“Did your parents sign you up for this, too?” Wonwoo asked, looking to the kid who was at the easel next to him as he poured out some paint.

Mingyu groaned as he tied his apron around his neck. “Ugh, yeah. My mom thinks I’m not ‘cultured’ enough or something,” he complained. “But honestly, what mother signs her 14 year-old son up for ART class?”

Wonwoo chuckled and dipped his brush. “Someone like my mom. Only difference is she signed up her 15 year-old.”

Smiling slightly, Mingyu couldn’t help but be amused. “Looks like we’ll just be tortured together.”

Wonwoo grinned and watched the boy start his painting. Something about him was oddly charming. “Looks like it.”

— — —

“MOM! DAD! I’M GOING TO SCHOOL!” Mingyu cried out as he finished tying his shoes.

“BYE, SWEETIE!” his mom hollered back.

“HAVE FUN!” his dad added.

Mingyu smiled. “I’LL TRY!” He stood up and brushed off his uniform. As soon as he opened the apartment’s front door, his eyes grew wide and he stood there for just a second, completely surprised. “Wonwoo?” he finally uttered.

Wonwoo was out in the hall rearranging some boxes. He was also in a uniform, but there was some sweat on his brow. Hearing his name, he immediately turned around. Upon seeing Mingyu, he gave a shocked smile. “Mingyu! Hey!”

Still confused, Mingyu chuckled. “Hey! What—are—you live here?”

Wonwoo glanced over at the boxes and put his hands on his hips. “Uhh, yeah, I guess. My family and I just moved in yesterday and we just have a few more boxes to take in.” He turned back to Mingyu and laughed at the boy’s face. “Don’t look so thrown! I told you the other day that I was moving!”

Mingyu scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not thrown! And you didn’t tell me where you were moving to! How was I supposed to know you’d end up across the hall?”

“Well, I did! Looks like we’re neighbors now!” Wonwoo exclaimed, throwing his arms out.

Mingyu laughed and nodded. “That’s great!” Mingyu was beyond excited to hear this. After taking that art class for a few months, he and Wonwoo really bonded and ended up becoming pretty good friends. The boys found out they went to the same school and were only a grade apart. They started hanging out more after class and on weekends, but Wonwoo had never been to Mingyu’s house. Mingyu grew incredibly fond of Wonwoo and loved having him as a friend, and having him in the same building now was even better.

However, as excited as Mingyu was, Wonwoo was even more over the moon. But for a slightly different reason. For weeks, all he had been thinking about was the pretty boy from his art class. They became friends so quickly and Wonwoo almost instantly felt this greater connection. Mingyu was beyond awesome and Wonwoo couldn’t get over it. At first, he thought it was just because this kid was so darn cute, definitely easy on the eyes. But then, Wonwoo started paying more attention to his personality and his dorkiness and...everything. Wonwoo wasn’t sure what to make of his feelings, so he kept them to himself. He didn’t want to ruin anything.

— — —

“WONWOO! WAKE UP!” Mingyu screamed, jumping on Wonwoo’s bed. “WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!”

Wonwoo abruptly opened his eyes to find Mingyu laughing at him. “WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” he screamed, still half asleep.

Mingyu smiled and dropped to his knees. “You act like this is a new thing!”

Coming to his senses a bit, Wonwoo groaned and covered his face with his blanket. “I seriously have to take that key away from you,” he said.

Laughing, Mingyu plopped himself next to his friend and shimmied under the covers. “You’ve been saying that for six months.” Throwing the blanket over his head, he joined Wonwoo underneath. “And yet, I still have it.”

Wonwoo scrunched his face in the slight darkness. He kicked Mingyu’s foot. “That key’s for emergencies!”

“This is an emergency!” Mingyu argued, kicking right back.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. “What is it?”

Mingyu flashed a toothy grin as he threw the blanket off his face. “I FINISHED MY PAINTING!”

Wonwoo pulled the blanket down and sat up. “THAT IS NOT AN EMERGENCY!”

“I WANTED YOU TO SEE IT!”

“I HATE YOU!” Wonwoo laughed, reaching over Mingyu to grab his phone from his night stand. He checked the time and screamed, “IT’S 8 IN THE MORNING!”

“COME ON!” Mingyu cried. “COME OVER AND SEE IT! I SPENT ALL NIGHT WORKING ON IT!”

As cute as Mingyu was being, Wonwoo wouldn’t give in. Smiling, he wrapped himself back up in the blanket. “NO! I’M GOING TO SLEEP!”

“HYUNG!” Mingyu whined, shaking Wonwoo.

“NO! GO AWAY!” Wonwoo laughed, even though he didn’t really mean it. He loved teasing Mingyu. It was one of his favorite pass times. The boy’s reactions were just too adorable, he couldn’t resist.

Mingyu pouted and rested his chin on Wonwoo’s shoulder. “It’s a really nice painting.”

“I’m sure it is.”

After waiting a second to see if Wonwoo would get up, Mingyu sighed in defeat. “Fine. Go back to sleep. I’ll show it to you later.” He knew getting Wonwoo to wake up early on a Saturday was a long shot, but Mingyu was still hoping that the boy would come over. After all, the painting was for him. It was supposed to be a gift for Wonwoo’s outstanding academic achievements.

Early on in the friendship, Mingyu found out that Wonwoo was quite the scholar. He was top of his class and incredibly hardworking. That meant that a lot of his time was spent studying, otherwise he’d be hanging out with Mingyu or sleeping. That’s why his mom wanted him to take art, to encourage some sort of creativity, but he never picked it up as well as Mingyu did. Mingyu just wanted to do something to show his friend how proud he was of him.

He slid out of Wonwoo’s bed and quietly headed for the door. But just as he was about to leave, he heard Wonwoo say, “I’m sure it’s beautiful.”

As those words reached his ears, Mingyu felt something he hadn’t before: his heart beating faster for no apparent reason. He didn’t know what to make of it, so he just smiled and walked out the door.

— — —

“Oh my god,” Wonwoo muttered under his smile when he saw the painting.

Mingyu beamed and shook the present in between his arms, “Don’t you love it!”

Wonwoo stepped closer and gripped it around the edges of the canvas’s frame. He could still smell the paint, but he didn’t mind. He was too surprised. “You made this for me?”

Mingyu nodded and let him take it. He was more than pleased with Wonwoo’s reaction. “Yeah, you’ve been doing so well these days, I wanted to do something for you. I thought a painting was appropriate.”

“Yeah ,” Wonwoo chuckled, still just basking in amazement.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s awesome!” To anyone else, it would seem that the painting just captured a door. They would just be looking at a plain, detailed, purple, apartment door against a subtly yellow wall in a well lit hallway, its apartment number painted in silver and its welcome mat just on the ground in front. But in Wonwoo’s eyes, he was looking at so much more.

Mingyu smiled brightly. “You get it, right?” He came around and leaned over Wonwoo’s shoulder. “I remember when we started walking home together, one night you told me about your dream place.”

“Yeah,” Wonwoo managed to say, still just in awe of how much he felt just looking at this simple piece of art.

“Well, I remembered you said something about it being an apartment in Seoul, overlooking the city. You said you loved it there the few times you’ve visited and that’s where you want to live and go to school in a couple of years. You were weirdly detailed about the place you’d be living in,” Mingyu teased, elbowing his friend. “You said the door would be purple and the halls would be yellow, warm and bright like the freakin’ sun. You wanted a welcome mat to let your neighbors know you were friendly. You said you’d make the inside super modern and ‘edgy,’ or whatever, ‘cause you thought it looked cool,” Mingyu laughed. Wonwoo glanced over at him as he chuckled. “I wanted to do more of the inside of the apartment, but it was too much detail. So I decided to let you use your imagination for that part. I know it’s just a door, but—”

“No!” Wonwoo interrupted, “No, this is perfect, Mingyu!”

Mingyu couldn’t stop smiling. He was so glad Wonwoo liked it.

“This...is perfect,” Wonwoo said again, smiling down at the picture. In his hands, he was holding his dream. Wonwoo wanted more than anything in the world to get the chance to move to Seoul. It was hours from home, but he loved it there. Something about that city made him feel whole, and that’s what he wanted for the rest of his life. This apartment was part of that want, and having Mingyu give it to him made it all even more heart-warming.

But as he was admiring the painting, he noticed the one detail he had left out in his mind that Mingyu filled in. “Did you choose the apartment number?”

“Oh yeah,” Mingyu said. “You never talked about it, so I improvised. Yeah, your favorite number’s 1 and, ya know, mine’s 7 so…”

“71?” Wonwoo read off the door.

Mingyu nodded. “It’s what I could come up with.”

Wonwoo felt his heart race faster as he clutched his gift. “It’s perfect.”

— — —

“I really don’t understand how some people can be so mean,” Mingyu groaned, kicking the ground as he walked.

It was late at night and the moon was shining over him and Wonwoo. “Ah, Mingyu, don’t let them bother you. They’re just jealous. You’ve gotten so tall lately, they want to pick on you while they still can.”

Mingyu rolled his eyes. “That jacket was really expensive, hyung.”

Wonwoo sighed. “I know.”

“What am I supposed to tell my parents?”

Wonwoo put his hand on Mingyu’s shoulder. “Tell them what happened. Tell them those bullies thought it would be funny to cut it up while you weren’t looking.”

Mingyu took a few deep breaths before saying anything else. “I’m just so tired of this.”

“I know.”

“And it’s always the same kids.” Mingyu clutched his shredded jacket in his hands.

“I know.” As calm as Wonwoo may have sounded, he was furious and he could feel his blood boiling at the thought of those kids picking on Mingyu. They would do this every few weeks when they got bored and, apparently, they had been doing it for years. Mingyu used to be a lot smaller than he was now and he didn’t have many friends. But even with his recent growth spurts and Wonwoo now by his side, that didn’t stop them from continuously pestering him.

Mingyu sighed again. For a little bit, neither of them said anything. They just walked in silence, until Mingyu laughed. Confused, Wonwoo furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Mingyu chuckled. “It’s just...I used to go through this alone. I would get bullied and wait until night fell to sneak home, ‘cause they’d chase me otherwise. I used to go through hell alone.” He smiled and looked at Wonwoo. “But now, I have a friend like you, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Wonwoo slowly felt the rage inside of him turn into warmth. He smiled back at Mingyu and was overwhelmed with how sweet his best friend was. But just as the two were rounding a corner, Mingyu broke their gaze and vigorously started shivering, like he got the chills. He rubbed his arms, trying to increase his body temperature.

But Wonwoo knew that wasn’t going to do any good. With a grin on his face, he pulled off his jacket and placed it on Mingyu’s shoulders. “Here.”

Mingyu laughed. “Thanks, hyung.”

“No problem,” Wonwoo replied. He slowly took Mingyu’s jacket from his hands.

“You’re awesome, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo could hardly contain himself as they neared their apartment building. Whenever he talked to Mingyu, Wonwoo just felt something inside of him melt. It was horribly overwhelming, but for some reason, that night was starting to clear up his confusion. He knew what this feeling was. He was just scared to admit it.

“Mingyu-ah.” Wonwoo stopped in his tracks and stared at the other boy’s back as he walked a few more steps forward.

Mingyu stopped and turned back around. “Hm?”

Wonwoo stared at Mingyu’s adorable face, the face he had fallen...no, he couldn’t admit it yet. But he really wanted to. “I—”

He stopped. Mingyu leaned forward and raised an eyebrow, waiting. “Yeah?”

“I…” Wonwoo clenched his fists and blinked a few times. “I...just wanted you to know…” He gazed into Mingyu’s eyes, submitting to his stare. “...I’ll never let you be alone.”

Mingyu flashed a toothy smile and nodded. “I know.”

— — —

“Hey!” Mingyu cried out, waving and running towards Wonwoo.

Wonwoo was sitting at a park bench under a streetlight, but immediately stood up when he saw him coming. Normally, Wonwoo would return the eager greeting, but he couldn’t today. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets and smiled a little. As Mingyu got closer, Wonwoo could feel more sweat form on the back of his neck.

Noticing that Wonwoo wasn’t saying anything, Mingyu slowed to a walk and joined him, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Wonwoo quickly replied, trying to act normal. He looked up at Mingyu and gave him a more easy-going smile. “How was class?”

Mingyu laughed and sat down, relieved that Wonwoo seemed fine. “Good! We’re working with clay more now.” Wonwoo sat down next to him and happily listened. “Ms. Jung says my paintings are looking really good these days, so moving onto another medium wouldn’t hurt me, especially ‘cause I paint so much at home.” Mingyu was always so excited when he talked about art class, and Wonwoo loved it. As he kept going though, Mingyu’s puppy-like joy started to fade. He was talking about how nice it was to finally be able to physically feel the art when he trailed off.

Wonwoo could tell something was up, even in his anxious state, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Mingyu replied, softly. But he let out a small sigh before turning back to Wonwoo. “I just wish you were still in the class.”

Wonwoo couldn’t help but start to turn pink, even though Mingyu had no idea how he was feeling. He chuckled and looked down at his hands. “Yeah, I do too. But, you know the schedules just don’t work out anymore.”

“Aish,” Mingyu muttered, playfully knocking his shoulder into Wonwoo’s. “You’re always so busy, Wonwoo. What do you even have time for these days?”

Taking a deep breath, Wonwoo smiled and looked at Mingyu’s cheek. “I have time for you.”

But Mingyu just laughed, brushing it off like he did with all of his friend’s gushy comments. “Good. ‘Cause you know I’m the most important thing in the world,” Mingyu joked.

But Wonwoo couldn’t have said it better himself. “Yeah. You kind of are.” Mingyu chuckled again and waited for Wonwoo to continue into some sort of endearing insult, but that never happened. “You’re pretty great, Mingyu-ah.”

Mingyu turned to face Wonwoo. “You are too,” he laughed.

Wonwoo could feel his heart pounding like crazy, as if it were trying to break out of his chest. This was his chance. Everything was set up. Mingyu was right there. He needed to do it. “Mingyu-ah.”

“Yeah?”

He felt his arms tense up, but Wonwoo still couldn’t. “Tell me more about the clay.”

Mingyu grinned even bigger and leaned back into the bench, looking up at the night sky. “Oh, hyung, it’s awesome! It’s so different from paint, but equally as interesting. Something about having all that goo just run through your fingers...it’s exciting! Like, I can actually mold something in my hands and it’ll be called art. It’s the stuff kids do at the park but now it’s art. I really hope I can—”

“I love you,” Wonwoo spit out. He could feel his chest nearly exploding and his ears ringing and his fingers tingling. But Mingyu didn’t notice.

“—stick with it,” Mingyu continued, getting into the topic. “If I do, I’ll probably end up taking more classes and spending more hours at the studio. Ms. Jung’s already suggested a few other teachers—”

Still trembling out of his pants, Wonwoo said it again. “I love you.”

“—who specialize in pottery and sculpting and stuff. She told me I have a lot of potential, so I might take her up on the offer. I would definitely need to find someone—”

“I love you!” Wonwoo said louder. As nervous as he was, he was almost annoyed with how oblivious Mingyu was being. At the same time, this was one of Mingyu’s traits that Wonwoo found to be adorable, just not right now.

“—who really knows the craft, ya know? I mean, the whole reason Ms. Jung’s so great is ‘cause she—”

Wonwoo couldn’t handle it anymore. “Oh my god,” he groaned under his breath as he rolled his eyes. “I LOVE YOU!” he screamed, slapping Mingyu incredibly hard on his shoulder blade.

“OWWW!” he immediately cried, turning over and rubbing the sore area. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”

Wonwoo was too full of emotions and he could hardly contain himself. Giving Mingyu one of his signature glares, he screamed right in his face. “I LOVE YOU!”

“I KNOW THAT!” Mingyu yelled back, continuing to tend to his wound. “JESUS, WHY’D YOU HIT SO HARD?!”

At this point, Wonwoo was at a lost for words and he had no idea what to do with himself. Utterly confused, he shrieked, “WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘YOU KNOW THAT?!’”

Mingyu scoffed and gently pushed Wonwoo back. “OF COURSE YOU LOVE ME! YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND GODDAMNIT! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME!”

So done with how stupid the boy he loved was being, Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “OH MY GOD! YOU ARE SO STUPID!”

“WHY’RE YOU BEING EXTRA MEAN TODAY?!” Mingyu yelled, half laughing as the situation started to become more amusing.

But it wasn’t for Wonwoo. “YOU’RE AN IDIOT!”

Mingyu smiled. “But you love me,” he teased.

Wonwoo’s heart was going to collapse for too many reasons: from his anxiousness, from his frustration, and from his love for this ridiculous kid. “YEAH!” he screamed, struggling to maintain his emotions. “I LOVE YOU!”

Even with the immense amount of conviction in Wonwoo’s voice, Mingyu still wasn’t catching on. “I love you, too, Wonwoo,” he chuckled.

With one last sigh, Wonwoo broke. “No, Mingyu!” He grabbed Mingyu by the face and forced him to stare right into his eyes. Shaking, he slowly repeated, “I...love...you.”

Mingyu’s entertained expression started to fade away as he finally understood what was happening. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “What?”

Wonwoo felt like he was going to die, but this was what he had been waiting for all year. He pulled Mingyu closer to him, tapping their foreheads together. “I...love...you,” he whispered.

Now it was Mingyu’s turn to freak out. He had no idea what was happening and he definitely didn’t expect what he was hearing. He still couldn’t comprehend anything. But he didn’t pull away. “Wonwoo, this isn’t funny anymore.”

But Wonwoo just closed his eyes and sighed. “I love you,” he said again.

Mingyu’s heart was beating in his ears. His mind was flooded with confusion and he had no idea what to do. What was Wonwoo saying to him? Why wasn’t he laughing? Why didn’t he explain the joke? But as Mingyu had his face so close to Wonwoo’s, he didn’t feel the need to move. Weirdly, he didn’t want to move. As those words started racing through his head, Mingyu finally started to understand some of it. “You...love...me?”

Wonwoo glanced back up at him, fearing the boy’s reaction. But Mingyu didn’t flinch. Wonwoo finally cracked and smiled a little. “I love you.”

“You love me,” Mingyu said again as Wonwoo got even closer.

And Mingyu didn’t back away. “I love you,” Wonwoo said, one last time before he didn’t need to say anymore. He’d waited so long for this confession. But he still didn’t know how Mingyu felt about all of this and he still was unsure of what could happen from this, but it didn’t matter right then. Mingyu wasn’t pulling away. So Wonwoo did the second most anticipated thing he’d wanted to do since falling in love with Mingyu.

He kissed him.

ok this chapters incredibly long and meanie's story still isn't done and freakin i thought i could fit it into one chapter but what i have planned HAD to be split up XD I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THIS! BECAUSE MEANIE HURTS ME the formats definitely different from my other chapters but i hope you all still liked it thank you so much for your comments and support because youre all amazing XD MORE MEANIE TO COME IN PROBABLY A WEEK! (ive been annoyingly busy these days im so sorry!)