{EDITED AND PUBLISHED}
{EDITED AND PUBLISHED}
Jian silently cursed at his alarm. Just why did he have to wake up now when he was having such a good dream. He looked at the time and sighed when he remembered that he had to attend practice.
Well, at least it was the last practice since the concert was tomorrow. Wait, the concert was tomorrow. That meant he had to perform tomorrow in front of 23 men known as NCT and Hansol. He blankly stared at the wall as he processed that before looking at his roommate, who was still asleep. At least Joshua was lucky, he didn't have to worry about performing and he didn't have the practice to attend.
After contemplating his life decisions, Jian stood up from his bed, did his morning routine, changed into sweatpants and an oversized shirt before leaving to the dance studio. He whistled as he walked to the dance studio, trying to wake himself up.
He bumped into the twins and smiled at them mischievously. "moorning", he told them.
Jieun frowned and pouted. "hey that's my line", she said.
"Not anymore beautiful" Jian replied as he bopped her nose.
Jinwoo looked at them with disgust. "can you stop flirting in front of the lonely and single people", he said.
"No can do buddy" Jian answered as they entered the dance studio.
"It's not our fault you haven't told Miyoung how you feel" Jieun added which made Jinwoo blush.
"Shhh, she might hear you", he told them, "and I will soon"
"Hey you two stop bullying Jinwoo and get ready for practice", Emma told them. They nodded, knowing better than to mess with their leader. How did she know they were bullying Jinwoo? His ears were bright red.
However, that was how another day of practice started for the six teenagers.
Kun and Hansol sat in the living room couch, drinking coffee and having cookies. However, someone had called Kun so he had gone into their bedroom to take the call. Only to come back with semi-good news.
"Yeongdo just called me, they found something", He told Hansol as he sat back down on the couch.
"What did they find?"
"Kangmi and Dingxiang were kidnapped while getting coffee and are currently being held hostage at a hotel", Kun explained with a sigh.
"It was her father, wasn't it?, Hansol asked and Kun nodded in response. They weren't at all fazed with the situation considering that they were talking about Kangmi's father.
"But they found the location of the hotel, so now we just need to work out a new plan that follows the original plan", Kun added.
Hansol frowned, "That will be hard", he commented. They would basically have to get Kangmi out of that hotel without her father noticing, and he knew for a fact that there would be security surrounding the whole place.
"I know"
Joshua sat in his bed with a sketchbook and a pencil. He had been drawing different clothing sketches and designs. He truly was just trying to distract himself from something he had done a few days ago. Something he hadn't told anybody about.
"Hey Yeongdo, can I talk to you in private?" Joshua asked his best friend.
Yeongdo nodded and followed the younger to somewhere more private. "What do you want to talk about?"
Joshua gulped and looked down. "I just wanted to tell you that I like you...you know as more than just friends", he confessed.
Yeongdo looked away and sighed. He knew this would happen at some point and he knew that he needed to be truthful. He also knew that this would be the end of their friendship and he would no longer have his best friend. "Joshua, you are an amazing person and anyone would be lucky to have you but"
"Please don't continue" Joshua pleaded as his eyes watered. He knew what was about to happen and didn't if he was ready to hear it.
"You know that I have to or else you will never get closure", Yeongdo murmured and cleaned his best friend's tears with sadness, "Joshua I'm sorry but I don't see you like that, and I hope you know that you deserve so much love, but I just can't give the love you want"
"Please"
"I'm sorry" Yeongdo stepped back and walked away from Joshua, feeling guilty for breaking the heart of one of the most important people in his life. But he couldn't give Joshua what he wanted, because he just saw him as a brother. Yet know they would probably just treat each other like strangers.
Joshua threw his pencil and sketchbook away from him before curling into a ball. He closed his eyes as he replayed the moment in his head.
Kun would check up on him regularly but would not comment on his state. He had a feeling that Joshua was going through his first heartbreak and didn't want to make him feel worse by asking. He would wait until Joshua was ready to open up to him.
On the other hand, it was surprising that Jian hadn't noticed since those two are literally roommates. Well, how could he? when Joshua acted like everything was fine when he was around because he didn't want to cause any trouble in the friend group.
However, that afternoon when Jian got back from practice, Joshua found himself sobbing inside the bathroom. Jian frowned but didn't comment on it when Joshua exited the bathroom. He didn't want to force anything out of the younger. During dinner, everything was normal so Jian shrugged it off.
Later that night though, Jian woke up to Joshua screaming in his sleep. He immediately got out of bed and went to wake up the younger.
Joshua woke up with tears streaming down his face and looking scared. Jian held him in his arms and comforted him as he felt the younger's heart beating fast. While Joshua held tight to Jian's shirt and cried.
"Hey hey, it's okay, I'm here", Jian said softly. It took him a few minutes to calm Joshua down but when he did the younger looked afraid.
"Jian" Joshua called out his name in a whisper. "can you sleep with me tonight?" He asked with a terrified tone.
"Of course"
"Thank you" Joshua replied softly and made space for Jian, so the boy could lay down.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jian asked Joshua slowly and the younger nodded.
Joshua closed his eyes as he tried to remember what the dream was about. "I don't remember the dream, but I just remember feeling alone and scared"
"Did anything happen to make you feel like this?" Jian asked with a worried tone.
"I-", Joshua said sahikly, "I confessed to Yeongdo and he-" He tried to continue but couldn't and felt his eyes water once again.
"Rejected you" Jian whispered and Joshua hummed in response. "Well it's his loss, he lost an amazing person"
"But it hurts" Joshua sobbed.
Jian sighed and caressed the boy's hair. "and it's supposed to hurt, but you decide whether you want it to keep hurting or accept it and move on from it. Joshua if I'm being honest straight men ain't shit"
"Aren't you straight?"
"Why else would think I'm saying that? I know how bad men can be, but you need to take this and grow stronger because one day the right person will come to you" Jian continued.
"I didn't know you had these words within you" Joshua commented with a small smile.
"Me neither"
The two laughed and continued a quiet conversation until they fell asleep from tiredness.
CONCERT DAY final part
Before they performed the last song, a special video the six teenagers had prepared played on the big screen. On the screen came out Beomsoo, Jungha, Minjae, Mingyu, and Minho.
"Is this working?", a male voice said, "you can speak now"
"dery hyung, yang hyung, and jun hyung! hi, how are you?", Minho said and Mingyu continued, "anyways I hope both of you are happy because I am! I have to let Beomsoo speak now... anyways remember that you guys will always be our favorite hyung's!"
the camera then focused on Beomsoo. "Winwin hyung and Yuta hyung I miss you! just know that I'm having an amazing time with daddy and my brothers. I'm doing fine don't worry about me, okay? I will always love you."
Sicheng smiled softly and nodded at the screen. He then hugged Yuta and smiled at his boyfriend.
"Hyuck hyung and Markie hyung, how are you doing?", baby jun said. Haechan watched with tears forming in his eyes, he didn't think he would ever see baby jun again. Mark was startled by the video but smiled upon seeing the toddler.
"because I'm doing fine! don't worry about me and remember", baby jun continued, "you two will always be my favorite hyungs!"
Then Minjae came up and Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun were happy to be able to see him again. "Nana, nono, and jun! me is doing fine...thank you for being good to me! I love you!"
After them, Donghyun came up on the screen. "thank you for taking care of them these past few months! let me tell you, they don't really stop talking about how much fun it was to be with you all. However, I knew you guys grew fond of them and I promise to take care of them and remind them about you guys...if you ever want to meet them again I can gladly make arrangements"
Meanwhile, Chenle held Daegal who was excitedly barking and Jisung softly patted her head.
Everyone had a big smile by the time the video had ended. Emma looked at neos and smiled. "that was our special surprise, and now it's time for our last song 'trigger the fever' because this whole experience felt like a fever...if that makes sense", she said as the song started. The song gave all of them a feeling of nostalgia and brought a smile to their face.
Once the six teens finished performing the song, they stood in a line, held hands, and bowed before leaving the stage. While half of them left the venue, Johnny, Ten, Jaehyun, Taeyong, Junseo, Lucas, Jungwoo, Kun, Hansol, Taeil, and Doyoung met with their kids backstage ready to tell them the news that they still had to disclose to them.
"We have something to tell you guys!", Johnny said. He excitedly entered the waiting room, receiving a questioning look from the teens.
"SM has accepted you guys as trainees" Taeyong announced with a smile and they all spit out the water they were drinking or the snack they were eating.
"and we adopted Emma so she is legally our daughter now", Jaehyun said which left Emma in shock.
"We adopted David" Johnny added as he looked at David with a smile.
"we legally adopted Jieun and Jinwoo" Jungwoo stated, giving Jieun and Jinwoo a heart attack.
"Jian we legally adopted you", Hansol told him.
"and we adopted Miyoung" Doyoung declared as he hugged his daughter.
"wait really!?" Emma asked. Feeling really overwhelmed and happy, and if they were joking she would definitely kill them.
"they're not lying you can come by tomorrow to sign your contract to be trainees only if you want to", Xiaoyu said and they all looked at her with shocked expressions. This was too much to take in when minutes ago they thought that they would never see them again.
Jian looked at Kun and Hansol. "so who's last name do I have now?" He asked curiously.
"mine" Hansol responded with a raised eyebrow.
Jian gave him a blank expression, "I need a moment to process that".
Joshua, who stood next to Jian, frowned. "wait, do I also have his last name?"
Kun nodded, "he recently signed the papers as your other father, and well we wanted you and Jian to share the same last name", the older explained.
"at least we're a family...legally, right little bro?" Jian asked his now official brother and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Yeah you're right", Joshua said with a smile.
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