Halcyon II

Yixing gave a wet cough as he pulled his jacket closer. All around him, people moved quickly, pushing past him, ignoring him as they hurried to their destinations.

It was mid-May, but it felt unusually chilly this evening- people moved quickly to avoid the chill as much as possible. Yixing, however, moved slowly, sluggish and dazed. The wind would bite a bit at his hands and face every now and again, but the pain felt distant as his mind drifted.

His mind felt untethered from his body as he stumbled and shuffled forward, his weak legs carrying him to some unknown destination. He felt torn open. He felt strangely exposed as he huddled down into his jacket and ambled through the crowded streets of Seoul.

There were too many people, too many sounds, too much of everything.

Feeling everything to the nth degree, highly sensitive to all the happenings around him- and yet on some level, he felt numb at the exact same time.

The dissonance left him with an almost unstoppable urge to yell out in utter frustration as his emotions confused him. Yet there was also the urge to simply stop, just sit down and stop everything all together.

These tumultuous feelings manifested in small twitches of his shoulders and frozen fingers every so often.

However, he did not stop. He did not yell out. He simply continued ambling on as his whole body began to shiver lightly.

‘Why can’t I do anything right?... Why can’t they love me? Am I unlovable?’ Yixing couldn’t help but think over and over. The fuming face of Byun Baekhyun remained firmly in his sight even as he moved farther and farther from the dorm.

Within the last hour, he had landed in Seoul, gone to the dorms, been yelled at by Baekhyun, and had run away like the coward he was.

“Is there anything good you have ever done in your ing life?! Because I would be surprised as hell if you had!"

Yixing flinched and huddled further into his coat.

Baekhyun’s spiteful words continued to eat away at his soul as he moved farther and farther from the dorms. Over and over they echoed, and Yixing felt as though something was writhing wildly under his skin as he thought about Baekhyun and Exo.

With each step, with every breath of fresh air he took, indignation rose inside of him.

‘I’ve been gone for months and this is what they have to say to me? I didn’t even get to see Sehunnie and apologize…’

Just minutes ago, he had felt unwelcome in the place he called home, and in his shock and panic, he had run from the dorm, run from Exo. But now he almost regretted not staying and screaming right back at Baekhyun.

‘What right does he have to judge me? He wasn’t there when the CEO had called him into his office, when he had signed those papers so he could stay with Exo. Baekhyun wasn’t there when YiFan had found the chemicals, had blackmailed him into lying for him! He wasn’t there while I had to endure every godforsaken bath on my own. And- God, NONE of them were there for Sehun when he presented.'

Baekhyun had said Sehun and Jongdae were hurt by him? Yixing knew the past 2 years had been rough, but he wasn’t sure Baekhyun could blame it all on him…right?

‘Either way, they are grown men too- even Sehun’s presented now. Why can’t we ever seem to have a civil conversation anymore?’ What happened to the Exo that cried when they left for China, who cuddled with him after practice? What happened to his pack?

‘You hurt them- it’s your fault. Just like Baekhyun said.’ the dark voice at the back of his mind cut in.

Yixing flinched at the unwanted thought.

But it still gave him pause.

He didn’t want to admit it, but the voice was…it was right…right?

Baekhyun hadn’t told lies - and thinking back over the past year …even if Yixing hadn’t meant to…he had to admit his fault in hurting his pack. He knew that.

‘You lied to them not once, but twice. You even left the maknae, Sehunnie, on the doorstep of a Hospital and ran off to China.’

Yixing winced as if in pain. The memory was painful.

Leaving his precious Sehunnie at the hospital just to catch that stupid flight had been one of the hardest things Yixing had ever had to do…except for the biggest lie of all- fabricating his beta presentation. Exo knows the truth, sure, but the lie continues even now.

‘But it’s for the good of Exo, for the good of the company…I HAD to do it. They just don’t understand that.’

‘One bad choice after another,’ the voice tittered back at him.

All of these thoughts left him feeling a bit hollowed out, like a shell.

Sighing, Yixing shook his head, trying to quiet the dark little voice and ignore the guilt creeping into his mind. Yixing stood there, breathing slowly, mind blank, as the world passed him by.

Slowly the emotions seemed to fade back into the depths of his mind and writhe once more just under the surface of his skin- inner demons waiting for moments of doubt to pounce and devour him once more.

‘I really need to find a warm place before I freeze to death,’ Yixing shivered as the chilly wind swept across him as if he wasn’t even wearing a jacket.

“Maybe Heechul is free? No…I think he left for Japan this week? Hmmm, maybe I should call- no, it’s fine. I’ll just…” Yixing trailed off as he looked around.

Turning to his left, Yixing realized this intersection was very familiar. Then looking to his right, he came face to face with the entrance to a very familiar apartment complex. His body had seemingly made its way to the NCT dorms. ‘Huh… I didn’t realize I had run that far…’

Yixing had stayed with the rookie group a handful of times before, but he actively tried not to intrude on their adorable pack. They were kind of like his pups in a way; happy, comforting, energetic.

‘Everything Exo used to be.’

The thought brought fresh tears to his eyes, and the slight feeling of jealousy that bubbled up was hastily squashed down.

This blossoming pack was lovely…and Yixing had no one but himself to blame for the utter collapse of Exo’s pack. He didn’t want to think about that though- he didn’t really want to think at all anymore. He didn’t want to be sad, or angry, or tired- oh God, he had been tired for so long!

His aches and pains came back full force as he slowly climbed the stairs towards one of NCT’s dorms.

He had been running on fumes for the past few weeks, going from shoot to shoot, trying to pack in as much as he could before flying back to Korea for their tour and awards season. SM had run him ragged, but Yixing knew he was partly responsible for the mess Exo was in, and he knew it was his duty to do his best, to put on a good face for Exo and his company.

‘…Well, collapsing on national television wasn’t exactly good for PR’, but Yixing had tried his hardest to get off the set, away from the cameras before his fatigue got the better of him.

Unluckily for him, he barely stepped past the line of cameras before his legs folded under him, and his vision had gone black. That was two days ago.

After his collapse during filming, he had been released from the hospital hours and immediately gone back to filming. Ever since then, his body still refused to snap back. The last two days had been a struggle to walk and talk normally- much less run as he did minutes ago.

Right now, on this steep staircase, he felt like he had back then.

Legs like jelly, head aching, arms straining as he slowly approached a familiar door and knocked.

‘Why aren’t they answering? Wait…wasn’t I supposed to come here tonight anyway? Wait…why was that…’ his tired brain couldn’t recall much of anything, head felt like it was full of cotton – the emotional rollercoaster of the day was catching up to him.

His head began to ache more the longer he stood. Exhaustion rapidly consuming his body.

Unable to support him much longer, his legs wobbled, and he lowered himself to the floor next to the door.

‘I’ll…I’ll just sit here and wait. Someone is bound to come by some time…probably…’

 This chilled night was annoying, the hard floor was uncomfortable, but that was all overridden by the sudden need to shut his eyes and rest.

Wave after wave of exhaustion washed over him as he leaned his head back against the cold concrete wall behind him.

‘Why won’t my body recover? I slept on both flights, and I’ve been eating two meals a day again.’

Fatigue settled deep in his bones as the seconds passed, possibly even minutes. Who knows.

Slowly, soft sobs begin to fill the quiet hallway.

Yixing’s shoulders shook slightly and warm tears tumble down his cold, pale cheeks as he lounged against the wall in misery, his body finally giving in to the stress of the day.

Flying to Beijing, flying to Seoul, driving to the dorms, running from the dorms, and finally resting here in this cold, empty hallway.

Yixing finally let himself…grieve; for his pack, for his life that continuously collapses around him, for the pain and exhaustion that inhabits his body like a parasite.

‘They’ll never want me back. Baekhyun is right. What good have I ever done for them?’

‘Just lies, upon lies, upon lies…’

Renjun excitedly set the table and swiftly moved about the dorm’s living room. He was a flurry of activity, excited for the night’s festivities.

It was their monthly dinner with all the rookies, but this was special. This was the first time they would all be able to do this since NCT U had debuted.

Even though only 6 of them had officially debuted, they were all happy in the knowledge that they would all debut sometime this year. SM had confirmed it and had even assigned them new managers. Next up was NCT 127 in the summer and later NCT Dream would be announced.

It left a feeling of near-constant excitement in the three dorms NCT occupied.

And today was the first dinner they would have all together again- a commemoration for the NCT U boys who had successfully completed their promotions and launching the new NCT system.

The dorm was loud, seeing as eighteen rowdy rookie idols and trainees were waiting for dinner to be served.

“Renjun-ah! Where are the plates?!” Doyoung yelled out over the loud yells and bangs coming from down the hallway.

The older alpha was helping him prepare the living room, having helped him shoo away all the other members to the rooms earlier so they could begin moving the food into the living room from the kitchen.

Renjun was grateful Doyoung was here tonight to help him. He probably would have had a panic attack by now. Kun and Taeyong had originally been the ones to offer to help him with the dinner, but an hour ago Kun had unexpectedly gone into pre-heat, so Taeyong and Ten had left to help Kun settle in the nest a floor above.

Sadly, they would once again have a dinner without everyone, but no one could blame Kun- Renjun certainly wouldn’t. He himself had presented as an omega a month ago and completely empathized with Kun.

‘Maybe next month we can all be together,’ Renjun softly smiled at the thought as he quickly made his way towards the kitchen.

As he stepped around the corner into the stuffy kitchen, he could see Doyoung frantically looking around for the plates. If he weren’t afraid of Doyoung’s reaction, he would have laughed at the alpha’s utterly confused face.

Renjun coughed to cover a slight giggle that slipped out, “I already set everything out in the living room Doyoung-hyung.”

Doyoung paused, giving him a cute and confused face before quickly slipping into an adoring smile. “Awww! Renjunnie, you are just so cute and so helpful” Doyoung cooed at him, “Thank you for setting the table. The food is almost done too!” from the exaggerated tone, Renjun could tell the alpha was carefully trying to compliment him and show encouragement.

Renjun sighed as Doyoung came over and pinched his cheek.

‘They’ve all been like this since my presentation, like I’m some fragile egg that could crack at any second’ Renjun groaned internally, ‘I know my mood swings were bad the last few weeks, but I’m pretty sure I’m fine by now!’

Without knowing, Renjun had begun to pout, causing Doyoung to coo at him even more.

‘Aish, enough of this.’

“Hyung, stop please, I’m perfectly fine!... but thank you for the compliment” he ended with a petulant mumble.

Doyoung smiled at him softly before replying calmly, “I know, but the doctor said your hormones wouldn’t level off so easily because of the…presentation process.” Doyoung frowned slightly at that last word.

The pause was where “forced presentation” should have been said. The whole pack had been avoiding using the term, and ever since Renjun had returned from the hospital, they had all been in a tizzy; snuggling, cuddling, and coddling.

Renjun wanted to be annoyed, but he knew Taeyong and Doyoung felt horribly guilty. It had been a fight between the two alphas that had triggered Renjun after all. Even so, Renjun had reassured them many times to stop worrying about him, but it never seemed to stop them from coddling him more.

Renjun slowly lifted his hand and smoothed it over the worried lines of his hyung’s forehead, “Hyung. I’m fine, just act normal, alright- that’s what will make me happy.” Leaning in, Renjun shyly scented Doyoung for a moment before moving around the kitchen once more.

Doyoung smiled gently before moving to join Renjun at the counter, “Okay, I’ll try but I can’t promise anything.”

Rolling his eyes, Renjun sighed, “Really hyung, stop worrying so much. I know that’s a foreign concept to you, but your life will be much better if you learn to let loose, you know”.

Doyoung scoffed, dramatically bringing his hand to his chest, “You wound me, Renjunnie.” At that, they both chuckle.

“Renjun-ah, where is Taeyong-hyung? ...wait, where’s Kunnie? Wasn’t he making the food?”

At the sound of the new voice, both of the Kitchen’s occupants turn towards the source in surprise. Neither of them had smelled a scent before the voice had chimed in. Normally you could smell almost all of the dorm members before you hear them. The only ones without a scent really were the unpresented few; Yuta, Lucas, Donghyuck, Jeno, Jaemin, Chen le, and Jisung.

There, standing awkwardly in the doorway, was Yuta. Fiddling anxiously with his hands as he looked at them expectantly.

Sensing his insecurity, Doyoung moved away from the food and quickly over the Yuta.

“What’s wrong Yuta-hyung?”

Yuta glanced over at Renjun before mumbling, “…I think I broke Hyuck’s computer…”.

Renjun burst out laughing.

“Renjun-ah! It’s not funny” Yuta blushed a bit but looked slightly annoyed, “When Hyuck finds out, he’ll never let it go- so I need Taeyong to come help me figure it out before the insufferable brat finds out.”

Doyoung sighed, “Where’s Donghyuck now? Why were you on his computer without-“

Yuta waved it off, “Don’t worry about that. I was on it for long or anything. Barely like- a minute. Hyuck was playing with Jeno and Jisung in Jaehyun’s room.” Then leaning forward, he urgently whispered, “But that’s why I need TY NOW, before Hyuckie goes back in there.”

“S-sorry hyung,” Renjun managed to speak up through his laughter, “But you’re kinda screwed-“

“Language!”

Renjun rolled his eyes at Doyoung’s exclamation before continuing, “Taeyong-hyung and Kun-hyung are with Ten-hyung upstairs- Kun-hyung’s heat is starting.”

Yuta’s face suddenly took on a sad look before taking on a more worried expression, “A-ahh…I see” after a brief pause, he asked, “Then Renjun-ah can you help me? I would ask Jisungie, but he’s with Hyuck…” Yuta trailed off awkwardly.

Renjun tilted his head as he watched Yuta speak and continued to stare at him for a moment after he had trailed off into silence. Maybe he hadn’t really noticed it as much before, but now it was glaringly obvious how sensitive Yuta is to talking about sub-genders.

He had once overheard Donghyuck talking with Mark about Yuta- discussing how Taeyong and Johnny wanted them to start being sensitive to Yuta’s ‘situation.’ The fact of the matter was, Yuta had not presented, and even now younger members are starting to present- but not him.

 Renjun could tell, especially in moments like now, how much that fact was starting to affect Yuta.

“Sure hyung,” Renjun answered with a gentle smile, removing his apron and quickly latching onto Yuta’s arm, dragging him down the hallway. “Let’s hurry though. Dinner’s almost ready, and Xing-hyung promised he’d be here”.

Renjun couldn’t help but smile at the thought. It had been months since they had seen the Exo member in person.

Yuta perked up at the mention of Yixing, “Really? Yixing-sunbaenim will be here?!” Renjun winced at Yuta’s loud exclamation, whirling to cover Yuta’s mouth, “Why- mnmnmm nmnmn n m?”.

“It was supposed to be a secret hyung!” Renjun whined cutely, only slightly annoyed but more amused. ‘I guess the cat’s out of the bag now- I’m sure the whole apartment building heard him.’

Renjun sighed, letting his hand fall, revealing Yuta’s own embarrassed smile. Sure enough, one by one doors began loudly opening behind him.

“Xing-hyung’s here?!”

“Exo-sunbaenim? Really??”

“Wait, Yixing-hyungnim is coming?!”

Somehow the SM rookies had calmed themselves enough to gather together in the living room for dinner. At first, Doyoung and Johnny wanted to wait for Yixing to show up. But after shooting off a quick text to the absent Exo member:

“Hyung, we’re starting dinner? Are you almost here?”

and receiving no reply, they decided to go ahead and let everyone eat.

Johnny and Renjun exchanged worried glances throughout dinner, and Yuta and Mark kept glancing towards the front entryway every few minutes.

Dinner was almost over by the time Renjun decides he needs to call Yixing. He was very hesitant to disturb the busy beta, but he was also worried about where his new friend was. ‘He wasn’t crazy, right? Yixing had definitely promised to be here tonight...right?’

Quickly checking his messages, he could still clearly see the last text from Yixing just as he remembered it:

“Don’t worry. I will. Can’t wait for dinner! 😊 See you in Seoul.”

Yixing had sent that just before his first flight lifted off this morning, but Renjun had been so busy with meal prep he hadn’t thought anything of it when he had received no other texts from the older idol.

But it was definitely weird for Yixing to ignore his text from earlier. So, as the others conversed around him, Renjun quickly slipped away from the table, phone in hand.

‘Please be alright. We would have heard if something happened to the flight, right? Or maybe while he was driving or walking something happened?’ the more Renjun thought, the more he spiraled. ‘But what if it was a kidnapper! Or maybe he’s with Exo and just doesn’t want to come here?... Nah, Exo hasn’t called him in weeks. Why would they be nice now? But maybe they were just waiting for him to return? Or what if-‘

“Renjunnie?” The deep voice of the pack’s second in command broke through his jumbled thoughts. “You okay? Did you call Yixing? What did he say?”

Renjun pulled a face of confusion, “What? No hyung, I was just about to call him.”

This time it was Johnny’s turn to send him a confused look, “Junnie, you’ve been away for a few minutes now- I came to check on you when you didn’t come back.”

Heart fluttering in anxiety, Renjun felt shock ring through him briefly.

“W-what? But I’ve just been here, I was thinking about things sure- about Yixing and kidnappers, and flights, and cars but-” a warm hand on his shoulder stopped him mid-rant.

“W-what?” he stuttered.

“I think you may have been spiraling, Renjunnie” Johnny’s tone is calm and comforting- but it had that gentle undertone Renjun has come to despise from his hyungs- the careful, calculated tone. “It’s okay. It sometimes happens, especially under stress. Do you need your hormone medicine, or maybe you should go rest? Doyoung and I can-“

“No hyung,” Renjun shrugged off Johnny’s hand. He knew Johnny meant well, but he was tired of his hyung’s treating him like glass.

“I’ll admit, maybe I did spiral a bit, but I’m fine- see!” Renjun spread his arms out, giving the beta a sassy look, daring him to question his self-diagnosis. “And once I call Yixing-hyung I’ll be fine. You know me, I’m just worrying over nothing”.

Renjun kept his tone light, but it still probably came out forced- if Johnny’s doubting expression was anything to go by.

Johnny crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as if to say, ‘Okay then, proceed.’ Going silent and simply observing Renjun as he quickly dialed Yixing’s number.

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Johnny’s head tilted in confusion, eyebrows furrowing together, looking off the left as if he were trying to figure out some sort of problem.

At first, Renjun was confused, ‘Did he hear something? Eh, maybe he heard the boys in the other room doing something stupid’. All Renjun could hear was the ringing coming from his phone.

But as Johnny moved further into the entryway, Renjun realized he could actually hear a different ringing somewhere else in the dorm. Faint but there. But just as he pulled his phone away from his ears to hear it better, the ringing stopped. His own phone went to voicemail.

 Johnny quickly moved to the dorm entrance, Renjun following behind him.

“That sounded like Yixing’s phone. Is he here?” of course his hyung would show up right when they call.

Johnny didn’t answer. However, he did open the dorm door- a cool breeze swept over them, sending chills across Renjun’s arms.

No one was there.

‘Huh?’

“Let me call him again just to make sure? Maybe he’s on the staircase?”

Quickly Renjun hit the recall button and sure enough a light, airy ringtone came filtering through the doorway. It bounced off the walls making it hard for Renjun to pinpoint where it was coming from- but it sounded close.

“Hyung?” Renjun called out.

Johnny moved further out into the cold hallway.

“Hyung, do you see him?” Renjun asked with more urgency. The ringtone was vaguely unnerving in the empty hallway, leaving Renjun feeling unsettled like something was wrong.

“Hyun-“

“Hyung!” the shout startled Renjun, causing him to lose purchase on the door momentarily. The heavy door nearly closed completely before Renjun quickly corrected himself, nearly slamming the door fully open. Renjun could feel when the door hit something, stopping it about ¾ of the way open.

A loud groan accompanied the sudden stop.

Seeing Johnny absent from the hallway before him, he had a pretty good guess about what he had just smacked with the door.

Renjun let out a worried gasp, moving around the edge of the door and into the cold hallway.

“Hyung, I’m so sorry! Why were you behind th-”

‘Wh…H-hyung?’

Just behind the door, Johnny was crouched down- back facing the dorm door. He seemed to be teetering on the balls of his feet as if he had just moved and was a bit off-balance.

But that’s not all.

Laying against the wall was the special guest of the night- it was Yixing.

In seconds Renjun’s knees hit the ground on the other side of Johnny, hands shaking as he hesitantly checked over the unmoving beta in front of them.

“Hyung?! Hyung, what happened? Why are you out here in the cold?” Renjun felt himself begin to panic as Yixing remained mostly unresponsive. His dark, empty eyes slowly following Renjun’s hands as Renjun checked him over.

Johnny leaned forward as well, “Xing-hyung…” the normally calm beta’s voice suddenly sounded furious, “Did they do this?” Johnny’s large hands easily cradled Yixing’s face, his thumbs running along his cheeks, where Renjun could see fresh tear tracks- ‘Oh no.’

“Hyung, you know who did this?” Renjun was confused. Who would dare make his sweet hyungnim cry?

Johnny ignored Renjun’s question; instead, he stared at Yixing, waiting for an answer.

In return, Yixing looked straight at Johnny with a sad smile before his eyes teared up once more, “I kn-know, b-bu-but” Yixing seemed to choke on his words for a moment, “I h-had to go see them. I h-h-had to t-t-ry Young-ho.”

Johnny gave a shaky sigh, “Hyung, that pack will be the death of you.”

After that, Yixing just kept repeating, “I had to go, I had to try” as Johnny pulled him into his chest and let him sob for a moment.

‘So…it was Exo sunbaenim…they did this.’ Renjun shivered, ‘who else could hurt him so badly? Those who know him best, right?’ anger rolled through him at the thought before his anxiety took the reins once more as he watched Yixing breakdown in Johnny’s arms. Obviously, Yixing needed comfort, but Renjun was at a loss. He wasn’t exactly sure what he could do- how to cheer Yixing up.

‘Maybe first let’s get inside,’ his mind supplied.

“Hyung,” Renjun whispered, “Let’s go inside. He’s probably cold”.

Johnny nodded solemnly. He carefully pulled Yixing to stand before quickly changing tactics to tenderly lift him up when it was obvious Yixing couldn’t really stand on his legs. The icy glare never left Johnny’s face though as he maneuvered his precious cargo into the dorm.

“Get Doyoung” was all he said before moving towards the nest room, leaving Renjun shaking in the entryway.

Renjun felt as if he was on the precipice of his own breakdown as he floundered momentarily before focusing on the beta’s order.

‘Go find Doyoung-hyung’

Seconds later, he crashed into the living room and nearly tripped over Jaemin as his eyes locked onto Doyoung, and an embarrassing loud whine of distress was wrenched from him.

“H-hyung help,” he whimpered as he nearly bowled over the alpha in his haste to find some sort of comfort as he truly began to panic.

Yixing is surrounded.

On all sides, literally. Warmth and tenderness radiating from the pack surrounding him, even in sleep.

He needed to get up though… he needed to go to the restroom, but he wasn’t about to cut short the best part of this otherwise horrible day.

All of the rookies were cuddled up around him. Renjun curled around him like a Koala, Donghyuck and Chenle clutching to each of his legs, and Doyoung’s secure arm wrapped around his torso. Johnny’s leg was currently his pillow, and literally everyone else was huddled in the nest around him.

It had been a long time since he'd felt this type of comfort, loving skinship, and surrounded by calming scents.

Exo had been exactly the opposite for a few months now, even before he left the country.

Rarely did he seek comfort from them, having been rebuffed so many times since Tao’s revelation. Skinship? Pfft, what skinship was there to be had with pack members who avoid you like the plague? And scents? Only soured scents filled the air when he was present.

And today?

Well, this whole day felt like some kind of nightmare. It felt unreal and shocking.

For hours he had sat outside the dorm, drifting between anger and grief.

Then, for hours he had clutched onto Johnny in NCT’s nest as Doyoung and Yuta tried their best to help calm him and talk with him.

At some point, Renjun had coaxed him in to eat some food before the whole pack came in to cuddle pile him. Yet he still felt like he was half present. He soaked up the care, soaked up the loving words, ate the delicious food. And yet, the hole in his chest drains it all away at the same time.

Yixing also felt guilty.

Guilty for ruining the boys’ monthly dinner with his doom and gloom, with his mess of a life. Both Doyoung and Yuta had reassured him many times he was welcome, and they had all but held him down when he mentioned leaving so they could enjoy their evening without him.

Renjun’d nearly had a conniption fit when he overheard Yixing even mentioning leaving the nest to eat, much less leaving the dorm that night.

It had warmed Yixing’s heart, yet the sadness lingered like a dark cloud.

Sighing lightly, he began the tedious job of untangling himself without waking any of the sleeping angels.

Yixing sat on the balcony of NCT’s dorm, looking out over the sparkling lights of Seoul.

He had briefly returned to the nest room before quickly leaving, finding a place to think and mope. He felt exhausted, yet he knew sleep would elude him. And seeing his sleeping pups had curled up together in the space he had once occupied, he decided he didn’t have the heart to make a place for himself amongst them once more.

The couch looked comfortable enough, but as he had passed by the balcony, the view called to him. It had lured him outside, and now he sat entranced by the lights of the city.

Who knows how long he sat there, staring off into the night…feeling empty and broken-hearted. It could have been minutes, hours, days- time just stretched on, or so it felt.

Ring

Ring

A light ringtone chimed, breaking him from his silent brooding.

Glancing at the caller ID, he froze, holding the phone as it rang over and over.

Ring

Ring

Ring

‘…Minseok-hyung?’

"Hello?"

"Xing, it's Minseok. Can we talk?"

.

.

"...okay."

Extra Scene:

The doorbell chimed, causing everyone to look toward the entrance of the dorm. It was very early in the morning. Only a few of the boys were awake, meandering around the house- waiting for Doyoung to finish breakfast.

Almost everyone was still cuddled up in the nest. Johnny had moved Yixing back into the nest earlier this morning after discovering the beta shivering on the couch.

And the pack had quickly latched onto him before dozing off once more. It had been a long night for everyone. But they were all glad to help their precious hyung.

Again, the doorbell chimed.

Annoyed, Mark stumbled up from his seat on the couch next to Donghyuck. Almost face planting into the carpet as he narrowly avoided the edge of the coffee table, Donghyuck cackling the whole time.

He was closest to the intercom anyways. He might as well figure out who the hell is ringing their bell at this ungodly hour.

‘Probably a manager,’ he mused, pushing the camera button to view their guest.

“What? Who in the heck” he mumbled out.

It took Mark a second to recognize the young man on the screen. He had only met him once, but he had seen him a few times around SM’s building.

It was Yixing’s manager, Choi Taehyung.

Mark groaned, shivering in disgust at the thought of letting the horrible man into their dorm. Especially seeing how ‘well’ he had taken care of Yixing.

“Hyung!” He called out.

Johnny and Doyoung both appeared quickly in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Ne?”

“What?”

“It’s Choi Taehyung.” Mark couldn’t help but make a face as he said it aloud.

Johnny and Doyoung both flinched before pulling disgusted faces of their own.

“Do…do we have to let him in? Can we just, you know, let him stand out there and freeze to death?” Mark asked, dead serious. Both hyungs immediately answered:

“No, you cannot, mister!”

“Well… I mean…”

Donghyuck chimed in from the couch, “Do it. I dare you.”

“Bet.”

“Boys, NO, we are not killing people- sheesh.”

A/N:

Okay, so I know what you’re thinking: “Why the hell did it take her so long to update a 5,000-word chapter?”

Simple answer? The US balls at dealing with Covid-19, and as a teacher, I’m way overworked because no district is hiring extra staff for all of the pandemic precautions we have to take. So teachers in my state are learning how to teach online, make online content, AND do like 3 extra jobs on top of that. I’m exhausted, BUT super excited to finally update/ finish this story! 😊 I apologize for the long wait, but I implore mercy- love you all, I promise!!

Love, Block_Exo