Jung Taeho was a simple boy, the same as every other teenager in his grade.
He liked to hang out with his friends, tease people who happened to be shorter than him, and he had a long list of hobbies; cooking with his parents and basketball being his personal favourites.
He enjoyed pulling all-nighters for exams (and somehow always managed to get remarkable scores despite his arduous issue with procrastination), and staying up in the early hours of dawn, playing games with his online friends (probably the reason why he would end up pulling all those all-nighters, to begin with.)
He was pretty average, or about as normal as one could get when presented with two other siblings the same age as themselves.
His brothers, the bane of his existence, were reincarnations of the devil himself. He preferred to think of himself as the only sane one out of the three.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, he thought to himself when he heard the unmistakable screaming of his duplicates downstairs, and he sighed into his hands, flopping down on his king-sized mattress. Dear Lord, give him the strength to not strangle anyone today.
"Taeho, if you don't get downstairs within approximately 5 minutes, the driver will leave without you!" The ambiguous voice of his father called from down below, jolting him out of his mental preparation for what they like to call 'high school'.
Quickly swinging his school bag over his shoulder, he exited his room. "One second!" he called, going down the staircase at an accelerated speed.
Downstairs, he was met with the interesting sight of what would be considered his everyday life: his papa was on the phone, probably declining the invitation of yet another modelling agency, his dad glaring holes into the phone his husband was holding, because how dare these mediocre bastards assume they are worthy enough to have Lee Taeyong in their presence, he would hear him say whenever the inevitable phone call would end.
He rolled his eyes whilst smiling, really his dad, a man of his age getting jealous.
"Where do you think you're going, young man?" His papa asked him once he hung up, crossing his arms with an eyebrow raised.
"School?" he replied, hesitance laced in his deep voice.
"Without breakfast?" The older man asked.
This made Taeho let out an exasperated huff, before grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen counter.
"Yeah okay, mom," he muttered, before leaving the house in a rush, grabbing his idiotic brothers by the collars of their uniform with him, yelling goodbye to his parents as he dragged them out to the awaiting car.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that? Jung Taeho!" His papa called out from behind him, shaking his blonde locks, this kid.
"You're no fun Taeho! Yoon and I were just messing around," Taehyun, the middle child of the iconic trio, exclaimed.
"It's Taeho hyung to you."
"You're only older by minutes!"
"Still older"
"Be quiet Taeho and Taehyun! I thought I was the immature one here!" They both turned their heads to the smaller boy who had shouted from his seat in the back.
Being the oldest, Taeho had the privilege of sitting in the passenger seat.
"It's hyung for you, Yoon," Taehyun chirped.
"Rah!" Jie screeched, scaring his friends who were seated at a small table, whispering in the library.
"Oh my god, Jie don't do that!" Rin whisper-yelled as he scooted his chair a bit, allowing the docile boy to sit in between his and Minyoung's person sandwich.
"Pshhh, you get scared way too easily, Rin." Minyoung teased her friend, who scowled at her.
"Look its Taehyun hyung!" Jie shouted dramatically, which may or may not have gotten a few odd glances from the students around them.
Automatically, the girl frantically looked for the nearest place to hide, as if on instinct. The two boys around her shared a look and snickered.
"Good one Jie," Rin praised, and they fist-bumped. Minyoung flushed a bright scarlet, clearing her throat multiple times out of embarrassment.
"We should go, class is about to start," she mumbled before rushing out of the library.
"Quick! The triplets are coming over, does my hair look good?"
"Oh my god, I heard Lee Taeyong got scouted from another modelling company again, even after declining so many offers!"
"Lee Taeyong? I thought it was Jung Taeyong?"
"Do you even go on twitter? His contract states he cannot change his name. Honestly, you're dumber than i thought."
"Did I put enough gel in my hair this morning? I want to ask Yoon to the school dance at the end of the year, he's adorable."
Murmurs and whispers echoed around the halls of the school, the triplets must be arriving soon, Minyoung thought to herself.
Sure enough, a sleek black car pulled up to the gates of the school, and three figures exited. They all made their separate ways to go to their classes, trying to pretend they couldn't see multiple people whisper to their friends about them, or their parents, or how hot Taehyun looked with his unbuttoned Lacoste polo shirt, speech courtesy of one of the 10th-grade girls.
"I don't get why everyone gets so excited? Almost everyone here is either famous or have well-known parents, why is it such a big deal?" Minyoung asked in curiosity when multiple people started to discreetly talk about the three boys.
"But are they all as attractive as the triplets?" Jie asked her, to which she shrugged her shoulders. She may have had a rather strong dislike for one of them, but that didn't mean she was blind.
She sees them almost every week, as their parents were friends, and even she too was well aware they were all unfairly gorgeous. Hell, both of their parents worked in the model industry, she shouldn't have been surprised.
"Fuck my life, we have P.E next," Rin groaned as they walked down the school's science hall, trying their hardest to not get ambushed by stressed-out seniors rushing to their classes, who look as if they probably hadn't slept for days.
"I don't see why you're complaining," Jie voiced, confused as to why his friend was upset.
"You only like P.E because you get to play basketball with Taeho." An offended gasp came from the smallest one, how dare his dear friend believe that?
"So?" Actually, he gave up, there was no point denying it, it was the truth. The bell then rang, loud and clear, and the three made their way to the gym.
"I honestly can't remember the last time I stretched," Minyoung said as she attempted stretching her back, hearing loud pops of protest coming from her spine as it cracked abruptly.
"That's what happens when you stay in your room cooped up doing complex makeup routines, Min," Jie replied matter-of-factly, before effortlessly touching his toes whilst sitting down.
"Where the hell is Rin? How long does it take for one person to get changed?" She asked, craning her head up towards the boy's locker room, waiting for her friend.
See, it wasn't that Rin hated P.E, in fact, he quite enjoyed it.
It gave him a break from all his other difficult subjects, and he liked some of the sports they practised.
It's just he hated some of the people in his class.
It was a mix of both 11th and 12th graders, and a certain someone he despised was part of the latter.
"Rin! You didn't respond to my texts."
Hearing his name being called, Rin shut his gym locker before turning to whoever said his name. He couldn't help but groan in annoyance at who he saw in front of him.
"What do you want Yoonjae?" he asked tiredly, trying to make it obvious he was disinterested in the slightly smaller boy in front of him.
Yoon must not have noticed the lack of enthusiasm, as he wrapped his arms around Rin, engulfing him in a tight hug.
"I haven't seen you for days! Why didn't you come to school yesterday, or on Monday? I haven't seen you since Friday, that was so long ago-"
"Please stop talking, Yoonjae, it's way too early," Rin interrupted the overly excited boy, pinching the bridge of his nose; his head was beginning to hurt from how much the other was rambling.
He was well aware that Yoonjae had messaged him, so much he had to mute him from how much his phone was blowing up.
"Are you okay? Are you sick? Do you want me to get you painkillers for your head?"
Rin didn't reply, instead, he left the boys changing room, purposely bumping his shoulder against the only other male in the room.
"You okay Yoon? You seem a little down." Yoon looked up to see his friend, Twenty, observing the pouting boy with a concerned look.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Twenty didn't seem pleased with his answer, but before he could say anything else, the coach blew her whistle, watching the students flock together.
"Gather around! Our next topic will be basketball! For a practice round, we will be split into eight teams of 5, and then we'll switch games halfway through the lesson."
Slowly, the students began to awkwardly group to the nearest people around them, in hopes to find a decent team. Then the clear voice of their coach rang out.
"Don't be afraid to mix up the teams, try to go with someone from a different grade who you don't talk to, yeah?"