“You will be the maknae of our new boy group,” the management representative said, and the rest of the people in the room nodded in agreement. All eyes were rested on Se Hun and he blushed a deep red under their gazes.

“N-neh,” he mumbled in agreement, suddenly bewildered. He had thought that surely there would be a younger boy than him debuting alongside him.

The rest of the meeting continued on but Se Hun couldn’t pay any more attention. His mind was focused on him undertaking the role as the maknae. He knew that it was a very important position and many fangirls will study him to see if the group is worthy of their support. Se Hun was overwhelmed and already pressured that he’ll bring the group down, which he can’t afford and didn’t want to do.

Speaking of the group, although he had been trainees with them for who-knows-how-long, he was intimidated by them. They were all so perfect and godly in their own ways that sometimes Se Hun found himself out of their league and felt pressured to be debuting beside them.

He didn’t stand out and wasn’t brilliant enough to make an image of his own, and he certainly looked like a common pedestrian beside his 11 other hyungs, whom all were model material, and looked as if they descended from heaven.

Se Hun felt sick to his stomach.

The other eleven members of the group left and the meeting room quieted down, but Se Hun could still feel his heart pounding against his rib cage.

“Se Hun,” the representative called firmly and he looked up from tying his shoelaces. He looked around and saw that no one else was present except for him and the representative, and felt even more nervous.

His heart was bouncing up to his throat, threatening to explode.

“Are you okay?” the representative spoke again and Se Hun nodded quietly, not wanting to embarrass himself.

“It’s alright, Se Hun. All the past maknaes I’ve encountered in my career had been just as nervous as you-heck, Changmin stuffed down seven servings of tapioca dessert in anxiety! Don’t worry. The company sees that you have categories to improve in, and we have provided that you take the next hundred days before your debut showcase to learn a little something from each of your members. That way, you will be prepared and strong to face the industry.”

Se Hun nodded again, speechless. He didn’t know whether to be glad or scared of the opportunity. Lessons from the gods themselves? He wondered.

“Se Hun? Se Hun? Are you alright? Is that plan okay with you?” the representative asked in a fatherly tone and Se Hun squeezed out a little “Mmhm” in encouragement that he was emotionally stable.

He finished tying his shoelaces and bowed, before running out of the room. Their manager sat in the van waiting patiently, with a knowing smile on his face.

Se Hun opened the van’s door and jumped into the seat beside the manager, his head down. He tried to block the laughter of his hyungs out, and conquer the pain swelling in his heart.

He felt alone and helpless, a lost child in a world of adults. He didn’t know how to join their wild jokes and felt all the humor inside him slowly leak out until he was a pile of fun-less bones and muscles.

For the rest of the trip back to their dormitory, he squeezed his brain trying to list how he could possibly survive and thrive with these 11 perfect beings.

They reached the dorm, a lavish penthouse that of course, SM could easily afford for the twelve boys. It was like entering a five-star hotel, the lobby room floored with cream colored carpets, the walls a double-painted shade of pearlescent blue. The elevators had beautiful paintings hanging from them, and the boys stood with mouths open, their immediate reactions were gasping and some speechless with words as their fingers trailed down the sides of the apartment.

“Oh my gosh,” a boy said, his eyes growing wider, although his original eyes were already pretty big and wide, a constant O__O look on his face.

“It’s like we entered heaven,” a boy with prettily chiseled cheekbones said, touching the gold-plated elevator button.

“We live in the penthouse, Kris,” Joonmyun, Se Hun supposed, said to the leader of EXO-M and the tall latter simply leaned forward and pressed the button with his nose, having his advantage of height.

The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival at the new dorm.

“And I thought the lobby was heaven!” an olive skinned boy exclaimed, his lips bursting into a bright smile that illuminated the room even more, scaring Se Hun into insecurity about his own smile.

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It was nighttime and the boys stood at the huge window, mouths dropped open as they scanned the streets of Seoul, their hands and noses pressed against the windows as if they could touch the dark blanket of clouds.

The living room was huge, as expected. A piano sat peacefully in the corner, inviting any of the musically talented boys to play it.

There were couches and soft plush chairs and loveseats lined in an orderly fashion, a long wood table in front of them.

“Alright, let’s tour this place tomorrow morning. We all need to get a good night’s sleep. Let’s figure out our rooming arrangements and call it a night,” Joonmyun clapped his hands and Kris did so as well, echoing Joonmyun.

“Leader-nim, can we please choose our roommates? Please?” pretty boy called out in accented Korean and Joonmyun put up a hand.

“Let’s discuss it in the living room.”

Everyone was gathered in a circle in the fancy living room, careful to not break anything as they still felt like this was a dream and were too stiff to actually feel comfortable.

“First, we might not know each other very well, so let’s go around saying our names. And uh, stage names, if you think it make you more comfortable or easier to remember.” Kris announced and Joonmyun nodded his head in agreement.

“First, I’m Kris, also known as Wu Fan in Chinese. I’ll be the leader of EXO-M and I hope we work together nicely.”

 “I am Joonmyun and I think…no wait, I know, that my stage name is Su Ho, so call me that if it makes you think I’m cuter,” he winked and the group, all great friends with him, laughed.

“I am Minseok, known as Xiumin,” the puffy cheeked guy stumbled on his Chinese name, “and I at Chinese. At the moment.” The members groaned in agreement.

“I’m Jongdae but since I’ll be in China, my name is Chen.”

“Why do you get an easier name?” Xiumin complained, playfully slapping Chen on the arm. “You can’t really sound Chinese with any syllable in the name Jongdae, so Chen it is.” Chen retorted, gently shoving Xiumin back.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun and this is Park Chanyeol!” Baekhyun said in a cheery voice but Chanyeol grimaced. “I wanted to introduce myself!” he boomed in a deep voice that didn’t suit his cute face at all, and Se Hun was suddenly taken aback by his bass-like voice.

“D.O.,” wide eyed boy said with wide eyes.

“But my birth name is Do Kyungsoo.” He said, still with wide eyes.

“I’m Kai, and my birth name is Kim Jong In,” Kai smiled widely and everyone stared enviously at his perfectly dark complexion.

“Kkamjong!” Baekhyun squeezed Kai’s cheeks and everyone laughed joyfully.

“I’m Lu Han, my birth name is Lu Han and you can call me Lu Han!” the pretty boy grinned.

“I’m Yi Xing and you can call me Lay, although it’s not really relevant to my birth name.” Lay shrugged.

“Tao,” a dark quiet boy said and suddenly burst into a wide bright smile.

Everyone turned to Se Hun and he gulped. “I, uh, I’m Se Hoo-Se Hun,” Se Hun mumbled, fidgeting.

It was all silent and Se Hun had a sinking feeling in his stomach, before Suho clapped his hands again to finish off the introductions and looked at Se Hun with a big smile.

“Well, now for the rooming arrangements! I have been told that yes, you can choose your own roommate and there are six rooms. Who can do math?”

“That’s two in each room, genius,” Xiumin playfully slugged Suho and the leader swung an arm around Xiumin.

“Except that we have to be rooming with someone from our own promotional group and that Minseok and Chen can’t room together because they need to practice Chinese,” Kris mock-glared specifically at Xiumin.

The eleven boys started arguing with each other over who to be roommates with and Se Hun sat in his seat, arms curled around his legs, waiting for someone to be ‘stuck’ with him.

“Alright, alright, Kai go room with D.O.” Suho pushed the two away and they ran off to search a room of their liking.

“And Chanyeol and Baekhyun,” he said again.

“Lay, you’ll be with Luhan and Xiumin with Tao. Chen, you can room with me.” Kris announced.

When everyone shuffled out of the living room to get ready for sleep, Suho looked up and smiled at Se Hun.

“Uncomfortable for you, it must be.”

“Yeah…” Se Hun drooped his head.

“It’s alright, we’re roommates now. Don’t feel pressured. Let’s get a good sleep, you have lessons tomorrow.”

Se Hun and Suho went into their room and changed into comfortable sweats and boxers and old T-Shirts.

“Who do I have lessons with?” Se Hun asked.

“With me, dum-dum.” Suho laughed nicely.

The lights clicked off and Se Hun and his never-ending thoughts were left in the dark.