Heechul woke up to the sound of his alarm. His routine was such that he was actually awake before the alarm went off, but only just. He stretched out of his bed that was too large for him, and walked out of a spacious room that was spotless for the most part. Heechul had a bad habit of pulling off his clothes and leaving them where they fell. Since his sister moved out on her own, Heechul had the upper floor of the house to himself. He liked not being bothered by his parents and the freedom that presented.

The mirror of his stark white bathroom was pleasing to his eye as he started fixing his hair. His shirtless body was lean and milky white. Even though Heechul enjoyed being outside, he tended to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. When his looks matched his mood, Heechul stepped out of the bathroom and got dressed before thumping down the stairs to the kitchen.

His father was already awake and sitting at the table in front of his laptop. Heechul nodded his acknowledgement as he made himself a plate of the eggs and bacon his father had made, sneaking a cup of coffee as well. As he tucked in to eating his father lowered his screen enough to see him over it.

“How are classes?” His father asked.

“They’re okay,” Heechul nodded.

“Friends?”

Heechul nodded again as he took a big bite.

His father was quiet for a moment before he sighed. “Make yourself busy tonight, I’m entertaining people.”

“Yes sir,” Heechul said and gave a salute as he drank the coffee. He pulled the newspaper that was beside his father’s laptop over and looked through the headlines.

Watching his son, Heechul’s father sighed and rubbed his temples. “There are bad things going on in the world right now. We could very well see another war soon.”

Heechul paused reading about chemical weapons and Syria. “You think it’ll go that far?”

“I can’t say for sure, but there’s talk and a lot of worry.”

Heechul nodded. His father worked in a special branch of the military, the office were liaisons to the government in warfare matters. Work had been stressful for his father lately and Heechul was positive there were things going on that he wasn’t telling him; secrets and clandestine meetings that you had to have clearance to know about. Clearance issues usually didn’t stop his father from telling bits and pieces of story to Heechul, but this time was different, this time must be more serious.

“Well,” Heechul said and stood up. “How long am I staying out for?”

“I don’t think we’ll go past midnight.”

Heechul nodded. “I’ll keep busy.”

“And, don’t bring friends home for a while.”

Heechul chuckled. “I don’t bring friends home, that one’s easy.”

…

Heechul spent the rest of the day contemplating what was wrong with the world and how it was going to affect their lives currently. And if the world was going to war, if the war was a particularly bad one, what would matter most to him. Heechul thought about the friends he had. He cared about Kangin most. All in all he was a good guy, he was simply still impressionable. A word from a couple of leggy girls and he’d fight just about any one. But Kangin had the best of intentions in mind, he was saving his friends from being bullied, protecting his honor, he just needed a little guidance, a shove in the right directions and to clear his head of girls.

At lunch Heechul found he couldn’t pay attention to anything his friends were saying. Instead he was watching Jungsu under the tree with the new kid, Donghae, Jungsu who had changed his name to Leeteuk. Heechul thought about the day he’d given Jungsu his nickname. Jungsu had bruises all over his body from where his father had beaten him, Heechul had been listening to his frightened friend explain what happened. Jungsu had sounded so sad, so ready to give up and find a way to end himself, Heechul had to get his mind off of it, so he came up with super heroes. Heecat and Leeteuk, crime fighting power rangers with the ability to shape shift into whatever they wanted to be, Heechul’s preferred form was the cat of course and that day Jungsu had picked an owl so he could fly on silent wings away from danger, or swoop in for the kill on bad guys. Heechul honestly thought Jungsu would have forgotten about that, but knowing he hadn’t left some hope for him. Somewhere inside there was still Leeteuk, Heechul’s best friend. Kangin finally got his attention when it was time to walk to class and Heechul shook off his thoughts.

Lounging in his chair in the classroom, Heechul realized absentmindedly that Kangin and he were the first in the room. They were usually last and he was going to comment on it but Leeteuk walked in and Heechul caught his eye for a split second before he looked away. To Heechul’s annoyance, Donghae positioned himself between him and Leeteuk, blocking his view. Shifting his legs, Heechul tried to pay attention to Kangin but found himself wanting to draw. As he half listened to his friend talking, Heechul started drawing chibi incarnations of Heecat and Leeteuk.

In their last class of the day, Kangin started to suggest things he and Heechul could keep themselves busy with for the night but Heechul shrugged all of them off. He didn’t want to hang out with anyone. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and maybe figure out what his father was up to. Kangin was poking him in the shoulder.

“So what do you think?”

“Of what?” Heechul asked.

“We sneak into a club and talk to older girls?”

Heechul snickered. “I’m not up for it. I’ll probably just go to a coffee shop and sit all night.”

“So, are you okay?”

Heechul raised a brow.

“You’re drawing owls and cats over and over and not talking at all today. Something happen?”

Heechul chuckled and shook his head. He crumpled up the drawing he was working on and tossed it toward the garbage can, missing by centimeters. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s up with my dad is all.”

Kangin nodded. “Well, you’ve got my number if you want company.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Heechul said and packed up.

It was Leeteuk. Heechul decided as he left the class room. If the world went sour and he had to hold close those things that were most dear, Heechul would drop everything to make sure Leeteuk was okay.