Sehun first appears midway through afternoon practice, with a lollipop in his mouth and headphones hanging around his neck, like being late is no big deal. He strolls in, cutting through the rest of the group, setting his bag down on a chair on the other end of the room. 

"You are ing late." Yixing hyung speaks up, crossing his arms and Jongin shudders at his tone because Yixing hyung rarely loses his . He looks over to Luhan who shakes his head in return. 

"Sorry. I was- I was busy." Sehun shrugs, standing by his bag and taking his own sweet time on his lollipop, in which Jongin notices its coke flavoured and gets reminded that he still has a few of those stuffed in his gym bag from the other time and lets out a deep sigh because they are no longer edible. Yixing hyung mistakes the sigh as a form of disappointment towards the new guy and comes over to give Jongin a pat on the back. 

"You can't do this newbie." Luhan points out before reaching out and ruffling Jongin's hair like he is some kind of ing dog. "You are making our Nini sad." Jongin freezes at the mention of the nickname Kyungsoo used to call him and sees a flash of bunched up cheeks and heart shaped smiles. He swallows and makes a mental note to kill Luhan later. He is going to spend the next few nights hugging Jjanggu and crying himself tp sleep. Luhan.

Sehun scoffs and pulls out the lollipop stick, aiming it at the bin before tossing it, a smug smile grazing his lips when the stick lands right in. He narrows his eyes at Jongin before walking over to join them. Yixing claps his hands to start the music so that the crew can resume practice. 

Jongin doesn't like this new Sehun guy, but he has to admit that he is a good dancer.

Luhan suggests that they go out for drinks after practice, in which Sehun assumes that he is included and agrees in between chugs of water. They end up going to a shabby bar nearby with Sehun scrunching his nose in distaste upon seeing the entrance and Yixing hyung brushing it off with a 'saving money for the future' before shoving everyone in. Jongin gets stuck at the edge of the booth, squashed in between Sehun and the wall. Great, just great. He doesn't know whether having Luhan crash in his house later tonight is worse or having half of his body against the new guy is. Jongin shakes his head and takes a huge swig from the bottle, the taste of cheap beer invading his system and burning the back of his tongue. 

"I hate this." Jongin hears Sehun grumble and makes the mistake of turning towards him. Luhan had insisted that the booth was large enough for everyone to squeeze into and had reassured Jongin with a dismissive 'a little skinship wouldn't hurt' when he had protested and said that there wasn't enough space. This has resulted in Jongin's nose being dangerously close to Sehun's ear when he turns to face him. He twists his head back and blinks at Minseok situated right across the table and makes a furtile attempt to retract himself, pressing himself against the wall. Sehun chuckles at a comment Jongdae made and Jongin gets startled by the low rumblings the other male emitted. He frowns at how the younger male smells like honey and milk candy admist the mess of cigarettes and alcohol and blames it on how the beer is making him smell weird things.  Sehun initiates a conversation 1 hour into their drinking session with a casual "Kim Jongin right?", struggling to put out his hand for a handshake. Jongin takes it and responds with a cold "It's Kim Kai." He doesn't like how this newbie is getting ahead of himself and calling him by his real name. Sehun nods and empties a shot of vodka, placing it back down on the table with a loud clank. 

"Oh Sehun."

"I already know that."

Their conversation dies when Luhan pukes all over Jongdae and Yixing hyung calls it a night before standing up and tripping over his stool. Jongin always has a hard time differentiating whether Yixing hyung is sober or not and always comes to a conclusion that it is none of business and that he really shoudn't think too much. He waits for Luhan to empty his guts out before hauling him on his back and bringing him back to his apartment. He doesn't want Jjanggu mistaking the elder's puke for food again. 

He dumps Luhan on the couch before staggering to his bed, burying himself into the covers, which smelt awfully like Kyungsoo's favourite fabric softener. He waves it off and allows himself to dream of owl eyes, fluffy nose kisses and squishy hugs.

#

Sehun arrives 15 mintutes late on his seconds practice, with the familiar headphones around his neck and lollipop rolling from cheek to cheek. Yixing hyung doesn't say anything this time, glad that he had arrived earlier and at least had a better idea of punctuality as compared to the previous practice. Jongin takes note that Sehun still smells like honey and milk candy this time round when the younger had passed by him to place his bag at the end of the room. He shrugs it off and focuses on revising the routine in his head once more before the rest of the crew got into formation. 

"We'll have Sehun and Jongin do the special stage." Yixing announces at the end of practice.

Jongin grunts in annoyance and looks over to Luhan who gives him a pat on his hand and whispers a muted "I know what to do, my child" before throwing his arm up and shouting "I want to do it with Minseok!" in which Jongin rolls his eyes and starts to wonder when exactly has Luhan actually helped him with anything before realising the older male has never once be helpful. Why is Jongin not even surprised.

Jongdae slings a protective arm around Minseok's shoulders and pulls him closer, turning around to glare at Luhan. Yixing folds his arms and massages his temples, "Why are you guys causing so much problems? I swear this is the reason why I drink all the time." Sehun lets out a snort and everyone in the room turns to stare at him.

"I'll do it as long as Kim Kai agrees with it."

Everyone whips their head around and focuses on Jongin instead.

He gulps and plays with the fabric of his sleeve.

"Sure."

Jongin gets shocked when he hears his own voice. What the hell did he just agree to.