Lynelle

"And, voila. The house is all yours, Lynelle. Happy birthday!" Her dad beamed, signing the last paper. Lynelle was aware she was a little spoiled -- most 21 year olds probably didn't receive bougie 6 bedroom mansion for their birthdays, but her dad loved giving her extravagant gifts. She didn't exactly mind.

"I love you, Dad. Thank you!" She hugged him, kissing his scruffy cheek as he chuckled and kissed her cheek back.

"Uh-huh. Now get out of here and go pack your tiny little apartment, you rascal. Gotta start moving in!" He jokingly shooed her away, and she snuck in one more hug before taking the keys from where they lay on the kitchen table and floating out the door, grinning at her gift. For the most part, she was independent, but every now and then her wealthy father would do something like this.

---

Moving in didn't take too long, considering her previous tiny apartment couldn't hold much. In fact, after she was done the place looked sad and barren. She loved her father but he certainly was a little over-the-top. Lynelle did not need five extra rooms. She supposed she'd have to find roommates, but she didn't know where she was supposed to find five roommates she'd get along with.

She'd heard of apps to find compatible roommates... we'll, it's a little weird but it won't hurt. She spent longer than she would like to admit perfecting her profile, trying to make herself seem cool so everyone would want to room with her. She'd never had any roommates before.

She didn't quite understand how to work the gender part of the app, but she was pretty sure she had it right.

L. Marton

21 years old

6 Bedroom House

Hobbies: Art, Reading, Swimming

Looking for: Laid-back night owls

Preferred Gender/Own Gender: M/M

She didn't know what else was important on the profile. She'd opted out of her full name, just in case there were any creepy stalkers on there. Hopefully she'd get some messages from five decent women willing to live with her.

She put her phone down and sat on the couch, next to where a large sketchbook and set of charcoal pencils lay. She was in the middle of an anatomy practice sketch, a particularly erotic-looking one. A man and woman, throwing their heads back in passion, fitting their bodies together, writhing. But... something just wasn't quite right about it. She couldn't get the passion right, the instinctual feel of sex. It was so... stiff. Kenya, her friend, had said they looked like they could be discussing financial trends. Lynelle didn't think it was that bad, but it was lacking a little spice. Ah, gotta love art block. She meticulously worked on shading and refining their faces for a couple hours, trying to make them look like they desired each other. Not much help.

Being an artist for a living, it was always a little upsetting when Lynelle came across something she couldn't get right. She was probably going to work on this for weeks until she mastered the sex sketch.

Her phone dinged a few times from the kitchen counter. Lynelle hauled herself up from the comfy couch and checked it, pleased to find several messages from a potential roommate. One from an M. Martin.

M: Hello :) Looks like our profiles match pretty well, and I actually have 4 friends who are looking for an apartment. We're all very laid back and low key -- we would love to see if we're a good fit!

After a few minutes of snooping through M. Martin's profile, Lynelle though M seemed good enough, and her 4 friends probably were too.

She replied, and after several days of chatting with M about the house, Lynelle decided she seemed trustworthy enough.

L: We seem like a good fit! If you're interested, I can send you the address and you and your friends can come over this weekend and have a house tour and get to know each other.

M: We'll be there.

She sent M the address and hashed out the details, then got about to cleaning the house, seeing as in only a few short days the four ladies would be seeing the entire house. She wanted them to be interested.

---

Three days later, Lynelle received a text from M saying they were ready and would come around later that day. Lynelle made sure everything was still tidy and put on a pretty dress for no reason. She didn't know why but she really wanted these girls to like her. It was a little tight and skimpy, but it hadn't failed her yet.

M texted her that they were only a couple minutes away. She sat around nervously, working on her continually awkward sex scene some more before she heard the doorbell ring. They were here! She jumped up and brushed off her little dress before walking over and standing in front of the door. Just be cool, Lynelle.

She swung open the door, revealing... five men standing at her doorstep. Huh?

"Um, can I help you?" she asked them, keeping the door partially closed to create a barrier between them. A couple of them were a little scary looking.

"Uh. We're supposed to meet a guy at this address. I think--" The man leaned back and looked at the house number, then at his phone, and nodded. "Yes, this is the address we were given. Is an L. Marton here?"

Her eyes widened, and she pulled out here phone. She opened the roommate app and checked her profile... and there it was. 'M/M'. She was an idiot. They looked confused too, and they all just kind of stood there, staring at each other.

"Um. Okay. L. Marton is me, unfortunately. I'm not a male, and... none of you are women, it seems?" Lynelle asked, leaning against her doorframe. A couple of them chuckled.

"The last time I checked, no," rumbled the one who had talked before, smiling at her. He held out his hand. "Max Martin, pleased but a little confused to meet you," he said, shaking her hand. The rest of the men were kind of just staring at her. Ah. M. Yeah, it's all coming together.

"Oh! You guys should come in at least. Sorry." She widened the door and stepped aside. Wow, a few of them were very large.

She gestured towards the living room and make a weird grunting sound before heading to the kitchen to get them water and have a second to collect herself. They were... all very tall and handsome, and Lynelle was going through a bit of a dry spell. Come to think of it, that was probably why her erotic drawings came out so... non-erotic. Did she even remember what sex was?

Lynelle slowly walked back to the living room, balancing six glasses of water. Waitress skills from high school, don't fail me now. After passing them out and settling into her favorite beanbag, she looked around at them.

"So, I'm not a guy," she said awkwardly, pulling the hem of her short dress down. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

"No, you certainly are not," one of the men said, smiling as his eyes flicked lightning-fast to her legs. He had lighter hair than M -- Max -- with a twinkle of humor in his eyes. She would be offended, but Lynelle had also been objectifying their bodies this whole time. Plus, he was hot. "Ethan, pleasure to meet you." She nodded. He tilted his head. "And... you are...?"

"Oh! Lynelle. Look, obviously there was some sort of mix-up. I'm really sorry about this. I knew I couldn't handle that weird roommate dating app thing." She got up, pacing around the room, combing through her dark hair with her fingers. "Obviously you guys have come here and everything, only to find that I've basically catfished you --" She was cut off by a guy who hadn't spoken yet, one with tan skin and thick, black hair.

"You didn't catfish us. It was obviously a mistake. This might not be ideal but it wasn't your intention," he told her firmly, easing some of her fears.

She spun around, facing him fully. Don't act nervous. "And you are?"

"Jackson." He shot her a dazzling smile. Lynelle was trying very hard to not fall to her knees, starstruck.

"Mkay. Jackson, Max, and Ethan. What about you two?" she asked pointing between the two larger quiet men sitting across the room. Both of them looked kinda physically similar, with their dark hair and bulky, larger build. But one of them sat with a dark scowl on his face, arms crossed, and the other smiled at her and shifted forward in his seat. "I'm Char. The grumpy one is Rowan."

"Char, Rowan, Jackson, Max, Ethan," she recited, glancing at the ceiling in concentration. "Okay. I usually would not allow five strange men to live in my house, but since I catfished you, I feel responsible for you. So you're welcome to stay here until you make other arrangements, on the condition that you won't murder me." She pulled her hem down again, it having ridden up from the pacing. Stupid dress. "But only until then, and I'm telling my sister what's going on. So if you get any ideas, think again."

Lynelle watched them exchange some unreadable glances, then Max turned and grinned at her. "Show us our rooms, then."

"Follow me," she called, heading up the stairs to where the rooms were located. She was very conscious of heading up the stairs in a short dress ahead of them, but a quick glance revealed Ethan walking behind her with his eyes very firmly glued to his shoes. Aww. If her sister Emilia were here, she would congratulate Ethan on drinking his respecting-women juice.

She walked through the hall, gesturing at the open doors. "These five are ripe for the picking. The one at the back there is mine, though." The guys all walked to one of the open rooms, dropping their bags at the same time. For some reason they were kind of cute, being all polite.

"Um. What else. The walls are thinner upstairs than downstairs, so be aware of that--" she gestured vaguely over her shoulder-- " and... yeah. Questions? No? Alright, you guys get settled in." She booked it to her room as fast as possible without looking weird. They definitely looked like they had more to say but she was practically sweating.