Chapter Text
Hot rays of sunlight radiate onto the sandy beach that seems to stretch on for miles, heating it so much that walking on it barefoot burns. The call of seagulls and crashing of waves fill Skylar's ears as he takes in a deep breath of ocean air, the salty smells filling his sinuses. The burning sun feels warm against his skin as he sits along the coast, taking in the view, the only thing obstructing the perfect moment being a quiet ringing in the distance. At first, Skylar tries to ignore it and enjoy the practically surreal moment, but the sound seems to be getting louder and louder. His eyes snap open in realization that it is his phone ringing. Suddenly, warm sand becomes the comforter of his mattress, and the call of seagulls becomes the morning song of sparrows.
Skylar is ripped from his dream into the reality of morning. As the alarm rings and rings, the noise finally overcomes Skylar’s want for sleep as he begrudgingly turns over to shut it off. Finally giving his ears a break from the piercing sound, he fights against the urge to pull his warm blanket back over his head to return to dreams of summer beaches as he slinks out of bed and toward the bathroom. Rays of light filter through the window blinds from the rising sun, and a cool breeze of spring fills the room. Anyone else might’ve been able to soak in the sun as it began to rise past the horizon, its light obstructed only by the few lingering clouds from last night’s storm. But as Sklyar’s second alarm blares in his ears, soft rays of sunshine feel more like staring into headlights, and the sounds of morning birds only further remind him of the day that lies ahead.
One glance in the mirror and Skylar realizes just how much of a mess he is. His hair sprawls out in all directions, and a light red mark covers nearly half of his face from sleeping on his arm, which began to tingle. He tries to untangle his dark hair (which was beginning to grow a bit longer than he liked, but he can’t find it in him to care enough and cut it), but after many failed attempts with a hair brush, he decides to just shower and pray it would air dry decently. Once Skylar got to changing out of the old soccer camp t-shirt he had fallen asleep in, that's when it hit him that, despite his best efforts to delude himself into thinking that day was like any other morning, it really, really, wasn’t.
Today would mark the second semester of Skylar’s 2nd year of high school. However, it wasn’t the same small high school in Pohang that he had attended last semester. Instead, he and his family had been uprooted from their life there when his mom’s job relocated to Seoul. He wants to say he’s lucky enough to move after break, but switching schools so late in the year is terrifying to him. Thoughts begin to crowd Skylar's mind. Thoughts of being the only kid who doesn't know anything about the teachers, of not knowing where to go in the halls and having to ask for directions, of being the only new kid in a club with people who have probably known each other for years. A wave of nausea hits Skylar as he walks into the kitchen of their new apartment, knowing that the time when he will have to set foot into a new school only ticks closer.
“Skylar, you’re up!” His mom looks up at her son with pride, but under that is a sort of lingering sadness. “I know it can be awkward starting at a new school like this. I'm sorry we had to leave so suddenly, but you know I had no choice…” She begins to trail off, looking to the side as a shadow of guilt covers her eyes. Skylar knows why they had to move. He knows that after his mother’s job was suddenly relocated to Seoul, they had no choice but to pack everything up and leave Pohang. Being a single mother, even Noeul had little room for error when it came to providing for her children, and when her boss revealed they would be relocating, she knew she would either have to risk being jobless or move. In the end, she went with the safer option. And with that, she, Skylar, and Ha packed up everything they had in Pohang and left as soon as the semester ended.
Skylar feels a twinge of pain in his chest, seeing the undeserved guilt in his mother’s eyes. He knows how hard a decision it is for her since Pohang was where she grew up. Despite knowing the circumstances were completely out of his hands, he couldn't help but readjust his glasses, reminding him of the security they give whenever his mom looked him in the eyes like that. That look of defeat and guilt, as if everything has fallen apart. The glasses give him something to hide behind.
“Please don’t look like that, Mom…” he reaches for his mom’s hands, hoping to give her a bit of support. “I know you would’ve stayed if you could. Really, it's ok.” He tries to keep a steady voice, but some of his words still come out shaky with emotion. Noeul’s heart swells with pride as she looks at her son trying to comfort her despite his own emotions.
“You’ve always been so mature an independent you know, even since you were a kid” she begins, squeezing Skylar’s hands tighter, “I know we argue sometimes, but you are more caring than I think you realize” Skylar feels a pang of guilt at this comment, remembering when Ha burnt herself because of his immaturity. Because, over his own sister, he chose to be with-
brr brr brr
Startled by the sudden sound, Skylar drops his mom’s hands and rummages around for his phone.
[Incoming Call: Minwoo]
Answering as quickly as his janky phone will allow him, Skylar brings the cracked screen up to his ear in a rush as his heart begins to pound with anticipation.
“Hey man, you almost here?” The smooth sound of his best friend's voice makes Skylar feel like all of his other thoughts have been drowned out. Every sentence, even a question as simple as ‘You almost here’, made Skylar feel like everything else around him had vanished. Wait, why would Minwoo be asking if he was almost there? Pulling the phone away from his ear, Skylar glances at the time on his phone.
7:22 am
Holy shit I’m supposed to be at the bus stop in three minutes!!
“Skylar, are you there…?
“Yeah, sorry, sorry!! I didn’t realize what time it was, I’m on my way right now!” I got so distracted by my conversation with Mom, I forgot I was supposed to meet him at the bus stop! He thinks frantically while fumbling with his almost criminally old shoes. After a quick good-bye to his mom, Skylar practically runs out the door and down the block toward the bus stop. As if knowing something like this would happen, his mom had convinced him to figure out where it was ahead of time, so at least now he wasn’t lost on top of running late. Finally seeing the bus stop at the end of the block, and no bus in sight, Skylar slowed down and let himself catch his breath, not wanting Minwoo to see him all winded and sweaty like that.
As terrible as it felt to be uprooted from the place where he grew up, there was one upside to the whole situation: Minwoo.
Their moms were friends in college, so the two families had always been close, and by some magical coincidence, they ended up working for the same company around 5 years ago. The same company that decided to relocate Skylar’s family in the name of “better business opportunities”. So, even though Skylar is downright terrified of starting at a new school (though he’ll never admit that to anyone), he gets to have Minwoo there with him, which somehow makes the whole situation 1000 times less frightening. They’re even in the same class, something they haven’t had since their first year of middle school. Even the thought of getting to see Minwoo every day like this pulls a giddy smile to Skylar’s face.
“Minwoo!! Sorry I’m late, I got distracted,” Skylar says, now having caught his breath, but his heart still feels like it's going to jump out of his chest. He supposes he always feels like that around Minwoo, though.
“Took you long enough!” Minwoo responds, playfully punching Slylar’s arm.
“Why’d you want me to get here so early anyways, the bus doesn't show up for like, 20 minutes” Normally Skylar wouldn’t be complaining about getting to spend extra time with Minwoo, but rushing out the door like that made him miss the breakfast his mom had prepared, and he didn’t even get to say bye to Ha before running out to meet with him, so at the very least he feels an explanation is due.
“For these,” Minwoo smirks, opening the hand he had jabbed Skylar with to reveal a single cigarette lighter that said ‘CHICAGO’ in bright red letters.
“Dude, we can’t go in with our uniforms smelling like cigs on the first day,” Skylar says this jokingly, but he can slowly feel the anxiety creeping up his spine.
“That’s why I told you to come here early, 20 minutes before the bus shows up, 15 minute ride there,” Minwoo begins to light the cigarette, holding it up to his mouth “if we don’t hold it too close to our uniforms, that's plenty of time for the smell to fade”
“I dunno man… I mean, what about our breath? I just brushed my teeth, bro.” Minwoo exhales away from both of them toward the sidewalk, but Skylar’s still afraid the smell will linger
“That’s why I bought these,” Minwoo replies, shaking a small tin of mints. “Come on, Skylarrrr,” he begs, in an annoyingly whiney voice that Skylar can’t help but find cute. “It’s not even a whole one, we’re literally splitting it.”
“Ugh… fine, you're right, besides what will I even get from this, three and a half puffs?” Skylar chuckles, giving in as he takes the cigarette from Minwoo.
“That’s my Skylar!” Minwoo chuckles, handing it off to Skylar. From the way Miwoo phrased it, someone passing by might think that this means it’s unusual for Skylar not to smoke, that his taking the cigarette is to be expected. In reality, Skylar had never once smoked without Minwoo, and even then, he always found himself hesitant. But even as the rotten tastes filled his mouth, and the urge to cough tingles in the back of his throat, all Skylar can focus on is what Minwoo called him.
‘My Skylar’
He knows the other boy didn’t mean it like that. He knows that people say things like that all the time, but there was just something about it coming from Minwoo that made it feel different. Special .
They talk about what the new school might be like, the type of people they will meet, and after a couple of minutes of passing the cigarette back and forth and carefully exhaling away from each other, it finally burns out. Minwoo proceeds to flick it to the floor before smothering the final embers with his shoe. And that was that. The cigarette was used up, the bus would be arriving in 12 minutes, and Skylar had just smoked on the day that he swore he would turn things around.
-+++-
Skylar’s grades throughout high school have never been terrible. He isn’t top of the class, but he’s most definitely never at the bottom. He is what he likes to call “safely smart”. Not too average that getting into good colleges would be impossible. Not too impressive that there was a public expectation he had to meet. If anything happened and his grades slipped a little, no one would really take notice. But things were changing. College feels like it is just around the corner, and as unpleasant as moving has been, Skylar finds himself faced with the opportunity to give himself a reboot.
Truthfully, he didn’t hate studying; if anything, he enjoyed it quite a bit. He trusted himself that as long as he could actually start declining the offers made by Minwoo (who did not like studying), he could easily excel the way he wanted to in school. His emotions are the issue.
Skylar isn’t a calm person. He gets agitated and pissed off at what sometimes feels like everything. He constantly feels like he has to blow off steam about someone . And unfortunately, that usually translates into him shoving some kid around or blowing up at his classmates. When these bursts of anger first started, Skylar never paid them any mind. To him, whoever was pissing him off had it coming. But eventually his attitude got worse, and he went from someone who got a little more annoyed than the average person, to being a notorious dickbag. By the time Skylar finished his first year, basically the only person who actually wanted to be around him was Minwoo. Not that he minded too much, but he could still feel a bit lonely when Minwoo would go off with someone else in their class, and although the other kids never said it, Skylar knew he wasn’t welcome. Eventually that isolation got to Skylar, and this semester, this new start, he really wanted to do better. Be better. He just hoped he could.
Besides, at the end of the day, Skylar knew he was, and always would be, Minwoo's best friend. Deep down, he knew Minwoo would always come back no matter his attitude, which somehow gave him a bit of hope that he really could change.
Though, oftentimes his nerves would tell him otherwise, that Minwoo wouldn't come back, that he would make a mistake and he would avoid Skylar just like everyone else. And when the nerves get to him, and they really get to him, Skylar finds himself doing things he would never do on his own.
Sure, Skylar hadn’t been prioritizing school as much as he should, Minwoo had always been way worse, sometimes not even cracking top 10 of their class of 20. He wasn’t stupid by any means, in fact sometimes it pissed Skylar off how witty the guy could be, but Minwoo never bothered when it came to school. He tended to put his focuses into other things, such as meeting up with college kids in some sketch alley way to bum cigarettes.
And of course, Skylar came with. It’s not that he liked smoking, in fact Skylar fucking hates it. It smells like shit, burns his lungs and makes his throat feel like he just swallowed acid. Worst of all he couldn't stand the way Minwoo's hands would tremble just slightly after going to long without one.
But no matter how much Skylar told himself he hates it, Minwoo would always be his weakness. So he almost never said no.
“It’s just this one, no, not even one, half of one. Besides, it's only ‘cause Minwoo offered, not like I’m the one who brought it” How could he possibly say no to those vibrant green eyes that always felt like they could stare right into the deepest parts of him. Though, in moments like this, when Minwoo still offers him cigarettes despite knowing how Skylar feels about them he wonders if those green eyes really see him at all.
He doesn't want to think like that, Skylar is the one who always says yes. There was no reason for him to act like Minwoo was in the wrong here, he’s being a good friend by offering to share with Skylar if anything.
-+++-
From this point, the 12 minutes pass by rather quickly. The two boys continue chatting about nothing, Skylar barely managing to stuff down his growing nervousness as he knows that in less than 30 minutes, Skylar will be taking his first steps into a brand new school. Finally, the bus pulls up, the two boys pay and find some seats next to each other on the surprisingly crowded vehicle, and Skylar counts down the minutes before they arrive.
Arriving soon: Cheongmoo High School
“Minwoo, we’re here,” Skylar says, yanking at his friend's sleeve to pull his attention away from his phone. The two, along with about half of the bus's passengers, shuffle off the bus and onto the sidewalk, lush grass and towering Ginkgos surrounding them. Discreetly, Skylar checks his clothes before stepping off the bus, finding they only vaguely smell of cigarettes, so faint that you would have to actively be checking for it to notice. With that fear tamed, he pops another mint into his mouth for good measure and heads inside.
-+++-
When Skylar thinks about it rationally, the school day itself wouldn’t be all that scary. Most of the kids there have no reason to judge him right off the bat, and he’s had kids switch into his classes at the start of a semester, so it's not like it's unheard of. Still, Skylar feels a gnawing fear in the pit of his stomach that he just can't shake, and it doesn't help one bit when his teacher calls up him and Minwoo to introduce themselves to the class.
Minwoo volunteers to go first, noticing the way Skylar's hands were trembling, shooting him a supportive glance when he steps forward.
“Hi everyone, it's nice to meet you guys! My name is Choi Minwoo, me and my friend here just moved from Pohang, I hope we can all get along!” The green-eyed boy gives a small smile and quick bow before stepping back. The teacher then tells Skylar to step forward as Minwoo gives him an encouraging nudge.
“Hello, my name is Yeon Skylar, um,” The nervousness from speaking like this in front of a bunch of strangers makes him hesitate, “Am I supposed to say anything else?” “I hope we can all get along.” Realizing how timid he must’ve sounded compared to Minwoo’s confident and friendly introduction, Skylar quickly bows and steps back to stand alongside his friends, feeling just a little bit less anxious next to him.
“Alright, Skylar, you will be sitting next to Dongsik, and Minwoo, you will be sitting next to Chan-il, alright? Dongsik and Chan-il, if you two could please raise your hands.” Two boys sitting only one row apart from each other raise their hands, but still, Skylar realizes that they are just far enough apart for him and Minwoo to probably only get to talk during breaks or group discussions. Although that’s better than when they weren’t even in the same class, up until this point, Skylar had found himself imagining them sitting next to each other. “The boy with orange hair is Chan-il, and the one in the back row is Dong-sik,” The teacher continued.
While walking toward their seats, which are all the way in the back, Skylar takes the opportunity to let his eyes glaze over the class. He notices that one kid has a really bad tan, kind of making him look like a raccoon. Skylar snickers at the thought, earning him a shoulder nudge from Minwoo.
“What’s so funny?” He asks
“Oh, nothing, it’s just you said ‘me and my friend’,” Skylar says lazily, failing to stifle the smug grin that pulls at his lips.
“Huh?” Minwoo gives him a confused look before the tips of his ears turn red in realization at the grammar mistake he had made while introducing himself.
“You’ll find it’s my friend and I, ” Skylar says while pushing up his glasses for extra effect.
“Ugh, you’re so corny!” Minwoo replies with a small laugh before sliding into his seat. Skylar notes the unique hair color of the kid next to Minwoo before continuing to walk down the aisle toward his own chair.
Finally sitting in his seat, he and his new deskmate, ‘Dong-sik’, give each other quick hellos before focusing on whatever the teacher was saying. And with that, his first class passes just like every other one the brunette has sat through, the only differences being that he has a direct view of Minwoo from where he sits. That and the tall mop of ash-blonde hair that was blocking almost his entire view of the board.
The obnoxiously tall kid in front of him kept resting his head on his hand, and in doing so would effectively block 80% of the board from view. How the hell is he supposed to focus if this dude’s giant head is in the way?
After three classes of not being able to see jack, Skylar was getting fed up. If this had happened last semester, Skylar probably would’ve flicked the guy in the head and brashly told him to get out of the way. And as much as he wants to do just that, he reminds himself to not go acting like an ass on the first day. He already broke his promise to do better this morning when he had that cigarette, he might as well not make matters worse for himself by getting mad at some random kid on the first day. With this, Skylar summons all the patients he can manage before lightly tapping the kid’s shoulder.
“Hey, sorry, but could you move your head a bit? I can’t see the board very well…” Skylar asks this in the most polite voice he can muster. The boy turns to look at him, blue, no green eyes? Regardless of their color, they meet Skylar’s for only a moment before he silently turns back to the teacher, and… doesn't move his head??
“ The hell?” Skylar thinks, dumbfounded by the way this jerk just blatantly ignored him. His already thin patience was gone, now completely fed up with this prick in front of him Skylar takes it upon himself to abandon all false kindness and give the guy a harsh flick to the back of his head, causing the blonde kid to jerk forward a bit, head still planted firmly in his palm.
“I said move.” There is no more hospitality in his voice as he glares down at the mop of hair in front of him. For a moment, he does nothing, then right as Skylar brings his hand back up to land another flick, he shifts his weight and silently moves his head from one hand to the other, not even glancing at Skylar. “See? It's not hard to just move your fat head out of the way-”
Skylar’s thoughts are cut off as he notices a new problem. Sure, he can see the board totally fine now, but since the freaky-eyed prick in front of him is now leaning to the other side, his view of Minwoo is completely blocked.
He supposes this might be a good thing, Skylar’s only distraction was now out of sight, but unfortunately for him, out of sight doesn't mean out of mind when it comes to Minwoo. If anything, Skylar now found himself wondering more about what Minwoo was doing now that he could actually see for himself. “Is he confused about this problem? Has he tried to look back at me? Is he tired after waking up early in the morning?” Questions crowd his mind throughout the lesson, causing him to completely tap out of the Lecture his teacher was giving.
Suddenly the bell was ringing and Skylar quickly realized that whatever lesson he missed was most definitely going to bite him in the ass later. First day of school, and he was already behind, “Perfect.” Skylar thinks he puts away his things for lunch. He glances up at Minwoo (feeling a little giddy about getting to talk with him again), rather, he glances up at where Minwoo should be, as Skylar quickly realizes that the boy is already out of his seat.
Looking around the classroom, Skylar feels a new pit forming in his stomach. “We’re sitting together for lunch, aren’t we?” Suddenly feeling nauseous at the thought that Minwoo might already have become friends with someone the kid’s in their class, His desk mate did seem pretty friendly. Skylar feels his heart pounding against his chest. Minwoo wouldn’t leave him alone again… right?
An old memory begins to resurface as Skylar feels his nausea growing, a time in their final year of middle school when Skylar did have to sit alone. Right before Skylar’s fear could overflow, he is snapped back to reality from a light tap on his shoulder. Head whipping around, Skylar is met with vibrant green eyes.
“Skylar, Mr. Lee wants to talk with us, since we’re new and whatnot. Come on, he’s in the office.” Relief floods through Skylar as he follows his friend over to where his teacher, who looks like another student, is standing.
-+++-
As he and Minwoo get closer to their teacher, the more Skylar feels like he recognizes the kid. Skylar figures he must be in their class, considering the guys as talking to their teacher, and Skylar can't seem to shake the feeling of familiarity. The kid then turns toward where he and Minwoo were, dark turquoise eyes staring down at Skylar.
“Ugh, that asshole?” Skylar mutters to himself as the asshole in question turns back to the teacher.
“Are you talking about Cirrus?” Minwoo questions.
“Is that his name?” Skylar says, gaze still locked onto the stingy bag of dicks from earlier. “Why is he with Mr. Lee anyway? Shouldn’t he be heading to lunch with everyone else?” Agitation seeps through Skylar’s words as he puts little effort into hiding it. He had no reason to act nice anyway, plus it’s not like Minwoo would care, considering the way he’s seen Skylar act with his classmates in the past.
“He’s the class monitor this semester, I think Mr. Lee wants him to show around or whatever,” Minwoo answers, “How’d he already get on your nerves? I know you’ve got a short fuse, but I didn’t even see you two talk to each other”.
“He didn’t even have to say anything to me to act like a total bit-”
“Skylar, Minwoo, come on in.” Mr. Lee said, cutting Skylar off, noticing the boys had arrived at the door. “I don’t know if you kids got the chance to talk yet, but this is our class monitor, Cirrus.”
Their homeroom teacher, who seems like an easy-going guy, generally speaking in a more monotone, tired voice, looked to be showing a bit of pride when introducing the two of them to Cirrus. This just ticked off Skylar more.
“Yeah, we met,” Skylar says, doing his very best not to glare at Cirrus in front of his teacher.
“Yeah, he sits behind me.” Cirrus’s voice isn’t high-pitched for a guy, but it’s a bit higher than Skylar's. There was also the slightest rasp to it, but it seems like a side effect of being tired rather than just being what he sounds like. Instead of acknowledging the fact that it’s weird as hell that he noticed that, Skylar chose to focus on what his teacher was saying.
“I hope you two were able to get along with Dong-sik and Chan-il, since those will be your seats for the remainder of the year.” Mr. Lee continued.
“Oh yeah, Chan-il is the name of that red-haired kid who sits next to Minwoo,” Skylar thinks, feeling a bit guilty that he took more notice of Minwoo's deskmate than his own.
“Yeah, Chan-il is crazy nice, he helped me out with my work too,” Minwoo replied.
“He did?” Skylar hadn’t noticed since he couldn’t see him for the independent work portion of their class. A small feeling of dread came to Skylar, and it must've been a bit on his face because he noticed a glint of magenta staring at him from the corner of his eye.
Choosing to ignore the stare, Slylar quickly pushed down his dread, knowing it’s entirely unfair toward Minwoo that he get jealous over him getting along with their classmates. He just finds it a little odd that Minwoo was praising Chan-il friendliness, he’d always made fun of kids like, calling them “ass-kissers” and what not. Still, Skylar pushes those feelings as far down as he can manage, knowing that the reason behind his jealousy is something that can never come to light. As his teacher continues, Skylar locks his gaze onto Mr. Lee, putting all of his effort into focusing on their conversation and not the magenta eyes staring holes into the side of his head.
“You boys can head down to lunch now, but please stay back after school so Cirrus can introduce you to our school. You'll both be required to join a club by the end of the week, so the tour will include visiting our club rooms.”
-+++-
After being basically kicked out by Mr. Lee when Minwoo started asking Cirrus for more details, the three of them headed down to the cafeteria for lunch. Cirrus went off with some other kids. Skylar notices that the small group he meets up with includes Chan-il and that guy who looks like a raccoon. A content look forms on Cirrus’s face as he sits down, flowing easily into the conversation with an energy Skylar hasn’t seen from the boy before.
“I'm surprised someone nice like Chan-il is friends with a dick bag like Cirrus” Skylar says to Minwoo while the two of them take a seat at an empty table a couple tables down from Cirrus’s.
“I guess Chan-il’s the type to befriend just about anyone, I bet he’d even be friendly with you” Minwoo response before taking a massive bite of his food “Damn I'm hungry, i haven’t eaten since this morning”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? And don’t take such massive bites, you big back, it’s gross!” Skylar replies, not mentioning the fact that he didn’t even get to eat breakfast since Minwoo had been so insistent the night before that they meet up early.
“Not my fault you eat your food like an idol or something, tiny ass bites” Minwoo shoots back with a mouthful of food.
“First of all, ew, close your mouth, second of all, at least I finish my food, you take three massive bites and then toss the rest.” Skylar was glad they at least got to be together for lunch, and conversation came so easily with Minwoo.
“That’s why I have a 6 pack and you don't,” Minwoo says, a smug grin spreading across his face.
“You do not have a six-pack, maybe a two-pack at best, and that’s only because you lost a bet and had to do a 5-minute plank every day for a month!” Unfortunately for Skylar, Minwoo had lost that bet during the winter, so he wasn’t actually sure how toned Minwoo was, but even imagining the boy without a shirt made Skylar’s ears turn beet red, so he decided to push down that thought to the very depths of his mind.
“Was it really a loss if I'm totally built now?” Minwoo starts flexing non-existent muscles like a bodybuilder, and the two of them burst out laughing (unbeknownst to the two of them, a certain ash-blonde shoots them dirty looks at the childish display from a few tables down). Lunch passes by far quicker than Skylar would’ve liked, but they head back to class, and afternoon classes go by just as boringly as the morning ones. As Skylar does his best to focus on his work, arguably much easier now that he could see the board, he couldn’t help but dread the upcoming tour, shooting unsavory glances at Cirrus every time he was reminded of it.
-+++-
Finally, the final bell rings, and as everyone begins to shuffle out of their seats, Cirrus stands up, turning to face Skylar. Now that he was properly facing Skylar for the first time, he could really get a good look at his face. It was unusually pretty for a guy, soft features and dual-colored eyes with surprisingly long eyelashes despite them being the same color as his neatly cut hair. He couldn’t deny that Cirrus is conventionally attractive, sure that girls flock to him with looks like those, but if anything, that thought just made him dislike the guy more. Popular, ‘golden boy’ types have always irked him more than anyone else.
Though it’s only for a moment, after standing up and facing Skylar, Cirrus just kind of stands there, as if he’s analyzing something about Skylar, magenta eyes scanning him. But, just as quickly as he looks at Skylar, Cirrus turns his head toward Minwoo, who is chatting to some white-haired kid Skylar doesn't recognize.
“Minwoo, right?” At the sound of his name, Minwoo glances up at Cirrus, whose body is still fully facing Skylar, almost looming over him despite the cheery look on his face. “Let’s start the tour now”.