Waking up wasn't hard at all because Sehun had never fallen asleep in the first place. He had spent the night tossing and curling his sheets around him, trying to make his insufferably hot bed seem cooler. Letting body parts fall over the covers, or even worse, dumping his whole duvet on the floor was a ridiculous idea because it left him prone to monsters. And so he suffered alone in his hot little bed shaped hell, praying for the morning to come quicker. He focused what little energy he had left (he had used a lot of it crying and pawing at his sheets) and created a wisp of air, soon channelling it and making it larger so it circled around the room as his own very personal air conditioning.

Sehun supposed it was a good thing, not enjoying his final night of freedom. It meant that he couldn't miss it as much. He kicked of his sheets angrily so they bundled around his ankles. This was bull. He was going to lose his status. He hadn't worked all that hard to achieve it- he mainly just looked good and didn't talk to anybody- but still he would miss its perks.

He padded, his feet sticking slightly to floor from the thin layer of sweat that clung to him, to the bathroom. Sitting on the edge of his bathtub he put his head in his hands. He could adapt to this, of course he could, but he simply didn't want to. What was all this? He was never one to be nervous or especially shy, but he was at that moment caught with quickened pulse and shaky hands.

The sun hadn't even risen when Sehun began to shower, washing away the film of sweat and the horrors of the sleepless night. The water was slightly too hot of perfection and it made his mind feel sluggish and his body feel heavy. Stepping out of the shower and feebly drying himself off, Sehun wandered over to his bed and was finally able to sleep.

He was woken by his father who told him to hurry up otherwise he'd be late and that he would simply not have his son set a bad example on his first day. Sehun quickly got out of bed, knowing that if he stayed there any longer he would be lured in by it's comfortableness and would fall asleep again. He figured there was no point in having another shower and so instead slid a robe onto his shoulders and made his way downstairs for breakfast.

Oh Sehun's house was large and still relatively new to him. His family, consisting of only him and his father, had up scaled their property time after time until they had ended up in a house far too big for just the two of them, the emptiness of the house magnified by the frequent absence of his father whenever he had business to attend to. If anything it was a good thing that Sehun was going to boarding school as it meant he could seek company of those other than staff that worked for the family.

Breakfast was a mundane affair and Sehun wasn't that hungry anyway.

With his things already packed away in the car, all Sehun had left to do was put on his uniform. He was no stranger to uniforms as he had to wear one at his old school, but that consisted of a white shirt and black trousers. The uniform required at his new school was rather more formal with a navy blue blazer emblazoned with the school crest in silver thread. His school tie was the same shade of blue.

His father quietly opened the door to Sehun's room. 'Ready to go?'

How to find the words to tell his father that no, he wasn't. He was a bundle of nerves and he was pretty sure he was going to break out into a hot sweat.

...

---

'I'm a cliché' Sehun thought to himself incredulously as he hooked his leather satchel onto his assigned peg. Yes, peg. Security was so good around here that you could apparently just leave your possessions hanging around, quite literally hanging on pegs. He couldn't wrap his head around how different this was all going to be. They had lockers for their books and sports kits, but bags and coats were to be hung up outside whatever classroom you happened to be in. His things swung limply at the very end of the seamless row of rainbow coats and jackets, backpacks and satchels. There was even a hockey stick lying on the ground which he found particularly odd. Was it a metaphor for his new life at a stupid boarding school just because his father couldn't stand his attitude, a silent evaluation of his low status on the school hierarchy, the sticks position on the floor representative of his downcast attitude? No, it was a ing hockey stick that someone had forgotten to put away after games. He thought this whole system of free range bags and coats seemed a good way to have your things messed around with and maybe even stolen. This over analysis would be the death of him.

Taking a quick look through the glass pane in the door he could see that the room was already full. His old school was mixed but this was going to be a whole different story. It was purely male. It's not that he was interested in girls in that way, but rather that he felt uncomfortable being around so many people of the same . He resolved to not be lead astray by anybody.

 

He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to be the new kid. Perhaps he could just wait out home room in the bathroom and roll up in first period after he'd had some time to compose himself. He'd only actually arrived at the school about half an hour ago, waving as his father drove away and watching nervously as somebody took his suitcases to his dorm room, all before being given a brief presentation on the school and a map of the grounds, and then been expected to be able to find his way around the maze of a school. Surely it would be okay for him to take a minute, or twenty, to let himself adjust? He felt like he hadn't eaten any breakfast so far that day, so perhaps he should first seek out food before embarking properly into the school. He felt quite hot, maybe he was running a fever. It wouldn't be safe for him to enter the room full of boys and spread his germs.

 

He pulled a pocket mirror from his, well pocket, and looked at himself deeply. He was still all there. Pale, smooth skin, blonde hair, eyeliner lightly applied to perfection. Hold up was that a crows foot? No it wasn't, he was just squinting too hard at his reflection for a moment.

 

'Put your face on Sehun, let them know you won't stand for their rich boy . I swear to god if you lisp I'll knock you out.' he said internally, composing himself and letting all traces of emotion leave his face, something he was particularly good at. He put the mirror back where it belonged and began to contemplate life.

 

He remembered that he was actually a 'rich boy' himself, but he was new money rather than old, and he guessed that it would make him a target for any abuse if the boys at the school were that way inclined. He'd heard tales of atrocious bullying at boarding schools such as this. He'd never really been the type that could be perceived as a victim though, and he didn't really have any weak points that anyone could latch on to, well apart from his occasional lisp and that he was new.

 

He jumped a couple of times, shaking his shoulders, prepping himself for his entrance, and breathed deeply, trying to remember the breathing techniques from the few lessons of yoga he had attended a while ago.

 

He then strode into the classroom, purposeful and confident, walking up to the man writing cursive on the chalkboard. 'Excuse me, I'm Oh Sehun. I'm new here.'

 

'Oh that's great sweetheart.' he replied. 'I'm Mr Kim.'

 

The man looked far too young to be a teacher but at that point Sehun was trying hard not to get himself worked up and failed to notice. He also didn't notice that he was being checked out. His head was more wrapped around the word 'sweetheart'.

 

'Are you single?' He placed a hand on Sehun's arm at which he flinched, not expecting the contact.

 

Sehun curled his lip slightly. 'Pardon?'

 

He heard someone stifling laughter at the back of the class, only to be shushed by another.

 

'Now I'm usually against dating students but...' he looked Sehun up and down, slowly biting his lip 'For you I'll make an exception.'

 

Sehun stared at him blankly. This was against so many policies. But what if boarding schools were different? His mind began to spiral with the idea that he'd probably have to start love affairs with his teachers in order to get the grades he needed and that maybe he was far too pretty for his own good and if he didn't comply to the demands of his oddly attractive teacher then he'd be kicked out from the school and his dad would be really mad at him. Or was that just over analysis again?

 

He turned his attention to the class to see their reactions. They were all aloof apart from the guy breaking into hysterics. Why was nobody shocked at this? The silence was horrible in Sehun's ears and he had no idea where to look anymore. Sure he was hot. Sehun knew that from the admirers at his old school. But to be told that by someone older than him with an honourable job was just plain creepy.

 

'Okay Junmyeon you can stop, you've embarrassed him enough now.' someone finally said from the class, and the owner of the name grinned and patted Sehun on the shoulder. 'Ah sorry newbie. Yixing you owe me a coffee later, don't forget.'

 

'I'd like to say that I respect you after you doing that but I can't. You're still the king of lame.' Yixing said, slowly trailing off as his eyes wandered off to look out of the window his desk was situated by. Junmyeon frowned and turned back to Sehun. 'I'm cool' he said quietly, and Sehun wasn't quite sure who he was talking to.

 

'Wait, you're not the teacher?' Sehun asked, feeling the blush rise on his cheeks, both from the idea that he'd been fooled and because nobody was really paying him too much attention.

 

'I'm head boy, our teacher doesn't come in until a couple of minutes before home room ends, probably to avoid the blank stares from these heads.' A ball of paper skimmed angrily past Junmyeon's head. 'Exhibit A, Park Chanyeol.'

 

Chanyeol grinned at the mention of his name then got up and walked to where he'd thrown his paper. When met with Sehun's questioning glare he sheepishly remarked that it was his maths homework and that he actually needed it, smoothing the paper out against his desk to rid it of the creases.

 

Sehun openly pouted his lips a little, eager to let the class know he was tired of their already and he hadn't even been there five minutes.

 

'Well find somewhere to sit, don't just stand there pouty face.' Junmyeon shooed him from the front of the class and carried on writing the days announcements in chalk.

 

There were two spare seats in the class, one next to Chanyeol, who was patting the seat and grinning maniacally at him, and the other spare one next to a boy who was sleeping. He went with the sleeper because he got the feeling that Chanyeol wasn't entirely all there mentally judging by the look on his face. He looked like a creepy woodland elf, the hair that curled around his ears not helping his appearance. If it was up to Sehun then he would rush the boy to the nearest salon and order that his perm be removed in favour of something that looked normal.

 

He sat slowly, careful not to disturb the boy next to him, but he rose gently from his slumber anyway, blinking silently at Sehun, his hair at odd angles He slammed his fist on the desk, making Sehun jump. 'Why did nobody wake me when the new kid came in?' he asked angrily. 'I helped to come up with that whole teacher thing and I didn't even get the sweet reward of seeing a reaction?'

 

'Jongin if you'd look for once instead of running your mouth then you would see that there still is a reaction.' A small boy said sternly, his eyes wide and stating the obvious.

 

Jongin turned to stare at Sehun. 'We got a blusher!' he said excitedly to no specific person. He clapped his hands appreciatively at Sehun

 

His face only went pinker. 'How did you know that I was coming?'

 

'Your roommates told us...' Jongin paused and looked up, trying to remember '…on Saturday when they got told there'd be someone new. We had plenty of time to prepare something to wind you up, and apart from the blushing you handled it quite well.' Sehun raised his hands to his face to cover up his pink cheeks.

 

'My roommates?' he asked. For some reason it hadn't crossed his mind that he might have to share a room. It seemed obvious now though.

 

'What, the little prince thought he would get a room all to himself?' Jongin laughed lightly. 'They're nice guys, but those two are worse than bunnies.'

 

'Bunnies?'

 

What was the correlation between adorable little balls of fluff and two guys sharing a room? Sehun shrugged it off as an esoteric remark.

 

'Never mind, you'll probably know what I mean by tonight anyway.'

 

'Jongin don't be so crude.' The wide eyed boy snapped his head around and slapped Jongin on the wrist not quite playfully. Jongin pulled his hand away and held where he'd been hit.

 

'Your tiny hands are like knives Kyungsoo.' he pouted 'Anyway it's in my nature to be crude, just like it's in your nature to be adorable.'

 

'I'm manly as hell.' Kyungsoo said matter-of-factly and Sehun had to suppress a small laugh.

 

'You weren't very manly last night.' Jongin raised his eyebrow suggestively to which Kyungsoo huffed and turned around in his seat, muttering something about being the 'only mature person in this damn school'.

 

'Are you two...' Sehun began.

 

'Dating, yes.' Jongin finished just as their teacher, the real one this time, walked in, pleasantly surprised that the new boy was already so settled.

 

…

---

 

Home room ended swiftly, Sehun being pushed out into the corridor by the throng of teenage boys. He picked up his bag and coat from the peg, his items the final ones on the once complete row. Checking his timetable he found out he had double literature. He compared this information with that on the map, learning that he hadn't got particularly far to walk to his destination.

 

He wondered if he'd be able to make any friends that day. If so then he would be doing better at this new school than he had in the last year at his old one. It wasn't that Sehun wasn't a good friend, he was in fact a great friend. He was loyal and could even be funny sometimes. It's just that he wasn't very friendly. At his old school he saw the others as uninteresting and dull. He cared not to put a smile on his face every day and try to impress the people that could not impress him in return. He was called cold and harsh and mysterious. He liked that though. It made him feel untouchable and better than everyone else. Here though, at this new school, he'd probably have to actually try to make friends with all these shiny new people. The idea of being lonely clung to him sadly.

 

Turning the corner in the corridor he nearly screamed as hands grabbed for him, tugging harshly at his blazer.

 

'You didn't think we'd leave you to fend for yourself did you?' Jongin smiled warmly, Kyungsoo at his side tapping his foot and sighing deeply because they were going to be late and he would not have his punctuality messed up by Jongin's interest in making new friends.

 

'Well, actually I did.' Sehun shrugged. He tried to play it off like it was no big deal but he was secretly delighted that the two of them had decided to take pity on him and include him.

 

Jongin looked offended for a brief second then smiled again, linking arms with Kyungsoo who was becoming more and more distraught about the idea that they might be late.

 

Sehun thought for a moment. 'Hey, will you two be my friends?' He grimaced 'That sounded lame, sorry.' He looked down at the ground, ready for some kind of rejection. The people in his form room all seemed to be so friendly and at ease with each other. Of course they wouldn't want some brat to come and mess with their friendship groups.

 

'You seem nice and all but there's a bit more to it than that.' Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and pulled at Jongin's arm, indicating that they should probably start walking instead of loitering in the corridor any longer. Jongin looked sympathetically at Sehun 'We'll explain later, after Literature.'

 

That seemed to be a good enough answer for Sehun as he walked a step behind the pair, wondering how on earth they managed to make a good couple.

 

...

---

 

Literature involved reading Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet to be more precise. It wasn't like he'd already read the book several times in his old school and a couple of times at home just for the fun of it. He'd gotten a couple of plays by Shakespeare for his birthday last year and he wasn't going to pretend he didn't enjoy reading them.

 

Except this was different because they weren't just sitting there reading the play, instead there was a boy called Jongdae standing at the front of the room, pretending to make out with another boy in a dress. At first Sehun had actually for a second mistaken the eyeliner wearing boy for a girl, firstly because he was wearing a dress, and secondly because he was sort of feminine looking. Their performance was extremely in character, perhaps so much so that he had to look away when they took it upon themselves to really show how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other.

 

'Ew get a room you two.' Jongin called out as soon as their 'acting' became much more real. Baekhyun broke character and stuck his middle finger up at Jongin. 'Parting is such sweet sorrow.' he said sadly, pulling away from Jongdae briefly and wiping away a tear that didn't exist.

 

'I'm pretty sure they don't kiss this much in the book.' Sehun muttered to Kyungsoo. The boy merely shrugged and said something about the pair up front being unstoppable when it came to putting their everything into acting. Sehun understood that.

 

'I meant to ask about the dance and drama facilities here, are they as great as everyone says they are?'

 

'I'll let you know later, for now just watch this.' Kyunsgoo turned his attention away from Sehun, clapping loudly when the act finished and wolf whistling at Baekhyun. Why did everything seem to have to happen later? Why did time have to be so...linear?

 

Baekhyun and Jongdae bowed or rather Jongdae bowed and Baekhyun curtseyed, choosing to keep the dress on as he went back to his seat.

 

'Okay, um, very nice guys. Just keep it PG next time.' their teacher said hurriedly 'So onto the scene analysis!'

 

'Oh, by the way, those two are your roommates.' Kyungsoo mentioned as Jongdae and Baekhyun had a tickle fight on the other side of the classroom. 'Good luck!'

 

Sehun must have looked terrified because Kyungsoo put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly. 'It could be worse.' He looked to the boy behind him, then back to Sehun. 'You could've been roomed with me and Jongin.'

 

'What's so bad about that?' Sehun asked cautiously. Kyungsoo merely smiled in response. 'Just count yourself lucky okay?'

 

Sehun nodded and began writing his analysis, making points about the irrelevant but somehow managing to pull up ideas about love and fate that could actually make sense if one was to read really hard between the lines. After a while though, his hand aching and brain empty, he began to question the play entirely.

 

'Hey, do you think Romeo and Juliet are kind of stupid for letting everything go just for the sake of love. They knew each other for what, a couple of days and they were willing to die for each other. It's a bit far fetched don't you think?' Sehun asked Kyungsoo as the latter worked quietly on his own analysis.

 

'Yes and no.' Kyungsoo replied after a long pause. He chewed thoughtfully on the end of his pencil. 'Stop me if I sound like a , but I think that love is different for everyone.'

 

Sehun had to repress the urge to fake vomit, knowing that Kyungsoo could probably knock him out with one foul swoop if he really cared to. Kyungsoo seemed to sense this.

 

'Hear me out. With Jongin it was a gradual thing. He was always sort of just there at my side or somewhere in the room, and after a while it became odd when he wasn't there, like something was missing. That's when I knew that maybe I liked him. A lot. And yeah he's an idiot sometimes but he makes me feel like a genius and he does have a fair share of good traits...'

 

'I heard my name.' Jongin said loudly from behind. 'And I heard the word idiot.'

 

'I'm talking about you, not to you.' Kyungsoo replied sharply, but affectionately, then continued. 'So with us it was sort of friendship and caring that turned into something more, but for Romeo and Juliet it was more lust and desire.'

 

'So it's the lust and desire that gets people into trouble?' Sehun asked, admittedly quite impressed by what the smaller boy had just said.

 

'Not always. I just think that rushing things can be destructive. Time is only a number so why rush the inevitable? Perhaps if R and J had a little more time to think things through then they wouldn't have ended the way they did. Fewer people would have died along the way too.'

 

'You're really smart Kyungsoo, maybe I can write about that in my essay.'

 

'I'd be flattered if you wrote about me being smart in your essay but don't you think it's a bit off topic?'

 

'No I meant writing about the whole time thing and how-'

 

'I know what you meant, it's called a joke.' Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and Sehun felt like slapping himself in the face for being so dumb when it came to understanding when someone was joking or not. He could feel himself going a tiny bit red.

 

'Oh, sorry, sometimes I can be slow to understand jokes.'

 

'That's okay, you and Yixing would probably get on like a house on fire.'

 

Sehun thought for a moment at the mention of that name. Yixing was the boy who had a dreamy look on his face. And dimples. He had cute dimples. Yixing was the one who owed Junmyeon coffee and that reminded him;

 

'Are Yixing and Junmyeon friends? They're both in my form room and Yixing said that Junmyeon was the king of lame.'

 

Kyungsoo chucked lightly to himself. 'They're more than friends Sehun.'

 

'Is everyone in this school gay?' Sehun asked, slightly exasperated. Everyone in his line of sight seemed to be dating someone else from the school.

 

'Are you?' Kyungsoo asked, actually looking at Sehun instead of his paper as he waited for an answer.

 

Sehun paused. 'Yeah.'

 

Yes. He was gay. He had come to terms with it now. Not that it had been all that easy.

 

Kyungsoo whooped, a huge smile breaking out onto his face. 'Jongin you owe me a new pencil case!'

 

Jongin frowned and looked at Sehun. 'He bleaches his hair, I should have guessed it.'

 

'Did you bet a pencil case that I was gay?' Sehun asked, turning to Kyungsoo again.

 

Kyungsoo just shrugged nonchalantly. 'I needed a new one.'

 

His first day and already two bets had been placed in his favour. If this wasn't popularity then what was?

 

'You never answered me. Is everyone in this school gay?'

 

Again, Kyungsoo just smiled. If Sehun wasn't scared of him the he'd definitely want to punch him in the nose.

 

…

---

 

After literature Sehun expected Kyungsoo and Jongin to meet him. Like they said they would. But they didn't. Instead they walked off hand in hand and left Sehun alone in the corridor.

 

Of course they wouldn't want to be his friend. He just didn't have the kind of face that drew people in and made them say 'hey I want to be your friend'. He had a face that said 'come within two metres of me and I'll kick you in the face'.

 

He still had four lessons to attend before he could go back to his dorm. Then at said dorm he, depending on how the day panned out, would either cry or unpack then cry. Or maybe shower then unpack then cry. It was a whole four lessons before he could do that though. Four lessons and lunch break.

 

Oh Sehun had never been one to rebel and cause trouble (well apart from the time he dyed his hair all the colours of the rainbow because his old school had issued a policy against it. Even then he did it because he thought it was a stupid rule, not because he just wanted something to defy) but he was seriously contemplating skipping the rest of his school day right there and then. It was his first day. Surely nobody would be too mad if he had the rest of the day to himself to settle.

 

He liked to imagine that the Mission Impossible theme was playing as he made his way to the dorms, having to sneak past a window at one point and rolling into a hedge at another.

 

He had so much fun on his way there that he forgot he wanted to cry when he finally did fall face down onto the bed that he assumed was his due to the fact it was the only bed without a 'personalised' cover. The guy opposite him had a cover with tiny dancing sharks on it, and the other bed next to it had a girl's generation pillow propped up against it. Sehun silently wished that he'd bought his favourite pokemon cover but he'd disregarded it while he was packing, thinking that it was too babyish and that he'd get picked on, choosing a plain white set in favour of Ash Ketchum's rigid smile.

 

Sehun rid himself of the ugly school tie and blazer, rummaging through his belongings and putting on some black skinny jeans and an old t-shirt that was faded but still looked sort of cool on him. He decided that he'd better get started on putting away his things and making himself somewhat at home. The others in the room had photos and posters stuck on the wall. He looked at the people in the pictures. They were blurry, but the people looked happy. He recognised some of them. There was a snapshot of Junmyeon drinking coffee and smiling as Yixing played the guitar, and next to it some polaroids, one with a boy with eye bags and another with a boy puffing his cheeks out. There were images of the group laying around on a sunny day and playing soccer, and stills from what looked like a play.

 There was also a TV and an xbox situated near one of the beds, two controllers laying on the side. Sehun felt so deprived. He hadn't bought anything like that. He made a mental note to himself to ask his father to send some personal things to him.

 

Somehow whilst packing away his clothes and mourning for his forgotten belongings, Sehun fell asleep on his bed, only waking up when he was literally jumped on by two boys.

 

'You're our roommate?' one of them asked the still drowsy Sehun as he rubbed his stomach where they'd landed.

 

'Well duh Baekhyun.' the other one said, his cheekbones high as he smiled.

 

'You're Baekhyun and Jongdae.' Sehun said more to himself than to the two in front of him. They nodded and went to their respective sides of the room. Before Sehun could even look away they'd began undressing themselves out of their uniforms and into casual clothes.

 

'I'm Sehun.'

 

'We know. Why weren't you around earlier? Jongin and Kyungsoo were looking for you.' Baekhyun asked, slipping a disc into the xbox.

 

Sehun shrugged. 'I just wanted some time to myself.' He realised that what he just said sounded stupid. 'I was tired and I just wanted to sleep.' That expansion on his answer wasn't doing him anymore favours.

 

Jongdae grinned from across the room. 'Whatever, it takes time to adjust. But if you do it again then you'll probably get into trouble.'

 

Sehun muttered a small 'okay' and watched Baekhyun as he climbed rooftops in Acre. 'So what do you do for fun around here?'

 

There was a pause in the conversation. 'Well, me and Jongdae make our own fun a lot of the time.'

 

Jongdae snorted from somewhere behind Sehun. 'You could say that yeah.'

 

'But seriously we can leave the premisses if we stick to our curfews, we can roam the grounds, there are sports activities and extra curricular clubs...actually there's quite a lot to do. There's a really great coffee shop down the road that Junmyeon practically lives in. You'd be surprised how time flies if you stop counting it all the time.'

 

Jongdae continued on from what Baekhyun had just said. 'If I were you, tomorrow I'd see about joining some extra curricular clubs.'

 

'I will, for now I just want to sleep though.' Sehun yawned. 'Wait, why does Junmyeon like coffee so much?'

 

Jongdae laughed lightly as he moved across the room to be closer to Baekhyun. 'Why do you think he's always so happy? It's because he's so caffeinated.'

 

Sehun smiled because for some dumb reason, despite the prank they pulled on him, he liked Junmyeon, and somewhere between these thoughts he fell asleep.

 

…

---

 

Sounds are the enemy of sleep. They taunt the wonderful silence that encourages it. Sehun decides this as he buries his head further into his pillow, hands covering his ears. The sounds are abundant and he's ready to crack.

 

They waited until they were sure Sehun was asleep, but he's a light sleeper and he woke up almost instantly when the sounds began. Sounds too crude to grace his pure little ears. He did not sign up for this. He did not sign up for this at all.

 

No matter how bad Jongin and Kyungsoo claimed to be, they couldn't possibly be any worse than this. He couldn't make much out when he ventured out from underneath his covers, just a moving mass and the noises that accompanied it.

 

Gross.

 

They finished eventually, and Sehun knew because he heard them finish. And then finally sleep came (and so did they).

 

…

---

 

Sehun's sleep was most definitely not peaceful after that.

 

He was again woken, not by any sounds, but instead by hands. Jongdae and Baekhyun shook him from his slumber, not listening to his sleep ridden protests as they tied a blindfold around his eyes and discussed loudly whether they should bind his hands and legs together, and if so then what could they use to do it. These two were the worst kidnappers ever. They then had a quick discussion on how they should carry him. Jongdae suggested a bridal style and Baekhyun said they should just walk him. 'What if I trip? Maybe one of you could hold my legs and the other my arms?' Sehun added, wondering afterwards why he was contributing to his own kidnap. He could sense the agreement of the pair and soon felt himself being lifted.

 

They were taking him somewhere outside of the dorms, Sehun knew that much. He felt the cold chill of the air on his skin, an unforgiving wind accompanying the night. He was in his boxers and a tee and the cold crept into him as soon as they left their dorms. Throughout their journey Sehun could hear Baekhyun and Jongdae laughing , yet again backing up his theory that they were simply awful at kidnapping.

 

He was inside again, warmth enveloping him and a harsh yellow light visible through the top of his blindfold. He was dropped not very lightly onto the floor, and then he was hauled up onto his feet and walked up some stairs, not very carefully might he add. Strangely he hadn't been panicking all that much before this, but as he was into darkness he began to feel fear.

 

The blindfold was taken off him and his eyes were left do adjust. It was still too dark for Sehun to see much.

 

Then there was the dim glow from candles entering his field of vision.

 

He panicked because no, he did not want to be a part of some satanic ritual, or even worse, he did not want to be sacrificed because that would be a really bad start to his day.

 

He saw that he was stood in the centre of a circle, ringed by bodies that held candles up to their faces, their features lit eerily. Spinning around slowly he could recognise some of them, all of them draped in heavy material that covered their heads and bodies so nothing but their faces could be seen. There was Jongdae and Baekhyun, trying hard to keep their faces serious, and Jongin and Kyungsoo who's eyes looked especially huge above the glow of the candle, then Yixing and Junmyeon who looked sleepy and like they wished they were somewhere else, and then Chanyeol who was grinning but trying really hard not too, wax from his candle dripping onto his hand, and oh my god as he wearing a face mask? The rest of the group he had not had the fortune to meet.

 

'Um, what is this?' Sehun asked, trying not to blush because he was standing in his boxers, and although he didn't think that he had a totally disgusting body, he'd still rather that nobody had to see it. Especially like this when he was the supposed centre of attention.

 

'No talking.' A small, deer like boy hissed, and Sehun jumped with the fierceness of his voice. 'Um, no I mean just no talking right now, you can talk in a minute.' The boy corrected himself, smiling politely.

 

Kyungsoo stepped forward, placing a hand on Sehun's shoulder. 'Sehun, this is what you wanted isn't it?' He said solemnly. Sehun looked at him blankly. Was it?

 

'Yes?' Sehun said unsurely.

 

'It is, you voiced a brief interest earlier and that's good enough.' Kyungsoo answered surely enough for him. 'Step into the circle to receive your fate.'

 

'I'm already in the circle.' Sehun interjected.

 

'That's true Kyungsoo, he's already in the circle, why did you say that?' Chanyeol said, his voice seeming oddly deeper in the night.

 

'Shut up Chanyeol, it's a figure of speech.' Someone else said, his voice accented. Sehun was tried of spinning around to try and keep up with whoever was speaking at the time and so he didn't get to see who spoke.

 

'Where the is Kris?' Someone else said, the light turning on as he spoke and revealing all. Sehun almost wanted to laugh at the vision in front of him. They were in a dorm room, ten boys dressed in dressing gowns with the hoods up, all of them holding tea lights. The eleventh boy was standing at the doorway with a guilty look on his face, his hand on the light switch.

 

'Sorry.' he said, turning the light back off.

 

'No, turn it back on, you ruined it you .' Kyungsoo said with fire in his voice.

 

The members of the circle flopped onto the beds, dispersing into even amounts. 'We try and do one cool thing and we it up.' Junmyeon laughed, flopping onto Yixing who grinned in response. 'We didn't even get to do the blood thing.'

 

'Ah, what's the point?' Jongin smiled, taking off his dressing gown. 'What's your power Sehun?'

 

'My power?' Sehun laughed nervously. 'Wait, so you're no going to sacrifice me?'

 

Junmyeon looked at him strangely.

 

'Don't act coy. We know about you.' This time it was someone he didn't know who spoke. He was ridiculously tall, Sehun could even tell when he was sitting, and had blonde hair and a stern look on his face. Kris. The one who the light.

 

'How could you possibly know?' Sehun asked. He was one in a billion wasn't he? He had to be. He'd had to keep it a secret for so long, and he was doing a good job too, he couldn't just out himself.

 

He watched silently as the boys got off the bed and stood in a seemingly pre-arranged line in front of him.

 

'I control fire.' Chanyeol smirked, lifting a flame and letting it dance on his fingers. Sehun watched with curious, but maybe slightly horrified eyes as the flame grew bigger and flicked towards his face. It reminded Sehun of Bioshock and the incinerate plasmid.

 

Jongin, next in line, shook his head at Chanyeol 'Yeah but that's really nothing compared to...'

 

He disappeared from right in front of Sehun's eyes. He blinked a couple of times in disbelief (he'd momentarily forgotten that he'd just seen a guy produce flames from his fingers and that he shouldn't really be surprised by anything after seeing that) much to the amusement of the others.

 

'This.' Jongin whispered behind Sehun's back, right into his ear, making him shriek out of shock. Jongin laughed and went back to the formation.

 

The showcase continued, although some of them couldn't show their powers off very well indoors. Especially Kris.

 

'Wow.' he said simply when they'd all gone back to the beds. 'I control the wind.'

 

'Oh cool, we can make fart jokes about you.' Jongdae grinned.

 

'Please don't.' Sehun said quietly. He had gone rather quiet ever since he'd seen their powers, not that he wasn't quiet before. He was jealous of some of them. He liked that he was part of an elemental group, but damn, flight and time control? Teleportation and telekinesis? Light and healing? He couldn't help but feel a bit crap. All he could do (and he hoped he could maybe get better and learn to do more interesting things) was create a small breeze. Sometimes if he was really frustrated he could create a gust of wind but that was all. So when he looked on as Junmyeon twirled water delicately around his fingers, he couldn't help but feel envy. He was also faintly unsettled and confused as to how he had managed to go his whole life never meeting anyone with powers and then meeting eleven all at once.

 

And yet the envy was shadowed hugely by Sehun's realisation that he'd managed to make eleven friends. Well he'd supposedly made eleven friends. He'd actually only been properly acquainted with a few of them, but he hoped he'd get to know the others too. He felt privileged. He was part of a group of good looking young men and it was only his second day (it would have been his first, but after glancing at the clock in the dorm room Sehun saw it was way past midnight).

 

'Ah, we'd better get going.' Baekhyun said after some time, dragging Jongdae with him. Sehun realised that he should probably go with them. The rest of the group muttered their goodbyes.

 

'Don't forget Sehun, you may have been accepted into our group, but the trials will test whether you belong or not.' Kyungsoo said before Sehun had reached the door. He sounded sinister, despite the fluffy purple dressing gown he wore.

 

A look of horror must have flashed across his face because before he knew it someone was patting his back and leading him out of the door.

 

He sighed as he made his way back to his own dorm room, allowing the laughter of Baekhyun and Jongdae to be his guide. That and the light that Baekhyun was creating from the palm of his hand.

 

For now he just wanted to sleep, and hopefully not be woken up again until a reasonable time in the morning.