donghyuck tried to hide the grin creeping onto his face as he waved his horrible parents goodbye. "i'll call you when i can and i promise to study well," he called as he walked off into the open gates of the boarding school that he was to attend from now on. (the school was a special arts boarding school for boys.)

   as soon as he had walked enough that they were out of view, he immediately punched the air, "yes!" he cheered for himself out loud, close to even doing his own victory dance.

   "why are you so happy at seven in the morning?" a grumpy voice asked from behind him. there was a brunette with messy bed hair and a lean figure holding on to his luggage with one hand, the other hand covered his mouth which suppressed a yawn. "i'm just happy," donghyuck beamed under the morning sun.

   the male eyed him up and down with sleepy eyes. that's when donghyuck remembered the black coffee in his backpack. he liked coffee but black was too bitter to enjoy. his siblings were nice enough to pretend that they cared about him by getting him a cheap black coffee, but he had already expressed how much he despised it. if they had really cared, they would've known. without being rude, he accepted the parting gift and even gave them a hug for the first time since he could remember. once he got to his room, he stuffed it in his bag, knowing that he wouldn't be drinking it.

   "i know you don't know me but do you want some black coffee? i didn't poison it, i swear," he held up a hand in defense with the bottle in the other hand. the brunette practically dove for the drink in his hand, startling donghyuck in the process. "oh my god, i love you," he planted a wet kiss on donghyuck's cheek.

   the shorter male stood there, watching as the brunette gulped down some of the lukewarm coffee. "i feel better already," he grinned, sealing bottle which only had half of it left inside. donghyuck was debating whether he wanted to befriend the coffee crazed male or if he should stay away from someone so weird.

   before donghyuck could come to a conclusion, another male came running over. "jaemin!" the two guys hugged and high-fived eachother, leaving donghyuck standing there and feeling awkward. when they pulled apart, the male who donghyuck didn't recognize turned to him.

   "jaemin, who's this?" he asked, nudging his head towards donghyuck. "this is um..," he scratched the back of his head. "i'm donghyuck, lee donghyuck," the said male decided to help him out. "i'm jaemin and this is jeno," donghyuck felt a little better after officially being introduced.

   "is this your first year with us?" jeno asked, his eyes seemed to look at donghyuck in a curious way. "yeah," donghyuck scratched the back of his head. "what gave me away?" jeno tilted his head to the side like puppy, "i don't know. you just kind of have that neo vibe." although donghyuck didn't quite understand what he meant by 'neo', he nodded his head anyway.

   "as a payback for the coffee, want us to show you around? there are a lot of corridors and i remember getting lost a lot on my first year," jaemin offered. jaemin's hair was still messy but donghyuck noticed that he managed to look more civilized now. maybe it was because of the coffee.

   donghyuck was ecstatic at the offer but played it cool. "if you're sure i won't bother you then yeah, a tour would be pretty nice," he settled on. both jeno and jaemin seemed to come to an agreement as they began to show donghyuck his way to the dorms.

   "we're juniors so this is our territory," jaemin showed donghyuck. donghyuck's eyes sparkled as he looked at the surrounding space. the floors were hard and wooden along with most of the other furniture. long hallways had door after door lining the wall. a three digit number sat above each door to show what room it was.

   "what room are you guys? you can drop off your stuff first before showing me where my room is," donghyuck suggested. the two boys nodded, "i'm 314 and jeno's 323." donghyuck almost screamed of happiness. "did you say 314?" the brunette nodded, "are you the same?" "yeah," donghyuck grinned. "so you're a junior too," jaemin breathed, looking as happy as donghyuck.

   even if he and jaemin weren't friends quite yet, at least he would have one familiar face within the crowd of new people. "i'm jealous," jeno sighed. "i don't even know who's in my room. i swear to god, if i have to room with daeshim again i'm going to pull all of my hair out from stress by the end of the year."

   jaemin stifled a laugh, "i'm sure you'll be fine. let's go in our rooms and set our things down and regroup here in a bit. i'll text you when we're ready." jeno agreed and headed to his own room while jaemin pulled donghyuck with him, keys dangling in his hand.

   the taller male hummed as he walked down the hall paying close attention to the numbers above the doors. "here it is," jaemin smiled. he was preparing to slide the key in the key hole when he noticed the door was already unlocked. "i guess some of our roommates might have already gotten here."

   with a small push, the door opened and jaemin entered the room pulling donghyuck along behind him. "here's our dorm room for the rest of the year. i know it's not much, but if you learn how to have fun here, soon enough, this place will feel like home," he knocked on the wall.

   donghyuck nodded and took a look around the room. there were three bunk beds lined up neatly. in the far corner of the room was a boy sitting on the lower bunk, playing his guitar. he seemed gloomy but at the same time, he seemed as if he was in his own world, where the time that normal people; like donghyuck, resolved around, didn't bother him.

   "who's he?" donghyuck asked. he words sounded like an airy whisper though jaemin seemed to not notice. "that's mark lee. he's a senior, but he rooms with us because they ran out of dorms," he explained calmly, placing his suitcase down in front of a bunk bed with a card with his name on it taped to the head board.

   jaemin scanned the room for something specific before his eyes stopped at the bunk bed on top of mark's. "that's your bed, i see. let's set your things over there," they walked together.

   "hey mark," jaemin greeted. "hey," his fingers rested for a second to glance at donghyuck and jaemin. his eyes flitted over to donghyuck after taking a glace at jaemin. his gaze lingered for a moment before he went back to the instrument in his hand, uninterested by both of their company. jaemin seemed completely unfazed by the boy on the bed so donghyuck quickly assumed that they were friends. jaemin finished putting down donghyuck's things, and he turned to mark again.

   "this is your new bunk mate. he's new so help him out now and then," jaemin said softly. mark nodded and looked expectantly at donghyuck. "i'm donghyuck," he smiled. the edges of mark's lips seemed to curl up for a split-second before returning to his almost sad face. "i'm mark," he greeted.

   donghyuck took notice of the way mark pronounced each korean vowel. his pronunciation wasn't bad but something told him that he wasn't born there. come to think of it, it would explain why his name was 'mark' too. mark's features showed that he had korean blood in him, but he also looked somewhat exotic as if he were mixed with something else.

   his eyes were brown and round. they complemented his high cheek bones and pink lips. mark's blonde hair was clearly dyed but it suited him well enough that you could also believe that he had it since birth.

   after their brief introduction, donghyuck thought he and jaemin would be on their way to find jeno. to his surprise, jaemin continued to talk with mark. "how was your summer break?" the brunette asked.

   mark shrugged, "i mostly just practiced guitar all day." "play for us later on, will ya?" jaemin requested. mark arched an eyebrow, "i'll think about it." donghyuck fell into a trance at the sound of mark's voice. he didn't show much emotion on his face but his voice expressed a lot for him.

   he sounded tired and sad. perhaps he's lonely, donghyuck thought to himself. he didn't get another chance to think about mark before jaemin tugged on his arm. "c'mon, if we leave now, we'll be able to finish the tour and still be on time for orientation," he explained. 

   donghyuck giggled at the urgent tone in his voice, "okay, i'm coming." once they met up with jeno, the rest of the tour went of smoothly. the duo managed to show donghyuck the dining hall, library, study room, and many other places. "all junior year students, please head to the gymnasium now. i repeat; all junior year students, please head to the gymnasium now," the announcement rung through the halls and donghyuck began to get nervous.

   he wondered how many people were in his grade, and he wondered if the school had any weird rules or punishments. of course in the past, he hadn't even thought twice when his parents asked if he wanted to go to a boarding school because he would've done anything to get out of their grip.

   "i guess it's time for orientation. the principal is probably only going to go over the basic rules so don't stress too much," jaemin rubbed donghyuck's shoulders. donghyuck nodded in understanding before jeno and jaemin pulled him in the direction of the gym.

   many other students were walking with their friends while some walked alone, anxiously. donghyuck suddenly felt lucky that he had jaemin and jeno with him. so far, it had been pretty easy for him, so he couldn't even imagine what he would've done if he were alone. 

   eventually, they made it to the gym which was filled with chatter and laughter. a lot of students looked happy to see their friends after such a long break while others stood away from the social circle of people. jeno, jaemin, and donghyuck simply stood together and chatted lightly.

   it didn't take long for the gym to fill up, and once it did, the principal called for everyone to look towards the front. "hello students," the principal greeted. he received a few 'hello's' back before continuing. "thank you for choosing to spend a year with us. whether it's you first or your last, i hope you make the best of it and create memories to look back on for years to come."

   despite having a room filled with excited teenagers, everyone listened to the principal speak well. "i'll move on to the rules now," he declared. "each floor will have one advisory guardian once classes begin, so don't try to think about sneaking out at night. snacks and refreshments are free in the cafeteria to take during your study break or after classes have officially finished. athletes will need to talk with their coach if they'd like to leave the team, and new players may try out in exactly two weeks."

   donghyuck thought about the clubs that were listed on the brochure. it seemed like he would have a hectic and busy schedule if he joined a team, so he decided to focus on his studies as his main instead. besides, it was his first year and surely it would take a while for him to get settled in.

   "no laptops, tablets, or any other kind of device aside from a cellphone. phones are of course restricted during class hours, but they are allowed during breaks and after school hours. if we find any of the other devices, we will confiscate them and hold on to them until the end of the semester." donghyuck knew about the phone rule already and planned on using it to his advantage by telling his parents that he couldn't use his to call or text them.

   sure, it was a little cruel, but donghyuck only felt that it was fair. besides, he didn't really believe that they would worry anyway. it would almost be more surprising if they noticed that he wasn't staying in touch with them at all.

   the principal said a few other basic and common rules before he finished with one last one. "no dating allowed. this is an all boys school and i do not intend on tolerating with any ridiculous behavior that involves boys dating other boys. our intention of this school is to hopefully help prepare you for the future, and no one will ever take you seriously if you like males such as yourselves," the principal stated sternly.

   donghyuck gulped, he wasn't gay but the statement was pretty intimidating. luckily for him, he never really had an interest in dating ever, and the thought of liking boys never even crossed his mind. 

   "that is all for now. students please retreat to your dorm rooms and put on your uniforms starting from tomorrow. later this evening, after dinner, you and your dorm mates will be playing a few games to warm up to each other in the game room. please keep yourselves available when the time comes. thank you," with those words, everyone applauded before the principal walked off the stage and the room erupted with chatter. 

   "let's head back to our dorm room, shall we?" jaemin suggested. donghyuck simply nodded and the three returned to their respective rooms to unpack. even though he tried to ignore it, donghyuck couldn't deny the nervous feeling brewing in his stomach because of the last rule. as long as he remained straight, there was no problem... right?

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word count: 2355

here it goes... i hope u guys like it

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾