Disclaimer: of course I skewed people's ages and stuff to be college age, including their backgrounds and all that good stuff. As much as I try to keep it in character, there will most likely be OOCness. Sorry :p Also, WARNING! There is foul language in this fic (mostly by Jo Kwon lol), so... be warned ^^" That's it for that for now... so please, enjoy the story and comment! ^^

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Jinwoo sighs, flopping down onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling of his new room. His new home. A smile works its way onto his face as he lets it sink in that this is his life now. A new college student with big dreams, he’s excited to have a fresh start in his life. A chance to overwrite the pain and unhappiness he’s experienced in the past few years.

Sitting up, he takes another look around his room. His roommate is a sophomore, so he hasn’t arrived yet. Jinwoo’s scholarship not only got him a full ride, but a room in one of the nicest living spaces on campus. The six-floor building is all studio apartments, all a little bigger than the average size. He lives on the 5^th floor in the west wing; each wing is one gender only, no co-ed wings. Colorful beanbags and a bright yellow couch furnish the “living room,” along with a coffee table and an oak entertainment center that houses a flat screen TV, Blu-ray player, both a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360, and Jinwoo’s entire collection of movies and video games. On the provided bookshelf in the corner, he’s only used two of the four shelves to place some of his favorite books and manga and his small but ever-growing collection of anime (Jinwoo denies being a complete weeaboo, but his friends back home beg to differ), leaving space for his roommate. A low wall blocks off the kitchen area, which is already stocked with pots and pans provided by the school. He has some snacks and basic groceries, but nothing too complicated since there are many dining services on campus. There are two desks, two dressers, and two beds, Jinwoo’s own of each already personalized to his heart’s content.

“My place is so pretty,” Jinwoo sings to himself. He really is pleased with how everything turned out. He got enough money from his grandparents to buy whatever he wanted with a nice amount leftover. His parents didn’t give him anything, but he was okay with that. He didn’t want to have to owe them for anything, anyway.

As minutes begin to tick by, he realizes he’s bored. He pouts, wishing his roommate was here so he’d have someone to interact with. He figured studying abroad in a country that was brand new to him would be hard, especially with the language barrier and not knowing anyone at all. He’s confident in his English though, so he’s not too worried about it. The accent is still there, however; Jinwoo just hopes he isn’t teased too severely for it.

There are supposed to be some events for the new freshmen, he thinks. He lazily reaches for the brochure he left on top of his bag on the floor. Stretching, he finally manages to snatch it up and he starts flipping through, looking for anything interesting he can do. He wrinkles his nose at his findings so far.

“Ew. Who wants to do a scavenger hunt? It’s too hot,” he whines. A tour of the campus is next. “I have a map. I can find my classes on my own… I hope.” He’s lying to himself; he just doesn’t want to look like a total dweeb trailing after a student tour guide who is way too peppy for a hot summer day. Next is a thing where students can visit where their classes are so they know where to go when classes start. “Useful… but boring.” A treasure hunt. “Isn’t that the same thing as a scavenger hunt??” He’s about to give up when he notices an evening event. It’s a little confusing to read, but it basically seems to be some sort of social where students play games and do icebreakers to meet each other. There’s even free food.

Jinwoo’s stomach growls, and he sits up. “Must be a sign,” he whispers, staring intently at the brochure. He gets up and heads to the kitchen for a snack. “Sold!”

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“Hm…” Jinwoo frowns at his reflection in the full-length mirror. “Am I too cute?” he questions aloud to himself. He’s just taken a shower to wash the stink of moving in away and put on a fresh new outfit. He decided to go the safe route and is sporting tight jeans and a white knit sweater with a black tank underneath. He figures that it will be alright to wear a long sleeve since it’s nighttime… he just hopes the room they’re all going to be herded in won’t be too hot.

He messes with his hair a little before dropping his arms uselessly by his side. “Maybe too boring… but I don’t care. It’s the first night.” Jinwoo then spins on his heel and walks out of his room, making sure to lock the door.

It’s a bit of a walk, but the cool breeze makes it a little less bothersome. He arrives at the designated venue, taking out his map and squinting at it in the light coming from the glass doors. Looking back and forth between the letters displayed proudly on the building and the ones on the map, he concluded that he is indeed in the right place.  “Marshall Hall,” he mutters to himself before taking in a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” He enters the building as confidently as he can and follows the music to the large main area where hundreds of students are milling about. The humidity in the air hits him hard and he grimaces. Ew, he whines internally.

New freshmen stand around or sit on the floor, talking to each other and laughing. It seems I’ve arrived late to the function, Jinwoo thinks to himself worriedly. Everyone’s already in groups and seems to be having a good time; what will he do? He’s worried about how open people will be to accepting him, especially after his not so great experience back home. However, he convinces himself that he’s in America now and that things will be different, so he hesitantly starts moving around the room in search of a group to merge into.

Animated chatter fills the room, and Jinwoo being the shy guy he is, he doesn’t want to interrupt so he keeps moving if he sees a group engrossed in conversation. This is difficult because nearly everyone is deep in conversation. Realizing this, Jinwoo tells himself to it up and wills himself to just step up to a group and start talking.

As he’s looking around, his eyes rest on a boy, thinner and a little taller than he. His face looks kind, as he’s smiling and laughing at something a leggy brunette with vibrant red lipstick said. Those guys look like my kind of people, Jinwoo thinks to himself. And he’s not sure, but all of the people in that group seem to be conversing in Korean. My people! he rejoices inwardly. Swallowing, he steps closer and flashes a smile at them.

“Hi,” he greets cheerfully in Korean, bowing. He was expecting a greeting back, so he was quite shocked when instead of smiles, he got blank stares and a glare from the tall guy he’d originally thought was nice. His eyes, rimmed with thick eyeliner, look Jinwoo up and down, a smirk on his face. When he’s through, he turns to the brunette girl and they both bust out laughing simultaneously, the rest of the group nervously following suit.

“Oh no, what are you?” he sneers meanly, turning his nose up at Jinwoo.

Great, Jinwoo thinks, mortified. I managed to find one of THOSE…

The brunette flips her hair over her shoulder, giggling while raising her eyebrows at the poor boy. “Is he for real, oppa?” she asks, glancing over at the mean man.

“I dunno, seems so…” He shrugs. “Can’t blame him for wanting to rock with us, but he’s lame, so he cannot.”

“You just look annoying. Why did you come over here?” The girl scrunches up her face. “We don’t hang out with basics. Get lost.”

“Immediately. Before I tell your grandma you stole her sweater.” The boy throws his head back and laughs, and so does the girl. On the verge of tears, Jinwoo takes the hint and moves away, trying his hardest not to break down and cry. He just doesn’t understand—how can people be so mean?? He hadn’t done anything but say hello! And he gets treated like this?

Suddenly, his outlook on college life in America starts to dim. What if they’re all like this? If people from his own country won’t like him, what will he do? Maybe this isn’t how I thought it was, he thinks sadly, keeping his eyes to the ground. I think I’ll just leave…

He wipes at his eyes, already feeling the tears start to spill over. How embarrassing would it be if he just started crying in a room full of strangers? Jinwoo just wants to get out, go back to his room, and pretend these past fifteen minutes never happened. And maybe eat ramen.

Trying his best to make his way back to the exit, he weaves his way through the crowd as he tries to keep it together. While looking around to get his bearings, he spots the snack table. He stands there contemplating for a moment; he is really hungry. A snack won’t hurt before I leave, I guess, he concedes, sniffling as he begins to push his way to the table of food. Just a few steps before he reaches it, he notices two people standing on the other side of the table, both looking in his direction. The boy puts his hand up to cover his mouth as he whispers something to the girl next to him, and she nods her head. The boy doesn’t look that friendly, but the girl looks really nice. Jinwoo tears his gaze away from them and walks up to the table. “I’m not falling for that again,” he mumbles to himself. America had already taught him his first lesson; appearances aren’t everything…

Jinwoo looks around, making sure he has the all clear before he starts stuffing his face with the bread, ducking his head so his piggishness won’t be so visible. He grabs a cupcake and is about to leave when his eyes sweep over the couple standing a few feet from the table again. They’re still looking at him and stop whispering once he notices them. Jinwoo frowns. If they’re going to be mean to him, he’d rather they get it over with already like the others did.

He stands there anticipating one of them saying something to him, and the boy finally does. “Hey,” he calls out to Jinwoo. He his head in response. The boy crooks his finger and motions for Jinwoo to come to them. He narrows his eyes, suspicious, but slowly moves toward them anyway. What does he have to lose? It can’t get much worse than what the two model-like people already did to him.

Once Jinwoo gets closer, the boy flashes a big smile. “Oh, Asian! What are you? Japanese? Chinese? Korean?” he ticks off, saying each nationality in their respective language. Jinwoo is taken aback, both by his apparent knowledge of multiple languages and his boldness. The girl next to him slaps his arm and shakes her head, making an apologetic face at Jinwoo.

“U-um…” Jinwoo stammers, suddenly nervous. Damn me and my shyness! he curses himself.

The boy leans toward him and cups his ear. “Oh? Can’t hear you?” he says.

“Korean,” Jinwoo manages quietly, responding in his native language.

The boy visibly breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” he drawls in Korean. “I don’t know Japanese or Chinese or any other language besides English.”

Jinwoo blinks. “But—”

“Those were the only words he knows in those languages,” the girl states frankly in Korean as well.

“O-oh, haha,” Jinwoo stutters again, laughing shakily.

“Oh, you’re a shy one,” the boy muses. He runs a hand through his perfectly styled hair before taking a sip of his punch. Then he suddenly scowls. “Tch. Figures then why they’d pick on you so easily.”

He blushes. “You saw that?” Jinwoo asks glumly.

“Yeah. Hard to watch,” the girl adds sympathetically.

“Do you know them?” From the look on his face, the outgoing brunette seems to know Jinwoo’s bullies from before.

“Oh, boy,” the girl mutters before the boy goes off on a rant.

“Hell yeah, I do! I wish I didn’t, though. Those basic es tried to act like they ran the school all throughout high school here when, in reality, they didn’t run . It’s mostly Bacon that’s a problem, though. He’s got a loud mouth like mine except he likes to talk all kinds of . I can’t stand his fake !” The boy gets louder as he goes on, waving his arms about. Jinwoo giggles a little at how worked up he is, noting that he is one who talks with his hands. “And then Suzy trails around after him like a lapdog. She’s basically got no mind of her own. It’s like, girl! Don't be so brainless! Find yourself! But noooo, she wants to be best bully es with him because she’s thirsty after all of his boyfriend’s friends. I hate people like them, but it’s whatever. They liked to pick on anyone and everyone and I see they haven’t changed. But guess who they didn’t try?” He pauses to take a long sip of his drink. “That’s right; me!”

Jinwoo’s brain is about fried from all the information overload this guy just gave him. He sure has a mouth on him… let me not get on his bad side, he thinks to himself. He also notes that he swears a lot, but he’s used to it from his ex, so he doesn’t mind.

Then he remembers something. “Wait, his name is Bacon?”

The boy gives him a look. “No, honey. But you call him Bacon. Don’t give that basic hoe the courtesy of calling him anything but.”

Jinwoo’s mouth drops open in shock. He’s surely never met anyone like this guy before! “H-Hoe?!” he repeats. “You act like he stole your girlfriend or something…”

“He did steal his boyfriend—”

“Shh!” he cuts the girl off with a severe look. “Damn! Telling all my business…”

The girl just shrugs. “The evil guy’s name is Byun Baekhyun, by the way—”

The boy squeezes his eyes shut and frowns, holding a hand up to her. “Hush puppy now! Jeez, Ji!” Then he rolls his eyes before directing a sweet smile at Jinwoo. “I’m sorry. I’m over here talk talk talking and you don’t even know my name. I’m Jo Kwon.” He holds out a hand and Jinwoo shakes it, bowing out of habit.

“Kwon-ssi,” he says quietly, mentally making note of his name as he eats his cupcake. The boy shares traits with Jinwoo like height, pale skin, and brown hair, but differs from him with his slimmer figure, expressive eyes, and big, charming smile. Jinwoo decides that Jo Kwon is a very beautiful person.

“It’s Jo Kwon,” the leaner boy corrects. “Use the full name, no formal stuff either.” He looks at Jinwoo fondly before patting his arm. “And aww, you’re so cute. But you’re not my type, babe.”

Jinwoo blushes. “Wh-what?”

“I saw you checking me out just now. It’s okay. As long as we’re friends, you can have a little crush on me! That’s okay!” he laughs cheerfully, effectively embarrassing Jinwoo even more because he wasn’t looking at him like that.

His friend rolls her eyes. “JoJo, he wasn’t even looking at you like that,” she states with a sigh. She gets it! Jinwoo thinks gratefully. “I’m Lee Jieun, by the way.” She smiles and he can see her beauty, too. She has a natural glow about her and long, pretty dark brown hair. The flower crown she’s wearing isn’t easy to pull off, but she does, and it adds to her charm.

“Kim Jinwoo,” he introduces himself. “Nice to meet you both!” He looks around a little before rubbing his neck shyly. “You guys kind of saved me. I was all excited to meet new people tonight and then the dynamic duo over there humiliated me. I was ready to go home.” Just then, a thought occurs to him. He turns pleading eyes to Jo Kwon, working his face into a soft pout. “Hyung, do you think this sweater is really that ugly?” He figures since he’s so outspoken, Jo Kwon would tell him the truth.

“Hyung?” he questions before looking his whole outfit up and down. “What makes you think I’m older than you? And no, it’s not ugly at all.” He stares blankly in Bacon and Suzy’s direction as he downs the last of his punch. “Why? Did they say that? Those jealous es.” Jinwoo laughs, and Jo Kwon’s expression turns soft again as he looks back at him. He snatches the shy boy up in his arms and hugs him tight. “Aw, Ji! Jinwoo-yah is so cute, isn’t he? Can we keep him?”

“He’s not a dog!” she scolds lightly, laughing when Jinwoo laughs again. I think I like these people.

“True…” Jo Kwon straightens up. “Well, this event . The icebreakers and was supposed to start 30 minutes ago,” he complains. “Let’s leave.” Jieun nods, and Jinwoo suddenly feels sad. They’re leaving already, just when he was starting to have a little fun…

Jo Kwon notices Jinwoo’s sad expression and rolls his eyes, grabbing his hand as they start walking. “Of course you’re coming with us, silly,” he assures. “Don’t make that sad face. It’s sad cute.”

“Sad cute?” Jieun questions with a smile.

“Yes. It’s entirely lethal and should be outlawed.” He looks over at Jinwoo suspiciously. “You know you’re cute, don’t you?”

He does. He knows it very well and likes to use his looks to get his way when he can, as bad as it sounds. In his eyes, it only works if you let him get away with it, which most people do. People think he doesn’t know, but he does. “I’m cute?” he asks, blushing and feigning innocence.

Jo Kwon snorts, laughing and shaking his head. “You are a trip.”

The trio doesn’t leave in peace, however. Baekhyun, Suzy, and the little group they’ve amassed had made their way toward the door a while ago and were standing there when they walked by. Suzy notices them and decides to speak up.

“You guys are so lame!” she shouts at them, making their friends laugh and Jo Kwon scowl. She walks up to them with the clique, looking all of them up and down. “Jieun-ah, you are so brave wearing that ugly flower crown. What are you, four?”

Jo Kwon sticks his hand out firmly in Suzy’s face, making her jump a little. “Bishhhh,” he draws out in boredom, not even looking at her. “You’re just mad because you can’t wear it because you know that’d be fashion suicide. Flowers and rats don’t go together, love.”

She fumes, moving her head away from behind his hand to glare at him. He just follows her with his hand. “Was I even talking to you?” she snaps.

“No, but I’m talking to you—not for much longer, granted, but still,” he replies. “Don’t be a hater just because you stink. Wash your .”

“It’s incense, you moron!”

“Girl, it’s weed. Shut the up.” He finally removes his hand and looks her up and down, glaring at her. Baekhyun and Suzy’s new friends kind of look at her in disgust, realizing that her “unique scent” isn’t as chic as she made it sound. She blushes, embarrassed and angry, and Baekhyun turns on Jo Kwon.

“You are so insecure, Jo Kwon.”

Jo Kwon twists up his face in horror. “Ew! Don’t talk to me, you crispy !” He tugs on Jinwoo and Jieun’s hands and they leave in a hurry. “Ugh,” he whines once they’re outside. “I do not have the energy or the desire to waste words on that thing. I would have lost my composure.”

“You have none!” Jieun cries, still laughing from all the insults he hurled at the bullies. “You are so mean! And you really should do something about your cursing problem.” Jinwoo doesn’t think Jo Kwon was nice either, but then he doesn’t care because Baekhyun and Suzy deserve it for being jerks.

Jo Kwon looks at her in shock. “Nu-uh! They stepped to us! They think they can mess with us?” He pulls them both closer to him so he can wrap his arms around their shoulders as they walk. “Nah, brah. They’re not messing with us. Not me and my babes.” He kisses Jieun on the cheek and pats Jinwoo’s head. “You’re new, friend, but I like you already. You are officially a Babe.”

Jinwoo wrinkles his eyebrows in confusion. “Babe equals friend,” Jieun explains. “Someone he likes. There’s not a lot of us, so feel special.”

He smiles at them. “You know what? I do.” Jo Kwon cheers, and she reaches over to give him a high five. Jinwoo spends the rest of the evening with them, getting to know them better. He learns that Jo Kwon is indeed older than him and that Jieun is younger. “Great,” she whined. “Another one to call ‘oppa.’ Who’s gonna call me ‘noona?’” Both of them grew up mostly in America; they’d met in middle school and instantly bonded because they were both new students from Korea the same year. They lived in a smaller town not far from the university where they attended high school with Baekhyun, Suzy, and a few others that had also come to the university.

They ate dinner together, laughing and telling stories. When it started getting late, they all decided to go home for the night. Jinwoo exchanged numbers with them, Jo Kwon promising that they’d meet up and hang out the next day.

“Yeah, it’s especially likely since you and I live in the same dorm,” Jieun said.

Jinwoo blinked. “We do?”

Jo Kwon snapped his fingers. “That’s right! You said earlier that you stay in Leo, right? Ji is there, too.”

“Oh, well we’ll go back together then,” he replies, smiling warmly at Jieun.

Jo Kwon’s expression suddenly turns dark. “Hey, hey, now. No funny business. You keep your mitts off my JiJi.”

“Jo Kwon!” Jieun chides.

Jinwoo simply laughs it off. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not into girls. Just guys.” He stops laughing when he realizes what he just said. He’d just blurted it out without thinking! But then he relaxes when he remembers that Jo Kwon said he was gay himself, so it should be fine.

The older boy eyes him. “Hm… good.” He gets up, stretching as he gets ready to leave for his own dorm, which is in the opposite direction of theirs. “Well goodnight, then. Try not to stare at my as I walk away, now.”

Jinwoo chokes on his water. “Hyung!” he exclaims, scandalized.

He simply turns around and sticks his tongue out at him. “I told you! It’s okay if you have a little crush on me!” He laughs, waving as he gets farther away.

The two left behind turn to look at each other, the youngest shaking her head. “That one is a mess. Are you sure you can hang with us?”

He was pretty sure he didn’t like Jo Kwon like that, but he was fond of him as a friend already. “I think I can. You guys are pretty much my superheroes since you saved this night from being a bust for me.”

Jieun smiles up at him and links arms with him. “Good to hear! You kind of saved us, too… we were getting so bored.” They laugh and continue to talk as they walk back to their dorm. Jinwoo made sure to see her all the way to her room—because he’s a gentleman like that—and she thanked him and bid him goodnight. “We’re planning on getting breakfast tomorrow. Is it okay if I just pop over when you’re ready and we can go together?”

He smiles brightly. Jieun lives on the same floor as him in the girls’ wing, so it’d be pretty easy for them to meet up. “Yeah, that’d be awesome! See you then!” They wave and Jinwoo trots over to his room, excited and tired all at the same time. He’s tired from moving in by himself and the stress of meeting some not-so-nice people, but excited for tomorrow and the prospect of new friendships. After he’s freshly showered, he sits down on his bed in his pajamas, checking his phone to see Jo Kwon added him and Jieun in a group chat, only saying “Goodnight, loves~!” for now. Jinwoo yawns, exhausted but happy. “I think I may have just found some new long-term friends,” he says to himself before sliding under the covers. This is how it should be, he thinks. No drama, no boys, just friends and happiness. I'm excited!

Later, it turns out that Jinwoo was all wrong about no drama or boys. The very next day, he breaks his own promise to himself not to get any feelings for anybody.

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Short chapter is short... it's the first one though, so the others should get longer. Next chapter is when JinYoon begins. =u= How was it? Comment and subscribe if you haven't already~ :D