Kai wakes up first, confused initially about why he feels so uncomfortable and why he can’t feel his left arm at all. He flutters his eyes and tries to move and when something weighs him down, that’s when he remembers that he went to sleep holding Baekhyun, and sometime in the night his boyfriend’s head ended up on top of his outstretched arm. This must be one of the perils of sleeping with someone he’s always heard about it, or not. Don’t people ever talk about how spooning is nice and all, but eventually uncomfortable if you don’t position your arms correctly? He tries to pull away and Baekhyun’s head flops around in his sleep, upset at the removal of his neck support. 

The blood flow immediately rushes into his arm and it’s all Kai can do to lay there quietly while the pins and needles flow and ebb. In his head he laughs to himself, but as the dark room slowly comes into focus his smile instead turns to one of appreciation. Baekhyun is not a y sleeper, that much is apparent. But with his mouth open a little and the sheets twisted around him oddly so that one leg sticks out, dangling off the end of the bed, Kai thinks he’s still absolutely cute. Baekhyun’s night shirt rides up a few inches off his waist revealing a small visage of tummy skin, and Kai lets his fingers linger over that spot for just a second, before he pulls the shirt down and pulls the covers up over his still snoozing boyfriend.

He rests his eyes and dozes for a while longer. 

Baekhyun wakes up first the second time in the morning. Kai knows this only when he feels himself being prodded in the side by Baekhyun’s insistent fingers. 

“Kai… wake up. Kaiiiii…. wake up!”

Kai groans and tries to roll away from the source of his misery.

“Oh no you don’t. Kai, time to get up!”

“Nooo,” he whines.

“But, but I need you to make me breakfast.” He prods at Kai’s face now, two fingers in either sides of his cheeks. 

“Make your own breakfast.” 

“But I need you to make me coffee.”

“You don’t drink coffee in the morning.” Kai squeezes his eyes shut, still not ready to face the day.

“But I need my morning kiss.” 

Kai sighs and opens his eyes to find Baekhyun kneeling next to him on the bed, pouting and playful. He rubs a hand through his hair just as Baekhyun leans down to place a kiss to his forehead, and Kai blushes.

“Quit, you’re going to annoy Sehun,” he says for no other reason than to deflect the joy surging through him at getting to wake up like this.

Baekhyun giggles. “Sehun’s not here.”

Kai blanches. “He’s not?” 

“Nope. Left last night to go sleep on the couch, I think. After Minseok and Luhan went home.”

“Oh.”

Baekhyun beams down at him, waiting.

“So why are you waking me up then?” Kai asks.

“Because, it’s time to wake up?”

“But I don’t want to… damn, are you always going to be this persistent in the morning?” Kai sits up smiling though.

“I don’t know. I didn’t realize you’d be so whiny first thing in the morning either.”

“Not fair. I woke up first, you know.”

“No, you didn’t… when?”

Kai looks at the clock on the bedside table. It’s 7:07 am and what a miserable time that is, he thinks. “An hour ago? You’d rolled your head onto my arm. Cut off the circulation. It was miserable.” 

He yawns, and Baekhyun looks remorseful. “Oh… well, sorry?” Then he smiles. “Still, time to get up.” 

Kai decides instead to crash into the mattress once more, and he spares no extra limb to make sure Baekhyun crashes down with him too. They land in a pile with a heavy ‘oompf’, Kai securing Baekhyun with two arms and a leg so he can’t get up again.

“No, this is better,” Kai smiles into the words, closing his eyes. “Good night.”

Baekhyun struggles for a nominal ten seconds before going limp and laughing. “You know, as much as I’d like to do this every morning, today I really do have to get up.”

“So I can come back on the weekend?”

Baekhyun hums pensively. “Hmm, maybe I’ll think about it.”

“Okay…”

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, you think about it. Otherwise I’m not getting up this morning and I’m not letting you get up either.”

Baekhyun laughs and promises he’ll think really hard about it. Kai releases him reluctantly and once he’s sitting upright again, Baekhyun slides off the bed and disappears into the bathroom. 

Kai drags himself up and steps out into the living room. Sure enough, he finds Sehun stretched out under a blanket on the couch, Tao’s kitten curled up behind his head on the pillow. Sehun is awake, but his eyes only follow Kai’s movements lazily, refusing to budge even when Kai sits down on top of his legs. Sehun groans but doesn’t have the energy to kick him off, especially with his legs pinned down.

“So you claimed the couch for yourself after all?” Kai asks conversationally, grinning at his friend.

“No thanks to you guys.”

“Oh, whatever.”

Sehun huffs. He tries to speak but yawns instead.

Kai looks around the room at the remnants of last night’s popcorn trash and way too many dirtied coffee cups. “What time did Luhan and Minseok leave?”

“Wasn’t that late, I guess.”

“Did they… resolve anything?”

“Dunno. Minseok just said he was taking him home, and Baekhyun didn’t ask.” He shifts a little in his blankets and the kitten stands up and stretches cutely. She sits down on her haunches and considers her former sleep mate rather haughtily, according to Kai’s observation.

“I thought you didn’t like cats,” He says to Sehun. He lifts his body off Sehun’s legs as the other pulls them out to reach a sitting position. 

“Eh,” he shrugs. “This one’s okay.”

Tao comes out of his room then. He looks around blankly, as if unsure of what to do about his usual morning routine with so many guests hanging about. He sits down at the table, head lolling back and legs outstretched, and lazily observes the two on the couch. Then he snorts.

Sehun stares at him confused. “What?”

“Nothing,” Tao answers. He smiles though, suspiciously.

“What?” Sehun demands again.

Tao keeps his council and even Kai looks lost at the exchange, or lack of exchange. When Sehun keeps staring, Tao finally speaks. “Oh, you know… just you, sleeping on the couch there… after what I’ve seen, you probably wouldn’t want to even sit there.”

Sehun gapes at him, and Kai starts to feel a little uncomfortable. “Huh?” 

Tao laughs. “There’s a reason I sat in the other chair last night, that’s all I’m saying…”

Kai glares at Tao now, happy enough to see the other boy flush from the heated warning, and Tao abandons his tease to start rummaging in the fridge. He pulls out a few containers of juice and starts to pour himself a glass. 

Baekhyun joins them then. From Kai Sehun receives no answer to the mystery, so he wastes little time in asking the other apartment owner. Kai dives to cover Sehun’s mouth, but misses. Sehun deftly avoids the attack, deflecting Kai onto the floor as he rolls off the floor with a thump. 

“Baekhyun, do tell me quickly what happened on this couch,” he says with a haughty smirk. “Tao seems to be telling some tales that Kai doesn’t want me hearing…” He narrows his eyes at Baekhyun, who flinches from the sudden inquiry, at a loss for whatever they’ve been talking about. Then his eyes widen and Kai groans.

“They were having ,” Tao comments dryly. “On the couch,” he adds for unnecessary emphasis.

“We weren’t!” Kai screeches. 

Baekhyun laughs warily, and Sehun hones in on the unease. He gets up quickly, letting the blankets pool on the floor and shakes himself off dramatically. Skirting the rest of the furniture he pulls out a chair at the table instead. 

“But, we weren’t,” Baekhyun tries to reason. “Honest! Tao just mistook that.” 

“What? I didn’t.”

“You came in for half a second, starting wailing and ran back into your room. All for nothing.” Baekhyun laughs, though Kai still looks mortified at the misunderstanding. 

“Whatever you say,” Tao nags.

Sehun sits beside him, his emotions cycle around and around from disgust that he slept on a possibly contaminated couch, confusion at their denial, and he finally lands on a conspiratorial look that Kai completely mistrusts. Sehun scoots closer towards Tao and leans over to ask a question. Purposefully loud enough to be heard, he whispers, “So… who t—?” Even he falters in his questioning, grinning and shaking his head. He sits back comfortably in his chair and hides his face with his palm, as if trying to dispel the images he purposefully brought up. 

Kai buries his head in a pillow and Baekhyun just continues to laugh. Tao seems relieved not to have to answer, but he still eyeballs the couch shiftily. Baekhyun walks over to the table and fetches himself a glass of juice. “You guys know nothing,” he says, still chuckling. 

“Yeah, I wish I knew nothing,” says Sehun, and Tao nods heartily.

“Enough!” Kai finally stands up. “Sehun, don’t you have places to be? Class or something? In another part of town?” he asks pointedly.

“Oh, I already decided to skip today. Think I’ll just follow you guys around everywhere. Sound like a plan? Tao and I decided we can’t trust Baekhyun anymore, so don’t worry. You’re safe in our watch.” He titters to himself, elbowing Tao in the side to entice him to join in his joke. 

“Funny,” says Kai. “Not. Go home, won’t you.”

“I do believe this isn’t your own either,” says Sehun with a smug smile.

“Yeah, well you’re a guest of a guest. I’m more welcome than you are.”

“Aww, well that’s no fair. Maybe Tao wants me here though. Tao, aren’t we becoming fast friends now? I may just switch him out as my best friend since you’re so occupied all the time now.” He elbows Tao once again, and Kai nearly gags when Tao perfectly imitates Sehun’s smug self-satisfied little grin.

“You two are too much,” says Baekhyun. “Hey Kai, maybe we should continue where we left off the other night. That’ll probably get them out of here.” He winks at the two at the table and slinks in front of Kai, drawing his arms over his shoulders. 

Sehun and Tao gag right on cue. 

Midweek at the studio should be a normal schedule for the company, except that today, the promise of the student choreographers coming changes things a bit. Warm-ups are brief, and the members practice each of the set routines in various groups in different rooms until they need to meet up for the group dances. This way they’ll save time, to be ready for whatever the afternoon will bring. Baekhyun says goodbye to Tao for the time being while he heads over to practice with the other soloists and principles. 

Truthfully, he really wants to see Minseok and Luhan, without stalking them and turning last night’s ordeal into more of a soap opera than it already is. He finds them as normal, sitting on the ground amidst their shoe bags and things, and a vague chill runs through his body when he notes the tension. Neither looks at the other directly, though they still interact, exchanging small talk about the upcoming day and their schedules. Minseok’s hand accidentally brushes Luhan’s when he removes something from his bag, and Luhan overreacts by knocking over his water bottle. It spills a few drops on the floor and Luhan hastily mops it up with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. 

Minseok looks up first and smiles when Baekhyun plops down beside them. Luhan follows his gaze and also welcomes Baekhyun with an overly cheerful greeting. They seem more than glad for the company, or maybe more for the distraction he brings. 

“Morning,” Baekhyun says as brightly as he can, glancing alternately at one and then the other. Is this the tension of a new relationship, he wonders, or the overly cautious gestures of two people who still haven’t discussed their commonality — that is, that they probably like the other and are too afraid to say it?  One of the directors calls out Luhan from the hallway and the dancer immediately jumps up to run to him. Minseok’s smile drops as he watches him leave, returning to that oft hinted sadness that Minseok occasionally shows whenever Luhan isn’t looking, and that settles the matter in Baekhyun’s mind.

“Minseok…” he pries, eyeing the principle knowingly. “Is… what happened? With you two…”

Minseok makes no expression, though he lowers his eyes to stare at the floor. He clears his throat. “We just… talked.”

“About… you two?”

“About our fight…”

Baekhyun swallows thickly. “And that was it?”

“Yes, basically that was it. Except,” he sighs. “Except, it’s weird now.”

“How weird?”

“I don’t know. It’s just… we both apologized, and… and… and then I walked him home, and I was trying to tell him goodnight and he didn’t want me to go, so I stayed. And, we just went to sleep.” Minseok relates the facts like he might recite the movement of a sloth changing tree branches. 

Baekhyun narrows his eyes. “You just slept. At his place.”

“Yes. And that’s all. Then we woke up and we came here.” His voice trails off and his eyes gently close. Baekhyun almost misses the next delicately whispered words.  “Baekhyun, what do I do?”

Before he can answer, however, Luhan returns and the morning warm-ups and rehearsals begin and Baekhyun doesn't get an opportunity to talk to either Minseok or Luhan privately until lunch time. Unfortunately even then their hour long break is hectic, especially when Yixing draws Minseok away for extra dance practice. The remaining dancers sit at their usual place in the courtyard but some others beat Baekhyun to the two available spaces either side of Luhan. He gives up the quest for the time being, but vows to set them on the right path if the obviously-made-for-each-other couple can’t get themselves together — literally — in the next couple of days. Watching Luhan laugh and goof off with the company members, it’s almost impossible to recall that he's the same wretched figure who turned up at his apartment last night. If he hadn’t seen it for himself, that is. 

Even Tao watches him strangely, though he doesn’t say anything. Sehun took it upon himself to fill Tao in over breakfast with most of the more important facts about last night’s revelations. Not that he had any business to do so, Baekhyun thinks. He privately decides to watch over those two. It won’t do Tao any good to be too influenced by Kai’s blabbermouth of a best friend. He and Sehun were positively chummy this morning! Baekhyun shivers from the memories. Then again, he hasn’t seen his friend smile in a few days so maybe it’s not the end of the world after all.

Baekhyun's phone buzzes near the end of the lunch hour.

Kai: Since our indoor date was ruined we should go out sometime

Baekhyun: Sounds fun. when? what?

Kai: Friday? And no idea. Something cheesy? 

Kai: We havent done the typical ice cream date. walk down the street holding hands

Kai: We did a movie once but that doesn't count

Baekhyun: Ice cream really? It's cold at night

Kai: I'll warm you up again.

Kai: Ok forget the ice cream. Something sophisticated? Art museums? I hear there are a few in the city

Baekhyun: Just a few huh? How about you feed me instead.

Kai: ..... I'll look into that.

Kai: How are Minseok and Luhan btw?

Baekhyun: Still not good.

Before he can continue, the dancers are called back inside. Baekhyun shuts his phone off, drops it in his bag and heads to the largest of the practice rooms. They rehearse for a few more hours until mid-afternoon when after a short break, their attention is drawn to Mrs. Kim at the doorway. Those who are sitting immediately pop up when she enters the room followed by most of the staff and directors and two young men. The youngest of them looks no more than sixteen and nervous as hell while the other, probably college age, appears a little more composed but still nervous when met with the expectant faces of the company dancers. Mrs. Kim ushers them in, a hand lightly at each of their backs as they step forward and bow slightly.

“Company, I want you to welcome our two student choreographers. They've both been selected from their respective age groups to choreograph a piece each for us. We will be performing these during the season, so treat them well and maybe they won't break your backs.” A few of the dancers chuckle, but at least it serves to make the guests more comfortable.

Mrs. Kim nods at the oldest first. “This is Lee Seung Hoon. He was the winner of the college choreography competition. I think you'll find him quite unique and I know he looks forward to working with some professional dancers like all of you.” The boy smiles bashfully, meanwhile the youngest starts to look even more nervous than when he first came. “And this is Jeon Jung Kook. He came in first in the high school division, and this will be his first time ever working with dancers outside his own studio, so please take care of him.” 

The boys are ushered forward to meet and shake hands with the company members, and Baekhyun finds himself liking both of them, even if the one is older than him. He wonders what college Seung Hoon attends but doesn't have the opportunity to ask with the small crowd surrounding him. The student choreographers will just be watching for the rest of the day, combined with showing off a little of their skills, and next week they'll begin teaching their dances from scrap.

Baekhyun finds himself shunted to the back after greeting the students. He bounces around on his feet, waiting for time to pass and almost doesn't notice Luhan standing next to him. When they notice each other, Luhan actually blushes. Baekhyun smiles encouragingly, and Luhan takes that as a sign to loosen up. They both lean up against the mirror, arms crossed so that to others they could just be observing the scene and chatting about nothing, but Baekhyun knows that Luhan wants to say something.

He starts off with an apology once again for showing up uninvited last night.

“Luhan, it's fine,” Baekhyun says casually.

“I know... it's just, I don't know what to do or think anymore. It just feels so awkward with Minseok now.”

“Funny, that's what he said.”

“Huh?”

Baekhyun sighs, his resolve starting to harden. “Look, Luhan, it's going to be awkward because you're making it that way. Just, talk to him. Ask him to talk to you.” He doesn't know what else he can say.

Luhan pouts and looks longingly over at Minseok who's still in the middle of the other dancers exchanging words with the students, and Baekhyun recognizes that look in his eyes. It's the same one that Kai uses on him some days. But why do these two have to be so stubborn? Sure Baekhyun kind of jumped the gun by accepting Kai's confession before he even explicitly said it, but their story seems so easy compared. He's suddenly looking forward to date night on Friday. Bring on the cheesiness, bring on the sophistication, he doesn't care. It's only been a few full weeks since they started dating, and that's not nearly enough time to learn everything about a person. The future will be fun.

3,335 words

Please forgive any mistakes this chapter - my beta is out of state and out of cell range for the most part. Ahh, I took forever writing this! It's been a busy week. The Spurs won the NBA championships and I was there to see it, and now the World Cup keeps me fairly occupied (Go U.S. and Germany! I'm going to have some serious conflicts soon though...)  I went on a drama watching spurt earlier today (Cruel City), and oh - did I mention I'm part of a writers Drama Club for the variety program Roommate? Check out this week's post for Chapter 7 on Dramafever.

This chapter was still fun to write though, the first half especially hahaha. And so yeah, Xiuhan are still not moving along full speed ahead but we're getting there. Also, two cameos in the form of Seung Hoon from Winner, and Jung Kook from BTS. You'll see them around from here on. :) P.S. Check out some of their dance videos linked below!

I'll probably get one more chapter out this week, and then guess what - I'm off on vacation again to Miami to see Block B! It's mine and my husband's 5 year anniversary trip. Yes, he loves Block B too. :DDD

P.S. I'm in the initial stages of a new mid-length Chanxing story. Check it out if you're interested!

<3 Rosie

Seung Hoon: [Fancam from Win: Who is Next (self-choreographed)] [Kpop Star Cut]

Jung Kook: [Dance Practice]