Hobi walked into class feeling apprehensive. Normally, he'd feel sort of sick to his stomach with dread and the heaviness of wanting to be noticed but confined to invisibility.

But Hobi wanted to see Wonpil, and Wonpil was at school, so Hobi was at school.

When he went in, he immediately noticed Wonpil sitting at his desk, surrounded by other students.

I want to be there, Hobi thought. Maybe I should make Daddy take me earlier to school so I can play with Wonpil too. But then he immediately felt guilty because he knew Namjoon wasn't getting enough sleep - hadn't been for months - and that his little siblings would all have to wake up earlier too, just for him.

So Hobi just sighed and sat down at his desk.

But then something happened, something strange, something he hadn't expected.

Wonpil got up and sat down backwards in the chair in front of Hobi's desk, his arms crossed on the head of the chair as he grinned at Hobi.

Hobi didn't know what to do, but after a moment, he smiled back shyly.

"Hey, Hobi," Wonpil said, his smile reaching his eyes and lighting them up so his whole face glowed with happiness. "How are you doing today?"

Hobi shrugged, not sure what to say. He felt his brain overthinking, wondering if he should try to come off as cool or funny or something, but when he couldn't think of anything cool to say, he decided to just be honest. "It's too early to tell." He surprised himself with a yawn and grinned instinctively. "But I'm a little tired I guess."

Wonpil smiled back, his smile growing wider if possible as he laughed. "Me too! Let's be tired together!"

"Wonpil, please go back to your seat," the teacher said kindly as she walked in, and Wonpil turned, bowing slightly with a bashful smile.

"Sorry, sorry," he said before waving at Hobi and going back to his seat.

Hobi smiled, not even noticing all the disappointed kids who had been crowding around Wonpil, abandoned for Hobi.

To him, they had become invisible.

***

At lunch, Hobi didn't want to get his expectations up so he sat by himself at the end of the table. He pulled out his lunch bag and stared at it for a long second.

Long long has it been since I've eaten lunch?

I'm not even really hungry for it anymore.

He was debating on attempting to eat his lunch when the bench sank slightly from the weight of a body sitting next to him.

"Hey, Hobi," Wonpil said, smiling at Hobi, and Hobi smiled back without ever having to stop and think about it. "What do you have for lunch today?" he asked as he pulled out his own, revealing a sandwich, an apple, some pretzels, and a juice box.

"Um..." Hobi hesitated before opening his own lunch bag. "The same as yesterday."

Hobi looked at the food and found it unappetizing. He wasn't sure why or when, but now the thought of eating made him feel physically sick. The idea of having to eat his sandwich or his fruit snacks disgusted him.

But why? I like sandwiches? And I like fruit snacks? So why do they look gross to me now?

"Hey, Hobi, give me your sandwich," one of the boys said, and Hobi hesitated, staring down at his sandwich.

The request didn't bother him so much as it bothered him that it was really a demand and not a request at all.

"I..."

"Please let him eat his lunch," Wonpil said, smiling at the boy, but the smile seemed thin, and there wasn't any happiness in it. It was almost kind of scary.

Hobi was just glad Wonpil wasn't looking at him like that.

"O-oh," the other boy said, surprised, and he paused before backing up and finding somewhere else to sit.

"You can eat, you know," Wonpil said, smiling a normal smile at Hobi. "They won't take your food, okay? I'll make sure."

Hobi smiled hesitantly. "Thanks Wonpil."

Wonpil grinned, putting an arm around Hobi's shoulders. "No problem. Oh, sorry," he said, retracting his arm. "My brother says I'm too clingy. He said I should give people personal space, whatever that is."

Hobi just shrugged. "I don't mind. I have 5 brothers, so we don't really have personal space."

Wonpil's face lit up upon hearing Hobi's response. "Okay, one question: are you a bear?"

Hobi blinked before shaking his head. "No? I'm a potato."

Wonpil nodded solemnly. "Just as I suspected."

The two of them laughed even though they didn't really understand what was going on. They joked for fifteen minutes, and the more Hobi's classmates listened to their weird conversation, they more they realized that Wonpil wasn't just the cute kid they thought. He was just a little bit...extra.

Like Hobi.

And that was what made them get along so well.

There were five minutes left of lunch when Wonpil started putting his empty lunch box back into his back pack. That was when he looked over to realize that Hobi's lunch was still sitting out on the table, uneaten.

"Hobi, you didn't eat anything," Wonpil complained, pouting. "Eat!"

Hobi stared at the food that he'd forgotten about. It didn't look the least bit tempting.

It was funny to him, now that he was being allowed to eat, he couldn't.

Wonpil saw that Hobi wasn't moving so he unwrapped the sandwich for Hobi and shoved it in front of his face. "Eat! You're too thin!"

Hobi took the sandwich in his hands, but looking at it made his throat feel slimy. At Wonpil's motherly urging, though, he forced himself to take a bite, but as he felt the peanut butter and jelly combo slide down his throat, he knew it was a mistake.

He forced himself to swallow, but he already felt his stomach turning upside down and inside out. He stood up from the bench quickly, feeling even worse than before, wanting to run straight to the bathroom, but he hesitated, seeing his lunch bag with his dad's nice handwriting.

He quickly smoothed it and folded it before slipping it into his backpack, slipping his arms through the straps and walking quickly towards the bathroom, leaving his juice box and fruit snacks behind while ignoring Wonpil's questioning voice.

Once in the bathroom, he hurried into a stall and dropped his backpack on the floor, feeling his stomach churning intensely. He knelt over a toilet and gagged before his felt his stomach heave, forcing out all of its contents.

After he'd thrown up, he stayed in that position, shaking slightly from the intensity of his muscle contractions. He didn't even notice the opening of the door

"Hobi, are you in-" Wonpil's voice cut off as he saw Hobi leaning over a toilet, panting. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

Hobi flinched. He didn't want to lose the only friend he'd ever made within two days. He didn't want Wonpil to see him like this. He didn't want Wonpil to abandon him for someone else.

His thoughts rambled painfully onward until he felt a warm hand rubbing his back.

"Hey, it's okay," Wonpil whispered, rubbing his palm in circles on Hobi's back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you, Are you okay? Do you feel all right? Do you want to go to the nurse? Or we can call your dad to pick you up?"

Hobi shook his head at the last question. "N-no...I don't want..." He felt his eyes tearing up, and he felt even worse than when he'd been throwing up. "I don't want D-daddy to know. He'll w-worry about me."

Wonpil smiled sadly at the boy. "Hobi, it's okay to let people worry about you."

Hobi shook his head, tears dripping off the ends of his eyelashes. "N-no it's not. Y-yoongi has a hard t-time and J-jin and J-jimin too and T-taehyung and J-jungkook too. I can't make D-daddy worry about me t-too."

Wonpil frowned but helped the boy stand up, hurrying to move Hobi's backpack so it rested against the wall under the sink before helping Hobi over to the sinks. Then Wonpil grabbed a paper towel, wetting it down and gently running it over Hobi's face, then wetting a new one and applying soft pressure to Hobi's forehead.

"Let me worry about you, then," Wonpil said, not looking into Hobi's eyes because he knew it would make Hobi uncomfortable. "Okay? I promise I won't tell anyone what happened. I'll keep your secret, okay?"

Hobi exhaled slowly, taking deep breaths. He looked in the mirror and met Wonpil's eyes. "You promise?"

Wonpil nodded solemnly, holding out a pinky.

Hobi took Wonpil's pinky in his own, but he didn't let go. "Wonpil? You'll still be my friend?"

Wonpil nodded, tightening his finger around Hobi's. "Forever and ever."

Hobi hesitated before smiling delicately. "Forever and ever," he agreed, squeezing Wonpil's pinky back.