A/N: 

Hello, we're back, a little late once again, Honestly, Hannah has been a goddess this chapter as she has provided you with most of the fun this time around. We hope you're both doing well, and if Finals have started or just finished for you I hope they've been successful and you remember to get some rest and enjoy the holiday season with family and friends or even by yourself.

Thank you for joining us as always, for the support, and comments we enjoy reading them.

Until the next time!

Arya and Hannah.

...

On Saturday, Kyungsoo woke up late for the first time in a long time. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept this much, his body thanking him for rest that he deserved after working so hard the night before. He tried to suppress a yawn but eventually let it escape his lips, still sitting on his bed. Jongdae was still asleep because he and Baekhyun had stayed up really late watching Netflix when Kyungsoo made it back to the dorm they were at it and could still hear them even after he took a shower and went to bed.

There was no sign of Baekhyun, so Kyungsoo guessed he left in the middle of the night. 

Reaching over for his glasses and his phone, he noticed it was noon already, he had a few notifications from Youngmin, and a few other classmates, all of them still discussing the night before, how everyone thought they did, and the surveys. Kyungsoo sighs, putting his phone down. First had to get something to eat, get cleaned up and be properly awake before he could even begin to think about all of that.

Maybe not in that order. 

There were three distinct knocks on his door, letting a sigh escape, he threw his feet off the bed, rubbing the sleep away as he opens the door. He wasn’t surprised when he found Baekhyun standing there with a few bags in his hands, it honestly smelled pretty good.

“I’m here to save you,” He declares as he steps into the room, placing the bags on top of the table and flopping into their sofa. “I brought food and my presence.”

Kyungsoo chuckles, he wanted to say it was too early for this, but in reality, it wasn’t early at all. “Oh, my hero,” his voice is tainted with sarcasm, but it didn’t seem like Baekhyun cared.

“I also brought Starbucks coffee.” The blonde mentions and Kyungsoo’s face cheered instantly. He runs to dig into the bags until he finds the coffee goodness.

“My hero,” He says this time truthfully as he smells the coffee and takes a sip.

“So, we didn’t get to talk properly last night. How was it?” Baekhyun reaches out for one of the bags, pulling a bagel out and stuffing his mouth with it.

“It was good, I think we did well.” Kyungsoo sits next to him, watching his friend eat a bagel in two bites. “Jongin and Sehun were there, and they introduced me to some of their friends.”

“Really?!” Baekhyun’s voice is muffled by the food, Kyungsoo frowns in disgust.

“Yes, eat first and talk later,” Kyungsoo scolds. “It was the same event and we didn’t know; the host happens to be one of their friends.” He hands his friend a napkin, trying to keep more crumbs from falling on their table. “Imagine my shock when I go to my station and they are sitting there, Jongin’s brother was also there.”

“That’s crazy,” Baekhyun says, digging into the bag again for another one. “Our Kyungsoo mingling with rich people, who would’ve thought.”

“I was cooking for them, and they’re all really nice, at least that was my first impression,” Kyungsoo finishes his coffee, setting his mind for a shower now that he feels awake and with more energy.

“We’re supposed to hang out tonight, although we haven’t set the details yet,” Baekhyun announces as Kyungsoo makes his way into the bathroom. 

He just hums as he closes the door, turning on the shower and stripping from his pajamas. Once he is done, he walks back into the room, changing into comfortable clothes, Jongdae was up already, sitting on his bed, sleepy eyes still and listening to Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo smiles fondly, grabbing another cup of coffee and handing it to him.

“Thanks,” just like Kyungsoo, Jongdae proceeded to smell the coffee before taking the first glorious sip. “Heaven.”

“Baek, did you leave any food in here?” Kyungsoo questions, as he goes through the bags. 

“What do you think I am?” Baekhyun tries to sound offended, but he is very aware.

“You just ate two bagels in barely two bites, you know exactly what you are.” Luckily he is able to still find food at the bottom of one of the bags.  

The blond only smiles contently as he places another bagel from the bag into his mouth. Kyungsoo slightly glaring half-heartedly, the small table falls into relative silence as the coffee and food begin working their way through their systems. 

“Baekhyun mentioned something about Jongin and Sehun coming over?” He turns to Jongdae for an answer, wiping some of the crumbs off of his hands onto a napkin. 

“Ah, yeah… I mentioned it around the time you got back in.” He nods in response, running one hand through messy curls. “More than likely just going to chill here, Sehun or Jongin is supposed to text back when they’ll be free.” 

Kyungsoo nods. “Since that’s the case, we’ll have to get our cleaning done early.” 

Jongdae slightly groans head falling back into the table. “It can’t wait?” 

“No… as much as I don’t want to do it either, the sooner it’s done, the sooner we don’t have to worry about it.” 

Jongdae sighs, resigning in fact that his friend is right, his phone buzzing on the wooden surface. He reaches out for it, quickly going over the notifications.

“That’s Jonginnie… he says they’ll be here around seven and they’re bringing food.”

“We should get dessert then,” Baekhyun says, “Are we watching a movie or what?”

Jongdae shrugs. “I don’t know, we can figure it out once they’re here,” he continues to scroll down, typing something back with a curly smile.

“What are you so smiley about?” Kyungsoo questions, cleaning up the bags and leftovers. Jongdae giggles.

“Apparently Sehun felt left out, so he forced Jongin to include him in our chat, just so he could say hi,” He explains. “Now Sehun is demanding for me to include you guys.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head at Sehun’s behavior with a smile also, somehow it sounded like something he would do, despite not knowing Sehun for very long it felt like he had been part of the group for years.

“Well, since we have time let’s get to cleaning then,” Kyungsoo turns to the other two, who are staring back at him with their bottom lips sticking out. “Don’t look at me like that, I want this place to look at least decent when they get here.”

The pair groans, Jongdae getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom while Baekhyun helped Kyungsoo clean up the mess they did last night. There was popcorn on the floor, and in between the cushions of the couch, Jongdae’s laptop was still open on the table, empty glasses lying around.

A lot of things Kyungsoo did not notice the night before when he went to bed.

Once Jongdae was out of the bathroom he joined the cleaning mission, all three of them managed to leave the room spotless. Kyungsoo was very satisfied when he looked around at the finished product. It took them about an hour and some change, but they were ready for Jongin and Sehun to stop by.

“See, now we still have a few hours to chill, and we don’t have to worry about cleaning.”

Jongdae and Baekhyun roll their eyes.

But nonetheless, they spend the rest of the evening getting ahead on some assignments for the weekend and on the week ahead. Spending the last two hours or so watching a couple of shows, and it isn’t long before there’s a knock on the door, signaling that their guests had arrived. 

Jongdae immediately hops up from the couch, sliding over to the door in his socks opening it with his signature smile. 

Baekhyun coming right behind him, peering over the other’s shoulder. “Jonginnie!” The vocal student smiles brightly.

Jongin smiles back, holding one of the bags of food that he promised to bring. “Hi, and I hope you don’t mind but my brother decided to come as well.” 

Both of their gazes fall to the third person at the door, Kai giving the pair of other students a slight once over before waving slightly as he leans against one part of the wall, the complete and utter contrast to his brother. 

“I hope that’s not a problem?” Jongin questions. 

The pair turn their attention to him again. 

“Not at all,” Jongdae assures. 

“The more the merrier.” Baekhyun nods. 

“What am I? Chopped liver?” Sehun comments from the side, giving them both a slight pout. 

“Of course not, Sehun… come on in.” Jongdae says, both friends stepping aside to let their guests inside. 

Soon they’re all filtering into the space, Kyungsoo moving out of the kitchen as they all approach. Greeting them all with a smile as he grabs some of the bags that Jongin is carrying. They place them on the table, and Jongin helps to unpack the Chinese food and pass it around.

“We also brought a switch to play Mario Kart, I want to challenge Baekhyun.” Sehun points his index finger at the blonde, who responds with a smirk.

“Bring it on, Sehunnie, I’m the Mario Kart master.”

“I wouldn’t say master, but he’s alright,” Jongdae laughs, digging into his food. Kyungsoo sits next to him on the couch and Jongin grabs the spot next to Kyungsoo.

“We’re six today, we can do 2v2 matches,” Baekhyun says, “and then the last three will fight for first, second and third place.”

“That sounds fun, a Mario Kart competition,” Kyungsoo smiles, it sounds a lot better than the usual sitting down to watch a movie they usually do.

“Sehun and I are paired up, choose your partners, everyone,” Baekhyun sits on the floor next to Sehun, elbowing him with a smile.

“Jonginnie let’s play together,” Jongdae looks over Kyungsoo at Jongin who nods with a smile. “Bookworm kids have to stick together.”

“Uh, but we’re playing against each other,” Jongin giggles when Jongdae just blinks, a blank expression on his face when he realizes.

“Oh shoot, that’s right.”

Kai all the while is sitting in a corner, watching the exchange, when he heard they were going to hang out with them that night, Kai couldn’t help but be a little curious. The only frame of reference he had of Kyungsoo’s friends was from that one concert they were invited to, and it wasn’t much. Seeing his brother looking considerably comfortable with them was surprising, to say the least. 

Although Jongin gave them a free pass it doesn’t mean Kai will too.

He won’t let anyone hurt his brother ever again.

“That means Kyungsoo and Kai are up against each other,” Baekhyun informs, making Kyungsoo and Kai share a look, a slow half-smile playing on the latter’s lips.

To Kai, this was just a plus.

Once food was gone, Baekhyun and Sehun sat in front of the TV, both with controller in hand, waiting to choose their characters and start playing.

“I’m rooting for you Sehunnie,” Jongdae chants, earning a halfhearted glare from Baekhyun.

“Me too,” Kyungsoo says also smiling when Baekhyun gasps, putting a hand to his chest as if he was offended.

“Don’t worry, I support you.” Jongin pats Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Kim Jongin, the only man that can be trusted,” Baekhyun then turns back to the screen as the match is about to start. Both wait for the green light before they start racing. Baekhyun constantly yells at Sehun when being attacked by red shells or bombs and the other has no mercy as he drives across the map. Successfully snatching the first round.

However, things don’t look so good for the youngest when Baekhyun makes a comeback and wins two races in a row, winning the match as well. Baekhyun high fives Jongin as they change positions and Jongdae sits where Sehun was sitting previously.

“Go easy on me,” Jongin pouts as they get settled and start choosing characters. Jongdae chuckles pinching Jongin’s cheek.

“Don’t let him fool you Hyung! He’s really good,” Sehun warns, he shakes Baekhyun’s arm in the process. Jongdae’s jaw drops as he turns back to Jongin.

“Is that true Jongin?” Jongdae can’t believe it. “You were being cute to fool me? Wow, get ready.” He shakes his head when Jongin giggles while choosing the map.

They soon start racing as well, Jongin is obviously an expert, he goes around the NPC characters, throwing a green shell over to Jongdae’s character and soon securing a first place. Jongdae yells and tries to distract Jongin, however that doesn’t do much to stop him from winning three times in a row. Sehun and Baekhyun snort in the background while they switch positions to allow Kai and Kyungsoo to start their race.

Kai smiles throughout their first race, laughing when Kyungsoo tries to drive past him, however during the last lap, Kai’s character falls behind questionably, Kyungsoo’s suspicion grows when he wins first place on that race and he sees Kai is still smiling.

“Are you letting me win? Don’t do that.”

Kai chuckles, “trust me, that’s the only one I’m going to give you,” He turns to look at Kyungsoo, his eyes as always holding the other’s stare. Kyungsoo quickly looks away and starts the next race, just hearing a soft laugh from the guy next to him.

He soon confirms Kai’s words when he shows the other no mercy during the race. He quickly gets first and stays there for the rest of the race, and the one after that too. The group takes a small break before they go back at it, Jongin winning his match against Baekhyun, leaving the twins facing each other.

“Let’s do rock, paper, scissors,” Kai suggests since they both like the same character.

“One round?”

“Yeah.”

They chant rock, paper, scissors in unison, Jongin picks paper and Kai chooses scissors, giving Kai the win. He smiles as he picks Bowser, letting Jongin pick Wario instead. They let the game choose the map randomly and settle there, waiting for the race to start.

“Who are we betting on?” Baekhyun asks and Kyungsoo slaps his arm playfully.

“I’m betting on Jongin,” Jongdae says.

“I’m on Kai’s side on this one,” Sehun leans back on the couch, having played with both in the past, he knows Kai can be really competitive.

“I’m betting on Jongin too,” Kyungsoo joins despite slapping Baekhyun before, this makes Jongin smile.

“I got my money on Kai,” Baekhyun then states. “You’re my boy blue.”

Once bets have been placed as if on cue, the race starts, both are concentrated, not even saying a word as they sabotage each other. Kai fell off the map once, however he recovered some ground after throwing a blue shell that landed on Jongin. Sehun and Kyungsoo can only laugh while Baekhyun and Jongdae cheer loudly in the background. In the end Jongin ends up winning the first round.

Kai quickly restarts and they race again, this time Kai pushes Jongin off the map a few times, laughing when his brother punches him in the arm. Jongin then notices Kai has three red shells.

“If you wait to use those on me, I swear to God,” regardless of his threat, Kai does indeed stop racing waiting for Jongin’s character to drive by, so he can throw the three red shells and pass him by, a loud laugh exploding in his chest when Jongin kicks him. “You’re the worst.”

“I am the best,” Kai says, easily winning the second round.

They start the third race right away, this time going neck to neck while throwing items at each other to secure the win. It looks like Kai is going to get it, when Jongin gets a star before the last corner and rushes to the finish line, getting first place just by a few seconds. Kai smiles putting his controller down while Jongin stands to celebrate with Jongdae and Kyungsoo.

Once Jongin is declared the winner of their Mario Kart competition, Baekhyun and Jongdae start discussing what to have for dessert, Sehun throws random suggestions from time to time and Jongin just laughs when he gets totally ignored by the other two. They ultimately decide for ice cream and Jongdae loses another game of rock, paper, scissors so he is the one sent to get it, coming back with enough ice cream to feed a party.

Baekhyun sits next to Kyungsoo on the couch, watching Kai and Jongin talk about their last race, they were like two drops of water, but their vibes were so different. Kai had a darker feel to him, while Jongin was bright and adorable.

Identical on the outside, but different on the inside.

“Say, Kai,” He starts, gaining attention from both. “Tell us a little about yourself.” 

Kai doesn’t say much for a moment, raising an eyebrow as he looks at the blonde. “There’s not really much to tell,” He still hadn’t decided if he trusted them or not. 

Jongdae then starts passing bowls filled with ice cream around.

“Really? No interests, hobbies, hopes and dreams?” Baekhyun insists, smiling at his friend as he grabs his bowl, taking a spoonful right away. 

Kai shrugs, eating his ice cream too and stealing some from Jongin. 

“Any love interests?”

Kai clears his throat, avoiding doing or saying anything too revealing. “You seem to be curious about a lot of things.”

Baekhyun slightly deflates and pouts with the spoon in his mouth, “I’m just trying to be friendly, get to know you... outside of the rumors everyone’s passed around.”

Kai doesn’t know what makes him feel more uncomfortable, the fact that Baekhyun is asking too many questions to his liking, or that he seems genuinely interested in the answers. Whenever someone new asked something it was usually with other intentions, so with time he learned to avoid answering anything remotely personal. Somehow, he also feels a little bad.

“There’s not really that much to know about me.”

Sehun chuckles. “He wishes he was as cool as the rumors going around.”

Kyungsoo laughs, he is slightly leaning against Baekhyun while eating his ice cream. “I’m sure he’s still perfectly cool on his own.”

Kai has a hard time fighting back a smile.

“I’m way cooler,” Sehun says.

 Kai ruffles his hair. “You wish kid.”

Jongdae laughs putting his bowl away, “Aren’t you all the same age?”

“We are but this person here thinks he’s our grandpa because he’s older than me by a few months and older than Jongin by a few minutes,” Sehun replies making Kai laugh, a deep and fascinating laugh that has the rest of them looking at him with smiles.

Jongin shakes his head. “He won’t let us forget it.”

“Well that makes us all a year older than you,” Kyungsoo informs, following Jongdae steps and putting his own bowl away. 

Kai smirks. “I can call you Hyung, I don’t mind.”

This just makes Sehun rolls his eyes, “See? Not cool at all.”

Kyungsoo glances at him, looking very unimpressed, “Whatever makes you comfortable.” He then turns to Sehun. “I’m sure he tries his best.”

“If this is trying his best…” Sehun shakes his head.

Kai scoffs at his best friend. “You wish you had my charm, Oh Sehun.”

Kyungsoo smile, “But Sehun does have charm, he’s cute.”

Sehun beams as he glances at Kai, looking happy, meanwhile Jongin’s ice cream is melting on his bowl as he pouts down at it. Kai only frowns in response.

“Don’t worry, you two are also cute… right, Soo?” Jongdae says, noticing the pair’s discomfort. 

Kyungsoo looks at the twins and they look back with expectant faces. He honestly wishes Jongdae hadn’t asked, he looks around the room, eyes slightly widening, he nods his head. “They’re attractive... you’d have to be blind not to see that.”

Jongdae smiles. “But that wasn’t the question, do you find them cute?” he presses. 

Kyungsoo sighs, still smiling a little nonetheless. “Yes, they’re cute too.”

With this, the rest of them finish up their ice cream, both Jongin, and Kai with new smiles on their faces. Jongin offers to help wash the dishes but Kyungsoo declines, informing Baekhyun will do them later, ignoring the blonde’s protests. Sehun then mentions he has errands to run early the next day, so the guests soon stand up and get ready to leave.

Kai leaves with a different feel to the group, even when he isn’t all that sure about them yet, something inside him tells him that maybe they’re not that bad and his brother will be fine while hanging out with them.

And maybe, if he follows his brother’s steps, he might be able to get more than what he expected.

So much more.