The first day was certainly hectic, but things fell into routine quite quickly. Despite the first week consisting of going over the syllabuses and most students drawing schedules for their year. The seniors who were in clubs had a laxer schedule and they would be leaving the extra activities before the competitions started. The Parks had spent the previous day talking and catching up with each other, Jihyo had taken them to his mother’s restaurant and the woman was happy to have her niece and nephew over, so much so that she cooked for them herself. Mr Park had arrived for dinner and almost gave his niece and nephew a stomach ache for how tight he had hugged them.

The other boys had busied themselves with their own things, each trying to figure out how to best spread their studies and whatever extra activity they had to submit for entrance credits. Our footballers were training the newcomers more than themselves, they would only be playing some warm up games and leave the team definitively once the season began, Sooyoung, however, was worried about his substitute, he had called for the election to take place right after selections had finished. Joohyun and Seulgi were helping him as much as they could, but their captain was still very stressed out.

Yeri was a bit lonely at cooking club, now that his last two, same age, companions had managed to skip a year and were also seniors. He understood it was his own doing to have barely managed to not flunk, but it was still a bit of a lonely feeling. Dahyun had been working on his pieces to submit for each college, he would be taking arts and wanted to, along with the entrance exam he would be taking regardless, try for the talent scholarships and those required him to submit a few pieces on different themes and styles. He had about three months to submit the first ones, three different schools with three different subjects, but it was manageable and he really wanted to get in, at least, one of those schools.

Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo would also not be competing with the chemistry club, they would be student-coaches for the team, but couldn’t really get invested in any competitions. Jihyo was aiming for an academic scholarship, so he would be studying much more, maybe get some early invitations if possible. Nayeon had been talked to by a few scouts and he wanted to take their invitations, he was just analyzing which school would offer him the best curriculum. Jeongyeon, however, wanted to try and choose the best college either with Tzuyu or close enough to him that they could move in together. The tallest boy hadn’t been expecting to actually skip a grade and hadn’t looked into any so far, but the couple was already searching and talking about it, they would do fine.

Mina, to nobody’s surprise, was approached by Yonsei to dance for them. Nayeon wanted to try there too, but he still hadn’t heard from them. Also, the older boy would be playing a few games before season really began and he could still be approached there, maybe Yonsei would turn up, if not, he knew he had the grades to show for anyway. Sana and Chaeyoung, these two were in a bit of a boggle, the japanese wanted to go to an overseas college, mostly because he wanted to study robotics and chemistry and there weren’t any colleges that would allow him to take the two simultaneously in Korea. In all honesty, Chaeyoung hadn’t thought about what he really wanted, and now he had to think about wanting to go abroad with his boyfriend or not, so he started looking into the schools Sana was aiming for as well.

Seungwan and Joohyun were fine, they had already talked a lot and were aiming for the same places, it was only a matter of waiting for the acceptance letters and deciding where to go. What the group had noticed, however, was that Jihyo and Dahyun still hadn’t talked to each other and the pale boy took the fact that it wasn’t him who was in the wrong and he had become single to entertain new experiences, Choerry and Lip had also kept contact and they had been planning a few outings once they had gone through the hassle of going back to classes. 

Now, the thing that was supposed to happen, was still being awaited by mostly everyone. Look, they are all good boys, but the spirit of the gossip ran deep within them all. Plus, they wanted to be able to just hang out without worrying, and stop having to coordinate everything for Dahyun and Jihyo not to meet, or if they did, the younger Bae would be purposefully hitting on anyone available in the vicinity. They had to talk and, hopefully, fix things between them, it would also make everyone around them more comfortable. With that thought, we have Park Jihyo standing outside the Bae residence on a saturday morning after the first week of classes.

“You gonna be out there much longer?” Joohyun had lost his patience waiting for the boy to ring the bell.

“I’m mentally preparing, leave me alone.” Jihyo says but doesn’t meet his eyes.

“I’d love to leave you standing there all day long, but Wannie is about to come pick me up and I know he will take your side in whatever it is you are planning, and I’m absolutely standing up for my little brother.” Joohyun says coldly. “You either get in and face all the you did, or go away and don’t bother Hyun at all.”

“I’ll go in.” The visitor deflates.

“Take a seat on the couch. I’ll tell him you are here but I can’t make him do anything else.” The older Bae commands and leaves no room for arguing. “If he isn’t down in half an hour, leave. I don’t want to be forced to take action, and I don’t care that you are a wrestler, I’ll beat you to a pulp if I have to.”

Jihyo, having never seen this side of Joohyun, just gulps and nods, unable to actually think of anything to say at the moment. He disappears upstairs, there’s a door being opened and closed, and silence. The wrestler doesn’t know how long it is until the door opens and closes again, heavy footsteps come down and an angry Joohyun reappears.

“I told him you are here and that I gave it half an hour if he wanted to talk at all. Wan is already waiting for me, so I’ll leave. Do understand this, Park, you make things worse with my little brother, I’ll be your worst nightmare.”

The eldest Bae leaves after that, not caring for an answer. Seungwan is leaning against his mother’s car, waiting to open the door for his boyfriend with a bright smile that dims a little once he recognises that look. Joohyun had only ever looked like that once, and it was the first time Jihyo had blown off Dahyun to go out with Daniel. After that, the bitterness had settled towards the wrestler and never left, only grew. Seungwan was curious about what had happened, but he knew he had to lift his boyfriend’s mood before touching the subject or he would get the burn for it as well. They would be fine by the end of their date.

Back at the Bae’s residence, however, things were still tense. Jihyo had been keeping an eye on the clock, Joohyun gave him half an hour and the older Bae would definitely know if he exceeded his limit. Dahyun was in his room pondering about having this conversation at all or not, he could simply not go down at all, nobody could or would blame him for not wanting to do this. But, on the other hand, things have dragged on for too long already and it seems it became a bigger thing than it was supposed to. It was just a break up, but then decisions were made for him and he was disrespected on his decisions. Maybe he should just get it over with and hope to move on peacefully already.

Now, while that is going on, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had agreed to start supplementary classes as soon as possible, so we have Sana and Jeongyeon hanging out together as their boys were taking classes on their weakest subjects. It turned out that the older pair got along much better than anyone could have predicted, Sana was very kind, bright and cuddly, Jeongyeon turned out to be a lot less reserved than he thought he was, he loved getting hugged out of the blue and how Sana would just kiss him when he got too excited. It was also very nice that the japanese was a math and physics genius, they would have long study sessions while their boyfriends were in class.

Nayeon and Mina would join their studies most times, when they didn’t it was mostly because Nayeon couldn’t be woken up in time and Mina got snached and tangled into his boyfriend’s limbs and just gave up and slept. It happened more than any of the two wanted to admit, and they should really be studying harder, but it was comfy and what was Mina supposed to do? Say no? Though this would surely have to stop soon, if they wanted to be on schedule with their studies. The good thing, however, was that they had worked out the Japan crisis, Mina did a lot of groveling and Nayeon did his best to be a bit more forgiving about everything and they were fine now.

“Yeah?” The young japanese answers his phone.

“You two coming today?”

“I’m really trying to get him to not nap today, but I can’t say for sure.”

“Well, we are at Sana’s house, if you decide to work on your grades a bit. Take care Minnie.”

“Thanks, Jeong. I’ll try harder.”

“Don’t strain yourself too much.” The older boy chuckles heartily. “Sacchan and I can always go to you and kick that old fart out of bed.”

“Like you are that much younger yourself.”

“Myoui Mina!” There is an undignified gasp. “You are on thin ice, mister!”

“Love you, Jeong. Give Sacchi kisses from me too.” There is a grunt on the other side and Mina laughs. “Don’t act like you don’t like it, everyone knows nobody can resist when Sana wants to give love.”

“Fine, just don’t let him hear you.”

“Like he doesn’t know already.”

There is a humm from the older boy and they hang up. Sana was already sitting around the coffee table they would be using, on his pajama bottoms and thick glasses. Many would go wild at the sight, the boy was very well built, he was a martial artist after all, and his hair was slightly disheveled from the boy messing it up whenever he was thinking deeply. To Jeongyeon, however, the japanese looked very cute, his slight pout in frustration made him look even younger and the pen streaks over his bare chest reminded the korean of how clumsy the boy was and how many times he had failed on spinning his pen. It was always fun to study with Sana, his way of thinking was very unique and helped find solutions easier.