Xiumin coughed loudly as he and the other ten boys sat on the grass of the school field. All conversation ceased as they looked at the eldest of the group.

“So, I have no idea if any of you have plans tonight, but cancel them. You’re all coming to my place because I have some news for you all” he grinned, “So be there or I’ll seek revenge!”

The others laughed but nodded anyways.

“What kind of news?” Luhan asked from where he sat between Sehun’s legs, leaning back against the younger’s chest.

Xiumin smirked, “The kind that will give you information” he said.

“Oh very funny” Luhan rolled his eyes, “So that’s it? No hint, or anything?”

“Exactly” the eldest grinned before letting his head come to rest on Kris’s shoulder.

Kris smiled and wrapped an arm around Xiumin’s shoulders, “Alright, Min?” he asked sweetly, a sad smile on his face.

“Yes” Xiumin frowned, “What’s wrong? You seem upset” he said in a quieter voice so that only the taller boy could hear.

Kris shook his head, “It’s nothing. Just a bit stressed lately, you know? Things finally catching up to me”

“Well,” Xiumin smiled softly, “If you ever need to talk...”

“I know,” Kris smiled back, letting his head come to rest atop of Xiumin’s, “Thank you”

Xiumin smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around Kris’s waist to better hold onto him, “Today’s the day, just so you know”

“The day you tell them?” Kris asked, his voice soft and sounding rather far away.

“Yup” Xiumin replied, his eyes moving to find Chen, who was sat beside Lay. The two of them talking about something or other and laughing whilst hitting each other playfully.

Kris smiled and looked up at the cloudless sky. It was a pretty blue colour, he liked it when it was clear like that. His eyes travelled down and met with Tao’s. The younger smiled at him softly and Kris returned it before checking his watch.

Gently, he removed himself from Xiumin and walked over to Tao, offering him a hand, “Let’s go for a walk before class starts” he said.

“Okay” Tao nodded, taking Kris’s hand and getting to his feet before walking away with the older boy towards the school building.

--

Lay sighed as he looked at the clock. It seemed like time was dragging on extra slowly for some reason. He was in History and he was so close to falling asleep, it wasn’t funny.

“Yixing! Are you listening” the teacher called on him in a bemused tone.

Lay smiled apologetically, “Yes, Miss. Sorry” he said, blinking to wake himself up – not that it helped at all because as soon as the teacher started talking again about The Romans, his eyelids were becoming increasingly heavier.

Someone nudged him in the side, making him jump. He looked up to see Victoria – his seat mate – looking at him with a small smile.

“She keeps looking over, so I’d try to stay awake or she’ll give you detention. You know what the old bat’s like” Victoria whispered to him.

Lay chuckled and straightened up in his seat, “Yeah” he stifled a yawn, “She’s our very own Umbridge”

“Could be worse, I suppose” Victoria grinned, “at least she’s not making us carve ‘I must not tell lies’ into our own hands”

Lay grinned back, “She might as well be. I don’t get teachers that hate kids. Like why become one in the first place?”

“I know right? It’s so stupid” Victoria nodded, “Oh, look, we only have ten minutes left!” he smiled, “So just don’t fall sleep!”

Lay nodded with a laugh, “I’ll try, but God, I have never cared less about Roman sewer systems”

Victoria hummed in agreement as the teacher droned on.

Someone from behind them groaned and Lay turned to see Chen sat behind him looking just as bored as he was.

“Can someone please make this woman stop talking?” he said, “I don’t want to listen anymore but her voice is literally that horrid that I can’t block it out”

Lay blinked, “I didn’t realise you were in this class” he said.

“Uh yeah... Only since like always”

“Then why didn’t you sit with me?”

“Because I don’t play by your rules, yo!”

Lay raised a brow, “Do you even think before you speak?” he asked.

Chen shrugged, “I’m too tired to even care that I’m not making sense. Besides, I was counting on napping in this class because I need to be awake later when we go Min’s”

“What’s the news anyway?” Lay asked, not paying attention to the first half of Chen’s statement.

Chen smiled softly, “Telling the guys we’re dating”

“Oh that’s brilliant!” Lay grinned, “It’s about time and all!”

“KIM JONGDAE AND ZHANG YIXING! STOP TALKING AND PAY ATTENTION”

The two of them grinned at each other before turning back to the front to meet the annoyed glare of the miserable cow of a teacher.

As soon as the bell rang, the two of them said goodbye to Victoria and headed down to the hub, since they had last period free, and sat at one of the tables near the window.

“Well that was a pain in the ” Chen sighed, slinging his bag on the floor beside him.

Lay hummed, “Yeah, I wanted to sleep so bad” he sighed, “Oh well. So finally telling everyone, huh?”

“Looks like it” Chen smiled, “suppose it’s about time though, I mean, Kris knows too, it’s just the others that don’t”

“I feel like Luhan’s gonna kill you for not telling him” Lay laughed, reaching into his bag and pulling out a pack of peanut butter m&m’s.

Chen watched as Lay opened the packet and tipped four or five m&m’s into his mouth, “Maybe it’s because he’s got a big fat crush on my boyfriend” he said, as he watched Lay chew.

“Dude, stop watching me eat, it’s weird” Lay said, scrunching up his nose and making Chen laugh, “And anyway, he doesn’t have a crush on Minseok, I think he just admires him a lot, maybe a little too much some times, but yeah”

Chen shrugged, “Maybe” he said before laughing and adding, “And I wouldn’t watch you if you weren’t so cute”

“Don’t let Suho hear you say that” Lay smirked, “He can be kinda possessive at times”

Chen raised a brow, “Suho?” he asked.

“Code name” Lay explained easily, “Anyways, I’m not cute”

The younger scoffed as he stole a few of Lay’s sweets, “Uh, yeah you are. You’re like the cutest person I know”

“What about Min?”

“Point still stands”

“Yah! You can’t say that!”

Chen laughed, “What? Min is y, and adorable. That doesn’t mean I find you any less cute” he said with a shrug.

“Sometimes, I can’t believe I went out with you” Lay rolled his eyes.

Chen laughed again, “Oh you love me and you know you do”

“Afternoon” a voice piped up from by the printer.

The two of them turned to see Suho looking at them with a smile.

“Hey sir!” Chen grinned, “Are you on a free right now?”

Suho nodded, “Yes, I’m using it to catch up on a couple things, why?”

Chen glanced at Lay with a small smirk before looking back at Suho with a seemingly innocent smile, “Well, I was hoping you could sit with us for a while? I have a few questions about the work sheet you gave us yesterday, you know, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“Well...” Suho glanced at Lay for a fraction of a second as he picked up his printings, “I suppose I could for a while”

“Great” Chen grinned, pointing to the chair beside Lay, “It’ll be easier if you sit next to Yixing so that I can take some notes” he said, pulling a note book and pen from his bag.

Suho nodded as set down his things on the table as he took the seat beside Lay who offered him a small smile and a “Hey”

“Hi” Suho smiled back as he felt their knees knock under the table. He looked over at Chen who was grinning up at him and asked, “So, what do you need help with?”

Chen went into a little speech about some kind of ICT related problem whilst Lay let his mind wonder to the night before.

He gazed at the window with a tiny smile as he thought about the way Suho’s lips felt on his own. He was brought out of his reverie when he felt a hand on his thigh. It wasn’t anything suggestive, or ual, it was just there, letting Lay know that the elder was thinking about him.

Subtly, he brought his own hand down to rest atop of Suho’s whilst the teacher answered Chen’s questions. He ignored the small smirk that Chen shot at him every few seconds in favour of focusing on the warm, soft skin of Suho’s hand.

“...Then you just have to explain how it works, and that’s how it’ll get your grade up like you were hoping for” Suho said softly to Chen as he turned his hand under the table to lace his fingers with Lay’s.

Chen nodded and made a note of what Suho said, “Thanks sir, you’re a life saver!”

“Don’t mention it” Suho waved him off, “Is that all, or..?”

Chen smirked slightly as he put away his things again, “Well, since there’s only twenty minutes left until the end of school anyway, you might as well stay and chat with us for a while. I mean, you can finish this,” he pointed to the teacher’s printings, “A little later, right? Unless you’re busy tonight?”

“No,” Suho shook his head, “I’m not. I suppose I can stay for a while longer, if that’s alright with you both?” he said, looking at Lay, who finally looked up at him.

Lay smiled gently, his hand squeezing Suho’s beneath the table, “I don’t mind. The more the merrier, right?”

“Right” Suho laughed, “So what did you two have last anyway?”

Lay groaned, “Urgh, History with Mrs. Haujee” he said.

“I have never been so damn bored in my life!” Chen added, letting his head fall to the table for a moment before looking back up at Suho, “Do you realise how little I care about Roman Sewage?”

Suho chuckled, “It can’t have been that bad? Surely?”

“Oh, but it was” Lay huffed, “But Toria Noona made it a little more bearable”

Suho and Chen laughed as Lay went on to do his impression of the History teacher. Needless to say, it was an amusing twenty minutes before the bell rang and they all went their separate ways.

--

The eleven boys piled into Xiumin’s room, setting themselves down wherever there was space. Sehun sat with his back against Xiumin’s wall whilst Luhan laid on the floor with his head in the younger boy’s lap, enjoying the way Sehun played with his hair.

Kris sat on the desk by the window whilst Tao sat on the desk chair.

Xiumin and Chen opted to sit on the bed.

Chanyeol sat on the floor, surrounded by Xiumin’s plushie collection, with Baekhyun in his lap, the slightly older boy leaning close to whisper dirty little promises into his ear every so often.

Lay sat on the bed too, leaning up against the headboard with Xiumin’s pillow hugged to his chest, resting his legs on Chen’s lap.

Kyungsoo was sat on the small sofa that folded out into a bed for when friends slept over, with Kai by his side, their hands between them intertwined.

“So,” Xiumin cleared his throat a little awkwardly. No sooner had he done so, that each and every one of the boy’s attention was on him, “Right... So I, or should I say, we, have some news”

Luhan rolled his eyes, “Get on with it then, Baozi, we don’t have all day”

“Do you wanna shut the up before I punch you?” Xiumin glared, making Luhan grin.

“By all means, continue” the slightly younger boy said in amusement.

Xiumin sighed, but continued nonetheless, “Yeah, anyway, as I was saying, Jongdae and I have something to tell you”

The others waited.

Xiumin’s face turned a brilliant shade of red.

“Oh god, I can’t do it!” he groaned, “It’s annoying to have you all paying attention to me like this!” he frowned, “Dae, you do it”

Chen chuckled, but nodded, taking Xiumin’s hand in his own, “Xiumin and I have been seeing each other for the last nine months or so”

There was a collective silence in the room as everyone looked at the newly announced couple in slight shock – with the exception of Lay and Kris who just looked rather amused. The silence stretched on for a long time until Tao spoke up.

“I don’t get it? I thought you’d been friends for longer than nine months? You’ve been seeing each other since you were like... eleven...” he said, his brows pulled together in confusion.

Baekhyun cooed slightly, “Oh my god, that is like the most innocent thing I’ve ever heard in my life!”

“What?” Tao frowned, “I am so confused right now”

Sehun rolled his eyes, “Tao, man. He means they’re together, as in sleeping together, banging, making the beast with two backs, playing hide the meat dagger, ing. Call it what you will” he said.

“Sehun! Don’t be so goddamn crude!” Luhan scolded, “What he means, Tao, is that they’re dating” he said, looking over at Tao who was now as red as Xiumin was.

“Oh” the younger said, feeling increasingly embarrassed by his mistake.

“It’s not that surprising though, to be fair” Kyungsoo said after a while, “I mean, I’ve never seen Chen look at anyone so mushily”

Chen rolled his eyes, “Dude, we’ve been friends for like three, four months” he said, “How do you know how I look at people”

“Well, the only other person I’ve seen you look remotely like that at, is Lay, so... yeah” Kyungsoo smirked, “And Luhan can back me up on that, we’ve discussed it many times”

“Whatever” Chen glared for a moment before turning back to Xiumin and pecking him sweetly on the cheek, “See, boo, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Xiumin smiled, leaning into Chen, “Better than I expected, if I’m honest” he laughed quietly.

“Well, it looks like everyone is dating someone then, well, other than Lay...” Kai said after a moment, looking around the room at everyone.

Kris let out an awkward cough, “Uh I’m not dating anyone, nor is Tao...”

“Yeah, but you two are as good as dating each other” Kai rolled his eyes, “So, Lay. Anyone on your mind lately? Anyone that tickles your fancy?”

Lay shook his head slightly, avoiding Chen’s eye, since he could see the younger biting back a smile, “No, not really” he said, ignoring the little laugh that escaped from Chen’s mouth.

“Have you already got a girlfriend or boyfriend or something?” Luhan asked, “Because you’re like AWOL all the time now...”

Lay chuckled, “I do have friends outside of you lot, you know” he said, rolling his eyes, and avoiding the first part, which didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“Wait, so are you seeing anyone though?” Baekhyun asked, “Because we’d all be totally cool with it, and you wouldn’t have to hide it from us” he added in a soft, friendly tone, getting up from Chanyeol’s lap and moving to sit on the bed beside Lay, wrapping an arm around the older boy.

Lay smiled and nuzzled into Baekhyun slightly, blushing at the ‘awwwwws’ that came from the others, “I’d tell you guys if I were, I mean, I know I can trust all of you” he said, “I’ve just been busy of late is all”

“Very busy, I’d wager” Chen nodded, earning himself a slap from Lay, “Ah! Violent much?”

“You deserved it!” Lay countered with a shrug.

Xiumin chuckled at the two before getting to his feet, “You guys wanna go hang out in the garden? I just got a trampoline...”

Not a second after the sentence had left the eldest boy’s mouth had the other ten ran from the room down to his spacious back yard, throwing off their jackets and tumbling about to try get to the trampoline first.

Xiumin followed after them with a roll of his eyes, but a smile on his lips. He watched as Baekhyun and Kris got to the trampoline first, Kris grabbing Baekhyun’s hands and pulling him onto the bounce-tacular thing, pulling him into a warm embrace and nosing the younger’s hair before pulling back and sticking his tongue out at Chanyeol, making Baekhyun laugh as the two began to bounce.

His eyes then moved to Chen and Lay who were sat on the porch swing, close together whispering and looking amused. He rolled his eyes at the two before looking over at Chanyeol who was sat with Kyungsoo, Sehun and Luhan on the grass, playing some kind of clapping game. He turned, finally, towards Kai and Tao who were sat by his father’s pond, watching the fish swim to and fro about the calm water, a small fountain trickling down into it to keep it flowing nicely.

He sat beside Kai and smiled, “Hey you two” he said, falling into conversation with them.

Over at the bench, Lay let his head fall onto Chen’s shoulder and sighed.

Chen wrapped an arm around his best friend and rubbed Lay’s arm, “Stop worrying about it” he said softly, “It’s fine”

“It’s not though” Lay sighed, “I hate lying to them, they’re supposed to be my friends”

Chen hummed softly, “Yes, but do you want to risk someone overhearing you tell them, or one of the saying something accidently and someone finding out about you and him? He could lose his job, Xing, this is for the best, at least until we graduate”

Lay smiled slightly, “I love you, you know” he said, “You always make me feel better”

“I know” Chen laughed, “but I love you more”

Lay laughed too, “I doubt it” he said, leaning into Chen a little more.

“Ah, you won’t win this, so how about we just say we love each other equally?”

“Deal” Lay smiled, just as his phone buzzed.

He pulled it out and smiled as he saw who it was. He opened the message, not caring that Chen was reading it too;

From: SecretLover<3

Hey cutie~
How did it go? Did they tell yet?
Hope it’s going well!
Are you still coming over tomorrow night? ;)
xx

Chen made a noise with his throat, “God” he said, “You two are so cheesy”

“Oh please, as if you’ve never text me like that before” Lay countered as he text back;

To: SecretLover<3

Hi handsome^^
They told, it went well!
Nobody was all that surprised, haha!
We’re all in the garden relaxing right now
You bet your sweet I am ;)
xx

“Oh my god, are you two talking about banging?” Chen scrunched his nose up, “TMI alert”

Lay grinned, “Don’t like it, don’t read it” he said with a small shrug.

“Wait. Wait a gosh darn second! Are... Are you two... You know...” Chen gestured on with his hand.

Lay rolled his eyes, “Well duh” he said.

“I thought you were kidding!” Chen’s eyes widened, “You’re actually... wow.. Is he good?”

Lay snorted out a laugh as his phone buzzed again, “Better than you could imagine” he said, opening the message.

From: SecretLover<3

That’s good then~
Oh, well, in that case I am looking forward to seeing you
Maybe I can show you how much I’ve missed you today ;)
xx

Chen rolled his eyes, “Oh my god. Just shoot me” he said, “Are you like this all the time?”

“Pretty much” Lay smiled, as he text back;

To: SecretLover<3

Indeed~
Me too, maybe I can do that thing I did last week
You know the thing with your ear that you seem
to like so much ;)
xx

“What ear thing?” Chen asked.

“He likes it when I like, nibble and play with his ears,” Lay chuckled, “I swear he has some kind of . But then I can’t say anything, you should feel how he works m-”

“I’ve heard enough” Chen cut him off, “As your ex boyfriend and best friend, I can honestly tell you that I do not want to know what he does to please you ually”

Lay laughed, “Suit yourself”

“How would you like it if I told you about what me and Min got up to?” Chen asked.

Lay laughed again, “Touché” he nodded, his phone buzzing again

From: SecretLover<3

Mm, I think I’d like that a lot
But, it seems like every time we play that game,
you end up stealing one of my hoodies~
Don’t think I haven’t noticed, Zhang Yixing
xx

To: SecretLover<3

I know, I’ve been bad~
Maybe you should punish me ;)
xx

“Oh my god, tell me you didn’t just say that” Chen gasped.

Lay smirked, “He actually has handcuffs” he said, “He can be ”

“Oh my god, oh my god, I don’t need to hear this!” Chen squeaked, “Stop it!”

Lay’s smirk only got bigger, “There was this one time, I was handcuffed to the bed and he had whipped cream and, ngh, let me tell you, the things that man can do with his tongue” he bit his lip.

“Please stop...”

Lay looked over at Chen who was slightly flushed and had his hands planted firmly on his lap.

“Oh. My. God” Lay grinned evilly, “Is this turning you on?”

Chen’s blush deepened, “I... Just stop biting your lip like that...”

Lay laughed musically, “Okay, I’m going to stand up and pull you into a hug, then we’re going to do that thing where we walk and hug so that I can get you inside and you can go to the bathroom and calm down, okay?”

“Okay” Chen nodded as Lay did as he said he would.

When they’d finally made it inside the house again – without the others batting an eyelid since they were used to the pair’s antics – Lay pulled away from the hug slightly awkwardly, a little shaken from the feeling of Chen pressed against him like that...

“Xing, you’re a life saver”

“And you’re a freaking ert” Lay rolled his eyes, “I can’t even believe...” he trailed off, laughing a little, “I’m gonna get a drink, I’ll wait for you in the kitchen”

Chen nodded and waddled away as Lay turned into the kitchen and walked over to the fridge.

His phone buzzed again, he pulled it out and read the message;

From: SecretLover<3

Be careful what you wish for, lover ;)

With a chuckle Lay put the phone back in his pocket and opened the fridge, pulling out a jug of apple juice.

“Where’d Chen go?”

Lay turned to see Luhan stood in the kitchen doorway, a smile on his face.

“He went to the bathroom” Lay smiled, “Want some juice?” he asked, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and waiting to see if he’d need another for Luhan.

“Uh” Luhan contemplated, “Yeah, go on then”

Lay grabbed another glass and shut the cupboard behind him, “What’d you come in for anyway?”

“Just came to be nosey really” Luhan smiled, accepting his drink from Lay, “Who were you texting before anyways?”

Lay coughed slightly as he put away the juice and turned back to Luhan, “Just my mum. You know how she is with worrying and stuff”

“Oh, okay...” Luhan nodded, “Well I’ll um, be in the garden then, are you coming or..?”

“Nah, I’m going to wait for Chen, you know how he is” Lay smiled, “We’ll be out in a sec, tell Min to get the football out or something” he called as an afterthought as Luhan walked back to the garden.

Setting his drink down on the side, Lay moved out of the kitchen and upstairs to the bathroom. He didn’t bother knocking before walking in to see Chen zipping up drying his face with a towel. Lay bit back a laugh as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bathtub.

“Hey” Chen said, his cheeks slightly pink.

Lay smirked, “So you wanna tell me what all that was about?” he asked.

Chen shook his head, biting his lip softly as he did, “Nope” he said.

“Oh come on, it’s not every day your best friend gets all... for lack of a better term, happy, when you bite your lip. So spill” Lay said, then laughed, “No pun intended”

Chen sighed, “It’s nothing okay, it’s just, you tend to do that when you’re thinking all... you know, thoughts and it just reminded me of stuff and just... yeah... Shut up. Can we not talk about this, please?”

“Fine, fine” Lay laughed, walking over and nudging Chen with his elbow, “We should head back down though, ‘cause we’ve been gone a while”

Chen nodded, “Yeah, okay”

“Besides,” Lay smiled, wrapping an arm around Chen, “I’m flattered, I mean, it’s nice to know I’ve still got it” he laughed, planting a sloppy kiss on Chen’s cheek before making a mad dash out of the bathroom and down the stairs with Chen hot on his tail.

He made it to the kitchen and was about to grab his juice when Chen caught up with him and pinned him against the counter top.

“Hey!” Lay giggled, trying – but not really – to free his arms from Chen’s grip.

Chen smirked, “What you going to do now, Xing? I’ve got you, and there’s no way out”

Lay was about to laugh, but something in Chen’s eyes made him stop. Sure, Chen had been fine and happy all day, but there was something in his eyes that said otherwise, “Hey” Lay said softly, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing” Chen said, shaking his head slightly, but Lay could see he was lying. Seeing the look on Lay’s face, Chen sighed, “Urgh, fine, I got a call when I was in the bathroom before” he said.

“... Okay?” Lay pushed gently, feeling Chen’s grip on his arms tighten ever so slightly.

Chen took a deep breath, “It’s nothing, it’s stupid. So last term when we got our mock results, I didn’t do well on a couple things. So, I hid them in my room. But my dad found them and he’s not happy with me, and said that if I didn’t sort myself out, I’d have to move in with my Grandma until I finish school...”

“What’s so bad about that?” Lay asked, pulling one hand out of Chen’s grip and running it through Chen’s hair.

Chen closed his eyes and let himself lean into Lay’s touch, “She moved last year remember. She lives in America now with my Grandpa...”

“Oh...” Lay whispered, his lip jutting out slightly, trying not to let the news get to him.

“Yeah,” Chen whispered back, pressing his body more soundly against Lay’s, letting go of the elder’s arm in favour of letting it rest on Lay’s waist.

Lay let his free hand come to rest on Chen’s neck in a soothing manner, since he knew the younger liked it, and it calmed him when he was upset.

“Well, I can tutor you, and Junmyeon will help where he can. And the guys! I won’t let you go, Dae, not now, not ever!” Lay said in a shaky voice, as he pulled Chen into a tight hug.

Chen smiled weakly, “Thanks, Xing. Really, I don’t know what I’d do without you”

“God only knows” Lay laughed softly.

Chen nodded into Lay’s neck before pulling back at little so he could look Lay in the eye.

“What?” Lay asked, his voice soft as he raised an eyebrow at the younger.

Chen sighed, “I mean it” he said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you”

“You’d do alright” Lay smiled, “I think I just make you more of an idiot” he said, as a means of lightening the mood, but his voice still showed the mood was anything but.

Chen leant forward, letting his forehead rest against Lay’s. The position was rather intimate, considering that Chen’s arms were around Lay’s waist and Lay had one had on the younger’s neck whilst the other was still tangled in the younger’s hair.

“I miss you” Chen whispered, his voice so low that Lay barely caught it.

Lay shook his head slightly against Chen’s, “Don’t. Don’t say that, you’re just upset. You don’t mean that” he said

“I’m not saying it because I’m upset...”

“Yes you are”

“Xing...”

“Jongdae, please...”

Chen’s eyes glistened slightly, pricking with tears, “I don’t wanna leave, Xing”

“I know, I know” Lay cooed softly.

Chen nodded, moving in ever so slightly, his lips so close to Lay’s that he could taste the apple juice on the other’s breath.

“Dae...” Lay whispered, and Chen moved in.