-Step 5-

When Sunghwan-manager told them the next morning he'd only take two members to pick up Exo-M, it was an understatement to say everyone was complaining. But unlike Hyunkyun's soft personality, Sunghwan didn't give a if his 'little-morons' -as he likes to called them with love- liked it or not.

Sighing to himself, he simply sat on one of the kitchen's chairs and shouted. "Shut the up!" when he saw Chanyeol stopped complaining about seeing Wufan and Kai closed his mouth, he continued pointing at every member as he ordered them what to do. "Stonie, your school tutors will be waiting for you in an hour, get ready!" he pointed at Sehun -calling him with his especially lovely nickname for him'. "Stick! Yunho-sshi called and said he's free right now and he can help you with your none-existent dance skills so you better hurry" he said at Chanyeol, then turned to Baekhyun "Fanboy, it's your turn to clean the apartment and don't complain or you're going to be in charge for two weeks! And Onew! Management called and they need you at Sment in two hours to discuss the next schedule".

"I'm Suho!"

"I don't care, you're just as clumsy as him".

Yeap. What a lovely manager they have.

"What about me and Jongin-sshi?" Kyungsoo asked, eyes filled with excitement and anticipation to see his other brothers.

"You and Blackie can come with me. Any objections? No? Perfect!" and manager-hyung stood up from the chair and made his way to the living room "I'll leave in twenty minutes so you better hurry, do you hear me Blackie?!"

"He's slowly killing my self-esteem" Kai whispered to himself, surprisingly making D.O smile softly. That smile made Jongin widen his eyes, making him realize he and Kyungsoo would be alone (apart from Sunghwan-hyung) for the two hours it takes them to the airport.

'Should I start and try to be his friend? Will he give me a chance? What if I mess up? What if he hates me? What if-?'

"Are you deaf, Blackie!?! I asked if you-!"

"YEAH, I HEARD YOU!" Jongin shouted automatically, surprising Kyungsoo who widened his eyes and protected his ears with his hands, leaving the kitchen. 'Great, I haven't even started yet and I'm already scaring Kyungsoo-hyung away' he sighed.

Apparently Joonmyun saw what happened because he patted Jongin's back and smiled at him reassuringly without a word.

Fifteen minutes later, Kim Jongin found himself in an awkward situation.

Inside the huge van -because Exo-M will fill it when they come back- Manager-hyung was in the front seat chatting with the driver and ignoring them.

And he and Kyungsoo were sitting side by side, not uttering a single word.

'I think I finally understand why Joonmyun-hyung was so nervous about his plan to be Yixing's friend. This is so difficult when you're doing it on purpose!'

Glancing at his left, Jongin saw how Kyungsoo was calmly looking outside the window. He looked so peaceful that Kai thought it would be rude to interrupt him. What he didn't know was he wasn't the only one drowning in the awkward atmosphere.

'Why is Jongin looking at me like that?' Kyungsoo wondered, looking at the reflection on the window. Kai would look at him for fifteen seconds and then shift his eyes downwards and play with his fingers. Then he would clench his fists, whisper something and look at him again. 'Is he alright?'

The truth is Kyungsoo too wanted to become closer with Jongin. Since they were trainees, Kyungsoo looked upon the most talented and experienced trainees there (at least for him). They were Wufan -the model, rapper one-, Joonmyun -the singer, actor one- and Jongin - the charismatic and handsome dancer. Kyungsoo succeed becoming friends with the first two but when he tried to approach Jongin, he failed.

-2 years ago-

Eighteen year old Do Kyungsoo was eyeing his watch every minute, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible. He was currently at his vocal lesson at the SM building and he was already late. He promised his girlfriend he would be at her house at three but that was ten minutes ago.

And the stupid Kim Moonkyu kept playing around! He would mess up everytime and then laugh it off. Kyungsoo understands they need to laugh every now and then to keep the pressure from crushing them, but he really need to go with his girlfriend! He promised her him being an SM trainee wouldn't affect their relationship. He had tried to keep his promise but it was really difficult. He already made her cry twice. He couldn't afford to do that anymore.

When he was at edge, the nice and polite Do Kyungsoo exploded.

"Would you shut your stupid mouth!?" he yelled, surprising the other trainees. Who wouldn't? Normally, Kyungsoo was one of the quietest guys around there. "Can't you see we can't leave the class until you get the damn song!? Please! Just finish! I need to go!"

Everyone in the class could see how their tiny Kyungsoo was really trying to control himself, even Zitao who was just learning Korean and didn't know what his hyung yelled, but Kim Moonkyu was tempered and of course he didn't take it well.

"Hey! I'll do whatever I want, chill dude!" he laughed, not taking Kyungsoo seriously and joking with his friends; Sehun and Jongin. Seeing this, Kyungsoo tried his best to breathe and relax but the thought of his cute girlfriend waiting for him made him stand up from his chair and approach Moonkyu. And surprising the rest of them, he grabbed Moonkyu's music sheets resting on his desk and handed them to him, harshly.

"Practice! If you don't, how do you expect to improve? Do you really expect to debut soon?" Kyungsoo just talked about what it was important to him with the hope to knock some sense into his dongseng, but what he didn't know was that just that morning, Moonkyu had heard some SMent co-workers talk about how the CEOs were planning to create a new group with Kyungsoo on it.

And he wasn't there.

He, who had trained for three years more than that tiny quiet hyung.

He, who is better than Kyungsoo.

Why can't he debut instead? Why?

"Shut up!" he growled, feeling angry at the shorter guy and pushing him away. Kyungsoo fell on the floor, feeling embarrassed and angry to get treated like that.

"Hey! Kyungsoo's right Moonkyu, why don't you finish with practice so we can leave? I'm sure we all have others things to do" Joonmyun finally spoke; trying to prevent some kind of dispute and helping his dongseng get up from the floor.

'Right, because you'll debut too, right?' Moonkyu thought angrily. 'Of course you have better things to do'. Moonkyu wasn't usually like this, but the frustration, the sadness and the feeling of helplessness was eating him alive.

'I'm not going to debut this time. They all are going to debut but me. Even Jongin. Even Sehun. Why? I'm not good enough?'

When Kyungsoo handled him his music-sheets again, his anger emerged.

And he punched Kyungsoo right on the face.

Kyungsoo rubbed his nose unconsciously, remembering how he punched his dongseng too and how Jongin pushed him back, helping his friend.

'Well, at least Jongin didn't hit me too. That would've been more awkward'

"Ehm... Kyungsoo-hyung?" a shy voice woke him up from his thoughts, making him turn his head to the right and see his dongseng. Kai was smiling nervously, offering him a chocolate bar. "Do you eh... want some?"

'Maybe I didn't completely fail after all' Kyungsoo smiled, taking a piece of chocolate and smiling at his dongseng.

---------

"Come on Yixing! Be a man!"

"No! I'm fine here... sitting"

"You have to see him sooner or later, just go!"

"...no"

"Just go Zhang Yixing!"

"What's going on Wufan?" Minseok asked, seeing how Yixing refuse to leave his airplane seat and how Luhan was pulling him to the exit.

"I... I have no idea" Exo-M was feeling slightly embarrassed of two of their members who were fighting childishly. In a particular harsh pull, Wufan reacted and went to hold Yixing, backhugging him slightly and pulling him away from Luhan "Hey, why are you two fighting?"

Seeing how his best friend had better things to do than answer (like enjoying the moment with his spaced out expression), Luhan cleared his throat and said "Yixing doesn't want to see Jongin. He's... they eh... they got competitive again over some stupid choreography."

Of course that wasn't the truth. Yixing was -and he was surprised- scared. Luhan already told him Kai accepted him but it was one thing to hear it being in China away from Jongin and other thing to see face to face the only other person who knew about his newfound uality apart from his best friend.

¿What would he say?

"Are you okay, Xing?" Wufan asked the boy in his arms, holding him safely "Remember how Jongin loves you. If you two had a dispute, he's going to look over that. He misses you. Of course he's going to want to see you, we're all brothers"

"...I guess" How come he always does what Wufan tells him? He's a magic dragon! He hypnotized him with his deep eyes, his funny eyebrows, and his breathtakingly smi-

"Yixing?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry" Lay smiled, coming back from his colorful world and ignoring Luhan's snort and Wufan's smile. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to see Jongin. Maybe they would be ok. Maybe Jongin would act his age and accept him with an open mind. Maybe...

"HYUNGS!" He heard just in front of him, making him realize how Luhan was pulling him forward to the airport gate and away from the airplane tunnel. ' W hat the he- How did we arrive so fast?!' He needs to start realizing his surroundings more often. 

Seeing how Jongdae pulled Kyungsoo in a death hug, following a 'Let him go, Chen! You're going to put out his eyes even more!', Yixing, glanced to his other family and realized there were only three.

"Nice to see you, Dory" A big hand messed Yixing's hair, making him smile and look up. "Nice to see you too, Sunghwan-ge"

Everyone started hugging each other (even Hyunkyun hugged a very uncomfortable Exo-K manager) and started walking to the baggage claim.

Except for two people.

Luhan made sure to distract his other brothers to give them their space.

"...Hello Jongin"

Kai just stared at his hyung. Of course he knew his brother was scared of his reaction but he doesn't know how to react yet. What would he do? He couldn't hug him, right? That would be weird. He couldn't say anything besides the topic of why they were being awkward. He couldn't pretend everything is the same because it isn't.

Zhang Yixing was the first gay Jongin had ever meet, completely expected from a normal Korean in a conservative country.

He can't see him the same way.

Just when he realized how the sadness was filling his hyung's expression, Kim Jongin received a message.

Luhannie-hyung:

-Idiot, are you having one of your homophobic moments again? You know, Yixing bought you new orthopedic dance shoes.~

'That babo unicorn! I clearly told him not to buy them for me! The catalog said they were really expensive! He's always this stubb-......'

And Jongin understood Luhan's evil trick.

Smiling to himself, Jongin looked at his hyung again and walked to him, pulling him in a tight hug and laughing.

"Welcome back hyung".

Yixing just felt how a big weight was lifted from his shoulders and hugged Kai back, burying his face in the other's neck and smiled. "Thanks Jongin" he said, with more meaning for the both of them.

Because Jongin understood his Yixing-hyung was still the same.

------------------------

Back to the van, Luhan dragged Jongin and Yixing to the back seats and putting his best friend in the middle of them.

"Well, are you two ready?" he smiled, too much in Yixing's opinion.

"About wh-"

"Of course hyung!" Jongin smiled too, putting on a pair of glasses (probably Chanyeol's) to look more professional and took out a metal box out of his backpack. Then, he opened the box using the key hanging from his neck and showed them a black notebook.

"...Are you planning on killing someone?" Luhan asked, seeing how his dongseng handed him a very familiar notebook.

"I really like Death Note, ok!? Don't judge me!"

"I like Death Note too! We should watch it together sometime"

"Of course Xing-hyung! Who's your favorite character?"

"I like Light. He's really smart"

"Well, I like L. His eyes are really big that-"

"Hey geeks, focus!" Luhan interrupted the dancers, opening the notebook and grinning madly at what he read on the first page. Curious about his reaction, Yixing looked too and groaned automatically.

'How to catch a dragon, by Jongin and Luhan'

"It's brilliant Jongin!"

"Of course not!" Lay moaned, burying his face on his hands and messing his hair "It's too obvious! What if someone reads it?! And what are you two planning on doing?!"

"It's not! We hardly call you-know-who by his exo symbol" Jongin whispered, looking at the front and making sure no one was hearing them "That's what the fans do. Plus, if the others read it, they're going to think is something childish because of the notebook's nature. If we keep it in my room, no one's going to find it. Remember how my relationship with Kyungsoo-hyung is"

'Well, Kamjong has a point' Luhan thought, missing the fact how his dongseng said the last part with something akin of sadness. "Don't worry Xing, Jongin and I talked about this a lot over the phone and..."

"Oh great..."

"And we came up with pretty good ideas! Look, read them" Luhan smiled, handing his best friend the death note notebook.

'Tip #1: Compliment the dragon. Cocky bastards are really easy to please.'

"What the- Wufan's not a-!" two hands flew to the unicorn's mouth, silencing him at once (and slapping his face on the process).

"Did you call me?" The drag- I mean, Wufan asked, clearly surprised at the unexpected yell as well as the other members and the managers. Even the driver eyed them over the rearview mirror like they were crazy.

"NO!" both Jongin and Luhan said, still holding Yixing.

"...Okay"

"I think Xingxing-ge's going to get a mark on his face..." Zitao sang innocently, looking at the three and smiling over the odd situation.

-----------------

"Are you ready?"

"No."

"....Are you ready?"

"No."

"...Are you-"

Yixing just shut his bedroom door on Luhan and Jongin's faces as soon as they arrived to their apartment. Well, he opened it again because Chen needed to enter too. But he closed it again, with a dramatic swing of course.

"...He didn't take it well"

"Relax Jongin, I know him. His curiosity is going to kill him. He'll come to us" smiling evilly, Luhan realized how quiet the apartment was. "By the way, Where are the others?" he asked, looking for his other dongsengs, expecting a bone crushing hug from-

"They're busy" Jongin shrugged "That's why Sunghwan-hyung just let Kyungsoo-hyung and I go"

"Oh. Wanna get some bubble tea?"

"Naah hyung. Maybe next time"

"Stop copying Wufan" Luhan laugh, somewhat disappointed over the situation.

Inside the room, Jongdae dropped his baggage on top of his bed and glanced at his roommate who was...

"Why are you turning around with the desk chair?"

"I'm thinking" Came the quiet reply from the guy playing with the furniture. He was on his usual meditating position, sitting backwards on the swiveling chair, arms hanging loosely and head resting on the backrest. And turning around in circles, don't forget that.

"I see" Lying on his own bed, Jongdae looked up at the ceiling "You know hyung? I'm really going to try and get closer to Joonmyun"

"Ok. Just... don't annoy him. He's pretty stressed as it is"

"What's the fun in that?" Chen smiled playfully. "He needs to loosen up a little. He worries too much"

"He's a leader, he needs to".

"Wufan's a leader too and he doesn't look like a grandpa"

Sighing to himself and without thinking, Yixing just answered "No, he looks so hand-"

"BAEKHYUN-HYUNG ANNYEONGHASEYO!"

"NIHAO ZITAO-DIDI!"

God bless those high pitch voices and that enthusiasm because Yixing really needed to control his problem with his automatic honest comments.

Forgetting what his hyung said, both left the bedroom to see a really interesting moment.

Baekhyun was dressing like a butler -with fake mustache and everything- probably because of his cleaning duties (and the guy took every character very seriously) and was being hugged by an extremely happy panda.

"Baekhyun-hyung! I miss you before a much!" the cute magnae said in his broken Korean.

"I know! Let's go chopping! I mean... buy...clothes....Yeah!" and Byun Baekhyun better keep practicing his Chinese because that sounded awful.

How did you expect those two to communicate? That was the only way two divas could get along so well without fighting.

They didn't understand each other most of the time.

"KREASE!" and here comes a giant koala! At least that's what Wufan thought when he saw a huge child running towards him with a huge smile plastered on his face and hugging him like his life depended on it. With legs and everything.

At least Wufan's tall too, otherwise there would be too much of Chanyeol.

There’s always too much of Chanyeol when he didn't have his other twin tower by his side.

"Sup, Yeol?" Wufan smiled, glad to be with all his family again.

Everyone started hugging each other (again) like they hadn't see each other for years (they video call every night) and Hyunkyun smiled like a proud father. "Our kids are so happy".

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Sunghwan said, looking at his little morons and spotting his two favorites "Hey, Dory! Goyangi! I'm hungry!"

Groaning, Kyungsoo facepalmed himself and went to the kitchen, with a spaced out Yixing walking behind him.

Unconditional love, Sunghwan knows it.

Luhan just kept looking at Wufan for some kind of reaction when he felt someone pull him into a hug. He knows those arms, that smell and that laugh. "Hi Sehunnie"

The quiet magnae just smiled, hugging his hyung tighter. He was glad everyone was together again, as one.

"SUHO-HYUNG! I MISS YOU TOO MUCH TOO!"

"Jongdae, for God's sake you know korean! Stop copying Zitao! And let me breath!"

"Wo ai ni the most Joonmyun-hyung"

"...Damn it" Exo-K's angel cursed because he knew those words. Chen always told he loved you the most when you became his target. Minseok sighed in relief, he’s free!

Later that night after everyone ate dinner, Wufan backhugged Yixing again, whispering to his ear "Thanks Xing".

Smiling a little and trying really hard to prevent the arrival of Awkward-Yixing, the chinese guitarrist remembered certain tip #1... "Wufan?"

"Yeah?"

"Your eyebrows are awesome" ... Okay, maybe Awkward-Yixing is still there.

After a moment of silence in the middle of the empty living room, Wufan laughed happily before hugging Yixing's head and messing his hair. "Fan, leave me!"

"Naah, I think I'm going to bully you" The older laughed, dragging his dongseng to his and Chen's bedroom and dropping him at his bed. "Sleep well, you babo"

Maybe that otaku notebook wasn't that bad. After all, Wufans -Yixing's favorite dragon's specie- are easy to please.

-----------------------------------------------

Haaaai! :D
I'm sorry I took a lot of time before updating D: But college doesn't leave me alone. At least this chapter was longer? hehe...
Even now, I'm pretty sure I made a lot of gramatical mistakes because I didn't check it this time. Sorry D':
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! n_n There's too much I would like to comment in this chapter but I think I let you guys discover every little thing on your own :) Even the details are important and every character mentioned in this chapter is relevant in the future.

Sweet dreams!