In the next few hours, days, weeks, everyone seemed to calm down and act as they had previously. Minho stopped shaking and talking to himself three days after he found out. Key, though he was overly shy and scared during the first week, became friendlier towards Minho, who never seemed to even frown anymore. Taemin relaxed considerably, glad that his friends were able to smile and joke about once again and Jonghyun's life improved drastically.

          It was only a month and a half after the trial when Jonghyun showed up at school, his hair completely black, a large grin on his face and a cell-phone sized bulge in his back pocket. Upon seeing Minho, Jonghyun pulled the device out.

          “Frog! I’ve got a cellphone now. Give me your number,” He commanded, ing the mobile into Minho’s hands. He watched as Minho deftly typed the number in and handed the phone back. “I still don’t know how to text yet. Can you teach me?”

          Minho smiled dumbly, taking his own phone out to demonstrate. “You have to go to messages and then click new messages,”

          “New messages...” Jonghyun echoed blankly.

          “And then you tap this part and put the person’s name or number.”

          “What if I don’t know their number from memory?”

          “It automatically takes you to contacts. Try texting me.”

          Jonghyun followed Minho’s instructions, finding Choi Minho quickly and selecting it. “And now I type?”

          “Yeah,”

          He typed a simple sentence, but it took him nearly a minute when it would have taken any other experienced texter five seconds. He started at Minho until the younger pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the message. “Give me Key’s number.”

          The two other boys arrived shortly, hand in hand, exchanging numbers with Jonghyun and hugging their respective partners.

          Minho put his arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “Taemin-ah,”

          “Yes, hyung?” Taemin asked, snuggling into his boyfriend’s arms.

          “It’s only been a year I’ve been here.” Minho said. Taemin said nothing, only looking up. “It’s been the best year of my life. I met hyungs, you, I found out what happened to my mother, I learnt so much.”

          Jonghyun hit Minho on the back playfully. “The best part was meeting us, wasn’t it?”

          Minho nodded earnestly. “If it weren’t for you guys, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

          Key hugged Minho. “Well, we all will never separate.”

          “We better not,” Taemin said. “Now hurry up, hyungs, it’s almost time!”

          Jonghyun looked up and adjusted his cap. “Help me put the gown on,”

          His three friends adjusted the clothing on their hyung and walked into the auditorium. They blended easily into the crowd, excited that they found three seats in a row. They chatted loudly amongst themselves, smiling politely at others until the announcer’s voice came on, a booming sound which was promptly lowered once the people in charge noticed how loud it was.

          “Welcome to Myukjon High School’s 2013 Graduation Ceremony,” the announcer said, followed by a round of applause and several cheers. “These smart young men and women have worked very hard to achieve this difficult feat and we hope they will all prosper in college, technical school and life.”

Minho tried to find Jonghyun in the sea of maroon gowns, but he couldn’t, especially now that his hair was a natural colour.

The announcer called several names. “Ga Kimjeo, Gang Daljeok, Gang Pyongi, Go Himyang, Gong Ki,” and after a while, most of the crowd began to tune the names out unless it was their son or daughter or brother or sister or cousin or friend. Key, Minho and Taemin tuned the names out, too until they began to hear “Kim Sanchoo, Kim Akmong, Kim Jonghyun...”

That one name caused the three boys to stand and shout words of encouragement at their best friend as he confidently walked across the stage. Jonghyun beamed happily back into the crowd, finding his proud parents and his supportive best friends easily. He waved and bowed, receiving the diploma with much gratitude.

The rest of the graduates were called up and they sang the school anthem together, showing that their school years, no matter how terrible they might have been, would always be imprinted in their long-term memory and the friends they made and the places they sat would forever be remembered. All the tears shed from frustration and stress and all the smiles and laughs emitted because of high school made them all very nostalgic because high school was done and now what were they supposed to do?

After the display, Jonghyun walked towards his friends and family wiping tears from his eyes. They looked at him, waiting for him to speak. “I did it,” he said simply. “Kim Jonghyun did it.”

Jonghyun was surrounded by people who loved him and cared about him and no matter what troubles any of them went through, he knew they would forever support each other in tears and in grins.

He hugged each of them, tears threatening to fall again. He hugged the sassy boy who he loved for ten years and who always made him smile. He hugged the adorable, sweet and caring maknae who always cheered him up. He hugged the once quiet but now hilarious and friendly boy who always made him laugh until his sides hurt.

And Kim Jonghyun and Kim Kibum and Choi Minho and Lee Taemin, though not everything was solved, held hands and hugged, knowing that they had suffered their best and worst year together and they had bloomed from small, scared, seeds to beautiful, shining, radiant flowers.

The end.

amy

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So... nearly a year later, this is finally complete. This is my first fic and I hope you all enjoyed this past year with me (I also think it's kind of cool that the story spans a year and it took a year to write). In the meantime, please check out my crackfic How Onew Came to Love Chicken. It's poorly written, but whatever.

I have also started a new chaptered fic called The Loved and the Lost. Please read that, too ^^

Thank you all for reading.

All the sarangs,

DrG-Lee.