Junho was bored. It was summer vacation and he had no one to hang out with. Wooyoung was dragged to Busan to visit family and Chansung had taekwondo and gumdo competitions. Tired of the boy loafing around the house and playing video games, his mom ordered him outside. With a few grumbles he walked to the large park at the center of town. He found a shady tree and planted himself under it for what he knew was going to be an uneventful session of people watching.

After an hour Junho was ready to fall asleep when a lone figure caught his eye. He was tall, especially compared to the ajummas speed walking around the park, and had soft looking chocolate brown hair. His patterned shirt hung on his wide shoulders as if his frame was a hanger. His small but wide eyes scanned the park and finally came to stop on the tree near Junho. As he made his way over and took a seat with his large backpack, all Junho could think was ‘gorgeous’.

The boy shook his head furiously there was no way Lee Junho, male, could ever think another man was gorgeous. Despite himself, Junho’s gaze returned to the newcomer. He had put on a pair of headphones only covering one ear and brought out a large sketch book and a bag of art materials. Junho stared as the man began to draw. It fascinated Junho how the man pursed his pink lips and narrowed his panda eyes in concentration.

At one point the man laughed to himself and Junho thought he never heard something so pure and beautiful. He almost wished he knew the joke so he could make the man laugh again. Junho continued to watch him completely oblivious to the world around him until his phone rang. The music startled him and his mysterious artist looked up as well. Slightly embarrassed, Junho quickly answered his phone, “Yeoboseyo?”

“Honey. It’s almost 5 o’clock, time to come home.”

“Okay umma.” He ended the call and noticed it was 4:43 pm. He had been staring at the mysterious person for almost two and half hours. He glanced back at the man and accidently made eye contact. Junho blushed as the man flashed him a pearly white smile. Before he could embarrass himself, Junho left the park and went home.

For the rest of summer break, any day it wasn’t raining the small eyed boy found himself in the park under the tree waiting for the man to come. Most days he would send Junho a bright smile that sent his heart racing. He tried to convince himself it was from embarrassment from being noticed rather than him being attracted to the man.

But there were some days he did not come, leaving Junho disappointed. The boy would then wander the park almost feeling lost.

It was the last day of summer that was the worst of the worst. This was his last free day before he had to return to school and it rained torrentially all day. With such horrible weather, Junho could not go to the park. Meaning he could not see the handsome artist and today was the day Junho made up his mind to actually speak to him. His mysterious obsession was probably a college student and he wouldn’t be able to see him again. For the entire day he sat at the window staring towards the park.

*     *     *

 Junho felt somewhat sad to going back to school the next day. That is until his friends both who were slightly taller than him, engulfed him in a double hung.

“Junho-yah,” they chorused.

“Hi Wooyoung, hi Chansung.”

Wooyoung whined in his ear with all the aegyo he denied having, “I missed you so much. Busan was absolutely boring and my cousins were brats the entire time.”

Junho just laughed as they finally let him go and sat next to him at the desks. He turned to the tallest but youngest of the trio, “How were the competitions, Chansung?”

“Okay, I guess. I won first in gumdo, but only third in guryeogi. I tripped up on the last point by moving faster than I should have.” Chansung grumbled, no doubt still kicking himself over the mistake. “What about you Junho? I mean you were stuck here by yourself. “

“Yeah meet any cute girls?” Wooyoung teased.

“Nah. Spent most of the time lazing in the park.” He just didn’t tell them about the man he watched in the park. He was afraid they would make fun of his stalker-ish obsession or worse think he was gay.

 The teacher came in at the point and everyone rushed to their assigned seats.

*     *     *

After finally being released for lunch, the trio grabbed a table near the back of the cafeteria. While they ate Wooyoung dominated the conversation by complaining about the eight horrendous weeks he spent with his extended family. Chansung nodded where appropriate as he stuffed himself with as much food as possible. Junho on the other hand only half listened to his friend’s whining. His mind drifted to the park and the beautiful man. Would he notice he wasn’t there? Would he be disappointed or sad? Or would he be happy the kid who always stared at him was gone? Junho mused over these thoughts until he spotted a familiar head of soft brown hair. In the back corner of the cafeteria at a table by himself sat Junho’s enigma.

He’s a student here? Is he new? I never saw him before that day in the park. He turned to the trio’s maknae, “Hey Chansung.” The boy looked up from the banana he was eating. “Do you know who that is?”

Chansung looked where Junho was pointing. “Oh. That’s Kim Minjun. He transferred into 2E the week before summer break. Rumor has it his family moved here after his dad lost his job in Singapore.”

Wooyoung chimed in, “According to Kyuhyun-hyung he’s a complete weirdo. That whole first week he kept talking and humming to himself. And he was always drawing in some book.”
Fear coursed through Junho’s veins. If he approached Minjun now it would be social suicide. Not wanting to be labeled a weirdo as well, Junho made up his mind to stay away from Kim Minjun.

*     *     *

For the first month back at school the only attention he paid the other man was quick glances during lunch hour. He wondered how the older boy was so happy alone when Junho would feel so lost without his friends. One day after Chuseok vacation, Minjun caught him looking and sent him that pearly smile. Junho flushed. The change in his complexion alerted Wooyoung who looked around. He saw Minjun’s smile and scoffed. “That guy really is weird. You know he’s been staring at you for the last week? It’s really creepy.”

Wooyoung place an arm around Junho protectively as Chansung leaned in, “Do you think he’s gay?”

“He better stay away,” Wooyoung growled and the both of them sent glares at Minjun. Then Chansung smirked, “Uh-oh here comes Taecyeon.”

Ok Taecyeon was the school’s student vice president with straight A’s and a large physic. A model student, he abhorred anything or anyone out of the ordinary and was very vocal about it. He wasn’t a bad person but he was into very nice either. The trio watched quietly as the older boy stormed over to Minjun.

“Yo Panda-boy!” Taecyeon called out rudely in English.

Minjun responded in kind, “Yes, Mr. Boston? What can I do for you?”

Junho and everyone else were as surprised as Taecyeon at the slightly accented English. It did not take long for Taecyeon to recover though, and they were soon arguing in English. Taecyeon’s voice got louder with every sentence while Minjun’s responses were calm and steady. Junho had no idea what they were saying so he was startled when a chuckle came from Minjun’s pink lips.

Switching to Korean in his fury, Taecyeon’s voice dropped an octave and had a dangerous edge, “What the hell are you laughing at?”

Minjun gave him a half smile, “Noting. Nothing at all.”

That’s when Junho saw it. A little red trail of mist and light swirling around the furious Taecyeon.

*     *     *

Junho tried to tell himself they were nothing. The colorful wispy trails were just his mind playing tricks. He must have eaten something bad or hit his head on something at some point. They would go away eventually.

They didn’t.

In fact each day the number of wisps he saw increased. They were mischievous beings, causing all sorts of mayhem for unsuspecting people. But they were also beautiful creatures creating amazing displays of color as they danced around an oblivious world. Something about the swirling colors nagged at the back of his mind so he kept watching them.

One of the things he noticed was how they liked to hang around Minjun. They never caused him any trouble but rather gathered around him like moths to an encased flame. Every so often they would do something you could almost deem as funny and Minjun would start laughing. Everyone would stare at him, muttering under their breath at the ‘crazy’ boy, but Minjun ignored them.

Did this mean he saw them too? Was Junho a freak just like him? As much as he wanted to ask Minjun about the colorful creatures, Junho did not want to draw attention to himself. So rather than ask the strange boy for help, Junho tried to deal with them alone.

*     *     *

Things went fine until December came around. During the school day a severe storm that was not supposed to his until the next day assaulted the area with nearly half a meter of snow. All the students were directed to either the cafeteria or the gymnasium until the roads and sidewalks were cleared enough to allow them to leave. Junho and his friends were sent to the cafeteria and sat at their normal table with four other students, two seniors and two others from their grade level.

While Chansung and Wooyoung made quick friends with them, Junho unconsciously searched for Minjun. He almost sighed in relief as he saw sitting in a corner with his sketch book out. The artist was drawing while a few of the bright wisps looked like they were trying to mimic falling snow. A pink wisp rested itself on Minjun’s shoulder as if it were watching him draw. Junho chuckled softly at the cute display.

But then, Taecyeon came. The larger boy strode over as he own the world and grabbed Minjun’s sketchbook right out of his hands.

“Yah!”

“What’s up Panda-boy?” Taecyeon sneered at the boy sitting on the floor. He flipped harshly through the sketchbook. “What the hell! Are you on shrooms or something?”

Minjun tried to get the book back but Taecyeon was just that much taller. Almost as if they could sense his trepidation, the wisps that were playing with Minjun earlier turned red and started attacking his tormentor. Before he could think about what he was doing, Junho stood up and got in between the two. He tapped the older boy on the shoulder, “Taecyeon-sunbaenim, you should stop now.”

Taecyeon turned his glare on Junho who was regretting interfering already. “Why? You his friend?”

“No, but the teachers are watching.” Junho pointed to two teachers who just so happened to look their way.

“Whatever!” He threw the sketchbook at Minjun and stormed away. Some of the red wisps dissipated but most followed the larger student still attacking him to the best of their ability.

There was a soft ‘Thank you’ from behind him. Junho turned to look at Minjun, who was covered in pink and blue wisps and hugging his sketchbook carefully.

“Are you thanking me or them?” Junho muttered under his breath but to his dismay Minjun heard him.

The flat panda eyes widened and his voice hitched in disbelief, “You can see them too?”

Junho bolted.

A/N: Wow so many subscribers! Thank you for pre-subscribing and for the upvote. Although a bit jumpy, I hope this doesn't disappoint. You will get chapter 2 tomorrow. Please, please, please let me know what you think.

Enjoy the festival everybody and happy birthday Khunnie!!!