Jongin groaned as he threw himself onto his bed face-first. School had been exhausting—no, everything had been exhausting. From school to practice to the little ice cream parlor situation to Kyungsoo, everything today had just drained him.

            He was lucky that things had winded down after he’d come back from the bathroom. Luhan sent him apologetic looks, and Sehun was staring at him in concern, but neither of them said anything even when Kyungsoo hung strangely close to them. It wasn’t long before everyone was leaving, anyway, what with Baekhyun’s driver coming by minutes later and telling him his mother wanted him home ASAP. Sehun and Taeyeon both went along with him, and after that, it was just a matter of making sure everyone else got home alright. Luhan himself had a motorcycle back at the school, so he went off on his own to go collect it and head home. Jongdae and Yixing apparently lived in the same direction, not too far from the school, so they walked off together after bidding everyone goodbye.

            Of course, that had left just Kyungsoo and Jongin together.

            “W-where do you live, hyung?” he’d asked timidly, and thankfully Kyungsoo didn’t seem to notice his tone.

            “I live closer to downtown, but it looks like my driver’s running late, so I think I’ll just hang around here for a bit,” he’d explained, his eyebrows furrowing in concern as he looked up at Jongin. “What about you? Do you want me to drop you off at home?”

            “Ah, n-no, that’s not necessarily,” he paused to take a breath, because he was still ing stuttering dear lord— “I don’t live too far from here, so I usually just walk back home.”

            “Why didn’t you go with Jongdae and Yixing hyung, then?”

            “I live in the opposite direction, towards Songpa. It’s only about a 10-minute walk, don’t worry about it, hyung,” he assured once more, and Kyungsoo nodded. A small breath of relief left his lips as he nodded to the senior, about to take his leave without any more spectacles for the day to add to his already raging waterfall of emotions.

            His body had completely frozen when he felt fingers running over his scalp.

            “Get home safely, Jongin-ah.” Kyungsoo was petting him. Kyungsoo was petting him, was ing reaching up and even lifting himself up onto his toes just so he could run his hand all over Jongin’s head and ruffle all of his hair affectionately.

            Back in real time, Jongin screamed into his pillow.

----

            After that things were, thankfully, more or less uneventful. Sure, Jongin was still falling asleep in classes, his friends were still massive dickbags, and hearing Kyungsoo hum to himself or—god forbid—sing during practice still turned Jongin into a massive pile of goop, but he managed. Kyungsoo said nothing about the incident a few days’ prior, the only sign of it having happened being the occasional worried glance he’d give the day after.

            They talked a bit more, Kyungsoo being much more relaxed with him as he greeted him in the hallways or even held small conversations with him during practice. Jongin wasn’t entirely ashamed he’d upped his ante on the whole ‘cute dongsaeng’ act the past few days, but Kyungsoo didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the older man seemed to enjoy it, finding it endearing as ruffling Jongin’s hair seemed to become one of his favorite pastimes. The actions always shot Jongin back in his mind to that first day, to Baekhyun’s advice, and really, he wasn’t sure if he should feel humiliated or proud.

            In the end, he settled for pleasant malcontent.

            “Kyungsoo’s really late today,” Luhan muttered in light concern, and Jongin couldn’t help but mirror the sentiments as he took a short break with his friends.

            They’d been at these practices every school day for the past week and a half, and while Kyungsoo wasn’t always perfectly on time, it was nearly an hour since he was supposed to be here. Baekhyun started practice on his own, insisting they work on the group performance first before splitting off into their respective groups, so it wasn’t like they were being entirely unproductive. Still, Jongin couldn’t help but worry about whether Kyungsoo was okay, working as hard as he did. It wasn’t long after that people actually starting speaking up.

            “Excuse me, where is Kyungsoo sunbaenim?” One of the first years from the orchestra asked Baekhyun timidly. She gripped her viola tightly as she refused to meet the older boy’s eyes. “Our conductor still needs him to determine the cues, and we haven’t been giving any information about getting a new guitarist.”

            “New guitarist?” Baekhyun shot back, eyes narrowed in confusion. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

            “W-we put in a request to change the lineup two days ago.” Poor girl looked terrified, and Baekhyun seemed to sense that, relaxing his tense expression in an attempt to seem more open.

            “Sorry, I’m responsible for looking over formal requests, I must have missed yours. Why do you need to change the guitarist? I thought Kwanghee-ssi was doing fine.”

            “He injured his hand during a basketball match and won’t be able to practice for at least a month,” she explained, and Jongin almost laughed as he saw her poorly hidden anger. He couldn’t blame the girl—sports injuries were the last thing they needed right now, considering how tense everything already was with preparations.

            “I understand; I’ll work on putting together a small audition sometime this week to see if we can get a suitable replacement—”

            “May I interject?” Another person was speaking now, and Jongin recognized her as the conductor for the orchestra. She was a third year student, if he remembered correctly, extremely talented for her age. She was also the Secretary for the Music Club, he was pretty sure.

            “Seohyun noona,” Baekhyun nodded in greeting as he spoke. “What do you think?”

            “You know we have very few guitarists in the club, let alone those available for the night,” she started slowly, calmly. “Not to mention, the compositions are quite difficult to play, so they won’t be good for most players unless they’re quite well-practiced.” Baekhyun sighed, but it was clear he understood, and agreed, with what the older student was saying.

            “What do you suggest, then? It’d be hard to change the compositions now, even more so to change the schedule.”

            “Nothing as drastic as that, but…” She trailed off, as though even she didn’t like what she was about to say. “While Kyungsoo likely won’t approve, you may need to open up the auditions to non-club members.” The idea didn’t seem terrible from Jongin’s point of view, but Baekyun looked like he was about to blow a fuse at the very thought of it.

            “You know we can’t do that! Just think of how much extra paperwork it’d be! Plus all the liabilities—there’ll be no club-based restrictions to guide them and no rules that they’ll have to uphold. What if they just ditch practice? What if they ditch the performance? What if—”

            “You think too little of people,” Seohyun cut him off, arms folded around her torso in impatience. “Besides, it’s not like it has to be someone outside the club. But we should keep our options open, especially considering how we’re already spreading ourselves thin by putting on such a big performance with so few members.” It was true—from what Jongin had heard, the music club at this school had been dwindling down in terms of member count over the past few years, and many of the most talented members had left the year prior after graduating. Still, Baekhyun pouted stubbornly, crossing his arms as well indignantly as he protested.

            “We could ask Yixing hyung; he’d be able t—”

            “You’ve made poor Yixing do enough already.” Suddenly Taeyeon was there, scolding him with a sharp glare that didn’t suit her kid-like features. “At this rate he’ll work himself down to the bone before the month’s over.” Baekhyun frowned, but nodded, knowing the older girl was right.

            “What can we do, though? I don’t know very many other guitarists besides Henry and Yixing hyung, and neither of them can help, we may not be able to find out even from the auditions.” Biting his lip nervously, Jongin stepped forward, deciding that if he wanted to help, it’d be now or never.

            “Hey, hyung?” he piped up, trying not to chuckle when Baekhyun jumped a little in surprise.

            “Hm, Kai? What’s up, I’m a little busy right no—”

            “I think I know someone who can help,” he cut in, quickly explaining himself when Baekhyun looked at him in confusion. “My friend, he’s a guitarist, and he’s pretty good at it too. I can try asking him if he’d be willing to step in? Hyung may know him, his name is Chanyeol.”

            “…Who?” Baekhyun deadpanned in a way that was eerily similar to Kyungsoo.

            “Chanyeol? Park Chanyeol? He’s your age, and I’m pretty sure he’s in your class? Really tall and loud and has a really deep voice but also has a baby face?” Jongin described his friend, gesturing wildly in vain as Baekhyun looked no less confused than before.

            “Never heard of him,” he waved it off. “Anyway, you said he’s good? Are you sure, Kai-yah? The pieces we have are pretty difficult, not for any old player…”

            “I swear he’s good,” he perked up, looking over to his friends in hopes for support. “Luhan hyung, Sehun!” The two looked at him with eyebrows raised as he gestured them over. “Doesn’t Chanyeol play guitar really well?”

            “Chanyeol? Yeah, he’s pretty good,” Luhan started warily. “Even makes his own songs sometimes, though I don’t think he’ll ever let people listen to them.”

            “Why’d you ask?” Sehun questioned, and Jongin waved his hand in Baekhyun’s direction.

            “The orchestra needs a new guitarist, but there’s no one in the Music Club that can do it,” Baekhyun explained before Jongin had a chance to speak. “What kind of person is this… Chanyeol?”

            “An idiot,” Sehun blurted out before he could help himself, wincing as Jongin and Luhan elbowed him simultaneously on each side. “But a good guy overall, passionate about the stuff he likes, really talented.”

            “Hm…” Baekhyun seemed conflicted, but eventually gave in with a small sigh. “I’ll tell you what: bring him over Monday, and I’ll see for myself how good he is.” The trio nodded together, Jongin more earnestly than the others.

            Without another glance in their direction, Baekhyun was yelling at everyone to get back to practice, and silently, Jongin counted this as a small win in the right direction.

----

            Kyungsoo eventually did come to practice with Jongdae tailing him (surprisingly silent for once), but at that point, there was barely half an hour left of practice. Not to mention, he looked positively exhausted, even if he brushed it off when anyone mentioned it. Baekhyun had initially be furious, rambling on about responsibility and dedication and whatnot, but upon getting a good look at Kyungsoo, he’d immediately shut up.

            They were best friends before Co-Presidents, after all. It’d be one thing if it was just Jongdae who looked like he’d been through hell and back. But for Kyungsoo, ever-composed and pristine and neat and perfect Kyungsoo, to have his hair flying all over the place on his head, to have his uniform sleeves crumpled and even a little dirty, to have his usually calm and collected eyes downturned in tiredness—why, it was unheard of!

            “Well don’t you just look peachy,” Yixing teased as Jongdae joined them up on the stage, but his arm wrapped around the younger boy’s shoulders in comfort.

            “Yeah, sorry ‘bout being so late guys,” Jongdae muttered gruffly as he tossed his messenger bag off his shoulder and over to some random corner of the room. “Things have been awful lately—the Secretary left. The Secretary. Like seriously, at this rate it won’t be long before the entire ing Student Council leaves.”

            “Why’d he leave?” Sehun pitched in, though he was looking quiet pointedly at Yixing's arm on Jongdae. The singer just sighed.

            “To say he left isn’t actually all that accurate,” he explained lowly. “It was more he’s on probation. With the workload that’s been piled on them lately, it was hard for him to manage his time well, so his grades slipped. Apparently he’s not allowed back on until his grades are back up above average. So for now, the Student Council’s working without two of its main members.”

            “It’s really nice of you to help them like this, sunbae,” Jongin said, and he meant it. He didn’t know the older man very well, but he had to respect anyone who’d voluntarily give themselves so much work just to help out others. Plus, it was kinda cute, the way Jongdae blushed upon hearing the compliment.

            “Nah, it’s nothing, really,” he brushed it off, hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck shyly. “Really, I just couldn’t stand seeing them running around looking all beaten up and pathetic like that.”

            “You say that, but there’s another reason, isn’t there?” Yixing stage-whispered, and Jongin watched in awe as Jongdae’s face went red in seconds.

            “Zhang Yixing!” he practically shrieked, and no one could stop laughing as the pair broke into a chase, even if none of them knew what the pair were arguing about.

            “If you all have this much energy, shouldn’t you be practicing?” Kyungsoo groaned exasperatedly as he walked up to their little group. Jongin perked up, giving a small wave to the older boy who gave a light, but tired smile back.

            “Are you okay, hyung?” he asked worriedly, ignoring Luhan and Sehun’s snickering nearby them.

            “Just tired, don’t worry,” Kyungsoo assured as he cracked his stiff neck, but Jongin didn’t feel any better about it.

            “Are you sure? You don’t look okay; maybe you should just take it easy for today? We only have a little time left for practice anyway, maybe it’d be better if you just went ho—”

            “Jongin.” He jumped at Kyungsoo’s cold tone, immediately feeling guilty as he realized how the man’s eyes were glossed over, unreadable and distant like before. God, just when he’d been making progress too! “Back to practice everyone, and kick it up a notch. We don’t have long before the performance, so I want everyone working their hardest.”

            “Hyung I—” But Kyungsoo was already walking away, heading over to go talk to the teacher supervising them. Jongin deflated, stuck between wanting to scream at himself and wanting to just ball up and cry because Kyungsoo just look so mad—

            “Don’t let it get to you, Kai-yah,” Baekhyun was suddenly there, pressing a hand onto his shoulder reassuringly. Jongin only felt a smidgeon better. “It’s not your fault, he’s not mad at you. He’s mad at himself.”

            “…What do you mean?” he questioned cautiously, and Baekhyun grinned and ruffled his hair.

            “Kyungsoo doesn’t like people worrying about him. Likes to handle everything by himself with no problems, so the second someone shows concern over him, he gets frustrated, like he didn’t do well enough, or he messed up, or he needed to work harder,” he explained softly. “Just give him a little bit, he’ll come down from it eventually and he’ll be back to normal.”

            “Well, as normal as he can get,” Luhan added as an afterthought, but Jongin wasn’t paying attention as Baekhyun’s words ran through his head.

            It wasn’t that he didn’t understand how Kyungsoo was feeling—he certainly did. He’d felt that way plenty of times before, and even now he struggled with letting people help him with, well, anything. Really, the only reason his friends were able to do what they did for him was because they were stubborn and nosey enough to push themselves into his life without him asking them to. Still, he knew it wasn’t a good habit to develop, bottling up everything and taking it all on yourself. The very thought of Kyungsoo feeling like he had to do that had Jongin’s blood boiling.

            If asked later, he’d say that the adrenaline was the reason he did what he did.

            “H-hey, Jongin, what’re yo—” Sehun was calling after him as he stalked away from the scene, but Jongin didn’t care.

            He didn’t stop until he was right in front of Kyungsoo, who’d stopped talking to the teacher in confusion at his sudden appearance. He almost backed down right there, almost simpered down and just apologized before running off to some corner to sob and moan about how inept he was, but then he saw it. In Kyungsoo’s eyes, there wasn’t just confusion or incredulity, but also concern. Through all of this, Kyungsoo still found it in himself to be worried over Jongin, worried about what he was doing and what was wrong. That little glimmer of concern had Jongin puffing his chest up and pressing his feet into the ground steadfastly.

            He was a man on a mission, god dammit, even if his mission was quite possibly a suicide mission.

            “Hyung!” he exclaimed, probably louder than needed but he didn’t really care about that at this point. “Let me help on the Student Council!”

            There it was. He’d dropped the bomb.

            “…What?” Kyungsoo deadpanned, and if it were anyone else, Jongin would’ve thought he sounded annoyed. But he’d spent enough time stalking watching Kyungsoo to tell. This wasn’t annoyance, it was shock. He straight up didn’t believe what he was hearing, his already-large eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter, but it was enough.

            “Jongdae sunbae helps you guys, right?” he continued, forcing the words out before he lost all of his sense of bravado. Out of the corners of his eyes, he noticed the teacher slowly slinking away from them. “I want to, too. Please, let me help!”

            He topped off his words with a deep bow, bending at the hips until his body was at a 90^o angle and he was staring down at his feet. Kyungsoo said nothing immediately, but Jongin stayed still, only jumping slightly in place when a hand touched his shoulder. Slowly, he leaned up, only to see that slight warmth fill Kyungsoo’s eyes once more.

            “What on Earth are you talking about?” he questioned, but Jongin could hear the fondness in his voice. “That’s not necessary, we’re doing fine right now—”

            “But I want to help!” Jongin cut in immediately. Reputation be damned—who cared if sounded desperate? He had his priorities, and the main one was right here, in front of him staring him down.

            “…Fine,” Kyungsoo finally conceded, and Jongin could barely control himself from breaking into a little happy dance. “But,” the little interjection did nothing to deflate his excitement, “you need to talk to the President about this as well. If he’s okay with it, then you can help.”

            “Okay!” Jongin chirped, beaming when Kyungsoo chuckled at his tone.

            This was probably going to blow up in his face at some point, but for now, all that matter was Kyungsoo’s smile.

wooo more plot advancement
ok this time i dont have time to say much i rly g2g so bye guys