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Chapter One - A Change of Pace

*January*

The first thing that Chan became aware of upon returning to consciousness was an awful, horrible, all-consuming pounding in his head. It was like there was a little drummer inside who was intent on practicing a drum solo on his skull. The second thing he was aware of was someone shaking his arm, attempting to get his attention way more rapidly than Chan wanted to provide it with how he felt. 

“Chan-ah! Get your ass up!” a familiar deep voice growled, before sounding like they jumped off the bed and began to run around the room at rapid speed–at way higher of an energy level than Chan felt he himself was capable of pulling together at this moment in time. 

Chan blinked his eyes open, cringing and shutting them rapidly when the morning sun met his pounding head. It didn’t take much for Chan to realize that he was incredibly hungover. Last night was still somewhat of a fuzzy blur in his mind, but he was sure it involved the man scurrying around his room, lots of alcohol, a club or two, and a return to his apartment for a romp in the sheets. 

“Vernon hyung, why are you running around like a chicken with their head cut off?” Chan whined, finally opening his eyes and taking in the chaos and destruction around him. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, and there is no way you are any better after last night.” 

His room was evidence of their previous evening. It looked as if a bomb had gone off. There were empty bottles of alcohol scattered throughout, a plethora of pills and powder on many of the surfaces, clothes thrown all about the floor from when they had been torn off in the heat of the moment, and sheets tangled and spilling over the side of the bed. It was unlike how Chan would usually leave his room, but his parents were out of the country for the rest of the month on business and he couldn’t really be bothered with cleaning. He would bribe the hired help for their silence about the drugs, and then get them to do it before his parents’ return. 

“Mayday! Your parents are going to be here in less than an hour!” Vernon replied, not stopping in his gathering of clothing pieces, picking several up and tossing them in frustration when they weren’t the ones he was looking for. “I woke up to a text that business with the Singaporean company wrapped up quicker than expected, and everyone was heading home. They were all taking a flight this morning.” 

“Fuck.” 

Chan suddenly found that he had the energy to match Vernon's, launching himself out of bed and beginning to frantically push all of the incriminating evidence into his trash bag, his eyes wide and frantic as he took in the state of the room. He was dead if his parents saw this. Actually scratch that, he was worse than dead, he was disowned.

*June* 

KNOCK-KNOCK 

Chan was pulled out of his reminiscing of the last time he had seen Vernon, finding himself under the spray of an incredibly hot shower, unsure of how long he had been lost in his thoughts. 

“Chan–ssi, if we don’t leave in the next five minutes we are going to be late to the banquet.” Kim Namjoon’s voice called through the bathroom door–the Lee family personal assistant. “I don’t think I need to remind you of how utterly unacceptable your parents will find that.” 

Chan grumbled and moved to shut the shower off, his sadness changing rapidly to annoyance. No, Namjoon did not need to remind Chan of that. It wasn’t anything new, though. Chan was disappointing his family on a somewhat daily basis at this point. They disapproved of the way he dressed, the way he talked, the way he acted–and hell, probably the way he walked. There was nothing that was a bigger disappointment than the way he felt about his same gender, though. His parents wouldn’t even say the g-word in his presence, so convinced that a. He was incorrect and b. That even if he was gay, it didn’t matter. He was still going to marry a nice respectable girl–within the context of some beneficial business merger–and settle down to take over the Lee Corporation.

Chan rushed to put on the suit that had been laid out for him on his bed, running a quick comb through his hair before deciding that it didn’t matter. His parents would hate his hair regardless of how much time or effort he put into it. It was currently styled in a somewhat subtle mullet, longer strands brushing his collar in the back. Chan thought it made him look cool. His parents thought it made him look like a heathen. He could have a military buzz cut and they would tell him the same, though, so fuck that. 

Fighting the urge to grab his stash of pot in his upper nightstand drawer, Chan headed towards his bedroom door, pocketing a pack of cigarettes from his dresser, and heading out towards hell–or sorry, a banquet dinner. 

“So glad you could make it,” Mrs. Lee muttered when Chan slid into his seat beside her. “Maybe one day you can actually do so on time.” 

A quick glance at his watch showed he was five minutes late–oh the outrage! What was Chan to do?! A whole FIVE minutes. Chan bit his tongue and reached to grab and chug half of the glass of wine that had been placed in front of him. 

“And maybe one day he can actually remember his manners in public,” Mr. Lee added, appearing out of nowhere and taking the seat on the other side of Chan. Great. He was stuck between the two of them for the rest of the evening. “I was just talking to Taehyun of the Moon Corporation. They have a daughter only a year younger than you, Chan-ah. She could be a very auspicious match for you. You are going to have to think about marriage soon. You are already 26 years old.” 

“That’s still relatively young, father.” Chan put the glass of wine back down on the table, fighting the urge to chug the rest and then find something much stronger. “Besides, I don’t want my match to be described as auspicious. I want it to be based on something more than what business connections they have.” 

“A man in your position is not at liberty to have time for such frivolous things like love,” Mrs. Lee stated stiffly, much like the way she did most things. Chan swore she was half-robot on the best of days. “The business needs to come first. That is the honor and privilege of being a chaebol.” 

“And besides, we know what twisted idea you have about love. It’s disgusting really. If I could stamp those delusions right out of you I would,” Mr. Lee jumped in, shaking his head with a face that was clear to read how little he thought of Chan’s supposed sexuality. “It is not proper and I have no time for it. You will marry a nice girl and that is that. No discussion necessary. Now, pull yourself together. Do try to look like a bright well-bred young man, and not some blue collar trash that we pulled off the street. Capiche?” 

It took everything in Chan to not pick up the glass of wine and chuck it at his father’s head. It was with great self-restraint that instead, Chan picked up the glass, chugged the rest of it, and stormed out of the banquet hall and off into the night. He would worry about the consequences for leaving the event later. Right now, he needed a smoke, a drink, and to let loose. 

“Yeonjun-ah,” Chan yelled into the phone as he stormed down the streets of Seoul. “Pick me up in Apgujeong. I want to go clubbing! I don’t care where. Make it fun and make it gay as hell!” 

Yeonjun appeared about fifteen minutes later, picking Chan up from where he had been chain smoking by the side of the road. Changbin was in the passenger seat, and Chan saw Wooyoung was in the back when he opened the door and slid into the Range Rover. 

“I want to forget everything about this night! I want it to be like it never even happened. And I want to party so hard that I never think about the name Hansol Vernon Chwe again!” The smirks that he got in reply informed him that his friends were going to be up to the task. 

– The Ranch – 

It was shortly after 6 am, but Seungcheol had been up for almost an hour by this point. Early mornings were part and parcel of living and working on a ranch. Seungcheol was sitting at the kitchen table with several pages of an email that he had printed off about a half hour before. 

“Good morning, Seungcheol,” Jeonghan’s sweet angelic voice sounded behind him, followed up with a delicate kiss on his cheek. “What’s got you looking so worked up this early?” 

“I will make you a cup of tea,” Seungcheol offered, standing up and pulling out the chair beside him for Jeonghan. “I need you to read this email.” 

Seungcheol made his way over to the kettle, filling it with enough water for Jeonghan, as well as the others, who he knew would be in the kitchen shortly. Jeonghan gasped behind him, quickly flipping through the pages, before looking up at Seungcheol in surprise. 

“Is this the same Lee Chan? Vernon’s Lee Chan?” Jeonghan asked, his eyes wide in disbelief, while Seungcheol nodded. “He is a perfect candidate for our program. He is going to be tough work, but I think we can do it. I–I just hesitate–” 

“You hesitate with how much this could affect Vernon and all of the progress that he has made.” Seungcheol could read the same worries on Jeonghan’s face that he was sure were on his own. “And you wonder if maybe Joshua and Jihoon might be the better fit.” 

“Well, I know he is going to need a firm and strict hand,” Jeonghan replied, looking back down at the paper and reading the application sent by Kim Namjoon once more. “And truly no one does that better than you–” 

“Jihoon hyung can be pretty scary, believe me.” Seungkwan walked into the kitchen, heading over to give Jeonghan a kiss good morning, followed by a kiss for Seungcheol. “What are we talking about?” 

“We got a new application.” Seungcheol poured a cup of tea for Seungkwan and handed it to him along with the one for Jeonghan, which Seungkwan brought over to him. “It’s not someone random with no associations to one of us this time. I think we should wait for everyone to come before discussing this further, though.” 

Seungkwan shrugged and let it go, grabbing a slice of bread from the basket and proceeding to slather it in butter before taking a hearty bite of it. He looked very satisfied as he reached over to grab the newspaper and headed immediately to the Arts and Culture section. Jeonghan gathered the papers and handed them back to Seungcheol, face down so that Seungkwan could not peek, and started in on his own breakfast.

It was about 15 minutes later that all six of them were finally in the kitchen. Wonwoo and Mingyu had returned from some of their early morning duties, kicking off their dirty boots on the porch, and washing their hands at the sink before joining the others at the table. The last to join had been Vernon, who grumbled a very sleepy good morning and smiled at the mug of tea that was placed in front of him the moment that he sat down. It may have been six months already, but that was not enough to turn Vernon into a morning person. He didn’t honestly know if he ever would be. 

Seungcheol allowed them a few minutes to enjoy their breakfast undisturbed, before clearing his throat to get all of their attention. 

“We received a new application overnight for our program. It’s another one from Korea. The potential client overdosed after a wild night out with his friends. He has a pattern of drinking, partying, and using drugs to excess. He is a chaebol, and his parents have asked their personal assistant to get some rehab program sorted for him–essentially wiping their hands of him from what I can understand. The assistant had heard of us through his brother and immediately applied after ensuring the young man was okay.” 

The kitchen was silent as Seungcheol spoke, everyone listening intently to his words. 

“Why do you sound so hesitant, hyung?” Mingyu asked after taking a bite of the banana that he had just peeled. “This is like our bread and butter of a client–it’s literally what we specialize in.” 

“Are you torn between us and Joshua hyung and Jihoon?” Wonwoo asked, giving Mingyu a stern look for speaking with his mouth full. “Is there some part of this you think they would specialize in better?” 

“No, it’s just–” 

“It’s Lee Chan, isn’t it?” Vernon asked, cutting off Seungcheol’s reply. “The assistant is my family’s personal assistant Taehyung’s older brother Namjoon, isn’t it?The chaebol is my old…” 

“Friend? Flame? Fling? Hook up? Sex buddy?” Seungkwan helpfully added with a smirk, receiving a smack upside the head from Jeonghan. Seungkwan took it in stride, but did sit up straighter and shut his mouth. He didn’t need Jeonghan to decide that he needed a more targeted approach this morning. 

“Yes, it is Lee Chan,” Seungcheol confirmed, carefully studying Vernon’s face to get a gauge on how he was reacting to the news. 

“We have to take it,” Vernon replied with an emphatic nod of his head. “We have to help him out!” 

“Sweetie, there is no question of whether or not his case will be taken. It’s a question of whether it should be taken by us or if it should be taken by Jihoon and Joshua.” Jeonghan reached out to grab Vernon’s hand, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. “You also have to decide how much you want to share with him. Do you want him to know about your relationship with us? Do you want him to know about the way that we handle discipline within our relationship?” 

Vernon hesitated, unable to reply to the questions that Jeonghan was asking just yet. It would be a lot to take. Not only was he in a polyamorous relationship, he was in one that worked with domestic discipline–something that scared a lot of people off, and weirded out many more. How much of that did he want to share with Chan?

They were usually very good at hiding the true depth of their relationship from clients. Their program worked typically on a mix of hard work, rules and regulations, and good old fashioned family values. A client may get a swat here or there with a paddle over their trousers, but that was a world away from the way that Vernon now lived. The others, and Vernon himself, had pegged himself as a ‘brat’ fairly quickly on. Not to mention, he had completely and totally fallen in love with the five of them, and they him. It was about two months into the program that they discussed the change of situation, and he had been living with them in a full time relationship ever since.

“Why don’t you help Jeonghan around the house today while you get your head on straight,” Seungcheol gently suggested, although Vernon was used to their relationship enough that he knew it wasn’t really a suggestion, it was an order put very nicely and he was expected to obey it without protest. “We can reply to Namjoon that Chan has been accepted. We don’t need to decide which of our households he will be in just yet. Okay?” 

“Yes, hyung.” 

– Seoul – 

The first thing that Chan was aware of was a soft, insistent, and frankly annoying beeping noise. Then he was aware of how stiff and achy his body felt as he lay on an incredibly uncomfortable bed. All of that paled in comparison to his throat though, which felt akin to the texture of sandpaper and the dryness of the Sahara Desert. 

“I see that you are awake,” a familiar voice somewhere in the room with him stated, sounding stern and a touch worried. “You have scared the shit out of your family.” 

Chan blinked his eyes open, taking in the pale white walls, worn blue blanket, and plethora of sterile medical equipment surrounding him. It only took a few moments for him to locate Namjoon lounging on the couch beside his hospital bed. The man was more disheveled than Chan had ever seen him before, his tie loose and his hair looking as if he had run his hands through it many times. 

“Clearly. I see they are all here waiting to see me the moment I awake.” Chan’s attempt at sarcasm was somewhat diminished by how weak and scratchy his voice was. “Where are they? I would be surprised if the answer was waiting in the hall. Or even this building.” 

“Off to Fiji.” Namjoon replied, a sheepish look on his face. “Your mother said she needed it to deal with the stress that you have caused and the damage that you have done to the Lee Family Reputation. They waited until they heard you would be okay, though.” 

“Yeah, well they can both get fucked.” Chan erupted in coughs, his throat not liking the amount of talking that he had done. Namjoon was up and handing him a glass of water in seconds, standing beside him until he was sure Chan’s coughing had subsided and that the boy didn’t need any more water. “I’m over caring what they think. They can live their life, and I will live mine.” 

“Well, unfortunately for you, they have reached a breaking point.” Chan looked at Namjoon in confusion, prompting the man to continue. “They have tasked me with finding a rehab program for you that will help you get your life back on track. You either follow through with this program and come back clean, sober, and a heck of a lot more socially presentable, or you’re out. Out of the apartment, out of the will, and out of inheriting the company. Your credit cards will be closed. You will essentially be cut off. Completely.” 

“They can’t do this! I’m 26 years old, not a child!” Chan complained, his face turning red with his anger. “I–I have a trust fund that they can’t touch!” 

“Which you don’t inherit until the last grandchild is 18, and he is currently 10,” Namjoon reminded. “I think you need to face the fact that you do need to go through with this. Not for them, but for you. You almost died last night, Chan-ah. I hope you can take that fact as seriously as it is.” 

“I didn’t mean to–” 

“You may not have meant to, but you have been spinning out of control for a while,” Namjoon cut him off. “The drugs and the alcohol have taken over your life. I think you need to see this as the wake up call that it is.” 

“It’s not like I have a fucking choice anyway,” Chan grumbled plopping his head back on his pillow in an excessively dramatic fashion and heaving a sigh. 

“You do have a choice,” Namjoon replied, crossing his right leg over his left and giving Chan a stern look. “You always have a choice. I think you should choose to go through with this program. I think you may find something of…interest…there.”

Chan looked at Namjoon in confusion for a few moments before deciding that he was too tired to ask about the odd twinkle in the man’s eye. He was exhausted. He just wanted this nightmare to be over. 

– The Ranch – 

Vernon was curled up in bed between Seungcheol and Jeonghan, feeling more at peace and calm than he had all day. His ‘tops’--a word that they all preferred over dom–always had that effect on him. If you told him six months ago that he would be in a relationship with three tops, one switch, and another brat he would have thought you had gone insane. 

“What’s that smirk about?” Seungcheol asked, leaning down to kiss the smirk that he had just asked about. 

“Just thinking about how unreal this all would have felt six months ago,” Vernon replied honestly, leaning his head to lay on Seungcheol’s shoulder as he felt Jeonghan’s arms tighten around him from where he was laying behind him. “Thinking about Chan coming here and starting out where I did, it’s got me thinking about what I was like six months ago.” 

“Are you still sure of your decision?” Jeonghan asked, reaching up to grab one of Vernon’s hands and giving it a squeeze. 

“Yes. I think it will be good for Chan to be here with us,” Vernon replied, rolling over a little so that he lay on his back and both Jeonghan and Seungcheol could see the sincerity on his face. “I–I want to be open to him about our relationship as well. He isn’t going to judge it. He’s not that kind of guy.” 

“Is it going to be weird?” Seungcheol asked as he ran a hand through Vernon’s hair, his full attention on the boy. “You two were in somewhat of a complicated relationship and then you up and disappeared. You didn’t really get to end things.” 

“Chan and I would never have defined it as a ‘relationship’,” Vernon attempted to explain. “Neither of us were looking for anything serious out of it. We both just had stressful lives with high parental expectations that were made a million times worse by our sexual orientation. Hooking up was just a way for us to relieve that stress.”  

“Are you going to tell him everything?” Jeonghan asked. “Including the power dynamics and structure that we have in this relationship?” 

“I–I think I need to,” Vernon replied, getting cut off very quickly by Seungcheol. 

“I don’t want to hear what you ‘think you need to’ do. I want to hear what you want to do,” Seungcheol replied. “It is entirely up to you what you feel like sharing. We can start with keeping it a secret and tell him down the road, we can tell him off the bat, or we can never tell him at all. It’s up to you and what YOU are comfortable with. Got it?” 

“Yes, hyung.” 

“Why don’t we try to get some sleep, it’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Jeonghan suggested, rolling over to turn off the lamp behind him. “We can discuss things more in the light of day tomorrow when you’ve had time to sleep on it.” 

“Goodnight, hyungs.” 

“Goodnight, Vernon-ah.” 

– Airplane – 

Chan still felt like shit by the time he got shoved onto a plane, Namjoon surprisingly accompanying him for the journey. Chan wasn’t sure if the man thought he might try to bail halfway or something. If he wouldn’t be completely broke and homeless if he chose to do so, the idea might be more than a little tempting. Chan was aware that he possessed next to no real world work experience. He went to University, sure, but his last name was a crucial part of the reason he passed any of the courses. He just needed the degree to get his family off his back, and then he turned to what he did best: partying and socializing. 

“I feel like I got eaten up and spat back out,” Chan complained as he buckled himself into the plane seat–a private plane of course. The Lees couldn’t be seen having their heir looking like death warmed up in public. 

“That would be the withdrawal,” Namjoon replied sternly, but not without at least a little sympathy for how horribly Chan must be feeling. “It’s going to take a while for all of the crap that you’ve put into your body to clear out completely. You're going to feel things like muscle aches, fatigue, fever, nausea, and maybe even vomiting, to name a few. Which is why I would like to introduce you to Dr. Kang, who will be accompanying us on this journey.” Namjoon gestured to a bespectacled grey haired man who had just walked into the cabin. “Dr. Kang, this is your patient, 26 year old Lee Chan.” 

“It’s nice to meet you Chan-ssi. I know this is not going to be a comfortable time for you, but I will do my best to help you.” Dr. Kang gave a stiff bow at Chan, before turning and buckling himself into his own seat. 

‘Not a comfortable time’ was the biggest understatement of the century. It didn’t take long for Chan to succumb to a feverish haze. The plane journey was long, with several stops for refueling. Chan had zero idea of how long it had actually taken or how far they had gone. He was too preoccupied with trying not to puke his guts up, trying to stay warm despite the three blankets he constantly had wrapped around himself, and trying to sleep as often as he could because it was only in the sweet depths of sleep that he was ever able to even relax and feel the slightest bit of relief. It was with no little amount of irony that by the time they reached their destination one of Chan’s first coherent thoughts was: “damn, I could use a drink after all that.” 

Feeling more than a little shaky still, and at least five pounds lighter than when he had begun the journey, Chan got up with the help of Dr. Kang and Namjoon, and with their support he made his way to the door of the plane. 

The first thing Chan noticed when stepping off the plane was that there was not a building in sight. It was all trees, rocks, dirt, and mountains in all directions. It was just the landing strip and then pure nature surrounding it. The second thing he noticed was an incredibly attractive man with dyed silvery grey hair leaning against a pickup truck with his arms crossed over his chest–and looking far more intimidating for how much this showed off his arm muscles. He was dressed in heavily worn jeans (fitted perfectly to show off his figure), cowboy boots (people seriously wore those unironically?!) a blue flannel that was rolled up to his elbows over a white muscle tee (and thank the Lord for how it showed off his arms), and a blue baseball cap. Chan suddenly felt even worse knowing he had to look like something chewed up and spat back out.  

“Hi Seungcheol-ssi,” Namjoon greeted the man the moment they were off of the plane steps. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person. As you know, I’m the Lee Family PA, Kim Namjoon.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” the highly attractive man, apparently named Seungcheol, replied, uncrossing his arms and stepping away from the pickup truck to come shake Namjoon’s hand. “So, you must be Lee Chan. Welcome to Attacca Ranch” 

“I promise I don’t usually look like this.” Chan didn’t know why he blurted that out, and felt the heat begin to pool in his cheeks the moment he processed what he had said. It got a chuckle from Seungcheol in response. 

“Oh I imagine that to be true. I’m sure you’ve spent the last several days in hell,” Seungcheol replied, his tone gentle and his eyes full of understanding. “The many joys of withdrawal. Don’t worry, we will get you feeling better soon. And you must be Dr. Kang.” 

Seungcheol shook hands with the doctor beside Chan, and it was then that Chan realized that Seungcheol hadn’t shaken his hand–probably because Chan was currently having to be supported on both sides by Namjoon and Dr. Kang, but Chan felt a little gutted still. Chan needed to know how this man’s touch felt…Damn. Was this another symptom of withdrawal?! Why was Chan suddenly thirsting after this man he had met 20 seconds ago?! 

“Let’s pile into my truck and I will get everyone settled in my home,” Seungcheol suggested. “I will have someone come get Chan’s things later.” 

With the hope that his home included a gloriously comfortable bed and the opportunity to sleep for a million years, Chan allowed Namjoon and Dr. Kang to help him into the truck with no complaints.  

It was with growing unease that Chan came to realize how truly in the middle of nowhere they were. They weren’t even driving on a road, they were driving on a dirt track. It had to at least be a solid ten minutes of driving before a house appeared before them. The house was large and made of natural materials, allowing it to blend seamlessly with the scenery around it. Seungcheol pulled the truck into a large detached garage, before putting it in park and shutting off the engine. Dr. Kang and Namjoon helped Chan out of the truck and helped him make his way into the home, entering through the porch into a huge kitchen, the centerpiece of which was a table that could fit at least twelve people–if not more. 

“Jeonghan made some juk for you before he left this morning,” Seungcheol said as he walked over to the fridge to pull out the container. “He knew your stomach was probably more than a little sensitive. Let’s get this and some ginger ale in you, and then I think you could do with a shower and straight to bed.” 

Chan had many questions. 1. Who was Jeonghan? 2. Where in the hell was he? It sure as hell wasn’t Korea anymore, not after that long ass plane journey. 3. Who the hell did Seungcheol think he was sending Chan to bed at like 1 in the afternoon–a time provided by the clock above the stove, and not something Chan would have been aware of otherwise. Chan was too tired to ask any of these questions, though. He dutifully ate the actually wonderful tasting juk, sipping at the ginger ale as he did so. Then he obediently headed upstairs with them and took a quick shower, too tired to protest that Seungcheol stayed in the bathroom with him–to ensure that Chan didn’t pass out and brain himself on the shower tiles. 

It wasn’t until he was tucked into bed in a small, quaint, and somewhat bare bedroom–it had a bed covered in a handmade quilt, a dresser, a nightstand, and a chair by the window–wearing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of new underwear, that Chan realized they had all of his things. He hadn’t seen his cell phone since he had boarded the plane and had shoved it in his bag. He wasn’t even wearing his own clothes. That was a hell of a lot of power over him. 

Chan rolled over, too tired to think much further on that line of thinking. He needed a hell of a lot of sleep before he would be able to be coherent and ready to fight back against this strange situation. He was sure they were downstairs talking about him, but he couldn’t get himself to care about that either. That would be another day’s problem. The room was nice and cozy and most importantly, dark. It didn’t take long for Chan to succumb to the sheer bliss of dreamless sleep. 

– Kitchen – 

After putting Chan to bed, Seungcheol returned to the kitchen and pulled out dishes of food that Jeonghan had prepared for their other guests who wouldn’t have quite the delicate stomach that Chan did at the moment. Dr. Kang ate his meal quickly and then excused himself to go take a nap. It was just Seungcheol and Namjoon left sitting around the kitchen table. 

“How is Vernon doing? Taehyung seemed to think he was quite happy and well-adjusted,” Namjoon asked, taking a sip of the cup of tea that Seungcheol had handed him. 

“It took him a bit, but once he embraced his true nature and started taking things in stride, he really settled in here,” Seungcheol replied with a soft smile, thinking about his precious brat. “It really didn’t take all that long for all of us to realize that he belonged here, even before Vernon himself consciously realized it. And your brother, is he okay?” 

“Taehyung is doing well,” Namjoon answered with a chuckle. “He had a bit of explaining to do to the Chwes when they realized Vernon decided that he wasn’t going to go back to Korea. They blamed him because he was the one who suggested this program to him.” 

“We truly don’t keep them all. 99% of the clients we work with return home happy and healthy. Vernon just wasn’t meant for the lifestyle of a Chaebol. He wasn’t happy there.” Seungcheol didn’t know why he was attempting to explain himself to Namjoon. He knew Namjoon understood it. He knew from Taehyung that Namjoon himself was in a domestic discipline relationship with his partner Seokjin, just like Taehyung was with his partners Jimin and Jungkook. 

“I worry about Chan,” Namjoon admitted after a few moments of reflective silence. “The drugs and partying are obviously an issue, but I worry more about his mental state in regards to his parents. I worry you may fix him up here and then send him back where he will be torn right back down again by them. They are the epitome of parents who can’t accept their child’s sexual orientation and are making his life a living hell because of it.”

“Well a part of my job is helping Chan realize that he has other options,” Seungcheol replied. “I can help teach him skills that allow him to go into any career he would like. He doesn’t have to be his parents’ perfect little chaebol. It may not seem like it, but there are places even his parents can’t touch. They don’t hold all that much power outside of Asia. There is a whole world out there for him to explore. He just has to learn to be comfortable not living in a penthouse with every material thing he could ever want being handed to him. The first step is getting him clean and sober–a step made much easier now that he is in the middle of nowhere with zero access to alcohol, drugs, the internet, or even his cell phone.” 

“That is going to be a rude awakening for the boy come morning,” Namjoon said with a shake of his head.  

“He’ll survive.” Seungcheol’s smirk was admittedly somewhat telling of how often he had to put clients through the shock of how isolated they were out here. Of course they had access to the internet, there was a computer in the office upstairs, but the door was always locked and the clients didn’t know about it. They had a landline. This was also locked away and turned on silent. Seungcheol would confiscate all of Chan’s electronics and lock them away, but they didn’t have reliable cell phone service out here anyway. They communicated with each other on the ranch through walkie talkies. 

“Well I think I’m going to take a shower and a quick power nap as well,” Namjoon said as he finished up his mug of tea. “That was an incredibly long and draining journey to get here. I will say goodbye to him tomorrow and then Taehyung arranged for me to go stay with Joshua and the others for a few days before Dr. Kang and I really leave.” 

“You are more than welcome to stay here,” Seungcheol reminded him, but Namjoon shook his head in reply. 

“I think Chan needs to get rid of the familiar crutch of me as soon as possible,” Namjoon explained. “He doesn’t know Dr. Kang well enough, or really much at all. He wasn’t coherent for most of that plane journey. I think it’s best that he believes I’ve gone back home as soon as possible. It will allow him to settle in more quickly.”

Seungcheol nodded his understanding and grabbed the empty mug from Namjoon to handwash in the sink. Namjoon headed off to the bathroom and then a guest room upstairs, pondering how Chan must be feeling. He knew the boy was going to be overwhelmed, at least for a little bit, but he truly believed it would be for the best. The boy could do with a change of pace. 

– Jihoon and Joshuas’ Place – 

Vernon was curled up on the couch in the living room with Seokmin, the two of them chatting quietly and every so often sneaking glances at a thoroughly chastised Soonyoung, who was standing in the far corner. Red marks were visible at the tops of his thighs, peaking out at the edges of his underwear. He was shifting uncomfortably every few moments, trying his hardest to keep his hands laced on the top of his head. Vernon and Seokmin both knew from extensive experience how badly Soonyoung would be dying to rub out the sting in his backside. 

“Soonyoung-ah, have you learned your lesson?” Joshua asked, walking into the room and taking a seat on an armchair that was placed near the fireplace. 

“Yes, hyung! No more lies, I promise!” Soonyoung replied, his words a little muffled by the walls in front of him. 

“Then you can come and join us,” Joshua instructed, holding out his arms in invitation for Soonyoung to climb into his lap. Soonyoung quickly took the invitation, settling himself comfortably in his hyung’s arms. “I just got off the phone with Seungcheol. Chan arrived a little worse for wear, but he will be okay. He ate a little lunch and then proceeded to go to bed. From the sounds of it, he won’t be resurfacing until tomorrow morning.” 

Vernon cringed and nodded his head in understanding. “I know how bad my own detox was, and I think his use of drugs and alcohol has only gotten worse in the time since I left.” 

“Namjoon will also be coming to stay here starting tomorrow,” Joshua continued. “He wants to get out of Chan’s hair, wanting the boy to be forced to acclimate as quickly as possible. When were you planning on revealing yourself to Chan?” 

“I–I want him to at least have a conversation with Seungcheol about how things are going to be,” Vernon replied, leaning his head on Seokmin’s shoulder. “I don’t want him to feel overwhelmed by too many things at once. Dropping the fact that I’m here and that I’m in a relationship with all of them is a lot on its own…” 

“And given your complicated past with Chan,” Seokmin surmised, reaching a hand up to rub at the back of Vernon’s neck. “I’m sure you aren’t really sure where things left off, and now you are in a committed relationship when he got no closure.” 

“Do you think he could be like us?” Soonyoung asked with a sniffle, his red-rimmed eyes a dead giveaway that he had been recently punished. “A brat?” 

“I honestly don’t know.” Vernon shrugged, looking over to watch Minghao and Junhui walk into the room holding hands. They seated themselves in the window seat. “I think he has had a lot of stress growing up, just like I did. I’m not sure if that has made him crave more control, or the release of control. The only thing I’m certain of is that he is spiraling and it scares me that he almost killed himself.” 

“It didn’t sound like the overdose was on purpose,” Joshua pointed out, continuing to rub a comforting hand up and down Soonyoung’s back. “I don’t think he is suicidal, or at least I hope he isn’t. That would certainly make things even more delicate–not that Seungcheol, Jeonghan and the others couldn’t handle it. It just–” 

“It would make things harder for sure,” Jihoon finished, walking into the room and taking a seat in the other armchair. “Soonyoung-ah, can you please get a room upstairs ready for Namjoon? He will need a towel and a washcloth and if you could please open the window to air out the room a little.” 

Soonyoung jumped up to do as he was told, always eager to please when he was on the other side of a punishment. 

“Are you going to spend the night here?” Jihoon turned to face Vernon, raising a brow in question. “You know you are more than welcome to.” 

“Yeah, I think it would be for the best,” Vernon answered with a sigh. “I don’t want him to accidentally see me before we are ready for it.” 

“Okay, go call your hyungs and let them know,” Jihoon ordered, gesturing towards where the landline was hidden. Vernon had learned a significant number of their ‘secrets’ when he moved from being a client to a member of this ranch family. 

As he walked to grab the landline and call to leave a message on his own home’s phone, Vernon couldn’t help but wonder if Chan would grow to love this ranch as much as he had. Was Chan as much like him as he thought? Or was Chan going to hate who he had become? 

Only time would tell.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 Rules and Regulations

The sounds of nature gently woke Chan from his sleep. He could hear the soft and low baas of sheep, the whinny or neigh of horses, and the gentle wind blowing through the trees, rustling their leaves. It was certainly a far cry from the city noises that he had grown up with of sirens, car horns, and the yelling of street vendors somehow still audible so many floors above. 

He awoke disoriented, completely unsure of where he was, but aware enough to know that he at least felt better than he had when he had originally fallen asleep. The soft light coming into the room let him know that it was early morning, but there were no clocks in the room and he didn’t have his cell phone. 

He was sitting up and rubbing his eyes when he heard the door creak open and looked up to see the intimidating yet stunningly attractive figure of Seungcheol standing in his doorway. He was dressed in a dark grey tightly fighting t-shirt and jeans held up by a wide leather belt. His feet were covered with a pair of light grey socks, and his head was left uncovered, dyed grey hair parted in the middle. 

“Good morning, sunshine,” Seungcheol greeted with a cheeky grin. “And how are you feeling this morning?” 

“A lot less like death warmed up, but still not amazing by any means,” Chan admitted with a stretch of his arms overhead, tilting his head side to side and wincing a little at the cracking sound this made. “What time is it?” 

“A little after 5,” Seungcheol answered, shutting the bedroom door and walking over to the dresser. He opened one of the drawers to pull out a pile of clothes, which he proceeded to toss on to the bed. “Get dressed. Breakfast is in 10 minutes. There are several people that you need to meet before we sit down and have a conversation about how your life here is going to look.” 

Chan couldn’t help but note how incredibly ominous that sounded. He was sure he was about to be in for quite the wakeup call. He shook his head before tilting his head to take in the clothes in front of him, vastly different from the designer labels he usually wore. It was a pair of jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, boxers, and a pair of white socks. 

“I did bring my own clothes you know,” Chan commented, looking back up at Seungcheol who had folded his arms over his chest and was standing beside Chan’s bed. “Where is my stuff? I thought someone was going to get it from the plane.” 

“We’ve got it safely stored for you,” Seungcheol replied. “You won’t be needing anything in there. Cell phones don’t work out here and we don’t have wifi. Your fancy city clothes would get destroyed in five minutes out in actual nature.” 

Chan almost choked in his surprise at what Seungcheol just said. “You don’t have wifi?! What fucking year are you living in?” 

“No, we don’t find that we need it. And I’m going to tell you once and only once that we don’t curse around here either,” Seungcheol added, his tone remaining just as serious. “If I have to remind you again, it’s going to be with you writing an essay on the etymology of different curse words.” 

“You’re insane.” Chan couldn’t help but look at Seungcheol in pure disbelief. 

“Maybe. You’ve got eight minutes now.” Seungcheol gestured towards the pile of clothes on the bed. “The clothes aren’t going to dress you themselves.” 

Chan stared at Seungcheol for a few moments before realizing that the man didn’t plan to leave to give him the privacy to dress. 

“You’re surely not planning on staying in here and watching,” Chan’s disbelief was clear in his tone. 

“I’m not leaving you alone. You are still in withdrawal. I don’t need you getting a seizure by yourself and whacking your head on something,” Seungcheol replied firmly with a shrug and a look at his watch. “Seven minutes.” 

Chan bit back several choice curse words, deciding that he didn’t care to find out how serious Seungcheol was about his threat. It was with an incredible amount of reluctance that Chan slid himself out of bed and changed into the clothes that were provided to him. To his credit, it wasn’t like Seungcheol was staring at him while he changed. He just remained close enough to be available if Chan’s health took a sudden and drastic turn. 

“Come along, I’m sure you’d like to use the restroom,” Seungcheol said, reaching out his hand for Chan to take the moment he finished changing. Chan stared at it for a few moments, before grabbing hold of it. He didn’t know why, but it was oddly comforting having Seungcheol’s larger and work toughened hand holding onto him. It was like Chan suddenly felt…protected. He was seriously beginning to think withdrawal was making him lose his mind. Why was he feeling all these complex feelings for this man he had just met!? Surely it must be the withdrawal.

Seungcheol guided Chan to the bathroom, walking in and shutting the door behind them once more. Chan held back another protest about his right to privacy, but he knew what the response was going to be. Based on the way he had felt over the last couple days he knew it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility for his health to take a dramatic and sudden shift–and that thought did scare him. 

Chan made quick work of using the toilet and then washing his hands. Then Seungcheol made quick work of changing the nicotine patch that Dr. Kang had been placing on his upper chest. 

“I will be in control of these,” Seungcheol informed as he worked. “We are going to safely get you to the point where you will no longer be needing these. Got it?” 

Chan nodded, knowing it wasn’t worth the argument. There sure as hell were no cigarettes in this house, so it was the best he was going to get. 

Seungcheol reached for his hand once more, and without a second thought Chan took hold of it and allowed Seungcheol to lead him downstairs and to the kitchen, which to Chan’s increasing anxiety he was aware held several other people that he was going to meet…and who were going to see him in this incredibly vulnerable state. 

Sure enough, upon entering the kitchen, Chan saw several people sitting around the large kitchen table. He recognized Dr. Kang and Namjoon, but the other four who were seated, he didn’t know yet. 

“Everyone, this is Lee Chan,” Seungcheol introduced the moment they entered the kitchen. “Chan, this is Jeonghan.” An angelic looking and quite frankly beautiful man with dark hair grown out to his shoulders. “Mingyu.” A tall and heavily tanned man who looked like the literal definition of ‘Greek God’, all muscular and perfect proportions. “Wonwoo.” An almost equally as tall man with sharp cat-like features, softened somewhat by the pair of silver wire-rim glasses he sported. “And Seungkwan.” A man with dyed blond hair and a friendly and wide smile. “You will meet the last of us later today. He is over at the other house on our ranch. There are two groups of us that work the land out here and have equal shares of the ranch.” 

Chan nodded, taking that information in. He didn’t know if that was unusual or not. In fact, he didn’t know the first thing about a working ranch outside of the depictions of a ‘cowboy’ that he had seen in film and television shows. He knew these men were all incredibly attractive and incredibly fit–the second part he assumed was a job requirement, the first part he wasn’t sure was quite so typical. 

“Now have a seat at the table,” Seungcheol instructed, pointing towards one of the empty places. “I will grab you a cup of tea. We don’t do coffee here, it’s too addictive.”

Chan’s head snapped sharply to look over at Seungcheol in sheer disbelief. Truly where in the fuck had he been taken to?! No wifi and no coffee?! This may as well be the dead center of hell for all he knew. Did that overdose actually kill him? Was he literally in hell!? 

“Your withdrawal from caffeine can’t be anywhere near what you are feeling over the drugs and alcohol,” Seungcheol pointed out, causing Chan’s cheeks to flush a little as he went to sit down. Logically he knew everyone in this room was surely aware of everything he had done. That didn’t make it any easier to hear it aired out so casually at the breakfast table, though. 

Chan sat down without comment, deciding that was the only way to retain any sort of dignity. He quietly and politely thanked Seungcheol for the cup of tea he was handed, and then proceeded to look at what was laid out for breakfast in front of him. It was certainly not a breakfast like he was used to. It was full of Western staples: thick cut bacon, eggs, potatoes, rolls, slices of toast, a basket of muffins and all sorts of jams and jellies. 

Before he could worry about what he would actually be able to eat with the way he was still feeling, Jeonghan placed a couple slices of toast on his plate with a little slathering of butter on top of each. “This is probably your safest option, given that I’m sure you still aren’t feeling 100%.” 

Chan nodded his thanks, quietly taking a bite of his toast. His exterior may be calm, but his mind was running like crazy as he started to get a good idea of how things worked around here. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be allowed all that much privacy nor have a say in a lot of what happened. Decisions were often going to be made for him, and he was expected to just roll with it. He was still far too tired to be able to gather the energy to protest at the moment. That could come later…that WOULD come later. For now, it was admittedly kind of nice to just sit back and have someone else make the decisions for him while he was so tired.

It was after breakfast that Chan was informed that Namjoon would be heading out. Dr. Kang was going to be staying a few more days to continue to monitor Chan, before heading off on his way as well. Namjoon pulled Chan aside into a cozy warm-toned office that had a great window looking out on the yard. There was a massive and likely vintage wooden desk taking up one corner of the room, with a worn brown leather sofa on the opposite wall. Namjoon led Chan over to the sofa and seated the two of them next to each other. 

“I know this may be incredibly overwhelming. I’m sure you are fighting the urge to protest, scream, or even run away. It’s also not lost on me that I’m the one sitting here with you giving you this speech, and not either one of your parents,” Namjoon began, while Chan studied his own fingers clasped in his lap, too embarrassed to look Namjoon in the eye. “I–I just want the best for you Chan-ah. I know you weren’t doing too well, and I think this time out here could be really good for you. You can hate me all you want, but I just want you to get better. Seungcheol is a great guy. They all are. I really think they can help you. At least try, okay kid?” 

Chan sighed but nodded, wanting to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible. It wasn’t lost on him how seriously Namjoon was taking this. His near death experience clearly did a number on Namjoon. If he took the time to think about it, he would find that it rattled himself as well. He was doing a fairly good job of blocking those thoughts out for now, though. 

Namjoon pulled Chan in for an unexpected, yet warming, hug and then bid him goodbye. Chan remained sitting on the couch for a few moments after Namjoon walked off, trying to get himself back in a better headspace. It was right about when he was going to get up and head back out to the kitchen that he saw Seungcheol walk in followed by Jeonghan, who turned around and shut the door behind himself. 

“Now for the fun part.” Seungcheol’s playful smirk assured Chan that what he was about to say would be the antithesis of fun. “We get to talk about how things work around here and what things are going to look like for you from here on out.” 

“How long am I going to be here for?” Chan asked as he watched Seungcheol walk over to the desk and lean casually back against the front of it, his hands in his pockets and his ankles crossed. Jeonghan made his way over to sit next to Chan on the couch. 

“There is no time limit. That is entirely up to you and how well we think you have progressed.” Jeonghan was the one who answered and he put a comforting hand on Chan’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “We don’t rush anything. Things will happen in the timeframe that they are meant to happen.” 

And that may have been the hardest pill to swallow yet. How could there be no time frame? How could they not give Chan any sort of an idea of how long he would have to suck it up out here in the middle of freaking nowhere!?

“Now I think it goes without saying that two absolutely banned items are drugs and alcohol–that includes tobacco. Like I said, we will handle the cravings with nicotine patches and you need to come to us if you find that they aren’t working.” Seungcheol straightened up and made his way around the desk, where he sat down and pulled out a sheet of paper, grabbing a pen and presumably writing what he had just said. “Rule number two is no lying. That includes lies of omission, half-truths, avoidance tactics and so on. We are responsible for your care and your wellbeing. We can’t do our job if we don’t have the whole picture.” 

Chan almost rolled his eyes at that one. Who the hell did Seungcheol think he is? Chan was very good at lying. He had to sit there and lie to his parents on an almost daily basis. He didn’t point that out, though. It wouldn’t do Seungcheol any harm to think that Chan was going to go along with his stupid rules. 

“Number three is that we treat each other with respect,” Jeonghan jumped in. “That includes everyone in this household and at the other household on our property. We expect everyone to be respectful in both their words and their actions. This encompasses both physical and verbal fighting, which as you can imagine are both discouraged.” 

“Number four is that we need to know where you are and what you are doing at all times.” Seungcheol’s statement caused Chan to look up at the man in exasperation. “Yes, I am serious. This is a huge property and there are many things on it that can be dangerous. I don’t need you ten miles away with a twisted ankle while no one knows you are out there.” 

“Last but certainly not least, rule number five is that you must follow any instructions that we give you. They are for your well-being and your safety. If we tell you not to go somewhere or not to do something, it’s for your safety,” Jeonghan wrapped up the rules, giving Chan his most stern and serious look. “And yes, we are very serious about these rules and there will be consequences if you don’t obey them.” 

“Now, as I’m sure you can figure out, we are a working ranch,” Seungcheol continued. “You will be helping us out with the day to day tasks that come with living and working on a ranch. We find that our clients find it really helpful and recentering to be out in nature, getting their hands dirty, and participating in hard but rewarding work. It provides you with a new perspective. You will also be spending a lot of quality time with us. We don’t have television, so you will find that we often spend our evenings chatting or playing games together. As for the work, we will start you off with some of the simpler tasks, and you will work your way up from there. Have you ever ridden a horse?” 

“When I was younger I did. My parents sent me to a Boarding School in England from the age of like 8 to 16. We rode all the time and had stables on campus. They pulled me back to Korea at age 16 to finish out my schooling at an International School in Seoul,” Chan explained. “So it’s been about 10 years since I’ve been on a horse.” 

“I’m sure you will remember the basics,” Seungcheol replied, and then pulled out a high wattage smile as he continued. “Well that about wraps things up. I have your list of rules here. You will be copying them 50 times this morning. I expect those to be finished by lunchtime.” 

Chan’s jaw dropped. “You’re giving me lines? What am I, twelve?” 

“I find repetition really helps them stick in your brain. Also, it means I know that if you break one of them it wasn’t because you weren’t aware of the rule.” Seungcheol stood up from the chair and gestured for Chan to have a seat in the spot he had just vacated. 

Chan held his ground and didn’t move an inch, staring at Seungcheol in pure disbelief. 

“You can take as long as you’d like, but you are not leaving this room until those lines are written. Stay in here all day for all I care,” Seungcheol stated, getting a scoff and an eye roll from Chan. 

“You can’t withhold food or sleep from me! That’s got to be illegal. Dr. Kang would surely have something to say about that!” Chan argued, standing up from the couch to yell his thoughts at Seungcheol. 

“I never said anything about withholding either. We can very easily provide you with your meals here, Chan-ah. There is also a couch right there that you can sleep on, and the bathroom door is right over there.” Seungcheol pointed to a closed door on the other side of the room. “It’s up to you how drawn out and complicated you would like to make this. Dr. Kang is going to come in and sit with you until lunch.”

Without another word Seungcheol and Jeonghan promptly vacated the room, and then Dr. Kang walked in, shutting the door behind him. Chan stared at the closed door in disbelief, before turning to watch Dr. Kang as he walked over and settled himself on the other end of the couch with a book and highlighter in hand. He didn’t say a word as he sat down and opened the book, quickly immersing himself in his reading.

– Front Porch – 

“Well he took that about as well as I thought he might,” Jeonghan said with a sigh and a shake of his head, pulling Seungcheol over to sit on the porch swing with him. “He also now has me curious as to what happened when he was 16 that got him pulled back to Korea. You know there was some reason they suddenly wanted him within arm’s reach again. It could have played a big part in the mental state he’s in now.” 

“Hopefully he can get to a place where he is comfortable enough with us to share that info,” Seungcheol said, leaning his head down on Jeonghan’s shoulder. “I already feel protective of him. I want to help him. He reminds me so much of Vernon when he came here. I know part of that is because I know the connection they have with each other.” 

“And how do you think Vernon is dealing with everything?” Jeonghan asked, jumping on the topic at the mention of his name. “I know he says he’s fine, but I can’t help but worry. I hate that he spent the night away from us, although I understand why he did.” 

“I know what you mean.” Seungcheol laced his hands together with Jeonghan’s. “I’ve called over there a couple times to check in on him. I fear Joshua will quickly grow sick of taking my calls. Vernon seems to be doing alright, though.”

“Joshua can stuff it, you know he would be the very same if it was one of his brats over here,” Jeonghan replied with enough determination in his voice that it made Seungcheol burst out into laughter. Jeonghan slapped Seungcheol on the arm, not hard, but with enough force that Seungcheol at least startled a little. “Tell me I’m wrong!” 

“You’re not wrong,” Seungcheol admitted with a shake of his head. “It’s just so funny to see you so worked up like this. Everything will work out, though. We will make sure that it does.” 

“What are the odds that Chan will do his lines before lunch?” Jeonghan asked after a few moments of silence. 

“Slim to none,” Seungcheol answered with a shrug. “He probably still thinks we are all just bluffing. It’s going to take a little bit for him to accept that we are all serious about what we say. If he truly is like Vernon, it’s bound to be a slow and painful lesson, but I will ensure he learns it.”  

“I can already tell he thinks he possesses the ability to pull one over on us,” Jeonghan pointed out. “His face when you informed him of the ‘no lying’ rule was incredibly telling. I’m sure he is used to lying about the majority of his life to his family, keeping secrets about how bad things had really gotten.” 

“And they were absent enough or naive enough to buy his crap,” Seungcheol agreed with a nod. “He is going to be in for a rude awakening when he realizes we don’t. I’m sure he isn’t used to anyone laying down the law, so to speak, with him.” 

“Well I look forward to it,” Jeonghan teased, leaning down to give him a kiss. “Your level of sexiness goes through the roof when you get all tough and lay down the law.” 

Seungcheol rolled his eyes, and proceeded to grab on to the back of Jeonghan’s neck to pull him into an even more passionate kiss. 

– The Office – 

Chan had taken to pacing back and forth with his growing restlessness. Dr. Kang paid him little mind, other than checking over his vitals every once in a while. Chan wanted to scream in pure frustration. 

“You know,” Dr. Kang’s voice startled Chan, causing him to stop and turn to face the man. “Seungcheol-ssi doesn’t strike me as a man who says anything other than exactly what he means. If you are feeling this restless, you could just do what he has asked of you.” 

“I’m not a child!” Chan spat in reply. “I’m not going to do fucking lines!” 

“Then I think you will continue to find yourself restless,” Dr. Kang pointed out serenely. “The only person you are causing to suffer here is yourself.” 

Chan groaned and sat down on the couch, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn’t going to do the stupid lines, but he also wasn’t going to let Dr. Kang see how worked up Seungcheol’s task was getting him. 

Sometime later the door to the room opened, causing Chan to snap his head up to look at who was walking in. Seungcheol strolled in, carrying a tray of food and placing it on the desk. 

“Dr. Kang, Jeonghan has lunch all set up on the table for you,” Seungcheol informed, getting a grateful smile and a nod from Dr. Kang before he headed out to the kitchen. Dr. Kang closed the door behind him, leaving Chan and Seungcheol alone in the room this time.

“Lunch is served,” Seungcheol stated, before moving across the room to one of the tall bookcases and browsing for a book without another word. He clearly found one that struck his interest, and he grabbed it and brought it over to the section of the couch that Dr. Kang had just abandoned. He sat down and opened the book, just as Dr. Kang had done. 

“How did you know I didn’t do the lines before even coming in here?” Chan asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Seungcheol replied, his voice calm and his face giving nothing away.

Chan stared at Seungcheol for a few moments, before deciding that he actually felt a little hungry, so he went to check what food had been brought for him. On the tray he saw a meat and cheese sandwich, some apples and carrots, and a glass of what appeared to be ginger ale. Chan sat down and made his way through most of the meal, leaving only a couple carrots that he was too full for. Seungcheol was still paying him no mind, and for some reason Chan found that set his temper off.

“You can’t lock people in rooms like this! It’s cruel and has to be illegal!” Chan argued, standing up from the chair at the desk and crossing his arms over his chest. 

“The door has never been locked, you could walk right on out anytime you wanted.” Seungcheol never even took his eyes off of his book as he replied. 

“You would surely pick me up, throw me over your shoulder, and bring me right back in here like the caveman that you are!” Chan argued, trying–and failing–to get a reaction out of Seungcheol. 

“Try it and find out,” Seungcheol said while nonchalantly turning to the next page. 

Chan had the sudden urge to throw the book at his face. Maybe THAT would get some sort of reaction out of him. Then he had to control the sudden urge to walk over to the bookshelf and knock all of the books off and on to the ground. THAT would definitely get Seungcheol’s attention. It was only the little voice in the back of his mind that stated just how much that would look like a child throwing a temper tantrum that held Chan back. He was determined to keep his cool in front of these people. The more he was able to control himself and show them that he didn’t actually have a problem or need their help, the faster that he was going to be able to leave this stupid place. 

With that thought in mind, Chan grudgingly sat back down and finally pulled the piece of paper over to himself. With a sigh, Chan set about doing the 50 lines that he was assigned. It wasn’t hard and was honestly weirdly centering, but his mind kept bringing up that it was…a bit…well, juvenile. Chan couldn’t believe that he was really sitting there doing lines like a primary school child. No adult did things like this, did they..? After what felt like ages, Chan wrote the last line and put the pen down, shaking out his slightly cramping hand.

“All done?” Seungcheol asked, closing his book and setting it on the end table before getting up to come check out Chan’s work. He had clearly been keeping a closer eye on Chan than he had realized to have known the moment he was finished. “Good. Now, do you have any questions about the rules?” 

Chan shook his head no, reminding himself to play the role of cooperative client so that he could get the hell off of this stupid ranch. 

“Good, then I think it’s time you come and meet the last member of our household,” Seungcheol suggested, gesturing for Chan to head out the door and into the kitchen. 

Chan wasn’t really paying much attention to who was gathered around the table until one of them looked up and caught Chan’s eye. Chan froze on the spot, suddenly feeling like the air had been knocked out of him. His voice practically came out as a whisper. 

“Vernon?” 

– Kitchen – 

Vernon had been feeling increasingly nervous throughout the day, beginning to really second guess what Chan’s reaction to seeing him would be. By the time he sat down for lunch and realized that there was a chance the interaction would happen soon, it was with great effort that he began to eat his sandwich. He knew Jeonghan and Wonwoo were keeping a close eye on him. Both of them would have strong opinions on Vernon not eating what was on his plate, so he powered through. He knew he needed the energy for the hard work that he would continue to do on the ranch throughout the afternoon, but sometimes knowing wasn’t enough. It really was good to have his tops there to ensure his knowing was also doing.

When Chan finally came out to the kitchen he couldn’t help the somewhat sad smile he gave him as he took in the man standing in front of him. In some ways he was the same Chan that he remembered, but in others it was clear that Chan had been through hell over the last couple days–or months. Withdrawal had not been kind to him. His eyes still looked a little hollow and haunted and he was much slimmer than Vernon remembered. 

“Hey Channie,” Vernon greeted, standing up from the table and opening his arms for a hug. Chan hesitated for a few moments before scurrying across the room and practically leaping into the other boy’s arms. 

“I didn’t know where you were!” Chan’s voice sounded a little strained, and it was clear that he was near to tears. “I–I…no one would tell me what was going on! You just disappeared!” 

“Why don’t we go sit on the porch swing and talk,” Vernon suggested, subtly looking up at Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo and silently asking for their approval. He received nods in reply, and he promptly ushered Chan outside to the porch. 

Chan had succumbed fully to tears by the time they made it to the porch swing. Vernon quickly sat them down and pulled Chan tightly into his arms. “Oh hey now, I’m nothing to cry over so much!” 

Chan chuckled through his tears, reaching out a hand to slap Vernon on the arm. 

“You just disappeared! I didn’t know where you were. One day you were rushing out of my apartment before my parents got home, and then the next it was like you never existed,” Chan explained. “I–I felt like I was going crazy. My parents wouldn’t tell me anything. They claimed they didn’t know and they refused to ask your parents…and–and…I’m just so happy to see you, Vernon hyung.” 

“Well now you know I was sent here,” Vernon replied, pulling Chan away a little so that he could look him in the eyes. “I was sent to get my act together, so that I could come back ready to take over the Chwe family business.” 

“A–are you still in the program?!” Chan asked, pulling back further and looking at Vernon with wide eyes. “It’s been six months! Am I going to be here for more than six months?!” 

Vernon chuckled to himself and shook his head. It looked like he would have to get into some explaining faster than he expected. 

“No, Channie. I’m not in the program anymore,” Vernon replied with a shrug. “I–I fell in love with it here. I…I live here now.” 

“Y–you LIVE here now?” Chan exclaimed, suddenly looking at Vernon like he had five heads. 

“Er–yeah,” Vernon replied, reaching a hand up to scratch awkwardly at his head. “I haven’t been a client for months now…” 

“And you couldn’t figure out a way to TELL ME?!” Chan asked, his voice getting higher pitched and more frantic the further he got into the sentence. “I–I was in Korea for six FUCKING MONTHS pining over you, wanting you back, missing you like fucking crazy! I–I was losing my mind over you, and you were here playing fucking cowboy?!”

“Chan–it’s…I’m…” Vernon stuttered, not knowing how to explain and more than thrown by the usage of the word ‘pining’. 

“Forget it,” Chan replied, shaking his head and staring at Vernon in disbelief. It wasn’t the disbelief that got to Vernon, it was the hurt that was clear in Chan’s eyes. That cut through Vernon like a knife. “I’m glad you’re happy, but God I’m a fucking idiot.” 

Chan was up and off the porch swing, running away as quickly as his legs would take him. He had no sense of where he was going, he just knew that suddenly he felt like he couldn’t breathe. It felt like the walls were crushing in around him, despite the logical part of his brain telling him that he was already outside. He just put one foot in front of the other and kept running. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. 

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Chapter Text

Chapter Three He’s In A WHAT?!

Chan was already out of eyesight by the time Vernon snapped out of his shock and frozen state. Chan had gone over the hill and up into the northern part of their land. If he continued running in that direction, he would end up by the other household. Vernon knew that he needed to go let his hyungs know what had happened, so he begrudgingly got up off the porch swing and made his way inside. 

“What’s wrong?” Jeonghan asked the moment that Vernon walked in, clearly reading something on Vernon’s face. Jeonghan was always quite attuned to all of the members of their relationship. He could read so much off of even just one look. 

“He–he ran off,” Vernon admitted, plopping down in one of the kitchen chairs, still feeling a bit in shock. His sitting by himself lasted only a few seconds, before he found himself pulled into Mingyu’s lap. “He ran north towards the other house.” 

“I’ll call over there and let them know to keep an eye out for him.” Wonwoo was already walking towards where their landline was hidden as he spoke. He was always logical and quick to assist in situations like this.

“What happened, Nonie?” Mingyu asked, running a hand up and down Vernon’s back. 

“He was angry when he found out that I had decided to stay here,” Vernon began to explain the best he could given his shock. “N–not because I chose to stay here, but because I didn’t figure out a way to let him know that I was here and that I was okay. H–he said that he wasted the last six months pining over me a–and missing me. I–I didn’t know! I promise I didn’t know that he had that strong of feelings for me. I–I always thought I was a friend who was actually gay that he could fuck around with. I–I never. I promise I never knew!” 

“Oh sweetie.” Jeonghan crouched in front of where Vernon was sitting in Mingyu’s lap. “We all know that you aren’t cruel. We would never think that of you, and deep down I’m sure Chan knows that as well. He is dealing with a lot right now, and his emotions must be going absolutely crazy.” 

“You can blame us,” Seungcheol added, crouching down next to Jeonghan so that he was at eye level with Vernon as well. “We never encouraged you to reach out to any of your old friends because we were so worried it would have a negative impact on your mental health and how well you were progressing here.”

“You would have let me if I asked, though,” Vernon argued, turning his head so that it lay in the crook of Mingyu’s neck. His words were a bit muffled as he continued. “But I didn’t ask. I–it was easier that way. I wanted a clean break from everything from my old life, good and bad.” 

“Vernon-ah, I’m going to ask you a question and I don’t want to upset you,” Wonwoo said, walking back to the table and sitting down after finishing his phone call. Vernon hesitantly turned his head so that he could look at Wonwoo. “I just think this needs to be put out there…did you really not ever have feelings for Chan, or did you perhaps not let yourself acknowledge your feelings for Chan?” 

Vernon himself was a bit surprised at the tears that started to spring in his eyes. The question was quite astute, hitting at so much of the walls/lies that Vernon had built around himself.

“I love all of you,” Vernon choked out, looking around at all of his boyfriends/partners/soulmates–whatever you wanted to call them. All of the terms were in some ways correct, yet in others they all failed to fully get at the essence of what they all were to each other. 

“And we aren’t doubting that, Nonie,” Seungcheol reassured, reaching to tuck a piece of hair behind his ear. “You having feelings for Chan doesn’t negate that, but Wonwoo may be right. You have always kind of shut down a little when it comes to telling us about him. It’s just something to think over.” 

Seungcheol stood up and placed a kiss on top of Vernon’s head before walking over to the door to the yard and sliding his riding boots on. He was clearly going to head off in search of Chan. 

– Pasture – 

Chan had no idea where he was going, he just knew he wanted to be as far away as he could get from Vernon, that house, and how much of an idiot he felt. Turns out no matter how far he walked, that last one didn’t diminish in the least. 

It was quickly made abundantly clear that the last several days had taken its toll on him. It was far sooner than he would have liked that he felt worn out and like he couldn’t continue on much further. His legs were burning and he felt rapidly out of breath. Rather than trying to push himself any more, Chan sat down on the bank of a river with his knees up, leaning forward to wrap his arms around his legs. It was only when in this position that Chan allowed his emotions to take over, and for tears to begin to stream down his cheeks. 

“Don’t mind me, I’m just going to sit here and provide you with some company,” a voice startled Chan into picking his head up and looking around. He quickly spotted a man who had sat himself down a few feet to Chan’s right. He couldn’t be much older than Chan, and he was sporting dark hair with an undercut, sharp cat-like eyes, and a slit in his right eyebrow. He would be intimidating, if not for the soft look on his face as he stared at Chan. “Kwon Soonyoung, at your service.”

Chan stared at Soonyoung for a few moments, before shaking his head and realizing that the polite thing to do would be to reply. “I’m Lee Chan.” 

“Not to freak you out or anything, but I know.” Soonyoung gave a partial smile and scooted a little bit closer to Chan. “As I’m sure you know–or logiced–that I live in the other house on the ranch.” 

Chan nodded, but remained silent and turned his head back to watch the river once more. There was something oddly soothing about watching it flow. The rush of water was continuous and powerful, and Chan found himself wishing he could have the freedom of the water. The water didn’t have responsibilities. The water didn’t disappoint anyone. 

“You can take or leave this information, but I am a pretty good listener.” Soonyoung’s voice startled Chan, who had almost forgotten that the other man was sitting beside the river with him. 

“Sorry, I just had a very eye opening conversation with Vernon hyung,” Chan admitted with a grimace. “I’m–I guess I’m just not handling it well.” 

“Well discipline relationships can be a lot to take in,” Soonyoung replied, his voice oozing understanding and sympathy. “Trust me, I understand that well. I lost some of my friends when they found out. They just couldn’t understand why I would be into something like that.” 

Chan froze for a moment before whipping his head around to look at Soonyoung in wide-eyed surprise. Soonyoung himself froze for a moment before tilting his head and looking at Chan in confusion. 

“Before I stick my foot in my mouth any more than I already have…” Soonyoung’s voice sounded weak and it was clear the other man was suddenly very worried about something. “What exactly did you and Vernon talk about that got you this upset?”

“I’m upset that I was in Korea pining over someone who moved on–or well, I guess there isn’t moving on when hyung clearly didn’t see anything between us,” Chan amended. “And I’m mad that hyung couldn’t figure out a way in all this time to tell me that he was here and that he was okay. I pined for months over someone who didn’t feel the same, clearly. That’s what I’m upset about.”

“Oh…” Soonyoung scooted over the rest of the way towards Chan and grabbed onto his arm. “Any chance you can pretend you never heard what I said?” 

“Not a chance in hell.” Chan shook his head, looking at Soonyoung expectantly. “What did you mean by a discipline relationship? Is Vernon hyung in one?” 

“This REALLY isn’t my place to tell you, Chan-ah.” Soonyoung sighed and let go of Chan’s arms to place his head in his hands. “He said he was telling you. I really thought he had told you and that was what you were upset over. God, I’m an idiot.” 

“You can join the club then,” Chan grumbled. “That’s honestly how I feel right now, as well. Well if you can’t tell me about Vernon hyung’s relationship, how about you tell me about your own. Based on what you said, you are clearly in one as well.”

“You’re not going to run away screaming?” Soonyoung asked hesitantly, pulling his hands away from his face to peek at Chan who shook his head no. “Yeah, I’m in a discipline relationship with the five others I live with.” 

“So are you a sub or a dom?” Chan asked, getting a look of shock from Soonyoung. “What? I have practically lived in all kinds of gay clubs over the last several years. I know it’s not just a gay thing, but that was what I frequented. I’m not some innocent school kid that you are going to scare off, Soonyoung-ssi. Please give me a little bit of credit.” 

“Well, we prefer the terms brat and top, but to answer your question I’m a brat,” Soonyoung replied, his shoulders very clearly relaxing with the realization that Chan wasn’t going to freak out or bolt. “Joshua hyung and Jihoon are the two main tops in our home. They pretty much run the show. Junhui is a top as well, but he will really only step in if the other two aren’t available. He isn’t a switch like Mingyu is, but he just prefers not to be the one always in charge. Minghao, Seokmin and I are the brats in the relationship. We are all in a relationship with each other, but each of our relationships are unique. So you aren’t freaked out by the idea of polyamory either, are you?” 

“I think you will find there is very little that freaks me out.” Chan shrugged, but it was clear he was being honest. Chan really wasn’t freaked out by any of this. “So what does Mingyu-ssi being a switch entail?” 

“He submits to Seungcheol hyung, Jeonghan hyung and Wonwoo, but he will step in as a top for Vernon and Seungkwan if needed,” Soonyoung explained, before shaking his head in exasperation. “That was an incredibly clever question because you just basically got me to explain the dynamics of their relationship.” 

“So they are all in a committed relationship between the six of them as well?” Chan asked, although he had a feeling that he already knew the answer to the question. Soonyoung’s nod confirmed it, though. “But this is all separate from the rehabilitation program that you all run?” 

“Yes, oh a million times yes,” Soonyoung reassured, grabbing onto Chan’s arm once more. “Absolutely no one here would ever force a discipline relationship on anyone. In fact, most people that go through the program have no idea about it or the fact that each of our groups are ‘together together’. Things are just obviously a little different since you came in already knowing Vernon. Vernon didn’t feel right about hiding it from you. Seriously, he did plan on telling you.”

“I’m sure he did,” Chan admitted with a sad smile. “I’m to blame there. I kind of freaked out and ran off before we could finish the conversation we were having.” Chan paused for a few moments to gather even more of his thoughts. “Look…all I want is for hyung to be happy. He is honestly one of the only reasons I’ve been able to remain somewhat sane over the last several years. It’s not his fault I clearly read into our relationship something that wasn’t there.” 

Soonyoung studied Chan, feeling his heart break as he sensed the defeat in his tone and in his body language. It was clear that Chan was quite gutted by the fact that Vernon didn’t reciprocate his feelings. He was putting on a brave face though–one much braver that Soonyoung thought he could pull off himself. 

“I was hoping someone would find you.” Seungcheol’s voice startled both Chan and Soonyoung, who hadn’t heard him approaching. “Running off in your current state of health could have been quite a disaster.” 

“Sorry,” Chan muttered, looking down at his hands instead of making eye contact with Seungcheol. “I just needed to get away to clear my head.” 

“Well you certainly couldn’t find a more beautiful or peaceful place to do so.” 

– The Stables – 

“So you found him with Soonyoung hyung?” Vernon asked a few hours later as he worked on brushing one of their horses, Mint Choco. Vernon had very quickly grown to love grooming their horses, finding it relaxing and a great way to bond with them. 

“Yeah, they were sitting by the river chatting,” Seungcheol replied from where he was grooming one of their other horses, Belle. “He was honestly probably one of the best people to have found Chan. I don’t know exactly why, but they remind me of each other in some ways.” 

“I can see that.” Vernon paused to look at his hyung. “They both have a strong intensity to them. They can laugh and joke, but when they are serious they are SERIOUS. I always told Chan that he could be a little too uptight and too much of a perfectionist. He needed to learn to let some things go. I feel like the same can be said about Soonyoung hyung.” 

“I’m sure a lot of that went hand in hand with curating the image that he needed for his parents and for the public eye,” Seungcheol pointed out. “Despite how much he was clearly spiralling, I don’t think the general public or his parents truly knew how bad things had gotten until the night he overdosed.” 

“I still don’t think that was on purpose.” Vernon moved to put the brush he had been using away and picking up a soft brush. “What did you do with him when you brought him back?” 

“I sent him to go read on the couch,” Seungcheol replied. “He was exhausted and fell asleep within like five minutes. It’s still going to be a little bit before he gets his strength and stamina back. He is going to be doing a lot of resting.” 

“Well looking at him it’s clear that he needs it,” Vernon pointed out, his voice not as even as he would have liked. “I’ve never seen him look so…so worn down before. It was a shock to me.” 

Seungcheol stopped what he was doing and stepped away from the horse. “Hey, come here.” Vernon only took a few seconds before he launched himself into Seungcheol’s arms and accepted the comfort of the embrace. “You don’t need to worry. We will take good care of Chan. We are more than equipped to handle this. Okay?” 

“Yes, hyung.” 

Vernon knew that Seungcheol meant every word that he said. Seungcheol was truly a man of his word. If he said Vernon didn’t need to worry, then Vernon didn’t need to worry. It was a huge relief to hear, and Vernon felt himself physically relax in Seungcheol’s arms. It was times like this that he was truly grateful for his tops. There was nothing better than knowing that he was safe and protected, and that they would go above and beyond for him and those he loved. It was clear that Chan was falling into that category. 

“I will finish up out here. Why don’t you go inside, get showered and get ready for dinner,” Seungcheol instructed after a few moments, giving Vernon a quick but firm kiss and gently pushing him towards the house. 

Seungcheol watched him go before turning back to the task at hand. It was only a few moments before Seungcheol felt that he had company once more. He looked up to see Wonwoo casually strolling in. 

“How’s he holding up?” Wonwoo asked, making his way over to take up where Vernon had left off. “He looked better than he did in the kitchen earlier.” 

“I really think you were on to something, Wonwoo-yah,” Seungcheol admitted with a sigh. “I think there is a lot more going on here than Vernon is admitting to himself. I don’t think Chan’s feelings for Vernon were quite as one-sided as Vernon would like to pretend they were.” 

“I’m sure there was a reason he always kept them buried to begin with,” Wonwoo mused as he worked. “And then it got even worse when he realized that he fell in love with all of us and this lifestyle. Now suddenly his feelings for Chan are even more contradictory to what he knows he wants. It is much easier to pretend the feelings never existed at all.” 

Seungcheol hummed in agreement, and the two of them continued working in contented silence for a while. It was right after they finished up and headed out of the stables for the evening, locking up behind them, that Wonwoo pulled Seungcheol to a stop. 

“You should know that right before I came out here I spoke with Jeonghan hyung,” Wonwoo explained, getting a raised eyebrow from Seungcheol. “Jihoon called to inform us that Chan knows everything. Soonyoung accidentally let everything spill because he mistakenly thought that was what Chan was upset about. Soonyoung felt so guilty about it that he immediately went to Jihoon and demanded a spanking for it. Jihoon refused of course, since it wasn’t like Soonyoung did it on purpose. Jihoon just thought we should know.” 

“And did he say how Chan reacted to it?” Seungcheol asked, shifting his weight and giving Wonwoo a look of pure curiosity. 

“Soonyoung claims that Chan was incredibly unphased by it all,” Wonwoo answered with a shrug. “In fact, he seemed to be somewhat in the know about it thanks to some gay clubs he used to frequent. You don’t think he is one of us…do you?” 

“My gut is screaming that he is a brat, but I’ve been trying to figure out if that’s because he reminds me so much of Soonyoung,” Seungcheol admitted. “It’s too early to tell. It’s also going to be up to him to come to us. For now, I would just like to focus on getting him in much healthier shape.”

– Chan’s Bedroom – 

Chan was lying in his bedroom feeling surprisingly awake–maybe it was the nap that he had taken earlier in the day, or maybe it was all of the thoughts that he had swirling around in his head. Either way, he found that sleep was very thoroughly evading him. 

He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, before deciding that he couldn’t take laying there any longer. He knew that Seungcheol had told him to come to him if Chan couldn’t sleep, and to stay in bed otherwise but he was too restless for that and there was no way in hell he was going to wake the other man. With all of the stealth that he could muster, Chan slid out of bed, down the hallway, and out onto the porch swing. One of the border collies–he thinks this one was Juniper–scurried up onto the porch to see what was going on. Chan froze for a second, fearing that the dog would start barking at him, but he breathed a sigh of relief when the dog jumped up and curled up with him. 

Chan sat there petting Juniper for what may have been hours taking in the stillness and the beauty of the night around him. Since there was no light pollution, the stars were bright and shining like he had truly never seen before. There had to be millions of them visible to the naked eye–so unlike Seoul where it was hard to even see one. The stars left Chan in absolute awe and disbelief, making him feel tiny and insignificant, but not in a bad way. 

His thoughts wandered to the family-style dinner that Jeonghan and Mingyu had prepared for them earlier. It was unlike anything that Chan had experienced in his life. Chan was used to dinners that were either stiff and formal, or dinners that were just him and Namjoon. The only time he ever ate with his parents was at events in front of other people, when Chan felt all the pressure in the world to be on: say the right things, eat with proper etiquette, and hold his posture correctly. Dinner here at the ranch was such a foreign concept to him. Everyone was relaxed and chatting about their days. They all listened to each other and asked genuine questions, truly wanting to know what each other had been up to. It was so immensely evident that they all cared about each other. That was something Chan could never have even imagined in his wildest dreams. 

The fact that he now knew the dynamics of their relationship with each other didn’t change anything for him. If anything, he saw how it strengthened their relationship. They were open with each other in ways that Chan was astounded by, engaging in casual skinship like it was no big deal…

“Couldn’t sleep?” a voice asked, startling Chan, which made Juniper jump as well. Chan quickly snapped his head to the doorway to the kitchen and saw Seungkwan making his way over to Chan. 

“No,” Chan admitted with a shrug, watching with interest as Seungkwan made his way over and squeezed himself on the porch swing next to Juniper. “I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.” 

“Anything I can help you with? If you have any questions about discipline relationships I’m more than happy to answer them.” Seungkwan’s casual nonchalance threw Chan off, causing him to look at Seungkwan in surprise. “Yes, we know that Soonyoung hyung spilled everything. You will find that there are very few secrets here. That’s kind of part and parcel with the relationships we have. Discipline relationships rely on 100% honesty. It could be insanely detrimental and dangerous to not be open and honest. It’s one of the things the tops have zero tolerance on.” 

Chan nodded as he chewed on Seungkwan’s words. He found that he had a million questions, but despite what Seungkwan had said he didn’t think it was his place to ask them. 

“I was serious about being open and happy to answer questions,” Seungkwan reassured, clearly reading Chan’s hesitance on his face. “I’m not ashamed about any of it. It’s who I am and what makes me happy. Anyone who makes me feel bad about that is the problem, not me.” 

“What is it that you like so much about it?” Chan asked before he could second guess himself any further. 

“I like the safety that I feel.” Seungkwan shifted on the bench so that he was facing Chan a little bit more. “To me the boundaries that they set aren’t caging me, they are setting me free. They are allowing me to make mistakes within a safe environment where I know that I will be corrected, but I know that it's within those safe limits. There is something so comforting about knowing that you have tops who care enough about you and your wellbeing to help you learn when you’ve made a mistake and will be there for you.” 

Chan nodded his understanding, but remained silent. He didn’t allow any of his millions of other questions to pop out like the previous one had. 

“I know it may seem odd, but there is nothing more cathartic than after you’ve gotten your due punishment,” Seungkwan continued, clearly guessing at some of the other things that Chan may be interested in knowing. “It sucks and it hurts, don’t get me wrong…but there is a release of guilt. I find myself more centered afterwards. This all must seem crazy to you.” 

“Not really,” Chan replied with a shrug. “I’ve always understood the basics of it since I first learned about these kinds of relationships. I can also see the appeal of the release of responsibility and control. As someone who has grown up with nothing but too much responsibility and too little control over many things, I get it in a way that many others probably wouldn’t. Relinquishing your control to someone that you trust so deeply is honestly the most amount of control and power that you can have.” 

“Chan-ah, I’m going to ask a question that I don’t mean any offence by and you can feel free not to answer it if it really makes you uncomfortable.” Chan looked over at Seungkwan, waiting for him to continue. “Have you dabbled in this stuff? Or do you feel like you fit with this stuff?” 

“Not really, I couldn’t exactly risk going home with someone and putting myself in a situation where they could take unsolicited photos and sell them to the highest bidder,” Chan said with a sigh. “I had to be incredibly vigilant with keeping up a disguise in the gay clubs that I went to in the first place. Of course some stuff leaked out anyway, but it’s one thing for my family to have a potentially gay son. It would be another thing entirely for them to have a gay son who is into anything remotely alternative.” 

“But would you define yourself as–” Seungkwan’s question got cut off by a sharp voice asking: “And what exactly do the two of you think you are doing at 2:30 in the morning?” 

Seungkwan and Chan both immediately turned their heads to see Seungcheol standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“H–hyung I–” 

“Go stick your nose in a corner in my office Boo Seungkwan,” Seungcheol cut off whatever Seungkwan was going to say. 

Seungkwan looked back and forth between Seungcheol and Chan for a moment before getting up with a sigh and heading inside to do as he was told. Right after Seungkwan headed inside Juniper jumped off the porch swing and made her way into the yard. Chan fought the urge to scoff and yell ‘thanks for the support’ after her. Chan gulped and looked up at the intimidating figure of Seungcheol once more. 

“Come. With me,” Seungcheol demanded, holding out his hand for Chan to come grab. Chan hesitated only a moment before following the instruction. In the short amount of time that he had spent at the ranch so far, Chan was already aware that Seungcheol was not a man that you kept waiting. 

Grabbing onto Seungcheol’s hand provided an odd sense of comfort once more, feeling quite contrary to how Chan reasoned he should be feeling. 

“When I said to stay in your bed or come wake me up, those weren’t just words.” Seungcheol lectured as he guided Chan back into the house and across the kitchen. “You are still in relatively poor health and need all of the sleep that you can get. If you can’t sleep, you need to come wake me up. I can give you something like melatonin or even make you a cup of chamomile tea. Sitting outside in the early hours of the morning is not going to get you back in tip top shape. You will be observing an even earlier bedtime for the rest of the week to make up for the sleep that you lost tonight.” 

Seungcheol had guided Chan all the way back upstairs and to his room by this point. He pulled the cover on the bed back and gestured for Chan to get in. Chan looked at him in disbelief for a few moments before deciding it was probably just best to get on with it. Chan crawled into bed and turned so he was laying on his stomach, his head facing away from Seungcheol. Seungcheol pulled the covers back over him, essentially tucking him into bed. 

“Do I have permission to touch you?” Seungcheol asked, surprising Chan so much that he turned himself around to look at Seungcheol in confusion. “I would like to attempt to help you fall asleep.” 

“Don’t you need to go to Seungkwan-ssi?” Chan pointed out, thinking of the poor man standing in the corner of the office–an office that Chan had seen more than enough of today, and he at least didn’t have to just see a corner of it. 

“Seungkwan knows better than to get up in the middle of the night,” Seungcheol answered, his tone stern but clearly still loving. “He can more than deal with a little time in the corner. Now, do I have permission to touch you?” 

“Yes, sir,” Chan found slipping out before he even realized he wanted to answer. He found that he was aching for more of Seungcheol’s touch though, and wasn’t going to deny himself the experience. 

“Please, call me hyung,” Seungcheol said as he sat down on the bed beside Chan and gestured for him to roll over onto his stomach once more. 

Seungcheol began running a comforting hand up and down Chan’s back, and to Chan’s immense surprise he found it lulling him to sleep much quicker than he ever could have imagined. Maybe he should have just woken Seungcheol up in the first place…

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Chapter Text

Chapter 4 He is LEE CHAN

– The Office – 

Seungkwan was shifting from foot to foot, impatiently waiting for Seungcheol to return from taking Chan to bed. Seungkwan was not someone who handled extended periods of time in the corner very gracefully. He was by nature quite high energy and a rapid mover and thinker. The corner always left him feeling a little bit twitchy–although, he would begrudgingly admit that it did do a phenomenal job of calming him down when his temper was flaring and he was in the middle of what his hyungs liked to call a ‘tantrum’. 

After what felt like a million years–although it was likely no more than fifteen or twenty minutes–Seungkwan finally heard the door to the office open and then shut. There were soft swishing sounds on the carpet, indicating that Seungcheol was making his way over to the couch. Seungkwan felt a jolt in his stomach with the knowledge of what was bound to come next. 

“Come here, Seungkwan-ah,” Seungcheol commanded shortly after Seungkwan heard the telltale squeak of the leather couch indicating that Seungcheol had sat down. 

Seungkwan turned away from the corner, already giving Seungcheol his best innocent and pleading look. In all the time that Seungkwan had known the older man the look had never actually succeeded in getting Seungkwan out of trouble, but who was to say it wouldn’t work this time? 

“Hyung–I’m sorry I–” Seungkwan began to apologize as he walked over, but Seungcheol held up a hand cutting off Seungkwan’s words.

“While I’m certain you are sorry that you got caught, this is far from the first time that I’ve had to deal with you being out of bed at night.” Seungcheol’s gaze was intense, feeling as if it was boring right through Seungkwan to his very core. “Do we need to go back to you sleeping every night in one of your hyungs’ beds to keep an eye on you?” 

“No, hyung.” Seungkwan hung his head in defeat and sighed before taking the last couple steps that left him standing to the right hand side of his hyung’s legs. While it may seem weird to some people for a 27 year old to be scolded for getting out of bed at night without permission, Seungkwan had asked for his tops to be strict on him about it. He had gotten himself quite sick while in University for his terrible sleeping habits. Then when he had first chosen to live at the ranch and be in a committed relationship with them, Seungkwan had tested his boundaries quite hard. His habit of sneaking out in the middle of the night had been discovered after only a few times of doing it, and his hyungs had come down on him like a ton of bricks for it. “I promise I actually just got up to go to the restroom and on my way back to my room I peeked into Chan’s room and saw that he wasn’t there. I know in hindsight that I should have come and woken one of you and let you deal with it.” 

Seungcheol reached over and grabbed one of Seungkwan’s hands, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Yes, you should have, and that’s why I’m going to spank you right now.” With that sobering statement, Seungcheol pulled Seungkwan quickly down and over his lap, giving Seungkwan a very familiar view of the warm chocolate brown leather. This tended to be the room where most punishment was dished out in this house, so Mingyu, Seungkwan and Vernon had found themselves in this position more times than they could count. 

It wasn’t long after Seungkwan had settled that he felt Seungcheol pull down his pajama pants and boxer shorts, making very quick work of baring his backside. Seungcheol also pushed the tail of his shirt up a little, perfectly framing the section of Seungkwan’s rear end that he was about to turn an uncomfortable shade of red. Seungcheol was not one to drag out a punishment, and so it was quite quickly that the first smack of his hand landed on Seungkwan’s rear end. Seungkwan flinched and tried to hold back his yelp, hissing as Seungcheol spanked that same spot a few more times before moving to the next spot. It took almost no time at all for the heat and the sting to build to a fairly uncomfortable level, and Seungkwan began to squirm in Seungcheol’s lap. Seungcheol continued on, taking no notice of the increased squirms of the man in his lap. By the time he finished, Seungkwan was crying in his lap–his backside feeling completely and totally torched. It was nowhere near as bad as a paddle or hairbrush–let alone a switch–but Seungkwan felt chastised all the same. 

Seungcheol righted Seungkwan in his lap, bringing his boxers and pajama pants back to their rightful place. This caused Seungkwan to hiss in discomfort when they scraped against his incredibly tender skin, but Seungkwan knew this punishment had been nowhere near as bad as he had experienced in the past. Come morning he was more likely to be just tender, with sitting uncomfortable but not intolerable. 

Seungkwan squealed in surprise as Seungcheol gathered Seungkwan in his arms and stood up from the couch, carrying him out of the office and up the stairs. All of them were relatively strong–they dealt with stubborn and sometimes unwieldy animals on a daily basis–but Seungcheol was for sure one of the strongest of them all. It made Seungkwan feel quite protected. 

It was no surprise that instead of returning Seungkwan to his room, he was carried into Seungcheol’s own room. He settled Seungkwan on the right side of the bed–getting a small hiss from Seungkwan when this placed him on his sore backside–before walking around and climbing into the left side. Seungkwan immediately rolled over onto his stomach and situated himself so that he was laying half on Seungcheol’s chest. Seungcheol wrapped his arms around Seungkwan, causing Seungkwan to feel even more safe, loved, and protected. 

“I’m glad you got a chance to talk with Chan.” Seungcheol’s voice was soft so as to hopefully not carry over to any of the other bedrooms and wake anyone. “How do you think he is doing?” 

“I think he has a lot to process,” Seungkwan replied, keeping his own voice just as quiet as his hyung had. “He is taking everything quite well considering how much has been dumped on him. If only you had come a few moments later, though. He was going to answer whether he felt like he resonated with being a brat.” 

“I’m glad I came when I did.” Seungcheol’s reply surprised Seungkwan, who looked up at Seungcheol with a raised brow. “It’s not for us to ask that of him. He needs to come to us and ask if he is curious and is pondering it. I don’t want us to unknowingly sway his response or have him thinking he feels some way he doesn’t just because we keep thinking we see it in him.” 

Seungkwan pouted at Seungcheol’s response, causing the man to chuckle and lean down to kiss at the boy’s frown. 

“I know this is not the answer that you want to hear, Kwannie, but you have to have patience and give him time. The first thing he needs to deal with is overcoming the hell he has put his body through.” 

– Kitchen – 

Seungcheol and Jeonghan tended to be the earliest risers in the house. Jeonghan preferred to get downstairs early enough to start breakfast before the rest of the house was up, while Seungcheol liked to start his morning in the hidden office upstairs checking on emails and any other business that needed to be taken care of on the computer. This was why Jeonghan was immensely surprised to walk into the kitchen not long past dawn and see a folded note on the table. 

Good morning, 

I’m off early to meet Seokmin hyung and Minghao hyung in the far west pasture. There are some fences that need to be taken care of and we have to clear a section of the river. I took some lunch with me since I won’t be back in time for it. See you all later.

Love,
Vernon 

Jeonghan stared at the note in surprise. It was highly unusual for Vernon to have not told them about this at dinner the night before…

Jeonghan was lost in thought and confusion as he pulled out pans to cook eggs and bacon in, and started slicing bread to warm in the oven. It continued to bother him as he began to place slices of bacon in the second pan, so much so that he lowered the heat on the two burners and made his way to the cabinet where the house phone was hidden. He quickly dialed the number that he had memorized by heart. 

“Attacca Ranch, Seokmin speaking,” Seokmin’s voice answered, sounding like he had very recently woken up. This caused an inkling of suspicion to begin to form in Jeonghan’s mind. 

“Good morning, Minnie,” Jeonghan greeted, keeping his tone casual and light. “I was just calling to check on what time you were meeting Vernon this morning.” 

“I’m meeting Vernon this morning?” Seokmin asked, confusion clear in his voice. There was a beat of silence, in which Seokmin’s brain was clearly running on overdrive and coming to the realization of what must be happening. “Er–I mean. I must have forgotten, of course I’m meeting–OW! Jun hyung!” 

Jeonghan had heard the smack over the phone, knowing Junhui must have swatted him good and hard. 

“Corner. Now!” Junhui’s voice demanded in the background, before sounding much closer as he had obviously been handed the phone. “What’s going on, hyung?” 

“Vernon left a note saying that he was meeting Minghao and Seokmin at the far west pasture this morning to work on fences and clearing the river. Based on Seokmin’s obvious presence in your home–and I assume Minghao as well–this was clearly a load of bullshit.” 

“Sorry, hyung,” Junhui replied, his cringe practically evident even over the phone. “Both Seokmin and Minghao are here and didn’t have plans to meet with Vernon this morning. Do you have an idea of why Vernon would lie about this?” 

“Oh, I have a very good idea. He is avoiding having to face Chan,” Jeonghan explained with a sigh. “We weren’t able to tell him that Chan knew everything until after dinner last night. I’m sure the boy spent the night fretting over it all, and rather than coming to any one of us, he took off for the hills to avoid having to face any sort of conversation with Chan.” 

This had been one of their fears with taking Chan in rather than having him at the other house. They knew there was no way that this wasn’t going to be hard on Vernon or affect him in any way. 

“Well I wish you luck with this, hyung.” Junhui’s sympathy was loud and clear. “And please let us know if there is anything that you need.” 

“Thanks, Jun.” 

Jeonghan hung up the phone, replaced it in its hidden spot in the cabinet, and turned around to see Seungcheol reading the note on the table. 

“Based on your facial expression and the tail end of the conversation I heard, I’m going to guess this note is a lie.” Seungcheol walked over to put water in the kettle as he spoke. “Are you okay with handling Chan here while I go out and confront Vernon?” 

“Yes, I will have him help me with the chores around the house.” Jeonghan resumed his cooking, practically melting in Seungcheol’s hold when the other man stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around Jeonghan.

Seungcheol whispered into Jeonghan’s ear. “Now do you want to hear about who I busted out of bed and on our front porch at around 2 in the morning?” 

– Chan’s Bedroom – 

Chan awoke to a soft breeze coming in from the open window in his room. It was a truly peaceful way to wake up–much nicer than a blaring alarm or being shaken awake with harried demands of Chan’s time and attention. Chan slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, while he thought back to what had occurred the night before. His cheeks heated with the vivid memory of Seungcheol sitting beside him on the bed and rubbing his back until he fell asleep. It both made him feel like a child, and was one of the warmest and most comfortable feelings that he had ever experienced. He was loath to admit that he loved every single second of it. 

The door to his bedroom creaked open further–it hadn’t been closed all the way–and Chan looked up expecting to see Seungcheol walking in. To his immense surprise, it was Jeonghan who walked in with a friendly smile and a cup of tea in his hands. 

“Good morning, Chan,” Jeonghan greeted, walking over to hand Chan the cup of tea. Once Chan grabbed it from him, Jeonghan turned and headed towards the dresser to presumably pick out some clothes for Chan to wear that day. “I hope you slept well once you were able to finally get to bed yesterday.” 

Chan took a sip of tea, relishing in the tea’s warmth and light sweetness. Jeonghan had clearly put milk and the tiniest bit of sugar in it. It was after he swallowed that he processed what Jeonghan had said, tilting his head in surprise and confusion as Jeonghan made his way back over. 

“You already know about that?” Chan asked as he glanced at the clothes that Jeonghan put down on the bed. It was the usual jeans, plain t-shirt, and boxers. The t-shirt this time was red. 

“You will find that we do tell each other just about everything,” Jeonghan replied with a shrug. “It's also 9 a.m. already. I’ve had plenty of time to hear about it. We decided to let you sleep in since you could really use the rest.” 

“I hope I didn’t get Seungkwan-ssi into too much trouble…” Chan fretted before taking another sip. “I–I shouldn’t have kept him up and talking with me.” 

“And how did you find your conversation with Seungkwan?” Jeonghan asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed near Chan and giving him his full attention–and admittedly being a little intimidating for it. Surely the man had to be aware of how beautiful and ethereal he was…right? 

“Seungkwan-ssi is easy to talk to,” Chan settled on, not really wanting to get into what their conversation had been about. Although, if everyone was to be believed, Seungkwan would probably have already told them anyway. “You all kind of are, to be honest. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to just be ‘Chan’ and not ‘Future head of Lee Corporation, Lee Chan’. I don’t have to worry about what I say or how I come off as much here.” 

“Well, I hope you know that here you are just Chan,” Jeonghan replied, reaching over to pat Chan on the arm. “As you can tell, we don’t care about the rest.” 

Chan mused on that for most of the morning. 

Overall, it was a fairly easy rest of the morning. He had finished his cup of tea while chatting with Jeonghan. Then he had gotten dressed, changed his nicotine patch in the bathroom, and then headed downstairs for a late and light breakfast. After that he was tasked with helping Jeonghan out around the house. They dusted, swept, wiped down the table, and vacuumed the downstairs. After that, they went upstairs and changed out all of the bedding so that the sheets in each room could be washed. 

“How did you end up here?” Chan asked as they were stripping the bed in Chan’s room. “If you don’t mind my asking.” 

“I don’t mind at all,” Jeonghan replied, pausing to give Chan his full attention. “Don’t be afraid to ask us anything. If it’s something too personal or that we don’t feel like sharing, we will tell you. We just ask that you respect that.” 

“Of course,” Chan emphatically replied.

“My family actually has owned this ranch for a long time,” Jeonghan explained, a fond smile on his face as he spoke. “I didn’t grow up here, but I came to visit often since my Grandparents lived here. Joshua, from the other house, is my cousin. The ranch was always such a special and healing place for both of us, and our Grandparents knew that, so they left the ranch to Joshua and I when they passed.” 

“When did you guys start your rehab program?” Chan asked, admittedly fascinated by the story. He was used to companies and expensive penthouse apartments being left in wills, not working cattle ranches.

“It started after Jihoon and Wonwoo both came to live here.” Jeonghan led the way out of the bedroom and towards the laundry room as he replied. “They are the two with their doctorates in Psychology. They both saw the potential for healing in the ranch, and brought the rest of us on board. It’s been about 5 or 6 years now, I suppose.” 

“And you’ve been in a domestic discipline relationship the entire time?” Chan asked before he could really think about it, and then froze as he processed what he had just said and felt his cheeks heat up. 

“Not the entire time, but it was fairly quickly that everything fell into place,” Jeonghan answered as if oblivious to Chan’s embarrassment. “Seungcheol was the first one to move in with me, followed by Mingyu, then Wonwoo, then Seungkwan, and finally Vernon.” 

Chan began putting his sheets in the washer as he gained confidence to ask more. “Is Vernon the only one who came here as part of the program?”

“Yes, he is the only one. Most that come through the program never even figure out what kind of relationships we have here. Vernon really just slotted into our relationship quite naturally,” Jeonghan answered as he put the laundry detergent in. “He managed to work out how we dealt with discipline with the rest of us, and he came one day and demanded that we treat him the same. Honestly, we just knew he belonged here.” 

“And it was as simple as that?” Chan hoped his jealousy wasn’t evident in his words or his body language …but what would that be like–to just belong somewhere, and to have everyone so confident that you fit in and that you were wanted? 

“We made him research all about discipline relationships before we would let him commit fully to the dynamic.” Jeonghan’s tone was delicate, which made Chan fairly certain that his jealousy hadn’t been as hidden as he had hoped. “Chan–” 

“Jeonghan-ssi, I’m not feeling too well,” Chan cut Jeonghan’s words off. “Can I please go lay down for a bit?” 

Jeonghan studied Chan for a few moments before nodding. “I will come get you for lunch in a little bit. We can continue talking then. Okay?” 

Chan nodded and scurried off before Jeonghan could say anything else. He was hoping that Jeonghan would forget all about their conversation by lunchtime. God…why had he let himself be that obviously jealous? He was usually good at acting like he had everything together. He had to work on putting his walls back up. They were getting too close for comfort. 

– West Pasture – 

Vernon was laying on the hill with his eyes closed, basking in the sunlight of the late morning. He felt a little guilty–although he had done some necessary work while he was out in the West Pasture. He was just taking a small break and allowing his horse to graze the pasture. He would get up and check some more of the fences in a moment…or two. 

Vernon was half-asleep when suddenly there was a dark shadow looming over him, blocking the sunlight that was previously warming him. He opened his eyes to see what was going on, when his stomach dropped to his feet. Standing in front of him, with his arms crossed over his chest, was none other than Choi Seungcheol–and a Choi Seungcheol who looked like he meant business. Vernon gulped and scrambled to sit up. 

“H–hyung–” 

“I must have missed Minghao and Seokmin.” Seungcheol’s tone was light and casual, and all the more scary for it. “They were clearly crazy fast about their work–since, you know, Seokmin answered the phone when Jeonghan called over there this morning.” 

“Hyung.” Vernon gulped again, looking down at the grass in front of him rather than at Seungcheol’s intimidating and disapproving expression. “I–” 

“All that time out here, and you still haven’t come up with a good excuse?” Seungcheol asked, sounding slightly amused and slightly annoyed. “Come on. Let’s head back before I decide to say ‘eff it and have you cut a switch.” 

That got Vernon moving like there was a fire under his behind. Seungcehol taking a switch to his backside was the literal last thing that he wanted. He knew he probably had the paddle coming for his lies, but he would take that any day over a switch. Vernon hadn’t really thought about how this whole ruse provided Seungcheol about two hours of uninterrupted lecture time as they rode side-by-side back to the house, though. 

“So what were you avoiding?” Seungcheol asked, finally taking a break from his lecture on the importance of honesty and how lies could impact their safety and their trust. “I’m assuming it’s Chan, but I want to hear an explanation from you.” 

“He knows.” 

Seungcheol was quiet, clearly waiting for Vernon to elaborate and looking over in confusion when he didn’t. “And he is far from running away screaming, Nonie. He is clearly not judging you for it. Do you want to talk about what this is really about?” 

Vernon continued staring straight ahead, clenching his jaw. 

“Well, I will make a guess and you can feel free to tell me how wildly wrong and off-base I am, okay?” Seungcheol continued, not one for much subtlety or tact. “I think you’ve now been forced to face the fact that you did–or do–in fact have very real feelings for Chan. These were feelings that you buried deep and denied at all costs. Part of you thought that Chan would find out that you were in a domestic discipline and group relationship and run off screaming and hating you, and that would make things a million times easier. Now, learning that Chan isn’t actually turned off by it, you decided to run off in an attempt to not have to deal with anything at all…how close did I get?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Vernon’s grumble made Seungcheol roll his eyes before looking skyward—looks like Vernon was nowhere near ready to leave his denial behind. 

“Well you can think about it over the next five days that you’re grounded. Maybe by the end of it you will be willing to talk.” Seungcheol dropped Vernon’s sentence so casually it was like he was talking about the weather. 

“Hyung!” Vernon’s head whipped around in shock and disbelief. “You can’t be serious!” 

“You don’t lie in this relationship, Chwe Hansol. You know that.” Seungcheol continued to remain frustratingly calm. “Your upcoming conversation with a paddle and the next five days you are going to spend very grounded will hopefully correct any misunderstandings you may have about how serious that rule is.” 

“I don’t have any misunderstandings!” Vernon argued before cringing because he realized he had just basically handed Seungcheol a smoking gun. 

“So it’s willful disobedience then?” Seungcheol picked up exactly what Vernon had just put down. 

“I—I just wasn’t thinking straight, hyung. I’m sorry!” Vernon pleaded. He knew the no lying rule was pretty much the entire foundation of their relationship and he had fucked that up. Seungcheol was going to be sending a very pointed reminder to his backside about it. 

“I know Chan being here is making you face some things you didn’t want to think about,” Seungcheol’s tone was gentle and understanding as he spoke. “I know there is something that you are hung up about–” 

“You don’t understand, he is LEE CHAN.” Vernon put a strong emphasis on Chan’s name, as if emphasizing something that Seungcheol didn’t understand. Vernon gave a frustrated sigh when it was clear that Seungcheol wasn’t following. “He is a chaebol–and yes, I know I’m technically one, too–but he is practically royalty in Korea. The Lees are the top of the top. My family still feels lucky to sit at the same table as them.” 

Seungcheol remained quiet, just letting Vernon get out everything that he wanted to say. It was true that Seungcheol didn’t understand the world of chaebols completely. Seungcheol had grown up as a Korean in another county, not in South Korea. In fact, all of them on the ranch had grown up mostly outside of Korea, other than Vernon. There were many things about Korean culture that they had grown up with like the language, but there were still some major cultural things that they didn’t understand.

Vernon called for Mint Choco to stop as he pulled at the reins. Seungcheol followed suit, getting off his own horse Belle and following Vernon to go sit beside a large boulder. They both leaned their backs against it as they sat on the earth.

“You can’t tell Chan what I’m about to tell you,” Vernon suddenly begged, letting Seungcheol pull him closer to his side. “I don’t think even Taehyung hyung knew what I’m about to tell you.” 

“I will not tell him anything without your permission,” Seungcheol promised, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 

“I wasn’t just sent out here because my parents were suddenly worried about my image or my health,” Vernon confessed, grabbing onto Seungcheol’s hand as if it were a lifeline. “The Lees had me followed for weeks. They had photographs of me doing all sorts of things from making out in gay clubs, to blacking out drunk, and doing all sorts of illegal drugs.” 

Vernon paused for a moment, taking a deep and centering breath before continuing. “They must have found out that Chan and I were hooking up with relative frequency and decided that my parents needed to put a stop to it. They threatened to leak all of the photos of me to the press if my parents didn’t send me away. Those photos would have destroyed my family and their company’s reputation.The message from the Lees was clear: stay away from Chan or they will destroy the Chwes in any way they can.” 

TWITTER

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 Give Me Boundaries

Vernon hurriedly made his way across the yard and up the porch steps, stopping only briefly to glance over his shoulder at Seungcheol who was paying him no mind. Seungcheol didn’t need to keep an eye on Vernon to ensure that his order was followed. Seungcheol knew that Vernon wouldn’t dare to disobey him with the immense amount of trouble that he was already in. With a sigh, Vernon turned back around and made his way into the house. 

Stepping into the kitchen and heeling his boots off, Vernon turned and saw Jeonghan sitting at the table nursing a mug of tea. 

“Vernon-ah!” Jeonghan exclaimed, a distinct mischievousness evident on his face. “I do hope you gave Minghao and Seokmin our regards. But do you know, Seokmin must have been a little absent minded. He forgot you were even meeting at all.” 

“Hyuuuung,” Vernon whined as he placed the second boot under the bench so that it was out of the way. Jeonghan had to work to control his look of amusement, since Vernon whining was something he had only begun to do once he grew more comfortable with them. “Seungcheol hyung already grounded me for five days and is going to paddle me. Do we have to do this? Can’t I get a little sympathy!” 

“You deserve everything that Seungcheol has decided.” Jeonghan’s mischievous look was gone and rapidly replaced by an immensely serious one. “You don’t lie. You don’t hide things from us. And you sure as hell don’t run off in an attempt to avoid something.” 

Vernon hung his head, feeling thoroughly chastised. “I know, I’m sorry hyung.” 

Jeonghan got up from his chair and made his way over to Vernon, grabbing hold of his arm and turning him to land five rapid and heavy spanks to Vernon’s rear end. Vernon yelped at the first swat, but then bit his lip to hold back his noises at the other four. As quickly as he started, Jeonghan finished and turned Vernon back around to be pulled into a hug. Vernon melted into the hug, soaking up all of the comfort that he possibly could from his hyung.

“Now where do you need to be?” Jeonghan asked as he pulled away a few moments later, his hands holding up Vernon’s chin so that they were looking at each other eye to eye. 

Vernon sighed and reluctantly admitted, “In one of the riveting corners of the office.” 

Jeonghan chuckled, reaching down to place a light swat to Vernon’s behind. “Then you best go stick your nose in one.”

There was nothing more humbling to Vernon than being placed in a corner, his nose inches from the wall and his view nothing but a close up of the room’s paint. It was boring, sometimes infuriating, and it worked incredibly well to center him–although he wasn’t going to admit that last one out loud. He never in a million years would have thought that something as simple and as childish as time spent in a corner could have that effect on him. There was just something calming about shutting the rest of the world off in that way. It also served as an incredibly poignant reminder that he wasn’t in charge. To some people that would be stifling, to Vernon that felt like freedom. 

After what felt like ages, Vernon finally heard the door to the office open and the sound of footsteps coming into the room. It was presumably Seungcheol, but there was a significant chance that either Jeonghan or Wonwoo was with him as well. Sure enough, when Seungcheol ordered Vernon to turn around and take a seat, he saw that all three Tops were present and waiting for him on the couch. 

“You didn’t want to invite the others and make this a whole family meeting?” Vernon's attitude came out and he immediately winced when he realized he let his mouth be faster than his filter. “Sorry, sorry. Ignore me…I’m just a little wound up, I guess.” 

“Seungcheol said you two had quite the enlightening talk on the way home,” Wonwoo informed, ignoring Vernon’s momentary lapse of sanity. “He said that there were some things that you confessed to him that explained everything a bit better.” 

“You were right, I did have feelings for Chan before I came here,” Vernon admitted with a sigh as he sat down. “And you’re right, I never let myself acknowledge them. He was always so far out of reach–or at least it seemed that way in my mind…” 

Vernon continued to explain to Jeonghan and Wonwoo what he had shared with Seungcheol out in the pasture. He was sick of withholding, and it was a relief to have this all off of his chest. 

“But I don’t want you to think that I entered into this relationship because I didn’t think I could have Chan or that I’m any less committed to it. Nothing really has to change. I don’t even know him anymore–not really, and I–” 

“Breathe.” Jeonghan instructed as he grabbed hold of Vernon’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You are working yourself up over virtually nothing right now, Vernon-ah. It’s okay. We don’t doubt your feelings for us or your commitment to this relationship. Something has come up that has complicated things a bit, but that’s okay. We will get through this as partners as we always do.” 

“Do you trust us?” Seungcheol asked, getting up to crouch in front of Vernon so that he could look him directly in the eyes. 

“Without one doubt.” Vernon’s immediate and sure reply left a lump in Seungcheol’s throat and he had to bite back his tears. He was sometimes truly left stunned by how much trust their brats put into them, and it was something he didn’t take lightly at all. 

“Then trust us to help you through this, and don’t run away to avoid how you are feeling.” Wonwoo stepped in when he could see the sheer overwhelming emotion on Seungcheol’s face. “We love you, Vernon-ah.” 

“I love you too, hyungs.” The words still felt a little odd coming out of his mouth, and he was shy about them still. He hadn’t grown up hearing them very often, since his family hadn’t been all that touchy-feely. Here they were said with the utmost sincerity and quite often.

“So are you going to talk to Chan about what his parents did?” Jeonghan asked, getting back to the task at hand.

“Yes.” Vernon heaved a sigh and slouched back on the couch. “Seungcheol hyung made me realize that Chan deserves to know. I can go do it now if you’d like?” Vernon sat up eagerly, looking at his hyungs in pleading. 

“Chan is currently taking a nap.” Jeonghan hid his grin as he stood up, well aware of what Vernon was trying to do. “You and Seungcheol can finish your ‘conversation’ and then you can go wake him up and discuss things afterwards.” 

Vernon pouted, but didn’t say anything in response. He knew it would do him no good and wouldn’t actually get him out of any of the consequences of his actions. If there was one thing that his hyungs were good at, it was ensuring that consequences were always meted out. 

Wonwoo stood up as well, squeezing Vernon reassuringly on the shoulder and following Jeonghan out the door, closing it sharply behind them. 

And then there were two. 

Seungcheol got up without another word and made his way over to his desk. Vernon didn’t need to look to know what the other man was doing, but he found that he couldn’t take his eyes away from him. Seungcheol opened the bottom drawer and pulled out an all too familiar wooden paddle and Vernon felt his stomach clench with nerves. That somewhat innocuous looking thing was about to wreak havoc on his rear end. 

“Do you feel there is anything else that needs to be discussed before we get started?” Seungcheol asked as he made his way back over to the couch and took a seat, leveling Vernon with a look of utmost seriousness. 

“No, hyung.” Vernon stood up, figuring it was best to just get this part over with. He quickly dealt with the button on his jeans and pulled them down before leaning himself over Seungcheol’s legs. Once settled, Seungcheol made quick work of his underwear as well. This wasn’t a surprise. A proper punishment in this house was on a bare behind. Always. 

The first smack of the paddle landed only moments later, and Vernon couldn’t help but yelp and squirm at the intensity of it. Seungcheol was certainly not holding back. 

– Chan’s Bedroom – 

Chan was surprised that he had actually been able to fall asleep. He was sleeping much more deeply here than he could ever remember doing elsewhere–other than his time in a British Boarding School, if he were to think that far back. It was due to a very delicate shaking that Chan awoke from his nap, looking around in confusion for a moment before placing where he was and who was in the room with him. 

“Hyung.” Chan sat up and rubbed at his eyes before looking over at Vernon who was standing awkwardly beside his bed. He couldn’t believe that things had gotten so awkward between them. It wasn’t but a little over six months ago that they were very close friends who had explored each other's bodies very…intimately. 

“Hey Channie.” Vernon gave a small but genuine smile. “Sorry to wake you, but Jeonghan hyung says that lunch will be ready in ten minutes.” Vernon paused, shifted from foot to foot and then continued. “And we need to talk.” 

“If this is about my feelings for you, you don’t have to worry.” Chan was quick to reassure, not wanting Vernon to be in any way, shape, or form uncomfortable. “I promise I won’t do anything weird. I understand that you are in a committed relationship, and I respect that. I’m not–” 

“It’s not about that, Chan-ah,” Vernon interrupted, walking over and perching himself delicately on the side of the bed. He tried to hold back the wince and small hiss of discomfort as he sat, but Chan’s head swiftly turning to look at him in worry proved that he had failed. “I broke some of the cardinal rules of this house and Seungcheol hyung provided my backside with a very detailed reminder of them.” 

Chan studied him for a moment before nodding and pulling his knees up towards his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “So, what did you want to talk about, hyung?” 

Vernon studied him in return, finding that Chan wasn’t acting or trying to keep a straight face. He truly wasn’t bothered by the fact that Seungcheol had just taken a paddle to Vernon’s rear end. Maybe there was something more going on here…

Vernon shook his head to clear his thoughts and then delicately explained. “It’s about how I came here and why I disappeared without a trace. Chan…there is no easy way to say this. I don’t want to make you hate them, but…” 

“So obviously my parents are involved,” Chan surmised with a sigh. “I highly doubt what you are about to say is going to surprise me. I found out they made every single person at my old boarding school sign a confidentiality agreement about ‘the incident’. What did they do, blackmail you?” 

“Essentially, yes…” Vernon admitted, searching Chan’s face for any kind of sign of emotion. It was blank though–thoroughly detached. “They had me followed and took photos of me doing less than legal or appropriate things. This was given to my parents with the demand that they get me away from you or the photos would be leaked for all the world to see.” 

Chan bit his lip and nodded his head. Vernon could practically see the shutter going down, blocking Chan off from feeling anything about it. “I’m sorry they did that to you. I really wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not.” 

“Channie…your parents–” 

“My parents don’t give one shit about me as a person. I am just their ‘heir,’ not unsimilar to a prized jewel. I don’t care what they do or what they think. I just have to grin and bear it. Such is my lot in life. Well, I’m hungry. Let’s head to lunch.” 

Vernon watched Chan walk off with a sudden feeling of nauseousness. He hated to see Chan shut down like that. This beautiful, vibrant, and wonderful young man had just equated himself to a jewel on a shelf and accepted it as if there was no other option–no other path where what he wanted and what he felt mattered. Vernon’s heart ached for him. 

– Kitchen – 

Lunch had been a somewhat subdued affair. Everyone ate enthusiastically, but somewhat quietly–more focused on getting food into their mouths than having any sort of conversation. Seungkwan sent Vernon several looks, clearly aware that Vernon was squirming uncomfortably on his chair. Seungkwan knew well what that meant–his own backside was still somewhat tender from his own late night conversation with Seungcheol–but refrained from asking what Vernon had done. 

As lunch wrapped up, Seungcheol began to discuss and assign tasks for the afternoon. “Wonwoo and I will check on the cattle. Seungkwan and Mingyu, can you coordinate with Jihoon? He said he needed a couple extra sets of hands. Chan, you will be here with Jeonghan. Do whatever he asks of you please.” 

“Seokmin will be here in about fifteen minutes with a truck full of supplies,” Jeonghan said between sips of tea. “I would ask kindly that you help him unload.” 

“Of course, Jeonghan-ssi.” 

“Are you still being that formal?” Seungkwan butted in with a laugh. “It sounds so weird. Just call us all hyung. None of us bite, we promise.” 

“I wish Seungkwan would have a bit more tact, but he is not wrong.” Jeonghan rolled his eyes as he spoke. “We would all be perfectly fine with you calling us hyung.” 

“Okay.” Chan replied with a nod and then tacked on, “Hyung.” 

“Vernon, I’ve set the sheets on the desk with the lines you are going to write for me,” Seungcheol continued as if their conversation hadn’t gotten sidetracked. “I expect 100 lines by the time I get home this afternoon. Numbered and legible, please. If you finish early, I have a list of chores for you I will hang on the fridge. I expect you to be on your best behavior for Jeonghan, got it?” 

“Yes, sir.”  

“Breaking out the ‘sir’? What the hell did you do, Vernon-ah?” Mingyu muttered to Vernon as they all got up from the table to do as they were instructed. 

“Broke the no lying and the no withholding rules and tried to run away from my problems,” Vernon replied, getting a whistle of disbelief and a shake of the head from Mingyu. 

“Death wish, I’m telling you.” Seungkwan’s voice made them both jump, as neither of them had heard him come up behind them. “How long did hyung ground you for?”

“Five days.” Seungcheol’s voice made them all jump and turn around to look at Seungcheol. “Now let’s all please go do as instructed.” 

It wasn’t long after the others had all dispersed that an unfamiliar man appeared in the doorway to the house, a wide grin on his face and the overall appearance of a genuinely excitable puppy. 

“Knock knock!” the man exclaimed–presumably Seokmin. “You must be Lee Chan! I’m your Seokmin hyung. You’re even cuter than they said! I heard that you are going to be helping me unload all of the supplies into the barn. My truck is parked out front.” 

Chan blinked in surprise. Did the man even take a breath? Feeling somewhat in a daze, Chan followed the excitable man outside and to his pickup which was stacked full of all sorts of feed and other supplies. 

“You don’t say much, do you?” Seokmin asked as he unlatched the hatch and pulled it down so they could unload. 

“You kind of make it hard to get a word in edgewise,” Chan joked and then blushed deep scarlet as he realized what he had just said. “Sorry, I didn’t–” 

“Sassy,” Seokmin teased with a gleam of amusement in his eye. “I like you.” 

Seokmin turned out to be very easy to work with, and even easier to talk to. Somehow they had gotten on to the conversation of how Seokmin had come to the ranch. 

“I ran away when I was 16,” Seokmin explained. “My family was completely unaccepting of the whole gay thing. They were seriously going to send me to a conversion camp. I wasn’t having it. I packed my bags and hit the road. I had a fake ID–not a phenomenal one, but people were so desperate for reliable workers that they didn’t question it. I made my way around to different ranches, getting paid for my labor under the table. It wasn’t a cushy life by any means, but I loved that no one cared what I identified as. All they cared about was if I could do the job. I was just another ranch hand.” 

“A haven of anonymity,” Chan mused. “I’ve found myself desperate for that all of my life. So how did you end up here?” 

“Joshua hyung was out looking for some workers to help with harvest and he picked me out of the crowd of day laborers,” Seokmin admitted. “He had just recently taken over the ranch with Seungcheol and they needed all the help they could get. I innocently expected everything to be the same as it always was. Work, get paid, leave. I went to get the money from him that evening and he invited me to sit down for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. Not one to let a free meal go to waste, I joined him. Joshua and Jihoon were already dating at that point, and Jihoon had come home from University and joined us. They confronted me. They got me to admit how old I was–just turned 17 the day before. They offered me a place to live and work, a stable roof over my head. I would have been stupid to say no. They made me finish my schooling, remotely but they still made me finish it–and trust me, they were convincing. Jihoon hyung was barely past 18 and Joshua hyung only 19, but they already had all of the makings of a proper Top. It’s not a lie to say that I flourished under their rules and restrictions. I never felt more myself than with them. I graduated high school, went on to University where I studied Equine Studies and now I live and work here with horses everyday. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Was it weird to you when others were added into your relationship?” Chan asked, feeling incredibly comfortable with Seokmin and not at all reluctant or nervous to ask anything. Seokmin just had that effect. 

“There was an adjustment period, sure, but I wouldn’t say ‘weird’ per se. Everyone that slotted in just made sense,” Seokmin explained with a shrug, before grabbing another bag of feed from the truck. Chan grabbed one as well and followed Seokmin. “You can’t really be a jealous person and be in a polyamorous relationship. It doesn’t work like that.” 

They continued to work, and Chan had fallen silent once more, lost in his racing thoughts. 

“What’s going through your head?” Seokmin asked, stopping in front of Chan and placing his hands on Chan’s shoulders. Rather than making him feel trapped, Chan felt himself relax. 

“Just wondering how different my life would have been if someone had stepped in at 17 and put an end to all of my bullshit,” Chan admitted with a grimace. “And then wondering why I’m even thinking that.” 

“Boundaries don’t scare you?” Seokmin asked, his voice calm and soothing. 

“Not in the way you all describe them, no.” Chan admitted, and then took a leap of faith and added. “I’ve always had a weird sense of them. It’s always been just to have an acceptable face in public. My parents don’t care if I’m doing hard drugs in the bathroom as long as they don’t actually see it and no one at the event knows. If I look pristine, speak articulately and about the right subjects, and don’t do anything in public to embarrass them, they don’t care about anything else. I’m like a shiny toy for them to show off at events. Maybe my brother had the right idea…” 

“You have a brother?” Seokmin asked, reaching up to push a piece of Chan’s hair behind his ear, and then steering him over to sit down on a hay bale. “Why don’t you tell me about him?” 

“He’s actually a couple years younger than me,” Chan explained, leaning back against the wall of the barn behind him and getting lost in the story he was telling. “He got really into activism in University. He is off traveling the world and making a difference. Last I knew he was helping build wells somewhere in Africa…or he may have moved on to building schools in the Middle East. Due to the nature of his work and the job locations, he doesn’t often have much reliable communication. He may as well be on Mars according to my parents. They have to be some of the only people I know that would refer to activist work as ‘beneath them’.” 

“I don’t even know them and I already despise them.” Seokmin’s blunt statement made Chan burst out in laughter. 

“That’s a fair assessment.” 

The two sat there for a little bit longer before getting on with the rest of their work. When it was completed, Seokmin introduced Chan to all of the different horses in the stables, pride clear in his voice as he talked about each one. Chan had a soft spot for Pickles, one of the younger horses that Seokmin described as misunderstood and truly a sweetheart with the right guidance. 

– Seungcheol’s Bedroom – 

Seungcheol made his way to his bedroom after locking up that night. It had been a long day and he was ready to get some sleep. He was unsurprised to walk in and see Jeonghan sprawled across the bed reading a novel. They all had their own bedrooms, but it was far from uncommon for them to share each other's beds for the night. 

“Vernon did everything asked of him without complaint,” Jeonghan informed, putting a bookmark to mark his place before shutting the book and putting it on the bedside table. “He was somewhat subdued, but he usually is when nursing an aching backside. Seokmin and Chan seemed to get along very well, as well. I found Seokmin introducing Chan to some of our horses after they were finished.” 

“Seokmin is very easy to like,” Seungcheol agreed, pulling back the covers and nodding for Jeonghan to get under them, which he did. Seungcheol easily slid in beside him, wrapping his arms around Jeonghan and pulling him close. “And how do you think Mingyu and Seungkwan are doing?” 

“You know they are both adaptable and go with the flow,” Jeonghan replied, leaning over to place a delicate kiss on Seungcheol’s mouth. “Neither one of them seemed really phased by any of this.” 

“Well hopefully it remains that way,” Seungcheol said with a sigh, leaning over to pull Jeonghan into a not so delicate kiss. “

It felt like he had just fallen asleep when he heard the telltale sounds of creaks on the stairs and the lock on the kitchen door opening. The others always claimed that Seungcheol woke up to even the sound of a pin dropping. Seungcheol moved to get out of bed, waking Jeonghan in the process. 

“What’s going on?” Jeonghan asked, sitting up and looking around in a very clearly half-asleep state. 

“Someone just went downstairs and outside,” Seungcheol whispered, not wanting to disturb anyone that hadn’t already been woken up. “I’m going to assume Chan, as the others really should know better.” 

“Don’t be gone too long.” Jeonghan slid back down and fell back asleep within moments. Seungcheol rolled his eyes fondly at Jeonghan’s ability to do that and made his way to find who had snuck out. 

Making his way outside, Seungcheol could see a figure trekking their way across the lawn and towards the pastures. The telltale longer hair at the back of his neck gave away that it was in fact Chan. Seungcheol quietly followed him, curious as to where the boy was heading. He supposed it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when he made his way to sit by the river. It was one of the very few places that Chan had been so far on the ranch. Chan sat down on the banks and just stared at the water in silence, clearly letting his thoughts run wild. Seungcheol studied him for a few moments before making his way over and sitting beside him. 

“I distinctly remember sending you to bed at 9 p.m. as a punishment for doing this very same thing.” Seungcheol kept his tone light and casual, but it caused Chan to jump in surprise all the same. “Do you want to tell me what’s on your mind?” 

Chan stared at Seungcheol in silence, his chest rising and failing with his elevated breathing. He was clearly working himself up to saying something. Seungcheol waited patiently to hear what it was. 

“I want you to give me boundaries,” Chan finally blurted, his cheeks probably blazing bright red but it was too dark to see.

“Am I not already?” Seungcheol asked gently, working to make sure he didn’t sound accusatory.

“Not enough…I want you to treat me like you would the others. If I sneak out, I want to get the same punishment any other brat in any house on this ranch would be facing. I don’t want to be different. I don’t want there to be any confusion.” Chan didn’t let himself the time to think or question his words, he just put them out there, come what may. 

“You do know what you are asking for, right?” Seungcheol asked, his tone no different than it had been all along–still calm and gentle and non-judgmental. 

“I can handle it,” Chan replied fiercely. 

“It’s not about handling it, it’s about–” Seungcheol started to point out but got cut off. 

“I want it. I need it. Please, hyung.” 

TWITTER

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 I want it, I need it 

“I want it. I need it. Please, hyung.” 

Chan didn’t dare to breathe as he waited for Seungcheol to reply. His mind was suddenly swirling with a chaos of thoughts–why did he admit that out loud? How could he admit that out loud? Seungcheol is going to think that he is pathetic and weak…or worse, he is going to laugh in Chan’s face and tell him to get the hell out. Where would he go? Where would–

Chan’s maelstrom of thoughts was brought to a screeching halt by the feeling of a warm hand grabbing on to his and giving it a tight squeeze. Chan looked up and was surprised to see Seungcheol’s face so close in front of him, looking kind and understanding, not vicious or cruel like he had allowed himself to picture in his mind. 

“Chan, I want to take a moment to say that I’m incredibly proud and impressed by the way that you just openly admitted to me what it is that you need. I know that took a lot of courage on your part, and I’m sure you are mentally beating yourself up for it.” Seungcheol never let his eye contact waver as he spoke. “This is going to take a lot of discussion on all of our parts. I need to make sure you fully understand what it is that you are asking for. Not to mention, this type of relationship is unique to each individual. The fact that we are not in a romantic relationship is no problem at all, but it does mean that there are some inherent differences right off the bat.” 

Chan attempted to swallow despite what felt like a lump in his throat. “You–you will really consider it, though? You will consider providing me with the boundaries and the structure that I seek?” 

“Well I have two pressing questions before I answer that,” Seungcheol replied, squeezing Chan’s hand once again as a reminder that he was there and everything would be okay. “The first is can you explain what has made you come to this decision? I ask because only a couple days ago you found writing 50 lines abhorrent, and what you are asking for is a lot more involved than that. I just want to understand your mindset a little bit better.” 

“It–it was talking with Soonyoung hyung and Seokmin hyung,” Chan explained, working to maintain his eye contact with Seungcheol because he wanted to show him how seriously he was taking this. “And it really hit me seeing how happy Vernon hyung is. He’s truly happier than I’ve ever seen him before. And–and I don’t want you to think this is me trying to butt into your relationship with him…or that I have some twisted idea that my feelings for him trump yours and that I can steal him back somehow or…” 

Seungcheol stopped Chan mid-sentence. “I’m not thinking anything of the sort, Chan-ah. Now, for my second question, do you think you identify as a brat?” 

“Yes.” Chan’s answer was blunt and was said with no waiver of his voice and no hesitation. “I’ve known for a while now that I identify as what some would refer to as a sub, but knew it wasn’t in the traditional sense. It wasn’t really with sex that I was seeking, but in my daily guidance. I wanted someone to provide me with boundaries and make me feel safe in knowing that they were going to uphold them. I–I don’t want grey areas or blurred lines. I think I always sensed that about Vernon hyung, too. I knew he wasn’t a Top or a Dom, but I could sense that he was like me. That was what made me…well, I guess the words ‘infatuated with him’ could be used. It’s no wonder he didn’t feel the same.”

Seungcheol just nodded, knowing it wasn’t his place to get into. At least not in the moment and without Vernon’s knowledge and consent. 

“It’s already late, so we will go into this more tomorrow,” Seungcheol said instead. “For tonight, I will offer you two options based solely on what you feel you need at this moment in time. Option one: you can stand up and go home with me. You will have an early bedtime for the next two weeks, and we can see if in the light of day tomorrow this is still something you’d like to explore. Or option two: you place yourself over my lap. I will bare your backside and I will spank you to the extent that I feel is appropriate for your actions. You will come home with me and get set up on the couch in my bedroom, and you will have an early bedtime for two weeks. I will not be offended by whichever option you choose. If we get a couple spanks into option two and you decide you don’t want it anymore, you can let me know and I will promptly stop. The first lesson you are going to learn is that this type of relationship revolves around two very important words: consent and honesty. Got it?” 

“Yes, hyung.”

Chan spent a few moments pondering the options that were placed before him. In his gut he knew what he wanted, though. Without another word he moved to place himself over Seungcheol’s lap–a bit of an awkward feat when they were both sitting on the ground–allowing Seungcheol’s hand to guide him. Just as he said, Seungcheol made quick work of baring Chan’s backside and moving the tail of his shirt up to ensure nothing was in his way. Somewhere in the back of Chan’s mind he noted that the logical response would be kicking and screaming for being treated like this. The only thing that he felt was an immense amount of safety and security. 

Seungcheol placed a hand on Chan’s back, and asked him once more if he was sure of his decision. Without hesitation, Chan nodded and reaffirmed out loud that this was what he wanted. Without further ado, Seungcheol lifted his hand and Chan received his first taste of a spanking at Attacca Ranch. 

The first swat made him jump and hiss in surprise at the strength and intensity of the swat. He could hardly believe that this was coming from nothing but Seungcheol’s hand. He didn’t even want to think about how well the man surely wielded something like a paddle. It only took a couple swats for Chan to start squirming in discomfort. Seungcheol was certainly leaving a very clear message in Chan’s mind through his backside. Finally, after what had to have been about a dozen swats–although Chan had lost count–Seungcheol landed two resounding spanks to the junction of his thighs and backside, causing Chan to cry out. 

“You did very well Chan, I’m proud of you.” Seungcheol’s words sent Chan’s head spinning. He was happy to hear them, but also in pain…but also feeling like a weight had come off of his chest that he hadn’t even fully realized was there. 

Seungcheol pulled Chan’s clothes back up, causing Chan to hiss as they slid over his incredibly sore rear, and then guided him up to his knees. Chan was prepared to center himself and to get on with going back to the house, but Seungcheol pulled him into a hug and started rubbing up and down his back in an extremely kind and soothing gesture of comfort. Chan felt himself melt into Seungcheol’s arms, feeling lighter than he had in months.

They stayed there for a few minutes, before finally making their way back to the house and up to Seungcheol’s bedroom. Chan was once again glad that it was dark, because he was sure that his cheeks were an incredibly embarrassing shade of red due to the fact that Seungcheol held his hand the entire way to the house. 

“Everything okay?” Jeonghan asked, sitting up as they walked into the bedroom. 

“Everything is okay now. We took care of things the usual way,” Seungcheol replied, communicating with Jeonghan with just his eyes. Jeonghan had to work to hold back his look of pure shock, fully understanding what that had meant but knowing it wasn’t the time to discuss it. “Chan has an early bedtime for the next two weeks and will be sleeping every night of his punishment here on the couch so I can keep a closer eye on him.” 

Jeonghan pulled the covers back and got out of the bed, speaking over his shoulder as he went to the hall. “I will grab you some sheets and a pillow.” 

Chan fell asleep very quickly after the couch was made into a bed. He laid on his stomach, his backside still radiating a little heat, feeling more centered than he thought he ever could. 

– Kitchen – 

Jeonghan was sipping a cup of tea at the table the next morning when Seungcheol made his way into the kitchen. Jeonghan immediately looked at him with a raised brow and pointed to the seat next to him. “You have a lot to explain, mister.” 

Seungcheol chuckled and made his way over to give Jeonghan a kiss before sitting down in the chair that Jeonghan indicated. He knew he was going to get an inquisition this morning from the other man. 

“He asked for it,” Seungcheol explained simply, not feeling in the least bit cowed by Jeonghan’s intense stare. “His exact words were ‘I want you to give me boundaries.’ He flat out begged me to treat him like any other brat on this ranch. Hell, he even admitted to knowing for a while that he was something of a brat himself.” 

“He’s a client, Choi Seungcheol,” Jeonghan reminded sternly, folding his arms across his chest. “We don’t spank clients on their bare behind.” 

“He’s a brat, plain and simple, and brats we very much DO spank on their bare behind.” Seungcheol was not backing down. He simply felt that he had done the right thing in that circumstance. 

“Who are we spanking on a bare behind?” Wonwoo asked, coming down the last few steps of the stairwell and entering into the kitchen. 

“Chan. And Seungcheol already did it,” Jeonghan explained, his exasperation very clear. 

“So the kid finally realized he is actually a brat?” Wonwoo asked, pulling out a chair and sitting on the other side of Jeonghan. He reached over and commandeered Jeonghan’s mug of tea, getting a weak and half-hearted swat in reply, which only made him chuckle as he took a sip. 

“He’s 26,” Jeonghan pointed out. 

“Yeah, but he is a young 26 and he is officially the maknae of this entire ranch.” Wonwoo gave a shrug, not cowering under Jeonghan’s look either. “So what happened?” 

Seungcheol sighed and launched into the story once again. Wonwoo stayed quiet throughout, just nodding his head and listening intently. 

“If he asked for it, I don’t see that Seungcheol hyung has done anything wrong,” Wonwoo concluded, giving Jeonghan a sheepish smile and reaching up to tuck a piece of his hair behind his ear. “Let’s be clear, there really wasn’t ever a chance of Chan being a ‘normal client’ from the start. He has too much involvement with Vernon for that to have been the case. If anything, we would have had to have him at Joshua and Jihoon’s and tried our darndest to make sure he never saw Vernon.”

Jeonghan sighed and nodded, visibly coming to terms with things the way they were. It wasn’t that he was opposed to Chan embracing his brat side. It was just that he was trying to be cautious to make sure that no lines were crossed. “He really asked for it?” 

“He really asked for it,” Seungcheol reaffirmed. “And I even gave him two options last night. One option was to come back here and have an early bedtime for 2 weeks and to discuss things in the light of the day. The other was to dive into a punishment–of course with the option to back out at any time. He didn’t back out. He immediately chose the spanking and visibly looked calmer afterwards.” 

Jeonghan nodded, finally looking reassured. He stole his mug back from Wonwoo and drained the rest of the cup, before getting up to put the kettle on to make some more. 

“I want him here with you again today,” Seungcheol explained. “That will give you plenty of time to have a conversation with him to see where his head is at.

“As if I was going to let you have it any other way.” Jeonghan’s eye roll was clear, despite his back being turned away from them both. Wonwoo and Seungcheol just looked at him with fondness, loving their caring and protective boyfriend. 

– Seungcheol’s Bedroom – 

Chan slowly awoke to the feeling of being watched. He rolled over and was startled when he saw both Seungkwan and Vernon sitting on the edge of Seungcheol’s bed closest to the couch, just staring at him. 

“So…there’s clearly a story here.” Seungkwan gestured to the couch as he spoke, a slightly amused smirk on his face. Chan moved to sit up, wincing when he put pressure on his backside. It was by no means as sore as it had been the night before, but it was tender enough that Chan still certainly felt it. “Oh, now I’m even more curious. Who spanked you?” 

“I’m sure he wasn’t—” Vernon began to speak, but got cut off by Chan. 

“Seungcheol hyung.” Chan felt his cheeks heat and he took to looking at his linked hands in his lap rather than either of the two brats on the bed across from him. 

“What?! Why?” Vernon exclaimed, and then winced when he realized how loud he had just been. 

“Because I snuck out again last night, and–and I asked hyung to.” Chan chanced a glance up at Seungkwan and Vernon and was not shocked to see their surprised, yet somewhat understanding looks. 

“I knew you were a brat!” Seungkwan exclaimed, looking quite smug at having been right. “Welcome to the club!”

“Channie is a brat?” Mingyu asked, hurrying into the room and shutting the door behind him. “I know we all kind of suspected, but it’s great to hear you’ve officially joined us! As you know, I have a fairly complicated dynamic, but the brats accept me as one of theirs.” 

“Just don’t break any of the major house rules in front of him.” Seungkwan teasingly shoved at Mingyu who had sat down next to him. “He tends to turn on Top mode in that circumstance.” 

“So…so you don’t think I’m insane to have asked Seungcheol hyung to do that?” Chan asked, looking hesitantly at all three of their faces. 

“We understand that desire for strict boundaries more than anyone.” Seungkwan shrugged. “And–” 

What he was going to say was cut off by the door to the bedroom opening and Wonwoo standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. Despite his posture, he appeared to be quite amused. “What’s going on in here?” 

“We are welcoming a new brat to the family!” Seungkwan exclaimed, causing Chan to duck his head as he felt his cheeks heat up. “I can’t wait to tell Soonyoung hyung, Seokmin hyung and Minghao hyung! They are going to be so excited!” 

“Chan gets to make the decision as to who gets told and when, Boo Seungkwan.” Wonwoo suddenly became stern. “If I find out that you tell any of them without Chan’s permission, you and I will be having a very serious conversation. Understood?” 

“Yes, hyung.” Seungkwan was genuine in his response, but the gleam of excitement still hadn’t left his eye. 

“Breakfast is ready.” Wonwoo gestured towards the stairs indicating that the four of them should head downstairs. “And your chore list is ready for you on the fridge when you are finished eating, Vernon.” 

Vernon groaned but refrained from comment. It wasn’t like Wonwoo was going to do anything but whole-heartedly agree with Seungcheol’s punishment for Vernon. 

– Kitchen – 

Breakfast had just finished, and much to Chan’s relief there was no further mention of what had happened the evening before. Most of the breakfast conversation was about what needed to be completed on the ranch that day. Chan learned that he was once again going to be staying at the house under the supervision of Jeonghan. He genuinely liked Jeonghan’s company, so he didn’t find that he really minded. Vernon was home as well, but he was outside with the task of sanding and repainting the side deck. Grounding apparently involved household tasks that were much more time-consuming and strenuous than the daily household chores. 

Chan found himself at the double sink with Jeonghan hand washing their dishes from breakfast. As someone who had never previously washed a single dish in his life, he embarrassingly had to ask Jeonghan for detailed instructions on how to properly wash a dish. 

“I’m sure you probably would prefer it if we avoid this conversation entirely,” Jeonghan began, and Chan felt sudden butterflies in his stomach since he knew where this conversation was likely heading. “But this is something that needs to be addressed head-on. You asked Seungcheol to provide you with boundaries and to treat you like any other brat in this house?” 

Chan nodded, feeling suddenly warm despite the breeze that was coming in through the open window. “I–I did.” Chan put the dish down that he was cleaning and turned his body to look at Jeonghan, suddenly feeling the urge to defend himself and fight for what he had asked. “I need boundaries, hyung. I know I do. If this hell of detoxing over the last however many days has taught me anything it’s that I have gone so far off the rails that it’s not even funny. I…I nearly killed myself and that has scared the shit out of me. I know most ‘normal’ people would see the kind of relationship that you all have and run for the hills, but I’m not. This is what I want.” 

“And I completely respect you for realizing that and asking us for it,” Jeonghan said with a gentle smile, handing Chan a towel and using one himself to dry off his own hands. Then he grabbed Chan’s hand and led him to the table so they could both sit down. “I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page. You are agreeing to spanking, paddling, writing lines, writing punishment essays, mouth soaping, and being sent to corners amongst other things? You are agreeing to full transparency on your thoughts and feelings? There is no room for lying in these kinds of agreements.”

“Yes, hyung.” Chan replied with a nod. “I am not only agreeing to all of that, but I’m asking for it as well. I need the discipline. I need the strict boundaries. I’m sick of grey areas. I want this black and white.” 

“If you are wanting to be treated like all the other brats, then this isn’t just going to be Seungcheol upholding all of this with you,” Jeonghan reminded, studying Chan’s face to see if there was any sort of wavering. He was somewhat surprised to see that there wasn’t. 

“I know. I trust you, hyung.” Chan’s honest words and smile warmed Jeonghan’s heart. “I know we haven’t spent all that much time together, but I do trust you. You make me feel safe, but in a completely different way than Seungcheol hyung. You all do.” 

“One last thing, what you are asking for is kind of all or nothing. There is no ‘I’m tired’ or ‘I’m not feeling like it today.’ There is no room for excuses. The boundaries that you are asking for are in all circumstances,” Jeonghan reminded. “If you break a rule, you will be punished accordingly no matter what. Are you willing to hand that kind of power, control, and responsibility over to us?” 

“Yes. One million percent, yes.” Chan tried to convey his utmost sincerity and conviction with both his words and with a confident posture. 

– South Pasture – 

Seungkwan and Mingyu rode side by side taking in the beauty of the surrounding mountains. The view seriously never got old no matter how long they both lived at Attacca Ranch. Mingyu truly couldn’t believe that this was his job and his life and that he would never have to work in a stuffy office again for as long as he lives. He would suffocate if he had to spend one more day indoors with horrible fluorescent lighting, computer screens, and uncomfortable desk chairs. 

“It’s really starting to get warm out here,” Seungkwan whined, breaking Mingyu out of his thoughts. “I’m going to be reduced to a puddle by the time we get home for lunch. What do you say we go for a swim?” 

“I’d say that I’m not sure we have enough time for that,” Mingyu replied with a sigh, finding that he thought Seungkwan’s idea sounded amazing, though. The sun was truly scorching as the morning got later and the sun got higher in the sky. 

“We can take a quick dip and make it home in plenty of time for lunch,” Seungkwan argued, taking a quick peek at his watch. “We don’t need to go any further. Everything was fine when I was out here yesterday. We didn’t have any major storms overnight.” 

“I guess we aren’t really breaking any of the rules if we aren’t late for lunch,” Mingyu said with a shrug. 

The water did feel amazing after all of their hard work in the incredibly warm sunshine. Mingyu tried to keep good track of the time, but they eventually did end up leaving a little bit later than Mingyu would have liked. It would be close, but maybe they could get away with it. 

It was while heading back that they ran into a very peculiar situation. There was a man looking about in his early to mid-20s making his way down the driveway. He had nothing on his person other than a black backpack on his back. He was dressed in cutoff jean shorts, a ratty grey t-shirt, and sneakers.

“Head back to the house and get the others,” Mingyu instructed Seungkwan. “I will see what he wants.” 

Seungkwan nodded and did as was asked, looking over his shoulder once more before heading off. Mingyu dismounted, grabbing the reins and making his way closer by foot, guiding his horse alongside him. 

“Can I help you?” Mingyu asked when he was within closer range. 

The boy looked up sharply at Mingyu’s voice, and Mingyu found himself struck with a sudden familiarity despite not knowing who this person was. He reminded Mingyu very strongly of someone he knew, but he couldn’t place who.

“Is he here? Please tell me he is here! Eomma and appa wouldn’t tell me anything, and so I went to Namjoon-ssi, and he was vague about it. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of him other than him promising that he was okay. I had to get Taehyung-ssi drunk for him to tell me the whole story. I booked a flight immediately and then had to basically hitchhike part way here and then I walked the rest. Please tell me I’ve found the right place!” The man spoke so fast and frantically that Mingyu found himself staring in shock for a few moments. 

“Who–?” Mingyu began to ask, trying to wrap his head around the story that was just blurted out to him at insanely high speed. 

“Geon?” Chan’s voice called out from behind them, and Mingyu turned around to see Chan hurrying down the porch steps and across the yard. 

“Hyung!” The mystery man–apparently Geon–dropped his backpack to the ground and sprinted to meet up with Chan, crushing him with a hug. They hugged for a few moments, before Geon pulled back and started whacking any part of Chan he could get his hands on. 

“How fucking dare you! You almost died, hyung!” Geon was clearly crying as he spoke, and he wasn’t really trying to hurt Chan but it was clear he was very overwhelmed emotionally. “I thought you were dead! The headlines didn’t say at first and–and I couldn’t get a hold of eomma and appa. And–and–” 

Chan wrapped his arms all the way around Geon and pulled him tightly against himself. They allowed gravity to guide the way and both sank to the ground. Geon was no longer trying to slap Chan, but rather sobbing into Chan’s chest. 

Mingyu looked up to see all of his boyfriends standing on the porch and in the yard, all looking as stunned as Mingyu felt. 

This was certainly a turn that none of them saw their day taking. 

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Chapter Text

Chapter 7

It had taken a little bit of time, but Chan was finally able to get his brother calmed down enough that they could both stand up again. Helping his brother to his feet, Chan noted that his hyungs had given them some privacy. Everyone but Seungcheol had quietly left them alone, while Seungcheol sat himself on the porch swing–his presence physically there, but also giving them some space and privacy. 

“Geon, this is Seungcheol hyung. He is one of the heads of the program I’m a part of,” Chan introduced as they walked up the steps of the porch. “Seungcheol hyung, this is my little brother Geon.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Geon.” Seungcheol moved to his feet and stuck his hand out to shake, which Geon promptly grabbed and gave a proper greeting. 

“Thank you for taking care of my hyung.” Geon’s words caused Chan to blush a little and shift awkwardly where he was standing beside his younger brother. “I don’t know what I’d do without him.” 

“Let’s go grab some lunch,” Chan cut in before the conversation could continue any further. He noticed Seungcheol studying him, but the man didn’t say a word. He just nodded and gestured for them to head inside. Chan was certain that Seungcheol had come to several conclusions during his study, but was uncertain of what those were. 

Guiding his brother inside, Chan showed Geon where the bathroom was so he could wash up. Meanwhile, Jeonghan offered to take Geon’s backpack up to the guest room where he would be staying. By the time they sat down at the table, everyone had returned and was ready for a nice hearty meal. Geon moved to sit down, but did a double-take when he saw who was sitting beside him.

“Vernon hyung?!” 

“Hi Geon, it’s good to see you again,” Vernon greeted, getting up and pulling Geon into a hug.

Chan introduced his brother to everyone else as they began to dig into their delicious meal courtesy of Jeonghan. The table was once again stuffed full of warm and hearty dishes, providing all of the protein and heartiness they would need for a day of hard manual labor.

“How did you hear about what happened?” Chan asked after he had taken a couple bites of his bowl of stew. “I know you hardly ever have much cell service or internet where you are working.” 

“I was at an airport heading to Hong Kong when I received a text from a friend. He sent me a news article about your overdose,” Geon explained, giving Chan a stern look at the mention of the article. Chan gulped and nodded his head in understanding–he hadn’t personally seen any of the articles, but he wasn’t dumb enough to think the incident had flown under the radar.

“What were you going to Hong Kong for?” Vernon asked, quite familiar with the locations that Geon typically frequented and worked in.

Geon looked hesitantly towards Chan before speaking. “Erm–well, I was actually on my way to meet my fiancée’s family for the first time.”  

“You’re engaged?!” Chan asked, standing up in his shock and almost knocking his chair over. Wonwoo grabbed the chair in time and righted it before it could hit the floor. “Who is she? How have I never even heard of her?” 

“Her name is Lynn and she is from Hong Kong,” Geon explained sheepishly, avoiding all eye contact. “We met when I went on a backpacking trip through Thailand during my first year of college. We didn’t really start dating until we went on a mission trip to Peru in January this year. We just really hit it off, and I proposed last month.” 

Chan felt a little nauseous with the realization of that timeline. It wasn’t that he thought their engagement was too quick. He knew his brother didn’t do anything lightly. If he proposed it was because he was sure about things. No, Chan felt nauseous because he was aware of how absent he had been ever since Vernon had disappeared in January. He didn’t really make any efforts to reach out to his little brother, too lost in his own misery. 

“I’m so sorry I ruined you meeting her family,” Chan apologized sincerely as he sat down once again, his cheeks tinged a little pink with embarrassment. “I–I don’t really have access to a phone or a computer or I would have let you know that I was okay and that you didn’t need to come see me.” 

“I wouldn’t have cared if you had told me you were fine,” Geon replied with a shake of his head. “I would have come anyway. I would have needed to see with my own two eyes that you are okay. I’m sure that mom and dad weren’t there for you.”

Chan gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. “No, they couldn’t be bothered with sticking around to see if I was okay for themselves.”  

Geon sighed and shook his head once more. He wasn’t surprised–incredibly disappointed–but not surprised. “This is a beautiful ranch you have here. I’ve never been on a working ranch like this one before. The landscape is breathtaking. Do you have a lot of cattle?” 

And like that, Geon changed the topic. Chan knew that he and his brother were going to have an in-depth and most likely heartwrenching conversation about everything that had happened later. Geon deserved to know the full story, but his brother was being tactful for the moment. Geon was going to wait until they had more privacy before they really got into it.

The rest of lunch was spent with Geon asking a million and one questions about the ranch. It wasn’t just to fill the silence with noise, Geon was actually interested in the answers. He was really passionate to learn any new information that he could. Since ranching was a topic he didn’t know much about, he was practically salivating to learn more. 

After finishing their meal, Geon excused himself to go take a quick nap upstairs. He hadn’t slept much over the last couple days, having gone from Uganda to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Seoul, and then Seoul all the way to Attacca Ranch. It had been a few insane days of travel and the tiredness had absolutely crept up on him. 

After Geon left, Vernon went back outside to continue working on the deck and Mingyu and Seungkwan went out to work in the stables. This unsurprisingly left Chan with Wonwoo, Jeonghan, and Seungcheol–all three Tops all together. He probably should get used to facing all three of the Tops at once. He was sure this was going to be a fairly frequent experience in his life now. 

“Come, let’s talk in my office,” Seungcheol suggested, holding out his hand. 

– The Office – 

Chan settled down on the couch in between Jeonghan and Wonwoo, while Seungcheol pulled a chair over to sit in front of the couch. It made Chan feel both surrounded, but also protected–seriously, was there something broken in his brain? Why was he feeling this way about people he still hardly knew all that well?

“Now I’m sure you have an idea of what we need to talk about,” Seungcheol began, and Chan nodded his head. 

“I just committed to being in a discipline relationship and treated like any other brat on this ranch and you want to know if I still uphold this commitment now that my little brother is here,” Chan replied, looking Seungcheol in the eyes as he spoke. 

“I know I said that there weren’t days off in this kind of relationship, but if you need us to hide it around your brother we underst–” Jeonghan began to speak but Chan cut him off.

“No.” Chan shook his head. “I don’t want to hide anything from him. He is not going to care. You saw how upset he was. He deserves to know that I am somewhere that is teaching me about consequences and is upholding them. He deserves to know that I’m actively working on getting my life together. He deserves to know that I am taking this seriously, and that I truly think this will help.”

“So you are okay with him seeing you sent to bed at 8 o’clock and being forced to sleep on the couch in my room so that I can keep an eye on you?” Seungcheol asked, his eye brow raised.

“Yes, that’s fi–wait…8?!” Chan asked in surprise. “I thought early bedtime was 9?” 

“It was until you didn’t obey it. That got you an even earlier bedtime,” Seungcheol explained. 

Chan groaned but nodded his head. “Yes, I’m still okay with that. I don’t want you to change anything that you are planning on doing. I know he and I are going to have to sit down and talk after he wakes up from his nap. He is going to have lots of questions for me, and I’m going to give him the full honest story–including what I have asked from you all. I’m committed to this.”

Wonwoo reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze, not letting it go afterwards. Chan felt a flutter in his stomach as he looked over at Wonwoo who gave him a gentle smile. “I’m very glad to hear that you are so committed to this Chan. Your seriousness is really relieving me of any doubts as to whether you fully understand what you are asking of us.” 

“I promise you this is something I both want and need,” Chan reassured. “Hearing Seungkwan hyung and Seokmin hyung talk about it, I’ve never felt more understood. I know it’s crazy…” 

“It’s not crazy, it’s just not the norm for a lot of people.” Jeonghan reached down to grab Chan’s other hand as he spoke. “We really do mean it when we say that you are being incredibly brave by voicing that this is something you want. We acknowledge that it isn't easy.” 

“I’ve never felt more at peace with myself,” Chan admitted, and it was something he was especially feeling at the moment–surrounded by Tops with two of them holding his hands. He felt incredibly content. “So please, don’t change anything that you would normally do. If I do something that would normally send me to a corner, then do that.”

“Okay, we will do as you say then.” Seungcheol looked at both Jeonghan and Wonwoo who gave nods of agreement. 

– Guest Bedroom – 

Jeonghan sent Chan up to the guest room with two cups of tea. Geon had asked for them to wake him up after a couple hours, knowing that if he slept any longer he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. Chan headed into the room, placing both cups on the nightstand and then headed to shut the door to the room. Geon stirred as Chan sat down on the bed. 

“Hyung,” Geon greeted as he slowly sat up and rubbed at his eyes. 

“I brought you some tea,” Chan informed, pointing to one of the cups on the nightstand. “Jeonghan hyung made it. I think he feels no conversation is complete without a cup.” Chan paused for a moment, swallowing and then continuing: “And I know we have quite the conversation that we need to have.” 

Geon reached over to grab one of the cups, staring into it for a few moments before speaking. “I really thought I lost you, hyung. I’ve never felt more helpless in my life. I was so far away and I didn’t know what was going on…please don’t ever scare me like that again.” 

“I won’t. I swear to you with my whole heart that I won’t,” Chan reassured, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. 

“What happened?” 

Chan took a deep breath, trying to hold his emotions back enough to speak. “I lost it. I–I was feeling like I was drowning for a long time. Nothing has been right since I was pulled out of boarding school. You know what mom and dad are like, they–they couldn’t accept me for who I am. I think they would have an easier time understanding if I murdered someone rather than understanding why I could be something so despicable as being gay. I–I coasted through University. I stopped caring. What did it matter? I had no say. I was going to be whoever they molded me to be, I was going to wear whatever clothes they wanted me to wear, and despite it all I was going to marry whatever girl they deemed an auspicious match. It wasn’t like I had a choice in any of it.” 

Geon remained quiet, but it was clear that Chan’s words were upsetting to him.

“And then I met Vernon hyung, and it was like suddenly there was someone who understood me–another gay chaebol with insanely high expectations placed on them to be perfect and to be straight. I think we were both good and bad for each other. It was great to have someone else who understood, but we certainly exacerbated each other’s bad habits. We partied…a lot. We did a lot of drugs, too. They felt like the things we could control–a small rebellion if you will. I didn’t know it at the time, but mom and dad had Vernon hyung followed and blackmailed his family with compromising photos of him. The demand was to get him away from me for good or they would leak the photos. So then…I was alone. This made me spiral even more. It all became too much, and well an overdose later and here I am.” 

“And do you think this will help?” Geon asked, wiping away a tear that had fallen down his cheek. 

“I think it’s better than a lot of options,” Chan admitted, sniffling and swiping at a tear of his own. “For one, it’s remote. I have no chance of getting alcohol, drugs, or even cigarettes out here. I don’t have access to my cell phone or the internet.” 

“I’m sure that was an adjustment,” Geon said with a laugh. “You probably thought you were sent to Mars.” 

“I did compare it to some sort of hell in my head, I’m not going to lie,” Chan replied.

Geon gave a half-hearted chuckle, but then clearly steeled himself to ask a question that he knew may upset Chan. “You mentioned that you and Vernon hyung exacerbate each other’s bad habits. He is here and…” 

 “Geon…there is something that I need to tell you, and I’m not sure how to do it.” Chan cut Geon off, understanding what his brother was getting at. 

“Just blurt it out, hyung. It’s me. You can tell me anything,” Geon reassured. 

“Do–do you know what a discipline relationship is?” Chan asked, shyly looking up at Geon’s face in question. 

“I understand the broad strokes, yes.” Geon studied Chan for a few moments. “Are–are you in one?” 

“Not romantically, but yes,” Chan admitted. “Vernon hyung is, too. Trust me, the three Tops will never allow us to bring out each other’s bad habits. I–I asked them to provide me with strict boundaries. You may witness some things that surprise you like me being sent to stick my nose in a corner or getting a swat on my rear end …and I know it sounds crazy, and you are probably going to think–” 

“Hyung.” Geon cut Chan off this time. He leaned over to place his mug of tea back on the bedside table. Then he wrapped his arms around Chan and squeezed him tightly. “If this is what you feel you need, who am I to judge you? All I want is for you to promise that I will never get a text message with an article about you overdosing. Ever. Again.” 

“I swear to you from the bottom of my heart, Geon. I promise that will never happen again.” 

– Kitchen –

Jeonghan eased himself into one of the kitchen chairs, placing the stack of mail in front of him to sort. He quickly ripped up the pieces of junk mail, piling them to the side to dispose of later. He moved to open the last piece of mail, pulling out a folded piece of paper. He was confused for a moment when the content of the letter was written entirely in what he recognized as Chinese. He flipped over the envelope and saw that it had been addressed to the other house and must have been mistakenly dropped off at theirs instead. It was addressed to Minghao. Jeonghan placed the letter to the side, planning to drop it off at the other house later that day. 

“Hey hyung, what can I do to help?” Chan appeared in the kitchen doorway, Geon trailing behind him. 

Jeonghan glanced over and saw that despite some redness rimming both of their eyes, they seemed to be doing okay. He gave them a gentle smile and gestured to the chairs at the table. 

“I will put on the kettle,” Jeonghan offered. “I would love to get to know your brother a bit more. Let’s sit and have a talk.” 

Jeonghan moved to get up and do as he had just said, when he was surprised by Geon launching himself into Jeonghan’s arms. “Thank you for taking care of my hyung. It means the world to me. I can’t lose him.” 

Jeonghan ran a soothing hand through Geon’s hair as he held him tightly in his arms, feeling like his heart was now reduced to a puddle at his feet. “Oh sweetie, of course. Don’t worry. We’ve got everything handled. I promise you won’t have to go through a scary experience like that ever again. We will make sure of it.” 

Chan watched the scene with a sudden knot in his stomach. He had never felt like such a terrible brother in his life. He had let Geon down. He was never going to let something like that happen again. 

Geon finally let go of his grip on Jeonghan and moved to join his brother at the table while Jeonghan worked on making some tea for them all. He also grabbed some freshly baked cranberry orange scones from the pantry, plating them and setting them on the table. Chan’s eyes lit up with excitement and he immediately moved to grab one. It was while he was doing so that the letter on the table caught his attention. Now typically he wouldn’t have paid it much attention, but two sentences in particular caught his eye. 

Do you think they will still love you after they know what you did? I will tell them everything you fucking coward.

“Um…hyung,” Chan began, picking up the letter and rapidly reading through the rest. “What is this?” 

“Oh, it’s a letter for Minghao,” Jeonghan answered as he moved back to the table with the mugs of tea and placed them down. “Mailman accidentally delivered it here and not to their house.” 

“Um–and–and do you know what it says?” Chan asked, even more hesitantly. 

“No, I can’t read Chinese,” Jeonghan replied with a shrug. “Only Junhui and Minghao can. Wait…can you?” 

“Yeah, I’m fluent in Chinese, Japanese, English, French, and obviously Korean,” Chan replied, really only half paying attention to what he was saying, much too focused on the letter in his hands. 

Chan looked up at Jeonghan with alarm when he finally finished reading the letter. “Hyung…someone is threatening Minghao-ssi.” 

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Chapter Text

Chapter 8 Are You Falling?

Logically Chan had known that he was going to be sent up to bed at 8 p.m. Seungcheol had told him as much, and in the relatively short amount of time that Chan had known the other man, he had learned that Seungcheol didn’t say things he didn’t mean. None of that made being sent to bed at 8 suck any less, though.

Chan obediently followed his Top’s orders and allowed himself to be guided through brushing his teeth, changing into pajamas, and basically being tucked into bed–which was in fact the couch in Seungcheol’s bedroom. Seuncheol bid him a goodnight, turned the light off–which was a bit of a joke because the sun was only just setting so it was still fairly light in the room–and shut the door partially behind him. Chan sighed and stared up at the ceiling above him in disbelief. He wasn’t regretting his decision, but it was still a bit of a shock to the system to be in this position. And he had two full weeks of this. Great…

Chan rolled back and forth on the couch trying to get comfortable and settle down to sleep. Nothing was working though, and he sat up in frustration. Chan was questioning all of his past life choices that had landed him in the position, when he was startled by a soft screeching noise. Chan whipped his head around in time to see someone climbing through the now open window and into the room, shutting it as quietly as possible behind him. The room had gotten dimmer with the setting sun, so Chan couldn’t tell who the person was, other than the fact that they were rail thin and incredibly tall. 

“Can I help you?” Chan asked in disbelief, his shock keeping him frozen to the couch. 

“Oh my God!” the person exclaimed as they practically jumped out of their skin. “Why is there someone in here?!?”

Chan finally got the courage to get up and flip on the lightswitch by the door, illuminating the room and revealing someone a few years older than him with a beautiful face and an impressive light brown mullet. Chan studied them for a few moments before processing that they had spoken Chinese.

“Xu Minghao, I presume?” Chan asked in the other’s native tongue. 

Minghao’s eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment before a clear ‘lightbulb’ moment happened. Minghao switched to Korean as he spoke. “And you must be Lee Chan. What are you doing in Seungcheol hyung’s room?” 

“Learning that hyung is quite serious about staying in bed at night,” Chan replied with a shrug. “8 pm bedtime for two weeks and being forced to sleep in his room so he can keep an eye on me.” 

Minghao stared at Chan for a few moments once more, clearly trying to make sense of some things in his mind. He finally came up with: “You’re a brat?” 

Chan shrugged. “Apparently. Now what are YOU doing in Seungcheol hyung’s room via the window?” 

“Junhui hyung was acting really suspicious and he wouldn’t tell me why he was coming over here.” Minghao paused for a moment before admitting: “So I snuck over here and planned to eavesdrop on their conversation. Now, if you will excuse me…” 

“I know what their conversation is about.” Chan’s words caused Minghao to stop on his way to the door. “Jeonghan hyung accidentally opened a letter addressed to you and left it on the table not thinking anything of it because it was written in Chinese and no one in this house can read it. He was going to deliver it to you later.” 

“But you’re fluent in Chinese…aren’t you?” Minghao asked, groaning when Chan nodded. 

“I didn’t really mean to read it, a threatening line just caught my attention and hyung was there and…” Chan apologized quickly and truly heartfelt–he didn’t want Minghao to hate him after all! 

Minghao sighed and sat down on the edge of Seungcheol’s bed, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands. Chan could see the tension in Minghao’s shoulders and felt the urge to do anything and everything he could to make Minghao no longer feel that way. 

“Minghao-ssi, I–I don’t know what the letter is all about,” Chan cautiously began, keeping his tone light and unassuming as if to not scare off a timid rabbit. “But if you would like to talk about it, I promise it will stay between the two of us. I can be a non-judgmental third party.” 

“They’re all going to hate me…” Minghao mumbled into his hands. “I lied–or well, I guess I withheld very key information–key information about who I am as a person and…” 

“I promise I won’t judge,” Chan reassured, getting up off the couch and making his way over to sit next to Minghao and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you do a test run of your explanation on me?” 

Chan wasn’t sure that Minghao was even listening until he finally dropped his arms away from his face. “I…I come from a well off family. I’m not talking about your level of chaebol, or even Vernon’s level of chaebol, but my family was quite influential in our city in China. They were influential enough that I always knew that an arranged marriage for business or political reasons was a high possibility.” 

Minghao paused, but Chan didn’t jump in to say anything. He stayed silent and by Minghao’s side. 

“Her name was Xuefei and she was a neighbor growing up. Her family was just as influential as mine…and she had a large crush on me ever since we were about six years old. It never really went away. Both of our families were over the moon with excitement. They thought the match was perfect, since we were even friends growing up. She was in love with me…but I was in love with men. I couldn’t admit to that, though. I just sucked it up and went on with everything like there was nothing I would love more than to marry my best friend.” 

Chan felt his heart sink. He could sympathize with having to hide his sexuality, but he was never in a situation where there was a marriage already set in place for him. It had always been a threat, not an actuality. 

“The day of our wedding had finally come. The guests were all there. It was only moments until it was going to happen…and I bolted. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t put either of us through it,” Minghao explained, his voice even quieter than it had been at the start. “I got on the first flight I could, which ended up taking me to New York. Once there I looked at a map and booked another flight to what I considered to be the most remote and unlikely place I’d go. I met Junhui at a hotel bar…and well the rest is history.” 

“You should have just told me that,” an unfamiliar voice came from the doorway to the room, causing both Minghao and Chan to jump, since neither one of them were aware that they had company. 

Chan assumed the unfamiliar man in the doorway was Junhui. He was fairly tall, with a beautiful and astoundingly symmetrical face–seriously, was it actually a requirement to be astoundingly attractive to live here?! Junhui was wearing a pair of worn jeans and a plaid button up, but he somehow looked like he had just stepped off of a runway! Seungcheol was standing beside him, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on the doorframe–also looking intimidatingly attractive and so ‘Alpha’ at the moment that Chan felt a bit weak in the knees. 

“I’m a horrible person! I broke her heart. I didn’t want anyone to know how terrible I had been!” Minghao protested. “I presume you’ve seen the letter by now. I haven’t seen this one, but if it’s like any of the others it will lay out just how awful I am.” 

“How many letters have there been?” Junhui asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

“A…a few,” Minghao replied with a shrug. 

“Xu Minghao.” 

“Four.” 

“You have been getting threatening and demeaning letters for a while now and you never ONCE thought to tell us about them?” Junhui asked, his tone sending shivers down Chan’s back, despite not being the one in the hot seat. “What is the number one rule in our house and in our relationship?” 

Minghao ducked his head before muttering. “100% honesty.” 

“Who are the letters from?” Junhui asked, finally moving into the room and sitting down beside Minghao on the bed. 

Minghao shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “Her family. I…I wrote to her about a month after it happened. I wanted to apologize, and I explained that it wasn’t her or something she had done. It was all me. I was the problem and I couldn’t love her the way she wanted me to. I don’t know if her brother intercepted the letter…but the threatening letters started not much longer after that. I had told her I was living with a group of people that made me happy and that I hoped she could also find happiness. I guess they latched on to that, because they threatened to expose me for the horrible person I am.”

“You’re not a horrible person, Hao.” Junhui put an arm around Minghao and pulled him tightly against himself. “You were put in a bad situation and you didn’t know how to get out of it. It’s understandable that you ran. You can’t help who you love, no more than she can.” 

Minghao clearly was dying to hear those words, and dissolved into tears. He leaned his head on Junhui’s shoulder and just let the floodgates open. Chan looked helplessly over at Seungcheol who gestured for him to come. Chan quickly did so, wanting to leave Junhui and Minghao to their very intimate and private moment. 

– Jeonghan’s Bedroom – 

Chan had been steered into Jeonghan’s bedroom where he and Seungcheol were joined by Jeonghan and Mingyu. Mingyu grabbed onto Chan’s hand and guided him to sit next to him on the couch. Chan was slightly surprised when he was pulled into Mingyu’s arms and made to lean with his back against Mingyu’s chest. Mingyu’s arms wrapped around him, making him feel secure and like he had a strong protective blanket around him. 

“Is Minghao hyung in a lot of trouble?” Chan asked after a few moments of quiet. 

“His Tops are certainly not going to appreciate the fact that he has been lying the entire time he has been here,” Seungcheol answered after a few moments of thought. “They are certainly going to need to have some deep and somewhat uncomfortable chats about how they move forward from all this.” 

“Are–are they going to break up with him?” Chan asked, moving to sit up more upright, but not really succeeding with how tightly Mingyu was holding on to him. Mingyu gave him a comforting squeeze, but didn’t loosen his hold. 

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I highly doubt that,” Jeonghan was quick to reply. “Chan-ah, there is no need to worry. They will work things out between them, and we need to let them have the space to do so. From the sound of things, Minghao is probably going to be on a pretty ‘tight leash’ for the near future. They need to work to rebuild that trust between them.” 

“He’s mostly in trouble for the fact that he has been withholding that someone has been sending him threatening letters for weeks now,” Seungcheol explained. “As we have reiterated time and time again, these kinds of relationships need 100% honesty. It can be dangerous and detrimental to the relationship otherwise.” 

“Tops have to know the whole picture, otherwise they don’t possess the ability to protect or keep their brat safe,” Mingyu gently explained, his tone soft and gentle and it was spoken right by Chan’s ear. 

Chan nodded, leaning his head back against Mingyu’s strong shoulders and allowing himself to relax. Jeonghan and Seungcheol were talking quietly to each other on the bed, but Chan just let their words blur and drift past him like white noise. The next thing he knew he was waking up to the rising sun and found himself on the couch in Seungcheol’s room once more–presumably carried there by Mingyu at some point the previous evening. 

“Good morning, hyung!” Chan whipped his head around to see Geon standing in the doorway. “Jeonghan hyung asked me to come wake you up for breakfast. Seungcheol hyung said he would be up in a few minutes with your clothes and to change your nicotine patch.”

Chan felt his cheeks heat up with those words. He was certainly being humbled in front of his little brother over and over again–and it hadn’t even been 24 hours yet. 

“You know, you told me that smoking was a disgusting habit and that you would kick my ass if I ever tried it,” Geon pointed out with a mischievous smirk. “Shouldn’t that threat work both ways?” 

“I spent lord knows how long on a plane in a feverish haze sweating profusely and throwing my guts up,” Chan replied as he pushed the covers back and got out of bed. “I would say my ass was sufficiently kicked.” 

“Hyungs have an assortment of implements you could use to kick his ass.” Seungkwan popped up in the doorway, sounding far too cheery about the prospect. Chan turned to glare at him. “What? I’m just trying to help.” 

“I could really do with you being LESS helpful, thanks.” Chan moved to head towards the bathroom. 

Chan ran into Seungcheol in the hallway who gave him his clothes for the day–a plain colored t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Chan was starting to think of it as his uniform at this point. 

“I can clean out a drawer in my room so you can put your clothes there,” Seungcheol suggested. “You are going to be in there for at least two weeks.” 

Chan turned to question what his hyung meant by ‘at least’, but shook his head and decided against it. It wasn’t a battle he wanted to pick at ass o’clock in the morning. 

Chan quickly used the restroom, got changed, and allowed Seungcheol to change his patch. 

“How much do you think it would suck to just go cold turkey?” Chan asked as Seungcheol threw the previous patch into the bathroom trash can. 

“It was what I did,” Seungcheol replied with a shrug. “And I’m not going to say it didn’t suck, but I’m a very competitive person and I was determined to kick its butt. We have other alternatives if you would like to try those or you could always just quit completely and see what happens. I was certainly quite a bit more irritable than normal. Jeonghan had to take me to task more times than I could count at first.” 

Seungcheol started to make his way down the hallway to head downstairs for breakfast, when he turned around and realized that Chan was not following closely behind him like he had thought. In fact, Chan had frozen in the doorway of the bathroom. 

“What’s wrong?” Seungcheol asked, hurrying back over to Chan and looking him up and down and all over to see if there was something he could see. 

“I’m sorry, you just dropped a bunch of lore on me like it was nothing!” Chan exclaimed, shaking his head with wide eyes. “You, Mr. By The Rules, used to smoke? And–and you’ve been spanked by Jeonghan hyung?” 

“When he has needed it, yes.” Jeonghan appeared at the top of the stairs, clearly coming up to see what had been taking them so long. “Come on, we don’t want breakfast to get cold. My food deserves to be eaten at its most peak condition.” 

Chan obediently followed them downstairs still feeling in shock. That information had been one hell of a curveball. 

– Minghao’s Bedroom – 

The sun coming through his open window gently woke Minghao up from his slumber. He groaned and rolled over, before hissing at the rekindled flame in his backside. Junhui had taken a paddle to his backside the night before–a truly rare occurrence for Junhui, who tended to leave most of the punishments up to Joshua and Jihoon. His skills were in no way lacking for their infrequent use, and Minghao jumped out of bed and promptly reached back to rub at his tender behind while thinking back to the night before. 

Minghao reluctantly followed Junhui into the house, trailing him all the way to the living room where Joshua, Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Seokmin were all sitting and waiting for them. Minghao gulped, fighting the urge to spin on his heel and hightail it right back out the front door. He was about to face all of his boyfriends that he had pretty much lied to since the moment he met all of them…Great.

“I hear we have some things we need to discuss,” Jihoon announced, patting the couch between himself and Joshua in indication that Minghao should go sit there. 

Minghao reluctantly obeyed, making his way over as slowly as possible. Everyone waited in silence, the tension in the room palpable. Minghao sighed and launched into his whole explanation–finding that having already told Chan (and unknowingly at the time, Junhui and Seungcheol) did actually make confessing everything easier.

“Oh Minghao-yah, I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that.” Joshua wrapped his arms around Minghao and pulled him tightly against his chest “You were put in a horrible no-win situation. No one was even willing to listen to what you actually wanted. I’m glad you decided to get out so that you could pursue what actually makes you happy.” 

“You can’t help the way you feel. Sexual orientation isn’t a choice. It’s not your fault,” Jihoon reassured, placing a gentle hand on Minghao’s shoulder. “I wish you would have felt comfortable telling us this in the first place. I can understand why you were hesitant to, though.” 

“We really wouldn’t have judged you,” Seokmin added, looking at Minghao with sad puppy eyes from where he was sitting across the room in a recliner. “We can all see what a terrible situation you were placed in.” 

“Besides, you know all of us are far from perfect,” Soonyoung said with a shrug. “I have many things from my past that I’m not proud of. You’ve accepted me despite all of those things.” 

“And logically I know that–” Minghao paused, unsure of how to continue his train of thought. Soonyoung was right. It wasn’t like all of them were perfect. There were mistakes each of them have made, but they all loved and accepted each other despite that. “I–I was being stupid. I’m sorry. I’m sure I’m in a lot of trouble.” 

“You’re going to have to give us some time to discuss things,” Junhui replied from where he was leaning in the doorframe to the living room. “You know how important honesty is to this relationship, and yet you committed to it without offering us the whole truth about yourself. We are going to have to discuss how we can ensure that you are honest moving forward and work to rebuild that trust. Okay?” 

Minghao nodded and hung his head, happy that Joshua still hadn’t let go of him but feeling incredibly guilty. 

“In the meantime, you and I are going to have a discussion about you sneaking out of the house to eavesdrop on my conversation.” Junhui moved away from the doorframe as he spoke, walking towards the couch. “Something you knew very well you shouldn’t be doing, correct?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Needless to say, Junhui could wield a wicked paddle and Minghao was certainly still feeling it this morning. He didn’t want to think about the high possibility that he was getting another spanking today for his much more serious misdeed. 

“Oh good, you’re up,” Junhui said as he walked through the door and into Minghao’s bedroom. “You are going to head over to the other house for the day. Jeonghan is going to watch over you. Vernon is grounded and Chan is still being kept mostly just around the house, so they said it’s no problem to add another for the day.” 

“I’m being babysat?” Minghao complained. 

“If that’s how you want to look at it, sure.” Junhui turned around and started walking right back out the door, calling over his shoulder as he went. “You have five minutes to get ready and come downstairs. I’m dropping you off on my way to pick up some supplies.” 

Minghao watched Junhui walk off feeling like he had just been caught up in a whirlwind. Stern Junhui was not an incredibly common occurrence, but it looked like he was here to stay–at least for right now.

– Stables – 

Chan was being tasked with mucking out the stalls by himself–or partly by himself, he was technically being ‘supervised’ by his younger brother while he did it. Geon had been excited to learn from Seungkwan and was going at the task quite enthusiastically now that it was just the two of them. 

“When do you leave?” Chan paused for a moment to lean the pitchfork against the wall and wipe the sweat from his brow. He then realized how what he had just said sounded. “Not that I’m trying to get rid of you or anything. I’m really enjoying you being here. I just didn’t know how long I have with you.” 

“I leave tomorrow morning,” Geon replied with a laugh at Chan’s worrying. “I need to fly to Hong Kong to finally meet Lynn’s family or she might kill me.” 

“I better meet her before your wedding.” Chan picked the pitchfork back up and turned to continue. “I have to make sure she is right for my baby brother. Although, her pre-impression of me must suck. I’m assuming she knows everything?” 

“I had to share the article with her to explain why I wasn’t going to Hong Kong…so yes, she knows what happened,” Geon replied, not sounding even remotely remorseful. “She would have seen it eventually, even if I didn’t show her. It was pretty big news, hyung.” 

“Great.” Chan shook his head and tried to bury himself in his task and not think about the fact that all of Korea (or at least a vast majority) and a significant portion of the world (or at least those that keep up somewhat with international news) were aware that he almost died because he is an idiot who overdosed on a wild night out with friends. “Maybe I should just stay here forever where no one seems up to date on any sort of news.” 

“Well, you are in love with at least a significant number of them, so I wouldn’t be surprised,” Geon replied nonchalantly, continuing on as if he didn’t just say something shocking.

“I’m sorry…what?” Chan paused his mucking once more and turned to face Geon. 

“Oh don’t deny it, hyung. I see the way you look at them. You would think they all hung the stars in the sky.” Geon studied Chan for a few moments before continuing. “Yes, I know what polyamory is and yes, I know they are in a polyamorous relationship if that’s what is tripping you up.” 

“I–I’m not in l-love with–” Chan began to deny, but Geon cut him off before he could finish speaking. 

“Tell it to someone who will believe you, hyung. You may not be ‘in love’ yet, but you sure as hell are falling in love, then.” 

He wasn’t in love with them. He couldn’t be in love with them. They didn’t feel that way about him, Chan was sure of it. It was already awkward enough that they all knew that he had…or has…feelings for Vernon. Sure Seungcheol makes his heart race, and Jeonghan makes him feel like he has butterflies in his stomach, and Wonwoo makes him feel secure…and Mingyu, Seungkwan and Vernon make him feel seen and heard…but no. That’s not love…right? 

Fuck. 

He was falling in love with all of them, wasn’t he? He was really butting into a relationship that wasn’t his to butt into. They were going to hate him. They were going to kick him out. He had nowhere to go. What would he do? 

He can’t let them know. That’s the only solution. He has to suck it up and pretend. He needs to be the best liar on the planet. He can’t let them know even the slightest bit that he has feelings for them. 

He has to pretend.

He can do this.

TWITTER

Chapter Text

Chapter 9 Breaking Point

Minghao was more than ready to go home by the time that Seokmin and Soonyoung arrived to pick him up. It wasn’t that Jeonghan had been a bad ‘babysitter’ or anything. He had certainly kept a close watch on Minghao, but that didn’t really bother him. It was the wait to see how his Tops were going to handle the whole situation that was killing him, and he was getting more and more in his head as the day went on. By the time Seokmin and Soonyoung showed up in one of the ranch trucks, he had half-convinced himself that he had completely ruined their relationship and that there was absolutely no way forward that he could conceivably see. 

“What’s going on in your head?” Soonyoung asked a few minutes into their drive, pulling the truck off the road and onto the shoulder–kicking up a ton of dirt as he slowed to a stop. “Talk to us, please.” 

“Does Junhui hyung hate me?” Minghao asked, his voice sounding small and like he was only a few seconds away from tears…which he admittedly felt like he was. 

“Of course not!” Seokmin protested, clicking the button to release his seatbelt so that he could turn around and get a better look at Minghao. 

Soonyoung followed suit. “He’s just upset that you didn’t feel like you could trust any of us, but mostly him. The two of you have a special bond–not that I think you don’t have a bond with all of us, but there is something special between the two of you.” 

“I’m sure a part of it is that both of you are from China and can bond over the language and some shared experiences,” Seokmin helpfully inserted. 

“Exactly,” Soonyoung agreed with an emphatic nod. “And Junhui hyung is now questioning everything that has happened. He’s questioning what he did wrong–” 

“He didn’t do anything wrong!” Minghao protested, pointing sharply at his chest.. “It was all me. I was the one who chose to lie to you all.”  

“Why did you feel like you had to lie to us?” Seokmin asked gently, biting his lip and looking at Minghao with what was clearly a bit of insecurity. “Were you worried that we wouldn’t handle it well?” 

“I–” Minghao paused and took a breath, a tear escaping down his cheek. “I liked that no one here knew what had happened. I liked the person that I became with you all. I came here and it was like I became the best version of myself–the person I wanted so desperately to be. I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to…to be the Minghao that I was in China–a coward who wasn’t strong enough to stand up for himself and who he wants to be…but I guess in the end I ended up being a coward anyway. God, you all should break up with me!”

“Hey! No!” Soonyoung shook his head vehemently. “Don’t talk down on yourself like that. You know Jihoon, Joshua hyung, and Junhui would probably spank you for saying something like that about yourself.”

“You went through a lot, Hao,” Seokmin cut in. “You need to learn to give yourself some grace. Are you going to be grounded for eternity? Probably. But don’t think for a second any one of us hates you and wants to break up, okay?”

Minghao reluctantly nodded, hope building in his chest at Soonyoung and Seokmin’s reassuring words. 

“You’ve got this!” Soonyoung encouraged with a smile. “We will be there with you every step of the way, okay? Now, let’s get back so that you can stop mentally berating yourself in your head.” 

– Living Room at Jeonghan & Seungcheol’s – 

Seungkwan had settled down on the couch with a book and a glass of ice cold lemonade. He was excited to get back to the story he had been reading, since he was nearing the climax of the book and he couldn’t wait to find out who the killer was. Fate seemed to have other plans though, and the couch next to him dipped with the weight of a second occupant. Seungkwan dog eared the page, and turned to look at who had joined him. It was Vernon, who groaned and put an arm over his head.

“Kill me now, please,” Vernon whined. “I will never be done with the mountain of chores that hyungs have assigned me.” 

“You walked into that one yourself,” Seungkwan replied with an eye roll. “You know how hard hyungs are on things like lying and trying to run away from your problems.” 

“That doesn’t mean I can’t whine about it still,” Vernon half-heartedly argued. 

“Don’t let hyungs hear you, or they might think your punishment isn’t effective enough,” Mingyu warned, walking into the room and plopping down on the couch on the other side of Seungkwan. Mingyu leaned his head on Seungkwan’s shoulder. “What are you up to, Kwan-ah?” 

“Apparently not reading,” Seungkwan replied with a laugh, putting his book on the coffee table in front of him. He then moved his hand up to run it through Mingyu’s hair gently, leaning back on the couch to get more comfortable. “How was your day?” 

“Not bad,” Mingyu replied with a contented sigh. “I met up with Soonyoung hyung and Seokmin to help them rebuild a shelter in the north pasture. It had taken one hell of a beating in the last storm. It took us most of the morning to clean it up and fix it.” 

“Did you hear anything about Minghao hyung?” Seungkwan asked, leaning his head so that it lay on top of Mingyu’s. 

“Hyung was here most of the day today,” Vernon grumbled from where he was still sprawled on the other half of the couch. “Jeonghan hyung was watching him. He seemed fine, if not somewhat subdued.” 

Vernon moved to sit up and cried out at the soreness and stiffness in his joints. He had been on his hands and knees scrubbing floors most of the day and it had certainly taken its toll on his body. 

“Come on, I’ll give you a massage.” Wonwoo appeared in the doorway to the family room and gestured for Vernon to follow him. Vernon hesitated for only a second before deciding he couldn’t turn down the opportunity. 

Mingyu and Seungkwan watched him go, hearing their footsteps on the stairs as they presumably headed up to Wonwoo’s bedroom. 

“How do you really think he’s doing?” Mingyu asked after Vernon and Wonwoo were out of earshot. 

“I don’t know that he has really let himself fully process his feelings for Chan, if that’s what you are meaning,” Seungkwan admitted with a shrug. “I still think a part of him thinks that he has to choose: Chan or us. And a part of him is thinking about the fact that Chan will very possibly be leaving in a few months time, so he is trying really hard to not get attached again.” 

“Do you think Chan will choose to stay?” Mingyu asked. 

“I think he is really starting to find himself here–somewhere he is being allowed to be himself–and I think that’s going to be hard to leave,” Seungkwan explained. “I know you couldn’t pry me away from this ranch if you tried.” 

“Says the man who showed up here kicking and screaming at the behest of your parents and threw some of the biggest fits I’ve ever seen about not wanting to get dirty or do any work,” Mingyu reminded with a teasing jab to Seungkwan’s side. 

Seungkwan rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Oh please, I wasn’t THAT dramatic.” 

“I was ready to personally present you with an Oscar,” Seungcheol said as he walked into the room and sat down on the couch in the spot that Vernon had recently abandoned. 

“Oh don’t even start! I heard about all the dramatics you pulled when Jeonghan hyung first brought you here!” Seungkwan shot back, sticking his tongue out at Seungcheol.

“He’s got you there, Cheol,” Jeonghan said as he too entered the room and squeezed beside Seungcheol on the couch, half sitting in his lap.

“Where are Chan and Geon?” Mingyu asked, mentally noting that everyone else was accounted for but those two. 

“Stables,” Seungcheol replied, wrapping an arm around Jeonghan’s waist and pulling him to sit fully in his lap. “They are finishing up in there, and it’s giving them some time to talk just the two of them since Geon leaves tomorrow.” 

“We think Chan is finally healthy enough that tomorrow we will start him really working on the ranch,” Jeonghan added. “So tomorrow is going to be a big day for Chan in a lot of ways.” 

– – – – – – – 

Saying goodbye to his younger brother had certainly been hard, but it turned out to be some of the least difficult part of Chan’s next couple weeks. He had been informed right after his brother left that he was going to start to really work on the ranch. At first he was excited. He would finally get to see more than the house and the short walk to the river that he had done a couple times. He was ready to finally explore. But when they said ‘work’ they truly meant WORK. Chan very quickly learned that life on a working ranch was no picnic. It was hard and it was tiring. He honestly stopped minding his early enforced bedtime, because by the time he went up to bed at 8 he was so exhausted that he crashed right away. 

Not only was he now fully working, he had decided to stop using the nicotine patches and like Seungcheol had said, he was finding himself a bit more irritable than normal. He had made the acquaintance of several of the corners in the house over the last couple weeks due to his unfortunate irritability and inability to filter himself. This morning was the first time that he was getting friendly with a bar of soap, though–and he was less than pleased with the situation. 

Chan looked at Jeonghan in teary-eyed pleading, the taste of soap invading his mouth and taking over what felt like all of his senses. Jeonghan just shook his head and pointed to his watch, indicating that his punishment would not end a second early. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Jeonghan gestured for Chan to go spit the soap out. 

Chan frantically went to do so and hurriedly attempted to wash his mouth out, but unfortunately discovered that no amount of water seemed to be able to successfully get rid of the taste. After a few times of swishing the water in his mouth and spitting it out–to no apparent success–Chan finally shut the tap off and turned around to face Jeonghan, hanging his head in shame. 

“I’m sorry, hyung. I promise I will watch my words next time,” Chan apologized, hoping he appeared as contrite as he felt. 

“Please do,” Jeonghan replied, patting Chan on the arm.

Chan didn’t know if it was because of how pitiful he must have looked, but Jeonghan ended up sending Seungkwan and Chan out for a leisurely stroll after lunch, telling Seungkwan to show him some of his favorite spots around the house. 

“You got the soap this morning, didn’t you?” Seungkwan asked a few minutes into their walk–where they were headed, Chan didn’t know, but he had to admit it was nice to just be out and walking in nature with no expectations. 

“Does the taste ever go away?” Chan asked with a whine. “I swear it’s still haunting me despite having eaten lunch.” 

“It takes a bit,” Seungkwan replied with a chuckle. “It’s certainly one of my least favorite forms of punishment, which of course makes all the Tops realize how effective it is.” 

Chan pursed his lips and nodded his understanding, letting the two of them fall into silence once more. 

“You’ll get used to the work, I promise,” Seungkwan reassured after a few minutes of silence. “I know it took me a while, and I struggled a lot at the start, but I got there in the end. Now you really couldn’t drag me away from here if you tried. I love it.” 

“You struggled too?” Chan asked, stopping and turning to look at Seungkwan with a look that held so much vulnerability and fear–it was clear that Chan was thinking that he might be inadequate or that there was something wrong with him that life on a ranch was this hard for him.

“Immensely.” Seungkwan gave Chan a reassuring smile, gesturing for them to continue walking. “I guess I really haven’t told you how I ended up here.” 

“No, you haven’t.” Chan fell into step beside Seungkwan once more. “But seriously, if it’s private or it’s something you don’t want to share, you really don’t have to.” 

“I don’t mind,” Seungkwan reassured with a shrug. “It’s nothing I’m ashamed of. If it wasn’t for what happened, I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have this life and this relationship that I love so much.” 

Seungkwan led the way through a small break in a row of bushes, which ended up opening up to the most beautiful stream full of rocks, greenery, and flowers which ended in a small waterfall. The stream was surrounded by bushes and other tall plants, hiding it away from the rest of the fields and turning it into their own little private hideaway. Chan felt his breath catch in his throat, stunned by the astounding beauty before him. 

Seungkwan made his way over to one of the large rocks and gestured for Chan to come sit beside him. “I was 20 years old and I was in my second year of University. I met this guy at a party and I fell hard and fast. Everyone told me he was bad news, that he wasn’t right for me. I refused to listen, though. I thought he was ‘the one.’” Seungkwan cleared his throat and shook his head before continuing on. “I let him take over my life. I stopped going to class half the time. I stopped caring about my school work. All I ever wanted to do was be with him. I was so stupid, and I should have listened to everyone, because three months later I caught him cheating on me with some guy he met at a bar. I was heartbroken, which didn’t help with the drastic decline my grades had already taken and I ended up failing out of University.” 

Chan reached over to grab Seungkwan’s hand and gave it a squeeze, hearing the self-loathing in Seungkwan’s voice. 

“My parents were obviously quite upset. They didn’t know what to do with me. I moved back in with them and I had very little motivation to do…anything. My parents and Joshua hyung’s parents have been friends for a very long time. I knew Joshua hyung growing up, but he was always more of this ‘cool hyung’ that I wanted to be like rather than a friend. Our age gap when we were younger made it so we weren’t really friends. Hyung’s parents suggested sending me to live with Joshua hyung on the ranch. They reassured my parents that hyung could straighten me out. When they gave me the ultimatum I agreed to come to the ranch, but my stipulation was that I would live at the other house and not with Shua hyung. I know it’s stupid, but I refused to let Shua hyung–someone that I had idolized growing up–see me so…so broken. A part of me also thought that maybe Seungcheol hyung and Jeonghan hyung wouldn’t be quite so strict. My parents were reassured that Joshua hyung and Jihoon hyung would straighten me out, but they hadn’t said anything about Seungcheol hyung or Jeonghan hyung.” 

Chan couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head at the thought of how shocked Seungkwan must have been when he learned the truth.

“Hilarious in hindsight, I know,” Seungkwan said aloud what Chan was thinking. “Needless to say I was in for a rude awakening when I got here. You’ve seen first hand how little shit any of the hyungs take. They will tell you I was quite dramatic during my adjustment period, and I guess I have to admit that I absolutely was. I grew to love living here, though. I grew to love this ranch and these people, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It took time, though. It took time and a LOT of patience.” 

“And you're happy?” Chan asked, glancing over at Seungkwan’s face to read his expression. “You like having six people in your relationship?” 

“I wouldn’t change it for the world.” 

Chan felt his heart break in his chest at the confirmation, answering a question Seungkwan didn’t even realize that Chan was asking. 

– – – – – – 

The days started to blend together, each one falling into a now familiar routine for Chan. He had been allowed to move back into his own room with the promise that if he were to fall prey to his desire for late night wandering again, that he would be back in Seungcheol’s room to sleep for an indefinite amount of time, would have an even earlier bedtime, and would have the added bonus of bedtime spankings. Chan was under no circumstances planning on testing how serious they were about that. 

Seungkwan was right, though, and Chan had gotten used to the work on the ranch. It was still hard and his days were still long, but he started to find satisfaction and joy in the work. He liked being out in nature and working with his hands. He liked to feel like he was actually doing something of value that made a difference. The livestock on this ranch depended on him doing his job and doing his job correctly. Chan had never felt more useful in his life.

The problem was that he couldn’t get his brother's words out of his head. His brother had made him see how he really felt about all six of them, and once Chan realized he was falling for all of them it got harder and harder to push those feelings deep inside of himself–despite how much Chan wished he could bury them 20 feet underground and never think of them again. 

Things all came to a head when Chan was getting ready to leave the stables to head back to the house one afternoon. He stumbled upon a conversation between Mingyu and Wonwoo that he couldn’t help but listen in on: 

“Please tell me you aren’t questioning it again.” Wonwoo’s voice stopped Chan in his tracks. “Our relationship is perfect the way that it is. It works perfectly. Nothing ever needs to change. I like it this way. We all do.” 

“I know…I just–” Mingyu began, but what he ended with Chan wouldn’t know because he didn’t want to hear anymore and promptly and quietly made his exit. 

That conversation had confirmed everything that Chan needed to know. He would never fit into their relationship. They didn’t want him to fit into their relationship, it was perfect the way that it was.  

The air suddenly seemed thin, and Chan’s mind could only settle on one thought: walk away. He had to get away. He had to get as far away as possible before he ruined everything. He walked down the long driveway and took a right turn at the road. He knew his brother had said he had hitchhiked from the closest town. He would just hope a car would pass by some time in the near future and pick him up. He didn’t have any money. He would have to beg to use someone’s cell phone and he would call Namjoon. He would explain the situation and then Namjoon could get him set up in a hotel somewhere before coming to pick him up. He just couldn’t stay there a moment longer. 

Chan didn’t know how long he was walking, he was too lost in his thoughts to really process any sort of time passing. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see the small hole on the side of the road and proceeded to trip, a sharp pain shooting through his ankle as he fell to the ground and landed on his hands and knees. Chan cried out in pain as dirt and small pebbles cut into his hands and knees. 

“Shit!” 

Chan rolled over so that he was sitting on his butt brushing off his hands and knees. He then allowed himself a few moments to just sit there wallowing in self-pity before deciding it was time to get back up and continue on. He moved to stand, but ended up crying out in pain once again when he discovered that his left ankle was protesting any weight being put on it. He quickly sat in the dirt once more, moving to massage his aching ankle. 

Chan was so focused on his injury and its corresponding pain that he didn’t hear the approaching vehicle until it slowed to a stop right beside him. His head snapped up in surprise at the noise, taking in the large red pick-up in front of him. The tinted window rolled down, revealing a man around Chan’s own age. He had a round sort of cherubic face, but sharp eyes that made him appear cat-like. His hair was dark black and he had let it grow out so that it brushed the tops of his shoulder, with a few bangs framing his face and half of his hair pulled into a small bun at the back of his head. 

“You look like you could use some help,” the man said, putting the car into park and opening the door to jump out. Chan noted that the man had to be shorter than himself.

“I think I twisted my ankle,” Chan admitted, pointing to his left ankle with a wince. 

“Where were you heading?” the man asked, crouching down beside Chan as if to get a look at Chan’s ankle himself. 

“I was trying to walk to town, or to at least find a ride to town while I walked,” Chan admitted. “I really wasn’t having much luck and then I tripped in a hole, and well here we are.” 

“Well you weren’t having much luck to begin with, because the closest town is in the opposite direction,” the man said with an amused chuckle. “I live not far from here. Why don’t I take you to get patched up first, and then we can see about getting you to town.” 

Chan hesitated for a moment, realizing that he knew absolutely nothing about this person. He could be kidnapping Chan for all he knew…but it wasn’t like Chan really had much choice. Without this stranger’s help, he was well and truly stranded on the side of the road.

“Thank you, I’d appreciate the help,” Chan finally agreed, allowing the stranger to help him stand and make his way to the passenger side. 

Chan got himself settled in the passenger seat, putting his seatbelt on as the man walked around the other side and got back in. He made quick work of putting the car in drive and making a U-turn to head in the direction that he had come from. They sat in contented silence–Chan didn’t feel much like making any conversation, and the stranger didn’t seem inclined to either. Chan sat there watching the scenery go by, until the stranger made a turn and he saw the name of the ranch that he had pulled off at–written over the archway that stretched over the driveway. 

Attacca Ranch.  

Chan cringed, and turned to look at the man driving. 

“Jihoon-ssi?” Chan asked, basing it on a description that Vernon had given him of the two members of the other house that Chan had yet to meet, Jihoon and Joshua. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Lee Chan.” 

TWITTER

Chapter Text

Chapter 10 Safe

Chan couldn’t believe his luck. Out of all of the possible cars to pick him up, it had to be Jihoon. Although–he clearly hadn’t even made it past their property line in his walking, so he supposes it wasn’t actually all that surprising it was someone from the ranch that picked him up…damn, this ranch was truly gigantic. He hadn’t really appreciated just how large it was before now. 

“Did you know who I was this entire time?” Chan asked, suddenly suspicious that it was by chance that Jihoon had found him. “Were you sent out to look for me?” 

“Yes and yes,” Jihoon replied as he pulled the truck up to a similar house to the one that Chan had spent the last many weeks living in. It blended well with the landscape around it, accenting it and not contrasting it. “Your hyungs were very worried when they realized you were gone. They had several of us out looking around the ranch, while a couple of us got in our cars in case you went to the road.” 

Jihoon put the car in park and shut off the engine, just as the door to the house opened and out walked the last person on the ranch that Chan had yet to meet: Joshua. He was a thin man with a very stunningly beautiful face, with dark brown hair framing his delicate face. Worry was clear on his face as he hurriedly made his way up to Chan’s door and opened it. “Hey, are you okay?” 

“He twisted his ankle,” Jihoon answered before Chan got the chance to. “He can’t really put much weight on it at the moment.” 

“Oh you poor thing, let me help you into the house.” Joshua put his arms around Chan and helped him get out of the truck. Chan thought he was going to keep his arm around Chan and support him into the house like Jihoon had done to get him to the car, so it was with immense shock that Chan found himself picked up bridal style and carried into the house. The man certainly had surprising strength–although they all did. Perks of working on a ranch, Chan supposes.

“Oh good! You were found!” Minghao exclaimed, appearing in the living room as Chan was placed on the couch. “Did you let the others know?” 

“Jihoon is radioing all of them now,” Joshua replied, picking up a pillow and placing it under Chan’s foot to elevate it. “Let me go get you some ice.” 

Joshua disappeared off to the left through a doorway and into what Chan assumed was the kitchen, while Minghao sat down in a recliner that was alongside the couch and gave Chan a much too ‘knowing’ look. “So, I now return the offer. Do you want to talk about whatever is going on before your Tops get here?” 

Chan groaned and placed his head in his hands, realizing that everything had backfired and he was going to have to answer some incredibly uncomfortable questions now. Chan allowed himself a few moments to wallow in his humiliation, before pulling his hands away from his face and moving to sit up a little. 

“What are the chances they will accept ‘temporary lapse of sanity’ as an excuse?” Chan asked, giving Minghao an extremely pitiful and pleading look. 

“Oh, I would say slim to none,” Minghao replied with a shrug. “They would only accept it if they too had a temporary lapse of sanity.” 

Chan groaned as Joshua walked back into the room and placed an ice pack wrapped in a dish towel over Chan’s sore and slightly swollen ankle. “I know we haven’t officially met. I’m Joshua, and yes, we are all like family here so please call me hyung.” Joshua sat down in the space beside Chan’s feet on the couch. “First and foremost, I would like to thank you for being there for Minghao that night. It really means a lot to all of us that he had your support. Now, secondly, I would like to offer that same support before the cavalry arrives. Do you want to talk about why you wanted to run away?”

“I can’t! It’s too embarrassing!” Chan protested, shaking his head vehemently. “I can’t admit it. I was doing it for their own good. If I stay here, I’m going to make things awkward and I–nevermind, I just can’t. I can’t say it out loud and–.” 

“Do you have feelings for them?” Minghao asked, so blunt that Chan practically choked on his words as he spluttered. 

“I–you–but–” 

“And you apparently got it in one,” Joshua said with a nod and a shared glance with Minghao. “So, are you afraid they don’t feel the same way?” 

“I know they don’t feel the same way! They are all very happy with the six of them and have made it more than clear!” Chan exclaimed, practically yelling. “So as you can see, this is far too embarrassing and you can not let me face them. I can’t admit this. It will make everything even more awkward. So please, either take me to town and drop me off and I will be out of your hair or let me stay here if I still need to complete more of my ‘rehab’, but please please please don’t make me go back there.” 

“Did you or did you not agree to being in a discipline relationship with them?” Joshua asked, turning his body so that he was directly facing Chan as he raised a brow in question. 

Chan hesitated for a moment before answering, unsure where Joshua’s line of questioning was heading. “You know that I have.” 

“And you agreed to Seungcheol, Wonwoo, and Jeonghan being your Tops and making decisions for you–protecting you and guiding you?” Joshua continued, further confusing Chan who didn’t understand why the man was asking questions that he clearly already knew the answers to. 

“Yes…” 

“And what is the number one rule of any good and healthy discipline relationship?” Chan started to feel like he might have an idea of where this line of questioning was going, and he couldn’t say that he was a fan. 

“100% honesty…” Chan admitted, his words spoken softly. 

“And when you agreed to this relationship, did you go in knowing that it was all or nothing?” Joshua continued, much to Chan’s chagrin. There was no doubt in his mind that the man sitting before him was indeed a Top. “Did you know that there aren’t ‘off days’ or that there aren’t feelings and thoughts that are too embarrassing to share?” 

Chan swallowed, feeling like there was a lump in his throat. “Yes, sir.” 

Chan was saved from what he was sure was going to be further questioning by the phone ringing. Joshua held up a finger in indication that he would be back in a moment and got up off the couch and headed towards the kitchen to presumably answer the phone. 

“Hyung is a lot to handle, isn’t he? He’s a natural Top and he’s very good at what he does,” Minghao supplied from the recliner. “He takes absolutely zero bullshit.” 

Chan sighed and placed his hands over his face again and let out a dramatic groan. “I can’t imagine what you had to deal with, when he is like this with me.” 

“The force to be reckoned with over that was actually Junhui hyung,” Minghao replied with a shrug. 

“What happened?” Chan asked, moving to sit up even more and turning his body so that he could look at Minghao. 

“I received the lecture of a lifetime about the importance of honesty. I had to write an essay on what happened and what I should have done differently–which he made me rewrite three times because he wasn’t satisfied that I had really learned my lesson yet, and I got well and truly grounded.” 

“For how long?” 

“I’ll let you know when they finally decide,” Minghao replied with a shake of his head. 

“You’re STILL grounded?” Chan asked, his eyes widening in complete shock. “That was weeks ago!” 

“I lied to them for months, Chan-ah,” Minghao explained. “I literally lied to them for the entirety of our relationship. I lied to them while making a promise to them to be 100% honest. They have every right to be upset over it. I completely understand why I’m in trouble.” 

“He’s really being a model brat,” a new voice entered the conversation, causing Chan and Minghao to look over to the doorway where they saw Soonyoung and Seokmin walking in. It was Soonyoung who had spoken. “I keep telling him that he’s making the rest of us look bad.” 

“Just because you take to being grounded like a fish takes to dry land doesn’t mean we all have to,” Seokmin teased, playfully shoving at Soonyoung as they made their way over to sit on the loveseat together. “So, you decided to pull a runner, huh?” 

Chan groaned and plopped back on the couch so that he was laying down once more. 

“My advice? Answer all their questions honestly and respectfully…and enjoy sitting while you still comfortably can,” Soonyoung offered, earning himself a hard slap to the arm from Seokmin. 

“Don’t scare poor Channie!” Seokmin scolded. 

“What?” Soonyoung exclaimed, his eyes widening and looking like the picture of innocence. “I unfortunately have first hand knowledge of just how well Seungcheol hyung wields a paddle, and let’s just say it was the antithesis of fun and games.” 

“Please ignore him,” Seokmin said, turning towards Chan and shaking his head with the clear message of ‘Soonyoung is a lost cause.’ “Well, not about the honesty and respect part. That you should 100% follow. You don’t want to make your punishment any worse than it’s already going to be. Trust me, all of us have learned that lesson the hard way.” 

“But what if I can’t tell them the truth?” Chan asked, sounding far more vulnerable than he wished he did. “What if it’s for the best that I keep up the lie?” 

“There is no situation in which that is the only or best answer.” Joshua returned from the kitchen, taking up his place beside Chan’s feet at the end of the couch once more. “I know what you have to admit to them feels impossible and like it’s the end of the world, but I promise you it’s not. Even if they don’t feel the same way, they aren’t going to make things unbearable or awkward.” 

“Ah…so that’s what this is about,” Soonyoung said with a knowing nod. “Makes sense.” 

Chan looked at his hyung in surprise. How were they all picking up on this so fast?!? 

“Chan-ah, a significant number of us had to figure out how to have the ‘I’m falling in love with you’ conversation with a group of people that we saw as in an already perfect and complete relationship,” Minghao explained, clearly sensing Chan’s confusion. “You are nowhere near alone in that regard.” 

“So that’s why you ran.” Jihoon appeared in the doorway, giving Chan a sympathetic look before turning to face Joshua. “Everyone has been informed. I imagine we have about five minutes before the first of them shows up.” 

“It’s less than that,” Junhui said, walking into the room as well. “Wonwoo is pulling up towards the house right now.” 

Chan groaned and moved to sit up more, trying to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come. He still didn’t fully believe that everything would turn out as okay as everyone else seemed to think it would. He knew for a fact that the others wouldn’t want him to barge into their established and already perfect relationship. 

Before Chan could really get himself prepared, Wonwoo appeared in front of him looking incredibly relieved to see Chan. He fell to his knees and pulled Chan into his arms. “Thank God Jihoon found you. We were all so worried.” 

There was something about Wonwoo’s words and kindness that made Chan promptly burst into tears, clutching Wonwoo close to him. Chan felt Wonwoo startle for a moment, but he quickly started rubbing up and down Chan’s back, whispering soothing words into his ear. It was a few moments later that Chan felt himself being lifted up into the air and into Wonwoo’s arms. He didn’t know where the other man was taking him, since he refused to move his head away from where it was now buried into Wonwoo’s neck. His tears had not stopped yet, and he didn’t want to face anyone in such a pitiful state. 

“Chan-ah, I know that you feel like whatever this is, it's the end of the world, but I can promise you it’s not,” Wonwoo reassured, continuing rubbing a comforting hand up and down Chan’s back as he sat down on a couch in the office. 

“You can’t know that,” Chan argued, though it sounded weak when muddled by his tears. 

“Did one of us do something?” Wonwoo asked, speaking softly so as to not startle the boy. “If so, we can’t work to fix what has upset you if we don’t know what we’ve done wrong.” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s me,” Chan replied, trying to bury his head even further into Wonwoo’s neck. “I’m the problem, and I will have to figure out how to deal with it myself.” 

“Channie…I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but you have committed to an agreement with us based on 100% honesty,” Wonwoo reminded Chan, reaching up to play with the ends of Chan’s hair–it had grown a decent amount in the weeks that he had been on the ranch, heading from a mini-mullet towards a full-blown shaggy hairstyle. 

“And if I’m honest, it will ruin everything!” Chan replied, pulling himself away from Wonwoo and putting his head in his hands. 

Wonwoo studied Chan for a few moments, going over his words in his head and trying to make sense of them. He couldn’t help but come to one conclusion: “Are you worried that you’ve developed romantic feelings towards us and that we don’t reciprocate?” 

“I KNOW you don’t reciprocate, you don’t have to worry about that,” Chan replied, his words muffled by his hands, and his cheeks now blazing with heat. “I tried to get over it. I tried to bury my feelings, but it didn’t work. I tried to leave to spare you from my unwanted feelings, but clearly that didn’t work either.” 

“Why are you so positive that we don’t feel that same way?” Seungkwan’s voice shocked Chan enough that he pulled his hands away from his face and looked towards the doorway of the office where Seungkwan, Vernon, Seungcheol, Mingyu and Jeonghan were all gathered. 

Great. They were all here and all got to hear Chan’s embarrassing confession. Could the ground please open up beneath him and swallow him whole? That was the only way he could see proceeding with this situation. 

“You don’t have to try to make me feel better about myself,” Chan muttered, looking down at his hands in an attempt to avoid eye contact. 

Wonwoo wasn’t having it though, and grabbed on to Chan’s chin and lifted it up so that they were eye to eye. “Do you not feel like this discipline agreement is working for you? Are you not happy?” 

“No, it definitely is,” Chan was quick to explain. “I’m happier than I can remember being in a very long time.” 

“Then you are going to need to be honest with us about what is going on in your head, or we can’t continue,” Wonwoo replied. It wasn’t a threat. He wasn’t trying to coerce Chan into speaking. It was exactly what Chan signed up for, but that didn’t make opening his mouth any easier. 

“I spoke to Seungkwan hyung awhile ago. I asked him if he was happy with the six of you in your relationship,” Chan explained, his heart feeling like it was going to beat its way right out of his chest. “He said that he wouldn’t change it for the world–” 

“I answered the question I thought you asked, not the question you thought you asked,” Seungkwan cut in, practically stomping his way across the room and plopping himself down on the couch next to Wonwoo so that he could look Chan straight in the eye. “I thought you meant if I was okay with having a polyamorous relationship, not if I was set on only six people and not open to another.” 

Chan turned his head to look at Wonwoo. “I heard you and Mingyu hyung talking in the stables. You said your relationship was perfect the way that it is and nothing has to change!” 

“He was reassuring me about my own insecurities,” Mingyu cut in, walking over to the couch and taking a seat as well with a heavy sigh. “I was having a bad day yesterday, and I stayed up too late on a forum that discusses ‘switches’. There are some people that believe being a ‘switch’ isn’t a real thing. They think people like me just aren’t brave enough to fully commit to one side or the other. I left the browser open when I went to bed and Wonwoo hyung saw it in the morning and confronted me. I wasn’t supposed to be on that forum, nor was I supposed to stay up late online. Hyung was actually about to punish me for it when we got word that you had disappeared.” 

Chan reached a hand over to grab one of Mingyu’s and gave it a reassuring squeeze, hating to see the other man so sad. “So everything I thought I knew…was incorrect?” 

“Chan-ah,” Seungcheol said, moving forward as well to crouch in front of the boy. “This is why being honest is so important. We could have reassured you before you decided to take off and ended up scaring the crap out of us and getting a sprained ankle.” 

“We will have to have more discussions on how we would like to explore this relationship, but you should know we’ve all known you were special to us from the start.” Jeonghan crouched beside Seungcheol, placing a reassuring hand on Chan’s knee. 

“And despite what you thought, I’ve had feelings for you for quite some time,” Vernon added, moving over to stand behind Seungcheol and Jeonghan. “My feelings never went away, even if I tried to convince myself otherwise.” 

“Why don’t we head back home and we can all talk with a nice cup of tea,” Jeonghan suggested. 

Chan nodded, but felt a bit of a flutter in his stomach. He was sure that after his disappearing act that he wasn’t going to be just having a conversation…

Wonwoo picked Chan up once more and began walking towards the door to the office, when Mingyu’s previous words clicked in Chan’s head: “I thought you said there was no internet on the entire ranch…” 

– Kitchen – 

Much faster than he would have liked, Chan found himself sitting around the kitchen table with a mug of tea in his hand and a very captive audience who all had their attention on him. 

“I messed up…” Chan admitted, looking down at the swirling depths of his tea rather than at any of their faces. “I should have just talked to one of you.” 

Seungcheol just gave a hum of agreement and took a sip of his tea, making no attempt to drive the conversation. It was going to be up to Chan to lead the conversation at the moment. Somehow it all came spilling out: his feelings for Vernon since they had first met, his thoughts and feelings since arriving at the ranch, his brother’s observation and how much of a whirlwind that put Chan’s head into. He laid it all out on the table, figuring there was nothing to lose at this point. They all already knew enough that it wouldn’t really make a difference. 

“I’m sorry I worried all of you by taking off,” Chan wrapped up his confession, hanging his head in apology. “I was overwhelmed and I had thoroughly convinced myself it was the only way forward and that it was for your own good. I see now it was stupid–for a variety of reasons. I understand that I’m in a lot of trouble.” 

“We will get to that in a moment,” Seungcheol replied, finally speaking up. Chan felt a bit of a lump in his throat as he swallowed, catching that Seungcheol hadn’t refuted his statement. “I think we would all like to ease your other worries first.” 

“We are all collectively open to exploring a romantic relationship with you,” Jeonghan reassured, placing his hand on top of Chan’s where it sat on the kitchen table. “How we have handled this in the past is by allowing each individual relationship to grow at their own natural pace.” 

“What hyung means is that you will most likely be open to a more sexual relationship with some of your boyfriends first before others,” Seungkwan added, with a smirk. “Like we know you and Vernon used to fuck like rabbits.” 

Vernon reached over and smacked Seungkwan on the back of the head. “Can we vote him off the island?” 

“Despite how crudely Seungkwan put it, he’s right,” Seungcheol cut in, stopping the argument before it could go any further. “Don’t put pressure on your relationships with each one of us all developing at the same pace. It will grow naturally and at the speed it’s meant to, okay?” 

Chan nodded, bravely deciding to look up and around at all of them. He gathered his courage to ask the question that he was feeling insecure about. “All of you are really interested in me? Despite my past and why I’m here? I’m not exactly a catch…”

“Channie, the mistakes you’ve made don’t define you,” Jeonghan cut in. “It’s how you deal with them and move forward that does. I also don’t want to hear you talking down on yourself like that ever again.” 

“They will smack you and make you write lines,” Seungkwan helpfully supplied. “Hyungs–”

“Speaking of punishment,” Seungcheol cut Seungkwan off with a sharp look, knowing whatever the other man was about to say wasn’t going to be productive. “I would say you have very solidly broken rules number two and four. Tell me what those rules are please.”

“No lying and no going off somewhere without telling someone where I’m going and what I’m doing,” Chan begrudgingly admitted, internally cringing knowing that he was really in for it.  

“You withheld information for weeks from every single person sitting around this table despite promising 100% honesty to us,” Seungcheol continued. “Now of course you don’t have to share every single little thought with us, but this was something that was bothering you greatly. That’s information that you don’t withhold from us. Then you made a rash decision that caused every single person at this table a great deal of worry. We didn’t know where you were and if you were safe.” 

Chan nodded and hung his head, the guilt building in his chest to the point that it was starting to feel unbearable. He needed whatever punishment Seungcheol was about to pronounce upon him. He needed that catharsis and the release of guilt that came with it. 

“Over the next six days each one of us will individually punish you,” Seungcheol announced, causing Chan’s head to shoot back up in surprise. “This will give you the chance to individually address the situation with each of us, and start each of your relationships off with a clean slate and on the right foot.”

“I’m getting spanked six times?” Chan asked, his jaw felt like it had dropped practically to the floor. 

“That will be up to each one of us individually,” Wonwoo answered. “That may not be the punishment that each one of us deems appropriate.” 

“On top of this,” Seungcheol began. 

“There’s MORE!?!” Chan exclaimed, shaking his head in denial. 

“You are grounded for the foreseeable future,” Seungcheol explained. “You will be sleeping in one of our rooms every night so that we can keep an eye on you. This means you will be essentially under 24/7 supervision. Any questions?”

Chan’s head was spinning. He knew he was in for it, but this was so much more than he had expected. He had thought maybe he would get a spanking with the paddle and an early bedtime for a couple weeks…but this. This was so all encompassing. He was going to be the center of their attention. He had no doubt that when they said 24/7 supervision, they meant it. It should feel suffocating, so why did Chan feel relief? No…that’s wasn’t the word. 

Chan felt…

Safe. 

TWITTER

Chapter Text

Chapter 11 Never Better

The room had fallen into a comfortable silence as everyone sat around the kitchen table quietly sipping at their mugs of tea. Chan was studying all six of his hyungs, pondering what the next six days were going to look like. He already had a pretty good idea of how strict Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo were going to be with him. He expected that he would probably receive a spanking–or paddling–from each one of them. Mingyu would likely fall into that category as well–but maybe he would be less likely to choose an implement? Chan would have to find time alone with Seungkwan or Vernon to assess Mingyu’s ‘Topping style’ a bit more. Seungkwan and Vernon were absolute wildcards. He had no idea of what sort of punishment either one of them would choose for Chan. He didn’t foresee either of them spanking him…but what if they just told one of the Tops what they wanted and had them handle it? Shit. That would totally work, wouldn’t it? 

Damn. He truly wasn’t going to be able to sit down comfortably for the next week. 

“Come on, let’s get you set up on the couch,” Seungcheol directed after he finished his last swallow of tea. He stood up from the table, making his way over to Chan and helping him stand up as well. 

Chan’s ankle already felt significantly better than it had to begin with. Putting ice on it and elevating it had done wonders. Chan found he could comfortably put some weight on it once again, as he was steered towards the living room by Seungcheol. 

“When you say get me set up on the couch…” Chan trailed off, uncertain of how to finish the sentence without his cheeks turning an alarming shade of red.

“I mean I would like you to ice and elevate your ankle for a little bit longer,” Seungcheol replied, grabbing pillows and placing a couple on one end and one pillow at the opposite end of the couch. The singular pillow was clearly meant for Chan to rest his foot on to elevate it. Seungcheol gestured for Chan to appropriately position himself on the couch, before ominously pronouncing: “You and I will be having our conversation after dinner.” 

Chan gulped, turning his head to watch as Seungcheol walked out of the room and into the kitchen. He was under no delusions that their ‘conversation’ was going to end with only words. He wasn’t gone long, and returned only a few moments later with an ice pack wrapped in a towel. Seungcheol made quick work of placing it on Chan’s ankle and then pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and laying it over Chan. 

“You are going to spend the time until dinner thinking about everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks, the decisions that you made today, and what you should have done differently,” Seungcheol ordered, standing right next to the couch and giving Chan his full undivided attention as he spoke. Chan almost felt like Seungcheol’s eyes were boring a hole right through him and into his own head. It was intense, to say the least. “I’m going to have a lot of questions for you after dinner, and I expect nothing but 100% pure honesty. Is that understood?” 

“Yes, sir.” Chan resorted to the formal reply, figuring it was more than deserved at the present moment. Seungcheol was certainly radiating calm but consummate authority, and Chan found himself wanting to do nothing but to fall in line. 

Chan was left alone with nothing but his thoughts until Seungcheol came to get him for dinner. He may not have been physically standing in a corner, but in many ways he felt like he was in one. Not a single member of the household even so much as walked through the living room during that time. With no TV, no cell phone, and not even a book, he was truly left with nothing to do but think. 

He thought long and hard about all of his choices. He thought about the mistakes that he had made. He thought of how foolish his decision to try to hitchhike had been. He really was lucky that Jihoon had found him when he did. Chan even re-evaluated if he wanted to be in a discipline relationship with them. The answer? A resounding, heartfelt, and completely sincere yes–and he realized how crazy that answer would sound to most people. It was a relief to be called to dinner and to have a break from his own thoughts.

Dinner ended up being a subdued affair. No one seemed too inclined to talk much, and Chan was too in his head about what he knew he had coming afterwards–and over the next many days. He did his best to eat, but he certainly didn’t have a very big appetite. After what felt simultaneously like both a lifetime and the blink of an eye, Chan found himself being guided into Seungcheol’s office by the man himself. Seungcheol led him over to the couch, taking a seat beside Chan and grabbing hold of Chan’s hand and giving it a squeeze. This caused Chan to look up at Seungcheol in confusion. He had sort of figured he would be pulled over the man’s lap almost instantly.

“I know this is seeming like a lot at the moment, but we will get through this together. Okay?” Seungcheol’s question received a slightly timid nod in reply. “I know you told us your perspective of what happened over the last several weeks, and I think we have made you understand where you were filling in the blanks inaccurately. I think we have discussed what happened today thoroughly, and I think you understand why you are being punished. What I would like to know now is where is your head at right now?” 

Chan bit his lip, struggling to put to words the swirling chaos of thoughts and emotions that rapidly came to mind. “I–I’m mostly feeling like an idiot. I could have avoided so much of this if I had just been honest with you all, which is something that I promised to be. I’m a lousy brat, aren’t I?” 

“Chan-ah, I have yet to know a single brat that has not had at least some struggle with how honest they are expected to be. It would be astounding if you weren’t hesitant to share at least some part of your thoughts and feelings.” Seungcheol pulled Chan over so that he was wrapped in his arms and leaning his weight into Seungcheol’s side. “This is an enormous amount of vulnerability that we are asking of you. You are going to struggle. You are going to make mistakes. That is what we are here for. We are going to work with you to ensure you understand your boundaries and the consequences of your mistakes within the context of a safe and contained environment.” 

Chan took a moment to take in Seungcheol’s words and what they really meant. They made him feel an immeasurable amount of comfort and like he was really seen–it was exactly what Chan was seeking from them. They were really going to work to do their part in this relationship, so now, Chan knew he had to pick up the challenge of explaining himself and explaining why he is the way that he is–or at least his own understanding of it. 

“I–I’ve spent most of my life having to hide at least a significant part of who I am. Ever since I was pulled out of Boarding School and brought back to Korea, I’ve had this extra pressure to lie about almost everything about me. I’m not saying this as an excuse, I’m just explaining why it’s hard for me to break down some of my walls. I will probably need a lot of guidance and for you all to be unwaveringly persistent.” 

“What is the story with Boarding School?” Seungcheol asked, rubbing a comforting hand up and down Chan’s back. 

“I think I told you that I started there when I was 8,” Chan began, his throat suddenly feeling tight. “I loved that school with all of my heart. I had a great group of friends and I loved the faculty and staff. They all became like a second family to me in many ways.” Chan paused, clearing his throat and mentally steeling himself to tell the rest of the story. “There was this boy that I grew really close with. His name was Marcus and I thought he was the coolest guy on the planet. He was a year older than me, and he was my first…well everything. My first crush, my first kiss, and my first time. I was out, but he wasn’t, so we kept our relationship a secret. It all came crashing down when we got caught kissing in the garden behind the cathedral. He–he claimed I had come on to him. He claimed he was straight and that I–I kissed him without consent. Everyone knew I was gay…but everyone believed that he was straight. My parents were called. They pulled me out before the school could make up their mind as to what to do with me. I was brought back to Korea and I was shoved into an International School to finish up my education. My parents threatened me within an inch of my life that I better not fuck it up. I think the worst part of it all, is that I know they didn’t believe me. My own parents believe that I would do something like sexually assault someone. I–I think in many ways this was all the start of my spiral. I became very closed off. Vernon hyung was the first person I let myself get close to like that again.”

“That was an awful thing to have to go through.” Seungcheol’s voice was gentle and considerate but thankfully not pitying. Chan braved a glance at the other man’s face, feeling a tingle run down his spine as they locked eyes. Seungcheol smiled gently, his eyes twinkling in the light of the room. “I’m glad you and Vernon were able to eventually find each other and that he could be a source of support for you.” 

“Even if we were fueling each other’s bad habits?” Chan raised an eyebrow in disbelief. 

“Well that’s in the past now,” Seungcheol replied, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss to the top of Chan’s head. “I want to thank you for your honesty in this conversation, and I can understand why it is going to be a difficult thing for you to continue to be with us. What Marcus did to you was horrible, and it’s understandable that you would have issues with trust and honesty. Do you understand why that’s something that we are still going to ask of you, though?”

“I do,” Chan replied with an emphatic nod. “But like I said, it’s going to be hard.” 

“Well, that’s where your Tops come in,” Seungcheol said, reaching up and running his hand through Chan’s hair. “We are going to make sure that you continue to feel like you have a safe environment to be open and honest with us, and will provide motivation to continue to be truthful.” 

“Why do I feel like this is the segue to me getting my butt handed to me?” Chan groaned, looking up at Seungcheol with his best sad puppy dog look. 

“Seungkwan has gotten all of us immune to that tactic,” Seungcheol teased, reaching up to squeeze one of Chan’s cheeks before letting go to get up and walk over to his desk. 

Chan had a feeling he knew exactly what was in the bottom drawer that Seungcheol reached down and opened. His theory was proven correct only moments later when Seungcheol pulled out a wooden paddle that looked intimidatingly sturdy and solid. Chan swallowed around what now felt like a large lump in his throat. He was only moments away from finding out just how effectively Seungcheol uses a paddle. 

“You might as well take your jeans off,” Seungcheol suggested as he returned to Chan’s side. “You are going straight up to bed after this, and I highly doubt you are going to want them back on.” 

Well that was ominous…Chan reluctantly stood up and did as Seungcheol suggested, folding his jeans and putting them on the coffee table in front of him. Seungcheol took a seat on the couch, and wasted no time in grabbing onto Chan’s wrist and helping him settle over Seungcheol’s lap. Once Chan was in a good position, Seungcheol grabbed the waistband of Chan’s boxers and pulled them down so they were right around his knees. Despite the relative warmth of the room, Chan suddenly felt the urge to shiver. Chan felt the paddle resting on his backside, currently harmless but for sure not going to remain that way for long. 

“I am going to give you 12 swats. They are going to be harsher than the hand spankings that you are used to,” Seungcheol explained, his voice gentle and caring, which did a lot to reassure Chan that things would still be okay. “I want these to serve as a reminder that the best option is to always tell us the truth. It doesn’t matter how embarrassing or how hard, we are not going to judge you. You can tell us anything. Honesty is the backbone of this relationship. Running away and putting yourself in danger is never the answer. Understood?” 

“Yes, sir.” Chan had barely finished answering when the paddle lifted and then subsequently came down on his backside. He was unable to hold in a hiss of discomfort, the sting of the swat feeling like it was going to consume his backside whole. 

The paddle continued to fall on Chan’s backside rapidly–each stroke feeling like it was magnifying the sting and burn exponentially. Chan was crying and squirming by the fourth, and lost count somewhere around the eighth. He could hardly contain his squeals as two hard swats landed one after the after, striking on each side of his upper thighs. The skin there seemed even more delicate, causing the pain and sting to feel even more intense. Finally one almighty swat landed right in the middle of his behind, before Seungcheol thankfully put the paddle to the side and pulled Chan up into his arms. 

Chan had a vague understanding that Seungcheol was whispering sweet and soft words of encouragement in his ears, but he was too busy crying into his hyung’s chest to really process the actual words that were being said. 

“Come on, let’s get you upstairs and ready for bed.” Seungcheol pulled Chan up into his arms as he spoke, still speaking gentle words of comfort as he carried Chan up the stairs. 

– Minghao’s Bedroom – 

Despite getting used to being sent up to bed early–it was always a consequence that came with being grounded–Minghao found himself laying awake in his bed with his thoughts swirling around and around. It had been an odd and somewhat adrenaline filled day. He had felt an intense amount of fear and worry when he heard that Chan had taken off and no one knew where he was. Being intimately familiar with the ranch and its surrounding areas, Minghao was well aware of how much trouble Chan could be in. The ranch was surrounded by nothing but a lot of open land, and any number of things could go wrong from wild animal attacks, to dehydration, to getting injured from the somewhat harsh terrain–which Chan now had first hand experience with. Chan had thankfully been found fairly quickly, but for some reason Minghao couldn’t get the whole experience off of his mind. 

Frustrated with his inability to fall asleep, Minghao got out of bed and made his way over to the window seat. The window was open, allowing a gentle breeze to make its way into the room. Minghao always preferred to have his window open at night, loving the feel of the fresh air and the sounds of nature lulling him to sleep. With the lights off in his room, he could also see the stars–something that still astounded him. They were truly in dark sky country out here, which meant the stars shone brighter and with more clarity than he had ever seen growing up. The stars still took his breath away every time he looked at them.

“Couldn’t sleep?” A voice asked from the doorway of his room. He didn’t even have to turn around to know that it was Junhui standing there. 

Minghao shook his head. “I have too much on my mind.” 

“Want to talk about it?” Junhui made his way over to Minghao’s bed, sitting at the head of the bed and patting the mattress beside him. 

Minghao hesitated for only a moment, before quickly taking up the offer. He made his way over to Junhui, sliding under the covers beside the man and laying his head to rest on his shoulder. “I just can’t stop thinking about Chan and everything that happened today.” 

“What about it do you think is bothering you?” Junhui asked, reaching down to pull back the covers and sliding his own feet under the blanket as well–truly skilled, since he didn’t even jostle Minghao while he did so. 

“I–I think it was eye opening to see something similar happen to someone else,” Minghao admitted. “It was like watching my own mistakes though a different outside perspective. Everything he went through today came from his struggle and fear of being honest with them. That was the exact same thing that kept me from being honest with you all.” 

“And how does that make you feel?” Junhui began to run his hand up and down Minghao’s back. 

“It–it makes me realize how stupid I was to doubt you all,” Minghao admitted. “It makes me want to continue to be open and honest with you, because seeing it from another perspective I can see how much love there is involved–them with Chan, and you all with me. But it also makes me want to shake him and yell at him to wake up to what’s right in front of him…but I realize that’s because that’s what I want to do to myself. I’m really sorry I lied to you all and put you through everything I did…and thank you for being patient with me and being willing to work on our relationship.” 

Junhui chuckled, the movement of his body shaking Minghao a little where he was leaning against his hyung. “Oh baobei, you mean the world to all of us. We are not going to let you get away from us that easily. We are all committed to each other until the end. Got it?” 

Minghao didn’t reply for a moment, suddenly feeling choked up at Junhui’s words. 

“I said, ‘Got it?’” Junhui asked, sounding more stern than he had before, but clearly not actually upset with Minghao. Minghao still thought it best to reply with “Yes, sir.” 

“Good.” 

Minghao thought the conversation was going to end there. Junhui was going to tuck him in, kiss him goodnight, and then be on his way to his own room. The only part that Minghao got right was the kissing part. Junhui grabbed a hold of Minghao’s chin and pulled him into a deep and spinetingling kiss. Minghao felt breathless as he took in all that was unsaid in that kiss. It didn’t take long for the kiss to progress to much more–something they hadn’t done since all of Minghao’s lies had come out. 

It was a night that Minghao knew would become a special memory. It felt like many things: love, commitment, honesty, passion, and most of all forgiveness. That night was a promise that things would continue to get better and they would move forward together. 

Of course, the following morning their beautiful night was shattered by the dose of reality named Kwon Soonyoung walking in. “Do you two know how loud you are when you have sex? I had to go sleep in Jihoon’s room!”

“Kwon Soonyoung!” Joshua’s voice scolded from the hallway. “I told you to leave them alone!” 

“But hyuunnggg!” Soonyoung whined. “They are so fun to tease! You should see how red their faces are.” 

“What’s that?” Junhui asked, turning his head to look at Minghao in mock consideration. “You said that Soonyoung is asking for a spanking first thing in the morning? I think you’re so right!” 

Soonyoung turned around and took off running before Junhui could even finish what he was saying. Minghao couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all, as Junhui launched himself out of bed and chased after him. Minghao just relaxed back in the bed, too content and comfortable to follow. He heard someone enter the room, and glanced up to see Joshua walking in. Joshua perched on the bed beside Minghao’s head, running his hands through Minghao’s hair gently. 

“Everything okay?” Joshua asked, giving Minghao a gentle smile. 

“Never better.” 

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