"Chanyeol, get off my bed!" Baekhyun whisper shouted as he walked into his dorm, taking off his glasses and watch, then kicking off his shoes. "Go back to your room! I'm tired." 

Chanyeol's eyes flew open and his confused expression was quickly replaced by a smile. "You're back." He mumbled sleepily. "I was waiting  for you. How was your party?"

"Good!" Baekhyun beamed. "Ah, I feel so loved." He took off his jeans and t-shirt then looked for his pajamas in the cupboard. "Ugh, I guess tomorrow is laundry day." 

"Heh, come to bed and I'll make you feel even more loved," Chanyeol said and grabbed his wrist, pulling him on to the bed. 

"Let me change, first!" Baekhyun wriggled away from his grip. 

"Why?" Chanyeol said, planting kisses along his shoulders. "It's gonna come off anyway." 

"Save the birthday for my actual birthday, will you?" Baekhyun said getting up. 

"No today?" Chanyeol pouted.

"No," Baekhyun said, biting back a yawn. 

"Aw," Chanyeol hugged the pillow closer. "Cuddle?" 

"Sure," Baekhyun said. He grabbed his phone from the table and climbed into bed, next to Chanyeol, who promptly wrapped his hands around his waist, burying his face in the crook of his neck. "Ah, don't tickle me." 

Chanyeol laughed and scooted closer. He was about to kiss Baekhyun, when the smaller male brought his phone in between them and began tapping away. 

"What are you doing?" Chanyeol said. 

"Instagram." Baekhyun murmured. "I wanna see today's pictures." 

"Manager hyung will send them to you tomorrow!" Chanyeol said. 

"But I want to see the fan's pictures." He answered. "And I want to read what they're saying." 

The two were quiet for a while until Chanyeol broke the silence. "So what are your Aeris saying?" 

Baekhyun smiled. "That I am a sweet angel. Hah." A few seconds later he added. "Oh, you have to see this. Some netizens thought your undershirt was lingerie." 

"What?" Chanyeol said, taking the phone from Baekhyun's hand and reading that post on AllKpop. "Oh man, what the- well, it does look like a bra, to be honest. Ugh, I'll burn that undershirt first thing in the morning."  

Baekhyun snickered and continued scrolling. It was a good ten minutes before he gasped. "Chanyeol! Look at this! Luhan hyung and Lay hyung-"

"What?" Chanyeol said. He had almost fallen asleep. "Did they fight? Is it about that movie?" 

"No, no," Baekhyun said and clambered out of the bed. "This is an emergency! We need to have a meeting. Right now." Baekhyun ran out of the room, Chanyeol following him. It was almost midnight and most of the members were asleep. Baekhyun ran down the hall, yelling at everyone to assemble in the dining room. 

"Did he bring us chicken?" Jongin said, scratching his stomach as he emerged from his room, followed by Kyungsoo who was putting on his glasses and glaring at Chanyeol. 

"Did you do something?" Kyungsoo said, throwing invisible daggers at Chanyeol.

"No!" He said, raising his hands defensively. "He was on Instagram. Said something about Lay hyung and er-Luhan hyung."

"Did someone say Luhan hyung?" Sehun shouted from downstairs. Chanyeol leaned over the railing to see him. "Is he okay? Did something happen?"

"He's fine." Baekhyun said as he emerged from the stairwell. "Come on down, guys. I brought back cookies for y'all." 

Kyungsoo grumbled and as everyone filed into the dining room, Chanyeol noticed that Baekhyun looked extremely nervous. 

Minseok sat down on his chair, head slumping on the table when Chanyeol asked, "Where's Suho hyung?" 

"Sleeping off his jet lag." Sehun answered. "He said not to wake him up until tomorrow no matter what the emergency." 

Chanyeol shrugged and turned to Baekhyun who was passing his phone around for everyone to see. Jongin, Kyungsoo and Jongdae cast one look and gasped in unison. Sehun snatched the phone from Jongin and almost dropped it as his hand flew to his mouth. Minseok caught it and his eyes too widened. 

"Ah, someone show it to me as well!" Chanyeol said and reached for the phone. 

The others broke into a murmur as Chanyeol looked at the video replaying in front of him. 

"What do you think the joke was?"

"Was it even a joke? Wasn't it just a polite and awkward smile?"

"They were talking!" 

They were talking. Luhan and Lay were at the Youth Day Gala together. On the same stage after years. Standing next to each other, smiling and exchanging words. 

"Lay hyung is obviously just fake smiling," Jongin said and Kyungsoo threw him an exasperated look. 

"No, Luhan hyung said something and Lay hyung slipped and laughed." Jongdae said. 

"But what was the joke?" Baekhyun muttered. "Should we call Lay hyung and ask?"

"You're worried about the joke?" Minseok hyung said sharply.

"Yeah," Baekhyun said. "What if he said something like 'Lol, wanna leave Exo and start a subunit with Tao and me?' and that's why Lay hyung laughed, because 'Totally, why not?'"

Everyone let out a synchronized gasp. 

"You're overthinking this, Baekhyun hyung," Sehun said. "Luhan would never ask Lay hyung to leave."

"I know, but I'm worried." Baekhyun said, rubbing his eyes. "We should call him right now. We haven't talked in so long." 

"It's midnight. He's probably sleeping." Chanyeol spoke up. 

"Why didn't he call us and tell us he had met Luhan hyung?" Jongdae muttered. "I think I'm worried too." 

"He won't leave us, will he?" Jongin said with a frown on his face. 

"Call him!" Minseok said and everyone shuffled around, taking out their phones and dialling his numbers. "Not all at once. Chanyeol, call him on Skype."

"On it." Chanyeol nodded and luckily Lay was awake and picked up. He was in bed, though but greeted them with a smile. All of them erupted at once.

"Hyung, are you okay?"

"What was the joke?"

"When are you coming back?"

"We love you, hyung!"

"You won't leave us, will you?"

"Is Luhan hyung okay?" 

"What did you guys talk about?" 

Lay opened his mouth to answer but each time, he was cut off my another question.

"Ah, one at a time!" He said. "I'm fine. Luhan's fine too, I think. And uh- he what did we talk about? Something about a burger." 

The other members exchanged looks.

"Maybe it's the name of their sub-unit." Baekhyun whispered. "Exo-B."

"Ya! Shut up, Baekhyun." Kyungsoo said, slapping his arm.

"Hey, don't hit him!" Chanyeol argued. 

"Don't talk to Kyungsoo hyung like that!" Jongin said. 

"Why are you all arguing?" Lay asked.

"It's nothing!" Chanyeol said. "Luhan hyung- did he mention us at all?" 

Lay frowned and shook his head. "No, just pointed at someone in the audience and said 'That guy looks like he ate a week old burger'. We didn't talk a lot when we were backstage either." 

"Oh," Sehun moved to the front. "Hyung, when will you be back?" 

Lay shrugged. "I don't know. June, maybe. We have to prepare for the comeback."

At the word 'comeback' everyone released the breath that they had been holding. He wouldn't be planning on leaving if he was thinking about the next album, right?

"And-" Lay hyung yawned loudly. "What time is it? Why aren't y'all sleeping?" 

"We were-" Jongdae glanced at the others. "-yeah, watching your new drama. It's amazing, hyung!"

"Yes, especially your song!" Jongin added. "Baekhyun hyung's been singing it all day." 

Lay smiled sheepishly. "Ah, thank you. I was listening to Ka-ching just now. It's very Ka-chi! Ha, ha. Get it? Catchy. Ka-chi." 

"Hu, hu. The Aeris are saying it sounds like Lotto." Baekhyun whined, scrunching up his face. 

"Yeah, you guys even did that step." Lay gestured with his free arm. "But it got a lot of views so don't worry. I'm sure they love-" he yawned again. "-it. Guys, I'm going to sleep. I have a shoot tomorrow. K'bye!"

Once the call was over, the meeting resumed.

"Doesn't seem like Lay hyung is thinking about leaving us," Chanyeol said and the others nodded.

"We were worried about nothing," Kyungsoo agreed.

"It's still a bit weird." Baekhyun muttered. "Luhan hyung wished Tao on his birthday. On weibo!"

"Really?" Jongin arched his eyebrows. "I didn't see."

"He did," Sehun said. "He didn't wish me on my birthday!"

"Did you wish him?" Minseok asked.

"Manager hyung told me not to," Sehun mumbled. "I wanted to, though." 

"Is he- is he maybe," Kyungsoo stuttered. "Doing this on purpose?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think he's planning to come back to Exo?" 

He was met with silence and a moment later, they rose at once, rushing up the stairs.

"Suho hyung!"

"Hyung!"

They were expecting to see their leader on the bed, sleeping but he was sitting upright, clutching his phone and hastily wiping his tears.

"Hyung, are you okay?" Sehun said, rushing to him as the others stood awkwardly at the door. 

"Yes, yes. Did you guys find out?" Suho sniffled.

"Is Luhan hyung coming back?" Baekhyun whispered. "Tao? What about Kris hyung?"

"No." Suho sniffled again. "They're not. The manager called me just now. It was purely coincidental that they met at the Gala.

"But he wished Tao," Minseok said in a small voice. 

"Yeah, apparently they are still on talking terms." 

"But then, why are you crying?" Kyungsoo asked. No matter how much they teased their leader, they hated seeing him cry. 

"I miss them, that's all." Suho tried to smile but it was futile. It still hurt. They were a family. They had trained together, debuted together, shared living quarters, sometimes clothes. They had laughed and cried together but now three of them were gone and the worst part was that no interaction with them was allowed for the remaining members.

"This ," Jongin said and they filed into the room, sitting down wherever they could find space in the messy room. 

"Big time," Kyungsoo added. "Man, I still remember when Luhan hyung and I went into the haunted house together on Showtime he even went back-" his voice cracked. "-to look for me." 

"Remember when we had that rap battle?" Jongdae said, with a hint of a smile on his face. "He went 'bububududu' because he couldn't rap that fast!" 

"I won that round." Baekhyun sniffled and Chanyeol slung an arm around him, pulling him closer. "Tae laughed so hard when D.O rapped." Kyungsoo threw a pillow at Baekhyun's face, who ducked so that it collided with the table behind him, knocking over a few books. "I miss Tao. He was easy to make fun of."

"I miss him too." Suho said. "Because now y'all roast me instead of him." 

"He called me oppa once!" Minseok said and everyone laughed. They were quiet for a while. It was Sehun who broke the silence. 

"We were brothers." He said. "Why did they have to-"

"Lay hyung knows we love him, right?" Jongdae cut him off. "I mean if things become so bad that he considers leaving, he will think about us, won't he? About the Exo-Ls."

"The Aeris will be there for him even if he's not with us." Baekhyun said. "They won't leave." 

They were quiet again, each lost in his own thoughts. 

"Let's send him a foodtruck, tomorrow." Chanyeol spoke after a while. "At his shoot." 

"Yes! With all his favourites." Suho agreed. 

"And I'll take him to my grandma's house when he comes back," Baekhyun said.

"And-"

"Hey, is the meeting over now?" Kyungsoo said louldy, getting up. "Can I go to bed? I have to polish my Baeksang as well."

"Huh. Show off."

"What did you say, you little-"

"Yes, yes. Off to bed!" Suho got up as well, ushering the others out.

"Wait!" Sehun stopped causing Minseok and Jongdae to crash into him. "I just feel the need to say this right now."

"What?"

"We are one! Exo- sarangha- ouch! Don't hit me!"

 

A/N- I hope y'all liked it! Let me know in the comments below! 

And aaaaah it's Baekhyunnie's birthday today! He's in Myanmar and it's like a 1000 km away from where I live and if you see on the maps we're really close but international borders and exams separate us. T.T Huhu. I wonder what Chanyeol oppa will post on his instagram. Also I'm super worried because the weather is so hot here, so it's obviously hot in Myanmar as well and I'm scared they'll get a heat or something. 

Okay. Thanks for listening to me ramble. Annyeong!