Kyungsoo had lived through a lot of stuff. He'd lived through that much that he was pretty sure there was nothing that could surprise him. He'd lived through his parents’ murder. His aunt and uncle up and moving without telling him - resulting in him being on the streets - and a hell of a lot more.

But his life had its upsides. One of which being his best friend - Baekhyun. Who had found him one night and taken him in. They’d only been thirteen and fourteen respectively, but it had been the start of something special. Especially when Kyungsoo had found out that Baekhyun was like him. Special.

But still, he figured he'd seen it all by the age of nineteen. At least, that was until he met the whirlwind that was Kim Jongin, and witnessed the drama that came with him.

It was a cold, rainy day when they met. Kyungsoo laughed as Baekhyun drew the light from the sky and plunged them into darkness. He looked around before relenting to close his eyes and let his instincts take over. A smirk fell about his lips as he heard the earth hum beneath his feet, and before Baekhyun could so much as send a glow of light at Kyungsoo, the earth began to move and Baekhyun was gripped tightly by several tree branches.

"Never underestimate me, Byun" Kyungsoo purred into his best friend's ear as Chanyeol game bounding over, a handful of flames lighting his way.

"Baek, the others are complaining that they can't see. Yixing nearly drained Luhan" he panted as though he'd ran to them. Which he probably had.

The ten of them - Kyungsoo and his fellow school mates were in the back forest of the school. Where there were no Normals.

This was a special school. For people specifically like Kyungsoo. People with powers. Though there were scarcely any left in the world. Only a few thousand as far as Kyungsoo could tell.

Exo school for Specials was a place that the Specials of both Korea and China could go to perfect their abilities, no matter their age. Besides, there was more to it than powers. As soon as a Special hit their twenty-fifth birthday, they ceased to age, and were a full special.

The school had ten students so far;

Kyungsoo, with the ability to control the Earth. This was perhaps one of the most powerful things a Special could have. The Earth essentially made up everything in existence, and Kyungsoo could manipulate that as well he wanted.

Then came Baekhyun, who could control light. He could pull light away, he could bring it forth. Light was his and he used it knowingly. He had been practicing for far longer than Kyungsoo, but Kyungsoo was a fast learner.

Chanyeol, whose ability was fire, was a very unusual Special. He could not only take full control of the element, but he was also a phoenix. This meant that he could be taken over by the element, until his body was overtaken with flames and he could lift into the air. Chanyeol loved to show off with it, and was disciplined a fair amount by the headmaster.

Yixing was probably the most deadly of Specials at the school. Though he had the ability to heal, it also meant that he could do the opposite. Whilst he could bring life back to anything, he could also take it away.

Junmyeon, who was fairly close to Kyungsoo, was able to control water. He could even pull it from the air.

Minseok was rather similar to Junmyeon with his ability. He had control of freezing. But unlike Junmyeon, this meant he could manipulate any liquid structure into a solid, or revert a solid to a liquid.

Then was Jongdae, who had control of lightening, and electricity. He was able to take a spark of static and spin it into a fully-fledged electrical storm.

Luhan, one of the eldest in the group with Minseok and Kris, was telekinetic. He was the only one with the ability left as far as he knew, and he was brilliant at it. With his skill at moving anything with just a demanding thought.

Kris, too, was unique. Although the ability to fly wasn't overly rare in the Special world, he had a little something extra. He was what was known as a Dragon Special. An old pure blood special with undeniable strength and shapeshifting control into any creature.

Finally was Tao. He could control time. He could stop it, see through it, do many things with it. But he hadn't yet perfected his skills, having only been with the school for a short time.

They had five teachers at Exo. Lee Jinki, whom they knew as Onew; the headmaster of the school.

Choi Minho, defence and combat teacher. Kim Jonghyun, Power control teacher. Kim Kibum, Mind teacher. And Lee Taemin, Special history teacher.

All in all Exo was a place that bonded them.

But there were always a few surprises waiting for them at the school.

"I can believe you nearly ing drained me. Some best friend you are" Luhan huffed as they made their way to their defence class.

Yixing looked back sheepishly at him, "it wasn't my fault. I couldn't see! Blame Baekhyun!"

"Oh yeah! Blame the light guy! Rude" Baekhyun grumbled as the ten of them filed into the large hall, only to stop dead at the sight of two boys stood beside their tall teacher.

"Guys, we have two new students joining us" Minho announced, "say hello to Kim Jongin, and Oh Sehun. Guys, say hello and introduce your powers"

The boy with the pale stony face stepped forward first, "Hi. I'm Oh Sehun" he smiled shyly, "I control Air..."

"So you’re an elemental Special like me, Soo and Myeon, then?" Chanyeol smiled in approval. "Nice. You'll be in our extra lessons with Onew"

Sehun hummed before taking a step back, allowing the other boy to step forward.

This boy was dark skinned and tired looking. A certain sadness about him mixed with innocence. He let his eyes rake over his audience before they locked with Kyungsoo's.

Kyungsoo had to suppress a shudder. There was something weird about this boy.

"I'm Kim Jongin" he said in a surprisingly deep voice, an odd lilt to his voice, "I can teleport. I can rip through the fabric of the universe and step through like it's nothing, then repair the tear after" he shrugged, "I run pretty fast too, I've been told" he smiled jokingly, making the group of boys laugh.

"Alright," Minho said, "I've got a few tests that need grading, so Kyungsoo, Luhan, come here. The rest of you I'll split into two teams and you'll fight. If you get pinned for five, you're out. Team with the most boys left standing when I get back wins. So, Junmyeon, Yixing, Jongdae and Minseok against Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kris and Tao. And remember: power control! Go!" He grinned as the eight of them moved to the other end of the room and began.

Luhan groaned, "Sir! You know I love group fights! I'm ing awesome at it!"

"Language, Luhan" Minho rolled his eyes, "You and Kyungsoo'll be catching Sehun and Jongin up of basic defence. Pair up, then sit and watch the fight. Explain the techniques then have a go at one on one, yeah?"

Kyungsoo nodded as Luhan sulked, "yes, sir"

With that, Minho left them alone.

"He didn't even introduce them..." Kyungsoo heard Sehun whisper to Jongin, "I'm not sure about this place, Nini... What if we go home and ju-"

"We don't have a home, Sehun. So stop. We're damn lucky we ended up here and not someplace else. So deal with it, Okay?" Jongin cut him off, making Sehun frown.

Kyungsoo felt sorry for the tall blonde boy, who looked as though he wanted to cry.

“Jongin,” Sehun said, his voice cautious, “We don’t know that they’ve ki-”

“If you don’t stop right now, I’ll take you back and ing leave you there” Jongin snapped, his eyes flashing a deep blue with anger, “I said, drop it!”

Luhan tutted, “If you boys are finished with your little lover’s spat, we have a fight to watch” he said boredly, walking over and taking Sehun by the hand before pulling him to the edge of the hall where they sat.

Kyungsoo watched as Luhan began to point things out and explain different things about the fight to Sehun. He also noticed that the elder was pointing out who was who and what their powers were.

He let out a soft sigh before moving to stand beside Jongin, “We better move to the side,” he said, “Otherwise we’ll end up getting hit”

“Wouldn’t that be a shame” Jongin drawled, but followed Kyungsoo to the side nonetheless.

They sat down on the opposite side of the room to where Luhan had dragged Sehun and began to watch the fight.

Jongin looked on in wonder as Chanyeol sent a blast of fire towards Yixing, only to have Minseok jump in the way and freeze it. Jongdae smirked slightly before the static electricity from the air and sending the force of it towards the frozen flames, effectively shattering them and sending the frozen sparks at their opponents.

In retaliation, Baekhyun grinned mischievously, before waving his fingers in Jongdae’s direction. Jongdae’s face paled, as he threw his hands out in front of him and walked blindly forward.

Yixing , grabbed him and pulled him back, ing him in Junmyeon’s direction. Junmyeon caught him before sending a blast of water at Baekhyun, knocking him to the floor and cutting off his hold on Jongdae.

Jongdae blinked before turning to Baekhyun and sending a flash of lightening his way, keeping him on the floor until five seconds had gone by and he was forced to leave the fight and sit beside Luhan, where he was properly introduced to Sehun. Though he didn’t look too happy about being the first one out.

The other three on his team didn’t seem too thrilled either. Tao let out a sigh and before anyone knew it, time was slowing down and everything apart from Tao and those not taking part in the fight was going in slow motion. He moved lazily towards Jongdae who was summoning the static energy from the room, and slammed a hand into his chest, knocking the air out of him and sending him to the ground before time was moving at normal speed again.

“Whoa” Jongin gasped, making Kyungsoo smirk, if only the younger could see what he was capable of. Unfortunately, Tao didn’t have a full grasp of his powers yet, so although he managed to pin Jongdae until he was out, he was too drained of anything to summon up the strength to slow time again, setting him back by a landslide.

Yixing took this in stride, lifting his hand in Tao’s direction until the younger crumpled to the floor, all of the colour leaving him. Yixing dropped his hand after a moment, but he knew that Tao wouldn’t be able to get up. So after five seconds, he too was forced to the side with Jongdae and Baekhyun, who were laughing at the pout on Tao’s face.

“It’ll get more violent soon, no doubt” Kyungsoo said quietly.

Jongin turned his head to look at him, “Do they not like each other or something?”

“What?” Kyungsoo snorted out a laugh, “Of course they do. We’re all really good friends. Junmyeon – the water one – and Kris – guy with the eyes that are currently turning white – are like best friends. It’s just that we know we’re all tough, so we never go easy on each other. Plus it’s better that way, because it means you learn, and it means you’ll be able to hold yourself in a real fight if you ever need to”

Jongin frowned, “So there’s never any hard feelings?”

“Now, I didn’t say that” Kyungsoo grinned, “You should see some of the pranks they pull to get back at each other. No doubt Jongdae will be getting Tao at some point. Everyone knows that he could pick anyone to pin, but he went for Dae, so… well, you’ll catch up at some point” he shrugged, “anyway, watch the fight. I’d explain the moves, but it’ll probably be better to watch and pick them up than my ty explanations. I’ll test you on them when we go one on one” he smirked.

Jongin bit back a smile as he turned back to watch the fight again.

On one side, Kris and Chanyeol stood tall, eyes narrowed as they watched their three smaller components. Minseok, Junmyeon and Yixing were stood coolly, shoulders squared and feet apart, ready to go at any moment.

It was Chanyeol who ended up making the first move, sending a series of small flames towards the smaller three. Junmyeon had obviously seen it coming as he moved in front of the other two and lifted his arms. As he did, a wall of water stood tall in front of them, Minseok pressed a finger to it lightly and it turned to ice before their eyes, fizzling out Chanyeol’s flames.

Chanyeol could have melted it, had he wanted to, but he simply turned to look at Kris who smirked and opened his mouth wide. A shrill, high pitched screech came out, shattering the wall of ice, and causing the three smaller boys to cover their ears.

The guys watching had to do so also, though Chanyeol only flinched, he’d been in enough fights with Kris to know that noise by now. He’d almost gotten used to it. Almost…

Yixing glared up at the taller men before flicking his wrist in Kris’s direction, making the boy keel over onto his knees clutching his chest. Unfortunately for Yixing, he was so focused on bringing down Kris that he didn’t noticed the wild blue flame that was headed his way. It hit him full on the side of the face, making his scream in pain before lifting his hand to his own face and healing it.

“ing hell” he yelled towards Chanyeol, “was that really necessary?”

Chanyeol laughed, “You were killing my only ally” he shrugged, “Had to do something”

“” Yixing rolled his eyes, though he was grinning.

“Enough of that” Junmyeon said, “Say steam, Yeol”

Chanyeol frowned, “What?” he asked, and before he knew it, water was pouring down on him, causing him to steam up. The force of the water had him buckling to the floor and five seconds later, he was joining the boys at the side of the room.

“One verses three,” Jongin said, “That hardly seems fair”

“Wait for it” was all Kyungsoo replied.

Kris was watching the three boys with soft eyes, that were brown again, it was only as they began to circle him that the began to mist over and turn pure white.

“Oh ” Minseok groaned, “Myeon, do it”

Junmyeon lifted his arms and began to water from the air around them. He sent it whirling around Kris, up and around until the white-eyed man was cocooned in water. Minseok raised his arms, freezing the entirety of it, so that Kris was trapped in the ice.

It was silent for a moment, then the ice gave a shudder. And then another, and then it broke open and a pair of great white wings opened wide. Stood before them, was a dragon.

They’d seen him change into the magical being once or twice before, and it was extraordinary.

Yixing took the chance to move into the corner readying himself, whilst Junmyeon and Minseok looked on, awestruck, also not noticing that Minho had creeped back into the room to watch the final minutes.

Jongin and Sehun, too, were captivated by Kris, wondering what would happen next. The dragon somehow smirked, before flapping his wings and sending the two awestruck Specials flying backwards and onto the ground, where both of them stayed, too shocked to get up, effectively getting them out of the fight.

Kris shifted back to himself, a grin etched on his lips, obviously forgetting about Yixing, and thinking that he won.

It was then, that Yixing pounced, moving forward and pressing against Kris’s back, holding a hand on either side of Kris’s head, and smirking as Kris let out a pained cry and crippled to the floor, his hands replacing Yixing’s as the healer stepped back.

Five seconds went by and Minho’s soft clapping rang throughout the silent room as Yixing waved a hand at Kris as the boy looked at ease once more.

“Well done, Yixing. That was a good win. Kris, you were sloppy. Never forget where you are, and how many people you are up against. That was a rookie mistake. Which brings me to Minseok and Junmyeon. You two are better than that. You’ve seen him shift before, but out in the real world, you will come across things that you’ve never even dreamt of. You don’t stand and gawp. You fight and win. You two would have been killed” said the teacher, shaking his head disappointedly, “Who was out first, and how?”

Baekhyun slowly lifted his hand, his shame obvious, “Me, sir” he said, “Jongdae had me pinned with static”

“Well, at least you were out in a dignified way, unlike some” Minho shot another look at Minseok and Junmyeon, “But now that’s out of the way, I’ll be pairing you up, so you can go one to one. I want you to keep an eye on each other’s technique and help each other improve. Luhan, pair off with Sehun, teach him how to move things to his advantage using the air. Kyungsoo, work with Jongin. I know your powers aren’t matched, but you’re good at disorientating people, which Jongin will be able to use to his advantage, so help him work on that.

 “As for the rest of you, I’m matching you on skill for now, so. Baekhyun and Jongdae, go. Junmyeon and Minseok. Tao and Chanyeol. Kris and Yixing. Off you pop, and don’t get hurt” Minho said, “I’ll be back in an hour to check on you. No messing about, I have eyes and ears everywhere. I trust you’ll help the newbies settle in”

They all split off into their respective pairs and began.

“So, have you ever fought before?” Kyungsoo asked, he took a glance over to Luhan, and something told him that Sehun most definitely had not.

Jongin smiled, “Try me and find out”

“Be careful. Cockiness won’t get your anywhere in this” Kyungsoo smiled back, “Trust me”

Jongin hummed, “If you say so”

Kyungsoo chuckled softly, if Jongin wanted to think he knew best, then Jongin could, “Then let’s go”

Jongin laughed before rubbing his hands together, though the laugh wasn’t an amused one, it was rather bitter, as though he knew what the outcome would be for Kyungsoo. Oh, if only he knew. One minute he was in front of the shorter boy, and the next he was stood behind him, pressed against Kyungsoo’s back with one hand curled around the elder’s stomach and the other around his chest, “Let’s” he whispered into Kyungsoo’s ear.

Kyungsoo hummed, impressive, but not nearly enough, he thought. He took a look around him, taking in what he could use. They were in a stone built hall, that he knew by heart, and the others knew that it was stupid to pick a fight with Kyungsoo here. Or anywhere really, but here. They were surrounded by the earth. All the minerals, everything that the boy needed.

Jongin’s hands remained in place, not letting Kyungsoo go as they stood there, almost too still. Kyungsoo waited. Jongin had made a rookie mistake anyhow, he’d shown Kyungsoo what he could do right off the bat.

“Are you ready to play with the big boys, Jongin?” Kyungsoo asked, his voice soft, barely a whisper.

Jongin hummed in his ear, “Show me what you’ve got”

That was all it took for Kyungsoo to spin out of Jongin’s arms and attack. Jongin was good in hand to hand combat, Kyungsoo would give him that, but he was sloppy, he thought to highly of himself, despite not knowing what would come next, and Kyungsoo knew that that would be his downfall.

They fought lazily, Kyungsoo wasn’t one to give away his strength from the get go, so really he was only humouring the other boy.

It was after about another five minutes that Kyungsoo began to get bored, and decided to just end it sooner rather than later.

Jongin obviously sensed this, because it was just after Kyungsoo blocked another strike that he disappeared, making Kyungsoo smirk.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around him, focusing in on what wasn’t quite there, then his hand flew up and the next thing he knew, his hand was clasped around Jongin’s throat, suspending the younger a few inches off the ground as the stones in the walls began to crumbled and roll over towards him. They fused together as they did, and then they were climbing up Jongin’s body as Kyungsoo let go of his neck, smirking at the utter shock that was taking over Jongin’s tanned face. Kyungsoo flicked his wrist lazily, causing the stones to clamp down around Jongin’s wrists and ankles and pull him down to the floor, pinning him there.

“Why can’t I teleport?!” Jongin huffed angrily, struggling against his confines.

Kyungsoo knelt down beside him, leaning over Jongin’s body as he did, pressing  his face close to Jongin’s, enjoying the way the other boy grew more and more annoyed, “You can’t fight the Earth, darling” he taunted, “You have a lot to learn”

“You’re trying to tell me you’re the most powerful Special here, then?” Jongin jeered, obviously not believing it.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and stood back up, “Not nearly” he scoffed, “The most dangerous person here is Yixing, there’s no doubting that. See, Jongin, that’s the thing. You can’t go around thinking you know better. Thinking you’re the strongest person out here. Because it’s like that, that’ll get you killed”

“And you’d know a lot about getting killed would you?” Jongin sneered, still struggling against the rock.

Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at the pathetic mess he’d created, “I know a damn sight more than you’d think” he hissed before his hand balled into a fist and the rocks holding Jongin exploded before skittering back to the wall from whence they came, “Don’t underestimate me, kid. It’ll be the last thing you do”

“What happened to everyone being friends here” Jongin huffed, getting to his feet again and rubbing his sore wrists.

Kyungsoo looked him over before meeting his eyes, “Things can change very easily if people don’t get off their high horses”

“Duly noted” Jongin said, his voice holding an intrigued edge.

Kyungsoo looked as though he was about to say something, but before he could, a blast of light knocked him over.

“”

Jongin looked up to see the one from the fight that got knocked out first come running over.

“Baekhyun, are you for ing real?!” Kyungsoo groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head.

“I didn’t mean to!” Baekhyun pleaded, “I was aiming for Jongdae, but he shoved me and I just… Sorry, I’m really sorry!”

Kyungsoo smirked, “It’s okay, Baek” he said softly. Too softly, in fact.

Baekhyun watched him wearily, “Um… Kyungsoo…” he said, noting that everyone had stopped fighting and was watching the pair in amusement, all apart from Jongin and Sehun, who seemed genuinely worried, “What are you doing…”

“Free fall” Kyungsoo whispered, and before anyone could blink, the ground below Baekhyun opened up and he fell in, only just managing to grab the floor, leaving him dangling in the chasm.

“DO KYUNGSOO YOU BETTER ING PULL ME UP, RIGHT NOW!!” Baekhyun screamed. He knew all of the other wouldn’t help, they wouldn’t want to end up in his position.

Kyungsoo laid on the floor, his hands resting over Baekhyun’s, his face peeking out over the crack in the floor, “What do you say?” he asked teasingly.

“Kyungsoo, are you ing serious right now?” Baekhyun hissed, “This isn’t the time for your stupid power trip”

Kyungsoo grinned, “S’not a power trip” he said, “I just like watching you suffer. And I like hearing you tell me how good I am”

“Wow, TMI, Kyungsoo” Jongdae shuddered. It was no secret that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun helped one another out in the past, until Chanyeol had come along and stole the heart of Kyungsoo’s best friend-slash- buddy.

Kyungsoo laughed, “Shut the up, Dae” he rolled his eyes, “Now, where were we. Ah yes, Baekhyunnie, what do you say?” he sang.

Baekhyun let out a soft sigh, “Do Kyungsoo is the best friend imaginable and if I could, I would marry him, and make him happy for the rest of his life. But he is far too y for me, so I’m stuck with Park Chanyeol, who looks like a deformed Yoda”

“Perfect” Kyungsoo beamed, reaching down and hauling Baekhyun up before closing the gap in the floor, “See, now was that so hard?”

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at his best friend, “I should have left you in the road” he huffed, though it was obvious he didn’t mean it as he shoved Kyungsoo’s arm.

Kyungsoo only snorted and pulled Baekhyun into a hug, “I love you really, Baek” he said, “Honest”

“I’m sure” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, but hugged back nonetheless.

“Whilst I’m glad you two are getting along for once” Minho’s voice interrupted, “I’m sure I said something about not making a mess”

Kyungsoo laughed, “I cleaned up. And taught newbie a lesson” he said, “Surely that lets me off the hook?”

“Not even a little bit” Minho snorted, “You and Baekhyun are on field duty tonight after dinner. I want it looking like the queen would walk on it”

The two of them reluctantly agreed before class was dismissed and they headed out.

Kyungsoo didn’t bother to spare Jongin a glance as he and Baekhyun linked arms and walked off ahead with several of the others.

“Did you piss him off or something?” Luhan asked, coming to stand beside Jongin with Sehun.

Jongin frowned, “I didn’t mean to” he said, “I was just trying for banter, but turns out I’m not that good at it”

Luhan snorted, “No ” he rolled his eyes, “He’s pretty hard to piss off, too. You must have really put your foot in it. What did you say?”

“Just asked if he knew anything about getting killed” Jongin shrugged, not liking the way that Luhan cringed.

“I gotta go” he said, “See you at dinner, Sehun” he smiled, waving at the youngest boy before running off to join his friends. Not seeing the bashful smile that took over Sehun’s face as he watched him run off.

Jongin snorted, “Come on, stupid. Let’s go settle in?”

“Where are the dorms again?” Sehun asked before a hand settled on his shoulder. He turned to look at a smiling Minho.

“Here” the teacher said, handing them each three pieces of paper, “These are your schedules, a map of the school, and your dorm room info. Ask the other lads if you get confused about anything. We have three dorms, Jongin, you’ll be in X dorm, Sehun, you’re in E dorm. Your stuff is already up there, so go get settled in. Dinner is at six, come down with the others”

The two nodded and thanked the teacher before moving on. Eventually finding their way to the dorms.

There was a door with a large wooden plaque saying “EXO DORM ROOMS” on it, and the pair of them entered to find themselves in a large common room, with comfortable looking sofas and chairs, a huge fire place and several study tables.

From there, were three staircases, above each was one of the three letters of the school name, E. X. O. The two of them shared a look before bidding the other goodbye and moving towards their dorms. Sehun moving up E staircase and Jongin up X.

Jongin made his way up the stone staircase, coming to a large door which was opened a crack. He sighed before pushing his way inside. In there were three people, two of which he recognised as Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, and the third being the one that had knocked Baekhyun out of the fight.

“Ah, so we got you then” Baekhyun said, “Interesting…”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, not bothering to say anything as he dragged Baekhyun to the back of the huge room, where the pair of them sat on one of the made beds and began to chatter.

“Don’t mind him, he’s still sore about earlier” the remaining guy smiled, “I’m Jongdae, by the way. I saw you flit around earlier, it was pretty neat”

Jongin smiled slightly, “Yeah, would have been even neater if I hadn’t had my handed to me, eh?”

“Nah, don’t even sweat it. When I first got here, Kris knocked me flat on my within a minute” Jongdae laughed, “It happens. That’s why we’re here, so learn how to improve”

Jongin hummed, “I guess” he said, “I just didn’t realised he’d be so… You know”

“He’s one of the most advanced here. He and Baekhyun have been here since they were like thirteen… So, they’re good at what they do. But you build on it. That’s the whole point. You can’t know everything right off the bat, at the end of the day, man. You gotta let yourself grow, and all that other ”

Jongin raised a brow, “So are you not that great then?” he teased lightly.

Jongdae snorted, “I wasn’t at the start. I’ve got the hang of it now though, so, fight me some time” he joked, “Nah, it’s more about realising that there’s a lot to learn, and you’re never going to know the whole of what’s out there. You’ve got to realise that you’re not going to win every fight you have, and you can’t go out expecting the world to fall to its knees for you”

“It’s not that I expect to win every fight” Jongin said softly, “It’s just… I want to prove that I’m not weak. I want to prove that it isn’t just my power that gets me through. I want to show people that I’m capable of surviving even when people think that I can’t. I want to be better than the people that have always put me down. But nobody sees that, people just assume I’m being cocky”

Jongdae smiled softly before pulling Jongin over to his bed, “You seem like you’ve been through a lot of ” he said lightly, “This is yours, by the way, that,” he pointed at the bed to the side of it, “Is Kyungsoo’s, then mine and Baekhyun’s are over there” he said, pointing to the other side of the room, where Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were sat.

“Oh brilliant” Jongin sighed, “He hates me”

“He can also hear you” Kyungsoo said suddenly, “And I don’t hate you. I’m annoyed with you, there’s a difference” he sighed, “I’m not going to hate you for saying something stupid. The only way I’d hate you is if you did it purposely. I’m not a ty person, Jongin, I’m not going to be that guy, so chill”

Jongin blinked, “I um, o-okay” he said sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Sehun found himself rooming with Luhan, Chanyeol and Kris.

“Ayyy! We got wind kid!” Chanyeol laughed, slapping Sehun on the back in a friendly manner.

Sehun groaned, “Please, for the love of all that is holy, never call me wind kid again”

“Air head?” Chanyeol grinned.

“No” Sehun deadpanned, “Sehun will do”

Luhan laughed as he and Kris joined Chanyeol and Sehun, “Leave him alone, Yeol” Luhan grinned, “Come on Sehunnie, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

“Oh, am I next to you?” Sehun asked, letting Luhan lead him over to where two beds stood on the opposite side of the room to two others, which were rather messily made.

“You sure are” Luhan smiled, “I figured you’d like it more than sleeping in one of those two’s filth” he shuddered, “Seriously, if it wasn’t for the maid, I think we’d all be neck deep in their dirty socks”

Sehun snorted out a laugh, “Wow, okay, that’s gross” he said, “But whatever. What’s for dinner?”

“We have stew tonight, I think” Kris said, “It’s so good, like seriously”

“Oh wait, you’re the dragon dude!” Sehun gasped, “Dude, how the do you do that?!”

Kris laughed, “Magic” he joked poorly, “I don’t know, I just always have, you know? Might be a pure blood thing, I dunno, man” he shrugged.

“I didn’t think there were any pure blood Specials anymore?” Sehun asked, “That’s what my mum told me before…. Anyway, that’s what I was told?”

Kris grinned, “Well, there aren’t many left. We’re kept under the radar, for…. Reasons.”

“Reasons? Way to be an ominous little ” Sehun rolled his eyes.

“It’s nothing, it’s just if someone catches wind of it, could be dangerous, you know? I think I’m like, one in five pure bloods left in existence, so…”

“Is Kyungsoo one?” Sehun asked curiously, “He seems really powerful”

Chanyeol snorted, “He wishes” he grinned, “Nah, he’s just an elemental like us and Junmyeon. He’s just really, really good at his element. Cracked it ages ago and has been working on getting stronger since. He’s a nice guy though, just don’t try and piss him off on purpose because he’s not likely to forgive or forget about it”

“Does that mean he’ll be mean to Jongin?” Sehun asked cautiously.

Luhan shook his head, “No, he’s just being grumpy. He’ll be fine come morning. He just likes to milk it and get people to feel bad” he chuckled, “they’re probably making out or some as we speak”

“You think Kyungsoo would go for him?” Chanyeol asked.

“Um, did you see the way he looked at him before?” Luhan shot back, “Like hello, they are so gonna be having at it by the end of the week. I totally see it. Oh my god, Sehun, you’re my new recruit”

“Oh ing hell” Kris rolled his eyes.