They had spent most of their day being unproductive. None of them felt like going out and all they wanted to do was stay cooped in the house and to never see the outside world again. Impossible but they can dream. They took turns taking baths and some of them locked themselves in their rooms, not even coming out when Jinjae called them. They didn't even bother answering when the boy went knocking on their doors, asking to be let in. In the end, Jinjae also locked himself in his room with Jongin. He was sitting on his bed, his laptop balanced in his lap as he scrolled down his tumblr dashboard. Jongin kept himself busy doing something at the desk.

"Hyung."

"Yeah, Jin?" Jongin replied boringly, the pencil making scratching noises as he wrote down something.

"Come and see this," Jinjae told him. Jongin put down his pencil and stretched, yawning as he got up and made his way over to the boy who was looking at him with expectant eyes. Climbing into bed, Jongin leaned over to look at the laptop screen and saw Jinjae searching the 'chen' tag on tumblr. Jinjae opened an image in new tab and Jongin saw it was a gif of his brother. Jongin smiled, wrapping an arm around Jinjae's shoulders as the boy nestled against him.

"Do you miss him?" Jinjae asked, tucking his head under Jongin's chin. There was silence until Jongin's voice answered softly.

"Yeah. I miss him a lot," Jongin whispered. He wasn't kidding. He hadn't seen his brother for months now because the younger was busy with his schedules. Even though they talked on the phone often, it didn't feel the same. He saw Jongdae appearing on tv shows, laughing and having a good time with s. Seeing that comforted Jongin. If he wasn't there, the EXO-M members would be there for Jongdae. He had met them before, he knew how they treated Jongdae.

"When's the last time you called him?"

"Last week," came Jongin's muffled reply as he buried his face in Jinjae's hair. Jinjae didn't say anything but he pushed himself further against Jongin. The older male always called Jongdae daily and if the last time they talked was a week ago, that meant Jongdae was very busy or Jongin just didn't want to bother his brother.

"I think he misses you too," Jinjae says whole-heartedly as he logs onto his Facebook account.

"I know," Jongin mumbled, planting a kiss on top of Jinjae's head. He was going to call Jongdae soon and tell him about the big news. The other would be thrilled for him and he knew it. He rested his cheek on Jinjae's head, watching over his shoulder as Jinjae accepted various friend requests from other people. He didn't bother to hide his annoyance when Jinjae began to stalk people.

"Do you really have to do that?" Jongin questioned.

"It's what I do and you know it," Jinjae smile cheekily at him and Jongin saw this as a chance. He swooped down and kissed Jinjae on the cheek, letting out a loud guffaw when Jinjae squeaked and nearly threw his laptop at the wall. Jongin chuckled and ruffled up Jinjae's hair. The two of them had been friends for about two years ever since they were still in SM, he was glad he still had Jinjae by his side.

"It's five-thirty already and he's still sleeping?" Sanggil asked in disbelief when he wandered into his room and spotted the still figure in his bed. Chanhee was the only one who still hadn't taken a bath and Sanggil was going to change that. Dragging his feet to the side of his bed, he sat down and poked the sleeping boy's shoulder.

"Get up," he said gruffly. Chanhee rolled over in response as if mocking him, daring him to wake him up. Grumbling, Sanggil supported himself on his elbow and reached out to hit Chanhee on the back when the boy suddenly turned around, looking at him with wide open eyes.

"Boo," was all he said.

"DAMN IT!" Sanggil yelled as he jerked backwards and almost fell off the bed. Chanhee enjoyed this and he laughed out loud, shoulders shaking vigorously. He rolled towards Sanggil and winked at him.

"You should have seen your face," he said before getting a pillow in his face. Sanggil smirked and stood up, straightening out his shirt. James heard the commotion from outside and came in, seeing a coughing Chanhee on the bed and Sanggil who was towering over him with this devious smirk.

"What's up?"

"He's a bully. Nothing new," Chanhee glared at Sanggil who just shrugged.

"He asked for it."

"Fun," James said flatly before nodding his head at Sanggil, "I need your help with something. You free?"

Sanggil nodded and before he offered his assistance to James, he grabbed a towel from Chanhee's room and returned to throw it at the spluttering boy's face.

"Take a bath or I'll skin you alive," he threatened.

"I'll just run and sue you!"

"And what are you gonna sue me for?"

"Anything."

"I'll sue you for suing me without a valid reason," Sanggil raised an eyebrow, mocked salute and left. Chanhee jumped off the bed and grabbed the towel, walking out the room with a sour face. He passed by Haram and made a low grumbling sound when the man addressed something that he deemed unimportant at the time being. He had to take a bath so it'd have to wait. Haram scrutinized the boy but shrugged it off. He went inside his room, grabbed his phone and went back outside. He didn't really have anything to do, just wanted to kill boredom.

"Oppa," said Yerin upon his presence.

"Yeah?" Haram asked, sitting down on the couch. Yerin beckoned him to come closer and so he did.

"Look at this," Yerin pushed the book towards him and curiosity sparked inside of him. Taking the book from her, Haram read the contents and laughed when it was a comic book about Iron Man.

"Where did you find this?"

"Over there," Yerin pointed at the dining table.

"Ah. Somebody must have left it there and I reckon it's Jinjae," Haram sighed. The boy left his stuff everywhere he went.

"Should we give it back to him?" Yerin asked mischievously.

"I don't see why we should?" Yerin nodded and hid the book under the one of the couch pillows. Jinjae would find it somehow since he's a good finder seeker but it didn't hurt trying, right?

"Yerin, Yerin," Haram said and pulled Yerin closer by her arm, surprising her.

"What?"

"Selca," Haram said and held up his phone. They posed together and Haram uploaded the selca onto instagram, getting over five likes in one minute.

"Waaa, you're even popular on instagram," Yerin said in clear admiration.

"And you haven't even debut yet! Oppa, your good looks are an advantage for you," Yerin patted Haram's shoulder, "use it wisely."

"I only got these many likes because you're in the photo," Haram said cheesily.

"That's reasonable."

"Tch. It's only day one and you're already making moves on us girls," Minae walked past them, carrying a basket of laundry.

"It's only day one and you're doing laundry already? Can't you wait until tomorrow?" Yerin sat up straight, amusement evident on her face. Haram went to help Minae, hanging up the clothes that he helped wash just now.

"We're going to be extremely busy starting tomorrow. I know the company doesn't train us for the whole day and only for a couple of hours but we have to work on our own too. It's our debut, not the company's. Yerin, get your lazy over here and help us," Minae sounded stern and she gave Yerin this look. Yerin hated that look so she padded over. They were halfway through the laundry when Jongin's door unlocked and out trudged a red-faced Jinjae and Jongin who appeared smug than ever.

"What did he do to you?" Haram asked, noticing the way Jinjae's hair was messed up and how he was slightly out of breath.

"He tickled me," Jinjae mumbled under his breath, patting down his fluffed up hair.

"Pardon?"

"He tickled me! It was a one-sided match, not fair!" Jinjae whined, stomping his feet.

"I swear I played it fair and square," Jongin raised his hands and walked away, probably to the kitchen to get some food.

"You sat on top of me!" Jinjae yelled at the back of his head. Yerin snorted and Minae rolled her eyes.

"You didn't suffocate so I guess that's good news?" Haram tried, flapping a grey sweater.

"Do I have to be in agony for you guys to take pity on me?" Jinjae pouted, crossing his arms.

"You don't have to do anything for us to pity you. Just be yourself," Chanhee added as he breezed by, clutching onto the towel that clung around his waist.

"Don't think I didn't understand what you said! And next time, bring your clothes into the bathroom!" Jinjae's face was red again but this time it wasn't out of lack of breath. He's red because he's embarrassed that he let Jongin win the tickle fight when it was he who started it.

"Jin, you know I didn't mean it. It's just revenge for breaking your promise yesterday," Jongin re-entered with an apple in his hand, taking a crunchy bite of out it.

"What promise?"

"You said you'd let me win the rock paper scissors game but you didn't. I'm just having a little fun with payback," Jongin stood by the bookshelves, observing the three.

"Did you really, Jinjae? Did you really?" Yerin sighed, hanging up a pair of socks that belonged to her.

"I... sort of... did?" Jinjae looked up at the ceiling, bouncing on his heels.

"You make me sad, Jin. Did you hear that? It's the sound of my heart breaking into tiny pieces," Jongin said as he placed a hand over his chest, taking another bite out of his red apple. Something clicked in his mind and he held up the fruit, "hey, Jin? You kinda look like this apple right now."

"HYUNG!" Jinjae cried out. The tip of his ears were a shade of deep red now thanks to the additional laughter from the trio behind him. They enjoyed teasing him a lot. He was going to get back at them someday.

"Did you hear that?" Mingxue asked, rolling to the side of her bed and looking down to see Daeseol strumming her guitar.

"I think Jongin oppa did it again," Daeseol chuckled.

"I highly doubt it's someone else."

"Who do you think it is?" Daeseol asked and they both knew the answer.

"Jinjae," they answered at the same time and chuckled. Mingxue snapped her fingers and Daeseol looked up, the former patting her bed. Daeseol put away her guitar safely and climbed up into Mingxue's bed.

"Unnie, tomorrow's Monday. I don't wanna go to school," Mingxue whined as Daeseol settled herself.

"Then what do you wanna do?"

"I wanna stay here until training time starts," the girl dropped dead on her bed face-down into her pillow. Daeseol merely laughed and patted her dongsaeng's .

"You must go to school," Daeseol said seriously, "education is important."

"I knooow but do we have to? Can't we download stuff from the internet?" Mingxue whined into her pillow. Daeseol grinned and laid down next to Mingxue on her side, her left hand tucked away under her head. Mingxue peeked from her pillow and whimpered when Daeseol kept poking her hips. They fooled around a little longer until Minae came in knocking on their door, telling them to get ready for dinner.

"That... was... delicious," sighed Jinjae in satisfaction as he ate the peach pudding. They had just finished dinner and the clock struck eight o'clock. Sanggil told everyone to be in bed before midnight or else he would put them in bed himself. It looked like they still had four hours of freedom.

"Did you do your homework?" Sanggil asked all of a sudden and Jinjae groaned. He just remembered about his Maths homework that he was supposed to do last night but he was just too excited about the move and everything.

"I've done mine," Yerin piped up, raising her hand.

"Me too," said Mingxue as she dug into her wobbly peach pudding. Haram looked at her approvingly and Mingxue gave him a thumbs-up in return.

"I... don't recall having any homework," Shinhee said quietly, finishing the last of her pudding.

"I have assignments to do and I don't even have the materials yet," Jongin sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Guess I'm not the only one who procrastinates," Jinjae commented lightly. Minae laughed and patted Jongin on the back when the latter glared at his dongsaeng.

"You guys are a match made in heaven," teased Chanhee with a playful smirk, "so perfect for each other."

"Perfect chemistry," nodded James, absentmindedly drawing circles on his plate with his spoon. He sounded a little off but nobody noticed, perhaps too immersed in whatever they're doing at the moment.

"Marvelous," Minae tried to fight off the smile but failed miserably.

"I hate it when you people do this," Jongin whined and buried his face into the crook of his elbows as he rested his head on the table.

"It's not our fault that you bicker like an old married couple but match each other so flawlessly," Minae shrugged. Hinata gave Jongin a pitiful look when he uttered a soft whimper.

"I'm going to my room," Jinjae was blushing when he went into the kitchen. They could hear the water running and soon he was out of the kitchen and making a beeline for his bedroom that he shared with Jongin. Seriously, did he not get why they were having loads of fun playing matchmaking with him and Jongin being their targets?

"Our little baby's growing up so fast," Yerin sniffled and pretended to dab away tears with her tissue.

"And who's to blame? Him," Shinhee jabbed a finger at Jongin who was still pretending not to hear anything they were saying.

"Take responsibility, Jongin. Don't leave baby Jin hanging," Haram coughed to cover up a laugh when Jongin's head snapped up and looked at them with the widest eyes possible. He got up so quickly that his chair almost toppled over and ran towards his bedroom.

"I'm going to do my assignments, don't make up weird stories!" They could hear him yelling.

"Young love," Sanggil said with a quirk of his lips. He scowled when Chanhee nudged him in the ribs but the latter wasn't unnerved.

"What?" He nearly barked at him.

"Come on, hyung. Be nice to our dear Chanhee? He sure acts like a puppy around you," Haram grins madly.

"He needs to be showered with love. Give him some love," Yerin was stiffling giggles, exchanging looks with Mingxue.

"Hyuuung," Chanhee batted his eyelashes and gave Sanggil's cheeks a gentle pat. The older man made some sort of a screeching noise and shuddered, backing away from Chanhee's advancing hands. The rest gaped at this, their jaws hanging open.

"Are you... afraid of skinship?" Hinata cocked her head, a plan formulating in that brain of hers.

"Don't get any ideas now," Sanggil said warningly as soon as she saw the look on Hinata's face. James, who had been watching from the sidelines since God knows when, discreetly crawled under the table. He popped up beside Sanggil and enveloped the horrified man in a crushing hug.

"LET GO OF ME!" Sanggil shrieked, pulling at James' tightening hands.

"No," James smiled. The others doubled over in laughter, some even had tears streaming down their faces as they laughed until they couldn't breathe at the hilarity of what was going on in front of them. James finally released Sanggil from his personal hell when Sanggil threatened not to help him in the future.

"You're no fun," Daeseol glowered. Sanggil resisted the urge to roll his eyes and resorted to combing down his hair. Meanwhile, Jongin and Jinjae were again locked in their bedroom. Jinjae was on Jongin's bed and Jongin was sitting at his desk, cracking his head to help Jinjae with his homework.

"Textbook?" Jongin asked and Jinjae handed it over with a word. He flipped through a couple of pages, wrote down some formulas, pressed numbers into the calculator and heaved a sigh when he finally got the answer.

"Here's how you do it," Jongin turned around in his chair and helped Jinjae through the steps, explaining again when the boy didn't get it. They kept their heads buried in the pile of homework and somewhere along the way, Haram knocked on their door and told them to get ready for bed. Jongin glanced at the digital clock and saw that it was almost eleven. They still had an hour. Jinjae finished his homework with a yawn and put it away in his bag. They grabbed their towels and their sleepwear, going outside into the corridor. Entering the living room, they saw the girls minus Mingxue who were already dressed in their sleepwear huddled away in one corner of the couch, all of them had their hair let down.

"Sssh," shushed James when the girls got too loud. He was watching something on the tv and couldn't hear whatever the character was saying.

"Hyung," Jongin greeted. Jinjae went straight to where the girls were at and joined in the conversation smoothly. Sanggil came in with Chanhee in tow, the younger babbling about something related to sleep. Haram was in the bathroom, readying himself for bed. When he came out, he went into the kitchen and prepared a glass of milk for himself and Daeseol under her request. Mingxue came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush hanging out of , signalling for someone else to use it. Yerin brushed her teeth and occupied the bathroom shortly to do her business. She bid everyone good night before heading to her room, shutting the door behind her and turning off the lights.

"Hurry up," Hinata ushered Mingxue as she rinsed . She applied toothpaste to her own toothbrush and backed away, giving Mingxue some space to wash her face. Daeseol came in and took her toothbrush before going into the boys' bathroom where Jongin and Chanhee were brushing their teeth.

"What are you-"

"Don't talk," Daeseol grabbed the tube of toothpaste and applied some of the white substance onto her toothbrush before heading back out. Chanhee gave Jongin an incredulous look and the latter just shrugged. The younger rinsed his mouth and wiped his face with a towel, exiting the bathroom and going into his bedroom that he shared with Haram. He saw Haram on his own bed, writing an entry in his journal.

"What's up, hyung?"

"Just writing something," Haram replied with a smile. Chanhee nodded and climbed up into his own bed, taking his phone with him. He took a selca and uploaded it onto Twitter, updating his tweets. Haram soon turned off the lights and they both went to sleep. Outside, Jinjae was sipping on a carton of apple juice and getting scolded by Sanggil who told him to drink it BEFORE he brushed his teeth.

"I forgot," Jinjae whined but stopped when Sanggil looked at him angrily. Daeseol and Mingxue had already turned in, their door closed but not locked. Jongin came out of the bathroom, drying his face with his towel. He padded over to the couch and sighed when he saw Sanggil hovering over Jinjae with a frown.

"Hyung, you can go to bed first. I'll make sure he gets ready for bed in time," Jongin offered. Sanggil nodded curtly at him and disappeared into his room, closing the door behind him. Jongin heard music booming from his room but was too lazy to check. James passed by them, having just brushed his teeth after drinking cappucino.

"Don't close your door tonight," said James as he disappeared. Jongin and Jinjae looked after him weirdly but didn't ask why. James went inside his own room and left his door wide open. The lights in Shinhee and Hinata's room were still on. Now, only Jinjae and Jongin were left in the living room. The door to the girls' bathroom opened and Minae came out, a towel in her hand.

"You really should sleep soon," she said, glancing at the clock that indicated the time was eleven forty. Jongin nodded and bid Minae good night as she went off. He shook his head when Jinjae took his sweet time in the bathroom. Heading towards his room, he noticed that Shinhee and Hinata's room was now dim. Guess they must be asleep already. Jongin buried himself under the covers of his bed, too sleepy to log onto his computer. He also made a mental note to call Jongdae tomorrow. He was half asleep when he could hear footsteps outside the door and soon there was creaking above his head. Jinjae sighed contentedly and stared up at the ceiling.

"Jin."

"Yeah, hyung?"

"Sweet dreams," Jongin said in a slur, his eyelids weighing heavier by the second.

"Good night, hyung."

▬ ♛ corner of despair;

so i made another story for the news etc stuff. c: it's over here. please subscribe! gagaga also thanks to gongjyuu for making the posters and the members' profiles! you can admire them by looking at them with your eyes. c: just to let you guys know that i'll be slower with the updates because i only have four hours a day to write the chapters and trust me, not even that's enough. xD btw tell me what you'd like to see on the official thread thing. idk what else to add so yeah. c:

about the school stuff, everyone's given me their characters' schools except for chanhee's creator. can you let me know where you plan to have him tortured to death by books and sports? o/

/hugs you all. love you guys ok thanks for commenting and reading. <3 i appreciate it but yeah they're your characters so you must read but you know what i mean. xD