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[neobonezone-blog]

on friendship, boatraces, and beer pong | 01. in which jisung learns the consequences of being a sloppy drunk

masterlist.

D-5 to the first day of class: 9:45PM

It had technically been less than three days since Jisung first set foot on Canadian soil. Only 72 hours since he’d waved one last good-bye to his teary-eyed parents and boarded a plane bound for North America. Since then, he had moved into his student dorm, bought toiletries from the nearest pharmacy, briefly introduced himself to the other students living in his dorm hall, and signed up for various student orientation activities. 

A mixture of jet lag and nerves made it so that he hadn’t slept for more than 4 hours at a time in the past few days. Jisung had decided to take it easy, slowly acclimate himself to the new Canadian climate, and maybe make a few transient friends throughout student orientation.

So then, why was he holding a solo cup of beer? And why was he watching someone down the remnants of a forty of Jack Daniel’s with reckless abandon?

“-And that’s how it’s done. This is why Johnny’s gonna recruit me for his Winter Games team and he’s gonna shaft the rest of you losers.”

A second-year with tanned skin and tousled caramel-colored hair slammed the empty bottle down onto a granite countertop with much more force than necessary. A disgruntled figure with bleached hair shouted from across the room,

“Fuck off, Donghyuck. You think that just because you’re friends with the guys at Campus Bar that you’re automatically better than us.”

“That’s because I am better than you,” Donghyuck countered, before fishing a ping poll ball out of his fanny pack. “Alright, so who wants to be on my team for beer pong?”

After signing up for the student Welcome Week, Jisung had received a bracelet and an email telling him that he belonged to Welcome Week Team #12 and that he was to report to campus grounds bright and early at 11AM the following morning to meet his team and his leaders. The proceeding events were not what he had expected when he signed up for Welcome Week only 24 hours prior: in one afternoon he had been ushered into over half a dozen bars, learned about 10 different ways to make a game out of a ball and a plastic cup, and discovered that day-drinking “isn’t an activity, it’s a lifestyle”. He was also informed at the end of the tour that a pregame party was taking place in two hours and that the whole team better be there.  

Fast-forward to now, where Jisung was currently watching two of his team leaders face off in a game of beer pong. A game that Donghyuck was severely winning.

“Oh, come on!”

Another well-aimed throw sent Donghyuck’s ball perfectly into the center of the solo cup formation. His opponent, a leader who had introduced himself as Chenle, swore as he furiously gulped down the sunken cup before throwing it to the floor.

“Okay Lele, this one’s all you. You better make this next ball in or I’m gonna lose it.” Jisung recognized the sharp voice to come from Renjun, the shortest of the five leaders, whose brown hair was coiffed a few inches to match the other leaders in height.

“At least put the cups in the recycling bin,” a student with well-styled dark hair scurried across the room to pick up Chenle’s discarded cup. He tossed it into the recycling bin with an annoyed scowl. “My apartment isn’t a garbage bin, thanks.”

That was Jeno. The leader whose apartment had been the designated location for all the pregame parties. He was roommates with Jaemin, the last orientation leader, who was seated on the couch with a can of PBR in hand. A few first year girls sat next to him on the couch, eagerly asking him questions about the Economics program, though the look in their eyes suggested that they wanted to ask much more. Well, Jisung had to admit that the guy was good-looking. He struggled to think of anyone who could pull off that shade of ash blonde nearly as well.  

“So Chenle’s the loser, just like he always is.” Donghyuck’s voice rang out the loudest from the constant hum of voices that filled Jaemin and Jeno’s apartment. Chenle’s furious protests were a close second, however, as the Chinese student swore for the thousandth time and immediately demanded a rematch with a different partner.

“Good luck without me buddy, you can’t aim for shit!”

Jisung turned in surprise to find Renjun next to him by the beer cooler, propping the lid open with his foot. He turned to Jisung with a mocking smile.

“I’ve never seen that guy win a game of beer pong once. He keeps trying, but at this point I think he should just give up.”

Jisung laughed half-heartedly, though his head was still ringing from all of the yelling and the music that was pounding tirelessly from Donghyuck’s speaker.

“Uh so anyway, you want some more beer?”

* * * * * *

12:07AM

After a full day with his orientation group, Jisung began to wonder just how seriously he’d misinterpreted the phrase “welcome week”. He had expected freshman orientation to be a simple walk around campus and a casual introduction to the city. Maybe a few pointers here and there on which cafes had the best coffee and which bars had the best deals, all finished with a friendly exchange of phone numbers and Facebook pages. But after three metro stops and another can of cheap beer, Jisung found himself in the middle of a concert floor packed with intoxicated first years and their equally as intoxicated orientation leaders. He had lost sight of Donghyuck as soon as he’d entered the venue, while Renjun and Chenle seemed to have disappeared just as quickly. He couldn’t remember if he’d even seen Jaemin or Jeno once they’d left the pre. Even if they were here now, he definitely wouldn’t be able to distinguish them among the mass of dancing bodies and pulsating strobe lights.

As EDM pounded in his eardrums, Jisung found himself caught up in the whiplash of events. Despite trying his best to fit in with the crowd, he felt himself being bumped into at all angles. A disorienting experience for what was supposed to be part of student orientation. Though, if there was anything that Jisung knew for sure, it was that he was way too sober for this event and that needed to change.  

After weaving his way through the crowd and stepping on a few toes and crushed beer cans, Jisung made it to the bar. Just like the concert floor, it was packed, with dozens of students waving their credit cards in attempt to catch the attention of any one of the three bartenders, who were already juggling multiple orders at once. Jisung fumbled around helplessly as he looked for a bartender who was available to take his order.

Finally, a young woman with a high ponytail met him at the counter. She flashed him a strained smile and leaned in for his order.

“HOW MUCH?” Jisung screamed, doing his best to point at the cooler of beers behind the counter.

Her brow furrowed, as she leaned in closer.

“HOW MUCH?” Jisung repeated fruitlessly. He couldn’t even hear his own voice above all the noise.

Before he could repeat himself a third time, something light bounced off of his back and onto the floor. Cool moisture seeped into his t-shirt and dripped all the way down to the back of his shoes.

Jisung immediately whipped around to catch the culprit, but could only see the same indistinguishable crowd of dancing silhouettes in the darkness. When he turned back around, the bartender had already left and was taking the order of another university student a couple meters away. It was past midnight and he was stone cold sober. The only alcohol he had on him was whatever was soaked into his shirt. Maybe this was a sign that it was just time to give up.

He made a dejected beeline straight for the exit and found himself sitting on the curb by the venue’s entrance, rapidly checking his Google Maps for directions. His eyelids drooped. The night air was making him sleepy.

It was then that he heard a shrill yell followed by the heavy thud of bodies on concrete.

A familiar mop of bleached hair lay next to him on the pavement accompanied by a furious Renjun, who was saying every curse word known to man in one continuous intoxicated slur.

Chenle was face down on the sidewalk, the ruffled state of his clothing evidence of a hard fall.

“Is he okay?” Jisung asked, concerned that it had been a good ten seconds and Chenle still hadn’t moved.

Renjun ignored him. In an obvious state of distress, he attempted to sling Chenle over his shoulders, but being fairly drunk himself, only succeeded in dropping the poor kid onto the pavement another two or three times.

The scene before him was so pathetic that Jisung felt compelled to intervene, if only for his own conscience. He was practically sweating from the second-hand embarrassment and he prayed that everyone nearby was too wrapped in their own drunken stupor to notice what was going on. Wordlessly, he draped one of Chenle’s arms across his shoulders, before forcing himself (and the attached body) to his feet.

“We’re sooo fucked,” Renjun groaned, his eyes wide with panic. “If Committee sees us right now, we’re fucked.”

“Mmm… Where’s Jeno?” Chenle mumbled. 

“Let’s drag him to an alley somewhere and leave him.”

That sounded like a horrible idea, but Jisung followed Renjun’s lead, as the smaller male attempted to drag Chenle’s body across the street. With every step, Jisung felt his knees shake. Was Chenle really that heavy or was he just really weak? It felt like he was holding a bag of rocks. 

“Oh shi-“

With an accidental slip of the arm, Chenle was once again sprawled out onto the curb. His legs stuck out onto the street.

“Fuuuck,” Chenle moaned, loud enough to earn a few concerned glances from those passing by.

“This isn’t going to work,” Jisung panted, as he helped Renjun pull the second half of Chenle’s body onto the sidewalk.

“What am I gonna do?” Renjun turned to Jisung, hysteria edged in his voice, “I can’t take him back to our place. If the doorman sees Chenle like this he’s gonna report us to the landlord for sure- and our landlord already threatened to kick us out twice.”

Renjun’s eyes were pleading.

“You guys can stay at my place, I guess.”

Jisung hadn’t even meant for that to come out, but Renjun looked so miserable that he hadn’t been able to stop himself. Before he even had the chance to back up on his offer, Renjun grabbed his hand.

“Really? You’d do that for me? You’re the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

“Ah, er, I mean… I only have one bed- and I live in a dorm, but-“

“Jisung, you’re the best! Which dorm do you live in?”  

“Briar Hill…”

“Great, I’ll call the Uber. Jisung, you’ve just saved my life.”

* * * * * *

2:50AM

“These fries are pretty good.”

Jisung could only nod in agreement as he tucked into a fried chicken sandwich with difficulty. It was hard to fit in a sandwich when his mouth was already crammed full of fries. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. The banquet spread of takeout fast food in front of him was the only thing that had stopped Jisung from deciding to kick Renjun and Chenle out. The day’s events left him exhausted, and for the first time since he’d left Korea, he actually wanted to sleep. Unfortunately, Chenle didn’t look like he was getting up anytime soon.

“So… Where are you from?” Renjun asked, casually throwing a fry into his mouth, as if his roommate wasn’t practically on death’s doorstep right behind him.

“Korea,” Jisung answered shortly, stuffing some more fries in between the bun of his sandwich.

“Seriously? I should introduce you to the others, then. They’re Korean too! You think this school is racist or something? Like, putting all of the Asians on the same teams? I dunno, that’s kinda weird right? Anyway, I’m from China, but I’m Korean too… ethnically. I think my mom told me that we have distant relatives in North Korea, isn’t that crazy?”

“Mm-hmm,” Jisung mumbled. He wanted to be interested, but his eyelids felt like they were made of lead.

“So like, back in China, I went to an international school and all that, but I was so sick of spending my whole life in one place. I really wanted to go to university somewhere else, somewhere foreign, you know? I had to beg my parents to let me even apply here, had to promise them I’d graduate with straight-A’s and everything, intern at the company they wanted me to intern at for the summer, y’know? But as soon as I got here, I was free. It’s been great. Now I play games for as long as I want and my parents can’t even come here to stop me. They don’t have a clue what I’m doing here and even if they did, what are they gonna do? Well, I guess they could stop sending my tuition…”

Jisung hadn’t kept track of how long Renjun had been talking, but it was sometime between 3 and 4AM when Renjun had managed to convince a friend to come pick him and Chenle up. Jisung waved them good-bye, but was much too tired to bother walking them out to the street. He stayed in his room and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he shut the door behind him.

Just like that, they were gone.

Jisung flopped onto his bed without even bothering to lift up the covers. Thanks to Chenle, his sheets were infused with the faint smell of tequila. His eyes wandered to the crumpled paper bags and fast food wrappers that littered his floor, as well as to the soiled t-shirt that he tossed into his laundry bin as soon as he’d stepped foot into his room. He hadn’t even bothered to change out of his jeans, but at the moment he was too exhausted to care.

His first day of student orientation and all he’d gotten was tequila on his clothes, a free meal, and bedsheets that smelled like the back of a bar. He’d barely drank, but his ears were still pounding from the music they had been playing at the venue. As he began to feel himself dozing off, he could hear his cellphone vibrating next to the discarded pile of wrappers on his floor.

It was a message from Renjun:

Hey Jisung

Thanks for letting us crash at your place for a few hours

I owe you big time :p

- Your handsome orientation leader, Renjun

* * * * * *

a/n: and that’s the first chapter, i hope you like it! 

a disclaimer moving forward- sorry if i get some of their personalities wrong, as there are some NCT members whose personalities i am less familiar with than others (but i’m working on learning more!). wayv members and nct127 members will also feature in the story in the coming chapters, but i don’t want to introduce everyone all at once. 

[neobonezone-blog]

on friendship, boat races, and beer pong | masterlist

summary: when jisung's parents decide to ship him off to north america for university, he agrees if only it means that he gets to put off his mandatory military service for four years. he plans the next four years to be quiet, but busy, as he studies for his double major and maybe goes out on the weekends for the occasional drink. what he doesn't know is that he's going to meet 20 rowdy upperclassmen, each dysfunctional in their own way, who are about to drag him to drinking events, parties, and the types of shenanigans that can only happen when 21 college-aged boys are let loose without adult supervision. on the way, he learns a thing or two about friendship, living on your own, and knowing how to chug a beer in three seconds. (ot21)

genre: nctcollege!au

introduction/character page (still in progress!) 01. in which jisung learns the consequences of being a sloppy drunk (feat. nct dream)

disclaimer: everything i write about in this story is purely a joke. my depiction of nct in this story is not a reflection of what i think they’re like in real life- it’s all just for fun! college kids are dumb and i like to make fun of that.