Junkyu was not, by any means, prepared for this. It was so soon. How could he possibly talk to him this early? He just found out his name only 30 minutes ago. Junkyu didn’t even know he existed until this morning. There was a whole process he was going to go through before even following him on Instagram, let alone do a school project with him.

He was overreacting. 

I’m overreacting, he thought.

Told you.

 

 

Junkyu’s initial five seconds of shock quickly turned into a small, friendly smile. 

“Hi! I do, actually. Need a partner, that is,” There were no words to describe how nervous he was, but to keep his calm facade, he opted to shuffling his feet awkwardly and praying it wasn’t noticeable.

Mashiho smiled back at him, “Sick, I don’t know anyone in this class so I was worried I’d have to work alone.” The boy chuckled slightly, trying to start some conversation. 

Junkyu truly struggled to focus on his words. Mashiho was much prettier up close. Although, he could admit he was much softer in person. His face, specifically. His smile felt like warmth, it wrapped Junkyu in a tight hug that felt like it would never let go. Mashiho’s aura was so… comforting?

I barely know him.

They had only spoken their first words to each other 10 seconds ago. That’s all it took for him to weird Mashiho out, apparently, as the boy was looking at Junkyu with a confused expression. 

Junkyu regained his composure and looked back at Mashiho less creepily. “Oh yeah! You’re new~. That must be hard…. It’s your first day right?” He looked at the other expectantly, slightly cringing at his own words. Junkyu’s sudden change in demeanor was out of place, seeming to make the other boy a little uncomfortable.

“Yup... Just hoping I have people I know in my other classes,” Mashiho smiled awkwardly.

Junkyu looks down at his watch, desperately searching for some way to go back, to restart this conversation. “Well… there’s only 2 minutes left, so how about we talk about the project next class?” He barely gives mashiho any time to respond before he’s beginning to walk back to his desk, “Um- I’m gonna go get my stuff, see you tomorrow?” Junkyu turns around before he gets any sort of acknowledgement.

He was almost tripping over the desks to get there. Yedam and Minhee were talking about their project, but Junkyu had no interest in waiting for Yedam. He was booking it out of class when that bell rang. 

Mashiho stood, frozen, almost in awe at the conversation he just had. He collects himself, shaking his head in a sort of disbelief, and goes to gather his things just as the bell chimes. He watches as his partner sprints out of the room, leaving his friends behind. One of Junkyu’s friends calls after him, but the boy doesn’t stop. 

The friend then turns to Mashiho as he’s walking back to his own desk to gather his belongings. 

“Do you know what’s up with him? I know he’s your partner. Yedam by the way,” the friend asks expectantly.

Mashiho shrugs, “No clue. Barely talked to him honestly.”

Yedam looks at him, confused, but clearly chooses not to further his accusations. Mashiho gives the two boys a quick smile and walks towards the door to the hallway.

What just happened?

 

-

 

Junkyu’s entire third-period was spent overanalyzing every second of the 2 minutes he has just spent with Mashiho. Also, getting weird glances from the new kid sitting diagonal to him. To be fair, Junkyu was restless. Whether it was tapping his pencil, his shoe, or flipping the pages of his notebook over and over again, he was obstructing everyone's ability to think, including his own.

This class felt like torture. It was a never ending battle between his own thoughts (or lack thereof), trying to stay calm, and his seemingly perpetual migraine. His influx of thoughts was not helping the pain that buzzed in his head, and it was becoming more and more unbearable as the class went on. 

When the bell signaled the end of the period finally, Junkyu instantly disappeared from his seat, almost sprinting to the cafeteria. Now, the cafeteria was not logically the best place to go for the state of his migraine, but he needed to complain about his “problem”.

Finally reaching the cafeteria, he headed for the table he and his friends sat at. Surprisingly, most of them were there already, despite his quick escape from his class. Hyunsuk gave him a weird look, but he brushed it off and sat down in his usual spot, in between Yedam and Hyunsuk.

Yedam, Doyoung, and Jihoon were in a deep conversation about some drama that occurred in their last class. Junkyu just observed, watched them explain dramatically about some guy acting out in front of the class. 

“Hey, where’s Yoonbin?” Junkyu asks, pointing to the empty spot across from next to him. If the other 3 didn’t know he was there yet, now they definitely did. Well, only because Jihoon whips his head in Junkyu’s direction at the mention of Yoonbin.

Jihoon sort of had a thing for Yoonbin. Well, not sort of. He did. Definitely did. It was very obvious, actually. He couldn’t go through a single conversation without mentioning Yoonbin’s name, even if he tried. Yoonbin, of course, was entirely oblivious. Junkyu has known Jihoon for years, and all of those years he has known about his crush on Yoonbin. He kind of felt bad for the boy, it had been forever and Jihoon never had the balls to say anything.

“I’m sure he’s just running late-” Hyunsuk is cut off by a concerned tone.

Jihoon’s tone is filled with worry, “Are you 100% sure? What if something happened to hi-” now it’s Hyunsuk’s turn to cut in, “Jihoon, please. He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.

On cue, Yoonbin walks in, people in tow.

More specifically, the exchange students. The exchange students.

 

Yoonbin was talking with the rapper from the performance, who Junkyu still hadn’t caught the name of, despite him being in a class with him. Behind them, the other 6 were in lazily formed groups, floating in between their own conversations. They walked confidently and powerfully, much different from the typical new-kid attitude. If you didn’t know they had just arrived today, you’d think they ran the school. 

When Jihoon caught on and realized everyone was looking behind him, he turned around as well. Seeing Yoonbin, the boy put up his hand and waved him over, smiling brightly. Yoonbin sent back a small smile and wave, and turned back to his conversation. He gestured to their table, and the group followed.

Junkyu couldn’t comprehend what was happening. It felt as if everything around him was moving twice the speed but he was still stagnant. He was losing it. He cursed Yoonbin for being so damn sociable. He’d prefer to have the rest of the day to think about his embarrassing interaction with Mashiho, but doing that with the boy five feet away was not the move. 

When the group made their way over, the whole cafeteria was staring in their direction, whispering among themselves and gaping in awe. 

“Hey, guys, sorry I’m late! Was just showing these guys around. Haruto and I had music together earlier, and I offered to give them a quick tour!” Yoonbin pointed to the boy next to him. Haruto. “Sorry for taking your job, Yedam, but you guys don’t show them the cool stuff,” He teases. Yedam rolls his eyes, but smiles nonetheless.

“Anyway, guys,” He looked at the group behind him, and moved out of the way to give the others some visibility, “this is Doyoung, Jihoon, Yedam, Hyunsuk,” all four raised their hands as their names were called, “and Junkyu!” 

Junkyu did the same, trying his best to keep his composure. He looked up at the group and immediately made eye contact with Haruto. He looked... angry? Attempting to remain unfazed, he looked to the rest of the group. They were all somewhere in between smiling or neutral. Less threatening, at least. His hand lowered.

“Well, there’s an open table over there, if you guys are all good?” Yoonbin poses it as a question, but still points to a place 3 tables away from them. It was the only one left, and if they didn’t act quick, there’s no table for them. Haruto turned to Yoonbin and thanked him quickly before rushing himself and rest over to the table. 

As Yoonbin gets settled in, Jihoon takes it as an opportunity to ask him a million questions. “Where were you? Are they cool? Is Haruto interested in you?” All of which he answers with eah, but the rest of the table just sighs at his behavior.

Junkyu and the others settle into the typical drone of lunch conversation. But, he can’t help but feel like someone is watching him.

 

-

 

The end of lunch was approaching, and Junkyu was not looking forward to his last 3 classes. He was already drained from the day, for whatever reason. It wasn’t uncommon for Junkyu to be exhausted from school, typically he’d still have some energy this time of the day. A quiet nap sounded so nice to him right now… Maybe I’ll just sleep through my classes. 

His dreams of sleeping the next 3 hours were harshly interrupted by the bell ringing, to which Junkyu reacted with a groan. Hyunsuk tried to pull him up from the table, but Junkyu was reluctant, “Come on, let’s go. We have history to attend~!” 

Saying goodbye to the group and leaving the cafeteria, the two walk to class together in silence. Hyunsuk had noticed Junkyu wasn’t in the mood for talking, nor walking, but he’d already pushed past one of those limits.

Their class was fairly boring, the teacher was the kind to just lecture the entire period. He never offered anything stimulating, which typically didn’t pose much of a problem for Junkyu. But today, he needed to get out of his own thoughts. What really wasn’t helping was Mashiho and Haruto being in the class. The glances from both of them back to Junkyu and Hyunsuk, mostly Junkyu, were unsettling. They seemed to think he didn’t notice, but it was painfully obvious.

Haruto would lean over, whisper something, look back, Mashiho looked back, repeat. It was not easing Junkyu’s thoughts at all.

At a certain point, it was so obvious Hyunsuk started to take notice and looked to Junkyu for an answer. He shrugged and moved to rest his head on his desk. Might as well forget. 

 

 

The last bell of the day was the only relief Junkyu had felt all day. He was looking forward to walking the quiet path home. This was one of few chances he's had to properly clear his head. 

Everything just felt off to him. Despite meeting the beautiful boy from the performance, Mashiho didn’t have that same effect by the end of the day. And Haruto giving Junkyu weird looks?

Turning his attention away from his thoughts, Junkyu looked to his surroundings for relief. Something he could always rely on was nature. Anytime he felt too overwhelmed, he walked this route. It was a prettier part of the city, people planted all sorts of flowers and built archways to make the sidewalks feel more friendly. Junkyu knew part of his problem was the area he lived in, but he could never leave. 

As a child, Junkyu’s plan was to live out in the countryside or a cute little cottage in the woods. But, everything he loved was in the city. Restaurants he grew up in, his dreams of singing for thousands, everything happened here. The two sides to his personality clashed so much, and he was always searching for a perfect middle ground, but it was almost impossible. The constant searching for a middle ground was too much and his brain was sick and tired of it. 

He had been walking for about 20 minutes and was finally  only a couple blocks away from his home. The music on his phone switched to ‘Palette by IU’. It was one of Junkyu’s favorite songs. Although he was far from being unapologetically himself, he aspired to be what the song was conveying. Just to be at peace and comfortable was his goal.

As he walked down the sidewalk, he quietly sang the song. There was one thing he was truly confident in, singing. Junkyu had a huge interest in songwriting and singing, but never had enough motivation to pursue it. It was a gift and a struggle. Junkyu wanted people to know he could sing, but he had no confidence outside his bedroom, no connections, it was too difficult to make it alone.

Singing to himself on the walk home had become a habit, despite how embarrassing it was when a neighbor happened to be outside. It was a small step, but it was slowly making him more comfortable singing for others. So, he kept doing it. 

As he reached the entrance of his house, the song finished and he stopped singing. 

Junkyu sighed heavily, he was tired. He wanted to just go in his room and sleep, but he knew he had to catch up on schoolwork. Fumbling with his keys, he hears a couple snickers behind him in the distance. He brushes it off, assuming the elementary students had just got home as well. Grabbing the right key, he goes to unlock the door, but catches a glance behind him in the window of his door.

Is that..?

His jaw drops.

The exchange students.

Junkyu still didn’t know what to call them. Mashiho and his friends were outside his house. All laughing and looking at Haruto’s phone.

They seemed to notice his hesitation and look up, then to each other. They all burst out laughing, and Haruto signals for them to run. 

 

What the ?