Chapter Text
Suho had seen Sieun around school quite often, back hunched over with his head buried in a book and a pair of earbuds in his ear. They were always the first two to arrive to class; Suho due to his part time job and Sieun due to his studying. The two had never before had a conversation or even made eye contact until now.
His eyes, sad yet soulful, a mix of so much emotions yet indifference at the same time. How could someone look like they were on the verge of crying yet have not one tear in their eye?
After Suho had finally managed to break away from Sieun's eyes, he noticed that he had knocked a pencil case off his desk. He also noticed that while his classmates had run from their desk to the sides of the room to avoid getting caught up in the fight between him and the baseball team, Sieun was still seated.
“Oh, was that me?” He asked, pointing to the pencil case.
“Yes"
“Sorry about that."
“Why would you do that in the classroom?”
Sieun didn't wait for an answer from Suho, he just turned back around at his desk and continued studying. Although Suho had just defeated an entire sports team, it was the scrawny, sad eyed boy who had his nerves tingling with excitement... a little nervousness, too. It struck him as ironic to hear such a deep voice from such a small and frail body that looks like it would lose in a fight with a hamster and fifth grader.
It wasn't long after they met that Suho began to notice Sieun more than before. For example, Sieun arrived at school every morning at the same time, never missed a class, and ate the same lunch every day. He rarely talked to anyone except teachers, and even then he would say one or two words. He never laughed or smiled at anyone either.
It's as if he's a robot whose only functions are: Study. School. Study. Eat. Study. Sleep. Repeat. The majority of the school is completely unaware of his presence except for a few teachers and Suho.
Initially, Suho described his interest as wanting to be Sieun's friend. He realized, however, that a friend would not want to be the only one to receive another friend's smile, laugh, blush, or even to have just this friend look at them with those big brown glossy eyes. A friend wouldn't fantasize about the look on his other friends face when they were happy or sad or surprised or … other things.
Suho thought that he was the only one to notice Sieun but he seemed as though Jeon Youngbin and his minions had gained some interest as well. Suho found them all pitiful; they all claimed to be strong but only ever preyed on the weak and now it seemed as though Sieun had caught their attention.