Baekhyun felt someone’s warm breath on him. He opened his eyes and found Yixing standing above him, watching him as he slept.

He shrieked.

At least, he tried to. Yixing was covering his mouth.

“We have to go to get a manga.” Yixing said calmly, removing his hand.

“, hyung. Don’t scare me like that.” Baekhyun said, his voice a pitch higher than normal.

“We have to go to the manga store.” He repeated, grabbing his wallet.

“It’s almost midnight, hyung.” Baekhyun whined. “Why do you need a manga at midnight?”

“It’s for the club. The text said that you have to come with your favorite manga.” Yixing reminded him.

Baekhyun covered his head with his blanket. “Just borrow one of mine and go back to sleep.”

“No.” Yixing said, forcefully ripping the blanket off of Baekhyun. “We have to go so I can get my own.”

Baekhyun looked at Yixing in the dark and knew he wasn’t going back to sleep until he got a manga.

“Pass me my jacket.”
~
When they arrived at the manga store that was open late, they saw that they were not the only people there. There was a group of three boys, dressed in their pajamas, huddled in the back of the store.

“Hyung, we have to get a lot!” The tallest one said, shaking the shoulder of the boy in the middle.

“There aren’t that many people though, right? Who has the list?” The other boy said, tugging the sleeve of the boy in the middle.

“Sehun, turn around.” The boy in the middle said, reaching for the shirt of the tallest.

“Oh!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “Sehun!”

The tall boy tried to turn around but got tangled as the other boys pulled Sehun’s shirt over his head.

“What are you guys doing here?” Baekhyun asked, pulling Yixing with him.

“We’re getting mangas for the club tomorrow.” The blond one in the middle, Joonmyeon, Yixing remembered.

“A little late.” Baekhyun muttered, causing a full argument between him, Joonmyeon, and Jongin, the other boy.

Yixing wondered away and looked at the shelves of mangas, trying to find one that looked interesting to him. He was halfway down the aisle when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Yixing turned and saw Sehun, tangled in his shirt, arms in the air, writing from before on his back.

“A little help?” Sehun spoke, muffled and twisting to untangle himself.

Yixing smiled and held the boy in place, making him still as he pulled the shirt back down, hiding his smooth, pale stomach and fixing the sleeves for him, running his hand through Sehun’s hair, trying to tame the hair.

“Thanks.” Sehun said, smoothing his shirt.

“No problem. I’m Yixing.” He introduced himself, bowing.

Sehun hummed and took the manga out of Yixing’s hand. “Do you like tennis?”

“Um, I don’t know. Never read it but we’re supposed to bring a manga for the club meeting tomorrow, right?” Yixing asked, recalling the text he received.

The boy pressed his lips together. “Yeah, but it’s fine if you don’t. We’re getting a lot now so don’t worry about it.” Sehun read the summary and put the manga back in Yixing’s hand. “I think we should get this manga for the club.”

“What are you going to do? Get a copy for everyone in the club?” Yixing asked, watching as Sehun went to the front of the store and picked up a basket.

“I’ll just get a couple basketfuls. Jongin is doing the same.” Sehun pointed to the dark- skinned boy who left the argument with Baekhyun and Joonmyeon and went to a shelf, grabbing books and putting them in his basket.

Sehun spread his arms out wide, grasping at least 20 books by his long, skinny noodle arms. He dumped them in the basket, picking up the one that missed.

Yixing watched as he repeated his action three more times with three more baskets. “Looks,” He eyed the full baskets, “expensive. Does this fit with the club’s budget?”

“Joonmyeon’s card is the club’s budget so probably.” Sehun shrugged, not caring but he looked as Yixing held the same manga in his hand for the past ten minutes. “Come on, we’ll pay for this.” He put the book in the basket, carrying two baskets and pushing the other two with his feet.

“I’ll help.” Yixing picked up the baskets on the floor and smiled at Sehun. He got a brief smile before the other boy was calling for Joonmyeon.

“I’ve got the mangas. Hurry and pay so we can go back to sleep.” Sehun shouted, motioning for Yixing to put the baskets on the counter.

Jongin came up behind, adding three baskets on the counter. The worker didn’t blink, just beginning to scan the large amount of books. Joonmyeon appeared and dropped a small stack of books on the counter, not even looking at the full baskets.

“Guys, this is a lot of books. Only,” He lifted the back of Sehun’s shirt, “nine people signed up. Well, 8 people but some guy signed up another kid.”

“Other people will join.” Jongin said defensively.

Baekhyun looked at the books and put a candy car on top of a stack. “Besides, if no one else joins, you’ll read them all by yourself, Joonmyeon.”

The boy rolled his eyes but handed his card over to the worker when he informed them of the price that made Yixing’s eyes widened.

“That’ll be-” The worker was cut off by Joonmyeon holding his card up between two fingers, never looking up from a new manga he opened.

Yixing watched the scene in front of him and was shocked at how calm and relax they all were.

“Here.” Sehun’s voice interrupted his shock. He turned and saw Sehun holding his manga out for him.

“Oh, thank you.” Yixing said, bowing as he took the book.

Sehun stared at him as he straightened. “You don’t have to bow like that to me. I’m pretty sure you’re older than me.”

“I just don’t want to offend anyone. By being rude or anything.” He explained. The younger boy looked at him and chuckled.

“OKay, then.” Sehun said, grabbing four bags as Jongin grabbed the other four.

They all walked out together, Joonmyeon walking as he read, never looking up but also never bumping into anything. Baekhyun started to eat his candy and Jongin and Sehun started whining for some.

“We’re going this way.” Baekhyun said, tugging Yixing by his elbow.

Joonmyeon waved with two fingers, without looking, and Jongin jiggled his head as his form of goodbye and Sehun laughed at him.

“Bye.” Yixing waved as Baekhyun yanked him along.
~
It was Wednesday afternoon and Yixing and Baekhyun were walking to locker B410.

“Hey!” Chanyeol shouted with his loud voice, coming between the two boys, arms around them. “Ready to read some manga?”

“Is it weird that we’re meeting at a locker?” Yixing asked as Chanyeol looked at the numbers of the lockers they walked by.

“Nah.” Baekhyun said, taking Chanyeol’s glasses off.

Chanyeol was shocked and he looked around before he realized they were his fake glasses and he was wearing his contacts so he could already see perfectly.

“407, 408, 409, B410!” Yixing cringed at the taller boy’s booming voice. Then there was a smack and Chanyeol was crouching on the floor, holding his head and making noise that kind of sounded like crying and laughing.

Yixing saw a small boy standing in front of him with a blank look on his face. He looked like a kindergartner in his school uniform and his backpack that looked too big for him.

“Kyungsoo- ya! What was that for?” Chanyeol whined, looking up at him from the floor.

“You’re so loud.” The boy said simply.

Chanyeol made a whining noise and finally got up when Baekhyun knocked him over.

The small boy continued to stare at Yixing. “Who are you?”

“My Chinese exchange student.” Baekhyun interrupted, standing right next to Yixing like an attached twin.

“Yixing.” He said as he bowed. “Nice to meet you.”

His mouth spread into a heart- shaped smile and he was adorable. “I’m Do Kyungsoo.”

“Do you like mangas?” Yixing tried to make conversation.

“I’m pretty sure he only joined because Jongin told him to.” Baekhyun smirked. “He’s whipped for him.”

“ you, you know what, everyone knows that you beg for Chanyeol’s .”

Wow, he’s kind of aggressive.

“Hey, guys!”

They all turned to see a hamster faced boy being dragged around by another Chinese exchange student.

“Did you sign up, Lu Han?” Yixing asked.

The boy nodded. “I signed Minseok up, too.” The boy in tow blinked and went to go talk to Kyungsoo. Lu Han’s voice cracked and his eyes went wide and he rushed to stand next to Minseok.

Yixing turned to Chanyeol who was trying to jump on Baekhyun’s back. “Where’s Yifan?”

Chanyeol froze mid jump, face planting to the floor.

“Oh !” He screamed, scrambling to stand before running down the hall, waving his arms wildly and screaming, “Wu Yifan! Don’t die! Dongsaeng is coming for you!”

They all watched him go until Minseok spoke up. “Why are we just standing at the lockers?”

“Apparently, th-”

Kyungsoo hit Baekhyun on the head and knocked on locker B410.

“Come in!” A voice said.

He opened the locker door and revealed a whole room. “Wow.”

One by one, they slipped in through the locker door and into the big room. There were two tables against the wall with mangas stacked on top and some chairs were put around the room in no particular pattern. There was a half- assed banner taped on the wall that had ‘Otaku Club’ written on it in sloppy blue paint. The three boys in charge were standing underneath it.

“Welcome to the Otaku Club!” They said cheerfully with a smile on their faces and a nametag on their shirt.

“If you guys could all line up over here to check in, that would be helpful.” Joonmyeon said.

With a few small words, everyone shuffled into a line and waited to get their name checked off Sehun’s back.

“Hello...?” Joonmyeon trailed off, waiting for a name.

“I’m Lu Han.” He stated. Joonmyeon looked at the names and checked off ‘Lu Han’ before gesturing him to Jongin who was sitting at a table with name tags, along with snacks and drinks.

“Welcome to the Otaku Club. Grab a snack and a seat and take out your manga.” Jongin said cheerfully, slapping a nametag on Lu Han’s chest.

“Name?” Joonmyeon asked Kyungsoo politely.

The small boy rolled his eyes. “You know my ing name.”

“No need for that kind of language.” Joonmyeon looked scandalized, his eyes seemed like they would fall out of their sockets.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and yanked the sharpie out of the blond’s hand, crossed off his own name, and ignored Jongin when he tried to be cute to him. He just took a cookie and a bottle of water before stalking off to a seat.

“Kyungsoo is so cool.” Jongin sighed as he watched the boy walk away.

“He, literally, hates you.” Sehun’s voice was muffled by his shirt but it was pretty obvious what he said.

And so, one by one, they crossed off the names on Sehun’s back and got rid of the nametags on the table. Chanyeol and Yifan ended up coming in somewhere between Baekhyun and Yixing. Finally, the meeting officially started.

“Hello and welcome to the Otaku Club!” Joonmyeon said again, Jongin and Sehun hooting and hollering as background noise, Baekhyun and Lu Han joining in. “In this club, we’re going to read and discuss mangas and we’ll watch some animes. Have a field trip down to that store with the cute things.”

“We’ll buy Rilakkuma plushies!” Sehun screamed, revealing a bucketful of Rilakkuma plushies, throwing them at everyone.

That set the room off.

Everyone jumped out of their seats, grabbing a couple stuffed toys. Chanyeol and Yifan picked up Minseok and started tossing him in the air, Kyungsoo jumped on chair and ripped the bear’s head from its body as Jongin watched with heart eyes, and Baekhyun and Lu Han teamed up to flip everything over. Joonmyeon looked at all of them before making a small for in the corner and taking a pile of mangas with him, Sehun watching the man in charge as he shoveled the snacks into his mouth that was bigger than it looked.

Yixing looked on with wide eyes and hugged the Rilakkuma plushie he saved from Kyungsoo’s wretched hands.

“So this is what Korean schools are like.”