“Why? Hyung, don’t leave me~” Sehun whined, grabbing onto Suho’s legs frantically.

“I’m not bad,” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“No! Of all people, why Chanyeol hyung?” Sehun whimpered. Luhan sympathetically patted his head and D.O. offered Sehun some spaghetti.

“Why does Sehun not like me?” Chanyeol was still smiling widely as he asked it, making the youngest a little more scared.

“Maybe because you , slapped his like a e, snuck into his room at night-” Chen began listing.

“I went into his room for Suho!” Chanyeol protested.

“What do you need Suho for?” Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, hurtfully looking at the tall rapper.

“Look Chanyeol, you’ll never satisfy the entire bunch. Just teach the maknae what he needs to know.” Kris flicked a piece of lint off his already-perfect shirt and grumbled.

“He’s mad because Tao is at wu shu practice,” Lay whispered loudly. “Lay, shut up.” Kris murmured distractedly while fixing his hair in the mirror.

“Look! Pororo!” Suho pointed to the eastern window, and Sehun excitedly ran towards it.

The leader pulled everyone out the door, leaving Chanyeol and Sehun behind. When the maknae realized he had been tricked, he grumpily turned around. “Suho hyung you lie-WHAT?”

The house had been quickly emptied of his hyungs and Sehun frantically looked at the hyper rapper sitting, or bouncing, on the sofa.

Sehun’s fingers rapidly typed on his phone. “Luhan hyung! Suho hyung! I trusted you,” he cried exasperatedly.

“Sorry, Sehunnie,” Luhan said sadly, trying to calm his friend. “You guys are mean! I thought we had a bond! Something special,” Sehun dramatically sobbed.

“Sehun! Are you okay?” Suho quickly took the Chinese singer’s phone, checking on the youngest.

“My heart is in pieces,” Sehun closed his eyes, swaying himself back and forth.

Chanyeol, thinking the maknae was actually in emotional pain, attempted to wrap an arm around him but caused the younger latter to scream.

“Sehun! Are you okay?” Suho asked.

Just like in a melodramatic Korean drama, the phone dropped to the carpeted floor and the call ended.

“That was scary,” Sehun shuddered. “Mian,” Chanyeol hung his head. When he emerged, a smile was on his face again. “Guess what we’re gonna learn today!”

“How to be a creep?” Sehun suggested.

“Yah! No matter what, I’m still your hyung,” Chanyeol gently shoved Sehun and they both laughed a little, loosening the tense atmosphere.

“We're learning about charisma!” Chanyeol announced happily.

Sehun choked on air. “C-charisma?” he mumbled. “But why did I have to undergo aegyo lessons?”

“You have to fit different images. Take Super Junior for example, isn’t Sungmin hyung a master at aegyo? But when it comes to album concepts, he can look extremely y as well.”

“Oh, okay. But you don’t have much charisma either, what do you teach me?”

“I didn’t think of this, the company did. Wonder what made them think I have charisma,” Chanyeol shrugged his shoulders.

“What are we supposed to do then? All the members are at dance practice.” Sehun asked.

“I don't know…we’re y free single and bored.” Chanyeol sighed and laid down on the couch.

“Gee.” Sehun deflated on the couch as well, flipping through a magazine.

“gee gee gee baby baby?” Chanyeol suggested.

“That is why you don’t have charisma.” Sehun rolled his eyes.

“Well, either way, I have to thank you. Got to miss dance practice.”

“Yeah, I thank me too.” Sehun sighed.

They absorbed the silence.

“This is awkward.” Chanyeol said, shrugging his shoulders as he lifted himself up into a sitting position.

Sehun was thankful that it was the older boy who mentioned the atmosphere; he didn’t want to be the one that tense things up even more.

“You know, Suho told me what you thought of us.” Chanyeol murmured as he played with the bottom of his shirt.

“What?” Sehun asked distractedly.

“Like…how you thought we were like really hot and gods and how you wanna do us?”

“I did not say I want to do you guys. I’ll pass, thanks very much.” Sehun immediately jumped to protest for himself.

“So you did think we were y? Even me?” Chanyeol’s eyebrow rose and Sehun’s cheeks immediately reddened.

“That was then, this is now.” he said firmly.

“Oh? So did we all lose our attractiveness?” Chanyeol shamelessly smirked.

“Hyung, what are you doing?” Sehun narrowed his eyes.

“Helping you…discover…your…inner…gayness.” Chanyeol dramatically whispered, his eyelids fluttering close and open.

“Wait, what?”

“No, I’m just kidding. I was only wondering if it was true, because I was truly flattered by your high thoughts on me.” Chanyeol cracked his signature grin.

“I did, I thought you guys were all these snotty snuck up people that had tons of experience under SM and are really elite among the trainees and-”

“Even Baekhyunnie?”

“-Yeah, even Bacon hyung. He seemed extremely arrogant at first.”

“You should’ve known, if we were to hate anyone in the team, our first thought would be Baekhyun, not you.”

“Because Bacon hyung is new? But he still seemed more welcome than me anyways.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, slapping the younger boy on the back.

“You’re honestly clueless, are you not?” He joked

“Yah! Hyung!” Sehun pushed him away jokingly, mad that Chanyeol had broken his train of thoughts on the first few days with the team.

“We didn’t talk to you much because you were so damn shy. Also because your skin makes you look like a porcelain doll. And blame Suho, he took his leader responsibilities too seriously.”

“Why?” Sehun asked.

Chanyeol cleared his throat dramatically.

“I quote, directly. ‘If any of you guys hurt the maknae, I will put beetles and ants all over your beds.’”

“Hyung said that?” Sehun asked, ridiculed.

“Yep, after the meeting where the CEO announced you our maknae. Suho threatened us with everything, and then stupid Baekhyun had to scream at a bug and the genius leader thought of that resolution.”

“So if I really did tell hyung that you bullied me, he’d put bugs all over your bed?” Sehun’s eyes lit up.

Chanyeol’s face bleached of blood.

“No! Don’t you dare.”

“I won’t.” Sehun laughed and curled up comfortably in a fetus position.

This time the silence wasn’t overwhelming, but instead calm.

“You’ve worked hard, Sehun-ah.” Chanyeol patted the maknae’s head, not noticing the way Sehun’s eyes brimmed with tears upon hearing the nice sentence.

“Y-you too, Chanyeol hyung.” He said, managing a convincingly strong voice.

“As a trainee, I’ve always wondered what group I’d land into. Heck, sometimes I just wondered if I’d even be in a group. But I’m really glad I have you guys. All eleven of you. You guys give me strength and I’m anticipating our debut even more because knowing that you guys are by my side are what makes me wake up in the morning smiling. Cheesy enough, but thanks, maknae.” Chanyeol rocked himself back and forth.

“H-hyung,” Sehun whispered, furiously swallowing back droplets of tears. “t-thank you too.”

He felt pathetic because it was the best he could offer without bursting into loud blubbering cries.

“I appreciate all of you guys. I could just feel we will be a special group, even amongst all the rookies that are debuting this year. Not because I’m in this group, but because I know you guys. I see and I hear and I feel. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have the best debut song or album or a world-wide broadcasted pre-debut TV show, or the most expensive choreography, but this group to me is the best.” By the end of his wrenching speech, Chanyeol himself could feel tears threatening to fall.

“And I don’t even care, you know? I don’t mind if Suho hyung moves like grandpa or if Kris smiles once in a blue moon. I could care less if Baekhyun loses his eyeliner and if Xiumin loses his puffy cheeks. Or if Luhan hyung can’t finish the rubix cube in under two minutes, or if Yixing can’t play the guitar, or if Jongdae becomes serious, or if Kyungsoo makes burgers instead of spaghetti and Kai is pale instead of olive-skinned, or if Tao has no eye bags, or if you have no cute lisp. You’re all just as special underneath, and just, thanks, Sehun. I love you. Seriously.” Chanyeol lurched forward and embraced the boy in a hug.

For an action-les minute they froze in the moment, soaking in each other’s tears.

“let’s have a good debut. Saranghaja (let’s love).” Sehun said through his blubber. “By the way, hyung, that was a lot of cheese.”

Chanyeol wiped his eyes gingerly and smiled. “Yeah, I can pour out a fondue if I wanted to.”

Nobody else would know about their moment. It was the rapper and the maknae’s small bonding session that would belong to no one else.

They made sure of that, pinkie promised, even, under Sehun’s urge.

When the other 10 members walked through the door, instead of a wrecked home and broken chairs and war scene like they expected, all they found was a tall awkward man and a cute baby-like man/boy wrapped in each other’s embrace, fast asleep, their secretive tears replaced with heartfelt smiles.

At the deepest hour of nighttime, when everyone was fast asleep, Chanyeol tip toed into Sehun and Suho’s shared room and Luhan secretly watched him go.

“To be honest, maknae, I like pistachio ice cream too. Don’t tell anyone else. And next time when you go on a date with Luhan hyung, you should invite me. I promise I won’t -block.”

Chanyeol turned around to return to his room, not seeing the wide smile spreading onto Sehun’s face. 

---

nobody will read this anyways lol but this chapter is a bit angsty compared to the others because i honestly wanted to issue a complaint. many people are saying that EXO is only so popular because theyre from SM. even if that's the case (which it is NOT) people should respect all artists, because theyve spent time and money and effort to make music for the general public and the least you can do is at least quietly acknowledge them. you dont have love them or be a fan, just that if you have nothing nice to say, then dont say anything.

on a good note, super junior won their first #1 with y free and single! yay <3