What outsiders might not know, and some insiders doubt, is that Nayeon and Jeongyeon are a less cuddly version of Jihyo and Seungwan. They are long time friends, there for each other no matter what, but instead of being mushy and lovey dovey with each other like their younger counterparts, they bicker and live to piss the other off and, consequently, everyone around them. Lovely, I know. 

When the group split, it was only natural that Seungwan would go with Jihyo just as Nayeon would go with Jeongyeon. Sure, the eldest boy hated these running stupid thingy, as he put it, but Jeong was running and he would sit there and support him with whatever it was. Tzuyu found it cutely endearing and Mina demanded he recorded the two so he could watch later, not that their subjects were aware of their taiwanese expectator. Both older boys liked to believe they were seen as manly men (they weren’t), and will never allow themselves to admit the love they had for each other publicly.

“You sure you don’t want me to get you that sheet so you can crawl under it after you lose?” Nayeon teases, not a single drop of real malice in it.

“Maybe you can use it yourself, to hide that hideous face of yours.” Jeongyeon counters, equally lovingly.

“Oh, you must be mistaken. I’m sure you are talking about your own reflection.”

“Nope, I’m certain I’m looking at you right now.”

Tzuyu can’t help but chuckle at that, which gets the bickering duo looking at him and he manages to look elsewhere in time so they just chuck it to something the youngest saw elsewhere. Back to their bickering, everyone around them knew exactly what Nayeon was doing, he was trying to get his friend’s mind off the competition about to begin, and sadly, being mean to each other was their way of doing things. Mr Yoo, Seungyeon and mrs Im were lagging behind, talking about how they would be a lovely couple, had they been a bit braver a couple years back and confessed before they met other people and buried the love they certainly had for each other.

Jeongyeon, in turn, knew Nayeon was as nervous as he was about the day’s events, and the older boy would have to endure it much longer because the basketball game was in the evening and Mina wasn’t there too. Sure, the danseur and the basketballer had been dancing around each other for too long, but they really relied on each other for support, not to mention Mina knew exactly how to calm his mans down and that would be really needed at the moment. 

“How about you just admit you can only dream of being as handsome as I am. It’s no shame to wish for this face, but not everyone is lucky.”

“Nayeon, you are so lucky you are book smart.” Jeongyeon sighs, and Tzuyu really had to laugh at that.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m undoubtedly the hottest guy this place has to offer.”

“Okay, sorry to burst your bubble.” Tzuyu felt it was time to intervene, the duo was about to hit each other. “But Jihyo is the hottest guy around.”

“Hey!”

“Not sorry, babe. I gotta be honest here, have you two ever seen him compete?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Nayeon huffs. “But Tzu is right in this one. I mean, that unitard hugs all the right places.”

“Fine, I’ll give yall that.” Jeongyeon mumbles.

“You boys do realize he’s not a piece of meat and Seungwan should have something to say about this, right?!” Seungyeon jumps into the conversation.

“Oh, Seungwan would very much agree with us.” Nayeon dismisses.

“And you clearly have never seen Hyo compete.” Jeongyeon adds.

“I do try not to see my younger brother’s friends like that. It feels wrong.” The eldest Yoo argues.

“Sis, I know you came here to support me and all that, but go and check Hyo out.” The youngest Yoo suggests.

“What?”

“Hyun says he’s the fourth up, you have time to watch the first race and go see it for yourself.” Nayeon cuts the woman’s complaint before it begins.

“I am doing no such thing, and you will not suggest any of this again.” The woman reprimands and walks away from the snickering boys.

Tzuyu, who had been on a video call with Mina all along (the penguin was on standby and decided to distract himself), goes back to his call and the old married couple goes back to teasing each other. One might think Mina and Tzuyu would be doubtful of their partners, but they couldn’t, there had been a lot of talk and a lot of undoing misunderstandings between them all, and they settled after that. Jeongyeon and Nayeon had given up on being lovers, and settled for being best friends and eternal soulmates, instead.

The cross country thingy, Nayeon insists, goes as well as it could, Jeongyeon is on the long distance, so he is on the first starters but will be finishing last, that leaves the group with a lot of free time, Tzuyu and Nayeon manage to convince the Yoo sisters to come with them and cheer for Jihyo while they wait. The parents had already banded together to do their own thing, mrs Yoo merely waved them away when Sujin announced they were going to walk around a little. Seungyeon might not want to admit it to herself, but Sujin will, Nayeon and Tzuyu were right, and thanks whoever invented unitards.

They leave shortly after Jihyo’s fight ends, it was disappointing, but the ultrage they saw tells them everyone was enraged with something about that fight. Jeongyeon’s race was still a long ways away from ending, but they came back to their parents looking like they had been scolded and very well behaved, must have something to do with papa Yoo and the deck of cards he sneaked into the picnic basket. Well, at least the ‘kids’ didn’t have to endure any of it. 

Some more races go by and the end of the long distance is announced, apparently the first competidors are about to arrive, the track is prepared to receive them and the other competitions halt for the time being. Sure enough, Jeongyeon is between the small group, about five boys or so, and looking like he is doing very well for himself. There would be enough time for a final sprint, once the competidors arrive back at the track, they were to do one last lap before finishing, and that was when Jeongyeon took his chance, he had been keeping a pace fast enough to not fall behind but not enough to deplete all his energy.

Once they entered the final half lap of their course, was when the real competition bagan, Nayeon and Tzuyu were hugging each other because they didn’t know what to do with their hands, their parents were screaming at the top of their lungs and Sujin and Seungyeon were bouncing on their seats in expectation. It was great, Jeongyeon got second, but that was a fantastic result for a former sprinter, and the coach gave him a big, bone-crushing hug because he did so well. Tzuyu was the only one going down to greet his boyfriend, the runners had to rest, and the tall boy just wanted to let Jeongyeon know they would be waiting for him by the bleachers so they could head to Nayeon’s game together.

Jeongyeon headed straight to the locker room, the school’s nurse was there to help the students,, along with the professionals who came with other schools, and helped the boy with not hurting himself. She guided the tired runner through a stretching and ‘un-warming’ routine, told him to take a warm shower, then guided him to a bed and put some ointment on his muscles to prevent injuries. Everything took a long while, that meant Nayeon and his parents headed to the basketball court first, Jihyo went with him, his group had already arrived from the greco-roman. When the nurse did release him, Jeongyeon took another shower to remove the ointment that smelled like death but worked like a charm, got dressed in his nice clothes and went out to join his friends and family.