Apartment 03-605. Section 03, floor 6, room number 5. Xiumin took a deep breath before inserting the key in the lock. This was the beginning of his new life. 

Xiumin opened the door to his new apartment to find his roommate sitting at the table, surrounded by papers, hair slightly tousled, and a piece of toast held between his teeth as he scribbled things down on various papers. Xiumin is the kind of person who can't stand a mess, yet the first thing he thought of to describe the sight before him was "cute". 

The man turned to look at Xiumin, wide-eyed at the presence of the person before him, and his toast fell from his slightly-parted lips and landed butter-side down on his pile of papers. 

"I'm sorry! I should have knocked instead of letting myself in!" Xiumin squeaked as the young man stumbled to his feet, his work forgotten as he hastily straightened himself up. 

"No it's fine! You must be my new roommate. I'm Luhan!"

"It's nice to meet you, Luhan. My name is Xiumin."

"Well, Xiumin," Luhan began as he turned back to the mess on the table, "I apologize for the mess, it's not usually like this. I have exams coming up, so I've been so busy studying that I haven't had much of a chance to clean up."

Xiumin let his gaze wander to the rest of the apartment. It wasn't too big, or even that messy (although it was not clean to Xiumin's standards, he thought Luhan did alright on his own). There was a small living area, with a kitchen and dining-room area across from the main door and small hallway on the right, which most likely led to the bedrooms and bathroom. 

"Crap." Luhan had made his way back to the kitchen table and was inspecting the damage done by his fallen toast. The butter had left a very nice mark over several very important-looking notes. As he hastily tried to remove the butter before it stained and ruined his notes completely, Xiumin set his bags down and walked into the kitchen. 

There was a small oven set between the counters, along with a fridge to the left, and a small window above the kitchen sink. He noticed that there weren't many dishes out, one of which was a plate resting on the counter next to a toaster. On the plate sat a second piece of toast. 

"Have you eaten anything besides toast today, Luhan?" Luhan looked up from his papers again, stunned by the sudden question, then smiled sheepishly. "I haven't really had time to cook anything, and I'm not a very good cook anyways, so..."

Xiumin marched back over to his neat pile of stuff and dug out his wallet and coat. "Let me cook something for you then. It's almost dinner, so you must be starving, and I was planning on getting some groceries anyways. It'll be my way of saying thank you for letting me stay here. I'll be back soon!"

And before Luhan had a chance to protest, or even tell him where the nearest market was, Xiumin was out the door.

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Xiumin closed the door behind him and started for the stairs. The door to the neighboring apartment stood slightly open and his new neighbors’ loud voices drifted into the hallway. Xiumin, not wanting to cause potential drama with people he did not yet know, planned to simply walk past the open door and continue on his way. 

However, as he walked past the apartment, someone suddenly came bursting out, plowing straight into Xiumin, knocking him sideways into the railing overlooking the stairway, causing him to drop his keys over the edge. He lunged to catch them before they could fall, but was not fast enough, and could feel them brush against his fingertips before they plummeted down the six stories into the lobby. 

Sighing with frustration, Xiumin turned around to be met with a pair of camel-like eyes staring wide at him, surprised by his presence. The young man they belonged to quickly straightened himself up and helped Xiumin to his feet while trying to compose himself. 

“I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you alright? You’re not... hurt?” The half-hearted apology came to an awkward pause as he saw Xiumin’s face. Upon hearing the break in the younger’s words, he simply mumbled “My keys…” before heading sullenly towards the stairs, without so much as acknowledging the young man or his apologies. He could apologize to his neighbor later, but right now he was in a hurry to feed a poor, starving Luhan (he’s not really poor or starving, but still, eating only toast all day is quite concerning, and he’s bound to be hungry).

Before he was even sure what had happened, Xiumin saw the man push past him, rushing down the flights of stairs towards the lobby. “Hey!” Xiumin called, picking up his own pace, practically running down the stairs to catch up with the other. He made it about halfway down before he ran out of breath and let himself slide to the ground on the third floor landing. 

That's it, I've lost my keys on the first day here, Xiumin thought as he tried to catch his breath. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a familiar keychain dangling in front of his face. Xiumin looked up to see his new neighbor leaning over him, a cheeky grin plastered on his face. 

“Did you drop these?” He asked, handing Xiumin the keys and sitting next to him on the landing. “Thank you,” Xiumin muttered as he tucked the keys in his pocket. 

“No problem, it was the least I could do after I made you drop them. I'm Chen, by the way.” 

“Xiumin.”

“Xiumin…. You must be Luhan’s new roommate, right?” Xiumin nodded.
“That means I'm your new neighbor!” Chen flashed another cheeky grin that took Xiumin's breath away. 

“I apologize now for the noise, we can be a little loud, but I hope you won't mind.”

“Don't worry about it. When I moved into the city, I expected it to be loud, so I won't really mind.” At that, Chen couldn't help but laugh, a beautiful sound that rang in Xiumin’s ears. 

“I think I found my favorite neighbor.”

Me, too, Xiumin thought. 

Suddenly, the door next to them opened and a young man stepped out. 

“Damn, I should have known that was you, Chen. Why do u have to be so loud? And right outside my apartment, too!”

“Sorry, BamBam. Xiumin here dropped his keys and I had to come and rescue him.”

“Don't try to make yourself a hero, Chen. I wouldn't have dropped them if you hadn't ran into me! You should watch where you're going.” Xiumin's outburst surprised Chen, as well as himself, but he did not like being made into a damsel. Bam Bam laughed at the scene before him before bidding them goodbye and continuing down the stairs. 

“So you can talk,” Chen joked offhandedly as he helped Xiumin to his feet. “I'm sorry if I offended you, by the way, but I have a reputation to uphold, ya know?” This man must be full of jokes. 

“I have a reputation as well. I don't want my new neighbors thinking I'm some helpless damsel.” Chen laughed again. He seemed to do that a lot.

“Well then, maybe you can help me next time. I wouldn't mind being a damsel for you.” Chen winked at him before waving goodbye and retreating down the stairs, leaving a stunned Xiumin behind on the landing. 

--------

Xiumin was still stunned when he finally reached the market. He still couldn't figure out what he had done to deserve this. Not only did he have a cute roommate, but his neighbor was also pretty hot. I'm not sure I can handle this. 

As he continued his shopping, Xiumin had trouble finding a specific ingredient for the dish he would be preparing. He saw a tall, blond employee stocking shelves at the end of the aisle and decided to ask him for help. “Excuse me, do y-- Kris?!”

“Xiumin- hyung??” This tall employee turned out to be one of Xiumin's closest friends from high school. They had lost touch after Kris had moved to Seoul for school. 

“Never thought I'd see you walk in here. What brings you to town?”

“I actually got a job in the city. And how about you? Graduated yet?”

“This spring, hopefully. I'm beginning to feel like school’s the life out of me.”

“Kris!!” A loud voice called from the other end of the aisle. “I need you to finish stocking the shelves already! You were supposed to finish half an hour ago! Stop talking and get to work!”

Kris gave Xiumin an apologetic smile before returning his attention to the shelves in front of him. “Looks like I'm a little busy right now. Are you free for lunch tomorrow? We can catch up more then.”

“That sounds great! Where do you want to meet?”

“Here's fine. I have work tomorrow morning, but I get off around noon.”

Over Kris’s shoulder, Xiumin could see a rather irritated man walking towards the pair. As he got closer, he could read his name tag. Im Jaebum, Manager. 

Not wanting to get Kris into any more trouble than he already was, Xiumin quickly bade him goodbye, promising to meet him at noon the next day for lunch. 

As he went back to his shopping, Xiumin realized with a small frustrated sigh that he completely forgot to ask where that ingredient was. I guess I'll just have to find it myself…

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A/N 

Its been forever since i posted this but I'm back working on it again. This is the updated version of chapter one, I had to make some changes while writing the next chapter, which I'm gonna post tonight. Sorry for taking so long, but i just finished my junior yearbook of high school, and now I have to deal with s ton of summer homework and the crap fest that is senior year, but I'll try to work on this as much as I can. I really enjoy writing it and I want to make sure it's the best it can be.