Hongjoong groaned, trudging his massive suitcase into the empty house. It seems he was the first one to arrive. With that established, he dumped his belongings in the vacant hall and meandered through the various rooms of the student building, searching for what he was hoping for the biggest one. Well, as big as you could get in a place like this.

The house was a decent size, with four bedrooms, a nice living room and a kitchen. Nothing special. Then again, that was all anyone really needed. At least it was easy on the eyes. Despite the fact that the school, KQ, was rather old with an interesting ivy/Tudor feel, they took the time to keep nearly all of their buildings renovated.

Although, the aesthetics of the building weren't really of much importance to him anyway. It wasn't like they'd have much time to be in the house anyways with their busy class schedules. Even still, Hongjoong hated moving. He would have stayed in his flooded dorm if he knew how much work leaving it would be.

Being a third-year at his university Hongjoong was done with the "wonders of college", whatever the hell they were supposed to be. He was a jaded, old man who just wanted to finish his music degree and start his own studio. Was that too much to ask for?

Apparently so, because God so graciously blessed him with stress, various inconveniences and a short temper to help him through all of it. All in all, Hongjoong had neither the energy nor the will to go through more than he really needed to in life. Extra trial simply was not for him.

When he arrived at his bedroom of choice, Hongjoong took a moment to examine it. It was rather barren, something he had anticipated, with little to no colour other than the dark wood floors. Two twin beds on opposite sides of the room, a desk to accompany each of them, and a full-length mirror that Hongjoong used to admire himself for a few seconds; was all that was in the room. He pushed back his blue hair with a sigh before he figured it would be best to officially claim the room before the others arrived.

There were meant to be eight of them and he had no clue how long he was meant to survive with that many young adults in one building. He was sure that he would either tear his hair out or theirs.

Just before he brought his things in, his eyes wandered over to something he failed to notice earlier. A pair of black gloves rested on the far end of the other bed, clearly thrown there in a rush. Hongjoong took note of their silver lining, furrowing his brow at its familiar pattern. He ignored this feeling though, disregarding whatever memory they may have brought up, and simply carried on.

As he decorated his room, adding various posters and fairy lights to suit his tastes, the sound of the door opening heeded Hongjoong's attention about an hour or so later. "Aw, man! It's so much smaller than I expected." He heard a voice whine.

"Well you'll just have to get used to it, Wooyoung," Another replied. Hongjoong contemplated whether or not he wanted to be antisocial, ultimately deciding an introduction wouldn't hurt anyone. They would meet each other at some point, might as well get it over with now.

He stepped into the living room to find two men standing in front of him, one with light purple hair and the other with light brown. The lilac-haired man wore several necklaces, accompanied by an array of cute piercings, a violet turtleneck and a jean jacket to top it all off. His friend was far more modest, wearing only a hoodie and jeans, similar to Hongjoong's outfit. A decent show of their personalities if you asked him.

"Oh! You must be one of our roommates!" The more expressive of the two exclaimed once he noticed Hongjoong. "I'm Wooyoung!" He said excitedly.

Cute. Hongjoong thought to himself. He must be a freshman.

"Choi Jongho," Greeted the other brunette casually, with only a nod of acknowledgement, opposed to Wooyoung who shook Hongjoong's hand so violently the older could've sworn he'd gotten whiplash.

After a few seconds too long, Hongjoong removed Wooyoung's hands with a slight, albeit awkward, grin. "Kim Hongjoong, nice to meet you. I assume you're both first years?"

Wooyoung nodded at him. "How'd you know?"

Only a newbie would be this excited about relocating and student debt.

"Just a hunch." He examined the pile of boxes and bags behind the duo, the majority of which Hongjoong assumed belonged to Wooyoung based on his maximalist aesthetic alone. So he offered to help them choose a room and move their belongings, something both freshmen were thankful for. The two settled on being roommates, which Hongjoong had no objections to. He figured he could only handle Wooyoung's extroversion or Jongho's offhandedness for so long. So it was definitely best they stayed together.

As they moved their numerous belongings, Hongjoong learned a few interesting things about the pair. Turns out the two had known one another since middle school and though they weren't always friends during that time, were still decently familiar with each other. Wooyoung was studying fashion and design while Jongho was more interested in photography, but he did mention that he had a passion for singing. They seemed like an interesting pair and Hongjoong felt like he had gotten lucky.

He could only pray his other roommates were just as decent.

---

It was about half-past five now and the others had yet to arrive. It was confusing since Hongjoong was sure there were meant to be eight of them in total. He listened to Wooyoung ramble, or rather, complain, about various things on his mind while Jongho assembled the TV and arranged the sofas surrounding it. The other two had offered to help but Jongho assured them that he was fine. Much to Hongjoong's surprise, the boy could lift and move things with little to no effort. He was scarily strong.

Just as Hongjoong passed Wooyoung a bowl of freshly cooked ramen, the clicking of the door was heard. The trio went silent when a new figure walked into the room. Around six feet, the man had light strawberry hair, parted to the side to show off his light brown eyes. As he rolled in his suitcase, taking in the new environment, the eldest student sprung up.

"Yunho!" Hongjoong exclaimed. The taller man was taken aback when the blunette practically flung himself into his arms. He embraced him regardless and smiled down at him. "What are you doing here? I thought you attended JYP!"

The man, now known as Yunho, chuckled at him, shrugging his shoulders. "It just wasn't working out for me so I decided to transfer. I remembered you said you attended KQ, I figured I'd give it a try."

Their reunion was broken up when Jongho cleared his throat, earning their attention. "Wasn't there a major accident there? I hear a bunch of students are leaving because of it." He inquired.

Yunho shrugged his shoulders yet again. "Not sure, I just hated the people. This is already so much better!" He held his shorter friend tighter, making him chuckle.

"Wow, I haven't seen him smile once today," Wooyoung remarked. "I take it you two are good friends?"

"Yeah, we met in high school," Explained Hongjoong, finally moving away from the tall pinkette. "But in my sophomore year, I left for America. We've video chatted and whatnot, but we haven't seen each other much since I got back. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" He said with a whine.

"Surprise?" Yunho replied. That answer didn't really satisfy Hongjoong as he turned away with a pout. "Hey, why don't we make up for lost time? Do you have a roommate yet?" When the older shook his head, a grin appeared on Yunho's face and he hastily dragged his friend off to the bedrooms.

"Nice to meet you too," Wooyoung found the ordeal a bit odd and rude on top of it. How could he be so easily ignored like that? "What happened at JYP?" He said towards Jongho. The brunette hummed at him and placed himself on the newly completed couch.

"Not sure honestly," He replied. "I heard about it through some campus blog but the story's still unclear. Some people say murder, others say rape, maybe both? The only thing I know for a fact is that they burned any entire dorm building down. Either way, it was a campus-wide scandal but no one knows who caused it."

"Shit, that's intense. Why do you think they haven't caught this guy yet?"

"Was I there Wooyoung?" Jongho said irritably. His friend only rolled his eyes at him. The younger saw his expression then sighed. "When do you think the other roommates will get here?" He asked, changing the subject. "Do you...think they'll be cute?"

That very question made the smile return to Wooyoung's face. Jongho knew there was nothing he loved more than talking about guys so figured it would be a good way to lighten the mood again. "I hope so! I'm looking for a steamy romance this term!" Wooyoung exclaimed. "High school was a major letdown, I want something real this time! Someone tall, strapping, with a nice jawline, a great car and-"

"Stop describing your ex, would you."

The older scowled at him, offended by the mere allusion of this person. "Don't even," He spat. Jongho held his hands up in defence at Wooyoung's frowning face, taking to watching TV instead of continuing the conversation.

The jingling of keys was heard, followed by the door slamming open. A figure stormed in, walking right past the freshmen and towards the bedrooms. "Hey! Who are-" Jongho was ignored. He shared a frantic look with Wooyoung when they realised where he was headed and hastily raced after him.

"You can put your stuff there," Hongjoong told Yunho. The taller grinned at him yet again as he placed his things down. It didn't go unnoticed by the blunette. "You're so smiley. What are you planning Yunnie?"

"Can't I just be happy to see you?" Yunho teased.

"It's just odd I guess. You've seemed so down recently," The expression on Yunho's face faltered into a frown but it lighted when Hongjoong laughed. "I'm just happy to see a grin on your face." He loved Joong's giggle. It was so unique and lighthearted that it could bring a smile to even a dying man's face.

"Well get used to it. I guess I should lay my stuff out since I'll be sleeping here then."

"Not if I have any say in it."

Their heads whipped towards the door. Yunho's eyes fixed into a glare while Hongjoong was speechless. His hands covered his mouth, cheeks threatening to be stained with sudden tears at who he was faced with. The man in front of them strutted in, looking down at the gloves on the bed and taking them into his hands. "You see this?" He said, pointing to the accessories. "I put them here, which means I got here first. This room is mine and so is everything in it," His piercing brown eyes travelled towards Hongjoong, a smirk forming on his face before he looked back at Yunho.

"I suggest you find a new place to sleep, puppy." Yunho didn't budge. Instead, he stood protectively in front of Hongjoong, covering the cowering man while the stranger stared down at him. "Oh? Not leaving yet?"

"Back off," Yunho growled towards him.

"Come get your dog before he bites someone Hongjoong," He took a step towards the pair, making Hongjoong flinch back and the man practically cooed at this. "Cute~"

"W-What do y-you want S-Seonghwa?" Hongjoong cursed himself for stuttering, after all, he knew Seonghwa liked it when he did that.

"Still scared sweetheart? I thought you would've moved on from me. But you're still afraid, how adorable." The smirk didn't leave Seonghwa's face, even when Yunho grabbed him by the collar, yanking him away from the shortest male.

"What do you want? Don't you think you've done enough!"

"Yunho," The other two looked back towards Hongjoong. His gaze was averted. "It's fine. He got here first..."

"Joong..."

"You heard him puppy," Yunho was hardly able to contain his irritation when he shoved Seonghwa away and stormed out, pushing past the two maknae's listening from just outside the door. That left Hongjoong alone with Seonghwa. The older man pushed back his blonde hair, exhaling a breath of relief. Although Hongjoong was much less comfortable. His mind remained plagued with one question:

"What are you doing here, Seonghwa?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He took a step towards him, prompting Hongjoong to step back. "I came to get you back."

"N-No you didn't..." His back hit the wall with nowhere for him to run when Seonghwa cornered him. "You only want to hurt me."

"Babe, you know that's not true," Seonghwa's hand slipped under Hongjoong's chin, gently caressing his face. "You know I would never do that to you unless you wanted me to."

"Are you a psychopath?" Hongjoong spat. "Why would I want that?"

"Because I know you like the pain. I know you liked it when I pushed you around. You loved it, didn't you babe?"

"Stop calling me that!" He finally shouted. Using all his strength, Hongjoong shoved Seonghwa away and ran towards the door. He was pulled back and slammed back into the wall, with Seonghwa leering over him. Hongjoong whimpered in pain but he was quickly shut up when a pair of lips interlocked with his.

"You missed me, didn't you babe?"

Hongjoong wanted to protest, he wanted to push him away, but Seonghwa's strong arms were quick to pin him down. "N-No..."

"Then why aren't you struggling?" He muttered, lips trailing down his jaw. "I hear you haven't dated anyone since we broke up. Is it because you're too much of a slut for me to move on?" He heard the way Seonghwa chuckled at his submission. Hongjoong hated the degradation, but he wasn't strong enough to get him off. He simply let it happen. He allowed Seonghwa to kiss him, to move his hands up his shirt, to push him onto the bed and just before he removed his pants something in him snapped.

"I don't fucking need you, Park Seonghwa," He hissed. Seonghwa furrowed his brow at this statement, and Hongjoong took his momentary confusion to kick him off and onto the floor. As Seonghwa groaned, the blunette grabbed his shirt, coat and keys then raced out of the room, not looking back for a second.

Jongho saw his hyung run out but didn't get a chance to ask where he was going before he left the house. All he heard was the sound of a car engine starting and then leaving the driveway.

What did that asshole do to him?

He wondered. Whatever Jongho intended to do when he got up was interrupted when the front door swung right back open. "Wonder what that was about...?" His eyes widened at the familiar voice.

"Who cares? I just hope the rest of our roommates aren't spazzes like that guy." Jongho didn't dare turn around. That tone alone had his hand clenched in a harsh fist, his own restraint being the only thing keeping him in place. That, however, was not enough.

"Jongho?" To his surprise, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist before Jongho even got a moment to react. It was so warm, comforting even, and the mere scent of the man behind him brought back a flood of memories all hitting Jongho at once.

"Jongie? Who's here? Did hyung leave or-"

"Wooyoung?"

The daunting familiarity of the voice ahead made Wooyoung freeze. His breath caught in his throat at the salient figure in front of him. He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. "S-San?"