BOOK 2 IS OUT!!! "GOING SEVENTEEN"

💎third person narration

Everyone decided to just leave at 8pm, because the others still haven't gotten enough rest. in addition to that, seungcheol wanted to sleep for a bit to go gather up some energy for later. he wasn't the only one who slept though, almost all of them did. with wonwoo's phone set to alarm at a quarter past seven.

🎶 They're gonna clean up your looks with all the lies in the books to make a citizen out of you

the loud song of my chemical romance pierced through the room. jihoon stood up, only to turn the alarm off and drift to sleep again while the others stayed awake. "wake up, sloths!" seungcheol shouted as he walked around the room, lightly hitting everyone else with a pillow and pulling their blankets off.

minutes drag past and everyone was going in circles, fixing their stuff for this "trip" that seungcheol planned. after all had been set, they went to be together with our assigned units, with chan being in vocal and seungkwan in performance team.

seungkwan stayed with minseul all throughout, and soonyoung couldn't help but jokingly whine at them. "why are you like this?" he pouted

minghao, who sat in front, gave a half suppressed laugh, "what's a soonyoung? i only know a seungkwan."

"shut the fuck up hao."

"woah, did you hear me cuss you out, hyung?"

"no, but shut the fuck up."

they didn't know what was happening in the other two cars but mingyu wanted to have group video call. when minseul accepted the call. mingyu's extremely closed up face scared her. people in vocal team didn't go for a video call because they're probably still in a rosary session.

"WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE IDEA?" he grinned "MINE IS BEING CREATIVE."

"how do you get the idea?!" hansol's voice was heard

"i just try to think creatively," mingyu replied and showed a fruit on camera, "now when you look at this orange tell me please, what do you see?"

he turned the phone to hansol, "it's just a boring old orange!"

"maybe to you, but not to me. I see a silly face walking along and smiling at me!"

"I don't see what you mean!"

"cause you're not thinking creatively!"

soonyoung rested his head on the girl's shoulder to watch what's going on with hip hop team. he muttered, "are they crazy?" and minseul hummed in response. the boys continued to shout random stuff. "here's another good tip of how to be a creative wiz kid, go and collect some leaves and sticks and arrange them into your favorite color," mingyu continued

"blue!" cheol shouted when gyu showed him

"red!" hansol cheered

"...green," wonwoo spoke, then mingyu turned the camera to him again, "green is not a creative color. there's one more thing that you need to know before you let your creativety flow."

"listen to your heart, listen to the rain, listen to the voices in your brain! come on guys let's gET CREATIVE!" everyone except wonwoo shouted, and it was so loud. then they burst into laughter. both minseul and soonyoung were so confused about what the heck is happening. and out of nowhere, mingyu stopped the call.

"so they called just called to bring their noise in here," minghao laughed

seungkwan was in the middle of scrolling through his phone, when he gasped, "big fat meanie lost his job?!"

"what?"

"mark told me about it. he said that the school got into huge trouble, and that a quarter of the back building was caught on fire! it's on a lockdown for almost a month now, and it looked quite abandoned. the students had to transfer to the nearest habitable school."

"still talking to mark, eh?" junhui flashed a smirk, "hao, text hansol."

"wha— nO, DON'T!"

"i'm kidding," junhui chuckled "i'm wondering where cheol will take us, honestly. the road looks kinda familiar but i can't seem to get the exact answer."

"maybe at somewhere we've been to before," soonyoung replied

"i got a text," minseul announced, scrolling through her phone, "seungcheol said we need to have a stop first to buy some food."

"okey dokey," junhui nodded in reponse.

______

everyone stopped at fronting to get some food. they haven't been here since it's new, but the moment they stepped in, minseul and wonwoo knew they will be coming back to this place some other time. exposed bulbs on steel metal hooks are everywhere, playing against whitewashed brick with a classic, minimalist aesthetic. highlight is definitely better in terms of design and palette, but this place is just as inviting.

the boys ordered food while soonyoung, jihoon, wonwoo and minseul stayed around one table to wait.

"minseul, look," wonwoo caught the girl's attention while pointing at one corner of the place. they both stare in awe at the tall shelf filled with nothing but books. they immediately gave each other a suggestive look to go there and explore.

"we're just gonna be going there," minseul told soonyoung and jihoon, who were both on their phones. soonyoung nodded in response, and hurriedly, the bookworms rushed to their happy place.

jihoon chuckled, "they relate to each other on a spiritual level, don't they?"

"yeah," soonyoung agreed, "just like us!"

"we don't, soonyoung. we don't."

the atmosphere was calming, there were a few to no people at all inside the place, except for all fourteen friends. and everyone was minding their own business. soonyoung yawned and rested his head on jihoon's shoulder, his eyes roaming around the place. "look at junhao," he giggled "they're trying their best to not get too obvious when everyone already knows they're whipped for each other."

"gayshit," jihoon replied "you can't relate, huh?"

"heyyy i'm bi," soonyoung pouted "minseul knows that!"

jihoon's eyes widen, "and she's okay with it?"

"yeah. she's not some kind of a narrow minded person," soonyoung replied, moving his head to face jihoon, "she accepts all members of seventeen, they way they are!" jihoon looks back at the boy, trying to avoid his gaze, "we need more people like minseul. i mean, she ain't perfect but she's a great person."

"damn right, she is," soonyoung chuckled "i knew her more because of you. thanks ji."

"sure."

they just stare at each other for a bit. not a word to say, until jihoon broke the ice, "i really miss you, i dont know what the future holds for our friendship but what matters is i have you now and even if we grow distant or whatever i don't want you to feel alone because i will always be thinking about you. you have me no matter what."

soonyoung didn't expect him to say such things at the moment. he ran out of words to reply, and the younger boy could tell for soonyoung is quite easy to read.

"sorry if im saying a lot. i just feel a lot of things at the moment and i want to be grateful. you know i'm bad about handling emotions," jihoon muttered, "you don't have to say anything though. i just want to make sure that you know that, hyung."

soonyoung remained silent, and they find themselves staring at each other once again. from afar, jeonghan could see the two boys. and he's calmly watching them with a genuine smile on his face. indeed, soonyoung and jihoon's friendship almost went downhill and here they are now, fixing things for the better. he wishes that things could go the same for him and dino. it pains him to feel so far away even if they are just right next to each other, when once, no matter what, the distance didn't matter.

jihoon continues to look at his old friend. he moved his face inches closer and soonyoung didn't even protest. they continue to close the gap until soonyoung immediately turned his head to the sound of wonwoo's voice nearing.

the two bookworms are back, and jihoon mentally curses himself for what he just did.

"this place is amazing!" minseul cheered as she laughed with wonwoo. they sat back down and instantly noticed the quite tense atmosphere between the two boys. "are you guys okay?" wonwoo asked

"yeah, i'm just bored and quite sleepy," jihoon answered, then excused himself for a bit to go join the other boys. the night continued and once they got their orders, everyone decided to head back and hit the road. everyone was eating in jun's car, everyone was in earphones in vocal team and everyone was going wild in hip hop.

_______

seungcheol's car stopped at a quite familiar place. and everyone else parked as well. they hopped off the vehicles, with their jaws dropping in an instant.

"t-this is our old school," hansol stuttered. and they all looked at seungcheol, who was already making his way to the gate. everyone else followed, feeling puzzled that the nightshift guard knew their friend and let them come inside. the atmosphere is filled with nothing but nostalgia.

when they reached the center of the school grounds, seungcheol cleared his throat.

"this is where we all knew each other. when i was told about what happened to this school, i immediately familiarized myself with some of the guards. don't worry about getting caught. i got permission to enter this place, with a little bit of negotiation," seungcheol grinned "but no vandalism, okay?"

"damn it! i bought spray paint cans!" seokmin whined, showing everyone his cans, "can we use firecrackers though?"

"why do you have those in your bag?" joshua chuckled

"i don't know."

minghao was having fun running around with his camera recorder, making sure that he gets everyone to say hi at the camera, while jihoon and seungkwan make their way into the sound control room to play their svt playlist, loud enough for the whole school to hear.

seokmin was still whining about his spray paint cans. seungcheol grabbed a blue one and examined it, "well, we can't use these on walls so....are you thinking what i'm thinking?" there was a few seconds of them exchanging stares, and then everybody grabbed cans and started to spray paint on each other, just like the old times. jihoon and seungkwan arrived just in time and were immediately showered with mixed pink and blues. pretty u was playing out loud once again, and their singing voices and laughter covered the place.

wonwoo and jihoon were chasing soonyoung around while minghao was doing a great job avoiding everyone to film nicely, not until junhui sprayed pink all over him. his camera was stained, but he didn't bother caring anymore.

joshua and seokmin were chasing each other, then mingyu was running while carrying minseul on his back as they chased seungcheol. "MINGYU RUN FASTER!" the girl laughed out loud.

"IT'S OKAY, HE'LL GET TIRED SOON. 70 YEAR OLDS CANT RUN MUCH!"

seungcheol broke into laughter upon hearing mingyu's reply. when he stopped to rest and catch his breath, mingyu caught up with him, and minseul started to spray paint. "tHIS IS UNFAIR!" seungcheol shouted. meanwhile, jeonghan was actually having so much fun teaming up with dino against hansol and seungkwan.

they all continue to sing out loud until the song changed to healing, and all cans went empty. seungcheol, feeling tired, lay down on the ground and everyone else followed. they were formed in a circle, facing the sky with the finest artist's circular strokes of a mix of blue shades. they stayed tight lipped for a while, until the leader ordered all to sit up as he stood in front of them.

he took pieces of paper from the pocket of his denim jacket and heaved a euphoric sigh, "friendship is often— hEY LISTEN!" he shouted when most of the boys all pretended to be bored and sleep. "friendship is often taken for granted, they're built on how we work through our differences. it can start in a single second and can last for decades. sometimes they take just a second to end."

"amen," joshua nodded

seungcheol handed out the letters to all 13 people, "i learned a heck ton from all of you. we went through a lot and i'm just so happy that our bond went stronger, even through all the things that tried to tear us down."

everyone went awww once the song changed from healing to smile flower. seungcheol wanted to cry then and there, but he decided to hold back. "we're finally going to be separated for college, but soon we will both achieve our dreams together and make our families proud. we will fulfill our promise as one group. and i hope, minseul stays with us through seventeen's journey."

jeonghan stood up next, "you know, sometimes, misunderstandings arrive in friendships and are easily resolved, but sometimes a line gets crossed and there's no going back. i crossed the line thrice: i dated daein, hurt minseul and then hurt chan. i almost lost my way home because home is with all of you. and i can't believe that everyone still left the door open for me to come back. i don't deserve it, but thank you for trusting me. i promise you that i won't be doing the same thing again."

"go joshua hyung!" seokmin whispered when the boy was about to stand up.

"so, you all know that i was the first one to go insane," joshua bitterly chuckled, "like jeonghan, i'm happy that i was forgiven. especially minseul, despite all the nightmare i made her go through. she made me realize how important it actually is to love myself first and know when to walk away. thank you so much for that."

"when i say jun, you say hui! jun!"

"...."

"okay that's it, i hate all of you," junhui was about to sit down when the boys ordered him to get back in front, "okay okay now you want me back. great. i've learnt that as I grow, some people aren't going to like my changes. but everyone will still like my visuals—"

"we didn't ask for your conceit, get the fuck out of there," jihoon ordered

"oh now you want me gone. at least give me some actual lines in this speech?" the boy joked, and everyone started to cheer for him instead. they let him finish his lines, then it was already soonyoung's turn for his speech. seungkwan rolled his eyes, "ugh i bet this is gonna be cringey."

"hello, i love all you. i just wanted to make sure that you guys know that. i dont know what to talk about, i just really wanted to tell you i love you and im glad i have you in my life. i may not know what to say or do all the time whenever bad things happen, i may cause a lot of bad things to the group, i may be making an effort to annoy y'all sometimes—"

"all the time," minghao corrected

"OKAY all the time. thank you," soonyoung laughed "but i want all of you to know that i will be there for you always to support and cheer because i wish nothing but the best for each and everyone. i'm sorry if i didn't listen to your choreography suggestion, hao. it still keeps me awake at night. please stop haunting me. thank you very much."

hansol sighed "oh my god, wonwoo hyung is next, please have your brains ready!"

"at the beginning of every friendship, everyone is on their best behavior," wonwoo started "but all of you proved that wrong. i guess it's because some things happen the way we least expect them to. you guys were total assholes and i'm not even going to lie. minseul invited me to her place once and didn't even acknowledge me when joshua hyung was already there. i asked joshua hyung for an answer in a test and he scolded me. seungkwan always steals from me, mingyu, jun and minghao lied about the occult club— in short, you're all really assholes. but then i realized that we both speak in a language which the vast oblivion surrounding each word cracks us open—"

"here we go," jihoon muttered

"shush, let me speak," wonwoo pointed at the boy, "so yeah, friendship requires investment of a whole lot of things. and i'm glad that up to now, we're still doing pretty well on maintaining what we built. i hope that we will always be home. and honestly, we are home to not a place, but to each other's presences."

everyone started to applaud and cheer for him. "jeon wonwoo for seventeen's leader! forget the three old men!" mingyu shouted, then joshua, jeonghan and seungcheol immediately stared at him. jihoon was next. the petite boy stood up in front.

"jihoon hyung, you need to stand up," dino shouted

"im already standing up. fuck you too," jihoon replied "as you may know, i'm not the best when handling emotions. i try to sincerely express myself but I can't get it out, i try to wrap my head around this all night but i can't seem to deliver my feelings well. i hope that everything we wrote for each other will one day be read all over again to ease the pain. know that i am holding you tighly as you read my letters to you and i will always be by your side. i'm sorry if i cuss too much sometimes. it's a bad talking habit. okay?"

all thirteen clapped again as jihoon went back to his place. then minghao went next.

"lmhao mic check mic check—"

"get on with it!" jun shouted. minghao insantly cussed him out in a foreign language, and everyone else gasped even if they didn't really understand what it meant. the tone just sounded too mean to be considered as a curse.

minghao let out a small chuckle, "i'm not saying much. just read my letters. i love all of you and i'm thankful that nobody made fun of me when i wasn't fluent with korean yet. but look at me now, mofos. bow the fuck down— okay on a serious note, i'm lucky to have everyone and i will stay for as long as i can. i got into a snickers commercial because hansol promoted me on ig. also, shoutout to seungkwan for paying for my tuition fee so i won't get sent back home. huge props, man! goodnight lmhao."

"hi i am kim mingyu and i love guys."

everyone burst into laughter. mingyu kept everything short— just like the total opposite of him. minseul thanked everyone, seokmin did jokes, jiro is kinda rushing because it's almost 4k words now and it's 4 in the morning. she hasn't slept yet 🤙🏻 seungkwan sassed everyone out, almost teared up at the thought of him selling his bags, hansol genuinely thanked everyone as well, and dino....well...

he sniffed and tried to wipe the tears off his face as he tried to continue his words, "i didn't know if i deserved what happened. i didn't know what was happening. those eight seconds may look short but it felt like a whole minute to me and i-i thought i was going to die. all i could think about is, why? what happened? i'm sorry if disrespected you, hyung, it's just that i think everything you did was unfair and rude and selfish. but i didn't expect you t-to do t-that to me."

jeonghan was in tears— everyone, actually.

"the same person who made gave me warmth is the same person who made me cold. and i want the warmth again. i need it, rather. the type of warmth that does not need any words to describe it. but if i were to speak your it out loud and put it in words, i would say... you hurt me but i still love and forgive you."

seungcheol tapped jeonghan's shoulder and ordered him to go up in front, which he did. the boy hugged dino tight and let him cry in his arms. he wiped the tears off the young boy's face and assured him that he will change for the better.

love letter was just playing out loud, and it was the perfect time to sing in chorus. some were waving their hands, and some were clapping to the beat as they pour their hearts into every word. "neowa nal sarang jjokjie da damaseo~" (write everything down about us on a love letter)

"throw it in the air!" hansol shouted and some of them tossed the letters they got

"teong bin haneure ollimyeon, baramdo uril gamssal kkeoya~ apatteon naldeuri jiweojil su itge ne~" (and throw it into the empty sky, the wind will embrace us~ so that your painful days of the past are erased)

"throw it in the air!!"

"neol kkwak ana nochi aneulkke, neul ni yeope isseo julkke!" (I will hold you tighly and never let go,
I will always be by your side)

the song was perfect for the moment. others were in tears, and others were just really happy. moreover, everyone felt as if they're home. there are lots of times they fell to the ground, together or apart— and they will fall a lot more through the years. but they will always find their way back up. from problems of a sinking boat to a cruise of friendship, time flew fast. and indeed it will continue to tick everything away. soon, they will graduate and face another chapter. and they couldn't have done it without helping to pick each other up when broken.

isn't it amazing to know how love works its way through friendship? how every bit of it growing even more raw, strips your soul so your friends could see the real you through the cracked parts of your soul? how your tainted memories are finally able to embrace comfort?

don't let them live in the memories you will cry about at 3 in the morning when the raindrops are sliding down your window.

"group picture?" minghao broke the silence, and everyone else agreed.

they took a few snapshots, until minseul suggested to take a group photo of seventeen only. seungcheol whispered something into her ear and they both giggle.

"seungcheol hyung come on now!" hansol called. minseul aimed the camera at the boys with a smile printed on her face, then the eldest member ran all the way to the boys who were already posing. seungcheol unexpectedly jumped, finding himself landing on mingyu and soonyoung. everyone was surprised, and it was the right time minseul pressed the shutter to capture their faces.

minseul chuckled to herself at the sight of the group, who were already cussing their leader out for being too extra. well, like what they say, let the boys be boys.

the end, bitches. y'all can cry now. jk

i specially drew that gif bit by bit for all of you! it's not much, but i wanted to do something special.

i'll save my words for the next part. thank you so much for all the love and support for boys be. i didn't expect to go this far especially because it started as your typical basic joshua/soonyoung fanfiction. i want to say thank you to everyone who made it up to this last chapter.

also, happy birthday to our prince kwon soonyoung! 🎂💕 and to those who share the same birthday.

sincerely,
jiro