Opening the door to the bedroom he shares with Tao, Kris can see the younger one still tucked in where he left him, sleeping soundly. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he looks at his last missed call, wondering who would call him other than his boyfriend. After a few seconds, he finds the list, seeing Xiu Min’s name at the top. With a sigh, he calls him back, dreading what the oldest has to say to him at this time of night.

“Wu Yi Fan!” he hears Xiu Min yelling into his ear before the first ring even finishes. “Who do you think you are ignoring my call like that!?”

“What did you say? I could barely hear you.”

“WU YI FAN!”

“KIM MIN SEOK!”

“Do that again and see what happens when I get back to the dorm,” Xiu Min threatens.

“Fine,” Kris says. “What do you want?”

“I want you. Right here; right now.”

“Ge, I have to stay here and make sure Panda is okay.”

“That’s funny. I don’t recall asking what you had to do. I do recall telling you I wanted you right here at this very moment.”

“But ge –“

“No,” Xiu Min interrupts. “Not ‘but ge’. You get your here. Now.”

“Where?” Kris asks, sighing.

“The park by the dorm,” Xiu Min answers, hanging up after he says it.

Going over and sitting down on the bed beside Tao, Kris reaches for his forehead, putting the palm of his hand against it, smiling to himself when he doesn’t feel a fever. Before standing up to leave, he leans down and softly presses his lips to the younger’s forehead. Passing Lu Han and Chen on the way out, the older still seated comfortably on the younger’s lap, he smiles to himself again, finding it kind of cute.

“Where are you going?” he hears Chen ask when the Korean notices Kris heading for the door instead of back to the couch.

“Out,” he answers, sitting on the floor to tie his shoes.

“Wait,” Chen calls out, gently pushing Lu Han from his lap to the couch before walking over to Kris. “Let me go with you.”

“That’s probably not such a good idea, Jong Dae. I won’t be gone long.”

Reaching out, Chen grabs onto Kris’s wrist, forcing the taller to turn and look at him. “Please,” he says, loosening his grip a little. “Let me come.”

Pulling his wrist out of Chen’s grasp, he shakes his head. “Min Seok called me. That’s where I’m going right now.”

“I’m definitely coming then,” Chen says, reaching for his shoes.

Against his better judgment, Kris waits for him. “Lu Han,” he calls out, looking towards the couch. “Keep an eye on Panda.” Lu Han nods, busy smiling at the picture of Donald Duck in his hands. “Thank you.”  Reaching for Chen’s hand, Kris pulls him up when his shoes are on. “Let’s go then.”

------------

Even though the park really only took five minutes to get to by walking, it felt like Kris and Chen had been walking for hours.

“You really should go back, Jong Dae. He called for me,” Kris says, pace not slowing.

“Our friendship might be a bit,” Chen stops talking, thinking of the word he wants to say, “rocky right now, but it doesn’t mean that I’d be willing to send you off to your death alone. At least if I go, I can keep him calmed down. Or I can at least try.”

“It is indeed rocky,” Kris says, patting Chen’s back as they walk, the younger moving away a little when he does. With a heavy sigh Kris puts his arm back at his side. “Do you think we’ll ever get to a point where we can be physical again without you shying away or the other members thinking it’s because we hooked up?” he asks, genuinely curious.

“No.” Leaving Kris with his one-word answer, Chen quickens his pace.

------------

“Yah!” Xiu Min yells the second he sees both of them making their way to him. “I don’t recall calling for both of you to come.”

“In my defense,” Kris starts, hands up in the air, “I told him multiple times to stay at home.”

The deadly glare Xiu Min was shooting back and forth at them is now set solely on Chen. “I’m here to keep you from killing him. How would I explain that to our manager?”

“You just say that I slipped and my foot accidentally kicked Yi Fan,” Xiu Min explains. “Over. And over. And over.”

Kris, hearing enough, turns around and starts walking back home. “I came out here to talk; not hear you threaten me like a macho idiot.”

“Yah, don’t you walk away from me,” he can hear Xiu Min yelling behind him. “Min Seok-ah, let him go,” he can hear Chen say after that. “Fine!” Xiu Min yells before Kris is too far away. “Let’s talk.”

------------

The three of them, all sitting down on the grass in front of the swings, stare at each other. “So,” Chen starts, “are you guys going to actually talk?”

“I’m thinking,” Xiu Min says, “of how to word things without overusing the words ‘’, ‘er’, and ‘ you’. Or ‘die’. That one is also pretty high on my list at this very second.”

“I love Panda.”

“The fresh cut on Jong Dae’s lip is telling a different story.”

“I will say this once, and only once, so listen,” Kris says, voice harsh but face soft. “I’ll be nice and make this a short story. I love Zi Tao. I wanted to have a little fun with Yi Xing –“

“Why, was having a little fun with Jong Dae not enough to satisfy you?” Xiu Min interrupts, Chen quickly slapping his leg and telling him to be quiet.

“I gave Panda a little alcohol without him knowing to loosen him up,” Kris continues, glaring at Xiu Min for interrupting him. “I didn’t think it would get him drunk. It was such a tiny amount. When you left to chase Lu Han, he was really into what we were doing, and it just… happened. It’s not like either us were actually expecting him to try to make us kiss. Do you really think I’d kiss Jong Dae, again, right in front of him?”

“Yes,” Xiu Min curtly answers. “Yes, I do.” That answer earns him another slap on the leg from Chen.

“And you really think that I would do that in front of him as well?” he asks. Xiu Min nods. “Why would you think that?” he asks, eyes starting to water.

“I’d rather not talk about this in front of him,” Xiu Min answers, gesturing towards Kris.

“I want to know.”

“Jong Dae, not now,” Xiu Min says, starting to get agitated. “We’ll talk about it when we’re alone.”

“No. You tell me now or I’ll make sure we’re never alone.”

“We sleep in the same room.”

“My bed is still in the other room,” Chen replies. “I’ll just start sleeping in my room again.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Let’s see if you still think that when you’re sleeping with a pillow instead of me.”

“Fine,” Xiu Min says, defeated. “I believe you two then.”

“I see who wears the pants in your relationship,” Kris teases, putting his hand over his mouth to quiet the giggles he knows are about to come.

“You,” Chen says, pointing at him, “just shut up before I actually let Min Seok maul you. And you,” he says in a harsher tone, pointing to Xiu Min this time, “are incorrect. You had your chance to believe us. Now tell me why you think I’d actually do that behind your back, yet do it while Peach is watching.” Xiu Min leans forward a bit to whisper into his ear, but Chen quickly pushes him away. “If you’re going to go as far as to basically call me a to my face, then you can just sit there and tell me why; not try to wimp out and whisper it in my ing ear.”

Xiu Min holds up one of his hands in front of him, index finger pointing up. “I’ll ask you one more time to let this go until we’re alone.”

Chen, imitating him and holding one of his hands up as well, answers him. “And I’ll tell you one more time that that’s not going to happen.”

Nodding, his face showing how defeated he feels, Xiu Min agrees. “Okay then,” he says before pointing in Kris’s direction but refusing to look at him. “Because when you’re sleeping, it’s his name you say.”

“Well, I’ll just go and let you two talk this one out,” Kris says, standing up so fast that he almost falls back down.

“Stop,” Chen says before Kris has even taken a step. “Get your back on the ground. We’re not finished here.” Without a word, Kris sits back down.

“I see who wears the pants in your friendship,” Xiu Min teases, getting back at Kris for earlier.

“Don’t,” Chen starts, pointing at Kris, “you even think of replying to that.”

The atmosphere between them quickly goes back to the way it was before they started talking, the building tension so thick that it’s nearly suffocating.

“Before I joined SM,” Chen says after what feels like hours of silence, “I was pretty much a loner. I was my best friend. I wouldn’t exactly say that changed after joining the company either though. You don’t really make that many friends in a company when you join and end up debuting less than a year later. Even after we debuted it didn’t change. Nothing changed until Yi Fan and I went to the beach. I had someone the felt like a friend; someone I knew I could run to if got tough; someone I knew would do anything they possibly could to cheer me up if I needed it. Just… someone. Are you with me so far?” he asks, and they both nod, looking down at the ground. “When you grow up as a loner, people don’t exactly line up at your door for dates, so I don’t really have… experience in that department. I’m sure it’s only natural to develop feelings for someone who’s suddenly there for you,” he says, looking at Kris. “And I’m sure that the first person you fall that hard for will always be somebody that messes with your brain.”

Kris blushes, remembering the motel. “I’m sorry about that night.”

“I wasn’t talking about that night. I wasn’t even talking about you. I was talking about the effect you have on me. Even if I sit here and repeat a thousand times that I hate you, that doesn’t change the fact that you were the first person I… really liked. Even if I sit here and repeat a thousand times that I hate you, that doesn’t change the fact that just looking at you can turn me into a complete idiot. Even if I sit here and repeat a thousand times that I hate you, that doesn’t change the fact that I feel like I can’t even function if you’re not there. Are you both still with me?” he asks. Again, they both nod, refusing to meet his eyes. “And even though the mere thought of Yi Fan can both up my day and make it better at the same time, that doesn’t mean that I’m not trying with you,” he says, finally turning his attention to Xiu Min. “Of course I’ll have moments where I call out his name in my sleep. Unfortunately, that will probably happen often at first, but whose arms am I wrapped up in at night? I’m wrapped up in yours, Min Seok-ah; not his. Whose bed is it that I’m sleeping in at night? It’s yours; not his. Who’s the person I watch sleep when I wake up because it makes my day? That’s you, Min Seok-ah; not him.

So now, I will tell you again. I did not, nor will I ever, kiss Yi Fan.”

“I’m going home,” are the first words to leave Kris’s mouth right after Chen’s finished. “You two talk.”

_______________________________________________________________

A/N: To those of you that read my other story, you can skip this paragraph if you want. To those of you that only read this one, I apologize for taking so long to update this. Ever since I started writing/reading fanfics, I've totally neglected my K-Dramas, and I've spent the past week watching a couple new ones that I've really been meaning to start. During the day, I spent time with my mom and/or brother, and would catch up on the shows at night, so never had any time to write anything. Side note: If you watch Big and/or Time Slip Dr. Jin, let us have fanboy/fangirl moments together.

I originally had a longer chapter in mind, but my own emotions wrote this instead. There are probably a buttload (seriously, a buttload) or errors in this one. I wanted to get this out tonight for you guys, but it's almost 5:30, so I just used the spellcheck to get any errors. I'll have to read over this again later and fix any of the missed errors up.

@ChoKyute - And I apologize for making you wait so long for it! D;
@kristmaticlove - Pssh, of course I saw Kris with his headband. Who knew a headband could be so damn y?
@legna_angel - I was planning on somehow working to slip it in this story, but I think this chapter ruined any chance of that. Lol. It'd be a big step backwards. I'll have to remember to do a one-shot for them. Feel free to remind me, because I will forget. Lol. I saw a new picture on Tumblr earlier (or maybe yesterday) and Kris was wearing something sleeveless. My first time on that site in a couple of days, and that was the first thing I saw. ing beautiful. *_*  And gull, you rant all you want. ;P
@VitaminBuns - I did hear! I'm the person you reblogged that from on Tumblr. RLAB. The Dalmatian thing I was watching? You can probably find it on sondabakTV's YouTube (that's where I watch the stream when they're on). I'm pretty sure they add clips from the show afterwards.
@animeotakupooh - I refuse to believe that Lu Han is an adult. Lol. He's just...adorable.
@realeyes - Oh, that link/post is beautiful. Can anybody really blame Lu Han for touching? Haha.
@fluffcloud - A late comment is better than no comment? Hehe.
@JKetchup - I'm glad you enjoy the story! ^_^
@0330__kiss - Hi~, new reader!

And hello to all of you new subscribers!
There were a lot of you even though I was failing with updates!
Hope you enjoyed this update. :]