Yoongi sighs and takes up his favored slumped position in a chair at the back of the large auditorium. All around him is chaos. To his right, in the farthest corner of the room from the angled stage, flashes of light and puffs of smoke go off with increasing frequency. Yoongi snorts, watching the antics through the corner of his eye. He knows this type - physical destructive powers, and mighty impressed with themselves. Too eager to show off, he can see the neck veins straining on some of the more boisterous braggarts as they try to one up the person next to them.

Clumped toward the middle of the room, or more accurately, the center of the space, are the fliers. Yoongi lifts his eyes heavenward, watching them flip and turn in the fairly cramped space available. There’s no small amount of smug coming off of this crowd, either. Sure, everyone thinks it would be cool to fly, but how much use is it in reality? You never have to take the bus, but what kind of job are you going to get with that? Professional street light changer? He shakes his head.

Of course, then there’s the kids in the very front row, sitting quietly and waiting for the opening program to begin. Some of them have notepads and pencils at the ready. It’s impossible to know exactly what powers these kids have, but they’re certainly nerdy. Power accountants, maybe, or speed readers. Yoongi chuckles to himself. Maybe they’re a knitting team.

“es,” Yoongi hears from his left. He looks up to see a blonde man awkwardly climbing over the back of the last row of seats, nearly pitching forward into the next row as his foot gets caught on the way over. Yoongi quirks a brow but says nothing, eyeing the man up as he acts like he didn’t just almost break his entire face.

“Agreed,” says another man who had more sensibly walked down the row of chairs on Yoongi’s other side. The two settle in on either side of him.

“I mean, look at this,” continues the blonde, gesturing toward the clump of bodies hovering in the air. “They’re not going to get the jump on anyone now. We all know they can fly.”

Yoongi remains silent, but his interest is piqued.

“Well, you don’t know if that’s all they can do,” the second man says diplomatically. “I’m Seokjin. You can call me Jin,” he says, turning toward Yoongi. “And this is Namjoon.”

“Please,” Namjoon snorts, ignoring the introductions. “If they had something better to show, you know they’d be showing it.”

“Not everyone is as smart as you, Namjoon, but that doesn’t mean they’re all stupid,” Jin replies, his eyes scanning over the room.

“I guess,” Namjoon says under his breath.

Yoongi ignores them for the moment, zeroing in on something Namjoon had said. He, too, scans over the crowd, mentally noting who is flying, who is shooting fireballs, who is clinging to the wall like an octopus, and who is doing any other number of ridiculous feats. He does his best to commit them to memory.

Jin clears his throat awkwardly. “And who are you?,” he asks.

Just then, the lights dim and everyone scrambles to grab a seat. Yoongi slumps even lower in his chair as Dean Arrisen strides to the podium on the stage.

The dean taps the microphone twice before speaking.

“Good morning, everyone,” he starts, “And welcome to The Academy. We’re happy to have you all here. The start of the new year is exciting to everyone, but let’s try not to burn the building down before classes even start.” He chuckles at his own lame joke and scatter polite laughter echoes back from the audience.

“I’m Dean Arrisen, as most of you know,” he continues. “And as Dean, it’s customary that I make a big speech to get the year off on the right foot. Tell you what you have to look forward to, what’s expected of you, and perhaps lay out some ground rules. Tell you about some of the major successes we’ve had graduate from The Academy, and what kind of careers are waiting for you when you’re finished here. Really, I could go on and on. But let’s skip all that for now - you’ll work your way through orientation over the next few days and get all that information. I know it’s too hard to listen to it all now. I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats, waiting for your team assignments, and years of experience have taught me that it’s not worth trying to say anything you’ll need to remember until we get this sorted out. So are you ready to find out who you’ll be spending the next few years living with, studying with, and competing with?”

A loud roar of assent explodes from the crowd. Yoongi feels Namjoon and Jin sit ever so slightly farther forward in the seats on either side of him.

Internally, he sighs. This was the part he was least looking forward to. He knows how his powers work, and he’s always worked them alone. He’s not interested in joining a team, working with others, and certainly not in living with others. He needs his own space, on the outskirts of all the action. He’s already bristling at the idea of taking input from any of these morons on how best to accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished. But that’s how the school works. New st