"You've got much better at lying"

Sehun woke to Kai jabbing him sharply in the neck, a horrible contrast to the sweet, oblivious sleep he had previously resided in.
“Oi, you, get up! You’ve been hugging me, like, all night I could hardly breathe!”  Sehun jumped back in horror as it seemed the blanket had also fallen off the thin mattress leaving only his Jeanes between himself and Kai’s privates.
“O…OMG, I’m sorry… I know this is weird and all bu-“
“It’s not weird…” Kai interrupted Sehun, avoiding eye contact at all cost.
“But...”
“The fact you think it is weird is making it weird, though… shut up.”  Needless to say, kai was not a morning Pearson.

Sehun ignored his grouchy roommate bed mate and went on to admire the sun rising through the prison-like window as the top of the wall, In The Dome, it just got switched on so being able to see the transition through the shadows in the room was breath-taking. This was also the first time in his whole life that Sehun hadn’t been awoken by GDragon’s 7:00am alarm; he would take Kai’s poking over that any day! And for a moment everything was perfect, everything was dreamlike  – Sehun had sort of believed it was only that for a split second anyway –  until… until Sehun remembered, he had been banished from the only home he had ever known, he was living with strangers… in a war zone and had left behind his mother. The pale boy flopped back down onto the thin sheet-like mattress and winced as his back hit the hard surface.  
“!” he screamed in frustration before rolling onto his side and once again burying his chest in his knees.
“WHY DOES IT HAVE TOO BE LIKE THIS! I WANT TO GO HOME FOR SAKES!” It seemed to hurt his back and was just the tip of the iceberg in this literal iceberg of a world. Everything seemed like a mere nightmare before but waking up oblivious to what had happened put stuff into perspective; for a second he was happy – he forgot , how dare he forget  ,he was evil to have forgotten – well that’s what Sehun thought at least. The teenage boy kicked his legs violently and sobbed into the cushion.
While all this was going on Kai merely stood and watched, eyes wide as he learned of a new crazy side to the stranger in his bed. The time before he could handle it but what was he going to do now? Throw a blanket on Sehun whilst he was literally fitting?

Sehun cried and cried, he shook his arms and legs violently and screamed as if to rid himself of the harsh reality; things had finally set in. This was how it would be forever: waking up in this room, surrounded by the cold, surrounded by war, surrounded by Earth.
 Suddenly, in the midst of his tantrum, Sehun felt a pair of warm arms firmly snake around his body, restraining him from his paddy like a warm snake ironically sent from heaven and caressing his hair as the young boy fell limp in the serpent’s arms.
“shhh~ I know it’s hard Sehun-ssi, I know, calm down.” The voice hissed softly thus consoled him as the subtle body heat from the other relaxed Sehun’s form.
“For god sakes Kai-ah, why didn’t you do anything” The individual was certainly mad but didn’t shout as not to further provoke the pale and sobbing Sehun he was cradling.
“I’m sorry Lay hyung but I didn’t know what to do!” Kai wasn’t as considerate as his hyung and raised his voice slightly.
Lay ignored him and focused on calming down the boy, who seemed to come from a foreign universe, in his arms. After so long Kai escaped the elongated room and left Lay to calm down his guest.
Sehun felt gladdened as Lay ran his hands through his thick hair and brought him back down from the height of his hysteria. He seemed to let go a breath of pent up tension, signified by the dropping of his facial muscles visible under the low light of the sunrise.
“Sehun-ssi, please don’t cry, I-I know how you feel.” Lay offered, he sounded a little hazy, but all the softer for it. Lay was a free soul and therefore promoted good feeling to those around – in theory at least.
Sehun looked up at Lay about to protest but then stopped as he realised his elder had probably gone through worse. Sehun breathed weakly as Lay freed him from the grip of his arms.
“Better?” Lay smiled “the last thing we need is a second Suho hyung around here… oh, wait that’s Tao-ah.” Lay seemed to be making a joke but Sehun didn’t understand so just smiled insincerely as his hyung helped him to his feet. There was a lot Sehun would have to learn about, not just earth, but it’s residents too.
 

D.O. focused on hastily making food for the 9 of whom were to face recruitment in less than an hour despite the almost impossible conditions and the fact the oven was hardly heating up. They would often feast on cold food for just this reason but sometimes , if the meat was off – like today and most days alike – cooking it would be the safer option.

“What’s that?” D.O. inquired as Chen sneakily threw something green into the fire under the stove. It seemed someone else noticed how long food preparation was taking and wanted to help it along too.
“pfft~ Lay hyung’s second shirt,” Chen smirked as he finally gave Lay a taste of his own medicine, hoping it would taste just as vile as he intended.  
 “When he finds out you’re dead!” D.O. called, with a grin, to Chen who was walking over towards the others, sat around the fire again. Hiding with the crowd would prevent getting caught for sure. Chen was no stranger to the concept of camouflage.
It seemed D.O. was the chef of the household while the others seemingly did nothing but smoke, drink and warm themselves around the colossal flame in the corner. However, no matter how accurate this assumption looked from the outside they all had their places and did their thing to support each other. They were a family and no matter how minor the role, all had one.

Tensions were high during breakfast, even when Lay came in with Sehun to find his shirt had been burned no one batted an eyelid and to D.O.’s surprise, Lay barley bit his lip and shook his head, not in anger but disbelief.
It was like this every year.
Tao tried telling the others his story about how the East was to attack today but no one was listening.
“Shut up Tao-ah, we told you it’s not gonna happen.” Luhan droned as if he had repeated the statement millions of times.
 “They were just picking on you because you’re young,” Chanyeol stated.
“-and stupid,” Baekhyun added quietly but, unfortunately, loud enough for Xiumin who was sat next to him to hear, earning the sassy boy a slap.
This only heightened the tension.
 

The clock finally struck 10am and all of the boys apart from Kai, Sehun, D.O, Suho and Xiumin got ready to reluctantly leave the house, dragging their heals as the descended the stairs onto the dirty street below.
“Hyungs, how come you are staying behind?” Sehun inquired as the flat drained of its people, it was if a tap had been turned and everyone was flowing out one by one.
“We’re not on the census, just like D.O.” Xiumin smiled matter of factly and went to gather some stuff.
The youngest arched one of his eyebrows “Oh, how come?”  he asked while just lingering, not knowing the real protocol far a day like this.
Xiumin grinned again and looked over to Suho. “I can tell him right?”
“If you want, it has nothing to do with me.” Suho threw his hands up in the air as if to say ‘do what ya want’ and quickly entered his bedroom.
“I’m from the East,” Xiumin revealed as if it was common knowledge, which it may have been as the reminding people around seemed not to care at all.
“Then why-“  Sehun started before he was interrupted:
“We have really got to leave, we don’t want to be caught after the recruitment finishes,” D.O. called to gather everyone.
“I’ll tell you on the way; if I convince them to let us keep watch, we can talk instead of steal,” Xiumin whispered to Sehun as D.O. explained the plan; he seemed to understand what the younger was trying to ask before.

Sehun looked over the other 4 people in the room, he felt like he knew them well enough already, although, he really, really didn’t. Kai looked emotionless (as always) and D.O. was optimistic, Xiumin was merely waiting,  stood with his hand placed on Sehun’s shoulder but the one face that caught Sehun’s attention the most was Suho’s; he looked depressed