Baekhyun scans the crowd of students milling throughout the cozy Illyria cafeteria carefully, eyes searching for a particular head of honey blonde hair most likely put in tiny pigtails.

He clutches his lunch tray a little harder when he sees nothing.

'Ugh where is she?' Baekhyun stresses mentally, wanting to find a seat with someone he knows, even if it's his new roommate of two days who he's only just getting to know.

After all, today was the first day of classes.

And waking up in an empty dorm room with only his fluttering nerves to accompany him didn't help. Actually, come to think about it, Baekhyun hadn't seen Lu for a while now. She hadn't been back at the dorm when he'd returned from his eventful Principle visit, and now this morning.

"Hmm," Baekhyun mumbles thoughtfully under his breath.

But so far so good with classes at least. He'd already had his first class of the day, some required intro to Humanities class, that morning, and aside from having a professor with way too much energy that early in the day, everything had gone smoothly.

Except for now, since Baekhyun is currently facing the awkward 'where to sit on the first day with no friends' dilemma.

Too lost in scanning the student body in front of him, Baekhyun nearly drops his tray when a long arm adorned with multiple bracelets swings around his shoulders from behind, a cheerful "Roomie!" soon following loudly in his ear.

Regaining his breath as well as his grip on his tray, Baekhyun cranes his neck back to look up into Lu's face beaming down at him.

'Damn, why is she so tall?' Baekhyun wonders wistfully, giving an internal sigh.

"Oh hey, nice to see you here, my missing roommate," Baekhyun says playfully with a gentle elbow to Lu's stomach, chuckling when she over-dramatically doubles over holding her stomach.

"Oh sorry about that," Lu pokes Baekhyun's side. "You know, stuff to do, things to take care of," she says with a wink.

"Wow, that sounds ominous," Baekhyun jokes, but he's cut off as Lu suddenly whisks him into the crowd of students. And then he's being plopped down at an empty table, scrambling to adjust his windswept clothes before something slips up or falls out. 

"Ah yum, cafeteria food," Lu grimaces and steals a fry from Baekhyun's tray after she sits down beside him, dodging the following swats from the latter.

"Is this where you usually sit?" Baekhyun questions, swinging his bag up onto the table and simultaneously chomping onto a fry.

"Uh, yeah I guess," Lu replies with a shrug. "It changes up a lot since there are always new people coming in".

"Hmm," Baekhyun hums in reply. "So, any other upperclassmen you know that I should meet?" he asks, mainly to throw in some topic to talk about.

Unfortunately, that's not how his question seems to come across.

Luhanna side-eyes him and then looks at their empty table.

"Are you questioning my lack of friends?" she asks, eyes narrowing.

Baekhyun freezes with a fry poised in his hand.

Whoops.

"I mean, I was just wondering," Baekhyun stutters, heat creeping up his face. "You know, I mean we are at an empty table," he continues, mentally face-palming when Lu raises her eyebrows at him.

Luhanna waves away his stuttering before making to get up. "I'm gonna go grab something to eat," she says, and Baekhyun feels like grabbing her to make her stay.

But then Baekhyun feels a pressure on head and he looks up to see Lu ruffling his hair.

And doubling over in laughter.

"Oh wow you should have seen your face Bae," she laughs loudly. "It was like 'Oh no I've pissed her off now'," she continues with an imitation of Baekhyun's scared expression.

"Shut up" Baekhhun grumbles, letting out a breath and pulling Lu back down on the bench with him.

This girl is going to be the end of him.

"Are you questioning my lack of friends?" Baekhhun imitates back in a high pitched voice, rolling his eyes with a smile afterwards.

Which only makes Lu laugh harder.

Once her laughter dies down a bit, Lu gives a sigh and then props her chin on her hand.

"I would introduce you to some of my friends," Luhanna starts, "But my really good friends were upperclassmen and they already graduated".

"Ahh, gotcha," Baekhyun replies, suddenly glad that he has two younger friends who could possibly end up at Illyria with him even after Suho graduates.

That is, if he doesn't get caught for cross-dressing and then possibly expelled first.

But that's a thought for another time.

Baekhyun's about to continue talking, however, when something catches his eye.

Or should he say someone.

A quite attractive, tall, clumsy someone who knocked him over during move-in.

Not that Baekhyun's complaining.

Baekhyun grabs Lu's arm tightly, ignoring her surprised yelp, and leans closer, his eyes still on the prize.

"There he is!" he whispers, voice coming out slightly higher than normal, and Lu's eyes widen as they glance around suspiciously.

"Who?" she whispers back after a pause, and it occurs to Baekhyun that he's acting like a stalkerish fangirl but he brushes that thought aside.

Because he's here.

****

Chanyeol guffaws loudly at some joke his friend had just cracked off as they walk into the crowded cafeteria, his heart swelling at the noise of people milling around, the aroma of lunch wafting through the air, new freshmen clutching their schedules in their hands.

He loves people.

Speaking of which...

"Oh my god she's here" Chanyeol grabs onto one of Kris' lanky arms tightly.

"Who?" Kris questions loudly, craning his head around with a large grin.

Chanyeol nearly tackles him right there in the cafeteria.

"Jesus could you be any louder?" Chanyeol hisses before pushing his laughing friend into an empty seat at some random table.

Of course, some random table with a good view of his target.

Not that Chanyeol planned it that way or anything.

"Sorry, sorry," Kris says with his hands raised in the air, still grinning. "Where is she?"

Chanyeol slumps down next to Kris, trying to inconspicuously lift his hand to his mouth as if coughing and point at the same time, mumbling a quick "Straight to your right, two subjects occupying the table, short hair" under his breath.

****

"The tall one," Baekhyun whispers to Lu, glancing up from his fries at the gangly guy who seems to be hacking for dear life into his fist.

Poor guy.

His friend, Baekhyun assumes, is oblivious to his amber haired friend's coughing situation, since he seems to be too busy looking around the room with a large grin.

"Alright, well unless mine eyes deceive me," Luhanna says with an eyebrow raised, "both of your victims seem to be tall, so the real question is, which tall guy do you have your eyes set on?"

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and then yelps when he turns to see Lu holding her hands up to her eyes like binoculars and staring intently at mystery guy's table.

****

"Yeol, they both have short hair," Kris sighs, turning around to whack Chanyeol across the head.

Fortunately, they both miss Luhanna's creepy binocular actions going on across the room during this small squabble.

"You should know which one it is, Kris!" Chanyeol grumbles, running his fingers through his amber-colored hair.

"How should I know?! She's not my crush!" Kris retorts loudly, and Chanyeol slaps a large hand across his mouth.

Or really, across Kris' entire face due to the size of Chanyeol's hand.

After escaping from Chanyeol's death grip on his face, Kris turns, breathing slightly harder, to face his crazy-eyed friend.

"Ok, this shouldn't be this hard, Chanyeol," he says, grabbing Chanyeol's face to angle it towards the girls' table. "Just answer this, is it black haired or blondie?"

****

"It appears we have an amber colored giant and a dark red-tinged-black roots giant over yonder," Lu says, still laughing from Baekhyun's reaction to her binoculars. "Which one is it going to be?"

"Don't you know their names?" Baekhyun asks with a huff, feeling much more flustered now than when he'd first spotted lover boy mystery guy.

Luhanna shoots him a bewildered expression.

"Come on, Bae, first you accuse me of having no friends and now you think I know everyone?" she asks, holding a hand to her chest dramatically.

Baekhyun knocks his shoulder against hers, letting out a groan.

"Just kidding," she singsongs in response, before pulling Baekhyun down until they're nearly cheek to cheek to stare intently and obviously stealthily at the two across the cafeteria.

"Alright," she whispers, one hand clamped on the back of Baekhyun's neck.

There's a pause.

"Yes?" Baekhyun whispers cautiously, trying and failing to look over at Luhanna.

Lu clears .

"Sorry, I just blanked," she says, gesturing to her head.

Baekhyun turns to face her with an incredulous expression.

And then before Lu can say anything, he raises a hand and smacks her directly on the forehead.

With the accompanying cry of "Should of had a V8!".

Lu blinks.

"Come again?" she questions, rubbing her forehead.

"You know," Baekhyun says, starting to wonder where that just came from. "Should of had a V8, like, the drink?" he continues.

Luhanna still looks confused, but now there's also a hint of mischief in her expression.

"I'll show you V8" she mutters, right before grabbing Baekhyun's drink.

And pouring it on him.

"Bae? Baaaeee?" Baekhyun hears in his ear, an arm waving in front of his vision suddenly.

"Sorry," he says, shaking his head. "You were saying?"

"Oh yeah," Lu's voice whispers in his ear. "Umm, amber over there is...Kris, and the dark red who's holding Kris' face at the time, which is not unusual, might I add, is Chanyeol,".

She pauses.

"Yeah." she gives a nod of confirmation.

Baekhyun looks over at her from the corner of his eyes, brows furrowed.

"You sure about that?" he questions.

Lu releases her grip on Baekhyun's neck with a laugh, ruffling his hair.

"Of course I'm sure, I've seen them around a lot," she reassures Baekhyun, before grabbing him again.

"Oh! I almost forgot," she says excitedly.

"What?" Baekhyun asks.

"Well, I told you the names, which one is it gonna be?"

Baekhyun flashbacks to when he'd been knocked over by the guy with amber colored hair and the crazy smile, and he nearly starts smiling to himself before he remembers Lu's question.

"Oh," Baekhyun clears his throat, blushing. "I guess it's Kris, if the amber haired guy's name is Kris," he says finally, still dubious of Luhanna's knowledge of their names.

Lu slaps a hand on Baekhyun's back.

"Come on, Bae, you've gotta stop doubting me. I know this place like the back of my hand," she says, lifting a blue nailed hand up in front of their faces.

She gives a small frown and then drops her hand back into her lap.

That's reassuring.

****

"Umm, bwondie" Chanyeol manages out, his cheeks being squeezed between Kris' large hands.

Kris releases his hold on Chanyeol's face with a sigh of relief and runs his fingers through his dark reddish-black hair.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Kris says, receiving a scowl from Chanyeol in return.

"Wasn't so hard? Can't you remember the one girl in this school I've crushed on since we've been here?" the amber-haired male retorts, looking angry but cute at the same time with his cheeks dusted pink from blushing.

"You have not," Kris replies with an eyebrow quirked.

Chanyeol's mouth falls open.

"You did not just go there brother," he says sassily, one hand placed directly in front of Kris' face.

"Uh, I just did," Kris retorts just as sassily, swinging his head to the side of Chanyeol's hand and pursing his lips, which only makes him look like confused, pained ostrich.

Which is exactly what Chanyeol then tells him.

To which they both start laughing loudly like the idiotic best friends they are.

"But really," Chanyeol says abruptly, his laughter suddenly cut off. "I have."

"Ok then, what's her name?" Kris questions with a smirk.

"Luhanna." Chanyeol answers instantly.

Kris moves to Chanyeol's other side, forcing his amber-haired friend to turn his back towards the table with the two girls.

"No peeking, ok?" Kris questions with a professional crack of his knuckles like he's preparing to interrogate someone.

Which, technically, he is.

"Yup" Chanyeol answers, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hand and narrowing his eyes at Kris in a challenge.

"Hair right now," Kris starts, also turning to face Chanyeol and leaning forward, eyes darting between his friend and his friend's crush.

"Pig tails, bangs pinned back," Chanyeol shoots back.

"Major?"

"Undecided,"

"Eye color?"

"Dark brown,"

"Hair color?"

"Bleached blonde, naturally black,"

"Makeup?"

"Lightly done and beautiful"

"Outfit?"

"School skirt uniform," Chanyeol says with a sigh, looking at his nails.

This is just too easy.

Kris' eyes light up, however, and he straightens with a smirk.

"Single?"

Chanyeol's own smirk drops and he straightens up as well, suddenly unsure.

"Unknown?" he answers with wide eyes, as if the thought had never occurred to him.

But then the chuckling Kris in front of him comes back to mind and he narrows his eyes again.

"Low blow, man, low blow," he says, slapping Kris in various areas that he can reach.

Kris squawks and readjusts himself on the bench, ruffling Chanyeol's hair with a grin.

"Sorry, sorry, but there's one thing we can grasp from this interrogation," he says, still grinning at Chanyeol.

"And that is?" Chanyeol replies.

"You just like her because you think she's hot," Kris accuses, poking his finger in Chanyeol's chest.

Chanyeol gasps.

"Hot?!" he says with a scandalized expression. 

Kris raises his brows.

"She's adorable!" Chanyeol exclaims, bringing both hands up to his cheeks and turning to look back over at said girl.

Kris groans in response, letting his head thump against the table.

****

'He's adorable!' Baekhyun fanboys mentally as he glances up again to sneak a peek at amber/apparentlyKris holding both sides of his face while his friend, apparentlyChanyeol, collapses over the table.

Right as Kris turns around, still holding his face adorably and looks straight at their table.

Baekhyun nearly chokes on his fry as he quickly turns to look at Lu instead, heat creeping up his face.

She's currently holding both hers and Baekhyun's schedule in hand, eyes scrunched as she scans both papers.

"Yay!" Lu exclaims suddenly. "Bae, we have our next class together, umm, BioChem or something like that, which I'm probably terrible at but it doesn't matter because we're together!" she says in one breath, flapping the schedules in both hands.

"Wait, why are we in the same class if you're in a different grade?" Baekhyun says, looking over at the schedules.

Lu rolls her eyes.

"Well, Bae, because one, this is college and you're going to have older people in your classes occasionally, and two, you're super smart and tested out of the beginning classes for BioChem or something like that," she says.

Baekhyun nods slowly. smooth, real smooth

"Wait," Baekhyun starts again, frowning. "Why'd you say you'd probably be terrible at BioChem if you've already taken the intro classes for it?"

Lu stares at the schedules in her hands for a moment before blinking and turning to face Baekhyun.

"The classes are all different, you know," she says with a shrug. "I have my strong points and my not so strong points, so I'm just hoping my more strong points stand out in this class," she says, and then hesitates.

"Oh, and I'm still trying out different classes because I'm an undecided major," she adds good job, Chanyeol before grabbing Baekhyun's arm and shaking the schedule out in front of his face.

"And we should probably get going because our shared class starts in like, ten minutes," she reminds Baekhyun, who still wants to ask some questions but shoves them aside instead, grabbing his tray to dump it.

Once back by Luhanna's side, Baekhyun decides to link arms with his new roommate, since it seems like something Lu would do herself, and smiles when she squeezes his arm.

But then she squeals excitedly, says something rapid-fire about being so excited because "we have a class together and you've practically got a boyfriend!", and then Baekhyun's shushing her because she nearly shouted it.

There's never a calm day around her.

****

"She's definitely changed something since last year," Chanyeol mutters to himself, watching Lu and her vaguely familiar black-haired friend get up from their table.

He's too busy trying to figure out what, exactly, she'd changed to notice that Kris had asked him a question, only hearing Kris' deep tone and a familiar name at the end of a question filter in his ear.

Kris sighs.

"Hey! Stop being a creep and talk to me!" he says with a huff, whacking Chanyeol's shoulder and then rotating his head to make his friend stop staring creepily at his lover-girl.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Chanyeol asks with a poke to Kris' stomach.

"I said, where's our little friend?" Kris repeats, gesturing with his head to the empty spot at their table.

"Kris, you texted him this morning, didn't you?" Chanyeol questions, and Kris mouths a silent 'Oh yeah'.

"Oh, yeah I did, he said he wasn't going to be here," Kris says, looking confused at how he'd forgotten.

"It's ok, we're all going to get old and forgetful eventually, you've just started early," Chanyeol sighs with a suppressed grin, standing up and out of the way before Kris can whack him again.

But then Kris is striding past him, bag slung over his shoulder, and now Chanyeol's confused.

"Hey, where're you going?" Chanyeol calls out, still standing near their lunch table.

Kris turns with a fake pout, a grin tugging at his mouth.

"Aww, Channie, did you forget?" he says, before turning and holding up his schedule along with a particular finger.

"We have class, ," he calls over his shoulder, and Chanyeol can see his shoulders shaking slightly from his own rhyming joke.

Chanyeol returns the favor with both hands from behind Kris' back before grabbing his own stuff and running after his lanky friend.

*****

Weirdly enough, since I don't usually write very long chapters, this one was pretty long (for me at least), so I've decided to split it:) (second half coming soon!!)

And I just thought of this recently, but Suho and Baekhyun will keep their original names even though they are brothers, I didn't really want to make it Byun Junmyeon or Kim Baekhyun and I already called Baekhyun "Ms. Byun", so yes, they are brothers but they have separate names.

Ok, off to update the second half!! (here comes almost everyone:)) LateNightBubbleTea out.