Introductions (1/1)

This moment feels like I was a child who knew nothing

I closed my eyes again,

In case it would be a dreamYou were standing in front of my desperate self

And praying

Just once, I want to walk side by side with you. – Exo K; Angel (Korean Version) K E Y Not a problem, Key.The phrase had been permanently ingrained in Key’s mind since Thursday.  He hadn’t responded to it; he hadn’t known how to respond.  What he did know was that the text had left him feeling unexpectedly happy, far happier than he’d been for quite a while.  He’d ended up falling asleep with a smile on his face and his phone clutched tightly in his hand, pulled up to his chest.  When he’d awoken, the phone had been nearly dead from not having been charged the previous night, and he’d mentally scolded himself for not putting it on the charger.  He’d forgotten, in his morning daze, why he hadn’t plugged the retched thing in to charge, but everything rushed back as soon as the screen lit up to indicate that it was charging, and he’d started grinning like a fool to himself, the image of the text stuck behind his eyelids every time he blinked.He’d managed to keep his giddy smile internal throughout his day at school on Friday, using his half-charged phone as inspiration to keep his face contorted into either its usual emotionless slate or strict, calculating gaze to avoid being asked unnecessary questions by even less concerning people (although to be quite honest, whenever he reminded himself of the reason why his phone was only half charged, he’d have to fight down a smile and, as a result, ended up grimacing most of the day as if he were in pain).  He’d gotten home Friday afternoon and let his smiles loose with a relieved sigh.  The happiness he’d felt the night before had yet to diminish in the slightest, and he was going to make damn sure he enjoyed it.Yet as the weekend had worn on, he’d felt himself starting to worry.  He wasn’t sure how to go about with an actual friend, despite the fact that he was ninety-five percent sure that the rocky relationship and lack of knowledge of each other besides the basics was definitely not something normal friendships entailed.  Thus, he’d spent Saturday night and Sunday morning worrying about how to improve his friendship with Jonghyun, hoping to high heaven that his tongue wouldn’t get in the way again.  He’d spent Sunday night, through his multitude of homework, trying to conjure ideas of how to improve his relationship with his friend.  In the end, he’d thought of only one thing: being nice.  He found himself hoping to the high heavens for the billionth time that day that his sharp tongue wouldn’t get in the way.Monday had come back sooner than he’d thought and hoped it would.  He’d woken up, taken a hot shower (and consequently almost fallen asleep in said shower), slipped into a shirt with the British flag as the only decoration, a jean jacket with leather sleeves, black jeans and black combat boots and tossed on a red beanie over his perfectly styled blond hair before eating the breakfast his mother had set out on the counter and heading off to school.  He’d then sat through four and a half gruelingly boring hours of academic courses before being sent off for lunch and heading back to sit through another two hours of academics.By the time three o’clock rolled around and he was headed to the auditorium in the theater department to meet with the now classified elites of every department the school had to offer, he was utterly drained and not looking forward to the excess confusion that he knew, as sure as thunder follows lightning, was going to surround him as a result of the first day of practice.  Normally the idea of getting to work with fabrics and colors was what kept him up and running every day after academics up until the students were dismissed to go home, however today he would not be working with fabrics and sketches and gorgeous, revolutionary fashion designs.  Today he would be dealing with people, the one thing he found himself disliking more and more with each passing day.Except for Jjong-hyung, of course.The thought had forced both the barest hints of a smile and a tangent thought: Key, what the hell just went through your head?He stopped dead in his tracks, puckering his brow in thought, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.  What had he just thought?  Sure he liked Jonghyun – he was kind enough to accept being his friend, although their friendship had literally started just four days prior and it wasn’t like they’d spoken since that night.  As a matter of fact, if Key were quite honest with himself, he barely knew Jonghyun other than his age, grade, and maybe a hint of his fashion sense (which Key found to be, er, not so great).  He knew Jonghyun was leader of the music department and was therefore either a great singer or musician, or even some combination of the two, although he found himself struggling to recall which one the short brunette actually was.  It became evident to Key that he knew so so so little about Jonghyun, and yet he found himself not regretting or disagreeing with his previous thought.The blond bit his bottom lip in wonder, removing the hand that had been rubbing his chin to instead rub the back of his neck as he stood, in the middle of the all glass hallway that connected the central building he’d been walking through to the theater department, thinking about his thoughts and feelings toward his only friend.  The hallway had been clear, as the students usually exited campus through their respective department buildings.  Thus, Key was embarrassingly unprepared when he felt a hand land on his shoulder and visibly jumped as a result, eyes widened to the size of the moon.He turned to look behind him only to see the very person that had been invading his thoughts standing right behind him with his head tilted and eyebrows furrowed into a questioning frown.  “You okay there, Key-ssi?”  Key blinked as he looked at the boy, failing to beat down the pink tint that spread across his face.  He stood rooted to the spot, wondering how he should respond, his embarrassment clouding his mind.  He ended up going with the first thing that came to his mind; going on the offensive.“Yah!  Dino-hyung, you can’t just randomly sneak up on people when they’re thinking like that!  What the hell is wrong with you?  That’s rude!” The elder seemed taken aback by Key’s sudden outburst, noticeably backing up a step, albeit not retracting his hand from the blond’s shoulder.  “Uh, I’m sorry, Key-ssi.  You looked really concerned about something when I saw you so I was just trying to see if you were okay.  You didn’t have to call me Dino-hyung.”  He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, shifting a few of the hairs that were there from their uniform position into slight disorder, expression still, surprisingly, calm.  Key felt the guilt instantly rise within him.He let out a sigh and let his head drop for a moment before looking up at the brunette.  “I’m sorry, Jjong-hyung.  You just scared me.”  He tried to give the other a reassuring smile, although he was sure it looked weird and unnatural, considering that he’d never had much practice with such a thing before.  “I tend to go on the offensive when I’m scared, I’m sorry.”  He hurriedly shut his mouth, pressing his lips together and shifting on his feet awkwardly, realizing that he’d just apologized twice in less than a minute.To think; the diva Key apologizing.He half expected the older of the two to scoff and scold him for being so rude and automatically switching to offense when he’d been genuinely concerned, but instead the elder just shrugged and said, “It’s alright, no worries.”Key had to prevent himself from allowing his jaw to detach from his skull.  He settled for giving Jonghyun a surprised (and confused) look.  “You’re sure?”  He spoke after a moment of silence in which the elder just looked at him with an eyebrow raised.It can’t be.  Nobody’s this forgiving.“Yes, I’m sure.  Are you sure you’re okay Key-ssi?”The blond blinked a few times, trying to gather his thoughts and come to terms with the situation.  Jonghyun had apologized for scaring him even though Key had called him a dinosaur, and then rather than being scolded for calling his hyung a dinosaur or rather than an argument erupting between them, he’d been forgiven and the conversation had ended.  It wasn’t a case Key was particularly used to.  He cocked his head to the side and looked at his hyung questioningly.  “Really?”The brunette before him narrowed his eyes and shook his head just the slightest before responding, in a mildly exasperated voice, “Yes, Key-ssi, really.  Now are you okay?”Key found himself blinking yet again before replying.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  I’m just not used to being let off the hook so easily.  Usually someone gets really upset with me or something.  It’s a little weird to realize.”  He met the older boy’s gaze, his own eyes narrowed in wonder.  He was met with smiling, dark brown eyes.  “Well, I’m your friend, aren’t I?  That’s what friends do; they forgive each other, even when they’re being stupid.”The small tease slipped right past Key; he was far too focused on the way his heart seemed to leap at the word ‘friend’.  He felt a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips as he looked up at Jonghyun, despite the amusedly smug smile on the latter’s face.  He knew that the elder’s smugness was because of the fact that Key had let the teasing slip, yet he found himself not worrying about it and just rolling his eyes playfully, the smile on his lips spreading.That is until the elder bent over and erupted into laughter.  “You should see your face right now,” he said between chortles, “you look like a weird wife who’s smiling at her husband because he made a stupid joke and she should be mad but she’s not.”Key blushed the lightest shade of pink at the statement, feeling the embarrassment taking over quickly.  “Yah!  I’m not a female you know!”Jonghyun simply shook his head, covering his mouth with his hand in order to muffle his guffaws.  His eyes were laughing for him, amused at the blond’s flustered expression.  He examined the blond’s face one more time before doubling over and laughing harder, causing Key to cross his arms over his chest and send him a soft glare.“Yah!  Stop laughing at me!  I’m not a wife - or a girl for that matter!”“Key-umma!”Oh my lord, Taemin you chose the worst time to show up and call me that.The brunette before him started laughing even harder still, making Key’s stomach do some interesting flips as the elder bent over double before settling down on the floor and clutching at his stomach with one hand while simultaneously covering his face with the other.  Key rolled his eyes before turning to look back at the plump-faced Taemin who was now excitedly jogging down the hall toward him, a tall, dark-haired, bow-lipped boy with his hands stuffed into his jean pockets tailing behind him.  Key frowned at the sight of the unfamiliar face but was forced out of questioning when Taemin stopped right in front of him and grinned.“Hi, Key-umma.”More explosive laughter from Jonghyun.  A slight eyebrow twitch from Key.“Hi, Taeminnie.”  Despite the situation, he gave the younger a bright smile for fear of not being able to live with himself if he didn’t return the kind gesture.“What are you doing here?”Key cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow at the younger, shifting  his eyes to look from side to side before settling on the cute second-year before him.  “I was heading over to the auditorium.  What did you think I was doing?”Taemin opened his mouth to speak but the strange boy that had been following behind him beat him to it in a voice that was deep but not exaggeratedly so.  “Well you did shout out something about not being a wife or a girl.  And then this one,” he jerked his thumb back to point at the still cackling Jonghyun, “is over here cracking up like a hyena.  It didn’t really look like you were heading over to the auditorium.”The blond frowned at the tall, dark-haired boy, glancing over at Taemin to alleviate his puzzlement.  “Taemin-ah, who’s this?”The second-year simply grinned and responded, “Key-umma, this is my best friend, Kim Jongin.  Jongin, this is Key-umma.”  He waved a hand around the two as he introduced them to each other.  Jongin bowed lowly before straightening and saying, “Nice to meet you Key – “The blond cut him off with the wave of a hand.  “Call me ‘umma’ and I swear I’ll change your entire wardrobe into something not even Jjong-hyung would wear in public.”Jongin straightened and cocked his head to the side, raising a questioning eyebrow at the blond before him.  “Um, I was going to call you hyung.  And who’s this ‘Jjong-hyung’ you’re talking about?”  Key narrowed his eyes at the younger before deciding to let him off the hook and pointing a finger at Jonghyun, who was wiping the tears away from his eyes and standing up from his spot, completely oblivious to (or otherwise just choosing to ignore) Key’s teasing his fashion sense.  “That’s Jjong-hyung.  Well his name is Jonghyun, so just call him Jonghyun-hyung.  Also, how did you know I was older than you?”The dark-haired boy gave Key a weird smirk – one that was a cross between being cocky and embarrassed at the same time.  “I’m just a first-year, and I’m sure that you’re the third-year leader of the visual arts department from everything Tae’s told me.”Key was sure the shock he felt registered on his face because Jongin let out a short laugh in response to his reaction.  “Wait, you’re just a first year?  Then what the hell are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you be heading off to practice the basics or something?  I’m sure Tae left a routine for you to do or something; whatever it is that you dance people do.”  He threw Taemin a worried glance.  To his horror, Taemin himself started chuckling.“Key-umma, Jongin’s a first-year but he’s also an elite.  He was walking with me to the auditorium since he always seems to pop into my last class after the bell rings.”The shock Key felt doubled in size.  “Wait, what?  He’s an elite as a first-year?”  He glanced between Jongin and Taemin, comparing the size of both.  This boy was younger than Taemin?  Taemin looked like his dongsaeng!  The boy was roughly six feet tall and far leaner than Taemin seemed to be (this second aspect being noticeable thanks to the white muscle shirt with ‘Exotic’ scrawled across it in gray lettering).  His face had no hint of baby fat and seemed to hold an odd sense of maturity about it. “Key-hyung, why do you seem so surprised?”  He was snapped out of his examination of the two boys by the lead dancer, who was giving Key his own questioning face.  It barely registered that Taemin had addressed him as ‘hyung’ rather than ‘umma’.“Yeah, Key-ssi.  I mean think about it; Taeminnie’s the leader of the department and he’s only a second year.”  Key jumped at the sound of the elder’s voice; he’d forgotten that he was there – or rather that he’d stopped laughing and was actually listening in to the conversation now.  The blond shook his head and rubbed his eyes.  “I’m just wondering why the hell the dance department’s first and second years seem so great at what they do.  It’s kind of scary.”  His sentence came out half mumbled, but the others understood him anyway and let out laughter that echoed around the spacious glass hallway they were in. Key let out a tired sigh, although somewhere deep inside he felt the happiness from Thursday night swelling somewhere within him at the sound of Jonghyun’s heartfelt laughter right next to him.IThe group of guys had arrived at the theater at ten after three.  Jongin had scurried off to go meet up with the rest of the dance department while Jonghyun, Taemin, and Key had all gone to find Minho.They found him backstage reclined in a wide, black club chair that was part of the living set toward the dressing room area.  He stood at the sight of them and then began making his way over with a large grin plastered on his face (Key presumed it had something to do with the fact that the maknae had given him a huge grin of his own as he’d shouted “Minho-hyung!” at the sight of him).  He ruffled the youngest’s hair and waved at Jonghyun and Key.  The two oldest waved back casually as they halted in front of the actor.“So are we all ready?”  Key, as usual, was the first to speak about their task amongst the four.Minho frowned slightly before saying, “Give it five more minutes.  I’m sure there’s a few more people coming from the other departments.  The theater department’s all here, but that’s because, well, you know.”  He waved an arm, gesturing to the stage and the general area they were in.  The other three simply nodded, understanding his point.“Anyway, come with me really quick so you can put your stuff away and lock it up.  I have the perfect place.”  The three boys nodded and followed after him, trudging behind with their book-bags slung over their shoulders.  No one spoke for a while as they followed the tallest, eventually coming to a stop before a black door in the dressing rooms hallway that read Costume Storage in bold, white lettering.  Key raised a brow as Minho jabbed a key into the lock and opened the door to reveal a room full of colorful fabrics and unkempt wigs in cardboard boxes.  The floor itself had a thin layer of dust and the walls were covered in old posters.“You expect me to leave my bag in here?  Within all this drab and filth?”  Key couldn’t stop himself from announcing his disgust, crinkling his nose in distaste.  “What’s wrong with it?  It’s just a few dust mites.”  Minho turned to give Key a small frown.  The blond rolled his eyes.  “Just a few dust mites?  More like a few dust mites that made like rabbits and –““Yah!  Key!”Jonghyun had cut off the blond, who threw him a look in response before noting that the brunette was gesturing toward Taemin and mouthing, ‘we have a second-year here’.The blond almost burst out into laughter.  “Jjong-hyung, I’m sure Minnie knows what –““Yah!  Key, stop it!”The eldest cut him off again, forcing Key to raise an eyebrow.  He was about to ask if Jonghyun really believed that Taemin didn’t know what he was referring to when Taemin himself opened his mouth and said, “Wait, what was Key-hyung going to say?”Well, I guess that answered my question.Key pressed his lips together guiltily, throwing Jonghyun a glance.  The elder simply gave him a look and mouthed an ‘I told you so’.  He looked back to Taemin, who was standing there looking confused and curious.“Oh it was nothing, don’t worry about it, Minnie.”  The blond threw the maknae a small smile, trying to convince him otherwise.  He felt more than saw how tense both Minho and Jonghyun were.  Taemin titled his head at the slightest angle, making him look every bit like a confused first grader.  “But you said something about dust mites and bunnies and now I’m curious.”Key didn’t have the heart to break his confused innocence so easily.  “Don’t worry about it, Minnie.  It was nothing big.”The maknae pursed his lips and frowned but didn’t question it further, letting the topic drop.  There was an awkward silence for a while – a silence that made Key internally groan, for he thought they’d gotten past all of the awkwardness despite not knowing each other all too well – before Minho spoke.“So um, we should put the stuff in here so we can head out to start this whole ordeal.  It’s been more than five minutes already.  I’m sure everyone’s here.”Key turned back to raise an eyebrow, lip curling in distaste yet again at the sight of the storage room.  However when Jonghyun and Taemin handed their bags over to Minho without argument or question, Key let out a huge huff and carefully handed his own bag to Minho after removing the list of groups and their respective elites.  The actor smiled before placing it next to where he’d placed the other two’s, in an empty spot right next to the door.He then closed and locked the door before motioning for the other three to follow him out onto the stage.  He parted the curtains and held them open for the rest, allowing them to step out before him.  Loud chatter surrounded the four boys as soon as they were standing on stage and Key couldn’t help but notice the multitude of different clothing types that everyone was wearing.  There was a large mix of reds and blues with blacks, whites, and grays; greens and browns with yellows and oranges.  He furrowed his brow as he looked over one particular girl who had seemed to believe that throwing on a neon green shirt with bright red boots would be acceptable attire to wear.Oh lord, I wouldn’t even wear something like that if laundry day were on Christmas.He shook his head to himself at the girl’s poor color judgment before clearing his throat and raising his arms to wave them in a motion to get the crowd of elites before him to quiet down, mentally cursing the fact that there were no microphones anywhere in sight and the list of groups still held lazily in his grip.  The noise level only decreased slightly, succeeding in annoying him and sparking his temper.“Yah!  Quiet down already!  Do you want to be stuck here all night?”It was almost comical how quickly the noise level dropped down to zero; Key had to hold back his laughter to be able to continue, simultaneously willing himself to brush off the raised eyebrows and questioning looks that the people from the departments he didn’t head were throwing him.He cleared his throat and began again.  “Alright, hi everyone.  My name is Kim Kibum, but if you call me that, I will personally come after you.  Just call me Key.  I’m the head of the visual arts department; I specialize in fashion, in case you couldn’t tell.”  He rolled his eyes slightly before continuing.  “Anyway, the short guy next to me, in case you didn’t know, is Kim Jonghyun; he’s the head of the music department.”  He gestured with his thumb to Jonghyun, throwing the boy a quick grin in response to the lack of amusement the boy had on his face before going on with the introductions.“This one,” the blond continued, gesturing to Minho, “is Choi Minho, head of the acting department.”  He stepped over a bit and patted Taemin’s head fondly as he said, “And this adorable youngin is Lee Taemin, head of the dance department.”  Taemin blushed and bowed his head a bit which resulted in Key letting out a small laugh and ruffling the boy’s soft, light brown waves before turning to face the audience with his serious face back in place.  “Anyway, if you guys have any problems whatsoever – and by whatsoever, I mean worth mentioning – don’t hesitate to come talk to us – unless it’s stupid and pointless.  If that's the case, then just leave us in peace.”“Yah!  Key!”The blond turned to look at Jonghyun, who was throwing him a look that had ‘what the hell?’ plastered all over it.  “What?  Do you want to get battered with pointless questions that have nothing to do with what we’re trying to get done here?”Key frowned when Jonghyun heaved out a huge sigh and turned to look at the stark silent crowd.  “I’m sorry, guys,” the shorter of the two said, “Key’s a bit sharp-tongued.”  The blond crossed his arms over his chest and threw Jonghyun a glare, muttering out an “at least my tongue’s not as sharp as your nose” just loud enough for Jonghyun to hear.  The brunette sent him a quick, unamused expression, before reverting back to the kind, apologetic smile he’d been flashing the elites.  “What he means is if there’s any problems concerning the showcase or if you have any ideas you’d like to contribute, feel free to come talk to us.  Trust me, we’ll listen.”  He turned to give Key a hard look at the last part.  The blond uncrossed his arms and let out a small sigh of his own.  “Yeah, yeah, fine, we’ll listen.”He waved his arms dismissively as he spoke before tearing his focus from Jonghyun and turning it instead on the crowd in front of him.  “Alright, anyway; as I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted,” he flashed Jonghyun a raised blond eyebrow at this point, “since it’s only the first day, you’re just going to be put into your groups and introducing yourselves to each other.  Cool?”He raised his eyebrow at the silent group of elites before him, who all just nodded slowly in response.  “Alright.  So we’re going to call out your names by group and then you’ll head off and make friends or whatever.”  Again, he waved his hand dismissively, dropping the whole idea of making friends, as it reminded him of a certain dilemma he had on his hands.  He cleared his throat, more so to remove his mind from his personal troubles than for the sake of speaking more clearly, and began to read the names off the list.“In the first group; Cho Kyuhyun, Choi Siwon, Han Geng,  Kim Heechul, Kim Jongwoon, Kim Kibum of the theater department, AKA not me, Kim Ryeowook, Kim Youngwoon, Lee Donghae, Lee Hyukjae, Lee Sungmin, Park Jungsoo, and Shin Donghee.  If you’d please be so kind to like find some spot in this huge theater and go make friends or something, that’d be nice.”  Key gave the members of the first group a few moments to collect themselves and head off to another part of the room before he continued.“Alright, in the second group, we have Byun Baekhyun, Do Kyungsoo, Huang Zitao, Kim Jongdae, Kim Jongin, Kim Joonmyun, Kim Minseok, Lu Han, Oh Sehun, Park Chanyeol, Wu Yifan, and Zhang Yixing.  Go ahead guys; get together and, you know, introduce yourselves and whatnot.”And that was how the next fifteen minutes played out; with Key reading the names off the list for the groups and allowing said groups time to get together.  In the end, he’d called out some seventy names and eleven groups, including one that was a three man squad.  His throat was hurting – a surprise for Key as he wasn’t normally so susceptible to a sore throat after talking loudly for such a short period of time.  He cleared it and let out a small sigh of relief, happy that everyone had finally been sorted.  The other three guys had gone off to check up on how the groups were coming along, leaving Key alone to do all of the calling.He was not expecting it, therefore, when someone pressed something cold to his arm.  Despite the fact that his sleeves were leather, the object pressed against his arm was frigid enough to be felt through the thick sleeve.  He let out a high-pitched yelp of surprise, as well as a small curse as he turned to his side to glare at the culprit.There stood Jonghyun, giving him a cheeky smile and handing him a bottle of water.  “You look like you might need this after all that talking.”  Key could only hold his scowl for a few more seconds before he sighed and took the bottle out of Jonghyun’s hand.  “Thanks, Jjong-hyung,” he said as he screwed the cap off.  “You’re way too nice.”  The second part was half mumbled, but the elder had understood him anyway.“Way too nice?  What are you talking about?  I just care about my friend.”And there it was again; the weird feeling in the pit of Key’s stomach was back, tightening in a way that made his heart rate increase just the slightest.  He glanced over at Jonghyun, who had his head tilted to the side with a curious gaze on his face, before averting his gaze to the floor again.  “I’m just not used to it, you know?  Usually I have to do things on my own; no one aside from my family is really ever genuinely nice to me, you know?”  He turned and met the elder’s gaze.And there it was again; Key was here spilling his sorrows out to a person he barely knew, despite the fact that they considered each other friends.But I don’t even know why I did it so willingly the first time anyway.And that was the truth.  Key still lacked insight into what had come over him back in the conference room in the visual arts department when he’d so easily spilled his guts to the elder.  He’d even managed to let his emotions slip a bit; he’d really had to fight hard to make sure he didn’t cry.  The loneliness that he’d been fighting practically all of his life since he’d been in school – thanks to his sharp tongue – had found its way to the surface and broken through, threatening to make him cry in front of some stranger.  He thanked the heavens that somewhere deep inside of himself, he’d had enough intelligence to keep from letting a single tear escape, although he was sure his face was a dead giveaway that he was on the edge of losing it.  He wondered why he hadn’t questioned what he was doing when he was doing it, but figured it was already too late to go back and change the situation.He also wondered why the hell he cared so much about whether or not Jonghyun had walked out of that conference room angrily in the first place.  He was certain that in any other situation, he would’ve let anyone walk out all insulted and upset without giving them a second glance.  The fact that he’d stopped the elder and apologized, for one, shocked him whenever he looked back on it, and then gone on to explain the hardships having such a sharp tongue had cost him, for another, made him question where on earth his sanity had disappeared to.  In the end, after much pondering, he’d accredited his lapse in judgment to the idea that it was simply because he had enough of a conscience to realize when he was being a complete ass and that he didn’t want to end up stuck with the extra workload the elder had threatened to leave.Jonghyun himself didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with Key telling him about his problems.  As a matter of fact, his face turned into one of sad but gentle understanding.  “Hey, it’s alright; that’s what friends are for.”  The reassuring smile he flashed Key made the blond’s heart momentarily stop in his chest.  He shifted his gaze away again and blew air out from his cheeks.  “Okay.”He’d spoken softly, but when he’d glanced up and seen the small smile on the elder’s face, he’d known Jonghyun had heard him.  There was a short silence between them, although it felt like an eternity of awkwardness for Key.  He cleared his throat to break the silence, felt the utter rawness of it, and remembered what had caused the entire ordeal to ensue in the first place.  He lifted the water bottle to his lips and took a swig, feeling the cold liquid slipping down and alleviating his sore throat.  He let out a soft, relieved sigh before smiling at Jonghyun.  “Thanks Jjong-hyung; I really needed that.”The elder simply nodded and flashed him a smile.  “Anyway,” Key said after another few gulps from the bottle, “I think I’m going to go around and check on the groups.  You should tell Taemin and Minho to do the same, and tell the groups to name themselves and choose a leader because lord knows I don’t want to have to do it.  We can round them up again in about fifteen minutes and have them tell us their names and end early for the day, since it’s only the first day.”Jonghyun laughed before making a mock-serious face and saluting Key with a loud, “Yes sir!”  He laughed again as he turned and walked away, leaving Key rolling his eyes, although with a grin undeniably plastered on his face.UGoing around to check on and speak to the groups took longer than Key had estimated.  Almost an entire hour had passed when he’d finally gotten around to all eleven and saw for himself how they were doing.  It was already nearing five in the afternoon when Key was able to drag himself on stage, grab a clipboard, pen, and piece of fresh line paper to take notes, take a swig of his now lukewarm water, and clear his throat to address the elites again.“Alright guys, bring it back in so we can finish and go home.”  He winced at how the yelling agitated his throat even more.It took a while for everyone to get back to their seats, although Key noticed that some people had moved to sit with some of the people from their groups.  That’s surely a good sign.He made sure everyone was seated comfortably and paying attention before he started to speak again.  “Alright, I’m going to go around and ask you guys about the names you’ve decided on.  Group one, what have you decided your name to be and who’s your leader?”It took a moment for Key to discern that the person who stood to speak was, in fact, a guy.  He was average height for a guy, although he had a slim figure and cat-like eyes that gave the impression that he was otherwise.  The fact that he had dark hair falling down to his shoulders with bangs framing his face didn’t help his situation either.  However when he spoke, it was with conviction, and a voice that was pretty average pitched – certainly much deeper than Key had believed it would be.“We’ve decided to name ourselves Super Junior,” he said, meanwhile curiously looking at his nails before glancing up to look Key in the face.  “And we’ve decided that I will be the leader.”“Yah!  Kim Heechul, stop lying!  We chose Park Jungsoo to be our leader!”Key would’ve laughed at the way the feminine boy’s face fell, had it not been for the simple fact that murderous intent seemed to replace the careless look the dark-haired boy had had.  He whirled around to face the person who had spoken – a thin boy with an awkward nose and…was that sapphire blue hair?“Yah!  Lee Hyukjae watch your tone!  I’m your hyung!”“Alright then, Heechul-hyung, tell the truth!  Park Jungsoo is our leader!”The feminine boy rolled his eyes at the blue-haired boy in response before turning to look at Key, gritting his teeth as he grudgingly said, “Alright fine, it’s true.  Park Jungsoo is our leader.”Key nodded, biting back what he was sure was a bout of hysterical laughter as he wrote down ‘Group one name: Super Junior; Leader: Park Jungsoo’.“Alright, group two, what have you decided to name your group and who is your leader?”This time, a tall guy with dark, almost orange hair and eyes as dark as the night sky stood from his seat.  When he spoke, his voice was so deep it seemed to vibrate through Key’s chest.  He had to fight back his surprise.  “We’ve decided to call ourselves EXO, and we have two leaders, if that’s okay.  One of the leaders is Kim Joonmyun and the other is me, Wu Yifan.”  Key nodded and jotted down the information neatly on the next line.And again, another ten minutes of his time went by like that; calling out group numbers and writing down the names and leaders they’d decided upon.  When he was finally done, he let out a big sigh and looked up at them all with a small, tired smile.  “Alright guys, that’s it for today.  Now leave, go home, don’t come back until tomorrow.  And please be on time, alright?  Tomorrow we’ll be discussing ideas for the showcase itself so it’s imperative that you’re here on time.  Goodbye.”  And with that, he clicked his pen closed, turned on his heel, and headed out to get his bag, praying silently to himself that it wasn’t covered in dust.He didn’t bother waiting to see if the group of elites actually got up and left; he could hear perfectly well the sound of loud chatter and the collecting of personal objects before several doors opened and the sound of footsteps gradually disappeared.He found Minho, Taemin, and Jonghyun standing casually by the costume storage closet waiting for him.  Key glanced at the door, noticed it was closed, and turned to give Minho a confused look.  Minho, in turn, pointed at Jonghyun, who held out his messenger bag to him with a small smile, amusement glinting somewhere in his eyes.   Key raised a blond eyebrow before grabbing it and slipping over his head and onto his shoulder.  “Thanks,” he mumbled out, although loud enough for everyone else to hear.“No problem.”  Jonghyun’s response was purposefully obnoxiously loud and accompanied by a wide, mischievous grin.  Key rolled his eyes at his elder, although he found a smile breaking out over his face.  “You’re such a goof, Jjong-hyung.”  Said boy just let out a short laugh.“Anyway,” Key said, quickly taking the last few swigs of his water and tossing the bottle into a nearby trash can before continuing, “I’m hungry and my throat is sore from all of the talking, so I’m heading home.  Bye Minnie.  Bye Minho.  Bye Jjong-hyung.”  The blond waved once before turning on his heel and beginning to head out of the auditorium.It wasn’t long before he heard hurried steps behind him and knew exactly who was following him.  “Yah!  Key-ssi, wait up!  I’ll walk with you for a bit.”  He didn’t stop, although he did slow his pace, all the while fighting the smile that threatened to stupidly break out onto his face.“Yah, Jjong-hyung,” he said, really struggling to refrain from grinning like a fool, “didn’t I tell you and everyone else to just call me ‘Key’?” Yah, I'm so sorry this took so long! I had a tournament Sunday, so I couldn't update this and I was ridiculously busy last weekend as well.

Anyway, I'm having a pretty chill week this week so hopefully I'll be able to update again before the week is over. *Crosses fingers*

And I know I haven't done this yet but to all subscribers; thank you. I'm sorry it took until now for me to do that ^_-'

Anywho, guys tell me what you think!  Did you like it?  Did you hate it?  Was it just, 'meh'?Either way, thanks for reading! I appreciate it.

And hey, follow me on tumblr so we can fangirl together! (:

Much love,

K

<3