Yunho was exactly fifteen minutes early. Perfect business form and ready to make some good first impressions and a lasting network. He entered the gymnasium and looked around at the people that were gathered by the name tag table checking in. Checked himself in, grabbed his name tag and looked at the back for which group he was in. In bright, bold colours, it delegated him to the team “Enthusiasm”. Perfect! He beamed and scanned the orientation leaders for the sign that held his group title. Enthusiasm was a well suited title, what with Yunho being student council president and all at his high school. Top marks, one of the top of the class, enthusiasm was his forte. First day at school. Let’s do this!
He reached his orientation leaders and enthusiastically greeted the leaders, introducing himself and his intended major. Business of course. Double major in Finance and International Business with a minor in Accounting and Hospitality. He was in college. Might as well go all out. There were two other students already there, whom he quickly learned the names of. They were best friends apparently. Changmin and Kyuhyun. Changmin was a computer science major and Kyuhyun, electrical engineering. Totally different from him but that was completely okay! The more friends the better, after all. He sat down and got to talking with them, interested to know more about their majors since it was so foreign to him. He found out that Changmin was his roommate that he had already contacted two weeks ago and that he had a collection of Spider-man Figurines while Kyuhyun harbored an Iron Man one. Interesting, but once again, entirely foreign. He wasn’t completely into the whole “geek” culture but he could appreciate Star Wars here and there. May the force be with you, am I right? As they were talking, another group member placed himself into the middle of the circle and promptly introduced himself as Heechul, ultimate love aficionado and the ultimate casa nova. Also, he was a political science major. He reached out to shake Kyuhyun’s hand only to fall flat on his face as gravity permitted. Yunho decided he liked this guy.
Two more showed up soon after, identifying themselves as Junsu and Yoochun. Good friends and both Performing Arts majors. Junsu with a focus in composition and musical theater, while Yoochun had a focus in acting and film. Yunho recognized Junsu immediately from soccer practice three days prior. He played central forward while Yunho was the goalie. This was getting to be a good group and Yunho was more and more excited for orientation to finally begin!
Only….there was one kid missing and orientation started thirty minutes ago. Nobody knew who the last one missing was although one of the leaders had identified him as the international kid from France.
“Maybe he’s lost?”, Junsu asked
Highly likely was what Yunho thought. Although that must be a bummer, because this kid, identified as Leon was missing out on all the cool speeches that the Chancellor was giving out. Finally, one of the doors burst open and a young male with bright blonde hair came rushing in. Yunho craned his neck forward in anticipation only to see the man go straight to the “Patience” group, so Yunho hunched back down, assuming it wasn’t the Leon the group was looking for. But then, after exchanging a few words with the red-haired orientation leader, the student looked Yunho’s groups way. He felt Heechul nudge him and whisper “He looks like he came straight out of a manhwa. Didn’t know there were other guys as pretty as me out there.” Yunho nodded back in agreement and Heechul turned to grin at the guy and mentioned for Junsu to wave his hand so the guy could come over. Junsu willingly obliged and Yunho hesitantly followed suit. The student slowly walked over and fumbled with his shoulder bag.
“Uhm….hi. Sorry I’m late. My name is Leon. I’m from Marseille, France. Just call me Jaejoong.”
“Oh shit”, Yunho thought to himself. “He’s even better looking up close.”
Jaejoong couldn’t help but stare. There was that one guy, tall, dark hair, tanned skin, long legs. He seemed perfect, like a prince. Or something like that. Jaejoong wouldn’t identify himself as a princess but if that would guarantee him more time with that handsome stranger then he wouldn’t complain in the slightest. His jawline was a dream come true. Straight and strong. Jaejoong’s finger twitched, desperate to touch and caress the soft looking skin but even he had a little bit of self-control. But wait, was that a mole above that beautiful, cupid-shaped upper lip? He was clearly attractive but there was more to it. His eyes seemed so familiar and kind, Jaejoong couldn’t help but feel safe and comfortable as soon as he looked into them. A raspy cough led his attention elsewhere and he was confronted with five guys who looked at him full with expectations. “My name is Heechul.” the feminine guy from before said. He seemed to look him up and down and search for any flaws he could pick on but he seemed strangely statisfied. “My, my, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” Jaejoong blushed and turned away, tried to hide his red tainted cheeks. “My name is Changmin and this one over here is my best friend Kyuhyun.” He shrugged, clearly not as interested in this whole circle as students like Heechul or Junsu. The latter almost seemed to jump up and down from excitement. “I’m Kim Junsu. Me and Yoochun are both majoring in Performing Arts. What’s your major? And what kind of music do you like? Do you play any instruments?” God, he was cute for sure, but these were way to many questions at one. “Uhm, well I… I am majoring in Performing Arts as well with a focus in vocals…” - “Vocals!” Yoochun gently laid a hand on Junsus shoulder and smiled down at him. Whatever he did, it seemed to calm the smaller man down, because he suddenly relaxed and send him a reassuring smile. Cute. But Jaejoong knew that male friendships tended to be a little bit more affectionate and in general more lovely here than where he came from. Not really something Jaejoong had anything against. This way it would be way easier for him to blend in and hide his sexuality which wasn’t truly accepted in Korea. He had known from the beginning that it would be hard. From an environment which truly accepted his identity to one which despised it in the fullest was rather difficult. “Let him breathe, Junsu.” Jaejoong was surprised by the deep voice that Yoochun seemed to possess but the gentle tone made it easy to listen to and he couldn’t deny that he was immediately drawn in. He liked that voice, he liked that person, he could tell. A slow smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Maybe they could become friends. “Nice to meet you, Jaejoong.” A stoic looking professor, probably the leader of their little group, came towards him. “Now, that we are complete, how would be if…” Jaejoong ignored his words completely. He looked towards the handsome stranger which name was still a secret to him and he tried to give the other one a simple smile. Maybe he would open up? Jaejoong approached him with a few steps. “What’s your name, stranger?” Jaejoong couldn’t help but shudder. He could feel the rush of excitement running through his veins and how his heart started to beat a little bit faster than normal. There seemed to be an invisible string that connected them and Jaejoong felt like something tugged him closer and closer towards the tall man. How he wished that he could just snuggle against him and stay there forever. Jaejoong looked away, a bit flustered. He fell hard and all at once. It was a flaw he couldn’t control and he knew that he had to at least hide it in order to get along with the stranger.
Yunho simply stared unabashedly at Jaejoong as the others introduced themselves to him. Heechul was flat out flirting and all Yunho wanted to do at the moment was smash Heechul’s face into the floor. He only broke out of his reverie when the blonde-haired boy asked his name.
“I...I uh, I...”
Heechul piped up. “Apparently Mister Chattypants here can’t talk, so I’ll tell you. His name is Yundumb.”
Yunho opened and closed his mouth a few times in complete and utter humiliation.
“My name isn’t-”
“Guys, guys, let’s start our activities alright?”
Junsu lept up quickly, pulling Yoochun with, whilst Changmin and Kyuhyun begrudgingly got up, still in a feud about whether or not Spiderman should be part of the Avengers movies. Heechul flashed a cheeky grin at Yunho and stood up as well. Burning with embarrassment, Yunho got up and turned to Jaejoong.
He decided he didn’t like Heechul anymore.