Krystal is a bit flustered. Jessica, who's sitting next to her on the couch, doesn't seem to have that problem - she seems mostly amused, a bit weirded-out, and more than pleased about the current situation they're both in. 

They're sitting in the middle of an empty living room, on a couch. The room still smells like fresh paint and they're trying to get rid of it by having all of the windows open almost all of the time; the only things - besides the couch - that they've already set up in their new living room are the curtains. If Krystal's life was a little weird before, with their powers and her being able to hear people's thoughts, now her life is downright bizzare, and, apparently, it involves handsome werewolves carrying pieces of furniture around her and her siblings' new home. 

Because that's what happening. 

"Okay, where does that go?" Sehun asks, coming into the room with a wardrobe that is taller than him and only holding it up with his hand that's stretched out to the side. The wardrobe is tilted back slightly so that the cabinets don't open. He looks like he's holding up a plastic toy, not a wooden, heavy wardrobe, and Krystal still can't get used to it. 

"Our room," Jessica says. Sehun nods and goes upstairs wordlessly, careful not to hit anything with the wardrobe he's carrying. With one hand. While humming 'Last Christmas'. When Sehun is gone, someone else quickly replaces him. This time it's two guys, and they're carrying a bed, and that's only because it's too long to be carried alone; they look like they're holding up a paper plate, not a metal bed. 

Krystal still can't remember all of their names, to be honest. 

"Daehyun's room," Jessica says. 

"I'm hungry," one of the boys says, drawing out the words. He looks at them hopefully. "Can we order some food?" 

Krystal stands up from the couch immediately, wanting to have something to do, and heads for the kitchen, where she's left her phone. "I'll order pizza," she offers. She enters the kitchen to find someone by the sink, sticking their head under the water and drinking straight from the stream. She gasps.

"That water is unhealthy!" she says, and the person startles. He straightens up right away, looks at her like she's just offended him. "You're gonna get kidney stones, or something." 

The boy gapes at her. He looks kinda cute, she notes. Then she also notes water dripping from his chin and snorts.

"We don't get kidney stones, we're werewolves," the guy says like it's obvious. Krystal admits she hadn't taken that into account. She doesn't know much about werewolf physics, she's only just learning about them, after all. She starts wondering, oddly, if they get colds. Or if it's possible for them to have asthma. 

"So if you're gonna get kidney stones you're just gonna howl them out?" she asks, squinting, and them smiles when the guy opens his mouth in a silent gasp. 

"Okay, that was actually quite good," the boy says, shrugging lightly. He wipes the water away from his mouth. "But you still have a lot to learn about dog and werewolves jokes. Ask Amber, she'll teach you." 

The longer Krystal stares at him, the closer she thinks she is to guessing his name. Did it start with a B? It's one of the longer ones. Something involving food. She should just write them all on her palm, or something. She doesn't even realize she's staring until he gets visibly uncomfortable and crosses his arms as well. 

"Stop that," he says. Krystal's eyes snap up to his. 

"What?" she asks. 

"You'rereadingmythoughtsaren'tyou," he mumbles so quickly she doesn't even have time to blink. 

"What?" 

"Oh my God, Krystal," a voice says behind her. Someone stands next to her and she looks up at Chen. His name she knows because it's short. "You can't just stare people into feeling uncomfortable. That's Kai's job." 

"She does it better," Baekhyun mutters. "Okay, seriously, stop reading my thoughts." 

The second he mentions it, Krystal actually starts to listen in, and she shakes her head, trying to close off her brain again. She groans. 

"I wasn't listening in, but now I am because you reminded me I can!" she argues. She stomps out of the kitchen, sits on the couch, and curls her arms around her folded legs, curling into a ball. Jessica sends her a worried look. "Humming time," she states.

"What's humming time?" the sink water drinking guy asks, coming into the room. Chen follows him shortly.

"If I hum in my head and she listens in long enough, she forgets that she's hearing thoughts, and she's able to cut herself off. As in...not hear thoughts. It's a technique she uses sometimes." Jessica explains. "It's like...when you're listening to songs you like and know well while doing something at the same time and forget that there's music in the background." 

"If it weren't for you reminding me I can hear thoughts, I wouldn't have to do it now, Bacon," Krystal says, sulking. 

A howl of laughter erupts from all over the house, making them both startle. Chen high-fives himself, Bacon goes pale.

"That joke hasn't been used in years!" someone yells from upstairs, just as Bacon groans. 

"So that was a thing?!" Chen screams, laughing his off.

"Krystal, my queen!" someone else shouts. Weird thoughts and memories starts flooding Krystal's senses at that, and she remembers that the boy's name is Baekhyun. Okay, so she was close.

Then something weird happens. At first it's quite normal; she gets bombarded with thoughts and memories. That itself isn't odd. There's a lot of people in the house and she can hear them all. What's weird is that all these memories and thought seem weirdly...connected.

There's a weird glow around memories of puns and lame jokes. These memories are unusually bright, unusually warm, like they're all coming from one person that feels one emotion - happiness and nostalgia. Her body buzzes weirdly under that emotion, her brain does something weird, and oddly, she doesn't feel attacked by all the thoughts. She feels the same happiness the boys remember, and it's...weird. It's weirdly nice. 

She opens her eyes when she feels Jessica's touch on her skin. 

"You okay?" her sister asks her. Her face goes from worried to relieved and then she smiles. "Well, you look unusually happy." 

"There's something different about their thoughts," Krystal says, frowning, but smiling. "I've noticed that before, but now I finally get it." 

"Get what?" Jessica asks, confused. Her face just went through four different emotions and it's hilarious. 

"Their thoughts are so connected," Krystal explains, lowering her voice. She glances at Baekhyun and Chen, who stop bickering and instead listen to what she's saying out of curiosity. "It doesn't matter who the memory belongs to, it feels like it's...collective. And it has this weird, happy glow to it. Memories have different feelings to them, but it's like all the happiness from each memory just...showed up in my mind at once." 

"Huh," someone says, and they both look up, only now noticing Kai and you lurking by the door. Kai is the one talking. "That must be what the pack bond does." 

"I didn't listen in on purpose," Krystal explains quickly, looking at you a bit panicked; you smile because she's probably the only person who's even taken your threat of taking her powers away from her seriously. 

"That's fine," you say. "It's fun knowing our memories are connected like that. Wish I could know how it feels." 

"I guess you kinda can, though?" Kai says, unsure, and then puts a finger over your triangle tattoo. "Not emotions, but connection. All the freaking time. Just like werewolves do. I always thought it must feel similar, but even more precise and direct."

"Okay, we're done," a voice booms through the room. It belongs to Kyungsoo. More people show up in the door and they all pour into the living room. "You're gonna have to move the furniture yourself, though, we don't know how you want it." 

"Of course," Jessica says. "Thanks so much for your help." 

"Where's my pizza though?" Chanyeol asks, putting his hands on his hips. Krystal nearly facepalms. 

"Okay, I forgot about the pizza," she admits. 

"No! You do not forget about the pizza!" Xiumin screams. 

"I'm going, I'm going!" Krystal shouts, running to the kitchen. Voices - real voices, not voices in people's head - start filling her ears and she finds herself focused on the overall chatter. It's weirdly comforting; she forgets about the fact that she can listen into their thoughts, and she cuts herself off of that ability for a moment. She orders a lot of pizzas and hopes they'll have enough money to pay for it, and then she goes back to the living room. 

Kyungsoo is hauling in a TV screen and Sehun is trotting after him with a BluRay. 

"No pizza without TV," Chanyeol tells her, meeting her surprised gaze. 

"Who picks today?" you ask from the floor as you pull a few movies out from your bag. "It was Sulli's turn last time." 

"It was supposed to be Min's, but she's not here, and we're in the Jung's new house, so I say Krystal and Jessica should have a pick," Kai decides, picking up the movies and carrying them over to the couch. Krystal trots over quickly. 

"We want -kicking and massacre," she decides. 

"Definitely," Krystal answers. 

"Oh, darling, you're gonna have that every day from now on," Chen says, scoffing. 

"Don't scare them off," Chanyeol hisses. "We must keep them from running away!" 

They're the most bizzare group of friends Krystal and Jessica have ever met, and they feel right at home.

I've got prom today! So around the time it'll be posted (my lovely beta is gonna make it visible for you all) I'll probably be eating. Or dancing, but nah, probably eating. 

Wish me fun and I hope that you're all okay. These past three weeks were SO CHAOTIC for me, you have no idea. If I haven't replied to your comments/messages/replies/wall posts/tumblr messages/line messages/LOL I swear it's because I actually had ZERO TIME to do that.

But here's the good news: my winter holidays start on the 1st of February. That means - I hope, at least - more updates and longer chapters and more time for me to reply to your lovely messages and spend some time with you (as much as I can do that on the internet :D).

Love you! <3