Warning: Language only.

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O.o o.O

In the morning, Tao wasn’t too sure what to do when he saw Kris eating at the table with his eyes closed. But Luhan was also there, spooning cereal into his mouth robotically, and he would surely realise something was up if Tao skipped breakfast (the horror!) or retreated back into his room after just stepping out.

“Good morning,” he said quietly, when Luhan’s morning stare fixed on him unblinkingly.

Milk dripped from Luhan’s mouth as he gave a half-hearted chew. “Urg.”

Tao collected a bowl and spoon before sitting down gingerly in the seat across from Kris, who was holding onto a piece of toast with both hands, elbows on the table. “Morning, ge,” he whispered. He kept his movements slow and cautious as he reached for the box of cereal on the table.

A grunt.

Tao gave the clock a quick glance when he slowly stretched his hand towards the carton of milk open in front of Luhan; he had been pretty sure before leaving his room that Kris had already left for basketball practice. “Ge,” he whispered, “It’s almost nine. Don’t you have practice?”

Kris paused in his munching and slit one eye open, turning his head towards the wall clock. He dropped his toast. “.” He jumped up from his seat, banging his knee on the table and shifting it a few inches. He hopped on one leg towards his room, one large hand trying to massage out the pain in his knee. “, , I haven’t packed my gym bag, everything.”

“What’s happening?” Minseok asked, yawning and scratching his stomach as he wandered out.

Luhan just turned to him with huge unblinking eyes and milk still dribbling down his chin. “Huh guh.”

“WHERE’S MY TOWEL?” Kris screamed from his room. “WHERE’S MY ING WRIST BRACE? WHERE THE IS MY BAG? WHERE IS EVERYTHING?” Loud banging and more swearing followed, and Tao could see Kris crumpled on the floor of his bedroom, clutching his left shin and face screwed up in pain.

Minseok squinted in the direction of Kris’ room. “What’s your guess that Jongdae changed the time on his clock again?”

Tao’s mouth rounded. “Again?”

Minseok shrugged. “Happened a couple times last year. Only when you least expect it and get complacent.”

“Why?”

Minseok shrugged again. “Kris is funny when he’s late.”

“Teeheehee.” Sure enough, there was Jongdae’s telltale giggle from the other end of the suite.

“KIM JONGDAE WAIT ‘TIL I GET BACK YOU’RE SO DEAD.” Kris ran out of his room, bedhead askew, pyjama pants hanging awkwardly from his hips, duffle bag hooked onto his elbow, and promptly tripped and fell over when Minseok tossed a cushion in his direction.

“Teeheehee.”

“KIM MINSEOK YOU’RE DEAD TOO!” Kris’ face was red as he picked himself up and cast a quick glance towards Tao, who just sat there with his mouth open. He rushed out the front door and didn’t even bother closing it.

It took a couple seconds for Tao to collect himself. “Is he okay?”

Minseok went over and kicked the door closed. “He’ll be fine,” he said, waving a careless hand.

Tao wasn’t too sure about that, but he nodded anyway.

O.o o.O

There was a weird noise at the door. Not keys, but an odd sort of clicking and scratching. Tao looked up from his cereal just in time to see the front door kicked open and a smiling Baekhyun walk in, Chanyeol following closely behind on his heels. 


“Hey guys!”

“I absolutely regret teaching you guys how to pick locks,” Minseok said, sighing.

“Live life with no regrets,” Baekhyun quipped as he sat down at the table. Chanyeol sat next to him, reaching over for the milk carton and chugging straight out of it.

“Yolo,” he added.

“Where is everyone?” Baekhyun asked, looking around curiously.

“Kris is at practice. Yixing’s still sleeping. Jongdae’s in class,” Minseok answered, massaging his temple.

Luhan, now more awake after his second double espresso (courtesy of Minseok and the Nespresso machine, a gift from Suho), wrinkled his nose. “You guys need to stop barging in.”

“We will when you stop coming over to eat Kyungsoo’s food,” Chanyeol said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Luhan’s eyes narrowed. “You drive a hard bargain. Not happening.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “Then get used to it, princess.”

Luhan froze, and suddenly the entire room seemed to freeze as well. “What did you call me?”

“Oooooooh,” Minseok and Chanyeol winced simultaneously. Tao just blinked hard, confused.

“I am going to kill you,” Luhan said calmly.

And then leapt clear across the table, hands outstretched towards Baekhyun’s throat.

The next few moments passed by in a blur. Baekhyun’s chair tipped backwards when Luhan dove for him and they all tumbled over onto the ground. Chanyeol tried to pull Luhan off Baekhyun but reared back when Luhan managed to punch him in the gut while continuing to throttle Baekhyun, who struggled and kicked the table so hard that Luhan’s cereal bowl not only fell over but rolled clear off the table and onto the ground, accompanied by Luhan’s espresso cup (also a gift from Suho), which promptly smashed into tiny little pieces. The cereal box spilled cereal everywhere. The milk carton fell to the ground and flung milk everywhere in the process. Minseok pushed back in his seat, chair scraping loudly against the tiles, holding his coffee protectively against his chest and away from the melee. There was soggy cereal on the table and on the floor. Milk was everywhere. Chanyeol was still slightly winded as he reached for Luhan again, who kicked him on the legs so that he fell over and hit his head on the table. Baekhyun fought back semi-successfully, getting a few good punches into Luhan before he was wrangled back into submission.

“Am I a princess now?” Luhan grunted, Baekhyun caught in a tight stranglehold. “Huh? Am I?”

“Nuh,” Baekhyun squeaked out, face red and splotchy from lack of air.

“Who’s the princess now, motherer?”

“Eep.”

Luhan shook Baekhyun, who gurgled as Luhan’s forearm was pressed further into his throat. “I said, who’s the princess now, motherer?”

“Meeeeee,” Baekhyun managed to squeeze out.

Luhan let him go and stood up, brushing bits of cereal off his t-shirt. “That’s what I thought.” He ignored the mess in the kitchen and went to fix himself another bowl of cereal, scooping up the dry pieces on the table into his fallen bowl and going to the fridge for another carton of milk. The small puddles of milk and melting cereal on the ground didn’t seem to bother him at all. Nor did the glass, apparently.

Tao, who had been frozen in abject horror, quickly darted towards the pair on the floor. Baekhyun rocked back and forth on the ground, coughing as he regained his breath. Tao helped him sit up and rubbed his back. “Are you okay, hyung?”

“Yeah, totally fine,” Baekhyun wheezed.

Chanyeol rubbed his stomach. “Ugh, I think that’s gonna bruise.”

Minseok sighed and got up to fetch the dustpan they kept under the sink. “When will you guys learn?” he grumbled.

Tao blinked as Baekhyun and Chanyeol locked gazes and dissolved into giggles. “This...has happened before?”

“Happens more than you think, Peaches. Mostly it’s those two little s and Jongdae. The others have mostly learned by now,” Minseok said, sweeping up the glass around Luhan’s bare feet, which the latter ignored in favour of his new cereal.

“I heard fighting.” Tao looked up from mopping milk off the floor as Yixing shuffled out of his room, hair sticking up in bunches and rubbing his eyes.

“STOP!” Minseok shouted, and Yixing froze mid-step. “Don’t move a muscle until I have all the glass cleaned.”

The suite fell quiet as, for some reason, everyone shut up. Yixing’s arm was still raised mid-rub, and it looked like he was holding his breath.

“Oh for ’s sake, you can breathe,” Minseok said, sighing hugely. “Just don’t step anywhere.”

“Oh.” Yixing blinked himself awake as Minseok continued dusting the floor for bits of Luhan’s espresso glass. “Chanyeol? Baekhyun? You guys okay?”

“I got choked!” Baekhyun said cheerfully.

Chanyeol grinned. “Luhan punched me in the stomach! And then he kicked me and I fell over!”

“We’ll get him next time,” Baekhyun added, sharing a high-five with Chanyeol.

“Chiu chiu chiu,” Yixing said, wiggling his fingers. “You guys are healed now.”

“I am so done with all of you,” Minseok deadpanned, hunting for paper to wrap the broken shards. “Even Yixing.”

“But I just woke up,” Yixing said. His wiggled his fingers in Minseok’s direction. “Chiu chiu chiu, now you won’t be grumpy.”

“Especially Yixing,” Minseok corrected himself.

Yixing’s placid smile looked just the tiniest bit evil.

“Five thousand percent done?” Luhan chirped, cereal finished and now firmly in his happy place. “Or asdfghjkl; done?”

Minseok just turned to look at him, one eyebrow arched. “You’re online way too much. And you need to control your ing temper. We’re not even at midterms yet and that’s the third one you’ve broken.”

Luhan shrugged. “At least Suho never runs out of gift ideas for me.”

“You just made him buy you a set of cups this Saturday.”

“Never runs out of gift ideas,” Luhan hummed.

Minseok grabbed the roll of paper towels that Tao had set on a patch of dry ground and shoved it into Luhan’s chest. “Clean up your own ing mess unless you want me to punch you in the stomach.”

To Tao’s surprise, Luhan scrunched his face into an ugly scowl but did as he was told.

O.o o.O

When Tao returned from his morning class, he found Kris apparently waiting for him.

“I want to talk to you,” Kris said, face grim. “Let’s go to your room, hm?”

“Okay,” Tao said, stomach sinking through the soles of his feet.

Kris closed the door behind him and sat at Tao’s desk chair, rolling it over to face Tao, who was perched on the edge of his bed.

“What did you want to talk about?” Tao asked softly. His gaze was fixed on Kris’ right knee; he couldn’t bring himself to look him in the face.

Kris took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Tao.” His voice was gentle, but it did nothing to soothe Tao’s nervous butterflies.

Silence.

“Yes, ge?”

More silence.

“Are you...happy here? In M suite?”

Tao gave a decisive nod. “Yes.”

“Good. That’s good. Good,” Kris repeated.

Tao shifted uneasily in his seat when Kris didn’t say anything else. “Is...something wrong?”

“No! No, not at all. Nothing’s wrong. Look,” Kris sighed. “You’re the youngest. And I know it’s tough especially being the youngest to a group of people that are borderline institutionally insane. I just want to make sure...” He sighed again. “You don’t always have to listen to your ge. Not just me, I mean all of them. You know?”

Tao nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“I know you’re uncomfortable with the stunts they pull, and yesterday when you were so upset...”

Embarrassment bloomed on Tao’s cheeks. “They were just joking. I think.”

Kris ran a hand through his hair, ruining the impeccable styling. “I just don’t want to see you upset.”

“I’m not mad at them,” Tao said. “I like everyone in EXO.”

“They’re idiots, and they don’t mean harm, but they can go overboard. Don’t take it to heart, alright? And if they make you do anything uncomfortable, you don’t have to listen to them. In fact, I give you permission to punch them if necessary. It will be necessary.”

“I don’t mind. They...I know they’re just playing around.”

Kris let out breath of relief. “Okay, good. But seriously, just ignore them. Last year they tried to set up Suho with me and one day I went into my room to find him tied up on my bed with a big ‘ Me’ sign. And then things totally just got out of control and everyone got weird and I don’t want that to happen with you.”

Forget the soles of his feet, Tao’s stomach sank clear through the ground and through the earth’s core. His throat tightened as a familiar ache stung his eyes.

“I understand,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry, ge.” He managed a small smile, and hoped it looked genuine.

“Okay,” Kris said, standing up awkwardly. “I’ll just, you know. Let you do your thing, then.”

“Alright,” Tao said simply. He even managed a small wave as Kris wiggled a couple fingers at him when he closed Tao’s door.

The second it clicked shut, Tao’s vision blurred.

O.o o.O

/Part 8