JEONGIN, FELIX, seungmin, and jisung were all gathered on the fluffy carpet playing monopoly when there was a knock at the door.

chan had left them a while ago, entering what he ecstatically referred to as "chan's kitchen" in an overly high-pitched voice to prepare dinner for everyone. that left the other four boys with nothing to do until seungmin suggested that they play a board game to pass the time. this led to felix and jisung shouting "no hecking way" at him while jeongin sat there, confused as to why they didn't want to play anything.

"it's because this guy is an absolute god at board games," jisung answered when the biker questioned, pointing at seungmin, who was sitting there feigning innocence. "don't let him fool you. that pure face hides nothing but evil."

"evil? i can't believe you, jisung," seungmin said with a sad expression. "how could you say that to one of your best friends? anyway, i think that our guest should decide." he faced jeongin. "what do you say, jeongin? shouldn't we play a game?"

jeongin shrugged. "i don't see why not," he said.

thirty minutes later, he understood why felix and jisung hated playing with seungmin when he had somehow bought half the board and drove them all to near bankruptcy.

"how is this even possible?" felix cried in agony while jisung held the dice in his hands, praying fervently to any god out there to let him roll a perfect twelve so that he could bypass seungmin's multiple properties, all with hotels on them. taking a deep breath, he let the two blocks fall, and everyone watched in anticipation to see if lady luck was on his side.

she wasn't.

"an eleven?" jisung screeched, and the whole room was filled with hoots and laughter at his misfortune. they were so loud that jeongin nearly missed the quiet knocks on the door and the buzz of his phone on the ground.

"hold on you guys, my friend is here," jeongin managed to gasp out in between laughs, and he quickly went to the door. he had invited hyunjin to sleep over at chan's house with him mostly because he was livelier than minho and changbin (though he had nothing against the calmer, quieter personalities of his other friends). the main problem was that he never actually told hyunjin that chan was a surfer or that chan was even in the picture at all. in actuality he had lied to him, saying that he was sleeping over at his friend stey's place and pleaded with hyunjin to accompany him so that he wouldn't be alone. it wasn't hard to convince him since jeongin was the baby of stray souls and everybody loved him to pieces. it might be a bit harder to convince him to trust the surfers, though, but jeongin figured that he would find a way to reason with him. after all, the only people that had to know about this were him and hyunjin.

so when he opened the door, he was shocked to find not one but three faces staring back at him.

"w...what are you two doing here?" he whispered, staring wide-eyed at changbin and minho. "i thought that only hyunjin was coming..."

"yeah, well, hyunjin told us that he was going to stey's place, and minho and i wanted to get some free chicken, so here we are," changbin responded with a shrug. "you know how good his chicken is, and i haven't seen him in a while. i didn't know he lived so close to the beach."

a sick feeling began to form in jeongin's stomach. "um... well, you see..." he chuckled nervously and proceeded to tell them about everything that happened, minus the part that he snuck out to go to the beach. he decided that that conversation could wait until another day.

after he was done, the once stoic expressions of his friends melted into ones of absolute horror. "so let me get this straight," minho said lowly. "we are at a surfer's house that is filled with their kind, all because you decided that going out for a drive while you were sick would be a good idea?"

"...well, yeah, but—"

"that's it." minho grabbed jeongin's wrist and tugged him in the direction of the trio's motorcycles that were parked in front of the house. "we're going home right now."

"what? no!" the younger boy yanked his arm free from minho's grip. "they're not that bad, i swear! they're all super nice! plus, chan is gonna fix my bike for free, and you know how much money that would save us all."

changbin stepped forward. "jeongin, we have rules for a reason," he said, "and you know that you-know-who would have our heads if she found out that we were hanging with them."

"then she doesn't have to know." jeongin couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. "we can just let this be our secret! please, you guys. can't you just give them a chance?" he put on the best puppy eyes that he could muster, hoping to at least change one of their minds.

"no." jeongin's pout only grew at minho's answer. "come on. we're all going home."

changbin began to follow minho to the bikes, and jeongin began to feel that all hope was lost. he didn't know why exactly he wanted to stay with the surfers— maybe it was because he would get a free repair, maybe it was because he liked their company— but something in his heart tugged him towards them. even though they just met, jeongin felt a connection with the four boys he had encountered today. they were all so welcoming and kind to him, and proudly displayed all of their quirks without any fear. maybe that's why jeongin was so drawn to them: he wanted to be like them. but now his dream was crushed.

or was it?

"hey." the voice of a previously silent hyunjin rang out through the group of bikers as clear as a bell, causing minho and changbin to stop walking and face him. "what kind of brothers are you guys, making our little jeonginnie sad? i don't see any harm in spending just one night in a surfer's house if it's gonna make him happy."

minho visibly hesitated, and jeongin took that chance. "yeah, he's right. it'll only be one night. i promise. please, minho?"

he could see the gears turning in minho's head as he internally thanked god for hwang hyunjin's existence. as long as he had one of them by his side, he knew that the other two weren't going to be far behind. hyunjin was usually the easiest to convince since he and jeongin were usually attached at the hip, changbin typically did whatever hyunjin wanted to do because he had a protective nature over the younger, and minho was like a dad to them all, so— as he put it— he was basically obliged to go with them wherever they went.

next to minho, changbin yawned and walked back up the porch steps. "honestly, at this point, i'm not really up for a night drive and i just wanna eat, so i'm gonna stay here with hyunjin. oh, and jeongin too."

that's just a lame excuse to make sure nobody in the house tries to hit on hyunjin, but okay.

minho was quiet, apparently still thinking, so jeongin tried one more time. "please, minnie," he pleaded, putting on the most adorable face he could muster, feeling his pride begin to crumble but achieving a sense of victory when he saw the stone-like gaze of the older boy melt into one of relenting.

"...we never speak of this. ever."

"yes! of course!" jeongin quickly agreed, and beamed when minho sighed exasperatedly and walked up the stairs to join the other three boys. "they're all great people. you'll see." he cheered and gave the stoic boy a gigantic hug. "you're not gonna regret this, i swear!"

then he opened the door just in time to see jisung holding a minecraft sword to a struggling felix's throat, seungmin observing the entire thing with a bible in one hand and a wooden cross in the other.

"...i'm already regretting my decision to go along with you guys."