Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Jackson sighed as he looked up at the man seated across the desk in front of him. The man was in his mid-to-late 50s--if Jackson had to guess. He was a little on the chubbier side, had a head full of graying hair, and a fairly impressive beard. He was giving Jackson his best stern look, trying to get the 8th grader to cave under the pressure of his gaze. Jackson wasn’t used to sitting in the principal’s office, that was for sure. The only other time he had been in there was when Mark had his huge breakdown the year previously. He was fairly used to being in trouble at home though, enough so that he knew he didn’t want either his dad or appa made aware of this situation.
“I told you, sir,” Jackson spoke, trying to keep his tone even and his face blank--give no tells, show no fear. “My one dad is in Canada in the middle of a book tour. There is no reason to bother him, and honestly there isn’t much he could do right now anyway. My other dad is probably busy in a recording session for his first album. He had a song he was messing around with go viral, which meant that both girls and boys alike realized how talented and attractive he is. He now has a lot of pressure to make the best debut album he can. Would you really want to disturb that?”
“I need a parent or a guardian to come pick you up, Mr. Wang,” Principal Grayson informed. “That much is non-negotiable, young man.”
“You could get my older brother Mark to do it,” Jackson suggested. “He is in high school, but he actually has the day off today for teacher conferences. I promise he would tell my parents, and they would punish me accordingly.”
Or he would beg Mark on bended knee not to tell his parents, and then promise to do whatever the other boy wanted for like the next year. The principal definitely didn’t need to know that, though.
A light knock on the door sounded, and Jackson felt his heart sink a little when he turned around and saw Seokjin standing in the doorway. That’s right, how could Jackson forget with Hoseok being involved that Seokjin or Namjoon would come to the office.
“Hello Principal Grayson, I’m Seokjin Kim,” Seokjin introduced himself. “I received a call to come pick up Hoseok.”
“Ah you must be Hoseok’s father,” Principal Grayson said with a nod, gesturing to the empty seat next to Hoseok.
“Step-father,” Hoseok corrected, crossing his arms over his chest.
Hoseok was sat next to Jackson, very much trying to ignore the other boy’s existence. Jackson was very much replicating this stony avoidance and silent treatment that Hoseok had going on.
“What happened here?” Seokjin asked, looking back and forth between a worse for wear Jackson and Hoseok in confusion as he moved to sit down.
“Mr. Wang and Mr. Kim here had a fight in the middle of lunch period,” Principal Grayson explained. “I am actually unable to reach a Mr. Im who is listed as Mr. Wang’s primary contact for the moment. He informs me that it would be useless to contact Mr. Park, whom he says is currently out of the country.”
Seokjin gave Jackson a sharp look at that, narrowing his eyes at the boy and pulling out his cell phone.
“No! Uncle Seokjin!” Jackson protested, but was completely ignored by Seokjin who held up a hand to silence the boy.
“Hello?” a voice asked into the phone.
“Hey Joonie,” Seokjin greeted. “Are you with Jaebeom?”
“Yeah, he is in the studio with me recording some vocals,” Namjoon explained, gesturing for the other man to come out of the booth. “Why?”
“I’ve been called down to the school because Hoseok got into a fight,” Seokjin explained.
“HE WHAT?” Namjoon yelled into the phone, loud enough that Hoseok could hear and majorly cringed in reply--yeah, he was dead.
“That’s not the worst part,” Seokjin continued. “He got into a fight with Jackson of all people. The school tried to reach Jaebeom, but couldn’t. Jackson was trying to persuade them that contacting Jinyoung would be pointless when I arrived.”
Jackson groaned and slid down further in his chair, wishing he could disappear on the spot. Why did Seokjin have to tell Namjoon that?
“We will be there in 10 minutes,” Namjoon replied, causing Jaebeom to give him a confused look.
Seokjin hung up the phone and placed it back into his pocket.
“My husband and Mr. Im will be here soon,” Seokjin explained, getting an amused look from the principal and a look of panic from Hoseok and Jackson.
“Thank you,” Principal Grayson replied with a smile, happy that Seokjin had made his job easier--not that he was ever actually going to consider calling Mark instead of one of Jackson’s parents.
They sat in relative silence in the office, Principal Grayson offering Seokjin a cup of coffee which he gratefully accepted. Hoseok and Jackson did their best to pretend that they were the only ones in the room, making eye contact with nobody and speaking not one word. Finally, the door to the office opened once more. Seokjin turned in his seat, ready to greet Namjoon and Jaebeom but was met with another surprise. It was the principal of the high school who had Yoongi’s arm in one hand and Mark’s arm in another.
“Principal Smith,” Principal Grayson said, standing up in confusion as the woman walked through the door with the two teens. “What is going on here?”
“Mr. Kim and this young man here, who refuses to give me his name, were found making out under the football bleachers when Mr. Kim was supposed to be in class,” Principal Smith answered, causing both boys’ cheeks to turn vibrant red as Seokjin’s, Hoseok’s, and Jackson’s jaws dropped open. “I contacted a Mr. Namjoon Kim, who said that he was on his way here and asked if I could just bring his son to this location.”
“You and Yoongi hyung were making out?” Jackson asked, his voice cracking on the words in his disbelief.
“You know this young man?” Principal Smith asked, zeroing in on Jackson.
Mark immediately started glaring daggers at his younger brother, begging him to not be stupid. Jackson was saved from having to make a choice when Seokjin spoke up.
“That’s Mark Tuan,” Seokjin said. “Jackson’s older brother.”
“Please don’t call my parents!” Mark begged, turning all of his attention to Seokjin. “Last time I got in trouble they sent me to private school. The logical next step could be like military school or something!”
“Dad is already on the way,” Jackson informed with a sigh. “We only have like two minutes until we have to face him.”
“Wang Jia Er!” a voice called from the entrance of the principal’s office as Jaebeom and Namjoon stepped in. “I heard you tried to get out of your appa or I being contacted!”
“Mark and Yoongi were making out under the bleachers!” Jackson called out in a panic, desperate to get his dad’s attention off of himself.
“Jackson!” Mark and Yoongi both shouted in reply.
“They were WHAT?” Namjoon asked, looking around the room in confusion.
He had been called and told that Yoongi had skipped class and was making out with someone. He had in no way shape or form been told with who. Not in a million years did he think that the other person would be Mark.
“Why don’t we move this conversation into the conference room,” Principal Grayson suggested. “That way you can all have a seat, and Principal Smith and I will give you some privacy for a few minutes while we come up with our official school responses.”
Mark groaned, remembering the ‘wonderful’ times he had spent in that conference room when he had two weeks of in-school-suspension. It had been over a year, and Mark still thought it was too soon to see it again.
“Mr. Tuan, why don’t you lead the way,” Principal Grayson suggested with a small smirk after hearing the boy’s reaction. “I’m sure you remember exactly where it is.”
“Yes, sir,” Mark replied with a sigh, doing as he was told.
Way too soon for any of the teens, they were all sitting around the conference room table with their dad’s looking at them expectantly.
“So let me see if I have this straight,” Jaebeom spoke first. “Hoseok and Jackson got into a fight in the middle of the lunch room. They were brought to the principal’s office, where I was unable to be contacted. Then, instead of allowing the principal to call their appa, Jackson decides to try to get the principal to call Mark. But little did he know that Mark was getting busy under the high school bleachers of a school that he doesn’t go to with Yoongi, who had skipped class to meet up with him.”
“We weren’t having sex!” Yoongi protested, aghast at Jaebeom’s word choice.
Jaebeom plowed on though, ignoring Yoongi’s protest.
“But when they got caught, Mark refused to identify himself in the hopes that I wouldn’t be contacted,” Jaebeom concluded.
“Did you really think that I wouldn’t tell them?” Seokjin asked, looking over at Mark and Jackson. “Or Namjoon for that matter.”
“All I was thinking was that I was grounded for like 3 and a half months the last time I got brought to the principal’s office,” Mark admitted with a shrug. “And I really really didn’t want to get grounded again.”
“That could have been avoided by not doing something that you know you shouldn’t be doing,” Jaebeom pointed out. “Easiest way to avoid grounding, if you ask me.”
Mark shut his mouth and didn’t reply, admittedly realizing that there was nothing that he could say to win his case on that one.
“Why don’t we start at the beginning,” Seokjin said with a sigh, turning and looking at Hoseok and Jackson. “Why were you two fighting?”
Neither Hoseok nor Jackson jumped at the chance to explain their case, both crossing their arms and looking decidedly away from each other.
“Don’t make this worse on yourselves!” Namjoon scolded. “Someone is going to tell us what happened, and they are going to tell us NOW.”
“I thought you two were friends, how did it end up like this?” Seokjin asked.
“We haven’t been close friends for a while,” Jackson spat out, his voice sulky and his tone pouty. “He left me for his cooler dance friends once we started 8th grade. Things just got worse over time, with him always choosing them over me!”
“It’s not my fault that I have other friends and you don’t,” Hoseok shot back.
“Hoseok!” Namjoon scolded. “Don’t speak to him that way!”
“He got mad at me because I wanted to work on a science project with Jeremy from Star Dance Crew and not him,” Hoseok explained in a rush.
“You told me a couple weeks ago that you would do it with me!” Jackson protested. “That was what the fight at lunch was about. I know it was stupid, but when he said that he was going to pick Jeremy instead because it was easier since they practiced together and could work during the breaks I got mad.”
“And by ‘got mad’, he means that he punched me!” Hoseok informed, finally looking up at Jackson and glaring at him.
“You told me that it wasn’t your fault that I wasn’t a good dancer! If I was better I would have made the team too” Jackson shouted back, earning a withering look from his dad for his volume.
“Hoseok!” Namjoon cried out, looking at his son in disbelief. “What did I tell you when you first got that letter? I said that you had to make sure it didn’t separate you from your friends. I didn’t want this dance crew to be your entire life.”
“And it’s not!” Hoseok protested. “I still spend plenty of time with my brothers and believe it or not, I did still try to be friends with Jackson. He just stopped liking hanging out with me!”
“All you would ever talk about is that stupid dance team!” Jackson complained. “I was sick and tired of it. You had to know that I was going to feel that way. You left the school dance team and Yoongi moved on to high school. Our trio was suddenly gone and you were too busy for me!”
“I didn’t make YOU quit the school dance team too!” Hoseok pointed out, throwing his hands out in exasperation. “You could have had friends there.”
“I’m sorry, you did WHAT?” Jaebeom asked in confusion looking over at Jackson with his eyes narrowed. “You go to practice every Wednesday.”
Hoseok looked at Jackson with a smug look, happy to no longer be the only one who appeared to be in the wrong.
“I quit a couple months ago,” Jackson admitted, barely above a whisper. “It just wasn’t fun anymore and no one wanted to be my partner for dances. I’m not very good any more. Not getting into Star Dance Crew kind of killed my confidence, to be honest. I can see why no one wants to work with me. Instead, I’ve been going to the library and reading on Wednesdays.”
Jaebeom sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He knew that his son’s apparent lack of self-confidence was something that needed to be discussed in a more private setting. He didn’t need to embarrass the boy further.
“We will discuss this more at home,” Jaebeom said, getting a nod of understanding in reply. “We need to move on to the other two.”
Mark and Yoongi gulped, feeling the gaze of everyone else at the table now on them.
“So, when did you two get together?” Namjoon asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Around Christmas-time,” Yoongi admitted, shifting awkwardly in his seat. “So about a month ago.”
“And why didn’t you tell us?” Seokjin asked, genuinely confused.
“Because we didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” Mark replied with a sigh. “We got close while working in the studio. Then we started writing more and more songs together and things just really clicked.”
“So whose idea was the meet up today?” Jaebeom asked.
“Mine,” Mark admitted. “I told Yoongi that I had the day off and that I could meet him during his lunch break. But we didn’t pay attention to the time, and the next thing we knew we were caught because they realised that Yoongi was skipping classes.”
“Why not just wait until after school?” Namjoon asked.
“I missed him too much,” Yoongi answered. “I know it sounds stupid, but we didn’t want you guys to know so there are limited opportunities. Both of our houses are out because we both have 4 brothers. We would usually…erm hook up at the studio but those chances have gotten fewer with Uncle Jaebeom working so hard on his album.”
“This just seemed like a good opportunity to not get caught,” Mark admitted.
The two principals walked in, causing the table to go quiet and everyone to look at them. Twenty minutes later, the two families were walking out of the office with their very petulant children. Hoseok and Jackson had been given two weeks of after school detention for the fight. Yoongi had been given a week of detention for skipping class. Mark was lucky he didn’t go to the school, but was more than aware that his dad was about to make up for that.
“We are all going to get together tomorrow night to discuss things between our two families,” Seokjin informed the teens, who all looked like that was the last thing that they wanted to do.
“But for now,” Jaebeom continued, looking over at his two sons. “You two get to call your appa and explain what has happened.”
Jackson and Mark looked up, ready to protest but backed down at their dad’s look. Damn, it wasn’t going to be a fun night in either the Im/Park or the Kim household.