“Good morning,” Minseok mouthed to Luhan before getting off the bed as he did every morning but instead of giving him a kiss as usual, Luhan wrapped him up in a hug and eased him back to the bed until they were both lying on it. “What is it?”

“Let’s sleep in,” Luhan mumbled. “I think we both need more than three hours of sleep after last night.”

“Okay,” Minseok said, shifting slightly to try to fit the both of them on one half of the bed – less than half if he wanted to be pedantic. Sehun had made it a habit to spill over to his side of the bed when he slept, which made the already narrow double bed even narrower for two people, much less three.

“Let’s buy curtains,” Luhan said as he pressed closer to Minseok in a vain attempt to avoid the glare of the sun, a frown on his face despite having his eyes closed.

“You can get under the covers,” Minseok suggested.

Luhan opened his eyes, appearing to have had a moment of revelation. “Good idea.” He lifted a corner of the blanket so they could both snuggle down under it, glanced over at Sehun to make sure that he was still asleep, and pulled the blanket over their heads before placing a light kiss on Minseok’s lips. “How are you?”

“Good,” Minseok said, the word coming out more like a question than an answer.

“I was hoping we could have the house to ourselves last night but that didn’t work out.”

Minseok gave a confused nod. “I thought you wanted to sleep?”

“I was going to, but I thought of something else,” Luhan said, fumbling around in a struggle to position his arms on either side of Minseok while keeping the blanket over their heads. “When was the last time we were this close?”

“Never?”

“What have we been doing in the past eight months?”

Minseok mulled that over. “Nothing?”

“So what has changed?”

“We’re not fighting anymore and we moved in together. What’s with the guessing game?”

Luhan ignored the question. “What did we agree to work on?”

“Your family?” Minseok said slowly, trying to recall what they very briefly discussed months ago. “I’m not supposed to ask you about them.”

“Not that one.”

“You’re not supposed to point fingers?”

“No, I said I’m going to treat you more like a boyfriend. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of keeping that promise.”

“I think I said something about playing a bigger part too,” Minseok said, reaching out a stiff hand to touch Luhan’s cheek, making him chuckle.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Okay,” Minseok said, quickly pulling his hand back. “I don’t think this kind of thing suits us.”

Luhan seemed to give that some thought before leaning down to touch their lips together in a languorous kiss that was as awkward as it was foreign. He pulled back, dissatisfaction obvious on his features. “Don’t you think this shouldn’t feel so odd?”

“I guess we’re just not used to it.”

“That’s the thing. Shouldn’t we be used to this by now?”

“I guess it’s just not us? I kind of like things the way they are now.”

“But we’re exactly the way we were last year, and the year before that. That ‘us’ didn’t work, remember?”

“But a lot of things have changed. I know a lot more about you, and I think we’re both making this relationship work in our own ways. Unless you’re keeping something from me?”

Luhan shook his head. “I just think we’re heading down that exact same path by being housemates and nothing more.”

“Well, I guess you can think of it that way,” Minseok said hesitantly. “I don’t think you’re just my housemate though.”

“That’s what you said last time. What does being a couple mean to you?”

“When two people love each other.”

“Yeah, that might work, but I feel like a relationship needs more than just feelings.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Luhan said, a contemplative look crossing his face. “How do we act like a couple?”

“Kiss and cuddle every once in a while like we did in first year, or go out on dates, exchange gifts on Valentine’s day, that kind of stuff?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, we live together. I think we skipped all of the minor things and jumped straight to making a big decision but we don’t know how to make full use of it.”

“Make full use of what?”

“Living together. This should be the time for us to really get to know each other and grow closer and all that, but I don’t feel like we’re doing that.”

“Okay. So what do you suggest?”

“I think we need to get rid of Sehun.”

Minseok frowned. “Luhan-”

“No, hear me out,” Luhan cut in. “It’s not that I don’t want him here, or I don’t want to take care of him, or any of that. I just think it’s time for him to be independent and live his own life so we can have ours.”

“But I like having your brother here.”

“Sehun.”

“What?”

“Sehun,” Luhan repeated. “My mum refers to him as my brother and it drives me insane.”

“Okay,” Minseok said, puzzled but knowing better than to ask him why. “I like having Sehun here.”

“Doesn’t he feel like a third wheel to you?”

“No,” Minseok said, shaking his head for emphasis.

“But we never get any time to ourselves because he’s always around.”

“He’s also not deaf.”

Luhan pushed the blanket off his head to look at Sehun, who was wide awake and frowning at him. “Were you eavesdropping?”

“How could I not? You’re right next to me,” Sehun pointed out.

“Go wash up or something,” Luhan said, shooing him away.

“If you’re talking about me, then I think I have the right to listen in.”

“Go,” Luhan said, putting more force behind the word.

“If you kick me out again, I’m telling mum,” Sehun said, grudgingly getting off the bed.

“We won’t kick you out,” Minseok assured him, watching as Sehun reluctantly left the room.

Luhan moved out from under the covers to sit in the space Sehun had vacated. “This is what I mean. We really need time to ourselves.”

“But why?” Minseok asked, sitting up on the bed. “There’s nothing we can’t do in front of him.”

“It’s not about what we can or can’t do, it’s just-” Luhan blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t feel like your boyfriend.”

“Why not?”

“It feels like you’re Sehun’s brother and I’m just a random housemate.”

“Is it because of the sleeping arrangement?”

“No- maybe, I don’t know.”

“We can work on that. I can get a bigger bed to fit all three of us.”

“But I don’t want him here.”

Minseok frowned.

“I know that sounds petty and immature but don’t you think his problem could’ve been easily fixed if we didn’t let it go on for so long? He’s starting his second year of uni in a couple of months but he still can’t sleep alone. Calling that problematic is an understatement.”

“So what do you think we should do?”

Luhan seemed to think that over before shaking his head. “I don’t know, send him to a therapist? This shouldn’t be my problem. Mum should’ve taken care of this way back when.”

“We can google our options.”

“It’s because she coddles him so much that it got this bad,” Luhan continued, seeming to not have heard Minseok at all. “And when I tell her that, she tells me that I’m just as pampered as he is. Well, I don’t have that problem, do I?”

“Hmm,” Minseok said, giving Luhan a slight smile, unsure what the expected response was.

“And now we’re stuck in this weird rut of a nameless relationship despite having moved in together. It would’ve been so easy if he just stayed at my old house.”

Minseok wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the fact that Luhan thought they were stuck in a rut, that he still couldn’t put a name to their relationship, or that he was indirectly blaming Sehun for something that had nothing to do with him yet again. “But-” Minseok sighed and shook his head.

“Just say what you want to say. We agreed to be more open with each other, right?”

Minseok let out another sigh. “He’s your brother. Shouldn’t you…” He trailed off and shook his head again. “It’s none of my business.”

“He’s my brother, but he’s also an adult. I think it’s high time he becomes self-sufficient.”

“I get that, but-” Minseok paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “I guess I’m just used to having him here. I kind of like having him around all the time.”

“You prefer having Sehun around to spending more time with me,” Luhan said flatly. “Why am I not surprised?”

Minseok looked at him, taken aback. “Are you jealous of him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t understand what you like about the way things are now.”

“It feels like we’re a family. I like having you here, and I like having him here too, so why would I settle for less? And as erse as this might sound, I like having someone I can watch over.”

“So why don’t you date him?”

Minseok stared at Luhan, not sure if he was being serious. “Sehun’s like my little brother.”

“Do you remember what you said to me when we were fighting?”

“Why does it matter?” Minseok said, failing to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

“You said you didn’t know why we bothered being exclusive,” Luhan continued, unruffled. “And that made me think that maybe you want to see other people.”

“No, I don’t. You said some pretty horrible things to me too when we were fighting but I’m not going to bring them back up eight months after we’ve worked things out.”

“Why not?”

“Because they were things we said in the heat of the moment. They don’t mean anything. What happened anyway?”

“What?”

“Why are you bringing all of this up now? Why do you suddenly think that we should change the way we do things?”

Luhan sighed. “Last night.”

“The party?”

“Yeah. Everybody else changed except for us.”

“And why is that a bad thing?”

“Because we said we were going to change. We made a conscious decision to not be the same dreary ‘couple’ in quotation marks again but eight months in and that’s still exactly what we are.”

Minseok let that sink in. He wasn’t ready for another round of the ‘we’re something but I don’t know what it is’ bull and he definitely wasn’t going to say anything to get them to that point. It just made him feel a thousand times dumber for getting emotionally invested in this relationship all by himself again. “If you want to spend more time together, then I guess we can go out somewhere during the day.”

Luhan nodded. “Let’s do that.”