Sehun climbed on top of the hill, going as fast as his tiny legs could manage, always trying to catch up to his Luhan hyung. 

But the eight year old already made the trip before he could utter any complaints, so he sat down next to Luhan instead and asked, “The watchers, what do they look like?”

Luhan hummed, tapping his chin. He’s only ten, but he acts so old sometimes and it confuses Sehun. 

Sehun, for the life of him, couldn’t precisely remember how they met. But he could recall the feeling of being covered in mud, the smell of rain and the sight of a hand slightly bigger than his, offering to help him up. And before he knew it, he found a best friend.

A few months after the incident, was something Sehun definitely couldn’t forget. He discovered that Luhan had something that makes him different, makes him special. Something considered sacred by the village elders. 

He, as the elders said and Sehun quotes, has a gift, or what they would normally call the sight. An overwhelming ability to be able to tear through the invisible barrier and view the lives of the creatures that parallels to their own. Walking among them, but seen only by the sight.

The sight allows him to walk between two worlds, to witness the creatures hidden by the invisible veil that separated their worlds. To see something for how it truly is. Sehun would see a cliff for all that is, a cliff. But Luhan? He would stop to ask, in all his childhood innocence, don’t you see the giant sitting on it?

It scared Sehun sometimes, like how things would move without any prompting but he’d look over only to see Luhan smiling at the spot like it shared some sort of secret with him. 

Luhan’s voice startled his train of thoughts.

“They’re so huge,” Luhan exclaimed with wide eyes, his grin so bright it’s almost blinding. “If you put ten of the chief’s house together, it’s still very small.”

But then, at times like these, it intrigues him. Children their age are required to go to a scholae until they’re fourteen years old and capable of deciding what training they would continue up to their adulthood. After classes, Luhan would drag him to the library and they’d read together.

The older of the two  would always point out the pictures of the ones he’s seen.

Luhan would normally say something along the lines of—I saw these tiny clawed folk at Minseok’s shoulder yesterday, and Sehun would read out loud the descriptions on the pages for them both.

There were also things Luhan’s never found existence of in pages of ancient books and dusty old parchments, so it ends up with Sehun listening intently to Luhan’s explanations while heavily relying on his imagination to bring the picture to life in his head. For example, the watchers. 

“And their faces, hyung?”

There was a brief silence before Luhan finally answered. “Scary.”

Noticing Luhan’s shudder, Sehun then knew he should stop with the questions and decided to bother Luhan with other things instead. He opted going for Luhan’s face, poking his cheek and then moving on to tickling his ribcage until the elder burst into fits of giggles.

The younger had to learn his place much earlier than he knew. Simply because there are moments like this. Luhan. Tiny, terrified ten year old Luhan with the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

Even though he appreciates and welcomes his gift, there were always times when it was overwhelming. Because there are things you cannot unsee and it would terrify Luhan up to his dreams at night, turning them into nightmares.

Sehun always tried his best to keep Luhan exhausted enough so he wouldn't dream at night.

—★—

apologies, english isn't my first language and this wasn't exactly proofread. but i hope you enjoyed it.