So, Kyungsoo muses to himself, after their first kiss nothing has escalated, it seems. Granted it’s only been a day since then, but even that seems like forever. He can’t remember when the last time he was this conscious about time was. Perhaps in that final month before EXO debuted, but definitely not since then, and it’s been like two years. Get over yourself, he tells himself internally, with a very real scowl on his face.

“What’s got you so grumpy, Grumpy?” Kris asks him, as if on cue and Kyungsoo is forced to acknowledge his presence in their living room. Minseok is also there, scribbling something in a notebook, easy to ignore in his usual quiet mode. Next to him Luhan is taking a selca, and a part of Kyungsoo wishes he could blurt out how beautiful the Chinese boy looks from every angle, but that would be inappropriate. He sighs instead, gaze lingering on Luhan for another long moment before he turns and gives Kris the evil eye.

“I’m not grumpy, you’re annoying.” He mutters, which oddly enough makes the rapper grin down at him.

“Oh, you proved me wrong.” Kris fakes a shudder, smirking, and reaches for a magazine from the table. “By the way, is your bed fixed yet?” He doesn’t miss the opportunity to ask and Kyungsoo just wishes it was socially acceptable in Korea to strangle someone.

The younger boy has already decided not to answer, when Luhan happily pipes in like it’s everybody’s business. “Naw, manager hyung apologized about it but he said bed won’t be fixed until next week, so this weekend Soo is sleeping with me.”

At this Minseok looks up from his notebook for just long enough to see Kyungsoo’s mortified expression before the youngest equips his poker face and straightens his shoulders. Kris is humming under his breath, gaze fixed on his magazine, but lips are curled upwards and it’s really driving Kyungsoo mad. What’s so entertaining about this situation? He and Luhan kissed more than 24 hours ago and there is absolutely nothing amusing about that.

“Who’s sleeping with whom?” Joonmyun asks as he enters the room, closely followed by Tao.

“No one.” “Nothing.” Kris and Minseok answer in unison. Kyungsoo thinks he sees Luhan chuckle behind his enormous Galaxy Mega as he takes another selca.

~~~~

While one might have thought that things would be awkward between he and Luhan, nothing like that happens, for which Kyungsoo is glad. If he has to be honest, he’s been a bit too intense about this, overanalyzing it the whole day, but in comparison Luhan seems to be as easy going and affectionate as always. The Chinese boy embraces him around the waist when they’re listening to Tao tell a bad joke in the hallway at “EXO Residence” (Kris’ nickname for their dorm, it sort of stuck), sits right beside him in the car on the way to practice and pushes the hair out of Kyungsoo’s eyes when the younger boy leans over to ask him how to write “sorrow” in Chinese.  Their days are always filled with affection of this type, and it’s as much of a relief for Kyungsoo as it is like sweet, maddening teasing. Maybe he just needs to learn some patience.

The next afternoon they’re laying on Luhan’s bed, remembering the time Sehun ran into the glass door at the studio and laughing about it like the first time it happened. Kyungsoo is laid back on the pillows, legs crossed and chest rising and falling rapidly as he chuckles, the memory bright and easy on his mind. Luhan is leaning against the wall, legs crossed, fiddling with his Samsung whist his gaze stays on the Korean boy, smile bright on his lips.

“We’re both going to hell for laughing at this.” The older muses, shaking his head some while Kyungsoo shrugs.

“And Sehun will be the one who will try to send us there if he finds out about this.” He supplies, adjusting to be more comfortable and flipping his hair out of his eyes. Things quiet down significantly after that, with Luhan essentially staring at him for no apparent reason. Kyungsoo doesn’t protest, since it doesn’t bother him – he’s feeling warm and relaxed instead.

After a moment Luhan unlocks his phone and raises it, the ‘shutter’ sound surprisingly loud in the otherwise silent room. Normally Kyungsoo would protest if a member randomly took his photo, but something about this moment makes him feel agreeable. He stays put, eyelids heavy as he looks straight at the camera this time, the warm feeling spreading through his chest slowly as Luhan takes another picture.

“So pretty.” The Chinese boy murmurs, awe clear in his tone, and Kyungsoo hopes to God he isn’t blushing at the compliment, because he doesn’t blush and it would be absurd if he started now.

“Thanks.” He replies instead, his own voice so soft he barely recognizes it. Luhan takes another photo then, and turns his phone to show it to him. Kyungsoo eyes himself, and fidgets some. He hadn’t even realized he was smiling.

~~~

“Pass the rice, would you?”

“Take it yourself, lazy .”

“Do you want to get hit?”

“Do you?”

It’s “Dinner Time at EXO Residence” (another one of Kris’ gems) and the majority of them are already around the table, with the few exceptions of Tao, Jongdae and Yixing, who are frequently late for dinner anyway. Kris and Sehun are arguing about the rice, the magnae ever so brave and snarky, whist Chanyeol – who made bulgogi for them all to eat tonight - shoots him bright looks over the table like a proud dad witnessing his son’s graduation or something. Joonmyun and Kyungsoo are helping Luhan set the table, while Jongin and Baekhyun are already stuffing their faces like it’s the last meal they’ll ever have. Minseok watches them silently, a slightly judgmental expression set on his face and arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Don’t eat too fast or you’ll choke and die.” Sehun pipes in, earning himself a dirty look from Baekhyun, who pauses on his munching to scold the youngest. “Wha dun you min yor on bijnesh?” He says around a mouthful, eyebrows drawn together in a frown.

“I’m sorry, what? I couldn’t quite catch that.” Sehun taunts him, with Kris who’d been mad at him ten seconds prior now chuckling at his mischief.

“Do you two plan to help with the table or what?” Joonmyun interrupts, and Kris immediately stands to help, squeezing past Luhan and the wall to get to the sink. Sehun stays put, lazy and proud, and Kyungsoo gives him a dirty look as he hands him a napkin.

At that moment the rest finally enter the kitchen, Yixing looking extremely tired and sleepy and practically collapsing into his seat. When Luhan asks what’s wrong with him, Jongdae explains that Tao slept in his bed last night, too scared to be in his own.

“Tao, sleep in your own bed tonight.” Kris says protectively, patting Yixing on the shoulder some as he passes him whilst handing out the chopsticks.

“But Kyungsoo sleeps in Lu ge’s bed.” Tao protests, whine in full force, and sulking like a child.

Kyungsoo, who is leaning against the fridge whilst waiting for the rest to take their seats stiffens but tries to play it cool. Why must everyone bring him into their business all the time? He pretends to be blind to Chanyeol’s grin and the wiggle of the rapper’s eyebrows in his direction and rolls his eyes some. From the other end of the room, Luhan is beaming at him, as though their bedroom situation as the highlight of the “EXO Residence” weekly discussions is actually a good thing. The younger boy can’t help but smile back at him a little and make his way to a seat beside Jongin.

“Little Satan is sleeping in Luhan’s bed because his own bed is broken. Your bed is fine, so that’s where you should sleep.” Kris argues back, but it’s hardly an argument since he is using his “leader tone” and Tao can’t even muster another complaint and just nods instead. Everyone seems happy enough that this discussion was cut short, especially Joonmyun who is giving Kris the thumbs up and Sehun who’d previously looked more than mildly irritated at the notion that anyone aside from him would be in Yixing’s bed for whatever reason.

Half way into dinner Kyungsoo receives a text, and he is literally the fifth person around the table to have his phone out, despite Joonmyun’s rule about “No phones during dinner” that no one really abides by. On his left, Jongin is also texting someone, because his fingers are moving super fast on his keyboard as usual and every minute or two his phone vibrates and he gets all happy about it. Across from them, Sehun is looking at something on his phone, looking utterly bored while next to him Baekhyun, who’s done eating (first to start, first to finish, right?) has earphones in, listening to music. They can hear him humming along to “Black Pearl”.

Kyungsoo checks his texts and grumbles shortly.

“You didn’t tell me you’re dating Luhan hyung.” Chanyeol.

The younger boy sends the rapper a glare across the table where Chanyeol is sitting next to an oblivious but adorable looking Luhan. The Chinese boy is munching on a piece of bulgogi whilst reaching for some lettuce. Chanyeol grins at Kyungsoo and motions for him to answer his text. With a sigh, Kyungsoo types it and hits send with vengeance.

“If you don’t stop these ridiculous insinuations I will punch you in front of everyone.”

Chanyeol pouts when he reads this but apparently takes it in stride because before Kyungsoo is even done chewing his piece of meat, he gets another text.

“I saw Luhan hyung’s wallpaper on his phone, you know.”

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows at the rapper, mouthing a ‘What the hell are you on about?’, but Chanyeol points to his phone again. The younger boy rolls his eyes, but texts him back.

“What?”

“Luhan hyung’s wallpaper, shorty! It’s you!”

“It’s me?”

“Your photo, are you dumb?!”

Kyungsoo suddenly feels really dumb, or dumbstruck as it is, because even if he doesn’t usually blush, he definitely feels flustered now. He squirms some in his seat, flashing Luhan a quick look, and – just his luck – Luhan happens to be looking at him right then, and gives him one of his sweet, happy smiles. Kyungsoo’s gaze softens and he looks down at his phone in embarrassment, sending Chanyeol another text.

“Are you sure it’s me?”

Chanyeol nods his head rapidly across the table and answers: “!!!!!!!”

“Okay, relax.” Kyungsoo texts back, but in reality he’s feeling like he should be the one relaxing instead. Luhan felt like his face was beautiful enough to use as a wallpaper and that’s just so damn… Kyungsoo is at a loss for words.

“Why would he use your picture?” Chanyeol asks in his next text.

“How should I know?” Kyungsoo texts back but that little voice in his head keeps chanting ‘He thinks you’re pretty, Luhan thinks you’re pretty. He said so himself when he was taking the photos.’

His phone vibrates. “YOU KNOW!” Chanyeol.

“I don’t.” Lies. ‘Luhan thinks you’re preeeeeeetty.’

“Are you two texting each other?” Joonmyun is giving Kyungsoo an incredulous look.

Busted, Kyungsoo thinks, and is about to apologize and make Chanyeol pay later when Jongin speaks up beside him.

“Of course not, why would I text him, he’s right next to me.”

Kyungsoo shoots another look in Chanyeol and Luhan’s direction, seeing them now talk to each other, seemingly completely absorbed in conversation. He puts his phone away as Joonmyun continues talking to Jongin.

“Well, who are you texting then?”

“Taemin.”

“Well, it’s dinner time, Jonginnie, stop texting.”

Jongin sighs heavily, but does so. He and Joonmyun have a soft spot for each other, it’s really glue that holds EXO together, Kyungsoo thinks sarcastically and smirks to himself.

His phone buzzes again and he’s about to throw it at Chanyeol’s head but-

“You’re so pretty when you smile.” Luhan.

Kyungsoo looks at the Chinese boy with wide eyes, meeting Luhan’s glinting gaze, and can’t think about anything else for the rest of dinner. Not even when Tao and Sehun get a scolding from the leaders for playing Flappy Bird and yelling at it to “Die!”

~~~

The same evening, Kyungsoo aggressively brushes his teeth in the bathroom, piercing gaze set on his own face in the mirror, as he tries to figure out how the next couple of days are going to play out. Tonight will be the fourth night he shares a bed with Luhan, and even though nothing “saucy” (as Chanyeol would say) has happened yet, well – they share a bed. Even with Sehun sleeping on the other side of the room, there is something distinctly intimate about sharing a bed. And Kyungsoo didn’t use to feel that way about sharing a bed with another guy until now, but with Luhan it is different.

He remembers the last couple of nights – the older boy whispering to him after Sehun dozed off, talking about nothing in particular and everything they could think of; shifting closer to share the duvet; Luhan’s arm casually thrown over Kyungsoo’s waist. The Korean boy doesn’t know how all of these things felt so comfortable and easy yet so important at the same time. It’s driving him nuts. But of course he’d be damned if he admitted it to anybody, especially another band member. No, he will stew like this until it is clearer where … things are headed.

On his way out of the bathroom, Kyungsoo literally bumps into someone, and tense as he is, he is about to scold them – whether they’re hyung or dongsaeng. But then it turns out to be Yixing and no one in EXO could ever scold that boy, so the younger ends up smiling at the Chinese dancer instead. In turn, Yixing gives him a soft, sleepy smile.

“Hi, Kyungsoo, I’m going to sleep. Tao kept me up all night last night.” He mumbles, yawning and waving lethargically on his way to his bedroom. Kyungsoo looks after him for a long moment, until soft, slim fingers interlace with his, catching his attention. He turns to face a grinning Chanyeol, and pulls his hand away immediately as though burnt by flame.

Chanyeol laughs at him. “You wouldn’t have done this, if I was Luhan hyung, ey?”

The younger boy glares at him and walks away, relieved when the tall rapper doesn’t follow him. He’s already wound up tight without Chanyeol reminding him that something’s happening but it’s also not happening and it’s all a big fat grey zone of tension.

“Soo.” Luhan calls for him softly from the living room just as Kyungsoo is about to enter their bedroom. Kyungsoo goes after him, noting a half-asleep Jongin leaning heavily against a very much asleep Baekhyun, who is laying half on top of Joonmyun. The EXO K leader smiles at him, and then reaches over to nudge Jongin gently and mouth at him to “Go to bed, sleepy”.

Meanwhile Luhan’s arms have found their way around Kyungsoo’s body in a back-hug, and he is leading the Korean boy toward the terrace. Since Kyungsoo’s arms are also trapped in Luhan’s embrace, their movements awkwardly resemble the waddling of penguins, and when the older boy mentions this, they both burst out in quiet giggles. Kyungsoo remembers seeing a documentary that said penguins mated for life and wonders if this is ironic or cute considering their current situation. He doesn’t dare think too much about it.

At the terrace, where it’s not as cold as Tao claims it is, but it’s still chilly enough for Kyungsoo to justify not shrugging out of Luhan’s warm embrace, the younger speaks up.

“Why are we here, again?”

Luhan hums, his chin resting on Kyungsoo’s shoulder and wraps his arms further around his smaller frame. His chest is glued to the younger boy’s back, his slightly oversized, fuzzy sweater feeling very tempting for Kyungsoo to nuzzle into. They both look ahead, at the scenery of Seoul at night. This beautiful city never seemed more alive, as far as the Korean boy knows.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Luhan muses out loud, his breath warm and soothing on Kyungsoo’s cheek.

Kyungsoo casts another long look at the view and nods, feeling inspired, alive. He arches back into Luhan’s hold slowly, his hands briefly setting on top of the older boy’s. But he’s aware some of the members are still in the living room, and it doesn’t feel like the right time to be brave.

However Luhan doesn’t seem to think so, because his next, ever so softly spoken words, make Kyungsoo shiver, and it definitely isn’t because he’s cold.

“I want to kiss you again.”

Kyungsoo looks down, in a moment of happiness and embarrassment and a bunch of other emotions he can’t pinpoint, and Luhan lingers with him there, holding him.

A few more seconds pass, and Luhan is about to speak up again, when Kyungsoo blurts out a quiet “Me too.”, which is probably more than both of them expected him to say. The Chinese boy squeezes him, just barely so, enough to soothe Kyungsoo’s nerves. He relaxes back, and surprisingly they don’t say anything else for a long while after that.

Before they decide to go back inside, Luhan takes out his phone and takes their picture – still cuddled like that. Kyungsoo refuses to acknowledge that even at the dim lighting he appears to be a little flushed in the photo and focuses on Luhan’s beautiful, beaming smile and large eyes instead. The little fire from this morning is back, and spreading through his chest like wildfire. He’s taken photos with Luhan before but this one seems more important.

Not much later, after they’ve shooed Chanyeol out of Sehun’s grasp and out of their bedroom; after Sehun has fallen asleep face first into his pillow, Kyungsoo kisses Luhan, like he said he wanted to. It takes guts, and he’s so nervous about it, but he does initiate the kiss, and once his lips are meshed to the older boy’s, it’s all worth it. It’s warm and heady, a little more intense than their first kiss, and definitely does not last long enough. When they pull back, Kyungsoo’s left wanting more, Luhan’s taste so vivid on his tongue. He knows the Chinese boy doesn’t expect him to, but he leans in again anyway, slanting his mouth on Luhan’s, and kissing him deeply, tongues dancing together.

They do eventually have to pull apart, lest they wake the magnae up, but even as they do, Luhan pecks Kyungsoo’s full lips softly and arranges the sheets around the younger boy’s body, caring as always. In turn, Kyungsoo wishes they don’t fix his bedframe for another two weeks, and falls asleep in record time, head resting on the edge of Luhan’s pillow. 

~~~~~~

( Here it is. The sequel ^_^ Hope you liked it. Comments are love, and they make me feel good. (;_;) I reckon more is to come in this "universe", in the form of more one shots? Idk, talk to me, do you like this?! )