“We look at the same stars,
And see such different things.”
—     George R. R. Martin

PART II.

Literature . Well, not literature in general – Jihoon loved Literature, but the class itself had been awful. He didn’t complain a lot, though, because he got to meet Joshua, who liked the subject as much as he did, and because he could tell Mr. Yang knew a lot of interesting things he’d teach Jihoon sooner or later, but everyone in his classroom had been so ing disrespectful – Mr. Yang’s words had been barely audible, and they probably ruined what could have been his favorite class. Jihoon bit his lip in frustration as he fiddled with his keys – Seungkwan had eventually taken him to his locker, and now Jihoon was waiting for the brunette there for him to take him to their next class. Jihoon sighed for the umpteenth time in the day – he had been stepped on twice and elbowed thrice since he had gotten there, and his little (still growing!) stature wasn’t helping him a lot. He wasn’t too annoyed, though; the pain he felt wasn’t strong in the slightest, but he just really wished Seungkwan had chosen another place to meet up.

Speaking of Seungkwan, Jihoon had been trying to sort out what was going on the brunette’s mind all day – the boy was really weird for him and Jihoon couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t being his truest self– not that Jihoon cared, but he enjoyed figuring people out, and he realized Boo Seungkwan was definitely a maze he hadn’t even entered yet.

Jihoon’s thoughts were soon disrupted as he heard yells in the distance. Probably a fight between two students, so soon… Jihoon thought and shook his head in disapproval as he kept hearing complaints and stop’s and watch out’s – never imagining some of those were directed towards him, so he doesn’t even flinch when the shouts get louder and his shoulder hits something hard and strong, as so does his .

Blinking twice in realization, Jihoon looks up from the cold floor and catches the glance of a dark-haired, young boy with cold eyes and a frown on his face, and then he hears more yells and something that sounds like an apology from another person. Jihoon watches the young boy leave his sight, and suddenly finds a hand in front of his eyes instead.

Jihoon took the hand without hesitating, being lifted almost immediately after – as if he was nothing but thin paper, and he is still looking at the floor when the same voice from before apologizes for what has happened just a few minutes ago.

“I’m sorry,” The owner of the voice says, “I don’t know why he’s behaving like such an lately–”

“Hey, are you okay?”

All Jihoon can think of is warm hands above his shoulders and a tender shake. Jihoon really wants to sleep – he really does, and he blames his mom and her cooking for the dizzy feeling on his head at the moment.

“Yes… yeah. Don’t worry,” Jihoon answers weakly and why is he feeling like this? “I’m okay.”

Jihoon looks up to see the owner of the voice for the first time, and is startled once he sees the same eyes from before – except this time warmer. Jihoon doubts for a second – should he say anything else? The guy in front of him is definitely waiting for something more; he knows it from his expression, but what? He isn’t so sure, Jihoon thinks for a second and then smiles.

“I’m okay, alright?” Jihoon reassures the boy in front of him when he sees the frown in the other’s face, which fades as soon as Jihoon says the first word.

Jihoon has to admit the boy in front of him has a nice smile, it curls up and makes his eyes shine and almost disappear – it’s cute.

“Great. I’m glad I don’t have to pay another hospital bill,” the boy in front of him jokes, and then folds his arms across his chest. Another one? Jihoon wonders.

“I’m really sorry for my brother’s behavior.”

The nameless boy keeps apologizing and now Jihoon knows that the kid from before was his brother and that he’s been out of his mind lately – Jihoon doesn’t know why (neither does the boy) he hasn’t been paying a lot of attention to what the other is saying, but he decides this stranger has a nice voice.

Actually, he’s pretty nice himself.

“Look- I know it might be harsh for you,” The boy keeps talking, and Jihoon raises an eyebrow, now curious. “The first week is always the hardest of them all, you’ll find yourself stuck with idiots like my brother,” He continued.

Jihoon couldn’t help but nod; those were words he had needed for someone to tell him all day, he had been struggling and his headache wasn’t going anywhere – it was nice to know someone knew how he felt.

The stranger removed his hands from Jihoon’s shoulders and gave him thumbs up and a smile, and if Jihoon hadn’t been actually nervous about his new school, he wouldn’t have heard what the boy said next.

“But freshman year was the best year of my life, so enjoy it as much as you can, kid!” The boy said excitedly, and then winked at him and left, leaving Jihoon surprised and offended at the same time.

And he had thought the stranger was nice! Jihoon frowned, and folded his arms across his chest. What an – who would think that he was a freshman? He didn’t even look that young! Jihoon huffed.

“He’s cool, isn’t he?” A voice that, surprisingly enough, Jihoon could be able to recognize everywhere now, said behind him.

Boo Seungkwan patted his back and smiled softly, confusing Jihoon at the process.

“I guess so…” Jihoon half-heartedly smiled, “He’s your friend?”

Jihoon’s frown grows bigger as Seungkwan’s smile gets wider – he even looks proud, and it makes Jihoon feel as if he’s missing something, but he feels like that every time he’s with Seungkwan so it shouldn’t really matter anymore.

“He’s my boyfriend.” Seungkwan sighs dreamily and Jihoon as startled as he is, only nods with his head and follows him to wherever he is going.

“Your next class is P.E., but mine isn’t, so I will leave you in the gym, alright?” Seungkwan says, clearing his throat – obviously trying to sound more formal with him.

Jihoon nods again and tries to memorize where he is: he sees colorful stairs and a library, a lot of people and announcements hanging on the walls but everything else is just red lockers and white paint – and he can’t remember where he is. Jihoon sighs in frustration and looks up to see Seungkwan’s face, which still has that strange (genuine?) smile on his lips.

“You’ll share this class with Soonyoung, you’re so lucky! He plays basketball so obviously you’ll see him play today; he’s so good at it!” His eyes shine as he speaks, and Jihoon can’t do anything but tilt his head to the side. This is the first time he sees Seungkwan excited about anything.

“Soonyoung?” Jihoon questions, genuinely confused and Seungkwan only rolls his eyes.

“Uh, my boyfriend? Kwon Soonyoung, the leader of the basketball team!” Seungkwan states, as if it was obvious and Jihoon had to know his name.

“Ah… he is the guy from before, right?” Jihoon asked, trying to seem interested when the only thing he thought about that Soonyoung guy was that he wasn’t that special. Seungkwan was truly overestimating him– because how could he dare to think Jihoon was a freshman?

“Yes. Now enter the gym, Mr. Park gets crazy if someone is late to his class– even though the subject is not even important… I don’t know why.” Seungkwan giggled, making Jihoon feel uncomfortable. His small laugh had been pleasant and even melodic; it made him wonder why he had kept it to himself until that moment.

Jihoon laughed back, and started walking towards the door of the gym. The smell of burnt plastic and sneakers fills his senses, and he smirks at the sight of people running around and kids giggling as they pass balls to each other. If there was something Jihoon missed about school, it was the gym.

The 18-year-old directed himself to the stairs, and sat as he waited for a whistle to be heard. Jihoon took this as an opportunity to look around the place for a few more minutes: at the wooden floors and the people that he hadn’t met before; of course Kwon Soonyoung was in the room: standing on the basketball court as he talked with a tall guy that had a face straight out of a magazine, and a slightly shorter guy next to them. Jihoon really didn’t want to pry – he really wasn’t a meddling kind of guy, but it was kind of impossible when they seemed to be sort of off – Soonyoung laughing and passing the ball to the tall one, who had an expression of indifference on his face as the other one fumed in anger with his arms folded and his glance downwards. Jihoon was really a curious person, and he couldn’t help but notice the grimace on the tall one’s face as a thump was heard and a backpack was left in the middle of the basketball court. Everything happened way too quickly for Jihoon to realize, but he felt his eyes widen on his own as the guy from before started walking towards him.

Jihoon wasn’t scared of the boy in particular, even though his small eyes were kind of intimidating and the boy seemed to be athletic as well and he could see some muscl– okay, actually, now that he thought about it and the stranger got closer Jihoon thought that he was maybe a little afraid of the boy… just a little, though.

Jihoon looked down to his shoes as the nameless person got closer, and found himself surprised when another loud sound was heard and saw the stranger sitting beside him.

The unknown boy was just a few centimeters away from him, so Jihoon could see the frown in face, the confusion in his eyes, and his clenched fists; it made Jihoon feel sympathy for him.

A few minutes passed, and the stranger beside him seemed like he was just seconds apart from breaking down – and Jihoon didn’t like that, he didn’t like the expression on his face nor his slouched shoulders, he really wanted to see the boy to smile.

Jihoon cleared his throat, gaining attention from the stranger, who was clearly surprised by it. The stranger looked at him with wide eyes and evident confusion in his face, Jihoon took this opportunity to smile.

“Are you okay?” The 18-year-old asked. Jihoon hated that question – that guy seemed like he was going through something hard and there was him asking him if he was okay… of course he wasn’t okay! He cringed at his bad choice of words, but kept the smile on his face nonetheless.

The nameless boy smiled back at him tenderly, making his frown to go away and his eyes to turn into crescents.

“I am, thank you,” He said gently, the deep tone of his voice surprising Jihoon, “Are you okay?”

Jihoon laughed silently, “I am, too.”

The boy nodded, unfolding his arms and brushing his bangs off his eyes, “You’re new here, aren’t you? I hadn’t seen you ‘round here before.” A curious gaze scanned his face as he smiled once again.

“Yeah, this is my first day here,” Jihoon said, looking once again at the basketball court, now only Soonyoung was there.

“Cool. Do you like it so far?” The boy asked, raising his eyebrows.

Jihoon stayed silent for a moment, thinking of what to say. Did he like it so far? He wasn’t sure… Sound of laughter made him look at the boy next to him, who shook his head in disapproval.

“I see…” The boy smirked, “Don’t worry; I don’t like it here either.” He reassured him by touching his shoulder in a comforting way.

“I’m Wonwoo, by the way.”

“Lee Jihoon,” Jihoon introduced himself, looking at Wonwoo for a while and then back at the basketball court – nothing interesting was going on there anymore– just Soonyoung holding hands with somebody–

What, Jihoon frowned. Soonyoung was holding hands with someone who wasn’t Seungkwan and– what?

“What do you mean?” Wonwoo questioned, glancing at the direction where Jihoon was looking at.

Had he said that out loud?

“Uh… yeah.” Wonwoo answered, looking at Jihoon questioningly.

“Who’s… the guy with the blonde one?” Jihoon asked hesitantly and pointed discreetly at the pair of two.

“On the court?” He nodded, “That’s Seokmin, Soonyoung’s boyfriend. Why do you ask?”

What was going on?

Jihoon looked at Wonwoo, who was also staring at him with a confused smile on his lips.

“Is there something wrong, Jihoon?” Wonwoo seemed concerned, leaning in to see Jihoon closer.

Jihoon blinked twice, his brain putting all the pieces of the puzzle together: Maybe Seungkwan was a fan of Soonyoung and had lied about his relationship with him! Jihoon shook his head; that was pretty insane even for someone like Seungkwan… he grimaced… that poor Seokmin was probably being replaced on Photoshop with pictures of Seungkwan!

“Jihoon?”

“Everything’s okay,” He said out of his thoughts, “I just thought I knew Seokmin.”

Wonwoo smirked and threw his hands in the air, stretching.

“Well he is pretty popular, so...” He shrugged, jumping a little bit when the whistle was heard.

Jihoon laughed at Wonwoo’s reaction, keeping in mind what he had said about Soonyoung’s boyfriend. He really wanted to know what was really going on.

“Mr. Park will kill us if he sees we’re still sitting, come on,” Wonwoo cleared his throat and stood up, looking at the court and then back at Jihoon, who stood up as well.

They started walking together, and Jihoon could feel how Wonwoo’s steps suddenly became longer and slower, and when his eyes starting looking to the floor. Jihoon confused, stared at him, trying to figure out whatever was wrong with him – he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by another voice.

“Wonwoo please talk to me.”