Seungcheol realized around his fourth birthday that he was transgender. He was lucky enough to have very supporting and loving parents, who took him to doctors and helped him to become the person he is right now. He began to transition and take hormones at twelve. But, during his preteen years, not everyone was as accepting and understanding as him and his family were.

When Seungcheol was 13, his parents became frightened for his safety and decided it would be best to homeschool him after they read about what usually happened to trans teens who were bullied.

When Seungcheol was getting ready to go into the 12^th grade, him and his family moved to a new city. Seungcheol would be able to go back to a real school for his last year, and live in a place where everyone knew him as him, and nothing else.

Seungcheol was very nervous on his first day of school. He was looking at himself in the mirror while binding his chest, and he couldn’t help but imagine how the other boys would react if they were to touch him and feel the slightest bit of fabric under his shirt. He knew that it probably wouldn’t happen (whoever touched him probably would just think he’s soft) but the worries never went away. No matter how much his parents reassured him, they never went away.

But as the weeks and months went by, he started to feel a little safer. His new friends never questioned him on his identity or gave him funny looks. The only thing they ever wondered was why he never played sports, or why he never wanted to spend the night at any of their houses. But they only questioned him once, and never really brought it up again.

In a different part of the school, with a different group of friends, there was Jeonghan. Since Jeonghan could remember, they weren’t a ‘he’ or a ‘she’. They loved typically masculine things, like sports and suits, but also liked typically feminine things, like long hair and makeup. All their life, they struggled with understanding why they weren’t like all the normal kids in their class. It took many years of questioning, hurting themselves, and staying isolated from everyone else, until one day, they found a LGBT forum online. Not really thinking anything was going to come from it, Jeonghan anonymously posted about themselves, and to their surprise, a lot of people replied. People were telling Jeonghan that they weren’t alone, and that there were people just like them. From finding this community, they learned the term ‘non-binary’, and learned that they can go by they/them pronouns. Although they never really explained it to their school friends, they had many online friends who supported them and were just like them, which made everything feel a little bit more okay.

The two shared one period together; lunch. Jeonghan had obviously noticed Seungcheol before. Who couldn’t?  His smile lit up the entire dining hall, and he was so popular and loved by everyone, unlike Jeonghan, who had a small handful of friends, and didn’t really go out of their way to make more.

Seungcheol had noticed Jeonghan, too. He loved their long silver locks, their small yet contagious grin, and the angelic structure of their face. But Jeonghan was very closed off, so Seunghceol could never muster up the courage to talk to them. He never talked about Jeonghan to his friends, either, so he kept the thoughts to himself. His friends knew he was gay; it was easy to come out to them, because most of them weren’t straight, either. But even so, they liked the popular, masculine men, not the quiet ones who sometimes wore makeup and painted their nails.

But Seungcheol had one constant thing in his life: he had his best friend, who he met through an IM chartroom. Their screen name was jung1004, but Seungcheol called them Angel. Angel was trans like Seungcheol, but unlike Seungcheol, who identified as a male, Angel didn’t have a gender. Angel knew about Seungcheol, too (he’ll never forget how good he felt after he told them), so he never had to hide anything from them. The two talked every night, about everything from school, friends, life, their dreams, and all that’s in-between. Seungcheol didn’t tell Angel about Jeonghan, though. He knew that Angel didn’t have a lot of friends at school, so he didn’t want to make his best friend feel like he was going to leave them.

Jeonghan felt the same way about their friend, s.coups17. Coups was so amazing, Jeonghan couldn’t believe that he talked to them everyday. Despite having many friends, Seongcheol still kept most of his time for Jeonghan. They both considered the other to be their best friend, and had even talked about Skyping so they could hear each others’ voice, but Jeonghan had lousy internet connection, and they were too afraid to go somewhere public to do it.

Jeonghan was thinking about all of this on their way home from school. They were only a few minutes away from home, so they sped up their pace. Coups drove home, so Jeonghan was always afraid they’d leave him waiting too long.  

When they got home, they left their bag near the door and said hello and goodbye to their mother. She didn’t know everything about Jeonghan, but she did know she loved them a lot, which was good enough for the both of them for now. Jeonghan ran up to their room and flopped on their bed with their laptop. They smiled when they opened the screen and saw there was already a notification from Coups.

s.coups17: hello angel :)

jung1004: hello coups :) how was your day?

s.coups17: better now that I get to talk to u B) was school better today?

jung1004: shush you nerd ! and it was okay. I helped fix this girls eyebrows who’s in my math class.

s.coups17: how do you fix someones eyebrows??

jung1004: with a eyebrow pencil you loser, do you know nothing about how to be beautiful??

s.coups17: maybe if you saw my natural beauty, you’d understand B)

jung1004: yeah, one day maybe ;(

Jeonghan and Seungcheol had talked about meeting before, but Jeonghan lived with their mother, who always worked, so they couldn’t get a ride anywhere. Seungcheol never had a car on weekends, so he usually didn’t have any ways of driving, either.

s.coups17: speaking of which, what are you doing this weekend?

Jung1004: probably sulking in bed until you’re not too busy to talk to me :P why?

s.coups17: well, my parents are staying with my grandma for the weekend, and they’re getting me to drop them off, so I can keep the car

jung1004: oh?

s.coups17: so I was thinking….do you want to like, meet??? Finally???

Jeonghan let out a squeal, and had to restrain themself from throwing their laptop off the bed.

jung1004: um, yes!! I think!! Idk I’m scared you’ll hate me irl lol

s.coups17: angel, we’ve been over this before. Ur perfect and ilysm.

s.coups17: so how about Saturday? I can pick you up

s.coups17: or we can meet somewhere

s.coups17: whatever u want bby

jung1004: you’re such a loser omfg. I think I’d be too embarrassed and shy being in the car with you, but I can’t get a ride anywhere

s.coups17: that’s fine!! Is there a restaurant or something near you?

jung1004: um, there’s like a ice cream shop?

s.coups17: perfect!! My mom’s calling me for dinner though, so I gtg. Ily,

don’t be scared. Ilyilyily

jung1004: shut up nerd

jung1004: ilysm <3

s.coups17: <3

That night, Jeonghan dyed their hair, and stayed up late Googling ways to be cute and not look anxious around your crush. They felt so scared and nervous, yet incredibly excited. They dreamt about someone who could possibly be their Coups, and woke up the next day with a smile on their face. Jeonghan got up earlier than usual so they'd have time to make sure they looked as good as possible; they'd be lying if they said they weren't hoping that Coups would want to become more than 'just friends' after their date.

Jeonghan would be meeting Coups at the ice cream shop around lunch. They told their mother, who was over the moon with excitement. She had known about Coups for a while, but she was mainly excited because since starting high school, Jeonghan had never hung out with someone outside of school before.

“Do you need money? I have $20 I can give you. And did you get your clothes out of the dryer? What shirt are you wearing? Your hair looks awesome,  by the way.”

Jeonghan laughed, “Mom, relax! You’re going to be late for work.” They gently turned their mother around, and pushed her towards the door of their apartment. She reached her hand into her pocket, but Jeonghan shook their head. “Keep it for groceries, I have enough money of my own. You don’t need to worry.” They kissed their mother on the cheek, before she wished them well and left.  After, Jeonghan did their finishing touches, and left for the ice cream shop.

-----

Seungcheol was running around his house making sure he had everything he needed. He was incredibly nervous, which was when he usually started to lose everything. He especially didn’t want to forget the gift he got Angel.

Angel had only shared a little bit about their appearance with Seungcheol, but the one thing that stood out the most to him, was that Angel had really long hair that they always put back with an elastic. So, when Seungcheol had found out the day before that he was going to have the car for the weekend, he went out to the mall to find something to wear, and something for Angel.

He found a pack of hair elastics, which had small acrylic angel wings attached to both sides of them. He knew it was cheesy as hell, but he couldn’t stop himself from getting them. He didn’t tell Angel, though; because he was worried that they’d feel pressured to do the same. Surprises were more Seungcheol’s style, anyways.

Seungcheol made sure he had the present in his pocket, before leaving his room and heading to his car. He made a quick, last-minute appearance check in his car mirror, and when he felt satisfied, he put in the ice cream shop’s address into the car’s GPS, and left.

By the time Seungcheol arrived, Jeonghan was already there. They were sitting in a booth, and nervously looking around them. They didn’t have Wi-Fi, so they weren’t able to check if Coups had to cancel last minute. Or worse, maybe they were being stood up. The last thing Jeonghan expected was to see Seungcheol walk into the parlour. Jeonghan immediately started to blush, “he’s going to think I’m here alone. What if Coups doesn’t show up? Oh god, he’s looking at me.” Jeonghan frantically thought, while trying to look at anything but the older boy. Seungcheol smiled at them, and took a seat at another booth, which made Jeonghan blush even more. “My face must look like a tomato... oh my god, what is going on?”

In another booth, Seungcheol was feeling very flustered as well. “Maybe I’m early,” he thought to himself, while trying not to stare at Jeonghan. His efforts were futile, though. He couldn’t believe how good they looked. The pink blush of their cheeks contrasted artistically against their dark golden skin. Their silver hair brought everything together.

Jeonghan looked like something out of a dream.

The two were sitting across from each other, in different booths, both feeling embarrassed and wondering what was going on. After waiting for a few more minutes, Seungcheol stood up, shaking, and walked towards Jeonghan, who was shaking just as much as him.

“Hey.”

“Hello.”

“You waiting for someone, too?” Seungcheol asked. Jeonghan covered their mouth a bit, and nodded.

“Mhm. You too?”

“Yeah. I’m worried that I went to the wrong place. My friend lives close to here, so I thought they’d be here by now. Unless I’m not at the right place, in which case I’ve no idea how far or close I am.” Seungcheol laughed, and blushed. He knew he was rambling, but he hadn’t quite figured out how to speak normally around Jeonghan yet.

“I live near here.” Jeonghan said nervously, “I’m about a 15 minute walk away.”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened.

Angel had told him that they lived 15 minutes away from the ice cream parlour. He stared at the Jeonghan for a moment, and really, truly looked at them.

“Angel?” Jeonghan let out a small gasp at the name that only one person called them.

“What?”

“You’re Angel, right? jung1004, Angel.”

Jeonghan nodded slowly, eyes widening at what the boy was suggesting.

“And you’re Coups.” Seungcheol nodded and grinned. “Oh my god!”

“Is this real?” Seungcheol asked with a laugh, “I’m not being cat fished, right?”

Jeonghan smiled, “No! Am I?” Seungcheol shook his head, the huge grin never leaving his face.

“Angel. Jeonghan. Same person. God, it makes so much sense now.”

Jeonghan smiled at the older boy. “You were honestly the last person I was expecting to sit down in front of me and tell me they’re behind the username of my best friend.”

Seungcheol couldn’t stop staring and smiling. He knew he was probably making Jeonghan uncomfortable, but they were too breathtaking to look away.

“Should we hug? Shake hands?  I don’t know how this works. “ Jeonghan said with a laugh, before covering their face in embarrassment. Seungcheol quickly stood up, and moved to the other side of the table, before sitting down beside his best friend and wrapping his arms around them. Jeonghan held him, and felt tears come to their eyes.

“I’m in awe. I don’t know what to say.” Seungcheol whispered in the crook of Jeonghan’s neck. “You smell like what happiness feels like.”

Jeonghan laughed and pushed him off them, before grabbing him again, “Nerd.”

Seungcheol grinned, “Why haven’t you left yet? You’re way out of my league. I should be chasing after you right now. You’re so cool. Is this real?”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Coups.” Seungcheol squeezed them at the use of the nickname that only Jeonghan knew.

“Speaking of flattery!” Seungcheol pulled away, and instantly Jeonghan’s face went into a pout.  “I got you a gift!”

“What? You didn’t have to do that.” Jeonghan said, while feeling the blush return back to their face.

“I know,” Seungcheol started saying, while digging his hand into his pocket, “But I wanted to. It’s pretty small anyways.” He pulled out the elastics, and put them in Jeonghan’s hands, “It’s pretty lame, but it reminded me of you.”

Jeonghan held them carefully, and admired the way the small wings glittered under the light over their booth. They looked at Seungcheol, who was staring at them eagerly, “I love it.”

Seungcheol let out a sigh of relief, “Okay, cool. You had me worried for a second.” He watched Jeonghan take the elastic out from their hair, replacing it with the angel wings. “Does it look okay?”

Seungcheol smiled bright, “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

Jeonghan smiled shyly, and looked down.

“You’re perfect, too.” Jeonghan said, before Seungcheol used his fingers to gently lift up their face.

Staring into each other’s eyes, the same thought crossed their minds:

Finally.