“Sacchan, wake up sweetie.” Mama Minatozaki calls her son early in the morning. “Breakfast is ready, and papa has to leave soon. Just come down to eat then get ready later.”

“Be right down, mom.” Sana grumbles sleepily.

“Good. We’ll be waiting, hun.” 

With that, mama Minatozaki leaves to finish fixing the breakfast table. In the household, either mama or papa Minatozaki would make breakfast and set the table, it depended on who had more time that morning, then the family would eat together and Sana would clean up before getting ready for school. The boy was always the one with most time in the mornings, and it fell upon him to handle things, not that he minded at all, it was nice and kind of therapeutic to do the dishes. A mindless activity to allow his mind to wonder as it wished.

Contrary to popular belief, Sana was far from the all positive and affectionate airhead people thought him to be. It was a family trait among the Minatozaki to have a rather high mental capacity, on his father side the high IQ prevailed, and on his mother’s side the physical prowess was the dominant trait, to say his birth was carefully crafted would be an understatement, his parents were very careful with conceiving him, even going as far to resort to genetic engineers to ensure their child would get the very best from both.

The fact that mama and papa Minatozaki were pacifists and naturalists, however, never made them stray from science and Sana grew up the gentlest and most positive killing machine Japan had seen. Mama Minatozaki, former Yamaguchi Sayako, came from a family with deep roots in the art of iaijutsu, every family member was trained in it from birth, and would be, at least, a black belt by the time they became twelve. Sana was a prodigy and only stopped on his second dan because his parents moved to korea for work and he didn’t really mind halting his trainment for a while.

As Sana makes his way downstairs, he feels it’s a good idea to pee first, and decides to swing by the bathroom before heading down, maybe brush his teeth while at it. Having a meal with his parents was always great, they listened to Sana and cared about everything the boy had to tell them, told him about their plans for the day and all ate happily, the family made an effort to have at least one meal together everyday, it was their time to connect and mr and mrs Minatozaki could fawn upon their boy to their heart’s content. Sana loved his parents with all his heart, they were understanding, never failed to make time for him, were always there when he needed them and never kept him from the things he wanted to do for himself. No matter the path Sana chose, his parents would be completely supportive, and he was incredibly thankful for that.

“Mom, dad.”

“Yes, Sacchan?” Mr Minatozaki prompted his son to speak up.

“Am I gay?” 

“Why are you asking us, sweetheart?” Mrs Minatozaki was thoroughly confused.

“Because the guy that hit me monday said I should just keep my gay away from his girl. And I don’t even know who he was talking about.” Sana’s eyes well up with tears. “I wasn’t trying to give anyone the wrong idea, and you always told me to be nice to everyone. But it wasn’t the first time people said I’m gay.”

“Good thing you reminded me of that, I’ll take you to school today.” Mrs Minatozaki began, she was meaning to have a word with the headmaster. “But the real question is, do YOU think you are gay, hun?”

“Eh?” Sana lets out softly.

“Son, we can’t answer that question for you.” Mr Minatozaki hugs his son and speaks fondly. “Only you know who you love, and that’s okay. Your mother and I are here to hold you through it, but we can’t give you the answer you are looking for.”

“It’s okay, dad. I was just wondering.”

“What prompted you to ask us that, sweetie?”

“Many boys confess to me saying things like I should just surrender to them? I don’t really get what they are saying, but it doesn't sound like something I’d like to do. And then the girls just scream for me to take them right there when they confess, which I also don’t feel like I’d want to do.”

“How about you just take your time and think about it, hun. Just reach within yourself and search if you feel attracted to girls, boys, both, none.” Mrs Minatozaki begins.

“Maybe you just haven’t found someone to connect with yet. Perhaps you need to know the person before you actually get interested in them like that. It’s alright, and we are here for whatever you need us.” Mr Minatozaki offers.

“Just take your time and don’t force yourself. If you are honest with yourself, everything will work out fine.”

“Thanks mom, thanks dad.” Sana kisses his father’s cheek and gets up to kiss his mom too.

“No problem. Now go get ready and I’ll be waiting for you.” Mrs Minatozaki shoos her kid away.

“But the dishes.”

“Sacchan, go. Take a moment to meditate a little and clear your head. I’ll take care of the dishes and then I’ll take you to school. I need a word with the headmaster.”

“Okay.” Sana is a bit sad but moves to do as he was told.

Mama and papa Minatozaki advised their son to light some incense and do some light meditation whenever he got that confused about things. Sana was a good kid, but he could lose himself a little when he let his thoughts get the best of him, and they knew it. Having the kid act out on his anger and confusion was far from ideal and they prefered to just try and guide him through whatever it was that was troubling him, than just have Sana close himself off and let things build up uncontrollably.

There was still a little over an hour before Sana had to be at school, and not be late for class, so he set an alarm for forty minutes later and lit his favorite incense before sitting down and turning on some classical music. It was his meditation, and he preferred classical to meditation music, sounds of nature and waterfalls were never really his thing. It was always nice, and his mom had a knack for making the most relaxing scents, just like his dad got the hang of soap making, the family practiced aroma therapy, mr Minatozaki got his certification in it a little after they married, and his wife managed to develop a technique to make incense without the ash smell that always lingered.

Sana considered himself blessed, and maybe because his parents were the best he could ever have asked for, things always were fine in the end, no matter how much he was harassed, he could always go back home and count on their unconditional support. He turned off his alarm with a light heart and peaceful mind, went on to take a shower and put his uniform before heading out. Mrs Minatozaki was ready and waiting for him in the living room when he got down.

“Better?”

“Much better, thanks mom.”

“Good, let’s go.”

And so they leave, mrs Minatozaki drove them to the school, it was really close but she was going off to work and it made no sense that she would make the twenty minute walk back for it. That and she didn’t want Sana to get worked up again, not having him walk would help keep the peaceful state he was at the moment. Once they are parked by the visitor area, Sana is ushered off to class and his mother heads to the student office. She was about to have some not so nice words with the people allowing her son to be mistreated like this.

Making his way to class, Sana is greeted by the familiar and not familiar faces. People seemed to know him but he didn’t really know most of them. Getting to his locker, there was a very familiar face waiting for him, that small kid in the nurse’s office who was dying and had a cut somewhere, he isn’t too sure, but there was definitely blood and puking. What was this guy’s name again? It was Wannie’s brother. Son….. Chengwon? Chaewan? CHAEYOUNG! Right, that was it.

“Hey!” Sana greets cheerily. “Chaeyoung, right? Are you feeling better?”

“I was the one supposed to ask that. I just saw blood and got a little nauseated, no biggie.” Chaeyoung says lightly. “You, on the other hand, was pretty roughed up. How are you holding?”

“I’d say you were very dead by looking at you, a little nauseated doesn’t really describe it.” The taller one laughs. “But I’m alright. My mom dragged me to the hospital when I got home, it’s still a bit sore on my cheek but I’m fine.”

“Semantics, but that’s not important. It’s great to see you are alright.” The cub looks like he wants to say something else, so the older boy waits. “Say, do you maybe wanna eat lunch together?”

“Sure! But Soongie might want me to eat with him too. He gets too worried.”

“I can join you.” Chaeyoung is too enthusiastic. “Yeri was going to sit with Seul anyway.”

“Then it’s a date.” Sana chirps, not really thinking of the implications of what he said. 

“I’ll pick you up at your class.” 

And then Chaeyoung leaves, not before giving the taller guy a quick peck on his still purple cheek. Sana is rendered stunned for a moment, before coming back to and smiling to himself. Mrs Minatozaki always gave him a kiss to make his bruises better, so he just thought of it as a new friend kissing his cheek better. Certainly not what Chaeyoung had intended to convey, but our sweet and innocent japanese boy won’t really understand that until much later. 

Now, the fact that Minatozaki Sana was one of the most known names in the school, be it bad or good, everyone had heard the name at some point. It was also a known fact that Sana was extremely nice and polite, no matter who he was talking to. For that reason, he had many who were very fond of him (and many who weren’t, but we aren’t talking about them now). Chaeyoung was hit in the face by that fact once he skipped to Sana’s classroom and start getting closer to the older boy.

Sana was standing just outside his classroom, talking to THE Elkie Chong and half the cheerleading squad around him, all giggles and cheery whispers. They weren’t really whispering, Sana was just soft spoken and the girls tried to accommodate him the best they could, but Chaeyoung’s mind wasn’t exactly working properly at the moment. Elkie was not the captain, but she was pretty up there in the ranks of most sought after, the entire squad was, but she made it to top ten, and that was something that grinded Chaeyoung to the bone.

Now, what they were talking about wasn’t anything to be jealous of, like at all, Elkie wastelling Sana she tried the soap his dad gave her and it was magical, the boy was saying she could swing by anytime to talk to the man about it and he would give her a complete guide to the best aromatherapy stores in town. Then she went on a tangent telling him about how the other girls were trying to get her soap and they ended up fighting in the locker room halfway through showering and the coach had taken her soap away, telling Elkie she should come by the office at the end of the day to get it. The other cheerleaders piped in here and there defending themselves, and Sana was just thoroughly amused at how could a simple soap cause a cheerleader war to break out.

Not that Chaeyoung would ever think their relationship was purely platonic, built on a fortunate incident where Sana saw Elkie and Seunghee massaging their necks in class and decided to offer them a massage gel his father had given him. The thing worked so well that Shuhua, the captain, cornered Sana and demanded he showed up to their practice that afternoon, there, the entire squad started asking him about his ‘miracle gel’, the boy got a little intimidated, but called his father and mr Minatozaki was more than happy to point the girls in the right direction. Ever since then, Sana has been close friends with the entire cheerleading squad, and the girls became friends with Sana’s parents too, they did kept asking about herbal solutions for their practice aches, so the Minatozakis just invited them over for lunch one weekend and told them everything they wanted to know, also promising any of them could count on them anytime.

“Then we should just meet up and solve your problem.” Is what Sana giggled to Elkie when the cub approached them. “Oh, hey, Chaeng!”

“Hey, Sana. Ready to go?” Chaeyoung tried his best to not sound too affected, but the smirks on the girls lips told him he failed.

“Sure am.” The japanese was still oblivious to it all. “I’ll see you girls later. Text me when you are free, Elks.”

The cheerleaders hug Sana goodbye, purposefully making it look insinuating of intimacy, Elkie lingered a few seconds too long and gave Sana a peck on his cheek, all the while looking straight at Chaeyoung, just to rile the smaller boy up. The girls leave, not before Elkie throws a ‘I’ll call you later tonight’ to Sana, who said he’d be waiting. And now Chaeyoung was feeling pissed for whatever reason. He knew why but thought it was too early to admit that to himself. Sana, dear, kind hearted and lovely Sana, didn’t notice a single thing wrong, and just dragged his new friend to the cafeteria because he was very hungry and being a vegetarian meant he had to hurry or the good salads would be gone.

Hurrying over, the younger learned, was pointless, the lunch ladies always made Sana a special meal and held it out for him. The boy was so polite and charismatic that the lunch ladies took him under their wing and made it a point to have something with more substance for him to eat, other then just a lot of leaves and some dressing. They argued that Sana was a growing boy and needed to eat better, and would pay no mind to the boy’s protests that he couldn’t let them risk getting into trouble for making food just for him. At their table, Chaeyoung learned that his brother, Joohyun, Jihyo, Sooyoung, Seulgi and Yerim ate together, felt a little betrayed that his friend didn’t tell him that, but was defeated when Yerim argued he just was never interest in having lunch together.

It was nice, Sana was happy he made a new friend, and exchanged numbers with Chaeyoung by the end of lunch time, with a promise to hang out at some point, and a nice laugh as the little cub almost falls over another table on his way out because he wasn’t looking where he was going.