The company receives the news Yixing wants to leave EXO on a sunny Thursday. Everything is already a mess with hundreds of thousands of fans going crazy in front of the buildings of SM around Seoul, demanding for an explanation nobody is ready to give them. The other EXO members are on the brink of a riot as well, all schedules canceled for sometime in the future, if the band even has one, which the executive director highly doubts with the scandal heating up more with every hour. Twice as many people as before are hired to follow the web reactions of netizens regarding “the EXO bomb” as they call it and the calculations are not good. Before, Yixing had had a small but loyal fanbase, but it seems the whole fandom is on his side now, seeking punishment for the culprit, making up heartfelt stories that have nothing to do with the reality and most shockingly, a huge part of them want Yixing out of SM Entertainment. Oppa deserves so much more, some of the comments affirm, SM should finally do something to protect their idols, others say and even kill the ing who did this to him is to be seen. A couple of famous lawyers threaten to take the case in their hands if SM Entertainment denies gratuitous nullification of the contract. Not only that, all of them demand compensations for the physical and psychical trauma caused by the accident and also insist that a legal action will be taken against the person at the bottom of the whole situation.

The employees are forced to work overtime as well as the heads of company to try and stop the disaster. However, nothing seems to be getting better as the day comes that Oh Sehun, the youngest member of EXO comes into Kim Young Min's office.

“I want a contract determination,” he says and he is only twenty years old, but the look in his eyes is definite.

“Things don't happen like this in this business, kid. You can't come here just because of that accident and expect me to grant your wishes. Do I look like your genie, Oh Sehun?”

“Whatever,” Sehun says never having believed he'd have to voice out the words that come out of his mouth after. “I quit anyway. And you know what, let's see who is going to win and which side are the fans going to be on, sir.”

The older man, infuriated beyond words, hits his bureau with a hand curled in a fist and screams:

“OUT! Out of my office, NOW!”

Sehun turns around to leave but before he shuts the door close, he says:

“I will be gone by Monday.”

If he had stayed for a few more seconds, he'd probably be hit by the pieces of glass from a decorative vase thrown against the wall.

~

Dinners in the dorm have gotten awfully quiet, Luhan thinks as he chews tastelessly on a bite of mackerel in soy sauce, one of Kyungsoo's specials. Only it is very bitter today and somewhat burnt. Jongin, face grim, tells him that Kyungsoo has stopped cooking recently and eats alone in his room and doesn't even let him in during that time. Kyungsoo, however, hardly ever finishes his plate, Jongin continues, forehead wrinkled with worry. Kyungsoo and Yixing have never been the closest of friends but they are one team and Kyungsoo has grown to love almost all of them equally. Luhan believes it's one of Kyungsoo's best qualities, having such a gentle heart, and one of his worst too. Just like it was in Yixing. Luhan bites on his tongue hard, cursing himself for that past tense he uses for his best friend. He is alive and he will be fine.

“Who cooked this then?” Luhan asks to occupy his mind with something else.

“Chanyeol,” Zitao answers from across of Luhan.

“I didn't know he can cook.”

“Because as you see, he can't.”

It's the stupidest moment to laugh and it's not really that funny, but the three of them, Zitao, Jongin and Luhan burst out in a laughter that comes harder and more relieving than tears.

“Guys,” Chanyeol says when they stop. Suho, Kris and Sehun were called to go to SM's headquarters earlier that night, no reason given by any of them so now in the dorm are only Luhan, Jongin, Chanyeol, Minseok, Jongdae, Zitao, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo who is locked in his room. Luhan hates it when all twelve of them have to gather on the flooded with food table because personal space is an extremely important concept in his life and you can't have much of that when there are eleven hungry boys around you, but God, wouldn't he enjoy being elbowed by Sehun's bony arm or fighting with Zitao over the last chicken wing. They don't have to fight tonight, because the food is more than enough, but that doesn't make Luhan any happier. “We are EXO, aren't we? We'll just work harder from now on to show our fans... ”

“What are you saying?” Baekhyun asks and his expression is a warning one. While Luhan was gone, Jongin had told him, there were a lot of collisions like this – someone trying to hint on the future of their band and Baekhyun or Jongdae starting an argument. “Do you even see what is happening?”

“I do, Byunbaek but...”

“Oh, stop with that ridiculous nickname. There are no cameras willing to film our pseudo secret gay relationship, Park Chanyeol. But that's all you care about, isn't it? Your precious cameras.”

“They are important to you too,” Chanyeol says somewhat defensive.

“Yixing has his ing fingers blown away, sorry if my goddamn priorities change.”

Usually, if Suho and Kris were here, they'd try to stop the quarrel, but the boys keep quiet now, knowing what's happening is between Baekhyun and Chanyeol and subduing it wouldn't help any better.

“We've trained for this for years, how can we give...”

“WHAT IF SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS AGAIN, HOW WILL YOUR TRAINING SAVE YOU THEN, PARK CHANYEOL?”

Baekhyun is angry. He is absolutely out of his skin, face and ears crimson red with fury. Luhan might be wrong, but he sees traitor tears in Baekhyun's eyes as the boy speaks.

“I will stay until Yixing gets better and flies back to China. When that happens, I'm out too. This was never about music, never.”

He stands up, takes his plate and pours it straight down Chanyeol's expensive jeans.

“That's what I think about your cooking,” he says, disgruntled, as he puts the plate back on the table with a thud. “And about your personality, for that matter.”

Baekhyun storms to Kyungsoo's room and the latter opens after a single knock, locking the door right after. Neither of them comes out until the morning.

~

Suho and Kris return without Sehun because Sehun doesn't have a reason to come at the dorm anymore. Jongin takes his phone, hands shaking, after Suho tells all of them what the case is, and dials a number that Luhan is sure is Sehun's. Luhan doesn't call Sehun. What will he say if he did anyway? Don't go would be very hypocrite of a person who wants to run away and never come back himself. The stars in Luhan's life die out one by one now that the moon is darkened and has no power to light them again. He wonders how he will keep going in the dark when holes are at each corner and falling is inevitable without a string of light. Yixing had said something about falling before Luhan had left him with his mother and that makes the former ask himself whether Yixing needs somebody to just hold him and stop that awful feeling like Luhan does.

The bell rings later that day, Minseok skipping to open the door. Luhan hears muffled sounds of surprise and joy from his and Yixing's shared room and goes out to see what is the fuss all about.

“You hungry? I will have Kyungsoo fix you some food,” Minseok says, a smile dripping from his words as he slides an arm around a very pale but a very present Yixing who only makes a crippled version of a grin as he walks in. Luhan wants to go and hug him, but neither is his friend in the condition, nor is the place here, the Chinese boy decides.

“You're back,” Luhan only says, wishing somehow his words will tell all he can't. Wishes they will say sorry better than he would.

“Barely,” Yixing answers. “But I really am hungry.”

Minseok nods and goes to call Kyungsoo (and all the others, really) meanwhile Luhan helps Yixing settle on the couch, putting some cushions over the white leather for Yixing to put his head on.

“Pills were too strong, I'm not dying,” Yixing half-whispers with closed eyes.

“You're not.”

“But?”

“But nothing. No butts on my watch, my Lord,” Luhan chimes, an old joke between both of them from the times they were young enough to believe twenty three years is not old the way that they do now. Yixing laughs, albeit forcefully.

“Than watch out for mine,” he sing-songs back, only this time he is wheezing it out instead of it coming naturally.

“Yixing is back for less than fifteen minutes and you two are already being exceptionally heteroual. Be careful, ladies, or our queer-as-a-three-dollar-bill concept shall be damned by your astounding manliness” Baekhyun mocks them from behind the couch and he ruffles Yixing's hair lovingly. “Glad you are back, Changsha prince.”

The Yixing from before the accident would return the favor and probably start a silly argument that would end up with both boys going to Kris or to Suho for advice but annoy them instead, teaming up against the mutual enemy, as they liked to call it. Except a part of that Yixing had died, or was blown away along with his fingers, leaving a faint mirage of it's brightness and vitality. That Yixing's smile is so tiny that his dimple remains hidden and it doesn't quite erase the sadness in his eyes like it used to.

“I thought it was already damned with my blood on that carpet. Nice to see you again too, Baexian. Under other circumstances would have been nicer, though.”

“Under other circumstances could have been worse too. You six feet under and me choking on goodbye speeches.”

“Thinking in perspective, I see.”

“Try with being realistic.”

Their conversation that's taking a dangerous turn is stopped when Minseok comes with all the others who are eager to see Yixing walking and talking again. The view, however, is not that pleasant, neither are Yixing's bandages and the conversations that form are always cut through with an inappropriate word or a stare or silence that screams in their faces.

“You better rest,” Luhan says after Yixing's done with a plate of kimchi spaghetti. It's still half full and it had taken him fifteen minutes to eat this much, hungry as he had been, but none of the boys says anything about it. Like they are scared Yixing's hiding another bomb in his pockets, only bigger this time, and if they get anything wrong – boom, it will be over just as easy.

“I will, mom,” Yixing answers on cue, just to spite him, but his shoulders sag and he hardly keeps his eyes open, so he follows Luhan to their room, no, mother, I am not in need of your hand to hold as I have no intentions to fall flat on my face. Luhan can handle all the sarcasm now that Yixing is here, conscious and not dying before his eyes.

Yixing refuses any help and struggles with removing his v-neck t-shirt but eventually he's lying in his bed and Luhan in his own, sheets properly made up whereas Yixing's are just hastily nudged on the side of the bed, nearly slipping down the floor.

“Sehun's gone,” it's a statement.

“For good, according to Kris.”

“Just like that? No nothing?”

“Need there be?”

“No, I suppose.”

“You're tired,” that's also a statement.

“Things crumble. Guess I am used to climbing, not sliding like a timber down a hill.”

“EXO's over, you know.”

“Because of me.”

“We had it coming. Fate accomplished. Just used you as a bait is all.”

Yixing turns his back on Luhan and his bed looks awfully empty, lonely. He's somewhat petrified of being alone nowadays.

“Will it be okay without Sehun?”

“It wouldn't be okay without you. Now shut up and sleep, insomnia does a woeful favor to one's skin.”

Yixing dreams of stars covered in blood that night and dimly recalls a skinny arm elbowing his bicep in the darkness as Luhan pushes him to one side of the bed in silence so that he can climb up on it, hands crossed on his chest, eyes already closed as though he's sleeping peacefully the moment he settles in a comfortable position. Yixing is far halfway in dreamland, or dreamhell mind you, to thank him and he doesn't know what his dream was about in the morning but he knows it doesn't scare him as much in daylight and same goes for his now empty bed. So maybe he was dreaming that Luhan came to calm him down? It could explain why it had left the impression of a nightmare.

~

EXO disbands on the 23. of July, officially that is. The news come out at midday and by 4pm it's as though all hell is let loose upon them. It's even worse than the time their fans thought Kris was leaving the band. The boys were escorted out of Seoul the previous day, thanks be to God, for a couple of raging sasaeng fans attack EXO's dorm with dozens of raw eggs, throwing them furiously until the police comes to take them away. Too late, anyway. The polished wooden door is soaked with egg white and yolk.

Days of chaos follow that turn into weeks and it takes months for things to relatively normalize. Some fans still believe the whole fiasco is a well thought of plan SM has had for EXO for years now and the boys will eventually be back with or without Lay. Those fans, however become a minority with every hour that passes and most of them give up with traitor words such as EXO was too overrated, to be honest or who do they think they are, I thought better of them.

Yixing insists he should write a message for all of them on his Weibo account like he usually does when he has something to say. Nobody stops him so he sits down and stares at the screen of his phone only to realize there are no words of apology on his mind. Seventy three percent lost battery power later he writes one sentence.

Those who wanted us to end our dream, you won.

He doesn't know if posting that hurt more or losing his fingers did. Probably both, Yixing decides, just in a different way.

Sehun doesn't call though Jongin says when he last spoke to him he had sounded broken. Yixing is surprised to found he couldn't care less.

~

SM's first and last gesture towards EXO or what's left of them are four one-way plane tickets for the Chinese boys and the privacy for all eleven of them to say goodbye at the airport.

“So Tao, back to Qingdao, eh?”

“Yeah, I'll maybe try to pull it off as a stunt actor or martial arts teacher. See what works best.”

“I thought you would want to show your face to the camera, not your moves alone.”

Tao laughs halfheartedly. “Not all of us are Kris ge.”

Kris frowns because that movie proposal really had come out of the blue and he couldn't decline anyway. The main part with a bunch of famous Chinese actors to cooperate and on top of that, filmed by a praised director. He would have been a fool not to take it.

“You're too ugly to be me either ways,” Kris retorts with dignity. “Luhan, will you be in Beijing too? We could meet up when I am not filming.”

Luhan casts a glance towards Lay who is adjusting his purple MCM back, expressionless as though he takes no part in the conversation. “No, not planning to go home yet.”

“Where to then?” Jongdae asks fazed.

“He's afraid I'll slit my wrists so he comes to babysit me,” Yixing answers instead of Luhan and the latter looks utterly offended.

“Am not. My university just happens to be in Changsha.”

“You already have a masters degree in music,” Chanyeol reasons. “From the Yonsei university. How is that not enough?”

Luhan internally asks Chanyeol would one slap be enough for him to shut his mouth but ends up saying: “Yes, well I'm taking dance this time. I have an idea for leading an arts institution in the future but we'll see.”

“Last call for flight 475 Seoul-Beijing. All passengers please take your places immediately. Plane Boing 732 from Moscow to Seoul will land with ten minutes delay due to bad...”

“Guess that's our cue to go,” Kris announces and it kind of hurts because he still sounds like a leader should sound and Suho is still trying not to cry, though he probably doesn't feel the tears that linger on his eye lashes like raindrops that are about to fall.

Hugs are exchanged, friendships are mourned over and it all happens faster in real life than when written with words and it's maybe less dramatic living through it than reading through it is but it all has happened and it's only fair it should be told in details while the rest of their lives will remain scattered in time where maybe they will laugh and maybe Yixing will forgive Sehun and maybe love is enough in the end to help him or maybe it isn't.

With all that uncertainty Yixing boards the plane because at this point it's the only thing he is sure he is supposed to do and he dreams again, head resting on Luhan's shoulder, of a sky that explodes though he's not afraid because he can see the face of the person who would catch stars for him. They are standing under an inconveniently ordinary umbrella but it keeps them safe and that makes two things in his life that Yixing can rely upon.

We don't get happy endings for putting a period on a sentence is always somewhat conclusive and for that – tragic in all the cliché ways that exist. Yixing is okay with that and he settles for a hopeful ending. Luhan would say a hopeful new start, though he has always been too much of an optimist for his own good.

Lay goes back to Yixing, we are one transforms into we were one so he draws the period where it should be and flips the page.

It's blindingly white and he writes one word on it.

“After.”

A/N: That took me long enough to finish but I eventually still did. 

Now, as promised earlier, the meaning of the title. Layover literally means to postpone, to stop doing something. I found the word by chance and it seemed to fit the whole story perfectly. So there's that. But then, cause I like metaphors that much, I thought of another meaning. Lay |is| over. Back to black, literally, leave the stage name and move on. 

Anyway~ I hope you enjoyed reading Layover ^^