Chanyeol lugged his stuff to the closed doorway of his new "temporary home". He was excited, (How could he not be? He would be living in the same place as Kai), but before he was able to go inside, he dropped to the ground. His arms were tired, having carried somewhere near twice his weight up six flights of stairs. This wouldn't have been a problem if he actually went outside to work on his upper body strength instead of playing tennis on his Wii. However, video games are too addicting and the sun shoots death rays in the form of UV lights, so exercising was never really considered.

    He lay there, his harsh, laboured breathing echoing in the hallway as he realized that moving was really hard. He had the good fortune of having his dad do all the work help him with his previous apartment. This time it was all on him, and as stated before, it was very hard. So he let his eyes flutter shut, and worked on calming his breathing to a consistent pattern.

    While focusing on his breathing, he heard the elevator door open with a ding! and footsteps approaching him. He scoffed at his situation: a 6"2 male sprawled on the poorly-maintained grey carpet, long legs stretching from one wall, across to the other. He considered himself lucky that he was not in his right mind, which is why he didn't have the energy to feel any shame. He wasn't alert enough to notice that the footsteps had halted in front of him. The next thing he knew, something struck his ribcage and he rolled over onto his side with a loud cry of, "What the !?"

        As he brought his hands to nurse his wounded side, his legs were kicked aside harshly. Chanyeol blinked rapidly to keep the pain induced tears at bay. The attacker, however, continued to ignore him and Chanyeol could hear the door behind him opening then closing.

    Chanyeol rolled in pain as his side began to burn. His mind wasn't clear enough to register any anger that he should be feeling. There was only intense concentration, commanding his brain to ignore the pain. But he was never really good at telling his brain what to do. It had a mind of its own.

"Ughh," he moaned and groaned, eyes squeezed tight. That was a really good kick, Chanyeol admired, even though the situation didn't really call for such a thought. But as a hopeless athletic, he could respect other people's abilities. And can this guy kick!  he thought, the well-aimed attack on his side a proof of that. He laid still on the floor, waiting for the sharp ache to subside. This took a while.

    When Chanyeol could finally breathe, he decided it was time to get up and confront his attacker, but that was when he belatedly realized that he didn’t get to see his face. He raised himself with the help of the door frame and knocked on the door. Chanyeol waited, but no one answered. He tried again. No reply. He knocked harder, but no cigar. Chanyeol huffed to himself, while he reached into his back pocket for the keys to his new apartment. This was not the situation he wanted to be in when he first entered his new home. He was hoping for a warmer welcome with confettis, banners and balloons when he opened the door. He grimly stuck the key in, unlocked the door, grabbed the handle, and flung it open, to express his rage at being mistreated.

Inside, a guy (the offender?), in a black sweater, black pants and black socks, was sitting cross legged on the floor, straight across the door, immersed in a spinning purple top. The open door created a path of light, leading to the top and the male on the ground.

"Is that a beyblade?" Chanyeol asked, hypnotized by the toy, forgetting his initial temper. He watched the light glint off the metal of the toy. His childhood with his older brother in front of the television, screaming "GO DRAGOON!!" flashed through his mind. Chanyeol slowly approached the toy in a trance. The other male looked up, dark bangs covering his forehead to his eyelids. Chanyeol made eye contact with him.

There was a moment of silence.

Then, without breaking eye-contact, the male in dark clothing quickly reached out and grabbed the beyblade in his hand and brought it to his chest, holding it against himself possessively, complete with a glare that could be seen through even the darkest corners in existence.  

Chanyeol pouted at the action, having wanted to play with the toy as well. He took a look around the room from where he was standing. On his left was the kitchen, spotless as the kitchens in an IKEA magazine. Behind the male on the floor, was a spacious living room, although it was hard to identify what it looked like, because the lights were off, but it was big, so ‘nuf said.

The guy on the floor suddenly got up and and began walking away. Chanyeol finally remembered why he was in there in the first place, and he was determined to confront his roommate for his unacceptable behaviour. The black sweater the other was wearing had his name printed on the back in white Korean letters, which was good, because by now, he had pretty much forgotten everyone’s name.

“Gyungsoo-shi,” he called out to him in the most serious voice he could muster up. Gyungsoo turned around, confused.

“What?” he asked, voice low and gruff, contrary to his soft features. “Gyungsoo?”

“Um…” Chanyeol couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just yell at the guy and make him apologize for the kick. Instead, he was the one intimidated, frozen with a dry mouth under a steely gaze.

“You can’t read hangul?” the shorter questioned. He took off his sweater, revealing a black vest underneath.

“This,” he pointed at the first character, “is a K, not a G.”

Chanyeol stared at the letter for a while, not understanding the unexpected alphabet lesson. After a moment of studying the character, and then the rest of the name, realization dawned his face, eyes widening and mouth parting to form an, “oh”. He brought his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

“Sorry man, I mean Kyungsoo-shi. You see, sometimes I find Korean confusing. Does that ever happen to you? Like, with ‘r’ and ‘l’...” Chanyeol trailed off when his ramble was returned with an ‘are-you-stupid?’ look.

“Well, anyway, I wanted to say you kicked me, like really hard. I don’t appreciate you doing that you know?” Chanyeol mumbled.

“Then don’t block the door.” Kyungsoo dropped the piece of clothing in his hand and walked towards Chanyeol. He was at least two heads shorter so he had to stand on his tip-toes, to level his lips with the shell of Chanyeol’s ear. “This is a eat or be eaten world,” he whispered darkly. Kyungsoo backed up to stare at Chanyeol with large eyes. Chanyeol would think that he looked cute, staring up at him like that, if there hadn’t been a shadow masking half his face, light absent from his eyes.

“I was moving my stuff….”

“Welcome to my lair,” Kyungsoo spun on the spot, executed a sassy hair flip, then walked backwards until he turned into the living room and disappeared behind the walls.

“What the ?” Chanyeol was left on his own in the dark hallway.

***

“My back! AHHH my back, my back,” Chanyeol whined, setting one of his boxes in the living room. He slowly straightened himself and twisted his waist to work out the kinks that had formed while moving his luggage inside. After the confrontation with Kyungsoo, not Gyungsoo, said man hadn’t come out of his room, leaving Chanyeol to work alone. He flopped on one of the three couches in the living room, stomach first. He let his arms hang down and buried his face into the leather.

    The apartment was quiet, except for the rustling of the blinds from the slightly open window. There was no sign that the male he had accidentally angered was still around. He strained his ears to hear if the other had left to continue the interrupted play date with his beyblade. Chanyeol himself hadn’t even thought about the toy since his younger years, when he and his brother would insist on eating breakfast in front of the TV at 10 in the morning to catch the latest episodes of the anime.

But he heard nothing, and wondered if he should be worried that it was so quiet.

    Suddenly, the sound of keys being inserted, and the doorknob jiggling could be heard. Chanyeol’s ears perked up at the sound of some unfortunate bastard that could to lure into helping him. Footsteps made their way towards the living room, until Chanyeol saw a pair of legs stop in front of him.

“New roommate!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Chanyeol looked up to see the smiling face of the black widow cosplayer, a short male with feminine facial features. He rushed towards Chanyeol and dropped on his knees to be on the same eye level. “You have decided to join the force!” he chirped, clasping his hands over Chanyeol’s dangling arms. “Welcome! I’m Baekhyun.”

Normally, Chanyeol would have shook off the other’s hold on him. However, today, after the encounter with the previous house member, he decided to inhale and exhale and let him hold his hand. He sat upright, trying not to disturb the connection between the two of them.

“Thanks, Baekhyun-shi,” he answered.

“Is the stuff outside yours?”

“Yeah, sorry, it’s probably blocking the door, right?” He put his plans in action. Now, will he take the bait? he thought.

“Kinda,” Baekhyun admitted. “Have you been moving everything on your own?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had done this much physical exertion since my last gym class,” he slumped his shoulders to express fatigue. “That was in grade 10.” He sighed for good measure.

“Is there no one else here? Kyungsoo should’ve finished his classes by now,” Baekhyun inquired.

“He’s here, but we kind of got off on the wrong foot. Literally, now that I think about it,” he recalled.

“No one get’s off on the right foot with that guy,” Baekhyun shared, “I’ll tell you about my first meeting with him one day. Nothing beats my story. For now though, let’s get your stuff inside.” He let go of Chanyeol’s hand, and slapped the man’s thigh. “Let’s get started roomy.”

“Five more minutes,” Chanyeol mumbled, burying his head back into the couch, not rested enough for another round of work. He could, however, smile secretly at the fact that his plan worked.

“uumm-.”

Cue someone opening the door, making sure to bang into the walls and the door instead. Laughter joined the clumsy movement of bodies.

“That must be the kids,” Baekhyun informed Chanyeol, who came out of hiding at the disruption. “More labour,” Baekhyun winked.

“And then he fell,” a nasally voice said dramatically. Someone, probably the other kid, laughed, a wheezing sound it was.

    As they continued to laugh, they failed to notice Baekhyun and Chanyeol on the couch and walked straight towards their rooms. Chanyeol caught a glimpse of the two males, and his breath caught in his throat as he saw the perfection that was Kai. His eyes followed the dancer, mesmerized by his cresent eye smile, by how prominent his cheekbones were, the skin around them caved in to create faint dimples and how his jaw hung open, letting his quirky laugh ring deep and clear. Chanyeol was entranced by how the man laughed with his entire body, face scrunched in joy, head thrown back, shoulders loose and how he repeatedly hit the pale male beside him in rhythm with the sounds that escaped him. Chanyeol felt as though his heart fluttered at the sight.

“Yo, children,” Baekhyun greeted. “Get over here.”

“Oh, hey, didn’t notice you guys were here,” the insignificant male beside Kai, turned around first. “I was just telling Jongin a story. You know that kid with the rats in my comp sci class? Well, he had a grilled sandwich and then he-”

“No one cares Sehun, shut up. Your hideous laugh disrupted me from completing my ritual,” someone announced with distaste from behind the insulted male. Kyungsoo had reappeared. “Baekhyun, I’m going to need more of your hair,” he demanded.

“Well, you’re going to have to wait till my next haircut.”

Kyungsoo glared at the him, frowning and kind of jutting out his bottom lips. If his glare hadn’t been so menacing, Chanyeol could have mistaken it for a pout.  

“No means no. And don’t you touch me while I’m sleeping,” Baekhyun warned. Kyungsoo grumbled under his breath, something about the stars and their position.

Kai threw his arms over the angered Kyungsoo happily. (Chanyeol’s heart broke a little at the action)

“Hey,” he hugged the shorter. Kyungsoo, to Chanyeol’s surprise, didn’t burn at the touch. Instead, he nodded at the male. The roommates must have tamed him. Chanyeol wondered if their relationship would get better, or if he would live in fear of the shorter for the rest of his stay here.

“I was telling a story,” Sehun whined. Now, Chanyeol was sure he was pouting, and what an uncomfortable sight that was, not that it was bad, but it was kind of too good.

“Can you guys help us move Chanyeol’s stuff inside?” Baekhyun asked, ignoring Sehun. Kyungsoo escaped from Kai’s hold and backed away into his room. Sehun looked like he wanted to leave too but Kai grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward.

“Sure! We’d be happy to help,” Kai beamed at Chanyeol. “I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Jongin.”

“I know,” his heart fluttered. “I love you,” he blurted out. His hands shot up to cover his mouth immediately after. Kai looked confused, Sehun released Kai’s grip on his wrist, Baekhyun stared at him incredulously with his mouth hanging open, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw a dark figure in the distance looming over him.

Welcome home! Chanyeol thought to himself

----

Thanks a lot to the people who subscribed in the last chapter!