“He’s a lot different than I expected,” Taecyeon leaned against the counter next to me as we sat in the empty store. Both of us watched out the window as Junho sat in the middle of the parking lot, sun bathing with his eyes closed and the most peaceful expression on his face. “He’s so . . . cute – weird, but cute.”

   “Shut up, Taec.” I murmured but couldn’t help the smile I cracked. Even though I didn’t say it, I agreed with him. Junho was an anomaly, so utterly beautiful and the epitome of strange all in one. But for unknown reasons, I felt like I could handle his mystery, I felt something quite destined when I was near him; like I had a reason.

   “I know that smile, Khun . . . don’t think you fool me.” The sound of Taec’s voice was suddenly very annoying and I sighed.

    “I don’t know what you mean by that.” I didn’t even know why I said it. I knew exactly what he meant, but I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want another reason to be afraid.

   Taecyeon pushed himself away from the counter, grabbing a pack of smokes on his way. “You know what I mean.” He said and then took off out the back.

   As if he was waiting for his queue, Junho decided to look up. Our eyes met through the window and he smiled at me with what could only be described as adoration, like I was an old friend that he hadn’t seen in a long while. In that moment, I knew that Taecyeon was right.

   It was the start of a chain reaction that would affect me for the rest of my life.

Though it went against my better judgment, I let Taec ‘babysit’ Junho while I worked in the shop. I was nervous, leaving the two of them alone in the store for long periods of time, but even if Junho just plopped into my life, I still had a job that I needed.

   It took hours, but when I was finally done assembling the tractor engine I was repairing for one of the farmers, it was already dusk and the station was closing soon. I stepped through the doors that connected the workshop to the storefront, wiping the grease from my hands with an old rag. Taecyeon had Junho sitting on the counter, looking at his palm while the latter looked at him skeptically.

   “Do you believe there is relevance to the shape of the hand?” Junho asked and Taec just shrugged.

   “It’s just palm reading, relax~”

   I rolled my eyes at my best friend and just stood there, watching as Taec failed to notice my presence. Taecyeon held Junho’s palm closer to his face and the blind old bat smiled. “You have an interesting palm~”

   Having enough of going unnoticed, I sighed loud enough for them to force them to hear me. “He’s bullting you, Junho.” Taec looked up at me with a look of betrayal but I was having none of that, actually I was a little pissed at their closeness but the rational and sane part of me wouldn’t allow me to voice such an illogical feeling. “He doesn’t know a thing about palm reading.” I winked at Junho and then went to grab a coke from the cooler, twisting the cap and taking a long swig.

   “Nichkhun and I have not engaged in any ual activities.” I nearly spat my drink when Junho suddenly said to Taecyeon.

   “What?!” Taec looked at me in a panicked shock. “I didn’t ask him that!” It was amusing, watching his cheeks light up while he struggled for words and tried to defend himself. “I . . . I didn’t even mention . . . anything like that – I would never . . . That’s . . . So not cool.”

   “But you thought it.” Junho corrected him and Taec just stared at him, his jaw slightly dropped in awe.

   “I . . . Khun, help me?” Taec looked to me for salvation and I shook my head, wiping my mouth with the only clean part of my sleeve.

   “He has this thing he does.” I motioned to their holding hands and Taec immediately let go and looked at Junho in shock. I took the moment to disappear into the bathroom to change out of my grease covered jumpsuit and get away from the two of them.

   After I left with Junho, the ride home was quiet. Not the awkward quiet that reeked of unspoken words and tension, but the kind of simple quiet that felt calming, the one where words unspoken were shown though casual glances here and the faintest ghosts of a smile there. Before I knew it, I was pulling up in the driveway and parking the truck in its usual spot in front of the barn. By the time I’d gotten out of the car, Junho was already walking towards the line of trees that surrounded the yard.

   He stood in front of the edge of trees and didn’t move for some time. “I can hear the ocean . . .” He said after a while and when he looked back at me, those blue irises were back, almost burning into me with their beauty. I glanced around at the darkening sky and suddenly put two and two together.

   “Your eyes turn blue in the dark?” I asked him, taking a step closer but he looked away, ignoring my question entirely.

   “I’m very fond of the ocean, and all its freedom, it reminds me of a life I once lived . . . a very long time ago.” For the first time, I felt deep emotions flowing from him, radiating like he was so filled with them that he just couldn’t take it anymore. Before I could say anything, he looked back at me as if nothing had happened and then smiled. “I would very much like to go to the ocean with you as well.” He said before leaving me outside as he went in the house.

Junho sat on the couch next to me that night, the television was on and we watched movies together after I made dinner for both of us – no meat for Junho. His eyes were now glued to the screen, only turning away every now and then to ask some question about humanity and their behaviors. One scene turned rather risqué and I asked him if he felt uncomfortable, only to get a shake of the head while his eyes stayed on the screen. He truly was like a child, seeing an R rated movie for the first time. While the two people on the screen were having , his eyes widened just a little and his nostrils flared and I felt kinda erted, watching his reaction as intently as I was. His tongue crawled out to moisten his bottom lip and I almost lost it, finally deciding to look away but was stopped when he turned his head towards me with a confused expression.

   “Do humans . . . often mate for recreational purposes?” Junho tilted his head to the side while he waited for my response, which came out at first as a nervous laugh.

   I couldn’t find the right words so I just nodded.

   “And males and females of the same , they also mate even though it serves no logical purpose?”

   My eyes widened and I tried not to panic, thinking of a way to explain to him about uality. “Um . . . some people are . . . different.” I said, but knew by the look in his eyes that he was going to ask more questions so I beat him to it. “Some men find other men attractive, rather than women– same for girls, too.” I shrugged a little and tried not to let myself blush, there was nothing wrong with talking about human uality with another person. “It just happens that way, and even though some people debate about it, it’s a natural part of life.”

   He nodded at the answer, looking at me and then asking again. “What is your preference?”

   That finally did it, my cheeks went redder than Rudolph’s nose and I looked down at my lap as I answered. “I uh . . . I’m gay . . . I like men.”

   “Do you have a partner?”

   “Not anymore.” I nearly whispered, fighting to keep my thoughts from going back to that time.

   A knowing, sympathetic smile passed on Junho’s lips and he nodded. “He was the one in the picture.” That was supposed to be a question, but I didn’t feel the need to answer, and eventually Junho just turned back to the movie and we watched the rest without any more questions.

   When the movie finished, I cut the TV off and cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen, Junho stood next to me and watched me quietly, offering to help by picking up a dry towel. I handed him each clean dish and he very carefully wiped down every drop of water and then stacked the dishes on the counter neatly so I could put them away where they belonged. There weren’t many, since it was just the two of us, so after a few minutes we were done and just standing in the kitchen, his eyes glued to me while I tried to find absolutely anything else in the damn house to look at besides him.

   “Well,” He said softly, the first word he’d spoken since our little conversation on the couch. “I will sleep now.”

   I nodded, expecting him to just turn around and leave the room, like he always seemed to do. But instead, he leaned closer to me, having to move up on his tip toes to press our lips together in a soft, chaste kiss. The warmth of those pillow-like lips against mine was enough to melt my heart and leave me grounded where I stood, and even though it had an awkward and mildly forced feeling to it, I found myself aching a little when he pulled back and looked up at me. “Are you functioning normally?”

   No. I nodded, looking away from him. “W-Why did you . . .?”

   Junho waited for me to finish, but then realized that I wasn’t going to. “I have observed that a kiss is a common gesture to lighten someone’s spirit . . . I felt it appropriate.”

   He wanted to make me feel better, it worked. I smiled a little bit and stayed quiet.

   “Goodnight.” Junho said first, and then left me to grip the edge of the counter and stare ahead of me with my heart beating through my chest.

   After a good long moment, I finally pushed my body away from the counter and went upstairs to shower and sleep. But even as I let the hot water fall onto my head in an attempt to wash away the feelings that were growing inside of me, even as I dried my tired body and collapsed into my bed without even putting clothes on, even as I buried my face under the pillows and tried to force myself to sleep, all I could think about was the kiss.

   The simple kiss.

   The perfect kiss.

   The dangerous kiss.