“Come o-o-on,” Chen whined to Luhan, shouldering the older man as they walked across campus. Chen offered to show him where the lunch and music room was when he found Luhan standing awkwardly outside his dorm building, and he had grudgingly accepted. “It’s just dinner. Meet my friends. God knows you need some.”

“I do not need your help finding friends,” Luhan snapped. “Besides, I don’t want to meet your friends. They’re probably as annoying as you.”

“You wound me,” the singer said dramatically. “We’re a unique bunch. Come on, one dinner? We’re all reuniting. Plus, it’s Chanyeol’s turn to pay, so it’s free.”

Luhan inhaled a sharp breath. He felt the edge of his temper spike. “For the last time, no. I’m not interested.” The older man paused, biting his lip, and quietly asked, “Will that Chinese kid be there?”

“Hm? Lay hyung? Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?” Suddenly, Chen stopped, which caused Luhan to abruptly stop and whirl around to catch an annoying grin on his friend’s face. “Do you like him already? I’m not surprised. Lay hyung is sweet. Unfortunately, he’s taken.”

“I don’t care,” Luhan said harshly. “I just--was curious, is all. I am going to live with him.” His mind flashed back to the hurt and shock look the kid had when Luhan slapped his hand, and he felt an unfamiliar feeling creep up: guilt. “Plus, I had . . . I snapped at him. The kid looked hurt.” He pretended to shrug nonchalantly.

Chen shot him a sympathetic look. “You came face to face with Minseok hyung, didn’t you?”

“What?” Luhan balked. “No! I mean--”

His friend clapped him on the back. “Minseok hyung is super, super duper protective of Lay hyung. Like I said, you probably aren’t the best match.” Chen’s face split into a smile. “But you’ll get to know them more at the dinner! Come on, please, please, please come?”

Looking at his friend’s face, Luhan knew Chen wouldn’t let it go. “Fine,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll go to your stupid dinner.” And maybe make it up to the kid.

The dinner took place at a casual restaurant (if you could even call it that) that college students visited frequently. The group met there often to eat as it was usually the only times they could all meet up. Different classes demanded different schedules for most of them.

Minseok and Yixing arrived a little past ten. The night was warm, and they had decided to walk there. Yixing was practically vibrating with energy.

“I can’t wait to see all of them,” Yixing babbled. “We haven’t heard from Kyungsoo at all. Probably because of his stuffy family.”

“Hm,” Minseok mused. He kissed his partner’s cheek briefly. “Well, at least they kind of accepted him being gay.” Yixing bobbled his head.

When they entered the restaurant, they immediately heard Chen’s squaking, “Hyungs! O-o-over here!”

An amused smile came to Minseok’s face as he turned to the voice’s direction, but it quickly vanished when he saw who was with him. Yixing’s and his new roommate was sitting broodingly by, his face full of reluctance and slight anger.  Minseok bristled at the memory of their first encounter but swallowed it down. They barely knew the guy. People get cranky sometimes.

“Chen! And Luhan, you came!” Yixing softly exclaimed, having already forgotten Luhan’s temper. He ran over and leaped into Chen’s arms. “Did you wait long?”

“Nah.” Chen squeezed the older man tightly. “The others haven’t even arrived, anyway. Kai's probably going to come late, the bastard. I ordered you a beer.”

Minseok took the beer while Yixing turned his attention to Luhan, who had yet to greet him. Lay smiled shyly and slid in the chair across from his roommate, feeling Minseok sit beside him. Luhan continued to silently stare at Lay.

“I’m glad you came,” Lay offered in Mandarin. "You'll get to meet everyone. Are you okay now? Did you get to rest?"

Luhan, blinking and disorientated at the questions of concern, struggled to form a proper answer for them. He felt the calm stare from Minseok, and that pushed his irritation more. "I'm fine," Luhan clipped back. "And Chen dragged me here."

Yixing threw his head back and laughed. It was a lovely laugh. Minseok's lips twitched.

"Kris hyung! Tao! Kyungsoo! Over here!" came Chen's squaking again.

Luhan twisted his body to take in the newcomers.

A tall, blond Chinese student stood at the entrance, his arm swung around the shoulders of another dark-haired Chinese man. They were both lean and handsome and offered kind smiles at their direction. A questioning look settled when they spotted Luhan. Their other campanion was much shorter than the two, with heart-shaped lips and narrowed, disapproving eyes directed at Chen. Luhan balked at the group. Chen was right. They were a unique bunch.

"Yah, Jongdae," the shorter one scolded as they made their way to the table. "Stop shouting. Seriously, you're giving the employees grief."

"Is that the first thing you have to say to me?" Chen pouted but accepted the man's warm hug anyway. "Kris hyung did you seriously grow taller?

"Only to you, shorty," the tall, blond man said easily and bumped fists with Chen. He stole another glance at their guest but didn't comment, using his energy instead to greet Lay and Minseok.

Yixing had bounced out of the chair and flung himself into Kris' arms, the tall man grunting at the weight. "How's it going, Yifan? How's your family? How's--" Lay made a face. "Henry?"

Yifan snorted and shoved the smaller man away. "Henry's fine; we went on a date two days ago. And, Yixing, we saw each other last week. You already know the answers. Plus--"

"Um, hello? Korean, please?" A new voice popped up in the crowd--a voice that Luhan recognized. Craning his head, he found the small man with a sassy hand propped on his hip. Baekhyun, Luhan recalled. The one that pissed him off.  And another tall guy (jeezus , why are they all tall?), who was grinning and had an arm latched around Baekhyun's waist. "Just in case you forgot, there's three of you here that can speak Mandarin, and eight of us here Korean. Majority language rules." Baekhyun glared at the bunch but then took notice on Luhan, raising an eyebrow that made Luhan want to flip a table. God, why did this guy annoy him so much? "Well, okay, four who can speak Mandarin if you count that newbie there."

"Don't be like that, Baekhyun," the dark-haired Chinese man spoke up. His speech was heavily accented, and while his appearance seemed striking and scary, his soft voice took away the illusion.

"Don't be like that, Baekhyun," Baekhyun mocked. Tao scowled at him and made a threatening move forward, and Luhan resisted the urge to cheer him on. Kris' strong hand settled on Tao's shoulder.

Minseok waved a beckoning hand. "Yah, Chanyeol, Tao, Kris, Kyungsoo. Sit over here. Meet our new roommate."

"New roommate? You have a new roommate, Lay?" Goddamn, how many were there? Luhan thought desperately as three new men popped up behind the shoulders of Kris and Tao. The shortest of the three looked kind and had been the one who had spoken. The other two had eyes curiously locked with Luhan's. One of them had poorly dyed hair with shockingly pale skin, while the other's hair flopped against golden skin.

"Yeah, they put us in a three-person dorm," Yixing supplied cheerfully. "Everybody, meet Luhan! He's from China. Luhan, meet--" he paused surveying the eight new people crowded around the table. "Kris (Yifan), Tao, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Suho, Sehun, and Jongin--oops, sorry, Kai." Lay inhaled and then pointed to Minseok and himself.  "And we didn't really introduce ourselves, but this is Minseok, and I'm Lay, but if it makes you comfortable, Yixing."

Minseok leaned back and frowned at his partner. "You don't let me call you that."

"Luhan is new!"

"What--"

"Nice to meet you, Luhan," Kris said loudly, interrupting the common argument betwen the couple. "Me and Tao were from the China transfer program, too. It can be a huge change." He held out a friendly hand.

Luhan stared at the hand, making no motion to take it. It wasn't like he was going to hang with this group for long. What the was his name again? I forgot by Chanjol. Awkwardly, he watched Kris' hand fall back by his side.

"Well," Baekhyun said drily. "We have a rude one here."

Luhan's head snapped to the short man. His temper rising, he opened his mouth to issue a challenge--

"Aw, shut up, Baekhyun," Chanyeol said good naturedly. "Names were passed. Can we eat now?"

"I already ordered the chicken," Chen crowed as people took their usual seats. Uncomfortably, the kind faced one took a seat next to Luhan, and it was obvious the man wanted to talk. "And of course, beer!"

Baekhyun eyed Luhan suspiciously from his place next to Chanyeol, who good naturedly took Baekhyun's delicate hands and squeezed. Obviously, they were a couple. "You are legal, right?"

Defensively, Luhan turned his glare to him. "Why the are you asking me that? No one under the age of 18 gets into this program." Then, irrationally, he pointed a finger to Minseok. "You should be asking him that."

"I have a name," Minseok hummed, but he smiled ruefully. "It's true. I look 12."

Chen burst out laughing and reached over Suho to slap Luhan on the back. The friendly slap was actually more forceful than it was meant to be, so Luhan lurched against the table. I shouldn't have ing come, oh my god, you can't punch a friend.  "Minseok's actually the oldest out of all of us. Even Kris, who looks 30."

Before Kris could protest, the poorly-dyed hair boy loudly exclaimed their chicken has arrived. Sure enough, two waiters set down a massive number of plates of seasoned chicken and several cans of cold beer. Luhan picked a small chicken wing, not in the mood to eat much, and popped open a beer. Gratefully, he took a large swig of the alcohol. Maybe being buzzed would help him get through the night.

"So, Luhan," the kind man said softly, ruining Luhan's hope of not talking to anybody for the rest of the dinner. "How do you like Korea? You speak Korean very well; did you study it in China?"

Uh. Suha. Or Shou? "I've visited Korea before and practiced the language," Luhan said with a clipped voice.

Suho hummed, undeterred by the short response. After all, he was one of the volunteers that helped foreign students adjust, and he spent plenty of time talking without a single response from the students. "If you ever need help, I'm always here. But if you feel more comfortable with your home language, Kris, Tao, and Lay are always willing to help." He gave a smile. "It's good you're roommates with Lay. He was one of the first Chinese transfers when the program started. He has a kind heart."

Luhan didn't respond. Luckily, Lay had perked up when he heard his name and strayed from his conversation with Kyungsoo to glance suspiciously at the two. "Are you spreading rumors about me, Suho hyung?" he demanded.

Suho reached across the table and tapped Lay's hand.  "Wouldn't dream of it. Tell me, are the three-persons dorms as big as people say? Do you have a kitchen?"

"It's big." Lay nodded. "We have a kitchen. Minseok-ge and I have already tried to cook breakfast." He gave a faux glare at his partner. "But someone spilled batter all over me."

Minseok snorted.  "After you pulled me down with you. Luhan, do you coo--"

"Minseok hyung! Lay hyung! Look at this!" Chanyeol shouted from the end of the table, about to do one of his stupid, usual tricks with food. "Okay, babe, remember to aim. " He scooted back his chair and opened his mouth widely. Baekhyun,  with fifteen fries in his hand, looked ready to launch.

Effectively distracted from their conversation, Luhan breathed a sigh of relief and took another swallow of his beer. He was just about to take a bite of his chicken when--

"What's your major, Luhan?" Suho asked comfortably, not at all interested in Chanyeol's antics. "Most of us are actually double majors, music related and something else. I know the foreign exchange in China forces you to take on two subjects . . .?"

"Music production and engineering," Luhan said tersely.

"That's nice. Kris and I," Suho nodded to the tall blonde man. "are double majoring in music management and business. Lay is majoring in musical therapy and dance. Minseok--he's also in musical therapy--that's how they met--but doubled with sports medicine." He gave Luhan another soft smile. "We all met through the music and dance program. It's nice to have another addition."

Except there is no 'addition'. Luhan didn't know why this man was talking to him or why he thought Luhan was interested in their majors, but considering his anger was under control, he didn't find it too untolerable. Before he could stop himself, he found himself murmuring, "Are all of you . . . coupled?"

Suho laughed. "Not all of us. I'm single." The tip of his mouth kicked up. "You probably already figured Minseok and Lay are together. Chanyeol and Baekhyun have been together since freshman year." He tilted his head to the idiots who were miserably failing at getting one french fry into the wide mouth. "It's not really my place to tell you all of the stories of our love lives, but you probably will figure out that Kris is dating Henry, a name that will pop up frequently because of Lay."

Luhan lifted his eyes to focus on the mentioned man. The dancer was laughing goofily at Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Minseok grinned deviously and leaned in, blowing a stream of air into Lay's neck, causing Lay to screech and flail, shoulders hunched up to his ears.

"You know I'm sensitive there," Lay protested. Minseok shrugged.

"Sensitive where? Here?" The poorly dyed hair man sitting next to Lay also leaned over and blew into Lay's neck. The same effects happened.

"Stop it!" Lay demanded, his ears red, but his laughs were escaping. His eyes cut to Luhan, who sat frozen in his seat. "Don't you exploit my weakness, Lu-ge!"

Lu-ge? Who the ? Luhan didn't have much time to react because suddenly his cheek met something soggy, greasy and grainy. Three fries bounced off and hit the table.

"Hey new kid!" It was that annoying voice again. Baekhyun. Luhan didn't need to turn his head to know. "Everyone wants to know where you got your plastic surgery."

"Baekhyun!" Chanyeol yelped and slapped a hand over his boyfriend's mouth. "He's drunk, he's really drunk, what the , babe--"

Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol's arm away and leaned closer to the table. His eyes met Luhan's, who turned his body fully to face his aggravator. Some of the noisy conversation died at the table, one part because most of its occupants were curious about the new student and the other part because they knew and were wary of Baekhyun's mouth. The singer had made a few new kids cry in the past few years with just his smart comments.

In this case, however, judging by Luhan's tense shoulders, it wasn't Luhan they had to worry about.

"Well, the guy's too pretty," Baekhyun said. "But he has a nasty attitude, so he's really just getting by with his looks, right? Hey, Kris, isn't the exchange program one of the most competetive?"

"Why don't you off and mind your own business?" Luhan replied flatly before Kris could answer.  "Your voice has been giving me a headache from the second you've opened your mouth."

Baekhyun gave him a bored look. "Just how many people have you ed to get where you are now?"

Luhan could feel it. The beginning course of anger. The emotion was singing in his veins, rushing to his head and circulating to the curl of his toes. His heart was pumping faster to match the rush of blood. Loose fists started to tremble. Deep breaths only fueled oxygen to the blood that carried his fury, and oh god he wanted to release it. Luhan had felt this enough times in his life to know the outcome. But his body was already pumping endorphins, ensuring that a single punch to that 's nose would be painless at the time. He needed release--or a bucket of ice water.

"Dude, let it go," Luhan heard the muffled voice of someone, probably Kay or something, through the rush of his ears. "You're just picking a fight, now. You did the exact same thing to Kris, then Lay, then Tao--what's your deal with new kids?"

"The difference is they didn't have ty attitudes when we first met them," Baekhyun said loudly. "Just testing the waters, 'is all. Seriously, Chen, how'd you find this kid? Was he, like, the night show at a bar in China . . . "

Something in Luhan broke, and somewhere, somewhere very, very distant in Luhan's mind, a part of him mourned at his no-anger-outburst streak. But the rest of his body? It was automatic. There was pure fury controlling everything from his heart to the tips of his fingers.

The Chinese student shoved the table violently away to move his chair. The resulting force made the entire table tip and crash. Beer and chicken fell victim to gravity and spilled both on the other table side's guests and floors. Glass shattering pierced the air. The men stood up with surprised shouts, but Luhan was already up, his chair also flung back from his abrupt stand. He was shaking, totally immune to the mess he had just made. His eyes burned with concentration at the stunned Baekhyun.

Luhan slammed both hands on the surviving, conjoined table--the one that Baekhyun occupied. The wooden table protested under the slam. "You wanted a fight," Luhan snarled. "ing get up and put your words into action. I will beat your preppy little ."

"Oh, god, oh, god," Chen muttered, quickly standing up from his chair. He's seen Luhan cracked many times. No matter how much the latter denied it, he knew his friend had anger issues. Slowly, he approached the shaking Luhan. "Hyung, you need to calm down okay? I told you, he's like this to everyone, and--"

"Move." At this point, Luhan was in no mood for negotiations. When Chen didn't move fast enough for his liking, he grasped the front of his friend's shirt and brutally flung him aside. Even though his body looked lean, Luhan packed surprising strength. Chen  slammed against the wall and fell to the floor, dragging along some decorative frames with him. His head bounced off his fall.

Kyungsoo was by Chen's side immediately. "Chen!" he cried out. "What on Earth?"

Somewhere in the background, a frail voice shouted, "Security! Security, security!"

Two pair of hands gripped Luhan's arms and shoulders. Kris and Sehun grabbed bruisingly and started to haul the man back. "You need to chill out," Kris said sharply in Mandarin. "Chen's friend or not, you do not get to--woah!" The tall blonde man swerved to the side to avoid an incoming punch. Luhan took advantage of Kris' distraction to grab Kris' arm, twist it, and pushed, similar to what he had done to Chen. Then, with his heart pumping more and more anger to his body, his mind practically buzzing with the emotion, he twisted Sehun's fingers until the youngest cried out and let go.

"This is between me and that er," Luhan shouted, words garbled. His target was already scrambling backward, obviously frightened as hell at the display. All of the members were on their feet now, in defensive positions. "You're a coward now? How did I get to where I am? I'll show you how!"

Out of nowhere, a hand pressed into Luhan's chest and shoved hard before he could take a step. Luhan stumbled. His back hit the wall, but Luhan couldn't move an inch to relieve his pain. The hand on his chest was strong, so strong in fact that there would probably be a bruise. Something about the move was familiar. Startled, the Chinese man stared at burning, brown eyes.

"Calm. Down," Minseok hissed, muscles flexing at the amount of pressure he exerted on Luhan. "Now, I know Baekhyun's words were provoking, but that doesn't warrant your reaction. You're going to calm down, apologize for the mess you made, and leave. I won't tolerate anymore harm, understand?"

What about the harm you're doing to my chest? Luhan attempted to shove back at the man, but Minsek didn't budge. This little is stronger than me! The last time this happened, he had thought it was a fluke. He hadn't believed the skinny looking good could actually overpower him.

"Let me go," Luhan barked.

"I will if you calm down."

"Hey! Do I need to call the police?" Two security guards popped up from the back of the restaurant. They made their way toward the scene. "What's the problem?"

Luhan wanted to calm down. He really did. He rationally knew that he was overreacting, but his body was still singing and his hands were still shaking and his head was still buzzing--

A hand laid gently on his arm. It wasn't Minseok's, who was still staring at him intently. No, it was an extremely gentle touch, hesitant but oddly calming. Luhan's eyes flickered to the side, searching. Who dared to touch him that way?

Lay dared. It was typical of the soft man, who hated violence and tried to deescalate whenever he could. He stood uncertainly near Luhan, eyebrows creased and eyes full of concern. The hand on Luhan's shoulder slowly rubbed back and forth.

"Luhan?" Lay said softly. "Luhan, you have to calm down, okay? You're scaring a lot of people, and we're all going to be kicked out. Do you want to go outside? I can walk with you."

And just like that. Just like that, the anger drained from Luhan. The trembling stopped, the buzzing ceased, and the heart slowed into a steady, healthy beat.  Never in Luhan's life had his anger been so abruptly calmed, but that was it--Luhan's anger episode was gone. It was as if Lay's words the emotion out of him.

Exhaustion hit in, and he felt his tense muscles go lax.

Minseok stared at Luhan a little more, observing carefully. He pulled back on his force a little. "Okay?"

Luhan his lips. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."