Minho was soggy wet as he trudged to school. It was his first day, and clearly even the weather was making sure he would be absolutely miserable. The skies were painted in monochromatic hues, gray with dark bunnies hopping past and eventually blocking the warm sunlight that fought with a futile attempt to reach the asphalt. He let out a deep sigh; it was his fault for ignoring the news in the morning. The weatherman’s words had fallen on deaf ears as he dashed out the door, just to be met with a downpour to douse him from head to toe as he ran towards school.

Nor did he bother to turn back and grab an umbrella. He blamed his alarm clock; stupid thing didn’t ring on time again! Then again, it might’ve been because he flung it way too many times on the ground…That only left him with two choices A. To get his umbrella and be late or B. To not get his umbrella and take a bath.

He chose the latter. And now he was bitterly regretting his stupid mistake.

As he burst through the school gates, he smiled in relief to see that he wasn’t the only one that looked and smelled like a wet dog, lest he be chagrinned by his terrible appearance. He was not an idiosyncratic student, and he sure would like to stay that way.

Other students were also dripping from the rain. The floor was beginning to look more like a lake, with all the water splashing about. He could almost imagine some koi swimming around their feet with that kind of deepness; it went slightly above his ankles. He guessed the drains weren’t working very well either.

Students crowded around heat vents, teachers struggling to keep control of the masses (technically, they were trying to get dry as well). None looked very pleased to have received a loving shower from Mother Nature, wringing out their clothes out and shaking their hair, water spraying in all directions, people snapping, more enraged than when they came in.

Minho silently contemplated whether to join the sea of people. But then again, going in there was just as bad as giving a crocodile root canal surgery. Doable, yes, but you’d lose a few fingers in the process.

Deciding he would rather stay wet than to mix in with the angry masses to risk getting stomped flat, he calmly skirted around the crowd and followed the bunch of half-drowned people up the stairs. He sighed as he took careful steps; he felt like he was watching an aerobics show as so many slipped and tumbled past him.

Entering his own classroom, he could see the bars of the windows lined with wrinkled, soaked textbooks. He sighed inwardly; his own were probably going to join those ranks soon enough. He glared enviously at the people hastily sliding fingers over their waterproof devices; he knew his phone was doomed as soon as the rain started pouring over him mercilessly.

When he could finally sit down at his seat, he grimaced at the feeling of wet jeans sticking to his skin. It was not a good feeling, especially with the squelching sound it gave off as it rubbed against the solid seat. Not to mention it was quite cold. It was very unpleasant, if he might add. His hair was no better; they had become a platter of cold spaghetti atop his head. The type that was moldy, and a bit like worms. All he was missing was the rubber-like meatballs. Not a good thought.

Narrowing his eyes and glaring at his rucksack, he began to take things out, trying to dry his innocent phone that was most probably dead. And his precious notes that were so badly drenched that the ink had blurred to form wonderful spray paint art he had seen so often on walls by alleyways.

At his futile attempts, he finally managed to make his shirt and hair slightly drier by wiping himself with a few pieces of tissue that were falling apart by the soak. His lips pursed in annoyance at the white specks left behind all over him. He wished he had a towel with him.

"That’s some storm!" A boy flounced over to Minho’s desk, showering him in raindrops all over again. Talk about life’s disappointments.

"I’m trying to get dry, not give myself another bath!" Minho snapped, his mood escalating. Jonghyun laughed hysterically as he helped fix his friend’s hair. Though, of course, it ended up worse than it started. Very soon he look liked his hair was rubbed the wrong way round, sticking up in tufts. He pouted, his large eyes glimmering with simmering fury. Though he couldn’t bring himself to take it out on his friend; he still loved Jonghyun dearly enough to let the boy avoid his wrath of cracking watermelons over his head.

"Great to see you again, you grumpy frog! The first day of school is always the worst, so lighten up!" The older laughed aloud. The irate boy simply chose to ignore him as he shook water from his hair, in an attempt to make his friend wet too. Jonghyun ducked quickly and soon skipped away, choosing to annoy someone else, making a fuss out of the others.

"What happened to you all? Did you bathe in the rain?" Another boy came in, a hand on his waist, a perfect eyebrow arching upwards in surprise and mild annoyance. He was perfectly dry, and his outfit wasn't even slightly soaked. He looked promptly disgusted by the situation of his friends.

"You’re the only one who can stay dry in this kind of weather." Minho grumbled as he began squeezing the water out of his shirt, forming a puddle under his chair. He mused whether he should’ve done this over the flooding drain. Too bad, someone passing by accidentally slipped and ended up on the ground. A few more followed his sorry fate, making a pile of human dominoes beside his desk. Oops.

"Can you blame him? You know how he can get if his look gets messed up." Jonghyun returned, muttering under his breath, and making a great deal of acting like he was scared as he shuddered all over, rolling his eyes at the same time. Minho shrugged in return, yanking up the ones squashed on the ground.

Key hopped carefully to their side, making a great deal of avoiding the puddles on the ground, and produced some fluffy towels from his bag; he probably expected this to happen to his friends. He wrapped them up with the ferocity and fuss a mother would give to her child, even chastising them for good measure. He then began helping them dry out anything wet, airing out a few of their books that barely looked understandable as the water blurred the writing to a collection of blue, black and multicolored ink blots. He shook his head, clucking his tongue in mock disappointment as he did.

"This weather is for the ducks." Jonghyun complained, glaring enviously at a very dry Key, then making a cheeky attempt to splash water on him, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Of course, Key avoided at once, dodging to a side swiftly before sticking his tongue out at the puppy guy.

"Well, you have a brain, don't you? Use it! Just bring an umbrella next time. Check the weather forecast." Key hissed back, while avoiding yet another shower of raindrops that Jonghyun flung at him, his mouth opened in a small 'o' out of fake anger. “Is that how you show gratitude to someone who’s helping you dry out you things? Be more of a proper gentleman, Jonghyun!”

"Alright time for class!" A tall woman walked in before Jonghyun could attempt to splash Key again. Peering disapprovingly over her spectacles at how wet her class was, she frowned slightly, her arms folded over her chest. Everybody scattered to their seats, like leaves flying in the wind. Of course, a couple others just had to slip over and literally face plant on the ground. Ouch.

She set her things down then began launching on a speech about school rules and policies. Minho groaned inwardly as she droned on. It was the same every year. Don't steal each other's stuff...No fighting on the school campus....Behave at all times blah blah. He rolled his eyes and slumped against the desk. He noticed his friends weren’t in the mood to listen either, since they were all falling asleep, or messing about with their things.

Suddenly, the teacher slammed her book against the table, making everyone jerk up in surprise. A surprised snort made everyone burst out in laughter, while the teacher glared at the student who didn't even try to hide the fact he had fallen asleep during a lesson.

"This year, we have a new program set up for all of you. You will become a mentor, and receive an apprentice to teach and to look after." Some seemed to perk up ever so slightly in interest, though not by much. Some muttered under their breath on how they didn’t want to deal with some screaming, naïve banshee on the first day of school. She glared sternly at every student, making them shut their mouths almost at once before she explained the details.

"I hope you all understand that this is no game, nor is it a competition. We expect you all to be perfectly serious, and to handle this situation with a mature mindset, as you now have a bigger responsibility as a senior student.

"We have already paired you up with a younger student. Come and check the name of your partner from this list, then we will go and give you time to get acquainted."

The whole class spilled out to check the list rather sluggishly, one by one. When they were done, they stepped out of class to find their partners.

“Mature mindset. The teacher must be completely bonkers to let you have an apprentice.” Key elbowed Jonghyun in the ribs, snickering.

“Oh, so you think you’re mature?” Jonghyun retorted, the two sticking their tongues out at each other and jabbing each other with their fingers. Minho rolled his eyes, proceeding to pinch both of them in the arm. Both jerked up, letting out identical shouts of surprise before glaring at Minho.

“What’s your problem?” Key snapped. Minho chose to point silently down the hallway, where most of the students had stopped and watch the show. Flushing, Key huffed and stalked off ahead, Jonghyun still giggling until Minho kindly smacked him on the bed.

"So who’s your partner?" Minho blinked curiously Jonghyun as they walked down the hallway. The two caught up to Key quickly. 

"Mine’s Chunji. Jonghyun's is called Niel; sounds interesting.... like the name of a foreigner. Jonghyun's a failure in English, so let's hope he survives." Key snickered, earning another shower of water which he cleverly avoided again, before continuing. "What about you?" 

"I got someone named Lee Taemin. I wonder what these boys are like?" Shrugging, they entered a small classroom with the rest of the class. When they got in, they saw a group of bubbly teens bouncing around, milling about in confused and some, oddly excited bunches. Minho could almost feel a headache from coming on; he wasn’t sure he could deal with these sugar-overdose, crazy ADHD kids. As much as he like children, he despised their smart mouths. With a sigh, they all separated to find their partners.

Minho slipped from person to person, asking for his apprentice. But apparently, no one knew a boy named Lee Taemin. Figures, the whole class still weren't familiar with each other yet. After fifteen minutes, only Minho, Key and a few others weren’t paired up. After some further searching, finally Minho was the only one left. He shuffled his feet in embarrassment, to be the only one standing in the empty spot next to the teacher. It was like he was back in primary again, when a student was called out for throwing spit wads at each other during class. Quite the unpleasant memory too.

"Lee Taemin? Where is Lee Taemin?" The teacher stood out, yelling out the name. After a few minutes, a dark shape slipped out. There was a ripple of confusion throughout the other students; when had their class ever had a person like that?

Minho stared at the person in front of him; he was absolutely sure he had searched every inch of the classroom, and he’d not even seen him! The person wore a black hoodie that covered his whole face and body. He also wore black shorts, so all he could see was a pair of ghostly white legs.

"Hello? Lee Taemin?" Minho tentatively waved at the person in front of him. The boy bobbed his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Go and get to know each other! Show your apprentices around! And don't do anything weird!" The teacher hollered to the students, while a clamor rose at his last line, some snickering and some rolling their eyes. Everyone dispersed to different places.

"Come with me." Minho nodded to the silent boy.

Quietly, they walked through the campus. As he began pointing out landmarks, Minho couldn’t help but feel a shudder run down his spine. It was almost as if he were walking alone; Taemin was like a ghost, his every step unheard, as if he were suspended a few millimeters in the air as he followed. Minho had to remind himself that there was actually someone with him from time to time.

Finally reaching a sheltered bench near the playground, they sat down, watching raindrops fall from the sky, scattering ripples across the flooded football field.

After a long prominent pause, Minho felt the urge to at least try to communicate with the boy. “So, what do you think of this place?”

Taemin didn’t speak, simply staring at the ground.

"Do you live around here?" Minho tried again. Much to his delight, this time Taemin nodded slowly, though his nails were digging into the wood unconsciously. He seemed frightened of something; even when a breeze blew, he flinched every time the leaves rustled.

As Minho took a closer look at the young boy, he noticed that he couldn’t see Taemin’s face because of the hoodie.

"Can you let me see your face?" Taemin froze for a long moment, as if he had been injected with arsenic. Then with slow, robotic movements, he reached up to push away his hoodie.

Minho’s eyes widened as he got his first glimpse of Taemin’s face. His alabaster skin was shadowed by the hoodie, very pale and reminding him eerily of bones. But he couldn’t deny that there was a certain type of beauty the younger had. Taemin had the aura of a fierce, radiant tiger with his piercing blue eyes. Glossy, platinum blonde hair curled by his cheekbones. He had supple, pale pink lips that were a slight shade of sickly purple. What made Minho wonder about was to why Taemin’s bangs were especially long to completely conceal the left side of his face; why hide it when he looked so…

Minho was completely tongue-tied, caught off guard. He rarely saw such disorienting blue eyes; he couldn’t see anything in the depths, they simply reflected, mirroring his shock clearly back to him. Taemin’s expression was unreadable as he gazed at his mentor indifferently.

“Why cover your face, Taemin?” Minho mumbled, finally finding his voice. Taemin froze again, before turning his pale face away, head slightly drooping. Minho shuffled uncomfortably as the atmosphere seemed to darken a good few shades.

“I-I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I won’t ask anymore,” Minho desperately tried to somehow make the younger feel better, yet Taemin remained gazing at the ground. Great, the first day you meet, and then you’ve blown your chances of even getting along with him. Brilliant job, idiot.

Minho scolded himself inwardly, lost in his thoughts until he felt something poke his arm. A long slender finger was poking him lightly, as if testing him of his existence. Minho studied Taemin’s stoic face in wonder and amusement; why did that face remind him so much of a child?

“Do you have any siblings?” Minho smiled, trying to lighten up.

He winced when their surroundings seemed to drop a few degrees colder. Taemin looked down, avoiding his gaze once more, shrinking to himself.

Minho laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head out of sheepishness. “Ah, don’t worry about it! I’m a single child too, and I’m almost always alone at home! My parents just don’t seem to be around, travelling to some place or another all the time! What about you?”

Taemin didn’t answer, slouching down further as his hair completely hid his face from view. Minho suspected he had made a really bad mistake. Again.

“Oh, it’s okay! Parents are always busy, and they usually think we’re fine with being alone at an age like this! Insensitive, aren’t they?”

He was responded with silence.

Ugh, I feel like a deranged person. Why am I talking to myself?

He inwardly sighed. He was quite the social butterfly among his friends. He wasn’t used to people like Taemin, the type that hid from the light, the kind that would always watch from a distance silently, face shadowed and eyes dark. And Taemin was quite the interesting person; a silent, emotionless child with bright eyes.

Just as Minho was pondering on how to get closer to his apprentice, he realized the boy had disappeared from his side.

“Taemin?!” He gasped, shooting to his feet and looking around wildly, filled with concern and uncertainty. He couldn’t have lost his apprentice on their first day, could he?

His eyes widened quite a few fractions when he spotted a dark silhouette out on the playground. His mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out. Then, with a shake of his head, he quickly dismissed his initial shock and ran out beneath the storm. Ignoring the crackle of thunder overhead, he ran to Taemin’s side.

“What are you doing under the rain? Are you raving mad?” Minho screeched. Taemin was crouched over the ground, his hands cupped over something. Ignoring that he was getting soaked yet again, Minho took off his coat and instantly draped it over the blonde’s head. The boy didn’t seem to notice, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

“What…” Minho’s voice trailed away as he spotted what lay in Taemin’s hand. A newborn kit, eyes closed and paws still pink, fur not grown, lay in a trembling ball, water rolling off its almost- body. No emotion was visible on his face, but Taemin still held the kit to his chest, hands curled protectively over the tiny life. The weak, helpless kit instantly inched towards the source of warmth, pawing the black hoodie and whining weakly as if in hunger.

Minho couldn’t help but smile gently. He may not show his feelings, but he has a beautiful heart.

They were still watching the kit in a peaceful silence, the only sound in their ears the pattering of the rain, when a loud shriek made Minho flinch hard.

“Oi!!! Choi Minho what the hell are you doing out there in the rain? Get you and your apprentice out of there before you catch a cold! I am not going to deal with your idiocy on the first day of school!”