(44) IN THE PAST, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

“Baekhyun… You gotta wake up now… Hey…”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but sigh at the angelic voice in his head. The soft tone reminded him back when his Aunt used to wake him up for school in the mornings, gently shaking him until his eyes fluttered open to see her smiling back at him.

Only, he wasn't in her home, but instead in a place he’d called home for over a year now. And that could only mean one thing.

Sunny.

Her petite face and warm brown orbs made Baekhyun’s lips curve upwards automatically. Just her being there was enough to make him smile.

“Baek… Wake up, please…”

He shook his head and moved forward to grab Sunny, holding her tightly in his arms as buried his face into her hair. The smell of lavender filled his nose as she continued to struggle around. Baekhyun had just gotten her back and he wasn’t about to lose her just yet. As he pulled her closer, he could almost feel her warmth envelope around him without her even moving to hug him back.

“Baek…”

The more he thought about it, the more Baekhyun waited for the backlash that never came. Sunny wasn’t trying to push him away, nor scold him for not waking up.

Why was she waking him up in the first place?

As quickly as she’d appeared, Sunny had disappeared from Baekhyun’s arms. The light around him began to slowly fade until Baekhyun couldn’t see anything, shrouded away in the darkness that blocked his vision. It was stifling to the point where he couldn’t breathe and his lungs began to hurt until feeling a pair of arms wrap around him.

The heat was what made Baekhyun feel sick to his stomach, struggling to move around until he’d realized his eyes were closed, cutting off his access to be able to see what was causing him to suffer. It almost seemed impossible after that. Ironically enough, his eyes couldn’t adjust to the bright lights that blinded him. Baekhyun’s field of vision was blurred by a fuzzy patch of hair that tickled his lips and nose.

It had taken him a couple minutes to realize where he really was and why he felt so hot, mostly because he refused to open his eyes and buried himself into the warm pillow that laid down with him.

“Sunny…”

The name Baekhyun wanted to hear most being said by the lips of another. He pulled back to feel his back press against someone’s warm back, only realizing then and there why it was so hot for him.

With Chanyeol sleeping behind him and Kyungsoo fast asleep in front of him, the two boys held Baekhyun in a fiery death trap. Their bodies radiated an unnatural amount of body heat, more so for Chanyeol since he was literally burning up as he slept. The sweat beaded down his temple as he shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position to go back to sleep in. He could’ve woken up the two to get the couch for himself, but he’d seen some of the others asleep nearby. Their bodies were propped up against the walls and tables as they slept with their necks in uncomfortable positions.

That, and it was because he didn’t want anyone to wake up and see him in this state.

Eventually after shining his light in front of Chanyeol’s face for a while, the boy had jerked around in his sleep to the point where he’d let go of Baekhyun, giving him more air to breathe and less heat to absorb. Baekhyun smirked seeing his plan going the way he wanted it to and flipped his body around so that he and Kyungsoo faced one another.

He waved his hand around in front of the boy’s face as he tried to disturb Kyungsoo only enough so that he’d give him a little more space. This was proving to backfire more than he thought though.

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows would scrunch together as his lips curved downward into an irritated grimace, eyes still closed tightly as he snuggled even closer. His body was being constricted by Kyungsoo’s limbs as the boy wrapped his arms and legs around Baekhyun’s entire body, locking him in place to the point where he couldn’t move. It was as if he’d activated some sort of trap hidden in Kyungsoo’s subconsciousness. The more Baekhyun scooted back, the more he could feel Kyungsoo inching close and closer to him, until the both of them couldn’t move anymore.

Now that Baekhyun was trapped, he thought that it couldn’t get any worse.

But alas, Chanyeol had been attracted to the sudden warmth pressing against his own back to turn over and hug Baekhyun and Kyungsoo both like a pair of body pillows. Baekhyun could feel the heat from Chanyeol’s arm overheating his shoulder where it rested and so could Kyungsoo too. The latter shifted around in his sleep, but refused to let go of Baekhyun, merely tightening his grip around the boy in hopes that the heat would go away.

Having the life squeezed out of him while a burning heat singed his own skin was painful enough, and feeling Chanyeol’s face dig into Baekhyun’s back was enough to set him off completely. Baekhyun didn't care that the other boys were asleep anymore. He was going to put his own needs first.

It was a simple task. Baekhyun was just going to push Kyungsoo off the couch and get out of there from the space he’d made- only if he was released, that is. Kyungsoo refused to let go of him and held on as tightly as he could to prevent losing the physical link they shared. Nothing Baekhyun could do would really help in this situation either. It wasn’t like he could use his powers to trick Kyungsoo into letting go, since his illusions only worked if a person had their eyes open, much like when they were actually awake instead of asleep. He could create a bright ball of light to just shock Kyungsoo awake, but wasn’t willing to see the aftermath of what could be his precious body if Kyungsoo had decided to squeeze him any tighter.

Mustering up some spit in his mouth, Baekhyun rolled the liquid around with his tongue before swallowing it all, moistening up his dry throat to speak.

“Kyungsoo,” He wheezed, finding it hard to talk so early in the morning. “Kyungsoo, wake up.”

The latter barely stirred in his sleep and continued to snooze like Baekhyun hadn’t existed. This led him to actually shaking Kyungsoo and speaking loud enough for the other boys in the house to hear him, waking up those that slept lightly enough to be awakened by his angry hissing.

The more Baekhyun tried to wake Kyungsoo up, the more people he seemed to wake up that was anyone but Kyungsoo. Even Kris was beginning to wake up, finding the noises of him half screaming and half whispering to be a nuisance. Baekhyun was frustrated enough as is and finally just gave it all he got.

“Kyungsoo! Wake up already!” Baekhyun half screamed, pushing Kyungsoo back as the boy began to wake up.

As soon as Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered open did he see Baekhyun’s face so close up, having the strong need to move back away from him until he had ultimately fallen off the couch. Kyungsoo’s body hit the floor with a loud bang, his head mostly kissing the ground to the point where it felt like his brain rattled inside his skull.

“What the-”

“Park Chanyeol! Get your up right now!”

Baekhyun really didn’t care anymore. As he continued to scream at the boy sleeping right next to him, Chanyeol heard his shouts loud and clear, bolting out of his spot to scramble to a stand. Having fallen asleep on a couch, he wasn’t in the most comfortable place to get up on his feet at. Chanyeol stumbled around on the lumpy cushion and fell a few times, somehow managing to trip over Baekhyun’s curled up legs as he headed face first for the floor. Now Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both felt their bodies ache from sleeping so clustered together on the couch, and felt bruises beginning to form from the fall.

A breath of fresh air was all Baekhyun needed before he had calmed down again. It wasn’t enough to realize what he’d done wrong and sat up on the couch leisurely until feeling something grab his ankle. It was cold and clamped down over the limb before dragging him off the couch entirely.

All Baekhyun could see lying in wait for him was Kyungsoo. His dark eyebags and intense stare was all it took for Baekhyun to feel the terror override his system. He clawed at the back of the couch in hopes to gain some leverage to keep himself from being dragged down there, but he could only hear the fabric scratching under his nails before he went under.

“I can’t believe you broke his ankle.” Chen chortled, amused by the situation.

Baekhyun couldn’t either, though Kyungsoo could since Lay was currently healing the scratch marks that littered his face from Baekhyun’s sharp nails. After dragging him to the floor, Kyungsoo was attacked by a cat in Baekhyun’s body. He’s never felt the need to hit someone so much in his entire life and did, though he made sure not to hit Baekhyun’s face and instead aimed for his thigh.

It would leave a red mark if he hit it hard enough, maybe even leaving a bruise if he’d put a bit more power into it, but that was all unneeded once Baekhyun had fallen off the couch and right onto his ankle.

“I can’t believe you guys crammed us on one couch.” Baekhyun grumbled under his breath, looking at Suho who just shrugged.

“Chanyeol was asleep on the other couch when I’d seen him last.”

Feeling his skin be patched up like new again, Kyungsoo glared at Chanyeol who was still trying to stay low after being found out. “And the reason for clustering on one couch was?”

“I was… Lonely.” Chanyeol trails off.

A few boys couldn’t help but roll their eyes at his childish nature. The three youngest had all found Baekhyun and Kyungsoo’s shared room and ended up sleeping in there while the rest of the boys had slept in the living room.

Now that they had enough energy to stand without falling over into a comatose state, the boys had all worked together to clean up the fallen glass pieces on the floor along with anything else that could cut up their feet when they walked. It began to get hot around eight thirty when the sun had begun to rise and Baekhyun the air conditioning before anyone else had suffered from heat .

“I don’t like the air conditioner.” Chanyeol whined, grimacing the stronger the cold air began to flow out from the machine.

Chen was already turning down the temperature when Tao had come out claiming that he was hungry. Being able to turn on the lights last night when they arrived, it was obvious the place still had electricity, enabling them to whip up a quick breakfast from the items left in the kitchen. The fridge held all sorts of preserved goods that hadn’t gone bad since nobody bothered to unplug it. There was about half the bag of rice left and Suho had gotten started on preparing rice for twelve, while Kyungsoo was pulling out any meat products he could find to make a breakfast stir fry. Eventually Lay had to take over cutting the meat or else Kyungsoo would’ve minced the bacon into a big pile of mush, those two working together until the savory smell of meat filled the room. Xiumin was nice enough to whip up some scrambled eggs for the boys and breakfast was placed in large bowls that were put in the center of the dining room table, up for grabs for whoever wanted to eat first.

The smell of breakfast drifted into the rooms down the hall and both Sehun and Kai had woken up in time to make themselves a plate before everything was gone. They’d washed the dishes despite how no one was home, drying each platter and utensil before placing it back where it belonged.

If an outsider came in to see the house right now, they wouldn’t have known that the place was literally a pig stye no more than a day ago. It just looked like any other interior design, except it was missing the most important factor.

The actual people living there. And windows.

“What are we going to do now?” Kai spoke up, saying what some of the others had on their minds, though hadn’t bothered to ask.

Baekhyun had been zoning out on the couch while Kyungsoo had been cleaning the same spot for ten minutes, the two of them already having lost the will to do anything as long as Sunny was gone.

“Do we go back to the house?” Sehun asked.

Baekhyun finally came back to life as he shook his head, the sudden movement startling Luhan who hadn’t heard any thoughts coming from the latter until just then. “No. We have to find Sunny.”

“Not to be rude or anything,” Kris started off, already preparing the others for what rude thing he was about to say. “But we don’t really know this Sunny girl too well. Why do we need to find her?”

“Because.” Kyungsoo muttered.

“Because, what?” Tao rolled his eyes.

“Just because.”

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were in sync so much that it was creepy, the other boys looking at one another with the same bewildered expression before trying to figure out what they’d do now. Because Baekhyun and Kyungsoo refused to head back to the house, they had to stay within the borders of the factions. The two boys didn’t have any ideas either, rejecting any idea that was thought of while also blanking out to the point where it was like talking to a wall.

“If they can visit people… Can we go back to faction C?” Luhan piped up, though his voice still a bit on the quieter side.

Since Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were so worried about Sunny, it was only natural that Luhan too would worry about the ones that kept him off the streets after landing here. Jaehwan and Hakyeon were both strong and could probably take care of