Special Double Update: Thanks for 100 subscribers <3

2010

          Zitao passed through the doors for the first time as an official trainee. He felt the rush of air from the heater as he entered the building. He breathed in deeply as he took in his new home. There were high ceilings in the living area which stood just past the entryway. There was a balcony with many doors lining it on the floor above; much like a hotel would be setup. There were a few other trainees lounging around on the sofas and chairs in the room before him. He pulled his suitcase along after himself as he ventured further into the dormitory. He swallowed nervously as he looked around. He knew his room was on the second floor, and seeing no elevator in sight, he resigned himself to the fact that he would have to lug his heavy bags up the stairs. Standing their in thought, Zitao didn’t notice when he was approached by another trainee.

          “Annyeonghaseyo,” the boy said with a nod.

Zitao’s eyes widened and his mind went blank as the boy spoke. Annyeonghaseyo? What?

          “Annyeong? Eh… Jeoneun Chanyeol-imnida,” the boy said.

Zitao stared blankly at him, not comprehending a word he’d said. The boy scratched the back of his awkwardly, not knowing what to do with the vacant stare he was receiving. Suddenly, Zitao jumped, realizing that the boy had introduced himself.

        “A-Annyeonghaseyo,” Zitao mumbled, “Zitao-imnida…”

The boy smiled at his response, glad to dispel the tense air the silence had created between them. He began to speak to Zitao again, who found himself not even getting the gist of what the newcomer—Chanyeol—was saying.

        “J-jeogiyo…” Tao interrupted, “I… I can’t understand very well, sorry… I am Chinese.”

Chanyeol’s eyes lit up with understanding.

        “Ah… Eh, one minute,” he said, holding up a finger and walking away before stopping, “Wait here.”

Zitao stood there dumbfounded. Once again, the boy’s words had flown above his head. The boy ran away before Zitao could ask him to repeat what he’d said. Figuring that the boy didn’t want to deal with him, Zitao turned toward the stairs again, getting ready to make his way up the long flight with his luggage. He lifted his heavy suitcase up to the first step with difficulty. Zitao wasn’t weak either; he’d trained in wushu since he was a child. His bag was just too heavy for his own good. He lifted the bag to the next step, dropping it down once it had breached the edge. Taking a breath, he began to lift it again when a hand came from nowhere and easily lifted it up and set it down gently. Zitao’s eyes widened, and his gaze snapped up to look at who the hand belonged to. He found his breath practically ripped from his lungs as he stared at the person in front of him. This man was gorgeous. He was at eye-level with Zitao, despite being on the step below him, and had long dark hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. He wore a pair of rectangular-framed glasses on his nose and a hoodie over a pair of dark skinny jeans. Zitao gulped and blinked a couple of times to clear his mind. Coming back into reality, he realized the man was speaking to him.

        “Eh? Could you re-re-peat?” Zitao asked in broken Korean.

        “I asked if you’d like some help,” the man said in fluent Mandarin.

Zitao’s eyes widened at the sound of his mother tongue, before he smiled in relief at the familiarity and comfort of it.

        “Please?”

The man smiled, and Zitao felt like he was going to have a heart attack from the utter beauty of this man.

        “Of course; my name is Yifan.”

Yifan.

        “What is your name?” Yifan asked.

        “Zitao.”

Yifan nodded in affirmation and looking into Zitao’s eyes, he gave another heart-wrenching smile.       

“Welcome home, Zitao.”

—————

2011

        Chanyeol entered the trainee dorm around 3:00 am Saturday morning. He’d been up late playing guitar and free-styling with Kris and Tao, who’d been inseparable since he’d introduced the pair on Tao’s first day. He remembered meeting the poor lost boy and coming to realize that he needed to find someone who spoke Chinese to communicate. Chanyeol had found Yifan—or has Chanyeol called him, Kris—to help translate. The pair of Chinese trainees had hit it off quite well and abandoned Chanyeol, much to his dismay, only to find that they were coincidentally roommates. Every once in a while though, Chanyeol managed to convince them to rap with him in the training rooms for the fun of it. Today was one of his lucky days, and they had practiced into the wee hours of the morning. Returning home, he was exhausted. He wanted to collapse onto one of the sofas in the living room, but knew he should head into his room. Chanyeol was lucky enough to have a room to himself with no roommate, which allowed him to stay up late practicing guitar or creating new tracks on his computer. Making his way to the room, he felt his exhaustion hit hard. He unlocked his door and tossed his bag onto the other bed in the room, which was already covered in a pile of his stuff. He pulled his shirt over his head and slipped out of the pants he’d been wearing. He flopped onto his bed after plugging his phone in to charge for the night. His eyes closed and he was out as his head hit the pillow.

        Chanyeol groaned as he began to wake up late Saturday afternoon. After the day of practice before, he was grateful for his day off, despite the fact that he’d most likely end up practicing at some point. He stretched out his limbs, but didn’t sit up. He missed his bed, especially on mornings like this. As a trainee, he didn’t spend enough time lying in bed, due to his unyielding training schedule. With a yawn, Chanyeol closed his eyes once again, basking in the comfort of his blankets.

        “Could you let go of me?” A small voice said from beside him.

Chanyeol’s eyes jerked open at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. He whipped his head to the source of it, only to find a small brown-haired boy lying in his arms with his eyes open, watching Chanyeol. Chanyeol blinked in surprise; it’s not everyday you wake to find a stranger in your bed. Realizing their position, Chanyeol jerked away from the boy.

        “Oh my god! I’m sorry!” Chanyeol immediately apologized.

        “It’s alright,” the boy replied, sitting up and smoothing his tousled hair.

Chanyeol found himself mesmerized for a moment, before grasping the fact that he had no idea who this boy was or why he was in his room.

        “Wait… who are you?” Chanyeol asked.

The boy stopped fixing his hair and turned to the other.

        “I’m Baekhyun, your new roommate,” he said with a smile.

Baekhyun’s face shined with a radiance that Chanyeol found himself stuck in as the smaller boy smiled.

        “What’s your name?”

        “Chanyeol.”

        “Well this was quite the first impression, if I do say so,” Baekhyun said with a laugh, “I assumed that bed was yours, because it had your stuff on it,” he pointed at the bed on the other side of the room, “But I suppose when you have a room to yourself, you’re free to use everything.”

Chanyeol decided that Baekhyun’s laugh was magical.

        “Yeah,” Chanyeol said sheepishly, “I’m really sorry about this…”

        “Don’t worry; it’s quite funny when you think about it,” Baekhyun reassured.

Chanyeol then decided that Baekhyun was just magical in general. He was used to people yelling at him for his clumsiness or his thoughtlessness, but Baekhyun put him at ease for the first time in a while.

        “I guess it is…” Chanyeol agreed with a chuckle, “It really is.”

—————

2012

        Seeing him perform on stage was completely different from during rehearsals. Kyungsoo found his eyes drawn to Jongin’s form for the millionth time as they performed in their debut showcase. His heart was racing a mile a minute, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of his nerves or the boy who he kept stealing glances at. With the final song finished and the interview questions done, the twelve boys found themselves celebrating in their dressing room. It had been a successful night. They performed their hardest for every song and had won the hearts of thousands of new fans. Kyungsoo collapsed into the chair in front of his mirror. His head bent back and eyes closed, he breathed in and out, trying to bring himself back from his performance high. His heart slowed for the first time that night as he relaxed. He sat up and looked around at the other members. They were hugging and celebrating with each other. Joon Myun—or Suho as they were supposed to call him now—announced that dinner was on him to celebrate their success. The others cheered in joy at the prospect of free food. Kyungsoo stood and joined the others. He couldn’t help but smile as they cheered and whooped and hollered. He looked up and met Jongin’s gaze through a gap between bodies. Jongin—no, Kai—smiled and made his way to the elder.

        “Great job tonight, hyung. You sang really well.”

        “Thanks, you danced really well too,” Kyungsoo replied.

Kai smiled, satisfied with the given compliment. Kyungsoo and Kai had known each other since they were trainees. Kai, having been their longer, was already an established dancer among the other trainees when Kyungsoo first became one. However, despite his quiet nature, he quickly rose to be a top vocalist. Kyungsoo found that, after collaborating with him for a trainee showcase, Kai liked to push his buttons. They clashed often, and the younger would simply smirk at the elder’s frustration. Kyungsoo wished he had a more agreeable personality, because he found himself continuously attracted to the tan boy’s charisma and good looks. But Kyungsoo refused to allow himself to like the other, since he came off as an annoying prick. This exchange of compliments was a rarity in itself; one that Kyungsoo didn’t want to question, and simply put off as a side effect of their exhaustion. Kai would never freely give such praise as he’d just done. It simply wasn’t Kai.

        Living in the trainee dorm with Kim Jongin was one thing, but it was a whole different thing when they were put in a small dorm intended only for their band. It was even more of a different level when they were forced to share a room, and it became an extremely different level when they were only given a single queen size bed in said room. Kyungsoo entered their shared room after being informed that they were now roommates with the expectation of two beds and a similar setup to the trainee dorm. He was sincerely disappointed. He dropped his bag at the sight of the only bed in the room. Kai, who was following behind him, peeked around him to see the reason for the sudden release of the bag’s handle.

        “One bed?” Kai said more than asked, “Well won’t this be interesting.”

Screw you, Kim Jongin, Kyungsoo thought.

        “Even though we’re sharing a bed, hyung, I don’t think we’re that close yet,” Kai replied, apparently hearing what Kyungsoo though he didn’t say aloud.

Kyungsoo turned bright red.

        “Yah!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, turning to the taller boy behind him.

He glared up at him before deciding that this was not going to work. He pushed the younger out of the room.

        “Hey! Hyung, come on! Wait, ouch, hyung!”

Kyungsoo slammed to door as he finally managed to push Kai out. For good measure, he locked it behind him. One thing was for sure, they had a long way to go before they’d be able to share this room comfortably; and an even longer way before they finally stopped fighting their attraction for each other.

A/N: Thank you again for 100 subscribers! You guys rock! Here is the special update I promised~ It's mostly three one-shots of the some of the other couples in the story. I've already given you all a glimpse at Hunhan and of couse XiuChen, but this is Taoris, Baekyeol and Kaisoo. I was going to write a little Sulay drabble, but wasn't sure how exciting it would be. The Sulay OTP is just so chill... Anways, I hope you all enjoyed! Please comment, subscribe, upvote, etc.! I love you all <3