Taemin woke up suddenly, his eyes wide. He looked around, confused. Who was laying next to him? It wasn’t Minho...had he done something bad? He thought back to the night before, but all he could remember were faces melting, eyes bleeding, and a lot of yelling. He let out a small whimper, thinking it was just a nightmare, but still panicking when he couldn’t figure out what had happened the night before.

By now, his eyes had adjusted, and he recognized the blonde beside him as being Ren, the NU’EST maknae. But why were they sharing a bed? He slid out of the covers slowly, tears slipping down his cheeks as he made his way out of the bedroom that he didn’t recognize. By now he was certain he had done something he wasn’t supposed to, even as he pulled the door open to find the rest of his band, the majority of exo, Joon, and Baekho sitting around on the couch, talking.

It took less than a second for a fair amount of them to stand up, Minho included, and for some reason that scared the hell out of the maknae. He was still trying to piece together what had happened, but Minho was in front of him in a second, studying him with a serious expression. Taemin’s lips trembled, and he looked down at the floor like someone who knew they were in trouble.

“I did something bad, didn’t I?” He whispered. Minho’s arms were around him in a second, hugging him tightly.

“Ani.” Minho whispered. “You’re ok, that’s all that matters.”

Taemin clung to him shamelessly, still freaked out over waking up in an unfamiliar area.

“What happened?” He finally asked, unsure of what else to do. Minho bit his lip.

“You went to the outing, and...Mir gave you something you weren’t supposed to have.” Key piped up, watching Taemin take the information.

“I...I had a dream that I couldn’t open m-my eyes...” Taemin said, sounding a bit scared and looking overall fairly stressed by the audience.

“Minho, bring him to our dorm.” Onew said from his place under Joon’s arm. “He needs to relax.”

“De.” Minho said, easily guiding Taemin out through the door.

It wasn’t too much later that Tao woke up, taking in the semi-familiar surroundings quietly. He glanced to his side, expecting to see Xiumin, but he jumped slightly when he saw Sehun. How had that happened? He scooted out of the bed silently, his martial arts training definitely helping him sneak now, and he cracked the door open slowly. He closed it quickly when he realized how many pairs of eyes were on him.

He just wanted to find Xiumin and ask him what had happened the night before, but he really didn’t want to deal with that crowd. It was funny, in a sad sort of way. His entire life revolved around being on stage, dealing with huge crowds of people, and he never once got stage fright. But, in the face of people he knew? People he trusted? All he felt was fear. Even just a quick glance at their faces had him panicking, flashing back to a dreamlike state where everything was purple and grey, and their faces were long and terrifying.

When the door opened a moment later, he instinctively prepared to fight, taking an easy kick at the person stepping in the room. In that moment, there were two things he was grateful for. The first, being that it was Xiumin who came in. He would understand the panic Tao was feeling, and most likely wouldn’t hold it against him. The second, was that Xiumin did martial arts as well. Maybe he wasn’t a wushu master, or a Kung Fu Panda, but he knew how to block a reflexive kick from his dongsaeng, and that would suffice.

“Tao.” Xiumin called to him, his voice low and soothing. Tao was panting slightly, and not completely awake, so it was easy to understand his slip of the tongue a moment later.

“Oppa!” He gasped out, then his cheeks flamed a moment later. Xiumin ignored it altogether, reaching his hand out for the cat-faced boy. Tao took his hand nervously, but made no move to leave the room.

“Are you feeling better now?” Xiumin asked, seemingly content just to hold his hand. Tao tilted his head.

“Was I sick?” Tao asked, looking confused. Xiumin shrugged.

“Not exactly.” He said, seeming a bit uncomfortable. “Mir gave you a brownie last night, right?”

“Yeah..” Tao said, looking like he was expecting bad news at any point in time. Xiumin opened his mouth to respond when he noticed a shift in one of the beds. A moment later, he had a wide eyed blond staring at him with a confused expression.

“Just..hold on a minute.” Xiumin said apologetically, moving to release Tao’s hand. The maknae held on tighter, and Xiumin sighed, reaching up to pet his hair. “I’ll be right back. Unless you want to come out with me?”

Tao wasn’t sure what to do. Go with him, and be needy? Or stay, and be afraid? He decided he would rather look clingy than intimidated, and squeezed Xiumin’s hand with a smile. Xiumin smiled back, tugging him toward the door quietly.

“Baekho.” Xiumin said. “Ren’s up.”

“He is?” Baekho asked, his eyes wide. “Is he ok?”

“I don’t know. I have my own maknae to take care of.” Xiumin said, watching the younger scurry into the room. Tao’s eyebrows pulled together.

“So..what were you saying?” Tao asked. “About the brownie?”

“Oh.” Xiumin said, turning back to him. “You came home last night, talking about how Mir did something bad. You wouldn’t tell me what, and you wouldn’t open your eyes because-”

“That was real?!” Tao burst out, surprising those in the room. Xiumin blinked, then nodded, and Tao looked like he was going to be sick. “I thought it was just a weird dream from eating chocolate before bed.”

“Mir put something in the brownies. Some sort of hallucinogen.” Xiumin explained softly, and Tao looked like he was going to faint.

“But...” He swallowed hard. “I’ve never done drugs in my life.”

“I know.” Xiumin said softly. “But...now you have the extra experience to help you keep saying no.”

“I didn’t want it.” Tao said softly, his eyes low. Xiumin wrapped his arm around Tao’s waist.

“I know.” He said. “And, for the record, I’m never leaving you alone with Mir again.”

Tao nodded, before slumping against Xiumin. He couldn’t believe that had happened. How could anyone disrespect someone else’s body so completely? It wasn’t fair. Tao was never one to dwell, but this hurt a lot more than anything he’d ever experienced. Xiumin’s expression became one of concern quickly after that.

“Are you still tired? Or...are you hungry? You slept for a while, you know.” He said suddenly. “Let’s go to our dorm, ok? I’ll make you something.”

Tao didn’t even respond, instead just going along with Xiumin as Baekho and Ren came out of the bedroom. Ren remained silent, his head resting against Baekho’s shoulder as his eyes absorbed his surroundings. He gave off the image of being overly perceptive, and sometimes he really was. It was enough to freak people out sometimes, but Ren liked to know what was going on around him. Especially following the previous nights events.

“Thanks for letting us stay here.” Baekho said. “I think we should probably get back to our dorm now, before JR has a heart attack.”

Various goodbyes and well wishes were called out, and in the middle of it all Luhan vanished into the bedroom. Sehun was still asleep, but Luhan didn’t see any reason to stay away from him. He whimpered softly in his sleep, and Lunah reached out to pet his hair silently. The action caused his eyes to snap open, and he stared at the other boy for a long moment before suddenly breaking down into tears. Luhan didn’t even have time to process what was happening as he tried to comfort his (yes his) maknae.

“Sehun?” Luhan called out to him. Sehun sniffled miserably, his eyes squeezed shut. “You’re ok, now.”

“A-ani...” Sehun said, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?” Luhan asked, reaching forward to pet Sehun’s hair.

“I can still see the bad things.”

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Please tell me SOMEBODY saw this coming. x.x;

Also, I wanted to point out that I'm not as familiar with the EXO members as I am with SHINee, so...if I do make a mistake with a picture or something, please let me know in a nice way. I'll appreciate it a lot. <3

As for everything else, I'm getting on a bus in 5 hours to go back to my old house so I can finish packing and move back to my new place. So. I'll be offline for about a week. Don't worry though, when I come back there should be an update or two waiting.