Deer Luhan,

Remember when I asked if I could take Lay with me?  Please, have him back.  Have him as long as you want.

Leigh

Xiumin took me to his and Luhan’s favourite coffee shop to wind down once the manager had decided to leave us to our own devices.  We spent several hours there chuckling over the padlocks before the number of fans coming up to us became overwhelming and we decided to call it a day.

“Luhan’s told me about that girl so many times,” Xiumin admitted, still grinning, as we let ourselves back into the dorm.  It took a number of attempts because neither of us could remember the code.  “I never thought she’d actually follow us to China, though.  Anyway, football?”

He popped open a small closet I hadn’t noticed before and produced a football.  I eyed it nervously.

“Is that really a good idea?”

“Luhan and I play all the time.  It would be odd if you didn’t.”

“I’m not good at football, though.”

He started doing kick-ups.

“You don’t have to be.  All you have to do is get the ball in the goal.”

Pulling a face, I gave in and tried to tackle him.  I failed.  Laughing, he dribbled the ball down the hallway.  I struck after him half-heartedly.

My idea of letting him score and calling it quits was ruined by Chen dying in a Diablo battle that would have upgraded him to Torment level because he was too busy gaping at Xiumin dominating the football gameplay and chipping the ball over my head to sail into the net above the bath.

“Oh my God,” he gasped out.  “Luhan’s losing?  I need to film this.”

It fired my competitive spirit as well as my awareness of the fact that I currently wasn’t acting as Luhan would, and I had to get involved to save our joint reputations.  Xiumin was taken aback by my sudden ferocity as I re-joined battle with a vengeance and practically sent him flying.  Within seconds, Chen had thrown aside his game controller with a cry of alarm to save his fellow countryman.

Before a minute was up, Tao and Kris had come to see what the racket was (Tao promptly joined Xiumin’s side and convinced Kris to do the same).  Any caution whatsoever around the furniture was immediately defenestrated, with the exception of Chen making a spectacular sliding tackle and simultaneously saving Xiumin’s computer and shoving it under the couch.  I soon found myself hemmed into the wall with four large guys – well, Xiumin and Chen not so much, but Kris and Tao are tall – surrounding me as I tried to protect the ball.

“Four on one?” I protested, desperately seeking eye contact with Xiumin.  “This really isn’t fair!”

“Be glad Lay’s not here,” Chen replied in sing-song.  “Then it would be five on one.”

“Challenge!” came a sleepy voice from the other end of the room.  They all turned to see Lay poking his head out of the bedroom door – he’d been taking a nap.

I used the distraction as an opportunity to break free, shoving Kris to the side and bulling past Tao.

“What the—”

“Foul!”

Lay waved a hand at me.  “LuLu, pass.”

I tapped the ball to him and fell heavily as Kris dived on me.

“Ow!  Kris!  You weigh more than my mum’s library!”

There was a thud in the kitchen, followed by a clatter and an avalanche of clashes which sounded suspiciously every saucepan in the place had been knocked off its shelf.

“And I believe that’s a goal,” Lay declared.  “And Chen… for the first time in a year, I have a forfeit on you.”

I looked up in time to see Chen gulp.  Lay’s usually pleasant and passive face was wearing an expression that I hoped I would never, ever, have directed towards me.  I’d seen Kai smirk – it was the kind of smirk that made girls faint.  Kris’ smirk made you drool.  Chanyeol smirked when he sensed an opportunity to tease somebody about relationships.  Sehun smirked when he felt shardenfreuder.  D.O.’s smirk appeared when he was plotting something evil, Baekhyun’s when he thought he had material to blackmail you with.  Smirky Chen meant mischief.  Tao’s smirk, like Kai’s, was a part of his stage outfit.  Suho was incapable of smirking and Xiumin just didn’t.  I’d assumed Lay was the third musketeer in that camp, but apparently not.  The others were edging warily aware from him, and I could see why, because Lay smirking was like the appearance of the devil incarnate.  He’d caused enough havoc in the interview at the showcase by blurting out things about the others (Tao wanting Kris to accompany him to the toilet had come up, much to the consternation of the pair, and that wasn’t even bad in comparison to some of the rest of the stuff) and everybody was clearly terrified of him every time he opened his mouth, but it only took one look at that wicked grin to know that interviewee Lay was tame.

As quickly as it had come, the smirk vanished into a more typical Lay smile.

“But don’t worry,” he told Chen, waving a hand – which, if anything, made Chen look more terrified.  “I’m going to save that forfeit like a Pokémon master ball.”

For a moment, I was convinced Chen was about to faint.

“And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going back to bed.”  With that, Lay turned and shambled back into his room with a large yawn.

Lay’s abrupt interposition and subsequent withdrawal put us all into a quandary, and it was several minutes before any of us even moved.  Xiumin was the first, letting out a sigh as he headed for the kitchen, presumably to deal with all the pots and pans.

The clatter shattered the tension, and the rest of us stopped our impromptu display of musical statues.

“I’m off to watch some good, calming horror movies,” Chen mumbled.  “I need to prepare myself for this forfeit.”

“Are you sure you’re using the right adjectives?” I asked him, a little worried.

“Horror movies are going to help how?” demanded Tao, more than slightly weirded out.  Chen looked up at him.

“I want to find one worse than whatever he’s planning to do to me.”

“Good luck,” Tao deadpanned, but his eyebrow was still raised.  Chen’s expression turned defensive.

“It’s… it’s….”  He searched for the right word, but soon gave up, scowling and backing towards the front door.  “It’s cathartic!” he blurted out in Korean, clapping a hand over his mouth and bolting.

“No Korean in the dorm!” Kris and Tao yelled, zipping after him.  I chuckled to myself and sat down on the floor.  The front door slammed twice in quick succession.  They were probably going to be a while, particularly if nobody had any soap on them.

Xiumin came out of the kitchen and nodded to me briefly before grabbing a towel and heading for the bathroom.  Finding myself alone