The ride home was quiet and he was surprised to find that he didn't get a single text message from Baekhyun. 

It wasn't till eight or nine in the evening that they'd finally gotten to their house and he hugged Appa one last time after they got to the door. Neither said anything, but in Kyungsoo's mind he knew this was going to be one of their last moments together. 

Maybe the older man had been absent a lot, but that didn't make him feel any less strongly, love with any hesitation. His heart was heavy with the fact that he wouldn't be seeing his Umma again at all, but he put that out of his mind to try and see the bigger picture. 

As soon as they unlocked the door and got in, they noticed a nice quiet to the house outside of the lightly buzzing television and he noticed quite a few of the lights were off. 

Appa departed up the stairs, but knowing this was his other housemates doing, Kyungsoo decided to investigate their whereabouts. 

The kitchen was a mess, but sitting in the crystal cake stand was a shiny, new chocolate cake that hadn't been cut into. So it was clear they'd done some baking today, he just wondered why they hadn't dipped into the sweetness they'd created. 

Next he got to the dining room, but it was actually left untouched and unscathed, so he figured the messy two hadn't gone in there. 

Finally, after taking the long route through most of the major rooms in the first floor, he made it full circle to the living room he'd avoided in the first place. Honestly, he'd skipped over it because he knew they'd be in here and he wanted to survey damage before he got to them. 

What he didn't expect was for them to be deep asleep, sprawled over their respective spots in the living room. Kai was laying with the front part of his body flat against the couch and a blanket loosely over his backside while Baekhyun was fast asleep in the recliner with a quilt draped over his body and his head leaning on the couch next to him. 

He didn't want to disturb this sight because it was so cute, but he also didn't feel like being left out anymore, so he went about silently making himself comfortable. He pressed play on the movie -- he hadn't watched it in a while anyways -- and went about scooting himself next to Kai.

This meant pushing the Chattel from his flat position onto his side and then occupying the space he was in prior before the younger could reclaim his previous territory. It was difficult, Kai was a little heavy for him especially because he wasn't that strong in the first place, but he got it and he was positioned in a comfortable spot where he could be held by his love and still be able to see the glowing television. 

Apparently right before they'd gone to sleep, they where watching the Wizard of Oz, and Soo was excited to have his turn at the movie. He loved this film, he loved everything about the songs and the details and he always felt a certain affinity and accord with Dorothy. 

"I've been awake since you started moving me," Kai's voice was groggy, but he was managing a low whisper, "I think it was your grunting." 

"You are heavy Kim Jongin," he mumbled because he was trying to focus, Dorothy was just going to meet the fortune teller, "too many muscles." 

"You've never complained about my muscle before." 

"I like that you have too many, they keep me nice and warm."

"Well at least I know they're useful for something," they giggled together and continued watching, "I didn't realize you liked this movie." 

"I don't really watch it much anymore, but way back when when I was a little middle schooler this movie was practically a guide to my entire life," it was embarrassing for him to share this, but it was true, this movie had helped him in many low spots when he was figuring himself out. 

"I'm not trying to undermine your history babe, but I can't imagine you had to deal with shamans or tornados very often, nor where you ever an American Mid-westerner." 

"He was a wizard, not a shaman," this had to be corrected, "and I just meant the idea of being up against the world, finding friends that were as weird as myself to get through the tough times ... from the last year I had in middle school to my first year in High School I used to wear red tennis shoes just to remind myself of how much I identified with the characters." 

"I thought you'd known Baekhyun your whole life and I can't imagine Sehun and Chanyeol came much later." 

"Well yes, and we'd been close at different times, but we never were formally a big clump of best-friends until like seventh grade." 

There was a pause when they realized who they had been talking about and it suddenly started to hit home again at who was no longer with them. 

"I'm sorry for your loss Kyungsoo ... I know I haven't said it, but I'm sure the absence of Chanyeol has really weighed on you as well." 

"I was very close with Yeol, but I'm more worried about Baekhyun than I am for myself," Kyungsoo breathed heavy, he didn't even want to talk about this, "I have you ... who does he have?"

"Us?"

"Friends are nice, but that's not enough ... especially not with what he's used too ... that's why I've focused so much on trying to make him at least fractionally happy."

"He seemed happy enough today," Kai moved his hands so that they were resting on Kyungsoo's shoulders, "all we did was watch dramas and make two cakes, one for lunch and the other for dinner." 

That's why there was a cake!

"You missed dinner? What time did you two fall asleep?"