Suspicion Is The Poison Of Friendship

“I dare… Chen to eat three of Luhan hyung’s chocolate bars.”
“Wow, Chen, great dare, totally accepted man.”
“Cool," Chen beamed cheekily, "Thanks, Luhan hyung.” 

Everyone in the circle narrowed their eyes, “You can’t dare yourself to do things, Chen.”  Luhan scowled as he looked around the room for his bag, as to make sure Chen kept his grubby hands off. 
“Okay," Chen planned to reiterate, "well I dare Luhan hyung to give me three chocolate bars.” 
“Cough up.” Chanyeol prompted as a few bouts of laughter inhibited the room and Luhan got to his feet in a begrudged stance as to trail over to his bag. 
Baekhyun, D.O. and Chanyeol had made their it across to Xiumin, Luhan and Chen’s ‘shipping container’ as to eat the little food J-hope had managed to pry off of Jungkook.  Suga hadn’t been much help so the latter trio thought they would invite everyone over as to scavenge. 

“Where, Is Suho, Hyung?” Luhan pouted as he handed over the chocolate bars, “He would tell Chen-ah to quit this .” 
“I don’t know, Lay hyung said he would be back here in a bit.” Baekhyun offered the only information he could possibly supply  as Luhan sat back down in the circle. 
“What about the maknaes?” 
“We aren’t inviting them.” Baekhyun passionately protested, waving his arms before his face, “I am not sitting in a room with a smug Taozi.” 
Everyone agreed as D.O. got to his feet as if on cue. His face was blank as usual but Baekhyun knew him well and could tell this particular blankness from the regular sort of void expression the younger possessed. D.O. was up to something and Baekhyun knew it, and, due to the look on the latter's face, so did everyone else.
“Where are you going?” Xiumin scowled in suspicion as he craned his neck back to trace D.O.’s steps over to the door. 
“To go get Tao-ah; anything that annoys Baekhyun hyung makes me smile.” The youngest in the room leered ominously as he saluted the circle and left the room. 
Baekhyun had known it! 

D.O. wasn’t entirely sure what this new camp was; it looked extremely temporary and was packed full of those square containers. He wasn’t sure how they all got here but as the Korean crept through the winding street-like gaps between the structures, he knew that there are a lot. 
D.O. remembered that the maknaes were put in 22Q opposed to himself who resides in 55T and Xiumin’s lot who are right over at 4B. He worked out that by counting 16 across and 18 up he should end up in about the right place, though none of the buildings where marked so  it was hard to know.  He had had to stand outside to greet Xiumin when the elder came to collect their lot earlier, otherwise, he would never have found his way and meetings would be impossible. 

Luckily, When D.O. found himself in close proximity of his destination Tao was similarly stood outside, lazily leant against his accommodation and looking in need of some excitement.
“Oh, Hyung. What are you doing here?” Tao stood up straight as he smiled welcomingly, but, his height was somewhat contradictory of said welcome as Tao towered high and was nothing short of intimidating. 
D.O. reciprocated the smile nonetheless as Tao seemed to lose interest and gazed up above him into the abyss of the black sky littered with stars, all visible with the absence of light pollution. 
“Just wanting to see If you want to come over, we are planning our next move.”
Tao unexplainably smirked a little but untimely sighed,  “there are so many homes here.” The younger stated thus ignoring the invitation “Why aren’t there any people.” He scowled, “It's freaking me out, hyung.” 
D.O. indicated his lack of knowledge as he leant back on a ‘building’. “Maybe there are people here.” 
Tao laughed a little as he turned to open the door, “And they’re all inside?” 
D.O. followed, rolling his eyes as Tao disappeared into the rectangular box, “There could be a curfew.” He offered rather plausibly. 
Tao wasn’t quite buying it.
“Come on losers, we’re going to the hyung’s place,” Tao told the maknaes who sat way too close to the fire as he grabbed his coat off the side and D.O. poked his head into the well-littered dwelling. 
“It’s too cold.” Kai moaned as he leant his heavy head against the hard bed, “Shut the ing door.” 
Tao shook his head as he put on the jacket and bore a smile, “Sure,” he added turning towards D.O. and driving the other out, “right after you come through it.” 
“I want to stay~,” Kai told once more as D.O. rolled his giant eyes, “go without me.”
“What about you Sehun-ah?” Tao placidly asked before leaving yet, when Sehun seemed to oppose, he realised he had to up his game:  “Come on man,” Tao begged, “I don’t want to be the Maknae.” 
“I’m just too tired, Sorry Hyung.” Sehun excused leaving an angry Tao and impartial D.O. to leave their damp, tiny residence. 

“Are you asleep, hyung?” Sehun had asked as he lay still next to Kai as the other breathed steadily and softly. The crisp night air bit at both of their skin as Sehun slowly moved a little closer to the elder and shivered under the thin blanket that covered both of their lanky bodies. “Tao hyung isn’t back yet.”
Kai sighed as if it was a habitual reflex and decided against ignoring the younger despite better judgement. “Just go to sleep.” He told, without emotion, not even bothering to open his heavily lidded eyes. 
Sehun’s teeth chattered as he attempted to oblige yet the sub-zero temperatures were beginning to freeze him and the pale teen was beginning to wish he had left the fire on.
“Stop. That.” Kai grunted referring to the clanking in Sehun’s vibrating mouth.
“I can’t” Sehun told shakily as he rubbed his feet together at the other end of the mattress, “It’s too cold.”  
Kai ignored this, he ignored everything and tried his best to get back to sleep, yet, the tan Korean struggled to not take notice of how Sehun was progressively getting closer to his and seemed to desire to reap heat from his unsuspecting bed mate. 
Kai shivered as one of Sehun’s gothic bony fingers made contact with his broad back and forced him to jump to his feet .
“Fine.” Kai told as he stumbled over the room “I’ll put the goddamn fire on.” He looked back to a startled, albite smiling, Sehun. “happy?” Kai asked bitterly. 
“Ever so.” 

The younger didn’t seem to be tired in the slightest and was now sitting up with the blanket doused over his broad shoulders, his baring the itch of the abrasive fibres. 
“We never talk anymore.” Sehun generically whined as Kai sat back on the bed, brows lowered and his mouth posed in a tight frown.  The small, kinetically powered, analogue clock on the bedside table indicated it was gone 2am yet Tao still wasn’t back. This irked Kai; Tao was always out living it up and he sometimes wondered why he wasn’t the same. Kai was young; he was attractive enough wasn’t he? Then why, on what he assumed could be a Saturday night… well, Sunday morning, was he sat on a double bed, in a storage container with Sehun, of all people. 

“We have nothing to talk about.” Kai deadpanned and Sehun frowned. 
“We used to.”
This wasn’t true for two reasons: one, Sehun and Kai hadn’t known each other long enough to have a ‘used’ in their relationship. Two, they never talked anyway.
Kai awkwardly grimaced, his brow furrowing as he disgustingly picked at the dry skin on his sore feet, “No we didn’t.” he expressed looking Sehun in the eyes, “We have always been awkward.” 
In his opinion, Sehun had always considered himself closest to Kai In their tight-knit group, if this is how Kai essentially felt then perchance Sehun was just an outsider full stop. 
That reality hurt.

Kai could suddenly comprehend the turmoil he afflicted upon the other and heard the shrill nagging of Suho in his one-dimensional mind, either that or it was real guilt and Kai wasn’t as simple a human being as he liked to make out.
“I don’t know you, Sehun-ah,” Kai commented, still playing with the dry skin that cursed his feet. If Sehun noticed, he didn’t say anything. “You don’t know me.”
Sehun gave a curt, awkward chuckle, “You didn’t give me a chance.”  He accused, crucially avoiding eye contact as if locking with Kai’s sharp gaze would be lethal, “The first time we met I had the barrel of a rifle pointed at my face-“ Kai sincerely sniggered to himself at the memory, yet Sehun wasn’t so thrilled “-You told me Kris would say no – he did – but you were ready to leave me out there.” Sehun stopped before he worked himself up.
Kai exhaled strongly before he gathered his thoughts and concluded the situation, “Want to start again?” He requested, a valiant attempt  at a smile on his lips, not lacking in sincerity but definitely missing happiness; this wasn’t a topic that Kai took pleasure in but Sehun nodded none the less and the charade went on:
“My name’s Kim Jongin, but you can call me Kai.” Kai smiled as he extended his hand, causing Sehun to blush, “I’m Sixteen and may or may not have a huge man crush on Luhan hyung… I have a story, it’s an awful story.” 
Sehun rolled his eyes yet smiled widely and kept up his end of the deal with an equally clique introduction:
 “Oh Sehun, I get the Luhan hyung thing, good taste Kim Jongin-“ Kai bashfully bowed his head, yet didn’t lose the eye contact he had managed to achieve “- I also have a story, it’s a vile story yet it didn’t really start until November last year.”
Both boys acknowledged this renewal of their relationship contract, it was officially friendship:
“Well-“ Kai started
“Well?”
“We are good now?”  He asked with a rainbow of perplexities painted across his face, ill-lit by the dim flickering fire. 
Sehun neither nodded nor shook his head, he gave no indication to an answer yet Kai was pretty sure he understood. 
“Do you want to know