Sehun awoke to find a lump under the sheets in the adjacent bed. He sat up at once, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The youngest trainee was not used to sharing a room, so the sight was a bit unnerving.

As he slid out of bed, the lump moved. Sehun froze, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his rather disheveled appearance. Please don’t wake up.

A dark poof of hair emerged from under the sheets, the fluff covering a rather small face. The unfamiliar boy stared for a second before his eyes went wide.

“Hi?” said Sehun hesitantly, from a safe distance.

The thin boy jumped out of bed at once and bowed, softly saying a formal Korean greeting.

Sehun returned the bow half-heartedly, still unsure of who this stranger was. “Are you a new trainee?”

“Yes,” replied Luhan, torso still half-bent.

“You can stop now,” said Sehun rather bluntly.

“Stop what?” asked Luhan.

“Bowing…” Sehun wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be annoyed. Is this some sort of joke? Maybe Jongin put him up to this.

“Oh, sorry.” Luhan stood there awkwardly until Sehun could not bear it any longer. He turned away, opening random drawers in the dresser beside his bed, not really looking for anything specific. Luhan reached down and began to make his bed.

Sehun wasn’t sure what to say. “What part of Korea are you from?” He blurted out the question without really thinking. The two were still facing in opposite directions.

Luhan froze, pillow in hand. “Uh…”

“You have an interesting dialect,” continued Sehun, turning around to look at the boy. “I’ve never heard it before.”

“Oh,” replied Luhan, “I’m not from Korea…” He looked down rather shyly.

“Yea, very funny.” Sehun had had just about enough of this nonsense. “Whoever put you up to this, you don’t have to listen to them. You can stop pretending now. So really, what part of Korea are you from?”

Luhan was still looking down. “No really, I’m from China.”

This time Sehun burst out laughing. “Okay really! Jongin told you to say that right? I swear he’s so ridiculous sometimes. That was a good one though. You can tell him I’m not as gullible as he thinks. I mean you did a pretty good job faking an accent, but it just sounds like a dialect.”

Luhan was starting to look somewhat more uncomfortable, though Sehun thought it was kind of cute. Stop it! You don’t even know who he is! As his face began to turn pink, the maknae turned back towards his own bed. He wasn’t in the habit of fixing his sheets, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do.

Luhan stood there for a few seconds before finding the courage to speak up. “I’m from China. My name is Han.”

“Han?” Sehun dropped his pillow. “Han-what?”

“Just Han…”

“What do you mean, ‘just Han,’? Where’s the rest of it?”

“That’s all of it. Although, my last name is Lu, so people usually call me LuHan.”

“That doesn’t sound Korean. Is SM recruiting form North Korea now or something?!” Sehun couldn’t believe he had said it out loud.

“I’m from China,” repeated Luhan, just as softly as before.

“So why are you speaking Korean?” Sehun’s bed was starting to look even messier than it had when he had gotten out of it.

Luhan walked over to him and began to straighten the sheets. “Because you don’t understand Chinese,” he said with a small smile.

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” said Sehun as he watched Luhan fold his blanket. He was starting to wonder if this really wasn’t a joke after all.

“You weren’t really doing a very good job,” answered Luhan with a slightly wider grin. He hid his face a little. Sehun frowned and turned to look at Luhan’s bed. It was perfectly made.

“So, ‘Han,’ did SM tell you why you’re here? Are they forming a Chinese group or something?”

“They said I was joining your group.”

Sehun dropped his pillow again. “But our group is Korean…” He regretted the words immediately as they spilled from his mouth. He had noticed the slight change in Luhan’s face. It only lasted a second and was instantly replaced by a gentle smile.

“Good thing I can speak Korean,” he said almost too brightly.

“Yea, about that. How the heck are you from China if you can speak Korean so fluently? Are you half-Korean?”

Before Luhan could answer, the bedroom door burst open and Suho walked in.

“I thought I heard talking in here!” he said rather happily.

“Hyung,” blurted Sehun, “this Han guy keeps saying he’s from China. Is this some kind of joke? It’s getting really old.”

“Sehun-ah!” Suho’s smile vanished instantly. “Where are your manners? He is from China! And don’t call him ‘this Han guy.’ He’s four years older than you! He’s your hyung!”

Sehun’s mouth fell open in utter disbelief. “What! He looks like he’s thirteen!”

“Sehun-ah! He’s your hyung! And he’s also your new roommate.” Suho turned immediately towards Luhan, who had magically finished straightening Sehun’s now perfect looking bed. “I’m so sorry Luhan-shi. He’s usually much nicer than this.”

“Oh no,” answered Luhan gently, “it’s not a problem hyung. It must be hard waking up to a stranger in your bedroom.”

“It must be harder leaving your home country and having to deal with all this rudeness first thing in the morning, from the maknae no less! And how many times do I have to tell you? I am NOT your hyung! You’re older than me, Luhan-shi!”

“Oh okay,” replied Luhan, “sorry Joonmyun-shi.”

“Just Joonmyun! Seriously, I should be calling you hyung.”

“No, no, please don’t,” said Luhan, getting rather flustered. “You’re the leader. Or at least that’s what manager hyung said.”

“Well it’s not exactly official yet. But I have been here the longest. In any case! You two need to wash up for breakfast. We have plenty of introductions to make and there is another new member that nobody’s met yet! We’ll be waiting in the common room. Quickly!”

With that Suho walked out of the room, leaving the two standing awkwardly once more.

“I’m sorry,” said Sehun in a rather forced tone, “hyung.”

“You don’t have to call me that, Sehun-shi. That’s your name right? Am I pronouncing it correctly?”

“So what exactly am I supposed to call you?”

“How about just Luhan?”

“Well, ‘just Luhan,’ that’s not really how things work around here. Not in this country. And especially not at SM. I’ll probably have to call you hyung.”

“Oh, okay…” said Luhan, rather sadly.

Sehun couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty about the bad impression he had already made. “Anyways,” he said, trying to change topics, “there’s a bathroom right around that corner. You can go first, if you’d like. Hyung.”

Luhan beamed and walked to his still unpacked suitcase. A few seconds later, he looked back up. “I’m sorry, Sehun-shi, do you have a towel I could use?”

Sehun walked over to his dresser and pulled one out.

“It’s just Sehun,” he said with a hint of a smile as he handed it to Luhan.

“Thanks.”

-------------------------------------------

Luhan sat nervously on the edge of his bed until Sehun was done showering.

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” said the maknae as he stashed his dirty laundry in the hamper.

“I just…” hesitated Luhan. “I just don’t know anyone else yet.”

Sehun felt another surge of guilt. He wasn’t exactly being helpful to his new roommate. “Come on,” he said as gently as possible, “I’ll introduce you to everyone. They’re all pretty nice.”

“Not as nice as you, I’m sure,” replied Luhan rather sarcastically, twitching at the corners of his mouth.

Sehun’s mouth fell open once more. Suddenly, the two were laughing.

“I guess we didn’t really get off on the right foot,” said Sehun between laughs. He couldn’t believe such a snarky response had come from the otherwise unassuming boy. It was just the kind of humor he liked.

“Let’s start over,” said Luhan, holding out his hand. “I’m Luhan.”

“Hi Luhan hyung,” replied Sehun, returning the gesture, “I’m Oh Sehun.”

“Nice to meet you, Oh Sehun,” laughed Luhan as he let go.

Sehun took Luhan’s other hand rather formally. “Let’s go, shall we?”

“Took you long enough,” taunted Kai as soon as they walked into the common room. He stared at the two, who were still holding hands. “Were you two getting married in there or something?”

Sehun gave him a rather disdainful look as he released Luhan’s hand. As Kai got up from the couch, Luhan bowed and repeated his formal Korean greeting.

Sehun pulled him up at once. “He’s younger than you too, hyung. He should be the one bowing.”

“Saving all the bows for yourself, are we Prince Sehun?” scoffed Kai, as he made his way towards the pair. “Joonmyun hyung told me you were being rather informal with him this morning.”

Sehun frowned. Luhan interrupted softly before the maknae could retaliate. “Hi, I’m Luhan,” he said holding out his hand once more.

Kai took it at once and beamed. “I’m Jongin. Sorry for the trouble. Sehun can be a bit rude and unruly sometimes, despite being the youngest.”

“I can tell you’re the polite one,” replied Luhan, sarcastically again and with a teasing smile. Sehun burst into another fit of laughter as Kai stood there flabbergasted.

“I’m only kidding,” explained Luhan, patting Kai on the shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s okay hyung,” said Sehun, amused, “that’s exactly what he deserves for all the grief he gives us. You have no idea.”

Kai couldn’t help but smile at Luhan. He liked his new hyung already.

“So where’s this other new member?” asked Sehun as he led them to the couch. Kai took a seat on the other side of Luhan.

“He’s in the shower,” replied Kai. “He’s my new roommate. Joonmyun hyung volunteered to give up his bed.”

Suho appeared at the sound of his name, bringing with him a rather small boy. “This is Kyungsoo,” he announced to the room at large.

“You better be from Korea, Kyungsoo,” said Sehun as he stood up. “Or else I’m going to have to reevaluate my knowledge of the Korean language.”

“I am…” responded the wide-eyed boy weakly.

“Sehun-ah!” exclaimed Suho, rather sternly. “He’s your hyung! You can’t talk to him like that!”

“What!” Sehun could not believe it. “He looks like he’s ten. What the heck is going on?!”

“He doesn’t have to call me hyung,” said D.O. rather quietly.

“OH YES HE DOES!” replied Suho with authority.

Kai was laughing heartily until Kyungsoo turned to look at him. Suddenly, he became interested in the floor as the blood rushed into his face. His dark skin tone disguised it somewhat. Sehun didn’t quite understand the odd reaction, but he chose to ignore it.

Suho made the rest of the introductions. “And this is Luhan-shi,” he explained as he got to the last person. “He also just got here last night. He was born in 1990, so he’s your hyung too, Kyungsoo.”

Luhan and D.O. both bowed to each other, rather formally, until Sehun and Kai were forced to pull their respective roommates up by the shoulders.

“When did we all start bowing like this?” asked Sehun, somewhat disgruntled by the formalities.

“Well, we’re not the ones that walk around the apartment like royalty,” retorted Kai.
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