Brotherhood
jongin/sehun; pg-13+; ~7,340w
sehun and jongin join a fraternity, though e-x-o is not quite what they were expecting
The stupidity of their ideas increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol they consume over the night. It’s around 9pm that Jongin suggests they make a blanket fort, a quarter past 10 when Sehun decides that they’d be more comfortable in the now-assembled fort if they were naked, and around midnight, with three bottles of Jack downed between them, that Sehun drools on Jongin’s naked chest during the final scenes of Madagascar 3 and suggests that they join a fraternity.
A fraternity, Wufan tells them over Skype the next evening, is a brotherhood of men all loyal and devoted to one another, and in order to join one, one must become a “pledge” and go through a series of initiation rituals before being accepted as a fellow brother. Jongin’s already got Sehun listed as his emergency contact/next-of-kin across every form he's filled in for the past three years, and Sehun ranks Jongin at least an 8 on his bros-before-hoes meter (meaning that if Sehun spots a 9 or a 10 walking around campus, Jongin will be left to fend for himself, but it’s a higher rank than he’s given anyone else), so they decide that joining a fraternity together is something that should definitely be on their bff bucket-list.
“You boys are finally growing up,” Yixing tells them from somewhere off-screen.
“And you guys still haven’t grown out of your gay phase,” Sehun shoots back, disconnecting the call before Wufan blows off on them. He smiles at the words though, hooking an arm over Jongin’s shoulders and ruffling his hair affectionately; they really are growing up.
--
Standing in his underwear while buckets of ice-cold water are dumped onto him, Sehun has never felt more young nor more humiliated in his life. Jongin’s by his side, suffering through the same insanity, and that’s the only bit of comfort he has as his knees begin to clack together and he involuntarily shivers. So far they've been blindfolded, dragged into a vehicle of some sort, driven half-way across the country (he can’t exactly verify that one, but he knows he spent at least three hours cramped up in a seat that may or may not have smelt like dry vomit), and deposited into a dimly lit basement type room, where their clothes had been promptly stripped off of them, and to top everything off, their abductors had then doused them with itching powder (which the water was used for rinsing off, but Sehun’s sure that room temperature would have worked just fine).
“Welcome, young freshmen,” a voice booms out. Sehun looks up as the television in front of them blares to life, a rather frightening image of a man with frazzled orange hair filling the screen. He takes a small step closer to Jongin and links their hands together as he watches on along with the ten-or-so other boys in the room. “This is the initiation chamber, where you will all be tried and tested so that we can see if you have what it takes to join E-X-O. Please wait in silence, someone will be coming for you soon.” The screen switches off, sending them back into dim lighting, and the room breaks into whispered murmurs.
“E-X-O? Aren’t fraternities supposed to have latin words in their names?” someone pipes up.
“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to steal the clothes of teenagers like this. What kind of a fraternity is this?” another voice is quick to say.
Sehun blocks out the rest of the whispers, but in his head, he's thinking the same thing. Wufan had mentioned that some of the so-called ‘initiation rituals’ would be a little outrageous, but standing in his drenched underwear with the first onslaught of pneumonia threatening to overtake his body, he thinks that these E-X-O guys are taking it a little too far. Jongin had been the one to find the fraternity, bounding up to Sehun outside Physics a week after their conversation with Wufan and thrusting a neon pink wristband into his hand. "I heard through the grapevine that this is how you get into the best fraternity here. Just put this wristband on and the members come to you all by themselves, awesome right?" he had said. The cool plastic that's still on his arm feels more like a target now.
“Jongin, where did you find out about these guys again?” he whispers quietly. He turns to face Jongin when he gets no reply and notices that his entire body is shivering violently, moisture on his forehead that looks too shiny under the dim lights to be water. He pushes back Jongin’s damp fringe and wraps his arms around him, sharing what little body heat he has left with his best friend. “You okay?”
Jongin nods against his shoulder, wet hair dragging against the hollow of Sehun’s throat. It’s ticklish and uncomfortable, but Sehun lets it go in favour of pulling Jongin in closer. It’s after ten more minutes, time that Sehun and Jongin spend silently shivering together, that someone finally opens the entrance to the basement and lets in the first dose of actual light.
“Welcome, my children,” a creepy voice rasps out, and a small figure descends down the steps wearing a robe that trails down way past his feet and onto the floor behind him.
“What happened, the costume shop run out of size XS?” one of the pledges calls out. The figure steps up onto the stage, in front of the television, shedding his robe and seemingly ignoring the jibe. A spotlight shines overhead, illuminating him, and Sehun’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets when he sees Byun Baekhyun, his mother's best-friend’s nerdy son, stood up there with hair styled to an insane height and an entire stick of eye liner deposited onto the area surrounding his eyes.
“You’re all here today because you wish to join the brotherhood of E-X-O,” he speaks, and Sehun raises a brow at the seemingly deep tone Baekhyun's voice has taken on. “This is by no means an easy fraternity to get into, and I commend you all for both your bravery and for your foolishness. The initiation ceremony begun the second you stepped onto this sacred ground, and will continue on until each and every one of you prove yourself to be a worthy brother, or die trying.”
He snaps his fingers off to the side then curls them in a 'come hither' gesture to someone on the side of the stage. A tall, rather lanky guy stumbles in front of them, and Sehun matches his face to the one they saw on screen (though his hair is, thankfully, no longer orange nor frazzled).
“Hey fledges, I'm Chanyeol,” he says.
“Pledges, Chanyeol, they are pledges,” Baekhyun cuts in with an eye-roll. Sehun has to stifle his laughter this time because this is so out-of-character for the shy boy who normally accompanies his mother to Sehun’s house and can’t even make eye-contact long enough for them to have a decent conversation. The only thing Baekhyun’s ever said to him before is “nice shoes”, and that’s only because he once spent half an hour looking at the white converse Sehun wore instead of looking at Sehun’s face as their mothers gossiped away. The Baekhyun up on stage is a total 180 transformation, and he secretly wonders how many anti-anxiety drugs the boy must be hopped up on in order to appear in front of them so confidently.
“Pledges then. I’m still Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun all but shoves Chanyeol off-stage and dances out after him as two new robed figures take their places. They introduce themselves as Luhan and Jongdae, and Jongin’s voice is teasing when he whispers that Luhan kind of resembles Sehun.
“Don’t be disgusting,” he hisses back, but he’s happy that Jongin's smile is back in place.
It doesn't last for long though, because as soon as Jongdae says the finishing words of his unnecessarily long introduction speech, they’re being herded off again, separated into two smaller groups as Jongdae guides one set to an exit on the left and the others follow Chanyeol right. Jongin has to fight his way through at least five people to re-link his hand with Sehun’s, but they both manage to be swept under Chanyeol’s wing (literally - Chanyeol has changed into a phoenix costume and is plucking random pledges to shove under his armpit) together.
They’re led into a room full of nothing but beer kegs, and Sehun almost smiles when Chanyeol hands them both robes to wear with the words “I am a pledge, Park Chanyeol is the best” inscribed on the back. He helps Jongin slip into his first, then pops his own on, snuggling against the soft fur and grateful for the warmth it provides. He doesn't even mind that he’s pimping out a guy he doesn't even know; heck, he thinks he might even actually like Chanyeol with his crazy eyes and obnoxiously loud voice.
The ritual taking place in the room is simple; the pledges have to outdrink the existing frat members in order to advance to the next stage. Jongin doesn't hold his alcohol very well, but Sehun can drink any man under the table, and they’re allowed to split into teams so Sehun literally drinks the two of them all the way to victory, taking special pleasure in the way Luhan’s face scrunches up in discomfort as he gives up half-way through downing his tenth glass, thereby rendering Sehun King of the Keg.
It’s a well-respected position, one that warrants a crown and a pair of slippers (their shoes were taken along with the rest of their clothes, and Sehun didn't realise how badly his feet ached until he feels the soft cotton beneath them). Baekhyun comes over to congratulate them, thankfully too drunk to recognise him, and Sehun thinks that things might actually be looking up.
He finds out he’s wrong once he and Jongin are allowed to progress onto the fourth stage.
“You guys survived all the other rooms, but can you handle the room of terror?”
Sehun feels a shiver work its way up his spine as he looks at all the painful looking tools laid out on tables, rulers and pencils, compasses and protractors, even calculators, scientific ones at that, all taunting him with the power they hold. There’s a blackboard at the front of the room, something he hasn't seen since elementary school, and memories of his classmates teasing him because he didn't know what 12 x 12 was, still doesn't damnit, come rushing back full-force, crushing him under their weight.
“Make it stop, Jongin, it hurts so much,” he wails. Jongin’s hand is soothing on his back, and his best friend looks more determined than Sehun’s ever seen him before. Jongin grabs a piece of chalk from the front of the board and narrows his eyes at Jongdae who seems to be in charge here.
“You ready, pledge?” Jongdae asks with a snarl.
Jongin smirks in the way he's been practising in front of the mirror for two months now. “Bring it on.”
Jongdae does bring it, Chinese style at that, hitting Jongin and Sehun and all the other pledges with the kind of advanced mathematics that they don’t even teach in Korea. Jongin fights humbly, using logic and statistical thinking to advance through the rounds. Jongin’s always been the smarter of the two, the one with a real affinity for education, and Sehun feels his heart swell in joy as he shoots out answer after right answer like a true Asian nerd.
“Go Jongin!” he cheers from the side, sticking his tongue out when Jongdae turns around to scowl at him.
Jongin doesn't get all the questions right, but he gets the highest marks of all, so they’re allowed through to the next round, much to Jongdae’s displeasure.
“Don’t look so smug, pretty boy,” he says, eyeing Jongin warily. “There’s no way two twerps like you will ever pass the last round.”
Jongin dismisses Jongdae with a cheeky air-kiss and tugs Sehun into a one-armed hug. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” he laughs. Now that they're fully clothed and no longer being subject to questionable treatment, Sehun and Jongin are actually enjoying their time. Chanyeol's become their personal cheerleader, egging them on through round after round, and Baekhyun's given Jongin enough cheeky smiles during the last two hours for it to warrant the fact that he wants into Jongin's pants. It's too early to say, and Sehun still feels a little uneasy under Jongdae's evil scowls, but he thinks that being an E-X-O brother could turn out be a wonderful thing.
“I know right?" he says back playfully, "calling you pretty when someone like me is in the building? Blasphemy.” He dodges the punch that Jongin throws at him easily, laughing freely as he's pulled towards the next room. Luhan worms his way in between them, hooking an arm over both of their shoulders and grinning up at each of them in turn.
"I'll go easy on you since you're beautiful," he says to Jongin, eyes crinkling up on the sides as he blinks in a way too try-hard attempt at being cute. Jongin smiles back shyly, and Sehun rolls his eyes in disgust. "You though," Luhan suddenly says, and when Sehun turns his head, Luhan is actually pouting at him. "I won't be going easy on you, twink. You better bring your A-game, or your journey ends here."
Sehun is worried for all of 20.5 seconds, which is how long it takes for them to get to the next room and realise it's a dance challenge they'll be competing in. There are tables lined up against both sides of the room, a pole right in the centre, and Baekhyun's standing at the back holding a box full of black fabric.
"You have to choose two of three props, and dance using them to a song from Chanyeol's playlist," Luhan announces. "Oh and, since this is the final test, you have to compete solo. Everyone has to prove themselves, or be eliminated." There are only three pledges alongside Sehun and Jongin present, and Sehun fleetingly wonders what happened to all the other boys who had been with them in the beginning.
They're given back their clothes, assigned numbers, and called up accordingly. He's number 5, and Jongin's 4. The first boy to go up chooses to use one of the tables. He asks about the stuff Baekhyun's got, and Sehun notices how his Korean is a little accented, as if he's from somewhere else. The black stuff ends up being blindfolds, and in avoiding having to pole dance, all three of the pledges before them dance blindly and end up messing up.
"You're such a fail," Luhan hisses when pledge #3 bangs his knee on the table top in the midst of lifting his leg up to Sistar's Alone. The pledge drops to his knees at once, hissing profanities as he rips the fabric off his eyes and clenches his teeth. Sehun watches on as Baekhyun puts a bag over each of the failed pledges' heads, tying ropes around their robes linking them to one another. Another robed figure, one that Sehun's sure he hasn't seen before, tugs them out of the room. He gulps, half of his mind worried about their fates and the rest of it worrying about his own. He's sure that it's illegal to kill pledges, but the E-X-O guys seem to be into mild torture. Jongin's number is called up, and he pushes the thoughts at the back of his mind as he gets ready to watch his best friend dance.
To say Jongin is a good dancer would be the world's biggest understatement. Before working up the nerve to befriend him, Sehun had spent months watching the elder dance in the school's studio, mesmerised by the way he moved in a way that he couldn't even explain. They had been juniors back then, Sehun the coolest kid in his class and Jongin the mysterious one, the one who everyone secretly loved but pretended not to like because they would never be worth his time of day. It had been at a teacher's suggestion that he'd taken up dance classes too, and one question of "can you help me with his move?" had created a life-long bond of friendship that Sehun cherished with his entire heart. Jongin doesn't dance with his brain; he dances with his heart. He doesn't think about the moves, doesn't worry about his lines or his position or even the faces he's making, he just listens to the music and lets it take over.
Sehun isn't surprised when Jongin follows the trend and picks the table and the blindfold. Luhan seems angry, muttering about useless pledges and how he's doomed to be stuck with Jongdae forever. Sehun helps him push all the tables from the sides to the middle, moving the pole out of the way to make a 6 tables long by 2 tables wide stage in front of where Luhan, Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are all now seated.
"I'll do the entire dance on top of the tables, blindfolded. Is that okay?" Luhan is too taken-aback to answer, so Baekhyun gives him the go-ahead. Justin Timberlake's Lovestoned begins playing, the 7:24 long radio edit version. Chanyeol offers to change it, but Jongin's already begun to dance.
He performs through the entire song flawlessly, pulling moves from memory and making knew ones on the spot. Whenever he nears the edge, he instinctively takes a step back, as if he knows the area he's allowed to dance in so well that he can sense when he's reaching the boundaries. He's not really looking to impress the members that much, so he dances in the way he knows Sehun likes best, creating images with his body and allowing them to tell a story. Although, he's not sure exactly what story has this much hip-thrusting and body-rolling in it, but maybe Luhan's face will let him know once he finishes.
The interlude begins to play and he jumps down from the tabletops, spending a beat trying to find his place before he crawls underneath them. He moves his body along the floor, doing the move that Sehun says is basically him "having sex with the ground". With his sight inhibited, his other senses are on high alert, and he hears the sharp intakes of breath over the soft music as he slides back out and starts to touch himself. The version on Chanyeol's iPod cuts abruptly, ending before Jongin can run his hand over his crotch and drive them to real insanity, and he's almost disappointed when Jongdae announces that he can take off his blindfold.
Once he does, he's surprised to find the room enveloped in darkness. "What happened to the lights?"
"My fault," Baekhyun's voice calls out from a distance. "I wanted to add special effects to your performance since it was so good, so I was doing my light-tricks, but then the power gave out or something." Jongin laughs and picks his way back to Sehun's side, moving close enough so that he see how pleased his best friend looks.
"Was I good?" he asks with a smug smile. Sehun lands a playful punch on his chest.
"I don't know. I wasn't the one judging, remember? Let's ask Luhan-ssi."
Luhan splutters when he hears Sehun mention his name, and even more when Jongin turns to him with a smile. "Was I good, Luhan-ssi? Did I pass?" he asks. Luhan is thankful for the lack of light in the room when a deep blush spreads across his cheeks, and he nods, moving away to get some air and help Baekhyun fix the lights.
"You know, there's an old spotlight here that's powered by its own internal generator," Chanyeol suddenly says. He assumes he has everyone's attention since he can't actually see them, and proceeds to tell them all about the history of it, going into enough detail for them all to write a thesis.
"I don't care if it harvests it's energy from the moon, Chanyeol," Jongdae finally cuts in, "can you just tell us where it is and set it up or something?"
There's no verbal answer, but a few minutes later there's a light shining from somewhere above them, illuminating the centre of the room.
"Do you think the power's out everywhere else too?" Sehun asks, thinking about the other robed figures and the failed pledges he saw. Baekhyun shrugs, obviously only concerned with the fact that he has light, but Chanyeol comes back over assures him that everyone else will be fine.
"The rest of the rooms are above this one, and they all have windows and exits that lead straight out onto normal grounds. All they have to do is open them, and natural light can stream in." He puts an arm over Sehun's shoulder and squeezes in an awkward gesture of affection. "Look at you, so concerned about us. You're practically a brother already!" he coos.
"No, he isn't," Luhan interjects, "he still needs to pass this round, and then there's the final ritual at the joining ceremony tonight. Although that'll be a piece of cake for sure, I mean, just look at them."
Chanyeol nods in agreement. Sehun doesn't have the time to ask exactly what they mean by that because Jongdae announces that he's hungry so he wants to get on with it. Sehun is pushed up onto the makeshift stage and pressurised into choosing his props. Jongin looks worried, obviously concerned about Sehun having to dance without seeing. He's a pretty graceful mover, but, unlike Jongin, he relies on his sense of sight a lot, always watching to see if he's in the right position, gauging the reactions from the audience to see if he's doing a good job. This whole thing is about trying new things though, so he decides to be a little bolder, consequences be damned. He takes the blindfold that Jongin's still holding and shows it to Baekhyun as one of his choices.
"Ok well the tables are already in position, unless you want to use just the one, in whi--"
"I choose the pole as my second prop."
Surprisingly, Luhan is the one who moves all the tables out of the way and drags the pole back to position. "I can't wait to see you mess this up, flower boy," he says evilly, knocking into Sehun's shoulder as he makes his way back to everyone else. Chanyeol's iPod is still playing in the background, and Sehun prepares himself to start dancing once the next new song begins when Chanyeol admits that he has a special song in mind for him.
"I hope you don't mind, I just think that this song kind of suits you, and it should be fun to dance to."
He's standing, blindfolded, as a group of men and his best friend watch, about to perform a dance number in which he has to somehow incorporate a pole; no matter what song Chanyeol picks, he's sure it can't make the situation much worse than it is now. When Bubblegum Bitch starts playing though, he changes his mind.
The first beats of the song are spent awkwardly shuffling, the lyrics washing over him and causing a blush to spread over his face. He's not the best at English, but Wufan's taught him quite a bit, and he's familiar with the song because it's actually one of Wufan's favourites. The fact that Chanyeol knows it well too, even thinks that it suits him, makes him feel self-concious, the disability of not being able to watch his audience making him even more nervous. Luhan's obnoxious laughter carries over the music and Sehun's this close to forfeiting when someone starts clapping to the beat.
"Go on, Sehun, you can do it!" Jongin's voice sounds out, Chanyeol joining in with his own cheerleader-y shouts of encouragement, and soon it sounds like the whole room is filled with people clapping every two beats, spurring him on. The song splutters to an end but it begins replaying straight after, Chanyeol looping it to give him all the time he needs. He's ready this time, letting the music take over him as he begins moving. They want to see him dancing against a pole, he's sure of it, so he decides to give them what he wants.
He pulls the blindfold up over his eyes, not caring much for consequences as he loosen his hips up and moves them in beat to the music. He puts one hand halfway up the pole and moves his body against it, sinking down to his knees and using them to push himself up off the floor, grinding against the metal rod between his legs. The next chorus begins and he's up on his feet, running his hand through his hair and letting the other one trail down the front of his body. He was only wearing a thin t-shirt when he had been abducted, one that's loose and translucent and hangs off his thin frame, showing off the pretty skin of his chest. It rises up when he moves back to the pole and starts climbing it, legs clamped around it tightly as he uses his arms to pull himself upwards. He meets Jongin's gaze and his best friend is looking at him with awe-filled eyes, like he's a professional exotic dancer successfully wooing them instead of an inexperienced kid about to bust out some seriously amateur pole-dancing.
He goes on the videos he's seen, leaving his arms holding the pole and letting the rest of his body go free. He begins to twist himself, awkwardly at first but getting the hang of it surprisingly quickly. Before long he's suspended upside down, ankles locked around the pole as he spins around, a hand reaching out to steady himself when he feels himself slipping. His t-shirt has practically fallen off his body, legs bound in tight leather that protest the harsh movements. The song plays over and over, and Sehun forgets to listen out for the ending. He moves his body in whatever way feels right, contorting it into shapes he didn't know he could, pushing his flexibility to his limits as Marina's voice accompanies his moves.
Baekhyun is the one to finally put a stop to it, switching off the iPod and calling back Sehun over to them. Sehun hops off the pole and studies each of their faces in turn, pleased at the flush on Luhan's cheeks and the tight line of Jongdae's mouth - evidently, he'd been hoping that they couldn't dance. He feels kind of awkward at Chanyeol's wide grin though, even more so when he notices the questionable tented shape under Chanyeol's costume. Jongin fixes his top back into place and squeals as he pulls Sehun in for a tight hug. "We did it, Sehun! We're in, we're brothers!" Jongin's grin when he pulls back is so infectious that Sehun can't help but smile too (and maybe he's smiling a little out of his own excitement).
--
They're blindfolded, dragged outside (though gently this time), put onto a vehicle that smells decidedly nicer, and sent on their way with instructions to get cleaned up and dress smartly in time for a 7:30 pick up. Thirty minutes into their ride, someone pulls their blindfolds off, and Sehun notices he's in the back of a black Audi, with Jongin asleep next to him and Chanyeol in the driving seat. Sehun makes sure his best friend is comfortable before leaning forward and asking how much longer.
"Not too long, kiddo. The place we took you to is only 40, 45 minutes away from campus. On the way there, I took a huge detour just to freak you guys out a little. Sorry about that by the way, we just didn't want any wimps joining the frat. Can you believe 80% of them didn't even make it past the journey there?" His eyes are on the road, so he can't see the way Sehun's expression is darkening, finding no amusement in his words. "Two of the pledges puked on one another, so that whole car was eliminated. Joonmyun was in charge of them - he's one of the brothers, you'll meet him tonight - anyway, he had to drive them back, so he missed the whole initiation. You'll love him Sehun, he's great. And he has a thing for pretty boys, so you're in luck!"
Sehun drowns out the rest of Chanyeol's babbling, and a few minutes later Chanyeol's pulling up outside their dorm with a two-fingered salute. "I'll be back at half-seven, so please be ready, and make sure you both look dapper because the ceremony is some seriously fancy shit. Wear suits if you have them, come naked if you don't. Sayonara boys, till we meet again!" He drives off with a honk, and Sehun is left to drag Jongin inside to their room. He lifts Jongin up into his arms with great difficulty, planning on placing him down gently on the bed but accidentally dropping him instead. He pushes him up against the wall then slips in next to him, something he does whenever he's scared or homesick or just wants his best friend's affection, and nuzzles his cheek against Jongin's back.
"Up until today, it was just you and me," he says quietly. "And now we're gonna have a whole bunch of new brothers to care for. I hope the others are nice. Chanyeol's nice enough, and Baekhyun's pretty cool when he's not being an antisocial failure, but Jongdae's not the greatest is he? And Luhan. I don't want to be brothers with Luhan. He's weird and mean, and he totally fancies you, Jongin. We won't have to be friends with them though, I guess. We can get to know the others. It might be fun." Jongin stirs in his sleep, and Sehun trails a casual hand over his bare arm before shuffling closer. "I'm glad we're in this together, Jongin. I love you so much."
Five minutes later when Sehun is also on the brink of sleep, Jongin turns, landing half on top of Sehun before Sehun sleepily squirms out from beneath him. "You're such an oaf," Sehun mumbles, trying to get comfortable again. Jongin clamps his arm around his waist to stop him from moving. He places a gentle kiss onto Sehun's cheek and brushes his nose against the spot, moments after. "I love you too, dummy. Now let's get some real rest so we can look our sexiest for tonight." Even in the uncomfortable position, Sehun falls asleep content.
--
They wear the suits they wore to their high-school graduations, Sehun's a pale blue and Jongin's black.
"You look so much hotter than me," Sehun whines, fixing his borrowed-from-Jongin tie and trying to make himself look like less of a kid. "Why the hell did I ever insist on getting a blue suit? More importantly, why didn't you stop me?" Jongin laughs as he adjusts his own clothes, realigning his cuff-links before moving on to perfect his slicked-back hair.
"You look adorable, baby," he says teasingly, looking at Sehun's bleached-blonde hair before bursting into more laughter. "Even if you do make some questionable fashion choices."
Sehun looks livid the entire time between them getting ready and Chanyeol picking them up. Even in the back-seat of the car, he has a frown etched on his face, one that only deepens as both Jongin and Chanyeol ignore him in favour of conversing with one another.
"You should see it, Jongin. Well, you will, now actually, but anyway, it's wonderful. There's so much food and alcohol, awesome music and unlimited condoms. It takes all the best things about clubbing and leaves all the bad parts behind."
"So no one will be getting a hangover tomorrow? And everyone who bangs tonight will be happy with their decision once they wake up?"
"Ahh, not quite, those suckish things will forever be a part of life, I'm afraid," Chanyeol says with a grin. The sound of Jongin's laughter finally manages to break Sehun out of his mood.
"You're so dumb, Jongin," he says. Jongin just grins in response.
The ceremony ends up being everything Chanyeol said, though the lack of girls present is kind of a downer. He falls into the swing of things easily, bopping along to the music and conversing with the rest of the guests, all either E-X-O members, or members of the other fraternities within something called the SM group. Jongin becomes the object of affection for a clingy drunk boy by the name of Taemin, and Sehun steps in to play saviour when someone pulls him away.
"Sehun! It's you!" Baekhyun's standing in front of him, eyes alight with recognition like he's finally identifying Sehun as the kid he's always awkward around. "Oh my God, it really is you! I thought you looked familiar earlier, but my medication must have mixed in with all the alcohol because everything was a little blurry. Oh Sehun, my mom's friend's kid, damn you look good."
He stumbles forward, and Sehun has to catch him in his arms to keep him from falling. Jongin sends him the SOS signal from across the room, and he's sorely tempted to leave Baekhyun and go attend to his friend, only he doesn't really want any of this getting back to his mother. He shoots Jongin what he hopes is an apologetic look, then slowly lowers Baekhyun onto a chair, taking a seat beside him.
"How much did you drunk, Baek?" he asks. Baekhyun actually looks a little shocked at the question.
"Practically nothing. I stumbled because I'm clumsy, not because I'm drunk." Sehun looks relieved, already getting up to leave but Baekhyun puts hand on his, keeping him seated. "I can't believe that the Sehun I'd been crushing on for so long is going to be a frat member by the end of tonight. Fate has a funny way of working, don't you think?"
Sehun nods absently, until the words actually sink in. "You what? The Sehun you what?"
Baekhyun laughs, thumb rubbing over the skin on the back of Sehun's hand. "I had a massive crush on you, Sehun. Why do you think I could never look you in the eye when we were left alone together? Because I wanted you to pound me into the wall, that's why. It was a dumb way of going about it, but I figured that if I acted unapproachable, you wouldn't feel bad about not befriending me, and it wouldn't lead to me forcefully sitting on your dick or something."
Sehun's jaw metaphorically drops as Baekhyun goes on about the apparent lust he's felt ever since he saw Sehun and began to wonder what his milky skin would taste like. Sehun draws the line when Baekhyun asks to cop of a feel of his dick, muttering something about Jongin needing him (which is true - Taemin has him in a headlock, and Jongin's back is bending in a most unnatural way to accommodate for the height difference) before hastily getting up.
"That's cool, I'll just do it later then," Baekhyun says good-naturedly, getting up to leave with a wink. Sehun pulls Jongin away from Taemin with an excuse about clothing malfunctions, and Taemin seems happy enough to let Jongin go, but not before slapping his butt.
They look for a private place to talk and manage to find a disabled toilet cubicle, slipping inside and locking it. The music still seeps in past the walls, but it's a lot quieter here, low enough for them to talk and loud enough for it to cover their voices in the case of any eavesdroppers.
"You'll never guess what Baekhyun told me," Sehun screeches at the same time that Jongin says "Taemin tried to suck me off." After a few seconds of wordlessly blinking at each other, Sehun decides that Jongin should go first.
"He said he thought I was really hot, so I told him he was attractive too, at which point he hugged me, so I hugged him back, and the next thing I know he's on his knees, head near my crotch and he didn't even ask before pulling my zip down and sticking his fingers inside."
"Ew, didn't you stop him?!" Sehun shrieks. Jongin looks bewildered that he would even need to ask.
"Of course I did! I pulled him back on his feet and told him he was really drunk, that I'd help him find his friends. That's when he put me in a headlock and told me how I was 'so innocent' and he couldn't wait to 'corrupt' me. Something was seriously up with that kid." Jongin looks repulsed as he moves over to the sink and washes his hands over and over. "He assumed I was gay without even asking me."
Sehun chews his lip thoughtfully. "Baek did the same thing," he says. Jongin raises a curious brow so he runs through the events, telling him how he knows Baekhyun through his mother, how he was always awkward around him, but tonight he was more straight-forward than Sehun's ever seen. "He basically told me he wanted me to fuck him." He recalls how in-depth Baekhyun had been in his descriptions, as if it was something he thought about a lot, and a shiver works it way up his spine at the thought of him being a part of Baekhyun's dirty fantasies.
"What do we do?" he asks.
Jongin splashes water onto his face and takes a deep breath, meeting Sehun's eyes through the mirror. "We go outside, tell Baekhyun neither of us are gay, clear up any misunderstandings with Taemin too, then we get initiated and join the brotherhood. Sound good?" Sehun nods. They've got this in the bag. Once Baekhyun finds out he's straight, he'll go back to normal, Taemin will stop hitting on Jongin, and everything will be fine.
They leave the bathroom together to the knowing looks of Luhan and Jongdae, and before they can even begin to explain themselves, they're ushered up onto the stage, where Baekhyun and Chanyeol are standing holding two robes identical to the ones the members were all wearing earlier: official E-X-O robes.
"Please welcome our two successful pledges and the two newest additions to the E-X-O brotherhood, Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin," Chanyeol says with a bright smile. He turns to them and gestures for the two to join him, which they do, albeit hesitantly. Baekhyun positions them so that they're stood facing each other, around half a metre in between the tops of their shoes, while dozens of excited eyes watch them.
"Before we present you the official robes of our people, you must show that you will a worthy member of our fraternity, one who puts his brothers' needs before himself. To demonstrate this, I now request that the two of you kiss."
Sehun's eyes widen, head whipping around to Chanyeol's direction so fast he almost falls of the stage. Baekhyun reaches out to steady him, but Sehun recoils, memories of their earlier conversation coming back to haunt him. "You're all gay!" he yells accusingly. "You're not a fraternity, you're a gayternity, and you want to make me and Jongin your gay brothers so you can have gay sex with us!"
No one says anything, apparently happy to hear Sehun slur them off, his every sentence punctuated with at least six uses of the word gay. Jongin stands frozen in his spot, brain not working fast enough to comprehend what's happening. Luhan finally gets bored of all the drama and picks a flailing Sehun up off the floor, taking him behind the curtains and forcing him down into a chair.
"So we're a gay fraternity, and we were willing to accept you into our rankings. I don't see what the big deal is; you two are the ones who wanted to join."
"We wanted to join a fraternity, not a gay one!" Sehun yells back, offended that the entire time, he's been mistaken as a homosexual, while being in the company of other homosexuals who may or may not have been viewing him as a sexual prospect from the moment they saw him. It explains why Chanyeol wanted him to dance to such an odd song, the fucking erection he got because of it; Baekhyun finally getting the guts to tell him how he felt; Taemin assuming Jongin was gay. He's almost annoyed at himself for not realising sooner; all the signs had been there from the start.
"Then you should have. Why did you choose one under the SM listing?"
"SM..." Sehun repeats dumbly. Luhan's talking to him in a soft tone while he's yelling at the guy, something he's unused to. He tries to reprocess the situation in his mind, figure out where he and Jongin went so wrong that they ended up trying to join a gay frat. "What's the SM listing?" he finally asks.
"There are different listings for different frat types. SM stands for sex: male and it's basically meant to be a play on words, you know, because we're of the male sex, but we also want sex with males. So basically gay people. Which, as you announced earlier, we all are. It's clearly marked on the fraternities page that it's a gay frat, heck, even our pledge wristbands are pink, and that didn't give you a clue?"
"Jongin found the fraternity for us," Sehun whispers. Luhan pats his shoulder comfortingly.
"Either Jongin made a mistake, or there's something he's not telling you. There's something to be said about a kid who joins a gay frat with his straight best friend."
--
Jongin finally finally gets over his shock, and the first thing he does is push Luhan over and grab Sehun's hand.
"Let's get out of here, Sehun-ah," he says, pulling him up and off the stage. He moves through the room angrily, breaking into a run as he tries to locate the quickest route out of there. The rest of the guests move out of his way hastily, no one brave enough to tease the pair when Jongin's face screams of murderous intent.
"Slow down a little, Jongin," Sehun whines, and Jongin relents by switching to a brisk walk instead. Only once they're outside does he let go of Sehun's hand, running his fingers through his hair and swearing repeatedly. Sehun wants to stop him, maybe hug him, but he doesn't want to make things awkward, not when five minutes ago they were stood in front of each other being told to kiss.
"It's alright," he says instead, "no harm done. You made an honest mistake, anyone could have done it."
Jongin turns to him with vicious eyes. "Mistake? You think this was a mistake? This was no mistake, Sehun, it was planned."
Sehun tries to keep his actions discreet but ends up blurting out, "fuck, you're really gay?", much to Jongin's chagrin.
"What? No. What the fuck, Sehun? No, this was just Wufan's idea for a funny joke, that bastard. When we get back, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind. We could have been raped or something! Seriously, that old man needs to rethink his humour--"
"Wait," Sehun cuts him off, "Wufan hyung? What does he have to do with this?"
"Who do you think was the one who told me about this place? Wufan emailed me the link when I couldn't find a suitable frat myself, told me to take credit if you asked 'cause it would make me look cool. This fucker, really--"
"You're not gay then?"
Jongin gives Sehun a long, hard look. "No, Oh Sehun, I am not."
Sehun jumps onto Jongin and squeezes the absolute shit out of his best friend. "Well, thank fuck." Jongin pushes him off with an eye-roll, but a second later he links their arms together.
"I am as straight as Chanyeol's dick was when he was watching you dance," he continues, starting the walk back home since they no longer have a ride "Fuck, I should have realised something was wrong then. I just thought he was imagining you as a girl. 'Got a figure like a pin-up, got a figure like a doll~'"
Sehun pinches him to make him shut up, but later on he joins in too, singing the words at the top of his lungs while he and Jongin run around under the blanket fort they never had the heart to get rid of.
--
un-proofread ending.
omg i have such a thing for bff sekai i can't even explain it but it makes me so happy idk??
sehun and jongin join a fraternity, though e-x-o is not quite what they were expecting
The stupidity of their ideas increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol they consume over the night. It’s around 9pm that Jongin suggests they make a blanket fort, a quarter past 10 when Sehun decides that they’d be more comfortable in the now-assembled fort if they were naked, and around midnight, with three bottles of Jack downed between them, that Sehun drools on Jongin’s naked chest during the final scenes of Madagascar 3 and suggests that they join a fraternity.
A fraternity, Wufan tells them over Skype the next evening, is a brotherhood of men all loyal and devoted to one another, and in order to join one, one must become a “pledge” and go through a series of initiation rituals before being accepted as a fellow brother. Jongin’s already got Sehun listed as his emergency contact/next-of-kin across every form he's filled in for the past three years, and Sehun ranks Jongin at least an 8 on his bros-before-hoes meter (meaning that if Sehun spots a 9 or a 10 walking around campus, Jongin will be left to fend for himself, but it’s a higher rank than he’s given anyone else), so they decide that joining a fraternity together is something that should definitely be on their bff bucket-list.
“You boys are finally growing up,” Yixing tells them from somewhere off-screen.
“And you guys still haven’t grown out of your gay phase,” Sehun shoots back, disconnecting the call before Wufan blows off on them. He smiles at the words though, hooking an arm over Jongin’s shoulders and ruffling his hair affectionately; they really are growing up.
--
Standing in his underwear while buckets of ice-cold water are dumped onto him, Sehun has never felt more young nor more humiliated in his life. Jongin’s by his side, suffering through the same insanity, and that’s the only bit of comfort he has as his knees begin to clack together and he involuntarily shivers. So far they've been blindfolded, dragged into a vehicle of some sort, driven half-way across the country (he can’t exactly verify that one, but he knows he spent at least three hours cramped up in a seat that may or may not have smelt like dry vomit), and deposited into a dimly lit basement type room, where their clothes had been promptly stripped off of them, and to top everything off, their abductors had then doused them with itching powder (which the water was used for rinsing off, but Sehun’s sure that room temperature would have worked just fine).
“Welcome, young freshmen,” a voice booms out. Sehun looks up as the television in front of them blares to life, a rather frightening image of a man with frazzled orange hair filling the screen. He takes a small step closer to Jongin and links their hands together as he watches on along with the ten-or-so other boys in the room. “This is the initiation chamber, where you will all be tried and tested so that we can see if you have what it takes to join E-X-O. Please wait in silence, someone will be coming for you soon.” The screen switches off, sending them back into dim lighting, and the room breaks into whispered murmurs.
“E-X-O? Aren’t fraternities supposed to have latin words in their names?” someone pipes up.
“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to steal the clothes of teenagers like this. What kind of a fraternity is this?” another voice is quick to say.
Sehun blocks out the rest of the whispers, but in his head, he's thinking the same thing. Wufan had mentioned that some of the so-called ‘initiation rituals’ would be a little outrageous, but standing in his drenched underwear with the first onslaught of pneumonia threatening to overtake his body, he thinks that these E-X-O guys are taking it a little too far. Jongin had been the one to find the fraternity, bounding up to Sehun outside Physics a week after their conversation with Wufan and thrusting a neon pink wristband into his hand. "I heard through the grapevine that this is how you get into the best fraternity here. Just put this wristband on and the members come to you all by themselves, awesome right?" he had said. The cool plastic that's still on his arm feels more like a target now.
“Jongin, where did you find out about these guys again?” he whispers quietly. He turns to face Jongin when he gets no reply and notices that his entire body is shivering violently, moisture on his forehead that looks too shiny under the dim lights to be water. He pushes back Jongin’s damp fringe and wraps his arms around him, sharing what little body heat he has left with his best friend. “You okay?”
Jongin nods against his shoulder, wet hair dragging against the hollow of Sehun’s throat. It’s ticklish and uncomfortable, but Sehun lets it go in favour of pulling Jongin in closer. It’s after ten more minutes, time that Sehun and Jongin spend silently shivering together, that someone finally opens the entrance to the basement and lets in the first dose of actual light.
“Welcome, my children,” a creepy voice rasps out, and a small figure descends down the steps wearing a robe that trails down way past his feet and onto the floor behind him.
“What happened, the costume shop run out of size XS?” one of the pledges calls out. The figure steps up onto the stage, in front of the television, shedding his robe and seemingly ignoring the jibe. A spotlight shines overhead, illuminating him, and Sehun’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets when he sees Byun Baekhyun, his mother's best-friend’s nerdy son, stood up there with hair styled to an insane height and an entire stick of eye liner deposited onto the area surrounding his eyes.
“You’re all here today because you wish to join the brotherhood of E-X-O,” he speaks, and Sehun raises a brow at the seemingly deep tone Baekhyun's voice has taken on. “This is by no means an easy fraternity to get into, and I commend you all for both your bravery and for your foolishness. The initiation ceremony begun the second you stepped onto this sacred ground, and will continue on until each and every one of you prove yourself to be a worthy brother, or die trying.”
He snaps his fingers off to the side then curls them in a 'come hither' gesture to someone on the side of the stage. A tall, rather lanky guy stumbles in front of them, and Sehun matches his face to the one they saw on screen (though his hair is, thankfully, no longer orange nor frazzled).
“Hey fledges, I'm Chanyeol,” he says.
“Pledges, Chanyeol, they are pledges,” Baekhyun cuts in with an eye-roll. Sehun has to stifle his laughter this time because this is so out-of-character for the shy boy who normally accompanies his mother to Sehun’s house and can’t even make eye-contact long enough for them to have a decent conversation. The only thing Baekhyun’s ever said to him before is “nice shoes”, and that’s only because he once spent half an hour looking at the white converse Sehun wore instead of looking at Sehun’s face as their mothers gossiped away. The Baekhyun up on stage is a total 180 transformation, and he secretly wonders how many anti-anxiety drugs the boy must be hopped up on in order to appear in front of them so confidently.
“Pledges then. I’m still Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun all but shoves Chanyeol off-stage and dances out after him as two new robed figures take their places. They introduce themselves as Luhan and Jongdae, and Jongin’s voice is teasing when he whispers that Luhan kind of resembles Sehun.
“Don’t be disgusting,” he hisses back, but he’s happy that Jongin's smile is back in place.
It doesn't last for long though, because as soon as Jongdae says the finishing words of his unnecessarily long introduction speech, they’re being herded off again, separated into two smaller groups as Jongdae guides one set to an exit on the left and the others follow Chanyeol right. Jongin has to fight his way through at least five people to re-link his hand with Sehun’s, but they both manage to be swept under Chanyeol’s wing (literally - Chanyeol has changed into a phoenix costume and is plucking random pledges to shove under his armpit) together.
They’re led into a room full of nothing but beer kegs, and Sehun almost smiles when Chanyeol hands them both robes to wear with the words “I am a pledge, Park Chanyeol is the best” inscribed on the back. He helps Jongin slip into his first, then pops his own on, snuggling against the soft fur and grateful for the warmth it provides. He doesn't even mind that he’s pimping out a guy he doesn't even know; heck, he thinks he might even actually like Chanyeol with his crazy eyes and obnoxiously loud voice.
The ritual taking place in the room is simple; the pledges have to outdrink the existing frat members in order to advance to the next stage. Jongin doesn't hold his alcohol very well, but Sehun can drink any man under the table, and they’re allowed to split into teams so Sehun literally drinks the two of them all the way to victory, taking special pleasure in the way Luhan’s face scrunches up in discomfort as he gives up half-way through downing his tenth glass, thereby rendering Sehun King of the Keg.
It’s a well-respected position, one that warrants a crown and a pair of slippers (their shoes were taken along with the rest of their clothes, and Sehun didn't realise how badly his feet ached until he feels the soft cotton beneath them). Baekhyun comes over to congratulate them, thankfully too drunk to recognise him, and Sehun thinks that things might actually be looking up.
He finds out he’s wrong once he and Jongin are allowed to progress onto the fourth stage.
“You guys survived all the other rooms, but can you handle the room of terror?”
Sehun feels a shiver work its way up his spine as he looks at all the painful looking tools laid out on tables, rulers and pencils, compasses and protractors, even calculators, scientific ones at that, all taunting him with the power they hold. There’s a blackboard at the front of the room, something he hasn't seen since elementary school, and memories of his classmates teasing him because he didn't know what 12 x 12 was, still doesn't damnit, come rushing back full-force, crushing him under their weight.
“Make it stop, Jongin, it hurts so much,” he wails. Jongin’s hand is soothing on his back, and his best friend looks more determined than Sehun’s ever seen him before. Jongin grabs a piece of chalk from the front of the board and narrows his eyes at Jongdae who seems to be in charge here.
“You ready, pledge?” Jongdae asks with a snarl.
Jongin smirks in the way he's been practising in front of the mirror for two months now. “Bring it on.”
Jongdae does bring it, Chinese style at that, hitting Jongin and Sehun and all the other pledges with the kind of advanced mathematics that they don’t even teach in Korea. Jongin fights humbly, using logic and statistical thinking to advance through the rounds. Jongin’s always been the smarter of the two, the one with a real affinity for education, and Sehun feels his heart swell in joy as he shoots out answer after right answer like a true Asian nerd.
“Go Jongin!” he cheers from the side, sticking his tongue out when Jongdae turns around to scowl at him.
Jongin doesn't get all the questions right, but he gets the highest marks of all, so they’re allowed through to the next round, much to Jongdae’s displeasure.
“Don’t look so smug, pretty boy,” he says, eyeing Jongin warily. “There’s no way two twerps like you will ever pass the last round.”
Jongin dismisses Jongdae with a cheeky air-kiss and tugs Sehun into a one-armed hug. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” he laughs. Now that they're fully clothed and no longer being subject to questionable treatment, Sehun and Jongin are actually enjoying their time. Chanyeol's become their personal cheerleader, egging them on through round after round, and Baekhyun's given Jongin enough cheeky smiles during the last two hours for it to warrant the fact that he wants into Jongin's pants. It's too early to say, and Sehun still feels a little uneasy under Jongdae's evil scowls, but he thinks that being an E-X-O brother could turn out be a wonderful thing.
“I know right?" he says back playfully, "calling you pretty when someone like me is in the building? Blasphemy.” He dodges the punch that Jongin throws at him easily, laughing freely as he's pulled towards the next room. Luhan worms his way in between them, hooking an arm over both of their shoulders and grinning up at each of them in turn.
"I'll go easy on you since you're beautiful," he says to Jongin, eyes crinkling up on the sides as he blinks in a way too try-hard attempt at being cute. Jongin smiles back shyly, and Sehun rolls his eyes in disgust. "You though," Luhan suddenly says, and when Sehun turns his head, Luhan is actually pouting at him. "I won't be going easy on you, twink. You better bring your A-game, or your journey ends here."
Sehun is worried for all of 20.5 seconds, which is how long it takes for them to get to the next room and realise it's a dance challenge they'll be competing in. There are tables lined up against both sides of the room, a pole right in the centre, and Baekhyun's standing at the back holding a box full of black fabric.
"You have to choose two of three props, and dance using them to a song from Chanyeol's playlist," Luhan announces. "Oh and, since this is the final test, you have to compete solo. Everyone has to prove themselves, or be eliminated." There are only three pledges alongside Sehun and Jongin present, and Sehun fleetingly wonders what happened to all the other boys who had been with them in the beginning.
They're given back their clothes, assigned numbers, and called up accordingly. He's number 5, and Jongin's 4. The first boy to go up chooses to use one of the tables. He asks about the stuff Baekhyun's got, and Sehun notices how his Korean is a little accented, as if he's from somewhere else. The black stuff ends up being blindfolds, and in avoiding having to pole dance, all three of the pledges before them dance blindly and end up messing up.
"You're such a fail," Luhan hisses when pledge #3 bangs his knee on the table top in the midst of lifting his leg up to Sistar's Alone. The pledge drops to his knees at once, hissing profanities as he rips the fabric off his eyes and clenches his teeth. Sehun watches on as Baekhyun puts a bag over each of the failed pledges' heads, tying ropes around their robes linking them to one another. Another robed figure, one that Sehun's sure he hasn't seen before, tugs them out of the room. He gulps, half of his mind worried about their fates and the rest of it worrying about his own. He's sure that it's illegal to kill pledges, but the E-X-O guys seem to be into mild torture. Jongin's number is called up, and he pushes the thoughts at the back of his mind as he gets ready to watch his best friend dance.
To say Jongin is a good dancer would be the world's biggest understatement. Before working up the nerve to befriend him, Sehun had spent months watching the elder dance in the school's studio, mesmerised by the way he moved in a way that he couldn't even explain. They had been juniors back then, Sehun the coolest kid in his class and Jongin the mysterious one, the one who everyone secretly loved but pretended not to like because they would never be worth his time of day. It had been at a teacher's suggestion that he'd taken up dance classes too, and one question of "can you help me with his move?" had created a life-long bond of friendship that Sehun cherished with his entire heart. Jongin doesn't dance with his brain; he dances with his heart. He doesn't think about the moves, doesn't worry about his lines or his position or even the faces he's making, he just listens to the music and lets it take over.
Sehun isn't surprised when Jongin follows the trend and picks the table and the blindfold. Luhan seems angry, muttering about useless pledges and how he's doomed to be stuck with Jongdae forever. Sehun helps him push all the tables from the sides to the middle, moving the pole out of the way to make a 6 tables long by 2 tables wide stage in front of where Luhan, Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are all now seated.
"I'll do the entire dance on top of the tables, blindfolded. Is that okay?" Luhan is too taken-aback to answer, so Baekhyun gives him the go-ahead. Justin Timberlake's Lovestoned begins playing, the 7:24 long radio edit version. Chanyeol offers to change it, but Jongin's already begun to dance.
He performs through the entire song flawlessly, pulling moves from memory and making knew ones on the spot. Whenever he nears the edge, he instinctively takes a step back, as if he knows the area he's allowed to dance in so well that he can sense when he's reaching the boundaries. He's not really looking to impress the members that much, so he dances in the way he knows Sehun likes best, creating images with his body and allowing them to tell a story. Although, he's not sure exactly what story has this much hip-thrusting and body-rolling in it, but maybe Luhan's face will let him know once he finishes.
The interlude begins to play and he jumps down from the tabletops, spending a beat trying to find his place before he crawls underneath them. He moves his body along the floor, doing the move that Sehun says is basically him "having sex with the ground". With his sight inhibited, his other senses are on high alert, and he hears the sharp intakes of breath over the soft music as he slides back out and starts to touch himself. The version on Chanyeol's iPod cuts abruptly, ending before Jongin can run his hand over his crotch and drive them to real insanity, and he's almost disappointed when Jongdae announces that he can take off his blindfold.
Once he does, he's surprised to find the room enveloped in darkness. "What happened to the lights?"
"My fault," Baekhyun's voice calls out from a distance. "I wanted to add special effects to your performance since it was so good, so I was doing my light-tricks, but then the power gave out or something." Jongin laughs and picks his way back to Sehun's side, moving close enough so that he see how pleased his best friend looks.
"Was I good?" he asks with a smug smile. Sehun lands a playful punch on his chest.
"I don't know. I wasn't the one judging, remember? Let's ask Luhan-ssi."
Luhan splutters when he hears Sehun mention his name, and even more when Jongin turns to him with a smile. "Was I good, Luhan-ssi? Did I pass?" he asks. Luhan is thankful for the lack of light in the room when a deep blush spreads across his cheeks, and he nods, moving away to get some air and help Baekhyun fix the lights.
"You know, there's an old spotlight here that's powered by its own internal generator," Chanyeol suddenly says. He assumes he has everyone's attention since he can't actually see them, and proceeds to tell them all about the history of it, going into enough detail for them all to write a thesis.
"I don't care if it harvests it's energy from the moon, Chanyeol," Jongdae finally cuts in, "can you just tell us where it is and set it up or something?"
There's no verbal answer, but a few minutes later there's a light shining from somewhere above them, illuminating the centre of the room.
"Do you think the power's out everywhere else too?" Sehun asks, thinking about the other robed figures and the failed pledges he saw. Baekhyun shrugs, obviously only concerned with the fact that he has light, but Chanyeol comes back over assures him that everyone else will be fine.
"The rest of the rooms are above this one, and they all have windows and exits that lead straight out onto normal grounds. All they have to do is open them, and natural light can stream in." He puts an arm over Sehun's shoulder and squeezes in an awkward gesture of affection. "Look at you, so concerned about us. You're practically a brother already!" he coos.
"No, he isn't," Luhan interjects, "he still needs to pass this round, and then there's the final ritual at the joining ceremony tonight. Although that'll be a piece of cake for sure, I mean, just look at them."
Chanyeol nods in agreement. Sehun doesn't have the time to ask exactly what they mean by that because Jongdae announces that he's hungry so he wants to get on with it. Sehun is pushed up onto the makeshift stage and pressurised into choosing his props. Jongin looks worried, obviously concerned about Sehun having to dance without seeing. He's a pretty graceful mover, but, unlike Jongin, he relies on his sense of sight a lot, always watching to see if he's in the right position, gauging the reactions from the audience to see if he's doing a good job. This whole thing is about trying new things though, so he decides to be a little bolder, consequences be damned. He takes the blindfold that Jongin's still holding and shows it to Baekhyun as one of his choices.
"Ok well the tables are already in position, unless you want to use just the one, in whi--"
"I choose the pole as my second prop."
Surprisingly, Luhan is the one who moves all the tables out of the way and drags the pole back to position. "I can't wait to see you mess this up, flower boy," he says evilly, knocking into Sehun's shoulder as he makes his way back to everyone else. Chanyeol's iPod is still playing in the background, and Sehun prepares himself to start dancing once the next new song begins when Chanyeol admits that he has a special song in mind for him.
"I hope you don't mind, I just think that this song kind of suits you, and it should be fun to dance to."
He's standing, blindfolded, as a group of men and his best friend watch, about to perform a dance number in which he has to somehow incorporate a pole; no matter what song Chanyeol picks, he's sure it can't make the situation much worse than it is now. When Bubblegum Bitch starts playing though, he changes his mind.
The first beats of the song are spent awkwardly shuffling, the lyrics washing over him and causing a blush to spread over his face. He's not the best at English, but Wufan's taught him quite a bit, and he's familiar with the song because it's actually one of Wufan's favourites. The fact that Chanyeol knows it well too, even thinks that it suits him, makes him feel self-concious, the disability of not being able to watch his audience making him even more nervous. Luhan's obnoxious laughter carries over the music and Sehun's this close to forfeiting when someone starts clapping to the beat.
"Go on, Sehun, you can do it!" Jongin's voice sounds out, Chanyeol joining in with his own cheerleader-y shouts of encouragement, and soon it sounds like the whole room is filled with people clapping every two beats, spurring him on. The song splutters to an end but it begins replaying straight after, Chanyeol looping it to give him all the time he needs. He's ready this time, letting the music take over him as he begins moving. They want to see him dancing against a pole, he's sure of it, so he decides to give them what he wants.
He pulls the blindfold up over his eyes, not caring much for consequences as he loosen his hips up and moves them in beat to the music. He puts one hand halfway up the pole and moves his body against it, sinking down to his knees and using them to push himself up off the floor, grinding against the metal rod between his legs. The next chorus begins and he's up on his feet, running his hand through his hair and letting the other one trail down the front of his body. He was only wearing a thin t-shirt when he had been abducted, one that's loose and translucent and hangs off his thin frame, showing off the pretty skin of his chest. It rises up when he moves back to the pole and starts climbing it, legs clamped around it tightly as he uses his arms to pull himself upwards. He meets Jongin's gaze and his best friend is looking at him with awe-filled eyes, like he's a professional exotic dancer successfully wooing them instead of an inexperienced kid about to bust out some seriously amateur pole-dancing.
He goes on the videos he's seen, leaving his arms holding the pole and letting the rest of his body go free. He begins to twist himself, awkwardly at first but getting the hang of it surprisingly quickly. Before long he's suspended upside down, ankles locked around the pole as he spins around, a hand reaching out to steady himself when he feels himself slipping. His t-shirt has practically fallen off his body, legs bound in tight leather that protest the harsh movements. The song plays over and over, and Sehun forgets to listen out for the ending. He moves his body in whatever way feels right, contorting it into shapes he didn't know he could, pushing his flexibility to his limits as Marina's voice accompanies his moves.
Baekhyun is the one to finally put a stop to it, switching off the iPod and calling back Sehun over to them. Sehun hops off the pole and studies each of their faces in turn, pleased at the flush on Luhan's cheeks and the tight line of Jongdae's mouth - evidently, he'd been hoping that they couldn't dance. He feels kind of awkward at Chanyeol's wide grin though, even more so when he notices the questionable tented shape under Chanyeol's costume. Jongin fixes his top back into place and squeals as he pulls Sehun in for a tight hug. "We did it, Sehun! We're in, we're brothers!" Jongin's grin when he pulls back is so infectious that Sehun can't help but smile too (and maybe he's smiling a little out of his own excitement).
--
They're blindfolded, dragged outside (though gently this time), put onto a vehicle that smells decidedly nicer, and sent on their way with instructions to get cleaned up and dress smartly in time for a 7:30 pick up. Thirty minutes into their ride, someone pulls their blindfolds off, and Sehun notices he's in the back of a black Audi, with Jongin asleep next to him and Chanyeol in the driving seat. Sehun makes sure his best friend is comfortable before leaning forward and asking how much longer.
"Not too long, kiddo. The place we took you to is only 40, 45 minutes away from campus. On the way there, I took a huge detour just to freak you guys out a little. Sorry about that by the way, we just didn't want any wimps joining the frat. Can you believe 80% of them didn't even make it past the journey there?" His eyes are on the road, so he can't see the way Sehun's expression is darkening, finding no amusement in his words. "Two of the pledges puked on one another, so that whole car was eliminated. Joonmyun was in charge of them - he's one of the brothers, you'll meet him tonight - anyway, he had to drive them back, so he missed the whole initiation. You'll love him Sehun, he's great. And he has a thing for pretty boys, so you're in luck!"
Sehun drowns out the rest of Chanyeol's babbling, and a few minutes later Chanyeol's pulling up outside their dorm with a two-fingered salute. "I'll be back at half-seven, so please be ready, and make sure you both look dapper because the ceremony is some seriously fancy shit. Wear suits if you have them, come naked if you don't. Sayonara boys, till we meet again!" He drives off with a honk, and Sehun is left to drag Jongin inside to their room. He lifts Jongin up into his arms with great difficulty, planning on placing him down gently on the bed but accidentally dropping him instead. He pushes him up against the wall then slips in next to him, something he does whenever he's scared or homesick or just wants his best friend's affection, and nuzzles his cheek against Jongin's back.
"Up until today, it was just you and me," he says quietly. "And now we're gonna have a whole bunch of new brothers to care for. I hope the others are nice. Chanyeol's nice enough, and Baekhyun's pretty cool when he's not being an antisocial failure, but Jongdae's not the greatest is he? And Luhan. I don't want to be brothers with Luhan. He's weird and mean, and he totally fancies you, Jongin. We won't have to be friends with them though, I guess. We can get to know the others. It might be fun." Jongin stirs in his sleep, and Sehun trails a casual hand over his bare arm before shuffling closer. "I'm glad we're in this together, Jongin. I love you so much."
Five minutes later when Sehun is also on the brink of sleep, Jongin turns, landing half on top of Sehun before Sehun sleepily squirms out from beneath him. "You're such an oaf," Sehun mumbles, trying to get comfortable again. Jongin clamps his arm around his waist to stop him from moving. He places a gentle kiss onto Sehun's cheek and brushes his nose against the spot, moments after. "I love you too, dummy. Now let's get some real rest so we can look our sexiest for tonight." Even in the uncomfortable position, Sehun falls asleep content.
--
They wear the suits they wore to their high-school graduations, Sehun's a pale blue and Jongin's black.
"You look so much hotter than me," Sehun whines, fixing his borrowed-from-Jongin tie and trying to make himself look like less of a kid. "Why the hell did I ever insist on getting a blue suit? More importantly, why didn't you stop me?" Jongin laughs as he adjusts his own clothes, realigning his cuff-links before moving on to perfect his slicked-back hair.
"You look adorable, baby," he says teasingly, looking at Sehun's bleached-blonde hair before bursting into more laughter. "Even if you do make some questionable fashion choices."
Sehun looks livid the entire time between them getting ready and Chanyeol picking them up. Even in the back-seat of the car, he has a frown etched on his face, one that only deepens as both Jongin and Chanyeol ignore him in favour of conversing with one another.
"You should see it, Jongin. Well, you will, now actually, but anyway, it's wonderful. There's so much food and alcohol, awesome music and unlimited condoms. It takes all the best things about clubbing and leaves all the bad parts behind."
"So no one will be getting a hangover tomorrow? And everyone who bangs tonight will be happy with their decision once they wake up?"
"Ahh, not quite, those suckish things will forever be a part of life, I'm afraid," Chanyeol says with a grin. The sound of Jongin's laughter finally manages to break Sehun out of his mood.
"You're so dumb, Jongin," he says. Jongin just grins in response.
The ceremony ends up being everything Chanyeol said, though the lack of girls present is kind of a downer. He falls into the swing of things easily, bopping along to the music and conversing with the rest of the guests, all either E-X-O members, or members of the other fraternities within something called the SM group. Jongin becomes the object of affection for a clingy drunk boy by the name of Taemin, and Sehun steps in to play saviour when someone pulls him away.
"Sehun! It's you!" Baekhyun's standing in front of him, eyes alight with recognition like he's finally identifying Sehun as the kid he's always awkward around. "Oh my God, it really is you! I thought you looked familiar earlier, but my medication must have mixed in with all the alcohol because everything was a little blurry. Oh Sehun, my mom's friend's kid, damn you look good."
He stumbles forward, and Sehun has to catch him in his arms to keep him from falling. Jongin sends him the SOS signal from across the room, and he's sorely tempted to leave Baekhyun and go attend to his friend, only he doesn't really want any of this getting back to his mother. He shoots Jongin what he hopes is an apologetic look, then slowly lowers Baekhyun onto a chair, taking a seat beside him.
"How much did you drunk, Baek?" he asks. Baekhyun actually looks a little shocked at the question.
"Practically nothing. I stumbled because I'm clumsy, not because I'm drunk." Sehun looks relieved, already getting up to leave but Baekhyun puts hand on his, keeping him seated. "I can't believe that the Sehun I'd been crushing on for so long is going to be a frat member by the end of tonight. Fate has a funny way of working, don't you think?"
Sehun nods absently, until the words actually sink in. "You what? The Sehun you what?"
Baekhyun laughs, thumb rubbing over the skin on the back of Sehun's hand. "I had a massive crush on you, Sehun. Why do you think I could never look you in the eye when we were left alone together? Because I wanted you to pound me into the wall, that's why. It was a dumb way of going about it, but I figured that if I acted unapproachable, you wouldn't feel bad about not befriending me, and it wouldn't lead to me forcefully sitting on your dick or something."
Sehun's jaw metaphorically drops as Baekhyun goes on about the apparent lust he's felt ever since he saw Sehun and began to wonder what his milky skin would taste like. Sehun draws the line when Baekhyun asks to cop of a feel of his dick, muttering something about Jongin needing him (which is true - Taemin has him in a headlock, and Jongin's back is bending in a most unnatural way to accommodate for the height difference) before hastily getting up.
"That's cool, I'll just do it later then," Baekhyun says good-naturedly, getting up to leave with a wink. Sehun pulls Jongin away from Taemin with an excuse about clothing malfunctions, and Taemin seems happy enough to let Jongin go, but not before slapping his butt.
They look for a private place to talk and manage to find a disabled toilet cubicle, slipping inside and locking it. The music still seeps in past the walls, but it's a lot quieter here, low enough for them to talk and loud enough for it to cover their voices in the case of any eavesdroppers.
"You'll never guess what Baekhyun told me," Sehun screeches at the same time that Jongin says "Taemin tried to suck me off." After a few seconds of wordlessly blinking at each other, Sehun decides that Jongin should go first.
"He said he thought I was really hot, so I told him he was attractive too, at which point he hugged me, so I hugged him back, and the next thing I know he's on his knees, head near my crotch and he didn't even ask before pulling my zip down and sticking his fingers inside."
"Ew, didn't you stop him?!" Sehun shrieks. Jongin looks bewildered that he would even need to ask.
"Of course I did! I pulled him back on his feet and told him he was really drunk, that I'd help him find his friends. That's when he put me in a headlock and told me how I was 'so innocent' and he couldn't wait to 'corrupt' me. Something was seriously up with that kid." Jongin looks repulsed as he moves over to the sink and washes his hands over and over. "He assumed I was gay without even asking me."
Sehun chews his lip thoughtfully. "Baek did the same thing," he says. Jongin raises a curious brow so he runs through the events, telling him how he knows Baekhyun through his mother, how he was always awkward around him, but tonight he was more straight-forward than Sehun's ever seen. "He basically told me he wanted me to fuck him." He recalls how in-depth Baekhyun had been in his descriptions, as if it was something he thought about a lot, and a shiver works it way up his spine at the thought of him being a part of Baekhyun's dirty fantasies.
"What do we do?" he asks.
Jongin splashes water onto his face and takes a deep breath, meeting Sehun's eyes through the mirror. "We go outside, tell Baekhyun neither of us are gay, clear up any misunderstandings with Taemin too, then we get initiated and join the brotherhood. Sound good?" Sehun nods. They've got this in the bag. Once Baekhyun finds out he's straight, he'll go back to normal, Taemin will stop hitting on Jongin, and everything will be fine.
They leave the bathroom together to the knowing looks of Luhan and Jongdae, and before they can even begin to explain themselves, they're ushered up onto the stage, where Baekhyun and Chanyeol are standing holding two robes identical to the ones the members were all wearing earlier: official E-X-O robes.
"Please welcome our two successful pledges and the two newest additions to the E-X-O brotherhood, Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin," Chanyeol says with a bright smile. He turns to them and gestures for the two to join him, which they do, albeit hesitantly. Baekhyun positions them so that they're stood facing each other, around half a metre in between the tops of their shoes, while dozens of excited eyes watch them.
"Before we present you the official robes of our people, you must show that you will a worthy member of our fraternity, one who puts his brothers' needs before himself. To demonstrate this, I now request that the two of you kiss."
Sehun's eyes widen, head whipping around to Chanyeol's direction so fast he almost falls of the stage. Baekhyun reaches out to steady him, but Sehun recoils, memories of their earlier conversation coming back to haunt him. "You're all gay!" he yells accusingly. "You're not a fraternity, you're a gayternity, and you want to make me and Jongin your gay brothers so you can have gay sex with us!"
No one says anything, apparently happy to hear Sehun slur them off, his every sentence punctuated with at least six uses of the word gay. Jongin stands frozen in his spot, brain not working fast enough to comprehend what's happening. Luhan finally gets bored of all the drama and picks a flailing Sehun up off the floor, taking him behind the curtains and forcing him down into a chair.
"So we're a gay fraternity, and we were willing to accept you into our rankings. I don't see what the big deal is; you two are the ones who wanted to join."
"We wanted to join a fraternity, not a gay one!" Sehun yells back, offended that the entire time, he's been mistaken as a homosexual, while being in the company of other homosexuals who may or may not have been viewing him as a sexual prospect from the moment they saw him. It explains why Chanyeol wanted him to dance to such an odd song, the fucking erection he got because of it; Baekhyun finally getting the guts to tell him how he felt; Taemin assuming Jongin was gay. He's almost annoyed at himself for not realising sooner; all the signs had been there from the start.
"Then you should have. Why did you choose one under the SM listing?"
"SM..." Sehun repeats dumbly. Luhan's talking to him in a soft tone while he's yelling at the guy, something he's unused to. He tries to reprocess the situation in his mind, figure out where he and Jongin went so wrong that they ended up trying to join a gay frat. "What's the SM listing?" he finally asks.
"There are different listings for different frat types. SM stands for sex: male and it's basically meant to be a play on words, you know, because we're of the male sex, but we also want sex with males. So basically gay people. Which, as you announced earlier, we all are. It's clearly marked on the fraternities page that it's a gay frat, heck, even our pledge wristbands are pink, and that didn't give you a clue?"
"Jongin found the fraternity for us," Sehun whispers. Luhan pats his shoulder comfortingly.
"Either Jongin made a mistake, or there's something he's not telling you. There's something to be said about a kid who joins a gay frat with his straight best friend."
--
Jongin finally finally gets over his shock, and the first thing he does is push Luhan over and grab Sehun's hand.
"Let's get out of here, Sehun-ah," he says, pulling him up and off the stage. He moves through the room angrily, breaking into a run as he tries to locate the quickest route out of there. The rest of the guests move out of his way hastily, no one brave enough to tease the pair when Jongin's face screams of murderous intent.
"Slow down a little, Jongin," Sehun whines, and Jongin relents by switching to a brisk walk instead. Only once they're outside does he let go of Sehun's hand, running his fingers through his hair and swearing repeatedly. Sehun wants to stop him, maybe hug him, but he doesn't want to make things awkward, not when five minutes ago they were stood in front of each other being told to kiss.
"It's alright," he says instead, "no harm done. You made an honest mistake, anyone could have done it."
Jongin turns to him with vicious eyes. "Mistake? You think this was a mistake? This was no mistake, Sehun, it was planned."
Sehun tries to keep his actions discreet but ends up blurting out, "fuck, you're really gay?", much to Jongin's chagrin.
"What? No. What the fuck, Sehun? No, this was just Wufan's idea for a funny joke, that bastard. When we get back, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind. We could have been raped or something! Seriously, that old man needs to rethink his humour--"
"Wait," Sehun cuts him off, "Wufan hyung? What does he have to do with this?"
"Who do you think was the one who told me about this place? Wufan emailed me the link when I couldn't find a suitable frat myself, told me to take credit if you asked 'cause it would make me look cool. This fucker, really--"
"You're not gay then?"
Jongin gives Sehun a long, hard look. "No, Oh Sehun, I am not."
Sehun jumps onto Jongin and squeezes the absolute shit out of his best friend. "Well, thank fuck." Jongin pushes him off with an eye-roll, but a second later he links their arms together.
"I am as straight as Chanyeol's dick was when he was watching you dance," he continues, starting the walk back home since they no longer have a ride "Fuck, I should have realised something was wrong then. I just thought he was imagining you as a girl. 'Got a figure like a pin-up, got a figure like a doll~'"
Sehun pinches him to make him shut up, but later on he joins in too, singing the words at the top of his lungs while he and Jongin run around under the blanket fort they never had the heart to get rid of.
--
un-proofread ending.
omg i have such a thing for bff sekai i can't even explain it but it makes me so happy idk??