It’s almost eight. If the bus isn’t here anytime soon he doesn’t know if he can stop himself from killing anyone. Perhaps the driver when the bus actually gets there. Or in the least put him in a chokehold. He’s been waiting outside his house long enough that the heat from the sun has seeped into his black shirt and black cap. Not to mention his shorts. No, that one’s not black. But really, damn radiation.

At least he’s alone and it’s quiet. The buzz of the neighbourhood had died down not too long ago, everyone having already left for work and school. Except for him obviously. Lucky kids with normal within-walking-distance schools, he thinks wistfully. But the thought is gone not a second later however as he starts to gain altitude, the ground directly below him rising with a rumble, elevating high enough that he can see the top of everyone’s houses.

Nah, he doesn’t want normal.

In the distance, he can see the familiar yellow bus moving slowly towards the direction of his house and he rejoices internally. Summer’s almost over but the heat is still bothering him. As before, he wills the ground to descend once more and soon he finds himself back on the same level as well, everything else. Thankfully, there’s no hint of what just happened to the ground, their front yard remains as pristine as ever. Else he’ll definitely get an earful from his mom.

At long last, he can hear and soon enough see the bus coming up to him on the narrow road, door opening as soon as it brakes to a stop. Old man Park greets him cheerfully as he steps up on it and he smiles back, thought of committing homicide so early in the morning having long forgotten. 

He doesn’t get the chance to take a look around the bus or the passengers when he feels someone pulling him and finds himself face to face with a firm chest. It’s so very familiar and he doesn’t have to look up to see who it is that seems to not want to live any longer. He’s squished tight enough that he can even feel the vibration as the person talks. But a few thankfully short moments later, the next thing he knows is that he’s being pulled towards the back of the bus and is non so gently pushed to sit on one of the empty seats.

“So as I was saying, I can’t believe we’re almost late on the first day. Aren’t you excited? Oh gosh, I know I am. I heard one of the new students can shape shift. I’ve never seen that before.”

Oh yes, it’s the first day of school. He knows that, he doesn’t need a reminder. Not when he caused a small quake earlier (breaking a few of his mom’s pretty vases in the process) when she tried to wake him up, growling and trashing on the bed screaming ‘It’s summer mom!’

Of course she only furrowed her eyebrows a little and effortlessly picked him up from the bed and threw him under the cold shower and then, voila! he’s never been more awake. The curse of being the son of a woman with super strength that is.

So yeah, he does know that it’s the start of a new school year and with that, he is aware too that there’s definitely going to be new students coming in. He’s not sure he likes that much but whatever, he’s just going to stay away from them (and also like 98 per cent of the school population).

Slightly more alert now, he realises that the person beside him is still talking. The excitement is tangible and man, it was hot outside but now the heat is just unbearable. Snapping his head to the left, he mutters sharply, “Chanyeol, chill. I mean it literally. You’re making me sweat buckets here.”

Said boy has the audacity to chuckle deeply before he starts to concentrate, eyes focused on the shirt tag of the person sitting in front of them and slowly the air around them begins to cool down enough for him to be able to imagine that they’re in a room with a non-working air-conditioner and not in the middle of Sahara dessert.

“That’s better,” he says earnestly and Chanyeol grins like a kid being complimented on his drawing of a stick figure family, “Thank you.”

His best friend is about to say something else but whatever it is gets caught in his throat as old man Park announces loudly with his gruff voice that they will be taking off soon. True enough, not five seconds later, safety belts suddenly emerge out and then they’re strapped to the seat and the bus lurches forward. Immediately he can sense the tires parting from the asphalt and then they’re in the air. He can hear some of the new students squealing excitedly and bumping shoulders trying to see out the window. It is their first time after all. Psh, noobs.

Of course, he isn’t like them. Not only because it’s not his first time, that much is obvious, but also simply because he doesn’t like flying.

Being so far away from the ground makes him anxious and he feels helpless. Living without air probably feels like this, granted he’ll still live but it’s a part of him. It feels like losing a limb. But that’s being too dramatic of course. Knowing full well of his discomfort, Chanyeol takes hold of his hand and grips it tightly, and only for this occasion, he doesn’t feel like pushing him away.  

Thankfully, the flight to the school only takes about ten (excruciatingly long) minutes. He’s fine of course and he definitely doesn’t immediately run out of the bus, pushing a few people in the process as soon as the bus lands and then jumps out onto the ground (albeit floating but earth nonetheless).  No, he doesn’t run, he jogs. Big difference.

Chanyeol follows suit not long after, after having to apologize to some people on his behalf on the way out, snickering at the sight of him kneeling on the ground. Chanyeol’s prepared of course to dodge the punch that’s well aimed at his side, using his long legs to step slightly further away. This particular friend of his isn’t one to give up easily however as he attacks some more. But they stop fighting soon enough, realising that they will actually be late if they don’t make a move towards the school.

It’s a school specially for gifted youngsters like them. Built on a floating circular piece of land, large enough to hold four Olympic stadiums, it is easily the biggest school specific to hone its students various talents. It holds the motto ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ The founder of the school was really original.

Unfortunately though, there’s still no escaping stupid Calculus or learning how photosynthesis works because hey, a person cannot live without that knowledge either. Right? So all in all, it’s just like any other school if one ignore the fact that it’s suspended 6 miles high above the ground or that the students are definitely not normal teenage kids.

He and Chanyeol are already halfway towards the main entrance of the school and it’s a sight to see really. Short kid wearing almost all black and a tall, no- really tall, uncoordinated looking boy next to him guffawing loudly at his own joke while the former only looks ahead, listening but not amused whatsoever.

That morning, Chanyeol decided that talking about universes would be a nice topic of conversation for some reason. There’s no knowing what’s really on his mind. Being best friends doesn’t entail him to that privilege of knowing (un)fortunately. As always though, he just indulges the boy.

“What if there’s another world out there with another me but the other me doesn’t have any powers and is just a normal but still a good looking guy?”

He just smirks of course, rebuffing Chanyeol is exactly what the other wanted, he likes a challenge that boy. Not one to be deterred though, Chanyeol resumes his monologue. He’s in the middle of making a theory as to what his best friend would be like if there’s such a universe when suddenly someone lands less than graciously a few feet away from them, stumbling forward a little as his feet touches the ground. And now he’s beginning to think perhaps height is directly correlated to a person’s gracefulness.

“Hey Yifan!” Chanyeol bellows, grabbing the other’s shoulder and pulling him in a side hug, “How was your flight?”

Yifan, only slightly taller than Chanyeol welcomes the hug, pulling him tighter even, “One word, cold. It’s going to rain down there later, trust me. The clouds are thicker than usual today. There’s no avoiding it.”

Once the two let go of each other, Yifan turns to politely wave at him, they’ve never really talked much before so he just nods back, feeling generous enough to give a small smile of his own (and there goes half of his smile quota for the day). When he sees the wet patches on Yifan’s light blue t-shirt, he doesn’t doubt him at all about the rain.

 “Alright, I’ll see you later man.” And with that, Yifan runs along to one of the other building where his class is probably is.

“Damn I’m jealous,” Chanyeol says, slowing his pace so they can walk side by side again, “He doesn’t have to go on the bus like us. That’s like an extra 20 minutes of sleeping!”

And it probably only takes him a few minutes as well to reach there, so less time to be away from ground, which is of course very nice. He grunts noncommittally. Before he realises it, Chanyeol is already continuing on with his outrageous theories of what he would be like in another universe.

And that’s when it happens.

It goes on so quickly that leaves him no room to react. At one point they are walking casually towards the entrance, yup they’re still not there, and another there’s a thin cloud of black smoke suddenly materialising out of nowhere in front of them and then, a boy that definitely wasn’t there before comes coolly walking out of it.

Now damn, what the hell was that.

It only startled him slightly, he’s too cool to react other than to step back a little, but on the other hand, Chanyeol let out a not so manly scream at the sudden appearance of the boy.

“Hey, watch out where you choose to appear!"

The boy who was already walking away stops abruptly, turning around towards them in shock and it’s apparent from his reaction that he didn’t realise that there are other people around. He looks at Chanyeol in horror, guessing correctly that it was him that has spoken earlier and bowing low in apology.

The boy looks away as he straightens back up and then like a cliché scene in a movie, their gazes meet. Kyungsoo sees the fear in the boy’s eyes gone immediately, replaced with something else. Something more neutral. His eyes stay on him a little longer before he too bows but only slightly, probably having decided he’s not as intimidating as Chanyeol (how dare he) and then scurrying away to the school.

“Wow teleportation. That’s new,” Chanyeol hums thoughtfully, awe replacing his earlier surprise. He’s walking too fast unconsciously again, leaving his company a few steps behind. When he realises, he turns around to see the glare on the other’s face.

“Aww you’re so cute. Let’s go Kyungsoo!”