The next few days passed by quickly as Sungjong thought more about how he could get closer to Myungsoo. He wanted to move away from just having short and awkward conversations during art class and lunch; those types of interactions weren’t going to get him anywhere. He wanted to get to the point where having a conversation with Myungsoo wasn’t so big of a deal. Eventually, he hoped, Myungsoo would even become his friend.

Unfortunately for Sungjong, finding an effective way to talk to Myungsoo was difficult. He always had his eyes fixed on a drawing or book, and never seemed interested in the person talking to him. It was as if he didn’t care about interacting with people at all.

Sungjong sighed. In order to come up with an effective plan, he needed some help. So he sought advice from the wisest person he knew.

“Dad?”

“Yuppers?”

“I need some advice.”

Instantly, Mr. Lee whipped his head around towards his son. “Advice? From me?” His eyes shone in excitement. Sungjong never asked him for help with anything. “What do you want to know?” he asked eagerly.

“Well…” Sungjong scratched his head. “There’s someone I want to make friends with. But he doesn’t talk much, so I don’t know how to strike up a conversation with him. So I was wondering…how do you talk to people that don’t want to talk?”

“Who says you have to talk?”

“Huh?”

Mr. Lee smiled. “You make it seem like talking is the only way to interact with this guy. If he doesn’t want to talk, find some other way to interact with him. If he’s not talking, there must be something else he does with his time.”

“He draws a lot…” Sungjong mumbled.

“Why don’t you use that then?”

“Because I at drawing.”

“He could teach you.”

Sungjong blushed. Myungsoo, teaching him? He imagined the two of them sitting in a garden, while Myungsoo carefully gave him pointers on his drawing of a bird. Then he smacked the image out of his head. What was he thinking? That scene was fit for a cheesy romance novel, not real life.

“Did you just hit yourself?”

“I’m going upstairs!” announced Sungjong, ignoring his father’s question. He rushed out of the room before the redness of his cheeks could be detected.

As his son left the room, Mr. Lee shook his head. “That’s my son,” he laughed to himself. “He’s in love and he doesn’t even know it yet.”

---

“Ahem.” Sungjong cleared his throat. “Myungsoo?” he whispered. It was the middle of art class, and Sungjong had finally gathered up the courage to get his tablemate’s attention. He had been staring at Myungsoo for the past twenty minutes, while the older boy busily doodled on his paper.

As usual, Myungsoo paused and looked up at Sungjong with a blank expression. Every day for the past two weeks, he had looked at Sungjong with that exact same expression, never showing any real emotion or interest. It was driving him insane.

“I have an idea,” Sungjong said. He reached behind him into his bag, and when he turned back around he had a plain white sheet of paper in his hand.

Myungsoo eyed the paper inquisitively.

Sungjong pointed to the paper once he had laid it down on the table between them. “I know you don’t like to talk much,” he began, “but we’re classmates, and this is art class. So I think it would be fun if we both drew pictures on this sheet of paper.”

“What kind of pictures?” Myungsoo asked. He seemed moderately interested.

“That’s for you to decide. Each day when we come in, let’s add something to the picture. Hopefully by the end of the semester, we’ll have made something really cool!”

There was a moment of silence at the pair’s table before Myungsoo spoke up. “It sounds fun,” he said.

Sungjong grinned. “Cool. Then I’ll start!” He took a pen out from his backpack and leaned forward over the paper. Don’t look,” he warned. “I want it to be a surprise.” He was determined to make his drawing as pretty as possible.

Five minutes later, he triumphantly threw his pen down. “Done!” he exclaimed. “Your turn!” Sungjong passed the paper over to Myungsoo, who stared at it for a moment.

“You wrote my name,” Myungsoo stated simply.

“Mhm. I hope I spelled it right.” Sungjong had taken extra care with his lettering, spelling out his name in clean bubble letters. It wasn’t anything fancy, but at least it didn’t look like crap.

“You did,” Myungsoo confirmed with a quick nod of his head. Then he took out his own pen and a folder, and proceeded to make a barrier between himself and Sungjong. “Mine is secret too,” he said, peeking around the corner of the folder.

“Okay, that’s fair.” Sungjong tried to keep himself from giggling. Myungsoo seemed so serious about keeping his drawing hidden.

At the end of class, Sungjong felt a tap on his hand. Myungsoo had finished his part of the drawing, and was pushing the paper towards him.

“Let’s see~” Sungjong said. He anxiously turned over the paper to see what Myungsoo had drawn. When he saw what was there, he burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Do I really look like that?”

Underneath his own name, Myungsoo had drawn a cutesy stick figure. It had perfect hair and a happy expression, and directly below it there was a label that read “Sungjong.”

“I look like a little kid,” Sungjong remarked.

“That’s because you’re cute.”

“Eh?!” Sungjong’s cheeks turned bright red.

“Cute people look like little kids in drawings,” said Myungsoo. His expression was still relatively blank, but…it almost seemed like he was holding back a smile.

“I, uhm. Have to g-go to class. Uhm. Because s-school—I mean class is over, so I have to go,” Sungjong stuttered. He quickly grabbed the drawing off the table and packed up his things.

“Will we add more tomorrow?” asked Myungsoo as Sungjong was leaving.

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied without looking back. If Myungsoo saw how hard he was blushing, he’d be screwed. “Anyways, bye!” Without waiting for a reply, he rushed out of the classroom. He was so desperate to get to his next class that he smacked straight into Sungyeol on his way down the hall.

“Ow!” said Sungyeol, rubbing his head.

“Sorry!” Sungjong exclaimed. He helped his friend up.

“It’s okay. What’s the hurry, though?”

“I just wanted to get to class, that’s all.”

“Yeah, right.” Sungyeol rolled his eyes. “Huh? What’s this?” he asked, poking Sungjong’s cheek. “You’re blushing again.”

“Am I?” Sungjong covered his cheeks with his hands.

“Ice Prince?” asked Sungyeol, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Please stop.”

“You are so in love.”

“Yah!” Sungjong covered Sungyeol’s mouth. Then he sighed. “You always run into me right after something awkward happens.”

“Maybe I’m destined to be your matchmaker~”

“Matchmaker. Right.”

“I could do it.”

“No you could not.”

“I totally could! Dongwoo, Hoya, come help me out here!” Sungyeol called out to their two friends, who were headed towards them.

“What’s up?” asked Dongwoo.

“Sungjong says I wouldn’t be a good matchmaker.”

“For who?”

“Him and Mr. Ice Prince.”

Dongwoo raised an eyebrow. “He’s right. You’d at it.”

“Meanie,” Sungyeol pouted. “Didn’t I help you guys get together?” He pointed at the two of them, who were now comfortably holding hands.

“Nice try, Yeollie,” said Hoya, “but we’re not giving you any credit.

“Fine. You win this time, Jongie.” He glared playfully at Sungjong. “But I know you’re blushing because of him.”

“You two would be so cute!” Dongwoo interrupted. His eyes were sparkling dreamily. “The awkward artsy couple of Seoul Academy: Sungjong and Myungsoo.”

“Not you too, Dongwoo,” Sungjong groaned. “We barely even talk, so don’t get my hopes up.”

“It’ll happen, it’ll happen, it’ll happen~” Sungyeol and Dongwoo chanted in unison. Even Hoya joined in after a while.

“You guys are all crazy,” laughed Sungjong. “Come on, we’re gonna be late for class.” He tugged on the arm of Sungyeol’s shirt, signaling for him to follow. “Dongwoo and Hoya, I’ll see you guys later!”

“Mmkay. See ya later, lovebird!”

At this point, Sungjong’s entire face was the color of a ripe tomato. He shakily waved goodbye to their friends and dragged Sungyeol into their next class.

“Damn. Your face is even redder than before. Are you feeling all right?” Sungyeol leaned down and poked Sungjong’s cheek again.

“If you were younger than me I would kick you.”

Sungyeol rolled his eyes in response. “I’m sure you would. Now sit down so you can daydream about your prince.”

Unable to come up with a good comeback, Sungjong laid his head down on his desk and covered his face with his arms. If he was lucky, his cheeks would return to their normal color by the end of class.

What’s the use, though? he asked himself. As soon as I see Myungsoo, I’ll start blushing again.

a/n: I'm excited to start developing the MyungJong relationship more ^^ Now that I have all the relationships on their set paths, things can really start moving along for our main couple. Thanks for reading and subscribing! c: