Krystal blinks sleepily as she sits up. Through half-open eyes, she checks her roommate's bed to see it empty. The brief interactions between Sulli and her comes rushing back. She shuffles her way out of the small room, her hair still a mess and mind still in between the state of sleeping and the state of awake.

Distinctly, she becomes aware of laughing and chattering somewhere near. Ignoring this sound, she drags her body to the kitchen to eat her breakfast.

Thinking of breakfast, she checks the clock-- 3:00. Yawning, she prepares her late breakfast, slowly coming awake. The noise outside becomes louder and louder, until the door opens, revealing the nine she had befriended. In the middle of pouring milk, she looks up, still a bit dozy.

The group notices her, and Sulli cheerfully waves. "Yo, Krystal!"

Her words, as if magic, wakes the sleepy girl up right away. She immediately analyzes the situation. Her nine friends, including all the boys, are here. Krystal is wearing her pajamas, with a drool-ridden face and messed up hair. Her eyes widen at the realization-- everyone is looking at her. She quickly calculates the distance between the kitchen opening to her room door. Does she dare make a run for it?

The idea is dismissed almost as soon as she thinks of it. She decides to take refuge in the kitchen counters. Setting her milk down, Krystal ducks down to hide.

The friends, looking on, become startled at the sudden disappearance of the just-awoken girl. They all stare at the empty space, then stare at each other. After a long while, they finally burst out laughing at Krystal's cute actions.

Victoria shakes her head. "As adorable as ever, our little Krystal." Still chuckling, she turns to address the boys. "I think she's acting like that because you guys are here. Now," she ushers them out, "stand outside while Krystal gets ready to see you all."

The males obey without a word, though not without a grin. Only when the door closes does Krystal peek out. She smiles apologetically to the girls, then scurries to the bathroom.

After a "very long 5 minutes", as Jonghyun says, the boys are welcomed back in to a much more neat Krystal; she's out of her pajamas, her hair is brushed and her face has been washed. She apologizes to them too, which the boys accept wholeheartedly.

The group, without trying, breaks up into mini conversations, talking and laughing, then separating to join a new discussion. If one had looked from the top of the room, it might have looked like little dots of people coming together and coming apart, like blobs of oil on a glass of water.

On the side, Onew and Luna was talking about the new senior project. Apparently, this year's project would be a senior tutoring an underclassmen, recording the process and whatnot.

With an innocent smile, Luna tells Onew, "I hope I'm paired up with you, oppa! It would be so much fun, right?" She fails to notice the sudden blush on her oppa's stunned face, as she had turned around to listen to Sulli's argument with Taemin.

"Don't be stubborn! Banana milk is way better than chocolate milk," scoffs the older friend.

Huffing angrily, the younger one's eyes narrow. "Says the one who's the most stubborn out of all of us." She tosses her hair impatiently. "Banana milk is good, but chocolate milk is incomparable! What?" The last demand is headed for the laughing, blonde-haired girl who sits next to the blushing male leader.

"You guys," she manages to say, "are so cute!" Then she sets of laughing again.

Seeing that Luna's attention was now focused somewhere else, Onew shakes his head to get the heat out. Trying to clear his thoughts (and thus not blushing even more), he also turns away to listen in on another conversation-- precisely, Victoria and Krystal's.

"Vic umma, please?"

Please what? Onew thinks halfheartedly.

"No. Definitely not. I don't understand why you're so intensely-- what's the word-- obsessed with this."

Krystal pouts. "Who wouldn't be? We're all curious, unnie."

Onew suddenly has an urge to pipe up, and he does so: "I'm so curious, yeah, noona." (A/N: Okay, I know that didn't make sense, but as I was writing the word curious, I suddenly thought of Sherlock. So I had to write it, okay?)

"Two against one?" the Chinese girl whines. "No fair."

"If we dragged everyone in, it would be nine against one, unnie. Face it-- we're all dying to know who in the world this Nichkun is!"

Ah, Onew thinks with a satisfied smile. This is what it's about.

"One day, you'll all see. Eventually. But I am not inviting him over-- which would be very awkward, let me tell you-- when I barely even know him!"

"Pish posh. You're on the phone with him, like, every single day!"

Onew's satisfactory smile grows wider as he detects the red painting the noona's cheeks. Having seen enough, he directs his attention back to the cheery girl he had been talking to. She is now, he notes, deeply engrossed in conversing with Jonghyun. His gaze falls on Key and Amber, and his eyes look and ears listen as the two argue.

"You don't understand!" a clearly frustrated Key hisses.

Amber retorts back almost instantly. "Excuse you? It's you that doesn't understand."

"What?! Amber, you are making no sense."

"Excuse you?! You don't make any sense! I'm making perfect sense here, thank you very much!"

"Oh, that was so funny, I forgot to laugh," shoots the now-enraged male.

Onew marvels at the sight. It seemed as if Key only got this angry with Amber. Though he is sassy by nature, usually he keeps calm in the midst of things.

"Cool story, bro, tell it again," comes the reply.

The senior leader smiles-- he understands why Key is angered so easily with Amber. Usually, Key's witty replies send the opponent sputtering and stuttering, but his wit is matched with Amber's. His usual way of winning arguments is not effective with Amber at all, which makes him so mad.

"I will, when you start to understand me."

"Ha! Over my dead body! It's you who should be understanding me."

"I've done no wrong."

"News flash, brother dear, you have."

"No evidence, no accusation."

"Oh really? Here's the evidence, clear as day: you're not trying to understand me!"

"Says the one who's doing the same!"

"Aha! So you agree!"

"I never said that!"

"Then your grammar is horrible. News flash, another wrong."

Watching this interaction go between the two friends, Onew's curiosity grows bigger. Finally, he asks, "What are you guys talking about?"

"None of your business!" The full force of Key and Amber's angry eyes are upon him, and they yell simultaneously before going back to rip at each other.

Onew winces. The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' didn't come from nowhere, he realizes. Leaving the two, he lets his eyes skim over the room. His earlier companion, Luna, has moved on to talking to Minho, while Sulli and Taemin's still arguing hotly. Victoria is on the phone, bright red, while Krystal is smirking triumphantly. Ah, so the youngest had won over the oldest, it seems. Jonghyun is texting, and has his playboy grin on. The male leader sighs. The room is chaotic.

He checks the time to see that it's already almost 5-- time for dinner. Well, almost. But he's really hungry already, so he waits until Victoria's done with her phone call before tapping her on the shoulder to tell her the time.

A shocked expression greets his information, and she drags Krystal with her to the kitchen, preparing dinner an hour early. One by one, the girls leave to help their second mom, and the boys are left to watch TV. After the delicious fried rice for dinner, the five of them help with cleaning up while the girls chatter on by themselves. It's a tried and true routine, with the girls cooking and the boys cleaning up.

They stay for another hour, all of them working on their respective homeworks that was left, and then the males leave for the night.

In the end, Onew never does find out about what, exactly, Key and Amber had been arguing about.

Oh, I do love using dear Onew for my POV-guy. He's so fun to write about, really. And hello there, people-I-haven't-seen-for-forever! I tip my invisible English hat to you in a moment of apologies. At least I'm back-- it's the most I can do. I've been missing out on my sleep (partially due to busy-ness, and partially due to my current phase of Detective Conan-ness), and so it's been a long week. Right after I update this, I'm going to sleep. And yes, I know this was a filler chapter. I just felt like I should emphasize that they have lives going on, and there's space between each major plot movements. And, I just love writing everyday, sliceoflife chapters. It's so fun. But that's not the point. Anyways, thanks for all those subscribes (I know you can't see it, but I've reached 40 subscribers. What.) and comments (kisses to all). I'm feeling extra joyful today, for no good reason. But hey, nobody needs a reason to be happy, right? :) Have a nice day.