A/N: I think this chapter is going to be pretty boring too ;; It's just a bunch of background info and then the story will move onto the interesting stuff!

 Also warning because some swearing? There's swearing in every chapter tho im sorry ;;

*edited 1/15/2021

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Jongin ran his fingers through his newly bleached and toned, blond hair. As he stood close to the mirror and placed in his eyebrow, lip, and tongue piercing in, he felt someone breathing on his neck. Raising an eyebrow, Jongin turned around to look at the other. "Do you really have to stand so close, Sehun?" Sehun nodded with a gummy, taunting smile, so Jongin replied by rolling his eyes and pushing Sehun with the tips of his fingers. 

Stumbling backwards, Sehun landed on the bed and held himself up on his elbows as he watched Jongin move around the room. "Why did you bleach your hair blond?" He asked as Jongin began to gel up his hair to style it. Sehun rolled his eyes as Jongin took off his white wife beater and stretched his back muscles. Over the years, Sehun had eventually got used to Jongin's narcissistic ways. 

Jongin finally put a black shirt on and answered Sehun's question. He shrugged, "I heard girls like guys with blond hair and piercings." He smirked to himself in the mirror. "I'm going to pick up a girl at the club with nice curves and big s. Then I'll take her home and have the best night of my life." Jongin wanted to get some y action before the Placement Test meetings started. "Maybe I can pick up more than one girl, and we'll all have a huge . You could probably join too." He laughed.

"That's what you always say on Friday nights." Sehun mumbled, rolling his eyes once more. "And then you'll go to me complaining that she wasn't good or that you contracted a STD. Or that she faked her ."

As he put on a pair of black skinny jeans, Jongin turned to face the other. "I won't get a STD, okay?" He turned back around and held up a box of condoms. "I always use condoms." He took some out of the box and stuffed it in his pocket carelessly.

"Condoms don't always work! Jongin, you should be careful. You could--"

Jongin cut him off by throwing himself onto the bed and covering Sehun's mouth with his hands. "Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. I get this lecture every Friday. I'm not a kid, Sehun. I know what I'm doing." Sehun responded by Jongin's hands. Jongin scrunched his nose as he retreated his hands, wiping them on Sehun's shirt. He looked up and down Sehun's body, noticing that he was still wearing his pajamas. "Aren't you going to go to the club with me?"

Sehun shook his head, "No, I don't want be caught up with your 'y time.'" He made finger quotes around the words. He chuckled as Jongin tried to kick him. "Call me if you get too drunk to drive, okay? I don't want you to get hurt..." Sehun drifted off.

"Aww, does little Sehun care about me for once?" Jongin laughed as he squished Sehun's cheeks together.

Sehun kicked Jongin away and looked at him with disgust. "Ew no! You're an . I hate you get away from me." He rambled off and kicked Jongin off the bed.

Jongin laughed and slowly got up, brushing the dust off his pants. "I'm going to go now. Have fun being a loser. Alone..."

"If you're trying to guilt me into going with you, it's not going to work. I'm staying here and that's final."

"Okay, okay. I'll call you later."

~*~*~

The walk to the nearest club wasn't a long one, but Jongin chose to walk slowly. In this part of town, there aren't many government watchers walking around, so Jongin took out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking. People walking by glared at him for doing something so illegal out in the open. A mother even covered her child's eyes and told them to cover their noses before they quickly walked away -- no, more like sprinted away from the tanned man. Anything containing tobacco, , and other illegal substances were banned decades ago. The president even demanded that all tobacco and plants be burned. However, that didn't stop people from growing more in their basements or other locked rooms. It was quite hard to get them. You had to go to one of those homes in the sketchy allies to get it. It definitely wasn't cheap either.

There were many restrictions that the government placed upon its people. Alcohol was also illegal, but there were always those people who could twist some things around to get what they wanted.. Although you had to pay lots of money, Jongin thought it was worth it. The buzz of nicotine and alcohol made him feel alive.

When Jongin reached the club, he took out his Club Card and presented it to the government watcher standing near the entrance. The government watcher took out a stamp marker and pressed it down onto the week of the month they were in. Visits to the club are restricted to once a week. Usually people start receiving their Club Cards once they're 21 years old, but Jongin always made copies of his sister's Club Card. The government thinks they're oh so smart, but when people want something, they find ways around it.

Once Jongin entered, the strong smell of and sweat with a slight tint of alcohol and smoke flooded his senses. Among the many other things that are illegal, having with someone else who is not the person the government placed you with is illegal. Of course, the government watchers didn't really blame people for others wanting to do this. They tried everything they could to prevent people from engaging in adulterous , but happens. Jongin immediately walked to the dance floor, arms wide open, and the women didn't hesitate to start grinding against him.

~*~*~

Dressed in a nice outfit his mom picked out for him and a neat hair style, Kyungsoo stared out the bus window nervously. He felt it all over again. The nervousness had been eating him away the entire weekend after the test. As he looked around, he could see that he wasn't the only one who was buzzing with a intense emotions. Couples would be split up today. Friendships will be destroyed. Hatred will form.

Kyungsoo hated feeling different emotions. Of course he dealt with his emotions the best way he could; nonetheless, he still felt that they force humans to act irresponsibly and stupidly. For example, when people hate each other they could fight physically or murder each other. Sadness could cause someone to take their own life or fall into addiction. Emotions make you do horrible things. But you know what the most terrifying emotion is? Love. Love may seem all butterflies and happiness, but Kyungsoo thinks that's bull. Good things don't last forever. Eventually those metaphorical butterflies you feel in your stomach go away, and people get tired of each other quickly. For some, love is an adventure, an experience that they want over and over again. Kyungsoo thinks that love is pain, firey pain. It's heart break. He honestly thinks all the emotions you feel at once when you're in love is pointless and stupid.

The bus finally stops in front of the school, and the dreadful, worried teenagers file out. When they enter the school, government workers ask for their student IDs and they take all the student's possessions, placing them to the side for them to take when they leave. Kyungsoo sighs when his backpack is taken away from him. He hopes no one takes anything.

Kyungsoo is led into a room where he meets with one of the judges from his test. To his luck, it's the nice blonde haired lady with the fake eyelashes. He smiles when she smiles brightly at him. "You nervous?" She asks.

He bites his lower lip before nodding. Nervous? Words could not explain the emotions he was feeling. Even someone as smart as him wouldn't be able to describe it. He was so nervous he thought he was going to puke everywhere. At the same time, he was excited and happy that he would finally be placed with someone. Well, maybe. There are always occasions where there aren't enough people for everyone to be paired up with someone. "I'm really nervous." He laughs, "Um, could you just tell me really fast?"

She nodded, laughing. "Of course." She pulled out two identical papers from the manila folder she was holding. The official government issued one was given to herself and Kyungsoo was given the copy. "We'll start from the top. The job you've been assigned is doctor. We've chosen this for you because you have an extensive knowledge of medicine, and you are quite intelligent. Of course this means you will have to go to college and medical school, which, of course, will be paid for by the government." She pointed to the next thing on the paper. "You will be living in Seoul with the person we assigned you with. You may move into the house when you graduate from high school. You two will be living in a large apartment. Two bedrooms and two baths."

Kyungsoo released a sigh of relief when he heard that he was paired with someone and he wasn't stuck with a ty job. She looked up and smiled, "What a relief, right? Your rent will be $100 until you both get jobs to pay a larger amount." She looked out the classroom window and whispered, "Even though the government system is ty, they still have a heart." She laughed once more before glancing at the clock. "Oh! You have to meet your mate soon. Alright um so since you can't have children, you are allowed to have two pets of your choice. We will give you the pet permit once you move into your apartment. Just give the pet shop owners the government pass and they'll allow you to buy one."

It took Kyungsoo a while to process the woman's words as it flew out of quickly. "W-What? We can't have kids? Is she infertile or--" His eyes widened, but she only smiled sweetly before pulling a blindfold out.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I have to blindfold you. It's procedure and stuff you understand, right? We like the meetings to be a surprise. No talking when we enter the room, okay?" She walked behind him, her high heels clacking against the classroom tiles. She wrapped the cloth around his eyes and tied it securely. "Is it too tight?"

Kyungsoo shook his head, turning around so he was facing her. "What did you mean by we can't have kids?" He persisted.

She stayed quiet, placing the paper in his hand. "Don't forget your paper, honey!" She chuckled before pulling him up by the arm. "Now let's go. Can't let your poor soulmate wait forever now can we?"

~*~*~

Jongin sat casually in his seat, leaning against the back of his chair as his legs were spread out comfortably. He listened to the government worker ramble on. "Your job is a dance instructor. You'll have to go to college, major in dance, minor in business, and another government official will assign you a business location when you get to that point."

Sighing, Jongin rolled his eyes as he stared blankly at the white wall beside the man's full head of gray hair. Blah blah blah. When would he get to meet the foxy lady they paired him up with. He knew he wouldn't get an ugly girl because who would pair someone ugly with such a handsome, attractive, y, and talented man like him?

Jongin's attention suddenly turned to the man when he heard something about meeting his partner. Finally. The man took out a piece of long cloth from the folder and wrapped it tightly around Jongin's head. "Ow! , man! It's too tight."

The man just laughed, "It's what you get for not paying attention to me."

Moments later, Jongin heard the classroom door open. He could barely hide the excitement on his face. He couldn't wait to see the girl's surprised face when she saw him. Who wouldn't love to be paired with him?

~*~*~

Kyungsoo could hear the loud clacking of the woman's heels in front of him as he continued following as she pulled him by the arm. Suddenly she stopped, causing him to bump into her. He would have apologized, but he wasn't allowed to talk so a timid bow of the head would have to do. She opened the door swiftly and guided Kyungsoo into a chair which he supposed was across from the person he was going to spend the rest of his life with. He squirmed in his seat impatiently as he listened to the two government workers talking amongst themselves.

As he waited, Kyungsoo began to regret saying that he didn't care about the gender of his partner. He could just imagine the look of disappointment on his parents' face when he explains to them that he was paired with anyone but a man. Of course Kyungsoo didn't mind homouality or panuality or any kind of uality. It was his parents, or more accurately, the older generations that were not open to the thought of homouality or differing gender identities.

Finally, one of the workers spoke. It was a man. "Alright, we're gonna take the blindfolds off." The two workers counted to three before pulling the cloth off. For Kyungsoo, it was the longest three seconds he had ever experienced.

Once the blind folds were taken off, Kyungsoo's eyes shot open.

Jongin.

Kim Jongin.

Why was Kim Jongin sitting across from him?

Jongin was the first to speak up. "What the ?" Jongin turned to the old man. He just let his jaw hang, wiggling in the air as he struggled to speak. Both of them were speechless. "I'm pretty sure there's a mix up-- I asked for a girl. A y girl." Jongin pointed to Kyungsoo, looking at him in disgust. "That is not a girl. It's not even a boy! I mean-- it's too ugly to even be human."

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, turning to speak to the blonde haired lady. "A-Are you sure that we're in the right room?" She looked at the paper in her manila folder and nodded. "B-But--"

"I'm not gay!" Jongin exclaimed. "There's a mix up you gotta fix this."

The workers shrugged, "Sorry, but this year there was an even number of people and everyone's all paired up already. Maybe this mix up is just fate."

After a few moments of silence between everyone, the workers silently made their way to the door. We'll leave you two alone for a while. Leave whenever you'd like."

Jongin and Kyungsoo stared intensely at each other. Kyungsoo was the first to speak up, "I hate you. I really ing hate you." This was the first time Kyungsoo spoke with such assurance and confidence. He wanted those last 5 words to pierce through Jongin's tough, tough ego.

Jongin scoffed. "Good. Just so you know, I will never ing love you. I mean how could I. You're so ugly, and you always act like you're dead or something. I will never love you." Jongin crossed his arms, refusing to make eye contact with Kyungsoo.

"Then I guess we'll be one of those couples. The ones where we never talk to each other unless we're in front of officials." Kyungsoo runs his fingers through his neat hair. "I won't love you either. I mean, how could I after all you've put me through?" Kyungsoo pushed his chair out and stomped his way to the door, slamming it on the way out.

~*~*~

I'm so sorry it took so long to post this ;; I've been busy and quite frankly, lazy.

If you see any mistakes please tell me and I'll fix it. I typed all of this on my phone because my family is always using the computer and it's 1 am so of course I'm making a billion mistakes. In the last chapter it said "how luhan had a blanket expression" or smth and no one told me -_-

So yeah comment and subscribe

Thank you for reading! I really do appreciate it.