———the next morning———

          Xiumin woke to the feeling of being kissed. He felt soft kisses being pressed on his forehead, his cheeks, his nose and the corners of his mouth. He smiled, keeping his eyes closed. As a kiss was placed near his mouth, he turned his head into it so that it would land on his lips. He opened his eyes as the kiss ended.

          “Good morning,” Chen greeted.

Xiumin smiled and buried his face into Chen’s chest, wrapping his arms around the other.

          “Morning,” he mumbled back.

Chen wrapped one arm around Xiumin, and with the other, he lifted Xiumin’s chin to look into his eyes.

          “Did you sleep well?”

          “Mm.”

          “Are you hungry?”

          “Mm.”

Chen laughed and Xiumin smiled. He loved waking up this way and would happily do it each morning if they could. However, they had to keep some pretense of being strictly friends while their managers were around. Xiumin had a feeling they knew what went on in the dorm, but that the managers turned a blind eye as long as they weren’t too obvious. Chen interrupted Xiumin’s thoughts as he untangled himself from Xiumin to hover over the smaller.

          “Do you want me to go get us some food?” Chen asked.

Xiumin considered this for a moment before answering.

          “I’m pretty happy just like this,” he finally replied.

Chen smiled wickedly and swooped down, capturing Xiumin’s lips with his own. Xiumin wrapped his arms back around Chen’s neck and pulled him closer. Chen deepened the kiss, running his tongue over Xiumin’s lip. Xiumin sighed into the kiss as he felt Chen shift over to straddle him. Chen bit Xiumin’s lip softly, asking permission to enter his mouth which Xiumin gladly gave. Chen’s arms wrapped around Xiumin’s waist, lifting him slightly off the bed, as he pulled them closer together. Xiumin pressed himself against Chen and held him tight. Chen’s kisses left his lips and wandered down Xiumin’s neck. Xiumin bent his neck to allow Chen better access. Xiumin gasped as Chen nipped the sensitive skin at the base of his neck.

          “Jong Dae,” Xiumin sighed breathily.

          “Mm,” Chen hummed in response.

          “I—” Xiumin began as the door to the room opened.

They pulled away from each other to glace at the opening. Luhan stood in the doorway, Sehun behind him with his hands on the elder’s waist and lips close to his ear, whispering something. Chen quickly got off of Xiumin and Xiumin turned a bright shade of pink. Sehun lifted his head as he realized that Luhan wasn’t entering the room and saw the other couple. Sitting on the bed, it was very obvious what they had just been doing, despite the fact that Sehun hadn’t seen them: their lips were red and slightly swollen, and Xiumin’s neck was dotted with red from Chen’s kisses. Getting over their initial shock, Sehun and Luhan broke into smiles.

          “Were we interrupting something?” Luhan said.

Xiumin’s blush turned an even deeper shade as he struggled to respond.

          “Um… We, well… Um, no?” Xiumin finally managed to get out what sounded like a question.

Luhan and Sehun laughed and entered the room. Sehun dropped his hands from Luhan’s waist, opting to hold his hands as he trailed behind the smaller. Luhan retrieved his wallet from a drawer in the small table beside his bed.

          “We’re going for bubble tea. You two should probably get up soon,” Luhan said.

          “What time is it?” Xiumin asked.

          “A little after noon,” Sehun replied.

Xiumin blinked in surprise. They had slept in quite late. Sehun trailed after Luhan as the pair left the room.

          “We should probably get up now,” Chen said.

          “I suppose,” Xiumin said, reluctantly sitting up.

Chen moved around Xiumin and stood up. He stretched before reaching and pulling Xiumin up by his hand.

          “There just might be some food left if we’re lucky too,” Chen said.

Xiumin laughed and allowed Chen to lead him out of the room. They walked into the kitchen to find Jong Deok, drinking a cup of tea with Suho. Chen didn’t hesitate for even a moment as they entered.

          “Good morning!” Chen said loudly.

          “Good afternoon… You two slept in,” Suho said good-naturedly.

          “Got to catch up on all the sleep we missed last week,” Chen continued, “is there any food left from earlier?”

           “Aniyo… D.O. decided to take the day off. It was cereal for all of us this morning and a war almost broke out when lunch rolled around,” Suho replied.

          “Hm… We’ll just have to go out then!”

In the corner of his eye, Xiumin saw Jong Deok shake his head.

          “Jong Dae, aren’t you wondering why I’m here?” Jong Deok asked.

Chen turned to his brother, not letting the smile leave his face.

          “So you aren’t here to enjoy some tea with Suho-hyung?”

          “No. Eomeoni sent me. She’d like to talk to you about last night, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

          “Ah… I’ll call her then,” Chen said.

          “Arasseo. I’ll be leaving then. Thank you, Joon Myun,” Jong Deok said, using Suho’s real name.

Jong Deok walked out of the kitchen and left the dorm without sparing Chen or Xiumin another glance.

          “Where do you want to go, hyung?” Chen asked Xiumin.

          “Mwo?”

          “For breakfast or lunch… Where do you want to eat?”

          “Well… Aren’t you going to call your mother?”

          “I was going to wait until later…” Chen said with a pout.

          “Yah, Kim Jong Dae! Your parents are made enough already. Call your mother!” Xiumin said, holding firm against his boyfriend’s aegyo.

          “Fine, if you insist,” Chen said with a sigh.

          “I’ll go shower and get ready while you do. Then we can go eat,” Xiumin said.

          “Ne… Thanks for keeping my brother company, Suho-hyung,” Chen said, turning to Suho.

          “Of course. I hope everything works out between you two…” Suho said, trailing off.

          “Thanks, hyung,” Chen said as he led Xiumin out of the kitchen.

          “I’m going to get in the shower. Call your mom,” Xiumin said.

          “Arasseo, arasseo! I got it!” Chen said with a smile.

Xiumin gave him one last look before heading off to the shower.

          “Minnie-ah!” Chen said, knocking on his bedroom door loudly.

Xiumin had gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed when Chen began pounding on the door.

          “What?” Xiumin called back.

          “Minnie-ah! My mom! She wants—ugh, can I come in?” Chen said, annoyed by the door separating them.

Xiumin looked down at himself. He had a pair of pants on, but was still shirtless.

          “I don’t have a shirt on…” Xiumin said.

          “Okay!” Chen said, bursting into the room.

          “Chen!” Xiumin said with an offended tone.

          “What? I’ve seen you shirtless before. Anyways, my mom wants to help us! She doesn’t agree with my father! She thinks that I should be allowed to do what I want. And you know what? She is absolutely in love with you! She thinks you’re adorable. I told her we were in the same group, and she spent all last night looking up things about you and videos of us and pictures and—anyways, she thinks you’re adorable and you just might be her bias in the group!” Chen said excitedly.

Xiumin let what Chen said wash over him.

          “She… likes me?”

          “Yes! She said you’re her favorite in the group! She might even like you more than me… She wants to meet with us today too. I told her we were going for lunch, and she said she’d meet up with us at whatever restaurant we choose… Minnie, she wants us to be together,” Chen said smiling.

Xiumin felt tears come to his eyes. Chen’s mother supported them. She wanted to help. Despite the fact that he’d been trying to stay strong the past day, Xiumin broke down crying. He was so relieved. Xiumin’s tears only came harder when Chen smiled warmly as he wrapped his arms around Xiumin. Tears also came streaming down his face as they both found comfort in the fact that they had hope.

A/N: Hello everyone! I was able to update today because I was home sick :p Kinda y, but I did get time to write... Luckily, it's just a cold! While I was not a member of the Ladies Code fandom, I just want to take a moment to send a prayer to everyone who is in the fandom and all who are involved with the group.

On another note, I may be going back through and editing previous chapters, so just be aware of this! I reread a few of them and found lots of little mistakes that made my inner grammar nazi cringe. So thank you everyone for reading! Please upvote, subscribe, and comment <3 Have a good day~