It’s routine, by now.

As soon as the school gates open, a figure clad in a hoodie walks into the school grounds. The sun has only just risen fully into the sky, and the figure greets each school staff and security guard he passes good morning cheerily in the soft voice they’ve all come to recognise and adore.

“What missions do you have today, kid? A missing paperclip? Someone’s destroyed notes?” one of the cleaners call to him. The figure laughs and replies, “You’re not that far off, ahjussi. It’s two missing pens and a torn notebook, actually.”

The cleaner laughs and continues on with his job, watching the figure pull down his hood over his eyes even further and walk down the school hallways. As the first students start streaming in for school, the figure finishes what he came to do and heads to his locker.

By the time the bulk of the school body has arrived in school, bringing with them the chatter that rings throughout the hallways, he has stripped off his hoodie and exchanged it for his school blazer, having safely ensconced himself in the second floor of the school library.

His name is Xu Minghao, known as Seo Myungho in Korea, and he is an 11th grade student currently studying at Pledis High.

-

Minghao did not come from a wealthy family, like he knows majority of the school did. His family scrimped and saved on every last cent to get enough money to send him to this school, never mind that they had already spent so much sending him to Korea.

His parents soon found jobs that could better support themselves now, and they sent him money every month without fail.

As such, he understands how important something called kindness is, from when the old man who owns the bakery he frequents gives him a free loaf of bread, to when the cafeteria lady gives him more food, saying that he’s too thin for his own good.

He receives kindness and gives back twice the amount by doing what he does: helping people out wherever and whenever he can. He tries to do it without saying who he is, as he especially hates people thanking him and hates being rewarded even more.

It helps that he’s basically invincible to the rest of the student body. Yes, bullying is almost non-existent in this school, but there are still some cases where it does occur.

A few months after he first enters the school on the first day of his first year at Pledis High in the 10th grade, he comes across a group of boys crowding around and bullying two girls. He promptly interferes and beats the guys into a pulp, before running to call a teacher.

When the teachers arrive on the scene, a large commotion has started, and Minghao takes the opportunity to slip away, assured that the girls are safe. He’s lucky that he was wearing a hoodie, it being just the beginning of school, and isn’t recognised by anyone.

As the days go by and Minghao’s Korean improves, he melds in with the crowd, staying invisible. As people don’t notice him much, they talk a lot around him. And Minghao can’t help but pay attention when someone mourns the loss of her cellphone as she and her friends walk past. By the end of the school day, the girl’s phone has been mysteriously found and returned to her by a teacher.

The number of cases increase as the days go by, and Minghao develops a routine. During school time, he pays attention to whatever problems people have, be it the staff or the teachers or the students.

He comes to school once the gates open to search for whatever he’s looking for, and strikes up a friendship with the staff and cleaners of the school. By the next day, whatever they’re missing is found. If it’s something he can’t obtain or find, however, he can’t do anything about it.

Then he hears people talking about it one day. He’s walking past a group of friends when he hears one of them say, “Hey, did you hear? Our school has a guardian angel!” The girl goes on to explain that since so many people have found whatever they have lost and no one knows who it is, it must be a guardian angel of the school. Her friends dismiss it as bull at the start, but slowly it gains traction.

Minghao doesn’t understand why people are making such a big fuss about it, but decides to use it to his advantage. He staples a piece of paper onto the bulletin board in the cafeteria, (but not before he bribes the staff and cleaners with cookies and puppy eyes not to tell the higher ups who he is) and watches as people put their requests on it. At the end of the day, after he’s sure every student has left, he collects it and goes through it.

Many of the things listed on it is bull, but there are some requests that Minghao knows that he can help with. He pockets the piece of paper and sets off for home, waving goodbye to the cleaners, once again wearing the hoodie.

-

Now in his second year at Pledis High, the guardian angel of the school is a minor topic only talked about when someone had recovered whatever they lost or needed help in. Bullying isn’t a frequent occurrence, thankfully, and there are times where Minghao goes through his school life without any requests at all.

What the school wants to talk about is the boisterous group of twelve popular guys in Pledis High. No one is clear on how they all got to know each other, but they’re a mixture of students from different grades and clubs. It doesn’t help that they’re all extremely good-looking. Even Minghao, who is still trying his best to be invisible, can’t help but notice them.

From what Minghao knows, the third years are Choi Seungcheol, captain of the basketball team, Yoon Jeonghan, member of the choir club, Hong Jisoo, also a member of the choir club, Wen Junhui, or Moon Junhui in Korean, vice-captain of the dance club and Kwon Soonyoung, captain of the dance club.

The second years are Jeon Wonwoo, member of the writers club, Lee Jihoon, captain of the choir club, Lee Seokmin, member of the choir club and Kim Mingyu, member of the basketball club.

The first years are Boo Seungkwan, member of the choir club, Choi Hansol, member of the theatre club, and Lee Chan, member of the dance club.

Somehow, even though the teachers nag on and on about their uniforms, they don’t seem to give a damn about the students’ hair colours. Soonyoung’s blonde, Mingyu’s hair is blue, Jihoon’s is pink.

Jeonghan’s (long!) hair is purplish grey, and Jisoo’s is orange. Junhui’s and Seungkwan’s are reddish-brown, Hansol’s is a light brown, and Wonwoo’s is a dark brown. Only Seungcheol and Chan’s are jet-black.

“At least none of them have rainbow hair,” Minghao thinks. He would come to regret that statement later on.

-

Junhui can’t be sure, but he definitely remembers having his notes with him, the last time he checked. He needs them to study for his test the day after tomorrow, or he’ll be absolute toast. When he flies into a panic, Jisoo offers to lend him his notes, the kind and intelligent soul that he is.

While he’s busy thinking of what he could do to thank Jisoo, Chan nudges him and says, “Who knows, maybe your notes will appear tomorrow, thanks to the guardian angel.” He’s looking at something as he says it, but soon goes to sling an arm around Soonyoung and disturb the older.

As they walk past, Minghao shrinks as Chan stares directly at him and scowls, taking out his phone to type a message to the younger. “You don’t have to stare at me, I’d do it anyway,” he sends, attaching an angry emoji.

“Sorry, hyung. Just wanted to be sure!” comes the reply, and is accompanied with ten hearts. Minghao sighs. He should never have let Chan find out.

It’s an accident that Chan finds out. Chan and Minghao are in the same dance class organised by a crew affiliated with the school, and Minghao overhears someone saying that he lost his headphones somewhere.

Chan and Minghao have the same idea of searching for it, and the younger stumbles across Minghao triumphantly holding up the pair of headphones, clad in his hoodie.

The startled look on Minghao’s face Chan cannot forget, nor can he forget the narrow-eyed threatening look that the older threw him when he connected the dots and realised that Minghao - this quiet second-year with a mop of black hair on his head, really, he could look so much better - was the guardian angel of the school. He was, of course, sworn to secrecy, as Minghao did have the ability to knock out five guys bullying a first-year that one time.

Chan can’t wait until Minghao-hyung finds Junhui-hyung’s notes, because then Minghao-hyung’s role as guardian angel of the school will be dragged out into the open.

Just like how Minghao-hyung believes in helping people without reward, Junhui-hyung believes in at the very least thanking the person that helped him.

And just like how stubborn and badass Minghao-hyung is in keeping his identity secret (Chan has no idea how Minghao has kept this secret without being found out for so long), Junhui-hyung is equally as stubborn and badass in his hunt to find the person or people that helped him. Chan laughs to himself.

This is going to be very exciting. And he’ll finally be able to let Mingyu get his hands on Minghao’s absolutely dreadful hair. That’s a major plus.

As expected, Junhui’s notes are stacked neatly on his table when he comes to class the next morning. Junhui hopes that whoever found his notes didn’t look at the amount of doodles on his papers.

(Minghao, in fact, had seen them, and had laughed quite a bit at the amount of Chinese rubbish he had written on it.)

(He stops laughing at the thought of those notes when he realises that Junhui, one of the most popular guys in school, is on a mission to find who it is that has helped him find his notes, and is not planning on giving up any time soon.)

(Chan is still laughing.)

-

This is how Junhui finds out about Minghao: Chan tells him to come to school when the gates open. It has been two months, one week and four days since Junhui started his search for the guardian angel of Pledis High, and he does not expect Chan, of all people, to know who the person is.

From the way Chan was grinning, the youngest of their group clearly had something in mind telling Junhui to do what he told him to do, and so here he is, at the crack of dawn, walking into school.

He’s shuffling down to his locker, half-asleep when he bumps into someone. He doesn’t expect that someone to throw a punch at his face. Automatically, he shifts to block the punch and moves back slightly.

Minghao startles and throws a punch when he feels someone bump into him, considering the fact he’s normally the only one in the school at this time, and the fact that he didn’t actually hear them approach. His punch is blocked though, and Minghao turns to look at who startled him.

The only thoughts that run through his mind when he’s met with the startled expression of Wen Junhui are as follows: ‘Goddamnit, Chan.’, ' he’s going to know who I am!’ and 'He’s going to thank me and I hate that, so let’s throw one more punch and see what happens.’

It’s a dumb thought, but he throws a punch anyway, because he absolutely hates when anyone thanks him and he has a feeling Wen Junhui won’t give up until he gets the words out. Junhui automatically blocks that punch as well, and throws one of his own in defense.

Somehow, they end up sparring. Junhui recognises that glint in the school’s guardian angel’s eyes, and knows that he isn’t going to stop any time soon. He does manage to ask why in between exchanging blows, though, huffing out the question.

“Because you’re going to thank me and I don’t want to receive any thanks so I’m trying to stop you from doing that,” comes the reply and Junhui has to take a second to register the absolute ridiculousness of that reply, and barely blocks an uppercut.

After a few more minutes of sparring, Junhui finally gives up. “How about I promise not to thank you or say anything about you helping me and we stop fighting so that I can actually introduce myself?”

Minghao freezes mid-punch. “Fine. I already know who you are, though,” he says, and Junhui sighs. “Fine, but I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m Xu Minghao, or Seo Myungho in Korea. I’m in the library club,” Minghao introduces himself, and starts walking down the hallway again.

“Does Chan know about you? He’s the one who told me to come here when the gates open,” Junhui asked, this time in Chinese. “Yes, he does,” Minghao replied in the same language, “which is why I’m going to kill him later.”

They end up talking as Minghao goes through his normal routine, finishing up looking for whatever he needs to and changing into his blazer. Junhui sits with Minghao in the library, and they’re still talking by the time the morning bell rings.

-

During lunch, when the twelve of them sit at their lunch table and get ready to eat, they’re startled by someone yelling 'Lee Chan!’ and turn to see someone storming towards them. Chan barely has time to get out a 'Oh ’ before the guy is pulling Chan away by the ear.

The rest of the table is left staring at Chan’s empty seat silently, exuding vibes and exchanging glances of 'What the hell is going on’ and Junhui can’t help but break into laughter. He knew that Minghao was going to do this, but he didn’t expect their friends’ reactions to be this comical.

“You know that guy, Junhui-hyung?” Mingyu asks after Junhui has calmed down some. Junhui nods, wiping tears from his eyes, and says, “That’s Seo Myungho, a second year. He’s the one I’ve been looking for for the past two months or so.”

Everyone turns in the direction that Minghao and Chan went. “That guy is the guardian angel of Pledis High?” Soonyoung says. Junhui hums his assent. They soon return to eating their lunch, and it’s a few minutes later that Minghao and Chan returns, with Chan rubbing his ear.

Minghao introduces himself to the rest of the group, and is extended an invitation to join them for lunch. Unable to refuse, Minghao finds himself sitting opposite Junhui and in between Chan and Mingyu.

“Hey, Soonyoung-hyung, do you remember that time I told you about the guy in my external dance class that did b-boy?” Chan suddenly says. “Yeah, you wouldn’t shut up about him for days, why?” Soonyoung replies, shoveling food into his mouth to Jihoon’s audible disgust.

“Here he is,” Chan says, patting Minghao on the back. “You dance?” Junhui asks Minghao, who had purposely not mentioned it to Junhui, thank you very much, Chan. Minghao glares at Chan, who grins at him.

Thanks to Chan’s machinations, Minghao somehow finds himself transferred to the dance club, invited to Jeonghan’s house and promising to let Mingyu do something about his hair (what’s wrong with his hair?) by the end of the week. It was Thursday when he introduced himself to the group.

Somehow, he manages to get everyone to keep their mouths shut about him being the guardian angel of the school. He really doesn’t need any more attention. He’s already getting enough from the way he stormed up to their table and dragged Chan off.

-

When he walks into class after the morning bell rings the Monday after that, everyone stares. And they do not stop. When the bell rings for lunch, he’s uncomfortable to the point where he feels like locking himself in a toilet cubicle and not coming out, but he knows that Mingyu will hunt him down because the freakishly tall student wants to show off his quote unquote 'best work yet’.

He hasn’t met anyone else from their group (since when did he start including himself in the popular group?) other than Chan and Mingyu since he went with the two of them to the hair salon, and he’s not looking forward to feeling everyone stare at him.

Sighing, he packs his bag and walks out of class, heading for the cafeteria. The moment he walks in, he can feel people literally stop whatever they’re doing and stare at him. Seungkwan yells, “MYUNGHO-HYUNG YOUR HAIR IS A RAINBOW.” the moment he notices Minghao making his way towards their table.

In that moment, Minghao swears the entire cafeteria stops and turns to look at him. He can see Mingyu’s smug face from halfway across the cafeteria, and sighs once again.

He walks to their table, the chatter thankfully returning to the cafeteria, and drops his bag down on the table, sitting heavily next to Junhui. He takes a breath, and starts to bash his head against the table, all the while repeating, “Why, Seungkwan, why?” under his breath. Junhui chuckles and ruffles his hair.

“Don’t worry, you look nice. I didn’t expect rainbow though,” the older says, directing the last part to Mingyu. Mingyu shrugged. “I thought it suited him, and it turned out awesome, so,” he said. Everyone nods, complimenting Mingyu on his great idea, and Minghao finally looks up and goes to get some food.

Seungkwan asks him to help him choose between a chicken sandwich or soy milk when he returns with his food tray, and Minghao says without thinking, “Just don’t eat anything.” Seungkwan is left sputtering without a comeback and the rest of their group stares at him in awe.

He starts to eat, before he notices that everyone is gaping at him, even Junhui. “What is it?” he frowns. Did he do something wrong?

Seokmin breathes, “You out-sassed Seungkwan.”

“You shut Seungkwan-hyung up,” Chan says at the same time.

Minghao tilts his head, not getting it.

“All hail the new King of Sass!” all of them suddenly chorus, except Seungkwan who is still shocked by the fact that someone had managed to out-sass him. Minghao still doesn’t get it, but shrugs. He’ll just ask Junhui later.

His plans to ask Junhui about the out-sassing thing is delayed however, as by the end of lunch, Minghao is busy contemplating whether to throw himself off a cliff or not. Twelve people have approached him and they’re all there to either a) learn who he is or b) get his number despite not knowing who he is.

(He doesn’t notice Junhui blushing at the sight of the cute frown Minghao is sporting as they walk to class.)

When Soonyoung reminds him that he has dance practice after school, he stops contemplating and takes his phone out to search for the locations of cliffs closest to school.

-

At the dance studio where the dance club holds their activities, Minghao finds himself being made to introduce himself and do a short freestyle performance in front of all the club members so Soonyoung and Junhui, as captain and vice-captain, know his standards. He’s unable to shake off the feeling of them staring at him until he hears the music start.

When Minghao dances, he loses himself in the music, only coming back to himself when the music ends. Even in freestyle, he doesn’t have to think of the moves he’s going to execute. He just lets himself go and doesn’t think of anything except the music.

When he comes back to himself, he’s panting heavily and everyone else is clapping loudly. Junhui gives him a beaming smile and Minghao’s heart skips a beat. Minghao smiles back, then Soonyoung calls for everyone’s attention, so Minghao goes over to listen to what their captain has to say, not noticing Junhui’s momentary glare at Soonyoung.

It’s okay. It’ll be three days before Minghao and everyone else notices.

After a few weeks, Junhui-ssi becomes Junhui-hyung, then it’s Junhui-ge until one day it’s just Junhui. Minghao becomes Ming-ah, then changes to Haohao until it’s Xiao Ba, which is Little 8 in Chinese, because as Junhui likes to say, “Minghao is my lucky charm, and 8 is my lucky number.”

Minghao just laughs and punches him in the shoulder every time he says it, and kisses him on the cheek as the older groans.

By now, Minghao has learnt that everyone is in a relationship in their group. Wonwoo is with Mingyu, Seungcheol with Jihoon, Jeonghan and Jisoo are together, Chan is with Hansol, and Soonyoung, Seokmin and Seungkwan are in a triad relationship.

He has also learnt that Junhui has been whining about not having a partner since Chan and Hansol got together, seeing as their getting together would leave him the only single member in their group.

When Minghao first heard that, he had shyly said that at least the older had him now, and he looked so embarrassed as he said it that Junhui couldn’t help but hug him and kiss him on the lips, to a chorus of 'Aww’s from their friends.

-

Minghao has a new routine, now.

As soon as the school gates open, he walks into the school grounds. The sun has only just risen fully into the sky, and he greets each school staff and security guard he passes good morning cheerily.

“What missions do you have today, kid? A missing handphone?” one of the cleaners call to him. He laughs and replies, “Fortunately, there’s nothing today, ahjussi.”

The cleaner laughs and continues on with his job, watching him pull down his hood over his eyes even further and walk down the school hallways. As the first students start streaming in for school, Minghao heads to his lockers and finds Junhui waiting for him.

By the time the bulk of the school body has arrived in school, bringing with them the chatter that rings throughout the hallways, he has stripped off his hoodie and exchanged it for his school blazer, and is chatting to Junhui in Chinese as they wait under the big oak tree in the school courtyard for their friends.

His name is Xu Minghao, known as Seo Myungho in Korea, and he is an 11th grade student currently studying at Pledis High. His friends are a group of twelve rowdy boys, and his boyfriend is Wen Junhui.