A/N:

Hello, hello... it's us back again! with a bit of a long chapter! We're hoping that everyone is doing well and staying healthy! Also, today our dear leader enlisted so we both wish him a well service, and he will be back before we all know it!

Not to mention Baekhyun has got an album coming out, and we're both excited about that! The teaser pictures have killed Hannah upon sight.

Please enjoy the chapter, don't forget to comment, if you'd like!

Until the next time!

-Arya and Hannah.

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Jongin stretches the best he can until his fingertips finally reach the monopoly box sitting on the highest shelf of their hallway closet. He pulls the box out, stacking it with the other games he had been able to collect in there, bringing them all out and placing them on the table. 

Chanyeol and Kai had insisted on getting the group together before the break, so the rest went along with it.

“I have the games,” Jongin announces when his friends make it into the living room. Chanyeol and Sehun walk over to inspect the pile while Kai and Minseok sit on the couches.

“Let’s make it clear before the others arrive, we are not playing Uno or Monopoly.” Minseok says glancing at the two figures going over the pile.

“Why?” Chanyeol protests. 

Truth to be told, Jongin could understand perfectly why.

“Because, you, you and you…” Minseok says, pointing at Chanyeol, Sehun and Kai. “Are all horrible losers.”

“Not to mention cheaters.” Jongin mumbles.

“And cheaters.” Minseok nods with a smile. The last few times they played together one if not all three had been unbearable.

“How can you cheat in Monopoly?” Chanyeol asks, putting the box down and sitting next to Kai.

“Ask Kai,” Jongin glances at his brother who just rolls his eyes.

The doorbell rings and Jongin walks over to answer the door. The cold weather hits his face the moment he opens it. It had been snowing for a few days so there was snow covering the ground and the trees and the usually green garden was all white. Jongin smiles when he sees Junmyeon and Yixing standing there, it looked like they were holding hands but let go the moment Jongin opened the door.

“Hey guys! Come on in,” Jongin steps to the side letting them in, closing the door as soon as they’re inside taking off their coats.

“Hey, is everyone here?” Junmyeon asks.

“Just Soo, Baek and Dae left.” Jongin replies. “I’m about to call them and see if they need me to pick them up.”

Yixing smiles, “Oh they’re coming too. Cool.”

“Yes, we’ll decide what to eat once everyone is here, the guys are in the living room going over some games to play.” Jongin says as he takes their coats putting them inside the closet.

“We’re not playing Monopoly, right?” Junmyeon takes off his gloves, putting them inside his pocket and Jongin can only chuckle.

“Minseok hyung has established that we’re not doing that.”

“Good,” Junmyeon nods, guiding Yixing into the living room. 

Jongin walks behind them into the living room. There’s a noticeable change in Sehun when he sees them walking in together and Jongin tries to keep him as distracted as he can. They decide to start warming up with some Jenga instead of the other games. Jongin sends Kyungsoo a quick text, asking if they need him to pick them up but Kyungsoo replies saying they’re already almost there.

A few minutes later, Jongin receives confirmation when the doorbell rings again.

“I’ll get it,” Kai quickly says, standing up after his turn has passed. 

Jongin sighs a little, but he lets it be.

 Kai opens the door smiling at the people in front of him. “Gentlemen, glad to see you could make it.”

“Sorry we’re late,” Kyungsoo smiles as he steps in along with his two friends.

“Yes, we could’ve been here sooner, but Soo takes too long to get ready,” Baekhyun says, making the other two just roll their eyes.

“Of course, let’s say it was me,” Kyungsoo chuckles, taking off his coat.

Kai smiles, shaking his head. “Sure. Everyone is in the living room.”

“Everyone?” Jongdae questions, rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah,” Kai looks between them a bit lost but Kyungsoo shakes his head. They make their way into the living room, sitting down and easily blending with the group. Chanyeol looks up from the Jenga game smiling.

“Oh well, look who it is…” He runs a hand through his hair, leaning back a little to get a better view of Baekhyun. “I was hoping you would come.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, taking a deep breath. “Looks like I did.”

Jongdae and Kyungsoo look at each other. 

This was going to be amusing. 

The three settle in for the most part taking their time to greet the room, letting their bodies absorb some of the warmth from the room as they watch the group finish up their first round of Jenga. 

Sehun ultimately being the one to cause the tower of blocks to tumble to the ground in a noisy clatter. He sighs, glaring at Kai and Chanyeol who fell back with laughter, holding their stomachs. They put it back together for another round, Baekhyun and Jongdae joining in this time.

Minseok grabbed the scrabble box, setting it parallel to the Jenga game, having Junmyeon and Yixing join him. Jongin smiled, sitting closer.

“Can I play hyung?” He gives Minseok his best puppy eyes which seem to have no effect on the other.

“Let’s give Kyungsoo a chance, don’t you think?” Minseok turns to look at Kyungsoo who nods with a chuckle joining in.

“Besides, if you’re going to put down ‘bear’ every chance you get and only play four letter words then please just watch.” Junmyeon sighs as he takes his letters, putting them on his tray.

Kyungsoo laughs. “He does that often?”

“Every single time,” Minseok sighs, shaking his head. His friends were all a mess when it came to board games. “He only plays seriously when we’re betting on food.”

“And then proceeds to ask for fried chicken when he wins,” Junmyeon says. He shakes his head as well but smiles at Jongin.

Kyungsoo laughs, his eyes almost closing completely when he does. That made Jongin smile.

“You can watch me play then Jongin,” Kyungsoo then says. 

Minseok and Junmyeon were the only ones to notice the way it took Jongin just a second to get off the couch and sit next to Kyungsoo with a happy smile. They exchange an amused look.

“No helping Jongin or I’ll ban the word ‘bear’ from any other scrabble game.” Minseok chuckles when he hears Jongin’s gasp.

“Soo doesn’t need my help, but I would help him just because you said that.” Jongin pouts slightly. “Besides you can’t ban words.”

“Watch me,” Minseok smiles when Junmyeon puts down the first word. 

They spend a few hours playing, all you can hear is the constant argument between Minseok and Junmyeon of whether a word exists or not, with Jongin googling it for them and Kai and Chanyeol’s loud voices as they accuse each other of moving the table on purpose, with Baekhyun glancing at Sehun, the real culprit.

They finally decide to take a break.

Kai manages to sit next to Kyungsoo, his eyes connecting with Jongin’s as he does. They just stare at each other for a moment before Jongin finally sits down between Minseok and Sehun.

“Is this the moment where we sit down to tell scary stories?” Minseok asks, making the others laugh.

“If you want Kai to ninja vanish then yes.” Chanyeol replies. Kai just glares at him in response, throwing a pillow at him which lands directly on Chanyeol’s face.

“Nice!” Kai celebrates. “My aim is still the greatest.”

“What? That was a lucky shot, your aim is the worst.” Chanyeol responds, throwing it back but Kai catches it.

“Keep fooling yourself, I was the king of our snowball fights,” Kai smirks. “Junmyeon hyung is a witness.”

“I remember nothing of this,” Junmyeon quickly intervenes. Minseok just rolls his eyes with a smile.

“Kai, you ,” Chanyeol chuckles. “The only times you were good was when Jongin cried after we aimed all of our snowballs at him.” 

Jongin shakes his head, “I would go back with my clothes all wet and a red nose.”

“And Kai would not stop until his brother was avenged.” Minseok says with a warm smile as he remembers those days. When they were little Kai used to be Jongin’s personal defender, he would not allow a single soul to bully his brother, not that it has changed, however it’s less notorious now that they are both on their way to adulthood.

“Let’s have a match, I’ll show you,” Kai says suddenly, his eyes sparkling with excitement and a wide grin. The hint of a challenge in his voice, one that he knew Chanyeol would match because, well… it’s Chanyeol. The other stands up instantly, walking towards the front door and Kai almost jumps out of his seat. “Are you coming Sehun?”

“I think I’ll pass on the cold,” Sehun waves it off and Kai just shrugs before following Chanyeol.

“Are they really going to do this now?” Kyungsoo asks. “It’s really cold outside.”

“Chanyeol and Kai have enough energy to keep them warm, they’ll be fine.” Jongin chuckles, shaking his head as he almost immediately hears his brother and Chanyeol’s voices yelling outside.

“I’ll go check those two don’t hurt themselves,” Junmyeon stands up, glancing at Yixing. “Want to come?” Yixing nods with a smile, leaving the room with him. Minseok and Jongin then look at Sehun who has a serious expression on his face.

Just two seconds later Sehun also stands up.

“Where are you going?” Minseok questions, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m going to play with Chanyeol and Kai,” Sehun replies leaving the room. The rest of them exchange a look before they decide to go watch the scene from a window.

Kai and Chanyeol are already throwing snow at each other, sometimes not even forming a snowball completely before they throw a bunch of snow at each other. They are both laughing as they run and throw snow; soon Sehun’s figure joins the battlefield. Junmyeon and Yixing standing at a safe distance from the fire.

Sehun bends down, picking up snow and forming a snowball, he first aims at Chanyeol and Kai, hitting both. He then forms another ball, glancing over his shoulder at the couple. Both Junmyeon and Yixing are just talking, not really paying attention, so Sehun takes this opportunity to throw the snowball, hitting Yixing’s shoulder.

Sehun’s face shows no emotion as they just stare at him, eyes wide open, Yixing then sighs, picking up some snow and throwing it back at him. Sehun tries to cover himself but it still hits the back of his head. Junmyeon glances between the two as they start yet another snowball fight, which Chanyeol and Kai join as well. Soon they are running over the front yard, teams forming spontaneously as they fill each other with snow.

Meanwhile inside, the others are just watching the show feeling quite amused.

“It looks really fun,” Jongdae says, resting his chin on his hand as he watches them run around and laugh. He doesn’t remember the last time he did something like this, and with the end of the semester it felt like he wasn’t having fun as he used to. Jongdae shares a look with Baekhyun, who seemed to be thinking the same, and they both run outside as well.

Jongin smiles when he sees them run right into the middle of the fight. He looks at Kyungsoo. “You’re not joining in?”

“I’m not much of a snowball fight kind of guy.” Kyungsoo responds. 

Jongin smiles because he can totally relate, snowball fights always went south for him. “Same.”

They watch as the others start targeting Junmyeon and Yixing tries to defend him, failing horribly. Minseok laughs, standing up. “Let me go help Jun,” and with that he quickly runs outside too. Even the oldest of the group couldn’t resist the snowball fun.

And then there were two.

Jongin and Kyungsoo watch through the window as the others play in the snow. Kai gets hit right in the middle of the face with a snowball and they both laugh in unison. Jongin feels his stomach fill with a bubbly feeling as he realizes they were left on their own. He smiles when he gets an idea.

“We could build a snowman,” He offers, watching Kyungsoo’s expression carefully

Kyungsoo chuckles, although he would lie if he said he didn’t want to join the fun somehow. “That sounds way better.” He is soon rewarded with Jongin’s bright smile, which he can’t help to return. “But let’s stay away from the line of fire, I don’t want to catch a cold.”

“Agreed, let’s build it near the garage.”

Once they’re outside they start gathering snow into a big ball for the lower part of the snowman’s body. Jongin’s so happy he starts to sing, running around Kyungsoo as they start building the middle section. They get a few fallen branches for the arms and stick them in carefully before they move to the head.

“I don’t think we have a carrot for his nose.” Kyungsoo mentions as he takes a step back, brushing some snow from his gloves. 

“I think you’re right... I guess he’ll have to be Voldemort.” Jongin wraps his own scarf around the snowman, smiling . “But I will name him... Jongsoo.”

“Jongsoo, eh?” Kyungsoo laughs as he steps back to garner a better look at the snowman. 

“Yes, because we made him together.” Jongin grins, doing the same. “but he shall not be named in front of others because of his Voldemort status.”

“Gotcha,” Kyungsoo nods. “It’s cute.”

“It is! Even without a nose.” Jongin giggles, taking out his phone to take a picture. 

He wants to remember this snowman he made with Kyungsoo. Then he takes a step back, including Kyungsoo on the frame to take another picture. He thinks this is his favorite moment with the other so far.

The sound of someone running over makes them turn around and spot a wet Chanyeol, trying to catch his breath, his hair is covered in snow and his nose is red. However, he’s still laughing as he looks at them, there’s a mischievous spark in his eyes that Jongin notices instantly. 

Chanyeol grabs some snow, throwing it at them.

Jongin is quick to step in so it doesn’t hit Kyungsoo, the ball hitting his left arm. “We’re not playing with you guys Chanyeol.”

“Is the snowman playing?” He asks as he grabs more snow.

“Chanyeol!” Jongin warns.

Suddenly all they hear is a faint Park Chanyeol! You’re dead! and Chanyeol is instantly running away and into the house through the garage with a Kai running after him.

Jongin sighs. “If they take this inside mom is going to be mad.”

“I’m sure she will,” Kyungsoo shakes his head, he then smiles helping Jongin wipe the snow off his coat. “Thanks.”

Jongin shrugs. “No problem.” 

“Should we head inside before we get forcefully put into their war?” Kyungsoo chuckles, brushing off the last bit of snow from Jongin’s jacket. 

Jongin nods, his nose turning a bit red from their time outside having built their snowman, as they re enter the house, removing their snow covered shoes in the garage they can hear Mrs. Kim’s voice from the living room and Chanyeol and Kai pass them once again heading back outside. 

Mrs. Kim is standing in the middle of the living room, looking a little cross. “Those boys tracked snow in here.” She then whirls around leaving the room and coming back with an old towel cleaning up the small pools of water. 

Kyungsoo noticed the distinct lack of presence from the staff that was usually around. 

“Mom sent them home early before the snow hit.” Jongin says, having noticed Kyungsoo’s searching gaze.  

“Do you need any help, Mrs. Kim?” Kyungsoo steps forward. 

The older woman smiles up at him. “No dear, it’s alright… they weren’t in here long enough to leave too much water.” she pulls up the towel from the floor. 

Kyungsoo looks back to the kitchen for a moment, thinking about the little bit of cold that was seeping through his bones. “Would it be alright if I used the kitchen.” 

Mrs. Kim smiles. “Of course there’s no need to ask okay? You’re welcome to use the kitchen anytime you come over.” 

Kyungsoo smiles nodding. 

“Nini, make sure they don’t do that again… I’m going to go up to my office.” 

Jongin blushes a little at the use of his nickname again, but he nods nonetheless, his mother disappearing up the stairs. 

Kyungsoo smiles a little at Jongin’s blush immediately going over to where the pantry is located, eyes and heart set on making something warm. 

“What are you making?” Jongin peeks into the pantry curiously, watching as Kyungsoo searches the shelves. 

“Some hot chocolate, cider, and a dessert… I hope you all don’t mind being my test group for a recipe?” Kyungsoo looks at him as he pulls down a bag of chocolate and some sticks of cinnamon. 

Jongin blinks. “I don’t mind at least… I’m sure it’ll be fine.” 

Kyungsoo gathers the rest of the things he needs and gets to getting things heated up on the stove. He internally thanks the Kim’s in-home chef for having cider in the house, so all he had to do was warm it up. Soon the room is filled with the sweet and decadent aroma of melting chocolate. Jongin watches Kyungsoo work, helping him occasionally when he needs something but keeping on the other side of the island watching and talking to him while they wait.   

The sound of voices entering the living room alerts them of the group being back inside, so Jongin walks out of the kitchen to make sure they don’t make a mess, He knows that his mother will kill them if they do. The group settles back in the warmth of the living room as they talk about what to have for dinner, making their way to the kitchen then.

“Let’s order pizza.” Baekhyun offers and Jongdae agrees. 

Kyungsoo smiles looking back up at his best friends. “You two look like you had fun…” He slowly pours in the milk to the heated chocolate trying to make sure that they mix well, adding in a little sugar as needed. 

Jongdae nods enthusiastically, his face still trying to shake off the cold, tip of his nose red as well as his cheeks, as if they had been permanently stained with laughter. “It was, but now I’m starved… what are you making?” 

“Cider, as well as some hot chocolate, with a dessert that can now go with your pizza…” Kyungsoo answers. 

“Oh, that sounds nice!” Baekhyun smiles, still trying to get the cold out of his hands, Kyungsoo could see where strands of hair had been darkened by water. “Is there anyway I could get either yet?” 

“Cider, and if you don't mind waiting the hot chocolate will just be done in a few moments.” 

“As long as it's warm.” Baekhyun holds his hands out eagerly. 

Kyungsoo laughs, filling a cup up with the warm beverage sticking the cinnamon inside of it, Baekhyun immediately sighs in a little pleasure as he takes the first sip.

They’re soon joined by Minseok and Jongin entering the kitchen. 

“Where are the others?” Kyungsoo says, finishing the last touch on the hot chocolate, taking it off of the heat. 

Minseok smiles, running a hand through his slightly damp hair. “They’re still outside… I don’t know where they get all of the energy from.” He peers curiously over at the pots. “It smells good in here, what is it?” 

“You have your choice of hot cider or hot chocolate, hyung.” Jongin explains. 

“Oh! Can I have hot chocolate, please?” Minseok smiles. 

“Same here.” Jongdae interjects, looking up from his phone for a brief moment.  

Kyungsoo nods, filling the cups up with the beverage. “Here you go hyung. Dae.”

Jongdae takes a sip of his drink. “How many pizzas do you think are too many?” 

Minseok looks over his cup. “For all ten of us? We’ll at least need two… ordering food?” 

Jongdae nods, looking up from his phone nodding. 

“I’ll pay for it then.” Minseok answers simply. 

Jongdae as well as Baekhyun’s eyes going a little wide. 

Minseok shrugs. “I’m the hyung, order what you want.'' The tone leaves little for argument, he was going to treat all of them and that's the end of discussion.

“Right.” Jongdae nods going back to ordering on his phone, Minseok right beside him recommending things that he knew some of the others liked.

You couldn’t ignore the slight blush that crossed Jongdae’s face as they practically stood shoulder to shoulder while discussing the food items.  

By the time the rest of the group makes it inside, Kyungsoo has loaded the brownies into the oven, the warm smell beginning to fill up the room. 

“What’s that?” Kai looks around the kitchen, the air alight with the smell of chocolate.

 “Kyungsoo made cider and hot chocolate… he is also making brownies.” Jongin responds and Kai walks around the kitchen curiously.

“Brownies?” He asks, glancing at the oven.

“Yes, I’m having you guys test a recipe for me,” Kyungsoo says, “but they’re not ready yet.”

The rest of the group makes it into the kitchen, all of them grabbing a cup of either cider or hot chocolate to warm themselves up. Kai and Chanyeol are still laughing and arguing about who has the best aim, while Junmyeon, Yixing and Minseok just shake their heads. Sehun on the other hand grabs his cup of hot chocolate and walks over to Kyungsoo’s side of the kitchen.

“Need any help Hyung?” He asks and Kyungsoo smiles at him.

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m just cleaning up since the brownies are in the oven.” Kyungsoo replies, but Sehun shakes his head.

“I’ll help you clean up.” He insists and Kyungsoo can only nod when Sehun starts picking up stuff and taking them to the sink. 

The group then moves to the living room as they finish warming up, cups in hand still. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo notice how Minseok finds a spot right next to Jongdae and the look they share. Meanwhile Sehun is quick to sit next to Kyungsoo, leaving Kai and Jongin to sit next to each other.

The room fills with animated conversations and laughter as they discuss their afternoon activities. Most if not all of them were talking about how it had been a while since they had fun like that.

“I swear if we let them, Kai and Chanyeol would’ve been out there forever.” Junmyeon laughs, discreetly putting an arm over the couch and around Yixing. 

“We would find their frozen bodies days later.” Minseok chuckles, he leans back on the couch, his shoulder slightly brushing Jongdae’s.

“I just hope we can all agree that I’m the snowball fight king after all,” Kai says and Chanyeol laughs.

“You wish, that’s still my title.”

They keep arguing for a while until the doorbell rings signaling the arrival of their dinner. Jongdae and Minseok walk to the door to get the pizza and move it back to the living room and set it on the coffee table. 

“Jeez Dae, did you order out the whole restaurant?” Baekhyun laughs. 

Jongdae shrugs. “I was just following orders.”

“We have a few people here with black holes for stomachs, I figured it would be good to order a lot,” Minseok says.

Kai approaches the table, grabbing a slice and taking a bite. “Oh! You ordered bread sticks too. Good job hyung.”Kai grabs a bread stick as well and Chanyeol does the same. Sehun joins in, taking two slices at once and sitting back down next to Kyungsoo.

Minseok chuckles, elbowing Jongdae. “See? I told you.”

“It was worth it,” Jongdae replies with a smile, grabbing a slice for himself.

“They might be just as bad as Baek and Dae,” Kyungsoo smiles at his two best friends. “They might be a little addicted to pizza.”

“I would be offended if I wasn’t eating,” Baekhyun points a finger at him. “I’ll be back with you in a minute.”

They laugh and proceed to eat, pizza boxes moving around their improvised circle along with the bread sticks. Chanyeol, Sehun and Kai start counting how many slices they can fit before feeling full, or at least satisfied. Baekhyun joins in as well. A while later Kyungsoo stands up to check on the brownies, he starts collecting empty boxes and just when Jongin is about to offer to help, Sehun volunteers and ends up helping around and walking with Kyungsoo to the kitchen.

Jongin lets out a frustrated sigh.

Minseok pats his back softly with a smile, they knew why Sehun was being like this but that didn’t mean it didn’t bother Jongin.

Or Kai.

Kyungsoo walks back into the living room holding a tray full of brownies, with Sehun right behind, holding the plates and forks for everyone. They carefully served the brownies giving each of them a plate and Kyungsoo sits back down just waiting for their reactions, before starting to eat.

“This is so good hyung!” Sehun says, half brownie already gone.

“Of course, it is! Kyungsoo made this.” Baekhyun points with his fork before taking another bite. There are heads nodding around the circle.

Kyungsoo is about to ask Jongin when he notices him eating with his eyes closed and a smile, that was all the feedback he needed. Then he turns to look at Kai who is actually frowning.

“Is there something wrong with it Kai?” Kyungsoo questions, quickly taking a bite of his own piece. It was okay to him.

“Yes… these have to be the best brownies I’ve had in my life.” Kai finishes the brownie, going for another piece. “This is a problem.”

“Why is it a problem?” Kyungsoo asks, now smiling.

“Well… now how will I go back to the other brownies after tasting this?” Kai points at his plate, he looks around the room looking genuinely concerned.

“Did we forget to mention Kai has the slightest addiction to chocolate known to man?” Junmyeon says and Kyungsoo can’t help but burst into laughter. Out of everybody in that room Kyungsoo would never think Kai would be the one with a chocolate addiction.

“I was trying the recipe and since it seems successful, I’ll bring you some when I do more.”

“Oh really? Cool! How much for them?” Kai asks and then there’s a short silence.

And everyone looks at him.

“Uhh, why would you pay for them?” Kyungsoo is slightly confused.

“Why not? Are you giving them for free?” Kai’s eyebrows shoot up as he leans back on the couch.

“Yeah, it’s not like I’m making them to sell them,” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Baek and Dae try them for me all the time for free and I would never think of charging them.”

“That’s what friends do,” Baekhyun adds.

“Oh, okay then. Thanks.” Kai still seems a little bit surprised by this, but he doesn’t say anything else as he finishes his brownie. The room soon falls into light conversation. Kai is still looking around with the fork hanging from his lips, wanting another brownie. He spots less than half a brownie on Jongin’s plate and a very distracted Jongin as he talks to Jongdae and Minseok. “Jonginnie are you going to finish that?” He asks but his fork is already halfway in on Jongin’s brownie.

Jongin turns to look at him and pouts. “Yes, I am!”

“Kai,” they hear across from them, Kyungsoo is staring at him and a shiver runs down Kai’s spine. It’s that look again, that reprimanding look that Kai can only compare to his mother’s voice when she used to scold him when he was little. “Leave Jongin’s brownie alone. There’s more in the kitchen.”

Kai is quick to leave it alone and sits back brushing his shoulder against Chanyeol’s. The rest of them just look between the two almost with shock.

“Where have you been all this time?” Junmyeon drops his fork like he can’t believe Kai actually listened to him.

“I hope you know this means we’re never letting you go.” Minseok says and Kyungsoo goes from scolding to laughing in just a second.

“I guess I got it from my mother,” He shrugs. “It comes in handy as well when those two get difficult to handle.” Kyungsoo points at Baekhyun and Jongdae and they protest.

“When have I ever Do Kyungsoo?!” Jongdae protests. 

Between loud protests and cheerful laughs, Minseok and Junmyeon name Kyungsoo an honorary member of the group, giving him permission to scold the others whenever needed. Kyungsoo can only laugh, thinking that when the semester started it was only Jongdae, Baekhyung and him and it took so little for him to be sitting with this large group of people, sharing pizza, brownies, laughter…

And so much more.

                                                                                                    …

“Mom I’m home!” Kyungsoo smiles as he enters the house. A million memories coming to him as he does. The nostalgic smell of his house, the feeling of the wooden floor under his feet, the pictures of his childhood years with his brother on the walls.

The soft smell of his favorite chocolate cake.

He is definitely home.

“Sweetie!” The older woman quickly exits the kitchen, apron tightly wrapped around her thin figure, and arms wide open as she goes to hug him. Kyungsoo returns the hug with a smile, leaving his bags to the side. The feeling of being embraced by his mother was better than everything else. 

Kyungsoo hugs her back, smiling at the simplicity of a hug from his mother. “Hi, mom…” 

Kyungsoo’s mother pulls back to look at him, a smile on her face. “Let me look at you properly, have you been eating any of that food you’ve been cooking.” She pinches his cheek slightly. “You’ve lost weight.” 

“Yes, mom, I’ve been eating…” he lightly rubs his cheek where she had pinched. “Where’s hyung?” 

His mother still looks a little displeased at the most recent development of the possibility of her son eating enough, but she just lets out a little sigh, smiling. “Seungsoo doesn’t think he’ll make it back home by Christmas, he said maybe after the new year.” 

“Oh…” Kyungsoo is a little saddened about not seeing his brother, they more often than not communicated by phone when Kyungsoo was at school and whenever his brother wasn’t traveling around for work. “I’ll just have to call him tonight then…” 

His mother nods and smiles, gesturing for him to follow her to their dining room table, passing by decor that he could more than likely find his way around in the dark if need be, various pictures of he and his brother hanging around the home. 

“I’ve fixed your favorites…” His mother sets down a dish of Kimchi spaghetti and a slice of chocolate cake. 

Kyungsoo smiles then, a little excited then, he’s made his mother’s recipe multiple times but he never seemed to be able to get the meals to taste the same way as hers did. He tried to help her set the rest of the table, but she would have none of it so he let her do as he wished until she finally took a seat across from him, asking questions about this recent semester and everything. 

“How are Baekhyun-ah and Jongdae-yah?” She asks, wiping the top of her lip with a napkin. 

“They’re well… and told me to tell you that they’ll come visit soon.” 

The older woman smiles. “Good, good… I’ll have to send some food for them back with you.” 

Kyungsoo laughs a little. “I’m sure that they would more than enjoy that.” 

“Has anything else interesting happened during the semester?” 

Kyungsoo’s mind immediately flashes to Kai and Jongin, he takes another bite of spaghetti. “I made some new friends…” 

His mother’s eyes light up at that. “Oh? Are they from your cooking class? Like Youngmin-ah?” 

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “No, actually I met Jongin in another Gen-ed class… and then I met his friends and his brother.” 

His mother is thoughtfully silent for a moment, but there’s a look in her eyes that is he’s all too familiar with seeing in Baekhyun’s and occasionally Jongdae’s. 

“So… Jongin?” 

“Mom... “ He groans. 

And she only smiles in the way a mother can, as if she was privy to something else that he wasn’t. But the rest of dinner goes by smoothly, his mother making sure that he has his fill of cake before tiredness from his travel and the past week of exams had brought him. 

It's as he’s settling in for the night, lights dim in the familiar comfort of his own bed that he checks his phone, there are a couple of messages from Jongdae, Baekhyun, Youngmin, and his group chat for culinary. 

But there are a couple that catch his eyes, one ending in a bear emoji and another that was more new on his screen, but one he was becoming more familiar with nonetheless.

Both of them have the same message if not asked in different tones. 

<< I made it safely, have a good break. He replies to both, then setting the phone on his nightstand cutting the small lamp off by his bedside. 

He falls asleep feeling warm.