There was the silent click of a door opening before all twelve members of EXO rushed inside the dorm, all wearing the exhaustion of the day on their sleeves. The trudge of footsteps were occasionally disrupted by Luhan’s soft whines, still adamant on why he wasn’t allowed to come with Jongdae and Minseok to learn on the process of making coffee.

Jongin was the last to come in, fingers closing on the knob of the door as he shuts it as quietly as he could. Usually, he would be the first to complain on how hungry he was, but drawing attention wasn’t what exactly he had in mind tonight.

The day was spent with taping a part of a future episode of EXO Showtime and this particular scene didn’t fail to pique Jongin’s interest that was promptly buried by the amount of Christmas and New Year’s parties.

Instead of following the other members inside, he padded subtly towards his room, carefully trying to not make any noise in case he caught anyone’s eyes. Chanyeol was still draped all over the couch and Kyungsoo was busy discussing something with Joonmyun on the kitchen. It caused a frown to form on Jongin’s lips but he supposed he could let it pass this time.

Plopping down on the bed, Jongin quickly opened his laptop, eyes skimming the different videos on the internet until he found what he was looking for. His eyes were focused as he watched episode 3 of their own show (Don’t blame him. One would get sick of his own face when you see it everywhere, every time ).

The light from his laptop successfully reflected the concentration on Jongin’s eyes when Kyungsoo’s face came in the picture. He watched as Luhan brought the subject up, Yixing and Chanyeol backing up the elder’s words and Kyungsoo’s hand coming up to hit on Chanyeol.

If it weren’t for the fact that Joonmyun and Chanyeol brought it up again, he would have forgotten it completely. But the minute he caught the two teasing Kyungsoo again, insecurity bubbled up inside him. How come he didn’t know something like that when he deems himself closest to Kyungsoo.

Ears picking up the sound of footsteps outside the door, he quickly shut his laptop off and pretended to knead the muscles on his thighs the same time Kyungsoo opened the door and flicked the lights on.

“Jongin?”

“Yes hyung?”

“What are you doing?” There was the slight curiousness on the elder’s voice and Jongin inwardly cheered himself.

“Massaging my thighs.”

“In the dark?”

He bubbled up a whine in protest on the back of his throat when he failed to come up with an answer. Thankfully, Kyungsoo didn’t dwell too much on it and walked inside to change his clothes which Jongin took as a sigh to hightail it out of the room as fast as he can.

Watch me hyung. I’ll be your prince of tennis.

It was already past nine when Jongin woke up, eyes still closed as he walked out of the room. Chanyeol’s snores still followed him outside until it gradually quiets down to soft murmurs when he enters the kitchen. With bleary eyes, he took in the sight of Kyungsoo sitting down and sipping a cup of coffee. Baekhyun was slumped on the table, face between his arms as he attempts to sleep again only for Kris to kick the back of the chair the former was sitting on.

“Good morning Jongin.”

There was a garbled form of response from Jongin causing Jongdae to roll his eyes as he, too, enters the kitchen. He took the seat next to Kyungsoo, smiling tiredly when he sees a bowl of cereal in front of him. Within minutes, he felt himself waking up and he convinced himself it was because of the cereal, and not because Kyungsoo was kicking his feet under the table.

The sudden sound of someone crashing on the kitchen counter startled everyone, Chanyeol’s tall frame emerging from the other side.

“Chanyeol, it’s too early in the morning for your stupid.”

Baekhyun was the first to react and Jongin cursed himself for staring dumbly at Chanyeol. This was the time to start his plan.

“The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action!”

The silence that dawned on them was unexpected after Jongin loudly pushed his chair and stood up, hand outstretched on Chanyeol’s direction and spoon pointed at the taller of the two in between his fingers.

“Y—You..”

He caught Kyungsoo looking up at him, coffee forgotten midway as his hands remained suspended in thin air.

“I’m going to take a bath.”

The other members watched as the spoon fell from Jongin’s hand, bouncing on the table’s surface as the younger hastily ran towards the bathroom.

“Ow! Where did that spoon came from?”

“Go eat Luhan.”

Kyungsoo and the other members sat quietly behind the staff as the camera focused on Jongin and Sehun. Joonmyun and Baekhyun were beside him, softly murmuring about something while he kept his eyes trained on Jongin. He was still confused about the younger’s earlier actions, wondering if that was Jongin’s otaku spirit talking due to lack of sleep.

When the two youngest members finished taping, Jongin stretched his arms and walked alongside Sehun towards Joonmyun and the others. They were due to film another scene in a few hours and he watched the members get themselves ready.

“Everyone is the best.” He nodded to himself, closing his eyes in agreement to his own self.

“Everyone is in good shape!” he added a few seconds after, continuously bobbing his head up and down before he opened his eyes only to be met by the member’s confused eyes.

“Jongin, are you okay man?”

He turned his head to look at Tao, the latter’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“I’m in perfect shape.” He responded, laughing loudly as he patted Tao’s back before shrinking away to the bathroom.

So much for being a prince.

“Seriously, Jongin. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Kyungsoo’s voice broke Jongin’s silent musings and he hesitantly looked up from his place on the bed. He was on his stomach, face buried on his pillow as he thinks back to the embarrassment from earlier that day.

“Nothing, hyung. I’m just tired.”

“I didn’t know being tired makes you blurt out lines from an anime.” Kyungsoo wondered out loud, but Jongin caught the teasing tone on the elder’s voice and he muffled his groan on his pillow again.

“Care to tell me why?”

There was a muffled response from the lump on the bed making Kyungsoo roll his eyes. Shrugging on a plain white shirt, he unceremoniously dropped himself to sit on the edge of Jongin’s bed, hand ruffling the younger’s hair messily.

“How come I didn’t know of your prince of tennis phase?”

Jongin’s voice was soft and so childish and he was acting like a very jealous (cute) kid that Kyungsoo couldn’t help but laugh.

“Silly Jongin.”

Jongin turned his head to the side, an eye peeking at Kyungsoo a little too late as he felt something warm press against his cheek.

Kyungsoo.

Kiss.

Kyungsoo’s kiss.

Kyungsoo kissed his cheek.

“Hyung—“

“It’s too early for you to win me.”

He lied there, still gaping as Kyungsoo smirked at him one last time and left the room before the words registered on his mind and he bounced up the bed, effectively hitting his knee on the bed’s leg.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

His voice echoed on the silent room before he head Kyungsoo’s laugh on the other side of the door.

“Report to dinner first then!”

Jongin’s grin was so wide when he got out of the room, the members backing away in slight mortification and fear.

Maybe it wasn’t that bad embarrassing himself in front of the other members for Kyungsoo.

And maybe, just maybe, losing sleep just to watch Prince of Tennis episodes was more than worth it if he could be Kyungsoo’s own prince.