4. Small Miracles

"Aigoo, look who came to visit! Kyungsoo-ah!" Kyungsoo smiled wholeheartedly at the shop keeper ahjumma. While it has only been a few days in SM Academy, Kyungsoo had made nice with the ahjummas at the market part of SM Town which meant personal discounts and a little bit of free service. The vegetable ahjumma beamed at the sweet smile Kyungsoo gave her but looked at Kris a little warily.

Well, it was expected. The model-like tall strawberry blonde looked incredibly out of place in the rowdy market place and incredibly odd standing next to Kyungsoo who looked a head or two smaller than him. It also didn't help that his eyebrows naturally gave him a brooding expression.

"Ah. This is my dorm mate, Kris." Kyungsoo introduced. "Even though he looks very stern, Kris is actually really nice."

"Kris? Shouldn't it be Kris hyung?" Kris asked playfully. With a smirk, he watched Kyungsoo laugh nervously, apologising and repeating his introductions of Kris as 'Kris hyung'. The vegetable ahjumma chuckled to herself at the adorable exchange and started to bag the things Kyungsoo listed off his grocery list. Kris paid the ahjumma with the dorm food allowance and took all the bags before the doe eyed boy could protest. "As payback for messing the kitchen last time." Kris said and Kyungsoo finally gave up.

Kris suppose it was a blessing in disguise when Luhan (that lying, accusing wolf in sheep clothing) pointed the finger at him as the culprit to setting the kitchen ablaze. Though Kyungsoo did scare the living crap out of him with a carbon-copy of Madame Wu's glare, his food was truly heavenly. Yixing did most of the cooking from the M-wing side of the dorm and while his cooking definitely wasn't bad, it didn't make his taste-buds like Kyungsoo's kimchi pasta did.

Now, Madame Wu didn't raise no fool. She always said the key to a man's heart was through his stomach and always told her son that if someone came along and can pull his heartstrings through their cooking, she or he (since Kris could really care less about the gender of his partner) could very well be 'the one'. And so from that meal on, Kris definitely felt something for the human owl-bunny. Call him a hopeless romantic but when Kyungsoo mentioned something about grocery shopping after school, Kris jumped at the chance to spend some more time with his 'the one'. Seriously, the Beagle liner trio BaekChenYeol hogged up all of Kyungsoo’s attention at the dorms. And outside the dorms, it was either Ryeowook Hyung or Taemin and his group who demanded all of Kyungsoo's attention.

"Kris hyung?" The soft voice snapped Kris out of his thoughts. He looked to see Kyungsoo who'd somehow, while his thoughts were off to lalaland, shopped and filled two of his environmentally friendly tote bag full. Kris frowned at the bags and took them off Kyungsoo's narrow shoulders.

Okay.

Maybe not so much of a good idea because the bags apparently weighed a lot. What the hell did Kyungsoo buy anyways?

By the time the grocery trip was over and they were walking up the pathway to their secluded dorm, Kris was red in the face and sweating quite a bit with the amount of bags he was carrying. He hadn't let Kyungsoo carry even one which meant Kris had about 8 bulging tote bags on his person.

"And to think you lead the so called 'beasts'." Kyungsoo laughed, taking all of the bags. Years of grocery shopping with his mom had built his strength and Kyungsoo looked like he was carrying bags of feathers by the way he bustled with the bags effortlessly. Kris walked after Kyungsoo with hands planted on his waist, still flushing though it was mostly out of embarrassment now.

"We're back." Kyungsoo called out as he toed off his shoes and slipped into his Pororo slippers. He quickly shot off to his (yes that territory was now officially his) kitchen to put the many many groceries into the miserably bare fridge.

Sehun watched the small male quietly from the wall he was leaning against in the corner of the kitchen. His poker face, which the troll Chen so lovingly named the ‘jpg face’ face, gave none of his curiosity away. Joonmyeon hyung was completely smitten from what Sehun knew; the older kept shifting in his bed and muttering to himself ‘he’s new for Christ’s sake!’ at some point pretty much every night. No wonder Baekhyun hyung keeps calling their dorm leader ‘the weird ahjussi’.

But seriously. What was so special about the guy? From what he’d seen, Do Kyungsoo was quite ordinary. Nothing remarkable about his looks except for maybe his huge marbles like eyes but definitely nothing so worthy that Chairman Lee Soo Man would put him, a transfer student, right away into a special dorm without even the consent of the other members. Most of the other Exo members were personally invited into SM (for example, Oh Sehun) but even then, they had to train for a while before they got moved from the common dorms into the Exo dorm (for example, Oh Sehun).

As Sehun continued musing to himself, Kris walked in and helped put away the grocery, blushing a bit -THE Wu Yifan blushing! Kyungsoo laughed to himself at some private joke between them. Even Yifan hyung was interested in him? Perhaps, it was childish of him but Sehun felt a little peeved by how everyone seemed to love the new transfer. Joonmyeon hyung, Yifan hyung, Ryeowook hyung... who Sehun caught slipping Kyungsoo the House special ‘Sparkling’ bubble tea for free. That specific drink was the most expensive drink on the menu at SM Bubbles (A rather unoriginal name now that Sehun thought about it) and even if you were a SM student, you’d still have to pay for it. Full price. No special freebies. And Ryeowook hyung would just slip the oblivious doe eyed male that expensive drink for free. FREE!

“What shall we have for dinner, oh great leader of the ‘beasts’?” Kyungsoo asked teasingly with his signature smile, putting away packets of seaweed. Kris’ lips split into a smile as well at the sight of the warm heart-shaped smile. He leaned against the counter, a hand holding his chin as he pretended to think.

“How about we leave dinner to me?” Kris said. Kyungsoo straightened up from putting packets of sausages into the freezer and blinked at Kris.

“Hyung, you can cook?” Kyungsoo asked doubtfully. Yeah. Tall, model-like Kris who can silence crying babies with his charismatic and slightly intimidating stare can cook? He really didn’t look like the domestic type.

“Yah. What’s with the surprised tone?” Kris frowned a little as he turned back around and put away the cans of spam in the cupboard. “Yixing isn’t the only one who can cook you know.”

Kyungsoo chuckled, now folding the empty tote bags neatly. “No, that’s not it. It’s just that hyung, you’re really good looking and gentle then to top everything off, you can cook too. You’re like the guy everything girl dreams of.” Kyungsoo grinned before sighing wistfully, "And tall too."

Kris froze. He gulped nervously and forced down an on-coming blush. “Ah...Is t-that so?” He laughed awkwardly. Kris’ heart nearly leaped out of his chest cavity when a bang was heard behind him. Kyungsoo jumped with a cute little yelp and turned to see a poker faced male picking up a cookbook from the floor nonchalantly.

Sehun had enough with the sappiness of the two, thus the cookbook ‘mysteriously’ falling from the table. “My bad.” Sehun shrugged. “You’re Do Kyungsoo, right?” Everyone’s golden boy, the childish part of Sehun added snidely in his head. “I’m Oh Sehun.”

Kyungsoo smiled timidly at Sehun. So he's Luhan's cousin. Kyungsoo could definitely see the resemblance. Sehun, like his cousin, was all elegant lines and planes shrouded with a softness that made them seem delicate almost. However, unlike his cousin, Sehun's expression was pretty much a blank canvas. “Nice to meet you, Sehun-ssi.”

“He’s the maknae.” Kris said, shaking his head at Kyungsoo affectionately who gasped and looked at Kris, disbelief coloring his expression.

“Seriously?” Okay, Sherry had not told him about that. Kyungsoo turned to Sehun. “What year?”

“‘94.” Sehun said slowly before adding coldly. “Is it a problem?”

“Just.. you look so mature and kinda cool.” Sehun blinked. Mature and cool? Him? Sehun watched as the small hyung rubbed the back of his neck. "And once again, someone taller than me." Sehun heard him mutter with a small frown. A swell of pride rose in Sehun before it hit him. Was this why Kris hyung and Suho hyung were interested in him? Because he unknowingly their egos?

“How long have you been standing there, anyways?” Kris asked, snapping Sehun out of his thoughts.

“The whole time.” Sehun said, staring into Kris’ eyes, silently conveying the message ‘yeah, that’s right I saw you being all sappy and blushy from the beginning to the end’. Kris shifted awkwardly making Sehun smirk. Looks like duizhang got the silent message. “So… Kyungsoo, how’re you finding the academy so far?” Sehun asked, sitting on the dining table and flashed Kyungsoo a smile that turned his eyes into little crescents moons.

Kyungsoo blinked. The smile really transformed Sehun from a cool stoic dormmate into a cute maknae. A smile broke out on Kyungsoo's face as well and he started to talk excitedly with the most adorable gestures and expressions. Sehun nodded and 'ah'ed at appropriate things but inside, he was slightly taken back. Where did this hyper bunny come from and where did the timid owl disappear to? Sehun's interest was thoroughly piqued by the time dinner was made.

Sehun found that Kyungsoo was incredibly receptive towards his aegyo and lived up to Chanyeol and Baekhyun's nickname of 'umma', constantly fussing over Sehun which to be honest felt incredibly good. Not much of the members really took notice of him despite him being the youngest. And of course, Kris' slightly sour mood didn't go unnoticed by the maknae which made it all the more entertaining to watch as the M-dorm leader's face grew darker whenever he initiated skin ship with the small hyung.  

"Duizhang. Sehunnie." Luhan appeared wearing dirt covered football jerseys and sweat. Something flashed in his eyes when his eyes landed on Sehun before it was gone and Luhan grinned widely at Kyungsoo who was tucked in the arms of the maknae. "Umma~ I'm back."

"Welcome back hyung." Kyungsoo smiled warmly at the doll like male. "How was football?" Kyungsoo asked, pouring a pitcher of cool water into a glass and set it in front of Luhan. All the while with Sehun latched onto him like an overgrown koala.

Luhan nodded, sipping his water. "Baozi and I teamed up against the football team and we beat them!" He said proudly with a wide grin and winked when Kyungsoo clapped with an impressed expression. Luhan made a show of wrinkling his nose at his own scent and stood up. "I should go take a shower. Ah, Sehunnie, a word please? I think my shampoo is finished, lend me yours?" Luhan asked pleasantly, cocking his head towards the kitchen door.

Sehun's eyes narrowed and he did an exaggerated pout but nonetheless he nodded and grudgingly detached his limbs from Kyungsoo. "I'll be back." Sehun flashed a grin at Kyungsoo who grin back. Kyungsoo apparently has a slight habit of returning smiles which made the eyebrows of the older Chinese male who was cooking twitch whenever Kyungsoo smiled at someone else other than him. Being the evil maknae he was, Sehun intended to use this fully to maximize his amusement. Kyungsoo chuckled to himself as Sehun made a cutesy face as he followed Luhan out the kitchen.

Kris sighed in relief inaudibly. Finally, some quality time. "Kyu-"

"Umma!!!" A voice boomed before Chanyeol came sprinting into the kitchen and hugged the smaller boy from behind to shield himself from Chen and Baekhyun's jointed toy hammers attack. Suho sighed as he followed his hyperactive kids while Kris cursed the gods for ing him and turned back to his cooking sulkily. Kyungsoo blinked owlishly as Chanyeol held him close to his chest which only made the onsurge of hammer attacks more vicious and frequent on the giant’s head.

"Let go of my wife, Chanyeol." Suho snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. 5 pairs of eyes looked up at him; confused, nearing popping (Kyungsoo) and accusing (Kris). Suho realised what he let slip but cover up rather marvellously by saying, "Wae? I'm the dorm papa, he's the dorm mama, it makes sense." Suho shrugged with his signature angelic smile.

They 'ohh'ed in understanding, Kyungsoo blushed and curled in in Chanyeol's arms before Kris cleared his throat. 5 pair of eyes then turned towards the tall blonde. "I'm the M dorm's papa." He said flippantly, stirring the stew. Suho's jaw dropped a little while the comedy trio openly gapped at Kris. Was he actually challenging Suho? Meanwhile, Kyungsoo wondered to himself innocently. Does this mean he had two yeobos then?

Chanyeol was the first to snap out of it. "Ding ding ding!" Chanyeol said into his fist, still keeping an arm wrapped around the squishy Kyungsoo. "In this corner we have the K-dorm's papa AKA the guardian angel Kim Joonmyeon!"

Baekhyun grinned widely, seeing where his roommate was going with this and said into his own fist, "And in the other corner we have the mysterious alpha papa of the M-dorm, Wu Yifan!"

"Who will win the title of papa of the Exo dorm and the 'yeobo' of our beloved umma? Round one! Ding ding ding!" Chanyeol said again.

"And while that's going on," Chen wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo, picking him up easily from Chanyeol's grasp. Kyungsoo yelped. They were feeling rather touchy today, weren't they? "We'll steal Umma away for a dance dance revolution showdown!" Chen said, ignoring the squeals coming from the boy whom he threw over his shoulder as he ran out into the living room. The other two followed, shouting protests about why they should be the ones carrying umma, leaving Suho and Kris to stand in awkward silence.

~*~

"Hyung," Sehun started as he leaned against the wall, eying the older male with suspicion as Luhan pulled off his jersey shirt. "I know this isn't about the shampoo. We went and brought like 3 bottles yesterday remember?"

"Sehunnie," Luhan turned around shirtless. His usual smile that was adored by the female population of SM was gone and his baby face was void of any expressions. Sehun shivered a little. Luhan without any expressions had always been rather intimidating. Perhaps it was because of his doll like features but without expressive emotions, Luhan looked a little too dead. "What do you think of Kyungsoo?"

Sehun frowned. "Wae?"

"Answer the question." Luhan said softly. Sehun's frown deepened. Was Luhan hyung also...? No way.

"I'm interested in him." Sehun shrugged, pushing himself off the wall. "He's a bit like a puzzle. I want to solve him."

"People are not games, Sehun." Luhan said. He didn't snap or raise his voice yet Sehun still found a chill run down his spine. It was perhap because Luhan was so deceivingly dangerous that he liked him best out of all his other family relatives. Luhan was an enigma on his own. "So is that all? He's only just interesting?"

Sehun shrugged again. "And you hyung?" Sehun stared at the Chinese male. "What do you think of Kyungsoo?"

Luhan's dead expression was replaced by a sly smile; the roguish side of him that Kyungsoo wasn't aware of yet. "He's unusual. I guess I find him interesting too. Family think alike, huh?" The lookalike cousins looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Looks like we'll have to share." Luhan sighed, nodding at Xiumin who was silently standing at the doorway of their room before grabbing a set of clean clothes.

Xiumin sighed, entering the room in a pair of track pants and a plain white shirt with a fluffy pale blue towel hanging around his neck. "Looks like another share of Kyungsoo smaller." The baozi pouted. "It's what? 7 people 'sharing'?" Xiumin air-quoted.

"Hm... BaekYeol, JongMyeon and us three." Luhan counted, listing off his fingers. His pretty face scrunched into a frown. "That's quite a lot."

"Eight." Sehun said, making the older two turn to him. "Kris hyung is definitely in."

Luhan and Xiumin gapped. Yifan? He was also interested in Kyungsoo? When did this happen? "And we don't know about Zitao or Yixing. We can never really read their minds." Xiumin now also frowning. "The whole dorm? Seriously?"

"At least we don't have to worry about Kai." Luhan offered. The other two nodded. Perhaps it was his rebellious stage of life or something but Jongin was behaving a little too erratically. Fights, smoking and a couple of times they'd even find the second youngest completely wasted.

"Thank god for small miracles. It'd be too troublesome if he wanted in on sharing Kyungsoo. I mean, they share the same room and all." Xiumin sighed, jamming his hands into the pockets of his track pants.

Sehun suddenly barked out a laugh of disbelief, making the two oldest turn to him. "Kai's room only has a queen sized bed."

The jaws of the XiuHan pair dropped. "They're sharing a bed?!" They exclaimed together. There was a moment of silence before Xiumin repeated his words, "Thank god for small miracles. That Jongin isn't interested in Kyungsoo."

~*~

"He's not here." Kyungsoo frowned, getting under the blanket. Kai wasn't anywhere to be seen, not even at dinner. It's actually been a couple of days since Kyungsoo last saw Kai. The unicorn lover, Lay, assured the umma (it was official that Kyungsoo was the holder of the title of 'umma' of the dorm. Chen even brought a fluffy peach apron with 'World's Best Umma' embroidered in the small heart where the heart would be for Kyungsoo to wear) that Kai being out was natural but Kyungsoo still felt uneasy. He may not necessarily like the tanned teen very much but Kyungsoo paternal, more like maternal, side just kicked in.

Everyone could see Kyungsoo's worry and became extra clingy and loud (especially the Beagle-liners) so Kyungsoo's attention would be focused on them instead. Kyungsoo managed to speak to Tao for the first time and found the Chinese teen, who was younger than him by only 4 months, simply adorable. Especially when he stuttered whenever he was trying to get his words in Korean out.

Tao apparently was quite the sensitive person which was why he didn't talk much outside the dorm; because he was a little insecure about his poor Korean. But in the dorm, he was comfortable and thus speaking more than enough to make up for his silence outside. Tao loudly criticised Kris's cooking (Kris playfully choked the younger Chinese male in return) and whined about not getting to try Kyungsoo's cooking (which Chanyeol kept throwing in his face). This secured the next dinner menu to be something western since Tao claimed to like western food.

"Even though I say that, I don't really know how to make western style food.. Except for spaghetti." Kyungsoo thought out loud with a small frown. While he enjoyed cooking and had once dreamt of becoming a professional chef, cooking was only just a hobby. He sighed and snuggled into the bed while opening up google korea on his phone. He tapped in 'Western cuisine dishes', scrolled through various dishes and recipes. "Hm... Should I do a roast? You can't get any more western than roast with potatoes." Kyungsoo decided, nodding to himself when the door swung open slowly.

Kai walked in slowly in the dim room, shuffling a little and acting all too suspiciously. "You're back?" Kyungsoo sat up on the bed. Kai looked up startled before remembering that he now had a roommate and closed the door behind him silently. Kyungsoo made a face of annoyance as the younger continued to ignore him until the light from the lava lamp caught Kai's face. "What happened to your face?" Kyungsoo gasped.

Scrapes, bruises and small cuts randomly covered Kai's face. Most of them looked untreated and there was only one lonely band-aid stuck at the end of his left eyebrow. Kai clicked his tongue as he took off his blazer and sprawled out under the blankets, not bothering with taking off his clothes. Kyungsoo frowned in worry but seeing as how Kai obviously didn't want to talk about it, he decided maybe he should let it go. "You should get your wounds treated." Kyungsoo said to himself with a sigh.

"Aish! Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?!" Kai growled annoyedly, staring up at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo flinched at Kai's angry shout and looked down at his lap with wide eyes. Kai sighed and to his side, pulling the blanket over his head roughly. Kyungsoo slowly looked up and with the frown still etched on his face he laid back down on his side, his back facing Kai's back.

~*~

Kyungsoo squint open his eyes and looked around. It was still dark and the alarm clock on the bedside table flashed 3:01. It was incredibly hot, like he was lying next to a furnace. Did Kai turn off the AC?

"Ughh.." Kyungsoo froze in surprise. Another groan came from Kai's side of the bed, sounding a little pained. Kyungsoo frowned in worry.

"Kai." Kyungsoo whispered. "Are you okay?" The tanned boy made a canine-like whine. Kyungsoo reached out to shake the boy when he gasped. He was burning up. "Yah! Kim Jongin!" Kyungsoo scrambled to sit up and shook the boy lightly. The younger male just groaned in pain.

Kyungsoo bit down on his lips and got off the bed, throwing on a jacket over his blue and white pinstriped pyjamas. "I'll be right back okay?" Kyungsoo said to the unresponsive male. He quickly ran out of the room, slipped in his shoes and ran without stopping to SM town. Desperation took hold of Kyungsoo when every turn he took, he was no closer to any convenient store or pharmacy store. Finally, he found a 24/7 pharmacy store and ran in.

"Student, shouldn't you be in bed right now?" The desk clerk smiled good naturedly.

"P-please, my friend..f-fever." Kyungsoo panted out desperately. The desk clerk immediately started pulling together a fever relief kit for the obviously distraught male. Kyungsoo thanked the man and slapped some bills on the counter and ran out away, not bothering to take his change.

He ran to the dorm after a quick stop at the 7-11 next to the pharmacy store and quickly got to his room. Kai was now shivering harshly as sweat rolled down his forehead. Kyungsoo turned the bags he brought upside down, allowing the contents to fall before grabbing the thermometer and ripped the sterile packaging open.

"Soo?" A voice called as Kyungsoo took Kai's temperature. "What's going on?" It was Baekhyun.

"Hyung! Kai has a temperature of 39.5!" Kyungsoo exclaimed as he ripped open the package of a cooling strip and wiped Kai's forehead with a wet wipe before placing the cooling strip on it. Baekhyun sighed.

Kai always had been fever-prone and with him going off to god knows where and coming back late, Baekhyun wasn't surprised that he got a fever. Baekhyun helped the panicking male wipe down the younger tanned male and change into something more comfortable. He was the usually the one who took care of Kai when he was sick so he had lots of practise.

Baekhyun decided his nickname for Kyungsoo really fitted him. Kyungsoo never stopped moving; he treated Kai's new wounds (the trophies of the day most likely), made sure he was comfortable, coaxed the barely conscious boy to take his medicine in a soft voice and periodically made sure that Kai took small sips of the energy drinks he'd brought; just like a fussy mother hen. It was easy to see why his best friend immediately liked the doe eyed boy. In an attempt to make close bonds, Chanyeol even told Kyungsoo he could call him by his first name. No honorifics needed; something which is rather out of character for him. Even though Chanyeol may be easy-going, he still followed the honorifics system (for example; being called hyung by those younger than him). Chanyeol always had a soft spot for kindly creatures after all.

"Sorry for disturbing your sleep, hyung." Kyungsoo said softly. Baekhyun smiled up at the boy and shook his head. Kyungsoo smiled weakly back at him. "You should go back to sleep."

"You should too. I heard from Tao that you didn't get any sleep for a couple of nights because of this brat." Baekhyun said, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking his head over at the 'brat'. Kyungsoo gave a small nod.

"I'll go to sleep in a bit. Don't worry about me." Kyungsoo grinned brightly at the older male despite the overall tired look. Baekhyun sighed and ruffled Kyungsoo's hair affectionately before leaving the room, closing the door behind him softly.

Baekhyun shuffled over to his shared room with his best friend who was snoring away without a care. Baekhyun chuckled and climbed onto his bed. Kyungsoo's tired smile flashed in his mind when he closed his eyes. Baekhyun threw an arm over his closed eyes and sighed. He'd heard all about the hostility that Kai had for Kyungsoo from Tao (who'd taken on eavesdropping on Taemin and Kyungsoo's conversations on a daily basis). Honestly, it felt like Kai had it out for everyone nowadays and for whatever reasons, Kyungsoo more than anyone. Still Kyungsoo is taking care of that troublesome kid.

Baekhyun sighed again, his lips twitching up to a smile. That kid really is too kind.

Fiend's Thoughts

I'm back my lovelies! I'm so sorry about the unexpected hiatus! But I'm back! For now... Anyways! Because our lovely Kai is rumored to prone to getting sick, I just had to have a UmmaSoo taking care of Kai + Bacon. Sorry Kai for making you a sick jerk~ But your moment of redemption will come very soon! Sehunnie is jelly jelly because of all the attention but finds himself warming up to the small hyung's compliments charms. Loll~ Doesn't take much, does it? Kris is an awkward romantic who gets ed from all sides whenever he tries to be sweet and loving. Nobody can convince me overwise! But my dear readers, if it comes down to it, who do you think will be the first one to break the unspoken rule to share Kyungsoo just to have him to himself? Suggestions, suggestions~ and shower me with love (AKA comments and maybe votes? ;D)!

Sneakpeek~

Baekhyun had no choice but to lay next to the boy while he slept. His wanting to stay had absolutely nothing to do with how cute Kyungsoo was being or how soft he felt.

They all felt it. The feeling like they were intruding in an intimate moment between Kyungsoo and Jongin.

Sehun paused. When did he start caring about Kyungsoo anyways?