all american hero.

Oh no, I didn’t even think about taxes! Adulthood is getting way too close, I don’t like it. Are the other Yoos not as nice? I don’t believe that, you’re all always so nice to me. As far as I’ve seen. Sometimes Ted gangs up with Iseul against me, but I think he’s usually joking.

Not even adulthood, just get a part time job and wham, thrown into a world of confusion. It’ll be here before you know it, bug, watch out. I dunno, I don’t remember much of them besides picking on me, but I think that’s because I’m second youngest and not because they’re jerks. Pretty sure Harrison’s still a jackass though. He’s usually joking, I bet. Either way I’m still the nicest Yoo, so.

Actually, Ted invited me over! We’re gonna wash them and watch cartoons so it’s not too grown up. You Yoos are so nice to me.

He did? Ah, I knew I raised him well-- or not really, I guess. I take my credit from afar. Man, I dunno if I wanna see what kind of crisis you go through when it comes time to do your taxes. Stay strong, Chanyong, I believe in you. You’re dealing with the nice Yoos, consider yourself lucky.

Most of it is on the floor and stuff, but sorta?

That’s a little scary, kid. D’you wanna bring your clothes over here to wash ‘em? I can’t imagine how much it costs to wash that much at the dorms.

“Not when you’re already semi famous.” Joo Won corrected them teasingly. “So you do admit that you’re weird!” He laughed, a short burst of smooth bass. “…Yeah.” He furrowed his eyes slightly at the mental image. Maybe Law and Business wasn’t so bad, after all. “Yeah.” He said again, his lips curling a little. “I always wondered how it would be like if I decided to study Medicine instead of Business Management and Law. But after hearing what you’ve said I don’t think I have any more regrets.” Slightly. There was a slight seriousness in his voice as he said it, as if he was convincing himself this. “Anyway, I have to go to class. Say hi when you pass by, yeah? Maybe I’ll make you take a picture with me then.”

“Semi famous? You’re giving me a lot of credit, bud.” Reagan shrugged. Even in their peak, they never considered themself to be semi-famous. Gymnastics was never at the same level as basketball or football, where people could recognize them just by face or name. “Hey, hey, I never said I wasn’t weird! I have no shame in that.” They countered, pointing a finger in Joo Won’s direction. “If you’re this far into your studies, I’d say you’re in the right direction, yeah?” They questioned. “Oh, so you’re not gonna try and avoid me now? Ah man, not that weirdo, they’re gonna try and pick me up again.” Their voice deepened as they attempted to mimic Joo Won’s, before cracking into laughter. “But yeah, can do. Still no promises on the picture.”

My dad was worried I’d lose my clothes when I moved out so I have lots.

You have that much clothes? Is your room basically one huge closet?

Kitae had to stop himself from letting slip something back to the other. Today seemed to be his day for making enemies, or just making people outright hate him already; not that it really affected him anymore seeing as he’d pretty much gotten used to that by now. Instead he settled with eye rolling, sighing as he forced himself to bow his head slightly at them in another apology (better to try get of their bad side before he could make it worse). “I’m sorry– again. As a matter of fact I wasn’t even rude to them, so they’d have no reason to give me wrong directions just yet though I have no doubt they might start doing that soon.” He forced a fake smile in return, titling his head a little at them before frowning once more in a slightly more annoyed expression. “Look, nothing was explained to me about this place, I don’t know what buildings are which or I would understand at least a little better where I was going right now.”

First being shouted at, and now the eye-rolling? Reagan was finally starting to understand what people meant about the high schoolers being beyond disrespectful. The Olympian let out a huff, crossing their arms across their chest in a defensive manner. “If this is how you talk to people-- your elders, then they’ll definitely start soon. Better make yourself a map, kiddo.” They raised their eyebrows, feeling no guilt about stooping down to the other’s level when it came to the pettiness. “High school dorms are in building E, your classes are in building A. The cafeteria and library are in building C, the gym and stuff is in building D. Will that do well enough for you, or does someone have to roll out the red carpet and give you a horse-drawn tour?”

“I guess it’s not a big deal then after all.” It really did help her. For some reason she assumed that everyone was obsessed with not being the ‘goodie two shoes’ out of their group of friends. “Yeah, you’re right. When I graduate people are going to remember me from my academic and sport achievements, right?” At least that’s what she hoped, Cheyenne was sure she’d pull something embarrassing that would end up on video and viral - or something. “You make a good point… I should come to you for advice. You should make a living out of this, honestly.” She told them, lips pulled back tightly. “Guess I’ll just refrain from being vocal about my judgmental thoughts until i’M alone…or with company who agrees.”

It was really a relief to know that for once, Reagan’s attempts at advice and comfort were actually successful. Usually they were so silly that no one ever bothered to take them seriously, and while they were never mad about that, it was nice to know that someone else thought otherwise. “Exactly. You’ve got the rest of your life to romance it up. My parents are in their fifties and it hasn’t stopped them yet.” They mentioned with a shrug. Of course, they weren’t to mention that the two were bitterly divorced after being together since their teens. It might have made their point even more, but they weren’t up to airing their family business like that. “Really? Man, that’s a first.” They couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh, covering their mouth as they did so. “Yeah, I think that’s probably the best way to go about it.”

Getting lost on his first day there; not part of Kitae’s plan. Now he was glad he’d decided on packing light so he wasn’t lugging too much around in search of the dorm location. The first year had already found the administration office, that was easy, but the directions they’d given him weren’t all that clear. Now here he was, probably on the other end of the campus and nowhere near where he wanted to go, and now asking someone once more seemed like a good idea– “Yah–” it was the first sound to come out when he saw a nearby student, and probably not a good way to introduce himself. “Sorry, but hey, do you know where the dorms are? I’m new, first year and office staff can’t give clear directions.”

Now, Reagan was one of the last people to make a big deal out of manners, but it didn’t sit well to them that some kid they didn’t know was yah-ing at them from a distance. Though displeased, they still stopped to reply to his calling out. “Yeah, didn’t you hear? They give bad directions to kids that don’t know manners. Gotta whip you into shape somehow before the seniors decide to take it into their own hands and make a game out of it.” Did they feel bad about their scare tactics? No. Should they have? Probably, but they didn’t care. They didn’t take well to jerks, little or big. “Aren’t the dorms building E? Just look for the letters on the buildings and go in that direction. If you no longer see buildings with letters, you somehow found your way off campus. It’s not like you’re looking for a room or something, you’re looking for a whole building on one campus.”

Kyungmi nearly jumped out of his skin when the still-warm coffee was knocked over, heart dropping to the pit of his stomach as the drink spilled across his shirt, pants, and dripped onto the floor. Oh no. No, no, no, everyone was totally looking this way. Kimmy sat as stiff as a board, eyes fixed on the now-empty coffee cup as he tried to gather the courage to look anywhere but there. After a moment, he coughed awkwardly and scrambled up to grab some more napkins and wipe at the coffee on the table, “It’s, uh, it’s really not a big deal I was almost done with it anyway…” Judging by the amount of coffee that had spilled out of the cup, he was probably not even close to finished with it, but he was falling back asleep and at least that woke him up. With the leftover napkins, Kimmy pat at the brown stain on his shirt, taking a deep breath as he noticed that people were, in fact, looking at the scene.

His unreadable expression only made them feel worse about it. Were he beyond mad or just too embarrassed to react? They looked down at what was left in the cup and the mess that had spilled over-- it didn’t at all seem close to done, but they weren’t going to protest. “I really don’t mind.” Reagan reassured him, nodding softly. “Okay. Have you eaten? I can get you breakfast or something... Please, I feel awful.” It wasn’t often that they insisted on paying on someone else’s behalf, not at a school populated with those far richer than they could ever dream of being, but their guilt left them with no choice. Glancing down as he wiped at his shirt, they frowned once again. “If you get some soap on it right away, most of the stain should come out. It might not even be that noticeable.”

“Really? Twenty-three? And you haven’t…” Cheyenne lifted a hand to cover her mouth, all in an attempt to keep herself from rambling on too much. She felt loads better knowing that it wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to still be “pure and innocent” at her age - although, in her opinion, all of that was just a load of bull crap that society engraved into people’s minds. “I’ll try not to worry about it then. It’s just like.. it’s not even something I think about until it’s brought up. I’m far too busy worrying about competitions and placing well in academics.” Cheyenne nodded, “human nature and all. I get it. Judging isn’t nice though… right? But as long as they’re not aware… it’s not wrong?”

“Nope. Never wanted to, never had the time to even if I wanted to.” Reagan replied, smirking slightly at the thought that maybe they’d managed to say something right.  “At the end of the day, your accomplishments are gonna have more weight than how many people you dated in high school.” They agreed, pointing a finger at the younger girl as they spoke.  “I mean, I guess it depends on how you go about it. As long as you aren’t y’know, being really outspoken about it to put yourself above everyone else, it’s not too bad. Because they could not be aware of it but you could still be wrong for it. It’s tricky, I guess. But I don’t see anything wrong with wondering why people want to waste their lives with that kind of stuff.”

“Well, if there ever is such a day, you’ll be the first one that I’ll call.” Joo Won assured her, lips curling into a grin. “Hey, there’s a ton of celebrities who turned famous overnight. I can’t let this chance pass me by- I should ask you to take a selfie with me.” Joo Won laughed, phone still in hand despite the fact that even he himself wasn’t sure if he was serious about taking a photo of them together. Reagan had a point, Joo Won wasn’t too big on living off on his face alone. “I’ve actually considered going into Medicine a few times, but I’d always get nervous about slicing through flesh. I’m not queasy with blood, but I can’t really explain it.” Joo Won pressed his lips together, letting out a low hum. He had his own set of ambitions which he had never been able to voice, setting them aside to please the ones around him. Sad, but what can you do. Wasn’t a rare case, either. Typical, cliched story of the rich never gotten as much as sympathy as other tales told by the less fortunate. 

Snickering slightly, Reagan gave him two thumbs up in response. “Well, that could go for anyone, are you gonna go take a picture with everyone you pass by too? If that’s the case then you might be the weird one and not me.” They countered, making no attempts to cover up the awkward laughter brewing up. Though they didn’t act like it, they really didn’t mind the idea of someone wanting a picture of them-- part of them still yearned for the recognition they used to get when they were younger, but they knew there was no point of focusing so much on the past. “Oh no, I get it! Some people are all into it until we get to the cadaver labs and we have to crack open the ribcage. And then you’ve got three of the toughest guys knocked out cold on the floor and only a handful of us who can carry on without getting all squeamish. It’s not for everyone-- but I guess that goes for just about anything too, yeah?”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one. Most girls, or I guess people, my age have already experienced their first kiss, first relationship…” Cheyenne explained, cheeks slightly tinged with hints of pink. It wasn’t that she liked to speak about, most of the time she liked to pretend as though she was up to speed with everyone else. “Spare time? I don’t have any of that. Well - that’s an exaggeration. On any given day I have about thirty minutes worth of free time. Annnd this is what I’ve chosen to do with my time from today –” She grinned gently, “people watching is a good way to pass the time.” She gasped gently, head shaking in response. “No! Nooo, I’m not judging. To each their own, right? I was just… wondering out loud?”

“I’m twenty three and I haven’t bothered with any of that stuff yet either.” They stated with a shrug. Even in their younger years, they never felt weird about it. It wasn’t as if they ever had the time to get into that, nor did they even know anyone besides their mother, various coaches, and the few competitors around their age. “I wouldn’t worry about it, y’know? Everyone moves at their own pace. It’s just whatever.” Reagan nodded silently in agreement. When they were at Cheyenne’s age their circumstances weren’t much different, and even now they could say that thirty minutes was probably an overestimation of how much free time they had on their hands.  “Yeah, well I’m judging a bit. Nothing wrong with it, just human habit.”