“Yes! I knew you would accept him!” Xiumin jumped onto Kris and hugged him tightly, “Welcome to the group Zitao!”

“Ah..” Zitao still found it difficult to process that he met eleven new friends and joined a group in just two days at his new school; it was a huge feat for him, “Thanks for letting me join.” Well that sure escalated quickly, he thought.

“A new friend!” Chanyeol beamed.

“Our official twelfth member is finally here!”

“Yehet.”

“Can we go to the arcade now?” Kai asked, “We’ve been in this place for almost two hours.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

---

 After a long day at the mall, the twelve boys walked back to their school.

“Baekhyun totally at basketball!” Chanyeol laughed as he smacked the boy’s back.

“I was against a giant!” Baekhyun glared at Chanyeol, “You got height advantage!”

“Well Xiumin scored higher than you,” Chanyeol sticked his tongue out.

“Are you calling me short?!” Xiumin shouted and picked up pace, walking beside the duo.

“Isn’t it obvious enough?” Chen smirked.

“Shut up, you’re the same height as me you know!”

“You couldn’t win Kris, so stop being so cocky Yoda!” Baekhyun retorted.

Zitao was walking at the back of the group, hands in his pockets while he listened to music on his mobile phone.

“Hey Zitao,” a deep voice called the boy’s name.

Zitao looked up and saw Kris walking beside him, “You just transferred in, right?”

Zitao removed his earphones, “Yeah. Why?”

“A staff told me that a new student was going to be my roommate. What room are you in?”

Could Kris be my roommate? Zitao pondered, “Room 102.”

“Wow.”

“Wow what?” Zitao asked.

“Guess you’re my roommate huh.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

I never would have thought that my roommate was going to be Kris.. Zitao turned away from the leader as they reached the school gates, well he seems pretty nice.

“Whoa.. You two are roommates?” Xiumin asked as he saw the two boys stop in front of the same room.

“I thought you knew my room number?” Kris questioned back as he unlocked the door.

“I didn’t notice the number when Zitao got in,” Xiumin replied as he waved goodbye at Zitao and Kris, walking to his own room.

“You two are fated to be!” Chen shouted across the hall.

“Keep your mouth shut camel! I can hear you from upstairs!”

“As if you aren’t shouting,” Chen mumbled as he entered his room.

Kris chuckled as he closed and locked the door, silly kids. He heard water running from the showers and knew that Zitao was bathing, so he sat down on his bed and began looking around.

The boy sure has lots of clothes, he concluded as he saw the shared closet almost full- Zitao’s clothes filled almost three quarters of the closet. What’s this? Kris reached forward and grabbed the item that caught his attention. A cat?

Zitao walked out of the showers and spotted Kris holding his toy cat.

“You know, a panda suits you more.”

Zitao roughly snatched the toy away, “Don’t touch it.”

“Why?” Kris smirked as he walked over to get out some fresh clothes.

“Because it’s mine.”

“Pfft,” Kris scoffed, “That’s a funny answer.”

“It wasn’t meant to be funny.”

“Sure sure,” Kris walked past Zitao, poking the cat on its head.

“I still think a panda fits you more, Tao,” Kris said as he closed the shower door shut.

Zitao felt his face flush as he hid the cat plushy under his pillow. What panda? I don’t even look like a panda. And Tao? What is a Tao? Zitao lay down on his bed and began thinking about today’s long day. I’m part of Kris’s group now huh? Zitao sighed; it never was his intention to join a group, let alone a big group, in the first place. He wanted to stay alone for the rest of his highschool life, but.. It felt good to have friends. And they don’t seem bad; they are fun, crazy and childish. Zitao chuckled softly as he recalled the name-calling war the boys had earlier at the fast food restaurant. I also felt this bubbly feeling inside of me.. like, I feel more alive somehow.

There was a click and Zitao snapped out of his train of thoughts, looking at the direction where the sound was produced.

Kris walked out of the showers in a red shirt and baggy pants. “Waiting for me?” Kris joked as he dumped his used clothes onto the floor.

“Aren’t you going to put that in the washing machine?” Zitao asked bluntly as he rolled his eyes.

“Nope.” Kris flopped himself onto his bed and sighed, “I miss this soft bed.”

Zitao didn’t reply, rolling over so that his back faced Kris.

“So how did you find the group, Tao?”

“Tao?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s that?”

Kris laughed, “Your nickname.”

“Why must I get a nickname?”

“We, or majority of us, give each other nicknames so as to feel closer to each other.”

“Then why don’t Chanyeol, Luhan and some others get nicknames?” Curious, Zitao turned to face Kris.

“Cause we couldn’t find a suitable nickname for them,” Kris stated, “Though we still call them by other names, though not officially.”

“Oh..” That’s interesting.

Suddenly a tune played from somewhere in the room.

“One sec,” Kris got up and grabbed his phone.

Zitao nodded and sat on his bed, wanting to talk to Kris more as he found the boy nice fun to talk to.

“Tao, download this application on your phone and join the group chat, the others want to talk to you.” Kris showed the application to Zitao and the boy downloaded the app.

-In the group conversation-

Huang Zitao joined the conversation.

Baozi: Hey Zitao~!

ChensingMachine: Hello!

D__O: Hey!

LittleLulu: Hewwo! :D

MaknaeSehun: Hey.

yKai: Yo!

HappyVirus: AYO WADDUP ZITAO?!

ByunBaekkie: Hi

Laynicorn: Hey Zitao!

GuardianHo: You’ve added him in Kris :D

Kriscasso: Yup

Huang Zitao: So what’s this about?

HappyVirus: D:

LittleLulu: Your username is so formal Zitao..

Baozi: Yeah! Change your username!

Huang Zitao: Into what?

Kriscasso: Let me handle this.

ChensingMachine: OOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

Huang Zitao changed his username to Pandaboy.

D__O: D__O

HappyVirus: Wait, who changed that name?

Kriscasso: Yours truly.

ChensingMachine: That’s so lame!

yKai: Zitao, you should’ve changed your username into something like mine!

D__O: Oh please Kai, your username !

yKai: It doesn’t!

LittleLulu: I think Zitao’s new username is cute ^__^

Laynicorn: I agree

ByunBaekkie: Just because your usernames are animals doesn’t mean that Zitao’s username should be an animal too

Baozi: Zitao, do you like your username?

Pandaboy: Uh.. It’s fine.

Baozi: Good! ^__^

GuardianHo: So now this is settled, on to the main topic. What nickname should Zitao get?

HappyVirus: Panda!

ByunBaekkie: Seriously?

HappyVirus: Well his username is ‘Pandaboy’ so why not?

D__O: It doesn’t suit his personality though..

Kriscasso: You haven't seen his soft side yet

Pandaboy: Shut up.

ChensingMachine: Wait

HappyVirus: What

yKai: Soft side?

Kriscasso: Yeah..?

ChensingMachine: That cold guy has a soft side?

Baozi: Zitao’s a nice person, don’t talk as if he is that bad!

ByunBaekkie: Isn’t Kris the cold guy though?

Kriscasso: I’m not a cold guy! It’s called being ‘cool’.

GuardianHo: Guys, we’re getting off topic..

MaknaeSehun: Chocolate.

ByunBaekkie: Wtf is wrong with you guys? Just give him a proper nickname!

HappyVirus: And this is coming from a guy who doesn’t have an official nickname

ByunBaekkie: You don’t have one too so shut up!

HappyVirus: Bacon~

Laynicorn: Um Zitao..

Pandaboy: Yes?

Laynicorn: What nickname would you prefer to have?

Pandaboy: I think Tao sound pretty nice.

HappyVirus: You rejected my suggestion D:

ByunBaekkie: Stop being so dramatic, as if he’ll choose your stupid nickname!

Baozi: Tao sounds cool! Did you think of it yourself?

Kriscasso: Nope, I gave it to him

ChensingMachine: OOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo

yKai: I sense something between the two of you~ Did you two makeout or what?

D__O: Seriously

yKai: What?

GuardianHo: So Tao it is?

Pandaboy: Yeah.

HappyVirus: He’s so formal D:

Kriscasso: One sec

ChensingMachine: OOOOOOOOOoooooooo

Pandaboy changed his username to PandaTao.

MaknaeSehun: That sounds nicer than ‘Pandaboy’

LittleLulu: I agree

GuardianHo: It’s settled. From now onwards, Zitao will be known and Tao! :D

---

\Zitao placed his phone down and looked at Kris.

“Like your new nickname?” Kris asked, putting his phone down as well.

“Yeah.. But why a panda?”

“Because you look like one.”

“I do not.”

“Look in the mirror, your eyes look like a panda’s.”

“..You’re just saying that I have eyebags.”

“Well you’re adorable too.”

Zitao blushed. Adorable?

Kris chuckled, “You’re so cute. Why are you so protective of that cat plushy anyways?”

Zitao looked at the cat plushy beside his head, “It’s from my Grandmother. She gave it to me before I came to Korea for further studies.”

“Oh..”

“Yeah.”

“And the reason why you’re acting so cold?”

Zitao frowned slightly at the question; he didn’t want to answer that.

“It’s just the way I am,” he lied.

“Oh really?” Kris raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. And the others call you a cold guy, why’s that?”

Kris laughed, “It’s because I was cold and serious when I first arrived, giving the others an impression that I was a cold guy.”

Wow.

“But you don’t look cold?”

“I am, but not exactly,” Kris said, “I can be cold to some, but warm to others- depending on who, that is.”

“Oh.”

Kris laughed again, “They are calling you Cold Guy number two, you know?”

“I know that.” It was my motive afterall.

The boy yawned, “I’m getting tired. See you tomorrow, Tao.”

“Yeah. Goodnight.”

Zitao was left alone to his thoughts as the room turned dark. School appeared to be more fun as I’ve thought.. Friends really do make a difference huh? Zitao closed his eyes, should I still continue my act as a bad boy.. or cold guy as they call me? Or open up to them? I never really open up to anyone before though.. The boy yawned as he curled up in the blankets.

Pandaboy.. Tao.. Zitao chuckled slightly, eyes still closed, this is fun.

---

[Author's Notes]

35 Subscribers, 375 views, 10 comments, 1 upvote~ yehet! xD

I actually planned to write an EXO Chat Room fanfic, but decided against it as many have already written that theme; so here is a little chatroom for you guys!

The genre of this fanfic is romance, humor and friendship

I'm really bad at giving nicknames so I hope the usernames for the members are okay haha

I was wondering if I should make a cover picture for each chapter or just leave it as it is with the original fanfic poster? What do you guys think?

Thanks for subscribing, reading and commenting on this fanfic! <3