'But he needs to stop screaming.'

     Those words continued to swirl around Junki's mind ever since that damned “Alien Owl”, as he'd dubbed the strange boy, had uttered them. Screaming? What did he even mean? Junki was little more than flustered and teetering on annoyed that day, but he hadn't been screaming. Not in the physical sense of the word, anyway. The only screaming that ever took place in his life was his dreams, thoughts, glares, and-

     Oh, seriously?

     He was supposed to believe that Alien Owl could notice things at a glance when no one close to him could? Or maybe they noticed and just didn't care, as long as the teen stayed perfect. Probably the latter.

     “Hul... whatever.” Junki rolled his eyes and stared out the window as the driver dropped him off at school. Whatever to doing everything on a schedule. Whatever to the Alien. Whatever to the rubix cube. Whatever to the ice fall. Whatever to the Alien Owl standing outside the care, looking into the limo. Whatever to the school buses parked outside the campus. Whatever to-

     “Ah!” Lee Junki threw open the car door before the chauffeur could get around to do it for him. Whatever to that, too! “What are you doing here? It's not after school, it's before, and I can't skip just to go to that-”

     “Why would you skip school, hyung?” Hyunjoong stared at him, completely lost as to why his hyung was talking about skipping school.

     “What do you mean “why”? You only ever-...” He stopped as soon as he took notice of the boy's school uniform, and looked again at all the buses unloading unfamiliar students. The were all in middle school uniforms like Hyunjoong's. “Why... what are you doing here?”

     “You don't know about it?” Hyunjoong took Junki's hand and tugged him toward the front steps. The teen stared down at their linked hands in shock, much like the high school population was doing. No one had ever lead Lee Junki around like a puppy. “The middle schools are taking tours of the high schools, and the high school students have to show us around.”

     'Looks more like you're showing me around.' The older boy simply let it happen, knowing full well that he'd never win against Kim Alien Owl. Not only could he never bring himself to tell the boy no, which was odd in itself, he also had a hard time disputing the kid's logic. It was so illogical that it hurt too much to try and make sense of it. Kim Hyunjoong's thought process just never quite went along with anyone else's.

     The students who caught sight of the two had mixed raections – deep frowns, wide eyes, hidden blushes (though this from mostly demented girls, and a few stray boys, who found it utterly adorable to watch) – to the small smile Junki wore as he stared down at his hand being held by Hyunjoong, lost in his musings of the boy.

     It turned out that classes had been canceled so the middle schools could tour the campus, escorted by the older students. So Junki spent the day with Hyunjoong.

     “You're getting quieter.” Hyunjoong suddenly stopped eating his lunch to say only that, before returning to the already empty juice box even more dry. Junki paused in his eating, his eyes scanning the boy's face before he scoffed.

     “What does that even mean?” The Owl cocked his head, suddenly looking a bit like a contemplative dog, and blinked his owly eyes.

     “I don't know.” He smiled that irritatingly brilliant smile that somehow made Junki, and many others nearby, hold his breathe to see how long it would remain. Because Kim Hyunjoong's smile was a sight that should be branded into people's memories. It was sometimes what Junki saw when he closed his eyes.

     That was a disturbing thought.

     “Anyway...” Junki gathered his lunch and stood to throw it away. He was about to ask what Hyunjoong hadn't seen yet when the boy, again, popped up in front of him and beamed.

     “The music room!” At this point, Junki hardly ever got shock surprised when the Alien Owl did that, as it was an almost expected occurrence. “Do you have acoustic guitars?” Hyunjoong took up his hyung's hand again and pulled him in a random direction, this time the right one. All day, he'd been guessing each room's purpose – the science lab was actually a history classroom, the indoor pool (Junki had no idea why Hyunjoong assumed they had a pool) was the gym, the theatre room turned out to be another history classroom, etc.

     But it was like the boy was drawn to the instruments. He didn't even pause when he opened the door.

     “Finally...” It was little more than a whisper, a breath of relief, and a relaxed smile. Around music, Kim Hyunjoong was home. Notes filled his head, and so he took up the first acoustic guitar he saw and began strumming.

     Anyone who met the Alien Owl was under the impression that he was just a strange, yet insightful, youth. Sometimes overly energetic, and always with something to say. An answer before the question, knowing the big picture before the canvas could be painted. It wasn't an impression, it was the truth. The music he played was as complex as his logic, and Junki had to stop watching his fingers move over the strings. He was getting a headache like he would when he tried understanding how Hyunjoong thought. But the music itself was calming, and it flowed so fluidly.

     “You should call that 'Kim Alien Owl.'” The boy stopped playing to give Junki a quizzical stare before smiling, accepting his hyung's words.

     “Okay.”

     As the day ended, Junki watched the odd boy get on the bus, a few people surrounding him asking questions, laughing, one even had his arm around Hyunjoong's neck. Junki ignored that one, and the ever subtle-growing seed of jealousy at the sight.

     He wouldn't see that one coming for a long while.

     Junki arrived home promptly at 4:30, just like he was supposed to. This time, however, when his parents asked the standard “What did you learn about in school today?”, he answered with “Alien owls.” and went to his room. Needless to say, the parental figures stared after their son in dumbfounded confusion.

     He had no homework, as the day hadn't provided any, so there was nothing to keep his mind from wandering. And he hated when it did that. So he grabbed the unsolved cube and locked himself inside his bathroom, stripped out of his clothes, and sat under the icy spray of the shower head to try and finish his assignment.

     Spending the day with Kim “Alien Owl” Hyunjoong made all the screaming stop.

Writing this wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be.

And that makes me very happy.

I just hope the essence of the two are the same

As when I started out.

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