Act.7
Yehet!

We came back to Korea. Home sweet home and whatever… but guys! If I ever thought living China was interesting, living in a dorm here... is absolutely crazy! You have no idea. We are twelve, all packed in one place, with our habits, weirdness and Junmyeon doesn't even want to turn on the air conditioner! I'm always hungry and Jongin steals my chicken portions and shisus! Of course we have schedule: work, work, work and more work. And the Chinese members —they used to be so clever—are getting worse,. Basically, they are going down to the Chanbaek level. This is an asylum and I'm the narrator. Well, there sure is a positive thing about this: I am free. Gosh I am free! The reign of terror of my discipliner has ended! Ha ha baozi we are in Korea now! We’re under Junmyeon's care! Well, now I'm going to write exactly what happened the first days of our arrival, so later I can go clean after Junmyeon's mess (wait, I escaped from one slavery to fall into another O_O)

So this is our new dorm.

This is how our EXO life as one started!

I was wet with September rain and tired due to the long travel but excited nonetheless as I entered the new dorm. The luggage I packed was heavy and huge and I had some difficulties dragging it inside even though it wasn't even close to the size of Zitao's, but the kid, despite the undoubted weight of the luggage, was giddily dragging it like it was a balloon—damn wushu. We were welcomed by Baekhyun's whistle and Kyungsoo's nodding. They had probably just arrived, judging by the still-unpacked luggage. We entered the dorm with curiosity, Zitao running up and down giggling like a school girl despite the obvious jet lag (he had just come from China). Our relocation, in fact, had taken more time than expected since the company had to find a suitable apartment for twelve young men and the manager. When they told us we were going to live all together, Minseok hyung nearly fell from his chair (because more people meant more mess, and for a neat freak it meant a living nightmare). Zitao jumped in excitement and Xing Xing ge immediately asked if they were going to be at least two bathrooms. As for me, I already knew, so I wasn't taken aback by the news and kept nodding, enjoying the others' reactions.

So in the end after the last activities in China the company had given us a couple of free weeks, which the Chinese members used to go back to their home towns and spend some time with their family since they were going to be away for who-knows-how-long.

Minseok and I, of course, went straight to Korea, spending our time at home while waiting for the relocation of EXO members. My family was so happy and even my hyung was less bossy than other times. And, yes, maybe even I teared up a bit.

Anyway I greeted Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. The former had already made himself comfortable on the sofa while cleaning his ear with a cotton swab (who knows where he got that from). Zitao was inspecting every centimetre of the dorm, probably deciding which room was better. I didn't even have the time to ask Kyungsoo about the others before Park Chanyeol emerged from the bathroom, just as someone rang the doorbell. Chanyeol smiled his toothy smile and we ran to the door to see who arrived first. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as Baekhyun laughed from his spot, cheering us on.

We opened the door only to nearly get stomped over by the two maknaes and a tired but smiling Junmyeon. Sehun waved carelessly at Chanyeol but hugged me hard, and then he greeted Baekhyun and Kyungsoo before running off, like Zitao, to inspect the dorm. Jongin briefly hugged the two of us and then headed to the sofa to lie lazily beside Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. When Junmyeon entered I didn't allow him to walk further, because I jumped on him. Hey, I missed my best friend.

“Awwwwww!” came the howling from Chanbaek who were now standing. Those dorks.

“What? Can't I miss my best friend?”I said, tightening my grip on Junmyeon.

“Hey, I'm your best friend too!” Chanyeol replied.

“And me too!” added Baekhyun

“Awwwww! Come here Chen Chen!” they shouted with wide open arms. Without hesitation, I released Junmyeon and ran to them, the three of us collapsing on the floor.

“These kids!” Junmyeon commented, shaking his head. We were still rolling on the floor when we heard a howl from an indistinct part of the dorm: apparently Sehun and Zitao had just met.

After some moments of excitement and a tour of our new dorm we gathered in the living room.

“Hyung, where are the other members?” Chanyeol, who was munching chips, asked. Apparently, he and Baekhyun had this new ability to take things they needed out from who-knows-where.

“It takes one more hour of travel to come from Beijing and Hunan, so I guess Yixing and Luhan ge are coming later,” Zitao answered in his slurred but now understandable Korean. “

“Yes, I heard manager hyung say he is going to take them from the airport late in the evening.”

“Good,” Sehun said, nodding.

“Aww, our little duck misses Lu ge.”

Sehun shrugged. After the interview in China, it was useless denying it.

“Junmyeon hyung, what about Yifan ge? I heard from him some days ago and he was still in Canada. When is he going to come back?” Zitao asked, concerned. I found him extremely cute, as always.

“Tomorrow,” Junmyeon answered kindly.

“Hey, what about Minseok hyung?” asked Kyungsoo, speaking for the first time that afternoon.

“I'm here,” came a fatigued voice from behind us. Kyungsoo, as well as the others, stood up immediately, because Minseok hyung was the oldest hyung and he had taken care of every one of us at least once. I chuckled because, hey, isn't it unfair that my discipliner is so popular? However, I hugged him nonetheless.

After the general commotion faded we all sat in circles—the lucky ones on the couch and the rest on the carpet.

“Well, now that we all have calmed down,” and Junmyeon tilted his head towards the maknaes' direction, “we have some things to settle down. I know the rest of us are not here yet but we have to unpack and so we have to quickly decide how are we going to arrange the rooms.” A ruckus broke out. Everyone had something to say, and even I had a preference. How awesome it would have been to share a room with Junmyeon and Xing xing ge! This was my greatest wish. But I got along well with everyone so I really didn't mind. Please, not my discipliner!

“What about a draw? That way the ones who are not here won't feel left out,” came the steady voice of Reason (aka Do Kyungsoo). Ah I missed the midget so much.

“Kyungsoo, as always you are a genius!” Baekhyun said, earning a glare from the latter. I laughed. I have a good feeling about this new cohabitation!

“Do you all agree?” We nodded, making Junmyeon smile.

“Ok, let's do it,” said Chanyeol, standing up. “Where are papers and markers?”

“Ah!!” some of us exclaimed.

“Don't tell me this house was empty!” Junmyeon said, alarmed.

We ended up writing our names on toilet paper with Zitao's eye-liner and using Jongin's cap to mix them up. Man in charge of extraction: Minseok hyung, the most trustworthy among us.

We were giddy and excited like it was the MAMA awards. Minseok hyung extracted the first name.

“A-yo, here comes the boss” was the first thing Yifan ge said as he entered our new dorm. He seemed tired and had two giants of luggage that could compete with Zitao's one.

“Gege!” came Zitao’s shriek. He came running from his room towards the entrance just to welcome him like he came from the other part of the world—which that was actually true. “Oh thank God! I was afraid I had to shower by myself tonight and I wasn't sure I could convince Baekhyun hyung to keep me company”.

“Zitao, please, I've just came from Canada. I don't even remember how many hours I passed in that air plane...”

“Yifan hyung” came the shouts from the members that were nearby, mostly EXO-K members. For those of us in EXO-M, it wasn’t an extraordinary thing to live under the same roof as duizhang. After some minor chats we informed Yifan of the arrangement.

“You are going to share a room with Yixing,” Junmyeon announced. Xing xing ge, who was in the kitchen preparing tea for everyone, just shrugged.

“With you?” asked Yifan.

“… and manager hyung” corrected Xing ge in his usual casual tone.

“And when it was decided?” inquired Yifan ge in duizhang mode.

“Yesterday Minseok hyung extracted our names from Jongin's cap. I wasn't there, but I trust Minseok, so it's ok,” Xing ge continued like he was teaching something simple to a rebellious brat.

Yifan ge seemed taken aback, not really sure if he had to feel happy or troubled. Xing ge was his right-hand man in EXO-M and a good friend, but he also had the irritable habit—at least with duizhang—of making fun of him, so he wasn't completely happy with the situation. In the end he sighed and said, “Lead the way, roommate.” Xing ge nodded and asked me to check the tea. After this act we all went back to our activities. I went to sit on the couch where Chanbaek were making some silly jokes. Junmyeon smiled briefly at me as he followed the steps of Yixing and Yifan ge, probably to update the latter about leader's stuff.

I thought about my half-luck. It was a pity I didn't end up rooming with Xing ge. I wanted, somehow, to have a second chance to be his roommate and make up to what I didn't do our first time. At least I have Junmyeon. I couldn't help but smile.

“Remembering something pleasurable? “ Baekhyun teased.

“Nah, just generally happy we are together”.

“And of course you’re secretly happy you are sharing a room with gramps.”

“Yahh! Baekhyun, you are getting worse day by day!”

“You are not denying what I said!”

“Ani! I'm just happy I don't have to share a room with you! You snore like a pig!”

Chanyeol laughed hard as Baekhyun seemed offended and tried to defend himself saying that they were just murmurs.

“Indeed, like a pig,” said Sehun as he entered the living room.

“At least I don't drool!” Baekhyun shot back.

“I don't drool. Junmyeon hyung can testify to that,” replied Sehun.

“I can testify to that too,” said Zitao, who was tagging along with Sehun, “but Minseok hyung drools a lot.”

I rolled on the floor in laughter. I knew we were too much nosy for Minseok huyng to hear and discipline us. New dorm, new rules! Daebak!

After Yifan’s arrival we started to organize and establish some rules in the dorm. Shower turns were kind of difficult. Even managing a level of tidiness in the dorm, enough to the point we would not be immersed in garbage, was hard. As for the meals, it was like a survival reality. We had to wait some days before they gave us a cooking lady, so for the time being we were stuck with cooking for ourselves or asking for delivery food. Of course, nobody had the patience and the strength to cook for all of us. Kyungsoo stared at us like he was saying no way, Chanyeol was always too busy playing a silly game with maknaes (the new trend was slapping each other hands) to care and I doubted anyone wanted me to attempt cooking. And even I wasn't nice enough to volunteer for such a job of slavery. Neither was Xing xing ge. So those first days, we ended up eating, pizza, Chinese food, fried chicken and a hundred of packages of ramen. One night, Junmyeon hyung was nice enough and ordered meat for the twelve of us. We all burst into tears.

“Ah, hyung, I missed you so much!” exclaimed Zitao after we all finished eating the delicious meat. And it really sounded like, “I missed your wallet so much!”

“You say that as if I never buy you anything,” whined Yifan ge like a kid.

The EXO-M who were there laughed hearing that. As for EXO-K, they were a little clueless.

“Last week you didn't want to buy me that awesome belt.”

“You have over a million of branded belts, Zitao!”

“But that was special, it suited my new pair of dark grey jeans”

“You have one of quite the same colour.”

“But the brand is different!”

“What am I, your sugar daddy!?”

“I gave you a neck massage! Didn't I reserve a reward?”

The EXO-K members were surprised and amused. It wasn't like Yifan and Zitao were never like that, but their bickering had kind of upgraded and reached a whole new level while we were in China—a ridiculous level.

“They are always like that,” Luhan whispered to the others.

“Ah. Well, you haven't seen Kyungsoo and Baekhyun yet,” replied Sehun, forgetting to use honorifics as usual. He said that only because Kyungsoo was too far from him to hear that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared.

I couldn't help but giggle and then, like it was a habit for me—and maybe it was—I stood up and walked to the left side of our dorm, having a destination in mind. The door was half open and from outside you could easily see Xing ge organizing his music sheets. Yixing ge always liked to compos and play his guitar in the night, after we were done eating. He once told me that the night was his favorite time of the day when it came to music. “It is the time when the thoughts of the day recollect and melody just forms all by itself.” He probably heard me coming because he said “oh, Zhong da” and I knew I could just go in and make myself comfortable in the nearest empty bed (probably Yifan's). He had the guitar on his lap and a relaxed air surrounded him. I think that's the best trait of Yixing ge.

“Ge, I really think it's going to be a mess.” He chuckled, his dimples showing on his cheeks.

“Wanna bet on who is going to lose it first?” he asked jokingly.

“Bet away!” I replied, giggling.

“I really had a bad influence on you,” he said shaking his head.

I laughed. “True. We’ll bet on the names later. Now play something for me.”

“So demanding.” He started playing nonetheless.

I had to admit: I was afraid that once in Korea we would lose our complicity. It seemed it was still there, however. I was relieved and couldn't help but smile.

Later, with half of the members asleep or showering, I and Junmyeon hyung could finally have our old friendly chats. As I was afraid to lose Yixing ge—but apparently that would not happen—I was even more eager to have my time with hyung. We were by ourselves in the room because Jonginnie was finally taking his shower (the maknaes were the last to get their turn). We sat on hyung’s bed not having the energy to waste our time screwing around with the laptop.

“Thank god you and the two beagles are not sharing a room, or it would have been the end of us.”

“Hey, you are only relieved I'm sharing a room with you because you missed me so much!”

“Sure! I wasn't worried about the three of you crashing a room down all by yourselves and make all of us stay awake due to your nosiness.”

“Hyung, I'm offended now. Didn't you miss me even one bit?” I replied over-dramatically. He threw his pillow at me as I covered my face while laughing hard.

“You don't have to worry since Minseok hyung is rooming with them and nobody in his right mind would mess with him.”

“Still, you haven't seen Kyungsoo in action.”

“I remember Kyungsoo hyung. I shared a dorm with him during my trainee days.”

“I think he got fiercer… don’t you think?” he asked.

“No way!”

“It’s actually cute when he gets angry, but don't tell him. I want to remain biased.”

“Pffft! You are biased only because you are the leader.”

“Such an insolent brat,” he said, faking anger. I smiled wider. We enjoyed our silence for a while.

“Things are going to get hectic very soon,” he then added.

“I know. Isn't it good we are all together?”

“ Yeah. Hope we all blend well.”

“Why not? Hyung!”

“We got used to 5 people and it wasn't easy. Even though we know each other, we have to adjust to the behavior of another 6 people. It's not going to be easy.”

“You think too much, hyung. I think the only problem here it will be the lack of food,” I tried to joke. Junmyeon smiled at me.

“Maybe I really missed a bit of your optimism.”

I smiled, embarrassed because if there was one thing that Junmyeon hyung and Yixing ge had in common—and believe me, they are two completely different people—is this ability to just voice sweet words out the blue like it is no big deal. Again, it probably wasn’t for them. It was nice hearing, nonetheless.

“I missed you too. But I missed your wallet even more,” I then concluded. Then he threw me a book.

Maybe Xing ge did had a bad influence on me, as I was starting to enjoy messing with the leader a bit too much. But well. It's funny!

Waking up to the howls of Zitao's laugh wasn't the best thing ever. Hyung was worried about me being with Chanbaek. I bet he forgot about the bad influence Baekhyun had on everyone, and, above all, his favourite dongsaeng Zitao. I sleepily got up. I knew it was early and that we had to go to the SM building much later, but I just couldn't go back to sleep. I passed Junmyeon bed where he was curled up, immersed in the blankets. He really looks like a baby when sleeping. I chuckled softly. I then proceed to the kitchen, not really surprised to see Minseok sipping from a cup of tea. He always used to get up early, and I bet being in Korea again didn't change this habit of his. But he wasn't alone. Kyungsoo was there too, and I smiled at that. Heck, we are in Korea now. They greeted me, and Kyungsoo gently me a cup of tea.

Then a loud crash coming from Chan-baek-tao room made us yelp.

Kyungsoo's grip on the cup got dangerously tight.

“Let me. It's my room after all,” said my discipliner to Kyungsoo, making the latter visibly relax and even smile. A shiver run down my spine as I saw Minseok hyung heading towards his room as Kyungsoo's smile grew wider.

“I'm so happy we are all together again,” he commented.

Strange sounds of a battle were heard from that side of the dorm.

Oh my god, what have we put together!

From EXO’s new dorm: HELP!!