Rain splatters against the window panes of the school building, lulling the already half awake math class into a further comatose state as the teacher spoke with her back to them, scribbling formulas across the board. The dark clouds that released their filled gullets cast a dim grey light over the classroom, providing very little natural light to accompany the dull glow of the florescent bulbs overhead as the middle school students felt trapped in their own form of prison. 

Among them sat a boy of ordinary appearance. Round faced, boarding on the edge of chubby, with round glasses that framed large eyes hidden beneath doughy cheeks, the boy sat towards the side of the classroom, near the windows and the sweet symphony of rain droplets. Chanyeol has his chin perched in the palm of his hand as he watched the rain skitter down the glass, silently rooting for one bead of water over another as they raced to their finish line at the bottom. 

Chanyeol liked the rain, from inside that is. If he could avoid walking in it that afternoon to get home, he would, but he wasn't sure his luck would uphold the rest of the day. The clouds were dark, bellies swollen from their gluttonous drinking and now it seemed as though they would never stop dispelling the water they had consumed. Maybe he would be lucky... maybe. 

~ 

Hours later, when time had begun to itch at the boy's skin, the final bell of the day signaled that it was time to go home. Chanyeol had snatched up his back pack, searching through it for his umbrella that he had grabbed that morning, but to his disdain it had gone missing. His things always went missing. It wasn't because he wasn't careful like he led his mother to believe, but because a group of people he ignored rather than acknowledged made it their goal in life to make his existence miserable. 

They would steal his possessions, destroy his homework, call him names, and make sure the rest of the grade level ignored him. Chanyeol was ostracized and treated as if he were on the lowest rung of the social ladder. So with a heavy sigh, the boy hitched up his bag and pulled up the hood of his parka as he walked out into the drizzling cold, his face screwed into a mask of clear discomfort. One day he would prove them all wrong, show them that he was something more than they would ever be. 

As the boy walked, he hugged his parka closer to him, hearing the rustle of the plastic as he ducked his head, hardly watching where he was going. It wasn't until Chanyeol collided with another jacket and a firm back that he looked up, eyes startled as he reached out to steady the person he had nearly sent into a puddle. Looking at him, almost equal in stature, was another male from the high school down the road. Chanyeol had seen him before on his walk home, but had never spoken to him before. 

The high school student had a sweet face, eyes that slanted in a kind manner and lips that seemed to curve into a smile easily despite nearly falling over onto the wet ground due to someone younger slamming into his back. Clutching onto his umbrella, the elder of the two let his gaze sweep over Chanyeol almost carefully, as if making sure he was okay before realization dawned on his features. "You're that kid that walks from the middle school every day... I saw you with an umbrella this morning, did you lose yours? You know you could catch a cold if you get too wet, here let me walk you home." 

Chanyeol blinked slowly, his eyes wide in amazement at how fast the elder boy could talk and how he could simply treat him like a human being without hardly knowing him. It took all of five seconds for the middle school boy to right himself and tuck away under the black umbrella that his new companion was holding. "You... You don't have to do this you know..." he all but stammered out, slightly flustered by the kindness that shone deep in the other's gaze. 

"Don't worry about it. You can repay me later. I'm Joonmyun by the way... and you are?" The high school student glanced over at Chanyeol as if prompting him to speak as he carried the umbrella between them, easily keeping it afloat over both of their heads as they walked. 

Taking another moment, feeling as if all of his reactions were delayed, Chanyeol sputtered out his name in a timid tone. His voice squeaked and he cursed himself silently. Joonmyun was older, nice, and calming, but there he was with his voice cracking between a high falsetto and a deep baritone and he had never felt younger in his life. Opting to stay silent, Chanyeol averted his gaze to the concrete path beneath their feet and was silently thankful that Joonmyun seemed to understand his need for silence and didn't press the conversation further. 

As they walked, Chanyeol counted the cracks and childishly stepped over them while Joonmyun stepped directly on them. It was a small difference, but the silent confidence that seemed to exude from the elder male calmed Chanyeol's skittish nerves. Though in an instant it was dashed as he threw up his hand and forced Joonmyun to stop walking suddenly, almost making his rescuer of sorts fall on his face again as he bent over in a hurry, his voice rasping out, "You almost stepped on him..." 

Joonmyun stood in a dazed confusion as he watched the top of Chanyeol's head for a moment before the boy was standing back up, one hand cupped in a bowl. It wasn't but a second later that a snail began to creep from the boy's palm onto the back of his opposite hand and he gave Joonmyun a smile that made his eyes disappear completely. "His name is Earl..." he muttered softly.

Blinking slowly, as if processing the strange behavior, Joonmyun shot Chanyeol a wary glance before leaning forward, his nose wrinkling slightly for just a moment. He didn't deal well with slimy things that crawled all too well, but he quickly pushed it away before looking back up at his new friend and gave him a soft smile. "He's very... uhm... gooey for a snail?" he offered with an almost sheepish, nervous smile as he shifted on his feet, clearly ready to get out of the rain and into his warm home. 

Chanyeol smiled slowly, letting his features soften as he turned, walking with Joonmyun once more towards his home. It had been the first time in a long while that someone hadn't called him strange for the things he did, rather... Joonmyun has seemed to accept the behavior as if it were nothing and continued on. There was something about the laid back manner of the elder boy that drew Chanyeol in and made him want to understand how he could be so different from the others that relentlessly at school. Joonmyun gave him hope that afternoon as he helped Chanyeol place the snail on the bush by his front door, even going so far as to absentmindedly pet over the shell before leaving with a soft smile and a promise of walking home together the next day. 

~ 

Time and change slowly morph a person on the outside, occasionally on the inside as well, but that wasn't the case for Chanyeol. Four years later, Chanyeol was still odd internally, but externally he had changed. Sometime after he had hit high school, the once round faced boy began to lose his baby fat, giving way to a slim face and an equally slender torso. He shot up in height as his growth spurts hit one after the other in quick succession and all too quickly he was towering over the rest of his grade level, if not a majority of the school. It was his turn to carry the umbrella for Joonmyun on the rainy days when they walked home together rather than hiding in his senior's shadow. 

Joonmyun hadn't grown much more in the time they spent together, but he too lost some of excess baby fat that clung to his cheek bones, though it never fully went away. His cheeks were still round, making his eyes disappear into tiny crinkled crescents with every brilliant smile he shot towards his friend. He hadn't changed much, his hair stayed about the same length, only growing out to brush over the tips of his ears and his smile never really faded, but it was the lack of changes that made things much more complicated for his younger counterpart. 

The kind nature of Joonmyun pulled Chanyeol under like a sudden riptide out at sea. It had been small at first, an admiration to become like his hyung. It was through Joonmyun that Chanyeol learned to smile more often in the face of his oppressors and learned to rise against those that held him back. He taught himself to look on the brighter side of things, that everything would eventually result in a better outcome. Wasn't it the bullies' fault that he met Joonmyun that day because they had stolen his umbrella? He began to turn all of his negatives into positives. 

But it was through this bonding, their walks home at first and eventually their shared lunches when Chanyeol moved on to high school, that he began to fall. Joonmyun felt like a warm, secure blanket that held him close. Never had Chanyeol met someone that did not judge him for his odd turn of phrases, but instead laughed with him or agreed. His friend would occasionally even add to the odd fire and they would go off on tangents that never felt related, but made sense to them in their own ways. They built a world around them, one that no one could seem to penetrate no matter how hard they tried. It didn't mean they didn't have other friends, but no one could get closer to them than they were to each other. 

~ 

It was raining again. The dreary weeks before winter always seemed to carry a chill on their backs and a water hose in their hands, determined to freeze the moisture in the air before it was time to snow. Chanyeol had given up hope on concentrating during the last ten minutes of class as he counted the seconds with a dull ache in the back of his mind. He had walked to school with Joonmyun that day and would probably walk home with him too, sharing the same umbrella as they always did, almost like a tradition. 

His mind drifted for a moment, recalling how cute his senior would look in the dull grey illumination. It made Joonmyun look like his cheeks were glowing pale, almost ethereal in Chanyeol's eyes. How he had gotten so deep, he would never know, but he knew there would be no turning back.  He was hooked and no one else would ever compare. 

The loud ringing of the bell had Chanyeol jolting out of his seat, back pack in tow as he slipped out into the hallway. Ducking and weaving through the crowds, he waved to people who once ignored him, flashed mischievous smiles to girls who meant nothing more to him than a quick fondle, and brushed past people he had never cared to get to know as he headed straight for Joonmyun's locker. The senior was predictable. His class would end and he would stop by the bathroom for a quick relief and then head to his locker if he didn't have any student council duties to attend to and as far as Chanyeol knew of his schedule, he would show up within two minutes. 

Leaning next to Joonmyun's locker, Chanyeol took a moment to catch his breath, brushing the black bangs out of his eyes for a moment. His hair was becoming a nuisance and he briefly thought he should cut it, but in the same instant he rejected the idea, recalling how Joonmyun liked to absentmindedly brush it out of his eyes for him with that smile that seemed reserved for their time alone. 

It wasn't a long wait before the shorter boy stood before him, that same wide grin on his lips as he started to ramble incessantly about his day. Joonmyun had always been a bit of a talker. He seemed like he would be reserved with his kind demeanor, but he was outgoing and sought out friendship in anyone he crossed paths with. Most people didn't really get to know him past the initial generosity that he displayed, but Chanyeol was one of the few that had stuck around with him. He watched as Joonmyun's lips curved to form words as he spoke, memorizing how his tongue would occasionally dart out to over his lips and he would always have to catch himself from voicing his internal thoughts. The ones that voiced that ache to kiss Joonmyun breathless. 

"Are you even paying attention? I swear you space out too much..." Joonmyun muttered, shaking his head. Chanyeol had mastered long ago how to record down everything his hyung had said to him in his mind without stopping his own train of thought. Sometimes it did look as though he wasn't paying attention, but in actually, Joonmyun always had his undivided attention. He knew everything that the elder had said, committing it to memory and filing it away for later. 

Chanyeol could only shrug in response and give a sheepish grin. "Sorry, but I don't really get the whole reason why you decided to run for vice president of student council anyway. You know they only use you because you're too nice to say no and you practically know everyone..." The remainder of his sentence had been a bit bitter, resentment laced within his words. Chanyeol hated how much Joonmyun gave with that stupidly beautiful smile on his face but got so little in return. It pained him, but he would never tell it to his friend, it would probably devastate Joonmyun and he would take it to heart. 

"They don't use me... it's my job to help the president," Joonmyun defended easily, taking out the last text book he needed for the night and slung his bag over his shoulder. 

"Whatever hyung..." Chanyeol muttered, voice tinged with a sadness he easily masked with a soft smile as he took the umbrella that Joonmyun held out to him. Turning and walking with his friend, he headed out of the building with Joonmyun, carrying the umbrella high enough to cover both of them. 

But not even two steps down, he felt a tug on his sleeve, turning to glance at Joonmyun, he saw the older boy stooped down, plucking something off the ground. "Look, it's another Earl..." he said, looking up with a grin as he held up the small snail to Chanyeol, gently placing the slimy animal on the back of his friend's hand.

Over the years there had been dozens of Earls and all of them were different. Joonmyun always wondered what happened to them after they put them on the bush besides Chanyeol's house. He never thought to look for them again and would occasionally like to imagine them starting their own snail village with the name Earl somehow incorporated into the town's name. It was a silly notion but it made him smile none the less, and he could recall Chanyeol's booming laughter when he had told his friend about his idea. 

The walk home was like any other before. Chanyeol listened to Joonmyun talk, occasionally adding in before he would run off on his own story. It was a constant back and forth, an ebb and flow that they had developed over the years. The natural feeling came easy for them and it wasn't long before they were back in front of the familiar door way, placing the snail gently on a branch of the bush before looking back at each other, ready to part ways for the evening. It wasn't always like this, sometimes Joonmyun would stay over and hang out or Chanyeol would walk the extra distance to visit the Kim residence, but today wasn't one of those days. Joonmyun had to work down at the local diner until late evening and Chanyeol wouldn't see until morning. 

They paused at the doorway. Joonmyun had that same bright smile he always did, telling Chanyeol to do his homework and to eat properly, being the ever caring friend that he always was. But it was when he went to say goodbye and that smile seemed to droop at the edges just slightly that Chanyeol reached out and grabbed his hyung, pulling him back towards him. One sweeping gaze over Joonmyun's face and look of determination later, Chanyeol was dipping his head, shoulder hunched slightly as he pressed his lips over the senior's lips in an awkward, timid first kiss. One that was reciprocated without much hesitation. 

~ 

Years later, when Joonmyun's cries of pleasure rival the thunder outside, it's known to them both that their walks meant everything to the couple. It's when the early morning light breaks through the windows of the kitchen and paints the room in a clean glow and kisses over the bare skin of Joonmyun's shoulders as he leans against the counter in front of the sink, coffee mug in hand, as Chanyeol walks up behind him, that they know this was what forever felt like. Long arms that finally match a long frame slink around a pale waist, large hands firmly holding onto hipbones and smooth skin. A chin dropping on a milky shoulder and a smile painted softly over full lips in the morning after glow. 

Two snails, Earls, crawl up the window panes, leaving a path behind them as Chanyeol presses a soft kiss to the side of Joonmyun's neck, whispering over the shell of his ear, "I love you."