Was it possible to go through a day without having things happen to him that made him want to slam his head against the wall? Or at least have some time to recover and relax?

Evidently not.

Lay woke up to the crackling of the speakers. It was a sound he hadn’t heard in a while, but it still sent chills down his spine and waves of angry frustration up. He rolled over and let loose an ungodly noise as he stretched that sounded a lot like “.” And indeed, this ing was the only thing running through his mind when the crackling fizzed out and the hated voice streamed through.

“Rise and shine, dears!” it greeted. Lay wanted to throw something at the speaker, but there was nothing around that he could lift easily. Sadly.

The voice continued, “Thank you all for the interesting show these couple of days, but I want more. It’s not my fault, you are just spoiling me, so of course I want more and more interesting things.” The voice giggled. “So I set up a game!” Lay seethed quietly. Have they not already been played enough? Were they really just here for this psychotic bodiless voice’s entertainment? Were they ing toys?

“It’s been set up for so long now, but none of you go to the living room anymore. It made me sad.” Lay could almost imagine the owner of the voice pouting, and he wanted to throw up.

“So, come on now dears, go down to the living room and play my game!”

In the silence that resumed, only Lay’s heaving breathing could be heard.

As always, the inhabitants of the building were obedient. Slowly, they filed into the living room. It felt strange, as if they were coming back to an old familiar haunt, but there were no heartwarming memories here. Lay ignored the number eleven projected and instead studied each one as they straggled in.

As his gaze fell on Sehun and Tao, last night’s dream replayed in his mind. Dream-Tao’s sweet declaration and childish warning. Reality-Tao’s fierce and determined threat. Lay’s vision wavered and the two Tao’s blurred into one another.

So he should probably stay away from Sehun.

But Lay was never one to step back from things like this. If he was told not to do something . . . he would do it. It was people like him who ate forbidden apples and opened forbidden boxes and unleashed havoc onto the world. And something about Sehun just drew him in. Attracted him; a magnetic pull. He had the itching feeling that Sehun was the key to everything.

But that didn’t mean Lay enjoyed being a third wheel, so he left the two alone.

Watching Xiumin and Luhan, a confused mix of feelings washed over him. He was glad, truly, but he missed Xiumin. It was a childish jealousy toward Luhan. Lay knew it was unreasonable but he couldn’t help it.

The only ones left were Kris, Chanyeol (who disappeared later. Lay might have noticed and thought it was for the best of things. It was how things ended before. No one else noticed, no one else said anything, no one cared. Quiet, wordless vanishment) and Suho.

Lay still wasn’t settled after Suho’s unsettling and confusing visit, so he took a seat by Kris. Even though Kris still pissed him off. Would always piss him off, probably. There was something about the man that just pissed him the off. But Lay still went by him anyway.

What the .

The men in the room stared at each other.

There was a phrase for this, just at the tip of Lay’s tongue, but he couldn’t remember. His life was full of but’s these days.

Wasn’t supposed to be attracted to Sehun, but he was.

Wasn’t supposed to be jealous of Luhan, but he was.

Was supposed to remember things, but he couldn’t.

Was supposed to be friends with Kris, but . . .

The speaker comes back to life with a clap and Luhan jumps in his chair, while Tao focuses his gaze of hatred at the source of noise.

“I changed my mind about the game," the voice began cheerily without preamble. "Instead, I will tell you all four things about each other. They will be vague statements, of course, because it’s so entertaining when you are all running around like confused puppies, no offense.” Lay felt that the statement was directed towards him and he felt full offense.

The voice began listing happily. “Two of you are brothers. Two of you are friends. Two of you are lovers. One of you is a perpetrator and one is a victim. Oh, the poor, poor victim.” There was a sniffle, or maybe it was just a malfunction of the speaker system. “Well, that’s it. Have fun boys!”

The boys in the room stared at each other.

The phrase was mianmian xiangqu. It popped up in Lay’s mind, whispering to him, but he wished his mind whispered other things. More useful things.

“There are more than two lovers,” Luhan pointed out first, breaking the silence.

Of course that’s what he focuses on.

Besides Lay, Kris spoke up. “He said he’s being vague and unclear. Whether it’s only two or more than two, his statement is still true. And it could be about our lives before.” Man of few words, man of wise words. It pissed Lay off.

Those wise words hung over the room as they all tried to digest it. Luhan studied Xiumin. “Were we lovers before?” he asked, voice timid.

Xiumin opened his mouth to answer, but Sehun beat him to it. “We’re lovers now.” It was said to Tao. “Or are we? Or are you going to leave again, without a word? What were we before, something you were able to leave so easily?” Sehun sounded broken but strong, festering questions and accusations spitting out like fire. He was still sitting on Tao’s lap and the close distance made everything hurt all the more.

Xiumin shut his mouth promptly and Tao suddenly looked flustered, eyes averted. Broken in a way Lay didn’t think Tao could be broken.

“Lovers,” he said, broken lips pushing the word out gently. Sehun scoffed and rose, but Tao grabbed onto his hand. “I didn’t want to leave. I would never- could never do that!”

Sehun froze in the position—half in Tao’s reach, half out of his world. “Really.”

Lay looked on with neutral interest. He knew how the story went in Sehun’s memories and he could guess how it was for Tao. But his dreams kept flashing back. Was Lay merely this story’s reader or was he a main character too?

With a tug, Sehun stood, bringing Tao up as well. Ignoring the various pairs of eyes, they left the room, one stalking away, one clinging on.

“Okay then—” Suho began, but was cut off by Kris. He was speaking more and more these days, Lay noted with mild irritation.

“Who’s the perpetrator and victim? Does anyone have more secrets they’re suddenly reminded of?”

“I’m the victim. Of your smile.”

Xiumin groaned. “Now’s not the time, Lu.”

“Just trying to lighten up the mood.” Luhan gave Lay a meaningful look and Lay returned it with a crack of a smile, but the mood did not change for the better.

“We’re all friends though, I remember you all,” Luhan continued. “Except . . . Suho. Sorry.”

At that moment, the bland man stood out more than he ever had as he tried to blend in. “It’s okay,” he replied awkwardly.

“We’re all friends,” Lay echoed.

“Tao and Sehun too,” Kris added.

Luhan raised an eyebrow and nodded, as if Kris had passed the initiation test with that sentence. Xiumin didn’t seem too surprised but Lay wrinkled his nose. They were all friends. That made sense.

“Who are the brothers?” he asked.

“You,” Xiumin answered. “And I.”

That was news. But not really.

“Not blood-related though,” Xiumin added. He seemed he wanted to say more and Lay waited in anticipation, but there was nothing. Just a twitch that meant Lay should figure it out by himself. Then there was an unsaid but mutual agreement for this meeting to adjourn and Xiumin really left Lay to figure everything out by himself.

Two of you are brothers. Him and Xiumin, apparently. His gut feelings had been correct and he remembered how Chen/Jongdae had said he was the lone survivor of the massacre. 

Two of you are friends. All of them except Suho, apparently. It explained why they gravitated so naturally towards each other.

Two of you are lovers. Tao and Sehun, evidently. Although Luhan probably wanted more.

One of you is a perpetrator and one is a victim.

He was suddenly reminded of Kai and Kyungsoo. The first screamed victim! and the second was chilling and creepy as . But it wasn’t right.

He thought of Suho and Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Baekhyun. But who was the good and who was the bad? They were all ed up in the end.

He thought of Tao, Sehun and himself. But was a teenage love triangle enough to qualify for a perpetrator and victim?

Thoughts clashed in his mind and he crashed into a soft wall.

“Suho!” he yelped calmly.

The man was more alarmed than Lay, shock and fear carved into his face. He froze like deer in headlights. Muttering an apology, he made to leave, but Lay put a hand on his shoulder.

“We should talk,” Lay commanded. “Can we? Please?” he remembered to add politely, though he wasn’t sure why he did.

Clearly, Suho did not want to. But he closed his eyes, grimaced and followed Lay into his room.

Lay immediately sunk into the bed. He was exhausted, as he usually was after doing any thinking, guessing and other mental activities in this damned building.

The other man’s eyes flitted around the room and remained standing.

“W-what do you want to talk about?” His voice was like light shot through water. It wavered and bended. Lay wasn’t sure where it came from and what direction it was going.

He shrugged. “Explain what you said last time. Tell me everything. I know you remember more than you let on.”

“And why should I tell you?” Suho sounded uncharacteristically firm and substantial.

“You said I’m powerful.”

Suho sighed and with it, the fire inside him died out again. “I remember all of you, but I know you the best.”

i was really really really seriously going to abandon this fic, but then luuhuuh commented and i realized i couldn't ditch this >u<

also, check out some of my dance / flute covers if you'd like~