one more light

zhao minghao, 17, whizkid

[ksxmina]

being back at keisung hadn’t really ever been on her agenda, not when she’d left with the thought of it being for good– but needing a stable and settled place and job, it was how mina, ex junior anyway, found herself back as a staff member. today being her first official day in the school too as she settled in her office– with that, she hadn’t expected someone to apparently need to see her so soon as she heard the knock at the door before the sound of a creak as it opened. and with a tired roll of her eyes as mina leaned back against the desk now instead, she faced the apparent intruder. “can i help you with something?” and honestly, even that felt odd to say given that she’d been a student before, and now she wasn’t. so having to say that as a member of staff, was definitely a change.

[ksminghao-blog]

minghao had been disappointed when his teacher hadn’t been able to help him with a book he needed for one of his assignments. the book was nowhere to be found in the school library, so his teacher had simply sent him to one of the librarians office, instead of doing it himself. minghao had been anxious about asking his teacher for help, he’d been trying to build up the courage to do it for a few days, and now he had to ask yet another person. 

once he made it to the office his teacher had told him to go to, he carefully knocked on the door before entering. “uh, hi,” he said, smiling nervously at the librarian (who had to be new - he can’t remember having seen her around the library before). “mr. park from the science department sent me. i, uh, need this book, but it wasn’t in the library, so he said that maybe... maybe you could add it to the list of new books to buy.” he handed her a note with the name of the book on it, biting his lip as he waited for a response. 

[ksminghao-blog]

ksxyoungmin:

youngmin is always excited when he and minghao decide to go out for lunch. it doesn’t happen very often, between the tiny allowance his grandparents give him and the few spare won his brother can pass on it’s rare when youngmin can afford to spend money on food. but today is one of the days the stars have aligned and both he and minghao have enough extra money to leave campus for something significantly more edible than sub-par cafeteria food.

he walks alongside minghao excitedly, chatting away with him about his classes, asking questions and keeping the conversation going. youngmin’s used to pushing the conversation along, it had been obvious from the first time he’d shared a cafeteria table with minghao that the older boy is shy, but youngmin doesn’t mind, happy enough to do most of the talking if it means minghao feels more comfortable, or backing off and letting him talk when he wants to. he’d been a little worried, the first time he’d decided to start talking to minghao, that his bright and talkative personality would come off as overbearing, but minghao had been willing enough to join the conversation, and the two had easily become friends. today, minghao had seemed a little out of sorts, and as they talked, youngmin tried to stay extra bright and cheerful, hoping it’ll rub off on his friend.

the car startles youngmin too, as it speeds past them, and he frowns as he watches it race off. dummy, he thinks, that kind of thing is what gets people hurt, and the thought makes something painful twist in the pit of his stomach. he takes a deep breath, tries to put it out of his mind, and arranges a smile back on his face as he turns to continue conversation with minghao. only.. minghao’s not there anymore. youngmin had kept walking, but minghao had stopped somewhere behind him, and he turns quickly, heart sinking when he sees his friend, frozen in place.

“minghao!” he runs over as minghao drops to the ground, and youngmin crouches down too, right beside him. he’s not sure what is happening, why minghao is suddenly acting this way, but his friend looks panicked and scared and youngmin knows he has to do something. “minghao, hey, it’s okay…” youngmin reaches out to place his hand on minghao’s shoulder, gently rubbing back and forth. he wants to wrap his arms around minghao in a hug, but he’s not sure how much physical comfort is good in these situations so he leaves it at rubbing his shoulder. minghao says something in chinese, and youngmin thinks he knows what he’s saying, though why minghao would be calling for his parents youngmin has no idea. that’s not what matters though, what matters right now is making sure minghao is okay. “I’m here, hey, you’re okay. just breathe, yeah? in… and out…” youngmin inhales and exhales as he speaks, hoping minghao will follow his lead.

minghao has completely forgotten his surrounding. as he sits there on the ground, his breath heavy due to the overwhelming feeling in his chest almost suffocating him, his mind keeps going back to that night when he was 7. the night he lost his parents. 

he doesn’t remember much, and what he does remember is in flashes. a glimpse of a car approaching them, driving at probably twice the speed limit. he doesn’t remember seeing the crash. his eyes were probably closed out of fear. but what he does remember is how it felt. his body had surged forward, only to be stopped abruptly by the seat belt. he had felt dizzy, because the car was spinning, and then everything had went black. 

when he opened his eyes again, he had been in a hospital. he remembered frantically looking around for his parents, calling out for them. in the end, he had to be held down by the nurse, as the doctor calmly tried to explain to him what had happened. they had been in a car accident. his parents hadn’t made it. minghao was alive, but badly injured. he hadn’t believed it, instead he had kept calling out for his parents, so sure they would enter the hospital room any second, there was no way- 

his mind went blank, before returning to his present surroundings. he felt a hand on his shoulder, and his body visibly tensed, unable to remember how and why he had gotten here. it was only when he heard youngmin’s voice that his body relaxed, his shoulders falling and his breathing becoming more even. he was okay. he was here, he was with youngmin, and he was alive. that’s all that mattered for now. 

he sat there in silence for a little while longer, his breathing slowly evening out as youngmin gently rubbed his shoulder, telling him to breathe. his cheeks were wet, as a few tears seemed to have manage to escape his eyes. as he wiped them, he lifted his head, turning to look at his friend. his friend who was probably beyond worried about him now, as the only person outside of his family and therapist that knew about what had happened to him was jiyeon. “i-i’m okay,” he said reassuringly, his voice hoarse after the crying. he let out a shaky breath before he continued talking. “that... hasn’t happened in a while.”

[ksminghao-blog]

ksxscott:

scott makes a rather snide remark, “you don’t look fine.” he doesn’t know why this boy insists on lying when he’s so bad at it. “if you’re going to lie, at least have a better poker face.” grabbing some paper towels, the inferior hands one to the younger male. placing his hands into the pockets of his designer slacks, his lips curl into a charming smile. “now that i’ve caught you, there’s no use lying to me.” the boy’s eyes are red and puffy from crying. he jokes, “what happened? did someone steal your date?” really, what do high school kids have to worry about nowadays?      

as the paper towel is handed to him, minghao abruptly stops sniffling, looking up at the older in surprise. “i... thanks,” he mumbled, taking the paper towel out of the older’s hands. he’s a bit embarrassed to be standing there wiping his teary face in front of a college student. “no,” he replied as he threw away the used paper towel, a hint of annoyance in his voice. this guy seemed to think he was stupid for sitting in a bathroom crying during a school event. “it’s just... i was overwhelmed, it’s nothing.” 

[ksminghao-blog]

kstian:

tian had never thought he would grow up to want to take part in sports. a lot of his friends when he was younger hated a lot of physical activity, especially seeing as most of the time he hung around with the kids who preferred books and studying over everything else. but he had found basketball and it had simply grown into a passion and now he wanted to base his whole life around the sport. “basketball,” he responded with a nod of his head, “i want to go professional when i’m older. the swimming is more for fun.”

it turned out that his date for that evening didn’t do any sports besides p.e class, and that was fine. sports really wasn’t for everyone. though it did make sense as he went on to say he liked maths and was in the science club. yes, you did not get many people who liked maths and were part of the science club who also liked taking part in sports as well. those two were polar opposites. “cool,” he just responded, not really sure what else he could add on to that. “i’m alright at maths, it’s not my best subject, but i can normally keep up.” maybe he was being a little modest, he always managed to keep up with what was happening, but he didn’t mention that part. 

“oh, cool.” minghao nodded approvingly at tian, giving him a smile that was slightly less awkward than the one they had exchanged when they first met. he thought it was cool that tian wanted to go professional. minghao might not know a thing about basketball himself, but this guy was obviously passionate about it and minghao had always believed that it’s important to follow your own passions, and not listen to what anyone else expects you to be. 

minghao was surprised when his date seemed to think it was cool that his interests were more of the intellectual sort. most people, especially those involved in sports, usually disregarded him as ‘that quiet nerdy kid’, as if that was all there is to him. but it didn’t seem like tian thought that, which was a pleasant surprise. “that’s good!” he replied encouragingly. “a lot of people struggle with math, and science subjects in general, because there’s only one right answer, you know? you can’t really reflect much over the answer as you can with other subjects. so being able to keep up is good.” as he finished talking, minghao realized this was the most he had talked since he and tian met, and it had been about math. way to make a good first impression. 

[ksxjiyeon-blog]

science!

[ksminghao-blog]

ksxjiyeon:

“… was it really ten minutes?“ Jiyeon laughed. “Shit, you could’ve stopped me!“ That was only half-true. Whilst Minghao was a bit of an exception in that she actually listened to him when he asked her to calm down, it took more than a few hints here and there for her to actually understand how much she was talking. “But again, proving my point. And no I don’t… but I wish I did.”

Jiyeon bit her lip when Minghao opened the can, and shifted to sit properly in her chair. “Ah. That.” It was practically unheard of to find Jiyeon at a loss for words, but relating the accident she never talked more than she had to. Then again, Minghao was one of her closest friends, and he deserved to know.

“So, well… thank you, first of all.“ She gave him a sheepish smile and took a sip of the cola. "And… yeah, sometimes my muscles… give out? It doesn’t happen a lot any more, but on occasion simple things like this are kinda difficult for me… because, well, about a year ago I was in a car accident. And… it was bad.”

That was the understatement of the year, but Jiyeon really wasn’t used to talking about what happened in detail. “So I was in a coma for three months. And since then… I mean, I’m really a lot better than I was, but they say for every day someone’s in a coma they need a month of recovery until everything works again so… I’m, you know, doing my best and stuff and swimming really helps, but… yeah. Sorry for not telling you earlier, it’s just a bit weird to talk about it. Since, well, my dad died in a car accident when I was two, so…”

The atmosphere shifted to something a lot different, a lot less fun than when the two of them usually hung out together, and Jiyeon felt sorry for that too.

for several moments after jiyeon finished telling him about the car accident, all minghao could do was stare back at her in disbelief. what were the odds that one of his closest friends would be hiding something so similar to what he himself was hiding? 

he realized he was probably making a tense situation a million times worse by not reacting, and that jiyeon would definitely know something was up with him by now, but he wasn’t able to force himself to react, no matter how hard he tried. his mind was too focused on the thoughts racing through it. 

should he tell her about his own car accident? he hadn’t told anyone at keisung - in fact, the only people who knew were his aunt, his cousins and his therapist. both his parents being dead was a well known fact, but he had never been able to bring himself to tell anyone how they died. not even jiyeon, who he had gotten so unbelievably close to already during his few months at keisung. 

but now she had told him about her own trauma, and he sincerely doubted this was something she went around telling a lot of people. she had said it was weird to talk about, after all. didn’t she deserve to know? she had trusted him, now it was his turn to trust her. 

“i, uh.” he finally managed to make a sound, though he hadn’t managed to get out anything coherent. his gaze flickered down to the floor, and after taking a deep breath, he finally spoke up. 

“my parents. they died, as you know. but i haven’t told you that...” he paused, taking another deep breath, his gaze focused on his own lap. “they died in a car accident. i was in the car.” he finally managed to look up and meat jiyeon’s eyes again, a few tears escaping his eyes. he sniffled as he continued. “i was mostly unharmed, so i obviously don’t know what it’s like for you, but i just want you to know, i... i know what it’s like to have been in that situation. those few seconds you’re so sure you’re about to die.” he shuddered. it’s been years since he’d talked about this, and he tried to avoid thinking about the accident if he could. 

“it’s been ten years, and i still... i still have nightmares sometimes. and i still react sometimes, if a car drives by too fast.” he couldn’t believe he was telling jiyeon all this. it’s not that he didn’t trust her, but he had avoided talking to people about this for so long, and now he was finally opening up. his feelings about it were mixed - part of him was kind of relieved, while another part of him was terrified. 

“and i know what it’s like to lose a parent. it’s awful, no matter how young you were when it happened.”

[ksminghao-blog]

kstian:

no matter what he thought, he still rather thought that this situation was somewhat awkward. and it appeared as though he couldn’t just let his ‘date’ go off with his friends and make an escape as he stated that he wasn’t close enough to the people he knew were going. it looked as though he was stuck with him for the night. not that he could say that was a completely bad thing, but from the way things were going, he could already imagine how this wasn’t going to go well. it hadn’t been that long and already the conversation was lacking and it was quite clear there was some awkwardness between the two of them. 

“basketball,” he responded softly, eyes moving to the hoop one of the gym for a moment. “i’m also on the swim team as well, but at least that’s not affected by all of this.” because this was not a pool party, so even if the gym was closed for awhile and practice was cancelled, he could at least indulge with swimming. though he would much prefer unwinding with a basketball and putting in some good hours on the court. he hated going without practicing for long periods of time. “do you play anything?” 

“ahh.” minghao nodded as tian told him about the sports he was participating in. despite never having been a very athletic person himself, minghao admired the ones who had the patience to dedicate themselves to a sport. after all, his older cousin is a very dedicated soccer player, and minghao has seen the amount of work he puts into it. “that’s cool. do you, uh, do you prefer one over the other?” he asked, not quite sure whether it was a stupid question or not. 

“no,” he admitted. “i’m taking a p.e. class, though.” he didn’t elaborate further. the only reason he was taking p.e. was because his therapist had told him it would be good for him. (something minghao honestly doubted, as all it seemed to be doing was make his anxiety worse. but hey, who was he to question a professional?) but that wasn’t something he liked going around telling people he’s not close to, so if someone asked, he just shrugged and told them it had fit with his schedule. “i’m... more of a logical person. i like math and i’m in science club.” 

[ksminghao-blog]

kstian:

tian hadn’t really been expecting the question to be thrown back at him, though he supposed he should have seen that coming. he did have to pause for a moment, almost hesitating as he tried to think. “i don’t know…” he admitted, trailing off as he anxiously chewed on the inside of his cheek, “i didn’t actually ask.” not that he really thought he had many friends, or at least anyone that he wanted to go and find and hang around with if things didn’t work out. he’d always preferred to be by himself most of the time, so it was a surprise he was good at a team sport, but at least while playing basketball he didn’t need to worry about holding any kind of normal conversation. 

when minghao stopped, tian also found himself drawing to a halt, taking a moment to look around. he’d seen a  lot of the decor go up and had played around it, but he hadn’t had the chance to see the final product until now. “yeah,” he just agreed with a small nod of his head, “though i hope they can clear it up fast because we’re supposed to have a practice tomorrow.” and they couldn’t use the gym if there were still decorations all over the place and tables in the way. 

“oh,” he replied. tian’s reply made it seem like he didn’t have a lot of friends, or at least not many close ones, and it honestly made minghao feel kind of relieved. he felt bad about it - who the hell was relieved that another person had as few friends as yourself? - but at least it meant he wasn’t alone. “i’m not really... i mean, i’m not that close with the people i know who are going. so, uh, i won’t be hanging with them.” he finished off with a smile, mentally slapping himself at how badly he was stuttering. tian must think he’s a complete loser.

minghao tore his gaze away from the decorations, turning towards his date instead. “practice?” he repeated dumbly. “what do you play?” he asked. personally, he wouldn’t have minded if the decorations stayed up for another week or so. hopefully his p.e. class would be cancelled because of it. but he understood that it must probably suck for the ones who participated in any sport and were passionate about it.

[ksminghao-blog]

ksxscott:

scott had heard about some sort of masquerade event from joon. of course, the inferior doesn’t really care for things like this, but he decided to drop by since joon is attending. as he was leaving the bathroom, he felt someone bump into him. he looks down to see a young male, much smaller than him. the boy’s eyes are red as the tears stream down his cheeks. this is already getting pretty interesting. scott clears his throat because the stranger is obviously blocking his way. when the boy apologizes, scott remarks, “don’t worry about it.” the older male casually asks, “are you okay?” scott offers his hand so the stranger can get back up. “here.” he can’t help but wonder why the younger male is crying.       

minghao sniffles as he stares at the older male’s outstretched hand - an offer of help. it was the least he had expected after bumping into the college student who, quite honestly, looked like he ate kids like minghao for breakfast. but, to be fair, minghao thought that about most of the college students. even some of the high schoolers scared him. “t-thank you,” he finally managed to get out, grabbing the older’s hand and felt himself being practically hauled up to stand on his feet. “i’m fine,” he replies, turning away from the older male as he takes off his mask to properly wipe the tears off his face. 

[ksminghao-blog]

ksxryosuke:

He’d been in the bathroom for a full minute now, trying to fix his hair after he almost got in a scuffle with his boyfriend’s bestfriend, and if it weren’t for the fact that Joon was there to stop them both, Ryosuke knew he’d fight. Scott Kim was a condescending asshole and Jesus Christ, he didn’t like the guy at all. It didn’t matter if he was Joon’s bestfriend; he was a bloody ass who thought too highly of himself. Of course another reason why he wasn’t too fond of Scott was because his surrogate child Yiseo liked him and it irked him that someone so sweet liked someone he wanted to strangle. They could say the same about you and Joonie, Ryo-chan, he thought then and he felt a little guilty. And then he remembers Scott and another grimace is on his face. Just as he deemed himself presentable, someone came barrelling in and sank on the floor. The kid didn’t seem to notice he was there and he cleared his throat, before a worried frown was on his face. “Are you alright, kid?”, he asked, kneeling down in front of him.

minghao lowered his head again, taking off his mask to be able to wipe the tears more easily. “i’m.. i’m fine,” he replied. he knew how obvious his lie was - he was on in the bathroom crying, after all, at an event people went to to have fun - but he didn’t want to unnecessarily worry the stranger. he might not be fine now, but he would be once he was back in his dorm, where he could hide from the world under his covers for a while. “just a bit overwhelmed, that’s all,” he tried to assure the older, but he wasn’t sure his voice came across as very convincing. finally looking up from his lap, minghao startled a bit when he noticed how close the unfamiliar face was. he hadn’t heard the boy move, too occupied with trying to wipe his tears. “n-nothing to worry about,” he told him, his voice sounding almost like a croak after the crying. still, he attempted a smile, hoping that would be reassuring enough.

[ksminghao-blog]

kstian:

yeah, he really was not set to deal with these kinds of events. he was just incredibly nervous about things and worried that he was going to mess something up and ruin everything. because now he had someone else to worry about as well and he didn’t want to be responsible for making someone else’s night completely terrible. he really shouldn’t have bothered coming, or he should have asked someone he was at least friendly with to go with him so he did’t have to worry about it. but it was a little late for that and there was not very much he could do about it now. 

maybe they were both inside he would feel a little better, but tian really doubted that, but he could always hope. though he also just stood there for a moment, thinking about how he wanted to go about things. would it too weird if they held arms or something like a typical date would. it just seemed a little weird to him, especially as this was a blind date (more so with the masks than a normal blind date), and because he was pretty sure the both of them were still a bit weirded out by this whole thing. eventually he did manage to convince his feet to start moving, almost stumbling after the other boy, though it didn’t take him very long to catch up, having to take shorter steps to keep in time with him and not end up pulling ahead without even trying. “so…” he just started after clearing his throat, really not finding this awkward silence very comforting for his nerves. “you have any friends going?” 

minghao was grateful that tian broke the awkward silence that had settled between them as they made their way towards the entrance, but at the same time, the thought of a conversation also made him nervous. it had always proved difficult for him to find the right words to properly articulate his thoughts. “uh, yeah,” he replied. he knew jungeun and taejoon were going, and while he wasn’t so sure he’d consider them to be his friends, exactly, he figured it was better to lie than admit to only having two friends, none of whom were going. “what about you?”

they got in without any problems, and once they were inside, minghao had to stop to admire his surroundings. the normally sweaty gym that he usually dreaded going to, had transferred into something that might even be considered classy. “wow,” he muttered, still looking around at all the decorations around them. “this place looks nice,” he commented. he realized he probably needed to say more to keep the conversation going, but as always, words were failing him.

[ksminghao-blog]

ksjitae:

lux was enjoying himself. sure, he was a little tipsy by now, but he could handle his liquor just fine, and being tipsy just made him feel a whole lot better about being here, it was fun, even if he needed to go back and find daewon at some point soon. though he’d wanted to leave him with tristan and hyuksoo for a while too, knowing that he’d probably think that he couldn’t go and see them anymore. still, walking into the bathroom now, lux hadn’t expected to mee a teary eyed face, and it made the usually teasing and flirty boy concerned.. which might’ve been minsu’s protective instinct slamming into him as well. which wasn’t new, and lux knew that minsu was hovering around in the background in case. “why would you be sorry?” he frowned, moving over and leaning down in front of him as he putted the mask off his own face. “are you alright? do you need me to get anyone, or call someone? someone to talk to– given i’m not the best for that, but are you alright? you’re not hurt?” yes, apparently minsu’s caring and protective side was rubbing off onto him right now.

minghao took his mask off, making it easier to wipe his tears. he was still sniffling, but stopped abruptly when he was met with concern. not at all the reaction he had been expecting. he was under the impression that people at keisung would either ignore him or be annoyed with him. he hadn’t expected anyone to show any signs of caring - he was just an irrelevant high schooler, after all. “oh, uh.” minghao didn’t know what to say in answer to the boy’s question. truth be told, he didn’t know why he had apologized. it had simply become a habit for him by now. “i... i’m fine,” he managed to get out, though he realized his statement wasn’t all that convincing when he was sitting on the bathroom floor in tears. he sighed before he continued speaking. “i just, uh, got overwhelmed. i’m not very used to events like these.” he had decided to be honest, the boy did seem concerned after all. minghao just hoped he wouldn’t judge him for reacting to something that minor by breaking down in tears.

[ksminghao-blog]

kstian:

tian didn’t really know why he agreed to go to this masquerade. he didn’t have the money for some expensive suit and he was not exactly the sort of boy who liked dancing. but he had been convinced to come and now found himself with a date with some boy he only vaguely knew. minghao was in the same dorm suit, but they had never really spoken before, so tian was sure that this was all just going to be a little awkward and he would end up making some excuse to leave early in the end. there was very little chance that he would be hanging around until the very end, and he supposed that was for the best. he had to wake up early tomorrow morning and couldn’t be going to bed too late. 

he currently found himself waiting for his date, anxiously sucking on the inside of his cheek as he hovered a little away from the main crowd of people. thankfully, he wasn’t left waiting for very long as minghao eventually arrived. “that’s me, yes,” he responded with an almost nervous smile, one hand anxiously running back through his hair. “so, are we going to go in then? i mean, we could just stand here, but i think that defeats the purpose of coming in the first place.”

he returned tian’s smile with a nervous one of his own, anxiously stepping from foot to foot while he stood in front of the younger boy. tian might be younger than him and (at least he seemed like he was) just as nervous, but the fact that the younger was so damn tall made him kind of intimidating in minghao’s eyes. he didn’t quite understand why, but being around people who were significantly taller than him (such as tian) made him really nervous. maybe he just automatically assumed they looked down on him due to their height. 

“yes. right. we should, uh... we should go inside,” he replied, nodding slowly. he ended up standing there awkwardly a few more seconds, not sure if he should offer tian his arm or not. they were dates after all (albeit not by choice), and that’s what he’d observed dates do in his aunt’s stupid romantic comedy movies. in the end, he decided against it, figuring they would both probably just find it awkward. instead, he smiled awkwardly at tian again, before he slowly started heading towards the entryway, making sure tian was walking by his side. as they were walking in silence, minghao’s mind was browsing through a string of anxious thoughts. he hated himself for not even being able to make a good impression on the guy - this was the first time they’d talked to each other, and minghao was sure he had somehow managed to ruin it by being his regular, anxious self. this was going to be a long night.

[ksminghao-blog]

( @kstian )

had minghao known he’d be paired up with a complete stranger, he would’ve thought twice about going to the masquerade. he had already been reluctant, but after making a promise to jungeun that he’d go, he supposed he had no choice. still, he thinks he definitely would have preferred going with jinyoung over a stranger, despite how torturous that would’ve been. well, maybe his date wasn’t a complete stranger - minghao knew about his existence and had seen him around the school, but the two of them had never exchanged a word, and were definitely strangers. 

when he arrived outside, he immediately started looking around for his date. it didn’t take long until he spotted him, standing rather awkwardly a bit away from the crowd. it gave minghao a sense of relief to see that his date seemed kind of awkward as well - at least they had that in common. “hi,” he greeted once he’d walked up to the boy. “you’re tian, right? i’m minghao.”

[ksminghao-blog]

minghao knew going to the masquerade had been a mistake. he hadn’t even been planning on going, but somehow, jungeun had managed to convince him otherwise. and now here he was, on the verge of crying as he was making his way through the crowd towards the bathroom. he desperately needed to get away, be by himself for a moment. relief flooded through him when he finally saw the door to the bathroom. he quickly made his way inside, forgetting to check if there was anyone else there before he sank down to the floor, letting the tears flow freely. a moment later, he heard someone clear their throat, his head instantly shooting up to see who was in there with him. “oh, i’m... i’m sorry,” he mumbled, wiping the tears from his face.

[ksminghao-blog]

( @ksxyoungmin )

minghao had to admit he’d been kind of scared the first day youngmin had struck up a conversation with him. the two had shared a table in the cafeteria a few times at the beginning of the school year, due to the cafeteria being too crowded for him to find his own table. he hadn’t minded it all that much, though, as the two had fallen into a mutual, non-awkward silence. but then one day, youngmin had started talking to him, and minghao found he didn’t mind that, either. for once, minghao found himself not being intimidated by someone new. 

the two boys continued to share a table whenever they found themselves in the cafeteria at the same time, a friendship blooming between the two, which eventually led to the two of them spending time together outside of the cafeteria, too. on rare occasions they even went off campus to eat instead, as the stale food they served in the cafeteria at keisung was easy to get sick of, but minghao couldn’t afford to go out to eat that often. 

today, however, was one of the days they’d decided to leave campus for lunch. minghao wasn’t feeling too well, his anxiety feeling like a stone in his stomach, so he wasn’t too sure if he’d be able to handle sitting in a cafeteria full of people he was so sure were judging him. it would be better to go out and sit around strangers who wouldn’t care to look at him twice. 

as the good friend he was, youngmin had of course agreed to accompany him. eating out was definitely a better option for minghao’s anxiety, but he wasn’t quite at the point where he felt comfortable eating out alone yet. he was very grateful that youngmin usually agreed to come with him. 

he was starting to feel a bit better as they got off campus, and everything was going well. minghao was busy telling the younger boy about his classes when, suddenly, a car rounded the corner and drove fast them in an unbelievable speed. the moment he had noticed the car, minghao had gone into full panic mode, mind going back to when a car going this fast had hit the car he and his parents were in, leaving both his parents for dead. 

the car was long gone, but minghao was still standing there frozen, his heart beating so fast it felt like it was about to fall out of his chest. he sunk to the ground, his breath heavy and body shaking. youngmin’s presence had been long forgotten. “m-mom... dad...” he said in chinese, his voice trembling as tears threatened to escape his eyes. 

[ksminghao-blog]

i’m too lazy to make a moodboard for minghao also he doesn’t rly care that much abt what his outfit looks like so: outfit (without the hat), mask

also eunbi’s not going she likes to think she has better things to do lmao but hmu if u wanna plot w minghao for the event !!

[ksxjiyeon-blog]

science!

@ksminghao​

“… and so the term spaghettified proves my points that scientists are all just a bunch of nerds who come up with weird names for stuff,” Jiyeon concluded her (rather long) rant.

She was sat in the common room, draped across one of the chairs there, Minghao across from her. The two of them had met at the beginning of the year and, seeing as they were both in the whizkid clique and the science club, quickly gotten along. They were so different from one another - Minghao was quiet where Jiyeon was loud, and didn’t use as many over-the-top gestures - and yet easily became good friends.

“I mean, I can’t come up with a better term for getting stretched out by a black hole, which really only proves my point again.” She puffed her cheeks, then let the air blow out of her mouth as she sat up and reached for a can of cola. Perhaps caffeine and sugar weren’t the best idea (Jiyeon was hyper enough without them), but her brother wasn’t around to stop her from making bad decisions.

“I have a question, is your English teacher also as horribly incompetent as mine?? I mean, I speak better English than her and I think she has a personal vendetta against me…“ Jiyeon attempted to open her drink, but for some reason no matter how much strength she tried to put into her muscles, they refused to work. Not again. “Or do we have the same English teacher?” There was another attempt, but all that happened this time was that the can unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

Jiyeon sighed. “Could you… open that for me?”

[ksminghao-blog]

minghao was beyond grateful for jiyeon’s presence in his life. despite being in the same clique and the science club together, he had initially had doubts about them getting along. they were just so different - jiyeon was loud and spontaneous, while minghao was quiet and anxious. but to his big surprise, she had become the person he felt the most comfortable around at keisung. he had found they balance each other out well - jiyeon helped him come more out of his shell, and he helped her calm down when she got too hyper. it was a good balance, really. 

the two of them were hanging out after classes, as usual. they were currently sat in the common room, and jiyeon was going on a rather lengthy rant about the term spaghettified. minghao couldn’t do anything but laugh as she talked. “i mean,” he began once she had concluded her rant, “i find it quite unbelievable that that’s an actual term too, but what i find even more unbelievable is how passionate you are about it. you do know you just talked about it for at least ten minutes, right?” he said teasingly. 

“i don’t know. do you have mrs. lee?” he asked, gaze focused on jiyeon’s soda can. “i think she’s decent, but i don’t really speak english that well, so maybe she is incompetent and i just haven’t noticed.” he gave a light shrug. 

minghao was about to ask jiyeon if she needed any help with her soda can, as he had noticed she seemed to be struggling to open it, when it suddenly fell. he flinched at the sound of it hitting the floor. “of course,” he replied, bending down to pick it up. “is there something wrong?” he asked as he opened it, setting it in front of jiyeon.