Victoria pulled her rolling luggage out of her old dorm room. It had been her home for the two college semesters she’d attended and now she was on her own for the summer. She’d been thinking about going back home to China for the few months, but that was turning out to be more expensive than just staying in California. Searching on the housing board for a last ditch place to rent, Victoria had found a flyer for a place called “The Sharehouse.” Complete with a white picket fence, pretty red brick and nice open windows it was pretty much the best looking house she’d ever seen being offered up for rent. In a sneaky move Victoria pulled down all the flyers so she would be the only one calling in to see the room at the house.

She’d been pleasantly surprised by the voice who’d answered the phone when she called about moving in. He was clearly Asian, even though the contact name Heechul had given that away, he was also very nice and energetic.

The Sharehouse was somewhat like her dorm room, as far as space sharing. She would have five new roommates but instead of sharing one room with adjacent bathroom with a couple of people, she’d get her own room. Living and cooking space would be shared along with the cost of rent, utilities and food. Victoria felt like that would fit perfect for her situation and she’d agreed to have a walkthrough with Heechul, even though internally she’d agreed that this would be her summer home.

As Victoria got into the cab that would take her to the Sharehouse she remembered her first meeting with Heechul when she’d taken her walkthrough. Heechul was so pretty when he’d opened the door, even in lazy house clothes, that Victoria took a double take and had trouble getting her shoes off for the tour. She hadn’t really had a chance to ask him much about himself as Heechul showed her around the house and told her as almost a side note that they had close access to the beach. The idea of sand between bare toes and playing in the ocean sunk her deeper into the quicksand of the beautiful house and owner. Victoria was starting to look forward to getting to know Heechul and seeing if the other guys in the house were as attractive as he was.

Fall and spring semesters in Victoria’s dorm had been so stressful, with her first trip to America, first classes completely in English and so many new people in her dorm building. Not to mention her two dorm mates who had seemed subtly racist. After all that stress for a year, Victoria just wanted to relax, have fun and think about what she wanted out of her life for the next few months. The Sharehouse seemed like a perfect place to do just that.

When the taxi got to the Sharehouse, Victoria paid the driver, before getting out and taking her bags from the trunk. The Sharehouse room was fully furnished, so she hadn’t bothered bringing any of her cheap dorm furniture with her, just clothes, computer and backpack. Lugging her things up the steps on this sunny Friday afternoon, Victoria pushed her long hair off her shoulders, then decided she liked it in front of them better, before knocking on the door.

The door opened after a series of shouts, burglar alarm sounds and loud thumps, leaving Victoria with a worried look on her face. That look changed to disbelief as she eyed the person who opened the door. What was probably a guy, if Victoria could tell anything by the short, leanly muscled frame, stood in the doorway eyeing her down from behind a plastic, masked helmet. An LED lit, plastic cased vest was strapped around his chest and he carried a big, also plastic, gun.

“Newcomer.” The person yelled, proving he was indeed a guy. “Heechul.” He yelled again and left Victoria standing in the doorway as he ran back into the house.

“Uhm, hello?” Victoria called out as she came inside to take off her shoes. She guessed they were playing some kind of game, but she had been expecting a little more of a welcome.

“Victoria,” Heechul said with an obvious smile on his face as he came with heavy footfalls down the hall to greet her. Not that she could see that great smile behind the same style of masked helmet the other guy had been wearing.

Heechul took off the plastic helmet and shouldered his fake rifle so he could help her with her bags. “Sorry about all this, you caught us in the middle of a laser tag game.”

“Laser tag?” She asked, as she followed him up the small staircase to her room. Victoria still had a thick accent to her English, but she understood fluently.

Victoria was nodding as she walked close behind Heechul. “Yeah, we shoot each other with laser light guns-“ Heechul had been explaining until Simon jumped around a doorway and shot Heechul in the chest. The vest Heechul wore let out a series of beeping alarm sounds and from somewhere in the lower part of the house a girl started laughing.

“Got ya.” Simon yelled and ran off to hide again.

“That didn’t count, freak.” Heechul yelled after him. He started laughing as he opened Victoria’s room and set down her bags. “Welcome home.” Heechul said, turning to look at Victoria with one of those smiles that made her want to do anything for him. “You can join in the game if you want, or do… Whatever.” He laughed and moved past her to leave her room.

“Wait,” Victoria said, catching his arm. “I want to play.”

Heechul grinned, “That’s what I like to hear.” He nodded his head for her to follow and took her downstairs to a closet near the living room. “Handgun or sniper rifle?” He asked her as he pulled out a vest and helmet, handing them over.

Victoria shrugged on the vest and tied her hair back with an elastic from her wrist before tucking on the helmet. “Which gun is better?” She asked.

“Depends on what kind of player you are. Are you thinking hide in one place and shoot before they see you, or run around shooting at everything?”

Victoria couldn’t help a laugh. “Probably more like running.”

“Alright soldier, you’re on my team.” Heechul said as he handed over a handgun. “Your mission is to take out Simon. The short guy you just saw hit me in the chest. And GaIn, who’s a tiny girl, generally hiding on this floor.” Heechul looked over his shoulder into the kitchen to try and spot Gain but she wasn’t around. Replacing his helmet, Heechul patted Victoria’s shoulder. “Good luck private.” With that he his heel and snuck upstairs to hide in one of the rooms.

Obviously not as familiar with the house, Victoria started stalking around the main floor, taking a chance to look around the kitchen and through the blu-ray collection in the front room by the TV. She listened for people walking and kept her eye out for anything moving in black plastic equipment.

Victoria heard the front door open. Thinking now was her perfect chance to spring out on someone, she sneaked to the corner of the wall divider that separated the front room from the hallway to the door, got her gun ready and waited.

The voice from the hallway was a tired sounding man, speaking what sounded like Korean. Before realization dawned that this wasn’t someone playing along, Victoria jumped out and shot her light gun at the chest of the other guy.

Victoria quickly pulled off her helmet biting her lip in apology. Even though the new guy was on the phone he played along without missing a beat. He held his heart and fell against the side of the wall, sliding down to the floor. All of him, except the arm holding his phone to his ear, went floppy as if he was dead. He was dressed in a tan suit with a white oxford shirt loosely tucked in, his tie was unwound enough to look like a necklace and the top two buttons of his shirt were opened. He was as good looking as Heechul, maybe even better looking with his short, obviously dyed, sandy blonde hair.

Frozen in place by what she’d done, even though he’d played along, Victoria waited for his conversation to be over. The tone of his voice as he talked was calm, but he was definitely not that happy to talk to whomever was on the other end of the call.

He hung up the phone and flashed a pretty smile at her, revealing a cute dimple near the corner of his lips. “You’re the new girl,” he said to her in clear English, only a hint of his Korean heritage was audible in his voice. “Victoria right? I’m Jungsu, but everyone calls me Leeteuk.”

Victoria’s heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. How seriously lucky she’d gotten to be rooming with Leeteuk and Heechul. “Yeah, Victoria,” she said, somehow managing to maintain her cool. “Sorry for shooting you,” she added, giving a little nervous chuckle.

“It’s okay.” Leeteuk smiled and slowly stood up, picking his bag off the ground where he’d left it. “Are the others around here?”

“Yes,” Victoria said, happy to have something to answer. She didn’t trust herself to form her own ideas right now. “Uhm, they’re playing laser tag-“ Victoria’s vest started blaring its alarm and she jumped nearly sky high as a girly laugh came her way. The same laugh she’d heard earlier.

The one laughing took off her helmet and flipped her short black hair out of her face, bowing. “Hi, I’m Gain.”

Victoria was holding her chest, trying to get her heart to calm down after the alarm sound. “Hi,” she said, breathlessly, nodding to Gain. “Victoria.”

Gain nodded and poked her helmet at Leeteuk. “Hungry?”

Leeteuk nodded and smiled as he bowed out and took himself to his room.

Gain looked at Victoria, expectantly.

“Yes,” Victoria said. “Food sounds good.”

Gain smiled and yelled, “Heechul, truce. Now come feed us.”

“Teukie home?” Heechul yelled from somewhere upstairs.

“Yeah.”

Then the alarm noises went off again and the upper level of the house filled with Heechul’s cackling laughter.

“Dammit.” Simon’s voice yelled over the laughing.

More of Heechul’s laughter followed as his footsteps thundered down the stairs. On the way to the kitchen, he opened the closet and tucked his tag gear inside. “Where’s Jia?” Heechul asked as Simon followed him down, taking off his helmet so Victoria got her first look at the final handsome man in the house.

Simon had the hair on the sides of his head shaved off with the top part black and long enough to leave a little fringe on his forehead. He was attractive the more you looked at him, not the strikingly pretty of Heechul or Leeteuk. He smiled at Victoria and went into the kitchen to sit at the table, pulling out his phone.

Gain followed suit in taking off her gear. She was a tiny girl, probably older than she looked with a lopsided bob of a haircut. Heechul, Gain and Simon all had their natural hair color, leaving Leeteuk the only one dyed. And the Jia that they’d mentioned, Victoria had to meet her still.

“I think I saw her go to her room. Don’t know though, she rarely makes noise.” Gain chuckled and followed Heechul into the kitchen, sticking close to him like a little kid to their mom.

Seeing that everyone was done playing, Victoria went to the closet to drop her gear off in it as well.

“Hey Vic,” Heechul called to her from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter, swatting at Gain’s hands as she poked at him. “What’s your favorite kind of food?”

“Uhm, anything healthy.” Victoria said as she closed the closet and stepped into the kitchen.

“Do you like Korean food?” Gain asked her, giving up poking Heechul.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had any.”

“How about spicy things?” Heechul asked, moving Gain out of his way to look in the fridge.

“Not too spicy, but I can eat it.”

“Ddeokbokki,” Leeteuk offered as he came into the kitchen, standing close to Victoria. He had changed into a white T-shirt and light blue pants.

“Yeah right,” Gain said. “Not the way Heechul makes it.”

Leeteuk shrugged, offering a smile to Victoria before moving to take a seat at the table next to Simon.

Heechul started pulling things out of the fridge. “Dolsot, or regular?” He asked to everyone.

“Dolsot.” Simon answered.

“No, takes too long,” Gain said. “Feed me now oppa,” she teased and wrapped her arms around Heechul’s waist from the side.

“I’m for quick,” Leeteuk agreed, watching Gain and Heechul.

Victoria gave up standing awkwardly in the corner and moved to sit at the table across from Leeteuk. He smiled at her again and fidgeted his legs under the table.

“Simon loses. Regular bibimbap tonight.” Heechul said.