Being hopelessly late to your first day at university is probably nothing new. At least most people aren’t alone when it happens to them because they’d probably all either be lost or late, and all have a very valid and convincing excuse; but Xu Minghao, The Unluckiest Person In The Entire Universe™ just happens to be by his lonesome because - thanks to the divine interventions of fate - the previous scholarship recipient had flown back to China without notifying the university and therefore, Minghao’s name was put up for the scholarship instead. After university had already started.

So there he is, standing somewhere at the front of the university, looking rather lost, trying to spot the tour guide he’s supposed to meet amongst the masses of students making their way around campus. He’s already stressed enough, and being completely and utterly late is on the bottom of his list of ‘Things to do Before You Die’. He wanders around a little bit more, bumps into a few people too because he’s not looking where he’s going, and decides to just go and ask someone where the hell he’s going because he’s extremely late and his tour guide has probably keeled over and died if they haven’t just abandoned him already.

Minghao tries to spot some friendly looking folk, someone who looks like they’d help him out a little (and not be an about it). He’d honestly rather ask someone a dumb question than die of exposure. He scans the people in front of him, squinting in the sun, and settles for some long haired guy who’s reading a book on a bench under a tree by himself. Seems like a safe bet. He just hopes that he’s close enough to the nerd stereotype to warrant asking for directions, because dear lord if this guy is a mob boss by night and reads novels out on university benches by day, Minghao is screwed.

He has to actively compel his legs to shuffle over to the guy because he’s so shaky, saying his last prayers because he can feel the soul drain out of him the closer he gets. He manages to get close enough, he thinks, and the guy hasn’t even looked up yet. He’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing (he reasons it could be worse, and the guy could whip out a gun and shoot him if he really was a criminal, but that’s very irrational and highly unlikely). Minghao’s super stressed already, so when he speaks up with, ”Excuse me?” It sounds more like a dying cat than a human being.

Long haired dude looks up, and is admittedly a little startled. Minghao doesn’t blame him - he’d probably look just as stunned, with a nice side serving of absolutely horrified. Long haired dude, however, doesn’t look like he’s about to his pants, and casually puts his book down and smiles a little, cocking his head to the side. “Can I help you?”

“U-um,” Minghao stutters, and he has to curse at himself and clear his throat before he can continue, “I’m supposed to meet a tour guide because it’s my first day here but…” He trails off as he stumbles on his words again, and long haired dude must be a saint because he’s still smiling and looking up at Minghao, patiently waiting for him. “I’m a little late,” Minghao finishes off with a cough, and his hand flies up to scratch the back of his neck nervously.

Long haired dude just laughs a little, slips a piece of paper between the pages of his book and stands up, brushing his jeans off as he does so. Minghao’s a little worried that he’s said something stupid like he always does, but long haired dude just keeps smiling at him warmly and even reaches out to ruffle a baffled Minghao’s hair. “Those people aren’t that great at their jobs anyway,” long haired dude tells him as he shoves his book into his backpack, “would you like me to show you around instead?”

Minghao honestly doesn’t know how he - The Unluckiest Person In The Entire Universe™ as of very very recently - has managed to ask someone for directions that is so… angelic. A godsend, really. Minghao doesn’t know what to say - it could be a trap and he could get kidnapped and forced to do someone else’s thesis in exchange for his freedom or something just as horrifying - so he kind of just stands there stunned a little longer whilst long haired dude throws his backpack over his shoulder and smiles at Minghao again. Hey, maybe he is a mob boss by night, but as long as he’s nice to Minghao, he can deal with that. “You’ll do that for me?” Minghao can’t help but ask, and long haired dude’s laugh bubbles up as he nods.

“I remember being lost around here even with a tour guide after the first day. It’s no problem at all.”

“Wow,” Minghao says under his breath, shifting from one foot to another and boring holes into his sneakers because he’s too embarrassed to look the guy in the face, “thanks man.”

“No need to thank me,” long haired dude tells him, and he looks so friendly, it’s a little scary, especially when he places a hand on Minghao’s shoulder and the boy nearly jumps out of his skin because he’s so wound up. “My name’s Jeonghan,” long haired dude offers, trying to move his face so he can see Minghao’s - who’s still burning holes into his sneakers and refusing to look up, “I’m a statistics major. You?”

“Xu Minghao, marketing.” Minghao manages to mumble out, and he finally looks up, sees Jeonghan’s somewhat confused and questioning expression, and backtracks so he can explain himself before Jeonghan has to ask. “I’m Chinese,” he tells the guy with a shrug, “hence the name.”

“Oh, the Chinese program?” Jeonghan laughs lightly and seems to get it, so Minghao lets his hands fall back to his sides, playing with the hem of his shirt. “I heard about the first kid just dropping out after uni got back. There was a huge commotion about it.” Minghao kind of rolls his eyes at that and is about to say something else pertaining to how much of a pain that was, before his train of thought is interrupted by Jeonghan piping up again. “You don’t seem to have that much of an accent though, did you move here recently?”

Minghao shakes his head, but he really can’t help but groan a little because of course, everyone asks that question. Literally everyone. He’s kind of gotten used to it though, and he catches himself before Jeonghan realises he’s a little annoyed and instead, settles for staring intently at the stray piece of hair on Jeonghan’s forehead. “I was born here, so it’s not really…” Minghao shrugs and moves his eyes to stare at some tree instead, because Jeonghan’s wild hair strand is annoying him, “I just don’t really have an accent.”

Jeonghan looks a little bemused and leans in closer to Minghao, who instinctively recoils and moves back because woah there, they’d just met like two minutes ago, and he really likes his personal space. “Wait, so you’re not directly from China?” Jeonghan asks, but instantly regrets it and Minghao knows because the guy cringes so hard and waves his hands in front of his face so vehemently, that he’s sure Jeonghan’s hands are gonna fly off his wrists. “Sorry, that’s a little rude isn’t it?” Jeonghan squabbles, and Minghao laughs a little as he shakes his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” and he means it, because he’s heard it too many times before - he can’t really be too offended. “The program is just for people who speak Chinese at home and have that as their first language, so I’m eligible. You also have to sell your soul to the devil for your grades in high school.”

Jeonghan seems to calm down a lot at the reassurance, and even so much as reaches out to pat Minghao on the back awkwardly with a small smile and a thumbs up. “Seems like you deserved it then,” he says with a nod, and turns away in the opposite direction. For a moment there, Minghao thinks that he’s just going to walk off without him and leave him alone to fend for himself - and no way in hell is Minghao going to go through the ordeal of asking someone for help again, because they really actually might tell him to piss off. “Anyway,” Jeonghan tucks the strand of offending hair behind his ear and looks back behind him at Minghao, who shifts uncomfortably under his gaze and smiles weakly, “you better follow me if you wanna be shown around. I have another class in a couple hours.” Thank god; he’s not being abandoned just yet.

He scampers after Jeonghan like the poor lost soul he is for about the next hour or so while Jeonghan floats from place to place, expecting Minghao to remember what the buildings are called and how to get there from the main plaza - which he doesn’t - but he appreciates the effort either way. They even have lunch at Jeonghan’s favourite fast food place on campus, and Minghao rambles to him about the woes of living alone for the first time in his life through a mouthful of potato wedges.

Both of them eventually find themselves at the basketball courts near the back of the university, watching a small group of other guys play and pass the ball between each other and yelling profanities when someone gets one into the hoop. Minghao could hear them five minutes ago from the other side of the sports building, but Jeonghan had brushed him off when he’d asked about it and hadn’t even let on that he knew them until they came into view and he’d waved and shouted a hello.

Minghao pauses and shrinks against a stray light post in the middle of the walkway and starts to nervously pick at the threads on his shirt. Some of the other guys seem to wave back at Jeonghan before getting into their game again, and Jeonghan’s already courtside, arms crossed and fond smile on his features. Hell, Minghao feels like he’s intruding and he’s not even standing next to Jeonghan. He starts backing away slowly but only pauses once he realises he doesn’t remember the way back properly, and he’d probably get lost again. Great.

Jeonghan beckons him over once he realises that he’s lost Minghao, and he laughs a little when Minghao apprehensively makes his way over, eyes darting from one new guy to another. There’s only four of them on the courts; some tall guy and… three other guys who aren’t so tall. Minghao’s not exactly sure how to describe them besides crazy tall and not as crazily tall. Jeonghan nudges him in the side with his elbow and points at the guys on the court, and Minghao squints in the sun so he can see who’s passing the ball. “They usually play at around this time, so if you want to, feel free to join us some time.”

“Sure,” Minghao says, a little reluctant but he doesn’t want Jeonghan to feel like he’s put off by the idea of sport (but he is), “that sounds nice.”

“You’re tall, so I’m sure they’ll love you if you were on their team.”

“Hey Jeonghan!” Yells someone - the tall guy, Minghao notices - and he’s waving frantically over at Jeonghan, so much that he doesn’t see the basketball being thrown at him and promptly gets hit in the shoulder with it before it bounces off in the opposite direction.

“That’s Mingyu,” Jeonghan introduces with a laugh and an enthusiastic wave back, “he’s the tallest, obviously. He also seems like he’s the dumbest, but he’s taking chemical engineering, believe it or not. Smart kid; freshman like you too.”

“Ah,” Minghao says, because he’s really not sure what else to say. He watches as tall dude - Mingyu, apparently - runs after whoever threw the ball that hit him. Minghao turns to Jeonghan with a raised eyebrow when the other boy chuckles, and Jeonghan waves him off before pointing at said guy who’s trying to get as far away as possible from Mingyu.

“Oh, then there’s Wonwoo, Mingyu’s best friend slash brother for life. He can seem a little intimidating at first but he’s good people, loves reading books more than I do. Unsurprisingly, he’s a creative writing major.”

“And you all play basketball together?”

Jeonghan must find that absolutely hilarious for some reason, because all he does is laugh for a solid minute while Minghao stands there helplessly. “Sometimes.”

“Who’s that?” Someone else calls out in the middle of them receiving the ball and they almost drop it, but they somehow manage to keep it in their hands before dribbling it to the other side of the court and throwing it into the hoop. Even to someone who’s allergic to sport like Minghao, that’s admittedly really damn impressive.

“New Chinese kid!” Jeonghan yells back at the guy, and he turns around to wave cheerily at Minghao who waves back with almost as much enthusiasm as a raw artichoke.

“Hey new Chinese kid!”

“Well,” Jeonghan purses his lips and looks a little disgruntled, “that one’s Seungcheol - oldest out of all of us, physical education major, sleeps around a little too much if you get what I mean,” Jeonghan shrugs and turns to give Minghao a playful roll of his eyes at Seungcheol’s expense, “we’re in uni anyways so I guess that’s what to expect.”

Jeonghan looks like he’s about to introduce the last guy, who’s wearing a headband of some sort and yelling about the ball because Seungcheol’s held on to it for too long - but Seungcheol apparently doesn’t have the ball anymore because when Minghao looks over, all he hears is “Jeonghan, catch!” and all he sees is orange, and before he knows it, there’s a goddamn basketball in his face and everything hurts so much - especially his nose.

“Oh my god!” Jeonghan squawks next to him, but he can’t see because his vision is blurry and he can feel something atrociously wet running down his face. “Oh my god, Seungcheol what did you do?”

“I’m sorry!” Minghao hears someone yell (it’s probably Seungcheol - but he’s not sure yet okay, he just met the guy), and he can feel a pressure on his shoulders like someone’s holding him upright, but he’s still nauseous and when he brings up a sleeve to wipe at the gross wetness on his face, all he sees is red on his sleeve and dear god no. Blood.  “Oh my god I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

“He’s bleeding of course he’s not okay!” Jeonghan’s flailing beside him in an absolute panic and he can hear more people approaching and it’s really daunting; really dizzying. Minghao feels the grip on his shoulders loosen just a little bit, he lets out the most sickening groan in the history of ever; and then he’s falling, vision going lopsided and all sorts of not good. He tries to reach out to brace himself but his body isn’t responding, and just before he completely blacks out and smashes his face into the concrete he thinks to himself, and rather crudely at that:

Xu Minghao, The Unluckiest Person In The Entire Universe™… welcome to hell.