Being a transfer student was never easy. Whether it’s kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school, you would always get the short end of the stick. By the time you arrived there everybody had already made their friends and settled in to their classes, and it was especially hard when you were Do Kyungsoo, the wide-eyed scary looking kid with silent tendencies. Luckily enough though, Kyungsoo had been through his fair share of transfers throughout high school and the process was becoming- well, pretty dull in all honesty. The point was, he was used to it, and he didn’t really expect anything to be different just because this was college. He would make do sitting in the back corner of the classroom, leaving class early, or sitting at the far end of campus with his headphones on. He had no intention or hopes of making friends while he was here, so at least he wouldn’t be let down when it inevitably turned out to be true.

 A small sigh escaped the boy as he gazed up at the front gates of the rather small campus from his car window, not really listening to the talking in his ear from his Aunt. Kyungsoo had occasionally visited this town to stay with his aunt in his younger years, but no more than about three times, so the only familiarity he felt was in the house he was now moving into. He’d have to make quick work of getting used to the town, he supposed. His forehead connected with the cool glass window as he peered out, watching buildings and people go by, his large eyes scanning the streets as his brain tried to make sense of the route he’d have to walk to the campus each morning.

“Soo-yah, are you hungry?” he heard his aunt chime from his left and whipped his head round, looking like a deer caught in headlights. (His default expression, really.)

“A little..” he mumbled, sitting up straight and placing his hands in his lap.

“We’ll order chicken when we get home and eat before we unpack, alright??”

Kyungsoo responded with a happy smile and a nod, twiddling his thumbs in his lap as he imagined the prospect of food. His stomach almost rumbled, but he somehow managed to suppress it. Kyungsoo’s aunt had always loved him a lot, he remembered, so he was very much looking forward to all the kisses and attention he was going to be receiving. He didn’t much like hugs and smooches and affection from others, but his Aunt was sincere and he rather enjoyed the doting, for some reason.

Soon enough he’d arrived at the house and moved in, settling down in the living room after a very long train ride while his aunt called up the takeout place. He cleaned himself up and changed into a fresh outfit, pausing briefly in the bathroom to assess his reflection. While nobody looked, he made some pretty stupid expressions. He widened his eyes and blinked, fluttering his eyelashes and posing with stupid aegyo before puffing his cheeks and exhaling, carding a hand through his overgrown bangs. He honestly looked like a ghost with that pale skin and dark hair, and the bags under his eyes were not currently helping. Soo spent some time in the bathroom just patting his cheeks and messing around when he heard the doorbell and turned, staring through the wall in the direction the sound came. 

“Aunt! I’ll get it.” he shouted a little, rummaging his wallet out of his backpack and jogging over to the front door. He didn’t bother fixing his messed up hair or anything and pulled open the door (maybe a little too abruptly, because the boy on the other side jumped) and met eyes with a bronze skinned boy a little taller than him. He was clad in a yellow delivery uniform and wore one of those stripy paper hats on his head- Kyungsoo gave an internal laugh at this but kept his face completely straight, staring dead on at the other as he waited to be addressed. 

There was a moment of hesitation from the delivery boy before he spoke clearly- “I’ve brought the chicken delivery, it’s 23,000 won. Is that cash or card?” 

Kyungsoo swore he could hear a tone of fear lacing his voice, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why there was such a thing. Little did he know, he really DID look like a ghost. 

“Card..” he mumbled in response, breaking the eye contact to fiddle his debit card out and hold it out to the other.

The meal was quickly paid for and handed over as both parties bowed to each other, but Kyungsoo didn’t close the door right away- it seemed the other still looked like he had something to say. The shorter’s lips parted just a little as his eyes thinned very slightly at the other. “Is that all?”

The other seemed to shake off whatever he was thinking because after Kyungsoo spoke he wore a generic employee smile and nodded, insisting that the resident have a nice day. Kyungsoo just nodded and shut the door. Seriously weird. 

—

Jongin stood quietly, staring at the door that had just been shut in his face before he was stumbling his way down the porch steps, feeling rather stupid that he’d just started staring randomly at this mystery customer. Jongin had delivered to this house many times before, so when the usual occupant hadn’t opened the door he was a little taken aback- especially to see that it was a deathly looking young man with dark eyes that were something out of his nightmares. The first instance they locked eyes he’d suddenly gotten a chill up his back, although this was probably a stupid overreaction. Jongin just shook his head as he climbed up onto his bike, kicking up the stand and tearing off down the road to get back to his job. 

Luckily he’d managed to dodge a bullet by arriving back so soon- his boss wasn’t in the best of moods today and being late could have even gotten him fired. Work was busy that night- as it usually was on Sundays, but Jongin had to work all the extra weekend shifts he could get. His living situation wasn’t bad, per say, but it wasn’t exactly ideal either. He lived in a hostel with about 5 other people, 4 of whom were pretty much strangers while just one of them was his close friend. Lee Taemin, who greeted him at the door each day he returned with an eager smile and plenty of teases and jabs to deal out. 

“So you’re back?” he questioned, even though it was obvious seeing as he stood right in front of him.

Jongin stuffed his bike behind a cupboard that stuck out in the hall and gave the other a tired look- “Yeah, but I’m going to sleep right away..”

“No dance practice tonight?” 

Jongin shook his head, a smile playing on his features. “I think if I do now I’ll just collapse.”

Taemin just gave a disappointed pout to the other and elbowed him, going ahead and taking the extra chicken Jongin brought home out of his hands and heading into the dining room to meet the others they lived with. As the others ate Jongin left to shower, standing under the heavy stream of near scalding hot water with his eyes shut, various thoughts passing behind his heavily lidded eyes. He surprised himself even, when one of the thoughts that flashed by was of the boy he’d delivered to today. Many thoughts passed through his mind; his work shifts, his money situation, his application for the arts college up the road- so it was strange that the ghostly boy from before was still in his memories. He hardly had time to think about this though, now that fists were knocking at the door and shouts came, willing Jongin to hurry up. 

“Uh- yeah!” he gave a shout, quickly shutting off the water and tugging his towel around himself. He gave a hardly apologetic “Sorry!” and a grin to the person outside the door- whom turned out to be Taemin- and power walked up the hall, dripping everywhere as he made it back to his room. 

Jongin went to bed fairly quickly that night, not even bothering to dry his hair- he fell asleep quickly and quietly, and the boy from today did not reappear again.