Kyungsoo vaguely remembered the time when he had wished for his favorite author to script his life, turn it into a wonderful fanfiction and after forcing him through all the stupidly endearing cliches, grant him a nice happy end.
"Oh my god Chen. I didn't know you were into lesbian manga?" he heard Luhan ask from another room while he mindlessly stirred a sticky sauce in a pan.
"Baekhyun! Stop, give that- stop digging out stuff like that! I had no idea it included yuri, okay?!"
Luhan laughed and after a rapid fire of Chinese Lay chuckled, too.
Kyungsoo hardly paid them any mind, too engrossed in cooking and self-pitying himself for stupidly daring faith back then. Now that he'd gotten a taste of said cliches he wasn't sure whether it was worth the torture and possible humiliation anymore. They tasted less like the spicy-sweet coating he was currently stirring and much more like panic; sour like expired milk.
What, exaggerating? Who's exaggerating?
Certainly not Kyungsoo, for he had a date.
A date with Chanyeol.
Well, maybe it didn't include roses, suits and goodbye kisses -those would remain a part of his wistful dreams for now (besides the roses. Kyungsoo didn't want those. He had no vase, anyway)- but they'd meet up and spent a whole day together. Just the two of them.
So yeah, basically a date.
And while all the manga heroines and fanfiction leads had to fight mundane obstacles when it came to impressing their crush (besides the magical girls and anything based on supernatural AU's, obviously), Kyungsoo would just happen to have it harder. Cause, you know. Real life, apparently.
While everyone appeared to have no other concern than to look pretty and therefore went on a shopping spree with their bff to buy a new outfit -complete with unnecessarily y underwear said crush wouldn't get to see until half a year later- Kyungsoo's search for an outfit wasn't that easily solved.
"AWW. Tokyo Mew Mew? Cute, Chenchen. ing cute."
" you, Baekhyun. And that's Kyungsoo's, not mine."
Kyungsoo sighed, completely oblivious to the happenings in the other room.
Chanyeol had texted him that morning, all friendly and casual, asking whether he'd be free on Saturday.
What for?
Could it be a romantic picnic? Alright, just kidding. A trip to the zoo with Sohee where he could prove to him what a great family member he'd make? Running a few errands where he'd show Chanyeol how devoted he was, not shying away from getting his hands dirty and look all manly at the same time?
HahahahahaNO, Kyungsoo commented his own thoughts blankly.
Do Kyungsoo's first date with Chanyeol would take place in the form of a manga convention.
Alright, Kyungsoo had been to manga conventions before with Chen. It had been a while but he knew what was awaiting him. And then Chanyeol had added that he was already busy working on his last cosplay accessories with Sohee's help.
Which meant that he, too, needed a cosplay. Asap.
But which cosplay would be cheap, easy to make in such a short time span and not completely lame?
"Oooh, Kaitou Jeanne!"
No. I'd rather not, Kyungsoo thought.
"Byun Baekhyun, if you don't stop trying to embarrass me, I swear to god-"
The doorbell ran and Chen cut himself off, reluctantly skipping to the front door and opened it, barely sparing as much as a greeting before he returned to defend himself by telling Lay how he'd watched that show with Baekhyun together who'd cried MUCH more than him.
Maybe something pokemon-related? Everybody loves Pokemon, right?
"Hello Kyungsoo."
He almost dropped the ladle into the pot, holding one hand over his rapidly beating heart.
"Suho. Damn, don't do this to me."
"Why do I feel like no one particularly cares about my presence..." said one mumbled, placing a box of sweets on the only available surface not stacked with bowls full of appetizers and other dishes - the couch.
"Well, you know you've long graduated from the 'guest' status. Make yourself at home and everything." Kyungsoo said with a lopsided grin over his shoulder.
He'd decided to invite his ever so awkward step brother since he technically owed him a meal anyway for indirectly introducing him to Sehun.
Unlike everyone else he couldn't get rid of him that easily and a few minutes of silent last minute food preparation later, Suho finally voiced out what was so obviously gnawing on his mind.
"So, uh. I was going to tell you something."
Oh. Well, if that didn't sound like an awkward conversation dawning at the horizon then Kyungsoo wasn't currently contemplating to cosplay a Harry Potter character.
"Yes? If this is about my ual preferences again-"
"NO. I mean, nooo, that's not it. Look." Suho began nervously, busying himself by filling some rice into a bowl and avoiding his gaze.
"I have been in a relationship for quite some time now."
"WHAT? I mean... wow. Didn't expect that one. Congratulations." Kyungsoo trailed off quietly, in case the troublemaker duo next door would hear them and make a big fuss out of it. Suho shot him a weak smile.
"Thanks. I- I'd like to formally introduce you all, would that be alright? Like, today maybe?"
Kyungsoo blinked.
"Sure. I mean, why not? There's enough food, just call her over."
"Yeah. Awesome." Suho said with a smile so forced it made him suspicious.
"You alright?"
"Sure. Yes. I'm fine. Totally fine."
"Okaaay, then."
"Yeah. Okay."
Suho laughed nervously and Kyungsoo shot him a last suspicious look before carrying the food over to the hungry pack of wolves.

 

"Oh my god, can I marry you Soo?" Baek moaned around a piece of chicken, his eyes unfortunately closed in delight and therefore missing the disgusted frown sent his way.
"Eww, no. Just no, Baekhyun."
Lay babbled a few excited sentences in quick Chinese and Luhan nodded, swallowed a mouthful of rice and swiftly translated.
"He says your cooking is extremely great. Tastes better than anything he'd had in restaurants around Seoul. Especially since the sweet note kinda outweighs the spicy taste of the sauce."
Kyungsoo smiled gratefully, always happy to please people with his cooking.
"Thanks. It's a special honey that makes it sweet." he replied slowly. Luhan still had to translate the word honey for him.
Chen was pouting a little at the way Lay relied on Luhan instead of him but was kept busy by keeping Baekhyun from embarrassing him in front of everyone. Suho seemed flighty but also delighted by the food, silently munching on a piece of chicken.
"So... what do you do?" Baekhyun finally asked Lay who instantly turned towards him, paying his utmost attention in order to understand the foreign words.
"What do I do?" he repeated with a tilted head.
"For a living, you know. To earn money."
"Oooh."
Realization dawned on his face and he smiled brightly.
"I dance!"
"You do?! Where? A theater? Ballet, contemporary? A friend of ours does those."
This time, Luhan had to jump in and translate seeing as Baekhyun was getting eager and fell into his habit of talking a lot of nonsense.
"Hm. A little? I dance for YG. It's a company for stars?"
Baekhyun and Kyungsoo gaped at his nonchalant, friendly expression.
"YG. ing YG. You gotta be kidding. Like, the company of Bigbang? Seriously?!" Baekhyun inquired, almost forgetting about the food. Keyword being 'almost' as he almost absently shoved a spoonful of potatoes into his mouth.
"Yes, Bigbang!" Lay agreed happily, flashing them another dimpled smile as if he was surprised they knew them, "I dance for them. On stage."
This revelation was followed by a string of 'Ohmygod's from Baekhyun while even Suho connected the dots and Luhan looked up Bigbang on his phone.
“You don't know Bigbang? Jesus, Luhan. Please,” Baekhyun complained loudly, “how can you miss the hottest band we have in this country, possible the whole world? HOW?!”
“Well. I can't know all the bands.” Luhan pouted and Baekhyun dismissed him with a strict shake of his head.
“If you don't know Bigbang, you don't 'not know all the bands', you know nothing. You know NOTHING, JON SNOW!” Baekhyun yelled with an accusing finger pointed at the flinching blonde.
"You like them? You can come to a concert, if you want." Lay offered easily, still unaware over how much he'd checkmated Baekhyun's brain.
"I always get tickets. I never used them because I have no friends in Seoul. So... if you guys want to come-"
"YES. ing yes, three times YES!" Baekhyun urgently replied and Kyungsoo stopped him from crawling over the table by smacking the back of his head.
Just a sign of brotherly(!)love.
Huh, brotherly love. Love including smacks over the head.
Maybe he should cosplay Ranma 1/2.
The discussion lead to the things Lay did in his free time and it quickly went back to Luhan translating. He seemed to enjoy himself, ultimately re-telling Lay's words in first person and with all the colloquial expressions he deemed fitting.
"I'm not all that into the Korean music scene yet but I must say that I've come across a few amazing compositions so far. The national producers all have their own style and are very brave in the way they combine them, both Western and Eastern influences. Very bold." Luhan echoed, even his facial expression seemingly adapting as if he was simply stating his own opinion.
"I feel like it resembles the Korean culture a bit. It's as if they're very keen on getting credit for keeping up with the whole world while at the same time they wanna surpass it. Fashion, music, performance... everything is top-notch produced. It's really exciting to work in this field. That's why I don't regret being here even though I was very lonely at first and the language is a little hard."
At this, Luhan nodded in empathy and leaned into Lay's side, a gesture of physical comfort that was easily accepted. Maybe it was a Chinese thing. Unfortunately Chen wasn't Chinese and currently glaring daggers into an unsuspecting Luhan's shoulder.
Lay kept talking and while he'd looked rather solemn before, he was already back to a genuine smile.
"Sure, I still miss my old working colleagues. But like this, it's alright. I'm glad I've met you all and hope we'll become closer in the future. I'll work hard so as not to be a burden."
Luhan almost cried then and there (because real men proudly admitted to crying when the time was right) while Chen bombarded him with reassurances that he was no burden at all and Baekhyun was unusually quiet, watching the scene unfold.
Lay only dismissed Chen with an earnest expression, switching to broken Korean.
"No, no! It's okay, I'm serious. This time here is like a treasure to me."
Kyungsoo stilled.
Treasure.
Like a treasure.
That's it.
"THAT'S IT. ONE PIECE! I'll just do One Piece-"
The doorbell rang again and since Kyungsoo had gone by completely ignored anyway, he silently stood up and left the noisy dining table to open the door and came face to face with-
"Kris??"
It was indeed Kris, looking mildly surprised as well.
"Oh?"
"Huh?"
They dumbly looked at each other before Suho hastily skidded into the room, placing one hand on the shoulder of a baffled Kyungsoo.
"Uh. Yeah. Meet my boyfriend?" he almost squeaked and Kyungsoo's brain went short-circuited.

"WHAT."



 

*plays Bigbangs 'still alive'*
*gasp* There it is, Suho's time to shine in all his awkward glory!
And Lay's mysterious occupation is finally uncovered!
So many revelations in such a short chapter.
I'll try NOT to take a month before the next one >_<

Love,
Sugar-and-Salt