His back ached as he walked inside the room. Gently he bent his back as his hands reached the bed and slid carefully on his stomach. A sigh escaped his mouth as he laid his cheek into the bed and closed his eyes

“Lay ge I found it!” Chen shouted from outside the room and went inside. Worry filled his eyes as he twisted the cap of the bottle open. He dropped the bottle into the bed and sat next to his hyung. He rolled Lay’s shirt up and carefully ripped open the Velcro, which was used often to support his back.

He stared at the redness of his skin and proceeded to squirt a few drops of cooling gel into his palm. He rubbed his palms together before slowly pressing his palms into his back. Lay flinched at the initial contact and tried not to move as Chen gently massaged it to his back.

He sometimes wondered how his hyung is able to dance so often despite feeling pain at times. He admired his hyung’s passion on finishing every task in front of him as he often recalled the many times Lay would finish a show, a concert or even rehearsals without a lot of complaints. He himself could only imagine the sadness if his vocal chords kept hurting him as he sang.

Lay opened his eyes and stared at Chen’s brown eyes. “It’s okay…I’m used to this”

“Don’t say that…you’re not supposed to feel pain everytime you do something you love” Chen whined

“It’s not that often…and I’m sure you’d rather sing than do body waves” he while fully knowing that Chen can be insecure on how he looked while dancing. Chen smacked his arm playfully.

“Why must you be like this? Next time your back hurts, don’t bother asking me!” he huffed and wiped his hands to his shirt to get rid the stickiness.

Chen lay down beside him and turned his head to stare at his eyes. Sometimes he could see sadness in them whenever Lay’s days were rough. However today was a good day as Lay’s eyes sparkled with a hint of mischievous.

Lay reached out to Chen’s face as he caressed his cheek and trailed his touches to his curly hair that seemed unkempt for days. He combed through it as he realized how much better it’d look if it was styled up. He ruffled the middle parting in annoyance.

“This style is really ugly on you” Lay muttered

“You don’t like it? But Baekhyun ssi said it looked different than my usual look” Chen pouted

“I think he finally trolled you” Lay laughed at his own statement

“Waee” Chen turned his head back to stare at the ceiling. He huffed in annoyance while plotting revenge thoughts on Baekhyun.

Lay lifted his body up by a cm and crawled his way closer to Chen’s body. Placing his head on Chen’s chest, he closed his head and relaxed.

A mixture of heartbeat and faint ruckuses from downstairs flowed through his pressed ear. He began to think of a beat he could use for a song. He started beat boxing and Chen laughed. He was always amazed whenever Lay would come up with a beat on the spot, almost as fast as Kai eating through a chicken leg.

“Wait…lemme record it so you don’t forget again” as Chen lifted part of his up to get his cell phone out of his pants. He unlocked his screen and opened up his recording application. He pressed record button and held his phone near Lay’s mouth

Lay beat box his beat and ended it with “exo saranghae” in a deep voice. Chen laughed outloud as he pressed stop.

“See you just love teasing everyone!” he argued. Lay lifted his head and blew him a kiss before he placed his head back into Chen’s chest. Chen laughed at his teasing and smacked him.

“Hey!! I’m your hyung…don’t smack me” Lay said sternly as he faced Chen’s face. His eyes twinkled with mischief as he dared Chen to disobey him

“So? I know all of Lay ge weaknesses!” Chen argued back even though he felt wrong to argue back. Lay has a way to make you regret if you dissed him.

Lay lifted himself up and sat as he glared down at Chen. Chen fought back with his own intense glare as he sat up. They glared at each other and refused to blink until the other does.

The noises of members arguing increased as they heard the door opened.

“Kai just tell me how it looks. I know you can’t fix it right now, but just tell me” as Suho nagged to him while they both walked inside

Kai nervously chuckled as he walked backwards into the room. “But hyung…it wouldn’t be fair to you if I tell you. I’m not the best dancer…Lay hyung is”

It was a common excuse that Kai would use whenever he’s too scared to be honest. He would cling behind his hyung so they would answer instead of him.

“No he’s not…you’re main dancer for a reason…” Suho glared at him as he tried to figure out Kai’s angle. However Suho is really bad at reading the maknaes’ intention at times.

“Hyung Suho needs you” as Kai tapped Lay’s shoulder while feeling extremely nervous

“Not now…ask Kyungsoo” Lay replied as he hated to be disturb when he’s concentrating

“But hyung…” Kai whined and tried to pull off his best aegyo even though he’s not an expert like Sehun. “That brat gets away with everything” as Kai thought in his head.

“See he’s busy…now tell me how this looks…it looks better right?” as Suho started doing his own version of body wave in front of Kai.

Kai tried not to cringe as he watched while Chen and Lay couldn’t resist seeing what Suho was doing. Both looked to the side and Lay noticed Chen’s face isn’t looking at him anymore.

“Ha! I win” Lay shouted in victory and raised his arms up.

“Nu uh!! You looked away too” Chen argued while whining

“Hyung….do something” Kai complained and shook Lay’s shoulder. Lay looked at Suho again and tried to think of good words to say.

“So…it’s better than before right? Right?” as Suho stopped and looked at s

“Suho…” Lay started and stood up while holding his back as it still hurts him. Suho looked to him and waited for a compliment.

“I just realized we need to talk about…” Lay trailed off and started to think of a member’s name that needed a lot of scolding.

“Should I say Baekhyun? No…he’s been too good lately. I have to figure out what stupid thing he did first. Maybe Sehun for breaking Kyungsoo’s award and hiding it. Nah…too much chaos. Oh wait…Tao…this might work…” as he quickly went through process of elimination.

“Yes?” Suho waited for Lay to say something. Sometimes he wondered why Lay takes a long time to say something.

“About Tao…you do know he didn’t start writing the Chinese lyrics yet for Promise…” Lay trailed off while placing his hand at his shoulder and waited for Suho’s face to turn red

“What? He told you? Where is he?” as Suho yelled and looked around the room. Suho started to leave, but Lay stopped him.

“Whoa! Really?” Chen replied in shocked while Kai while just happy he didn’t have to answer Suho’s questions.

“Hyung...let’s do it in a closed room” Lay said quietly and used his eyes to gesture other members listening. Suho cleared his throat and looked at Chen.

“I’m sure it’s just a miscommunication guys. Chen will you clean this up and get the maknaes some food? Kyungsoo made something” as Suho gestured to the bed.

“Ok hyung!” Chen said happily and grabbed Kai’s hand. “Come on…you’re so slow for a dancer” Chen while Kai stucked his tongue out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you’re gonna scold him right?” Suho asked Lay in a whisper as they walked side by side in the hallway.

“Yes I’ll have to spend tonight and tomorrow night with him since I can’t record my parts when I’m away. I still don’t know what to do with Baekhyun…he’s still struggling to get the Chinese words right and I have no time” Lay said in frustration as he scratched his head. They went downstairs together and looked at each other at the bottom of the stairs to finish their conversation while whispering.

They didn’t realize that the members were frozen in their spots. Foods were dripping down the kitchen table, Sehun and Tao standing on top of the sofa with water balloons in their hands, Chen stopping his motherly speech; Baekhyun stopped mocking Chen, Chanyeol looked nervous for laughing instead of helping Chen, and Kai stopping his laughter when he saw the leaders. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo and Xiumin in the front door look awe struck at the scene. They had just returned from grocery and didn’t expect the house to be this messy.

“Okay…take Tao and Baekhyun the next 2 nights. I’ll deal with the missing award issue” Suho stated back to him in whisper.

“Oh yea the award is taken by…” as Lay trailed off when he saw guilty members standing on the spot. Suho looked at Lay’s direction and gasped at the mess.

“You know what…it’s your turn. I’ll be in my bedroom” as Suho tried to keep his anger and walked back upstairs.

Suddenly all the members started talking to appeal to Lay’s generosity.

“Hyung I swear I didn’t start this…” Baekhyun was the first to start

“It’s Sehun’s fault! He suggested it!” Tao immediately pointed to his best friend

“Hey! I suggested it as a joke, but you made the water balloons!” Sehun argued back

“I’m not cleaning this up” Xiumin stated calmly as he put the bags down and walked past Lay to go to Suho’s room to see if he’s alright.

“Hyung who do you want me to hurt?” Kyungsoo stated with his angry glare

“Lay ge…” Chen said nervously while approaching him. He looked at his face to gauge his anger

“Chen it’s fine…” Lay stated calmly

“Tao, Baekhyun go to Baekhyun’s room” Lay started talking and glared at them when they started to argue. They obediently listened and walked to Baekhyun’s room, but not before they push each other around in the stairs.

“Hey! I said walk not fight!” Lay yelled at them from downstairs, which flinched some of the members. Silence filled the room as they heard the door closing.

“Chen, Soo please fix the kitchen. I’ll handle the rest with them” Lay stated before he approached a scared Kai, guilt ridden Sehun and nervous Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo and Chen picked up the groceries that was left in the floor and carried them to the kitchen. They started to take the stuff out and refilled the fridge and cupboards. The sound of cluttering and water filled the whole room as they cleaned the kitchen.

“Relax…I know it’s not your fault” Lay said to Kai as he placed a hand in Kai’s shoulder. Kai released his breath in relief and looked at his hyung eyes. A sparkle filled Lay’s eyes as he pressed his forehead against Kai and looked at his eyes. Kai held the tears in his eyes, afraid to be seen as weak against his brothers. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to scare you like that” Lay whispered while not letting go of his face. Kai blinked and a drop of tear fell. Lay quickly wiped it as if nothing has happened. Lay refused to let go of him as he let Kai calm himself down. He finally let go when Kai cleared his throat and started to clean up the mess.

Then he approached Chanyeol and pulled him into a hug. Chanyeol hugged him back and bowed his head down in guilt. He felt bad for not stepping up his role as an older brother to his brothers. Lay patted his before going to Sehun, who was looking down to the floor. Chanyeol started helping Kai fix the living room.

Sehun, being the maknae, always felt like he had the whole world especially when his hyungs would give in. But he knew there were limits to his behavior and today was a day when he regretted it.

“Sehun…” Lay started as he approached him. Sehun looked at the floor while holding back his tears.

“I…I didn’t mean to...” he started to explain but his throat felt clogged. He cleared his throat again, but couldn’t mutter a sound as he opened his mouth. Lay lifted his face up and stared intensely at his water filled eyes. Sehun tried to grab him for a hug, but Lay let go of his face, stepped backward and stared at him.

“Hyung...” Sehun started to explain.

“No…I don’t want excuses. You’re not a teenager anymore” Lay stated in a stern voice

“I’m…I’m sorry” he said in regret and a tear fell down his cheek, which he quickly wiped off.

“Are you really? Because this is the fifth time if I’m not mistaken…” Lay replied in annoyance

“I am! I’ll be better I promise” he sniffled and wiped another tear. The other members began to watch the scene. Some felt the need to hug the maknae, but they knew their boundaries.

“Are you going to remember this feeling the next time you think of making water balloons? Or any other pranks?” he asked seriously

“Yes” he whispered and he started to hiccup.

“Alright…now clean up your face and go apologize to Suho hyung” he said firmly

Sehun stood up and approached Lay for a hug, but Lay stepped back. He knew that hugging him would just make him better instead of regretful.

“No... I said go apologize to Suho” Lay stated as he shook his head. He glared at Sehun to make sure he understood the gravity of his actions. Sehun sniffed as he ran upstairs to the bathroom.

The room was filled with noise again as the other members went back to their tasks, afraid of more consequence. Meanwhile Lay decided to help Kai and Chanyeol to finish their task.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xiumin approached Suho’s locked room. He always felt Suho’s room was the messiest, but somehow he was able to hold back his disgust internally.

“Suho?” Xiumin said sweetly as he knocked his door and tried to see if the door is unlocked. He stared at the scene in front of him and laughed as he saw Suho screaming into his pillow.

“Are you okay? Do you want a drink?” Xiumin

“Hyung I’m sorry you had to see me like this…” Suho started to say in embarrassment.

“I just…I should have made you leader instead. This is way too much for me” Suho admitted in defeat.

“Don’t say that…I have no patience with Baekhyun and even Tao. Don’t worry we’re all here to help you” as Xiumin rubbed his back, while kicking the dirty socks away from his feet. He groaned internally in disgust as he saw the floor covered with clothes.

“I don’t know what I’ll do when Lay is gone again and Tao will be here clinging daily…I already have enough brats. Can’t you guys take him back?” Suho pleaded to Xiumin, who laughed nervously.

“No…we can’t. I mean we love him, but we really need to practice our Chinese songs while Lay is still here. And then Chen and I really need our peace to memorize the rest of the songs before we help you guys…” Xiumin started explaining while at the same time lying about a few facts. He really did not want anymore loud people in the dorm. He rubbed his hand against his pants when it accidentally touched Suho’s clothes. He pretended to smile at Suho as if he’s not internally dying inside when Suho stared at him.

“Alright I guess I’ll just shove him and Sehun with Kyungsoo and let him use his bat” Suho said while thinking of more revenge. Xiumin shook his head as he realized how crazy Suho sound.

They heard footstep going up and flinched when they heard Lay’s yell.

“Whoa that scared me” Xiumin laughed

“Yea…I bet Tao or Sehun pissed him off” Suho said hopefully

~~~~~~~~~~

Baekhyun paced around the room while Tao sat on Baek’s bed. Tao looked at the floor contemplating if he could jump off the second floor without hurting his foot. He would rather face broken foot than have Lay be mad at him.

“Do you think he’s really mad? Like he’d yell a lot?” Baek said nervously

“I don’t know” Tao said in a whisper while looking at the floor

“But I didn’t do anything…it was all your fault and Sehun. Ohhh why am I always stuck at the punishing end” Baek complained while still pacing

Tao sniffled as he wiped a tear. He couldn’t help but feel guilty and helpless as he’s stuck in this room. Not only is his foot never getting better, he just felt everything has turned to the worse for him. He couldn’t dance right and he couldn’t even perform since February. He wiped his tears as he felt more emotions overwhelmed him.

“Why are you crying? Now I’m gonna feel sad too...stop it” Baek said while whining

“It’s not my fault…I just…I hate this. I don’t feel useful to this group anymore” Tao said while crying

“Stop that! You are useful!” Baek argued and wiped his tears.

Lay suddenly appeared and saw them crying their eyes out while they pretended to look manly.

“Why are you guys crying?” Lay asked in confusion. He was sure his yell wouldn’t make them cry this easily…well at least not for Baek.

“Blame Tao…he started it!” Baek argued as he sniffed and wiped his eye. He finally got a hold of himself as he stood close to the window.

Tao just looked at the floor and avoided facing his hyung’s face.

“Baek you’re not in trouble…” Lay started to talk

“I’m not?” Baek said in surprised

“You’re not, but go pack for 3 nights, you’re staying over at M” Lay said as he approached Tao with his arms crossed. Baek nodded as he realized he’s going to do a lot of rehearsing with Lay.

“Tao….Tao look at me” Lay said sternly as they began to converse in Chinese

Tao wiped his eyes before looking up

“What did I say about behaving? Did I say it only applies when I’m here?” He asked

“I know…I was just…” Tao started to defend himself in a whisper

“You were just bored right? Because your leg is still unwell. You’re going to use that excuse?” Lay asked seriously.

“It wasn’t just that!” Tao cried out as he wiped more tears

Lay squatted down to his knees and looked up to his face. He placed his hand on his cheek and caressed it before he began to lecture him

“I know it’s hard. Do you think it’s easy for me to be far away from you guys and handling my schedule? You’re not the same Tao I met 3 years ago. You’re better than him. It hurts me whenever I see you reverting back to that Tao when I know you to be better than him” Tao tried to look down at the floor in guilt but Lay wouldn’t let him.

Meanwhile, Baek who was watching the scene became unsure of what to do. He knew he should be packing, but this scene seemed so emotional.

“We’ve been through so much together. Will you understand me?” Lay sincerely looked at his eyes before Tao nodded and wiped another tear.

“Apologize to Suho okay?” Lay asked before he stood up again and stretched his back, causing him to wince in pain. Baek noticed it and hugged him from the back. Lay smiled as he bent forward and swung Baek as if he was Lay’s kid. Baek laughed out loud and grinned as Lay put him back down.

Tao wiped his tears as he left the room to find Suho. He accidentally met up with a red eyed Sehun on Suho’s door.

“Are you okay?” Tao asked Sehun

“I’m fabulous” Sehun replied while flipping his bangs with his fingers before knocking at the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lay went back downstairs with a clingy Baekhyun on his back as he gave him a piggy ride.

“What are you doing?! His back hurts!” Chen shouted at Baekhyun and smacked his arms a few times.

“It’s his idea!” Baek lied to Chen as usual to get off punishment. He got off Lay’s back carefully and massaged it as Chen glared at him

“It’s okay Chen…we should get ready and go though…” Chen nodded in agreement while Xiumin was already waiting at the door.

“Oh Soo you have to come too…” Lay told him

“But my Chinese is fine…you told me already” he said

“Yes you got the least criticism, but SM wants the whole vocal line ready” Suho nodded in agreement with Lay

“But I’ll be fine…I’m not Baekhyun” Kyungsoo argued since he really wanted one night without Baek.

“Okay sing me the chorus of playboy” Lay quizzed him

“Wait wait…I’m allowed to have lyrics for first try! That’s too hard” he stated

“See who’s making excuses now!” Baek told Kyungsoo off and Soo glared at him. He began to approach Baek and Baek ran behind Lay and Chen.

“Okay chorus of Call me baby”

“um um…” as soo tried to remember the lyrics as he mutters the song from beginning under his breath. Then soo began to sing the beginning of chorus, but half way through Tao started laughing. Everyone, but Lay and Tao looked confused.

“What? What’s so funny?” Soo looked confused

“You said cow!” Tao shouted and began to laugh outloud by himself. The other members started to chuckle even though they were also confused. Do approached Tao in revenge, but Lay stopped him.

“It was good, but you misspelled a few words. Tao just found it funny. Now please pack” Lay said as soo looked down in defeat.

“Can I at least not be in the same room with Baek?” Kyungsoo looked back at Lay hopefully

“Yes…Baek can be with me” Soo smiled before he went upstairs. Baek yelled in happiness as he gets to cuddle with Lay hyung again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night went slow as they practiced their vocals until 1 am. Lay happily smiled as Baek got better and the other was improving too. He lay down in his bed as he realized he forgot something, but couldn’t remember what.  A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Lay?” Xiu peeked his head into the room. “Can I sleep with you?” he asked as he entered and closed the door. He brought his own pillow and blankets

“Sure…what happened?” as Lay sat up

“Baek came in to bug me…then he fell asleep on my bed” he said in annoyed tone.

Lay laughed and patted his king bed. Xiu jumped on it and went to the other side. He laid down one blanket on top Lay’s sheets. Lay chuckled as he remembered how much Xiumin hated to sleep in dirty bed.

Lay laid down as Xiu did too. He played with Xiu’s long hair and began to twirl a few in his finger. Lay let go of his hair and watched it fall on Xiu’s cheek. They stared at each other eyes before chuckling.

Another knock at the door was heard and Chen peeped in. He gasped as he saw his hyungs betraying their ‘let’s invite each other for a cuddle no matter what’ pact.

“Waee you were supposed to invite me” Chen went inside and closed the door.

Lay turned around and explained Xiu’s situation.

“Oh well…can I sleep with you guys?”

“sure!” Lay replied as he patted the middle of the bed.

“no…you go to the middle. I hate the middle” Chen replied and sat on the edge of the bed.

Lay rolled himself to the middle and Xiu caught him in his arm. “I caught a Lay! Yea!” as Xiu’s arms embraced him. Lay giggled as he felt Xiu’s breath on his neck. Xiu purposely blew more air into his neck and Lay nudged him with his arm.

“Stop! Or you’re doing Sehun duty tomorrow” as Lay blackmailed him. Sehun duty meant the older hyung has to watch him for the day to make sure he’s not misbehaving.

Xiu stopped but his arms remain around lay’s waist. He suddenly felt very sleepy as his eyes became heavy and he closed his eyes.

Chen began to lay down and stared back at his hyung. He was glad to have some of these moments before he goes back to Beijing.

“Turn around so I can hold you also” Lay stated as he helped Chen to turn to his other side. Arms enveloped Chen’s waist as Lay rested his forehead against Chen’s neck.

“Do you like Beijing more than here?’ Chen whispered to him

“Why would you ask that?”

“You seem so busy…you don’t reply to my texts often when you’re gone” Chen stated without trying to sound sad

“I’m sorry. I get really tired after filming and even now”

“You would miss us a lot right?”

“Mhm” Lay said sleepily

Chen went quiet as he contemplated what else he could ask without sounding as clingy as Sehun.

“You know I kept thinking about what you guys were doing or who would be pissing off Suho for the day. I really missed this moment of just holding on to someone” Lay admitted while sounding half asleep

Chen smiled as he too fell into deep sleep.