“Someone is out early.”

“Yeah, Kai and I both decided to leave because of some stuff Seohyeon-unnie wants us to do.”

Kris gave Yurim a slightly confused look, but let the information slide. “Baek wanted me to pick up Chanyeol, so if you want anything to eat, now is a good time to tell me.”

Chanyeol lived just outside downtown, where as Baekhyun lived a little closer to the suburbs, so it would be easy to grab a bite to eat on the way to Chanyeol’s place. Yurim shook her head, pulling out a snack from her bag knowing full well that she would probably want to have a bite to eat after running around as much as she did.

After Kris insisted on buying her something more substantial and Yurim insisted on Kris not spending any more money than he does on her, they made the quick drive to Chanyeol’s apartment.

Upon arriving, Yurim gave Chanyeol a quick call and in minutes they saw his smiling face burst thru the main doors. He slid into the back seat and gave Kris a high five before playfully ruffling Yurim’s hair. “Ick, you’re all sweaty!”

“Practice. Deal with it.” Yurim turned around a bit to give Chanyeol a teasing face, but they both knew everything was all in good fun. The trip to Baekhyun’s house was filled with laughter and the occasional “Chanyeol, hands off” when he decided to hug Yurim from behind the seat. Honestly, Yurim liked seeing the slightly jealous Kris. Everyone knew Yurim was very close to Chanyeol and Baekhyun and they had skinship like none other, so it was something Kris had to get used to over the course of the last 3 months.

He got used to it.

Sort of.

He tolerates it, at least.

Baekhyun’s house was small. It was big enough for a small gathering and could easily support one or two other people with ease, but anything larger would border the fine line of a fire hazard.

Baekhyun greeted his guests warmly, making sure to give Yurim a large bear hug as she walked inside. Yurim let out a loud yelp before laughing with Baekhyun as he led everyone inside. It had been almost a month since the four friends had gathered together like this, and even though the often spoke, there was always another story to tell and another laugh to have.

Yurim had known Baekhyun and Chanyeol since she was in elementary school. They all grew up in the same area, and even went to school together and often would be in the same classes. Yurim and Chanyeol got along great, realizing both of them had a passion for music only days after meeting. Baekhyun wasn’t as open with his hobby of singing, but after a night of noraebang during their middle school days, Chanyeol and Yurim roped him into their lives even more.

During high school, Yurim transferred to a different school. She tried to keep in touch with her best friends, but it was hard. Now that they were all in college, they generally were freer to do as they please with their time. The only things that interfered were Yurim’s extra curricular activities, Chanyeol’s semi-constant traveling to help his parents out, and Baekhyun’s part time job on the other side of town.

Kris didn’t really know either boy until after getting together with Yurim. He was a bit put off by the excess amounts of skinship Yurim had with Chanyeol and Baekhyun, and it took a while for him to stop being jealous over Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s natural handy-ness, but he does his best to tolerate Yurim’s dear friendships.

It was close to midnight, and only the boys were awake. Yurim had fallen asleep on Kris’ shoulder and, though Baekhyun insisted that everyone stayed the night, Kris didn’t want to impose. Besides, he didn’t have anything to change into, and he didn’t want Yurim to not be home when Sehun probably expected her back soon. Chanyeol had spent so many nights at Baekhyun’s house that he had a supply of clothes and a small space already set aside for his things.

With a heavy sigh, Baekhyun bid his friends farewell. Kris carried Yurim out to his car with Chanyeol’s help. After a final wave, Kris drove off into the dark.

Chanyeol walked back inside and plopped down onto the couch. “I saw Hyung down over at Sehun’s shop again today.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. Joonmyun has been hanging out in that area a lot lately. I was going to say something to him, but he dipped immediately after buying some things.” Chanyeol said as he recalled the earlier sighting of Joonmyun running out of the store and only looking back to try and catch Yurim’s figure through the window. “He has to stop doing this to himself.”

Baekhyun sat next to Chanyeol and let his head fall in disappointment. “Well whose fault was it to begin with?”

“Not mine. It was those two roommates of his. I swear they’re the ones who put those dumb thoughts in his head, and now he’s chasing pavements for a car that’s already long gone.”

“What? What is that even supposed to mean?”

“You know what I mean.” Chanyeol sighed. “He’s just going to make things worse for himself if he keeps trying to put himself in Yurim’s life.

“You’re right.” Baekhyun paused for a single beat before continuing, “but what if Yurim doesn’t want him out of it?”

Chanyeol scoffed at Baekhyun’s added comment. “What are you, crazy? You saw how mad she was – hell, we took the brunt of her rage.”

“But that doesn’t stop her from acknowledging his existence. She used to hate his very name, and anything purple.”

“Purple?” Chanyeol’s eyebrows arched in confusion. “Oh, his favorite color, right?”

Baekhyun nodded. “But now she’s actually talking with him. He more or less set her up with Kris, and that was after they were on speaking terms with each other.”

“You’re reading into it too much. It’s been almost a year, Baek. If she was still that hung up over everything, I’d be more worried about her sanity than Joonmyun’s actions.”

“I’m reading into the situation too much? Who is the one with the nonsense analogies?”

Chanyeol retorted by throwing a pillow at Baekhyun’s face and tackling him onto the floor while he was distracted. The two boys laughed at themselves before getting ready for bed.

*~*~*~*~*

Kris rang the door bell and waited for Sehun to let him in. Cradling Yurim in his arms was something he wasn’t not used to, but he was getting tired and it was difficult to keep holding her sleeping body up. When the door opened, Sehun sheepishly smiled and let Kris take Yurim to her room.

Though small, Yurim’s room had a lot of space. She was organized in a cluttered way – piles of papers and pens strewn over her desk, but all in the same spot as they were the day before – but Kris found that part of her to be cute. He tucked her under the sheets before going to the living room to talk with Sehun.

“Is it cool if I stay the night?”

“I’m cool with it, but why?”

“Car is low on gas and I don’t feel like going to a gas station at this hour.”

Sehun rolled his eyes before going to the closet to grab Kris some spare sheets. Kris turned and went to the closet as well, grabbing a spare set of sleeping clothes he had left the last time he spent the night. Kris was to Sehun’s house and Chanyeol was to Baekhyun’s – a frequent stayer. Sehun didn’t mind, and even his parents were used to his constant presence. As long as he stayed in a different room at night, Kris was allowed to stay.

“Ah, Joonmyun-hyung stopped by the store today.” Sehun mentioned as and Kris worked together to bring a spare mattress to Sehun’s room. “He seems to be doing well.”

“That so? Haven’t seen him around much.” There was a short silence before Kris continued. “Did he talk to Yurim?”

Sehun hummed as he nodded his head. “Not for long. I think it was just small talk while she checked him out.”

“She was checking him out?!” Kris almost dropped his end of the mattress on his foot. Which, really, wouldn’t have been that bad seeing as how soft the mattress was.

“Yeah. Checked him out. You know, because she was on register duty?”

Kris mentally face palmed. “Right...right.”

“Jealousy really doesn’t suit you, man.”

“Yah!”

Sehun just laughed as Kris tried to hide his embarrassment. “Hyung…you really like Yurim, don’t you?”

“Shut up…”

“Nothing to be ashamed about. I just wonder how you ever manage to stay with her.”

“What in the world does that mean?” Kris set his end of the mattress down on the floor of Sehun’s room.

Sehun just shook his head. “Hyung, I know you say you’re bi, but honestly, how many other girls have you actually dated. Other than my cousin? Compare that to how many guys you’ve dated.”

“Uh...” Kris tried to count in his head, but he wasn’t able to come up with anything other than a really really bad girl-to-guy ratio. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Suhun rolled his eyes before changing into his pajamas. “Just putting it out there that I’d say you may as well just call yourself gay but still experimenting.” Sehun ducked as he saw a pillow fly at his head.

“Good night, Sehun.”

*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, Yurim woke up to the unpleasant sound of banging metal. She ran out of her room and into the kitchen. She laughed as she saw Sehun and Kris wrestling with the pancake mix. “You guys...give me that!” Yurim took the ladle and bowl from the boys and shooed them towards the table. “You guys are so useless in the kitchen.”

“I am not!” They said in unison.

Yurim kept laughing as she dealt with the disaster that the kitchen had become. “Kris, what time do you have to leave for work?”

“It’s Saturday, so I don’t. I did promise Yixing I would help move some stuff into their place this afternoon, though, so I probably have to hit the road by 3:30.” Kris said as he grabbed silverware and plates from the cupboards. “I should probably change into something less nighttime-y though so I probably will leave sooner so I can stop by my place.”

“Think you can drop me off at Baekhyun’s place? I think I left my mp3 player at his house last night.”

“Just tell me when.”

“Thanks!” Yurim gave Kris a kiss on the cheek before setting down a few pancakes on his place.

Sehun just feigned disgust. “Eewww, get a room.”

Without missing a beat, Kris replied, “How about you and Luhan get a room - one that has a door you can instead of a curtain that Yurim walks in on every other day?”

Yurim just laughed as the boys had their early-morning argument, all the while looking endearingly at Kris’ bed head and enjoying that he liked her cooking. The phone started to ring and Yurim was the first to hop out of her seat and answer. “Hello?”

“Yurim. It’s Baekhyun.”

“Oh hey. I was meaning to call you. I think I left-”

“-your iPod? Yeah, I found it on the couch. Come by around 2? Feel free to hang out here for a while.”

“You’re the best!” Yurim hung up and announced she was going to take a quick shower. After that, she spent time with Kris and Sehun watching TV and talking about the week. When it got closer to lunch, the trio went out to eat courtesy of Kris’ wallet. Sehun ended up bussing home while Kris and Yurim drove off to Baekhyun’s place.

“I’ll see you when I’m done helping Yixing out.” Kris waved Yurim goodbye and waited for her to get inside before taking off.