"So, let me get this straight," Howon enunciates, looking between the baby in Soojung's arms, the girl holding Suzy's hand, and the slightly older child staring suspiciously around the room with arms crossed and stance tense. "They went to ask Professor Play Date a question. Her son happened to be there and he turned them into..."

He waves a hand at the children.

"Essentially," Daniel confirms, stepping nervously away from Ahri who simply gurgles in Soojung's arms.

Miyoung swings her hand in Suzy's, smiling when the now-older looks down at her. 

"You're pretty," she declares, absolutely beaming when Suzy smiles at the compliment. 

"Hey guys! Did you-"

Taecyeon cuts himself off and glances between the children in the room. He makes a strange, high-pitched noise and walks out. Three seconds later, he runs back in.

"I was about to go get Sooyeon, and I realized," he states, his voice higher than they've ever heard. He points at the girl who won't stop looking like she's just been kidnapped. "Is that her?"

"Yup," Suzy confirms, popping the last letter.

Taecyeon makes the high-pitched sound again. By this time, the rest of the class has gathered. They begin to make the same panicked noise upon realizing who the three children are. 

Howon rubs at the bridge of his nose. 

This is, he thinks dryly, going great. 

Usually, Howon is second in charge, nothing against the brain of Soojung or the steadiness of Dari or even the morale boost of Jiho. However, faced with the chaos and craziness that is Yuuee's 1-A, most people - adults included - cringe at the thought of trying to reign in such chaos. 

Sooyeon is the first and foremost choice to try and actually succeed. Howon, somehow, is the second.

This time, Soojung is the one that takes over. 

No one begrudges her. 

"Kyuhyun, I swear to god if you're doing what I think you're doing, I'm going to end you," she snaps, harsh features smoothing out to coo at baby Ahri as she bounces and feeds the child at once. Said male holds his hands up in mock surrender and runs out the room. 

"This must be an alternate reality," Minho mutters, pouring several bowls of cereal. 

"Is there a cereal without raisins?" Miyoung asks, wrinkling her nose. "Raisins are gross." 

"Unfortunately, no," Eunji answers, patting the young girl on the back. "We only buy raisin cereal here because it's the healthiest."

Suzy gives her a strange look.

"But don't we-"

"We don't have any other cereal," Eunji repeats firmly, shooting Suzy a look. Fortunately, Miyoung does not notice the contradiction as Minho puts the bowl down in front of her and the other de-aged student. 

Sooyeon pauses, frowns, and turns to Chansik, the only one who can consistently read her signs as is. She quirks a brow in silent question. 

(The now-younger's suspicion had gone away with an honest explanation and the appearance of her now-older childhood friend. It does not change the fact that it is still very strange to look at.)

"Yes," Chansik says in answer to whatever the question is. She nods once and eats without hesitation or complaint. 

"See," Eunji states, gesturing to Sooyeon. "Even someone younger is eating it so well."

Sooyeon opens and begins to cough. Chansik pulls a handkerchief out of nowhere and hands it to her. 

Miyoung squawks with alarm when blood makes an appearance. 

Eunji, Soojung, and Minho make similar sounds. Chansik - the one who usually would be in panic - is the only calm one. 

Alternate reality indeed. 

Sooyeon throws them all a look and waves off their hands, even at that age. Chansik pulls her into his lap despite her glare and rubs her back. 

"She's at the age where she just lost her voice," he informs lowly, usual smile replaced with something closer to cautious worry. "Since she's still healing, she shouldn't speak."

Sooyeon taps his arm.

"And she's nine," Chansik adds, pausing and watching the girl hold up a finger. "Ten? Ten. She's ten."

"What?" Miyoung gapes, jaw dropping. "But she's smaller than me and I'm six!" 

Sooyeon curls into herself slightly, eyes narrowing at the younger. Miyoung's bottom lip sticks out. 

"Ok!" Eunji cries urgently, standing up. "Why don't we do some arts and crafts, yeah? Yeah, ok. Let's go." 

"Camera," Chansik demands, holding his hand out. Daniel obliges, handing his peer one of the many disposable cameras he'd been asked to buy from the local drugstore. 

Chansik runs out from view and Daniel follows cautiously, peeking out from behind the wall. 

Yeah. He understands now. 

Miyoung and Sooyeon are wearing large paint-stained shirts on top of a large blue tarp in the middle of the living room, all other furniture pushed to the side. There's an "I'm sorry" card beside each of them, clearly held dear since they don't have a speck of stray paint, and there's a large piece of butcher paper between them. 

"Wow," he mutters, looking over the large painted aquarium. Some of the fish are lopsided and he's (mostly) sure that kelp doesn't come in two colors, but it's expansive and so...innocent. 

Two pairs of eyes look up at him, mid-sketch, and he freezes. Chansik takes as many photos as possible while Minjung sits off to the side, casual to a stranger's eye but tense to her classmates who know her so well. 

"Help," he whimpers. The two girls look to each other then him again. 

Miyoung points a blue-stained finger at him. 

"Can you fly?" she asks, eyes shining. Sooyeon has the same look of excitement. 

"Yes," he states, looking at both Chansik and Minjung for help, but nope.

They . 

"Can you fly while carrying us?" Miyoung adds, standing up and stepping on an undried purple fish. 

He looks to the duo for help.

Yeah, he doesn't know what he was expecting.

"If you take a bath and wash off all the paint first," he answers, shrugging. 

Minjung's eyes widen.

"Soojung!" she calls, the tone of panic unmistakable. 

"Thank God," Minjung breathes, staring at the three again-peers. 

"This has been a weird three days," Ahri states, wrinkling her nose. "Is it weird that I still want to eat that star puff thing?" 

"I'll probably steal a couple too," Miyoung admits, smiling reassuringly. "Hopefully the craving goes away eventually."

"We got the photos!" a familiar voice cries before (Don't-!) bursting into the living room. 

There's several yelps.

"Nice try, Soo," Miyoung states, glancing at their pseudo-mother who's blushing harder than normal while pointedly facing away from her childhood friend and several of their other male classmates. "Maybe we should get changed before we, ah, continue?"

Please.

A quick change of clothes later and the class is gathered around the room, the many photos spread out around the floor. 

"You were all such adorable kids," Eunji coos, holding up a photo of Sooyeon and Miyoung asleep leaning against each other with Ahri on their laps. Sooyeon is dressed in lavender striped pajamas, Miyoung in pink polka dots, and Ahri in a solid soft yellow. 

"I'm just glad you're all older," Baekhyun admits, sighing - invisible still but with a dent on the cushion that signals his position. "We had to rely on Soojung and - no offense - but that was nerve-wracking. It would have been reassuring to have a mom on board."

Sooyeon raises a brow. 

Soojung is the better choice anyhow. She has more experience with children than I do. I've never interacted with a child for longer than five minutes.

"And that," Hakyeon confesses, "is actually the most surprising thing I've heard this week. Let's not do this again."