Seonghwa slammed his head back against the headboard.

"Shit..." he whispered.

Of course they were just trying to mess with his head. And of course he fell for it.

He was pathetic.

Why would he ever doubt Hongjoong?

He had never done anything to deserve that.

He wasn't Minho.

He was the best thing that ever happened to him.

He checked his phone, trying to see what time it was. 9:30. They had one more day until the performance. He had to do Hongjoong's song justice. It needed to be perfect.

He quickly stood and left the room, going to find the rest of the members.

Thankfully, they were all in the living room playing video games.

Unfortunately, they'd all seen Hongjoong storm out.

"Hyung...what happened?" San asked.

"I'm a shitty boyfriend, that's what happened. Which is why I need to make sure I do his song justice. Practice in five, okay?"

Everyone nodded, already aware of everything that had been happening since they'd come to this place.

Honestly, this place was ruining everything.

Well...mostly Seonghwa but at least a little bit of the blame had to fall on JYP.

The members all grabbed their instruments and met up in the practice room and started rehearsing.

Though he didn't want to resort to holding them overtime, Seonghwa kept the group until midnight, needing it to be perfect. Everyone else agreed but by then they'd gotten tired. Seonghwa could see them fighting sleep.

"Okay, that's enough. Thank you guys. It sounds amazing. I just hope it's enough."

Everyone nodded, grateful to be set free for the night. The members packed up their instruments and rushed back to the dorms to get some sleep but Wooyoung stayed behind.

"Hey, hyung. I'm just worried...maybe you should try talking to him before the show. I don't know if he's going to be won over by another grand gesture."

Seonghwa paused in removing his guitar strap, nodding solemnly.

"I know. I know it's not enough. With everything I've said...but I can't take any of it back."

"The best thing you can do is try. And keep trying. Let him know how much you regret it. Every day."

Seonghwa nodded.

"I still apologize to San for trying to end things back when we were still training. I'll never forgive myself for being so stupid."

"Woo, San knows you were just trying to save him the trouble of stressing about everything."

"I know he does. But that doesn't mean I'm not sorry. And it doesn't mean it didn't happen. You need to apologize to Hongjoong. For everything. Even the stuff that happened a long time ago. Let him know how much you really care. Okay?"

Seonghwa smiled, ruffling Wooyoung's hair.

"When did you become the hyung? You're growing up so fast, Woo," Seonghwa said sincerely but Wooyoung elbowed him.

"Hey, whatever I've got to do to make sure you don't mess everything up again."

Seonghwa raised his eyebrows at the bold response.

"I'm just teasing, hyung. I guess with everything we've been through as a group...I learned a lot. I changed. But I think we all have. In a good way. I think being at JYP will be a challenge but we're ready for it."

Seonghwa almost let his confusion slip but quickly masked it with a reassuring smile. He and Hongjoong had agreed they were going to surprise the members after they had their first performance as a group. They didn't want to take away from their excitement and nervousness.

"Yeah. I think we will."

The two headed back to the dorms, and Seonghwa prepared himself to face Hongjoong.

...

Hongjoong didn't look up as he heard Seonghwa enter the room. He kept his headphones on, focused on the track he had been mixing for the past few hours. He had no clue where Seonghwa had gone but he wished he'd stayed away longer.

"Hey."

He didn't respond, dialing up the volume on his computer.

"I'm really, really sorry."

Hongjoong kept his eyes on the computer.

"Joong...I know you don't want to talk right now, but I need to apologize to you. For everything."

Hongjoong chewed on his lip, not fully engaging but paused his music.

"First of all, I'm so sorry for not trusting you. I know I keep making excuses because of everything with Minho, but I know you're not him. I know you. And I know you wouldn't do that to me. So I'm sorry for every time I made you prove yourself to me. You already show me how much you care every single day."

Hongjoong sat back, letting his laptop close. He left his headphones on but he gave Seonghwa his eye contact.

"I'm also sorry for everything I've ever said when I blew up on you. I didn't mean any of it. I know you know that but I'm still sorry. You don't deserve that. You don't deserve to be treated like that. I'm going to work every day to prove just how much I regret every word."

Hongjoong couldn't keep his eye contact and looked down at his laptop, thumbing the stickers on the back.

"I'm sorry for all the times I blew you off because of my band. I'm sorry for blocking you and leaving you without answers. I'm sorry for every time I blamed you when you were only trying to figure out a messy situation. I'm sorry for making you work so hard just to earn my trust. I'm so sorry for being the worst fucking boyfriend on the planet. I know you hate when I say this but you deserve so much better than me. You deserve the entire fucking planet Hongjoong and I wish I could give it to you. I'll spend every single day we have left on this planet trying to make it up to you."

Hongjoong slowly slid his headphones off.

"Jesus, Seonghwa."

"I'm sorry."

"You really didn't need to do that. You know I don't care about any of that. I love you anyways."

"It doesn't mean I'm not sorry. Ever since you met me your life has gotten so complicated. Having to manage my temper, changing from a four person group to an eight person group, everything that went down with Minho...you could be so much happier right now if you'd never met me."

"You fucking idiot. You are what makes me happy. Get over here."

Hongjoong stood, opening his arms and Seonghwa shuffled towards him, his head still hung low in shame.

"Hurry up before I start fucking crying again," Hongjoong laughed and Seonghwa smiled, stepping faster, speeding up to a run as he flung himself into Hongjoong's arms.

Hongjoong held him tight, and both of them started to tear up. Seonghwa squeezed Hongjoong as tightly as he could, never ever wanting to let go.

"I love you so much, Joong. So much."

"I know. It's okay. Fuck, you really did a number on me, Hwa," Hongjoong laughed through his tears.

"I'm sorry, I just needed to tell you."

"It's okay. I'm glad you did. Thank you."

"We're going to figure out this spy thing and get the hell out of this place."

Hongjoong's grip loosened.

"Hwa...I don't think we can do this on our own."

Seonghwa pulled back a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, JYP is way more powerful than we had anticipated."

Seonghwa looked down at his feet.

"You mean because of how easily they manipulated me."

"No, no! I finally got Han to talk."

Seonghwa's eyes shot up to meet Hongjoong's.

"Did he tell you what he has on them?"

"He told me everything. But it's not good."

Seonghwa sat down on the end of the bed and motioned for Hongjoong to sit in his lap. Hongjoong took a seat, laying his head on Seonghwa's chest.

"I wasn't going to tell you because I was worried about involving you but...we're in this together. I'm not leaving you out again. But I need you to know that if things go south, I'm taking the blame."

"As if I'd let you."

Hongjoong looked up at Seonghwa who raised an eyebrow. He sighed shaking his head.

"Anyways, I found out that he's using the other members—the ones they're close with—to keep them doing his dirty work."

"He knows which members are closer than others?"

"He knows about their relationships, Hwa. And he knows about all of ours, too."

Seonghwa stared down at him, frozen.

"He knows about...us?"

"And Woo and San, and Yeosang and Jongho—"

"Wait—Yeosang and Jongho??"

"Yeah I may or may not have stumbled across them being...intimate. I don't think they know that I know..."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

They paused for a moment before Hongjoong continued.

"Anyways, he's using their relationships against them. If any of them mess up or fail to get him information, he'll kick their partner out of the group and ruin them."

Seonghwa put his arms around Hongjoong's stomach, pulling him closer.

"You're saying...if we do this...he might come after one of us?"

"Yeah."

Seonghwa put his chin on Hongjoong's head.

"You were really going to let me step away to protect my future?"

Hongjoong turned so his face looked up at Seonghwa's, his forehead under Seonghwa's jaw.

"Of course, Hwa. I know how far you've come to get here. I'm not going to let him ruin that for you."

"I don't deserve you, Joongie."

Hongjoong sighed, turning his head back towards his lap.

"Well hopefully neither of us have to lose our jobs but now that I know he has that kind of power...I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do. I promised Han I would fix this. And all I know is that I'm in over my head."

"Well, first of all, you've got me. And if worst comes to worst, I'm sure that none of the members could ever pursue their career knowing you were kicked out. So we either all go down or all make it through."

"But—"

"No buts. Eight makes one team, right?"

Hongjoong rolled his eyes.

"What's the point in all eight of us going down for something?"

"Ateez isn't Ateez without you, Joongie."

Hongjoong sighed.

"Okay. I guess I can't really do anything to stop you."

"Correct."

Seonghwa smiled in satisfaction but Hongjoong didn't know why the idea of eight of them losing their jobs felt any better than just one.

"So...what do we do?" he asked, his hands finding Seonghwa's and bouncing them up and down as he thought.

"You said you spoke to Eden about helping Stray Kids, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, if they're even considering letting them audition, they're clearly not too scared of JYP. Maybe he's not as powerful as we think. What if you go talk to him tomorrow morning? Ask him about what to do. At the very least, we can warn Eden and keep KQ out of a messy situation. And if you miss another rehearsal, we can keep our story for JYP."

Hongjoong nodded.

"That's actually pretty fucking genius."

"Thank you," Seonghwa smiled.

"You're welcome."

"So it's settled."

"Wait—but if I miss another practice, the group might get mad at me. I don't want them to think I'm slacking off."

"I'll handle it. They know how much you care. They'll understand there's an important reason that you're not there."

"Are you sure?"

"They adore you, Hongjoong. I think they'll be okay. They trust you."

"Okay. Okay, if you say so. So tomorrow we'll try to sort it all out."

"Tomorrow we'll know if we can finally get out of here."