You felt a weight on your head as someone placed what seemed to be some sort of headband from behind you. You swiftly turned around, ready to karate chop the person, when you saw Tao's Cheshire grin directed at you. His sharp, cat-like eyes dissolved into crescents as he smiled cutely at you, tilting his head to the side.

Today was bonding time with EXO-M (you still don't get why they had 'sub-units' in their own group of friends, but Kris said that they used the letters to distinguish the Chinese members—plus Chen and Xiumin, who were fluent in Mandarin—from the Koreans), and you got dragged into, well, you don't really know what today's itinerary was.

EXO had a weird system of spending time with you. Twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays, they would take you out, but not as a whole group; they divided into their two factions and would plan something out for the seven of you. You didn't understand why they did what they did, but all they said was so that their Noona could be more comfortable with them, and so that they could create new, and wonderful memories with you.

And something about “sharing Noona’s company.”

You still didn't get why they had to divide.

Because they’re weird, obviously.

EXO-M took you to the mall today.

Normally, the boys would tell you what they had in store for you, but EXO-M decided to be different and wanted to shock you instead. You had no choice but to accept, of course, because you didn't want them moping around if you didn't. But when you arrived in the mall, you glared daggers at them and threatened to butcher their bodies and sell the parts to an underground cult of cannibals. You hated the mall. You loved the outdoors and the street games that you could play with them, despite your age.

Why go shopping and waste your money, when you could simply go out and enjoy the weather—free of charge?

You were too frugal for their liking.

~

"Noooooona~" Tao called you, his voice adapting a pitch one step higher than his norm. "We're matching, see?" he pointed to the panda-ears on his own head. The ears were fluffy and fuzzy and cute and all the things that would kill the little girls who loved such objects.

And the fangirls—they would die, too, if they saw it on their favorite Kung-fu Panda.

“Bbuing, bbuing, Noona~” he purred, inching closer to you. You stepped back, startled by his sudden proximity, and brought your hand to whatever he stuck on you. You felt the furry material against your fingers, and you its triangular shape, trying to guess what it was.

“Are these…?” You didn’t finish your sentence, however, and narrowed your eyes at him.

“Edison…” you snarled, your fingers twitching in anger. You gripped the ears tight, about to throw it at the ground, but Tao screamed, eliciting stares from the nearby shoppers.

“Noona, don’t!” was his whiny, frantic cry as his lightly-curled fists squeezed his cheeks, making him look even more adorable.

Huang Zi Tao was such a kid.

“Please, don’t!” he begged, biting his lip, and pulling out all the cute he’s capable of. He stared at you with big, round eyes, pouted and whimpered and sniffled, and brought his clasped hands close to his chin, pleading, entreating you to surrender to his aegyo.

You gulped, feeling conscious of the people looking at and whispering about the two of you.

You hated attention.

Especially if it was given by a bunch of strangers thinking you were abusing the kid who wasn’t even a legit child.

Oh, god, why were you even in this situation?

Because Huang Zi Tao somehow manipulated EXO-M, especially Kris, into entering a costume shop, and forgetting their whole itinerary which you never even found out about, that’s why.

Speaking of, where were the others?

You scanned the area.

How beautiful; they left me with Tao of all people.

“Please, Noona?” he cocked his head to the side, gazing at you with puppy dog eyes.

You dropped your hand, and sighed.

Tao’s aegyo never worked on you because you had an indifference towards aegyo and two years of being with Taemin, seeing him get what he wanted by acting cute towards his Hyungs, his teachers, and just about everyone, had taught you well. But the predicament called for you to give up and give in to Tao’s gestures and his lovely eyes, his endearing smile and his inflated cheeks that had emulated Xiumin’s siopao cheeks.

Oh, god, kill me now.

“Fine,” you mumbled, avoiding his gaze and everyone else’s.

You crossed your arms, “Now can we please get out of here?”

~

You exited the costume shop, both of your hands covering your face in shame and agony. You could not believe that you walked out of that store still wearing the cat ears on your head.

Tao tricked you.

Huang Zi Tao, whom you loved and whom you treated like a little brother, and have done nothing but be nice and kind and gentle with him, just tricked you into wearing the thing, and even bought it so that the two of you could have “couple accessories.”

“Noona, please! I’ll cause a scene again if you don’t!” he pleaded, stomping his foot and petulantly folding his arms.

Since when was Tao so evil?

Since we set foot into that shop.

“Noona, is that you?” you heard Chen’s melodic, albeit worried, voice.

You shook your head furiously, hands still on your face as you refused to confront them.

“Noona and I have matching ears!” Tao proudly exclaimed, showing his Geges a huge grin. “So that everyone will see that my Noona and I are so cute together!”

There was an awkward silence as everyone tried to process what Tao just said.

…Noona and I

…Noona and I

…Together

…Together

…So cute together

Everybody, with the exception of you, who still writhed in shame, and Tao, who just smiled at the way you bashfully hid your face, looked over at Lu Han, wanting to see his reaction.

Your roommate was more than just displeased as he glared at Tao.

And suddenly, it felt hot despite the cold air that blew from the air-conditioning unit in the coffee shop.

His eyes were ablaze, his jaws clenched tightly together, as he crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

If looks could kill, Lu Han’s would do more than just that.

He was sending Tao to the deepest pits of hell, where flames engulfed the poor, unfortunate souls, consuming them and burning them, subjecting them to eternal torture and pain.

Kris cleared his throat; he had to reverse the entire situation. “Tao, those aren’t matching; yours are panda ears, while hers are cat ears,” he pointed out.

Tao, I hope you can hear the sternness of my voice.

Do us all a favor, and don’t get murdered by Lu Han.

But the maknae’s attention was on something else, and he did not pick up the way Kris’ eyes looked at him, hinting at the fuming deer in the middle of the group. Tao pouted, “Yes, they are! They’re both black and fuzzy! Mine are panda ears because I’m a Kung-fu Panda, and Noona’s are cat ears, because I think cats are the prettiest animals!”

Oh, god.

Lu Han is going to kill you.

To the Awesome Being up there, we pray for Tao’s soul; don’t let him get dragged into hell, and may he rest in peace.

“You guys !” you abruptly said, your voice muffled by your hands that still shielded your embarrassed face. “You say that it’s bonding time today, but you leave me with Tao in that damn shop! What happened to camaraderie?”

You finally put down your hands, exposing cheeks that were as red as a cherry, and lips that curved downwards into a humiliated, ashamed frown. “I can’t believe you’re all just here, sipping your plastic cups of friggin’ lattes and frappes, and having such a great time, while I’m the one who gets embarrassed and gets blamed for child-abuse!” you half-scream, half-cry at them, making sure not to raise your voice too much so as not to draw another round of stares and gossips.

“You guys ,” you muttered, folding your arms and glaring at them. “And now I can’t remove this headband because if I forcefully rip it off, Princess Peach here will scream and shout and cause another scene.” Your eyes turned into angry slits, “I hate all of you. I’m never bonding with any of you ever again. I’ll tell EXO-K that both the 1^st and the 3^rd Saturdays are reserved for them only.”

Lay approached you. “Don’t say that, Noona. We had such a great day planned out for you; we promise that it’ll get better,” he assured you, flashing you a small smile.

You turned away, “Yixing, you may have the best dimples in town, but too bad, because I am immune to them.”

“Tao,” Xiumin said, “What should she do so that she can remove it in peace, without you going wild and bonkers? At least let her enjoy the rest of the day without the ears.”

Tao puffed his cheeks. “But—“

His Geges deadpanned at him.

“All right, all right!” Tao exclaimed, waving his hands. He tilted his head, and put a finger against his right cheek as he pondered over your task.

What should his Noona do?

Well, it should be memorable—something he’s never seen you do, nor ever expected to do. And it should be something that will please him, definitely.

And it was like a light bulb had lit up as Tao beamed at you, and at everyone, and you kind of wanted to hurl one of the coffee shop’s chairs at him when you saw the cheeky glint in his eyes.

Not.

Good.

“Aegyo~” he said cheerfully, “Do aegyo, Noona!” He did his Bbuing Bbuing hand gesture, demonstrating how you should do it, and how he wanted you to do it.

You gawked at him. “N-no way,” you stuttered. God, it's not in your system to stutter, but this was just too embarrassing. 

“Please~? Or I’ll tell Mr. Guard over there that both my Noona and my Geges are harassing me~”

What the hell, Tao? Don’t drag us into your mess!

You looked at the five boys behind the maknae, and saw their expectant gazes, begging you to just do it because if you don’t, all of you would be facing a cruel fate of being labeled as es and reckless guardians.

This was a lose-lose situation, you realized.

“I…”

Kris bobbed his head, urging you to just get over with it.

You hesitantly and slowly brought a balled hand to you cheek; your fingers were quivering, and so were your lips, disgusted at what you were about to do.

First and foremost, such things did not suit you simply because you looked like a guy, and when guys did something like this, they were either frowned upon, or laughed at—or both.

Second, you looked like a guy.

And last but not the least: you looked like a guy.

Period.

“I…”

You felt queasy as six pairs of eyes stared at you, and for once, you were glad that EXO had a weird system of breaking into two units and bonding with you, because if K were here, you would have died of embarrassment.

“Noona, go on~” Tao prodded, an impish grin already on his face.

Your fingers did not stop shuddering, and you tightly closed your eyes as your face soured.

“I…” you mewled, your voice growing feeble and different from its usual huskiness, “I…This…”

There’s no way you were going to do this.

Screw it all.

You reached up to grab the ears, “Damn it! I’m not—”

“Okay! You can take it off, Noona!” Tao abruptly said, and you opened your eyes to see him smiling tenderly at you.

“What?” you weakly replied.

“You’re so cute, Noona!” he told you, his eyes twinkling with delight as he gently took off the headband. He stepped back and put the ears in his bag. “Noona doesn’t need to do any of those pouts or bbuing bbuing that others girl do when they do their aegyo!” he said. “Noona is the cutest when she’s flustered, and doesn’t know what to do!”

You didn’t know how to react. This was too sudden.

Cute.

That was one thing you knew you weren’t, and could never be. You were one of the boys, the rough-and-gruff Noona who might as well be called Hyung. You liked to immerse yourself in athletic activities; you were competitive, and liked to crush your opponents; you wore nothing but shirts and unflattering jeans; you loved to run around in your sneakers, doing this and doing that.

You were such a boy.

There were, of course, the invisible rules that the mundane girls of society followed, and you rebuked them, refusing to fall prey to the conventions that society imposed on them. You refused to be the all-around Korean girl with the pretty long legs, the pretty face, the eyes, the pretty lips, the pretty everything that every Korean boy loved.

You were only a child then, but you already decided that you would be a ‘boy,’ and over the years, you discovered just how great that decision was because, even when many shunned you for who you were, what you feared, what you hated, and what you liked, you felt so alive and free just doing what you wanted to do.

And it was such an amazing thing to also know that, despite of what you looked like and what you did, there were people who loved you.

But, that fact alone did not ease your insecurities, especially when it involved anything about your gender and the standards that defined it. Cute was something for the more feminine girls, the ones whom Lu Han, Tao, Kris and Lay liked.

Cute wasn’t you, and vice-versa.

You looked behind Tao to see the others giving you their precious smiles—the ones that their fangirls in campus just loved to gaze at.

And it was funny but also heartwarming, because they reserved that smile for you.

“I…”

I think I’ve said that too many times already.

Your cheeks were hot, and so was your entire body. Your stomach felt so funny, and your heart was just so overjoyed.

You were such a boy, but there were only a few people who made you feel like a girl again.

Six of them were right in front you.

And so you smiled at them, showing them something that only SHINee has seen. You know it’s not enough to ever thank them for what they’ve done for you, but it’s the only thing you could offer. These boys have been nothing but amazing to you, accepting towards you and you couldn't imagine how college would be like if it weren't for them. You loved these boys, in spite of the reckless moments, the embarrassing moments, the weird moments, and the even weirder moments because every moment was special and important to you, no matter how little emotion you show towards them.

Splat!

But the magical moment is ruined as Lu Han drops his iced cappuccino on the floor, the brown liquid creating a sticky mess on the tiles.

“Lu Han!”

“Gege!”

“Hyung!”

They all exclaimed, but they all know why he’d be the one to do that.

You stared incredulously at the spilled coffee.

That idiot.

Lu Han, meanwhile, remained immobile and stunned even as one of the waitresses rushed to his place, and bent down to wipe the drink off the floor.

“I…” he mumbles, but he doesn’t finish and dashes out the café, probably to the bathroom in order to clean his wet jeans and escape the humiliation he just did.

You’re too preoccupied with the whole incident to notice just how red his face was. 

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone!

It feels so long since I've updated. Anyway, because it's my second to the last day before school starts, I just wanted to give you a little something~

:-)

Also, because school is going to start for me, I am sad to say that I can probably update only once a week, on the weekends. 3 

Ah, that's life. T.T

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And haha, I really tried to think of a way for the girl to somehow show us some aegyo, but even I couldn't see her doing it, so I just left it at that :))

In other news, I've also posted the first chapter of the spin-off, Countdown, featuring SHINee! If you have time, please do check it out and feel free to voice out your thoughts! Unlike Roommates, however, updates on the spin-off will come once in a blue moon :))

Thank you so much for reading, subscribing and commenting! Please do give some comments since they make me happy!

Till next time!