1. Crutches; In which Hana learns how to stand on her own feet, and Taejoon inspires miracles. Hana/Seungri.
Hana starts pacing by the time the Romanian breaks 2m 32cm. She ignores Eungyeol’s whining as she terrorizes the VIP box, huffing around. Seungri keeps an eye on her while maintaining a safe distance from her crutches.
“He’ll be fine,” Taejoon’s father speaks up, having been silently analyzing the match. “Sit down, Hana-ah. Don’t overexert yourself.”
Hana pouts but obeys. She makes a frustrated noise when Eungyeol resumes her place, face pressed against the window despite the t.v. monitors strategically placed around the room.
Seungri fights the urge to slap Eungyeol upside the head. His attention, too, is fixed on the next jumper. It seems surreal that in this life, two brats from his dorm could make it to the Olympics together.
Hyeonjae looks scared shitless on screen. Seungri suddenly regrets not encouraging them more, his pep talks always dying when the athletic club complains about his training regiment. Even Hana looks concerned, but when Seungri squeezes her hand, she unexpectedly squeezes back.
Later, when Eungyeol bolts out of the VIP box, Seungri helps clear the way for her. They make it near the podium to see Hyeonjae looking overwhelmed with his bronze. Even Eungyeol is half sobbing, making wild success gestures from behind the camera crew.
Taejoon doesn’t cry when the Olympic committee awards him with the gold. He smiles brilliantly into the camera, as if conveying a secret message to a distance world.
“It’s not healthy to be jealous of someone so harmless,” Hana says, if only to herself.
“Everyone here is only jealous of one person,” Seungri replies, holding her arm. “And that’s me because I have you.”
Kang Taejoon must really inspire miracles, because for the second time that day, Hana smiles at him. “You’re cheesy, Oppa,” she says, and Seungri feels as if he’s the one who just won the gold medal.
2. Wind in Her Hair; In Which Jaehee and Taejoon are going to college together in America, as per the original manga. Jaehee/Taejoon.
It’s spring when Jaehee receives the postcard, her mail box swinging closed as she sprints through the female dormitories and down two flights of stairs, yelling a quick goodbye when she nearly bulldozes into a hall mate.
Taejoon is waiting outside of the building, closely eyeing a squirrel. Jaehee thinks his break from high jumping has only brought out Taejoon’s competitiveness in every other facet of life. Jaehee, too, has stopped doing track, caught in the flurry of college life and a renewed sense of proximity to Taejoon. Walking to class together seems unreal now that Jaehee can hold his hand.
“It won’t come over unless you have food,” Jaehee explains, approaching Taejoon and watching him communicate silently with the squirrel through eye contact. Taejoon just smiles at her, kind and blinding, as he zips up her jacket the entire way. Jaehee pulls hair out from under her scarf, long locks brushing past her shoulders as she returns Taejoon’s smile.
“I have something to show you,” she adds, folding the card into Taejoon’s palm and laughing when Taejoon doesn’t let go of her hand. “I’m serious. Look at it!”
She watches as Taejoon examines the postcard. It’s quite similar to the last one they’ve received in the series of landmarks Eungyeol has visited since scoring the winning goal at the world cup. On the back is quick scribble explaining his invitation to a conference in California, followed by the note, I’m coming to visit you!
3. Winning and Losing. The EXO at genie high remix. AKA what EXO did from episodes 3-16..
Chanyeol finds Baekhyun in the cafeteria, stuffing his face with noodles. Baekhyun gives him a dirty look, deliberately turning away yet losing the mini race out the door when someone from dorm 2 knocks into him. “I know what you want,” Baekhyun says, idly wiping noodles off his tie. “I don’t care what Joonmyun says. We’re not getting back together. The band is over. Caput. Deader than my fleeting romance with Seol Hana.”
“Does Seol Hana even know you exist?”
Baekhyun takes personal offense to this, trying to shove past Chanyeol but failing.
“Mark my words, Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says. “We’re getting the band back together.” Chanyeol knows their last performance wasn’t exactly well received, what with Kyungsoo nearly falling into the pool and the carrots that assholes from dorm 1 had thrown at them. It had been Joonmyun’s brilliant idea to accept the pool party gig. Then the Shut Up band had moved onto their turf, stealing their gig at the Ms. Genie pageant. While Chanyeol has some inkling that Sehun’s subsequent tantrum may have been induced by Jongin’s invitation to the date auction at the neighboring all-girls high school, it hadn’t stopped Jongin from mirroring Sehun’s fit. Then Kyungsoo had declared that he needed to study more, and suddenly everyone was throwing in the towel and calling it quits.
This was not how Chanyeol pictured their fall from grace. He tells Kyungsoo this much while invading the music room where Kyungsoo rehearsed with the vocal club. “What did you expect?” Kyungsoo asks, surprisingly unsympathetic as he heads towards the door. “Our fan café only had 13 members, 6 of which were members of our band.”
“What about those girls?”
“Joonmyun’s sisters and Sehun’s cousins,” Kyungsoo replies absently, looking at his watch. “High school is ending, and since none of us are particularly good as sports, we should give up searching for recording or advertisement deals. Not everyone is Kang Taejoon, you know.”
Chanyeol pauses. “You know, I’ve gone to school with that guy for 2 years and have rarely seen him around.”
Kyungsoo gives him a meaningful look. “If you get Kang Taejoon to sign a poster for my sister, then I’ll consider rejoining the band. For old time’s sake, maybe.”
Chanyeol thinks this is an easy feat. Jongin thinks Chanyeol is wasting his time. He says so when Chanyeol shoves Jongin and Sehun into an empty room the next day. “You two have to make up first before the other guys agree to come back,” Chanyeol insists.
“Forget it,” Jongin says. “We are never, ever getting back together.”
“Stop acting like life is a Taylor Swift song.” Chanyeol frowns.
Jongin raises an eyebrow. “Who?”
“Hey,” Sehun says, hurt. “I like her.” He proceeds to spend five minutes arguing over the merits of country-pop with Chanyeol, causing Chanyeol to miss Jongin sneaking out of the room.
Chanyeol is scanning the corridors in a futile search for Jongin when he hears a faint melody. He drags Sehun along while locating another music room, the sound of piano music now filling the hallways as a serene voice accompanies it, singing a popular ballad. He spends a good ten minutes creeping outside of the door, shushing Sehun, until someone incredibly tall stops outside of the door and clears his throat behind them.
“Do you,” the stranger asks. “Want to go in?”
“No,” Sehun says at the same Chanyeol insists, “yes.” The door opens by itself, revealing a boy with dimples and curious bed hair. His companion, someone equally unfamiliar, blinks at them.
“Were you just singing?” Chanyeol asks.
Dimples points to his friend, who waddles over curiously, eyes large but smile friendly.
“I’m Lu Han.”
“Lu Han,” Chanyeol takes a deep breath, grabbing Lu Han’s hand. “Please join our band!”
“You have a band?” Dimples inquire.
“Yes, well, kind of.” Chanyeol beams at him. “We’re taking a short break and are actively recruiting new members. I’ve been trying to convince Sehun here to rejoin, but it’s been kind of futil-”
“I’m rejoining the band,” Sehun decides. “I never left.”
Later, when they’ve finished exchanging numbers with the transfer students from China, Chanyeol pulls Sehun into a head lock on the way to their dorm. “You totally have ulterior motive. Admit it.”
“I say we vote Jongin off the island and replace him with those people.”
“We can’t replace our lead dancer,” Chanyeol begins to say, yelping when he hears growling noises near dorm 2. Sangchu barks, causing Sehun to jump. They spend a few minutes trying to calm the dog down before giving up and hurrying away.
Joonmyun finds them huddled in Chanyeol’s room later, drawing a battle plan. “We just need to get Baekhyun back,” Chanyeol explains.
“What about Jongin?” Joonmyun asks.
“Forget Jongin,” Sehun says. “Jongin is dead to me.”
Joonmyun blinks. “Are you still jealous about that date auction bid? Jongin isn’t even accepting it, you know. He told me.”
Sehun huffs. “I’m not jealous.”
“He’s jealous,” Chanyeol confirms. “But it’s fine, because we found someone for Sehun to make Jongin equally jealous. You know the transfer student?”
Joonmyun pauses. “The boy from California?”
“The Chinese transfer students,” Chanyeol corrects.
“I’ve never seen them.”
“Stop being a hermit,” Sehun says, busy playing a game on his Samsung galaxy. “Go out in to the world sometimes. We never see you around anymore. It’s like you don’t even go to this school.”
“Stop being a hermit, Hyung,” Chanyeol reminds him.
“I’m touched,” Joonmyun remarks dryly.
“We can’t fall off the radar like this,” Chanyeol continues. “What if everyone forget that we were ever a legitimate band? We need to make a come back.”
“Is it a comeback if we never went anywhere?” Kyungsoo asks in class the next day, reviewing that day’s notes while boys across the room play with tarot cards. “More importantly, have you heard the rumor about a girl in our school?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Chanyeol tells him. “No one here is pretty enough to be a girl.”
“What about last year when you cross dressed for Ms. Genie?” Baekhyun inquires from the back of the room, suddenly on speaking terms with them again. “I still have photos. Do you want to see them?”
“Do you want a black eye?”
Baekhyun clicks his tongue. “Touchy subject, I see.”
Chanyeol forgives Baekhyun for being blissfully unaware. He does, however, talk Baekhyun into walking with him and Kyungsoo after class. They cross the main courtyard to where Lu Han, Yixing, Kris, and Sehun are waiting by the fountain.
“What’s this?” Baekhyun asks.
“An intervention,” Chanyeol replies easily, tugging on Baekhyun when the smaller boy tries to bail. “We’ve found new members for the band. Now we can finally change up our image, you know? I’m open to suggestions.”
“Even the mandatory eyeliner?” Baekhyun asks.
“No,” Kyungsoo says, stopping when Chanyeol pinches his elbow. He stops glaring when Jongin shows up.
“What’s this?” Jongin asks, squinting.
“Wait,” Sehun says, turning to Chanyeol. “You told me we didn’t need Jongin anymore.”
“You told him what?”
Joonmyun decides to emerge then, carrying their stage costumes in a box. “So are sure about getting rid of these? Maybe they’ll fit our new members. Also, I don’t see how letting Lu Han wear Jongin’s pants will make Jongin jeal-” He trails off upon taking in the scene. “Um.”
“You’re getting rid of the sequin?” Baekhyun asks. “The sequin kept us together! It was the glue to our band!”
“I told you I wasn’t jealous,” Sehun adds.
Even Jongin is closing in on Chanyeol. “You were trying to get rid of me?”
Baekhyun pauses for a moment, turning to Jongin. “I say we set our differences aside and kick Chanyeol out.” He declares, taking another step towards Chanyeol and cursing when Chanyeol bails. Sehun and Jongin give chase behind Baekhyun, yelling as Chanyeol barrels through campus and weaves through their classmates.
Chanyeol runs past a kid on a stairmaster segway hybrid and nearly takes down half of the tennis team before tripping over nothing. He picks himself up just in time for Baekhyun to leap at him, Chanyeol rolling to his side and causing Baekhyun to barrel through the gate of Sangchu’s dog house. Chanyeol opens his mouth when Jongin and Sehun come to a halt near him, freezing at the sight of Sangchu launching himself at Baekhyun. They watch as Baekhyun tries to get up but goes down in a mess of failing limbs.
“You’ve killed Baekhyun!” Joonmyun, having caught up with them, shrieks. “Sangchu is going to eat him. Sangchu-”
“Is playing with him,” Kris cuts in.
Sangchu is, indeed, licking at Baekhyun’s cheek as he paws at Baekhyun’s uniform jacket, excitement evident as his tail slaps against Baekhyun’s knee. They watch as Baekhyun begins to laugh, fingers wading through soft fur and scratching Sangchu behind the ears.
“Wait,” Kyungsoo says slowly. “Does this mean Baekhyun is secretly a girl?”
“But we already knew that,” Sehun says, causing Baekhyun to stop petting Sangchu and flips him the bird.
“Okay so,” Chanyeol decides. “No one is dead, we’re not burning the sequins, Jongin and Sehun have reconciled, and Baekhyun is a woman. Does this mean we can get the band back together now?”
“For the last time,” Baekhyun says, standing up. “It’s not going to hap-” He stops ranting when Sangchu loses interest in him and wades towards someone else, barking in excitement as he tackles the newcomer. Baekhyun stares, causing everyone else to shift their attention on Kang Taejoon as well.
“This is so bizarre,” Kyungsoo says. “How is all of this happening in one day?”
“I think this is a sign that some higher force wants us to get back together,” Chanyeol insists. “Come on, guys. We can perform in front of the school again and reopen our fan café!”
“What are you talking about?” National athlete Kang Taejoon says, looking skeptical. “Who are you guys? Do you even go to this school?”
HOW CAN TTBY BE OVER???
Sigh. No more awkward Taejoon or Eungyeol selcas :( my soul hurts