[mistakes here and there. they will be corrected once the fanfic is finished]

Leaving Korea when he was two was way easier than returning to Korea now that he’s a teenager. Changkyun is not going to cry over it, no, and he’s not going to stay here with his dad, no, even if they’ve been persuading him for so long, even if they say it’s for his own good. Needless to say that Changkyun loves him to death. Swears he would take a bullet for both of his parents. Would take one for his older brother too, even if sometimes he’s an to him, but Changkyun knows Jaebum would do anything for him too. Jaebum’s working under a pharmaceutical company that produces vaccines, so there are no other alternatives.

Changkyun can’t just leave his mom on her own. He can’t and he doesn’t want to.

The men in the Im’s family all breathe science. His dad locks himself in his lab and only emerges once his projects are at a good point. Or when after 30 hours mom calls him because he hasn’t had anything decent to eat, and coffee doesn’t count. His older brother at least remembers to eat. Most of the times. Sometimes. Huh. Maybe they need someone to take care of them too.

His mom gets lonely easily. She’s not like her husband who does just fine being alone. Throw him a microscope, or some equations and he’ll be gone for days. Changkyun, as he had mentioned before, takes after him, and although he’s not as bad as the two, he has had his moments when he forgets everything around him, too absorbed in his little researches.

Anyways, Korea. With mom.

“Be good,” his dad whispers in his ear as they hug goodbye. Behind him brother is holding their mother. “always listen to your mom. I’ll follow you guys at the end of this year.”

Changkyun can only nod. He’s going to miss the US with their large portion of foods, and most importantly he’s going to miss hanging out with this man. And Jaebum too. He’s going to miss them so much. Oh, God. He feels like crying.

His dad gives him a kiss on the head. “See you, Champ.”

-

The town they’re going to live in from now on looks dull, and he hears the taxi driver warning his mom about stray lynxes. Changkyun doesn’t really know why he uses the adjective “stray”. Can you keep a lynx at home? Domestic lynxes? Well, he’s seen some pictures of them on the internet and they’re kind of cute, if you can skip past the part where they can bite your face off.

They also get told to always bring an umbrella with them, it’s going to be their best friend. Apparently, this is a place where it always rains.

Changkyun can’t remember the name of the town, and he doesn’t care how wet it can get outside. He’s going to put some boots on, take a torch and look for these wildcats.

-

His mom has inherited a beautiful house from Changkyun’s grandparents. It looks like it came out from a magazine about traditional korean dwellings.

Maybe it’s because the weather here that his mom squeaks that it looks kind of scary.

Changkyun doesn’t think so. He could live anywhere, and he’s never been a person who asks for too much. As long as it has a bed and Wi-Fi, and it does. Plus, it fits with the general atmosphere of Obnida- -pft. Yeah. He knows, right?

Their neighbors, the ones who live on their right, in a modest villa, greet them. They’re a nice couple in their forties, it seems. Really young compared to Changkyun’s parents who had both just celebrated their 55th birthdays a few months ago. They have a son whose name is Jooheon.

At first sight, Jooheon looks intimidating. Changkyun sees him from afar, holding what looks like a basket full of sweets, walking towards him, and he thinks uh-oh, and wants to flee.

But then the guy breaks into a huge grin, his eyes literally turn into two crescents, he has dimples, and he looks like Majin Bu, the cartoon character from Dragon Ball, so Changkyun thinks that, yeah, maybe he can come to like him.

Thankfully, the sentiment is reciprocated.

He didn’t know what he got himself into when he befriended Jooheon, though.

Because the day after, Changkyun gets woken up by his mom at nine. Nine! Unbelievable. This should be illegal. Especially since it’s a weekend, he’s jet lagged, and more, he only has these two days before he’ll have to start going to school. What the heck?

“The neighbors’ kid is here,” she tells him, excitedly. She always is whenever she finds out he has friends. Actual friends. Having conversations about algebra, and earning money from people you’re tutoring is not the same, she would counter every time Changkyun told her that he had buddies.

Changkyun takes the cover and yanks it over his head only to having it pulled down a second later. He takes the pillow to press it on his face, but when the same thing as before happens, he gives up.

He’s still half in dreamland when he goes downstairs to the main entrance.

“Hey!” Jooheon immediately calls from the doorway. He’s only peeking inside. The smile plastered on his face makes it difficult for Changkyun to get mad at him for visiting at such an hour.

“Hey, man,” he replies in English without really thinking. He is about to translate it in Hangul, but Jooheon laughs and says something back in English too, and he’s got a good pronunciation, mind you.

Changkyun decides here and there that he really does like Jooheon.

It doesn’t matter that he later finds out that Jooheon’s spirit animal is that of a chihuahua (like, he doesn’t want to come in and forces Changkyun to come over after having breakfast because he thinks Changkyun’s house is hunted. It’s not only ghosts he’s terrorized of, he’s afraid of anything. Aliens too which Changkyun finds super fascinating. It’s almost comical how Jooheon starts to flail when something he finds scary gets mentioned). That he only knows some slang which he has heard from American movies and he’s not good conversationally speaking, and that he sulks easily. It doesn’t matter because Jooheon is always nice, he always has stories to share, he’s so so fun, and he regains his liveliness in a snap of fingers.

Look, Changkyun is kind of weird. Kind of awkward too. He’s been told that he looks like he’s a cold person since he doesn’t talk much, doesn’t share much. Mostly, it’s because he likes to listen. Partly, because he doesn’t know what to say and when he does, all eyes are on him and then they’re laughing. At him. It was like that even in his circle of friends. However, it’s not a problem. Not a big one. A laugh is somewhat a better reaction than anything else. Even if it’s as his own expense. But he’d be lying if he said that didn’t make it hard for him to warm up to people.

They’ve known each other for only an incredibly short period of time, but Jooheon seems different from any of the guys from the US.

This is the first time Changkyun enjoys, really enjoys, someone else’s company. Maybe it is because he and Jooheon mesh well. He’s great. He is happy to fill the silence between them and doesn’t mind if Changkyun sometimes only gives a hum, a nod or a chuckle as an answer. He tells Changkyun that he likes Changkyun’s deep voice, it’s y, that Changkyun’s nose is really big it takes up half on his face. That he finds him sort of weird and that it’s fine, he’s into that, because Jooheon is a weirdo too. When Changkyun says something Jooheon finds funny, he laughs and clasps a hand around Changkyun’s shoulder, squeezes, and says that Changkyun’s going to kill him. He laughs. With him.

And on Tuesday (because by Monday he’s still a walking zombie, his mom takes pity on him and just calls the school to let them know that he’ll start tomorrow) Jooheon’s waiting for Changkyun to take the bus together.

Korea is better than what he expected.

-

“Excited?” Jooheon asks as soon as he finds two vacant seats. He lets Changkyun take the one near the window, and just throws his bag on his feet once he plops down.

“Meh,” is Changkyun’s reply followed by a shrug. Contrary to most kids at his age, he doesn’t really mind going to school. He actually likes all the subjects, sans PE, but maybe it won’t be as brutal as it was in Boston here. Since the ground’s always slippery, they’re not going to be running around the building in Obnida. Well, unless teachers here are insane. Which hopefully they won’t.

He’s confident he’ll do well- -he’s been taking private Korean classes since he was three, after all. And from what he’s heard the most failed class here is English. And guess what? He’s fluent. He’ll excel for sure.

What makes him want to bolt is meeting new people.

That’s always been unnerving.

He would hide under tables in order not to meet his dad’s colleagues when he was a child. Growing up, he was not allowed to anymore, but he would always stiffen every time the door of the laboratory would open and it wasn’t his mom’s voice coming from it.

Talking to someone his age was even harder. They weren’t involved in any way with his dad’s work so they didn’t have to pretend to like him. They scrutinized Changkyun, and would always come to the conclusion that they didn’t want to play with him.

Which was okay. Changkyun preferred bringing his toys in the lab or ogling at his dad’s studies, anyways.

“Eh, it will be a downgrade from your- -” Jooheon makes some vague gestures with his hands that don’t make a lot of sense, but they do to him, apparently, because he continues with another sentence as if those had conveyed everything he wanted to say. “Ah, if I don’t spot you immediately later and you’re already ordering food, don’t go for the pizza.” He crosses his arms on his chest to form an X. “It’s always stale. I think they’ve been re-heating the same frozen pizzas over and over ever since the first day.”

“Oh, I see,” Changkyun responds. It’s fine. He was planning to go for some seafood, anyways. Still, he makes a mental note. “Thanks.”

Jooheon grins, bumps their knees together. “I almost forgot,” he says, and then, he’s squirming as he tries to take out an old folded paper sheet from the back of his pants school uniform. He unfolds it. Leaning over to Changkyun, he chirps, “do we have any classes together?”

He doesn’t need to look to know that they don’t. They talked about it yesterday. Changkyun doesn’t tell him that, though. Instead, he just shakes his head. “We only have Moral education together on Friday.”

“Aw.” Jooheon sighs. He looks genuinely disappointed. “I was hoping to have English with you.” Yes, he already said that too. So he can have someone help him with his grammar. Or, better, let him copy some homework. But Changkyun had already promised that,

“will you help me with homework? Not everything. No. It’s just that sometimes I get confused, I don’t know when to use some verb tenses.”

Changkyun gives him a small smile. “Sure.”

Obsida high school is, as Jooheon had tried phrasing before, a lot less luxurious looking than Boston’s. It’s smaller, the walls are sepia, a truly magnificent color (note the sarcasm), and Jooheon informs him that they don’t even close the gates because they’re rotting. Still, Changkyun can’t help but notice how it doesn’t clash with how the sky currently looks.

The only ray of sunshine in this town is walking next to him, chatting animatedly about this new TV series he’s started to binge on.

“Wait, did you just say that you’re on episode 9?” Changkyun wonders. He does the maths in his mind and frowns. “You slept for half an hour?”

Jooheon shakes his index at him. “Nope,” he says, popping the p, “I didn’t sleep.”

And yet he’s so energetic and alive. Must be his brain releasing all the happy hormones so he doesn’t collapse. That, or Changkyun is befriending a monster.

Since he’s new, Jooheon accompanies him to the room and meets his “bro” in the way. The guy’s name is Jackson, he’s Chinese, he’s a big flirt who looks Changkyun up and down, whistles in appreciation and consequently earns a smack on the head by Jooheon. The two have to leave soon after.

Changkyun looks at their retreating silhouettes as they run on the opposite direction from where they came from, hurriedly saying sorry-s to the students they bump to in the hall.

He thinks about what just happened. His chest feels warm, his ego roars as it has never done before.

That was, uhm, nice. Yes. It was nice. Nice. Taking the straps of his rucksack in his hands, Changkyun walks inside the class with a little smirk playing on his lips.

-

The day passes without any accidents.

Changkyun manages to introduce himself smoothly each time. Says he’s here from America, has transferred only on Friday, is living with his mom, etcetera, etcetera.

He gets fussed at during breaks. That’s new. He’s never been the center of attention. Oh, no, actually he was. In elementary he was the only Asian in the whole school, but that was unwelcome.

What he’s getting now is overwhelming. When they talk to him, he still feels like crawling under- -huh, the teacher desk’s maybe since it’s bigger, but he’s not totally opposed to it. He’s only popular because he’s a new face in a small town where everyone almost knows everything about everyone (no, really. Three or four people told Changkyun that they heard about the Im’s daughters coming home with her son). If his mom could see him right now, she would have tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks.

He feels a bit dizzy from talking to too many people and trying to remember their names by the time it’s lunch.

Bambam, Thai, with extra long legs, and Youngjae, normal Korean guy, have volunteered to show him where the cafeteria is. They’re cool. Changkyun hopes Jooheon doesn’t mind if he eats with them too.

He lines up with a tray, looking around him for his neighbor, but doesn’t find him. When it’s his turn at the front, he’s not surprised to see that there’s not a big selection of food. Fortunately, there are some shrimps. He chooses those, partnered with vegetables and, of course, rice.

Even if he recalls Jooheon’s words about the pizza that made him think that the other dishes must be as revolting, his mouth still waters as the lady places the two biggest shrimps on his tray.

“Those are good,” Bambam comments, and Changkyun couldn’t be happier. Food is life.

The cafeteria is relatively small, and from what he’s learnt almost every kid in town goes here since it’s the only one it has to offer, so it’s in pure luck that Youngjae finds a free table at the last row.

Conveniently, at the same time they’re placing their lunches down, they see Jooheon. With Jackson next to him.

They join them. They already know Bambam and Youngjae- -obviously, how silly of Changkyun, small town. Everyone knows everyone. Remember?

Jooheon takes the seat in front of Changkyun. He is cutting meat with a disposable fork and knife when he asks,

“how’s your day going so far?”

Changkyun is munching on a broccoli. “Good, thanks.”

“Yeah?” Jooheon mumbles rather absentmindedly as he focuses on the task. He happily pops a piece of meat in his mouth with his hands once done.

“Ah, nice,” is what he says as he later looks at the content of Changkyun’s tray. Another piece. He doesn’t chew it quickly. Instead, he starts listing all the best choices Changkyun can make when ordering. “Shrimps, yes. Meat, yes. Pizza, no. French fries, absolutely not.”

Bambam elbows Changkyun and mimics gagging. “They re-fry the left over fries. You get like one new fry and the rest feels like you’re literally eating bars of oils.”

Changkyun makes a face. “Okay. No fries.”

“Veggies are a yes.” Jackson pipes up. He rolls his eyes when he hears a snort. “You should eat some, Joohoney-poo. They’re really good.”

The referred to guy only gives a side-long look before stuffing himself with more meat.

Changkyun lets out a small chuckle at the small interaction. Jackson is taking a bite off of his carrot when their gazes meet.

Jackson winks.

And to Changkyun’s own shock, he stills for the briefest of moments before switching to stare at his, uhm, shrimps. Right. His shrimps. His shrimps that he wants to eat so much.

Heck. He feels all tingly inside.

It’s not like Changkyun hasn’t had anyone compliment him before. Yes, it was someone other than his mom. He’s weird, but he doesn’t look too bad, he thinks.

This is the first time someone has been so- -vocal? No, not vocal because there were no words used. Open, maybe?

It’s a guy, after all. In Korea. Not really the most homoually welcome country in the world, you know.

To top it all, now that Changkyun’s stealing furtive glances at Jackson’s direction when he thinks Jackson’s not looking, he has to admit that Jackson is handsome. As in, very handsome. In a he-must-be-just-fooling-because-he-can-do-way-better-than-me kind of way. He doesn’t know how he had missed that detail before.

By the fifth time Changkyun’s quickly, huh looking, he finds Jackson staring back.

Oh-no. If he averts his eyes now, the other will figure out for sure what he’s been doing. Maybe he just has to hold the other gaze, pretend nothing’s happening.

He’s still trying to determine if he should smile or not, when Jackson slowly gives him one of his. One corner of his mouth turns up to give Changkyun a lopsided smile. Gosh. He’s attractive. Right. He’s already confirmed that.

Changkyun forces himself to concentrate on his food. That don’t look as appetizing as the guy in front of him, though. What. What. No! What the heck is he thinking about, now?

His neurons are fusing one by one. So he turns his head to the other side from where the cause of his mental blackout is, in hope that he can get some reasoning before the bell rings again.

Changkyun is going to repeat it in case someone still didn’t get the memo: Jackson is objectively oh so much very good looking.

Which is exactly why, when a trio of girls gets up from the table to reveal one where a single student is sitting by himself, he doesn’t expect this guy to put Jackson’s looks to shame.

His face is- -perfect. And Changkyun is not using that for a lack of better words. The guy’s eyes, his nose, every feature looks like it has been crafted by a gifted sculptor and put on this guy’s face to create a work of art. Whereas Jackson has styled his hair with gel, this other student has his untouched by any product, free to move and fall on his forehead. It’s a rather old fashioned hairstyle, but it works for him. Well, with a face like that it would be way more difficult to find something that doesn’t. And, huh, don’t get Changkyun start with his biceps.

“Shin Wonho.”

Changkyun snaps out from his, huh, contemplation of that person’s appearance? He finds Bambam grinning. Clearing his throat, he turns back to him, a bit embarrassed that he has got caught. Again. “Excuse me?”

“Shin Wonho.” Bambam says a second time. He signs with his head. “Buff guy with the face of an angel?” That’s a good description. Very accurate. “I have literature with him. Really hot, huh? Too bad, he doesn’t talk to anyone. Sometimes he doesn’t even open his mouth when the teachers call him. He just shakes his head when he doesn’t know the answer.”

“He talks.” Youngjae objects. “To his brothers.

Bambam clarifies, “adoptive younger brothers.”

“Ah, yes,” Youngjae agrees with a little nod. Changkyun doesn’t know what kind of face he’s making right now. A really curious one, it seems, because Youngjae takes a look on him and then carries on with an explanation. “They’re five orphans. Shownu- -”

“Damn.” Jackson supplies around a mouthful of rice.

“- -Kihyun, Hyungwon, Minhyuk and of course, Wonho. They all got adopted by Doctor Lee who chose them all based on their looks.”

That makes Changkyun’s eyes automatically go back on the guy who’s now checking an apple. Somehow he can’t imagine the other components of the acquired family to be as beautiful as him. It’s just not possible. How. But he frowns as he repeats Youngjae’s narration in his head. The heck. Just what kind of crazy person does that? Choose children based on how good they look.

So he turns to Youngjae. “What do you mean?” It must have been a joke.

But it’s not.

“Exactly what I said.” Youngjae affirms. “Doctor Lee went around several orphanages just to find the most beautiful children.”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be stupid. That’s not what happened.” Jooheon contradicts, and Changkyun has to blink at the harsh tone.

“Hey, it’s what people say.” Youngjae shrugs, a little wide-eyed.

“That’s so stupid.”

Four pairs of eyes look at Jooheon for more. For an elaboration as to why he’s so strongly reacting. But the mentioned guy avoids all the gazes and instead reaches for his bottle of water.

Changkyun watches Bambam intensely staring at his neighbor. He can tell he’s waiting for Jooheon to be done drinking.

He sees Bambam adjust himself in his sit.

The question is pronounced slowly. Carefully. “Weren’t you friends with Minhyuk, hyung?”

Jackson has his chopsticks halfway in his mouth, but he retrieves them and puts them down, with the food untouched, to stare at Jooheon beside him.

The latter is scowling. His gentle and playful aura has left completely, replaced not by his usual pout, but by a neutral look. They’re not close, but Changkyun can feel it’s forced. That Jooheon is trying his best not to let his real emotions transpire.

He wants to drop the topic. Change it. Wants the tension to just disappear. In a way, he thinks it’s because of him that it was brought up. He doesn’t like Jooheon looking uncomfortable.

“We used to see you two have lunch together,” Bambam insists, his voice trembling a little. He leans back on his chair, and Changkyun suspects he’s just trying to put some distance between him and Jooheon. He’s on guard, timorous, so Changkyun can’t really fathom why he’s keeping up with this interrogation.

“You even used to hang out after school at your place, right?”

Jooheon still doesn’t say anything, but he purses his lips at that.

It seems that Jackson’s done with his friend bearing all this discomfort. He acts faster, has more guts, than Changkyun. Thankfully.

In fact, he says, “Bambam, leave it, okay?”

However, Jooheon raises a hand up, and gives Jackson a look as if saying that it’s okay, he’s got this.

“Yeah, we used to.” He confesses after an interminable minute with a small shrug, aiming for casual, but missing by a mile with the bitterness in his voice.

Bambam bobs his head in a short nod. Jackson’s glare doesn’t stop him from asking,

“what happened?”

“Oh, you know,” Jooheon continues as he pushes his tray with unfinished food away from his body, “we just stopped hanging out everyday at first, and slowly we stopped period.”

It doesn’t take a genius to know that what has been revealed is just the tip of the iceberg.

Bambam’s eyebrow quirks up.

“Yeah?” Jooheon raises a brow back.

“Why?”

Jooheon’s forehead creases. He his lips. Scratching near his nose, a sign of either irritation or nervousness, he admits reluctantly,“his dad and my dad. They, well, you know.”

Oh, so it was a fight between their parents that brought them apart. That must be awful.

Bambam just looks for a moment. “Yes, I heard.” Then, he lowers his head. “Is it true that Kihyun chased after you with a butcher’s knife?” He asks conspiratorially.

Changkyun can’t help the whine that escapes his lips at that. What the actual fu- -heck. Worriedly, he waits for Jooheon’s answer who, for Changkyun’s sanity, scoff.

“The , man.”

And suddenly, the situation doesn’t feel as pressuring as it was anymore.

Youngjae chuckles. “I heard that too.”

“Why would you even believe those stories?” Jackson breathes out. He’s regained his desire for food and is finishing the remaining beans on Bambam’s plate. Throwing his head back in a laugh, he adds, “remember when they believed my nana’s spit could cure any type of wounds, even mortal ones?”

“Yes!” Youngjae exclaims, pointing at Jackson, laughing too. “My grandma always told us about your dad when we were kids. How he got bitten by an enormous dog and how your grandma only, like, spread some of her spit on the wound, and then after hours, his leg didn’t look like it was mauled by an animal or something. Nothing. All anew.”

“Hey, come on, I only asked about Kihyun because I could see it happening.” Bambam tries to defend himself.

It’s Jooheon’s turn to give him a disbelieving look. “Dude’s like super tiny. He would fall on his if I, like, blew on him.”

“The tinier they are, the scarier,” Bambam remarks.

Jackson rolls his eyes skyward. “Yeah, whatever, man.”

Changkyun, who has been silently listening to their conversation, doesn’t know what to do with all of these information. All in all, he’s just happy that Jooheon is happily chatting again, making fun of Bambam and his never ending absurd theories.

He shifts his look on his left again. For one last time, he tells himself.

That table’s occupied by a couple now. It’s a bit disappointing.

-

Coming out as gay's one of the hardest things he’s ever done in his life so far. Actually, it’s the hardest.

He found out about his preference in middle school, so not a really long time ago.

Changkyun recalls that first year. Right after he attributed his admiration for the jock in his school as something more than that. He is not going to lie: he freaked out a little when he thought, huh, hey, maybe I have a crush on him. He typed something along the lines of “help, I feel of giddy- -” on the research bar, before stopping and thinking, “I just wrote giddy. Do I feel giddy? Oh, my gosh, I feel giddy when I think about him.” Picture him screaming around his room.

Partly, he freaked out because of his schoolmate’s uality. However, mostly, it was because he used the word giddy. Who uses the word giddy? What sane person uses the word giddy? Plus, how stupid could Changkyun be to start liking someone who won’t ever look at him?

He quickly solved that last point, though. It was not like he was ever going to tell Nicholas- -that’s his name, Nicholas Tran, half vietnamese. Changkyun was content with looking at him from afar, cheering for him without anyone else knowing. Without anyone knowing that he had a crush on the jock named Nicholas Tran who made him sometimes feel giddy when he saw him in the hallway, or playing for their basketball team.

It was when Jaebum suddenly brought a boyfriend home that the equilibrium Changkyun had started to crumble.

No, his parents didn’t make a scene. There was no yelling. No disowning. His mother actually hugged Jinyoung, welcomed him in their house, asked him if they wanted to join them for their meal. If he ate scallops.

His dad didn’t shake Jinyoung’s hand, but it was because he had some chemicals on his hands that he’s going to wash away, “you know what, I’m going right now and we’ll shake hands later.” And they did.

There was nothing negative. Well, nothing apart from Changkyun starting to become paranoid and having thoughts like, “oh, no. What if they expect me to give them grandchildren now that Jaebum can’t? How will they react to having not one, but two gay sons?”

But they were proven to be nothing but stupid thoughts.

Changkyun came out because his head and his heart were about to explode for anxiety if he didn’t.

They’re in the laboratory. All of them. His dad’s brewing some test tubes. Jaebum is running some experiments on his own with Changkyun’s help, and their mom is on a small couch that they’ve purposely put down for when she wants to join them. She writes a shopping list, or draws, or reads books, or starts asking what’s this and that.

Changkyun was shaking. He waited for his dad to stop scribbling notes, and then Changkyun cleared his throat.

All in all, it was anti-climatic. Somehow, he expected tears, even though there weren’t for Jaebum.

But he definitely was expecting something more than his brother telling him, “huh-huh, can you take some tampons of this mix?”.

And a bit more when he repeats that, “I’m gay too, I said.”

Jaebum squinted. “Yes, I heard that.” He gave Changkyun an awkward pat on the head. “Now, can you take three tampons of this mix?”

Changkyun didn’t hear his mom get up from the couch, but then, he’s getting enveloped in an embrace and she’s sighing at her older son. “Thank you for telling us,” she told Changkyun lovingly.

And Changkyun looked at his dad because he didn’t hear anything from him yet. He needed to know that he was fine with this.

He finds the reassurance he wanted to see in his dad giving him two thumbs up. The dork.

Very anti-climatic. Because Changkyun had spent sleepless nights thinking about what their reactions might be. Had struggled eating thinking about what they could say. Had almost passed out this morning thinking that he was finally going to do it.

But everything ended after approximately no more than five minutes.

He believes this will forever be one of his bestest memories.

-

It is not like Changkyun falls for every single attractive person he meets. He just knows to recognize the full worth of someone’s beauty. Like, he can do that, right? It’s in the human nature to appreciate something they find appealing to their senses.

And so Changkyun spares glances every once in a while towards Jackson when he’s there. Basks in Jackson’s playful smiles, half-smirks or less subtle attempts of flirting with which he almost always receives an upside down thwack from Jooheon.

In the cafeteria, he keeps being around Bambam and Youngjae, Jooheon and Jackson, but in there, he favors looking at Wonho.

The latter really stands out. He already does by simply being himself and by simply being there, but with the room packed, Changkyun finds out that he’s really easy to be seen because people just scatter off from him when he’s walking and nobody really sits down with him, even when there are no more seats available.

Even if it seems like the whole school, town, male and female, has a crush on him, no one dares to make a move. Obnida is different from the rest of Korea.

Changkyun thinks it’s adorable and it makes him feel better that he’s not the only one who finds super nice-looking people overwhelming and a bit frightening.

“It’s not that.” Jooheon grumbles when he tells him on the bus two days after. He shakes his head. “That acts like no one exists around him.” He’s probably one of the very few people who doesn’t like Wonho. And it’s not because he’s jealous of him, no. It’s because they have history. What with Jooheon previously being friends with Minhyuk.

Not that Changkyun will ask him. That’s a no-no. He would rather not see a repetition of what happened with Bambam.

Speaking of Wonho’s brother. Brothers. Changkyun sees them on Wednesday, and his breath gets taken away.

The people his eyes first fall on to are the two sitting on each side of Wonho.

The one on the right, who Bambam later tells him is Shownu, is muscular. Gosh. His arms. They are not as big as Wonho’s, but still. Anyways, short hair. Serious. Super serious. Too serious. Very almond shaped eyes. Eats like there’s no tomorrow.

On the left, there’s Hyungwon. He only sips water, and it’s probably why he’s so skinny. Correction: model-like. Got big lips that western women would pay gold bars for. Literally looks like he’s always posing for a picture.

Opposite to Shownu, there’s Kihyun. The not butcher’s knife guy. Indeed, he looks smaller than the others. Delicate. Charming. He moves the hair away from his eyes with only one elegant swipe of his pinkie.

Last, there’s Minhyuk. Jooheon’s ex friend. He’s the most expressive out of the group. Really. Everyone there seems to have never learned how to smile. Heck, it looks like they’re barely talking to each other. This guy, though, compensates for them all. He breaks into a huge grin or a laugh sometimes in the middle of his monologue, and every single time, Changkyun irrationally has to wonder if he’s the reason behind all these rainy and cloudy days. After all, he himself would feel ashamed if he was the sun and he saw someone who could smile that bright.

The four siblings with their own charms or even combined can’t compare with Wonho’s physical appearance, though. Maybe it’s a matter of predilection. Changkyun likes them strong and masculine, but with a bit of, huh, softness. The contrast between Wonho’s face, with his soft features, and then his body that makes the uniform look completely different on him, makes Changkyun weak.

Not that he would refuse any of them if, in an alternate universe he, Im Changkyun, were as breathtaking as them, and one of them asked him out.

Wonho’s basically the personification of Changkyun’s ideal man. But it’s nothing serious. It’s just that, yes, Wonho’s that.

“I can understand,” Youngjae mumbles when Changkyun all but babbles it out a loud when Jackson of all people asks him if he too has caught the Wonho syndrome.

“Pft.” Jooheon cackles. “I’m way better than him.” He flips them all off when they rise their eyebrows in reply. “Whatever, you guys have no taste.”

Despite his dislike for them, Jooheon would occasionally look over when Minhyuk’s present. Changkyun knows he doesn’t do it on purpose because when Jooheon realizes, he’s quick to gaze down and he frowns hard as if berating himself.

One afternoon, when they’re eating ice cream with a friend of his, Gunhee (basically Jooheon 2.0 personality wise), Jooheon just blurts out that last year he caught a fish so big it was about to make him fall because of its weight and by how much it was flopping around.

“Thank God, he- -” and then Jooheon just. Deflates. He looks so sad. Awkwardly says that he’s full and stands up to throw away the remain.

Gunhee doesn’t go after him. “He’ll come around. Give him a couple minutes.”

Changkyun doesn’t have to ask who Jooheon was with on that day.

Mister Lee, Jooheon’s dad, does not look like the kind of man who holds grudges so hopefully the two families will reconcile.

For their kids’ sake, at least.

He doesn’t know if Minhyuk misses Jooheon, Changkyun has never seen him looking at their table, not once. But it seems like Jooheon does, and Changkyun likes Jooheon. And he really wishes Jooheon wouldn’t have to go through this.

-

His alarm doesn’t ring.

And for some unknown reason, his mom doesn’t wake him up either.

Changkyun open his eyes and he’s just aware that he’s late. He doesn’t have to extend his arm to the bedside table for his phone to see that it’s way past seven.

His internal clock is going crazy, telling him that he’s painfully late.

He stumbles out of his bed in his pajamas, feet tangled in the cover.

After falling once- -no, okay, twice- -he rushes to put his uniform on.

By the time he’s in the kitchen, he’s clothed, shirt and pants, and socks. He even already has his rucksack on. It’s just his shoes he needs to put on. One foot is done, and now, he’s trying, although failing, to put on the other without untying the nod.

Eh. No can do.

Changkyun has to sit down. On the floor, that’s way faster than walking to a chair. It’s only when he’s standing up, completely dressed up, that he notices his mom, with arms folded on her chest, looking at him amused.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” He immediately asks, rather accusingly.

She lets out a small giggle that only makes Changkyun huff in irritation. “You looked really tired yesterday, so I thought I’d let you sleep in and just call the school to inform them that, you’re sick?”

“What? Mom, no.” It’s really sweet of her, but he doesn’t want to skip. It’s only been a week and he already didn’t go last Monday. “I have Biology today.” Youngjae said that they let them dissect insects. And observe cells. Changkyun loves that.

After hearing the small motivation, his mom’s mouth forms a little ‘o, in understanding. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she says hurriedly.

Changkyun dismisses it with a wave. “Don’t worry. But next time.” He leans in to give her a peck on the cheek. “Anyways I gotta go.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, he closes his eyes and grits his teeth.

“The school bus!” He says in frustration.

When he flutters them open, he sees his mom covering with a hand. “Oh, dear,” she comments, looking at her son, “sometimes you are so dramatic.”

Changkyun’s brows connect.

“Your dad has those too. And your brother- -”

“Mom!”

His mom raises her arms a little in surrender. “I’m sorry.”

“The bus.” Changkyun whines. Pathetically. Whatever. She’s his mother. This is not the worst he’s seen him do.

She gives him a pointed stare. “We have a car.”

Changkyun would counter that no, they don’t, she’s just messing with him, but she doesn’t sound like she’s joking. But there was definitely none before, so being confused is a legitimate reaction.

“I told you. Yesterday night. You didn’t even see it parked outside?” His mom explains, a bit incredulous. “See?” She is shaking her head now. “I told you you were tired.” Moms and their favorite words. She sighs. “C’mon, I’ll give you a ride.”

It turns out that there’s really a vehicle waiting for them outside. It’s a white SUV. A brand new one, courtesy of his brother. Whoa. He didn’t know how it got here so fast and more, he had no idea Jaebum’s loaded now. Good for him.

And for us. Changkyun climbs in the passenger seat and marvels at the interiors.

He could actually make it before the beginning of the lesson. There are still five minutes left when he gets dropped off. Three and half when he walks inside the building.

Unfortunately it didn’t occur to him up until now that he doesn’t really know where the Biology class is supposed to be.

In America there are a lot of people still chatting in the hall, they go inside once they see the teachers coming. Not here. The doors are all closed already. There’s not a single shadow except for Changkyun who’s still desperately wandering around, surveying each plate, hoping to find the one he’s searching for.

He feels so annoyed when the bells go off, signaling that Changkyun didn’t make it.

By some twisted kind of luck, his walking brings him to the school’s helping office, so he knocks and when he finally gets a feeble answer, he lets himself in quickly to ask for directions.

Apparently, he has to go upstairs, and it’s immediately on the left. Changkyun takes long strides, and then tells himself, that he can, like, jog a little. No one’s here anyways. He can always quickly slow down his pace if someone appears.

He takes three stairs at a time, and when he’s finally, finally, in front of the class, Changkyun straights his uniform.

The teacher, Mister Kim, doesn’t scold him. First day. New student. He ushers Changkyun in while Changkyun’s still bowing repeatedly.

“As I was saying,” Mister Kim resumes, turning his head to the rest of the class while Changkyun just awkwardly stands there next to him. He didn’t even ask for Changkyun to introduce himself. “We don’t have enough slides, not enough tools, so you’ll have to work with a partner. Okay?”

Oh. Changkyun likes doing things by himself better, but he can do that. Still, he mentally crosses his fingers. He can’t help it, he wishes for the person he’s going to be paired with to be, like, super lazy, so that Changkyun can monopolize the microscope for how long he wants.

As he scans the room to look for the perfect candidate for the position, he realizes that everyone has already put their desks together.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. At worst, he’ll have to intrude in an already formed duo. At best, maybe he will be given one slide, tools, just for him.

“You can partner with Shin,” Mister Kim instructs him, lowering Changkyun’s percentage of fulfilling his dream for today to 2%.

He is still holding onto this person’s laziness when he surveys the place again while asking himself how exactly could he have not noticed that there was someone without a partner yet.

There it is. Close to the window. A vacant desk.

Changkyun literally freezes when he recognizes the guy.

His eyes widen.

Because it’s Shin Wonho. Yes, he can’t be wrong. It’s really him, Shin Wonho.

Changkyun feels his face go warm.

And no, it’s not because of Wonho, the Shin Wonho. In other circumstances, knowing himself, he would have felt a mixture of horror and excitement at the prospect of having the school’s, uhm, heartthrob?, just a couple of centimeters away.

He would have if it wasn’t that Wonho had his eyes on him. Locked with Changkyun’s. No, not only that. It’s because Wonho’s gaze is intense, his eyebrows are drawn low connected in a deep frown.

Changkyun realizes a second later, heart sinking, that he’s being looked down. With hatred. Pure hatred. By Shin Wonho. With whom he hasn’t really been involved yet.

He can’t comprehend. Can’t quite put a finger on why Wonho would be so mad at him when Changkyun’s done absolutely nothing.

Except some ogling in the cafeteria. But the whole school does that. So it couldn’t be it.

Stupidly, Changkyun peeks behind his own shoulders, hoping to see someone else Wonho could be directing this feeling to. But it’s just him. Just Changkyun.

From his peripheral vision, he sees Mister Kim start moving, and he follows him for a change. Feels a pang in his chest when his teacher catches him and gives him a knowing look.

He only really moves when he hears the words,

“take your seat, Im.”

Changkyun nods.

He feels adrenaline spike as he takes the first step. It only increases as he gets near the seat, intensifying as the distance between him and Wonho shortens. He’s not stupid enough to keep maintaining the eye-lock with Wonho.

His eyes are downcast, looking at his own shoes, at the floor, at the others’ legs and shoes. All of that while he internally keeps searching for a valid explanation as to why this is happening.

It’s really weird how Changkyun can just tell he’s still being watched without actually being able to see if it’s true. His skin is prickling.

He feels almost guilty, for no reason, when he walks behind Wonho and he hears and sees Wonho’s chair screech on the ground, first scooting towards his own desk, and then to the furthest corner away when Changkyun cautiously sits down.

Changkyun regrets coming to school now. If he knew that he could have avoided being treated like he had some kind of terminal contagious disease, he would have listened to his mom.

Mister Kim materializes a couple of interminable minutes later, putting down carefully a microscope, a ready-to-be-observed-slide, two pairs of white gloves, between them.

“You guys have to work together.” He reminds, more to Wonho, before moving to take care of another pair.

Hearing that sentence eases Changkyun a little. So, maybe, he’s not special. Wonho has a problem with the entire world. It’s not a Changkyun thing.

But then again, Wonho has always looked so bored. That’s what the guys have said to Changkyun, and Changkyun has seen that too. Wonho’s always been so disinterested in people. Not even his brothers can get much a reaction out of him.

Changkyun doesn’t know how much time he spends speculating over the cause of Wonho, but he only comes back from his thoughts when Mister Kim’s speaking, telling them to look attentively at the cells’ colors.

Right. He should prioritize that first.

Put on gloves. Then the slide. Under the microscope.

Changkyun does the first task in his short list.

And halt.

Because their desks are cleared. There’s nothing on them. And the microscope is already on, slide in it. Meaning that Wonho has already prepared it.

The thing is, he would have done it himself, if he wasn’t too busy wasting time because of his Biology partner, but he still feels embarrassed about it.

Now, Wonho will think Changkyun is slacking off. Consequently, hate him even more.

Maybe, Changkyun thinks, he can stop this, if only just a little, if he extends a hand. Eventually Wonho will take it. If Changkyun demonstrates that he’s not that bad as the misconception the other has of him, maybe Wonho will start acting differently.

And so, mustering all the courage he has in him, Changkyun leans in.

“Hey, I’m sorry that you- -”

But this is not the way to go. Completely wrong move for his part, it seems.

Because Wonho pushes himself with his to the edge of his chair, looking shell-shocked. It’s almost ridiculous how if he inches further the tiniest bit more, he’s going to fall.

Changkyun doesn’t find it funny in the slightest, though. So much more because he catches Wonho scrunching his nose up in disgust.

Oh. Oh. Ooh.

Suddenly, Changkyun retreats, side of the head on the window. His whole neck, face, heat up as realization dawns on him.

He didn’t hear the alarm this morning. He was late. So late that he didn’t take his usual shower before school. Maybe, I stink.

Yes. It is humiliating to admit but, that could be.

However, even if this was the case, it would not have anything to do with the intense look Wonho’s been sending him the entire time.

Wonho couldn’t have possibly smelled him from here to the teacher’s desk. That’s absurd.

As far as Changkyun remembers, nobody else has showed a similar face as he stood there.

But Changkyun equally finds himself glued to this position, with his body attached to the wall, not really daring to do a thing. He doesn’t want to- -to check if he’s really emanating an awful odor. What the actual heck. Why didn’t he stay home?

Wonho too keeps sitting on the edge of his chair the whole hour.

Mister Kim notices their behavior and calls them out on it, drawing attention on them to Changkyun’s utter mortification.

The teacher must have seen something on Wonho’s facial expression, though, because he gives up after that, even though Changkyun sees him throwing glances over them.

What was it? Changkyun had purposely avoided looking at Wonho. Did Wonho, like, made a face towards Changkyun as if telling Mister Kim that Changkyun’s revolting? Gosh. He’s late one time and this is what happens.

Period ends. Finally.

Changkyun gets up to storm off the class. In his hurry, he trips over his own feet when he’s just a couple of steps from the door. Tsk. His life, really.

The first thing he thinks of doing is going to the restroom.

To, oh, my gosh, wash himself? Changkyun isn’t convinced, though. What if someone walks in on him as he’s using in one of the small sinks? No, no, no, no. He’ll be known as the new guy who’s been caught washing his armpits in the restroom. What the heck. He wants to keep his reputation intact for at least one month.

His brain starts functioning again five minutes later. He takes puts some tissues under water and then wipes them all over his upper body.

Technology gives him no problems. Neither does he find any in the next classes.

He broaches the nightmarish subject only when he meets Jooheon on the way to the cafeteria. He waits until the other’s done complaining about Changkyun doesn’t know what, and then says with a side-way glance,

“do I smell?”

“Nah.” Jooheon says immediately. Still, he grabs him by the collar to sniff. He shrugs.

“Are you sure?”

Because he’s great, Jooheon does not say anything, just puts his nose directly on Changkyun’s uniform this time.

“I have a keen sense of smell.” He explains, tapping the tip of his nose to prove his point. Seeing that Changkyun still doesn’t seem persuaded, Jooheon puts a hand on his chest. “Really. I do. Want me to prove it?”

Changkyun gives him a funny look.

It’s all it takes for his neighbor to declare with utmost certainty with a thumb flicking behind them,

“Youngjae is turning that corner in 10, 9, 8.”

And truth to his words, said guy is there by the time Jooheon’s reached 0. It must be a lucky guess, but Changkyun gets a cheeky grin from Jooheon.

“He smells of tangerines.”

Changkyun snorts a laugh. “Yeah, okay.” Jooheon is really funny. It’s nothing, but a good coincidence. But he feels better now. Less self-conscious.

Jooheon only grins wider. “Check it out yourself, man,” he challenges. He doesn’t give the time for Changkyun to reply that he’s already walking ahead. “And Jackson in 3, 2,” he starts counting, without turning back, raising a hand and putting three fingers up, and ticking them off as the numbers decrease.

One, and Jackson comes dashing towards Jooheon, surpassing Changkyun, not noticing him. He jumps on Jooheon’s shoulders and the latter catches him easily.

“Those two, really,” Youngjae says when he reaches Changkyun with a shake of his head.

They start talking about their periods- -actually Youngjae does while Changkyun is content with listening to him. He prefers not to recall the disastrous that was his Biology class.

He notices when they’re lining up to order that Youngjae has, indeed, a characteristic sweet aroma on him.

-

To be safe, Changkyun sets five different alarms that have only a 5 minute difference from one another. This way he will always get up in time to do his morning routine.

To be safer, he takes a shower on Sunday night before going to bed, and takes another on Monday morning. He even goes as far as to put on some cologne, a last year Christmas present from an aunt he’s never heard of,before breakfast.

His mom immediately questions him about it. “Is it a boy?” It’s not what she thinks and Changkyun says so. “Okay,” she sing-songs in reply.

Maybe he exaggerated a little with the perfume.

Jooheon covers half of his face with a hand on the bus. “Dude.”

And then Wonho glares at Changkyun like he’s the most offensive creature in the world and scoots further causing Mister Kim to reproach the both of them again.

So Changkyun decides to keep the routine minus taking a third shower with the aunt’s gift part.

Not that it helps with changing Wonho’s expression. Or, that he at least sits like a normal person would.

No.

He still looks like Changkyun murdered his pet when he looks at him, and still sits on the edge of the chair.

Changkyun’s usually very patient, but on the second month it starts getting him. It does because Wonho even goes as far as watching him sitting on his table with his friends in disdain.

“What crawled up in his ?” Jackson asks when Bambam points it out.

Jooheon shrugs, but he’s frowning. “Beats me.”

Changkyun’s not about to announce that he’s the culprit. That maybe Wonho doesn’t like his natural body odor. Or, that maybe he just simply hates Changkyun. For no reason. Which is possible. He too has had people he did not like just because. So, he remains silent.

It’s Monday again and Wonho has his usual pinched look.

Changkyun has somewhat started to accept that they’ll never be buddies, but he’s determined that something has to change. And if you think about it he should be the one offended by the lack of collaboration and especially by the rudeness that Wonho’s been showing him. (He is).

Truthfully speaking, he’s dealt with people with no manners before so he can put aside the, uhm, intense looks?

But he can’t let Wonho keep ruining his education. You see, the worst part of all is that Changkyun hasn’t participated in the preparation of any of the experiments. Sometimes he has to wait for the guy to be finished and push the microscope before he can take a look.

So, without a word nor a glance sent over the other, Changkyun pulls up his chair, sits, and then moves closer to take the slide first. He puts it under the microscope and observes.

He pretends not to see Wonho suddenly on the floor, dumbfounded. It’s ridiculous that a single sound could not be heard. Wonho’s might be so plump that it deadened the fall. Whatever.

Wonho’s the one to leave the room this time, mid-class. Oh, how the tables have turned.

When Changkyun scribbles his notes down and then finally looks up, he sees that Mister Kim is watching him approvingly. Yay, someone is on his side.

Handsome guy hates him? Tough luck. He’ll just concentrate on Biology.

-

While Changkyun can’t deny that Wonho and his brothers are absolutely gorgeous, he finds absurd how people treat them.

Once, they’re walking in the hallway and a group of girls edge so far to give the siblings space that they almost become one with the wall. Another time it was Minhyuk who wasn’t looking ahead and bumped into someone, but it was the latter who profusely apologized, looking on the verge of crying in gratitude when Minhyuk simply dismissed him.

Jooheon’s right eye twitched at the scene, but kept his mouth shut.

-

And then the thing he’s least expected happens.

Like, Changkyun is wandering outside near the bus stop, waiting for Jooheon when a truck diverts from the road and is now menacingly coming close to him.

He can’t even think, just stands there and waits for the inevitable. To be run over and die without any accomplishments, and with accomplishments he means winning the Nobel prize for science or something akin.

The only thing his body manages to do is close his eyes and reflexively making Changkyun curl in on himself.

Only now that he’s surrounded by blackness, his mind unhelpfully provides him images of his mom, of his dad and of Jaebum. He is a bit surprised to find himself thinking about Jooheon and Jackson and Bambam and Youngjae too, his new friends.

Dying will , except.

Well, except that there’s no collision.

Or, maybe he’s already gone and he hasn’t even realized it yet because when he dares to peek it’s still black he sees.

He stares, and then slowly looks around him.

Maybe he’s alive because he’s breathing, and there’s the trunk of a giant sequoia behind him. On his left he’s trapped by something metallic and on his right there’s what seems like an arm.

Huh. What the heck.

Changkyun whips his head forward, brings his gaze up and he gawks.

Before him is Shin Wonho who has his arms in a position similar to when action movie stars try to keep the doors of the elevator open.

A hand is pressing on the truck, the other on the tree. The blackness Changkyun saw before is of Wonho’s t-shirt.

What’s incredible is that the part of the truck has bent around Wonho’s palm, creating a semi-circle that’s preventing it from squishing the both of them. And that when Changkyun looks behind again he notices that the wood is all ruined where Wonho is touching it.

Just how much strength does he have to be able to do something like that?

Changkyun can’t keep his curiosity in place.

Astounded, he asks weakly,

“how do you do that?” There’s no way a mere human is able to pull this off.

Wonho, who actually has had his head hanging down dramatically- -just like he’s really playing the protagonist of an action movie - -rotates his head in Changkyun’s direction. He blinks, seemingly relieved for the space of several heartbeats, before his expression grows cold furrowing his brows. The usual.

“You’re an airhead!” He spits angrily, ignoring the question.

Despite the words, Changkyun can’t help but gape, stunned. This has to be the first time Wonho has talked to him.

He registers only a couple of seconds later that Wonho was not done and has kept on lecturing him.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Changkyun sputters indignantly. “I’m not!” If someone were to be yelled at that’s the driver. He was the one who lost control over the vehicle. “I was- -”

Wonho speaks over him, “Be more aware of your surroundings!”

He has more retorts, but Changkyun chooses not to answer. He chews the inside of his cheeks and just holds Wonho’s furious look with his gaze.

The latter is squinting, nostrils flaring and a muscle in his jaw twitches alarmingly.

They stay like that until the silence starts feeling pressurized and Changkyun averts his eyes down.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters in the end, his voice sounding pathetic to his own ears. It’s not like he too shares the same opinion that he’s at fault here, but given the circumstances, he should back down. “Thanks,” he adds later because he owes Wonho a lot. Like, his life.

He shouldn’t really be discussing with the one person who has saved him.

“You’ve got to be careful,” he hears Wonho say in a gentle tone that has Changkyun guide his eyes up, taken aback.

The other doesn’t seem like he’ll explode any time soon anymore. He’s silent, but his eyes don’t seem as furious as they were before, even though his forehead is still scrunched in a terrible glare. Even if he and Wonho have been just two arms away from each other (given their situation, it’s understandable, though), Changkyun notices only now that he’s a just couple inches from the guy, one particular about Wonho’s eyes.

They’re not typically Asian. Yes, they’re almond-shaped, mono lids. But they’re not black nor brown. The color of Wonho’s irises is almost- -gold. They’re a bright yellow near his pupils and they darken, becoming amber as you go further from the center. What’s shocking is that they’re brilliant. Glowing. Literally.

And they’re studying Changkyun with piercing scrutiny.

“You hurt?”

Changkyun starts blinking. He breathes through his mouth, takes one subtle inhale before he closes it. Too intent on gazing into the other’s eyes, and now trying to figure out how he could have missed that- -he’s been looking at Wonho during lunch, hasn’t he? Wonho has been practically digging holes through his skulls through them during Biology and yes, Changkyun has been trying to avoid as much as possible seeing the hatred reflected in those looks, but how could have he missed that?

He's too concentrated on the thing that he realizes only now Wonho has finally stopped posing. And has asked him a question.

And is waiting for an answer. “No, I’m fine,” Changkyun hurriedly says. A thought comes in his head, then. He turns quickly to the truck and to the driver seat.

There’s no one in there. “Is he okay?” He has to inquire.

The rational part in him screams that he’d seen a man, scared in the face upon seeing that he was going to run over Changkyun, but now said man’s not there. Could it be that he found a way to save himself? Had he escaped last minute? No, he could have not possibly made it. He did not look like he was unbuckling himself or making any attempt to jump

Changkyun did not look at him for the span of one minute tops. The man was not in the right condition: he was frozen. Even if his instincts kicked in that last minute, it would not have been enough time for him to survive.

There’s another reason. The windows and the crunched doors are all perfectly closed, meaning that he had not gone anywhere. Could not have flown after the impact was prevented, either.

Oh, . He just vanished.

Or.

He knows it is not physically possible. It’s not. But then again, if he’s not dreaming nor is his sight failing him, Wonho had done something out of this world.

He murmurs, “did you manage to save him too?”

When he does not hear any response, Changkyun looks back at Wonho. To find that the guy’s not there with him anymore.

He turns right and left, walks out of his spot, sees that the bus stop has been knocked over during the incident, watches that five or so meters from where he’s now standing students are shouting and pointing at him.

Jooheon’s so fast to run towards him and hugs him that Changkyun registers what’s happening after strong arms are securing around him.

“What the !” His friend breathes out, then detaches himself from Changkyun to inspect him, his hands roaming on Changkyun’s clothes and lastly cupping Changkhyun’s face. “Are you okay?”

In the meanwhile Jackson has jumped out of the crowd and is too jogging to them, Bambam and Youngjae trailing behind him.

“Changkyun!” Bambam shouts at him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? We’ve called the ambulance. It will get here soon. Are you hurt?”

The four probe to know about his well-being more, but he does not reply. Changkyun hears Jooheon tell them that Changkyun’s probably still recovering from the shock. That it’s better to leave him be for now. He’ll talk to them once he’s ready, but Jooheon insists that Youngjae and Bambam can stay calm because Changkyun is fine.

And his friend’s right. He is.

But now he’s thinking. Wondering.

As they’d informed him, the ambulance comes. By that, Changkyun has started to reassure Youngjae that he really is okay, he’s got nothing broken. He does not agree with Bambam that what happened to him was a miracle. If only you knew. But he does not tell them about Wonho.

When the paramedics are checking on him, he sees one man being helped by a girl and a teacher who notifies Changkyun that the school has called his parent and that she’s coming.

He would groan because he knows his mom will make a fuss about it- -well, obviously. Still. However, he does not because the person who’s just came limping is apologizing to him and Changkyun realizes that he knows him.

“H-how would you get out of the car?”

The driver says, “I don’t know, son.” He scrunches up his face in pain as he attempts to sit next to him. “I can only remember waking up lying on the street.”

-

Changkyun is given five days off school.

One he has to spend at the hospital so that his mom can relax and maybe believe him that, no, he’s not got any “internal damage”, as she calls them, going on. The other two he has to be at home for the trauma that being involved in the accident has apparently given him.

Dad and Jaebum video-call him. They too tell him repeatedly that if he feels even the slightest hurt in any part of his body, he tells mom or either of them and they’ll make sure to book an appointment to a private clinic if it’s necessary.

On the third day the guys visit him to hand him all the school stuff he’s been missing. Jooheon is the best ever because he stays for a sleep over even though he’s trembling like a leaf at the prospect of waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. Changkyun’s mom says Jooheon’s more than welcome to spend the night the next day too and because she’s great at persuading people who are not Changkyun and Jooheon does not really look like he’s one who says no at the smallest sign of plead, he agrees.

And so he does during the weekend because “you can stay up, you don’t have school either, right Jooheon-ah?”

Changkyun would have begged her to stop, but he likes Jooheon’s company and the latter flickers him on the ear the very first time Changkyun has dared telling him that Jooheon does not have to force himself if he does want to come back to his house.

“Nah,” Jooheon has said, “your mom’s cooking’s the best.”

-

It’s Sunday in the afternoon when Changkyun starts with his research.

“I didn’t think you’d be interested in crap like that,” Jooheon comments around a mouthful of sweet bread. He has an entire plate he’s cradling protectively against his stomach, but he drops one on Changkyun’s lap. “You can have that.”

That’s basically Changkyun's food since they’re under his roof, but he easily thanks Jooheon.

“Are you planning on starting to buff up?” Jooheon asks him. “We don’t have a gym in Obnida.”

“No, it’s,” Changkyun bites on his lower lip. He does not know if he should say it. After a while, he mutters, “there are people who can lift more than 700 pounds.” Whatever. He will omit the most important detail, but he has to talk about it. It's been eating him. He has to mention it, even if it’s just vaguely. “Have you seen how massive they are?” He points to the screen of his computer.

Jooheon whistles. “That’s ing monstrous. His head is smaller than his biceps- -he does not have a neck!” He squints one eye. “What the heck, that’s horrible.”

Changkyun agrees. “That’s the strongest person in the world,” he explains, “he can lift around 990 pounds.”

“Ah, ?”

Changkyun absently nods. “You need to exercise everyday and have muscles this big to be able to lift such weights.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And- -” He opens another tab. Types the name of the body builder he’s just found online. While he waits for page to load, he turns to his friend. He looks at Jooheon who’s dipping a piece of bread in the glass of milk his mom had brought before.

Wonho is fit. He’s certainly working out. He is muscular, but he’s no way near the level of these men. “Do you think a normal person could be able to lift them?” He does not specify that what he means is a supposedly teenager.

Jooheon quirks an eyebrow. “You’ve just said that you would need to become like one of those gorillas to be able to do that,” he points out, the "duh" unsaid, but Changkyun can hear it in his tone.

A small smile lifts up the corners of Changkyun’s lips. He really does like Jooheon. He really listens to what Changkyun says. That’s nice. “Yeah, I know, but deal with me for a second, alright?”

He can tell Jooheon is confused, but the latter equally says, “yeah, normal person wouldn’t be able to, so?”

“Yup,” Changkyun finally concludes, “that’s what I thought.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

He holds out for ten seconds. If he does not bring up any name and he adopts the most nonchalant voice ever, he can make it sound like he’s totally disinterested. “You heard that the truck and the sequoia were both crunched?” On the other hand, it should not be that surprising that he's investigating stuff about his incident, is it? 

But no. His guts is telling him to keep it a secret.

Jooheon shrugs at him. He abandons the food, to plop himself on the bed. He’s spreading his arms and legs. “Yup,” he pops the p at the end. “What? Do you remember anything?”

Maybe, he was not that successful. Changkyun mentally reproaches himself. He attempts a shrug too. “No, I had my eyes closed too. I opened them and,” another shrug. Okay, he’s awful at this. Why exactly did he think he could pull it off? He should not have brought up the topic.

Jooheon’s brows are near his hairline now. “So you think a person did that?” He chokes on a laugh. “A bodybuilder?”

“No!” Changkyun denies vehemently, but has to chuckle at the image that the other’s question has brought in his mind.

“So what?”

“I- -” Changkyun halts. He sighs. “I don’t know. Just trying to find some answers, I guess.” It's true.

“Sounds fair, you almost died, but it sounds exhausting,” Jooheon says, pulling a face. “If you excuse me, I’d rather not use my brain on a free day.” He rolls over and sits, “hey, you got some chips?”

-

Changkyun goes back to school on Monday despite his mom’s insistence that she can ask for a permit to let him lay in bed for much longer. He profusely refuses: he’s never liked being confined at home. She volunteers to drive (read as: demands), but in the end, thanks also to Jaebum’s collaboration via phone, they coax her into allowing Changkyun to decide on his own, considering that the results of the many exams he had been under were negative so he’s not lying about his condition.

He and Jooheon ride the bus together, but they take the earlier one- -that is almost empty, except for a middle aged man who definitely could not get back home the day before because he spent the night drinking, what with him lolling his head back and forth and Jooheon letting air circulating inside the car because he can’t stand the stench of beer in the stranger’s clothes and breathing. Luckily, Changkyun got up with a stuffy nose this morning.

From Bambam’s talking when he visited a second time, Changkyun had come to know that everyone is waiting for him to ask for more particulars about his misadventure (he prefers that term to accident). He’s totally not up to discuss about getting almost hit by a truck with a large group of people, even though he's aware that he won’t be able to avoid the inevitable questionings all day. Apparently, the incident got featured for days and days on the local TV and has attracted a lot of attention because it’s been peaceful and uneventful for years in Obnida. (Yes, trust Changkyun to arrive and cause some chaos). More, there’s this mystery about the scene, Changkyun coming off of it unharmed like a protective bubble or something has surrounded him during the collision. Thanks to his mom, he’s never got the occasion of watching a single one of those news and, despite his reminders to Jooheon to do it on his behalf, Jooheon either forgets or has to run errands for his dad. Changkyun’s entirely amused by the creative hypothesis the journalists and those who claim they can sense ghosts, other presences and paranormal activites came up with: a bubble of energy emanating from him and keeping him safe? Improbable since Changkyun is unfortunately the most normal person he's ever known, but kudos.

Jackson is surprisingly already at the gates when he and Jooheon get off. He's holding a basket full of fruits, courtesy of his parents. Changkyun has never met them, but he instantly likes them for the kind gesture and he kind of feels soft when he sees that there’s a small note written by Jackson’s mother- -she’s congratulating him for being a strong boy and is telling him that she knows he will be able to recover both physically and mentally because, again, he’s a strong boy. Very touching.

As he has predicted, he gets smothered with queries as soon as people start getting to school. Knowing about his unwillingness to respond, Jooheon and, not much later Jackson, play the role of the bad guys and shoo as many of them as they can. Politely, most of the time.

In class, Bambam takes their place and Changkyun starts to learn to appreciate him. He is such a curious guy that you would think he would at least try to get an answer or two from Changkyun (like he did with Jooheon. And Bambam always looks like he’s dying to ask), but he does not. Not once.

It’s lunch time. Changkyun has been anticipating this moment.

He feels dizzy when he walks in the canteen, hands sweating. He’s excited by the prospect of seeing Wonho, the one who had truly saved him.

There’s more to that, though. His Googling of “strength” and correlated stuff has brought him to many different directions and as ridiculous as some of them are and even if Changkyun’s grown up in a family that inhales science on a daily basis, Changkyun has labeled three of them as "possibilities"- -those with more potential, with the highest probability.

Dad plays with acids, handle volatile elements and chuckles while observing molecules on his microscope. Smiles when his colleagues tell Changkyun not to trust anything that cannot be verified, but has whispered to Changkyun that the important part about being a scientist is finding the truth. Grins when friends argue with him, but reminds Changkyun to stay humble. Humans think they’re the most evolved creatures in the world, but they haven’t been able to explore the entirety of the oceans, of the universe. Of the galaxy. There is no shame in admitting that there are things that cannot be explained yet.

Changkyun knows for a fact that if he told his dad about what he saw and if dad could see his browsing history, his dad would approve. Jaebum not so much. His brother would have definitely attributed it to Changkyun’s brain elaborating a series of images due to the shock and it using Wonho as the hero due to the fact that Wonho has been populating Changkyun’s thoughts a lot.

There are some cases when something like that happened, but this is not it. Changkyun has been conscious. He saw. It was real.

He immediately spots Wonho and he does not even try to hide that he’s staring. Too busy scrutinizing Wonho to do that. And Wonho, for his part, does not flinch at all under Changkyun’s gaze. Not that he's ever done. The latter holds it with as much intensity.

Alone. None of the brothers in sight. He’s still handsome like no other, but today Shin Wonho is not his impeccable self. He looks- -tired. Contrary to how he has been since Changkyun has transferred here, the Wonho in the canteen now looks paler with dark under eyes that cannot, but stand out against his skin.

That’s not where Changkyun’s look lingers the most, though: the eyes are not golden. Nor are they bright. They do not have the light Changkyun has seen in them the week before. Somehow, they’re darker. They’re edging towards light brown. They’re more on the chocolate side instead of gold.

It cannot be just because they’re inside, right? Because the canteen is a dark place and it's cloudy. Also, another bullet point that he has taken in consideration is the fact that for how much people here obsessed with Wonho, Changkyun has never heard anyone talk about his peculiar eyes. If it was a thing, Bambam or Youngjae would have brought it up in one of their conversations. 

Wonho does not take his gaze off him, but he his head, runs one hand through his hair only to have it fall back into place. Arrogant is not an adjective Changkyun would have ever thought he would used on him, but it fits with the eyebrow that Wonho quirks up ever so slightly at him accompanied with a change of his face. From the glower that has been the designated expression he reserves for Changkyun to challenging to a half smirk that pulls up one corner of his mouth.

“What does he want?” Jooheon steps in front of Changkyun, blocking his sight of Wonho. He rotates his head back towards Changkyun. With seriousness, he utters, “whatever. You shouldn’t get involved with him.”

Changkyun looks quizzically at his friend. He feels stupid for not doing it before: he starts thinking about connecting two dots.