A/N: Guuuh, this took a while but here you go!

The weekend passed surprisingly quickly. Studying took up all of the boys’ time and they barely left their rooms except to eat or use the bathroom. After every meal Luhan persuaded (as in whined until he agreed) to rub his head to ‘stimulate his brain’. When Xi-eomma found out, she offered her own massage tips for the younger. “You know, if that flower shop job doesn’t work out maybe I’ll take you on as my apprentice,” she joked.

Luhan was busy but still found time during his ‘brain massages’ to quiz Sehun on potential interview questions and the ‘what to’ and ‘what not to says’. Sehun breezed through the sections on plants and ended up borrowing Lay’s computer (with his permission) to look up flowers on the internet. He spent all of Sunday reading up on flowers and showing Suho the ways of the internet and the laptop. The older was very much impressed and was quickly becoming accustomed to a keyboard. “This is much more efficient than writing things by hand,” he commented. Sehun also took this opportunity to show him how e-mail worked and they Skyped Luhan in the next room. Luhan added to the learning experience by sending a ridiculous amount of pictures and emojis and laughing at Suho’s amazed expression at the little moving smiley faces.

Lay came back after dinner on Sunday and shocked Suho by plopping down his books next to the couch and snuggling his face into the older’s ribs. He tried to escape but Lay just wrapped his arms around him and said lazily “Be my pillow.” Sehun and Luhan snickered but poor Suho was actually quite concerned. “I-I apologize but I don’t believe I would make a satisfying pillow since I lack most of the qualities-”

“I meant let me lay here and snuggle you.”

“Snuggle?”

Lay wiggled closer up Suho’s chest and re-arranged his arms. “Snuggle.” Suho still looked confused. “It’s part of skinship.”

“Oh. I don’t think I’m very good at it.”

Lay made a noise of amusement in his throat. “It’s a two-way thing. It’s just weird if you don’t respond to it. You can push me if it’s uncomfortable, or just copy me if you accept it.”

“How do I copy you?”

Lay opened his eyes blearily and nodded towards the other pair on the other couch. “Hunhan, demonstrate.”

“Wha-? Hunhan?” Sehun was confused but Luhan had burst out laughing.

“SeHUN and LuHAN. It’s just easier than calling both your names.”

“Right.” Sehun looked confused if he should start the skinship or not, but Luhan initiated it first.

“This is called cuddling, or snuggling as Lay calls it,” he said. He moved closer to Sehun so they were touching thighs, then pulled the younger’s torso above his own. He wrapped his arms around Sehun and the younger automatically leaned back against him and put his own arms around Luhan’s waist. Suho was amazed. Their interaction is so comfortable…why don’t merpeople have this sort of interactions?

“Is that actually comfortable,” Suho asked Lay.

Lay nodded. “It’s even better lying down. Wanna try?”

I guess if it’s part of skinship it’s okay. “I suppose…I’m curious.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Lay stated as he sat up. He grabbed a pillow, laid it on the arm rest and situated himself comfortably on the couch. “Lay down, your head on my stomach.”

“Won’t that hurt you?”

“Probably not.”

“Probably?!”

“Aish, just come here.” Lay pulled Suho backwards onto him, gently arranging his body so he laid on top of his stomach and between his legs comfortably. Then he settled one arm around Suho’s shoulders and the other in his hair. “Like this.” Suho was stiff and rigid against the younger, not used to having a human pillow. He felt the urge to squirm away, but suddenly stopped when Lay began rubbing his shoulders. He was butter in under a minute. “You seem to be getting the hang of it pretty well,” Lay said.

“Mfmmm…” Luhan and Sehun snickered on the other couch until Xi-eomma gently flicked their heads.

“Don’t tease, it’s nice to see both of you boys relax. Are you hungry Lay?”

“No, I ate at the hospital.” Lay’s answer must have disturbed Suho because he began squirming again. “What?”

“Let me go, I need to get up so you can study.”

Lay gently released him with a chuckle. “You know my schedule almost better than I do. Luhan, Sehun, let’s go. We have to study more.” The other two groaned and slowly got up. Suho stayed on the couch and volunteered to help Xi-eomma with peeling vegetables and garlic for tomorrow.

At the top of the stairs, Luhan motioned to Sehun to follow him into his room. Luhan closed the door behind them. “What’s up Hyung?”

“We need to plan on what you’ll wear tomorrow. First impressions last forever,” he said, sorting through his closet. He began throwing different shirts and pants at Sehun. “Damn I need to sort my …Hurry up and start trying things on-”

“Right here?!”

“No, in the hallway. Of course here, I need to see how you look so we can decide what you’re going to wear!” It’s lucky I’m so used to being under-dressed around you or this would be awkward. Sehun obediently stripped and began pulling on the first pair of pants.

After six pairs of pants and twelve shirts, they finally ended up with an outfit. “Black pants and a white shirt? Hyung doesn’t this make me look like a fancy- waiter?”

“A fancy- waiter with a nice ,” he said, patting Sehun’s for emphasis. “These fit you best and the white looks good. Hold on, you need a tie.” Luhan rummaged around in his drawers and pulled out a thin black tie. He looped it around Sehun’s neck and began tying it, speaking all the while. “-So I’m gonna give you money for a call from a phone booth okay? Just follow the instructions and all me and tell me what happened after the job and if you need to go home early. Hopefully if everything works out we’ll go home around the same time-”

“But don’t you have a final tomorrow?”

“It’s around the same time as your interview so I’d have to leave early anyway. I’ll walk you to the flower shop and then go do my final in the hospital.”

“Why is it in the hospital?”

“Because we all have to work afterwards,” he groaned. “They seriously want to kill us.” He finished tying the tie, then slipped it off of Sehun’s head. “Leave it like this and slip it around your neck for tomorrow.”

“It looks like a noose.”

“How do you know what a noose is?”

“When we were going over the history of Korea and you were telling me about how people were hung and I couldn’t understand why because we don’t hang people underwater.”

“Oh yeah. Well, take it off and hang it up, you don’t want it to get wrinkly.”

“Thanks Hyung.”

“Don’t worry about it. And don’t forget to get all your interview materials together.”

“Okay.”

“And go to bed.”

“You too, you have an early day!”

“I will…goodnight!”

“’Night.”

*          *          *

Suho was watching the news with Xi-eomma and peeling an onion. He had been warned about this vegetable but the experience was worse than he imagined. “Suho-yah, are you alright,” Xi-eomma asked. Suho’s eyes and nose were running and he was blinking frequently.

“Y-yes, I think I just got a strong one,” he said. (Luhan taught him to say that.) He continued to work at the vegetables, placing the finished ones in a bowl. “Xi-eomma, may I ask a personal question?”

“Sure,” she said, turning to Suho in interest.

“…It’s about Lay.”

“Oh…what do you want to know?”

“Well, I was curious since I heard you were neighbors back in China…and now you live together here…”

“Oh, I get it. How we ended up here, am I right?” Suho nodded. “Well Lay always had a happy childhood, but when he was around 12, his Halmoni got very sick. Bone cancer.” Suho frowned. He knew what cancer was from Lay’s books and it sounded terrible. “His parents died when he was a baby so she was the only family he had. She passed away when he was 14 and so he came to live with us next door. He sold her house but kept the sentimental things. He was depressed for a while, until he got some motivation.”

“Motivation?”

Xi-eomma nodded. “I should explain better. You’ve probably guessed that Lay is super smart so he graduated high school when he was 15. During his career advice meeting, he decided that he would become a bone doctor in honor of his Halmoni and that gave him purpose and courage to become happy again. He received a full scholarship to the University here and moved to the dorms for college. Now when Luhan decided his career path, he told me he wanted to be near his friend and well…I couldn’t really say no, I was sad that Lay couldn’t be closer to us. He did look at other colleges, but when he was offered a scholarship here, he jumped at the chance. So after Luhan graduated and got his scholarship, we packed up and moved here.”

“Wow…just like that?”

“No.” She smiled deviously. “I’ll tell you a secret. I used to be a successful architect back in China. I was a partner at my old firm.” Suho’s eyes widened. “When I heard Lay was moving here I looked into the housing market around his University. I have a lot of friends in real estate so they were happy to help. This house used to be a small warehouse, but it was foreclosed so I got it cheap. I drew up the plans myself and redid the whole thing! When Luhan decided to come here I told him there was no reason for me to stay behind in China when both my boys were living here, so I quit my job and moved with him. He thinks we were lucky that this hostel was foreclosed and we got it cheap, but really I was working on it slowly for three years. And when we moved here, I invited Lay to stay with us and he jumped at the chance and even decided to pay us rent!”

“Wow” Suho was in awe. “…So you left everything to come here?”

“I don’t think of it like that. Luhan and Lay both felt bad that they were leaving me behind and were actually quite supportive of my decision to move to Korea. My parents and my husband all died before me, so I decided I’d rather be close to the family I have left. Plus that meant I got to change my career.” She smiled, reminiscing. “The pay was good, but I was happy to play the role of housewife and mom to all the students who come here. This place does pretty good for itself too. It may seem empty right now since there are no students, but they’ll be coming before the new semester starts.”

“But aren’t you worried about expenses? After all, it’s just us and Lay renting from you.”

“My husband was an accountant so I learned a trick or two from him about expenses. Plus, this isn’t the only property I have rented out. Our house back in China is up for rent for foreign teachers, so that’s another nice income we have. Plus I became a massage therapist so that’s another source I have and it keeps me from getting bored.”

“How did you become a massage therapist?”

“My family back in China used to have a massage business, but it was sold after my father died. I learned everything from him and got my certification before I started college for architecture.”

“Wow…you…you’re quite fascinating Xi-eomma.”

“Ah, but it comes at a price,” she sing-songed. Suho tilted his head, questioningly. “I shared our story, so you share yours. Please?”

Suho nodded without hesitation. “It’s only fair. Well…I was left at the church orphanage when I was a baby after my parents died, but Sehun came later when he was two. We found out we were related much later…ironically both of them died in automobile accidents.” Suho was never more glad for the journals that at that moment. Xi-eomma nodded and he continued. “Anyway we grew up together for a time…and then I became a uh…secretary to the Head.” He looked at Xi-eomma, hoping she wouldn’t notice his vagueness. She nodded and urged him to continue. “I was the oldest child there and everyone else was so busy…but I didn’t mind. Um…me and Sehun were separated after a while so I could work while he studied more.”

“So wait, you weren’t allowed to go to school?!”

“I was an apprentice…priest…” he said quickly. She nodded in understanding. “My education was separate from his and the other students because of my vocation. That’s why my hair was kept long, because the Head thought it was a sign of vanity for an apprentice to cut it. So anyway my back, which has always given me pain, began to get worse…so Sehun did some research and suggesting coming here to try to treat it and he came with me.”

“I see…did they treat you well there?”

“Yes. Some of the other children liked to pull pranks, but for the most part they were all nice,” he said, thinking back to Jongdae and Minseok. “I don't think I'd go back though, the staff was kind and the Head appreciated my work for him and taught me well but I like being outside the church.”

“...You know, if you worked as a secretary for the head of an orphanage, I bet you could get a job as a secretary here.”

“Really?! That would be ideal…I don’t want Sehun to bear all of our financial burden…”

“You’re sweet Suho, so what kind of work can you do? Do you speak any languages? Can you type?”

“Technology was very scarce in the orphanage so I took all the notes by hand…but Sehun taught me yesterday so I think I could learn quickly. They taught me English, um…I can schedule appointments and arrange meetings…I kept all the records for the Head’s meetings and I filed them…and that’s about it.”

“You would be perfect as a secretary. Except for the lack of technology part, how little technology are we talking?”

“The first time I saw a TV, phone, and computer were when I came here.”

“You lived in SEOUL and NEVER used any of those?!”

“I didn’t need to, we were very self-sustaining.”

She nodded, then pursed her lips with new-found determination. “I’ve found a new project.”

“Uh, really?”

She stared at Suho seriously. “I’m going to make you technology savvy.”

“W-what?”

“Suho, as nice as it is having you here, I know you’re going to get bored. You’re too smart to sit here with me and do nothing. So here’s the plan. Help me with the chores in the morning and in the afternoon I’ll teach you about all the new technological things. Does Sehun need help too?”

“No, he learned at school. I’m…uh…thank you so much!”

Xi-eomma smiled and waved her hand. “Don’t thank me yet, this’ll be an adventure for both of us. Let’s start with the TV, shall we?”