The next thing I know I’m awake and in some room foreign to me, filled with soft pillows and colorful plushies. Lay is next to me almost instantly, followed immediately by Suho. Lay checks my vitals before shoving a bottle of water in my face and ordering that I drink it. This Lay is much different from the Lay that joked around with me and played tricks so I follow the order. His fingers are soft as they check my vitals again and I start feeling somewhat tired again. Realizing that this is some trick of Lay’s, I fight the feeling while frowning at him. I’ve slept too long going to sleep again wouldn’t really have any use, especially since I feel as fit as a rabbit.

Lay rolls his eyes as he steps back. When I try to get up I find myself fully recovered (even though Lay and Suho immediately rush to support me).

Surveying the group in front of me, I find there are more people in the room than I originally thought. Sehun stands with Luhan, looking amused. Luhan looks a bit guilty but ruins the effect by looking up with a grin and I immediately categorize him as a devil in disguise. His innocent face is not to be trusted.

“So…” I start, staring straight at Sehun. “What happened?” I allow lightning to skim across my body, no longer needing to worry about running out soon since sleep had restored my energy.

Sehun watches me cautiously as he explains. “Luhan and I were playing around with our powers so we thought it might fun to make you guys play ‘Seven Minutes in Heaven.’” I try not to look horrified at the thought. Suho would’ve had a heart attack and it would have ruined all chance I had with him.

“We were going to let you out after seven minutes, we promise.” Luhan cuts in. “Except the closet door sort of exploded when Junmyeon threw a ball of water at it. And by ‘ball of water’ I mean a really strong, extremely powerful surge of water that acted like a battering ram. He then picked you up and ran to Lay, yelling something about how you’d collapsed and how he was going to kill us.”

“You were out for two days.” Sehun adds helpfully, before cowering from one of Suho’s glares. Luhan leans into Sehun and puts his arm around Sehun’s waist as Sehun looks nervously at Sehun.

Rolling my eyes at them, I raise an eyebrow at Suho. “Overdid it, don’t you think?”

Suho scoffs. “You burned up your energy by attempting to burn through a door for less than a minute. Surely Luhan and Sehun should’ve sensed the low levels of energy through the rings.”

“That’s not true though!” Sehun protests. “Jong- Chen seemed fine!”

Luhan shushes Sehun, probably trying to keep him from aggravating anyone before smiling brightly at me (have I mentioned that he’s an angelic looking demon?). He turns to Suho. “I actually didn’t sense any deficiencies in energy from his ring.” he says apologetically. “Did you?”

Suddenly remembering how I’d borrowed energy from the walls, I break into the conversation before people start blaming others (not that they haven’t already started). I explain to them what I did and they stare at me blankly. I guess the others are unable to draw energy from their power. Mine makes sense though: my gift is energy.

Then I start getting questions on how I did it and if I can give them energy (clearly Sehun, no one else would want to risk frying their bodies). I also get stern warnings on not to do that very often since it clearly has negative side effects. Evading all questions on why I borrowed energy, I try to turn their attention to other things. They might find it a bit odd that I stayed awake all night to guard Suho while he was sleeping off his intoxication (although I’m sure it would turn into a joke before long).

After a while they run out of questions and Sehun and Luhan go somewhere while Lay and Suho usher me to the kitchen room. I was hoping I would be able to do something nice and quiet but nope. Everyone else was there, again doing awkward coupley things that made me mostly want to leave but also to pull Suho to the couch and cuddle into him.

This time however, everyone looks up as we walk in and stops doing whatever they had been doing. I pretend to be interested in an apple while Lay explains to everyone what happened and Suho glowers at them all. There’s a multitude of reactions, from extremely surprised to resigned. There are more questions here too, and people seem much too interested in why my power didn’t recharge itself and then in why I didn’t sleep and instead pulled so much energy. Avoiding the questions of so many people is somewhat difficult so I excuse myself to my room, dragging Suho along with me. Lay attempts to come along too but I shake my head at him and he grins at me before helping cover up my departure with Suho under a shield of confusion. I can still hear the pots and pans banging together from halfway down the hallway.

We arrive at my room and I open the door, surprised by the amount of safeguards that are still up. Shoving Suho into a chair, I spin around to assess my room and the items in it. Pencils and graphite are still scattered around my room from the shopping trip I took with Chanyeol and Sehun. He still seems slightly off, worried or something, so I try to find something that will cheer him up.

He watches, bemused, as I pull random things such games and books from my drawers and shelves. I place everything on my bed and then turn back to him. I start asking him what he wants to do before realizing that he was appraising some piece of paper that he was holding. Looking closer, it looked quite a bit like a piece of paper from my sketchbooks and I hope that it’s really not. He looks up as I move closer before turning the paper around and I realize that it’s one of my drawings of him. I’m entirely unsuccessful while trying to snatch it from him and he grins wider. He grabs my hand and pulls me into his lap and is he bipolar or something what is he doing?

His arms are like iron bars and I’m reminded of the other night except this time he’s sober and there’s no need to zap him. He arranges my in his lap and tugs on me so I lean on him before resting his head on my shoulder. We sit relaxed for a while and it’s strangely calming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days pass by in a fairly fun way. Every day I train and if a reaper is detected, I might go out with some others to hunt. When we come back we “watch TV” while in reality having a pillow fight and throwing popcorn at each other before Lay “borrows” me and we go to his room and plan on how to trick Kris and Suho into letting their guards down. Then Suho comes by with a disarming smile and he’ll take me to my room or his and we’ll sit and talk while I draw and he reads or just relaxes. Throughout the day I might suddenly give him a hug or grab his hand and while he flinched at first, he’s started to calm down and get used to it and so I exult in getting closer to him and maybe closer to turning the two of us into a couple.

A couple months pass by and it’s the week of my birthday. Normally I would’ve completely ignored it but I accidentally told Chanyeol at some point and he’d publicized it among everyone and it went on a calendar with everyone else’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey ChenChen!” Xiumin calls out as he suddenly changes direction and comes towards me. That nickname had been created by Kris who had apparently found Jongdae too long and Chen too short. Fearing for my safety should Xiumin catch me, I veer away and immediately crash into Tao (who hooks his arm through mine and pulls me towards the outside hallway). Xiumin catches up and hooks his arm with my other arm and I am most indefinitely trapped. I’ve been trying to avoid the shopping trip that went along with birthdays but apparently my efforts have been in vain.

We go out the main door and I basically give up fighting them since it really is in vain. Tao is super buff and Xiumin is too, even if they both look like kids.

Well Tao looks like an assassin but that’s beside the point.

And today I learn that Tao is a fashionista and that our family thing is really rich since they pull me into a bunch of high profile stores.

Oh also that the familial last name is nonexistent. Tao’s credit card says “Tao Huang” while Xiumin’s says “Xiumin Kim”.

Tao shoves me into all sorts of uncomfortable outfits that are apparently stylish and I try not to rip everything apart, seeing that he would probably cry. Xiumin eventually understands that these stores are detrimental to my mental health and he tries to convince Tao that I need just one outfit.

“But he needs to seduce Junmyeon.” Tao whines at Xiumin. Turning my head sharply, I stare at Tao in disbelief.

“Are you kidding me?” I hiss at him, dropping the shirt I was about to put on.

“No.” He pouts at me and I glower back. Still shirtless, I hold a staring contest with him (and win).

“Fine.” He drops his eyes reluctantly. “But I get to buy you one outfit.”

His pout is way too cute and I am forced to agree.

And that is how I end up buying a tight gray button up shirt with a collar that Tao doesn’t let me wear properly- instead popping the collar and undoing a couple of buttons at the top. I also get a pair of uncomfortable as hell skinny jeans (“It’ll make your legs look amazing.” Tao insists). He makes me wear it and shoves my old clothes into a bag.

Then we get to do more fun things of buying cake while Xiumin wanders off to buy random things with a list. Tao and I go and play at a park while eating ice cream cones (“Jongdae you’re really going to eat that?” “Yes, Tao.” “But it’s so fattening.” “Well you don’t need to eat one.” A few seconds pass and- “ChenChen can I please have an ice-cream?”).

Unfortunately Tao and I have a run in with my sister who is once again with her friends. Except this time it’s clear she’s been waiting for me at the park. Dimly I remember that this was where she’d been last time.

“Jongdae hi!” Her friends gush at me. She rolls her eyes at them before holding out an envelope.

“It’s your birthday today so I thought I might find her here.” She waves the envelope in front of my face until I take it. “Here’s some letters from us. Happy birthday Jongdae.” She turns and leaves, her friends half a second behind her, whispering and giggling.

Tao takes the envelope from me before I can shred it and puts it into one of his many pockets, then pulls me to the merry-go-round thing at the park.

Xiumin returns after we’ve spent about an hour in the park (according to the brand new watch that Tao also got me).

We go to another shop. This time it’s not fashion and instead common household items and I get necessary things for my room (such as clocks, books, and sketchbooks).

“Why do you need so many books? Junmyeon has tons!” Tao says incredulously, eyeing the pile.

“He doesn’t have these.” 

“What.”

Then we go to the bank. At first I thought it was to pick up money or something, but then Xiumin starts talking about creating accounts with the employee, eventually he hands me a bright new shiny credit card with the words “Chen Kim” on it.

“Chen Kim sounds a bit odd but clearly we’re not allowed to write ‘Jongdae’ and just Chen doesn’t really sound like a name.” He explains to me.

“Why am I getting a credit card?”

“So you can buy things without having us along.” He says patiently.

“Where do you even get this money?” I try to hand the card back to him but he pushes my hands away.

“Jongdae, we do real world work too. Mostly bodyguard related jobs because of the edge our daggers give us.”

He avoids all my attempts to give him the card back and guides us back home.

As soon as I open the inner door to the kitchen and walk a couple steps in, a blast of sound and color hits me.

“SURPRISE!” They all yell, jumping out of their various hiding places. They wave banners at me and rush towards me.

The apartment is filled with power and it looks amazing. Fireworks pop in out of existence, dancing with streams of water, and light bounces around meticulously placed mirrors, creating patterns and shapes in the air.

There's also cake and we basically play games together until it's really late at night. And then I get to open my presents.

In general it's a bunch of art stuff but there are other things too. D.O., on top of getting me a super amazing camera, gives me a bunch of job applications that I put aside to sort through later. Kris buys me a laptop and Lay gets me a portable hard drive for extra storage space. ("How did you know what I was getting for Chen?" "You've bought a laptop for the first birthday of every person here that you celebrated. This is why no one else buys laptops for people.") Chanyeol's gift is a Visa card with a sticky note saying "You should totally get a puppy!" I smile and thank him enthusiastically and he says all the polite things that go with it. He then leans close to me and whispers, “Also Junmyeon has another part of my birthday present so ask him for it later.” Which would’ve been fine but then he raises an eyebrow suggestively and I immediately decide to get a cat. I tell him this and grin happily at the pout it earns.

I grin at them all and start thanking them again but then they all decide to jump on top of me and my efforts are completely muffled. We spend the rest of the night in the living room playing games and just talking. Kai falls asleep first, and is followed by Tao and Sehun. The rest of us end up dropping off to sleep within the hour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up to being crushed by two people is extremely disconcerting. I barely manage to keep myself from zapping them. Everyone else is still asleep, probably tired from setting up the party or maintaining their magical decorations for so long. The mirrors no longer reflect beams of light and fire and water have fizzled into nothing sometime during the night. I gently untangle myself from Chanyeol and Xiumin and pad to the door. Someone had already cleaned up the room while the rest of us had been asleep and I was pretty sure I knew who. Only Junmyeon would wake up so early to do what he considered was his duty (dammit Chanyeol, now I’ve gone back to calling him Junmyeon).

Walking to his room, I formulate excuses for why I want to see him. Discarding ideas as soon as I think of them, I really have no clue what I’ll say and get more and more nervous. I don’t knock, instead just opening the door since surprised people tend to be honest people and start blurting out a random excuse.

Except he’s not in his room.

Walking back to my room dejectedly, I try to figure out where he would go. Does he have a girlfriend? Is he training? What could he be doing?

My protections on my door are still down since I never ended up needing them so I just press my hand to the door and enter; realizing belatedly that someone had done exactly that a couple hours ago. Suho is sleeping in the armchair next to my bed, a book open in his lap. I suppose he had come in here because that’s where his to-read stack of books had been put for the week and had never ended up leaving.

Not that I wanted him to.

My muscles had become stronger from training and I am able to easily transfer him to the bed this time. I take his place in the armchair, snagging a sketchbook and resigning myself to watching him sleep again while trying to not be creepy. I sketch for a while and then when I look up again, his eyes are open and he’s looking at me.

“Guarding me again?” His voice is husky with sleep and I attempt to ignore how cute he is right now. It’s really unfair.

I clear my throat, hoping my voice won’t come out embarrassingly high. “It’s not my fault you decided to crash in my room.” I admonish, accidentally ruining the effect by smiling slightly.

He smiles back and sits up, patting the space next to him. Warily, I go to sit next to him, wondering what he wants to talk about.

“How was the birthday party?” He asks, and I look at him in surprise. Did he expect me to not like it?

“Amazing,” I reply, internally cheering as he grins. Then I remember what Chanyeol had told me. I’m pretty sure this will the best time to ask for the present. “So what’s that present Chanyeol was talking about? The one you have?”

Junmyeon stiffens noticeably, and his hands start to nervously twist around each other.

I cover his hands with my own, not quite sure why he became so edgy. Did Chanyeol give him some sort of really weird present to give me?

“Are you ok?” I ask, worried. “Do you need-”

Then I shut up because he kisses me. This kiss is softer than the last one and much more fleeting.

He pulls away quickly and looks at me, probably trying to judge my reaction, but I really don’t care because right now I just want to kiss him again. I push him back into the pillows and kiss him before rolling off him and just nestling into his side. We’re probably in a really awkward position right now but, again, I really don’t care.

We spend a long time like that, just lying there and kissing each other softly in between whatever we were talking about.

The Sun rises and we watch it, ignoring the outside world and just remaining inside our own bubble. I had put my guards up at some point so no one can come in, and they do a fine job of keeping everyone outside.

But we can’t stay there forever, even if we want to, and I finally check my phone around noon. It had been buzzing so much that it had become distracting.

Junmyeon keeps his arms wrapped loosely around me as I get the phone and I settle back into him as I look through the messages. Most of them are from Lay, and they’re borderline hysterical.

One of the first ones was:

8:04 AM
Hey Chen is Junmyeon inside your room with you? We can’t find him...

And they ended up at this level:

11:47 AM
CHEN WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU WHY AREN’T YOU PICKING UP GODDAMMIT. PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN’T GET KIDNAPPED OR ANYTHING.

Junmyeon shakes with laughter as he reads them with me, and I attempt not to do the same. Instead of sending back some response that would stress out Lay, I get off the bed, pulling Junmyeon up with me.

It’s time the others knew where we were.

I was not looking forward to, “I TOLD YOU,” being shouted in my face or evident in the smirks of the others, but they have good reason.

Also I have Junmyeon with me, and that makes everything better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh god it's been four months.

I apologize as always. This has been sitting half written for the past four months since I started right after the previous chapter was published but never had time to finish .-.

Thanks to ChoiJjong, Shinreigari , Kessia_ELF-Babyz , Phoenixbird14 , darkyulate , ThunderxLightning , and lilibae  for subscribing and to all my older subscribes. Also to kaicandy, LouisRP , and kobe24 for commenting. I love you all .

There will probably be another chapter for SuChen and then another for Krispy Lays (Unless I end up making that its own story... not sure yet).

Yeah so... enjoy!