Another thing I didn't like was weekends. Sure, we got time off from school, but it was just two days of homework and studying.

At the playground there's this huge willow tree, and I frequently sat under it when trying to avoid doing my schoolwork. It was only a few weeks after the bullying incident when Taemin managed to find me there, snoozing away.

He sat down quietly, and according to him, sat there patiently until I woke up.

"It's shady under here," he said once I had woken up.

I chuckled. "That's why I sleep here, genius."

Taemin smiled and we lapsed into silence. He fiddled with a small flower, rolling the stem between his fingers and tugging lightly on the petals. I watched him, noticing how his eyes were narrowed, as if he was thinking hard.

After a few minutes he sighed and dropped the flower, resting his back against the tree.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing. Same as always." Noticing my worried expression, he quickly added in, "It's the Achromatopsia thing. You couldn't help."

"Oh."

The sound left my mouth before I could stop it. Taemin seemed to kind of... deflate after just saying the word.

"I do wish I could help, though," I murmured.

With a chuckle Taemin stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants. "Thanks, but don't worry about it." He smiled and nodded, then walked off towards the path leading back to our houses.

***

In only a couple months, Taemin seemed to have matured to that of an old man. With some help from Jonghyun he could now not only stand up for himself physically, but verbally as well, and that helped him switch lunch periods to the one I had.

"I'm used to all the teasing by now," he told Jonghyun, Kibum, and I, raising a watter bottle to his lips. "It's all the same stuff anyways. 'Hey, what color is this?' or 'What's your favorite color?' They can't seem to come up with anything else. How stupid."

"What's stupid?" someone asked, approaching us, lunchtray in his hands. Immediately Kibum brightened up, scooting over to make room for the stranger.

"Freshmen who can't come up with good insults," Jonghyun said. "Uh, by the way, who the hell are you, dude?"

"My boyfriend. His name is Jinki, but people call him Onew." Kibum smirked, resting his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. Jonghyun made a gagging noise, which got him a punch on the shoulder from Kibum.

"Well, technically we aren't boyfriends," Onew admitted in a whisper. "We're more like friends with benefits, but, y'know, we both have to keep a good image."

Taemin blinked rapidly. "So, you guys basically just have a bunch of without any strings attached?"

I gaped, covering his mouth with my hand. "Language!" I hissed in a joking way.

Frowning, Taemin my hand, and I groaned, pulling my hand away, much to the amusment of everyone else. He glared at me a bit, before his gaze softened and he smiled, shaking his head.

"I need to head to the library. See you guys later." he waved and stood up, walking off into the sea of students.

***

One day Taemin asked me to teach him about colors. So we headed out to the playground and took a seat under the willow tree, and I began to teach him.

"The sky is a brilliant blue. I forget why, but it's science related or something. What's it look like to you?"

"It looks like... uhm, it's kind of gray right now. Sometimes before it rains it gets almost black because of the dark rain clouds, and sometimes when it's sunny I can barely see it."

"Huh. Cool... Well, uh, the grass is green. And... this flower, it's pink."

"A lot of girls in my class like pink."

"Yeah, it's kind of a girly color."

"What about the tree?"

" brown."

"Hey, I'm being serious!"

"Ow! So am I!"

***

"I can't handle it anymore, Minho, I just can't," Taemin muttered. It was only a few days after I had taught him about some colors, and he called me up, telling me to meet him at the playground.

I blinked, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder, but he shrugged it away. "Taemin, school's over next week. You can deal with 'it' until then. I know you can..."

He laughed bitterly. "I've dealt with it too long. I give up."

Give up..? On what?

Taemin looked down at his feet as he held out a note. "Take it, please," he mumbled.

Hands shaking, I took the note, smoothing it out as I tried to calm down. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but please don't do anything stupid. Tomorrow the rest of us have a field trip, but--"

"Y-you're leaving me?" Taemin asked softly, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Just for one day, Taemin, that's it--"

"Please, don't go, Minho... I need you to stay with me, please."

I swallowed hard. "Even if I do stay, it's not like I can follow you around all day. You're strong, Taemin. You'll be fine."

Taemin forced a smiled. "Okay then... See you on Tuesday."

And then he stepped forward, giving me a tight hug, before quickly pulling away and walking down the path towards home.

I regretted saying what I said that day more than anything.

***

Kibum yawned, rolling onto his side. "Morning," he murmured, eyes still half closed. I chuckled, smoothing down a stray hair on his head. He smiled and leaned up, pecking my lips, and managed to wiggle into my arms. "What are you reading? A letter?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, you could say that... You remember Taemin, don't you?"

"Of course I do! I still can't believe he commited suicide. Poor kid... he seemed perfectly fine," Kibum said.

"Yeah. That's what I thought too. But, the day before, we met at the park, and," I blinked back some tears, willing myself to go on, "he told me not to go on the field trip; to stay behind with him. I-I didn't. He said he gave up; he couldn't handle it anymore. I can't belive I was so stupid I didn't realize what he meant..."

Kibum's eyes widened and he cupped my cheeks, pressing our lips together in a gentle kiss.

"Babe, don't go blaming yourself for that. We were teenagers-- how could we ever notice something like that?"

I found myself smiling again already and kissed his forehead, pulling him closer to me. "You're right... Thanks, Bummie."

***

Minho, if I'm giving you this, then I guess that means I'm giving in. I've actually had this planned out for a while now, but you, Jonghyun, Kibum, and Onew were just so nice. I couldn't leave yet.

But... I am leaving now. Things are too much for me. I can't handle it anymore. I give up. I can't tell you why I'm doing this exactly, but as a hint... the kids in my class are s and I hope they burn in hell.

Wait. That probably makes it obvious, doesn't it? Damn it.

Well, anyways. My parents did try to help me. Did you know there's this machine where you can hear colors? It's only given by donations though, so I probably never would've gotten it anyway. Then they put me in counseling. They even talked to the principal, but he was too much of a jerk to do anything about the kids. Get him fired, alright? Do it for me.

And Minho, don't blame yourself. You helped me. A lot. You called me a freak at first, but then we became friends. You're the best friend I've ever had, in fact.

Also, a quick confession before I end this:

I love you.

But... I have a feeling you love someone else, right? Or maybe you loved me too? Anyways, it doesn't matter anymore, just don't wait around for me. It's stupid to do that. You'll grow old all by yourself, or maybe you'll have a bunch of cats. You'll be a cat man. Or maybe a dog man or something. I don't really know what you're into.

By the way, Kibum really likes you. The only reason he and Onew started screwing around was so he could get you jealous. Go after him, okay? You'll thank me for it later; I promise.

I'll be watching you, buddy. If you aren't happy, I'll come down from heaven and kick your froggy into shape.

—Taemin

P.S. Remember, not everything is black and white. As long as you don't focus on just those two, the world is filled with tons of different colors.