The feeling of something rubbing my arm was instantly soothing; a rather nice way to wake up despite the fact that even the chickens wouldn't be thinking about leaving their coop this early in the morning.

Although I was technically awake, it took a little longer for my brain to actually engage itself properly. My first thought was of the of the soothing feeling, and my second was of why there was a soothing feeling at all.

My unasked question was answered when I heard Sehun whisper, “Mira, are you awake?”

The sleepy side of my brain wanted to just pretend that I wasn't, but the slowly-awakening side told me I shouldn’t do that. I was in that sleep state where you know you have to get up for something, but the sense or reason as to what it could be is still lost to you.

“Mira,” Sehun repeated, this time patting my shoulder. Now that I was waking up a little more, I realised that his voice wasn’t as serene as my dream-like state would have me believe. He actually sounded sort of like a foghorn.

“Time to rise, little gnome,” he whispered after clearing his throat, now sounding a little less like a warning signal for ships.

I shook my head into the pillow, to which I heard a sleepy sounding chuckle. It was then that I remembered the reason I was being dragged from the warm bed at stupid o’clock. “I don’t want to,” I whined, rolling into him and rooting myself there. Suddenly my idea of getting the early flight seemed utterly ridiculous.

“I don’t want you to, either,” Sehun admitted, then let out a little sigh. “But you need to get up.” In spite of his words, I felt his hands curl around me where I was snuggled against his chest.

“But I’m tired.” I could feel his chest riding and falling against my cheek, his smooth rhythm almost sending me back to dreamland until I felt his pointy chin nestle onto the top of my head.

“I know. But you can sleep on the plane.” Neither of us moved, his warmth like a magnet keeping me close to him.

There was a little knock on the door. “Mira?” Luhan called from the other side in a sleepy mumble. “Are you awake yet? You should maybe think about getting up.” .

“He’s right,” Sehun murmured against my hair, placing a gentle kiss there before lifting his head away and untangling himself from my grip. He stood in front of the bed facing me, pyjamas slightly askew. “Need me to pack anything or do something?”

I shook my head, sitting up now that my living hot water bottle was gone. “I’ve already packed it all. The only things I still need to pack are at my father’s house.”

Sehun reached for his phone, checking the time. “Are you going there on the way to the airport?”

“Yeah,” I said as I threw back the duvet and finally got to my feet.

“It’s already four. You should get a shimmy on if you don’t want to miss your flight.”

I nodded, rubbing my eyes to try get rid of the gunk in them.

“I call the bathroom,” I announced, scuttling off to said room before he could argue with me. I returned a moment later to find that he had now turned the light on and was almost smirking at me.

“Problem?” he asked confidently.

I pursed my lips a little. “My stuff isn’t in this one,” I mumbled, leaving that room and heading to Luhan’s. I knocked, receiving a sleepy mumble in return. It seemed that Luhan had returned to bed, which was reasonable considering the time.

“Sorry, Lu,” I whispered as I pushed open the door. “I just need use the bathroom quickly.”

I received a series of nonsense sentences in return, but I assumed he meant yes. I noticed the absence of one Byun Baekhyun, but I doubted Luhan would be the one to ask about it given his current state

Sehun was in the kitchen when I found him again, fully dressed and preparing food.

“Luhan's pretty much passed out through there,” I said as I entered.

He looked up at the sound of my voice, but didn’t say anything which was a little odd.

“What’s up?” I asked, going and sitting at the table when I saw him carrying over two bowls of food.

He shook his head as he sat the two bowls down, then took a seat opposite me. My head tilted to the side a little and I stared at him until he finally looked up at me.

“Something’s wrong,” I probed, my brow scrunching.

“I’m fine,” Sehun mumbled out, avoiding eye contact again.

I reluctantly turned my attention back to my bowl and began eating, aware of how the time seemed to be escaping me. Sehun’s gaze moved back to me and stayed there as I ate. He didn’t touch his own bowl at all, making me wonder why he had even bothered preparing it to begin with.

“Why are you dressed? You could stay in bed for another six hours,” I said around a mouthful.

Sehun blinked for a moment, acting like he startled by the fact that I had a voice. “But then who would take you to the airport?”

I had to hide my smile with my spoon. “I was just going to take a taxi.”

He shook his head quite adamantly. “I’ll take you.”

I just smiled a little. more. “That would be nice.” 

 In response to this, he offered an almost sad look.

“Are you sure nothing’s bothering you?”

His eyes flicked to mine and then away again. “I feel… sad.”

Scooping up the last mouthful, I slid my bowl away. “I want you to be happy,” I finally replied. “Since I’m sort of fond of you.”

“Fond?” he asked, eyebrow quirking a little.

“Well,” I pretended to think about it. “You’re probably not the worst person I’ve ever met.”

Before Sehun could reply, Luhan came practically stumbling into the room, looking like he didn't even know where he was going. I didn’t know what had gotten him up, but his sleepy eyes were roaming around the kitchen until they found mine.

“Good,” he said with a sleepy smile. “I thought you might have gone already.”

“Not yet. Just eating first,” I explained, motioning to the bowl.

“Good,” he repeated, head bobbing drowsily. “Eating is good.”

Poor boy. He probably hadn’t had more than four hours of sleep. “Lu, you look tired. Why don’t you head back to bed?”

Luhan’s face scrunched into an unhappy pout. “I look better than he does,” he declared, still in a woozy state as he pointed to Sehun.

Sehun scoffed softly at this and quietly mumbled, “I don’t think so.”  He had a point. Luhan looked like someone had been clawing at his eyeballs all night.

“Let’s just say our goodbyes now,” I suggested, not wanting Luhan to collapse onto the table, but also not wanting a spat to begin between the two of them.

“Are you leaving now?” Luhan asked around a yawn, seeming waking up slowly.

In truth I wasn’t leaving for about half an hour more, but I didn’t know if Luhan would make it that long. “Just about.”

“Call me when you arrive,” he told me sincerely. “And have a safe flight. And make sure you rest enough. And come back soon.”

I chuckled a little at the ever-growing list he was giving to me. To all of the above, I gave the simple answer of, “I will.”

Luhan nodded, satisfied with this. He then looked to Sehun. “She’s probably said this to you already, but you’re welcome to keep living here. The contract we’ve signed doesn’t expire for another five months. So… whatever.”

That almost sounded like an invitation to me, and Sehun seemed to think the same way because he gave a little nod and mumbled out, “I’ll think about it.” He then turned to me. “I’ll load up the car whilst you two say your goodbyes.”

“Don’t say anything,” was the first thing Luhan said once we were alone. “I only asked to be polite. I would hate to think he had nowhere else to go to.”

I smiled slightly. “Are you sure it’s not because you like him a little bit?”

Luhan shot me an unamused smile. “Most definitely not.”

“Don’t wind him up when I’m gone. And don’t let him annoy you, either,” I told him, reiterating my words to Sehun earlier.

Luhan nodded glibly. “Sure, sure.”

I nodded, satisfied. “I guess I’ll see you some other time then,” I tried to end on, once again morphing back into my awkward self.

Stretching out his arms, Luhan invited me in for a hug that suddenly seemed a little too good to turn down so I bundled myself into him.

“Are you one million percent sure this is what you want?”

I let out a little sigh. “I want to experience life outside this business bubble we’re cocooned in. And I think this is the best way without traumatising myself by venturing too far so soon.”

Luhan let out a little chuckle. “Don’t worry about things here then. Just let yourself breathe a little.”

My lips pulled up into a small smile. “I will.”

Sehun’s head poked back around the door then. “Baekhyun's sitting in the hallway. I don't even know why, but he's sleeping there.”

"Why isn't Baekhyun in bed?" I asked Luhan.

At the sound of Baekhyun's name, Luhan tutted. "That boy wails in his sleep like nothing else. He left at about two, but I didn't know it was just to block our hallway." 

I turned back to Luhan and smiled again, hugging him once more. “Please, please don’t work so hard. You’re only nineteen, not ninety. I really don’t think your blood pressure should be so high.”

Luhan grimaced a little but nodded. “I’ll try.”

I felt myself smiling just a little bit when we entered the hallway because there, sitting by the wall with a duvet wrapped tightly around himself and resting against a small table, was Baekhyun.

“He’s been out here for hours,” Sehun murmured he pulled the door over behind us.

“Why?”

Sehun shrugged. “He probably thought you were leaving earlier than you are and didn't want to miss you." 

“I feel almost bad waking him up,” I said as I approached the sleeping boy. 

“He’d make you feel worse if you didn’t though,” Sehun reasoned, putting his hands into his pockets.

I crouched in front of Baekhyun with Sehun hovering behind. Gentle snores were escaping Baekhyun’s parted lips and his eyes were glued shut. I glanced once at Sehun as if to see if it was ok for me to actually wake him and he gave me an encouraging nod in reply.

Gently nudging his shoulder, I murmuring his name softly. He stirred slowly, gradually coming back to the realm of the living. When his eyes eventually fluttered open, he looked like he didn’t even have the faintest idea where he was.

“Mira?” he finally mumbled out, blinking a little. “Why are you in my bed?”

I chuckled a little. “I’m not. You’re in the hallway.”

He stared at me through sleepy eyes before shifting his duvet around himself a little more. “Why am I in the hallway?”

“I don’t know. But I’m on my way to the airport. I came by to say goodbye.”

A look of understanding crept onto his face, and it suddenly seeming to click with him why he was here. He got to his feet a little haphazardly, duvet still tight around himself.

“I thought you might sneak off without seeing me," he admitted, looking a cross between sad and guilty.

I smiled up at him. “And miss saying goodbye to my favourite Byun? No way.”

Baekhyun’s lip curled up at this, his head tilting a little to the side. “You’ve come an awfully long way.” He wasn’t wrong about that.

I nodded, then glanced over my shoulder at Sehun before turning back to Baekhyun. “Look after him.”

Baekhyun gave a disbelieving bark. “When have I ever done otherwise?”

“I know, I know. I was just saying.”

“I’m thinking about taking Luhan under my wing officially.”

“Officially?”

He shrugged innocently. “Once you’re under the Byun wing, you’re there forever. Plus my mum really likes him.”

I chuckled quietly. “I’m glad I got to meet you,” I told him.

A soft smile graced his lips. “You too.” He nodded over my shoulder to where Sehun was standing. “He mellowed out since meeting you.”

Peeking back at Sehun, I saw him roll his eyes at his friend's words. “I should go,” I said, stretching my arms out for a hug. Baekhyun responded by throwing open his duvet, revealing a pair of boxers and plain shirt. He took a step closer to me and threw the duvet around me before I could back away, cocooning us together in an envelope of warmth.

“Don’t stay gone too long,” he murmured into my ear, quiet enough for only me to hear. “He’ll miss you a lot and I don’t want to deal with his pining for too long.”

“He won’t be that bad.”

Baekhyun leaned back and gave me a sceptical glance. “You have no idea. He’ll probably move into a retirement village or something and just hang out with all the other lonely people. Do you really think I’ve got time to visit him there every day?”

“Luhan said he can keep living in the apartment, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

“Who said that? Luhan?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he said it this morning.”

Baekhyun smiled rather proudly. “By the time you come back those two will be singing and dancing around a campfire.”

I thought that he was exaggerating hugely, since I doubted Luhan would ever either sleep outside or near to a flame, but I really did hope they would be able to get on with one another.

“I can hear you, you know,” Sehun interrupted. “And I’m obviously not going to move into a retirement home. Don't be so ridiculous.”

Baekhyun and I peeked around at him. “We’ll see if you’re still saying that in a month,” Baekhyun retorted, shaking his head as if Sehun was delusional about the state he would find himself in.

Sehun raised an eyebrow, then looked to me. “If you two are finished fondling ea