omg guys, how do I have 44 subscribers T.T

 

sorry for such a late update - my family is more dramatic than a Jersey Shore episode

 

i'll begin working on chapter one soon!

 

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“Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature does not disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into each moment.”

 

― Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia 

 

 

 

 

 

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The arts had never played a large role in Do Kyungsoo's life.  

 

 

 

When he really thought about it, he supposed it all came back to a tap dancing class he had begged his parents to sign him up for when he was six.  His mother had shook her head reminding him that there were other things he could be doing with his time.  That night Kyungsoo refused to come down to dinner and hid under his bed so that his parents couldn't force him.  After three days of the routine his father had had enough.  Though his father caved to his son's requests, he did so reluctantly all the while muttering that Kyungsoo would attend the expensive class once and be done with it.  Kyungsoo happily told him he was wrong, clutching his dancing shoes with dreams of impressing the world.  

 

 

 

Ten minutes into the first class and Kyungsoo realized how right his father was.  His body was uncoordinated and would not cooperate with him at all.  The expensive, metal-tipped shoes never struck a beat correctly and all the while he felt like he was simply a flailing pile of limbs rather than a young prodigy.  Fifteen minutes into the class and he had slapped his closest neighbor, a young girl named Min, in the nose.  

 

 

 

Kyungsoo hung his head in shame for the rest of the class long after the blood had stopped flowing from Min's nose and the teacher had finally gotten hold of her class again.  His father merely gave him a knowing look as he practically launched himself into the car crying that he never wanted to go back.

 

 

 

That was the first and last time Kyungsoo attempted to be artistic.  His parents didn't complain – they preferred his later habits of reading and doing homework rather than running about the neighborhood.  His father was a cardiologist and his mother a professor at the local university.  Their lives were systematic and structured, the arts too liberal and free for them to ever fully accept as necessary.  Kyungsoo would have probably remained introverted for the remainder of his childhood had a new family not moved across the street the summer he turned ten.  

 

 

 

The day Luhan knocked on his door with a plate of homemade dumplings was a turning point in Kyungsoo's previously mundane and meticulous life.  

 

 

 

Luhan was everything Kyungsoo had never been.  The boy had been in South Korea for less than two years but already his language was flawless. He was perpetually smiling – there was nothing that did not cease to wonder and amuse him.  He dragged Kyungsoo with him everywhere no matter the younger's complaints about books he'd left on the floor in the rush to get out of the door.

 

 

 

That summer was the first that Kyungsoo had ever broken a bone.  Luhan dared him to climb a tree and even though Kyungsoo initially rolled his eyes he was ultimately swindled by the boy with the sweetest smile.  Unfortunately Kyungsoo's books had never prepared him for what a dead branch looked like and one ambulance, a cast, and three doctor's visits later Luhan was still trying to convince him that the best view is from the top of a tree.

 

 

 

He was Kyungsoo's first friend and there would always be a soft spot in his heart labeled especially for him.

 

 

 

It was in high school that the third member of their group arrived.  

 

 

 

Where Luhan had a round face and comforting eyes, Jondae was sharp angles and a smile that promised trouble.  Where Luhan's naivity would get the best of him for his unquestionable trust in others, Jongdae was deceptively sly and accurate in his judgement of others.  Luhan was his guardian angel and Jongdae was the devil responsible for any and all things wrong in his life.

 

 

 

Jongdae moved to town at an awkward time, about a third of the way into the fall semester of their sophomore year of high school.  Luhan shared first period with him and immediately took him under his wing and that was that.  There was suddenly a third person at their table for lunch, his study nights were a bit rowdier, and the laughter was louder.  Sometimes Kyungsoo would become jealous from how close Luhan had become to Jongdae but they would drag him with them and he would push the thought to the back of his mind.  It became apparent rather quickly that Jongdae was as innocent as they had first assumed.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo loved to bake, something his friends adored him for.  Luhan, when he wasn't busy with soccer, was the one who usually helped him simply so that he could snack on the dough and frosting beforehand.  Once Jongdae moved to town he would often come even when Luhan couldn't.  Kyungsoo quickly realized, however, that Jongdae had no interest in assisting him.  Jongdae had instead created a sort of game to see if Kyungsoo could catch him switching ingredients.  If a recipe called for sugar, Jongdae would measure out salt; if it needed cinnamon he would throw in ground chili pepper.  By far the worst experiment had been when Kyungsoo failed to notice the smell of vinegar due to a cold and had taken a bite of a sweetened vinegar cupcake because Jongdae had decided that oil was too mainstream.  Needless to say Jongdae was banned from Kyungsoo's kitchen.

 

 

 

It almost seemed as if Jongdae had wished to return the favor because one week into the second semester of their senior year and Jongdae successfully got both of them banned from their high school library indefinitely.  They (mainly Kyungso) were there to find research material to write their first essay for their Advanced Literature course.  One second Kyungsoo was reaching for a collection of case studies on literacy's effect on crime rates and the next he watching as the shelf groaned and fell away from him in a sudden domino effect within the small library.  Row after row of shelves collapsed to the ground, students and faculty ducking out of the aisles in an attempt to avoid falling books, until finally the last shelf became lodged on the more permanent structures built into the wall.

 

 

 

By the time everything had processed and Kyungsoo had taken notice of Jongdae staring up at him sheepishly from where he lay on the shelf that started it all, the elderly librarian had already had a vice grip on both of their wrists and a lecture on their immaturity lashed out the entire walk to the principle's office.  Strangely enough the incident brought the two boys closer together, creating a sudden bond that had been missing before though Kyungsoo's parents were less than thrilled at their budding friendship.

 

 

 

Jongdae was a catalyst for all of their pranks for the rest of high school.  When they had all received their acceptance letters to the University of Arts in Seoul they solidified their plans.  The school was well known for their arts programs (Luhan) but also had a fantastic journalism (Jongdae) and economics (Kyungsoo) department.  

 

 

 

It was only natural that they packed up their things and go shopping for the dorm life together and now, as Kyungsoo pulls the first box out of the car the three friends had borrowed for the move, he feels the excitement finally settle in.  These would be the best four years of his life and though he may not have had an endless supply of friends in high school he had his two best along with him for the ride now.

 

 

 

In years to come Kyungsoo would realize that Luhan wasn't the naive one – it was himself.  There are things that are out of one's control – friends come and go and though time seems like it matters most, it's not always definite.  They were still growing, changing, melding each other into the people they would one day become but they weren't complete yet.  It would be another year and a half before the three boys would finally begin to grow up and test the friendships they had created together.

 

 

 

It would be a year and a half before Kyungsoo would meet the boy half way across Seoul in a small dance, studio with a smile like sin and eyes full of hidden secrets.  

 

 

 

 It would be a year and a half before their story actually begins.