Welcome Party

Appearances: Jongdae, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo
Mentions: Luhan and Yixing

It is almost midnight when Jongdae finally gets the chance to relax his body. He lies down on his bed and closes his eyes, wanting to go to dreamland as quickly as possible. The thing is, he has just moved out of his old apartment because he has finally found a cheaper apartment which is much more nearer to his college and the café that he works in as a part-time job. It will be more convenient for him this way. At least that is what he hopes for.

His apartment is placed on the twelfth floor at Seoul Apartment Building Complex which is the highest floor in the building. It is also very spacious and cosy which makes it a hundred times better. The only problem is, he has to go back and forth from the first floor to the twelfth floor to bring his things which gets pretty tiring.

It does not make things any better when none of his neighbours bothers to help him. Well, he cannot exactly blame them because they are most probably busy at the moment. Or maybe, they are just plain lazy and not chivalrous, at all. Kind neighbours help one another.

Jongdae decides to shrug it off because he is trying his best not to think badly of his new neighbours because he is a nice person like that. He decides to greet them tomorrow. As for now, he needs his beauty sleep.

He can feel himself slipping away to dreamland. His body is very tired and the bed is very comfortable right now. He is getting sleepier as seconds pass and-

Ding-dong!

His eyes snap open immediately. A rush of irritation washes over him and he wonders who in the right mind would ring the doorbell of someone’s house at midnight? He considers ignoring it but since he is a very nice person, he grumbles to himself and stands up from his bed. He makes his way out of his room to the front door groggily.

Not bothering to look at the peephole, he just opens the door. It does not even cross his mind that a ghost might be standing right outside his door because Kim Jongdae has never believed in ghosts. Well, he has never seen one so he figures that they do not exist. Humans are much scarier, in his opinion.

Jongdae is about to shoot a menacing glare at the person who rang the doorbell at freaking twelve midnight but before he is able to do that, the person, wait no, three people just barge into his apartment while carrying plastic bags, acting like they own the apartment that Jongdae just rented.

“What the hell?” he exclaims out loud, feeling mortified at their sudden actions. He turns around only to find them seated on his sofa and the plastic bags that they were carrying are on top of the table. The guy who is the tallest among the three and has big ears, grabs the remote control of the television. He switches it on and sounds from the television fill the living room.

The guy next to him is surprisingly very small. He has big doe eyes that make him look a lot like a creepy stalker. He grabs one of the plastic bags on the table and takes out a bag of chips before ripping it open and eating the chips.

The last guy is not as small as the previous guy but he is still quite petite, around Jongdae’s size. He is wearing eyeliner which, Jongdae grudgingly admits, makes him look good. The guy takes out soda cans from one of the plastic bags and passes them around.

Jongdae just stares at them, feeling dumbfounded at the sudden intrusion. He briefly considers calling the police as they have, after all, trespassed but since he is, for the third time, a nice person, he decides not to do that. These are his neighbours, after all. He does not want to create a neighbourhood drama.

“Who are you?” he asks, crossing his arms across his chest. “What are all of you doing here, anyway? It’s already midnight and I was about to fall asleep.”

“I told you, this is a bad idea,” the guy with the doe eyes chides at the other two. “We disturbed his sleep.”

The guy with the eyeliner just rolls his eyes at that. “Oh, please, you heard him,” he scoffs. “He was about to fall asleep. About to, get that? Technically, we did not disturb his sleep. Besides, you guys did this to me a few weeks ago when I just moved in.”

The guy with the big ears chuckles at that and flashes a crooked grin. “Well, we did this to everyone who has just moved in, Baek. It’s our tradition,” he explains. “This is the first time you’re joining us.”

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Jongdae demands, at last, not being able to take it anymore. Well, you cannot exactly blame him. It is freaking twelve o’clock at midnight and he is so damn exhausted. Just as he finally was able to rest, they came to eat and watch television at his apartment. Who wouldn’t be annoyed as hell at that?

The three strangers exchange glances before bursting into laughter at a private joke. Jongdae feels more annoyed than he already is. “I think you should leave,” he tells them flatly, gesturing to the front door which is still open.

“Oh, come on,” the eyeliner guy whines. “It’s your welcome party! We’re here to welcome you to our neighbourhood!”

Big Ears nods in agreement. “Yeah, you’re new here and we want to get to know you better,” he chimes in cheerfully.

“I’m sorry if we caused trouble for you,” Doe Eyes apologises softly. His eyes are sincere and Jongdae has no choice but to melt slightly at that.

“No, no, it’s fine,” he says finally. His shoulders droop. Wow, he really is nice, is he not? “It’s just that I’m tired at the moment so I’m quite… moody right now.”

Big Ears seems to quirk up at that. He stands up from the sofa and approaches Jongdae. The height difference between them is quite more noticeable now that they are standing side by side. The guy closes the door and grabs Jongdae’s hands before pulling him to sit with them on the sofa.

“We brought chips and soda,” he offers.

Jongdae sighs softly. He really wants to kick them out of his apartment and just go to sleep. However, the three guys are looking at him with puppy eyes and he really does not have the heart to do that. So, without much choice, he grabs a soda can and opens it. Cheers sound in his ears when he does that and a small smile forms on his lips. Maybe this will not be so bad, after all.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun, by the way,” the Eyeliner guy introduces himself with a smile that shows off his set of perfect teeth. “The guy with that creepy expression is Do Kyungsoo and that e-looking guy is Park Chanyeol.”

“I don’t look like a e!” Chanyeol protests wildly at the same time Kyungsoo claims that his expression is not creepy.

Jongdae cannot help but laugh at that. “I’m Kim Jongdae,” he replies. “C’mon, you said that it’s my welcome party. No fighting,” he teases.

Baekhyun just waves it off. “We fight all the time,” he replies airily. Then, his eyes shine brightly and a mischievous smile etches itself on his lips.

Kyungsoo groans as soon as he sees it. “It’s that look again,” he mutters under his breath.

“What look?” Jongdae asks, tilting his head curiously to the side.

“That look usually appears when he has a crazy idea,” Chanyeol explains before poking Baekhyun’s waist causing the guy to yelp in surprise. “Come on, tell us what it is this time.”

“What’s a party without music?” Baekhyun asks rhetorically as his eyes glint. He goes over to Jongdae’s precious karaoke machine and switches it on. He grabs the microphone before picking his song.

Jongdae just stares at him, feeling taken aback, because they have just met for the first time but these three guys have made themselves at home in his apartment. He does not know what to feel about that, to be completely honest. Annoyed? Not quite. Angry? Well, no. Amused? Yes, definitely amused.

It seems like Baekhyun is finally done with choosing which song he would sing because he moves away from the machine and makes sure that the microphone is steady in his grip. Jongdae peers at what song he chose before snickering.

“Written in these walls are the stories that I can’t explain…” Baekhyun sings, putting his feelings into it. “I leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days…”

Baekhyun just continues to sing and Jongdae looks on blankly while eating the chips. “One Direction, really?” he turns to Kyungsoo, raising his eyebrow.

A small chuckle is emitted from his heart-shaped lips. “Well, that guy has been obsessed with that song for months so…” Kyungsoo shrugs nonchalantly.

Chanyeol punches Kyungsoo’s arm lightly. “Leave the guy alone. You’re one to talk,” he chides gently, rolling his eyes. “I still remember that time when you were obsessed with Ariana Grande’s Problem.”

“Shut up,” Kyungsoo snaps back. “That’s because I’ve got one less problem without you.”

Jongdae laughs his head off at the doe-eyed guy’s sentence. His neighbours are definitely witty and he likes that because arguing with witty people is interesting. Baekhyun is singing the chorus at the moment and Jongdae has to admit that the guy has good vocals.

It is then realisation dawns on him. It is midnight, for God’s sake, and Baekhyun is singing at the top of his lungs. This will definitely disturb his other neighbours.

Just as the thought enters his head, someone bangs his front door loudly. “Shut the up!” the person yells from the other side of the door.

Instead of stopping, Baekhyun just sings even louder. The banging on the door becomes louder. “Somebody is trying to sleep here!” the person yells again, obviously infuriated.

Truth to be told, Jongdae feels a little bit scared because that is his front door the person is banging on and he does not want it to be broken or something. Also, the tone that the guy is using is murderous and he does not want to have a dead body in his new apartment.

“Who is that?” he whispers to the two guys next to him as Baekhyun pays no heed to the banging.

Chanyeol chortles at his question. “That’s Luhan, the resident’s little princess,” he answers lazily. Then, he coughs. “I mean, prince,” he amends, smiling as innocently as possible. Kyungsoo snickers at that.

“Luhan’s sleep is a sacred thing to him,” Kyungsoo explains. “He does not like people on his bed and will kick you if you try to wake him up. The only person he does not kick is Yixing which is understandable since they live in the same apartment. They came from China together, you see.”

“He will also say that he’s manly even though none of us thinks so,” Chanyeol adds in.

Jongdae frowns and looks over to Baekhyun worriedly but the said guy is just singing in a carefree manner. The banging has stopped, indicating that Luhan has finally given up. “Luhan sounds like a scary person,” he comments, at last.

At that, Baekhyun stops singing and the three guys in his apartment exchange looks. Baekhyun is biting his lips, Chanyeol is looking away from him and Kyungsoo purses his lips into a straight line. Then, simultaneously, they guffaw loudly while clutching their stomachs.

Jongdae just stares at them blankly, not getting the joke. Well, he feels like a new student in high school where everyone gets the joke while only he is left out, feeling lost.

“Luhan is, like, the least scary person ever!” Baekhyun exclaims between his laughter.

“He can barely hurt a fly, trust me,” Kyungsoo says after he has calmed down.

“He’s too pretty to be scary,” Chanyeol adds, causing them to laugh again.

Jongdae makes a face at them, not knowing what he should respond. He feels a little bit upset because he seriously wants to know why they are laughing.

“You’ll get it when you meet him, Jongdae,” Baekhyun says to him. He gives Jongdae a comforting smile which does nothing to comfort him.

Well, frankly, he does not think he wants to meet Luhan. Like, seriously. That guy seems to be a scary person.

 At least that is what he thinks.