O.o o.O

Tao was sorting through the clothes in his suitcase when there was a knock on his door. “Come in!” Tao called, a handful of t-shirts in his hand as he looked around for some place to set them down.

“Hey.” Kris leaned against the open door. “The others are ready to go. You almost set?”

“Oh! Yes.” Tao dropped his clothes back into his suitcase and gave a hesitant smile. “I can go now.”

“Good.” Kris’ eyes were dark and amused, and Tao looked down hastily, following the older boy into the living room. “Luhan went down with K suite earlier - next door, remember? But the others are still here.”

The boy that had earlier run out screaming with the giant stuffed giraffe was now sitting cool as you please in the armchair, watching lazily as the pair on the couch bickered over the remote control. His eyes met Tao’s the second he entered the room, and Tao’s mouth turned into a small ‘o’ of surprise. “Ah, you...I mean, sorry, I’m Tao.”

“Yixing,” the boy said, dimple deepening his cheek as he smiled. “You can call me ‘ge.’”

“What?” One of the boys on the sofa turned immediately at that. “Hyung, you don’t let me call you that!”

“Not until your Chinese improves, Jongdae,” Yixing hummed, and Kris rolled his eyes and his heel.

“I’m leaving now, you losers,” he called. “Come now or starve ‘cuz I’m not buying any back.”

Tao almost got trampled in the mini stampede for the front door.

O.o o.O

“Oh, dear, you must be so tired from all that moving in,” Suho fussed on Tao’s right. “Here, have my side dishes. A boy needs food to grow up healthy you know!”

“Leave it, gramps, we’re trying to eat here.” Jongin scrunched his nose from across the table, and Tao just looked more determinedly at his plate and not at the rowdy mess of boys along the bench.

Kris had pointed out each of them in turn to him when they had first arrived, and Tao had a pretty good memory when it came to names and faces, but the intimidation factor of meeting so many new people at once had unnerved him to silence.

He shrank a little away from Suho’s hand patting his bicep, and found his arm pressed against Kris’ own, who ignored him and kept eating silently. Still, Tao found himself relaxing somewhat against the steady warmth.

“If you have any problems, remember to look for me or Kris, okay? I know I’m not in charge of your dorm but we’re on the same floor so it’s like we’re a big family anyway. OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?”

Tao finally looked up to see Suho grabbing at the boys from his dorm, who were emptying all the napkin dispensers within grasp and stuffing them into their pockets. They smacked at Suho, who tried to bodily remove the napkins from their pants.

“We’re out of toilet paper,” Chanyeol shrugged, dodging Suho easily. “And this is free.”

Kyungsoo grunted as he tried to fold another wad into his black skinnies. “If you guys had followed the chore list I set out, we’d actually have groceries sometime.”

“Thanks mom,” Baekhyun and Chanyeol chorused, and Kyungsoo glared, stuffing the napkins up the sleeve of his hoodie instead.

Kris turned slightly to eye the situation, completely unfazed.

The K boys were a mess, running around screaming. Suho looked like he wanted to cry. The M suite wasn’t faring much better - Luhan was launching chicken bones at Suho and laughing hysterically at the wing hooked onto Suho’s hair. Minseok (the one chasing Yixing earlier that day) laughed so hard he snorted his soup into his nose and was now choking, Jongdae thumping him hard on his back as he watched the commotion with obvious glee, an unholy light shining in his eyes. Yixing wasn’t doing much better either, egging K on by grabbing more napkin dispensers from other tables for them to empty.

“Ge,” Tao whispered, shrinking into Kris’ side. “Ge...”

“Don’t worry, kid. Crazy isn’t contagious.” But Kris still quirked a tiny smile at him, patting his knee, and Tao had to look away again, flustered at the sudden rush of his heartbeat and the flush to his cheeks.

O.o o.O