Monday Afternoon, Week 16

Music Department

"Aisssshhh."

Eunkwang covered his face in despair as he emerged from the classroom after finishing his exam.

Changsub and Hyunsik had finished a few minutes earlier and were waiting outside for him.

"How did you do?" Changsub asked.

"Completely bombed." Eunkwang said.

Hyunsik sighed and patted Eunkwang's shoulder.

"Sorry man…maybe you shouldn't have played so much League of Legends last week."

"I know…" Eunkwang groaned.

Changsub shook his head.

"I swear that professor is trying to make us fail. That exam was rough."

"I don't know I thought it was fine." Said Hyunsik casually.

"Shut up genius." Changsub replied.

The three boys started making their way across the campus to get snacks. As they passed through the main courtyard they noticed a small crowd of students.

"Wonder what’s going on?" Hyunsik asked curiously.

"Ehh probably some stupid exam week activities." Changsub waved his hand dismissively and kept walking.

"Wait! I see puppies I wanna check it out." Eunkwang said eagerly.

Changsub sighed and looked at Hyunsik.

"Really…puppies?" He said.

Hyunsik shrugged.

Changsub grumbled under his breath as he and Hyunsik followed Eunkwang.

They arrived on the scene to find Sungjae rolling around on the floor with the puppies.

Sungjae looked up and waved at Changsub.

"Hi hyung!" He said.

"Hey…" Changsub replied awkwardly. It hadn't been long since Sungjae had started calling him 'hyung' and it was still a bit weird.

Changsub looked around.

Peniel was standing nearby holding one of the smaller puppies looking slightly vexed at Sungjae's antics.

"Ah right…Peniel" Changsub thought.

He suddenly felt unsure of how he should act in this situation.

Peniel saw Eunkwang, Changsub, and Hyunsik and smiled apologetically.

"Hey, sorry about him he's just being stupid." He said, nodding towards Sungjae.

"I am not!" Sungjae protested.

Peniel gave him a stern look.

"You've been messing around with the puppies long enough Sungjae let other people have a turn."

He turned to the other three.

"Ahaha…Sorry about that."

"It's fine, we know him." Changsub said hurriedly.

"You do?" Peniel asked, looking at Sungjae.

Sungjae nodded.

"That's Changsubbie hyung."

"Wait the one who punched you?" Peniel asked.

Sungjae nodded again.

"He's my friend now." He said with a smile.

"Oh...cool." Peniel said awkwardly.

He shifted the puppy to one arm and held out his hand to Changsub.

"I'm Peniel. Nice to meet you. I might've seen you around campus before but I talk to so many people it's hard to keep track."

"Yeah I remember you from the ramyeon contest." Changsub said, shaking Peniel's hand.

"Oh yeah that's right. I knew I'd seen you guys before." Peniel smiled. "You must like the school activities."

Hyunsik stifled a snicker as Changsub tried not to grimace.

"Umm…yeah totally." Changsub said unconvincingly.

Eunkwang nudged him.

"Ask him about the puppies." He whispered.

Changsub resisted the urge not to roll his eyes and turned back to Peniel.

"What are the puppies for?" He asked.

Peniel's face lit up.

"They're therapy dogs we brought for exam week stress relief! Wanna pet them?" Peniel held out the puppy he was holding.

"Oh my gosh can I?" Eunkwang squealed excitedly.

He gently took the puppy from Peniel and started making kissing noises.

"Oh yes you're a cutie aren't you?" He said in a baby voice which nearly made Changsub gag.

"Is this a new thing? I don't remember there being therapy dogs before." Hyunsik said as he bent down to pet one of the bigger dogs.

Peniel nodded.

"Yeah we're just trying it out this semester. It's going pretty well except for uh…that." He motioned towards Sungjae who was now on all fours, bearing his teeth and pretending to growl at the puppies.

Peniel sighed and shook his head.

"Sungjae…dude…These dogs are for petting and relieving stress not for you to go around playing charades."

Sungjae looked up.

"What, it's a good way to let out aggression isn't it? You should try it." He let his head fall back and howled up to the sky.

Peniel gave him an exasperated look.

"So much for stress relief…this is just stressing me out even more." He muttered in English.

Eunkwang's ears perked up.

"You speak English man??" He asked.

"Umm yeah…" Peniel replied.

"Oooh!" Eunkwang hurried up to Peniel.

"Can you tutor me?" He asked.

"Why?" Peniel asked.

Eunkwang gave Peniel his best puppy eyes.

"My English exam is in a few days and I'm one hundred percent going to fail if I can't find someone to help me." He blinked hopefully at Peniel.

"I…uhh…I'm pretty busy but I guess I could spare some time…" Peniel said, looking slightly put off by Eunkwang's cringey expression.

"Oh yessss I've been saved!" Eunkwang exclaimed.

He shoved the puppy into Changsub's arms and pulled out his phone to get Peniel's number.

Sungjae suddenly scrambled to his feet and stood between Eunkwang and Peniel with his arms outstretched.

"Peunie hyung doesn't give out his number to just anybody." Sungjae said.

Eunkwang stepped back in surprise.

"But I met you after the play..." He said looking confused.

"Well yeah…but Peniel is my special hyung." Sungjae replied.

Peniel rolled his eyes.

"What the hell Sungjae…don't be ridiculous. It's just tutoring."

He moved Sungjae out of the way and took Eunkwang's phone.

Sungjae watched looking slightly hurt as Peniel put his number into Eunkwang's contacts.

Changsub briefly caught Sungjae's eye and tried to give him a reassuring look but Sungjae quickly looked away. He bent down and pretended to be busy petting one of the puppies.

Changsub felt bad for him. To everyone else, Sungjae's reaction probably looked really strange but as Changsub knew why he was behaving that way it was a bit sad.

Peniel handed back Eunkwang's phone.

"Let me know when is good for you." He said with a friendly smile.

"Thank you so much man!" Eunkwang said.

Hyunsik bumped Eunkwang's shoulder. 

"Well looks like you might pass English after all huh?"

Eunkwang grinned and gave Hyunsik a high five.

The puppy Changsub was holding started to squirm and he knelt next to Sungjae to set it down.

Sungjae didn't look up but Changsub gave him a subtle pat on the shoulder before standing up again.

"We'd better get going." Changsub said.

Peniel smiled.

"It was nice to meet you guys, thanks for stopping by!"

"Yeah you too." Changsub replied.

He turned to Eunkwang and Hyunsik and nodded his head in the direction of the convenience store.

"Let's go."

"Okay." Hyunsik said.

Eunkwang turned and waved to Peniel.

"Thanks again man!" He called.

Peniel nodded and waved.

As they started walking Changsub took one last look back at Sungjae who was still cuddling one of the puppies. He sighed. Sungjae really was an unfortunate case.

"Poor kid…"

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A/N  Penjae vs Very Englisher line vs Changjae lots going on here. Ah Sungjae…my child…why did I do this to you OTL.