"..and just before we conclude this meeting, a quick reminder that the newest addition to our Mathematics Department will be joining us next week for final preparations and I would greatly appreciate it if we could all try and give him a warm welcome and behave like dignified adults, is that clear Kyuhyun, Hyukjae?" 

Upon hearing his name Hyukjae, who had been busy trying inconspicously to place small pieces of unidentifiable fluff into Yesung's hair, abruptly straightened up. Beside him, Kyuhyun who had been playing on his DS since the meeting had first began, sheepishly slid the device under his leg and offered Jungsoo a bright smile. Jungsoo leveled them both with an unimpressed look. 

Rolling his eyes, he was nevertheless unable to completely hide the fondness in his voice as he asks if anyone has any further questions. "Well then, meeting adjourned, thank you everyone and I will see all of you next week." 

Hyukjae sighed in relief and gently stood up from his seat. He hadn't taken two steps before he felt a heavy weight on his shoulder, and looked up to see Siwon grinning down at him.

"Are we still on for drinks tonight? My treat."

Hyukjae shot him a grin of his own. "Of course, when have I ever said no to free alcohol?" Hyukjae's grin became slightly mischevious as he added, "Why don't we invite Wookie along? We haven't gotten a chance to properly catch up with him since he's come back from his sabbatical, it would be fun. Wouldn't it be fun Kyuhyunnie?" 

Kyuhyun solemnly nodded his head,"Why Hyuk I can't imagine anything more fun." and before Siwon could stop him, he loudly called out to Ryeowook. "Oi, Ryeowook come out to get drinks with us!"

At the sound of his name, Ryeowook turned in their direction, he scanned all of their faces in turn before his eyes settled on Siwon. He slowly apporached the group, an amused Yesung trailing behind him, and stopped directly in front of Siwon. "Sure I'll come, as long as Siwon doesn't mind of course." 

Siwon, whose face was rapidly approaching vampiric levels of white, managed to squeak out a series of rapid nos to which Ryeowook raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow and asked, "No you don't mind, or no you don't want me to come?" 

By now, Siwon was all but cowering under Ryeowook's gaze, but he managed to pull himself together enough to offer him a smile (which Hyukjae privately felt resembled a grimace more than anything else) and said "Of course I don't mind, the more the merrier, Yesung hyung why don't you come along with us as well?" 

"No thanks, you kids have fun. Besides I have to go home and wash whatever this gunk is out of my hair, because somebody still hasn't developed passed the primative stages of evolution and thinks tricks like this are funny." Although his words were reprimanding, Yesung couldn't help running his fingers affectionately along the skin between Hyukjae's top lip and nose. Hyukjae crinkled is nose in response to the touch. 

"Aw hyung, you should come! Even Minnie's abandoning his better half for tonight to come along, and you know how boring he's become since he's gotten married." Sungmin didn't bother raising his head from where he was busy messaging someone on his phone, and blindly waved his middle finger in the direction of Kyuhyun's voice. 

Yesung laughed in response, but shook his head once again to deny the invitation, "No its alright, Jonjin is waiting for me, I promised him we'd complete the Lord of the Rings trilogy before his university starts up next week. Another time I promise. Have fun and get home safe." and with one final wave he departed. Hyukjae waved back halfheartedly, frowning at his retreating back. Yesung had increasingly been denying more and more group invitations, and in the past few months he's developed this strange habit of referring to all of them as kids. He hadn't even yelled at Hyukjae once this past month no matter how annoying the younger was being, and the change in behaviour was slowly driving Hyukjae up the wall.

Before he could dwell any further on the topic, a rough smack against the back of his head broke him out of his melancholy. "Oi, Lee Hyukjae are we going or not?" an impatient Donghee inquired from beside him.

"Hyyuung~ you didn't have to hit me so hard! Okay, okay lets go, the longer we stand here, the greater the possibility that Siwon will pass out, and I need him concious enough to pay the bill." 

One hour later found the group occupying a booth at Midnight Blues, a bar located a few blocks from SM Highschool. 

Aimless chatter filled the table, most of the conversation focusing on Ryeowook's sabbatical, and how he spent his time in the months that he had been away. Kyuhyun was busy loudly protesting terming the break a sabbatical. "A sabbatical is exactly a year long, what you took was merely extended leave." 

Ryeowook rolled his eyes, "Would you like to see my official leave form? I'm fairly certain Director Sooman refers to my 'extended break' as a sabbatical, or are you saying the entire Board of Directors is incorrect?"

"That may very well be, but the length of time you you were away was still not long enough for your extended leave to be called a sabbatical!" 

"It was 11 months Kyu!" Hyukjae couldn't help in, "Surely being short a single month isn't reason enough for the term to completely not apply!"  

"Yes, but two of those months consisted of summer break, which Wookie would have gotten even if he wasn't on extended leave. Besides life is all about the details. If we round up every single thing we do, or start accepting things that are merely close to perfect instead of perfect, we are risking the quality of all man-made creations in the future, nay we are risking the development of future generations! We are risking..."  

Growing weary of the topic or simply wanting to bring an end to Kyuhyun's ranting, Sungmin seized a small window of silence, presumably in the seconds Kyuhyun needed to refill his lungs with oxygen, to change topics, "While this back and forth is fascinating, why don't we talk about something else, like the new teacher that'll be here next. Anyone have any thoughts, questions, concerns?" 

Donghee, forever a wealth of information was quick to respond. "His name is Lee Donghae, and I've heard he's a real hot-shot. Completed his Phd in Education two years ago and he's been working for YG Academy ever since...or well, until he decided to transfer here. Jungsoo hyung was saying that we're lucky to have him." 

Kyuhyun, who had been biding his time since Sungmin had first interrupted him, huffed impatiently "Yeah, yeah, that's great and all, but what do we know about him outside of academics?" 

Siwon decided to speak up for the first time, "He's 33, super hot, and super single. That's Amber, Sunny, and Henry's consensus anyway, based on 30 minutes of Facebook stalking." 

Hyukjae snorted, "Henry thinks everyone is super hot, and between him and Sunny, they were probably stalking the wrong Lee Donghae, I don't think they should be our main source of reliable information." 

"Yes but Amber is usually pretty level-headed, and she seemed impressed as well. Besides, I caught a glimpse of his photo when I was in Jungsoo hyung's office last week and from what I saw, he would even give our Siwon here a run for his money." After a short pause, Ryeowook continued, "Of course no one will ever be as handsome as Masi."

Although, outwardly calm, Siwon's reddened ears gave away how pleased he was by the compliment. As if bolsetered by Ryeowook's unexpected praise, he turned his attention towards Hyukjae, "Really Hyuk, it almost sounds like you're jealous. Worried that 'Mr. Super hot and super single' will steal your limelight? Maybe fresh blood is exactly what we need to snatch the Most Popular Teacher award away from your scrawny ." 

Hyukjae scoffed, taking a dainty sip of his beer, "Whatever, he can try his best, but I've won that award five years in a row and there is no way that this Lee Donghae guy is going to keep me from doing it again."