School was something out had to do. Goo Junhwe had never had much interest in the people or the things he had to study, but it didn’t matter. Without much effort he was always top of his class, and after much work his parents had even managed allow him to skip a grade. Skip a grade? It was outrageous. Parents had made complaints to the board of education, teachers had complained, and they had made him take all sorts of dumb tests. Tests that he had, of course, aced. Was he supposed to have done any less? School was so boring, what did it matter if he got to skip a year? All he wanted was to be done with it and… and then what? He disliked thinking about that.

 

On his first day as a high school freshman he had made an effort to look uninterested and careless. The opening ceremony had been a drag, and all he really wanted to do was go home to sleep. Instead there was an introduction class followed by a homeroom where they were made to select class president. Not that Junhwe paid much attention, but in the end it seemed everyone’s vote was on a rather bossy-looking guy named Hanbin or Wonbin or whatever. It wouldn’t have mattered much, and Junhwe probably wouldn’t have remembered if it wasn’t for the guy’s rather poor attempt to talk to him during lunch.

 

“You’re Goo Junhwe. You skipped a year, didn’t you?” Hanbin had asked, matter-of-factly with a dumb smile on his face. Something about him annoyed Junhwe to the point of wanting to flick is forehead or something.  Like, what the heck? What part of “pretty much laying down on his desk, eyes closed” did this guy not understand? Not even bothering saying a word, Junhwe shifted a bit in his seat and tapped his nametag. Who thought it would be a good idea to make such a lame and annoying person class president. (When looking back at his high school years much later, Junhwe could still not understand how he had ended up friends with such a jerk).

 

Slowly opening one eye, he looked up in hopes of seeing the other having lost interest, but Han-whatshisname was still standing there, eyeing him. “That’s incredible, though? Even my parents talked about it! So you’re not as dumb as you look.” “Excuse me?!” Junhwe sat up with a little jolt, face in a dark grimace and eyes glaring darkly at the other. What the actual heck? “So now you pay attention to me?” Han-godwhatshisname snorted and Junhwe wanted to punch him.  He did not, however. There would be too much of a commotion on his first day, especially if the person he knocked down was the class president. Hmph. Bear with it, just hold in for once, he told himself. “Stop wasting my air, won’t you?” Junhwe snorted, standing up and marching out of the classroom. He didn’t need this , least of all on his first day. Why did people have to be so annoying?

 

He dug his hands deep into his pockets and started down the hallway. It seemed a lot of the people there knew each other already from middle school, because there were groups of students chatting and laughing together. Nothing new, nothing different at all. Junhwe drew a deep sigh and kept on marching, up the stairs, down another hallway, eventually ending up by the door to the roof.  So here he was again. It had been the best place to hide from all the annoying people in his grade (like Donghyuk, that damn leech who always bothered him about tests and stupid school work).

 

Thankfully the door was unlocked, and Junhwe pushed it open and slipped out to close the door behind him. Stupid as it may be, he even made sure to flip the lock. The less chance there was of people coming up there, the better for him.  Drawing in a deep breath, he stretched his arms high above his head. This was the best: no nagging, no stress and just time for himself. If only he had been smart enough to bring his phone or a book. Memo to self to do so later. Whatever. It was still better to just stay up there, no one bothering him. Catching sight of a rather sunny spot towards the edge of the room and he walked closer, only to come to a sudden halt. Wasn’t that… someone sitting there? There, as in on the edge of the roof?! His gasp must have been a lot louder than he thought, because the boy turned his head and stared at him through big, round glasses. At least Junhwe thought he was staring, it was kind of hard to make out from so far away. What was a middle schooler doing up he-… Oh yeah. Technically he was a middle schooler himself, wasn’t he?

 

“Uhm…. Hi?” he managed to force out, so caught off guard by the sudden sight of the boy that his usual so cold self was at loss of what to do. What? Was the boy suicidal? Did he have a death wish or something, or was he just weird? And in the case of the first possibility, how was he supposed to react to that? It would be a lie to say he had expected the response he got, because it was so far from it it could possibly be. Plump lips curled up in a smile, eyes crinkled into half moons and let out a soft ”hi” and a wave back.  Apparently not suicidal then? That was good, wasn’t it?

 

“What are you doing here?” Wasn’t that the most pressing question, regardless of how you looked at it? What was someone doing, sitting in such a suspicious location. Not to mention that he was sitting there alone, during lunch hours on the first day of school. Had he skipped a grade too? Junhwe opened his mouth, but the kid spoke before him. ”Hmm… avoiding people,” he said with a little nod of his head. A simple action, but it made Junhwe scared the kid would bounce off of his spot on the roof and fall down.  How high wouldn’t it be down there too? He swallowed and took a step closer to get a peak over the edge of the roof. Yup. It was far down, alright. Far enough for a knot to tie up in his stomach and his hands to get annoyingly sweaty.

 

From there his eyes moved automatically to the boy sitting on the edge and he realized one more thing: Blue tie. Blue neckties meant third year student, but… a pipsqueak like this couldn’t possibly be a third year? Looking at him, he had to be a lot smaller than Junhwe was, and they were only three years apart? The uniform he was wearing seemed about two sizes too big too, just as his big, round glasses did. He couldn’t be a middle school student pretending to be in high school either? It seemed like too farfetched a thought, but looking at him… Junhwe just couldn’t tell.

 

“What are you doing here?” Natural instinct was to not answer. Ignoring people was a part of Junhwe’s daily routine, and he had done it not too long ago with his classmates. But the anticipating face of the little (cute) boy filled Junhwe with an alien want to blurt out whatever it was. “Uhm… a bit of the same as you do?” What was he supposed to say? Taking a few steps closer, he sat down on an abandoned chair someone must have put there once, glad to not have to stand anymore. It felt awkward to be standing there while his new companion sat out there on the roof, legs dangling as if it was nothing at all.

 

“But you… you’re a first year. Shouldn’t you make friends in your new class and all?”

 

“I don’t need friends.”

 

Junhwe had blurted out the words so fast he could feel his cheeks turning a darker shade of pink. And he hated it. He absolutely hated to feel embarrassed in front of this tiny boy with his stupid smiling eyes.

 

“Hmm? Don’t you need at least one friend?”

 

Junhwe stared darkly at the ground, wishing he at least had a hat or something to hide his most-likely-to-be burning red ears. He really didn’t get this embarrassed easily, but something about the way the tiny midget was looking at him made him feel out of place. And okay, midget wasn’t the right term for it, he knew. But his vocabulary held more insults than compliments, and he refused to think even a little kindly about him. It was bad enough that the work cute had popped up in his mind a mere second earlier.

 

“I’m fine on my own! It’s a bother anyway.”

 

The boy put a finger to his plump lips and looked as if he was thinking real hard. How could people concentrate on their tests if he put up that face during a test? And how the heck was it that out of all things, that was what Junhwe found himself thinking about? Even Han-hewouldnevergethisnameright seemed better company.

 

“It doesn’t look that bad to me. We could be friends if you want? And if it is as bad as you claim it is, you can stop being my friend?”

 

“What kind of weird proposition is that? Do you have some sort of issues?”

 

As soon as he had said it, he regretted his choice of words because the tiny one (as he had decided to call him out of lack of a better name) put up an expression of what seemed like sadness. And this was Junhwe looking, and god knew he wasn’t an expert on reading faces. He just knew how to put up faces easy for people to read. Like “stay away from me”, “I couldn’t care less”, or even “what the heck are you doing”. Those were all simple expressions. The tiny one’s were complex and layered with more emotions than he dared to count on his hand.

 

“I just thought that… being together is definitively more fun than being alone?”

 

“You-… but-..wha-..” Junhwe blinked a couple of times, and then shut his mouth. Okay, now that made even less sense to him. Much unlike his unwelcoming self, this kid was tiny, cute and cuddly. He seemed nice enough too for a third year, and there was no way someone like him could come off as a threat. What was it Donghyuk had said once, claiming it was from a movie… “so fluffy he could die”? Was that the quote? Junhwe had a hard time remembering all the his former classmate had said, but he was pretty sure it was right because it seemed so fit to this strange rooftop guy.

 

“Won’t you be lonely?”

 

Junhwe let out something between a yelp and a groan and actually jumped back in surprise. While he had been lost in his own thoughts the tiny one had stood up from his place on the edge of the roof and walked much closer. Close enough for him to stand right next to Junhwe, neck craned backwards to be able to look up at him. “You have three years left here, so it will be easier if you at least have one friend.”

 

“Your words make no sense,” he managed to blurt out, struggling to not be too distracted by just how tiny this strange kid was. He had to be at least one head shorter than him? Maybe more if they stood closer? “First of all, if you don’t have any friends, then aren’t we the same to begin with? And even if we do become friends, you’ll just graduate and be gone in a year or so and where would that leave me? I’m not a fool, and I doubt you are as big a fool as you want to come off as?” Maybe he should have put it nicer, in a bit of a softer tone? Only that wasn’t his style. And his voice was by default sarcastic and judgemental. Go figures.

 

“Hmm… That is true,” the tiny one said slowly, rocking back and forth on his heels, arms stuck safely into his pockets. “But you didn’t consider that maybe I have experience in being alone, and so based on that I am giving some friendly advice to my hoobae?”

 

Junhwe snorted loudly, and felt a tad bit more collected confident. Hoobae? Just what part of this meeting gave him the right to give advice? Hah. “Well, our outlook from the start might have been different? A difference in taste?  You wanted friends, I don’t really need friends. I don’t like to wear jeans, you probably do. Comme ci comme ça.” Friends were annoying, manipulative and would stab you in their back rather than go down with you.

 

“I still think we should be friends…” as he spoke, the tiny one leaned in closer and squinted his eyes behind his big spectacles.  “…Go Junhwe.” His smile was dazzling and it pulled at Junhwe’s lips too at the sound of that soft, quiet voice saying his name.

 

“I’m Jinhwan. Kim Jinhwan.”

 

Why did his eyes have to disappear all cutely like that when he smiled? And why did he have to seem so happy about the situation? There was in fact nothing happy about it!  Also, how did he know his name? Junhwe furrowed his brows and took a step backwards. How could one tiny person cause so many conflicting emotions? Tiny person, tiny Jinhwan, tiny sunbae- Wait. Since when was he a sunbae? If he had been alone Junhwe would have been most likely to have slapped himself. This was going too far. He’d just met the kid! Err…. Sunbae…whatever! Jinhwan (even his name had a nice ring to it) was simply too tiny.

 

“I’m really not sure you have the right to think or make assumptions or whatnot. Do you even have friends, seeing as you are up on your own during lunch?”

 

“Who said I’m alone? My friend is here!” Jinhwan beamed again, reaching out to grab Junhwe’s arm in a most personal space invading manner.  Someone needed to teach this little weirdo a think or two.

 

“Yah, that’s not what I-….”

 

“Yaaaaah! Jinhwan hyung? We got food!”

 

Junhwe tensed at the sudden, loud voice. His brows wrinkled, and he slowly turned his head just in time to see two guys he didn’t know and that damn Han-whateveritwas. Was this a really bad joke? Out of all the people… how did they even get in? He was sure he had locked the door behind him when he went up? How could they get in without a-… oh.

 

“Hyung, why did you lock the door? I had to get the key at the teacher’s lounge! You should have checked your phone too! Yunhyeong tried to call you like a thousand times!”

 

The tone of voice made Junhwe want to cringe. Just because he was class president (something he’d been elected to just an hour earlier) didn’t make him entitled to such a bossy voice? It seemed the loud boy from before didn’t care much for it, as he carelessly threw an arm around Hanbin’s (it was right, right?) neck and ruffled his hair.  Behind them came a smiling, rather pleasant looking boy carrying what looked like a stuffed shopping back. All three of them had been chuckling and talking until they realized Jinhwan had company on the room, to which they all quieted down and stared. Ugh, they looked like vultures ready to prey on some poor, dying animal.

 

“I forgot my phone at home today,” came Jinhwan’s quiet answer as he gave Junhwe’s arm a little tug. “And I was busy talking to my new friend!”

 

“I’m not your frie-…”

 

“His name is Junhwe! He is eating with us today!”

 

Any protest he might have thought of died on Junhwe’s lips when he felt a small, warm hand wrap around his own and pull him towards the other boys. He didn’t even seem to have a say in this. But in the midst of complaints, trying to think of sarcastic remarks or ways to escape, Junhwe also thought that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he got a friend or two. The loud trio from before might get on his nerves a lot, but if Jinhwan was there too, maybe first year of high school wouldn’t be that bad after all?