“lung?”

“no, lang. but the accent mark there over the ‘a’ means it’s a rising tone when you pronounce it.” yixing points at the word on the paper.

“laing?” jongdae tries.

yixing moves his head from side to side. “hmm, more or less. you’re getting there.”

jongdae pushes the paper away from her and gets out a fresh sheet. “i give up. let’s just focus on the writing part. i need to practice my characters.”

“okay.” yixing takes the paper from her and writes out a few words followed by a few sentences. “copy each a few times, then translate them, if you can. i’ll help along the way.”

jongdae nods and takes her pencil, attempting to replicate the .

“your handwriting is really nice.” she points out while still writing.

“thanks.”

as jongdae is starting on the next word, baekhyun appears with a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches.

“study break~!!” he announces before setting the plate down over jongdae’s notebooks. she shoots him a glare.

“wow, baekhyun. did you make all of this for us?”

“yes, please enjoy your meal. you’ve been at it for two hours now. you guys deserve a break.”

“if that’s okay with jongdae,” yixing looks to her and god help her, because she can’t resist that face.

“yeah, we can take a break.” jongdae puts her pencil down and takes a sandwich. “thanks baekhyun.”

baekhyun smiles back and takes a seat, adjacent to yixing, who is already biting into his sandwich.

“so yixing,” baekhyun glances between him and jongdae, who is also subtly listening in. “i’m having this halloween party this thursday. would you like to come?”

now jongdae looks wide-eyed at baekhyun, half in confusion, half in anger. she turns to yixing, who has just finished swallowing.

“on halloween? here at your place?” yixing points downwards. baekhyun nods.

“jongdae here will be attending also.” baekhyun looks briefly to jongdae to see has dropped a little but she closes it again when yixing looks at her.

“sure. i’d love to!” yixing turns back to baekhyun and smiles happily at the invitation.

“awesome.”

jongdae waits a few seconds before setting her sandwich down on her plate.

“i’ll get you guys something to drink.” baekhyun moves to stand up.

“i’ll help.” jongdae also stands up, following baekhyun into the kitchen.

once they’re in the kitchen, jongdae has a deathly grip on baekhyun’s bicep.

“what the , byun baekhyun.” jongdae grits out.

“what? ow, ow. can you not hold so tight?” baekhyun shifts his arm. she lets go.

“i thought you invited him already. i bought all your candy because you said you did.”

“yeah... well, i just invited him right now. remember? you were there..”

“you lied to me so i would buy stuff for your party? you purposely used yixing as a ploy to get me on board with helping you plan this thing?”

baekhyun blinks a few times. “uh. yeah. pretty much.”

“man,” she crosses her arms and leans against the fridge. “i’ve been a bad influence on you. i need to hang out with other people.” she turns around to leave the kitchen.

baekhyun scoffs. “yeah, right!”

“bring two waters when you come back, thanks baek~” she calls out as she sits back at the table. yixing is already halfway done with his second sandwich.

-

kyungsoo swipes her key card into the dorm door, successfully unlocking it. sehun’s sitting on the floor, painting her toenails.

“hi.” sehun greets without looking up from her toes. she’s focusing on getting the coat as even as possible on her middle toe.

“hi.” kyungsoo breathes out as she unwraps her scarf and puts down her backpack.

“don’t you hate it when it’s like freezing outside and you come inside and it’s like a sauna?”

“mhmm.”

kyungsoo takes her coat off and hangs it in her closet. she goes to sit in front of sehun.

“painting your nails?” she asks for no reason whatsoever.

“yep.” sehun answers back. kyungsoo isn’t dumb and sehun knows that. “what’s up, kyungsoo?”

“did jongin already tell you that--”

“yep. halloween. trick-or-treating.” sehun looks up from under her blonde-pink-tinted bangs. “you’re still going right?” kyungsoo nods.

“okay done.” sehun twists back the cap of nail polish and straightens out her legs so her toes can dry peacefully.

“i remember a few weeks back, you told me that you didn’t really like halloween?” sehun hugs her knees and looks at kyungsoo thoughtfully. this is one of the reasons why kyungsoo think she’s blessed to have a roommate like sehun. she’s really easy to talk to and their nightly roommate bonding sessions will probably always be one of kyungsoo’s fondest memories.

“yeah, it’s not like i don’t like it. i just don’t want to be one of those girls that dress all ty. aren’t you supposed to trick-or-treat at night? isn’t it really cold at night, considering it’s almost winter?”

“oh kyungsoo. sweet, innocent kyungsoo. those girls aren’t going trick-or-treating. they dress like that for other occasions, you see.” sehun subconsciously takes one of kyungsoo’s hands and sets it on her knee.

“where are they going then?” kyungsoo asks and she doesn’t even notice sehun beginning to paint her nails a bright red.

“parties, the club, you know those kinds of places.”

kyungsoo nods in understanding. “i see. well, still. i want to be dressed warmly for my costume then.”

“of course. you can dress up as whatever you want. not everyone has to dress ty for halloween, kyungsoo.”

“okay.” kyungsoo looks at her right hand; her nails are freshly painted and she has to admit, it looks nice. sehun has already started on her left hand.

“thanks, sehun.” kyungsoo says timidly. sehun hums in acknowledgement.

“uh, sehun.”

“yeah?” sehun replies before blowing lightly on the nail she just painted.

“will you help me find a costume? jongin kind of asked me just last night and i have my midterms tomorrow. i don’t think i’ll have time to go out and find something before halloween.”

“no problem. i could probably ask one of the girls in my sorority if they have any old costumes they’d be willing to lend out.”

“oh, okay. cool. thanks!”

“all done!” sehun smiles and lifts kyungsoo’s hands for her to see. “they’re so pretty! the red looks good on your milky skin, kyungsoo.”

sehun laughs and kyungsoo smiles back as she examines her hands.

-

jongin wakes up to an empty room. he turns his head and searches for his phone by sliding his hand around for it. it’s getting to be a little after 4pm. he groans as he tries to bury more into his pillow. he looks at his phone again to see that he has a few messages.

from tao [15:21:00]: you were sleeping so i left

from tao [15:25:12]: in the common room

from tao [15:48:22]: come to the common room, chelsea is playing

from tao [16:02:08]: wake up dammit. don't u have midterms to study for?

from tao [16:09:47]: torres made a goal

“.” jongin gets out of bed, stretches himself out, before checking his hair in the mirror hanging on the door. he tosses his hair a little with his hand and walks to the common room.

“yo.” zitao greets jongin as he sleepily walks into the common room. some other people, who were watching the game as well, greet him too. he slumps into the seat next to zitao, looking up at the screen.

“got my texts?” zitao nudges him.

jongin hums and shifts his feet to get in a more comfortable position.

“torres’ goal was pretty sweet.”

“whatever.”

everyone settles into a comfortable silence, only groaning or cheering or yelling when something potentially upsetting happens.

about 20 minutes into the game, sehun walks into the room. jongin looks at her lazily.

“hi, fellow dormmates. if any of you would like to join us for dinner, feel free to!” she eyes jongin in particular.

“i’ll go!” zitao stands up so fast, jongin can’t turn his head fast enough because next thing he knows, he’s already at sehun’s side. a few other girls and some guys join them.

“come on jongin. aren’t you hungry?” zitao asks his friend.

jongin is about to refuse when he hears,

“kyungsoo! hurry up, we’re leaving now.” sehun calls out. the crowd of people are moving towards the stairs to the food hall. jongin sees kyungsoo jog up to sehun.

“sorry, i’m here. i almost forgot my swipe card.”

“‘kay, let’s go then.” sehun turns to go down the stairs herself, with zitao following beside her.

kyungsoo finally takes notice of jongin. “oh, jongin.” she looks to him and points to  the leaving crowd of her dormmates.

“do you want to--”

“i’ll eat with you guys.” he says quickly and soon he’s up and right next to kyungsoo.

she chuckles at his behavior and starts walking to the food hall. before they reach the last step, jongin says “i like your nail color.” catches her eye while smiling, then walks away to cut in front of tao.

a/n: please comment and let me know what you think~~~

also HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

orz

i haven't even reached halloween yet in my story, lol

oh well~

THANKS FOR READING~!!!