⌞routine⌝
5am
The alarm blasted through the room, and Jaejoong let out a groan. He reached, turned off the clock, and immediately sat up. Taking an extra ten minutes was for the lazy, so he quickly shoved off his blankets and headed to his bathroom. It was still another hour before the rest of the family would rise, but he always got his shower out of the way before the youngest sister would come begging for his attention.
The shower was hot, but when the water began to lull him into relaxation, he jerked the knob so that ice pelted his skin. That always successfully woke him up. He’d timed his morning routine to be exactly twenty minutes, from waking to being dressed for the day.
There were still forty minutes until the rest of the house would wake. But that gave him a chance to study over a few more chapters, to re-check the work he’d spend hours on the night before. It had to be perfect.
6am
He was down in the kitchen as the rest of the alarms rang out, as the nannies took to shaking his sisters awake for the day. The coffee was already brewed, and the breakfast was already laid out by one of the nannies. He sat at the table, stirred a single spoonful of sugar into his mug.
His mother was always the first person down, and she blew him an air kiss as she grabbed her own coffee. “Darling, I’d love to have breakfast with you all, but I’m feeling inspired. You’ll make sure they’re all tended to?” she asked, just as she did every morning.
“Of course. Good luck,” he wished her, just before she turned to go.
His sisters came to join him one by one. Some still half asleep, others bouncing with energy. The youngest was still small, and she came to immediately reach for a hug. Though she had nannies, she always came to him for her problems and for comfort. He quickly scooped her onto his lap and kissed her plump cheek.
He was somewhere in the middle of the children in terms of age, but as the only son his parents seemed to rely on him for some of the responsibility. There were three older sisters, but they were all out of the house now, and he was the oldest left around.
After breakfast, the nannies came to herd the younger ones off to get dressed for the day. The older girls wandered off on their own. He was the one to make sure that they were all out of the house by exactly 7.
School, morning
Jaejoong was structured, and his day in school was no different. He always arrived within twenty minutes of leaving his home - running late made him sweat. And he headed straight for his locker to slip away the books he wouldn’t need until the afternoon. Even his locker was kept in a strict order, everything lined up just so.
He greeted a couple of friends briefly, and they joked around for a few minutes. It was meaningless, and most of their idle chatter was a waste of time, but he liked them and it was always better to have people around who liked him than to be completely alone. Even though part of him knew he’d function just as well without friends.
Five minutes before class, he parted ways with a final laugh, and went to his homeroom. In class, he was not really apt to joking around, he was focused on the material and being the best. Teachers loved him, and yet some of them resented that he always had the answers. That wasn’t to say he didn’t offer faint smirks when other people did something dumb - or caused a ripple of laughter through the room. But he was focused, everything he did was to be the best.
School, lunch.
When the bell rang for lunch, he walked to his locker once again, slipping his morning books inside in their designated spaces. At the end of lunch he would retrieve the afternoon’s. His friends expected him - or maybe his latest girlfriend was, he didn’t remember - but he had something to do first.
He waited until the hallways were quiet, and then he made his way to the principal’s office. He was expected. The secretary smiled, and he easily returned it with a quick mention that he just needed a brief moment of the principal’s time. He had to wait for another couple of minutes while he finished with someone’s discipline, and Jaejoong’s gaze connected with the boy as he shuffled off. It was brief, and he paid little mind.
“Jaejoong,” the man greeted, giving the head nod he always did when he invited a student inside.
He wasn’t apt to waste more time than was necessary, so he didn’t bother with many formalities, aside from a quick, “Good afternoon.” But they were past a point of formality. He no longer had to make a good impression, he’d already proven himself. “You wanted to know who pulled the prank on the school nurse, didn’t you? I have your answer.”
With a frown, the man simply nodded. And in under a minute he had given the name of the perpetrator. It didn’t matter to him, they meant nothing to him.
He was able to leave the principal’s office and meet with his friends in under five minutes total. They didn’t know, but they’d stopped questioning.
School, afternoon.
As he went to grab his things, he felt the weight of exhaustion falling on his shoulders. He never got enough sleep, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually gotten more than five hours in a given night. But it was worth it, if he came out on top.
On his way to math, he caught sight of a familiar head of hair, her head bent down toward her phone. A faint smile slipped to his lips, and he stepped over so that he would be directly in her path. Sure enough, suddenly she bumped right into him, a look of surprise coming to her face before she glanced up. However, on seeing her brother, she rolled her eyes. “Idiot,” she grumbled, but there wasn’t much venom in her insult.
He laughed quietly. “Look where you’re going,” he joked, tapping his sister’s nose affectionately. With as many siblings as there were, it was natural that a few of them were in the same school. And he always tried to protect her from the people he knew were around.
She stuck her tongue out at him before stepping around and walking off. He shook his head, and carried onto class.
After school.
By the time he was finished with classes, he was ready for a nap. He looked on with mild envy as a lot of students rushed to leave for home or to hang out with friends. He had too many activities, it was rare for him to leave when there was still light out.
He headed for the locker room, greeting a few familiar faces easily before he went to change for track practice. Sometimes it felt like the only moment he had in a day to clear his head, when he ran. So although he wanted to blow it off and relax for once, he knew he never would.
Afterword, he was covered in sweat and his lungs burned, but he felt lighter. He felt more awake, and it was enough to keep him going for the rest of the night - or so he hoped. He still had too much work to sleep early. After a quick shower in the locker room, he made his way to exit the school.
Partly, he hated spring simply because of track, given that the hours were so long. He’d be at practice for up to three or four hours. Running miles, doing hurdles, being ran through drills. The other times of the year, he focused on clubs and other after school activities, but in spring his life was devoted to track.
6pm
He walked into the house with a loud sigh, toeing off his shoes and glancing around for his sisters. He could faintly hear them throughout the house, and he wondered if they’d already eaten. The nannies handled all of that, but they didn’t have a set time for meals. As he wandered into the kitchen, he was met with the sight of them washing up the dishes. “Hey,” he greeted the handful of people.
The nanny smiled at him warmly. “The girls already all had dinner. I made you a plate in the fridge, though,” she said.
He nodded, but didn’t say more, and went to find the youngest of them. The cluster of tiniest sisters were all playing in the family room, with another nanny keeping watch over them with their dolls. Jaejoong stepped over to them and kissed each of their cheeks before he went to reheat dinner.
As he waited for the microwave to finish, he checked his phone, seeing texts from his girlfriend of the moment and some of his friends, all asking him to do something or another. He didn’t have time for any of them. He didn’t even have the energy to text them back and tell them that he was busy.
He ate alone, though one girl came and looked slightly guilty, he waved her off with a smile. So instead he went and took his meal up to his room so he could work. It was easier that way, and he could focus.
Of course, it was never without distractions. And an endless stream of visitors telling him about their day or just wanting to chat. And he didn’t have the heart to tell them to go away. Not for his sisters. Anyone else, he wouldn’t have even entertained the thought.
9pm
Not even half of his work was completed, and yet when the youngest nanny popped into his doorway, he still only glanced expectantly at her.
“You know she won’t go to sleep if you don’t say goodnight,” she said with a smile.
Jaejoong glanced at the clock. “Isn’t it past her bedtime?”
“I’ve been trying,” she shrugged.
He nodded, and stood up from his desk to go say goodnight to whoever was still awake. He started with the youngest and tucked her in, kissing her forehead and telling her that she needed to get to sleep. She giggled and yawned, and he knew she’d be asleep soon. A few more of the younger ones were awake, and he managed to kiss them goodnight as well. The older ones he didn’t bother, they’d always push him away anyhow.
1am
After some tedious hours, his work was completed. He was nothing if not thorough, and even if it meant he would hardly be sleeping, it was worth it for the marks he’d receive. He padded downstairs to get a glass of water, when the front door finally opened to reveal his parents. They’d gone out sometime earlier in the evening, before he’d gotten home.
They were laughing, and he could immediately tell that they were drunk. He glanced toward them, but didn’t bother saying anything.
“Oh, hi, darling!” His mother greeted, surprised to see him.
But he supposed she would be. He could probably count the minutes he’d spent with her in the past week on one hand. “Welcome home,” he greeted them both quietly.
His dad smiled, a little lopsided. “Aren’t you? What time is it?” he asked, voice too loud for the time of night.
“After midnight,” he shrugged slightly. “Everyone else is asleep.”
His parents exchanged a look, his mother shrugged. “Oh. Shouldn’t you be?”
He gave a curt nod. “Yeah, I was on my way back to bed.”
As soon as he was out of earshot, he could hear them return to giggling together. Most of the time he wondered why they’d even bothered having so many children given that they never paid any of them more than a few minutes of attention. But he didn’t let it bother him, nothing they did bothered him anymore.
He slipped into his room and made sure everything was tidied up and put away. He brushed his teeth and washed his face. By the time he was ready to sleep, it was already almost 2. He wasn’t ready to face it all over again.
