authors babbling: yeah so here's the chapter at long last. Hope you all enjoyed the Christmas Special 

Chapter 3

Sehun could be a brat, everyone knew and understood this fact because out of the two maknae’s they had, EXO-K had got lumbered with the bratty Ice Prince. Not to say that Tao couldn’t be a brat of course, the scheming little git just seemed to know how to pull the cute look and everything that you tried to do was just pulled completely out from underneath your feet because damn it he was just too good at his job. Plus, when he wasn’t acting like a bad boy brat Tao was the most adorable thing on the planet.

Whereas Sehun tended to be a bit on the brattish side all of the time, except when they were in their dorms and completely away from the cameras when he’d go into his own sweet little personality that was soft and kind and worried. But at this moment in time virtually everyone wanted to throttle Sehun though it would have not helped the situation in the slightest. They all understood why he was so upset and they had had it all explained to them a million times over as to why Sehun was going through this whole phase but it was not helping them at all with the fact that he was being a total utter infuriating brat on the day of Tao’s funeral.

Suho had given up on trying to get him out of bed after only five minutes, sending Chanyeol in to drag him out rather forcibly and make him go and shower. That had lasted all of five minutes before he had been able to sneak away because Baekhyun was trying to fix the shower as the water had gone freezing cold whilst Kyungsoo was yelling at him to just leave it and they’d sort it out when they got back home.

Slumping into the kitchen, still in his pyjamas and with unruly bed hair, Sehun grabbed the nearest chair and sat down heavily on it, resting his arms on the table top, followed by his head and pretty much refused to even move after that moment in time. Kai looked up from the living room, already dressed in a very smart black suit with his hair styled all nice and sighed, realising that it was his turn to try and convince his elder hyung that no matter what he had to go today. No one had been able to convince Sehun that he was going to the funeral, every time they tried it just turned into a massive argument with wasn’t sorted until someone stormed out of the room and doors were slammed shut and then that harrowing silence would overtake everything and it would just turn into a horrible time for everyone.

Of course the remaining members of M tried to help out as much as possible but their presence seemed to only agitate Sehun more.

Naturally Suho was worried but the more he tried to comfort Sehun the more the other pushed away from him and refused the help. It was a complicated and very sticky situation that was getting well out of hand. Kai honestly didn’t think that he was going to have any additional luck in getting Sehun ready but he had to try.

“Hyung?” he tried in a tiny voice, gently prodding the other in the side but not getting any form of result, “Sehun?” he tried again, prodding a little harder this time and glad to see that there was a response even if it was just a grumbling growl of warning from the other. The next few attempts resulted in pretty much the same reaction and it wasn’t until Kai quite literally managed to clamber onto the others back and tickle attack/electric shock his sides that Sehun did actually finally properly react.

By turning around with a fearsome growl and actively punching Kai on the shoulder with enough force to send the other staggering back into the kitchen cupboards which caused one of the doors to break and pans to come crashing down straight onto the others head.

There was a huge clatter that probably shook up the entire building let alone the dorm room and suddenly the world around the kitchen exploding into an array of noise. People yelling out concerns, getting angry for what had happened and demanding an explanation and others just trying to work out what the hell had happened to make that much of a noise.

Suho was finally able to step in and yell loud enough to make everyone still in surprise before all eyes turned to Sehun who was staring at the place where Kai had been knocked to. A million different emotions played across the youngsters face and then he completely broke down, sobbing out a million different apologises in what sounded like ten different languages of gibberish and snot that made no sense to anyone other than the still clearly caught in his grieving Sehun. Everyone moved forward as one to lock the youngster into a tight hold, assuring him that everything was going to be okay, that Kai was fine and not hurt, a little scuffed up maybe and he was going to have to totally change his suit but that could be easily sorted out but most of all everyone was just glad that the maknae had finally let it all go.

Whatever blame he had held on his shoulder or maybe it was the shock of finding his best friend dead on the couch and then having to painfully wait for the medical verdict to come back with the cause of death which had been a presumed accidental overdose of pain medication which had naturally thrown everything up into the air and brought it all into question. Sehun had not taken the news well in the slightest and had shut down as opposed to facing things head on but that was also understandable.

Now his pent up anger and sadness had made him lash out and it had caused the damn to break because if there was one thing that Sehun did not like to do it was to cause pain to people that he cared about. Finally, his opportunity to just cry was there and the tension slowly released itself from his tightly wound up body until he was nothing more than a ragdoll who was tired and ready to attempt to face the day that was looming ahead of them all.

How they managed to get to the Funeral and look presentable was beyond Sehun as he stood alongside his brothers, holding onto Suho’s and Lay’s hand in an almost vice like grip as he allowed the tears to flow down his face. He was allowed as he was younger than Tao and whilst the others had to remain silent, he could openly weep for his missing friend. He didn’t want to think of life without Tao, didn’t want to have to face the fact that he couldn’t play games with him anymore or have an excuse to watch silly cartoons on a Saturday morning or just annoy his hyungs with the cuteness game but he knew that from now on it was going to be like that.

Slowly he raised his eyes to the photograph of Tao which was smiling brightly at him and he tried to smile back, tried to remember how Tao would want him to be in this situation and what silly words he would say to him just to make him relax and smile. It didn’t help this time and only caused more tears to flow from his eyes, making a handkerchief the most important thing in his pocket and he really didn’t like the fact that his image as the ice prince was being completely ruined right now but he wasn’t going to not cry at his best friend’s funeral.

Even when they had sat down for the meal after leaving the gifts in the coffin, Sehun could barely even recall moving from his assigned seat and he gently ran his fingers over the little red envelope which he knew would contain the sweet, the little coin (which was probably chocolate knowing what Tao was like) and the handkerchief but he couldn’t bring himself to open it because that would mean that it would all be over.

He went to put it away in his pocket but Yixing stopped him with a gentle shake of his head, “It brings bad luck, Sehun, come on, I’ll help you.”

Feeling more like a child than ever, Sehun allowed Yixing to help him because he could think of nothing else to do in this situation and really he did not want to bring any more bad luck crashing down around his head. The coin was indeed chocolate and that had him laughing gently once again before tears started to fall from his eyes. Yixing pulled him into a gentle hug and just let him make a complete mess of his suit.

If they followed the funeral party down to the graveside and lit the fires for the paper offerings, Sehun wouldn’t be able to tell anyone in the slightest because he just felt numb the whole day. He didn’t even really notice when he had to be carried back to the waiting vans, after failing to say anything to Tao’s parents because everything had just gone so cold and lifeless before his eyes that he just forgot every last word of Chinese that he had ever been able to speak. No one complained at him though, no one told him off or said that he did a bad thing. Instead they just carried him back to the waiting van and drove back to the dorms in companionable silence.

Sehun fell asleep at some point along the way, not really noticing it until the next day but still no one complained. Except for Kai in a joking manner about how he had a lump the size of a duck egg on his head of course but Sehun just lightly toed him away.

~*~

A week later everyone had opted to not stay in the dorms and had instead gone to a little resort with a natural hot springs attached to it because they had already done the whole greeting thing twice now and they were sure that even ghosts get bored sometimes. Of course they naturally left the red plaques on the doors to let Tao know where they were going – a couple of jokey comments scribbled in appalling letters by Baekhyun towards the youngster because he was sure to get lost or something like that – but they were sure that their innocent panda would have no trouble in finding them should he really need to visit any of them.

The waters were soothing on the body and soul and virtually everyone just moved about on their own. No one really talked that night or made assumptions or guesses as to what was going to happen in the slightest because they just did not know themselves.

Slowly everyone drifted off to their rooms to sleep, sending careful goodnights to one another and making sure that everyone was okay. Sehun had fallen asleep on Chen’s lap first and the elder had merrily taken him to bed to sleep away his troubles and hopefully not end up too upset the next day.

The last to head to bed was Suho and he sighed as he glanced up at the night sky, wondering if he had done the right thing by accepting the trip out here. Though suddenly there was a gentle warmth surrounding him and two pairs of familiar arms wrapped around him. One going around his shoulders whilst the other went around his waist.

“Don’t worry,” a deep baritone voice whispered on the wind.

“You’re doing just fine,” a softer one finished for the other and Suho let out a happy breath glad to know that he was not alone out there that night.

authors babbling: poor Sehun, he just didn't know what to do. hope you enjoyed and see you next time -gives out the tissues and the plushis and the hot chocolate and anything else needed-