The film had long passed while Myungsoo and Sera continued to talk. Chanyeol had replaced the film with another horror, and everyone sat around to begin the next film, which Sera was glad to be hardly watching; it was scarier than the first, and she hated it.

Myungsoo seemed to have noticed her face paling a little at the choice of movie. “I see you’re not all grown up then? You’re still scared of horror films,” he teased.

“Ja, the last time we watched one of those, we were twelve, a perfect age to be terrified.”

“And we never watched another one.”

“It gave me a bad experience. Hyomi’s forced me to watch one though; that’s the only reason I’m somewhat okay now,” she explained.

“About Hyomi, is she obsessed with Woohyun?”

“He’s probably her bias. Wait no, he’s definitely her bias. The minute I walked in the door she was squealing to me about it,” Sera giggled.

Silence came over the two friends as they sat for a few seconds, with Myungsoo watching the film and contemplating what to say, and Sera glancing her eyes around the room, looking at her friends who had spaced themselves around different areas in the room. Without realising it, her eyes suddenly swung to Sehun, who looked as if he wasn’t interested in the film at all. Luhan was sat beside him, the two boys occasionally whispering to each other every once in a while, though still not watching the film when they weren’t conversing. After brushing their conversation off as just about the film, her eyes carried on scanning around the room: Tao’s head was leaning into Kris’ chest, assumingly crying. She also saw her brother; Baekhyun’s head on his shoulder as the two watched the film with ease, not even jumping or flinching. A few feet away from them, she saw Lay, Suho, Chen, Xiumin and Kyungsoo in a sort of five way sleeping arrangement: Chen’s head was in Xiumin’s lap, while the latter had his head rested on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Lay had put himself in Suho’s lap, which honestly didn’t look comfortable for the leader, and Suho leaned a little on Kyungsoo for extra support. It was all rather cute actually. Her eyes eventually found Hyomi, snuggled into Kai’s chest as she watched the film, while her boyfriend conversed with Woohyun and Hoya, only half watching it.

After observing everyone, she turned her head back towards to Myungsoo, to find his eyes on her already.

“Sera-ah, do you have a boyfriend?” He inquired, turning to look straight ahead as he said it.

Her face and body suddenly felt flustered at his sudden yet simple question. “N-No,” she coughed. “Uh, no I don’t.”

“Really?”

“Why, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Me? Nope. Being an idol and stuff, I don’t have the time-” he stopped, and turned to her, leaning in so far that she almost thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. “Or maybe I was just waiting for the right girl to come back,” he breathed.

He pulled away from her slowly, still locking his eyes with hers and observing her reaction to his statement. “W-Who’s that?” She half stuttered.

He gave out what sounded like a ‘tsk’ sound before chuckling and turning away from her. “I think you know the answer, you’re just choosing not to say it,” he answered.

“N-No, it’s not like that. I-” He looked at her, eyes not tearing away or blinking as he began leaning forward again. She couldn’t split her gaze or mind from him as his eyes switched their focus to her lips, calm and relaxed, still not blinking. They inched closer and closer together, their lips centimeters apart when a shout hit both their ears, and they sprang apart.

Tao had let out a loud cry that swooped around the room so fast that within seconds of it everyone was glaring at him for interrupting their peace.

“S-Sorry,” Tao stuttered. “See this is why I don’t watch horror films!” He exclaimed, causing half the room to erupt in a half silent laughter.

Sera immediately felt her face warm as she realised what she was about to do before the screaming came, and looked away from everyone, including the boy beside her. A slight smile crossed his features as he turned away from her, chuckling slightly to himself about her shy reaction. Little did they know, a boy across the room had been discreetly watching them both before and after the almost kiss, silently cursing to himself under his breath.

“Why? Why her?” Sehun muttered.

--

“Ja, stop laughing! Why are you laughing?!” She hit his arm, finally turning towards him and noticing the smirk on his face.

“You look nervous, for the second time you ever have been with me,” he observed.

Her hands instantly rose to her cheeks to feel the warmth that had overcome them in Myungsoo’s presence. She couldn’t deny he was right; never in their nine years since meeting had she ever been nervous around him, except once, and she had slightly the same feelings then as she did now, the probable reason for her nervousness being so evident again.

“I-I’m not nervous!” She insisted, slapping his arm in an attempt to get the absurd thought (that wasn’t so absurd, she realised) out of his head.

He shook his head in defeat, but the matter was seemingly forgotten between them, as both continued to talk about their (other) childhood memories together, ones that had not left their memories no matter what, despite their years apart.

A weight fell onto Sera’s head when five minutes of silence had passed. Carefully, she looked to the side, seeing a sleeping Myungsoo lolled onto her shoulder, his eyes lightly shut and his breathing heavy. She smiled as she recalled all the times he used to do this in their early life when he stayed over at her house, despite being a year older than her.

She instinctively reached over to retrieve a blanket, lay it on top of him and move his head from her shoulder to a nearby pillow. She didn’t move him because she didn’t want him there, in fact, she liked his presence being with her again, he always made her relaxed and happy no matter what he did, but she didn’t want him to be uncomfortable.

~~

“Enjoying the by far-ended movie?” Baekhyun inquired as he sat beside her, scaring her half to death and causing her to swear a little under her breath as she tore her eyes away from the blank screen.

“Jesus Christ, Baekhyun, don’t do that. I thought you were with Chanyeol,” she gasped, holding a hand over her chest to calm herself down. From the parts she did watch, the movies had freaked her out more than she let on, so she wasn’t mentally prepared for people sneaking up on her.

“The boring idiot fell asleep,” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “We’re the only ones awake.”

Sera’s eyes glanced around the room, and she immediately realised that he was right. Everyone had either fallen asleep on a mattress or each other, and even the five way sleeping arrangement boys had fallen asleep in their individual uncomfortable positions, and Sera wondered how they could sleep like that.

Even Hyomi, who was an allnighter person at best, was now in Kai’s arms asleep on his chest. Luhan and Sehun had also fallen asleep, their heads acting as each other’s support, and Sera only realised she was observing Sehun until it was too late. He’s actually kind of cute she thought.

“Thinking about Sehun?” Baekhyun questioned.

“No way!” She whispered sharply. “But keep your voice down, alright? Someone could still be awake, and I don’t want anyone thinking I have anything to do with him except for our usual arguments.”

Baekhyun scoffed. “Doubt someone would be awake. I’m always the last one to fall asleep in the dorm; they’re all such lazy bastards!” He yelled the last word, and, proving his statement correct, none of the exo members even stirred, and neither did the guests. “I think we’ll be fine,” he concluded.

“So, what’s the reason for you being awake last, then?”

“Because I,” he began. “Am a playful puppy. And puppies don’t fall asleep-”

“Puppies do slee-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he dramatically answered, putting a hand in front of her face before flashing his signature smile and laughing. “I’m the leader of the beagle line and I make the decisions on how puppies behave,” he said as straight-faced as he could.

“Seriously, why? Me and Hyomi hardly ever sleep, and she’s gone and I’m on my way out.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I guess I do a lot of thinking, like you for the past few hours.”

“Oh my god it’s four am!” She almost shouted, causing Myungsoo on the other side of her to stir a little in his sleep, but after running her hands through his hair a few times, he finally settled.

“Yep,” Baekhyun nodded.

For the hours after the film had finished, according to Baekhyun, she’d simply sat there staring ahead. She knew she’d been thinking, she just didn’t realise how long for.

“I’m going to make tea,” Baekhyun stretched his arms and stood up. “Want some?”

When she nodded to answer him, he quietly left for the kitchen, being careful not to step on any of his bandmates along the way.

“Can we talk?” A voice whispered, scaring her for the second time in only five minutes. She turned to see Luhan, completely wide awake, as if he hadn’t slept at all, and her mind immediately wandered to if he had heard what Baekhyun had said about Sehun or not.

She nodded a little blankly, inviting him to sit in the space next to her left vacant by Baekhyun’s departure. Realising Sehun was still leaning on him, Luhan moved the younger boy’s head to lean on the back of the sofa, and proceeded to shuffle over to the girl.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“Forgive me for prying, but, uh, what exactly are you and Myungsoo?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Tell me everything.”

“Well, be prepared because this is a long story,” she laughed. “Okay…” she proceeded on to tell the brief story on how she and Myungsoo met, leading along through their friendship of three years until one day changed everything.

13th March 2007

That day was Myungsoo’s 13th birthday. A party had been held at his house with all his friends and family, though they had all been shooed out by his mother around 5pm.

Sera was the last to leave, as she always had been during their three year long friendship that never ceased to exist. However, she never outstayed her welcome, even though she felt like it sometimes, but both Myungsoo and his mother firmly assured that she never was a bother. Their families had become quite close through their friendship- well, she’d become closer to his family, he barely saw her mother; but then again, neither did she. Chanyeol wasn’t really bothered if she hung around with him, he’d met Myungsoo a few times and had no problem with him.

The two friends were walking home at seven, the sky already beginning to darken as time passed by. Sera lived around three streets away from the boy, so it wasn’t hard to walk home by herself, but he insisted; besides, there was something he wanted to ask her anyway.

“Sera?”

“Yeah?” She was playing with her hands, hardly looking up at him when he said her name. For the first time, with him, Park Sera actually looked nervous.

“Because it’s my birthday-” he was cut off. A rumbling sound echoed through the now almost black sky, until they were soaked in a downpour of rain. His and her hair was instantly wet through within the first few seconds, their dark brown hair turning black as the water hit it.

“We should go!” She shouted over the rain, already turning to leave but he pulled her back.

“Sera, because it’s my birthday, will you do something for me? Or rather, can I ask you something?” He asked, raindrops sliding off of his long eyelashes and down to his lips.

“Of course,” she answered. “What is it?”

“Can I- Can I k-kiss you?”

Her eyes widened. “W-Why would you want to kiss me?”

“Isn’t it as obvious as I thought?” He stifled a slight laugh by biting his lip, which didn’t help the problems that Sera’s brain was experiencing. Her heart beated rapidly in her chest and her face tried to turn warm, but it was unseen due to the cold rain sliding down both their cheeks.

“I’m sorry if you don’t know, feel the same way, about all this crap. It’s just, I can’t stop thinking about you, ever.  I know this might ruin our friendship, but it’s driving me crazy. You’re driving me crazy-”

“Yes,” she said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“Yes. You c-can kiss me,” she stated.

His eyes lit up as he quickly prepared himself. He leaned down towards her, closing his eyes in the process while she did the same, a nervous hitch in her breathing escaping . Their lips met unexpectedly when he quickened the rate he was leaning down at and kissed her before she was ready. It startled her a little but she eventually relaxed into him, continuing the kiss while the rain pounded down onto their heads. She never thought he’d confess, she thought she’d be the one to do it first. It was like a drama, she should have expected this; they would develop feelings. A thirteen year old boy and twelve year old girl, titled by the name of best friends, were always going to end up liking each other. And now she was here, kissing him, she realised all those scenarios that played around in her head, she wanted them to be true.

He pulled away first, opening his eyes, breathless, the same as her. A giggle escaped her lips as she hugged him tight, tighter than she ever had before, and it was then he knew, he knew his feelings were reciprocated. He could always tell what she was feeling, she made it obvious, but this, how did he not know until now? He thought it may be because he was too caught up in his own feelings to notice hers, or maybe she wasn’t as much of a bad liar as he thought she was.

“I like you, Sera. A lot.”

“I like you too, Myungsoo,” she whispered.

“It was a typical twelve/thirteen year olds confession. Cheesy, not very well done. But it was my first kiss, it was important I guess, so yeah,” she finished the part of her story.

“So, you and him.. You’re- You’re a thing?” Luhan asked hesitantly.

“No, not anymore,” she said, almost sounding sad about it. “We dated for about a year, but then he moved away, but he said he’d come back for me. He told me tonight that he’d moved back two years after he left, to become a trainee at Woolim, and he came to our old house to find me, but we’d already moved here.”

“Ah, I see,” Luhan answered nodding. There was silence for a moment, before he had another question. “Can I ask one more thing?” He held up one finger, pleading.

She nodded. “Of course.”

“What’s going on with you and Sehun?”

“Did he tell you what he did?” He nodded. “I told him to forget it.”

“Why?”

“I can’t be like that with him. I don’t hate him, I never did, and I probably never will. I don’t have those feelings for him, but I felt as if that kiss changed something,” she whispered as she fiddled with the edge of her t-shirt.

“What did it change?”

She laughed and bit her lip. “I don’t have the urge to hit him in the face anymore?”

Luhan laughed too. “I suppose that could be a change, anything else?”

“I-I don’t know, but it definitely did something.”

“Things might’ve just changed because he apologised and explained why he did what he used to do. It’s a crap explanation and probably doesn’t explain your feelings, but it’s the only thing I’ve got.”

“You might be right,” she agreed. “It’s just made things awkward that’s all.”

Luhan sighed; he knew the truth about Sehun, and he knew Sera was probably holding something back, but he didn’t say anything more about that, seen as Sehun would probably kill him, and Sera looked quite miserable about it at that time.

“Just do what you think is right,” Luhan murmured, shuffling back into his old position with Sehun just as Baekhyun entered the room again.

Switching his eyes from Luhan to Sera, he questioned with his eyes what was going on, but she simply shook her head and waved her hand, signifying she’d talk about it later with him.

“Here you go,” he whispered as he passed the mug to her before he sat on the mattress. She sipped it cautiously, careful not to burn herself, as she looked straight ahead, thinking.

A little while later, after Sera had finished her tea and her mug was empty, Baekhyun began to shift uncomfortably beside her. She knew he obviously had something to say, so she turned to him with her eyebrow raised. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he answered almost too quickly. “The tea’s made me a little tired, I might get some sleep,” he lied. “Will you be okay?”

Sera nodded slightly; it was obvious he was hiding something, but she was too tired to investigate further.

With a slight smile from him, he shuffled down to lie on a nearby pillow, seemingly to instantly fall asleep. Little did Sera know, Byun Baekhyun was a very good actor. She reached over him to grab his cup that she assumed would be empty, but surprisingly, it was almost untouched. She silently cursed to him under her breath for lying to her, but settled down nonetheless after she’d placed the mugs on a nearby table.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyes fluttered closed, and she was instantly asleep.