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Renjun rather stealthily crept out of his room, clicking his door shut behind him before twisting the key in the lock and edging towards the staircase. It was somewhere near eight in the evening, and so far there hadn't been a single sound from anyone who could've been lurking in the rooms surrounding his.

He was dressed lightly since summer was unforgiving at night, only adorned in a very loose t-shirt, shorts and sliders to shuffle around the complex in. His footsteps sounded far louder than they really were when echoing against the hallway walls.

So far, so good, he nodded to himself triumphantly before taking one step down the collection of stairs, and hearing a voice.

"My oh my, it's our new cutie," they chuckled in a way that could well have been condescending, but perhaps not. Renjun's heart leapt in his chest before he lost his footing in the blink of an eye and started to fall forwards. Fuck, fuck, fuck-

"Whoops," a strong hand latched around his arm, pulling him back into a firm chest before two limbs snaked around his waist unnecessarily. "This is deja vu, isn't it?" He hummed.

"Oh shit," the older hissed upon the horrendous realisation of who he was with, "Let me go, please and thank you."

Another tall and familiar figure wandered around to stand beside him. "Snappy much?"

"Okay, okay," Renjun scoffed, worming out of the other boy's hold and descending three steps to establish a safe distance from both. "I am not snappy. I am irritated! You," he jabbed his finger in Na Jaemin's direction, "Even after catching me twice, you've been nothing but arrogant towards me. And you," He then moved to Park Jisung, "You're plain freaky!"

Both raised their hands in unison just to wear equal mock-hurt expressions. "I-I feel like my heart has been stabbed," Jisung chuckled, moving his balled fist to his chest. "Ow."

"Don't 'ow' me like you're innocently taking an attack! Please just let me go and have dinner in peace-"

"That's what we're going down to do," Jaemin winked flirtatiously, "Perhaps you didn't get the memo, Jun. Taeyong thought a big family dinner would be wonderful as a welcome to you."

"Wh....." the older finally lost his words before looking to the ground in sudden fear, and glancing back up. "What?! Hey, first of all, we're not close enough for nicknames. Second of all, I don't want to eat with you."

With that, he turned on his heels and started marching down the staircase yet again to escape. Jisung and Jaemin, however, were fit and athletic young adults with longer legs. Catching up was basically inevitable.

"Aaaaaw, you're breaking my heart here," the youngest pouted while tugging at his arm. "I've only ever met you once. Where's this hostility coming from?"

They continued to move down towards the second floor before uniting with the final flight of stairs. "You started spouting random crap about 'sex' and 'potentials' on that first meeting, need I remind you?"

"You play fast," Jaemin ruffled his supposed friend's hair before giggling with him to some strange inside joke that Renjun really didn't want in on.

"You told me I shouldn't be here," he jabbed the second oldest's chest, "Jisung pinned me to a goddamn door to check for unholy noises behind it and one of you lot called me a prostitute. So yeah, I should hope I've made my side of the debate clear."

Once on the ground floor, the trio stopped at the foot of the stairwell and properly faced each other. Jaemin peered towards the dining room's direction before beginning again. "Listen, Jun-"

"It's Renjun to you."

"Fucks given? Zero. Literally zero, my dude. Anyway, there are some things about our particular.....group? Would you call us a group?" He turned to Jisung.

"I mean, a squad sounds cooler."

"We aren't a fucking squad, Jisung. Please tell me you don't go around telling other people we're a 'squad'."

"I hope you'll accept silence as a no...."

"Fuck me. Be normal for once," the brunette sighed before scratching the back of his neck and looking to a very brain-dead Renjun again. "Slapping aside the fact that most of us share the same half braincell, some of our neighbours are going to ask you questions tonight."

"What kind of questions? Who the fuck are you people?"

"That's all the fun of getting to know us individually, so I'll keep that part a secret for now. But," he raised his index finger, "Just keep an open mind in there. None of us know exactly why it is you're here, except for Mark who apparently gave your name the green tick of acceptance."

"You and Taeyong mentioned that before. Why was I accepted? More so, who accepted me? This is just an apartment complex, isn't it? I'm not living in a cult hub, am I?"

Jisung started to wave towards the dining room door, though when Renjun turned to take a look and see who it was, only a shadow passed over. He'd missed them. Jaemin cupped his cheeks to hold his attention again.

"We're going in now, so quickly to answer you, no; we aren't a cult. Yes; this is just an apartment complex and Mark is someone you probably already know."

"Nah, I don't-"

"Let's go," he grabbed his arm and painted on a huge smile while guiding them towards the ajar door. Delicious food smells wafted into the hall from within, betraying Renjun when making his stomach grumble against his better judgment.

It isn't too late to sprint the hell out of here, he reminded himself, pursing his lips when they entered and immediately melting at the sight of amazing cooking that radiated enticing smells. The long table that he had noticed yesterday when Donghyuck had been crawling underneath it was covered from side to side with dishes.

Boys were wandering around while yelling at each other, laughing here and there and setting up. It was so warm.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Jisung quickly departed from them and ran towards a tall raven-haired male with dark eyes surrounded by black lashes and angular features. "Gimme' a drink."

"Say please, you overgrown brat," the other poked his tongue out as a massive 'no'.

Renjun slid away from Jaemin's side to press his back against the door he hadn't even realised had closed. His eyes darted from one figure to another, spotting Taeyong and Donghyuck amidst the chaos, though otherwise feeling intimidated and out of his depth.

Don't make eye-contact, don't make eye-contact, his inner voice warned him, though a dash of long black hair passed his vision, belonging to a girl he had never seen before, nor been told about. She seemed cheerful, clinging to the others' arms, laughing loudly....

Another face he didn't know was that of a man's, hair black as well and eyes alight with curiosity and joy. That made three strangers total when excluding the fact that he barely knew the faces he recognised.

He didn't belong here. He wanted to run back to his room. A room they could enter.

"Oh, there you are Renjun. Surprise," Taeyong waved a spoon in his direction. "Sorry if this tastes like ass. We all tried our best."

"It won't taste bad if I made some," The female chirped cockily, earning an adoring kiss from Jisung on the cheek.

Oh. She's his girlfriend? The small Chinese boy thought absentmindedly while starting to walk towards the table. His seat was almost calling to him between both Donghyuck and the shorter of the two ravenette strangers.

His face really was so damn familiar. He knew it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Welcome," the man smiled softly, patting the space beside him. "I'm so glad to finally meet you, Renjun."

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