Xiumin groaned. He really hated when this happened. It wasn’t like he was obsessive about how he looked or anything, but it was an important day. Okay, well not overly important, but it didn’t happen often lately, what with studying and coursework and exams, god the exams.

It was Saturday. Term had just ended, and as soon as they were back, exams would be the only focus. So lately, for the past couple of months or so, seeing his friends all together – with the addition of his ex-teacher, because of Lay – hardly happened.

They’d managed through the first year of college really well. There was only one term left before summer hit and then they’d be into their second year, and for the most part, they’d stayed close and well connected. But of course work took a first priority for most of them – Luhan and Chanyeol tended to blag it and still get top marks in whatever they did, the lucky bastards.

But back to the crisis at hand. Now, Xiumin looked fabulous. He really did. There was just one damn problem. His ing hair would not play nice.

He didn’t want to resort to shoving every product he had in it, but if it carried on the way it was going, then it looked as though he might have to.

He let out another groan of frustration before grabbing his hair wax and having at it. Much to his delight it didn’t take that much to finally get it as he wanted it styled.

“Hallelujah” he muttered before walking into his small bathroom to wash his hands.

Chen popped his head in from the other room, “Hey” he said, “Your roommate let me in. You ready to go?”

Unlike his worrisome boyfriend, Chen didn’t particularly care what others thought about how he looked. He’d just thrown on what was clean and looked alright before giving his hair a once over and heading down the hall to pick up Xiumin. He was glad they were in the same building. It was a bit of an uproar when they’d gotten there. What with his friends getting huffy they were all separated.

But Chen had gotten lucky, since Xiumin, himself and Lay had wound up in the same dorm. He and Lay even shared a room, since Lay had requested it beforehand – although he’d forgotten to tell Chen, who had been pleasantly surprised – but the others weren’t so lucky.

There were three dorms altogether. Chen, Lay and Xiumin were in dorm one. In dorm two resided Kris, Chanyeol, Luhan, Sehun and Kyungsoo. Whilst dorm three held Kai, Tao and Baekhyun.

Though, Chen supposed it wasn’t too bad. Sehun and Luhan had somehow ended up rooming together. Xiumin had ended up with some guy that went by the name of Lee Taeil – he was a pretty weird guy in Chen’s opinion, but he was nice nonetheless – whilst Kris had ended up with Mark Tuan, who they were all pretty good friends with. Kyungsoo had ended up with Jackson Wang, and never stopped complaining about how loud the idiot was, though there was a fondness in his voice that told them all he did really like the guy. They all did. Chanyeol had ended up rooming with a guy that went by the name of P.O, which Chen laughed at, and ended up hurting the guy’s feelings – there was a lot of apologising at that – whose real name was Jihoon. Kai was next door to Baekhyun. He didn’t even know his roommate’s name, since the guy wasn’t there long enough to hold a decent conversation, and when he was, he was sleeping off a hangover.  Baekhyun on the other hand, had been put in a room with a guy called Kyung, who felt the need to share everything with him, and wind Baekhyun up to another level. Tao had lucked out, and ended up getting his own room – which was short lived though, when someone transferred halfway through the school year and placed with him. Tao was so pissed that he hadn’t even bothered to talk to the poor guy, so none of them even knew his name. But Chen was pretty sure it was something like ‘Eric’.

“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go” Xiumin said, taking Chen’s hand and pulling him out of the room. Taeil shot them both a goodbye wave as they left, and Chen nodded back before being pulled into the hallway, “Is Lay walking with us?”

Chen shook his head, “Nah, he spent the night at Myeon’s place, so they’re coming together” he said.

“Again?” Xiumin laughed, “Jesus, does he ever stay at home? Maybe they should just move in together or something” he rolled his eyes as they exited the building and made their way to the small pub not far from campus, where their little get togethers always happened.

“I know” Chen laughed, “But they’re all in love and whatever, so what d’you expect”

Xiumin hummed thoughtfully, “You should have said before. I would have stayed over”

“I figured you’d be busy with school work” Chen said with a small smile, “And I had a paper that was kicking my . I wanted it done so that I could just chill for the week, but it’s still half unfinished, so yeah...” he sighed.

Xiumin grinned at his idiot boyfriend as they entered the pub.

--

“We’re gonna be late!” Luhan all but screamed to Sehun, who was still in the shower.

“It’s your fault!” Sehun’s voice called back, “You’re the one that was like, ‘oh we can totally fit in a quicky before we have to go’, so don’t shout at me!”

Luhan huffed, “You’re the one that took 'quicky' to mean me for half an hour!” he shot back, "anyways, just hurry up! We’re always the last ones there, and everyone always knows why”

Sehun’s chuckles filled the room as he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, whilst drying his hair with another, “Yeah. That’s because everyone knows you’re a er and can’t get enough of me”

“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d beat your down right now” Luhan rolled his eyes, before walking over and pressing a finger to Sehun’s chest. They locked eyes before a moment before Luhan smirked and said “Hurry up” before pulling back and smoothing down his shirt.

Sehun laughed again before doing as he was told.

The pair had been going steady since they’d agreed to go out, and only became closer as a result of it. The banter between the two kept things interesting, and they were genuinely happy together. They’d fought a few times in time that they’d been together, but it had never been too bad. They’d last a couple of days at most before they’d be back in each other’s arms, all ‘sorry’s and ‘I love you’s. Their biggest fight had been when Luhan let his insecurities get the better of him. Sehun had been spending a lot of time around Tao, and Luhan thought that the other boy was getting tired of him. Which hadn’t been the case at all, but he’d still let it get to him. There had been tears and yelling and frustrated hair pulling, and Luhan had stayed with Kris and Mark for a couple of days before going back to Sehun and apologising.

But the be all and end all of it all was that they were completely in love with one another and they weren’t going to let anything get between them any time soon.

“I’m ready, happy?” Sehun said, ten minutes later when his hair was dry and he was clothed.

“Whatever” Luhan scoffed, “Come on”

The two of them made their way out of the room, bumping into Chanyeol as they did. He looked rather handsome.

“Hey” Chanyeol grinned, “Heading down to the pub?” he asked.

“Yeah, you?” Sehun said as they walked down the corridor.

Chanyeol nodded, “Yeah, I thought I was gonna be late, since I got carried away talking to Jihoon, but then he pushed me out of our room, so yeah...” he laughed, “You look nice, by the way, Lu”

Luhan, who hadn’t really been paying much attention, looked up with a smile, “Thanks, Yeol” he said, “Right back at you”

Chanyeol beamed back and fell into easy conversation with Sehun as they walked.

Chanyeol was like that still, always easy to talk to, well when his mind wasn’t focused on all that computer stuff that nobody seemed to be able to comprehend in the slightest. He and Baekhyun were still the ‘it couple’, still going strong after all that time. They had kind of turned into that couple that everyone went to for advice – mainly Kris, since he was still kind of oblivious when it came to anything relationship-y – or just to chat about what it was like to be with someone for that long.

They were usually joined at the hip when they weren’t in class. They even did homework together, which was amusing since they were doing completely different things and tended to comfuse one another when they spoke out loud.

The three of them walked down the street, chattering away until they reached the pub and headed on in. Ready to work up a storm and drink with the clan.

--

“YAH! Kim ing Jongin, open the door! I swear to god! Kyungsoo is gonna be here in like two minutes and if he ing hits me because of you, I’m going to go ape !” Baekhyun shouted as the pounded on Jongin’s door.

Surprisingly, it was Jongin’s roommate that answered.

“Dude, what the ?!” he glared, “Can you shut the up, I’m trying to sleep”

Baekhyun glared back, “I could, but it’s like six at night, so no. Where’s Kai?”

“Who?”

“Kai. Kim Jongin?”

“Who?”

“Your ing roommate” Baekhyun sighed, “Jesus ing Christ. Is he in there or not?”

The roommate shrugged, “Might be” he said, “What’s it to you?”

“Are you actually kidding me right now?” Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed before he shouted, “Yah! Kai! Your arsehole roommate is being a douche, so just meet me in my room when you’re ing ready, prick! I’ll be waiting!”

He turned away without so much as another word to the roommate and walked back to his room.

Kyungsoo was walking towards him with an amused look on his face by the time he reached his door, which was a mere two seconds later, his hands in his pockets.

“Do I even want to know?” Kyungsoo asked, a smile on his lips.

Baekhyun shook his head, “no” he said, “you really don’t. Come on, we’ll wait for your ing of a boyfriend in my room”

Kyungsoo laughed and followed Baekhyun into his room, “I thought we were meeting in his room?”

Kyungsoo and Kai were your typical let’s-make-it-clear-we’re-going-out-by-making-out-everywhere-we-can couple. Since Kai had gotten a little more confident with the fact that Kyungsoo really was his, and only his, he’d upped his game and taken to snogging the boy at every chance he got.

Not that Kyungsoo was any better. If anything, he was worse. Whilst Kai was all loving stares and protective hugs, Kyungsoo was all lip bites and erted glances, which by looking at, you could just tell he was undressing the younger boy with his eyes.

But it worked for them, and nobody really cared about it all that much. They were like that and it suited them so who were the others to complain? Sure, they joked about it and poked fun, but everyone was happy to see them like it, too.

It had been obvious for years that they’d been pining over each other, and so to see them so open about their relationship was nice.

Kai walked into Baekhyun’s room a good five minutes later with a grimace on his face.

“Sorry about that,” he said, when met with Baekhyun’s glare, “I really didn’t know he’d answer the door”

Baekhyun scoffed, “Whatever, let’s just go. If we’re later than Sehun and Luhan, I’ll punch you”

Kyungsoo laughed as they all left the room, “Please, like we could be later than them. I heard them going at it when I passed their room on the way over here”

“Oh the joy” Baekhyun deadpanned.

They made it to the pub fairly quickly. Baekhyun had insisted on Kai giving him a piggyback ride for holding them up, which Kai agreed to, only because Kyungsoo said he’d find it funny.

“Alright then” Kai said, as they arrived. He dropped Baekhyun and took Kyungsoo’s hand instead, “Let’s go get hammered”

--

Kris smiled as he fixed his waistcoat, “What d’you think?” he asked.

Mark looked up from the book he was reading to give Kris a once over, “Very dashing” he said with a grin, “fashion is your forté”

“Damn right it is” Kris grinned as the door knocked, “It’s open” he called.

The door opened to reveal Jackson with a bag of snacks in his hand, “Damn, look at you” he whistled, “What’re you all dressed up for, Jolly Green Giant?”

“Going out with the guys” he said, “I’d say you could come, but something tells me you two have plans?”

Jackson nodded, “Indeed. We’re gonna play Mario. I’m gonna let Mark win, and then we’re gonna go at it like randy rabbits”

“Jacks!” Mark squeaked.

But Kris laughed and turned to look at his roommate with a grin, “Mark, pal, I love you and you’re great, but don’t even try and act all innocent. You seem to forget I was here the other night when Jackson snuck in and the two of you woke me up...”

“I hate you” Mark huffed, “Shut up”

Jackson and Kris both laughed as Kris pocketed his phone and wallet before walking over to the door and opening it, “Be good kids” he said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do”

“Piss off and have fun with the guys” Jackson rolled his eye.

“Later, Yifan!” Mark called.

Kris shot them a wave before heading out. He walked pretty fast, thanks to his long legs, and made it over to Tao’s about ten minutes later.

Tao was ready when he got there, so they left as soon as Kris knocked the door.

“Let’s rock the roll” Kris said, offering Tao his arm.

Tao rolled his eyes, but wrapped a hand around Kris’s arm as they headed off, “You’re such an idiot” he said.

They walked along, talking about what they planned do to over half term and ended up at the pub before expected.

Kris smiled and pulled open the door, “After you” he said, making Tao giggle

“Why thank you, good sir” the younger said before walking inside.

--

Lay chuckled as Suho planted butterfly kisses down his neck.

“We’re gonna be late” he said, though his hands remained fixed on Suho’s upper arms.

Suho smiled against Lay’s skin, “We won’t be” he said, “Besides, we’ve still got like... fifteen minutes until the taxi comes” he pulled back to look at Lay with a big smile.

“You’ll wrinkle your outfit” Lay said, a small smile on his lips as he looked into Suho’s eyes.

Suho shrugged, “I’m pretty sure they won’t care”

“Tao will, you know he will”

“Touché” Suho laughed before leaning in and taking Lay’s lips for his own.

They kissed softly. Suho’s hands holding Lay’s face as they did. Lay’s hands slipped down to Suho’s waist, pulling him closer. Lay was pressed up against the wall by the door. He’d just finished putting his shoes on when Suho had snuck up on him and surprised him with sweet kisses. Not that he minded at all.

Things were going well for them. Really well. Since Lay’s friends had found out about them, they’d openly welcomed him into their little group, making sure to include him in their get togethers and such. At first, Luhan and Baekhyun were a bit weary of the idea of Suho seeing their friend, but warmed up to him after a while.

Of course, at first he didn’t hang around with them all that much, what with needing to keep up appearances. For the most part, not many people knew about he and Lay going out, but the people that counted did.

Lay’s parents had found out not long ago. They’d known for a month. Of course, they weren’t thrilled about it, but Lay fed them some and bull story about them meeting randomly in the street about halfway through the college year and decided to go for coffee. He’d told them that they’d just stayed in touch from there and things just turned out the way they did.

After they’d sat down and spoken to Suho, talked over their concerns and worries, they’d eventually decided that he was a nice man, and so long as their son was happy, they were too. They weren’t sure about the age difference, but when they brought it up, Lay answered that he was nineteen and had the right to date who he wished to. And really, there was only seven years between them – his parents couldn’t really argue with that, since they were okay with his aunt’s relationship, and her man was twelve years older than her – and they’d sighed and just given him the whole ‘be careful’ speech, but otherwise welcomed Suho into the family.

They were still kissing when the taxi papped from outside.

They reluctantly broke apart and smiled at one another, “Ready for another night of putting up with those idiots?”

“I’m never ready” Suho laughed, and opened the door.

Lay waited as Suho locked up and pocketed his keys before he took his hand and they walked to the taxi and climbed in the back.

“Where to?” the cabbie asked, looking at them through the rear view mirror.

Suho told him the address and they set off. He and Lay talked in hushed tones as they rode, ignoring the glacing the cabbie was shooting them through the mirror.

“So, are you two like a couple then?” the cabbie eventually asked.

Suho hummed, “Yeah, we are”

“That’s cool. How long you been together?” he asked.

Suho smiled, “About two years. Give or take” he said. Relieved that it hadn’t gone the way he thought it would.

“Wow. Congrats” the cabbie smiled, “Me and the missus are rolling on ten years now. It’s always brilliant when you find the one you’re meant to be with, ain’t it?”

“It is” Suho said, turning to look at Lay, a loving smile on his face.

“You see, that there” The cabbie said, as Suho and Lay looked at one another before turning to meet his eyes in the mirror. They were stopped at a red light, waiting, so the cabbie turned to look at them, “That look I just saw. Now that’s love. That’s how I look at me missus. It’s how I could tell you fellas weren’t just mates. I hope you last a very long time. ‘Cause it ain’t something you come by everyday”

Lay smiled, “Oh we know” he said, “And believe me, I’m not planning on letting him go any time soon”

“That’s good, son. You hang on to him” the cabbie chuckled, turning back to the road and setting off again.

Lay and Suho exchanged a look and a grin, “I love you” Suho whispered.

“As I love you” Lay smiled back, picking up their linked hands and kissing the back of Suho’s.

Suho smiled and let his free hand run down his front, pausing over his inner pocket to feel the small bump of the velvet box that rested there.

“For always” he whispered as they pulled up outside of the pub.

He paid the cabbie, whilst Lay climbed out and waited for him by the door.

As the cabbie took the money he shot Suho a wink, “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you” he said.

“Thank you” Suho chuckled, “And keep the change, mate”

--

They were loud. Almost obnoxiously so, but the people that owned the pub knew them well enough for them to get away with it.

“Yo, Junmyeon, you paying?” Kris grinned as Suho and Lay joined them at the table. The only two they were waiting on now were, surprise, surprise, Sehun and Luhan. Although Chanyeol had been walking with them, he'd somehow gotten there before them.

“Nice try. You’ve got your own money” Suho rolled his eyes, “What do I look like, a bank?”

Kris grinned, “Something like that. Besides, you make more than us! At least get a round in”

“Fine, but I swear to god, if you get all the expensive stuff, I’m making you pay” Suho said, “Come up and help me then”

Kris grinned as he got up from his seat to help Suho get the drink in. Suho bent down and kissed Lay on the forehead as Kris asked what everyone wanted, before walking off with Kris, just as Luhan and Sehun walked in and joined the table.

Once the drinks were bought, everyone sat at the table, just catching up at first and chatting about nothing in particular.

They were just enjoying everyone’s company.

“... And then we’re just watching it in silence when Chen comes out with ‘DON’T... say Snape’s word!’ like I have never laughed so hard in my life!” Chanyeol said, laughing his arse off.

Chen tutted, “Well, for one, she looks about forty and she’s meant to be twenty-one. Two, who does she think she is? Taking Snape’s word like that. And Three, IT’S SNAPE’S ING WORD!”

The others all laugh, loud and uncaring, whilst Chen huffs.

Kyungsoo’s sat with Kai’s arm around his shoulders, the two of them kissing every now and again whilst listenting to the other’s stories.

“It’s not as good as the time he pointed out to me when Voldemort goes ‘NEVILLE! MOOOOOOOOVE!” Xiumin chimes in, and they all laugh again like there’s no tomorrow.

It might have had something to do with the alcohol intake. But none of them seemed to care. They weren’t exactly drunk, they were just merry. You know, when you’re in control over yourself, and aware, but there’s that happy buzz warming your tummy.

“Oh my god!” Sehun piped up, “Did I tell you about the other day? Me and Tao were chilling in his room right, and he’s got a glass of pop on the floor near his foot, and he falls off the chair, because he was being a , and broke the damn glass... WITH HIS !”

Cue the laughter again.

It was like that for a while. Funny stories, laughter, drinks and genuine happiness to be around each other.

They did it as often as they could, and when they couldn’t do it often, they made time to meet up at least once every two weeks or so. They were content in their friendships and weren’t about to let them go.

Once the laughter had subsided, Suho cleared his throat.

“Guys! Guys, shush” he said, “I’ve got something I need to say!”

Everyone looked at him from where he stood at the end of the table, Lay sitting to one side of him, Kris to the other.

“Okay, so, as you know, Yixing and I have been together for a long while now, and there’s something very important I need to say to him” he said before turning to look at Lay.

In that moment it was like everyone else in the pub went away. Like it was just the two of them sat there amongst the empty tables. It as almost as thought the music that played over the speakers had faded away and there was a magical silence that swept over them.

“Yixing. Two years is a long time. A really, really long time when you feel like I feel about you. I know it’s not quite two years yet, and I know that this might seem sudden, but I need to do it, because it just feels right.

 “When I first saw you, I knew that there was something about you. But obviously I couldn’t really do anything about it. Then we got to know each other more, I got to see the fun side to you, the cute side, and then, when you kissed me for the first time, the confident side. Since then I’ve seen just about all there is to see. I’ve seen the bad days along with the good. I’ve seen the sad days along with the happy. But through all the days, I see you, Zhang Yixing, as the love of my life.

 “We’re young, and I know that. I know that we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us, and we don’t know what’s just around the corner, but I do know that I want you to be with me every step I take, and I can only hope you want the same from me. You’ve brought me more happiness than I can even tell you, and you’ve been to me what nobody has ever been before.

 “You’re my heart, my soul and my mind. You’re my friend, my lover, my everything, and it’s with that in my mind and in my heart that I need to ask you,” he paused to get down on one knee as he pulled a small, black, velvet box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a simple silver band.

Lay gasped as he looked at Suho, down on one knee, holding out to him a ring. He knew what was coming. He knew it, and he couldn’t believe it.

Suho gave him a shy, nervous smile, “Zhang Yixing. Will you marry me?” he asked.

Tears welled up in Lay’s eyes as he nodded rapidly, “Yes. Yes, oh my god, yes!” he answered, his voice thick with emotion as tears began to spill over and fall down his face in happiness.

Suho grinned as he took the band and slipped it onto Lay’s ring finger.

Lay stood up and grabbed Suho’s hands, pulling him to his feet too, before he kissed him with everything he had.

It was in that moment that sound seemed to flood back in again.

Everyone was cheering and clapping, whistling and some even tearing up, happy for the couple.

Lay’s hands were in Suho’s hair as the older man hugged him around the waist and lifted him, still kissing him as he turned them in a slow circle before letting him back down and breaking away to smile down at Lay, who beamed back at him.

“I love you, so, so much!” Lay laughed through his tears.

Suho brought his hands up to wipe the tears away from Lay’s face, “I love you, too” he said, “So, so much”

“Let’s hear it for the happy couple!” Chen shouted, standing, and lifting his glass in salute to them.

The other’s stood too, lifting their glasses also, “Cheers!” they all rang out.

The night was even louder after that, full of drink and congratulations, and everyone admiring Lay’s ring.

They shared more personal stories then. Stories of how they got together, stories of things their partner had done for them out of love, cute things that they adored, or little quirks that made them laugh.

It was nice, it was something that they’d never lose because they were all friends, and they were planning on it staying like that for a very, very long time.

Things can be hard in a world where you have nobody to lean on, but they all knew, as long as they had the others, as long as they were there, then things would be fine.

Reality, life, hardships, it could all come for them, gun’s ready, but as long as they were with the others, then nothing was going to get them down.

Ever.

Fin.

A/N: It's over T^T
So, as promised, I've started a new story, which you can find HERE

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Until next time<3

- Tegwi_Panda