A/N: Tiffany and Jessica's solos are killer. I'm so happy that both of them are able to live their dreams, especially since Tiffany is due a solo debut and Jessica has held her music for 2 years.

Seunghyun’s bank was opening up a new base in California, Los Angeles to be more precise. He wanted his own place in case he ever needed a place to sleep, which would most likely happen since he was high in the ranks of executives. However, he also wanted someone to look after the apartment he bought since he would travel and decided to ask Xiumin, who agreed. Then they realized it’d be good to have a girl in the house, just to keep things in order, thus leading to Seunghyun asking me to room with him and Xiumin. I was the closest girl to both of them, so they both had a silent agreement to ask me. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to live with two of my closest friends. The idea in itself made me happy.

“Taeng! Come on, we only have the weekend to move in, grab a box!” Xiumin ordered me, handing over the noticeably bigger box of his belongings.

“Oh yeah, sure, make the girl carry your stupid box of…textbooks?! no wonder this is hurting my back!” I readjusted my hold on the box and carried it into the apartment, heading towards Xiumin and Seunghyun’s shared room. The both of them took ownership of the master bedroom since it was larger so I got the smaller bedroom. I was already finished with bringing in my things, but Xiumin was still bringing in his things from the dorms.

“Hey, shut up, you’re strong!” he patted my back and I grinned at him. “What’s with that stupid smile on your face?”

“Can’t I be excited?” I shrugged and he laughed as we walked out, taking in the last few boxes.

“Yeah, this is gonna be hella fun! Oh, by the way, Seunghyun said he’ll be back in about five minutes so we’ll sit down and talk then,” he reminded and I hummed, putting away the dishes that were in the wrapped up in the box I brought inside. I took out three mugs and smiled. They were designed with superhero logos on them: Superman, Batman, and the Green Lantern. “Yours, mine, Seung’s,” he pointed down the line and I picked up my cup, Superman.   

“Super, let me guess, Seunghyun had you buy these,” I guessed and he nodded with a smile. I remembered waking up in Tiffany’s apartment when we were teens, after I had been smacked in the head with a snare drum head and escaped without a concussion. They dubbed me as “Indestructible” but later Seunghyun changed it to “Super”, saying that it had better flow. The door opened behind us and we turned, seeing Seunghyun all dressed up in his formal work attire. I had trouble seeing him as a responsible adult, even though he was. It was hard looking at my friends and seeing them older, I wasn’t sure how I’d get used to it.

“Hey guys! I’m home!” he threw his briefcase onto the couch while Xiumin squatted down to look at him through the opening from the kitchen.

“You got the blackboard?” Xiumin asked and he held up a large shopping bag, taking out the board and chalk. We gathered on the couch then, setting the blackboard on the coffee table in front of us. There were three of us and we all decided it’d be important to set some ground rules before jumping into fights over something stupid. I definitely did not want to get into any fights with either of them. We’ve all been friends for years and it would if something as stupid as taking out the trash broke us apart.

“Woah, you can’t put that down as the title,” Seunghyun stopped Xiumin, chuckling at what the later just wrote.

“What?” Xiumin frowned and I leaned over to see the title of the blackboard: SXT RULES FOR PEACE. I laughed out loud. “Oh !” he erased the first word, switching up the letters so it was more appropriate. “What should be the number one rule? That’s gotta be important.”

“Rule Number 1: don’t bring girls home,” I suggested and they both groaned out loud. “You weren’t thinking of doing that were you?!”

“Dude! We’re getting old, come on, just turn up the volume on your music or something,” Seunghyun insisted and I covered my face with my hands.

“You guys share a room! How can you say that?!” I winced.

“Seunghyun isn’t always gonna be here!” Xiumin insisted. “Come on, you know when Tiffany comes back and sees this rule she’s gonna throw a fit.” I blushed hard when he even insinuated Tiffany and I having . Oh my God don’t think about that it’ll just get you even more anxious for her to come back. I buried my face in my knees and forced the thoughts out of my head. Just back out of this, you can’t fight any more in this conversation.

“Okay, how about this? If we want to bring home a girl, we’ll text everyone beforehand as a notice. Is that worthy of Number 1?” Seunghyun offered and I nodded, letting Xiumin write down the first rule of our apartment. “Next?”

“Who buys what? Seunghyun is already in charge of bills, so we have to figure out groceries and other necessities,” Xiumin offered. Seunghyun wanted to pay for the bills since it is his house, so we let him under the agreement that we’d pay for other things.

“My parents still send me money so I’ll buy toiletries and other miscellaneous things, you can handle groceries,” I said and Xiumin nodded, putting up another rule. I knew I should probably take care of things like toiletries, especially when I was the only girl. I didn’t want Xiumin to have to go out and buy feminine products for me. Though it would be pretty funny. “What else? Oh, yeah, guys, please wear all your clothes in communal areas. I don’t want to see you guys without shirts when it’s hot out knowing I can’t do the same and it’s just weird.”

“You’re no fun,” Seunghyun frowned as the other kept writing down our rules.

“Speaking of no fun, we should have a code word, you know, something for emergencies or along the lines of them,” Xiumin added, looking back and forth between us. A code word was actually a good idea. We lived together now, if someone wasn’t home for a known reason, I’d freak out. “And it can’t be something that we use all the time; we have to be able to know. Wanna know what I suggest?” he grinned and I thought back, nodding with a smile.

“Zesty!” we all shouted and laughed at the old catchphrase. An upperclassman once called Jiyong’s set performance “zesty” as a compliment, and since it was such an odd word we kept using it and spread the word to our other friends.

“Yes! Okay, but we can’t use it as a compliment anymore, it’s become our code word so we have to keep it under lock and key until it’s necessary,” I pointed at them and the pair nodded firmly.

“Since I’m buying food can we say that it’s all communal? No one owns anything unless their name is on it,” Xiumin said and I bit my lip. I wasn’t in love with food, but I didn’t want to eat some of my snacks, save them, and then come back to see them gone. But then again, all I have to do is write my name on it.

“I’m in,” I consented and Seunghyun nodded. he perked up all of a sudden.

“No more all-night studies,” he said and Xiumin and I stared at him. My jaw dropped. Is he for real? I’ve been a student for an entire decade, all-night study sessions were professional students’ go to. It was the way we worked, the backup plan to cram in some studies.

“You’re for real?” Xiumin raised an eyebrow and the banker nodded.

“You’re insane…” I said slowly, trying to get it through his head, and Seunghyun pushed me.

“Not kidding, I know you guys do it often, but I don’t want to stay up at night when you’re studying for some stupid test or something or another and we all know you’d be better off with at least 6 hours of sleep.” Well that wasn’t wrong. I could use more sleep, no, I definitely needed more sleep. And nearly everyone I’m close to knows I can never get used to ungodly hours. But since I no longer have track I have to stay in shape somehow.

“I’ll agree if I only get 5 hours, I need to go running for an hour so I don’t become a fatty,” I told him.

“Why are you staying in shape? You already have a hot girlfriend,” Seunghyun frowned and I smirked.

“It’s not just for her, it’s for me too,” I shrugged.

“Because God knows Taeyeon’s too shy to show off to even Tiffany,” Xiumin jeered and I blushed again, but tried to maintain my smile. “Do you even have abs?”

“Psh, of course I do! I’m actually pretty proud of my body,” I admitted and slapped Seunghyun’s hand away from coming closer to my stomach. “Don’t touch me.”

“You make it sound like I was going to molest you,” he frowned. “That’s no fun!” he whined and I rolled my eyes, pulling out my phone.

“Then how about I call Tiffany and you can ask her yourself? Xiumin, put down the rule for five hours,” I added, remembering how off track we suddenly got. I needed to call Tiffany anyways, I hadn’t told her I figured out my financial situation yet and she didn’t know I wasn’t at the dorms anymore. The three of us waited for her to pick up after I set it to speaker and for a moment I wasn’t sure if she was going to answer, until right after the fourth ring.

“Baby! Are you okay? How’s everything going? Do you need any help?” I smiled at her worry. It warmed me up.

“Everything’s okay, Love, Seunghyun and Jonghyun somehow talked me into letting them pay off the difference,” I started out and she let out a deep breath of relief.

“Good, you have rich friends, yes, utilize them,” she said and I chuckled, momentarily forgetting about Xiumin and Seunghyun.

“Yeah and, uh, I sort of moved out of the dorms so they didn’t have to pay more than they should so now I’m living with Xiumin and Seunghyun…” I told her and she hummed over the other line, thinking about my words. I didn’t really know what I would do if Tiffany was uncomfortable with it, but then again, why would she be? She can’t be uncomfortable, can she? Would she feel weird now that since we’re dating? But that didn’t change my friendship with any of the percussionists or others from high school. I’ve known them for years, we’re all friends. I couldn’t think of other people I would trust more.

“I think that was a good idea, Baby. I know living alone got a little lonely for you.” Before I could even whine in embarrassment, Xiumin and Seunghyun were hugging me, punching me, roughing up my hair and aweing to embarrass me further. . “Oh you’re with them,” Tiffany laughed and I hummed right before Seunghyun took my phone away.

“Hey! Rude!” I called but he was backed up by Xiumin, who ran over.

“Hey Tiff, on a scale of 1 to banger, how awesome is Taeng’s body?”

“She’s banging, no doubt about it.” They’re all out to get me. I swear to God Tiffany and my friends are going to be the cause of my death. “Her abs are on point, but don’t touch, they’re mine.” My neck burned and I squeezed a pillow to stop my fingers and toes from curling in horror. Why doesn’t she ever get embarrassed?! Why am I the one that’s like this?!

“You should see her right now, she’s literally curled up in a ball on the couch,” Seunghyun reported and I could hear all three of them laugh.

“She’s so precious, even when she isn’t trying! Like, you guys were all in Drumline together, how could you guys not find her lip bite attractive?” At the mention of me biting my lip I realized I was doing it and stopped. It was a habit of mine, especially during performances; I had a tendency to bite my lower lip when concentrating. But still, even after all these years, it’s cute how Tiffany still loves my little quirks. I smiled to myself and stood up, running to the kitchen and snatching away my phone before any of them could still embarrass me.

“Yah!” Xiumin shouted and took my phone off speaker, wanting to hear Tiffany’s voice for my own.

“Continue writing rules, we still have space on the blackboard,” I ordered and the pair sulked before going back to our original topic. “Did you have to say all that stuff?”

“I know you love it,” she giggled and I couldn’t help but smile with her. It’s true. “I miss the tiny things about you, I can’t help but fawn over them.”

“I miss the little things too, Hun,” I sighed and leaned back into the couch, glancing at Xiumin and Seunghyun as they agreed on another rule to put down. “Like your stupid fan-girl antics and how you like hanging your arms around my neck.” My roommates pretended not to hear but from the side smirk Xiumin was sporting I could tell. “Usually you’d be back here by now.”

“I know, we still have a way’s to go, but I just look at m tattoo and it reminds me of what you said,” she sighed and I hummed, urging her to go on. “We’re soul mates. No matter how long we go without seeing each other, we’re meant to be together.”

XST RULES OF PEACE:

1.     Alert other(s) of ‘midnight plans’ *DON’T FORGET TO TEXT FOR THE LOVE OF TAENG*

2.     X – food, S – bills, T – toiletries/misc. ($$)

3.     CLOTHES ON *Exception – sun’s out guns out*

4.     FOOD FOR ALL (complaining is out of the question) *Exception – name in marker*

5.     IN CASE OF EMERGENCY = ZESTY

6.     Minimum 5 HRS of sleep (no all-nightersL)

7.     X – general cleaning/trash, S – trash (when around), T – dishes *XT ALTERNATE W/O S*

8.     Love each other because we’re fam dammit