For whatever reason, and Baekhyun cannot at first figure out why, Minzy took just fine to Kai’s presence in his life, but not so with his roommate. She stares at Tao suspiciously, playfully, the moment they are introduced, and over dinner at the small dining table in Baekhyun and Tao’s apartment she finally starts her interrogation. 

“So, Tao, where are you from?”

Tao gulps. “Uhm, from Qingdao? In China?” 

“And how long have you lived here?”

“Since the same time as Baekhyun…”

She nods at that. “And how come you are rooming together?”

“The… company sent out information to new dancers that helped us find roommates with each other…”

“And so you chose Baekhyun?”

Tao glances helplessly at Baekhyun, probably begging for some assistance from this attack, but Baekhyun is speechless. 

“Uhm, we decided to room to together after talking a couple of times over e-mail…”

“And are you gay?”

“Uhm. What?”

“Hmmm. Just the question.” She smiles misleadingly. 

Baekhyun finally decides to intervene. “Minzy, seriously. What’s up with the interrogation?” He laughs lightly, hoping to put Tao at his ease.

“What? I'm just looking out for you Baekhyun. Trying not to make sure you're not living with a psycho.” She smiles cutely, then winks at Tao who flinches. 

“So... what does him possibly being gay have to do with that?” Baekhyun asks.

“Because if he's gay than that means you could be living with a , and you might just end up liking that, and then Kai will have trouble keeping you, and I kind of like the idea of you and Kai together, so I'm just helping you out before anything weird and...”

“erted..?” Baekyun fills the gap.

“Yes! Before anything weird and erted happens.” 

Is there ever a time when Baekhyun thought having a sister was a good thing in life? He doesn't even have a response for this, and so he opts to bury his head in one hand, essentially a grounded facepalm, rather than have to deal with Minzy and her fantastic way of little-sistering him into complete embarrassment. When he thinks it's safe he looks up, expecting to see Kai flying out the door and probably Tao right behind him with his bags packed. Instead the view is just Minzy snickering behind her hand, a confused Tao, and Kai. His boyfriend looks torn between sympathy for Baekhyun at Minzy's teasing and, if he reads that expression right, mild interest. 'erted'? Kai's lips mouth in slow motion, adding a raised eyebrow to top it off. Yes, he definitely reads that expression right. 

Baekhyun moans.

“Okay, Minzy. You're done for the day. You do not have to worry about my safety, or my... preferences. Tao is gay - wait, Tao you are gay right? Just checking - but it does not affect anything between me and Kai, so there.”

To his great delight, Minzy retreats good-naturedly, or at least enough for him to not feel afraid of leaving her alone in Tao's presence. He even overhears her giving Tao a full and sincere apology while he and Kai clean up the kitchen and pretty soon they are chatting naturally to each other about dance and that one time Minzy got to go to China on a school trip.

Baekhyun keeps an eye and an ear on them over the back of the couch anyways, just to make sure she doesn't try anything else to make Baekhyun regret being alive. Kai stands wordlessly by his side as they tag team the dishes, Kai washing and Baekhyun drying. After the plates disappear and midway through cups, Kai flinches a bit, face twisting up before he gulps down the expression and eases up. 

“What's wrong?” Baekhyun asks. “Hurting?” 

“Just a little,” Kai admits.

“Did you dance too much? I shouldn't... I shouldn't have asked you...”

“I hardly did anything today. It's not your fault. I just get tired quicker.”

“Oh. Well, let me finish here.”

“Nope. I can finish.”

Kai elbows him out of the way when Baekhyun tries to demand he move over. They turn it into a little game until Baekhyun drops the glass. It bounces on the floor and fortunately doesn't shatter, but it does draw Minzy's attention back on them.

“Domestic squabble?” She twists and leans backwards over the rim of the couch, smirking at the two. 

Baekhyun whispers under his breath, “Oh here we go,” to which only Kai hears, but Minzy doesn't pursue it any further. The two finish cleaning up and when he's sure the others aren't paying attention, Baekhyun allows Kai to scoop him up for a quick hug and nip at his lips. 

It's not the first time Kai has stayed around late into the evening. It feels homey, even if Baekhyun does wish the apartment were less two people in it right now. All things considering though, he's pleased at how Kai and Minzy get along, both as rivals in Baekhyun's affections and in the dance room. Kai coached her very much like he did with Baekhyun, praising and critiquing at random. If someone didn't know any better, they might think, looking into the practice room, that they were the professional dancers, and not Baekhyun slumped over on the floor half dozing, half watching.

“You were good today,” Baekhyun says now, pressed into his boyfriend's warmth. “Really, really awesome.”

“As opposed to just one 'awesome',” Kai teases.

“Not this again,” Baekhyun moans. He presses his body weight away from Kai's, laughs, and claps his hands loudly. “Alright alright! Let's get this party started!”

“We're having a party?” Minzy asks. 

“Uhm. No, but Minzy, you're taking up too much of the couch and I'm exhausted. Movie, anyone? Plain old television?”

“Plain old Baekhyun, more like.” 

“Someone remind me why sisters exist again.” 

Baekhyun wakes up late the next morning. His body is always the earliest thing to wake up, with his brain automatically trailing along with a least a ten minute difference. It's the curse of always having to rise early in the day, but even on his weekends, even on the one day he could sleep in, his body just won't let him.

He yawns and rolls over, and his arms reach out for a body he knows should be near him, next to him. Blindly in the dark, he smiles, remembering the warmth of Kai's presence, the comfort, the closeness. Heated kisses and a feverish exchange of soft moans and whimpers. The silence in the room now echoes back and Baekhyun shivers. With Tao in another room and his sister on the couch, it seems surreal to him that Kai could be here, sharing his bed for a night.

“Kai,” Baekhyun whispers, tentatively, softly. He doesn't want to lose the moment or the memories. He doesn't want to wake up and have the day actually begin. He needs to wake up and make breakfast and get his sister out of the house for a long-promised tour of the city. The thought makes him laugh because Baekhyun is probably the last person he knows who could make a good tour guide. But a day in the city means a day not in bed and with the memory of Kai's hips connected with his, Baekhyun has no motivation to get up now.

“Kai,” he whispers again, forcing himself awake. Maybe if he can wake them both up it won't seem so bad.

The sheets are so rumpled Baekhyun can barely maneuver under them. He untangles one arm, another foot, thumping around as he sits up to pull the sheets off of him, searching for the lump he knows must be Kai.

He finds the soft corner of his pillow first, his hand sliding across the fabric in search of the body. But he comes up empty. A corner of Baekhyun's brain wakes up suddenly, hideously. Two hands tear at the sheets next to him, also coming up empty. Kai wasn't anywhere in the bed, nor was there even a warm spot left. 

Baekhyun groans miserably and curses himself for his stupid dreams. Kai must have played around with him too much yesterday, because Kai left last night after midnight. There was never anyone in his bed, though he thinks this is certainly the first time he's had such vivid dreams. Baekhyun suddenly doesn't care about any of his promises to his sister to wake up early. He doesn't care at all when his head hits the pillow and he thrashes his legs angrily, rumpling the already thrashed sheets once more. He needs at least fifteen more minutes. Fifteen more minutes to finish off his dream state and maybe then, just maybe, will he be ready to face the world.

And then he can call Kai and make him rue the day he ever . Just how, he doesn't yet know.

They decide to skip making breakfast. At least that's the executive decision Baekhyun makes when he stumbles out of his room, hair askew and pajamas twisted. 

“Everybody up, let's go out!”

Half an hour later he, Tao and Minzy sit around a small table at the same diner Baekhyun goes to sometimes with the company. While Minzy runs off a list of things she'd like to do or see sometime throughout the day, Tao remains glued to his phone with a questionably grumpy mood.

“We can skip the Statue of Liberty if you'll just take me to Central Park,” Minzy concludes. 

Tao puts down his phone and suddenly inserts himself into the conversation. “Why there? All you do is just walk around and look at stuff.”

“Well, but isn't it pretty enough to wander around in?”

“It is...” Tao agrees. His phone buzzes on the edge of the table but he doesn't bother to look at it past one quick glance.

Baekhyun eyes it, distracted. Another message lights up the screen from the same sender as before, and another one a few seconds after that, and still Tao ignores it.

“You can play games there,” Baekhyun suggests. “Sports or Frisbee or bikes... Not that I feel like bike riding or anything.”

“You never feel like doing anything exertive other than dance,” Minzy says.

“Hey that's not true.”

“Is too.”

“Is not!”

“Is too. By the way, did you fall off your bed sometime last night? I heard a thump in the middle of the night and a groan.”

“I” - Baekhyun curses internally - “sometimes thrash around and I smacked the wall accidentally. See?” He holds up his wrist quickly to show an invisible bruise, and quickly replaces it in his lap.

“Huh,” Minzy responds blandly.

Tao's phone buzzes again, and Baekhyun seizes the chance for distraction. “Are you going to get that?” Tao stares at him blankly, so Baekhyun inclines his head towards the phone.

“This? Oh. Later maybe. It's just Kris.”

“Kris?” Well this is new, Baekhyun thinks. “When... did he start texting you again?” 

Tao shrugs. “Last night?”

“What did he say?”

“About what? He's just texting like normal... like he used to.”

Baekhyun understands by Tao's slightly disgruntled expression that 'normal' means nothing new. Kris never said anything exciting in his texts, but the same can be said for his and Tao's whole interactions. They trade mundane facts, keep in touch in the loosest way imaginable and nothing ever progresses beyond long days spent before a video game console.

“Did he say anything about... well, about where he's been for a week?”

“No.”

Baekhyun leaves it at that. He shakes his head gently at his sister, who eyes him curiously, no doubt wondering about the circumstances, but since Tao is being close-lipped about it, he's reluctant to dig any further, especially in the present company. Tao's always been shy about these things like this, and the whole situation keeps getting more bizarre as the time goes on.

“So when is Kai meeting up with us again?” Minzy asks.

Baekhyun sighs. “He said sometime after lunch or this afternoon. I can text him to meet us at the park if you want. See if he can make it. By the way,” he addresses them both. “Luhan wants to do karaoke this afternoon. Says there’s a place that does a happy hour from 3 to 6. Not that we can drink, mind you, but I think he’s getting desperate about Minseok. He’s got a ‘plan’ now and apparently that needs company?”

Tao sniggers. “Sounds like something he’d do. Anyways, sure. Is he inviting a lot of people?”

“Probably. How’s that sound, Minzy? Want to hang out with a lot of hot guys and sing?”

Minzy laughs. “I don't know. Are any of your friends at least straight?”

“Hey, some of my friends are. Let’s see…” Baekhyun starts checking them off with his fingers. “Chanyeol. What’s Chanyeol’s roommate again? Oh, Jongdae. So Jongdae, uhm… Sehun? Kyungsoo? I would have said Suho before last week, but well, that changed in a hurry.”

“Chanyeol, your friend from high school?”

“That’s the guy. Hey, and we have some girl friends too. They’ll probably come. Krystal, Min, Mint.”

Tao’s eyes keep getting bigger. “How many people are you inviting? It sounds like it'll only be dancers. Isn’t this Luhan’s party? I doubt he’ll invite Mint… just saying.”

Baekhyun frowns. “Oh, right. Hah. Though I think they’ve cleared up that misunderstanding.”

“Who’s Mint?” Minzy asks.

“Thai girl at the company. Luhan thought Minseok was dating her. And yeah, I doubt he’ll invite her. He seems the kind of guy to hold unconscious grudges against people. Especially when it concerns Minseok!”

Tao chuckles. “What on earth kind of 'plan' does he have though?”

“No idea, but if it's spin the bottle, I'm out of there.”

The karaoke room Luhan reserves is probably a little too small for the amount of people squeezed into it. Ordinarily, Baekhyun wouldn't mind being forced to sit halfway on Kai's lap, but the amount of bodies in the room drives the heat up and he's already sweating uncomfortably. Add to that his sister Minzy sitting on the other side of him, shyly making friends with some of the girls with Tao's assistance, and it's less than ideal. But this night is Luhan's, or rather this afternoon is. Luhan keeps a tab open at the front desk for those old enough to drink, but so far only himself and Yixing, and Suho have taken up the offer. The rest are either too young, or sudden teetotalers. Minseok, the worst offender, frustrates Luhan immensely with his refusal to drink more than a few sips of whatever Luhan has. Luhan bothers the man instead by forcing him to look up songs in the Korean hangul songbook to add to the queue, and then singing cheesy love songs from Korean drama OSTs at every opportunity. The flow works badly, especially with Sehun intentionally sabotaging the playlist so that in between Luhan's rendition of Secret Garden song "That Man" and K.Will's "Love Blossom" comes a song from Sehun's new favorite troll group, the Spice Girls. More than a few scuffles occur between the two of them for mics and remotes, and at least one drink gets spilled over Minseok's lap before Luhan declares himself the winner and silences Sehun into the corner.

“So when are you going to sing?” Kai whispers into Baekhyun's ear suddenly. Due to the way they're sitting, he has one arm wrapped around Baekhyun's waist, fingers digging playfully at his side. 

“I...” Baekhyun trails off. “I don't... I haven't sung in a while.”

The exchange draws the attention of Sehun who sits up from where he'd been sulking on the other side of Kai. “Aw, you have to sing, Baekhyun. Kyungsoo and I have bets riding on this.”

Kai glares at him.

“You have... bets?” Baekhyun chokes. “A-about what?” 

Sehun clarifies. “If you can sing or not! Soo thinks you probably can, I beg to differ because... well somebody has to in a bet like this. And Kai is boringly impartial. Something about being your boyfriend and he shouldn't bet about you.” 

Baekhyun scoffs. He shushes Minzy, who curiously peeps into the conversation, obviously the best person to make a judgment about Baekhyun's singing skills. Not that Baekhyun trusts her right now. ”I'm not even going to ask what the winner gets.”

Sehun's eyes glimmer. “Funny you should ask that!” 

“Uhh, Sehun I didn't ask...”

“Winner gets to kiss Kai!”

“What?!” Kai screeches, not even allowing Baekhyun time to react. “When did you decide on this!?” 

“Just now?” Sehun grins like a mischievous fool. 

“You can't make up rules like that. On your own. Besides when did this even turn into a full bet anyways? I thought it was just a joke,” Kai complains. 

Sehun shrugs. “Bet's a bet. Too bad Kyungsoo isn't here or we could test this out right now.”

Baekhyun pouts, pressing closer to Kai. “Hey, I'm not singing at all if you're just going to make a bet out of it. Besides, I'm not gonna sit here and watch someone else make out with my boyfriend, so you can forget all about it.”

“Who said anything about making out? I was just going to give him a peck on the lips.”

Kai fake gags, or maybe it's real, but in spite of that Baekhyun takes great offense to Sehun's insinuation. “And so you're just assuming I can't sing at all now, huh?” He points a finger at him accusingly, and Sehun leans backs up after taking a hit on the nose, smirking.

“Okay, then Kyungsoo can kiss him.”

Baekhyun gasps dramatically as Kai's hands come up to cover his ears, shielding him from any more of Sehun's comments. The troublemaker laughs to himself hysterically, disturbing Luhan's otherwise beautiful ballad. Luhan stops mid-line to smack Sehun on the head with his mic, again, and continues to sing through Sehun's howls. Minseok buries his head behind his palm, ashamed and amused of the pair of them, and Yixing lazily sings harmony without a mic. Suho yawns. 

“Come on. I need a break.” Kai pushes Baekhyun off his lap and gently shoves him towards the door.

“Don't get lost and forget about me!” Minzy calls, as they swing open the door and step into the hall.

They don't even have an agenda, other than the mutual understanding of a need for air space that doesn't include Sehun and Luhan and half a dozen other sweaty bodies. ”Water?” Kai asks, and Baekhyun agrees. They plead for plastic cups from the front desk and bar at the start of the hallway, finding seats on a bench just a few doors down from the private room. Kai sighs heavily. 

“So you won't sing for me?”

“I'll sing for you, but not inside. Not if it means somebody else's lips on yours.” He chuckles.

“Good,” Kai agrees. “Do you think your sister is having a good time?”

Baekhyun thinks about it for a moment. Then, nodding, he says, “Yeah. She and Tao got along pretty well at the park earlier.”

“Ah, good. I was afraid after last night they wouldn't get along.”

Baekhyun laughs. “Yeahhh, so did I for a little while. I think she's just having way too much fun embarrassing me though. I'm her only sibling, and... well, let's just say I'll pay her back one of these days, but in the meantime, you understand.”

“Not having siblings around my age, I don't understand. But then again, I have Sehun so... I don't know which is worse sometimes.”

“Yeah, Sehun's as bad as any sister.” Kai snorts and nearly chokes on his water while Baekhyun pats his back feverishly. “Don't die on me now. I still need your support when we go back in there! You can't leave me alone with Sehun and Minzy!”

Kai continues to choke, although it sounds more like a laughing wheeze now. He redraws a breath of air and laughs for good. “What, don't you think Luhan will protect him?”

“Not a chance. He's still somehow putting into action his perfect plan, whatever that may be.”

“Oh, God. Well we better hurry up and get back before something bad happens.”

“Right! Let's go!” Baekhyun takes charge.

They discard their plastic cups and march down the hall back to the room. Kai pauses just outside the door, wordlessly asking Baekhyun if he's ready. They take deep breaths, puff their chests out... and laugh. 

“Why does this seem like such an ordeal?” Kai gasps.

“I don't know! It's just you never know what we might find when we go in that door.”

“Maybe we should peak first?” They stand on tiptoe and look into the room. Magically, in the time since they left, Luhan was successful in getting Minseok to sing a duet. “What is this?” Kai asks. “Sounds cheesy.”

“It is,” Baekhyun agrees. “I think it's that song from that drama Answer Me 1997 'All For You'. Hah, Luhan's singing the girl part. Should we sneak in? I think we should sneak in.”

Kai reaches for the door handle. 

“No, wait,” says Baekhyun. 

“What?”

“It's just... I have a feeling...” He peeks back through the window while Kai waits a foot away. “Wow, it's like everyone in there's a third-wheel right now.” The song goes through its key change and Minseok misses a few lines, no doubt burdened by the unfaltering stare of Luhan. “I have a feeling this is going to end in a whole lot of fluffy vomit.” 

“Huh? But aren't we supposed to be preventing bloodshed?”

“Bloodshed yes, but...” The last notes of the song come to an end. “Oh. Oh. Kai he's going for it!” 

“What?” Kai leaps back to the window, the side of his head banging against Baekhyun's. 

“He's going for it! He's going to kiss him!”

“He's not!”

“He is! Look!”

The sounds of the spectators in the room determine the truth. Half roars of exclamation and another chorus of shrieks and groans, Baekhyun is tempted to close his eyes rather than face the aftermath and he winces. When no resounding smack or further outbursts follow, however, he carefully looks back in to the scene which Kai's eyes are glued on: Luhan with two hands on either side of Minseok's face, and his lips pressed to his, and contrary to everything Baekhyun assumed would happen (and secretly hoped wouldn't), Minseok doesn't struggle, and he doesn't pull away, and after several seconds of continuous Lu-kiss, Minseok kisses back. 

Kai and Baekhyun get a face full themselves when the door pushes out from the inside. Clutching their noses in pain, they see Minzy slink out of the room. 

“Well, there you two are. Thanks for leaving me. There's a whole lot of weird going on in there, and it's even worse than you two, if you can imagine that!”

“Oh?” says Baekhyun, embarrassed. “Hey at least it turned out well.”

Kai nods in the agreement as they push back into the room, perfectly in time to see the end of the kiss and Minseok stepping back. He looks bemused, if a little dazed as well, and then his eyes harden and he takes a lightweight paper booklet off the booth and smacks it over Luhan's head. The victim shrieks. “What was that for?” 

“You! How dare you kiss me in front of a crowd like this! Our first kiss!?”

Luhan looks pained and beaten, still flush with the excitement of his supposed victory. “B-but, Baekhyun told me to kiss you!” 

Another one of Sehun's Spice Girls songs starts playing over the stereo as those in the room look over to Baekhyun in the doorway, though the only face Baekhyun registers is Minseok's. Kai grabs him from behind and starts slowly pulling him backwards. “Uhm, I think we're done here for tonight. Minzy? Tao? Aren't you ready to go home now? Bye, everyone. Goodnight!”

3,972 words

Sorry for the enormously long wait-time! 11 days since my last update and I wasn't even out of town? How could I do this to you guys! Actually, the answer is simple. I was sick a good bit of that time. And while drugged up I tried my hand at writing and woah - bad idea. My characters turned bipolar really quick and I sent myself on a whirlwind chapter update, most of which I had to delete and start over from scratch. It messed up my groove.

So it's all for you guys that I stayed up late last night, working long into the wee hours of morning (aka 1am) on my birthday to bring you this update.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!  I'm 27, can you believe it? Woo! I'm still in my 20s for a few more years!

Going to make seaweed soup now. :)

I will probably update one more time before next week, but no promises. KCON happens next week!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone going?

<3 you all, <3 Rosie

P.S. If I end up taking so long to write/update again - I have been very kind to you all by adding a blog post listing/linking my favorite selection of Exo fics, otherwise known as Rosie's Grand Exo Fanfiction Recommendation List. I'm not very good at titles.