First: The Sound of Tangled Syllables

Zitao looked over at Baekhyun as he nervously eyed the door before him. It was his first day of school in a completely different country- South Korea. His Korean had been menial at best, but with Baekhyun's help, the two had worked out a series of hand signals- and the like- that communicated anything he had issues with. He'd barely been in this new country for a week, but he still couldn't get used to the stares other people kept giving him. He felt a little out of place with everyone- everyone except for Baekhyun and the rest of the Byun family, that is. Biting his bottom lip, Zitao glanced at the elder.

"Do I have to meet the principal?" He asked, Baekhyun's hand freezing midair as he tried to figure out the younger's Korean through the accent- Zitao had horribly butchered his pronunciation of 'principal.'

Turning to Zitao with a reassuring smile, Baekhyun gave a nod, "Sorry, Tao, but you really do. It's okay, he'll be nice to you- he's one of my friend's father. He's a neat guy." Baekhyun explained slowly, making sure that Zitao could understand his every word.

Pouting, Zitao consented with a nod, and followed Baekhyun in as the elder opened the door. The first thing Zitao noticed was the sounds of a hurried conversation coming to an end- the words zipping past Zitao's ears faster than he could comprehend the first syllable uttered. When the two males in the room noticed the presence of Baekhyun and the hopelessly confused Zitao, silence fell upon them. It seemed like the clock's incessant ticking was echoing through the room for a solid ten seconds before the older gentleman realized the situation, a smile instantly gracing his face as he stepped in front of the considerably younger male and greeted them.

"Baekhyun! This must be the exchange student- Zitao?" The man greeted, his voice a bit gravelly- but not terribly unpleasant- but that's all Zitao caught from the man's words; other than their names.

Stepping in on behalf of Zitao, Baekhyun smiled brightly as he gave a polite greeting, "Yes, this is Zitao; however, he is still experiencing difficulties with speaking and understanding Korean. May I recommend speaking slower?" The elder looked like he was holding back several other comments if the twinkle in his eye was anything to go by.

The older gentleman released a good-natured laugh before extending a welcome to Zitao, his words coming at a slower pace that the exchange student still needed a moment to process. Smiling, Zitao greeted back, his thick accent causing the principal's lip to twitch with humor before he turned to the younger male behind him. "Zitao, this is my son, Oh Sehun- he's also one of Baekhyun's friends." The principal watched Zitao's face for any indication of confusion from the Chinese male, but seeing none, he pushed Sehun forward a bit. "You'll be in his classes because Baekhyun is in a higher year than you are, think of it as an opportunity to make new friends." Zitao wasn't given an opportunity to respond to this as Sehun wheeled around to face the principal.

"Wait, he's in all of my classes?" Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at Sehun's question, but said nothing as he glanced over at Zitao. Zitao's eyebrows had met in confusion as he tried to process the rushed syllables the other boy had spoken- and failed to make sense of them.

The principal quickly spoke the other male in a hushed whisper- once again reverting to a speed that Zitao couldn't comprehend. Pouting, Zitao looked over at Baekhyun, his mind racing as he tried to think of a solution to his problem. So caught up in the jumbled mess that was his brain, when Zitao finally did speak he fumbled with his Korean even more than usual, "Baekhyun-oppa... my book... classes..." Zitao's eyebrows creased as he folded his arms together around his torso, all of his words becoming a mess in his mind as he just looked pleadingly at his friend, oblivious to the other occupants of the room.

Baekhyun, noticing the way Sehun nearly snapped his neck turning to look when Zitao had called him 'oppa,' giggled to himself, "Zitao, 'oppa' is for girls." He reminded the younger with a soft smile and a gentle pat on the shoulder, "I'm sure Sehun will be happy to accompany you to your classes- and he'd be more than willing to share his books with you." Baekhyun added easily before turning his attention to Sehun, "Right, Sehunnie?" He questioned, one eyebrow raised in silent challenge. Sehun immediately felt pressured by the challenge his friend has laid before him, despite the reserves he had, he immediately nodded.

"Come on, Zitao, I'll show you the way." Sehun grumbled, speaking a bit too fast for Zitao who just stared at him. Sighing heavily, Sehun lost the will power to fight his father on the new set up as he grasped Zitao's wrist and nodded his head toward the door. "Follow me." He added, speaking considerably slower.

Glancing to Baekhyun, Zitao waited until the elder had nodded before nodding to the other male. "I follow." He agreed verbally, smiling brightly as Sehun glanced up at him. The fact that his statement wasn't exactly a 'normal' phrase didn't bother Zitao as he remained oblivious to the fact, he didn't' notice the way Sehun's shoulders were tensed with nervousness or the fact that the younger kept sneaking glances at him. What Zitao did notice was that even though the younger appeared to be gruff in his actions, he was a nice person. Zitao couldn't help but pay attention to the fact that although Sehun's grip on his wrist was tight, it wasn't uncomfortable; or that although the younger spoke as fast as he walked, every time Sehun spoke to Zitao, he made a conscous effort to slow his talking pace down. Sure, his aura would probably make most people stand-offish around him, but Zitao was intrigued by the other, but the reasoning behind his intrigue was simply shrugged off as Sehun spoke to him once again.

"The teachers already know you're here, and I'm positive my fath- the principal, has already contacted mine to say that you'll be sitting with me." Sehun worriedly glanced back at Tao to see if there had been any errors in communication.

Zitao simply smiled and nodded, "Okay. So, Sehun, when are we going to see Baekhyun again?" He asked, clearly nervous as he lifted his free hand and gently ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it a bit. The question was slow and the pace measured, but Sehun smiled internally as he noticed from the corner of his eye that the exchange student had nodded to himself after deciding he had phrased it correctly.

"Lunch." It was a simple, one-word answer, and yet the way Zitao's face lit up had Sehun biting the inside of his cheeks in an attempt to keep from smiling. He was known for his stoic personality, and he wasn't going to let that slip just because he found Zitao's behavior cute.

As they entered the classroom, Zitao was introduced to the teacher, but stared at the other male with wide eyes as he tried to understand everything past "Hello." After a few minutes of awkward silence, Sehun stepped forward, placing a hand gently on Zitao's shoulder, he looked to the teacher.

"Mr. Lee, sir, you spoke too fast for him. He is still a foreigner and is struggling a bit with understanding people who speak too quickly." Sehun explained, slowly enough that Zitao could keep up with the sentences. A smile spreading on his face, Zitao looked over to the younger and murmured a quiet, "Thank you."

After an awkward pause, the teacher gave a sheepish smile, "Sorry, Zitao. You can sit with Sehun." The teacher spoke considerably slower before turning to the younger of the two students, "Please show Zitao to his seat." 

Thus ends chapter one. And I begin thanking you all.

So, thank you so much for reading, commenting, subscribing, and upvoting as you so choose! ^^<3

You're all amazing!

~Ling<3

Edit: 2-27-2013

Thanks to all the new subs and my dearest friend EXOHasMyHeart. (You know why.)

I'm planning on putting the next chapter up in the next 24 hours, are you ready for this?

P.S.- Yay~ I won the bid~ ouo<3

~Ling<3 (again)