It was just after 2 o’clock in the morning when all of the guests had left the host club and Kris and Lay could leave for their dorm. At half past one in the morning the club bans guests from entering, and often guests are turned away if the host club is already full or pre-booked. Once all of the guests had left Kris slowly stood up and walked to the bar, drinking the last of his rum before settling his glass on the bar before turning to see Lay. He seemed to be describing something to Chen and the look of pure happiness on his face made Kris’s heart clench in a way it had never done before. That was until he realised that that look was directed to Chen and suddenly the feeling inside him changed.

He casually walked over to Lay and Chen’s table.

“Oh Hi Kris, did you know that Chen is learning Chinese? He’s pretty good, show him Chen!” Lay said, practically bouncing in his seat. Oh how adorable the sight. Freaking Chen why do you deserve to make him so happy? Kris internally argued with himself. Oh why does he even care?

Chen cleared his throat and turned to Kris before speaking in Chinese. “Hello. I’m Chen, very nice to meet you.”

“Not bad.” Kris replied in an emotionless voice. “Do you have your key Lay? I’m heading upstairs now.” Kris said, turning all of his attention away from Chen.

“Aw you’re going this early?” Chen asked? “But now the guests are gone we can enjoy ourselves!”

“I’ve had enough enjoyment for tonight, I’ve had a trying day and I really need to sleep.”

Lay looked between Chen and Kris. “Actually I am quite tired.” Lay said. “Thank so much for you showing me how Host tonight! Kamsahamnida~” Lay bowed and then stood, walking to Kris’s side.

Kris turned away from Chen and left the host room, Lay close on his trail. They silently waited for the elevator and took the next two floors to the dorms.

“I take it you get on well with your mentor then?” Kris asked, unable to remain silent, a feeling he had never encountered before.

“Yeah, Chen is so nice!” Lay said happily. “What about Kai?”

Kris let a look of disgust creep onto his face for a moment. “Meh, he was okay. He taught me a few things, but apparently I’m a natural so I didn’t really learn much.  Our personalities aren’t overly compatible.” Kris shrugged. “It was a good first shift.”

After saying that, Kris’s thought instantly shifted to Tao. Luckily the elevator door opened at that time and his thought pattern was interrupted.

Immediately after entering the dorm Lay ran and got them both a glass of water. Kris looked at it in confusion. “Unless you want to dehydrate and shrivel your brain you should drink up.” Lay said, downing his glass of water then going to brush his teeth in the bathroom.

The two of them got dressed for bed, which in Kris’s case usually involved wearing nothing but underwear and his skin. However, unused to other human presence Kris decided to put on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a black vest.  He settled down into bed but felt eyes looking at him, he turned his head and saw the huge unicorn plushie staring at him from across the room.

“Lay?”

“Yes?” Lay answered from his bed.

“Does the unicorn have to be put there?” Kris asked, looking at the lifeless bright pink beady eyes.

“Of course, how else will it heal me while I sleep?” That answer had Kris thrown into silence and at the same time he found Lay so cute and innocent.

“Well um, okay I guess.” Kris chuckled, crossing his arms beneath his head and snuggling further into the mattress which was much more comfortable than the one he had slept on for the past few years.

“Goodnight Kris.” Lay murmured sleepily. “See you tomorrow.”

Kris’s mother turned to Kris, her eyes full of tears. “My boy!” She opened the front door further and stepped outside in just her slippers. “Kris! You’re back.” She took another step forward and raised her arms. Kris stepped forward too, lifting his own to enter her embrace. Suddenly Kris felt a sharp pain across his face. “You bastard!” She said in a voice that was nothing alike her usual motherly tone.  “What are you doing back at this doorstep? You left me alone with no money! You are no son of mine anymore!” The words seemed to echo around Kris’s head continuously and tears started to form in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong I_” Kris didn’t have time to finish.

“Yes you are wrong if you think you can show your face here again. Be gone. I never want to see you again.”  His mother walked away from him and his vision was blurry. The words still sounded loudly inside his head and the world was tilting from side to side.

The pain of the slap still filled Kris’s head and the sound of the door slamming in Kris’s faces startled him. He jumped into the air and landed on a soft mattress. He opened his wet eyes and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling.

Suddenly Kris remembered where he was and he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and rolled over to see if he had woken Lay. However Lay’s bed was empty.

Kris looked at his clock and saw that it was only 7am, however he didn’t want to sleep again after that dream. He slipped out of bed and wandered to the kitchen to get water to sooth his aching head. On the way he heard the shower running in the bathroom. So that’s where Lay was…

After remembering there was no food in the dorm, Kris decided to quickly dress into his favourite dark jeans, leaving his black vest on, and pulling a grey hoodie on. Hoodies are not his usual style but sometimes comfort overrules fashion, and this was definitely one of those times.

Pulling his almost empty wallet into his pocket Kris grabbed a piece of paper and pen and started to write a list of things to buy.  Mid-list, Lay entered the kitchen. Let me elaborate. He entered the kitchen with just a towel around his waist.

“Good morning!” Lay chirped. “Are you going somewhere?” Lay asked innocently, completely oblivious to Kris staring Lay’s exposed skin up and down.

“Morning… um yes.” Kris said, distracted by the site in front of him. Never before had he imagined that innocent unicorn boy would hide those muscles under his clothes.

“Where ya going?” Lay asked, drying his hair with a smaller towel.

Kris looked back down at his list before Lay could notice the direction of Kris’s gaze.

“Just to a supermarket, we desperately need food in here.”

“Let me get dressed and then I’ll come with you. Uh, if you don’t mind that is.”

Kris nodded. “I don’t mind at all, you can help me pick some food out. Also I could really do with a coffee, how about you?” Where was all of this coming from? Kris never asked anyone to go anywhere with him. But technically Lay offered right?

“Sounds good!” Lay said, wandering off to get changed. A moment later Lay returned with black skinny jeans and a purple zip-up hoodie.  “Are you ready?” Lay asked Kris, who was slouched over the kitchen counter, rereading the list he had written.

Kris nodded and together they set out on their first outing as dorm mates.

“Do you want coffee before or after shopping?” Kris asked Lay as they exited the SM building.

“Let’s get coffee first, it might wake us up.” Lay said. “I know a place that does really good coffee, it’s not far from here. In fact they do almost any time of drink you could possibly want!” Lay then started to list all of the types of drinks he had tried. Kris didn’t really take in what was being said, instead he noted the enthusiasm that Lay was speaking with. “But their mochas are amazing! You should get one what do you think?”

“Hehe okay, if that’s what is being so highly recommended I guess I have no choice.” Kris caught himself laughing and smiling, and it felt like he was out with a friend. Kris felt almost … normal.

An hour later both Kris and Lay walked back to the SM building, each held a couple of bags. Kris got the door for Lay this time, but as the two of them entered the Host Club they were greeted by the receptionist from before, Kris made sure to look for her name tag and found out that she was called Min. Now that he thought about it he remembered Soo Man calling her that before.

“There you are!” She said to the two of them. “Soo Man wanted me to tell you your day time jobs, I have them listed here.” Min handed Lay the paper who had to put it inside one of the bags to carry it.

“Day time jobs?” Kris asked Lay as they approached their dorm.

Lay shrugged “Well there was always going to be more to this job than getting drunk and flirting.”

At the dorm Lay pulled the paper out of the bag and started reading it aloud.

“Monday morning, Kris to clean Kai. No. Um…” Lay scratched his head.

Kris rolled his eyes and took the paper. “Let me you dweeb. Okay so…” Kris scanned the paper. “Basically in the mornings 10am until 12pm I have to clean all of the private booths, that means wiping down the leather couches, dusting, vacuuming, and refilling the mini bars. I will also be working with Kai. Fun.” Kris said sarcastically. “Lay… you have to do pretty much the same in the main host room, and you have to mop the floor in the main reception. You’ll be with a guy called Luhan.” Kris turned over the paper to see how many more instructions there were before turning back.

“Then it seems like we’re working together from 12pm to 1pm. We have to carry the crates of drinks to the storage room. After that we have to check the message board in the staff room for day to day tasks and apparently there will be a stock check. We have to order the things on the list. I’m assuming that will be mostly alcohol. After that we Host from 6pm onwards.”

Lay had been writing notes in Chinese on paper while Kris had been talking, and when Kris finished Lay stuck the note onto the fridge, along with the original list of jobs.

“Well, we have half an hour until we need to start our shift. I think I’m going to finish unpacking.” Lay said, dragging one of his boxes into the bedroom.

“Do you need help with that?” Kris asked. Lay politely declined and so Kris spend the next half an hour flicking his eyes between the TV and Lay who was constantly wandering between all of the rooms, finding a place for his belongings. Kris busied himself with filling the kitchen with food and soon the place was feeling more like a home than anywhere Kris had lived in the past 6 years.

Kris finally felt at peace. Here, in his new home, with his new friend. 

I would just like you to all know that every new comment, every new subscription, and the lovely people who upvote my story make me so unbelievably happy! SO happy! Thank you all so much for the support you have shown.

It seems like more people ship kray than taoris here at the minute. Guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out what happens. And as some of you may have noticed, for the past two days I've been doing double updates but since I have an exam tomorrow I can't guarantee I can keep up that pace.

To new readers, please subscribe if you want more, and to all of my readers please leave a comment saying what you think, who you ship or any of your general feelings towards this fanfiction. THANK YOU GUYS~ 

-1990stalker-