As soon as Kyungsoo woke up he groaned, the pain coming full force. He managed to get out of bed, albeit slowly, and approach the full length mirror in his room. He was already showcasing a few black and blue marks and more than one red splotch on his body – courtesy of a few hours the night before with Baekhyun. He mentally cursed himself for thinking that rough was a good idea now that he had to pay the price. Then it occurred to him that Baekhyun probably had a few bruises and welts as well, which made it all worth it. Who would have thought the two of them together could be so deliciously twisted?

It was Sunday morning and Kyungsoo had absolutely nothing to do for the entire day. Baekhyun was busy with a family event, which meant spending time with him was out. That left his brothers, Chanyeol, Jongdae, or Yixing. He sighed, suddenly wishing he had a larger circle of friends.

He made the decision that he would start with the least annoying person and hope they were not busy. If all else failed he could stay home and watch movies. He had a deep desire to re-watch Dr. Strangelove of late, his freshly ordered copy sitting next to his TV. And if everything failed he could get some work done, but that was a last resort. An absolute last resort.

***

Jongdae and Suho had slept together. Well, slept – in that they fell asleep next to each other. They hadn’t actually slept slept together, because that would have been too fast, too soon. Jongdae woke up promptly at six in the morning, his internal clock making it impossible to sleep any later.

Suho was awake barely a minute later. It was funny how well they matched in some things but were complete opposites in others.

“Morning sunshine.” Jongdae grinned down at Suho, who was quite the sight. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his button down shirt or tuxedo pants before going to bed. After more than a few glasses of wine he had gotten home on the arm of an equally giggly and buzzed up Jongdae. They had fallen asleep after making some ramyun and pulling out Suho’s anime collection for some serious discussion, neither bothering to change.

“Morning.” Suho sat up, brushing his hair away from his eyes “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yep.” Jongdae leaned over and kissed Suho’s cheek “Did you?”

“Never better.” Suho flashed a cheesy smile that had Jongdae rolling his eyes.

“What do you want to do today?”

“I thought maybe we could go cheer Minseok hyung up. Take him to get coffee or something.” Suho suggested. It wasn’t hard to figure out why his older brother had left the gala the night before. Luhan’s Mother and some giant man had shown up, said a few words to Suho’s Mother and Father, and left. The only good thing about the visit was that they paid the per plate fee, which went to charity.

Suho and the rest of the bunch had guessed Minseok had probably met the woman before he had left the event. Chanyeol had wanted to go over to Minseok’s house last night and check up on him until Ji Hyo told him not to – to give him some space. But now it was the day after, Suho figured his older brother could use some cheering up by now.

Jongdae agreed readily “We should. I hate thinking about hyung being all alone and depressed.”

Suho thanked Jongdae, but he knew he didn’t really have to. Jongdae loved Minseok like he was his own brother. That was the nice thing about Jongdae, he fit into the picture so well.

***

The sun was streaming in the bedroom window. Luhan liked the morning, liked the thought of a new day. He greeted this morning with a smile on his face, and a sleeping Minseok in his arms. They had slept through the night – Luhan had a feeling they had a lot to talk about when both of them were awake. But for now all was quiet save the light sound of Minseok snoring (which Luhan found adorable).

He watched Minseok sleep for a while, appreciating the way he looked so peaceful as he rested. Luhan tried not to consider what could potentially come next, because there was a chance Minseok might wake up and regret everything. There was the problem of Luhan’s family as well (not to mention what Minseok’s family might think of the situation).

Luhan knew his Mother would be enraged if she learned he had been with Minseok the night before. She had made it her mission to see him engaged to Kris, the son of a business partner. On top of that was her hatred of the Kang family; there was no way she would willingly see her only son married to a Kang. Which meant Luhan had a lot of things to consider, because being with Minseok meant not being with his family.

Five years ago, three years ago, Luhan would have chosen Minseok over his parents easily. He had told Minseok that more than once. But that was before he had gone back to Beijing, before he had seen that his parents had some sort of humanity- that they cared about him. The hurt had run deep on both sides and three years with his parents had brought some closure. Yet he didn’t want to make the choice – love or his family. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince them somehow.

Luhan sighed, feeling his eyes getting heavy he decided he could sleep on it. Soon his own snoring matched Minseok’s, both men deep in sleep.

***

Gary and Ji Hyo were armed and ready. Three Americanos, an assortment of donuts, and all of the parental love they could muster were at their disposal. On the elevator ride up to Minseok’s apartment they tried to take sips of their coffee, managing to spill more than a drop.

“Oppa you are so clumsy.” Ji Hyo had teased, just as she managed to spill her own drink.

Gary laughed at his wife as the elevator doors opened. They alighted the lift and stopped. Their second and third sons were standing in the hall, alongside Jongdae.

“Hey kids! Looks like we all had the same idea.” Gary approached his sons with a smile “Did you guys just get here?”

“Hi Mom, Dad.” The Kang brothers greeted, Jongdae bowed respectfully.

“We just got here, we thought Minseok hyung might need some cheering up.” Suho explained.

“Did you call him first?” Ji Hyo asked. It was her intent to surprise her son, she knew better than to have called and asked for permission to visit. When her eldest son was upset he tended to shut himself off from everyone, there was no way he would have agreed to their visit. Her two sons had the same inclination because they both explained they hadn’t called first.

“Good, let’s make it a surprise then.” Ji Hyo winked mischievously before approaching the key pad. She knew her son’s entry code by heart – all of her sons told their Mother the pass codes to their apartments (well, except for Sehun who had yet to explain why he moved half his stuff out but still slept at their house) because she expected them to. And they had no reason not to.

With a beep the door clicked open, letting the five unexpected visitors inside.

***

Someone jabbing his side repeatedly - that is what woke Minseok up. He groaned, still half asleep.

“What is it Luhan?” Minseok asked, only bothering to flutter his eyes open after he had asked the question.

He noticed that Luhan was sitting with the sheets pulled up to his chin, elbowing Minseok. His eyes were wide.

“What’s wrong?” Minseok asked, sitting up he let the sheets fall to his waist.

Minseok let his eyes travel to where Luhan was staring in terror. There, packed neatly into the doorway to his room (part of them half standing in his bedroom amidst the tornado of strewn clothing) were his two brothers, his parents, and Jongdae.

Minseok screamed. He screamed like a little girl.

***

Sehun was almost one hundred percent certain he was going insane. He had barely slept the night before because Tao had barely slept the night before. Last night, after dropping his “date” off at the apartment building, pretending to leave, and then subsequently slinking back inside to his stalker headquarters he patiently waited for Tao to turn his lights off and go to bed. But Tao didn’t go to bed.  He sang trot songs, he called someone (stupid wall for muffling sound – Sehun was considering how easy it might be to drill a hole so he could actually hear through the thing). And he was still awake.

Sehun made coffee but dumped it out before he tasted it. He didn’t trust the water here, it was probably tainted. To pass time he decided to make a list of all of the reasons Tao was way hotter now than he was three years ago. Then he tore the list up because only a crazy obsessed person would make a list like that.

Around seven in the morning Sehun had enough. He put on his coat, his favorite pair of sunglasses, and a determined but so-not-crazy expression and left his apartment. He approached Tao’s door and knocked loudly.

It took Tao a lot longer than it should have to answer the door and when he did Sehun was pissed.

“Hunah? What are you doing here?” Tao asked. It was pretty clear that Tao had just woken up.

“You were sleeping? You were SLEEPING?” Sehun responded, his voice much louder than he wanted it to be.

“Yeah, of course I was. Why? What’s up?” Tao held the door open so Sehun could step inside.

Sehun slinked inside, his fists still balled up against his sides. So Tao had fallen asleep with the lights on? With music playing? Who did that?!

“Is everything okay? You look upset?” Tao shut the door and walked behind Sehun, pretty much herding him to the couch. Sehun flopped down, dejected. “Are you sick or something?”

“No, no. I am not sick. Not at all.” Sehun muttered.

“Well that’s good. If you were sick I was going to offer up one of my grandma’s home remedies. It is amazing what you can do with fish intestines.” Tao sat down next to Sehun, moving his sketch pad aside.

“Tao, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you have some kind of pla-“Before Sehun could finish his question, which he probably should not have finished any way (because it went something along the lines of “Do you have a plan to torture me? See me go insane? Huh? Is this a game to you? IS THIS A GAME SON!?” -which sounded far too crazy when Sehun considered it later on) Tao’s phone rang.

“Oh, sorry, I should see who it is. Hold tight.” Tao stood up and retrieved his phone from the small table in the corner of the room. Sehun watched as Tao checked who it was, his expression immediately growing dark. “Just a second, Hun-ah.”

Tao answered the phone with a firm greeting. He moved out of the room, apparently whoever was calling him required privacy.

Sehun had nothing left to lose since his sanity was pretty much gone already so he crept towards the hallway to listen.

“I don’t care if you are in town.”

“No, I don’t want to meet up.”

“Listen, if you had an ounce of intelligence in that brain of yours you would know how much I do not want to see you right now.”

“Kris, I am over you. Completely over you so stop calling. Bye”

Sehun rushed back to the couch, barely sitting down before Tao came back into the room, throwing his phone down on the table a little too hard.

“Bad phone call?” Sehun asked, trying to act innocent.

“Uh, kind of.”

Sehun didn’t like the “kind of” response.  Kris - that must be Tao’s ex-boyfriend. Sehun hated the name Kris. He hadn’t met anyone by that name before but now he hated it. Stupid Kris with his stupid face and his stupid dating Tao.

“So what were you saying before?” Tao sat back down.

“Oh..um” Sehun was past accusing Tao of torturing him so now he had to think of something else to say. Sehun was never the most creative person in the world so failed miserably “What do you think of- um…uh” He spotted a small rock garden on the corner table “of rocks?”

“Of rocks?” Tao looked confused “Well I never really considered it. I guess I like them.”

“Oh, well that’s good.” Sehun looked around the room, his lack of sleep and his delusions pushing him further into madness “Can I sleep on your couch?”

“Uh, I guess so. Why do you need to sleep on my couch?” Tao was thoroughly confused now.

Sehun couldn’t tell Tao he was too tired to properly stalk him at the moment (so he wanted to crash at his place so Tao couldn’t leave without him knowing) but instead he mumbled “Your couch feels really comfortable and it smells like flowers.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I have to leave in around noon for a fashion shoot but you are welcome to stay.”

Sehun nodded dumbly. Tao retrieved a pillow and blanket from the cupboard in the hall before telling Sehun he was going back to bed himself. Sehun told him goodnight, then plopped down. The couch was seriously not the most comfortable thing and it definitely did not smell like flowers.

Sehun stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before he fell asleep from pure exhaustion. He was so tired he didn’t notice Tao hanging back, watching him from the hallway, a devilish grin on his face.

***

Minseok and Luhan dressed in a hurry, neither saying much more than a few swear words and “It will be okay.” They left the bedroom together, both looking at the floor as they made their way to the living room.

Minseok knew that all five of them would still be there, because that was just how his family was.

“Luhan, what a pleasant surprise!” Gary was the first one to greet them and he did so boisterously (with a very awkward clap on Luhan’s back, sending the thin Chinese man forward a few steps).

“It is nice to see you two getting along!” Ji Hyo gushed.

Minseok groaned internally. Only his parents would walk in on him and his ex-boyfriend in bed together then hang around to hand out awkward congratulations. Sometimes he hated his family.

“Hyung…are you okay?” Suho asked, apparently the only normal one of the lot. Kyungsoo didn’t say a word, he was too busy flipping through the Age of Empires coffee table book Minseok had on his table. Jongdae, meanwhile, just looked embarrassed about the whole situation and was engrossed in checking his phone.

“Uh, yeah. Hey, Luhan and I have some things to talk about so if you guys wouldn’t mind-“

“Sure, we can all go to breakfast together!” Gary practically shouted “We brought coffee but you can warm that up later. It looks like you two need to get ready, but you can always shower later, we don’t mind if you guys look a little rough around the edges.”

“Seriously?” Minseok looked at his parents, who wore twin expressions of glee. “Leave. Now!”

“Son, you don’t have to raise your voice, we were just trying to welcome your friend.” Ji Hyo smiled warmly.

“GET OUT!”

The five unwelcome visitors took the hint – well, the shout – and left the apartment. Minseok shut the door after them, leaning against it he sunk to the floor. Luhan stood awkwardly at the end of the hallway.

“Sorry.” Luhan said quietly “I didn’t know what to do when they walked in.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Minseok stood up “They are just soooo weird.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Not that I have any room to talk.”

Minseok walked back towards the living room. Now came the part he didn’t want to face but had to. It was time to figure some things out. “Is now good?”

Luhan nodded. He knew what Minseok was referring to. They sat down across from each other.

“So what do we do now? What are we?” Luhan asked, hesitation clear in his voice.

“What do you want us to be?” Minseok countered, leaning back in his chair. He knew what he wanted them to be, but everything was still hazy in terms of if that was a possibility.

“Minseok…”

“Was it just last night then?” Minseok felt the hot tears start to sting the corner of his eyes.

“No! That isn’t what I meant.” Luhan could see Minseok tear up and it made him tear up too “My parents, they aren’t going to like this.”

“I figured as much.” Minseok sighed heavily “They are probably going to have a way more normal reaction than my parents.”

Luhan laughed a little at this, Minseok laughed too. “This is complicated Min, you know that, I know that.”

“Do you want to be together?” Minseok wanted to stop time at that moment, because he was afraid to hear the answer.

“I think I do. But it is so complicated still…we didn’t end well before. And my family..” Luhan answered slowly, it hurt but it was the truth.

“Luhan, will you go out with me? On a few dates I mean..” Minseok really dreaded the response, but he shouldn’t have.

“Only if you go on a few dates with me.” Luhan smiled.

Minseok nodded.

“We will figure this out, I promise.” Luhan stood up, walking across the room he sat down next to Minseok and took his hand in his “And can I say we got off to an amazing start?” Luhan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“You are still a ert, aren’t you?” Minseok laughed.

“Once a ert always a ert dear.” Luhan leaned over, planting a kiss on Minseok’s mouth.

-----------------------

a/n- Baeksoo got it on (sorry, I at writing already – not about to touch their weird hate- with a ten foot pole, as dirty as that sounds), Xiuhan talked (d’aww they want it to work but there is so much in their path yet *cough Lu’s family cough*) and Taohun are, um, Taohun (something be going on here, more to come). And someone yet again walks in on a Luhan. Seriously Lu needs to put some clothes on! Ha     ha          ha *do I have a problem or*

Hope you liked the update! Thanks as always for reading, subbing, and voting. I never thought this story would have as many subs as it does, I think you so much for that! Please leave me feedback in the comments section, it really helps. Oh, and can someone give me love for that Shower Later reference?! I tried! Huh? Kind of clever, huh? *wiggles eyebrows* <3