“You have boy troubles.”

“Wha?” Jongin whipped his head around. There was a lady a few feet behind him; she had to have been speaking to him because there was no one else in this secluded part of the market besides the two of them. Jongin was waiting for his manager hyung to come out of a stall.

But what’s she saying? What the fck.

She took a step closer to him. Jongin took a step back- she looked creepy, okay. Gaudy-scarf-wrapped-around-her-head-and-wearing-sunglasses-after-sunset-with-a-wild-look-in-her-face kind of creepy. Not to mention the magenta nail polish, ew.

“Boy troubles. You like your hyung but he doesn’t like you back. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“…”

“Frankly, you have to grow some balls, sonny.”

“…”

“Ah, but I’m too nice. I could,” she lowered her shades, “help you out.” Then she winked.

Jongin almost barfed his dinner on the spot. What the actual fck!! He his heel to scram that instant.

“Yo, are you seriously throwing away a chance to get with Kyungsoo now?”

Jongin froze mid-step. How did she… and what-

“…Jonginnie?”

 ------

“Jong I’m tellin’ you nicely, come out of the bathroom NOW!”

“What’s taking so long? You never take this long dude.”

“We all have to go, yaaah!”

“Why the fck are you up so early anyways?”

“Yeah! You should have slept some more!”

“JONGIN YOU COME OUT I’M GONNA PEE ON MYSELF FCK ARGHHHH!!”

Baekhyun grabbed his crotch and bounced around in circles. Sehun hammered the bathroom door some more. Jongdae and Joonmyun followed his example and Chanyeol started shouting a random rap because… well just because he felt like it. Almost all of EXO were now outside the bathroom, except for Jongin, who had locked himself in it, and Kyungsoo and Minseok, who were in the kitchen making breakfast together.

There was another bathroom down the hall, but they couldn’t use it because it had faulty pipes.

“I’ll be out in a minute, guys! Just hang on for a bit more… ugh!”

“What the fck Kai? It’s been almost thirty fcking minutes now!”

“Why do you sound so whiny?”

“I need to be in a radio programme in approximately twenty three minutes and fifty one seconds, !”

“Okay okay I’m coming…now… Uh, can you guys go away for a second? It’s- um- just until I go to my room… Please?”

“What the fck?”

“I’m you guys! You don’t want to see me running around in my birthday suit the first thing in the morning, do you?”

“What the hell, Jongin! We’ve all seen you before for Pete’s sake- stop being such a girl and come out now before I kick the door open and chop your balls off!”

It was Suho who screamed it all in one breath and all the members gaped at the leader, impressed at him for once. That was a first.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, it was silent. Everyone was about to try and kick it open like Suho had suggested, when suddenly, the lock was heard being turned and the door was slowly starting to open with a creak…

Impatient, Sehun yanked the handle and was about to shove his way inside, when he froze. Everyone froze.

“… But I am a girl...”

There, standing in the doorway was indeed a girl. Fully dressed but still, a girl. Certainly not Jongin.

At least, it couldn’t be…

The men widened their eyes and jumped away as if they had been electrocuted. They found they couldn’t move because of the shock and remained frozen, gaping at the- girl- in front of them, who seemed to be equally wide eyed.

It was Chanyeol who came to his senses first and he ran to get his phone so that… so that he could call security and tell them that a sasaeng fan was in their dorm. He couldn’t waste a second.

Running past the kitchen, he tripped over his own feet and fell face first. Minseok and Kyungsoo looked at him strangely.

“A sasaeng!” He spluttered at them. He took deep breaths and rushed out all at once while getting up to run again to his bedroom, “A sasaeng is in the bathroom and she’s killed Jongin!”

Kyungsoo and Minseok looked at each other in confusion. After a pause, they exchanged a silent agreement. They dropped the food they had been working on, wiped their hands in kitchen cloths and walked quietly to the bathroom. Outside, everyone was still rooted in place except for a girl- huh?!? - who was in the doorway waving her arms about.

Kyungsoo immediately jumped. His eyes bulged and jaw dropped to the floor in shock. Jongin! His roommate!

He took two giant steps towards the girl and in a swift movement, turned her around, pinned her arms to her back and knocked her down to her knees. Both Baekhyun and Tao may know a thing or two about Martial Arts but neither had the guts to apply their skills when it came to real life. Kyungsoo shook his head for a moment in silent second-hand embarrassment for his band mates, then pushed the girl a bit further so that he could look inside the bathroom for Jongin. Except he wasn’t there.

Kyungsoo paled.

He tightened the grip around the girl’s wrists. He could kill her now, if he hadn’t been brought up well-mannered. She was gasping to say something but he cut her off.

 “WHERE THE FCK IS KIM JONGIN AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM? WHERE IS HE, ! WHERE IS-”

 “Calm down Kyungsoo, you’re going to hurt her like that,” Minseok cut him off with all the patience in the world and pried Kyungsoo’s hands off the girl he had been violently shaking back and forth in his wild state. She was choking already.

Kyungsoo turned incredulous eyes to Minseok. How could he be so calm in a situation like this! That girl had hurt their band mate!

Minseok got his message, but he only patted his back, drew him back until he was completely off the girl and pushed him towards the rest of the guys. They had finally regained their senses after their earlier paralysed state and were watching in a circle.

The only one frozen in place now was Chanyeol. He’d returned with his phone and had it glued to his ear. It was turned off, though.

Meanwhile, Baekhyun, Yixing and Suho walked up to the girl and held her arms so that she couldn’t escape. They turned her over and lifted her up from where she lay embracing the floor.

Suho glanced at Chanyeol, “Call manager hyung and tell him to come immediately.”

It took Chanyeol a moment to register the leader’s words. When he did, he nodded, then shifted his attention back to his hand phone and unlocked its screen.

“Wait!”

Everyone stopped as the girl spoke for the first time since Kyungsoo’s attack. They snapped their heads towards her.

“I’m- I’m Jongin, you guys! Look at my face, clothes…”

 He trailed off as he faced the others, all staring perplexed at him. He exhaled, screwed his eyes shut and muttered under his breath, “This is why I didn’t want to come out of the bathroom.”

There was no way he could explain to them that he had just switched genders overnight.

“…You do look like Jongin…”

They all turned to the guy who had spoken: Tao. He looked back at them and pointed at the girl, “It’s true, look.”

They looked.

The girl was indeed Jongin and he closed his eyes again to compose himself. Then he opened them.

This was it: his chance to convince them.

“Guys, it’s really me. You didn’t give me a chance to explain. I know this is very hard to believe and even I’m shocked… but I seem to have turned into a girl overnight. It’s really me, Kai. Jongin.” He looked solemnly at the others and pleaded with his eyes to believe him.

The members just stared; they didn’t know what to say.

“This isn’t a fantasy movie though, it’s real life.”

It was Baekhyun who broke the silence and Jongin rolled his eyes at him.

“I have proof! I’ve got two birthmarks on my stomach, one on my right thigh, one on my back and two on each leg”.

He pulled him arms free from Baekhyun and Yixing’s grips to lift up his clothes and show them. They hesitatingly obliged, then gasped when his hands flew to his shirt to lift it up, baring his stomach. He turned around to show the one on his back, then turned back again and was about to pull down his sweatpants when Suho hurriedly gripped his arm.

Confused, he looked up to see everyone ogling at him.

“Err, it’s okay. I mean- we’re all men, so… even though you might be Jongin, you’re still… a girl…” Jongin turned to Suho who was shuffling his feet awkwardly.

 Oh. He had forgotten.

“Ah, okay. Um… so are you guys convinced it’s really me?” He raised his eyebrows and looked around hopefully.

“Well, you could be a witch or something that possessed Jongin’s body, after all.” Baekhyun crossed his arms and leaned back on his feet, eyebrow cocked.

Jongin deadpanned at him. “I thought you didn’t believe in fantasies.”

“We need more conviction,” Chanyeol spoke up. He looked thoughtful for a minute, “Um, like… what’s Jongin’s favourite food?”

“Fried chicken- seriously Chanyeol? Everyone knows that.” Jongin rolled his eyes. “Fine, how about this; yesterday we had bibimbap for dinner but Sehun didn’t eat because his stomach was having cramps after he’d drunk the yoghurt milk Jongdae hyung gave him. Baek hyung- your first date with XXX was in a park and you guys fcked five minutes after meeting.”

Baekhyun blushed on cue.

“Yeol, you only told this to me but I’m going to have to disclose it because reasons, but you have a massive crush on that new stylist with a huge mole. Kyungsoo, you change your boxers twice a day and still wear the pink pair I gave you even though you hate pink. Sehun, your first kiss was with a guy in your class in ninth grade. Minnie hyung, Luhan hyung and you “experimentally” kissed back in March. Yixing hyung, you were curious once so you the-”

“OKAY STOP!”

Everyone shouted at the same time and Baekhyun’s hand flew to Jongin’s mouth. They had heard enough and didn’t want to be reminded of Yixing’s … escapades.

“Fine, we get it, you’re Jongin alright but did you have to reveal all our secrets?” A pink Chanyeol glowered at Jongin.

“Wait- Chanyeol, you really have a crush on the new stylist?” Jongdae turned to the younger, grinning incredulously. Seeing his expression, he barked out a laugh. “HA HA this is so funny, wait till I tell her!”

Chanyeol choked.

“You wouldn’t do that!”

When Jongdae just kept laughing, he walked over to pounce on him. Jongdae escaped barely and darted towards the living room, the taller man hot on his heels with arms outstretched.

“But Minnie hyung, did you an Lu ge actually kiss?” Tao cocked his head to look down at the elder, who immediately averted his eyes.

“Uh…”

Tao then turned to look at Sehun. “And your first kiss was with a dude? But you told me you’d never kissed a guy before!”

Sehun glared at Jongin, his hands tightly and controlling himself from reaching out to punch the elder, because now he was a girl and it wasn’t gentlemanly to hit girls.

But it was Jongin alright, Sehun was convinced. No one else knew of his first kiss besides Jongin and Moonkyu becausehe had spilled it to them back in their trainee days after they’d had a heart-to-heart after practices. He deeply regretted his life decisions now.

Instead he turned to Tao. “I’ll tell you later,” he mumbled and rushed inside the much-forgotten bathroom, shoving past girl-Jongin on the way.

“! He got in! I got here first, you brat!”

Baekhyun threw himself at the door and started kicking it in frenzy. Over the whole mess, he had forgotten his extremely important bathroom needs.

“Too bad hyung!” Sehun shouted from inside.

Yixing turned to Jongin, “So I guess it is you, huh.” He slowly blinked, nodded to himself and trailed off towards the kitchen, bumping on the walls and random objects as he walked.

“How did this happen, Jongin?”

Suho turned his worried gaze to Jongin, as did the remaining members, except for Baekhyun who was now draped against the bathroom door.

Jongin bit his lip and scratched his head. He perfectly knew how it happened but he couldn’t tell them that. No way. “I don’t know...”

“Huh…” Minseok stared at him blankly. Sighing, he tugged a dazed Kyungsoo who was sitting on the floor where he had placed him earlier. “Come on Kyungsoo, let’s finish making breakfast.”

Kyungsoo tore his gaze away from Jongin, where it had been fixed the whole time. He blinked up at Minseok, nodded, rose to his feet and followed him to the kitchen, throwing a glance back at Jongin over his shoulder.

“Did you eat or drink anything weird yesterday? Or maybe sometime this week?” Suho prodded Jongin further.

He shook his head.

The elder gripped his head, raking his hair back with his fingers. He exhaled a loud breath.

“What are we going to do now? How do we tell anyone about this- you can’t go in public like this! Our next performance is in two days,” he squeezed his eyes shut. “Thank god you don’t have anything in your schedule today.”

Tao walked over to Suho and put his arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t worry hyung, I’m sure he’ll turn back soon,” he threw a worried glance at Jongin. “Come on hyung, think positive. Let’s get you a warm tea,” he patted Suho’s shoulder comfortingly and steered him towards the kitchen.

Jongin followed them disappearing around the corridor with his eyes. Then he turned his head in time to see Sehun leaving the bathroom and Baekhyun dashing in. The maknae walked up to him, narrowed his eyes, scrutinised him for a second and walked right past, in the direction Tao and Suho had gone.

Save for Sehun- who had run off to the radio studio with their manager for the sacred schedule Ryeowook sunbae had gotten him on his radio programme- all the members of EXO sat around their dining table. The last person who had attended to his bathroom needs: Yixing, had just sunk into his seat.

The members sat, either munching on their breakfast or staring Jongin, the girl. They couldn’t stop ogling at his… well, female assets.

Jongin had squeezed himself between Kyungsoo and Minseok and found the whole thing extremely uncomfortable. He had already thrown a piece of potato at Chanyeol earlier and he couldn’t spare any more of his food, all because of his dumb band mates.

The only person he didn’t mind looking- and the reason he had done all this for- sat to his right side, not even sparing him a glance, his big eyes focused solely on his rice instead. Jongin sighed.

“Hey Jongin, do your hyung a favour.” Jongin turned to his left where Baekhyun, who sat on Minseok’s other side, beamed at him with an eye-smile.

“What,” he deadpanned.

Baekhyun grinned wider. “Can I touch your ies? Pretty pwease? I know you’re still a guy behind all that so it won’t matter right-”

Jongin had been going to get up, walk over to the Baek’s chair and give him a good shove, when he realised Kyungsoo was already beating him to it. He had gone behind Baekhyun in an instant, pulled him out of his seat and gripped his neck in a chokehold, knocking him off of his words and leading him to choke instead. Baekhyun’s chopsticks dropped as he was being pulled up, his feet kicking for escape as Kyungsoo proceeded to wring his hands around the elder’s neck.

“Whoa whoa there,” Jongdae laughed but quickly rushed over to free Baekhyun from Kyungsoo’s death grip.

Once free, Baekhyun wheezed. Everyone laughed, Jongin stared perplexed and Kyungsoo stood stoic in anger, fists balled to his side.

“Try one of your antics and I’ll feed your balls to Candy,” he hissed at Baekhyun. Candy perked up from under Tao’s chair at the mention of her name.

The elder, now rubbing his neck, rolled his eyes at Kyungsoo.

“Calm your , it’s just Jongin. Or maybe you should bang her instead. It’s the perfect opportunity to unleash your inner thirst, ya know?” he smirked.

Kyungsoo started going Baekhyun again, only to have both Minseok and Jongdae stop him this time.

Jongin blushed at Baekhyun’s words. It had been his exact plan when he had bought the potion from the weird lady at the market last weekend.

He liked Kyungsoo- a lot. Not just as a friend either. And although the Kyungsoo seemed to adore him a lot too, Jongin was certain that it was only as a brother or a friend. Even if he did have other feelings, Kyungsoo would rather die before admit himself into a gay relationship.

That was why Jongin had considered using the potion: so that he could make Kyungsoo fall for him as a girl. Even if it was just for a day.

Jongin stared at himself in the mirror. His hair had automatically grown longer; long enough go just past his shoulders. He had shrunken too, quite a lot in fact, and now he was probably a few inches shorter than Kyungsoo, Minseok and Suho. His skin was the same colour, although his face had gotten smaller and features softer.

But still, that didn’t make him any more appealing as a girl. He may have made a handsome dude, but as a girl, he was horribly plain. What had he been thinking?

He could never surpass any of Kyungsoo’s ex’s.

“How does it feel being a girl?”

Jongin snapped his head around to see Kyungsoo himself standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He wondered for how long had he’d been standing there.

“It’s- it feels like I’ve always been a girl, to be honest. It’s… strange.”

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. Jongin gulped; he had a thing for Kyungsoo with furrowed brows. He internally squealed to himself.

He’s so cute!

“If you feel like you’ve always been a girl… what if you never change? That would be a nightmare.”

“Oh no, I’ll change back tomorrow- I mean! I mean I’m pretty sure I’ll change back by tomorrow… yeah. ” Jongin rapidly nodded him head and hoped Kyungsoo hadn’t caught on to his slip.

Kyungsoo studied him for a second. Jongin stilled.

Had he caught his secret? Oh no!

Then his shoulders relaxed. Jongin finally breathed. The elder walked fully into the room and sat down on the foot of his bed, leaning back and supporting himself on his elbows.

“What are you going to do today? I was thinking we could head over to the studio, because I have this dance step I keep screwing up and I was thinking maybe you could help me… but I see now we can’t do that.” He smiled sheepishly.

Kyungsoo had been thinking of dancing with him? Damn.

“I can help you tomorrow. I think we both have the evenings free?” No, he hadn’t been reciting Kyungsoo’s schedule to himself every night.

“Yeah, we could do that.” Kyungsoo then patted the space beside him and looked at him expectantly, “Come sit here.”

So Jongin walked over, plopped down next to him and turned to face him.

Kyungsoo leaned in closer to him. His round eyes raked his face, gliding over every feature. Jongin forgot to breathe.

They had sat closer before and his heartbeat had tripled in rate- like it was doing now- countless times before; but he could never, ever, get used to being this close to the elder. He always, always made him nervous.

Then he chuckled.

“You look far better as a girl.”

“… WHAT?!” Jongin clasped a hand over his mouth. He hadn’t intended to shout that, high-pitched, even so.

Kyungsoo openly laughed. Jongin felt his shoulders deflate, tension diffusing out of him. The elder had the most beautiful laugh on earth.

He wiped his eyes and sat up straight. His face had turned bright pink. Jongin found it fcking adorable.

“It’s true though. You make a pretty girl. I’d never have thought,” he smirked.

Now it was Jongin’s turn to blush. Damn Do Kyungsoo for making him feel like a jittery schoolgirl. He lay down on the bed.

“You know, it’s strange. It’s not just my body that changed genders, it’s like my hormones and brain wiring changed too. I feel like I want to do… girl things.”

The elder raised his eyebrows. “Girl things?”

“Yeah… like looking pretty, dressing up, painting nails- that kind of thing. Don’t judge me,” he glanced at Kyungsoo and put his hands over his face, embarrassed.

“Hey, you don’t have to be ashamed; it’s probably your body doing that,” Jongin felt calloused hands being placed over his and them being gently pried away from his face. He opened his eyes slowly to find the elder staring steadily back at him. His breath hitched for the second time that hour.

“Do you want to go shopping?”

Jongin gaped. “What?”

Kyungsoo smirked again. Jongin turned to jelly on cue.

“You said you wanted to do girl things. Since you probably won’t have another chance to feel that way again, why not take chance of the opportunity, right? I’ll come with you.”