They was nothing they could do. After all, they were just a bunch of kindergarteners. They’re small, they aren’t adults. At least, that’s how Jun thought for a while now.

That’s how his parents taught him, of course. He had to wait until he was old enough to change anything around him. Even when as small as helping someone bandage a cut, he was taught to leave it to the grown ups. Instead, he could always watch and learn from the other’s experience.

Of course, leaving it to the grown ups was something that needed to be done at times. But there was some things he couldn’t just let the adults take care of. For example, he believed that helping his friends is something he should do, with or without his parents. That’s why when he first met his new friend, Minghao, he knew he had to take care of him. The male was soaked in tears as they first made conversation after all. He was like a rabbit in a crowd of wolves.

After a while of hanging out with him, he realized that the boy wasn’t as innocent as he seemed to be, making sassy remarks under his breath and always finding the hard or awful way to be extremely fun. With him, it seemed like Jun was learning new things everyday. About Minghao and about how he looked at life differently.

Today, he learnt that Minghao doesn’t believe what he once did.

It started as the children of the kindergarten was silent outside the building, wearing frowns on their faces as they watched their other classmate get into a smooth black car; Lee Jihoon, Jun recalled the other’s name. The two weren’t as close as he had hoped, as Jun was one of the ones who were scared after seeing his sudden attack on the always cheery blond. However it was still sad to see him leave because Jihoon was still a friend, nothing could change that for him.

Obviously, they were more who were much more depressed to see the pinkette leave. Seungkwan balled his eyes out, tears still dripping from his red painted eyes, clinging onto Hansol as if his life depended on it. Being the caring friend that he was, Hansol sadly wiped his tears away, patting his back in reassurance. ‘It’d be weird if he didn’t.’ The boy thought to himself.

Jun knew how close they were, in fact, he knew how close everyone was with each other. When events occurred, the boy went with what he was taught and observed the rest of the class. The two brunettes were especially close, to the point where their parents knew each other. Their care for each other did not escape his eye.

Another person who was clearly troubled was Chan. He didn’t know what exactly happened, but after one single day, the boy spoke often with the pinkette. He also seemed to secretly cherish a necklace on his neck, that seemed to be in a shape of a tooth. As for today, the boy didn’t have the item around his neck, making Jun assume he had given it to Jihoon before he left. As it was in plain sight for everyone, Chan was trying to not end up like Seungkwan and burst into tears. Rather, he clutched the ends of his shirt, trying to up the tears he hadn’t already let rolled onto his cheeks.

The last one he noticed, was the one who was the closest to now running vehicle. He was puzzled to the relationship he had with the other, as he thought that the pinkette was a nuisance to the other. It was none other than Kwon Soonyoung. The blond was the closest to the car, looking up at Jihoon as the other glanced out of the car window.

He knew Soonyoung had a beyond explainable sulken expression. Although he made an effort to smile as large as he could, it would instantly fade, being drowned by the multiple tears he tried his best to ignore. The brunette couldn’t tell what expression Jihoon was wearing, because the car window wasn’t clear from where he was standing. But by the blond’s desperate efforts to act cheery as he always was, he assumed it was extremely similar to the expression everyone else had on.  

“You’ll come back, right?” The blond had spoke out, voice quivering with every word uttered out. Seungkwan might have been the one crying the most, but by evidence shown by his body language, he could tell Soonyoung was hurting a lot more.

He also couldn’t tell what the pinkette’s answer was or even if he gave an answer as the car began its engine and blasted off. Jun continued to watch the boy trudge back to the group outside, his brunette best friend running to him to comfortably pat his back.

The group stayed in silence as he return, half looking at Soonyoung with a worried look while the other half found something extremely interesting on the floor to stare at. In Jun’s case, he was still staring at the blond. He understood completely why the troupe was quiet, after all anyone would. It was tough on them, seeing a friend leave in front of them.

“It’s okay, Soonyoung,” Seokmin had spoke out from the group, softly patting his back as he have been. “It’s not the end of the world! He’ll be back before we know it!”

Mingyu listened to his words, giving a slight nod as he walked toward him to help comfort him. “Seokmin is right, we should still have hope.” His hand continued to inch closer to the blond before the same one needing comfort smack it away. With a glare that struck fear into all of them, he faced him, no longer having that helpless expression he once had.

“Oh yeah, you hippo!” He shouted, letting the taller step back in shock as he continued. “You’re the reason why he left anyways!”

Jun blinked owlishly as they rest were as surprised as he was. He couldn’t believe how mad he was to the classmate, even blaming him for something like this. A sense of curiosity crept onto him, he needed to know why the brunette was suddenly being blamed. Thankfully, he didn’t need to ask.

“What are you talking about?!” The boy shouted back, filled with rage at his accusation. “He left because he got caught!”

“If you didn’t bring him to Wonwoo, he wouldn’t have gone in the first place!” He responded, filling up with as much rage as the other.

Mingyu spat onto the floor, grabbing the other by the collar and lifting him off his feet. The others gasped, now scared of what might happen; Jun included. He’s never seen the other get violent, let alone grab someone so forcefully.

“You know, if you didn’t make that stupid bet, maybe he would be here!” At that moment, Jun could clearly see the blonde’s anger wash away, replaced by sadness, regret, hurt.

“Put him down!”

Seokmin emerged from the group, tearing away Mingyu’s hand from his friend’s collar. Seungkwan went to go see if he was alright, forgetting about the friend he was clinging to desperately to. Luckily, Hansol didn’t mind as much, as he was too engrossed in the situation. Otherwise that would leave two problems to fix. Not like Jun wanted to fix the first anyways.

“That isn’t very nice, Mingyu!” Wonwoo had called after him, grabbing his shoulder in an effort to pull him back. The other male, in a rushed motion, ripped his shoulder away, turning to glare.

“Yeah, but blaming me for something I didn’t do isn’t nice either!” He replied harshly, letting him turn his head to the side as he continued to speak. “But oh no, only look at what I do!” He said, oh so sarcastically.

“That’s because violence is not the right thing!” Once again, the ravenette shouted, now retreating to the seemingly traumatized blond.

Many of the children had disagreed with the brunette, following Wonwoo’s actions to stand beside Soonyoung. But that didn't mean there wasn't a minority.

Hansol, who seemed to be stunned by the situation, took a deep breath in before opening his mouth to voice his opinion. “I think Mingyu is right.”

The group stayed silent, blinking owlishly to let the boy know he had to explain himself. With a sigh, he began his speech. “Sure, he shouldn't do that but if Soonyoung didn't start anything, none of this would happen.”

It was a simple, more calming explanation than the brunette’s was. A repeat without the frustration, Jun would call it. It made a lot more sense when the situation was placed together with his confession.

He could understand why someone would side with Mingyu, yet he could understand why so many would be so shocked.

None were as surprised as Seungkwan however, who puffed his cheeks in anger and decided he didn't need to listen to his reasoning. He knew that the boy felt a certain betrayal, as it was clearly written on his face. Clenched fisted, red painted face, the male couldn’t believe he sided with the other. After all, he thought friends agreed on everything together.

But Jun knew that wasn’t the case. If friends agreed on everything, they seem like robots, pretending to act nice together. True as it was to him, he wasn’t going to tell that to Seungkwan.  As his mother would say, that would be just adding more fuel to the fire and that was something Jun tried to avoid completely.

It wasn’t long before the minority and majority parted ways, each harbouring mixed emotions about the situation on each party. Seungkwan and Seokmin angrily stomped away with Wonwoo, dragging a now vulnerable Soonyoung. In a way, Jun felt bad for him. Sure, he shouldn’t have said anything about how Mingyu and Jihoon snuck out, but he was really taking what Mingyu said to heart. The tension was extremely thick, even when the area was openly empty.

By the time the yard had no signs of the others, Jun finally left his train of thought. It was as if the scene jumped out of a drama, friendships breaking left and right.

Speaking of friendships, he has reminded himself. Where was Minghao? He didn't notice him with the others beforehand, although that might have been because of how engrossed he was in the situation. He began to worry that the other might have chose a side, only because he was confused on what was happening. After all, everything went so quickly. It wouldn't be right to just pick a side without much thought.

With that, Jun decided it was time to go looking for the other. Avoiding what seemed to be the two sides of the battlefield, Soonyoung being on the side of the room with the tv while Mingyu with the toys, he began thinking of where he could be.

After checking the room where the war might break out, and realizing that he couldn't check the room where the teacher were as it was locked, he leaned against the closet door. Letting out a sigh, he deemed himself exhausted. He wished with all his heart that this whole day would be a dream because all this thinking was hurting his brain.

Again, another sigh escaped and with that, the sound of a doorknob turning. The boy didn't think too much of it, after all, it could just be the teachers finally opening the door. Which wouldn't be bad, they could deal with the problem themselves.

Yeah, that would be good. He doesn't need to do anything but lay back and watch. He can relax and everything can go back to normal.

With that in mind, Jun rested his body a bit more and shut his eyes. The throbbing in his head lessen as put to ease by his simple reasoning. At least, that was until he heard a small voice from the inside of the closet.

“Jun?”

He knew that voice, but it took him another nudge from the door opening to actually get him to respond. “Why are you in the closet?” Was the first thing to leave his mouth as he turned to face the other.

He could tell that his friend was fighting to show a frown, but wasn't doing very well as the disappoint was clearly written on his face. “Wow, hello to you too.”

He chuckled at his reply, standing up to ruffle his hair. No matter how threatening he seemed, he was extremely adorable. “No but really, why aren't you with the others?” He asked again, genuinely curious to the response. After all, not everyone is alone is a closet.

The boy sighed like he did once before, shaking his head. He shot more looks of disappointment at him, only to have Jun dodge them with a nervous laughter.

His expression quickly changed to one of sadness as he opened his mouth, staring holes into the ground. “I promised myself that i'd be more comfortable around everyone.” He admitted, opening his mouth once more to continue.

“But I don't think that's right, right now.” He ended his sentence, patiently waiting for a response.

He remembered the word ‘comfortable’. After all, he had taught it to the male when they met. He was glad that he had this goal now, as he reminded himself of how shy he once was. He had to agree, he wasn't that comfortable in the situation at hand either.

In an effort to reassure the other, he once again patted his head, giving a soft smile. “You can’t always be comfortable, it’s normal.”

“Besides, I’m sure you’ll feel better once the teachers settle everything.”

An uncomfortable silence reached Jun’s ears slower than he thought. At first, he let the atmosphere stay, sensing it getting tenser every minute. Then, when he couldn’t handle it anymore, he spun to face him, only to be met with a disappointed expression.

“Really?” Minghao finally responded, frowning loudly.

The boy raised an eyebrow, reading over his earlier sentence in his mind. Was there something wrong with what he said?

“What?”

“What makes you think they'll fix it?”

Jun blinked owlishly, tilting his head as he spoke. “They’re adults. They can fix everything.”

The male sighed, taking a seat beside the mildly confused Jun. His frown did not wipe off, as he continued to wear the expression. “I don’t think the adults can help.”

“Why not?” It was the other’s turn to frown, why would he think like this?

“This is a kid problem!” He exclaimed, oh so proudly. “Adults wouldn’t understand and just leave it alone! We need to fix it ourselves.”

“Ourselves? How can we do that? We’re kids!” He argued.

Minghao raised his voice in frustration, aggravated by his logic. “Just because we’re kids, doesn’t mean we’re stupid!”

“I’m not saying you’re stupi-”

“Well you sure do sound like it!” The boy stood and twirled on his toes, turning away from his friend. “We started this, can’t we fix it?” The silence returned quickly, the brunette shocked by his friend’s accusation. Maybe he was telling the truth? Maybe kids could do something.

“I’ll believe you.” Jun spoke out, getting his attention once again. The boy’s frown did not fade as he spun around.

“Are you lying?”

“No!” The male rose, eyes glued to the ground as he clenched his fist. If Minghao was right, then it would completely change what he used to think. “I just want proof.”

He paused for a minute, thinking about what the other said. “Okay. If we fix the problems ourselves, would that be proof?”

Jun smiled, nodding. “Yeah, that can work.”

Finally, a soft grin appeared on the grayette face as he pulled the brunette toward the now deemed war room. Peeking inside, they noticed how quiet it had become, before witnessing the ripped stuffed animals and broken toys scattered onto the floor. He decided that maybe he should just, stay aside and not jump into the aftermath. Sadly, that’s not what the other thinking, proven by the fact that he dragged him inside.

Suddenly, a voice was heard from one of the sides, a hand holding a toy directly at them. “Fire!” A small voice shouted.

The toy flew from the person’s hand, hitting Minghao square in the face. Jun knew this was a bad idea and saw this as an opportunity to run, but he couldn’t just leave his friend. Luckily, the other had it all under control.

“Mingyu!” He shouted, growling as he threw the toy back at him. “Don’t things at us!”

The same boy looked towards him, smile filled with glee as he walked toward him. “Oops! Sorry Minghao! Thought you were the enemy.”

He rolled his eyes, judging him silently. “So why did you say that?” Jun blinked owlishly. ‘Straight to the point, I see.’ He thought to himself.

“Say what?” Mingyu looked genuinely confused, as if the whole situation earlier never happened, or he was never there. Jun just sighed at the answer and at that moment, Hansol walked towards them.

“Dude, the thing. That happened earlier.” Jun sighed once again, this time in relief. ‘Thank God someone was level-headed.’ Still, the boy seemed pretty distressed. Was something bothering him?

The tallest expression immediately, one of anger. “He started it!”

“Stop being so childish!”

“Uhm, excuse me Minghao, but we’re children, we’re supposed to be like this.” He spat, about to turn the other way until he took his shoulders and spun him around to face him again.

“Yeah, but aren’t we all friends here!?” He replied, staring him down as if he was taller than the other.

Mingyu continued to stay silent, before brushing off hands and turning around. The brunette only slightly caught the solemn emotion plastered onto his face. “Just.. Come with me.”

The two looked at each other in uncertainty as Hansol followed the male to what seemed to be a fort constructed by stuffed animals. Jun is shocked to find that they still have that many toys left to make a fort, with all the ones he saw in the condition of destroyed. Shrugging it off, the two walked towards the fort in slow steps.

Once they were there, they took a seat upon the carpeted floor, intrigued for what the boy would say. He opened his mouth with a quiver, seemingly contemplating what he would say. After what seemed like forever, he began. “It’s not my fault. It really isn’t. He shouldn’t have blame me or Wonwoo like that.”

Jun raised an eyebrow. “How was he blaming Wonwoo?”

“You heard him!” He shouted, before calming himself down after seeing how wide the others eyes got in surprise. “He was basically saying that if he didn’t show us the way..” His sentence was dragged into mumbles as he held onto one of his arms closely to his chest.

The brunette turned towards Minghao, seeing what his reaction would be. The boy was nodding, clearly in deep thought. He looked extremely mature, as if listening to Mingyu was his duty, his mission that he had to finish. It fascinated him greatly.

He broke out of his trance when the grayette asked a question to the other brunette, turning to see his reaction. “So are you only angry because he said that about Wonwoo?”

He didn’t say anything, but that answered his question completely. “But now he’s mad at me! What did I do?!”

“Well other than, I don’t know, trying to fight Soonyoung?” Jun spoke out, raising a finger as the two others nodded in agreement.

“Just-”

“Just nothing, Mingyu.” Minghao interrupted, looking sternly at him. “You were going to hurt someone, badly. If no one stopped you, you could hav-”

“I know.” He mumbled.

“Do you?”

“I know.” He repeated, much louder this time. “I just got so angry.”

Minghao let out a soft sigh, smiling softly as he patted his shoulder. “Don't worry. Just, you want to be friends again right?” The boy nodded, looking expectantly upon the other as he gave him a reassuring grin. “We’ll help you out.”

Mingyu gave what looked to be a relieved smile as the two stood up. It amazed Jun on how grown up his friend was being, but by the display from earlier, he should expect it by now.

Before the two left the fort, Jun remember that it wasn't just Mingyu alone. He glanced back to Hansol, who had the same expression as earlier. Curious, he strolled over to him with a raised eyebrow. “You doing okay?” He questioned, seemingly surprising the boy.

“Yeah, yeah.” He said in a breath for letting that breath go. “No.”

“How so?”

“Just-” He stopped for a moment, pushing Jun out of the fort. “Just yell my name.”

With no question or thought the male obeyed and shouted to his best degree. Not long after, a wail was heard from the other side of the room. “Don’t say that devil’s name around me! He just pretends to be your friend before stabbing your neck!”

“You mean, back?” Another voice responded to him.

“Yeah! Back!”

Silence returned to the scene as Minghao took a minute to judge what Jun just did. The brunette decided to ignore his stares, turning back to the other. “Was that Seungkwan and Seokmin..?”

The other nodded, taking a second to sigh. “Yeah. He’s calling me a traitor because I went with Mingyu.” He threw his arms up in frustration. “Friends can’t just agree on everything!”

The boy gave a smirk. He was in the same situation as Mingyu and Wonwoo. “No worries,” Jun started, patting the other’s shoulder in a similar manner as Minghao did to the other. “We’ll help you out.”

He went back to the other, a smile harboring his face. Minghao could have questioned it, but decided against it. “So to W

onwoo?” He said, grin staying on his face as the grayette nodded.

The two trudged toward the T.V, CDs stacked as if to mock a castle. Jun couldn’t believe they had that many CDs to complete something like that. Seungkwan stood proudly in front the entrance, guarding it with pride plastered onto his face. Once they were in his vision, his facial expression dropped, pointing a spear constructed out of markers. “Who goes there?!” He shouted, blowing away their ears.

“Calm down, we can hear you.” Minghao spat, covering his ears as he spoke.

“Oh, it’s you guys,” He walked closer to them, dropping the ‘spear’ onto the ground. “What are you doing here?”

“We want to see Wonwoo.” Jun stated, moving past the boy and toward the door before he had dashed in front of him.

“Not so fast!” He pointed at the two, shaking his head. “I saw you with the enemy! You can't be trusted!”

“What can we do to get in?”

“Nothing! I'm not letting you through!”

The two sighed, Seungkwan held his ground and wasn't about to move an inch. Suddenly, Jun had an idea. “Don't you want to be friends with Hansol again?”

He noticed his flinch, smirking to himself. The boy stuttered. “He sure doesn't want to be friends with me!”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he went with Mingyu, of course!” He scoffed, shaking his head.

“Is that it?” Minghao butted in, watching him nodded firmly. “But wasn't he a great friend?” Again, a nod but slower this time.

“You should not let this get in the way of your friendship. Why don't you understand his view too? That way you two can learn from each other.”

Seungkwan didn't reply, letting his head hang. When Jun was about to open his mouth, the boy moved to the side, letting them inside. “Okay, you can go in.” He mumbled.

Jun smiled softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “He misses you too.” He said, before following the grayette inside.

“You’re pretty good at this.” Minghao commented as they tried to find Wonwoo. He raised his eyebrows, letting him continue. “You said that you'd always go to adults, but you're doing well on your own.”

“Yeah I got someone I can look up to.” He winked cheekily, making the other roll his eyes.

As they continued to stroll along, they noticed how crowded it really was. After all, all the kids in the class were on Soonyoung’s side. Of course it'd be less empty than the other’s. The size comparison was also remarkable. It was as if a small town has moved into the room, doing their business here. The two could only marvel at the sight. “Okay, we need to find Wonwoo.” Jun commented, pushing through the crowd. Suddenly he felt a hand grab onto his shirt. He turned back, only to meet eyes with the other.

“The crowd is pretty large, I don’t wanna get lost.” He said as if asking the question he was about to ask. Smirking, he took his hand off of his shirt and into his, continuing to walk. If only he noticed how clammy his hand had gotten.

They reached Wonwoo faster than they thought. He stood beside Soonyoung, who seemed to be recovering from the shock. ‘At least he’s smiling.’ Jun thought, letting a soft grin of his own appear on his lips. It was nice to see the boy smile. After all, a smile is all he would see on him, he couldn’t imagine anything else. The two took one more step before realizing that he had noticed them. With a wave, the ravenette called them over.

“Hey guys,” Wonwoo greeted, smiling broadly. “What’s up?”

“We want to talk about something.” Minghao replied, trying to get straight to the point.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Mingyu.”

Their faces changed, and it wasn’t surprising to the two. What was surprising was what Soonyoung said afterwards.

“I want to apologize.” He spoke quickly looking up to the two. “I mean, if Hoon saw this, he’d probably think we’re all stupid and laugh.” The three chuckled to the response. It sure sounded like Jihoon to them.

“Luckily for you,” The brunette started, slipping his way towards Soonyoung and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “He feels the same way.”

The blond beamed at them, smiling happily. Soon, they gathered up the children of the class, traveling their way towards Mingyu’s fort. Minghao and Jun trailed behind them, the brunette noticing that the grayette was acting odd. Was he nervous?

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, concerned. The boy looked to him, shaking his head.

“I just..” His sentence was dragged but he quickly caught up with it. “I just wonder if we might mess up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like,” He thought for a moment, getting his words together. “I was thinking about what you said earlier, and maybe if we bring them here, they’ll just fight again. We are kids.”

Jun blinked owlishly. After they made it this far, why was he doubting it now? With a raised hand, he proceeded to lightly smack his head, a quiet squeal escaping his mouth. “Stop being stupid.”

“What- You didn’t have to hit me!” He replied, rubbing his head. “I’m only repeating what you said.”

“Listen Hao,” He started to explain himself, taking a breath before speaking. “I think you’ve changed my view on this.” Minghao’s eyes widened. “A bit. I still think that adults can help a lot, but, you’re right. We can do stuff too.” He smiled softly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, his other hand giving a thumb up.

The other couldn’t help but smile back, reassured. They only then noticed that the others made up as well. Bright smiles were shown all around, even when they looked extremely dangerous when kicking down the forts. It was all so easy, and the memory of the fight faded away in a rush. Tension was washed away and it was like any other day. Sure, Jihoon wasn’t there but he wasn’t dead. They’ll meet again, surely.

Jun learnt a lot from Minghao, but he knew that he learnt a lot from the others as well. He was sure Jihoon felt the same.

If only it was this easy for the adults.

[I love you guys so much oh my god ;; You peeps are the best asdfghjkl also im sorry its pretty rushed Ooooookay let’s talk seventeen’s comeback- mINGHAO HAS SOOOOO MANY MV PARTS I SCREAMED EVERYTIME not many lines but asdfghjk he appeared so much- & thEN WOOZI & JUN IMMMMMMMMMM DED- Okay I’m done. I hope you guys have a good everything !!!]