We’re not forever, fill it with tears, with a sad ending, the end of us both. Neve-

 

 

 

The alarm tone stopped abruptly as Guanlin’s fist swung down on the snooze button. He groaned and rolled over. Yep, he never wanted to get up. And in the middle of a dream, too. Why did he have to wake up at o’clock in the morning to go to school again? Oh right, because his school had accidentally allowed a professional torturist into the position of scheduling. (Not actually though.) He ignored the rational part of him which was suggesting that maybe seven am wasn’t actually o’clock in the morning, it only felt like that because he stayed up too late last night playing Starcraft. He had a rank to maintain, dammit!

Sighing, he labored out of bed and into the kitchen for breakfast, giving his parents a tired good morning. Over his cereal (with milk poured afterwards, not before), he tried to remember the dream he had before his alarm so rudely interrupted him. It was some Alice and Wonderland kind of romp, with witches and trolls and magic potions, but it was all fuzzy in Guanlin’s head. Something about it felt strange, although he couldn’t place his finger on what. Whatever, he shook the feeling off and went to school.

 

 

 

It was an incredibly slow day. Classes were inching along, he lamented to the lunch table as soon as he sat down. He threw an arm over Seonho and tried to burrow his head into his best friend’s shoulder. Well, best friend or maybe more, they had been circling around the edges of something like a great abyss since the summer after freshman year where they both hit their growth spurts and rocketed up. Maybe it was something to do with the air at high altitude, or literally only being able to see each other (they had to crane their heads down to interact with their other friends), or Guanlin watching Seonho begin to transform from a capricious boy to a (still capricious) man that shook Guanlin’s teenage hormones to life. Whatever it was, something changed during those days spent discovering every hidden spectacle their neighborhood had to offer atop the sizzling pavement and nights folded over each other stickily in front of the fan, talking until they drifted to sleep. If their other friends had noticed anything, they hadn’t mentioned it, and Guanlin was fine with that. He and Seonho didn’t talk about it, and if he didn’t talk to Seonho about something, he didn’t talk to anyone about it.

Seonho just patted his head and kept stuffing his face with whatever abomination the cafeteria staff was serving today. “I checked your match history this morning Guanlin,” he chewed for a bit, “it to go to bed on a loss.” Seonho paused for dramatic effect. “Especially at three in the morning.” It roused some chortles from the table. Woojin was threatening cutting off his internet if he was slow at basketball practice today and Jihoon was chiding about getting enough sleep but Guanlin was too busy staring at the piece of lettuce stuck in Seonho’s smile.

He reached out and plucked it out. Ignoring the heat rising to his cheeks, he finally replied “Don’t worry guys, constantly running on four hours of sleep is the Guanlin Special.”

Jihoon crossed his arms. “I don’t know how you do it. One of these days you’re gonna finally waste away into nothing.”

“Well as long as it’s eighty years from now, I’m fine with that.”

 

 

 

Much less than eighty years later, although it might as well have felt like it, considering how bored out of his mind he was, Guanlin was finishing up his last class for the day. Samuel bounded up to him, all smiles as usual. He chirped, “Hey man, heading to the gym for practice?” Guanlin nodded. Samuel was also on the basketball team. The token sports bro, one would say. Samuel held his hand out for one of those handshake chest bump hybrids that males engaged in (again, token sports bro,) and Guanlin obliged. It did make him feel cool. “Woah dude, what’s up with your finger?” Samuel said when they pulled away.

“What do you mean?” Guanlin held up the hand he had just shaken with and , what the was that?! Everything looked normal, except for the fact that a little chunk was missing from the tip of his left pinky finger. Not even enough to take out half of his nail, but still, enough to be clearly not normal. He tried with the willpower of a thousand suns not to let the monumental tremors of shock show on his face as he stuttered out “Nothing, I just closed the door on it while I was leaving the house this morning, so it’s a bit misshapen right now. A-actually, I realize I gotta use the restroom. You can go to the gym, I’ll see you there later.”

Luckily, Samuel didn’t sense anything off, and he gave Guanlin a wave as he left. “Alright, just hope it doesn’t wipe that killer shot of yours!”

As soon as Samuel was gone, Guanlin bolted to the restroom, locked himself in a stall, and stared incredulously at his pinky finger, almost believing what Samuel had noticed earlier was just a trick of the light. Unfortunately, it was no such thing. Guanlin blinked once, twice, three times. Nope, it was still there, or rather, part of his pinky was still not there. Guanlin resisted the urge to scream. Frantically, he grabbed at his finger using his other hand. He could still feel missing chunk, but it was as if it had turned invisible. About a quarter inch of his very own flesh and bones, vanished into thin air. After about ten minutes of pacing in the very small stall and trying to calm his breathing, Guanlin considered his options. After maybe a millisecond of consideration, he did what he did every time something crazy happened to him: he called Seonho.

As soon as Seonho picked up and heard of the situation, he assured Guanlin that he was on his way to the History wing bathrooms as fast as his legs could carry him. Less than a minute later (Guanlin had counted the seconds,) the door to the bathroom banged open, followed familiar sound of Seonho’s heavy breathing after running. Guanlin unlocked his stall a peeked out, keeping his left hand behind his back. “Seonho,” he hissed, “get in here.” The boy in question jerked his head to meet Guanlin’s eyes and darted in with him. Like most bathroom stalls, this stall was not huge, so the two boys had to crowd up against each other. Normally Guanlin would be focusing on not losing his mind with Seonho pressed up so close to him, but in this far from normal situation, he had something more pressing to lose his mind over.

“Okay, let me see it.” Seonho whispered. Sure, it was wavering on the edge of panic, but there wasn’t a hint of disbelief in his voice; he believed completely that Guanlin wasn’t making this up. Guanlin’s heart niggled funnily. He held up his finger for Seonho to examine. As soon as the other boy got a good look at it, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull, not to mention his nostrils, which flared to the size of quarters. He clapped a hand over his mouth and reached out to squeeze the vanished sliver. When he was met with the sensation of flesh under his fingertips, he jumped and ejected a muffled shriek into his hand.

“Right?!” Guanlin said. He could imagine he looked just as maniacally bewildered as Seonho. “What the am I gonna do?!”

Seonho took his hand away from his mouth and began, “Okay, okay, I know what we’re gonna do, just give me a minute I have to-” Seonho replaced the hand and screamed into it for an indeterminate amount of time before ripping it away and continuing. “What we’re gonna do, is we’re gonna go to my house, and we’re gonna look this up online, and everything is gonna be okay, okay?” Seonho was gripping Guanlin’s pinky so hard that what remained of it was turning blue. He did not sound okay.

“Okay,” Guanlin said.

 

 

 

After calling his coach and giving some half-assed excuse about not feeling well today, Guanlin and Seonho booked it to Seonho’s house, Guanlin making sure to keep his left hand in his pocket the whole way. They came through the front door, stripped off their socks and shoes, and Guanlin fell on his with a sound that would make a banshee proud. He was missing his toes. All ten toes. The upper planes of his feet disappeared into nothing at the ends. When Seonho saw it, he bit his lip to contain a similar sound escaping his throat. Footsteps sounded from around the corner and the boys locked eyes. Seonho scrambled to sit on top of Guanlin’s feet, pretending to fiddle with his own socks, and Guanlin tucked his arm behind his back just before Seonho’s mother peered into the entryway. “Boys, is everything alright? I thought I heard a scream.”

Guanlin grinned like a deer in headlights from his awkward position while Seonho answered, “Oh, nothing Mom, just Guanlin being Guanlin.” He issued a nervous laugh.

Seonho’s mother looked concerned but thankfully didn’t press for more. “I see... well would you boys be interested in a snack? I’ve got peanut butter and jelly in the kitchen.”

Guanlin watched Seonho tackle the greatest dilemma of his life for a couple seconds before his best friend decided on a compromise: “I think we’re gonna go to my room first, but I’ll come out and grab some sandwiches once we’re settled!” Guanlin smiled to himself despite the situation. There was really no separating Seonho and food. Guanlin chose to keep his socks on as they made their tactical retreat to Seonho’s room. He immediately belly flopped onto Seonho’s bed with a long, drawn out groan. He felt the thud of Seonho landing next to him.

“So um, do you mind if I get the sandwiches first, while my computer boots up?”

Guanlin had to laugh. “That’s fine Seonho, I wanted them too.” The bed dipped and bounced back, signaling Seonho’s departure, and then Guanlin was alone to contemplate the bizarre situation he found himself in. He took off his socks and looked at his toeless feet again. He tried wiggling his toes, which he could clearly feel himself doing, but of course couldn’t see. Examing the appendages more closely, he could see his flesh blurring translucent before completely disappearing, as if he had stepped in a bath of invisible water that was slowly bleeding up his foot. A thought struck him. Looking at his pinky finger confirmed with a sense of dread, but not surprise, that his guess had been correct. About a full nail’s length was now vanished into thin air. Whatever was happening to him, it was spreading. He showed this to Seonho when he returned with sandwiches. Seonho paled and turned to his computer immediately, ignoring the plate of sandwiches on the bed.

“Does this mean you’re gonna disappear entirely?” He muttered shakily over sounds of frantic pecking at his keyboard. “How much time until you’re gone?”

“I won’t be gone, I’ll just be invisible,” Guanlin pointed out. Shocked at the severity of Seonho’s reaction he tried to joke, “Hey, then I’ll be able to feed you the answers to every test question.”

“That’s the least important thing on my mind right now,” Seonho replied tightly.

Guanlin frowned. “Seonho,” he started, moving to the desk and resting his hand on the boy’s tensed shoulder. He had searched ‘extremities are turning invisible cure’ on Google, and already had about ten tabs open. “You don’t need to feel so stressed. If anything, I should be more worried than you, this is my problem after all.”

Seonho turned his head curtly with a hot glare. “You’re my best friend, Guanlin, of course it’s my problem too.” He returned to his research as the words swept over Guanlin with a sense of finality. Seonho rarely got like this. “Do your homework Linnie, I’m gonna figure out how to stop this.” Feeling like he had no other choice, Guanlin obediently sat on the bed with his books. He felt a pinch of regret at involving Seonho, but he was truthfully surprised at how Seonho was acting. Usually his best friend would shriek in glee at anything that he came across, so he expected the same to happen eventually in this situation. Instead, the boy in question was currently sitting at his desk, jaw set and eyes blazing with some kind of fervor Guanlin couldn’t quite place, practically radiating waves of intensity. It was kinda hot. Guanlin gave himself a mental slap. Really? His fingers and toes were literally turning invisible, and he was out here ogling his best friend.

“Does it hurt at all?” Oh right, Seonho was asking him a question.

Guanlin flexed his phalanges again and replied, “No, everything feels normal.”

Seonho released a large breath. “Good. It says here that if it hurts, a demon might be trying to possess you.”

Guanlin shuddered. “Yeah, good thing,” he agreed.

“This webpage is telling me you need a Reverse Invisibility scroll.. oh wait, this is for the video game Oblivion.” Seonho facepalmed. “Okay, here, it says the morning of a full moon, between sunrise and one hour after sunrise, cut a lemon in half and sprinkle the top of each half with sea salt... we can’t wait until the full moon! And it says we need an altar? Where do we get that?” Seonho gripped his hair with both hands and yanked.

“Seonho!” Guanlin yelped, jumping up to pull his friend’s hands away from his scalp. “There’s already enough of me going missing, I don’t want your hair to go missing off your head as well.”

Seonho pouted. “These websites are useless. Breaking a magic spell is so complicated.” He pointed the current procedure he was studying, which consisted of eighteen steps and about a dozen plants and minerals Guanlin had never heard of.

“You sure it’s a spell?”

“Well, I assume you didn’t drink or eat anything funny, or get bitten by a radioactive spider or something like that.”

“You assume correctly.”

“So yeah, that just leaves the magic spell. Or maybe you’re a mutant like the X-men and your powers are just now manifesting. But I even researched that, and Marvel Wiki said that usually mutants can exercise some kind of influence over their abilities, even if they don’t achieve full control until they receive further training.” Seonho threw himself back against his desk chair with a huff. “I don’t know what to do.”

Guanlin clicked on another tabbed and scanned through it. “These look pretty simple,” he said. “Look, ‘take a bath with epsom salt and hex breaking herbs such as bay leaves, jasmine, or nettles’. That sounds doable.”

Seonho perked up. “I’ll grab the herbs from the kitchen, you run the bath.”

Guanlin headed to the bathroom and stared at the reflection that confronted him in the mirror. It was the mirror in which he had first shaved his face, even though his chin had been smooth as a baby’s at the time (and still was). Seonho had been bragging about the razor his dad bought him for his birthday and they both wanted to try it out. Guanlin suspects that since that disaster of shaving cream and knicks to the jaw the razor had never been used again, because Seonho wasn’t exactly cooking up anything in the facial hair department either. He ran the bath hot, the way he liked it, and stripped down to his boxers. He and Seonho had seen each other in various states of undress countless times, but Guanlin still felt his skin crawl hot and cold when it happened.

Quickly enough, Seonho knocked at the door, and Guanlin let him in. “I could only find jasmine, sorry,” he said, holding up the bag of loose leaf jasmine tea he snuck from the pantry. His eyes scanned up and down Guanlin’s body, and though Seonho was probably just checking to make sure nothing else was turning invisible, the air turned electric for an instant.

“It should still work, right?” Guanlin said.

“Let’s hope so...”

 

 

 

One tea leaf and salt clogged drain later, and Guanlin was toweling his hair off, still missing more than half his digits. Beside him, Seonho sighed. “That was a bust.”

“You never know Seonho, maybe it has to work overnight,” Guanlin tried, but he admittedly had to agree with his best friend. The bath probably did nothing.

“Well maybe... we can try mirroring the spell?” Seonho suggested.

“How do we do that?”

The other boy scratched his head. “I’m not sure, I just read that you might be able to reverse the spell and send it back to whoever cast it.”

Guanlin jumped. He hadn’t thought about if there was a who responsible for what was happening to him. “What if someone is out to get me?”

Seonho grabbed the nearest stick shaped object in sight (which happened to be his toothbrush) and brandished it in the air. “Then I’ll fight them off!” His nostrils were flaring again.

“OOOOooooOOh, I am the Wicked Witch of East, come to haunt the poor mortal boy Lai Guanlin. Watch as he withers away to nothingness!” Guanlin held his hands like claws in the air and tried his best evil cackle.

“Witch be gone!” Seonho shrieked, hitting Guanlin’s arms with the bristles of the toothbrush.

“And you, my pretty, will be NEXT!” Guanlin gargled, taking the towel he had been using to dry himself and flinging it over Seonho’s head while he gave the other boy a noogie.

Seonho flapped his arms in fruitless resistance. “Let go you hag!”

After a while Guanlin got bored of out-muscling Seonho (as he always did) and released him. Seonho emerged from the towel, hair mussed. He slapped Guanlin on the chest. “How can you be the one making jokes at a time like this?”

“It’s weird when you’re the one who’s worrying. I wanted to lighten the mood, I guess.”

“You can’t go a minute without my smile, can you?” Seonho snickered.

“I guess you could say so,” Guanlin mumbled, but Seonho was already turning on his heel to exit the bathroom, and his words fell on deaf ears.

 

 

 

Seonho sent him home with a pair of gloves and long socks to hide his spreading affliction, fussing over Guanlin like he was a mother sending her child out in the winter for the first time.  Unfortunately for Guanlin, it was not winter time. It was, in fact, spring, bordering on summer, and he 1. looked like an idiot in this get up, and 2. was sweating his brains out on the walk home. When he got through his door, he shoved his hands into his pockets (for double protection, he reasoned). “Mom, I’m home. I went to Seonho’s after school.”

“Did you work on homework together?” Her reply floated out from somewhere in the kitchen.

Guanlin gulped. Even though Seonho had told him to work on it, he had been to distracted. Although you couldn’t really blame him. “Yeah, we talked about a partner project we got assigned today.” The lie rolled off his tongue before he could think about it and he mentally berated himself. On the other hand, it could be a good excuse to hide in the safety of Seonho’s room until his little problem was sorted out. “I think I have to go over to his house for the rest of the week to work on it.”

He heard his mom hum in reply as he tried to sneak off to his room without being seen. No such luck. “Young man, I see you trying to run off to your room to play games again. Dinner is almost ready, come sit down at the table.” Guanlin groaned internally but obediently made his way to the dining table. After a bit, his dad emerged from his study to help set the table and then they were sitting down to eat. Up until then, Guanlin managed to keep his gloved hands out of sight, but he knew that he would have to use them to eat. When his parents weren’t looking, he risked tugging off the glove on his right hand and peeking at it under the table. He realized with a sharp intake of breath that the fingertips of his right hand had started disappearing too. Well, he would just have to wear the glove and deal with the questioning that would come after.

His parents had already started eating. “Since your sister left for university, it feels like we haven’t had any time together as a family,” his father began.

“That’s true,” Guanlin agreed. His sister was always more enthusiastic about family outings, while Guanlin was content to coop up in his room with his computer (or Seonho).

His mom sighed. “Maybe we should go to a local art show together. Anything to get outside of the house together.”

Guanlin twitched at the idea of an art show. Putting it nicely, it was the most boring and inane activity he could imagine. “What about a picnic lunch at the park in a couple weeks? I know I’m pretty busy with school and basketball right now, but I miss spending time with you guys too.” He was apologetic, but he had bigger concerns on his plate at the moment. Like trying to pass wearing gloves in the house off as unsuspicious. He hadn’t lifted his hands from his lap yet. He figured he needed to get it over with before his parents called him out for not eating, so he reached for his chopsticks.

“Why are you wearing gloves?” his dad asked.

“Um,” Guanlin grasped for an explanation, “I think I’m coming down with a cold. I just want to keep warm.”

“But it’s felt like summer time recently, do you really need gloves?” His mom this time.

“I just want to make extra sure.” Guanlin assured.

“Oh come on now, Guanlin,” his mother teased, “if this is another one of your odd fashion phases, we won’t laugh.” His father laughed anyways.

“Since when have I had any weird fashion phases,” Guanlin whined.

His mom shrugged. “The uniform of the youth mystifies me these days, so most all of them have been weird. Now let’s see those gloves,” she grabbed to pull them off his hands playfully.

“NO!” Guanlin practically shouted, holding onto his gloves with all his might. His parents looked shocked. “I mean, I’m serious about being sick. I don’t want to infect the entire family.” He tried to chuckle.

His parents looked concerned after that, but they let it go and conversation took a turn towards the usual. He used feeling sick as an excuse to go up to his room early and whipped out his phone.

6:48 PM

Guanlin

my parents got so suspicious of my gloves fml

how am i gonna survive school tmrw

 

6:48 PM

Seonho

omfg you’re right

i can try to cover for you if you need

wait also can you come over again tomorrow?

 

As much as he hated to admit it, Guanlin’s heart always stuttered when Seonho answered his texts right away. Which was always.

 

6:49 PM

Guanlin

yepp

i told my parents we have a partner project so i’ll be at your house this week to work on it

why?

6:49 PM

Seonho

i found some more de-spelling cures online hehe

we can try them tomorrow

6:50 PM

Guanlin

de-spelling?

oh, so now you’re insulting my spelling skills?

i thought you said my korean was almost native

6:50 PM

Seonho

shut UP lol

ganadaramabasaa boy ^^

6:50 PM

Guanlin

that was ONE time

6:51 PM

Seonho

that’s what they all say...

6:52 PM

Guanlin

whatever, see you tmrw

wish me luck

 

6:53 PM

Seonho

good luck <33333333

cya

 

Guanlin put the phone down and decided it was time for him to actually do his homework today. After he finished, he was too shaken by the day’s events to even play games, and ended up logging out after one round of StarCraft (which was a loss). He lay in bed, (covers pulled up to his chin of course) thinking about what he could have possibly done to end up in this situation. At least he had Seonho that he could trust with this, was his last muddled thought before he drifted off to dreamland.

That morning, the first thing he saw was a message on his phone:

10:14 PM

Seonho

don’t forget to bundle up in the morning xoxo

 

 

 

And bundle up he did. He was dismayed and anxious upon waking to find that invisibility had spread all the way up to his ankles and wrists. (The bath indeed did not work.) The only thing out of ordinary that he had to don that day was a pair of wool gloves, but he did have to cover every inch of his body, which meant jeans and a hoodie in eighty degree weather. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

“What’s up with the gloves, Guanlin?” Daehwi asked over the lunch table.

“Yeah, and aren’t you hot wearing that hoodie?” Jihoon picked at his food, not bothering to look up.

“He’s always hot,” Seonho jumped to Guanlin’s defense.

“You’re not a reputable source, Seonho,” Daehwi drawled.

Ignoring the static undercurrent of the statement, Guanlin pretended to cough. “I think I’m coming down with something, I’ve been having chills since yesterday.”

Samuel’s sympathetic face came into view. “So that’s why you weren’t at practice yesterday.” He clapped Guanlin on the back. “Hope you’re feeling better soon, man. What about your finger?”

“Huh?”

“You know, you told me you jammed it in the door yesterday?” Samuel reminded him.

“Oh! Right uhm, it hurt like a yesterday but it seems fine today.”

“Oooh, you jammed your finger? Let me get a look at it.” Woojin seemed interested for the first time in the conversation. Guanlin would never understand his fixation with gore.

“Guanlin doesn’t want to infect you guys with whatever he has!” Seonho said, almost too quickly.

The rest of the table looked at him weirdly, but Woojin pulled away with a shrug. “Sure, I guess.”

Guanlin laughed awkwardly. “Seonho is right, I have a feeling this bug is gonna be bad. I don’t want to pull any of you guys under with me.” In a way, he was telling the truth.

 

 

 

Guanlin managed only a few more encounters (some from concerned teachers) before he could retreat to the safety of Seonho’s bedroom. He peeled off his gloves and socks, and sweatshirt with a exhale of relief. While they were hidden at school, his forearms and calves had slowly surely been turning invisible as well. He pulled up the hems of his jeans to check the progress. He appeared to be floating above the ground, his calves turning hazy before completely disappearing. Seonho was also surveying him with concern. “Sorry in advance but... you do look kinda funny like this,” his best friend commented.

Guanlin simply rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He did. “So what kind of hocus-pocus to you have prepared for me?”

A wild smile snuck onto Seonho’s face. Guanlin loved that smile. Although it probably meant that he was about to do something stupid. “Just sit tight right here,” he patted a spot on the carpet, “and let Seonho do the work.”

The work involved arranging two dozen or so red candles in a shape around where Guanlin sat. “The website said to use candles with a color that represents the spell, but I could only find red candles at the store, so that’s what I got.” Guanlin wondered when Seonho had found the time to go to the store between last night and the present. Seonho set a pan of water in front of the Guanlin and knelt in front of him.

“What’s this for?”

“I’m supposed to put some salt in there and say a magic spell, and the water will purify your aura, or something like that. But I have to light the candles first.” Seonho got up and procured a matchbox from his desk (“I hope you don’t always have those there,” Guanlin said flatly. “I’m not a pyro, gosh.”) and began to light the candles. “Do you think turning off the lights will do anything?” he asked.

“You’re the one who read the webpage.” Guanlin said.

“Yeah, but I’m asking you.”

Guanlin thought it over. “I mean, I’m sure it wouldn’t change anything?”

Seonho flicked the lights out and resumed his work. Guanlin realized, immediately, that it changed everything. The only light in the room was candle flame, dancing and flirting along Seonho’s countenance, which was relaxed but focused on his task in a rare moment of calm. Guanlin swallowed despite himself, hoping that Seonho hadn’t noticed the change in the atmosphere. It was his fault for being so damn handsome when he wasn’t screwing his face up with exaggerated emotion.

The boy in question looked up and locked eyes with Guanlin. Swimming in his gaze were yellow flecks of heat, and his eyes were entrancing. A subtle smile fluttered onto his face. “It feels kinda romantic, huh?”

“What?!” Guanlin sputtered, feeling embarrassed for no reason he could think of. “I guess as romantic as performing a satanic ritual on someone who’s half disappeared can get.”

“It’s not a satanic ritual!” Seonho pinched Guanlin in retaliation.

“Sure, whatever you say.” Guanlin shrugged and Seonho huffed again. When he was finished with all the set up, he plopped down in front of Guanlin with a salt shaker in one hand and his phone in the other.

“I’m gonna read the spell off my phone. I can’t be interrupted so,” Seonho looked at Guanlin meaningfully and Guanlin nodded, miming zipping his lips. “Okay, here goes.” He sprinkled some salt into the water and began the chant.

With salt, this water is made pure

I give it the power to heal and cure

He paused with his eyes shut for about ten seconds. Although Guanlin wanted to ask (and snort a bit), he kept his mouth shut. Then Seonho took a candle and put it in the pan of water. Lighting it, he continued.

A spell was cast with baneful will

A wicked web was wrongly spun

I take away the harm and ill

I now undo what has been done

Seonho fell silent and closed his eyes again. It was so quiet in the room that Guanlin could hear the boy’s soft breath, timed to the rise and fall of his chest. Guanlin found his eyes slipping shut as well. It was strangely calming, sitting in the dark, feeling the minute changes in warmth as candles flickered around him, and simply breathing. After some minutes, (it could have been a couple or a couple dozen, Guanlin couldn’t tell), Guanlin sensed a change in his surroundings. He opened his eyes to find that the candle in front of him had burnt down to the water line and fizzled out. Seonho seemed to have noticed it as well, because he opened his eyes and took the candle in his hands.

This harmful spell I now negate,

Return things to their rightful state!

With that, he snapped the candle in half with a loud crack. He was quiet for a few moments before looking around once or twice and whispering, “Okay, that’s it.”

“Why are you whispering?” Guanlin whispered back.

“I don’t know, it just feels like we should keep quiet. For the spell to work it’s magic or something.”

“I thought we were de-spelling me, not casting another spell.”

Seonho had no response to that, although he did screw up his face trying to find one. While he was still considering Guanlin rose to his feet. “Um, so how do we know if it worked? And what do we do with all these candles?” Seonho looked up at him, eyes suddenly turning downtrodden. “What’s wrong?” Guanlin asked.

“I don’t think it worked.” Seonho gestured to Guanlin, who still looked like he was wearing a levitating pair of jeans.

Guanlin deflated into a sitting position on the floor again. “You never know. We should give your de-spelling spell some time to work. Or maybe because it’s supposed to reverse the spell, we have to wait another day before I’m back to normal.”

Seonho twisted some of the hairs of the carpet between his forefingers. “I guess,” he mumbled. “This whole thing is so weird. Like, do you even know what caused it?”

Guanlin had wracked his brains over it already. “No, nothing weird happened. Nothing at al- do you hear footsteps?”

“Oh , it’s probably my Mom, blow out the candles!” Seonho jumped and started swatting at them furiously.

“At least turn the light on first!” Guanlin stumbled to flip the lightswitch.

“What are you doing Guanlin, get under my covers, she can’t see you like this!” Seonho was right, Guanlin dove under the bed covers just as Seonho’s mother opened the door.

“How is homework going? I was going to offer a snack- but what on earth are all of these candles doing on the floor?” Guanlin screwed his eyes tight and pretended to be asleep.

Luckily Seonho seemed to catch on. “Shh Mom, Guanlin is taking a nap.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize,” Mrs. Yoo replied at a much lower volume. “Has he been getting enough sleep?”

Seonho sighed, and it didn’t sound like he was acting. “I don’t think so. He’s always complaining about being tired at school.”

“I hope he can catch up on some sleep then. Now for snacks, would you prefer chips or popcorn?”

“Popcorn please!” Seonho chirped. Guanlin smiled. He could always trust Seonho to make the right call.

“Sure. And what about those..”

Mrs. Yoo trailed off, but she must have been gesturing to the candles because Seonho replied, “oh, the candles are for our partner project we’ve been working on this week! We’re trying not to burn the house down.”

His mom simply chuckled. “You sure you weren’t setting up a romantic scene for Guanlin to wake up to?”

“Moooooom,” Seonho groaned. “Go make the popcorn!”

“Alright, sure, I’ll you know when it’s ready,” Mrs. Yoo’s voice disappeared down the hallway.

Guanlin cracked open one eye. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, it is.” Seonho sat on the edge of the bed.

Guanlin propped himself up and wiggled his eyebrows. “So about that romantic scene...”

“Shut up,” Seonho gave Guanlin a friendly push.

“All you’re missing is the rose petals.”

“You’re never gonna let me live this one down, are you?”

Guanlin grinned, ignoring the hammering in his chest. “Nope.”

 

 

 

After that they messed around for a bit and actually attended to their homework. It was still really weird watching his pencil dance along the paper as if enchanted, though he knew it was really in his invisible grip. They were laying on their stomachs on Seonho’s bed, poring over books, when Seonho turned to Guanlin. “This is gonna be kinda weird but...” Seonho looked down, trailing off.

“But what?” Guanlin prodded.

Seonho was still studying the covers when he spoke. “Can I hold your hand?”

“What?” Guanlin blurted. He hoped he wasn’t turning pink. “I mean, sure. Why?”

“It’s just gonna look so funny. Holding an invisible hand I mean. I want to see what it’s like.”

“...Alright sure.” Guanlin flexed his hands in front of him. “It’s so weird, feeling that they’re there and everything, but not being able to see them.” He stuck his hand out for Seonho to take. It took the other boy a couple of tries to locate it’s exact location, giggling all the while, but eventually their hands slipped together comfortably, fingers laced. They stared at the configuration. It was really strange. Seonho’s palm and fingertips were indented where they pressed against Guanlin’s hand, although it looked as if they were grasping at nothing. Guanlin wiggled his fingers, and the resulting movement of Seonho’s skin was truly bizarre.

“This is so trippy,” Seonho murmured.

“Tell me about it.”

When they got back to their homework, their hands were still clasped together. Guanlin caught himself glancing at them (or just Seonho’s) every once in awhile. It was oddly comforting, maybe because it was a reminder of that part of him still being there, even if he couldn’t see it. Or maybe he was just holding hands with his crush.

 

 

 

The over the next few days, Guanlin got worse and worse. He was just a torso, and then his belly button was fading away, and then he looked like a perfect roman bust. All the while, he kept up his sweltering uniform of concealment at school (it’s like your superhero costume, Seonho said), and his friends kept up their ridicule. None of the online remedies had been working, which didn’t surprise Guanlin anymore, but Seonho still insisted on trying every day.

Being invisible brought a variety of unexpected consequences. For one, getting dressed was a bit more difficult. Imagine trying to put pants on with your eyes closed. Seonho had wondered aloud what using the bathroom was like, and Guanlin had to admit that his waste products were very much visible, to his friend’s obvious amusement. But by far the most uncanny thing was showering. Guanlin watched rivulets of water outline the form of his stomach and legs before swirling down the drain. He had never paid so much attention to the path water took down his body until it was the only thing he could see. At least his hair was still here. After shampooing and soaping his invisible figure down, he stepped out and grabbed a towel. The mirror was fogged up with condensation, and Guanlin drew in it with his finger. The lines seemed to spring up in the mirror on their own.

He was so absorbed in the fascinating phenomenon he was able to create that he jumped when he realized. The condensation had cleared considerably and with that something else became clear: the tips of his ears were marked by the characteristic fuzzy blur that meant they would be disappearing soon. Grimacing, he called Seonho. This would be difficult to hide. Without giving his best friend a chance for greetings, Guanlin hissed into the receiver, “My ears are disappearing,”

“Already?! What about your neck?” Seonho shrieked down the line.

“It’s still here but my collar bones are starting to go.”

“I’ve gotta see this, facetime me right now!”

Guanlin did as he was told and held his phone at an acceptable selfie distance. The image of Seonho peered at him through the screen, and suddenly started giggling. “What are you laughing at?”

Seonho wiped at his eyes through hiccups. “I’m sorry Guanlin, it’s just, oh my god, it’s so funny, this is literally facetiming. All that’s there is your face.”

Guanlin looked at himself in the mirror. There he was, a floating towel tied around his invisible waist, and yep, just a face staring back at him in the mirror. Nothing else. He couldn’t help it. He laughed until it hurt to laugh anymore. He was glad to see (or hear, rather, he was too bent over to look at his phone screen) that Seonho was doing the same. They finally pulled themselves together and Guanlin had to point out, “Despite the hilarity of the situation, my dilemma remains.” He pointed to his ears before remembering that his hand was invisible.

Seonho stifled one last guffaw before shrugging, “Have any earmuffs?”

 

 

 

No, Guanlin did not have earmuffs. He decided to wear his hood over his head and tie the strings under his chin. Only his face was visible. He looked like one of those pissed off cats forced to wear a costume on its head for Halloween, but his situation called for desperate measures. The second he made eye contact with Seonho at school though, they dissolved into laughter again, so at least the necessary stupidity doubled as comedic fuel. On the other hand, spring had chosen that exact day to leap zealously into the arms of summer, and Guanlin’s phone told him that the temperature was over ninety degrees by the time he and Seonho were trekking to the other boy’s house. Even Seonho, who was dressed appropriately for the forecast, was complaining about wilting in the heat, of course offering Guanlin sympathetic glances every time he did so. Guanlin didn’t say much; if he exerted the energy needed for even one word he might have melted onto the sidewalk then and there.

Seonho skipped into his entryway and Guanlin followed, hastily taking off his shoes and trying to not let show how impatient he was to get to Seonho’s room. (It sounded dirty when he put it that way, but his intentions were 100% innocent, he could assure you.) He greeted Mrs. Yoo politely and speedwalked to refuge, where he peeled off his socks, gloves, hoodie, and shirt. It didn’t really matter, it wasn’t like his bare chest was anything Seonho hadn’t seen before, and it was invisible at the moment anyways.

“Finally some relief,” Guanlin groaned, sagging into Seonho’s bed and appreciating the wind chill he felt as he fell. He got up to do it again. “I was baking all day.”

“Look, Guanlin, you can see the sweat floating on your body.” Seonho pointed out.

Guanlin looked at the beaded moisture dotting his skin, which really just looked like the air. He craned his neck to take a look at where his armpits were, which, predictably, had collected quite a lot of perspiration. “This is no fair,” he whined. “You can see how much I sweat.”

“Guanlin,” Seonho moved to squish Guanlin’s cheeks between his palms lazily. “I already know how much you sweat. Anyone who goes to one of your games knows.”

Guanlin was galvanizing his brain for a reply, muddled considerably by Seonho’s hands cupping his face, when Seonho let out a high pitched noise of shock. “Guanlin,” he yelped, “You’re disappearing!”

“Well yes I’m aware of that!”

“No, I mean, look in the mirror”

“What do you mea- ” Guanlin pawed at his face, which was vanishing so quickly that he could see his skin fading away into nothingness, like a stain bleeding out in reverse. Whatever it was that had caused his affliction was obviously anxious to complete its task; it had sped up by ten or twentyfold. He was about to watch his own eyes disappear in front of his very eyes (he never thought he’d say that sentence in his lifetime) when Seonho yanked him around so they were face to face

“GUANLIN YOU'RE GOING SO FAST OH MY GOD I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO WHAT IF YOU DISAPPEAR FOREVER-” his best friend was screaming at him, and Guanlin, feeling a tide of panic rush over him, was screaming at Seonho too, and Seonho was gripping his arms so tight his nails might be puncturing skin, and Seonho was reaching up on his tip toes, and, wait, hold on- before Guanlin had a chance to short circuit from overstimulation, Seonho was pecking his lips, the only visible part of him that remained.

He must have actually short circuited then, because Guanlin felt a tingling and jolting all over his body- and he didn’t know if it was just because of the kiss or because he was actually coming back to visibility.

He didn’t have to wonder for very long because Seonho was knocking into him in a sticky hug. “Guanlin, you’re back,” he nearly gasped into Guanlin’s neck, probably because throwing himself into the hug had knocked the wind out of both of them. “Oh, um,” Seonho pulled back, realizing Guanlin was half . “Sorry about that, uh. I-” he bit his lip and without thinking, Guanlin’s eyes followed the action. Seonho caught Guanlin’s gaze and pinked. He brought his hand halfway up before aborting the motion, looking like he was torn between touching his fingers to his lips or saying something.

“Um,” Guanlin beat him to it, feeling like he should get his word in before Seonho went and did something ridiculous, like taking the kiss back. “How did you come up with kissing?” He could scarcely believe he was whole again

Seonho looked embarrassed. “Well a lot of the websites I read said magic spells can be broken by true love’s kiss and I’m pretty sure that was at least half of one.” Guanlin’s head spun. “And I’ve kinda wanted to for a while so. I just thought this might be my last chance ever.” Guanlin remained silent, shocked. “Please don’t kill me,” Seonho added.

“No,” Guanlin said, and was embarrassed when it came out in a croak, like he hadn’t used his voice in years. “I’ve wanted to too.” They just stared at each other for a beat. During that time Guanlin realized he was still shirtless. He didn’t want to do anything about it.

“Then, can I..?” Seonho was reaching out, and Guanlin let his tentative hands come to rest against his collarbones. Not trusting his voice again, Guanlin just nodded, hoping the gesture could convey all that he was feeling right now.

When their faces were only breaths apart and their hair already brushing, Seonho giggled. “Why are we nervous about this?”

“Well I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna mess this up.” A smile spread across Guanlin’s face despite himself as he knocked his forehead into the other boy’s.

“Trust me, it’s you, you can’t mess this up.” Seonho pushed back against Guanlin’s forehead, rolling onto his toes and into a kiss, tipping over so Guanlin had to lean into the mirror behind him so they wouldn’t fall down. Guanlin’s hands found Seonho’s hair on instinct and he felt the other boy sigh into his chest in response. Kissing wasn’t the puzzle that Guanlin expected it to be. It was just lips touching, bumping, bantering, conversing, the same thing that he and Seonho did every day, but way better. It was the easiest thing in the world, and it made Guanlin’s heart race.

They broke apart and Guanlin could tell with a single glance that Seonho felt the exact same way. He pulled him back in, unable to control a mega-watt grin, and their teeth clinked against each other. Seonho looped his arms around Guanlin’s neck, crossing them and pressing his palms against Guanlin’s shoulder blades and giving a little hop. “Up,” he huffed, bringing a leg up to wrap around Guanlin’s hip. He was unsuccessful though, and it slid back to the ground.

“You seriously want me to lift you up?” Guanlin laughed into Seonho’s mouth in disbelief, even though his arms were circling around Seonho’s midsection to to do exactly that.

Seonho replied with more giggling and scrabbling of his hands and feet. Guanlin was pretty sure it was doing more harm than help, but entertained it for a while, laughing and gasping. Then he hoisted the other boy up for real, turned so that Seonho’s back was against the mirror and his legs pretzeled around Guanlin’s waist, and kissed him full on the mouth, intending to use tongue this time.

It was awkward at first, because they both had their mouths wide open, their tongues the air (and occasionally bumping into each other). Suddenly though, Seonho solved their problem, tilting his head until the angle was just right for their lips to lock into an airtight seal. The soft, wet, , biting sensation that followed made Guanlin’s head swim. So this is why people kiss, he thought hazily.

He lost track of the rest of his body, drowning in the incredible feeling, and when he surfaced Seonho was plastered against him, breathing into his jaw. Guanlin ducked his head down to find his lips again, but Seonho shook his head. “First,” he said firmly, “put that back on.” Seonho pointed to Guanlin’s shirt on the floor.

“Since when did that matter to you?” Guanlin whined.

“You gotta keep it PG,” Seonho accused, although he took the opportunity to jab his finger onto Guanlin’s bare chest. Guanlin had the sneaking suspicion that Seonho was actually enjoying touching all this skin. “Think about the people at home watching!”

“I hope there’s no one at home watching us,” Guanlin grumbled, but he shimmied his shirt back on obediently. There was a brief lull after that, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. “So you love me, huh?” A ring of playfulness was in Guanlin’s words.

“When did I say that?!”

“I seem to remember something about receiving a true love’s kiss to break the spell?” Guanlin raised his eyebrow.

“Well don’t look so smug about it,” Seonho grumbled, giving in and letting his head fall into the crook of Guanlin’s neck.

“If it makes you feel better, it takes two to tango.”

Seonho looked up with a twinkle in his eye. “What are you saying, Linnie?”

Guanlin avoided his gaze but couldn’t stop a sheepish smile. “You know what I’m saying.”

“Then why don’t you just say it,” Seonho peppering feather punches on Guanlin’s chest to punctuate each word.

“You didn’t say it either,” Guanlin tried to argue.

Seonho paid him no mind, continuing his barrage and singing, “You love me, you love me, Guanlin loves me~”

Guanlin tried to fight him off and Seonho only pressed harder, sending them both crashing to the bed in a tangle. Realizing the only way to get Seonho to shut up was to occupy his mouth otherwise, Guanlin pulled him down into another kiss. He could feel Seonho’s hands roving everywhere and spared a moment to roll his eyes at the other boy’s insistence that he put on a shirt.

They weren’t so much making out as they were rolling around with lips loosely connected, until Seonho ended up on top and deepened the kiss. Guanlin’s hands found their way to the other boy’s hips and they stayed like that for a while, engrossed in each other. When they broke away, Seonho’s eyes were hooded, but just as shiny as his lips.

“We should probably stop,” Guanlin suggested in a murmur.

“No we shouldn’t,” Seonho declared immediately.

Guanlin agreed wholeheartedly, but tugged Seonho so that he was sprawled across his chest. “We gotta keep it PG, remember?”

“Oh,” Seonho replied, eyes dancing humorously. “You’re right.” He settled face down on Guanlin’s chest, so that Guanlin almost didn’t catch him when he muttered, “Now that I’ve got you, don’t go disappearing on me again.”

Guanlin stared up at the ceiling and realized the near out of body sensation he was experiencing was just him falling for Seonho beyond the point of return.

“I won’t. As long I have you to break the spell.”