Saeyoung's leg shakes as he sits at his computer desk, phone to his ear.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Answer—I know you're avoiding me," Saeyoung says, into the phone. Doesn't change the fact that he's talking to a voicemail recording. "Dammit!"

Change of strategy. Saeyoung finds another contact, and hits the call button.

"Hey, something the matter?"

"ZEN! Zen…Zenny…my friend, no, why would anything be the matter?" asks Saeyoung.

"You don't usually call me unless there's some issue, and you know I'm in the middle of practicing right now. Is there a problem with the bot?"

"Oh, no, well, I mean, could send a selfie later? I know it would increase the views, yeah, maybe something where you're just about to take off your shirt? Or maybe, already took your shirt off, and the pants are…"

"Hold on a second," says Zen. Saeyoung hears the microphone muffled as Zen talks to someone nearby.

"No! I had a reason to call! Damn sexy Zen distracting me from my mission…"

"You still there? I have to go, my solo's up next," says Zen.

"Real quick! Zen, what happened with Jumin the other day? I can't get a hold of him, and no one's seen him since your meeting. I have a bad feeling—like something bad may have happened."

"Ah, that guy, he's from another planet, who even knows what he's doing, or thinking…"

"But at your dinner date?" asks Saeyoung.

"Not a date—we had a meeting, over dinner, about business," says Zen, patiently, as though explaining to a child. "I guess the cat food brand wants a new run of print ads, and a commercial to play on national television. I was okay with the idea, but I had some concerns and requests. As I'm listing them off, that jerk's not even writing anything down, just staring with that same, creepy expression. . I asked if he was taking notes, and he said that if I didn't stop making so many demands, he was going to bite me. Then, he did."

"Bite you?" asks Saeyoung.

"Yeah," says Zen, voice rising. "Right near my neck, I couldn't believe it, I'm wearing a scarf today—a scarf. Do you have any idea how hot it is under these lights?"

"Did he say where he was going?" asks Saeyoung.

"How would I know? I left right after that, told him he was fucking insane."

"Ah," says Saeyoung. He tries to imagine MC storming off, and calling him insane. It's not a nice feeling. "Well, he's off the grid, and you're the last person to have seen him alive."

"Wait, alive? Is this some kinda murder investigation?!"

"What?! No! No, of course…I mean, should it be?"

"Did you check his penthouse? His country home? His family home? His downtown apartment? His private jet? His estate in the Italian countryside, god, he could be anywhere, and it's not my problem. My director's calling…"

"Alright, go have a great work out, oh, and don't forget to take me a selfie, maybe something tasteful like, looking over your shoulder while your towel falls down slightly after a shower, and…"

Zen hangs up, and Saeyoung can only sigh. His finger is already poised to call Jumin, again, when MC walks in. She smiles as she hops up the stairs into his computer area.

"I heard talking! Did you finally get Jumin?" she asks, eyes bright.

Saeyoung takes in her outfit. The soft, cream colored sweater is a striking contrast next to her brown hair and eyes. The skirt, a smidgen too short, pleated but still loose, swaying with every step. And thigh high socks, black hugging her legs, making them look even thinner and longer. He wants those legs draped over his shoulder, and…

"Saeyoung?" MC snaps her fingers in front of his face.

"Error 707, why are you dressed like that…"

"It's my day off," says MC, smiling. "And I have something important I want to talk to you about."

"Well, I have something important to talk to you about," says Saeyoung. "It's all making sense now, listen to me: Mr. Director himself, Jumin Han, is in love with our own resident heartthrob, Zen."

MC giggles, slipping her arms around Saeyoung's neck as she stands behind his chair. "Has Jumin Han Is Gay? Come on, that joke is getting super old."

"I'm being serious," says Saeyoung. "Ever since Jumin helped Zen out with the Echo Girl scandal, they've changed. A lot."

"Well, duh, Zen realized he was projecting his anger at his brother, and family, onto Jumin, and they were able to find some common ground."

"Yes, but they're spending so much time together," says Saeyoung.

"Zen's a busy actor, and Jumin is his acting manager? Why wouldn't they meet a lot?"

"You said they kissed at the after party!"

"I kissed Saeran at the after party, does that mean we are secretly in love?! It was a game of spin the bottle."

"True, but maybe it was more for Jumin," says Saeyoung. "The other day, Jumin asked me for dating advice. He asked how I showed my interest in you, and I told him the story, about threatening to bite you. And then, that very night, Jumin bit Zen! How can it be a coincidence?!"

"But you didn't actually bite me," says MC.

"Well, not then, no," says Saeyoung, turning his head to nip at MC's arm through the sweater. She giggles and jumps back.

"For argument's sake, let's say that you're right, Jumin was talking about Zen, and he's interested in Zen, what exactly does this have to do with you?"

"Oh ho! Seven Zero Seven is not just the Defender of Justice, I'm also a Defender of the Heart. Since I've known Jumin, I thought for sure he would marry Elizabeth the 3rd. Now that he's showing interest in a human, I gotta help him!"

"But…Zen doesn't seem interested…like, at all," says MC. "I've never seen him turn his charm on anyone that wasn't female, he barely tolerates Jumin on a good day, he's allergic to cats, I mean, if Jumin's seriously crushing in Zen, boy is about to get a hard lesson in unrequited love."

"How can you say that?!" asks Saeyoung, spinning his chair around, and pushing out his lower lip. MC shrugs. "Jumin won't take it well—holy shit, when Jaehee quit to start her cafe, he drove and crashed one of my cars! Can you imagine what he'll do if Zen rejects him outright?!"

"Better check the locks on the garage," says MC. "Because I can't see Zen returning those feelings. Not to mention, it's hard for someone like Zen to date! He's in the public eye, he'll be scrutinized, especially if it's a man!"

"And the Heir of C&R coming out with a man wouldn't be a scandal! I think that would be more scandalous, since no matter how popular Zen is, he's not nearly as visible and known as Jumin…"

"Yeah, but Jumin's dad wouldn't abandon him for liking men, Zen's fans might abandon him," says MC, pursing her lips. "He barely survived one scandal, now another? He might stop getting work."

Saeyoung frowns, shoulders falling as he stares at the keyboard.

"I'm worried about him, too," says MC, squeezing Saeyoung's shoulder. "I'm only trying to point out the difficulties, not say that I'm not worried about Jumin. I am. Very worried! Where'd you lose him?"

"Driver Kim never brought him home after Zen stormed out of dinner," says Saeyoung. "There's no activity on his cards, so he must be staying somewhere he doesn't have to pay, but he owns so many damn properties, and each surveillance system is on a different grid, with a different security algorithm, so it's taking a long time to search through all of them, and I have this important work for the company…"

"Breathe," says MC, laughing. "You're way too worked up about this. Jumin Han is an adult man, I'm sure he's fine. If he was missing, Mr. Director would be on prime time news screaming it to the world."

"MC, you're a genius! He would have called his dad, and told him where he is! I can just call Mr. Director…"

"Nooo!" MC grabs for Saeyoung's phone, but he's quick to pull it out of her reach. "Don't call the Director, you're going to get in so much trouble!"

"Why?!" asks Saeyoung. "Mr. Director loves me!"

"Jumin ordered you to leave him alone! His exact words were, what? 'If you insist on employing this lunatic, keep him away from me' or something to that effect."

"Pffft," says Saeyoung, shrugging. "He's a joker! He loves to joke around!"

"Mr. Director absolutely does not love joking around," says MC, her mouth in a flat line. "Especially not with subordinates."

"Sounds sexy when you say it like that," says Saeyoung.

"Come on, please, I actually had something important to talk to you about," says MC. She lowers herself until she's sitting in Saeyoung's lap, one arm slung around his shoulder. "It's about Saeran."

Saeran walks out of his room, looking for lunch. Instead, he finds Luciel and MC, sitting at the kitchen table. They both brighten up in false smiles. They're nervous. A feeling of sick dread settles in his stomach.

But Luciel doesn't look angry. That's a relief.

"Hey bro," says Luciel, his false smile growing wider. "You're up!"

"It's noon."

"You're out of your room!" says Luciel. "Wow, MC told me you had gone back red, but it looks great on you!"

"What are you two doing?" asks Saeran. He finds it impossible to meet MC's eyes. When he finally does, she immediately looks away. Hmm.

"I was hoping we could talk to you, about something kind of important," says Luciel. He reaches into the pocket of his obnoxious hoodie, and pulls something out. He holds it in his hand, staring at it, until MC gently puts her hand over his, and squeezes.

Saeran walks closer to the table. He stares hard at Luciel's hand, as though he could somehow gain x-ray vision if he only focused enough.

Luciel sighs, and holds his hand out. A jingle rings out as a set of keys lands in the middle of the table. Saeran narrows his eyes.

"We have a proposition to make, and you don't have to answer right away…" starts Luciel.

"Take your time, think it over," adds MC, nodding her head.

"It means a lot to us that you're starting to feel more comfortable living here, and open up with us, and I hope we can continue to grow even closer, and sometimes, to get closer, you need a little space, so I am making you this offering…"

Saeran's eyes go wide. "Car," he says, before he can filter himself. "A car?! You're giving me a car?! Which one? I really like the black one, not the sedan, the two door, with the gold hood ornament, and…"

"Oh, uh," Luciel gives a panicked look to MC, who squeezes his empty hand again.

"It's not for a car, Saeran," says MC, smiling. "It's better! Those are the keys to the apartment—the one where I lived, where we went recently for the party planning…"

Saeran's face is blank.

"…the place where you once broke in through a window," finishes MC.

"You want me to hold onto the apartment keys?" asks Saeran.

"We were thinking, maybe you'd want to live there," says Luciel, swallowing before he continues. "It's very secure. I can still keep an eye on you. But you would have privacy, and a place of your own, without us always being in your way, and…"

"T-throwing me out…"

"What?" asks Luciel, sitting straight as though a current had wracked his body, "No! Not at all! It's a chance or you to try living your own life, away from me, I really want us to get closer, but I know that you're always having to dodge me and MC, and I'm always home working, and…maybe we could have a friendlier relationship if we weren't always dealing with roommate problems?"

"Abandoning me…"

"Saeran," says MC, leaning across the table to get closer, "no one's abandoning you! I could come and visit as often as I want, we could work on the party stuff, you could have friends over, and we'll be watching on the CCTV to make sure you're safe! You're welcome to visit here as much as you want, too!"

"You're trying to get rid of me," says Saeran, hands shaking as he attempts to keep a leash on his emotions. "You want me out. You regret bringing me here..."

"What?! Saeran, that's not it at all, we're making great strides…" says Luciel.

"Is this because of what happened last night with MC?!" asks Saeran. He balls his hands so tightly his fingernails bite into his skin.

"W…what happened last night?" asks Luciel, turning his attention to MC instead of Saeran.

"It wasn't a big deal," says MC, to Luciel, before turning back to Saeran, "That's not it, at all! I just, it was a mistake, and I could tell it made you uncomfortable."

"It made you uncomfortable…" says Saeran, eye twitching.

"What the hell?" asks Luciel, to no one in particular. "I don't know what you two are talking about, but Saeran, I'm not trying to throw you out! I don't want you to leave! I want you to be…happy. You seem to hate it here…"

"I'm sorry, if I made it seem that way," says Saeran, sighing. He can't bring himself to meet their worried eyes. "I…I don't wanna be alone."

"Then, you don't have to be," says MC, standing up from the table. "You can stay here, as long as you want!"

"Definitely," says Luciel. "Neither of us want to throw you out, or abandon you, but I was so worried about suffocating you, and ruining any chance of us ever having a relationship…"

"You are welcome here," says MC, walking until she's closer to Saeran. He stares hard at her lips. She's so close.

"I wish you'd just live here forever!" says Luciel.

"Dial it back," says MC, out of the corner of her mouth.

"I just, I felt like giving you space, and not trying to force you to do things, and letting you have your own job…those things led to us finally having a real conversation," says Luciel, standing up to join MC standing near Saeran. "I want us to get even closer."

Saeran mumbles.

"What was that?" asks Luciel, leaning in closer.

"I want us to get closer, too," says Saeran, sighing. MC and Luciel give almost identical, high pitched squeals before two sets of arms are thrown around Saeran's neck.

"Yay!" says MC. "Saeran's gonna stay!"

"You're sure this wasn't about last night?" asks Saeran.

A vibration hums through the three-way hug. Luciel continues rubbing his head against his brother's shoulder, like an overly affectionate cat. The vibrations continue.

"Uh, Saeyoung, your phone is buzzing," says MC, giggling. Her mouth is close to Saeran's ear; her breath tickles. Saeran turns his head, even as Luciel fumbles in his hoodie pockets.

"Are you mad about what happened?" asks Saeran, eyes locked with MC's. Her cheeks light up an adorable hue of pink.

"Hold that thought," says Luciel, pushing away from the embrace. "Shit, we gotta go. Saeran, ride with me."

"Wait, why?! What happened?" asks MC, but Luciel is already rushing toward the door.

"Why do I have to go?" asks Saeran.

"In case I need backup, now, move."

Luciel runs out the front door, and Saeran looks at MC. She shrugs, and pushes his shoulder. "Better hurry?"

Saeran trots after his brother, unsurprised to find him in the garage, already starting the engine on his bright yellow sports car.

"Get in," says Luciel, shouting to be heard over the roar of the engine in the enclosed garage.

Saeran shrugs, and walks to the car, getting inside. Before his seat belt is even buckled, Luciel tears out of the garage. A sharp turn throws Saeran against the car door.

"Hey! Watch out, damn," says Saeran, fumbling for his seatbelt.

"Sorry, I setup an alert, that way if Jumin gets close to the office I'll know immediately, but there's no telling how long he'll stay there," says Luciel. The car's engine is loud inside of the car, threatening to drown out his words.

The car zips down the twisty road that leads back to town

"What was MC talking about?" asks Luciel. Saeran stares out the window, pretending not to hear over the engine noise. "Last night? What happened? Why did you think MC wanted you to leave?"

"Oh, um, nothing," says Saeran, stumbling over his thoughts. His relationship with his brother was still so fragile. He didn't know how Luciel would react to that type of news. Well, only one way to find out. "We kissed."

"You what," asks Luciel, turning his head without decelerating at all.

"Watch the goddamn road!" says Saeran, clutching the handle on the car door. "She came up behind me, and thought I was you! I didn't warn her that I was dying my hair."

"Oh," says Luciel, eyes back on the road. He slams his foot on the already flat pedal. "Sounds more like an accident."

"Yeah, accident," says Saeran. "But, she seemed really flustered about it, and I thought maybe she wanted me out."

"She didn't even mention it to me," says Luciel.

Ouch. Why did that hurt? Saeran shrugs in his seat.

"I didn't mind it," says Saeran, daring a side glance out of his eye. If he had expected any reaction, he was disappointed.

"Who on earth would mind a smooch from MC, she's adorable," says Luciel, glancing down at his phone. He starts to type something…

"Can you not text and fucking speed? I don't want to die!"

"I gotta get to Jumin," says Luciel, dropping the phone as he attempts to hit send. "Dammit!"

"Just, drive," says Saeran. "Why are we in such a hurry anyways? Even if he leaves, he'll come back, what's the rush?"

"I may have given him some faulty relationship advice, so I feel responsible," says Luciel. Saeran slowly turns his head to stare.

"You? Gave someone relationship advice? Shocking."

"I think Jumin has a thing for Zen," says Luciel, eyes glued to the road.

"Zen and Jumin? I guess I can kind of see it. Why?" asks Saeran.

"I have several theories about that," says Luciel, turning without any signal. "First, Zen has white hair, same as Elizabeth the 3rd, so, that's an obvious point of attraction, Second, Zen is ridiculously hot I mean, who doesn't wanna fuck him, and third…"

"I meant why, as in, what happened to make you think this?" asks Saeran, trying to push out the sudden mental image of his brother and Zen naked. The image wasn't exactly disgusting, and that was the part he found most disturbing.

"Jumin opened up to me, about liking someone, and I gave him dumb advice," says Luciel, cursing under his breath. "It's my fault. I'm so stupid, I ruin everything, no matter how hard I try…"

"I thought Zen said that Jumin bit him? I fail to see how that's your fault…"

"I gave him the advice."

"To bite someone?" asks Saeran.

"Ya."

"You're right," says Saeran, sighing. "You are stupid."

"Thank you," says Luciel, "I mean, no, don't thank you, but, yeah…I just need to get to him before he does anything bad…"

"How bad can I be? So he's a little embarrassed, and dejected…"

"Last time someone broke up with Jumin, he stole one of my cars, and totalled it…"

"Yeah, we should probably hurry," says Saeran.

There was no need to tell Luciel twice. He slams down the pedal, and scenery flies by the window so quickly Saeran begins to feel motion sick. He's relieved when Luciel turns into the C&R employee parking garage. He feels less relieved when the turn is so sharp the car drifts a little.

Luciel parks the car diagonally across three spaces.

"Where did you learn to drive?" asks Saeran.

"Self-taught, hurry," says Luciel, already jumping out of the car, and sprinting toward the building.

Luciel runs to a stairway that leads down into pure concrete. The parking garage is already partially underground, and Saeran has no idea how deep the building goes. Luciel's card swipes, and the heavy door creaks open. Saeran follows closely into a dimly lit hallway. At the end of the hallway, Luciel opens another door, and they walk into the main server room of C&R.

"I have a terminal in here, I would know if he had left the building, we just need to locate him, not sure if he would go straight to his penthouse, knowing I'm trying to find him…" Luciel unfolds a metal chair and sets it in front of an older computer with black background and neon green text. His keystrokes are almost too fast for Saeran to follow.

"Oh, shit," says Luciel, tapping away.

"What?" asks Saeran, leaning in close, attempting to decipher the commands as Luciel enters them.

"Jumin contacted his pilot," says Luciel, leaning closer as he types. "Oh man, chartered flight, he could be trying to go anywhere. Okay, what are our options…um, I could call in a bomb threat to stop the flight?!"

"What tha…No. In what world is a bomb threat ever a good idea?"

"Right, bombs at airports are a touchy subject, hmm, what else could we say that wouldn't be so terrorist-y…wait up."

"Wait? I haven't moved since you sat down," says Saeran.

"Yeah, but, dammit, since we left the house there was another attack on the C&R systems…"

Saeran leans over Luciel's shoulders, and reads the different security alerts blinking on the screen. Luciel types at the speed of light, but Saeran just chuckles.

"What?" asks Luciel, no pause in his typing.

"You never change."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you build your one algorithm, use it over an entire system, change it as it becomes compromised. That's the problem with you, everything comes so naturally, some self proclaimed genius. You rely too much on the idea that you'll be around to catch everything…"

"I do catch everything…" still typing.

"You ignore basic design elements that could strengthen the integrity of the system for when you're not around," says Saeran, shaking his head. "The way you have this thing designed, you need to be on alert twenty-four-seven, and all it takes to hack into anything you design is to distract you for long enough. Say, threatening your girlfriend, your friends, the RFA party…"

"You're speaking from actual experience, aren't you?"

"You should have this system lock itself up when it gets a suspicious package, shut down, running only on bare skeleton code, and log everything that happens while appearing to be running the same," says Saeran. "Makes it easier to locate them, trace them, find out what they're after, while letting them think they're winning…"

"That's how you tracked me, isn't it? When I was finally onto Mint Eye?"

"Yeah," says Saeran.

"Damn, bro," says Luciel, pausing in his actions to turn and stare at Saeran, glasses slipping down his nose. "You're really bright. No wonder you were able to defeat me…"

"I never defeated you, idiot."

"You could have," says Luciel, fingers back on the keys. "I truly believe that. I just think, deep down in your heart of hearts, you didn't want to defeat me…"

Saeran remains quiet, letting the sounds of machines humming, fans whirring, and Luciel's typing fill the room.

"Okay, new plan," says Luciel, standing up, and digging something out of his pocket that looks like a small cannister of cologne. Or hair spray? Saeran suspects it's neither. Luciel punches the Enter key, and the computer screen becomes one large digital clock, counting down from three minutes. "We gotta get up to the penthouse. Run."

Saeran walks quickly behind Luciel to the door. Luciel presses a button on the canister before throwing it back into the server room, and closing the door.

"Holy shit, was that a bomb?!" asks Saeran.

"Goddamn, you wire a bomb into an apartment one time, and everyone thinks you're carrying around explosives…"

The twins run to the elevator at the end of the hallway. Luciel uses his card to gain access and, within seconds, there's a ding of the elevator approaching.

Inside, there are several different buttons, but one at the top requires another swipe from a special card. Luciel swipes, and waits. The elevator lurches to life, rushing upwards.

"Going to his office?" asks Saeran, to break the nauseating silence in the elevator.

"His penthouse," says Luciel. "You've been here before, right?"

"Yeah, but we walked in the front door, and used the main elevators…"

"Casuals," says Luciel. His phone is out, and he is quickly typing something into a plain interface. Saeran narrows his eyes. The phone program looks similar to Luciel's computers at home, when he's working for C&R.

There's another bout of silence before the elevator dings again, followed by the doors opening. Saeran and Luciel walk out into a small hallway. Obvious cameras lurk in every corner of the hallway, and two security guards in black suits and glasses stand in front of a black door.

"Hey Guys!" says Luciel, smiling so big his eyes are slits behind their frames. "How's it going? Jumin sent me to pick up something very important."

"Mr. Choi," says the larger of the two security guards. "Mr. Han gave orders not to let anyone into the penthouse."

"Yeah, but that was before the huge fire in the server room," says Luciel.

The two guards look at one another, black shades hiding any expressions.

"There's no fire in the server room," says the shorter guard.

"You sure about that?" asks Luciel, rocking back on his heels.

Both of the guards' hands fly up to their ear piece, in sync, as though they'd practiced the movement. They exchange another look while Luciel whistles, rocking back on his heels.

"We have to get down there," says the larger guard.

"Don't worry, I'm just grabbing Jumin's most prized possession, for safe keeping, in case there are more attacks," says Luciel.

The guards exchange another look. Saeran clearly hears a voice over the earpieces.

Smoke and light reported one minute ago, the security feed has gone dark, looks like some kind of attack…Could it be the hackers again?…All available personnel please report to the server level, sealing all main doors, get the cameras back online…

"We have to run, please, Mr. Choi, retrieve the item, and get yourself out of the building to safety, you're going to be needed to fix this security issue," says the shorter guard, before they both take off toward the emergency stairs at a brisk pace.

Luciel pulls out another keycard, and uses it to unlock the penthouse door.

Inside, Saeran recognizes the expensive furniture, the sleek artwork, and the mesmerizing fish tank in the corner. There's the sharpest memory of wine on soft lips.

"Elly!" Luciel calls out, making kissy noises, and soft whistles. "Elly! Where are you my love!"

"Do we really have time to stop and pet the cat?

"Elly's the whole reason we're here!"

"You're here for…Jumin's cat?"

"I'm cat sitting."

"But Jumin doesn't know you're doing this."

"Surprise cat sitting!"

"You mean, cat-napping?"

"This is no time for sleeping, Saeran," says Luciel before leaping forward. "Aha! Elly my princess! Come with meeee!"

Saeran sighs as the cat happily pounces over to Luciel, rubbing her head against his leg as she circles his ankles.

There's a security guard standing watch in the parking garage when they exit the building.

Small device, the type sold for smoke effects at concerts and plays, nothing dangerous, no sprinklers triggered…

The chatter over his radio fades out as they walk into the garage. Luciel waits, holding his stomach where Elly is smuggled under his hoodie. Saeran holds the door open as they both jump back into the car.

"Alright, since you want a car so bad, you drive," says Luciel, tossing the keys to Saeran, before settling into the passenger seat. "Who's a good girl? A sweet girl? Who is the most beautiful cat in the whole world?"

Saeran starts up the car. Its purr is a thousand times more pleasant than Elizabeth the 3rd's. His foot barely brushes against the pedal, and the machine lurches to life with a loud growl. Awesome.

Luciel holds up his phone, while Saeran navigates his way out of the parking garage.

"Jumin! My man! Hey, some really handsome hacker set off a smoke bomb in the server room as a distraction so he could get into your house, and before you call Sherlocking, I've already solved the case of the missing Elly, so call me back—we need to talk."

Luciel hits end on the call, and returns to rubbing his face into Elizabeth the 3rd's long, white fur. "Okay," says Luciel, voice muffled by the thick hair, "turn a left here, then all the way up Main, until you hit 32nd, then I'll give directions from there…oh, and feel free to speed."

MC looks over the top of the couch when they return.

"Hey! Did you find Jumin?"

"Kinda, can't really talk right now, I need a marker, and some paper, do we have any glitter?" Luciel mumbles incoherently all the way down the hallway. He grabs his oddly distended midsection and walks with a strange gait. A strange meow follows him.

"Um, did Saeyoung just meow?" asks MC, walking around the sofa to stand near Saeran. They both stare down the now empty hallway. "He stole Elizabeth the 3rd, didn't he?"

"Yeah," says Saeran.

"Listen, Saeran, I'm really sorry about this morning," says MC. The stark change in subject catches Saeran off guard. He can only stand with his mouth slightly open, and no response. "I don't want you to move out. I love having you in the house. You and Saeyoung getting closer, is the best thing in the world to me, and I don't want any of that to change. I would never want to come between you two. It was only an idea, that maybe you'd be happier with your own space, without me sneaking up on you, and walking in on us, and…"

"You're wrong," says Saeran.

"Um," says MC, "then, I'm glad, that you don't mind sharing the house with us. And I didn't tell Saeyoung, about what happened. I hope you understand. I was pretty embarrassed about the mishap, and I thought you would be embarrassed, too. I thought it was best to just, pretend it never happened. But don't worry, I'm going to tell him, and explain the whole thing. It was my fault."

"I'm not upset," says Saeran. "Nor am I embarrassed. Plus, I already told Luciel in the car, earlier. He was okay."

"That's good, then," says MC, smiling. "I knew he wouldn't be mad, though he'll probably tease me—I mean, he'll definitely tease me. But, it can't be too bad I guess, since he's not going to live much longer!. As soon as Jumin realizes where Elly is being held…"

"I'm starting to see more of what you must see in my brother," says Saeran. "It's fun to be around someone so spontaneous and fun loving. Even if that's not the real him."

"It is the real him," says MC.

"Luciel is a depressed mess who conceals himself with humor, and lies…"

"Saeyoung chooses to be happy, to look at the fun side, and that's the side he shows to the world," says MC. "But Saeran, that serious, depressed person, that's him, too. Except that's the part he only allows to be seen by people he trusts. People he loves. We know the real Saeyoung, because he lets us. It's not a bad thing, it doesn't mean he's fake, it's just that he's…human. And we love all the sides of you, too."

"I don't have a happy side," says Saeran, looking away. MC's big, brown eyes make him nervous.

"Liar," says MC, grinning. "I've seen you smile, and laugh!"

"Gross," says Saeran.

"I want to see you smile more, and laugh more," says MC.

Before Saeran can explain how much he hates those things, MC's fingers are on him, tickling lightly at his sides through his shirt. Saeran jumps to defend himself, but not before a laugh sneaks out.

"Ha! Laughing!"

"You're tickling me, that's cheating," says Saeran, before biting his tongue in an effort to keep from laughing again. "Stop!" The word is half sob, have guffaw. MC can't stop laughing, but she does stop tickling.

"Hey! Perfect! You're already smiling!" says Luciel, rejoining the group in the main area. "Okay, Saeran, hold this, and saaaaaay CHEEEESE!"

[[Chatroom Transcript]]

Yoosung*: I don't know how I could mess things up this badly

Yoosung*'s crying emote.

Jaehee Kang: No woman enjoys being compared to a past woman, and it's especially weird that this past woman was a relative.

707 has entered the chatroom

707: SUMMONING JUMIN HAN

Unknown has entered the chatroom.

707: JUMIN HAN

707: WE HAVE SOMETHING BELONGING TO YOU

Unknown: Sorry Jumin, this is all Luciel

707 posts a photograph of Saeran holding up Elizabeth the 3rd.

707: IF YOU EVER WANT ELLY TO COME HOME

707: YOU NEED TO CONTACT ME RIGHT MEOW

707: If you wait too long, she may decide she wants to live here forever

707's heart eyes emote.

707: And if you even think about contacting the authorities

707: I will dye her pink using Saeran's old hair dye

Yoosung*: Wow, Saeran your hair looks great!

Unknown: Thanks.

Jaehee Kang: I agree, I can't wait to see it in person.

Jaehee's smiling flower emote.

707: I know! He looks like this other handsome hacker I know!.

Jumin Han has entered the chatroom

707's surprised Emote.

Jumin Han: Saeyoung, give me one good reason not to fire you, have you arrested for theft, and sue for emotional damages.

Jumin Han's angry emote.

707: Ack! Jumin's emote!

707: I want to help you! This is an intervention! For your own good!

Jumin Han: You stole Elizabeth the 3rd for my own good?

707: Just text me, and I'll give you the address for the exchange! The beautiful Elly, in exchange for you to listen for one minute.

Jumin Han: I'm on a flight. I'm making the pilot turn around.

707: Wow! Did you know that cats love Honey Budha Chips!

Yoosung*: Vets don't recommend feeding cats human food like chips!

Jumin Han: You are not to feed Elizabeth the 3rd anything other than C&R Brand Organic Catfood. That's an order.

707: Ack! Mr. Chairman! So scary!

Unknown: I think the cat just knocked over your monitor.

707 has left the chatroom

Jumin Han: That's my girl. She can sense that I am worried about her.

Unknown: She saw him hide the chips back there…

A/N: Art of Saeran and Elly, plus chatrooms are on my tumblr (mystic-message-me) and on other sites. Thanks for those that are reading it here and take the time to leave reviews, you're too kind. Next chapter: The resolution, plus Seven throws a partay.