Hansol never really took the necklace off after that, though she never breathed a word of it to Byungjoo. She was sure that he’d noticed but she never came out and said anything, instead letting it be a tiny, unspoken secret between the two of them.

Sighing softly, Hansol walked through the line for lunch, picking up one of the few things that could be considered edible before making her way to a table. No one was sitting there, so she just sat by herself, idly playing with her food until she eventually gave up and took a bite.

It tasted just as bad as it looked.

Instead of eating she focused on the drink she’d picked up, looking around the cafeteria and watching all the people around her. The longer she spent looking, the less she wanted to be there by herself, and she nearly got up and left before she heard someone plop down on top of the table beside her and she looked up with wide eyes, straw still between her lips as Byungjoo grinned down at her.

“What’s up, pretty miss?” he asked, and Hansol grinned happily as she shrugged and looked down. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he added, cocking his head and leaning over so he could see Hansol’s face.

“Nothing,” Hansol replied easily, shaking her head but still staring off at the people that were surrounding them. Byungjoo raised a brow, frowning and following her line of sight. When it landed on some of the couples nearby Byungjoo felt his heart drop.

He’d never really taken into consideration that he could never remember Hansol being in a relationship. Honestly, he had no idea how to help with the situation at all, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to try.

“Do you want to hang out after school?” he asked, and Hansol nodded quietly, a little frown apparent on her lips as Byungjoo sighed softly. He just watched as she looked over everyone around them, and though it was hesitant, he reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, not messing it up like he usually did but instead trying to do it in a calming way. Hansol closed her eyes, turning back to Byungjoo and about to say something when Byungjoo smiled softly. “Are you wearing lip gloss?” he asked, and Hansol blinked but nodded. Nibbling on the inside of his lip, Byungjoo shrugged. “It looks good.”

That was all it took to get Hansol through the day.

As the bell rang to end the school day Hansol ran after Byungjoo, taking him by the wrist and pulling him off toward the car. Byungjoo just laughed as he watched, about to say something until he looked over at a few students who were talking and looking at them.

Byungjoo was doing everything in his power to steer Hansol away from anyone that could have been spreading a rumor.

As they slipped into Byungjoo’s car, Hansol immediately music, not even waiting for Byungjoo to start driving away. Rolling his eyes, Byungjoo simply relinquished control of the radio to Hansol, letting her put on whatever music she wanted.

As long as she was happy, Byungjoo would deal with any of the pop that she wanted to listen to.

When they ended up at the mall Byungjoo wasn’t surprised, having not been paying too much attention to where they were going. He had just been focusing on Hansol as she put on an impromptu concert for him from the passenger seat, complete with bowing and Byungjoo’s applause and shouts for an encore. Instead Hansol shook her head, getting out of the car and closing the door behind her as she waited for Byungjoo to follow. There was a long silence, the two walking through the halls before Hansol turned to Byungjoo with a curios look on her face.

“Do you really think the lip gloss looks good?” she asked, Byungjoo turning to her and blinking before he nodded.

“Yeah. It suits you. Not like you need makeup or anything, but it looks nice.” Hansol nodded, humming in response as they continued walking.

It was a sudden movement when Hansol pulled Byungjoo into a store, Byungjoo himself almost losing his balance before he managed to catch himself and look around. Hansol had already walked off, leaving Byungjoo to glance around at the rows of makeup in slight confusion.

He had only barely been able to find something to do in a clothing store. When it came to this he was at a loss.

Eventually he just followed Hansol, quietly watching as she picked up little containers of things he honestly had no idea about. She even asked him questions but judging by the lack of understanding written all over his face it was clear that he had no idea what he was being asked. Eventually Hansol sighed.

“Byungjoo… You don’t know anything about makeup, do you?” she asked, and Byungjoo just shook his head.

“No, I don’t,” he replied honestly, Hansol nodding as she twirled a tube of lipstick between her fingers. She took off the cap, looking at the color and pursing her lips as she thought. The lip gloss she’d put on had long since worn off, and the deep red of the lipstick that she was holding was something she’d never actually tried. So, Byungjoo watched as she looked in the mirror, dabbing some onto her lips and cocking her head at her reflection. Then she turned to Byungjoo, smiling.

“Does it look okay?” she asked, Byungjoo staring directly at her lips until she turned to look back at the mirror. “Or is it too dark?”

Byungjoo really wanted to say something. He wanted to tell Hansol that that color looked perfect, that it made her lips look extremely nice, that he couldn’t really stop staring at them. But instead of any of that, Byungjoo just nodded, still looking at Hansol’s reflection.

“Yeah… Yeah, it looks nice,” he replied, words coming out after an almost awkward pause as Hansol looked at him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, positive.”

With that Hansol grinned, looking at the color and nodding before grabbing a fresh box and walking off. Byungjoo followed behind, Hansol ending up in a discussion about eyeliner with one of the women that worked there. Byungjoo was at a loss.

Makeup wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

Hansol bought the lipstick and a couple of other small things, Byungjoo peering through the bag as Hansol led him around the mall again. He had no idea what all she had bought, but he assumed that he would be told eventually. Nothing else really happened, the two just walking through the stores and talking while pretending they didn’t have any homework to do. When Hansol finally checked her phone her eyes went wide.

“Oh… I need to get home,” she said, Byungjoo raising a brow as she turned to look at him. “I have a paper I need to write and I haven’t even started on it,” she added, Byungjoo nodding as he started walking toward the car. He smirked.

“You need to stop hanging out with me, then. I’m a bad influence,” he replied, chuckling to himself as Hansol shook her head.

“No, you make me happy,” she admitted, and Byungjoo looked to her with a little smile.

They didn’t say much the entire drive back to Hansol’s house, but neither of them really stopped grinning.

Hansol slipped out when they got back to her house, waving as Byungjoo drove away. He would have been too distracting had he stayed, so he decided to let Hansol do her homework on her own. Instead he drove past his house, putting off his own work to relax with friends.

He wasn’t surprised when he saw Sanggyun laughing as he watch Sangwon paint, Sangwon with a cigarette between his lips and Sanggyun with slightly bloodshot eyes. They both turned to look at Byungjoo as he walked up, Sanggyun immediately tossing him a can of spray paint as he grinned.

“Wow, haven’t seen you in ages,” Sanggyun greeted as he pushed himself to a standing position, using the wall as leverage. Sangwon nodded, pausing in his painting to turn to Byungjoo.

“Yeah man, where the have you been?” He offered Byungjoo the cigarette between his lips but Byungjoo shook his head, gesturing to the pack instead.

“If you’re gonna offer me a cigarette, give me a fresh one. And I’ve been busy,” he replied, Sangwon tossing him a lighter and the box. Byungjoo took one of the sticks, lighting it up and taking a long drag. Sanggyun just watched in near silence, walking over to Byungjoo and patting his shoulder.

“Busy with…?” he started, words coming out a bit more singsong than he had probably been intending. Byungjoo just stared at him.

“How high are you right now?” he asked, and Sanggyun stared at him for a moment before he just started laughing, shrugging. Byungjoo accepted that as an answer, shaking the can of paint as he balanced the cigarette between his lips and puffed on it absently. Sangwon watched him, eyes narrowed as Byungjoo started painting seemingly random things on the wall in front of them.

“Seriously, where the have you been? You disappeared for a while. You been hanging with that one really faggy kid. What’s his name? Hansol?” Sangwon asked, Byungjoo stiffening at the description but saying nothing. Instead, Sangwon continued. “You two got some weird thing going on?” Sanggyun laughed from his spot, leaning up against the wall once more.

“Are you two ing?” he asked, and Byungjoo looked to Sanggyun in irritation, punching him in the shoulder hard. Sangwon blinked.

“No. We’re not. We’re just friends, shut the up,” Byungjoo replied, tone hinting at a bit of sharp anger as he stopped painting. “Don’t say that.”

“Don’t say what?” Sangwon asked, arms crossed over his chest as he turned to look at Byungjoo. Sangwon quirked a brow. “? Or that you two are ing? You know that’s going around school, right?” Byungjoo turned to Sangwon, brows furrowed.

“What do you mean?” he asked, and Sangwon smirked.

“People are saying you two are dating. All you do is hang with that kid. You going gay on us?” he asked, Byungjoo frowning.

“We’re just friends. Shut the up, Sangwon,” Byungjoo replied, shaking his head.

“Wow, so defensive. Damn,” he said, Sanggyun laughing in the background as he nudged Byungjoo’s shoulder. Byungjoo turned around and glared at him, eyes narrowed as he took in a deep breath. “I was ing kidding, take a joke.”

There was a long silence as Byungjoo watched Sangwon go back to painting, taking a few more puffs of the cigarette between his lips as he thought.

He had assumed that there would be rumors going around about Hansol but he hadn’t ever really thought about the ones that would be going around about himself. He had started spending all of his time with Hansol, so it only made sense, and he absently wondered what would happen if he stopped spending as much time with her. It didn’t matter, though, because he wasn’t going to do that. Hansol was leaning on him for whatever help and strength he could offer her, and Byungjoo wasn’t about to walk away from her.

“You two are boring, I’m going home,” Byungjoo said suddenly, flicking his cigarette to the ground before turning and walking off. Sangwon shouted something after him but he ignored it, getting into his car and driving off without another word.

He couldn’t handle the two of them calling Hansol names.

When he got home, Byungjoo went straight to his room, closing the door behind him and sitting down at his desk. He stared at the book sitting in front of him, then sighed and looked to his computer instead.

Byungjoo wasn’t up for doing homework right now. Instead, he browsed the internet, mind too distracted to do anything else.

When he got to school the next day it was clear how little he had slept, dark circles under his eyes as he rubbed them. Hansol glanced over, about offer him a happy wave, but instead her smile fell and she walked over, brows knit together in concern.

“Are you okay? You look terrible,” she said, Byungjoo raising a brow as he leaned against the lockers. He reached up, pushing unkempt hair from in front of his eyes as he shrugged.

“I slept for… An hour last night,” he admitted, Hansol about to open in response before Byungjoo shook his head. “No, it’s… I’m fine. I was just… Can we hang at your place after school? I want to talk to you.” Hansol cocked her head, nodding but still confused. That confusion remained for the entire day, even when Hansol opened the door to her room and Byungjoo walked in, flopping down onto the bed.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, setting her bag down on her desk chair and watching as Byungjoo sat up.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so… Dead today,” he said, Hansol shaking her head in response. “I was up late last night. Reading stuff,” he added, and Hansol sat down on the bed next to him, legs curled under her.

“Stuff?” she asked, and Byungjoo nodded.

“Stuff. About… Transitioning and stuff,” he mumbled, Hansol blinking.

“You were… researching for me?” she asked, and Byungjoo nodded, looking through his bag and pulling a few papers out. “Did you take notes?”

“I was tired, so I didn’t want to forget. So I wrote it down.” Byungjoo’s gaze was focused on the paper so he didn’t see Hansol smiling, but he continued with his explanation, handing some of the papers to Hansol. “It said that you should be really comfortable with everything, and that you should really take things at your own pace. There’s notes about how much things cost, what to do about voice and hair and stuff… I think I got everything covered. There’s even legal stuff on name changes if you want to do that. I don’t know how much of this can affect you because you’re still technically a minor, but…” Byungjoo looked up, offering Hansol a smile and shrugging. “I just want you to be able to be you, okay?”

Hansol stared at Byungjoo for a long time before she leaned forward, arms wrapped tightly around Byungjoo’s shoulders as she bit her lip.

“I can’t believe you did all of this for me,” she said softly, head buried in the crook of Byungjoo’s neck. Byungjoo just smiled, both hands smoothing up Hansol’s back as he returned the hug gently. “It means a lot. Thank you.”

Hansol didn’t really know how to tell Byungjoo how grateful she was. She had done some research, but not to this extent. Byungjoo had even gotten some numbers and addresses, places that Hansol had never heard of. She just looked down at the paper, reading over everything until Byungjoo tossed something else down next to her. She looked over at it.

“What’s this?” she asked, opening the bag a bit and peeking in. Byungjoo just shrugged.

“Hard to get was what it was,” he replied, lying back on the bed. “I know that you said that you were growing out your hair, but I just... I thought maybe you would want one. I raided my mom’s room while no one was home and swiped one of her wigs.” Hansol blinked at him, setting the papers down on the bed and opening the bag completely now.

“Your mom wears wigs?” she asked, pulling the black wig from the bag and shaking it out. Byungjoo glared at her, pointing at the wig and then back up at Hansol.

“Don’t you tell her you know that, okay? She has a lot, so I figured she wouldn’t miss one. That is, if you want it. If not, I can just take it back.” Hansol shook her head, holding the wig close and smiling.

“No, I’ll keep it,” she said, nibbling her lip and looking down. There was a gentle silence, Hansol brushing her fingers through the soft hair and Byungjoo just looking on. He narrowed his eyes, head cocked as he leaned over onto his hand.

“Did you ever even try on that uniform?” he asked, and Hansol paused, looking up at Byungjoo and feeling her cheeks flush slightly. She pursed her lips and looked away, shaking her head. “I just wanted to know if it fits. If it doesn’t, I’ll trade it out for one of her other ones or something.” Hansol nodded in understanding, fiddling absently with the wig and setting it down.

“I could just try it on now, if you’re okay with giving me a second,” she said, standing and walking over to her closet. Byungjoo nodded, watching in silence as she dug through the closet and found the bag with the uniform in it. She looked back, shooting a smile at Byungjoo and holding up a finger as she slipped into the bathroom. “One minute,” she said, closing the door and leaving Byungjoo by himself on the bed. He picked up a magazine, flipping through the pages despite not really reading anything.

He assumed that Hansol would be a bit shy, and Byungjoo wasn’t honestly sure how she would look. He assumed that the uniform might be a bit too loose or a bit too small, that something wouldn’t look quite right. When the door opened, however, Byungjoo looked up, eyes widening when he saw Hansol.

Whatever he had been expecting, he had been wrong.

Apparently Hansol fit into Byungjoo’s sister’s clothes just fine, because it fit perfectly. With the exception of being a bit loose in the chest and hips, everything was perfect. Byungjoo just stared, mouth open to say anything, but when he found out that he couldn’t he just let out a little exhalation of a laugh, smiling almost dreamily as he looked her over. He even glanced down, noticing shaved legs but saying nothing about it. Eventually he just stood, now noticing the bit of makeup she’d had on for the first time.

“I-it… You… It fits really well,” he said, Hansol looking up at him and smiling.

“Yeah?” she asked, walking over to the mirror and looking in it. Byungjoo continued to watch, taking in a quick breath as he watched Hansol through the reflection. “Can you hand me that, too?” she asked, pointing to the wig on the bed as Byungjoo nodded and handed it over to her. She shot him a smile. “Thanks.”

Then the wig was on and Hansol turned around, looking to Byungjoo with a questioning glance.

“Does it look okay?” she asked, and Byungjoo just stared for a second, letting out an almost shaky breath before he smiled and nodded. He stepped forward, adjusting the wig a bit on Hansol’s head and unable to stop himself from brushing a few strands from Hansol’s face and behind her ear. It might have just been him but he could honestly not rip his eyes away from looking at Hansol, and he swallowed deeply, his hand resting on her shoulder lightly.

“Yeah, it… You look beautiful,” he admitted softly, Hansol’s cheeks reddening a bit. Byungjoo just continued looking, brows furrowed just slightly as he let his gaze flick down to Hansol’s lips.

And then he stared.

It felt like they stayed in that moment for ages, Byungjoo trying to say anything at all and failing and Hansol not sure what to say either. Eventually Byungjoo just looked to his hand, lifting it from Hansol’s shoulder and patting it a few times as he pulled away from her.

“Yeah. I mean. You look… It looks great,” he finally said, laughing to himself and taking a few steps back. Byungjoo honestly had no idea what had come over him but he forced himself to sit down on the bed, busying himself with putting the papers that were now strewn about back together. “You don’t have to wear it all, or try to do it right away. Just… Whenever. Just be you.” Byungjoo grinned, watching as Hansol pursed her lips and nodded.

“I know… But it’s good that it fits, right? You don’t have to steal any more of your sister’s clothes for me.” She grinned at Byungjoo through the reflection, winking as Byungjoo nodded and rolled his eyes.

“You say that like it’s gonna stop me,” he replied, Hansol laughing and shrugging.

“It was worth a shot,” she replied, nibbling her lip and walking back to sit on the bed. Byungjoo looked at her, chuckling a bit at her words and nodding.

It was so different seeing Hansol sitting next to him like this. The hair was framing her face perfectly, the uniform looked perfect on her, and Byungjoo could do nothing but try not to stare. At the moment he was doing a decent job, but he couldn’t help it.

Hansol looked amazing.

Without a word, Byungjoo reached out, pulling Hansol into a hug and holding her close. Hansol’s eyes went wide but she said nothing, just resting her head on Byungjoo’s shoulder. All he could think about was what Sanggyun and Sangwon had been talking about, how there were rumors being spread and how everyone would react if they knew. Byungjoo wasn’t going to tell anyone, he was going to let Hansol do it when she was ready.

After Hansol changed into pajamas Byungjoo stayed in her room, the two talking most of the night.

Neither of them even realized they were tired until both had fallen asleep.

Neither of them realized how Hansol had curled closer during the night, or how Byungjoo kept his arms around her.