Chapter 8: First of Many

 

“Evan… hey, wake up.” Jin insisted as he shook the shoulder of his sleeping roommate. Jin was already dressed in a nice pair of black jeans and a dark blue, short-sleeved button-up shirt, and it appeared as though he was getting ready to leave. All he had to do was put his shoes on and grab his backpack.

Evan groggily awoke, obviously not too thrilled to be disturbed at such an early hour. He had hoped to sleep at least until his alarm went off. “What is it..?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes and squinted up at Jin. Was this really necessary?

“I’m taking Andy and Damien to their first classes, but Aiden doesn’t have class until 9:20. Can you take him to that class before you head to yours? You said you had a class at that time as well, didn’t you?” Jin asked hopefully. The freshmen didn’t exactly know where their classes were, so they needed to be dropped off early if at all possible.

“... What, are they five?” Evan grumbled as he groaned and dropped his face straight down into his pillow. He woke him up so that he could help drop off the kids? He mumbled something else into the pillow that was completely inaudible to Jin and then went completely silent. He really was fighting to stay in bed.

“Sorry, what was that? Can you speak up?” Jin asked as he poked the back of his head, continuing to urge him to respond. At this point he really was trying to annoy him because of the attitude he received from him.

Evan quickly reached his right hand up and brushed Jin’s hand away before turning to glare up at him as he shook his hair out, “Can’t you bother Rapmon? Or Rhodon? It’s not like they’re freshmen or anything…”

“Rapmon and Rhodon have classes later in the day. Also, I believe Rapmon said something about taking care of some business with financial aid.” Jin replied as he opened the room’s door to finally leave, “Just please take Aiden. He may live here, but I’m sure he’s never had to do anything on campus before.” And with that he left Evan to himself, the door still open to the hallway.

Evan glared at the open door, feeling an immense hatred towards the sight of it. Why did he have to be the only one who could take Aiden besides Jin? Why did Jin leave the door open?! Geez, only mothers did such things… That’s always one of the things that parents do. They bother you and then they leave, purposely keeping the door open to make you get up and close it yourself. Ugh… “Why…” he groaned again as he stretched out his limbs and again face planted into his pillow. The sun was too bright, his body was unhappy that he was awake at this time, and he held no desire to move… Carefully, he reached over and picked up his phone from the side of the bed and propped himself up on his elbows to read the two messages he was notified of by his phone. One message was from his mother telling him to have a good first day at school, and he couldn’t help but remark to himself that he was no longer a child. The second was from Damien. “What do you want now, kid…” he asked aloud as he read the message over.

 

Real Maknae: Your shampoo is behind the mirrored cabinet.

 

Evan looked the message over and stared, perplexed by the words Damien had sent. What was he going on about? Of course it was in there. That’s where they decided shower stuff belonged! Why did he feel the need to--- Evan glared at the message when he came to the realization of why he must have sent it. His fingers were quick to type a reply and once he clicked send, he could help but mutter to himself, “This kid is going to be the death of me…” Ever since he got his phone and learned how to use it, Damien has had more of a voice over text than he ever did verbally. He asked for help when he was just one room away, he sent weird messages such as this to avoid confrontation… it was completely unnecessary.

 

Lazy Hyung: You used it didn’t you

 

Damien perked up when he heard a high pitched bing from his jeans pocket and pulled his phone out only to read the message from the lock screen. His eyes nervously looked away from the phone, as though Evan himself was staring at him through the screen, and he was about to stuff the device into his pocket when he was stopped by Andy.

                “Before you put that away, you might want to turn off the sound. Teachers might call you out in class for that sort of thing.” Andy informed him as they walked out the door with their heavy school bags carried upon their backs. He definitely didn’t want Damien getting in trouble on the first day of school. He brushed his bangs away from his forehead as he ran a hand through his hair and then fixed his denim jacket’s collar while he walked alongside Damien, following behind Jin, “Hey, hyung, when is your first class? It’s 7:15 right now, and you have your backpack with you, so do you have an 8:00 class as well?” he asked curiously.

                Jin came to a stop until he was walking on Andy’s other side so he could speak with them without speaking up, “No, but I have no problem with being early. Like Evan, I have a class at 9:20 as well, and I have plans to speak with my supervisor before it. My main concern was making sure the two of you arrived at your classes on time. I can also point out where you’ll be headed after the first class if you can tell me what your schedule is.” he offered as he fixed one of the straps of his backpack.

                The three of them continued on to the completely other side of campus towards their destination, Draper building, where Damien and Andy’s GSTR class was to be held. Jin pointed out the places in which each of them would be headed for the rest of their schedules, and he even waited with them until their class was to start. As the day progressed, the classes seemed to take longer and longer, because every single period seemed to be a repeat of the last. The first day was always about clarifying rules and syllabi and usually also included introductions. It was as though the teachers didn’t think a student could read on his/her own. The only period that was different from the rest was the group’s 1:20 class, which was their Korean language course.

                The seats were set up in such a way that there were two long rows of tables parallel to each other with two tables at the very end of one side perpendicular to both rows. An open space was left between the two rows for the teacher to walk around in so that he could have eye contact with every individual and vice versa. Six of the housemates took up the majority of one row while other students sat in surrounding seats. Jin sat in the back of the room to watch over the classroom as their teacher’s assistant.

                “Jin hyung looks awfully professional over there, doesn’t he?” Rhodon grinned as he leaned over to look past Rapmon and catch a glance of Jin who seemed to be diligently filling out some paperwork of sorts. Rapmon was sitting in the first seat of the left row of tables (walking in), so his seat was directly diagonal from the perpendicular table at the back of the room nearest the door. Next to him sat Rhodon, Damien, Andy, Evan, and finally Aiden before reaching a student that was not a part of their household.

                “Yeah, I guess he does. Being a language TA is actually kind of easy. I mean, if it’s your own language, all you’re doing is helping others with something you are completely comfortable with. Though, I’ll admit it’s hard to explain why things are the way they are.” Rapmon replied with a chuckle before pulling out a notebook and pencil from his backpack. He himself was a Japanese TA, and he rather enjoyed it because of the teacher and the ease he had in the job. Little stress came from this particular occupation.

                As Rapmon busied himself with preparing for class to start, Rhodon leaned over to look past Damien and Andy in order to speak up to get Evan’s attention, “Hey, Evan Hyung!” he called out and then waited for him to turn his attention to him for him to continue talking, “Was that you I saw riding around in a Public Safety golf cart earlier? I was walking to my class when I saw you riding across the crosswalk.” he laughed as he explained why he asked, “Is that why you got the job? I’ll admit, that’s pure genius.”

                Evan allowed a small smirk to come to his lips and was about to reply when he realized the teacher was entering the room. He could tell that he was the type to get started as soon as the time was in his favor, so Evan just decided to keep his mouth shut before he was told to do so.

                Their teacher cleared his throat and gestured for Jin to close the door, and he class soon quieted down once they realized the teacher was about to speak, though a couple students were still talking. “All right, if you will all please quiet down,.. Thank you. Welcome to Korean language class. I am your teacher, Professor Nathan Hill. No, I am not of Korean descent, but I have lived in Korea for twenty years, so I can assure you I have plenty of experience. Also, please take notice of your TA, Kim Seokjin, who you will all refer to as Seonbae. This is an honorific used for someone who is both older and holds more experience in something than you do. Also, he will be passing around the syllabi for us to look over, and while he is doing that, I’d like to take the time to announce something of great importance, which also happens to include your first homework assignment,” he said as he then reached into his briefcase and pulled out several envelopes.

                Professor Hill began to pass these envelopes out in the same direction as Jin to avoid bumping into him, and he explained what these were as he did so, “In these envelopes you will find a picture of a Korean family and a note inside with their name, email address, and house address. These families have volunteered to adopt a student in a sense that you will be writing to them, telling them things about yourselves and becoming part of their family in a way. They will even give you a Korean name that they feel suits you. These will be your families until your Korean language journey has come to an end. But, even if that is so, I would encourage that you keep these connections long after this class, especially if you hope to travel to Korea one day. So, if you would, go ahead and open your envelopes and pull out your laptops that I had emailed you to bring today. When you log in, I want you to email your given families with an introduction of sorts as well as a picture of yourself, which again I had asked of you all to have ready as well. And don’t worry, these families are capable of speaking English well enough to communicate.” he informed them.

Every student in the class looked either intimidated or anxious except for the six household members, who all seemed to be genuinely confused. Kim Seokjin? All this time they thought his name was Jin Kasey! That is what he said his name was, right? Each of the six exchanged glances with each other as they pulled out their laptops and started up the systems. Of course they were interested in the topic at hand, but this whole thing Jin sort of threw them off.

The longer he thought about it, the sooner Andy came to realize that Jin actually did tell them something about his name. He leaned over and whispered it to the others as they were waiting on their computers, “I completely forgot Jin said that he wasn’t as use to his American name…” he whispered.

“That’s right… He should have told us his Korean name, too, don’t you think?” Evan replied with a sigh as he logged into his Berea email account. When he received his envelope, he became anxious about the whole situation. This was a neat idea, he had to admit, but what if the family didn’t like him? How was he suppose to write? WHAT was he suppose to write? Carefully, he opened it to reveal a picture of the family, and his eyes quickly scanned over the picture to see the people who would be receiving his letters. A mother, father, and son, huh? This should prove to be interesting, especially because the son was apparently older than him. With a few ideas of what to write, he started to write the email to the family.

Just a few seats down, however, Damien was significantly more anxious about even opening the envelope. What did he mean these families were adopting students? Do they actually become like family? A real family? His hands began to shake the longer he thought about it, and he couldn’t even find the words in his own mind to explain to himself what he was feeling. Hesitantly he pried the envelope open, careful not to rip it as much as possible. He pulled the photo out and examined every bit of it. His blue eyes wavered upon the family before him that seemed to be so happy to have each other and to be in that moment in which this picture was taken. A mother, father, and son, just like Evan’s family had. Without another second to spare, his eyes shifted to the names of the family members, and he read over everything on the page before looking to his computer when he realized he had to write an email to these people. What was he supposed to say?

“Damien? You alright?” Rhodon asked once he realized how pale Damien had become. It was normal for his skin to be pale, but not like this… “Isn’t this awesome? We’re going to be able to talk to people from Korea. In the family I’ve got there’s the parents and a daughter. What about you?” Rhodon was excited about this, but at the same time part of him had wished there was also a son. He already had two older sisters, and if he included this one, that meant three. Then again if there was one and they were to actually meet, he wondered if it would just lead to a repeat of history… Maybe he was being a little paranoid.

“Um… Yeah. It’s great… I mean, who knew we’d be able to talk to natives. But what are we supposed to email them about?” Damien replied nervously as he eyed the teacher who was sitting at his desk waiting for them all to finish with their emails.

“Just write about yourself. You know, where you’re from, facts about your family, your birthday, your major, likes and dislikes, that sort of stuff. Make sure you ask about them as well.” Rapmon replied, overhearing his and Rhodon’s conversation. He himself was already almost done typing up his email to his given family, which consisted of a couple and their daughter, who was younger than Rapmon. He was more skeptical about this whole family thing… He didn’t need another family ragging on him for not doing this and that, and he was also concerned that his ethnicity might get in the way as well… Hopefully, he’d be proven wrong.

“Just say what you want to say and be honest about it. I mean, this is an awesome opportunity! I’m actually really excited; I’ve always wanted a sibling!” Andy whispered to Damien excitedly from his left. Being a single child was definitely not all it was cracked up to be, and though this family was all the way in South Korea, he wanted to be as much of an older brother as possible to this family’s son. He couldn’t be happier about writing this email!

“Me too! And this family has a son and a daughter, both of them younger than me!” Aiden said as quietly as possible while still showing just as much excitement as Andy. He was loving this class already! He felt like he was gaining a completely different identity, and he liked that. It was all very intriguing to him.

Damien listened to everything the others had to say, but he still couldn’t figure out what to write. Was he the only one that felt anxious about this? Andy was right… he should be honest about himself. But he didn’t want to be in some aspects. With a heavy sigh, he finally began writing out his email, deciding to be honest while leaving a few things out. He just didn’t know these people and therefore wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with sharing things about himself.

The entire class finished with their emails in time for Professor Hill to begin going over the syllabus for the class, including the week-by-week schedule for lessons and due dates for assignments, his expectations for the class, and all of the other college standards that he needed to bring up. The emails and the syllabus combined took up the majority of the class time, and the students were let go a little bit early. The housemates all said their goodbyes before moving on to their next scheduled thing, be it work, another class, or a well deserved nap after a long first day.

As the evening hours rolled around, all of the housemates returned home for dinner that was prepared mostly by Jin, who had utilized the help of Evan to keep him from sleeping the rest of the day away. The rest of them, Rhodon, Aiden, Andy, and Rapmon, were all sitting at the dining table, discussing how their day had gone. Damien was nowhere in sight.

“I seriously don’t get this man,” Aiden stated. He placed his hands on his head to show his frustration. “It’s the first day of class, and already he’s more or less proving his true colors.”

“What do you mean?” Andy asked from the seat beside Aiden. “Showing his true colors already?” Andy wasn’t even sure if he knew who he was talking about, but Aiden seemed to be extremely stressed after just their first day.

“Truth be told, I really don’t like him.” Aiden crossed his arms. “Even the short time we spent with him for the advisor meeting, I could tell there was something off about him. He’s just… Conceited? I don’t know if that’s a strong enough word…” He tapped his chin as he thought about it.

“Are you talking about Cox?” Evan asked, walking into the room carrying a pot. “Because I definitely have a few choice words about that man, too. But I won’t say them because I don’t want Jin to stare me down.” He set the pot on the table with a potholder beneath it as to not damage the table.

Rapmon and Rhodon stifled their laughter, knowing very well that Jin would do more than stare him down… Speaking of Jin, the two of them had become quiet and straight-faced when he himself walked into the room. They didn’t want to tip Evan off to his presence to see if he would keep talking.

“But I will say he’s probably one of the most narcissistic, hypocritical, misogynistic and racist men I have ever met, and I--” Evan turned and came face to face with Jin, who was staring down at him with his arms crossed, hearing every word that had just come out  of his mouth. He was definitely surprised to find him there, but he quickly glanced  away as though not keeping eye contact would keep him safe from Jin’s eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, at least I’m not cussing him out.”

Jin sighed and placed the plate of food he was carrying on the table. “While that is true, it’s still not appropriate to talk about anyone that way, including your professor,”-He stirred the food in the pot a few times-“No matter what he is like.”

Evan rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen. “You sound like you’ve never met a bigot before…”

“Jin is just an all around nice guy,” Rhodon said with a smile. “Even if he does have bad things to say about people, he won’t say them.”

“I don’t know about all that,” Rapmon stated, and gestured to Rhodon from across the table. “You remember that time when--” He cut himself off when Jin left the room quickly, avoiding the conversation further, which made everyone at the table laugh.

“Since dinner is almost ready, do you think we should try and find Damien?” Andy asked, glancing around at the others. “Where is he anyway?” He hadn’t seen Damien since the end of Korean class, but he figured he would be home.

“I think he’s hiding in the room,” Evan replied, bringing a stack of plates to the table. “Doing homework, most probably… Someone should get him. I’m done.” He sat down at the table and leaned back in the chair. He wanted to be sleeping up until dinner was done, but he supposed that Jin asked for his help for a reason. “Text him, since that’s the only way he asks us for anything.”

Aiden was already on it, pulling his phone from his pocket and unlocking the screen with a swipe of his finger and a few taps on the screen. “There’s many ways to learn how to do things…” He texted Damien quickly and adeptly. “Damien is just getting used to using his phone, I guess.”

“I think he’s trying to avoid face-to-face contact,” Evan said and rubbed his face with his hands. He didn’t quite buy that he was learning how to use his phone by texting them for everything…

The master bedroom’s door opened in the hallway and Damien appeared not long after. He sat at the table, between Rhodon and the wall, which was the last seat available that wasn’t at the head of the table. He remained quiet and vigilant.

“Everyone is here,” Jin stated and sat down at the head of the table. He grabbed a few plates from the pile Evan had set down earlier and sent them down the table to be given to each housemate. Evan’s laziness would never cease to amaze…”It sounds like everyone had a more or less productive first day.”

“More or less,” Rapmon agreed. “First days are always the most boring.” He backtracked through his day, trying to find something that would be interesting to talk about, but he didn’t think that talking about syllabi or supervising an introductory Japanese class would be noteworthy.

“Just lots of syllabi and awkward introductions…” Evan stayed leaned back in his chair. “Oh yeah, and the most crowded day in food service. Poor souls.” He shook his head, silently thanking the heavens for sending Jin to be with them.

“Really? I thought food service was pretty okay,” Andy said, staring at the food on the table. He wasn’t sure about anyone else, but he was starving. For some reason, he just didn’t want to start eating until someone else started first.

Jin took notice of the staring by several of the housemates and chuckled. “You guys can eat, you know.” He gestured to the food, though he didn’t mean to stop the conversation.

The housemates took no time in digging into the food on the table, and the conversation about food service continued with Evan’s reply. “Just you wait, a month into it, you’re going to be overjoyed to be able to have Jin’s cooking… And you’ll wish it could be every meal.” He started to eat when he finished talking, no longer interested in having a conversation.

“Speaking of awkward…” Andy was also ready to move on from the food service conversation, though he was a bit skeptical of Evan’s analysis of it. He pushed it aside, coming back to the previous things being said. “We need to start working on some speaking skills with Damien over here. He was the most awkward I have seen him in our GSTR class today… He seriously crumbles like a cookie under pressure!”

“I do not crumble under pressure… I was nervous is all. I’m sure everyone experiences it.” Damien defended himself as he paused  from eating to do so. Deep down inside, however, he actually agreed with Andy… He had  never had a teacher before nor had he ever sat in a normal classroom before. Of course he was nervous… It was more than embarrassing too…

“But he’s right Damien. Sooner or later you’re going to have to speak in front of the class… We’ll definitely have to work with you on your people skills.” Jin commented with concern. Damien could get a bad grade on a presentation if he was too nervous to speak in front of the class.

“Speaking of people skills…” Evan cleared his throat and his fork down as he made eye contact with Damien, “Aiden bought you a phone for a reason, it’s true… But he didn’t get it for you so that you could avoid speaking to us in person. I think we can  all agree that we want to get to know you, and we can’t exactly do that just  by communicating through a phone. So try and be a little more talkative with us, yeah?” he said before immediately returning to his food.

“I agree.” Rapmon stated, being joined around the table by several nods, “And now that we’ve settled that… You worked at food service today didn’t you? For lunch? How did you like it, considering it was so busy?” He was definitely curious because of all he had heard about working in dining service.

Damien hadn’t expected to be given a small lecture from Evan, but he surprisingly took  it rather well. He had been texting them to avoid  face-to-face conversations, just as Evan had expected, but it was mostly because he had become extremely anxious about starting school. Being thrown into a social environment all of a sudden was very difficult on him. He offered a small smile and a nod of agreement to indicate that he would try and do as asked. He then turned his attention to Rapmon and shrugged in reply, “It wasn’t… exactly what I had hoped. I mean, I’ve worked before, so I know not everything is what you expect, but… I don’t know. What bothers me most is that my manager is that guy that you guys interviewed when Evan chased me. You remember him?”

A clattering of silverware could be heard from Evan’s end as he dropped his fork on his plate and covered his face with his hands, groaning in frustration, “Please tell me you’re not saying that Paul is your student manager…”

“Who else could it be?” Jin asked as he released a heavy sigh, “Unfortunately, you really can’t do anything about that. It is what it is… Did he acknowledge you at all? I mean, did he say anything?”

Damien thought about it for a moment and then shrugged again, “I don’t really remember. I think I was too busy trying to listen to what I was suppose to do because it was so busy.”

“Just tell us if he gives you any trouble. All of us are at lunch at one time or another, so if you need to talk over a break or something, don’t hesitate.” Aiden spoke up seriously.  He was still upset about the incident, just as Jin and Evan were. He hated that he had been so blind to Paul’s real personality, and now that he would be Damien’s student manager, he had become worried that he might harass him at work.

“Wait, who’s Paul?” Andy asked in confusion, having noticed that Rapmon and Rhodon didn’t know who he was either judging by the look on their faces. They were the only ones not present during that interview.

Evan shook his head in annoyance and picked up his fork once more. He wanted to say several things about Paul, but again kept his words to himself, “Don’t worry about it… We’ll explain it later. No need in spoiling good food by discussing this.”

The group went quiet as they began to eat again after such an unsettling topic, but the silence was soon interrupted by the sound of a short, high pitched bell coming from Rhodon’s pocket. As soon as he pulled the device out and read the notification with excitement evident in his facial expression, “I got an email back from my Korean family!” He looked around at the others, curious if they had gotten one too. “What about you guys? Did you guys start getting emails back?”

“Not yet,” Rapmon replied. “But you should look at yours! It’ll have your Korean name, right?” His friend’s excitement made him smile, though he himself was excited to hear back from the family he had been given. The thing is, the current time was 7:30 p.m. in Berea, while in Korea, it was 12 hours ahead. That meant it was only early morning. Some people weren’t up that early.

“Right.” Rhodon grinned as he opened up the email and waited for it to load. All of the boys leaned over the table curiously, waiting to hear what Rhodon’s Korean family had to say with complete curiosity. He read the entire email and kept the words for himself only, but it was obvious that he was happy, “Okay, I’m not reading the whole thing aloud, but in general they said they were happy to meet me and learn of who I am. They said that after looking over my picture and considering what I had to say about myself and all, they came up with a name for me to call my own… Jung Hos… Hoseok? I think that’s how you pronounce it?” he said uncertainly, looking to Jin to confirm.

“Jung Hoseok?” Jin repeated, also confirming the pronunciation. He thought about it for a moment as he looked Rhodon over and then nodded with a smile, “I like it. I think they’re right that it suits you. Just for your information, Jung is the family name, Ho is the generational name, and Seok is the personal name. It’s actually really neat when you think about it.”

The others were fascinated by the name that Rhodon had received from his Korean family, and it sparked their excitement to receive theirs as the night would go on. And it so happened that while Jin and Evan were cleaning up the table from dinner and doing the dishes, Andy received his email. He quickly pulled up his email and looked it over, trying not to bounce in his spot on the couch too much as he did so. “I got my email! They said they are glad to hear from me, and they gave me my name…” He read it over a few times, taking it in. “Park Ji-min! Sounds so cool!”

Aiden looked over his shoulder at the text of the email, being a bit of a snoop simply because he was interested. “Park Jimin… So, their entire family is Park? That’s kinda cool.” He leaned back into the seat, returning to his normal sitting position. “I can’t wait to hear the rest of them; this is actually really awesome.” He glanced at the rest of the housemates that were in the living room, since they had moved away from the dining table to stay out of the way of Jin and Evan while they were cleaning.

Other than the emails coming in one by one, the group was ignoring their first night’s homework with other forms of entertainment because they could always do their homework tomorrow night instead. Once Evan and Jin had finished cleaning, Evan collapsed onto his stomach on the living room floor with his phone held in front of his face. “So we have a Park Jimin and a Jung Hoseok…Sounds pretty diverse so far.” He was anxiously awaiting his email, and when Rapmon’s arrived next, it made him even more impatient, “What’s it say?”

“Hold on, lemme read what they said first,” Rapmon said, eyes following the text on his screen while he scrolled. “They wrote a lot! I guess they were really excited to hear from me.” He continued to read until he finished and scrolled back up to where they had given him his Korean name. “Kim Nam-joon.” He nodded slowly, mulling the name over in his head. “I like it… Oh hey, wait, isn’t Kim your family name, Jin?”

“It is. There are a lot of Kim families in Korea,” Jin replied, looking up briefly from his 3DS. “Don’t be surprised if a lot of the students in the class get Kim as their family names. Even so, it’s a nice name. Just because the family name isn’t uncommon doesn’t mean your name isn’t unique or cool.” He looked back down at his game and got right back into it, though he still listened to the others while they conversed.

Damien felt a buzzing in his pocket, and though he was tempted to see what this notification was, he chose to ignore it. He had been anxious all day about hearing back from the Korean family he wrote to, and if the emails were going out now, he didn’t feel ready to look at it quite yet. The phone remained in his pocket, even up until Evan received his email around 8:30.

“Finally,” Evan breathed as he opened the email up. He rolled onto his back and held the phone above his face, a risky position, but he was getting numb from being on his stomach for that long. He read over the family’s message to him, allowing a smile to form on his lips as he finished. “Min Yoon-gi,” he said aloud, reading over the name they had given him.

“Jung, Park, Kim and Min…” Damien mused. “They all are so different… I wonder if we all have different family names except for Rapmon hyung and Jin hyung.” He was curious, but he was still much too worried about his own email.

“Yeah! Hey, have you gotten yours yet hyung? You turned your sound off before class this morning, so maybe you’ve missed the notification?” Andy reminded Damien about the sound on his phone, smiling pleasantly.

Damien couldn’t avoid it much longer, and he came to realize that he should pull his phone out to check his sound now  that Andy had suggested it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen. The phone was notifying him of all the things he was missing, including an email. “Oh. I think you’re right, Andy…” He opened up the phone hesitantly and worked his way to the email inbox. He really didn’t want to look, but with his housemates now aware that he had it, he had no choice. Slowly he read over the message and almost immediately felt a bit of the tension easing from his body. They seemed nice enough… Unfortunately he wasn’t entirely sure how to pronounce the name  he was given. “Ah… Jin, is it Jey-on?”

Jin shut the 3DS so his game would pause. “Can I see?” He was glad that Damien had finally gotten his email and that he was asking for help on the pronunciation. He knew with an accent it may be hard to pronounce at first, but letting him know early would aid in changing that. When Damien showed the name to him he smiled. “Jeon. Do you have the rest?”

“Jeong-guk?” Damien looked up at him, pulling his phone back towards his chest. “Jeon Jeongguk.” He glanced at the name again, a smile coming to his lips. “I like it, but… the last name is sort of difficult for me to pronounce… mainly because the ‘g’ in it is unusually rough.

“I kind of agree. It’s a nice name, and obviously you’ll use it during class. But… maybe you can sort of adjust the name in a way that we can all pronounce it easier.” Evan suggested as he thought about a way of doing so. It was a good idea, but he didn’t exactly know how to implement it.

“That’s a little cheating, but I suppose using it only amongst ourselves wouldn’t be a problem. Just as long as it’s not a big change.” Jin remarked uncertainly. He wouldn’t allow for them to change the name up too much…

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.” Rapmon spoke up as he rubbed his chin in thought, “You’re having trouble pronouncing the last ‘g’ in the name right? Why don’t you just change it to a ‘k’ to make the name ‘Jungkook’ instead. The only pronunciation difference is that one letter, so it still works. Plus it just so happens to mix in your last name.” he pointed out.

Jin considered everything Rapmon had to say and then slowly nodded to confirm that the name was alright, “I’m only agreeing for this name to be used outside of class and among us. You still have to get use to your given name, both pronunciation and writing.” he insisted. Professor Hill definitely wouldn’t expect any less.

Damien nodded excitedly as he returned his eyes to the email to read it over again, excited about both of the names he just gained, as weird as it sounded. He was grateful yet still a little anxious about this opportunity and only hoped for the best.He was starting to think that Korean class and the pen pal family wouldn’t be so bad after all.

By the time 9:00 rolled around, Aiden was worried. He hadn’t yet received his email, and it was almost time to get to bed. Out of all the housemates, he, Rapmon, Jin and Evan remained out in the living room, while the others were getting ready for bed. “Maybe they’re able to get up later?” he mused, though he wasn’t so sure. He was having a hard time convincing himself.

“I’m sure you’ll get it before you go to sleep,” Jin affirmed with a smile. “They may have been busy upon waking or during the morning hours. Don’t worry too much. They haven’t forgotten about you.” He was now reading over a page in a book that seemed to be for a class.

Aiden nodded and returned to scrolling on Facebook, knowing he could get lost in the endless news-feed until the email would come through. He stifled a laugh at a picture he thought was funny and then proceeded to share it to his own profile. This was done several times while he waited.

Evan sat up from his spot on the floor and rolled his neck, his phone in his hand with the screen off. “The floor is only comfortable for such a short amount of time…” He shook out his hands after setting the phone on the floor, trying to regain feeling in them.

“There are plenty of spots on the couch,” Rapmon stated, looking over at him. “You decided not to move from the floor. Thus, you tortured yourself.” He leaned back, his phone in his lap.

Evan was going to reply, but he was cut off by a shrill sound from Aiden’s phone and the boy’s excitement. “Finally!!” Aiden quickly switched to the email app to read his Korean family’s email to him with an extreme amount of attention. “Kim Tae-hyung…. Hyung is already in my name!”

“/That’s/ the first thing you notice,” Evan commented, laughing. “It’s a nice name. But that’s it, right? Everyone has their names now?” He got off of the floor and stood tall, shoving his phone into his pocket before shaking his hands once more.

Jin nodded and closed the book in his hands. “That’s everyone. How exciting…You’ll need to remember them, so try to commit it to memory as soon as possible.” He stood up from the couch and tucked the book under his arm. He, and the others, went to their respective rooms in order to get ready for the night and prepare for the next school day. He wasn’t sure why, but he was extremely pleased that all of them were so happy about receiving their emails and names… Somehow he felt proud, and he was looking forward to the days to come, particularly in Korean class.

Over the next few weeks, the housemates all became accustomed to their Korean names, as well as the Korean class and their professor. They began to use their given names more frequently than their American names as they became more comfortable with the usage and the culture and history behind the language. Learning about the country, the people, the traditions and cultures helped them all feel more connected to the names they were given, as well as the families they were speaking to. They were sending phrases and words they were learning in Hangeul to their families to show them what they were learning during each week, and there was always an “email test” where they would answer questions they were asked by their family, and they would be graded on their answers. It was enjoyable to them. During this time, Jin began to introduce them to an array of Korean artists, from soloist singers and instrumentalists, to the biggest names in Korean Pop, such as Big Bang and SHINee. They grew to like them quickly, and they especially caught Evan’s eye. He was interested in their sound more than anything.

On Saturday, at the end of those first two weeks, five of the housemates had a plan to carry out on this particular day, September 1st. They started earlier in the morning, about 8:00am, talking and prepping.

“It’s nice of you to be up so early to help us, Yoongi-hyung…We know how much sleeping in on the weekends means to you,” Hoseok said with a grin. It took almost a group effort to make him wake up, and as much as he had been reluctant to leave his bed, he joined them anyway.

“Yeah, yeah…” Yoongi yawned and rubbed at his eyes. “Just tell me what I need to do so I can figure out if I can sleep more or not…” He truly did want to help, but in his sleepy state, he was a little more than easily irritated. He sighed, trying to compose himself to act a bit more proper.

“We have to get Jungkook and Namjoon out of the house,” Jin stated from his seat at the bar, tapping a pencil against the counter. “But I’m not sure what we can tell them to get them to leave, since one or two of us will probably have to take them out to make it believable.”

“Well don’t send me, I don’t think that will be believable…” Yoongi muttered and laid his head on the counter. “Why not the maknae? Maybe they can go walk around Berea for a little while.”

Taehyung perked up hearing ‘maknae’. “I wouldn’t mind,” he said with a smile. “I would like to look at the stores down there, but I don’t know if that gives you guys enough time to set everything up, though… I can take him and Namjoon hyung to Hastings. This place is awesome. I think he and Jungkookie hyung will really like it. And that will leave Hoseok-hyung here with his car so you guys can go out and get what you need.” Taehyung had already started giving little nickname changes to his roommates. At first they were just to mess with them, but it wasn’t long before he started using these nicknames occasionally just out of habit.

Jimin looked like he wanted to speak, but he was interrupted by Yoongi before he could formulate his words.

“Will that get him out of the house?” Yoongi asked while running his fingers through his hair. He was worried that their plans would fall flat, since they didn’t really have a plan B. Would they really be able to convince Jungkook and Namjoon to leave the house just to go to a store?

“I can be persuasive when I have to be,” Taehyung said with a grin. “Don’t worry about it, I think we can get them out without a problem. There’s plenty there they will like, and with all the Disney and Star Wars we’ve been watching with Jungkookie hyung, he’ll find a lot to nerd out over. It’ll just be up to you guys to get everything set up. And to keep us updated on when we can return.”

Jin nodded as he scribbled something on the piece of paper on the counter. “I’m currently writing a list for the last minute things I need at the store, including the cake. I put the order in for it yesterday, so that it would be completed today. I hope to have you guys pick it up when you are getting the other supplies. We already have all of the gifts, so that’s not an issue…” He looked up at the housemates. “I think this will be a success. We just have to start step one to get the birthday boys out of the house.”

Taehyung grinned, “Leave it to me.”  

Jimin smiled sheepishly, finding that he was able to speak finally. “Actually, we have plans to go to the gym this morning…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think that would keep Jungkook away long enough, I’ll just have to try and convince him to shower at the gym.”

Yoongi grinned as an idea popped into his head, and it seemed as though life was coming to his sleepy eyes. “I think something happened to the hot water in the house…” He looked over at Tae. “Where’s your hot water heater? I’ve done this a million times to my siblings for spending too much time in the shower...”

Taehyung snapped his fingers and pointed to Yoongi, proud of his housemate for making such a great impression, “Yes! Or as Jungkookie hyung would say, ‘brilliant’! I’ll go turn it off before I forget.” he said as he his heel to leave for the basement. However, he paused on his way and glanced back at Yoongi, questioning whether or not he himself should be the one doing it, “Uh… Yoongi hyung, you want to do it? I mean, it was your idea, you know?” he asked uncertainly.

Yoongi chuckled and pushed himself off his chair, getting a burst of energy from this incentive he suddenly had. If this didn’t work to get Jungkook to take a shower at the gym, he didn’t know what would. Without another moment to waste, he followed Taehyung to the basement to turn off the hot water, leaving the others to discuss the next matter at hand.

“Okay, so you’ve got Jungkook covered, right Jimin? You two are usually out until 11:30 or so, aren’t you?” Jin asked him as he tried to figure out whether or not that was a good time. “The thing is, we want him here no earlier than noon. His brother said he couldn’t be on skype until 5:00 p.m. his time. So, try and stall him as much as possible. Maybe you can say you want to exercise more than usual this time. Or perhaps you can be slow in leaving this morning.” he suggested uncertainly.

Jimin considered this for a moment and then shook his head, “No, I don’t think I can stall him. He and I have a routine we follow. You know this, hyung. You workout with us two days of the week.” he pouted as he realized Jin should already know this information, “I can definitely take longer getting ready this morning. I’m sure he’ll be understanding if I make up a story about not sleeping well last night or something.”

“Alright, so Jungkook is taken care of… What about Namjoon hyung?” Hoseok asked as he took Yoongi’s seat at the bar. If he wasn’t there anymore, that meant it was open right? “Both of them know we’re throwing a party sometime this week right? Jungkook thinks it’s later in the week for Namjoon hyung, and Namjoon hyung thinks it’s later tonight for Jungkook.”

“Right. So then… wait. We said we needed to grab a few last minute things right? Maybe Taehyung can just take Namjoon with him to the store to get them if he already knows a party is going to happen.” Jimin suggested but soon he shook his head and groaned, “Never mind. Going to the store wouldn’t be enough time, and even if it was, we need that stuff before Namjoon hyung and Jungkook hyung get here…” Why was this so difficult?

“What do you mean going to a store wouldn’t be enough time? You’ve never been to Costco, have you?” Taehyung asked as he returned to the group with Yoongi at his side, having completed their first mission. “I’ve got Namjoonie hyung covered. I’ve been wanting to go to Costco again for a while now, and I’ve got my membership card so there’s nothing stopping us! Plus, the store is 40 minutes away, so that’s plenty of time. You guys should get what you need for the party; I’ll just have Namjoon hyung grab a few snacks he likes, and we’ll just have extra.” he assured them.

Yoongi was more than disappointed to find that his seat was taken by Hoseok, but he dealt with it now that they were almost done with coming up with the plans, “Alright, it sounds like we’ve got it all sorted out, right? If so, then I’m going back to bed. Hey, Jimin? Don’t forget to turn off your alarm and act as though you’re still sleeping when Jungkook tries to wake you up. Just be really slow.” he reminded him.

“You can count on me, hyung. No way am I going to be the reason this fails.” Jimin laughed before returning his eyes to Jin, “So that’s it, right?”

“Yeah, that’s all. The rest of it we can deal with when those two are out of the house. Oh, and try your best to communicate with each other about what’s going on. You all have to walk in at the same time. Good luck to you both. ” Jin stated, jokingly passing it off as a life and death situation. He was actually really excited for today, considering it was the first birthday party they were holding in their household.

The group dispersed and either went back to sleep or only returned to their rooms to hang out until they felt like leaving. Jin was the only one who stayed out in the living room, just to make sure that all of the plans were working accordingly. Sure enough, as the time began to pass and the clock reached 9:15, a second alarm sounded from the master bedroom, blaring from Jungkook’s phone to wake him up for his morning workout with Jimin after he had already hit snooze once. It wasn’t until he looked at the time that he realized he actually really needed to get up or else they would be completely off schedule. Like clockwork, the plan begun to unfold with Jimin taking his sweet time in getting up and Taehyung knocking on Namjoon’s door to ask him to join him to go to Costco. Everything was working exactly as they had hoped thus far, even though Jungkook threatened to leave Jimin if he didn’t get out of bed. He was thankfully given another chance once he was up and getting ready.

With the two birthday boys out of the house, the three remaining housemates got to work on setting up  the decorations and placing the presents in the proper places. Hoseok left for walmart to purchase the rest of the necessities and soon returned to help finish setting up. Hopefully Taehyung wouldn’t allow Rapmon to buy too much…

As noon approached, Jin, Yoongi, and Hoseok became anxious at the thought that one of them might show up before the other. They didn’t want to spoil the surprise for one of them because of such a small mistake… Taehyung had texted that they were on their way back about 40 minutes  ago, which had them concerned that he and Namjoon would arrive without any sign of Jimin and Jungkook. Jimin had texted that their workout was done 15 minutes ago, but apparently he had forgotten to text when they left the gym. So with Yoongi watching for any sign of them out the window from behind a curtain, Jin set up his computer to pull up Skype and Hoseok made sure everything else was in order.

“Guys, I see Jungkook and Jimin coming down the street.” Yoongi announced as he pulled out his phone, “I don’t see Namjoon and Taehyung anywhere, so I’ll text Jimin to---” he cut himself off as he looked up again to find that Taehyung’s car was alongside Jimin and Jungkook as the two of them began jogging beside it, “Never mind; they’re all here! Phew… I really thought we were going to be screwed. You guys ready?” he asked as he moved from the window and checked to see that the others were ready for their entrance.

“Yeah, almost. Skype is being a little slow. Hopefully they will all talk a bit before coming inside so I can get this to work.” Jin replied as he clicked on a friend request from Dominic and tried to start up the video chat.

Sure enough, as soon as Taehyung parked the car, Namjoon exited the car and questioned Jimin and Jungkook as to what they were doing, “Aren’t ya’ll a little late? You usually get back around 11:00 or so, don’t you?” It was just odd to see them coming home at this time…

“Don’t blame me! Jimin took forever doing EVERYTHING this morning! He slept past the alarm, he was slow getting out of bed, he took his time in the lavatory, and then he decided that we would jog and workout longer than usual. Oh, and he complained to me saying, ‘hyung, we have to take showers at the gym because we don’t have hot water at the house’, and even though I told him a cold shower wasn’t a big deal, he insisted that we shower at the gym. Jimin threw my entire schedule off by an hour!” Jungkook complained as he gently pushed Jimin to emphasize his so-called anger, though he was laughing as he did so. Jimin was just driving him crazy this morning.

“Don’t be like this, hyung. Even though you said you could handle a cold shower, I know you wouldn’t have liked it. I insisted for your own well-being! Besides, I can’t help that I’ve been lazy this morning; I didn’t sleep well, like I’ve said about 20 times already!” Jimin claimed as he laughed it off as well.

“Wow, Jimin, it sounds like you’ve successfully driven him crazy.” Rapmon chuckled as he walked up to the two younger housemates with Taehyung behind him, “What’s sad is that you allowed Jungkook to get up before you, and that takes skill that I thought only Yoongi had.” he grinned before leading the way to the front door with a shake of his head. Today was definitely interesting… The last thing he had expected to do this morning was go to Costco, a large store that he had never been to but actually liked. The thing is, usually the housemates would make the plans at least the night before, but he guessed this was just a spur of the moment decision.

“If it’s something Jungkook hyung likes, he gets up easier than he does otherwise, in my defense.” Jimin argued as Taehyung gestured for Jungkook to follow after Namjoon.

Namjoon opened his mouth to reply as he opened the door, but before anything could leave his mouth, loud singing and shouting greeted them with the tune of “Happy Birthday”, and he had to admit… it definitely surprised him. He was expecting the birthday party tonight, but that was for Jungkook! Why didn’t they tell him that they changed the time?? He was… confused. That is until Hoseok practically tackled him to place a headband with pikachu ears on his head while Jungkook himself was dubbed with Mickey Mouse ears by Yoongi. Yoongi looked a little too excited to tackle Jungkook and force the headband onto him…

Jungkook was… slightly terrified at first,  shocked, happy, and somewhat emotional. He didn’t expect any birthday celebration at all, even though they had been planning Namjoon’s. He was aware that the group had known Namjoon for a much longer time, so he held no suspicion for a party of his own birthday as well. What made things worse was that Jin was recording  everything! And even his own brother was on Skype singing with them to congratulate the birthdays! Everything at once just sparked a few tears to fall from Jungkook’s eyes, and he was quick to try and leave the house and hide himself from the others to escape the embarrassment. Unfortunately for him, Yoongi caught him before he could try and get past Jimin and Taehyung and a headband of sorts was placed upon his head.

Yoongi grinned proudly at himself for completing the deed, that is until he noticed Jungkook was trying to wipe tears away with the sleeves of his sweater. His facial expression became a little more serious, but he was aware that Jungkook wasn’t crying because he was upset, so he made sure not to get too serious, “Hey, come on... Don’t fight to get away; there’s no way we set up all of these decorations for nothing.” he joked a little. He was grateful that Jungkook was at least still smiling, “You didn’t think we’d forget you, did you, Jungkookie?” he pat his shoulder in a comforting way and then pointed at the laptop that sat on the nearby breakfast bar, “Go talk to your brother, will ya? He’s been waiting to see you.”

As Jungkook finished getting rid of his tears and allowed Yoongi to lead him to the computer, Namjoon was still laughing off the fact that the group had tricked him, “You guys… you guys actually got me. I was really wondering why you didn’t tell me the time for the party had changed, but man… that was actually good, I’ll admit. Were these ears really necessary though?” he laughed as he took the headband off and looked them over before eyeing Hoseok, “This was your doing wasn’t it? I haven’t been able to play much Pokemon yet this semester, so it had to be you.”

“Of course it was me, and they are completely necessary. I thought I was doing you a favor by allowing you to be one with your favorite Pokemon.” Hoseok laughed as he urged him to put them back on, “You’ve got to wear them, just like Jungkook has to wear his. They’re your birthday hats!”

“Alright, alright, but only for the time being.” Namjoon shook his head as he put them on and looked over to Jin who had just turned off the camera he was recording with. He approached the eldest and then quietly questioned him to make sure he was correct, “Jungkook said he was turning 18 right?” Jin nodded to confirm that Jungkook had said so. Namjoon thanked him and then approached the other birthday boy who was congratulating his twin brother over skype himself. Once the two of them had stopped talking for a split second, Namjoon joined into the conversation, “So how do you guys feel being 18 now? Finally adults, for the most part, huh?”

Jungkook’s face froze with that deer-in-the-headlights look, and he nervously bit his lip as he tried to figure out what to say because at that very moment his twin was already spilling the secret he had kept for the past three weeks that he was actually the youngest.

“18? Nah, we’re not there yet. We’ve still got another year, but hey, one year closer!” Dominic replied with excitement, which soon faded away once he noticed the expressions every single person on the other end of skype. “Uh… Did I say something wrong? Why does everyone look so serious?” Needless to say, he felt very confused… Why did Damien look so guilty?

“You…” Jimin began as he looked around with the same happy frustration that Jungkook had earlier outside the house as he searched for something to throw at the boy. He spotted a bowl of party crackers nearby and was all too eager to grab a handful of the crackers and throw them at him one by one, “How dare you lie to me! I trusted you! My life has been a lie the past 3 weeks with every ‘hyung’ that left my mouth for you!” He shouted, soon running out of crackers in his hand to throw. He then pulled the mickey mouse ears off his head and pointed at him with them, “You don’t even deserve these ears! Mickey isn’t a liar!”

Jungkook raised his hands and arms to block himself from the dangerous flying crackers, but he was laughing uncontrollably because of Jimin’s reaction. He didn’t expect this reaction at all! He expected them to be mad! Of course, he sounded frustrated, but not the angry kind of frustrated that he had expected.

The others were laughing at Jimin as well and watched as he suddenly picked Jungkook up and carried him over to the couch to pretend to beat him up, “3 WEEKS!!” he repeated as the others joined in to torture the real youngest.

“Excuse us for one minute, Dominic. It’s time for us to maim the real maknae.” Yoongi stated seriously to the twin before joining the housemates, “But guys, seriously, wasn’t it obvious? I knew it from the very beginning. I’ve always called him kid, haven’t I?” he insisted as he allowed them to wrestle with the youngest who was squirming to get out of their grip and begging for Yoongi or Jin to help since they were the only two not attacking him.

“Hey, you put yourself in this situation. Yoongi and I seem to be the only ones who weren’t convinced. Then again… Taehyung. Aren’t you mad that you’ve been called maknae this entire time? I mean… you could have been of slightly higher status.” Jin asked skeptically.

Taehyung was busy struggling to keep Jungkook’s arms behind his back as he sat on his upper back to assist Jimin, Namjoon, and Hoseok in pinning him down so he couldn’t run. Of course four people weren’t completely necessary, but it was more fun this way. “Huh? Oh… To be honest I knew all along. I was hoping you guys would find evidence to prove it wrong, but you never did. I mean, Dominic  had to tell you guys, which is pretty funny.” he commented before looking down at Jungkook who had given up on fighting, “Speaking of which, it is really weird seeing another you on the Skype screen.”

“Sorry Dominic, we’ll have your brother back in just a sec!” Hoseok exclaimed as he was reminded that Dominic was kind of being left out at this point.

“Jimin, get off my legs, they’re going numb!” Jungkook shouted as he even tried to get Taehyung off of his back again, failing once more.

“Jeon Jeongguk! I swear if you don’t start calling me hyung, we’re going to have issues!” Jimin laughed and immediately jumped off of his legs and gestured for Namjoon to take his place before sitting in front of Jungkook and flicking him in the forehead, “Who am I?”

“Ouch! I’m sorry! It’s a habit!” Jungkook cried out, though he was still trying to stop grinning.

“Who am I? Say it!” Jimin insisted, flicking him again.

“Hyung! Hyung! Okay there I said it!” Jungkook replied, his eyes closed tightly every time he was flicked.

“There, wasn’t that easy? It sounds completely right now, too, doesn’t it? Don’t you feel better calling me hyung?” Jimin grinned, basking in his higher level of status now that Jungkook was demoted.

“It would feel a lot better if I wasn’t being squished by three people.” Jungkook groaned, “Can’t you guys take it easy??”

“Alright, alright, we need him alive. I think he gets the point now.” Jin chuckled as he gestured for them all to get off of him, “Though I am disappointed… All that working out and yet they still pinned you to the ground. You’re slacking Jungkook…”

“I didn’t know I was working out to lift three or four people…” Jungkook huffed as Taehyung finally released him so he could breathe properly. He took Jin’s outstretched hand and allowed him to assist him to his feet. He then returned to the computer to converse with his brother once more. “Sorry about that, the people here are just a little bit crazy.”

“A little bit?” Namjoon asked, pretending to be offended by his remark as he and the others joined Jungkook at the computer.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Dominic commented with a laugh. “I hate to cut the call short, but I am kind of pressed for time. Is there any way we can do the present opening now?” He of course wanted to stay longer for his brother’s birthday, but he unfortunately had a prior engagement with a group of work friends for his own birthday celebration.

“Yeah, of course we can!” Jimin wrapped his arm around Jungkook’s shoulders and placed the Mickey Mouse ears back upon his head. “I guess you can have this back now…I don’t entirely forgive you, but you can’t open the presents without them.”

Hoseok grabbed the package that was addressed “to Damien, from Dominic” that had arrived two days prior, and he handed it to Jungkook. “We’ll have you open Dominic’s first, then, in case he has to go before we’re finished.”

“You should open yours now too, Dominic,” Jungkook said as he took hold of the package Hoseok gave him. “That way we can open them at the same time.” This was their first present exchange in which they spent money on each other due to their lack of employment when they still lived together. This fact made them equally nervous and excited at the same time.

Dominic nodded and picked up the box that he had sitting next to him at the desk, and eagerly unwrapped the present simultaneously with Jungkook. He was overjoyed to find a deflated European football sitting snugly inside the box with a small air pump beside it. Dominic had been wanting a new football for a while now because the ball they had been using had become well worn.

Just as Dominic was pulling out his gift, Jungkook was excitedly pulling out the sketchbook and drawing pencils that sat inside his box. He had been hoping to buy a new sketchbook in a few weeks because his old one was filled up, so he was definitely grateful for the gift. “How’d you know I needed one of these? I ran out of pages in my last one just recently…” He questioned as he flipped through the blank pages.

“Come on, I’ve lived with you for how many years? I know how quickly you run through sketchbooks. Anyhow, thanks for the ball! I can’t wait to use it, especially when you get back!” Dominic responded with a grin as he placed the items back in the box. “I might even get my friends to play with me later.”

“Okay, okay! Open this one!” Jimin grabbed a wrapped box, about the same dimensions of a cereal box, and shoved it into Jungkook’s hands when the previous box was set aside. “This one is from all of us, but it was Yoongi hyung’s idea. Jin hyung was a little against it, but we got him on our side….eventually.”

Jungkook hesitantly took the package. He was worried because 1) Yoongi hyung picked it out, and 2) Jin hyung was against it. Nonetheless he proceeded to open up the present, and as an embarrassed grin fell upon his face, he placed the box under his seat. “Noo this is so unnecessary! For the last time, I do not crumble like a cookie!” The gift was a box of Cookie Crisp, which had the C at the beginning of Cookie crossed out and replaced with a K.

“Turn the box over! You have to read it!” Jimin grabbed the box and shoved it back into his arms.

Jungkook’s eyes quickly skimmed over the message on the back, written messily in black Sharpie. It read: “Here’s to your graduation to taking a shower during the day <3 your Hyungs”. This time, he let out an embarrassed laugh as he once again placed the box under his seat and then hid his face in his hands.

“I’ve been doing that for a while now!” Jungkook stated in defense of himself.

“According to your roommates and my keen sense of hearing, you’ve been setting your alarm earlier in the mornings to prepare for school now that you’re not getting up to take your shower in the middle of the night. And I’m pretty sure that just started last week,” Yoongi stated matter of factly.

“For the record, the only reason I didn’t agree to this is because it’s a sugary cereal…Which, you don’t need with being an athlete…” Jin informed him, completely agreeing with Yoongi’s statement. He, and the others, were glad that Jungkook had become comfortable enough to take a shower at a more normal time of the day.

“You did what? You don’t take showers during the day? What do you do, get up at 3am to shower?” Dominic asked incredulously, though he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Actually, that’s exactly what he did…And every time I approached him about it after he’d finish his shower he’d give me an innocent look and go back to bed…Trust me, he’s a strange kid,” Yoongi said as he nudged Jungkook with his elbow.

“Wow…That’s definitely weird,” Dominic stated and glanced to the side. “Oh, hey. I just got a text from one of my friend’s saying that they’re almost here, so I should probably go so I can finish getting ready. I hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday, and that your friend will enjoy his too! See ya later!” With Jungkook’s farewell to his brother, the Skype call ended.

Jungkook was a little disappointed to see his brother go, but he understood that his brother had plans. He was quick to turn to Namjoon and pointed to the pile of presents on the table that were labeled for him, “You should open something of yours.”

Hoseok picked up one of the presents and handed it to Namjoon. “Open this one first.” The package had a strange, bulky shape, with a circular bottom and a square top, unlike anything he had seen before.

“This is another gag gift, isn’t it?” Namjoon asked, taking the gift with a grin and the shake of his head. “You guys are too much…”

“This is not a gag gift, this is serious! You need these things. They’re almost essential to your life. No, definitely essential,” Taehyung stated with as serious a face as he could muster.

Namjoon exchanged an uncertain glance with Taehyung before ripping the wrapping paper, and a little of something else too. Inside the wrappings were a roll of silver duct tape and a box of Pikachu Band-Aids sitting on top. He stared at the presents with confusion. “What is this??”

Jungkook pointed at the roll of duct tape and looked up at Namjoon with a confused look on his face. Did he really not know? “Well, I’m pretty sure this is used to fix every little thing you break in the world around you…” He then pointed to the Band-Aids, “and these are used to cover up the injuries you inflict upon yourself when you’re a little too clumsy.”

Namjoon stared at Jungkook with a blank expression. “Thanks, Kookie Crisp, I think I’ve got the picture.” He laughed and looked over the gifts again, shaking his head once more. “Seriously…” The plastic wrap on the roll of duct tape was ripped along with the wrapping paper.

“You’re the only person I know that could rip open that packaging successfully without knowing it,” Taehyung commented with a laugh. “Seriously, how did you manage that??”

“Alright, alright, let’s stop teasing each other and get the rest of these presents opened.” Jin laughed as he handed the next box to Jungkook. It was slightly heavy in the hands. “This one is also from all of us. I think you’ll appreciate it more than the cereal.”

Jungkook took the box and also felt the weight of it. “I really hope it’s not just another gag gift...” he grinned and tilted the box back and forth and listened as whatever it was inside slid in the direction he held it. He was honestly curious now, since it didn’t seem like another Yoongi hyung inspired gift. He opened the wrapping paper and the box was revealed. It was an alarm clock, which was themed Mickey Mouse in red, black and yellow, and had metal “ears” at the top just like the ones on his head. He smiled while he looked the box over.

“We think that maybe an actual alarm clock will help you wake up in the morning,” Yoongi stated, pointing at the design of the clock. “It’s metal and loud. It’ll disturb your roommates but maybe it’ll be enough to get you up, too.”

Jungkook nodded in response. “Yeah, that is something I need to work on… I can’t help I’m a heavy sleeper! But thank you, guys. I do appreciate it.”

Jimin was already handling the next gift for Namjoon, and once Jungkook finished his thanks, he handed it over. “Okay, I promise it’s not a gag gift either. We thought you might actually like this.”

Namjoon took the very small, wrapped object and opened it up like a letter, and pulled a Starbucks gift card out. “Oh, sweet! You guys are the best!” He looked it over, seeing how much it was for. “Seriously the best! I hope you guys didn’t just get this for me so you could reap the benefits of it.”

The housemates all laughed and enjoyed seeing their reactions to the rest of their gifts as the party went on. Jungkook ended up with everything Mickey Mouse themed, including a bed sheet set and a t-shirt. Namjoon’s gifts included a journal, a plush Pokeball, and a few articles of clothing. Both guys were satisfied with their gifts and gave everyone their thanks when the session was over.

“Well, since we’re already having so much fun, we can move onto the games! I think you guys will like this one...” Taehyung made his way to the window to peek out at the weather conditions. He knew it was supposed to rain, though he wasn’t sure when, so he wanted to check how the sky was looking. Outside rain really was falling, not hard enough to make a harsh sound, but enough to keep them indoors. “Ah no, it’s raining...” He went to the living room instead and the TV. He had his laptop set up on the table in front of it, and when the TV came to life, it showed the background of his laptop. “We were going to play some soccer, since I know that a lot of you guys like it… But I don’t think we should do that in the rain. Yoongi hyung and I talked about what we should do in case that happened, and we came up with karaoke! Don’t worry, you can choose your own songs.” He pulled YouTube up from his computer.

The others followed him to the living room. Yoongi flopped onto the couch and stared at the screen. “Don’t be shy…It’s not like we’ll be judging you or anything. It’s just for fun. I’ll even do it too to make you all feel better about yourselves.”

“Sounds like fun! How about we have the birthday boys go first?” Hoseok suggested excitedly as he watched Taehyung bring up Youtube on the television. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be the first to participate in this sort of thing, so he was perfectly willing to give up the first attempt to someone else.

“Um… no, I don’t think so. I’m not really a singer. Taehyung should go first since he suggested it.” Jungkook replied uncertainly as he moved to the back of the group. He didn’t really mean it as a lie… What he meant was that he didn’t sing in front of people. He enjoyed singing quite a bit, but he never did it with others, unless it was with his brother of course.

“Wait… who just said that?” Namjoon questioned as his eyes searched for Jungkook among the group, knowing fully well who said it but making a point to correct him, “Jungkook, get over here. Come on...” he gestured for the youngest to return to the front of the group to sing. Jungkook obviously didn’t want to listen to his hyung; he was nervous and wanted nothing to do with this at the moment. Still, the others pushed him to the front so that he stood next to Namjoon, and as he ruffled his hair and looked away, Namjoon spoke up to assure him of his skills, “You remember that day all of us were going out to the store and left you behind to do homework? I’m pretty sure you thought you were by yourself, and you were supposed to be, but I decided to stay behind because I had a few things I wanted to take care of. Anyway, when you took a break from your studies, you were singing all around the house when you were grabbing yourself something from the kitchen. I heard you, and you can’t deny it. I don’t know what the song was, but your voice was really good. So why don’t you give it a shot?”

“Y-You were-- Why didn’t you say something, hyung? You sound like a complete creep!” Jungkook complained, suddenly embarrassed by the fact that Namjoon had overheard him and was barging in on his privacy.

“You sing in the bathroom sometimes, too, you know. You can’t hide your talents forever.” Taehyung pointed out with a grin, “Go on, we’ll sing with you if you want.” he suggested, hoping that would help him get out of his shell.

“Wait, what are we going to sing then? Is there a song that has a lot of parts?” Jimin asked as he stared at the YouTube page in front of them. There were many suggestions given, so maybe they could just choose from one of them… “Are there any that you know, Hyu-- ahem, Jungkook.” he fixed himself with a groan.

Jungkook laughed a little at Jimin and lifted his eyes to the screen and scanned all of the choices he had at the moment, and once he found one he knew, he pointed to it excitedly, “This one. I REALLY like this one.” he said as he stepped back for the others to see.

“Bohemian Rhapsody? Does everyone know that one? Wait… how do YOU know that one?” Jin asked as he offered Jungkook a confused look. He was under the impression that their maknae only knew Owl City and perhaps a few other innocent artists, but Queen? How in the world…?

“I have a computer now, hyung. It’s been three weeks, and I’ve had the ability to look into more music now. And uh… Hyung showed it to me.” Jungkook replied as he pointed at Taehyung who was busy pulling up the lyric video, “It’s a great song!”

“Yeah, give him a break, hyung. It’s a good one, coming from Tae. Besides, I’m pretty sure all of us know it; it’s a classic!” Yoongi commented as he looked to the others only to receive a unanimous nod from all of them. “See? Alright, let’s get this thing on the role. Who wants to sing what?”

“Well, Taehyung seems to be good at the lower notes, and Jimin seems to be good with higher notes… So why don’t you guys take those harmonies. As for me, I’m pretty good being the in between. Jin, why don’t you do the main for the first verse? And Jungkook, you can do the second verse since you’re a little nervous, okay? Yoongi, you’re… well, I’m not sure if you sing or not. Do you sing?” Namjoon turned to the second oldest, unsure as to where his skills lie.

“Can I get the guitar part? I’ll just dominate the air guitar, you know?” Yoongi said with a shrug, he wasn’t particularly great at singing, but he didn’t mind doing it now and then. He just knew there weren’t that many parts available, and he really wanted to play air guitar. Just saying.

“I’m with Yoongi hyung on this one. Oh, and we’ll need an announcer, too.” Hoseok grinned comically as he quickly grabbed three fake, plastic microphones that were bought for party, “We only have three, so let’s give two to the soloists, and then give the third one to the announcer.” he said eagerly.

“I’ll be the announcer. I’m pretty sure I was destined to be a radio host.” Yoongi said plainly as he gestured for Hoseok to hand him a mic. As soon as he had it in hand, he cleared his throat and gestured for Hoseok to be ready to press play. He didn’t do the large, booming announcements so often heard, but he was still not as bad as some of them had expected. Though… he still sounded a little bored as he was doing it. Or… maybe it was just the fact he was being lazy with his words, as per usual, “Alright… It’s a big day over here in Berea, KY as we celebrate two of our new stars’ birthdays, but now this new group has decided to treat us, their biggest fans, with the performance of a lifetime... Singing one of their favorite tunes, Bohemian Rhapsody, they will be showing us their hidden talents like never before… So without anymore delay-- guys, stop with the looks and get into the mood; I’m not playing-- here’s our idols of Berea.” he said as he dropped the mic on the couch and sat beside it as he waited for his time to come and queued for Hoseok to play the song.

Yoongi listened carefully as the song began. It wasn’t a mistake that he had asked Taehyung to insist on Karaoke… He knew at least some of them held some sort of singing talent, and he wanted to know who had it in them. He had never heard Jungkook sing, even though it was said that he sung in the bathroom occasionally. He had never heard Jin hyung sing either, even though he knew he enjoyed doing so. What was his purpose of hearing their talents? He didn’t know the answer to that question… But he was eager to hear their voices, and this was his chance. Once he realized that there was piano playing, he quickly snapped away from his thoughts and began to play an imaginary piano, though his concentration was more fixed on the others when they began to sing.

                He had to admit… the first few notes were really shaky with their harmony. He could easily compare it to dying cows, and it seemed as though Jin hyung, Hoseok and Jungkook agreed considering they were stifling their laughs. Once they adjust to each other, however, he was pleased to find that their singing actually could match up, even with their diverse styles. With practice, they could easily work well together. When it was Jin’s turn, Yoongi’s attention was peaked.

Jin had an amazing voice. It was gentle and mature, and though there were a few pronunciation differences between his speech and native English speakers’ speech, it somehow sounded more at ease in Yoongi’s opinion. He sounded like he had had vocal lessons at some point, and that was saying something… Jin actually seemed to be serious about this whole karaoke thing instead of messing around as he had expected them to do. Perhaps he wanted to tell the others through his singing that he wanted them to give their all as well. Yoongi was definitely not disappointed.

Again, the harmonies with Jin’s voice added were shaky in the beginning, but with hard work, they all adjusted to each other and were able to remain in sync, while being quite dramatic at the same time. Taehyung especially seemed to be getting into his character. Alright, Jungkook’s turn…

Jungkook was timid in his singing at first, but as he went on and the others gestured for him to sing out, he gradually became used to the spotlight and gave his all. What… what even was this household? Yoongi couldn’t understand how, statistically, of all people to be brought together, these particular individuals just happened to be extremely talented. Jungkook’s voice seemed to be completely natural to the current octave being sung. It was smooth and… well, he really didn’t know how else to describe it. His voice was unlike he had ever heard before, and the more he heard all of them sing, the more a thought began to sink its way into his mind…

“Hey, hey, hey, Yoongi hyung! You’re missing the guitar solo!” Hoseok exclaimed as he went ahead and did it himself, holding his left hand out on the invisible arm of the guitar as his right hand strummed on the invisible strings. He even decided to put his own vocals into the guitar playing just to add to the fun. Though, he soon realized that he couldn’t bring his voice as high as he thought he could and ended up sounding like a dying cat once the guitar hit its highest point. Everyone just laughed with him when it was over until they realized the piano started becoming intense to signal that it was about time to sing again.
                “Oh, oh, oh, I’ll take this part!” Taehyung said excitedly as he quickly jumped into the next solo part as the song picked up its pace. Alright, now was the time that the group was finally becoming its goofy self. They stopped trying… Yoongi couldn’t even stifle his laughter anymore as they became more animated and even began singing to him “Oh, mama mia, mama mia-- mama mia let me go!” he was quick to hide his face with a pillow to rid himself of the embarrassment as his laughter became too much. His stomach was seriously starting to hurt!

The group became more and more intense and noisy until they dropped down to a hush and gradually grew dynamically until the final ‘for me’ was sung, and Jimin’s high note rose above them all. “Holy sh**, Jimin!” Yoongi shouted as he threw his pillow at him, “You’re going to break the windows with that voice of yours! How do you do that?! It doesn’t seem natural at all!” he commented, still in shock over everything he was taking in, “Wow… how come no one tells me they have these talents?”  he muttered to himself with a shake of his head. A pillow soon came into contact with his left cheek, sending his head to the right just a little with the blow, and once his eyes caught Jin as the culprit, he raised his shoulders and hands as he knit his eyebrows together with a disgusted look, “What? I was just joking…” he pouted, “Turn your attention back to the song; you need to back up Taehyung!” he bossed him around with no regret whatsoever.

Finally, as the song reached its ending, they all released an exhausted sigh as they took a seat on the couch or floor, laughing off the silliness they had just entertained themselves with. Jin was also busy scolding Yoongi for his ‘inappropriate behavior’ during the song while the others looked on as if enjoying their spectator seats, “You were the one who suggested all of us do karaoke and even claimed you would participate yourself, but instead you decided to just make inappropriate comments! Min Yoongi, I hope you’re proud of yourself. You can go to the kitchen and wash some dishes, because there’s plenty!” his sass was completely showing.

Yoongi stared at Jin uncertainly, leaning away from him as much as possible in his seat on the couch as he tried to process what just happened. Did he just…? “Hold up… Is this payback for telling you to pay attention to the song? Because it was not my intention to boss you around…” he commented, though it was a total lie. He was just trying to get out of doing chores. “And I only commented on Jimin’s because it was shocking to me! I meant my comment as ‘holy sh**, we’ve got all of the harmonies we need in one d*** household.’ I mean, does this not-- ow! Would you quit hitting me with the pillow when I’m trying to talk? I’m being serious! How often do you come across a group like this?”

The entire household broke out in laughter, with Hoseok rolling on the ground because he couldn’t keep himself under control. Yoongi’s potty mouth was going to be the death of him!

“Yoongi hyung, you should probably stop saying ‘sh**’ and ‘d***’, because Jin isn’t going to stop hitting you with that f***ing pillow if you don’t. ” Namjoon suggested as he tried to stop himself from laughing as well. He couldn’t help but add to Jin’s frustration as they all died of laughter.

“Cut it out! There is a minor in this household! I am trying to preserve his innocence, and neither of you are helping!” Jin scolded them, though he was laughing just as much at this point. He was truly trying to be angry, but this was too much.

“Wait, so you’re not going to hit Namjoon? His cursing was worse than mine!” Yoongi complained as he held his arms raised above his head to protect himself. Jin seemed terribly biased against him at this point.

Jungkook was on the ground next to Hoseok as both of them were trying to breathe through their cackling. Their hyungs were so entertaining that they didn’t even need to try doing another game or anything! This was the best show yet!

“No, not Jungkook! We must cover the ears of our poor, innocent little maknae! Quick, take him to another room so he doesn’t have to hear such hateful words being exchanged among the hyungs!” Hoseok exclaimed as he quickly stood up and gestured for Jimin to assist him in picking the youngest up and carrying him towards the hall. However, they were only able to take a few steps with him before falling over each other because they were laughing too much.

Taehyung couldn’t even move from his spot on the couch because his stomach was hurting so much. Jin thought Jungkook was so innocent, and he found that completely hilarious. Of course, their interactions were funny, too, but Jin didn’t see everything he saw. Jungkook wasn’t as innocent as Jin imagined he was, “Jin, you can’t seriously think that he’s never heard those words before, right?”

Jin scowled at Taehyung as he finally took a seat on the couch a few seats away from Yoongi, pretending to be mad at him, “That doesn’t matter. Yoongi is still doing the dishes. And Namjoon, you can help him. I don’t care if your birthday is coming up; you guys test my patience.” he stated seriously without even a glance their way. The edge of his lips began to twitch into a smile and seconds later he was back into a laughing fit again. He just couldn’t control it!

Yoongi shook his head as he finally let out a sigh of relief now that he had a breather, “Guys….” he stated calmly now that he was getting a grip of himself. They seemed to be too busy with all of the craziness going on to be paying attention… “Guys.” he stated louder and waited for all of them to finally come to a halt and give them his attention, “Seriously… I have a thought that I think we should all consider, so just listen to me for a moment…” he began, glancing at all of them to make sure he could make eye contact with each of the housemates, “You remember how Professor Hill told us that we would be having a project due at the end of the semester? He said it could be in any form, whether it be a slideshow presentation or a creative presentation of some kind of aspect of Korean culture as long as it incorporates some of what we learned? I don’t quite remember specific details about the project, but I think my idea might actually work… What if…. What if I wrote a song, and we all translated it into Korean and then sang it as our presentation? You know, like those Korean groups we’ve started getting into…” he suggested. While Hoseok and Jimin let out a quiet laugh thinking he was joking, his face remained completely serious, and soon they came to realize that the was.

“Wait… You mean it? You actually want to try it? Do you write?” Hoseok asked, showing how hesitant he was on the idea. It sounded cool and interesting, but he wasn’t sure if they could pull it off.

“Yeah, I can write. I’m almost done with writing a song actually… I think we could use it for this.” Yoongi replied as he leaned back into the couch cushion and awaited more responses. Yeah, it was a weird suggestion, but with the talents of this household, he believed they had a chance.

“So… are we dancing too?” Jimin asked hopefully as he started seriously considering the idea himself. He also believed that the voices of this group could actually bring about a unique sound of sorts, depending on the music of course.

Jin and Namjoon both looked pained at the thought of dancing, knowing fully well that their dancing abilities were a little lacking. Singing and rapping was one thing… but dancing? Man, would they need help…

Yoongi considered it for a moment as a grimace came to his face. He really didn’t want to put any effort into exercise… Wasn’t singing and rapping good enough? “Let me think… If we do this… how many of you think we should dance as well?”

Jimin, Hoseok, Jungkook, and Taehyung all raised their hands in favor of including dance in their presentation, which caused all of the hyungs to groan with dismay, “Alright… Dancing it is. Maybe just simple dancing, you know? Not too much… Then again, do we even know someone who can choreograph?”

“I can do it. If you can get me the music, I can create the moves.” Hoseok assured him confidently. He wasn’t secure enough in himself to tell Yoongi when he first met him that he was a dancer, but now he had no issue admitting it whatsoever, “I’ve learned a bunch of street dance and hip hop while living in New York, so if you can make something in that style, I can definitely produce results. Though, I can try doing choreography outside of that style if necessary.”

Yoongi was surprised to hear of Hoseok’s talent and confidence in it, but he could be no more pleased with this group than he already was. For once, he could feel a fire of excitement burning inside of him the more he thought about this. He was ready to start right now. “Okay. Let’s do this. I’ll get to work as soon as possible so we can get started on this.”

“Wait, wait, wait… You do realize that we need to start exercising and working out daily to be able to raise our endurance for this, right? No one can just wake up and say ‘I’m going to sing perfectly while dancing to some serious choreograph today’. It’s not like that. You have to train your body.” Namjoon pointed out, knowing fully well that Yoongi was kind of the laziest of the group…

“We can do it.” Taehyung insisted, “If we help each other get there, we can succeed. It sounds tough… but I think this is an opportunity we should take. I mean… I’ve always wanted to sing in front of people. Doing it in choir is one thing, but in a dance group? Seriously, how cool is that? Especially if it’s hip hop, I think it’s going to be an awesome experience.”

“Okay, yeah. Let’s do it. It wouldn’t hurt to try I guess… but just to warn you, I am no dancer. This is going to be really tough for me, so everyone’s going to need to be patient.” Jin commented, finally agreeing to the idea.

“Same goes for me. I can’t dance for the life of me, but if you really want to try, let’s go for it.” Namjoon spoke up. All of them came to an agreement at this point, and with the decision made, they finally returned to the karaoke with this thought sticking in the back of their minds. If they were to succeed with this… was it possible that they could expand on it?

A loud rumble sounded above the house as thunder cracked its way across the sky, interrupting the fourth song being sung. The rain was now clattering on the roof with a significant amount of force, the sound fading and then growing depending on the course of the wind. As soon as Taehyung spotted a lightning bolt stretch across the sky from his spot at the window, he turned and joined the others to announce that they needed to stop at least until the storm passed. He unplugged his computer from the television and then turned both systems off before leaving to make sure he was aware of where the candles and flashlights were in case a power outage occurred.

While Jin and Namjoon assisted Taehyung in the search, Yoongi found himself paralyzed on the couch as he tried to ease the anxiety growing within him. He hated thunderstorms… Ever since he had the misfortune of experiencing a tornado a couple of years ago, he couldn’t stand even the most simple of thunderstorms. His body always tensed up because it seemed to always expect the worst. At the second thunderstrike, he pulled himself out of his trance and forced himself up off the couch to head for his room and hide himself away and try to pull himself through yet another storm. It wasn’t easy dealing with this fear he had… He remembered that only years ago he use to love going out on the porch to watch thunderstorms with his family and then all of a sudden one event changed his life just like that. He wished he could get rid of the anxiety that clung to him, but no matter how hard he tried, it never seemed to go away. He didn’t have the strength in himself to fight off the fear alone. With a heavy sigh, he sat himself down on the twin sized bed closest to the door and rest his back and head against the wall, trying to calm himself with his breathing. He could only hope that the storm would end soon...

Meanwhile, as Jimin and Hoseok continued goofing around with each other in the living room,  Jungkook’s eyes remained on the hallway after witnessing Yoongi leave in such a strange manner. Something just seemed off to him, and he didn’t exactly know what it was that made him feel uneasy. He reached in his pocket to pull out his phone and searched through his texts to find Yoongi and his last conversation. His gaze fell upon the title he held for Yoongi, which remained to be ‘Lazy  Hyung’, and for a moment he recalled back to their conversation a couple weeks ago when they had discussed speaking in person when it was possible. He knew he should… But right now he wasn’t positive as to whether or not he should text him to make sure he wasn’t just imagining that Yoongi was upset about something, or if he should ask him in person… He and Yoongi didn’t really discuss things that were serious. Usually if Yoongi knew he was upset, he would just do something to ease his troubles… He didn’t usually use words.

As his thumb wavered above the phone’s keypad, Jungkook released a sigh and finally closed out of the app and turned off his phone as another clap of thunder struck the sky. He stood and grabbed a brown cardboard box that had been shipped to him from his family in Korea and then made his way to the room across from the master bedroom in which Jin and Yoongi stayed in. He knocked quietly, but he entered before even receiving an answer, afraid that he would tell him to leave. With Yoongi’s eyes following him all the way up to his bed, Jungkook set his box in front of him and then pushed himself onto the foot of the bed before opening the box to reveal what was inside, “I don’t think you were in the  room at the time when Jin gave me this, but my Korean family sent me this for my birthday… It’s a bunch of Korean snacks and…” he scratched his head, finding himself to be really awkward all of a sudden. He had never seen Yoongi like this and had no idea how to act, so he became nervous! With all other ideas fleeing out of his mind, Jungkook grabbed a yellow snack bag and handed it to Yoongi, insisting that he take it, “You should try these with me. I don’t think Jin hyung will be able to get to lunch for another half an hour at least, so tasting these should be fine.” Once Yoongi had the bag in hand, Jungkook grabbed an orange bag with an orange shrimp on it for himself and examined the bag as he waited for Yoongi to open the one he gave up.

“Uh… okay? Listen, Jungkook, I’m really not that hungry…” Yoongi claimed as he tried to hand the bag back to him. Why did he want to share the snacks with him of all people anyways? Well… why did he make the effort to come back to his room and share them was the real question.

“You haven’t eaten lunch yet, and usually you eat quite a bit, so I think you should eat anyway. Just try it, you might like it.” Jungkook insisted once more. What else was he supposed to do?? Food always made him happy! Sleep and food! If he didn’t want to eat, then that really meant something was wrong… “Come on, hyung…” He shook the bag he was holding. The sound the contents of the bag made was no contest for a very close rumble of thunder, and it was becoming easier for Jungkook to tell that the storm was the cause for his housemate’s discomfort.

Yoongi closed his eyes as the thunder practically shook the house, and refrained from gripping the bag in his hands tight enough to pop it. He felt almost guilty having Jungkook with him during such a vulnerable time for him. He couldn’t articulate what he was feeling, nor could he even begin to explain why he was so fearful in the first place. He didn’t want to waste Jungkook’s time, and especially not on his birthday. But he knew that the youngest wouldn’t leave until everything seemed to be okay again, so he regained a little bit of composure and opened the bag in his hands. The scent from the bag was sweet, and even with the anxiety holding his senses captive, he had to admit it was pretty appetizing. He grabbed a small, churro shaped crisp and bit into it, hearing the crunch over the sound of the rain pelting the roof above.

Jungkook smiled, pleased that Yoongi was beginning to loosen up… Even if just a little bit. The sweet smell from the bag in his hyung’s hands was much different than the salty, seafood smell that came from his bag when he opened it. He definitely prefered the sweet over the seafood, but he was going to let Yoongi enjoy them as much as he wanted. “Is it good?” he asked, hoping to get a little bit of conversation going.

Yoongi nodded and waited until he finished chewing to speak. “It’s good… Sweet. I think it’s honey flavored,” he responded as he observed the churro crisp. He was enjoying the taste, though the sounds outside of the house made his stomach feel bitter. He switched over to trying the shrimp cracker chips that Jungkook was eating until Jin entered the room, obviously curious to find out where the two had disappeared to.

“Hey, you two okay in here?” Jin asked as he stepped in and shut the door. He had no idea why they had disappeared in the first place, but upon seeing such a down expression on Yoongi’s face, he began to suspect that Jungkook was here to make things better. Though he wasn’t quite sure why Yoongi was upset, he would do anything he could to help. “Do you want some tea? I think it would go well with those churro chips.”

Jungkook nodded vigorously. “Yes! Wait, I have some tea that my Korean family sent me…” He looked through the box of snacks until he found the box and held it out for Jin to take. He gave the eldest a grateful smile as he took the box. “Thanks, hyung!”

“I’ll be back with it, then…” Jin said and took his leave of the room. He was still perplexed as to what was plaguing Yoongi, but he wouldn’t pry, just as it seemed Jungkook wasn’t. He knew there was a difference between helping someone cope and driving them further into whatever they were dealing with. He just hoped that whatever it was, it would be resolved soon.

Yoongi looked at the window to see if he could catch a glimpse of what the outside looked like, but the only thing he could see were heavy rains propelled sideways by the wind. So much for the storm not lasting long…He turned back to the bag in his hands and looked over the packaging. Usually he would sit alone in his room when storms like this would hit, his phone at his side or in his hands at all times to make sure that the conditions outside weren’t worsening. What he dreaded the most was the siren that would go off in the town to indicate severe weather. He was surprised it hadn’t yet gone off with the intensity of the storm outside, but he was also very grateful. He glanced at Jungkook briefly and noticed him watching him, and then he turned his attention away again. If the sirens went off, Jungkook would definitely understand just what he was dealing with.

Before he could continue further in his thoughts, Jin returned with the tea. “Here…Drink this and the warmth will help make you feel better…” He set a tray on the bed in front of Yoongi and Jungkook that held the teacups and a fancy looking kettle. He poured a cup and handed one to Yoongi first, and then to Jungkook. He kept a cup for himself and waited until his other housemates drank before he did.

Yoongi lifted the cup to his lips to drink and a strike of lightning lit up the room, and the crack and boom of the thunder followed quickly after, making him visibly cringe. The house went dark, and all sound ceased to exist, save for the rain and thunder outside. He let out a shaky sigh and drank his tea.

Jungkook exchanged a wary glance with Jin as the power went out after observing Yoongi’s reaction. He surely didn’t think he was wrong about the reason behind his strange behavior now, but the problem was, what could they do to make it better?

Jin moved the tray from the bed and set it on the floor out of the way before sitting on the edge. He, as Jungkook had, began to understand what was going on. He sipped his tea, trying to figure out what they could do. They didn’t want to use their phones in case the power didn’t return for some time…

The door opened then and Jimin and Hoseok stepped into the room. “There you guys are,” Jimin stated and walked over to the bed. “We were searching for you…Three of you guys disappeared, and we started to worry!”

“We didn’t want you guys to get caught in the dark,” Hoseok said and held up a flashlight. “Since phone flashlights use up too much battery to use them…” He stood beside Jimin at the foot of the bed, and watched the scene in front of him. Yoongi looked exhausted…And not the sleepy kind of exhausted. More mentally. He figured it was the weather, and he nudged Jimin’s arm with his elbow, and noticed that Jimin was thinking the same thing. He took the lead and climbed onto the bed, crawling over Jungkook’s legs to get between him and Yoongi. “Excuuuse me… I’m just gonna sit right here.”

Jimin followed in suit and sat on Yoongi’s other side, making his way around Jin to do so. “Hyuung…” He sat as close as he could to the other housemate. “Don’t fall asleep, hyung! You’re going to miss all the fun stuff we have planned!”

“He’s right!” Hoseok mimicked Jimin’s enthusiasm quite easily, and pressed just as close to Yoongi. He made it his mission to get him sandwiched between them enough to irritate him, but like little brothers would; not enough to make him angry. “Dearest hyung, you have to stay up so we can enjoy the rest of Jungkook’s and Namjoon’s birthday party!”

Yoongi looked at Jimin and Hoseok as they moved closer to him. What were they doing?? Why were they getting so close? “I’m-I’m not going to fall asleep…” he muttered. He couldn’t even if he tried…He set the empty cup he had been drinking from in his lap so that his hands were free. “You guys are weird…” he continued in his low monotone voice. The weather outside was not letting up and nor was his fear, though he was beginning to appreciate their company.

“Hyung, you’ve finally noticed me!” Hoseok cackled, enjoying his little play on ‘senpai noticed me’. He didn’t know if they were helping or not, but he was going to do what he could do best…Act as a personified ray of sunshine!

Jin laughed, and finished the last of his tea. He was really beginning to value the other housemates, especially now. It really showed how well people got along when things got tough, and they were definitely showing that they could pull through even the worst. He only hoped that Yoongi could see that.

It wasn’t long before Namjoon and Taehyung appeared in the room as well, having gone on their own search for the others. “Well who brought the party in here and didn’t tell us?” Taehyung asked as they walked in. “Seriously guys, not fair.” He was dragging Namjoon in by the arm. “You guys have to see what Namjoon hyung drew! Sorry to say but he used your sketchbook, Jungkookie…But you won’t be disappointed!”

Namjoon was holding the sketchbook in both of his hands, trying not to lose his grip on it. “In my defense, Tae asked me to draw something in the dark and so I did it…”

Jungkook shrugged and laughed. “That’s okay. Can we see it?” He was curious, since Taehyung said they wouldn’t be disappointed…Though it was just as easy to tear pages out of a sketchbook.

Hoseok the flashlight so they could see the drawing better. “Let’s see what a beautiful masterpiece our Namjoon made for us today! Get ready class! You’re about to learn about true fine art!”

Namjoon rolled his eyes and opened the book up to the first page, where he drew the picture. He turned it around to expose…Well, he couldn’t even explain it.

The others couldn’t stop themselves from breaking into laughter at the sight of the picture. “What...What is that? Is that a dog? Namjoon hyung, I think you need to work on your lines…” Jungkook said, trying to catch his breath from his laughter.

“No! It’s not a dog!” Namjoon attempted not to get flustered by the comment. “It was a dare! Tae told me to draw something in the dark! There’s no way I could have made it perfect!” He turned the page away and held it against his body.

“No, no guys! Come on, appreciate the art…” Hoseok got up and grabbed the book. He gave Yoongi the flashlight to hold so it would shine on the picture. “Look at the use of line…It’s so abstract, but so…Reflective of life. Namjoon, you’re a true inspiration to us all.”

“Oh shut up…” Namjoon pushed his friend away, becoming too embarrassed for much else. “It was supposed to be a horse…” He rubbed the back of his neck gingerly. Drawing in the dark was hard, and the result was nothing close to a horse. He could admit it did look a lot like a dog…Maybe he should have just said yes?

Jin chuckled and looked over at Yoongi, trying to gauge where his emotions were standing. He was pleased to find a small smile on his lips from the antics of the other housemates. He didn’t think that Taehyung nor Namjoon understood what was going on based on their sudden appearance, but he was glad, because out of all of their attempts to help Yoongi cope, they were the only ones that didn’t seem forced. And he figured that by the change in expression, Yoongi appreciated that the most.

Hoseok continued to display the picture in front of all of them. “The medium is pencil on premium sketchbook paper…Look at the thickness of the lines… the . Just wonderful. Yoongi hyung, you’re the announcer. What do you have to say about this piece?” He smiled wide, gesturing to the paper.

Yoongi observed the picture for a moment, not even realizing his attention was drawn away from his fear and the outside world. All that existed were his friends and the drawing of a horse/dog thing. “It’s…” He looked at the flashlight in his hand and shut it off, using the top as the head of a microphone. “It’s a true expression of internal dialogue, Hoseok…The overlapping lines and many curves show just how hard it is to manage the internal struggles of life.” A distant rumble of thunder dragged him from his announcing, and when he glanced outside, there were rays of sunlight coming through the clouds and bringing light back into the world. All of the stress and fear he had been feeling was long gone even before he knew it had disappeared. He turned back to look at his housemates and relief flooded his system. It almost felt like, well, lightning, the feeling he had when he smiled at them. “I guess…Now would be a good time to tell you guys that I’m not so fond of thunderstorms…”

“We ended up figuring that out,” Jin stated. His tone was soft, and by no means judgemental. “We were worried when you disappeared suddenly, but we didn’t want to pry too much and make anything worse for you…But you know that we’re all here for you, right?”

“We can’t judge you for being afraid of something…” Jimin said. “Because we don’t know why you’re afraid in the first place. We don’t know what you’ve been through, and to judge, even with that knowledge, is just insensitive.”

“We’re your friends, Yoongi.” Namjoon grinned. He was unaware why everyone had congregated in Jin and Yoongi’s room, though he was glad that the storm had passed and they had managed to help Yoongi through it. “We won’t judge you on things like that. We’ll judge you for stupid things, like bed head or what you eat for breakfast.”

“Hyung,” Jungkook spoke up, trying to get his attention. “Don’t be afraid to tell us if something is bothering you, especially with things like this…I know we don’t usually talk very much, and when we do, it’s not about serious things…But I happen to remember a concerned hyung coming to me in the middle of the night to help me through my own fears…” The youngest smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “I want to be here for you like you were there for me, even though you didn’t know me that well.”

Yoongi was a little overwhelmed by their kindness, though he felt it in a good way, and it made him smile wide; the kind of smile that caused the eyes to shrink and dimples to form. All of them were there to help him, whether or not they understood what was happening. And Jungkook was right…Though he didn’t quite say it, he knew the kid wanted to tell him to follow his own advice. And while he knew adjusting to having such caring friends would be hard, and it would take time to fully trust them with everything, through good and bad, he knew they’d be there.