Archive of Our Own

 Chris 

Chris wasn’t entirely sure when waking up in his own bed had become more disorienting than waking up in a random hotel room or the small uncomfortable couch in his studio at the company, but he had a feeling it was sometime in the last couple weeks since that stupid email came in. 

The faint sounds of the members could be heard somewhere in the apartment. He couldn’t tell exactly how many of his kids were there, but it was definitely more than just Ayen walking around, the leader thought to himself as he heard a large clattering sound in the living room followed by hurried movements, probably to pick up whatever fell. Chris felt his heart warm at the thought of any of his kids being around today, although he did wonder who bribed them to be there first thing that morning considering how badly yesterday's dance practice had ended. He would bet almost anything Minho hadn't come over that morning, and although Chris knew he deserved it, it didn't help the ache he felt in his chest.

Thinking about his actions the previous day brought a grimace to Chris's face. He had been such an ass, for no real reason. Or, well, not a good one, and not one he was telling anyone about. It was stupid anyway. Either way, nothing he was feeling made it okay for him to yell at Minho and Hyunjinnie like that, then storm out of practice just to lock himself in his studio for the night. 

Of course he had cried tears of frustration and guilt as soon as he had made it into the studio and he had wanted to turn around apologize as soon as it had happened, but he also knew he wasn’t in the right headspace for anyone to be around. He’d probably try to apologize,  just to end up frustrated all over again when he couldn't properly explain himself and then say or do something else to be upset and guilty over and they'd be right back where they started. Maybe even worse off. No, it was better for everyone if he separated himself for the time being, just until he could get his shit together and apologize.

The only problem with that plan was he kept telling himself he would get his shit together but then kept putting it off by finding more work to do because he was a perfectionist workaholic with chronic depression, OCD and a guilt complex a mile wide. So his shit still stank.

A loud crash followed by shouting-that sound suspiciously like Minho threatening someone with an airfryer-brought Chris back to his bedroom and he decided it was about time he joined whichever kids (and he would do his best not to hope too much for Minho to be here) had decided to brave his grumpy ass on their day off and enjoy the time he had with them before leaving to meet up with his friends in a couple of hours. 

While he was sorely tempted to walk out of his room with his whole ass hanging out, just to get a reaction out of the kids-because it ALWAYS got a reaction, even all these years later-Chris opted to throw on shorts at the very least. However, he still wanted some kind of reaction, so he took a few minutes to go rifling through his drawers before he found them, his pre-debut shorts. They were the tightest and shortest pair of shorts he owned and they were actually kind of uncomfortable, but the reactions would be worth the squeeze on his balls. 

He was rewarded for his choice almost immediately when he walked into the living room and several voices began shouting at him. He could feel the eye roll the maknae was leveling at him without even looking at him

“I don’t know what you’re all groaning about,” Ayen deadpanned when the initial shouts died down, “at least he’s wearing something.”

Chris ruffled his roommates hair, “You act like you don’t walk around just as ass naked most days, hyung-nim.”

“It’s just common decency to put clothes on for guests, you brat.”

Chris grinned and looked around his living room. His eyes immediately locked onto Hannie and Seungminnie sitting on the couch together, “Aw, but these aren’t guests, they’re my babies,” he squealed as he plopped down between the two and dragged them into a crushing hug by their necks.

Jisung returned his hug with fervor, shouting in Chris’s ear, “Channie-hyung I love you, but why are you always naked.”

Seungmin grumbled under his breath about his virtue and being grabbed at by naked old men, but didn’t actually try to get away from Chris’s hug and even gave a brief squeeze back in return, so Chris decided to stay put, arms around two of his youngest. 

Hyunjin was sitting on the floor, a large sketch pad sitting across his lap while Changbin hovered over him, bothering him and trying to get him to put away the sketch pad and play some kind of game with him. Hyunjin threw a quick, if somewhat distant smile Chris’s way. He looked around the dorm, but didn’t see anyone else, “I swear I thought I heard Minho a few minutes ago," he tried not to sound too hopeful.

“You heard him alright,” Changbin pouted, arms crossed over his chest, “Hyung, chased me out of the kitchen when I dropped a bowl out of the cabinet. He said I can come back when breakfast is over and dishes need to be washed.”

Chris couldn’t help the chuckle that fell past his lips, causing Changbin’s pout to deepen, “I’m sorry Binnie but dishes really are more your strong suit in the kitchen.” Chris’s brow furrowed, “ Is Minho working on breakfast alone?” 

Seungmin held onto Chris’s arm to keep him from standing up and shook his head, “No-”

“Chan-ah, you’ve decided to grace us with your presence this morning I see,” Minho’s cool voice cut off whatever Seungmin was about to say. 

Chris felt his smile falter just the smallest bit. He was glad the other boys were willing to ignore how much of an ass he had been the night before and just be happy on this day off, but he had always known that Minho wouldn’t be willing to play nice, that didn't make it hurt any less.

Neither did knowing he deserved it.

With comeback season quickly approaching they were in full prep mode and they had been learning a new dance routine last night with Minho and Hyunjin leading and they had come to the realization that the chorus combinations and formations just wouldn’t work for a number of reasons and when they couldn’t figure it out as quickly as Minho had originally hoped, Chris had made an uncalled for comment about wasting his time on a dance practice the two of them were under-prepared for and to call him when they were ready to be serious about teaching them the choreo so he could focus on more important things, and then stormed out. Chris couldn’t help flinching again just thinking about it and seeing the severe look on Minho’s face just before Chris turned and left. He was genuinely surprised Minho was bothering to breathe the same air as him so soon without a sincere apology first or a lot of groveling and he wondered what he had been bribed with to show up, let alone cook breakfast for everyone, but that question was quickly answered by a small hand appearing on Minho’s shoulder and a deep voice speaking up from behind the second eldest.

“Let’s just enjoy a day together hyungie, I’ve missed you all so much lately,” Felix said, and Minho melted immediately, his face taking on a softness that none of them would dare point out to him if they wanted to live. 

Chris immediately stood up, “Felix! I didn’t know you were going to be back home today!” 

Felix turned his usual sunshine smile on him and ran to give Chris a giant hug, “Hey Chris! I was able to wrap things up quicker than expected and caught an earlier flight home. I got home last night and wanted to surprise everyone with breakfast this morning. So I got MongMongie to help me kidnap everyone and force them over here. Hope you don’t mind us taking over your place for the morning.”

“Of course not, Lix. Do you guys need help with anything?”

“Everything is ready, everyone just needs to come sit at the table and Bokkie and I will bring the food out,” Minho interrupted and pulled Felix away with him and out of Chris’s grasp which he tried not to be irrationally upset about, they had all been missing the blonde lately.

Breakfast was the usual chaotic affair anything among the 8 of them was, maybe even a bit louder since it was the first time they had been able to see Felix all together without a work schedule in too long, and though there was still a small undercurrent of strain that they were all valiantly ignoring at Felix’s request, they had a good and happy meal together.

As the last of the food was eaten and they lingered over the table, enjoying each other presence in a way that was becoming increasingly less common, Chris could see Yennie and Hyune checking the time on their phones just as Felix asked, “So what is everyone up to for the rest of the day.”

Immediately he could tell that all of them wanted to cancel whatever plans they had made and spend that time doing whatever Felix wanted.

Himself included.

Maybe that was crazy, but Felix was just so busy lately with solo schedules. He was always being jetted off to other countries to make appearances for store openings and film commercials and do photoshoots and although the members and Chris himself were always insanely proud every time something new came out, whether it was a photo spread and cover for a magazine or a commercial or an announcement for yet another ambassadorship (they had a bet going on how long it would take for Felix to become the official ambassador of the World and Chris was convinced it was coming soon), they also missed him dearly. Only really seeing him during scheduled dance practices and recording sessions wasn’t enough. However, they were all well aware that Felix would be disappointed if they ditched their previously made plans to spend the day with him. He would feel it wasn’t fair to either party in the situation. So it was with great reluctance that half of the members told Felix about their plans to meet up with friends and family. 

Sungie’s brother was currently visiting the city and so he had promised to spend the day with him, Yennie was going to take the train to visit his parents and brothers for lunch and dinner in Busan before taking the last train back to Seoul and taking advantage of their late start tomorrow to sleep in. Jinnie was spending the day with his parents and Chris was meeting up with some of his friends for lunch. 

Felix was, of course, excited for all of them, and listened to Ayen, Hyunjin and Jisung talk about what the hoped to do with their family members for a bit before they each hopped up and ran off one at a time to get ready and leave. While their dongsaengs talked, Changbin stood up and began gathering the plates on the table to start washing the dishes and Chris helped him to get everything into the kitchen before wandering back to his room to begin getting ready for his day, after a shower, his skin care, doing his hair and picking an outfit, a good chunk of time had passed and by the time he came back, Minho, Changbin, Felix and Seungmin were the only ones in his living room and it sounded like they were making plans to have a picnic somewhere. 

“Hi Chris,” Felix laughed in his little gremlin voice. Chris smiled, and although it was pretty obvious Minho was still doing his level best to just ignore Chris’s presence, the five of them sat and talked in the living room for awhile, asking about some of the solo projects they each had going on and enjoying each others company.

“So who are you going to meet up with, hyung?” Changbin asked eventually. 

“Just some of my leader friends,” Chris replied. “I think Hongjoong, Coups, and Namjoon are all for sure coming, and then I invited someone new this time, Wumuti, from Xlov?” Chris could see Felix’s eyes light up in recognition and joy, and that reaction is exactly why he had extended the invitation to Wumuti in the first place. From what he had seen so far the group itself was great and he probably would have wanted to get to know Wumuti anyway to talk production style, but Felix had been enamored with their genderless concept and their choreography since he found them on Tiktok. He was hoping to make a connection with them and eventually get the company to let Lix do a dance challenge or something with them, but at the very least, give Lixie that connection to talk with the group and have more friends like himself. Chris grinned at the excitement on Felix’s face. “He said that he was coming, but I guess we’ll see for sure in awhile. I've had a couple small one on one meetings with him in the last couple months,  but if all goes well today, I hope to make us more formal contacts.” 

Felix actually jumped off the couch at that while Changbin, Seungmin and Minho laughed at how excited he was, “Wait, really? Does that mean I could do a dance challenge with Rui-ssi eventually?” 

“Rui-ssi would break your break with the choreo their group does, kitten,” Minho laughed. 

“It would be worth it!” Felix shrugged. 

“So what did you guys decide to do today?” Chris asked. 

Seungmin rolled his eyes, “Felix wants to go on a picnic and one of his million friends told him about these private gardens he's hoping to establish for idols that you can rent for a few hours to hang out in privacy.”

“They’re technically not open for use, yet,” Changbin slung an arm over Felix’s shoulder and shook the much thinner boy good-naturedly, “but, of course our sunshine here doesn’t count and his friend gave him the passcode to one of the gardens so he can go ‘decompress’ if he needs it.” 

Minho swatted at Bin, “Yah! Stop jostling your little brother around like that or you’re going to scramble his brain!” but Felix was giggling and flopping around in Changbin’s hold so they knew he was fine. 

Chris checked the time on his phone and stood up, “Alright, I have to go and meet up with everyone, I’ll see you guys later. Don’t cause any trouble for Felix’s friend.”

Seungmin gave a sarcastic salute while Chris waved a small goodbye to him and Changbin, who gave him a small smile and wave back, and Minho, who deliberatly crossed his arms and looked away from Chris, causing the oldest to sigh in resignation. Felix rushed to give him a giant hug, “Hang out with me tonight, Chris. I’ve missed you.” Chris squeezed Felix back and agreed. "Good, I'll send you a location pin for the place we're going and the code to get in, come join us when you're done with lunch, the pictures of the garden are beautiful!" Felix grinned.  

Felix

“You couldn’t even look at him before he left, hyung?” Felix asked Minho-hyung softly while they laid down on one of the picnic blankets they had brought with them, staring up at the blue sky while listening to Binnie-hyung and Minnie bicker with each other across the small park.

The whole walk to the private park all Felix could think about was the way his oldest brother’s shoulders had slumped in defeat as he walked out the door after Minho-hyung’s blatant cold shoulder and although he had heard from all of his brothers over the last several weeks of solo schedules about how Pre-Debut Chan was making a reappearance with a vengeance, he couldn’t help feeling some sympathy for Chris. He was the same when Hyunjinnie’s introverted self became entirely fed up with their idol life and and all the people they were constantly surrounded by and he snapped at everyone, including his brothers, pushing everyone away until he had spent enough time alone to find himself again in his head and all of his feelings had been expelled onto canvas or into poems and lyrics or when Hannie was feeling particularly anxious and began picking fights and getting in people’s faces to get the attention he wanted instead of just asking for help. 

After they had gotten to the park, they laid out a couple blankets Minho-hyung had brought for them to relax on and spent time deciding on what food they wanted to order. Binnie-hyung and Minnie were both doing a good job of letting go of their problems with their leader and just enjoying their day off, but Minho-hyung had continued to be quieter than usual. He had agreed to come on this picnic and he was being softer and sweeter to Felix the way he usually was, but there was an undercurrent of stress to everything he did. There was a small furrow in his usually flawless forehead, his lips puckered in a very faint pout, and while he answered questions and gave out his usual affection disguised as barbs his focus would quickly wander and he would go quiet. It only took one look from Felix after the food had been ordered for Minnie to goad Binnie-hyung into chasing him around and enjoying the truly beautiful garden, leaving Minho-hyung and Felix alone.

Minho-hyung crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes quickly flicked to the side and met Felix’s large pleading ones and then flicked over to where they could hear Binnie-hyung’s raised voice and Minnie’s cackling, “Yah, you and Kim Seungmin are the evilest menaces in Stray Kids when you work together. I don’t know why everyone thinks you’re some pure angel.” Felix felt a small smirk cross his face but he kept his mouth shut instead of trying to protest, his kitty-hyung wasn’t necessarily wrong, but Felix wouldn’t allow him to derail the conversation. Minho continued to stare at the sky for a few moments, but then with a small sigh, Felix could see a small flicker of real hurt cross over his face that he knows Minho-hyung would never let the other two see, he felt his heart twinge in sympathy. 

It wasn’t often that someone could hurt his kitty-hyung’s feelings, but if it was going to be anyone, it would be Chris. “He made it sound like not only was I not doing my job, but that his job was more important than mine,” Minho murmured, barely letting the words out. “He’s been so pushy lately, especially with Binnie, Hyunjin and I, and he won’t tell us what we’re doing wrong! He just snaps at us and storms away and locks himself up and comes back with his sorry eyes but no real apologies hoping for us all to move past it. Maybe I could let it go if it was just me, but yesterday he yelled at Hyunjinnie too and he really made him feel stupid and I’m sick of it. ” The last words snapped out of Minho’s mouth louder than he probably meant them too if the sudden silence from their companions was anything to note, and there was a small sheen of tears that Felix knew his hyung wouldn’t let fall, but were very telling for just how much all of this was hurting him. 

Changbin and Seungmin continued to keep their distance while Minho and Felix laid in silence. It didn’t take long before Minho finally asked, “Do you know why he’s being like this?” 

Felix sighed.

There was no way for him to know for sure until he had talked to Chris, and he fully intended to tonight, but he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Chris hadn’t been lying in their 2kr last year when he said that Felix knew him best, he always had. This was also something that had been brewing around in Felix’s head and worrying him too, he just wasn’t sure how to explain it to the others. 

Felix looked at Minho-hyung again who was already looking at him, and looked deep into his eyes. Any of them would listen and try to understand, of course they would, but of all of them Minho-hyung was probably the closest to really understanding. 

“The three of you just finished turning in your paperwork for your enlistment right? You three will go first?” Felix asked. Minho’s brow furrowed in confusion, obviously wondering what their enlistment paperwork of all things had to do with Chris being an asshat the day before. “What does that have to do with anything?” Minho asked.

“So you guys will be leaving soon,” Felix shrugged, going back to staring at the sky. 

“We will not!” Minho protested, “That isn’t how it works, you know that, and so does Chan-ah. We turned in our paperwork and when they have the slots available to take the three of us, we’ll go, but it won’t be for at least another year, probably closer to a year and a half. We still have the rest of this year to finish, the comeback this summer, the next Japan album later this year, our next tour, all of the festivals later this summer, the second Replay album, all of that can’t happen with the three of us taking off so it’s not like we’re just dropping everything and leaving in a week!” 

“I know that, hyung,” Felix replied calmly. 

“Then why would that make hyung upset. It’s not like he didn’t know it was coming. It’s a fact for all boy groups,” Minho asked, beginning to sound truly upset. 

Felix sighed again, “Because to him, this probably feels like the beginning of the end.” Felix peaked at Minho’s face and saw the irritation draining from his face, though the confusion remained. “You know, around the anniversary of our debut, I saw a lot of Stay making these cute tweets about Chris. Saying how he had finally officially been with Stray Kids for longer than he had been in training. I’ve even seen tweets over the years about how Chris was gifted with one kid for every year he was in training so he would never be alone again, and he’s never told me outright, but I know he’s seen those tweets. I know they mean a lot to him.” 

Felix sat up, Minho-hyung copying him, and looked around at the secret garden they had come to. The main attraction was obviously a small pond on one end of space, there was a small minimalist pavillion nearby with a few  curving stone pathways leading around the space and to the pond. There was a small play and swing set for small children that MongMongie was teasing Binnie-hyung from, though Felix couldn’t hear what exactly either of them were saying. They had chosen to lay their blankets out in the middle of the largest stretch of open grass they could find under the direct sun so Felix and Minho could laze about like the cats they were. Enclosing the entire space was a very tall and thick fence with two gates opposite each other, both needing a code in order to get in. When his friend had shown the pictures of the couple places like this he had had, Felix had loved this one and knew he wanted to bring his brothers here as soon as he had the ability to and part of him wished they weren’t talking about such a sad topic in such a pretty place. 

“I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but none of you have shown any concerns for enlistment and maybe that’s because you grew up here and you’ve been expecting it for a long time. But I think Chris is scared, that once you guys go off into the military, and we start our official hiatus, which will kick start everyone’s solo work, that at the end of it all, maybe you guys won’t want to come back and be Stray Kids anymore. Maybe, you’ll prefer your solo work, whether that’s solo albums like Minnie and Hannie are planning or solo producing and songwriting like Binnie-hyung has talked about or solo fashion adventures like Yennie has talked about. Maybe you’ll find more fulfillment in those jobs and find better family in those ventures than you have with Stray Kids.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Minho-hyung insisted, his large feline eyes wide with surprise. "Stray Kids is everything, it's our home. We're family."

“Maybe it is… But I think there’s a big part if Chris that still hurts over losing so many friends. And now he has us and we aren’t just his friends. We aren’t even just his brothers anymore, we’re his kids. We mean everything to him. I think, there’s a part of his brain, a small, stupid part, telling him it’ll be easier if any of us decide we don’t want to stay if he puts distance between us now. Do you remember, when we first met Chris? Before we debuted, when we were all still trainees?” Felix asked. Minho-hyung nodded, they all remembered the cold and often-times, mean way Chris spoke to them, the distance he kept between them. “And how, after Woojin-hyung left, he distanced himself again?” Chris wasn’t as cold or as mean as he was during their pre-debut, but he was closed off and absent in a way they had never seen from him before. 

“I remember we called BamBam-hyung to ask him what to do and he told us that was just how Chris was after losing a friend,” Minho-hyung murmured, his brow furrowed in thought. “But, Chan-ah has known about us having to enlist since long before we ever debuted. That’s something that all boy groups go through. Why would it be bothering him now?”

Felix shrugged, “There’s a difference between knowing something will happen and having it actually happen, hyungie. It’s… so much harder to tell yourself that things will still be the same in a few years when you know how much things have changed already in just a few years.”

Minho-hyung sat up straighter, concerned by the knowing tone of Felix’s voice, “Bok-ah, is that how you feel too? Are you afraid that we won’t be brothers anymore just because of our eventual hiatus?” 

Felix looked around again, slowly, not entirely sure how to answer his hyung’s question because the truth was, he really wasn’t sure. He remembered the day Minho-hyung, Binnie-hyung and Hyunjinnie turned in their enlistment paperwork for their managers to look over and, eventually, file on their behalf and even though they had already been talking about tentative plans for enlistment and a hiatus for years at that point, seeing the physical proof that within another year or two, their group would be put on hold and their solo careers would be put at the forefront had made him unexpectedly panicky. This last year was a small glimpse of what that would most likely look like for some of them, and for Felix, that meant being jetted across the world and through so many time zones back and forth he could hardly keep track of the days. For Chris it had meant days of working by himself with occasional joint sessions with 3racha, but since Chris was trying to do more and more of the arrangements for their music he spent more time alone in the studio than anyone. 

Both Aussies had met each others gazes in that meeting and he could tell they were both shaken by it more than they had expected. Felix had wanted to talk to Chris about it sooner, they had just been so busy. 

Felix startled when he felt a hand brush lightly down his arm, Minho-hyung had been watching him space out while trying to figure out how to answer his question. Felix opened his mouth to begin to attempt to explain to his hyung the mess in his own head and how there was probably an even bigger mess in their oldest brothers, but before he could there was a much louder shout than before echoing across the small garden, this time tinged with a small bit of hysteria and accompanied by Seungmin’s hysterical laughter. 

“Yah! Kim Seungmin, you annoying brat, get me out of here!” Binnie-hyung’s voice rang out loud and clear and Felix could practically see the cat ears Minho-hyung was hiding on another plane of existence, perk up before they both turned to see what would make Felix’s usually easy-going Binnie-hyung sound so nervous.

Seungmin rolling around on the ground laughing so hard he was holding his stomach and crying, wasn’t actually all that odd of a sight to Felix, the two of them were nicknamed Happy House for a reason and they actually spent a majority of their time laughing together so hard they cried. However, the last thing Felix expected to see was his very buff, but very short Binnie-hyung, stuck standing on his toes, and seemingly trapped inside of a toddler swing.

“Kim Seungmin!”

Hongjoong

Hongjoong didn’t know many people who were bigger workaholics than him, but Bang Chan was definetly one of them. Which is why when he walked into the private room they had all reserved for their lunch that afternoon, he wasn’t at all surprised to find Chan-hyung was the first of them to arrive, and that he had his laptop out and headphones on.

Of course, as soon as Chan noticed him standing there, the headphones came off and a large grin crossed his face as he stood up to greet Hongjoong. 

“Hey! It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Chan exclaimed as he squeezed Hongjoong in a tight, but quick hug. 

Hongjoong laughed and returned the hug, “Yeah, I think the last time I caught a glimpse of you was in January, I dont remember the last time we got to just hang out.”

Chan scoffed, “When do we ever just hang out?” he joked. 

Before they could sit down together, the door opened and the rest of their party joined them. Two of the people that came in Hongjoong had long since come to see as close friends, but one was a new face. Chan-hyung greeted both of their older friends, then greeted Wumuti-ssi and introduced him to everyone else. 

“Shall we sit?” Namjoon asked once all the necessary introductions were made. They all sat down around the table and Hongjoong made sure to sit between Chan and Wumuti-ssi

Hongjoong was always curious when they had new friends join them for these little get togethers. Over the years, it felt like Chan-hyung had befriended and invited just about every group leader you could imagine to have lunch with them. The number of people they had come meet with them fluctuated depending on the time of year and the year itself-they had had up to 15 people at a time come meet with them before-but It was always an interesting experience. Even if they were young leaders for new groups or older leaders for groups the rest of them had looked up to growing up, they all bonded because they had similar experiences as the leaders of their groups. They were all eager to share stories and tips about bad venues and hotels around the world and areas in certain cities to avoid for upcoming tours. 

These get togethers had very quickly become some of his favorites ways to spend time with many of the more regular attendees becoming some very real and close friends. After hearing nothing but praise from Seonghwa about Wumuti-ssi, Hongjoong hoped to leave this lunch with another close friend.

“How has your first year after debut been treating you,” Hongjoong asked. 

Wumuti smiled, “It’s been good, thank you for asking sunbaenim. We couldn’t have asked for better fans.”

“Felix has been showing me videos of your dance challenges for months now, I think he might kill me if I can’t get our manangers to let him do one with you guys sometime this year,” Chan said with a smile. 

Wumuti-ssi’s eyes brightened, “Oh that would be amazing, I know Rui and Haru would be so excited to do a dance challenge with Felix-ssi!” 

“But not you?” Namjoon teased.

Coups rolled his eyes, “We all know Yongbokkie is going to become the fifth member of their group, Wumuti-ssi will just wait until then.”

They all laughed, but Hongjoong could feel Chan tense in his seat next to him for a moment before relaxing again. 

They spent the next several minutes looking over menus, placing their orders and just catching up with one another. After their food arrived, Namjoon and Coups had gotten caught up in a conversation about enlistment that Hongjoong was caught up in listening to. It wasn’t quite time for him yet, but the time was very quickly approaching for himself and Seonghwa to enlist and his group to either continue on without them or to go on hiatus and begin their solo work. He was so caught up in listening to the conversation, it took him a few minutes to realize that Chan-hyung was being weirdly quiet and had become increasingly tense beside him. 

Not wanting to bring too much attention to him, Hongjoong snuck a look at Chan out of the corner of his eye and he could see his face was scrunched up like he was thinking about something unpleasant. Hongjoong placed a hand on his friends leg under the table, which caused him to jolt in his seat a bit, and Hongjoong sent him a questioning glance. Chan made an apologetic face and gave a minute shake of his head and then patted Hongjoong’s hand in thanks before continuing to eat his food and listening to their friends talk. 

There was no forcing Chan-hyung to talk about things until he wanted to, so until then Hongjoong would just remind him that he wasn't going anywhere. 

A well placed bite would surely help communicate that to his hyung, right?

Wooyoung

Wooyoung had no idea what he had walked into, but he knew as soon as he saw Changbin with his ass stuck in a baby swing, no matter what else happened, this had just made one of the top five favorite moments of his year! 

“Stop laughing Woo!” Changbin yelled for what felt like the millionth time since he had walked through the gate of this lovely hidden garden less than 5 minutes ago. 

Wooyoung wiped away a fake tear and heaved a giant sigh, “Okay, okay. I’m sorry Changbin-ah, I’ll stop,” he took another large breath to steady himself and avoided looking at the pout on his dear friends face knowing he would break into another fit of giggles if he were to look right at this moment and turned to the other three members of Stray Kids standing nearby. Kim Seungmin and Lee Minho were smirking at each other and also avoiding looking at Changbin-ah, while Lee Yongbok, angel on earth that he was, had an arm wrapped around his hyung's back as he rubbed a hand in a soothing manner up and down his shoulder and arm, and gave him the sympathetic ear he needed while everyone else laughed. Wooyoung could clearly see the hints of laughter in the blonde’s eyes, so he must have also found this situation hilarious, but being a good dongsaeng came first and he didn’t laugh or joke with the others. 

“So why am I here, exactly?” Wooyoung asked because no one had really explained when Changbin-ah had called. He’d just asked if he was nearby and if he could come quickly. “Not that I’m not grateful to have this memory, because truly this is one I’ll cherish forever, but…”

“Yah! Stop teasing!” Changbin-ah scolded, his ears and face were so red Wooyoung worried that they’d never go back to their normal color again. 

Wooyoung sent up a prayer for their poor makeup noonas. 

“We called because we were hoping you could help get him out of the swing,” Minho-hyung finally explained in his usual soft-spoken manner, a small smirk playing at the edge of his mouth. 

Wooyoung looked at the three other boys present, then down at himself. “I will of course help, so please don’t take this the wrong way, but is there a reason you three couldn’t do it?” he asked.

Changbin-ah huffed out an irritated breath, arms crossed and wobbling on the tips of his toes, Wooyoung had to bite the inside of his cheek to not burst out laughing agian, “Hyung is plenty strong, but we need another person. Pretty over here is strong too, but is too short to get good leverage to help lift without straining his back, and Mongmong is tall, but has almost no upper body strength to speak of and he’s also the one who got me into this mess in the first place!”

“You got yourself in there!” Seungmin-ah protested. 

“You told me I wouldn’t fit!” 

“Because you wouldn’t”

“You fit just fine!”

“I’m taller and skinnier than you!”

“Enough!” Minho-hyung barely raised his voice, but it was enough to make the two stop their squabbling. 

Wooyoung covered his face with both hands to cover the giant smile spreading across his face, “Oh my god, Changbin-ah. Please don’t tell me you let your little dongsaeng ragebait you into getting into a toddler swing.” 

“That’s exactly what he did,” Felix replied, amusement leaking into his deep voice.

“Okay, yes! I was stupid and let myself be ragebaited and now I’m stuck! Can you guys please get me out of here. My thighs are getting squeezed,” Changbin-ah whined. 

Wooyoung snorted but nodded his head and stepped up to one side of his friend while Minho-hyung took the other. They each took an arm and slung it over their shoulders, took a deep breath, and lifted straight up… but the swing came up with them. 

“Mongmong, stop laughing and come grab the seat,”Minho-hyung snapped at his giggling dongsaeng, who Wooyoung could just barely tell had his cell phone out and was recording them. “Bokkie, you too. Don’t strain your back, but try to pull down on the swing while we pull up on Bin-ah.”

“Yes, hyung,” both boys said and obediently got into position. Now, with Minho and Wooyoung on either side of Changbin-ah, and Seungminnie and Yongbokkie each standing at the front and back, they were a little crowded, but ready to try again. 

“Alright,” Minho-hyung said. “On the count of three. Ready? One, two, three!”

Wooyoung lifted his friend up as much as could for as long as he could and he could hear the two younger boys grunting and pushing and pulling at the swing while Changbin hung from between Wooyoung and Minho's shoulders and whined.

“That pinches!” Changbin shouted.

“Aish!” Minho-hyung dropped Changbin-ah on his side to grab his own ear in pain, causing Wooyoung to drop him on his side, “Seo Changbin do not yell in your hyung’s ear, do you want to die?”

“I’m sorry hyung, Seungminnie pinched my thigh and it hurt,” Changbin-ah pouted.

“You just have very muscled thighs Changbinnie-hyung, the swing is kind of stuck,” Yongbok spoke over Seungmin quickly, probably to keep him from poking at Changbin-ah too much while Minho-hyung was irritated. 

“Well that didn’t work,” Seungminnie stated, rather unhelpfully, Wooyoung thought, “ What do we do now?”

They all kind of stared at each other for a moment, Changbin was back to more or less wobbling on his toes and Yongbokkie had grabbed a bowl of fruit from a bag on some blankets nearby after Minho-hyung had stopped trying to lift Changbin-ah and now was feeding his stuck hyung a piece of strawberry, probably trying to lift his mood. 

Yongbok finished feeding a strawberry to Changbin then shrugged his shoulders, “We could call Chris? He’d know what to do?” 

Wooyoung didn’t know why exactly calling Chan-hyung (he would never be able to get used to Yongbokkie calling him Chris) was a bad idea, but he could see an immediate tension in the other three about calling him. Obviously they wanted to leave their leader out of this if they could, and Wooyoung understood that. In their own group, it was kind of an unspoken rule that calling Hongjoong-hyung was a last resort, so he simply suggested an alternative, “I could just call my mom?”

Seonghwa

“What did you think I was going to be able to do Wooyoungie?” Seonghwa demanded. 

“I don’t know hyung, but thing the last thing I expected was for you to show up with an oversized shoehorn!” Wooyoung exclaimed, exasperatedly.

Seonghwa felt the tips of his ears redden, he could admit that he grabbed probably the least helpful thing possible, but when Wooyoungie had called him, all he really heard was a lot of pained yelling and screaming and could faintly make out someone saying that Changbinnie was stuck. He had just grabbed his bag, his shoes, and the closest thing that looked long and big enough to use as a human pry bar and that happened to be an overly large shoehorn. Seonghwa wasn’t even entirely sure where he got it from, or if it was even his. 

“You know, when you said you could call your mom I don’t know why I expected your actual mom to show up,” Yongbokkie pouted and Wooyoung laughed.

Seonghwa wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair, “Am I not enough of a mother for you, Bokkie?” 

Yongbok grinned, “You’re a great mom for Ateez, but I think Minho-hyung would be sad if I ever said anyone was a better mom than him, even if he’d never admit it,” he whispered conspiratorially. 

Seonghwa bopped him on the nose, “You’re a good boy Yongbokkie, go back to your mama cat, then.” And gave him a pat on the butt as he went back to his Minho-hyung who was smirking over the shoulder of their resident puppy as he looked at something on his phone. 

“Let’s just try it and see if it works!” Changbinnie demanded.

Seonghwa wasn’t entirely sure how Changbin-ah had gotten stuck in this child’s swing, but it looked very uncomfortable. He also was almost positive his shoehorn wasn’t going to help with anything, but it might make Changbin-ah feel a bit better to at least try, so Seonghwa nodded his head at Minho who immediately came over to try and help him figure out how and where to shove this shoehorn. 

“Just so we’re on the same page, we both know this isn’t going to work,” Minho murmured when they were both behind Changbin-ah and the other three babies were in front, talking to him and feeding him some pieces of chicken.

“Oh 100% this is just for show, I don’t even know whose this is or where I pulled it from in the apartment, it just appeared in my hand before I ran here,” Seonghwa confided. 

Minho sorted out an inelegant laugh, “Okay let’s try here.” And so they began attempting to figure out how a stupid shoehorn would help them get Chanbinnie out of this stupid swing but all it seemed to do was stab him.

“YAH! Please stop just shoving that thing into my side it hurts!” Changbin begged after a couple fruitless attempts and Seonghwa and Minho immediately stopped and took a step back apologizing.

Wooyoung stepped a bit closer, his head cocked to the side just a bit, “I think if we could get your pants off it would be a lot easier to get you out of their, as it is the fabric is just kind of bunching up.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not taking my pants off!” Changbin-ah shouted loud enough to make everyone's ears ring and make Minho practically start hissing in displeasure. 

“Seo Changbin, Hyunjin-ah is not the only one I can fit in that air fryer!”

“Sorry hyung…” 

“How would we even get his pants off? Cut them?” Yongbok asked, eyeing Changbin’s legs with curiosity. 

“Yongbok-ah!” Changbin exclaimed, betrayal all over his face. 

“What? I’m just asking! I mean if we need to, we can always go get you another pair of pants from one of the dorms!” Bokkie defended, arms crossed and ears turning slightly red while Seungmin laughed behind him (Seonghwa noticed that Seungminnie also still had his phone out and seemed to have it almost perpetually trained on Changbinnie, he didn’t even want to begin to wonder how that would end).

“I just got these pants from Autry! No one is cutting them!” Changbin protested.

“Well if you got them from Autry then they didn’t cost you anything and you probably already have 5 other identical pairs at home,” Seungminnie chimed in, making sure to stay just out of sight so Changbin wouldn’t see the phone in his hand. 

“That’s not the point Kim Seungmin! You just wait until I get out of this swing, when I get my hands on you-”

“Nothing,” Minho cut him off. “You will do nothing. You did this to yourself, now calm down before you give yourself a heart attack. Kim Seungmin, stop egging him on you’re going to make his face turn purple permanently at this rate and I don’t think Eunhee-noona will appreciate that very much.” 

“Yes, hyung,” both boys muttered much to Seonghwa’s amusement. 

“Well what do we do now? Should we call Chris now?” Bokkie asked, looking concerned.

“I still think we should try to get the pants off of him,” Wooyoung replied.

Minho cocked his head to the side as he thought it over, “Honestly that might be the best way to do it, and maybe use something slippery to get him out?” Changbin covered his face with his hands, his ears going bright red in embarassment. “Aish, don’t worry Changbin-ah. Hyung will buy you another pair of pants from Autry to replace these.” Seonghwa didn't bother pointing out that Minho had ignored the question about Chan-hyung, if the look on Yongbok's face meant anything, it was probably on purpose. 

“We also might want some taller people to help pull you out of there,” Minho stated. “Wooyoung and I are taller than you, but we aren’t that much taller.” 

“You want to bring more people here to laugh at me?” Changbin demanded. 

“Hey, I haven’t laughed at you Changbin-ah,” Seonghwa reminded him. 

“I haven’t laughed at you either, Changbin,” Minho said with a raised eyebrow. 

Changbin seemed ready to protest against Minho’s claim. Seonghwa knew his friend and there was a very good chance he was telling the truth and hadn't laugh at all since finding his dongsaeng like this, but he also knew that Minho could find ways to laugh in your face without actually laughing. So Changbin couldn't refute the statement, but he certainly looked like he wanted to. 

“I can call Mangi and Yuyu, they should be together and they’re tall and strong,” Wooyoung said. 

Yongbokkie slipped his phone into his pocket while Wooyoung stepped away to text their friends, “So does anyone have scissors to start cutting his pants?” 

Seonghwa pulled his own phone out of his pocket and sent a text, while walking over to his bag, “I think I have a pair in my bag, let me look.”

Minho walked over with his own phone in his hand, fingers flying over the screen for a moment before quickly locking the screen and looking for his own bag. “I usually keep a sewing kit in my bag for when we’re backstage and it has a small pair of scissors, but I can’t remember if it’s in this bag or my other go bag… ah! Yes It’s in here.” 

“Yeah I have a sewing kit too in case any of us rips something when the stylist noonas aren’t around to help fix things. So we’ll have two pairs of scissors, they just won’t be very big.” Seonghwa looked back at Changbin’s legs,” We’re lucky he isn’t wearing denim today,” he muttered, more to himself, but Minho snorted in agreement. 

After each grabbing their pairs of scissors Minho and Seonghwa made their way back over to Changbin and Yongbokkie who was telling Changbin something that seemed to amuse him, “-I know you don’t want anyone to see you, hyung, but honestly I figured if any group might have dealt with something like this it would be them. Channie-hyung was going to stop by while we were out here anyway, so I just asked if he knew of something slippery to help get a person unstuck from somewhere. He didn’t ask any questions, just said he’d be here soon.” Changbin-ah just smiled fondly at his dongsaeng, Seonghwa didn’t think there was really anything this little sunshine could do that Changbinnie wouldn’t forgive. 

“It’s fine Pretty, I understand. You’re right if any group would have something similar to this happen it would be someone from his group, Wooyoung-ah said he texted Mingi and Yunho and they should be here soon too. Hopefully my humiliation will be over quickly, huh? And then hyung will take you shopping so you can find me a nice new pair of pants, how does that sound?” Seonghwa could hear snickering from somewhere behind them. When he turned his head he found Seungmin-ah, still with his phone up, smirking and looking like this was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. Seonghwa’s eyes narrowed, over the years he and the rest of his brothers had been witness to some of Kim Seungmin’s schemes it was never a good sign when he was just off to the side smiling like that. 

“You texted someone to come help, kitten?” Minho asked and that brought Seonghwa’s attention back to the problem at hand and away from whatever mischief the puppy saw coming, at this point what was going to happen would happen. 

“I didn’t really mean to ask for help,” Bokkie started, “Channie-hyung from SVT told me this morning he was going to be in the area and I told him I’d be out here for a picnic and I asked if he’d want to stop by and say hi or something. I figured I could just show him the garden, he could see how nice it is, pass on word of mouth about the place, that was like the whole point in Duho giving me access early, because I know so many people and he wants these places to work mainly on references between idols, so he was coming anyway. He texted me to ask for the address and I just asked if he knew of something slippery that could get someone unstuck. He said to give him 10 minutes.”

“Well, that may be unnecessary because when I texted Mingi and Yunho, I told them that Changbinnie was stuck in a swing and to bring something to help us get him out,” Wooyoung chimed in. 

Seonghwa’s eyes widened, he was starting to understand why Seungmin was snickering and he pointed a finger at him, “Kim Seungmin, did you know we were each texting people to bring something to help?” Minho’s eyes widened and he whipped around to train narrowed eyes on a now frozen Seungmin. 

“…shit,” Seungmin muttered to himself. 

“I will deal with you later,” Minho said with a terrifyingly blank face, “You texted someone too, Hwa?” 

Seonghwa sighed, “Yes, I knew Rui and Haru were in the area so I asked if they could run to a nearby store and grab some soap, who did you text?”

“Jungkook, his apartment is near here so I asked if he had some oil or something to make skin slippery that he could bring us.” 

“So there’s how many people all coming here to see me like this?” Changbin asked, now beginning to laugh at the, frankly absurd, situation he had found himself in. “And you guys are about to cut my pants off?” Seonghwa and Minho both looked down, only just remembering the scissors in their hands. “You know what? I don’t even care anymore, I’ve done much cringier things that I will never get off the internet, as long as I get out of this swing at some point before I lose all feeling in my legs I’ll be happy.” 

“I’d be more worried about my balls being crushed forever, honestly,” Yongbokkie said as he crunched on a strawberry tanghulu, where had he even pulled that from?

Seonghwa blinked down at him, “Sometimes I genuinely forget you’re a boy, and I don’t know how with that voice.” 

Yongbok simply nodded his head and crunched on another strawberry, “You're not the only one, don’t worry. The balls are still there though."

Coups

Coups had known of Channie for a long time before he even met him. When his group first debuted, it felt like every group from JYP talked about their little dongsaeng Channie. It seemed like everyone loved him. They all gushed about how talented he was and how he would eventually debut. 

Then of course, he did debut, and he didn’t just debut, he was the leader of a group of boys that he had picked himself and they were self-produced by Channie and two other members. Their group had come in already making waves, but from what he had heard from his friends at JYPE, that was normal for Channie. At the end of year awards for 2018, Coups finally got to meet this infamous Channie for himself and he was genuinely surprised because the way everyone talked about him, he had expected someone… well, taller to be honest. But it didn’t take long for Coups to see what all of his friends meant when they went on about how talented he was, but also how talented his whole group was. Even now, Coups could never quite understand how all of them went from such tiny little babies with jumpy nerves off-stage to these giant looming figures on stage. When Channie turned into BangChan on stage, he truly looked 6 feet tall and it never failed to leave Coups in awe. 

However, knowing someone for so long meant that he knew that something was bugging Channie today. He was doing a fairly good job of trying not to let it bother him too much. There was a chance that if they hadn’t invited someone new today Chan might have been a bit more forthcoming with whatever was bugging him, but there was also just as good of a chance that he would keep it to himself. Chan wasn’t someone who opened up or shared his problems easily and never had been, so Coups hoped that by letting him be and taking his time, Chan might say something on his own. Especially if it was something that was visibly upsetting him. 

So Coups spent a while talking to their new friend, Wumuti-ssi and getting to know him. Channie was always making new friends and bringing them to make even more friends, but Coups had a feeling befriending Wumuti-ssi was more for Yongbok than for anyone else. Then he spent some time catching up with Hongjoongie, his group was always up to something, having such a large percentage of a group all be the same age seemed to lead to an interesting dynamic and they seemed to cause a lot of chaos together. 

Channie still wasn’t saying anything, but he was also more relaxed, so Coups spent time talking with Namjoon-hyung, someone else he had been friends with for a long time. His group was just coming out of the period of time Coups' own group was really kind of in the middle of, enlistment. So far, things had been fine. Weird… but fine. Being on stage without everyone was probably the biggest adjustment. He missed his members, he still saw Hannie regularly and spoke to him more often than the others, but even that was harder than Coups had been expecting. Even with their tour and the new unit work they were doing, things were just different and although he knew it wouldn’t be forever, it was still hard. Namjoon-hyung commiserated with him, then told how amazing things have been now that they were officially back, how amazing it’s been to see their fans together as a group again. It made Coups feel a bit better to know that after everything, being together again would be even better.

He really hoped that whatever was bothering Channie he would talk to them or even just one of them, the whole reason Channie had started getting all of the leaders together like this (and hadn't that been crazy, little Bang Chan less than a year into his debut asking all of the leaders he knew to come out to lunches with him and other leaders and forging connections and support between them all) was so they could lean on and learn from each other, but he seemed to utilize the bonds and support he had spent years building in this way the least.

Chan

Chan was supposed to come here alone, instead he was lugging two of his hyungs and a suspicious bag of butter.

When Felix had first texted him that morning to ask what he was up to, he was already at the dance studio with Minghao-hyung going over some choreography together. He agreed to meet up afterward, but let Felix know it wouldn’t be till closer to lunch time and Felix said that was fine as he would be out with some of his brothers at a picnic and Chan was welcome to come hang out with him. However, as he and his hyung finished practice and were getting ready to leave, Seokmin-hyung came to surprise them and take both of them out to lunch. Before Chan could tell his hyungs he had already made plans, Seokmin-hyung decided to be nosy and read Chan's message to Felix asking for the address of where to meet him over Chan's shoulder and got excited to see Lixie and decided to invite himself and Minghao hyung along. Chan didn’t think Felix would care if he brought two extra people with him, social butterfly that he was, so when Felix eventually texted back asking for something slippery and a location pin, he showed the text to his hyungs. Seokmin immediately said he knew what to do and ran into the first store they saw as they started walking and came back out within minutes with a bag with a couple of blocks of butter, Chan shared a look with Minghao-hyung, but they had learned a long time ago not to ask questions about things like this and they kept moving. 

Which brought them here to a tall dark gate down a narrow alley they almost wouldn’t have even noticed if Chan’s phone hadn’t been leading them straight to it. Chan shot Felix another text letting them know they had arrived and waited only a moment before the gate was opened, but instead of being greeted by Felix’s face, it was Wooyoung from Ateez. 

Wooyoung’s face immediately split into a giant smile upon seeing Chan and his two add-ons, “Changbin-ah is going to regret saying he isn’t bothered by any of this anymore.”

Chan lifted a a questioning eyebrow, but didn’t bother asking what he meant by that and followed Wooyoung-ah, with his two hyungs close behind, through the gate. 

Wooyoung walked them through a well maintained and secluded garden that Chan never would have guessed could even be in the city like this toward a small group of people standing near a child’s swing set. 

“Is… Is Changbinnie inside of that swing?” Seokmin-hyung asked, incredulously. Chan’s attention was immediately pulled away from the small pond he had become fixated on and back towards the group of people so he could look more carefully, and he could see that his hyung was right. 

Seonghwa was standing with Minho, and Felix directly in front of one of the toddler swings talking to Changbin who seemed to be standing, more or less on his toes, holding a blanket hapharzadly around his waist with his bare legs sticking out of the bottom. He was glaring at Seungmin who was smacking Felix on the shoulder and laughing and Felix was staring at Chan, Seokmin and Minghao with giant, shiny eyes, kind of looking like he wanted to cry.

“You alright, Lixie?” Chan asked.

Felix quickly nodded his head and came to give Chan and his hyungs each a big hug, “Hi! I haven’t seen you in a while. I didn’t know you were bringing anyone with you!” Felix sounded very slightly hysterical and flicked a look back at Changbin who was no longer scowling.

“Yongbok-ah it’s fine. Hyung’s not upset they’re here,” Changbin told the younger and Chan could see Felix’s shoulder’s relax. 

“So… what happened?” Minghao-hyung asked. Seungminnie bit his lip and looked away at the same time Changbin heaved out a giant gust of air.“…forget I asked.”

“Is this what you need the butter for?” Seokmin held out the bag of butter they bought on the way over.

“You asked them to buy butter?” Seonghwa raised a perfectly scultped eyebrow at Felix whose ears flushed bright red.

“No!” he protested, “I literally told you I asked him for something slippery!” 

“The butter was Dokyeom’s idea,” Minghao-hyung told them and Seokmin-hyung grinned proudly while he continued to offer the bag of butter. Felix finally accepted the bag and brought it to Minho-hyung. 

“Do you want to try this right away or wait until Yungi get here,” Wooyoung asked Changbin. 

Changbin looked at Chan, Minghao and Seokmin, “Hyungs and Chan-ah are taller than Minho-hyung and Wooyoungie, would you guys be willing to try and help pull me out of this swing?” Chan and Seokmin-hyung immediately agreed, ready to help once they had used some of the butter. “Then let’s just get this over with.”

Minho-hyung had done his best to only unwrap one corner of the block of butter and keep the rest covered while Felix was taking the blanket from Changbin with a remorseful smile. “This is going to be messy,” Minho-hyung muttered to himself. And immediately started applying the butter. Seonghwa-hyung and Wooyoung-ah left Minho and Felix to work on Changbin themselves and struck up a conversation with Minghao-hyung and Seokmin-hung, Seungminnie was left wandering off to the side, snickering to himself and holding his phone up, trained on his best friend and two hyungs. Chan watched Felix catch Seungminnie’s eye and very dramatically roll his eyes at him, then stick his tongue out while Seungminnie snickered to himself.

Somehow, Chan thought that Kim Seungmin might have something to do with Changbin-ah’s current predicament and Chan couldn’t help but laugh quietly to himself.

Chan tuned into Wooyoung and his hyungs conversation and realized that Wooyoung-ah was just finishing asking about Seungkwan and Mingyu’s recent prince bows that had gone viral earlier this month. 

“So they’ll be enlisting soon then?” Wooyoung-ah asked, and out of the corner of his eye, Chan could see Felixie stiffen and Minho-hyung’s arms falter for just a moment.

“Mingoo keeps saying he hopes he ends up like Hoshi because he’s been busy, but having the time of his life,” Seokmin-hyung laughed. 

“Jeonghan will be done soon though, which will be nice. Coups doesn’t say anything but you can tell he misses him,” Minghao-hyung said.

Seonghwa-hyung nodded, “Minho-yah and I text Hannie-hyung in a group chat pretty regularly and he’s said he misses all of you guys.” 

“He’s made a point to visit as many of us as he can any time he’s had time off,” Chan told them. He had never said anything, but he missed his members in the military more than he ever expected. Obviously he knew he would miss them, but they didn’t live together or spend every day together, he knew they would still get to speak to each other regularly and that they would visit on holidays, but it still felt different than he expected. Things were a bit different with Hannie-hyung, they still texted him or talked on the phone with him nearly every day, much more often than the others, and it was easier to set up times to see him, but even with the easier access, it was still almost impossible to actually see his hyung all that often. They all missed each other far more than they had been expecting.

The upside to that though, was that it felt like the rest of them were sticking closer together than usual, randomly showing up at someone else’s dorm or apartment just to hangout or taking a random lunch together just because you had the time, like Seokmin-hyung had today. Minghao-hyung told the rest of them as much and Chan could see Minho and Felix exchange a small glance.

“By the time everyone is done, we’ll probably have some separation anxiety to work through,” Seokmin-hyung laughed.

“I think that’s good enough, hyungie,” Felix announced and Chan and Seokmin-hyung immediately took that as their cue to come over and try to help get Changbin out. 

“I feel like a chicken that needs to go in the oven,” Changbin grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest.

Chan and his hyung stood on either side of Changbinnie uncrossed his arms and looped them over their shoulders and put an arm each behind his back. Minho stood behind them, ready to try and push the seat down once they lifted up. 

“Ready?” Seokmin-hyung asked.

“Let’s go,” Chan replied.

———

“I really think we should just call Chris,” Felix huffed out once he finished helping Minho-hyung stand up, while Wooyung helped Chan and Minghao-hyung helped Seokmin-hyung get back onto their feet and dust themselves of

“No, no, it’s fine,” Wooyoung-ah told him, a soothing hand running down Felix’s shoulder. “I think there may have just been a bit too much butter.” That was an understatment. It took less than a second for the plan to fall apart because as soon as Minho pushed down on the swing, he slipped on all the butter he put on Changbinnie and the swing and the loss of the downward force from Minho pushing down caused Chan and Seokmin-hyung to push up too much and too fast and they ended up falling backwards straight onto their asses, dropping Changbin straight back down into the toddler seat even harder. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have kids after this,” Changbin whined. 

“Aish, you’ll be fine, Changbin-ah, we’ll get you our of there soon.” Minho-hyung tried to reassure his dongsaeng, but the fall left him looking more ruffled than usual and the reassurance fell a bit flat. 

“Where are Yunho and Mingi?” Seonghwa-hyung asked Wooyoung who just shrugged his shoulders, eyes wide. “Wait, hold on,” Seonghwa-hyung pulled his phone out and grinned. “Rui and Haru are here!”

Wumuti

After facing such a rocky start in his first year, Wumuti had been a bit skeptical about making new friends. Most other idols were genuinely nice and sweet people, but he knew that some didn’t want to risk their reputations. So when he suddenly began getting invitations to lunch and phone numbers from some of the biggest names in the industry at the moment, he had asked his friends to be on stand-by in case of an emergency and made sure to come into these meetings with as much information as he could. 

He was invited by Chan-hyung (something he had insisted on the first time they talked), and he spoke to Minho-sunbaenim occasionally in a group chat that Seonghwa-hyung had added him to (telling him he needed to be added to the industry mother group chat, and wasn’t that a fun group chat to be plopped into with the likes of Jeonghan-sunbaenim and Jinyoung-sunbaenim, telling him the dads had their own version and Seonghwa-hyung wanted to claim him before Chan-hyung could try) so he knew a bit about him personally. So far Chan-hyung seemed to be as genuine as he appeared online, if a bit more intense and blunt, which Wumuti really appreciated. So far, Chan-hyung had been quieter than Wumuti was expecting, but their older colleagues were also having lengthy conversations and perhaps he didn’t want to interrupt?

Seonghwa-hyung had told Wumuti a lot about Hongjoong-sunbaenim and maybe the fact he was the next youngest after Wumuti himself made him feel like he could relax with Hongjoong-ssi faster than he expected. He was just as funny and sassy as Seonghwa-hyung told Wumuti he was. It was easy to tell that even though they were all good friends, Hongjoong-ssi and Chan-hyung were very close because Hongjoong-ssi kept draping his body all over Chan-hyung, whining for his help to cut his food or randomly deciding to take a small bite of Chan-hyung’s arm. The others acted as though it was normal so Wumuti said nothing, but it was adorable to see.

Both Chan and Seonghwa-hyungs reached out through their managers to get Wumuti’s contact information and set up times and places to meet him, but Wumuti had not yet met any of Seventeen-sunbaenims or BTS-sunbaenims until today, so all Wumuti had to go on was information readily available to fans online. Online, both S.coups-sunbaenim and RM-sunbaenim seemed larger than life. Obviously, Wumuti knew that idols were people and as people they were multifaceted, but it was still fascinating to see the differences in person. Chan-hyung was still kind of an intense person, but he had moments where he giggled and laughed so hard it sounded like his throat was squeaking, and seeing the infamous leader of the demon line of Ateez turn into such a child around Chan-hyung was jarring, but at least Wumuti had already started to see a bit of that difference before this lunch. 

RM-sunbaenim was… Well he was kind of a nerd. He was also much clumsier than Wumuti was expecting. Both of these traits put together made for an especially endearing combination. So as RM-sunbaenim talked to the table about a museum exhibit he had recently visited and his thoughts on it, he also somehow managed to smack his knee into the underside of the table while adjusting his sitting position and rattling half of the tables silverware and plates all over the place and sloshing water out of his own cup (Wumuti only then noticed that at some point one of the other had moved everyone else’s drinks to the far side of the table from where RM-sunbaenim was sitting so Wumuti could only assume it had happened before). There wasn’t even much of a stutter in the conversation other than a quickly muttered curse word from RM-ssi himself, then the silverware and plates were quickly corrected, the little bit of water was mopped up, and their lunch continued on as though nothing had happened. 

S.coups-sunbaenim seemed to be a teddy bear of a man and also a man of relatively few words, but he was a wonderful listener. The longest he spoke was about his own groups ongoing enlistment period and the adjustments their team was going through as a result and how different it all was (and Wumuti was heartened to know that this group of friends could speak to each other so plainly about stuff like this and the others would not only listen, but offer advice and support as needed) and outside of that he was an active listener for everyone else. He listened to everything RM-sunbaenim had to say about his museum trip even when it seemed like he was a bit lost on the subject, asking clarifying questions, not only for himself but so the rest of them could try to understand a bit better too.

Overall, Wumuti was happy he had decided to come to this lunch and he would do his best to come to any future ones Chan-hyung invited him to. Having a group of friends like this would help to make navigating things for his group so much easier and his group members would love to make new friends with everyone too.

Haru

Haru had no idea what was happening. 

Rui-hyung had invited him out to go shopping and have lunch in the same area Wumuti-hyung was supposed to be meeting some new friends, this was something they had started doing just in case something went wrong or Wumuti-hyung needed a quick out, and he needed a friend close by. While they had been looking at Rui-hyung’s phone trying to decide where they wanted to go to eat lunch, a text had come in from a new-but quickly becoming close- friend, Seonghwa-hyung from Ateez asking them for some help.

Rui-hyung checked the location pin Seonghwa-hyung sent them and when they realized it was still fairly close in case Wumuti needed anything, they decided to go help. 

Stopping to get the soap took them longer than Haru wanted to admit, mainly because they had no idea what kind of soap to get, but they ended up just grabbing a random dish soap and some hand soap and a couple large bottles of plain water, just in case, because the location pin showed them in some kind of park or garden sapve and Rui-hyung said they might not have water to rinse whatever they were using the soap on. 

Finally, they ended up finding their way to a narrow and easily hidden alley with a tall gate at the end, and when they were let in by Seonghwa-hyung, the last thing Haru was expecting to find, was some of the biggest stars in the world, let alone one of the best rappers in the world… stuck in a goddamn swing. 

And not only was Changbin-sunbaenim stuck in a swing, but if Haru was hearing this correctly, Seungmin-sunbaenim, someone that Haru had always seen as very serious in their industry, had ragebaited him into getting into the swing-and was now walking around the edge of everyone, occassionally snickering, and keeping his phone recording everything that was happening. Minho-sunbaenim had smeared… butter? On his dongsaeng and the swing. Butter that Seventeen-sunbaenims had brought them. 

Rui-hyung was doing a much better job of keeping a straight face so Haru had no idea if he found this entire scenario as crazy as he did, but everyone else looked like this was completely normal, so Haru didn’t really know how to react or what to say. Even Changbin-sunbaenim looked weirdly comfortable to be stuck in a toddler swing. 

“You look so confused,” a surprisingly deep voice said from much closer than the Japanese boy was expecting, causing him to startle. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you knew I was here.”

Haru turned and came face to face with blonde hair and… “Wow, you really do have a lot of freckles!” 

Felix-sunbaenim smiled and his eyes turned into little crescents. He had seen fans online say that his smile was like sunshine and they were right. “I know! Have you ever tried to add some with makeup? I bet you’d look really good with makeup like that!”

“Thank you, Felix-sunbaenim,” Haru replied with a small bow.

“Oh, I’m sorry, what year were you born?” the blonde asked. 

“2006, sunbaenim.”

“Oh, wow, that wasn’t what I was expecting, you’re such an amazing dancer! Please, call me hyung!” Felix insisted, another bright smile on his face, and a small hand squeezing Haru’s shoulder before a smooth voice called from the swing set.

“Yongbok-ah, come help hyung put this soap on Changbinnie’s legs, I’m afraid if the puppy gets too close Changbin will try to eat his phone to get rid of the videos he’s been taking.”

“Should I call Yunho and see if he died or something? What could be taking him and Mingi so long?”

“Kim Seungmin bring me that phone right now!”

“…Guys we never went to get lunch, and my stomach is making noise now.”

Yeah, Haru had no idea what was going on, but so far things had been interesting and it didn’t seem like things would stop being interesting any time soon so Haru figured he’d just enjoy it and make some friends while he had the chance.

Namjoon

Something was definitely bothering Channie, but Namjoon was not going to be the one to try to get it out of him.

He had tried before, it never really worked. His kids were usually the best for getting him talk about things, Namely, Minho or Yongbok, and neither of them were here for Namjoon to throw at him so he figured he’d just keep talking. 

So far, Namjoon really enjoyed getting to know Wumuti-ssi. He was polite (he hadn’t even batted an eye when Namjoon had almost knocked half the table over and that was always points in his book) and well-spoken and from what Namjoon had been able to see online, was a well loved leader. Like Channie, Wumuti-ssi had been able to pick his own team and it seemed like the four of them were very close. He also spoke very highly of his team members and how wonderful they were as individuals, not just the team itself, and that was something Namjoon always admired in a leader. 

Toward the end of their lunch Channie seemed to get antsy. He had gotten fairly tense somewhere in the middle of their conversation, but had relaxed again at some point so Namjoon wasn’t entirely sure what was upsetting him. He had been as attentive as usual to Hongjoong, if quieter than usual, but as they sat over the last bites of their lunch, doing more talking at that point than eating, Channie started fidgeting like he wanted to say something but wasn’t entirely sure if he should or how to say it. 

Finally, despite telling himself this had never really gone well in the past, Namjoon decided to be a good hyung and ask, “What’s up over there Channie?” Chan looked like a deer in headlights, eyes wide, mouth hanging open just a touch. He didn’t seem to realize he wad fidgeting as much as he was, how adorable.

Namjoon honestly didn’t expect Channie to say anything, he normally didn’t, but whatever was bugging him must have been bugging him pretty badly because within just a few seconds he was talking. “I’ve been worried lately. My three oldest, they’re filling out their paperwork to begin looking for places for enlistment late next year or early 2028.”

Coups nodded his head, “Yeah I guess it would be almost time for them, huh?” Chan agreed, but he looked conflicted. 

“What are you worried about?” Namjoon asked. 

Chan didn’t say anything for a moment. Namjoon and the others gave him some time to think, and Honestly, Namjoon still wasn’t entirely sure if Chan would tell them anything more, but eventually Chan met his gaze and just shrugged.

“I don’t really know, hyung. Nothing rational, I guess.”

Well that was a start, and Namjoon told him as much, “Most people can’t even tell themselves when they’re being irrational so at the very least you have that going for you.”

Joongie put an arm around Chan, “You know you should talk to Bokkie.”

Chan sighed, “I know. I’ve been meaning to, honestly, but he’s been so busy. I swear he’s in 5 different countries a month for his solo schedules and then he has our group schedules on top of that. I don’t want to overburden him.” 

Ah, yes. Yongbokkie seemed to be everywhere these days and Namjoon felt a swell of pride for him. He wasn’t one of Namjoon’s kids, but he knew how hard Yongbok had worked all these years and to see how far he had come was heartwarming. “You know he won’t mind, the kid probably misses you too,” Namjoon reminded him. 

“You said he’s home today, right?” Coups asked.

Chan nodded, “Yeah, he’s actually on a picnic right now with Minho, Seungmin and Changbin. He told me where they’d be. If they’re still there when we’re done here maybe I’ll go meet up with them. Felix said he wanted to hang out tonight anyway. Minho might not be very happy to see me…”

“Why wouldn’t Minho-sunbaenim be happy to see you, hyung?” Wumuti asked.

At that, Channie’s ears and face went a bit red,, “I was kind of a dick to him last night at dance practice and I havent really apologized to him or Jinnie yet.” Channie’s face twisted with guilt before he took a deep breath and continued, avoiding eye contact with everyone like he was confessing to some grave sin, “Actually, I’ve been kind of a dick to all of my kids in general lately because I’ve been letting my irrational fears and worries get to me, and I haven’t properly apologized to my team because I’m afraid that if I don’t talk it out and figure myself out first, I’ll just make things worse instead of apologizing properly.” 

“Oh hyung,” Hongjoong sighed as he wrapped Chan in a brief, but firm hug. “It’s alright. We’ve all let our emotions get the best of us before.”

“It’s been weeks, Joong,” Chan whispered.

“Pre-debut Chan was years for some of them, Channie,” Namjoon reminded him as gently as he could. “As long as you give a proper apology and you explain what you’ve been so worried about to them, everything will be fine. Your kids love and adore you. Their feelings are probably hurt, Minho-yah is probably more hurt that you’re hurting the other kids than he is that you’re being mean to him. It’ll be alright Channie.”

“I haven’t always been the nicest with my members. I love them, but I know that not everyone loves our group's concept and the best way to combat the hate is to have as few flaws in our performances as possible, and there have been times I’ve gone overboard. My members always listen and forgive me, I know as much as your kids love you, they’ll listen and forgive you too,” Wumuti offered as comfort.

Chan nodded and offered them all a shaky smile before thanking them for their advice and comfort. Namjoon knew that things would work out just fine for Chan and his kids, so he led the conversation to other topics and let Channie sit and think in silence.

Yoongi

Yoongi didn’t know why he agreed to come with Kookie when he said he was going to run out to help his friend really quick.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true, he did know why. He wanted to see Lee Minho. It had been some time since he had talked to the dancer for more than just a quick second behind the scenes of an event they both happened to attend. He knew that Kookie and Minho-yah, once the younger had debuted himself and they had remet at the MGA Awards in 2018, had maintained a fairly close friendship over the years. The few times Yoongi had been able to see Minho or any of his member, he was always fascinated and entertained, especially when the blonde one was around, Felix. He was just so happy and smiling all of the time and Yoongi enjoyed being in the presence of people who were so happy, so he had tagged along. 

Now, watching his own dongsaeng hand over a giant bottle of baby oil-stopping to buy that on the way here was a weirdly anxiety inducing experience that kept him checking to make sure his hat was pulled down over his face and his mask was pulled all the way up multiple times, he did NOT need baby rumors right now-to Minho-yah’s sunshine-like dongsaeng while the puppy-like one took videos of the last one, Changbinnie, stuck in a swing and covered in soap suds and… was that butter? Yoongi was questioning his life choices just a bit.

While Wooyoung and Seonghwa from Ateez, a group he didn’t have as much of a relationship with but he had been seeing around for just as long as Stray Kids, stood together staring at an app on one of their phone’s, seemingly trying to find the location of some of their other members, maybe they were meant to be meeting them here at this secret garden? 

There were also three members of Seventeen here that Yoongi knew better, two of which were close friends of Kookie’s, Haohao and Dokyeom, who were quick to greet them both with hugs. 

The last two members of this impromptu industry get together were from a relatively new group and it took Yoongi a moment to remember their names, but he was fairly sure they were from the group XLOV, though they did look a bit different without the usual makeup he saw them in onstage and in pictures and videos online. He didn’t always remember the names of newer groups, but he remembers Kookie telling him about them and being interested when he heard about their concept and saw some of the videos and pictures. 

“You want to try adding, baby oil to this mess, hyung?”

“Are they really bringing everybody? I told Yunho I only needed him and Mingi when I texted him!”

“How many people are going to see me in this swing without my pants by the time we leave? Should I start charging everyone, hyung? I put a lot of work into these legs and I know they look nice, so I probably shouldn’t be just showing them off to everyone.”

Yoongi looked at Kookie who seemed to be enjoying the chaos around them way too much, “Do you think Bang Chan knows what’s going on here?” the older asked. 

Jungkook snorted and shook his head, “Hell no, if he did Changbinnie wouldn’t still be stuck.”

Yoongi nodded his head and took a minute to think about that watching everyone else, “Are you going to tell him?”

Kookie looked at Yoongi like he had grown a second head, “Do you want to see someone die today? I’m not saying a thing.”

Yoongi smiled and nodded his head at Kookie’s fellow 97’ liners, “I think Dokyeom just took a picture of Felixie there holding the butter, the soap and the baby oil all at once and said he was going to send it in your group chat because Bamie would think it’s funny.”

Jungkook puffed out his cheeks for a moment before blowing the air out, “Well that will be interesting,” just as his phone pinged with the text tone Yoongi knew was for his 97’line group chat. Yoongi smiled and Jungkook laughed.

“I still think we should just call Chris.”

“…Who is Chris?”

Yeosang

Now Yeosang knew why Wooyoungie had originally only asked for Yunho and Mingi, although from the look of how full the garden was when they arrived, they weren’t the only ones to bring extra people so he didn’t feel bad that all of them were seeing Changbin stuck in this swing. They were just the only ones to bring their entire group, sans their leader. Whoops.

As soon as they got into the garden space, they quickly said their hellos and Jongie beelined straight to Minho-hyung and, with a completely straight face, handed over an obscenely large bottle of lube before ditching everyone to lurk on the outskirts with his usual partner in crime, Seungminnie. Yongbokkie had gone over fairly quickly after saying hello to Yeosang and the rest of his brothers, and given Jongho a hug and the three of them had smirked and giggled together for a few minutes and eventually gotten Jungkook-hyung, Chan-hyung, and Haru to all come talk with them. They all made for a very cute maknae huddle and he had seen multiple hyungs take their phones out to take pictures when they would smile and laugh together. 

Yeosang could hear Seonghwa and Minho-hyungs trying to figure out what would be the best thing to try on Changbin-ah now that they had so many options at their disposal. 

“Maybe we should text Jeonghan-hyung and ask? He would probably know, he should be on a lunch break, right?” 

Seokmin-hyung and Minghao-hyung had apparently ordered a bunch of pizzas not long ago and they got delivered at the same time the rest of them had shown up so everyone else had ended up spread around, not so much on, the second blanket Minho-hyung had apparently brought for the picnic he, Changbinnie, Seungminnie and Yongbokkie had originally come here for before things had gone to shit, just munching on pizza and talking as if they were all old friends. 

Of course, some of them were old friends, Ateez and Stray Kids had known each other and been friends forever and the same could be said for BTS and Seventeen. Beyond that, all of them had been in the industry together for nearly a decade now, so even if they weren’t super close they all knew each other well enough from behind the scenes and Rui and Haru fit in like they had always belonged. They spared no time joking with everyone and sharing their own stories and Yeosang, and everyone else, adored them for it. 

Yeosang wasn’t even entirely sure why everyone was still here, yes they were each asked to come help, but no one was keeping them here. It just seemed as though everyone decided that this random secret garden was a good place to eat lunch and hang out until Changbin was freed or they all got bored. It was a nice day, the sun was out, but there was a good amount of breeze so it wasn’t too warm. The pizzas Seventeen-hyungs had bought for everyone smelled amazing and tasted even better.

Maybe they should have been more urgent about getting Changbin out of the swing, but he didn’t seem panicked, just mildly irritated whenever Seungminnie got too close or too obvious in his filming. Which of course, Seungminnie made sure to do every so often to rile his hyung up, just for fun it seemed, before seamlessly melting into the background of all the other idols idling around, but for the most part he was fine. 

Or maybe he was just doing a good job of pretending like he was fine. 

“Changbinnie-hyung, don’t you want some of the pizza,” Yongbokkie asked again, a furrow forming between his brows as his hyung again refused anything to eat. 

Changbin did his best to smile at Yongbok, but Yeosang could see that his smile was becoming more and more strained, “Thank you Bokkie, you’re such a considerate dongsaeng, trying to feed me. Hyung isn’t very hungry right now though.” 

Minho-hyung’s head snapped up as he elbowed Seonghwa-hyung in the side, Minho-hyung seemed to type out a message on his phone as quickly as he could without really looking at the screen and then shoved the device in his pocket. 

“How are you feeling, Changbin-ah?” Minho-hyung asked. Yeosang could tell that the rest of their friends were doing their best not to stare or appear to be listening too closely.

Changbin met Minho-hyung’s stare, his eyes flickering toward Yongbok for just a moment before replying, “I’m alright hyung, just hanging out.” Changbin’s waggled his eyebrows to emphasize his bad joke, making Yongbok groan and walk away.

Minho-hyung kept his eyes on Changbin-ah but started talking to Seonghwa, “We already tried the butter and the soap, lets just try the baby oil  and see how it goes.” Seonghwa-hyung nodded his head and grabbed the bottle of baby oil and called Yongbok back over to help Minho before coming over to where the rest of their group was sitting to grab Yunho, Mingi and San. 

“I need you two to pick him up and do your best to hold him up while Minho and Sannie try to pull the swing down off his legs, alright?” Hyung asked and Yunho, Mingi and San were quick to agree. 

Yeosang edged his way over to Seungmin who was no longer filming everyone and was just sitting off to the side quietly waiting to see what would happen. “How long has he been in that swing now?” he asked.

“A little over an hour,” Seungmin replied quietly, eyes downcast. “I didn’t think he’d be stuck for this long.” 

“They’ll get him out soon, I’m sure. If nothing else, there’s always bolt cutters,” Yeosang told him. 

Seungmin bit his lip to suppress a smile, “I thought of offering something like that first since it seemed like the simplest solution, but then someone offered the idea of something slippery and the mental image was too funny to pass up. I’ve just been waiting until they exhausted this course before offering up that idea.”

Yeosang smiled, glad to see Seungminnie smiling again, “Maybe offer a chainsaw first, just to see what they say. Then the more sensible option of bolt cutters.”

“Where would we even get a chainsaw?” Seungmin laughed. 

“This garden is full of world-famous idols, I’m sure one of us has the money to go buy one,” Yeosang shrugged. 

“Oh, yeah,” Seungmin deadpanned, “That’s just what we need. Some fan seeing one of us buying a chainsaw.”

Yeosang grinned, “I think the rumors would be interesting, especially depending on who they caught buying it. I bet if Bokkie got caught they’d think he was doing something to cure world hunger or something.” 

Seungmin snorted and stood up, dusting the grass clinging to his pants off and took his phone back out. “I think they’re about to try and yank him out again, I need to make sure I take a video so I can send it to Han later.”

“He’s going to be upset he wasn’t here to see this in person,” Yeosang commented. 

Seongmin nodded, “Yennie, too. Hence all the videos.”

Yeosang side-eyed his friend, “And it has nothing to do with the life-long blackmail you’ll have at your fingertips of Seo Changbin stuck in a swing with no pants on?”

Seungmin only smiled. 

Jeonghan

Jeonghan had felt his phone buzzing in his pocket for the last couple of minutes. He only had about 2 minutes left of his lunch break and then there was a strict no phone policy back at his desk, so he pulled his phone out to see if it was something he needed to answer or if it could wait until he got out in a few hours. 

[In Mother We Trust]

[12:52pm]
KnowKnow: Hannie-hyung, would you happen to know which of these would be most effective in getting someone unstuck from somewhere
KnowKnow: somewhere like say, a plastic bucket seat toddler swing?
KnowKnow: [Image Attached]
KnowKnow: We have butter, dish soap and hand soap, baby oil, and strawberry flavored lube.
KnowKnow: We tried the butter and soap, but we could always try again but with more if they seem like the best option.

Jeonghan sighed, he was definitely seeing Channie and Dokyeom at the edge of that picture, who knew how many of the other kids were there. 

He did not have the time to deal with this, so he dialed a number he knew by heart.

Coups picked up on the second ring like Jeonghan knew he would, “Hannie?”

“Ddadu, do you know what your kids are up to?” he asked.

“My kids? Oh no, what did they do?” Coups asked, a nervous edge to his voice that made Jeonghan smirk just a little,

“Go find your kids, Cheolie, I just got a text and picture from Minho-yah in our mom group chat and they’re making a giant mess with Channie’s kids. Go fix it, now, before someone gets hurt. I have to get back to work.” Then he hung up. 

Hopefully no one ended up in the hospital. On the bright side, Yongbokkie looked very cute in that picture, even if he was holding an obscenely large bottle of lube.

Chris

Coups hung up the phone and immediately locked eyes with Chris, “You said your kids went on some kind of picnic today?” 

Chris was confused, “Yeah? One of Felix’s friend has a private garden you need an access code to get into so they wanted to go hang out in the sun and have a picnic in private, why?” 

Coups pulled up an app on his phone, a tracking app, the same one Chris used to keep track of where the members were and he could see three of the pins in a small area together. Chris pulled out his own phone and checked his app and he could tell that his four pins for Minho, Changbin, Seungmin and Felix matched up with where Coups’ three pins were and the address pin Felix had sent him earlier. 

“Who are those pins?” Chris asked.

“Dokyeom, HaoHao and Channie,” Coups replied. 

“Uh, guys,” Wumuti’s unsure voice sounded from next to Chris. “I think two of mine might be there too, Rui and Haru,” then he turned his phone and Chris realized he also had the same tracking app and two pins in the same spot. 

“How did you know to look?” Chris asked. 

Wumuti chuckled, “Because I think Minho-ssi meant to text Jeonghan-ssi in a private message, but accidentally clicked on our mom group chat. Hongjoong-ssi, Namjoon-ssi, you might want to check your own team’s locations if you can, because I think I can see people from your teams in the back of this picture Minho-ssi sent in the group chat.”

Namjoon-hyung and Hongjoong whipped their phones out faster than Chris thought possible and within seconds they confirmed they also had team members there. 

“Yoongie-hyung and Kookie are both there,” Namjoon sounded confused.

“Why is my entire team there without me, I feel left out!” Hongjoong exclaimed. 

“Hannie said we should get there because something was going on,” Coups pressed on, and Chris sighed but agreed. 

“Alright, let’s go then.” Each of them took their wallets out trying to pay, but in the end, Namjoon insisted that as the oldest, he wanted to pay for everyone before they all rushed to find their members.

---

All Chris could hear as he followed behind his friends into the garden was the tail end of a conversation. 

“… tried the butter, the soap, and the baby oil! The lube is our last option and if that doesn’t work I don’t know what we’ll do!” was that Seonghwa’s voice?

On the other end of the hidden and beautiful garden they had found themselves in was an oddly large crowd of young men standing in front of a toddler swing. He and his fellow leader’s didn’t even make it 5 steps past the gate before they came to a stop.

A toddler swing with a full grown man stuck in it. 

Was that Changbin?

What the actual fuck was going on?

“If the lube doesn’t work, we could always try a chainsaw.” That was Seungmin. Chris sighed, he would know that voice anywhere, he also knew that tone of voice and knew the idea was thrown out simply to cause chaos.

As if on cue, “Yah!” Changbin yelled, shaking a fist at Seungmin’s too calm face. “You’re not coming near me with a chainsaw you psycho! It’s your fault I’m stuck in here in the first place!” 

“I know a guy with a chainsaw!” Another voice chimed in, it took Chris a moment to a place it, but then he saw Coups drop his head into his hands and realized it was Dokyeom offering up a chainsaw. Chris didn’t even want to know who the person with the chainsaw was. 

Finally, a voice of reason, “Can we really not just call Chris?” Felix asked, hands on his hips and deep voice full of attitude. 

Minho’s answer was almost instaneous, “No.”

Felix stomped his foot, “Come on Minho-hyung! Binnie-hyung has been stuck in that swing for over an hour now, I can tell his legs and pelvis are starting to hurt. We’ve cut off his pants, covered him in butter, soap, cold water, baby oil, and now strawberry flavored lube while tons of our friends have come at the drop of a hat to keep us company and help with what they can. Now people are talking about getting chainsaws even though I know for a fact that Seungminnie wasn’t serious about the chainsaw thing. This is getting ridiculous! I’m calling Chris!” 

The garden was quiet as Minho stared at Felix, who stared right back. Anyone other than Felix probably would have died for talking to Minho that way, even one of the hyungs, but Felix was Minho’s baby. 

“I don’t think you’re going to have to call him,” Yoongi told them and gestured back towards where Chris and the other leaders were staring at the scene in front of them. 

Chris honestly had no idea what to say. His brain was quiet and full of static. Without really thinking he started walking forward. 

He had no idea what his face looked like, but he had to assume it wasn’t a good face because everyone scrambled out of his way. 

He made a beeline straight for Changbin. His poor dongsaeng looked tired, his upper thighs where they were entering the swing from the bottom and his waist were covered in a very shiny substance, most likely the lube Felix had mentioned. Chan could see the pieces of what had once most likely been his pants sticking out of the top of Minho’s bag on the ground. He could see several bags, each with different things they had tried sitting lined up next to Minho’s bag. A large block of butter that looked half used, a couple different kinds of soap and a large bottle of water and a large bottle of baby oil. Felix, who was still standing next to Chanbin, was holding onto the bottle of lube. 

Chris held his hand out to Felix who handed him the lube without question and then scurried out of the way, his face must be really bad if even Felix wasn’t saying anything, he thought to himself. He took the lube and spread even more than they originally had on there, doing his best to get it inside the swing itself, not just on the edges of the swing and Changbin’s skin. 

Then he threw the bottle to the side and picked up the scraps of Changbin’s pants to wipes his hands off as best as he could and turned to gesture for Coups to come help him. Chan squatted down and grabbed Changbin by the swing between the legs and flipped him completely upside down. Changbin screamed in surprise at the sudden change, but when he realized that Coups had grabbed him by the shoulders and Wumuti had stpped forward to help push his legs, he immediately calmed down and left it to them to help him. In less than 2 minutes, Chris and his friends were placing Changbin back on his feet and Chris was handing him a blanket to wrap around his waist. 

Changbin hugged him and said thank you and hugged Coups and Wumuti and thanked them too, and the whole time Chris still hadn't said a word. After another few moments of standing there, Chris walked away. 

Felix

Felix watched Chris walk away, his face still scarily blank.

Minho-hyung was babying Binnie-hyung, making him sit down and looking at the spots on his upper thighs and torso where the swing had rubbed at his skin and shoving a piece pizza into his hand, but Felix could see him watching Chris walk away out of the corner of his eye. Their other friends were talking to their own leaders, telling them what they had been doing that day and how they had come help and then just ended up sticking around.

Their leaders in return, were telling them about how they had ended their lunch and had all come to the conclusion a bunch of their members were gathered all together and they had come to see what was going on. Seonghwa and Wumuti shared a laugh over Minho accidentally texting Jeonghan in their mother group chat rather than privately and Jeonghan calling Coups to tell him to go track down his children.

Felix couldn’t just stay there when Chris looked so blank in the face, there was no telling what was going on in his head, so he followed him. It took less than a second for him to hear three other sets of footsteps following him. Seungminnie fell into step beside him and grabbed his hand to give it a quick squeeze before backing off again. 

When they caught up to Chris, he was near where the pond and fence met and he had found a small shaded patch of the garden that was somewhat hidden from where the others were still talking and hanging out by bits of foliage and  a bench to sit and enjoy the pond. Chris was crouched on the edge of the pond. 

Felix approached slowly, “Chris,” he called. 

Chris’s head was down and his hands were covering his face. His shoulders were shaking just a bit, but there was no noise coming out of him. Felix looked back and shared a worried glance with his hyungs and Seungmin. 

“Chris,” he tried again, this time he put a hand on Chris’s back, hoping to offer comfort to his oldest brother if he was upset. 

To his surprise (and honestly he almost shat himself just a bit) as soon as he touched him, Chris spun around and grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a giant hug and his shaking, was because he was cackling to himself.

Felix pulled back and punched Chris on the arm, “Oi, you cunt, you scared me!”

Chan was still laughing, his eyes had starting to water and their were tears streaming down his face. It took him another minute to calm down enough to talk and when he did he spoke to Minho first. 

“I am so sorry for being such a dick yesterday and for being a dick in general these last few weeks. I do have a reason as to why I’ve been such a dick, but it’s not a good one and I’ll explain later I promise, but please promise me that even if I’m a grade-A piece of shit you’ll call me and you will never just leave your brother in a swing like that again because Namjoon is never going to let me live this down.”