No one calls it the Neo Culture Technology School. It’s just NCT. 

 

The name was coined because the school wanted to focus on how rapid modern technology was advancing while still keeping true to their culture and beliefs. Thus NCT has been born. 

 

Taeyong still thought the name was stupid, though.

 

Here he was in the NCT 127 Unit. First, he hated how the clubs were called units, but the school called them that because clubs made people feel more isolated. And most clubs started with the NCT name if they didn’t deal with a specific interest. Why, Taeyong thought. It’s not like the students were going to forget which school they are in. 

 

Course, some units don't follow this rule. The WayV unit, the one dedicated to the Chinese students, was the most well-known one. But what did the WayV name had to do with anything anyways?

 

But anyways, it was the first day of school again. This time it was his junior year, so more fun classes without worrying about the applications for college. The last time to truly be carefree. That’s why when he ran for the role of president during the end of sophomore year and he won, he knew he would be able to dedicate the time to that. 

 

Taeyong wasn’t only the president of the student body. He was in the NCT 127 unit last year, and apparently everyone loved him, so now he was the leader of that unit as well. 

 

The NCT 127 Unit was a club to teach other students about Korean culture (the whole freaking point of this school) but in a way that doesn’t regard to classroom learning. For example, they would play a big traditional korean game, eat or learn to cook something, etc. Most of the time they would put on a classic korean movie or show, probably Boys Over Flowers or Winter Sonata. The students would use the meeting as an excuse to blast their korean music. 

 

But now he was the leader of this club as well. 

 

He waited until the time turned to four so that they could begin. There were 10 people, including himself, present. He recognized some from last year and saw some new faces, so he could only hope this could go well. 

 

“Hello everyone,” he shouted, clapping his hands together to bring nine pairs of eyeballs towards him. “My name is Lee Taeyong, and I’ll be the leader of this unit this year.” 

 

He hated public speaking so much, he could only hope the other members wouldn’t notice him shaking. 

 

“Well, um, I was wondering if you guys were okay with going around in a circle, stating your name-” he was met with groans, gosh, why did he sign up for this again? “-and your korean name if you had one? If you want we can assign you one.”

 

Some of them were chattering between them, and it wasn’t until a guy named Jaehyun spoke up. “Can you guys shut up? I’ll go first if you want.”

 

“Jaehyun, I already know your name, ,” one of the newer ones said. “We all know why you here anyways.”

 

“Taeyong sunbaenim, I hate my Korean name, do I have to say it,” one called Mark said. 

 

“It’s Minhyung,” said the new kid next to him.

 

“HAECHAN-”

 

“Okay, well, my name is Jaehyun,” Jaehyun started saying. “If anyone uses my real name I will beat your . Thank you.” 

 

Taeyong needed to reprimand Jaehyun that they couldn’t use vulgar language, along with the other dude who cussed, but he didn’t know what to do. Would they call him lame? Kick him out of his position? Make everyone leave the group? He couldn’t do that. 

 

Besides, Jaehyun had helped him out earlier. He decided to let this time slide. 

 

The one next to Jaehyun went. “My name is Moon Taeil, yes Haechan I know you’re the sun,” Taeil said. At least Taeyong knew who Haechan was now. “And I’m the moon. Whatever.”

 

“Hi everyone! I’m Kim Jungwoo.” One of the newer ones said. 

 

“I’m Johnny,” the first guy to speak said. “Korean name Seo Youngho. I hate it.”

 

“Same, hate Lee Minhyung, cause call me Mark, guys.”

 

“He’s from Canada!” So-called Haechan scream. “He speaks Canada too!” 

 

“We deadass speak English, boy you KNOW some English!” Johnny screeched. 

 

If this was how the unit was going to go, then Taeyong could only see disaster coming. 

 

The rest of the members went. One was called Doyoung, even though his real name was Dongyoung. Haechan’s real name was Lee Donghyuck. The last two members to go were foreigners, Yuta and Si Cheng, who didn’t have any Korean names yet. 

 

Taeyong recognized both of them. Yuta was the captain of the school’s soccer team, his first time having such position, so he was going to have a lot of responsibilities this year, just like Taeyong. The other, Si Cheng, who went by Winwin by those who couldn’t pronounce his name, was also in the Chinese Traditional Dance team that the school offered and had a main role the last time they did a performance. Both groups were really good, no doubt adding to the reputation that the school already had. 

 

“Well, Yuta, Si Cheng, we’ll find you guys some Korean names by the end of this meeting, okay?” Taeyong reassured them. “Now I wanted to go over the main highlights of this year-”

 

“Can we, like, play a game already,” Johnny said. “Why so much talking?”

 

“Johnny if you don’t shut the HELL up,” Jaehyun said. 

 

“Sorry, Jae, but you lied to me!” Johnny said. “You said there was going to be these amazing this involved and-”

 

“It’s his crush isn’t it,” Doyoung said. “Why else would he persuade you to join?”

 

“I was told there would be snacks,” Yuta raised his hand up to ask Taeyong. “When do we get them?”

 

Taeyong was this close to having a panic attack. 

 

He doesn’t remember when it happened, but at one point Jaehyun got up and took the lead, letting Taeyong sit down for sometime to catch his breath. It was already the first meeting and Taeyong couldn’t even handle it. 

 

However, everyone listened to Jaehyun diligently. He went through the powerpoint as if he already knew the material that was on it. He answered everyone’s questions to the best of his ability, with Taeyong occasionally piping up with the answers if Jaehyun didn’t know them. 

 

For the first day of school, the meeting actually went pretty well today. Taeyong could only hope that it would be like that in the future. 

 

----

 

“You’re going to the end of summer bash this weekend?” Jaehyun asked Johnny as they were getting ready to walk home. They were all their lockers, trying to shove that one math textbook that no matter how much the other teachers go digital, the math teachers here are all old and don’t care. 

 

“Hell yeah,” Johnny said, locking his locker shut while Jaehyun still struggled with his. It was a pure miracle that they someone got lockers near each, only 2 lockers apart from each other. “Gotta take the bae out for some fun, you know?”

 

“Can you not use that word,” Jaehyun said, shutting his locker as well. “You’re the only guy in the world who doesn’t call his boyfriend boyfriend.”

 

“Because people took out the meaning of that word,” Johnny explained. “Besides, I get to call my boyfriend whatever I want as long as he’s okay with it, so there. I don’t see you with a boyfriend, huh, Jaehyun?” 

 

Jaehyun looked back behind them, to where the 127 Unit had their meeting. Taeyong was quietly locking the door with the classroom key that he gets to have. Usually leaders of a unit have to return keys to their advisors or the office, but as the president, Taeyong gets to have copies of the keys of the school. 

 

“I don’t have a boyfriend yet ,” Jaehyun reminded Johnny. “I just need some time.” 

 

When Johnny saw who Jaehyun was looking at, he bent down and harshly whispered in the latter’s ear. “You’re taking so ing long, Jaehyun, someone’s going to ask him out first before you do.”

 

“You think so?” Jaehyun whispered, only for the two to be startled when they heard Taeyong scream Jaehyun. 

 

The president had caught sight of them and ran towards them, giving Jaehyun a chance to give Johnny  a look saying Don’t you dare ing mess this up.

 

“Jaehyun, sorry, I just,” Taeyong sputtered as tried to catch his breath. “I just wanted to thank you for earlier, you know, for helping out,” Taeyong said. 

 

Oh, that. Jaehyun noticed that Taeyong looked like was going to have a panic attack, so Jaehyun decided to help him out. His sister used to have them, they could get really scary. “No worries, don’t think about it too much.”

 

But Jaehyun was going to think about it. All night, probably. “Thanks anyway, I have trouble quieting down people,” Taeyong continued. 

 

“No thanks to this ,” Jaehyun said, looking at Johnny. “Wouldn’t shut up.”

 

“Wait, why are you looking at me?” Johnny said. “I didn’t do anything!”

 

Jaehyun and Taeyong didn’t respond, instead choosing to stare at the floor. A good awkward ten seconds. Really, they want Johnny to shut up for this?

 

Of course, when Jaehyun tried to say something, Taeyong did at the same time, followed by a chorus of ‘you first’ ‘no you first’ a bunch of times. If this was how they were going to act when they weren’t dating, imagine if they were. 

 

Jaehyun let Taeyong go first at the end. 

 

“I just wanted to ask, well,” Taeyong started. “You know how each unit’s co-leader is picked by the leader?”

 

Jaehyun nodded. The remaining members towards the end of the year vote who will be leader for next year, thus how Taeyong had gotten his position. Then the leader in the new school year picks a co-leader to help them out. 

 

“Did you already find a co-leader?” Jaehyun asked. That was quick in his opinion, but yet Taeyong was leader for a reason, he must know how to make the right decisions.

 

“Well, you see,” Taeyong paused. “I wanted to ask if you wanted the position, but you’re busy, so-”

 

“No, no, that's fine, I would LOVE to be co-leader with you!” Jaehyun yelled. “Well, I mean if you’re okay with it, of course.” 

 

Taeyong smiled, which Johnny was pretty sure making Jaehyun going crazy in the inside. “Ok, then, that’s great!”

 

“Do you want to go out to eat later?” Jaehyun blurted out. Where was this spurge of confidence coming from? “You know, as leaders? You said you needed help planning out the event at the end of this month, right? I have some ideas.”

 

“Oh, uh…” Taeyong doesn’t really eat out with others for dinner. “Sure? I guess?”

 

“Great! Here.” Jaehyun handed him his phone with the new contact tab opened, to which Taeyong took it and put his number in. “I’ll text you to see when you have time, okay?”

 

Taeyong handed Jaehyun’s phone back to him, to which the other raised it up and took a quick photo of Taeyong, who didn’t have any time to react. The photo came out nice, though, a photo that Jaehyun already knew he was going to cherish for a long time. 

 

“Wait what was that for,” Taeyong asked, trying to sneak a peek at Jaehyun’s screen. “Why did you take a picture of me?”

 

“Your profile picture, duh,” Jaehyun said, showing him the screen. “See, you came out looking great!”

 

Taeyong’s cheeks turned into a light shade of pink. “Thanks, I guess-”

 

“See you later, Taeyong, Jaehyun and I have something to do!” Johnny exclaimed, pulling a dazed Jaehyun away from him. “He’ll talk to you later!”
 

***

 

Tuesday meetings were for the Dream Unit. 

 

This was a relatively new unit, as this was its first year in the running. A junior known as Mark had been trying to get it started since his freshman year, but it wasn’t until now. 

 

He put his textbooks that he wasn’t going to use in his locker, disappointed that his trigonometry book wasn’t one of them. It was the second day of school, why did he have so much homework already?

 

“Boo!” he heard in his ear, causing him to jump. It was Donghyuck, his best friend since forever. Also the love of his life. Not that Haechan knew that. 

 

Ah, yes, the Haechan nickname. When they first met, Haechan couldn’t comprehend how Mark got to have another name (to which he explained he was from Canada but also Korean. Took a bit of explaining to do.) Donghyuck wanted another name too, and even though Haechan isn’t exactly a western name, it was cute and it stuck. 

 

Donghyuck was so cute. Mark really liked the way he would run around spelling Haechan in american lettering. Mark already has 3 videos of Haechan saying that. 

 

His mom couldn’t comprehend how Mark could call Donghyuck both names, but he didn’t mind. 

 

Yesterday morning, Mark had woken up and found Haechan at the door with the lovely smile on his face, chanting how it was time to eat the blueberry pancakes. Mark loved it when his best friend comes over to wake him up, but unfortunately, Mark had slept only in his boxers which embarrassed him to a great extent, not that Haechan seemed to mind. 

 

Just like now, Haechan was screaming into his ear when he was at his locker. So Mark turned around and screamed right back. “You can’t scare me, only my grades can!”

 

“Ha! Really funny,” Donghyuck said, same lovely smile plastered onto his face. “You know you love me.”

 

Oh he knew all right. “I don’t know half of what I know,” Mark tried to deny it. 

 

“That reminds me!” Donghyuck screamed. He bent down on the floor and opened his backpack, ruffling through all his papers before he pulled out a manila folder and handed it to Mark. “I did what you asked, Mr. President of the Dream Unit.”

 

“It’s leader, Haechan,” Mark said, but smiled and took the folder from him. Even though the Unit was for freshmen and sophomores who wanted to get adjusted to the high school life, since Mark had been trying to organize it, he as a junior got to be the leader, assigning his best friend as co-leader. “Wow, you actually did a lot of work.”

 

“I don’t slack off,” Haechan got up from the floor and slung his backpack back on. “This is going to be a great unit, I’m really proud of you, best friend.”

 

Oh, why did Haechan’s words already made his heart skip?

 

———

 

“Attention everyone!” Mark yelled as the clock turned to four. “Welcome to the first year of the NCT Dream Unit. I’m your leader, the only junior in this room, and Haechan here is the co-leader. I hope that this year becomes successful.”

 

There were five other people in the room. Three of them were sophomores like Haechan, named Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun, while the other two, Chen Le and Jisung were freshmen. Renjun and Chen Le were the only Chinese in the room, but they weren’t part of the WayV unit. 

 

“I hope this unit works,” Jaemin said, “because I could really use some help on my English homework.”

 

“Mark speaks Canada,” Haechan explained in English, which only made Mark slapped himself in the head.

 

“Canada is not a language!” Mark yelled. “Just like how Mexico isn’t one either!”

 

“Oh, Canada,” Haechan continued in English. Mark loved his friend but he wanted to slap him. 

 

“English and Korean too hard,” Chen Le said in English.

 

“For the last time, your Korean is good!” Jisung yelled back in their native language. “Why do you always criticize yourself?”

 

“Renjun has the opposite problem, he criticizes everyone,” Jaemin said.

 

“Says the guy who sleeps with socks on.”

 

“See! He did it again!” 

 

Aside from the usual bickering, the meeting went well. Mark explained to the freshmen how the school worked and best routes to get to which classes, which hallways to avoid, which teachers were more lenient. For the sophomores he explained about their classes and how tougher the teachers got on you as sophomores. He felt weird, being the one in the room with the most experience, but it didn’t backfired once. Even when Haechan kept talking about how he wanted to eat the hotdog. 

 

Yep, the love of his life right there folks!
 

***

 

Xiaojun was really looking forward to the WayV meeting on Wednesday. 

 

It isn’t everyday that your parents move you from your hometown in Guangdong to some city in South Korea. See, Xiaojun didn’t even know where he lived! This was a problem. 

 

Like the first day of school. Xiaojun never went by his real name Dejun. As far as he could remember, he had been going by his nickname. His classmates would even forget his real name until every once in a while there would be a substitute who would say Xiao Dejun. And every single teacher here has been calling him Dejun. Some even ask if he has a Korean name instead.

 

He had already completed two years in high school and had two more to go. Why move during the middle of it? Oh, why? Because his dad cheated on his mom and didn’t want to take Xiaojun in, so his mom not only had to find a job to support herself, but his father wouldn’t let her keep the house either. 

 

That . He made Xiaojun’s school life suffer, of course, but he had been married to XIaojun’s mom for 25 years! And the reason for the affair? He didn’t want to date someone old. As if he weren’t almost 60. He was sleeping with a woman 4 years older than Xiaojun! Disgusting!

 

Well, the past was the past. He didn’t blame his mom for moving him here; if he had a husband who did that, he would go to jail for murder. Disrespectful . 

 

He was delightful to have discovered in his mother’s belongings the other day that the house is actually in her name, so Xiaojun told his aunt, who had moved here with them in order to be at her sister’s side, who was going to help him get all the legal stuff in order. Even if his mother wanted to stay here in Korea, she could at least use the money on herself, she deserved it. 

 

Here Xiaojun was in Korean literature class as the teacher was taking roll call. She was getting close to the X’s. It’s the third day, why doesn’t she know by now??

 

And he was right. “Xiao Dejun?” she called out, only mortifying him even more.”

 

“He goes by Xiaojun,” he heard someone in the back say. 

 

That was surprising. Xiaojun swerved around his chair and stared at the classmates. “Which one of you guys said it,” he whispered.

 

“Is Dejun here or not?” The teacher said. 

 

“Oh, present!” Xiaojun said, not caring that she said it wrong again. Someone remembered his nickname! He’s finally doing progress in this stupid school. 

 

This was the only reason he was in smiles on his way to the WayV meeting. They won’t ask him for a Korean name. They won’t read his name from a class list sheet. He's going to be his own person!
 

——

 

When he walked into the classroom, there were already four people in there. One of them was extremely tall and was picking up some papers that had created a mess on the floor, while two other guys were laughing at him. The other male actually sitting in a chair was painting his nails and calling them out. 

 

“Lucas, how stupid can you be?” he said. 

 

The one picking up the papers said, “everyone says I’m a bit stupid.”

 

“No, Yangyang here is more stupid,” one of the guys said. “Look, he even put his shirt backwards.”

 

“Excuse you, I had to change in the dark!” Yangyang said. “My sister broke the lightbulbs in my house.”

 

“Can you guys help me, Kun’s gonna beat my !” Lucas yelled. 

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll record it,” Yangyang said when two other guys walked in the room; both stopped in their tracks when they saw the mess in the room.

 

Xiaojun recognized one of them from his first class, the one who spoke first. “You know, I had a whole speech prepared and everything,” he said. “But you had to make a mess.”

 

“It was Hendery’s fault,” Lucas said, earning a slap on his arm. 

 

“You liar!”

 

“You know, I regret not taking Yuta’s offer to go to the movies,” the other male said. 

 

“Yuta-ge!” Yangyang screeched. “The soccer captain! He’s so cool!"

 

“He’s a weeb,” the one painting his nails said. “Just like you. You guys would all get along. And is no one going to notice the new guy?”

 

All eyes looked around for a second or two until they came in contact with Xiaojun, who had backed himself towards the chalkboard when he entered the room. “...hey,” he muttered. 

 

“Oh, Xiaojun, you’re here!” the guy from his class said. “Cool, we could always use new members.”

 

“Hopefully replacing Yangyang’s ,” the other guy continued. “Are you not going to introduce me, Kun?”

 

“Can you calm down, Ten, Si Cheng hasn’t met Hendery or Yangyang either,” Kun said. “Guys let’s form a circle, Hendery, help Lucas pick up those papers, you too Yangyang.”
 

“You know, as the leader Kun, you should do it to set an example,” Ten said. “So that others can follow your lead.”

 

Kun raised an eye at Ten. “Would you?”

 

“Point taken.”

 

The group each pulled up a chair to form a circle, Xiaojun close behind following their movements. He was trying to think why Kun’s voice sounded familiar…

 

When they all sat down in their seat, Xiaojun stuck between Lucas and Si Cheng, that’s when he pointed at Kun. “You’re the guy who corrected the teacher this morning!”

 

“Yep, that’s me,” Kun said. “You already told her two times you didn’t go by Dejun but she still called you that.”

 

“You’re the first person to remember that,” Xiaojun commented. 

 

“I mean, it’s a name, I don’t know why people act like it’s so hard to call you what you go by,” Kun said. “It’s a simple act of kindness.”

 

Xiaojun had a feeling that Kun did more acts of kindness anyways. 

 

***

 

Thursday was committee day (or as the stupid school called it, NCT U). 

 

Students were expected to help do service projects, so many formed committees or take part of one to help out. Last year, the committee that raised the most amount of funds was one of the committees that Taeyong was in, along with Jaehyun, Mark, Si Cheng, Doyoung, Jungwoo, and Lucas, which was another reason that people voted for Taeyong to be president of their class. It was an entire project that he had made up on its own and is one of the school’s most successful one to date. 

 

There was a lot of little things that Taeyong organized that just gradually build up. He was really excited for how this year was going to play off. 

 

The seven of them decided to be in the same one together again this year. Their first meeting, however, wasn’t at school; instead, they decided to hold it at Taeyong’s house like they always did last year. 

 

They all sat in the living room, with Taeyong handing out packs of oreos, their “national cookie” (Mark’s words.) Last time, they wanted to vote on the national ice cream flavor, but that was their last meeting of the year so they didn’t get time to discuss, so as an icebreaker and refreshing on today’s meeting, that’s what they all started with. 

 

“Clearly, mint chocolate chip is superior and I don’t take anyone’s opinion, sorry,” Mark said, earning a frown from Lucas. 

 

“Man, look, we all know cookie dough is the bomb, man!” Lucas said, waving his hands in the air. “Eating chocolate chip without the cookie dough is nasty, and don’t get me started on the mint!”

 

“I like vanilla,” Jungwoo said, “because you can make it as a base for many types of sundaes.”

 

“That’s boring though,” Mark argued. “Mint chocolate chip, people don’t like it unless they are intellectuals.”

 

“Chocolate,” was Si Cheng’s only reply. 

 

“I don’t know why you guys are arguing about an ice cream flavor,” Doyoung said. “Just write down the flavors you liked from 1 to 3 and the one with the most votes is the national ice cream.”

 

Taeyong just munched on his orea while sitting on a kitchen chair, knees hugged to his chest. He was going to give them five minutes to argue about it or until one of them is about to beat up another.

 

“Taeyong, what’s your favorite flavor?” Jaehyun asked, startling him. “You haven’t said anything yet.”

 

Yep, the confirmed co-leader of the 127 unit. Taeyong hasn’t made the announcement yet, wanting to do it to the whole group next Monday, but Jaehyun was the first one to come to his house today to prepare for the meeting, and he had been talking about his ideas with Taeyong. Jaehyun was really smart, in Taeyong’s opinion, so the 127 unit was in good hands. 

 

Taeyong quickly swallowed his bite of the oreo before answering. “Neapolitan,” Taeyong said. “Three flavors in one is good, and if you only like one of them, you can just grab from that side.”

 

Jaehyun nodded.  “I guess we’re kind of alike. Strawberry is my favorite one. If we share some ice cream, it can be neapolitan."

 

Taeyong’s cheeks tinged into a light pink color. Yes, the color of strawberry indeed. In fact, Jaehyun didn’t have a favorite ice cream, but the color was always displayed on Taeyong’s face, so eating it always reminded him of that. Although now with neopolitan he was going to remember him, too.

 

“You want to share ice cream?” Taeyong asked. Now it was Jaehyun’s turn for the heat to crawl up his neck and face. 

 

“I-I mean, yeah, sure, if you want,” Jaehyun said, only for them to be interrupted by the other group. “Now what did you guys do?”

 

“The national ice cream is cookies n cream,” Lucas explained, high fiving Mark and Doyoung. “A solid contender.” 

 

“Besides, there’s mint and chocolate versions, too,” Mark added. “It can be mixed with a lot of stuff.”

 

“Well, since you guys finished discussing about that, I guess we can get started.” Taeyong stood up and grabbed a folder from the table beside him. “I have the stats from last year’s effort if anyone wants to see them, but as we celebrated last time, we raised the most amount of money and beat our goal.”

 

“That’s ‘cause we’re the best,” Mark said. 

 

“Yeah, we have to make no one beats our record this year!” Lucas said, earning a high five from Mark. 

 

Taeyong rolled his eyes. “The point isn’t about winning, this isn’t a competition, it’s about helping others in need. Do you guys have anything in particular you want to do?”

 

Most committees usually focus on only one project, but Taeyong likes to help out whichever one doesn’t have help at the moment. Many students had been working on collecting food and clothes, donating money for disease awareness groups, and other stuff. Which was one they haven’t worked on yet?

 

“Oh, I have an idea!” Lucas said. “There are some students here who are homeless, why don’t we raise money for housing?”

 

Doyoung stared at him. “Homeless? Who here is homeless?”

 

“Oh, I know someone,” Mark said. “He’s in the Dream unit but he doesn’t like people to know.” Specifically Jaemin, they figured out at the end of the meeting. Instead of having him get picked up by car like everyone else (except Haechan, he always went to Mark’s house after school - not that it helped with Mark’s emotions), Jaemin was picked up by his mom and they walked together back home. They thought it was weird since Jaemin has mentioned he lived far from school, and when Mark and Haechan went to the park later and saw Jaemin walked out of the known homeless shelter, they put two and two together. He could be visiting a family or a friend, but he once said that it’s just his mother and little brother. Still, Mark and Haechan weren’t going to out him. 

 

“That would be a good idea,” Jaehyun said. “Maybe we could raise money to afford them rent for a month or two and help them find a job? The thing with jobs is that they don’t want to hire homeless people, which makes no sense because how are they supposed to get back on their feet?"

 

“Yeah, like my mom couldn’t find a job for 3 months straight when we were living in the homeless facility,” Lucas said, everyone staring at him in shock. “But some people from a group helped her look nice and we were able to get out of there two months later once she saved up money.”

 

“You were homeless? ” Mark asked him. “Since when?”

 

“Oh, I was in eighth grade,” Lucas said, “it was a while ago. The food was good, though, they had volunteers who were so nice.”

 

“Is everyone okay on working on this project?” Taeyong said, earning nods from everyone. “Jungwoo, Si Cheng? You guys haven’t said anything.”

 

Jungwoo had just stuffed his face with two oreos and stared at Taeyong a good ten seconds before swallowing. “Sounds good to me.”

 

“I think we should also raise money to buy them some food and clothes,” Si Cheng added. “Because the shelters usually provide them that as well. Make sure they’re stocked up on hygiene, etc. And we also have to take into account bills and stuff.”

 

“Good point,” Taeyong said. “Doyoung, do you think you’ll be able to calculate the monthly costs for families of 2, 3, 4 and 5?”

 

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Doyoung said. “I should have it by the end of next week, but for now we should start with a fundraiser."

 

“Let’s sell ice cream during lunch,” Jaehyun said. “People have always complained about not having it. And besides, it’s still summer outside, who isn’t going to be hot?”

 

“I still think mint chocolate chip is better.”\

 

“FOR THE LAST TIME, COOKIE DOUGH!”

***

 

Friday didn’t have a specific event scheduled since it was the start of the school year. Everyone carried on with their daily lives. Mark gave Haechan matching bracelets. Jaehyun gave Taeyong an ice cream cone. Lucas and Jungwoo kept tripping and catching each other. Si Cheng caught that Yuta staring at him again. Kun asked Xiaojun to be his partner in a project for class. 

 

Yep, everything was normal. Or crazy. Normally crazy. 

 

Or so they thought.

 

----

 

Back in the United States, a guy who went by the name Lee Jihoon worked in a main position at NASA. 

 

A few months back, the organization has launched a satellite to orbit around the Milky Way galaxy, as given orders by the Department of Defense. Jihoon wasn’t given the reason, not high enough in his position to be given reasons, but he did have one friend who did - Kwon Soonyoung. 

 

From what Soonyoung had told him, the government simply wanted to know in case there was any “disturbance”, not that he knew what it meant. Where they talking about a star exploding? Some meteors? Or maybe aliens.

 

One night while playing Soonyoung’s new nintendo switch at his house, Jihoon had jokingly told him his theory that the government thought aliens were going to attack them or something. Soonyoung didn’t laugh, though; he just told Jihoon he didn’t know what was out there. 

 

Jihoon won’t find out until later that they would know the answer to that very soon.