Kyungsoo can hear the birds chirping outside his window, the smell of a new day happily lingers in the air and greets him- from behind?

"Yah! Take your hands off of there!” The shrill sound disrupts the beautiful melody of the feathered visitors and Kyungsoo finds his eyes being forced open from the disturbance.

“Good morning, Kyungie!” A wild Luhan appears in front of the sleepy boy who pouts in greeting, his head lifting up a couple of inches from his pillow before crashing back down. It takes a moment for him to register that him and Hyunsik should be the only ones home.

“Hyung.. How’d you get in?” Kyungsoo peeks up at the elder through squinted eyes, still trying to get used to the sun glaring through the exposed window.

“Baozi let me in!” Luhan smiles while his hand reaches out to pat onto the sleepy boy’s backside.

“But how did-”

“No time to lose, I already let you sleep in late. You look so irresistible when you sleep, I just wanted to eat you up! Don’t you remember our plans for today? We’d keep you for ourselves but Suho kept bothering us last week, and you know how he is” Luhan rolls his eyes before throwing off the blankets from the smaller boy’s body, who in turn, groans in protest before wiggling off the bed in a squishy heap.

Kyungsoo rejects Luhan’s offer to scrub his back and tells him that he’ll be out of the shower in a little bit- “And don’t snoop through my things again!” I still can’t find my green boxers, I could’ve sworn that I put them away after I did my laundry…

●●●

“It’s nice to meet one of Soo’s old friends.” Minseok keeps his lips together in a small smile, letting his eyes observe the other before his “other” side starts up. “He never really mentioned you before though. I guess you must not've been that important.” The sharp eyed boy shrugs casually as if he’s just talking about the weather but keeps his eyes peeled. Just like he expected, this Hyunsik guy flinches, a small flash of shock and disappointment appearing in his eyes until it gets overshadowed with a steely gaze.

“Funny, he never mentioned you either.” Hyunsik’s shoulders stay tense as he speaks, thinking over the other’s words while trying to work everything out in his head. What he said was true- Kyungsoo never mentioned anything about his new friends.

Why not?

Minseok can read all of this visitor's insecurities in his posture; the way his hands twitch and reposition themselves, even in the way his eyes blink out of rhythm. It’s not that the other enjoys bringing pain to people, in fact Minseok's a fairly gentle guy. However, he’s always had the instinct to open people up, to figure out their knicks and how they think; feel. It’s something he believes he got from his mom.

See, his dad is the outgoing one. A very polite man and easily readable while his mom is the one who stands by his side, looking out for his father in a way only she can. She has always said that she needed to protect him since he could be too trustworthy of people. Too loyal, too good.

Minseok’s instincts immediately kicked in when he met Kyungsoo. The boy so fidgety around new environments and easily startled. Minseok knew he found the one he was meant to protect. It just so happened that Luhan, his brother, found an interest in him too. It’s to be expected, they’ve always been attracted to the same things. He didn’t hate it either, that’s just how it is. If Minseok got a scarf and Luhan didn’t then they’d both wear it out together. When Luhan got a new bike, Minseok gave his away and would peddle while Luhan rode on the spokes. Their parents learned very quickly that it was a package deal when they first adopted Luhan.

In fact, while in China they weren’t planning on another child. If it weren’t for Minseok disappearing one moment and the next he’s holding hands with a boy the same age as him- whom they later found was staying at the orphanage- then they would’ve had only one child. But seeing the two boys together as if they knew each other since birth finalized the deal. They were- and still are- conjoined twins in their own right. Just like any other sibling they are even cautious of others coming around the other.

When it comes to the Do son though, he didn’t warrant an invitation. He was welcome the moment Luhan brought him home and just like he is with Luhan, Minseok has become the same with Kyungsoo.

So naturally when this “Hongspit” randomly shows up, Minseok becomes territorial.

Hyunsik wakes Minseok up from his deep thoughts with the clearing of his throat. He opens his mouth about to speak up again until the sounds of footsteps and shrieking make their way down the stairs.

“Hyung I told you already that I dressed in the bathroom!”

“But you were supposed to wear the clothes Baozi and I picked out!”

“That's the gym uniform!"

"But Kyungie you look so cute in your uniform!"

The comment is very quickly followed by hurried footsteps to the dining room. A wild looking Kyungsoo appears with flushed cheeks (from having to escape Luhan's roaming hands) and messy hair (when Luhan tried to pull off his shirt, of course). His once ironed clothes are now wrinkly from the wrestling match the two boys endured. The next thing that follows is a whining Luhan who moves past Kyungsoo to drape himself pitifully over Minseok.

"BAOZEEEE" He wails with fake anime tears taped to his cheeks. "He's learning how to get out of my arms! What are we going to do!? Kyungie doesn't love us anymore!"

"Who said anything about us?" Minseok pokes the pieces of loose paper on his brother's cheeks but misses the second time as Luhan pulls away with a gasp, the papers ultimately falling to the floor.

"You're right. Of course he loves us, I mean how couldn’t he?” Luhan covers his mouth and points it towards Minseok’s ear as if he’s going to tell share a secret. “He’s obviously uncomfortable around that Hongspit guy.” And of course, he doesn’t whisper.

“It’s Hongsik! I mean..” He sighs in defeat, “Hyunsik.” Hyunsik slams his face against the wooden dining table while Kyungsoo walks away to grab their jackets.

“Are you guy’s ready to go?” Kyungsoo calls out from the front door, his arms full with three jackets while he tries to put his own on. Luhan and Minseok each hop up from their spot but soon stop when they notice the visitor exasperatedly standing up as well.

“Where are YOU going?” Luhan sticks his face right into Hyunsik’s, their similar heights coming in handy to unintentionally creep out the younger.

“T-To the mall,” He turns his face away to awkwardly cough into his fist and takes that opportunity to distance himself from the odd elder. “Do you think I’m going to let Soo go out with the two of you by himself?” He shakes his head and makes his way over to the button nosed cutie that’s still struggling at the door. Hyunsik chuckles as he sees his friend huffing and puffing in frustration. “Soo, what on earth are you doing?” He takes the jackets out of his friend’s arms and throws them over his shoulder to help Kyungsoo get his own coat on easier.

“I didn’t want them to fall on the floor and get dirty.” Kyungsoo answers back matter-of-factly and offers his best friend a grateful smile for the help. Hyunsik combs his fingers through the shorter’s hair with a small smile gracing his face before he turns Kyungsoo around and does up his zipper, causing his fair cheeks to pinken.

The sound of a throat clearing disrupts the one-on-one moment, making the two old friends turn their heads to see Luhan, his back to the both of them with his arms eagle out. “Your hyung needs help with his coat too!”

Hyunsik sighs. This is gonna be a long day.

●●●

“Come in, Blue Baozi. Can you read me. I repeat, can you read me.” Luhan half whispers into his camo green walkie talkie, uneffectively hiding on the other side of a potted plant from his waiting friends.

“Copy that, Silver .”

“It’s Silver DEER, keep it up Blue BALLS-y and I’ll switch out your shampoo again.”

“Just mad that I looked fabulous with pink-”

“Luhan Hyung? What’re you doing.” A voice above the hidden boy cuts off the sounds from the walkie talkie.

“...Baozi I think we’ve been spotted. I repeat, Crooked Eyeliner has located me.”

“My eyeliner isn’t crooked! Yah, tell him Yeol!”

“Uhh… Ow! Baek stop hitting me!”

“Luhan why are you holding a walkie talkie?”

Chhrrrtt “Silver , what’s going on over there?”

“Dumbo and Eyebrow Life Goals have compromised my position!”

“Oh, is that Luhan Hyung over there?” Suho calls out as he tries to look over the twin tower’s shoulders.

“Suho has found me! Do not attempt a rescue! It’s unsafe! I repeat, keep Kyungie safe!” Luhan gives one final cry into the device before it’s plucked out of his cold, dying hands by Yixing.

“Oh, Minseok Hyung? Are you here too? Come on so we can all be together.” He calls into the talkie. Nodding his head at his own words of wisdom and takes out a little notebook, writing down some notes before it goes back into his pocket.

“Hyuuung!” Sehun calls out as he starts to skip over to Minseok, Hyunsik, and Kyungsoo. He stops halfway when he realizes how uncool he must look and fixes his hair before he swaggers over. “Did you miss me Kyungsoo Hyung?” His cheeks pinken as Kyungsoo nods and answers with an, ‘of course!’.

His usual stoic face returns as his head turns to the right, meeting his eyes with the weary traveler. “Who’s this.”

Hyunsik blinks rapidly at Sehun’s words, not clearly understanding him. “Um… Excuse me? ...Hoosis?”

Sehun sees red.

Then blonde.

“Ha! He can’t understand your lisp!”

Luhan’s mop of blonde hair to be specific.