When Kyungsoo arrives with the bickering couple to his music class, he is greeted with a loud classroom with lots of unfamiliar faces sitting around as they wait for the teacher. He walks with Chanyeol and Baekhyun over to a table with, thankfully, a few familiar faces. He sees Joonmyeon, among others, sitting next to Jongdae who is scowling at another unfamiliar boy next to him.

 

“Luhan, if you say one more damn pun, I will actually throw you out a window” Jongdae says to the boy next to him, Luhan apparently, as Kyungsoo approaches the table they're sitting at.

 

“Oh Jongdae, you know I can’t help it that I’m just so punny” Luhan says as he aims a sharp grin at Jongdae, who just looks angrier than before.

 

“That’s it, you’re getting defenestrated”.

 

A loud shriek echoes around the music room.

 

“Jongdae, have mercy! I am but a young boy! You wouldn't hurt someone with this face!”

 

There’s a pause. No one speaks.

 

“...Yes I would” Jongdae deadpans.

 

“Luhan, you’re the oldest one here, act like it” Baekhyun mutters snidely from the side, watching with raised eyebrows as Jongdae shoves Luhan off his chair and starts to hit him with open handed slaps. Kyungsoo smiles, amused, as Jongdae finally stops hitting Luhan, leaving him shell shocked on the floor.

 

A few minutes pass as Kyungsoo continues to watch the class interact. Luhan eventually gets back in his chair, though he looks throughly traumatized as he sits there, brow crinkled in thought. Something tells Kyungsoo it’s just an act though. He doesn't know this Luhan boy, but he can tell he’s not done yet.

 

Suddenly, Luhan slowly starts to scoot his chair over to where to Jongdae moved. He’s talking with Joonmyeon, his attention away from Luhan as Luhan creeps closer.

 

“H-hey Jongdae”

 

Jongdae sighs, pointedly not looking at Luhan.

 

“If mental hospitals had walking paths, they could call them psycho-paths”.

 

A moment of quiet settles as Joonmyeon stops talking and Jongdae stares blankly in front of him.

 

“….I am actually going to kill you” Jongdae seethes as he whips around to look at Luhan, who is snickering behind him.

 

A second scream echoes throughout the music room shortly after.

 

________

 

 

The music class begins without fanfare as the teacher walks in, addressing the students. He has the students move into groups to work on a short in class project. Kyungsoo is grouped up with Joonmyeon, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongdae, and they are tasked with studying a simple ballad song by identifying the verses, the lyrics, and it’s structure. It’s a simple assignment and it has Kyungsoo breathing easy as he gets to know his classmates better as they work.

 

They work for around 30 minutes in relative quiet before the door to the classroom opens with a loud bang and a few students dressed in what looks like dance clothes stride in. The dance studio is through a clear glass door on the opposite wall in the music room, so the students pass through and walk into the studio laughing boisterously. Kyungsoo then remembers what Tao had told him earlier, and starts to look around for Jongin. He doesn't see him as the last of the students file into the dance studio, and he feels acutely disappointed. Maybe Tao got the person confused?

 

Kyungsoo begins to go back to the project when the door opens again, this time with an even louder bang as a single student rushes in, panting and blushing faintly as he sees the eyes of the music students on him.

 

It’s him. It’s the boy from earlier. Kyungsoo’s heart beats faster for no reason as he smiles and stares at the boy, Jongin, as he stutters out an apology to the teacher for the disruption. Jongin looks around the room quickly, and stops as he makes brief eye contact with Kyungsoo. His eyes widen and his blush returns as he quickly turns around and rushes through the door to the dance studio.

 

Kyungsoo must have a similar blush as he turns back in his seat to the desk he shares with his the group members, as they all stop what they're doing at look at him. Somehow, the blush on Kyungsoo’s cheeks gets worse.

 

“What?” he asks them shyly as they continue to stare at him.

 

“You know Jongin?” Joonmyeon asks as he smirks at Kyungsoo.

 

“…Uh, well, n-not exactly, I mean we sort of met this morning” Kyungsoo stutters out as they all start to smirk at him.

 

“Ah! ‘Lil Soo has a crush!” Chanyeol yells out, making the teacher eye him from across the room.

 

They all ignore Kyungsoo’s protests as they start to laugh and pat Kyungsoo on the back as they continue to . Kyungsoo smiles, shy as the other students, or well at this point his friends, ask him about his ‘crush’.

 

“Well Soo, he sits at the table next to us, or sometimes at our table at lunch. You should talk to him then. Well, he’ll probably talk to you given how cute you are.” Joonmyeon says, resting his head in his hand as he looks at Kyungsoo.

 

Kyungsoo doesn't know how to respond, but thanks them shyly anyway.

 

“It’s not a crush, I just want to get to know him” Kyungsoo adds insistently, but the others only laugh.

 

“Whatever you say, Soo” Jongdae says, smirking at him, though his sharp features make the smirk somewhat sinister.

 

_________

 

 

The rest of the music class passes without anything eventful happening, and he follows Chanyeol, Jongdae and Baekhyun out to go to lunch. Chanyeol and Baekhyun walk together in front, while Kyungsoo walks with Joonmyeon and Jongdae who ask him simple questions as they walk.

 

Soon, they approach the lunch room and Baekhyun and Chanyeol walk over to a table with some of the others he saw earlier, including Tao and Kris, who wave at him as he walks in. 

Jongdae walks off to go to the lunch table, while Joonmyeon leads Kyungsoo over to the line to get lunch.

 

“I’m one of the only who actually buys lunch out of out group, so it’s nice to have someone to talk to in line” Joonmyeon says good-naturedly as they wait in line.

 

“Oh, yeah I agree, but why're you the only one? Does everyone else bring lunch?” Kyungsoo asks, moving to stand next to Joonmyeon.

 

“Yeah, and well I’m the only one who likes the hot lunch, so I get it most days, though sometimes we can get permission to leave campus to get lunch locally.” Joonmyeon replies, moving up in line a few feet.

 

“Ah okay, that’s pretty cool” Kyungsoo relies of lieu of any other questions.

 

Joonmyeon simply gives him a smile as they moved up to get their lunch. Kyungsoo decides on a simple sandwich and a water, and waits at the side while Joonmyeon gets his food.

 

They walk over to the crowded table together, and sit next to each other at one end in front of Chanyeol and Baekhyun who are bickering over something or other. Kyungsoo eats quietly for a few minutes before he sees someone come up and push Joonmyeon down the bench and take his place.

 

“So Soo, a little birdie, and by little birdie I mean Jongdae, told me you saw lover boy earlier” Tao says as he takes Joonmyeon’s place much to his obvious chagrin.

 

“Lover boy?….I’m never go to hear the last of this am I?” Kyungsoo asks dejectedly as he buries his head in his hands.

 

Tao just laughs and places a hand on his shoulder “No, you're not”.

 

Kyungsoo lifts his head off the table to reply, when he is met with Kris who apparently also pushed his way on to the bench in front of Kyungsoo.

 

“So lov-“ Kris begins, but is swiftly cut off by Tao who slaps a hand over this mouth and aims a pleasant smile at Kyungsoo.

 

“Soo, could you do me a quick favor and throw this wrapper out in the bin over there?” Tao says quickly, pushing a sandwich wrapper into Kyungsoo’s hand and pointing with his free hand to a trash can across the lunch hall.

 

Confused, Kyungsoo nods and slowly gets up, taking his trash with him and walking over to the can. He quickly looks back, and frowns when he sees Tao smiling and looking right at him. He turns around quickly and is met with a hard body as he crashes into someone else. He stumbles and sees the person he bumped into drop their water bottle. He stutters out an apology as he picks up the bottle and looks up to see who he hit.

 

It’s Jongin.

 

He feels his face heat up as he looks into the eyes of a shocked Jongin. He feels his cheeks heat up as he blushes from embarrassment while his collar bone burns faintly, though he pays it no attention.

 

“I’m s-so sorry, are you okay?” Kyungsoo manages as he hands the bottle back to Jongin.

Jongin takes the bottle with one hand while he rubs his neck with the other. 

 

“Yeah, I’m okay, are you?” he asks, his voice low and slightly amused as he offers Kyungsoo a small smile while a light blush dusts his cheeks.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry I didn’t look where I was going” Kyungsoo offers, smiling shyly.

 

“Oh no, don’t apologize, I’m the one who should look where I’m going. Sorry about that.” Jongin says quickly, smiling sheepishly.

 

“It’s no problem, sorry for making you drop your stuff” Kyungsoo replies, smiling back.

 

Jongin just waves him off, not accepting the apology “Hey I gotta go, but I’ll try to not bump into you in the future, okay?” Jongin says, already walking past Kyungsoo and then out the doors of the lunch hall.

 

Kyungsoo quickly throws away the trash still in his hand, and walks back to the lunch table in a stupor, still shocked from his encounter with the dancer.

 

When he sits back down, he sees Tao looking at him with an equally shocked expression to how he feels.

 

“Holy , I’m a genius!” Tao suddenly shouts, grabbing Kyungsoo by the shoulders and pulling him in for a tight hug. Kyungsoo returns the hug, throughly confused. It’s then he notices Jongdae laughing uncontrollably, slapping the table as he watches Tao and Kyungsoo. Tao pulls back from the hug and turns around to glare at Jongdae who is somehow laughing harder than before as he cries from laughter.

 

“What just happened?” Kyungsoo asked, still confused.

 

“I sent you over there cause I saw Jongin walking up, and oh lord it worked! I am so awesome!” Tao cries, raising his fists in the air.

 

Kyungsoo looks over at Kris who just gives him a shrug. Kyungsoo is still confused but a part of him is grateful to Tao for sending him over there. Eventually Kyungsoo sees Baekhyun and Chanyeol come back and sit by him and Kris, as he hears Tao yell at Jongdae for laughing. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun give him a confused look, but he just shrugs as Kris did. He doesn't really know what happened.

 

_________

 

 

The rest of the school day passes without much else happening as his goes to his two final classes, and soon its time for him to go home.

 

With his first day ending, Kyungsoo can’t help but feel like a weight has been lifted off his chest. He expected this school to be so different, and he was pleasantly surprised with the people he has met and how much has happened in just his first day. He still misses his old school, his old friends, and his old life in general, but if this place has this kind of life to offer, Kyungsoo can certainly get used to it.

 

He meets his new friends at their break area to say goodbye. Chanyeol and Baekhyun walk home together, as do Tao and Kris. He tells the others were his new house is, but most of them live in another area. Chanyeol offers to walk him home even though he lives far away, but Kyungsoo politely declines. His mom said she would walk him home, and he doesn't want to burden his new friends.

 

He is walking out the main door with Chanyeol and Baekhyun when his phone goes off. He checks it and its a text from his mom.

 

The moving van arrived early, so we can’t come walk you home, will you be alright walking back by yourself?

 

Typing a reply, he waves goodbye to Chanyeol and Baekhyun as he walks out the main gate and on to the street.

 

He walks, looking at his phone as he types and sends his reply, but suddenly hits against something hard and he stumbles, dropping his phone on the pavement.

 

Looking up he sees Jongin in a similar state, who was apparently standing on the sidewalk when Kyungsoo walked into him.

 

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this” Jongin says jokingly, smiling as he did earlier in the day when Kyungsoo ran into him during lunch.

 

“Oh god, I’m sorry! I swear I’m not doing this on purpose!” Kyungsoo cries, learning down and picking up his phone quickly, which thankfully isn't broken.

 

“No worries, I probably shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the sidewalk to be honest.

I’m Jongin, by the way. ” he says, smiling as he holds his hand out for Kyungsoo to shake.

 

“I’m Kyungsoo” Kyungsoo replies, shaking Jongin’s hand, feeling tingles running down his fingers as he does. He blushes faintly, and pulls his hand back.

 

“Well it’s nice to meet you Kyungsoo, do you live around here? We can walk together if you do” Jongin says, gesturing down the street that leads to Kyungsoo’s house.

 

“Yeah, I live about 10 minutes down the street” he replies. “Do you live around here?” Kyungsoo asks, unable to keep a hopeful edge out of his voice.

 

“Uh-huh, probably 15 minutes down the street. I guess we’re neighbors then, so welcome to the neighborhood, Kyungsoo” Jongin says, smiling and gesturing for Kyungsoo to walk with him. Kyungsoo walks on, falling in step with Jongin.

 

“So, when did you get here?” Jongin asks after a few moments of silence. Kyungsoo feels slightly grateful that Jongin was the one to break the silence. Kyungsoo is a pretty quiet snd shy person around those he doesn't know so he's glad for the question.

 

“I just got here yesterday actually; I moved here from Goyang where I grew up. How long have you been here?”

 

“Oh I’ve been to Goyang, it’s a nice city, smaller, but quaint. I’ve been here for a few years, myself, I moved here during middle school. I grew up in Suncheon though” Jongin says, glancing over at Kyungsoo as they cross the street.

 

Kyungsoo just hums, unsure of what to say next.

 

“How do you like it here?” Jongin says, keeping the conversation going.

 

“I actually like it more than I thought I would. I’ve met some cool people today, but I keep running into this one guy. Literally” Kyungsoo jokes, smiling over at Jongin who laughs, a blush dusting his cheeks.

 

“Sorry about that, maybe it’s destiny or something. I think we should be friends, you know, just see where it takes us” Jongin replies, a light tone to his words.

 

“I agree, so as a first step of our new friendship, we have to learn more about each other” Kyungsoo declares, smiling wide.

 

Jongin makes a ‘hmm’ noise “Alright, you go first. Tell me about you”.

 

Kyungsoo doesn't really know where to start. “Well, I’m 17, I enjoy singing and music, and I can cook.” he says, trying to just basically describe himself.

 

“You can sing? I think I’ll have to listen in on your music class one day. I’d like to hear you sing.” 

Jongin says, smiling good-naturedly. Kyungsoo can feel his cheeks heat up at the admission. Jongin's smile and his words have an embarrassing effect on Kyungsoo.

 

“Okay, well I want to see you dance then. You’re in dance class, right?” Kyungsoo asks, looking over at Jongin who looks mildly surprised that Kyungsoo knows he dances.

 

“Oh yeah, I am. You're welcome to stop by the classroom one day after school on Wednesday or Friday. I practice after school with a friend on those days.”

 

Kyungsoo is about to reply when he notices they've reached his house, and he can see his mom and dad directing the moving company where to put the boxes.

 

He shoots Jongin an apologetic look. “Well time flies; I wanted to ask more about you” Kyungsoo says dejectedly, looking at the ground.

 

“Hey it’s alright, there’s always tomorrow, right?” Jongin says earnestly, smiling at Kyungsoo when he looks up.

 

“Okay, tomorrow then” Kyungsoo agrees.

 

“Oh and if you or your family need anything, I live in the blue house down the road. I’m sure my mom would like to meet yours sometime”

 

Kyungsoo nods, smiling at Jongin.“Okay, bye Jongin. See you tomorrow!” Kyungsoo waves as he walks back to his house. He watches Jongin’s form retreating, and happiness curls inside his stomach as he feels his heart beat with nervousness of what is to come.