Kyungsoo, Luhan thought to himself, was a terrifying person. It didn’t matter that everyone else practically towered over him, or that he was made to be the of Baekhyun’s pranks - which more often than not had resulted in Baekhyun suffering the consequences from Kyungsoo’s right jab - the one thing that he took pride in, that no one was allowed to criticize, was his cooking.

A fact that Jongin had forgotten during that unfortunate episode when it was revealed that Kyungsoo’s cooking skills regrettably did not extend to his outdoor grilling technique . His careless remark had ended up being edited into the Exo Showtime episode, and Kyungsoo, of course, had not been pleased.

Cold war was imminent, unavoidable, and while Jongin went around the dorm with his tail drooping and kicked-puppy dog expression, Kyungsoo had taken up residence in Yifan’s room, ranting to the other boy and just about anyone who walked into the room  about the lack of appreciation for his cooking.

However, he had to admit that it felt weird seeing Jongin without Kyungsoo for him to latch onto, but Luhan figured that they would work it out eventually. They always did, after all.

And so he was unaware of how bad the situation had become, until a week later when Yifan barged into Luhan’s room, his face several shades of pissed off. Zitao trailing into the room behind.

“You,” Yifan said, glaring at Jongin, who was currently sitting crosslegged on the floor, looking miserable, while Sehun fed him ice-cream. “You need to do something about Kyungsoo.”

Luhan raised his eyebrow. Before he could say anything, Minseok spoke up. “What has he done now?” he asked, just as Joonmyun, who apparently had the sense to knock first, stepped into the room with Jongdae and Baekhyun.

Yifan had his arms crossed as he glowered at Jongin, speaking to him instead. "He won’t leave my room. I need my sleep. Do you understand the lengths that I go to in order to achieve flawlessness?"

(Luhan had to admit that he had a point. Yixing had shown him the pictures of Yifan’s skincare regime. He could open a store with the bottles of products he owned.)

"Where’s Kyungsoo?" he asked.

"Using Chanyeol as target practice," Baekhyun replied, while making himself at home on Luhan’s bed. Luhan felt a brief surge of sympathy for Chanyeol.

That lasted for about five seconds before he shot Baekhyun a dirty look, and shoved him off his bed. The other boy landed on Jongdae with a resounding yelp.

“You’re both lame,” Sehun offered unhelpfully. “Just grab him and lock yourselves in a room and have hot make-up , like these two always do.” He gestured at Yifan and Zitao. Joonmyun yelped and clamped his hands over his ears, his face turning red. Baekhyun started crawling under the table.

Minseok, on the other hand, gave Zitao several appreciative looks.

“Don’t even think about it,” Yifan growled, tugging Zitao into his lap and wrapping a protective arm around his waist.

“Have you tried talking to Kyungsoo?” Luhan asks Jongin hurriedly, trying to draw everyone’s attention back to the topic. “Talking to him like a normal person, I mean.”

“He won’t even look at me,” Jongin replied miserably. “And he keeps avoiding my hugs.” He looked like he was about to cry. Sehun shoved another tub of ice-cream at him instead.

“Maybe one of us should talk to him instead. You know, get him to see that what he’s doing is affecting the group,” Yixing suggested.

"Uh, Yixing," Luhan began, because he’s sure that the cardinal rule of friendship included not getting between a lover’s spat (the last time that had happened, during one of Yifan and Zitao’s many fights, Yifan had been insufferable for weeks, and Minseok had ended up hiding Zitao’s practice stick in the bushes, again). “Maybe we should just give him some more time--”

Yifan gave him a horrified look. “Time?” His voice cracked. Baekhyun giggled from his hiding spot.

“I’m sure Luhan can talk to him.” Yixing spoke up, and all eyes turned to Luhan, who was gaping at Yixing, that traitor. “Luhan’s very good at this sort of thing,” he adds, and looks at Luhan, eyes wide open and expectant, and his lips curled slightly into a smile, a dimple appearing in his cheek.

Luhan cursed internally. Yixing was playing dirty.

*

Luhan was pretty sure that given a chance, Yixing could single-handedly bring about world peace with his dimples. Not that he’d ever admit it aloud, of course. He’d probably be accused of being bias, or in love.

Nope, he was most definitely not in love--

Well, crap.

*

“I think I’m in love with Yixing,” Luhan blurted out to Kyungsoo, five minutes before they’re about to step onto the stage to perform their ballad. Yixing was standing further away, discussing something with their manager.

Baekhyun pretended to study the ceiling above them, feigning nonchalance, but Luhan could see that his ears were actually perked up as he tried to listen in to their conversation.

Kyungsoo just stared at him.

“Uhm.” Luhan realized that perhaps having his love epiphany when he was supposed to help fix someone else’s relationship problem was not the best way to do things. “I -- uh.”

“Oh, for the love of--” Baekhyun interrupted them. He grabbed Kyungsoo by the shoulders, forcing him to turn around and glared at him. “I’ll do anything-- anything-- if you would please talk to Jongin and stop hogging Kris’s room so that he can stop whining at us. Please.”

*

Thankfully for Baekhyun, they were all hustled onto the stage for their performance before Kyungsoo could protest that it wasn’t his fault Jongin didn’t appreciate his culinary skills.

*

“Does Yixing know?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, once their performance was over and Luhan had cornered him with the latest copy of his favorite manga to distract him from hunting Baekhyun down. "That you like him?"

With a startled look, Luhan dropped the manga, which Kyungsoo picked up calmly. “Uh." Luhan blushed. He wished he could take back what he had said earlier. "Look, just forget what I said, that's not what I wanted to say."

Kyungsoo tilted his head slightly, eyebrows furrowed. "What did you want to say then?"

"This thing with Jongin," Luhan blurted out, risking life and limb for the sake of the group. And so he can steer the conversation away from the topic of Yixing. "You ignoring him. He's driving us nuts." He avoided adding the part about Yifan and his skincare routine. "And I don't think manager-hyung would be too happy if you leave Chanyeol with any bruises."

At this, Kyungsoo flushed bright red, and even had the courteousy to look guilty.

After a moment's silence (it felt like an eternity to Luhan, but he was too busy trying to look for an escape door), he finally spoke.

“I’m,” Kyungsoo continued on, and he had a slightly sheepish look on his face. “I’m sorry I made you guys worry. About me and Jongin.” He held the manga against his chest, and Luhan could see how unhappy he looked, and how lonely he was. Kyungsoo without Jongin was like a lost broken half of a whole heart.

(Even in moments like these, when his brain goes poetic on him, Luhan still insists that he’s manly.)

He glanced over towards Yixing, who was sitting on the couch, reading something on his mobile phone. “Not yet.” He shook his head, forcing himself to tear his eyes away, and turned back towards Kyungsoo. “Maybe one day, I’ll tell him.”

“Aren’t you afraid?” Kyungsoo asked, biting his lower lip. “What if he doesn’t think you’re good enough?” Luhan raised his eyebrow at this, before realizing that they weren’t talking about Luhan and Yixing anymore, but about someone else, someone who was back at the dorm, waiting for Kyungsoo.

“You know he doesn’t think that way,” Luhan chastised him gently, leaving the words of you unspoken, lingering in the air. He switched gears mentally, and decided to be direct. “Just talk to him, work it out. We’re all in this together, it can’t work if we don’t talk to each other.”

“So are you going to do the same with him?” Kyungsoo jerked his chin towards Yixing.

Luhan hesitated, and looked back at Yixing once more. He couldn’t help thinking how beautiful Yixing had looked earlier, underneath all the stage lights, as his fingers danced over the piano keys. He thought of how he didn’t mind being in this group, with all their little quirks and fights and ridiculousness, if he could keep Yixing within his sight every day, knowing that he had something to be here for.

“Yes,” Luhan replied, his eyes never leaving Yixing. “I’ll tell him.”

*

“So it worked then,” Chanyeol remarked, as he watched Jongin wrap his arms around Kyungsoo, nuzzling his neck. “Huh.”

Sehun yelled at them to get a room, to which Jongin replied by showing him the finger. This was followed by yells from the older members about rudeness and Zitao rolling onto the floor, cackling maniacally.

“Thanks to me,” Baekhyun told him proudly. Luhan didn’t bother pointing out that he hadn’t done much except hide behind their manager to avoid being hit, while Luhan had talked to Kyungsoo.

“They really love each other,” Yixing said quietly, from where he was seated next to Luhan. Glancing over, he caught sight of Yixing smiling at the couple cuddling on the couch, his eyes soft and face serene - and Luhan felt his heart beat a little faster when he felt Yixing’s fingers lacing with his, thumb against the top of his hand.

“Yeah,” Luhan replied, fighting to keep the grin off his face, and failing. “They really do.”

~fin~