Kai is a little strange - the special kind of strange.  To state the obvious, Kai isn't a common Korean name, and that's more than enough to catch everyone's attention.  Despite that fact, Kai speaks Korean exceptionally for a foreigner.  Well, Kai doesn't talk much at all; but Kyungsoo's all ears when the teacher forces the boy to read their textbook out loud for the class to folllow along.  Kai's voice is soothing and gentle, though he always manages to stutter through a few words.  Kyungsoo doesn't mind.  The smaller student finds it endearing.

The only interaction Kyungsoo has with Kai, unfortunately.  It seems that Kai never wants to talk to the smaller boy, constantly avioding the owl-like eyes and heart shaped smiles.

"Don't be so sad, Soo," Sehun tells Kyungsoo through his lisp, offering his friend a cartoon and Kyungsoo suddenly realizes how depressed he must have seemed.  Sehun doesn't share his chocolate milk with anyone. "We're desk partners and he likes to pretend I don't exist."

"That's horrible!" Kyungsoo returns in misery, looking across the yard.

Kai sits on the cement ground, knees up so he can use them as support.  The new student is drawing in his notebook again, his tounge stuck out cutely in concentration.  Kungsoo begins to wonder how the other boy has sun-kissed skin being in the shadows all day long.  Unlike everyone else, Kai chooses to not have friends... Who does that?

"Ehh, it's whatever," Sehun answers with a lazy shrug, not bothering to turn around when a few other classmates yell for him to hurry up and rejoin their basketball game. "Want to play?  You can be on my team.  We'll have Minseok."

Kyungsoo brightens up, leaning over to see who else is on the court. "Who does Yifan have?"

"Baekhyun," Sehun grins victoriously, already having won.  Kyungsoo feels bad for both Yifan and Baekhyun. "Chanyeol is playing too.  Yixing is keeping score so you know it'll be a fair game."

Kyungsoo looks back over to Kai.  The boy is still frantically scribbing away and seem content doing just that alone.  Perhaps, he'll befriend the boy another day. "Alright, but I'm guarding Baekhyun."

"Fair enough."

 

---

 

"Yifan, we’re still friends, right?" Kyungsoo questions a week after their basketball game.

The toweing giant has yet to talk to Sehun, Minseok, or Kyungsoo since that lunch hour.  Kris's team suffered an embrassing loss, and a few dollars due to the ice cream trip they made after school.  They've stopped playing basketball, period.  Instead, now the lunch hour is spent with a football.

Yifan's angry eyebrows do a funny wiggle when he bends his head down to look Kyungsoo in the eyes.  There's a moment of silence between them, only the sound of Baekhyun's complaints are heard from a distance away.  Kyungsoo thinks it's because Chanyeol is ordering him to move his across the field.  Chanyeol is hardly any more atheltic, just purely driven by determination to keep up with Minseok.

A deep sigh is released and Kyungsoo can't help the smile that growns on his face. "Yes, Kyungsoo.  We're still very good friends."

Kyugnsoo hums in satisfaction, tilting his head to the side as he turns back to watch Minseok yell on the top of his lungs.  There is a new boy that wiggled this way into getting Minseok to allow him to participate.  The doe-like boy is incredibly good - making Minseok stress.  It's hilarious, seeing the usually confident athlete get challenged for the first time in his career.

Kyungsoo thinks that it won't be long until everyone calls it quits to leave noth the new boy and Minseok to play alone.  Tao has started to linger behind with Baekhyun to point up at the fluffy clouds in the sky.  Chanyeol and Sehun are still at it with scrunched up faces.  But Yixing is sitting in the middle of the field, weaving a flower crown out of daisies.  It looks pretty nice from what Kyungsoo can see. 

"Why are you asking anyways?" Yifan questions, nudging Kyungsoo with his elbow.

Kyungsoo turns his head back up to find Yifan wearing a teasing look.  The smaller boy scrunches up his nose, knowing Junmyeon is too far awway to save him now. "Because... I like being friends with you."

"I like beign friends with you too, Soo," Yifan laughs, eyes in crestants.  Large hands reach over and playfully pinch chubby cheeks. "Who doesn't? You're so cute!"

"I'm not cute!  I'm manly."

"Whatever you say, Soo."

Kyungsoo pounts, hands on his pink cheeks when the towering giant realeases him back into freedom.  He rubs the soreness away. "Kai."

"Huh?"

"Kai," Kyungsoo grudgingly repeats and crosses his arms over his chest. "Kai doesn't wanna be friends with me."

"Kai doesn't... Oh," Yifan echoes as his face beings to twist into a frown again. "Well, did you say anything mean before?"

"No!" Kyungsoo rebukes a little too quickly, and looks away in guilt because he yelled at his friend. "I don't think I did.  I've only invited him into playing basketball with us.  He didn't wanna."

"You might have gotten ahead of yourself," Yifan points out with a half smile and tosses an arm over Kyungso's shoulders. "Did you introduce yourself.  It would be weird of you to ask him to play without telling him your name first."

"Oh!" Kyungsoo's cheeks flush once more, giggling at his own carelessness. "Yifan, you're a genius!"

With his nose in the air and a smug frin on his face, Yifan sighs. "I know.  Better than Junmyeon, right?"

"No."

 

---

 

“Hi, my name’s Do Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo proclaims with a determined look, tiny fist at his sides. “Let’s be friends.”

 

“Soo-ah, why are you talking to yourself like you’ve lost a few screws up in the head?” Jongdae pipes up from behind him, a finger tapping Kyungsoo’s shoulder to gain the smaller boy’s attention. “Who are you practicing to talk to? Someone you like?”

 

“Just Kim Kai-”

 

“Oh, so someone you like then.”

 

“N-no! I just want to be friends with him because he doesn’t have any!” Kyungsoo explains in a rush but Jongdae’s cheeky smile remains solid on his face. “That’s all.”

 

“Yeah, okay then Kyungsoo,” Jongdae chuckles, reaching out to pat his classmate’s hair. “Good luck. I heard Jongin doesn’t like talking to anyone.”

 

“I know,” Kyungsoo returns half-heartedly, suddenly discouraged at the statement.

 

“Hey, Soo,” Jongdae calls gently, bending his head down a little to catch the owl-like eyes. “If it doesn’t go well, let’s go get ice cream after school. I just got my weekly pay for feeding Ms. Jung’s cat every morning.”

 

Kyungsoo agrees, but the weight in his tummy doesn’t leave. In fact, it grows heavier when he sees Jongin running to stand in line right before their teacher opens the door.

 

 

---

 

Junmyeon is the class president and Kyungsoo’s desk partner. The well mannered boy is always on top of his work and always has his hand in the air when the teacher asks the class a question. Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why the school keeps Junmyeon in their third grade class when the boy obviously has surpassed their level in studies.

 

And they always pair up for partner projects. Always.

 

Until Yixing comes along with his adorable dimpled smile.

 

Though, Kyungsoo can’t blame Yixing for being so cute or Junmyeon for succumbing to the dimpled smile. He, too, would do anything Yixing asked of him.

 

“Kai doesn’t have a partner yet,” Junmyeon whispers, lightly kicking Kyungsoo’s feet as a sign of encouragement. “Go on and ask. Jongdae told me that you wanted to be friends with him. What better time than now to introduce yourself?”

 

“But I,” Kyungsoo gulps, ducking his head down and slowly peering to his direct left hand side.

 

The quiet boy has gone stiff, a few shades lighter in the face, and his fingers are nearly white at the death grip he has on the edge of his desk. Kai looks like a poor deer in headlights, and Kyungsoo’s sure that if anyone spoke to him, he’d throw-up his breakfast.

 

“The worst that can possibly happen is that Kai won’t be your partner,” Junmyeon tells him kindly before a wide threatening grin comes onto his face. “And you’ll be stuck with Jongdae.”

 

Jongdae’s not too bad, Kyungsoo reasons now that the dreaded time has come. The said boy sits at the back of the class by the windows, a pencil balancing in between his nose and duck lips. Finding Kyungsoo’s eyes on him, Jongdae drops his pencil and waves up a piece of colorful… “art”. Kyungsoo supposes that the wildly drawn scribbles would be a rough draft of their potential project.

 

Nevermind.

 

Kyungsoo steels himself, eyes narrowing down in determination. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Putting on his best smile, the slightly shaking child whips around so hard he nearly pulls a neck muscle.

 

“Hi, I’m Kyungsoo. Would you like to be my project partner, Kai?”

 

For the first time in a lifetime, Junmyeon is very wrong and Kyungsoo is very right.

 

The class is given an early lunch release as Kyungsoo walks bare feet down the halls, leading a very green Kai in a tow.

 

“Well, that’s sure one hell of an effective ice breaker,” Baekhyun muses, watching as the two make their way off to the infirmary. “Much better than how Chanyeol shoved me down a hill.”

 

“I said sorry! It wasn’t that bad!”

 

Yifan blinks. “You broke his arm, Chanyeol.”

 

 

---

 

Kai is sobbing and Kyungsoo awkwardly pats his arm for comfort. The school nurse gave them the green light to go, but it seems that Kai is too distraught to have heard. Kyungsoo isn’t heartless as to leave him in the infirmary alone.

 

It’s alright, despite the awkwardness. Kyungsoo knows that his friends would barge in after a certain time period, pretending to be in disastrous pain (Baekhyun has absolutely mastered the act) to get access. They’ll bring Junmyeon and Junmyeon will know how to comfort someone in a crisis.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kai hiccups, balled fist angrily wiping away the fat tears on his face. “So very sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your shoes.”

 

The owl-like boy’s heart cracks a little bit more than necessary. “It’s alright, Kai, it happens. Please don’t cry anymore.”

 

“I can’t,” Kai cries even harder, face furrowed up before the boy points an accusing finger towards him. “It makes it worse because you’re being nice about it. Why are you being so nice about it?”

 

“Well you’re crying! And it’s not like it’s your fault! You didn’t choose to puke on me! Did you?”

 

“Of course not! Why would anyone choose to puke on you? Everyone likes you! Wu Yifan likes you and he’s probably the meanest in class with his angry bird eyebrows! And Oh Sehun! He’s always glaring at me! If I had to choose to puke on someone, it’ll be Oh Sehun! So he won’t glare at me anymore!”

 

“That’s very rude and judgemental of you, Kim Kai! Yifan is just tall and Sehun is the nicest boy I know! If anyone’s mean… It’s you!”

 

Kyungsoo’s too caught up in their screaming match to realize how foolish they both sound.

 

“You’d puke on me?” a broken voice breaks their glaring match and cuts the thick tension in the room.

 

“No, no, no!” Yixing assures Sehun who has shrunk back into the group with wide, wet eyes. “If anyone, it’ll be Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol sputters and then his face shifts into a deep scowl. “Is it because it’s-”

 

“It’s Chanyeol’s fault,” the whole group laments, even the doe-like boy who has only integrated into their group so recently.

 

Chanyeol stiffens, sniffs once as he juts out his chin. The towering boy crosses his arms and grumbles, “Fine. Anything for Sehun. Just let me know when so I can bring extra socks and shoes.”

 

“Because nothing here will fit your gigantic feet?” Baekhyun teases so innocently, making the corners of Chanyeol’s mouth twitch upwards. “Anyhow, it seems that our newest friend is well enough to move. I heard that there’s pudding at lunch-”

 

“Lunch can wait,” Minseok cuts the boy off and Baekhyun whines, moving towards Chanyeol to pout. “Now, those who need to say sorry will say sorry, hug it out-”

 

Doe-likes narrow slightly and pretty face jerking into a frown. “Hug? He said he’ll puke on Sehun-”

 

“And that is why, Luhan,” Minseok stresses through gritted teeth, hands clasped together. “We are saying sorry and hugging it out. Kyungsoo, please set a good example and go first.”

 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Kyungsoo says grudgingly, wide eyes anywhere but on Kai. “It was very immature of me to do so. I promise that I will never yell at you again.”

 

“Good job, Kai?”

 

The boy gulps, mouth opening and closing before he seems to force himself to speak before he runs out of courage. “I’m very sorry I yelled at you too, and for being rude to Wu Yifan and Oh Sehun. I promise to not be judgemental anymore and to not puke on Chanyeol’s shoes.”

 

“Thanks,” Chanyeol deadpans, but the bite in his voice is gone and lanky arms fall to his sides.

 

“Now hug,” Minseok demands with a pointed finger.

 

Kyungsoo turns to grab the other boy first, not letting Kai run away and making the situation even more awkward. It’s a few heartbeats before Kai’s arms find their way around him too. It’s only then that Kyungsoo lets go and everyone - save for Kai who now looks like he’s about to cry again - are all smiles.

 

“Lunch!” Tao shouts, breaking the newly found silence. “Last one has to give their pudding cup to me.”

 

“Shouldn’t it be the winner?” Jongdae questions, and shrugs when he sees that Tao is the only one who’s made it out of the office. “Same thing, I guess.”

 

As everyone files out, chatting with each other with laughter, Kyungsoo finds himself next to Kai at the back once more. They make their way to the cafeteria, right at the doors before Kai steps in front of him, blocking his way. The sun kissed child fidgets with the uniform sleeves and Kyungsoo waits patiently.

 

“We’re… Kyungsoo, will you be my project partner? I promise to do all the artwork!”

 

A beautiful heart shaped smile breaks out onto Kyungsoo’s face. “Promise you won’t puke on it and we have a deal.”

 

Kai returns the wide smile. “No problem. I’ll puke on Chanyeol.”