"Oh, at last! We've almost started without you!" Luhan walked over to the newcomers, took them both firmly by the hands and dragged the boys to a small sofa. "Tao, you would at least not frighten people, why did you come to our training? Now half of them have lost the mood for a good evening! They think you're a teacher."
The guy, in response to the appeal, smiled predatingly, ostentatiously examining the guests in the room.
"But I AM a teacher, an intern though." Tao sit himself comfortably on the couch and continued. "But let's just talk about it at school, okay? Luhan will tell you more tales about me. Don't believe him, and don't believe Minseok either."
"Hey, you Panda! Why are you implicating me?!" Minseok shouted from the kitchen.
"His hearing is excellent!" Tao chuckled.
"Guys, do you have a close relationship, have you known each other for a long time?" Baekhyun walked over to Junmyeon and Tao, who were sitting on the couch, and handed them two cans of beer.
"They haven't told you about me yet? I think you guys are losing your touch. We've known each other for quite some time. I became friends with Min and Lu before I moved to your city. Han and I are both Chinese, but I came to Korea when I was fifteen, and he's lived here most of his life. We hung out together out of school; we were in the same company. Then I went to university in your city, I thought I would get rid of them," Tao smiled again, " but they are following me!"
"You should be grateful that we've moved here. You tortured me with your whining that you're lonely and not having fun." Lu retorted.
"Why Panda?" Baekhyun, who was sitting next to him, decided to ask another question.
"I don't know, it just kind of stuck."
"Not true, he knows everything." Minseok fetched a large bowl of snacks from the kitchen. "It's because of Kung Fu Panda. After watching this cartoon, he called himself that all the time, so the name got attached."
Luhan and Minseok started laughing out loud as they recalled the past days.
Junmyeon, who had been silent all this time, coughed loudly, choking on his beer, when his eyes crossed with Sehun, who had been staring at the blond man for about ten minutes.
"Oh, Sehun, good to see you!" Junmyeon cleared his throat.
Sehun was taken aback by the fact that all the attention in the room was focused on him. "I didn't expect to see you... here."
"Do you know each other?!" Tao and Baekhyun asked in unison.
Chanyeol just turned his head from Sehun to Junmyeon, and after a few seconds, understanding flashed in his eyes, and Park chuckled contentedly.
"Yes, we met not so long ago." Junmyeon, seeing Sehun's confusion, answered for him. And clearly not wanting to continue the conversation, he sipped from the bottle again, looking somewhere to the side.
Baekhyun, having found a new victim for his chatty tongue, sat down on the arm of the sofa next to Junmyeon.
"For a new acquaintance!" Baek toasted and bumped his bottle of dark unfiltered with a bottle of the blond. "But I feel like I've met you somewhere."
Junmyeon frowned slightly, but said nothing, just shrugged briefly; as if to say that he had no idea what Baek was talking about. The latter did not react to this in any way and continued to stare down at Kim with concentration, after which he suddenly spoke, "Beautiful hair color. Do you prefer blond?"
The blond man, in turn, opened his mouth in surprise obviously not expecting this question from someone he didn't know very well. But Baekhyun still managed to get his attention, because Junmyeon looked up at Byun's contented face, blinking in surprise.
"I asked him to change his hair to blonde, it looks so good on him!" The Wushu student intervened in the staring contest between Junmyeon and Baek.
Baekhyun grinned suspiciously at the guy's words, after which Junmyeon finally spoke.
"I've recently dyed my hair." The blond man ran a hand through his hair, adjusting the long bang that framed his face. "There was a big row at home about it, but I don't regret it."
"Ha! The fuss about hair color? When Chanyeol shaved off his eyebrows on a bet, that's when the scandal was not only at home, but also at school." Baek snickered, and Chanyeol threw the biggest pillow from the couch at him. All the guys laughed together, vying with each other to ask questions and comment on a funny case from two years ago. Chanyeol's impulsive nature "helped" him to get rid of his eyebrows. While waiting for the start of one of the basketball games, Chan was very worried about the possible loss. The opposing team was more experienced and prepared. Baekhyun, noticing the suffering of his friend, advised not to tear the hair on his head if they lost, and to get off cheap by shaving his eyebrows. To that Chanyeol, hoping for victory till the end, made a bet with him. As a result, Captain Park's long-suffering eyebrows had been growing out for almost a month, while Baekhyun delicately offered his help in applying a tattoo, for which he received an equally caring kick on his irrepressible butt.
The chatter and laughter grew louder, and communication became easier and more confidential. Luhan had put some music in the background that no one cared about, but it complemented this pleasant evening.
"That Tao is an okay guy, isn't he?" said Chanyeol, taking a drag on his cigarette.
He and Sehun went out on the balcony to clear their heads a little. The coolness of the late autumn evening was invigorating, and the noise of the city slowly falling asleep was relaxing.
"Yeah, he seems like a nice guy, funny." Sehun did not say that he somehow greatly hated that Junmyeon did not leave the above-mentioned guy's side, and the latter kept putting his arm around his shoulders. "And Minseok and Han are cool guys too, they have the vibes." Sehun puffed out a cloud of smoke as he looked at the shimmering lights of the night city.
"Why didn't you tell me right away that this is the guy you work for?" Chanyeol stared at his friend questioningly.
Sehun didn't answer, just shrugged, putting out his cigarette.
"Go, join the others, I'll go get us some beer." staggering a little, Oh headed for the kitchen.
In the living room, Baek and Minseok were playing racing games on the console. Han watched the game, drinking a cold beer while cheering loudly for one or the other.
Sehun, walking to the kitchen and seeing that the light was off, reached for the light switch, but froze without pressing it. Soft whispers, and then the sounds of kissing, which Se could not mistake for anything else, even in his slightly drunken brain, came from the quiet gloom of the kitchen.
"I have to go now, I told you." It was definitely Junmyeon whispering, trying to prove something to Tao.
"Stay." The Chinese's accent was stronger as he was tipsy, "Let's go to my place, please, Junmyeon."
It all happened in one second. Sehun, who was still standing at the entrance to the kitchen, did not hear Park come up behind him. He shouted loudly "Sehun, what the f*, where's the beer", flipped the switch on and froze next to Se, looking at the view that opened up.
Junmyeon cried out in surprise and pushed away Tao who was pinning him against the wall between the dish cabinet and the refrigerator. The Chinese, clearly displeased, slowly removed his hands from under the blond's T-shirt and looked defiantly at the guys standing at the entrance. The blond boy, straightening his clothes and hair, lowered his head to hide his reddened face, and tried to become either invisible, or merge with the wall, into which he had recently been pressed by strong hands.
"I think we're out of beer." Chanyeol came to his senses first and decided to defuse the awkward situation. He unceremoniously grabbed Sehun by the elbow and literally dragged him out of the kitchen.
Quickly reaching the living room where the other boys were, Sehun pulled his hand out of his friend's tight grip and snatched the bottle from the unaware Luhan, draining it to the bottom.
The front door slammed loudly.
