Despite the recent nightmares plaguing Kai recently, he actually had a good night sleep. No drowning, no darkness, no chains involved, nothing, typical I-can’t-remember-what-I-dreamt-about type of dream. Unwillingly, Kai removes himself from the Kyungsoo scented pillow. He sighs as he remembers that today is only day seven, a full week has passed from the day of Kyungsoo’s departure. Kai lowers his head to take a sniff of the pillow. Oh lords, if Kyungsoo knew about Kai’s actions, he would probably be creeped out by the young lover or who knows, maybe the older boy had some weird es of his own.

                After inhaling the sweet vanilla scent, Kai picks himself up to prepare breakfast. As he walks over to the kitchen, he notices a bowl lying on the living room table. The gears in his brains begin to turn. His eyes widen as he remembers last night. Slowly walking over to the table confirms his thoughts. On the table stands last night’s dinner, or what was supposed to be last night’s dinner. The ramen that Kai had cook, now remains a thick gooey mess. All of the soup probably evaporated or was absorbed by the noodles. Looking at what remains of his past dinner, Kai feels his stomach churn. Guess he is not going to have breakfast today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Kai approaches the studio with a forced smile on his face. He wants to meet Kyungsoo’s expectations: to be happy and to interact with others. Walking into the studio, Kai notices that everyone has already arrived. Lay and Luhan were doing warm ups together. On the other hand, Baekhyun and Sehun were up in each other’s faces arguing. Their screeches and shouts fill the studio. Kai hopes that their “disagreements” wouldn’t be a daily occurrence.

                “Woah,” Kai starts, “why are you all here so early? I thought I entered the wrong studio.” Kai laughs softly. “Usually I’m the first one to arrive.”

                Lay gives Kai a weird look. It was just yesterday when Kai was seen moping and now Kai had just made a 180 degree change. Instead of a gloomy and sad Kai, Kai is now wearing a big grin on his face and joking around.

                “What’s the special occasion that we get to see a happy Kai?” Lay nudges Kai’s shoulder and winks. In response, Kai cringes at the sight of his close friend’s wink. There is no way on earth is Kai ever going to forget that… scarred for life.

                “Eww, did you just wink at me?” Kai questions Lay’s sanity as he pushes the dimpled boy away. “Hey Luhan!” Kai waves at the blonde boy who is already practicing his steps to the dance. Luhan’s face is scrunched together in concentration to notice anything.

                “Don’t ignore me!” Lay pouts and crosses his arms together. Despite the upset looking exterior, Lay is rather surprised at Kai’s change. When he saw the dull looking Kai with dead eyes, Lay was extremely worried, but now…

                “Well…what do you think happened?” The tan dancer looks at Lay with an arrogant expression. “I talked to a special someone last night.” It didn’t take long for the dimpled boy to realize the cause of Kai’s change: Kyungsoo. 

                “Ohhh…” Lay’s face lights up knowingly as he pats the grinning dancer. “That’s good. I was worried about you.  Are you sure you are feeling better now,” questions Lay. Being dance partners with Kai taught him a lot about the younger male, and how he tends to hide his emotions. Back in high school, Kai would hide the fact that he was in pain, tired, or hurt. Lay isn’t sure what the younger boy is feeling at the moment.

                “Yep, I’m feeling great! Totally recharged and ready to rumble!” Kai grins idiotically and smacks the other on the back. Lay coughs a bit and slightly chokes at the strength of the hit. Maybe Kai is feeling much better…

                “Okay, but you better tell me if anything is wrong. I’m always here for you and so is Kyungsoo. Don’t hide anything from us, okay?” Kai nods with a giant smile etched on his face. Lay’s insecurities are washed away.

                “So… mind telling me why everyone is here so early?”

                “Well, Sehun and I wanted to promote Rainbow Dance Studio, so we decided to enter a dance competition in order to get our name out there. Thus,” Lay gestures to the rest of the dancers who at the moment were practicing hard. (Even Baekhyun and Sehun, who stopped their bickering) “we are all practicing.”

                “Wait… Luhan and Baekhyun are also going to be part of the competition? They don’t have enough experience and practice.” It has only been 3 days, at most, since Luhan and Baekhyun joined the dance studio.

                “Yeah, I know but they insisted to be part of it and the bad news is that the contest is in another week, so we are going to have to practice until we drop!” Lay holds up a fist to show his determination. Kai runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. Luhan hasn’t even learned the whole dance segment yet, only the few parts. A lot of practice is needed if they wanted to win that contest.

                “What are we waiting for? Let’s not waste any time. There is a lot to be done.” Kai ushers Lay towards the dancers. At least Kai is now able to distract himself from his negative thoughts and emotions.

At least I won’t feel the pain and the loneliness for a while… Lonely… Heartache…Pain

~~~~~~~~~~~~

                A week passed just like that. Kai practicing from early morning to late night, coming home to chat with his beloved Kyungsoo, and then dropping dead from exhaustion, that was the routine. The past week had been so busy and chaotic that Kai didn’t even have time to think or feel. All that the dancer felt was numbness, not just from exhaustion, but also as a defense mechanism to protect himself from feeling lonely and hurt.   

                Today is round one of the competition and if they pass round one, their chances of winning will be greater. Many will enter the contest, so Kai needs to stand out among the many other dancers. The tan dancer starts to feel a headache coming on. For the past week, he didn’t have too many hours of sleep. He usually woke up in the morning sweating and shaking from his reoccurring nightmare. 

                The groaning dancer walks into the bathroom and grabs a bottle of pain killers. He is going to need these if he is planning on performing. Kai takes two pills and waits for Lay’s call. His eyes begin to fall and Kai falls asleep holding onto his phone tightly. A short nap may help relieve his throbbing head.

~~~~~~~~~~

                A vibration snaps Kai out of his sleep. Expecting the vibration to be a message from Lay about forgetting his shoes or something, Kai ignores it. He remains on the couch, eyes open staring at the ceiling. Taped on the ceiling were glow in the dark stars. Kyungsoo had taped them on the ceiling because he wanted to see stars at night and living in the city means no stars. The cheap plastic stars were peeling off the ceiling. Kai gets and scrambles to find glue. He wants everything in the apartment to remain perfect and unchanged.

                After fixing the peeling stars, Kai looks up at them in marvel, nodding his head to admire his handicraftsman skills. Kyungsoo would be so proud of him, or so he thinks. His phone vibrates once more and Kai figures that he might as well answer to Lay now.

One email from: BabySoo and one message from BabySoo

                Okay…Kai was not expecting a message from Kyungsoo. He clicks on the email first; a video is attached to the email.

                “Hey baby,” the video starts to play. Kyungsoo is seen in a batman shirt and sweatpants. “Right now it is almost passed midnight here. I just wanted to tell you fighting and good luck!” Kyungsoo holds up a fist and smiles angelically. “I know you will do the awesomest job ever! Is awesomest even a word?” The milky boy giggles, a sound that is music to Kai’s ears. “Do your best! Remember that I’m supporting you from behind. Record me the performance; I want to see my god dancing too.” Kyungsoo pouts as he realizes that his boyfriend will be making faces at the audience. He doesn’t want to share his Kai with others. “Wait… tune down your appeal, I’ll be jealous. But fighting! Blow everyone away. I love you. I’m going to sleep now. I’m tired” Kyungsoo rubs his eyes innocently and the younger smiles at his boyfriend’s cute jealousy. The video ends leaving Kai like a mushy puddle.

                Over the past week, Kyungsoo was ecstatic about the competition, giving the dancer nothing but sweet words and advice whenever they chatted. Kai didn’t want to disappoint his lover’s expectations of him. The dancer is still a bit upset over the fact that he didn’t get to meet his boyfriend’s roommate or team leader. Kai wants to make sure that they were good people and that they wouldn’t do anything inappropriate to his Baby Soo.

                Kai clicks on the message icon,

From BabySoo:

Hehe, there will be a surprise coming in your way. Lay will be a very happy man XD Good luck and fighting! I’ll wait for your stories of success. I love you~ <3

                The tan dancer smiles at the endearing text message, but confused over the surprise. Why would Kyungsoo surprise Lay instead of his own boyfriend?

                The phone rings suddenly. It was game time. god: activated

~~~~~~~~~~~

                “Group 136, please come into the room.” The lady in front of the door calls out. Luhan is visibly nervous, his body shaking, fingers playing with his shirt, and is pacing around the room. On the other hand, Baekhyun is holding a poker face, but his jitteriness gives away the fact that he is just as anxious as Luhan.

                “Are you okay Luhan,” asks Lay worriedly. Watching them all nervous made Lay worry and also nervous. He wishes Luhan would stop moving around and just sit.

                “I’m worried that I’ll mess up and cause us to fail.” Luhan’s pacing becomes faster. Kai stands up and guides the anxious blonde to his seat. It is unbearable to watch.

                “Don’t worry, Luhan. You will do great. Remember how hard we all worked. Calm your nerves down. I’ll get you some water.” Kai runs over to the vending machine to buy bottle water. He hands one bottle to Luhan and the other to Baekhyun. Both of them need it.

                “But I’m still worried. What if I blank out and forget? Or what if I trip and mess up the tempo?” Luhan spews a string of worries. Baekhyun’s poker face is faltering. Luhan’s insecurities are throwing everyone off the edge.              

                “Luhan! Look at me. You will do fine. Trust me. You have a great teacher,” jokes Kai hoping to lighten the heavy atmosphere. “Besides, do you know that 80% of things that we worry about never come true? So don’t stress yourself out.”

                “OMGee, can’t you all just calm your ? You’re making me worried!” Sehun explodes. “WHO ARE WE? WE ARE DA BEST! AIN’T NOBODY BETTER THAN US!” Lay grins, Sehun’s divaness is sure useful at boosting team moral.

                “Yes, yes, yes! Sehun is right. We shouldn’t doubt our own skills. Let’s just do our best, so what if we don’t make it, the experience is what matters!” Lay puts his hand towards the dancers, indicating that they should do a ‘fighting’ together.

                “Fighting, fighting, fighting!”

                “Group 137, please come inside.” The lady calls again. That’s their number. Lay ushers them towards the door.

                “I can’t believe that judge! How can he tell me my dancing shows no emotions? Urghhh! His face has no emotions.” One of them stops and looks at Kai pitifully. The five of them become more nervous than ever.

                “W-w-what should we do?” Luhan trembles like a leaf in the wind. This is his first dance competition ever and there’s a horrible mean judge.

                “Shut the up and go in,” snaps Baekhyun who couldn’t take it anymore. Sehun raises an eyebrow; usually Baekhyun is overprotective and motherly over the blonde.

                Together as five, they walk into their impending doom…

~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Inside the room sat 4 judges. One of which is a small bald man with a large red nose. Another judge was a strict looking woman with her hair tied up in a tight bun. The man sitting next to her looks as if he belonged in a mafia. His sleeves were brunched up and his arms consist of tattoos, many tattoos. The last man was a blonde with sunglasses on. His head on the table looking like he is bored out of his mind. His face was covered by a piece of paper, probably the list of groups participating in the contest.

                “Hello, we are group 137.” Lay introduces them and blows deeply. “I am Lay, the leader. This is Baekhyun, Luhan, Sehun, and Kai. We will be dancing to Maxstep using our own choreography. We will now begin. Thank you.” The five of them move into their positions.

                The music starts to play:

Maxstep Maxstep, come on come on

Ah- ha neon naruel jageukjaj

Up and Down, hangyereul neomeoseotgo 

                The five begins to dance, not missing one beat. Kai’s vision of the room disappears as he becomes fully engrossed in dancing. There is only him and the beat. The rest of the dancers also fall into the same trance.

Growling in the air

Geobuhalsurok pagodeureo jeoldaejeogin neol !

Wechyeobwa, wechyeobwa!

                They finish the dance flawlessly. Not one mistake was made. The five were panting softly, breathing heavily. They look up at the judges. No one dared to make a sound. The first judge gives a thumb up of approval. Luhan’s face lights up and Baekhyun lets out a sigh of relief.

                The strict looking lady glares at the boys before nodding her head. Not one strand of hair is misplaced on her head.

                The mafia tattoo guy smiles a scary smile, which bared all his teeth and showed his gums.

                The last guy is still in the same position as before, head on the table covered by a piece of paper. Seconds tick by as the man rests his head. Sehun was beginning to look annoyed. Lay nudged the maknae to warn him to control his expressions. The blonde mop of hair starts to move, his hands remove the sunglasses covering his face.

                Lay freezes at the man in front of him. In front of him sat a man whose face had the biggest face ever.

                “Hello Yixing. How are you,” asks the blonde man. “As for you Kai, I’m watching you. Oh, hey it’s the lisp boy.”

                “ YOU, KRIS! I FIXED MY LISP ALREADY! JERK!” Sehun screeches at the blonde judge who was grinning. Lay stands there shocked and unmoving.

                “Yixing, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to give your husband a hug?” Kris stands up and opens his arms. Lay jolts out of his trance and runs up to the giant. Lay wraps his legs around the tall man and gives him a passionate kiss.

                “Does Lay know him?” Luhan scoots closer to Kai, confusion shows on his face.

                “He is Lay’s husband,” whispers Kai.

                “H-h-husband? Lay is married?”

                “Yep, Kris there decided to study business in Canada 2 years back, so they got married before Kris hyung left.” Kai looks at the loving couple with envy, but also admiration. Kai felt pathetic. Kris and Lay’s relationship were so perfect. How they loved each other despite the distance. Kai felt like trash. He couldn’t even do anything with his Kyungsoo. Just a few days ago, he was sulking and feeling lonely over his boyfriend’s departure.

                “Let’s go out to karaoke together,” suggests Kris. It’s not like he wanted to be here anyway, being a judge for wannabe idols.

                “Will you buy us food,” asks Sehun, stomach growling.

                “Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Kris puts on his sunglasses and grabs his coat preparing to leave.

                “Mr. Wu, sir. You can’t just leave us here to judge.” The small bald man with the large red nose speaks up.

“Excuse you! Who said you had to right to question me? Are you my boss or am I your boss?” Kris gives the small man a cold icy glare. “Remember your position.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

                “Damn Kris, you are one heck of a scary boss,” comments Sehun as they arrive at the karaoke place.

                “You have to be an intimidating boss, or else those twerps will think too highly of themselves.”  Kris answers coldly. Sehun shivers and thank the lord above that Lay isn’t like that. The six males settle down. Luhan and Baekhyun sit awkwardly.

                However as the music starts to play Baekhyun and Luhan starts to loosen up and the awkwardness begin to disappear. Sehun is singing his heart out in the middle of the room and Lay is snuggling up to Kris by the corner. Kai sits next to the loving couple. Sitting idly made him remember and think. He mind is soon consumed by loneliness, pain, and jealousy.  He feels a familiar knot in his throat.

                “Hey Kai.”

                “Kai.” Kris calls out to him. Lay has left to the bathroom.

                “Hmmm?” Kai looks over at Kris trying to smile and to mask his feelings.

                “I saw Kyungsoo a couple days ago, before I returned to Korea. Don’t worry too much. He’s doing fine. I investigated those around him and they all seem like good people. His roommate may be a bit weird, but he is as gentle as a kitten.” Kris confronts Kai’s fears. Kris knows how Kai is feeling; after all he was away in Canada for two years leaving behind his lover. 

                “Really? Is Kyungsoo really doing fine?” Kai grabs Kris by the shoulders and looks into the latter’s eyes.

                “I promise you he’s fine. As his brother, I don’t want him to be hurt either. I love him too.” Kris also looks deep into Kai’s eyes trying to convince the younger.

                “You’re a great brother to him, you know. Kyungsoo really looks up to you as his big brother. I believe you Kris.” Kai smiles weakly and Kris returns the smile. Sehun pops down next to Kai.

                “Shhh, listen. Luhan and Baekhyun are planning on singing.”

When I’m down and, oh my soul so weary

When troubles come and my heart burdens be

And I am still and wait here in the silence

Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on the mountains.

                This song brings back some memories… Kai closes his eyes and relives his memories

Flashback:

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas

I am strong, when I’m on your shoulders

You raise me up, to more than I can be

                It has been a week since Kai has met that lovely angel. He has spent the past week trying to find that boy. No matter who he asks, no one knows where Do Kyungsoo is. Every time Kai gets a hint or clue to the boy’s location, he is never there. That boy was sure evasive. Kai had tried to ask upperclassmen about Kyungsoo, but everyone kept their mouth sealed. Most of them were part of his fanclub and refused to disclose any info. Saying something about Kyungsoo being the school angel and no one is allowed to have or taint him in any way.

                Kai pouts as he walks down the hallway. Another hour wasted and nothing found. Kicking the ground in frustration, Kai slumps down to the floor and knocks his head into the wall. If he doesn’t find Kyungsoo soon, he knows he will go crazy.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas

I am strong, when I’m on your shoulders

You raise me up, to more than I can be

                A soothing voice fills up the hallway. Kai looks up, but sees no one and suddenly realizes that this is the hallway in which students claimed that they saw ghosts. Goosebumps form on the tan skin. Kai picks himself up slowly and continues to walk down the hallway; an eerie light is shining from the last room of the hallway. Kai slowly approaches the calming voice, as he gets closer the singing becomes louder.

                Gathering all his courage, Kai peeps through the window of the door. Inside, a petite boy is playing on the piano and singing at the same time. Kai will never forget those beautiful eyes, plump lips, and milky skin. The sight of the same angel he saw the other day almost made Kai pee in his pants. There were rumors of Kyungsoo’s singing skills, but first hand witnessing it was another story. He is simply amazing.  

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas

I am strong, when I’m on your shoulders

You raise me up, to more th-

                “Kris hyung!” The singing stops abruptly. “I don’t think I’m singing it right. I’m lacking in emotions.” The petite boy pouts and Kai nearly dies of happiness outside of the room.

                “Baby Soo, what are you talking about? It’s perfect!” A deep voice replies and Kai sees that another male is in the room with his angel. The pits of his stomach burn with jealousy, who is that guy and why is he with his angel?

                “Really Kris hyung? You better not be lying to me!” The milky boy stands up from the piano seat and walks right up to the other male. Kai notices that ‘Kris’ must be really tall, considering how he towered over Kyungsoo. Well, either that or Kyungsoo is really short.

                “Baby Soo, would I ever lie to you? Your voice is like a voice of angels. It’s heaven sent.” From outside, Kai nods, agreeing with the tall male. “What do I have to do to make you see that? You’re perfect!”

                “Can I have a hug?” The owl boy looks up at his brother shyly. Ever since he was younger, the wide eyed boy developed a brother complex.

                “Did you really have to ask?” Kris smiles and engulfs the small boy in a bear hug. The milky boy relaxes into the hugs and snuggles closer to his warm older brother. From outside, Kai is left in an angry rage. Walking away from the door, Kai felt his heart shatter. His first time falling in love was on a male, much less a taken male.

                Little did Kai know that the two boys were just siblings. 

A/N: Finally done writing this chapter. This is the longest chapter that I have ever written. Hope you all like it. I added a bit of Kray into the story. (Any Kray shippers? ^^) Btw: blue=Kyungsoo singing. Green=Luhan and Baekhyun

I will reveal bits of Kaisoo's past at a time. I have lots planned for them :3 

In additon, in my free time I have read my fanfic myself and I've realize how bad it is. T^T Thank you all for sticking thourgh with me. ;-; I'm trying my best to improve. Please leave your thoughts in the comment. Once again, thank you all for reading and subscribing :) 

Note: Unrevised