The sky was dark with storm clouds that looked as if they’d release a torrent of rain any second now. Byun Baekhyun, junior in high school, pushed against the crowd of students who were all excited about the weekend coming up. He lifted an arm in front of his face to attempt to shield his eyes from the cold, stinging wind as he made his way to his bike, which was chained to a stop sign.

“I need to get home before the rain starts,” the dark haired boy muttered to himself. He unlocked the chain, threw a leg over his bike and began pedaling home. He doubted that he would beat the rain home, but it didn’t hurt to try.

And as soon as the thought formulated in his head, Baekhyun felt a large cold raindrop plop down on the top of his head.

Wonderful.

The single drop soon turned into a downpour that had Baekhyun completely soaked in a span of about 10 seconds. Long strands of dark hair were plastered onto his face, and his clothes felt like they weighed a ton. He felt like he was under a waterfall as he navigated his bike through the heavy rain that clouded his eyes.

The road soon became slippery and a small voice in the back of Baekhyun’s head warned him to be careful, but he just pedaled faster.

Baekhyun hated the rain.

The brunette turned a corner and one of the tires of his bike slid, tipping him dangerously to the side and way too close to the ground for his comfort, but he stuck a leg out and kicked at the ground swiftly to right himself, breathing out a small sigh of relief immediately afterwards. Catastrophe successfully avoided.

Baekhyun: 1

Rain: 0

Baekhyun was almost home. Just two more blocks. He turned another corner in the same dangerous fashion as the previous one, but this time he wasn’t so lucky.

His front tire hit the elevated rim of a sewer cap and suddenly the world around him was tilting as he was thrown off his bike. Straight at the sharp points of a fence surrounding a building.

Wow, that’s really going to hurt.

Baekhyun screwed his eyes closed and waited for the impact.

He hit something—that said “Oof!”—and rebounded off, falling on the concrete on his side.

His arm was in a lot of pain.

Am I dead? Is this what it feels like to be stabbed to death?

The rough concrete that stabbed into his skin answered that for him. His arm hurt, but not just-got-stabbed kind of hurt. More like slept-on-your-arm-the-wrong-way kind of hurt.

Baekhyun turned over to lie on his back, wincing as he did so, and opened his eyes in realization.

Wait, fences don’t say “oof”.

The brunette craned his neck and saw sneakers. His eyes traveled up long legs in skinny jeans, a tight black shirt exposing a toned torso and finally, up to the face.

The other boy was hunched over, as if the wind was knocked out of him, and Baekhyun was hit more realizations.

The boy had black hair, which he pushed out of his eyes as he turned his gaze to Baekhyun, a mix of worry and anger on his face.

“Are you crazy?! Riding a bike that fast in this kind of weather…damn, do you want to die?”

Baekhyun probably looked as dazed as he felt, because the other boy’s features softened, only worry remaining now.

“Hey…are you okay? You just flew like ten feet...”

Baekhyun blinked slowly. He flew. That’s right. He flew off his bike straight at the damn fence.

Why do people use fences that are tapered at the top enough to function as murder weapons?

The brunette dismissed the thought as he saw the eyebrows on the face bent over his furrow. “Hey, you can at least answer, you know. Luckily for that fence, I was in the way to block it from your flying body.”

The boy’s face broke out into a huge grin, brightening the dreary atmosphere the rain insisted on creating, and Baekhyun felt his heart skip a beat.

What a pretty smile.

It was then that Baekhyun realized that he was still lying on the ground and he didn’t know what state his bike was in and it was raining in his face. God, did he hate rain.

The other boy extended a hand, which Baekhyun took, letting himself be pulled onto his feet.

His hand is so warm.

Baekhyun pulled his hand out of the boy’s warm hand and rubbed the arm that he fell on, keeping his gaze on the ground. He could feel a dull ache every time he tensed his arm. It would probably take a while to go away.

“So, I’m Park Chan—”

Baekhyun looked up the other boy suddenly, cutting him off. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

The other boy blinked down at him, startled for a moment. Then he frowned slightly.

Baekhyun watched the boy’s face for a few seconds before turning around to walk toward his bike, which miraculously looked fine. Of course, the bike had flown into a bush while Baekhyun was flying to his death.

He glanced back at the other boy briefly while inspection his bike for damage.

He’s so tall.

Baekhyun wasn’t necessarily short, but his 174 cm seemed lacking next to that—giant. Giant was the first word that came to mind when he thought of the boy, who could not be less be than 180 cm, making Baekhyun snort softly as he righted his bike and mounted it.

As he pedaled away, he felt a sudden twinge of guilt, just leaving the giant standing there in the rain. Without turning around, he shouted, “Thanks for protecting the fence from my flying body!”

Baekhyun listened over the sound of the pouring rain and the screeching of tires on the road, but that’s all he heard. He didn’t understand when he suddenly felt disappointed.

There’s no reason to expect him to reply. He has no reason to acknowledge me. I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me. Let’s keep it that way.

The brunette grit his teeth and pedaled harder, feeling his calves burn. He reached the end of the block and was about to turn when he heard abrupt laughter. The sound was loud and a bit annoying, but Baekhyun didn’t mind. He found himself smiling as well.

At that moment, Baekhyun regretted not hearing the boy out.

I should’ve listened to his name.

I should have asked him why he was there.

I should have asked him why he bothered to smile at someone like me.

As he turned the corner he caught a glimpse of the other boy—the huge smile that reappeared on his face, that warm hand waving him goodbye.

Baekhyun slowed down as he reached his house on the next block and let out a laugh of his own, the sound carried away by the wind.

The rain suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore.