Choyoung didn't know how long that ray of sunlight had been peeking through the gap in the curtains before it found its way to her face; nor did she know how long it took her to become aware of it. Tiny beads of sweat gathered at her hairline; her blankets piled on top of her. She was seriously warm, hot almost. It was really different from last night’s cold episode. She inhaled as she rubbed her weary eyes and yawned. She had gone to sleep late that night. Turning her head, she realized that the body pillow barrier was no longer next to her. Instead, she saw the bottom half of Soonyoung’s face; the uncovered half. His bangs were fluffy and covered his eyes and the top part of his nose bridge. The body pillow was now positioned against the wall behind him. Her back was against his chest as he snuggled close to her; his left arm loosely draped over her side.

“Morning, Soonyoung,” Choyoung greeted him groggily as she turned her head and watched him slowly wake up after her. He mumbled a hello in return as he rubbed his eyes with his other hand; the arm on her hip not moving. Choyoung turned her entire body around to face Soonyoung and slid both her hands under her pillow getting herself more comfortable. Once Soonyoung was awake, he pulled her completely over into a hug with his chin resting against the top of her head. Choyoung squirmed, telling him to let go but found herself unable to move.

“Good morning, Choyoung,” he said through an upcoming yawn, eyes closing, “Did you sleep well last night?”

Choyoung wasn’t so happy about her confined position and wriggled around in his arms. Soonyoung chuckled to himself as she did, knowing that she was going to nag him later for doing that. Her muffled protests came from underneath him. Soonyoung was pleased with the fact that Choyoung greeted him good morning first; and willingly at that. Maybe she was warming up to him a bit more. She finally gave up trying to escape and shifted herself so that she was in a more convenient position. Her hair was a mess at this point but she was going to blame Soonyoung for that. Resting her head against his chest, Choyoung lifted her eyes upwards as if she were looking up at him, “Wait a minute, why are you on the wall side?”

“Because you were cold last night,” Soonyoung explained, adjusting himself to her new position, “I moved you over to my side so you wouldn’t be shivering in the morning,”

Again, Choyoung was dumbfounded. Soonyoung always did these things for her but she had no idea why he did. What was with him being so selfless? Kind? Generous? She felt like she didn’t deserve all these caring actions she was receiving. She grumbled a simple thank you and she felt Soonyoung’s smile against her hair. It was such a little phrase that could do so much for one person. They stayed there for a while, Choyoung still held captive in his arms until both their stomachs growled at the same time. Soonyoung propped himself up on his elbows with Choyoung following after him.

“Want to go downstairs and eat?” Soonyoung asked, motioning to his bedroom door. Choyoung shrugged and they both slipped off the bed; Soonyoung first with Choyoung following.

Soonyoung raised his arms above his head in an upwards stretch; his grey shirt lifting so that she could see just an inch above the waistband of his black basketball shorts. Her eyebrows rose when she saw two traces of curves near his spine. She giggled; Soonyoung had slight back dimples. Immediately, he brought his arms down, and pulled the hem of his shirt down, slightly embarrassed. The raced down the stairs and walked into the dining room, finding that no food was prepared. Soonyoung was confused, and honestly, a bit scared. Usually on Saturday mornings his mom and dad were there eating or his mom was still preparing food. Instead of plates, a pink Hello Kitty sticky note was posted onto the table in his mom’s bubbly handwriting. Soonyoung picked it up from the table and read it out loud, Choyoung leaning in closer on tippy-toes to read it for herself, “Dearest Soonyoung and Choyoung. Dad and I went to go for an early morning jog in preparation for the marathon next month. I wanted to make you something but I feared that it might be cold by the time you came down. Maybe you could try your hand at making breakfast? If not, there’s always cereal in the cupboard. Love, Mom”

“I didn’t know your parents ran marathons,” Choyoung said, surprised, “Maybe that’s why they look so young and fit!”

‘They’ve actually never ran marathons,’ Soonyoung thought to himself, ‘If anything, mom hates the outdoors,’

“So what are we going to do?” she whined as she plopped down on one of the chairs, “I can’t cook to save my life!”

“What kind of a girl are you?” he teased, throwing the note away in the trash, “Isn’t that your job?”

“Watch yourself. You might not even get a bowl of cereal from me,”

Deciding that she would give chocolate chip pancakes a try, Choyoung headed into the kitchen while Soonyoung went upstairs to fix his hair. She had made fun of him earlier by nicknaming it Chewbacca. Mrs. Kwon always kept the family tablet in the kitchen so she could read the recipe online. She found a pretty simple recipe and gathered the ingredients. Pinning her bangs up on top of her head and pulling her hair up, she went straight to work. She was going to be making it right from scratch. There were literally three steps on the recipe blog. She figured it was going to be easy. The flour, milk, baking powder, white sugar, butter, egg and salt all went inside the mixing bowl and she stirred until they were evenly distributed in the batter. She was just about to move to step two when Soonyoung walked in.

“Hey Soonyoung, can you do me a favor and heat that up on medium?” Choyoung waved her hand at the skillet she placed on the stove top earlier, reading the instructions, “And coat it with cooking spray,”

“Look at you being womanly,” Soonyoung said, doing as he was told.

“Shut up,”

It took about ten minutes to make enough pancakes for the two of them until they finally sat down to eat. Choyoung stared at the only two burned pancakes on the plate. Out of that pile of 8 pancakes, she had made those two. Soonyoung did the rest otherwise they wouldn’t have had anything to eat. They took their share and ate in silence. Choyoung had no probably with not talking while she was eating but Soonyoung was itching to start up a conversation. Every minute, he would glance over at Choyoung who was hanging her head over her plate, still somewhat sleepy, while she ate.

“Do you still like Seunggwan or Chan?” Soonyoung popped the question out of nowhere.

“Does it matter?”

He stopped to think about whether it did or not and he said yes just for the sake of curiosity. Seunggwan seemed to be out of the picture for Choyoung now, but it was Chan that he was still concerned about. He didn’t want his closest friend’s heart to get hurt. If there was anything that he hated, it was seeing Choyoung sad. Call it brotherly instinct if you want. She swallowed the last bits of her pancake and washed it all down with milk. When she was done, she sat back in her chair with her shoulders slumped, “I don’t know anymore. I mean, Seunggwan is a really great guy but I don’t think he and I will work out together. We just don’t have anything in common. And Chan…? Well, I still like him. He’s cute,”

“Ugh,”

It was around 11:30 in the morning, and the two of them were hanging out in Soonyoung’s room. The two of them were sprawled out on his carpeted floor; Choyoung with her head on his lap holding her Japanese textbook up against the light, while Soonyoung lazily played with her hair as he was propped up in a slight angle against his blue bean bag. It was one of those unproductive Saturday mornings and it was quiet without his meddlesome mother in the house. Soonyoung pulled up a few strands of her fringe and watched them fall back down, “Is it okay if I call Jihoon to come over?”

“Why? Am I too boring for you?”

“No, it’s not that!” he said, “I just wanted to talk about tomorrow’s game with him,”

“Sure, just don’t move. I’m comfortable as I am right now,” Choyoung said, readjusting her neck so that she was in a better position. Her book was placed upright on her stomach and Soonyoung had a clear view of what she was reading. Her class was learning about feelings and emotions and she had busied herself in reading the romantic phrases and words.

Soonyoung wondered out loud, “Boku no koto suki desuka?”

“What does that mean?” Choyoung asked, looking up at him. She skimmed over the page to look for the phrase he had just said and she couldn’t find it. Soonyoung smiled but shook his head, meaning that she had to find out for herself. She stuck her tongue out at him and reached her hand over to grab his phone off the charger, “Here, if you’re going to be like that, then you might as well call Jihoon,”

After getting off the phone with his best friend, the two headed downstairs to the living room where Choyoung was once again latched onto Soonyoung. They unlocked the door so they wouldn’t have to get up when Jihoon came around. As he leaned on the arm rest of the loveseat couch watching TV, Choyoung leaned against his shoulder using his upper arm as a cushion for her head. She pulled her legs up onto the sofa and placed the textbook on her lap. Soonyoung didn’t even mind. In fact, he didn’t even realize that Choyoung was using him as support. Choyoung whispered Japanese phrases to herself to practice their pronunciation and every so often, Soonyoung would chime in and tell her how to actually say it. When the doorbell rang, Soonyoung yelled from his spot on the couch that the door was open and Jihoon should lock it when he got in. Jihoon’s mouth dropped when he saw the two all cozy on the couch.

“Whoa, you guys didn’t tell me you were dating, what’s going on here?” he asked, taking a seat on the single armchair next to the couch.

“We’re not dating,” They simultaneously answered Soonyoung stood up from the couch to pull Jihoon into their bro hug as Choyoung slid off and her head hit the seat cushion with a soft thud. Her nose wrinkled in annoyance but she just lay there, continuing to read. Soonyoung returned to the couch but sat on the opposite side.

Jihoon stared at Choyoung then looked up at Soonyoung, talking with his eyes. He wasn’t sure what Choyoung was doing so early at Soonyoung’s house. He didn’t even think the two would be so close enough to be in the same room together. His face literally had, “What is she doing here?” written on it.

Soonyoung chuckled and mouthed, “Her parents had a business trip,”

“So um, hey Choyoung,” Jihoon said a bit awkwardly. It was obvious that the two weren’t close in terms of verbal interaction. Choyoung mumbled a soft hello and turned the page of her textbook. Only she would be studying over the weekend. Jihoon shrugged his shoulders and averted his attention to his older friend, “Are you going to the game tomorrow, hyung? You’re the only person I can count on when it comes to games,”

“Yeah, don’t worry I’ll be there,” Soonyoung reassured him, “I’m just debating whether or not I should bring Choyoung,”

“Why don’t you?” Jihoon wiggled his eyebrows up and down, “That way she’ll see how y you look when you’re playing,”

Choyoung rolled her eyes at the two boys. So that’s what Jihoon was like. Annoying, like his best friend. Figures. She closed her textbook and slid it onto the coffee table across from her and looked up at Jihoon, “Hey, you make it sound like you’ve got a thing for Soonyoung,”

“Don’t think you can pull that one on me, Cho,” Jihoon teased, “I’m not the one living in with Soonyoung right now,”

“Alright fine, I’ll watch your stupid game but…!”

“But what?” The two asked, wanting to hear her end of the compromise, “Don’t make it stupid though, or else we won’t accept,”

Choyoung smirked, and slid over to where Soonyoung was sitting. Leaning over his lap and past the arm rest, she reached for her bag. Soonyoung’s face turned pink at the sudden body contact and stared at Jihoon who in return covered his mouth as he laughed. Jihoon knew that Soonyoung liked to talk suggestively but when it actually came to physical contact, he was hopeless. It seemed like it was the case right now. Choyoung came back up and returned to her seat with a light pink flyer in her hands. She read it aloud, “Spring Play Auditions for Beauty and the Beast are now open,”

Jihoon was the first to groan with Soonyoung following. The two knew exactly where this was going. They grabbed at their hair and made dying noises but Choyoung continued, “All students are welcome to audition this Sunday. Any student on the soccer team who would like to audition or any other students who could not make it, can audition after school on Monday,”

“No,” Soonyoung immediately refused, “You’re crazy! Give us something else, but that,”

“If you want me to watch your soccer game, then you have to audition for a part in the play,” Choyoung handed the flyer over to Jihoon’s outstretched hand, “That’s only fair,”

In all honesty, the deal wasn’t the least bit fair. Watching their soccer game would only be for a few hours and was a one-time deal. Participating in the play would mean months of dedication. It was anything but fair. Jihoon’s face twisted at the thought of him landing a role in the play. Everyone knew that the play was for the drama geeks in the school. The ones that no one liked. The ones that everyone made fun of. Soonyoung had been part of the stage crew for the Winter musical earlier that year and literally, no one was in the audience. Maybe the grandmothers and grandfathers of the actors, but other than family relatives, there were no students who would watch. And besides, everyone was talking about how Seunggwan was trying out for the lead. He had gotten the lead in the Winter musical so there was no one who would dare stop him.

“And in addition, you both have to audition for the Beast,” Choyoung giggled girlishly. She didn’t want to watch Soonyoung’s soccer game, so she tried her best to make her end of the deal as ridiculous as possible.

The two teenage boys’ jaws dropped to the floor. There was no way they would even land the Beast role. If she was expecting either one of them to land the Beast role, then forget it. Soonyoung asked if getting the lead part was mandatory and to their relief, she said no. It was obvious that Seunggwan would get the lead role. They just had to audition and whatever part they get, given they actually get one with their acting skills, they had to pull through with it. She was actually hoping to get the lead role if that meant she could act with Seunggwan. Even if her and Seunggwan shared no chemistry, that didn’t mean he immediately stopped being good looking. That boy would never stop being good looking. Jihoon opened his mouth to tell her they would never do it, but Soonyoung covered his mouth and spoke up,

“Fine, we’ll do it!”

Choyoung and Jihoon’s eyes grew to the size of moons, “Are you crazy?!”

author's note: hello everyone, wassup? i've been meaning to incorporate this chapter into the story for a while now but i had been avoiding it because i stuck on what play i wanted to do. just yesterday, my school held opening night for our spring play, beauty and the beast! i played babette ( the diva featherduster ) and my best guy friend was lumiere~ ( the fabulous candlestick ) it was a lot of fun, and the best part was i had no school and i don't have school today either! all actors get to take the day off to rest and prepare for tonight's last and final performance. so yes, relaxing to me means writing and refining this chapter, listening to lc9's mama beat and spazzing about exo's comeback. otl.

anyways, i hope this wasn't chapter wasn't too boring. it is titled lazy mornings for a reason  c: