EXO watched numbly as you approached them again after bidding farewell to Kyuhyun and thanking him for his time.

"Satisfied?" you asked, smirking a little at the dumbstruck faces before you.

They nodded mutely, except for Kai, who stubbornly kept his gaze on the ground somewhere three feet to your right.

"That was so cool, Jinhye-jie!" the tall boy with a messy mop of jet black hair and distinctive heavily-shadowed eyes burst out, flushing when your eyes flicked over to him, one eyebrow raised.

"What did you just call me?"

"It's the Chinese equivalent of noona," answered the taller male that you'd noted earlier beside him. This time, however, his face betrayed a slight fond exasperation when he glanced at the first boy, who quickly ducked his head, the previously pink flush darkening.

"I see..." you said slowly. "Well for uniformity's sake, you can all call me Jinhye, or Jinhye-ssi, if you must. None of this sunbae, or seonsangnim crap."

"But that's hardly appropriate-" the one who you now assumed to be the leader, or at least the very polite spokesperson, of the group started to insist, but you raised a hand to stop him.

"Jinhye or Jinhye-ssi. Sunbae and seonsangnim make me feel old."

"And how old are you, exactly?" another one asked in a polite but cold tone. You looked at him when he spoke and recieved a small surprise. He was, and there was really no other word for it, extraordinarily pretty for a male.

"Twenty one, which," you paused as a spasm of shock made its way around the group. "Judging by your reations, is a lot younger than you expected me to be." A few nodded silently.

"Well then, why don't you introduce yourselves? Unless you want me to refer to you as Panda, Mr.Brick Wall, Mr. Too Pretty for Your Own Good, and Mr. In Serious Need of Anger Management Counselling?"

"I don't need anger management counselling!" Kai snapped sharply, hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"But I never specified who I was referring to," you said with an angelic smile. There was a general snickering in the group.

"I'm Suho, and I'm twenty-three," the polite spokesperson was the first to speak (again), bowing to you as he did so. You inclined your head in return.

"I'm Chen, twenty-two," said the teen beside him, copying Suho and bowing as well. You nodded at him.

"My name is Baekhyun, also twenty-two," said the next boy with a small smile and a bow.

The one beside him, darker-skinned than the rest and the one you'd labelled as a fiery hothead, refused to speak and chose to stare pointedly in another direction. You watched his actions with quiet amusement.

"Kai, don't be rude," Baekhyun hissed as he poked said person in the side.

"No, it's fine," you said calmly, causing Baekhyun to stare. "The name's Kai, right? And as for his age..." you paused and looked over him for a second, "I'm guessing twelve? Thirteen?"

"I'm twenty-one!" Kai shouteed angrily over the laughter that had erupted. Even Mr. Brick Wall (as you had dubbed him) cracked a grin at the ease with which you managed to get under Kai's skin.

"I'm Chanyeol, and I'm twenty-two," said the boy next to Kai in a strikingly deep voice that did not match his rather childish and cute face. He grinned at you widely, and you were suddenly made aware of just how many teeth he had.

"I'm D.O, twenty-two as well," the one beside Chanyeol stated with a bow.

"I'm Sehun, I'm twenty," murmured the next boy, bowing as well. You noted a slight lisp in his speech. 

"My name's Lay, and I'm twenty-three according to my ID," the next male stated with a solemn expression, but a twinkle in his eyes invited your next question.

"According to your ID?"

"I'm actually a hundred and eighty-six," he answered sombrely, causing a few chuckles and eyerolls. You raised an eyebrow.

"Well then, er, sir, might I say that you look very well for your age."

He shrugged. "It's SM," he stated with a completely serious expression.

You were stunned for a second, then burst into laughter, doubling over. Wiping a tear from the corner of your eye, you missed the surprised looks exchanged in the group, as if they couldn't believe you did anything as human and age-appropriate as laugh.

"Ahaha, aaahhh...and you are?" you smiled at the pretty boy beside Lay.

"Luhan," he said, slightly thrown off by your genuine smile from the after-effects of laughter. "And I'm twenty-four," he added quickly, cursing himself internally for stuttering. You nodded, and turned to the boy beside him.

"I'm Xiumin, also twenty-four."

By now, you were seriously wondering where on earth SM found these boys. Luhan, who was one of the oldest, looked not only like he should be the youngest, but had a face that could (and probably did, judging by your own reaction) put a lot of girls to shame. And now this boy, Xiumin, older than you by three years, but all you wanted to do was squish his cheeks. You slapped yourself mentally and refocussed on the taller boy beside Xiumin, the one who had called you - what was it? - jie - before. With the dark hair and shadowy eyes, he might have looked intimidating if it hadn't been for the wide smile on his face.

"I'm Tao, and I'm twenty! It's nice to meet you, Jinhye-jie!" he said, bowing deeply before bolting back upright and correcting himself quickly. "I mean, Jinhye-ssi!" He bowed again.

You couldn't help but grin back a little at his enthusiasm, before shifting your gaze to Mr. Brick Wall, only to be taken aback at having it met dead-on by his sharp and piercing stare. You had the uncomfortable feeling that that stare hadn't left you once since you first introduced yourself.

"Kris. Twenty-four." He did not bow or smile, but held your gaze until you finally looked away. As much as you didn't want to admit it, you shivered slightly inside. Not because you found him scary, but because that disconcerting, almost haunting gaze was too familiar for comfort.

You mentally slapped yourself again.

Focus.

"Right then, now that we've all gotten to know each other, let's get started, shall we?"

Murmured agreement and nods from the group.

"Fantastic! Fifty laps around the track, let's go!"

"WHAT?!"

You shrugged. "Lee Sooman told me to train you. Id est, he gave me complete control over your actions and activities. Id est, you do what I tell you. Now chop chop! There's no dinner till you're done!" You waved them off with a smile as you sat down on one of the benches.

One by one, the team trudged off to the gates, some with disgruntled expressions, some with resigned ones, some still in shock at the task assigned to them.

And as usual, Mr. Brick Wall - Kris - with none at all.

"Ah, rookies," you murmured to yourself wiht a shake of your head.

You watched them as they made their way through their laps. You were pleased to see that none of them, not even Kai, ran at their limit in the beginning, choosing instead to pace themselves.

However, as expected, one by one, EXO began to stop due to exhaustion, some remaining at a standstill to catch their breath, some falling to all fours, coughing heavily. You would then shout for them to keep moving.

Kris and Tao were the only ones who did not stop once, instead alternating between jogging and walking.

As each of them finished, they did not return to where you were sitting. Instead, they waited on the lawn by the gates, shouting encouragement to those remaining on the track. You smiled to yourself at their camaraderie.

When they finally did troop back to your position in the bleachers, exhausted and panting, it was to find you setting out twelve plates laden with food. Their eager faces fell however, when you stopped them from touching the plates. 

"What, is starving us part of the training too?" Kai asked mockingly.

"Of course not. Just one condition for mealtimes." You indicated the plates, untensils, and glasses, all of which were made of either porcelain or glass.

"Not a single sound while your eating. That means no talking, no slurping, no clinking of anything on anything. I don't even want to hear you chewing. One sound and it's five more laps around the track, understoond?"

"What the ? WHY?!?" Kai exploded, as you had expected him to. You let out a sigh.

"Thank you for teaching the first lesson, Kai," you nodded at him. "Though I'm kind of disappointed you didn't sooner."

EXO looked at you in bewilderment. You faced them and spoke with complete seriousness.

"Lesson number one. Always question orders given to you. Always. Not necessarily by physically demanding an explanation from the person giving them to you, but make sure you understand why you're doing what you're doing."

"Why?" Luhan inquired sardonically. You didn't grin, however, but replied grimly.

"You'll regret it eventually."

--

So you'll notice that I've aged all of them up by three years. For the sake of the age difference between them and Jinhye.

...cept for Tao because I'm kind of in love with the image of him calling Jinhye jiejie. <3

Kind of a lazy chapter, but there's hints of Kris/Reader in there now. What. It's THERE okay.

If you hit yourself a few times with Tao's wushu stick and hold your breath like Xiumin for a few minutes while riding a unicorn.

Also I totally don't ship TaoRis. Nope. Not at all. *nods furiously*

Leave a little love 'n hate in the reviews? As both an authoress and fangirl, I'd love some some writing feedback, as well as swooning over these boys. Cheers!

-Ace