They were packing their bags after work.

 

Jihoon was buzzing from excitement, rambling off places they could visit while they had free time in South Korea. He had almost cried when Soonyoung told him the news earlier, how NASA was sending them over to help aid in the research, considering how they were the main two that had discovered the unidentifiable object.

 

“We can finally talk to other Koreans!” Jihoon said, grabbing shirts off his hangers and throwing them on his bed. “Finally put my native language to use.”

 

Soonyoung had talked to multiple Koreans before, and had gotten to known other Asians as well, but it was nice for Jihoon to finally have the opportunity as well. 

 

Jihoon never had much opportunities, and Soonyoung, well-

 

He didn’t like to talk about it. 

 

***

 

8 years ago

 

Soonyoung was late.

 

Jihoon hasn’t gotten time to spend with the latter for over a month. He would ask Soonyoung to go to the park, or if Jihoon could come over, but Soonyoung always had plans. 

 

At least Soonyoung was able to meet him today. That was good, right? 

 

He was sitting at the bench at the park. It was 6:10, already past ten minutes of their meeting time. Soonyoung wasn’t really the type of person to be late. Maybe something happened. Jihoon had to be patient. 

 

They were about to graduate together, and Jihoon was going to ask him if they could spent the morning of the ceremony together. It would really mean a lot for Jihoon, and he could only hope Soonyoung would be willing to do it with him. 

 

He left at ten, when the park manager told him they were closing. 

 

——

 

Is everything okay? 

 

Soonyoung got a text from Jihoon at around 10:15 pm, right when he got out of the shower. 

 

He had spent the whole day with his soccer friends after school but left his phone at home. He got a scolding from his mother, of course, but when he finally opened it and found messages from everyone, he deleted them all. 

 

The text from Jihoon, though, was unexpected. What was that about? 

 

He should have asked him, but not right now. He’ll respond later, he was going to get some snacks from the kitchen first. Yeah, definitely later. 

 

——

 

“Did something happen yesterday?” Jihoon asked him before school started. 

 

Soonyoung was alone, grabbing his textbooks from his locker. He came earlier than usual to turn in an assignment, but his friends would come later. 

 

“What do you mean?” Soonyoung asked him, thinking of how he needed to head over to Dylan and Andy’s house later to work for their project. 

 

“Well, yesterday you didn’t answer my messages,” Jihoon explained, “since you didn’t come to our meeting. Is everything okay?” 

 

, he forgot they were meeting. “Sorry, Jihoon, I forgot, we can reschedule,” he told him. “I left my phone at home so I didn’t see your messages.”

 

“That’s okay, I’m glad you’re okay-“ Jihoon started telling him before-

 

Arata and Luis came behind him. “Hey, man, yesterday was LIT,” Luis said, while Arata gave him a playful punch. 

 

“Haha, yeah!” Soonyoung said, laughing with them. “I’m so excited for the game this Friday.” He closed his locker and walked away with them, leaving Jihoon alone. 

 

Not that he remembered him there.

 

——

 

During lunch, Jihoon didn’t have enough money for his meal, so he had to put it all back. He was going to have to wait for meal time at the orphanage at seven, then. 

 

He decided to spend his time at the library, taking advantage of the computers. Maybe he could go to Facebook.

 

He logged on and scrolled through his feed, where he saw some of Soonyoung’s post. He was the only one he had as a friend on Facebook, so he mainly played those games, like FarmVille. Soonyoung didn’t use Facebook that often, only posting when his mom wanted him too, but it was nice to see Soonyoung happy in those posts.

 

He saw a picture of Soonyoung with his friends at a burger place yesterday, all of them making faces at the camera. He gave a it a like, just like always.

 

He saw more photos like that, spamming them with likes. Soonyoung never commented back, so he stopped leaving those a while ago. However, one post caught his attention.

 

It was posted on the last day of April, and it was a letter. Gonna say yes to Harvard tomorrow, read his post, along with emojis of balloons and party streamers. 

 

Harvard?? Soonyoung got into Harvard? That was great! That was so great for his friend!!! 

 

There was also pictures of all the scholarships he had received, thus essentially making it a full ride. Jihoon couldn’t believe it! His friend was going to have a blast at college.

 

Jihoon hasn’t gotten a single scholarship that he applied for and got the costliest loans; he was going to one of the public colleges nearby. The good thing was that they were letting him live in a dorm, since the orphanage was going to kick him out soon. 

 

Jihoon had to celebrate with his friend. 

 

——

 

“Can I ask you something?” Jihoon asked him while on the phone.

 

Jihoon gave him a call earlier to congratulate his acceptance to Harvard, which was kind of a big deal to Soonyoung but not really. Whatever made Jihoon happy.

 

“Yeah, sure,” Soonyoung said, setting his iPhone to speaker so that he can finish his calc homework. 

 

“So you know how graduation is beginning of June?” Jihoon asked. “Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to spend the morning together getting ready.”

 

“Oh, sorry, I can’t,” Soonyoung said. “Me and the boys already have plans that day. We’re going to be at Michael’s house all day and then our parents are meeting us at the ceremony.”

 

Soonyoung was looking forward to graduation, surely gonna be one of the best days of his life. He was rank four, no speech for him, but his friends were all in the top 25 as well, so they would get to sit near him as well. His parents were going to take him out to dinner, and then there was the after party. He couldn’t wait. 

 

“Oh, okay,” Jihoon said. “Maybe-“

 

“Soonyoung, Amazon just delivered a package for you!” His mother, Annabel, knocked on his door and opened it a slit so that he could hear her better. “I have it hear for you-“

 

“Gotta go, Jihoon.” Soonyoung turned off the speaker and pressed the red button, ending the call. “What’s the package, mom, does it say what it is? I bought a bunch of random stuff.”

 

——

 

***

 

Present 

 

Soonyoung was driving to the airport when he saw Jihoon, who was sitting in the passenger seat watching a movie on his phone, start to silently cry.

 

Soonyoung looked at the right before turning, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw tears starting to stream down Jihoon’s face.

 

“Wong, woah, woah, hey, what’s wrong?” Soonyoung drove to the side pulled into what appeared to be a gas station. “Jihoon, you okay?”

 

Jihoon nodded, already hiccuping when a tear fell on his phone. “I’m fine, you’re just exaggerating.”

 

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon’s phone. Ah. That’s why he was crying. It was High School Musical, where Troy was on the podium at graduation. 

 

Jihoon didn’t like to talk about graduation, either high school or college. Made sense. That’s why he got so emotional whenever those types of scenes came up, but crying wasn’t really a part of it. He just became quiet and you couldn’t talk to him for the rest of the day. 

 

He placed Jihoon’s phone on the cupholder and put his hand on Jihoon’s shoulder. “Hey. I’m here, okay? It’s okay, Jihoon, you can cry.”

 

Jihoon started sobbing now, covering his face with his hands to not look at Soonyoung. Soonyoung just patted his back and rubbed circles while Jihoon sobbed, the car parked at a gas station. 

 

When he quieted down, Soonyoung said, “Do you want some McDonald’s? I’ll get you your favorite, the Oreo McFlurry, heck, let’s just get a whole ton of McChickens, too, okay? This flight is going to be a long one.”

 

Jihoon slowly took his hands off his face. “McDonald’s?”

 

“Yeah, some fast food.” Soonyoung shifted the gear shift from park to drive and got them out of the gas station. “In Korea, we are eating all the authentic food we can get.”

 

***

 

“So I vote that we eliminate Lucas,” Yangyang concluded.

 

Kun frowned. “That has- Yangyang, we were picking a movie to watch Friday.”

 

Ten was in the WayV meeting Wednesday, but seeing how they were arguing, he pulled out his phone to text Johnny.

 

How r u doing baby <3 , the message read. Johnny was heading back home while Ten was stuck in this classroom. 

 

we’re going to strangle someone :D Ten replied to him, before putting his phone away.

 

“So I guess Love O2O wins,” Kun announced. “We will watch it Friday.”

 

Si Cheng’s eyes widen. “Wait, Friday? You said, Friday?”

 

“Yeah, this week,” Kun said. “If you guys can make it.”

 

“Can it be at night, though?” Yangyang said. “It’ll be cooler.”

 

“Maybe 6?” 

 

“Six?” Si Cheng asked, his voice a little higher than normal. 

 

Hendery turned to look at him. “Si Cheng, what is going on with you today?”

 

“Maybe it’s because of that Yuta,” Yangyang said. “What a role model.”

 

Oh, Yuta, Ten knew who that was. Yuta was one of Johnny’s friends, along with Jaehyun. Mark Lee also used to be part of the group, but after some incident that happened last year, he doesn’t really hang out with them outside of school anymore. 

 

Ten didn’t know much of the situation; he wasn’t dating Johnny yet by then, and it would be weird to ask him now. Mark was alright, but Ten felt threatened by that Haechan kid. He had no idea how to explain. 

 

“Winwin, you’re still with that Yuta?” Kun said. “I thought you weren’t official yet.”

 

“Official of what-Wait what?” Si Cheng said. “Why are we talking about me and Yuta?”

 

“Hey, next meeting we should make a plan to get those two together,” Ten chipped into the conversation. He wanted to see how Si Cheng would react.

 

He got the response he wanted. Si Cheng’s face started turning red, and he reached out to scratch his neck. “I don’t know what you're talking about.”

 

“We all know you wanna bang,” Yangyang said. “Just admit it-“

 

“Yo, maybe we should stop this conversation,” Lucas suggested. 

 

“What are you, a ?” Hendery said. 

 

“Um, guys,” Kun interrupted. “I think everyone in here is a .” 

 

The whole room looked at each other in silence. 

 

One of them must not be a , Ten thought. I mean, they are all high school students, surely one of them must have been enough. 

 

But no one denied it.

 

Even Ten was a himself. Yeah, most people would immediately think he wasn’t; he was rumored to be a when he flirted with Johnny a few months ago. Why people always assumed that, he didn’t know. 

 

“I’m not, who told you that?” Yangyang said, causing everyone’s eyes to turn to him.

 

“YOU’RE NOT??” Kun screeched. “When did this happen?”

 

“I’m sorry!” Yangyang yelled out, covering his face with his hands. “It was when I was still in Germany!”

 

“Yangyang, there’s nothing wrong with sleeping with other people,” Ten said. “You don’t have to-“

 

“I’m not a , I promise!” Yangyang continued to yell. “I just have bad taste in men!”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Lucas asked, confused. He had no idea how they went from movies to this. 

 

Oh, wait. It was Yangyang and Hendery’s fault, like always. 

 

“You had past lovers?” Hendery whispered quietly.

 

Yangyang nodded, peeking through his fingers to look at Hendery. “Yeah.”

 

“Yangyang, you’re not a -“ Ten tried to calm him down but the other wouldn’t budge.

 

“Yes I am!” Yangyang shouted before removing his hands from his face to zip his jacket up to his throat and tightening they strings, pulling up his hoodie, completely making his head covered. “Don’t look at me!”

 

“Yangyang, sleeping with one person doesn’t make you an automatic -“ Kun tried to reason with him. 

 

“It was four!”

 

“FOUR?!” Hendery screeched, jumping out of his seat. “HOW DO YOU MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE FOUR TIMES?!”

 

“Hendery, you’re not really helping,” Si Cheng said. 

 

“Yangyang, if it makes you feel better,” Xiaojun said for the first time that meeting. “I’m not a either.” 

 

While everyone gawked at him, Yangyang untightened the strings from his hoodie. “You’re not?”

 

“Okay, I really didn’t expect that,” Ten said.

 

Kun turned to look at Xiaojun, his eyes filled with worry. It didn’t take a genius to know he liked the new guy. Ten was going to pry information out of him later. “Was it when you came here, or?” He asked slowly. 

 

Xiaojun shook his head. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

 

“Can we please stop talking about , you guys give me anxiety,” Lucas interrupted all of them. “I want to ask Jungwoo out and I don’t need to keep thinking about that.”

 

“You and Jungwoo?” Hendery asked. “I did not expect that.”

 

Yangyang ped his jacket and pulled down his hoodie. “So do we plan you getting together?”

 

“How about we don’t plan anything,” Kun said. “So. Movie. Friday. It’s confirmed.”

 

***

Si Cheng had a dilemma. 

 

So, usually he did not have anything on Fridays. However, the two units he was in now wanted to do something on Friday simultaneously.

 

Why this week out of all weeks??

 

The 127 club was doing something Friday since they were all panicking about colleges and transcripts and scholarships, so the meeting was for everyone to figure things out. Meanwhile, the WayV club wanted to hold a movie night, the movie Love O2O, which Si Cheng was really looking forward to.

 

Si Cheng was a junior, so he finally decided to go to the WayV meeting instead. He really wanted to watch that movie, and he wasn’t applying to colleges this year. Besides, he knew how loud 127 would get; they wouldn’t get any work done.

 

He did want to see Yuta though. 

 

Yeah, everyone was right. He had a big, fat crush on the latter and from what everyone was telling him, the feeling was mutual. However, they were crazy if they thought Si Cheng was going to make the first move. 

 

Thankfully, he was back on his place that Wednesday, so he grabbed his pillow and screamed at it. 

 

Scream about stupid exams, stupid WayV, stupid 127, stupid Yuta, not stupid Lucas and Kun who thankfully changed the topic during the meeting. 

 

Yep. Classic Chinese classmates. 

 

***

 

Jaehyun was at his house again. 

 

It was Wednesday, so his parents weren’t home again. Although Taeyong didn’t think his parents would mind. Surely they would love Jaehyun. 

 

Friday they were going to hold a special 137 meeting in case anyone wanted to join. Some of them, like Mark and Johnny, were Korean but raised in different countries, so they don't know much about the Korean college process. Some, like Yuta and Si Cheng, we’re foreigners entirely. Others, like Taeil, just claimed to be stupid. 

 

They were doing their mathematics homework, but Taeyong put music on the television so that they could hear something while they worked. He usually put soft music, but when he asked Jaehyun for suggestions, he found himself putting on-

 

Taemin’s Want.

 

“Um, well, okay?” Taeyong pressed the letter T on the control and paused, not wanting to press the a.

 

Ha. Wanting.

 

“What’s wrong, you don’t like it?” Jaehyun said. “I can pick a new one-“

 

“No, it’s fine, I’m just, well-“ Taeyong slammed his finger on the A and went to press the e and m. “I’m not used to hearing this type of music when I’m doing homework.”

 

“Oh, I love hearing energetic music while doing homework,” Jaehyun replies. “It makes me feel productive, you know, like getting upbeat and that kind of thing, right?”

 

“O-oh, I, well, hmmmmm.” He finished typing it in and clicked on the first video, the familiar beat starting to play. 

 

“Do you know the Dream club?” Jaehyun asked him. “They are staying Friday too to do a karaoke night. Maybe we can, I don’t know, pop in at the end and sing a little song?” 

 

Taeyong looked at him, puzzled. “A song?”

 

“Only if you want to, I mean, they’re meeting the same time as us Friday, 6-8.”  Jaehyun grabbed his workbook and set it on his knee, already grabbing a pencil. “I think WayV is staying after that same time, who knows what they are doing, Si Cheng was mumbling about a movie or something…” Jaehyun trailed off. 

 

“Si Cheng?” Taeyong whispered to him. “I didn’t know you were friends with him, do you like him?”

 

“Si Cheng, pft, no,” Jaehyun said. “He’s just chill, he was like on of the only guys who talked to me when I moved here from America back in middle school-“

 

“America?” Taeyong reaches over to grab one of the oreos that he had arranged on a plate earlier. “You lived there?”

 

“For four years, that’s why I’m here, man.” Jaehyun started drumming his fingers on his thigh, focusing his attention on Taeyong’s hair. “No, I don’t like him romantically, I like- I-I mean we should finish this.” He looked down on his workbook and wrote down the number 24 on a question that asked the derivative. 

 

“Wait, you like who?” Taeyong quizzed him.

 

“Can you stop it with all the questions, please?” Jaehyun harshly said to him, already reading the next question.

 

“Oh.” Taeyong looked down on his notebook, where he had been reviewing his notes. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to pry into your life.”

 

“No, no Taeyong, that’s not- uhhhhh, this is so hard!!” Jaehyun raised up the workbook and smacked his head with it. “How do I do this?!?!”

 

“Oh, I can help you with the problem-“ Taeyong offered when Jaehyun interrupted him with a groan. 

 

“No, I’m not talking about calc, I’m talking about-I-I…” he trailed off with a sigh and turned his gaze towards the window. “Guess I botched it now.”

 

“Bot-“ botched what? Taeyong wanted to ask, but he didn’t want Jaehyun to get mad at him for asking more questions, so he stopped himself. 

 

Jaehyun didn’t say anything for the next minute, maintaining his gaze on the window.

 

“Jaehyun?” Taeyong reached out to grab his hand but pulled it back last minute. “Are, are you okay?”

 

Jaehyun nodded. “Yeah, sure, totally. Um…. Taeyong?”

 

Those same gorgeous puzzled eyes kept staring back at him. “Yeah?”

 

“Do you, um….” silence. “.......do you want to do something Friday?”

 

“Friday?” Taeyong tilted his head, pondering. “What for?”

 

“After the 127 meeting,” Jaehyun explained. “Maybe…. grab dinner? I don’t know, if you want?”

 

“Um, okay?” Taeyong laughed a little. “It’s-it’s not a big deal, you can ask me out anywhere.”

 

Ask him out, huh? “No, Taeyong not like-like not friends.”

 

“Oh! I thought-I thought we were friends-sorry,” Taeyong shrugged him off. “Sorry, don’t, don't worry,” he whispered under his breath. 

 

“No, Taeyong, I didn’t mean that- uHHHHH!!!” Jaehyun whacked himself with his workbook again. “Can you, uh, give me a minute?” With that, he grabbed his phone and ran out the room, leaving a confused Taeyong behind.