As Minseok stood in front of the wooden door that separated him from his new classroom and looked down at his fingertips sticking out of the oversized cardigan on which sleeves he was pulling, he decided that, yes, he was nervous indeed. He took a deep breath and made sure that all the buttons of his school uniform shirt have been buttoned correctly. For a millisecond he regretted not wearing the tie, but it was not mandatory and he disliked ties, they tended to make him feel as though he was suffocating.

The wooden door opened and his teacher stepped back to let him enter. Minseok’s eyes were glued to the floor but he could feel everyone else’s eyes on him, following his every move. Distinctly he could hear the teacher introducing him in a gentle voice. One reason why he agreed to the school transfer so easily was that a private school had a lot of advantages: for one, it would be easier to get into a better university if he graduated from a school that has a good reputation. Another reason was that the class was much smaller; there were only about twenty people in one classroom. Lastly, the teachers were all very outstanding and did their job with verve.

Minseok reminded himself of all those things before he dared to peak at his classmates through his blond bangs. About twenty pairs of mildly interested eyes were watching him. He felt the teacher pat his back and took that as his queue to sit down. There was an empty seat in the back row. He glanced at the two boys, who would be his neighbours. The one on his right had slightly wavy dark brown hair and a very handsome face. A big grin was on his lips. The other one had dark brown hair and looked like he was dozing off, but his eyes looked very kind as they stared back at Minseok.

Minseok placed his bag back on the floor beside his desk and immediately took out his literature books. Even though he had to sit in the last row he planed to pay attention. Suddenly a piece of paper rolled into a ball landed on his table, but he ignored it. Another piece came flying and landed on his book. Minseok glanced to his right at the grinning boy, who pointed at his other side while mouthing “Pass it on.” He frowned and flicked the little paper balls off his desk. He didn’t want to get caught passing papers during lessons.

A few minutes passed in peace then another paper ball landed on his desk. Minseok felt himself flush with embarrassment at being ignored and used as some sort of message bird. He turned to his right again and saw the brown haired boy smile at him.

            “If you want to talk to him that badly we can change seats.” Minseok whispered and damned his own voice for sounding so small and insecure, but he just didn’t like to converse with people. It made him terrible anxious as if his every word was being weighed and judged. The other boy shook his head ‘no’ and leaned a little closer.

            “The teacher separated us on purpose, he said we talk to much if we sit right next to each other.” That didn't surprise him at all. “Also that paper is for you.” The other boy finished and turned back to face the front. 

Minseok looked at the paper and cautiously reached for it. It was folded neatly, two times and when he opened it a messy and quick handwriting was revealed. ‘I’m Luhan and the other guy siting next to you is my friend Yixing. Do you want to eat with us Minseokkie?’ As long as they don’t ask him to many questions he was ok with eating with them, he didn’t even mind the overly familiar nickname the other used. He took his pen and neatly wrote ‘Alright’ before carefully placing the paper onto Luhan’s desk.

The rest of the lesson passed by without any further interruptions and as soon as it was over Luhan got up and came to stand in front of his desk. From the corner of his eye he could see Yixing turn to sit facing him.

            “You skipped a grade Minseok?” Yixing asked. His even and calm voice suited him well, Minseok thought. He nodded in reply and Luhan leaned down with a thoughtful look on his face.

            “You look very young, but that could be because of your baby face too. Anyway, that makes us your geges right?” Luhan smiled broadly and the younger boy just nodded again. He already guessed that the two boys were Chinese, going by their names and he understood just enough Chinese to know that gege is the equivalent of hyung. “Then you should call me Lu-ge.” Minseok lowered his eyes again and saw Yixing push his chair closer.

            “Luhan, don’t bully him.” He scolded the wavy haired boy. “You can call us hyung, that’s just fine.” He finished and flashed the youngest boy a small smile.

            “It may be fine with you but I want to be called Lu-ge.” Luhan replied in a slightly annoyed voice. Yixing sighed and turned to look at Minseok again.

            “Will you join us for lunch?” he asked quietly. Minseok wanted to reply with nodding again, but stopped himself. It would be slightly rude to not say anything.

            “I will, Yixing-hyung.” He said in a small voice. Yixing gave him a warm smile when he heard his answer and Minseok immediately felt slightly more comfortable. The bell rang to announce the start of a new class and both boys went back to their respective seats and faced the front.

The small breaks in between classes Minseok spend listening to Luhan and Yixing talk about school and soccer. They often turned to him and explained things to not make him feel excluded from the conversation, but they didn’t force him to participate. Seemingly both quickly understood that he was not very good with words. Or people.

Nevertheless, lunch break arrived quickly and he trailed slightly behind his two hyungs to the cafeteria. The older boys kept turning over their shoulder and slowing down to not lose him but Minseok’s eyes were glued to the floor and he couldn’t stop pulling the sleeves of his cardigan.

All of a sudden a hand gently took his wrist and Luhan pulled him to walk between him and Yixing.

            “If you trail behind us like that it feels as though you’re a puppy we’ve kicked and forced to follow us.” The older boy said with a laugh. Minseok looked at Luhan’s hand wrapped around his wrist and could feel a blush creep up his cheeks. He wasn’t a big fan of contact, but the warmth of Luhan’s hand seeped through the cardigan and made him feel welcome.

They grabbed lunch and Minseok followed his two hyungs to a table where three other boys were already sitting. One of them had a huge grin on his face and was waving them over. Minseok’s gaze quickly flickered over the three of them. The grinning boy seemed nice but also loud and mischievous. There was also a blond boy whose face looked rather serious and scary, with dark circles under his eyes, yet he was strangely good looking. The last boy only looked up from his lunch when they were almost at the table and even when he was sitting Minseok could see how huge the brown haired boy was. His face appeared expressionless and nonchalant.

Minseok heard Luhan introduce him to his friends, but the nervous beating of his heart was loud in his ears. He didn’t know that he would have to eat with so many people. He was sat down between Yixing and Luhan and opposite the boy they introduced to him as Zitao. The smiling boy was introduced to him as Jongdae and the tall one as Yifan. Surprisingly enough none of them pressured him into talking with them and all of them seemed really nice.

            “Minseok.” Zitao’s voice brought him out of his musings and he looked up from his food. The older boy was smiling at him sheepishly. “Do you want to go shopping with me? The others don’t want to.” Minseok’s eyebrows rose with surprise and before he could reply Luhan’s annoyed voice interrupted him.

            “It’s not that I don’t want to I have soccer practice. And I don’t think Minseokkie wants to go with someone that looks like a scary panda.” Zitao’s face fell at Luhan’s words and Minseok felt a pang of pity hit his heart and before he knew what he was doing he spoke up.

            “Actually I don’t mind going. It’s a good opportunity to get to know the city better. So, I would like to go with you, hyung.” He said and gave Zitao a slight and hesitant smile.

            “I’ll come along too.” Yixing suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him and he turned to Minseok and smiled. “I just remembered I have some time after all.” The youngest boy could see the dimples on his cheeks and the friendliness in his eyes and the memory of being warm and protected during winter, wrapped into lots of blankets and surrounded by pillows popped into his head.

In that moment Minseok decided that he would try to be a little more open this year. It was a new school and a new class and maybe he would make some new friends as well.

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