Chapter twenty-six:

Saturday

~Luhan’s POV~

Moans and groans could be heard from every corner of the S-rank house as the occupants started waking up to brain-splitting hangovers. The few exceptions were Luhan, Kris, and D.O., who had been the designated “drivers” of the night, staying sober to make sure the others didn’t cause too much trouble — or at least, that’s what Kris and D.O. had done. On nights like the previous one, Luhan favored a different approach. He now had approximately fourteen new videos of his friends doing stupid stuff on his phone, which he wouldn’t tell them about until he had a need to blackmail one of them and it would be useful, and was prepared to mock them, in general, this fine new morning. At the very least, he had done his duty as one of the oldest to look after his dongsaengs — when Tao had tried jumping off the stair railing while intoxicated, he had placed some pillows below him before getting out his phone to capture the iconic moment. He had been a little disappointed when Tao’s drunk brain still remembered he had wings and saved himself at the last moment, but it was the thought that counted and that’s exactly what he told Kris while gesturing to his safety pillow pile Tao was now cuddling, the other boy having given him an exasperated (but still amused, Luhan liked to think, if the small upturn of his lips was anything to go by) look from across the room where he was struggling to deal with Lay. The usually sweet and composed healer was going on about how good D.O.’s cooking was while an unconscious Sehun’s arm — mistaking a line of a red marker someone had drawn on his skin for a fresh wound; D.O. himself was busy in the kitchen at that moment, arming himself with bottles of water and bread to be forced down the others’ throats in a poor attempt to sober them up a little before bed.

Back to the present time, Luhan was dragged away from his reminiscing by Kai, who was the first of last night’s party animals to appear around the corner of the dining room, poking his head into the kitchen to find Luhan and D.O. whipping up a hearty breakfast consisting of hangover soup and even more hangover soup.

“Hyungggg,” the boy groaned out as he further entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around D.O.’s little body, burying his face into the older’s neck. “My head is killing me.”

“Then die,” Luhan deadpanned.

“Stop whining so loudly in my ear. I thought hungover people hated loud noises, but you’re just as noisy as ever,” Kyungsoo grumbled, trying to push a now pouting Kai off of him so he was free to continue cooking. If Kai had expected sympathy from either of his hyungs, then he was sorely disappointed; he knew he should have gone to Suho or Lay to complain instead, but they were both still missing from the scene, having been nearly just as out of it as him last night. But of course, it had to be the two most unsympathetic people in their group that were left to take care of their hungover friends.

As Kai retreated to one of the kitchen stools, head in his hands and waiting for the soup to be done, the troublesome trio of Baekhyun, Chnayeol, and Chen stumbled into the kitchen, snickering to each other. Thankfully, they weren’t as bad off as the maknae line or Lay, having only drank to the point they were just slightly past tipsy. They lacked the morning headaches and general nausea of the others and remembered about half of what had happened at the party.

“What a wonderful morning, don’t you think, Jongin-ah?” Chen chirped happily and with mischief dancing in his eyes as he went to pat the younger boy on the back in a friendly greeting, a little harder than was necessary. Kai jostled in his seat, nearly falling out, and letting loose a long groan before slamming his head forward on the island counter in frustration and pain. Immediately, he jumped back up, clutching his head with a shout and complaining about how he had just made the pain even worse with his actions. Chen and the others laughed at him, while D.O. simply rolled his eyes.

“You’re still the only one being loud,” Luhan sighed, looking at the wincing boy with an unimpressed gaze. “Stop being an idiot.”

“But hyuuuuunngggg—”

“Everyone shut up,” snapped a new, irritated voice that had just entered the kitchen. Sehun held a near murderous glare on his face, but it was far from menacing like he probably wanted it to be, due to the fact that one, they knew him and how he could get, and two, he was also sporting a large pout just below that death glare that made him look more sulky and cute than anything else.

“Someone’s grumpy,” Baekhyun teased lightly.

“No, I’m not,” Sehun instantly denied in a guilty voice, pout increasing. He sat himself down on the seat next to Baekhyun and then practically threw himself on the older boy, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and burying his face in his hyung’s neck. “‘m tired,” his half mumble could be heard by the others in the room.

Chanyeol let out an over dramatic gasp, staring at the pair. “Our little Sehunnie’s still being affectionate, despite no longer being drunk? Did Junmyeon hyung not give you enough cuddles last night?” he joked. He didn’t get a response aside from a muffled grunt, but that didn’t wipe the grin off his face. He let the younger boy be though, taking pity on him and turned his attention to messing with Kai, who was still trying to gain sympathy from someone by whining non-stop.

By now, everyone else had come down to the dining room as well, Kris going around earlier and banging on everyone’s door as loud as he could. The only exceptions would be— 

“Where’s Junmyeon hyung and Yoomi?” Tao asked belatedly, having blinked his bleary eyes around the room and the fact that they were missing only just clicking in his head.

“That’s what I was just about to tell you guys. Yoomi’s not in her room,” Kris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to re-center his thoughts. Honestly, dealing with everyone this morning when waking them up had already drained his energy and patience.

“My precious Mimi is missing?!” Baekhyun all but screamed out. “I’m sure Yoomi was pretty drunk last night, where could she have gone so early?”

“Wait,” Chen started in a hushed whisper, holding his hands up dramatically to get everyone’s attention. “Yoomi’s not in her room… and-”

Chanyeol, who had caught his eyes and immediately gotten the message, continued “Junmyeon hyung’s also not here yet…”

“Could it be that…” before anyone else could react or try to counter the two with reasonable explanations, Chen and Chanyeol dashed off, trying to outrun — or outfly — each other up the stairs, the destination being Suho’s bedroom.

Sehun, surprisingly, ended up getting there first, as he was curious to what Suho was up to when he should’ve been taking care of Sehun all this time. The sight that greeted him when he opened the door to their leader’s room and waltzed inside was enough to glue his feet to the ground.

Right there, all cuddled up together in their leader’s large bed and looking greatly content, were Suho and his mate. Even covered in the blanket, it was clear the two had their arms wound tight around each other in a loving embrace, with Yoomi’s head buried snugly in the crook of Suho’s neck.

The rest of the boys piled in at that point, some much more calm than the others— some of the older or more responsible boys only having followed the over-excited and panicked younger ones to keep the peace. Obviously, given the scene in front of them, the more dramatic members broke out into chaos, so they had made the right choice in following to calm them all down.

“Wha?!” Chen was the first to gasp, sounding completely scandalized, although it wasn’t entirely clear whether that was just for show or he was truly shocked. In fact, if someone looked closely, they could tell his frozen, dumbfounded reaction was genuine, as was the brief flash of something unreadable but similar to distress in his eyes. However, no one was looking at his reaction too closely because they were all staring at the couple cuddled close in bed.

“W-who knew hyung had it in him?” Chanyeol let out between sputtering, surprised laughs.

Next to him, Kai looked anything but amused, when he usually would have been joining Chanyeol in making soft, playful whistles to tease the sleeping pair, had it been literally anyone else rather than his hyung and the girl he liked. He tried not to get unreasonably jealous, most of the time, that is, but it was hard, especially since he wasn’t used to feeling this way about girls. Clenching his fists involuntarily, he turned his head to the side so he didn’t have to look at them anymore. He was surprised when Kris’ hand came down to gently rest on his shoulder, catching his attention and drawing him out of his brooding before he could even start— gosh, first the hangover and now this? Kai was not having the best morning.

“Let them be,” Kris sighed, somehow managing to look even more tired than he had when waking them up and dragging their hungover selves out of bed. “It’s not unusual for mates to spend time together or be close to one another,” he reminded them all in hopes of preventing further overreaction.

“H-hyung?” a shaky whisper came out of Sehun’s mouth. The poor boy was so confused. He had been with Suho longer than anyone and had seen the older boy in all kinds of situations from waking up with Sehun himself, with his parents, with the other boys, with their pets, but with a girl? 

The silent call successfully aroused the leader, jolting him out of his peaceful slumber. Suho gently sat up in his bed, careful to avoid waking the girl by his side. As he sat up, the blanket fell away from his body, revealing a toned, milky chest. The boy ran a hand through his bed hair, all the while trying to shake away remnants of his hangover. When he finally looked up to see all the tenants of the house standing by his door, he could only let out a light-hearted chuckle.

“Good morning to you all as well!” Suho greeted, gently pulling the covers up to keep the sleeping girl warm. “Man, I haven’t received a wake up call like this in ages since we were all little. What’s the occasion?”

A stunned moment of silence, and then— 

“Oh,” Suho continued, sounding far too casual about the situation in the humble opinions of most the guys present, “could you check up on Yoomi, Yixing? I’m worried that after last night, she might be feeling unwell, and-”

“N-no way! Hyung defiled my precious Mimi?!” Baekhyun screeched, hands slapping his cheeks and looking like the perfect rendition of Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream due to his expression of pure horror and wide eyes. Without wasting a single second, and ignoring the various screams and shouts of the others (Tao wasn’t screaming, but his face was alarmingly red and he had slammed his hands over his eyes as if he was trying to erase the image of what he had seen while also preventing further scarring sights), Baekhyun jumped onto the bed and roughly pushed Suho away from Yoomi, who he had started gently shaking awake (of course making sure to keep her wrapped up in the blanket) before the others started going crazy. He pushed him so hard that Suho actually fell out of bed, crashing to the floor and revealing the fact he still had pants on. This calmed a few of the members down— namely the ones that were already calm, to begin with, or weren't total idiots—, but Baekhyun was not one of those members.

“How could you, hyung?!” Baekhyun continued to cry in utter betrayal, glaring at his confused hyung on the ground from his higher position up on the bed still. “What— ow!”

Kyungsoo had abruptly made his way into the bedroom and hit Baekhyun on the back of the head to stop his incessant screaming so early in the morning when half of the younger boys still had hangovers. He had also made sure to knock a few other heads on the way in hopes of smacking some sense into them.

“They didn’t have . Stop freaking out,” Luhan deadpanned in the brief moment of quiet. Honestly, Suho was still mostly dressed and, beyond that evidence, there was absolutely no way that their leader would be so irresponsible as to try something like that drunk. Sometimes he swore the others were all idiots that reacted before asking questions or actually using their heads.

“H-huh?” Baekhyun stuttered, blinking rapidly and still rubbing the back of his head to ease the pain. He turned towards Yoomi, still wrapped up in blankets, but now beginning to stir because of all the loud noise and commotion. Without much thought, he reached over and yanked the covers off her.

“Wah- hyung!” Kai cried out at his actions, indignant, but he closed his mouth and stopped protesting when he, along with the others, saw Yoomi’s body still fully clothed and unharmed.

Lay released a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, feeling his heart start beating normally again. He had frozen, just like the others, when Suho had risen from bed shirtless. He was fine with the two of them cuddling, seeing that Suho and Yoomi were mates— he wasn’t the jealous type, understood the risks and challenges that came with sharing a mate, the things he would have to accept and deal with because Yoomi belonged to both of them, and he wasn’t going to be a hypocrite and scold Suho for cuddling with Yoomi when Lay wanted nothing more himself than to hold Yoomi close. However, the idea of something else happening between them, something more than just cuddling or sharing kisses, had paralyzed his form. A part of him had been upset and jealous, sure, but the vast majority of him had actually been furious at the idea that Suho may have taken advantage of their mate in her intoxicated state, or that the two may have done something they regretted while drunk. He wanted Yoomi safe and happy. He wanted her first time to be special, even if it wasn’t with him— and consensual.

Seeing that she was safe and nothing had happened, Lay finally felt like he could breathe again. As he approached Yoomi’s side, Suho explaining he only meant Lay should check on her because it was the girl’s first time drinking vaeli alcohol and being drunk and he was worried about her dealing with the after-effects, Lay felt a small stab of guilt for doubting his hyung like that and thinking the worst of the situation. He just felt so protective over Yoomi that his mind had jumped to conclusions in his worry.

Suho also seemed a little hurt at the accusations the younger members had made towards him, explaining himself to the best of his abilities with the hazy memories he had of last night. He hadn’t been too drunk, and he would never do something like that to Yoomi in that state.

Seeing as all was well, Kris, Xiumin, Luhan, and D.O. left to finish preparing breakfast, leaving the younger ones to crowd around the bed. As he turned to go back down the stairs, Xiumin grumbled complaints under his breath, things like “well, that definitely wasn’t worth all the screaming”, “I’m surrounded by idiots”, and “why is that girl so much trouble?” It was clear that he was not happy the morning after drinking and would much rather still be asleep in bed.

Tao followed them not long after, sighing heavily and ear still slightly burning red with embarrassment. “My poor, innocent eyes,” he muttered under his breath, despite there not being anything inappropriate to see in the first place. Chanyeol laughed at him and his comment as he passed, the only one who seemed to be amused by the situation, not panicked or annoyed like the others.

“We should all drink more often— makes mornings more exciting,” the giant joked, a large grin on his face. He threw an arm over Chen’s shoulder, still laughing. He expected Chen to laugh with him, joining in on teasing the others for overreacting just like he usually would, or throwing in a few over-dramatic comments himself, but he was surprised when Chen only gave out a weak chuckle.

“Maybe a little too much excitement,” Chen tried to joke, but it fell flat. He felt like the whole thing had given him emotional whiplash and now he was just tired and not really feeling like himself, and he wasn’t completely sure why. As he turned to head back downstairs for breakfast with the others, Chanyeol followed him with curious eyes.

“Hey, what’s with that reaction? You’re not actually hungover like the maknaes, are you?” he questioned.

Once the two of them had left, only Sehun and Kai remained still standing near the doorway. Baekhyun was pouting next to Yoomi and Lay on the bed, refusing to leave for some reason, and Suho, by now, had pulled himself up off the floor. He would follow the others to the kitchen soon, but first, he wanted to make sure Yoomi was okay.

“Yoomi-ah,” Lay gently woke the girl, running one of his hands through her hair. She finally opened her eyes with a little groan, yawning as she sat up fully. One of her hands jumped to her forehead almost instantly at the light pounding in her head, and her eyes squeezed shut, not agreeing with the sunlight that filtered into the room from the windows. Lay reached out and put his hands on her temples, massaging them gently and using his powers to sooth the oncoming headache he knew she must be feeling. “It looks like you’re a little hungover,” he murmured to her softly, knowing that loud noises would be too much for her right now. He was thankful that the others had all calmed down and began leaving the room, following after the hyungs to get breakfast. “I can help mitigate the pain, and after eating, you should feel at least a little better. From what I can tell, it’s not too bad for your first time,” he assured her with a gentle smile.

“Hyung…” As Lay tended to Yoomi and Baekhyun sat there, watching the doctor and his patient with an unreadable expression on his face, Sehun was still struggling to come to terms with what he saw and what had happened, letting out the quiet name accidentally. Suho had heard though and, as he finally pulled a shirt on over his head, turned to Sehun with a small smile.

“Yes, Sehunnie? How are you feeling after last night? I know you always tend to drink too much,” he teased the younger boy lightly. Seeing that Sehun still just stood there with a small frown and didn’t immediately start whining or trying to defend himself like usual, Suho let his own smile fall, knowing that something was wrong. A quick glance over to Kai, who usually would have been distracting his best friend and fellow maknae by teasing him or trying to cheer him up, showed Suho that the other boy was in a similar state, expression blank and eyes dark. It made him worried. “Sehunnie? Jongin?”

As if hearing his name be called snapped him from his trance, Kai immediately perked up, plastering a smirk on his face and jumping on Sehun like he usually would. Sehun startled at the sudden action, yelping and trying to swat the slightly older boy off. “Sorry, hyung, must still be hungover,” Kai excused the both of them, although the whole attitude change felt forced. He slid his gaze over to Yoomi, the smirk on his face becoming a little more genuine and turning into an almost-smile. “Naughty, naughty kitten,” he sang mockingly, “drinking so much and sneaking into Junmyeon hyung’s bed.”

At his words, which were meant to be playful, Sehun’s expression darkened a little. Of course Yoomi had ‘snuck’ her way into his hyung’s bed, just like he had been worried about when she first moved in with them all. Not knowing how to deal with his hurt over Suho seemingly moving on and choosing Yoomi over him, Sehun latched onto that single thought and redirected his confusion into bitterness once more. He glared at Yoomi, who had managed to open her eyes and feel better with Lay’s help enough to snap back a “shut up” at Kai. She met Sehun’s glare with confusion of her own, having thought they were starting to get on better terms recently. “You- mph!”

Before Sehun could start another fight and say something he’d later regret, Kai wrapped an arm around his head, covering the younger boy’s mouth. He let out another laugh, the sound still not quite like his usual one, and began backing away, pulling Sehun out the door with him. “Everyone else is already downstairs, so don’t take too long getting ready, okay, kitten?” He winked at Yoomi and then used his powers to teleport him and Sehun away in a puff of black smoke, having decided that teleporting would be easier than dragging a struggling, kicking Sehun down a whole flight of steps.

“He’s right,” Suho sighed after they left, still feeling a little worried about the unusual behavior the maknae duo had exhibited. He ran a hand through his hair to relieve some stress, turning to Yoomi with a small smile. “If you’re feeling better now, we’ll leave you to get ready.” He leaned forward to peck Yoomi on the forehead, but was blocked by Baekhyun, who shifted on the bed to be right in his way. Suho just blinked, wondering what exactly was going on with his friends today— they had been drunk or hungover plenty of times and never acted this way before.

“Yeah, I feel much better already.” Yoomi smiled back at him, not at all noticing Baekhyun’s actions, her focus easily having shifted to Lay after returning Suho’s smile. “Thanks a lot, Yixing oppa.” She smiled at her second mate as well, grateful that the pounding in her head had been reduced to a dull, barely-there ache and lights and sounds no longer hurt her.

“No problem.” He waved off her thanks, removing his hands from her head and standing from the bed. Where Suho had failed, Lay succeeded in pressing a short, soft kiss to Yoomi’s forehead, feeling very affectionate after the scare he had received earlier. “Just come down and join us all in the dining room when you’re ready.”

Suho and Lay had to almost drag Baekhyun out of the room, who whined and still refused to leave Yoomi’s side. Eventually, they convinced him to reluctantly follow them downstairs, but he had childishly stuck his tongue out at Suho before bounding away. The leader was dumbfounded once again but shook it off, conversing with Lay as they left Yoomi on her own.

Once she was alone, Yoomi yawned and stretched again before slowly crawling out of bed. She definitely felt much better than she had when she first woke up, but she still felt sluggish and a little out of it, her head making her a little dizzy and her stomach feeling oddly empty and hollow. She moved about slowly as she hea