A/N: Unbeta-ed and potentially dangerous for your health. Dedicated to Charlotte because I miss her.

Year One:
Hidden amongst Leaves

His eyes snapped open.

And it was odd, to say the least. The sun was barely out, the kitchen downstairs still deathly quiet and his alarm clock mute for about forty-five more minutes. By mid semester, it was no secret that Hyukjae would always arrive only minutes before class started—and that was on a good day.

Normally, he would scramble out of bed, storm through the bathroom and his closet, dashing down the street with a piece of toasted bread in his mouth for breakfast.

But that day, his eyes just snapped open.

And after getting over the initial shock of him up and running that early in the morning, his mother grinned widely at the sight of Hyukjae putting food on the breakfast table.

- - -

The trees burned with red and orange leaves, lighting the way to winter in a few weeks’ time. They shed profusely, their leaves swinging and floating down, blanketing the earth for the coming cold. A hand came up to catch some, bringing them closer as brown eyes examined the patterns. Brunette hair blended with the tree trunk, worn out sneakers tapped to a beat as they dangled from the tree branch he was sitting on.

Music seeped from headphones draped around the boy’s neck.

‘Up, up, baby get up, up, we’re going up’ He sang under his breath.

- - -

“Home before six!”                                                                         

Hyukjae his heel, waving at his mom with a slight smile.

He still had a good amount of time before first period, and preferring not to dive into chaos earlier than required, Hyukjae took a detour to the nearby park. It’d been a while since the last time he had the luxury for a stroll in the morning before class and Hyukjae decided it was actually pretty nice—if only he had the willpower to make it a habit.

Hyukjae had just barely started high school. He was on his first year and just a few months in, he could already tell how boring the next four years of his life was going to be. Although he did have a small group of friends—mandatory for any teenager’s survival in this game—and although they were far from dull, Hyukjae couldn’t help but think everything was too…smooth sailing, too easy.

Girls were easy with their lingering gazes and high-pitched giggles. Lessons were easy; high school, and quite frankly, Hyukjae could care less about his rank as long as he passed. Even friends were easy—he’d been with most of them since elementary. For reasons unknown to him, they’d all unanimously chosen their current school and Hyukjae had only shrugged and agreed, figuring it was all the same anyway.

He came to a stop at the familiar park entrance.

There was a long and wide walkway down its middle, lined with trees and blanketed with a thick layer of leaves. Hyukjae dragged his feet; the rustling of leaves against his shoes amused him, reminding him of when his mother brought him here many autumns ago. She would sit on that bench—the third one—and watch him make piles and piles of leaves only to jump into them, mess it up, and do it all over again. She would laugh and snap shots of him with her film camera, leaves from the tree above falling into her hair.

A boy blinked at the sudden flash of light, looking over at his mom who had a smile on her face and a camera in her hand.

“Mom! That’s not fair! Delete that one and take it again.” He faced her, blowing leaves out of his face. “I’ll look this time.”

“Sorry, Hyukjae.” She smiled sheepishly, “Mom’s camera can’t do that.”

“What!” He stood from his pile of leaves, “Can I see it then?”

“Okay…”Hyukjae started running to her, “…but maybe after three days, when I get the film developed.”

“What! But what if the picture isn’t nice?”

“That’s the exciting part!” She gave him a big exaggerated wink.

The boy laughed, falling back into the leaves. “Mom, your camera !”

Hyukjae scoffed at the memory as he counted the benches, stopping at the third one. He dropped down onto the familiar seat, and leaned his head back to look at the also familiar tree that stood behind it.

The leaves danced in the wind, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier…

- - -

Hyukjae’s eyes snapped open for the second time that day, just as a black object was falling fast toward his face. He quickly leaned to the right, only to have it hit his shoulder. Hyukjae winced, but supposed it was better than going to school with a black eye.

He moved to dust off the imprint of…

A shoe?

Hyukjae looked behind the bench and surely enough, there was a shoe on the ground. Picking up the worn-out sneaker, he saw how its threads were loose and soles falling apart.

He frowned and stepped back to look up at the tree, spotting a person lounging on the branch.

The guy had his foot hanging loosely to the side, dressed in only a sock. Hyukjae squinted, but could only make out the familiar uniform (the same shade of navy blue as his), and a mop of brown hair.

“Hey!” Hyukjae clutched the sneaker, “Douchebag! You dropped something!” He threw it up the tree, aiming for the guy’s head but missing by an inch. The shoe hit the trunk and fell back down on top of Hyukjae’s head.

“Argh!”

Unperturbed, the brunette simply shifted positions so that now, all Hyukjae could see from down there was his . Music still seeped from the headphones that were now hanging dangerously off his neck.

He ran a hand through his face, glaring daggers at the guy because who the hell sleeps on tree branches these days? Hyukjae picked the shoe up again, and smirked after glancing at his watch.

“Suit yourself.”

He gathered his stuff and walked off, humming a tune.

Up in the tree, the sleeping brunette merely smiled and snuggled into his arm, oblivious to the loud ringing of the school bell.

- - -

Two hours into class and Hyukjae was already leaning heavily on his desk, face buried in his arms. The teacher’s droning voice did nothing to help lift his heavy eyelids. He really shouldn’t have woken up so early, the lack of sleep was already taking its toll.

With a soft chuckle, his seatmate poked Hyukjae’s shoulder with a pencil.

“What’s with the shoe?”

Hyukjae turned his head enough to look at him with one eye. “A present from the heavens.”

“And the dirt on your shoulder?”

“Battle scar.”

Sungmin snorted, “Well, dust it off already. You look like an idiot.”

Hyukjae shrugged before snuggling back into his arms, not really feeling up to dusting off the dirt he got from Douchebag In The Tree’s shoe just yet. His eyelids drooped dangerously, and he cursed whatever force had pushed him to wake up so damn early today.

A few giggles from the class shook Hyukjae from his reverie. He lifted his head a bit to see what the commotion was about and spotted a brunette panting and bowing to the teacher in front for being late.

Hyukjae squinted at him, scrutinizing the guy from head to toe, until his gaze fell to his backside as he bowed again. His looked…familiar, to say the least.

Douchebag In The Tree?

“…And next time, I would prefer my students with complete footwear.” The teacher said as the class erupted into laughter at the brunette’s missing shoe.

Hyukjae smirked and sat up.

Yup. Douchebag In The Tree.

“Hey, Sungmin hyung.”

“Hm.”

“What’s his name again?”

“Oh,” Hyukjae watched as the brunette ducked his head and scurried to his seat at the back of the room, “that’s Donghae.”

- - -

When he opened his eyes, the classroom was empty and the sun painted the walls red and orange. Hyukjae groaned and rubbed his head, already feeling the onslaught of a headache from all the excessive sleep he had.

After the relatively interesting morning, the rest of his day was about as boring as usual. Class was dragging, lunch was too noisy and in all honesty, Hyukjae was either half-asleep or flat out dead to the world—in fact, he had his face drawn on a couple of times, though that was normal considering his group of friends. He was just that sleepy.

Hyukjae wasn’t sure how many hours it had been, but it was clear that class had already finished for the day and no one had the decency to at least wake him up.

Bastards.

With a groan and a newfound resolve to get back at his friends (Kyuhyun, probably Kyuhyun. Or Heechul), Hyukjae stood to make his way out of the roo