Nerves plagued Hongbin’s entire being as the taxi made its way through Seoul to his new place of residence. Anxiously, he bounced his leg and fiddled with the cap on the pen in his hand. He moved to Seoul from the country for school a job, but because he did not have that much money, he chose a housing situation similar to that of a fraternity house. For the majority of his life, his two protective sisters looked after him and going somewhere without them unsettled him.

All such thoughts were forced from his mind as the taxi pulled up to the house. He got out and removed his luggage before paying the driver and bowing to him in thanks. He stood on the street, looking up at the house before him. From what he could see, it was a two-story house with an attic. Picking up his bags, he walked forward and rang the doorbell to wait for someone to come to the door. When it opened, he got the shock of his life. There, in the doorway, stood a middle-aged woman. Instincts kicking in, however, he immediately smiled and bowed at the woman.

“Hello young man. You must be the new resident.” Hongbin nodded. “Well, come on in. The other boys are out at the moment, but will return in the evening. They asked me to show you around. I’m the housekeeper and I come and clean once a week.” Hongbin followed the woman around as she pointed out the kitchen, the bathrooms and which rooms are already occupied.

“Four of the boys live upstairs, but you will live downstairs with Taekwoon. You seem like a quiet boy, so I’m sure you will get along just fine with him. By the way, what is your name dear? You can call me Auntie Kang, all the boys do.” Hongbin uncapped his pen and wrote on the whiteboard he had been holding the entire time.

My name is Hongbin. Thank you for showing me around. Hongbin gave a dimpled smile as he held up the board. Auntie Kang looked at him strangely for a moment before letting the fact that he didn’t speak drop.

“Put your luggage in the corner here and when the boys return, they will tell you exactly where to put it. Messing with Taekwoon’s things is not the best way to start off a relationship with him.” Hongbin nodded, curious about the type of person he would be staying with. “Before I forget, here is your key to the house.” She handed him a gold key. He bowed and wrote something on his whiteboard.

Thank you, Auntie Kang. Is there a park or something near here? Since his housemates would be gone for a while, he didn’t see the harm in going out for a bit.

“Of course. There is one about four blocks down the street.” Auntie Kang looked at her watch. “Aigoo. I have to go, but the boys should be back by dinnertime. Be careful when you go out, okay.” She received a bow and a cute smile. “So cute.” She murmured before leaving the house.

Alone, Hongbin looked around the house. He felt a little more confident now that he has interacted with someone, unfortunately, that someone was not one of his housemates, so he was still quite nervous. As he looked, a picture on the wall caught his eye. He walked closer and saw that there were five people varying in looks. He wondered how accurate the picture was since people often change their hair color and style. There was one person in particular who caught his eye. He had long, black hair, a strong gaze and looked like he was 5000% done with the goofy actions of the others.

Shrugging, Hongbin moved away from the picture and to his things. He wanted to calm his nerves before meeting the others and he only knew of one way to do this. Smiling, he pulled out his camera and prepared it to go out. Making sure he had his key and his whiteboard, Bin set off to the park with Auntie’s directions in mind. It was exactly where she said it was and its size brought a smile to the man’s face. He would have a lot of material to shoot with all the space before him. Not wanting to waste daylight, Hongbin immediately started snapping pictures, trying to get the perfect angle, light, and filter.

Absorbed in his hobby, Hongbin stayed in the park until the sun was almost completely below the horizon. He didn’t want to be out at night in an unfamiliar place. Moving quickly, he managed to get back to the house just as night fully settled in. His nerves attacked him again as he saw that the lights in the house are on. Clutching his camera and whiteboard, he walked up to the door and used his new key to open it. There were five pairs of shoes in the entryway, signaling that all of his housemates were home.

Not giving himself time to get any more nervous, Hongbin bravely walked forward, looking for the bodies to match the voices that he heard. He found four of them in the living room watching television. He wasn’t sure how he should make his presence known, but luckily, he didn’t have to. One of the men, who Hongbin thought had really thick lips, noticed him and shouted to the others.

“Intruder! Sound the alarms!” He jumped up and waved his hands in Hongbin’s direction. Another man, Hongbin observed that he had sharp cheekbones, jumped up with the first and started shouting out commands.

“Troops to your battle stations!!!” Hongbin watched this with a confused expression.

“Yah!! Would you two stop it! He’s not an intruder, he’s our new housemate!” Hongbin felt the new speaker had a very motherly tone as he yelled at the two on their feet. This is part of the reason Hongbin didn’t feel scared when the faux mom approached him. “Don’t mind them, they’re always a little crazy. My name is Hakyeon, but most people call me N. Sitting on the couch is Wonsik, but we call him Ravi, the first person you saw jump up is Jaehwan, Ken, and that cutie is Hyuk.” N introduced everyone and looked at Hongbin expectantly.

Grabbing his pen and whiteboard, Hongbin quickly wrote a message. He bowed 90º before raising the board. I’m Hongbin. It’s nice to meet you all. He also gave the people in the room a pretty smile. Suddenly intrigued by the new person, Ken bounced over to him.

“You must have a serious sore throat or something to be writing on a board for communication.” Ken spoke. Hongbin looked at him, confused, before turning his gaze to N.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t like to talk to people who act like a crazy person at the first meeting.” N interjected. “Now, do you mind if we get to know you better?” N had turned to ask Hongbin, who shook his head. Over the next couple of hours, Hongbin wrote down the answers to most of their questions. He learned that he was the same age as Ravi and that Hyuk was his dongsaeng. After a while, however, Hongbin grew curious as to where his last housemate and roommate was.

If I may ask, where is the other person who lives here? Hongbin looked up at his new friends.

“He’s in your room. I’ll get him.” N got up and made his way to the room Hongbin had placed his things in earlier. “YAH JUNG LEO!” N yelled as he disappeared into the room. Moments later, he returned, dragging a tall, intimidating man with him.

Hongbin, however, didn’t find Taekwoon scary at all. In fact, the only word Hongbin could think of to describe the man was perfect. Bin was biual, so he wasn’t surprised that he was attracted to the male.

“Here he is! Taekwoon, this is Hongbin. He’s going to be the person rooming with you, so did you clear space like I asked you to?” Taekwoon gave a withering glare to N, but nodded his head. “Good.” N looked down to see Hongbin writing on his board.

N hyung, is Taekwoon-shi a hyung?

“Yes he his.” N answered before Bin could hold up the board. The new resident quickly erased the board and wrote something else.

Taekwoon-shi, may I call you Taekwoon hyung? He held the board up to the new addition to the room. He briefly saw a look of confusion pass over Taekwoon’s face before the elder shrugged.

“Hongbin, why do you write what you want to say on that whiteboard?” Ravi voiced the question that has been on everyone’s mind.

Hongbin furrowed his eyebrows before writing once more.

Didn’t you know? I’m mute.

Alright, chapter one. I have no idea where this story came from but it should prove interesting.....I hope. Yes, this story has long-haired Leo because I couldn't resist.

For future reference, underlined text means it is something Hongbin wrote and italicized text means sign language.

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