This took me longer than I wanted it to, but not as long as I thought it would. It's a bit more focused on myungyeol and hogyu; which is fine because there'll be a lot happening with Woohyun and Dongwoo in the next chapter. I'm hoping I'll finish it before the end of the month. It'll be way more interesting than this chapter, I promise.

i.
Unfortunately for Sungyeol, he doesn't get the chance to apologize to Myungsoo before the end of the school day. And since it's a Friday, his guilt gets two full days to grow and fester like mold. It really puts a damper on his plans of doing absolutely nothing (at least until Sunday night when he rushes to finish the homework he'd intended to get out of the way on Friday). All he can think of throughout the entire weekend is Myungsoo's face as he'd walked away.
By the time Monday rolls around, Sungyeol's feelings about Myungsoo have stopped making any sense to him. He doesn't hate him—he never hated him; he'd been jealous and angry at how the auditions turned out, but he'd never felt any animosity towards Myungsoo directly. And yet, he doesn't really like Myungsoo either. He's too much of a lot of things and Sungyeol doesn't have the patience to try to get to know him better. But he does feel bad about hurting Myungsoo's feelings. He goes to school with the plan to find Myungsoo and apologize. Eventually. There are a lot of hours in the day; it doesn't have to be the very first thing he does. So maybe he shouldn't be as surprised as he is to be sought out by Myungsoo's friend as he's leaving homeroom. Myungsoo stands off to the side, studying his shoes.
"I think you owe someone an apology." Myungsoo's friend—Sungyeol assumes he's the Sungjong Myungsoo had mentioned—has an eyebrow arched expectantly. He somehow manages to look down his nose at Sungyeol despite being a couple inches shorter.
Sungyeol is willing to admit he's a little intimidated by Sungjong. But only to himself. He can't let someone younger than him know they have that kind of advantage over him. He has a reputation to uphold. "I know," he agrees with a scoff. He pretends he doesn't hear the muttered insult from Sungjong as he approaches Myungsoo. It feels incredibly awkward to have to do this in a busy hallway; even if no one's actually paying attention to them. Sungyeol clears his throat and stuffs his hands into his pants pockets. "Look, Myungsoo," he starts slowly. Myungsoo finally looks up at him then. Although Sungyeol's relieved that he doesn't seem angry or sad, he can't quite figure out what emotion is on Myungsoo's face. "I'm sorry about Friday. And what my friend said. I don't hate you—I've never hated you."
It's not until Myungsoo's eyes soften slightly around the edges that Sungyeol realizes his expression had been guarded. Myungsoo doesn't want him to see how much those words (Hoya's words) had affected him. He studies Sungyeol's face for a moment before giving a simple, "Okay."
"Whoa, wait a second." Sungyeol catches Myungsoo's arm when he starts to walk away. "I give you a heartfelt apology and all I get is a little 'okay'?" He does a terrible imitation of Myungsoo's deep voice, but he's not too concerned about that at the moment.
"I guess you could call that heartfelt." The smallest of smiles makes its way onto Myungsoo's face. "If you had the heart of an ant."
Sungyeol thinks he hears a snort behind him from Sungjong, but he's too busy gaping at Myungsoo to think too much about it. Clearly Myungsoo doesn't have any hard feelings if he's already cracking (bad) jokes. That's a good thing, right? "Why don't we work on our lines together, then? If you still want to."
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, Myungsoo's smile drops and his expression turns dark, his eyebrows knitting together. "Because you feel sorry for me," he asks as he finally shakes off Sungyeol’s hand. The anger that Sungyeol couldn't see before seems to be bubbling up to the surface.
The warning bell rings signaling the start of class. Sungyeol is two floors lower than he should be at the moment, but Chemistry will have to wait. "I don't feel sorry for you. I mean, I do feel bad," he admits, "but that's not why I asked." His guilt is partly why he's offering to work with Myungsoo. He wants to make it up to him. But since he doesn't entirely dislike him, Sungyeol also doesn't see any harm in being acquaintances. ("Friends" seems like a reach at the moment.) "You obviously respect me—or, I guess you used to, so I was thinking I should probably do something to earn it."
"When did I say I respected you?"
"It was inferred. Are you saying you don't respect me?"
Sungyeol hates to admit it, but the sheepish half-shrug Myungsoo gives him in response is like a swift kick in the stomach. (Maybe Sungyeol had liked knowing someone looked up to him; that someone thought he was cool or interesting or whatever. It was a nice ego boost.) "Will you feel better if I say yes," Myungsoo asks. Sungyeol can only scoff incredulously. "I think you're a really good actor. And you seem pretty cool, you know, most of the time."
Sungyeol knows he deserves that. It's probably what he gets for assuming things and being a bit of a jerk. "Look, why don't we call it even?" He still isn't too concerned about being late to class, but he also wants this conversation to be over. "Let's say we both misjudged each other and leave it at that, okay?" Sungyeol figures he should be happy that neither Myungsoo nor Sungjong move to stop him when he turns to walk away. He feels almost as bad as he’d felt after seeing the audition results. Which is stupid because it’s not like he cares what Myungsoo thinks about him. (That’s a blatant lie, but Sungyeol won’t admit it even to himself.) It’s for the best, he thinks as he heads up to his Chemistry class. They probably wouldn’t have made very good friends anyway.


ii.
"Are you sure he's not even a little bit into you?"
Woohyun hides his snort behind his hand as he looks over at Kibum. They're supposed to be conjugating English verbs, but instead the two of them have spent the last ten minutes discussing Woohyun's poor excuse for a love life. Kibum is now fully up to speed with every detail of Woohyun and Dongwoo's relationship (friendship? Something like that). "I'm one hundred percent sure," Woohyun says.
"Because he told you or because his friend thinks he isn't?" Kibum is nothing if not relentless in his questioning. Woohyun is kind of starting to regret telling him anything. "If you ask me, there's definitely something there. No one goes through that much trouble to cheer up someone they hardly know."
"I don't think I did ask you, though."
Woohyun's words are ignored as Kibum continues talking. "Maybe he doesn't even know he likes you. That kind of stuff happens all the time." Only his friend's total confidence in his own words keeps Woohyun from brushing him off. Kibum isn't always right, but Woohyun knows from experience that the odds are usually in his favor. So if Kibum believes Dongwoo has feelings for Woohyun (ones even Dongwoo might not be aware of), then Woohyun is willing to be just a little bit more optimistic about their friendship.
"Well, he did invite me to eat lunch with him today." Woohyun bites his lip as he thinks about the way Dongwoo had beamed at him when he'd accepted the invitation. His hand tingles with the phantom feeling of holding Dongwoo's hand. (It had been brief and hadn't meant anything beyond an effusive greeting from Dongwoo, but it's enough to make Woohyun's heart thump at the mere thought.) "It's not like it's an exclusive thing or anything," he clarifies. He shouldn't fan the metaphorical flames of hope too much. It'll just make it that much more disappointing to be wrong. "Sungyeol and Hoya'll be there. And his friend and probably some other people, too."
"But it's a start," Kibum insists. "Who knows, he might only focus on you the whole time."
Woohyun rolls his eyes. He doesn't hesitate to shoot down that ridiculous scenario. "You know, just because you saw it in a drama doesn't mean it happens in real life."


iii.
"Sunggyu."
"Howon."
"Hoya."
"Howon."
Hoya almost reaches out to punch Sunggyu's arm before he remembers they don't know each other well enough for that. Instead he matches the assistant director's playful grin. "Only my parents call me Howon."
Sunggyu shrugs, not particularly fazed by the comment. "I would hope they do, since they named you that and everything. What's wrong with Howon? It's a nice name. It suits you."
The air feels too warm suddenly and Hoya can only wonder why when the stage lights aren't even on. He looks away from Sunggyu for the first time. When he passes a hand over one of his ears he finds it burning hot. "Well, it was either that or Hodong," he says, hoping Sunggyu doesn't read too much into his reaction to the compliment. "I bet I would've been such a funny-looking kid with that name."
"And you're not funny-looking now?"
There's a pause as Hoya stares at Sunggyu in speechless disbelief. Again he has the fleeting thought to playfully punch the other, but he refrains in case Sunggyu thinks he's actually upset by the joke. He clears his throat and decides to change the subject. "Don't you have work to do? You know, assisting and or directing?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Sunggyu teases him right back. "These sets aren't going to make themselves."
Hoya only smiles wider. (Not because he doesn't have a comeback or anything.) "I guess I should get back to that then."
Sunggyu nods, but takes another moment before turning to leave. "See you around, Howon," he throws over his shoulder. His laugh, although quiet, still reaches Hoya's ears when he corrects Sunggyu for what feels like the hundredth time since they've met. For some reason Sunggyu refuses to use Hoya's nickname. Which is confusing for Hoya because he hadn't told Sunggyu his real name when they met and yet the other had already known it.
Hoya watches Sunggyu walk away with a shake of his head. When he turns to get back to arranging the cardboard trees for the forest scenes, he finds Sungjong staring at him, unimpressed. Hoya raises an eyebrow in question at the underclassman with whom he's become fast friends. (He thinks it might be because they understand each other's sarcasm.)
"Am I still supposed to believe there's nothing at all going on between you two," Sungjong asks. Much like Sungyeol and Woohyun, he also has it in his head that Hoya and Sunggyu have a "thing".
Hoya shrugs, less intimidated by Sungjong's judging eyes than he had been the first time he'd been subjected to it. "Well, there's nothing going on between us, so... Yes?"
Sungjong doesn't look very convinced. "If you say so," he answers.
Hoya frowns at his friend, finding the response overly cryptic. He doesn't think he acts any differently with Sunggyu than with any of his other friends. Everyone is just making it more complicated than it actually is. Sungjong gives Hoya an oddly sympathetic pat on his back as he's pulled away by a couple of students from the costume department. That leaves Hoya amid a cardboard forest mulling over all of his interactions with Sunggyu. Of all people he would be the first to know if he and Sunggyu had a so-called "thing", wouldn't he?


iv.
Sungyeol walks into rehearsal in a foul mood. He's still bothered from his conversation with Myungsoo as well as upset that he's actually upset about it. He hates to let other people's opinions of him get under his skin, but it seems it can't be helped. He's spent most of the day brooding (according to Hoya, at least) and now he just has to get through rehearsals so he can go home and over-think some more.
He's just sat down in the front row of the auditorium when someone settles into the seat next to him. With Woohyun preoccupied with Dongwoo, Sungyeol knows it can only be one other person. Myungsoo must want to apologize, ironically enough. Sungyeol supposes he should accept it.
"Hey, can I talk to you?"
Sungyeol continues rummaging through his book-bag for his script, contemplating if he should reply sarcastically. Even though he doesn't want to show that he's still upset, he thinks he's justified in being a little passive-aggressive. "There's no need to apologize if that's why you're here," he says after letting a long silence stretch between them. "It's not like you hurt my feelings."
If Myungsoo doesn't believe him, it doesn't show—or rather, Sungyeol can't hear it since he hasn't looked at him yet. Myungsoo sighs heavily and shifts in his seat. "Obviously we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. And maybe assumed some things about each other along the way." Sungyeol turns his head to finally look at Myungsoo. He knows what he'd assumed about Myungsoo, but to hear that it had gone both ways is news. He opens his mouth to ask, but Myungsoo keeps talking. "So I think it would be best if we just start over." He clears his throat as he extends his hand out to Sungyeol. "Hi, I'm Myungsoo," he says with a small smile, "Nice to meet you."
Sungyeol stares at the other's hand for a moment. As much as he'd wanted to dislike Myungsoo, he's finding that it's much harder than it seems. He's still not sure if he likes him, but Sungyeol knows he won't be able to hate him. He supposes he'll have to get to know Myungsoo better to figure out why that is. "I'm Sungyeol," he responds and clasps Myungsoo's hand. If Myungsoo wants to start fresh, they can start fresh.
Myungsoo's smile widens as he shakes Sungyeol's hand. It makes him look younger; like a child who's just been complimented. "Are you doing anything after this," he asks when he finally lets go of Sungyeol's hand. He turns his whole body in his seat to face Sungyeol.
"I'll probably do my homework and then take a nap." Sungyeol thinks for a second before shaking his head and saying, "Actually, forget homework. I'll just go straight to sleep."
"It's only Monday," Myungsoo laughs. (Sungyeol doesn't know why he notices the way Myungsoo's face scrunches up as he laughs. Or why he finds it kind of endearing.)
"All the more reason."
That cracks Myungsoo up even more and Sungyeol is willing to admit that it feels nice to be the cause of the other's amusement. Myungsoo's smile doesn't dim although he doesn't quite meet Sungyeol's eyes when he asks, "If you don't mind missing some sleep would you want to maybe hang out instead? With me, of course."
If Woohyun or Hoya had told Sungyeol a week ago that he and Myungsoo would be on their way to becoming friends, he would have told either of them to shove it. But here he is: sitting with Myungsoo, who's waiting patiently (and hopefully), and actually considering hanging out with him outside of school. "I don't usually cancel plans to sleep for anything other than food," he starts. Which is true. Sleep and food take precedence over everything else in Sungyeol's life. (His mother probably has a few things to say about that.) "But I guess I can make an exception this time. I'm sure it'll be more interesting to hang out with you." And oddly enough, he really means it.