A/N (4.30.2023): The epilogue is broken up into two portions: a montage-esque description of the aftermath of week 9 and the actual wrap-up to the story.

Ever heard of 'show, don't tell'? The montage is heavy on the tell, lol. Maybe one day I'll write them out fully and add them as appendices to this fic, but for now I entreat you to merely accept the knowledge that these developments happen at all :)

weeks 12 - 14

When Yunho wins his hapkido tournament, he points to Jaejoong in the crowd and does an air-kiss. This is not necessarily the same thing as going public at school, but it definitely makes them public to the hapkido team.

And his parents.

At the customary post-tourney celebration in Lotteria, the mood is awkward. Everyone is naturally distant from Jaejoong even if they're polite. No one brings up Boa.

Yunho, who has the social skills of someone who learned Korean that morning, had given Jaejoong a head's up that he will not be helpful in overcoming the awkwardness, but he promised to step in if anyone was noticeably rude. Jaejoong assured him that he knows who he's dating and gamely took matters into his own hands.

Once Jaejoong takes out the cupcakes he had prepared (Fighting! is iced on top of each one in his best calligraphy), the ice begins to crack. As he expected, food is the way to the team's stomach: they get over whatever initial weirdness they felt towards him as soon as they bite into the fluffy, lemon-blueberry confections.

The parents remain unimpressed, but Yunho's little sister takes an instant liking to him when he sings along with her to her favourite K-pop group on the radio. With such a winning endorsement (and Yunho's repeated assurances at home that dating Jaejoong is not going to be any more distracting from his studies as dating Boa had been), the Jungs eventually come around. Jaejoong is sure that with more time, he'll completely charm their pants off.

.

The lead actor of the musical and his family get into a car accident on the way to the school for opening night. If that isn't bad enough, the lead actress is the other guy's girlfriend. She flees the auditorium as soon as she hears the news, presumably to go to the hospital to be with her boyfriend and his family.

This means Jaejoong and Sooyoung have to step up as the understudies, and the two of them can't even rejoice in getting to play the leads due to the unfortunate circumstances that led to this situation. In the hours leading up to curtain rise, costumes have to be refitted, their lines as supporting characters have to be redistributed, and the faculty advisor--director is giving them last minute directions on blocking.

In the bustle, they both completely forget about the on-stage kiss their characters are supposed to share until the exact scene where it happens.

They're professionals, but they're best friends, too. He knows that she knows that he knows that they're both thinking about it: both of them have kissed Yunho, and now they're kissing each other. It's a weird triangle, and it takes every ounce of self-control they have not to burst into laughter the instant they make eye contact as soon as the kiss is over. The show must go on, after all.

When Jaejoong reintroduces Yunho as his real boyfriend to Sooyoung and his parents after the show, he already knows she's going to bring it up. (Poor Yunho's skin tone may never return to a normal shade ever again.) Everyone welcomes Yunho back into Jaejoong's life like he never left.

Of course, they run into Boa. The three of them exchange friendly but short greetings. Jaejoong doesn't think that's going to get any better until Boa gets a boyfriend of her own, and Yunho begs him not to interfere in that.

Subsequent shows go great. So much so that the faculty advisor of the drama club even comes up to him after the final show and says, "I look forward to your audition for the lead in the play next year," which is basically code for Jaejoong-is-definitely-getting-the-lead-in-the-play-next-year, which he is totally normal about.

.

Jaejoong finally asks Yunho for academic help, and Yunho is excited that it's his turn to teach Jaejoong something. Unfortunately, geometry is a lot less exciting than romance. Fortunately, Jaejoong gets to call him seonsaengnim and delight in the blush that decorates Yunho's face each time.

Jaejoong steadily learns discipline from Yunho, who institutes a rule where every other date has to be a study date. Beyond the academic, other benefits to this are that they see each other much more than they probably would have otherwise. Jaejoong usually satisfies the study date requirement within a day or two of a romantic date 'to get it out of the way', and then he de-stresses from the rigourous mental activity by planning their next romantic date.

(Yunho has no complaints with this new comforting routine.)

The next time Jaejoong is called into the guidance counsellor's office, she even has good news for him.

"Wow! Your grades have really improved this last quarter! What changed?"

He proudly tells her, "I got myself a tutor."

.

They finally use the Backstreet for its intended purpose. Twice.

.

Before school lets out for the year, they all have final meetings with their guidance counsellors. Yunho's tells him that he is on a good path for getting into one of the SKY universities, and attending cram school would really give him an advantage in the application process. The Yunho of four months ago would have accepted such a prescription without question, but the Yunho of now winces. He'll do it, of course, but he'll also have less time to spend with Jaejoong in their final year of high school. Again, Jaejoong assures him that he knows exactly who he's dating, and he'll happily provide study snacks in the meantime.

Jaejoong, on the other hand, has no such lofty ambitions, but he did finally accept that college would be in the cards for him. He thinks he might enter into a technical school, some place that doesn't need high scholastic achievement as long as you know how to follow instructions; and his guidance counsellor agrees. More exciting than that, though: she encourages him to sign up for one more extracurricular now that his grades are under control.

"I don't know what it should be. I used to be on the badminton team, but a sport is a big commitment, especially since I care about drama club more anyway. I need something that doesn't require too much of my time…" he thinks aloud as he waits for Yunho to finish what he's doing. They went 50/50 on those bluetooth helmets that let a motorcyclist and his passenger communicate while driving, and Yunho is setting them up so that they could try it out on the drive home.

"I'm sure you'll find something. Who knows? Maybe the thing you're meant to do doesn't even exist yet," Yunho comments supportively, but distractedly. Jaejoong has long ago abandoned the pretense of offering assistance.

Once they're ready, they walk through the emptying hallways of the school, at one point bypassing a bulletin board petitioning interested students in signing up for a new initiative. A welcoming committee.

epilogue: one year later

In the silent, near-empty hallway, Seulgi stares after Boa with resigned understanding. She considers herself a great judge of character; and the way Boa carries herself does a lot to add credence to her First Day Buddy's assessment. If someone like her couldn't land Jung Yunho, there's really no hope for Seulgi. "Ah. Makes sense," she comments blithely.

Her Buddy clears his throat, and she turns her back on the short-lived fantasy of getting to date the first attractive man she saw at her new school. "So from here, I figured I'd take you to your locker then your homeroom?" he offers as he leads her through the tour again. "You could ask your teacher or a classmate how to get to your next classroom at the end of every period. It'll probably be easier for you to remember them that way than if I tried to show you all of them at once right now."

Seulgi agrees absentmindedly. Again, she is a second-year student. Navigating a new high school is not IB-level material.

At last, her Buddy drops her off in front of her homeroom. He mentions that he'll sit with her at lunch and wishes her a great first day at school, and then she's finally left alone.

Knowing that she won't be able to once she's in the room, Seulgi loiters outside just to scroll through her phone for a little bit. It's homeroom on the first day of school; she isn't missing anything.

In the distance, she hears, "There you are!"

She looks up on reflex and is interested to find Jung Yunho beelining for her Buddy further down the hallway.

"You didn't say hi to me after hapkido practise," Jung Yunho whines. She frowns. Whining men are not attractive.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop. I had Welcoming Committee responsibilities this morning."

"You're indeed so responsible," Jung Yunho teases. He presses a swift kiss to her Buddy's cheek, and Seulgi has to stifle her gasp. "Are we still studying in the library after school?"

"Cram school is cancelled, and you still want to study? But fine. I'll see you there, seonsaengnim."

He leans up to properly kiss Jung Yunho, then they go separate ways, her Buddy getting further away and Jung Yunho getting closer. He catches her gaze and sends her a kind smile in greeting on his way. Seulgi doesn't even have the chance to be embarrassed for getting caught staring before the interaction is completely over.

The bell rings, and she forces herself to get it together. Being late to homeroom on your first day is not a good look.

In her seat, she all of a sudden remembers something from her Buddy's narration this morning. Didn't he say Jung Yunho was dating the star of the drama club? Makes sense. Based on the performance this morning, her Buddy seems like a great actor.

… Seulgi probably should have learned his name. Ah well, she'll get it at lunchtime.

A/N (4.30.2023): That's a wrap! Once again, a million thanks for everyone who supported me on this journey, whether overt or covert. Leave an upvote if you haven't yet! Until next time. :)