Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"And that's why Regina George is a closeted lesbian!"

   Jungwon sighed, then shut his eyes tight. Maybe if he stayed realllly still in this exact position, the pink haired boy would shut up.. or better yet- disappear. Chaeryeong was paying them no mind. She had her nose in a book.. twilight to be exact. The three were stuffed in Sunoo's stuffy, cob-web filled garage doing god know's what on a friday night. The last friday night of the summer, actually.

  The pink haired boy sat on the bright orange, 70's inspired spinny chair with a plush bear to his chest. He was playing with a pen, rambling on about pop culture references that neither Jungwon or Chaeryeong understood-- instead of being productive. The very reason they were here was so they could brainstorm ideas on how they'd make this upcoming school year better.

  The yang twins named stuff like "getting good grades" and so on, when Sunoo was thinking something along the lines of "get high for the first time.. have your first kiss.. etc"

Which really shows where his priorities are at.

  "Do you ever get tired of talking?" Jungwon replied, his cute face bunched up into an abnormal stern looking expression Sunoo had only seen when he gets frustrated with his nerdy, little animal crossing villages. 

  "No, why?" Sunoo now lay upside down, counting how many dots there was on the ceiling. "Figures.." Chaeryeong chimed into the conversation as she put their group playlist on shuffle. This time the song was Teenage Dream by Katy Perry (the song Sunoo so obviously had a part in adding to the groups playlist.)

He's a sucker for 2000's hits and Kesha... It's a crime to not like the women who built pop anyway. Sunoo groaned, then sat up. "What's wrong now.." Chae questioned.

  "What's wrong is the fact that we'll be Juniors in a week and I'm still a nobody. People need to start appreciating this fat ass while It's still here. What if this was my last breathe on earth hmm? What if I pull a Hannah Baker?"

"You're not pulling a Hannah Baker"

"Watch, I swear I'll do it"

  The sulky boy put his fingers in the shape of a gun and unconvincingly pretended to off himself. The yang twins were unimpressed, (as always). Sunoo came back to life and glared at them. "You bitches aren't allowed at my funeral anyway. I'll get Millie Bobby Brown on your fruity asses.. pshh some friends you guys are.." He whined.

  "Who's Millie Bobby Brown again?" Chaeryeong said, not once looking up from her book. Sunoo groaned even louder, dramatically throwing his body from one side to the other. "You poor thing" Jungwon consoled him. Funny how there was no emotion in his voice though.

  "Guys i'm serious. Look-- this is my serious face." Sunoo paused, waiting for the twins to look. They didn't look.

"You guys suck ass"

  Sunoo turned to face the wall and swiped through his instagram feed.

  Everybody that's somebody are all at Choi Yeonjuns party tonight. Popular kids.. not mathletes, student council, or thespians of course..

   He tried zooming past the popular kids instagram stories so he wouldn't have to bask in his own piss longer than he wanted to-- but he was too slow. his fox shaped eyes winced at the bright party lights.

"AYY JAKE JUST DID A BACKFLIP OFF THE ROOF, HOLY SHIT" An obnoxious voice hollered from behind the camera.

The next few videos after that showed them playing beer pong, still in the early stages of the party. It was only 7:30, but lincoln school kids are known for liking to get down and dirty. They're gonna be up for a while. After maybe- 1 AM the police will shut it down.

  Sunoo was bitter, he would never admit it but he was. Seeing teens his age have fun partying and experiencing things he's convinced he never will really leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

The boy turned back to his friends.

"Guys- they just installed a water slide at Yeonjuns house!" he whined.

  The yang twins showed no interest.

  Sunoo knew they weren't listening.. too caught up in their little nerd hobbies. The pink haired boy groaned, pushing himself up from the chair. He pulled a colorful, poster board from out of his closet titled "SCHOOL VISION BOARD" and stood in front of them. Jungwon looked up at him, and furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh god, what now.." he said, putting his nintendo switch down to pay attention.

  "Ahem" Sunoo cleared his throat.

"This school year will NOT, be spent nerding around. I, Kim Sunoo, refuse to let me and my friends be the underdogs.."

  Before Jungwon could say something, Sunoo shushed him.

  "Chae! You're naturally snatched but you dress like a korean grandma who enjoys crossword puzzles." He starts off. Chae looks down at her clothes, obviously offended. "What's wrong with crossword puzzles.." she mutters.

  "And Wonie, you're the epitome of visuals.. but you immediately start throwing up if I even come near you with a makeup brush in my hand.."

  Jungwon stubbornly crossed his arms, sensitive to the sudden jab thrown at him.

  Sunoo felt only a little bad for being so hard on his friends, but they needed to hear the raw, honest, truth. "I- I just want this year to be perfect, and we deserve a sexy high school experience... You guys are the coolest kids I know, and others need to realize how awesome we are.." the pink haired boy was frustrated to say the least.

  "And what's a more better way to do that than going to the most popular kid in schools infamous party! I just need you guys to let loose a little"

  Jungwon shook his head. "Nuh-uh, not a chance. You had me at "the coolest kids I know" but just now lost me. Nope.. not gonna happen". Sunoo rolled his eyes "Of course you only liked the compliment." Jungwon shrugged in response.

  The yang twins have literally been there for as long as Sunoo could remember. They'd seen him throw up the day of his 15th birthday, him cry over a one direction fanfiction, and most of all they were the first people to know he was gay... (although it wasn't much of a secret.)

Then came Chaeryeong out of the closet, and finally Jungwon (after a lot of denial), Which is why he couldn't wrap his head around why they weren't down with his big idea.. because they always were.

   "Guys- we never do anything fun.. I wan't to do things kids our age do. Kiss boys.. get piercings, and- and stay out till after your curfew.. and I wanna do all of that with you guys.. just please, consider it atleast" he did his usual sulky, puppy dog eyes at the twins.

Jungwon looked at his twin, then back at Sunoo.. and sighed. "Fine. I still think this is a bad idea though.. and the very moment things get out of control we're leaving" He mumbled.

Sunoos eyes lit up, he turned to Chaeryeong waiting for her decision. The girl rolled her eyes, "As long as It doesn't take away from my homework.."

Sunoo clapped his hands together in excitement. "Yes! I knew you guys would come around.. You won't regret it!"

"I sure hope so.."

  After a few minutes of trying to convince the yang twins to change their whole entire wardrobe-- then showing them his dramatic presentation covering the three ways on how to seduce a male, a knock on the door interrupted them. It was Heeseung, Sunoo's older brother.

  "Hey, come lock the door behind me" he said. The older was in black ripped jeans and a black hoodie. Sunoo hadn't seen him in that much black since their homophobic uncles funeral.

Sunoo raised an eyebrow, "Where are you off to at this time of night?"

Heeseung pursed his lips. "Why do you want to know, don't you three have some harry potter fanfiction you need to be writing? or better yet- attending weird furry conventions.. whatever you dorks do"

  "Hey! We may be flamboyant dorks, but we aren't furries. The harry potter fanfiction might be true though-- but that's besides the point. I'd advise you to tell me where you're going or i'll most definitely pull the little sibling card and snitch on your sorry ass.."

The brothers bicker.. a lot.

Yeah, Heeseung is Sunoos step-brother by law, but if you asked him he'd say he's his brother. They've been brothers since they were like- in elementary school. When Sunoo's mom and Hee's dad first got together, they were way to close to add the extra "step" in their relationship, so they never did. Lately, they'd been arguing A LOT though.. and Sunoo had no idea why.

Heeseung rolled his eyes, "Yeonjun's party" He said flatly. The pink haired boy lit up. "Really! Can we come?" He grabbed onto his older brothers hoodie sleeve out of excitement. The very idea seemed to disgust Heeseung, going by the look on his face.

"Absolutely not.. I have a reputation to uphold you know that right?"

"Rude"

It's fine if Heeseung won't take them, Sunoo always had another plan up his sleeve. Making plans is his thing after all. "Okay fine, I'll lock the stupid door behind you.. have funnn" he shoved the older boy out in a hurry, then locked the door. Sunoo turned to face his friends.

  "Put your big girl panties on guys.. we're having fun tonight"

 

____________________

 

   Makeovers were a Kim Sunoo speciality, so you could imagine the excitement he had when he sat his best friends down in front of his bathroom mirror and raided his mothers makeup drawers.

Jungwon was up first. Sunoo wanted to put shimmer on his eyes since the first day he saw him. He'd always used his close friends as models for his makeup looks, but Jungwon hated dressing up. The boy had an affinity towards colors like beige.. and grey, boring office colors- unlike his imaginative bestfriend.

Nobody had ever told him he was quote on quote.. "pretty" until he'd met a certain boy named Kim Sunoo.

In fact that's exactly how they met.

Jungwon was getting some studying done in the school library during his free period, and sat across from him was the infamous "fairy boy" of lincoln middle. The boy was the talk of eighth grade all year for multiple reasons, and Jungwon wanted nothing to do with him. He was bad news.. down to the way he wore his clothes, to how he styled his hair. Pink hair had always been a Kim Sunoo staple after all.

And he was loud, so very loud.. thirteen year old Jungwon despised loud people. Lincoln was hosting auditions for the end of the year play, Cinderella. The loud-mouth boy auditioned for the part of the fairy godmother, and everybody ridiculed him.. even the theatre director. Told him "Maybe you'd be better off as a mouse, sweet pea. That role is for girls."

Kim Sunoo wasn't having it. He wrote a twelve-page essay stating why it was problematic to not let him audition as the fairy godmother, and the theatre director was so taken aback and embarrassed in front of the school board, she let him re-audition. He got the part, and was forever known as "Fairy Boy Kim Sunoo"

Even with all of the teasing going on everytime he showed his face at school, he still held his head high.. and Jungwon envied, and respected him for it. He wanted nothing to do with him, hiding his jealousy with hatred.

So of course it would be a little shocking to look up from your book and see the same starry-eyed boy you despise staring you down. "Woah~! Are you reading Percy Jackson? Awesome.." He then proceeded too invade the shocked boys personal space and flip through the book himself, disrupting the peace of the quiet library.

"..Excuse me?"

The walking sunbeam of a boy paused, and slightly smiled. "Has anybody ever told you you're really pretty? You look like one of those k-pop idols.. You should let me curl you're eyelashes!!"

Jungwon hadn't ever turned beet red like that before that day.. Sunoo still teases him for it. As much as he hated to admit it, Kim Sunoo made him feel accepted, and okay with admitting he's gay. Before he met the boy, he could barely even say the word "gay" and It's still hard for him to learn how to stop being afraid of coming off too gay, thus why he closed off everything feminine.

A slowly.. but surely opening up Jungwon sternly looked the palette of glitters up and down,

"I'm not doing that."

 

Sunoo frowned.

"Wonie trust me! besides- it won't even be that noticeable, I swear.. pinky promise even" he stuck out his pinky and smiled, waiting for Jungwon to seal the promise. Jungwon looked at him with the same timid, unsure look he'd always give Sunoo.

"Alright" He pinky promised.

  Sunoo ranted about something unimportant as he did the boys makeup. like the most recent manhwa he's read- just some weird topic Sunoo knows way to much about. Sunoo has always been like that. A chatter box. After curling Jungwons hair, he had the finished product. "Ta-da!" he said.

Jungwon was handed a mirror. He definitely looked.. sparkly. Sunoo watched the boys reaction eagerly and pouted. "You don't like it.. do you?" He said.

"No! I love it.. It's just.. kind of weird.. I've never seen myself like this"

  Crimson red rushed to the boys apple cheeks making sunoo content again. he smiled. "I'm an artíst wonnie! I'm glad I could be of service." The boy sang happily.

  "Alright chae, your turn"

  After thirty minutes, he was done with both he and Chae's makeup. Picking an outfit was going to be especially difficult. The yang twins had their quirks.. and one of them was being extremely picky. As much as they like to deny the accusations of how similar they are- they are the same person.

Too plaid.. too shimmery, too many buttons! God, Sunoo just can't win in this household. Until, Jungwon pulled out a purple hoodie and some cute wide-leg jeans. Sunoo decided to let it slide, just because the outfit he chose was cute.. all that was left was the challenge that is Yang Chaeryoung.

He picked out an almost grungey looking outfit, completely contrasting Chaeryeongs quiet looking aesthetic. Chae was gonna complain, but she didn't have the energy too- so she put the outfit on anyway.

Sunoo threw on whatever he could find, like always- and they were set.

Chapter Text

The three friends were currently hiding behind a tree on Choi Yeonjuns lawn, trying to devise a plan on how to get in. They were never gonna just let three nobody's waltz into the most awaited party of the year-- not in a million years. Anybody could tell just how impatient the yang twins were starting to get with Sunoo, they were complaining every chance they got.

At the front door stood what looked to be a bouncer, which was truly out of the ordinary for a house party. Yeonjun's house was far from quaint though. He had string fairy-lights surrounding the whole building, a huge ass pool in the backyard, and at least two floors on the inside. Some even say he has a game room especially made for hanging out with friends. Daddy's money is a powerful thing, Sunoo thought.

"Just- follow my lead, okay?" The pink haired boy replied.

After some silence, the two boys whipped their heads to the direction of where a crunching sound was coming from. It was Chae. Chaeryoung had brought atleast four snacks from home with her and stuffed them in her purse. She'd munch on them every now and then when she was stressed, and right now.. cheetos had fallen victim to her hunger.

Chae furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the two.. "What..?"

Jungwon simply shook his head. "Nothing Chae. God, please don't let me die tonight or I swear-" he mumbled the last prayer to himself. Sunoo rolled his eyes, then grabbed them both by the wrist, dragging them to the entry way. Kids were posted outside talking in groups of people as smoke escaped from out of their mouths.

It was an almost dewy-ish kind of night...
It had been raining the day before so of course the grass still had the kind of summery-moisture most grass has during this season. Humidity doesn't stop teenagers from consuming cancer sticks though.. that's no surprise. The street lamps illuminated Yeonjun's huge ass house, making it a lot more intimidating than it needed to be.

Jungwon's eyes watered at the nearby smoke.. He'd always been sensitive to that kind of stuff. Sunoo could feel his friends retract back into their turtle of a shell. They were feeling insecure again.. and he could tell. The introverts got discouraged quite easily.. Sunoo was starting to feel bad for dragging them into a social setting at such short notice.

The pink haired boy looked back at them with a caring look in his eyes. Chaeryoung smiled, trying to say "go on, we'll be fine" so he wouldn't worry, but Sunoo knew they wouldn't be fine. He bit his lip, then turned to face the bouncer. "I-" he stammered. The bouncer crossed his arms, "Use your words kid.. I don't got all day" his monotone voice barely got out over the loud music coming from inside the house at first.

Other students in line started to give he and his group dirty looks, making a bright red color rush to sunoo's cheeks.. this was humiliating to say the least.

Sunoo cleared his throat, preparing to be kicked out.. or even worse, have his parents called or something equally embarrassing. "Uh, me and my friends came to see about the party" he said. The bouncer looked the dork holy trinity up, and down. A timid Jungwon, hungry Chaeryoung, and an eager Sunoo.

"Hmm, seems like you three aren't on the roster. Sorry kid- NEXT!" How could he tell? He didn't even know their names- nor check the list of names invited. Before the other students could skip them, Sunoo stood before the bouncer with dissapointment in his eyes. "Hey-- You didn't even check the roster to begin with."

The bouncer looked at him then laughed right in their faces. Usually- when Sunoo is confronting somebody, he looks like a pissed off hamster.. so of course the bouncer hadn't taken him seriously. "Just by looking at you I could tell. Trust me, I've been to high school before. I know who's cool and who's not.. and you my friend- definetly aren't one of Yeonjun's lot" The man wore a mischievous grin. Sunoo could tell he was getting a kick out of messing with him and his friends.

He frowned, what was that supposed to mean? He was getting ready to give up and storm back home, but a hand from behind the bouncer was placed on his shoulder, taking the big man aback.

"They're with me"

A tall looking, lanky boy with long hair, and a drink in his hand stepped in.

He hadn't looked any older than Sunoo and the twins.. yet- they were complete strangers. Sunoo didn't know this kid.. so why was he claiming they were with him? The bouncer let them go, but not without making a slick comment about punk teenagers after they slipped past him though.

The unknown boy began to laugh, "That was priceless! I think he almost pissed himself.."

He threw himself onto the nearest chair, and downed whatever liquid was floating in his red cup. The stranger was all mysterious out there- but in here he had a weird boyish charm to him. Dork holy trinity needed some time to take in the huge house. There were party streamers everywhere, people drunkily making out, and like he predicted- two floors. If the upper floor was just as wild as the bottom one- then they were in for a long night.

The lights were blinding and the music just the right kind of defeaning- Sunoo turned to the stranger. "Why'd you help us back there?" he asked.

The boy shrugged.

"I dunno, just felt like it I guess. oh shitt that's my song! Later" He pushed his drink into the nearest persons hands so he could take off to the dance floor, that person being a confused and frozen Jungwon. "That wasn't weird at all.." Chaeryoung hollers over the loud music.

"Sorry about him! Didn't take his meds this morning.."

Another voice chimed into their conversation. It was a girl, tending the bar, her nametag read "YOONIE BEAR" with a bunch of cute emoticons, and stickers surrounding it. "It's alright! Only a little weird.. but, alright" Sunoo replied. The girl flashed a sincere smile at them as she tended to drinks. "Who was he, anyway.."

"Oh that's Ni-ki.. he's usually like that. probably cause' the little fucker is never sober.. but that's besides the point." She replied, all while carefully studying their faces. "Say.. I don't think I recognize you. How do you guys know Yeonjun?"

"My brother is friends with him" Sunoo thought of a quick reply.

The girl's face lit up as she made an 'Ahh..' noise. Another girl who stunk of alcohol, and expensive perfume came up behind Yoon.

"Yoon, who are you talking too? The guys need you." She says, seeming to be a little annoyed. The girl locked eyes with Sunoo and furrowed her eyebrows, then shook her head.It almost looked like she was going to say something, but she decided not to linger. It wasn't everyday that you'd see a couple of nerds at one of Yeonjun's function.

"You guys wouldn't mind watching the bar for me right? I'll be quick." Sunoo would've went straight towards the dance floor if the girl wasn't so damn charming- but Jungwon stopped him.

"Of course! Go do your bar lady stuff" Jungwon exclaimed.

Yoon smiled, then walked off.

Jungwon slowly turned to his friends, "I can't believe we're still in here.." Sunoo beamed with pride. "See..! I told you tonight would go by smoothly."

"YOON- we need another round! Jake is totally shit faced.. Yoon! Where is that girl? wifey~" A girl with blonde streaks in her hair had her arms slung over her friend who seemed almost unconscious. "Ryu- *hic* BRING ON *hic* THE ALCOHOL" The one known as jake chanted. His cave-men friends cheered with him.

"Hey, you" The girl looked Chaeryoung dead in the eye. Chaer pointed to herself, she wasn't too convinced the girl was referring to her.

"No, the other cute girl besides you.. yes you."

Chaeryoung's face was starting to closely resemble the color of the girls top- red. Sunoo had to refrain from laughing. He'd never seen the girl so flustered before.

"Do you know where the bartender went? Where is my wifee-"

"Im right here! Quit your fussing.." Yoon tied her apron back around her waist and got behind the bar. "also- stop calling me that. You just throw yourself at every girl in a 5 mile radius from you whenever you're drunk huh? And stop scaring the guests! Shoo, I'll fix you drunks one more round of shots.. remember you have to perform tonight"

The girl scoffed, "Wife.. more like mom." Yoon gave her a playful wink, before sending her on her way. She turned back around to the trio infront of her, "I'm so sorry about her- I can give you all free drinks for helping me out! just don't tell Jay.. he'll probably chew me out. "Oh, quit giving the guests free shit yoon! blah blah blah" you know, the usual bullshit.."

"No you really dont have too-"

"HELL YEAH"

Jungwon glared at Sunoo, the boy wiggled his eyebrows in response. Yoon stared at them in confusion. "Yes, we'll take them. Thank you" Sunoo finalized the argument and Yoon got to pouring. "You don't really think you can finish that right?" Won questioned, concerned for his friend.

The pink haired boy scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I can handle my alcohol well."

The Yang twins exchanged unsure looks, then shook their heads. Yoon placed the red cup in front of him, and Sunoo examined it. "You three go have fun! Nice meeting you folks." Yoon smiled, and the trio waved her away. They made their way to the dance floor. Everyone was gathering there, getting ready for Rogue to appear on stage.

Jungwon watched his idiot friend gulp down the drink in his hand and crossed his arms. "Dude, slow down, you're gonna get sick.." He expressed his concern. "I'm fine- Look! It's starting" Sunoo pointed to the stage. The girl who was flirting with Chae earlier appeared on stage, and the crowd went wild. Two other boys dressed in black stood beside her.

No wonder this band was so popular, they were all hot. One boy on bass guitar, and another on drums. The girl must've been Ryujin. Sunoo had heard all about Ryujin. From stories of her being a pain in the schools ass, to stories of her being quite the flirt. Her being the face and lead singer of a band, was most definitely a story Sunoo had yet to hear, but it wasn't too surprising.

Sunoo, using his varied knowledge of bands soon figured out the lead guitarist was no where to be found. The last boy soon came walking to his position on stage, and judging from the crowds reaction- he was definitely a popular member. He had on black cargos, and a matching black hoodie complimenting his equally as dark hair. His eyes were tired, but inviting and Sunoo couldn't help but be dragged in.

Sunoo and his friends looked up to the stage wide-eyed as the crowd settled back down. The pink haired boy was just now starting to feel the alcohol catch back up to him. He was insanely tipsy, but to prideful to admit it.

"ARE YOU READY?" The girl yelled into the mic, and the crowd hollered back in response. The music shook the house. Sunoo could feel the bass in his insides, and he couldn't keep it in. One little sway, and Sunoo was over with.. yet he still white girl danced like his life depended on it, getting lost in the also drunk crowd. The pink-haired could've sworn he felt the guitarists eyes on him throughout the duration of the performance.

After the show ended, the band said some last words and disappeared to their changing rooms. At this point Sunoo was entirely shit-faced. He looked to his side, and put his hand onto the shoulder of a guy he ASSUMED was wonnie. "That was awesome! isn't that guy with the guitar super hot?" He rambled until the guy turned around.

"Do I know you?" The boy was not Jungwon.
It wasn't Sunoos fault that Jungwon looks like every other short guy with a middle part!

Sunoo apologized but inside he was panicking. The pink haired boy left to find his nerd friends he abandoned like the idiot he is. He should've known this would happen, everything was starting to look funny and his face felt hot. "Jungwon! Chae, where are you?" He called out. Sunoo asked the stoners, the jocks, everyone- but no one knew where the yang twins had gone.

This probably wasn't good.

Okay, really not great..

The boy was checking everywhere.. bathrooms, bedrooms, the backyard. This was all his fault. He was about ready to give up until he saw an opening back stage, and unassumingly walked back there, not thinking in his drunken state. Sunoo found an unguarded vip door and happily invited himself in.

He perked up after finding a black haired boy who looked awfully a lot like his grumpy bestfriend. "Jungwon! I've been looking all over for you-"

The boy turned. Wow, Sunoo was really unlucky today.

It was not Jungwon.. but the hot guitarist.

Sunoo didn't know if this was a win or a lose. "You're not jungwon.." he slurred his words. The boy stumbled, he was starting to feel his world all crashing down at once, this was the end. Guitar boy caught him "Woah-" he said. His hand immediately went to Sunoos forehead, checking for a temperature.

He was burning up. "Hey- I think you're misunderstood, I don't know you.." The boy said softly. Sunoo still drunkily remembers just how comforting he smelt, like a woodsy candle. The pink haired boy looked up at him, speechless.. soon regretting that decision as his neck simply couldnt support how heavy his head felt..

So he puked.

He puked on the hot guys shoes.

Guitar boy winced, shutting his eyes tight so he wouldnt be subjected to the image being displayed infront of him. The door swung open. The rest of the band and their friends had unfortunately made it back to the vip section. "And so I told him-- what the hell happened in here..?" They're heads immediately whipped over to the direction of the boy passed out on the couch with colorful hair.

"I think we have a problem..." guitar boy looked down at his shoes in disappointment, then back up at his speechless friends and sighed, his shoulders dropping to his side. "Nice shoes, hoon" One boy teased, leaning up against the wall. Guitar boy gave him the finger in response. Suddenly, there was rustling in the back of the group, like someone was trying to get through to the front.

"Sunoo!? What the hell are you doing here-"

Heeseung stood in the door frame, with the yang twins timidly behind him. They must've got caught while Sunoo wasn't with them. Sunoo opened his eyes, slowly adjusting back to the lights. "Shit.." he mumbled. Sunoo was in deep shit. A grounding was in his very near future, whether he liked it or not.. but first he had to sit through his older brothers whining.

"I've been looking all over for you ever since I found these two in the corner with their tail between their legs like lost puppies! I told you not to come- and yet- yet here you are! Are you drunk?? Were you drinking..?" Heeseung grabbed Sunoo by the wrist, helping him stand back on his feet. "So many questions.. less talk, more walk." He replied unconsciously.

Heeseung scoffed. "I can't believe you.. but mostly I can't believe you guys either! You guys are sweet kids, you're supposed to be a good influence on my dumbass of a brother.." the yang twins looked at the ground in shame. "Okay can we go home? This corset is really tight.." Sunoo said, completely disregarding his brothers lecture.

Hee sighed. Sunoo could hear him mumbling "not my circus, not my monkeys.." under his breath and it took every bone in his body for him to not laugh during a serious situation. The dork holy trinity were being disciplined all while the band from earlier stood awkwardly in their vip room. "Wait so.. you know this kid Heeseung? He just emptied his guts onto my new shoes!" Guitar boy said.

Sunoo stuck his tongue out at the guy, who was clearly pissed off as is. If he wasn't so drunk.. and could see him clearly he'd apologize but right now he didn't feel like it. "You don't know how much I wish I didn't.." Heeseung replied. "Don't worry about it, I'll get you new ones. I'm gonna go now, tonight was fun! Well.. the part where I wasn't babysitting" Hee said his goodbyes and ushured his little brother and his friends into his car.

Sunoo would recall the drive home as freaking awkward, but all he could remember was blacking out after that..

Atleast thats one experience off the bucket list

Chapter Text

  The morning after last nights incident was nothing short of weird. Sunoo had awoken to the sound of his limited edition, avril lavigne alarm clock he got at a yard sale when he was a kid.. and slowly crawled out of his bed. He had fallen asleep in his now smudged makeup, but aparently had the decency to change clothes?

  He decided not to dwell to long it, because if he did his head would start hurting from thinking so hard.

  Sunoo hadn't remembered a lot, just faint memories of him having the best night of his life.. well atleast that's what he assumed since he woke up feeling so accomplished, but something still felt wrong. His head was pounding but he couldn't quite place why.

Sunoo trudged through the hallway and into his bathroom. His jaw dropped as his reflection stared back at him in the mirror. Sunoo's bubblegum pink hair was left disheveled and the bags under his eyes said more than a lot.

What all had he done last night?

  The teen immediately did his fifty-step skin care routine and put on any old face mask he had lying around, and made his way back into his room. The twins were supposed to sleepover last night, but they were no where to be found. Had the boy really gotten so fucked up he couldn't remember the simplest of things? He shrugged, then plopped onto his unmade bed and opened instagram on his phone.

  That was his first mistake.

   "What the balls-"

  Sunoo's face was EVERYWHERE.

  He was on peoples stories he had never even seen before. In the videos it showed him unbelievably drunk out of his mind, emptying his entire nervous system out onto some poor guys shoes. Sunoo couldn't believe what he was watching.. so much that he was pretty sure his nausea was coming back for round two.. three? God, who knows at this point.

  People online were calling him- BARF BOY, this was a nightmare. He managed to become a meme just overnight. All his memories were sadly starting to slowly come back to him. Sunoo wished he didn't remember throwing up on the most popular boy in schools shoes, but he did.

  Only to be dragged out of the party by his doting big brother.. so embarrassing. He was gonna need some emotional support, god knows he would go crazy dealing with this alone. So he called the one person who makes life a little less shit.

  Jungwon answered with an equally as shocked expression on his face. "Have you seen it-"

  "HAVE I SEEN IT??" Sunoo scoffed.

"More like, who hasn't seen it? Jungwon I'm EVERYWHERE.. My life is over before it even began! School is in two days- how am I gonna deal with this shit??" The pink haired boy was so angry that Jungwon was sure he was starting to resemble the color of his hair. Jungwon sighed. He felt bad for his friend and all.. but now it was up to him to make sure he doesn't do anything irrational and stupid, like always.

"Hey calm down, i'm sure this'll all blow over.."

  Sunoo made his way downstairs in his pajamas with the phone to his ear and murder on his mind. Whoever uploaded that video was dead meat. He simply couldn't deal with this on an empty stomach, and it smelled of bacon down stairs.. so he did what any human would: stress eat. "BLOW OVER?? You're funny Mr. Yang, really.. so funny." He opened the fridge and got out the orange juice, setting it down on the counter before propping his phone on the toaster.

   The boy would always dress like a hobo in the comfort of his own home, but today he had reached an all time low. His pink hair was now tied back in a ponytail, and his #TeamEdward t-shirt really didn't do him any justice.. not to mention his lack of pants and nyan cat socks. Today was gonna be a long day.

  Funnily enough.. Sunoo could feel an array of eyes on him, so he turned.. to see his family enjoying a lovely breakfast at the dining room table.. all gawking at the sight before them. Maybe Sunoo was hallucinating from last nights one too many white claws,  but guitar boy was in HIS house.. at HIS table.. eating HIS food.

What the hell was he doing here?

  His mother crossed her arms, and looked at him in disapproval. Sunoo blinked, too shocked to move. He thought today couldn't get anymore embarrassing but the gods love to prove him wrong. Mr. Lee-Kim cleared his throat, almost choking on the piece of toast he held in his hand as he looked up from the newspaper he was steadily reading.

  Guitar boy was in his home, and he was staring at him like he had the boy under a microscope. His eyes scanned him like an x-ray machine.. as if he could see every little flaw and thing on the boy, and Sunoo couldn't stand it. Out of all the days the attractive guy he threw up on randomly decides to show up in his home, it's today.

  He was most definitely coming for him- because what other explanation would make sense as to why this stranger was in his home? Sunoo generally learnt to expect the worse, so of course he thought he was about to get jumped for puking on his shoes! But in his own home? Wow.

  This truly was the end of Kim Sunoo.

  Heeseung lifted his head from his phone to see what everyone was looking at, and immediately broke out into a fit of laughter. "Oh? This is priceless.. say cheese, barf boy" He dug for his phone in his pocket to snag a picture of the annoyed boy, and Sunoo gave him the middle finger.

  After some silence passed, Sunoo heard his friend speak. "Whatever, I'm coming over so.. don't lose your mind until I get there. Kim Sunoo? Helloo~" Jungwon furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe the other boys phone had went out but it was suddenly very quiet on his bestfriends side of the phone. "I'll call you back.." Sunoo whispered. Jungwon heard his phone beep and shrugged.

  Sunoo couldn't believe he had just walked his happy ass downstairs, face mask and all.. with no pants on.. standing in front of his dissapointed parents, annoying older brother and random guy from last night who probably wanted his head on a stake..

  Sunoo could hear Heeseungs snickering from where he stood and he could do nothing but stand there like an idiot.

   He cleared his throat, preparing himself to talk to his mother. "Hey momm~ What are you guys doing back so early hmm? Didn't you have that uh, business trip?" Sunoo put his arm around his mothers shoulders but she smacked it off. "It wasn't a business trip.. me and your father went on a date to escape you two.. But you still found a way to embarrass me aishh" Mrs. Lee-Kim put her head in the palm of her hand, and sat down.

  Sunoo gulped, awaiting his punishment. Heeseung definetly snitched on him, there was no telling with the older. All Sunoo knew was how bad he wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. "This handsome young man here said you got something on his shoes and he needs a replacement." Mrs. Kim gestured towards guitar boy, and Sunoo and him locked eyes.

  And suddenly, Sunoo was back in that vip room.. on a friday night, drunk out of his mind. All it took was one look from him and the memories started flooding back, more and more clear each time. Okay yeah, maybe drunk Sunoo thought guitar boy was cute.. but drunk Sunoo is scandalous and likes to warp things to fit his imagination. Sober Sunoo though, pshh (not) unphased.

  Who was he kidding- THE STRANGER WAS GORGEOUS. His raven-colored hair complimented his fair skin, and generally dark attire. Sunoo had never seen so much black in one outfit before.. but the enchanting stranger pulled it off well. He looked almost scraggly and no-good, but his mannerisms contrasted his at first glance, grungy looking appearance. He was almost- kind and humble in front of Sunoos family (despite his hard core aesthetic) which left Sunoo more than confused.

   The punk's eyes chose to linger on the pink haired boy for more than five seconds, making Sunoo stare back equally as hard. Who did this kid think he was anyway?

Staring problem much.

  "Kim Sunoo what were you thinking! You're on your own with this one, you will earn the money and buy back this boys shoes.. and that is final!"

   Sunoo relaxed a little. His mother hadn't mentioned the party.. did Heeseung really not tell on him?

  Maybe guitar boy really hadn't come over to beat his ass. "Yes.. Yes, I will!" He replied with a grin on his face.  "Is there anything else.. mom?" Sunoo looked at her, batting his eyelashes waiting to be grounded but all she did was stare back at him in confusion.

  "No? Ugh, you kids give me a headache. Go put on some decent clothes.. hey and wash the dishes after- I'm taking a nap" Mrs. Kim and her husband disappeared to their room and Sunoo could finally breathe again.

  "Phew.. that was a close one" Sunoo sat down, and shoved a piece of bread into his black hole of a mouth.. completely forgetting his manners.

  "You are obnoxious.." Heeseung looked up from his phone at him in disgust. Sunoo stuck his tonge out at him, then ran upstairs to get changed before he forgot again. Staying in his pajamas for the day was very tempting- but not with a rando walking around his home.

  His mother was a very stubborn woman, which meant there was no avoiding the dishes.. Sunoo traveled back downstairs.

 

_________________________

 

   "Sorry about him, he's not usually this embarrassing.. actually- yeah, he is." Heeseung apologized.

   Sunghoon shrugged in response. Hell, in his household- he and his siblings used to rip each others teeth and hair out.. the Lee-Kim household was a breath of fresh air if anything. The two were up in his room playing video games, you know.. doing dude-bro stuff, when Hee looked over at his friend mid-game. He had a guitar in his hand, concentrating on the next verse of Rogues new song.. silently humming to himself.

  "You're not really that bent out of shape over the shoes are you, Sunghoon? Because you know I'll probably just end up replacing them for you.. Sunoo is wayy irresponsible with money"

  It may be surprising that guitar boy has a name, but he does.. although not many prefer to call him by it.

  Usually it's "Hey Hoon" or.. "Sick guitar riff last night Sungie!" But with Heeseung it's just Sunghoon.

  And the boy admired that.. honestly it was probably one of the reasons why he enjoys hanging out with him so much.

  So you could tell how surprised he was when last night he found out the cute boy who puked on his shoes.. was his best friends nerdy little brother- no, dork of a brother. Sunghoon hummed, thinking of a response.

  "Nah..  but messing with him a little would be fun, no?" He teased, referring to sunoo.

Heeseung dramatically gagged.

   "Dude.. that's my brother. I know how you like too.. "mess around" I'm not that stupid."

  Sunghoon groaned, sitting up in his chair. "You're no fun. You know I'm just kidding, relax mama bear.."

Heeseung shook his head, "Whatever.."

  Sunghoon had never seen Sunoo.. or Heeseungs family as a matter of fact, since Hee usually snuck out to hang with their crowd. Heeseung would always describe him as this hermit crab of a boy, that never comes out his room.. and blah blah whenever the topic of siblings came up. Mind you- these were all conversations they had while completely stoned, of course Hee may have left a few things out.

  Those things being the fact that his little brother was not the chronically online individual he made him out to be- (okay maybe, but thats beside the point) but a really pretty boy with glitter on his eyelids and an even messier drunk. Ever since that night, Sunghoon couldn't stop replaying his short meeting with the colorful boy for whatever reason. The strobing lights, his strawberry scent filling the air around him. The encounter wasn't long yet- It felt like it lasted forever.

  Sunghoon had to find him.

  He looked him up on social media, and everything. He couldn't get him out of his head, and it wasn't gonna stop anytime soon. Of course it'd be ridiculous to mess around with his best friends innocent little brother.. but he'd done much worse before, and besides he hadn't known that they were related until that night.

  If you searched up "Fuck boy," a picture of Sunghoon would probably be right next to the definition for everyone to see. It wasn't a thing he was proud of.. it was just a known fact the boy was known to not like staying tied down for too long. It would just be like all of his other short-lasted flings.

   So yeah, the shoes WERE an excuse to get close to him.. but Heeseung didn't need to know all the unimportant details.

   The boys game was cut to an abrupt end as Heeseung ran out of hearts. "I'm hungry, go get us chips." Sunghoon was going to complain, but went nonetheless.. hoping to see a certain someone in the kitchen. This was his first time over at the Lee-Kim household and, it was interesting.. to say the least. They were this perfect family with a damn-good garage that Sunghoon quite envied.

   Even their family photos were professionally taken.  Baby photos of the two brothers filled the walls and Sunghoon couldn't help his curious human nature (and urge to swipe things.) Hoon has sticky hands.. you see, things just gravitate towards his pockets. If you asked the klepto why he was leaving the Lee-Kim estate with a handful of useless refrigerator magnets and knick-knacks he wouldn't be able to answer you. He saw the opportunity and he took it.

Ryujin has the same.. "Sticky hands" problem.

Runs in the rogue family.

   Sunghoon whistled, as he walked into the kitchen. The pink-haired boy from earlier stood, slaving away at the dishes while listening to some white lady sing about how crazy she is about partying and drugs. Sunghoon isn't too crazy about pop- no he would rather listen to Deftones, or Radiohead.. but it was really cute watching him dance, or attempt something like it. At least this time he had pants on.

   The teen boy leaned up against the wall, touching and fiddling with anything on the counter he could find, seeing if the boy would notice him.. but he didn't. How unaware of your surroundings do you have to be? If Sunghoon was an intruder he'd be dead by now. He cleared his throat loud enough to make the boy whip his head around.

"I think you forgot a dish"

   Sunoo practically jumped straight out of his clothes. How long had he heen there? He knew that he was gonna die today but he didn't know it'd be so soon. Sunoo said nothing, but examined the guy. Sunghoon walked over and put a dirty plate in the sink, then started to wet a sponge.

   "I don't need your help" He replied snappily. The icy response made the corners of Sunghoons mouth rise in interest. The boy was shooting daggers at him with his eyes, if anybody had the right to be mad it was Sunghoon.. not him, yet he looked like he was the one who had been wronged last night. Sunghoon put his hands up defensively.

"Alright short-stack, I'll leave you to it.."

  "Oh like I haven't heard that one before- Look if you're gonna kill me just get it over with! I'm very soft okay, you'll have no problem cutting me up--"

   The boy in front of him broke out into a fit of laughter- when Sunoo was being dead serious.

  "Where'd you get that from? I'm not gonna hurt you.. I do have one tiny concern though." Sunghoon closed in closer to the boy, and Sunoo tried backing away but his back was met with the counter. He had been outsmarted, violated, cornered, AND embarrassed.. all by the same dude.

He officially hated this kid, no matter how popular he was with his little band followers.

"My shoes.. those cost a lot y'know."

Sunoo had completely forgotten about that.

"Not my problem guitar boy. The washing machine is a thing you know? Not like I'd expect a neanderthal like you too know what cleanliness is but- you have other options." He smiled his same Sunoo-like smile, then resumed his dishes. This was  finally starting to get interesting. He was a stubborn one, it made sense that he was Heeseung Lee's brother.

  Sunghoon sighed dramatically, propping himself up to sit on the counter. "It's Sunghoon actually. You really don't know me.. Did you go to Lincoln last year?" He questioned. This guy was already starting to get to comfortable in his own home and Sunoo didn't like it. He glared at him. "You'd think I'd remember an asshole like you but no, apparently not."

  Sunghoon hadn't realized this kid had such a mouth on him. "Woah, chill short-stack. I'd hate if the rest of those videos from last night got out.." He replied, and Sunoo immediately froze.

   Sunoo grit his teeth together, his jaw tightening. Sunghoon was almost scared by the way his fists balled up. The fluffy-pink boy resembled that of a ticked off mouse whos cheese was stolen from him. "So you're the assface who posted those videos from last night..?"

  Sunghoon smiled, everything was slowly working in his favor. He shook his head, "No, sadly.. although I should've right? Considering all the views everybody else is getting--"

  "Cut the shit okay, Park?  School hasn't even started and I'm already the butt of every joke.. have a little bit of sympathy for once and take them down."

  The taller sighed, hopping off the kitchen counter. "Sorry princess, I truly didn't post anything, see?" Sunghoon shows the pink-haired boy his empty instagram profile but he still didn't seem to buy it.

"But I might have an idea who did."

   Now that peaked Sunoo's interest. He examined the boy cautiously. As much as "I fight my own battles" was Sunoo's motto, this time he really was looking to resort to violence- however, his fists are made of soft play-doh, not steel, like the punk's infront of him. Whoever posted him last night had to pay, and what better way to do that than making a delinquent do it for you?

   "If I get your stupid shoes, you WILL confront who posted it, and get them to delete it."

   Sunghoon smirked, "Deal"

Chapter Text

Before Sunoo could think twice about his absolutely outrageous proposal... the door bell rang. He knew it was his four-eyed friend, Jungwon. Sunoo groaned, turning his attention towards the door.

  "Don't even think for a second that this conversation is over Park.." After some menacing looks from the boy, he walks out and Sunghoon can't help but be compelled to follow like a dog on a tight leash. Sunoo opens the door to a sweating Jungwon who just ran eight minutes down the street from his house. Sunoo and the Yang twins live awfully close, which is a good thing.. until it's not.

  Kim Sunoo abuses the fact that they are so close in proximity. He likes to show up at the twins house like he lives there.

  One time, he was caught using their shower. Jungwon just assumed it was Chaeryoung in the shower and went about his day normally, asking her where the toothpaste was. You can tell how astonished he was when the voice that replied back was not his low-energy sister, but the high-pitched squeaky voice of Kim Sunoo.

He claimed there was no hot water at his house. 

Jungwon had to hold back from a lot of the things he wanted to say too him that day.

"Sunoo, you're alive!! Are you okay? I brought tylenol, hangover soup, a back-scratcher, some ice, and- woah" The boy tries his best to catch the wind that had been knocked out of him, whilst pointing to the amused Sunghoon behind him. Sunoo jumps, this guy must have a terrible habit of sneaking up on people. Sunghoon waves innocently.

   "Screw off" Sunoo shuts the front door on him and steps onto the porch with the now wheezing boy. He digs into the boys tote bag and takes out his inhaler, chucking it at him. "Was that so hard Won?" Jungwon pumps the inhaler once, or twice then calms down. "You know I'm trying to become less dependent on my inhaler!" He replies making Sunoo furrow his eyebrows.

"That makes absolutely no sense.. when you become less dependent on it then what? Death. You need that thing too live fish gills.. I can't believe you ran here, for a smart kid you're not being very academic right now."

  Jungwon suddenly felt the urge to turn around and leave. He's supposed to be the one giving Sunoo a lecture, but instead it's him that's doing all the nagging. "Don't change the subject Kim Sunoo-- Why THE HELL is he here?" 

  Sunoo placed both of his hands on his bestfriends shoulders. "I've been asking myself the same thing for the past hour." Jungwon shakes his head, this truly cannot be happening. He goes along with Sunoo's plans ONCE and this is what they get.

Unbelievable.

   The pink-haired boy sighed. "It's gonna be a long story, sit." he said, patting the spot beside him on the staircase. Jungwon sat down, and Sunoo explained everything word for word.. even down to the #TeamEdward shirt. Jungwon could barely believe what was being said to him.

  "Oh you poor thing.. here I brought swedish fish."

   Sunoo nods, taking a handful out of his concerned friends stash.

  Jungwon has always been like this when it comes to sticky situations. The first to dry his tears, and the first to curse out whoever hurt him. "That asshole.. well, atleast you've got some sort of leverage on him though. If you get his shoes, then he'll find who posted you before school starts back." He said, all whilst patting his sulky friend on the back like a baby.

   "Anyway, enough about me. I didn't call you over to whine.. Where is chae by the way?" Sunoo said, dusting himself off as they got up. Jungwon shrugged. "She said she'd be over later, sounded like she was doing something urgent." Sunoo thought nothing of it.

   The two gathered snacks from the pantry like normal, and prepared to head straight for the sacred garage. The garage of countless memories, and secrets shared between the three inseparable best-friends. Their unofficial clubhouse, the birthplace of every bad decision they'd ever made. Jungwon paused. "Do you hear that?" Sunoo shrugged. The boy turned the door knob leading to the garage, and opened it.

They should've known...

There sat Heeseung and his new, absolutely detestable friend--

Park Sunghoon.

Typical.

   Sunoo could've swore he felt the fire igniting all over his body, his face hot- seething with frustration. "No, No, No... This is not happening right now.." he mumbled, his hands running through his already uncombed, and brittle hair. The two were in THEIR garage, sunghoon playing god knows what on the guitar that's been laying down there for ages.

   Their backs were turned from the door, and the music so deafening they hadn't even noticed the two had walked in. The pink-haired boy immediately started to storm towards them. "Sunoo what the hell are you doing--" Jungwon tried stopping him, but the boy saw red and red only.

And that was all he needed too see in order to push him to do the absolutely illegal shit he was gonna do to the punk when he got his hands on him.

"Dude! Watch this.." Sunghoon exclaimed. Heeseung looked up in excitement, but saw his pissed younger brother charging towards them, burning holes through his best-friend instead.

  He tried to warn Hoon- but it was too late. Sunoo latched onto his shoulder with the power of a thousand suns, and stared him down. "What are you doing in here? This is our spot.. Matter of fact, I don't think you'll be needing this." He unplugged the electric guitar, all while holding sweet, sweet petty eye contact.

   Sunoo watches as the light flickers on and off in the punk before him's eyes, probably trying to think of which way he was gonna play pin the tail on the Sunoo tonight. If he was gonna get killed today, he'd rather it be with dignity than with none at all. The corners of Sunghoon's mouth go up, and his eyebrows rise in interest.. almost as if he were amused or trying not to laugh.

  Sunoo didn't care if what he said sounded silly, he wasn't a pushover and he wasn't gonna let Park Sunghoon of all people, bitch him around.

  The punk claps, not once.. but twice, and then a third time, taking a step closer each time.

   Sunghoon leans down to match eye level with the pink-haired boy. "You're funny, Kim Sunoo. I like you." he says. Sunoo practically gags. Who does he think he is? Sunoo is a proud believer of refunding tall people's human rights, and Sunghoon isn't exactly helping him change his mind. "Gross." he replies.

  The punk leans in more but Sunoo backs away in discomfort. "Might I remind you of the conversation we had earlier... ?  Or maybe you don't want those posts deleted as badly as I thought you did." Sunghoon mumbles underneath his breath. Sunoo is stunned. He'd been outsmarted again. Park Sunghoon has way too much dirt on him, for him to ever care about any pathetic threat Sunoo ever makes towards him.

"Come on we're friends, friends share right?" Sunghoon smirked the same smirk that made Sunoo want to rip each one of his hair follicles out one by one, and make a voodoo doll with it.

He sighs. The day had been full of loss after loss and quite frankly this made the boy want to get violent.. but alas, he put on a forced smile.

   "I guess so Park. You guy's can get the garage tonight.. me and wonnie will head upstairs." The bright boy grinned to hide the front tooth quite literally digging into his bottom lip in anger. Heeseung and Jungwon looked at each other in confusion. The garage is Sunoo's second home, whoever has the power to get him to leave it must be god.

  "That's more like it! Say would you mind closing the door on your way out?" Sunghoon laid his arm around the fuming boys shoulder, which Sunoo immediately swatted off of him and "playfully" stepped on his toe. "SHIT" Sunghoon winced.

"Oops!." Sunoo giggled.

  Sunoo grabs Jungwon by the wrist and heads to storm out, loudly shutting the garage door behind them. "Jungwon hand me that pillow.. right now, or I think I will implode." Jungwon furrowed his eyebrows, he complied nonetheless.. handing him the livingroom couch pillow, not wanting to see what would happen if he didn't.

  The pink-haired boy burried his face into the pillow and began to scream obscenities Jungwon hadn't even heard of before.  Something along the lines of.. "I'M GONNA MURDER..." and "HE'S DEAD..." Not even Jungwon can begin to repeat the rest. After a minute or two he comes back up for air, his face stoic.

"Okay.. phew, I'm good."

Jungwon looked at him with wide eyes.

"I sure hope so."

   Suddenly the front doorbell rang. Sunoo composed any sane part of himself left, and went to go answer it.. thinking it's his lovable yang twin, chaeryoung.

"We're here for the party! I don't think we're at the right address-- wait a second.. HOLY SHIT, YOU'RE BARF BOY. YOOOOO, WOULD YOU MIND SHOUTING ME OUT??"

 

Rogue was at Sunoo's doorstep.

Chapter Text

Shin Ryujin.. Jay Park.. and Sim Jaeyun.

Rogue was at Sunoo's doorstep.

At this point, Sunoo wouldn't be surprised if baby seals started falling from the fucking sky.

  Sunoo scanned the handful of people, looking for the twin.. until the girl came from behind one of the scary looking thugs like a lost puppy, making eye contact with Sunoo. She stood in the way back, as if she was being held at gun point. What had these ruffians done to her?

  Ryujin rolled her eyes. "Oh come on kid, nobody did anything to little miss perfect. We were walking the same way so she gave us directions." As if she could read Sunoos worried mind, she answered his thoughts. Sunoo gave Chaeryoung a "Is that true??" look and she shrugged looking just as confused.

  What had really happened wasn't too far off.

Chaeryoung was on her happy little way to Sunoo's house after she'd finished up some project she was working on, and while she was walking, from out the corner of her eye she could see the group closely treading behind her chatting noisily with a can of beer in their hands. She obviously tried speeding up to avoid them.. but she was too late.

"Ryu.. isn't that that girl from the other night? HEY YOU."

   Her cover had been blown. She turned around despite her instincts telling her to run, and they walked to Kim Sunoo's estate together.

  Sunoo looked at the group.

  "Um.. alright. That doesn't explain why you think there's a party here? This is my hou-"

  Suddenly, the garage door started to lift and the loud music spilled out into the front yard. Sunghoon and Heeseung walked over and greeted their friends. "Yo! Took you long enough.. did you guys bring the speakers? mine wont work." He and Jay initiated some weird hand shake and Sunoo looked at them and his older brother in disbelief. At first, they had some nerve to take away Sunoo's hangout spot, but the audacity to throw a get together too? Beyond him.

   "What's a jam sesh without speakers..? man you weren't lying when you said this garage was perfect." Jake replied in awe of the nicely decorate garage. "I mean Imagine our Sunday late night gigs here. Everybody would want to come." Sunghoon exclaimed as he brought them inside, Sunoo and his gang following closely behind, arms crossed. Meanwhile Ryujin and Jay seemed skeptical.

"How's a family garage gonna get us more gigs?" Ryujin questioned.

"It's the vision okay...-- Have a little faith in us once in a while Ryujin."

  While the rest of Rogue was exploring, Sunoo latched onto Heeseungs arm. "Can I speak to you in private, dear older brother?" He said as he smiled to stop from gritting his teeth together.

  Sunoo pulled him into the house, his nails almost digging into his skin as he shut the door. "Ow..! You should be old enough to know how to cut your own nails." Heeseung winced while rubbing the spot Sunoo had scratched. "You'll be fine you big baby, you know who's NOT fine though? Me! Like right now." Sunoo expressed as he begrudgingly sat down with his arms crossed and a pout forming across his lips.

  "Tell your weird friends to get lost. That garage is special to me and you know that.."  The pink-haired boy begged, but Heeseung just rolled his eyes. He could already tell where this was going.

"Seriously? You're always like this. I'm allowed to hangout in the garage just as much as you are, Sunoo."

Okay, not the response Sunoo had expected.

Sunoo blinked.

  "And besides this garage could be an important turning point in their music career..  I mean who knows."

  The boys eyes darkened from the usual bright happy state they're in. It was obvious his relationship with Heeseung was changing, and he wasn't really a fan of it. If his brother wanted to choose some friends he'd just gotten close with two months ago over his baby brother, then so be it. "Fine, be like that." Sunoo stormed out of the house to stop the tears welling in his eyes from falling in front of his brother.

  Heeseung sighed, he knew that look from anywhere. When they were younger, that look was always the calm before the storm. It always meant he was either going to cry, or tattletale.

It was usually the latter.

  One time, Heeseung had ACCIDENTALLY chucked a toy truck at Sunoo's head when he was like 10, and the little butthead started sobbing like he'd just murdered his whole family or something. After years and years of being Sunoo's older brother, he'd learnt how to read all of his looks no matter how old or snarky he got.

He still stayed the same.

  "SUNOO DON'T CRY, I SWEAR- geez.. you are so difficult sometimes." Heeseung hollered hoping the younger could hear him, not knowing what else to say. He'd never been the best with the emotions aspect of brothering, and Sunoo knew that.

  The pink-haired boy didn't cry, instead, he sucked it up and went to grab both the yang twins so they could officially start relocating upstairs. The room was dead silent. Sunoo sulking quietly, Chaeryeong in a textbook and Jungwon alive and breathing.. which was good news considering his chronic asthma.

  Jungwon plopped down on Sunoo's pink beanbag chair. "Y'know I'm really gonna miss that office chair in the garage but this is okay too." He said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood in the room.. it sadly doesn't work. Jungwon isn't the groups hypeman after all, that's just not his role.

  The hypeman is Kim Sunoo, but the boy looks too much like a deflated pool floatie sitting on his bed with his knees hugged tight to his chest to even conjure up a funny response, which really isn't like him. Jungwon gives Chaeryeong a sorry look, then sighs, getting up from his super comfy spot.

  The Yang twins suffocate Sunoo in a bear hug, making the boy whine. "C'mon cheer up! We can always watch Mean girls again.." Chaeryeong says but the boy doesn't budge.

  "How about 10 Things I Hate About You? Hm? Sexy Heath Ledger~ Come on Kim Sunoo please?" To the twins surprise, their friends head slightly lifts in interest. Sexy Heath Ledger does sound promising after all. "Fine.. but all the DVD's are in the garage where they threw us out of." Sunoo mumbled making Jungwon roll his eyes.

  "It's the 21st century, you'd think Kim Sunoo would stop using DVD players.. get a Roku or something, would you?" Jungwon teased, the corners of Sunoo's mouth lifting up in a slight smile. "Hey that's my line! And DVD's are nostalgic, you guys wouldn't get it." Sunoo smacked his four-eyed friend with the nearest pillow and shot up out of his seat.

  "I'll go get the CD book."

  The twins nodded and Sunoo set back off into the den full of lions. What was the worst thing Heeseung could do to him anyway? It was his house too and he had the right to enter any room he wanted, including the garage.

  Sunoo could already hear the music from upstairs. Each step he took brought him closer to the bass guitar that was basically shaking the house at this point. Sunoo twisted the door knob open a little too swiftly and walked in on something he truly wasn't expecting too see tonight, considering he'd seen a lot in the last two days.

"WOAH, YOU SMOKE POT?"

   Heeseung looked up to see his little brother standing in the door frame with his mouth agape, and immediately got rid of the blunt hanging from inbetween his lips. They'd started off the night like usual, until Sunoo decided to make an appearance.

  "What are you doing down here? Sunoo close the door!" Heeseung whisper yelled and to his surprise, Sunoo listened and shut the door behind him. "Wow.. my brothers a stoner, everything makes sense now." The younger looked almost starry-eyed.

  During all of the years that Sunoo has known his older brother, Heeseung Lee, he'd always been kind of a dork. This sudden change was cool in a weird way. Heeseung was doing all the rebellious stuff Sunoo wanted to do. It was impressive.

Jake looked up from his phone too figure out what all the commotion was about. "OOOOOH~ HEESEUNGS IN TROUBLE." He began to chant making Heeseung rub the temples of his forehead. "No- No I am not, because Kim Sunoo you're not going to be a tattletale, okay?" It wasn't really a suggestion, more like a demand.

Sunoo pretended to zip his lips and seal them, then throw them behind his shoulder.

"You can see yourself out now."

The pink-haired boy was almost a little dissappointed his brother hadn't invited him too stay. Wouldn't regular siblings party together after all? But no, he was still a big seventeen year old baby in Heeseungs eyes.  Sunoo turned his head to the sound of foot steps coming down the stairs. His friends had grown worried since he hadn't made it back to the room, so they came down in search for him.

   He gave them a saddened look then started walking their direction, with no CD book in his hand. "Let's go guys." Sunoo mumbled.

  The rest of rogue went silent, until Ryujin decided to butt in. "Oh come on Heeseung, don't be an assface let them join." The girl suggested while setting down her beer on the wooden coffee table. Now hearing that was worthy enough to make Sunoo stop in his tracks. He immediately perked up and turned around. "Yeah Heeseung, don't be an assface." Sunoo said, rubbing salt in the wound.

  Heeseung glared at Ryujin. Of course she just had too say something. He sighed before turning to look at his little brother who stood impatiently like a puppy dog.

"Look, I don't care what you do at this point.. but DO NOT drink. Mom will kill me."

Sunoo smirked. "So I can smoke?"

  It only took half a second before his brother smacked him upside the head. "Ow! You do it, why can't I?" The boy muttered.

"That's different."

  The two continued going back and forth. Everybody was subjected to their sibling bickering. "Are they always like this..?" Jake whispered into Jungwons ear and Jungwon nodded in response. "Pretty much."

  Jay cleared his throat and they finally shut up. "I refuse to listen to this any longer.. so how about we play a game." The sound of that got everyones attention. Sunoo grabbed his friends by the wrist and sat down on the garage floor. To say that Sunoo was excited was an understatement.

This was his chance at a redo of his first party experience that went oh so terribly wrong the first time. He could finally show off just how cool and totally nonchalant, and definitely not weird he was. If somebody handed him the good ol' mary jane, he'd have the opportunity to say "Oh no thank you. I'm straight edge." Like a super cool, not weird teenager.

Totally plausible right?

   "Let's play never have I ever.. you guys DO know how to play never have I ever, right?" Sunghoon suggested, the last bit making the pink-haired boy glare daggers at him. "We're not aliens, of course we know how to play never have I ever.. right guys?" Sunoo looked at the Yang twins for backup but they were completely lost. "I- Well-" Jungwon stumbled trying to think of a response.

  Truthfully, he knew what the game was but he'd never played it. He'd only ever seen it in those cringey coming of age movies. Jungwon would much rather play scrabble or.. solve a puzzle. Sunoo laughed awkwardly. "They know how to play.. hah." He said, cutting off Jungwon before he embarrassed them all. Ryujins eyebrows peaked in interest. "Well.. what are we waiting for? Never have I ever ghosted my girlfriend for a year." She said, all while looking at an off-guard Sunghoon silently strumming his guitar.

  The raven-haired blinked. He didn't get why everybody was staring at him. "What? She's not my girlfriend anymore she's my ex, so what.." He said while shrugging. Everybody had already heard that excuse before. "It won't kill you to put your finger down, hoon." Jay laughed. The group had decided to replace taking a shot each time you'd done something, with putting a finger down to accomodate Heeseungs wishes of not letting his little brother drink. Sunghoon rolled his eyes but put his finger down nonetheless.

"We just started and you guys are already targeting me."

  "It's all in your head, stop whining cupcake." Ryujin teased.

  The game went on just like that for a while. Somebody naming a thing they've never done and everybody else replying, starting a random conversation on how odd it was that they'd never done it. Sunoo would be an idiot if he didn't notice the heart eyes Jungwon was making at the mysterious guy across from them, the one they called Jay.

  He gave his bestfriend a knowing smile. Jungwon flushed and looked away at something else, embarrassed he'd been caught admiring the stranger. Sunoo was thinking for a long time, sprawled out on the floor. "Ooh I have a good one~ Never have I ever been a rythm guitarist in a band called Rogue." The pink-haired boy knew what he was doing. His staple smile being snarkier than usual. Sunghoon put a finger down but not without mumbling something incoherent underneath his breath.

"Fine, two can play at that game short-stack. Never have I ever threw my entire bodily fluids up on somebodys shoes."

And just when Sunoo thought he'd forgotten about that embarrassing memory, Sunghoon had lived to tell the tale once again. Sunoo grinned then put his finger down. They both only had 3 fingers left. Jungwon could tell where this was about to go. It was no longer, "Group game night.." It was all about "Sunghoon VS Sunoo."

If Sunghoon couldn't get over himself, you'd bet your ass Sunoo can't either.

  Jungwon knew his bestfriend better than anybody, and he knew just how much he hated backing down from a fight. The boy coughed, trying to take away from the staring contest the two were having from across the room.

"Okay.. guys why don't we play something else like-"

"Never have I ever been in the theatre." Sunghoon ignored Jungwons pleads.

"Oh my god.." Ryujin muttered looking done with the whole game its self. "I'm done playing, lets start a new game without them." She requested and everybody followed her to the couch except for the two who were to busy mentally ripping each other to shreds.

  "You've got a lot of nerve Park. We'll settle this the old fashioned way.. a game of uno." Sunoo brought out a stack of uno cards and put them in the middle of the two. Sunghoon scoffed. "You're arguing with the wall here princess, you started it so I'm gonna be the bigger person.. and not play." The punk started to get up and go join the others but Sunoo made sure that wasn't going to happen.

He grabbed his arm stopping him from getting away. "You're too good to sit down and play a game of uno?" The boy teased.

  Sunghoon couldn't believe this. He mostly couldn't believe how hard his cold, dead heart was pounding after the boy had touched him. He really was cute when he wanted to be, reminded him of the other night when they first met.. well before sunoo puked on him. Hoon smirked. "Fine, It's your death wish not mine." He sat back down and Sunoo started to shuffle the cards.

"Wait.. one last thing. Winner gets to request anything they want from the loser." Sunghoon suggested. Sunoo didn't see the harm in it, considering he was convinced he was going to win. He'd been victorious each time he played against the Yang twins, but then again that was the Yang twins. They could barely walk upright.

"Alright."

Sunghoon won.

Not by much, but he won, and he would not shut up about it. "How does it feel to have your ass handed to you Kim Sunoo-?" The older bragged and Sunoo had to stop his eyes from rolling out his head. Sunoo had been so sure of himself, yet he'd lost to an idiot named Park Sunghoon. He sighed.

"What do you want from me Park..?"

  Sunghoon hadn't even thought about what to request yet, but he had an idea. "I'm saving my request for when I really need it, thank you very much." The punk went to join the others, leaving the sore loser alone.

  Sunoo's day had started awful, but ended on a suprisingly good note. Maybe not all hope was lost for his junior year. Suddenly somebodys phone started to blare. "Ah.. guys the momster is calling, I've gotta go." Ryujin said, stuffing her phone into her back pocket. "I think I'm gonna head out too!" Jake added on.

   All of Rogue, (including Sunghoon) were getting ready to head their seperate ways.. and so was Sunoo's crew. He'd put them through enough yesterday and today anyway, they deserved to go home. Sunoo engulfed the two in a tight hug. "I'll call you guys tomorrow.. get home safe." He said and they nodded.

Heeseung finally shut the door after they'd left, and the house was quiet for the first time in some years.

  Sunoo had a lot on his mind, mostly about what he was gonna wear on Monday. He sat on his bed his eyes growing tired and weary from staring at his bright phone, until he saw he had an instagram notification. 

"Park Sunghoon mentioned you in his story."

   Sunoo was curious as to what this was gonna be. They hadn't taken any photos together today, so why would he be mentioned? He'd checked everybodys story today, except for Sunghoons considering he only added him back two hours ago although he didn't want too, the older made him. His account was just a bunch of stuff about Rogue and pictures of former concerts.

  He mustve just uploaded a second ago. Sunoo clicked on it. The story was an offguard photo of him shuffling cards while they were playing uno.. captioned "Short-stack sucks at uno :p" Sunoo almost giggled. He immediately went to the punks DMs. "Really? When'd you even take that photo." he sent him.

  Sunghoon responded almost instantaneously, he'd been online the whole time. "When you're so focused on winning you forget about your surroundings amirite? That's how you got absolutely demolished in a CARD GAME in the first place ;)"

   Sunoo suppressed his laughter. It was already late, and his parents were asleep. "Knowing you, you probably cheated." He replied.

  "I only play fair, princess."

 

The boy gagged. Him and these weird nicknames had to go. "Goodnight park."

 

"Goodnight."

Chapter Text

Ah, the mall.

The mall is a wonderful place. A place where everybody can collectively come after school and on weekends to goof off, but not exactly buy anything.. And it's currently the place Kim Sunoo is supposed to be meeting his four-eyed friend to go shopping for Park Sunghoons stupid shoes.. aka the root of all his problems.

The mall is where you'll see all of Lincolns most prominent mall rats- like the goths. Sunoo is pretty tight with the goths.. atleast that's what they let him think. Last year he had too sit at their lunch table because he knew nobody else since he had B lunch instead of A, where all of his friends were.

Let's just say when he tried to make conversation by asking them if they listened to any panic at the disco lately, they didn't take too kindly to it..

Sunoo's leg shakes out of impatience. He turns his phone around too check if he had any recent text messages. The boy had told him to meet at the food-court in front of that boba shop that gives Jungwon a stomachache everytime they go. To be fair.. everything gives Jungwon a stomachache-- Like end of the year exams, unskippable ad's, and unmade beds. He is so sensitive.

The pink-haired boy had decided to get sorta cute for today's outing.. (just in case a hot footlocker or vans worker wants to get his socials, you never know.) A simple jeans and graphic-tee combo never let him down, so he threw that on. Sunoo spotted his bestfriend walking around aimlessly. He always looked sorta foggy in crowded spaces. He shook his head whilst watching the boy wander, then finally waved to get his attention.

"Wonie!!"

The boy made eye contact then started to walk over, sitting down at the table Sunoo was at. "Malls are so confusing.. I don't know why you like them so much." Jungwon complained making his friend roll his eyes.

"You're allergic to everything fun." Sunoo replied whilst applying this new chapstick he'd bought in his mini mirror.

Jungwon just shrugged, neither disagreed or agreed.

Sunoo clasped his hands together in excitement. "Okay. I know we're here for serious business.. but what's a trip to the mall without exploring a little. Let's go to Urban Outfitters! I saw this cute sweater there and It would look so good on you--"

The boy immediately grimmaced at even the idea of trying on clothes. He'd seen this before one too many times. Kim Sunoo hadn't invited him for moral support.. he'd invited him to be his barbie, his victim. "You're such a little snake you know that? I'm not playing dress-up today Sunoo." He said whilst crossing his arms. Sunoo groaned dramatically, shifting his body from one side to the other.

"Please? Tomorrow's the first day of school and you haven't even bought new shoes yet.. it's concerning. Let me dress you for tomorrow! Chae even let me do it, I gave her this skirt and let me tell you, that girl does NOT skip leg day-"

"Chaeryoung is in on this? Oh god." Jungwon sighed. Sunoo gave him a blank stare.

"It's not like that- Just- come on i'll show you." Sunoo latched onto his friends wrist and headed towards the direction of all the new trendy stores that DON'T sell Jungwons usual array of white polos and random brown articles of clothing.

Jungwan braced for the worst.

 

----------------------

 

Sunghoon and Jay had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.. So why not go to the mall. Besides, they hadn't spent time together just the two of them in a while, they were like brothers after all. When the band wasn't practicing or partying, they were wasting time by getting shitfaced at eachothers houses or shamelessly flirting and or stealing at the malls evil corporations (aka doing gods work.)

They'd became such regulars at the spots with cute workers, that the employee's started to write their numbers and socials on the napkins and receipts.

The two troublemakers sat at a table in the middle of the food-court, Jay looking super focused on his phone whilst Sunghoon had his head down, bored out of his mind. They'd already hit up every store and it was starting to get a little repetitive. Sunghoon put his head up, resting it on his arm. After a long time of silence, the boy in front of him finally makes a sound.

"Dude.. do you think that Urban Outfitters girl still works there?" Jay said, making Sunghoon's eyebrow rise in interest.

He had recalled their short meeting with Urban Outfitters girl a few months ago. Jay swears up and down that it was HIM she was into, when Sunghoon clearly remembers her looking at him like he was a hot and ready meal. They fought about it for a few weeks before making a bet.. that the next time they saw her whoever got her insta first, won.

The raven-haired did a big long and extra stretch, before turning to face his friend. "I dunno.. let's go find out. Anything is more interesting than sitting here." He said, standing up out of his seat.

"Bet." Jay replied confidently.

The store wasn't far. Really they had no business being in there. They'd already gotten a warning from the manager for "disturbing the workers." Whenever they'd walk in the employees would be too busy gawking at the two band members to ring up customers and end up getting in trouble.

Jay walked up to the front first, examining the work space. It was a whole new rotation of workers, the girl was nowhere to be found. He shrugged. "She's not here."

The two were getting ready to walk out.. until Sunghoon heard an all too familiar voice.

"Yes! That's the one- we need to buy it right now. Everybody's eyeballs are gonna drop out of their skulls once they see how cute my bestfriend is!!"

Kim. Sunoo.

Sunghoons eyes darted around and landed on the pink-haired boy fixing his friends shirt.. what was his name again? Sunwon? Hyungwon? It didn't matter.

"I look like I'm about to teach a pilates class. Sunoo what the hell do you have me in..."

Sunghoon chuckled from far away as he watched them. His friend was right, he looked ridiculous. Sunoo had him wearing what looked to be an 80's inspired top with humongous sleeves, and low rise jeans. Jay looked back at his friend wondering why he'd stopped in his tracks, then also became fixated with the sight before them.

"You're right. I just put that outfit on the rack for funsies.. go change into the last one." Sunoo gave Jungwon a supportive pat on the butt and sent him back in, feeling proud of himself. Atleast he'd actually succeeded in getting him to try on stuff. He turned his head, and his smile had dropped..

Of course his 15 seconds of happiness was too good to be true.

The pink-haired boy put his hands on his hips, making eye contact with the two punks from afar. What were they doing in Urban Outfitters? The two started to make their way over and Sunoo almost considered making a run for it. That'd be much better than having to be subjected to the conversation he was about to have right now.

"Look who's at the mall.. Kim Sunoo in all his glory." Sunghoon uttered with a wide grin on his annoying face making the boy scoff. "For your information- I'm at the mall looking for YOUR stupid shoes, although it may not seem like it right now.." He mumbled the last part too himself.

Sunoo thought to himself. If anybody should be doing any questioning right now, it's him. Who knows, what if he's up too something?

The pink-haired boy looked him up, and down. "What are you doing here anyway Park? If it isn't taking up all the air with your presence.." Sunoo ughed, crossing his arms.

  Sunghoon dramatically slapped his hand across his heart, acting as if the boys cruel words had hurt him oh so terribly. "Geez you're hostile today. What, are you still butthurt over last nights uno game?" He replied all while grinning. Jay could already tell where this conversation was about to go, he simply shook his head.

Sunghoon could see the cogs turning in Sunoo's thick head. There was nothing more that quite ruffled his feathers like Park Sunghoon, and he knew that, that's why it was so funny teasing him. He'd be super calm.. and Sunoo was one sentence away from blowing up.

"No.. actually. That was a lucky win." He turned his head cockily.

Sunghoon scoffed. "Let's settle this then.. since it was a "lucky win." I wanna use my request now."

The pink-haired boy had forgotten all about that stupid rule Sunghoon had came up with. "Fine." he shrugged.

“Fine,” Sunghoon said flatly.

Before Sunoo could retort, a voice called from behind the curtain.

“Sunoo? Who are you talking to out there? I’m coming out—”

The curtain flew open, and Jungwon stepped out of the dressing room.

Sunoo gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth like he’d just seen a miracle. The outfit—baggy jeans, a baby tee that fit just right—was perfection. Clean, cool, first-day-of-school material.

Jay’s jaw dropped. Sunoo saw it and smirked to himself. Boys. Predictable as ever.

Jungwon, on the other hand, froze like he’d just stepped on a landmine. His eyes darted between the two boys in front of him—the ones who definitely weren’t supposed to be here. His face flushed pink as he crossed his arms over his stomach, desperately searching for his sweater.

“Oh my god—what the hell, Sunoo,” he muttered, glaring daggers. Sunghoon and Jay both spun around immediately, hands over their faces like they’d just witnessed a crime scene.

Sunoo blinked, completely unfazed. “What are you doing?! Don’t cover up, you look amazing! I haven’t even gotten a full look yet—”

Jungwon grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to the side, whispering harshly. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a third party waiting for me outside?! I’m not—” He lowered his voice even more. “—comfortable doing a fashion show in front of them.”

Sunoo’s expression shifted from confusion to mischief in a split second. His lips curled.
“Ohhh,” he said slowly, eyes flicking toward Jay. “It’s that kind of problem.”

“Sunoo—” Jungwon hissed, already regretting opening his mouth.

“It’s just a crop top, fish gills. Nothing revolutionary about a couple of airheads seeing your tummy.”

Sunoo poked his exposed stomach, earning a horrified swat. Jungwon’s face was the color of a ripe tomato.

“I despise you right now,” he muttered.

Sunoo grinned. “Besides…” He leaned around Jungwon to catch Jay’s gaze. “I’m not the only one who thinks you look cute.”

Jay’s eyes snapped away instantly. He coughed into his fist, pretending to study the ceiling tiles like they were fascinating. Jungwon caught it—and that only made his blush deepen.

“I—I’m taking this off,” he stammered, retreating back into the dressing room as fast as possible.

“So I can buy it for you?” Sunoo called out after him.

“Do whatever you want, Kim Sunoo!” came the muffled reply.

Sunoo giggled. His best friend was mortified, but god, it was worth it.

When Jungwon finally emerged again—fully clothed and sulking—Sunoo paid for his outfit without argument. Outside, Sunghoon and Jay were still loitering, waiting like they had nowhere better to be.

Sunoo sighed dramatically as they reached Foot Locker. “If I’d known I’d have a running commentary, I would’ve bought your stupid shoes first.”

“Yeah?” Sunghoon said, falling into step beside him. “Then I wouldn’t get to save you from your tragic taste in footwear.”

Sunoo shot him a look over his shoulder. “You’re one comment away from wearing flip-flops to school, Park.”

Sunghoon smirked. “Wouldn’t be the worst way to make an impression.”

“Try it,” Sunoo said sweetly. “See how fast I trip you down the stairs.”

He ended up buying the same pair of shoes he’d thrown up on. Handed them to Sunghoon. Done deal. Whatever complaints the guy had, he could take them up with his lawyer—Sunoo was *done* with this shoe fiasco.

The four of them made their way to the food court, trays in hand, as Sunoo waited to hear the older’s grand proposal for how they’d finally settle their Uno dispute.

“I think we should settle this with a good ol’ dare,” Sunghoon said, leaning back in his chair. “If you succeed, you win—and get the next free request.”

Sunoo shrugged. “Sounds fair enough.”

Sunghoon grinned, already scheming. “I dare you… to go up to a random stranger and ask for their number.”

Jay’s eyebrows shot up. Jungwon groaned. Sunghoon smirked. He was sure he had the pink-haired boy cornered.

But Sunoo only smiled, slick and confident. “Deal.”

He scanned the food court, spotted a cute boy sitting alone with earbuds in, and marched right over. “Okay, Kim Sunoo,” he muttered to himself, “let’s not embarrass ourselves.”

From the table, the others watched like hawks. Sunoo slid into the booth across from the stranger, leaned in, and said something none of them could make out. Whatever it was, it worked—the boy went red instantly, fumbling for his phone. Sunoo typed something in, gave the stranger a wink, and—just to twist the knife—kissed his cheek before strutting back.

Jay choked on his drink. Sunghoon just stared.

“Easy,” Sunoo said, tossing his hair, waiting for Sunghoon’s reaction.

The older laughed, shaking his head. “Okay, fine. That might’ve been too easy. Don’t worry, I’ve got something for you.”

A few rounds of dares later and Sunoo was still undefeated. Sunghoon was getting desperate, eyes scanning the mall for inspiration—until they landed on a tattoo and piercing shop across the way.

Jay caught the look instantly. “Absolutely not,” he said, deadpan.

“Absolutely yes,” Sunghoon corrected, pushing him aside. “Both of us walk out with new piercings. Loser buys dinner. If we both go through with it—it’s a tie.”

“Oh my god,” Jungwon muttered, facepalming. “Sunoo, *please* don’t—”

But Sunoo was already smirking. “YOLO.”

Jay groaned as the two idiots strutted toward the shop like they’d just made a blood pact. He and Jungwon followed, purely for emotional support—and damage control.

Inside, the receptionist handed them a small booklet of piercing options. Sunoo flipped through it eagerly. He’d always wanted his ears pierced, but his mom had never let him. Maybe this was his moment.

Sunghoon, on the other hand, looked suspiciously pale. He’d been cocky outside, but now he was stiff, staring blankly at the wall.

“You scared, Park?” Sunoo teased, bumping his shoulder. “Want me to hold your hand~?”

Sunghoon scoffed, trying to play it off. “Please. You’d give anything to hold hands with me.” He reached for Sunoo’s hand, clasping it before he could pull away.

The touch was brief—but charged. For a split second, something sharp and electric zipped through Sunoo’s chest, freezing his heart mid-beat.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Then he yanked his hand back, pretending to gag. “Gross.” He wiped his palm on his jeans, trying to ignore how hot his face felt.

“Sure,” Sunghoon said, smirking. But he turned away quickly, scrolling through his phone to hide his own flushed expression.

The piercer called Sunghoon back first. Jay tagged along, recording the entire thing like a proud parent. It was over in seconds—a clean silver bar through his eyebrow.

He looked… good. Sunoo hated that he noticed.

Then it was his turn. Jungwon went with him, even though he got queasy around needles. He wanted to be there—it was Sunoo’s *first* piercing, after all.

The piercer worked quickly, slipping two tiny silver hoops through Sunoo’s ears. His eyes watered a little, but otherwise, he survived. They were handed a small bottle of piercing cleaner and sent on their merry way, feeling like absolute rebels.

Who would’ve thought his first piercing would be with *Park Sunghoon* of all people?

By the time they reached the parking lot, it was nearly 7 p.m. Jungwon’s mom sat in her car, scrolling through Facebook with the rage of a thousand mothers. She’d been told they’d finish at 4:30.

Jungwon climbed in, bracing for impact. Jay headed for his car. That left Sunoo and Sunghoon by the curb, awkwardly lingering.

“Guess there won’t be any more dares or requests for a while,” Sunghoon said, scratching the back of his neck.

Sunoo shrugged. “No, no—I’ve got one. Whoever’s piercing gets infected first loses.”

Sunghoon laughed. “Yeah, no. You should take care of those piercings. I *bought* them for you.”

Sunoo grinned, though his heart skipped at the casual reminder. “What, do I owe you now or something?”

Sunghoon’s smile sharpened. “Yeah, actually—you do.”

Sunoo frowned. “Come on, dude. I bought your shoes. If anything, you owe me—”

The older leaned in—way too close. “I was thinking…” His voice dropped. “Don’t you think I deserve a goodbye kiss? Like the one you gave that guy?”

Sunoo’s face went crimson. He shoved him away, stumbling back a step.

“I’d rather die,” he hissed, stomping toward the car.

Sunghoon laughed. “Bye, princess.”

Sunoo had used up all of his words today. He was sick of wasting good time, air, and vocabulary on the annoying existence that is Park Sunghoon.

So, he gave him the bird.. which speaks for itself in every occasion.

Sunoo climbed into the backseat and put on his seatbelt. Jungwon usually chose to sit in the back whenever he had guests in the car so they wouldn't feel lonely. He was sweet like that. He laid his head on his bestfriends shoulder as his mother drove, the mall getting farther and farther in the distance.

The mall lights blurred into the distance, the day fading like a fever dream.

Chapter Text

The smell of fresh linen filled every hall, nook and cranny. Every curtain in the house had been drawn, since Mrs. Lee-Kim claims natural sunlight cures sickness and ensures health. She hates the dark. She stood cooking a big, hearty breakfast downstairs and Kim Sunoo's (almost) fried hair was being curled to perfection in his tiny bathroom-- using Chaeryeongs curling wand of course.

All the very nostalgic happenings of the first day back to school. The event marking the end of summer, if you will.

It was tradition each year for the Yang twins to come sit down and eat breakfast with the Lee-Kim family on the first day of school. Sunoo's mother would slave away in the kitchen to make this delicious traditional Korean breakfast-- Which made it extra special, since Mrs. Lee-Kim rarely cooks (only when she has guests she wants to impress of course.)

Nobody in the suburban Californian neighborhood that is Lincoln Hill- really ever cooked honestly. The Yang twins parents sure didn't.. so Sunoo's house was always a good change of pace. Their house was cold and empty most of the time since their parents would rather be on work trips than at home with them. The twins would almost garunteed leave Sunoo's house with a full belly everytime they went over.. which of course was certainly more pleasant than being told to "Order takeout!" every night over the phone by their busy, Yale-graduate parents.

The pink-haired boy stood in his towel in the bathroom mirror adding the finishing touches to his hair, whilst Chaeryeong sat on the closed toilet lid, her legs crossed elegantly. Jungwon was downstairs chatting it up with Sunoo's dad of all people.

The boy claimed to be a so-called "Old soul" but honestly it was just plain out disturbing how well Sunoo's FATHER clicked better with his bestfriend than his own son. Maybe it was the basic white polos, the fact that they both wear nerdy grandpa glasses... or a combination of both? Sunoo decided not to dwell any longer on it.

He scrunched his hair once.. then twice, then went back in with the flat-iron. Chaeryeong was sure she might just roll her eyes out of her head watching him.

"Kim Sunoo how many times are you gonna re-curl that already perfect curl?"

Sunoo rolled his eyes.

"It's a process. Besides I have to look perfect.. first day impressions." He gives her a playful nudge, but all she does is groan. She looks at him again with a stern look on her face. "You look perfect everyday! just get dressed already. I'll be downstairs." Chaeryeong walks out and Sunoo sighs, taking that as a hint to hurry up.

He quickly gets dressed in the same outfit he'd been planning for months- A mesh long sleeve underneath his solid color crop top, and cargos. The boys eyes lingered on himself in the mirror, quietly nit-picking at every imperfection he had.. until his eyes landed on the silver hoops in his ear. He gasped.

Kim Sunoo was going to have to find a way to hide the ear piercings he'd impusively gotten yesterday with that buffoon- Park Sunghoon.

Sunoo groaned, his parents were going to kill him if they ever found out... he took the earrings out and put them into a tiny jewlery case so he could put them back in at school. Problem solved. As long as they didn't see the holes in his ears.. Then he won't be murdered in cold blood by an angry Korean woman he happens to call his mother.

Kim Sunoo takes a deep breath whilst examining himself in the bathroom mirror, smoothing down his clothes. "I think I'm ready." He whispered to himself. He smiled, making his way downstairs to join everybody else.

Jungwon is at the breakfast table explaining to Mr. Lee-Kim how the government is a hoax and how all celebrities are secretly lizards again. They'd usually get into random rants about conspiracy theories, this morning was no different.

"Goodmorning son" Sunoo turns around to the sound of his fathers voice and engulfs him in his usual morning hug. "Hey dad. I see you guys are at it again.. you get along so well." Sunoo says, opening the fridge and taking out a carton of orange juice then pouring directly into his mouth.

His mother winces, watching her teenage son act like a cave-man. "Didn't I tell you to stop drinking from the carton?" She playfully swats away her son, chasing him out of the kitchen. Sunoo's head flies back, choking away his laughter.

"But it's just so convenient, dear mother." He sneaks a kiss on the cheek and she simply shakes her head.

Chaeryeong is busy helping her with washing the dishes, the sound of her favorite classical artist playing on the mini speaker whilst they talked and giggled.

Mrs. Lee-Kim always considered Chaeryeong to be like the daughter she never had. Perfect grades, beautiful standard Korean daughter who even goes out of her way to buy her gifts on mothers day. Sometimes, she even out-does Sunoos gifts.. which nine times out of ten leads to a very embarrassing sit down conversation with his mother.

The Yang twins continuously make up for aspects Sunoo's lacking in.

And Sunoo... Sunoo is just Sunoo.

"Go wake that knuckleheaded brother of yours up.. It's so odd how late he's been sleeping, no?" Mrs. Lee-Kim expresses worriedly.

Sunoo knew the answer to that all to well. His sleeping habits wouldn't be out of the ordinary if only she knew what he did with his friends-- get high and party 24/7. He groans and throws a mini tantrum where he stood.

"Ughhh mom he can wake himself up, I don't want to." He crosses his arms, sitting down at the seat across from Won.

Suddenly loud footsteps came from the stairs. Speak of the devil, it was Heeseung. He seemed to be in a hurry, his hair sticking every which way and a long sleeve hoodie on in 90 degree weather. Sunoo's mother gave his father a knowing look, making him clear his throat.

"Hey son. Got an appetite this morning?"

Heeseung sat at the bottom of the staircase putting on his shoes. He silently shook his head "Nah, I'm not hungry. My ride is here so.." He stood up, grabbing his house-key off the holder, then was out the door faster than anybody could blink. The mood in the room shifted when the older had left. Heeseung never skipped first day back to school breakfast, hell- he used to call breakfast the most important part of the day. What could be so important that it made him rush out of the house so fast?

Jungwoon gave Sunoo a confused look, thinking he might know whats up with him.

Sunoo just shrugged, stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.

After a moment of silence, Mr. Lee-Kim looked up from his newspaper getting ready to be on his way to work. He gave his wife a kiss on the forehead then turned to the others. "Have a great first day kids! Don't get into any trouble.. and Kim Sunoo keep that shirt covering your belly button you hear me? I don't want any calls from the principal about disobeying dress-code this year." He lectured him, making the Yang twins and Mrs. Lee-Kim giggle.

It was true. Last year he'd gotten at least three bad marks for breaking dress-code, but he couldn't care less.

Sunoo smiles "Aye aye, captain."

"Love you, kid" Mr. Lee-Kim ruffles his hair and Sunoo jokingly gags.

"Yeah yeah- whatever old man."

If there's one thing Sunoo is grateful for, it's his parents understanding of who he is. Not once have they tried to change or control him. Even when certain family members tried to "disown" or stop talking to them because Sunoo was openly gay, they still stuck beside him and defended him through thick and thin.

When his now step-father was simply known as "Mommy's good friend, Mr. Lee" They'd play dress up everytime he'd come over. He'd let Kim Sunoo dress him in tutus and cover him in the most cakey five year old makeup because he genuinely enjoyed the time they spent together. He could give less than a shit if the boy didn't want to throw around a football like how little boys are expected too.. he'd already done all that while raising Heeseung anyway.

Kim Sunoo's biological father had never been around for long, and he'd certainly never agree to doing things like that with him.. which is why it didn't take long for Sunoo to grow accustomed to calling Mr. Lee his real father.

Even if they wanted a traditional smarty-pants son like Jungwon.. or a good Korean daughter like Chaeryoung, what they had was an absolutely perfect son they wouldn't trade for all the money in the world.

And Kim Sunoo knew that.

Mrs. Lee-Kim gave all of her babies one last hug before sending them off to school. She had begged and begged for atleast one photo before they left but the teenagers were to cool for a photo. If she couldn't embarrass them by taking photos of them on the front lawn for every neighbor to see, then she would simply just replace it by being loud and obnoxious at seven in the morning.

"LOOK OUT JUNIOR YEAR, HERE THEY COME. WOOT WOOT~~!!" She sang, doing the only dance move she knew how to do--raise the roof. The three of them glanced at each other in embarrasment. There were kids on each side of the sidewalk walking to school that had to have overheard her.

"Mom go back inside and finish watching Desperate Housewives, okay?" Sunoo pleaded with her.

She tsked, then strutted inside.

Jungwon laughed and shook his head. "Mrs. Lee-Kim is still the same." He said, tossing the car keys to his sister. Sunoo scoffed "Still super extra, you mean?"

"And you wonder where you get it from.." Jungwon uttered making his bestfriend playfully nudge him. "I call shot-gun!" Kim Sunoo races to the front even though he knows theres nothing really to race over, Yang Jungwon loves sitting in the backseat. Sunoo loves shot-gun because that means you automatically get to control the aux.

The three buckled up in Chaeryeong's car. Kim Sunoo usually carpooled with the Yang twins to school. Chaeryeong was the twin to get her license first of course. Yang Jungwon swears off learning how to drive till he's old and senile.

Her car was nowhere near "white girl jeep" territory... but more so-- "granola lesbian" territory. She drove a pretty sky-blue Ford Bronco that Kim Sunoo nicknamed Betty, after his favorite song on the Folklore album. She always breaks down when they drive her but she tries her best, so Chaeryeong is patient with her.

The sun and all of its rays blare down on the streets of Lincoln Hill. Summer is over yet the weather hadn't change a bit. At times like this Kim Sunoo was grateful he didn't have to walk to school in the morning. Nothing is worse than California heat. Chaeryeonh slips her sunglasses onto her face for a bit of extra protection, and the trio is off.

"What do you guys wanna listen too?" Sunoo says whilst carefully flipping between songs on their joint spotify playlist, the window down and air gently hitting his face. He pauses on a certain song.. the radio is playing his favorite song from the 2000s, Teenage Dirtbag. "Keep it on this Sunoo, I like this song." Jungwon says from the backseat.

Sunoo obliges, then leans his head back.. taking in all the sights. He couldn't believe it was finally the forsaken day.. after so much planning and worrying. He'd hoped and prayed all night that everybody had died down about "Hashtag BARFBOY" over the weekend, Sunoo doubted it though. Lincoln kids never forget. If it weren't for that snake Park Sunghoon, he would've been just fine.

The pink-haired boy huffs in annoyance just thinking about him.. and his stupid guitar, and his new stupid eyebrow piercing. Last night after they'd gone to the mall, all of his and Jay's instagram story was filled to the brim of the party hopping they'd done after. Kim Sunoo couldn't help but watch with envy in his eyes and a full heart, he wanted to be at parties on a school night.

Sure he'd hung out with him yesterday, but he certainly wasn't excited too see him again. The one thing he hadn't expected to do so last minute- was get weirdly affiliated with Rogue and all their little followers. He changes the topic in his brain to something more pleasant, like who his new crush will be this year aka who he'll hopelessly pine over but not make a move on ALL YEAR.

The number one thing on Sunoo's New Year, New Me list was too get a boyfriend..

But how.. and most of all, who?

"We don't have all day Kim Sunoo." A voice says, breaking the pink-haired boy out of his deep train of thought. They'd already arrived and found a parking spot. He grabs his bag and happily hops out of Betty. The air at Lincoln smells the same as last year, like teenage dreams crushed in a tiny little bottle- (which is a super motivating scent by the way.)

Swarms and swarms of students are everywhere posted outside the school sitting on outside tables, socializing and reuniting after the long break. The doors had yet too open so everybody had to wait outside. There was a supposed assembly this morning anyways, everybody had to report to the auditorium before they disperse to class.

Sunoo does a long stretch, examining all the possibilities in front of them, then pulls his friends tightly to his side. The sound of Jungwons belly rumbles nervously. "I already wanna go home." He mumbles.

Sunoo looks his now contact-eyed friend straight in his face. He'd ditched the glasses, just for the first day. Sunoo wouldn't stop complaining about how it quote on quote-- "didn't go with the baddie vibes of the outfit." So he got rid of them. "Listen to me right now. We. Got. This." He says.. and for the first time Jungwon might actually believe him.

"Okay?"

Jungwon nods. "Okay."

Sunoo pats him on the shoulder and smiles, the three walk together side by side.

On every side of the courtyard theres a clique Sunoo and the twins have memorized down to a T. Last year at lunch they'd gotten so bored they started giving them nicknames. There was the jocks- aka the pit, since at lunch they're designated spot is ALWAYS the conversation pit in the middle of the lunchroom.. also because they smell like dirty gym socks and bodybuilder armpits.

High school boys are yet to be acquainted with the wonders of deodorant, Sunoo figured.

Sunoo could feel more and more eyes on them. Usually he'd get a lot of stares- He didn't look like society's standards of "normal" after all, but these stares didn't feel like those stares. It was different. Everywhere he turned he could hear "Fairy-boy Kim Sunoo.." or "Barf boy.." His stomach churned, this was a nightmare.

Only people with social status are allowed to be talked about, not him! Kim Sunoo was a nobody. Last year he was treated like the gum underneath somebody's shoe. Forever invisible. He brushed it off, keeping his head high and pushing on. Besides if people were talking about him, that simply meant he was a hot topic.

Sunoo spotted all of his old thespian friends sitting at a table as he walked past and thought it'd be rude not to wave- but when he made eye contact all he got back was a grimace. He furrowed his eyebrows, why were the theatre kids of all people being bitchy to him? Sure he had sort of "changed" over the summer.. and ghosted the thespian groupchat.. and called the lead girl in last years play a quote on quote--"Ugly, prickly bitch" But all of that was justified!

Besideees that homophobic, slimey, disgusting little tone deaf girl Terri Thompson seriously did not deserve the role.. but because her daddy owns the school or whatever she got it. She's one of the only pasty white girls that go to Lincoln. Whoever gave her the role of Annie that year should've been escorted away to prison.. she could never hit the notes in "Tomorrow" and everybody in that club knew it.

By some work of god the three of them get a table all to themselves in the corner. The table next to them turn to gossip with each other after catching a look at the three of them. "Is that Kim Sunoo? Like- eighth grade Kim Sunoo? Can you believe he got into Yeonjuns party friday night? Last time I checked him and Yeonjun weren't friends.. and throwing up on THE Park Sunghoons shoes.. yikes." She whispered, and all of her minions giggled.

Sunoo’s face burned, but before he could respond, Jungwon spun around.

“Learn how to whisper before you talk shit, Yuna. Nice nose job, by the way. What was your nickname back in eighth grade? Yucky Nose Yuna, right?”
Yuna gasped, covering her nose as her friends scrambled to comfort her.

Sunoo was stunned—then burst out laughing.

"What! I- I do not remember that.. my nose is real! Right guys..?!" Sunoo watched as her minions came to her aid, patting her on the back like a baby and giving her meaningless little compliments to fuel her insecurity. He giggled as they all ran away in to the restroom probably to talk more shit.

"Thanks Won, that was badass!" Sunoo engulfs his friend in a hug and Jungwon flushes red in the face from the sudden praise.

He shrugs "You would've done the same for me."

"That's right. I would've."

After some time Jungwon pulls out his schedule and lays it on the table. "Who do you guys have first period?" He says. Kim Sunoo examines his bestfriends schedule carefully.

They shared absolutely zero classes since he decided to ditch him and take fancy advanced classes this year for smart kids.

Curse you, Yang Jungwon.

"I have PE with Creepy Coach Jenkins, great." Sunoo complained. Before he even got to finish the day he'd sweat out his hair and his makeup. Chaeryoung brought out her schedule and it was the exact same situation with Jungwon, no classes together. How would he survive if he had no friends in his classes?

Sunoo felt his phone ding against his leg. He went too go unlock it. It was a notification from Instagram, somebody had DMed him. "I see you" from none other than Park Sunghoon, or as he likes to call him-- the devil reincarnated in teen boy form. Kim Sunoo frantically searches his surroundings but he doesn't find anything. Suspicious. He looks back down at his phone, Sunghoon is typing.

"Come on you're a smart boy. Use that head of yours, princess."

Sunoo groaned. The raven-haired boy must've thought he was sooo funny.

"Stop watching me sicko." He sent back. When he looked back up from his phone, he was immediately met with the same intense eyes from the night of the concert. From across the courtyard, there he stood in the parking lot. He had his hands in his pockets and a smirk playing on his lips. The rest of Rogue plus a few other popular kids like Yeonjun surrounded him.

Sunoo had soon figured out where Heeseung had ran off to, his eyes falling onto his sneaky older brother.

He was leaning against a car chatting it up with the band, obviously high out of his mind. Sunoo laughed in disbelief and shook his head. "Look who showed up to school." He says making the twins furrow their eyebrows, looking into the direction of Heeseung. His brother must've left early to go get doped up in an empty parking lot before school, classic.

They sat on top of cars, perched like predators scoping out their prey before going in for the kill. A group of girls stood before them, starry-eyed as if their attention was worth more than anything in the entire world. They were all dressed in designer from head to toe. Those type of girls were the girls that got invited to their gigs, the groupies. The ones that worshipped them.

Rogue basically was the face of Lincoln. There'd been hundreds of groupies that switched schools just for the band.

Last year Sunoo had known of their existence, but he was too busy doing everything else to care. He couldn't believe he'd accidentally somehow gotten mixed into their group. Before long Sunghoon was back to conversating with his bone-headed friends, and Sunoo could breathe again.

He examined them from afar with his arms crossed. He'd noticed Sunghoons hair was a little more dishelved than usual today, and his image a bit more relaxed. His smile was wide. He'd been talking with one of his band members, a seemingly humorous conversation. Shades of fuschia and yellow danced across the sky as the sun began to finally finish rising for the day, an almost halo-like light forming around the delinquents head.

He was gorgeous.

Sunoo had never noticed how his skin practically dazzled in the sun, his tan more prominent than ever. Sunoo's mother always said: "A prosperous man will have a tan to prove it. always marry wealthy, son." Although Park Sunghoon may not be the best example.. Sunoo giggled at the thought of it. Park Sunghoon, his older brothers friend wealthy and prosperous? nah.

He was an annoying little cretin of a human being but..

It sure didn't hurt to look.

Yang Jungwon peaked up from the schedule he was reading and at his bestfriend basically drooling all over himself. He scoffed.

"I sense some serious thirst right now." he says teasingly and Sunoo immediately straightens up. He laughs awkwardly "Who, me? Oh god no.. no thirst detected over here partner!" Jungwon gives him an unusual look, yet returns back to reading the schedule.

Being caught gawking at somebody he couldn't stand surely had to be a wake-up call, because the bell had finally rung.

BRRR-INGG

"All students report to the gym! Welcome back Lincoln Lions, lets have a good year."

Chapter Text

The three make their way through the crowded halls of Lincoln High, desperately following the crowd of students to find the gym. If there's one thing Sunoo certainly didn't miss- it's the feeling of sweaty bodies all clumped up under one roof. The hallways are always dangerously rambunctious for reasons Sunoo has no idea. It was seven in the morning after all, nobody should have this much energy yet here they are.

Two meatheads were rough-housing, throwing a football back and forth.. those meatheads unsurprisingly being Jake Sim and Jay Park of Rogue. "Go long, Sim!" Jay held the ball in his hand, his friend running down the opposite side of the hallway. Out the corner of his eye Jungwon could see the ball accidentally fumble out of his hand, hurtling towards him-- and smacked it before it could knock the ever living shit out of him.

It rolled at his feet.

A black eye before class wouldn't look too good honestly.

Yang Jungwon was practically burning holes into both of their heads. Jake immediately laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck waiting to be chewed out.

"Oh shit.. my bad, are you alright?" Jay swooped in suavely to save the day. Jungwon truly was thinking about ending their lives right then and there, until he realized who it was who threw the ball. Sunoo watched his best friend hesitate. "I- I'm okay" He uttered, his eyes making prolonged eye contact with the boy in front of him by accident. Jay grinned awkwardly "It's Jungwon, right? Last weekend was cool."

Jungwon didn't know what to say. This was his first proper conversation with him, the whole time at the mall he'd just ignored him out of fear. "Yeah it- it was.. cool." He laughed, playing with the zipper of his jacket anxiously. An awkward silence hung in the air, until Jay cleared his throat. This was entirely too hard for Sunoo and Chaeryoung to watch, the two stood in the background hiding their disapproval.

"Could you hand me that ball?"

Jungwon had to let the boys request marinate in his head. This whole time he'd been standing there twiddling his thumbs like an idiot- IN SILENCE, while Jay was probably waiting for him to reach down and give him the ball so he could leave.

"Oh- yeah, for sure.. hah." He bent down and got the ball, placing it in the boys hands.

"Catch you later, Won." The delinquent smiled at him, before walking into the gym. Jungwon was on the verge of fainting from that five second human interaction with a male.

He'd even shortened his name to "Won." Only people he's close with have ever given him a nickname. Sunoo placed his hand on the boys shoulder to bring him back to earth. "Who's the thirsty one now?" He giggled and Jungwon swatted him away, his cheeks full and red.

As the dork holy trinity arrived at the gym, students filled the bleachers excitedly, chatter filling the air. The three held their bookbags tight to them, the realization that summer was really over slowly, but surely seeping in. Teachers and staff were all standing around and greeting students, waiting for the assembly to start.

"Let's get a seat before it's too late!" Sunoo grabbed his two friends by the wrist and took off. The pink-haired boy eyed the empty seats up a few steps, but above the seats sat almost all of the rogue members perched like lions. Sunoo groaned, his face draining of color, immediately losing all the joy he had about five seconds ago. His #1 goal today soon became clear, and it was to avoid Park Sunghoon and his goons at all cost.

He turned around getting ready to search for new seats, but was met with the back of another. "Welcome back to my channel Niki-fam! How was your summer? It's finally the first day of school and-" That voice sounded all too familiar.

Sunoo backed away a bit to get a good look. It was the guy who saved him and the twins asses the other night at Yeonjun's party. He had a skateboard tucked underneath his arm and a girl toting around a humongous camera following him. Her hair was in two low pigtails and she looked absolutely done with life, scowling at the blond in front of her.

"Could you get on with it Ni-ki..?" She rolls her eyes. Ni-ki ignores her. "Today we're here with--" The tall boy motions to his side and there stands the three of them more than confused. Sunoo waves silently. The blonds shoulders droop in disappointment. "Ugh, Yoon cut the cameras!! Where the hell did that little pest Huening Kai go.. He said I could interview him this time in exchange for my tater tots at lunch." He says, obviously annoyed.

Yoon shakes her head whilst flipping through the footage she'd captured, then looks up at the three in surprise. She'd recognized them. "Heyy! I remember you three from the other night~ Heeseungs little bro, right?" The girl known as Yoon flashes a wide smile to the three in front of her.

To be completely honest, Sunoo hadn't recognized her until she said something. It must be the pigtails. The other night she'd looked super mature in the party-like setting, she was the one serving drinks after all. So mature that Sunoo assumed she was an adult that he'd never have to see again.. funny that here she was in front of them now, in the flesh. Ni-ki stood skeptically with his arms crossed behind her. He seemed irked by their sudden presence.

"Yep, that's me. So uh.. what exactly are you guys doing?" Sunoo pointed to the camera she had in her hands. He truly was curious. Yoon shut her eyes tight, breathing in and then out, agitated. If Sunoo knew it was a sensitive topic for her he wouldn't have asked.

"This absolute imbecile and I are the president and treasurer of the school's film club. We have to film stuff for the school social media pages." She explains. Sunoo makes an 'Ohh' noise in response.

Looking at the two of them next to each other it started to make a bit more sense. They looked like the type to be apart of film club, they were even matching, as if they were a couple. Yoon wore a tie tucked into her sweater vest and a black skirt, whilst Ni-ki wore his tie messy and his white shirt unbuttoned. Even the night of Yeonjuns party they seemed awfully close. Yoon was the only one who could explain Ni-ki's actions as to why he had helped them. And with the way Ni-ki was scowling at them right now.. Sunoo was curious.

"So.. how long have you two been together?"

Yoon paused in place then looked at Ni-ki.. then back at Sunoo. The two of them burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter and Sunoo felt a warmth spread to his cheeks.. what was so funny about what he'd said?

"BAHAHAH YOU THINK WE'RE
DATING? Gross!" She gagged.

"Oh! It's just- I thought- Since you were matching-" Yoon shushed him before he could get his next thought out. "Me and Ni-ki are strictly business partners and mortal enemies. Film club president and treasurer have to wear a uniform on the first day so.."

"I'd never date a toad like her" Ni-ki chimed into the conversation. Yoon stuck her tongue out at him then turned back to the dork holy trinity, her eyes lingering on each one of them.

"You three sure are cute.. you have so much to learn." The girl scrunched her nose whilst she affectionately pinched Jungwon on the cheek, then sighed and walked up the bleachers. Jungwon stood puzzled. Ni-ki gagged, putting his fingers together in the shape of a mouth to mock the girl. "She's super weird, right?" he says.

With no response he turns back to the group of three. "Well.. what are you all waiting for, let's go sit." The dork holy trinitt all stood around awkwardly like sims characters. Sunoo looked at the twins and shrugged, he was just as confused as they were but followed behind the two nonetheless. They had a sort of carefree and relaxed energy that made Sunoo feel like he'd been friends with them forever. They were cool.

As the group walked up the bleachers Yoon and Ni-ki would get people trying to chat it up with them left and right. Little "Yooo Ni-ki, we've gotta link soon's" and "Yoon-bug! How's it going's!" Here and there. It felt like they were being held under a spotlight walking so close with the likes of somebody as popular as Yoon.

The three of them joined Yoon and Ni-ki and took a seat in the middle of the bleachers. Sunoo had done all that work avoiding being near Rogue just to be sat smack dab in front of them. About three seats above them is where they sat. Whenever Sunoo would look back he was met with Sunghoons annoying face. It really wasn't ideal.

It was five minutes until the assembly and within those minutes the group got to know each other. Sunoo soon learned Ni-ki was a year younger than him, a sophomore. Sunoo cringed at the thought. How could somebody much cooler than him be younger than him?

Sunoo looked up to where Yoon stood. She had her arms crossed, talking with the girl who'd flirted with Chaeryoung the other night, Ryujin. Rogues lead singer. After a second or two she came back giddily and sat down next to Sunoo. Sunoo let curiosity take over again.

"So do you like.. work for rogue?" he questioned. Yoon slightly perked up. Sunoo was very interested in all the little side quests the girl had. She was in the film club, and bartends for Rogue? The girl was all over the place. "Something like that. My older brother- Jay, is their drummer so I sort of grew up around all of his friends. I'm their manager! They pay me to promote them on social media and book all their gigs so.. I'm kind of important." Yoon explained.

Sunoo couldn't imagine growing up in such a wild space like that. A life filled with music and delinquents like Park Sunghoon. He'd go utterly insane.

"How are they? Rogue.. I mean."

Yoon carefully hummed, deep in thought. "Well.. just imagine a really dysfunctional family. They're incredibly talented but super disorganized-- If they didn't have me, who knows where they'd be right now!" The girl exclaimed. She seemed super passionate about working for Rogue.

An unsure frown slowly creeped onto her face. "Why the sudden interest in Rogue hmm? Don't tell me you have a crush on my brother-"

Sunoo shook his head flusteredly. Yoon must've gotten the wrong idea from his constant questions. "No! I was just curious.." Yoon looked him directly in the eye trying to figure out if he was lying, but gave up. Usually she could tell, and Sunoo didn't seem to be a liar. "Good. My brother is a horrible guy to catch feelings for.. However– I'm a Sunghoon girl all day, every day."

Ni-ki audibly rolled his eyes. "Please don't let her get started. The amount of conversations I've had to sit through of her thirsting is irreversible trauma that will always scar me. The phrase 'Washboard abs' is ingrained into my memory like branding a cow." Yoon scowled at Ni-ki, then turned back to Sunoo.

"You can't lie. Park Sunghoon is undeniably the sexiest man to ever walk this planet."

Sunoo choked on what seemed to be air.

The girl almost had less of a filter than he did! And that said a lot. "I wouldn't give him that much credit.." He mumbled to himself.

The pink-haired boy didn't know how and why he'd been let in on hearing this conversation. Usually people you are just now getting to know don't tell you who they think is the quote on quote– "Sexiest man to ever walk this planet", but he'd soon accepted Yoon and Ni-ki were the over sharing type. He sure was sick of hearing Sunghoons name though.

Yoons eyes darted over to where Rogue sat, and fell onto Sunghoon. The rest of them followed her gaze.

He was arm wrestling with Jake, the rest of Rogue surrounding them and chanting. Sunoo scoffed, so childish.. He'd thought. Sunoo didn't know why, but he kept on watching even after everyone had moved on. Jake's arm gave out and collapsed, Sunghoon had won. They all broke out into cheer and laughter, Sunoo had never seen such a barbaric celebration before. Before he could turn his nosey ass back around- he locked eyes with the raven-haired from where he sat.

Sunoos' breath hitched. He quickly acted like he was looking somewhere else and turned around.. His heart was pounding within his chest. He could still feel the guitarist's eyes boring into the back of his head. He was gonna have to keep this avoiding act up all day, how annoying.

Yoon hummed to herself. "He's insane though, so I'll pass for now. Who's your favorite in Rogue~? And don't say you don't have one- everybody has one!" Yoons question caught Sunoos attention and brought him back to reality. Sunoo wondered what she had meant by him being insane? Well yeah.. He's a complete asshole, but off his rocker? Sort of plausible.

Sunoo shrugged "I don't know anything about Rogue"

Yoon gasped. "You've gone to Lincoln longer than I can remember but don't know a thing about Rogue? Oh boy." Sunoo could only shrug. He'd always preferred to stay in him and the twins little bubble the last few years.. Had he really missed this much of the outside world?

"What about you guys? Who's your favorite?" She said excitedly looking in the twins direction. They shook their heads, they had nothing.

Yoons shoulders drooped. "Damn.. I've gotta get you all into Rogue now! For what it's worth, I think you should be Jake stans. He's the only healthy one out of all of them.. Relationship wise."

Before the dork holy trinity could let that last sentence of hers marinate– the assembly had started.

--------------------------------------------

After the assembly, the students of Lincoln High were all assigned a locker number and code. Sunoo had a locker alllll~ the way across campus away from both of the twins, so they were going to have to split up. It ached Sunoo to have to send his besties off so soon. He knew Chaeryoung was going to be fine, she's a tougher cookie than her twin.. It was just Won he was truly worried about.

He stood before him and set his hands on his shoulders. The two of them were in the mens bathroom, stalling time. Usually in a school day they'd have five minutes in between classes, but it was the first day so they had ten to get acquainted faster.

"Are you breathing okay Wonie?" Sunoo asked worriedly. Jungwon swatted the boy's arms away. "Yes, I'm fine.. Don't worry about me, shoo." He slightly nudged Sunoo to the door, and the pink-haired boy gave him the guiltiest look ever.

"Are you sure? You got your inhaler, medicine, calculator–"

Jungwon slapped his hand over his best friend's mouth, knowing that was the only way to get him to fully shut up. "And water bottle.. Yes I have it all. Now go find your locker, I've got this." He reassured him.. And Sunoo looked at him with all the adoration in the world. "Okay~ Mr. I Got My Shit Together, I like this era, it looks good on you Won." He smiled. Jungwon flushed a bright red. Sunoo pulled the boy in for one last tight squeezing hug. "Meet you here during lunch?"

"Yep." Jungwon responded.

The two parted their ways and Sunoo was sent out into the sea of very hungry sharks. Posted on each side of the hallway existed the mind-fuckery that is cliques at Lincoln High. Everything was new, loud and exciting. The east wing had even been renovated over the summer and the floors were shinier thanks to the janitor. Sunoo looked down at the piece of paper he'd been given with his locker number on it. Number #18 , all the way at the end of the hall.. Lucky him.

He looked back up to what looked to be Park Sunghoon and Kang Taehyun chatting right across from his locker, just great. Sunoo sighed, preparing himself to walk down the crowded hallway. He began to walk, hoping and praying the delinquent wouldn't notice him but he knew the chances were slim. He'd made it. The locker was spacious, with a mirror on the back of the door. Sunoo was certainly gonna turn it into his home away from home.

Across from him stood Taehyun telling Sunghoon a very cinematic story. "Then I looked at him and I said– dude.. Are you even listening to me?" He said frustratedly. Sunghoon had been listening– about five seconds ago, but what had held his full attention as of right now was the pink-haired boy not even sparing him so much as a glance even though he was only standing a few feet away from him.

"Uhuh, I'll catch you later man." Taehyun tsked, but said his goodbyes regardless.

Sunghoon creeped up behind the boy, and shut the locker door on him. Sunoo looked up at him with pure venom pouring out his eyes. The taller one grinned.

"Hey princess, Long time no see."

Sunoo wasted no time or words, he collected his things and walked off, Sunghoon following behind him like an annoying little fruit fly. "What you can't speak now? You know you're really hurting my feelings.. Avoiding me and all." Sunghoon shoved his hands in his jacket as they walked side by side. Sunoo stopped in his tracks, then pulled the older to the side.

"Unless this is about the person who uploaded those videos, you can piss right off, Park."

The corners of Sunghoons mouth curled into a cattish grin. "Feisty today aren't we.."

"Don't worry, I've got our lead suspect." He reassured the boy standing in front of him, and Sunoo could only roll his eyes. "You better, or else there'll be some serious problems." The pink-haired boy turned around to walk into the gym, and surprisingly Sunghoon still followed him in.. which was odd. You'd think he'd get the hint after "piss right off."

Sunoo crossed his arms. "You can stop making my life difficult now, don't you have something better to do than following me to my homeroom?"

Sunghoon furrowed his eyebrows, then it dawned on him. He smirked "Looks like we'll be first period buddies because this is also my homeroom.. Not just yours short-stack." The older teased, running off to go play basketball with the others.. Leaving a frozen in place Sunoo to contemplate his life decisions.

He refused to register what was just said to him. Park Sunghoon?? And him?? In the same class.. No no no, absolutely not. It was bad enough he had to see his face everyday at school.. But now everyday in GYM CLASS? Hell no. Having to do P.E. was embarrassing enough, but having to do it with Sunghoons lingering presence was just pure torture.

He depressingly sat on the bleachers. There was five minutes of free time before class officially began and everybody was mingling but him. Sunoo examined the people in his class. Nobody that he knew– (except for Park) was in this class. Not to mention the lack of the female gender was kind of scary. It was practically all boys, only two girls were in the class. He huffed, his first day already off to a horrible start. After a while, Coach Jenkins came and lined everybody up.

Sunoo generally wasn't super athletic so he was definitely in for a surprise with this class. The coach introduced herself and did the whole spiel about how she demanded respect and if you didn't respect her– to the principal's office you go. Sunoo knew Coach Jenkins from last year since she'd always dress-code him because she's a bitter old lady. She truly was obsessed with catching Sunoo last year, which is what earned her her nickname.. "Creepy Coach Jenkins."

"You don't have to change since it's only the first day, but it will be mandatory starting tomorrow. Today we'll be practicing safely warming-up and stretching, so pair up shrimps." She blew her whistle and everybody dispersed, looking to group up with their partners. Sunoo stood awkwardly to the side, rubbing his arm. He watched from afar as Sunghoon had two people literally BEGGING to partner up with him– that really tall kid Mingi and an eager looking smaller boy, Felix.

"Sorry guys, I've got a partner already." He stated and the two backed off. Sunoo wondered who his partner was, and before he knew it the boy was walking over to him.

"You're with me." He flat out said, attaching his hand to the boy's wrist. Sunoo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What? No."

He yanked his hand out of Sunghoons grip. Sunghoon looked at him, almost annoyed. He exhaled "I'm doing you a favor. Would you rather me, or Cody over there who picks his boogers? Because if you don't get chosen Coach Jenkins puts you with a rando." Sunoo couldn't argue with that and he hated the fact that he couldn't. He didn't say anything, just crossed his arms.

"Come on." Sunghoon walked off and Sunoo followed close behind him.

The two found an empty spot near the back, and stopped there.

Sunoo was pretty lost with this whole exercising thing. "So when she says stretching.. Does she mean like yoga-? Or.."

The raven-haired scoffed "No princess, not yoga. Have you never taken a P.E. class before?" Sunoo didn't say anything, because it was true.. He avoided physical education at all costs. "No Park, the princess has never lifted a finger in his life apparently..." Sunoo mumbled and Sunghoon gave him an odd look.

"Didn't mean it like that." He said. Was that supposed to be his version of an apology?

Sunoo nodded.

"I know what you meant."

Sunghoon cleared his throat, also clearing the tension in the air at the same time. "I'll stretch you out first, then we'll switch alright?" He said. Sunoo didn't know how to feel about this whole partner stretching thing.. Especially not with Park Sunghoon as his partner. "Take it away, Park." the pink-haired boy sat down on the floor.

The first part of the routine was simple enough. Sunghoon simply had to hold the boy's feet down as he completed ten sit-ups. "So.. how's your piercings healing?" Sunghoon asked, filing the awkward silence between them. Sunoo had completely forgotten about his piercings. "Fine, you?"

"It still sort of stings." He said, referring to his eyebrow piercing. Mid sit-up-- Sunoos eyes drifted to the boy's piercing. It looked perfect up there honestly, his hair was sticking to his forehead.. Still semi-sweaty from playing basketball earlier. Sunoo swallowed, his throat a bit dry. His mind went back to earlier today.. Yoon claiming the boy at his legs was the "Sexiest man to ever walk this planet." She wasn't half wrong.

Sunoo shook his head, what was he thinking! He needed to get his head out of the gutter and focus.

"You've done ten already, Sunoo. Something wrong?"

Sunoo sat up, clearly flustered in the face. He wiped his face with his forearm. "I'm fine.. Let's just do the next thing." He muttered.

The next stretch was where simplicity was completely thrown out the front door. Touch.. Sunoo felt unnervingly aware of every accidental brush of skin. In past occasions whenever he'd touch him he'd feel weird after, it was a nauseating feeling.. And in this stretch, touching was most definitely required.

"Ugh that one looks complicated.. I'm not doing that, show me the next one."

Sunghoon clenched his jaw. "I'm afraid that's not how it works. You've gotta do each one for a grade, Coach Jenkins is watching us." He pointed to the woman behind them with her arms crossed in disapproval. Sunoo groaned, Coach Jenkins for sure hated his guts so he knew she wouldn't hesitate in giving him an F.

"Fine." He agreed to it despite his prior complaints.

Sunghoon rasied an eyebrow, he really didn't think the boy would give in so quickly. "Well alright.. I'm going to touch your leg, Just letting you know.. in case it's a huge deal for you-" The boy teased, but soon regretted it as Sunoo kicked him in the side. The boy winced, clutching his stomach.

"You're a real dick, Park Sunghoon." He sat up, his face feeling hotter usual.

Sunghoon couldn't contain his laughter, Sunoo on the other hand hadn't found it all that funny though.

"Okay for real now, I'm sorry Princess." Sunoo looked at him, searching for any ounce of sincereity.. he sighed. Those reassuring words almost made him melt.. and Sunoo never melted. He felt himself slowly but surely ease into the older boys' touch. He was surprisingly.. Gentle? He was treating him as if he were porcelain glass, too scared to really touch him or else he'd shatter.

His hands were that of what you'd imagine a guitar player to be, rough and calloused. You can't just wake up with hands like that by just playing guitar though.. Sunghoon had to have been through something to age his pale hands. Sunoo erased that thought away quickly. Who cared how the delinquents hands got to be so rough, no need to get closer than they already were.

Sunoo remembered what he really needed to know.

"Earlier you said you'd found a lead right?"

Sunghoons face contorted in thought. "Well.. I have two suspects actually."

The pink-haired boy sat up. "What? You said you had a clear idea of who it might be.. Can't you narrow it down or something?" He questioned.

"That's where I'll need your help short-stack."

Sunoo raised an eyebrow in interest, his help?

"My first suspect is Choi Chanhee, president of the fashion club."

Sunoo listened attentively. He was familiar with Choi Chanhee, one of the second other flamboyantly gay guys at Lincoln besides him. Chanhee doesn't like him for whatever reason.. Maybe it's because the first time they spoke Sunoo called his hand-made scarf "Bomb dot com" which made fashion guru Choi Chanhee audibly cringe.

"Although I have a sneaking suspicion it was him- I can't back it up because he wasn't there the night of the party. He's just known for telling most of the gossip around school so I wouldn't be surprised if you were his next tea victim." Sunghoon explained.

"The second suspect is Shin Yuna. She was there the night of the party, and she was a part of the crowd circling the VIP room when you threw up. I don't know what her intentions would be but generally speaking.. Yuna is not known for having good morals."

"Hm, I think it could be Yuna."

He sighed "Alright, I'll take care of it.. You have my word."

Sunghoon got up, dusting himself off before offering Sunoo a hand. Sunoo stared at it for a moment, debating, then finally gave in and took it.
He didn’t expect to be yanked so hard. Sunghoon underestimated his own strength, pulling Sunoo up—and straight into his chest. The impact sent a soft thud through both of them. For a second, neither moved.

Sunghoon froze, eyes lingering a little too long. He had to tilt his head down a full two inches to meet Sunoo’s startled gaze.

Sunoo’s breath hitched. First, it had been touching for a grade. Now it was… something else. This was unnecessary, unassigned, and dangerously close. The gym was huge, yet somehow they’d managed to exist within the same breath of air. If anyone saw them practically pressed together—

Panic took over. Sunoo shoved at Sunghoon’s chest, putting as much distance between them as possible.
“Are you alright?” Sunghoon asked, reaching out to steady him.

Sunoo flinched away. “Be more careful, would you?” he muttered, voice sharp with embarrassment.
Sunghoon raised his hands in mock surrender, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

“Water break,” Sunoo blurted, already backing away. “I need— I need water.”

And before Sunghoon could say a word, he was gone, sneakers squeaking across the gym floor as if running could erase the heat still clinging to his skin.

------------------

Sunoo stood at his locker, aggressively reapplying his mascara he had sweat off during gym. To say that he was ticked off was an understatement. If it was gonna be like this every morning he'd rather just get it over with and kill himself now. Sunoo inhaled then exhaled.. he thought to himself, what would happen if he just shut this locker door on his head fifty times? He brushed that thought away. He decided he'd live to see tomorrow, but he couldn't garuntee it.

He slung his bag around his shoulder and turned the corner, where he was met with what looked to be his bestfriend bending down to pick up some papers he'd dropped. It was like him to be all over the place. Sunoo tsked, going to go lend a hand to his clumsy four-eyed friend-- but immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Let me help you." It was Jay.

Sunoo slightly peered his head over the corner watching them in interest, he giggled. It was like watching a kdrama.

Jay gathered up most of the papers the boy had dropped and neatly put them in a pile, then returned them to their rightful owner. Jungwon frantically searched for the right words to say. "Thank you." he said, looking down.. to afraid to catch the older eyes.

Jay nodded, then walked off.

Sunoo made sure the other boy was gone before rushing over and tackling Jungwon in a bear hug. "Wonie~ You're so bad! Flirting at school I see." The pink-haired boy wriggled his eyebrows and Jungwon shook his head. "That was not flirting.. that was torture." the two began to walk side by side, into the cafeteria.

It was lunch-time and Sunoo could feel his stomach rumbling. The two got a place in line and stood. "Don't lie, that was a whole scene out of a kdrama! You've got it bad." He teased and Jungwon said nothing. Usually he just let his delusional bestfriend go on and on.. but something inside of him was unsure. The line was going by fast, Jungwon never ate school food. He'd just wait in line with Sunoo so the boy wouldn't feel lonely.

"He probably just helped me because he felt obligated to because of this morning. Wasn't flirting.." It almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. Sunoo gave him a disappointed look. "Whatever, you'll see." The boy grabbed his tray and the two found a secluded table in the back.

Sooner than later Chaeryoung joins them. Her hair was frizzy and all over the place, she's not the only one who had an eventful day so far. She sat down and opened her bento without saying a word. Sunoo looked at Jungwon, then shook his head.

Sunoo clears his throat to tell the two his awful first day experience. Normally, Sunoo would be the one talking and talking during lunch.. the twins just listened. He explained the Sunghoon drama.. Creepy Coach Jenkins-- just about everything.. and the two seemed unimpressed.

"Just be thankful you don't have AP calculus. I'm starting to fear numbers." Chaeryoung shivered

Sunoo looked ahead of him. Rogue was sitting in the pit today instead of the usual Jocks, which was out of the norm. His eyes scanned the group, until they landed on a certain pair. Yoon and him locked eyes from across the cafeteria. The girls face lit up, she waved. The two of them were making their way over there. Sunoo braced for chaos.

"Whats crack-a-lacking gang?" The two wasted no time making themselves at home and scooted into the seats. Sunoo peered over their shoulders and looked back at Rogue. "Are you sure they're okay with you two over here with us? Don't they have a "No Nerds Policy" or something.." Sunoo questioned but Yoon simply rolled her eyes.

"They don't police me around, I police them." She said and Sunoo laughed.

Yoon got to interrogating the twins about their first day as Ni-ki stood closely behind her, still with that same skeptical look on his face. He sure was protective of Yoon, like a tiny chihuahua loyal to its owner. The girl was telling a pretty interesting story, but Sunoo couldn't help but wander back over to the pit where Rogue and some other unfamiliar faces sat. Heeseung was there as well.. but Sunoo usually didn't interact with his brother at school, and besides.. they weren't on the best of terms right now anyway.

They looked to be playing a card game. Park Sunghoon had his arm wrapped around some starstruck girl.. gross. He was going to have to bleach his eyes after that sight, so he quickly diverted them to the boy next to the delinquent.

Na Jaemin.

Lincoln High Schools theatre technician, aka Sunoo's first crush in the 7th grade. When he first joined drama club, he'd admired the older boy so much.. and admiration at the time turned into a big fat obsession. He'd write in his journal about him, talk about him nonstop.. he was convinced he was gonna marry the upperclassman.

Sunghoon quickly caught notice of Sunoos gaze. At first- he cockily assumed it was him he was so fixated with, and smirked, but looked to his side.. and it was Jakes weird friend- Na Jaemin. What was Sunoo staring at him for?

Even after five years he still had this aura about him that made Sunoo attracted to him in the first place.. not to mention within those four years he'd seriously buffed up. Moving theatre stage equipment can do a lot to a boy.

"Damn.." Sunoo thought he had said that in a whisper-like tone, but the whole table turned to look at him. He blinked. Sunoo immediately straightened up, he'd been caught. Jungwon rolled his eyes. "Close your mouth, you're drooling.. who's the victim now?" his friends looked in the direction he'd been so infatuated with.

"Well would you look at that.. noo's 7th grade wet dream, McSteam Boat Na Jaemin."

Sunoo jabbed his bestfriend with his elbow, Jungwon put his hands up defensively.

"HIM.. YOU LIKED HIM?" Yoon was genuinely shocked.

Sunoo sighed, "Back in middle school he was the drama clubs heart throb okay! He was like.. our very own James Dean-- If you were there back then you'd understand.." He swooned whilst looking at the boy from afar, his head in his hands. Yoon shook her head. "He's cute but.. a bit too prince-like."

Weirdly enough.. it almost looked like he was walking towards them. Sunoo shot straight up. "Oh my god, he's coming over here-- Everyone be cool!" He grabbed onto Jungwons shoulder in a panic. "Act like we're talking about something interesting!" Sunoo shook his best friend, Jungwon was so over him.

Before he knew it, Na Jaemin was standing at their table, a friendly smile on his face. "Fairy-boy Kim Sunoo! Are you trying out for this years play?" He questioned. Sunoo felt the cogs turn in his head. He really was set on leaving his theatre days behind him.. so this question had taken him aback.

"M-Me?" he said, pointing to himself.

Jaemin laughed, although Sunoo wasn't quite sure what he had said that had been funny. "Yes you! you're like a legend in lincoln theatre history. The freshman are really looking forward too seeing you from all the stories I tell them about middle school year. I'm graduating this year so I just wanted to make this one last theatre production extra special for them."

Sunoo felt a warmth spread across his cheeks, all these compliments were going to make him explode. Who had any idea he was such a big deal in drama club? And that his middle school crush still remembered him. He was like a shining knight standing above him, and he really did shimmer in the old, crusty cafeteria lighting. Na Jaemin was like the sun, and Sunoo wanted to be a star in his orbit.

Sunoo snapped himself out of the trance Jaemin had put him in, remembering he still had to come up with a response. "Ah well.. I'm getting a bit old for theatre no? What's the production this year anyway.." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Romeo and Juliette! Me, Ms. Winifred and another senior are doing the casting. You should really audition, we need more talent like you on the crew." He winked and Sunoo felt his soul leave his body. With that, jaemin gives him one last smile and waltz off. Jungwon and Chaer immediately look at him and squeal.

The school year was finally starting to look up for Kim Sunoo.

-------------------

It was 7 PM and Sunoo was wrapped tight and snug in his hello kitty pajamas. He was at his work desk, Jungwon on skype with him, the two finishing up some homework together. His bedroom window was wide open so he could see all the streetlights illuminating his neighborhood.

Today had been more than eventful and all Sunoo wanted was to lie down. Jungwon had been quiet for the past fifteen minutes, Sunoo assumed he was focused on ACTUALLY completing his work instead of complaining and procrastinating about it like himself.

Sunoo grabbed the nearest sticky note and began to doodle. "Do you think Na Jaemin uses citrus scented shampoo.. or strawberry?" He mumbled. Sunoo could feel Jungwons eye-roll through the phone.

"I think.. you're crazy."

Sunoo groaned at the boys response, leaning back in his office chair. "Crazy in love!" He brang the plushie sitting on his desk to his chest and squeezed it tight, invisioning it to be Jaemin as he squealed.

A knock sounded sounded from Sunoos door, it was his mother. "Goodnight my sweet kids! Dont stay up too late, you'll get eyebags." She waved into the camera at Jungwon, then placed a kiss on Sunoos forehead. "Goodnight Mrs. Lee-Kim!" Jungwon waved back.

As soon as she left, Sunoo felt his pajama pants pocket vibrate. It was his phone. Of course, he'd gotten a new DM on instagram from none other than Park Sunghoon.

"Meet me at your neighborhoods playground. It's urgent."

Sunoo scoffed. Why should he meet the boy at the park? That didn't concern him. He simply texted back.. "No" and hit send.

"Ig you don't want that video deleted as much as I thought you did."

The pink-haired boy could feel his blood boiling. Why was the older making him venture outside late-- ON A SCHOOL NIGHT. He didn't waste his time responding this time, leaving the other boy on read.

"Hey Won, I'm gonna go. Goodnight"

Jungwon looked up from his paper, and yawned. "Oh, okay. Goodnight."

The two hung up and Sunoo grabbed his hoodie lying around and was out the door. Sunoo knew exactly where the playground was, he used to go there all the time when he was younger. As he was approaching.. he spotted an alone Sunghoon on the swing, his phone screen illuminating his face. He looked up to the boy in front of him and smiled.

"So.. why did you call me out here, what's so urgent Park?" He questioned, obviously super pissed. Sunghoon sighed "Yuna is meeting me down here to discuss the video." He explained happily. Sunoo blinked. Was he hearing this right? He had been called down there just to be bait for Yuna.

"What? Are you crazy! She and her minions are gonna beat my ass with their Louis Vuitton purses! Oh my god is she here yet?" Sunoo hid behind the trashcan and Sunghoon could only laugh at him.

"Would you relax? The only thing Yuna is capable of is talking your ear off, besides.. you're not the one doing the dirty work, princess." Sunghoon teased and Sunoo resisted the urge to choke him out. All this time he'd been ignoring his little "nicknames" the older would call him but they were really starting to puzzle him.

He crossed his arms and took a seat in the swingset next to his. "I have a name.. and why "princess" anyway?" Sunoo questioned.

"Hm well lets see.." Sunghoon looked at him, almost as if he were measuring him up with his eyes. "You're pink just like a princess, you're incredibly bossy just like a princess.. I think it all checks out for it's self." He exclaimed as he went back to whistling, carelessly. Sunoo sat there in disbelief.

"I am not bossy! You're lucky we're in a public place right now.. or else I would've jabbed you."

"See. Bossy. Someone didn't share their toys as a kid, I see.." Sunoo couldn't believe this, most of all he couldn't believe HIM. Did people really think he was bossy? He was just goal-oriented and knew what he wanted, that didn't make him bossy.

"You're right. I didn't share with pricks like Park Sunghoon."

Sunghoon laughed. "Sensitive too? All the more reasons you're a princess, princess" The older sent him a wink that made a shiver crawl it's way down Sunoos spine. He had every reason to absolutely detest the being that is Park Sunghoon right now.

"Whatever." He said, and their argument ended at that.

After a moment of silence passed, Sunoo remembered something. "Hey are you close with Na Jaemin? I mean I just saw him sitting in the pit today with you guys and I was wondering--"

"So I was right. You were eye-fucking that hippie freak."

Sunoos face immediately reddened. He couldn't believe what the older had just said.. and he was also very grateful for the dark lighting surrounding them. Had he really been that obvious during lunch?

"W-What? No! You're disgusting.. And he's not a hippie freak, you're just an entitled asshole.." Sunoo touched his face, trying to bring back it's warmth. Sunghoon looked at him, something in his eyes telling Sunoo he was thinking. "You're a horrible liar. If you wanted that tree-hugger so bad you could've just said so.. even if you held up an "I WANT YOU" sign that would've looked less desperate than you practically making out with him from across the-"

"Okay- I don't wanna talk about this anymore! Do you know him personally or what?" Sunoo was extremely embarrassed. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was talking about his love life to Park Sunghoon. "You're out of luck, Princess.. He's Jakes little friend, not mine." He shrugged, and Sunoo slouched in dissapointment.

Sunghoon looked at the boy to his side. He hadn't meant to tease him so harshly and he almost felt a little bad about doing so. He sighed "I mean.. Your tree boyfriend is pretty happy-go-lucky allllll the time, and not to mention nosey as shit. One time-- he handed out a flyer that said "Free Therapy for the troubled teens of Lincolns youth." to me, and nobody else. He had the right idea but executed it horribly.." He said and Sunoo bursted out laughing harder than he had in a while.

Sunoo choked back his laughter "I see why. Has anybody ever told you that you've got this whole unhinged vibe going on?" Sunghoon gasped dramatically. "Me? Unhinged? Wow.. that's harsh princess. What was I expecting, of course you're just like your new little boyfriend." He teased but Sunoo simply rolled his eyes.

"I don't care. He's cute.. and kind, you wouldn't get it--" Sunoo caught himself, why was he telling all of this to him?

"So you're into pretty boys.. hm, not surprised."

Sunoo opened his mouth to say something snarky in response, but he couldn't really think of anything. For some reason.. he was enjoying talking to his brothers delinquent friend at 8 PM on a school night, sitting on the swingset together. It was odd. Pretty boys.. Sunoo thought to himself.

Before he could say anything, in the distance was Yuna and two of her minions behind her. Sunghoon got off the swing and dusted himself off. "Stay here. I'll handle it." Sunoo doesn't fight him on that, he'd much rather just observe from afar. From the swingset he can see him confronting her. He couldn't quite hear what they were talking about but it looked to be serious.

After awhile he comes back, unharmed.

"So.. what happened?"

Sunghoon shrugged. "She said that trend had died down anyway and she didn't really care about the video anymore. She deleted it in front of me so nobody can repost it anymore."

Sunoos eyes lit up. He was more than surprised at how easy that had went. "Really?"

"Yes really.. would I lie?" Sunoo gave him a stern look. "You're right, I would lie but that's besides the point- she deleted it, it's over now. No more shoe drama, let's shake on it yeah? Call it a truce." Sunghoon held out his hand for Sunoo to shake and Sunoo looked at it skeptically.

He sighed and took the hand in his. "Fine. To a new chapter, no more shoe drama."

The two shook hands and sealed the deal.

"I'm going home." Sunoo said, turning around to be on his way.

Sunghoon leaned up against the swingset. "Again.. with the no goodbye kiss, and to think I thought you'd learn." He teased and Sunoo just kept walking.

"Keep dreaming, Park."

Chapter Text

Sunoo stared down at the text message illuminating his phone screen

"Sorry noo.. we can't pick you up today. I have a mathletes meeting early this morning and chae is trying to see about the student council T-T"

The pink-haired boy huffed.

"Great" he thought.

It was Tuesday morning and he was standing in front of his bathroom mirror; frantically blow-drying his damp hair like an idiot. He was forty minutes away from being late for school and the Yang twins had gone an hour earlier too fulfill their nerd hobbies, thus leaving their friend with absolutely no ride to school.

  Usually on days like this where the twins couldn't come get him, he'd just hop in Heeseungs car.. but it wasn't that simple anymore. It was awkward between the two brothers since they weren't on the greatest of terms. He hadn't spoken a full word to Heeseung since like a day ago.. so asking him for a ride to school would be a little out of character.

   Sunoo rushed downstairs, his hair still damp and clinging to his forehead. He'd gone for something edgier today—an unusual choice for him, though maybe all the talk about Rogue was finally rubbing off on him. Black denim shorts, ripped fishnets peeking through, and not a trace of jewelry or makeup yet. He'd planned to fix that at school, but honestly, what was the point? He'd just sweat it off anyway.

   Mrs. Lee-Kim stood in the livingroom smashing the buttons on the TV remote, her face scrunched into an abnormally stern expression. She hadn't noticed her teen son walk into the room which was good, Sunoo did not want to be questioned this morning. He tried his best to quietly sneak behind the couch and into the kitchen but was one second too late.

"Kim Sunoo what did I tell you! When you or your brother are done watching TV-- set it back to channel nine or it goes all funky..
And where are Jungwon and Chaeryoung? They should've been here by now..."

He'd been caught.

Sunoo groaned, stomping in place. He had no time for this. "They couldn't make it today something came up."

  Mrs. Lee-Kim furrowed her eyebrows, then shrugged.. resuming whatever she was doing before scolding her son. "Have a good day my son~" She sang, this time in Korean. Sunoo shook his head, a slight smile appearing on his face. Sometimes his mom could be cute and playful if she wanted too. She was a young mom after all, only thirty-five, and Sunoo was still her baby.

  She only ever spoke their mother tongue when she was in a good mood. She said people took her less seriously when she spoke English—it helped her blend in, make friends, seem approachable. But in Korean, she thought she came off too assertive, less warm. Sunoo never really understood what she meant. To him, his mom sounded like his mom in any language.

  When Sunoo was little, his mother decided she would teach him Korean. Just because she wanted to erase certain parts of her past didn't mean her son would want to do the same—and for that, Sunoo was grateful. She wanted him to have the choice, the freedom. Still, sometimes he felt guilty watching her soften her words and reshape herself to fit in with Americans. He never said anything, though—afraid of touching something too raw in someone who always seemed so strong.

   "Did you have a glass of wine last
night mom?" He joked. Only that could explain her sudden lovey-dovey behavior.

"One.. or two. You'll understand when you're my age honey." That was usually her way of saying-- "I don't wanna explain myself to you so this conversation is over."

  The pink-haired boy wandered into the kitchen, where Heeseung sat at the breakfast table—with company. Jake. That was new. The fact that Heeseung was even eating breakfast was new. The two seemed close; at school, whenever Sunoo caught sight of his brother, Jake Sim was usually right there beside him—grinning, talking, radiating

energy that felt foreign in the Heeseung household.
Jake noticed him first. "Heyy! Heeseung's little bro—Sunoo!" he greeted, cheerful as ever.

Sunoo offered a polite half-smile. "That's me."

Whenever Sunoo would look at the Rogue member, it looked as if everything but also  simultaneously nothing was going on in his head, and he liked that about him. The fact that he was always smiling and saying words like "bro" and "dude." Somebody has to do it, if not Jake then who?

  Heeseung gave him nothing more than a glance. Jake looked like a beam of sunshine next to him.

"Your name's been coming up a lot lately, y'know—Yoon loves you," Jake said.

  Unsurprisingly, Jake was the most friendly and inviting Rogue member he'd ever met. "Of course she does. I'm really loveable" Sunoo replied making Jake laugh.

  "Well, any little brother of Hee's is a little brother of mine," Jake grinned, giving him one last warm smile before turning back to Heeseung.

Sunoo raised a brow at the nickname. Hee? He'd never heard anyone call his brother that before—except their mom.

Sunoo shoved back the wrapper to a granola bar, and stuffed it into his mouth. He tilted his head at the two as he chewed, watching them in interest. Jake was showing him something on his phone, the two laughing. This wholeee week he'd yet to see Heeseung smile yet here he was.

With Jake Sim.

  "I need a ride today." he said, leaning against the counter.

Heeseung looked up from the phone then at his little brother. "Could you not talk with your mouth full it's gross-- and did mom see what you have on, nothing about those shorts seem "finger-tip" length."

  Sunoo rolled his eyes so far he was sure they'd fall out his head and onto the floor.

Of course. He should've expected this from none other than, Heeseung Stick-In-His-Butt Responsible Older Brother Lee. This year he had kind of drastically changed his wardrobe- but it was the for the better! Besides, his mother was present for some of the impulsive purchases he made and she said nothing, except for give him the judgemental Korean mom side eye.

"Could you not talk with your meh meh blah blah.. Just answer the question Heeseung! Can you give me a ride or not?" He mimicked the older.

Jake laughed innocently but Heeseung crossed his arms like a big baby. Normally, he'd fire back with something snarky to put Sunoo in his place, but this time—nothing. Not even a sigh. Sunoo wondered if it had something to do with Jake being in the room.

He had no clue what was wrong with his brother lately and his whole moody brooding-teenager act, but it had to stop sooner or later.

Then it dawned on him.

His brother had a big, fat, crush on Pretty-boy Jake Sim.

Kim Sunoo has known Lee Heeseung since he was five, and he's only ever seen the older get this flustered when with the pretty girl named Amy back in grade school that he had a raging crush on. Heeseung was a hopeless romantic back then, (and not to mention a dork.) He'd fall in love with anything that looked at him. It was so easy to tell when he had a crush.

  Just like now.

He'd get quiet, and weirdly clingy, and red in the face.

He looked at the two of them side by side, trying to imagine them in a committed relationship. He giggled making his brother give him a weird look.  Heeseung sighed. He was sure his brother was losing his mind. He got up, pushing his chair in. "Lets go" he said, grabbing his car keys off the key rack. Sunoo clasped his hands in celebration.

"I knew you'd say yes!" Sunoo clasped his hands dramatically. "Not that you had much of a choice."

"Yeah, yeah—get in the car before I change my mind."

"Sir, yes sir!" Sunoo saluted. Heeseung ignored him, already halfway out the door.

"Oh, we're leaving? Let me grab my bag!" Jake said, running upstairs.

Sunoo watched him go, then followed his brother outside. Heeseung's car—his mom's old 2008 hand-me-down—sat in the driveway, humming faintly as early 2000s hits played through crackly speakers. Heeseung leaned on the open window, arm dangling lazily.

Sunoo climbed into the backseat and shut the door a little too hard.

"Hey, easy," Heeseung warned. "This car's on its last life."

"Sorry," Sunoo said. "I forget I'm freakishly strong sometimes."

Heeseung gave him a deadpan look.

The car fell quiet—eerily so. Sunoo glanced out the window, debating whether to poke the bear or enjoy the rare silence. Naturally, he chose violence.

"So..." he started, grinning. "Jake, huh? He's cute. Not really your type, though—unless your type is 'golden retriever energy' now. Maybe that's part of your emo era rebrand?"

Heeseung nearly twisted his neck turning around. "What are you talking about?" His face went red so fast it was almost impressive.

  Sunoo blinked innocently. "What else would I be talking about, dear brother, besides your little crush on the boy currently upstairs?"

Heeseung groaned, rubbing his temples. There was no point lying; Sunoo always knew.

"Is it that obvious?"

Sunoo nodded solemnly. "Painfully."

Heeseung slumped against the seat. "Well... do you think—actually, never mind."

Sunoo thought about responding, but for once, he didn't. The air felt too fragile for teasing.

A moment later, Jake bounded out of the house, practically glowing. Sunoo still didn't understand how someone could be that happy this early. He strapped himself in, shoved in his earbuds, and leaned his head against the window. The wind brushed against his face as the car started rolling.

He just wanted ten minutes of peace—ten minutes before he had to deal with gym class.

Gym with Park Sunghoon.

------------------

  "Just drop me off at the front."

  Heeseung made eye contact with Sunoo through the rearview mirror and scoffed. If his little brother wanted to be a twerp and not walk in with him then he could've just said that. "Okay."

  He pulled up to the school's front entrance. Sunoo unbuckled, swung open the door, and hopped out—slamming it shut behind him, completely forgetting the lecture he'd gotten about being gentle with the car.

Heeseung groaned. "Yah! Kim Sunoo!" he yelled from the window. Sunoo pretended not to hear, keeping his head down as he speed-walked toward the entrance.

"Are those stockings ripped? Kim Sunoo, don't ignore me! Hey—we're talking about this when you get home!"

"Shit..." Sunoo muttered under his breath. Perfect. Now people were staring. No one at school even knew they were related, and here Heeseung was, publicly announcing his name like a dad in a PTA vest. Students began whispering, turning heads as he walked faster—then faster still, until it was a full-on dash to get out of the spotlight.

Unfortunately, in his rush, Sunoo ran straight into someone. Someone tall, perfumed, and terrifyingly familiar.
Jang Wonyoung.

He caught a noseful of her sour designer perfume and choked, stumbling back. She blinked at him, horrified, her little entourage gasping behind her. Her eyes narrowed, scanning him like he was gum on her new heels.

Of course. The Jang Wonyoung—Lincoln's reigning queen bee since kindergarten. Daddy's money, gossip empire, and a Paris gap year that everyone in town had heard about. She wasn't supposed to be back yet; people had even joked she'd run away. But no—Sunoo had already seen her at Yeonjun's party weeks ago. He just hadn't recognized her under the strobe lights. That look of disgust, though? Unmistakable.

And now, face to face, all those middle-school memories came rushing back like an ice bath—rumors, whispers, cruel laughter. A wake-up call wrapped in Givenchy.

"Ugh! Can you watch where you're going, freakazoid? This Givenchy is freshly dry-cleaned," she squealed. Her minions immediately started patting her down like she was royalty.

She didn't even recognize him. Of course she didn't. She'd made his life a living hell all those years ago and forgotten his name.

He scoffed. "Good morning to you too, Jang Wonyoung," he mumbled, brushing past her and heading for his locker. His heart was pounding, but mostly from annoyance.

He turned the corner—and immediately wished he hadn't.
Rogue.

Leaning against the wall like they owned the place. Jay, Ryujin, and Sunghoon this time, laughing about something stupid. Of course they were in this hallway. Of all the places to loiter, they chose his locker's hallway.

Sunoo exhaled sharply, deciding to ignore them. He shoved open his locker and started unloading his stuff, tuning out the sound of Jay's laugh and Sunghoon's voice—the one he really didn't want to hear this early in the morning.
The band wasn't talking about anything important—just rehearsal plans—when something pink caught Sunghoon's attention out of the corner of his eye. And generally, where Sunoo was, his eyes seemed to follow.

Can you blame him?

He watched the boy shove book after book into his locker, wondering how one person could possibly need that much stuff. The conversation around him faded until all he could hear was the quiet slam of Sunoo's locker door. If watching him were a crime, Sunghoon would've been locked up a long time ago. There was always this feeling—like Sunoo existed miles away, somewhere just out of reach, always slipping through his fingers before he could really catch him.

His gaze lingered. The new ripped fishnets didn't go unnoticed. Normally Sunoo's style was all soft colors and sparkly things—too bright, too cheerful—but today he looked different. Sunghoon thought back to their conversation last night on the playground, and a faint blush crept up his neck.

Lately, he was going crazy. And it was all Kim Sunoo's fault.

"Hoonie!"

A high-pitched voice snapped him out of his trance. A perfectly manicured hand looped around his arm.

"I'm back!" Wonyoung squealed. "Why'd you ditch me the night of the party, hmm? I was so sulky. You can make it up to me by taking me to that café I like after school!"

Sunghoon blinked. Oh, no.

Wonyoung.

The ex-girlfriend. The one who'd taken a year-long Paris "study" trip and apparently decided their breakup didn't count overseas. Sunghoon had thought he'd made it clear—they were over. He wasn't about to stay tied down for a year to someone who wasn't even in the same country.
He shot a desperate look at Jay and Ryujin for help. They looked everywhere but at him. Cowards. Absolute cowards.

The sound of Wonyoung's voice carried through the hallway, sharp and sweet like artificial sugar, and apparently caught Sunoo's attention. The pink-haired boy peeked out from behind his locker door, trying to look like he wasn't eavesdropping.

Rogue had never liked Wonyoung. Out of all of Sunghoon's past flings, she ranked dead last. Their favorite was Chenle, the Chinese exchange student with the unforgettable laugh. Then there'd been brace face Bahiyyih, sweet but clumsy, and Winter, the ice queen who almost killed Sunghoon with a look once. But Wonyoung?

She was evil.

"Oh... I'm busy with the band after school, Wonyoung. No can do," he said, lying through his teeth.

"Silly!" she chirped. "You don't even know your own schedule? I asked Yoon, and you don't have any gigs tonight. I'll just come by like I always do, okay? See you then, Hoonie~!"

She leaned in and kissed his cheek—like the Parisians do, of course—before strutting off, heels clicking like punctuation marks.

From behind his locker, Sunoo snickered quietly. Who knew that was the kind of girl Sunghoon dated?

The moment she was gone, Jay and Ryujin erupted into laughter, doubling over while Sunghoon stood there with his arms crossed, fuming.

"You guys are horrible friends. I could've died back there!" he groaned, which only made them laugh harder.

"It's not that funny," he said, glowering.

"But it is," Ryujin wheezed between laughs.

Before Sunghoon could strangle either of them, the bell rang—mercifully cutting the scene short.

Class time.

------------------

  Chaeryeong was on her way down to the swimming pool, a manila folder pressed neatly to her chest. The front office had sent her to deliver a few papers to the swim coach. She was usually pulled out of class to run errands like this — community service, they called it. It would look good on a college résumé, after all. Chaeryeong always did it without complaint. She was like a well-oiled machine when it came to school-related things.

She was good at school-related things. And that was about it — or at least that's what she believed. She drowned herself in her work in hopes of getting into an Ivy League school, just so she wouldn't feel like such a failure under her Yale-graduate parents' roof. Nothing thrilled her more than finishing a research paper or polishing a presentation.

That's the way it had always been. Her and her papers.

She entered through the locker room since the main entrance was usually locked to students, and immediately froze. A group of troublemaking-looking girls were clustered near the benches, gossiping in loud voices. The one with bangs turned her head first, eyes narrowing. Chaeryeong felt the prickle of unease crawl up her neck.

She decided to say nothing and sped past them, eyes fixed on the tiled floor. But the one with bangs smirked and stepped into her path.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, dork? You still owe me fifteen bucks for letting me fail my history test in eighth grade, remember?"

Chaeryeong did remember her. In middle school, she'd been the class encyclopedia, doing everyone's homework in exchange for the illusion of friendship. She thought it would make people like her.

She was wrong.

When Sunoo eventually joined their group, he'd noticed how badly she and Jungwon were being treated. One day, he'd stood on the playground, hands on his hips, and yelled, "If anyone touches my best friends, I'll kick their tushies so hard they fall off!"

He always fought her battles. But he wasn't here now.

"What, you don't speak or something? You mute?" The girls began to close in, and Chaeryeong's hands trembled.

"I'd advise you to start talking," the leader sneered, setting a cold hand on Chaeryeong's shoulder, "or this won't end pretty."

Then a shadow moved from the corner of the room.

"What  are you all doing making so much noise?" a lazy voice muttered. "You woke me up from my nap."

Everyone turned. Ryujin was leaning against the lockers, stretching and yawning like a cat. The air in the room shifted immediately. Her gaze flicked from the hand on Chaeryeong's shoulder to the girl's panicked face. Ryujin straightened.

"Stirring trouble again, Minnie?" Her voice was low. "Let go of her."

"You know better than anyone not to butt in where you're not needed, Ryujin," Minnie growled.

Ryujin tilted her head, cracked her knuckles, and smiled — a dangerous, tired kind of smile.

Chaeryeong swallowed. Was she about to witness her first school fight?

"I'll give you five seconds to get out of this locker room," Ryujin murmured, so softly it almost didn't sound like a threat.

The girls froze.

"Five... four... three..."

They scattered like startled pigeons.

"That includes you, Minnie," Ryujin said, cracking her neck. "Two—"

"Alright! I'm going!" Minnie hissed, letting go of Chaeryeong's shoulder. "Keep your pet on a leash next time."

She stomped out.

The air finally eased.

Ryujin looked at Chaeryeong, who was still standing frozen by the lockers. "Don't worry. They won't touch you again. They're all bark, no bite. You okay?"

Chaeryeong's face flushed. "Oh, I'm... I'm okay. Thank you. For that."

Ryujin nodded once and sauntered off, hands in her pockets.

Chaeryeong stood there, stunned, heart hammering in her chest.

Did that really just happen?

Chapter Text

"Alright, squirts! Ten laps, then meet back here." Coach Jenkins blew her whistle, and everyone scattered.

Everyone except Kim Sunoo.

The pink-haired boy stared at the vast track field that wrapped around the entire school. Ten laps? Before the end of class? That woman was insane.

A few paces ahead, Park Sunghoon and his annoying friends jogged side by side like some self-satisfied Nike ad, while Sunoo trudged behind—alone, as usual. He sighed, sucking up his complaints and starting a brisk jog. He didn't need company. He was perfectly capable of entertaining himself. He'd done it all his life.

He popped in one AirPod and hit shuffle. Music always made ridiculous things bearable. A few laps later, though, something caught his eye: Sunghoon had veered off toward the water fountain, apparently done with pretending to be an athlete.

Immediately, two tiny imaginary versions of himself appeared on his shoulders—one with angel wings, one with devil horns.

"Follow him!" Devil-noo grinned. "Let's go bother him, come on, come on!"

Angel-noo shook his head furiously. "Why do you care so much what Park's doing? Do not follow him!"

Sunoo considered both very compelling arguments. On one hand, he could mind his business like a mature, civilized human being. On the other hand... he could go tease Park Sunghoon and make the rest of this torture session slightly less boring.

He sighed. "Sorry, Angel-noo. Maybe next time." Then he smirked, flicking the angel off his shoulder. "Devil-noo, let's go."

He happily skipped off toward the fountain, ready to put a little bitterness into the guitarist's day.

Sunghoon was blissfully unaware, too busy rehydrating to notice his incoming doom. Catching him off guard like this was rare—usually he was the one sneaking up on Sunoo. Time for a little karmic payback.

Sunoo cleared his throat, then put on his best valley girl impression.

"Hey, Hoonie~"

Sunghoon whipped his head around so fast he nearly spilled the water, panic flashing across his face. For a split second, he thought it was Wonyoung. God forbid she'd actually followed him here. His eyes softened the moment they landed on Sunoo instead—but confusion quickly replaced relief at the sound of that nickname.

Sunoo giggled at his dazed expression. "Relax, it's just me. Your loyal, trusting girlfriend, Wonyoung! Oh, take me to my favorite café, would you, Hoonie~?"

He was really milking it, floating around Sunghoon like a pink-haired pest.

And surprisingly—Sunghoon froze.

It was the first time Sunoo had ever seen the Rogue guitarist even slightly flustered. The boy who usually acted so effortlessly cool and unbothered was suddenly a mess.

Hearing "Hoonie" come out of Sunoo's mouth instead of the actual drama queen herself made his ears and neck go red.
He usually found cutesy talk nauseating—but then again, he'd never met Kim Sunoo. A boy who somehow managed to be almost cute all the time.

In Park Sunghoon's eyes, Kim Sunoo sparkled.

He cleared his throat. "Not funny. And how'd you find out about Wonyoung, anyway?"

Sunoo leaned lazily against the water fountain. "Her natural inside voice sounds like a helicopter taking flight. How could I not know?"

Sunghoon snorted under his breath. Fair enough. "Well, she's not my girlfriend anymore. Never again." He shuddered just thinking about her. The stuff of nightmares.

"Tell her that, then, Hoonie~" Sunoo sang, sticking his tongue out.

Sunghoon froze again at the nickname. "Don't call me that. It's gross."

Sunoo scoffed. "But you can call me Princess and Shortstack? Yeah right. You're Hoonie now."

He reached up to pat the older boy's head like a puppy, laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. Sunghoon turned his head away, pretending to be annoyed—but his cheeks were betraying him, flushed bright pink.

"You have no shame, Kim Sunoo," he muttered.

Sunoo frowned. He wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but before he could ask, Sunghoon had already walked off, water bottle in hand and blush still burning.

-------------

The bell finally rang, and class was over. Sunoo practically waltzed out of gym, sliding into step beside his four-eyed friend, who looked like he'd been searching for him.

"You will not believe the morning I had!" Sunoo announced, practically bouncing. "I had to catch a ride with Heeseung—ugh! All because you and your sister ditched me!"
Before Jungwon could respond, Sunoo had him in a tight headlock, making sure there was no escape.

"I'm sorry, okay! I'll make it up to you, I promise. Froyo next weekend?" Jungwon grimaced.

Sunoo's face lit up. "Really? You promise?"

"I promise," Jungwon said, rolling his eyes.
The pink-haired boy hugged him like a teddy bear, nearly knocking the wind out of him. Sunoo was a lot of things—a drama queen, a big baby—but Jungwon had long since accepted the chaos that came with friendship.
When he let go, Sunoo's gaze landed on someone special at his locker.

Na Jaemin.

Their eyes met from across the hallway, and a warm, effortless smile spread across the senior's handsome face. Sunoo felt a thousand butterflies erupt in his stomach. What was THE Na Jaemin doing at his locker?

"Sunoo! Could I talk to you for a second?" Jaemin's honeyed voice pulled him back from his daydream.

"Oh, sure—I—" Sunoo froze. He was forgetting something... no, someone. He glanced at Jungwon for approval. His best friend, unimpressed but loyal, simply rolled his eyes. "Go ahead, I'll wait right here," he said. Sunoo shot him a quick finger heart.

"You're the best, Won," he whispered.
Jungwon nodded.

Giggling and trying to hide his foolish grin, Sunoo approached Jaemin. "So... what did you need to talk to me about?"

Clearing his throat, Jaemin leaned against the locker. "Romeo and Juliet auditions are in two weeks. You've got plenty of time to decide if you want to audition, but I figured I'd let you know—lots of students are already prepping for their roles."
Sunoo blinked. The stupid play. He'd almost forgotten about it. He'd never done Romeo and Juliet before, but... the thought of Jaemin as Romeo? Not half bad.

"Keep this between us," Jaemin added, winking, "but I really want to see you in the play."

Sunoo's heart skipped. Na Jaemin's compliments were dangerously charming—he was sure he'd get a big head if he let himself.

Truthfully, Sunoo had been ready to put theater behind him this year. After falling out with his drama club buddies, he'd been focused on actually being socially aware, and the idea of the bright lights on stage made his stomach flip. But... if auditioning meant spending more time with Na Jaemin? Sign him up.

"Okay... maybe I will make time to audition this year. Where do I sign up?" Sunoo asked eagerly.

Jaemin explained the minor details before heading off. Sunoo made sure the senior was seriously gone before spinning toward his best friend.

"Can you believe it?! Na Jaemin wants me—of all people—to be in the play!"

Jungwon crossed his arms, watching Sunoo jump up and down like a sugar-fueled toddler. "Uh-huh. And what happened to 'This school year will not be spent nerding around'?" he teased.

Sunoo groaned, waving him off. "It's not like you guys listened anyway! You're still a mathlete, and Chaeryeong's probably studying right now."

Jungwon shook his head. "Whatever you say..."

-------------

After lunch and a few painfully dull classes, it was finally Kim Sunoo's favorite elective of the day: theatre.

He strolled into the classroom just as Mr. Richards was erasing the chalkboard, still humming a tune from last class.
"There's my favorite student! Kim Sunoo, happy Tuesday~" the teacher greeted warmly.

Mr. Richards was a funny-looking, kind-hearted white man with a degree in theatre history. Lincoln High was mostly Asian students, but last year, when Sunoo had him as his director, Mr. Richards had taken the time to learn about the students' cultures and incorporate them into lessons. It made him one of Sunoo's absolute favorite teachers—right alongside Ms. Byrdie, the guidance counselor.

"Happy Tuesday, Mr. Richards," Sunoo giggled, sliding into an empty seat near the back. The classroom was already mostly full, and he didn't personally know many of his classmates.
Looking around, Sunoo realized something: a surprising number of his unrequited crushes were in this period.

There was Choi Beomgyu from fifth grade, who always shared his convenience store snacks with a starry-eyed Sunoo. And Eric Sohn, the football hottie who, well... didn't have much upstairs but still made Sunoo weak in the knees. Of course, Na Jaemin wasn't here, but he occupied a special place in Sunoo's thoughts regardless.

Funny how they all seemed... similar, in some weird, inexplicable way. Sunoo chewed on the end of his pencil, staring out the window. Maybe Park Sunghoon was right—maybe he did like pretty boys. He shivered and quickly shoved that thought aside. Park Sunghoon had a way of sneaking into every corner of his mind, whether he liked it or not.

Annoying.

A knock at the classroom door broke his reverie.

"Mr. Richards, you've got a new student. Had to do some readjusting to his schedule," the staff member announced.

Sunoo's eyes widened. A new student? He shamelessly craned his neck, hoping for someone cute—or at least interesting.

But the new student wasn't new at all.

It was Park Sunghoon.

Chapter Text

Now that even his favorite place in school wasn't safe from Park Sunghoons wrath, Sunoo had lost all hope. The older stood at the front of the classroom with that same smug look on his face that Sunoo knew all too well, his hands carelessly shoved into his hoodie pockets as the dean spoke with the teacher. How could a person act so impetuous in the face of teachers? Sunoo thought.

Just his utter presence was enough to irritate the pink-haired boy.

  The dean left the room and Mr. Richards cleared his voice, looking the delinquent up and down. He sighed, beginning to search for an empty seat where he could stick his new student. Sunoo nearly fainted as he watched his teachers eyes fall on the empty seat beside him.

"Why don't you take a seat next to Sunoo over there Mr. Park, welcome to theatre. I hope you pay attention this time, your future is on the line." he said the last bit a little quieter, just for Sunghoon to hear.

  A light bulb flickered within Sunghoons mind just from hearing the pink-haired boys name. His brown eyes swiftly flickered over to where Mr. Richards was gesturing, to where a Kim Sunoo sat stubbornly avoiding eye contact like always, looking outside the window. Sunghoon gave Mr. Richards a half-assed nod, before making his way down the row of chairs.

  Sunoo could not believe this. Not only was Park Sunghoon now in his last period class, but he ALSO had to sit with him? No, this couldn't be real.. just an impractical joke. Any minute now some rando will come from behind the scenes and say-- "Kim Sunoo, you just got pranked!!" and they'd all have a good laugh about it, but that moment never came.

As he took his seat, the teacher clasped his hands together. "Now let's get started, shall we?" Whilst Mr. Richards began his lecture, Sunoo couldn't help but feel the boy next to him glancing. No.. not even glancing, full on staring. When Park Sunghoon looked at you, he really looked at you.. he didn't pretend to be looking elsewhere, and that really got underneath Sunoo's skin. It was almost as if he could see through you and in that moment, you were as clear as quartz.

  Kim Sunoo didn't like being a visible person. He hated how he had to be the one to back-down first during a staring contest, he hated that Park Sunghoon had some sort of spell over people.. and that he wasn't exempt from it.

  He desperately looked the other way, trying his hardest to focus on the lecture and not the dimwit next to him. He could hear the boy next to him begin to laugh, only at a volume the two of them could hear. Was he laughing at him? At the way he had reacted? That asshole. The tip of Sunoos ears shined bright pink in embarrassment.

Suddenly, the boy snatched the paper sitting on Sunoo's desk and started writing something. Sunoo scoffed, this must've been his next attempt at getting his attention. He watched as the delinquent closed the cap on his marker, and placed the paper back in front of Sunoo, a goofy smirk on his face.

  Sunoo looked down at his paper getting ready to curse at him. Considering how highschool boys still think drawing dicks on paper is HILARIOUS, he was expecting the worst.. but he was in for a pleasant surprise.
A tiny doodle of an alien sat at the edge of his paper. It was actually kinda good.

Sunghoon looked at the boy, watching carefully for a reaction but Sunoo didn't budge.

  Sunghoon hesitated, before sighing and going back to his own world. He had been unsuccessful in getting the boy to notice him, and he had to live with that defeat.. until he heard a slight mumble come from the left side of him.

"You're a child.." Kim Sunoo whispered, being sure to not interrupt the lecture.

Finally.. Sunghoon thought. He couldn't hide the smile forming on his lips as he glanced over at the pink-haired boy.. and this time it was almost infectious because somehow Sunoo wanted to smile too.

"Aren't you gonna ask me why I'm in here?" Sunghoon whispered back, as if it was an obvious thing to ask.

Sunoo scoffed, "Why should I?"

  Mr. Richards eyed the backrow for a second making Sunghoon sit up straight in his chair. After awhile he went back to writing on the chalkboard and Sunghoon could breathe again.

"Well since you're just DYING to know.. I guess I can tell you princess."

  Sunoo rolled his eyes. Here was the Park Sunghoon he knew. Cocky and annoying.

The idiot cleared his throat "Basically, my incredible acting skills got noticed by the oscars and so-- ta-da, here I am in the drama club." Sunoo gave him an impassive look before shaking his head.

"Now why are you really in here?"

Sunghoon sighed, "Principal is on my ass. I need one last extracurricular credit to pass senior year and your nerd class was the only class with extra spots." He shrugged.

   Sunoo wanted oh so badly to laugh but all he could muster up was a "hmph, serves you right."

  Mr. Richards goes on to explain that everybody will have a part in the class whether that be on stage or behind helping with stage equipment, and Sunoo could feel the life drain from his seatmates body. He obviously had no interest in theatre. He was like an impatient little kid with the way he was counting down the seconds to when the bell rings.

And not to mention Park Sunghoon COULD NOT sit still for the life of him.

The pencil tapping, his obnoxious staring, and Sunoo could hear just about every song playing from the boys earbuds. The volume was up so high, Kim Sunoo was surpised he hadn't gone deaf by now.

   Jaemin would never. Jaemin was punctual.. and sweet.. and handsome, and most of all he LOVED theatre. Sunoo felt giddy all over just thinking about him. He wished it was Jaemin he was stuck sitting next to and not Park Sunghoon. He sighed, looking outside the window with his head in the palm of his hand as he fantasized.

The bell rang and everybody shot out of their seats, fighting to be the first one out the door.

"Hey! And don't forget-- if you wish to audition come to the auditorium two mondays from now after school!" Mr. Richards gets his last and final sentence out.

The two both collected their things, and exited the school building side by side, but had split up once they got outside. Sunoo was walking home today, since his bestfriends had abandoned him for extracurricular activities and he was still too salty over it to accept a ride home from them.. even if it meant riding shotgun in Betty.

  Besides, Kim Sunoo rather enjoyed the solitude of walking home and his house was only a ten minute walk away. Everything in Lincoln hill was closely knit together after all. He put in his earbuds and began his walk.. when out of nowhere he felt the presence of an engine slowly pull up behind him. He turned around to a black truck beside him, following him.

Great. Even on his walk home he had to be bothered.

  The window rolled down and there sat Park Sunghoon comfortably in the drivers seat with one hand on the steering wheel.
Sunoo had no clue he drove. His car was rather old and it made noise when it drove, and not the good kind of noise.

Beside him sat a busy Jay in the passenger seat, reading some kind of grunge-y magazine with a photo of a tattooed arm on the cover.

"What are you doing, get in." Sunghoon said.

Sunoo furrowed his eyebrows, before continuing to walk, acting as if he hadn't heard him.

"Wow.." Sunghoon scoffed. He put the car back into drive and slowly treaded behind the pink-haired boy. "Sunoo just get in the car! I know you're probably sweating, it's 90 degrees." he insisted

   Sunoo stopped dead in his tracks, the truck also coming to a halt alongside with him. "We're going to the same place today y'know.. Band rehearsal" Sunghoon finalized.

  Sunoo hesitated. He looked at the trunk and threw his backpack in, then opened the trucks door and hopped in, all without saying a word. He'd given in not because he'd wanted too- but because why would he walk home when an air coditioned car was waiting for him? In his head it felt logical.. but in his heart he couldn't quite explain his actions either.

   Jay made eye contact with Sunoo through the rearview mirror after he'd settled in. "Our buddy Sunghoon here fucked up and lied to Wonyoung, so now we actually have to rehearse.. fun right?" he said sarcastically. Sunoo raised an eyebrow, this was certainly news to him.

"So fun."

  Sunghoon did not favor how his name was being thrown around right now.

"This is not my fault okay.. Wonyoung is an impenetrable force, how could I have stopped her?"

Sunoo could hear the pure fear in the older boys voice and he'd almost felt sorry for him, but then he realized this was Park Sunghoon they were talking about. Crazy ex-girlfriends was right up his alley.

"Right.." Jay said, secretly winking at Sunoo in the rearview mirror. Sunoo snorted, this was going to be an interesting drive home.

------------------

When they had pulled into the driveway of Sunoos home, the garage door was up. On the sofa sat a Wonyoung (who had of course already changed out of her school clothes into a new set of chanel..) next to an irritated looking Yoon. Sunoo had never seen Yoon with such a stern expression on her face, when she saw Sunoo come in she shot up out of her seat.

"FINALLY" She said, engulfing Sunoo in a hug. She must've been dying here, left alone entertaining the queen bee of Lincoln. Wonyoung swiftly turned around, expecting her boyfriend but Sunoo could tell there was obvious dissapointment in her eyes when she realized it was just him. Jay and Sunghoon were still out unloading the truck.

She tsked. "Why are you here?"

Sunoo felt like laughing, this whole day made him want to laugh.

Why was he here?

Sunoo forced a smile at her "Last time I checked I live here, Wonyoung" he said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. The sour girl rolled her eyes.

It didn't take long at all for her to forget all about him though. As soon as she saw Sunghoon walk in she was as good as a ghost. Wonyoung jumped and ran into Sunghoons arms, "Hoonie, you're late~" she pouted. Sunghoon carefully set her down, "Traffic.." he muttered.

Jay crossed his arms and stood next to his sister, "We're losing him" He whispered. He had meant for that to be something only his sister could hear, but Sunoo had overheard loud and clear.

Yoon laughed, taking a cold soda out the cooler. "As always.." she replied. "Hey you want one Sunoo?" she asked, pointing to the cooler full of cold drinks. It was mighty hot out, a soda sounded superb right now. "Yeah sure" Sunoo said. Yoon threw a sprite and Sunoo caught it, the two sitting side by side on the floor.

Sunoo couldn't help but think ahout what Jay had said. At first- Sunoo had no clue what they were talking about, until he watched as a particular look formed on Sunghoons face back there. He'd never seen that kind of look on anybody before, the kind of look you give when you like somebody. He had that look.

Park Sunghoon was a liar.

Anybody could tell he was utterly enamored with Jang Wonyoung.

He watched them from afar. Sunghoon was teaching her how to strum his guitar. Sunoo quickly looked away, a sudden bitter feeling rising in his chest. He crossed his arms. Why would he lie about not liking her? About her not being his girlfriend? Why?

After awhile Ryujin, Jake and Heeseung finally showed up and their rehearsal began. After a few songs they took a break.

"I think we should perform something new, something fresh.. y'know for the school-year." Ryujin, the lead-singer proposed.

"Any ideas?"

Sunghoon cleared his throat "I've been writing a little something."

"Alright. Sunghoon mini concert, impress us" Ryujin smiled, and the rest of Rogue gave him the stage so he could tune his guitar.

"PARKHOON LETS GOO" An excited Jake hollered from the couch.

"This is a Park Sunghoon original, that i've yet to give a name.."

As the melody begun, Sunoo looked up. He and Yoon had been sitting in the corner of the garage this whole time, playing go-fish and minding their business since Yoon had forced him to stay and keep her company. When he looked up, he certainly wasn't expecting it to be Sunghoons face that the melody was coming from.

He sat on a stool, guitar in his lap, and he was singing. Sunoo was more than shocked. Sunoo knew in order to be in a band you had to be well, talented, but he hadn't known the older could sing like this.

"It's your go Sunoo" Yoon looked up from her phone to a dazed Sunoo. She furrowed her eyebrows, until she saw the source of his distraction. She looked at Sunghoon and then back at Sunoo, and smiled. Her friend had obviously found his Rogue bias.

The rest of Rogue swayed along to the lyrics and Wonyoung stood up, recording a video, a wide smile on her face. At this point Sunoo was standing too. He'd joined the others behind the couch, becoming apart of the audience. Since the garage was practically open to the whole world, even neighbors who'd been on jogs or were walking their dogs had stopped just to listen to him, taking videos probably to show their family later.

It was a sweet moment, and in that moment.. Sunoo was starting to consider maybe he'd thought wrong about him.

About Park Sunghoon.

After the song had ended everybody clapped and cheered, even Sunoo. The raven-haired bowed "I'm here all night folks" He said jokingly. Sunoo rolled his eyes. He couldn't be serious for more than five minutes, he figured. He watched as he sat his guitar on its stand and knew, this would be the perfect timing to go tease him about his hidden singing abilities.

He walked up with his arms crossed, only to see that Jang Wonyoung had beat him to it. She was all over him, showing him the footage she'd recorded. Sunghoon looked up from the girls phone and at the pink-haired boy.. Sunoo's face went blank and he froze like an idiot. "Sun-" the older spoke, but Sunoo had ran away and out of his sight before he could finish his sentence.

"What'd you say, Hoonie? C'mon lets hurry and get to the cafe, it's getting dark." Wonyoung batted her big brown eyes at him. Sunghoon blinked before returning to his senses. "Yeah.. okay."

--------------

Back in his room, there was nothing more that Sunoo wished than to go to bed. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, so annoyed. He didn't have the right to be annoyed at anybody, yet here he was.. Laying in his bed, swiping through instagram stories and landing on Jang Wonyoungs.

It was of the video she took earlier today, of Sunghoon. It was captioned "My talented hoonie!" with a bunch of heart emojis at the end. Following that was a picture of him and her, holding hands at the cafe she wouldn't shut up about all day.
Following it was a picture of the two of them at the café, holding hands—the café Wonyoung had been gushing about all day.

It was a mistake.

A mistake to think he and Park Sunghoon could ever be friends.

Sunoo closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Sunoo woke up to his mother sat beside him on his bed. "Rise and shine~" She sang, drawing his bedroom curtains to let some sunlight in. Sunoo twisted and turned in his bedsheets, groggily lifting his head. His mother hadn't had to be the one to wake him up since middle school, he'd usually wake himself up.

"I'd expect the sleeping-in from your brother but not from you.. did you go to sleep late last night?" She said all whilst lighting candles in his room and saging the carpet. Mrs. Lee-Kim believed in astrology and weird crap, she was just surperstitious like that. Right now she was trying to make conversation with a zombie-like Sunoo, and that just wasn't gonna work.

"I geth so.." Sunoo slurred his words together, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He recalled last night, the bright screen of his phone keeping him up til late hours.. that- and wanting to crush Park Sunghoons head like a bug. His mother bent down next to him and gently wiped the drool off of her sons face.

"Hurry and wash up, the twins are waiting for you downstairs." She said, then finally walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Sunoo yawned and did a big stretch, before going to get his day started. He looked at himself in the mirror, a pretty ugly reflection staring back at him. He did his ten step skin care routine as always, then waltzed to his wardrobe after his shower. Todays outfit wasn't all that crazy, just an oversized hoodie and jeans.

He rushed downstairs, backpack slung across his shoulder. He'd gotten a late start to his morning which meant everybody was practically gone already. His father already left for work and his mother in her room doing some cleaning. His house hadn't been this quiet in a while. Jungwon stood leaning against the counter, his twin sister sat politely at the breakfast table.

"Finally, took you long enough." Jungwon expressed, looking at the time on his phone. Sunoo simply rolled his eyes and shoved a piece of toast in his mouth. "Oh hush, you guys wouldn't know what to do without me~" Sunoo teased.

"I'd be able to do a lot of things without you actually.. like live in peace." Chaeryoung replied, making Sunoo shake his head. The three friends all happily hopped into Betty and were off to school. This morning was obviously quite a slow morning, Sunoo barely saw anybody on the sidewalks walking to school today. His favorite part of the drive to school was the people watching- yet there was nobody to watch this morning.

The three liked to drive through white-picket fence neighborhoods sometimes in their route to school and say "That'll be my house when I'm older!" That was all just wishful thinking back then of course. Sunoo would always pick the colorful, two-story houses which Jungwon would call "Unrealistic" then they'd sit and fight over whos house was better.

"Did you see what's happening on insta? Sunghoon is everyyyyywhere." Jungwon spoke from the backseat. Sunoo snapped his neck around to face him. "Park Sunghoon? No, why?"

Jungwon turned his phone to show his friend. Sunoos eyes softened. It was the video of him yesterday, singing. The video had like 100k views and likes, that lucky bastard had gone viral.. and not in the bad way that Sunoo had once faced with #BarfBoy. People online were calling him a prince, and praising him. Sunoo ughed and turned back around in his seat.

"Apparently Rogue is throwing a party tonight to celebrate.. and I think it's at your house." Jungwon winced saying the last bit, expecting his friend to start blowing up.

Sunoo balled his hand tight into a fist,

"Hm" he said.

Jungwon was surprised. "You're not mad?"

Sunoo raised his eyebrow. "No.. why should I be? We'll just have to make a guest appearance tonight."

---------------

The three of them trudged into school—otherwise known as hell on earth—and made a beeline for Sunoo's locker. He jabbered nonstop about the latest K-drama he'd binged, completely oblivious to the intercom that suddenly crackled to life.

"Yang Chaeryoung, report to the office please!"
Chaeryoung shot her friends a look. "That's me, gotta go. See you at lunch." She hugged them quickly before darting off.
Sunoo turned to Jungwon, lipgloss tube in hand. "Well, she's been awfully busy lately, huh?"

Jungwon scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... about that— You're gonna hate me but, I've gotta blast. Mathle-"
"Just go." Sunoo cut him off, waving him away.
Jungwon sighed, rolling his eyes, but gave his best friend a hug. "See you at lunch!" he said before leaving Sunoo standing alone at his locker like an idiot—just like Chaeryoung had earlier. Sunoo's shoulders slumped; his nerdy friends were far too busy for him now. Was it always like this? Last year, had he had this much free time after quitting drama club?

Distracted, he smeared lipgloss on his chin and groaned, frantically searching for makeup wipes.

"Where the hell did I put it—"

Suddenly, he felt heavy hands being placed his shoulders. He jumped, his heart practically dropping to his ass. Sunoo turned around to face the perpetrator who'd frightened him so badly. Of course, who other than Park Sunghoon would be so annoying this early in the morning.

Sunoo jabbed him in the side. "Ow! What was that for?" the delinquent winced.

"You scared the shit out of me!" Sunoo scolded him.

"Did you miss me?" Sunghoon teased.

Sunoo gagged "Not even a little.. where's your little girlfriend, huh?"

Hearing Sunoo mention Wonyoung took him aback a little. "Why, you jealous?" There it was. He hadn't denied her being his girlfriend.

Sunoo laughed "Ah yes.. jealous of the girl who gets to spend every waking minute in the same vicinity as park sunghoon, woe is me." Sunoo does a dramatic pout before turning to put in his locker combination.

"You wound me, princess."

The two briefly locked eyes and a second or two passed by, before little miss
Wonyoung appeared as if on cue, attaching herself to Sunghoon's arm.

"Hoonie~ what are you doing? Walk me to my class~" She whined. Wonyoungs gaze shifted from her boyfriend to the pink-haired boy standing next to him. Sunoo waved at her, as if she wasn't giving him the most disgusted look he'd ever seen.

"Oh babe.. I can't today I told you that. I've got something important to do this morning." Sunghoon makes up an excuse. Wonyoung immediately pouted. Sunoo scoffed, why the hell was he still standing there? He walked away so he wouldn't have to be subjected to the couples god awful PDA any longer.

"Fine... but you'll make it up to me. Promise?"

"I promise" They sealed the gap in between them with a kiss. Sunoo rolled his eyes. If he had to watch another second, he was certain he'd relive his Barf Boy trauma. Sunghoon jogged to catch up with the younger who was surprisingly quick on his feet.

"I take it the "She's not my girlfriend" thing didn't go as planned?"

Sunghoon twitched at the slight bitterness in the boys voice and tone. The two walked side by side down the hallway, Sunoo not even sparing him as much as a glance. Sunghoon raised an eyebrow "It's complicated.." He shrugged.

Sunoo stopped in his tracks. "You're an asshole."

Whenever somebody describes a relationship as "complicated", that only meant bad things. Sunghoon was baffled. He watched as the boy began to walk again and started to tread behind him like a dog chasing a bone. "If anything you should feel sorry for me, not her! I'm basically her lap-dog. If I could break up with her I would, but everytime she just acts like she didn't head me and tells her friends we're still together."

Sunoo considered his excuse. It was an incredibly weak one but he still considered it. If he were in Park Sunghoon's shoes, he'd refuse to go back on his word and stop entertaining Wonyoung altogether but that's just him. Sunoo didn't like Wonyoung, but he knew she didn't deserve love out of pity or complacency.

Sunghoon sighed, he'd never admitted this to anybody before "It's been this way since last year. I broke up with her before she took her Paris gap year, but now she's coming back to haunt me." The two were in the gym locker room now.

"Just let the girl down with no room for misunderstandings.. no need for all the excuses." Sunoo shrugged.

Sunghoon huffed in frustration. "You don't get it.. Wonyoung also has too many connections. This whole school is practically her arena." Sunoo had never heard it put that way, he was right.

"Yeah, I know." Sunoo recalled all of middle school with Wonyoung. Even if a kid looked at her funny, she'd call her daddy and get them detention for a straight week. She'd obviously eased up over the years.. only because Park Sunghoon turned her stone heart into Jell-O. Sunoo was sure people like that couldn't fall in love, but there she was, seemingly head over heels for the guitarist.. or atleast, in love with the attention his popularity brought.

When he really sat and thought about it, Kim Sunoo couldn't help but feel bad for for Jang Wonyoung... but on the other hand he could give less than a fuck, because of course.. it wasn't his business to care about.

"Really, how do you know? Are you close with her?" Sunghoon furrowed his eyebrows at him.

"No! This isn't about me, this is about you and Wonyoung." he said.

Sunghoon chuckled, "Well.. if I ever happen to escape her I think I'll hide in Mexico.. or maybe Australia, Wonyoung would never go to Australia, too many bugs." Sunoo was sure if he kept listening to him he'd lose proper braincells. "You're an idiot.." he said.. and before he could even blink, the unexpected happened.

Sunghoon was undressing.

Sunoo only had to see the olders waistline before deciding to avert his eyes, his cheeks full and red. "What are you doing?!" He yipped. Sunghoon was dumbfounded. "We're in a locker room, what do you think I'm doing..?" Somehow, some way.. Sunghoon had found a way to flip this situation around to make Sunoo feel like the weird one.

Sunoo had been to busy distracted by their rapid conversation to notice where Park Sunghoon was leading him-- Into a stinky locker room.  The pink-haired boy fumbled for the door. "Ugh, why did I follow you in here, pervert... I'm leaving."

Sunghoon, smirking, opened the door for him. "Save a seat on the bleachers for me, will you?"

 

Sunoo just kept walking, cheeks burning and pride slightly bruised.

---------------

After being rudely subjected to Park Sunghoon's locker-room stunt, Sunoo seriously considered bleaching his eyes. But there'd be no time for that. Lunch was calling, and gym had been... traumatic, as always. Today's dodgeball session had left him half-convinced he'd suffered permanent brain damage from a rogue ball to the temple.

The geek trio slid into their usual table, Jungwon already grumbling about the A-minus he'd received in Chemistry. "I literally followed every step in the lab manual—every single one!" he ranted, while Chaeryeong quietly enjoyed her perfectly cut, no-crust PB&J sandwiches like a saintly lunchtime angel.

Sunoo had no time for either of them. He was busy drooling over the boy occupying the middle of the cafeteria pit:

Na Jaemin.

Yoon sat with them today too, the latest quirky addition to the gang, and everyone had long since gotten used to her presence. Ni-ki occasionally joined—but only when it suited his skater schedule.

Sunoo leaned over the table, notebook open, scribbling furiously while muttering to himself. "Do you think Na Jaemin likes his eggs scrambled, or sunny-side up? Or maybe runny?"

The twins exchanged worried glances. "Uh... why don't you just ask him?" Yoon suggested, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Matter of fact... you could invite him to be your plus-one at the get-together tonight at your place!"

Sunoo's eyes practically lit up. That was the best idea he'd heard since Nutella was invented—the world's most divine hazelnut spread.

"Exactly! Take matters into your own hands!" Jungwon added, as casual as if he were suggesting cereal over toast.

"BRILLIANT!" Sunoo declared, cupping Jungwon's face like he was holding a priceless artifact.

Before Jungwon could protest, a commotion erupted at the cafeteria doors. Rogue had arrived, matching varsity jackets and all, fliers in hand and a crowd of students in tow. Jake brandished a megaphone like it was a weapon of mass excitement.

"Welcome back to Lincoln High, students!" he boomed. The cafeteria erupted in cheers.

"WOOO LET'S GO BIG JAKE!" Choi Yeonjun hollered obnoxiously from somewhere in the crowd. Sunoo rolled his eyes.

Jake grinned, raising the megaphone again. "Rogue is thrilled to let you guys in on a little secret! Tonight, 9 PM, back-to-school party—hosted by none other than Heeseung! Come by, say hi... Prince Sunghoon himself will be there~ And yes, we do sign autographs. Tell a friend to tell a friend!"

Sunoo froze mid-scribble. His heart did a little somersault.

This. Was. It.

He had found his in.

Chapter Text

School was officially out, and partying was in. The dork holy trinity + Yoon swiftly made their way down the hallway, exchanging their outfit plans for tonight. Out of the corner of his eye, Sunoo spotted the music room door wide open. He peeked inside.. and there stood Na Jaemin, cleaning. His friends were already at the door, waiting for him.

"Kim Sunoo, are you coming or what?" Jungwon hollered.

"I'll catch up with you guys! I need to do something." He yelled back. His friends looked at eachother and laughed

"Good luck~" Yoon sang teasingly.

Sunoo made sure he was alone, then inhaled.. and exhaled, trying to calm down his nerves before going in that classroom and making a fool of himself. There was a possibility he'd be totally rejected, and Na Jaemin would tell him no.. But Sunoo had high hopes.

"Knock, knock.. can I come in?"

Jaemin turned around to the sound of his voice, his face lighting up when he realized who it was standing underneath the doorframe. "Oh hey Sunoo! Sure, come in. I was just preparing some of the music for the play, wanna hear?" Sunoo gave a shy nod before joining him on the piano bench.

  He watched intently as the boys fingers moved elegantly on the piano-keys, as if he were born to do this. The pink-haired boy  held his breath all whislt he played out of pure astonishment.. watching as the relaxed look on his face turned into concetration.

He was captivating.

He'd ended his concerto gracefully, then looked at Sunoo. "Whaddya think?" he smiled. What did he think? That piece had practically brought him to tears, that's what he thought.

"That was really beautiful Jaemin."

Sunoo's hand went flying to his mouth, had he really said that cheesy shit out loud? Jaemin laughed, making Sunoo feel immediately ten times lighter just from the sound of his laughter.

"I performed it for the homeless shelter I work with every weekend and they seem to think so to."

Of course, he even did charity work. As soon as Sunoo thinks he can't get any more perfect, he proves him wrong.

"I think it'll be even more beautiful with you as the lead, no?" Jaemin gave him a coy look.

He was really persistent with this whole play thing, Sunoo thought. Sunoo never had somebody believe in him the way he did, it felt foreign. He shyed away, his hands politely sat in his lap.

"Maybe.. fingers crossed." He muttered.

A moment of silence had passed and Kim Sunoo had completely forgotten what he had come in there for. He'd gotten distracted with Na Jaemins dreamy piano playing.

"Jaemin.." he hesitated. This was it, there was no going back.

Jaemin hmm'd in response, collecting his music note papers in a neat little pile. "Are-Are you doing anything.. tonight?" the boy blurted out.

Jaemin raised an eyebrow "Not anything that I know of, no."

Sunoo cleared his throat, preparing for rejection. "Would you maybe wanna come over to my place-? There's a thing happening, I'm sure you've heard.." He mumbled while playing with the zipper of his hoodie. He scanned Jaemins face looking for any hint of an answer and was pleasantly surprised when he grinned.

"If that means I'll get to see you, of course- l'll be sure to stop by!"

  Sunoo felt a wave of relieve wash over him. He hid the smile forming on his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. "Okay.. See you tonight!" Before he could stand there any longer, twiddling his thumbs like an idiot- he got a move on it out the door.

His friends stood outside waiting for him. "Well.. did you do it?" Yoon says with a lollipop hanging out the side of her mouth.
Sunoo nodded excitedly.

Tonight was going to be amazing.

--------------

"I'll see you guys tonight!" Sunoo shouted from his porch as his friends pulled out of his driveway.

Before Sunoo could even put his key in the door, the sun-roof of Betty opened and out came an outpour of pop music from Chaeryeongs radio, Justin Timberlake to be exact. Yoon popped her head out the roof and began to dance horribly to the tune of "SexyBack", the twins groaning in embarrassment.

"KIM SUNOOOOO~ MAKE SURE TO GET SEXY TONIGHT BITCH." she hollered, her pigtails swaying every which way as she danced. Sunoo threw his head back in laughter, there was no better hype woman than Yoon.

"DUH" he shouted back

Yoon's the type of person that gets you excited before the party even starts, and Sunoo loved that about her. He'd never met anybody who'd matched his energy as well as her. The twins already had to deal with Kim Sunoo on the daily.. having two of them now was just plain out torture.

  She blew a flying kiss before sinking back into her seat and closing the sun-roof. Sunoo was sure they'd already disturbed half off Lincoln Hill with their loud ass music and the party hadn't even started yet. He headed inside to where his brother stood in the kitchen decorating with Jake.

  He joined them in the kitchen, taking a seat on the barstool. He scanned the house looking for his parents yet they were nowhere to be found. Usually they'd be home around this time.

"Where's mom and dad?" Sunoo asked.

  Heeseung looked up at him. "I gave them two tickets to go see a reshowing of The Notebook.. they'll be out for a while, hopefully they won't be back until morning time." Heeseung exclaimed. He seemed to be in a good mood today, which was rare.

Sunoo shuttered at the thought of his parents kissing in a movie theatre.

"Gross! I bet they'll rent a hotel and everything..  Hey where'd you find two tickets for The Notebook anyway? You used to cry like a little baby everytime we watched that movie!" Sunoo teased. Jake snickered from where he stood making Heeseung turn a bright red.

"That information is classified." he said.

Sunoo snorted. "Yeah right.."

"Hey I wanna hear more about this "Heeseung crying over The Notebook" spiel! Come on tell me." Jake was covered in glitter and he had a hot glue gun in his hand. He'd been busy making party streamers.

  Sunoo smirked. This was his opportunity to completely embarrass his older brother in front of his crush. "Well.. When we were little, our parents would do this thing where every friday night we'd go to the nearest RedBox and rent out a movie, right?" Jake nodded, following the story along. Heeseung was over it, rolling his eyes where he stood.

  "Everytime it was Heeseungs turn- he'd choose the CHEESIEST romance movies and cry at the end of every single movie he picked! He was only twelve it really was funny. Our Heedeungie has always been the casanova of the family." Sunoo looked over at his brother when he said the last sentence. Jake let out a couple of "Aw's" and Heeseung was as good as putty in his hands.

"Who knew you were so sensitive~" Jake tugged at his cheek. Heeseung was redder than ever and Sunoo had to stop himself from laughing. He glared at the pink-haired boy.. giving him a "You are so dead" look. Sunoo simply batted his eyelashes.

He peered down at the cheese charcuterie board nicely arranged on the kitchen table "Ooh what's all this?" he said. Heeseung swatted his little brother away  "No eating or pulling from the drink cooler until everybody gets here" he lectured.

Sunoo groaned, "Please? Just one cube?"

Heeseung gave him an uninterested look.

"Give the boy his cube, Hee." Jake chimed into the conversation just in time.

Sunoo had finally gained an ally in this family, somebody who stuck up for him. Heeseung looked at him, then his little brother and sighed, begrudgingly passing the cheese board over to him. "Brat.." His older brother called him. Sunoo stuck his tongue out at him in response. Maybe having Jake around as a future brother-in-law could potentially come in handy.

  Sunoo shoved the cheese cube in his mouth and wiped his hands. "Well.. If you'll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to."

He makes his way to the bathroom where his transformation will officially begin. The boy put on his perfect party playlist on shuffle and got to work. He jumped into the shower quickly, then shaved just about every inch of his body- considering how fast teenage boys grow hair. When he got out the shower, the mirrors were foggy.

Finally, he picked up his makeup brush and drenched his eyelids in shimmer. The more he looked at his makeup brush, the more it reminded him of Won.. reminiscing of when he did Jungwons makeup the night of Yeonjuns party. He wished the twins were with him as of right now, but it didn't matter since they'd be staying over after the party for a sleepover.

  The pink-haired boy ran to his bedroom closet with just a towel on in search of tonights outfit. Yoon DID tell him to get sexy tonight and who was he to disagree? It was going to be a humid kind of night out and little high waisted shorts were really speaking to him (omg the neighborhood reference??) That + his white tank top with a lace trim he bought ages ago was bound to eat everybody up at the party tonight.

Although he was keeping it risky tonight, he was also a law-abiding citizen-- so he threw a pretty zip-up hoodie over it like every good gay person in search of an outfit. He just had to put his white converse on and he was good to go. He looked at himself in his full-body length mirror, satisfied with what he saw.

"Kim Sunoo.. You are one hot ass bitch." he muttered.

Before he could waste any more time gawking at himself in the mirror, Sunoo's phone dinged. 9:30. Somehow he'd spent an hour and a half in the bathroom getting ready. He could already hear voices from downstairs—laughing, shouting, pre-party chaos in full swing.

He bolted down the stairs and was immediately met with Rogue sprawled across his living room. The house was decked out with decorations, streamers, and fairy lights, and Sunoo couldn't help but be impressed.

Jay and Jake were engrossed in some fighting video game on Heeseung's PlayStation while Ryujin laughed herself silly.

"That's not fair! I don't know any of the move combos!" Jake whined as Jay cornered his character.

"Sounds like a skill problem," Jay said, landing the finishing blow. Ryujin cheered. "IN YOUR FACE!" they chanted, circling Jake like victorious hyenas. Sunoo giggled from the staircase, reminded of all the nights he'd spent playing these games with Heeseung.

Jake finally got up and returned to the kitchen to help Heeseung, leaving Sunoo with the odd feeling of being watched. He turned and froze—Park Sunghoon, sitting on the sofa with Wonyoung cuddled up next to him. Sunghoon's arm rested on her shoulder like it belonged there. His eyes, however, weren't on Wonyoung—they were on Sunoo, and there was an intensity there he hadn't seen before.

It was the kind of stare that made Sunoo self-conscious, like he was being inspected under a microscope. He instinctively checked his teeth in his phone camera, found nothing, and shoved it back in his pocket. Maybe it was nothing.

Ryujin spun around, spotting him. "Oh hey, Heeseung's mini-me! Wanna challenge Jay in Mortal Kombat? I'll give you twenty bucks if you win!"

Sunoo crossed his arms. "Oh sure I—"

A sharp knock at the front door cut him off.
"I'll get it!" he shouted, rushing forward. He wanted to be the first person Na Jaemin saw.

Four familiar faces greeted him instead: the twins, Yoon, and Ni-ki. No Jaemin in sight. Sunoo's shoulders sagged.

"Open up, Kim Sunoo! The life of the party has arrived," Ni-ki announced, barging past him into the house.

"We pre-gamed before we got here," Yoon whispered, rolling her eyes. "He's about three Budlights away from shit-facing."

Sunoo shut the door, locking it behind them, and turned to his friends. "So... has your special guest made it yet?" Jungwon nudged him with an elbow.

Sunoo pouted dramatically. "Nope."

"Well, we've got all night. I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later," Jungwon reassured. Sunoo simply nodded.

The crowd slowly filled the living room, and Ryujin suggested a quick rehearsal in the garage as a celebration. Everyone agreed and shuffled out. Sunoo hung back, phone in hand, hoping for a text from Jaemin.
Park Sunghoon, however, stayed behind, smoothly closing the distance between them.

"You look nice," he said, voice low, "must be for a certain someone... Na Jaemin, right?"
Sunoo's eyes snapped up from his phone, annoyed. "Who told you?"

"Just a hunch, princess," Sunghoon smirked, perfectly satisfied at the flinch he got. "Turns out I'm right."

Sunoo crossed his arms. "Why exactly do you care?"

Sunghoon paused, making sure they were alone. His eyes softened slightly, and for a moment, Sunoo thought he might actually be serious. "You should be careful, Sunoo. Jaemin is..."

Sunoo's eyebrows furrowed. "He's what? Just mind your business, Park," he snapped, storming off.

Sunghoon sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets. 'Great start to the party...' he muttered, before heading to join the others.

Outside, the garage was decked out with fairy lights stringing the house and theres red solo cups with what looks to be- kegs of beer set up on the table. After some time passed people finally start showing up and the Lee-Kim household is filled to the brim like a pack of sardines.

People are in the livingroom, in the kitchen, Hell- upstairs there's a line for the damn bathroom.

The dork holy trinity had to hold hands just to weave themselves through the crowd without getting lost. Everybody crowded outside at the news that Rogue was getting ready to perform, red solo cups in hand. Sunoo had noticed a lot of die-hard Rogue fans were here tonight.

A crowd of squealing girls surrounded Rogue. One girl had even gotten Jake to sign her forehead.

  All of Rogue gathered together inside the garage, the crowd beginning to roar. Kim Sunoo and his friends were in the way back, judging from afar like always.

Ryujin toyed with the mic before finally facing the crowd. "Hey guys.. So many new faces showed up tonight, wow." She said  into the mic while scanning the crowd. Everybody went batshit crazy after hearing her voice.

Sunoo could feel the absolute magnetic connection Ryujin had with her fans and the way she interacted with them, it was insane. She was stupid cool- being the lead singer of Rogue and all. The corner of Ryujins mouth lifted in a smile.

  "Before we get to the main event- Park Sunghoons's new viral hit song!! How are we feeling about singing some cult classics?"

  Everybody hollered in response, Ryujin took that as a yes. "Alright, You guys are on fire tonight! I dig it.. How about my personal favorite- Shout out! C'mon I know you guys know that one.. right?" Ryujin looked to her bandmates and the crowd, everybody seemed to be in agreement.

  "Hit it, Jake"

  Jake started off the song on a count of three with his drumsticks, girls were seriously swooning in the crowd. Sunoo watched his bestfriend obviously stare at the bass guitarist, Jay, with his mouth wide open, and giggled to himself. "Like what you see?" he teased.

Jungwon grew red in the face "Shut up Sunoo."

Sunoo snickered once more before turning back around to the performance in front of them.

Okay.. Sunoo had to give Rogue their well-deserved flowers.

  They were really good. Maybe Sunoo was starting to understand the hype just a littttttle bit better. Ryujins vocals combined with that of Jays bass guitar were a force to be reckoned with.

  "Hoonie!! Look over here!" Wonyoung squealed from where she stood.

  Sunoo whipped his head around to the left and saw her with her phone out recording. She had on an obnoxious shirt with Park Sunghoons annoying face on it. Sunoo scoffed, where'd she even get that? He looked from her to the stage where the raven-haired stood, strumming his guitar. He still couldn't comprehend what he tried to tell him earlier concerning Jaemin, it was none of his business.

  Rogue got through with playing a couple of songs and it'd already reached 10:30. Sunoo stared at his phones notification center.. where could he be? He was beginning to grow worried. Yoon looked at him. She could tell what he was thinking. "Don't worry Sunoo, I'm sure he's just running a little late." She reassued him. Sunoo nodded.

"Alright folks.. give it up for Rogues Prince charming- Park Sunghoon!" Ryujin yelled into the mic.

Sunghoon looked grim in the face and a bandaid had been wrapped tight around his index finger from a prior incident that had happened earlier. He had cut his finger from playing the guitar so hard in the middle of Rogues setlist- that it started gushing blood and they had to take like a ten minute break.

But he was back. The number one reason as to why people had came out tonight- was to see Park after all. Sunoo couldn't understand them. He saw Sunghoon everyday at school and that was enough as is. Sunghoon cleared his throat, adjusting his wrinkled linen shirt as his guitar rested in his lap. He looked... good. Damn good, Sunoo had to admit.

"This song is for somebody very special..." Sunghoon's gaze flicked, just briefly, toward the pink-haired boy at the back of the crowd. Sunoo didn't notice—he was too busy folding his arms. Great. A cheesy love song for a cheesy fake relationship. Fantastic.

Wonyoung "awe'd," pressing a hand over her heart, her delight impossible to miss.

"I hope you all like it as much as the first time," he added, finishing with a small, almost imperceptible smile.
Sunoo scoffed. The slurred cadence of his words betrayed the alcohol he'd obviously indulged in. He was a mess up there, and Sunoo couldn't believe they'd let him perform like this.

The song began, slow and sultry, a stark contrast to Rogue's usual punk-rock energy. Sunoo's chest tightened. This was Sunghoon in a way he'd never seen before: mysterious, raw, and effortlessly commanding. Kim Sunoo hadn't thought the boy could write something so personal, so... intimate—but here he was, proving him wrong.

The combination of the song's sensuality and Sunghoon's slightly tipsy, uneven delivery made Sunoo's face feel hot. His stomach twisted in a way that made him uncomfortable. Something was different tonight. Something unspoken that Sunoo didn't want to confront.

Maybe this song wasn't for Wonyoung at all. The intensity in Sunghoon's eyes—the yearning, the desperate pull—pressed directly against Sunoo's chest even from across the room. No matter how hard he tried to look away, Sunghoon's presence forced him to see, over and over again, exactly what he didn't want to admit.

The two's staring contest was abruptly interrupted by none other than Jang Wonyoung.

"He wrote this for me, guys! He wrote this for me! Hi, I'm Jang Wonyoung—Park Sunghoon's girlfriend. Here's my business card, nice to meet you!" She was busy shaking hands and making connections mid-performance, completely oblivious to anyone else. Sunoo rolled his eyes.
The fact that she'd stooped so low to leech off her boyfriend's fame wasn't surprising to him. Their relationship was convenient, mutually beneficial, and painfully obvious.
Park Sunghoon's solo ended, and the crowd erupted, surrounding him with things to autograph. Sunoo watched quietly, noting how effortlessly people gravitated toward him.

"Kim Sunoo, you want something to drink? There's fruit punch... soda," Jungwon asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"Yeah, sure," Sunoo said, accepting a soda can. Everyone else had beer in hand, but Heeseung had made it clear that his little brother was off-limits for alcohol—especially after the Barf Boy incident.

As the mini-concert wrapped up, house-party music poured from the built-in speakers. People swarmed the dance floor. The four of them stuck close together, until Ryujin tapped Chaeryeong on the shoulder.

Chaeryeong spun around, surprised. "Uh—I-I don't know how to dance—"

"She'd love to!" Sunoo cut her off, dragging her hand into his. Hesitant at first, Chaeryeong followed, and the two were off. The rest of the group snickered proudly as they watched their friend be led to the dance floor.

"She's gonna die out there," Jungwon muttered.

"Good. New experiences!" Sunoo replied, taking a long swig of his fruit punch. Jungwon shook his head, exasperated but entertained.

After a while, Jungwon got a visitor of his own.

"Hey," Jay said, hands shoved deep into his pockets, cheeks faintly rosy.

Yoon recoiled. "Gross, why are you over here? Your cooties are rubbing off on us all."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Meh meh meh, blah blah—that's exactly how you sound, did you know that?" He mocked her, grinning.
"Whatever," Yoon said, crossing her arms.

Sunoo chuckled. This must be how people saw him and Heeseung when they argued—ridiculous, theatrical, and somehow endearing.

Jay gave Sunoo and Yoon a look, silently telling them to scram. They obliged, leaving the two of them some privacy. Jungwon panicked, eyes wide: "What do I do? Why is this hot guy approaching me?? S.O.S!"

Sunoo gave him a thumbs-up, silently cheering his friends on. His little flock had finally left the nest, and there was nothing more he could do but watch them fumble their way into new experiences.
He was proud.

Yoon downed whatever mysterious liquid was left in her cup then threw it to the side. Everybody had left them and it was just the two singles left. "Fuck them, let's dance together Kim Sunoo, you sexy thing!" Yoon says and Sunoo giggles. His date still hadn't shown so he didn't see why not.

  Yoon was a better boyfriend than any guy anyways. The two acted a fool together on the dance floor and gained countless judgemental looks but they could care less. Sunoo felt a presence behind him in the midst of the crowd. He turned around and to his surpise it was Jaemin. He had came after all.

"Hi, I'm so sorry I took so long- something came up." Jaemin rubbed the back of his neck. A weak smile formed on Sunoos face, it was all he could muster up. He was beyond excited to see him but- it seemed as if he had no regard for the time he'd just wasted.  "It's alright. You look nice." Sunoo said.

  He did clean up quite nice. His outfit was well put together and he smelled like marshmallows. "You too" Jaemin replied and Sunoo felt the butterflies rile up in his stomach.

The song changed to a slow jam and everybody started coupling up.  He looked at yoon. "Mind if I steal him from you?" He said.

Yoon smiled "Go ahead."

  Before she left she pulled her friend to the side and whispered into his ear- "I would definitely tap that if I were you." Sunoo swatted her away as she laughed evily.

Sunoo turned back around to face his date "Sorry.. she's crazy, here let me just-" He wiped his sweaty nervous hands onto his shorts and interlocked them with Na Jaemins. The two danced like that for a while, Jaemin leading and Sunoo following in pursuit. Sunoo felt as if he were in cloud nine, his face tingled from smiling so much.

He couldn't believe he was dancing with the boy he'd had a fat crush on for ages.

He wished this night would never end.

--------------

Sunghoon grabbed a Corona from the hidden booze cooler and planted himself at the front of the garage beside Heeseung.

Heeseung shot him a wary look. "Easy there, don't get sick... I'll be the one cleaning up your vomit," he warned.
Too late. Sunghoon had been sick a long time ago. So what if he wanted to push it further with alcohol? That was his business.

"Yeah, I know..." he muttered, letting his gaze drift across the crowd. Then he found him—the pink-haired boy. Sunoo. Spinning on the dance floor with Na Jaemin, laughing like it was the first time he'd ever heard the sound of joy. That laugh... more of a snort, really. Sunghoon had never known a noise so impossibly cute.

He remembered the moment Sunoo had come down the stairs earlier. The way he had dressed up, the way he had caught Sunghoon staring, checking himself in the mirror for flaws that didn't exist.

In that instant, all Sunghoon wanted to do was tell him: Stop it. You're perfect.

But he couldn't. He always choked.

Now, here he was. Drunk out of his mind, tense from the fight with Sunoo earlier, and tormented by the sight of him so happy—so untouchable. The boy was like a wine stain across his conscience, impossible to ignore, impossible to erase. The looks they exchanged, the dancing... it made his jaw ache. He couldn't bear it anymore.

Sunghoon drained the rest of his beer, crushed the can in his fist, and flung it to the ground. Without thinking, he stormed into the house. He had no plan, no destination. Everything was a blur.

On his way, he bumped into a guy.

"Are you alright, man?" the stranger asked, reaching out to steady him. Sunghoon didn't respond—didn't even glance up. He kept walking, noticing the baby photos lining the walls, the refrigerator magnets, the family portraits. Kim Sunoo's presence was everywhere, seeping into every corner, and it made him want to claw his own head off.

He needed anywhere but here, somewhere his skull wouldn't pound so violently. Sunghoon swung open Heeseung's door and instantly regretted it.

Wonyoung and some guy were all over each other.

Both flinched, horror flashing across Wonyoung's usually perfect face. Sunghoon didn't speak. He stumbled out, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead, trying to shake off the ache.

"Fuck..." he muttered, disbelief and fury coiling in his chest.

Wonyoung pushed the guy off, barely decent, bra strap slipping from her shoulder. "Hoonie, wait! Wait, please—we were just talking—" She reached for his arm. Sunghoon flinched, swatting her away reflexively. She stumbled into the guy's chest.

He hadn't meant to swat her away. The headache, the chaos, the pounding music downstairs, all of it made him feel like someone was prodding him with a needle to see how much he could take before snapping. People were staring now, whispering. He felt monstrous under their gaze.

"I guess 'talking' means your tongue down his throat, right? Just... go home, Wonyoung," he said, voice tight, almost trembling with restraint.

Wonyoung choked back crocodile tears. "Well—you've been looking at that freak all night! I just... I just wanted your attention!"

"You think I haven't seen the way you look at him? Like I'm invisible!" she continued, her sobs shrill.

Sunghoon's chest constricted. The guy she had been making out with rolled up his sleeves and stepped closer, white-knight posturing. "You're a dick, dude," he said, shielding Wonyoung.

Oh, right. He was the dick. Not him. Not the guy who was just making out with his girlfriend.

Sunghoon laughed—short, harsh, then louder, until his stomach hurt. People were staring, whispering, thinking he'd lost it. He didn't care. The girl hiding behind him, pretending to be innocent, trying to manipulate the narrative—it made him insane.

"Listen, man... I admire your loyalty, but this isn't your business," Sunghoon said, voice low, controlled—but his fingers itched.

The guy puffed out his chest. "If you're looking for a fight, pick one with me. Leave Wonyoung out of it," he challenged.

Sunghoon cocked an eyebrow. He'd been patient. He'd given him a chance. Human nature.

But Park Sunghoon wasn't in a forgiving mood. In fact, his drunkess had replaced his ability to forgive in this moment.

Human nature.

"Sounds good to me," he said, fist sailing into the guy's face.

Human nature.

---------------

Sunoo lead Na Jaemin out to the back patio where it's quieter so they could have some alone time. Sunoo sat on the wooden stairs and patted the spot next to him for Jaemin to sit next to him. "I come sit out here a lot when I need to think.." He shared, and Jaemin listened.

The two watched the stars side by side and Sunoo finally mustered up enough courage to clear his throat. "So.. I've decided I'm gonna audition for Juliet.. that's a wild decision right?" He laughed as if it were silly but Jaemin had an astonished look on his face.

  He watched as the older mumbled some incoherent nonsense to himself.. he'd been acting sort of weird all night. Always mumbling to himself or randomly taking phone calls.

"No-no that's a great idea! I'll help you. Come by the music room after school next week and we'll go over the lines."

  Sunoo smiled at him, he could feel his heart jumping around in his chest. He could possibly have his first kiss tonight if he really wanted to.. but that thought was interrupted by the sound of a screen door opening. Out came a bloody-knuckled, drunk Park Sunghoon.

He opens the cooler and takes out yet another beer. Sunoo gasped at the sight before them, his eyes widening at the absolute crime scene his hand is.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

Sunghoon looked at him with tired eyes, "Why? Are you worried?"

Somehow.. the thought that the pink-haired boy may be worried about him put him at ease. Sunoo was at a loss for words. Of course he was worried, the raven-haired was bleeding out onto his fucking porch.

  He seems to lock eyes with Jaemin, as if he were sizing him up. "Fuck are you looking at min? Down to play some beer-pong?" he says.

The very idea seemed to disgust Jaemin. He judgmentally looked him up and down, a stern look on his prince-like face. "You're bleeding out onto the patio and all you can think about is beer-pong.. nice" The way he said it had been super condescending. As if he was above everybody just because he didn't drink.. or smoke, or eat meat.

Sunghoon scoffed, Mr. Na must've thought he was hot shit.

Sunghoon stood up and got real close into Jaemins face. He wanted to take that silverspoon out his mouth and shove it where the sun don't shine. "You're a real buzzkill you know that?" He said and Na Jaemin gulped.

Sunoo had never seen Park act like this, what had gotten into him? Yeah he was an asshole but he wasn't like- a lunatic.. was he? All he knew was Park Sunghoon was being a humongous cockblocker and it was starting to get seriously uncomfortable.

"Sunghoon, stop it! You're drunk! Okay—just stop," Sunoo pleaded, voice trembling with frustration.
Something in the look Sunoo gave him—the embarrassment, the vulnerability—hit Sunghoon hard. He didn't want to see that. Not from Sunoo. Not ever. With a heavy sigh, he stepped back and retreated into the house, leaving a tense silence behind.

Jaemin exhaled, shaking his head slightly. "I should go, Sunoo. Thanks for inviting me."

Sunoo's chest sank as Jaemin began to walk away, and he trailed after him, panic rising. That idiot Park must've totally scared him off. Curse him.

"I can walk you to the front—"

"No, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow," Jaemin interrupted, stopping Sunoo in his tracks.

Sunoo slumped against the railing, watching him disappear into the night. Great.

-------------------

  The house was finally quiet for the first time in forever. Guests had started trickling out around midnight, whispers of the "altercation" in the living room spreading like wildfire. Only a handful remained, helping the Lee-Kim brothers clean up.

"I'm gonna get a jump on taking a shower!" Jungwon announced. Sunoo nodded and headed to the garage to see what else he could help with. Chaeryeong was sprawled on the garage sofa, completely knocked out. Sunoo took a few pictures of her sleeping before deciding it was probably time to wake her.

He gently shook her awake. "Chaeryeong~ go get in bed, my daughter," he cooed. She protested just enough to be adorable, dragging her blanket with her as she stumbled upstairs to Sunoo's room.

Being the Yang twins' best friend must be a full-time job.
Sunoo stretched, wiggling his toes. He'd been in those tight shorts and Converse forever and couldn't wait to slip under his sheets. Sleep alone sounded like heaven right now. With renewed energy, he peeled the banners off the garage door, working quickly.

His phone dinged against his leg—family group chat. His mother, blissfully unaware of the chaos, had sent:
"See you tomorrow morning kids, mommy loves you to the moon and back ^_^"

Sunoo rolled his eyes. Cute emojis aside, if she saw the state of the house, he'd be dead. Closed casket. Some things were better left her imagination... a little secret between him and Heeseung.

A sudden commotion to his left drew his attention. Sunghoon and Wonyoung were arguing—loudly. Sunoo hadn't even realized they hadn't left yet.

He strained to hear snippets:

"We barely even got to third base! You completely overreacted! I can't believe you hit him!" Wonyoung's voice was casual, like she was annoyed rather than upset, her nails catching the dim light.

"You're insane! Actually... like, you're nuts," Sunghoon shot back, dumbfounded.

Wonyoung slid into the passenger seat, slamming the door with her Dior shades concealing her eyes. Sunghoon peered in; the guy from earlier was in the driver's seat. Of course.
"And then you're gonna let him take you uome." he scoffed. Sunoo's stomach twisted. 'Should I even be listening to this?' ...He thought  to himself.

Wonyoung's lips pouted, fake and practiced.

"Sorry, Hoonie... you always come first. Call me when you're sober, okay? Let's go."

And just like that, she was gone. Sunghoon stood there, pitiful, a ghost of someone who had spent years thinking he had the upper hand in this game. Turns out, she'd been holding all the cards all along.

Sunghoon turned back toward the garage and locked eyes with Sunoo. The pink-haired boy looked away immediately, pretending he hadn't just overheard everything.

Sunghoon didn't speak. He brushed past Sunoo as he walked into the house, their shoulders barely touching.
Tonight, Sunoo realized: Park Sunghoon wasn't just the shallow playboy image he displayed at school.

He was deeper than his relationship with Wonyoung.

Deeper than Rogue.

And each day Sunoo didn't know why he was the way that he was, his curiosity grew.

Impatient and more impatient.