Their story is pretty typical.

Best friends from a young age, growing up together, laughing together, crying together, loving together.

Until one day the love turns into something different, at least for one of them.

And then comes the painful separation, of course. The horrible revealing of truth, the heartbreak, and the planned suicide.

It wasn't confirmed. But Heechul knows her well enough, knows what she needs well enough, that he's sure she's good as gone.

So he puts on the mask.

And on it stays, until one day, in the middle of a river of fresh new faces and air that even smells different, a pair of round cheeks and large eyes stand out at him once again.

But of course, Heechul's life is meant to be doomed.

And of course, being the curious and sharp tongued soul he is, Heechul manages to learn things that he shouldn't know. And manages to hear of another plot. This one involving the death of someone he just met but feels like he knows forever.

And this time, the victim isn't the only one hurt beyond repair.

Heechul's heart is like a ragdoll, torn apart and pieced together again multiple times. The stitches are messy and crooked, but for now, they will hold.

However, they are meant to tear. At himself, and at the people he love.

Minseok hates the doctor.

She hates the way they look at her, like she's a pitiful child.

"Where are you parents?"

"Are they divorced?"

"Do you live alone?"

"Have you done your checkups this year?"

"Do you have a guardian?"

She's tired of explaining that no, she doesn't have parents. Well, she does, because all humans have to have parents. But Minseok isn't even sure she's human anymore. Do humans regularly forget what they're doing, or have a sudden urge to puke up all they're ever eaten, from the beginning of time?

These days, Minseok just stares at the doctors until they look away first, unnerved by this strange statue like girl.

And by these days, Minseok means two or three years ago. Like she said, her memory seems to be declining at a faster rate than grandparents.

She adamantly refuses when Ryeowook begs her to go to the hospital with him, even though she's puking up her guts and feels guilty too.

"It's happened before," she told him. "It'll go away soon. It happens sometimes."

For some reason, he only looked more worried.

And in the end it doesn't really matter anyway, because Minseok is stubborn as a mule and Ryeowook is a big softie inside (unless he drinks).

The school is more abuzz than usual when Minseok walks in two days later. She doesn't bother listening to the rumors, though, and proceeds to go through her usual routine, which includes saying hi to Yixing then putting her stuff away.

(To her relief, Yixing is present today, but not looking very good. Minseok will investigate later.)

There's a multitude of Kim's, of course, so Minseok has always wondered why the locker beside her's has always stayed empty. But today there's someone there. Some she recognizes.

He meets her eyes and smiles, and Minseok's armor cracks just a tiny bit. But even the small cracks allow a whole ton of water to seep out.

Kim Heechul's patchwork heart burns seeing her again, after so many years.

He smiles, hoping she recognizes him. And she does, because her lips twitch and she blinks rapidly.

Heechul steps forward, locker combination crumpling in his hand. "Minseokie..." He says quietly. "I... It's Heechul. Remember me?"

And then all that's left in front of him is a breeze that carries empty and lonliness on its back, and the bitter feeling of being rejected again.

You have to understand, though.  Heechul is not perfect.  He is not an angel, or a god, or superman.  And, like all imperfect people, Heechul has his cracking point.

On this day, 17 years after his birth, 4 years after his first heartbreak, and 3 years after his body was destroyed beyond repair, Kim Heechul's heart and mind ripped apart simultaneously with the sound of an atomic bomb exploding.

Zhang Yixing knows his life is not normal, but to him it is the most normal thing in the world.

Runaway father?  There's many in the world.  Drunk mother?  Just as many.

He's just glad he has a friend now, someone who will stand up for him, or so he hopes.

But Zhang Yixing also knows that everything comes with a price.  If you expect something from someone, you have to give it to them first. 

And so Yixing takes his turn and comforts Minseok as she releases the ocean inside of her onto his uniform shirt that he washed in the park water fountain the other day.

Yixing is a curious soul, of course.  But he's also the type that doesn't push it when someone doesn't want to talk.  So he sits there quietly, staring at the birds sitting on the clouds, occasionally patting Minseok's back.  He's never seen her show so much emotion before.

When the tides of Minseok's pain finally ebb away, he speaks up.

"What happened?"  He asks gently, like Minseok is made of glass.  The truth is, both of them are fragile glass figures, leaning on each other, supporting each other so neither falls off the shelf.

"I'm really sorry," Minseok says, wiping her eyes furiously.  It doesn't work very well, though, because Yixing still sees the blue skies reflected in them when she's done.  "You're the one who was absent yesterday, but I'm the one who's crying.  I should be asking you if you're okay."

"I'm fine."  Yixing smiles through the bruise on his right cheek, the one that makes his dimple darker than normal.  "Everything's okay.  Nothing that hasn't happened before."

Minseok gives him a look, but she's similar to him in the fact that she won't push it if he's not willing to talk.

Minseok sighs, looking up, and she wishes she was a bird.  Able to fly away from everything, to rebuild her home and heart wherever she went.

"You know Kim Heechul?"  She asks suddenly.  Yixing scratches his head... he's definitely heard that name somewhere, he just doesn't remember where.

"The guy that just came today," Minseok deadpans.  Yixing makes a face like he's realizing something important and Minseok wants to smile.  "I... We used to be friends."

Yixing's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline because Heechul seems like a very wild and social person, which is completely different from the quiet and demure Minseok.

"The truth is... I can't remember much about my past.  Parents, family, friends, all gone.  Except Heechul.  And I remember... he changed.  He became... different.  Bad.  I don't know how, I just know he was bad.  Bad for me."  She looks like she is reciting lines fed to her word by word, but seems to believe it all.

"Did you do drugs?"  Yixing blurts out, and Minseok stares at him like he's crazy.  Yixing blushes but stares back. 

"No!  Of course not.  I woke up in a hospital room with Ryeowook-ssi.  He told me everything; I was in a car accident that killed my parents, but somehow I survived.  I don't have any memories, but Ryeowook told me about the most important ones.  We weren't very well off; the car we had was old and breaking, so we were the ones that suffered the most in the crash.  I was twelve," Minseok adds.

"Oh..."  Yixing nods.  "My story is pretty typical.  My dad couldn't take it, he ran away, my mom uses all her wages and mine to buy drugs."

The two sit in silence for a moment, wondering what it would be like to live the life of a normal person.

Unimaginable.  Because to the two of them, their lives are already as normal as it can get.

And then suddenly Yixing is flying off the bench he is sitting on, and Minseok is too shocked to scream, to shocked to do anything but to cower down into a ball, her long hair flying over her body as if it could protect it.

"Look at me," a voice says, and it's so familiar, but so soft and so, so scary.  Minseok trembles as she looks up into a pair of sharp eyes set in a face with a sharp jawline that others envy.

"What's wrong with you?"  Heechul asks.  "Why did you run away?  What, are you scared?  Of me!?"  Heechul suddenly starts laughing, quiet sobs that rack his body, which Minseok suddenly notices is way too skinny to be healthy.  

And then Heechul is push backwards.  "Stop that.  Get away from her."  It's Yixing, and Minseok notices how he winces when he moves his back.

"You found yourself a replacement of me already," Heechul laughs.  Yixing bites his lip, not knowing what to do, because despite seeing so much of it, he hates violence.  

Luckily, Heechul just picks himself up, brushing the dust off of his jacket.

"See you later, Princess."

Kim Jongdae doesn't think he's good at singing.

It's something that comes naturally for him.  His parents are barely home, and he's an only child, so he has no set backs.  Sometimes, he sings happy songs, upbeat songs, just so he can feel, for three minutes, a life that is not his own, a life that is happy.  Other times, he sings sad songs that are so meaningful that Jongdae thinks he is actually very lucky.

Either way, he definitely didn't expect to be picked as the main lead of the school play.

Jongdae isn't handsome, either, or so he thinks.  He thinks that his jaw is too square, his mouth looks weird.  At least, that's what everybody tells him.

He's envious of Byun Baekhyun and Do Kyungsoo.  They're good looking, especially Baekhyun.  They're both great singers, with flawless technique.

So what is Kim Jongdae doing, sitting in the room where the cast for the play is meeting up?

He looks up at Baekhyun as he talks, a big smile on his face.  Jongdae wishes he could smile like that, instead of the default upcurling of his lips, like a dolphin.  You can never tell if his smile is real or not.

Before he knows it, the meeting is over and Jongdae is clutching a CD in his hand of all the songs in the play.  He'll definitely listen to it later, because he doesn't want to be a disappointment to the class.

It has nothing to do with the fact that he found out that Minseok is the female lead.

Jongdae won't lie to himself though.  His heart is touched by her, by her smile and the way she managed to reassure him with one look.

But he also knows he probably isn't the only one.  So he decides to keep it to himself.

When Oh Sehun walks into class, he's annoyed to see that Minseok does actually have a seatmate.

He's pretty good looking, too, except for the bruise on his right cheek.  Sehun thinks of going over there and demanding his seat back, but Minseok's glare resurfaces in his memory and he decides to just take someone else's seat.

Then he scolds himself, because what does he care that Minseok's seatmate is good looking?

Sehun fidgets the whole time during class, but the teacher is afraid to call him out.  When the bell rigns, Sehun bolts out the door to the locker room.

That's right, Oh Sehun is using the locker room.

The locker room.  A nightmare for teenage boys.  With the scent of many different hormones wafting through the air and different shades of backs in front of every locker.

But it's better than the embarrassment Sehun went through the other day after showing up at dance class in his suit.

Sehun is given a wide berth, of course.  He walks in with his nose high to avoid the worst of the fumes and claims a whole bench for himself.  He changes behind a portable cubicle and walks out in hundred dollar tank top and thousand dollar sweatpants that hang on his skinny, pale frame.  He doesn't use the lockers, glaring around at everyone to make sure that they know nothing had better be missing.

N looks visibly relieved when Sehun walks in dressed comfortably.  "Sehun-ah!  So glad you're here today.  Let's get started!"

Sehun tries to be angry to N is already dropping honorifics, but it's soon all forgotten as Wonsik and N start teaching Sehun how to dance.

A/N Introducting Kim Heechul! I've watched a bunch of random clips of him, and I have to say, he is one amazing person. But these days he's not as... I don't know... happy anymore? Confident?  Also, school's been horrible lately, sorry.  All in all, it's been a ty week.  Sorry for mistakes!