Yifan honestly hadn’t expected to be met with screaming girls until he was an established actor in more than one movie. It was way too early in his life for this. He wasn’t really a celebrity and yet as he’d left the theater with a couple classmates he’d been met by the screams. Honestly he had no idea it could be like this so soon.

He also had no idea how he made it back to his room in one piece, but he knew that his sanity was restored once that door was shut behind him. Luhan and Minseok were lounging on Luhan’s bed looking at something on Minseok’s laptop and laughing quietly. He raised an eyebrow and made his way over curiously.

“What are you two laughing at? And also were there any screaming girls waiting for you today? It’s not as amazing as you’d think. It was actually rather terrifying.”

“No screaming girls for me but Luhan had quite the time with his group of girls. He made cutesy faces at them until they couldn’t scream any louder. Anyway you know there’s a post about us on a gossip blog? Some of the comments on here are absolutely hilarious.” Minseok sat up to make room for Yifan to see.

“ ‘Luhan oppa is soooo cute!’ ‘Does anyone else think Kris is really hot? Growl at me anytime Kris.’ ‘Ahhh….Kris. I want to see him perform *wink wink* if you know what I mean.’ ‘Xiumin is my ultimate bias. He’s perfect!’ This is generally loud screaming through a computer screen.” Yifan muttered and continued scrolling through comments. It was rather disturbing and looking to his right he could see Luhan actually taking all of the comments seriously. That was even more disturbing. One comment caught his eye though.

“Wait, how do these fangirls know about the others?”

Luhan finally spoke up and when he did it was with a devious look on his face.

“Minseokie told the writer of the blog. Apparently this Chen-ssi is really cute.”

~~

The door opened, screaming could be heard from outside momentarily and then the room was rather quiet again. Yifan sighed. This whole gossip blog post thing had ruined the anonymity of the new Exo. Someone, somewhere knew each of them at least in passing and had pieced together a lot of pictures into a huge collage far faster than he’d expected.Now, what before had been the occasional ‘good luck Kris’ from his “fans” had turned into crowds of screaming girls everywhere. The others didn’t look any better either. It seemed that their names were far more well known now and there was nothing they could do about it.

“Okay seriously who told people about the rest of us? I can’t take pictures of anything now without people making faces at me. How am I supposed to be a photography major like this?” Sehun whined while beginning to stretch alongside Yifan.

“Minseok told that Chen guy. It’s all his fault.” Luhan said cheerfully while setting up their music system, an ipod hooked to portable speakers. That comment immediately provoked glares from all the new members in Minseok’s direction. The oldest looked down with a blush and refused to meet their eyes.Maybe Luhan was right about Minseok’s crush because Minseok never blushed over anybody. Hmm…

“Anyway...we need to start practicing the routine that Luhan has worked out for the most part. The sooner we figure out what our big problems are, the sooner we can work them out and add vocals and other stuff. After we’ve gotten some work done then we can all glare at Minseok for betraying us to the gossips of the school.”  And if there was a slight edge to Yifan’s voice well could anyone blame him? Those girls were loud and they wouldn’t be if Minseok hadn’t said anything.

The members lined up behind Luhan in front of the mirrors so they could follow the moves and Luhan could lead them through it. Quickly it became clear that Sehun and Jongin were the best dancers among them. Easily surpassing Yifan, Luhan, and Xiumin even with their years of experience. It just came very naturally to them.

“Right, so Jongin and Sehun are now in charge of putting together the rest of the dance. I’ve shown you all I’ve got and you two are better at dancing. I’m more of the vocals anyway. So I’ll start working on that. Yifan, we need a rap so that’s on you.” Luhan said between chugs of water. They’d finally called a break after working on all the moves for over an hour nonstop.

They’d learned the moves and then gone through them. Over and over, trying to learn how to hit the beats better and how to be more fluid. How to get rid of the tension that came with uncertainty. They’d each had different levels of success. Frankly Yifan was glad for the change of focus of their practice. He didn’t want to dance another second unless he absolutely had to.

“Chanyeol, Tao, you’ll be helping me with the rap. It’s where we come in. So let’s get to it.” He said and the two in question nodded their ascents. The group broke off into smaller groups to begin working out their individual bits.

Screaming girls aside, this was turning out to be fun. Especially because everyone had something to contribute.

~~

After another two hours of practice, that frankly made Yifan want to give up his position as leader of Exo, they called it quits. It was late enough for them to go for dinner and soon enough they were packed up and ready to go. A quick peek out the door revealed that their fangirls had taken off and the relief was tangible.

“I don’t care what we eat, I just want rice. All the rice.” Chanyeol muttered quietly. He kept looking around as inconspicuously as was possible for a guy as tall a him.

“Relax, the girls are gone. Nothing to worry about and we’ll find a place that has rice. All places have rice.” Baekhyun’s quick reassurance set Chanyeol at ease and they continued on their way.

Yifan wasn’t the only one to notice the small interaction and based on the knowing looks going around, well there could only be so many things on the others’ minds. Really though, were Chanyeol and Baekhyun a thing? They’d auditioned together and were always a step behind the other regardless of who was leading. They were as attached to each other as was possible for two people with different majors.

Yifan slowed his pace down so that he ended up beside Luhan, who was bringing up the end of their group, and gave him a look that could only mean one thing. What was going on?

“Chanyeol and Baekhyun don’t even know they’re basically dating each other. It’s plain as day. Anyway they aren’t the ones that you should be paying attention to. Please direct your eyes to Do Kyungsoo and Kim Jongin. There is definitely something going on between those two and it’s way more tense between them. They’re playing with fire while ChanBaek over there is just flirting like high schoolers.”

Yifan did as told and turned his eyes to the pair. It was immediately obvious what Luhan meant: tension? Most definitely. Jongin would look at Kyungsoo with dark eyes and a smirk that had Yifan reconsidering his own taste. Kyungsoo would just smile back hesitantly as if the obvious move on Jongin’s part wasn’t exactly what it seemed. Luhan was right, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were tame by far.

“How did I not notice any of this until now?” He whispered and Luhan’s look made him look down in shame. It was no secret that Luhan thought he was helplessly lost all the time.

“Do I have to say it aloud? I don’t think so. Oh look there’s that one place with the noodles we really like. Let’s go there. The guys will like it. “ Then louder so the others could hear Luhan continued. “Guys lets go there! The noodles are to die for.”

~~

Inside the restaurant the couples were if anything even more obvious. Baekhyun was constantly fussing over Chanyeol and then catching himself and pretending he hadn’t been doing it. Only to do it again five seconds later. Kyungsoo was smiling at Jongin and nodding along to whatever over the top things the other was obviously trying to win him over with. He wasn’t really catching on to the hints the younger was leaving left and right.

Then there was Tao and Sehun, who were too busy looking at things on Tao’s phone and then taking selcas. They were comfortable with each other but not in the way the others were. It reminded Yifan of how he was with Minseok and Luhan, it was a closeness that came with years worth of friendship. Plus, Luhan was clearly into Sehun and the younger one by no means minded. Yifan hadn’t forgotten about their little moment after Sehun’s audition.

His two best friends were busying having a stare off when Yifan finally turned his attention to them. It was by far not the first time but for once it looked like it was going to end in a stalemate. Luhan usually won but Minseok was not giving up this time. There was a look in his eyes that was pure determination. After a few more seconds Luhan looked away and then looked up at Yifan with his signature devious smile.

“Fanfan, guess what. Guess who is in the building? A table or two away from us.”

“Who?” He asked and the look of annoyance on Minseok’s face brought Yifan to a certain conclusion just as--

“Chen-ssi!” Luhan said overly loud and three boys turned in their direction. Minseok looked down at the table with a slight blush coloring his cheeks and one of the boys from the other table got extremely excited once he realized who was at the table that had called his name.

Ahh so that was the boy that set Minseok blushing like a school girl. Yifan could definitely say that he approved of Minseok’s choice. His eyes slid over the other two sitting beside “Chen-ssi” and then he stopped dead because there was no way in hell that the boy sitting there was real. His black hair contrasted so completely with his porcelain skin. The elegant features of his face and those eyes...eyes that even from where Yifan was sitting had him frozen to the spot and completely unable to look away. They were dark and inviting and Yifan was far too interested in a guy he didn’t even know the name of.

Way too interested in a guy who wasn’t even sitting at his own table. Yifan bit his lip as he turned his attention back to his own table. Luhan had gained everyone’s attention it seemed: Baekhyun had stopped his fussing over Chanyeol, the selca takers had stopped, and the Jongin/Kyungsoo duo weren’t being overly tense. They were all so focused on what Luhan had just done.

“Oh Chen-ssi! You and your friends should join us for dinner! I’m sure we can add three more chairs. Please do!” Luhan called out and Minseok looked up to give his friend a death glare. Yifan thanked any and all deities for the fact that glares weren’t actually fatal because otherwise Luhan would be six feet under.

“I don’t think you should keep this up.” Yifan muttered just as Luhan jumped out of his seat. The honey blonde looked down at him with a seemingly innocent expression before the devious one returned. Too late for that then. Oh well…

Luhan went to the table with the other three boys to convince them to sit with them. For what real purpose Yifan wasn’t sure of but based on his fellow group members expressions none of them were really too happy with it. Personally though, Yifan wouldn’t mind if the really attractive one he’d noticed came over. He could stare at him covertly some more.

“I’m never telling him anything again. Ever. He can pout as much as he wants but he is not getting anything from me ever again.” Minseok muttered and reached for his drink to give himself something to do.

“So that guy is responsible for ruining my photography grade? Hmm...Tao how do you feel about wushuing his for me?” Sehun turned to his best friend with a hopeful expression and the blonde beside him nodded.

“I can do that but only if someone can tell me the tall one’s name. That outfit is too questionable to be worn at all and in public? No…” Tao had the most disgusted look on his face that Yifan had ever seen and in the short time he’d known him he’d seen Tao make some faces. Especially when Yifan had shown up in a “questionable” outfit for their first group meeting before beginning practices.

“We don’t even know them. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Kyungsoo murmured and Yifan  again had to thank any and all deities for the fact there was at least one among them who was reasonable.

“But Kyungsoo it is their fault we can’t go anywhere now.” Jongin helpfully pointed out and then even Kyungsoo looked weary of the three talking with Luhan. Thanks Jongin. Much appreciated. Yifan shook his head and resisted the urge to bang his head on the table. Luhan came back just then with the other three in tow. At least the two that weren’t “Chen-ssi” looked reluctant.

“They agreed to eat with us! Guys meet our exclusive reporter Kim Jongdae aka Chen-ssi and his two best friends Zhang Yixing and Kim Junmyeon. Yixing here has a class with Minseok. Junmyeon is just here to keep the peace I was told. I’d introduce you to my fellow members but I’m sure Jongdae has showed them all to you.” Luhan then turned away from them to ask for three more chairs so the newcomers could join them.

Junmyeon ended up between Luhan and Yifan. It bothered Yifan that there wasn’t really a subtle way to look the other over now. Not when he was right beside him but in other news, he knew his name now! Kim Junmyeon. He liked it. Yes he did. The other two ended up between Luhan and Minseok and that was definitely intentional and smart. A palpable tension had arisen among them all and Yifan wasn’t going to let them stay this way.

“So...fancy meeting you here.” He told the three newcomers all the while smiling goofily at Junmyeon. The shorter boy, he was so small in comparison to Yifan, smiled handsomely at Yifan and seemed to be trying not to laugh.  

“I do so apologize for Jongdae accepting Luhan’s invitation. I didn’t want to interrupt your dinner but some people insisted.” Ohh...Junmyeon’s voice was crystal clear and smooth. Yifan was in love. Wait...what? Yifan could feel the blush coming on and he looked down.

“It’s fine. I’m sure Luhan wouldn’t have stopped until you’d agreed. He’s very persistent.” So what if he was still looking at the table? He was trying to catch his cool. He was way too flustered for such a simple conversation and Yifan’s reputation made him seem like the cold guy that no one could get too close to. He had to maintain that rep.

“I should’ve tried harder to convince him not to accept though. I’m sure you and the rest of the members just wanted a nice dinner. You’re more than likely already rehearsing for the Faceoff anyway and you’re fangirls are really really loud.” He was so caring even when it wasn’t his concern. Another cute thing about him. How did he know about the fangirls though?

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I didn’t think you would gain a mass following of loud college girls. I mean it's too late now but I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to make things difficult on you guys.” Jongdae added and the group slowly nodded their acceptance.

“Could you maybe tell them to back off? You started this.” Sehun said and another round of nods followed. Jongdae frowned and shrugged his shoulders in a move that could only mean uncertainty.

“I could try but I don’t know how successful I’ll be. Here let me try. I’ll send out a tweet.” Jongdae pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and quickly began typing on his phone. A few seconds later he set his phone down on the table. “There. Hopefully that helps you all out.”

After that everyone seemed to settle down and relax. It left Yifan with the opportunity to subtlety look at Junmyeon which was great because like Yifan said before Junmyeon was really cute.

~~

Chen-ssi @ChenTertaining

Lovely Exo-L, your support is definitely important to Exo but please everyone give them some space. Please and thank you. Love Chen-ssi and Exo.

Chen-ssi @ChenTertaining

Also, yes I am with Exo right now. I’d take a picture but they’re looking too tired. Maybe next time!