inopportune intrusions

inopportune intrusions

(a collection of moments)

(i. first story)

The first time Yixing walks in on Lu Han hovering over Minseok's backside, he was merely trying to fetch Kris from the room where he usually is around that time (but M-leader was out shopping with Tao because Tao was bored and buing buing never fails) since Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun had stopped by to crash the pad as part of the process of throwing a small "Welcome back to Korea!" party.

Entering the room, his eyes were downcast because a torn square wrapper lingering out of place on the floor had caught his attention, so Yixing doesn't notice that Minseok is balling the sheets at the foot of the bed into his fists, nor does he notice Lu Han leaning over him, not caring to pause when he sees that someone else has stepped into the room.

In fact, Yixing doesn't notice that he has intruded on anything at all until he catches ear of a muffled scream (courtesy of Minseok stuffing his face down into the sheets when the feeling of Lu Han inside him becomes too unbearable). This startles him, as he's still trying to understand why there's a wrapper on the floor because none of the people here are lazy enough to just toss a wrapper on the floor, especially since there was a trash bin inside the room, and the sound further throttles his understanding into chaos.

As the sight of the two on the bed gradually settle into his line of sight, he hopes that Kyungsoo isn't planning to use the lemons in the refrigerator for dinner plans tonight, because he plans on using them as acid cleansers for his eyes to wipe the hypnotizing image of Minseok's back arching in response to Lu Han sliding out.

At Yixing's expression, Lu Han grins, hiking Minseok's hips a little higher so he can lean forward in a mind-blowing that sends Minseok wailing into the sheets once again.

Once his eyes have thoroughly blinded with filth (approximately the time of which Yixing has to think, "What―"), Yixing backpedals carefully and clicks the door shut even more quietly (and even more quickly) than how he opened it. With the door now closed in front of him, he stands there for a second, ruminating the dark swirls of the wooden floor (realizing what must've been the original contents of the little square wrapper) until he shudders at the fact that he had just seen two people he is very close with being very close with each other and whimsically hurries to go find those lemons before Kyungsoo does.

"Did you hear that?" Minseok asks breathlessly,

turning his head just enough to glance back at Lu Han.

"No," Lu Han smiles warmlybefore gentlyurging forward

to kiss Minseok (who sits upto meet Lu Han and moans in the process

becausethismotion drives Lu Han a little deeper),"it must've been your imagination."

(ii. second story)

The second time leaves Yixing in an (even more) awkward position.

Dance practice just ended and everyone is free to go home, so that's exactly what most of them do. Kris committedly asks why Yixing is going to stay, to which the dancer reponds with, "More practice,"―a response that Kris makes a face at, because Yixing always stays after, and every time he offers to stay and watch, Yixing gets impossibly shy, widening his eyes and shaking his head to refuse the offer whilst assuring to Kris that he won't be long.

Kris rolls his eyes to that statement because that's a lie, and clearly, Yixing must have a different perception of time than the rest of the members because they always find him stumbling through the front doors well into midnight, and in no way does staying after for two hours constitute to the statement of "not being long."

Just as Kris opens his mouth to tell him so, Tao pops back into the building calling out to Kris that he'll be left behind if he doesn't come right now, so Kris forgets his previous complaint and asks one last time. "Are you sure?"

The way Yixing nods has Kris wondering if the dancer isn't actually having a seizure right now, but simply blinks twice, saying, "Okay," before conclusively throwing his training bag over his shoulder, "if you say so."

"Tao," he turns, "let's go."

Outside, they both walk side-by-side as Tao asks, "Wait," he doesn't stop walking, but Kris does. It takes a second before Tao stops, as well. "Have you seen Lu Han and baozi-ge?"

To this, Kris glances blankly at Tao wondering if Tao knows, because Kris knows (he shares a goddamn room with those two and it's like they live in their own little world, and they really don't mind if Kris is there―if they even care to notice that Kris is there―but there are some situations that even M-leader would rather not deal with, and being in the same room while Minseok and Lu Han are doing inappropriate things at inappropriate places happens to be one of them), so he wonders, since Tao shares a room with Minseok in China, if Minseok happens to spill anything about his newfound love life to Tao.

Tao tilts his head curiously, awaiting some answer.

That would be a no. Kris palms at his temple before rationally concluding,Of course not―it's Tao.

"Tao," Kris finally says, walking forward to pat the younger boy's back, "it's better not to know."

If Yixing knew what Kris knew at that time (as if the walk-in incident earlier hadn't been clue enough, but Yixing doesn't always put two and two together), he would refute that statement to the death because no, it would have been better to have known―much,muchbetter―to have known where Minseok and Lu Han were.

But, he didn't.

So, that's why Yixing thinks it's okay to descend the stairs into the basement to work on the ballet routine that Jongin-ssi so gracefully taught him the other day when the main K-dancer stayed with him (but today, Jongin locked arms with Sehun as soon as dance practice ended and they pranced off togetherinto the sunset, so that episode wouldn't happen again today, but that's okay―he could utilize this time without Jongin to further define his style and technique).

And of course, since Jongin is not there―since no one except for himself is there―he can freely lose himself to the rhythm, the beat, the sound until suddenly he's flying on his musical high, around the room with effortless flow. The grace of ballet is nothing new to Yixing, even if the positions and moves are, and even the dramatic tension of the melody strings out his emotions as he twirls buoyantly en pointe, the dimly lit room further enhancing the air about him.

Kris is right―Yixing must have a different perception of time than the others, but it's not because he is lost, not in the literal sense anyhow, but one thing is for sure: time seems to stop for Yixing when lost in the resplendent art of dancing, and that's why he can always be found in the training building, working on something new to experiment with, (why he can always be found stumbling through the front doors of the group residence well into midnight).

But even if time seems to stop just for him, timing, itself, doesn't always agree that Yixing is the only one in the world, because as Yixing arches his body mid-arabesque, he hears tumbling down the staircase outside. The strange noises rather frighten him (he doesn't like when people interrupt his dancing, especially if it's a more feminine dance form like ballet that he's not yet too familiar with, and therefore he's not as comfortable with). Panicking, the dancer slams his heels to the ground before rushing to change the song on the jack to something more hiphop, and starts popping frantically, fully expecting the staircase tumblers to burst through the door at any moment now.

Yixing gradually steadies into the usage of muscle memory, recreating the original choreography to the music, casting a glance to the door every time the refrain repeats.

Why aren't they―he thinks impatiently as the hurried movements of his body are breaking him into a sweat now,―coming in? Man, just come in already so I can see who it is...and see if I can stop dancing like an idiot now.

Wait... Yixing pauses.Wh―why am I dancing like an idiot right now?The boy asks himself, abruptly stopping to straighten himself out and wipe at his glistening forehead. Yixing bubbles a cheek while crossing his arms, glancing at the door one last time before finding a clock. He's surprised to find that he's been dancing for almost an hour, because, except for the last few minutes (which felt like forever), it feels like it's only been ten.

Tilting his head side-to-side, solemnly deliberating whether to continue or not, Yixing's thought process startles to the sound of voices out the room, except what he could make out from them weren'twords―they were more like the-sounds-that-humans-make kind of voices.

"I can't believe we got caught in the hall like that," panic falls from Minseok's mouth,hands resting on his knees over his loosely dressed elastic cuff sweats that barely kept around his waist,(because Lu Han untied the ivory knot just because he wanted to) and the waistband now hugged lowly around Minseok's hips.

As soon as Lu Han glazes his eyes over that particular provocative detail of his bandmate's disposition,he achingly bites into his bottom lip because Minseok is so seductive it hurts.

"Oh my god, you look so ing y," is all that Lu Han has to say about that,and Minseok squints at him incredulously―which is really all the time he has of anything to do,because Lu Han presses him up against the wall, presses their lips together until Minseokcan't breathe,as if the man wasn't already having a hard time breathing from hectically tumbling down nearly four flights of stairs, and they hadn't even reached the bottom (they stopped themselves short on the last half landing, right before the last flight to the basement).

"Lu―Han," Minseok whines while trying to shove off the man pressing and holding him tightly, but Lu Han doesn't want to hear it,and downs more of his tongue into Minseok's mouth in hopes that he'll maybe just drop it and let them continue from before(which he kind of does since Minseok goes ahead and wraps his arms around Lu Han's neck).

"This―you're―crushing me. Let's go down into the basement," Minseok suggestsafter Lu Han lowers his attention from Minseok's face into the groove of Minseok's neck,inhaling his boyfriend's intoxicating scent, lightly dragging his teeth against fair skin(and Minseok gasps from the touch).

"Why?" Lu Han hums, tpressing their lips together once again,and Minseok closes his eyes, clearly exhausted of Lu Han being impossible to deal with. "Let's do it right here! No one will see us, I promise."

Lu Han's bright and eager smile is very much Minseok's kryptonite,and that basically means he has no means of defending himself against Lu Han's wishes,because the man can't keep from smiling at the sight of Minseok and avoiding Lu Han's face is something that Minseok finds very hard to do.

"Okay," Minseok whispers as he returns the loveof Lu Han's smiling gaze,which breaks him down into a tiny smile, too, "okay."

Lu Han's eyes crinkle ever so slightly as he grins wider, if possible. "I love you, mybaozi," he breathes into Minseok's earbefore caressing the nearest blushing cheek in kisses and touches all over,making his way once again to the soft pair of pink lips,

"I love you, with all my heart, I do."

That part is what Yixing missed when he tried to avoid being caught dead dancing to ballet by quickly drowning the room in hiphop. So all he really gets to hear is the part where Minseok screams, gently biting down onto Lu Han's forearm to offset the pain as the younger man plunges into his backside (Minseok refuses to face Lu Han in flourescent lighting, however dim it may be), a movement rendered unnecessarily rough because Lu Han needs to feel Minseoknow.

Unknowing of who the people outside the basement door are, Yixing falls into a feeling between both curious and fearful. What was that high pitched sound? Or did he imagine it―or should he be worried―or―what if it's a sunbae coming to check if people are still there? Yixing doesn't think it's bad to stay after practice hours. No, definitely not a bad thing, but sometimes the older artists would come and point out flaws, all in constructive good nature of course, but Yixing would still feel a little pressured as all new artists would (even if the dancer is used to attention).

Ill-fitting hiphop beats keep pounding into his eardrums so he drags feet over to the sound jack and turns down the volume, eventually just pressing the off button, since it's time to call it a day, Yixing thinks. The dancing atmosphere had since broken down and subsided anyway. Maybe he could make it to the building before midnight today and not have to deal with Kris foot-tapping at the hallway arch with his eyebrow raised questioningly.

Kris doesn't apply his facial cream until Yixing arrives back home, so he gets irritable if Yixing doesn't arrive on time. (M-leader thinks he can put a curfew on s because he's, well,the leader―even though that's supposed to be manager's job, but manager really doesn't care becausethey're all sensible adults or so he thinks―and he'd set Yixing's curfew at midnight.)

Grabbing his bag to leave, Yixing hopes that nothing too serious is going down outside the basement door.

Of course, that hope falls flat to the ground when Yixing opens the door fully and unknowingly approaches the stairwell when he suddenly meets Minseok's horrified wide eyes as Lu Han digs down his chin onto the shoulder, whispering sweet nothings into Minseok's tiny, pink-tipped ear.

"Lu Ha―" Minseok tries to warn him, except Lu Han feels like it's time to force Minseok to face him fully, flipping his body to press his back against the wall, hooking the older's soft thighs over his arms. Minseok subsequently loses to the feeling that overcomes his body, sinking tiny crescents into Lu Han's shoulder as he wails uncontrollably―forgetting that he doesn't like letting Lu Han see him in this way―forgetting that Yixing walked in―thoughts drowning below a sea of sinking lucidity.

By the time Minseok regains his ability to glance over where Yixing was, the figure has already disappeared back into the safe recesses of the basement, where the dancer currently has himself curled against the opposite corner farthest from the door, holding his bag clutched tight, chanting desolately to his kneecaps, "Should have stayed with Kris, should have stayed with Kris..."

What's worse is that not only did the dancer walk in on them once again (and Yixing swears he has the worst perfect timing in the world), he is hopelessly trapped, alone in the basement, until they decide to move off of the stairs, because he sure as hell isn't going to risk whatever consequences there would be for getting near them when they were tangled up together like that, even if he was willing to run as fast as his tired legs could possibly take him.Like―what if they tried to―

No―just―no. It wasn't worth it. He could wait.

Unfortunately, Kris didn't seem to think so.

Yixing doesn't return to the residence until nearly one in the morning, and there to greet him is Kris, impatiently tapping his foot, obviously, more than irritated that he actually waited an extra hour this time.

Kris notices the dampness of Yixing's hair, and when he asks why, Yixing mumbles something about "feeling dirty" so he showered at the company, and while Kris wants to further instigate an answer as to why the dancer was so ing late, he notices the traumatic siren blinking in Yixing's eyes and instead lets the boy drag himself to his shared room with Chen, and thank God that his roommate is the only normal one in this group.

"Yixing walked in on us," Minseok sighs, tightening the loop of his waistband with a jerk.

Lu Han casually glances up to say, "Oh, again?" before returning his attention to buckling the belt around his jeans, not seeing the way Minseok his head slightly, eyes zoning in on Lu Han. When he finishes buckling, he tries to continue, "The other day he―"

"Again?" strains from the other boy's lips. "What do you mean byagain?"

Minutes after Yixing imposes himself through the front door, Kris is surprised by Minseok storming through the very same entrance as he was in the process of going through the place switching off the lights before going to sleep.

"Minseok, really―Yixing doesn't care," Lu Han says, following behind Minseok intently.

"That's not the point," Minseok returns curtly, brushing past Kris in the hall without so much as a greeting.

"But, he's not a kid anymore; it's not like it was Tao―"

"You promised no one would come and look what happened," he throws an arm out and starts up the stairs, "someone came!"

Lu Han smirks and stifles a snicker at the dirty joke that Minseok hadn't exactly intended, "Baozi~ Don't worry about Yixing, I'll talk to him later if you think it matters that much."

Minseok glares down at Lu Han on the stairs, before sighing and saying, "It doesn't," he tries to think of what he wants to say, "doesn't matter that much. I just wish you weren't so..."

The tips of Lu Han's fingers brushing against his cheek cause him to stop and the younger starts backing him up into the corner, and that further emphasizes the fact that Lu Han does not carry a mind when around Minseok, acting upon impulse (because it's fun to see my baby bun steaming,Lu Han thinks), something that is definitely bound to get both of them in deep, deep trouble one day, because they're not kids anymore no matter how their youthful faces defy that notion and their business as idols eventually becomeseveryone's business, and that's just the sad truth. But, Minseok can't have that―he likes to keep his business private, okay, and Lu Han makes that hard when all he wants to do is freely claim his property by showing the world how lovely his little darling isby showing them something they can't have, so why should he not help himself to a piece of baozi when he feels like it?

"This," Minseok shoves Lu Han's face away, noticing that his boyfriend is once again pressuring him into the walls withthat lookin his eyes, and escapes entrapment by just a hair's thread, "is exactly what I mean!"

Kris hears a door slam shut upstairs just moments later.

Extracting hints from the contents of their conversation (and from the subtle way Minseok was walking) Kris thinks he knows why Yixing looked so traumatized earlier and gently pinches his glabella with his thumb and index, gradually facepalming because it seems that he'll have to sleep on the couch tonight, because he is most definitely not going to be present in the room when Minseok and Lu Han decide to not-so-secretly have make-up at four in the morning later today.

(iii. third story)

The third time has Yixing cursing himself for being careless and foolish enough to get into this kind of predicament again. He also curses the fact that his ears and eyes have instinctively accustomed themselves to their lingo, their gazes, their touches, their every sign that signifies that Yixing better leave now or else he will again (need freshly sliced lemon halves) witness inappropriate acts in inappropriate places at inappropriate times, because frankly, Lu Han and Minseok don't care if Yixing (or apparently anyone else for that matter) watches―he's seen plenty anyway and the thought of someone watching them is kind of hot, Lu Han thinks, to which Minseok would shrug nonchalantly (they've been caught plenty of times anyway, so what does it matter if someone just wants to stay and watch rather than just peek?).

If Lu Han thinks it's okay, then Minseok thinks it's okay, too.

The pair since talked out the consequences of getting caught, and all Lu Han had to say about that was yolo, consequences ("You're all I need."), and Minseok agreed. It's not that they're being reckless―they are together, and the sooner everyone else realizes that, the better, because then the two can be more open (and while Minseok dreads that inevitability, he does think it's rather exciting).

The other members, however, dread it, only.

The day that Tao found out, Kris immediately slapped his palm to his face at that he still couldn't protect the innocent minor from the taint that is Lu Han and Minseok despite his elaborate, if vain, measures to do so.

Of all people, please, not Tao.

Not. Tao.

One night, Tao taps on Kris' shoulder.

"Gege, t-there's these sounds at night―they scare me, like, wailing ghosts―and the creaking upstairs is―s-scary," Tao fumbles in Mandarin, going so far as to cup a hand to Kris' ear as he spoke, as if afraid the "ghosts" might hear. Despite Tao's meager efforts, one of them did (the only one of the two who could understand Mandarin), as all the members were having dinner in front of the television and so all were within earshot of Tao's ramblings. Lu Han exchanges a sinful smirk to Minseok, who returns a blank look, batting his eyelashes clearly confused and Yixing promptly spits out his noodles at Chen, who jumps back in surprise before proceeding to pat Yixing's back asking if he was okay.

M-leader shoots cursory glares at Lu Han, who laughs ("Priceless."), and Minseok, who sheepishly cowers ("W-what did I do―?") from the murderous hostility.

(Later, the two giggle about it, amusedhow Kris' face can turn even ier.)

Kris shakes his head disapprovingly, thinking of the most PG way to explain to Tao that the "ghosts" are in reality two idiots that don't understand that they aren't the only two living in the house and need to either book a room elsewhere or like, install soundproof walls and a complete ceiling-to-floor room divider for the sake of Kris' sanity (M-leader has already invested in very expensive earmuffs and eye masks to block off those particular senses, but eventually he has to take them off, to his dismay).

In private, Kris says to Tao, "Those sounds―they're not from ghosts, but―" he pauses, trying to remember what he rehearsed n his head earlier, "―it's like when two people really like each other, they―" , that's not what he wanted to say at all.

"Um, are you possibly talking about―?" Tao hushes the last word, like it's a dirty, shouldn't-be-said-aloud-in-front-of-children word.

Kris sighs.

"So," Tao starts, "do the ghosts disturb you, too? Are they nice people?" Tao wonders how Kris can sleep when there's ghosts bumping beds nearly every night.

Oh, Tao.

"They're―" Kris gives up, dropping the talk to go ahead and patronize the minor, "yes. Yes, the ghosts are nice people."

Tao smiles in relief (he knows) and that makes Kris feel a little guilty for lying (even though he knows).

"They just don't understand the concept of location."

And it's not the really location itself that is the problem―it's much more problematic that the two never lock the doors of the rooms they occupy, that they do it in places where people will obviously pass by or through, that they don't have a conscience about who will see them, that―i-it's just indecent. No one wants to walk in and have sight greeted with fetus faces ing, goddamnit―it looks so wrong.

Kris doesn't like the fact that they even think it's okay now, because Kris has sadly grown accustomed to it as Yixing has, and that kind of conditioned response will definitely slowly spread through the building and he is not okay with that. Never before in his life has he felt so helpless to himself, because he can't exactly tell them to stop, and he really doesn't want to get involved anyway, but come on.

You'd think that getting caught the first time is embarrassing enough to not do it again, Kris thinks to himself, but apparently it's fun to see the horrified reactions of others, to see how far they can push it until someone says something, to see how no one will do anything about it and God, they're sick, okay. I―can't.

Every time that Kris tries to talk to Lu Han about it, Lu Han shrugs and changes the subject almost instantly, usually revealing something embarassing he found out about Kris a.k.a. blackmail.

"I saw how you looked at Chanyeol-ssi the other day. I think I'll go tell him."

"."

Every time the leader would try to bring it up with Minseok, the tiny man would blink uprapidlywith innocent wide eyes as if he'd never done anything wrong in his life, something that would probably be true if not for meeting Lu Han, and after that Kris can say nothing further. Trying to mention anything remotely related to to Minseok's candid, angelic face makes Kris feel downright ic, like trying to to a child. That's because Minseok takes on a completely different attitude with Kris than with Lu Han (one much more innocent, more gentle because he doesn't like when Kris tries to be aggressive, and this method works well against that)

Yixing, too, doesn't like to discuss their private life that his so-called friends (the world seemed much more simple and much less dysfunctional when Minseok and Lu Han weren't yet together) so gratefully like to share with everyone else, so he kind of vents to Kris and they spill over woes together.

"It's like―they don't care. And I don't care. I mean, it's their life, they can do whatever they want, but, I just―I don't want to see it, you know?"

"Or hear it," Kris chimes.

The evening after a photoshoot in China, Kris absolutely has to leave the house and never look back because Lu Han can't stop attacking Minseok in the rooms because his baozi looks so handsomely petite and perfect in a suit, and Tao needs to be protected from the filth so he gets pulled along with M-leader, leaving behind Chen and Yixing, but they have their room blasted with music anyway, oblivious to (or perhaps avoiding like the plague) the couple all over each other in every place except their room.

"Lu Han, I'm not a tree, get off me―stop that!" Minseok struggles against the blonde man behind him with his head tucked under an arm rubbing his cheek all along the groove of Minseok's waist.

"You're so soft, baozi~" Lu Han mumbles dreamily into Minseok's blazer, roaming hands all around his waist, and the older facepalms, cheeks tinting pink a little, just a little.

"Okay, okay―whatever. I-I need to change now, so could you possibly, you know―"

" that, I'm undressing you," Lu Han says, settling his head onto Minseok's shoulder and sneaking his hands down from Minseok's waist to his belt to start unbuckling it.

"The suit is company merchandise," Minseok warns, "so don't try anything funny."

"Okay, they can have the suit," Lu Han smiles as the trousers drop to the ground, "but I get to have you."

Minseok pouts because he has nothing else to say, and patiently outstretches his arms to let the man resting a chin on his shoulder undress the other articles of clothing before realizing that they're standing in the hallway.

"Hey we should―the bathroom?" Minseok suggests, stepping out of the pool of clothing about him and picking them up while sidling off to the the new location.

Lu Han thinks that's an invitation.

But no, no. Minseok refuses to let Lu Han near him in the bath, demanding that he stay on the far side of the room in the shower so Minseok can have some time to himself in the bath, because Lu Han never lets him have any time to himself.

I hate this, Lu Han crosses his arms as shower rains bounce off of his pouting cheeks, Why does Minseok―why can't I―this isn't fair.

While Lu Han steams impatiently in the shower, Minseok enjoys his peaceful, quiet bath, even adding a splash of bath bubbles to enhance the carefree ambience.

This is nice, the man bubbling in the bath thinks, and soaks pleasantly in the water until the backs of his little fingers and toes turn pruny.

As a matter of fact, Minseok doesn't like to be disturbed, ever―not that he likes being alone, but, it's just that he finds being alone very soothing and perfect for self-reflection, and sometimes the man just wants to relax, okay, and Lu Han makes that hard when he plants touches all over the object of his affections even when Minseok just wants to do a just a simple task like bathing. Or walking. Or talking. Breathing.

So when Lu Han quietly takes his demands to stop hounding him like a dog, he is surprised to the point that he turns paranoid.

It's quiet, Minseok thinks to himself, Too quiet. It's―weird.

Peeking out the bath curtain, there's no sight of Lu Han so skepticism wears Minseok's face as he sits there, apprehensive and antsy. He's not sure if he wants to leave the bathroom anymore for fear that Lu Han is plotting something as soon as he does.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Minseok is greeted by the sight of a cross-armed, rather unhappy-looking Lu Han, and now the man with a towel wrapped around his waist thinks he should have brought changing clothes with him to the bathroom, because Lu Han strategically placed himself next to their room, and so he most likely won't be able to go get any clothing until Lu Han stops looking so unhappy.

"Enjoy your soak, dear?" Lu Han says in a sickeningly sweet tone, but the fact that his facial expression remained unchanged hit Minseok with a bout of trepidation, and the tension emanating from his glare grounds Minseok to his spot.

"I―did, yes," Minseok replies under his breath, staring the floor to avoid the intensity in Lu Han's eyes. Then he tries to maneuver past the man standing next to the bedroom door, but gets caught and turned against the wall and finally meets Lu Han's dark eyes, seeing his own reflection off of them.

Minseok is all that Lu Han sees.

"Good," Lu Han says in a low voice, pressing Minseok a little more against the wall. "Because I need some (of) you (for myself) time."

Yixing feels a wee bit peckish. He and Chen have been on the computer composing a new song for nearly an hour and he thinks it's time for a snack, so he takes off his headphones and his ears are bombarded with more music (because the radio is on, nearly full blast to drown out the sound of Minseok and Lu Han if they are still home). Chen sways his head gently with his eyes closed to the soft ballad sweetly gracing his ears.

The dancer makes sure to slip out of the room unnoticed, gently clicking the door behind him, so as not the disturb the singer humming and tapping his fingers rhythmically against the desk. He just wants a snack from the kitchen cupboard. That's all, but―

holy .

Lu Han is ing Minseok again. Against the wall. In the hallway. And thank God that Minseok's towel is conveniently censoring Yixing's eyes from seeing any private parts that he should not be seeing, but still.

"Please excuse me," flies out of Yixing's mouth, and immediately about-faces to turn the knob to his and Chen's room, but―it―won't turn, so he begins rattling it, as if the knob would magically turn to open if he shook it hard enough. This is not happening. The fact that he locked the door earlier to make sure the two oldest members wouldn't come in and disturb them while they were working punches him in the face and he starts to bang fists crazily on the door. "Oh my God, Jongdae-ah, please open the door!"

Chen hears nothing.

The singer continues to hum peacefully, conducting his fingers as the beats by Dre drown his ears in the imperturbability of the sweet ballad, oblivious to the rampant beating against the other side of the door that gradually turn into clawing sounds as Yixing sinks to the ground, cursing himself for being careless and foolish, so very careless and foolish, to the point where Yixing entertains the impossibility that a microchip programmed with voyeuristic tendencies specifically aimed to find best possible times for inopportune intrusions was, in fact, hidden deep within the recesses of his brain.

After that incident (when Lu Han and Minseok glanced over to Yixing as he made a fool of himself trying to slip back into his room, and eventually charges like a bull past the two to subsequently roll like a buffalo down the stairs), Minseok never again denies Lu Han's company in the bathroom (for Yixing's mental and physical safety, but the dancer just doesn't care anymore―three times had been the charm―nothing more could surprise him, he thinks), and willingly lets Lu Han invite himself to the spot beside him, and that will be his place to claim, forever and always.

"Okay, Lu Han?" Minseok asks airily, polite as ever, smiling bright as ever.

Lu Han plants a light kiss and proceeds to whisper against Minseok's lips, "That's all I could ever ask for," and they share another exchange of smiles.

But I'd still rather be inside you than beside you, baozi, Lu Han thinks.