Groaning when he starts to rouse from sleep, Minseok rolls onto his back and lays his right arm over his eyes. The standard tan curtains are open and the light is freely streaming into the room and onto his face.

He has a feeling that isn’t what is making his skin tingle, though.

Thinning his lips, he lifts his arm a fraction and peaks from beneath it, gives his eyes a second to adjust to the slight blur of his awakening vision and the sun in his face.

“What are you doing?” Minseok asks, voice still scratchy and gruff from having just woken up. Lu Han's face right in front of his is exactly what he wanted to wake up to.

As soon as he speaks the idiot disturbing his personal space backs away. (But, apparently, Lu Han doesn’t seem to comprehend the concept of personal space and Minseok swears the blond only moved back a centimeter at most).

“You’re really cute when you sleep, you know,” Lu Han says, a wide grin on his face like it isn’t strange to inadvertently admit to watching someone sleep. “I think your cheeks puff up more overnight.”

Sitting up, Minseok reaches behind him, grabbing the pillow he slept on and throwing it at Lu Han. “Shut up.”

As expected, it hits Lu Han in the face.

Hugging the pillow to his chest, Lu Han pouts at the still sleepy theatre student. “You’re so mean to me. I compliment you and I get a pillow to the face.”

A series of emotions flitter across Lu Han’s countenance but Minseok isn’t paying attention, crawling from beneath the sheets to the foot of the bed where he struggles to retrieve his bag from where he stuffed it under the bed. Either the structure of the bed was built tall or his arms are shorter than he thought they were.

He fingers grasp the ribbed strap of the bag and he hefts it up with a slight grunt of physical exertion just as Lu Han gasps. Glancing over his shoulder, he raises an eyebrow at the other man and pulls his bag into his lap.

“Do you drool? Because if you do, that means your drooly pillow just touched my face and therefore your saliva is on my face. My face.” Lu Han looks like a pompous rich kid who just stepped in dog poop for the first time, utterly distressed and looking like he’s going to pass out any second now from trauma.

“Even if I did drool…which I don’t usually, I would probably be doing you a favor. Perhaps some of my genius would have transferred to you from my saliva and made you less stupid.”

The blond blinks. “Okay…” he drawls. “You’re just as y when you first wake up as you are when you need sleep. Great to know. I'm gonna take a shower while you pull that stick out of your , 'kay baby face?”

At Minseok’s half-glare Lu Han decides it’s time for him to run before another object flies at his face.

Shifting things around in his bag as he hunts for another sock to wear, he finds the hard-cased back of his cell phone hidden in layers of his clothes. Hm. He doesn’t remember ever tossing it into his bag, but whatever. How it got there isn’t important. Noticing it’s still off, he presses the power button and waits for the small device to vibrate before slowly loading up. He stands there waiting at the foot of the bed until all of his missed messages and calls come in. His phone has only been off for half a day but with Tao’s tendency to overreact when his calls aren’t answered, there could very well be a missing person report filed out for him at the police station.

There are three calls from Tao, one from his mother, and (surprisingly) one from Kris. There are two voicemail messages in his inbox. Both from Tao probably. He decides not to listen to them. He also decides to ignore the call from his mother and pretend it never happened.

Dialing his best friend’s number, he brings his phone up to his ear and listens to the ringing. By the third set of rings, the line clicks over.

“Hello? Xiumin? You son of a — Don’t you know I was about to go to the station and fill out a missing persons report?”

I knew it, he thinks. “It’s Minseok, Tao.”

“I’m over here worrying my off and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is ‘It’s Minseok, Tao’? Proper name or nickname: there’s no difference.”

Shoving his hand into the bag, he pulls out a black sock. He tilts his head, lips pulled into a deep frown, and mutters; “It’s completely different.”

“What?”

Tossing the sock onto the bed where he piled the rest of the clothes he intends on wearing today, he sighs. “Nothing,” he says, walking over to the window. He perches himself up on the sill and watches some kid speed down a side street on an expensive looking bike.

“Where are you?” Tao, asks, sounding like he’s going to drop what he’s doing and come rescue Minseok if need be.

“At Lu Han’s place. I thought I told you. We’re having a slumber party. I haven’t seen any nail polish yet and I’m severely disappointed. Worst first slumber party ever.” Minseok taps his fingers along his thigh.

Tao snorts. “Well you sound like you’re having fun. Guess I was worried for nothing.”

“You’re always worried for nothing.”

There is a slight pause where Minseok listens to nothing but the almost inaudible sizzle of static through the line.

“Chanyeol says Yifan didn’t show up for work today. Didn’t even call or anything.”

Minseok makes a small noise. He sounds as disinterested as he feels. “That’s nice.”

“Xiumin.”

“Min. Seok.”

“Whatever, man. Either way, Yifan must be super pissed —”

His phone beeps and he takes it away from his ear to look at the screen. Speak of the devil. Replacing it at his ear, he apologizes and tells Tao he’ll need to call him back later, hanging up to switch over to the incoming call.

“Yes, darling?” The sarcasm in his voice is light but there noticeable nonetheless.

“I was worried about you.” Oh Kris. Sweet as always.

“Sorry,” Minseok apologizes halfheartedly. “My phone was turned off. What do you want?”

“You see,” Kris starts. “My pretty little escaped from his leash and I want him to bring his home. I have —”

Finger tapping the screen to end the call, Minseok pushes away from the window. He thinks about turning his phone off again but decides against it and simply tosses it onto the bed as well.

“Shower’s free.”

Minseok flinches and turns to see Lu Han poking his head into the doorway. He takes a second to admire the way the darkened color of the other’s damp hair and makes a note to bring up the idea of dyeing Lu Han’s hair a darker color later on. Nodding, he watches as Lu Han grins at him before disappearing to get dressed. He grabs his own clothes to change into and heads to the bathroom for his own shower.

“You are aware that we’re on the same team, right?” Minseok asks, back propped up against the headboard of Lu Han’s bed. The Chinese singer is laying lengthwise, his feet on the pillow he sleeps on and his upper body at the far end of the bed.

Some time between prank-calling Sehun (that was a failure) and Baekhyun calling to complain about getting stuck in an elevator with a squirrel (he was talking too fast so Lu Han isn’t sure if he actually was talking about a squirrel), they pulled out the xbox console, deciding to spend the rest of the day playing video games.

Lu Han offers a shrug.

“Because you keep shooting me in the back and I’m quite sure the point of the game is to kill the zombies and not your teammates.”

“How do you know I’m shooting you in the back? It could be the NPC chick,” Lu Han tries to justify but he knows there is no point because he’s been found out.

And just because the other pointed it out, Lu Han finds himself distracted and ends up just shooting Minseok’s character in the back. He forgets that this is a zombie apocalypse game and, therefore, he should probably by killing the zombies instead of his own teammate. After whittling down half of Minseok’s health he notices he’s surrounded by a horde of zombies and Minseok is quickly leaving the room undetected by the flesh-eating undead.

“Hey!” He shouts when his character dies. “You didn’t even try to help me!”

He rolls onto his side of glare at the other playfully.

“You expected me to help you when all you did was shoot me? Haven’t you heard of no friendly fire?” Minseok glares back and kicks Lu Han off the bed.

(Stuff like that, of course, means war).

Pushing himself up off the floor, Lu Han grabs for a pillow at the head of his bed. Eyes narrowed, he raises it threateningly at Minseok.

“We are not doing this again, Lu Han,” Minseok says, but he still pushes his controller aside and grabs a pillow of his own.

What people aren’t aware of is that Lu Han is secretly a genius (he’s waiting for the day the President calls him and assigns him a top secret spy mission) and he’s developed the best plan to catch Minseok off-guard. Throwing the pillow at the musical actor as a diversion, he leaps onto his bed, fingers automatically going to other’s pliant obliques. His chest swells with satisfaction at the sharp squeal the Korean makes.

“Oh my God, Lu Han, stop," he pleads, trying to swat at and fend off the idiot tickling him.

His efforts prove futile because Lu Han kicks his leg over his torso to hover over him, preventing his escape. It doesn't take long before his chest starts to burn, his sides begin to cramp, and his smile splits too wide and his cheeks hurt -- or for him to realize that the tingle in his lower belly is not because of Lu Han's antics, but because his bladder is not happy with all of his laughing and he needs to pee.

Begging Lu Han to let him go does nothing and so he resorts to plan B. "I have no problems with urinating all over your bed if you don't stop. And soon."

That has the other off of him and on the other side of the room in less than 1.5 seconds, pointing in the direction of the bathroom with wide, terrified eyes. Regaining his breath, Minseok tries not start laughing again because just as Lu Han looks afraid of him defiling his precious bed sheets, the Chinese man still has this cheesy grin on his face. Minseok didn't think it was possible for another person to look so strikingly similar to Chanyeol but it seems like Lu Han has done the impossible. He contemplates reaching for his phone to take photographic evidence to prove to Chanyeol and Tao later but his bladder decides to tell him he doesn't have any time for that.

As soon as Minseok closes the bathroom door behind him, Lu Han’s attention is stolen by the sound of the other’s phone vibrating. Shuffling back over to where he had been laying orginally, he reaches over the width of his bed and picks it up with no intention to answer the call and reads the English letters on the caller ID. For a moment he wonders who this Kris person is but then the person on the other line drops the call. He tosses the phone back to the other side of the bed and picks up the game controller.

Minseok walks back into the room a minute later, wiping wet hands on the front of his jeans and leaving discolored damp spots in the shape of his fingers on the fabric. Waiting for the other to climb onto the bed and pick up his own controller, Lu Han points to the cell phone.

“Some Kris person called while you were in the bathroom.”

Minseok freezes and something flashes in his eyes but it’s all gone too quickly for Lu Han to notice. “Oh really?”

Lu Han hums in affirmation. He restarts the game just in time for Minseok to grab his controller.

He spends most of the current game level shooting Minseok in the back. Again, Minseok leaves him left for dead in the middle of a zombie horde. When they make it to the next section of the level, neither of them pay attention to the walking dead and just shoot each other until they die.

After ordering a pizza to prevent another cereal catastrophe, they decide to camp out in the living room — which means Lu Han begged to camp out in the living room and Minseok agreed so he wouldn’t have to hear Lu Han complain all night. They pushed the couch back against the far wall, along with the coffee table. Now sheets and blankets and pillows cover half the floor and, to be honest, Minseok thinks it’s a little unnecessary.

“So why are we doing this again?” He turns to Lu Han as he walks out of the kitchen with a (fourth) slice of cheese pizza in hand.

Lu Han raises a finger to signal for Minseok to wait until he finishes chewing before he can answer. “Because…I want to sleep together before you leave.”

Minseok raises an eyebrow. “If this is you trying to seduce me, you’re failing horribly.”

Having taken another bite of the greasy and fattening food, Lu Han promptly chokes. The Korean man snorts before bursting out in laughter, not even offering to help his Chinese friend.

“I-I wasn’t!” Lu Han explains between coughs and gasps for air. It only makes Minseok laugh more.

He hums disbelivingly. "I know you were trying to get in my pants. Everyone wants a piece of this," he jokes, showing Lu Han his precious (and admittedly flat) backside. "You don't have to pretend you don't."

Lu Han stumbles over his words, unable to come up with a coherent sentence. His cheeks take on a pink tint and he glares at Minseok, taking another bite of his slice of pizza and marching over to the other side of the room. Smirking, Minseok blows him a kiss -- Lu Han looks away and mumbles to himself-- and treks into the kitchen to clean up any possible mess the other may have made. Even though this isn't his house and this is a 'slumber party' between two college men.

When he finishes, he turns off the kitchen light and then goes to turn off the light in the living room. Lu Han brought out a small desk lamp from his room and set it on the floor near where they were going to sleep, flicking it on.

They lay there buried under the sheets for who knows how long, making stupid jokes and talking about their school life. Minseok learns Lu Han has another performance coming up in the next couple of weeks and he promises to show up for support this time no matter what Kris says. (But he doesn't mention the Kris part). He tells Lu Han of his desire to join an acting troupe and talks about how one of the SIPA alumni was going to have auditions for his troupe next week.

It isn’t until they’re both nearing sleep that Minseok somehow decides to call the other’s name.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Lu Han asks, eyelids fluttering shut as he shifts to get more comfortable on the floor.

Minseok blinks, his own eyes widening slightly as his common sense catches up to the stupidity of his questionable mental stability. There are voices warring in his head, arguing over this is a good idea or if he should turn over and tell Lu Han to go to sleep, and he can’t tell which voice belongs so which name because they both sound the same. But then his mind clears and he stops caring. Exhaling, he plays with the fraying strands on the blanket covering him.

“What would you do if you had romantic feelings for someone but you weren’t sure if they even thought of you in the same way?”

Lu Han knits his brows, covers a yawn. “I’d confess. Rejection isn’t all that big of a deal.”

Minseok nods, taking note of how Lu Han’s words all mesh together when he’s half-asleep. “Would you still confess if you were already in a relationship? And if the person you were dating was slightly abusive?”

The question lingers heavy and suffocating in the air for hours; for Minseok at least. When minutes pass and there’s still no response he turns his head to see Lu Han staring right at him, all of his usual childishness replaced by a stoic expression he isn’t used to seeing. The Chinese man certainly looks more awake than he did five minutes ago.

“Why?”

Squirming uncomfortably under the other’s scrutiny he stares at the ceiling again. He still feels Lu Han’s eyes on his skin, tickling the skin of his cheek. Just like when he woke up.

“Minseok, are you trying to tell me something?”

Rolling onto his side and showing Lu Han his back, Minseok presses his face into the pillow. He was fine just a second ago. Where did this anxiousness come from? Or maybe he’s always been this insecure, this afraid of telling the other man, and he hides it behind biting sarcasm and a steel facade. But he is the strong one out of the two. He is supposed to fix their ed up life, that’s why he’s here. To make everything better.

“Minseok, are you okay?”

He twitches when Lu Han rests a comforting hand on the slight curve of his hip.

“Min—”

“I’m fine, Lu Han,” he cuts him off. Turning over to the face the other again, he offers him a quaint smile. "You'll find out soon enough. Go to sleep."

"But..."

He's not exactly sure what drives him to do it -- in the morning, if Lu Han remembers, he's probably going to blame it on tiredness -- but Minseok inches closer to the other man and brushes his lips softly against Lu Han's cheek.

"Sleep," he whispers before putting a good deal of space between him.

Everything works in his favor because Lu Han definitely doesn't remember the light kiss in the morning.