are you trying to say that I can’t trust him?  After everything?  What’s he going to do, kidnap me and hold me for ransom and force you to hire Arctic Fox to find me?”

            “That’s an interesting way to drum up more business,” H admitted.

            “We know each other, don’t we?” JD asked Chen.

            “Of course,” Chen said, smiling.

            “Do you know their names?” Xiumin asked.  “Their real names?  Who’s hyung?”

            “H is my hyung, obviously, he’s like at least five years older than I am,” Baekhyun said.

            “How old do I look?” H asked JD.

            “Smile more, it’ll help,” L said.

            H smiled.

            L winced.  “Smile less, it’ll help.”  JD burst into laughter.

            “Real names aren’t that important,” Baekhyun said.  “Are they, Xiumin hyung, Chen, D.O.?”

            “But seriously,” H said.  “I’m the same age as your leader.”

            As his what?  “Same age as who?” Baekhyun asked.  “Suho hyung?”  He stared at H, trying to understand this.  “You’re the same age as Suho hyung?  That’s only one year older than I am!  You’re practically my age!”

            “How old are you?” D.O. asked L.

            “The same age as Baekhyun, actually.”

            “You’re what?” Chanyeol asked.

            “And they let you throw yourself in front of stabby people with knives?” Baekhyun demanded.

            “I was right there, I wasn’t going to let anyone stab him,” H said.

            Baekhyun tried to imagine a world where he was okay with Chen, his best friend Chen, jumping heroically in front of a violent criminal, and the only person there to keep Chen from being stabbed was Lay.  “Oh, god, we all could have died.”

            “How old are you?” Xiumin asked JD.

            “How old does he act?” H asked.

            “I’m the same age as you,” JD said.  He stuck out his hand.  “Jang Dongwoo.”

            “No, don’t give him real names,” Chen said hurriedly.  “Don’t give him information, he’ll only bother you for more.”

            “Jang Dongwoo,” Xiumin said, shaking his hand.  “What’s Kim’s real name?”

            “Don’t answer that!  Okay, we’re going out for a while,” Chen decided.  “Please don’t follow us.”

            While Xiumin and Chanyeol argued with Chen and JD, Baekhyun and H slipped out.  They hurried to the elevator and escaped.

            “So.  H hyung,” Baekhyun said, trying it out.  “H hyung.”

            “Hoya hyung,” H said.

            “Hoya hyung?” he repeated.  “Your name is Hoya?”

            “Yep.”

            Hunh.  “Hoya hyung.”  He licked his lips.  “Hoya hyung,” he murmured to himself.  He liked it.

            “Oh.  And I think that I misspoke, earlier.  That other time.”

            “About what?”

            The elevator stopped on the first floor.  Hoya pushed the button to hold the doors closed, then turned his back to the security camera and mouthed, “I’m gay.”  Releasing the button, he smiled.  “Just wanted to clear that up.”

            Baekhyun was pretty sure that the kissing last night had clued him in.  But he still liked knowing it for sure, so there wasn’t some weird misunderstanding going on.  “I’m shocked that you would lie to me.”

            “I was trying to discourage you.”

            He grinned as they stepped off of the elevator together.  “How’d that work out?”

            “Yeah, not that well, actually,” he admitted, and Baekhyun laughed.

            “Do you want to know my real name?” L asked.

            D.O. sat on his bed.  When L sat beside him, he handed over a book.  They’d never read together on his bed before.  They only had two short stories left in this particular book, but he had some ideas about something else they could do after they’d finished the book.  “What do you want me to call you?”

            “L hyung,” he admitted.

            He smiled.  He liked that.  “L hyung.”  It felt nice.

            “My real name’s Kim Myungsoo, but nobody calls me that.”

            “Kim?” D.O. repeated.  Kim Myungsoo.  He thought about all of the times Baekhyun had popped out suddenly, shouting, “Lee Taemin!” and “Lee Seunggi!” and “Lee Minho!”  And the whole time - - oh, god.  It struck him as hilarious, and he burst into laughter.  “Baekhyun hyung wasn’t even close!”

            “Ah, it kept him entertained,” L said, smiling.

            “Are there any Lees in Arctic Fox?”

            “Three of them,” L said.

            Three!  “And Baekhyun hyung - - I have to tease him about this,” D.O. decided.  “I’m going to mock him for it.”  If they’d been so wrong about L, then, “What about Kim?  Is his name really Kim?”

            L nodded.

            “Kim what?” Xiumin asked, lunging through the doorway.

            Clearing his throat, L raised the book.  “Which page were we on?”

            Chanyeol logged into World of Warcraft and stared at his character.  Disconsolate, he tapped at his keyboard and made his character spin.  Watching it turn in circles, he wondered if he should quit the game altogether.  What was the point in playing anymore?  It would only remind him of Info.

            He kept trying to hate Info.  He’d told himself very vehemently that he should.  But he was too much in love.  He felt sad, more than anything.  Had he been so confused about what kind of guy Info was?  He’d thought that Info was being genuine with him, that they were close.  Was it really this easy for Info to throw him away?  Had he never really mattered?  He couldn’t believe that he’d been so wrong.

            His phone beeped, and then it beeped again, and then a third time.  Not expecting anything, he glanced at it.

            He had three text messages from Info!  From Info’s number!  Shocked, he hurriedly checked his messages.  Three photos.  Photos of Info!  A second knee, to match the first.  A corner of an eyebrow, a perfect eyebrow, the sexiest eyebrow he’d ever seen.  And an ear.

            A pierced ear.

            Seven earrings.

            He stared.  He counted again, he counted over and over, and his heart beat faster every time.  An ear with seven piercings.  Seven green and silver stars in a row, right along the curve of an ear.

            That was the hottie’s ear.

            That was the hottie’s ear.

            Trying to make sense of what he was looking at, for a second, Chanyeol wondered if Info had sent him photos of the hottie all along, if Info knew that he liked the hottie and was trying to seduce him - - or taunt him?! - - with the hot guy he wanted.

            And then it struck him, and it struck him hard.  Info was the hottie.  The hottie was Info.  Info was the hottie!  That was why the hottie had been at the movies, because Arctic Fox had been at the movies.  That was why the hottie had been at the bakery, because he’d told Info how good the food was.

            The guy he was in love with.  And the guy he’d wanted to screw at first sight.  Were the same guy.

            He called.

            Silence.

            He didn’t hear the beep.  He didn’t hear the obnoxious automated message.

            Wondering if his call had even gone through, he looked at his phone.  He was eleven seconds into a call.  “Hello?”

            “Hi,” Info said.  He sounded unsure.  Chanyeol had never heard him sound unsure before.

            “Is that your ear?”

            “Yeah.  It’s mine.”

            He had to be sure.  “Can you send me another photo of it?  A proof shot?  With something in the photo, something so I know it’s you?”

            “Um…  Okay, hold on.  Ya, c’mere for a second.”  He heard muffled words and whispering.  He flipped through his photo album nervously.  He felt hopeful and excited and tied up in knots.  He was in love with the hottie.  Info had answered the phone.  Could this work out?  Could everything be okay?  He’d stop pushing to meet in person if Info promised never to block the line again.

            His phone beeped.  In an excited panic, he checked his messages.

            He had a photo.  Of the side of a head, with an ear, the hottie’s ear, and a ponytail, the hottie’s ponytail, and Chen.  Stupid, terrific Chen.  “That’s Chen,” he said.

            “He’s here.  Say hi,” Info said.

            “Hi!” Chen called from the distance.

            “Tell him that he’d better never come back to the dorm, ever, tell him that I hate him,” Chanyeol said, staring at the photo.  “You’re the hottie.”

            “Stop using that word!”

            “I don’t feel so bad about jacking off over the hottie anymore,” he said.  “It wasn’t really cheating on you, after all.”  Something clicked.  “Are you speaking informally to Chen?”

            “Uh.  Yeah.”

            Info always spoke politely to him.  He spoke formally back, mostly, but not always.  “Are you my age?”

            “Um, no, actually.”

            But he spoke informally to Chen, so - - oh, shit.  “Are you older?”

            “I’m Suho’s age.”

            The fuck?  “You don’t sound like it!”  Hold on, “You don’t look like it, either.  I’ve seen you!  In person!  Don’t forget that I know what you look like!”

            “I was born in ’91, I can’t help what I look like.”

            His gorgeous hottie was a hyung?  His sexy boyfriend was a hyung?  “I’m dating a hyung,” he realized, letting it sink in.  “Wait, you’re older than L?  Then why is he out here getting stabbed while you’re safe in the office?”

            “I’m smarter than he is.”

            He laughed.

            “Listen, I…  I’m sorry about blocking the phone line.  We always do that after a job’s over, it helps to break the client’s dependence on us, but I should have warned you.  I’m sorry, it was a shitty thing to do.  And I was worried, I guess, that you’d be pissed off if you knew that we’d already met and I hadn’t told you.”

            He was so relieved to be in touch with Info again, he couldn’t get upset about any of that.  “What were you doing at KBS and everything, anyway?”

            “I don’t know.  It was stupid.”  He sounded embarrassed.  “You said that you wanted to meet me, and I kind of wanted to see you, too, so I went, and I thought I could hang around and - - I don’t know, look at you?  Bump into you?  But then you said hi, and I didn’t know what to say, it was too awkward.”

            “You were there to see me?” he asked, thrilled.  “It wasn’t even for work, you just wanted to meet me?”

            “I…  Yeah,” he admitted.  He sounded so flustered, Chanyeol smiled, imagining his gorgeous, blushing face.

            “Why’d you run away from me?” Chanyeol asked.  “I could’ve bought you dinner!  We could’ve hung out.”

            “It was too awkward!  You thought that I was some weird stalker hottie.”

            “You are a hottie!”

            “You can’t call me that anymore,” Info said firmly.  “I’m banning that word.  Call me hyung instead.”

            His boyfriend was a hyung.  He had his boyfriend back!  “Are you going to leave this line open?”

            “Yeah.  I’ll leave it open.  You can call whenever you want.  It’ll be my PC line.”

            A dedicated line, just for him.  “Good.”

            “Um.  Do you want to meet up?  I can build you a new rig.  I already ordered a few parts, in case.”

            “A new rig?”

            “A better gaming system.  Or I could go over there, I want to see your new set-up, I was researching what kind of production equipment-”

            “Or we could just have sex,” Chanyeol said.

            For a second, there was silence, and he wondered if he’d gone too far.  And then Info said, “Yeah, I’ll leave now, I’ll be there soon, okay,” and hung up on him.

            Yes!  “Yes, yes!”  He got up, cheering.  And then he realized how messy his room was, and that he’d better take a shower, and - - okay, celebration time later, he had to get ready first.  His boyfriend was coming over!

            Chanyeol was bustling around the dorm in the best mood ever.  Xiumin didn’t care much, and then he heard that Info was coming over, and he felt furious.  Then he heard Chanyeol mention to Sehun that the phone line worked again.

            He called.

            Info didn’t answer.  Info had never not answered before.  Instead, he heard, “Hello?”

            “Who is this?”

            “What do I say?” the person whispered.

            He frowned.  It sounded like Chen.

            “Look, here, you can see who’s calling in,” someone said in the background.

            “Oh!” Chen exclaimed.  “It’s Xiumin hyung!  Hi, hyung.”

            “You’re Arctic Fox’s receptionist?” he asked.

            Chen laughed.  “Dongwoo hyung’s showing me how the phone system works.”

            “Is Kim there?”

            Chen didn’t answer.

            That was a yes.  “I want to talk to him.”

            “He’s upstairs,” Chen said.  “He’s resting.  He’s worked really hard lately, and he’s taking a break today.  I know that you’re frustrated about a lot of things, but maybe you shouldn’t take it out on him.”

            “I’m not taking anything out on anyone!  You think that I want to yell at him?  I want to protect him!”  I love him, Xiumin didn’t say.  I just want to be with him.  “Tell him that I called.  Ask him if he’ll call me.  Tell him that I just want to talk.  He told me before that when the job was over, we should talk.  Tell him that I’m taking him up on it.”

            “Okay, hyung.”  Chen sounded sympathetic.  “I’ll tell him.”

            Sungyeol pushed up the sleeves of his cardigan.  Pulled them down and pushed them up again.

            The door opened.

            Chanyeol stood there.

            Chanyeol smiled, and he smiled back, and then they stood there grinning goofily at each other.  They’d talked a lot, they knew everything about each other, but it was different, in person.  He was used to seeing Chanyeol on a screen, not right there in the flesh, and it was weird.  Chanyeol could see him back, now.

            Self-conscious, he laughed, gesturing.  “Can I come in, or what?”

            Chanyeol laughed, too, backing up, waving him on.  “Sorry!  Come in, come in.”  Then, with a big, happy, self-conscious smile, Chanyeol deliberately said, “Come in, please, hyung.”

            He rolled his eyes at that, walking in and smacking Chanyeol’s arm on the way by.  Chanyeol laughed and reached for him, and he thought that Chanyeol was coming in for a hug, so he raised his arms, but then Chanyeol didn’t complete the move, and they froze for an awkward second, not sure what to do, almost touching but not really connecting.  It was so awkward that he backed up, but at that same instant Chanyeol decided to go for it, and then he corrected himself and moved in, too, but by then it was way too awkward, so they just kind of bumped shoulders and patted randomly at each other’s backs and separated as soon as they could.

            “So, uh.  This is the dorm,” Chanyeol said, gesturing to the walls.

            “Yeah.”  He took his shoes off and glanced around.  “I’ve been in here, just not when you were home.”

            Chanyeol looked down at his bare feet, then back at his face.  “You’re really this tall.”

            He laughed.  “You thought I had lifts?”

            “I don’t know.  But wait, when were you here?”  Chanyeol’s eyes widened.  “Have you been in my room?”

            He nodded.  “Sure.  I wanted to see the whole place.”  When Chanyeol looked nervous about that, he laughed.  “I wasn’t snooping!  It’s my job.  It was early on, a while ago.  I knew the layout, but the guys weren’t allowed to take photos inside the dorm, so I had to take a look.”

            “But you never said anything!”  He tousled his own hair, looking uncertain.  “You didn’t see anything weird, did you?”

            “No.  I didn’t go through your drawers or anything.”  As soon as Chanyeol started to look more relaxed, he added, “We make Sungjong do that, it’s his job.”

            He watched Chanyeol blink, processing that.

            He grinned.  “Thinking about what he’s seen?”

            “There’s nothing bad,” Chanyeol muttered, like he was trying to convince himself.  He grimaced.  “Nothing too bad.”

            Laughing, Sungyeol slung an arm around him, guiding him toward his room.  They were halfway there when he heard, “Is he here yet?” and then Suho and Sehun came around the corner.  They stopped short at the sight of him, and then Suho bowed and said, “Hello, I’m EXO’s Suho.”

            “Hi,” he said.  “I’m, uh.  Lee Sungyeol.”  He’d almost said “Info,” but he guessed that he wasn’t really here on the job.

            Sehun gave Sungyeol an appreciative once-over, then started shooting Chanyeol silent looks, like, “Hey, not bad.”  Suho elbowed him and he caught himself, bowing and introducing himself.

            “It’s nice to meet you,” Suho said.  “In person.  Thank you for everything you’ve done for us, we’re very grateful to Arctic Fox.”

            He loved to sit around the office complaining that he was underappreciated, that he worked harder than anyone else and he was surrounded by a bunch of ingrates who would never recognize his genius, but in moments like this, all he could think of was how much everyone else had sacrificed and risked and contributed while he’d sat around tapping at a keyboard and drinking coffee.  “Just glad everybody’s okay.”

            “We’ll be in my room,” Chanyeol said, tugging Sungyeol away.  “Sungyeol hyung wants to look at my rig.”

            “Sure he does,” Sehun said.

            While Suho scolded Sehun, Chanyeol pulled Sungyeol into his room and closed the door.  “This is, uh, well, you know, my room.”

            He nodded, taking everything in.  “Cleaner, this time.”

            “Aw, it was dirty, then?”  He was adorably disappointed.  “I’m not messy, usually,” he mumbled, nudging a shoebox under his bed with his toes.

            “Do you want me to look at your equipment?” he asked, gesturing to Chanyeol’s set-up.  “Or do you want to, uh.”  He grinned.  “Want me to look at your other equipment?”

            Chanyeol’s eyes went round, and then he burst into laughter.  “Can we?  Is it okay?”

            “It’s what I came over for, right?”  Realizing how that sounded, he added, “I mean, I wanted to see you, anyway.  It’s not just that, I want to hang out, but.”

            “I feel like this isn’t fair,” Chanyeol said.  “I liked you so much, I didn’t care what you looked like, and now it turns out that you look like this.  I wanted you to know that I wanted you anyway, I wanted you no matter what, and now it seems like I only want you so much because you’re the hottie.”

            “I’m not a hottie!”

            “You’re so freaking hot, though,” Chanyeol said.  “You’re, like,” he was blushing, “really sexy.”

            It was flattering, and he smiled, kind of bashful, kind of turned on.  “I like looking at you,” he admitted.  He gazed at Chanyeol.  Being together in the flesh was different.  The energy was different.  “Your eyes are even prettier, in person.”

            Chanyeol smiled, his blush deepening.  “Yeah?”

            “Yeah.  And your ears are even bigger,” he added, reaching for one.  Laughing, Chanyeol ducked, and he reached again, fingertips flicking at Chanyeol’s right ear.  “What, are you trying to grow wings?”

            “They don’t stick out that much!” Chanyeol argued, pulling away, fondling one.

            He was so cute when he was embarrassed, Sungyeol wanted to keep teasing him.  Deciding to be nice, though, Sungyeol just grinned at him and sat on the bed.

            “Only because your ears are so sexy,” he mumbled, his gaze meeting Sungyeol’s eyes and then skittering away.  He sat down, the tips of his ears red.  “I didn’t know you were going to be a hyung!  I thought that we were the same age, or I was older, maybe.  Arctic Fox is supposed to be younger, how’d you all turn out to be so old?”

            “You’ve never dated a hyung, before?”

            “No.”  He shifted closer, looking hopeful, his gaze roaming Sungyeol’s body.  “You don’t, uh, have rules, do you?  About what dongsaengs can and can’t do?”

            Was he talking about sex?  Oh, he was thinking about Xiumin.  “Yeah,” Sungyeol said.  “Yeah, I only let dongsaengs kiss me on Wednesdays, and they have to keep their socks on during sex, and you have to let me call you my sexy little monkey.”  When Chanyeol stared at him in helpless confusion, he laughed.  “No!” he said, shaking Chanyeol’s shoulder.  “No, there aren’t any rules.  You can do whatever you want, as long as it feels good.”

            “Really?” he asked, with a relieved laugh.  “Because I was going to be okay with the sexy monkey thing, if you want to call me that.  I can do that.”

            “Okay, little monkey,” he teased.  Stroking Chanyeol’s nape, he shifted closer.  It had been a while since he’d had sex with someone new, but he really liked Chanyeol.  He was kind of in love, actually.  And just sitting this close, just being near Chanyeol, talking, touching, gazing at Chanyeol’s pretty eyes, had anticipation, excitement, humming through him.  He’d wondered what it might be like to have sex with Chanyeol, with a handsome top idol, with this fun, good-looking guy, but now he was really going to get to find out.

            “You really.”  Chanyeol cleared his throat.  His gaze dropped, and he reached out.  His fingertips stroked across Sungyeol’s collarbones, and the light touch made sensual pleasure shimmer across Sungyeol’s skin.  “I’ve kind of been obsessed with the photos you sent.  Your knee and I have, like, a whole relationship you don’t really know about.”

            “My knee?” he asked.

            “Yeah.  Don’t even ask about your toes.”  Chanyeol ducked his head and pressed a kiss to Sungyeol’s neck.  “God, it’s even better than I thought,” he mumbled, and he kissed there again.

            Eyes closing, Sungyeol tilted his head to one side, wanting more of this.  His fingers threaded through Chanyeol’s hair, keeping Chanyeol there, and Chanyeol stayed, kissing his neck, licking his collarbones.  The low sounds of Chanyeol’s happy moans made pleasure ache in him, and he leaned back on the bed, pulling Chanyeol on top of himself.

            Groaning, Chanyeol kissed his mouth.  “So sexy,” Chanyeol panted, and he caught Chanyeol’s mouth in another kiss.  When their tongues touched, Chanyeol shuddered against him, and he loved that, he loved how into this Chanyeol was.  They rolled back and forth on the bed together, just making out, kissing each other.  Chanyeol pulled his thigh up, and he scooted closer, figuring Chanyeol wanted to get a good angle.  Going with it, turned on, he started grinding against Chanyeol, working himself right against the stiff bulge of Chanyeol’s cock.  The helpless groaning sounds Chanyeol made were fantastic, and Chanyeol’s kisses got hungrier, sloppier.  Chanyeol’s hand was still on his leg, moving along his thigh, hitching his leg up higher and then settling on his knee.

            Then staying on his knee.

            Caressing his knee.

            Chanyeol was fondling his knee.

            Breaking their kiss, he laughed.  “Do you want me to take my pants off so you can really have a good time?”

            “Yes, please, what?” he asked, looking flushed and dazed.  “I thought you were never going to ask.”  He touched the shell of Sungyeol’s ear, fingers running lightly over the row of Sungyeol’s earrings.  “Has anybody ever come on your foot?”

            He eyed Chanyeol, wondering.  “No.”

            “Just asking,” Chanyeol said quickly, flashing a reassuring smile.

            He laughed, sitting up.  As he shrugged out of his cardigan, he asked, “Is there any part of me you don’t want to get freaky with?”

            “No,” Chanyeol said frankly, with feeling.  “No, hell, I’m obsessed with everything about you.”

            “You’ve practically never seen me before.”  He’d seen a lot of Chanyeol, though.  To remind himself that this was real, to take advantage of being in person, he touched.  He ran his hand through Chanyeol’s soft hair again, just because he could, ruffling it a little.  Brushed his knuckles over Chanyeol’s cheek.  Rubbed Chanyeol’s upper arm, squeezed a thigh.

            “I’ve seen you a few times,” Chanyeol said.  “And I get to look at your knee a lot.”

            “Yeah?  Well, don’t get excited,” Sungyeol said, grinning.  “I took that photo at the best angle.  The real thing might not have such great proportions.”

            “I’ll bet it looks even better in person,” Chanyeol told him.  “I look pretty good in person, too, right?  Some people say I have pretty eyes.”

            “Do they?”  He smiled, reaching back to undo his ponytail.  “Yeah, I can see that.”

            “No, can you leave it?” Chanyeol asked, fingers circling his wrist.  He let Chanyeol guide his hand down.  “I like it.”

            “Do we get to make requests?” he asked.  “Because there are a couple of stage outfits I might want to see again.”

            “Yeah?”  Chanyeol grinned at him, stroking his ear again.  “I can do that, I’ll dress up for you.”

            “You’re a good little monkey,” he murmured, teasing, leaning in for another kiss.

            “Sexy, I’m a sexy monkey,” Chanyeol whispered, kissing him back.

            He undressed, and Chanyeol’s clothes came off easily.  He kept expecting Chanyeol to be jaded about all of this; he knew how much sexual experience Chanyeol had, with women in general and with the EXO members.  But Chanyeol was really into it, really into him, and when Chanyeol spent a couple of minutes kissing his knee, he just laughed and let it happen.

            Chanyeol was pretty and gangly and stayed rock-hard, his long erection never flagging.  Sungyeol toyed with it just to make him moan, loving the helpless, eager sounds he made.  When Chanyeol went down on him, he twisted around, pushing Chanyeol’s knee aside, and returned the favor, sucking on Chanyeol’s cock while Chaneyol licked at his.  Groaning, Chanyeol squirmed against him.  “Hyung, fuck, oh.”

            “Mmm, don’t stop,” he said.  Stroking the shaft, he mouthed the head, getting a rhythm going.

            “Oh, oh.”  Chanyeol was still writhing, trying to push deeper into his mouth.  “God, yes, suck my dick.”

            Fondling Chanyeol’s balls, he sucked steadily, sliding up and down that long, smooth shaft.  Chanyeol mouthed him erratically, slurping on his cock, too interested in sliding between his lips to focus on blowing him.  He liked that; it was fun to get Chanyeol worked up and distracted, fun to swallow the whole length of Chanyeol’s erection and feel Chanyeol squirm excitedly against him.  Finally, when he was doing his best and Chanyeol was just panting deliriously against his balls, he laughed and slapped Chanyeol’s thigh.  “Come on, blow me.”

            “Oh, ugh, I can’t,” Chanyeol moaned, giving up, sprawling out.  “You’re so good at this, it’s too good.  I can’t coordinate, I can’t even think.”

            Laughing, he stroked himself, twisting around and crawling over Chanyeol.  Chanyeol’s flushed face and red ears and huge, goofy smile made him smile back, and he kissed Chanyeol, running his hand over Chanyeol’s chest.  “I thought you were suave and experienced.”

            “I am.  I am,” he insisted, pushing himself up on an elbow.  “It - - everybody has different specialties, right?  I just haven’t gotten to show mine off, yet.  Don’t count me out.”

            Interested, he drew a circle around Chanyeol’s nipple.  “So what’s your specialty?”

            Chanyeol’s grin was proud and confident.

            Moments later, Sungyeol was seeing stars.  He was on his back, his knees up by his ears, and Chanyeol was drilling him through the bed.  He was rocking with Chanyeol’s thrusts, bouncing on the mattress, clutching at anything, the bed, the headboard, Chanyeol, for support.  Every quick, hard thrust lit him up, and those thrusts came so close together, fast and powerful, that he couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t keep up, pleasure overpowering him in a barrage.  Crying out, he felt ecstasy building with every thrust.  Chanyeol was fucking him fast, fucking him hard, but it didn’t feel rough, it felt thorough, felt like he was being fucked all the way through.

            It was so incredible, and he was building toward such an intense climax, when Chanyeol abruptly slowed, he whined miserably.  “No, no, don’t stop,” he gasped, grabbing at Chanyeol’s arm.

            “It’s okay, just moving,” Chanyeol said.  Relieved, he sagged, panting, trying to catch his breath.  Anything was okay, as long as Chanyeol was going to get back to fucking him again.  Chanyeol pressed a few tender kisses to his knee, then coaxed him over.  Rolling, he moved onto his hands and knees.  Chanyeol stroked his thighs, angled his hips, and he realized that Chanyeol was positioning him, placing him precisely where Chanyeol wanted him.

            Moaning, trusting that he was in good hands, he stayed where Chanyeol put him.  “More,” he said, too proud to beg but pretty close to it, anyway.  His body felt starved, impatient, furious about being deprived of that hard, powerful cock.

            “I’ve got it,” Chanyeol said, and then he was being entered again, Chanyeol filling him in a deep, expert thrust.  The angle was so right, pleasure struck him in a wild bolt, and he jerked in Chanyeol’s hold, ecstasy flaring out to his fingertips.

            “Oh, oh, yes,” he gasped.  Chanyeol was thrusting hard, going deep, working that long cock right to the core of him.  Groaning rapturously, he pawed at the bed, grabbing at the sheet, pleasure throbbing and bursting with every thrust.  His whole body was on fire, alive with ecstasy, and he squirmed, twisting as passion shook him.

            Chanyeol pulled his hips back, spearing deep, and he cried out again, thrilled.  Chanyeol’s powerful, driving thrusts made pleasure reverberate through him, and he relished the rocking, pumping sensation, Chanyeol filling him over and over again.  “PC, PC,” he gasped.

            “Is it good?” Chanyeol asked.  In reply, he groaned incoherently, finally managing to stammer out, “Yes, yes,” while he rocked urgently, demandingly, against Chanyeol’s fantastic thrusts.  Moving closer against him, Chanyeol covered his back, and he moaned gratefully, leaning back into it, tilting his head back.  Chanyeol’s tongue snaked over his ear, licking the line of his earrings, and Chanyeol’s hand was between his legs, on his cock, right where he ached.  He groaned, bucking hard, and Chanyeol nuzzled into his hair, licked his hairline.  “You want to come, you ready?”

            “Nnn, oh, fuck, yes,” he panted, throbbing in Chanyeol’s hand.  “Oohh-hhh, ouuhh, like that, yes, keep, oh, keep, ooohh-oohh, touching me like that.”  The pleasure mounting in him was intense, pressure building relentlessly, Chanyeol drilling into him from behind and jacking his cock in long, smooth pulls.  “Fuck, gonna make me come, oh!”  He reached back, burying his fingers in Chanyeol’s shaggy hair, and Chanyeol nuzzled against his neck, kissing him.  A few more deep, hard thrusts and he was flying, exploding, coming apart.  With a shocked, enthusiastic shout, he quaked in Chanyeol’s arms, cum splattering the bed.

            The force of his climax left him stunned.  The sexual release, the physical relief, made him groan, and he went boneless in Chanyeol’s arms, groaning.  “Oh, uuhhh, whoa.”

            “Ahh, hyung.”  Chanyeol was stroking his back, still thrusting into him, kissing his sweaty nape and nuzzling around the base of his ponytail.  Sated, he arched, offering his ass for as much screwing as Chanyeol wanted.  “God, you’re so sexy,” Chanyeol breathed, and he moaned breathlessly, kind of agreeing.  He felt sexy, he felt great, he felt fantastic.  “Can I come on you?”

            After fucking him like that?  “Yeah, okay.”  He’d come so hard, he felt like he’d be okay with whatever Chanyeol wanted for the rest of the month.

            Chanyeol popped out of him, and he grunted.  He felt so soundly fucked, he couldn’t describe himself as anything but sated, but he still kind of wished that Chanyeol would get back inside of him again.  Those hard thrusts were incredible, and he spread his knees, raising his ass, hoping for a little more.

            “God, god, okay,” Chanyeol panted, “it’s here, oh!”  He felt the hot blast of Chanyeol’s cum splattering his ass.  “Oh, I came, I came.”

            Licking his lips, he had to admit, he kind of liked that.  It was messy, but he liked the thick, gooey stream landing on his skin.  Stretching, he kept his ass in the air.

            “Gonna kill me,” Chanyeol mumbled.  “Are you trying to kill me?”  He stroked Sungyeol’s ass, rubbing the cum in, squeezing, smearing.

            Feeling lazy, totally flattered by Chanyeol’s attention, he soaked up the moment.  Yawning, he rolled onto his side.  Immediately, Chanyeol crawled over him, stroking his stomach and kissing his shoulder.  He pulled Chanyeol down against him, grinning.  “I think I know what your specialty is.”

            “Was it good?”  Chanyeol’s wide smile was hopeful and proud.  “I don’t get to do that a lot with hyungs.”

            “I liked it,” he admitted.  He stroked the long line of Chanyeol’s lean, satiny back.  Chanyeol kissed him, and they snuggled up chest to chest, nose to nose, his eyes drifting shut, Chanyeol toying with his ponytail.

            Researching Chanyeol and digging around through sasaeng comments, he’d read a lot of pretty outlandish stories about Chanyeol’s sex life.  He’d dismissed most of them as fantasy or at least exaggeration.  He wasn’t so sure, now.  Some of those wild claims sounded like pretty accurate descriptions of what he’d just experienced.  He kind of wanted to contact ParkQueen92 so they could compare notes.

            Did that mean that the rumors about Sehun were true, too, then?

            “Hyung.”  Chanyeol’s thumb rubbed over his collarbones.

            He let his eyes drift open again.  He felt really lazy, satisfaction deep in his bones.  He’d spent the last few weeks working nonstop, always at his desk, always keeping an eye on downloads and reports.  Right then, fucked to blissful oblivion, with the project over, with his most important client whole and safe in his arms, he felt like he could sleep for a year.  “Mmm.”

            He curled his leg up.

            Chanyeol’s hand went straight to his knee.  “A long-distance relationship is okay.  If that’s good for you, if you’d like that, we can do that.  I like talking to you on the phone, I really do.  And I know you’re busy.”

            “Unh-hunh.”  He loved getting to be so close.  He loved watching Chanyeol’s mouth move, loved the expressive widening and blinking of Chanyeol’s eyes.  Such pretty eyes.  God, idols were so handsome these days.

            “But we can still meet in person sometimes, right?  Once in a while?”

            “What?  Sure.”  Chanyeol looked so relieved, he felt guilty for making Chanyeol doubt him.  “Yes, I want to see you.  We can meet whenever you want.  Whenever we’re not busy, I mean.”  He hesitated; he couldn’t believe that he was about to say this.  But Chanyeol was so earnest and he was really in love and he felt so good, just then, he went a little wild.  “You can even come over, sometimes, come by the office and hang out.”

            Chanyeol looked startled.  “Your office?”

            He honestly loved that Chanyeol thought it was as big a deal as he did.  “Yeah, if you want.”

            “I do!  I want!  Can I see your computers?”  Grinning from ear to ear, shifting eagerly against him, Chanyeol asked, “Can I come and watch you work?  Can I bring you coffee?”

            “It’s not very exciting.  I mean, it doesn’t look like anything, it’s just me staring at a bunch of monitors.”

            “I can play your games for you,” Chanyeol suggested.  “I can check on your bots.”

            Chanyeol still hadn’t stopped caressing his knee.  He grinned.  “Maybe, when I’m tired, you can rub my feet.”

            Groaning, Chanyeol hugged him.  “I’ll come over every day.”

            When they finished the last story, L set the book aside.  He and D.O. talked about all of the things they hadn’t discussed before, all of the personal things that hadn’t been a part of their client-bodyguard relationship.  It had been a while since he’d opened up to someone new, but it felt natural with D.O.  They didn’t judge each other; they were honest, and they listened.  He wanted to know all about D.O., wanted to understand who D.O. was and how D.O.’s mind worked, and he could tell that D.O. felt the same way.  They asked each other some simple questions like “why” and “when,” and they asked each other basic questions about favorite foods and shoe sizes, and they asked each other intimate, personal things about growing up and family problems and what motivated them.

            When D.O. kissed him, he asked, “Are you sure?”

            “Yes.”  D.O.’s hand slid over L’s chest.  His eyes were solemn but his mouth curved slightly in a smile.  “It’s not the bodyguard thing.  It’s you.”

            D.O. was clinging, and he wasn’t ashamed about it.  He’d wanted to cling to L for weeks, but it hadn’t been right, then.  It hadn’t been fair.  He’d had to hold back, had to find substitutes.  He could have the real thing, now, he could have L, and nothing could have made him let go.

            He was moaning a lot.  Urgent, aching sounds, rising out of his throat, one after another.  Not just because he was turned on, although, god, he was so horny and so aroused his whole body was worked up.  But he was moaning in relief, too, and in gratitude, and in purely emotional excitement.  This thing with L, his feelings for L, his love and his complex need, he didn’t have to contain them anymore.  He didn’t have to hold back.  It had been painful to restrain himself all of this time, to contain his tangled web of constantly growing feelings.  Painful to keep his hands to himself when all he’d wanted to do was reach out.  Painful to allow himself this much, to go this far and no farther.

            But there was no “too far” anymore.  Not when L was crawling on top of him, beautiful and sexy and kissing him.  He’d needed this so badly that actually doing it felt like a fantasy, like none of this could actually be real, and the fact that L kissed like a fantasy didn’t help.  L’s kisses were perfect, erotic, seducing his tongue, making love to his mouth, sending hot pleasure thrumming through his veins.  Gasping, moaning, he kissed back, blissful, craving, clinging to L with great determination, wrapping around L and holding on tight.  L’s shoulders were perfect for holding onto, nice and broad and strong, and he tried to wrap his legs around L, too, tried to anchor L against himself.

            Making sexy, throaty “mmm” noises, L kept kissing him.  Luxurious, carnal kisses, like he was a delicious treat L was savoring.  He clung tightly, locking L close to his body, and just as he felt L’s body press against him, he felt L’s hard-on nudge against his own.  A shock of pleasure struck him and he gasped, digging his fingers into L’s muscular back.  With a low, appreciative moan, L squirmed against him, grinding against his cock, and he shuddered, overcome by his body’s response.

            He loved L, and he needed this.  Needed to feel good in L’s arms.  Needed intimacy with L, needed to be as close as he could get.  Needed to feel L’s body strong and whole.  “Can I look at you?”  He tugged L’s shirt up a few inches, and the satin smoothness of bare skin under his fingers awakened the immediate desire for more.  He wanted to touch L everywhere, he wanted to be skin against skin all over.

            L’s dimpled smile was so charming, it stole D.O.’s heart.  “Sure,” he said, like it had been a funny question, and then he ran his hand under D.O.’s shirt, his palm warm against D.O.’s skin, making D.O.’s back arch.  “Can I see, too?” he murmured, stroking D.O.’s side.

            “God.”  Shuddering again, D.O. felt unbearably hot all over.  L’s seductive caress was making him writhe, sending pleasure rippling out in all directions, and he couldn’t stop grinding against L’s thigh.  He felt feverish, reveling in L’s touch, tormented by his body’s urgent pursuit of pleasure.  “God, you’re going to make me come.”

            L blinked, then smiled again.  “What, just like this?”

            Gasping, D.O. nodded.  L’s fingers played over his side, stroked his ribcage, and he groaned, twisting as pleasure spun over his skin.  His pants were so tight over his cock, he felt like he was suffering.  Groaning, he fumbled with his fly, and as soon as his erection was out, he hugged L tight again, latching back on, grinding himself against the cotton of L’s t-shirt.  God, oh, it felt so good, he felt delirious, pleasure flashing through him in hot, rising waves.

            “Mmm, so you’re this good-looking all over,” L murmured, and L’s hand stole over his cock, and he came.  It happened just like that, just that fast.  One second, he was humping L in mindless need, and one second, L’s warm, confident hand was fondling his naked erection, and then he was coming, lost to ecstasy, crying out and ejaculating in quick, sudden spurts.

            “Ah, ah, ooohhh.”  Squeezing his eyes shut, he thrust in L’s grip, gasping.  “Fuck, oh, fuck, god.”

            Laughing, L stroked him through it, nuzzling his cheek.  L’s smooth, milking hand felt like paradise, and he whimpered, enchanted, dizzy, his cock dribbling.  “Was it good for you?” L whispered, teasing.

            “God,” he moaned again.  He panted, his chest heaving as he tightened his embrace, keeping L close against himself.  He wasn’t remotely embarrassed.  “God, I needed that.”

            “Mmm.”  L stroked his thigh, kissed his cheek.  Brushed light, sensual kisses over his lips.  Seduced, he sighed dreamily.  He hadn’t felt this good in a long time.  A long, frightening, miserable time.  He ran his hands over L’s back, tugging L’s shirt up, nuzzling contentedly into L’s kisses.

            L’s thumb rubbed over his lower lip.  “Was that…  Do you want to stop?”

            His eyes popped open.  What?  “Stop?” he repeated, momentarily baffled.  “No.  No,” he said more certainly.

            L’s smile was relieved.  “What, I didn’t know.  You might be finished,” he said, gesturing down at D.O.’s groin.

            “No, that was just - - I’m not finished.”  He fisted a hand in the front of L’s shirt.  “We can do whatever you want, I don’t care what you’re into, I just want to be close, but.”  He licked his lips, and then he just came out with it.  “You’re going to do me, right?”

            L chuckled.  “But you don’t care what we do.”

            “Well, generally, I’m not picky,” he admitted.  “But I kind of.”  He swallowed.  “I want this.”

            L nodded, and then he smiled, thumb brushing over D.O.’s lower lip again.  “Yeah, we can do that.”

            When L kissed him again, he moaned.  As their tongues stroked sinuously together, he pulled at L’s shirt, and L pushed at his pants.  Eventually, they were down to nothing but skin, and the press and slide of L’s lean, strong body against his was a sensual dream.  He undulated, clinging, twisting in L’s arms to rub himself against all of that warm, bare skin, and L kept stroking him, hands traveling everywhere, cupping and caressing.  It was so sexy, so intimate, he felt thoroughly explored, and when L went down on him, he squirmed all over the bed, moaning and thrusting and pulling L’s hair.  “God, god, oh,” he panted, so turned on he couldn’t take it, his cock aching in L’s wet, sucking mouth.  L’s tongue swirled around the head, teasing and flicking, and then he felt a slippery finger nudge into him, probing.  “Unnnh, unh, ah!”  The slick intrusion was an erotic promise, a hint of the pleasure to come, and he groaned, pulling his knees up.  The sensations of sweet penetration and hot suction had his body rioting, pleasure soaring.  “Hyung, hyung, please.”

            L released his cock with a wet pop.  As L crawled up his body, dusting his stomach with kisses, he tried to catch his breath.  Wrapping a hand around L’s upper arm, he pulled L up over himself, and when L kissed his mouth, he groaned, his lips parting, his hand skimming downward, groping.  When his fingers wrapped around the satiny hardness of L’s erection, a thrill went through him.  Yes, yes, this, he wanted this, now.  Groaning, he squirmed against L, guiding L’s cock to where he needed it.

            “Mmm, you want it like this?”  A slow thrust, making him gasp, and then another thrust, sinking deep.  L was snug inside him, filling him, and he flashed hot all over.  He felt L thick inside of him, felt L’s hand gripping his thigh, felt L’s breath puffing against his cheek.  “God, yes,” he panted, and L grunted, “Yeah, mmm,” and he clutched at L, and L was still thrusting, slow and steady, rocking into him, solid and deep.

            He’d needed this, he’d needed it so badly.  He’d needed to be as close as two people could be.  L was caressing him, stroking his side, fondling his cock, guiding his knee up, kissing his nipples, and he buried his hand in L’s hair, breathing, “More, god, more.”

            L kissed across his chest, licked at his clavicle.  When he felt the quick sting of teeth, he gasped, arching.  L’s thrusts were growing more forceful, more insistent, the motion rocking him, and the repetitive bursts of pleasure were like fireworks, bright and beautiful.  “Mmm, oh.”  L pressed close, fucking him deep, and his hands slid greedily over L’s muscular shoulders, skimmed down L’s back.  “Love the way you touch me,” L murmured.  L kissed his neck, sending pleasure fluttering across his shoulders and down his spine, sending a shudder through him.  He ran his hands up and down L’s back.  The words surprised him; he’d been selfish this whole time, taking what he needed, focused on his desires.  “Wanted you so much,” L whispered, rocking into him.  “Didn’t think I’d get to have you like this.”

            “God, I need it,” he confessed.  Every thrust sent his pleasure higher and higher, tension building in him as L drove deep.  He’d held back so much, now that they were doing this, now that he could actually have L, his body rejoiced at every touch.  “Oh, oouuhhh, ohh,” the ecstasy mounting in him was incredible.  “God, hyung, please.”

            L’s hand slid between their bodies.  Being touched so much, all over, being caressed and explored, hadn’t dulled his responses to L’s touch.  It had only heightened his reactions, made him more sensitive to the nuances of each caress.  “Wanna come?” L asked, stroking his erection, and he didn’t even have time for words, he just let his body answer for him.  He writhed, quivering around an excited spasm, and then he came, exploding in a burst of pleasure.  He was gasping, crying out, squirting everywhere, one hand clutching at L’s ass, the other on L’s back, holding on.  For one long, timeless moment, he came and came, wracked by ecstasy, giving up everything he had in L’s stroking hand.

            He gasped again, collapsing.  A low, dazed moan rumbled out of him, and he rubbed L’s back, soothing himself, grounding himself.  God.

            “Mmm, I love how easily you get off,” L murmured, kissing his ear.  “So sexy, making you come.”

            He moaned, too ditzy from orgasmic glow to be interested in defending his stamina.  Nothing mattered but how good he felt, nothing mattered but being with L.  He ran his hands over L’s pecs, woozy and sated, but almost immediately, his hands were curving over L’s sides, drawing L down close again.

            “Ah, oooh, I’m close.”  L winced, gasped, rubbed his nose against D.O.’s cheek.  Fascinated, D.O. caressed his face, and he gasped again, turning his face against D.O.’s palm, pushing into the caress.  He thrust hard, jolting D.O. on the bed, and then he bit his lip, burying his face against D.O.’s chest, doing it again, driving in hard enough to make D.O. shudder against him, D.O.’s thighs locking around his ribcage.  He moaned as he came, tensing and then relaxing and then tensing up again, and D.O. stroked his hair, soothing him through it.

            God.  D.O. stared at the ceiling in wonder.

            L sagged against him.

            D.O. told himself to let go.  The sex was over.  His excuse to cling was over.  He had to back off again, he had to hold his need in.

            But when L started to roll away, he held on, rolling right with L until they were on their sides together.  He ordered himself to let go, but he was too stubborn to listen.  It was too important to hold onto L; it felt necessary.

            He’d been making do with substitutes all of this time.  Clinging to a goddamned book.  Now that he had the real thing, the actual L, he wasn’t letting go until he had to.

            L stroked his hair.  Caressed his cheek.  Gazed into his eyes with a calm happiness that kept his heart fluttering in his chest.  He wasn’t used to this.  He was used to sex being either perfunctory or playful.  It felt more personal with L.  More intimate.  More emotional.  All of this petting and kissing, he wasn’t sure how L expected him to respond.  Maybe it wasn’t meant to sink hooks into his heart, maybe L didn’t intend to compound the love welling up in him with every touch, but he felt completely unable to stop it.

            He pressed his lips to L’s.  When he pulled away, L smiled at him, a small smile full of warmth.  He’d already accepted his fate, but in that moment, he had to face it again.  This feeling wasn’t going to fade.  He was in love with L, and he always would be.

            L tangled their fingers together.  “Can I spend the night?”

            He nodded.  “Yeah.”

            “Okay.”  L kissed him and sat up.  He wasn’t ready for that and he moved with L.  At the last instant he made himself hold back.  He had to let L go.  Physically and emotionally.  Whatever this was between them, however he felt, he couldn’t force L to be more than L was willing and able to be.  “I’ll be right back, I just want to,” and he expected to hear “wash up” so it took him a second to realize that L finished with, “check the locks.”

            It didn’t feel like a reminder of how dangerous the world was.  It felt like a reminder of how safe he was with L.  And he swore that his feelings for L were more than just the bodyguard thing; he wasn’t confused or hormonal.  But mixed in among L’s other traits, in with being sexy and adorable and loyal and thoughtful and brave, there was a protectiveness to L, a commitment to keeping him safe, that he didn’t take for granted.

            He scooted back, physically demonstrating that he was letting L go, that he was giving L space.  “You aren’t on duty,” he said, as a reminder that he wanted L here as his friend, for personal reasons, not for Arctic Fox reasons.

            L hesitated, then said, “I’ll feel better if I just check on it.”  He got out of bed and pulled his underwear on.  He was gorgeous, and D.O. felt kind of foolish for not appreciating that more.  He looked like that and D.O. loved him for his personality.

            He tugged his pants up and then, abruptly leaving them undone, he turned back to D.O., putting a knee on the bed.  As he leaned closer, D.O. held deliberately still, resisting the urge to sway towards him, to reach for him.  D.O. just stared at him, drinking him in, holding onto him in spirit.

            “Is it okay if I say it now?”  L’s self-conscious smile was beautiful and heartbreaking.  “I couldn’t say it before, and I didn’t want to say it during sex, I didn’t want to make it a cliché, but.”  He rubbed at his chest, still looking adorably self-conscious, and then he took D.O.’s hand.  D.O. loved the way he laced their fingers together.  His smile brightened, and he looked like he was being brave, and D.O.’s heart ached with loving him.  And then he said, “I love you.”

            D.O. stared at him for a second.  When he didn’t explain it away and didn’t take it back, D.O. grabbed him, yanking him in.  Landing against D.O.’s shoulder, he laughed.  D.O. hauled him down, falling back across the mattress.  Tangling around him, squeezing him, D.O. said, “Shit,” in a wondering, breathless tone.

            L laughed again, and when L rolled, D.O. rolled with him.  “Is it okay?” he asked, sprawling on his back.

            D.O. slumped against his chest, a dazed leech.  “I’m in love with you.  If you’re in love with me, then we’re in love with each other.”

            L’s fingers carded through his hair.  “Is that not okay?”

            “We’re in love with each other.”  He didn’t know why he was so surprised.  He’d known, he’d suspected, he’d hoped, but.  Actually hearing the words from L’s lips made it real.  Because even if L had felt it, it was something else altogether for L to be willing to say it, to declare it to him so boldly.

            They weren’t holding back anymore.  L wasn’t holding back a thing.

            Maybe…  Maybe he didn’t have to, either.

            “I love you,” he mumbled, rubbing his face against L’s chest.  “I love you so much, I don’t know how else to be, anymore.  I want to be normal but I can’t.  This is what normal is for me, now.  I want you to spend the night, I really need you to, you don’t have to, I’ll be okay if you don’t, but I won’t really be okay unless you do.”

            He caught his breath, sure that he’d said too much, regretting all of it.

            L’s hand was still in his hair.  “I won’t be okay unless I stay, either.”

            He shuddered, closing his eyes.  He was so relieved, he felt boneless.  It was all right.

            They were in this together.

            L’s caress strayed down to his nape, stroking him there until tingles of pleasure radiated down his spine.  L loved him.  He felt clingy, but maybe L did, too.  L wasn’t staying aloof or putting up boundaries or playing it cool.  L had sex like they were making love and worried about when to confess to loving him and wouldn’t feel right about leaving him alone tonight.

            Knowing that L would come back to him, that L genuinely wanted to come back to him, made it easier to let go.  He relaxed his grip, and then he rolled away.

            L tugged him right back and kissed him.  “You love me?” L whispered, and the fondness of L’s teasing smile, the vulnerable hope in L’s eyes, captured his heart all over again.

            “Yeah,” he admitted, and he leaned closer, his nose brushing L’s.  L nuzzled him, kissed him, and he whispered, “I love you.”

            When L left the room, D.O. stretched alone in bed, relaxing.  Content, calm, he waited for L to come back to him.

            Xiumin spent a day working, and cooking, and grimly loathing every single one of his oversexed, idealistic, excruciatingly annoying members.  They all floated around on happy bubbles of romantic joy, and he didn’t hear one single sentence all day that didn’t start with, “Hoya hyung,” or, “Sungyeol hyung,” or, “L hyung,” or, “Dongwoo hyung.”  He hadn’t known that these people had real names, and now that he knew them, he wished that he didn’t.

            The next day, he had a ton of free time, so he slept in.  And hated the world.  When he finally got up, he saw a piece of paper tucked in his phone case.  A business card.

            A white business card with an address on it.  Only an address and no other information.

            He asked all of the members, but no one had any idea where it had come from or who had put it there.  He didn’t have to ask if it was Arctic Fox’s address; he could tell that as soon as he saw Chen’s face.  But they all insisted that their boyfriends had been with them, not sneaking around in his room.

            So either Kim had snuck in, not said a word to him, left the card, and snuck back out.  Which didn’t make sense to him.

            Or the Fox was calling him out.

            He decided to call the Fox’s bluff.  He got dressed, got in a taxi, and went right over.  It was time to have it out.  During the cab ride, he made a mental list of all of the things he wanted to bring up, from the Fox’s ridiculous charade of mystery and secrecy, to the way the Fox treated Kim.

            It was in a quiet neighborhood, down an innocent side street.  Between a deli and a stationery boutique.  There was no sign out front, and dark windows.  The kind of place he’d walk by without paying any attention to.

            He tried the front door.  It was locked.  He looked around for security cameras but didn’t see any.  Then he noticed a discreet gray buzzer tucked beside the door.

            He pushed the button.  Then he pushed it again.

            “Hello?”  The voice said something in Mandarin.  He didn’t catch all of the words.

            “I’m looking for Kim Sunggyu.”

            “Third floor.”  There was a click.  The door unlocking.  He pulled it open while he could and went in.

            He walked into a deserted lobby.  Blue carpeting, a few chairs, a potted plant, it looked very nice and polite, but there was no one in sight.  He got on the elevator.  The buttons for the other floors didn’t work; only the button for the third floor lit up when he pushed it.

            More and more curious, ready for adventure, he didn’t know what to expect when the elevator stopped.  The doors slid open, and he walked into a small hallway.  It was the most nondescript hallway he’d ever seen, with overhead lighting, a concrete floor, and one door in front of him.  There was a buzzer.  He pushed it.

            “Hello?”

            Like they weren’t expecting him.  “I’m looking for Kim Sunggyu.”

            “It’s Xiumin hyung!  Should I let him in?”

            “Yes, let me in, you freaking asshole.”

            “Oh!”

            He kicked the door.

            “Sorry, sorry,” Chanyeol said, opening the door.  “Hi, hyung.”

            He decided to take care of Chanyeol later.  For now, he took everything in.  Smooth, wood floor, high ceiling, no windows.  A huge desk area with rows of monitors forming a U.  On the left wall, a small kitchen area.  On the right, a sitting area with black leather couches.  A spiral staircase led up to the fourth floor.

            From behind the desk, Chanyeol’s new boyfriend smiled at him.  “Welcome to Arctic Fox Security, do you have an appointment?”

            He flashed the business card but didn’t hand it over.  “The Fox wants to see me.”

            Sungyeol touched his headset, then said, “Ah, he doesn’t have it on.”  He picked up a baseball from his desk and threw it at the ceiling.  It hit with a thud.  He caught it deftly and threw it up again.

            At the third thud, the door at the top of the stairs flew open.  “What?!”

            Sungyeol smiled happily.  “EXO’s Xiumin is here to see the Fox.”

            Kim stood there frozen for a minute, staring down at Xiumin.  He was barefoot in a long gray T-shirt and baggy black sweatpants cut off below the knees.  He looked so normal and so innocent and so surprised, the sight of him pulled on Xiumin’s heart.

            “Hi,” Xiumin said.

            Kim rubbed at one eye and stared.  “You’re here.”  He looked around, turning like he might find answers.  “What are you doing here?  What is he doing here?” he asked Sungyeol.

            “I don’t know.  He just showed up,” Sungyeol said.

            “The Fox sent for me.  He left his card,” Xiumin explained.

            “I don’t think that the Fox sent for you,” Sungyeol said.

            “You’re here,” Kim said again.  “Come up.  No!  No, I’ll come down.”  Starting down the staircase, he said, “You, go away, go buy more coffee and videogames, don’t come back for a while.”

            “Are you paying?” Sungyeol asked, getting up.

            “No, just go away.”

            Instead of going out the door that Xiumin had come through, they exited out a door he hadn’t even noticed in the back.

            Kim came down the last couple of stairs, then stood there looking lost, scratching behind his ear.  “How’d you get here?”

            “The Fox gave me his card.  He must have sent one of his ninja spy assassins.  It was on my bed when I woke up.”  He studied the doorway at the top of the stairs, but he couldn’t see through it.  “What’s up there?  Apartments?”

            “Yeah. We stay up there, sometimes.  Well, I live up there, this is my home.  The rest of the team crashes here too often.”  He studied Xiumin uncertainly, and he still looked so baffled, Xiumin wondered if he’d just woken up.  He gestured to the couches.  “Do you want to sit down?”

            “Okay.”  Xiumin sat on one of the couches.  Kim sat on the edge of the other one, lacing his fingers in his lap, looking nervous.  “You live here?”

            He nodded.  Tugged at his ear.  Looked around.

            “You said that you thought that we should talk once everything was over.  The job’s over, so.  What did you want to say?”

            “A lot of things.”  He looked down at his hands and shifted guiltily.  “Maybe only a few things.”  He met Xiumin’s gaze suddenly, frankly.  “I like you a lot.  I don’t usually like people so much.  I get along with everyone!  Everyone likes me, I’m very likeable!” he insisted.  “But usually a job is a job, I do the work, and then it’s finished, and we move on to the next one.  You’re different, this whole job ended up being different.”

            “You like me,” Xiumin said, to get him back to the main point.

            He swallowed, nodded.  “I do.  But I don’t think that it’ll work out between us.  You’re very noisy, and you have a lot of strong ideas about things.  About me.  And I don’t think that you’ll be very happy when you learn more about me.  But you’re great,” he added quickly.  “You’re more complex than I thought that you were.  You’re a lot kinder and more sensitive than you act like you are.  And you’re very sexy.  I’d like to be with you and make you happy.  It would really feel good if I could make you happy.  But I don’t think that I can.”

            “Is it because you’re younger?  You think that I can’t take you seriously?  You can’t just give up already.  Why did you disappear on me?  I told you to say good-bye, I told you not to leave without telling me good-bye.  And then the job was over and you were never going to say another word to me?  You couldn’t even call me?”

            “That’s my fault, I was wrong.”  Kim’s expression was earnest.  “But I think that you should let me go.”

            “No.”  He couldn’t let go.  “Not yet.”  Getting up, he stepped around the edge of the table.  Kim’s expression was surprised at first, and then Kim’s hands slid over his waist, pulling him in, guiding him down.  Straddling Kim’s lap, he cupped Kim’s face in both hands, thumbs fanning over those smooth cheeks, and their mouths met.  Hot, deep kisses, hungry, passionate, and he didn’t want to get too carried away but damn, he wanted this too much, he was too far in love to hold back, and sex had always been good between them, always sparked easily.

            “I can’t, we shouldn’t,” Kim said.

            “Don’t you dare, don’t fucking deny me this,” he whispered, and he kissed Kim again, his tongue stroking into Kim’s mouth.  This meant too much to him.  This might be their last time together, and he couldn’t bear that.  “I love you,” he whispered, kissing Kim desperately.  “Don’t worry about making me happy.  Just stop leaving me.  Stop running away, let me make you happy.  I can do it, I’ll work on it.”

            “Xiumin-ah,” Kim said, and before Xiumin could object that he would dare to say that, he wrapped both arms around Xiumin’s waist.  “That Kim Sunggyu whose name you know?  That president you’ve been screaming at?”  He held Xiumin’s gaze.  “I’m Kim Sunggyu.  That’s my name, I’m Kim Sunggyu, this is my building, this is my company, this is my home.  Namu and H and everybody else, they all work for me.  And I’m older than you, so stop speaking so informally or I’m going to get upset.”

            Xiumin stared at him.  It didn’t make sense, this didn’t make any sense.  “Liar.  You’re lying!”

            “When I have to work in the field, I don’t tell the client that I’m the president, so they won’t get nervous.  It only complicates things.”

            He pushed Kim away, backing up until he stood on the other side of the coffee table.  Disbelieving, he stared at Kim’s familiar face, trying to see someone else there.  “You’re trying to tell me that you’re the Fox?  Is this a joke?”

            “There’s no Fox,” Kim said, exasperated.

            “You’re President Kim.  Not just Kim.  President Kim.”

            “Yes.  Here, I have ID,” he said, getting up.  “Hold on.”  He went over to the kitchen.

            Xiumin followed him.

            The microwave was on a stand.  As simply as if he did it every day, he swung the stand away from the wall; behind the microwave was a safe.  He put his hand over Xiumin’s eyes; Xiumin ducked, but by the time Xiumin had a clear view, he was already opening the safe.  Not even pretending to be subtle, Xiumin looked in.  He had stacks of cash in several currencies.  He also had more than one gun.  Rummaging, he said, “Well, if you’re going to stand around, hold this.”  He started to hand Xiumin one of the guns, then said, “Not that!” and quickly handed over a couple of stacks of money instead.  “Oh, here.  This one.”  He pulled out a wallet and held it open.  “Look, Kim Sunggyu.”

            Xiumin studied his driver’s license.  It looked normal.  “You expect me to believe that you have this whole complicated secret lair and you couldn’t have a fake license?”  Aside from that, “Are those guns legal, or should I be calling the police right now?”

            “Of course they’re legal,” he said, hurriedly shoving them into the back of the safe.  “This wasn’t a gift, give it back,” he added, taking the money from Xiumin’s hands.

            “So what’s your real name?” Xiumin asked.  “Is it even Kim?  Is it Lee?”

            “It’s Kim Sunggyu, I’m Kim Sunggyu.”

            Xiumin considered punching him in the face.

            “I didn’t know that you were going to start liking me!”

            “But once you did know, you still didn’t think anything about lying to me.  Was it funny, listening to me yell about the Fox?  Did you laugh a lot?”

            “I didn’t laugh.  I felt awful!  You made me feel so guilty!  But I had a job to do, and-”

            “And I was just a distraction.”

            Kim winced.  “Don’t take that the wrong way.”

            He thought about how he’d written sincere letters, pouring his heart out.  He thought about how he’d yelled and fought and argued about how Kim was treated, about the Fox’s priorities.  He thought about how he’d made President Kim follow him in silent obedience all over Tokyo.  He thought about how rude he’d been.  He thought about how he’d slapped President Kim across the face.  He thought about - - oh, god, the sex, in the bathroom, on Baekhyun’s bed, how he’d made it so obvious that he’d wanted Kim’s cock, how he’d ordered Kim to get him off.

            Horrified, ashamed, he backed away.  His face burning hot, he wanted to curl up in a mortified ball and never face anyone again.

            “Don’t be embarrassed,” Kim said awkwardly, reaching for him.

            “God, don’t,” he said, skittering away, still backing up.  He’d treated a company president like one of his dongsaengs.  He’d ordered the Fox around like he was scolding Sehun.  He could hardly remember what he’d said anymore, but he knew that it had been horribly disrespectful.  He was pretty sure that he’d taunted Kim.  Sexually.  Crudely.

            “Where are you going, come back,” Kim said, walking toward him.

            “I can’t, I have to go.”  He was too embarrassed to deal with this.  He turned his back and hurried for the door.  “I’m sorry,” he said in a cowardly rush, grabbing at the doorknob.

            “Don’t be sorry,” Kim said, behind him.  “Where are you going, didn’t you tell me not to leave?  What happened to not running away anymore?  Shouldn’t you at least say good-bye?”

            “That’s not the same.”  But the reminder slowed him down, held him in place for a second.  If he left, he’d never come back.  He’d be too humiliated.  As soon as he walked out, this would all be over.  Suddenly, he couldn’t bring himself to open the door.

            “You told me that you were going to make me happy,” Kim said.  “How can I be happy if you run away?”

            God, that was so unfair.  “I didn’t even know who you were when I said that,” he told the door.  He was so hurt and so ashamed, his chest ached.  “Why did you let me?” he asked the door.  “You let me get away with so much.  Everything I said.  All of those things that I did.  Didn’t you hate me?  Or was it all a joke to you?”

            “You aren’t a joke, and I’ve never hated you.”  Kim’s hands slid over his arms, trying to coax him away from the door.  “Come here, come and sit down, let me talk to you.”

            Miserable, he couldn’t let go of the doorknob.  He didn’t know how he could have gotten it all so wrong.

            “You want to stay and talk here?” Kim asked.  “Xiumin-ah.”  His voice was so forgiving that Xiumin felt even worse.  “Don’t be upset with hyung, and don’t be upset with yourself, either.  It was a bad situation for everybody.  You were so scared for your members and so angry, you didn’t always think about what you’re doing.  I wanted to explain, but I thought that it would only make it worse.  I thought that you were only selfish and spoiled at first, I thought that you were only full of bullshit and nonsense, but then I saw other sides to you.  You’re a good hyung and you have a lot inside you, a lot to give.  You can cook for me any time that you want to, I’ll like it, I’ll be very happy to eat it.”

            Turning, he bowed to ninety degrees.  Even when he straightened again, he kept his head lowered.  “I’m sorry, President Kim.  I treated you-”

            “Don’t apologize!  It’s not your fault, you didn’t know anything.  And don’t call me that, call me Sunggyu hyung.”

            God, he couldn’t.

            “Here, come over here,” he said, taking careful hold of Xiumin’s arm.  He guided Xiumin over to the couches.  “Sit.  Sit,” he said, gently insisting, pushing Xiumin down.

            Not knowing what else to do, Xiumin sat.

            “I’ve gotten to know you, but maybe you think that you don’t know me anymore.  Is there anything that you want to ask me?” he asked, sitting at Xiumin’s side.

            He’d pictured the Fox as an older man, someone intense and authoritative, someone who dressed in bespoke suits and had a chauffeur who doubled as an assassin.  Not someone so young and easily flustered who dressed in cut-off sweatpants and kissed like the most delicious dongsaeng he’d ever had.  “You should have told me who you were.”

            “Usually I don’t have to.  And I don’t like to.  It’s easier to do my job if no one knows who I am.  That’s why Woohyun handles all of the face-to-face stuff.  He’s good at it.  CEOs and the people who hire us like to think of President Kim as somebody with gray hair and a lot of distinguished decades in the business.  If they meet me, they don’t hire me.”

            Xiumin could see why.  That had to be frustrating, though, because Arctic Fox had done a great job.  “You started this all by yourself?”

            “I got out of the army and that’s all I knew how to do.  I wanted to keep doing it.  Someone I knew then had a private problem and contacted me and asked me to do something for him, and I did it, and I wondered if I could really do this on my own.  Even without the army.  I’d rather do this than wash dishes.  I asked around and I got in touch with Dongwoo and Hoya and L, and then I met Woohyun, and I thought, okay, we can do this.”

            Some of that story had been vague, but he thought that he caught the gist of it.  “If you didn’t put that business card in my room, who did?”

            “Probably Dongwoo.  He thinks that he’s helping.”

            “You own this whole building?”

            He nodded.  “And the buildings on either side of it.”

            “Why is everything so secretive?  With the fake lobby and the fake names and all of this?”

            He scratched his calf.  “Some of our jobs are sensitive.  It can be dangerous work.  We feel safer if there are a few layers between us and the world.  If we’re too easy to track down, we aren’t safe, and neither are our clients.”

            That made sense.  He believed that Arctic Fox wouldn’t do anything to compromise client safety.  “What are on the other floors of this building?”

            “Empty space.  Woohyun’s apartment.  Storage.”

            Was that where they stored their supersoldier equipment?  “I’m sorry about-”

            “I don’t want you to be sorry.”

            “It’s embarrassing!”

            “I don’t want you to be embarrassed, either.”  Kim cupped Xiumin’s face in one hand, caressing his jaw.  Ashamed, he dropped his gaze.  “And I don’t want you to leave.  Stay for a while.  Come upstairs with me and cook for me.”

            “You don’t have to be nice to me.”  He wished that Kim would stop stroking his face; it felt terrific.

            “But I want to.  I’ve wanted to be nice to you for a while now.”  Kim’s knuckles brushed along his jaw, tipping his chin up.  “Don’t you know how hyung feels about you?”

            Tormented, he met Kim’s eyes.  The affection and desire there only made him wish even more for things that he couldn’t have.  “Don’t mock me.”

            “No one’s mocking anybody,” Kim said, leaning closer.

            He wanted Kim to kiss him so badly, he moaned.  “President Kim,” he said, telling himself to push Kim away.  He’d already humiliated himself enough; he’d already ruined this situation.  He couldn’t salvage this; he’d only hurt himself more if he tried.

            “No,” Kim said softly, stroking his cheek.  “Just Sunggyu hyung.”

            He didn’t know a Sunggyu hyung.  Looking into Kim’s eyes, he wondered who Sunggyu hyung was.  This guy in the cut-off sweatpants, this guy who came when dongsaengs threw baseballs at the ceiling, this guy who kept guns in a safe and didn’t want him to leave.  “Have you eaten?”  He sounded uncertain.  He felt uncertain, too.  He wasn’t sure about any of this.  But if he left, he wouldn’t come back, so he couldn’t walk away until he knew that he wouldn’t regret it.  “I could make something.”

            Kim nodded at him, smiling.  “Yes, good.”

            As he mounted the stairs to the second floor, he didn’t know what he was walking into.  He didn’t know whether to think of it as Kim’s apartment or the Fox’s lair.

            It was a great apartment.  It was spacious, with a big, open area with couches and a TV, and a kitchen with shiny gadgets lined up on the counter.  Through an open doorway, he could see a bedroom.  “What’s in there?” he asked, gesturing at a closed door.

            “Office,” Kim said.  “Don’t worry about that.”

            He nodded, looking around some more, taking everything in.  The big, leather couches.  The shoes scattered by the door; some he recognized as JD’s.  The covered windows.  “You don’t have more guns up here, do you?”

            “No,” Kim said.  “No, that would be a bad idea, right?”  He cleared his throat and took a step backward.  “I’ll just, um, I have to do something in the other room for a minute.  You go ahead,” he urged, shooing Xiumin towards the kitchen.  “You go check out the fridge, I’ll be right back.”

            “Right,” Xiumin said warily.

            There wasn’t a lot in the kitchen, but there was enough to work with.  It was regular stuff, too, not the imported steaks and rare wines he would’ve expected to find in the Fox’s kitchen.  He took some things out of the fridge, poked around the freezer, rolled an egg between his palms.  He wondered what he felt like making.  He wondered what Kim had just taken out of the bedroom and put in the office behind his back.

            Out of the office, Kim came over to him.  “Need anything?”

            “You were just going to let me go?”  Setting the egg on the counter, he turned, looking up at Kim.  “You left, job over, we’d never see each other again?  That’s what you wanted?”

            “No.  That’s not what I wanted.  But what I want, and what I thought that you’d want, and what’s best, those are all different things.”

            He didn’t know this person.  He couldn’t walk into some stranger’s apartment and play house.

            But when he blinked, he saw Kim, just Kim, his Kim.  Kim with that bad, sexy haircut.  Kim who’d just gotten up and hadn’t eaten anything yet.  And that guy, he wanted to take care of.  That was the dongsaeng he was so in love with he didn’t care if his life didn’t make sense anymore.  “Go and sit down,” he said, nudging Kim away.  “I’ll make breakfast.”

            “You’re speaking informally again,” Kim grumbled, backing up in an obedient shuffle.

            “Yeah, well, you can deal with it,” he muttered under his breath, turning back to the counter.

            He cooked.  He learned Kim’s kitchen as he went, figured out where everything was kept.  He moved around a couple of things, too, because it didn’t make any sense to have the measuring spoons so far from the stove, and who needed coffee filters so close at hand all of the time?  Behind him, Kim sat on the couch and watched the news.

            Absorbed in his task, he felt better.  He felt more sure of himself.  Focusing on the task in front of him let him relax, and as he stirred and seasoned, he wondered.  Wondered, for example, how a supersoldier international spy and a top idol could have a relationship.  It was kind of designed not to last for more than a couple of weeks.  He wasn’t supposed to have any romantic relationships at all, and definitely not with men, and definitely not with someone who lived in secret.

            For a second, Xiumin stopped stirring, and then he went back to it with more vigor.  Kim lived in secret.  The guy was trained in spy moves, right, made a living at it.  Was there anyone better to enter a secret relationship with?  If the only romantic relationships Xiumin could ever have were secret ones the public could never find out about, then the only people he could date were superspies, right?

            Kim could arrange dates no one would ever know they’d been on.  Could probably get in and out of his dorm without anyone ever knowing a thing about it.  Probably had disguises.  “You do undercover work, right?  Do you have disguises?”

            “What?” Kim asked, turning on the couch to look at him.

            Kim’s expression was so open sometimes, so innocent, it tugged on Xiumin’s heart.  God, why hadn’t anyone warned him that the Fox would be sweet?  How was he supposed to reconcile the unguarded, vulnerable dongsaeng he loved so much with the all-powerful Fox?  “Disguises, I said, don’t you have some?”

            He scratched his head.  “Yeah, some.”

            “Good.”  That would come in handy.

            He cooked until the table was covered in dishes, cooked to his heart’s content.  For weeks now, he’d wanted to take care of Kim, to protect Kim, to express the love struggling in his heart.  Now he could, at least this once, at least in this way, so he cooked like he’d never have this chance again.  Because maybe he wouldn’t.  Finally satisfied, he said, “Come and eat.”

            Getting up, Kim shuffled over.  Wearing an uncertain scowl, he said, “But you keep-”

            “Yeah, and you can deal with it,” Xiumin said again.  He nudged Kim into a chair, but once he’d started touching, he didn’t want to stop.  He lingered there, his hands on Kim’s shoulders.  Slowly caressed the square lines of Kim’s shoulders, the soft T-shirt, the smooth skin across Kim’s nape.  Kim was eating already, tasting things, making assessing noises.  “I’m glad that you’re okay,” he said to the back of Kim’s head.

            Kim paused for an instant, then went back to eating.  “You don’t have to worry about me.”

            “Do you have another job lined up?”

            “Mmm.  Woohyun’s talking to them tomorrow.”

            “Is it dangerous?”

            “Corporate stuff.  No pretty idols.”

            That hadn’t been an answer.  He ran his fingers through Kim’s hair for a moment, then went around to sit across the table.  He ate a little, just to keep Kim company, but mostly he watched.  “You knew I was in love with you, didn’t you?”

            Kim coughed.  When he’d recovered, he said, “Um,” and ate some more.  “Not really,” he finally said.  “I thought that you were confused, and I thought that you might like me, and sometimes it seemed like you hated me.”  He swallowed and met Xiumin’s eyes.  “It seemed like you were interested in me and attracted to me, but I thought that once the job was over, you’d forget about me again.  That would be healthy, it’s good, for your life to go back to normal.”

            “So you don’t take me seriously,” Xiumin said.  “You don’t take my feelings seriously.”

            “You’re very excitable,” Kim said.  “You get very agitated about things.  Who knows when that’s going to last and when it’s real and when you’re just getting noisy again?”

            Xiumin glared at him, wanting to pop him one.  “If you were really my dongsaeng, I’d smack you for that.”

            “You took good care of me,” Kim said.  “With the food and the bedroll and the bandages.  And you wanted me.  But you were angry a lot, too.  I could never do anything right.  It was always something, something I did, something I said, something I didn’t do.  You were upset with me all of the time.”

            “I was upset with the Fox!” he exclaimed.  “I was upset with everything, it was a shitty situation.”  He fixed his hair, exasperated.  “I liked you a lot.”  Love, he was in love, but he didn’t have to keep saying it out loud, over and over.  Kim got the point.  “You were special to me.  But you pushed me away and…  I didn’t like that, I don’t handle that well.”  He gave Kim a firm look.  “You’re not going to do it again.”

            Kim frowned at him.  “You can’t keep-”

            “Yes, I can,” he said, interrupting.  “I’m talking to my dongsaeng named Kim, and that’s you, and you can freaking deal with it.  God, are you always so sensitive?  Do you always complain this much?  I thought that the Fox would be tougher.”

            “There’s no Fox!” Kim exclaimed.  Then he glared at Xiumin.  “And if there is one, he doesn’t let pretty little idols talk down to him like this.”

            “If there’s no Fox, then I’m not talking to him, I’m talking to you.  And you’re not going to push me away again.  You showed up in my dorm, in my life, over and over, whether I wanted you or not.  Now I’m here, whether you like it or not.”

            “I like it,” he said quickly.

            The sudden sincerity of that made Xiumin blush, happiness shimmering through him.  “Good,” he said, unable to hide his smile.

            Kim ducked his head, going back to eating.

            God, he loved this guy too much.  “Finish eating,” Xiumin said.  Getting up from the table, he stroked Kim’s hair for a second.  Then he walked away.

            “Where are you going?”

            “I want to see the bedroom,” he said, crossing the apartment.

            “Don’t touch things!”

            “I can touch whatever I want.”

            “Don’t go in the office!”

            “I won’t go in your precious office,” he said, rolling his eyes.

            The bedroom was nice.  Dark gray walls, smoothly polished floorboards.  He wandered a little, checking out the place.  It was neat, tidy, with rumpled blue sheets on a big, soft bed.  There were a couple of key rings and remote controls on the dresser.  Curious about them, he picked them up to look them over, but he decided not to risk pushing any buttons.  When he brushed the curtains away from the window, he found a metal plate covering the window.  Blinking, he smoothed the curtains back.

            Crawling onto the bed, he sighed.  So he was in love with the Fox.  And now he had some new hyung to get to know.  But he still had Kim to cook for and spoil and look after.  Just thinking about Kim made him smile.

            He rolled over, getting comfortable, tucking a pillow under his head.  He could get used to this.  He could see himself hanging out here, coming over on his days off, making dinner, making sure that no one had blown up his boyfriend while he’d been on tour.  Probably Chen would come with him, wanting to see Dongwoo, or something.

            He could see it.  And he liked it.  He liked the idea of being a part of Kim’s life, and keeping Kim a part of his.  He liked the idea of figuring out who they were to each other now that they weren’t Fox and client anymore, just two guys who wanted to be together.

            He’d spent their entire relationship until now worried.  Anxious about his members, about threats, about what was going on and the turns it might take next and all of the bad things that might happen.  He’d been tense and scared and angry.  And then as soon as the threat had lifted and things had been okay again, were supposed to be okay again, Kim had disappeared on him.  Dongwoo was still around and suddenly Sungyeol was showing up and L was screwing D.O., but Kim had vanished.  The danger was past and everyone else had a happy ending and Xiumin had felt abandoned, alone, rejected.

            But he thought that he understood why, now.  Kim hadn’t rejected him.  The Fox had avoided him.  And he got it, he could see why it had seemed like a clean break might be the best way to end things.  But he completely freaking disagreed.

            Kim was in the doorway, watching him.  Smiling.  “This is nice.”

            “God, took you long enough,” he said, grinning.  He patted the mattress.  “C’mere.”

            “I was eating, you told me to finish,” Kim argued.  Halfway to the bed, he hesitated.  “Is it okay?”

            Xiumin nodded.  “C’mere,” he said again.  He meant it.  He needed this.  God knew his body wanted it, but his heart needed it, too.

            Kim crawled onto the bed.  Crawled right on top of him.  A thrill went through him, his heart racing, as he rolled onto his back.  Gazing up into Kim’s eyes, he felt his breath come faster.  God, this was really happening.  “You still remember what I like?” he asked, caressing Kim’s cheek.

            “Can’t you at least call me hyung-”

            “I’ll call you what I want to call you,” he said, “and you can-”

            “I can deal with it, right,” he mumbled.  “Right, I got it.”

            “That’s right,” he murmured, and he pulled Kim down for a kiss.  God, oh, it was perfect.  Kim’s lips were soft against his, and the stroke of Kim’s tongue sent pleasure sizzling through him.  Moaning, feeling his temperature spike, he kissed back passionately, hungry for it.

            Kim’s kisses were deep, long, feasting on him.  When Kim’s hands slid under his shirt, pushing it up, he groaned, his back arching, wanting to be touched, wanting more.  “I missed you,” Kim whispered, caressing his skin, stroking his body.  “Hyung missed you so much.”

            He shuddered, his heart aching.  He’d needed to hear that, needed to know that things had ended too soon for Kim, too.  He wrapped his arms around Kim, holding on, reminding himself that they were together, they could get this right, they had a chance.

            His lust for Kim had been a quick, demanding thing since their first time together, an urgent need that sparked to life with the slightest provocation.  Today, it blazed hotter than ever, and soon he was panting, burning with pleasure, need throbbing between his thighs.  His kisses were deep, demanding, and when Kim stripped his shirt off of him and kissed his chest, his neck, he groaned, undoing his fly, rubbing himself.

            “How should we do this?” Kim asked, kissing his neck, licking at his earlobe and making him moan.  “Do you want me to play your sexy games?  Or are you going to give me what I need?”

            Kim was grinding against him, and the thickness of that long, hard cock made him ache.  Groaning, he cupped Kim’s ass, encouraging Kim to keep rocking against him, keep pushing that big hard-on, yes, right up against him, god.  Kim’s rhythmic thrusts turned him on, creating a steady pulse of need.  “Unnngh, oh, yes,” he moaned, digging his fingers into Kim’s lower back.  As much as he liked his little sex games, as much as he liked making dongsaengs work to please him, he was eager to move past games now, ready for the real thing.  “Yeah, yeah, okay, you can do it.”

            “Good, oh, thank god,” Kim mumbled.  He was already moving, quick to tug Xiumin’s pants off.  “You don’t know how much you’ve tormented me.”

            Laughing, naked now, Xiumin couldn’t wait for it.  “You want me that much?” he teased, grinning at Kim, fondling himself.

            “You like driving people wild, don’t you?” Kim accused.  He took off his own clothes, tossing everything aside, and the way he did it like he had nothing to prove, no teasing, no seduction, seemed unbearably sexy.  “You enjoy it too much.”

            “Maybe you shouldn’t be such an easy target,” Xiumin said, feeling good, feeling flirtatious, arching an eyebrow.  Happy with Kim, he ran his hands over all of the bare skin he could reach.  The smooth planes and erotic details of Kim’s body were irresistible, and he tugged Kim down against himself.  As Kim kissed him, their bodies pressed together, rubbing, sliding, and he groaned, savoring it.  God, this meant everything to him.

            When Kim nudged a finger into him, he gasped.  Little bursts of pleasure popped inside of him, and he cursed, pulling his knees up.  “Shit, shit, yes.”  Oh, god, that was good.  “Oh, yes.”  Kim knew what he was doing.  He felt like he should’ve expected that.  Kim was just one surprise after another.  “Mmm, ah, do it, do it.”

            “So impatient all of the time,” Kim murmured, kissing his neck, slipping out of him.  Running his fingers through Kim’s hair, stroking the shaved lines, he tried to be patient while Kim rolled on a condom.

            And then Kim was pressing into him, fat cockhead nudging into him, and he was moaning, tension and pleasure crackling out to his fingertips.  He felt like his whole body was straining, his whole body rejoicing, as he stretched around the thick push of Kim’s erection.  “God, fuck,” he gasped, fingers digging into the back of his own thigh as he held himself open.  “Oh, oh!”

            “Ah, Xiumin-ah, it’s so good,” Kim panted, thrusting into him, thrusting again, thrusting deeper.

            Each long thrust brought a new pop of pleasure, each one brighter than the last.  “God, yes,” he moaned.  “Stuff me full of that cock, come on, give it to me.”

            “Always so demanding,” Kim said, rocking into him steadily.

            “God, it’s good.  Ooohhh, I needed this, I need it.”  It had been too long since he’d been screwed right, but it wasn’t just sex, it was Kim, and it wasn’t just the thrust and slide of a hot cock in his ass that had pleasure burning and pounding in his veins.  It was the fact that this was Kim in his arms, Kim stroking his thigh and kissing his neck, Kim’s soft, aching moans in his ears, Kim’s quick, panting breaths against his skin.  He’d needed to be with Kim like this, sexual, intimate, away from stress and fear, just the two of them, finding pleasure in each other.

            Kim’s thumb stroked along his chin, tilting his face up.  Moaning, not wanting to but unable to keep quiet, making ecstatic whimpering sounds on every deep thrust, he stared up at Kim, his lips parted, his hands rubbing and pulling and urging Kim closer.  “Look at you,” Kim said, nudging his knee up and sinking deeper, creating an electric jolt of pleasure that made him cry out.  Kim’s thumb stroked across his jaw again, over his cheek.  “You’re beautiful.”

            He’d heard it before, and he’d heard it in bed before, but he’d never heard it from Kim, and he felt so vulnerable, so flattered, so hopeful, that love burned in him more intensely than ever.  “Hyung,” he panted, running his hands up and down Kim’s back, cupping Kim’s ass, urging Kim on.

            Kim’s eyes widened, and he smiled.  “You called me ‘hyung.’  Say it again, say it more times.”

            “Shut up.  Oh, ooommm, oh, god.”  Kim was thrusting just right, so goddamned deep, making pleasure flare over and over again.  “Mmm, don’t stop, don’t stop.”  Ooohh, yes, this was going to get him off.  Moaning, hearing himself get louder and louder, he started jacking himself, welcoming the immediate escalation of pleasure.  “Ooohh, yes, more.”

            “Such a pretty dongsaeng,” Kim panted, rocking into him again, again.  “Ah, hyung needed you like this.”

            Hearing it made him moan, and he came, an explosion of pleasure seeming to shake the bed.  Ejaculating in long spurts, he cried out, burning with ecstasy, gripping Kim’s hip.  “God, unh, yes!  Shit, ah, ah, ooohhh.”  Shuddering, he closed his eyes for a second, overcome, overwhelmed.

            “Mmm, see, hyung can make you feel good,” Kim murmured, kissing his cheek.

            The tender affection pulled on his heart, and he opened his eyes again, running his hands over Kim’s chest.  “I feel pretty good,” he admitted softly, drawing a line through the sweat beading on Kim’s smooth skin.

            “I, oh.”  Kim bit his lower lip, then winced.  He gasped, his features squinching up adorably, and then he made a helpless, “Ooh, ooh,” sound, and he was coming, tensing and shivering over Xiumin, thrusting in deep.  It was so sexy and so cute that Xiumin laughed, running a hand over his nape and pulling him down for a kiss.  Moaning, he let Xiumin conquer his mouth for a moment, submissive and delicious.  Then he shuddered, coming back to himself, groaning and kissing back, more assertive now, taking Xiumin’s mouth in long, consuming kisses.  Moaning, Xiumin surrendered to him, loving him, seduced, willing to let him take charge.

            Kim was the hardworking dongsaeng Xiumin wanted to take care of.  The Fox was the mysterious authority who’d pulled strings and given orders that kept Xiumin’s members safe.  This guy, this hyung, this Sunggyu, he was all of that, and more.

            It wasn’t what Xiumin had expected, and he thought that it would only be fair if he held that against Sunggyu for a little while longer.  But he could already feel his love for Kim expanding to include these other sides of Sunggyu, too.  “Kim Sunggyu,” he murmured, getting used to it, tapping his fingertip against Sunggyu’s lower lip.

            “Should I call you ‘Kim Minseok?’” Sunggyu asked.

            “You should call me ‘hyung.’”

            “I’m not calling you ‘hyung,’” he said immediately, shaking his head.

            “I’m not calling you ‘hyung,’ either,” Xiumin said, squirming out from under him.

            “I - - you - - you just did, just now,” Sunggyu complained, catching at the condom.

            “I’ll call you whatever I want to call you, and you can-”

            “I can deal with it, right.”  Sunggyu sighed, on his knees, reaching off of the bed to throw the condom away.

            His expression was so resigned, it was cute.  Kneeling beside him, Xiumin gave him a quick peck on the lips and smiled at him.  As he gazed at Xiumin, his expression brightened, and it was so nice to see, Xiumin kissed him again.  “Show me your fancy spy equipment.”

            “That’s boring, you don’t want to see that.”

            Sunggyu’s hands were sliding over him, cupping and stroking.  Suddenly finding himself on his back again, he laughed, pushing at Sunggyu’s chest.  “Did you have something you wanted to do instead?”

            “Hunh.”  Sunggyu kissed him, settling on top of him again.  “Give me a minute, I’ll think of something.”

            They weren’t supposed to be upstairs unsupervised, but Sungyeol was so distracted playing videogames with Chanyeol that he hadn’t noticed when Baekhyun and Xiumin had slipped away.  Xiumin had found a set of keys somewhere and was systematically going through them, trying to open Sunggyu’s office door.

            Baekhyun didn’t want anything to do with that, so he wandered into the bedroom.  He knew that technically the bed was Sunggyu’s, but he’d had such good times there, he thought of it as a special place for him and Hoya, their little romantic, sexual getaway.  Eyeing the bed now, he gave it a saucy look, waggling his eyebrows at it.  Just wait; as soon as Hoya showed up, that bed was going to be in for it.

            There was an earpiece on top of the dresser, just sitting out.  Curious, he picked it up.  It wasn’t on or anything, was it?  Testing, he flicked a button and whispered, “Hello?”

            “Info here,” Sungyeol immediately said.

            Startled, he dropped it.  How had that happened?  Picking it up again, he asked, “Aren’t you busy?”

            “Who is this?”

            “Uh.  Byun Baekhyun,” he admitted.

            “Connecting you now.”

            “Connecting me to what?  Don’t - - wait, you’re not sending me to the Fox, are you?  What-”

            “Baekhyun-ah,” Hoya’s familiar voice said.

            Oh.  Smiling helplessly, he sat on the edge of the bed.  Not because his knees went weak or anything, no, just because it was comfortable to sit down suddenly.  “Hi, hyung.”

            “Need something?”

            “No.  What, um, what are you doing?”

            Hoya grunted.  “Nothing.”

            Hunh.  “You sound out of breath.  Are you working out?”

            “Kind of.”  Another grunt.  A sudden exhalation.  “About time.  Help me with this,” Hoya mumbled to someone else.

            “Are you working?  Should I hang up?”

            “No, I’m finishing up here.  Are you at Sunggyu hyung’s?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Sorry, this took longer than I thought.  Didn’t mean to make you wait.”

            “No, it’s okay.”

            “How was rehearsal, you ready for the show?”

            They talked about that for a little bit, and then about other stuff, catching up.  There were some odd sounds in the background, some more grunting and a couple of people yelling, and then some sirens.

            After a while, Hoya said, “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.  I just have to get out of here and file a report.  You’ll wait for me?”

            “Yeah,” Baekhyun said, smiling, eager to see him, eager to be with him again.  “I’ll wait.”

            After hanging up, Baekhyun checked on Xiumin.  He was still crouched in front of the office door, muttering to himself, trying each key again.

            Baekhyun wandered out onto the landing.  Idly looking down, he saw that Chanyeol was still playing the same game.  Sungyeol had rolled his chair over to a different computer and was typing something.

            “Yeah,” Sungyeol said.  “Okay.  How much of the cargo were they storing there?  Well, give me an estimate, I need something to start with.”  Was he talking to Hoya?  Baekhyun listened more closely, leaning over the railing, curious.  Dating a superspy was interesting, to say the least.  “Okay.  Yeah, sorry about that, I had trouble knocking out the camera in the back, it’s not on the same system as the rest of them, so I couldn’t get L on site on time.  Good thing you can take a punch.”

            Baekhyun’s eyes widened.  Hey, not okay, that was not okay!  This was where dating a superspy went from sexy to nerve-wracking.  Where did Sungyeol get off talking so lightly about Hoya getting hurt?

            Sungyeol asked more questions.  Apparently L had stayed behind to talk to the police.  When Sungyeol hung up, Baekhyun went back into the apartment.  Standing behind Xiumin, he planted his hands on his hips.  “Where’s the Fox?”

            “Aaugh!”  Jumping, Xiumin whirled around, landing on his ass, keys flying.  Panting, he stared at Baekhyun, his hand on his chest.  “Holy shit!”  Scooting forward on the hardwood floor, he kicked at Baekhyun.  “Don’t scare me!”

            “Where’s the Fox?” he demanded, deciding not to be deterred.  “What’s he doing right now, counting his money?”

            “I don’t know where - - shit,” Xiumin said, checking the time.  “I haven’t even started the rice.”  Scrambling to his feet, he hurried over to the kitchen.  “Take those keys back downstairs.”

            Ignoring the keys, Baekhyun followed him.  “I don’t think that it’s okay for him to be sitting around while he sends other people out to get beat up on his behalf.”

            “He’s not just sitting around.  Who’s getting beat up?” Xiumin asked, shooting Baekhyun a baffled look over one shoulder while he leaned into the fridge.

            “Hoya hyung!  And probably L, too.”

            “Oh,” Xiumin said dismissively, turning his attention back to the fridge.  “Hoya can take a punch.”

            Was that some sort of official line?!  “He’s not a professional boxer!”

            “He took the job, he likes the job, it’s up to him,” Xiumin said, taking things out of the fridge and lining them up on the countertop.  “If he doesn’t like it, he can work somewhere else.”

            Baekhyun glared at him.  “You’re just taking the Fox’s side.”

            “Are you just going to stand around?” Xiumin asked, opening containers.  “Either help me with this or get out of my way, I have a lot to do.”

            Baekhyun couldn’t think of anything cutting to say that wouldn’t get him in real trouble, so he just turned and walked away.  Going back into the bedroom, he flopped across the bed.  Rolling onto his stomach, he tried not to think about Hoya getting hurt.  He couldn’t keep his mind off of what might have happened, though, so he tried to turn it into a heroic movie scene.  He pictured Hoya sneaking into a warehouse and confronting a bunch of criminal goons.  He pictured Hoya taking them on one by one, or three at a time, ducking their fists and landing hard punches, knocking them all out.  He imagined some fancy mixed martial arts moves.  Pictured Hoya looking all dangerous and sweaty, a streak of blood - - no, dirt, or at least someone else’s blood - - on one cheek.

            He wondered what his call had interrupted.  Had Hoya been taking them on while he’d been on the secure line?  All of that grunting, and the shouting in the background, how breathless Hoya had sounded - - holy shit, Hoya had been talking to him and asking about his day while taking down a crime mob?  He rolled onto his back, dazed.  God, that was sexy.

            “Hey.”

            He sat up to see Hoya in the doorway.  He smiled, his heart pounding, as Hoya came into the room.  When Hoya crawled onto the bed and stretched out beside him, looking handsome and tired and all in one piece, he slid closer.  Running his hand over Hoya’s chest, he scanned Hoya’s face for signs of bruising, but everything looked the same as always, perfectly untouched.  Moaning with relief, he pressed his lips to Hoya’s.

            “Mmm.”  Hoya smiled at him when he pulled away.  “You’re friendly.”

            He blushed.  Trying to be subtle about it, he slid his hand under Hoya’s shirt.  Everything felt the same as usual, and Hoya didn’t wince like anything hurt.  “You okay?  Had a big day at work?”

            “Ah, nothing serious.  Went pretty well, actually.  The Fox should be happy.”  He fondled Baekhyun’s earlobe.  “You want dinner or anything?”

            He was so relieved, he kissed Hoya again.  “Someone should make a movie about you.”

            Hoya grinned at him, thumb rubbing along his chin.  “I think they’re more likely to make a movie about you.”

            Oh, that was a weird thought.  “No,” he mumbled, scratching his nose.  “Yours would be more interesting.  Explosions!  Fight scenes!  Superspies and cutting-edge technology!  Mine would be, like, a thousand hours in the practice room and never getting any sleep.  It’s, like, so much less fun.”

            Hoya kissed his cheek, lips brushing over his cheekbone, over his earlobe, so soft and tender that he shivered, pleasure whispering through him.  “I think that you’re a lot of fun,” Hoya murmured, and kissed his mouth.

            Oh, “Oohhhh,” mmm…  Moaning a little, he ran his hand over Hoya’s taut skin.  When Hoya moved against him, muscular and agile, he groaned, feeling the sweet throb of desire between his thighs.  “Oh, yes,” he breathed, pulling Hoya’s shirt up higher.

            “Ya!”  The sudden shout startled him. Alarmed, he stared at Hoya, wide-eyed, before his brain kicked back in and he realized that it was just Sunggyu in the next room.

            “Lay low,” Hoya whispered.  Hugging Baekhyun close to himself, he rolled over, right off of the bed.  They landed on the floor, Hoya absolutely silent, Baekhyun making a soft “oof” sound on impact.  From this angle, anyone glancing in the door wouldn’t see them hidden beside the bed.

            “What are these keys doing here?” Sunggyu demanded.  There was a jingle.  “Were you playing with my keys?”

            Hoya eyed Baekhyun, raising his eyebrows.

            Perfectly innocent, he shook his head.  “Xiumin hyung,” he mouthed.

            Hoya nodded and kissed him.

            “No one cares about your keys,” Xiumin said.  “I don’t even know what they’re for.  Come over here and eat this before it gets cold.”

            Mmm, Hoya’s kisses were so soft, so sexy, Baekhyun didn’t care if they were on the bed or the floor or out on the sidewalk, this was perfect.  Trying to be quiet about all of his moaning, he snuggled closer.

            “Why are you like this?” Sunggyu complained.  “Always ordering me around, I-”

            “Yeah,” Xiumin said.  “And you can-”

            “Deal with it,” Hoya and Baekhyun whispered to each other.  Grinning, snickering, they kissed again.

            D.O. knew that Arctic Fox had gone over EXO’s new apartment building before they’d moved in, and that both Sunggyu and Sungjong had stopped by to monitor the movers.  But he only felt really and truly satisfied after he’d followed L around from room to room, watching L scrutinize the windows and take apart the call box.  Finally, L turned to him and nodded.  “It’s good.  It’s a really secure building.  We’ve been doing test runs, trying to sneak in all week, and only Sunggyu hyung and Hoya hyung got in.”

            That was…good, right?

            “Woohyun hyung gave the security office the info on the ways we found to breach,” L added.  “So they know what to work on.”

            Okay.  Reassured, D.O. ran his hands over L’s sides.  “Thought you were a better superspy than that.”

            L’s eyes narrowed slightly.  “I don’t like knowing that I can’t get in here to get to you if I need to.  But it means that no one else can get in, either.”  He cupped D.O.’s face in both hands, smiling.  “Knowing that you’re safe is what’s important.  If I can know that you’re safe here, if I don’t have to worry about you, I can focus on other things.”

            “I don’t want you to worry about me.”

            L studied his face.  “Sungyeol hyung said that you’ve been having nightmares.”

            “I’m not…”  His voice trailed off.  He wasn’t really having nightmares, but he’d told Suho to tell management that he still had them, regularly, bad ones, but that keeping in touch with Arctic Fox made him feel better.  “Did Sungyeol hyung bug Suho hyung’s phone?”

            “No, no,” L said, “nothing like that.”

            D.O. believed him, but that didn’t explain how Sungyeol knew.

            With a self-deprecating smile, L dropped his hands.  “He’s checking in on e-mail at your company.  Keeping an eye on things.  Not all of it, he just scans for keywords, in case there are any problems we can help with.”

            So Arctic Fox was still checking up, behind the scenes.  D.O. should’ve been offended, but privately, he liked it.  He was glad that they were still involved.  He felt safer with them monitoring things.  “Good.”

            L smiled at him.  “Good?”

            He nodded.

            Looking reassured, L stroked D.O.’s hair.  “Then you aren’t having nightmares?  Everything’s okay?”

            “I just told Suho hyung to tell management that so they won’t complain about how much I see you.  I only had one, last week.  I think that I’ll sleep better here.”  He held L’s gaze.  “I always sleep the best when you’re with me.”

            A small smile played over L’s lips, and he shifted his weight, even closer to D.O. now, his knee brushing D.O.’s thigh.  Having him so close, so handsome, made D.O.’s breath come faster.  “Do you?” he murmured, his gaze dropping to D.O.’s mouth.  His eyes were heavy-lidded, his voice deepening, relaxed.  “Maybe I should spend the night tonight, then.  Make sure you’re comfortable in your new place.”

            “Yeah,” D.O. breathed, hand closing on the front of his shirt, pulling him even closer.  “You should stay.”  When their mouths met, pleasure shimmered through D.O., arching his back.  L’s mouth was confident and sensuous over his, and when L’s hands stole over his waist, his temperature shot up.

            “Let’s check out your room again,” L whispered, kissing him, making him moan.  “I want to get a better look at your bed.”

            Where was Sunggyu?  Xiumin fussed over the kitchen table, impatient.  Everything was getting cold.  He couldn’t be too upset that Sunggyu was late, since he’d been late to their last three dates, but he finally had a whole evening off, and he wanted to spend it together, not spend it waiting around.

            “Oh!  Smells delicious,” Dongwoo said, walking in.  “Can we-”

            “No.  I didn’t make it for you,” Xiumin said, pushing him back out.  Laughing, he backed up, colliding with Chen in the doorway.  “Order pizza or something.”

            “Hyung!  You can’t make all of that and not share,” Chen objected, peering in over Dongwoo’s shoulder.  “There’s too much!”

            “Wait, then, and maybe you can have leftovers when we’re finished,” Xiumin said.

            He checked his phone.  He went to fix his hair.  He wanted to ask Sungyeol what Sunggyu was up to, but Sungyeol wasn’t at work monitoring Sunggyu’s moves, he was in the next room sucking Chanyeol’s cock.

            Xiumin sat on the couch to wait.  He flipped through boring TV shows and texted Suho.  When the doorknob moved, he sat forward, wondering who it was.  Kai coming back early?

            The door swung open and a woman walked in.  Shocked, Xiumin froze for a second, and then he leapt up, starting to yell.

            “Stop!  Stop!  Quiet!”  Hastily, the woman yanked her baseball cap off, and her hair with it.  Wig, it was a wig, and - - Sunggyu?!  Shocked, Xiumin stared as Sunggyu shoved the door closed and messily scrubbed off lipstick with one hand.  “It’s just me.  I was testing security, I wanted to see-”

            “Hyung!  Fuck!” Xiumin exclaimed, his heart still going a mile a minute.  Rushing forward, he took a better look, taking hold of Sunggyu with both hands.  With the physical reality of Sunggyu to ground him, he could calm down.  He smiled, suddenly finding Sunggyu’s abrupt appearance funny.  The smeared lipstick was kind of sexy.  “You should wear make-up more often.”

            Sunggyu gave him a sour look.  Brushing his hands aside, Sunggyu took off a pink cardigan and white blouse, dropping them to the floor and stripping down to a white undershirt.  “That new guard they hired isn’t cutting it, he’s too lazy.  They’re going to have to retrain him or hire someone else.  I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

            Xiumin loved that Sunggyu was so rough on the building’s security guards.  He was a demanding perfectionist when it came to them, and Xiumin knew that it was only because he cared so much.  Because he loved Xiumin so much.  “Should we try some interesting new cosplay tonight?” he suggested, nudging the blouse with his toes and watching padding roll out.  “I think I could get it up for that.”

            “No,” Sunggyu said shortly.  Sunggyu pressed a kiss to his lips, then took another look at him and ran a thumb over his mouth, apparently wiping a trace of lipstick off of him.

            “You bought cheap stuff,” Xiumin decided, rubbing a thumb at the corner of Sunggyu’s mouth.  “Our stylist has brands that don’t smear and fade so easily, I can get you some.”

            He ducked Xiumin’s hand.  “I’m starving.  Do you have anything?”

            He shrugged.  “I made some stuff earlier, there’s probably some left, if Dongwoo didn’t already get to it.”

            “Good, good.”  Sunggyu took off towards the kitchen.

            Xiumin followed lazily, enjoying the view.  Sunggyu didn’t usually wear jeans this snug.  He liked it.  “This is a lot better than that handyman outfit.”

            “Oh, ribs,” Sunggyu said eagerly, practically falling into a chair.  “This is good, I should’ve been here earlier.”

            Pleased, Xiumin sat down across from him.  It always felt good to watch him eat, always made Xiumin feel better to take care of him.  He ate quickly and heartily, and Xiumin ate with him, asking about his upcoming trip to Osaka, teasing him about sneaking around the building.

            Sungyeol and Chanyeol came in, giddy and flushed with a post-sex glow, trying to steal food.  Then Dongwoo and Chen came in to raid the leftovers.  Since Sunggyu looked satisfied, Xiumin left them to it.

            The two of them went to Xiumin’s room and locked the door.  They sat on the bed, relaxing, and Sunggyu asked how his self-defense class was coming.  All of the members were taking them, when they could fit it in around their other schedules.  Xiumin thought that it was going pretty well, although he was way behind Baekhyun.  “I kind of want to test it, to make sure I can remember what to do and handle myself if I have to, but I don’t actually want to be attacked and have to use it.”

            Sunggyu nodded.  “I can get Hoya to test you.  Or Hoya and L both, if you want.”

            He wasn’t nearly ready to take on Hoya.  “Couldn’t I start with Sungjong?  Or Woohyun?”  He felt more confident about taking on the suit.  He grinned, nudging Sunggyu’s thigh.  “Or you, I probably don’t even need classes to fight you off.”

            Sunggyu gave him a fake-shocked, offended look.  “I’m very tough!”

            He laughed, caressing the lines shaved into Sunggyu’s hair.  “Is that what this is supposed to prove?”

            “Get away from my hair,” he mumbled, patting at it.  “What about you?  What’s your hair supposed to say about you?  It was pink and yellow last week.”

            “Yeah, and it looked great,” he said confidently.  “I should go blue next, that would look good.”

            “I liked the pink,” Sunggyu said, leaning closer.  Xiumin felt excitement stir in him, anticipation quickening.  “It was pretty.”

            Smiling, he ran his hand over Sunggyu’s shoulder.  “You think my hair’s pretty?”

            “I think everything about you is pretty,” Sunggyu confessed, touching his cheek.  Sunggyu’s hand slid to his nape, and he inhaled quickly, eager to be kissed.  “Pretty all over.”

            Too ready to wait any longer, he kissed Sunggyu.  He’d wanted this all night, and when their lips met, he melted backwards, sinking down against the pillow and pulling Sunggyu down over him.

            “So demanding all of the time,” Sunggyu murmured, kissing him again, stretching out over him.

            “I know what I want,” he said, pressing light kisses across Sunggyu’s lower lip.  “I like to get what I want.”

            “What do you want?” Sunggyu asked, kissing his mouth, his cheek, his mouth again.  He sighed happily, his eyes drifting shut, loving this affection, this easy pleasure.  “Should hyung get it for you?”

            “Hyung’s it,” he said softly, running his hands over Sunggyu’s chest.  His eyes slid open again.  “I want you.”

            Sunggyu smiled down at him, looking delighted.  “Really?”  Sunggyu gave him a wary look, then smiled broadly again.  “You’re teasing me.”

            “I mean it.”  Then he grinned.  “Tonight, anyway.  Tomorrow I might want something else.”  He was lying; he’d want Sunggyu just this intensely tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.  “But tonight, I only want you.”

            Tenderly, deeply, Sunggyu kissed him.  Soft against his mouth, Sunggyu whispered, “Hyung loves you, too, Xiumin-ah.”

            His pulse raced, his arms winding around Sunggyu’s neck.  “Too?  But I didn’t say it first.”

            A soft, clinging kiss, and then Sunggyu’s thumb ran up his neck, tipping his chin up.  Sunggyu gazed down at him with a loving, knowing expression.  His breath catching in his throat, he nuzzled his nose against Sunggyu’s, stole another kiss.  “Not out loud, not with words,” Sunggyu said.  “But I’ve heard it all night, anyway.  Hyung understands you, Xiumin-ah.  It took a while, but I think I know you now.”

            And he liked that.  It was good to feel so well understood, so well-known.  Their relationship had taken a few complicated turns, but they’d ended up in a place where all of the different parts of it finally fit together.  “Good,” he murmured, pulling Sunggyu down for another slow, deep kiss.  “Good,” he repeated.  “Then I won’t have to say it anymore, if you already know all about it.”

            “No?” Sunggyu asked.  “I don’t know, I think that you’ll want to say it a lot.”  Sunggyu’s hand was on Xiumin’s fly, teasing the buttons open.  Heat shuddered through him, his cock hardening, and the way Sunggyu smiled told him that Sunggyu saw his need.  “I’ll bet that you’ll say it soon.”

            “Yeah?  You’re welcome to try,” he said, trying to sound cool, his voice shaking.  Sunggyu’s hand slid down the front of his underwear, stroking him, and he moaned, hips canting upward.  “Oh, god,” slipped right out of him, and he bit his lip, annoyed with himself, shuddering again.

            “Mmm, Xiumin-ah,” Sunggyu whispered, kissing him again, fondling his hard-on, making his hips buck.  He groaned, fingers digging into Sunggyu’s back, loving the way Sunggyu toyed with him.  God, this was fantastic.  “You already taught hyung what you like.”

            “Yeah, I taught you,” he panted, his back arching.  Maybe he’d taught Sunggyu too well.  “Fuck me, you’re going to fuck me, right?”  He sounded breathless and needy, and he didn’t care, he had to have it.

            “Oh!  Oh!  Oouhh, yes!”  Xiumin’s voice rose loud and exultant from the next room.  “Yes, I love you, I love you, oohh, ooh!”

            Embarrassed, Chanyeol rubbed at his mouth.  Exchanging a look with Sungyeol, he wondered if Xiumin had to sound quite that enthusiastic.  He hadn’t sounded like that earlier, had he?  He’d gotten a little noisy, maybe, but, damn, that had been some good sex.

            “They, uh.”  Sungyeol laughed, blushing.  “Do you want to go to my place?  So we don’t have to listen to this all night?”

            “Yeah,” he said, relieved.  “I’ll-”  He cut himself off, realizing something.  Had Sungyeol meant - - had he just said - - “When you say, I mean, your place…”

            “My, oh.  Yeah.”  Sungyeol’s chuckle was self-conscious, his eyes bright.  “My place.  My apartment, I mean.”

            “You have one?” he asked, wanting to make sure.

            Laughing, Sungyeol pushed at him.  “Yes, I have one!  I don’t live at the office.”

            “I didn’t know!”  He’d kind of assumed that Sungyeol never went anywhere else.  “Your own place?  Where is it?”

            “I’ll show you.”  Getting up, he offered Chanyeol his hand.  “It’s not that far from here.”

            Was it just a regular apartment in a regular building like anyone might have?  Or, “Do I have to solve a riddle and go through a maze and get through ten security checks to get to it?” he asked, letting Sungyeol pull him to his feet.

            Sungyeol’s smile was so happy and pretty, he kind of fell in love again, right then and there.  “I couldn’t just make it easy for anyone to find.”

            New apartment.  New friends.  Suho looked around with a sense of satisfaction.  He felt good about how everything had turned out.  His members were safer now and, even more important, they were happier.  The fear, the tension, the agitation of the past weeks was gone, now, and his members smiled more, laughed more, acted comfortable in their own skin again.  He was glad that they’d met Arctic Fox.

            The nonstop sex was a little annoying, though.  He sighed, brushing Dongwoo’s clothes off of the couch before he sat down.  Well, whatever kept his members happy.  He turned up the volume on the TV to drown out D.O.’s low, ecstatic cries.

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Copyright July 5, 2016
by Matthew Haldeman-Time