Fingers clutch his biceps. Lips, softer than what he expected, press against his own. They stand shrouded in the dark of shadows, melting together. Lips to lips, thigh against thigh, much too close. His hands open and close around still air, not sure what to do. A tongue asks to be granted entrance into the deep depths of his mouth and he jerks away, head slamming hard against the wall behind him in his haste.

A sigh slips from Jongin’s lips as he rests his head in the open palm of his hand. Fifteen minutes remain, and anticipation surges through the class like white-hot electricity. Fifteen minutes until they’re granted their freedom. Fifteen minutes until summer.

Students whisper their summer plans between each other in the absence of their science teacher. The man had stepped out of the class five minutes earlier, and Jongin’s class has been filled with murmured voices ever since.

Jongin looks away from the slow-moving clock in the front corner of the room to the window beside him. He watches as the sparse white clouds drift without direction through the cerulean sky. Below on the green field a few underclassmen have left class early and started up a lazy game of kicking a dingy white and black soccer ball between their feet.

Jongin is bored. His cell phone died during lunch, and Jinri and Soojung are in a different class than him. There’s nothing to do, no one to talk to, and the time moves excruciatingly slow.

Jongin’s not sure when he’d closed his eyes and begun to drift off to unconsciousness, but the unmistakable sound of a throat clearing forces him back to reality. He glances up to the front of the classroom and instead of being greeted with the sight of his balding science teacher, he’s met with his homeroom teacher. Her pink glossed lips are pulled into a smile as everyone begins to quiet down. “How are you,” she asks brightly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. It’s a nervous habit of hers. She’s only just begun teaching, they’re her first homeroom class, and it shows.

The class answers in near unison and she nods her head to their words. “I’m here to give you your summer assignment.” There’s a groan, from all of them, and she laughs. “You’ll enjoy it, I promise. It’s very simple, something that many of you may complete as soon as the bell rings, but it was something we’d hope you enjoy.”

That sparks Jongin’s interest, and he finds himself actually paying attention to the woman in front of him.

“Your summer assignment is to answer one simple question: ‘if you could tell your past self one thing, what would you say?’ There is no word count, no desired answer. We want you to be creative, to enjoy the assignment, and more importantly spend the summer focusing on your desires and goals. Many of you will be going to college soon, you will have to take entrance exams and we want your focus on that as much as anything else. Write whatever you want, but make sure it’s appropriate.”

The class erupts into another round of chatter as teens begin talking about their assignment to their peers. Even Jongin feels the first buzz of excitement within him.

“Well,” she says, and the class quiets down once more. “I think that’s all for this semester. Have a good summer everyone, and behave.” She leaves first, her things in her hands and her smile still set.

The class is dismissed moments later, five minutes before their usual dismissal time. Jongin takes his time gathering his things. He wants to feel the warmth of the summer heat on his skin and be as far away from school as possible, but he doesn’t want to get swept up in the rush of students that feel the same way.

When he finally exits his class, Jinri and Soojung are leaning against a window in the corridor. Jinri is the first to notice him, and she stands, school bag in her hand. “There he is,” she exclaims, plump lips stretched into a smile. Soojung doesn’t look towards him as she stands properly, her eyes still glued to her cell phone.

“What do you have planned for the summer, Jonginnie,” Jinri asks him, looping a thin arm around his.

“Sleeping more, playing with my dogs, watching more movies, maybe playing a few video games,” Jongin lists off, letting the girl lead them out of the building.

“Fulfilling,” Soojung mutters sarcastically, she’s trailing behind the pair of them like usual. He glances back towards her to see the teasing grin on her lips. “Really,” she adds on for emphasis.

“What do you have planned, Soojung,” He asks her.

“My sister’s coming in from NYC next week,” she says.

“So, you know, she’ll spend about an entire month clinging to Sooyeon like she’s a child,” Jinri adds, sticking her tongue out at her friend when Soojung glares at her.

“Jinri and I are planning to vacation with my sister and her friends later on. They’re still deciding if they’re going to stay in the country or not. I don’t care as long as I’m near a beach.”

“Sounds fun,” Jongin says.

“You could always come with us,” Soojung says. “My sister likes you. I think she’s planning our wedding.”

Jongin cringes and Jinri chuckles, her hand tapping against his arm in amusement. “It would be fun, and you wouldn’t be the only guy there,” she adds on in support.

“I don’t think my mom would allow me,” He says. Jinri lets go of him when they get to the street they part at. Soojung lives in the opposite direction, closer to the city for her parents’ work, while Jinri lives three streets over from Jongin.

“Bye Jongin,” the girls say, waving at him and wishing him a nice summer. He does the same to them. The two girls link arms and leave first towards Jinri’s home.

Jongin had never set out to be childhood friends with the two most popular girls in his year. He’d met Jinri in elementary school, he’d been put as her seatmate from the first day of school. He hadn’t minded at the time, she had been kind and friendly to him. They’d met Soojung in 2^nd grade when Jinri had somehow made her cry and Jongin was roped into cheering her up by drawing a picture of her as a princess. It wasn’t a good picture, but it did the trick, and they’d been friends ever since.

There's an unfamiliar silver car in front of Ms. Song's house and an equally unfamiliar boy leaning against it. He looks like he could be an idol, Jongin thinks he might be an idol. The stranger is focused on his handphone, lollipop stick sticking out between his lips, and hair so light it's almost white.

Jongin finds himself frozen in place, curiosity keeping him still as he wonders why this kid is standing in front of Ms. Song's house of all places.

The boy turns towards him suddenly, his tired eyes zeroing in on Jongin with obvious intrigue. He straightens up, his gaze warm on Jongin's blushing face, and then lets it roam down as he pushes his large smartphone into the front pocket of his light blue jeans.

He steps towards Jongin, lips beginning to part further as he makes to say something. Jongin remains frozen, his body beginning to sweat and ache from carrying his rather large backpack through the sweltering heat of summer. He doesn't want to talk to this boy. He's not good with people, not good with small talk, or any type of talk for that matter, and really just wants to be home in his bedroom with its air conditioning and his dogs. Awkward conversations can be held a different day, or really not at all if Jongin has a choice.

Noises from Ms. Song's house draws the boy's attention away from Jongin and causes him to frown, leaning back against the foreign car. Jongin feels the curiosity returning but he pushes it away and hurries towards his home.

Jongin doesn't think about the strange boy much after entering his home. He distracts himself with internet videos to pass the time. It isn't till he's walking his dogs pass Ms. Song's house that he finds himself wondering about the missing silver car, and the blond boy leaning against it.

Ms. Song didn't drive. She rode the bus into the city every day to get to her office job. She also didn't seem too fond of kids. He wonders who that boy could have been and just why was he there.

The boy is there again, outside Ms. Song's house. He's sitting on the wooden bench placed in front of the fence separating her land from Jongin's family's. His eyes are down again, focused on his smartphone, white earphones keeping him from hearing the noises around.

Just like before he seems to feel Jongin's gaze on him and looks up turning to face Jongin.

He removes one of his earphones as he tilts his head up to look directly into Jongin's eyes. "Hi."

Jongin blinks in surprise. "Hi," he says back. The word gets stuck in his throat and comes out more like a grunt than a greeting, causing him to clear his throat.

The boy's lips tug upwards at the corner. His grin seems mischievous and mocking and Jongin knows that the sudden warmth of his cheeks isn't due to the summer sun.

"I'm Sehun."

"Jongin," he says in introduction. Sehun stares, the grin is still there but not another word leaves him even as Jongin begins to fidget.

"Nice to meet you," Sehun says with a brief nod as he replaces his earphone.

Jongin's "you too," goes unheard as he walks pass Sehun. He turns back before he reaches the street corner hoping to get another quick discrete look at the boy. Sehun's eyes aren't down on his cellphone like Jongin expects, it's on Jongin's back. He doesn't turn away at being caught staring, he grins a bigger smile.

From there on they always meet when Jongin’s least expecting it. He’ll leave his home to walk his dogs and Sehun won’t be there. He’ll go to the convenience store to pick up things for his mom, and there will be Sehun standing in the chips aisle. They never get passed basic greetings. Jongin always finds himself fumbling and looking for an exit and Sehun is always looking at him as if he’s the most amusing idiot he’s ever seen.

******

The day things begin to change starts off like any other day. Jongin drags himself out of bed and takes his dogs for an early morning walk, hoping to dodge the possibility of another awkward encounter with Sehun. He returns much later to an empty house. His older brother is still in the city, and his parents are already off to work. Breakfast for him is a bowl of cereal and a few bills from his mother to pay for lunch.

He returns back to his bedroom prepping for a lazy day of YouTube videos and watching people play the games he’d given up on out of a prickling sense of frustration. It’s all very normal until it isn’t.

The window across from Jongin’s is open. The curtains that were usually pulled closed aren't any longer. Jongin is not a peeping tom. He's not nearly as nosey as Soojung or Jinri typically are, but his desk is right beside his window and he can't help but look out of it. Besides, that room had always been empty before. Ms. Song was a single woman living alone in a villa with more than one bedroom and her second bedroom seemed to have been turned into a temporary storage. There was never really anything interesting in that room until today.

Sehun's in that room. He's stretched out across the bed, sheets bunched up around his knees, arm covering his face, and lips parted. He's asleep, dressed in a white tank top and blue shorts. The sight disturbs Jongin so badly that as he grabs his laptop and tries to leave he ends up knocking over a mug of pens he had on his desk. It thankfully doesn't break but Jongin doesn't bother trying to fix it as he shuffles out of his room, away from the boy that seems to be following him everywhere.

Jongin tries to do as he initially wanted, but Sehun haunts his thoughts. He wanted, needed, to know why he was there. He had to be a delinquent, it made the most sense to Jongin. He had blond hair and he was spending the summer with his single aunt in a town outside of Seoul. He always seemed to be making fun of Jongin in his head. He'd always grin to himself when Jongin fumbled about like an idiot and although that wasn't a true indication that Sehun was a delinquent, paired with everything else it seemed to work.

Sehun isn't outside when Jongin steps out for the second time that day. He feels relieved and although he wants to run back upstairs and see if he's still asleep, he decides against that. He was not a peeping tom and he would not be caught in the act of staring at Sehun through a window. It was creepy, and he could just imagine how awkward it would be to have Sehun wake to Jongin staring at him. It was only a matter of time before Sehun’s grin decided to make an appearance in his nightmares.

There's nothing to do when his only friends are out of town and his own brother finds Seoul more entertaining than their hometown. The park only holds his attention for a while, it's too hot to do much of anything. The arcade is always welcoming but he could have just stayed home to play games, and there’s not a movie that he has any desire to see. Their town is hardly entertaining when you're alone, at least it seems that way for Jongin. So, he ends of wandering out of boredom. He’s traveled down all these streets before, seen all the shops a dozen times over, and there’s never really anything new. He decides once Sehun has crept back into his thoughts that he will finally put his persistent curiosity to rest and hold an actual conversation with the boy.

******

"Hi Kyungsoo-hyung," Jongin says, stepping into the convenience store near his school. Kyungsoo was a friend of his brother's but unlike his brother, he'd almost immediately returned home once the spring semester had ended. The convenience store owner had been allowing Kyungsoo to work summers there since he was in high school.

"Jongin," Kyungsoo says in greeting, a smile on his lips as he looks up from his phone. Jongin used to think Kyungsoo was scary when he was younger. Honestly, he still thinks Kyungsoo's a bit scary, but he was nice and always smiling and most girls in their neighborhood had crushes on him at some point. He was called Perfect Son-in-law material by the older ladies in the neighborhood. It was strange how Kyungsoo’s popularity came with no effort from himself. "When's your brother supposed to come back?"

"By next week if he doesn't want mom traveling all the way to Seoul and dragging him back," Jongin answers. "She said letting him move into a proper apartment was a mistake and he should have stayed in a dorm like you." Kyungsoo laughs at that. Jongin doesn't know if it's from imagining Jongdae being dragged back home or at being mentioned by his mother.

"You have a brother," Jongin hears, the voice is new but has quickly become familiar, and Jongin finds himself twisting around to face Sehun. He moves aside so Sehun can pay for his things.

"Uh, Yeah," he says, "he's two years older than me and goes to school in Seoul." Sehun looks towards him, a funny expression crossing his face, but then he's looking away and handing Kyungsoo his card. "Do you have any siblings," Jongin asks next, trying not to fidget nervously.

"No," Sehun says, grabbing his bag and card from Kyungsoo. "I'm an only child."

"But you're from Seoul, right," he asks next, as Sehun begins to leave. He follows after him, his purpose for entering the convenience store long forgotten. That previous expression crosses Sehun's face again. It’s a weird expression, and Jongin doesn’t know if it's his surprise at having Jongin try to start a conversation or something else.

 Sehun nods slowly and responds. "Yeah, I was born there."

'So what are you doing here then,' is what he wants to ask next, but he doesn't. He has manners, and he knows that will sound more rude than inquisitive. "I've only been to Seoul a few times before. Once to help Jongdae move into his apartment. We went on a day trip to Gyeongbokgung last year. My friend, Soojung, is from Seoul, her dad still works in the city." He stops speaking as Sehun begins laughing.

"I'm sorry," Sehun says, his chuckles dying down. "Do you get nervous with all people or do I just have some special power that turns you into this?" Jongin glares at Sehun as he begins laughing again.

"I'm not good with people," He says at last.

"Obviously," Sehun says. "Why'd you stop avoiding me?" He smiling that same smile from their second encounter, the smile that makes Jongin feel like an idiot.

"I wasn't avoiding you," he says. "I wasn't," he repeats, as Sehun laughs mockingly. "I was just avoiding this,” he gestures vaguely for emphasis, “the awkward conversation we were bound to have."

"I don't mind it," Sehun says. "This is better than what I've been getting up to over the last few days, and it's easier now, isn't it? I now know you're a bit awkward, and now you feel more comfortable talking to me, right?"

"No," Jongin replies, and he's not sure if that's a lie or the truth. "Why is your hair blond?" Sehun freezes, and Jongin stops as well turning to face the boy that was once beside him. The cool blankness is erased from Sehun's face, he's not wearing his teasing smile or the new expression he'd started making when talking to Jongin. Instead, his lips are parted, and his eyes are wide open in surprise. His free hand is touching the hair next to his ear.

"What," Sehun says, his hair. "I'm not blond."

"Yes, you are," Jongin says slowly. Sehun's face contorts changing as the emotions dance across his features for Jongin to see. Then he's laughing, knees bent and looking as if he's moments away from toppling over.

"You're so easy to mess with," he teases. Jongin glares at him and begins walking with long strides, determined to leave the boy behind him. Sehun catches up easily.

"I don't know why I decided to talk to you," Jongin says. "You're really mean."

"I know," Sehun says, smiling. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm only mean to the people I like."

It really doesn't make Jongin feel better, but he does smile a bit. "Why blond," Jongin asks.

Sehun shrugs again, "Should I have gone with pink? Red maybe? It made the most sense at the time." He pauses and then stares at Jongin with that odd look again. "Oh, you mean why did I dye it at all? My therapist called it a cry for attention."

Jongin doesn't stop walking, even though the statement shocks him enough to make him want to. He just stares waiting for Sehun's laugh or something to clue him in that the other's joking. There is nothing, so Jongin assumes for the time being that what he's said is true. Jongin doesn't know what to say and Sehun doesn't say anything either as they continue walking in the direction of their homes.

"You live across from me," Jongin says suddenly to change the subject. He falters as the words are replayed in his mind. "I mean," he starts over before Sehun can again. "Your bedroom is across from mine. Our windows..."

Sehun doesn't outright laugh as he grins at Jongin with patience, waiting for him to continue what he started off saying. When Jongin trails off and doesn't seem to want to continue he speaks up.

"I know," he states, "I've seen you talking to yourself a few times."

The flush that he'd been fighting off since they'd begun their conversation comes with vengeance and Jongin finds himself stuttering as he thinks up a defense. "I do not talk to myself," he says, but it comes out nothing like the tone of confidence and dismissal he was hoping for and every bit like the pathetic whine he hoped it wouldn't be. They're in front of Sehun's new home and Jongin decides to go to his own, red-faced and humiliated.

"Bye Jongin," Sehun calls out cheerfully. Jongin refuses to acknowledge him as he enters the gate leading towards his house. Sehun wasn't just a delinquent, he was a demon. No, he was much too evil to be just any demon, he had to be Satan.

⇒Hello, It's been a while since I've posted a new fanfic, so I thought it'd be best to give you some information in anticipating. JungLi are Jongin's best friends, Chingu Line makes an appearance in this because Jongdae and Jongin are brothers, but Sekai are the main characters. I don't have an update schedule but I hope to have Summer finished by the end of November.