Shut up.

That was the only thought running through Minseok’s mind while he listened to his best friend Kris droning on and on about how their apartment had to look absolutely perfect for when his childhood friend got there that night. While he nagged incessantly, Kris was also flitting around their closet-sized apartment moving things around, dusting shelves that had no dust on them, arranging Minseok’s CD collection that already was organized in alphabetical order according to the artists’ last name, and overall trying to make an already pristinely clean apartment look like a photo out of a home shopping catalog.

“Look Minseok hyung, I know you’re normally a well-organized person but today you have to be the best well-organized person in the world,” Kris drawled as he straightened a picture of the two of them on their first Christmas living in this apartment. Kris, the skyscraper as Minseok liked to refer to him as, had his arm draped over Minseok’s shoulders while a cocky smirk was painted on his face. Minseok had rolled his eyes, trying his best to smile whilst holding the giant Christmas present Kris had gotten him. In reality, the humongous box had held several smaller boxes with tiny gifts in them. Minseok had thrown every single one of them at Kris when he opened the huge box.

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” Minseok blinked out of the bittersweet memory to find Kris with one of his perfectly shaped eyebrows arched up and the man’s arms crossed over his chest. “I’m doing this for you, y’know.”

“How does making the apartment look clean for your friend benefit me?” retorted Minseok. He uninterestedly picked a tiny piece of lint off the dark brown couch he was sitting on.

“It’ll give him a good first impression of you,” replied Kris. “And trust me on this one. When you see him, you’ll want to give him a perfect first impression.”

“Sure, whatever you say. Obviously, you’re still in love with him and you don’t want him thinking you live with a slob. Right?” Minseok answered his tone flat and monotone.

“No! How many times do I have to tell you that I’m over him,” Kris snapped. “Were you not listening these past couple days when I told you I had a date next Saturday with a guy I met at the mall?”

Minseok stared off into space, flipping through the various conversations he’d had with Kris over the past week, trying but failing to recall anything about a date. Quite honestly, he hadn’t even remembered Kris ever going to the mall.

“Umm…no,” Minseok replied bluntly.

Kris sighed, plopping down on the staircase that led to the overhanging room above the kitchen. Shaking his head, he said, “What am I going to do with you?”

“You could leave me alone,” Minseok suggested.

“No, that’s no fun.”

Minseok scoffed and threw one of the pillows resting on the couch at his friend. Kris caught it, hugging it to his chest and sticking his tongue out mockingly. Minseok returned the gesture but not forgetting to go cross-eyed earning a loud laugh from his roommate.

“I told you not to do that,” Kris choked out between laughs. “Seriously, how are you going to get a boyfriend if you go around making your face look like that?”

Ignoring Kris’ daily jab at Minseok’s single status, the Korean man rose to his feet and headed into the kitchen area. “I can do whatever I want,” he said while taking out the carton of milk.

“Hey, pour me a glass too.”

“ you,” Minseok muttered as he grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and filling them halfway. He strode over to Kris, ing his glass into his face before taking a seat beside him on the stairs.

“Thanks, I love you too,” Kris sang, smirking.

A peaceful silence fell over the two friends and both their minds wandered in the same direction. Minseok smiled softly, reminiscing their high school days together when Minseok still lived with his parents and Kris lived with them as a foreign exchange student. Kris had come from Beijing in the middle of their second year in high school. Lucky enough for them, he was put into Minseok’s class where Minseok’s Mandarin skills were put to the test as he fumbled with translating for the Chinese boy. It was a good thing that Kris had learned Korean quickly though and Minseok had been relieved of his translator duties during their third year in high school.

If two people could become best friends in the blink of an eye, Minseok and Kris were those two people. Despite the initial language barrier, the two had had plenty of interesting translation mishaps where hand gestures became the only way to communicate but it only fueled their friendship. The simple mistakes they both made allowed them to bond without any problems.

Of course, the closer they got, the easier it became to quarrel in the way that best friends do. For those two, they were constantly at a friendly war, an extreme oxymoron but nonetheless a perfect one for them. Some days, Minseok took Kris’ face creams to which Kris would respond by hiding half the food in the apartment. Other days, Kris locked Minseok out of the apartment and Minseok would text all of Kris’ co-workers and tell them he watches Pororo still and owns Pororo footie pajamas. It was all part of that friendly war of theirs that no one could really understand but them.

“So, you’re still coming with me to pick Luhan up from the airport right?” asked Kris suddenly once he’d finished his glass of milk. “Your answer better be ‘yes’ or I’ll hide those Chinese dumplings you bought yesterday.”

“I swear if you do that I’ll call your date and tell him you only have one testicle,” Minseok shot back. “And yes, I’m still going with you.”

“I’d kill you if you did that.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“Yes I would.”

“No, you really wouldn’t,” Minseok said with finality and Kris sighed in defeat.

 “That’s true. I’d hire an assassin ‘cause I don’t wanna get my hands dirty.” Kris snickered and bounded out of Minseok’s reach, his long legs allowing him to put a considerable distance between the two in no time. “Anyways, I’m going to go out and buy some ingredients for dinner. You call Kyungsoo and beg him to cook for us because God knows we can’t cook a meal for our lives.”

“Alright, have fun,” Minseok said as he waved half-heartedly at his friend. Kris shook his head while he threw his jacket on, grabbing his wallet off the counter and leaving Minseok on his own. Once he heard the door click shut, Minseok whooped in relief and jumped onto the couch, glad that he'd cleared his schedule for the entire day. After giving their other friend, Kyungsoo, a quick call he turned the TV on, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and enjoying what minimal amount of relaxation time he could on this hectic Saturday.

---

Incheon International Airport was crowded with dozens of people arriving or leaving, their families and friends bidding them goodbye or picking them up, and the workers frantically trying to keep everything under control and running smoothly.

Minseok leaned against a pillar, the whirlwind of noise sweeping him off his feet and making his head spin. He hated big crowds of people and he hated airports. Putting those two things together would be like putting alcohol and fire together, they don’t mix. As Minseok’s head pulsed, he barely registered Kris standing beside him glancing at his watch every now and then while also looking at the screen showing which flights had arrived.

A group of people passed by them, one of their suitcases rolling over Minseok’s foot, and he cursed loudly. “! Dammit,” he hissed while holding onto his foot. Kris spun around then, raising one brow.

“What happened to you?”

“Some ran over my foot with his ing suitcase,” Minseok muttered.

“Sorry,” Kris apologized sincerely. He knew of Minseok’s distaste and utter contempt for crowds but he needed him there to pick up Luhan, the Chinese boy had requested Minseok’s presence himself despite never meeting Minseok before. Kris patted Minseok’s shoulder and the Korean man shot him a glare and sneered at him.

“If you were sorry you wouldn’t have dragged me here in the first place,” mumbled Minseok. His head still throbbed from all the noise and he was starting to get sick of the polished tiled floor of the airport. The racket from incoming airplanes proved to be too loud for him once again and he groaned, sinking to the ground in a heap.

Kris crouched down beside him, resting a comforting hand on his knee. “Look, the screen says Luhan’s flight should be on time which means his plane will be here any minute now. Once he arrives, then we can go with him to get his luggage and after that, poof we’ll be out of this dreadful place.”

“For your sake, that screen had better be right,” growled Minseok.

Placing both his hands on Minseok’s arms, Kris gripped his friend tightly and pulled him up to his feet again. “Don’t worry, it’s right. Now stand up and look presentable. Remember, good first impression.”

When Minseok reluctantly stood on his own, Kris brushed his shoulders off and fiddled with his clothes, fixing it up for him.

“There, now you look alright,” said a satisfied Kris.

“Remind me why I have to make a good impression again.”

“Because I said so. And because who knows, maybe Luhan is your type.” Kris grinned at Minseok, wiggling his brows suggestively and Minseok pushed his face away.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I can find a boyfriend on my own? I don’t need your help,” Minseok said.

“Then why have you been single for so long? Huh? Tell me that Mr. I’m-So-Awesome-That-I-Don’t-Need-My-Best-Friend’s-Help,” Kris snapped back.

“Maybe I’m just waiting for the right guy.”

The low rumble of a stampede of people going by, the sounds of suitcase wheels rolling on the floor filled the air between the two as they both fell silent. Minseok stood there waiting for Kris’ refute but it never came. Instead, his skyscraper of a friend jumped up in excitement and pointed across the hallway to the screen showing the arrivals.

“There! Luhan’s planes just arrived, let’s go!”

And then, Minseok felt himself being dragged by the wrist through an airport full of people, bumping into more than half of them earning angry glares until they came to a stop where Luhan’s plane was supposed to let them out. Kris didn’t forget to straighten Minseok’s shirt for him and to dust his jeans off for him but had to stop when Minseok swatted his hands away furiously.

“Damn, just calm down. It’s not like I’m meeting the Queen of England,” Minseok grumbled, quickly growing annoyed of Kris.

“Wait, shut up. He’s here,” Kris said and Minseok knew everything he’d just said had been completely ignored. Instead of making life harder for Kris though, Minseok decided to comply with his friend’s demands and kept his mouth closed.

“Luhan!” Kris called. Minseok gazed over in the direction that Kris was looking and waving at, squinting to try and pick out which person could be Luhan through the never ending herd of humans. His eyes flitted to a tall guy with curly, auburn-brown hair and a huge creepy grin and for a second he thought that was Luhan. He was proved wrong when seconds later that tall guy shouted “Baekhyun” in an incredibly loud, deep, booming voice. Scanning the herd again, his eyes landed on a boy about his height with a head of dirty blond hair, the bangs slightly swept to the right, dark brown eyes that twinkled under the artificial lights in the airport, soft, pink lips curled up in a tiny smile, and a small carry-on suitcase clutched in his beautiful hands. Without having to ask, without knowing anything other than his name, Minseok knew that this man was Luhan.

“My dear Wu Fan, nice to see you again,” exclaimed who Minseok assumed was Luhan. “You haven’t changed a bit since I last saw you.”

“But, dearest Xiaolu, I’ve gotten taller, haven’t I?” asked Kris with a grin as he hugged the man. Luhan chuckled, roughly patting Kris on the back before releasing him and turning his blindingly bright gaze on Minseok.

“And you must be the Kim Minseok that I’ve heard so much about!” Luhan greeted. “You’re even cuter than I imagined.”

Minseok blushed bright pink as Luhan drew him in for a friendly hug despite this being their first time meeting. “T-thanks.  You must be Luhan,” stuttered a hopelessly overwhelmed Minseok.

“Sorry, I’m a hugger,” Luhan stated.

“Oh, no. You don’t have to apologize,” Minseok stammered immediately. He heard Kris snort in the background and his leg shot out to kick his friend in the shin. Kris automatically doubled over, bringing his leg up and rubbing the spot Minseok had kicked. Minseok grinned triumphantly.

“You okay there, Kris?” asked Luhan, smiling sweetly.

“Just ing peachy,” Kris responded. “Let’s go get your suitcase and get out of here.”

On the way towards baggage claim, Luhan had no problem with chatting amicably with Minseok, as if they’d been friends for years. He began talking about how his plane ride had been, how he’d suffered through an entire ride with the kid sitting behind him kicking his seat every five minutes while also being stuck between two not-so-nice smelling burly men. Minseok listened to every detail, wondering whether Luhan ever took any breaths between sentences.

Suddenly, the man had a deer-in-the-headlights expression on and he stared at Minseok. “I’m so sorry, I was talking too much wasn’t I?” he asked worriedly. “Sometimes I don’t have a filter in my brain and my mouth just runs on its own.”

Minseok didn’t want to say anything to offend the man who looked so hurt and frightened that he’d disturbed Minseok in any way so he smiled warmly and shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. I’m used to it, especially from living with Kris for so long.”

“Really? That’s good, I didn’t want to scare you off and make you think that I’m nothing but a chirpy chatterbox,” said Luhan sheepishly.

“I’m glad you two are bonding and all, but Luhan you need to find your suitcase now,” Kris called to them. Luhan, not knowing the meaning of personal space, gripped Minseok’s hand in his and tugged him along to where the suitcases were being moved on a conveyor belt. Minseok knew without a doubt that his cheeks were growing hot, tinged a light pink. He was glad that Luhan’s attention was focused solely on searching for his suitcase.

How in the world was Luhan able to act in such a way with Minseok when they’d only just met that day? Minseok was puzzled beyond belief, his hand squirming uncomfortably in Luhan’s grip, as he stared at the Chinese man. He began to wonder why Kris had wanted him to make a good first impression when really; it seemed as if Luhan would have liked him even if he had been dressed in only a trash bag. For now, Minseok listed it as a mystery he’d have to figure out sooner than later.

---

When they returned to Minseok’s and Kris’ shared apartment, dinner was laid out on the granite counter. The delicious aroma wafted from the dishes that Kyungsoo had made for them, the steam still floating in the air signaling that it hadn’t been long since Kyungsoo had left. Minseok made a mental note to kiss up to Kyungsoo for dropping by and doing this.

“Wow, you guys have a nice place,” Luhan said in awe. “It’s kinda small but it’s still cool.”

“Thanks, you can follow Minseok up those stairs to where you’ll be staying,” Kris replied as he headed over to the kitchen. “I’ll set up the plates and stuff for dinner.”

“Okay!” chirped Luhan. He looked at Minseok expectantly and the other man bit his cheek in embarrassment, scurrying towards the stairs. Minseok heard Luhan’s dainty footsteps behind him and he didn’t chance a glance back as he skipped up the steps two at a time. The heavy thunk of Luhan’s suitcase against the finished wooden staircase remained a constant noise until they reached the top. Instantly, Luhan gasped in astonishment.

“Whoa, this is nice,” he said appreciatively. There was a queen sized bed in the back corner of the little “room” with a dresser sitting beside it. A bedside table occupied the space on the other side of the bed with a small lamp resting on it. The maroon sheets were neatly made, all the sides tucked in under the mattress while there were four pillows positioned in a neat array at the head of the bed. Kris had made sure that everything was picture perfect for Luhan.

Originally, this overhanging room had been used by Minseok but Kris kicked him out of it about a week and a half ago when he learned that Luhan was visiting. Now, Minseok slept on the couch which had a pull-out bed and his personal effects were located in the extra closet in Kris’ room. Kris’ room was across from the staircase and Minseok had complained to him, asking why he couldn’t give up his room for Luhan to which the tall man replied with his need for an actual bed to sleep in otherwise his back would hurt and that would be a disaster.

Minseok didn’t realize he’d been spacing out, staring at the beige wall, until Luhan waved a hand in front of his face.

“You okay there Minseok?”

When the Korean man heard his name roll of Luhan’s tongue, he snapped to attention and ignored the tiny irregular flip his heart just did. Fishing for any kind of reply, Minseok fiddled with his fingers in pure embarrassment.

“S-sorry, I was spacing out,” Minseok mumbled.

“It’s alright, it happens to everyone,” answered Luhan with the sweetest smile gracing his pink lips. “We should go back downstairs and have dinner before it gets cold. Did you two make it yourself? It smells amazing!”

Minseok thanked Luhan for his affable nature and nodded. “Right, sounds good. I’m starving,” he said, plastering what he hoped was a cordial smile on his face.

The two of them headed down the stairs and found three sets of silverware and plates on the counter with food already piled on one of them. Kris was just placing three empty glasses down when the two approached. “Get your own food and drinks, I’ve done my job already,” he stated. He took no time in settling on a barstool and digging into the utterly tantalizing meal in front of him.

“Well, I guess we better get started before Kris eats everything on his own,” Luhan chuckled, picking up a fork and piling kimchi spaghetti onto his own plate.

“Minseok, get the water pitcher out,” ordered Kris.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry. Hyung, can you please get the water pitcher out from the fridge?” Kris corrected himself, rolling his eyes.

“Better,” retorted Minseok as he took the pitcher out and gently set it on the counter. He slid into the stool beside Kris’, extremely aware of how Luhan had waited till Minseok picked a seat before he sat down right beside him. Their shoulders touched and Luhan smiled innocently as if he had no idea that their bodies were in such close proximity. It bothered Minseok slightly and he shifted more towards Kris a little only to have Luhan lean even closer to him. Minseok gulped nervously, frustrated, and did his best to overlook the situation.

The three of them soon ceased all conversation and savored the taste of Kyungsoo’s famous kimchi spaghetti. Minseok in particular was ecstatic since Kyungsoo rarely cooked for them anymore. Back in their high school days, Minseok and Kris would invite Kyungsoo over for dinner, tricking him into becoming their personal chef for the night. Poor teenage Kyungsoo couldn’t refuse. It wasn’t until Kyungsoo was in college and got himself a bold, tough boyfriend by the name of Kim Jongin did he toughen up himself and finally refused to fall for Minseok’s and Kris’ ploys.

It was about eight o’clock by the time the three men finished eating and washing the dishes. Kris directed them towards the couch and they all say in front of the TV which was playing a drama that the three paid no attention to.

“So Luhan, how long are you planning to stay here again?” asked Kris.

“Hmm, I don’t know yet. I haven’t really thought about it,” Luhan replied genuinely. Minseok almost gaped at him, surprised by how laid-back he seemed about things.

“You don’t have any plans as to what you’re going to do while you’re here?” Minseok couldn’t help but ask.

“Nope, not really,” said Luhan, “I came here so I could see Kris again and to meet you.”

Minseok hugged the throw pillow in his arms tighter, staring at the Chinese man in bewilderment. “That’s it?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You’re telling me that one day you just spontaneously decided to buy a ticket to Seoul and visit a childhood friend?” Minseok questioned in disbelief.

Luhan nodded. Minseok resisted the urge to slap his hand over his face. The more he learned of Luhan, the more Minseok began to wonder how he was going to live under the same roof as him for who knows how long. His personality seemed too easy-going, too go-with-the-flow for Minseok who liked things to be somewhat planned out. He may seem like he didn't care much for others' plans, especially with how well - or how un-well - he kept track of Kris' affairs but Minseok was a person who enjoyed scheduling things to assure that nothing would go wrong and no other events would coincide with his plans. Luhan seemed to be just the opposite, one of those people who threw on their clothes for the day and walked out the door to see what would hit them first.

As Luhan struck up a conversation with Kris, Minseok drowned them out and began to panic. He wanted to get along with Kris’ friend, he truly did, but from what he saw of Luhan so far, he wasn’t quite so certain that their personalities could click.

Now arriving from Beijing, the man that will stir up Kim Minseok's plain, boring life.