{exo} Step-by-Step Tekken Tutorials
title: Step-by-Step Tekken Tutorials
pairing: Xiumin/Luhan, ninja Kai/D.O.
word count: 4,162 words
rating: PG-13
summary: “Game console. Slightly used. Undamaged. 1000 won for the whole bundle, 300 won for the spare parts. Cannot be returned once bought.” The description says. Kyungsoo clicks the “buy” button anyway.
a/n: Fill for this prompt
Start
“What the fuck?!”Kyungsoo yells at the top of his lungs as Jongin’s character beats his to a pulp. “That’s unfair! My controller’s broken!”
Jongin whistles at yet another victory. A number flashes at the bottom left corner of the screen: sixteen wins in a row. “C’mon hyung, face it: even if you had the best controller in the world, you’d never beat me.”
“NO THAT’S NOT IT I CANNOT ACCEPT THIS I DO NOT ACCEPT DEFEAT,” Kyungsoo gnashes his teeth his tone spiking a few pitches high, and he slams the broken controller on the floor, fighting the urge to bite out the wire connecting it to the game console’s main controller.
Sehun looks down upon them from where he was perched on top of the couch, reading the latest volume of Naruto. “Then just quit clamoring about it and go buy a new game controller,” he says, straight-faced as always.
“How about you shut up, Oh Sehun.”Kyungsoo retaliates.
Sehun snorts and grabs a few pieces from the bag of chips lying on his lap. “You’re not one to order me around, you’re not my mom.”
“Plot twist: not yet.”Kyungsoo basks in his moment of victory, having won once more in a battle of sharp tongues with the ever sarcastic kid. He is delighted upon seeing Sehun’s horrified facial expression, the younger one choking from the shock of the unexpected answer, and he revels in the moment.
Character Select
Junmyeon walks in on Kyungsoo and Sehun literally at each other’s necks, and he heaves a sigh as he sets down box wrapped in white plastic and several layers of tape on top of the table near the two. Jongin is sitting cross-legged in front of the television; too busy fiddling with the controls of the game console to even spare his friends a glance. “What are you two doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious, hyung? They’re trying to kill each other,” Jongin answers for the two, eyes never leaving the screen as he is still absorbed in the game.
Junmyeon rolls his eyes at how helpful of a kid Jongin is for pointing out the obvious. But then again, obvious questions usually get sarcastic answers. “Kyungsoo, Sehun, stop acting like kids. You guys are in college already, for Pete’s sake.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t budge, and neither does Sehun. Neither of them are willing to give up on their quest of having the other come out of the match alive. “I’ll only stop once he’s dead.” Cue in Super Mario’s background music playing in the background as they roll over and continue to strangle each other, only to end up looking like hungry baby pandas.
Junmyeon rubs at his temples, muttering something along the lines of “The things I have to deal with when I’m supposed to be having a life.” He taps the top of the box. “There’s a package for you.” All three stops as if time freezes their limbs, all eyes trained on the previously-unnoticed box.
Kyungsoo leaps up on nimble feet and dashes for the package, having forgotten all thoughts of murdering Sehun in the process. “It arrived already? But it’s only been two hours!” he stares at the package in his hands incredulously. “I’m sensing another plot twist.”
Sehun stands up and dusts off the dirt on his clothes just as Jongin totters over to Kyungsoo, eyes gleaming with curiosity. Kyungsoo rips the package open with “Here’s a plot twist: that controller is able to control one of the idols in that favorite boy band of yours.” Sehun means it as a joke, but Kyungsoo might have thought otherwise.
Kyungsoo squints at him, but this time, it isn’t because of annoyance, but because Sehun might have a brain, too.
Arena Select
“It isn’t working!” Kyungsoo huffs indignantly. He mashes the controller’s keys and gives up when his in-game character, Alisa doesn’t move an inch toward the computer-controlled opponent, Lili, slamming the said controller on the floor. “Man, it’s gonna take years for me to defeat Azazel this time around.” He mutters, clearly disheartened by the fact that he’s been playing the game for more than three months already, but he can never get past Jin to get to the boss stage.
“Hey, hyung! Luhan’s acting weird.”Jongin calls from his room. Kyungsoo’s large, round eyes widen to the size of golf balls, remembering that Synthesix has a live performance tonight, and some fan site noonas promised high definition videos of the members when they arrive at the venue.
He rushes into Jongin’s room, not bothering to knock, game controller still in hand, its wire dangling over and is greeted by a half-naked body sprawled on an unmade bed, clad only in blue boxers. He looks down to find a dozen or so Squidwards printed on Jongin’s boxers, just about where his ass is located, giving him a bored look. Kyungsoo has a gut feeling that they were mocking him.
The light emitted by the laptop in front of Jongin illuminates his face, highlighting the features of a teenager a year younger than Kyungsoo yet looks older. His head snaps up as he notices the older guy’s entrance, his lips breaking into a wide grin.“Finally, hyung! I thought you weren’t gonna come,” he sits upright and scoots over, motioning with his head for Kyungsoo to sit beside him. Kyungsoo snaps out of his trance, looking at Jongin guiltily.However, Jongin doesn’t notice the emotion flitting across his hyung’s features and raises an eyebrow as if asking, “Are you going to watch or not?”Kyungsoo obliges, and they sit side-by-side, both looking at the computer screen with great interest.
Six people simultaneously smile and wave at them from the computer screen, and Kyungsoo turns to give Jongin a confused look. “What do you mean Luhan’s acting weird? As far as I can see, he’s acting fine.”
Jongin rubs his chin, contemplating. “Yeah, I can see that too. But the thing is, earlier, he was walking around aimlessly even though his band mates are calling him and telling him to stop. And he was only responding to Xiumin?”
“But he almost always talks with Xiumin. That’s why the XiuHan fan club exists.” Kyungsoo represses the urge to roll his eyes at the younger lad. Jongin just shrugs. “I don’t know, it just seemed weird that Luhan hugged him and then kept patting his head like he was… petting him? It just felt odd.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widens even further at Jongin’s revelation. “Oh. My. God. Oh my GOD! OH MY GOD!” he squeals. “Jongin, this is it! This is what we’ve always been waiting for! Our ship is sailing!” Kyungsoo flails like the ultimate Xiuhan shipper that he is and jumps up and down of the bed. Jongin smiles in amusement as he observes the older one’s antics, not bothering to correct Kyungsoo’s statement even though it was only Kyungsoo that was the hell-bent on shipping Xiuhan. Jongin was on neutral grounds in that regard, but seeing Kyungsoo happy with the progress of his ship (that he always reiterates as a canon one) delights him.
They watch as the live stream continues, but nothing out of the norm happens. Kyungsoo is bothered of the fact that he hasn’t witnessed the clear telltale signs of Luhan flirting with Xiumin, yet Jongin reassures him that he will be able to see more of that sometime later during the live streaming of the actual event. Kyungsoo nods, feeling his heart sink, yet he’s still hopeful that Jongin’s words would become true.
Game Start
The general of hell, Azazel, is personified in the form of cat-like eyes belonging to a tall, lanky maknae that acts like a baby but is fully-equipped with the knowledge about the art of wushu, and goes by the name of Huang Zitao.“Gege, we all saw what you did earlier. Don’t deny it.” His eyes shine with a manic gleam, and Luhan realizes that this is the look murderers in horror movies have just as they have their victims backed up to a corner.
Luhan groans, fully aware of what Zitao is talking about. “I’m not sure why that happened, okay.”
Zitao eyes him dubiously. “Sure…” he pauses, and his eyes brighten up when he thinks of a comeback. “Ah, I know why that happened. It’s fate talking. And your hormones. They’re all urging you to confess.”
“Zitao what the fuck.” Luhan gives him an admonishing look, telling Zitao to shut up or else he’ll take away everything that Zitao loves, pile them up in a corner, and piss on it.
“Sparks?” Zitao waggles his eyebrows suggestively. Luhan feels the urge to add gasoline to the pile and light it up with a torch.
Luhan closes his eyes and takes deep breathes as he counts to ten to stop himself from strangling the maknae. “Stop reading too much fan fiction, Zitao; it’s bad for your health."
“No it’s not,” Zitao crosses his arms over his chest.
“Yes, it is, and it’s frying your brain.” Before Zitao could retort, their manager, Hyunkyun, is there in the dressing room, announcing that their performance will start in ten and could they please hurry the fuck up because the other members are already done prepping up and are waiting at the backstage, and they’re the only ones left. They mutter apologies as they rush to the backstage, with Zitao giving Luhan a sideways glance piqued with interest as Luhan takes his position beside Xiumin. He squints his eyes at the lights flashing before the curtain that is covering them and quickly adjusts his vision.
Luhan doesn’t know why, but he feels the sudden urge to move closer to Xiumin, and when he does, he finds himself kissing his band mate full in the mouth. Nobody notices except the members, at least, since the staff are all running around and shouting at each other over their earpieces. He hears the sharp intake of breath of four people from both Xiumin’s and his side, and he pulls away to see Xiumin looking back at him, lips read and swollen and eyes wide with shock.
He winces, fumbling with his own earpiece. “I’ll explain about that later,” he says, even though he himself doesn’t have an explanation for what happened. Had Zitao been right? Had it all been because of his raging hormones? But he’s already twenty-four, for fucks sake! He’s already past that stage! He shouldn’t be experiencing weird things like this anymore.
Xiumin nods, still looking dazed. “You really should.”
Kyungsoo screams. Not because he’s scared or anything, but because he just saw the silhouette of his OTP and is his mind playing tricks on him, or did he just saw them kiss? Because he sure as hell definitely saw them kiss! He saves a video file of the memory in a folder entitled “XiuHan moments: never delete” into the hard drive of his memory, hoping that it was saved on his long-term memory access and not the short term.
He grabs a fistful of Jongin’s clothes as he squeals in delight, game controller discarded in a corner. “Did you see that? Did you see? My OTP just kissed!” another set of screams ensue. The t.v. blares at them, its harsh lights the only source of luminescence in the room.
Jongin pats his fisted hands, trying not to look worried about his friend’s sanity as he really is. “Yes, I did. Now can you please calm down?”
During an interview right after their performance, Luhan just can’t keep his hands off of Xiumin. Literally. His band mates are already giving him warning looks for the over-the-top skin ship and “fan service” (or so, that’s what the others are led to believe), and Luhan doesn’t blame them because even he doesn’t know the reason why he’s fucking doing this. Xiumin stays quiet, but he doesn’t flinch when Luhan holds his arm, nor move an arm’s length away from Luhan when the younger one caresses his back. He even squeezes back when Luhan hold his hand.
Kyungsoo’s mouth drops open as a sudden realization hits him. Sehun’s words from earlier echoes in his brain. “Fuck, I think I just got a controller that can have the ability to control THE Luhan!” Jongin scrunches his eyebrows and takes the controller from Kyungsoo’s hands despite the elder one’s protests as he tries it for himself. His body stiffens as Luhan flips his hair, to the right, again and again, along with every press of the button. He tries another one, and Luhan suddenly talks to Xiumin.
Kyungsoo isn’t sure whether he’ll cry in happiness or whether he’ll freak out because HOLY SHIT HE CAN CONTROL THE MOVEMENTS OF ONE OF THE PEOPLE IN HIS OTP JUST LIKE A GAME ON STORY MODE.
They don’t notice a shadow lurking behind the door, taking a peek in the crevice and listening in to their conversation, ready to pry that controller away from their hands.
Round 1
The way of the ninja is to walk into rooms discreetly, without anyone noticing your presence: as if you were one with the shadows, molded to be invisible to the naked eye and-
“Sehun, why do you have a pink handkerchief over your head?” Junmyeon asks as he enters Kyungsoo’s room without warning, eyes barely darting over Sehun as the younger male flinches at getting caught red-handed. “And why is it tied around the bottom of your nose?” He takes a battered-looking box that has been gathering dust by the foot of Kyungsoo’s bed, and Sehun tries hard to look as deadpanned as he usually does, swallowing his nervousness and racking his brains for any possible excuse.
“Uhm… I’m trying to clean up his room for him?” Sehun answers dumbly, and he feels his tongue go thick and numb in his mouth as his mind processes what he just said. Junmyeon seems to consider his response for a moment. “So you’re trying to go with the maid outfit too?”
Sehun slowly nods in response, tongue-tied and sweaty from being tense. He has never considered of this ever happening, knowing perfectly well that no one is supposed to be home around this time. He mentally curses Kyungsoo for having to live with a lot of people in an apartment. But then again, if it weren’t for Kyungsoo having a rich and kind-hearted cousin, wouldn’t he have not had a place to stay in?
“Why?” Junmyeon asks, but not suspiciously as Sehun would have imagined. Sehun isn’t sure if Kim Junmyeon is a gift from the heavens for not judging people too easily, or he’s just really plain dumb.
“Uhm… Because I wanted to make it up to him about the war we had the other day?” Sehun sounds unsure of himself, yet the lie easily rolls off his tongue. He clears his throat. “Yeah, right. I want to make it up to him, and this is one of the ways I’ve thought of.”
Junmyeon simply shrugs, lifting the box higher so he could grasp it better. “Huh, guess you should try working that out though; Kyungsoo likes everything organized. He’ll probably chew your ear off with his rants if you just misplace a single sock and put it in a different drawer, even if you only wanted to help.”
Sehun shakes his head in enthusiastic agreement, clearly pleased that Junmyeon is falling right into his trap. “I will try to remember that,”
Junmyeon smiles at him and makes his way to the door, muttering off a list of places he’s supposed to go visit for a medical mission.
Sehun cackles in glee as soon as he closes the door, prancing around the room as if he was doing a routine that is a cross between an interpretative dance and a hip-hop dance when the door suddenly bursts open, revealing a half-dead looking Kyungsoo. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Don’t disturb him hyung, he’s probably practicing a dance number for when he joins a beauty pageant,” Jongin chortles from behind Kyungsoo, backpack slung over one shoulder and sweat clinging to his face, probably from the hours of practice he had in the dance club.Sehun had no idea that they were coming home earlier than expected; Kyungsoo usually waits around for Jongin to finish dance practice, yet why are they already here? They’re supposed to arrive around an hour later.
Sehun pulls the handkerchief further down to cover his reddening face, caught in the midst of embarrassment from being caught doing such an awkward dance, and being pissed off that he didn’t get the chance to grab the game controller and make a run for it while he still had the chance. He runs to the door, bumping with Kyungsoo and Jongin along the way. “I will cut your souls in half if anyone hears about this,” he warns.
Jongin chuckles once more, trying to stifle them by covering his mouth with both of his hands. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “What a travesty.”
“I think I’m being controlled by someone,” Luhan insists after their show. Kris gives him a worried glance, knowing full well that a cray cray band mate is a big no-no in the music industry. Zitao simply shrugs, not looking up from taking a selca on his phone. Yixing’s lips press together in a firm line, determined not to make any hasty comment. Jongdae looks at Luhan like he’s just revealed that he was an alien like Do Minjoon and that he came to Earth to abduct each and every citizen of the planet. Xiumin is sweating, like he’s done something grave, leading to the demise of a dog.
“You sure you’re not on drugs, hyung?” Jongdae asks. Luhan glares at the younger boy like he’s going to rip out his kidneys and sell his organs to the black market any minute now.
“Leave gege alone, it’s just his hormones acting,” Zitao speaks up, as he poses to take another picture with a different angle this time. Luhan isn’t sure if he should thank Zitao for trying to back him up or strangle the younger one for coming up to his defense with something that sounds so wrong.
“Fuck you all.” He mutters in digression. Yixing gasps. “Didn’t you know that your guardian angel cries himself to sleep every time you mention a bad word?”
Luhan almost fails at an attempt not to roll his eyes. “Just… where is manager hyung? I need to talk to him about this.”
Jongdae’s shoulders lift the slightest to form a shrug. “Last time I checked, he was trying to build fire with his chopsticks and ammo made out of pure rage, so I guess he won’t be back very soon.”
Xiumin pats Luhan’s back. “Don’t worry, everything will be okay,” he says, trying to reassure Luhan. Luhan groans inwardly, but give in to the touch. This is Xiumin, after all. He just hopes that their relationship will not be affected by what is happening.
Round 2
Sehun almost screams in joy when he finally, FINALLY gets his hands on the game controller. He fumbles with it from too much excitement and accidentally presses a few buttons. But never mind, that thing wasn’t plugged on anyway. He almost tiptoes his way to the door when he hears voices that he has learned to hate for the past few days and finds himself leaving the game controller back from where he got it once more.
Xiumin almost screams when Luhan picks him up bridal style and then drops him on the couch, kissing him fiercely and telling him something that sounded like a confession of love. And Xiumin finds himself kissing back, but then Luhan abruptly stops, giving Xiumin a look of pure horror, grabbing a fistful of his hair and screaming, “What have I done?”
Xiumin isn’t sure if he should feel hurt for himself or pity Luhan.
Round 3
The third time Sehun attempts to steal the game controller, he doesn’t even get the chance to open the door to Kyungsoo’s bedroom because his stomach suddenly start hurting, and a weird scent makes its way to his nose. He mutters curses as he goes to the bathroom, wishing that he wasn’t stupid enough to have agreed to eat Baekhyun’s homemade cake.
“You win this time, Do Kyungsoo,” he seethes as he pushes the cake out of his system.
Round 4
“Not you again,” Sehun doesn’t even try to hide the venom in his voice when Baekhyun greets him at his doorway, Chanyeol lugging behind, a sheepish grin on both of their faces.
“Come on, Sehun! It’s only sometimes that we get to hang out together! And it’s not always that I get a promotion!” Baekhyun pouts, trying his best to convince the younger one to go out with them.
“If that’s the case, then I should get extra pay and a week’s worth of vacation for being able to stop myself from stabbing someone in the eye for more than 24 hours.” Sehun deadpans.
“But you don’t even have a job,” Chanyeol observes. Baekhyun elbows him the ribs, as if saying, “Well no shit Sherlock, isn’t that what the sarcasm was for?”
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Baekhyun calls when Sehun decidedly walks past them. “I’m off to some place where your dead body parts will have to toil away with the microorganisms that will scavenge it to bits. Toodles.”
“Oh hell, no you don’t. Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screams and Sehun finds himself tackled to the ground with a giant pinning him to the floor. Baekhyun’s grinning face comes to his view. “You’re coming with us, whether you like it or you like it.” Sehun tries hard not to think that his life is a horror movie.
Round 5
Oh Sehun gives up because one does not simply sink Do Kyungsoo’s ultimate ship. He keeps that in mind and moves on to ruining Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s life instead.
Credits
“Xiumin! Luhan!” Kyungsoo screams at the top of his lungs during Synthesix’s fan meet in their town. People were trying to push past him, but he doesn’t care because his favorite band is right in front of him!
An idea comes to his mind, and he takes out the game controller, intent on making the two do some fan service. He gets shoved forward instead, and the controller flies out of his hands, disappearing into the crowd. He panics, not knowing what to do for the controller was a god-given gift that was supposed to satiate his thirst for some OTP love, but now he has lost it and what is he supposed to do?
“Let’s give up, okay,” Jongin tells him as he frantically continues searching for the controller after the meet-up has finished. He got the chance to meet his idols up close and personal, but the problem was, his mind was elsewhere that he couldn’t concentrate on Xiumin’s gummy smile and Luhan’s sparkling eyes. “Someone else has probably taken that already. Let’s just hope that they have no idea what it’s for.”
“B-but,” Kyungsoo starts to tear up, and Jongin hastily runs to his side to hug him because he definitely doesn’t want to see Kyungsoo crying.
“Ssh, hyung. It’s okay. At least you had fun, right? And you had your chance. Your otp should already be happy with that.” Or not really, Jongin almost added. Kyungsoo sniffles and wipes his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. “Let’s go home, okay?” Kyungsoo nods and Jongin couldn’t help but feel protective over his hyung, despite the fact that he was the younger one.
Extras
“Xiumin!” Luhan calls, and Xiumin hastily shoves the game controller in his man purse. Shit, it was true. “Ah, yes?”
“Uhm, wait. What am I doing here?” Luhan scratches the back of his neck. They both hear someone shout out, saying “You’re going to profess your love for Xiumin-hyung!” Xiumin was sure that definitely sounded like Zitao.
Luhan turned to face the general direction of the voice and shouted back. “Shut up moron!”
“Well let me reflect on that action… woops, sorry! 404 error page not found. Better luck next time.” The person answered, and they could hear gleeful cackles from where they were standing.
Luhan rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I… want to apologize for how I’ve been acting the past few days. I’m not sure what really happened, but I didn’t mean to harass you or anything.” Luhan confessed. “So I’m… really, really, REALLY sorry for causing you too much trouble.”
Xiumin waves his hand in a dismissive gesture as if to say that it was nothing, but then Luhan’s hands were cupping his face, and he thought Luhan was going to kiss him or something and his mind was going in complete chaos and then…
He feels it, a gentle brush of soft lips against his, as if they were barely there. Yet it left a tingling feeling on his own lips, a strange surge of heat settling in his stomach. “But I’ll never regret this.” Luhan murmurs.
Xiumin forgets about the controller that he kept in his bag for “safekeeping purposes”.
pairing: Xiumin/Luhan, ninja Kai/D.O.
word count: 4,162 words
rating: PG-13
summary: “Game console. Slightly used. Undamaged. 1000 won for the whole bundle, 300 won for the spare parts. Cannot be returned once bought.” The description says. Kyungsoo clicks the “buy” button anyway.
a/n: Fill for this prompt
Start
“What the fuck?!”Kyungsoo yells at the top of his lungs as Jongin’s character beats his to a pulp. “That’s unfair! My controller’s broken!”
Jongin whistles at yet another victory. A number flashes at the bottom left corner of the screen: sixteen wins in a row. “C’mon hyung, face it: even if you had the best controller in the world, you’d never beat me.”
“NO THAT’S NOT IT I CANNOT ACCEPT THIS I DO NOT ACCEPT DEFEAT,” Kyungsoo gnashes his teeth his tone spiking a few pitches high, and he slams the broken controller on the floor, fighting the urge to bite out the wire connecting it to the game console’s main controller.
Sehun looks down upon them from where he was perched on top of the couch, reading the latest volume of Naruto. “Then just quit clamoring about it and go buy a new game controller,” he says, straight-faced as always.
“How about you shut up, Oh Sehun.”Kyungsoo retaliates.
Sehun snorts and grabs a few pieces from the bag of chips lying on his lap. “You’re not one to order me around, you’re not my mom.”
“Plot twist: not yet.”Kyungsoo basks in his moment of victory, having won once more in a battle of sharp tongues with the ever sarcastic kid. He is delighted upon seeing Sehun’s horrified facial expression, the younger one choking from the shock of the unexpected answer, and he revels in the moment.
Character Select
Junmyeon walks in on Kyungsoo and Sehun literally at each other’s necks, and he heaves a sigh as he sets down box wrapped in white plastic and several layers of tape on top of the table near the two. Jongin is sitting cross-legged in front of the television; too busy fiddling with the controls of the game console to even spare his friends a glance. “What are you two doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious, hyung? They’re trying to kill each other,” Jongin answers for the two, eyes never leaving the screen as he is still absorbed in the game.
Junmyeon rolls his eyes at how helpful of a kid Jongin is for pointing out the obvious. But then again, obvious questions usually get sarcastic answers. “Kyungsoo, Sehun, stop acting like kids. You guys are in college already, for Pete’s sake.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t budge, and neither does Sehun. Neither of them are willing to give up on their quest of having the other come out of the match alive. “I’ll only stop once he’s dead.” Cue in Super Mario’s background music playing in the background as they roll over and continue to strangle each other, only to end up looking like hungry baby pandas.
Junmyeon rubs at his temples, muttering something along the lines of “The things I have to deal with when I’m supposed to be having a life.” He taps the top of the box. “There’s a package for you.” All three stops as if time freezes their limbs, all eyes trained on the previously-unnoticed box.
Kyungsoo leaps up on nimble feet and dashes for the package, having forgotten all thoughts of murdering Sehun in the process. “It arrived already? But it’s only been two hours!” he stares at the package in his hands incredulously. “I’m sensing another plot twist.”
Sehun stands up and dusts off the dirt on his clothes just as Jongin totters over to Kyungsoo, eyes gleaming with curiosity. Kyungsoo rips the package open with “Here’s a plot twist: that controller is able to control one of the idols in that favorite boy band of yours.” Sehun means it as a joke, but Kyungsoo might have thought otherwise.
Kyungsoo squints at him, but this time, it isn’t because of annoyance, but because Sehun might have a brain, too.
Arena Select
“It isn’t working!” Kyungsoo huffs indignantly. He mashes the controller’s keys and gives up when his in-game character, Alisa doesn’t move an inch toward the computer-controlled opponent, Lili, slamming the said controller on the floor. “Man, it’s gonna take years for me to defeat Azazel this time around.” He mutters, clearly disheartened by the fact that he’s been playing the game for more than three months already, but he can never get past Jin to get to the boss stage.
“Hey, hyung! Luhan’s acting weird.”Jongin calls from his room. Kyungsoo’s large, round eyes widen to the size of golf balls, remembering that Synthesix has a live performance tonight, and some fan site noonas promised high definition videos of the members when they arrive at the venue.
He rushes into Jongin’s room, not bothering to knock, game controller still in hand, its wire dangling over and is greeted by a half-naked body sprawled on an unmade bed, clad only in blue boxers. He looks down to find a dozen or so Squidwards printed on Jongin’s boxers, just about where his ass is located, giving him a bored look. Kyungsoo has a gut feeling that they were mocking him.
The light emitted by the laptop in front of Jongin illuminates his face, highlighting the features of a teenager a year younger than Kyungsoo yet looks older. His head snaps up as he notices the older guy’s entrance, his lips breaking into a wide grin.“Finally, hyung! I thought you weren’t gonna come,” he sits upright and scoots over, motioning with his head for Kyungsoo to sit beside him. Kyungsoo snaps out of his trance, looking at Jongin guiltily.However, Jongin doesn’t notice the emotion flitting across his hyung’s features and raises an eyebrow as if asking, “Are you going to watch or not?”Kyungsoo obliges, and they sit side-by-side, both looking at the computer screen with great interest.
Six people simultaneously smile and wave at them from the computer screen, and Kyungsoo turns to give Jongin a confused look. “What do you mean Luhan’s acting weird? As far as I can see, he’s acting fine.”
Jongin rubs his chin, contemplating. “Yeah, I can see that too. But the thing is, earlier, he was walking around aimlessly even though his band mates are calling him and telling him to stop. And he was only responding to Xiumin?”
“But he almost always talks with Xiumin. That’s why the XiuHan fan club exists.” Kyungsoo represses the urge to roll his eyes at the younger lad. Jongin just shrugs. “I don’t know, it just seemed weird that Luhan hugged him and then kept patting his head like he was… petting him? It just felt odd.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widens even further at Jongin’s revelation. “Oh. My. God. Oh my GOD! OH MY GOD!” he squeals. “Jongin, this is it! This is what we’ve always been waiting for! Our ship is sailing!” Kyungsoo flails like the ultimate Xiuhan shipper that he is and jumps up and down of the bed. Jongin smiles in amusement as he observes the older one’s antics, not bothering to correct Kyungsoo’s statement even though it was only Kyungsoo that was the hell-bent on shipping Xiuhan. Jongin was on neutral grounds in that regard, but seeing Kyungsoo happy with the progress of his ship (that he always reiterates as a canon one) delights him.
They watch as the live stream continues, but nothing out of the norm happens. Kyungsoo is bothered of the fact that he hasn’t witnessed the clear telltale signs of Luhan flirting with Xiumin, yet Jongin reassures him that he will be able to see more of that sometime later during the live streaming of the actual event. Kyungsoo nods, feeling his heart sink, yet he’s still hopeful that Jongin’s words would become true.
Game Start
The general of hell, Azazel, is personified in the form of cat-like eyes belonging to a tall, lanky maknae that acts like a baby but is fully-equipped with the knowledge about the art of wushu, and goes by the name of Huang Zitao.“Gege, we all saw what you did earlier. Don’t deny it.” His eyes shine with a manic gleam, and Luhan realizes that this is the look murderers in horror movies have just as they have their victims backed up to a corner.
Luhan groans, fully aware of what Zitao is talking about. “I’m not sure why that happened, okay.”
Zitao eyes him dubiously. “Sure…” he pauses, and his eyes brighten up when he thinks of a comeback. “Ah, I know why that happened. It’s fate talking. And your hormones. They’re all urging you to confess.”
“Zitao what the fuck.” Luhan gives him an admonishing look, telling Zitao to shut up or else he’ll take away everything that Zitao loves, pile them up in a corner, and piss on it.
“Sparks?” Zitao waggles his eyebrows suggestively. Luhan feels the urge to add gasoline to the pile and light it up with a torch.
Luhan closes his eyes and takes deep breathes as he counts to ten to stop himself from strangling the maknae. “Stop reading too much fan fiction, Zitao; it’s bad for your health."
“No it’s not,” Zitao crosses his arms over his chest.
“Yes, it is, and it’s frying your brain.” Before Zitao could retort, their manager, Hyunkyun, is there in the dressing room, announcing that their performance will start in ten and could they please hurry the fuck up because the other members are already done prepping up and are waiting at the backstage, and they’re the only ones left. They mutter apologies as they rush to the backstage, with Zitao giving Luhan a sideways glance piqued with interest as Luhan takes his position beside Xiumin. He squints his eyes at the lights flashing before the curtain that is covering them and quickly adjusts his vision.
Luhan doesn’t know why, but he feels the sudden urge to move closer to Xiumin, and when he does, he finds himself kissing his band mate full in the mouth. Nobody notices except the members, at least, since the staff are all running around and shouting at each other over their earpieces. He hears the sharp intake of breath of four people from both Xiumin’s and his side, and he pulls away to see Xiumin looking back at him, lips read and swollen and eyes wide with shock.
He winces, fumbling with his own earpiece. “I’ll explain about that later,” he says, even though he himself doesn’t have an explanation for what happened. Had Zitao been right? Had it all been because of his raging hormones? But he’s already twenty-four, for fucks sake! He’s already past that stage! He shouldn’t be experiencing weird things like this anymore.
Xiumin nods, still looking dazed. “You really should.”
Kyungsoo screams. Not because he’s scared or anything, but because he just saw the silhouette of his OTP and is his mind playing tricks on him, or did he just saw them kiss? Because he sure as hell definitely saw them kiss! He saves a video file of the memory in a folder entitled “XiuHan moments: never delete” into the hard drive of his memory, hoping that it was saved on his long-term memory access and not the short term.
He grabs a fistful of Jongin’s clothes as he squeals in delight, game controller discarded in a corner. “Did you see that? Did you see? My OTP just kissed!” another set of screams ensue. The t.v. blares at them, its harsh lights the only source of luminescence in the room.
Jongin pats his fisted hands, trying not to look worried about his friend’s sanity as he really is. “Yes, I did. Now can you please calm down?”
During an interview right after their performance, Luhan just can’t keep his hands off of Xiumin. Literally. His band mates are already giving him warning looks for the over-the-top skin ship and “fan service” (or so, that’s what the others are led to believe), and Luhan doesn’t blame them because even he doesn’t know the reason why he’s fucking doing this. Xiumin stays quiet, but he doesn’t flinch when Luhan holds his arm, nor move an arm’s length away from Luhan when the younger one caresses his back. He even squeezes back when Luhan hold his hand.
Kyungsoo’s mouth drops open as a sudden realization hits him. Sehun’s words from earlier echoes in his brain. “Fuck, I think I just got a controller that can have the ability to control THE Luhan!” Jongin scrunches his eyebrows and takes the controller from Kyungsoo’s hands despite the elder one’s protests as he tries it for himself. His body stiffens as Luhan flips his hair, to the right, again and again, along with every press of the button. He tries another one, and Luhan suddenly talks to Xiumin.
Kyungsoo isn’t sure whether he’ll cry in happiness or whether he’ll freak out because HOLY SHIT HE CAN CONTROL THE MOVEMENTS OF ONE OF THE PEOPLE IN HIS OTP JUST LIKE A GAME ON STORY MODE.
They don’t notice a shadow lurking behind the door, taking a peek in the crevice and listening in to their conversation, ready to pry that controller away from their hands.
Round 1
The way of the ninja is to walk into rooms discreetly, without anyone noticing your presence: as if you were one with the shadows, molded to be invisible to the naked eye and-
“Sehun, why do you have a pink handkerchief over your head?” Junmyeon asks as he enters Kyungsoo’s room without warning, eyes barely darting over Sehun as the younger male flinches at getting caught red-handed. “And why is it tied around the bottom of your nose?” He takes a battered-looking box that has been gathering dust by the foot of Kyungsoo’s bed, and Sehun tries hard to look as deadpanned as he usually does, swallowing his nervousness and racking his brains for any possible excuse.
“Uhm… I’m trying to clean up his room for him?” Sehun answers dumbly, and he feels his tongue go thick and numb in his mouth as his mind processes what he just said. Junmyeon seems to consider his response for a moment. “So you’re trying to go with the maid outfit too?”
Sehun slowly nods in response, tongue-tied and sweaty from being tense. He has never considered of this ever happening, knowing perfectly well that no one is supposed to be home around this time. He mentally curses Kyungsoo for having to live with a lot of people in an apartment. But then again, if it weren’t for Kyungsoo having a rich and kind-hearted cousin, wouldn’t he have not had a place to stay in?
“Why?” Junmyeon asks, but not suspiciously as Sehun would have imagined. Sehun isn’t sure if Kim Junmyeon is a gift from the heavens for not judging people too easily, or he’s just really plain dumb.
“Uhm… Because I wanted to make it up to him about the war we had the other day?” Sehun sounds unsure of himself, yet the lie easily rolls off his tongue. He clears his throat. “Yeah, right. I want to make it up to him, and this is one of the ways I’ve thought of.”
Junmyeon simply shrugs, lifting the box higher so he could grasp it better. “Huh, guess you should try working that out though; Kyungsoo likes everything organized. He’ll probably chew your ear off with his rants if you just misplace a single sock and put it in a different drawer, even if you only wanted to help.”
Sehun shakes his head in enthusiastic agreement, clearly pleased that Junmyeon is falling right into his trap. “I will try to remember that,”
Junmyeon smiles at him and makes his way to the door, muttering off a list of places he’s supposed to go visit for a medical mission.
Sehun cackles in glee as soon as he closes the door, prancing around the room as if he was doing a routine that is a cross between an interpretative dance and a hip-hop dance when the door suddenly bursts open, revealing a half-dead looking Kyungsoo. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Don’t disturb him hyung, he’s probably practicing a dance number for when he joins a beauty pageant,” Jongin chortles from behind Kyungsoo, backpack slung over one shoulder and sweat clinging to his face, probably from the hours of practice he had in the dance club.Sehun had no idea that they were coming home earlier than expected; Kyungsoo usually waits around for Jongin to finish dance practice, yet why are they already here? They’re supposed to arrive around an hour later.
Sehun pulls the handkerchief further down to cover his reddening face, caught in the midst of embarrassment from being caught doing such an awkward dance, and being pissed off that he didn’t get the chance to grab the game controller and make a run for it while he still had the chance. He runs to the door, bumping with Kyungsoo and Jongin along the way. “I will cut your souls in half if anyone hears about this,” he warns.
Jongin chuckles once more, trying to stifle them by covering his mouth with both of his hands. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “What a travesty.”
“I think I’m being controlled by someone,” Luhan insists after their show. Kris gives him a worried glance, knowing full well that a cray cray band mate is a big no-no in the music industry. Zitao simply shrugs, not looking up from taking a selca on his phone. Yixing’s lips press together in a firm line, determined not to make any hasty comment. Jongdae looks at Luhan like he’s just revealed that he was an alien like Do Minjoon and that he came to Earth to abduct each and every citizen of the planet. Xiumin is sweating, like he’s done something grave, leading to the demise of a dog.
“You sure you’re not on drugs, hyung?” Jongdae asks. Luhan glares at the younger boy like he’s going to rip out his kidneys and sell his organs to the black market any minute now.
“Leave gege alone, it’s just his hormones acting,” Zitao speaks up, as he poses to take another picture with a different angle this time. Luhan isn’t sure if he should thank Zitao for trying to back him up or strangle the younger one for coming up to his defense with something that sounds so wrong.
“Fuck you all.” He mutters in digression. Yixing gasps. “Didn’t you know that your guardian angel cries himself to sleep every time you mention a bad word?”
Luhan almost fails at an attempt not to roll his eyes. “Just… where is manager hyung? I need to talk to him about this.”
Jongdae’s shoulders lift the slightest to form a shrug. “Last time I checked, he was trying to build fire with his chopsticks and ammo made out of pure rage, so I guess he won’t be back very soon.”
Xiumin pats Luhan’s back. “Don’t worry, everything will be okay,” he says, trying to reassure Luhan. Luhan groans inwardly, but give in to the touch. This is Xiumin, after all. He just hopes that their relationship will not be affected by what is happening.
Round 2
Sehun almost screams in joy when he finally, FINALLY gets his hands on the game controller. He fumbles with it from too much excitement and accidentally presses a few buttons. But never mind, that thing wasn’t plugged on anyway. He almost tiptoes his way to the door when he hears voices that he has learned to hate for the past few days and finds himself leaving the game controller back from where he got it once more.
Xiumin almost screams when Luhan picks him up bridal style and then drops him on the couch, kissing him fiercely and telling him something that sounded like a confession of love. And Xiumin finds himself kissing back, but then Luhan abruptly stops, giving Xiumin a look of pure horror, grabbing a fistful of his hair and screaming, “What have I done?”
Xiumin isn’t sure if he should feel hurt for himself or pity Luhan.
Round 3
The third time Sehun attempts to steal the game controller, he doesn’t even get the chance to open the door to Kyungsoo’s bedroom because his stomach suddenly start hurting, and a weird scent makes its way to his nose. He mutters curses as he goes to the bathroom, wishing that he wasn’t stupid enough to have agreed to eat Baekhyun’s homemade cake.
“You win this time, Do Kyungsoo,” he seethes as he pushes the cake out of his system.
Round 4
“Not you again,” Sehun doesn’t even try to hide the venom in his voice when Baekhyun greets him at his doorway, Chanyeol lugging behind, a sheepish grin on both of their faces.
“Come on, Sehun! It’s only sometimes that we get to hang out together! And it’s not always that I get a promotion!” Baekhyun pouts, trying his best to convince the younger one to go out with them.
“If that’s the case, then I should get extra pay and a week’s worth of vacation for being able to stop myself from stabbing someone in the eye for more than 24 hours.” Sehun deadpans.
“But you don’t even have a job,” Chanyeol observes. Baekhyun elbows him the ribs, as if saying, “Well no shit Sherlock, isn’t that what the sarcasm was for?”
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Baekhyun calls when Sehun decidedly walks past them. “I’m off to some place where your dead body parts will have to toil away with the microorganisms that will scavenge it to bits. Toodles.”
“Oh hell, no you don’t. Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screams and Sehun finds himself tackled to the ground with a giant pinning him to the floor. Baekhyun’s grinning face comes to his view. “You’re coming with us, whether you like it or you like it.” Sehun tries hard not to think that his life is a horror movie.
Round 5
Oh Sehun gives up because one does not simply sink Do Kyungsoo’s ultimate ship. He keeps that in mind and moves on to ruining Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s life instead.
Credits
“Xiumin! Luhan!” Kyungsoo screams at the top of his lungs during Synthesix’s fan meet in their town. People were trying to push past him, but he doesn’t care because his favorite band is right in front of him!
An idea comes to his mind, and he takes out the game controller, intent on making the two do some fan service. He gets shoved forward instead, and the controller flies out of his hands, disappearing into the crowd. He panics, not knowing what to do for the controller was a god-given gift that was supposed to satiate his thirst for some OTP love, but now he has lost it and what is he supposed to do?
“Let’s give up, okay,” Jongin tells him as he frantically continues searching for the controller after the meet-up has finished. He got the chance to meet his idols up close and personal, but the problem was, his mind was elsewhere that he couldn’t concentrate on Xiumin’s gummy smile and Luhan’s sparkling eyes. “Someone else has probably taken that already. Let’s just hope that they have no idea what it’s for.”
“B-but,” Kyungsoo starts to tear up, and Jongin hastily runs to his side to hug him because he definitely doesn’t want to see Kyungsoo crying.
“Ssh, hyung. It’s okay. At least you had fun, right? And you had your chance. Your otp should already be happy with that.” Or not really, Jongin almost added. Kyungsoo sniffles and wipes his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. “Let’s go home, okay?” Kyungsoo nods and Jongin couldn’t help but feel protective over his hyung, despite the fact that he was the younger one.
Extras
“Xiumin!” Luhan calls, and Xiumin hastily shoves the game controller in his man purse. Shit, it was true. “Ah, yes?”
“Uhm, wait. What am I doing here?” Luhan scratches the back of his neck. They both hear someone shout out, saying “You’re going to profess your love for Xiumin-hyung!” Xiumin was sure that definitely sounded like Zitao.
Luhan turned to face the general direction of the voice and shouted back. “Shut up moron!”
“Well let me reflect on that action… woops, sorry! 404 error page not found. Better luck next time.” The person answered, and they could hear gleeful cackles from where they were standing.
Luhan rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I… want to apologize for how I’ve been acting the past few days. I’m not sure what really happened, but I didn’t mean to harass you or anything.” Luhan confessed. “So I’m… really, really, REALLY sorry for causing you too much trouble.”
Xiumin waves his hand in a dismissive gesture as if to say that it was nothing, but then Luhan’s hands were cupping his face, and he thought Luhan was going to kiss him or something and his mind was going in complete chaos and then…
He feels it, a gentle brush of soft lips against his, as if they were barely there. Yet it left a tingling feeling on his own lips, a strange surge of heat settling in his stomach. “But I’ll never regret this.” Luhan murmurs.
Xiumin forgets about the controller that he kept in his bag for “safekeeping purposes”.