New Land, Same Mess. 

"Why would you even say that?" Kris furrowed his brows at the breakfast table while Baekhyun shrugged. For some reason, everyone else was nowhere to be seen despite breakfast being totally inclusive in the price. On top of that, the dining hall was amazing! Kris hadn't seen this many windows in his whole life and just watching the waves as they ate was astonishing. 
The rest were missing out. 
"Of course they haven't fallen overboard." 
Baekhyun shrugged as he shovelled bacon into his gaping mouth, "I don't know," He supposed, "Tao is a clumsy, lanky thing." 
Kris gulped as he watched Baekhyun chew, "As is Chanyeol-ah." He agreed, not eating himself, "And Suho-ya has the tendency to trip up a lot." 
"They're dead," Baekhyun shrugged, "I call it here and now, it's just you and I buddy, you and I." 
Kris hadn't heard anything more sickening in weeks. 

"And D.O." 

Kris looked up and around, following D.O. as he took a seat at the round table beside them. Unlike usual, his hair was slick and silky, his face was fresh and his eyes were brighter than the chandelier in the middle of the room. Just one night in a proper bed, in a proper room, in ample heat had done wonderers for the teenager and It was showing already.

"You look... amazing...." Baekhyun whispered with confusion as he inspected what was on D.O.'s plate, only to get shooed away. Kris searched his mind for reasons to why Baekhyun's own food was no longer good enough but came up empty. 
"I know," D.O.'s heart shaped lips smiled, "The shower's here are heaven! Chanyeol has been in there for the past half an hour!" 
Baekhyun smirked at the prospect of Chanyeol being clean for once, he then took it one step further and wondered if Kris might consider washing, himself. That was stupid, though; the day Kris washed his hair, the world would end, everyone knew that. 

"So where is everyone else?" Kris continued the former conversation regarding where the hell most of the group was. 
"I've only seen the three of us, plus Chanyeol," D.O. supplied, "We land in two hours, they're probably just gathering the stuff." 
Kris nodded but really wasn't sure; this whole trip made him uncomfortable. Nothing had gone right for the group since they left Suho's and Kris wondered if they should have just let Tao take the slack in the first place. 
"You don't know where Tao-ah is then? You're normally joined at the hip." Baekhyun inferred and Kris thought about his dumb panda again. He was sorry, but couldn't help but realise that the kid was nothing but a liability, and had been since day one. It was better this way, Kris thought, better that Tao hated him as it gave him one less person to worry about.
"No, Baekhyun-ah," Kris sighed as he took a bite of his cold toast, "I don't."

***
"Tao-ya." 
"Tao."
"Tao, wake the up!" 

Tao's eyes shot open as his body was shook awake. The cold hands gripped around his forearm caused him to shiver as they tickled his delicate skin. Tao hadn't woken to see Lay staring down at him for a long time and this wasn't a welcomed change. Lay was horrific looking, to be frank, and the morning did him not favours. 

"What?" Tao groaned as he laid eyes on lay's messy hair, it was forced into a  ponytail but still falling into his eyes. Like a common rat, Lay was wet and dripping water from his nose, his eyes were red and his skin blemished. Tao wondered what had possessed Lay to actually take a shower, and couldn't help but let his mind drift into 'Kris' territory. Great, now even something as simple as a shower made Tao think of that giant idiot, which was ironic because showering and Kris were mutually exclusive concepts anyway. 

"Tao, get out of my bed." 
Scowling, Tao rubbed at his eyes, "Where were you?" He furrowed his brow accusatively. 
Lay grimaced as he re-adjusted the towel low on his waist, obviously wanting to use it to dry himself when Tao made himself scarce. 
"Busy." The elder deadpanned, smiling bitterly as Tao began to rise from the matres.

Through all this, Suho slept soundly. The years of Lay wondering in late had forced him to be a very deep sleeper and even when his other half was a drunken, shouting, mess, Suho was known to rest well. Now, however, as the heat from Tao's body migrated and the younger left the bed, Suho arose. The absence of someone he cared about could wake him much faster than the presence of another, that he often despised. Still, Suho's eyes remained closed as he sensed the omniscient presence of his love in the room. 

"Kris will be worried about you." Suho heard Lay's voice purr and then the door squeak open. Tao didn't reply but Suho knew he was leaving. "You should go get something to eat." 
Again, Tao remained virtually silent, bar the overzealous breath that left his lips. Suho knew Tao wasn't happy and wondered if anyone in their family truly was. 

Suho wondered if Lay was. 

Suho wondered if Lay was even capable of pure, unadulterated happiness. 

But, that didn't really matter, because Suho was sure he wasn't capable of it either. And, as Lay got beneath the sheets, and hugged the elder a little closer, Suho didn't care where he had been all night. He didn't care that the other was wet and cold. He didn't even care that, despite the beating heart in Lay's chest pumping loudly, the Chinese was empty. 
Suho knew he was;
That thing you feel when someone is with you, he didn't feel it. 
Maybe that was scary.<