If there was anything that Kim Jongdae most wished to clarify when the first issue of The Monarch Times was printed and distributed at the beginning of the school year, it was that Byun Baekhyun was a piss poor photographer. Oh, and that he was most definitely not kissing Zhang Yixing in that photograph on the front page.

He was just glad that no one else could tell who it was. Most students, the ones who bought a copy at least, believed that it was photoshopped, which was not surprising. It did, in all honesty, look like a bad photoshopping job and if maybe Baekhyun learned to use his overpriced, hi-tech camera properly it may have been a decent quality photograph. Jongdae was in luck. But no less annoyed.

His luck, however, quickly ran out when one freshman pointed out that the haircut of the student pushed against the lockers looked much like the new student’s. It didn’t help when people started agreeing with him. Jongdae wished that the freshman had never opened his mouth.

So, now, people were talking.

All about how the new student was caught making out in the locker room with what looked like a junior student, one particularly named Zhang Yixing.

✐✐✐

“Baekhyun,” Junmyeon groaned, his heart palpitating hard in his chest, “What have we done? Jongdae is going to kill me…”

“That freshman had a better eye than I anticipated.” Baekhyun sighed.

“Oh stop acting like you took that photograph in that manner on purpose,” Chanyeol said annoyed, “Everyone knows you just at taking photos.”

“Shut up, Yeol.”

“No, you shut up!”

“Both of you shut up,” Minseok growled in annoyance, “This still hasn’t solved any of our problems! For example, we don’t have our sixth member and the club’s papers are due tomorrow afternoon! We are doomed.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Baekhyun sighed and played with his hair.

“You’re one to talk,” Chanyeol hummed.

Yixing hadn’t said a word the entire meeting and that had Junmyeon more nervous than ever before. He kept glancing at the student, but his eyes were downcast, more interested in some game on his phone. This only miffed Junmyeon further. Since when was Yixing okay with soiling his reputation for some headliner anyway? Junmyeon seethed at the thought of his co-editor pushing Jongdae up against the lockers.

“All of you need to calm down,” Yixing spoke for the first time all day and it was slightly off-putting to everyone how collected he sounded, “Jongdae is going to burst into the room at any moment now.”

Before Junmyeon could ask how Yixing could possibly know this, the door opened with a loud smack of the metal handle against the brick wall. Jongdae was in the doorway and he looked positively angry.

“What the Hell is this, Junmyeon?!” He exclaimed, slamming the newspaper onto the table, “I’m not even here four days and everyone thinks I’ve pulled poor Yixing here into a kiss!”

Yixing smirked as he faced the student, “I slipped at the wrong moment, I guess.”

“Slipped?” Junmyeon asked surprised, “You two aren’t kissing in this photograph?”

Yixing shook his head and Junmyeon let out a clear sigh of relief.

“That doesn’t stop everyone in the school from thinking so!” Jongdae yelled. He was fuming now, “Junmyeon, I demand that you fix this!”

Junmyeon blinked several times before a lightbulb went off in his head. So this was what Yixing had been plotting. He shivered at the thought of ever crossing to his fellow student’s bad side.

“Hold on just a moment,” Yixing grinned cheekily, “We can fix this, easily, with a recall of the newspaper. We’ve done it before. Everyone will dismiss the print as an accident and we can all go on our merry ways.”

Jongdae let out a breath that he’d been holding in for a long time, he felt alleviated, “Thank y-”

“However,”

“However?” An unsettling feeling bubbled in the pit of Jongdae’s stomach.

“However, this will come at a cost. You’re taking away our first issue of the school year, Kim Jongdae.”

“But that’s-”

“The thing is, we worked hard on setting up that story.”

“Set up?!” Junmyeon gasped and nearly toppled over, except Minseok grabbed onto him from behind to help steady him on his feet.

“Slipping on that puddle really was an accident, but that photograph wasn’t,” Yixing sighed, “You see, our newspaper is going down. We’re desperate. We need a sixth member or they’ll shut us down for good and we don’t want that. Poor Minseok needs these hours to graduate and we’re all so close to being done with completing our own hours. And this paper means more to Junmyeon than you’ll ever be able to understand. What I’m saying is, Jongdae, we will recall the newspaper and print out our apology letter if you join the team.”

“Excuse me?” Jongdae blinked in disbelief.

“Yixing, what have you done?” Junmyeon groaned.

Yixing paid him no mind, “What will it be, Jongdae?”

Jongdae pouted, “Junmyeon-hyung, why are you doing this to me?”

“Jongdae, it wasn’t my idea, I swear!” Junmyeon panicked.

“Time’s wasting, Jongdae.” Yixing sing-songed.

“I,” Jongdae frowned and furrowed his eyebrows, “Fine. I’ll do it. Just take down those ridiculous newspapers and tell everyone the truth!”

There was a pause in the air as Jongdae huffed. Chanyeol and Baekhyun watched in awe, gawking at the devious smile on the co-editor's face. Yixing suddenly rose from his chair and bowed deeply before the younger, his features softening into a childlike appearance. He looked overly apologetic and remorseful. Jongdae gaped at the sight of Yixing’s head nearly sweeping against the floor.

“Please forgive me, Jongdae,” the student whispered, “My loyalty to this paper runs deep and I couldn’t stand the thought of losing it. Please, please forgive me.”

Jongdae was stunned and frankly, so was everyone else, “I… Yixing, it’s alright, I guess. I understand, but next time could you just maybe…” he sighed in irritation, “Explain your situation and then ask? I would’ve said yes eventually...”

Yixing raised his head and looked at Jongdae with wide eyes, his face reddening, “R-Really?” He stuttered.

“Really.”

“Oh,” Yixing stood straight and chuckled, but the look on his face said he was ashamed.

“At least I know how passionate you all are.” Jongdae muttered before running his fingers through his hair. Choir or musical theatre could wait. Right now, as much as he would regret to admit, these five students needed him more and he was willing to do whatever it took to help them. Even if he resented some of them.

✐✐✐

Mr. Lee was sitting at his desk, a copy of The Monarch TImes in his hands. He frowned at the photograph on the front page. This was the kind of gossip he expected from the social media club, not the respectable newspaper. He was disappointed in the headliner especially. He folded up the paper and set it aside as the door opened, Junmyeon and Yixing standing at the entrance to his office.

“Come in,” Mr. Lee said, gesturing to the chairs ahead of him.

Junmyeon and Yixing both took a seat. The two of them could barely make any eye contact in front of the director’s intense gaze.

“I must say that I am quite surprised you would stoop so low as to publish something like this, Kim Junmyeon,” Mr. Lee frowned, “What would your Father say if he saw this?”

Junmyeon shifted uncomfortably, “Sir, I-”

“It’s my fault.” Yixing interrupted, “I set this up so we could try and sell more copies. I thought that if we had photographic ‘proof’ of a gossip-worthy it would be different. But I was wrong. And I apologize. Please don’t take it out on the rest of the team. This was my doing.”

Mr. Lee inhaled a deep breath and exhaled very slowly, thoughts tumbling about his mind of how to punish the two, “You’ll have to do a recall on the issue, of course. And a formal apology will need to be written for the fabrication of false news.”

Yixing nodded, “Of course, Sir.”

“I was really hoping this copy wouldn’t be your last, but-”

“It’s not, Sir!” Junmyeon gasped, “I- We- We have all the names we need. We have six members, Sir.” he quickly fished the papers from his backpack and placed them neatly on the director’s desk.

Mr. Lee glanced at them and flipped to page three where a compilation of six names were signed and dated at the bottom of the agreement.

Kim Junmyeon - Editor in Chief
Zhang Yixing - Co-Editor
Kim Minseok - Layout & Graphic Design
Byun Baekhyun - Photographer
Park Chanyeol - Reporter
Kim Jongdae - Reporter

A small smile curved onto the director’s lips, “It looks like this won’t be your last issue after all. However, if you pull a stunt like this one more time,” he tapped the headliner laid to the side of his desk, “You can forget about publishing another issue ever again.”

Junmyeon and Yixing bowed their heads, “Thank you, Sir.” they said in unison.

✐✐✐

The issue was recalled on Monday morning, students who had purchased the paper reluctantly gave up their copies in exchange for the supplement. There was a brief apology for the confusion and a small interview between reporter Park Chanyeol and two students Kim Jongdae and Zhang Yixing who had been caught in the scandal. Most of the papers went unnoticed and, in fact, no one seemed to care. The rumors died down and Jongdae was able to move on with his life.

Chanyeol plopped himself beneath a giant oak tree, Baekhyun followed his lead and flopped back into the shade. Jongdae sat carefully in front of them and glanced down at his lunch. Chanyeol was ripping the plastic wrapper of a cafeteria bought pizza pocket with his teeth and Baekhyun was some sort of grape juice through a straw as they leaned back. Jongdae had a homemade sandwich. He sighed, taking a small nibble of the crust.

Baekhyun scrunched up his nose, “How can you eat that?” he mumbled around the straw.

“What?” Jongdae asked after swallowing hard, “It’s still food.”

“Crust is disgusting.” Baekhyun noted.

Chanyeol laughed, “He’s still the pickiest eater I know.”

“Says the guy who won’t even eat spicy foods.” Baekhyun shot back.

Jongdae laughed at their bickering when he heard someone calling out to him. He turned his eyes just in time to see a figure silhouetted by the blaring sunshine running towards the trio. He knew who it was without seeing his face, though.

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon clutched his sides and gasped for air, “I packed an extra aloe water for you this morning,” he said handing the small green bottle to the younger, “You said they didn’t have a lot of it back in Canada, so I thought I’d bring you some.” he was wheezing.

Jongdae chuckled, “Thanks, hyung.”

“Anytime,” he grinned in response, ruffling Jongdae’s hair gently before looking at the other two, “Newspaper meeting tomorrow afternoon. Don’t forget.” he said before jogging away.

Chanyeol sighed, “I wish he’d dote on me like that.”

Baekhyun snorted, “What’s wrong with the way I dote on you?”

“I wouldn’t call it doting - OW!” Chanyeol howled as Baekhyun pinched his ear.

Jongdae chuckled, “Junmyeon just cares a lot, that’s all.”

“For you especially,” Baekhyun said wriggling his eyebrows.

“Ew, gross.” Jongdae muttered twisting his face into disgust, “That’s gross.”

“What? Don’t you two have a thing?” Baekhyun asked on his juicebox again, even though it was empty and all this succeeded in was making those annoying slurping noises.

Jongdae shuddered, “Don’t be gross. Junmyeon is my cousin.”

Baekhyun would have choked on his drink had there been any left to choke on, “What?!”

“Yeah,” Jongdae said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“That would explain why you two are so close!” Chanyeol shouted, “And here I thought he was your boyfriend all this time!”

“Oh God, no,” Jongdae rolled his eyes, “You two are awful.”

“No, but seriously, I thought he was jealous when he saw that photo of you and Yixing. He protested putting it into the newspaper to no end until Yixing finally calmed him down enough to do it anyway. I figured it was because he had the hots for you or something.” Baekhyun said pulling at his tie.

“I hope not! I'm like the little brother he never had,” Jongdae shrugged, “The two of us have always been close. Best friends even.”

“I wonder if he was jealous because it was Yixing.” Chanyeol thought aloud.

Baekhyun and Jongdae blinked at each other before turning their eyes to Chanyeol. For the first time, it seemed like the gears in Chanyeol’s head were working. Albeit a bit squeaky and in need of oil, they were turning. It seemed all too obvious now.

Was it at all possible that Zhang Yixing and Kim Junmyeon like liked each other?

✐✐✐

“Now that our first issue has been scrapped entirely, it’s time to set our eyes on the next issue. I need ideas. Give me anything you’ve got.” Junmyeon began the meeting rather quickly, ignoring the fact that one of his team members wasn’t even in the room.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Jongdae?” Chanyeol asked.

“He said he would be late,” Junmyeon said turning his eyes to the chalkboard and taking his time writing ‘Issue #2’  in big letters at the top, or at least as high as he could reach anyway.

“I think Minseok should give a hand in writing. His idea about extracurricular activity hours and the lack of club spaces available could be a great article to include. It would really appeal to the seniors and maybe a few of us juniors.” Yixing said with a smile in Minseok’s general direction.

Minseok shook his head, “I’m not good at writing captivating articles.”

“Neither is Chanyeol, and yet here we are.” Baekhyun snorted and then ducked as Chanyeol’s pencil flew over his head.

“It’s fine,” Junmyeon smiled, “We’ll edit it. We just need you to give us the scoop. What’s it like to require these hours when you’re so busy with university entrance exams? I’m sure there’s a lot of points you could cover.”

“I guess I could try…” Minseok shrugged.

“The Autumn Festival is coming up soon, so we could do a spread on that,” Baekhyun suggested, “I can attend all of the events and take photographs.”

“Only if you promise to learn how to use that camera of yours,” Junmyeon sighed scribbling notes on the board, “But that’s a very good idea, Baek.”

As the discussion lead further, the door creaked open and Jongdae ducked in silently. He took a seat next to Chanyeol quickly and smiled at Minseok who was sitting across from him.

“Nice of you to join us,” Junmyeon chuckled.

“Sorry I’m so late,” Jongdae laughed awkwardly, “What have I missed?”

“Nothing too much,” Chanyeol said clasping a hand on Jongdae’s back, “Just discussing roles for the upcoming issue.”

“Speaking of,” Junmyeon said looking at Yixing, “I’d like for you to take Jongdae under your wing and show him the ropes of the newspaper, alright?”

Baekhyun looked at their editor in chief like he was insane, “Are you sure that’s a-”

“Won’t be a problem, will it?” Junmyeon’s smile was so overbearing that both Yixing and Jongdae could only shake their heads.

“Good, I’m glad. From now on, you two will work together as partners. You can take any interesting stories that arise in the next month. You’ll be working together as reporters so do your best to bring a good story and an even better headliner, okay?”

Jongdae and Yixing exchanged uncomfortable looks, but nodded anyway. They both had a feeling that the next month would be an interesting one.

Well here it is ^^; I apologize for this being so poorly written, I'm not even sure where I want this fic to go yet... Still trying to figure that out! Ahaha... Please look forward to the next update! And, as always, thank you for reading ~ xo