“Giving ME detention! There should be someone to give the teachers detention for bad detention giving!” Sungkyu spat out as he wiped what felt like the hundredth blackboard and silently cursed the person who invented ear plugs. “I'm sure they are just after cheap labor. Well, I'll show them! Cheap labor is cheap for a reason!” he growled, intentionally missing a spot.

The door of the classroom flew open. Sungkyu started, half expecting a ghost to enter before realizing that the ghost wouldn't have had to open the door in the first place. He knew that mythism was just another form of racism, but ghosts had to be an understandable exception. They just gave him the creeps. He was glad they were in a special ghost class, separate from the rest of the student population. For obvious reasons.

At least they weren't the souls of dead people like popular belief dictated. Only then would it start to get really creepy. Luckily they were just normal people, born outside the visible spectra of the human eye, their molecules vibrating at another frequency than the physical world. It had to though, it was kind of limiting to be invisible to the rest of the world. Although there was a certain freedom that came with it as well. He wondered if the ghosts got detention too. How would they wipe the blackboard if they couldn't even grab hold of the duster? Or did the ghost classroom have special invisible blackboards, some kind of invisiboards? He had never really thought about that before, whether it was only the ghosts that were invisible or if there was a whole invisible world out there that he knew nothing about, coexisting alongside the visible world.

Maybe there were hints of it everywhere, when the two worlds crossed paths. Just as ghosts were sometimes heard or felt in the real world, maybe the ghost world also interfered with the physical world. When you stump your toe or trip, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the way. When you inexplicably misplace things that then magically reappear in a place you already searched.

“AAIISSHHH!”.

Sungyeol's outburst brought Sungkyu back from his wonderings. He didn't have to ask what the problem was. He was a hundred and ten percent sure it was about Woohyun. It was always about Woohyun. That boy had it bad. Probably the worst case of one-sided puppy love he had ever come across. He did not envy him.

“The whole summer, hyung, the WHOLE summer went into training my mind to be strong, to resist the enchantment of that stupid amazingly gorgeous idiot, and what do I have to show for it?” he dramatically pulled out a chair, letting himself fall into it, making as much noise as possible. Sungkyu sighed, this sounded like it was going to take a while. “Nothing?” he offered, smirking slightly. “Nothing!” Sungyeol agreed. “I don't know why I thought I could beat it when the whole school is under his spell. But I thought, maybe I was special. Like you, hyung. I wanted to be like you. He doesn't even have the slightest effect on you. How amazing is that! You are so strong and powerful! I can't even shift properly! Why does it work for you and not for me? Maybe you could mentor me one day." he said, depressed and frustrated. Sungkyu got the tiniest attack of conscience, debating whether to tell him. He wasn't even sure if it would help or not. Either way, there was no way he could tell him, it was more important for himself to keep it a secret. A secret he would take to the grave.

“I wonder what it's like to be Woohyun.” Sungyeol wondered, changing gears, gazing into the nothingness with a lovesick grin stuck to his lips.

“It probably . Can you imagine how annoying it would be to have all the Yeollies of the world following you around with puppy-love-eyes, wagging their tail at you, hoping for a treat.” Sungkyu snorted and with a dramatic shudder he started to rearrange the desks. A shoe came flying past him. Oh, that silly creature, he couldn't even throw a shoe properly. No wonder he had taken pity on him, taking him under his protective wing. Not that it had really been his intention. He had been a dedicated loner and wasn't thrilled to have someone cramping his style, let alone making him look shorter. He was average height! But somehow the harder he tried to shake Sungyeol, the harder he latched on, so one day he decided it would be less annoying to graciously allow him the gift of his presence, letting him benefit from his fountain of wisdom.

“Two can play at that game..” Sungyeol's mouth warped into a devious smile. Sungkyu froze, holding a table in mid air. He wouldn't! He couldn't!!

“Pfft, empty threat! You can't control it!” Sungkyu waved his threat away like a puff of smoke, but couldn't stop his insides from squirming. Sungyeol could never shift when he wanted to, he had tried this a million times before but never succeeded.

“Hmm... what could I be thinking about now... did someone say something about puppy-love? Oh, puppies, aren't they just the cutest?” Sungyeol snorted, not able to with a straight face. Hopeless. He was so hopeless. He couldn't even threaten him properly. But then his eyes narrowed, his nose wriggling like it was itchy. Oh, no! No, no, no! Not now. He couldn't sneeze now. Sungkyu couldn't risk it.

“Fine. FINE!!” Sungkyu said, reluctantly putting the table down. He walked over to Sungyeol and planted himself on a chair in front of him, silently trying to reclaim his pride by folding his arms and showing him just how dissatisfied he was with his behavior.

“You should've seen your face.” Sungyeol chuckled. He had the goofiest laugh. Actually, if you looked past all the goofiness, he was quite beautiful. He was long and tall, with legs that seemed to go on forever. He was really skinny, but he wore it well. His long, thin build gave the impression of a majestic alien prince. Sometimes Sungkyu was almost convinced he really was from an alien planet, that would at least explain his frequent, strange out of place behavior, where it didn't look like he was very familiar with Earth's customs. Maybe aliens were just another myth with a perfectly logical explanation. But, unfortunately for Sungyeol, he didn't have such a neat excuse, he was simply a gigantic goofball. An unlucky misfit that couldn't control his powers. And of course the rest of the school used it to attack him and make him a social outcast.

It had worked out great for Sungkyu though, since if Sungyeol was popular, they probably would never have become friends. He couldn't imagine life without Sungyeol, although he would never admit as much, not to anyone, not even himself. Yeollie, his personal idiot. He would never ever tell him as much, but he was his haven, his security blanket. He could be himself around him, he didn't even need to use his powers to make him stay. And he didn't want to look past all the goofiness, it was part of his charm, it was what made him so amazing, making him laugh every single day.

Good friends were hard to come by, that was one thing life had taught him. Powers of persuasion could get you far, but true friends were something that couldn't be made with supernatural forces. Regrettably so. Heaven knew he had tried. But forcing someone to play with you apparently did not make for very loyal friends. He had been burned by that fact several times. He had never really understood the dynamics of friend-making, they lay beyond his grasp. And it wasn't like it was taught in school. 'How to get along with others 101', first lesson 'Treat your friends as equals'. Yeah no, he would have definitely failed that course. The only way to fight off the loneliness had been to use his gift. Only, in the end it had always made him more lonely. He had convinced himself he was a loner at heart, but his heart was never fully convinced. And then Sungyeol came along.

Sungyeol had gone completely quiet, staring into space with a hint of a pout on his lips. Sungkyu sighed. He had to tell him. “Yeollie.” he started softly.

“Mm?” Sungyeol answered absent-mindedly. He was so oblivious, to the point that it had become the center of his charm.

“For a Siren's power to work, it has to have contact with one of your senses and in cases of mild exposure, the effects fade quite quickly once you are out of reach.” he started explaining.

“Huh?” Sungyeol came to, returning from whatever faraway land to which he had traveled, giving Sungkyu his full attention, “What do you mean?”.

“I mean, most people only mindlessly fawn over Woohyun when they are around him, once he is out of sight, they snap out of it.” Sungkyu used the softest part of his voice to soften the blow. “What?! But...” Sungyeol sat up in his chair, trying to put the pieces together.

“I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but you're in love with him. It's not just the spell.” he continued, monitoring Sungyeol's reaction carefully.

Sungyeol's forehead crinkled, the color disappearing from his cheeks. After a few moments he exhaled, shaking his head, “Naahh, you couldn't know. His powers don't work on you so you don't know how it feels.”.

Sungkyu fought off a smirk of satisfaction at how well he had managed to hide it. Of course Woohyun's powers worked on him. There was no one that was immune to the lure of a Siren, especially not one as powerful as Woohyun. That boy radiated brightness with more intensity than the sun itself. Completely and utterly blinding. But falling into a spell of another irked Sungkyu to the core, particularly one that made him look like a slobbering idiot. He might not be able to control his emotions, but his stubbornness had excellent control over his salivary glands so he had vowed to never be caught drooling over him. And apparently it had worked. His secret was safe.

“Come on, lunch is almost over. Help me move the last of these tables so we can go have something to eat before class starts.” Sungkyu suggested, changing the subject. Poor Sungyeol was in for a rude awakening, and he was going to be there to laugh at him, every step of the way.