Work Text:
“Hey. Is anyone sitting here?”
A small, black-haired boy wearing a plain school uniform looks up upon hearing the voice. He shakes his head. “No. This seat is empty.”
“Can I sit here, then?”
“Sure.”
The girl, with her hair in a short bob and wearing the same uniform (except with a crumpled, unironed skirt instead of pants), sits next to the boy. She shuffles in her chair, hand fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. She turns to the boy next to her. “What’s your name?” she asks.
“Kim Dokja.”
“I’m Han Sooyoung. Nice to meet you,” she replies, holding out a hand for him to shake.
Kim Dokja stares at her hand. He doesn’t say anything, and he doesn’t extend his.
Han Sooyoung retracts her arm. “Uh. Okay.” The atmosphere suddenly grows very awkward, and neither student makes another attempt to speak with each other.
Other kids enter the classroom, some crying as they are pulled away from their parents, some eagerly jumping in. A tall boy with messy hair stands to the side, surveying the room. His expression is uncannily dark and sinister for someone his age. One of the teachers walks over to him, smiling, crouching low and whispering something--perhaps a question--into his ear. He doesn’t look at her, but he nods, and begins to walk over to an empty desk.
“Hmph,” Han Sooyoung mutters aloud, despite herself.
“What is it?” Kim Dokja asks in a curious voice.
“That boy. Is he coming our way? He looks mean.”
Before Dokja can respond, aforementioned boy approaches them, and sits across from him (diagonal to Sooyoung). He doesn’t say anything to either of them. Instead, Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja watch as he pulls a handheld game console out of his backpack.
“You’re not supposed to have that!” Han Sooyoung whisper-yells.
“Says who?” The taller boy shoots back.
Kim Dokja, not wanting to get involved in the petty argument, rummages around in his bag until he finds a book. He tunes the bickering of the other two out, contemplating whether or not to silently switch seats. Would that be considered rude? he thinks. I’m not sure. As he flips to the next page, his novel is suddenly pulled out of his hands by the girl.
“Dokja. Who’s fault is it? It’s not mine, right?” she questions, gesturing between her and the taller boy.
“Wait, your name is ‘Dokja’?” he asks, disregarding Han Sooyoung entirely.
“Is everyone getting along over here?” A teacher’s voice scolds, standing over the three of them.
They freeze. The taller boy discreetly pockets the game console.
“Yes,” Han Sooyoung replies, regaining her composure. She smiles sweetly for good measure. She then pushes the book back into Kim Dokja’s hands. “Sorry for taking your book.”
“It’s fine.”
“Alright then,” the teacher responds, still slightly skeptical. She walks over to the other side of the room.
“Great job. You got us into trouble!” Han Sooyoung hisses across the table.
The taller boy grunts.
“What’s your name, anyway? I’m Han Sooyoung--”, she points to herself, “--and this is Kim Dokja.”
“Yoo Joonghyuk,” the boy mutters.
“Cool. So you like games, then?”
“Mm.”
“And I guess Dokja here likes reading. Fitting.”
They fall into a silence when the teacher addresses the class, stating that since it’s only the first day, they’ll just be doing introductions and some artwork. Crayons are passed around the room, as well as blank pieces of standard-sized printer paper.
Kim Dokja sets his book to the side, while Han Sooyoung hoards most of the crayons with a devious expression. She starts scribbling at the bottom of the paper with a light green. Kim Dokja just grabs a random color (a dark red) from the ones that are left, while Yoo Joonghyuk simply watches the two of them.
Han Sooyoung finishes drawing the last of some flowers (or what would look like colorful misshapen circles with haphazard lines to anyone else), and scowls at Yoo Joonghyuk. “You’re not doing anything,” she states.
He continues to stare at her, as if to ask, How does that concern you?
When he doesn’t saying anything, Han Sooyoung scoffs and grabs some more crayons off the table--two shades of yellow and one orange--and doodles a sun in the corner of the page.
After a second, Yoo Joonghyuk picks up the light green crayon she was using earlier and draws the exact same thing as her.
“Hey, you’re copying me! Not fair!”
When Yoo Joonghyuk gets to the part where he’s supposed to draw the sun, Han Sooyoung grips her crayons tighter, not allowing him to use the colors needed. He doesn’t back down, however. He steals an indigo crayon from Kim Dokja, who is compliantly drawing random stars all over the paper, and scribbles down a moon.
“I’m not copying you. I drew a moon, you drew a sun,” Yoo Joonghyuk reasons.
Han Sooyoung looks like she’s on the verge of tears.
Eventually, the teacher comes to collect the childrens’ artwork. The rest of the school day passes by in a mix of various kid-friendly activities, snack time, recess, etc. Kim Dokja reads his novel whenever he can, although this proves difficult since Han Sooyoung and Yoo Joonghyuk are constantly fighting and definitely not getting along.
When it’s time to go home, Kim Dokja looks at the wall where all their art pieces have been hung up, messily signed with their names in the bottom-right corner. He looks at his own, which is full of various stars of many colors and sizes. He’s pretty bad at art; the only thing he can reliably draw is stars, so that’s what he did.
Dokja likes stars. They intrigue him--bright, constant, a symbol of direction. Sometimes, on clear, dark nights, his mother and him walk out to a hill a few minutes away from their house. They would lay on the grass, shivering in the wind, as his mother pointed out all the important constellations. He occasionally reads books about space, though he doesn’t find them as interesting as his fiction novels.
A hand grabbing his arm snaps him out of his thoughts. “See mine? It’s better than that Yoo Joonghyuk’s, I can tell you that,” Han Sooyoung says, pointing to her drawing of a green field littered with flowers, with a cartoon sun rising high in the sky, bringing light, energy and life to the world.
Yoo Joonghyuk also comes over, going over to his drawing and tracing his fingers over the moon. The moon, mysterious and dark. A constant cycle of waxing and waning, staying the same yet ever-changing.
Kim Dokja feels another hand, this time on his shoulder. He looks behind him to see his mother, a tired smile on her face. “I see you made some friends,” she says.
Kim Dokja nods. The teacher comes over to talk to his mother for a bit. Eventually, other students’ parents come to pick up their children--including Han Sooyoung and Yoo Joonghyuk.
“See you tomorrow!” Sooyoung exclaims to both of the boys before she leaves.
Yoo Joonghyuk gives her no reply, but he does wave to Kim Dokja.
“Ready to go?” Dokja’s mother asks.
“No, I want to show you what I made first,” he replies, pointing out his artwork.
“That one’s yours? Very nice! The stars are quite pretty.”
Yes, Kim Dokja thinks on his way out, smiling to himself. The stars are quite pretty.