No One's POV

Minho and Han walked to Chan and Changbin's "studio."

Originally, it belonged to Changbin's parents who inherited the property from their parents. They were planning to sell it, but Changbin asked if they could use it. Changbin's parents were super supportive of his career in music and because of that they'd let their lovely son do whatever he wanted with it, as long as it was legal.

Chan and Changbin took control of the place and renovated it a little. They added soundproof walls because they knew they'd be too loud sometimes, and they didn't' want to disturb their neighbors. Chan, having dealt with Changbin's excessive use or "outside" voice, took a noble decision to continue being the only soldier suffering from it daily.

Other than that the house needed a little cleaning up since it was a bit old and creaky, but Chan and Changbin had no problem moving themselves and their equipment in. The house consisted of a front yard, kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, an attic, and a living room area.

Minho had told Han that despite moving in being easy for them, staying at the house wasn't easy for them. The first night, Changbin was convinced the house was haunted and refused to sleep. Chan didn't usually sleep immediately because of his insomnia, so after failing to convince Changbin that his suspicions were false, he joined Changbin and they both worked on songs overnight. The house creaked a lot since it was old, or at least that's what Chan was saying to console Changbin who seemed skittish. Needless to say, they both didn't get much sleep that night.

They continued like this for a couple of days but got used to the natural sound of the house eventually.

One night though, they both heard tapping on the window. They looked at each other and both got up. Chan was now on edge and that drove Changbin into an even jumpier state. He kept whining about making the house soundproof and dying without anyone hearing them scream. Chan, unsettled by Changbin's fantasies, hurried his movements. The tapping stop when they arrived, and they both walked over to examine the windows. The minute they turned away from one window, the tapping started at another window. They both ran aimlessly to catch what was tapping but freak out when they couldn't.

In their panic, they called Minho who grumpily used his phone flashlights to search the outsides of the windows, Chan and Changbin clinging to his sides. Minho walked around and eventually something jumped out in front of them. Changbin and Chan screamed and couple of lights turned on in the neighboring houses. After the shock cleared, Changbin and Chan were able to see the ghoul haunting them

Minho was petting them actually. It was a family of racoons. Some people went out to check if everything was alright and Chan and Changbin profusely apologized. Minho remembered being so angry that he only cooked himself breakfast in the morning and watched them suffering to do the task themselves.

Han of course was surprised. Chan and Changbin seemed to be the strongest people he'd seen so far, them being so afraid seem out of character. Minho laughed and told Han the truth about them with adoring eyes.

"You'd think that, but they are probably one of the softest people you'll ever meet."

Han made sure to tease them about this later on and Minho made him promise not to do it without him there.

By this time, they have arrived in the neighborhood of the house and Minho pointed out a spacious looking house. It's brick-walled with a tiled roof and a small chimney. The brick is a dull red and the tiled roof is a glittery gray in the sparkling sunlight. The house is free of any soft murmuring as he arrives on the front step. There are countless pots of plants near the front that have all nearly wilted, but they somehow don't look dead and seem to be improving, as if someone had remembered they existed and provided them with their needs to flourish. The brown door was also pretty old fashioned with a circular doorbell and a small peephole.

Han, while observing the house, didn't notice Minho taking out his phone and dialing a number. He heard them before he even saw the phone. He turned his attention to the noise to see Minho flinch away from his phone.

Nothing coherent could be heard from where Han was standing, but from the look of confusion and irritation on Minho's face, it seemed like he couldn't either. He promptly yelled into the phone about their arrival and that he couldn't hear anything muffled noise from the phone at all. Minho smiled at the silence, hung up the phone, and made his way towards the door.

Han aimlessly followed behind him bracing himself for the noise he's sure he's about to encounter. Minho rang the doorbell and knocked a couple of times for good measure.

After a couple of seconds Chan opened up the door, briefly stubbing it on his foot while opening it. He bit his lip and smiled at his guests.

"Hey Hannie, welcome to our humble abode!" he threw his arms out in dramatic gestures. Minho held his laugh in at the extravagant gestures, but there was a fond look in his eyes. Han heard small giggles somewhere in the house that caused Chan's ear tips to catch fire.

Minho walked into the house, patting Chan's shoulder on the way, "Nice try."

Chan sighed, but Jisung grinned and held out his hand. Chan looked grateful at the gesture and returned it. The firmness of the hand reminded Han of his dad, the love, trust, and safety that could come from a single handshake. The acceptance of his eyes no matter what Han was. Focus, Han, he thought to himself.

With thoughts of his own home in mind, Han entered Chan and Changbin's house. He walked in saw Minho facing a living room full of people to his left. Changbin instantly got up and came to greet Han and IN came bouncing behind him. Minho went to lounge on the couch, side-eyeing the other boy that was sitting there seemingly nervous. Han's eyes locked with the boy's.

His eyes, magnified by his circular rimmed glasses, were twinkly, even in his state of nervousness, and there was kindness in them that made Han want to hug the boy, despite not knowing anything about him. However, the twinkle in his eyes held mischievousness.

The boy himself wasn't small. His shoulders were wider than Han's frame in general, but his waist was small, and he looked like a kid, despite being taller than Han. When their eyes locked, he seemed to sink into the sofa slowly, almost unnoticeably, but Han did this stuff too so he couldn't miss it even if he tried. Opposite of the boy, Minho laughed and the boy returned a glare to him.

When he looked back at Han, he was met with a small smile that Han felt like the boy needed. He had already decided he liked the not-so-little boy. The boy looked away immediately again and to the floor instead but seemed to sit back up in the sofa.

Before Han think anything else about the boy, Changbin's haughty voice filled the air.

"All Hail the only being to ever get an apology out of Minho so quickly!" He yelled, with a bow, Chan followed in pursuit. Jeongin ignored the both of them and went straight up to Han and gave him the brightest smile.

"You finally came! I thought we had scared you away for good."

Han couldn't help but ease at the boy's natural happiness, "Yeah...Innie it'll take more than a disagreement to scare me away."

Jeongin beamed at the nickname, he couldn't believe Han had remembered his nickname.

"YA EYEN-AH! Didn't you hear? He stood up to Lee Know! What could possible scare him now." Exploded Changbin, jolting from his bended position. Chan started at the noise and held his ear in silent pain.

Minho, or well Lee know at the moment, glared at Changbin, warning and daring him to make another joke. Changbin adhered well to the warning.

Chan, recovering from his earlier attack, decided to take the lead in the conversation.

"Come here, Hannie so we can make sure that everybody is properly introduced to each other."

Everybody standing immediately took the initiative to sit down. Han sat on the couch in between Changbin and Minho, with whom he was familiar. Directly opposite from him was the mystery boy who was sandwiched in between Chan and Jeongin.

"Ok, so you already have met Minho and Changbin. I'm Chan and I work with Changbin to make music. I heard you helped him make streetlight! I was so touched by the song it was amazing. If you want to do more with your words, then you can come and join us sometimes if you'd like. Maybe we could even be official..."

Chan ranted until mystery boy cleared his throat.

"Anyway, you also have met Jeongin over here, who we also call Innie or IN as a nickname because it's part of his name. He's seventeen so he's the youngest out of all of us so I presume he's also younger than you..."

Han nodded. In reality, he had no notion of his Earth age, but he could honestly tell, even without Geo's help, that he was older than Jeongin.

"And finally, we have a new face. This is Seungmin. We've talked about him a couple of times to you, I think? Right?"

"Yeah. All I know is that he's looking for a dog and that he's kind of like me."

That got the boy's attention. He quirked his eyebrow while looking at Han.

"See Seungminnie, Hannie's also afraid of people." Jeongin piped up, from beside Jeongin.

Seungmin groaned, "I'm not afraid of people. They just make me uncomfortable."

Han laughed, "Well I kind of am afraid of them, but it's mostly just anxiety honestly. I usually tend to make things seem worse than they actually are."

Seungmin offered Han a tentative smile and added quietly, "Yeah I can understand that."

Everybody quieted down after Seungmin's introduction. Chan piped up again.

"There are two other people still coming. I think they're running late because..."

Jeongin helped him out, "Lix is helping Jinnie find his dog."

Seungmin surprisingly piped up from his spot, "He lost Ghami! But Jinnie is like so protective of him?"

Jeongin shrugged. Han's head spun, something about the names mentioned seemed familiar. He tried to ignore the buzzing in his head, it's like the names were trying to burn themselves out of his brain.

To try to clear his mind, Han asked Geo to convert all their ages into the Patherion ages. Turns out Jeongin was younger than Han but not by a lot. Geo was able to get all of their ages by hacking into their phones. Han realized that Seungmin has been alive for almost as long as he was. The other three, were all older with Chan being the oldest and Changbin being the third oldest. So Han fell in between Changbin and Seungmin.

Now that Han already knew their ages, he thought it might be best to ask them, in case he someone accidently mentions it and freaks them out. "Wait so I already know that IN is younger than me what about everybody else?"

Chan took charge and listed everybody's ages. Han took this chance to verbalize his mental reactions to their ages. He wasn't really surprised with the three eldest's ages, so he just nodded along, but when Seungmin's age came he dropped his jaw in surprise.

"No Way! Seungmin is seventeen? So am I! I'm probably younger than him though." He exclaimed. Han knew he was older than Seungmin, but originally, he had expected to be younger than Seungmin and he was sure they'd find some way to correct him.

Seungmin tentatively asked Han, "Maybe you aren't. When's your birthday Hannie?"

Han felt giddy with the nickname but kept his face in a smile while Geo told him his birthday, "It's... uh September 14."

Seungmin smiled, truthfully it looked a little smug, but Han couldn't be sure because Seungmin's personality seemed too innocuous for a mischievous smile like that. "See, you are older than me."

Han made himself look dumbfounded and pouted, "Well that's not fair! Especially when you make me look so old with how cute you and Innie are."

Seungmin's eyes widened at the comment and he his himself back into the sofa and covered his mouth with his sleeves but gave a small "thanks" in reply.

Innie's face burned suddenly at the comment he was in no way prepared for.

Han yessed internally, glad he was able to get the two cuties on his side as well. He reckoned that he didn't need to worry about Chan because he seemed accepting of everyone no matter what.

A whine brought him out of his thoughts "Are we not cute Hannie, this is age phobia I swear?"

Han shook his head softly, "Of course you're cute too Changbin hyung."

"Yeah, especially cuter than them. And I'm nicer too! As cute as these two are, you have no idea how demonic they are as well," he complained.

"Demonic, what are you talking about, those two? Changbin Hyung I already called you cute. You don't need to make up lies to convince me," Han said, playfully scolding Changbin.

Changbin sputtered while the two youngest chuckled.

To calm Changbin down, Han explained his points.

"I promise you are cute Changbin Hyung! Listen to me, I'm an expert. They are many types of cute. You're the kind of cute that comes off as charming and fun, it's more interactive. While Seungmin's kind of cute is the kind you stare at, and it makes your head a little fuzzy. I get kind of dazed when I see how cute he is. Innie is the type of cute you expect from a younger brother. I just want to protect and take care of him, y'know?"

Han observed the room to see the reactions I got out of that. Chan and Minho were looking at him fondly. Chan was glad that Han was such a positive influence on everybody and was so nice, while Minho was gladder that Han seemed to be enjoying himself speaking with everybody, being more talkative and stuff. Changbin seemed to be pleased with Han's explanation and smiled cheekily at Han. Seungmin seemed to realize that being in the middle of the sofa meant that he couldn't turn away from Han, so he resorted to looking at the ground. Han smiled at that, but his expression dropped once he moved on to Jeongin, whose face showed a bitter expression.

This must be a glimpse of the demonic side Changbin was talking about. Did I say something wrong? I thought I was doing well...

Han faced him and asked, "Did I say something wrong? I guess I started talking too much. I do that sometimes when I'm excited. I guess I just got a little bit too excited-"

Jeongin at once cut Han off, "No no, don't worry you didn't say anything wrong. It's nothing I just thought about something I have to do later. Y'know student problems and stuff."

Han had to admit that the idea seemed pretty convincing, but as a professional liar himself, Han could tell something was off.

"Oh...ok. If you ever need help, then just call me. I'm sure that you have a lot of friends, but I'm basically free all the time and if you ever need someone to talk to or motivate you, then I'm your guy! Though I can't do math. Is that okay?"

Jeongin smiled, "Yeah that's alright. Let's exchange number then. Since we're friends and all. You just met us, but it kinda feels like you've been part of this group for a long time, like you're meant to just fit in."

Minho nodded along to Jeongin's comment, he seemed to remember Han's nervousness from before, "Yeah Hannie, you belong in this friend group. So be ready to be stuck with us, okay? You might think this is easy, but you really don't know what you're getting into?"

Han smiled triumphantly, "Give me your worst. I like a challenge."

Through the painful banter, Jeongin spoke again, rubbing his nape sheepishly, "Wait so maybe it isn't like completely school stuff that's bothering me, but it just wasn't your fault, okay? I'll tell you some other time what it was about though."

Han's eyes softened at the revelation, and he looked into Jeongin's eyes and softly told him, "Take your time. I only want to hear your story when you're ready to tell it to me. I think it's only fair since you literally know nothing about me."

Jeongin gave a small nod and an earnest smile to Han's words.

"Oh yeah! Hannie why don't you tell us about you?" Seungmin asked from next to Jeongin. The sudden question surprised Han. He didn't know what he could tell Seungmin, so he didn't say anything, getting lost in the eye contact he made with Seungmin. Oh no! What do I say now?

Seungmin gaze seemed to waver, and he glanced at his Hyung who seemed to all wear tense expression. Changbin slowly shook his head, trying to send Seungmin a signal.

The signal was received and Seungmin carefully added, "I mean if you're ready to tell us too. We're glad that you're here for us, but we want to be there for you too."

Han nodded and sheepishly smiled back to Seungmin about to reply when they heard the doorbell ring.

Changbin got up from the couch, "Oh they're here!"

He rushed over the door, and everybody heard the door unlocking.

The first thing Han heard was a really deep voice and his eyes seemed to have widened because Minho, who was making his way towards the door as well, giggled after glancing at him. He signaled Han to walk with hi over there.

Han followed and reached the door; he was hidden by Changbin and Minho. He wasn't able to see one of the guys at the door but the taller one was easily visible to him.

Han froze in his steps

It can't be.

No way.

Tears filled his eyes.

His mind spun.

His mouth hung open.

There's no way.

"Jinnie..."

A/N: So how was it? Lemme know what you guys think and if you're enjoying everything so far. 

I don't really have much to say, but I do have a PSAT to take soon. I did kind of well the last time I took it. Honestly I'll be okay if it doesn't get any higher, I just hope it doesn't get worse. 

What stresses you guys out about tests and how do you deal with it? Advice seriously needed 😭

Hopefully I do well on it. And if anybody else has any important tests they need to take then good luck too!