Jeonghan went to Joshua's and Vernon's apartment door, knocking rapidly on the door, "Shua! We need to talk! Now!!"
Vernon opens the door, not wearing a shirt and hair an absolute mess, his eyes still half closed, "What is going on? What's wrong?"
Jeonghan panics, "Nothing! Nothing's wrong! I just... really need to talk to Joshua right now."
Vernon blinks at him, rubbing his eyes and stepping to the side, "He's in his room, go bother him all you want, I'm going back to sleep."
Jeonghan smiles softly at him and ruffles his hair, "We'll leave for the coffee shop so we don't accidentally wake you back up. Babies need lots of sleep you know!" Jeonghan walks in and shuts the door behind him, heading right for Joshua's bedroom.
Vernon grumbled, "I'm not a baby!" He then pouted and yawned, waddling sleepily to his room.
"Yeah... sure... emo baby." Jeonghan says to himself, watching him for a minute before opening Joshua's door and going in.
Joshua is sitting at his desk, headphones on as he works on some music, his back to the door so he doesn't see or hear him enter.
Jeonghan bolts over to Joshua, grabbing him by the shoulders, "We have to talk now!"
Joshua jumps, turning around with a shriek, his headphones being ripped off of his head as he turns, his hands up over his face.
"Calm down! You should be used to this by now." Jeonghan told him, patting his back.
Joshua calmed his breathing, sighing and glaring at him, "Well I don't prepare for someone attacking me from behind!! I wasn't expecting you! What's going on now???"
Jeonghan glanced at the doorway, making sure Vernon wasn't there before leaning in close, "We need to talk about Chan. Coffee shop, now. Let's go." He whispers.
Joshua shook his head in disbelief, getting up and grabbing his stuff, "You could have texted me to meet you there instead of scaring me."
Jeonghan just blinked at him, "It's not as fun and dramatic to text you."
Joshua rolled his eyes, putting on his shoes, "Who's driving, drama queen."
"I'm not the drama queen! That's Seungkwan if anyone! I'll drive." Jeonghan said.
Joshua just nodded, leading him out of the apartment and to the car, "So what's so important?"
"You saw it at the pool too! They were going to kiss! Also, Soonyoung has upped his game!" Jeonghan told him, getting into his car.
Joshua got in, "Yeah, I think everyone saw. Wait, upped his game??"
"Seungkwan told me that Soonyoung added some songs onto Chan's dance playlist, slow songs. Also, apparently Seungkwan has talked to Vernon about Chan too. How'd Seungkwan find out? I betcha Soonyoung told him!" Jeonghan said, stopping at a red light, looking at Joshua fully, "We both know for a fact Vernon likes him, but Chan won't confess, what if he really does think it's just how Vernon is? Since they both met Vernon's been flirting with him..."
Joshua took in the information, watching as Jeonghan pulled into the parking lot, "Last night, he was pretty mopey when he got home. Mentioned something about you ruining a moment? Maybe they were slow dancing? I-"
Jeonghan slammed on the brakes, "I DID WHAT!?" A car honked at them for stopping so suddenly in the middle of the parking lot.
"Okay, wow, rude, just go around car, we're having a serious conversation here. He wouldn't explain what moment, just came in all mopey, I asked what was wrong, he said you ruined a moment then went into his room. What did you do last night??" Joshua asked, gesturing to him to start driving again.
Jeonghan started to go again, pulling into a parking space, "Chan wasn't home on time last night and Vernon's car was still in our parking lot, so I got worried that something happened to them both and called him..."
Joshua's eyes went wide, "Soonyoung has cameras!! Le-"
Jeonghan's phone started ringing suddenly, he picked it up to see Soonyoung calling him. He answered and put it on speaker, "Hello?"
"YOU INTERRUPTED THEM ALMOST KISSING LAST NIGHT YOON JEONGHAN!!!" Soonyoung yelled over the phone, they can hear someone shushing Soonyoung in the background.
"I'M SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW!? I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THEM!" Jeonghan yelled back into the phone.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED SOONYOUNG FIRST AND HAD HIM CHECK THE CAMERAS, THEY COULD HAVE ACTUALLY KISSED THIS TIME!!!" Joshua joined, looking at Jeonghan with wide eyes.
"I'M SORRY! I WOULD'VE JUST MADE THEM KISS BY NOW AND WE WOULDN'T HAVE THIS NOW BUT NOOOOO! WE NEED TO TAKE THINGS SLOW!" Jeonghan glared at Joshua.
Joshua sighed, "I talked to Chan at the pool and I know he feels the same and it's obviously not a rebound and he obviously is good for Vernon so NOW I WANT THEM TO GET TOGETHER SO THEY CAN BE HAPPY BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH TOO OBLIVIOUS."
"JOSHUA IS FINALLY ON OUR TEAM!!" Minghao yelled happily through the phone, you can hear him clapping.
Jeonghan paused, "Soonyoung... how many people did you tell...?"
A nervous laugh was heard over the phone, "Well, I had to get Seungkwan's help to give Vernon a little push, them being best friends and all... Then Junhui overheard Seungkwan and I talking so obviously I had to tell him. Seokmin is also my best friend so of course I had to let him know, but Mingyu and Wonwoo were there too... Then Jihoon showed me a song Vernon had written and I told him about them... I also made a card for Seungcheol saying, "Congratulations! Your Baby Is In Love Again And It's Not Toxic!..."
Minghao cut in, "And I knew the first night because I saw his face and then I gave Chan merch and Jeonghan told me..."
Joshua sat there, his mouth wide open, "YOU GUYS THAT'S EVERYONE?! LIKE, I KNOW THEY'RE NOT HIDING THEIR FEELINGS BUT GOD!"
"I didn't get a card..." Jeonghan whined pouting, "And Cheolie never showed me his!" Jeonghan gave Joshua his phone and stole his, calling Seungcheol.
Joshua sighed and rolled his eyes, "Well, now that everyone knows, help us figure out a way to get them to confess to each other. Obviously they both like each other and talking to both of them, Chan thinks he's not good enough for Vernon, and Vernon thinks Chan doesn't actually like him back. They've had interrupted kisses at least 3 times that I know about. Vernon is actually happy around him, it's refreshing to see him actually happy for the first time in over a year. I'm tired of telling him to take it slow, this is too slow when they're suffering because of it!!!"
"WELL HE'S MY BABY TOO! WE'RE THE PARENTS OF ELEVEN KIDS! YOU'RE MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND!" Jeonghan yelled into the phone.
Joshua gasped, looking over at him, glancing down at the phone in his hand, still on speaker, then back at Jeonghan.
"Did Jeonghan just call Seungcheol his boyfriend?" Minghao asked quietly.
"I KNEW IT!!" Soonyoung yelled happily.
Jeonghan froze, blinking for a moment before slowly putting the phone on speaker, "Hey Cheolie... We have a problem..."
"What problem? What did you do, Angel?" Seungcheol asked sweetly.
"HI SEUNGCHEOL!!!" Soonyoung yelled, excitedly.
"That problem..." Jeonghan said quietly.
"...oh... fuck. Uh... hi Soonyoung, tell no one or I'll kill you!" Seungcheol said, getting stern at the end.
"What about me?" Minghao asked, more to Soonyoung than the phone.
"Minghao knows now too... Cheolie I'm so sorry..." Jeonghan said.
Seungcheol sighed, "It's okay, we were thinking about how to tell everyone anyway..."
Joshua was frozen, looking between his phone in Jeonghan's hand, Jeonghan's horrified face, and Jeonghan's phone in his hand. As silence took over he broke it, quietly mumbling, "Might as well tell Seungkwan too and let that problem take care of itself."
"Kwannie is gonna have a fit when he finds out. Better not make it so he finds out last, just saying..." Soonyoung told them.
"Finds out last about what?" Junhui was heard asking over the phone.
"Oh God Damnit. Might as well just add everyone and make this a group call to tell everyone we've been dating for years Jeonghan!" Seungcheol says exhaustedly.
"Oh, I already knew. Wonwoo told me." Jun said.
"How does Wonwoo know!?" Jeonghan asked, shocked.
"He said Seokmin told him that he saw you guys making out on your couch. Wanted advice but you guys were busy so he went to Wonwoo." Jun told them.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!" Minghao yells at Jun.
Joshua looked at Jeonghan, "Wait... Who DOESN'T know at this point? Vernon, Chan, an-"
"Vernon and Chan know... They walked out of that toy store and saw us making out..." Jeonghan trailed off.
"You know for a hidden relationship you guys make out in pub-" Joshua is again cut off.
"OH FUCKING SHIT. EVERYONE BUT SEUNGKWAN KNOWS." Seungcheol yells, the sound of him face palming can be heard.
"Oh shit..." Soonyoung was heard saying over the phone.
"Well, this is a meltdown in the making... We should sit him down and tell him... Explain that it all just got out of hand and we lost control..." Jeonghan said.
"Or we make him think he found out first, take him to dinner and tell him that only Joshua and Jihoon know..." Seungcheol said.
"We should do that at Stray Kids next Saturday, he does like french fries..." Jeonghan suggested.
"Plus, seeing M-" Soonyoung was cut off by Junhui panicking over the phone, "Oh right... He hasn't seen the band perform since Jennie became a thing."
"Yeah, plus maybe he can help get Vernon and Chan together while he's there." Joshua says, before gasping, "Wait! Chris told me to come to the bar on Friday to watch 3racha! Maybe we take Chan, get him drunk, get him to confess to Vernon!"
"Yes! If we get Chan to confess to us then it'll be easier to get him to confess to Vernon!" Jeonghan smiled brightly.
"It won't be hard... They did almost kiss last night." Soonyoung added.
"Yeah until Jeonghan had to ruin it!" Minghao yelled.
"THEY WHAT?! HE WHAT?! YOON JEONGHAN!" Seungcheol yelled.
"I'M SORRY I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO THEM!" Jeonghan yelled back.
"MY BABY ALMOST GOT HIS LOVERBOY AND YOU RUINED IT!!" Seungcheol yelled with a laugh.
"WELL YOU NEVER SHOWED ME THE CARD!" Jeonghan yelled back, before starting to laugh, "I love you..."
"I love you more Hannie~" Seungcheol singsonged.
Joshua just sighed, hanging up on Soonyoung and reaching over to hang up on Seungcheol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on Channie! You know you want to support your buddy Changbin! Plus we get to have fun without the band!" Joshua says as he pulls Chan into Stray Kids.
"But-" Chan was trying to pull away, having been basically kidnapped from Tiger Pounce by Jeonghan and put into Joshua's backseat before being driven to the bar.
"No buts, we wanna hang out with you tonight!" Jeonghan said, pulling Chan's other hand.
Joshua was bouncing in happily, leading Chan to the table in the front, "Plus normally I'm on stage! Now you get to actually talk to me!"
"I-" Chan paused before Jeonghan made him sit down at the table, "I guess hanging out here without Vernon won't be bad..."
Joshua rolled his eyes, "Sorry we're not as cool as Vernon, but we're still pretty fun to hang with!!"
"That's not what I meant! I'd love to hang out with you guys but we're at the bar where you perform and it feels weird that he's not here too!" Chan said, panicking.
"Neither is Seungcheol, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Minghao, ya know, the others who are here when the band performs..." Jeonghan told him, making eye contact with Joshua, "I'm gonna get us drinks to start. It's pretty busy tonight and Seungmin and Jeongin are already running around." Jeonghan then left.
Joshua nodded before looking at Chan, "It won't be so bad, I promise. Watching 3racha for the first time will be fun! Chris invited me and I didn't wanna sit here alone! I wanted to actually hang out with you more! Vernon's kept you mighty busy."
Chan blushes at that, "Yeah..." he trails off, a small smile on his face.
Joshua watched him, "You really like Vernon, don't you." He said, not really giving Chan any room to deny it.
"I... he's an amazing person and he's so caring. I-" Chan was cut off by a fruity drink being put in front of him.
"There you go! We're here to have fun! Gotta drink at a bar!" Jeonghan smiled brightly at him.
Chan picked up the drink and took a sip, his eyes widening at the taste before he drank more.
Joshua looked at him and laughed, shaking his head, "Taste good?"
Chan put the glass back down and smiled, "Yeah! Tastes so sweet!"
Chris walked up then, the rest of 3racha on the stage getting stuff set up, "Hey! You made it!"
Joshua smiled up at him, "Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world! I even brought some more fans!" He then gestured to Jeonghan and Chan.
Chris smiled at the others, waving back to Chan, before his eyes landed back on Joshua, "I see that! I hope you guys enjoy it. We're a little worried since we took such a big break!"
"You'll do great! Can we get your autograph! Or maybe a picture!!" Joshua said, mostly joking.
"I think a picture of you two would be great!" Jeonghan nudged Joshua a little, smiling at him.
Chris gave him a smile, "It would! Let's take one! Come here!" He held his arm out, "Jeonghan can you take the picture?"
"I'd love to!" Jeonghan smiled, picking up Joshua's phone from the table and waiting for them to be ready.
Joshua shot him a glare before getting up, standing next to Chris as he wrapped his arm around Joshua's shoulder, smiling for the picture.
Jeonghan took the picture before looking at Chan, "Want to get a picture with your buddy Changbin?"
Chan nods, noticing Changbin and Jisung coming over.
Joshua smiled, "Let's ask Minho to take a picture of all six of us too"
Changbin smiled at them, "What are we doing?"
"You're gonna take a picture with Chan because it's fun to take pictures with your friends before concerts, isn't that right, Jeonghan!" Joshua said, finally moving away from Chris, his face red.
Chan blinked, "But... I never took a picture with Vernon..."
"You will soon! Don't worry! Let's take the pictures before you get drunk, your cheeks are starting to look red from the alcohol." Jeonghan ushers Chan up.
Chan goes and takes a picture with Changbin, leaning on him a bit 'cause he's tipsy already from chugging his drink and starting the next one.
Jisung went to get Minho to take the group picture, after they took it, it was time for 3racha to perform.
As they sat back down, Joshua grabbed his phone to look at the pictures, seeing a message from Vernon pop up.
"Where are you? Can you ask Jeonghan if Chan is at Tiger Pounce? I tried to text him but he's not answering and it's getting late so I want to make sure I go walk him home if he is."
Joshua glanced around before responding, "Jeonghan and Chan are with me right now at Stray Kids, we're watching 3racha!" He thought for a moment before sending the 3 pictures they took, figuring Vernon would like to see Chan anyway.
"Oh, okay. Have fun, if you need someone to come get you, give me a call." Was all Vernon responded.
Joshua smiled, figuring he would be super happy soon after they got Chan to confess, sitting his phone down and watching the first set of 3racha's performance, still giving Chan more drinks. As they took their first break he looked at Chan, starting a recording on his phone and sitting it face down so Chan doesn't notice, "So how are you feeling?"
Chan giggled, smiling brightly, "I'm feeling great!"
"Soooo... Channie... you like Vernon a lot right?" Jeonghan asked, moving a hand behind Chan and moving it in circles to let Joshua know that they don't have a lot of time with Chan already this drunk.
"I like Vernon a looooooottt." Chan giggled, reaching for his drink that Jeonghan quickly pulled away, instead putting the tacos in front of him instead.
Joshua laughed softly, changing the drink Jeonghan grabbed with one made exactly the same, just without alcohol. "A looooott? Could you say you... love Vernon? More than a friend?"
"Yeah! He's sexayy!" Chan giggled, "He almost saw me without anything covering meeee. My towel almost fell down..." he giggled, picking up a taco, the contents spilling out the other end, "Oopsie..."
Jeonghan just stared at him, "He's too drunk... Channie, aegi, do you love Vernon?" He pushed the question again, "Don't just call him sexy."
"My taco..." Chan whined as he had tried to pick up another one, this time upside down, he pouted.
Joshua busted out laughing, shaking his head, "Tacos are not a good drunk food... let's get him some fries to sober him up and then ask again."
"Yeahhh... I'll-" Jeonghan was cut off by Minho putting fries down in front of Chan, with a ketchup bottle.
Chan smiled up at Minho, before picking up the ketchup. Jeonghan and Joshua unable to stop him as he started to squirt it on the table, "V... E... R..."
Jeonghan just watched him, mouth wide open. The letters just basically looking like blobs on the table, "Channie... Can you eat some fries... please?"
"But... fries with a side of Vernon..." Chan pouted, "N... O... N... And a biiiiiig heart!"
Joshua grabbed his phone, holding it up to get the mess in the video, "Is that Vernon's name inside of a heart?"
"Yeah!! Fries with a side of Vernon!" Chan giggled happily, picking up a fry and retracing the letters with it, "V..."
"Channie please! Just eat the fry!" Jeonghan exclaimed, exasperated.
"But... Vernon..." Chan pouted at him.
Jeonghan sighed, picking up a new fry and tracing it over the blobs, "V, E, R, N, O, N, Vernon. Now eat!"
"But the heart!" Chan whined, pointing at it.
"And a biiiiig heart, EAT IT!" Jeonghan shoved the fry into Chan's mouth.
Chan started happily nomming on the fry.
Joshua just recorded with wide eyes, trying not to laugh, "You gotta eat all the fries or you won't feel good enough to see us play tomorrow night! You wanna see Vernon right? You gotta eat alllll those fries quickly or you won't get to see him!"
Chan nodded, swallowing his fry before picking up another one, "V..."
Jeonghan just slammed his head onto the table, "I don't think we need him to actually say that he loves him..." he mumbles.
Joshua shook his head, "No, we need a confession, they're both too oblivious. I don't think even this will work." He mumbled back to him before looking at Chan, who now had a mouth full of fries he had dipped in the table ketchup, "Channie, do you wanna be Vernon's boyfriend?"
Chan nodded, chewing on the fries thoroughly before swallowing, "I want him to kiss me!" he told them.
Jeonghan perked up, grabbing Chan by the shoulders, "So you love Vernon? SAY IT!"
"I love Vernon!" Chan panicked, finally sober enough to be in reality again.
"OH MY GOD HE FINALLY ADMITS IT INSTEAD OF TRACING HIS NAME A MILLION TIMES WITH EVERY FUCKING FRENCH FRY!" Jeonghan yelled.
Joshua busted out laughing as people looked at them, "Calm down Jeonghan!" He then looked at Chan, seeing the panic on his face and realizing he had sobered up, "So you love Vernon... can I know why?"
Chan paused, before taking a deep breath, "He's just... perfect. He's kind, funny. He's sweet. He makes me feel like I don't have to hide anything..." Chan shook his head, "He's too good for me..."
Joshua smiled softly, "He thinks the same thing! You two have got to just... KISS!! Confess!!! Something!!"
"I... don't know... I love him but... I don't think he actually feels the same way... I'm afraid to tell him and then he never talks to me again..." Chan said.
"Look, everything you just did, with the fries and the ketchup, we have that all on video. You either confess to Vernon, or we show him." Jeonghan told Chan, smirking at him.
"... They weren't kidding when they called you guys the devil twins..." Chan said before pulling out his phone, texting something before setting it down, "There. I told him I like a rapper... if he responds I'll tell him it's him, deal?"
Joshua nodded happily, "Good boy! Very proud of you!"
Chan smiled softly, "He just read it... And he's typing!" He sat there for a few minutes, not receiving a response from Vernon and no other typing notification had come up, "I think he fell asleep... Maybe I should tell him tomorrow before you guys start performing?"
Jeonghan smiled at Chan, "Yeah! That works! It is late, he probably passed out in the middle of typing. Also, knowing him, it might feel awkward for him to reply tomorrow in text."
Joshua nodded, "Exactly! I'll check on him when I get home and let you know. Jeonghan did wake him up early yesterday, he's probably just super tired."
Chan nodded, smiling a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joshua just got home after dropping Chan and Jeonghan off, going in and seeing all the lights off. He went to Vernon's door, going to slowly open it but stopping as it was locked. He knocked on the door, being met with silence. He just nodded and sent Chan a text, letting him know Vernon was just asleep.