A/N: hi. this fic feels like one of those drawings i did as a kid where i look back at in five years time and its so bad lmao

“Sehun!” Chanyeol bellows as he chases the maknae through the dorm. "Give that back. Baek and I want to play!"

Sehun zooms down the hallway, swings a left and leaps over pile number one and pile number two of Jongin’s clothes to skid to a stop in the kitchen, a copy of the rapper’s Call of Duty xbox game in hand.

"No!" he yells back. "Not until you give me back my bubble tea money you stole for samgyupsal!"

Junmyeon walks in with an armful of groceries and dumps them on the table."Language,” he calls, wiggling his fingers to get the blood flow back. He’s almost talking to himself nowadays. “Don’t sw– ”

He gets cut off as Chanyeol also leaps over pile number one of Jongin’s clothes, miscalculates and sticks his foot into the middle of pile number two and barrels headfirst into the kitchen. The last of the impact knocks Sehun, who just bumps into Junmyeon and K’s leader goes down with a yelp.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol whispers meekly, swiping the dropped Call of Duty game while Sehun hauls his leader up with a strange amount of ease.

“Hyung, you’re so light,” he remarks.

Junmyeon shrugs at the offhanded statement. “I’m fine, Sehunnie, don’t worry.” He pats himself down and starts sorting through the grocery bags to make the night’s dinner.

“You should eat more,” says Sehun. "You're a really skinny grandpa."

~

Oh. Junmyeon taps his chin in thought as he hops off the scales. Maybe I lost some weight. He lifts up his shirt and peeks at his tummy. He counts his abs (yup, they're still all there) and he doesn’t look any thinner. He puts it down to all the extra dance practice he’s been doing lately and trudges into his room, ready for bed.

“Ew, hyung, brush your teeth,” Sehun tells him from his side of the room, and Junmyeon automatically trudges back out.

~

“Hyung, sit on my back,” Jongin suddenly says the next afternoon. He does a few more press-ups from his position on the floor while his leader glances up from his novel. 

“Why?" Junmyeon asks blankly.

“Workout,” is Jongin’s short reply. "This fabulous body has to come from somewhere."

“Is this really necessary?”

“I’ll pick up all my clothes off the floor if you do.”

“Deal.” Junmyeon almost feels bad, though, as he sits himself on Jongin’s lower back and holds onto his shoulders for dear life while the body under him wobbles. One, two and three moments later, Jongin successfully completes one press-up before crumpling in a pile of tan limbs. Junmyeon squawks and topples off him in alarm.

“Jongin! Are you – oh, god– I should have never-”

“Wow,” says Jongin, voice muffled by the floor. He turns his head. “You’re not really that heavy.”

“What? Did I hurt you?” Junmyeon gapes at him.

“It’s fine. I asked Baek to sit on me the other day and I couldn’t even move.”

“Shut up, weakling,” Baekhyun snipes from the computer, busy with replies on EXO's fanboard.

“Shut up, fatty,” Jongin snipes back, and they all swear they can hear Chanyeol hollering at them from his room to leave Baekhyun alone. He rolls his eyes. “Junmyeon-hyung, can you get back on– ”

“No. Stop saying I'm light like there's something wrong with me.”

Jongin shrugs and does some more press-ups. Baekhyun grunts non-committally. Junmyeon runs a hand through his hair and tries to shake off that odd feeling in his system but it doesn’t go so he pushes it away and returns to his novel on the couch. He weighs himself again later than night and notices he’s lost some more weight since yesterday. Maybe he should get it checked out. His worry makes him forget to brush his teeth again but Sehun doesn’t call him out on it (how does the brat even know anyway) and crawls into bed. They have dance practice tomorrow and as much sleep as possible would be nice.

“Night, Sehun.”

The maknae is silent. “…Are you okay?” he finally asks in a small voice.

“Yes. Why?” Keep it together, Junmyeon. You're just working too hard. Breathe.

“You were quiet at dinner time,” Sehun clarifies. “And I just wondered...”

“Oh, that. I was, er, trying to remember when Jongdae said he wanted to Skype. I think he said this week, or next week, I forgot. That's all.”

“Is something bad happening?”

"No. Don't worry." Junmyeon's insides clench and he feels guilty now for making Sehun worry.

The next seconds consist of shuffling and bare feet padding across the floor towards Junmyeon’s bed, and then away from his bed (Sehun's forgotten his pillow) before returning to his leader’s side of the room.

Junmyeon has about 0.2 seconds of warning before his blanket is pulled away and Sehun invites himself into his bed, snuggling up until his back is against the elder’s chest.

“I’m cold,” is all he says, and Junmyeon’s heart just melts and does a backflip out of existence. He can’t resist the maknae's cute antics and knows it (and Sehun knows it too) so he sighs, wraps an arm around the slim waist and drifts off.

~

Junmyeon is woken up the next morning by something prodding him incessantly in the shoulder. He groans and rolls from his side onto his back, one hand rubbing blearily at his eyes. He’s greeted with Sehun's face.

“Ugh, it’s too early,” he groans, eyes dropping closed again. “Ten minutes…” His responsible side has disappeared for the time being.

“Hyung, there’s something on your back. And it’s eight thirty,” Sehun points out.

Junmyeon sits up like he’s been zapped. “Eight thirty already? Why didn’t you wake me up? We need to be at the studio by ten!” he panics and scrambles out of bed.

“Buy an alarm clock, hyung,” Sehun says slowly, as if he’s talking to a toddler. “But seriously, is your back okay?”

Junmyeon sticks his legs into yesterday’s sweatpants and rolls socks on. “What are you talking about?” he says, confusion evident on his face. He strips off his wifebeater and digs through his drawer for fresh clothes. “My back’s fine. No, wait, if this is another grandpa joke you and Jongin have come up with– ”

Sehun leaves the warm bed and pokes at Junmyeon’s back. “This. Can’t you feel it?” He pokes some more.

Junmyeon, for the life of him, has no idea what the boy is talking about. Only Sehun, stop doing that.

Still shirtless, K’s leader steps in front of the full body-length mirror (which is actually Jongin’s but it wouldn’t fit in his room so Sehun pinched it), twisting this way and trying to peer over his shoulder. He gives up and reaches behind him instead. His eyes pop open when he feels two vertical bony ridges located near the bottom of his shoulder blades, one on either side of his spine. They’re about a hand’s length long and run parallel to each other, raised maybe half an inch from the surface. While Junmyeon can tell they’re underneath his skin, they feel like they’re about to burst out.

Horror creeps up on him before it dissolves into panic and he loses it.

“Sehun, get it off!” he screeches like an old lady. “I don’t have time for this!”

It's a wonder that the entire dorm hasn't barged into his room yet.

“I didn’t do anything,” Sehun says plainly. He pokes at the bony ridges on his bandmate’s back some more, fascinated. “Does it hurt?”

Junmyeon halts, one arm through the sleeve of an ugly yellow tee. “No, it doesn’t hurt at all,” he mumbled, half to himself, half to the boy still idling around in their shared room. He shakes his head clear and snaps his fingers at the maknae. “Sehunnie, get changed. We’ll deal with this after practice.”

The leader hurriedly drags a comb through his hair, pleased when it obeys and sits still on his head.

I must be dreaming, he sighs to himself. Calm down, Junmyeon. You’ll probably wake up soon and laugh at how silly you were, screeching just before. He mentally pats himself on the back (his real back is scaring him too much right now for touching). He realizes he can’t feel the strange outgrowths; they don’t rub against his clothes or have minds of their own but he is aware of them. He’s so entrenched in his thoughts as he wanders into the bathroom to wash up that he doesn’t even notice Sehun rummaging through his leader's underwear drawer ("dammit, Jongin, you bastard, stop nicking all my underwear."). 

“Breakfast is ready!” Kyungsoo yells from the kitchen, and Junmyeon’s gasp of relief can be heard from a mile away. At least one person in their dorm is reliable. 

~

Dance practice goes smoothly. The bass, the pulse of music, each step and spin of their choreography drills relentlessly into his system and all other thoughts are pushed out. Afterwards while EXO-K are catching their breath, Junmyeon grabs bottles for water and distributes them even though his legs are dead and feel like jelly. He flops down next to Sehun and Jongin sitting in the corner, his upper half thrown carelessly over the maknae’s long legs because he’s too exhausted to care. Jongin wordlessly passes him a small towel and he wipes his sweaty forehead with it before giving it back.

Sehun is giving his leader an inquiring look, the silent question tacked on the end. Junmyeon just nods to indicate that yes, he is not in pain and no, he may not look or touch it because the elder gets the feeling that Sehun is intrigued with his hyung’s current physical state far more than he should be.

~

Baekhyun flings open the door to their dorm and they troop listlessly inside.

“Man, I’m pooped,” Chanyeol mutters, and throws his duffel bag down somewhere. Their vocal lesson time had been shifted around slightly so they’d had to rush to another studio after dance, not to mention the following debriefing with their managers on their upcoming schedule of performances, interviews and Ivy Club photoshoots. Sehun had stuck to their leader as usual (Junmyeon never has the heart to refuse the little skinship monster) for the majority of the day.

Chanyeol doubles up with Baekhyun in the shower, and Jongin with Kyungsoo, in an effort to save time and water. Junmyeon and Sehun follow suit. The latter is happy to sit and have his back washed, anyway.

Sehun loves attention. He loves being babied by Luhan-hyung, Junmyeon-hyung, even Zitao when the kungfu panda is in Korea and not practicing his wushu. He just puts on his stoic face and pretends he doesn’t.

The maknae sneaks into his roommate’s bed again; this time from the other side so K’s leader is the one snuggling his back into the taller male’s chest.

“G’night,” he mumbles sleepily, and vaguely registers a similar response.

~

The next morning, Sehun wakes up to the faint scent of Junmyeon’s fruity shampoo and a face full of feathers.