EPISODE ONE : HOUSE WARMING


five figures sit on the dilapidated couch, forms sillhouetted against the flickering cfl lighting. while some sit up with some degree of attentiveness, it appears the majority of the audience are slumped into the lumps in the furniture. they're all turned toward the tiny television set that sits unceremoniously upon the ground like some sort of offering. the television is on, but the programming is nonexistent. a faint buzz can be heard emanating from the box. 

the apartment they sit in is, for the most part, remarkably bare. while there are a few pieces of furniture--like a lopsided card table, two folding chairs, the lumpy couch they sit upon, and the television set--there's nothing that really screams Inhabited throughout the entire place. the slits of sunlight that stream in between the ragged blinds highlights the sea of dust that lingers in the air. 

a gutteral groan rips out of the girl who sits on the farthest edge of the sofa. she tosses her limbs up every which way to demonstrate her frustration, nearly knocking out her friends sitting beside her, whining all the same. her hair sticks to the sides of her face, a result of the sweat beginning to bead along her temples and jawline. she's pouting her plush lips, eyelashes flapping a mile a minute as she attempts to garner some sympathy for her situation.

this girl is no other than dani(elle) bae, who finds it a personal mission of hers to expel all traces of boredom in her life.

"aw, come onnnnnnn!" dani howls, kicking up her feet into the air. "we've been here for ten minutes already!! you'd think we'd at least get some snacks or something to tide us over."

"you're the one who works at the 7/11," a girl pipes up, pushing her glasses up with the tip of her nail. "shouldn't you be the one supplying the snacks?"

this other girl sits a bit a ways away, another body blocking dani's view of her. this girl's hair is immaculate, tied up in a neat ponytail without a single hair frizzing or sliding out of the hair tie. she doesn't even seem to be sweating, skin fresh and clothes free of any signs of growing sweat.

"sora that's not fair," dani frowns, twirling a few strands of hair around her finger. "you know i'm a broke . i can't keep funneling all of my money back into the place that pays me!"

dani squeaks as sora raises an eyebrow in response, lips curling upwards in that way that says you're about to get owned, pushing up her glasses again and clearing . 

"that's big talk coming from the girl with the nonexistent savings plan," sora tuts. "come back with that excuse when you have some money in the bank."

sora's chuckling is then drowned out by dani's makeshift arguments in her defense. the two girls send playful jabs at each other, reaching over a certain, uninterested young man who finds doodling on his tablet a lot more appealing than social interaction. he only occasionally offers a sniffle here or there, void of expression and any pressing opinion. even when dani nearly launches herself across his lap to reach sora's ticklish spots, he merely raises his tablet over her back and continues to scribble.

"hwan," the other boy in the room, a certain kim joonyoung, calls from beside sora, craning his neck to get a good look at him. "do you know where hyuk is?"

hwan blinks once, twice, attempts to swallow. his pen hovers over the surface of his tablet.

"hmm," hwan hums to himself, voice rumbling out like a motor that hasn't been started in ages. "i thought you knew where he was."

"he told me he was back here," joonyoung furrows his brows. "that's why i came."

hwan's halfhearted "yeah me too" is completely cancelled out by dani's tremendous shrieking in response to sora's scathing stink eye. hwan gives a sort of wide eyed look to joonyoung, who only smiles and waves him off while mouthing "it's ok it's ok".

the only one who remains silent amid the chaos is na sukyung. if the others are the coursing waters that rush down the stream, she's the haggard stone sticking up, refusing to be moved. while the others quarrel among themselves, she's tapping diligently away on her phone, scanning articles on her phone and only moving her lips to mouth out what she's reading. her lips are a warm red, bright against the coolness of her complexion. she is like the winter chill, the crack in your door that lets the wind in. she seems completely unperturbed amid the others--perhaps an unfortunate sign that she's completely used to it.

finally, they're greeted by the front door to the apartment opening with a bang as the man of the hour loudly announces his arrival with self-made fanfare.

"ta-dannnnn~" he calls out, juggling plastic bags filled to the brim with chips, cookies, and candy. "welcome to your new abode!!!"

he stumbles a bit, tripping over his shoes that he's just removed, slipping in his socks on the tiled flooring. he makes his way over to the couch and crouches in front of the sad television set, dropping the bags of goodies onto the ground with a flourish. instantly, the figures on the couch have his attention.

"oooooohhh snacks!" dani hops up instantly. "don't mind if i do!"

"excuse me, i think i deserve first pick after having to put up with your nonsense for twenty minutes," sora interjects, standing up as well. "take a seat, babe."

dani opens to protest, but hwan and joonyoung are already moving past the both of them, crouching down by jaehyuk and emptying out the bags. sukyung remains stationary on the couch, eyes unfocused but expression ultimately intrigued. 

"wow, hyuk," joonyoung whistles, pulling out snack after snack. "you really went all out."

"i figured today was the cause of celebration!" jaehyuk beams, holding up two bottles of chilsung and giving them a bit of a shake. "after all, what's the fun of getting a new house without a house warming party?"

"the house isn't really all that warm," hwan mumbles. "where's all the furniture?"

"ehh,," jaehyuk gives a sheepish smile. "we're working on that."

hwan hums his halfhearted agreement, preferring instead to burrow into the folds of the plastic bags to pull out more treats. joonyoung shakes his head, sorting the treats into respective piles that correlate to categories. by this point, dani and sora have finally joined the party, hovering over the boys with mingling protests. dani attempts to grab some chips only to have hwan swipe them just out of her reach ("hwaaaa~aaaannn!" she whines, and then hwan slides them back). sora uses joonyoung's shoulders as an armrest, elegantly snatching a pack of honey twists out of the pile and retreating triumphantly to the couch. sukyung cranes her neck to check out the loot, but seems reluctant to get up. 

"okay, okay, you heathens," jaehyuk stands up, patting some imaginary dust off of his pants. "grab your food and go. it's time for the presentation!"

everyone walks away with their respective snack foods. joonyoung slides a pack of milk candy onto sukyung's lap as he takes his seat beside her. she opens to respond, but clamps her lips together and holds the pack limply between her fingers. the others tear into their foods, crinkling chorusing throughout the apartment space. jaehyuk clears his throat obnoxiously, obviously vying for attention.

as everyone munches in unison, jaehyuk begins his speech. 

"congratulations everyone!" he begins. "if you're sitting here, then you've been selected to live in this apartment with me and joonyoung!"

dani gives raucous applause before realizing that she's alone, gradually fading out her claps as she darts her eyes to avoid anyone's gaze. 

"thank you, dani," jaehyuk grins at her before turning back to the crowd. "you lucky ducks are going to be living together! we're all gonna really be able to bond!!"
 

"group bonding? no thanks," sora sighs. "i've got too big of a courseload to sing kumbaya and build team morale."

hwan nods along, slurping his banana milk through its tiny straw. "yeah, i have a comic to write ... and boxes to lift."

"oh come on, guys," jaehyuk frowns, crossing his arms in a huff. "how long has it been since we've been able to see each other? what, like two years now? maybe more? you can't say you haven't missed everyone being together like this."

some looks are thrown across the sofa.

"you can thank me later!" jaehyuk coos. "for now, let's talk 'bidness'."

"never say that again, please."

"i'm choosing to ignore that, hwan!" jaehyuk chirps. "anyway, so rent is obviously going to be split among the six of us. but you know what else is going to be split?"

confused looks spread among the friends like an epidemic. hwan furrows his brows in thought as sora quirks an apprehensive eyebrow. dani munches on her shrimp chips at the speed of light, palms getting just the slightest bit sweaty at the thought of even more responsibility for her to balance on her tiny shoulders. sukyung delicately unwraps one of the milk candies and slides it between her lips. silently, she slowly raises her hand.

"yes, sukyung!" jaehyuk beams, pointing at her like a school teacher.

"cleaning duties?" sukyung offers, voice tight against .

"cleaning duties?" jaehyuk echoes. "er, well, yes that is very important..."

his voice trails off and sukyung chokes just the slightest bit on her breath. "you haven't considered distributing cleaning duties? a chore sheet??"

"well, no..."

"jaehyuk, please," sukyung's eyes are straining, her lips quivering. "where are your priorities?"

jaehyuk winces, all too aware of where this is headed. joonyoung swoops in just in time though, like always.

"we will create a chore sheet, sukyung," joonyoung says with a smile. "don't worry. jaehyuk just has something else in mind at the moment."

sukyung darts her eyes to look at the feline grin that slides so easily onto joonyoung's face. she attempts to shrug off how different joonyoung addresses her now. it's not like middle school at all--

"ooh! ooh!" dani's hand shoots up. "fridge rules??"

"there's only one fridge rule and that's if there's no name, there's no ownership," jaehyuk shoots back. "it's only fair."

"how is that fair?" dani frowns. "if you were my true friends, you would know it was mine based upon what food it was."

"dani," sora pipes up, voice just the slightest bit pained. "you eat everything."

"yeah, dani," joonyoung adds. "didn't you eat like...all of the food out of my fridge at one point?"

"ok first of all," dani raises her finger to stop the onslaught of criticism. "that was in high school, joonyoungie. it's been years, let it go. and sora, i might eat everything but it doesn't mean that i don't have my own preferences!!"

dani's voice ends on a shrill high note that leaves hwan wincing, but ultimately amused. sukyung even gives a wavering smile at the corner of her lips. jaehyuk snorts nonetheless and extends his hands outward to quell the brewing fight. 

"guys, guys, please. we can discuss this at a later date," jaehyuk's face is bright. "what i wanted to establish was the biggest question: who's staying in which room?"

the others look among themselves with varying expressions of skepticism and discomfort. sukyung fiddles with her milk candy wrappers, already having cleared out half the bag. 

"wah-lah!" jaehyuk proclaims, pulling out a red solo cup full of popsicle sticks. "the fairest way to go about it!"

"popsicle sticks?" sora does nothing to hide her condescension. "really?"

"what better way is there to do it?" jaehyuk asks, rattling his cup of sticks vigorously.

"i can think of a couple ways..." sora grumbles, but she shuffles closer to the cup anyway.

"on the count of three, we'll all reach in and grab!" jaehyuk proclaims. "are you ready?"

there are a few darting looks that spread across the group of friends, but everyone's hands hover around the rim of the cup, poised and ready. 

3...2...1...GO

everyone's hands shoot into the cup, grappling for the stick that would solidify their fate in the apartment. they fumble a bit (dani is almost a little too ferocious and nearly digs into joonyoung's fingers with her nails) before everyone comes away with a popsicle stick. 

"okay, everyone," jaehyuk says, eyes drifting over each person's face. "remember, it's all in the way of the sticks. you get what you get, okay?"

everyone nods together before finally flipping over their popsicle stick and seeing just where fate has placed them. almost instantly, a triumphant whoop rips out of joonyoung and jaehyuk just as a halfhearted exhale whistles out of hwan. sora and sukyung peek at each other's sticks without a sound, sora giving sukyung a sly, toothy smile that sukyung returns (albeit not as brightly). dani gnaws at her lower lip, peering over at hwan's stick worriedly. hwan shows her his stick with barely any trace of emotion. 

"it doesn't really matter what our room assignments are," hwan says to her. "i'm taking the floor out here in the open anyway."

"seriously?" dani pouts. "man, it won't be that bad sharing a room with me, y'know?"

"ah, it's not that..." hwan begins with a pained expression beginning to penetrate through his blank expression. 

"so!" jaehyuk coyly displays his stick that proudly states "master bedroom". "no complaints, i hope?"

joonyoung snickers as he shows his identical stick in response. hwan is muttering to dani various statements of nonchalant facts. dani is only frowning in response, clearly perturbed by something. sora has wrapped her arm around sukyung's shoulders, pulling her in close and grinning widely at the others. 

"from here on out, room 2 is completely off limits!" sora boasts. "if your name isn't sora or sukyung, forget it! it's our land now."

sukyung raises a small fist in support, ducking her head down to obscure her growing smile. 

"well, now that we have our room assignments, it's all up to you guys to get moved in," jaehyuk tosses his stick back into the cup, placing his hands on hips. "joonyoung and i are already prepared to toss our into the master bedroom!"

"you're ready anyway," joonyoung chuckles. "my stuff is still at my grandparents' house."

"joonyoung~" jaehyuk whines, visibly drooping. "weren't you supposed to be ready to go by now? i told you when to have your stuff up here!"

", i'm not dragging my luggage here without you helping me," joonyoung draws back, offended. "what do you think i am? a miracle worker?"

to this, jaehyuk has no response. the others begin to talk among themselves, buzzing with a barely suppressed energy to call the apartment their own. sora and sukyung are already browsing decor color palettes on their phones and hwan has finally gotten dani to understand that he simply has needs and no real aversion to her as a person. 

joonyoung watches everyone with a fond smile. the apartment suddenly feels a lot warmer.








TOFU NOTE. hello everyone !! sorry about the delay in this chapter's production, but uni has really taken off for me !! which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but it does mean updates aren't as frequent as i would like :') hopefully you still enjoy this chapter despite that !! this chapter is establishing some of the relations that i personally envisioned, but do lmk if you had other things in mind (even if your second app isn't done yet) ! i want to make it as true and accurate to the characters as possible ,, enough rambling tho ! pls enjoy !!