He stepped into the dorm, running a hand through his hair. When he walked in, he found his seven members in front of the TV. The screen was turned into a news channel and the caption below the anchor read "EXO's Suho and APink's Eunji dating!"

They were watching the news with wide eyes and a level of concentration he hadn't seen since the time they did a variety show and they needed to solve problems.

He stood near the doorway, arms crossed as he waited for them to acknowledge his presence.

Jongdae turned his head slightly and quickly noticed his leader standing there. This information spread like a psychic connection among the seven and they quickly adjusted themselves to face Junmyeon. Minseok quickly turned off the TV and dropped the remote somewhere in the couch.

They were scared as the Junmyeon they knew wasn't standing in front of them right now.

Despite all their teasing and harassing of their leader, he had never shown one ounce of anger. Not even when their three members left did Junmyeon get angry.

And now he was.

"All of you, go do something," he nearly growled. "I need to talk to Chanyeol."

Six idols quickly got up and pushed off, not wanting to encounter a very angry Junmyeon. They left their light haired sacrificial lamb, hoping that he'd come out fine. If not, well, the rest of them would be alive.

Chanyeol gulped. In his head, he had already started writing out a will.

Junmyeon swallowed his emotions, instead talking in a voice that was somewhat stable. "Chanyeol-ah..."

"Hyung, wait!" Chanyeol quickly yelled out, quickly getting to his feet. "Before you kill me, give me a few minutes to call my mom and tell her I love her and to write out my death will. I'll leave my money to my parents, my name to my dog and my guitar to my wife..."

"You don't have a dog or a wife..." Junmyeon pointed out.

"I could..." Chanyeol said. "If you allow me to live."

"What?" Junmyeon suddenly asked, his mind finally computing Chanyeol's panic. "Wait, wait, I'm not going to kill you."

"You're not?" Chanyeol was hopeful.

"Of course not," Junmyeon sighed.

Chanyeol's shoulders loosened up in relief. "So, I'm not going to die?"

Junmyeon shook his head. Chanyeol dropped back down on the couch, smiling and laughing slightly in relief as he ran a hand down his face. Junmyeon came over and sat down beside him, quiet.

Chanyeol looked over at him. "So, what happened?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"You didn't come back last night," Chanyeol said. "I was worried."

Junmyeon sighed. "I slept in the studio," he calmly said.

"In the studio?" Chanyeol asked, perking up slightly. Now that he looked, Junmyeon looked exhausted, dark marks under his eyes. Seemed his leader hadn't slept at all the night before. "What happened, hyung?"

"President Park from CUBE Entertainment was there," Junmyeon explained briefly. "They want to cover up your scandal by having me and Jung Eunji in a relationship."

Chanyeol's eyes widened. "You? And Jung Eunji? You're dating?"

Junmyeon weakly nodded. "Seems so."

"So that's what that report was about..." Chanyeol murmured to himself.

Junmyeon hummed in reply. "They said they'd release a statement today, but we needed to get the talks going, by being seen on the streets."

"So that's where the buzz began," Chanyeol said. "You were out on a date with her."

"If you can call it a date," Junmyeon sighed.

"Why? Something went wrong?"

"No, not at all. In fact, it went too right."

Chanyeol sat up, crossing his legs eagerly. "Tell me everything."

"Hey, why should I tell you?" Junmyeon inquired. "You're the one who started all this!"

"I thought we established that I was innocent?"

Junmyeon threw a cushion at him. "This kid, seriously," he growled, but his smile was still visible. "Get out of here. I need to be alone for a while."

Chanyeol obediently got up and left, a bright smile on his face at having survived his brother's wrath. As he walked towards the rooms, he found that the other six were eavesdropping on the entire conversation from behind one of the room doors. He quickly slipped inside with the rest of them.

"How did it go?" Sehun whispered.

"I survived," Chanyeol said, amidst whispered cheering. "But hyung's got himself in a situation."

"So, is he dating Jung Eunji?" Baekhyun asked.

Chanyeol's smile slowly dropped. "On-screen," he said. "Junmyeon-hyung is in an on-screen relationship in order to cover up my scandals."

"So he's not in love with her?"

"What is he thinking?"

"What'll happen to them?"

"Don't worry about them. Hyung'll be fine, won't he?"

Chanyeol's gaze fell to the floor. Despite the fact that he was entirely innocent in all of this, he was the one involved in them. And now, his leader was in a relationship with a girl he didn't even like in a romantic way. Junmyeon was a good person, that was why this entire thing went against his morals. He didn't like forcing himself to pretend to have feelings for someone and thus playing with their emotions like that, and he especially hated lying to the fans.

And now he was doing all of it.

And Chanyeol was to blame for it.

Baekhyun noticed his friend's guilt was riding up and immediately stepped in. "Guys, let's not discuss this right here and now. Why don't we just get to bed?"

Minseok nodded in agreement. "We should do that. It's been a long day and we need our rest."

They broke up their impenetrable circle and left the room, each going to his own. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were left in the room alone. The light haired idol fell onto his bed, releasing a deep sigh.

The black haired idol though looked back at the closed door, worried about the events that were about to unfold.

***

Junmyeon pressed his face between his hands, taking a few deep breaths. Putting his hands down, he then thought about what had happened hours prior.

***

"A-a-a relationship?" Junmyeon stuttered.

He didn't hear anything from the girl on his side, but he could tell she was equally perplexed. After all, who would've expected being told to be in a relationship with a random guy first thing as they enter the door?

President Lee nodded. "When fans have favorable views on two people, it makes sense that they get together. It seems the fans really like the pairing of you two."

"It's not going to be much," President Park chimed in. "The fans are aware that EXO and APink take up both your times. But whenever possible, we just ask that you go out for a meal and be seen together."

"You two will be questioned regarding your relationship," President Lee predicted. "We will create a backstory for the two of you to tell."

"Your managers will give you further information regarding this," President Park said.

"To further solidify your relationship in the eyes of skeptics, you two might also need to appear on a few shows together as well as do a few photoshoots," President Lee continued.

"In order to pull this off incredibly well, we need your support. Whenever you two get free time, I ask that you spend it with each other," President Park explained.

"Will we have your full co-operation?" President Lee asked.

Junmyeon felt his mouth and throat drying much faster than he expected. He found himself unable to say a word, eyes wide and mouth hanging open slightly. It was taking him some time to fully process all the information he was just given.

All his instincts said to not do it. And it wasn't because he had a feeling that they'd be found out sooner than he could say "EXO", it was because he knew they'd be deceiving them; his fans, her fans, the people who put their trust in a bunch of 20-somethings jumping around on stage singing weird songs. The people who supported EXO through all their hardships, who would show up to all their events, tell them that they'd made their day or that listening to them made it easier when life became tough. The same people who cheered when Jongin and Krystal were announced, who sent Baekhyun messages to stay strong when he was dealing with hate due to him dating Taeyeon.

His heart ached as he thought about lying to all those people.

He couldn't do it.

If staying in the group meant lying to his fans, then he'd rather leave the group.

He opened his mouth to object but then somebody spoke up before he could.

"Presidents," Eunji said, surprising everyone with her boldness. "I'll do it."

Junmyeon stared at her in disbelief. What was she saying right now? 

She turned to the brown haired idol at her side. "Suho-shi, I don't think it'll be that bad. We aren't complete strangers, are we? We can make this work, it'll be fine." 

She smiled at him and he felt his stomach churn. Right now, everyone was looking at him expectantly, waiting for his answer. Every cell in his body screamed to stick to his original thought process, but when he looked at Eunji, he found himself unable to say no.

"Okay, I'll do it," he sighed, trying to ignore how nauseous he felt.

The two CEOs nodded. "Good," President Lee said, getting up. "I think we're done here then." He looked back to President Lee and shook hands with him. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, President Lee. I look forward to future meetings."

Junmyeon felt his stomach drop. Doing business? Were they just some kind of business transaction? 

President Lee left the room to show President Park out. Junmyeon found himself alone in the room with Eunji.

He sighed, rubbing his forehead when he felt her pat his back.

"Don't worry about it," she smiled at him. "We can do this, if we work together, like we did in the drama, like we did with the song."

He found himself believing her words.

***

A/N: Yeah, I imagined Suho wouldn't be too happy about lying to his fans. Let's be real, even though there are some saseangs and idiotic 12-year-olds in there, many are really nice. They put their trust and faith in these idols, and they also hold their fans to high standards. It made sense to me that Suho wouldn't be too happy about faking a relationship. 

And yeah, he's supposed to be angry in the first part, but come on, how could you still be angry when Chanyeol's talking about leaving his money to his parents and his name to his dog and his guitar to his wife? 

Whoever she is, she's a lucky girl.

And is it really possible to leave your name to your dog? Because if it is, I'd love to leave my name to my dog when I die.

Enjoy!