some time had passed since the boys last hung out, and the friend group was not the same.

chan stuck to seungmin's side like glue and hardly spoke a word to the other boys. seungmin tried to get chan to engage with them, but it was no use. something was different about him.

today the boys would get their college acceptance letters and all admit to each other what their plans are for the rest of their lives are. for some reason, all of them had been avoiding this conversation.

"when do we want to tell each other?" jisung asked as he, felix, minho, hyunjin, changbin, and jeongin walked to their cars.

"well you guys could all come over my house, felix was supposed to come for dinner anyway." changbin said and all the boys agreed it was a good idea.

minho drove himself and jisung, while changbin drove felix, hyunjin, and jeongin. the car ride went quick since changbin doesn't live far from the school, but the anxiety was eating away at him every second of the drive.

he didn't tell felix where he applied. they had talked about it once in passing, and the place changbin was most excited to go to never even came up in conversation. he didn't even know if he would get in, so what was the point in bringing it up?

once the boys got to the house, they all sat around changbin's living room with envelopes in their hands.

"who wants to go first?" changbin asked as he looked around at all the nervous faces.

everyone turned to their sides and looked at each other, no one wanted to be the first to go.

"jisung, why don't you go?" changbin suggested, knowing jisung has a hard time saying no.

"i-i don't want to go first though..." jisung said as he nervously turned to minho for help out of the situation.

"what's the big deal? you're going to have to go eventually." jeongin stated, and jisung shot him a death glare, "fine, fine... don't go first!"

"i'll go first," minho said as he patted jisung's thigh to relax him, "i got into kookmin university! i will be studying computer science there."

"wow that's shocking..." hyunjin muttered.

"what's shocking about that?" minho questioned, narrowing his eyes at the latter.

"n-nothing actually... i-i just thought..." hyunjin tried to explain himself, but he failed miserably.

"just shut up and let him kill you." jeongin sighed.

"what?" hyunjin's eyes widened as he heard jeongin's words.

"i won't kill you, at least not right now," minho smirked as he then turned to jisung, "now you can go."

"f-fine," jisung took a deep breath, "i am also going to kookmin university. i am going to be studying architecture there."

"architecture? since when have you been interested in that?" felix questioned, being completely shocked by jisung.

"uh-- the interest only started recently, but i don't know... it seems cool i guess." jisung shrugged.

"the real reason he wants to go is for the arts program, but his parents won't let him. i'm going to help him switch once we get there though." minho stated confidently.

"jisung, why don't you just do what you love? you can't always listen to what your parents have to say, this is your future." felix said to try and comfort the boy.

"i-i guess."

"no, not 'i guess.' you have to do what will make you happy in the long run, this is your life, not anyone else's." hearing felix say this, changbin had hope for the reaction he would receive from the boy, but still, a part of him was afraid.

"thanks lix, you're right." jisung smiled softly.

"of course." felix smiled back, happy that jisung would have minho by his side for the next four years.

"so who is next?"

"i'll go!" jeongin smiled brightly at the group, "i'm actually not too far from jisung and minho. i will be attending sangmyung university!"

"that's great innie!" changbin cheered, and the rest of the group also congratulated him.

"thanks, i will be an education major there. i hope to possibly teach young kids in the future." jeongin said with innocent eyes that glistened as if stars were shining within them.

"you'd be a great teacher, jeongin." felix patted the boy on the back as he said this, earning a shy smile from the latter.

"my turn," hyunjin sang, "i will only be an hour away from jeongin thankfully since i will be going to sungkyunkwan university where i will be studying english."

"english? what made you choose that?" felix asked curiously.

"well hearing you and chan speak fluently in another language at times made me realize i want to be able to communicate with more people. english is one of the most spoken languages so i figured it wouldn't hurt to study the language myself. maybe i can start a travel blog and go all over the world getting to know new people and cultures!" hyunjin seemed so excited as he spoke, the most excited anyone had seen him in a long time.

"if that's what you truly want then i'm happy for you hyunjin." changbin spoke up.

"yeah, me too!" jisung said excitedly.

"you better take me with you, mr. travel blogger." jeongin nudged the boy's side teasingly.

"of course, you will always be by my side." hyunjin put his arm around his boyfriend and pulled him in close to his side.

changbin was slightly envious of how optimistic the two seemed to be about their future together even though they would not be going to the same college.

"do you want to go first or should i?" felix turned and asked the raven haired boy, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"y-you can." changbin stated.

"okay, well it shouldn't come as much of a shock to you since we have talked about this school in the past." felix laughed a bit, but changbin did not. he felt the anxiety set in even more so than before.

"i will be going to kyungpook national university to pursue a medical career. i want to be able to help people the way nurse chae helped my grandmother." felix explained with a heartfelt expression on his face.

"that sounds perfect for you felix!" jisung smiled.

"thanks ji," felix said before turning to changbin, "now it's your turn."

"ah right..." changbin muttered before clearing his throat to speak up, "so i also applied to kyungpook national university... and while i may have gotten in there, i also got into seoul institute of the arts."

the room went quiet as changbin said this. there was something in the tone of his voice that told everyone that this was no ordinary announcement.

"seoul institute of the arts?" felix questioned, "when did you apply there?"

"well-"

"and why didn't you tell me you applied there?"

"well i-i honestly didn't think i would get in."

"so you hid it from me?" felix asked before pulling out his phone. he went right onto google maps to see the distance, "is this why you hid it from me?"

"felix-"

"it's almost four hours away from the school we both planned on going to... that's why you didn't tell me? right?"

"no, that's not why! i really didn't think i would get in felix!"

"uh- we're going to get going now bin, congrats guys, proud of all of you." minho said as he ushered the other three boys out of the house with him.

this left just changbin and felix to discuss their future plans.

"felix, i promise i didn't hide this from you to be deceptive or a liar, i really just didn't think i would get in!" changbin insisted.

"what made you apply there?" felix asked curiously, but with a sullen look in his eyes.

"my mom and i were talking one day and she just suggested it, i don't know," changbin shrugged, "i really did not think i would get in!"

"changbin," felix sighed as he put his hand up to stop the boy from speaking, "i'm not angry with you. you have no reason to defend yourself to me. i know your passion lies with music."

"but-"

"changbin, i'm happy for you if this will make you happy." felix said sincerely, but his eyes were still screaming with sadness.

"but you make me happy..."

"you can have more than one thing that makes you happy, and besides, music is permanent." felix shrugged as if what he said was not hurtful.

"are you not permanent?"

"i didn't mean it like that. i just meant, no matter what, you will always have music, and while i would love to say no matter what, you will always have me, that just isn't realistic.

"in my control of things, yes, you will always have me, but there are freak accidents. things happen in life that we can neither predict nor prepare for. that is why you need to do what will satisfy you in terms of the quality of your life.

"i want to be the one to make you happy, but you need to be able to do something to make yourself happy too, and i know that something is music." felix explained himself further, and changbin finally understood.

"i want us to both find that something to make ourselves happy. we need a happiness that isn't dependent on another person." changbin responded, refusing to look felix in the eyes.

"i know," felix said softly as he cupped changbin's face in his hands, "i hope we can both find that."

changbin finally looked felix in the eyes, they were sad, but not completely. he knew felix was happy for him, but was also hurt and afraid.

without even really thinking about it, both boys leaned in and placed their lips gently against one another's. it was a bittersweet feeling, one they couldn't quite explain with words.

"come on, my parents will be home soon." changbin stood up and put out his hand to help felix up too.

felix nodded and grabbed ahold of the boy's hand. he knew their conversation wasn't finished, but for now it would be. their was still so much that went left unsaid, but it could not stay that way forever.

a.n.

ok if i messed up with the universities at all please don't attack me, i did my best to research them and find out the majors they have

but i really only know about how the universities work in the US so i'm sorry if any details are incorrect!