“I’m not speaking to him ever again.” Kyungsoo stated.

            “It can’t have been that bad.” I said.

            “Yea, Hyung! I know he can be a grade-A pain in the , but I thought we’d all gotten used to it?” Jongin put in.

            “I knew it was a bad idea. I never should’ve agreed to do it. God, Kyungsoo you really need to grow a pair and learn to say no.” My brother slammed his head down onto the table, rattling our empty plates and coffee cups.

Last night had been Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s first attempt at practicing their duet. Baekhyun came over after dinner with Baekha, CD’s, tuners, and sass. A hella lot of sass. It went well for the first hour. I played with Baekha and Kyungbin as Kyungsoo tried to be as polite as possible. But as the night went on and Baekhyun became Baekhyun 2.0 “the Superstar” edition, my brother’s patient ran out.

“He just thinks he knows everything.” Kyungsoo complained. “Kyungsoo, you’re flat! Kyungsoo that’s a D not an A sharp! Kyungsoo less vibrato! Kyungsoo can you turn the air conditioner down? It’s a chilly 73 in here but I sing best at a brisk 71!” My brother said in a high pitched, whiny voice.

“Why didn’t you just call it a night and send him home?” Jongin asked.

“You don’t think I tried!?” Kyungsoo fumed. “Everytime I brought up how late it was, he said that I shouldn’t give up just because it was getting hard. He thought I wanted him to go home because singing was hard! Singing isn’t hard, being around him is!”

“He doesn’t realize he’s being annoying, it’s just his personality!” I said, defending Baekhyun again.

“Yisoo, I love you and all, but why are you always defending him?” Kyungsoo asked.

“I just think you’re too hard on him. It’s not like you’re always the easiest person to get along with, Soo.” I pointed out.

“So it’s MY fault he’s an arrogant twit?”

“No!” Jongin helped. “She just means that you should try to see that his intentions are good, even if his attitude is a bit faulty.”

“Exactly. It may not seem like it, but he’s just trying to help you.” I said. “He just wants you two to do well.”

Kyungsoo stared at the two of us for a couple seconds, contemplating what we had just said.

“I hate it when you two are right.” He muttered.

“See, I knew you’d lighten up.” Jongin grinned and checked his watch. “, we better go before we’re late!”

The five of us got up and headed to the meeting room. It was Saturday morning, a week after our camping excursion, and just a couple days since I discovered Chanyeol and Kris getting jiggy with it in hiding. Besides my new found secret, the week had past relatively uneventful. Sehun had called me in tears Thursday night because Luhan had conviced him to watch American Horror Story and he couldn’t sleep, and Tao had sent me multiple pictures of Nabi is various outfits asking me which ones he should Instagram, but other than that everyone seemed to be at peace. Except for the one pressing fact that no one had heard from Yixing since his sudden take off from camping last week. Junmyeon, Luhan, even Miyeon had tried calling him countless times, but no one could get a hold of him. I really hoped he would be at the meeting today. He was usually so happy and relaxed that his sudden dissapearance and frantic actions left me worried over his well-being, and especially Bing’s.

“Hyung, did you see Yixing at school this week at all?” Jongin asked, reading my mind.

“No,” my brother replied with a grimace, “And I asked the teachers but no one had seen Bing all week.”

“He’s scaring me, disappearing like this.” Jongin frowned. “You don’t think he… went back?”

“To China??!” Kyungsoo yelled, startling Kyungbin who was tottling along at his side.

“Hey I don’t know!!” Jongin replied with matching reactions.

“He wouldn’t do that, he would have no where to go. His family would never take him back after what he did, everyone he cares about is here in Korea.” Kyungsoo explained.

Maybe not everyone… I thought to myself, remembering the conversation I had had with Miyeon.

“What are you guys talking about?” Jongdae and the twins appeared at our side as we entered the community center.

“Yixing.” Kyungsoo answered.

“Oh,” Jongdae nodded. “Still no word?”

“Nada.” Jongin replied. “Think he will show up today?”

“I hope so.” Jonngdae muttered. “He’s worrying me. Usually I see him at preschool when I pick up the boys, but he hasn’t been there this whole week and Bing hasn’t either.”

“I hope we hear form him soon.” Kyungsoo said as we walked.

“Oh, Kyungsoo!” Jongdae said as something popped into his mind. “How did your thing with Baek go, by the way?”

“We are not speaking of it.” Kyungsoo said with a glare.

“Oh, that bad?” Jongdae smirked. “I’ve sung with him once before. Never again, man.”

“You sing?” I asked.

“Here and there. Girls dig it.” Jongdae said with a cheesy wink.

“Ew, Hyung please don’t say ‘dig it’.” Jongin cringed.

“What? Is it not hip? Coolio? Swaggerlicious?” Jongdae asked, bumping Jongin’s shoulders.

“Stop!” Jongin hit his arm. “You’re embarrassing yourself, gramps.”

“Gramps??!” Jongdae exclaimed as we walked in the meeting room. “If anyone’s gramps, it’s gotta be Junmyeo-“

“Do I hear my name?” Junmyeon called from the other side of the room.

“Huh?” Jongdae said, looking taken aback. “Oh I didn’t say Joonmyeon! I said, uh, juicy… ramyun? Yea I made some really good ramyun the other night! It was, uh, juicy?”

“Nice save.” Jongin chuckled as he pat Jongdae’s shoulder and went to find a seat next to Sehun.

“Ok.” Junmyeon said slowly. “I’m going to pretend that made sense. Now that everyone’s here, let’s break up into groups.”

“Wait!” Tao said. “Yixing isn’t here yet.”

“I talked to Yixing. He won’t be coming today.” Junmyeon said.

“You talked to him??!” Came the response from about half the room.

“Yes, yes. Calm down. He’s fine. Just taking some personal time, he should be back soon.” Junmyeon replied.

“Why is he gone, though?” Tao asked.

“He wasn’t very specific with me. Just said he wanted to spend some time with Bing. But guys, I would trust Yixing. He’s a big boy and can make decisions for himself.”

With that, we split up. I sat with my brother in his group as everyone went around sharing their woes of the week. I learned that Sehee’s teething was getting better, Hyein got her first haircut, Chanyong had learned a chord on his tiny ukelele (“He’s a natural! A prodigy!” Chanyeol had beamed), and Jihye had won the spelling bee at school (the winning word: responsible). Eventually, though, it was Kyungsoo’s turn to share and he was clearly still bitter.

“How was your week, Soo?” Junmyeon had asked.

“Fine.” Kyungsoo stated.

“Nothing happened? I thought you had something this week…?” Junmyeon said, trying to remember.

“It was fine.” Kyungsoo snapped.

“Oh, stop pouting, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun finally spoke up.

“I am NOT pouting!”

“Yes, you are! Listen, it was our first time it’ll get better!”

“I NEVER want to do that with you ever again.”

“Oh, please. People always say that, but then they come crawling back for more.”

“You’re so full of… you’re not even that good!”

“Tell that the the countless people who have told me I made them feel better than they ever had in their life!”

“People enjoyed doing that with you?!”

“Tons. I can’t even count them all!!”

“You’re such a pain in the …”

“GUYS!” Chanyeol finally interrupted their bickering, an incredibly confused look on their face. “Kyungsoo I really hope you meant that last statement figuratively because if not, I have some serious questions for the two of you!!”

“What?” The two of them asked Chanyeol with cocked eyebrows.

“I mean…” Chanyeol started.

“We were singing together, Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo said. “What were you thinking?”

“Yea, please elaborate on that question, Yeol.” Baekhyun added.

“I, um. Singing?” Chanyeol sputtered. “That’s exactly what I meant!! Nothing strange about two guys singing together, nothing at all. I mean, not that I’m saying it’s strange if you two were doing something else together, it’s not strange, I mean, to each his own, if you roll that way that’s cool I’m not judging… I’m just… um.” Chanyeol paused his rambling. “I’m going to stop talking now.”

“Good idea, Chanyeol.” Junmyeon said before turning his attention to the two bickering boys. “Now, I think the best way for you two to resolve your problems is if you talk it out. Just talk it out!”

“Ok, fine. I’ll start.” Kyungsoo said. “You’re a pain and a half, Byun Baekhyun. And I don’t want to sing with you anymore. You’re arrogant, annoying, and can’t listen to someone else speak for more than two seconds before you feel the need to voice your own damn opinion!”

“Kyungsoo, I’m just trying to help!!” Baekhyun retorted. “You clearly have no traditional training and can’t tell when you’re pitchy or off beat. I’m trying to make us sound better together.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that my singing isn’t the problem?” Kyungsoo asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that maybe if you stepped down off your high horse and listened to me sing for longer than 3 bars you would hear that I actually do keep pitch and actually am able to keep rhythm.”

“I stop you after three bars because you make mistakes!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “I’m trying to help you fix them!”

“Maybe they don’t need fixing!” Kyungsoo yelled. “MAYBE I SING JUST AS GOOD, HECK, BETTER THAN YOU!”

Kyungsoo’s shouts echoed throughout the room. The other group, which had been quiet for quite some time listening to the boys’ argument, had now turned their full attention to our group. Especially to one, black hair owl-eyed boy who was standing out of his chair, pink cheeked and red eared.

Baekhyun let out a low chuckle. “You think you’re a better singer than I? Well then, Do Kyungsoo. Let’s decide this. Right here, right now. And see who the real better singer is.”

“I don’t like the sound of this…” Junmyeon muttered, but he had lost all control of the group.

“Deal.” Kyungsoo said, locking eyes with the older boy. “The guys will vote and we will see who wins.”

“Woah there.” Kris suddenly said. “I am not getting in between you two on this.” His words were met with nodding heads and agreement from the rest of the dads.

“Fine.” Kyungsoo said. “Then the kids pick.”

Baekhyun pondered the offer for a moment before agreeing. “Deal.”

After a couple minutes of resetting up the chairs and gathering the kids, the performances were finally ready. The dads (and me) sat in the back while the little kids were all sitting in the front. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were preparing to begin and of course, were bickering. This time over what song to sing.

“We should sing the same song, so it’s easier for people to tell which they like better.” Kyungsoo said, skimming through his iPod.

“Let’s do that Maroon 5 song! Paybill or something…” Baekhyun suggested.

“Its payphone you dummy.” Kyungsoo looked up and rolled his eyes.

“Hey!” Jin scolded. “Dummy is a bad word.”

“Yea, you tell him, Jinnie.” Minseok encouraged, smirking at the grimace Kyungsoo shot him.

“What about Justin Beiber’s Baby!” Sehun suggested.

“Save your fanboying for later, Sehun.” Luhan joked.

“Appa what’s fanboying?” Jaehan asked his Dad as he climbed into his lap.

“Well, it’s when one boy really really likes another boy! And listens to his music all the time and keeps pictures of him as his desktop screensaver!” Luhan replied.

“Hey that was one time!” Sehun whined as Jongin burst out laughing.

“Guys how about that one song that just came out?” Jongdae piped up. “By that group, EZO or something? It’s called Thunder. It’s got two versions to it. Personally, I like the version with the one guy, Chen in it. It’s really good, the guy’s got an amazing voice.”

“Daddy are you Chen’s fanboy?!” Daehyun asked his dad as his brother snickered.

Kyungsoo laughed. “Are you, Jongdae?”

“What?! No! I don’t have pre-teen girl crushes on guy singers. No matter how fabulous and funky they are…” Jongdae muttered while turning a faint shade of pink.

“Let’s do that song, Kyungsoo. I like it, it fits my range perfectly.” Baekhyun said.

“Ok, fine. But we’re doing the other version. The one with D.O. His voice suits the song much better than that Chen guy.” Kyungsoo said, smirking at a still blushing Jongdae.

“Ok. Start it up.” Baekhyun said, and with that, the smooth intro began.

“Ooooh, do do do do… oooooohh ooohh ooooh… yeeeeaa yea.” Kyungsoo started and sang the first verse. Next, Baekhyun took over and began his own groove. The two guys seemed to be passing the song back and forth effortlessly as they sang together. Without trying to, it seemed like their voices were fitting in perfect harmony. When the apex of the song came, Kyungsoo began a long run, going up and down a scale as Baekhyun continued the chorus and filled in the top notes. When they reached the last high note, all the kids seemed to be looking at them in awe as they swayed to the music. I looked at my brother, and he didn’t even seem bitter anymore. He was just enjoying the music. When the song finally ended, everyone clapped and each kid stood up and excitedly cheered the two boys on.

“That was amazing!” I said.

“Alright, but who was better??” Kyungsoo pressed.

“Does it matter?” Chanyeol asked. “You guys sounded amazing together.”

“Yes, it matters.” Baekhyun said, his expression stolid.

“Ok, kids.” Baekhyun said again. “If you though I was better, come stand by me. If you thought Kyungsoo was, go stand by him.”

The kids all got up and followed suit, but none of them seemed to really know what they were doing. Some just walked straight to one boy or the other, while some mingled in the middle, not sure of what to do. By the end, it was an even split with some kids by Baekhyun, some by Kyungsoo, and some losing interest and going to play with the toys.

“This got us nowhere!” Kyungsoo sighed.

“This is ridiculous.” Baekhyun complained. “Kara, did you really think Kyungsoo was better??”

“Yea! His voice is sooo dreamy.” Kara sighed and smiled up at my brother. Kyungsoo looked thoroughly uncomfortable, but not nearly as much as Kris.

“Ok, ok.” Kris said suddenly. “I think we all know the real solution here.”

We all stared at him, waiting for him to complete his thought.

“I am the best singer here.” Kris stated.

We all looked at him with dumbstruck expressions, but no one made a move to disagree. Maybe it’s because most of the kids had lost interest. Maybe it’s because they realized the dad’s just wanted the arguing to end. Maybe it’s because the two of them had finally realized how damn good they sounded together. But neither Baekhyun nor Kyungsoo said anything to disagree. Instead, the just turned to each other and locked eyes for a moment before seemingly reaching a conclusion between each other.

“Sounds good to me.” Baekhyun said with a small grin.

“Yea, sounds good to me too.” Kyungsoo said.

And I think he may have smiled too.

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I just made Chen his own fanboy... OTL aha I hope you enjoyed! Subscribe and comment ? :)