___

"WOOYOUNG! SAN! COME BACK HERE YOU IDIOTS!!"

The voice of a certain irritated angry bird echoed throughout the fresh green woods.

His footsteps quickened as he chased after the two giggling teens, "Stop..! You'll...get lost..."

Panting heavily, he flopped down onto the tarmac road and sighed, raising his hands up in surrender. "FINE! I give up!"

"What was that?" The black haired teen said, a confused look on his face, "Sorry. I don't know the language of old"

"You little-"

"Leave it Seonghwa" The silver haired male interrupted. Trying his best to hide his laughter, he picked Seonghwa up from the ground.

"Now how did you reach here so fast Hongjoong? Where are the others?" Seonghwa asked the shorter male as he dusted off his clothes.

"You ran after these two so I ran after you. And well" Hongjoong looked down the road hearing footsteps nearing, "Looks like they ran after me"

And just as he finished speaking, in came four boys, looking like a bunch of lost puppies.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" The tallest male inquired, a map in hand.

"Of course we are! I'm always right! You are forgetting who you are travelling with Yunho" Another boy with flaming red hair came walking next to him. He also carried a map in his hands, "Plus it shows the path right here"

"You're holding the map upside down Mingi"

"Oh. Thanks Yeosang"

"No need to thank me. Just on my daily duty of correcting whatever stuff your dumbass does"

"Jeez I'm flattered"

"Please shut up. My head is fucking throbbing"

Everyone's heads snapped towards the youngest boy who had just spoken. He just looked at them and smiled innocently.

"Jongh-"

"Has anyone seen Wooyoung and San hyung?" Jongho asked out of the blue trying to divert the topic.

"Yeah they are..." Seonghwa turned around to look back at the place he had finally caught up to the two, "...were just here. Where did those buttheads go to this time? I swear when they come back I will-"

"Guys. I think we're lost" The aforementioned two said in unison as they ran back towards the group from wherever they just went.

"No shit sherlock. I knew from the moment Mingi took the map in his hands we'd get lost" Yeosang stated like it was obvious as he folded his arms.

"HEY! It's not my fault we have to go through a whole forest to reach our new college" Mingi said in his defense, pink lips forming a small pout.

Yunho squinted at the map, looking at it closely, "No Mingi. We didn't have to cross a whole forest. You made us cross it. The new College was pretty close to our neighbourhood compared to where you've brought us"

All the boys glared daggers at the red haired boy as he struggled to think of an excuse to save himself.

"I..uh-well..It was....." Giving up, he hung his head low apologetically, "Sorry...."

The group of boys groaned in frustration.

"We should've just taken the damn bus" San sat down on the road and looked at the others, a deep frown on his face. "My legs are killing me"

"And whose fault is it exactly that we were late to catch it today?" Wooyoung asked as he looked at San with a scowl on his face.

"I don't know...wait. Are you saying it's my fault?You were the one who turned off the alarm and woke me up late"

"Yeah? Well if you tried to get the twigs you call your legs out of bed earlier then maybe we wouldn't have missed the bus"

"YOU MADE US PLAY MARIO CART AT 3 AM!! AND DON'T INSULT MY PRECIOUS LEGS!!"

"WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU DO IN SLEEPOVERS?!"

"OH I DON'T KNOW, SLEEP MAYBE?"

"...Will they ever have a normal conversation? " Jongho asked hesitantly already knowing the answer. He joined his hyungs as they stared at the fighting duo with half amused, half exasperated expressions.

Hongjoong then took the map in his hands and started speaking "Come on kids. We don't want to be late on the first day. San and Wooyoung, stop bickering like an old married couple. Let's get going chop chop"

"Why don't we just use Google Maps?" Wooyoung suggested suddenly.

All the boys looked at him with an astonished face, "Finally! You have managed to put your lasting two braincells to use!" San starting clapping, acting like a miracle had just occurred.

"I'll open it don't worry" Seonghwa searched his bag quickly, trying to stop the argument going on between the two boys.

Meanwhile, the two boys were looking at each other, anger clear on their faces.

"I hate you, you shitpouch" San mouthed to Wooyoung, hoping the others didn't see.

"You too, stinkbrain" Wooyoung fired back, also mouthing his words.

But both knew that neither of them meant any of this. This was just another one of their silly fights that they'd always go through. None of it carried any weight at all, no matter how serious they sounded.

Because, these insults were just a cover. A shield to protect the untold truth hidden inside the caged heart of one the boys. A cage, that'll never be broken. One that'll stay sealed, forever.

❀ ❀ ❀

The young boys stared at the huge building in awe, mouths hanging open.

After tons of travelling and talking, they had finally reached the new College they would be studying in.

To say it was huge was an understatement.

The place stretches over a huge amount of land and was about 6 stories tall, a terrace included. Students were walking around everywhere, some studying, some talking with their friends, and some just minding their own business.

And they just stood there, carrying huge maps, bags hanging from their shoulders, mouths agape, looking dumbfounded.

On the side of all of this, Wooyoung and San were having their own small conversation.

"This place is so huge! Woah..." Woo exclaimed as he stared up at the building, trying to look all the way up to the top.

"Well, bigger college means more students. More students means more people to replace you with" San joked, resulting with him getting nudged in the stomach.

"HEY!" Wooyoung looked at him offended, a pout on his lips.

San chuckled at the boy as he ruffled up his black hair, "Don't worry you're irreplaceable to me..."

That particular sentence, held a different meaning to both of them. And it meant a lot more to one of them than it did to the other.

And for once, just once.

They wanted to free the truth from inside the confines of the chains tied around their heart.

But they knew, that could never happen. Because if it did, all would shatter into pieces. And everything would burn down into ashes.

But the truth must always come to the surface...they'd just have to learn it the hard way....

____

Sorry if it seems rushed :(

Well it is rushed so it should seem rushed- what am I even going on about-

Anygays, thank you for reading this very shitty chapter. I shall now leave 🙃

Bye👋