This is a really cute, wholesome pride song :) it's originally about a love facing both homophobia and racial divide, but I've decided to focus on the fluffier aspects of the song hehe. Take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WBAinat0pA

Also somewhat based off this tweet:

"Do you think you'll ever fall in love?"

"I don't know. I think if she likes pancakes, then probably."

Myungsoo rolls his toy dump truck through the sand, scooping a handful into its dumpster basket. "What if she likes waffles?"

Sungyeol shrugs. "I don't like waffles. They're all sharp and they hurt to eat." He uses a little plastic shovel to scoop more sand into the dump truck. "Will you ever fall in love?"

He makes a face. "I don't want to. Girls are gross."

Sungyeol throws sand at him. "No they aren't! Girls are pretty!"

He stands up and kicks sand back at the other boy. "Are not!"

"Hey! Are too!" He tackles Myungsoo and they go rolling in the sandbox, wrestling and bickering and flinging loose handfuls of sand into each other's faces.

Needless to say, they both end up in the principal's office with sand in their hair and clothes, looking equally upset and uncomfortable as they wait for their mothers to pick them up.

In middle school, Sungyeol brings it up again. They're in Myungsoo's bedroom, playing Mario Kart against each other on their Nintendo DS's. Sungyeol is lying on his side on the bed, and Myungsoo is sitting on the ground, leaning back against the side of the bed.

"Do you think you'll ever fall in love?"

Myungsoo is so caught off guard that steers into the sideboards. He struggles for words as he guides the little on-screen Toad back to the racetrack. "Why're you bringing it up all of a sudden? You got someone you like?"

Sungyeol goes quiet, and Myungsoo spares a glance over at him. His ears are pink.

He pauses the game. "No way. Who is it?"

Sungyeol sits up, "It's kinda embarrassing."

"Dude, we've been friends for like, forever. We used to hold hands on the way to and from school. In public. Think about how embarrassing that was. This can't be nearly that bad."

"Did you really have to bring that up?" He slaps a hand over his eyes, as if it will somehow erase the memory.

"Nope. It's just funny how embarrassing you still find it," he grins. "Now tell me who it is."

Sungyeol lays back down and rolls over to face the wall. "Bora," he mumbles.

"Yoon Bora?"

"Is there any other Bora?!" he seethes, throwing the pillow at Myungsoo.

"Guess not. What do you like about her?"

"She's pretty."

"And...?" Myungsoo prods.

"And she's really good at running."

Neither of them say anything else for a while, letting the quiet Mario Kart music fill the space.

"Does she like pancakes?"

Sungyeol sits up. "What?"

Myungsoo shrugs.

"You're so weird. Why would that even matter?"

He bites his lip, deciding whether or not to tell the truth. To be honest, it is weird for him to remember a conversation from elementary school about 7-year-old Sungyeol's ideal type. In the end, he makes something up. "I dunno. You love pancakes."

"So?"

"So maybe... maybe she hates pancakes. What if she makes you choose between her and pancakes?"

Sungyeol rolls his eyes. "That would never happen. I bet she loves pancakes."

Sungyeol ends up asking her out less than a week after his conversation with Myungsoo, and she agrees to go if they both bring a friend, so that her parents don't get mad at her for going on a date. They make plans to go for brunch on the weekend.

Sungyeol and Myungsoo sit beside each other in a park near the restaurant, waiting for the girls to arrive. Sungyeol won't stop bouncing his leg up and down. It's driving Myungsoo insane.

"Dude, relax." He kicks at Sungyeol's shoe, smiling smugly when it stops bouncing.

"I'm nervous." He looks around and lowers his voice, "I really hope she likes me."

Myungsoo punches his shoulder. "Of course she does. She wanted to come today."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"Relax. Trust me, she likes you."

They hear someone call out to Sungyeol and look up to spot Bora, waving at them with a huge smile. She brought Hyolyn, another girl from their class. It's odd to see them in street clothes, a stark contrast to their typical pressed uniforms.

"Hi, Bora." is all Sungyeol can manage to choke out when they're finally face to face.

She looks down bashfully. "Hi, Sungyeol."

Hyolyn coughs awkwardly, "Hey, let's go eat! I haven't eaten anything today."

"Oh, yeah! Let's go do that!" Sungyeol laughs nervously and starts up a shy conversation with Bora as the four of them walk off to brunch.

Sungyeol sighs. And then he sighs again. And again. And a little more after that, until finally, Myungsoo shuts his laptop and turns to him.

"What?"

Sungyeol stares back, oblivious. "What?"

"You sound like my mom did when we went to the zoo and I wouldn't let her take a picture of me with the baboon."

"Didn't she end up taking one anyway? I love that picture. The red of the baboon's matches your red face perfectly."

"Not the point!" Myungsoo bristles and huffs. "You're so annoying. Get out of my room."

Sungyeol doesn't reply. He just flops around a little on the floor and takes a big, deep breath before letting out another massive sigh.

"Drama queen." Myungsoo mutters.

Sungyeol pulls off one of his socks and throws it at him.

"Gross! Ugh, dude!"

"Aren't you supposed to be my best friend?" He asks sharply.

"Best friends don't throw their stinky socks at each other!"

"Best friends are supposed to comfort each other after one of them gets his heart broken!"

"What the heck are you even talking about!"

Myungsoo's mom shouts down the hall, "Boys, you're not fighting, are you?"

"Nooo," they chime together.

"Just making sure!"

They wait until her footsteps disappear and then Sungyeol turns back to Myungsoo.

"I just got my heart broken and you're being insensitive."

"I have no clue what you mean. Your date went really well! Bora seemed really happy the whole time!"

"Well, yeah..."

"Yeah. So there's nothing to be upset about."

Sungyeol picks at the carpet. "But..."

"But what?"

"You're gonna think it's stupid."

"I already think you're stupid. Just tell me."

"Well, the thing you said about.. about pancakes. It's been bugging me."

Myungsoo stares at him. "Seriously? You're kidding me."

"She doesn't like pancakes, Myungsoo!"

"You're a complete idiot."

Sungyeol and Bora date for a little while, but eventually she breaks up with him, saying she just doesn't see it working out. Myungsoo's pretty sure it's actually because Sungyeol would not-so-subtly hint at her giving pancakes another chance every time they went out to eat. In the end, though, Myungsoo and Hyolyn become pretty good friends from being escorts on their best friends' dates.

"Myungsoo!" Hyolyn barrels into him and he puts his hands up just in time to save himself from crashing into the lockers.

"Don't do that!" He pokes the side of her head.

"I haven't seen you basically all summer and that's how you treat me?!"

"I saw you tons at the academy. I'm getting sick of you." He jokes, laughing when she crosses her arms and smacks him.

They're entering their senior year of high school, both ready to end a chapter of their lives and anxious about what the next one holds. Myungsoo's just ready to get away from this place, where all the girls in younger years manage to get a hold of his class schedule Every. Single. Semester. In sophomore year, he found out Hyolyn snapped a photo of it and sold it off to a freshman girl, and he didn't speak to her for a whole week. When he finally decided to acknowledge her existence again, it was because she bought him so many vending machine drinks and snacks that he got indigestion from consuming all of them. She ended up spending way more on apology-food for him than she originally earned from selling the photo.

Hyolyn suddenly leans closer to ask, "Where's Sungyeol?" She notices the way Myungsoo scowls. "What? What's wrong?"

"He's with Sunggyu."

She gasps dramatically. "Clingy Sunggyu from the music club?"

He nods.

"Then what are you doing standing around?! Come on, let's go find him!" She hooks her arm into his and hauls him down the hall, completely immune to the stares and whispers of other students.

Hyolyn doesn't even bother knocking, just bursts straight into the music room and stalks right up to Sungyeol.

He's sitting on a desk shoulder-to-shoulder with Sunggyu. They're sharing a pair of headphones and listening to song demos Sunggyu recorded over the summer. He barely has a chance to look up when Hyolyn is already up in his face, shoving between them to sit down and babbling on about how he looks different since the last time they saw each other.

Abruptly, she whips her head around to face Sunggyu. "Oh, sorry, were you guys busy with something? Can it wait? I just got so excited to see my friend here!" She pats Sungyeol's back much harder than necessary. "I'm sure you understand, right? Everybody says the whole music club is super nice. We'll be off then."

Sunggyu hadn't even gotten a chance to get a word in before Hyolyn had collected her friends and whisked them away.

"What was that about earlier?" Sungyeol looks extremely unimpressed.

After Hyolyn had stolen him away from Sunggyu, the bell had delayed their conversation to lunch.

She shrugs and spoons rice into . "I was just greeting you."

He huffs and turns to Myungsoo. "You must be in on this. Spill the beans."

Myungsoo makes a face. "I hate beans."

Sungyeol groans and steals Myungsoo's unopened can of juice. He downs the whole thing while the other whines and kicks his feet under the table. "You two are impossible!"

"Impossible not to love!" Hyolyn chirps.

Myungsoo meets up with Sungyeol after school so they can walk home together.

"How was the first day?"

"The same as usual, I guess. Except Sunggyu probably doesn't want to talk to me anymore because I have weird friends."

He turns away to hide his smile.

Sungyeol bumps their shoulders together. "Are you really not gonna tell me what you and Hyolyn were up to this morning?"

"Hmm... Nope!"

"Ridiculous."

They walk down familiar roads and alleys. Myungsoo will pause every now and then, pulling out his phone to snap photos of trees they pass. The leaves are still green for the most part, but a few here and there have already begun to change colour, speckling the foliage with winks of gold. The sky is entirely clear, seeming to emanate bright blue onto the earth below.

"Hey," Sungyeol calls.

"What?"

"Do you have anyone you like?"

He eyes Sungyeol carefully. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. You've never really dated anyone."

"Well... yeah. There is someone."

Sungyeol gawks. "Tell me everything. Myungsoo, I need to know this instant."

"I'm not telling you who it is." He says firmly.

Sungyeol deflates.

"But... they really like to eat breakfast."

He puzzles over the statement. "What kind of statement is that? I'll never be able to guess who it is."

Myungsoo shrugs him off and they keep walking. He stops to take some more photos.

"You walk so slow!" Sungyeol complains, turning around to see Myungsoo ten feet behind him.

Myungsoo points the phone at Sungyeol. "First day of senior year photo. Smile!"

Sungyeol rolls his eyes but his signature warm, bright smile flourishes as the photo is snapped. "Let's take one together, too."

Myungsoo tries his best to ignore his heart thudding in his chest as Sungyeol slings an arm around his shoulders, grinning up at the mirror image of them together on the screen.

Sunggyu's having a party at his house and Sungyeol's invited, so by some sort of default, Myungsoo's invited too. Except Myungsoo's not sure they're ever going to make it there if Sungyeol keeps telling him to go change into something "less.. dark." He really wasn't expecting there to be a Sungyeol-enforced dress code when he agreed to go. But then again, there was no way he would've let Sungyeol go alone to get drunk in Sunggyu's house.

"Okay, you can turn around now."

Sungyeol's been sitting on the bed, acting as the fashion police and criticizing Myungsoo's endless supply of black and grey. He swivels around. "Oh my god. That actually looks really good." He stands up and moves closer, pinching the cuff of Myungsoo's sleeve. "I didn't know you owned clothes like this."

Myungsoo looks down, practically swooning at the compliment. It's really nothing special -- a basic red plaid button down his mom bought for him.

"Here, let's roll up the sleeves." Sungyeol carefully folds the fabric on both arms. His fingers brush over Myungsoo's skin. He steps back to look at his work, smiling proudly. "Okay, let's go!"

The party is ridiculously big and busy. The moment they get there, Hyolyn is sweeping them away into a random storage room and shutting the door.

"Sungyeol! You have to try this!" She shuffles through her purse.

"Stop surprising people! You're always appearing out of nowhere and it's honestly really-- hey, what the hell?!" He dodges her hand as it moves toward his face. "What is that?"

"A lip tint! Believe me, it'll make you look super hot."

"Isn't it weird for a guy to wear makeup?"

"Not at all! Hold still." She carefully applies the product. "Now go like this," she smacks her lips together a couple times, giggling when he mirrors the action. Her phone chimes and she checks it, eyes widening at the notification. "I gotta go now! See you guys later!" She winks at Myungsoo while gesturing subtly toward Sungyeol before leaving the room.

The door shuts. Sungyeol turns to Myungsoo, "Does it looks good?"

His lips are petal pink, plush and pretty.

"Yeah, just..." Myungsoo rubs at the corner of Sungyeol's mouth with his thumb, swiping away a bit of excess colour. "There. You look great."

Sungyeol turns to the door suddenly, "Let's go drink."

Sunggyu is sitting with a big group of people around the kitchen table, listening to enthusiastic stories from another boy. He spots Sungyeol as soon as he enters the room, beckoning him over and introducing him to the group.

Sungyeol introduces Myungsoo to them, and the boy telling the story continues where he left off. They pull up chairs and sit down.

Suddenly, Sunggyu leans his face in really close to Sungyeol's, opening his eyes to double their usual size. "Are you wearing makeup?"

"Mhm, Hyolyn made me put on lip tint."

Myungsoo pokes Sungyeol's cheek with his knuckle. "It's pretty."

Sungyeol turns and catches his eye for a moment before looking away. He grabs a couple beers off the counter and hands one to Myungsoo, ignoring the comment.

Three hours in Sungyeol is absolutely wasted, laughing too hard at everything and doubling over onto Myungsoo during his intense bouts of laughter. Not that Myungsoo minds. They left the kitchen table a long time ago and Sungyeol ended up losing two games of beer pong in a row, at which point Myungsoo dragged him off to a new group of people sitting around on couches. Very soft and safe for a tipsy Sungyeol.

Sungyeol calms down from another round of laughter and leans his head on Myungsoo's shoulder. He turns his face to whisper into his ear, "Let's head out now. I'm sleeping at your place."

Myungsoo agrees and helps him stand, barely managing to hold his footing as his best friend leans on him for support.

It only takes five minutes of the cool, crisp night air for Sungyeol to sober up enough to walk on his own. Myungsoo can still see the red flush of alcohol on his ears and cheeks in glimpses of light from the street lamps they pass. A little lip tint survived the night, too.

There's a little struggle sneaking into Myungsoo's house, washing up, and getting to his bedroom without turning any lights on, but they manage. Once the door shuts, he slides his hand blindly against the wall until he finds the light switch. Warm, yellow light fills the room, turning the tips of their hair golden.

Sungyeol sits down on the bed and pats the space next to him, smiling contentedly when Myungsoo plunks down beside him. He sighs and looks straight ahead, seeing something beyond their actual surroundings. "Did you really think the lip tint was pretty on me?"

Myungsoo regards him quietly for a moment. "How drunk are you?"

He chuckles, turning his eyes up to the ceiling. "Answer the question, Myungsoo."

After another moment of contemplation, he decides that Sungyeol's probably drunk enough that he won't remember this conversation in the morning. "Yeah, it was really pretty. You're pretty all the time though."

Sungyeol doesn't say anything. He stands up and pulls clothes from Myungsoo's drawers, going to the corner of the room to change.

Myungsoo takes the chance to get changed, too, thankful he doesn't have to spend another second in tight jeans.

"Good?" Sungyeol asks, still facing the wall.

"Good."

He comes back to the bed and sits down again, crossing his legs. He fiddles with the drawstrings on Myungsoo's hoodie that he's wearing. "I have something to tell you."

Myungsoo sighs and lays down, pulling the blanket over himself. "Are you even gonna remember this tomorrow?"

"Myungsoo. It's important. I'll remember, I promise. I just want to say it now, while I'm feeling brave." He his lips and locks eyes with the other. "I really like you. I mean really, really, really like you."

Myungsoo can't find words. He simply stares back at Sungyeol, dumbfounded, trying to detect any indicator that he's joking. Finally, he says, "Since when?"

"...Last year. When you dragged me to that open photography gallery." He breaks eye contact, suddenly shy. "I remember standing beside you while you looked at the huge photo of a flower meadow -- the one that basically covered the whole wall -- and, I just... I just felt so weird, in that moment. I'd never felt like that around you before. You just looked so immersed in it, like you were living in the picture and you were seeing all those colours up close, in person, with your own eyes."

He sits up and presses his face into Sungyeol's back. "Lee Sungyeol. Go out with me."

"Wait! Does this mean-?" He twists around.

"Yes. I've liked you for a really long time now. Hyolyn knows and she's been trying really hard to help me out."

"Oh. Oh! So that's why you two have been acting weird!"

"I don't wanna talk about it; it's embarrassing. Can we just go to sleep?" He wraps an arm around Sungyeol's waist and pulls him down next to him on the bed, reaching across him to turn off the light.

Sungyeol shuffles around to face Myungsoo. "Isn't this super indecent? We literally started dating thirty seconds ago and now we're already sharing a bed."

"Hmm, definitely."

They fall silent for a while, breaths syncing up. Sungyeol stares at Myungsoo, admiring the way his lashes flutter against his cheeks.

His eyes pop open. "I can't sleep. My heart's beating too fast."

"Same."

"Let's talk about something."

"Okay." Sungyeol considers his words for a while. Then, "Do you like pancakes?"

Myungsoo grins. "I love pancakes.

happy birthday to this beautiful boy :) this is probably my favourite photo of him of all time. (ik it's super whitewashed but ignoring that, isn't he so pretty?!?!?!)

also i'm glad to see myungsoo's doing alright! but he looks really skinny in his recent airport and fanmeet photos :(