14

Jinri smacked her lips, as she smelled coffee right under her nose.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” a pleasant voice roused her from her slumber. She blinked her eyes open to see Luhan’s face just a few inches from hers, a cup of coffee held between them. She reached for it, and then realized that her arm was being restricted. Looking lazily to the right, she realized that Tao had commandeered it as his personal teddy bear. She smiled. What a little kid.

“Should we wake him?” Luhan whispered conspiratorially, giving her a grin. She shook her head and just carefully slipped her arm out of the younger boy’s grip. He stirred on a little before snuggling back into the couch cushions. Jinri stepped over his long legs as she followed Luhan into the kitchen.

“You guys fell asleep watching the movie last night,” he told her, handing her the coffee. “Was it that boring?”

“It wasn’t boring at all,” she told him, her voice still a bit raspy from having just woken up. “It was interesting, but I was just tired and the couch is so comfortable.” She took a sip of the coffee and relished at the feeling of caffeine entering her system.

“I see,” he murmured, thinking to himself how much he wanted to be the one she fell asleep on. He shook his head at the sudden thought that he was getting jealous over a couch. “You were thinking of going out to buy some things for your room today, right?”

“Yep. It’s kind of boring in there now,” she said. “At first, I didn’t think I would be staying here for long term, but obviously that’s not true, so…” She remembered the conversation she had Kris last night.

“Is your suitcase the only things you had with you?” He asked her. They were alone in the kitchen, Jinri cleaning up the dishes and Kris rummaging in the fridge for more snacks. She nodded in response.

“I didn’t have much at my Aunt’s place to start with, so I just brought what I needed,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”

“I noticed that you still hadn’t unpacked much, so I wasn’t sure if you were waiting for everything to arrive to do that, or…”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he pinked. That’s right, she didn’t know that he had been in her room once to drop off a clean set of towels for her.

“Anyway, you should decorate it more,” he continued. “This is going to be your home from now on.”

Hearing those words from him made her heart grow warm. For a moment, she had forgotten that she would be living there for as long as… well for the foreseeable future.

“Right,” she murmured, drying the last dish. “I’ll go looking for things tomorrow, then. I should probably get out of the house at least once this weekend, shouldn’t I?”

“I can go with you, if you’d like,” Luhan offered, snapping Jinri out of her memory. She gave him a smile and was about to reply when the door to the kitchen swung open and Lay shuffled in. Jinri held in a giggle as he walked right past them in a sleepy daze and plopped down at the table. His hair was fluffed out all over and his shirt was on backwards. Judging by his current state, Jinri guessed he dressed himself in the dark before going to sleep. She walked over and rubbed his back.

“Lay, wake up,” she said softly. “Your shirt’s on backwards, and you can’t sleep at the table. Kris will get mad, you know.” Lay just waved her hand away and muttered something unintelligible.

“If you wake up you can come with Luhan and I to shop today,” she continued. Luhan frowned. He was happy that she wanted to go with him, but he didn’t want Lay to come along, too. “Come on Lay, please?”

“Fine, fine,” he relented, sitting up properly in his chair. Jinri laughed; she didn’t realize that the normally soft-spoken boy could be such a grump in the morning. “But only because you asked nicely.”

“Jinri let’s make pancakes!” Luhan suddenly said, drawing her attention away from his roommate. Lay gave him a weird look and went for some orange juice from the fridge. Jinri smiled.

“Is there enough to make pancakes for thirteen people?” She asked, looking through the cupboards. “Especially with how you guys are able to pack it in.” Luhan hadn’t thought about that.

“I’m already making omelets,” D.O. said as he walked into the kitchen. “You two just sit over there.” Luhan was about to protest, when D.O. gave him a scathing look. Luhan knew better than to mess with D.O. in the kitchen.

One by one, the rest of the guys came into the kitchen, and soon, piping hot plates of ham and cheese omelets were set in front of everyone. The kitchen was silent save for the sounds of chewing and satisfied murmurs of appreciation for D.O.’s cooking.

The whole time, Luhan watched Chen watching Jinri. It was strange how possessive he was feeling over her. He had only really known her for a week. He could comfortably say that at the moment he was the closest with her, even if they didn’t know all that much about each other. He actually felt himself ready to rip Chen to shreds yesterday after the younger boy had lashed out at Jinri. He never felt so angry with another member of his pack before. It was unnerving, but at the same time it felt right. He attributed this sudden attachment to her with the fact that she was the first person outside of the pack that he had gotten to know somewhat well, and who accepted him for what he was.

“Hyung, are you even listening?” He felt a sharp pain on the side of his head and turned to see Sehun giving him an annoyed look. He grinned sheepishly, choosing to ignore the fact the younger boy had so daringly flicked him.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“You, Xiumin, Kris and Suho have to go see the council today, right?” Luhan mentally face palmed. He’d forgotten about that meeting. It was to talk about the upcoming Howling, which in his opinion should be called off given the recent impending threat from the Hadrian.

“Right, I almost forgot,” he said, not even bothering to hide his dissatisfaction. Suho gave him a look.

“We have to leave pretty soon, so finish up quickly and let’s all meet in the living room,” Suho said. “Jinri, you had plans for today right?”

“Yes! Lay and I are going to go shopping,” she said, stacking empty plates in the sink. Baekhyun walked over and playfully nudged her out of the way.

“You don't’ have to always do the dishes you know,” he said and took her place at the sink. She thanked him and sat back at the table. Tao and Sehun were giving her puppy eyes.

“You know you guys can’t come,” she laughed. “You have to do another run remember?” Despite not knowing all that much about what the boys did in their daily lives, Jinri had picked up a few things in her short time there. She knew that the three youngest, and least in control of their wolf side, had to train almost daily to keep from accidentally changing int