Baby Don't Stop

Chapter Twenty One

"Hey! Why isn't this table cleaned yet?! Come on guys! Taeyong will be home in 20 minutes and the dorm isn't clean yet!" Doyoung yelled into the apartment.
A chorus of grumbles and mumbles answered him. He knew that they would all get the apartment cleaned in time but they need a little bit of a push.
He watched as Jaemin ran past him with an arm full of clothes. Yuta was throwing shoes into the front hallway; and Winwin shuffled into the kitchen with a bunch of glasses and plastic cups stacked and held in the crook of his elbows and under his chin.
Usually Taeyong kept everyone on their toes and made sure the dorms were kept clean but in his absence the dorms had turned to utter chaos. There was clothes and food everywhere.
The moment the members had found out that Taeyong was coming home there was a long moment of silence as they stared around them. Then suddenly everyone was moving and scurrying about trying to clean as much as they could in the limited time.
"Uh, Doyoung? Where do you want these?" Jungwoo appeared around the corner pinching his nose and holding up an old pair of Doyoung's smelly socks.
"Give me those!" he whispered.
"Then I'm sure you wouldn't want me to wave these around either?" Jungwoo pulled from behind his back some of Doyoung's underwear.
Faster than lightning Doyoung had snatched his underwear from Jungwoo and shoved it in his pocket. "Please stop."
He watched Jungwoo laugh as he walked away. Doyoung shook his head at him and went to shove his underwear and socks into his room.
Mark was sitting on his bed in their room, folding clothes. He looked up at the sound of the door opening.
"You cleaning?" Doyoung asked.
"Yeah listen I was thinking, maybe I should make something for Ten and Taeyong when they get home. I'm sure they'll be hungry."
"Oh please, for the love of god, please don't try to cook. We don't need Taeyong worried about the house burning down on his first day back in the dorm." He paused. "Tell you what, I'll order food for everyone on me."
Mark nodded. "Maybe some fries? I know Ten has always loved fries."
Doyoung returned Mark's nod; he had just dodged a bullet there. Mark was the worst cook in NCT and almost burnt down the house on no less than 3 occasions per month. The thought of the absolute insanity that would ensue if Mark had been allowed to cook made Doyoung shutter as he closed the door.
He turned around to see Renjun come out of his room holding what looked like 4 dirty bowls and a cup of spoiled milk. "Hey! Where should I hide all the dirty dishes?"
"Oh, jeez. Go give them to Kun, I think he's doing dishes with Winwin." Doyoung covered his nose with the back of his hand as Renjun walked by but the smell still permeated his nose. He had to swallow back a gag.
How they had managed to survive without Taeyong for so long was beyond Doyoung. If someone had asked him before he would have predicted the death of at least two of the members due to food poisoning or stupidity. He knew that everyone else felt the same and couldn't wait for their leader to finally return.
Doyoung and the rest of the members spent of the time before Taeyong's arrival cleaning the apartment as best they could.
All too soon Chenle, who they had put at the window to watch for Taeyong, was running through the dorms shouting. "Guys! Guys! Guys! The car is here! The car is here!"
The rest of the members scrambled quickly to put the finishing touches on the apartment before they all heard the familiar jingle of keys in the lock. They quickly all gathered into the living room and waited for Taeyong and Ten to enter.
Taeyong was surprised as he entered the dorm how much of the smells there he had missed and associated with 'home' smells. The crisp smell of old leather from their couches. The smell of drying clothing. It wasn't really a smell he could ever describe but was one that was always in the NCT dorms. With so many members, someone was always doing laundry. And finally the last smell of stinky shoes; which wasn't a smell he would have normally enjoyed because he was always reminding the members to spray their shoes, but for the same reasons the smell comforted him.
Taeyong took a deep breath in before he started to take off his shoes. It had been three days since the surgery. Four days since he had woken up. Sixteen days since he had been reunited with Ten. Twenty days since Ten had been taken. Nineteen days since Taeyong had been in these dorms.
It felt like so much longer.
The scratches on his arms had healed enough that they weren't worried about infection anymore so Taeyong's arm was in a solid cast now. He had them put a neon green cast on so that he could rep NCT colors. The bruises around his ribs and head were also healing nicely. They no longer made Ten cringe every time he looked at them. Ten had tried to hide his reaction but there wasn't much he could keep from Taeyong these days.
Taeyong hadn't told anyone, but shortly after he had the surgery he had started to get splitting headaches. Some were mild but some felt like they were literally going to rip his scull apart. Luckily as Taeyong entered the apartment he only had a mild headache, which was a minor inconvenience and he wouldn't let it spoil his evening.
Ten tapped Taeyong's hand and Taeyong looked up at Ten.
'You good?' Ten signed in very basic sign language.
'Yes.' Taeyong signed back. He was glad that Ten had pushed him to learn sign language because it did make things easier, they were learning more and more each day.
As Taeyong continued to take in all the sights and smells of the dorms, the stark, unusual silence disturbed him. It was unfamiliar in this place of perpetual activity and noise.
Ten took his hand as they stepped out of the entry way. Taeyong still hadn't told Ten of his feelings. He didn't know whether he should. It wasn't that he didn't trust Taehee, he just didn't know what he would do if she was wrong. He didn't know if he couldn't take the heartbreak. He had never been in love, what if he couldn't deal with it? So he told himself what was a couple more days in ignorance. He would tell Ten eventually.
As they turned the corner into the living room they were met with a chorus of Welcome back's and screams. Some of the memebers were even doing the sign for clapping.
Immediately a grin stretched across Taeyong's face. It was good to be back home.
It didn't take long for everyone to get out of hand and start to crowd around Taeyong, lavishing him with hugs and soft pats on the back. The whole time Taeyong kept himself tethered to Ten via their intertwined hands.
There was a knock on the door and the room dived into silence.
Slowly Jisung crept to the door. "Guys! THEres a woman at the door!"
"It's my sister, open the door!" Taeyong shouted once Ten told him what was going on.
There was a scuffle and some curse words as Taehee entered the apartment.
"Damn, your apartment was hard to find." Taehee passed the flowers she was holding into the startled Jisung's arms.
Ten couldn't help roll his eyes. "Taehee there are several minors here so if you could keep your words PG, that would be great."
"Oh shit- oh I mean- uh, oh shoot, sorry kids I didn't mean to say shit. Whoops! There I go again." Taehee flashed a smile at the members and Ten swore he saw some of them visibly melt.
Resisting the urge to slap his forehead, Ten guided Taehee over to the couch. She smelled of alcohol.
"Taehee have you been drinking?" He whispered quietly to her.
She nodded and her face turned grim. "Never thought my parents would drive me to drink but here I am." Ten started to pull away but stopped when he felt her grasp at his sleeve. "Please don't tell Taeyong that's why I drank."
Ten nodded in acknowledgment and went over to where Taeyong was sitting when she let go of his arm.
Taeyong looked around him as members took seats all around. Jaehyun sat next to Taehee. He would have to keep an eye on that, Jaehyun could be quite the flirt and that coupled with his less than sober sister, who was a big flirt without alcohol, would cause problems. Already he could see them eying each other.
Taeyong's new phone buzzed as he got a message from Ten. The company had made sure to get them both new phones to replace the ones that were lost in the accident.
Ten
Doyoung ordered food. Also
your sister is really drunk.