Xiumin stood with Lay outside of Chen’s room. After Chen’s brother had found him in bed with Xiumin, Jong Deok asked if he could speak alone with Chen. Xiumin and Lay had left the room, but Xiumin found he needed to know what was going on. The pair stayed outside the room, listening to the brothers’ conversation.

            “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Jong Dae… You can’t… You can’t just goof off all the time! Mom and Dad already allowed you to quit school to become a singer, but you’re living in some sort of fantasy!”

          “Hyung, you don’t understand…”

          “No, I don’t understand! You know that once your contract is finished, you are going back to school. And you also know that Mom and Dad would not react well to you telling them you’re gay. So why? Why would you even do something like this? You’re only hurting yourself and that other boy!”

          “Stop,” Chen said, firmly, “you don’t understand. I’m not going to just give up on what I have here. Mom and Dad don’t understand anything. I care about this! I care about EXO, about singing, about all of my friends, and about Xiumin. I don’t care what you say; nothing’s going to change how I feel about what I’m doing right now.”

          “I don’t want to have to involve our parents in this, but I will if necessary.”

          “Jong Deok, you’re blowing this out of proportions!”

          “You either stop fooling around with that boy or I’m calling them. End of discussion.”

Xiumin backed away from the door, unable to listen to anymore. Lay turned Xiumin, seeing him pull away.

          “Xiumin—” Lay began.

Xiumin turned away and ran to his room, tears forming in his eyes already. He jumped into his bed and buried his face in his pillow. Tears ran freely from his eyes, wetting his pillowcase.

          “Minnie?” A voice called from the other side of the room.

          “Not now, Lu,” Xiumin sobbed.

          “Hey, it’s okay. Tell me what happened,” Luhan said.

Xiumin turned to see him laying his bed, propped up on his elbow.

          “He… Chen and I are… We just—” Xiumin couldn’t manage to speak clearly because he was crying too hard.

Luhan got up from his bed and came to Xiumin’s. Sitting down, he hugged his friend.

          “Calm down,” Luhan shushed him.

Xiumin let himself cry against Luhan. After a short while, he could see Sehun sit up on Luhan’s bed. His posture visibly stiffened when he caught sight of the pair on Xiumin’s bed. Sehun stood and awkwardly walked to the door, slipping out as quietly as possible. A few minutes later, Xiumin couldn’t seem to cry anymore. He leaned away from Luhan, who looked at him with a gaze full of concern.

          “Now what happened?” Luhan asked gently.

          “Chen’s b-brother is h-here and he… He d-doesn’t want us to b-b-be together,” Xiumin blubbered.

Luhan furrowed his eyebrows.

          “What do you mean he doesn’t want you to be together?”

          “He said… That… That his parents won’t approve of us being together, because we’re both boys and… and that Chen can’t be a singer a-after his contract is up.”

          “Oh, Minnie… I’m sure Chen-Chen won’t let that happen. It’s his dream to be a singer and he loves you to the ends of the Earth. He’s not going to let something like this separate you,” Luhan said, comforting Xiumin.

          “But his brother said—” Xiumin started.

          “It doesn’t matter what my brother said; I love you, Xiumin,” Chen said, standing in the doorway to the room.

          “Chen,” Xiumin said softly.

          “I’ll leave you two to talk it out then,” Luhan said, extricating himself from Xiumin and leaving the room; he threw a smile over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.

          “Minnie… Like Luhan said, I’m not going to let something like this separate us. I love you, and we’re going to work through this,” Chen reassured.

          “But your brother said your parents would never approve! And that you can’t be a singer!”

          “Leave me to deal with my parents, alright? I’ve negotiated with them before… It’s how I was able to become a trainee in the first place,” Chen said, winking, “But I’m not making any compromises when it comes to you.”

Xiumin felt his cheeks warm up slightly and he let out a defeated sigh. Chen was determined to make this seem like less of an issue than it was.

          “I’m scared,” Xiumin admitted.

          “Of what?” Chen said, sitting on the bed and pulling the older into his arms.

          “Of losing you.”

          “I’m not letting you go anytime soon—ever, in fact. You, Kim Min Seok, have to pleasure of being stuck with me forever, whether you like it or not,” Chen said, pulling Xiumin in to kiss him on the lips.

Xiumin knew couldn’t think of anything better than being stuck with the younger forever.

———later that day———

          Xiumin came into the living room after having showered and gotten dressed. He felt much better after talking with Chen. He felt a smile tugging at his lips as he recalled his boyfriend’s promises murmured softly between kisses. Entering the room, he found a few of the others from EXO-M lounging around and talking with Chen’s brother, who looked at Xiumin as though he were a criminal. Feeling a bit of tension, Xiumin decided it was best to stay away from Jong Deok for the time being. He opted for going to the kitchen instead, where he found D.O. in his natural habitat, once again being pestered by two of the maknaes. Kai practically whined, begging to be fed while Sehun stood off to the side, giving puppy eyes and doing aegyo.

          “For the last time, Jong In! You two can go and bug your other hyungs for food! I’m busy trying to get a decent lunch together. If you want to ruin your appetite and snack, do so elsewhere,” D.O. said firmly.

Xiumin walked to the fridge, laughing softly at the boys’ attempts at getting food from D.O. while he was in the middle of cooking. He opened the door and took out the pitcher of water. Grabbing a cup from the cabinet, he poured himself a glass and returned the pitcher. He leaned against the counter and watched as Sehun’s attention shifted when Luhan entered the room. With the same amount of aegyo, he pleaded for Luhan to help their cause.

          “Hyung~ Kyunggie won’t give us any food!” Sehun whined.

Luhan looked from Sehun and Kai to D.O. and then to Xiumin, his eyebrows raised. Xiumin shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Luhan smiled mischievously at Xiumin before turning to Sehun with a face that blew the maknaes aegyo out of the water.

          “Hunnie~ Kyunggie is making lunch for us and can’t feed you two too,” Luhan said with a pout.

It was scary how the second-oldest of the group could overpower Sehun and Kai’s cuteness with so little difficulty. Having a face of a baby didn’t make it any harder for him though.

          “Come on now, Sehunnie~ let’s leave Kyungsoo to cook,” Luhan continued, tugging on one of Sehun’s hands.

Sehun melted under Luhan’s cuteness and allowed himself to be led from the room.

          “Hmph… Someone’s whipped,” Kai said under his breath, dropping his aegyo.

          “Yah! If you don’t have a reason to be here, get out! You’re taking up room,” D.O. said to Kai.

          “Well then…” Kai said, offended, nevertheless, leaving the room.

          “Do you need any help, D.O.?” Xiumin offered.

          “I’m fine… Just trying to finish this up. It’ll be ready in a few minutes if you want to get some plates down though,” D.O. said.

          “Arasseo,” Xiumin said, reaching for the cabinet.

The plates were on the top shelf. Xiumin looked up at them. He could reach them… barely. Determined to get them down himself, he stretched and, with one hand, pulled them closer to the edge of the shelf. He reached up with the other hand and edged the entire stack further off. Almost there. He tugged them a little more and they tipped forward. Xiumin’s eyes widened as he realized the stack of plates was falling toward his head. He felt a hand on his back and another one came out of nowhere and stopped the plates before they fell all the way. Xiumin turned to see Chen behind him. His hair was wet, having just gotten out of the shower, and they were close enough for Xiumin to feel his breath on his face. They locked eyes. Xiumin’s heart fluttered in his chest and he stepped away from his boyfriend. Together, they managed to get the plates down. Xiumin found that despite the fact that they were a couple now, Chen somehow managed to give him the same butterflies he did before they were together.

          “You should be more careful,” Chen whispered into Xiumin’s ear as they set the plates on the counter.

Xiumin shivered and turned to face the younger. Chen pressed him against the counter with his body, hands wrapped around his waist. Xiumin’s hands found their way to his shoulders as Chen bent forward and kissed him. It was a soft and sweet kiss that caused Xiumin to sigh loudly. They were interrupted when D.O. hit Chen on the back of the head with a wooden spoon.

          “Out! If you two want to canoodle around with each other, get a room or something! But not in my kitchen!”

Chen pulled away and smiled, not really caring what the other had said. He pulled Xiumin out of the kitchen, holding his hand, and entered the living room. Lay, Suho, and Kris sat around Jong Deok, talking about their latest activities and exchanging pleasantries. Tao sat beside Kris and served as a major distraction by poking him and trying to get his attention by calling ‘Gege’ every few seconds. Chanyeol leaned against the couch with his arms wrapped around Baekhyun who sat between his legs while he played video games. Kai held the other controller and cursed under his breath as he died again. Luhan and Sehun were curled up in a chair with Luhan on top of Sehun. Jong Deok looked up as Chen and Xiumin approached the couch. Xiumin sat in the corner, letting Chen sit beside his brother. Chen threw his arm around Xiumin and pulled him close while he listened to the current conversation. Jong Deok threw them an irritated glance before resuming what he was saying. Before too long, D.O. called that lunch was ready and the boys jumped up and ran to the kitchen to get their food. It was a rather late lunch since all of them had slept in, which caused them to be rather ravenous. Jong Deok stood up slowly and turned to Chen, who was helping Xiumin to his feet.

          “I called Mom and Dad,” Jong Deok said suddenly.

Xiumin froze, his hands still in Chen’s.

          “Okay?” Chen said coldly.

          “They want to meet him,” Jong Deok said with just as much coldness, gesturing to Xiumin.

          “When?”

          “Tonight.”

A/N: Hello again! I really enjoyed writing this update~~ Getting into the thick of it with the family drama, eh?  My summer break is almost over T-T Once school starts, I will most likely not update as often (even though my updates are rather far apart as is >.<) But thank you for reading again! <3 Please comment, upvote, subscribe! I love reading your comments so much ^.^ Annyeong!