Chapter Text
Seungmin supposed it had been too quiet that morning. They didn’t have any group activities scheduled so he’d had a lazy morning before his vocal lesson and studio time scheduled for later in the day. Felix had been gone when he woke up, off on his solo schedules for most of the day, and it had been quiet. When his phone rang sharply with an incoming message, he froze with food halfway to his mouth. He kept his phone on silent for the most part, except for…
Seungmin dropped his chopsticks, ignoring the splash of broth when the noodles hit the bowl, and reached for his phone.
SKZ Emergency
Chan: Team Meeting. My apartment. Now
Their normal group chat was always busy with one thing or another and several of them tended to ignore it for hours or even days so Chan had instituted a second group chat years ago for when he actually needed to get a hold of all of them at once. He rarely used it and every time he did, it had been for an actual emergency. It wasn’t something for false alarms.
Seungmin abandoned his lunch, grabbed a hoodie and mask, shoved his feet into his shoes, and took off out the door. Chan and Jeongin’s apartment was about a 15 minute walk and he ran into Minho on the way, the two converging on the corner two blocks away.
“Do you know what this is about?” He asked in greeting.
Minho shook his head. “No idea.”
They finished the walk in silence, their steps hastening as they got closer. Seungmin entered the door code and Minho tugged it open, holding it wide so Seungmin could enter first. Minho was right behind him when a voice called - “Minho!” - in a distinctive voice that had both of them pausing and turning back. Minho pushed the door open wide and a second later Felix slipped by him. “Thanks.”
“I thought you had schedules all day?” Seungmin asked as they made their way to the elevator.
“Lunch break,” Felix answered. “We were literally leaving the building when Chan’s text came through so it was good timing. Manager Kim is prepared to make excuses if this takes a while.” He looked between Seungmin and Minho. “Any ideas?”
They both shook their heads.
“Where’s Jisung?” Seungmin asked, just now processing that Minho was alone.
“He went to the gym earlier,” Minho answered. He was tense, his shoulders squared toward the elevator door as they waited for it to take them to the right floor. Normally, he was the first to slouch against the wall but today he stood at the ready.
The doors opened and Minho led them out. He punched in the door code at the Chan’s apartment but it swung open before any of them could reach the handle. They looked up into Jeongin’s furrowed brow as he stood back to let them in.
“He won’t tell me anything until everyone’s here,” he greeted, cutting off the inevitable questions. They followed him silently into the living room. Chan was at the dining table, his phone shoved between his ear and his shoulder as he focused intently on his laptop. “Whatever it is, it didn’t take long after for him to send out the text after the first phone call.”
Minho turned to Felix. “Did Manager Kim know anything?”
Felix shook his head. “He was as confused as I was. A little annoyed, actually, since he may have to reschedule my photoshoot later.”
Minho hummed and turned his attention back to their leader. Silence fell over the room, thick with tension, as they waited.
After only a few minutes, the front door lock beeped and the door swung open before Jeongin could get to it. Jisung clearly hadn’t had time to shower since he got the message, or maybe he’d run here from the gym, because he was covered in sweat. His eyes were wide and quickly scanned the room before landing on Chan.
“What’s going on?”
“He’s waiting until everyone’s here,” Jeongin answered him. He disappeared for a moment before returning with a wet towel that he threw at Jisung. “Clean up.”
“Does anyone know where Hyunjin was?” Felix asked. “He lost his phone yesterday and he hasn’t responded to my messages today so I assume he didn’t find it yet.”
“Again?” Minho rolled his eyes. Seungmin sympathized; this was probably the third time, at least, that Hyunjin had lost his phone in as many months.
“It’s somewhere at the company,” Felix explained. “He couldn’t find it after we left rehearsal last night.”
“It better be,” Jeongin commented. They were all a little paranoid about losing their phones; none of them wanted their personal phones in the hands of one of their fans, crazy stalkers or otherwise.
“It is,” Felix assured him. “I’m more worried that he won’t know about this meeting.”
They didn’t have to wonder for too long. Less than half an hour after Chan sent out his message, the door opened for the third time to reveal Changbin and Hyunjin. “Sorry it took us so long,” Changbin said. “Had to run home to grab him.”
Chan looked up at him in question. “Lost my phone,” Hyunjin explained. “Left it at the company last night, I think. Figured I’d look for it when I go by later.”
For some reason that made Chan grimace but he didn’t say anything. “Sit down,” he ordered.
They sat. Hyunjin perched himself on the arm of Felix’s chair while Changbin forced his way onto the couch, elbowing Seungmin and Jeongin out of his way as he wiggled his butt in between them.
The seven of them waited as Chan continued typing something and then took a slow deep breath. He picked up his computer and joined them all in the living room but didn’t sit down. “We have a problem.” Obviously. “A picture was posted a little over an hour ago and it has spread…everywhere. It’s on every single site we can check. Right now, people are dismissing it as AI but I don’t know how long that’s going to last.”
“What picture?” Minho asked, leaning forward.
Chan looked around at all of them before his gaze settled on Hyunjin and Felix. “I’m sorry. It’s of the two of you,” he said.
They both stiffened. “What is it?” Felix asked.
Chan squared his shoulders and turned his laptop around to show them the screen. There was a long pause as they all took it in before anyone reacted. Seungmin’s gut clenched so hard he nearly curled over. Minho and Changbin cursed. Jisung reached a hand towards the couple. Jeongin stood up to get closer to the screen, like he thought maybe he was seeing it wrong.
Felix and Hyunjin did nothing. They were frozen, their eyes locked on Chan’s computer.
At first glance, it wasn’t that bad, a gross invasion of their privacy but nothing damning. But if anyone actually looked at it for long enough to actually see it…
The photo was taken through the window in the door to their usual practice room - and Seungmin was sure heads would roll at the company for whoever took it and posted it - and showed Hyunjin and Felix laying on top of each other on the floor. Hyunjin was on his back with Felix on top of him, braced between Hyunjin’s legs and held up by one hand on the floor by Hyunjin’s head. Hyunjin’s hands were over his head, his wrists laid overtop of each other…Seungmin squinted and realized that there may be something holding Hyunjin’s hands in place or at least tying them together. But still, that wasn’t too bad. They were all known for being touchy with each other and there were countless images of them laying on top of each other during various videos that the company itself had posted. If it was just that, they could probably find a way to play it off.
The damning part was in the mirror. From the doorway, it didn’t look like much but the angle caught the full breadth of the mirror and in it, you could clearly see that Felix’s other hand was stuffed down the front of Hyunjin’s pants. Or, Seungmin supposed that wasn’t entirely accurate. Hyunjin’s pants were shoved down far enough that it was only Felix’s hand protecting his modesty.
“You said people are claiming it’s AI?” Felix finally asked. He’d reached over to clutch at Hyunjin’s leg, his fingers turning white with how hard he was gripping him. Hyunjin hadn’t moved. Seungmin wasn’t entirely sure he was breathing.
Chan nodded, his eyes locked on the pair. “There’s a lot of accusations flying around about inappropriate use of our images and reminders that we’ve sued people in the past for such things. And-” He cut himself off.
“And what?” Minho prompted.
Chan’s face twisted in a scowl. “A lot of people are dismissing it just because of the positions you’re in, saying it would be more believable if they were reversed. Which is fucked up but right now, it’s oddly working in our favor.”
“The company will have to make a statement,” Changbin murmured.
“They’re drafting one,” Chan agreed. “But they’re working on the wording. If this was AI it would be straightforward: call out the poster and announce legal charges against them. We’ve done it before, after all. But if it’s real, then they need to call out the invasion of privacy and the nature of the photo.” He looked back at Hyunjin and Felix, a silent question in his eyes.
“It’s real,” Felix agreed quietly. “Or, at least, that happened,” he nodded at the photo.
Chan nodded, clearly expecting that. “When?”
“Two nights ago,” Hyunjin croaked out. He grabbed at Felix’s hand and squeezed tightly, their fingers lacing together. “We stayed after rehearsal to work on some things. It was late. We’re usually the only ones still in the building at that time…” All of them were known for it by now, staying late enough that it was only them and security in the building. They even had an unspoken agreement that the eight of them were granted a degree of privacy after a certain time.
Chan nodded again and pulled out his phone, presumably to update someone in management. “Felix, be prepared for your brands to-”
“Yeah,” Felix agreed, cutting him off. “I know.” Seungmin grimaced. Felix already needed to be super careful about his image at all times, he couldn’t imagine what this would do to his sponsorships.
Jeongin appeared to get sick of staring at the image and took the laptop from Chan, quickly zooming in on the image. “Really? You need a better look?” Minho asked. But Jeongin ignored him, focusing his search on the mirror. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing if the idiot who took the photo caught himself in the mirror.”
“They didn’t,” Chan told him. “The managers already checked for that. And it was posted to a brand new account on every major social media site, all with different IP’s. Whoever it is, they covered their tracks.”
“I can’t find my phone,” Hyunjin said suddenly. Everyone looked at him, already aware of this. “The last time I saw it was at the company. I wasn’t too worried because I figured it would be safe there but if someone took that picture of us in the building…”
Chan cursed and gave up on texting, hitting Call and putting his phone to his ear. Whoever it was answered right away. “Hyunjin’s phone is missing, probably at the company.” He looked to Hyunjin. “Where?”
Hyunjin shrugged. “Maybe the practice room? Or the studio? I lost it sometime yesterday after lunch.”
Chan relayed that information to the other end of his call and hung up. “They’ll find it.” He took a deep breath. “If they don’t, if whoever took this photo finds your phone…what could they find on it?”
Hyunjin didn’t answer him. His and Felix’s faces had both paled and Seungmin suddenly didn’t want to know what it was that Hyunjin had on his phone.
“Tell me whatever it is is password protected or something,” Chan almost pleaded.
Hyunjin said nothing.
Chan cursed long and loudly. Seungmin wasn’t even sure he recognized half of the words that came out of his mouth but Felix snorted in reluctant amusement so he assumed it was impressive.
“What about the cameras in the room?” Jisung asked when Chan stopped cursing. “Security usually- but if someone took a photo, then-”
“They were off,” Felix said, only a tiny bit of doubt in his voice. “We checked,” he exchanged a look with Hyunjin and got a nod in return. “The power lights were off.”
Chan made another call and relayed the question to whoever answered. “If someone got past security to take the photo in the first place, they may have accessed the cameras.”
They waited in tense silence as Chan continued his phone call. “What time?” He asked after a while.
The couple shrugged. “Late?” Hyunjin offered.
“Maybe an hour after the rest of you left?” Felix suggested. “Maybe a little less?”
Chan repeated that and they waited again. After a while, Jeongin gave up on trying to find any incriminating information in the photo and started looking through Chan’s other tabs to view different social media platforms. Across the room, Jisung took out his phone, presumably to do the same.
“People think it’s fake,” Jeongin reported after a little while. Chan stepped away to continue his call, leaving the rest of them to consider the ramifications of the photo’s release. “Chan’s right, a lot of the disbelief is coming from how you’re-”
Hyunjin rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Seungmin was grateful; he’d been subject to more than one (usually drunken) rant of Hyunjin’s wherein he lambasted the internet’s collective heteronormativity and their view of Felix. Too many people viewed Felix as feminine and delicate because of his long hair and pretty face and it irked Hyunjin.
Felix’s phone rang, loud in the quiet room, and he pulled it out. “Hello?” He greeted. He hummed a few times before hanging up without saying another word. “Well. I don’t have to go back to work.”
Hyunjin squeezed his hand. “Which one was this?”
“Hera,” Felix told him, squeezing back. “They think we’ve done enough for today but they’ll reschedule if they decide they need more.” He rolled his eyes. “We hadn’t even done half of what was needed.”
“That’s bullshit,” Minho snapped. “It’s a photo.”
“Yeah, well,” Felix shrugged. “It’s me on top of another guy holding his dick in my hand.” Half of them winced at the blunt description. “Hera won’t be the last to call and cancel on me.”
Seungmin eyed him worriedly. Felix was playing at nonchalance, at an easy acceptance of the situation, when Seungmin knew the truth was anything but. Felix had grown notoriously private over the years, careful about every piece of personal information that he shared with the public, and to have his relationship, their sex life even, shared without his consent had to be killing him. Hyunjin obviously agreed because he shifted until he was sitting across Felix’s lap and wrapped his arms around his shoulders to hug him close. The situation wasn’t any better for Hyunjin - he was the one with his hands tied and his dick out in the photo - but he would have fewer public ramifications to deal with. Felix’s arms winded around Hyunjin’s waist and pulled him in tighter.
“Oh fuck,” Jisung let out suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at him just as Chan re-entered the room, his face ashen.
Jisung’s wide eyes were fixed on his phone. “Shit, Lixie, this isn’t-” He looked up at Chan even as he turned his phone around to show them the screen.
Chan sighed heavily. “Yeah.”
On Jisung’s phone was a picture of Felix with a blissed out expression on his face, his hair and makeup done up like for one of their shows. The photo was only of his upper body but it was clear that he was naked and there was a splattering of white covering his face and chest.
Hyunjin’s face paled dramatically while Felix went so rigid, Seungmin worried for his spine. Looking at them, it was obvious that the photo was real.
“Fuck, no, shit,” Hyunjin let out string of curses of his own. He grabbed for the phone and Jisung handed it over easily so that he didn’t fall off of Felix’s lap. Hyunjin fumbled it with one hand - his grip on Felix with his other only tightening - and eventually backed out of the image.
There were more pictures.
None of them were of Hyunjin.
“What else is on your phone?” Chan asked. His voice was quiet but carried easily in the silent room. There was a tremble in it that Seungmin hadn’t heard since he was a teenager. Chan was going to do whatever he could to protect them, Seungmin knew, but he also knew that there probably wasn’t much that he would be able to do.
“A lot,” Felix answered. “But it’s pretty much all just me.”
“Photos? Videos?”
“Yes.” Felix finally closed his eyes and leaned into Hyunjin. Hyunjin clutched him tighter.
“Baby I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Hyunjin dropped the phone and turned to Felix, using his now free hand to cup his face. “This is my fault, I’m sorry.”
Felix’s eyes were locked on the phone on the ground, the screen now dark. “It’s not your fault,” he said lowly.
“If I hadn’t lost my phone-”
“You didn’t put those pictures online,” Felix cut him off. “You didn’t do this.” Hyunjin didn’t look like he believed him, his face the very picture of guilt and anguish. It probably didn’t help that Felix still hadn’t looked at him.
“I’m sorry,” Hyunjin said again. He let out a sound that Seungmin had never heard him make before and pressed his lips to Felix’s head. They moved in what could only be more apologies.
The room was silent for a long moment.
Chan had stepped out of the room again, already back on the phone, his voice getting louder by the second, but the rest of them could only stare at Felix and Hyunjin. Seungmin wanted to do something, anything, but he had no idea what.
“Can we get them taken down?” Jeongin asked, a little hopelessly. No one answered him. They all knew that once something was on the internet it was there forever.
“Leak some of the photos of me,” Hyunjin said, nonsensically. Immediately, they all started talking over one another.
Felix was shaking his head even before Hyunjin got all of the words out. He pulled back enough so that he could look at Hyunjin. “Hyunjin, no.”
“That won’t help anyone,” Seungmin snapped.
“Then it won’t just be Yongbok,” Hyunjin snapped back.
“You have to go into the military,” Minho said sharply. “Yongbok doesn’t.” That shut everyone up.
“The first photo’s already out there,” Hyunjin reminded them. His eyes were wide, with fear or anger or something else Seungmin couldn’t tell, but his voice was steady. “We’re already out, I’m already out. Let me level the playing field.”
“No,” Chan said firmly, his tone brooking no argument. Seungmin hadn’t heard him come back into the room. He still had his phone pressed to his ear but he had obviously been keeping an ear on their conversation as well. “You’re not putting anything else out there.”
Hyunjin met his gaze, his chin set stubbornly.
“Jinnie,” Felix took his chin in his hand and forcibly turned Hyunjin to look at him. “Don’t.”
“It’s not fair that this is all going to come down on you. And because of me.”
“No, it’s not,” Felix agreed. “But you posting or leaking photos would only make it worse, not better.”
The room fell into silence once again.
“So what do we do?” Jisung finally asked.
No one had an answer.