"you guys are live in 5 minutes!" a voice announced as make-up artists ran across the filming aera to do the very last little touch-ups.

nct was filming a show today, in order to promote their new 'universe' album.

and as usually with nct, things were messy, making the producers stress quite a lot.

"guys, stop moving around!" the producer yelled, pulling onto his hair in nervousness. "and someone please find me yoo jaesuk! he's our special guest and he needs to be there in 10 minutes maximum!"

jjisung sighed at all the agitation around him.

he didn't even understand why they would need to participate to a damn show featuring yoo jaesuk, a famous and influential tv personality, just to promote their album. like, was it even necessary? they had already beaten their past record of pre-orders, and this was already huge for a nct album that wasn't even complete since sicheng and lucas were missing.

"jisung?" the youngest member lifted his head, looking at his leader who passed an arm around his shoulders with a small smile.

"yes, hyung?"

"do you feel okay? are you sure you want to participate in the show?" taeyong asked, concerned for his member.

"yes, i'm alright, hyung." jisung nodded.

"are you sure?" taeyong raised a brow. "because if you feel somehow uneasy or something, you don't have to participate. we'll find something to say to explain why you're not here since the fans don't know about... i mean... you know?"

"it's okay, hyung." jisung assured.

"i really mean it, jisung. if you don't feel like participate, i don't want you to force yourself. and you don't have to worry about the managers, i'll have that covered." taeyong continued, trying to understand what was going through jisung's mind at the moment.

but the younger boy let no emotion show through his features, just like he had learnt in all those years participating in illegal activities.

"30 SECONDS!!" a yell disturbed their conversation as all the nct members started gathering in front of the cameras, jisung and taeyong soon following them.

"jisung, this is your last chance."

"i'm good, hyung. thanks." jisung concluded, heading to the spot that he had been assigned right next to chenle.

taeyong stared at his youngest member for a few seconds. he wasn't stupid. he knew jisung wasn't as fine as he supposedly said. your parents' death couldn't leave you totally indifferent. and the way his eyes kept looking in every direction made taeyong guess that the boy had a lot on his mind, and not only pleasant things.

"20 SECONDS!"

jisung passed a hand through his hair, his eyes catching a glance of yoo jaesuk arriving while being on the phone.

"ji, are you okay?" a small hand tugged on his sleeve, making the boy look down at the boy that had called him.

"yes, i'm fine." he nodded. "why? do i look not okay?"

"no, it's just that... with everything that happened... i mean... standing in front of a camera and smiling as if nothing had happened might be hard..." chenle explained with a shrug.

"10 SECONDS!"

"it's okay lele, i got it." jisung gave his friend a small smile.

chenle nodded slowly. "don't hesitate to tell me if something's wrong, okay?"

"4!"

"3!"

jisung's eyes glanced down at chenle's delicate hand that slid down his arm, his fingers lightly brushing against jisung's skin until it reached his palm.

"2!"

chenle's fingers wrapped around his fingers, giving them a comforting squeeze before letting his hand fall by his side and smiling brightly at the camera. the man behind it gave the mc a signal, and so, the live show started.

"ladies and gentleman, welcome to this live broadcast with nct!" he stated, stepping aside and revealing the 21 members present on the stage.

"hana, dul, set..." taeyong recited with his voice low.

"to the world yeogi nct!" all the members declared, doing the nct hand sign. "annyeonghaseyo, nct ibnida!"

jisung didn't even listen to the mc blabbering random things about their group, and eventually asking questions to the other members – they had warned the whole crew that jisung wasn't in his best days, so he shouldn't have to answer questions unless he asked to.

in fact, jisung's mind was too focus on the feeling of chenle's hand that was still lingering on his bare arm. the touch had been so soft, almost as light as a feather, and jisung had somehow liked it.

"now, let's appreciate 'universe (let's play ball)' danced live!" the mc announced, allowing all the people that weren't singing this song to step aside and go off-cam.

jisung was very glad to do so, because it allowed him to get rid of the annoying smile he had plastered on his face whenever they were having a show or someone filming around them.

the youngest boy sat down on a side of the set while his other members cheered on the team dancing live.

diverting his eyes from the performance that he had seen way too much times already during practice, jisung looked around the room, his eyes falling on jaesuk who had stepped aside and was now standing a few feet away from jisung, almost as if he was hiding from everyone.

jisung raised a brow as the man typed something on his phone before placing it to his ear. the new mafia leader tried his best ignoring the loud music playing as he listened carefully to the conversation jaesuk was having.

"yes, i have the money."

"where do you want to get it?"

"right now?! i should be live in 10 minutes!"

"okay, okay i'm coming. first floor you said?"

"right, first floor, someone wearing a blue shirt and playing with a toy octopus. i got it."

jisung's eyes widened for a second.

money... one of them most influential men in korea being ordered around... an octopus...

this was too much of a coincidence not to actually be true...

this meant dark danger was near.

and this also meant that they were surrounding themselves by influential people...

⇄

as soon as they got back to the dorms, jisung rushed inside his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind his back before pulling some of his mafia stuff from behind his desk.

he sat down at his desk, placing a map on the wooden surface before pulling out coloured pens and placing their filming location on the map to know where dark danger had set a foot.

just as he was about to pull his computer to research further, jisung's phone rang, making the boy pick up immediately.

"yeah?"

"jisung, i saw you finished your live. i really need to tell you something." heesun's voice said over the phone.

"yeah, same. i have bad news." jisung replied immediately.

"what's up?"

"dark danger has yoo jaesuk with them." jisung told.

"is that confirmed?" heesun asked.

"he was filming with us today, and we had an activity when we taught the fans a part of our dance, and when doing it, dark danger's metallic octopus fell from his pocket. i know it was it because i was the one to pick it up. and i overheard his conversation too, i'm sure he was talking to them." jisung explained clearly, making his godfather sigh on the other side of the line.

jisung frowned, waiting for heesun to speak, but he never did.

"heesun? what's the matter?"

"i just received a message from myungki, who's responsible of extortion."

"wait." jisung pulled the phone from his ear, looking at his messages before gasping. "oh shit, they have yg entertainment on their side..."

"jisung, this is absolutely not good." heesun told.

"yeah, no shit." jisung snorted. "i know it isn't. they're searching for influence to crush us."

"i can see that..."

"but it's okay, bighit and bts are the ones to have the most influence. and they're still neutral. so, we still have a chance to win the war." jisung stated, typing on his computer to have an idea of who the most influential people in korea were.

"yeah, about that... this was the original reason for my call..." heesun told, making jisung rub his temples with his fingers.

"what is it?"

"you remember the murders a few days ago?"

jisung thought for a while before recalling that day chenle had cleaned his cut and both of them had watched the horrifying images of the mass murder in seoul.

"yeah, i remember." he replied.

"well, they didn't choose any place. it's just where the bts dorms are located. they're pressuring them."heesun explained.

"fuck..." jisung cursed, closing his eyes. "they're one step ahead of us..."

"actually, we may have something..."

"i'm listening." jisung said, blinking a few times rapidly.

"we found fingerprints on the crime scene. and they belong to one of the men we suspected being part of dark danger." heesun told with a smile creeping on his face.

"that's neat." jisung bit his lip. "find him and bring him to the park. i'll interrogate him."

"i sent jihu around an hour ago. i didn't want to disturb you on your live show. he texted me that he's on his way to the park."

"heesun, you're the best." jisung smiled, feeling so proud of his godfather.

"i know, i know." heesun laughed on the other side of the line.

"okay, i'm coming. see you there."

"see you."

jisung hung up, immediately folding all of his papers and maps and hiding them back behind the desk. he pulled out his gun from his hiding spot and headed to the door, making sure it was loaded.

as jisung unlocked the door, he tucked the dangerous object in the waistband of his trousers, and then opened the door rather energetically, being met first thing by a fist knocking on his forehead.

as his mafia instincts kicked it because of the sudden 'attack', jisung's hand wrapped tightly around the wrist of that person, twisting it quickly and forcing the other down on the floor as his hand reached for his gun.

however, he immediately stopped moving when he heard a familiar dolphin shriek and noticed that the boy lying on the floor with his wrist in jisung's hand was none other than chenle.

"oh my god, lele, i'm so sorry." jisung's eyes widened as he made sure to hide his gun in his trousers and then helped chenle up.

"jisung, why did you do that?!" chenle whined, rubbing his wrist with a pained expression.

"i don't know, it was a reflex." jisung told. "let me see."

he took chenle's hand in his own, examining the boy's wrist.

nothing was visible for the moment, except a reddish bruise that had been caused by jisung's tight grip.

"do you not feel safe inside the dorms to attack others like that?" chenle asked curiously.

"it's not that... you just... your hand was going to punch me..." jisung sighed. "come with me, we're going to put cold water on it."

"i just wanted to knock, but just when i was about to, you opened the door violently, and so, i knocked on your forehead." the chinese male explained as jisung opened the tap and put cold water on chenle's wrist, gently massaging it.

"sorry lele, i didn't mean to hurt you." jisung apologised, closing the tap and using his towel to dry chenle's hand, making sure not to press too much on his wrist.

"it's okay. it's not even hurting." chenle shrugged.

"good then." jisung stated, placing his towel back on the rack before looking at the younger boy, realising that he wasn't supposed to be there – he had gotten back home with his mother when she had fetched him after the live broadcast, around an hour ago.

"why are you at the dorms, le?" jisung frowned.

"why? aren't you happy to see me?" chenle asked, tilting his head to the side and pouting.

jisung would be lying if he said that sight of chenle didn't make him want to squish his cheeks and coo at his adorableness. chene looked like a cute puppy right now, and jisung almost felt the urge to pat his head.

"n-no, no!" jisung shook his head immediately, trying to push away those thoughts from his mind – he was supposed to be emotionless, because no emotion meant not being hurt, and not being hurt meant being ruthless. "b-but, huh... i saw you going back home, that's why."

chenle chuckled, his heart beating faster in his chest at the idea jisung was happy seeing him.

just thinking about it was sufficient to make him go completely crazy.

"my mom was invited to one of her best friend's house for the afternoon and the night, so she asked me if i'd rather go with her or come to the dorms, and i chose the dorms." chenle explained.

"oh..." jisung let out. he knew how stressed chenle's mother was. she didn't really want chenle to live in the dorms with the others, because she wanted to have her son around a bit while he was still young. and she refused to leave him alone somewhere, even though he was now an adult. she was too scared of all the mafia problems that happened around the town to let her little boy walk around the dangerous streets of seoul on his own.

"so, where were you going?" chenle asked, smiling brightly at jisung.

"where was i going...?" jisung repeated, tilting his head to the side. "nowhere, why?"

"well, you seemed quite in a rush so... i thought you needed to be somewhere..." chenle frowned.

"oh! jus now!" jisung exclaimed, feigning remembrance. "i was just going to grab something to drink."

"you sure were thirsty then." chenle giggled. "let's go grab something to drink then."

jisung groaned silently as he followed chenle to the kitchen.

he knew very well that he wouldn't be able to go back right now, because chenle was here and he would stay with him – not that he minded, he was actually quite happy to spend some time with his friend, it made him forget about all the problems of the world he lived in. sadly, if jisung said he needed to go somewhere, chenle would ask for dozens of details and would want to come with him – that's just how chenle was, and jisugn honestly found it cute, but it was quite problematic when you were a fucking mafia leader with duties.

"so... what do you want?" chenle asked, opening a drawer. "oh! i know! grenadine!" he exclaimed pulling the bottle of syrup.

"yeah..." jisung sighed, typing a message on his phone to his godfather to warn him he wouldn't be able to make it right now.

"oh, and also, renjun told me to scold you!" chenle giggled.

"why?" jisung frowned, not understanding chenle's words.

"for keeping a bottle of grenadine in your closet until it expired."

jisung sighed once again as he recalled himself telling to chenle that the bottle filled with the blood of his gang members was grenadine. the boy was so innocent.

and god, how much jisung would give to keep chenle's innocence perfectly intact in such a bad world...