Kai wakes up to someone calling out his name and poking him on his cheek. He opens his eyes to see you leaning over him. “Wake up,” you say. Kai blinks owlishly, closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep.

“Oh my God,” you say. “Kai. Come on. Wake up.”

“What is it?” he mumbles, turning onto the side. You grab his shoulder and try to pull him back in, but it’s almost impossible, and you end up practically wrestling him. You pull him until he’s on his back, and he begins to snore.

“Jesus. Wake up,” you say. You look at the bedside table lamp and use your magic to turn it on; light fills the room. “Kai. Come on. I have a surprise.”

He mumbles something in his sleep. You feel a slight, unpleasant shiver run down your spine; it’s barely there, but it still shows after you used magic. You grab at his shoulders and pull him upwards, until he’s sitting up, and his head tilts to the side as he startles awake.

“Hello,” you say, patting him on the cheek. “Stand up.”

Kai grunts, closes his eyes and his brows crease. He looks like a sleepy baby, and his hair is all over the place. You can feel him go numb in your arms and you yelp when he starts to tilt back onto the bed; you straddle him to keep him upright. You hug him in result. You yelp again, using your muscles to heave him up. “You’re heavy.”

Kai swings his arms to the sides and up, and traps you in an embrace. His cheek lands on your shoulder, and he lets out a tiny snore; you curse him and his sleepiness. It’s freaking hard to wake him up, unless you say that it’s an emergency; he seems to wake up very fast then. You hate to use it on him, though; it always means adrenaline and worry.

“Stand up, you big bear,” you say, forcing him to tilt towards the edge of the bed. You somehow manage to slide off the mattress, and you take Kai with you.

He moves on auto-pilot. He gets out of bed, dragging his duvet with himself, and once he’s standing on his feet, with you in front of him, he places his head on your shoulder, blinking sleepily.

“Wake uuup,” you say with a sigh. “I’m taking you somewhere nice.”

Kai looks at the clock and is very confused at first. Suddenly, you leave his side, and he almost falls flat onto his . He looks around, observes you as you go to his wardrobe and pull out some clothes.

“What are we doing so early?” he asks and yawns. You come back with some clothes. He still looks like he’s half sleeping.

“It’s seven am, Kai, not that early,” you mutter, taking his pajama t-shirt off of him. He doesn’t comply, he even raises his arms in confusion, acting like a toddler who just woke up and is used to someone dressing him up.

“School doesn’t start in an hour,” he mumbles. “That’s a blouse,” he adds, pointing at a black pullover you’re trying to squish him into. You have some trouble getting his head through the hole, and it doesn’t help that Kai doesn’t move even a little (except for the occasional tilts to the sides as he falls asleep standing).

“We finished school, Kai,” you say, giggling. Once the pullover is on, you look down to see that he slept in his socks. “Do you need to change your socks?”

He shakes his head, rubs his face. “What are you doing,” he says.

“You forgot your question mark,” you tell him, taking his hand and pulling him towards the door. “It’s a surprise.”

Choco is waiting outside the room, and he barks happily when he sees Kai. The boy jumps in surprise, rubs his hand through his face again, and lets the dog at his fingers when you go down the corridor and then down the stairs. You sit Kai down on the last step, tell him to wait.

You come back with his shoes. Choco is sitting next to Kai, his head on Kai’s lap, and Kai is absent-mindedly scratching the dog’s head. His eyes are half-lidded and puffy, and his hair is still a mess. You think that’s one of your favorite versions of his.

“Shoes,” you say. “Where’s your beanie?”

Kai looks up at you sincerely confused. He opens his mouth and doesn’t make a sound for the next ten seconds.

“My what?” he whispers.

“Beanie,” you reply, smiling. You find him hilarious after waking up; he’s a mess, he doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not, and he’s confused about everything. He once tried to eat cereal with a fork right after waking up, and he only realized his mistake halfway through the bowl.

Kai blinks once, twice. He looks at Choco, scratches him some more, then up at you. He squints.

“Beanie,” he deadpans. “My…a hat?”

“Yes, a hat, Kai,” you nod, beaming down at him. He seems lost. “Okay, you know what, put on your shoes, I’m gonna find your hat.”

You find it a minute later, thrown into a random drawer in the living room, and you come back to see Kai dozing off on the stairs. You take his hand, pull him up, and he yawns as he stands up. He looks down at you, his eyes softening. You can see that he’s a tiny bit more awake now that he’d been a minute earlier.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“We,” you reply, dragging him towards the door. “Choco! Come here!”

You exit the loft with Choco in tow and lock the door. You lead Kai down the stairs, laughing at him for not being able to stay completely balanced. Before going out, you put that beanie onto his head, successfully hiding…half of the mess his hair is. You then walk him and Choco to your jeep without saying a word. It’s still dark outside, the first rays of sun only slightly lighting up the horizon.

You put on some music during the drive, but you set it to quiet. Kai dozes off, his head propped on the window; he wraps himself in his jacket, the fur around his hood tickling his nose. He spends good twenty seconds scratching at it before you show him mercy and pull the hood away from his face. Choco is on the backseat, curiously staring at the road in front of you.

Kai doesn’t know where he’s led, and he’s not sure he’s even awake. He can feel cold air and your hand wrapped around his, and he can hear Choco’s claws scraping the ground next to him, so he feels safe enough. You drag him around the city, that much he knows. Then he has to go up some stairs, then you curse, and he looks at you to see you shaking your hand, electricity prickling at your fingers.

“Got it,” you say to him.

“Got what?” he asks, frowning. You open a door in front of him, cold air hitting him. He doesn’t get chilly, but he can still feel the cold temperature.

He takes in his surroundings, and he realizes that you’re on the roof somewhere. It’s nothing new; you go to the roofs all the time. You lead him outside, spread a blanket by the edge of the building, and you sit down on it. Kai follows. You pull out a thermos from your backpack and something that smells sweet. Kai begins to wake up even further now.

You pour him a cup of coffee and hand him a steaming bun. Choco settles behind Kai, plastering himself onto his , making him feel warmer, and Kai chews at the bun.

The sky is turning orange at the horizon, the sun rising right in front of his eyes. Beside him, you’re taking photos and munching at your own bun, and sipping coffee every now and then; warmth spreads inside him at the sight. 

“That’s a hell of a wake up call,” he mutters, dazed. You nod, taking the last photo and sending it to Sehun. Once you're done, you lock your phone and put it next to you. You look at Kai to find him staring at you. Well, more like gazing at you. You wiggle your a little, pull his arm up, and place it on top of your shoulders. Then you snuggle into his chest, wiggle around a little more until you're comfortable, and let out a satisfied sigh. Kai chuckles. It's more of a sudden puff of air that you feel on the top of your head. 

“That’s about the only thing that can actually wake you up,” you say.

“Dragging me onto a rooftop?” Kai snorts.

“You’re so pliable when you wake up. Someone might take advantage of that one day and steal all your chocolate pudding, you know. Without me around, I fear for your puddings.”

“True. I need to hire a new bodyguard, seeing as Choco would be useless.”

Choco wags his tail at the mention of his name. You settle against Kai more comfortably, supporting your entire back and weight on him. You finish your food while watching the sun rising. The air is cold, but Kai is hot, as per usual, and it doesn’t take much snuggling to make you feel warm.

“It’s so pretty,” you whisper, staring at the sky.

“The good thing is, the sun is the same no matter where you are,” Kai says. You frown, tilt your head to the side to look at him, and grin. Kai’s cheeks go a little pink.

“Out of all the cheesy things you’ve said, this one is in the top five,” you announce. “Should we wake up for the sunrise every day from now on, no matter how far apart we are?”

“Oh hell no,” Kai says, completely indignant, his eyes wide. He looks down at you, and you’re already laughing. It’s not a loud laugh, it’s the one that doesn’t quite reach your mouth and makes your belly hurt. Kai brings you closer, his other arm tightens around you, and he drags you to his front, until you’re settled in-between his crossed legs and leaning against him fully. Then he dips his head towards your ear. “No way I’m gonna wake up this early every day.”

“It’s, like, eight am!” you nearly shout. Choco barks happily and stands up to see what the commotion is about. Before you know it, his cold nose it at your cheek, and you react by whipping your head away from him. Your and Kai’s heads knock together, and Choco barks again. Kai grunts out in pain and you reach out to stop Choco from your face, but the dog has other plans – he stands up on his hind legs, placing his paws on your shoulders, and sends you and Kai doubling over.

You end up lying half on Kai, half on the ground, with Choco sniffling at you. Kai is still grunting underneath you, his arms around your torso, held there protectively.

“Oh my God, Choco,” you laugh, pawing at the dog. “Calm down. Come on. It was so romantic.”

“Dal, your elbow—oh !” Kai shouts, spazzing a little when you elbow him in the ribs. You squeal and freeze; Kai sits up, taking you with him. You create an ‘x’ sign with your bodies, and he’s holding your back like he’s about to lift you up bridal style.

Kai sends Choco a glare, his eyes flashing red for a moment. Choco whimpers and at Kai’s face, so you hide your eyes behind your hands.

“Oh no! Mature content!” you shout.

“Okay, shut up,” Kai says, laughing, and starts to tickle you. You almost knee him in the head, but nobody ends up injured in the long run. You do end up with some embarrassing hickeys covering your neck and chest, though.  

I love you and I really appreciate that you guys are supporting me after all this time. Thank you <3