Thursday arrives in the blink of an eye, and by the time dance class is over, everyone is buzzing with anticipation. “See you all soon!” Sehun calls as he leaves, earlier than the rest of them so that he can prepare the house a little. He gives Jongin a brief kiss, inciting complaints from everyone else, but he ignores them, grinning broadly as he makes his way home.

Kris and Junmyeon have already mostly set up the west wing’s living room for the guests. They recruit Sehun as the delivery boy between the kitchen and the living room; he spends fifteen minutes carting various snack foods to the living room and making them look somewhat aesthetically pleasing on the table.

Luhan and Minseok are the first to arrive, followed closely by Chanyeol and Baekhyun. For some reason, Tao arrives at the same time as them but Jongdae doesn’t. It turns out that he got a ride from Yixing, and he explains that the reason Yixing has been his tutor for so long is because they’re actually neighbors.

Jongin and Kyungsoo are the final guests to show up. Junmyeon answers the door, Sehun trailing behind him, to find an apologetic Jongin and a solemn Kyungsoo standing on the doorstep. “Thank you for allowing all of us to come to your house, Junmyeon-ssi,” Kyungsoo says. “I wasn’t sure if we needed to bring anything or how formal this was. I apologize.” He looks extraordinarily stiff and uncomfortable, Sehun notes, which means he’s still clearly apprehensive about Sehun’s family. Next to him, Jongin looks like he wants to either roll his eyes or smack Kyungsoo upside the head for being ridiculous.

Junmyeon, entirely unfazed, doesn’t miss a beat. He laughs airily and tells Kyungsoo, “Don’t be silly. Of course you didn’t need to bring anything. This is supposed to be a way for all of us to chill and hang out! You just needed to bring yourself, and maybe a smile wouldn’t hurt either.” He flashes a brilliant smile at Kyungsoo, who looks extremely taken aback.

“I - um, okay,” he replies, evidently surprised at Junmyeon’s lack of any kind of formality.

“Follow me, I’ll show you where everyone else is.” Junmyeon gestures for Kyungsoo to enter the house, and Kyungsoo does so, visibly less tense than he was before.

Jongin stops next to Sehun as Junmyeon leads Kyungsoo into the house. “He expected Junmyeon-hyung to be all stuffy and proper,” he whispers conspiratorially to Sehun, grinning. “He kind of saw what Junmyeon-hyung is like in the group chat, but I don’t really think he was paying much attention to each individual. Now that I think about it, I probably should’ve told him that Junmyeon-hyung isn’t all pompous and pretentious, but honestly, the look on Kyungsoo’s face was priceless.”

Sehun shakes his head fondly, leaning in to kiss Jongin quickly. “You’re so easily amused. It’s cute.” Jongin rolls his eyes, but the light flush decorating his cheeks indicates how pleased he is. “Come on, let’s go in.”

The sight that greets them as they enter the living room is startling, to say the least. Kyungsoo has Baekhyun in a weak headlock as Chanyeol flails in concern next to them. No one is doing much to help, although Jongdae and Tao are sharing a bowl of popcorn, eating quite animatedly as they watch the scene unfold.

A quick scan of the room tells Sehun that Junmyeon isn’t present, which somewhat explains why no one is trying to fix the situation. It’s up to me, then, Sehun thinks resignedly. “Um, Kyungsoo?” he asks timidly. “Can I ask why you’re strangling Baekhyun?”

“He said I was short,” Kyungsoo informs him, like that adequately explains everything.

“You’re basically the same height,” Sehun points out, shifting his attention to Baekhyun.

“I am aware of this,” Baekhyun says quite calmly, considering the position he’s in.

“Kyungsoo, can you please not strangle people you just met?” Jongin requests.

Kyungsoo lets go of Baekhyun, who looks disturbingly pleased for someone who recently got released from a headlock. “I told you we’d become best friends!” he tells the room at large.

“That was weird,” Luhan comments mildly. “I’m enjoying this get-together already!”

Once they all overcome the initial strangeness of not knowing every person in the room very well, everyone in the group seems to gel together extremely well. Even Kyungsoo, who had been so apprehensive, doesn’t seem uncomfortable anymore by the time an hour has passed.

At some point, Sehun brings out his video games and takes a vote among the four people expressing interest in playing (himself, Jongin, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun) to decide which game to play. He finds himself being pulled onto Jongin’s lap somewhere along the course of play, which he willingly lets happen, laughing all the while. For the rest of the game though, he’s hyperaware of how nice it feels to have Jongin’s arms around his waist as he and Chanyeol battle each other onscreen.

When it’s no longer his turn to play, Sehun leans back into Jongin comfortably and takes some time to glance around the room, observing everyone else. Junmyeon and Tao are standing by the food conversing enthusiastically, with Kris occasionally interjecting to translate whenever Tao lapses into Mandarin. Minseok is on one of the couches talking to Jongdae and Yixing, while Luhan sits on the floor, leaning against Minseok’s legs and talking to Kyungsoo.

“Everyone seems to getting along,” Jongin murmurs in Sehun’s ear. “This was a good idea.”

“I’d love to take credit, but Chanyeol would probably kill me if I tried,” Sehun whispers back with a grin.

As the hours pass, everyone shifts around the room, talking to different people. The next time Sehun glances around from where he’s playing cards with Minseok, Jongin is excitedly talking to Jongdae and Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Luhan appear to be messing with a pouting Tao, Kris and Yixing are having a conversation in Mandarin, and Kyungsoo is animatedly chatting away with Junmyeon, of all people. It brings a smile to Sehun’s face.

It’s nearly midnight when people start to leave. They all thank Sehun and Junmyeon profusely, everyone thrilled about how much fun it was to get closer to so many other people. The most fulfilling part of the night for Sehun, however, is when Kyungsoo sheepishly makes his way over to him and takes a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize,” Kyungsoo starts quietly. “I was wrong to judge you before I got to know you.”

“It’s alright, Kyungsoo,” Sehun tries to reassure him, but Kyungsoo shakes his head.

“It wasn’t right of me, and I’m sorry,” he insists. “You really seem like a great person and I’m glad Jongin has you.” He pauses and stares Sehun directly in the eyes. “But if you hurt him, I promise you’ll regret it.”

Sehun gulps. “I definitely don’t plan on it,” he promises. “He’s...he’s special. I’ve never felt the way I feel about him before.”

Kyungsoo nods approvingly. “I think you’ll take good care of him, Sehun.” He offers Sehun a genuine smile, which Sehun returns, feeling quite proud of himself.

Jongin comes up to him moments after Kyungsoo leaves and asks, “What was that all about?”

Sehun smiles at him. “We’ve finally come to an understanding. He’s a nice guy, really.”

Jongin beams and rests his head on Sehun’s shoulder as Sehun brings his arm up to wrap it around Jongin’s waist. “I’m really happy right now, Sehunnie.”

“Me too,” Sehun sighs contentedly. He turns to look at Jongin fully. “You know what would make me even happier, though?”

“What?” Jongin asks eagerly.

He looks so excited, Sehun can’t resist kissing him quickly before answering, “If you slept over tonight.”

Jongin’s smile could probably light up an entire town. “Of course I will.”