He found Baekhyun spread out on the couch, eyes closed and listening to something. It didn't cross his mind to check what his junior was listening to, just that it was soon going to be time for their new variety show to air and the couch needed to be free.

He stepped close and shook Baekhyun awake, pulling the headphones out of his ear. the younger man sat up in a hurry, freeing up enough space on the couch for Junmyeon to sit at the end of it. He seemed a bit embarrassed being caught lazing around when the rest of them had been hard at work.

"Baekhyun-ah," Junmyeon began, in what the members had dubbed the "mom" voice. "I know it's your day off, but don't you think you should be out enjoying instead of just staying at the dorm all day?"

"I know, I know," Baekhyun said, pouting a bit. "I didn't actually think you'd be home."

Junmyeon shrugged. "A shoot got cancelled. I also had some things to take care of before the others got back."

"Oh, they're already coming back?" Baekhyun sat up a bit more. Now there was enough space on that couch to accommodate one more person.

Junmyeon nodded slightly. "Yeah, in another half hour or so. So make space for them."

Baekhyun pulled his legs up so he was sitting cross-legged. Junmyeon sighed. Well, this was better than nothing. Another thought then struck the older idol. "Hey, what were you listening to, anyway?"

Baekhyun turned his phone to show the cover art for the music. "It's our song, hyung," he happily said. "The song we did with Jung Eunji."

Junmyeon squinted a bit more at the visual. "Was it really that good?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" Baekhyun exclaimed, his voice rising in excitement. "It's amazing! The fans love it too! I was checking on SNS earlier today and all the fans love this rendition."

Junmyeon hummed in agreement. He had only listened to the final version once, but he did have to admit, it sounded good, really good. His professional mind went to how Eunji's feminine vocals immediately contrasted the spectrum of male vocals put out by them. And considering the fans' response too, he wouldn't say he didn't look forward to another collab like this sometime in the future. 

"Oh, and hyung, have you seen this?" Baekhyun asked, bringing Junmyeon back down to earth. The younger idol was excitedly scrolling through his phone, giving small reminders every now and then to wait and that he almost got it. When he did finally get it, he showed Junmyeon his phone which was filled with SNS messages.

"The fans loved you and Eunji-shi's performance in the drama and now ship the two of you together!"

He had said it way too happily for Junmyeon. He took the phone out of the other's hand and scrolled through the feed, feeling a strange sense of cold set in his chest. 

He wasn't necessarily happy or angry at the fact that his fans would like him to be in a relationship with a girl, it just gave him cold sweats. 

"You don't like her, do you, hyung?" Baekhyun suddenly asked.

"What?" Junmyeon asked. "It's not like that. I do like her, but not in the way the fans want me to like her."

"It's all professional, isn't it?" Baekhyun asked, leaning against the back of the couch and sighing.

Junmyeon raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you want to tell me, Baekhyun-ah?"

Baekhyun gave another deep sigh. "It's nothing you should worry about, hyung," he said. "But it's just...we've debuted for four years and all that time you've been taking care of all of us. Even when Kris, Tao and Luhan left, even through mine and Kai's scandals, you've been looking out for us. I'm just..."

"Just what?"

"I just...when I met Jung Eunji at the recording, I thought about how nice she was. And I've been thinking...I've been pretty happy since I and Taeyeon got together, and Jongin's the happiest I've seen him when he's with Krystal." 

"What are you trying to imply, Baekhyun-ah?"

"I thought maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea for you and Eunji-shi to get together, you know?"

Junmyeon fell quiet at his junior's suggestion. Baekhyun stiffened up a bit at his leader's unusual silence. It wasn't that Junmyeon wasn't quiet, he was, but this type of silence made Baekhyun uncomfortable. 

What if he said something wrong?

Junmyeon then heaved a big sigh. "I understand where you're coming from," he admitted. "But I don't think it's the right time for me to be dating someone, and even if I do, I don't think it's going to be Jung Eunji."

"Why?" Baekhyun asked.

"Because I just don't see myself with her if I do see myself with someone at all."

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something when his phone beeped once more. "Oh, my SNS," he said, taking it from Junmyeon's hands and scrolling through it. Junmyeon let out a shaky breath, rubbing the back of his neck. He then put his hands on the couch in an effort to use them to push himself up and off to try and do something better, like setting out some snacks to welcome his members back. But before he could leave, he felt Baekhyun grab his wrist.

He turned around to see the black haired man gaping at his phone, still not letting him go. "Hey," Junmyeon said, trying to release his wrist from Baekhyun's iron grip (since when did his puppy have an iron grip like that?) "Let me go."

"Did you know Chanyeol was seen leaving a hotel with an idol from CUBE Entertainment?"

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the two idols as one kept on going through the stream of messages in his phone and the other stayed rooted to the spot, eyes wide as he processed the news. Neither one said anything or even attempted to move from their spots, the brunette especially standing like a stone statue.

The seconds ticked by and Junmyeon finally spoke. "What?"

Baekhyun looked up at his older brother, the look in his eyes one of dread. "Someone got a picture of Chanyeol in disguise leaving a hotel with a female idol from CUBE Entertainment..."

"Was...was the idol...possibly..."

"The same one he was caught with about a week ago?" Baekhyun completed. "Yeah, it's her."

Junmyeon felt his head begin to spin. He sat down on the couch and massaged his temples. 

"A week," he murmured. "Just a fucking week..."

Baekhyun was a little startled that Junmyeon was swearing, but he honestly couldn't blame him. It had taken a short while to quell the rumors about Chanyeol dating someone they couldn't even identify, and if Chanyeol knew her he had taken a stand that he wasn't going to say anything. It also helped that their remixed version of "Lucky" took away quite a lot of the attention from Chanyeol's scandal, giving them enough time to swoop in and dust off the remaining parts. 

And now he'd gone back to her?

Scandals weren't new for EXO, but never had one happened like this. Junmyeon was sure that this wasn't going to be an easy one, especially if Chanyeol couldn't control his own interactions. 

He ran his hands down his face before looking back at Baekhyun. "What's the response from the fans?"

"Not good," Baekhyun informed. "Whatever worries of theirs we had buried have all been surfaced once again. Now they're complaining that we kept Chanyeol's relationship from them and lied that it was just a one-time thing."

"This is bad," Junmyeon sighed.

Just then the door to the dorm opened and the light haired man in question was brought forward with the rest of his members. They were engaged in deep conversation, with Chanyeol trying to defend himself all the time. When they came in though, all seven members went silent as they saw their leader looking at them quizzically.

"Um...we'll leave you two to talk..." Yixing quickly said, patting Chanyeol on the back before going back towards the rooms. 

The rest of the members followed his lead, heading into the rooms, outside or towards the kitchen. Baekhyun also left his spot on the couch to grab Kyungsoo and Jongin to find out the exact details of what happened. 

This left Chanyeol and Junmyeon alone in the living room once more.

Under his leader's intimidating gaze, Chanyeol felt like a kid who had done something wrong. He lightly shuffled on his feet as an uncomfortable silence settled over the two members, mostly uncomfortable for Chanyeol because staying quiet this long was causing his heart to constrict. He wanted to speak out, but stayed quiet out of fear that he might say the wrong thing.

Moments later, Junmyeon sighed. "Chanyeol-ah," he said. "What happened?"

"Uh-I-I-I didn't do it!" Chanyeol blurted out. 

"Did you sleep with her?" Junmyeon quizzed.

"No, I didn't!"

"Have you been meeting her frequently?"

"No, not at all! I saw her for the first time today!"

"Then what happened?"

Chanyeol took a deep breath before he started to explain. "The guys still wanted to play around but I was feeling tired." Junmyeon nodded. Chanyeol had just come down with a fever the day before and it was understandable he was still feeling off. "So I went to a nearby hotel and got a room to sleep for a few hours. I was just checking out when I saw her at the reception desk. Apparently she was checking out too. At that point, I got a call from Minseok-hyung that they were done for the day. I didn't leave with her, we just left at the same time."

"But beside each other..."

"I didn't notice." Chanyeol now seemed to be sweating in nervousness. "I swear, hyung, I didn't do anything! I didn't even want to see her face but I could tell her to get lost, now, could I?" He looked at Junmyeon with pleading eyes. "Please, hyung, you need to believe me." His voice cracked towards the end.

Junmyeon stayed quiet, apparently still slightly skeptical about this whole thing. Maybe it was just him, but coincidences like that weren't always coincidences. Either Chanyeol was keeping things and lying to him or that idol was playing a dirty game. 

The first situation didn't seem so likely, knowing Chanyeol. He wouldn't just keep things from them, and even if he did, he never kept things from him. 

He sighed. His mind was going full conspiracy theorist and he needed to focus on more immediate matters; figuring out a way to bury these further rumors. From his observation, burying a scandal the second time was much harder than the first, and was going to require a much better and much different strategy. He could predict that Chanyeol was going to be sitting out on events and would not be making appearances apart from group ones. His solo activities were going to be suspended until this rumor was under control.

He looked up at Chanyeol. "Go," he gestured with his head to the inside. "Relax for a while. You've had a long day."

Chanyeol nodded, noting the tone of his leader's voice which virtually told him to step out of this so he could handle it this time. He obliged, turning to go towards the rooms when he stopped for a moment, turning back to Junmyeon.

"Hyung," he said.

"Hm?" Junmyeon hummed, deep in thought, but still responding to the younger man. 

"You trust me, right?" Chanyeol asked slowly. "You believe me, don't you?"

Junmyeon nodded. "I trust you, Chanyeol. I do believe you."

Chanyeol smiled, a small smile of relief. "Thank God," he sighed. "I could honestly care about the rest of the people, but if you didn't believe me...I don't know what I would do."

Junmyeon acknowledged him with another small smile as the light haired man left the room. He was now left in the living room alone with his thoughts. And for some reason Chanyeol's last question kept ringing in his head.

You believe me, don't you?

The answer would have been yes, it would have always been yes. Junmyeon knew they were all loyal to him, and he would always be loyal to them. No matter what they said, he needed to believe them. 

He needed to believe them.

***

A/N: Here's another chapter for you guys! Big shout out to SantosPhilipCarlo for taking the time to read my stories and comment on them. His story's also pretty good, completely out of the ordinary, so if you're tired of reading stories like this where the plot is cliche, you can go and check his stuff out.

I was completely unsure whether this was going to be OT9 or OT12, because personally, even though i joined in the fandom late, I prefer OT12. Even though I love each and every one of them, it somehow doesn't seem right that three members left. But I thought I'd just bring it into the story and make it fit Suho's character. 

And just to clarify, Suho doesn't hate Eunji at all. He respects her as an artist and a colleague, and acknowledges that she is really pretty. He just isn't attracted to her, just like you're not attracted to literally everybody you meet. 

Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!