After the Darkness, the Dawn

Chapter 9

The group of them are forced to sit downstairs, crowded together at the foot of the stairwell as they wait for the smoke to dispel, the fans they've left on working overtime to chase the fumes out the open window and doors. Junmyeon sits on the upper step, sandwiched from the top, left and right by Hayoung, Sehun and Chanyeol, arms-crossed, hiding his amusement as the three try to butter him up, or more specifically, Hayoung and Sehun try to separate themselves from being categorised in the same group as Chanyeol, and Chanyeol bearhugs Junmyeon and refuses to let go until Junmyeon returns his profession of undying love in video game form.

A step below, with Namjoo on one side and Bomi on the other, Chorong flips through Junmyeon's yearbooks, Namjoo somehow having managed to stuff his elementary, middle school, and university yearbooks as well into her tiny bag of wonders, browsing through the photos, listening attentively as Namjoo regales them with tales from their childhood, Junmyeon occasionally chiming in to correct some tidbits that err too much on the side of pure gossip.

"Ah, and this was oppa's ugly duckling phase," Namjoo exclaims as Chorong turns the page to land on that unfortunate year in 7th grade when Junmyeon had to wear both thick glasses to fix a lazy eye and braces to correct a tooth growing in at an odd angle.

"Ha! You were such a raging nerd," Chanyeol barks at the photo before quickly correcting when Junmyeon raises an unamused eyebrow at him, "Uh, I mean, a cool nerd, a very kind cool nerd who loves his juniors."

"Oppa, please don't loop us," Hayoung diplomatically reminds him with emphasis, pointing specifically to her and Sehun, "with Chanyeol oppa. Think about how much me and Sehun oppa have done for you, if it wasn't for us, you would've never met Chorong unnie."

"Exactly," Sehun piles on quick, "and if we didn't keep letting Chanyeol hyung crash at our place, you two wouldn't have nearly as much sex-,"

"Okay! Yes, I'll take it under consideration, thank you for your service," Junmyeon cuts him off, as Hayoung whacks her boyfriend on the arm for lacking any tact.

"See, you'd never hear me discussing your sex life. Ever," Chanyeol brags in his own favor.

"Yes, how kind of you," Junmyeon replies dryly.

"Aw come on hyung, how long do I gotta beg?" Chanyeol huffs sulkily, clinging onto Junmyeon's arm with sad puppy eyes.

"Nuh-uh, no," Chorong cuts in, not even needing to look up from the yearbook in her lap to instinctively sense Junmyeon's mood softening, getting ready to cave to demands. "Even if Junmyeon agrees to get it for you, it doesn't mean I'll agree you can have it. We have a real shot at the championships this year, there's no time for you to goof off with your game."

"Can we have it?" Sehun cuts in for permission.

"Yeah, of course," she agrees amicably. "You don't have competitions."

"Oh come on!" Chanyeol throws his hands up defeatedly. "That's just plain unfair!" he whines again shaking at Junmyeon's arm and begging him to do something, and Junmyeon motions for him to calm down with a sigh.

"Okay, okay, we'll talk later, the game doesn't even have an official release date yet anyway."

"You're spoiling him," Chorong warns, throwing up a sharp look back at the both of them.

"Hyung, do something about your girlfriend!" Chanyeol pleads.

"Oh, now I'm his girlfriend, am I?," Chorong huffs as Chanyeol once more looks imploringly to Junmyeon to do something, and again, Junmyeon motions that they'll talk later, though only after Chorong turns away. He catches Namjoo staring at them with the biggest of grins on her face. "What?"