When Luhan loses and rain starts to fall from the sky, beating against the group of misfits’ brick house, Kai tells Yixing to follow him. They head up the stairs, Kai leads the way as Yixing follows, taking a look behind him, one hand on the polished wooden railing, he sees Junmyeon watching him. Junmyeon doesn’t say anything and he’s not glaring so Yixing takes it as a good sign.

When Yixing gets to the second floor, Kai turns towards to him staring up and down as if he’s trying to assess rather or not Yixing’s worthy enough to see the rest of the house.

“Bathroom’s over there,” Kai tells him, pointing at a room at the end of the hall. “We’re going to Luhan’s room first.” It’s the first door to the left, and Yixing watches as Kai turns the knob and pushes the door open, letting it creak slightly.

“Luhan and Sehun stay here,” Kai reminds him as he steps inside. The carpet is grey; the bed is black and white. Everything else is less elegant there’s one desk and Yixing assumes they share it. There are pictures and posters and comics arranged on a single bookshelf. It looks like a teenager’s room just too big.

“Come here,” Kai tells him, and Yixing follows him deeper into the room, and Kai makes it a point to talk about Luhan’s love for the idol group TVXQ, and how Sehun collects comics from Korean to translated Japanese. “He doesn’t read actual books just comics.” Yixing watches as Kai sits down on the bed with a slight bounce, before leaning back, arms and legs stretched out as far they can go.

“You should join me,” Kai tells him with a small breathy laugh.

“No thanks,” Yixing says, and Kai sits up giving Yixing another grin.

Then there’s Junmyeon’s room which is right across from Luhan’s. Junmyeon’s room makes it seem like he’s the eldest. There are no posters but there are pictures inside of picture frames. He’s got his laptop on his black desk and his duvet matches his blue walls. There’s a bookcase filled with books, and a stereo beside the window.

Junmyeon also has his uniform discarded on a chair and his backpack sitting on the floor in front of his bed.

“Suho is the messiest,” Kai tells him. “We have someone come clean because Suho is rich. She came yesterday and by tomorrow his room will be messy again.”

“I like his room,” Yixing tells Kai.

“I knew you would,” Kai tells him. “His room connects to the bathroom, it’s the master bedroom but it doesn’t have its own bathroom.”

“Is there only one bathroom,” Yixing asks.

“There’s one downstairs but that doesn’t have a shower. They call those half-bathrooms or something. We don’t really fight over the bathroom though. We all wake up at different times.”

Next is Chanyeol’s room, and Yixing decides that even though he likes Junmyeon’s room he likes Chanyeol’s the most. Chanyeol just like the rest has a desk, but on his desk are loose music papers. He’s got a drum kit in one corner and a guitar in the other. There are posters, a lot of music posters and Chanyeol’s huge bed is pushed close to the window. The duvet is black with designs on it, and the bed’s pillows are strewn all over the bed.

“I like Chanyeol’s room better,” Yixing tells Kai. “Is he a musician?”

“He likes to think he is,” Kai tells him. “You’re older than he is by the way.”

“You know how old I am,” Yixing asks him following him out of the bedroom and towards the door at the very end of the hall.

“Suho told me,” Kai says. “You’re his age but you had to repeat a year for whatever reason.”

“What else do Suho and you know about me,” Yixing asks next.

“Not much,” Kai says. He opens the door, and Yixing peers in from over his shoulder.

“Your bedroom is up those stairs,” Yixing asks him.

“It’s called an attic bedroom,” Kai tells him. “It’s the biggest room in the house that’s why Sehun and I used to share. Yixing follows him up the stairs and he watches as Kai lounges on his bed, letting Yixing look around on his own.

Kai’s room is a mixture of the rooms on the floor below, he’s got this stack of cubbies that hold books and comics and other things, his desk is black just the like the others and he’s got posters all over his walls. There’s soccer posters and music posters, and even movie posters. There’s even a cushioned window seat and when Yixing looks out of the window he’s got a good view of Kai’s neighborhood.

 Unlike the other rooms he doesn’t have personal pictures. Kai’s room isn’t too personal from what Yixing can tell.  With Luhan and Sehun’s room you could tell there was a love of soccer and comics, and TVXQ, Junmyeon’s room showed he liked books and was a student, and Chanyeol’s room showed he had a passion for music.

Kai had a loveseat similar to the one in the living room, and he had a small flat screen television with a DVD player, and even a stereo next to his bed, but nothing screamed personal.

“Come here,” Kai tells him, and Yixing takes hesitant steps towards the younger male. Kai grabs his wrist and before Yixing can stop himself he’s falling against the pale blue plaid covered bed.

“What do you think,” Kai asks him, looking at him as Yixing lay beside him on the bed.

“The bed or the room,” Yixing asks. The bed is softer than anything Yixing’s ever felt and he’s feels a little jealous that Kai gets to spend his nights laying in such a huge and soft bed.

“Both,” Kai tells him.

“I really like your room,” Yixing states. “It’s the biggest and you have the best view. I really love your bed through.”

“It’s the best in the whole house,” Kai brags. “I got it when Sehun left.”

“Sehun must hate you,” Yixing says with a grin of his own.

“He does.”

“So why did you decide to show me everyone’s room,” Yixing asks.

“I felt like it kind of shows how we are. You now know just how strange everyone is. Plus if you come over and need to talk to one of us, You won’t have to worry about accidentally walking in on Sehun and Luhan doing inappropriate things.”

“Don’t normal people knock before they enter a room that isn’t theirs,” Yixing asks.

“That may be so but we’re not normal Zhang Yixing.”

Yixing’s not exactly sure what happened, one second he’s talking to Kai about their lack of normalcy and the next he’s opening his eyes with a lazy yawn, and a cat like stretch. The room is dark, and Yixing has to blink his eyes several times to wake up and adjust to the darkness. He’s alone in Kai’s room, and the rain is still beating against the house, harder than before.

He slowly walks towards the stairs, feeling his way around the dark room so he doesn’t hurt himself.

He walks down the steps of Kai’s attic bedroom, and heads all the way to the first floor. He hears the most noise in the kitchen so he walks towards there, hesitantly entering the room.

“Yixing’s awake,” Chanyeol announces. All eyes turn towards him and he gives the group in front of him a shy smile.

“Did Kai sit on my bed,” Luhan asks him, the moment he’s fully in the room. Yixing stares at him but shakes his head.

“He didn’t,” Yixing lies.

“He didn’t,” Luhan repeats and Yixing shakes his head no again. “Good! No one’s allowed on my bed except Sehun but that’s a technicality.”

“We ordered pizza,” Junmyeon tells him. “You’re staying for it.” It sounds a lot more like a command then a question but Yixing nods anyway.

“To bad you can’t stay forever right,” Chanyeol says with a grin. “You’ll never find a bed as soft as Kai’s.”

“I can’t believe he fell asleep,” he hears Sehun mutter, as he lazily wraps his arms around Luhan and pulls the older male down into his lap.

“Where is Kai,” Yixing asks, looking around the white kitchen, for the tall teen.

“He’s out,” Junmyeon tells him. “He went somewhere or another.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sehun states, looking at Yixing over Luhan’s shoulder, “we need to give you a nickname.”

“Why do I need a nickname,” Yixing asks with a frown.

“Because your name ,” Sehun mutters, Yixing watches as Luhan reaches out and lightly slaps him on his head.

“Yixing is a nice name,” Luhan states.

“Sehun sometimes has a slight problem with s sounds. He doesn’t want to pronounce your name wrong by accident,” Junmyeon explains.

“Okay,” Yixing states. “I’ve never had a nickname before besides Xing.”

“Nope,” Sehun says shaking his head, “That won’t do. You should go by…Lay from now on. I like it it’s easy to say.

“You can’t force a nickname on someone,” Chanyeol suddenly says, “especially something as sleazy as Lay. It’s like you’re implying he’s an easy lay or something.”

“An easy lay,” Yixing repeats the words Chanyeol said in English as he blushes slightly.

“Shut up I wasn’t even thinking like that about Lay-hyung. See it sounds nice.”

“The only thing you’ve ever named was your pet rock and I highly doubt Kai will like the name,” Chanyeol states. Yixing looks at the tall male, and his eyes are gleaming with childish mirth. He then looks over to Sehun who’s glaring as he tries to defend his choice of nickname.

“It’s a good thing Kai isn’t his father then,” Sehun says. “And Kai will like it anyway.”

“Why don’t you ask the person you’re naming his opinion on the nickname,” he hears Junmyeon say and can tell the older male is getting aggravated. Yixing looks from the mischievous grin on Chanyeol’s face to the pout on Sehun’s and decides his answer.

“Lay is okay,” he says. “I kind of like it.”

“Ha,” Sehun says a smug grin on his lips as he turns to give Chanyeol one last affronted glare.

They eat pizza in the living room, none saved for Kai and Yixing feels a bit bad about it until Kai comes home and tells them that he already ate outside. Like Yixing expected he doesn’t have any real reaction to the nickname Sehun created, he says it’s nice but he still calls Yixing, Zhang Yixing.

The day starts to ebb away, the rain stops, and Yixing figures it’s time for him to go home.

Everyone, well almost everyone tells him goodbye and makes him promise to come back soon. He promises and heads towards the house’s front door, pausing in his steps when he sees Kai grinning at him.

“I’m going to walk you home,” Kai tells him.

“You don’t need to,” Yixing states, putting on his shoes, and slowly opening the door. He tries to grin back at Kai in reassurance but Kai ignores it and pushes pass him.

“I know I don’t need to,” Kai says, “but I want to, unless you don’t want me to.”

“I… you can walk me home?”

“Great,” Kai tells him, stepping out into the cool night air, his hands shoved into the pocket of his jacket. “You live pass the convenience store right?”

“I live pass the school,” Yixing states, following him outside. He doesn’t want Kai walking him home because he’s afraid that if someone sees them together then it’ll ruin things. Kai seems to ignore this concern and walks in front of Yixing like he’s leading the way to the older male’s home.

“Are you an only child,” Kai asks.

“Yeah,” Yixing answers, his eyes straying to the ground as he dodges the dirty water puddles. “My cousin lives with me though.”

“Guy or girl?”

“Guy,” Yixing states, he raises his head to look at Kai in question and can only frown at being met with the back of the other’s head. “And before you ask, his name is Zitao, he goes to the same school as me, a grade below, and we’re related through our mothers.”

He hears Kai laugh, as the younger male’s head drops forward, and his shoulders droop and shake. He straightens himself out a moment later and turns around to face Yixing, a grin on his lips, “I was just trying to make conversation.” His words still hold a hint of laughter, as he eyes Yixing briefly, turning back around.

“Do you smoke,” Kai asks.

“No, not really,” Yixing answers.

“Not really,” Kai repeats. “That means you do. So you smoke?”

“No,” Yixing tells him. “No, I’ve never smoked before.”

“Do you want to,” Kai asks him.

“No,” Yixing answers. “It – No thanks.”

“Why not,” Kai asks him.

“Why do you smoke,” Yixing asks in return.

“When did I say I did,” Kai retorts.

“You asked me to buy you cigarettes,” Yixing tells him. “You told me what brand to get.”

“Did you see me smoke a cigarette though,” Kai asks in return. He slows down so that he’s walking in step with Yixing. “That was just a test, see if you’d get it or not.”

“What if I didn’t get it,” Yixing asks.

“If you told us you didn’t want to do it and maybe gave a reason we would have still invited you to the arcade,” Kai answers. “We invite everyone to the arcade.” He stops suddenly and Yixing stops with him, turning to watch him in confusion. Kai nods his head at the store beside him and Yixing turns to look at the convenience store with clueless eyes.

“Here’s good right,” Kai asks him. Yixing blinks repeatedly, he’s pretty sure he has the stupidest look ever on his face but he nods his head regardless, surprised that Kai wasn’t walking him all the way home.

“I’ll see you around then,” Kai tells him, and Yixing rushes out a hurried goodbye, but doesn’t leave. He watches as Kai leaves first, going inside the store. Yixing huffs a little and starts walking the rest of the way home.

Kai plays dark and mysterious like it’s his job, like he rehearsed each line, each closed mouth grin, and one-worded ZhangYixing in a mirror before starting his day. He’s like a walking cliché and honestly even if every single thing about Kai that Yixing has so far come to witness is fake, he’s still interested. Kai, who’s name probably wasn’t even his real name. Who, didn’t smoke cigarettes, lived in an attic, and looked at Yixing like he knew all about him, like he expected every look that Yixing gave, every word that left his lips.

It was only right for Yixing’s interest to be piqued he thinks to himself. It was only fair to want to know as much about Kai as possible since Kai seemed to know so much about him.

Jongdae thinks Zitao is scary-looking, not in a horror movie type way, more like a rock star type of way. Zitao looks like the guitarist of a rock band with his long legs, and shiny black hair, dark bags under his feline like eyes, and piercings in his ear.

It doesn’t mean he dislikes Zitao or anything, far from it to be honest. Jongdae is close to Zitao, he’s close to everyone that accepts his dorky ways and love of practical jokes. Zitao and him are both pranksters so it’s not surprising that they get along so well, Amber loves him too for that same reason.

“You should get a girlfriend,” Zitao tells him. Jongdae, Amber, and Yixing had decided to go out to a nearby café so that they could talk about their Romeo & Juliet assignment and Zitao volunteered himself into coming.

“Can we stop talking about that,” Yixing asks the younger male. “I don’t want a girlfriend.”

“You should get one though,” Zitao tells him. “For the sake of your project, you might understand it better if you were in love.”

“I don’t look at girls and just automatically fall in love, love doesn’t work that way, it takes time,” Yixing says with a sigh. “Aren’t you the hopeless romantic? You should know that.”

“I do,” Zitao replies, “but you don’t have to fall in love with a person per say, you can fall in love with the idea of a person.”

“I don’t want to,” Yixing says. “That doesn’t even sound sincere, it’s like you’re just assuming how that person is and behaves.”

“Fine don’t take my suggestions seriously,” Zitao says. “You don’t need the play, there’s tons of movies based on it, and there are summarizes and analysis all over the internet.”

“What about the project though,” Jongdae asks him. “Hyung needs to do the project as well.”

“Isn’t it just a paper,” Zitao asks. “It’s not that hard to write an essay.”

“It is when you don’t read the play to understand it,” Jongdae tells him.

“I understand it; Romeo and Juliet love each other for whatever reason and their plan to run away gets screwed up or something so they kill themselves. Did their parents reconcile afterwards?”

“He’s screwed,” Amber teases.

“I know,” Jongdae says. “We’re asking you too much. We should modernize it.”

“What do you mean by modernize,” Yixing asks. “this couldn’t work in modern day, especially in South Korea, we have cellphones and the world’s fastest wireless network.”

“Not the misunderstanding parts,” Jongdae says. “Like, let’s say Tao, your mother, everyone you love hates this family, and you meet someone from the family and don't figure it out at first but when you do it doesn’t stop you. Why won’t it stop you?”

“Oh,” Yixing says, his eyes widening, and his lips forming the a circle as he stares at Jongdae.

“Why won’t it stop you hyung,”Jongdae asks.

“I don’t know,” Yixing shrugs. “I mean I know but I don’t know how to put it in words.”

“It’s because you think that person is different then what your parents tell you so you want to get to know them yourself and make your own judgments. Romeo and Juliet is kind of like that just coupled with exaggerated love at first sight and fighting and misunderstandings. Deny thy father and refuse thy name.”

“I get it now,” Yixing says. “I mean I get it a lot better than I did before, I still wouldn’t call it the greatest love story of all time, but yeah I kind of get. Do I still have to read it?”

“Yes hyung you do,” Jongdae tells him with a laugh. “Maybe you’ll fully get it if you actually read it. That’s just one of the smaller themes of it.”

“Fine,” Yixing huffs, drinking the last bit of his lemonade.

“I don’t get it,” Zitao suddenly says with a pout. “He barely explained anything and you just automatically understand.”

“I still don’t really get the love part of the play but I get one aspect. I’ll probably have to reread it though; I never really paid attention in class.”

That night Yixing barely gets through the first scene in ACT I, the language goes over his head, and Romeo is more of a hopeless romantic than Zitao.

I know I said to a lot of you I'd update the day after Christmas I actually planned to update Christmas night but I'm so unlucky that I caught a cold on Christmas day and yesterday I spent my time wallowing in my misery.This is one of my many favorite chapters. I have a lot of favorite chapters which says a lot since I only have fourteen chapters done so far.