Kim Kibum had always known who he was and had never been afraid to show it. He was perfectly comfortable in his own skin, and he wasn't willing to change for anyone or do anything he knew he wouldn't like. This was a trait many of his friends envied him for. He'd never had an identity crisis and had never been a victim to peer pressure, because he knew what was him and what wasn't. 

Lee Taemin had always been confused by who he was, but he was afraid to show it. Ever since he was a child he was complimented for his beauty and his dance skills. In Middle School he'd dated girls, but freshmen year of High School he'd come out as gay. Since then he'd had his fair share of dates, and half the school had had a crush on him, gender regardless. He'd always been pretty popular, and he'd always exuded confidence, but deep down he was more insecure than he let on. He just never let people close enough. 

Kibum couldn't say he was excited for Junior year. Not only was his school work about to double, but he'd also have to start looking for colleges to apply to. He was predicting a year of stress and no sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to college, he just didn't like the idea of extra work that was inevitably going to pile onto his already busy schedule. The first day of school he dressed himself in his usual apparel; paint-stained baggy jeans and an oversized t-shirt. He brushed his shoulder length hair out of his eyes and slung his backpack over one shoulder before leaving to walk to school. He dragged his feet on the ground, covering his ripped up turqouise converse in dust and dirt.

Things began to look up when he walked into his first class of the day and was greeted by the sunshine smile of his friend Lee Jinki. 

"Hey Kibum," he waved in greeting and Kibum made a beeline to the back of the classroom to sit next to his friend. 

"Hey," he responded as he dropped his backpack on the floor and meaneuvered his way into the chair-desk combination. He had met Lee Jinki freshmen year of High School. They had sat next to each other in Art 1, and after a month of looking over each other's shoulder to spy on what amazing thing the other was working on, they'd finally decided to start hanging out. They'd been best friends ever since. Jinki was a fantastic artist, but he was also good at his studies, which came in handy for Kibum who often found his mind wandering in class, consequently in need of someone's notes. 

"Are you still up for going to buy supplies after shool?" He asked, reminding Jinki of their previous agreement. Jinki's smile dropped a little. 

"I'm still down, but ugh...you're not going to believe it." He grimaced, and Kibum prepared himself for the worst.

"Not painting...no!" He protested. "We signed up together!"

"I'm so sorry," Jinki apologized, "but it's not my fault. They cancelled the section of AP Calc I was signed up for cause there weren't enough people, and the only other section is during 7th period. I swear, I even tried to get it as an independent study, but you know that never works..."

Kibum sighed. Painting class with Jinki had been the one thing he'd been looking forward to this semester. They'd taken the same art classes for the past four semesters, and he couldn't believe that he would no longer have his friend next to him in class. 

"At least we still have some classes together, and there's always lunch." Jinki offered to console his friend. Kibum patted him on the back. 

"I'm the one who should be comforting you. I know how much you were looking forward to getting to work with oil paints, but I guess we could always work on something after school, if either of us ever have time. "

He grinned at his friend and Jinki grinned back before the bell rang and he had to turn around to face the teacher. 

Despite it being the first day of school Kibum found himself daydreaming out the window as his new teacher droned on, saying nothing of importance. He watched some kid wander into school a half hour late, and thought he recognized the kid as Lee Taemin, the head of the dance team and the focus of many girls (and guys) at the school.  As an artist, Kibum could admit that Taemin was aesthetically beautiful, but as a person he was indifferent towards the boy. He'd known he was aual for almost three years now, and by definition had never found someone else ually attractive. 

Three classes in and Kibum had already found himself doodling in the margins of his notebook, and his fingers itched to bring out his proper sketchbook and begin a drawing. It wasn't that he didn't like school. Well, he at least didn't hate it. He just wasn't interested in most of the stuff he was required to learn, and he had trouble focusing on anything other than art. It was one of his weaknesses, one that he knew too well. He'd much rather spend time and brain-space on things he was passionate about. If he didn't care about it he didn't feel it was worth his time.

Kibum had known he was going to study art since he had gone to his first museum with his parents as a child. He'd seen the beauty of the world he saw on a daily basis reflected on the canvases and through sculptures. In addition to this he had also seen worlds completely different from his own. Art became a way he could better undesrstand the world around him, but it also became an escape and a comfort for when that world was too much for him. 

This was precicely why he treasured his art classes at school. After a day of feeling bored and incompetent he finally got to enter his zone. The studio was where he belonged. It was where he felt most confident and comfortable, and where the typical school-day rules changed. You were allowed to listen to music, grades were given based on effort and thought over 'correctness,' and creativity was encouraged.

Kibum inhaled deeply as he entered the painting studio, ready for his last class of the day. He greeted the teacher (he'd had Art 2 with her) before finding a seat at one of the paint splattered tables. He chose the one closest to the window, but in this class he didn't plan on daydreaming, he merely liked feeling the breeze on his neck during the remaining hot days of summer. 

The room began to fill up, and a minute before class began Lee Taemin entered the room. He looked out of place in his clean white button up and light blue skinny jeans. He brushed his styled hair out of his face with his hand as he looked around for the last remaining empty seat, which of course was next to Kibum. Kibum didn't have anything against Taemin, but he wasn't exactly the person he wanted replacing Jinki as his art table buddy. 

As she took attendance the teacher accidentally called out Jinki's name and had to correct herself. Afterwards Taemin raised his hand and explained how he'd transferred into the class this morning becuase a space had just opened up, and that was why he wasn't on the roster. Kibum smirked. He literally had taken Jinki's spot in the class. 

"Hi, I'm Taemin," he heard him introduce, and he looked up to Taemin's confident smiling face. "Kibum." he nodded back. He really hoped Taemin wasn't a talker. He really wanted to paint in peace this semester and the last thing he needed was-

"So," Taemin said as he interrupted Kibum's fruitless prayers, "I've never really taken an art class before, have you? What grade are you by the way? I've seen you around, but I don't think we've ever had class together."

It was going to be a very long semester. 

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I have no idea how long this will be, but I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters. Thanks for reading! <3 Special thanks to sarah-in-kpopland for beta-ing this chapter for me. <33