I never really liked autumn. The leaves were a pain to rake, the tests we had to study for were an even bigger pain, and my mom was always freaking out about the holidays. Not to mention it would start to get cold, which meant my friends would wimp out of playing soccer.

The neighborhood my family and I lived in was a really nice one. Public swimming pool, playground for the younger kids, and even a field the older kids could use for kickball, baseball, or my favorite, soccer. There were the snobby, ultra rich people, and then there were the nice, somewhat not as as rich people.

My family and I sort of fell in between that.

Dad could care less about what other people thought,but my mom was always worried other women may judge her new outfit or whatever. She's too confusing for me.

My mom sent me outside to rake the leaves one day. She was worried about some people seeing our yard and not wanting to move in or something. Even though I complained, begged, and bargained, she still forced me to do it.

"Stupid ing leaves," I cursed under my breath, raking them all into a pile. "Why can't you just stay on the damn trees?"

As I continued to rake, I heard a soft laugh. "Leaves need to make way for their kids to grow," an even softer voice said moments later.

I turned around to see some kid, probably at least a year younger than me. He had a pleasant smile on his face, and a bunch of mismatched clothes with colors that didn't even match. I snorted. Freak.

"That's something a little kid would say," I pointed out.

"So? I think it's a nice way to imagine things," he answered, still smiling.

"Tch. Whatever." I turned back to the pile of leaves and let out a groan. The wind had blown the leaves away, and now I'd have to rake them all over again, thanks to that stupid kid. As I started over again, I knew the kid was standing there and watching me, probably with that dumb smile still on his face.

He had started to hum quietly, and the sound was as pleasant as his smile--

No, stop it, Minho.

"What color are the leaves?" the kid suddenly blurted out.

" brown," I grumbled. "Can't you see them?" Once more, I turned to look at him. His smile twitched downward for a second.

"No, I can't."

"You blind or something?" I asked.

"I guess you could say that..." he trailed off, eyes glinting mischievously. So what, now he wanted to play games? "I'm completely color blind. Achromatopsia. I only see in black and white."

I snorted again. "Bull."

He smiled even wider, if that was possible. "Not at all."

And then he just continued walking down the street.

***

The first time I met that kid, I was fourteen. It wasn't until two years later I saw him again, and we met the same exact way.

By now I could care less about raking leaves, because if I got the job done, that meant my mom would be quiet and leave me alone, which was the only reason I actually did this stupid chore.

As I began loading up a trash bag with leaves, a familiar soft voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Still hate raking the leaves?"

I cursed, dropping the trash bag, and whirled around. "You!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here? It's been two years!"

The kid pouted. "I finally moved in here. Don't tell me you won't be my friend?"

I scoffed, taking in the outfit he was wearing. A bright red sweater with a blue t-shirt, along with green pants and some neon yellow shoes.

This kid is like the ing rainbow.

"Why would I want to be your friend?" I shot back. "You're a freak."

"'A freak?' No, my name is Taemin," he smiled brightly at me.

"Whatever."

"Come on, that's not a nice way to treat your friend, Minho!"

I raised an eyebrow. In three, two, one... "Oh , you're our new neighbor?!"

Taemin laughed, nodding. "I sure am!" Then with another smile he waved cheerfully, and ran back to his house.

***

"Hey, Minho!" my buddy, Jonghyun, shouted, running up to me and slapping me on the back. "Man, they really cut the break short this year, huh?"

Before I could answer, my other friend, Kibum, ran up as well, although he didn't look as happy. "Why didn't you wait for me, ?" he demanded, punching Jonghyun in the shoulder.

Jonghyun wrinkled his nose, shoving Kibum in rebuttal. "I didn't wanna catch your gayness," he teased, which made Kibum hit him again. "Ow! Alright, alright, sheesh, I'm sorry!"

I laughed at the two and continued drifting down the hallway. "They sure did. Maybe they got a budget cut or something," I said, going back to the conversation Jonghyun had started.

"Budget cuts won't effect the length of school breaks, stupid," Kibum rolled his eyes. "Some higher-up probably just wanted to torture us, and our jerk of a principal agreed."

The three of us shuddered at the simple thought of our principal. He was even stricter than the principal Kibum had when he studied in America for a year, and he was apparently extremely strict. Then again, Kibum did have a tendency to exaggerate things. I sighed and shook my head. We continued slowly making our way to our classroom, when suddenly a shout rang through the hallway.

"MINHO, HELP!"

I groaned, looking over my shoulder to see a terrified Taemin running towards us, and a couple of other kids chasing after him. Jonghyun raised an eyebrow. "You know that kid?" he asked.

Nodding, I began to make way towards Taemin. "Sadly, yes."

Jonghyun and Kibum began to follow me, lagging behind a bit with apprehensive looks on their faces.

Taemin was practically wailing when he ran right into me. "They wanna beat me up!" he cried, grabbing hold of my uniform jacket. I grimaced, actually feeling a bit bad for the kid. The bullies paused a few feet away from us, fists balled and faces red with anger.

"Why do you wanna beat him up, huh?" I called out. "If it's a good enough reason, maybe I'll let you."

Against my chest, Taemin let out a quiet whine.

"He made us lose in capture the flag! Now we have to run extra laps for two weeks!" one of the bullies yelled. The others nodded, all glaring daggers at Taemin's back.

To my left, Kibum scoffed. "What, that's it? We should beat you up for that ty reason. Get to class, es."

When the quite-obvious leader of the little group took a step forward, so did Jonghyun, fixing a hard glare on the bully. "Get to class," he growled out. "And we better not see you or anybody picking on him. Got it?"

The two held a stare-off for a good minute, then the bully stepped back and his heel, stomping off, with the others following him. Kibum sighed and patted Taemin on the shoulder. "C'mon, kid, Jonghyun and I will walk you to your class," he said softly. Taemin sniffled, slowly removing himself from my chest.

"T-thank you, guys. I told the coach I shouldn't play, s-since I couldn't see the colors, but..."

Jonghyun chuckled, ruffling Taemin's hair. "Don't worry 'bout it, cutie. I'm on the basketball team, so I'll have a nice chat with coach."

I forced a reassuring smile and nodded, giving Taemin a light shove forward as he and his two chaperones began the walk to his class.