You Rock My World

"Woo and Sannie get to be cute..."

Seonghwa wrapped his arms around Hongjoong from behind, pressing his cheek into his shoulder.

"Hi," Hongjoong smiled, leaning his head onto Seonghwa's.

"Did you make any progress on your tracks?" Seonghwa asked, his fingers playing with the hair on the back of Hongjoong's neck.

"Yeah—uh, Hwa, maybe we shouldn't be so—obvious when we're surrounded by other people?"

Seonghwa pulled away, looking at his hands.

"Woo and Sannie get to be cute..." he pouted and Hongjoong finally got a good look at his face. His cheeks were flushed from a little too much alcohol. He smiled, not sure he'd ever seen Seonghwa drunk since the first night they'd ever met.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Come here."

Hongjoong pulled Seonghwa over and gave him a tight squeeze, placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

Seonghwa smiled, wiggling cutely.

"Thank you, Joongie."

"Of course. Let's go sit down."

"Oh my God, you guys are so fricking cute," Felix smiled from his spot on the floor and Hongjoong felt a rush of blood to his cheeks.

But Seonghwa seemed proud of himself, practically draping himself over Hongjoong's shoulders with a grin.

Hongjoong shook his head, walking him over to the open couch behind Jisung and Felix. As soon as they sat down, Seonghwa tucked his knees in and laid against Hongjoong's shoulder. Hongjoong held onto him, his hands lightly running up and down Seonghwa's arm.

It felt weird being so obvious about it. After all, all of the Stray Kids couples seemed to be very far apart. Well—except Seungmin and Hyunjin but they could just be very friendly. Hongjoong wasn't trying to make any assumptions, but they were sitting awfully close together.

Then again...so were Felix and Han.

With so much tension in the Stray Kids dorm, why would they invite everyone over for a party? It seemed a bit odd.

"Hey, Hwa," he whispered, trying not to draw any attention from Felix who sat right in front of him.

"What?"

Hongjoong leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

"How did you all end up coming over here anyways?"

"I don't know. Woo got a text from Felix and he said we could all come. Why?"

Hongjoong didn't like the sound of that.

Felix was probably trying to get information on them. So maybe he really was acting alone.

Why was he trying so hard?

Just then, Hongjoong looked up and noticed Jisung's arm had wrapped around Felix, and he laid his head on Felix's shoulder.

The two giggled, and soon after Hongjoong noticed movement in the corner of his vision.

"I think I'm gonna head down to the studio for a bit, but it was nice seeing everyone."

Changbin gave a small wave as he made his way to the door, heading out to the hallway and down the stairs. Felix scooted away from Jisung, playing with the strings on his sweatshirt.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine. He promised he won't do anything," Jisung whispered, putting a hand on Felix's shoulder.

"Doesn't mean he's going to forgive me..."

Hongjoong tried his best to understand what they were talking about. Was "he" Changbin? Or someone else? Were they both talking about the same person?

The fact that they got so serious made Hongjoong think it might be his first lead. He turned to tell Hwa he wanted to talk to Felix but realized he had fallen asleep on him.

Sighing, he brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes and turned back to the table. He'd have to wait. Maybe he could still catch more information by sitting here.

He decided to dare a glance at Minho, only to realize he also had someone sleeping on his shoulder. Jeongin must've been tired.

Minho looked up and they locked eyes. Minho glanced over at Seonghwa and smiled looking back at Hongjoong. He hesitantly raised his hand, making a thumbs up and cocking his head. He wanted to see how Seonghwa was doing. Hongjoong nodded, sending back another thumbs up. Minho smiled.

"Awwww, look at Seonghwa hyung," San smiled across the room and Wooyoung turned as well.

"Shhhh, don't wake him up," Hongjoong said quietly and everyone nodded.

As the two in front of him turned around, he made eye contact with Jisung. He didn't seem like he wanted to be friendly. So Hongjoong didn't say anything.

The rest of the night felt long, since Hongjoong's only companion had fallen asleep but eventually Chan came over to chat, leaving over the back of the couch.

"Hey, how are things going? You guys have your big audition in a few days, right? That's gotta be stressful."

"Yeah, but I think we're going to be just fine," Hongjoong smiled, remembering the call from Eden.

Chan smiled with a little chuckle but Hongjoong could tell it felt a bit strained. In fact, he didn't really seem to be in the mood for small talk. His eyes kept glancing over at Felix and Han.

Hongjoong wasn't sure what he knew. Was Chan in on it? Or was he just worried about his members? Did he know anything?

How could Hongjoong ask without knowing if he was on his side?

"Well, I guess I'm gonna head out too. I'm worried about Changbin. He was a little grumpier than usual," Chan laughed.

Hongjoong had to do something. He needed more information.

"Hey wait—can...can I come with? I had a new song I'm working on and could use some help. But if you don't want to it's totally fine I can figure it out!"

Why did he always backpedal when he tried to push for something?? He had just given Chan a reason to say no.

"You know what? That sounds like it could be pretty fun. And who knows, maybe mixing will make Changbin feel better. He's not always very vocal about his issues so we normally just let the music do the talking anyways."

Hongjoong smiled, glad to have somehow won him over. He moved to stand but a weight on his shoulder reminded him of his predicament.

"Right," he whispered, and Chan shared a quiet giggle.

"Here, let me help," he smiled, slowly holding Seonghwa's shoulders as he pulled him off Hongjoong and set his head onto a pillow.

Hongjoong sighed, stretching out his limbs that had gone numb from being frozen in place.

Finally, he stood and the two of them headed down to the studio.