As soon as they'd wrapped up practice, Hongjoong walked back to his laptop. He had to find it. It couldn't just disappear. All of his hard work. He'd already set all of the chords and lyrics, he couldn't just remake it off the top of his head. If he'd really lost it, he'd never be able to show it to Seonghwa.

Not that he saw that happening any time soon. He wasn't all that thankful as of late.

But that didn't mean he didn't still believe there would be a time when he would be ready to let Seonghwa back in.

And when he was...he needed to show him the song.

"Hey, any luck?"

Hongjoong didn't glance up, too focused on his screen.

"Nope."

Silence followed and he realized he might have been a little short with his member.

"Here, let me help."

Hongjoong motioned to say it was fine but in glancing up, he noticed who it was and slammed his computer shut.

"Seonghwa," he gasped.

"Sorry—I didn't mean to—"

"No, it's okay, I'm sorry. I'm just—stressed about this—file."

"You'll find it. I know you will."

Seonghwa gave him a sweet smile and Hongjoong almost felt convinced. Almost.

He turned back to the laptop, running his hand along the stickers on the back.

"Hongjoong, you've been searching all day. Why don't you take a break? Staring at the same filenames for hours is just going to make your head hurt."

Hongjoong's thumb stopped moving and he stared at it.

"I know. But...it's really important."

"Do you...want to talk about it?"

"No, but thanks, Hwa."

"Okay."

Hongjoong waited for Seonghwa to walk away so he could keep looking but he just stood there. Hongjoong was starting to get a little annoyed. He just wanted to find it. It had to be somewhere.

"Joongie...I wanted to ask—"

"No. I'm not ready."

A silence followed before Seonghwa hesitantly continued.

"It's...It's not about that. It's—"

"I'm sorry, Hwa but if you have something to say, say it. Otherwise I could use some space."

"Sorry. I just—Wooyoung is ready to talk to San."

Hongjoong looked up in surprise. He felt a little bad for snapping.

"He is?! That's amazing! Thank God. I was really getting worried about them," he sighed.

"I'm not sure how well it'll go and...I wanted your help to facilitate it. If you don't want to be around me I can just let you do it. Whatever you need."

Hongjoong felt so guilty at how cautious Seonghwa was being. He knew it was what he'd asked for but it still made him feel horrible.

"Yeah, I'd love to help. You can be there, too, don't worry Hwa. I wouldn't exclude you when I know how much our members need you."

"As if—you're the best at these kinds of things. I normally just get too worked up to even notice," Seonghwa said shyly.

Hongjoong knew he should say something to let him know his worth but he was a little tired of trying to make up for Seonghwa's lack of confidence. He was just a little sick of Seonghwa thinking so low of himself.

"So when are we meeting with them?"

Seonghwa seemed a bit surprised Hongjoong didn't respond but quickly moved past it.

"After dinner. San doesn't know but I think that's for the best. He's been so cautious around Wooyoung, I don't know if he'd agree to it."

Hongjoong remembered his conversation with San the other night and suddenly realized a potential issue.

"Wait—maybe this isn't the best time for the two of them to talk."

"What? What do you mean?" Seonghwa asked, genuinely startled by his suggestion.

"San and I spoke last night and—I convinced him to go to Wooyoung and talk."

"What? And you didn't tell—"

Seonghwa stopped himself. They both knew why he didn't say anything.

"They didn't ever talk though because...Wooyoung was talking about Felix. And it came off as a little...suggestive. I'm sure it wasn't—but San isn't. And I'm not sure he's ready to talk anymore."

Seonghwa sat down next to Hongjoong, and Hongjoong couldn't help but scoot away just a little. If Seonghwa's long legs brushed his, he wasn't sure he'd be able to maintain his anger. Those legs were his weakness.

"That's really not good."

Hongjoong shook his head.

"Maybe if I talk to Wooyoung beforehand...I could figure out what he was talking about. I know he just makes friends so quickly, and he cares about everyone else so much—and he and Felix have gotten really close. But not—like that. At least I don't think so. Isn't Felix dating...Changbin?" Seonghwa asked, whispering the name for their privacy.

Hongjoong looked away again, remembering the night he'd comforted Felix on the couch.

"About that..."

Seonghwa looked at him, not wanting to hear the answer.

"They're not really on good terms either. Apparently Changbin is really worried about his career here and doesn't want to put either of them at risk anymore. He told Felix he still loved him but he just didn't want to put their futures in jeopardy. So he ended it. At least until their contract is up."

Seonghwa sighed, massaging his temples.

"So, if we told San that, he might think Wooyoung and Felix connected over that and—decided to get together?"

"He might."

They both knew San didn't express it much but he got pretty protective over Wooyoung. There had been countless times that Wooyoung had given one of the members special attention for a day and San had spent the next week glaring at them.

So he might jump to conclusions.

"Wait! Wait wait wait this might actually help us!" Hongjoong shouted, remembering the words of Wooyoung's conversation.

"How could this possibly help us?" Seonghwa groaned.

"The other night! Wooyoung said he just wanted to 'see him smile.' If we tell San he'll realize Wooyoung was just trying to be a good friend. He was worried because of what happened to Felix, not anything else."

"And are we sure San won't still draw conclusions?"

"Well, no. But I think he'd feel bad for Felix, too. The empath in him would understand."

Seonghwa nodded, agreeing.

"That might actually work. You talk to San about Felix and I'll warn Wooyoung. That way when we surprise San it won't be such a disaster."

"Okay. I think this just might work."

They both smiled at each other before avoiding eye contact.

"We make a pretty good team," Seonghwa smiled shyly.

"Yeah. Sometimes."

Hongjoong regretted the words as they left his mouth but he couldn't stop them. He watched Seonghwa's smile fade.

"I can go now—sorry for spending so much time around you—I know you wanted space."

"It's oka—"

"I'll go talk to Wooyoung."

"Hwa..."

"It's okay. You don't have to feel bad. We both know I deserve it. I'll see you later."

Hongjoong watched Seonghwa grab his guitar and head out of the practice room and he felt tears forming in his eyes. This whole Minho thing was just so confusing.

He didn't know if he was even really mad at Seonghwa or just mad because just the mention of Seonghwa's ex made his blood boil.

He knew he should be mad at Seonghwa for lying. It wasn't fair to keep it from him. And it didn't make sense to him. He didn't like the idea that Seonghwa didn't trust him.

But it was so hard to stay mad. When the one he was pushing away was someone he loved with every fiber of his being.

But he knew he deserved some time to process. And clearly he needed it. His head was a mess. With the whole Minho disaster and now the missing song—it would definitely be nice to be able to focus on someone else's problems for a night.