Jongup's fingers move deftly as he loops Junhong's tie in on itself.

"I can't believe my little brother Junhongie is going to high school. I really didn't think you would pass eighth grade." Jongup snickers and Junhong shoves him away with a roll of his eyes. "Goodbye, Jongup," Junhong says as he ushers him out of his bedroom.

"Wow, not even a 'hyung?' Jeez, I can feel the ice from here, Jun." Jongup teases. "Goodbye, hyung~" Junhong says only slightly mockingly before closing the door. He hears a muffled "Have a good first day!" from the other side before sighing and turning to his reflection.

He eyes himself in the mirror wearily, light glinting off his glasses. Embarrassment bubbles in his stomach and he adjusts them on his nose. Of course he would have to get glasses literally two weeks before freshman year started, and of course his mom wouldn't let him get contacts. He makes a face and cracks his knuckles absentmindedly. The new uniform still looks odd; he'd gotten so used to the muted greens and reds of his middle school one. This one is stark white with a bright blue tie and a cobalt jacket, khaki pants unflattering, but well-made. The same uniform that Jongup has.

Nervous excitement makes his heart flutter, and he smiles wildly at himself in the mirror before walking out of his bedroom.

Mom is as expected; all shining eyes and hair ruffling and "I'm so proud of you."

She pauses for a moment at his tie, fingers running over the knot in the silky fabric. "Did Jongup do this for you?" she asks quietly. Junhong merely nods, and a sad expression passes over her face. He can tell she's thinking about dad. "Let's go, mom, I can't be late," he tugs at her sleeve like a child.

To his surprise and discontent, Jongup is sitting in the backseat when they walk to the car. Junhong frowns and slides into the passenger seat. He looks pointedly at his older brother in the rearview mirror.

"Hey, little bro! I thought I would give you shot gun since it's such a big day," Junhong narrows his eyes, not believing the good-natured excuse. Jongup sighs and mumbles "Fine I missed the bus, okay?" Their mother rolls her eyes as Junhong snickers, glasses slipping down his nose. "Careful there, four-eyes, you don't want to lose numbers three and four!" The younger immediately quiets and pouts for the whole ride.

The average-sized high school actually turns out to be quite complex on the inside; Junhong pushes his way down hallway after hallway, teenagers taking up every square inch of space, it would seem. His height works to his advantage, though he still catches whiffs of cheap perfume and overused cologne as he wades toward his first period. He's stumbling over his feet, map two centimeters from his face, pushing his glasses back up every two seconds. Perfect, this is exactly the kind of freshman he did not want to be.

He passes his classroom twice before slowly shuffling inside, cheeks already burning. There's an empty seat on the right side of the room, in the third row. He sits down, hunching over as much as he can for the benefit of those behind him. This is honors english; the only reason he got in was because english last year was taught by an idiot and he'd somehow managed a 100% grade, thus putting him on the honors track.

The bell hasn't rung yet, and the teaher is still pushing papers together at her desk. A loud snap on his left makes Junhong jump in his seat, head whipping around. A shaggy mess of jet black hair is the first thing he sees, fringe covering eyes and some of the longer strands brushing the tops of prominent cheekbones. The boy is chewing gum, rather loudly, and just snapped it against the roof of his mouth. A thin grey sweater hangs loosley off of his frame, and ripped black skinny jeans hug his thighs tightly under the desk.

The raven haired boy turns to look at Junhong, who has been staring way too long. He flashes a grin full of metal braces and rubber bands, the orange wad of gum tucked at the back of his mouth.

The bell rings at that moment, and Junhong jumps in his seat yet again, making the boy with the braces chuckle under his breath. A light pink dusts itself across his cheeks as he turns to the front of the class.

a/n: yes, so this is the first chapter, I hope you like it!! and yes, this will be a chaptered fic, //jesus christ what am i thinking// so. I'm sorry this chapter is so short, I'll try to make them longer as I go! But this was sort of just to get a feel for the characters and setting anyway :) uhm idk what else to say so bye~

[ali <3]