Kim Minseok first realized he was different from others when he was in elementary school. “Come on, Minseokie.” His classmate tugged lightly on his arm before running ahead with a wide grin plastered on his face. As he made himself comfortable in a swing, the little boy gestured grandly towards the swing to his left. “Join me on the swings. Sit on this one.” “Junmyeon, someone’s already sitting there.” Minseok frowned as he walked closer to the swing set. The other boy blinked rapidly, carefree expression on his face quickly replaced by one of confusion. “What are you talking about? There’s no one sitting there.” Minseok’s frown deepened as he stopped right in front of Junmyeon’s swing. “Stop joking around. Can’t you see her? Long, straight black hair and pastel pink dress --” “You stop joking around.” After raising his eyebrows, Junmyeon rubbed his eyes. “There’s no one sitting next to me.” He laughed nervously while shaking his head. “You’re afraid of heights, aren’t you? Geez, just say so before making up weird things.”

He’s doing it again. This boy, Luhan, had just recently taken the seat next to Minseok’s in homeroom. It’d been empty throughout the year so far—they had only gotten a month and a half in—but now it was suddenly filled.  Luhan was quiet, Minseok learned, but he talked when talked to. The teachers addressed him, asked him to answer things for the class like any other student, and he would answer with a smile on his delicate features. He seemed so eager to learn, and eager to please. Minseok squirmed in his desk and tried to remind himself not to mess with his uniform tie whenever their physics teacher’s eyes landed on him. Watching Luhan’s face glow when he glanced up from his notes, eyes seeming to sparkle, Minseok knew that he wanted to capture that sort of confidence. It was fascinating. At the same time, he wanted Luhan to stop staring at him when he didn’t think Minseok was looking.