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After a quick phone chat with a terribly sleepy Sungji, you quickly threw on some comfortable jeans and a t-shirt and grabbed your backpack, shoving your journal in the front pocket as you walk out of the house. A short bike ride later, you arrive in the front of Kai’s place. You hadn’t noticed before how closely he lived to you, and remember that the only time you’ve actually ever been here is on Exo.

You’re gripping the bike’s handle bars, straddling the seat and watching the sun slowly come up behind the roof of the house. You take a few seconds to imagine what your house looks like on Exo, and who might live there. If Kai has two places, both in the same spot and owns the two of them, does that mean you own the other house too?

Probably not, you think. Like Kai said, everything is the same, but different.

Just because this happens to be your house on Earth doesn’t mean the other one is yours. You silently pray that the house on Exo is occupied by a cute little family with little children that like to run around the front yard and hide in all the secret spots that only you know about.

From where you’re standing in the middle of the street, lights suddenly flash behind you, casting the shadow of you and your bike onto the pavement in front of you. You raise your arm and shield your eyes as you turn to see a pair of headlights staring at you, and you can hear a small voice coming from the car:

“Please tell me we’re getting coffee before this.”

You tilt your head to move away from the blinding lights and see a small arm hanging out of the window. You continue to move to the side to see that the arm is attached to an equally small shoulder; the shoulder belonging to a terribly sleepy Sungji. The bags under her eyes speak the words that she’s too tired to say, and she waves her hand carelessly as she speaks. “A big cup, please. Venta— Vento… whatever they call it.”

You laugh to yourself and ride your bike forward a bit so that you can peek through the window. “You mean Venti?” She nods sluggishly and almost slurs “Yeah, yeah” as she puts her car into drive and smoothly sails it into the driveway of the house, parking it just as Kai is exiting the house.

“I’m surprised you’re here. Sleep over everything, right?” Kai jokes as he approaches Sungji’s car. She unlocks her door and steps out of the car, moving to lean on the door handle and use it as support for her still asleep limbs. “That’s usually my motto, but as of recently, it gets cancelled out when outer-dimensional problems occur.” As you approach the car, Kai looks up and smiles, and says loudly, “I made coffee.” Sungji lifts herself back up from the car door with a sudden burst of energy and slams it, rushing to the house door and saying a short “God bless you” as she runs past Kai and into the house.

You smile softly as Sungji leaves no trail behind her, and your eyes follow her figure as the door slams behind her, leaving you and Kai alone outside. You both stand comfortably in front of each other, silence filling up the space in between you. Kai is standing with his hands by his side, one of his hands playing with the edge of his pant pocket and the other tapping on his hip.

Your eyes move up to his and you can see the tiredness coming out of every pore in his face. He looks surprisingly good for having just woke up and you can’t help but stare at him.

Fatigue isn’t the only thing on his face that you see, though.

You can see his eyebrows as they’re scrunched together, probably because he’s still worried. His phone call from the morning set off a silent alarm in your brain, and you sympathize. You, of all people, are the only who actually can, anyway. “You’ll have permanent wrinkles if you keep making that face.” You raise one of your hands and lightly run your thumb in between his eyebrows, letting your fingers linger on his face. He blinks rapidly at you and you watch as his cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Once you lower your hand, he suddenly takes a step closer to you. He smiles a cheeky smile and you laugh and lightly push his shoulder. “You did that on purpose.” He nods matter-of-factly and smirks, tilting his head at you. “I might have, but I don’t hear you complaining, so sorry not sorry.”

He moves his hand forward and grasps yours, your fingers softly draping over his skin.

You both stand there, hand in hand, and he looks you in the eyes. There he is again, pupils digging deeper and deeper into your soul and all you can do is breathe. Or at least try to. The worried look he initially had has been replaced by a now curious grin as his face seemingly moves closer to yours.

Your heartbeat quickens with every centimeter he gets closer, and your eyes flick down to look at his mouth. He’s breathing softly and his lips are parted, and you’re almost hyperventilating.

Closer and closer he gets and when you’re finally sure you can feel his breath against your cheeks, you see the front door of the house swing open in your peripheral vision, and a tall, lanky figure stands in the doorway.

“Grooooossss,” it says in deep vibrations.

Kai backs up quickly, but not quick enough, as the figure runs up to you and wraps one arm around each of your necks. “PDA is not cute, get a room.” You can hear another pair of footsteps come up from behind and Sungji promptly rejoins the group. “We might have been watching you guys from the living room window.” Sungji pokes you in the stomach. “It’s a lot more entertaining than anything on the TV right now.” You lift one of your eyebrows and turn to look at Kai, who so happens to be sharing the same facial expression with you. And as if reading your mind, you smile mischievously to each other and swiftly move to attack Chanyeol’s exposed sides.

He immediately belts out a yell when you reach for his right side and he pushes your hand away, only to be attacked on the undefended side that Kai is on, and he quickly is taken down to the ground. Kai crawls on top of him and you stand over him, both of you in a tag-team tickle fest. “Sung—Sungji! HELP ME!” he begs the stoic girl as she watches her eavesdropping partner.

She pulls her hand up and places it on her chin. “Why?” She turns and walks back into the house, leaving Chanyeol to be fed to the dogs.

You pause your tickling for a second to look around and you notice that the neighbors have heard Chanyeol’s yells and are opening their doors to see what all the commotion is. “Kai, stop,” you say tapping him on the shoulder and trying not to laugh too loudly. “There are people looking.”

Some of the neighbors have just glanced in your direction and then returned to their houses, but there’s one specific elderly couple a few houses down who has decided to watch the free show. The duo stand shoulder-to-shoulder, dressed comfortably in their sleeping clothes. The husband stands with his arms crossed in front of him, standing firmly, his bare feet exposed. He’s wearing a short sleeved tee, and you peek at some lines on his arms.

Scars? Or maybe tattoos?

His eyes are scrunched together and he watches the two boys as they continue to horse around in the driveway.

A few inches next to him stands a fragile woman in her nighttime gown, her hands folded in front of her. Her silver hair flows carefully down her shoulders and her fine skin glows in the dim streetlights.

To you, she seems