The Official EXO Ship Book

Chen x Lay

"Lay," My gentle gentle scolding sounded over Lay's coughing.  "Did you get sick again?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Lay managed through his rasping voice, clearing his throat painfully as I bent over, rubbed his chest soothingly.

"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault," I said, however Lay shook his head.

"I've got no time to be sick! I need to finish so many errands... I'm not even done filling out these papers..." Lay grumbled, weakly shuffling the small stack on his desk. I hugged him tightly, sharing his bad mood with a quick huff before standing back up and patting his shoulder.

"Everything will be okay. Don't over stress yourself, and take a break if you need to, you work hard enough already. Wait a second, I'll make you tea."

Lay coughed into a napkin as a reply, but managed to croak out a 'thank you'. I nodded and walked off. As soon as I closed the door, I hung my head to quietly let out a sad sigh. Of course he didn't remember... I booked the group seats at a restaurant, a nice one, but so far no one seemed to remember about it. I would have to remind all the members. Again.

I remembered the tea and scurried to the kitchen, turning a corner to reveal the packed living room. Everything seemed like normal; Kyungsoo and Kai bickering lightheartedly, with Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Suho cuddling on the couch nearby... Kris wincing as Tao put bows and ribbons in his hair, and Xiumin reading something on the internet with Luhan intently reading next to him. I made my way into the kitchen, calling out.

"Hey guys! Did you decide if your coming to the restaurant yet? You know, the one in two days?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Chen," Kyungsoo sighed as I walked to the counter, watching all of their faces contort. "I promised myself to finish all the errands that day."

"I'm helping him out," Kai said. "He can't build the new shelf on his own."

"Baek and I are going to be forced to help out too," Chanyeol said with a fake eyeroll. Baekhyun stirred and managed a nod before dropping his head back in the crook of Chanyeol's shoulder.

"Sehun and I are heading out to see Blackpink; the collab, remember?" Suho said. He was petting Sehun's head, and Sehun didn't answer, fast asleep.

"Tao wants to go see the new pandas at the zoo- ow !" Kris hissed, flinching. "Are you trying to rip my hair out?"

"Sorry!" Tao whined, kissing Kris's head and went back to making Kris's hair a mess. I bit the inside of my cheek, nodding.

"Yeah, I get it," I muttered, only to shake my head and hopefully glance up. "How about you, Xiumin? Luhan?"

The pair looked up with a smile, but their response completely pummeled me.

"Um... we're kind of going on a date..."

Luhan immediately blushed and kept on reading what was on the tablet, avoiding anyone's eye. Xiumin giggled and nudged him, looking back at me. I forced a bitter smile, fingers tapping the counter.

"So... I'm going alone." I licked my lips, scoffing. "Great."

"Oh don't be like that! We'll make it up to you Chen, we promise..." Xiumin jumped up, hurrying to my sided and trying to give me a hug. I didn't complain as his strong arms wrapped around one of mine and looked up at me with his maknae eyes but I refused to hide my disappointment.

"It's OK," I muttered as the kettle whistled. Gently wriggling out of Xiumin's grip, I made the tea without another word to him; I felt his gaze watch me, then his footsteps went back to Luhan. Sighing once more, I hurried to Lay's room and opened the door to find him rolling his neck, wincing as his hand flew over the page.