Sehun leans his head against the windowsill in his bedroom. The night is different here. The noise is different. There was always the hum of sound in Seoul. Cars in the distance, and people, and life were a constant. Here there’s just the singing birds and the buzzing insects. Even the sky is different. In Seoul, he was lucky to see a few stars in the sky every now and then, the dense clouds that always seemed to linger and the bright reflective lights typically blocked out much of anything. But here, in this sleepy little suburb thousands of stars twinkle above his head every night. Sometimes evening peeking through the clouds on dark nights.

Jongin is at his desk tonight. His hair is in his eyes, his teeth have taken hostage of his bottom lip, and the pencil in his hand isn’t moving. Sehun knows he’s drawing. He'd caught the boy with the exact same expression for so many nights now. He’s so concentrated, that Sehun could creep up behind him and he wouldn't know. It makes him curious. Jongin still hasn’t shown him any of his drawings and he still gets flustered whenever Sehun brings them up. He eventually gets up from his spot and falls across his bed. It’s a strange thought but as he lays across his bed, he can help but think that Jongin’s bed is better.

******

Soojung is excited about something. She won’t tell Sehun what it is and every time he asks, she grins and promises him that he’ll find out soon. She’s buzzing with excitement, drawing Sehun’s attention every other minute during their morning classes until lunch.

“Let’s go,” Soojung says, grabbing her backpack and standing with an impatient air. She stares imploringly down at Sehun while he tries his hardest to tease by taking his time. It doesn’t work, her excitement is contagious, and he finds himself rushing after her.

There’s a classroom, a small room on the third floor in a dusty corner that may have been an old art class but is now a disused storage room and the place the four of them go to hang out when the weather’s cold and bad. Jongin and Jinri are already there when they arrive. Sehun and Soojung’s class are farthest down the hall, so the pair almost always arrive after them.

Sehun takes a seat beside Jongin, leaning his head on his hand as he releases an exaggerated sigh. “Please tell me you know what’s gotten into Soojung.” Jongin looks up from the homework he’s only now finishing to Sehun with a small grin.

“I’ve got a clue,” he whispers conspiringly, “but, you should probably wait for her to explain.”

“Stop gossiping and pay attention,” Soojung demands, nearly whining as she takes her place in their small misshapen circle. Once she has all eyes on her she continues speaking. “My parents leave for their anniversary trip tomorrow, so you what that means.”

Sehun doesn’t know what that means but Jinri whoops loudly, arms raised in the air as she cheers. Jongin laughs at Jinri, his homework forgotten. Soojung’s not watching her, Soojung’s eyes are him gleaming with a mischievousness as she grins. “Sehunnie, you’ll be coming on Saturday, right?”

“Where too,” Sehun asks indulgently as everyone’s eyes turn towards him.

“It’s only the best event in the world,” Jinri tells him. “Our Halloween sleepover and movie night held every year at Soojungie’s since Soojung moved here.”

“I…” Sehun begins, before pausing. “I’ll need to see if my aunt allows me,” he mutters the statement in embarrassment.

“She’ll let you go if I’m going,” Jongin reassures him, but Sehun’s not so sure he agrees. The third time he’d slept at Jongin’s place his aunt asked him to spend more time at her home as if she wasn’t constantly at work and seemed to never really feel comfortable with him around.

"What kind of movies do you watch," Sehun asks after a moment.

"Action movies," Jongin says. "It's neutral grounds for us since Soojung only watches indie French movies..."

"I do not," Soojung interjects, tossing a pen cap at Jongin.

"And," Jongin begins dramatically, "Jinri's a psycho that only likes horror movies."

"You only like animated movies, Jongin. You're just as weird as us," Jinri teases with a laugh. "What kind of movies do you like, Sehun?"

"Action," Sehun answers.

"He likes romance movies but only the ones with happy endings," Jongin corrects, laughing at the glare Sehun sends him.

******

“Are you still worried that your aunt won’t let you go,” Jongin asks him suddenly. It’s the Friday before their sleepover and Sehun hasn’t said much about it or anything else really. Sometimes he’d catch himself staring at Jongin, wanting to bring it up only to chicken out seconds later.

“No,” he mutters, and that’s the truth. He’s not planning to tell her about the sleepover until the night of when he’s safely tucked away in Soojung’s home. “I don’t want to intrude,” he adds on as a pause.

“What,” Jongin asks him, pausing the show that they were in the middle of binge-watching in order to properly look towards Sehun. “What are you talking about?”

Sehun gives a halfhearted shrug and deliberately looks away from both the computer screen and Jongin’s intense gaze. The curtains are pulled away from Jongin’s window and Sehun can see his own bedroom through it. “It’s a tradition between the three of you, isn’t it? I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Why would you ruin it,” Jongin asks. The confusion is clear in his voice, and Sehun can’t help but shrug a second time, still refusing to meet Jongin’s eyes. Jongin doesn’t say anything at first, his bedroom is quiet, Sehun can’t even hear the dogs that he knows is somewhere in the house.

“The first sleepover happened when Soojung first moved here. It was on a Halloween weekend because she’d spent her birthday with her family, and her parents celebrate their anniversary then. She had only invited Jinri but Jinri wouldn’t go without me. The first sleepover the three of us watched Disney films on her living room floor until we passed out. It just became a tradition after that, even when we went through puberty.”

“It sounds nice,” Sehun muses, a small smile finding its way to his lips as he finally looks towards Jongin.

“It is,” Jongin admits, “and it’ll be just as nice with you. Soojung didn’t invite you just to be nice. We want you there, we’re friends.” He knocks his shoulder into Sehun’s playfully, resting against him. “You’re stuck going to this thing with us Sehun, or else.”

Sehun snorts softly, “or else what,” he asks. Jongin’s smile is small, but his eyes are warm and kind and Sehun can’t help but feel some of his earlier anxiety leave him.

“Anything really,” Jongin muses, “but it’ll probably involve me humiliating myself if Jinri and Soojung are behind it.”

Sehun laughs then bright and loud. It's the only sound in the room but when he stops Jongin's smile is bigger. "I'll go if it means saving you from humiliation.”

 Jongin doesn’t say anything after that he just resumes the show they were watching and Sehun tries everything he can, but he can't keep the smile off his lips.

******

His aunt isn’t there when Sehun leaves the house in the late morning. Jongin’s waiting for him like always in their usual place, wearing a heavy parka despite the mildness of the day.

“You need vitamins,” Sehun teases him, as soon as he approaches.

“I do not,” Jongin says, standing and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I just don’t like the cold.”

“Which is understandable, except it isn’t even cold today,” Sehun retorts.

“It is,” Jongin says, pouting. “You’re just used to cold Seoul days.”

Sehun laughs at the statement and the pair of them walk to the convenience store. “What kind of snacks should we get,” Sehun asks.

“None,” Jongin replies, whining. “I don’t know why I’m always the one buying the snacks. Soojung’s rich, she probably imports her chocolates from Belgium.”

“It’s because you’re a picky eater,” Sehun retorts.

“I am not,” Jongin says as they enter the store. He glares down at the phone in Sehun’s hand as he continues. “Stop texting Jinri, she doesn’t know anything. I was a picky eater when I was a child, I’m not anymore.”

Sehun hums at Jongin’s words. “I’m actually texting Soojung,” he says. Inside the store, Kyungsoo sits behind the counter a textbook open beside the till and a pen stuck behind his ear.

“You can use my parents’ card,” Sehun says, smiling sweetly as Jongin turns towards him in disbelief. “Seriously,” he says, “they won’t care.”

Sehun leaves Jongin to go through the rows of snacks on his own and ventures over to Kyungsoo instead. Kyungsoo hardly looks up from his book even as Sehun leans against the counter to get a better look at it.

“What is that,” Sehun asks, he tries not to frown down at the textbook, but his voice doesn’t hide the dismay at the sight of it.

“Organic chemistry,” Kyungsoo answers.

"Sounds harder than normal chemistry," Sehun replies.

"It is," Kyungsoo says with a snorting laugh finally looking up.  "How have you been, Sehun?"

Sehun flushes at the question, especially as Kyungsoo's eyes stray pass him to glance towards Jongin. "Better," he mutters. "I'm doing a lot better actually. You were right."

"Of course, I was," Kyungsoo retorts. "I grew up with Jongin, that kid's as sweet as sugar even if he’s completely naive." Sehun looks towards where Jongin stands amongst bags of snacks, head bowed possibly texting. When he turns back towards Kyungsoo, the older man is back to looking at his textbook. 

"I'm glad I got to know you too," Sehun mutters softly, feeling shy and flustered. "You're going to be a good doctor or whatever."

Kyungsoo laughs and shoos him away and Sehun walks off to help Jongin with the snack selection.

******

Soojung's house is on a hill so it looks tall in white on the outside. Jongin tells him that spacious on the inside when they walk the distance to her house. There are four bedrooms, her parents' room is on the first level, and her room her sister's and their guest room are on the second level. Jongin used to sleep in the guest room back when he was deemed too old to sleep in the same room as the girls, but ever since her sister went abroad and her parents started leaving them home alone, they'd gone back to sleeping on the living room floor.

"You can sleep in the guest room if that makes you feel more comfortable," Jongin tells him. "They won't mind."

The girls are waiting at the door when the pair of them get there. Soojung's hair is in two loose pigtails, she's wearing grey shorts, and a large white sweater. Jinri has her hair in a messy ponytail and is wearing PJ bottoms with a matching tank top.

Jongin dumps their snacks in the kitchen as Jinri points Sehun towards the nearest bathroom. "Go get changed," she commands, with a grin. "From here on out it's sleepwear only." There's music playing, a sweet pop song of some sort. It's foreign but nice and Sehun finds himself focusing on the song instead of letting his nerves get to him.

Jinri and Soojung are in the living room when Sehun comes from the bathroom, both girls pressed close together and whispering, Soojung’s holding a purple pillow in her arms, and Jinri has her phone between them.

Soojung notices him first and grins. "We're getting pizza for dinner," she tells him. Jinri glances over towards him and pats the seat beside her.

There's more than enough room for him with the pair of them so close together so he takes a seat. Jinri leans against his shoulder and wraps her arms his. "I'm so happy you could make it,” she says, her smile is so big, Sehun can see her gums.

"Only you'd be happy to have another person witness your sleep habits," Soojung teases turning off the music. "She snores," she whispers to Sehun over Jinri's head.

"I do not," Jinri denies. "Soojung talks in her sleep."

"I-" Soojung begins and then pauses. "Jongin likes to cuddle, you don't want to sleep beside him, Sehun, he's worse than a koala."

You're horrible," Jongin tells them, walking into the room. "All of you."

"I haven't even done anything," Sehun says, eyes on Jongin as he takes a seat in front of the sofa. Jinri let's go of him and he slips off the sofa and places himself beside Jongin.

"Doesn't matter," Jongin tells him with a fond shake of his head, "You encourage it."

He's never had so much fun. They watch superhero movies, and spy movies, and even a comedy. In between the movie watching Jinri plays music and tries to get everyone to dance. They order pizza and eat more snacks then they should. Soojung doesn’t have imported chocolate from Belgium but she a large bag of Halloween candy that they eat from.

Just past one in the morning, Sehun escapes to the kitchen for more snacks while a Thor movie plays. There are blankets and pillows covering much of the living room floor, and Jongin leans against the sofa as if he's seconds away from falling asleep.

He's in the middle of deciding rather or not he wants another carbonated drink when Soojung walks in, taking a seat in one of the island stool's and begins eating chips.

"Are you having fun," she asks. Her speech is nearly slurred from her drowsiness.

"Yeah," Sehun says, leaning against the counter after deciding against the drink and getting a glass of water instead. Soojung offers him the bag of chips but he declines it. "Aren't you tired?"

"Yeah," she admits, "I just really wanted to talk to you, alone. I'm happy you came. I thought you'd find a way to get out of this."

"My aunt really would have not let me go," Sehun says.

"But Jongin convinced her," Soojung says with a sleepy grin.

"Or something like that," Sehun mutters.

"You like him don't you," Soojung asks, even though it doesn't sound much like a question to Sehun. "Jongin, you like him romantically."

"You're dating Jinri," he says, in that same matter-of-fact manner. His stomach is twisting into knots, despite trying to play cool and he can’t help the large gulp of water he takes.

"So, it's a yes," Soojung says, her grin even bigger.

"I'm not supposed to," Sehun mutters. "I tried not to."

The smile has slipped from Soojung's lips, and she regards him with a stare that’s too intense for someone that seemed only seconds away from falling asleep mid-chew. "You have a better shot than any girl I know."

"That's what scares me," Sehun says underneath his breath. It's low, and Sehun doubts she hears him over the sounds of the movie seeping into the kitchen. When he looks back towards her, she's standing only a few feet from him.

"It's okay, Sehun," she whispers to him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

I've had that ending heart-to-heart since this story was nothing but a thought in my head back in 2016. There are probably some major typos so I'm going to apologize for it and probably try to do another read through in a few days to fix any glaring issue.