You woke up tucked up in bed with a glass of water by your side and a hand entwined with yours. After wiggling your fingers out of their grip, you peered in the darkness to see just who it was holding your hand and sleeping beside you. The tufts of unkempt hair gave it away almost instantly but you still angled yourself to get a better look at the sleeping boy.

"Suho?" Two eyes flickered open and you leapt back. "Woah!"

Suho smiled at you sleepily and waved, completely in a daze. "You fell asleep in Kyungsoo's room so we carried you back."

Your mind reverted back to earlier that day and the events that had happened. "Is he better? Is he awake?"

Suho nodded, "we woke him up for dinner after we brought you here. Speaking of which, are you hungry? Chanyeol was offering to make ramen for you earlier. I'm sure he's still awake."

You looked over at the clock. It wasn't even 11pm yet. Of course Chanyeol would be awake. It'd be a miracle if he wasn't. Chanyeol was the type to be overly protective, especially when he didn't need to be. Whilst at first you had found his paranoia that someone would come and take him away in the middle of the night somewhat hard to understand, you eventually came to terms with it along with the help of Xuimin and a midnight chat in a convenience store, explaining just somebody the dorm member's strange and bizarre habits. Chanyeol was the way he was because he constantly fretted that he'd end up alone and without his family supporting him by his side. And wanting to protect the people dearest to him had resulted in an obsession with being the last to check the locks on the front door every night.

"How is he?" you asked cautiously, knowing that you staying behind to look after Kyungsoo had pretty much given your feelings for him away. You just weren't too sure how everyone else would have taken it and given Chanyeol's already instinctive habit to cling to everything and everyone he loved, you feared his reaction most.

Suho looked up at you and smiled reassuringly. "Why don't you find out yourself?"

 

It was nerve wrecking. By god, it was nerve wrecking. When you had eventually managed to compose yourself with Suho's help for the second time that day, you stepped out to be attacked and held in a firm and tight hug.

"C-Chanyeol..." you stuttered, your voice hidden deep within his chest. "Y-Yeollie?"

Chanyeol shook his head and you felt his grip around you tighten, the air in your lungs starting to escape. "Are you hungry?" he asked eventually, remembering what one of his reasons for staying up was.

You nodded the best you could and he let go of you, turning around and walking straight to the cupboards before you could even catch a glimpse of his face. With his back to you, he pulled out a pan and the kettle. "Huiling apologised for staying too long in your room, by the way," he said, "and Tao made me promise that I'd tell you he's going to get you a present-" Chanyeol paused, momentarily thinking in his head, "which is ridiculous because he told me he wasn't getting one for me. Wow, Tao really has some nerve." 

"I think that when you know how to break someone as well as Tao does, he's allowed to be a bit ruthless," you said, and Chanyeol nodded taking in what you had said, his back still turned towards you. You weren't too sure why Suho had been so normal about you going and talking to Chanyeol because the way he was acting now made it seem like he was completely on edge and ready to burst into tears. Eventually, when the kettle had boiled and the noodles had been put into the pan and there was simply no excuse for Chanyeol to not turn around, you decided to take the plunge.

"Chanyeol, why aren't you looking at me?"

Startled by your sudden question, Chanyeol dropped the chopsticks he was using on the counter and you saw his hands move to his face, presumably to pinch his nose bridge in anguish or to wipe his eyes. After letting out an audible exhale, he turned around and finally faced you. His nose was covered by a thick, white bandage and you blinked, unable to stop staring at it. On instinct, you flew over to him, peering at his nose to examine it better.

"Chanyeol, what on earth did you do? Is it broken? Oh god, why is it always you? Did someone punch you? Or what was it?"

Chanyeol chuckled, doing the usual habit that everyone held of ruffling your hair lovingly. "I was being an idiot so Luhan punched me. And then Suho got a call from you when we were getting me patched up." It made sense. The background noise had been surprisingly quiet when you had called Suho.

"Why did Luhan punch you?" You knew it was very much like Luhan to flip and throw a punch, particularly at Chanyeol who never had any luck in the art of not getting hit but it surprised you that Luhan had been in a punching mood on the day Tao and Huiling were leaving. "He didn't hit anyone else, did he?"

Shaking his head and laughing, Chanyeol stirred the noodles and cracked an egg into a cup. "No, just me. I was the only one who deserved it to be honest." He began beating the egg and poured it into the pan to cook in the soup. "I was being stupid and immature again," Chanyeol explained, "I got mad at Tao for letting you stay to look after Kyungsoo. Luhan punched me because I was taking my jealousy out on him and at one point I think Tao was quite close to tears."

You couldn't bring yourself to say anything other than "gosh...". Chanyeol was here telling you that he was jealous you stayed for Kyungsoo, so much so that he made such a big deal out of it and Luhan ended up giving him one for being such a whiney pain in the .

"Luhan-hyung was right to hit me though," Chanyeol said, "because I was bringing everyone down. I guess violence is the only thing that'll calm me down- besides you, of course. Oh, damn, sorry. I shouldn't be saying that. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to say sorry, Yeol."

Chanyeol shook his head, "no, I do-"

"I'll get Luhan to apologise to you. It's not broken, is it?"

"Haneul, I don't need an apology from him-"

"But Yeollie-"

"Princess... Please..." Chanyeol sighed, "don't make this any harder for me, okay?" He whispered, closing his eyes and his nose, "I'm only sane enough to talk to you right now because of Luhan. If you knew what I said and did to Tao because I was so stupidly angry, you wouldn't be asking hyung for an apology."

You stopped and paused as Chanyeol turned off the hob and poured the noodles out into a bowl for you. "Am I really naive, Chanyeol?"

Passing you your bowl and steering you to the dinner table, Chanyeol chuckled lightly, "your naivety is probably one of the things I both love and hate about you." He then took the seat in front of you and sat with his elbows on the surface and his face propped up by his wrists. "But just so I can be clear about it in my mind..." Chanyeol paused, watching as you greedily dug into his food with a slight pride that you were eating what he had cooked. "You stayed behind for Kyungsoo because you like him, not because you felt like you had to?"

There was a choke on your part and Chanyeol reached over to thump your back. Even now, he was still being the gentleman. It was a little burdensome. "It was both..." you confessed, "I felt like I had to stay because I like him." Tears dribbled into your bowl and Chanyeol snatched it away, his long fingers finding their way to your cheeks as he brought you to look up at him.

"Why are you crying Princess?"

"I'm so sorry, Chanyeol. I knew that by staying I'd hurt someone but I didn't think about anyone but myself-" you gushed, "Chanyeol-"

"Hey, there's no point crying over spilt milk. I might not be allowed to love you or like you in that way anymore but I still don't want to be the reason for your tears." Chanyeol chuckled, "I might end up getting hit again- only this time by Kyungsoo. And contrary to popular belief, he's actually pretty good at causing pain."

"You can still laugh..." you whispered, not because you were arrogant and had expected Chanyeol to be an emotional wreck but because his eyes were telling a very different story. His lips formed a happy smile as he showed off the pearly whites both he and his sister had been blessed with but his eyes were sad, like a puppy's. He looked a bit like Baekhyun when he and Maddie had first started going out. Baekhyun had been subjected to countless bullying attacks, mainly from Kris who'd ask him to say things like 'ravioli' and 'whipping cream' and 'road' in English, hooting with laughter when Baekhyun's Konglish flowed out of his mouth, followed by a stream of colorful swear words asking Kris to stop being a Grade A and instead help him perfect his accent to impress his girlfriend. That night when Baekhyun had found you and made you promise to help him with his pronounciation, he had looked rather upset.

"I'll find someone prettier than you," Chanyeol joked, "and if not, I'm sure my parents will be able to find me a perfectly suitable lady to marry." He mimed perfecting a tie and the top button of his imaginary dress shirt and you giggled, happy to see him acting cheerful even when he had a great big bandage stuck on his nose. "But if you and Kyungsoo start making out in front of me like Baekhyun does when he forgets his place," Chanyeol said, rolling up his imaginary sleeves and throwing a punch, "I won't be held responsible for my actions."

You nodded and Chanyeol stood up, beginning to impromptu dance around the table. He waved his arms around, doing a Mexican wave and his knees knocked together like they do in The Ketchup Song. You laughed and he grinned, asking for your hand so that you could join him. Taking it, you danced crazily together sans music through the night, pulling faces and sticking your tongues out at Kris when he came out of his room, drool dried around the corners of his lips, and tried to tell you both to shut up and go to sleep.

 

***

 

The following morning, there was a knock at the door. No one got up to answer it and the knocking continued.

"Sehun-ah, go open the door," Chen said, not looking up from his phone until Suho snatched it away, giving him the look that meant 'no phones at the dinner table'.

Sehun sighed, not looking up either. "Why do you have to pick on me? Why can't you ask Tao?"

There was silence, the only sound being of you putting down your glass as it clinked as it made contact with the table. "Oppa, where's your head today?" you said, peering at him

"In the clouds," Lay said, answering the question for Sehun.

Kai laughed, "he's dreaming."

"Dreaming of what, Sehun-ah?" Luhan cooed, "what are you thinking about?"

"He's thinking about where his head is," Chen snickered, "he's dreaming of it being between Chihiro's legs."

There was a roar of laughter and Suho tutted, muttering to himself about how inappropriate the joke was, even amongst friends as brotherly as they were. Kris who say beside him chuckled though, telling him to lighten up a little. Unamused, Sehun stood up and walked to the door, making sure to evil eye every single one of you. Lifting the latch and letting the guest in, he turned to Suho asking him to control and tell everyone off, only to be astonished to find Suho also tell him to lighten up too, heightening the cheers and laughs. The guest, who turned out to be Mr Park, had walked into a dorm that anyone else could have easily mistaken for being a prison holding weird, laughing hyena-human hybrids captive. 

"You're all rather cheerful this morning," Mr Park said, taking off his shoes and jacket, "except our Sehun for some reason. Are you missing Tao?"

"I think he misses his girlfriend more," Baekhyun sniggered.

Mr Park chuckled, following the joke but not to the full extent of it. "Is Kyungsoo better? He missed the farewell, didn't he?"

Chanyeol nodded, "but Haneul stayed and kept him company."

"And you walked into a lamppost, Chanyeol?" Mr Park said, gesturing to his own nose.

Chanyeol grinned, "how did you know, ssaem?! Wow, you must be a genius!"

"It's just one of my great traits, Chanyeol," Mr Park shrugged. "Which room is Kyungsoo's again? I just want to check up on him- see if I need to call someone in for him."

"For an IV drip?" Lay asked, turning to you, "does he need one?"

You furrowed your brows and pouted, "I didn't think-"

"Ssaem, I'm fine."

 

You were the first to whip around.

It was Kyungsoo, wasn't it? Your mind wasn't playing with you, was it? It wasn't making up stupid voices in your head, surely?

But thankfully, standing before you with straight, flat and unstyled hair that had certainly seen better days, was Kyungsoo, wearing both the t-shirt you had put him in and a slight smirk which then softened into a toothy laugh when he saw everyone staring at him, his mouth forming a heart shape the way it always did.

"You look like you've all just seen a ghost," Kyungsoo smirked again, "is my face really that scary? I'm not that ugly, am I?"

Mr Park laughed, "of course not, Kyungsoo."

Luhan gestured to the table, "Mr Park, Kyungsoo: choose where you want to sit. We'll give up our seats for you."

"Oh no, my work here is done," your teacher said, ambling back to the door to put on his shoes, "there's things to do, meetings to plan, kids to check up on- you know the drill. I really should be off."

"Then Kyungsoo?" Luhan asked, "pick anywhere. Just make sure it's not near me, you diseased human being."

"That just makes me want to sit right next to you all the more, hyung. You're so tempting."

Kyungsoo looked around, wondering which seat to take. Everyone had expected him to pick either Baekhyun's or Xiumin's as both were seated on either side of you. When he came to Chanyeol, he scanned his face and pointed to his nose as if to say "what happened there?" but Chanyeol swatted the air to tell him that it was a story for another time. Eventually, after what seemed like an excruciating amount of time, his eyes landed on you.

"Good morning, Haneul," he said, his tone not as cheerful or happy as usual.

Surprised by him, you could only manage to stutter out your reply. "G-Good morning."

Without even so much as a blink, he moved on and came to choose Lay's who was seated the furthest away from you. Chanyeol, for one, was gobsmacked. Luhan was too. You felt like crying because this wasn't how it was supposed to be. It was fair that he didn't know you had looked after him so he wasn't inclined to sit beside you but surely, given the choice of whether or not to sit with the person you like, you'd take it.

Did he not like you anymore? Was that it?

Silently, and ever so inconspicuously, Xiumin patted your knee under the table, giving you a reassuring smile when you turned to him, about to burst into tears.

 

 

 

---

This chapter turned out the way it had because having Kyungsoo wake up to find Haneul by his side is just too predictable. We need a bit of cold before the hot returns. Otherwise it's not fun, right? Okay fine, rephrase. It's not fun for me. But admit, everytime you want to kill an author for going down the hard route, you kind of want to give them a kiss and a hug too??? Fine. Just me. Masochist? Maybe. What am I even talking about? Who knows. Baekhyun's on my mind. So if Kyungsoo. As is Chanyeol. Grrrrr.

Congratulations to EXO on 'Song Of The Year' win at the KBS Music Festival! Vocal line: keep singing, oh my god keep singing. Dancer line: keep being y. Rapper line: keep swagging on.

Beagle line: stay fabulous. Baekhyun: stop. Kyungsoo/ Chanyeol: love me like I love you?

(by the way, look at the word 'keep'. Is it not the weirdest word to look at? keep ah wtf am I doing)