“What are you doing here?”  Minseok screeched as soon as he revived five seconds later, jabbing his finger agitatedly in the direction of Heechul’s direction. The taller Super Junior member stared at him judgingly, leaning against the counter where Baekhyun was binding his arm with cloth.

“I got bored at the photoshoot. The concert was cancelled because of heavy rain so I thought I’d come over and hang out.”

“Why?” Minseok moaned, Himchan patting (well, smacking really; he was really not in the mood to listen to wailing) him in the back. Kris and Junmyeon greeted Heechul respectfully, and B.A.P bowed politely at him.

“But how did you get here?” Kris looked at his phone, “we were checking the train status every day. It’s still broken down.”

“I debuted 10 years ago,” Heechul stared at him, “I took the helicopter.”

“…ah.”

“By the way,” Heechul reached out and tugged Minseok into a soul-crushing hug, “I missed you, Minnie!”

Minseok’s head slumped forwards, like a ragdoll in a destructive child’s arms, head just waiting to pop off.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jongdae held up a hand, “where is he supposed to sleep?”

“With Minseokkie, of course,” Daehyun grinned.

“I’ll go pack.” Luhan made to leave, “Daehyun, I’ll move in with you.”

“Okay.”

“Did it hurt?” Minseok’s voice rasped as he glared at Daehyun and Luhan. They looked at him.

“Did what hurt?”

“When you broke through the earth’s crust as you ascended from hell.”

“Aww, you never say such sweet things about me,” Heechul tightened his grip.

*

  It didn’t take long for Heechul to blend in. To Minseok, he was insanely creepy. To the B.A.P, he was a little scary, but hilarious as heck. To the rest of EXO, he was…well, let’s just say he can be better than Siwon. To the kids, well, he’s just another weird- decoration on the freakshow cake.

On the other hand, Yixing had woken up.

It was in the middle of the night, after everyone had settled down and were ready to turn in. Tao and Kris were getting ready to tuck themselves in again when suddenly, Yixing’s eyes shot open and he sat up straight.

Tao actually screamed.

Kris regarded him judgingly before turning to Yixing cautiously, poking him on the arm, anticipating response. But Yixing did not react. Blinking away sleep, he kept staring out the window soulfully, and this went on for about ten minutes before he turned to be greeted by two pairs of suspicious eyes.

“…Yixing?”

“Well, hello there,” Yixing smiled, his voice suddenly smooth as hell as he cocked an eyebrow, arched a leg up and shrugged a part of his sleeve off, letting it fall off to reveal a bare shoulder, “how are you this fine evening?”

Tao and Kris stared.

“…what?”

Yixing ran a hand over his hair, bit his lower lip, never breaking eye contact as his eyes narrowed seductively, the moon basking his silhouette with a kind of silvery glow. The blanket had fallen off him, and he was weirdly exposed in parts of his limbs that no male in that room really felt like seeing right now.

Deciding that it was 2am, and both dudes were comfortably heteroual, and really, they’ve seen every part of Yixing worth seeing before anyway, Kris and Tao yawned and turned back to their beds.

Yixing lay there, bemused.

“Hyung,” his voice was still smooth as heck, “it’s too early to turn in. Let’s have a fun conversation.”

“Do we have anymore alcohol left?” Tao murmured under the covers.

Kris grunted in reply.

*

“Is it me, or did we have normal-smelling shampoo before?” Himchan asked, peering at the label of Heechul’s shampoo as the senior member dried his hair. Minseok was already asleep, still gripping the stuffed rabbit, Heechul kept glancing at it with poorly hidden jealousy as he sat at the corner of his bed.

“Everything was lemon, citrus and peppermint. Nice normal scents. Now it’s like,” he squinted at the bottle, “dew extract gathered by wizards in the Tibetan mountains mixed with the root of a mythical Narnian plant that grows only in the obscure village in the Amazon forest, dashed with a handful of magical glowing berries from Smurfville to give your hair volume.”

“That is not what it says.” Heechul rolled his eyes.

Himchan opened the bottle and sniffed.

“Still smells like citrus to me.”

“It’s probably strawberry,” Himchan took the bottle and looked at it. His eyes widened.

“Dew extract gathered by wizar…” he trailed off, “…you weren’t making it up.”

*

For all kids, the first day of school is memorable.

For Aaron and Anne, it was particularly so, with 16 members squeezed against the classroom windows, two or three of them embarrassingly howling their brains out in melancholia as the twins awkwardly stare ahead at the teacher. There were about 15 kids in the class, but the other 14 parents were unfortunately, squeezed to the back of the crowd. Fathers grimacing to themselves as they were crowded by a bunch of teenage-looking youths, and young mothers fangirling with each other; the members of B.A.P and EXO (plus Suju) were a troop worthy of attention.

Even the teacher seemed self-conscious.

The teacher started class immediately that day. By the second period, the other parents had left. But the members stayed, staring at a certain pair of twins, wiping away moved tears as they answered questions correctly.

“Let’s move on to the next question. Aaron, why don’t you try? What is 9+6?”

Aaron froze, staring down at his limited number of fingers as he gaped at Anne and the teacher again. Yongguk started twitching next to Himchan and the latter moved away an inch judgingly.

“It’s… it’s…”

“Oh my gawd, that little ,” Heechul muttered, and 15 death glares immediately snapped over to shoot down his soul. He blinked and tugged Minseok closer to himself.

“It’s 15.”

“NO, AARON YOU KNOW THIS. I TAUGHT YOU TO USE THE ABACUS YESTERDAY YOU ,” it was surprisingly not Yongguk who snapped, but Kim Jongdae. Aaron seemed to snap as well, because he turned and screamed back.

“DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE THAT STUPID THING WITH ME.”

“THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO TRAIN YOUR MENTAL MATHS.”

“I HAD ONE LESSON.”

“YOU HAD TWO HOURS ON THAT THING.”

“I HATE THAT STUPID THING!”

“Jongdae,” Jongup nudged him timidly, “9+6 is 15.”

*

Yixing

Online

Hey, Chanyeol

03:26PM ✓✓

Yeah

03:28PM ✓✓

Did it hurt?

03:28PM ✓✓

Did what hurt?

03:28PM ✓✓

When you fell down from heaven

03:28PM ✓✓

…

…excuse me?

03:28PM ✓✓

Because you are FINE.

03:28PM ✓✓

I need an ambulance.

03:29PM ✓✓

…

Yes. Yes you do.

Like, right now.

To the ER section of the psychiatric department.

Whatever they call it.

I think they call it ‘jail’ recently.

03:29PM ✓✓

Teehee, you tease.

03:30PM ✓✓

I can’t believe a man just said that to me.

03:30 PM ✓✓

I need an ambulance…

Because you stop my heart with your handsomeness.

03:31PM ✓✓

I can’t believe a man just said that to me.

Have you been drinking aga…

Oh. Right. We made you.

03:31 PM ✓✓

You don’t have to make me drunk to make me like you.

03:31PM ✓✓

That is so weird on so many levels.

03:30 PM ✓✓

Do you work out?

03:32 PM ✓✓

I… don’t want to tell you.

03:32 PM ✓✓

Because those arms of yours…

Damn, daddy.

03:30PM ✓✓

Chanyeol has left this conversation.

*

Kris

Online

Hyung, it’s Chanyeol. Where’s the alcohol?

03:28PM ✓✓

*

“Yo, Zelo,” Tao called, “I think your shirt’s torn, man.”

Zelo twisted around, and grimaced at the sight of a significant tear on his sleeve that really wasn’t there before. “Dang it.”

“Here, I’ll help you patch it up.” Tao gestured, “I know where they keep their sewing stuff.”

“Gee, thanks,” Zelo put down his work and was about to leave when Tao called him again, bemused.

“Where are you going?”

“To take it off in my room?”

“Why? Just take it off here, we’re all guys.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not…I’m kind of pale.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Heechul chimed in from the couch, Minseok meekly sitting next to him, “have you seen Minseok lately,” he pinched the latter’s cheeks as his soul hung out from his ears, internally screaming for refuge and privacy.

“It’s embarrassing!”

“Oh come on, just take it off already. By the time you go upstairs, I’ll be too lazy and change my mind.”

“Are you sure…?”

Tao glared at him pointedly. Wordlessly, Zelo peeled his shirt off his own back and handed it towards Tao. It was like someone unsheathing a lightsabre – the room glowed with light and in some, parallel galaxy, a choir of sopranos filled the air. Tao could practically hear a particular theme song ringing in his brain as…

“Wow,” Heechul gaped, “that’s mindblowing.”

“I told you I was pale…”

“THE BEACONS ARE LIT!” Tao dropped the shirt and actually screamed. Then, he started to wave his arms manically around and raced out of the room.

 “GONDOR CALLS FOR AID!”

Zelo stood there, half- with his shirt on the ground.

“…rude.”

“Hey.” Heechul looked up and turned to find Yixing leaning against the wall, hands on hips as he winked at the older member.

“You,” Yixing smacked his lips, “are beautiful.”

Heechul stared.

Then, he flashed a seductive pose, flung his hair back and sauntered off; leaving Yixing in a dusty shadow of shame.

Zelo choked on his juice from afar.

*

  An invincible hand tugged him from behind and he crashed to the floor. Rubbing his tailbone, Jongup winced and groaned, looking around and immediately feeling stupid. No invincible hand pulled him back, he just had ty hand and leg coordination. Straightening up, he shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling for a can of tic-tacs to calm him down. The library was empty and dusty, and despite his protests – he was still assigned to either fix the racks on the ‘encyclopaedia’ row, or mow the lawn. It was hailing outside, and there was no way he was going trudge up and down the lawn, sopping wet from his newly-dyed hair to his 2-inch insoles.

  It was cold inside the heavy, dark walls. Thunder crashing through the sky in pursuit of bright, abrupt slashes of light, their brilliance lighting the dreary room in intervals. The electricity on the second floor was cut off in the day to save costs, so all Jongup had as light was from the screen of his phone.

Shaking the tic-tac can, he hummed ‘Carnival’ as he watched the storm cascading down outside, admiring the torrential layers of water slapping down on metal, stone and wood. No one was outside in this weather.

Then… he felt someone pinch him.

He spun around, a side of his neck throbbing from the sting. There was no one there. He frowned, and strode forwards, looking from row to row in pursuit of the offending pincher. But he found no one. Shaking his head, he went back to the window and was popping the candy can open when it happened again. A sharp sting on the back of his neck. There couldn’t have been anyone there, he’d just looked. Then, his blood turned cold as he analysed the possibilities. Melissa’s story came flooding into his mind and he made a little spasm that looked like a panic attack, before rushing out of the hall.

A child’s laughter echoed after him in the dark.

*

“Minseokkie.”

“Hyung.”

“Minseokkieee.”

“Hyung.”

“Minseokkie-baby.”

“Hyung.”

“Who’s my cutie-woobie, baby Minseokkie who’s so nummy-nummy…” Heechul trailed off, hands on Minseok’s face, distorting his features as he stared at the doorway where Jongup stood.

Jongup stared at them, and despite the fact that he might have been pinched by a ghost 10 seconds ago, decided he really didn’t want to deal with this right now…slowly backed away, Minseok’s pleading gaze melting in his wake.

“…where was I?”

Himchan stuck his head up from behind a table.

“You guys are monumentally embarrassing as heck.”

Credits to ILuvYesung who had her fingers crossed for -icon Yixing.

Enjoy the update!