A/N: only a small update, but as you may be starting to see, this is a story of snapshots. They all interlink, and as the story progresses, it will begin to make more sense, and (hopefully) it will flow more. Criticism is always appreciated, and I hope you like it!

Of the few classes he and Sehun ended up in together through mismatching timetables and general school chaos, Jongin often finds himself enjoying Business and Economics far too much; and it certainly isn’t down to the thrilling curriculum.

At first, isn’t all that obvious why; he and Sehun are sat on opposite sides of the room. They’re too far apart to communicate or cause any mischief. At a closer look, however, a student passing by might gaze through the classroom window and see where Jongin’s attention usually is, instead of on the whiteboard or their teacher: watching Sehun. He just can’t help himself. The two of them are so similar, and yet so different at the same time, and it pulls at something deep inside of him that he isn’t sure he quite understands.

Where Jongin’s skin is tanned, Sehun’s is white as snow. His ash blonde hair falls delicately in front of his eyes, straight yet textured, and quite different from Jongin’s chocolate brunette locks, all waves and liquid shine.

Jongin may be slim, but he is also muscular, a light tracing of abs dancing across the bronze expanse of his chest and stomach beneath the white of his school shirt. Sehun, however, is beyond slim in the extreme; fast approaching thin, but so beautiful. Jongin thinks he could genuinely lose himself for part of forever studying his willowy frame as he carefully jots down notes from the teacher, arm shifting ever so slightly with each loop, dot, and cross. Beneath his shirt, delicate collarbones flutter against fragile skin, and above it, he has razor sharp cheekbones to match.

And then Jongin finds his mind wandering again to another key difference: Jongin eats, but Sehun hardly ever does.

 Jongin then also keeps his food down, but on the rare occasions he can coax Sehun into ingesting something, he never does.

A final similarity: neither of them seems to know why

A final difference: Jongin plans to find out.

___

Jongin observes at lunch time the same day that, sooner or later, this situation is going to reach a boiling point. Even Luhan, usually so absorbed by everything and nothing in the world around them, is beginning to notice.

“Ugh, just eat something, would you? You’re skinny as already; you put the rest of us to shame,” he says over a bowl of tomato pasta, ever his oh so tactful self. Jongin feels himself tense, ready for some kind of an outburst at best. Sehun, however, replies with a simple,

“Imagine if it were that simple,” from behind his manga.

“It is, dummy,” Luhan shoots back. “Food in, energy out, it’s how we humans live. I can only assume it’s the same for the aliens on planet Sehun.”

Snap.

Sehun shut his manga with possibly more force than necessary, and placed it on the table before him. Watched carefully by Jongin and Luhan, he reached below the table, and fished out of his schoolbag a Tupperware container. Now placing this on the table, he unclipped the top to reveal the contents.

“What do you see?” Sehun asked, directing the question at Luhan. Jongin looked on in quietly curious silence.

A pause.

“I see some slices of apple…?” Luhan replied, somehow unsure that the simple answer was the right one.

“Correct,” the younger replied.

“What you see here is one medium sized apple, weighing approximately 182 grams. This provides 95 calories, and contains 0.3 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbohydrate, 19 grams of which is sugar, 4.4 grams of fibre, and a near inconsequential half a gram of protein.”

In the shocked silence that followed, Jongin took a moment to marvel at the real depth of Sehun’s knowledge of every single one of the few calories he would willingly put into his body. He had it down to a science. Luhan sat frozen, his mouth slightly agape.

 “So there it is,” he said, replacing the lid back onto the container and clipping it into place. “95 calories, composed mainly of sugar,” he winced, “which I don’t need,” and the box was returned to his bag.

Luhan doesn’t ask again.