part 2 of a double update

don't forget to read the chapter before this

            “You’re so gorgeous.” Joonmyun said reverently as he leaned down to kiss Tao softly.

           “We should shower… We have a guest for dinner.”  Tao sat up.

           “Oh?” Joonmyun nuzzled Tao’s neck.

           “Chanyeol invited Kris over for dinner.” Joonmyun helped Tao off of the bed.

           “Oh… ok.” He let the genie lead him to the bathroom.

           “Baekhyun insisted that Chanyeol cook for everyone because he didn’t discuss this with everyone first.” Tao said as they stepped under the warm water.

           “Oh… fantastic…” Joonmyun didn’t sound happy at the thought of Chanyeol cooking.

           “What’s wrong?” He asked as he started scrubbing the smaller man’s skin.

           “Yeol can’t cook. He burns everything.” He said matter-of-factly as he absently lathered up a washcloth.

           “Oh… fantastic.”  Tao echoed,  “Chanyeol was hoping to make friends with Kris.” He closed his eyes so Joonmyun could wash his face.

           “Should I make a backup dinner?”

           “We can order pizza or something.” Tao sighed.

           Joonmyun shrugged and kissed Tao’s shoulder. The blond hummed at the contact and rest his cheek against the top of Joonmyun’s head.

           “Anything wrong Tao?”

           “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say.” He sighed.

           “Maybe if you tell me what you can, it will make things easier on you?” He mused as he toweled off Tao’s back and kissed between his shoulder blades.

           “I… you… you’ll never forget me will you?”

           “I could never forget you Tao. You’ve become such a big part of my life so quickly. I don’t know how I ever got along without you.”

           Tao kissed Joonmyun as they helped each other dress.

           “You know, before I met you, I dreamt of being free. I never pictured I’d be this happy about it.”

           Joonmyun stopped in the middle of the upstairs hallway and turned to look at Tao. He pulled the taller man in for a hug. Tao squeezed tighter.

           They came downstairs hand in hand and went to the kitchen where Baekhyun was shouting at Chanyeol. He looked like a head chef telling his apprentice what to do.

           “He’s doing all of the cooking huh?” Tao asked sarcastically.

           “He almost blew up the kitchen trying to light the stove,”

“I’m sorry, I'm terrified of fire,” Chanyeol sneered.

    “It's true. He has been since we were kids.” Joonmyun said.

“I don't care, you're supposed to be cooking. Stir that!” Chanyeol pointed warily at the back burner in question. “Yes. That!”

           The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” Joonmyun sang. He was followed closely by Tao as he walked to the door. “Did you need something, Tao?”

           “I’m just feeling clingy. Don’t mind me.” He rest his hands on Joonmyun’s hips and kissed the back of his neck.

           “Ohhkaaay.” He opened the door and Kris was standing there with a shorter man standing behind him.

           “Uh hi…” Kris scratched his head and cleared his throat. “I was just wondering if my uh… friend could come to dinner too.” The smaller man’s face never changed, but there was a sad look in his eyes when Kris called him friend. “Didn’t want to leave him by himself at my house. He might chew up the furniture, y’know.” He teased.

           Joonmyun looked at Tao who shrugged indicating that he didn’t care either way. “I don’t see why not.” The brunet said. “I’ll go set another place. You want to come in?”

           “I brought wine.” Kris’ friend said. “If - if that’s ok”

           “Dinner’s going to be fancy tonight isn’t it?” Tao said as he trailed behind Joonmyun into the front room, followed by the two other men.

           “I don’t want to keep calling him ‘Your friend’ He has a name I’m assuming?” Tao said with a slight downturn of his lips. The genie discreetly wiggled his fingers when the two men turned to look at him and there was instantly another place setting.

           “Oh, where are my manners, this is Jongdae.” He introduced Tao and Joonmyun. They were interrupted by a loud crash in the kitchen.

           Joonmyun’s eyes widened for a moment and Tao ran into the kitchen. “No guys! We put our food there!” They heard Tao shout. “I thought you were showing Yeol how to cook!” There was a low, panicked mumbling “Our guests are here… Hurry it up would ya?” Tao left the kitchen with a frown “AND I MEAN DINNER!”

           “That’s embarrassing…” Tao mumbled as he walked back to the small group of men. “Why haven’t you offered them a seat?”

           “Oh… yeah… Sorry. Everyone usually just comes in and sits down anyway… Have a seat.” He gestured toward the antique couches in the front room.

           “This place is a lot more like a home now that you’ve moved in.” Kris looked around with a pleased expression, “The professor had it looking like a museum until he went on a search for his legendary birds.”

           “You knew him?” Tao asked.

           “Yeah, “Kris said, “He was in charge of our research project in college. They forced him into retirement because the older he got, the more paranoid and eccentric he became,” Jongdae nodded. “He always seemed so bitter about someone taking his birds away… It eventually looked like he was trying to find them even at the cost of his sanity.”

           “Explains why the place was filled wall to wall with newspapers and research material…” Joonmyun said quietly as he absently grabbed Tao’s hand.

           “The last time he invited me in for tea, he kicked me out screaming ‘You’ll never get it, you dirty thief’ I had no idea what he was talking about… maybe he thought I wanted that lamp?” He raised an eyebrow in question. “I mean two thousand years old, I may just let the museum keep it safe for me.” He scratched his head nervously.

           “This house was so full of valuable artifacts that he could have been screaming about any number of things.” Tao said as he looked at the remaining antiquities around the room. Joonmyun noticed that the two men were looking at their clasped hands with a bit of discomfort. Joonmyun noticed Jongdae’s eyes would flit momentarily to Kris’ hands and then back up to join the conversation.

           “So… How long have you two been together?” Joonmyun asked finally.

           “We were colleagues at the research project the professor was heading and we were instant friends.” Kris said with a smirk.

           “So you two have been a couple since then?” Joonmyun asked. Jongdae looked a bit sad and continued looking at the antiques when Kris started talking. He knew when to ignore the answer his friend would give. Joonmyun could tell it was a stab in the heart when he said it.

           “We’re not… He’s not… uh. Why would you think that we’re together?” Kris sounded a bit thrown off. Jongdae looked a bit confused at the way he answered the question. Usually he would just leave a short ‘We’re not together’ but Joonmyun managed to fluster him. He eagerly waited for Joonmyun’s answer.

           “Both of your pupils dilate when you look at each other and your voices drop when you talk to one another for starters.” Jongdae had a halfcocked grin on his face as he looked away from Kris and chuckled.

           “He doesn’t like me like that.” They both said. They both frowned and then looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

           “Looks like you two have much to talk about when you get home later.” Tao said with a half cocked smile.

           The kitchen door swung open and Chanyeol came out with a large bowl of salad.

           “Food’s up!” The two men rushed to the table, thankful that they didn’t have to deal with that awkward silence anymore. “You guys start on this, we’ll be out with the real food in a bit.”

           Joonmyun looked at Tao with a bit of trepidation before taking a small bite of the salad. He chewed for a moment and looked impressed. “He managed not to up the salad dressing.” He said pleasantly.

           Chanyeol came out with serving dishes full of potatoes and other vegetables then went back into the kitchen. He came out followed by Baekhyun with a large bowl.

           “What is it?” Joonmyun asked in disbelief. It actually looked good.

           “Chicken and mushroom pasta in white sauce… Got the recipe from Baek.” He smiled at his boyfriend. “Wasn’t entirely sure it would work actually.” He scratched the back of his head.

           Joonmyun grabbed a potato and started putting sour cream on it. The others grabbed their own side dishes and some of the pasta. They were complimenting Chanyeol on the food when Baekhyun wiped his mouth and stood up. “I suggest you don’t eat the pasta.” He said calmly before running to the bathroom. Chanyeol looked nervously at everyone before getting up to follow Baekhyun.

           “Baby, I’m sorry!” He shouted, “I told you that wasn’t a good recipe to use.” He ran back to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water.

           The others put their silverware down and Joonmyun stood up. “I’ll see what I can conjure up.”

           Tao wiggled his fingers under the table in the direction of the kitchen before looking at the two men. “You two talk, I’ll put these away.”

           Tao grabbed the big bowl of poison pasta as he wiggled his fingers subtly in the direction of the retching Baekhyun.

           Tao was already in the kitchen before Chanyeol could carry the smaller man to their bedroom.

           In the kitchen, Joonmyun looked at Tao in disbelief. “How am I going to explain the fresh plate of Chinese food?” He whispered nervously.

           “Chinese food is relatively quick to make. Just come up with something.” He whispered back.

           He came out to grab more of their dishes and he heard Kris whisper in irritation, “When were you going to tell me?”

           “Never,” Jongdae's whispered reply, “I knew you’d be pissed at me for telling you.” They momentarily stopped talking and handed Tao their plates.

           “I think our new couple has already hit a few bumps on their road together.” Tao smirked.

           Joonmyun came out with a plate of orange chicken and Tao followed with a plate of vegetable chow Mein. They caught the tail end of the conversation. Jongdae angrily whispered, “Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

           “It’s not much, but we did what we could.” Joonmyun put his plate down. He didn’t offer any other explanation and just sat down. Tao huffed and turned around. “What?” Joonmyun asked Tao.

           The genie came back with six pairs of chopsticks.

           “Oh… right. Why did you bring six sets?”

           “The other two will be hungry. They’ll be out in a minute.”

           “I think Baek has lost his appetite for the night.” Joonmyun said as he piled noodles onto Tao’s plate before helping himself.

           Not even a minute later, Baekhyun came out of the bedroom looking disheveled and flushed but continued toward the food.

           “Where’s Yeol?” Tao asked when Baekhyun sat down and grabbed some chicken.

           “He’s… washing his face.” Baekhyun smirked as if laughing at his own joke and dug into his food.

           “Are you sure you should be eating like that with food poisoning?” Jongdae asked.

           “I’m better already.” He said through a mouthful of food. “I think Tao helped.”

           Kris looked at Tao with a raised eyebrow.

           “Oh… you found that stomach medicine I got from China?” He said trying to stop the purple haired man from saying too much.

           “Yep.” He would have said more, but Chanyeol walked in and kissed the top of his head. He was wearing a completely different shirt and his hair was slicked back as if he’d just taken a shower.

           “Washing his face? He looked like he fell face first into the sink.” Jongdae said with a chuckle.

           “I refuse to comment.” The tall man grumbled.