“So, guys. Let’s talk about Sungjong and Myungsoo.” Sungyeol munched eagerly on a banana as he suggested a new conversation topic to his friends.

Sunggyu, Hoya, and Dongwoo all shot him unamused glances.

“What? They aren’t here, so I don’t see why not.”

“Again with those two, Sungyeol?” Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “Are they really that interesting?”

“I don’t have any other pairings to focus on, so yes,” he responded, pouting his lips. “Like I said, I’m a born matchmaker. I was made to get couples together!”

The oldest of the group chuckled sarcastically. “Yeah, right.”

“Why are you being such a grumpasaurus, Gyu? It’s not like you. Did you and Woohyun get into a fight or something? I haven’t seen you two together all day.”

Sunggyu scratched his head and sighed. Why did Sungyeol have to bring Woohyun into the conversation? He didn’t feel like mentioning it to his friends, but things hadn’t been going well between them lately.

“That’s a good point,” said Hoya. “Where is Woohyun?”

Sunggyu was desperate to change the subject. “Uhh,” he mumbled, “on second thought, let’s talk about the Sungjong and his Ice Prince. That sounds interesting.”

He received confused glances from Hoya and Dongwoo, but Sungyeol remained oblivious to the uncomfortable tone in his hyung’s voice. “Cool!” he said. “So. Do you think they like each other?”

“You can never really tell with Myungsoo,” Dongwoo remarked. “Since he never shows any emotion, it’s hard to tell what his feelings are.”

“He’s like a statue,” added Hoya. “I wonder why Sungjong likes him..?”

“Who knows.” Sungyeol shrugged. “But at least we know for sure that Jongie likes him. Did you guys see him blushing the other day?”

“He looked like he had smeared red lipstick on his cheeks or something,” Dongwoo agreed. “It was pretty cute.”

“You know what else is cute?” said Sungyeol, remembering something.

“What?”

“They draw together.”

Sunggyu raised his eyebrows in amusement. “What do they draw?”

“I don’t know,” Sungyeol admitted. “But I’ve walked past their classroom a couple times while they were in there, and they were always drawing on a piece of paper and passing it to each other.”

“Maybe they were passing notes?”

“Nah, they were definitely drawing. Since Myungsoo doesn’t talk much, Sungjong must be using that as a way to talk to him.”

Everyone in the group was impressed by Sungjong’s creativity. They laughed and shook their heads, easily imagining the two of them silently exchanging their paper each day.

“That’s a pretty cute idea~” said Dongwoo. “They definitely are an awkward artsy couple.”

---

Myungsoo was so busy sketching a maple leaf in the academy’s garden that he didn’t hear someone’s footsteps approaching him. Whenever the weather was nice during lunch, he would sit outside and sketch whatever plants he could find. He enjoyed the quiet atmosphere of the garden; there was usually no one there to bother him, allowing him to have time to himself to work on his drawing.

“Myungsoo-ah.” A familiar voice broke the silence.

Recognizing the sound of the boy’s voice, Myungsoo looked up to see Sungjong staring down at him with a grin on his face.

“Found you!” he said.

“You were looking for me?”

“Well…sort of. I couldn’t find my friends.” Sungjong pouted his lips and plopped down onto the bench next to his classmate. “I told them I had to study, but then the library was closed…and they were gone. So I figured I’d hunt you down instead. What are you working on?”

“A sketch.” He showed the piece of paper to Sungjong, who widened his eyes and clapped in approval. For some reason, he didn’t mind having the younger boy around him. Usually he preferred to be alone, but this time…something was different. This guy was more friendly than normal and actually seemed to want to get to know him.

“Is that a maple leaf? It looks so real! You really are good at this,” Sungjong said in awe.

Myungsoo nodded slightly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome~ oh. I almost forgot. We had block periods today, so we didn’t have art class. Since I’m here, can we add something to our drawing?”

A nod from Myungsoo immediately answered his question.

“Great! I’ll get it out.”

As he watched Sungjong dig out the drawing from his backpack, he allowed himself to smile. Something about him made him feel strangely at ease. Maybe it was the way that he always greeted Myungsoo with an excited smile, or maybe it was his eagerness to learn how to draw.

Or maybe…it was because Sungjong actually wanted to talk to him. Students usually avoided him, assuming that he didn’t want to be talked to because he was quiet. But the truth was, he did want to get to know people. He just didn’t know how.

“Found it!” Sungjong announced, pulling the paper out from one of his folders. “I already know what I’m going to draw today. Hold this in front of your eyes so you can’t see,” he said, handing the folder over to Myungsoo, who held it in front of his face obediently.

A good amount of time passed, and Myungsoo’s arm was starting to get tired. He tapped Sungjong’s shoulder lightly and peeked over the top of the folder to see if he was done drawing.

“Don’t look!” Sungjong commanded playfully, shaking a finger at him. “I’m almost done. Just one last thing…there. You can look now.” He handed the finished product to Myungsoo.

“Is that…a bunny?”

In the corner of the paper, Sungjong had drawn some sort of animal with pointy ears and huge, anime-style eyes.

“Nope! It’s my puppy. He lives in Japan with my mom.”

Myungsoo nodded thoughtfully. “Do you miss him?”

“Yeah, I do,” he sighed. “I used to dress him up in little outfits when I was bored.”

“Outfits?” laughed Myungsoo. “Cute.”

Sungjong giggled and handed the paper over to him. “Your turn,” he said, taking the folder from beside Myungsoo and holding it in front of his face.

The older boy stared at the paper a bit before slowly starting to draw. They were starting to run out of space on the paper; it was already filled with everything from stars to a set of skyscrapers to a burning pile of homework. There was very little space to start drawing something new, so he decided to add on to something that was already there.

“Done,” he announced a while later, tapping on Sungjong’s arm.

“What did you add? I don’t see anything new.”

“Look in the corner.”

Sungjong scanned the corners of the paper, until his eyes passed over the doodle he had done a few minutes before. On the head of the dog, he had added a sailor’s hat, as well as a life ring and swimsuit on its body.

“It’s so cute!” exclaimed Sungjong. “I would have liked to dress him up in something like this.” He smiled widely and lightly petted the sketch with his finger. “Nurungie, would you have worn this?” he asked, his voice a quiet whisper.

Myungsoo watched Sungjong attentively out of the corner of his eye. He’s always smiling, he mused. How does he do that? He wished he could be as friendly as Sungjong was.

A loud ring from inside the school signaled the end of their lunch time. Sungjong jumped when he heard the bell, nearly falling off his seat.

“Whaa!” he yelled, flailing his arms and almost smacking Myungsoo in the face.

Myungsoo took hold of one of his arms to steady him. “You okay?” he asked.

Sungjong froze and hung his head in embarrassment. “Yep, I’m good. Sorry I almost hit you.”

“It’s okay,” he said, smiling slightly and releasing Sungjong’s arm.

The younger boy checked his watch and frantically packed up his things. “I have to go to class now. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay. See you.”

On his way back towards the school entrance, Sungjong paused and turned around. “Hey, Myungsoo.”

He looked up in confusion. “Hmm?”

“We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah.”

Satisfied, Sungjong smiled. “…Cool. Talk to you tomorrow!” He spun around on his heel and practically skipped inside. We’re friends now, he thought. Which means we’re getting closer.

“Just leave me alone!”

A familiar voice interrupted Sungjong’s thoughts. It sounded like one of his friends, but he couldn’t remember which one. The person was talking to someone else around the corner, so he tiptoed up to the end of the wall and cautiously peeked around the edge.

“Woohyun, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” the distraught voice of Sunggyu called out.

Sungjong’s eyes widened in shock. What are they doing? He felt bad about eavesdropping, but…he had to know what was going on.

Sunggyu ran forward and grabbed Woohyun’s arm as he walked away. “Please talk to me,” he pleaded.

“I wish I could!” said Woohyun through gritted teeth. “But you’ve been avoiding me for days. Do you even like me anymore?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then what’s the problem?!” he was nearly yelling now, his face flushed bright red in frustration. “What’s so bad about people knowing about us?!”

“I—” Sunggyu began.

Woohyun’s voice fell to a whisper. “You won’t even touch me, let alone hug me or kiss me.”

Though he was far away, Sungjong was pretty sure he could see tears welling up in Woohyun’s eyes.

“Woo…are you crying?” asked Sunggyu. He had never seen him cry before.

“I’m gonna go. Bye, Sunggyu.” Woohyun wiped his eyes and pulled his arm out of Sunggyu’s grip. Before his boyfriend could protest, he ran the opposite direction at full speed, until he turned the corner and was out of sight.

Run after him! Sungjong urged in his head. You can still catch up!

But Sunggyu didn’t move. Instead, he sat down on the floor and buried his face in his hands.

He looks so vulnerable…

“I know you’re watching, Jongie. Come out, will you?”

Sungjong jumped and fell backwards in surprise. He can see me? Slowly, he snuck out from behind the corner and moved to sit beside his hyung.

“How did you know I was there?” he asked.

“I could see your reflection in the window. How much did you hear?”

“Just the last part…”

“Oh…I see. Um, would you mind…”

“Not telling anyone? No problem,” Sungjong promised.

Sunggyu sighed dejectedly. “Thanks, Jongie.”

“No problem.” He put on the most convincing smile he could in an effort to lift the mood.

“Wait a sec.”

“Hmm?”

“I have a free period now, but don’t you have class? I didn’t think sophomores had free periods.”

Oops. Sungjong had gotten so wrapped up in watching Sunggyu and Woohyun that he had completely forgotten about going to class. That would explain why there was no one else in the halls; class had already started.

“Crap!” he said, jumping to his feet. “You’re right, I gotta go. Are you going to be okay, hyung?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” said Sunggyu, flashing him a weak smile. “See you later.”

Sungjong dashed off towards his class, but all he could think about was what he had just witnessed. So I was right about them dating, he thought. But what’s going to happen now?

a/n: I hope my writing is improving some...I felt like the story started off a bit slow, so I'm trying to make things more interesting~ thanks for reading, everyone! (: