Little Bahng (STRAY KIDS FF)

{Chapter 5}

Max’s alarm rang waking him up at five thirty AM. Half asleep Max grabbed the clothes he set out and went to the hall bathroom to change to limit the noise he was making. After finishing Max went to throw his clothes he slept in onto his bed and grabbed his bookbag and sports bag before turning to leave. “Have a good day Maxy.” Chan said from his bed followed by a “See you later kiddo.” from Changbin. “Thanks guys. See you tonight.” Maximus said before gently closing the bedroom door as they immediately started snoring again. Max grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before making his way out of the dorm and downstairs to the front of the building to wait to be picked up.

The van arrived within a few minutes and the ride was silent other than Max saying thank you when they arrived at the academy. Maximus made his way to the locker room before going to the gym for morning workout. There he was met with his coach along with the assistant coach and players his age and older. The players were all on different machines while the coaches talked. Max’s coach saw him and waved the new young player over to the group of coaches to introduce him in person. “Everyone, this is Maximus Bahng, the one I have been telling you about.” Max’s coach said. The other coaches were happy to meet the young star that would, hopefully, bring many titles and championships to the academy. The coaches introduced themselves and shared a greeting before Max was released to work on his cardio for the next hour before being able to hit the showers.

Max showered and got dressed in his school clothes quickly before rushing to the main building to meet his guide for the day. After a few minutes Jackson, one of the boys he played a mock game with yesterday, walked over. “Surprise!” Jackson yelled excitedly. Turns out since Jackson and Maximus had gotten along so well the day before that he was then tasked with showing Max around campus for the day so he wouldn’t get lost.

Classes went well for Maximus throughout the school day, Jackson even introduced him to his friend group who all took a liking to Max also. Max ended up getting some homework and a lot of study material from teachers throughout the day weighing down his bookbag. After the school portion of the day finished it was time for Maximus to have his first practice as a part of his new team. While walking from his last class to the locker room Max was checking his phone only to find a missed call and a text from his older brother.The text reading “call me when you can plz”. I told Jackson that he could go ahead but I had to make a quick call to make.

  After Jackson walked away I pressed the call button wondering what Chan needed so badly. “Hey Max! Are you on your way back to the dorm?” Chan questioned, sounding worried, adding the other seven members yelling a greeting in the background. “No, I just left my last class and am on the way to practice. Why? What’s up?” Max said, laughing a little at the chaos his brother, and now he, has to deal with. “I forgot to give you a key to the dorm so one of us needs to meet you there to let you in. You will have to be by yourself for a little while though.” Chan explained. “Oh. Well, I won’t be back at the dorm for another three hours probably. I have stuff I can do to make me stay here for four hours instead of three if that would help you guys not have to stop working.” Maximus offered, not wanting to add anymore stress onto his older brother.

“No, you don’t need to stay at school that long after your day is finished.” Chan says, not wanting to make his brother be stuck away from the dorm for that long. “It’s no problem really. Practice is for two hours, then showers, and I can just eat dinner with the new friends I made instead of taking it to go on the drive. They also offered to let me join their homework/study group and kick the ball around in the courtyard after we got done. The time would go by quickly and help me be more part of the group.” Max explained to his brother to make him feel better. “You really wouldn’t mind?” Chan asked worriedly. “Yes. I promise. Now I need to get into the locker room to get out to the team. I’ll text you when I leave though just to keep you updated. See you later.” Max said quickly after seeing the time and hung up before Chan could respond.

Maximus quickly changed into his training uniform and cleats before rushing out onto the field, barely making it on time. “Cutting it close aren’t you?” Jackson said, poking friendly fun. Max just playfully shoved Jackson’s shoulder before turning to listen to the coach. Max and the rest of the team spent the next hour doing different drills under the coaching staff's instructions. Then spending the following hour having a practice match which ended in a two-two draw.

While in the locker room waiting for showers Max asked Jakson if the offer to join him and his friends for dinner, homework, and to hangout was still open. Jackson said yes and happily told Max they can leave for the cafeteria together after getting dressed. After his shower Max was waiting for Jackson to get done so he got on his phone. There he saw a text his brother must have sent right after he ended the call earlier. The text read “Thank you for being understanding. I promise I will give you a key tonight to make sure you can get in the dorm whenever needed and this won’t be a regular thing. I’m sorry.” Max felt bad and texted back “Nothing to be sorry for Chris. Like I said, it's a good chance for me to spend more time with my new friends/teammates. It works for both of us. Just got done with practice and shower so I’m going to dinner, update you later.” Just as Max press send Jakson came out dressed. We both grabbed our bags and started to make our way to go get dinner.

The next few hours were fun for Max. Dinner was filled with cool tricks everyone could do with their food, getting laughs from everyone else at the table. Homework was even somehow fun with the group as they all got after dinner snacks to throw around at each other while doing their assignments. Max understood most of the lessons being taught so only needed a little help but was otherwise able to just play around with everyone else. The group managed to finish their work quickly giving them plenty of time to goof around in the courtyard before curfew and Max had to leave.

Max had a great time joking around and playing with his new group of friends but sadly it had to come to an end as it was announced over the school intercom that it was time for curfew and to go to their dorms for the night. Everyone said their goodbyes and split up to go to their dorms while Max made his way to the front of the school to get a lift to the Stray Kids dorm. Once in the van Max sent a text to Chan that he was on the way to the dorm, getting a response quickly that they had just gotten back to the dorm too and the door was unlocked.

Maximus thanked the driver before making his way inside the dorm building. He quickly made his way to the floor the dorm was on. Once he got close to the front door Max could already hear the chaos that was going on inside. Quietly laughing to himself Max walked inside to see what was going on.