“I don’t know, Sehun. Do you really think this is such a good idea?”

Zitao ducked around the corner of the building, completely unfamiliar with the busy city setting around him. His best friend from high school, Sehun, was standing right next to him, glancing around the corner they had just slipped around, clearly watching to see if they were being followed. When it seemed like they had slipped away from their group successfully, Sehun turned back to his friend and future roommate, a mischievous smirk plastered across his face. In Zitao’s mind, he noted to himself that this would not be the only part of Sehun remotely plastered tonight, if his gut feeling was right.

“Oh, quit being such a pansy. If you want to go back to the lovely little orientation group and spend a quaint, boring night in that dorm room, be my guest. But I’m going to find something actually interesting and fun to do.” Sehun then stepped around Zitao and all but strutted away from the direction they had come from.

Zitao hesitated. He always did in situations like this, when Sehun attempted to drag him into something that could potentially get them into trouble but would ultimately probably prove to be exciting and worthwhile. In high school, Zitao had always taken the safe route and had done what he was supposed to, letting Sehun have all the fun while at the same time rarely getting in trouble; somehow, Sehun had a knack for talking himself out of sticky situations.

But they had graduated high school almost two months ago now, and this was orientation, the step just before moving into the dorm and starting classes and becoming a part of a university. Zitao was more than excited about simply that part, but Sehun had set his sights on another aspect of this time in their lives; it seemed he was planning to become a part of Greek life and join a fraternity. When he’d first mentioned it, Zitao had assumed he’d meant some business fraternity or the like, something academic. But when he had looked into the ones Sehun started naming off (though he’d barely been able to remember them with all the different Greek letters overlapping in their names and whatnot), he had found that they were all social fraternities. And since they were now attending an out-of-state university that was considered by all to be a “party school”, he knew that these fraternities must be the same way, only intensified.

And now, Sehun was trying to drag him to meet the rush chairs of one such fraternity, Phi something or other, and supposedly there would be alcohol and drugs and maybe girls and probably trouble since they weren’t really supposed to leave the orientation group during the little excursion downtown. And if they had still been in high school, Zitao would have hesitated for a moment before turning away from his friend and returning to the group, would have gone back to the dorm among the other obedient students and gone to bed early and gotten a lot of sleep that he would be thankful for when registering for classes the next day.

But he wasn’t in high school anymore. And college was supposed to be a time for defining yourself.

Turning, he jogged a little to catch up to Sehun before falling into step beside him as his friend pulled out his phone to make a certain call to the members of a certain fraternity.

~

Junmyeon rubbed his temples, shutting his eyelids at the same time. He was trying his best to forget that he had a test in two days that he needed to study for since he really needed to make a good grade in this summer session class, and the fact that Jongin was really supposed to handle rush himself wasn’t helping the situation. But, for whatever reason, the rush chair had asked him to come greet these two particular potential rushees, since they were from out of state and apparently had impeccable GPAs and test scores.

“If we get them, it’ll help our overall GPA, you know?” Jongin had said, making sure that the academics chair, Jin, was near enough to hear the conversation perfectly. “They both have solid 4.0s and received full scholarships, and, funny enough, they already know each other.”

Junmyeon had sighed then and retorted, “What’s important is if they can make it through pledgeship and keep their grades that impeccable.”

Jin had leaned over at that point, pulling himself away from his textbook for just a moment, to throw in, “Well, look at it this way: our composite GPA for the fraternity could use a little help.”

Junmyeon had been unable to argue the point any further and had conceded, agreeing to meet the two incoming freshmen when they came to get the tour of the house and meet some of the brothers. Normally, he wouldn’t introduce himself to a rushee until an actual rush party right before the semester started, but he was having to make a special exception for Jongin.

However, it was clear from the blasting music and the raucous laghter that this was turning into much more than just a house tour and some quick hellos. Most of the brothers who lived in the house – minus Jin, who was probably at the library studying – were visible in one of the main rooms downstairs, drinks in hand, and two simultaneous games of beer pong were being held, one on each of the tables painted up with the fraternity’s colors, cobalt blue and silver. A couple of girls, mostly those who had their eyes on the title of sweetheart for the next year, were hanging around, drinking punch that Hoseok, the event chair, had apparently whipped up from god knew what. Junmyeon just knew that he wouldn’t be drinking any of it if he wanted to be able to do any studying the next day.

Junmyeon leaned forward on one of the numerous couches in the downstairs common area, resting his elbows against his knees, as the second rush chair, Namjoon, walked over, hands in pockets, and plopped himself down on the couch as well.

“You don’t seem too pleased about all of this,” the sophomore almost whispered, which was nearly impossibly considering the volume of the music.

Junmyeon caught his glance out of the side of his eye and neatly replied, “Honestly, being president has it’s perks. However, this is not one of them.” Leaning back again, giving up on trying to make himself seem interested in the now-party’s goings-on, he added, “And when exactly did this turn into a full-blown party, anyway? Jongin only mentioned a house tour and casual introductions.”

Namjoon ran a hand through his bleached hair and let out a puff of breath, almost like a sigh. “I think Hoseok got a hold of him, and since everyone was gone last weekend, with half of them at that music festival, well…” At that point, he just sort of waved his hand in the general direction of all of their brothers, gesturing to the outcome. “No one ever really plans a party around here anyway, right?”

“Yeah,” Junmyeon mumbled. “They just kind of happen, especially during this time of year.” Thinking back to a year earlier, he glanced over at Namjoon and added, “You know, this is sort of how that party during your orientation happened.” When the blonde boy gestured for him to go on, the fraternity president continued. “You have to know, first of all, that Hoseok was the main rush chair, and if you think he’s bad about last minute things now, you should have seen him then. He got Kyungsoo, who was the second rush chair like you, to talk to all the potential rushees, so that’s why you only talked to him before you got here.” Junmyeon let out a chuckle then as he remembered something from the memory. “Hoseok didn’t even know your name until you arrived and started introducing yourself to the other brothers. He kept trying to ask Kyungsoo, but he was too busy showing you the rest of the house to notice Hoseok floundering.” His face grew serious then as his gaze dropped to the floor, and he muttered, almost to himself, “Kyungsoo really should have been first rush chair. He had better qualities for it.” Shaking his head, he finished, “But that’s in the past. They are definitely in their correct positions now. As last minute as he is, Hoseok makes a killer punch that’ll leave you stumbling and slurring the rest of the night. But you know that from your initiation, don’t you?” A grin, almost a smirk, then, as Junmyeon looked at Namjoon again.

The sophomore rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and let out a nervous laugh. “Ah, yeah, that was, um… Honestly, I can’t tell you how it was because I can’t remember any of it after we were initiated. Even with the, ah, lovely pictures Yoongi managed to get of me throwing up.”

Junmyeon, still grinning, bumped his shoulder gently against Namjoon’s in a brotherly gesture and said, “Don’t worry about it. That’s how initiation is for everyone. No one remembers their own, and you really get to enjoy everyone else’s after yours.”

~

“Jongin, weren’t you supposed to go pick them up or whatever?”

Kyungsoo stood in the back hallway, hands on his hips, while facing the rush chair for the fraternity. The two of them were pretty close, as far as fraternity brothers go, but Kyungsoo always got that awful flipping sensation in his stomach every time he and Jongin were in close quarters, especially when they were alone, much like the current moment.

“Well, I thought it would be important for me to be here to greet them when they get here, you know?” the blonde replied, that stupid smirking grin slipping onto his face, just as it always did when he was trying to convince someone that his plan of action was the right thing. And as much as it made Kyungsoo’s head spin every time he saw, he also knew exactly what the younger was attempting.

“Here’s the one little flaw in your plan, okay? They do not know anyone in this fraternity, least of all Jimin. You are the only person they’ve talked to since getting in contact and showing interest, but you sent someone whom they’ve never even spoken to. Jimin doesn’t even have the slightest clue as to what they look like!” Kyungsoo released a huff of irritation, his eyes narrowing as he glowered at Jongin and just how frustrating this beautiful person could be.

Jongin ran both his hands through his hair nervously, beginning to see what Kyungsoo was talking about. “You’re right, I – I should have gone to get them. I should – I should – Kyungsoo, what should I do?”

The older sighed then, letting his arms drop to his sides and his body slump a little bit. Looking back up, he gently grabbed Jongin’s arms – the contact alone sent a small shock through his nervous system – and calmly replied, “Look, Jimin is already on his way downtown to pick them up. The best you can do at this point is to greet them the moment they get here. Don’t make up any excuses for why you couldn’t come get them yourself; don’t even bring up that line of conversation at all. Just introduce them to some brothers, offer them a drink, show them around the house, allow them to be social. Keep everything casual. This isn’t a real rush party and they aren’t really rushees yet, so there’s no point in stressing this much over it. Okay?”

Without a word of warning, Jongin threw his arms around Kyungsoo’s neck and pulled him into a sudden, tight hug. “Thank you so much, ‘Soo,” he breathed, his breath hot against Kyungsoo’s ear and neck. The older cleared his throat a little, merely nodding in response since it was impossible for him to form comprehensible words at that moment.

It wasn’t until after Jongin had pulled away, patted him on the shoulder, smirked, and turned and headed back into the main entry room that Kyungsoo was able to function again, and even at that, it was far from functioning normally. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, so he wrung them out endlessly as he took one step, then two, back towards the main room. His throat was dry, so he hesitated, knowing he wouldn’t be able to make conversation with anyone and certainly would be unable to explain his lack of vocalization.

As he stopped to gather himself, he heard Jongin’s normal, outgoing voice somehow boom, though smoothly, above the thump of the music pouring of the speakers.

“Ah, Sehun, Zitao! So glad you both could make it. Welcome to Phi Sigma Chi!”

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Here's a new fic for you, based on what it would be like if the boys of EXO and BTS were in a fraternity! What do you think so far? And don't worry if your bias or otp hasn't appeared yet; I'll be using all of the boys (past and present) of both groups so there will be something for everyone! And if you really liked it, please feel free to leave a comment below as those are what keep me motivated to write more! Also if you have any questions about terminology I use (I'm not sure how widely-known some terms are) you can comment below or send me a message and I'll answer ASAP! xoxo