He hummed along the song quietly while vacuuming the white rug that he loves dearly. It’s soft and pretty expensive, his grandmother bought it for him when he graduated from his college. His hips swayed, feet tapped on the floor, head nodded along the beats from his headset. 

Knocking sound on the front door made him paused. He took off his headset, turned off his music with a frown on his smooth forehead. He could hear the knocking sound continued sharply. Great, he sighed softly.

He didn’t want to meet any stranger and their weird business offers or selling something suspicious. He tried to see a figure from his peephole. He didn’t find any men with big suspicious case but instead a guy with a tired face leaned on his arm, right in front of the said peephole. The frown only grew deeper. He didn’t look dangerous but the messy flannel shirt gave him an odd tingling but he unlocked his door.

The flannel shirt guy grinned awkwardly. “Hey, I’m Kris, your neighbor. I moved to here last week,” he introduced himself. The guy was an inch taller than him and has a smile as bright as sunshine.

“Oh,” the shorter guy nodded lightly after he found his voice back. He felt a bit dazzled by the smile and a pair of hazel eyes who stared down at him intently. “I’m Tao, may I help you?” He knew the guy needed something. There’s no way a neighbor would knock on his door without wanting anything from him. An invitation for public kitchen participation or a small meeting on their block. Something that he didn’t really good at, talking with strangers and tried to be polite as possible as he could. He glanced behind the flannel guy’s back in case thewe was another people with some flyers or boxes and forced him to participate with a little “persuation”.

The taller guy scratched his neck as he laughed lowly and sent a pleasant feeling to Tao’s weak heart. Oh, he is always weak from a small sweet gesture and affection. Tao almost chuckled at this guy’s awkwardness. Kris turned to be more awkward than he appeared to be a few seconds ago.

“Sorry, I don’t have a pan. May I borrow yours?” he asked meekly. Tao chuckled at that. Kris only smiled back, his neighbor sounded really cute and he couldn’t help but sounded like an idiot. For about half an hour ago he craved for a pancake and made the batter from scratchーthanks to Chanyeol and Kai, his roommates bought some groceries last night.

He thought he could heat up a pack of mac and cheese for his lovely breakfast but it seemed Chanyeol and Kai had finished all of them last nights. And he, as the only early bird on the house woke up at seven o’clock, felt hungrier than ever. They left him with nothing but vegetables and frozen foods on the fridge. Kris needed a breakfast, a hot pancake with crispy bacon, sunny side up and sausage, ketchup and chili on side. He couldn’t survive with a glass of milk for a whole morning and it’s still too early for a box of pizza. So he decided to make himself a nice breakfast, taunting those two rommies with his great soft and heavenly meal. Kris didn’t plan to share his but his plan met a dead end. He discovered that they didn’t have any frying pan.

“Sorry,” he replied and turned around to go back to his house. He could store his pancake batter on the fridge and ordered a pizza.

“Hey, it’s okay, Kris.” Tao called him back. “You can wait here,” he pointed at the couch on his living room and went to the kitchen. He grabbed a medium sized pan and gave it to the taller guy.

“Thank you, err... Tao. I’ll bring it back in an hour.” Kris bit his lips as Tao smiled warmly at him. The shorter guy’s sun kissed skin shined with a golden hue and his reddish brunet hair looked like maple leaves on autumn. So warm and beautiful.

~†~†~†~

He forgot to wear his gloves today. He cursed a bit when his suitcase wheels stuck on the road, mud and water splattered on his boots and long coat. The brunet sneezed, his big red scarf covered half of his vision and sent him stumbled upon some rocks. He shrieked a bit as he knew he would fall to the ground and felt more miserable. Fortunately, a pair of strong hands caught him.

“Ah,” he mumbled. The brunet's dark brown orbs met a pair of hazel eyes which filled with worry, the guy with such dazzling smile. “Thank you,” he parted then walked away clumsily. A blush crept up on his bubbly cheeks.

“Wait,” Kris suddenly exclaimed. He saw the brunet guy stopped on his track, eyed him catiously.

“Yes?” His voice barely audible but Kris smiled brightly at that.

“That looks heavy, I can help you,” he offered in a beat. Kris, his dark blond hair covered his forehead a bit as the wind blew. “And it’s really cold.”

Kris himself didn’t know how he did those kind of things. He was on the other side of the road with his roomies, talking about some foods they need to order for movie night. In a blink of an eye, he reached the brunet, caught him at the right time. Maybe the goddess of fortune loved him today. He got a whiff of honey and caramel shampoo smell from the brunet hair, and found his his hip is really thin despite the thickness of the brunet’s lower body.

“I don’t want to be a bother.” Tao, the brunet bit his small plump lower lip as he gazed a big knapsack on his neighbor’s back. But Kris had had his suitcase on his hand, smile never faltered from his handsome, slightly giddy face. Tao was tired, dragging his suitcase from a bus stop to his house needs a lot of time and energy. His freezing legs almost gave up on him.

“It’s okay.” Kris followed Tao to his house. He swore he saw Tao flustered a bit and stuttered. So cute, Kris squealed on his mind.

“Yo Kris!” When the dark blond got back, those two guys greeted him in unison. Dirty grins plastered on his roomies' faces, eyes twinkled mischieviously.

“You left us for your princess,” Chanyeol ed.

“Kris, the prince charming rescued his beautiful princess from a cold and harsh road. And he took his princess to a journey to find her beloved palace,” Kai declamated dramatically with deep voice.

Kris rolled his eyes. He knew they would as soon as they knew about his affection towards their cute neighbor. They wiggled their eyebrows nastily as he ignored the dumb and dumber. Kris planned to kick them out just for a night then he remembered both of them paid the rents. Such a tempting plan, he needed to insert it to his to-do-list.

“I never thought Kris can smile like an idiot and became less than a poised guy he is.” Kai ate a package of mac and cheese. He reheated it on microwave and hissed like a cat as he grabbed the hot dish.

“Don’t you know? Usually the quietest and coldest one is the most surprising person you could ever met.” Chanyeol squeezed some sauce on his mac and cheese. He ate faster than Kris’ roomba,  it seemed like he inhaled his foods.

“Stop commenting or you guys can sleep outside,” Kris retorted back with a glare. He crumpled the used napkin and threw it to Chanyeol. He growled lowly when he missed.

Chanyeol mocked him. “What a loser, you missed.”

Kris squinted his eyes murderously. The tallest was ready to throw a fork on his hand to his roomie’s silly face but someone on the door rang the bell. He paused and put down his fork. He held himself to not spit at the uninvited guest.

“He-hello,” the shorter guy smiled timidly.  

Kris quickly changed his facial expression. He smiled gently at him. “Hey Tao,” he greeted back, ignoring his two roomies whispering behind his back.

Tao passed a lunch box to Kris. “Here, I made some pasta,” Tao spoke softly. Their hands awkwardly touched and their eyes met. They both stunned.

Kris stared deeply at the shorter guy. He could felt Tao’s smaller soft hand and heard the brunet’s breath hitched a bit. “T-thank you!” he stuttered loudly, holding the offered lunchbox tightly.

“You’rewelcome.” Tao walked fastly to his house before Kris said anything. Tao closed the door softly behind his back, he didn’t want to wake his sleeping roommate who occupied the whole couch by himself.

The tall guy gaped, he didn’t expect that kind of reaction from his neighbor. He wanted to hold that soft hand a little longer, kissing his knuckles and caressed those long, slim fingers gently. Kris closed the door with a daydreaming face. Kris should invite him and have a nice chat with him next time. Maybe they could make a pasta together or go to an Italian restaurant.

“Aww, Krissie’s in love,” Chanyeol teased with a sickeningly sweet voice.

“His face looks disgusting. I bet he thinks of something naughty,” Kai smirked knowingly.

Kris inhaled deeply. Both of his roommates cried in unison when Kris threw their coats outside. Those coats landed on the snow covered ground. Kris ate his pasta as his friends wailed at how precious their coats are. All he cared about was Tao’s crumptious pasta with meatball and a lot of cheese.

~†~†~†~

“Party?” Tao looked a bit dumbfounded. Kris sat across of him as his roommate took a seat next to him.

Bastard. Kris cursed on his mind. Tao’s roommate, a sleepyhead liked to lean on the brunet shamelessly. The dark blond saw a hand circled Tao’s slim waist, it belongs to the sleepy bastard next to him. Kris gave him a poli