Tuesday finally rolled around and the group consisting of Wonwoo, Mingyu, Seokmin, Soonyoung and Hansol found themselves crowded at a lunch table as they waited for the support meeting to start. All of their classes had already finished, so hanging out nearby was a better time killer. Except for Mingyu. He didn't attend the meetings, so they had no idea what the he was doing there. Oh well.

As they group was talking, Hansol turned to Seokmin - who was sitting next to him - and nudged his side to grab his attention. "So I see you and Soonyoung are best buds somehow." 

Seokmin turned to spare a glance at the person in question, as the latter was speaking to Wonwoo about something he didn't care to pick up on, and shrugged. "Dunno. Guess he liked my ." 

At that, Soonyoung whipped his head all the way around to glare at both Seokmin and Hansol as he said in a short tone: "I'm straight."

The four other people at the table all raised a brow at this, not believing it one bit. Hansol even noticed as Wonwoo took some sort of contraption out of his pocket and pointed it at Soonyoung.

"Beep. Beep. Beep," Wonwoo mimicked a beeping noise then paused to look down at the device in his hands and back up at Soonyoung with a dead serious face and speaking with a same dead serious voice. "My gaydar begs to differ."

Mingyu rolled his eyes. Soonyoung looked absolutely shocked and offended at the same time. Hansol and Seokmin were both just eyeing the 'gaydar' curiously. 

"What the do you mean gaydar?? What is that even?" Soonyoung scoffed and pointed down (sassily) that Wonwoo was oh so rudely pointing at him and slapped it away (also sassily). 

"This-" Wonwoo held up the device for emphasis during his explanation, but Seokmin was quick to snatch it right out of his hold, bring it in between him and Hansol so the two of them could inspect it. Wonwoo was unfazed as he kept going with this information speech. "That- Is a gaydar. Don't you know of it? All gay people carry it around so they can hunt out possible mates." 

Soonyoung chose to snort and turn his attention completely away from Wonwoo instead of trying to pick an argument with the guy. Forget the guy and his dumb gaydar. 

Before things went anywhere else, Mingyu suddenly snapped his fingers in attempt to grab the four's attention, successfully dragging Seokmin and Hansol out of their state of only ooo'ing and aaaah'ing at the 'gaydar'. "Anyway dudes. If you're done with your gay stuff, I have something to say."

All attention was on Mingyu for a split second as Seokmin spoke up, looking elsewhere behind Mingyu. "Speaking of gay stuff, here comes Seungkwan." The word Seungkwan also had Hansol's attention focused in the direction that Seokmin was looking in. 

Seungkwan was running as fast as he could, while making sure that his still looked good, right towards the table. He nearly tripped over himself as he came to a halt in front of all five of the guys, garnering all of their attention towards him. "Guys. I have news."

Wonwoo was the one to pipe up questioningly. "What news?"

"So-". A quick pause as Seungkwan needed to fix his hair for the news. "So like, some of the girls I know in my year are getting together to perform as a makeshift college girl group for this year's school festival! And guess who snagged themselves a spot in this girl group?"

Instead of guessing the obvious, the squad at the lunch table simply stared at him, expecting him to tell them.  As Seungkwan was opening his mouth to speak, Hansol grabbed Wonwoo's gaydar, pointing it directly at Seungkwan.  "Beep beep beep."

"Excuse me, what it that?" Seungkwan looked at the device with disdain while Mingyu tried very hard, but unsuccessfully to cover his laughter.  The rest of the table didn't even try.

"It's my gaydar," Wonwoo shrugged, still speaking in his serious voice while simultaneously shoving bread in his mouth. 

"What?" Seungkwan asked, obviously still confused and now a little pissy.

Seokmin waved his hand in front of his face.  "It's pointed at you and beeping.  That means you're gay," he spoke in a hushed whisper, as if it were a secret.  Seungkwan just scoffed and sat down next to Wonwoo.

They sat there a while before Mingyu cleared his throat, catching the attention of the table.  "Guys, I really have something I need to say.  It's about me and-"

"! We're going to be late if we don't head out now," Seokmin said, and everyone stood up.  Mingyu just sighed and stayed seated, waving goodbye as his friends took off towards their meeting.

-

Since they were in a hurry, they moved quickly to get to the room where the meetings were held.  In his haste, Soonyoung bumped into a girl with short hair, knocking her to the floor.  He quickly held his hand out to help her up.

"I'm so sorry!" he apologized and made sure she was okay.

"Eunbi?"  Wonwoo suddenly spoke up, realizing who the girl was.  "Did you cut your hair?"

Eunbi nodded, opening to speak, her lips quivering and turning downwards into a frown, until Hansol opened his big mouth and cut her off.

"You must be pregnant.  Isn't it the saying, "when a woman cuts her hair, it means she's pregnant?" he asked, and Eunbi began to cry heavy tears as the rest of the boys turned to glare at him.

"You idiot, it's "when a woman cuts her hair, it's to get over heartbreak"," Seungkwan hissed at him, his voice dripping with venom. 

Hansol blinked, looking confused.  "Are you that upset about being pregnant? Pregnancy is a beautiful thing," he said, shaking his head.  

Wonwoo looked at the wall as if he might have wanted to slam his face against it.  Seungkwan put a comforting hand on his shoulder for support.

"I'm not pregnant," Eunbi sniffled angrily.  "If you must know, Mingyu and I broke up," her voice broke, and she ran off in the direction she had been heading in before Soonyoung had bumped into her.

A thick silence fell over the group as they trudged the rest of the way to the meeting.  They walked into the room and took their usual seats, still saying nothing at all, which heavily confused Joshua as the normally boisterous and talkative group was completely silent.

"Are you all okay?" Joshua stopped in front of Wonwoo, figuring that for some reason, the quietest and most serious one would be the one to answer his question.

"Maybe that's what Mingyu was trying to tell us," Seungkwan spoke up suddenly, completely ignoring Joshua.  The rest of the squad looked up in realization, unanimously feeling stupid as they had been absorbed in themselves only.  Joshua slowly backed away from them and took his normal spot at the front of the room,  trying to think quickly on his feet of something that could cut the tension that was beginning to settle over the room.  He smiled as he clapped his hands and signaled the attention of the whole room.

"Okay, everyone.  As you all know, I like to keep things interesting and fresh in this support group. So today, I'd like to analyze the story of the golden key.  This story is about a man in prison.  This man has been in prison for a very long time.  So long, in fact, that he's forgotten how long he's been in prison.  In this prison, he's fed every day and is sheltered. He had a warm place to sleep and was always safe.  One day a man came by and offered him a golden key.  With this key, he could open the back door of his cell and escape the prison, a free man.  What do you think he did?" Joshua folded his arms over his chest after finishing the story.

Everyone was quiet for a while, mulling over the story before a girl raises her hand.  Joshua gestured to her and she began to speak.  "I think he probably escaped.  I mean, he had a key, right?  Why wouldn't he just go out and be his own man?"

"But, what if he'd rather stay inside the prison, where it's warm and safe, and there's food? I think I'd go for that option.  He didn't seem unhappy.  He's been there a long time, anyway, and he doesn't know anyone on the outside," Seungkwan spoke up, nodding his head and agreeing with himself.

Seungcheol looked at him, thinking about his point before piping in.  "But, what if after leaving, he made friends that would help him learn the ways of the world? Who says he has to be his own man?"

"Wait, what if someone blew up the prison and the man had no choice but to leave it?" Hansol yelled, a little too excited. 

"These are excellent points," Joshua cut in, mainly to avoid another Hansol outburst.  "How do you think the prisoner would feel in each of these outcomes?"

Again, he was met with silence before a guy in the back began to speak.  "If he left and became his own man, I think he'd be scared and feel helpless.  The same as if some guy were just to blow up the prison.  That's kind of ed up," the guy shuddered while Hansol looked pretty proud of himself.

"If he were to stay, I think he would probably feel content, but maybe like something was missing? Like he would only continue to know what he already knew and would learn nothing else," Joshua's number one fangirl contributed, and he smiled at her.

"Maybe, with staying in the prison, he's seeking security.  But if he had friends on the outside to help him, then that would be the security he so craves," Soonyoung pointed out. 

Joshua nodded, grinning as they were beginning to work it all out.  "Now, imagine the roles in the story, and imagine which role each of you would play.  Would you be the prisoner, the jailer keeping him inside, the man who gave him the key, the friends on the outside, or...the guy who blew up the prison?"

"Wouldn't I be the prisoner? I mean, he's the main character, right? So I'd be the main character of my story," Seokmin said, and there were murmurs of agreement across the room. 

"Every main character needs a cast of support," a girl in the front spoke up quietly, and nodded at her.

"Have you guys figured out what the golden key is?" Joshua asked, his eyes scanning across the room.

"Isn't it a way out?" Wonwoo finally spoke, his deep voice making Joshua jump a little.

"Exactly," Joshua nodded.  "Now, my final question is: what does any of this have to do with ?"

The room fell into a complete silence.  The group members looked at each other, now completely confused as they hadn't been thinking about at all, and had been focused on the story instead.

"What does this have to do with ? Absolutely nothing," Hansol came in confidently, and Joshua shook his head.

"Wrong.  You see, the prisoner was trapped inside his prison, much like you all are trapped inside your particular problems and addictions.  Inside his prison was security.  He was used to it, much like you are all used to your situations.  To him, the outside world was full of unknowns.  Again, this can tie into you all, being as the world without your situations is new and can be scary, and it will be difficult to get out there alone with just the golden key.  But look around you.  You all have friends on the outside.  Everyone here is here to help you cope with overcoming your difficulties, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes.  We are all the prisoner.  We are all the friends on the outside.  We are all the man with the golden key.  We have all been the jailer before. And, I guess in a way we're all also the guy who blew up the prison," Joshua grinned and shook his head at the end as everyone came to a realization that this pointless story really did have a point.

The class sat in stunned silence, and it appeared as if it clicked in some of them that it was going to be okay.

Out of nowhere, Seungkwan suddenly stood up and clapped his hands.  "I would like to announce that I have found the golden key to my future! I'll be performing in a girl group at the upcoming school festival, and I would like to ask everyone to help if they can," Seungkwan pleaded, turning to Joshua for support.

"Thank you, Seungkwan.  I'm sure everyone would be happy to help," the group leader smiled before he noticed Hansol whipping out a strange device out of the corner of his eye.  "What is that?"

Hansol pointed it directly at Joshua and grinned lazily.  "Beep beep beep."  Joshua raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Gaaaaaaaaaay," Seokmin whispered. 

Joshua's once proud smile had since stretched into a very thin one, a smile that looked on the verge of cracking.  "Well, on that note, I think we should end for today.  I look forward to seeing all of you again next time!" he clapped his hands and everyone stood and got up to leave, the weight of Joshua's message still lingering heavily in the room.

a/n:

comment if you have a gaydar