Kyungsoo leaned back in a stretch as Teacher Liu dismissed them for the day. He normally would have started thinking about all the homework he needed to do, but today his thoughts went straight to spending the rest of the day with his mom. 

She had managed to get the evening off from work, and she promised him at least that full evening to celebrate his birthday together. He didn't think that celebrating his birthday would take five hours, but if he could have time with his mom, he would take it.

Jongdae and Yuwon had bombarded him with happy birthday texts and then happy birthday hugs when he met up with them to walk to school. Jongdae said that Min hyung had wished him happy birthday, and somehow after biology class, Teacher Zhang had done the same. He wondered how Teacher Zhang had known about his birthday. He guessed maybe student files, but then that would have been a pretty specific reason to look at such private information. He shrugged though, because he liked Teacher Zhang and trusted him too.

He had seemed sad about something since they came back from winter break (his usual enthusiasm during class dulled and he spaced out mid-sentence more often than usual), and when Kyungsoo worked up the courage to ask him if things were okay, the teacher only smiled at him and thanked him for worrying about him. Now though, the dimple showed in his cheek and his enthusiasm exuded from him, so Kyungsoo was glad that he seemed happy again.

"Kyungsoooo."

He looked up at Jongdae waving his entire body at him.

"Yeah?"

"Were you spacing out?"

"A little."

"Spacing out about what?"

"Just later today and then Teacher Zhang."

"Ooh, prepare to be excited for when we hang out too! But first, I need to use the restroom. Can you wait for me?"

He nodded and watched Jongdae zip out of the classroom. People called out to him as he opened the door, and he greeted them back before dashing down the hall.

Kyungsoo shifted his eyes to the left, where Jongin sat. His seat was already empty, and Kyungsoo deflated a little. He didn't get any opportunity to talk to him at all. If he was lucky, he could wave at him, and he would wave back. The only time they had to talk had been in tutoring, and he couldn't get distracted and talk about non-school topics with two tutees at his side. Kyungsoo also didn't know how to start a text conversation without sounding out-of-the-blue random.

As he thought of other ways to talk to Jongin, he gathered his supplies, slipping them into his backpack. He was almost done when his pencil rolled onto the floor. He knelt to pick it up, but stopped at the shoe that stepped onto it.

He looked up and saw one of his classmates, Lee Seungmin, looking down on him, his hands in his pockets. His face seemed a bit square with his new haircut.

"Can you lift your foot please?"

Seungmin scoffed and swiped his foot right, kicking his pencil through the chairs and desks, clangs and metal echoing off the furniture. Kyungsoo flinched when he heard a sharp clack against the wall. At least the pencil had stopped. Seungmin turned for the door, a smirk on his face as a couple of his friends giggled at Kyungsoo, and left. Parts of the classroom went on like normal, chatting amongst themselves. Other parts grew louder as he maneuvered around the desks and chairs.

"What a pushover."

"I bet he's going to cry."

"It's just a pencil, Do Kyungsoo."

He finally reached his writing utensil under the whiteboard. He blew off the dust bunnies that had attached to it. He blew on it again as an excuse, so that his classmates wouldn't see how he used the inhales to push down the emotions threatening to rush out of him. He thought that it worked; his classmates turned back to themselves, and the bitterness and sorrow had solidified, falling back down from his throat, but he felt his heart slip under the new weight.

"Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo snapped his head up and looked to find Jongdae stepping closer to him, confusion and worry mixed in his expression.

"What cha doing?" He glanced down at the pencil. "Did you drop your pencil?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it somehow rolled all the way over here. Maybe the school is built on a hill. It'd explain the raised area where Yuwon's classroom is."

He moved past him, rubbing at the last of the dust, and finished packing. He looked out the window as he waited for Jongdae to finish packing too, not wanting to know how many faces looked at him with disgust and how many with scorn this time. He felt a tap to his shoulder.

"Kyungsoo, I'm ready."

He nodded and turned out for the door, hearing Jongdae step behind him. He kept his gaze on the tiled floors. If he needed to look higher, he pretended to calculate the number of degrees up or out from himself. The minimum was fifteen and the maximum forty-eight. The numbers didn't harbor any hatred, only stared back at him with a blank neutrality. For a second, it reminded him how he thought Jongin used to look at him. His mind didn't return to numbers after that. It fixated on the expressions from back then and wondered why that Jongin differed from the comfort the numbers gave him.

When the lighting changed, turned a little harsher, Kyungsoo put aside his thoughts on past-Jongin and numbers and turned to Jongdae. Jongdae looked at him with a frown.

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

He shrugged, partially to appear nonchalant, partially because he couldn't say anything without giving himself away. They walked out of the school courtyard. Other students walked too, but they didn't look over at him and Jongdae. He was in the clear.

"Kyungsoo, did something happen while I was at the restroom?"

"I dropped my pencil, and it ended up near the front of the classroom. I think our school really is built on a hill."

"I can believe that, but I don't believe that that's all that happened while I was gone."

He stopped walking, so Kyungsoo did too. Jongdae took him by the shoulders, shaking him a little.

"Kyungsoo, look at me."

He swallowed, steeling his courage, before he did. Surprise took him first when he saw dark green swirling in Jongdae's brown eyes, alit by the afternoon sunlight. Min hyung said that qiao'uyi eyes changed based on their emotions. He wondered if green swirls meant worry, because that's what he saw in his friend.

"You see it, right? Green swirls mean I'm anxious. Did something else happen besides you dropping a pencil?"

Yes. 

But Kyungsoo didn't say that word. He looked away, unable to even think about ways to skirt the truth while looking at Jongdae's face.

"It's nothing big, Jongdae."

He remembered the words someone had sneered at him and bit his lip.

It's just a pencil, Do Kyungsoo.

"Kyungsoo?"

"Can we talk about something else, Jongdae? I don't want to think about it on my birthday."

He felt dirty. He pulled out the birthday pity card, and he knew it worked when Jongdae let go of his shoulders. He didn't look at him because he knew that there would be a frown on his friend's face. He didn't like seeing Jongdae frown.

"Okay." They shuffled down the street in silence for a while. It wasn't until they had passed a few blocks that Jongdae spoke again. "What do you want to talk about then?"

Kyungsoo thought of safe topics to talk about, something harmless, something that wouldn't hurt.

"You said Min hyung has been acting funny?"

Jongdae hesitated, maybe because he wasn't ready to let go what happened in the classroom yet, but then he hummed.

"Yeah. Every night he's been talking to someone. Always at least for an hour."

"Is it work related? Maybe Head Janitor Wu?"

"I don't think so. He's always super happy and laughs a lot with the other person on the phone. When I asked him if it was Yifan hyung, he said that it was someone else. I'm pretty sure it's the same person every night, but it's not Yifan hyung."

Kyungsoo remembered the look in Min hyung's eyes when he told him that relationships were a two-way street. He tried not to remember what he said about being able to rely on Jongdae if Jongdae could rely on him, and instead thought of the stripes that appeared in his eyes when he mentioned learning that the hard way.

"What do raspberry-colored stripes mean? If they're in a qiao'uyi's eyes?"

"Red stripes mean affection and happiness. How'd you know about that?"

"I saw them in Min hyung's eyes once. You think he was thinking about a special someone?"

Jongdae stopped walking, and when Kyungsoo looked back at him, he was smooshing his face together, his eyes like balloons.

"Hol wei tians. What if he does have a special person? Whenever I ask him about who it is, he just calls them 'Sheep.' It must be a codename. But then why doesn't he want me to know who it is?"

He grabbed Kyungsoo's arm and started jangling it like a rope to a bell. 

"What if it's someone forbidden or controversial or actually secretly bad for him, so he doesn't want anyone, not even me, to know?"

"What's considered forbidden or controversial?"

"Forbidden like... a nun. And controversial like... well, like humans, qiao'uyi society has an issue of shunning same- couples, except it's more severe for male-male couples."

"Why?"

"I think it has something to do with how two girls can make kids, but two boys can't."

Kyungsoo blinked at that information, processing it again in his head.

"Well alright."

"But I don't care about that kind of stuff. If you like someone, then you like someone. Plus, why would I have anything against it when I like someone who's not even my species?"

Kyungsoo had to let out a chuckle.

"You should tell that to the haters."

Jongdae hugged his arm, and they talked about other qiao'uyi things, like how their government worked, their typical leisure activities, the geography of Wumyexing and how it compared to earth. Kyungsoo learned more about the world Jongdae came from, and he smiled listening to Jongdae recount his homeplanet with waves of his arms and excitement in his voice.

"Aw, now I'm homesick."

"Could you go home to Wumyexing next break?"

"I can, and it won't cost much since part of Min hyung's job requires him to go back and forth, but he's been busy with work, and I don't want to end up stranded seven-hundred billion light years away from school."

"Good point."

"Maybe this summer. Ooh! You and Yuwon should come with me! Human visitors are allowed on Wumyexing too."

"Yuwon doesn't know that you're from a different planet though."

"Oh, yeah..." He pouted again, then tapped at Kyungsoo's shoulder. "Then we could do a guy's... planet out. We can bring Jongin too."

Kyungsoo laughed, his mind lingering on the thought of being with Jongin and Jongdae on a different planet. That would be interesting.

"There is oxygen there, right?"

"Yup. The atmospheric composition is pretty similar to Earth. Except we have a little more oxygen and xenon floating in the air. I can ask Min hyung how the passport processing would work."

"Wait, for real? Wait, where would we stay? Earth money wouldn't work on a hotel there, right?"

"No, you could stay with me at home. My parents already know about you and Yuwon. I, uh, talk to them about you, Yuwon, and Jongin a lot."

"Oh no."

"Hey, don't worry. They were super excited when I first mentioned you, and they'd love to meet all of you."

"Then maybe, because I don't know how I'd convince my mom to go on a trip seven-hundred billion light years away."

They laughed and started thinking out the details when they came to their dividing streetlight, where Kyungsoo went left and Jongdae went right. Jongdae sighed.

"Kyungsoo."

He stopped and turned. Jongdae looked down at the cement, scuffing it with his shoes. The green swirls faded into his eyes again, but he faced Kyungsoo with a grin and almost crushed him in a hug.

"Happy birthday, best friend."

"Thanks, Jongdae."

He hugged him back and chuckled when he pulled away. The green swirls had changed into the raspberry stripes, and Jongdae seemed to know, because he rubbed at his cheek, looking shy.

"So... prepare yourself! Because me and Yuwon are going to throw the best belated birthday party this weekend! I got your present and everything."

"Okay, I'll start preparing myself after I hang out with my Mom today."

"Good! See you later, Kyungsoo!"

He waved his whole arm, and Kyungsoo waved back before turning for home. He watched the long shadows being cast by the late noon sun, but he kept thinking of what he did, how he had escaped telling Jongdae. Guilt pattered in his chest, and he breathed out all his breath in hopes of subduing it. At least for now. He knew that he had acted unfairly and that Jongdae was just concerned for him, but he couldn't tell him. He would have to act a little better next time, and somehow make it up to him too. With another breath, he walked back home. He wanted to enjoy the time he had with his mom.

~~~~~

"Do you like this one or this one?"

His mom held up a hoodie with a penguin eating an icepop stitched on the front and a shirt with a penguin wearing sunglasses on the beach. He felt the fabric of each then reached for the price tag, but his mom pulled the clothes out of his hand.

"No, no, Kyungsoo. No looking at the price. Just pick which you like better."

"But I don't want to spend too much."

"Don't worry about the money, sweetie. Mom's been saving up."

He chuckled and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Then can I have the hoodie?"

She beamed at him, put the shirt back, and moved to the counter to pay for the hoodie. As Kyungsoo took the bag from her and they exited the store, he looked down at the other things his mom had bought for him. He now had a pair of pants, a sweater, two shirts, and a hoodie. 

"Mom, I think we can stop now. This is a lot of stuff."

"No, it's not nearly enough, Kyungsoo. I finally could get time off for your birthday, and I want to spend it spoiling you."

"But this is spoiling me enough." He lifted up the bags in his hand. "And it's not like I go out a lot if it's not to school."

"That only looks like a lot because the bags are big. And you'll need more clothes to wear to hang out with Jongdae, Yuwon, and Jongin and have fun!"

"I'm not sure about Jongin though."

"Oh, hush. No negative thoughts. You and him will be full-fledged friends soon! Ooh, let's go to that store! I know you like to poke around that one."

She ushered him into 'Number One Pops and Hops' and followed at his shoulder as he browsed the store. She pointed at bobble characters, asking what show they were from, poked at small toys, asking him if kids his age liked them, and unfolded branded clothes, putting them against him to see if it matched him before putting it back. Kyungsoo wondered if she was vicariously shopping through him but smiled as h