➖ ➖ ➖
 

There was a soft breeze blowing Mingyu from behind, lost cherry blossom petals floating freely around his feet. He was standing idly in the middle of the road, contemplating whether he should ask a nearby pedestrian for directions or just going wherever his feet took him.

"Excuse me,” he hears a small voice call out behind him. He turns his head to face the stranger. A few feet behind him stands a rather brooding looking male in the same uniform as him. He has his arm slightly outstretched to his left, a hand with an index finger pointing out at the end. Mingyu’s eyes follow the finger and looks down the road. Farther down the road he could make out more students walking along. He looked back to the other and smiled.

“Thanks,” he said before heading towards the school. As he walks further and further away from the stranger, he turns his head to look back at him.

The male is smiling brightly, eyes shut and creating happy little crescents on his face. Mingyu finds himself smiling as well, as if the other was alluding some sort of aura. Mingyu also begins to feel something brewing deep in his heart. He hoped then and there that someday it would reach this kind stranger.
 

➖➖➖
 

“I hope someone nice adopts you,” Wonwoo says softly as he places his umbrella over the box that contained a puppy who was barking ferociously. The rowdy pup watches him as he stands back up and begins walking again, rain pelting him. It didn’t bother him though, he knew the dog would be safe. Afterall, his motto was “try to do one good deed everyday.”

Wonwoo walks up the stairs leaving a trail of water on the way.

“Did you hear about Wonmaek in class P?”

“That guy that can sense ghosts or whatever?”

“Yeah. I heard before summer break he was rejected in public!”

“What? Really? By who?”

“Mingyu!”

“Kim Mingyu?”

One of the three gossiping girls scoffed, “There’s no way Mingyu and Wonwoo would ever-” She trails off as she hears approaching footsteps and turns her head to meet the noise.

There Wonwoo stood, hair matted down by the rainwater and looking particularly petrifying. He looked down at the girls.

“Good morning…” he uttered. They all stood still for a moment before the girls broke out shrieking and ran away.

“Ah, I must’ve blurted it out too suddenly… I’m sorry for surprising you,” Wonwoo thought as he put his hands together.

Two boys behind him gasped.

“He’s praying!”

“Do you think there’s something over there?” Thunder roared in the window,

“I wonder if that puppy is still okay,” he thinks as he puts his hands by his side again.

“Why is he staring at that wall?”

“A-and why is he completely soaked?” Wonwoo turned his body around mechanically to see who was talking and the boys gasped. He brushes it off and goes to his class.

“It’s too hard to try to interact with people,” Wonwoo mulls over as he unpacks his schoolwork. “I can’t quite get the hang of it… But I hope I’ll be able to break down these walls one at a time.” He tries his best to stay optimistic.

He rubs a handkerchief on his cheek to dry off and turns his head as he hears the classroom door slide open.

“Morning!” Wonwoo watches as Mingyu is greeted at the door by his friends and wipes his forehead.

“You’re drenched, Mingyu,” one of them teases and Mingyu just smiles.

“I couldn’t avoid the rain,” he starts explaining to the growing crowd around him.

“Look at all those people gathering around him so quickly… As expected from Mingyu-ssi,” Wonwoo studies in admiration. “He’s lively even when he’s drenched in the rain!”

Wonwoo continues to observe the group, eyes especially focused on the center of attention. Unexpectedly, Mingyu’s eyes roam towards him. Wonwoo is startled when he even walks over to him.

“Good morning,” Mingyu greets with a soft smile.

Flushed, Wonwoo stutters out a reply, “G-good morning.” Despite his calm exterior, he was freaking out.

“Even after all the trouble I caused him, he’s still treating me like everyone else? He’s such a great guy.”

“The rain got you too, huh? You’re soaked! Do you have a change of clothes?” Mingyu rambles on. He waits for a response, but Wonwoo just stands there thinking about it.

“You don’t?” His attention is then taken by a loud laugh in the back of the room.

“And so, Jun was like,” Seokmin hoots with laughter as he slaps the desk.

“Seokmin-ah,” Mingyu calls. “Don’t you have an extra pair of sweats?”

“Yeah, why?” he asks, but his question is soon answered when he sees the dripping wet Wonwoo  standing beside Mingyu.

“W-what the heck happened to you?!”

“Wonmaek, do you not have any spare clothes?” Soonyoung questions. Wonwoo only panics, looking between the two of them.

“Gosh, you’re hopeless,” Seokmin sighs as he rummages through his messy locker.

“Oh!” Seokmin pulls out a white sweatshirt along with a cloud of dust. “Here it is!”

Soonyoung coughs a little and covers his nose. “It smells like mold.”

Seokmin just tosses it to Wonwoo. “Here-- oh, and can you wash it when you’re done with it?”

Wonwoo could burst into tears in happiness. “T-Th-Thank you,” he mutters as he clutches the dusty shirt to his chest. He gasps when a fluffy towel lands on his head.

“Just a handkerchief isn’t going to cut it, right?” Mingyu asks as he rubs Wonwoo’s head through the towel. Wonwoo slowly turns around to face the boy.

“Sorry, it’s a little wet since I used it too,” he explains, grinning. Wonwoo can’t bring himself to look into his eyes so he resorts to staring at the boy’s tan neck.

“Th-Thank you.”

Wonwoo leaves to the bathroom to go change into his newly acquired clothes.

“I have such trouble interacting with people… But today I realised for the first time that there are so many kind people out there,” he muses while pulling the sweatshirt over his head. He tugs the shirt into place.

“I’m so happy people from my class are willing to lend me things,” he thinks happily. He glides out of the bathroom gleefully.

“Come to think of it, it was thanks to Mingyu I was able to talk to Seokmin-ssi and Soonyoung-ssi,” he ponders, gathering the towel around his neck to pull it over his mouth. The towel felt warm.

“Don’t worry so much about him, hyung,” Hansol advises, sitting across from Mingyu who was pulling his own sweatshirt over his head. “Wonmaek, I mean. Like, I know you feel bad about rejecting him, but…” The boy trails off.

“I didn’t reject him,” Mingyu states.

“Wha--” Hansol exclaims in confusion. “Don’t tell me you accepted him!”

Mingyu looks away from the wide eyed boy, “It’s not what you’re thinking.” Mingyu thinks back to the beginning of the summer and their encounter then, how he had asked Wonwoo if it was alright to want to see him again. He remembers how the sun had shined right on him, creating a halo of light around his black hair which was gently messed by the breeze. He remembered Wonwoo’s expression, tears still streaming down his face.
 

➖➖➖
 

“Over the summer?” Wonwoo asked softly. “I’m going to be seeing you at summer classes, too?”

“N-no, that’s not--”

“You won’t avoid me even if we see each other there?” Wonwoo asks excitedly.

“Hyung?”

Wonwoo is still crying now, “I’ve always wanted to be like you, and I’ve always looked up to you, and…” he ranted. “My respect towards you has gotten greater and greater.”

Mingyu is astonished and perhaps even touched.

“I’m… I’m sure these feelings will never change,” Wonwoo blurts.

Mingyu is frozen, a blushing mess. He brings a hand over his mouth, embarrassed. “So he meant attracted as in he respected me?” he thinks to himself. “Darn it, I was so full of myself.”

“Thank you so much, Mingyu-ssi,” Wonwoo chokes out.
 

➖➖➖
 

“H-hyung?” Hansol waves a hand in front of the boy’s flushed face. Mingyu shakes his head, the warmth in his face slowly fading.

“It’s not about rejection.” He pulls his knees to his chest and rests his head in between them, the blushing creeping back. “That’s not what it was about…”

“What are you talking about, I don’t understand,” Hansol murmurs.

“I’m the one who didn’t get it, Hansol, I’m the one who didn't get it.”

“No really, I don’t understand,” Hansol chuckles awkwardly.
 

➖➖➖
 

Soonyoung and Seokmin burst back into the classroom with roaring laughter. The latter sits down at his desk and tries to regain his composure and his eyebrows raise in curiosity when he notices a box of banana milk on his desk.

“What’s this?” he questions.

“I got one too,” Soonyoung says while picking up the strawberry milk.

“Wonmaek left those on your desks earlier,” a classmate explains from her desk.

“Wait, why did I get one?” Seokmin asks more to himself than anyone else. “Oh! It’s his way of saying thanks!” Seokmin’s eyes tears up at the thought.

On the other side of the classroom, Mingyu picks up his own chocolate milk carton on his desk and stares at it. Condensation formed and dripped down the sides quickly. Mingyu jogs to the door and looks down the hall at Wonwoo’s retreating figure.

“Hyung!” Wonwoo freezes mid-step.

“Is this from you?” Mingyu asks, holding up the carton. The former turns around, cheeks lightly tinted pink. He turns his head down so his hair would hide his eyes and nods.

“It was a thanks for the t-towel,” he mumbles.

“Come on, you should have just told me,” Mingyu says. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have known who it was from!”

Wonwoo’s head shoots up in panic, “S-sorry,” he starts, but is stopped by the sight of a blushing Mingyu.

“I-I’m glad it was from you. I don’t know what I would have said to you if I had been wrong,” he talks through his hand over his mouth. “You know, sometimes I act without thinking. I was beginning to think the towel thing was crossing the line.”

Wonwoo can only watch the blushing boy.

“Truth is, I’m a little nervous right now,” Mingyu chuckles. “J-just a little.” He looks at the unopened blue carton in Wonwoo’s hands.

“You got milk too?”

“O-oh, I was thinking of giving this to the dog…”

“You like dogs? I saw one this morning,” Mingyu muses. “It was a stray though.”

“Stray?”

“Yeah, my clothes got wet while I played with him,” Mingyu laughs at the thought.

“T-the one by the river?”

The two are left staring at each other in silence.
 

➖➖➖
 

“So this was your umbrella,” Mingyu resolves, observing the red umbrella. “That explains why you were so drenched.”

“It’s a little embarrassing,” Wonwoo mutters.

“Oh, it’s got your name on it.”

“I’ve had it since elementary school,” Wonwoo murmurs before turning his attention to the yipping puppy in Mingyu’s hands.

“Mind if I take him?”

Wonwoo perks up, “You really would?!” The puppy turns his head to Wonwoo and growls.

“Hey now,” Mingyu scolds the dog.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Wonwoo says with a hard stare.

“U-used to it…?”

“Animals have always been afraid of me. Same with small children,” he explains, a hand up in reassurance. “It’s just that dogs are my favorite.”

“Wait, don’t people say that dogs start to like people if they’re friendly with their owners?” Mingyu states rather than asks and crawls closer to sit by Wonwoo in the grass. He leans against him and holds the puppy up between them.

“See? We’re good friends,” he says to the dog. The dogs stops growling, instead it looks around in confusion.

“F-friends?!” Wonwoo ponders in surprise.

“See?” Mingyu looks at Wonwoo with one of his soft smiles. “Everything’s okay.”

Wonwoo nods and looks away.

“It’s strange because when Mingyu-ssi says so, I really do start to believe that everything’s okay,” Wonwoo thinks as he watches the boy laugh with the dog.

“He doesn’t seem to have a wall separating him from anyone else. That’s why everyone likes him-- people and dogs.” Wonwoo pulls his sleeves over his hands by habit and looks up at the setting sky.

“I,” he speaks out suddenly. “I want to become friends with everyone.” He buries his head in his knees.

“I’ll do my best,” he says into his knees.

“Yeah… Yeah! Go for it,” Mingyu exclaims. He grins. “You’ll be fine.”
 

➖➖➖
 

“Um!” Wonwoo and Mingyu were walking along the river, Mingyu holding the tired puppy and Wonwoo trailing along. They both stop and Mingyu faces him.

“If it isn’t too much trouble… Would you let me see him again?”

Mingyu pouts a little, “What, just the dog? What about me?”

“Y-y-you too, of course!”

Mingyu laughs, “Then I guess we have a deal!”

“Hey Mingyu,” Wonwoo thinks to himself. “For some reason, I don’t feel that there’s a wall between us.”

Wonwoo places a hand on his chest. He feels his heart racing, thumping away happily.
“This has never happened with anyone else before…”

➖➖➖
 

hello hello hello

im so so so sorry for the long wait ;;

i hope this chapter was good and not too short ;; !!

i’ve been so busy and tired lately, but i took a day off today

and i decided i left you guys waiting too too long and i might

as well hanker down and finish this chapter once and for all
sorry, im realising now that this fic is super dialogue heavy ;;

thank you so much for 93 subs!! i love you all, thank you for sticking around

remember to subscribe or comment because comments are my motivation!! ♡