*whew, so it's been 2 years since the last chapter... please reread previous chaps to refresh your memory~*

minseok knows the guy. it’s zhang yixing. he remembers luhan telling him about yixing some time ago. apparently, luhan and yixing have known each other since childhood and it was coincidence that they hadn’t seen each other in years until they came to attend the same university. oh, luhan’s waving him over now.
“hey minseok. i forgot to say earlier but, cool costume!” yixing politely says, warm and sincere. which, to be honest, throws minseok off. he thought this zhang yixing would be some cocky, chinese dude who took his popularity (from being the youngest guy to get on a well-known dance team at their school) to the head. this guy is not what he expected.
minseok remembers to return the greeting, showing off his gummy smile. luhan claps happily afterwards and scoots on the couch (effectively forcing yixing to move also) to make room for minseok to sit also.
“is your friend here?” minseok asks luhan as she takes a sip of her drink.
“huh, who?”
“ah, i forgot her name.. was it sen--”
“oh sehun!” minseok hears luhan shout in glee.
“yeah, that’s it!”
minseok finds that luhan has gotten up from her seat to wrap her arms around a tall, modelesque bunny girl.
“hi luhan.” the girl called sehun struggles to greet, probably because luhan’s hugging too hard. sehun makes eye contact with minseok before quickly fixating her gaze on a certain zhang yixing.
“who’s this?” luhan asks as she steps back from sehun to notice zitao.
“this is my hallmate, zitao.” sehun introduces the two. zitao grins at luhan. “you can call me tao. nice to meet you.”
sehun pulls luhan closer. “ah, are you gonna introduce me to your friends?” sehun makes sure to straighten up her back and smile.
“oh yeah. the mad hatter is kim minseok. and the puffy blouse one is zhang yixing.” luhan directs her hand at each guy as she announces their name. “this is sehun, one of the freshmen sisters in my sorority. and this is her hallmate, tao.”

sehun’s insides are flipping like crazy because she has finally met zhang yixing. her dance idol. i mean, sure she’s got posters of true idol dancers like yunho and eunhyuk on her dorm wall (she had spent a good hour explaining who they were to kyungsoo) but this is a tiny bit better in her opinion since yixing is standing right in front of her. it’s not her fault that she happened to pass by the student terrace stage when his team was performing, with him smack dab in the middle of their formation. she’s 98% sure that he was looking straight at her during the hip ing part in the choreo.

“would you like to sit down?” sehun hears zhang yixing’s voice for the first time and my goodness, it’s heavenly.
“i’m oka--” sehun starts but zhang yixing and luhan’s friend, min-- she forgot his name already but anyways, they’re both standing up to make room. luhan sits back down with an exaggerated bounce and cutesy smile.
“sit down, bunny!” luhan pats the couch seat.

-

jongin mentally curses as he adjusts his ninja costume. when he was deciding on a costume, he certainly wasn’t expecting to be in a room full of people. the body heat is, to say the least, stifling. jongin is currently a ninja wallflower, nursing a red cup of who-knows-what since he wasn't really paying attention to what mister tuxedo mask was pouring. jongin was also not too inclined to partake in any alcohol consumption tonight either but after seeing the way chanyeol eyed kyungsoo, all hesitations went out the door. jongin can't explain it but he was suddenly struck with the feeling of wanting to protect kyungsoo. sure, they were just dormmates but this was (technically) a stranger's party. jongin wasn't gonna let his guard down just because of a classmate of kyungsoo's. where jongin was worrying about chanyeol's intentions towards kyungsoo, it turned out to be jongdae who (in more words or less) stole her from him.

through the crowd, jongin can see jongdae trying to get kyungsoo to dance with her. the "dance floor" (which is basically the center of the living room) is pretty packed. people have got drinks and candy in their system. it’s pretty lively.

"so, kyungsoo. you and ninja boy over there?" jongdae is talking a little too loudly as she looks past kyungsoo as they're swaying in time to the beat. kyungsoo turns and sees jongin leaning against the wall. she waves and he raises his cup to her in acknowledgment.
she faces back to jongdae.
"oh, jongin? what about him?" kyungsoo sees the way jongdae is grinning. "what-- no, you don't think? what, me and jongin?"
"you guys live in the same dorm, right? things like this usually happen."
"that doesn't mean-- what do you mean by 'things?'"
"you know, dormcest? or whatever you guys are calling it now."
kyungsoo has heard of it. sehun told her all about it during their first week of rooming with each other. "is.. that a bad thing?" first year kyungsoo definitely puts her jongdae sunbae's opinion over sehun at this point.
jongdae quirks her lip before shrugging. "not really. if you like him and he likes you, go for it!" jongdae throws her arms around kyungsoo's neck to half-hug, half-spin her around. when they stop, kyungsoo realizes she's carrying all of jongdae's weight right now.
"huh? jongdae? hey..." she shakes jongdae's shoulder a bit but there's no reaction.
kyungsoo holds onto jongdae and maneuvers them outside of the dance crowd. she's moving towards the couches where she sees sehun amongst other people.
"sehun!" she catches the attention of her roommate, who gets up from the sofa to help her with jongdae.
"kyungsoo, are you okay? uh, is your friend okay?"
"i'm fine. yeah, uh, jongdae. she was okay like a minute ago, but i think she's tired?" kyungsoo is a bit distraught because she's never handled intoxicated people before?? sehun takes over where jongdae was hanging off of kyungsoo’s neck. jongdae's as skinny as a stick but looks can be deceiving.
“hey, where’s tao?” Kyungsoo asks.
“oh, he forgot he had some stuff due at midnight tonight. he left a little while ago. okay, let's sit her down." sehun helps kyungsoo sit jongdae upright.

yixing recognizes the kitty girl. "oh, jongdae?" he moves to kneel in front of jongdae.
"you know her?" sehun asks. yixing nods affirmative.
"hey, luhan," the girl and minseok were nearby, observing the situation from the sidelines. "get me a cup of water."
"is she going to be okay?" kyungsoo asks worriedly. yixing smiles but only a little bit of kyungsoo's anxiousness fades.
"she's fine. she's just a little dehydrated." yixing turns away from kyungsoo to look at jongdae, who's now coming to.
", my head." jongdae blinks twice before her vision settles. "yixing?"
luhan comes back with water. yixing takes jongdae's hand in his to make sure she grips the cup. "it's water. drink this, you'll feel better."
sehun looks on with a tinge of envy as yixing volunteers to take care of jongdae, saying the rest of them should go on and enjoy the party. she watches the backs of the two disappear into the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

“hey, don’t pout so much. you’ll get wrinkles. trust me, i would know.” luhan taps sehun on the arm to get her attention back.
"that's the girl that yixing tutors, jongdae." luhan explains the burning question on sehun's mind without her having to ask. ah, what else are sorority sisters for?
"i see. man, why does he have to be hot AND nice?" sehun downs the rest of her drink and smacks the cup back onto the table.
"wait, what? you're into yixing?" minseok questions. sehun groans.
"don't mind him. he's clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff." luhan elbows minseok lightly and he gives sehun an apologetic pat on the back.
sehun gives a sigh. "it's okay. it was just, like, a crush. not a big deal."

-

after making sure jongdae was okay with yixing, kyungsoo steps out of the bedroom to close the door quietly.
"hey." the voice startles kyungsoo a bit.
"oh, hi." it's chanyeol. he nods towards the door behind kyungsoo.
"and what are you doing, standing outside my bedroom?" he teases, his speech slurring a little.
"ah, jongdae wasn't feeling too well. she's being taken care of though. no need to worry." chanyeol nods. kyungsoo can smell the alcohol on chanyeol from where she's standing. she notices he's not quite standing so upright either, occasionally swaying from side to side. she looks back up at his eyes and the way he's looking at her is not sitting well in kyungsoo's stomach. she makes to move away, thinking of going back to find sehun, but chanyeol blocks her on his right.
"wait, kyungsoo," chanyeol leans closer to kyungsoo as she steps back against the wall. she sees his hand coming up towards her face. kyungsoo presses both of her hands against his chest to push him away. "chanyeol, don't--"
"park chanyeol, what the are you doing?"
both chanyeol and kyungsoo turn towards the voice coming down the hallway towards them.
chanyeol steps away from kyungsoo and squints at the approaching figure. "baekhyun?"
baekhyun grabs onto chanyeol's shoulder, pulling him away from kyungsoo. "i'm so sorry," baekhyun addresses kyungsoo, who is still flustered over the situation at hand. "was he bothering you? chanyeol, you should apologize if you--"
"kyungsoo!" all three heads turn at the new voice.
"jongin."
"what's going on here?" jongin glances from kyungsoo to chanyeol to chanyeol's friend, he presumes.
"ah, i'm baekhyun." the pirate decides to break the unwanted tension. "i'm the host of this party." he didn't mean to add a nervous laugh at the end.
kyungsoo steps in between baekhyun and jongin. "it was nice to meet you. if you'll excuse us now." she turns to grab jongin's hand and sees his surprised expression.
before they start walking away, chanyeol calls out earnestly, "kyungsoo. sorry, i-- i didn't mean to-- i'm sorry."
kyungsoo stops to make eye contact and gives chanyeol a quick nod before leaving the hallway with jongin in tow.
 

baekhyun sighs and glances at chanyeol. "did you do something stupid?"
chanyeol runs his hands through his hair and drops his head.
"if i find out otherwise, i will make your life a living hell. you know that, right?" baekhyun was half-joking, trying to lighten up the mood. chanyeol doesn't respond. "well, at least you said you were sorry."
"i am sorry. i was going to, but i didn't do anything. it's the truth, baek."
chanyeol tugs on baekhyun's shirt and pushes him toward his bedroom door. "come on, jongdae's inside. i need a time-out too."
baekhyun's concerned squabbling over jongdae is muted as they go inside the bedroom, leaving the hallway empty. 
-

a/n: long time no see~~ TT first and foremost, i would like to apologize for (almost) abandoning this story. "halloween special" is pretty important to me because it's like the one fic where i get to have a little fun and kinda go wherever i want with the plot. with that said, i thank you guys for staying with the story/reading/commenting! much love. <3