You woke up with a jolt to the sound of your phone buzzing avidly next to you on your bed side table.

‘Huh?’ You grumbled, picking the device up roughly with half-open eyes, trying to adjust to the screen’s brightness.

‘HUH!?’ You hoarsely gasped with widening eyes as you sat up straight, practically wide awake due to the erratic, hard thumping of your heart bashing against your rib cage.

The reason to your panic/excitement?

Your phone was receiving a video call…from China.

Of course your finger slid onto the ‘Accept’ sign before you could think another second.

The screen was black, which then made you remember just how you must have looked.

Your hair was a tousled mess from being unconscious 30 seconds prior, but it was too late to change that now.

‘Is it on?’ A voice said in Korean.

You could tell. You could already tell whose wonderful voice it was even if the connection slightly muffled his voice before it fully established. The grin immediately grew on your face, stretching from ear to ear imagining Yixing playing around with the settings on his phone. Wow, you thought you would’ve forgotten the sound of his voice, and the rest of the boys’ voices but in they came one by one, the nostalgia enveloped you completely.

 ‘It should be, my Wi-fi connection is great here.’ Jong Dae pointed out, you were almost certain he had grabbed the phone from Yixing and was pointing it all around the place.

‘Hold it still otherwise-‘ Good old Mr Kevin Li’s low voice ordered, you couldn’t help but keep grinning.

‘-Then why cant we-oh.’

The screen cleared to reveal all their faces;

‘___________-AH!!!!!!!!!!’ All of them pretty much yelled down the phone at once, waving avidly at you, blurring the screen further.

‘Hi!!’ You waved hysterically back the screen, unable to hide the unbelievably wide smile that revealed your teeth now.

They were all piled on top of each other in Jong Dae’s dorm room (judging from the earlier conversation) on the floor next to the window and cupboard door by the looks of it.
‘_______-ah, hiiiii how are you???’

‘Good!!’ You almost squeaked down the phone.

‘Did we wake you?’ Kevin asked with concern, but he couldn’t hide the smile that emitted from his lips.

‘Yeah you look like you just woke up.’ Minseok stated, pointing at the screen which was probably at your puffy-as-hell eyes.

‘Sorry if we did, we thought you’d be up early.’ Luhan chuckled looking embarrassed.

‘The time difference isn’t that much, we could’ve waited another hour.’ Yixing apologised.

‘Aiiiish but I didn’t want to wait longer.’ Jong Dae pouted frustratedly.

‘No no it’s fine don’t worry about it, how are you guys??!??’ You asked, filled with curiosity.

‘Good! We’re all goo-‘

‘WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH WHY ARE YOU VIDEO CALLING NOW, WE SAID LATER, THIS IS SO UNFAIR I DIDN’T GET TO SAY HI-‘

‘-Yah just because you wanted to shower doesn’t mean we have to all wait Zitao!' Yixing snapped at the 20 year old man baby that was Huang Zitao. 

‘You’ll get a chance to say hi Zitao just go get changed fir-‘

‘-YAH TAO!!’

‘_______AH!!!!! WAAAAHHHHH IT’S BEEN SO LONG, OH I FORGOT HOW PRETTY YOU ARE WAHH HOW ARE YOU???' a very nearly almost Zitao covered in water screeched down the phone.

‘Go away Tao, aish you’re all wet and gross, get dry before you start rubbing your body all over us-‘ Jong Dae complained as Tao snatched the phone from him. 

‘You wet my pants.’ Minseok sighed from behind. 

‘Zitao we’ve been through this before, you put clothes on before you start talking to a girl.’ Kevin scolded while Yixing pushed Tao out the room, giving the phone back to Jong Dae. 

‘Fine fine I’ll be baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack-‘ Tao’s yells gradually decreased in volume as he ran left the room to get changed no doubt.

‘Chin cha he’s even more of a baby than I remember.’ You smiled almost laughing.

‘He’s grown up a lot if you can actually believe it.’ Luhan stated, shaking his head.

‘Tao make sure you don’t leave your wet towel on the floor because I’ll slip on it.’ Minseok yelled – so you guessed they were sharing.

‘_____-ah sorry we can call another time-‘ Luhan apologised. 

 ‘-No don’t worry about it I’m so glad you called!’ Your heart filled with pride watching your friends huddle at the screen in their dorm room.

‘What time is it there?’ You asked merrily.

‘Mid-afternoon.’ Kevin said checking his phone.

‘I see, but yeah guys what on earth have you been up to!?’ You asked, almost pressing your face to the phone. 

‘Oh we do game shows and variety programs.’ Yixing said, counting the number of things they had been on with his hands. 

‘Yeah we get to eat loads, and I missed eating Chinese food so much.’ Tao interrupted, his lips as he dived into the screen with a pyjama top on, hugging his pikachu plushie close to his chest. 

‘Yixing cooks for us now.’ Kevin added. 

‘I’m so sorry I didn’t help in the kitchen, I understand how exhausting it is.’ Yixing looked apologetic. 

‘Yixing you need to take it easy, you already don’t sleep enough.’ You said, concern evident in your voice and on your face.

‘Guys don’t let Yixing cook alone, he has enough on his plate.’ Yixing couldn't help but smile softly at your concern, his wonderful dimples pressed on his cheeks as he looked down, rubbing the back of his head. 

'It's ok, I only make simple things so it's not a lot of effort.'

‘But he won’t let us help!’ Tao whined.

‘Because you always over-season everything and you ruin the soup every time Zitao.’ Yixing scolded, tutting at Tao who was rolling his eyes without Yixing knowing, Kevin caught it and ruffled Tao’s hair.

‘Anyway how are the others?’ Luhan asked excitedly.

‘Yeah they are doing great, of course probably just as overworked as you guys but they’re good, they performed live yesterday at Inkigayo.’

‘Wow that’s awesome!’

‘How was it?’ Jong Dae asked. 

'It was good, one or two hiccups but these guys, just like you, will constantly improve.' You smiled encouragingly. 

‘Oh we performed live yesterday on Happy Camp.’ Jong Dae pointed out.

‘That’s awesome oh my gosh!’ You exclaimed delighted.

‘I messed up.’ Luhan half-smiled.

‘No you didn’t.’ Minseok nudged Luhan’s shoulder reassuringly. 

‘I’m sure you all did well – what was it for? I want to watch it on youtube later.’ You said resting your back against your bedroom wall.

‘I’ll message you a link when I find one.’ Tao offered enthusiastically.

‘Why because you want to watch it yourself?’ Jong Dae poked.

‘Shhhh no I don’t.’ Tao clicked his tongue before looking away, hilariously guilty.

‘______-ah, what’s your schedule like?’ Kevin asked tilting the phone towards him.

‘Busy.’ You sighed, remembering you needed to check your own phone for e-mails from the staff.

‘It’s just performances and appearances for most of the month, not much variety. What’s your like?’ You asked curiously.

‘We do more variety mixed in with performances.’

‘Oh so that’s how Chinese television goes.’ You said thoughtfully.

‘It’s fun to do, and it means we don’t need to do interviews in Chinese much.’ Jong Dae said jokingly and Minseok nodded in agreement.

‘How is your Chinese coming along? Are they teaching you?’ You asked intruiged. 

‘Well the company isn’t but these guys are all helping us learn, without them we’d be completely lost. Most of the time we need a translator.’ Jong Dae semi-smiled but you could see the frustration in his expression. It must’ve been awful being lost in translation all the time, not to mention boring.

‘Don’t worry about it, cuz you guys will improve, glad you’re all helping – don’t teach them any swear words though because that’s what most boys do.’ You said half-jokingly, rolling your eyes.

‘What we’d never.’ Kevin chuckled while Luhan guiltily grinned at a knowing Minseok.

‘Me and Minseok share a room so I teach him at night.’ Tao puffed his chest out and smirked.

‘And I teach him Korean.’ Minseok nodded approvingly. 

‘They keep saying Minseok’s fat and it’s really getting me angry.’ Yixing pointed  out, furrowing his eyebrows and pouting his lips consequently in his frustrated state.

‘WHAT THE FU- oooh sorry I almost swore, what are you serious!?’ Your eyes widened before you harshly gritted your teeth, pursing your lips to try and keep calm as Yixing explained;

‘Yeah they think it’s funny to call him – what’s the nickname?’

‘-Baozi.’ Minseok stated, looking down at the floor before smiling softly, but he couldn’t hide how much it bothered him.

‘It’s fine, it’s fine really-‘ Minseok said while Luhan placed a hand on his shoulder encouragingly.

‘Honestly just do not listen. Don’t you dare, actually – Minseok you’re looking too thin you need to eat more anyways so just ignore that. It’s the same crap here: Sehun’s lisp has been pointed out numerous times which is ridiculous, man the media are so, so critical. But just stay strong cuz it’s not going to get easier.’ You sighed rolling your eyes.

‘You are all perfect – PERFECT you hear me.’ They all cracked into smiled upon your words.

‘Baekhyun isn’t hogging you is he??’ Jong Dae asked out of nowhere. He eagerly awaited your answer.

‘No why?’ You said thinking Baekhyun wasn’t acting anything out of the normal.

‘Because he keeps sending me selfies he takes with you and it just looks like he’s all over you all the time.’ Jong Dae almost yelled down th