Myungsoo's VOP

“If you don’t open this door in three seconds…” I heard a familiar stern voice destroying the lazy morning silence of the sunlit room. While still staying half-asleep I turned over on my side and buried my head deeper in the pillow to hide from the disturbing noise. I winced when the impatient battering at the door continued even louder. With half-opened eyes I saw a pair of thin ankles moving towards the entrance.

“Gyu, is it really necessary to play the “you are in army now” game just because you think you aresome peace-officer of the dorm? It’s 7 am,“ I heard Sungjong’s sleepy voice coming from the other side of the room. “If you aren’t fond of your roommate that really doesn’t mean that you can just dump it on us,” he said grumblingly, letting his cousin in. “If you are going to make it a regular fixture, then, I swear, I’ll just order a set of good ear muffs.”

I tossed my head and sat on the bed, rubbing the pads of my fingers into my closed eyelids.

“If this is a good morning, than you can call me fairy godmother,” I mumbled, smothering a yawn, and turned to Sunggyu; his expression was so gloomy, if not to say funeral, that I almost felt sorry for him. He raised his baggy eyes on me, then pointed to the door:

“You guys have a very nice cozy looking door-mat here. Can I sleep on it?” He asked after a brief silence with a spice of desperation in his voice. “I won’t disturb, I promise, just let me freaking sleep here!”

Hearing the bossy Sunggyu begging for a place on the door-mat was enough to make my still drowsy roommate’s rigid face unstiffen. “Oh, come on! It couldn’t be that bad,” Sungjong smiled and gave me a leer look before disappearing in the bathroom.

“Not. That. Bad,” syllabized Sunggyu in disbelief. “That bastard left his laptop switched on and I woke up when it was 6 goddamn am because of that stupid noise his skype made. And guess what, he picked up the call, and I had to listen to this extremely entertaining conversation between him and his diva friend about the importance of bowties and the ugliness of Aladdin pants. What the f@ck are those by the way?” reeled Sungjong’s cousin and flung his arms up. “They shut up only when Sungyeol threw his alarm clock at Woohyun and threatened that next time it will be a chair. So yeah, it was bad, I’m not exaggerating,” finished he, and leaned against the yet empty bookshelf. Suddenly his gaze stopped on a shiny black leather case near my bed “You play guitar?” asked he in surprise and his gloomy expression lit up. “I don’t remember you had it yesterday.”

“Because I didn’t,” I stretched out and jumped to my feet. “The security here seems pretty paranoid: if someone took along a musical instrument, a professional camera or whatever they could find suspicious, they took it away to make it sure that they are not some spy gadgets or bombs.” I cast a glance at the leather case “So yeah, they took her away for a while. I’m wondering how that greasy neighbor of yours managed to sneak his laptop.”

“Guess his heart and aegyo cannonade forced the enemies to surrender,” Sunggyu rolled his small eyes in irritation mentioning Woohyun.

“Anyway, why are you so interested in my guitar? “ I asked while making a vain attempt to find something not rumpled in my still unpacked suitcase. 

“Because this naggy old bone has a surprisingly good voice, especially when he uses it for singing and not whining,” laughed Sungjong and threw a pink Rilakkuma towel at his cousin, who failed to dodge and ended up with a Japanese bear-printed rubber on his face.

“YAH!”

I choked on my laugh and turned to my roommate who was still dressed in a soft pastel pink t-shirt and a pair of dotted navy blue shorts which made his long legs look even slimmer. A few wet strands of hair stuck to his forehead making me feel a burning need to pull them back from his face. I couldn’t help it, but those chocolate-brown forelocks somehow made me unusually restless in some extremely disturbing way. Not staring at him started to become a real problem already. I could only hope that I’ll get used to his appearance sooner or later, otherwise one day I will disappear to be found in the woods buried by the overprotective mr. “I’m the Arts club president”.

“I’ll take a shower,” I blurted and grabbed a black-white plaid shirt from the suitcase – the first thing I could put my hand on. “Can’t say it was nice to see you at this time of the day,” I smirked at Sunggyu before disappearing behind the bathroom door.     

The cafeteria’s size reminded me of the small sports stadium I used to go jogging when I was in high school. The style of the room was too ambitious, nothing like the simple modern elegance of our rooms and the hall in the main building – bronze florid carving on the window frames, light turquoise walls with some curly print here and there, and a massive chandelier hanging in the middle (Does the headmaster, or how they call him here, the president, have a thing for rococo, or what?).

“Are we in Ouran high school hostclub? What the…?” Sungyeol, whose mood was already the lowest of the low, thanks to his talkative roommate, made a helpless gesture and scanned the cafeteria with a rueful countenance. “My eyes are bleeding, guys, bleee-ding,” he summed up and opened his mouth again to add something, I guess, sarcastic, but was interrupted by a cheerful voice:

“Hey, here!”

The three of us turned around to see how two familiar figures – one dressed in a pansy colored t-shirt so vivid, that it was difficult not to notice it – were waving from one of the corner tables.

“Nah, at least someone has good mood here, nice to know it,” grumbled Sungyeol, adding a “lucky bastards” to his speech, while we were trying to make our way through the heavy perfumed crowd.       

“Oh, I see the style suits your tastes, gentlemen. Isn’t it exquisite,” said Dongwoo in a dramatically intelligent manner, flauntily offering a seat to Sungjong, who couldn’t resist a laughter.  “I swear, when I saw it for the first time, I almost ordered my coffee in French, considering the fact that I don’t speak French and don’t drink coffee.”

Even Sunggyu, who was sitting near Hoya examining the, no doubt, very entertaining tabletop, chuckled and pointed at the other side of cafeteria, not bothering himself to look up:

“Food. There.”

Sungjong rolled his feline eyes and took both me and Sungyeol by the arm, flipping his hair in a manner of some capricious diva.

“Gentlemen, we have nothing to do in the company of such a rude, ill-mannered boor,” he said in a high pitched voice, giving Sunggyu a dramatic look. “At least until there is no food on this table.”

“In, freaking, deed, “nodded Sungyeol and tipped his nonexistent hat. “If I don’t get my bucket of coffee right now, there will be blood.”  

The formula “Myungsoo + crowd + anything you can easily spill, drop or break (or break because of dropping)” never worked for me. Actually it was a living nightmare every goddamn time – shouldering through the throng and just hoping that today the god of clumsiness will spare all those innocent people around me. Well, today he was merciful enough and made an exception only for some dead-pan faced mod I accidently ran into. Mumbling a quick “I’msosorry”, I took a grip on Sungjong’s hand and hurried towards the cafeteria corner where our building neighbors were sitting. I was only a few steps away from the sleeping Sunggyu, when I heard a loud “Hey!” right behind my back. Great, here it goes again. I turned around, ready to the “Calm down, it was just an accident” conversation I had like a million times in my life with those don’t-you-dare-just-run-into-me guys.

“Look, it was…”

“I think you dropped this.” I heard the boy’s voice and blinked in surprise, realizing that he wasn’t even talking to me. His eyes were right on Sungjong, who was staying beside me holding a huge yellow tray full of sweets. I cast a glance over Mr. Fashionable’s hand and saw a familiar key – just like the one that was hidden somewhere in the inner pocket of my backpack. The only difference was a tiny smiling strawberry charm my roommate attached to his copy.

“Oh. Yes. Mine.” mumbled the confused Sungjong and took his key from the stranger’s laded with rings hand. “I should’ve put it in a safer place. Thank you!”

Maybe I should stop being such a snob and labeling every wealthy looking student…

“It’s ok. I guess you are new here. Your name?” asked the boy in a frivolous manner screwing his face into a smile as he scanned my roommate from head to foot.

Or maybe I shouldn’t.      

“Lee. Sung. Jong. Here. Now!” Sunggyu’s furious voice interrupted the boy’s conversation and before he could hardly utter a word, a pair of hands grabbed my roommate, taking him away from the stranger.

I shrugged my shoulders and made an “Oops, we have to go” expression before leaving the older alone.

“What the hell, Gyu?!” anger showed up on Sungjong’s pretty face coloring his porcelain cheeks into all shades of red as Hoya settled him opposite Sunggyu. “I lost my keys, he gave them back. I could say a freaking ‘Thank you!’ without asking your permission, couldn’t I?”

“No, you couldn’t,” answered Sunggyu watching his cousin gasp in disbelief. “I just don’t get it. Why, why this baby face of yours always attracts trash like a magnet.” he continued after a moment of stony silence.

“Oh, God, what are you talking…”

“I am talking about that guy” – interrupted Sunggyu in a deadly voice, shooting Dongwoo and Howon a look of deep significance. “And before you start your speech about me being overprotective and stuff, I can assure you that I am not”  

“You know, putting your brother in the pillory is one of my favorite hobbies, but now he really has a point, sorry,” said Dongwoo as he leaned back on his chair. “I thought this will be unnecessary, but I guess we need to clarify something about certain…persons here.”

I gave our narrator a level look: his always joyful expression changed into a serious countenance and that image of the dino-looking jester, he usually used, disappeared in a moment.

“So,” he started slowly “in a nutshell, you can make friends with whoever you want except one group of people. Four of them, by the way, are now sitting two tables behind us.” He paused for a few seconds waiting for me, Sungyeol and Sungjong to notice those who he was talking about and slightly nodded when we finally did. “This is not an American high school drama with bullies and cheerleaders. This is just a very, very bad company with the president’s beloved nephew running the show. Cliché as hell, I know, but you have nothing to do with them. The one who found your key is Sehun, and he is the biggest goddamn ever. Ever. And judging by everything I have seen last year (he is a sophomore), he has a weakness for…” it was obvious that Dongwoo was pursuing the proper words “slightly feminine looking boys,” he finally finished and shot my roommate an expressive glance.  

I clenched my fists under the table. Well, at least this time my instincts were right.

“The blond one is Wu Fan, third year. As for me, he is just an addle-brained fashionista, but he is also Tao’s best friend. Just try to avoid wearing the same clothes as he does, and maybe everything is going to be fine.” Dongwoo looked at Hoya who was sitting right opposite the table of the ‘bad company’. “Ho, I can’t see who the third one is. Usually Chanyeol sits there, but I would recognise his hair”

“Jong-in” answered Howon in a sharp voice and made a wry mouth.

“Ah, Jong-in. Our handsome ego tripper and the person, who sticks in Hoya’s gizzard. Unfortunately he really is a good dance…”

“Shut up, Dino, his dancing skills are not the staple of this conversation,” hissed Hoya, crossing arms on his .

“Jeez, calm down, dance machine!” Dongwoo grinned and turned to us. “See? Lesson number two, kids: never say that someone is a good dancer when Hoya is around. So, Jong-in. He hates when someone calls him that way, because there is this stage name ‘Kai’ that he uses. I swear, he even signs his tests as Kai and the professors just have to accept it. If you have some pretty female friend or a girlfriend, then you should warn her that captioning this guy’s imagination won’t be a good idea.”

Dongwoo took a sip of some strange magenta colored energy drink that he took away from Hoya and immediately winced “Gah, how can you drink this?! Anyway, here comes the drum-roll. That kid, who is using the tabletop as a pillow and doesn’t give a sh@t about anything happening around him, is Tao. Don’t look at him, don’t talk to him, don’t bump into him. And remember, even if you film him robbing a bank, you will be the one who ends up in jail.”

“You are portraying him like he is some random bully, whose biggest crime was bathing someone in the school toilet,” snapped out Sunggyu with a deadly tone. “And we all know…”

“Yes, yes, he is a demon, grandpa! And your roommate left because of him. Just one thing: for some reason you are the only one who mysteriously ‘knows the truth’ about Doojoon’s abrupt departure, though it’s an admitted fact that you two hated each other,” snapped out Dongwoo. It was obvious that they already had this argument several times.

Sunggyu furiously crumpled up a paper tissue and rose to his feet with a jerk, making a loud scrape with his chair.

“You. Know. Nothing,” he said through clenched teeth and gave his cousin a baleful stare “I’m leaving. Don’t stay long, your lecture starts in 15 minutes.”

“And I’m forced to live with this, not to mention the aegyo generator. Just saying,” commented Sungyeol, watching Sunggyu’s back to disappear in the crowd.    

I ran my eyes over the four members of the ‘Don’t mess with us’ gang and finally wanted to turn my back to them, when the main target of Sunggyu’s and Dongwoo’s argument suddenly lifted his head up, making me able to see his face. Well, this Tao definitely stood out of the company and the crowd in general as well. He wasn’t beautiful or handsome in the way the Kai named boy was, nevertheless, there was something in those sharp features I couldn’t take my eyes off. He looked utterly tired or even sick: he was white as death, lips bloodless, fullness under his sloe eyes that gave a stony stare to anyone as soon as he opened them. His appearance itself was enough to set the tongues wagging; it seemed impossible that someone looking like that could live a life without a bunch of skeletons in his closet. No, he didn’t have the look of an actor, who is fated to play the cliché bad guy for the rest of his life, but there was something vicious in that clean-cut favoured face.

My mother always used to say, that my idea of beauty was a real Chinese puzzle for her. As far back as I can remember I had found someone’s flaws way more attractive than that boring perfection everyone adores. Beauty is something memorable, an image that makes you want to capture it on a photograph. Catching that kind of crooked fairness was something I wanted to do for living those days; I wandered the streets with my biggest treasure – my camera – hanging on my neck, in search of some unusual sort of beauty, feeling like my simple Canon was a butterfly net, intended to snare the most exotic species. Those were good times full of teenage romanticism and rebellion against the world, and though I managed to outgrow the funny maximalism of mine, I still have a thing for the “too” appearances. If you can add that adverb to the adjective while describing someone – that’s it. I removed my gaze from Tao (features too sharp) and looked over the boys at our table. Sungyeol – too tall, Sungjong – too skinny and feminine for a male, not to mention Dongwoo, whose appearance was a one big “too”.  

“Shouldn’t we go? We have 10 minutes at most,” I felt Sungjong’s hand on my shoulder and slightly nodded, trying to push away all the thoughts about this pale faced Tao boy. I quickly casted a glance upon the huge gold clock on the other side of the cafeteria: 8:51. I was searching for my backpack under the table, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone looking straight in our direction. I carefully turned my head to prove myself that I was right: Sehun, that mod, who was sitting near Tao with an air of contemptuous indifference, now was literally devouring Sungjong with his eyes. I gulped, trying not to lose my countenance; for some reason that leer on someone as innocent as Sungjong made me feel an irresistible impulse to smash my fist right into Sehun’s face.  Before my common sense could start objecting, I raised my eyes on my roommate and gave him a tender (way, too, freaking tender) look. And as if making that cheesy face wasn’t enough, I reached my hand out and carefully tidied his hair, pulling a strand behind his ear while looking right into his almond shaped eyes. “Let’s go,” I smiled sweetly, as slightly pushing him forward.

Fortunately Sungjong didn’t show any interest in killing me here and now, but I noticed that my actions brought a telltale blush to his cheeks. He quickly grabbed his bag and we left Dongwoo and Hoya with those terrible expressive grins on their faces.

When we were passing the gang’s table, I could clearly feel that a pair of pursy eyes was following us.         

Author's Note:

Hiii everyone!  High five and a hug for every subscriber and reader! Love you!

About this chapter:

1. Censorship T___T. The first chapters are innocent as a 13 year old Taemin, so I don’t want them to become M-rated because of a few words. When Jason is done with this whole fixing the aff thing, then I’ll remove all the “@” from the swearwords, because I hate it just as much as you, guys.
2. I hope everybody figured out who Woohyun’s diva friend is? :D
3. I changed the age of EXO boys a little, so Tao and Kris are the same age (both third years).

Hope you enjoyed it.

Feel free to subscribe if you like the story, and, yes, I love comments like Sunggyu loves Woohyun (that means that I’m in denial, but I can’t live without them).