The first time Kim Sunggyu met Nam Woohyun was a disaster.

Sunggyu, who by some order of a higher being could never manage to throw a dodgeball straight, had managed to hit a certain Nam Woohyun directly in the face one afternoon in gym class. It was the first time he’d actually hit someone during the godforsaken game and he would have been ridiculously ecstatic except for two things: (1) Nam Woohyun was his stronger, more athletic teammate and (2) the fallen boy was now looking at him with murder in his eyes.

Everybody had gone quiet for a moment or two after Woohyun stumbled to the ground after being hit hard on the face before a collective snickering emerged from the crowd of students.

Nam Woohyun was livid.

Four 5^th grade classes were in the gym at that moment and most of them had seem him get socked in the face by a small, fluffy-looking kid like Kim Sunggyu. Usually he might’ve brushed this kind of situation off with a laugh and would give the attacker a playful noogie but seeing his friends and fangirls joining in the laughter was too much for his 10-year-old mind and heart to handle.

Sunggyu, scared as he was at Woohyun’s expression, came wobbling over to his form nevertheless, worried that the boy might’ve gotten a bloody or broken nose from the impact. He bent down a little to level his head with Woohyun’s who kept his eyes angrily averted to the floor. “Sorry a-about that…kwencha---…”

Sunggyu’s nervous apology was cut off with his own yelp of pain and surprise. Woohyun’s foot had suddenly connected to Sunggyu’s shin and now the slightly older boy was on the floor, clutching at the sore spot. Woohyun smirked in triumph when he saw Sunggyu’s pain; Sunggyu, on the other hand, was now more angry than nervous at Nam Woohyun.

“What is your problem?! What I did was an accident but you’re just being a jerk!” Sunggyu’s hiss was low and could only be heard by Woohyun who gave him an arrogant, side smirk.

“No one messes with me, fluffball, and gets away with it.”

They both ignored the yells of the teacher and the chants from the crowd of students as they both tackled the other, murder as their agenda.

Woohyun was a 5^th grader with the maturity of a 5-year-old and the competitiveness of a professional athlete; fights with other boys were more or less normal to him and happened on a daily basis. On the other hand, Sunggyu wasn’t usually like this…he was calm and more mature than most people his age. But something in those dark orbs and annoying smile of Nam Woohyun’s raised his hackles and brought out the child in him.

“Who’re you calling fluffball, jerk?!”

“Obviously you, you hamster-looking fluffball!” Smack! Sunggyu’s fist connected with Woohyun’s cheek.

“Ha! In your stupid face!”

“You little--…yah!”

The fight had continued for approximately 3 and a half minutes before the gym teacher, with the help of the disciplinary officer, managed to pull the two away from each other and stop them from killing the other. Their schoolmates had enjoyed the entertainment and murmured with disappointment when the fight broke off; they always found Woohyun’s crazy antics amusing.

Woohyun struggled hard to get out of the gym teacher’s grasp to get another punch on Sunggyu’s face while the older boy glared at Woohyun, panting angrily as his wounds and bruises started to sting. They paid no attention to the scolding they were receiving from both teachers at the moment and stared at each other, vowing to hate the other for as long they lived.

Until they heard the disciplinary officer’s next words.

“Detention, together. For a month.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Woohyun groaned out loud as he let his forehead hit the wooden table in front of him. It was only the 8^th day of detention, or imprisonment as he liked to call it, and he was going out of his mind with boredom.

He’d managed to sneak off during the first few days then came back before 5:30 pm so the teacher wouldn’t suspect anything. But a grave mistake on his part, the disciplinary officer literally barred the windows and had someone guard the door to keep him locked in. With Sunggyu.

Woohyun raised his head and propped his chin on his hands as he bored angry holes at the back of Kim Sunggyu’s dark-haired head. He still hadn’t forgiven Sunggyu and they hadn’t spoken a word to each other after that fight more than a week ago…but what he couldn’t handle even more was the fact that Sunggyu seemed pretty much okay with the whole detention thing. Unlike him. And he didn’t like the fact that he was the only one suffering.

Sunggyu, shoulders slightly crouched and head bent, was once again immersed in a book. Several times had Woohyun thrown crumpled pieces of paper he found on the floor but the boy just would not look up. He had discovered, in a matter of a few days, that Kim Sunggyu easily got lost in his own made-up parallel universe.

And he, a boy who was never content unless he was running and laughing his heart out in the great outdoors, could not understand the silent, gloomy-looking fluffball of a boy who could manage to sit through 2 hours of detention perfectly satisfied and happy.

Woohyun smiled to himself as he formed a plan in his mind. He pushed back his chair as softly as he could before moving towards Sunggyu. He stood in front of Sunggyu’s desk before sitting on his heels, prepared to annoy the quiet boy for his entertainment.

“Yah~~~…” He gave Sunggyu’s arm a gentle poke.

“Fluffball~~~…” This time it was his chubby cheek.

Holy crap, it’s so soft…Woohyun thought, his eyes widening in surprise before he gave Sunggyu’s other cheek another poke. Holy crap, it’s SOOO soft.

If Sunggyu hadn’t noticed Woohyun’s presence about a minute ago, he was noticing him a LOT now.

He raised his head with an annoyed frown, just in time to see Woohyun attempt to poke at his cheek again with an awed expression on his face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Poking you, isn’t it obvious?” Woohyun had sounded distracted and dazed, seeing as he was completely immersed in his current source of entertainment. Sunggyu’s eyebrow raised a notch higher when he heard a soft ‘Oh God, it’s so soft…like marshmallows’ coming from the boy in front of him.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to read here…” Sunggyu frowned even more when he didn’t get the response he wanted. He was aching to slap Woohyun’s hand away and continue reading, he was on the best part, but he didn’t wanna start another fight again. His mom had cried the last time he went home all beat up and bruised and he didn’t want it to happen again.

“Holy crap, this is addicting…” Woohyun was unstoppable now. He poked Sunggyu’s cheeks with both hands now, squishing him occasionally and pinching the softness in between. He thought his nickname for Sunggyu was very appropriate and the more he poked and squished him, the more his anger was being replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling towards the older boy. Sunggyu really did remind him of pet hamsters. “Seriously, if I could box these up and sell ‘em, I’d be a millionaire by now…WAAAY better than stuffed toys…”

Sunggyu wasn’t particularly sensitive about his cheeks but Woohyun was getting out of hand and was stretching his patience to its limit again. The boy had already been weird to him and his sudden obsession with his cheeks brought it up to a whole new different level.

“Are you going to stop that or am I going to have to beat the crap out of you again?”

“You wish fluffball…cotton does more damage than you. These are seriously amazing…how does a person get cheeks like this…”

Sunggyu was reminded of his initial conclusion that meeting Nam Woohyun was completely and utterly demented and would bring nothing but trouble for him. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he just KNEW Nam Woohyun would keep bothering him until infinity and beyond.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Two weeks in detention hell with Nam Woohyun and with no hope for reprieve in sight, it was now Sunggyu’s turn to go crazy inside the classroom.

He’d snuck out of detention after the teacher left and Woohyun somehow fell asleep, heading towards his favorite spot on the rooftop. Unlike Woohyun, he hadn’t snuck off due to boredom and an inherent craving for the sun and fresh air. No, it was because of a certain arrogant boy and his obsession for poking soft things.

After the first two days, Sunggyu could still manage to keep himself in check and live down Woohyun’s intrusion in his quiet time. Woohyun kept mostly silent, muttering things with an awed voice every now and then as he played with Sunggyu’s cheeks. Sunggyu tried his hardest to use his overactive imagination and will Woohyun away but he’d gotten exhausted trying to fight him off and opted for his last resort instead: escape.

Peace and serenity…I missed you guys so much. Sunggyu thought as he breathed a great sigh of relief and sat down, leaning his back against the rooftop railings. It’d been a long time since he spent an afternoon alone and with only peace and quiet as his company…and without a Nam Woohyun to mess it all up. He’d always preferred being alone, it had always been less complicated that way.

He propped the book open with both hands, moving it closer to his face than usual since more distance made the letters a little blurry to him nowadays. He read and read and read almost all the time, he figured his eyes were just tired. But he didn’t want to stop reading anyway.

As he started to lose himself in the story about a young boy and his journey in a magical world, he didn’t even look up when three tall, large boys pushed the rooftop door open.

“…--yah, you brought the cigs with you?”

“Hell yeah! Had to swipe ‘em off my brother’s stash…”

“Yah, where’s Woon? He’s supposed to be bringing the booze…aish…”

The boys, who’d started lighting up their cigarettes, still hadn’t noticed the silent Sunggyu and had thought they were alone. Sunggyu who was still lost in his parallel world, hadn’t noticed them either. Well, at least not until a breeze brought his attention to the distinct smell of burnt nicotine.

What the--…Sunggyu looked up from his book to glance around and saw three taller and obviously bigger middle school boys with messy-looking uniforms. They were holding sticks of cigarettes in their hands and puffing out smoke every now and then, in between laughing and conversing loudly.

He hated the smell of nicotine a lot especially since he’d grown up seeing his dad succumb to the lure of nicotine until he died of lung cancer and he avoided the death sticks as much as possible. Picking up his book, he stood up and headed for the door silently, relieved that the boys hadn’t noticed him yet. They looked rough and wild and would probably dislike the idea of having someone catch them getting high on school grounds.

But, as it turned out, it was just NOT Kim Sunggyu’s lucky day.

“!” The tall, foreign-looking middle-schooler cursed as Sunggyu bumped into him near the door. Sunggyu had been sneaking glances at the three standing in front of the railings that he hadn’t noticed that three other guys were coming up to join them. He’d stumbled back before looking up to see a menacing-looking kid glaring down at him.

“What’s the matter Dongwoonnie?” Another boy, blond and had elfish features, glanced from behind the taller boy’s shoulder.

“This little brat…he made me spill booze on my uniform…” With a nervous gasp and widening of his eyes, Sunggyu looked down in horror to see the older boy’s white shirt stained with yellow liquid. Not good…

By this time, all six had their attention on him, even the guys who’d been standing near the railings before. Two of them clutched at either of his arms, bringing him up and holding him fast.

“I--…I’m sorry… I didn’t--…I didn’t mean to…” At this point, Sunggyu was too terrified to speak clearly and properly. He averted their eyes and opted to look at the ground, the hands grasping on his arm now painful and harsh.

“Hyung, this kid must’ve seen us smoking…wha’ do we do with ‘im?”

Sunggyu gulped involuntarily. They’re not--…they’re not gonna beat me up, are they?

“Well, it’s obvious isn’t it? …we’ll make him shut up.”

Sunggyu’s blood ran cold.

He yelled when he found himself thrown on the cemented floor and immediately covered his head with both arms instinctively. They hadn’t beaten him up yet but he knew what was coming and he was already expecting pain.

God, I’m sorry…I only wanted to read so I ditched detention… Don’t let them kill me… Sunggyu was praying hard inside his head, feeling like karma had paid him back ten times fold after his escape from Nam Woohyun hell. As much as he hated the other boy, he sincerely wished he was now stuck in the stuffy classroom right now and letting himself get poked to death by Woohyun instead of here, about to be ‘silenced’ by middle-schoolers.

The first blow came at his stomach. He yelped out in pain as someone’s foot connected with the sensitive skin of his abdomen and his body folded as he clutched it tight with both hands.

The second one, though, didn’t come at all.

“What’re you doing to him s?!” The familiar arrogant voice cut through Sunggyu’s miserable thoughts, making him look up. He saw Nam Woohyun’s back facing him, the boy’s arms spread wide on each side as though forbidding them from getting any closer to him. Woohyun, looking stupidly oblivious, even managed to give him a cocky smile.

"Hey fluffy...you alright down there? Good thing I sneaked out and followed you eh?"

Sunggyu’s eyes widened in surprise and he quickly struggled to stand up and grab Woohyun’s shoulder.

“What’re you thinking?! They’re middle-graders!”

Woohyun’s smirk was quick and confident. “Oh please. I can beat them with a hand tied around my back…jerks who only know how to fight someone half their size obviously aren’t that strong.” Woohyun’s voice was loud and obnoxious; he clearly had no qualms about the taller, obviously stronger middle-schoolers who were now beyond annoyed with him to hear the confident statement.

Sunggyu was about to go crazy. Biting his lip, he sneaked a glance at the 6 obviously annoyed older boys then at the boy ‘protecting’ him. Woohyun was taller and bigger than most boys their age but he was nowhere near the size of the middle school students.

They were obviously going to get the crap beaten out of them and it seemed like only Sunggyu was aware of it. And if he wasn’t so terrified at the moment, he would have facepalmed at Nam Woohyun’s endless supply of reckless stupidity.

“What did you say…punk?!”

“The only thing you need to know you bunch of ugly old geezers is that you’re getting your kicked by Nam Woohyun!”

And this time, Sunggyu could not hold back a facepalm. They were SOOO dead.

Minutes later, they were both on the ground, their bodies completely exhausted and abused. As expected, the older boys had beaten the crap out of them and worse, especially since Woohyun would just NOT stop egging them on the more hits he got. Sunggyu too, got beaten up mercilessly, all thanks to him.

“Woohyun? Sunggyu…? Are you--…what’s going on here?!” The teacher had come up the roof, having looked for the absent Sunggyu and Woohyun all over school grounds, only to see them writhing on the ground in pain and six heads whip around to face him.

“Aaah seongsangnim! You see, uhm…you see these two were--…” The elfish-looking guy with blond hair tried to explain as the teacher stalked towards the crowd, eyes narrowing at the younger boys. The rest hid the bottles of beer and sticks of cigarettes behind or under their uniforms and were now fidgeting nervously.

The teacher though, had arrived into his conclusion based on the situation he’d stumbled upon.

“Sunggyu, Woohyun…have you two been fighting again!?” The teacher yelled, making Woohyun and Sunggyu’s eyes widen with shock. The teacher had misunderstood the situation completely.

“A-ani! It wasn’t--…” Woohyun was the first to explain when Sunggyu elbowed him in the ribs, cutting him off. The boys had glared at the two from behind the teacher and Sunggyu knew they were getting a punishment worse than death if ever they ratted on them.

The teacher though, had seen enough.

He grabbed each boy by the ear and lead them down the stairs and back to detention…where they seemed to always end up when they were together.

“I thought you two had already learned your lesson but it seems like you two just aren’t getting the point of detention. I am extending your punishment and you’ll be spending the rest of the semester stuck in detention together.”

Woohyun and Sunggyu, who’d been muttering moans of pain due to the painful tug of their teacher on their ears, yelled out in protest then. A month had been more than painful enough but three months was just plain old torture. Especially for Woohyun who’d missed playing football and basketball with his friends.

“But seongsangnim! I have football practice every afternoon! I can’t miss any more practices!”

“You should’ve thought of that Mr. Nam before you got into a fight with Mr. Kim here!”

Woohyun had kept protesting until the teacher brought them back to the detention hall once more but Sunggyu had kept silent the whole time. His head and stomach were already hurting enough and he was too angry and frustrated to speak.

This is all that brat’s fault…

Sunggyu leaned the unhurt side of his face flat on the desk in front of him and sighed, already dreading his mother’s reaction if she saw him later. Woohyun, on the other hand, stomped and complained angrily and loudly, kicking desks and chairs in his frustration.

“Stupid old geezer! That ty old man! He doesn’t even know what happened! Dammit!”

“Would you shut up? Yelling won’t do us any good anymore…”

“Aren’t you mad?! That ty old teacher punished us for something we didn’t even do!”

“Well technically we did get into a fight, although not with each other…God, don’t complain so much when most of this is your fault…”

“My fault?! I saved your fluffy , how the hell is this my fault?!”

“If your goal was having those guys beat me up to an inch of my life then yes, thank you very much for savin---…”

Woohyun was about to yell at the sullen boy more when Sunggyu was suddenly caught in a fit of intense coughing as he clutched at his chest in pain. Woohyun was livid but he jumped and hurried towards Sunggyu’s bent figure anyway, his heart racing with worry. He was an annoying fluffball but he was a fluffball nonetheless; it only made sense to Woohyun that a bunch of girly punches and kicks by some middle-schoolers would do him a lot of damage.

“Yah, kwenchana?! Oh God, why are you so weak?! Should I--…should I call the teacher?” Woohyun, who truthfully looked worse off than Sunggyu, had kneeled next to him, eyes widening with worry when Sunggyu wouldn’t stop groaning with pain.

“Shut up pabo…I just---I just need to rest a bit…” Sunggyu let out breathily, the pain in his eyes unable to lessen the force of his glare unto Woohyun. He was sick, not stupid and worried or not, Woohyun still annoyed the hell out of him.

But being the natural worrywart that he was, his heart softened a bit when he finally saw Woohyun’s wounds and bruises. He was swelling and had cuts almost everywhere, one of his eyes turning a bit purple now even. He looked like he should be writhing in pain but he wasn’t; instead, Nam Woohyun was giving him a sincere look of worry which seemed so unlike him.

With a sigh, Sunggyu grabbed something from his backpack.

“Hey fluffball, don’t ignore me! What hurts? Oi, listen to me when the great Nam Woohyun is talking to--…yah, what’s this?”

Without a word, Sunggyu had plastered a checkered bandaid on a particularly nasty cut on Woohyun’s face. Woohyun was caught by surprise and now brought a hand to his face, feeling the spot below his eye where Sunggyu had placed the bandaid.

“Hold still pabo…stupid useless jerk…can’t even do a thing right…” Sunggyu muttered with an annoyed tone, biting his lip as he focused on plastering more band-aids on Woohyun’s face and hands. The younger boy, surprised by Sunggyu’s actions, could only watch with awe as he covered up his cuts clumsily but earnestly.

“There…perfect.” Sunggyu’s face was that of deadpanned satisfaction as he looked at Woohyun. He’d acted out on instinct though but when finally caught a glimpse of Woohyun’s expression, he was suddenly aware that he’d been nice to his supposed mortal enemy.

Sunggyu, a bit embarrassed, silently cursed his stupid head and his stupid hands. For a second there, Woohyun reminded him of a beat-up puppy and he felt like he just HAD to help him out. He didn’t know he would feel so awkward about it afterwards though. His embarrassment almost made him forget about the pain in his chest. Almost.

“Erm…thanks, I guess. But uhm, fluffy, what about your wounds?” Woohyun asked, tilting his head a bit in confusion, as he gave Sunggyu an innocently worried expression.

“I’m fine…forget about it.”

“So I guess this makes us friends for life, right?” Woohyun smiled at him widely, milky white teeth flashing confidently.

“B-bwoh?! You’re kidding, right?”

“What the hell?! We just battled against a force of evil, ty gangsters together…that already makes us brothers fluffy!”

Woohyun was looking at him with a happy, expectant expression, eyes shining with earnestness. If Sunggyu really thought about it, the boy wasn’t such a bad kid; he was just a bit too arrogant and reckless for his size. And annoying. And weird in a lot of ways.

Okay, he was extremely flawed.

But still, remembering how Woohyun tried to protect him earlier, he figured he maybe could give the boy a chance as a friend. I mean, if Woohyun would just shut up and not get him into trouble…and stop poking at his cheeks…and stop calling him fluffball…and stop annoying the hell out of him…and stop getting him beat up by people…

The more Sunggyu thought about it, the more he realized that in a matter of days, Nam Woohyun had single-handedly managed to ruin his life in more than just one way. He couldn't imagine hanging out with the boy, much less be friends with him for a long time. Life would surely be a complete, living hell.

“Nam Woohyun…you’re kidding right?”