Giant nostrils.

That was the first thing Francis registered as he woke up. Screaming, he flailed his arms wildly, as laughter began to fill the room.

The nostrils moved back (thank goodness) and was replaced by the face of Yong Soo.

"Wow!" The Korean boy cackled, "You totally freaked out!"

"Like, totally," Leon agreed, walking into Francis's field of vision.

Francis, slowly registering his surrounding, realized that he was laying on Yao's ancient red couch, a blanket tucked over him. His shoes, tie, and jacket had been taken off.

"Urrf," Francis said, demonstrating his skill and fluency at the English language.

"Don't you wish we had videotaped that, Li Xiang?" Yong Soo continued.

Leon (a.k.a. Li Xiang) nodded.

"Yong Soo! Li Xiang!" Yao shouted, marching in, "What the hell are you two doing? I'll-"

He broke off abruptly, noticing for the first time that Francis was awake.

"Hi," Francis said awkwardly, pushing himself up, "How long was I asleep?"

"You slept like a rock for 12 hours!" Yong Soo laughed, "Li Xiang and I tried to see how many pencils we could fit in your nostrils. We got five in one nostril, and you didn't even wake up! Then Kiku came in and got all annoyed with us-"

"'Be more respectful,'" Leon mimicked, "'Do not bring dishonor upon us.' 'Guests must be treated with utmost respect.'"

"So then we blasted Gangnam Style really loudly, but we woke up Ivan-"

"Ivan's the tall guy," Leon supplied, "The one with, like, weird purple eyes."

"And he got really intimidating, and Aniki came in, and he kicked all three of us out! Said something about community service. We went to Starbucks-"

"What?" Yao screeched, "Ivan! Come ov-"

Almost instantaneously, Ivan was there, his arms wrapped around Yao.

Yao wriggled away from his grasp, and glared at Ivan.

"I told you to take the boys to go do some community service!" Yao scolded, "And you take them to Starbucks?"

Ivan hung his head.

The scene was almost comical. Ivan, dwarfing Yao by more than a head, now looked like a kicked puppy in front of the slight Chinese man.

"Yao-yao," Ivan whined, "Please-"

"Someday," Yao snapped, "They need to grow up. And that means they need to stop doing ridiculous things and learn to take responsibility! Since you're another adult living here now-"

"Question," Francis interrupted, "Last time I checked you two had just met. Now it feels like you've been having a steady relationship for several months."

Yao turned bright red, "Aiya! I-it's nothing like that! I-I just-"

"After Ge-ge kicked you out," Li Xiang began, "Ivan, like, came over-"

"He used Natalya to find our place!" Yong Soo announced eagerly.

"Natalya? I really have missed a lot."

"Ivan's younger sister," Leon explained, "She's like a stalker app. And Yong Soo has a crush on her."

Upon hearing those words, a dark aura immediately surrounded Ivan. The temperature felt like it was dropping. Francis's heart sped up.

Then Yao smacked Ivan.

"Aiya! Enough!"

Francis stared at Yao, gaping. He never would have had the courage to smack such a tall and intimidating figure in the face. And yet Yao didn't seem to be worried or afraid. On the contrary, he looked annoyed.

Ivan looked dejected, before sulking out of the room.

"So, anyways," Leon continued, looking pale, "He came over with, like, a truckload of sunflowers. Ge-ge freaked, and he almost threw Ivan out. But then he looked, like, super sad, so Ge-ge let him stay."

"Ah," Francis said, grinning "Lovely. The next step is marriage."

Yong Soo burst out laughing, while Li Xiang kept his neutral face on. Yao's face was the color of a ripe cherry.

"We're not- I mean-" Yao stammered, blushing furiously.

"Yes, you are!" Mei shouted, charging in, "I ship you two!"

Yao looked utterly perplexed.

"Sh-ship? As in boats? Or FedEx? Kiku! Where are you? Help!"

There was a moment of silence, before Kiku calmly walked into the living room. He was dressed in traditional Japanese robes and slippers.

"You, called, nii-san?"

"Mei wants to be a truck driver! Or sailor!"

Kiku blinked, "E-excuse me?"

"She's talking about how she 'ships' something!"

Kiku flushed, "A-ah. I see."

Yao narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Is there something I'm unaware of?"

"Er…"

Yao's expression transformed from one of suspicion to one of hurt.

"How could you keep something from me?" Yao wailed.

"Nii-san-"

"I trusted you to take care of them!"

"I-"

"And yet you now keep secrets from me!"

"Please-"

"How could you do this? 'Shipping' could have something to do with drugs!"

"It-"

"Why?" Yao howled, voice full hurt and disappointment, before running from the room.

"Nii-san!" Kiku shouted, before running after him.

A moment of silence passed after the two brothers' dramatic exit.

Finally, Leon said with an eyeroll, "Now look what you've done, Mei."

"It wasn't my fault!" Mei protested, "Who knew he'd freak out this much?"

"Why is Yao-hyung so upset?" Hyung Soo demanded, storming in with Andre trailing behind him.

"It was Kiku and Mei's fault!" Yong Soo shouted.

"Really?" Andre said softly.

"Like, yeah," Leon said.

"Hmm."

"Speaking of shipping," Mei said, turning to Francis with a smirk, "How was your date?"

Francis winced.

"It went badly," Hyung Soo snapped, looking annoyed.

"How do you know?" Mei asked.

"Because he showed up at our apartment at 10:00 PM in a suit looking like a corpse!" Hyung Soo shouted, "Stop asking these redundant questions!"

"They're not redundant!" Mei whined, "Kiku!"

"Mei," Andre scolded.

Mei pouted.

"It's fine," Francis muttered, "The date… it…"

"Why aren't you chasing after him?" Mei demanded, glaring at Francis, "You were obsessing over him for four days-"

"He's always like this," Hyung Soo grumbled.

"Come on," Mei insisted, "There's no way you'd be this sad over a fling. You have to. Didn't you always say that one should never give up on love? Well, you might have a real shot at it now! Both life and love are both filled with challenges, but that's what makes it so rewarding! If you give up now, imagine the regret and pain that it will leave in your heart! If nothing else, Francis-ge-ge, at least try!"

Francis looked at her, feeling kind of alarmed. He had always imagined Mei as the type not to be able to string two sentences together without squealing. And yet here she was, educating him on love, which was supposed to be his specialty.

"Yes," Francis murmured softly, "I will go talk to him."

"Who are we talking about again?"

"Yong Soo!" Hyung Soo shouted.

"Sorry," Yong Soo muttered.

"We're, like, talking about an Arthur guy, right?" Leon said in an indifferent tone.

"Yes," Andre nodded, "Arthur-?"

"Kirkland," Francis supplied.

The mood in the room immediately changed.

"K-kirkland?" Yong Soo stammered, his face devoid of color, "Don't tell me-"

"It is," Leo confirmed, traces of emotion finally showing on his face. His eyes were wide, and he looked deathly white, "It has to be."

"Forget what Mei just said," Hyung Soo told Francis, his eyebrows furrowed and his face pale, "Just give up. It'll be better for both of you."

"Wha-?"

Andre smiled at him sympathetically, with a hint of sorrow in his eyes, "Things are complicated, and-"

"Oh mon Dieu!" Francis shouted abruptly, finally unable to deal with all the secrecy, "Will one of you stinking Wangs just tell me what is going on already? What the hell happened with Arthur? Did he and Kiku-"

"No!" Mei yelped, "Well- actually- it sorta does have something to do with Kiku, but that's not the point-"

"The point is that you should give up!" Hyung Soo shouted.

"No!" Mei yelled, "He can't-"

"Don't you remember what happened with him?" Andre demanded, "Please, Mei, I know you don't like this, but it's-"

"For the best?" Mei cried, "For the best? You want him to live his entire life pent-up and closeted just because-"

Mei froze.

"Yeah," Leon muttered, "It actually is a pretty big reason."

"What happened?" Francis demanded, "Could you please just-"

"No," Hyung Soo said flatly, "It's not our place to tell you."

"Fine," Francis snapped, feeling immensely irritated, "I'll just go find Arthur and ask him myself."

Ignoring the voices of protest, Francis marched out of the living room. He crashed into a startled looking Kiku, before slipping on his shoes and storming out of Yao's warm, cozy apartment.

11/26/2016

Woohoo! RoChu fluff in this chapter! And, as an added bonus, KoreBel!

If you see any mistakes, feel free to point them out (just please be nice about it).

To the guest who asked about Ameripan… well… kinda. You'll see.