“Minho, this is Myungsoo.  He’s going to be your new stepbrother.”

Minho looked over at the boy, who was giving back a very blank expression.  It was only from the slightest movement of the other’s eyes that Minho realized that Myungsoo was observing him as well.  Minho’s attention then shifted to a pair of warm hands enveloping his own.  Myungsoo’s mother (and now his stepmother) briefly introduced herself before being offered a tour of the rest of the house by Minho’s father, leaving Myungsoo and Minho to awkwardly stand in front of each other in the living room.

“Are you my hyung?” Myungsoo asked.

Minho was surprised to suddenly hear the other speak after a long moment of silence between them.

“Um.  What year were you born?”

“1992.”

“Ah, I was born in 1991.  I’m your hyung then,” and the silence was back after the small exchange of words.

Minho looked away after a while, but Myungsoo kept staring in his general direction.  Minho wondered if he should have dressed in more than just a t-shirt and jeans.

“Hyung.”

Minho turned his head back to Myungsoo, a little surprised to hear him speaking again.

“Do I get my own room?”

~~~~~

Minho was unsure as to whether or not Myungsoo was actually there sometimes.  More often than not, the younger boy would be staring at the wall opposite to him with a blank expression on his face.  Other times Minho would find him tracing patterns in the air, and sometimes Minho tried to make out what exactly it was that Myungsoo was drawing out.

The night before school started, Myungsoo seemed to have withdrawn even more into himself, if that was possible.  Minho found Myungsoo curled up in Minho’s bed, in Minho’s room, with school supplies scattered on the floor beside an empty bag.

“Hyung,” a muffled voice came from the wrapped figure.  Minho waited for him to continue.

“Are people here nice?”

Minho sat on the edge of his bed and placed a hand on Myungsoo’s head that was poking out from under the covers, ruffling his hair.

“You’ll be fine.”

~~~~~

It turns out that Myungsoo was doing more than fine on his first day, having quickly made friends with a tall and quirky boy named Sungyeol from his first class.  Minho briefly passed by the two at the courtyard, relieved to see that Myungsoo was starting to adjust in this new place.  The next sight that met Minho’s eyes was a flurry of scattered papers as he fell backwards, an unfamiliar weight resting upon him.

“Taemin!  Are you okay?” a voice came from above him and, he figured, this Taemin.

Taemin scrambled off of Minho quickly and rose to his feet.

“Ahh, I’m sorry!  I wasn’t looking where I was going!” Taemin repeatedly bowed as Minho got up from his place on the ground.

 “No harm done, I’m alright.  Are you okay though?” Minho tilted his head down a bit to try to see Taemin’s face.

“Oh,” Taemin lifted his head and Minho had to remind himself to breathe for a moment.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Taemin smiled shyly.  Yes, you are – Minho berated himself and inwardly coughed.

“That’s good.  Uhh.”

“Oh, I’m Taemin!” to which he extended his hand out to Minho, who was glad that his palm was not sweaty at that moment.

“Minho.  And I heard someone call you that, I think.”

“Oh, that was me!”

Minho turned his attention to the source of the new voice, wondering how he did not notice that there was a person next to Taemin just now.  There was something oddly similar to Taemin and this other boy, though at the same time distinctly different.

“Twins?” Minho let out before he could stop himself.

Taemin and the other boy smiled at the same time and Minho felt shivers go down his spine.

“Fraternal, actually, but I suppose we’re alike on good days.  This is Sungjong,” Taemin pointed next to him and Sungjong waved a ‘hello’.

Minho could only nod slowly as he took this all in.  A brief thought crossed his mind that he hit his head when he fell and he was currently hallucinating the entire scenario happening before him.  That is, until he felt a sudden weight tackle him from behind, nearly causing him to fall to the ground again.

“Choi Minho, you sore thumb!”

Minho laughed as his friend Jonghyun tried to get him into a headlock.  He almost forgot for a moment that Taemin and Sungjong were still there until he saw the equal looks of surprise on their faces.

“Hyung, let go~  You’re scaring people.”

Jonghyun directed his gaze to where Minho was looking, sheepishly smiling as he let Minho go.

“Oh, cuties.”

Minho choked on a gulp of air.

“Hi there, I’m Jonghyun~  I’m a fourth-year Music major~”

“Nice to meet you, Jonghyun-hyung~  I’m Sungjong and this is my fraternal twin, Taemin.  We’re both first-year Dance majors,” Sungjong cheerfully replied, apparently unfazed by Jonghyun’s earlier comment while Taemin looked a little red in the face.

Minho found his breath being taken away from him once again as Jonghyun playfully punched him in the stomach.

“Yah!  Choi Minho, you predator!”

“Me?!  You’re the one who was hitting on them just now!”

The two stopped playfighting when they heard a loud laugh behind them and turned to the sudden sound. 

Apparently Myungsoo had taken lessons on facial expressions in the past few hours, because he was currently giving the entire scene a “why are you embarrassing me like this in front of my new friend” look.

“Myungsoo, I thought you said your hyung was all cold-faced, but he’s just as alien as you!”

Jonghyun stepped up to Sungyeol and hi-fived him, “Someone else who thinks Choi Minho is an alien!”

Minho wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the fact that his life had somehow become a slice-of-life comedy in less than a day.  He sneaked a glance at Taemin, who was laughing behind his hand watching Jonghyun and Sungyeol interact, and wondered if maybe there was room for romance in this change of program.