(italics = Mandarin)

Lay felt someone tapping his shoulder and once again woke up. It was Friday, and a young guy stood in his bedroom, hovering over his bed, panda eyes crinkling as he grinned. Lay’s only response was to groan and shove his face back into his pillow.

“Come on Lay!” The guy whined. Lay wondered how he had become friends with a girly wushu panda like Tao. “It’s almost eleven and you promised me you’d hang out with me at the mall since you have no classes!”

“Go with Kris.” Lay mumbled. “I had four exams, I’m too tired to keep up with your shopping.” It wasn’t like he could anyways, he added in his head.

“I already asked him.” Tao sighed. “He’s working on some piece for his Monday class at school.” Both of Lay’s roommates were fashion majors. He didn’t really know how he had agreed to rent an apartment with two fashion majors (with possible mental problems), but there was definitely a flyer and some drinking involved. Kris and Tao turned out to be friendly and not serial killers, plus there was the benefit of a slightly cheaper apartment. They were also from China, like him, so they spoke Chinese amongst each other and one other friend they made: Luhan, a writing major living across the hall. They also were close friends with Chen and Xiumin, who were instantly dubbed the Koreans. It was much better than Lay expected when he moved to Korea. But unfortunately he did remember last night’s promise to Tao.

Which is how he found himself eating lunch at the mall’s food court with an overly excited Tao. They had already stopped at three shops on the way in. Lay knew he regretted his decision and his habit of never breaking a promise.

“Lay, look at that jacket over there.” Tao was staring over Lay’s shoulder, and Lay knew what was coming next. “Lay-”

“Tao, you know we agreed on a limit of two items.” Lay frowned. “And you already bought a scarf and a bag.” Honestly, this was why he avoided mall trips with Tao.

Tao pouted. “But Lay-”

“No. I made that mistake once, Tao.” Lay sighed. “You have a very expensive taste.” Tao’s pout remained. “And don’t use aeygo on me, we agreed it only works on Kris.”

Tao’s pout turned into a frown, his bottom lip sticking out in childish frustration. “You’re not a very nice person today.”

“You dragged me out of bed.” Lay responded, taking a bite of his ramen. “But I’m sorry. Arcade?” Tao’s eyes lit up with glee and he scrambled to finish his ramen.

“Lay?” A new voice appeared behind Lay, but he didn’t bother to turn around, instead glancing at Tao’s expression. He could typically tell who it was from his friend’s expression, but to his surprise, Tao’s face was a delicate balance of a blank face and a look of total confusion. He turned to see who was behind him and- oh. Suho stood there, hair upswept, wearing a blue button down and for all means looking a lot nicer than necessry for an outing to the mall. Suho cleared his throat and waved awkwardly, and Lay realized he was staring. Typical.

“Hi Suho.” Lay smiled. “How are you? I didn’t realize you were here.”

“I’m good.” And there was Suho’s warm smile again, a calm, safe smile that made Lay’s stomach tumble. Or it could be the ramen.

Tao, who noticed Lay’s change in expression, quickly spoke up. “Hi there! I’m Lay’s roommate ZiTao, but most people call me Tao. And you are-?” Suho blinked and looked over at him.

“I’m Suho.” He bowed politely at Tao, who bowed back. “I met Lay on Tuesday, at SM Dance Studio.”

Tao let out a small ‘ah!’ and Lay relaxed at his reaction. Maybe this wasn’t too bad, he mused as he took another bite of ramen. Then, “Well he’s cute, Yixing!”

Lay spluttered out the delicious ramen, cleverly distracting a confused Suho as he choked. “Tao! Don’t say that!” He hissed.

Tao, the er, blinked at him innocently. “Why not? You guys are really obvious.” He guestured at Suho’s hand, which was still absentmindedly rubbing circles on Lay’s upper back. Lay instinctively shrugged the hand off and brushed aside the odd feeling that came with the skinship (and afterwards, the lack thereof).

“You speak Chinese?” Suho switched the subject quickly, moving his hand away.

“Yes. I moved here from Changsha, actually.” Lay responded. “Both my roommates are Chinese.”

“Oh! That’s really cool. I hope you didn’t have a hard time adjusting.” Suho smiled again, damn his smiles. Tao coughed not-so-subtly at them.

“Well Suho, Lay here promised me the arcade.” He announced loudly. “But you’re welcome to come.”

Suho didn’t really look surprised to be invited, he hummed and nodded, glancing over at Lay as if to ask if he was okay with it. Lay shrugged in response and stood up to throw out his food. The other two started a discussion about who-knows-what. In Korean, if the conversation didn’t involve him, Lay didn’t feel the need to put the effort in to listen. He threw out both his and Tao’s trays and finally started to tune into the conversation.

“Say, hyung, what do you think of that jacket over there?” Lay froze at Tao’s seemingly-casual question. Oh no. That . He should’ve known this would happen.

“The jacket? It looks nice.” Suho’s voice was slightly confused, after all it was only a jacket. Lay sent Tao a death glare, to which the boy’s only response was a smile.

“Yes, yes, it’s very nice. But how do you think I would look in it?" Tao's tone was sugary sweet, but Suho just looked lost. He glanced at Lay and Lay shook his head, motioning for him to tell Tao 'no'. Unfortunately Suho was a bit slow to understand and when he did, he did the exact opposite of what Lay had hoped.

"Ah. You want it?" Suho smiled in understanding. Nonononononono. Tao beamed and bounced up and down like an excited puppy. Suho chuckled and handed Tao his credit card, much to Lay's horror.

"You really shouldn't do that." Lay whispered once he caught up to them.

Suho shrugged. "It's fine. I trust him. Besides, I think Tao really wanted that jacket." He whispered that last part in Lay's ear, making the boy's hair stand on end. Suho really was something.

Tao happily bounded over to them, proudly showing off the new jacket. Despite how he had gotten it, Lay had to admit the jacket was pretty stylish. They both gave Tao their compliments before heading on to the arcade. On the way, Lay learned a lot about Suho. He was actually the same age as Lay, and he was studying to become a singer. He had no siblings but he took care of all his friends, which was tiring for him. Lay felt at ease chatting with him as Tao bounced ahead of them.

And for once, he thanked Tao in his head for the shopping trip.

Yayy!! This was a long chapter. Thank you to all that commented and subscribed! Everything in italics is Lay and Tao speaking in Chinese.

All coments and subscribers are greatly appreciated!

Edit: It's been like two weeks and I never noticed I accidentally hid the chapter cause I was on a different device. Wow I'm so good at this

xoxo Lucy Louis Lee