jisung carefully slid out of chenle's embrace, trying his best not to wake the older up.

after long and passionate kisses, chenle had fallen asleep in jisung's arms, surely because of exhaustion.

the younger male had stayed for long minutes trapped under the chinese's body, and simply enjoying the feeling of the boy he loved against him.

it had been a whole year since he had been this close to chenle, and he hadn't realised how much he had missed this feeling until he had had the boy cradled between his strong arms. jisung didn't want to let go anymore. he didn't want to abandon chenle, or to make him sad in any way.

he was back, and he had become chenle's boyfriend, and he would fulfil this role rightfully.

once he had managed to untangle himself from chenle, jisung placed the covers back on his boyfriend and he leant forwards slowly, placing a sweet kiss on the sleeping beauty's forehead before whispering 'i love you'.

jisung then walked out of the room, closing the door carefully before heading back towards the living room where the rest of nct was still sitting.

a few members rose to their feet as jisung appeared again, their eyes filled with worry.

"how did it go?" taeyong asked immediately as jisung approached them.

"painfully well." jisung breathed out, passing a hand through his long hair. "we're boyfriends now."

the members collectively sighed in relief, knowing that everything would slowly go back to normal, with chenle being happy and smiley now thatjisung was back and that they had figured their feelings out.

"you guys don't mind, right?" jisung raised a brow, looking at the boys successfully.

"mind about what?" kun asked.

"well..." jisung fidgeted with his fingers. "having me coming back after all this time... acting as if nothing had ever happened... and... chenle and i being gay for each other...?"

yuta stood up from the couch, walking to jisung and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"jisung, we all wanted you to come back. as much as we were shocked by the revelations, you have always been, and you still are our baby brother." he explained.

"and if you were able to be in a kpop band and a mafia at the same time, we all agree that you knew what you were doing." jaehyun continued. "and we can't hold a grudge against you for not telling us, because it was the only solution, considering the big mouths we have in this band that would have busted your cover accidentally." he added, glancing at ten and donghyuck who smiled sheepishly at him, recalling how many secret information they had spoiled.

"yeah, that one is true." donghyuck nodded.

jisung smiled shyly, keeping his head low.

he was so happy to have supportive and comprehensive members.

he never imagined that things would go like this. well, he never imagined he would be able to see them again, so this was already a big step. but now, knowing that they didn't seem to freak out and hate him because of what he did, jisung couldn't be thankful enough to them.

"and... t-the last thing...?" he asked, still a bit hesitant about that matter knowing that homosexuality wasn't particularily appreciated in korea.

"chenle needs you. and you obviously need him too." doyoung stated the obvious. "and more than just friends. we're not blind, we can see it."

"yeah." sicheng nodded. "his condition worsened drastically after you left. and we didn't need to search for too long until we understood that it was because of a heartache."

"so, to answer your question, jisung..." johnny spoke next. "no, we don't mind about chenle and you being boyfriends. actually, we're all pretty happy about it, because it means that we'll be able to have our chaotic maknae duo back, and we've missed that a lot while you were gone."

a huge weight was lifted off jisung's shoulders as johnny said those words.

they meant the world to jisung.

chenle and him could be together. the only people that mattered to him approved this relationship. and jisung couldn't be happier about it.

"t-thank you, hyungs..." jisung voiced out, speaking with his heart as tears welled up in his eyes. "t-this really means a lot to me..."

the boys around the room smiled at the sight of their maknae being emotional.

it had been so long since they all had seen each other, and now that they were all reunited, it felt almost surreal.

also, they weren't used to seeing the oh-so-emotionless and former mafia leader being this close to crying. jisung had never really showed his emotions to his members, and now that they knew his real identity, they understood better why.

"you can't imagine how happy we are to have us back, jisung." taeyong smiled sincerely, making the first tear leave jisung's eye just before he had time to wipe it off.

"i'm happy to be with you too, hyungs..." the younger boy replied, now wiping off his tears while smiling back.

"now, excuse us, but we are curious about a few things about your... huh... your life." lucas stated with a grin.

"my life?" jisung raised a brow in confusion.

"yeah, like... how the hell did you manage to do both singing and dancing on stage, and doing mafia stuff at the same time?!" lucas asked.

"h-huh..." jisung rubbed his nape nervously.

jungwoo clicked his fingers. "and what were you doing in the mafia? like, you were the one actually doing things or were you going after the others and checking everything was right?" he questioned. "i mean, i don't know how mafia work, so yeah..."

jisung looked at them curiously, seeing that the members – except taeyong of course – seemed genuinely interested by that topic.

"i'm not sure you really want to know about that, hyungs..." jisung informed, hinting that this wasn't something pleasing to hear about – even if jisung would sugar-coat it if he came to talk about it.

"of course, we do want to know." jeno huffed.

"yeah. we have the information from the media, but we'd like to know how it is, from the inside." jaemin nodded.

the former mafia leader raised a from. "but... it's... very illegal..."

"which is even more exciting!" hendery clapped loudly, making jisung sigh again.

"are you sure it won't change your mind about me?" he asked. "the things i did weren't... politically correct..."

"jisung, this will only make us admire you more." taeil declared. "like, we'll all realise how hard you've had to work to be able to do things that we cannot think of... and we know that they are illegal and bad, but the fact you dissolved your mafia after stopping another problematic one proved that you realised that something wasn't right and you were willing to do something about it." he continued. "so, yeah, we are willing to hear about it, even if we'll surely get kind of scared by it."

the youngest boy looked aroung the room, receiving nods from all the nct members.

his eyes then fell on taeyong, silently asking the leader – and mafia member – if it was okay for him to share this information. taeyong simply gave jisung a small smile making him understand that he could start speaking.

"are you guys sure you want to hear that?" he asked one last time.

"yes!!" a few members exclaimed at the same time.

"okay." jisung sighed. "well..."

the next minutes, the living room was completely silent, except from jisung's voice that was telling his own story.

jisung told them everything he had had to endure these past 21 years.

he told them about the education he was given, and how he had been taught not to show and feel strong emotions from a young age.

he told them about the training he had to deal with, and how his parents had taught him how to use guns, blades and his own fists to hurt people.

he told them about that day he was accepted in sm entertainment, and how he had been told he would need to learn how to deal both with mafia and idol life.

he told them about the way he had to lie to the managers to go commit the worst crimes ever in the middle of the night, and how it had become his daily life.

he told them about the countless times he had broken laws and made wrongful acts, just because he was born in the wrong family.

he told them about his parents' murder, and how he had become the next leader of death park before he could really think about it.

he told them about his struggles with dark danger and how he started to realise how fucked up everything was.

he basically told them everything, from beginning to end, and the whole group was listening to him like toddlers listening to their parents reading them a bedtime story.

"y-you went through s-so much..." mark spoke once jisung had finished talking, his voice trembling both in fear and in shock. he couldn't believe – just like the other members – that being in a mafia family created these much obligations.

none of the had really thought about it before, but now that jisung had unveiled the secrecy of mafias for them, he could realise how horrible what jisung had had to deal with was.

and all of that because he was born in a particular family. this could have been any of them...

and this seemed to hit nct's member square in the face.

"it's okay, it's all in the past now." jisung shrugged.

"i-i never imagined you h-had to deal with all of this..." ten let out, still shocked by everything he had learnt.

"it's the just the way things are. as i said before, you don't choose the family you're born in." the younger explained.

the members nodded, approving jisung's statement fully.

xiaojun was ready to speak next, surely to comment what jisung had said, or even to ask a question about the mafia, but he was prevented to do so by the sound of a door slamming followed by feet stomping.

in the blink of an eye, chenle appeared in the living room, his white hair sticking in every direction as his tired and puffy eyes searched around the room for someone in particular.

his teary eyes widened as they fell on jisung, and chenle didn't waste a single second to run towards the younger boy tackling him in a hug before sobbing into his chest loudly.

"hey, hey, chenle, what's happening? why are you crying?" jisung asked softly, his arms instinctively wrapping around chenle's shaking body to make him feel that he was there for him.

"i-i... i-i t-though it w-was j-just a d-dream..." chenle stuttered between sobs. "y-you weren't t-there when i-i w-woke up... a-and... i though y-you had... y-you had n-never come back..."

jisung sighed, pulling the boy closer against him under the loving stares of the other nct members. the sole thought of chenle feeling better now that jisung was back was enough to make them truly happy again.

"i'm so sorry, le." jisung spoke, cupping the boy's face and tilting it up so that chenle could look at him in the eye. "i'm here now, i'm here with you. calm down, baby. i won't leave you ever again..."

chenle's ravaged breaths slowly calmed down as the chinese male managed to cease his sobs while concentrating on jisung's face. he looked so beautiful from there, and chenle couldn't believe that after a whole year of being separated, jisung and him still loved each other, and that they had become each other's boyfriend.

"very good, baby." jisung smiled sincerely, his thumb delicately wiping a tear off chenle's cheek. "i'm so proud of you..."

and all it took was for chenle to get on his tippy toes to lay his lips on jisung's and melt fully into his embrace under the gaze of his cooing members.

⇄

"do you have everything you need?"

jisung turned around in a swift motion, reaching for the first object that came into his hand before menacingly pointing it at the man that had entered the bathroom he was in.

his paranoia as well as his mafia reflexes were still present, even after one year of inactivity.

"threatening me with a tube of toothpaste?" taeyong raised a brow, leaning against the doorframe.

"yeah, well..." jisung threw the toothpaste back next to the sink before concentrating fully on taeyong. "you were asking...?"

"if you had everything you needed for the night." taeyong repeated.

"huh, i think so." jisung nodded.

"okay. then, i advise you to take the brown couch. it may seem smaller than the other ones, but it's way more comfortable, trust me." nct's leader informed.

jisung frowned. "i thought chenle had said we would... huh... sleep together, you know?"

"of course." taeyong chuckled. "silly me. he wouldn't want to be far from you after all this time."

"yeah..." jisung nodded slowly, his mind diverting to the chinese male he could now call his boyfriend.

"and... i have one last question for you." taeyong started again.

"sure, tell me." jisung replied.

"you surely know that nct changed agency after sm collapsed. no one really wanted us because of... well, you know... we eventually found one, it's not popular, but it's the best we could do." taeyong explained. "and you surely know that nct lost a lot of fans too. kpop in general became less popular around the world, and sm's artist were badly impacted. but that's nothing compared to us."

"yeah, i'm aware." jisung said, his head lowering as a small voice inside his head told him that this was partly his fault.

"well, i wanted to ask you if... if you were willing to join nct again?"

jisung's eyes widened as his heart missed a beat.

him, joining nct again? after all that had happened?

lee taeyong was asking him if he wanted to become a member of nct again?

"w-what?!" jisung suttered, not believing his ears.

"jisung, you were born to be an idol. not everyone can enter one of the biggest kpop agencies at 11 years old despite working hard to become a mafia member. but you did it, and you've made it all the way into a kpop band. all because you were meant for it." taeyong spoke wisely. "and you still are, today. so, that is why i'm asking you to come back into the band and to become nct's maknae again."

jisung's heart was beaiting so fast right now. and if it was possible, his thoughts were going even faster through his brain, trying to process every information that was given to him.

"but... if i come back again... i'll tarnish the group's reputation..." he said with a frown, looking at his former leader. "no one would want me into the band. i'm a criminal. the fans would hate it, and the band will end up hated as well..."

"park jisung, listen carefully to what i'm about to say next." taeyong declared, uncrossing his arms. "nct isn't nct when you're not there. we are a big family, and you are part of it. we couldn't care less about the money we make or the number of fans we have. at that point, we're just a bunch of boys who were put together and became a huge family, united by music and dance. what is important for us is to be happy together, and while doing something we all love; it's not being popular or having lots of fans. and we can't be happy when the family isn't complete. and the only thing our family is missing right now is you."

gulping the lump in his throat, jisung tried his best not to start crying again at his leader's sweet words.

he felt like he didn't deserve his members. they were so comprehensive and loving, even after every awful thing that jisung had done...

"so, jisung..." taeyong rasied a brow. "will you join nct again?"

it took jisung a few seconds to think fully about it. but in the end, he knew his final answer answer since the beginning.

"yes, hyung. i'll join nct again."