Acceptance Letters

When the email with the link came to Baekhyun, he confidently called in his family before clicking on it to reveal a page that was covered with small bursting fireworks as a letter proudly declared his acceptance.

He had no doubt he would get in.  His grades were high.  He had the extracurriculars and the test scores.

His parents smiled and offered him hugs of congratulations as they all celebrated the words on the screen.

Chanyeol on the other hand, told no one when the email appeared.

He waited until everyone else was out before clicking on the link with trepidation.  Sure, his grades were high and he had some other stuff in his application that was good too, but that didn’t mean it was a done deal. 

He breathed a sigh of relief when the little fireworks began to burst across the screen.   

Orientation

Baekhyun walked into the hall currently filled with a maybe a hundred or so other students.  He was directed to table where he gave his name and was handed a folder before being told to take a seat wherever he liked.

He ended up next to a tall kid who looked pretty nervous as he stared towards the stage at the front of the hall.

“Hey,” he said, tapping the guys shoulder.  “I’m Baekhyun.”

“Chanyeol,” he responded with a smile.

“Nice to meet you.  Where are you from?”

“Georgia.  You?”

“Texas.”

“That’s pretty far from here.”

Baekhyun shrugged.  “I wanted a change of scenery.”

“Well, I’d say you’ve succeeded.”  Chanyeol responded, looking around the room.

“Yup,” Baekhyun agreed.

Class Registration

The advisor handed Baekhyun his recommended schedule before shooing him out of the room.  Chanyeol was waiting there for him, having just completed his advisement across the hallway.

“Ready to go figure this out?”

“Yup.”

The two headed down the hallway together to the computer lab where they logged onto the class registration program.

It wasn’t long before Baekhyun was groaning while staring at the screen.

“What’s up?” Chanyeol asked leaning over.

“It won’t let me sign up for these two classes.”  Baekhyun whined.

Chanyeol looked at the screen.  “It says they’re too far apart.”

“I know, but look,” Baekhyun pointed to two buildings on the campus map on his registration folder,” I’m pretty sure I can handle this walk in 15 minutes if I try.”

Chanyeol looked at the two points on the map.

“Looks pretty far to me.”

“I can do it.”  Baekhyun insisted.

“Well, request override then.”   Chanyeol said with a shrug.

“It’s just annoying.”  Baekhyun groaned again. 

Chanyeol laughed.

Roommates

Roommate assignments were random unless you had a request.  At first, Baekhyun had assumed he would be in the random pool, but after orientation, he and Chanyeol had agreed that they might as well room together.  They got on well enough.

Therefore, he opened his roommate assignment with little trepidation, reading through info he already knew.

Chanyeol did the same, a smile on his face.

Moving In

Move in day was crazy.  Figuring out where to park alone was a 20 minute process.  Then there was getting the key, finding the room and discovering that the shoebox they would be living in barely fit them, let alone the stuff they had brought along.

Beds were lofted with lots of grunting and groaning and a bit more space was freed up, but still not a lot.

“Where are we even going to put that?”  Chanyeol asked, pointing to the 32” flat screen Baek had brought along.

Baekhyun glanced around the room.  “Let’s put it under your bed.”

“My bed?”

“Yeah, and the futon can go under mine.”

“Futon?”

“It’s coming tomorrow, along with a rug for the floor.”

Chanyeol could only shake his head in disbelief.  Things were going to be more than a little tight.

RAs and Hall Meetings

The RA, Suho, stopped by to inform them of a hall meeting that evening which found Chanyeol and Baekhyun sitting in the hallway with the 30 other guys who lived on their hall.

“Hey guys and welcome to the fourth floor, east wing.  I’m you’re RA, Suho.  If you have any problems, feel free to come to me.”

Muttered Okays chorused through the hall.

“Now as you know we have lots of rules I have to go through, but I’ll try to run down this list as quickly as possible.  Please pay attention.”

Suho started to run through an extensive list as Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol to declare, “I don’t know why you’d agree to do this.  It must to have to live with freshman.”

Chanyeol shrugged.  “You get free room and board and a stipend.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened.  “You do?”

Chanyeol nodded.

“Sign me up.”

“It’s not quite that easy,” Chanyeol said with a laugh.

Bus Maps

“What is that?” Baekhyun asked dubiously as Chanyeol began to place poster mounts to the back of what appeared to be a large, unfolded pamphlet.

“The bus map,” Chanyeol replied, affixing a white sticky square to the final bare corner before picking up the paper on the floor and walking towards a bare expanse of wall.

“Great, and why is it going on our wall?” 

“So I can check it before I leave in the mornings.”  Chanyeol responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why don’t you just use your phone?”  Baekhyun asked, confused.

“My phone?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun answered pulling his cell from his pocket, “Your phone.  The maps for the school busses are all online you know.”

Chanyeol laughed bitterly before reaching into his pocket and dragging out his cell.  “I don’t think this will be getting me online anytime soon,” he said as he held up a Nokia brick phone.

“Are you living in the dark ages?  What is that?” Baekhyun asked incredulously. 

“My phone.” Chanyeol laughed.  “My parents have decided that until it breaks I don’t need a new one.”

“Dude, that thing’s a Nokia, I’m pretty sure it could survive an atom bomb.”

“I know.  I’ve already tried running over it.  Twice.”

Baekhyun found himself crouched over in laughter for a period of time before rising up while wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

“You can put the poster on the wall.”

“Thanks,” Chanyeol responded.

Dining Halls

“What’s that?” Baekhyun asked, pointing towards the thick booklet that he had seen Chanyeol grab off the register counter as they had scanned their hands to get into the dining commons.

“Oh, this, it’s the menu.”

“There’s a menu?” Baekhyun asked incredulously.

“Of course.  How else would they decide what to cook each day?”

“I don’t know.  I guess I figured they just showed up and cooked what they had on hand.”

Chanyeol laughed.  “Not exactly.  Look,” he said opening up the booklet, “It’s a rotational kind of thing for the entrees on the main lines while the things like pizza are available every day.  It also lets you know the different things that are available at only certain halls so you can be sure to go to the one you want.”

“There are different halls?”  Baekhyun asked, surprised.

“Seriously, did you sleep through orientation?”

Baekhyun shrugged.  “I had more important things on my mind.”

“Like what?” Chanyeol asked.

“I’ll let you know when I remember.”

First Day of Class

“If I hear the word syllabus one more time,” I may need to shoot someone Baekhyun declared falling forward onto the futon that yes, had just fit under his bed across from the TV under Chanyeol’s own.

Chanyeol laughed at his dramatics.  “At least it was an easy day.”

“True.  I liked getting out early.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol agreed.  “That was nice.  I’m sure we’ll miss it soon.”

Baekhyun rolled over on the futon to look at Chanyeol.  “Want to go get dinner?”

“Sure.”

Chanyeol’s decision to whisper syllabus in Baekhyun’s ear as they left the room earned him a non to gentle whack.

Tailgating

A low rumbling of rap music had Baekhyun rolling out of bed at 8 a.m. one Saturday a couple of weeks into the semester.

“What is that noise?” he asked Chanyeol who was also sitting up, bleary eyed.

They both made their way to the window to look out below.

“Isn’t the game at four? Baekhyun asked, turning to Chanyeol.

“I think so.”  Chanyeol responded.

“Then why are they out there now?” Baekhyun groaned.

“I guess they wanted to get started early.” 

“I want to sleep.”  Baekhyun whined.

Chanyeol laughed, then. “Let’s go get some breakfast.  You can even have coffee.”

The idea put a smile on Baekhyun’s grumpy face. 

Laundry

“Ah!”

“What happened?”  Baekhyun asked, running into the laundry room.

“It’s pink!” Chanyeol exclaimed.  “Everything is pink.” 

Baekhyun took one look at the pink shirt in Chanyeol’s hands before bursting into laughter.

“Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to mix reds with whites?”

“Huh.” 

Baekhyun walked forward and pulled the red t-shirt from the washing machine.  “This, is your problem.  Colors bleed Chanyeol.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?”  He asked, holding up his shirt.

Baekhyun shrugged.  “Bleach it?”

“What’s bleach?”

The Showers

If there was one thing that drove Chanyeol absolutely crazy about college, it was the bathrooms.

No, it wasn’t the fact that they were communal.  He could handle that. 

No, the problem was that the shower heads were too damn short.

Just to get his head under the spray he had to perform some kind of strange bending contortionist act.

It was absolutely miserable.

When he complained to Baekhyun, he just laughed and told him it was his own fault for being tall, which wasn’t much help, but then later that day, Baekhyun let him in on a little secret,

“The handicapped bathrooms upstairs have removable shower heads you know.”

“Seriously?”

Baekhyun nodded, and Chanyeol, Chanyeol became a religious user of the showers one floor up.

Cramming

“Baek, what’s all this?”  Chanyeol asked, walking into their room to see the floor covered in five hour energy bottles, soda cans and chips. 

“Provisions.”

“Provisions for what?”  Chanyeol asked.

“Midterms, obviously.”

“Um, why do we need this stuff for midterms?”

“I’ve got to learn a month and 7 weeks of material in two days.  Clearly, this stuff is necessary.”

“Um, wouldn’t it have been easier to have started a little earlier?”

“Who does that?”

“Um, me?”

Baekhyun laughed.  “And this is why my life is more exciting.”

“More like dangerous.  How many of these have you drunk already?”  Chanyeol asked holding up a little bottle of five hour.

“Um two?  Maybe three.  I’m not dead yet.”

“Yet.” Chanyeol agreed.  He wasn’t entirely convinced it would stay that way.

Oversleeping

Chanyeol came back from his morning midterm to find Baekhyun passed out on top of an open book on his desk.  He placed two fingers to his neck to check for pulse, and after he was certain Baekhyun was still alive, he settled in with a par of headphones to play on his laptop.

Baekhyun awoke with a jolt right before 1:00 p.m.  The second he saw the time he was turning to Chanyeol and yelling, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Chanyeol looked at him surprised.  “You’re test is a two.  I figured you wanted to sleep some first.”

“No, I needed to study more before it.  Now what am I going to do?”

Chanyeol laughed.  “You know, it’s been proven that good sleep before an exam helps you perform better.”

“That’s only if you actually know what’s on the exam.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“If I’m not, I’m blaming you.”

“If you must.”

Midterms

“That was awful.” Baekhyun groaned as he fell onto the futon before rolling around in agony.

“Rough test?” Chanyeol asked.

“I don’t think he ever even taught that stuff.”

Chanyeol laughed.  “Even if he did, would you have remembered that?”

“Touché.”

That Awkward Moment

“Chanyeol, what are you doing?”

“I’m watching a movie.”

Baekhyun sighed.  “I can see that.  What I mean is, why are you sitting on my futon eating from a tub of ice cream with a spoon while watching Frozen?”

“Because I like ice cream and Frozen is a good movie?  I got a spoon for you too.”  Chanyeol held out a spoon to Baekhyun from his place on the couch.

Baekhyun stared at it as if it was poison.  “I am not going to join you in your endeavor to become a teenage girl.”

Chanyeol shrugged.  “More for me then.”  He turned away from Baekhyun to look back at the TV screen.

Baekhyun lasted all of about ten seconds before asking.  “What flavor is it?”

Chanyeol smirked.  “Red velvet cake.  I was feeling fancy.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes.  “Move over and give me that.”  Baekhyun took the ice cream and the spoon from Chanyeol as he sat down on the couch, savoring a large bite before asking, “Where are we?”

“We just finished “For the first time in forever.””

“Excellent.”  Baekhyun’s favorite song (that he most definitely did not know all the words to) still remained.

The freshman 15

“I think I’m getting fat.”  Baekhyun declared, standing in front of the full length mirror that hung on the back of their door.

Chanyeol laughed from his seat at his desk.  “Well, you did eat half a tub of ice cream, the other day.”

“And whose fault was that?”  Baekhyun countered.

Chanyeol shrugged.  “If you think you’re fat, go to the gym.  That’s what most people do.”

“There’s a gym?”

“Really, did you sleep through orientation or what?”

The Gym

“I thought you said that the student athletes couldn’t use this gym?”  Baekhyun asked as he and Chanyeol entered the weight room.

“They can’t.”  Chanyeol confirmed.

“Then what’s with that guy?”  Baekhyun asked with an incline of his head, “I’m pretty sure his bicep is bigger than my face.”

Chanyeol laughed.  “Some guys like to work out even if they’re not student athletes Baek.”

“They like this?”  Baekhyun asked as he a barbell.

Chanyeol laughed.  “Yes, but if you want something light there are treadmills and ellipticals over there.” 

Baekhyun followed Chanyeol’s pointing finger and soon found his refuge, walking along on a treadmill while watching reruns of Friends.

Birthdays

Chanyeol walked into their room to find and excited looking Baekhyun standing in the middle of it rocking back and forth on his heels.

“What did you do now?” Chanyeol asked warily.

Baekhyun smiled widely before answering.  “I got you a birthday present.”

“I thought I told you I didn’t need anything.” 

“You did.”  Baekhyun said with a laugh.  “I ignored you.”

Chanyeol sighed.

“Look it’s not even new, okay?”

Chanyeol nodded at that and held out his hand.  He might as well take whatever it was.  Baekhyun would never take no for an answer.

Baekhyun’s smile widened as he reached out and placed his cellphone in Chanyeol’s hand.

“Um, why are you giving me your phone?”  Chanyeol asked, confused.

“My old phone,” Baekhyun corrected while holding up the most recent model in his hand.  “I was due for a free upgrade, and I figured you could use one as well.  Now we should actually be able to text because seriously, not being able to is driving me crazy.”

“Um Baek, this is great and all, but I still have my old—“

“Oh, don’t worry, I took care of that.” Baekhyun said with a wave of his hand.

“Took care of it?”

“Let’s just say your Nokia took an unfortunate tumble down the 9^th floor garbage shoot.  Don’t worry, I did manage to heroically rescue its sim card before its tragic fall.”

“Baekhyun!”

“What?  You can thank me later, and when you’re parents ask, you can blame it all on me.  The clumsy roommate who dropped your phone into the garbage.”

Chanyeol just shook his head before lunging forward to pull Baekhyun into a hug.  "Thank you."

“Can’t breathe,” Baekhyun groaned, hands pounding uselessly on his back.

Class Reviews

“I don’t get it, why do we have to review the class before it’s over?”  Baekhyun asked.

“How about because if you knew your grade, your answer might change?”  Chanyeol offered.

“But that’s my point,” Baekhyun countered.  “How can I know if I liked the class if I don’t know what I got in it?”

“In theory, you should know how you feel about it before then Baek.”

“Well, I don’t.  And besides, what is this question even about?”  Baekhyun pointed at the screen at a question asking whether the material was relevant and rigorous. 

“Oh that, I think it has something to do with the school’s goals regarding coursework.”

“The school has goals?”

“Yes, Baek.  Just say yes and move on.”

“Okay.”

Cramming, Again

“You know, I kind of thought that after last time you wouldn’t be doing this again.”

“Oh shut up and hand me that Red Bull so that I can learn 4 chapters of psychology in the next 3 hours.”

“Are you sure that’s even possible?”

“I’m about to find out.”

Finals

“It’s over, it’s over,”  Baekhyun sing-songed as he danced into the room.

“I take it things went well then,” Chanyeol laughed from his spot at his desk.

Baekhyun shrugged.  “I have no clue, but guess what, I don’t care because, ~it’s over ~it’s over.”

Chanyeol laughed and shook his head, but he did have to agree it was nice to be done.  One semester down.  Seven more to go.

Winter Break

The next day saw them both in the lobby of their dorm, suitcases in tow. 

“So,” Baekhyun said with a shuffle of his feet, “see you in three weeks?”

Chanyeol laughed before pulling him into a hug.  “Of course.  Just know, I’m going to get good enough to beat you at Mario Kart before then.”

Baekhyun broke from the hug with a laugh.  “Bring it on.”

 

And so ended their first semester.  It was crazy, but neither of them would have changed it for the world.

 

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Cute and pointless and exactly what I need right now ^^

Hope you had fun.