Nothing eventful happened that first day of school. Kyungsoo managed to stay away from most students, especially the freshmen throughout the day. It’s not really that major of a feat to be honest, considering the school is huge and being invisible without actually being invisible is something he proudly excels at. The next day also isn’t any different, and the day after that and so on until the semester is over. Everything goes on the way he wanted it to be.

- is what he would very much like to say or even write in his future bestselling autobiography. But alas his power isn’t something to do with luck, it doesn’t exist as far as he knows, nor does it come with some kind of a force field to repel all things bad away. That admittedly would be swell.

What happened is that, for all of his morning classes, more than half of it are shared with freshmen, inexperienced and immature freshmen, his face couldn’t have contorted more even if he tried when he spotted the unfamiliar faces in his class. Thankfully though, him and Chanyeol didn’t get separated like they did in the previous year. That’s a plus he guesses, albeit a weak one.

It’s lunchtime and as expected the cafeteria is crowded and loud, not to mention stuffy, with people chatting away catching up with their friends on what they did in the summer and have you seen that new kid he’s kinda cute and bla di bla di bla. If not for Chanyeol dragging him there, Kyungsoo definitely would have been eating alone somewhere quiet, cool and cosy like- like a hole in the ground perhaps. He definitely could do that.

But then that’s just too sad even for him.

Oh fine, he’ll just stay and have his lunch in the cafeteria. Besides, he has yet to see some of their older friends who they haven’t been able to spot. Other than the noise, there’s also a flurry of activities in the large space. He doesn’t even get a chance to blink when he feels the two speedy girls in their year running (or are they actually just walking?) past them, leaving only flying sheets of paper in their wake, their owners clueless and unsuspecting new students trying to make sense of what just happened.

And just ahead of them, he can see a popular senior surrounded by swooning girls as his right arm extends all the way out of the garden not too far from the cafeteria, plucking a rose before it shortens once more to its normal length and then with gusto presenting the flower to the closest pretty girl, who consequently reddens much like the soft petals. Not that impressive really but did he mention that besides length, the senior can also expand in width? On any body parts? Yeah, there you go.

It doesn’t take him much longer to locate Minseok and Joonmyun on the other side of the cafeteria, both already starting on their packed lunches. Kyungsoo drags a guffawing Chanyeol with him who had just witnessed a scared looking freshman bumping on nothing in particular, scrambling on the floor as he picks up his fallen belongings.

“These freshmen are very entertaining,” he snorts, clutching at his stomach as he lets Kyungsoo lead him to the table. Kyungsoo doesn’t feel like giving any response whatsoever.

As they get closer, Joonmyun spots them easily, lips stretching wide in a pretty smile before he puts down his chopsticks and standing up to pull Kyungsoo and then Chanyeol into a hug.

“Hey guys, how have you been?” he asks moments later, standing awkwardly still by the side as Minseok takes his turn to greet the younger boys.

Kyungsoo lets Minseok pull him down to sit next to him, automatically taking out the food he prepared earlier that morning from his backpack and Chanyeol does the same from the opposite side where Joonmyun naturally fusses over the his unruly hair.

“Summer’s great! I went to visit my grandparents,” Chanyeol finally answers Joonmyun’s question, slapping the persistent hand away from his head, “It’s supposed to be like that hyung!”

Joonmyun pouts childishly but goes back to his food and Chanyeol takes it as a cue to continue, “I almost burned my grandma’s barn again.” His tone is cheerful, laced with no regrets at all leaving both Minseok and Joonmyun gaping at him. Kyungsoo’s too cool to care.

Shaking his head defeatedly, Minseok turns to Kyungsoo, swallowing the food in his mouth before questioning, “What about you Kyungsoo?”

“Fine.”

Not at all surprised by the brief response, Minseok nods slowly, already ready to continue eating when Chanyeol decides to act the part of Kyungsoo’s bestest friend in the world, “What he means by that is that he went back to his mom’s hometown and spent the days being babied of course.”

Joonmyun chuckles, clearly picturing in his head Kyungsoo’s face as his grandparents take turns pinching his cheeks and cooing at him, “That must be fun, right Kyungsoo?”

They only get a roll of the eyes from Kyungsoo but it doesn’t stop them from laughing at his expense. They’ve all met Kyungsoo’s grandparents once when they tagged along a few years back and they’ve seen how they adore their grandchild so much. It was one of the greatest things to witness. They don’t dare too much about it though.

Joonmyun then begins to recount his summer holiday, telling them how he spent it with his family and that it was relaxing. He doesn’t say it but they all know that means lounging in the sun on one of his family’s yacht in the middle of the ocean or making his own waves so he could surf if he’s in the mood. Lucky bastard, Kyungsoo thinks.

While busy listening to Joonmyun’s tale but also pretending not to care at the same time (for the sake of keeping up appearances) Kyungsoo sees at the corner of his eyes Minseok suddenly sitting up a little bit straighter and looking over Chanyeol’s mess of a hair. Curious, he too removes his gaze away from his food towards where the older boy seems to be staring at.

It takes a bit of squinting and scrunching half of his face as he tries to see more clearly before he finally spots it. Joonmyun and Chanyeol too are looking over their shoulders once they notice that the other two aren’t paying attention anymore at the conversation.

“What” Chanyeol mutters loudly as a lone piece of paper glides smoothly and slowly in the air towards them and a few seconds later lands perfectly right in front of Minseok, only narrowly avoiding his packed lunch, “is that?”

No body else in the cafeteria seems to be aware of what just happened, too busy in their own world to care about a flying paper. Not even the fact that it seems to have come from nowhere and that it isn’t even folded like the typical paper plane can make them look twice in their direction. They’ve seen weirder stuff after all.

“What is that?” Joonmyun echoes when Minseok only continue to gape at the paper in front of him, both hands still on his lap. Besides him, Kyungsoo remains quiet but his hands are just itching to just grab it and see what it’s all about.

Thankfully he doesn’t have to do that as Minseok breaks out of his own thoughts and carefully picks up the paper. Of course only after poking it slightly with a finger lest it suddenly combust into flames or try to poison him or worse, transform into a spider. Nobody wants that.­­

All three of them stare and wait as Minseok turns the thin sheet around and brings it to his face, eyes scanning whatever’s on it quickly and then they all see the always cool Minseok suddenly flushing, the tips of his ears turning a dark shade of red. He looks confused yet the corners of his lips are twitching up ever so slightly.

Not one with the most patience, Chanyeol snatches the paper away from Minseok who seems to be in a daze so much so that the paper would have fallen from his grip anyway. It is then Kyungsoo’s turn to observe Chanyeol and Joonmyun, who’s stuck himself to Chanyeol’s side as he too reads over the paper. Their reactions are not at all similar to Minseok’s. Joonmyun’s eyes widen a little bit and Chanyeol seems to be trying very hard to contain his laughter before unsurprisingly failing. Joonmyun joins him not long after except he does it in a calmer manner, perhaps not wanting to offend Minseok too much.

His curiosity is definitely piqued now so uncaring that he’s being out of character, Kyungsoo quickly takes it from Chanyeol’s grip. Who knows if he were a second too late the paper would have actually burst into flames, no thanks to Chanyeol. It takes him exactly two seconds to find out what’s the deal with everyone and another two before his forehead begins to crease.

“Is that it?” he scoffs loudly. The disappointment bitter on his tongue. It wasn’t even anything remotely interesting. To be honest, he was hoping that it’ll be some mysterious secret as to acquire absolute control of one’s powers or perhaps some code on how to steal someone else’s power, anything useful like that. Not whatever is actually there.

Undeterred by Kyungsoo’s unenthusiastic response, not that he was expecting something else anyway, Chanyeol claims back the paper and laughs anew when he reads the content once more, “This is so awkwardly cute. Do you know who it’s from hyung?”

Broken from his reverie, Minseok shakes his head.

Joonmyun who’s calmed down enough sidles up closer to Chanyeol again, reading the text aloud, “Dear Minseok, I wish I have the power to control fire so my heat could warm your cold. But I cannot do that. However for you, I can move any mountain. Just say the words.”

It gives him the chill to hear that, and no it’s not because he’s sitting next to Minseok but rather from the way Joonmyun had recited it, using the voice he usually reserves for when talking to someone he’s interested in. He’d puke if he didn’t care about wasting food.  

“Don’t you have any guess as to who it is from?” Kyungsoo asks, casually playing with his food. It’s not that he cares so much about who’s crushing on their favourite hyung, please, but he just would really like to know who’s the fool to write such a thing. It’s stupid. Crushes are stupid.

Again, Minseok shakes his head but as if having second thoughts he opens his mouth to speak after a second of hesitation, “I don’t know but we can narrow it down.”

“It’s definitely not Chanyeol.”

Said boy rolls his eyes but chuckles in agreement as Kyungsoo continues again, “And not me either even though it says they can move mountain.”

Chanyeol whispers a soft “oh my what a surprise” under his breath, much to the amusement of both Minseok and Joonmyun. When Kyungsoo manages to kick his leg under the table though, it gets the other two to laugh louder at his reaction. Serves him right.

“The moving mountain bit is just a metaphor I think,” Joonmyun suggests thoughtfully a few moments later, eyeing each one of them when suddenly his expression brightens up, “Oh! Do you think it’s the invisible guy? The paper did come out of nowhere after all!”

At that, the table becomes silent, everyone obviously thinking about the possibility of what Joonmyun had said. To be honest, Kyungsoo too had thought about that. By how the paper came to be at their table and conveniently right in front of Minseok, there’s no other explanation. But yet he doesn’t think it’s that simple. It could be someone who- wait, why is he even thinking so hard about it anyway?

As Kyungsoo begins to stuff his face with food once more, Chanyeol nods enthusiastically at Joonmyun’s idea, waving his hands in front of Minseok’s face, “That’s possible hyung. I think it’s really the invisible guy. You did sit on him on the bus last year didn’t you? Maybe he can’t get enough of that once he got a feel of it.”

After not so accidentally freezing Chanyeol’s bottle of water, Minseok hums absent-mindedly, successfully getting Kyungsoo’s attention back to the topic at hand and dare he say it, Minseok actually looks a tad disappointed for whatever reason.

“But do you know that guy Luhan? Isn’t his power tele-“

Minseok’s cut off by Chanyeol however who’s still too excited for his own good and it can be seen clearly from the sweat now forming on Joonmyun’s forehead, “He’s that Chinese guy in your year right? I heard he’s telepathic!”

“He is?” Joonmyun croaks, eyes roaming around the vast cafeteria in search of said person. Kyungsoo too finds himself unwillingly looking around the place, not that he knows what this Luhan guy looks like anyway but just trying his luck.

Realising that Joonmyun is trying to find Luhan, Chanyeol gasps dramatically and forcefully turn the other’s head back to face Kyungsoo, “No hyung! If he sees you, he’ll be able to read your mind! We don’t want him knowing we’re talking about him do we? We shouldn’t try to look at him!”

And to further emphasise his point Chanyeol adds, “I saw him looking here. He’s probably onto us already.”

Kyungsoo would have scoffed and for good measure throw something at Chanyeol if not for Minseok mumbling, scratching his head in confusion, “Oh, I thought he can…”

“He can what hyung?” Joonmyun asks when Minseok pauses, only staring at the paper still clasped in Chanyeol’s hand.

“Never mind,” Minseok shrugs at last with an air of finality that they all have no choice but to leave it at that.

It isn’t until the end of lunchtime that the topic is forgotten. Everybody’s full and they’ve talked enough until there’s nothing left to say, however impossible that might be. In Chanyeol and Joonmyun’s case of course. Minseok is content with listening and only butting in the conversation once in a while. Meanwhile Kyungsoo is just relieved he survived half of the first day of school.

Perhaps this year won’t be so bad after all, he thinks to himself, probably complete with that creepy smile of his.

But of course he had to jinx it. He must have been cursed.

Shocking everyone in the cafeteria, not excluding their small little group, a body goes flying across the hall, slamming on the wall and then landing in a heap on the floor only a few feet away from them. They can hear painful grunts from the lanky boy who’s struggling to lift himself up, back undoubtedly aching like hell, but he still manages to stand proudly with head held high.

He brushes the dust off his pants like it’s nothing but when another boy, one that’s so much bulkier marches towards him from the direction he was thrown from, he looks slightly panicked. The four of them on the table share knowing looks, not that surprised that the resident school bully is a part of this.

“Are you scared now, noob?” Taehyun roars. On closer inspection, Kyungsoo sees that he doesn't look too untouched either. His hair is a mess and it’s definitely not because ‘it’s supposed to be like that.’ His shirt is also slightly ruffled. It certainly makes him wonder what the young boy, a freshman from the looks of it, did to him.

As if hearing his thoughts, the boy raises a hand slightly and with a flick of his wrist, Taehyun finds himself thrown back a few steps, blown away by a sudden strong gust of wind and surprise, surprise, landing directly on their table.

Just great, Kyungsoo thinks. Absolutely lovely.

The pain on the boy’s face is apparent, it was a bad fall after all. When he tries to sit back up though, growling all the while, Joonmyun stops him. This time Kyungsoo doesn’t hide the grimace on his face.

“Enough Taehyun! Can you not cause a scene? It’s only the first day of school!” Joonmyun is using his authoritative voice now despite obviously struggling to hold back the other who could easily push him off if he wants to.

Taehyun glares at Joonmyun who doesn’t even flinch, okay maybe slightly but only Kyungsoo notices, before he frees himself from Joonmyun’s grasp and with a huff mutters a brusque ‘okay’.

It’s a surprising turn of events as everyone gapes at Taehyun’s figure walking away from the scene, one he mostly caused by the way, without so much as a glance back to the freshman who could only stand there unmoving since the beginning of Joonmyun’s interference.

Kyungsoo watches as the boy sighs in relief. Understandable really, who would have thought their first day in school would turn out that way. Joonmyun too he hears let out a deep breath and Kyungsoo makes a mental note to scold him later because can he like not meddle in other people’s business for once? Granted it’s for the greater good of mankind or whatever but their whole group could have been a target if it had went wrongly.

The freshman has started walking towards their direction now, looking a little shy and nervous and so unlike the brave boy who stood up for himself only moments ago. By the looks of it, it seems like he wants to thank Joonmyun.

Suddenly however, he freezes in his spot as something on his left catches his eyes. Taehyun is apparently not done yet causing mayhem and it happens so quickly almost nobody has time to react. He had stopped in his track and with ease picked up a mostly cleared table nearest to him.

Now the table is currently well on its way speeding on the air towards the freshman and Kyungsoo feels a headache coming as he stomps his foot on the ground.

At the corner of his eyes, he sees a familiar cloud of black smoke appearing next to the freshman and along with it another familiar sight. Gasps of surprise as well as something crunching echo along the hall. It was the boy they saw earlier that morning. Small world.

Before the transporter? teleporter? kid could save presumably his friend (by what means Kyungsoo isn’t so sure, but hey if grabbing his arm tightly helps then so be it) their jaws drop simultaneously at the sight of a block of earth that for sure wasn’t there before but is now settled nicely not very far from them. The previously thrown table now lying crumpled on its side.

The sudden silence that follows is a bit nerve wrecking and Kyungsoo feels just a little uncomfortable by the way his three friends are staring at him. Minseok and Joonmyun look proud, tears even threatening to fall out of the latter’s eyes but Chanyeol’s smirk especially has him itching to throw a punch.

Thankfully, it is broken by the arrival of the vice principal who’s always a second too late whenever things happen, bellowing with her abnormally loud voice, “What happened here?”

The students around her begin to talk animatedly and she nods appropriately at their stories, eyes trailing around the damage in the cafeteria with a frown before finally clearing once more, “Taehyun, come with me. And you too.”

The freshman, the one fighting with Taehyun nods solemnly, not surprised he’s being called for a talk too. The vice principal walks off as soon as she’s sure that both boys are following her but just as the chatter of the students start to increase once more, she stops and turns around abruptly.

“Whose doing is that?” she asks, pointing a well manicured finger at the large block.

Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol snickering and on his side, Minseok tries to disguise his with a cough. At least Joonmyun looks apologetic.

“Me.”

Her face softens when she sees Kyungsoo with his raised hand, eyes wide and a slight tremor in his voice. It’s the perfect picture of innocence but yet she asks him to come along too. He curses inwardly, so much for an uneventful school year.

As he trudges his way towards her but not before getting rid of the block by burying it back to the ground, he locks eyes with the boy from the morning. His gaze softens in gratitude and is that awe Kyungsoo sees? He doesn’t know and he doesn’t really want to dwell on it. He’s got other things to think about like how to get himself out of this mess. Would the vice principal believe him if he says his foot slipped? Yeah that sounds believable.