Preparations for ‘The Great Gay Korean-Chinese Christmas Extravaganza’ or TGGJCCE as Jongdae liked to call it (both having been invented by him which didn’t even make sense because Jongdae was straight) had been going good. Everyone was part of a Facebook group and they all had exchanged telephone numbers. Everyone was slowly getting to know each other (except for Kyungsoo, who either was trying to avoid social media at all costs or didn’t want to attend the party. Even his Facebook page was bare, his profile picture was a giant red coat and Kris only assumed Kyungsoo was hidden in there somewhere. His info only said that he was single and that his was from Goyang. His last Facebook status was from September and was something about dining hall pizza. Kris was concerned) but it seemed promising. In fact, it seemed better than promising, it seemed like they would all get along fine. Even if Kris had no idea what a Kyungsoo was.

All in all, Kris could say he was excited. He didn’t know what he was going to do about Minseok. He didn’t know how big Joonmyeon’s place was but if there wasn’t enough rooms and they had to have roommates-no, Kris was going to control myself. There were millions of university students around the world living in dorms and some of them had to be attracted to their roommates. It was all about being a civilized human being with self control.

If he and Minseok were roommates, Kris would talk to him simply, maybe even crack a few of their coffee based inside jokes. He wasn’t going to stare lovingly at Minseok from across the room or wonder if Minseok knew that his teeth were so cute and Chanyeol for announcing to the group chat that he had the nicest teeth. Sure, Chanyeol may have had nice teeth thanks to his daddy’s money and some expensive floss but Minseok’s teeth were adorable. Kris was totally going to control himself.

Kris made sure to exchange gifts with his mom on the day of his flight. He woke up, ate the wonderful breakfast his mom had prepared and handed her the sweater he bought her. She gave him a pair of ear buds that also doubled up as earmuffs. Kris put them on before his mom even got in the car to drop him off at the airport.

His mom pulled up at the airport entrance and Kris shut the door that he had already halfway opened. “What’s wrong?” his mom asked.

“I know those people.” Kris said.

“And? What’s the big deal?”

“I don’t feel like really talking to anyone.” The people in question that Kris was trying to hide from were Luhan and Minseok. Minseok was, as always, looking like something from a magazine, he was dressed stylish in jeans and a jacket and had his hands resting on the top of his suitcase. Luhan was looking infuriatingly British as ever. He was wearing Converse with the British flag on them. Wasn’t wearing the British flag meant to be something reserved for North American girls?

“Come on, do those people hate you?”

“No.” Kris said quietly. “I mean, I’m friends with them.”

Kris’s mom smiled. “Great! If they’re your friends then they’ll want to spend time with me. Airports can be incredibly boring places. Have a safe trip and call me when you land in Toronto.”

“Kris! I thought it was you!” Minseok said. , they noticed him and oh great Luhan was following along too.

“Hey! Is your flight now?” Kris asked putting a smile on his face. As weird as it sounds, Kris was thankful for Luhan in this moment, without Luhan there to distract him, Kris was going to end up saying something embarrassing.

“It’s leaving in an hour. Do we have the same flight?” Minseok asked.

“If your airline is Air Canada then yes. Because my Air Canada flight direct to Toronto is leaving in an hour.” Kris said. He knew he sounded awkward. There was no way to help it. He couldn’t have even said ‘I guess so’ with a cool casual laugh. He had to give some lame long explanation.

“See Minnie? You’re not going to be alone on the flight.” Luhan said.

Kris heard a chorus of angels sing. “Are you not going to Toronto?”

“Oh no, I am. It’s just that my flight leaves tomorrow morning. I prefer to have a morning flight more than an afternoon one. I heard that I think, Baekhyun was it? I know for a sure that Yixing is going to be arriving tomorrow as well and I think Baekhyun will be too. So I’ll have company and someone to help me get to the house in case I can’t find it.”

How did Luhan make even long explanations sound good? Stupid British-Chinese popstar.

“Lu-ge has this thing where he’s convinced that going somewhere alone is a sign of social suicide. I keep trying to tell him that it’s perfectly normal to be on a flight alone.” Minseok explained.

“I know that it’s normal. I have nothing against being on flights alone, I had to be alone on a flight to get to Canada and tomorrow I’m going to be on a flight alone. But being on a flight alone three days before Christmas?” Luhan made a face.

“The holiday season is the best time to be flying alone. Even if you aren’t traveling to see your family somewhere else, it’s the first thing that other people are going to think.” Minseok argued.

Kris completely agreed with Minseok and he also wished that Minseok and Luhan would go back to speaking Mandarin like they were the first time he met them. As infuriating as Luhan’s perfect Beijing dialect was, it was infinitely better than this stupid British accent that he had that was causing nearly everyone to stop and giggle. British accents were never that cute.

Luhan soon went back home (Kris tried not to think too hard about the fact that even though Minseok and Luhan were just friends, friends rarely went all the way to the airport just to drop someone off for two seconds and then leave) and Kris and Minseok went to go check in.

“Are we sitting next to each other?” Minseok asked holding his ticket out to Kris.

“No, I’m a row in front of you.” Kris said.

Minseok pouted and Kris resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks. “Give me two seconds and we’ll be sitting right next to each other.” Minseok ran off back to the check-in desk. Kris couldn’t see if there was a line but he had a feeling no one would complain if Minseok went in front of everyone. Minseok came back in the blink of an eye, all smiles, and handed Kris his boarding pass back.

“There, now we’re sitting next to each other.”

When Minseok went ahead to go sit by their gate and Kris was sure Minseok couldn’t see him, there might have been a fist pump involved.

The flight to Toronto was pleasant, there was no turbulence and during Kris and Minseok’s conversations about what the vacation would be like, Kris didn’t even make an idiot out of himself. He did come close, when Minseok pulled out his iPad and put on Netflix and leaned in even closer to Kris while they watched Caliion. It was just that Minseok smelt so good and Kris had only ever watched Caliion once and he didn’t even like it all that much and now it was his new favourite show.

They arrived at the airport, collected their bags, and were walking around and were stopped by some lanky blonde Asian guy. “You’re Sehun, aren’t you?” Minseok asked when the guy stopped him.

The guy nodded. “Sehun Oh. Oh Sehun. I’m here to take you guys to the house.” He looked young, Kris noted. When he went to shake his hand, Sehun looked confused. Although when Minseok went to shake his hand, Sehun accepted it happily. Why was life with Minseok so hard?

“Where do you go to school?” Minseok asked once they settled in the car. Kris didn’t notice the exact brand but it looked expensive. He also noted the Rolex on Sehun’s wrist. Was everyone in Toronto rich?

“I go to University of Toronto. I just finished my first semester.” He was a child, (a legal aged child with a fancy car and expensive watch, the more reasonable part of Kris’s brain reminded him) did Minseok like children?

“I still remember my first semester; it’s something you never forget. Were you born here?” Minseok asked.

“No, I was born in Korea. I only moved here for university.” Sehun replied. Kris couldn’t help but notice that while Sehun didn’t sound like he was angry or bored with them, his whole facial expression made it seem like he was. It wasn’t even resting face. It was resting expressionless face. Was Kris being too harsh? He probably was. But Minseok was just too cute.

The car pulled up to what had to be the most opulent looking mansion that Kris had ever seen. Not that he had seen many mansions but this was ridiculous. The mansion had a gate and all the trees and flowers in the middle of Canadian winter looked taken care of. Sehun punched in a number code and the gate opened. The walkway wasn’t as expansive as what Kris had seen in movies and pretty soon the door was being flung open.

“Great, more people.” A monotone voice said. The guy that opened the door was on the shorter side and had black hair with bangs that went straight down. It was strange that he looked so angry especially when Kris noticed that his lips were in the perfect shape of hearts.

“Who are you?”Minseok asked.

“This is Kyungsoo. The one that didn’t participate in any of the group chats.” Sehun said before pushing past Kyungsoo to get inside.

“I’ll let Joonmyeon know that you’ve arrived.” Kyungsoo said without further trying to introduce himself.

Soon the exact opposite of Kyungsoo appeared. The guy was also a bit short but this time he had on a bright happy smile and the face of a stranger you could trust. “It’s so great to have you guys! I’m Joonmyeon thank you so much for coming all this way. You two are from Vancouver right?”

“We both left from Vancouver. Minseok is the one who goes to UBC. I go to SFU.”  Kris said.

Joonmyeon snapped his fingers. “Right! Luhan’s the other one coming in from Vancouver.”

“He’s flying in tomorrow.” Minseok said.

“At least he’ll have Baekhyun, Yixing, and Jongin to keep him company.” Joonmyeon took Minseok and Kris’s bags happily and went inside.

“He seems nice.”Minseok said.

“He really does. He’s even nicer in person than he is through text.” Kris said.

Joonmyeon came back out of nowhere still carrying their bags. “You guys don’t mind sharing a room do you?”

Joonmyeon was an angel sent from God.

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We leave Vancouver for the first time and the rest of EXO show up! There are also going to be minor pairings but they will once again be very minor and I'm only planning on putting in two. But don't worry Xiuris wilstill reign supreme.

Also happy very very belated Canada Day!

<3 Smooches <3