BONUS SCENE

(or what actually happened after act 8)

"Are you ready?"

San nodded.

"Let's go, then"

Jeongin knocked on Hongjoong's door and flashed a reassuring smile at San. He smiled back, though he was a tad bit worried. Knowing Hongjoong, he wasn't sure he would take the news so well.

"Come in"

They opened the door and slowly walked inside to find Hongjoong laid back in his bed, doing something on his laptop. He looked away from the screen and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hello...?"

"Hello" Jeongin said, bowing.

"Hello, Hongjoong. Are we interrupting you? Are you working?"

Hongjoong put the laptop away and got up.

"No, no, I was just rearranging my music files. Please, have a sit"

He wouldn't let it show, but he was starting to panic. What in the world was Jeongin doing with San? Weren't they like sworn enemies or something?

"Thank you. Do you have a moment? We've got something to ask you"

"Oh, yes, of course. What is it?" Hongjoong looked in between the two boys, curiosity evident in his eyes.

"Well..." San began, pulling out a chair from beneath Joong's desk. "First of all, I would appreciate it if you don't get mad at us when you hear what we're about to tell you. Can you promise that?"

Hongjoong chuckled."Depends on what it is"He had a feeling this was going somewhere he'd rather not think about. On the other hand, though, what were the chances?

"Th-that...I..." San couldn't bring himself to form proper words.

"Hey, leave it to me" Jeongin said.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, you can't seem to do it either"

"Ha, right. You got me there"

"Are you guys going to say it or what?" Hongjoong interrupted them.

Jeongin scratched the back of his head nervously and looked at San. He remembered how dissapointed he was with the fact that no one truly understood him, how miserable and sad he seemed when talking about the time before they got together. Ever since that day when they opened up about their feelings, San's suffering became his own. He wanted to help him, to see him being happy again. These thoughts gave Jeongin the strength he needed in order to make the revelation.

"Hongjoong... San and I love each other."

Of course. Hongjoong's brain shut down completely at that moment. He just stared at them with no expression on his face and didn't move an inch for at least two minutes. San took notice of this and decided to speak up.

"I understand it's hard to believe it. But we really want to be together from now on, so we came to ask for your permission. If you let us date, we will promise not to get caught by the managers. We'll be extra careful, I give you my word"

"Yes, yes, I give mine too" Jeongin agreed. "We will also get permission from Bang Chan once we're done from here. What do you think?"

"Hello? Joong? Are you there?"

Hongjoong was, indeed, there. His brain was working at full speed again and was currently attempting to process what he had just heard. In comparison to his previous experiences, he didn't find out about their relationship by accident. San and Jeongin came to him themselves, took full responsibility and, much to his pleasure, didn't do anything stupid before consulting him. He felt kind of proud. Like he wasn't a completely failure of a leader. But that didn't take from the fact that he had lost ALL of his members, including himself, to the charms of Stray Kids. Literally, what the fuck?!

He remembered that he had left the two hanging and cleared his throat, eventually moving from his previous frozen state.

"Hm, yes. I...have a lot of questions"

"Oh, right. Figured you would" Jeongin laughed awkwardly.

"Well, feel free to ask us" San added.

Hongjoong didn't even know where to start."Um...didn't you guys hate each other? Like, I thought you actually wanted to kill him, San" he said pointing towards Jeongin.

San blushed and shook his head."That was...a facade. I was trying to hide how I felt by pretending to hate him"

"Didn't really work" Jeongin mumbled under his breath.

"Ha! No, it didn't. That's why we're here now"

"Ok, ok, wait a minute" Hongjoong cut in. "You're not straight?"

"Nope. Never was" San shrugged.

"Th-then why didn't you say anything?"

"Is that even a question? All of you thought I was a player because I was getting asked out all the time, of course I didn't feel safe to come out"

Hongjoong felt horrible, like he was the worst human on earth. Why couldn't he read the signs? He, of all people, should have known way earlier.

"I'm...really sorry. I had no idea you were going through this"

"Whatever. I'm fine now. I have Jeongin."San smiled faintly and caressed Jeongin's hand, who was grinning like an idiot. He was so proud of San for coming out.

Hongjoong coughed to clear his throat and stared at the couple, a little surprised at the sight of San acting all lovey-dovey. He'd never thought of him as the type to do so.

"Hm. Yeah. Uh...congratulations on getting together. I...wish you nothing but happiness from now on"

"Wait...does that mean you're giving us permission?" Jeongin asked, jumping out of his seat.

"I can't say no if you ask me like this" Joong huffed and shook his head in surrender.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!"

They both hugged the tiny leader tightly and bowed more than a hundred times each, not knowing how else to express their gratitude. After all the trouble they'd put themselves through, it was time to enjoy the start of their relationship in peace. Though they were not yet aware of one thing. One MAJOR thing that would hit them like a rock in the face.

"Alright, alright, enough with the affectionate crap. I have something to tell you as well" Hongjoong broke free from their nearly suffocating hugs.

The boys sat down again."You do? Is it important?"

"To me...yes. To everyone else...not sure. No one gave a damn except Woo, now that I think about it."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

San was confused. Hongjoong just clicked his tongue and ran a hand through his hair.

"Let's say you're not the first person to date someone from within the dorm."

"What? Who are they? Who are they dating?"

"Do we know them?" Jeongin asked, his interest suddenly piqued.

"Oh, you do. Really well, at that. It's funny, actually, because it happened not only once, but eight times. Sounds crazy, right?!" Hongjoong let out an awkward chuckle.

"Joong, I don't understand. Who's dating who?"

Hongjoong looked at San and Jeongin and then pointed at himself."Me"

San gasped loudly."YOU?"

"Uh-huh"

"W-what-when-WHO?" San didn't know what he expected to come out of Hongjoong's mouth but it was definitely not this.

"See, that's why I told you it's funny. The person I'm dating is Felix."

Jeongin's eyes opened wide."FELIX?"

"As in...Lee Felix? From Stray Kids?" San asked, flabbergasted.

"Yep..." Hongjoong nodded.

"You...you're gay?"

"Seems so"

"What. The. Fuck" San whispered and looked over at his partner who, for some reason, was laughing. "What is it?" he asked, feeling even more confused than before.

"Oh, nothing, I just remembered I questioned Felix one day about the marks that were obviously hickeys on his neck and he said it was a bed bug. Who would have thought it was you" Jeongin was crying-laughing at this point, his whole body trembling.

"Mmm, yeah" Hongjoong moved around in his seat uncomfortably. "It...was me. But that's not the craziest part."

"There's...more? Who?"

"Oh, boy...For starters, no one in our group is straight."

"WHAT? Are you kidding me?" San jumped up.

"I wish I were."

"When were you planning to tell me all of this?"

Hongjoong sighed."Look, I know we fucked up and I'm sorry, but it was my idea. I didn't want our managers to find out, so I told them to keep it lowkey."

"Th-then..why did you think I was straight?"

"Ok, I admit it wasn't very cool of us to assume your sexuality. I'm incredibly sorry, San. I will make sure to compensate for this."

"W-well you don't have to. I only wish it hadn't happened in the first place so I could...you know."

San looked at Jeongin longingly and earned a bittersweet smile from him. Hongjoong felt a sting in his stomach.

"You guys seem to be really in love."

"We are" Jeongin stated and rubbed San's back. "What were you saying, though?"

"Oh, right. As I said, we're all queer."

"Wait" San cut him off. "It just hit me. Mingi is...?"

"Yes, especially Mingi" Hongjoong rolled his eyes.

"I cannot fucking believe this..."

"You haven't heard everything yet. They're not only dating boys from the dorm, these boys are...well..."

"Yeah...?"

Honjoong decided to be as forward as possible."Stray Kids. Your fellow members, Jeongin."

Jeongin blinked a couple of times."...all of them?" he asked with a hint of doubt.

"Yes, exactly."

"Is this a joke?"

"Yeah, what the fuck, dude? You can't be serious right now." San raised an eyebrow and stared at Hongjoong as if he was a maniac.

"Nope, I'm deadly serious. I warned you it was crazy."

"H-how did that happen? Like, aren't there OTHER people in the dorm? And how come we learned about it from you?"

"That's because I asked them not to tell you, like I already said. As for the other thing...I'm still striving to understand. I have zero clue." Hongjoong scratched his chin.

The three of them sat there at a loss for words, contemplating the improbability of the whole situation, and no matter how much of their brain power they used, they were getting absolutely nowhere with finding a proper answer. Jeongin eventually got bored and decided to make another, far less complicated, question.

"Who's with who? I mean, except for you and Felix."

"Hmm, should I tell you? I was the one who didn't allow them to do it."

"Come on, man. Don't leave us hanging now" San said, geniunely itching to know.

"Ugh, fine. I was kidding. Your secret will also be out sooner or later."

Hongjoong started to explain the timeline of his and the other members' relationships, making sure to point out how sneaky Wooyoung and Seungmin had been and how much he despised what happened that one night at the awards show. By the end of his little rant, San and Jeongin were amused, concerned, perplexed, all at the same time."...and last but not least, Yeosang and Changbin. Nearly 2 weeks ago. That's about it." Hongjoong finished off and nodded to himself.

"Did you say Jongho and...Chan?" San asked, not believing what he'd heard.

"Unfortunately."

"Isn't Chan way older than him?"

"What am I supposed to do? They fell in love and so did everyone else."

"Ok, I understand that" Jeongin said "but what I don't understand is how Seungmin managed not to tell me anything for a whole year."

"Oh, that's actually a good thing. You know, they were surprisingly careful. Something the others couldn't seem to follow."

"As in...?"

"They got caught. Not doing anything explicit, obviously." Hongjoong reassured and then blushed. "But that excludes me and Felix."

San immediately got it."Ha! Don't tell me..."

"Woo caught us one day. In bed. Kinda. God, so embarrassing." Hongjoong hid his face in his palms and let out a screech.

"AHAHAHAHAA" Jeongin went back to his earlier crying-laughing, accompanied by San.

"Joong, I'm sorry, but that's so funny." San said in between loud cackles.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're laughing, but you're lucky you came to me first. Now get out, before I kick your asses all the way into Chan's room."

"Whew, alright." San wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thank you for listening and for granding us permission to date. You're not in the clear, though, for your bullshit rumors, you hear me?"

"Hey, I said I'm sorry." Hongjoong defended himself.

"I know. But I'm going to tease you forever after this."

"San. Save it for later. We have one more job to do."

"He's right. Go" Hongjoong urged them out of the room.

"I'm not letting you off the hook so easily. I'll come back."

"Whatever you say, San."

The two boys left and he was on his own again. Just thinking. And laughing to himself. Oh god, the last five months had been tiring. He tried so hard to prevent it, yet here they were now, living out a twisted and impossible scenario. Honestly, it wasn't the dating part that bothered him. It was the fact that their choices were endless, but they still ended up dating each other. With no exception, whatsoever.

He had an idea about what it was that brought them to this. It was a complete assumption, but-

"YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHO I RAN INTO" Yunho suddenly burst in the room.

"Let me guess...fate?"

FIN