Sometime later…

 ‘I’m going to seduce Tao!’ Raina announced suddenly, making Kyra choke on the sip she’d just taken.

‘What?’ Kyra coughed, sure she’d misheard her friend.

Raina thumped her back helpfully. ‘I’m gonna seduce Tao this weekend.’ she reiterated, smiling winsomely. ‘So, find someplace else to crash.’

‘I, uh…’ Kyra had no idea what had brought this on. ‘This seems so… sudden?’ And that was understating it.

 ‘It’s not,’ Raina replied, stretching and falling back on the mattress. ‘I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.’

‘About seducing him?’

Raina nodded, then shook her head. ‘Not seducing, per se. Just inviting him over so we could… you know, Netflix and chill.’

Kyra laughed incredulously. ‘That’s practically the same thing!’

‘No, it’s not!’ Raina waved her hand. ‘It’s about snuggling while you watch Netflix.’

‘I’m pretty sure that’s not what it means,’ Kyra countered, now giggling because of course, that’s what Raina would think.

Raina narrowed her eyes at her. ‘Whatever. That was before. Now, I’ve decided that I’m going to seduce him when he comes over, so we can finally make it past first base.’

‘… I see.’ Kyra bit her lip to stop herself from giggling again. Raina scrunched her nose. ‘Stop judging me.’

‘I’m not,’ Kyra responded with a smile.

‘You totally are.’

‘I’m not! I think it’s cute.’ Kyra giggled, trying to imagine Raina being seductive.

Don’t get her wrong, her friend was a total hottie and objectively speaking, she had all the makings of a seductress. It was just that… she knew Raina. She was more likely to fall over in her attempts at seduction than anything and it was…

‘It’s not funny, stop laughing at me!’ Raina threw a cushion at her friend.

‘Sorry, sorry.’ Kyra moved to lie beside her friend. ‘What brought this on, for real?’ she asked after a while.

‘Mmm… well, it’s Xiumin and Lily.’

Whatever she’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. ‘Come again?’

‘You don’t work there so you don’t see it as much but they’re so… completely in love, it’s frustrating to watch!’ Raina groaned, burying her face in the pillow. Her voice became muffled ‘Lily’s not even that expressive but the way she looks at him, it’s… ugh!’ She squished a cushion between her fingers.

It was actually quite adorable, the way those two couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off each other. There was this glowing sense of contentment that surrounded them both like a halo and it was quite potent. Kyra smiled. ‘I’m sure she’s not doing it on purpose.’

‘Of course she’s not! That’s the worst thing!’ Raina turned to look at her intensely. ‘That’s just how she is with him. It makes me feel unnecessarily lonely. I wanna be in love like her!’

‘Raina, my sweet, sweet airhead… you’re in love with Tao, aren’t you?’ Kyra patted her head.

‘I am…’ was Raina’s muffled reply.

‘Then you don’t need to do anything else to be in love. There’s no comparison, you know. Lily and Xiumin have what only they can have… and you and Tao have what only you two can have… so... don’t feel lonely, yeah?’

‘Mmm…’ Raina looked at her, making wide puppy eyes.

‘What?’

‘It’s not just them…’ Raina whispered and the light in her eyes seemed to dim. ‘I feel like I’m… losing Tao.’

Kyra leaned forward. ‘Raina…’

‘He’s just so lost in his head these days…’ Raina continued, squeezing the cushion between her arms tightly. ‘And sometimes I can hear him and know what he’s thinking about but other times… it feels like he’s… hiding himself from me.’

She blinked rapidly and Kyra felt her heart ache at the glossy sheen in her eyes. Raina forced a smile. ‘So, I’ve decided that I need to do something about it.’

‘Raina, is there-‘

‘So I’m thinking,’ Raina talked over her determinedly and Kyra shut up. Raina would talk to her when she felt like it. ‘I’ll invite him over and we can watch something romantic. He loves romantic movies.’

Kyra sighed, then closed the gap between them to hug her friend. She let go quickly, before it could hurt. ‘Airhead,’ she said affectionately.

Raina made a face and it was almost like she was back to normal. Except that tinge of sadness that she couldn’t hide, even with her most determined smile. Kyra’s heart hurt because it seemed like what she’d foreseen was beginning to come to pass and her friend was in for a hard time.

‘I’m always here for you, you know that, right?’ she asked, gently pushing her hair back.

Raina blinked slowly, another sheen coating her eyes that was pushed back and a grin flashed in its place. ‘Of course. You’re my favorite mudstick!’

‘Aw you!’ Kyra nudged her shoulder gently. They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before…

‘So, seduction, huh?’

Raina groaned. ‘It was a figure of speech, you know I can’t actually do anything like that.’

Kyra giggled. ‘You should be more confident, Raina. I’m sure he’ll enjoy your forwardness.’

Raina shook her head. ‘As if… I still have trouble talking when he looks too good. You really think I’d be able to do anything forward?’

‘So, what will you do?’

‘Invite him over and hope he’ll take a hint.’ Kyra laughed. ‘Don’t laugh, I just want to snuggle with him and make out!’

‘A noble goal.’

Raina made a face before smirking. ‘Anyway, you’d better make arrangements.’

 ‘Wait, you’re serious?’ Kyra looked at her in surprise.

‘Duh.’

‘But where will I crash?’

‘With your boy-toy,’ Raina responded with a wink and finger guns.

Kyra hit her. ‘He’s not-‘ Her face felt unbearably warm. ‘What even… You know what, I think Tiffany is a bad influence on you.’

‘Oh stop being such a prude. Like you haven’t fantasized about it already.’

‘… I haven’t.’ Kyra blushed. ‘It’s not my thing.’

Raina narrowed her eyes, before smiling. ‘Oh yeah, you’re more into subbing.’

Kyra’s face burned. ‘Shut up!’

Raina started cackling.

……………………………………………

One week later…

Kyra stared at the door apprehensively.

For all her teasing, Raina had been serious about inviting Tao over and now Kyra was out of a place to stay. And she could, in theory, spend it with D.O. because she was his mate, and they were, for all practical purposes, together.

Easy, right?

Wrong.

Even with all the progress they had made, even with all the dates she’d had with D.O., they had barely breached into any form of physical intimacy. The most intimate she’d gotten with him had been that back hug, and the bite that happened eons ago. Mostly, they just stuck to talking, occasional hand-holding, and in her case, ogling him as he worked around the kitchen.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want it. But D.O. had been so skittish after the bite that she’d decided pushing him into touching her was probably going to make things worse. So she’d given up on deliberately provoking him and satisfied herself with intense eyeballing.

So this was all new territory. Even back then, when they’d been closer, they hadn’t been very physically intimate – at least, not as far as she could recall. And maybe it was Raina’s wild suggestions but she couldn’t imagine being in close proximity to him without it turning into something… more.

And she didn’t know how to face D.O. knowing that.

After staring at the door some more, she lost her nerve and stepped back.

As luck would have it, the door to his room opened just then and then, a surprised voice.

‘Kyra?’

It send shivers down her spine, it always did, the way her name sounded in his honey voice.  

‘H-hi…’ she said, throwing her head down in a sudden fit of shyness.

‘Hey Kyra, what a pleasant surprise!’ Chen’s voice floated over and the Legend himself peeked over D.O’s shoulder, smiling warmly at her. She smiled back, both relieved and disappointed that they weren’t alone. ‘Do you wanna come in?’

D.O. glared at him. Kyra responded before he could say anything. ‘Actually, yes.’

D.O’s large eyes rounded in surprise but he quickly pushed Chen away – quite unceremoniously, if his loud protests were to be believed – and opened the door wider. He nodded with his head, and waited until Kyra had stepped in before closing the door.

Kyra felt nerves creeping up on her but she pushed them back, looking around to take in D.O’s room.

It was… much warmer than she’d expected.

‘Cozy, isn’t it?,’ Chen asked from his place on the couch, ‘He’s a homebody, so he likes to have a comfy place.’

D.O. gave him another ones of his glares but Kyra ignored them, looking around curiously.

One side of the wall was entirely dedicated to screens, each one showing different parts of the mansion, inside and out. The largest screen in the middle was playing what appeared to be a superhero movie that Chen was watching. The rest of the room was furnished tastefully in warm colors, surprisingly neat for two guys living there.

D.O led her to the coffee chairs placed in one corner of the room and she sat down nervously.

The noise from the movie died down as Chen got up. Kyra glanced at him.

‘You’re leaving?’ She hoped she didn’t sound as panicked as she felt.

‘Yeah, I’m hanging out with Baek,’ he said, smiling amicably as he headed toward the door. ‘Have fun!’

She nodded her head mutely and watched with increasing nerves as he left.

‘Kyra.’ She whipped around. ‘Water?’

She blinked, disoriented before looking down at the glass he had placed in front of her.

‘Oh uh… sure. Thanks.’

‘Is everything okay?’ he asked as she drank the water like it was her lifeline.

‘Yes. Its fine.’ She put the glass down and started fiddling with her fingers.

‘You’re nervous.’

‘Oh? Haha, no… what makes you think that?’

He didn’t say anything, just fixed her with that look of his – the one that he sometimes gave Baekhyun when the Legend got on his nerves. It was very potent and Kyra was no exception.  

‘Okay fine, yes I’m nervous.’ She let out a measured breath. He didn’t say anything, quietly waiting for her.

‘Um…canIspendthenighthere?’ she let out in a rush.  

D.O blinked owlishly. ‘Huh?’

She fanned her face, hoping it wasn’t as red as it felt and took a deep breath.

‘It’s just that Raina invited Tao over and she told me about it beforehand so I could ask you but I totally forgot and -‘ More like the thought made her head burn because it always ended up with her fantasizing about them making out, and she lost her nerve whenever she saw him.

‘I mean, I understand if you have other plans, I just barged in-‘

‘Kyra.’ She stopped her nervous rambling, fiddling her fingers, not daring to look at him. He leaned forward. ‘Look at me, please?’  

He waited until she did. He looked serious. ‘Kyra, this place is as much yours as its mine, you can come here whenever you like.’ She felt her cheeks flush because he had a knack for saying the most romantic things in the most matter-of-fact way.

‘Besides,’ His lips curved into a smile and her own curved in instinctive response. ‘I’m not going to say no to more time with you, no matter the plans.’

‘So…?’

‘So, make yourself comfortable.’ He stood up. ‘Just let me just make some arrangements, then I’ll-‘

The door banged open. ‘No need,’ Chen said, sauntering in with Baekhyun and Chanyeol in tow. ‘We’ll handle everything.’

Kyra watched with wide eyes as they piled bowls, snacks and drinks on the table, then swiftly moved around; Chen went to fiddle with the screens as Baekhyun and Chanyeol started gathering (presumably) Chen’s stuff.

‘What are you doing?’ D.O. asked, looking as bemused as Kyra felt.

‘Giving you two some privacy,’ Chen replied matter-of-factly, throwing a pink cushion at Chanyeol, who tossed it into a box with the other stuff. ‘I’ll spend the night with Baekhyun and Lay!’

‘We’re having a sleepover,’ Baekhyun informed them happily.

‘Kris said he’ll take over security duty tonight,’ Chanyeol added.

‘So I rewired the feed to his room.’ Chen finished. ‘Enjoy!’

‘And remember kids,’ Baekhyun intoned as they stepped outside, ‘to always use protection! Bye~’

They left a ringing silence behind as Kyra blushed and D.O. muttered choice words under his breath, rubbing his forehead. ‘Those idiots,’ he said, albeit fondly, shaking his head.

Kyra laughed nervously. ‘They’re very… enthusiastic.’

‘Nosy, you mean,’ D.O snorted. He looked at her. ‘Do you want to watch something?’

‘Uh… sure.’

D.O. nodded, gesturing her towards the couch. ‘Why don’t you select a movie? I’ll be back in a minute.’

She nodded, letting out a sigh when he stepped outside. She slumped against the couch, muffling her whine into the fabric. This was a terrible idea.

…………………………………………….

This was a terrible idea, Raina thought, pouting slightly.

She had, as per her genius plan, managed to invite Tao over. Or rather, he’d read her mind and invited himself over.

She selected a really romantic movie, one of Angel’s recommendations, and tried her best to set the mood with candles, flowers and all that ish.  And she dressed for the occasion, going for something subtle yet y, so he would take a hint.

And honestly, she thought it had worked because he’d been struck speechless when she opened the door to let him in, his greeting getting lost as he gave her a very obvious, very appreciative once-over. He didn’t have to say anything when she could literally hear both him and his beast going ‘wow’ in her head. It was beyond flattering.

He stepped close, pulling her in and she thought he would kiss her, her eyes fluttering as he neared. But he stopped and she almost whined before his awe hit her. She opened her eyes to find him staring over her shoulder at the room she’d gone to such lengths to prepare.

There were rose petals scattered on the bed – she’d pushed her and Kyra’s bed together for the occasion -  and she’d lit scented candles in strategic places so the room was lit in golden lighting and smelled amazing. She’d also put up polaroids of her favorite pictures with Tao – he loved taking couple pictures, so she had plenty to choose from – surrounded by lights courtesy of Baekhyun.

It was completely worth the effort to see him figuratively melt at the gesture, eyes softening to a molten hue as he looked at her so affectionately, it made her blush. He pecked her cheek, not saying anything, before stepping inside and looking around, thoroughly amazed.

That wasn’t the terrible part.

The terrible part was that all of her efforts had turned him into a clingy, teary baby and now, he was dissolving on her shoulder while she comforted him.

All her plans of seduction, down the drain. How could she seduce him like this?

‘I love you,’ he told her tearfully, ‘so much. No one’s ever done something like this for me, you’re so…’ He hugged her tighter.

She smiled, hugging back and feeling her heart thud in time with his. ‘I love you too,’ she managed to whisper, glad that she wasn’t looking at him because that would make it impossible to confess.

He pulled back, her arms loosening reluctantly, and looked at her face, searching for something. She didn’t know what it was but apparently, he found it because in the next moment, he was surging against her, kissing her so fiercely, she felt light-headed when he let go.

‘There’s a lot I want to change in my past,’ he whispered against her lips, eyes boring into hers intensely. ‘But never meeting you.’

His words, laden with such intense sincerity, struck a chord in her heart and her eyes teared.

Then, she was kissing him back, pushing him until they were lying on the sofa, her fingers tangling with his hair as his hands gripped her waist tightly.

And it may have been a terrible idea and maybe it didn’t start out as she had planned it but it was definitely going to end that way. And she couldn’t be happier about it.  

……………………………………

She had no idea what was going on in the movie, her attention thoroughly taken up by the man beside her.

D.O wasn’t even doing anything, quietly focused on the movie. His hand was resting on the couch in the space between them and Kyra wasn’t sure if that was an invitation to hold hands or not.

Not that she had a the courage to do it. She clutched the bowl of popcorns tighter to distract herself. Some of it spilled over.

He glanced at her, one eyebrow raised in a silent question.

Kyra shook her head. ‘Sorry, I dozed off.’

He nodded, picking up the remote and pausing the movie. ‘You should rest.’

That wasn’t what…

‘Oh no, let’s finish the movie.’ She sat up straighter and put the bowl on the table. ‘I want to see how it ends.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Uh huh.’

He didn’t look like he believed her but he started the movie again. Kyra did her best to stay focused on the movie but even the sound of him breathing was distracting her, each breath feeling like it was landing against her, she was so attuned to it.

Again, she was so distracted that she didn’t even notice when he paused the movie, only coming to when he called her.

‘Huh?’

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ he asked, eyes wide with concern.

‘I’m-‘

‘Please don’t say you’re fine, you’re clearly disturbed.’ Kyra closed at that. He was right after all.

There was momentary silence as they stared at each other, an unreadable expression on D.O’s face.

‘Is it because you’re alone with me?’ he finally asked.

She blinked in surprise. He nodded. ‘So it is about that.’ He smiled wryly. ‘I’d hoped I was wrong but I suppose I can’t blame you.’

‘What-?’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t do anything untoward,’ he stated firmly. ‘You have my word.’

‘… that is not what I’m worried about,’ she muttered after a long pause. He glanced at her in surprise. ‘You’re not?’

‘D.O, you’ve been nothing but gentlemanly since that time,’ Namely when he’d bitten her. ‘and we’ve been alone enough times for me to know you won’t break your word. I trust you.’

He seemed lost. ‘I… don’t get it?’

She put her head down, fiddling with her fingers. ‘This is the first time we’re in complete privacy.’ All their dates had been in semi-public places, isolated enough yet never completely alone and he’d always maintained his distance. ‘And I really, really like you.’

She dared to glance at him, taking in his gobsmacked expression. What? Did he expect her to not fall for him after he’d gone to such lengths to woo her?

There was a pregnant pause. ‘So, you’re not afraid?’

She shook her head. ‘Hardly.’

‘And you want to…?’

She felt herself flush. It was one thing to think about it, quite another to say it aloud. ‘I want us to be… intimate. More than just holding hands.’

‘Oh.’

Oh was right, she thought, still flushing. This was so embarrassing, she wanted to bury herself. She closed her eyes, fanning her face. 

There was movement as D.O’s weight lifted from the couch and she heard him move some things before sitting down again. An arm landed on her shoulders and she opened her eyes in surprise. D.O was looking at her closely.

‘Is this okay?’ he asked, gently curling his arm. Her heart felt like it was throbbing in , about to jump out. She nodded. It was more than okay.

He smiled and the heart-shaped curve made her heart thud harder. He was so cute and she was so in over her head.

‘Shall we watch something else?’ he asked. She nodded mutely, internally rejoicing when he picked the remote with his left hand, the right staying where it was, around her shoulders. She shifted minutely closer and he took the hint, arm tightening as he pulled her into his side.

She hid her smile, knowing she wasn’t going to watch this movie either.

…………………………………………

A/N

Hope the length of this chapter compensates for the delay :3 tootles