Sehun didn’t face away, he remained still, staring blankly into the eyes of what he considered ‘pure perfection’ before him.  Tao never seemed to stop blinking; his eyes were always dark and puffy and today was no exception.  It was as if he never slept for more than a second, his frequent blinks could be thought of as miniature naps.  Unlike Tao, who never once showed any emotive expression, Sehun was an attention seeker, constantly showing off his vibrant colours.  Although he was often complimented on his energetic and attractive nature, Sehun thought otherwise.  In his eyes, he could never compare to Tao.

Tao was different from the rest.  He was unique, or at least at this school he was.  While Sehun boasted of his appearance, underneath, he greatly admired the mature and mysterious vibe he never once failed to get from Tao.  Tao’s expressionless style only engaged this fact as he so humbly offers help to the needy, despite being constantly ignored for being the odd one out.  Tao didn’t care less.  He could just turn away and move on with his life.  Besides, he probably didn’t remember.  He didn’t have the time and he didn’t have the memory.

“Hey Tao! Fancy seeing you here today.  Don’t you think I look exceptionally fabulous today?” Sehun snickered as he twirled around Tao.
“Who are you?” Tao asked for the tenth time that day.
“Silly Tao.  Stop pretending you don’t know who I am just because you’re jealous.”
“Jealous of what? I don’t even know who you are.”

Sehun giggled, their conversations always started off like this.  Tao would ‘fake’ cluelessness, Sehun would grumble about how annoying the habit was, Sehun would then proceed to boast of his incredulous identity and Tao would follow up by blowing a few bubbles and leave.  Every single day, it was the exact same routine, over and over again.  After meeting the boy countless times, it couldn’t be possible that Tao didn’t remember him.  After all, Sehun was the brightest, most eye-catching one there.

“Tao!” Sehun yelled.  He wasn’t going to let such a perfect opportunity, such beauty, such handsomeness, slip away from him like every other day.  Today, something had to be done, something must be done.

“Tao.  I love you.”
“…who are you?” Tao answered back, giving the same expressionless face he always wore.
“Tao, I love you.  I love you Tao,” Sehun repeated himself, his voice becoming shaky, “Please don’t do this to me.  Not today.  Please.”
“Don’t do what? You didn’t answer my question either.  Who are you?”
“Tao.  You know damn well who I am! This isn’t funny anymore!” Sehun begged.
“Please.  Just leave me alone.  I have no idea who you are.”

“Can’t you see my tears?” Sehun cried, his outburst finally catching the attention of all the surrounding bystanders.
“No,” Tao answered straightforwardly.
“My tears are for you Tao.  I told you I love you Tao.  Don’t ignore me.”
“I’ve already said it multiple times now, I don’t know who you are.”

Sehun backed off a few centimetres, but just as he knew Tao was about to turn away once more, he added one last statement.

“You can’t see tears underwater Tao! You can’t see my heart that belongs to you and only you.”
“Of course I can’t.  You are a stranger to me.”

Sehun swam to the edge of the fish tank and placed his fins on the glass, “Don’t play games Tao.  Say that again and we’re going down, along with everyone else around us.”
“Don’t do it Hun,” Suho scolded, pulling the boy away from the edge, “You’ll only embarrass yourself.”
“No.  My heart will hurt, my heart will shatter if I see him again.  If I break this bowl, at least the pain will go away.  A shattered fishbowl and a heart that doesn’t beat, is far better than one that only gives me pain,” Sehun cried again.

“Sehun,” Kris, the largest goldfish of them all, stormed over to Sehun and dragged him away.  “Your outburst has gone on long enough.  I think it’s time we told you the truth.”  Suho nodded in agreement and swam over to pat Sehun’s fins, “Sehun.  Tao has a 10 second memory.  He’s a different type of goldfish.  Don’t ask me how, what or why, I don’t know.  But the boy has been like that ever since the owner put him in this fishbowl.”

“Don’t worry Sehun.  There are plenty of fish in the sea,” Kai reassured, pushing a dazed Yixing in front of the broken hearted boy, “Like this handsome man here."
“But Kai.  You don't understand.  You’ll never understand.  We aren’t in the sea.  There are a total of 12 fish here including myself and I only just found out that the love of my life has a 10 second memory.  I should’ve pushed the bowl off the ledge sooner.  I hate you all.”
“Sehun, don’t be like that.  You were so in love, none of us could gather the courage to tell you the truth.”
“In this entire school of fish, you all decided to hide such an important fact from me.  How could you?” Sehun glared.
“Hun…”

“You know what,” Sehun snapped, “Screw you all.  I’m better than all of you combined.  I’ll prove that my fabulousness will win over Tao’s heart.  I will make him fall in love with me every 10 seconds if I have to.”
“Good luck with that one!” Baekhyun laughed, rolling his eyes.

“I’m sorry Yixing,” Kai apologised, “Better luck next time. When the finally decides to stop chasing off 10 second memory boy, we’ll try again alright.”
“Stop trying to set me up with him Kai! I’ve had enough of this! Sehun’s right. You really don’t understand...do you?”
“Not you too!” Kai groaned, “What happened to you?”
“I love you,” Yixing whispered.

“Excuse me,” a deep, loud roar could be heard from across the fish bowl.
“K-k-kyungsoo.  I was only joking,” Yixing stumbled on his words.  Luckily for him, you can’t see sweat underwater either.

Yo yo yo.  I just spent my night writing about goldfish...wtf

I hope I made you laugh :D If I didn't...that's awkward because I made myself laugh.

On the train today, I was scrolling through my notes and there was one that said "You can't see my tears underwater" and so, I decided to make a fic out of it!

Inspirational visuals (scroll down):

Tao and Sehun