Soon enough, things were getting into a pretty steady routine for Jongin.

            School was going normally (he still slept in half his classes), student council work was mostly manageable (except for the times when Jongin would forget how to do anything but stare at Kyungsoo), and practice for the show was coming along quite nicely (meaning nothing had burst into flames just yet). Surprisingly enough, even after the whole incident, Chanyeol had still managed to impress everyone with his guitar skills, and Baekhyun had, albeit begrudgingly, allowed him to take part in the recital. In its own weird way, it was kinda nice having Chanyeol around.

            As much as he hated to admit it, Luhan, Sehun, and Chanyeol were like his awkward, mostly-useful safety blanket when he got too stressed or emotional. He never had to explain anything to them, just crack a few jokes and everything would be fine. Sure, they’d poke and prod at him sometimes, especially Luhan, but they’d next ask too many questions or, at least, expect too many answers. With the three of them all here, it was easy to slip back into his regular persona of an average and somewhat quiet student rather than the panicked, emotional train wreck he could tend to be on his own. It was almost a shame that Chanyeol hadn’t joined earlier then.

            Of course, that wasn’t to say he wasn’t making friends on his own now, either.

            Despite his own expectations, he was getting along quite well with practically everyone around him. He made small talk with Minseok while they worked in the student council, joked around with Yixing during practice, and so on. He was regularly texting Baekhyun or Jongdae about random crap, just like friends would do, and he even managed to exchange numbers with Joonmyeon. Hell, even their lunch circle was growing, with Kyungsoo or Taeyeon or anyone else dropping by every once in a while just to hang out and talk. For the first time since he could remember, he didn’t just have a couple of people who didn’t mind being around him—he had a friend circle. To say he was elated would be an understatement.

            That is, until he realized the consequences of this sudden social growth of his.

            See, as much as he wasn’t a fan of his reputation around the school, he still accepted it and, even worse, relied on it most of the time. He hadn’t realized it until late, but being the ‘loner Kai’ had made his life so much easier and more comfortable. No one bothered him and only talked about him if he was far away. Now, though, the mask of the mysterious, quiet boy with no past was slowly being peeled away to reveal just… Jongin. The kid who didn’t know what he was doing half the time, who could probably eat a whole chicken in ten minutes, who unironically used the emoji-themed stickers on message apps instead of just using normal emojis.

            Really, he hadn’t realized just how much he relied on his reputation until things started changing. People coming up to him asking for favors, or trying to pull him into random classroom conversations during breaks, or even going one step farther. After the first girl confessed to him, Jongin legitimately had to go find an empty stairwell to go crouch down in and breath.

            This wasn’t supposed to happen. More people talking to him meant more expectations for things he should do. More expectations meant more disappointment when he would eventually fail. More disappointment meant—

            ‘Why would anyone be friends with you?’

            “Jongin? What are you doing here?”

            Snapping his head up, Jongin found himself face to face with Yixing, and he wasn’t really sure whether he was supposed to be relieved or even more worried for himself.

            “Oh, hyung, what’s up?” he replied absently as he moved to sit up, giving him a small smile in greeting. He had become especially closer with Yixing over the past week, working with the older man a lot during practice on the different choreographies, and talking with him a lot outside of practice about everything from their favorite dancers to the art of composing. Talking to the upperclassman was kinda like talking to a walking motivational poster in Jongin’s eyes, and really, there was no way he couldn’t be fond of that.

            “Y’know, the back of the school in the middle of the afternoon isn’t generally the best time and place for stargazing,” Yixing teased, though his tone gave away a sense of seriousness Jongin wasn’t sure he was comfortable with.

            “Nah, no stargazing today, just thinking.” This only seemed to confuse Yixing more.

            “Are you doing alright? You were kinda spacey during practice yesterday too, and you don’t seem too hot right now. Is anything worrying you?” Leave it to Yixing to get straight to the point.

            “I’m alright, hyung, I swear,” he promised with a half-smile, hoping it was convincing. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

            “Is it the student council work? I know it can be a lot sometimes, but you really shouldn’t force more on yourself than you can handle, Jongin-ah. I’m sure the others will understand if you need to take a break.” Jongin refrained from mentioning how much work Yixing constantly saddled on himself, whether for his own personal goals or to help out practically anyone in a 10-mile radius.

            “It’s not that, hyung, I promise. Just… have a lot to consider lately, that’s all.”

            “Hm.” Yixing hardly seemed convinced, but instead of saying anything more, he took a seat beside Jongin and changed the subject—he was a lot like Luhan in that regard. “Listen, Jongdae’s thinking of holding a small get-together at Kyungsoo’s place this weekend. Not a party—god knows none of us have time for one right now—but just a little gathering to hang out and get to know everyone better. You should come, and bring friends. It’ll be a nice time to have fun and get your mind off of what’s bothering you.”

            “Are you sure? I don’t wanna crash your guys’ night…” Yixing scoffed at that.

            “Please, Jongdae will love it. The more, the merrier to him. Honestly, he’s probably going to ask you to come anyway, I just got a head-start.” Noticing the worry on Jongin’s face, Yixing just gave him a pat on the shoulder and a bright smile. “Don’t worry, Jongin-ah, everything will be fine. Now, do you wanna head inside for a little jam session before lunch ends?”

            His ‘cool, mysterious’ persona was taking a nosedive, but maybe the new friends made up for it.

HI IM SORRY THIS IS SHORT I I SWEAR ILL HAVE A FULL CHAP OUT SOON
basically i forgot how long it had been since i updated this so i got back to writing and i wanted to address more about jongin's situation BUT that didn't fit in with the theme of the next big chapter sO this weird interlude was born
ill try my best to have the next real chapter out within the next week and even though im still a little confused about where exactly i want this fic to go (feel free to comment/message me plot bunnies if you'd like) i can tell you the next one should be a little bit of a doozy so look out for that!! 
alright thanks guys love you thanks for putting up w me bye