There are many reasons to go out during the holidays. All reasons in Soonyoung’s opinion are pretty bad. His house has coke, chips and fries. Food is served at regular intervals. Pizza can be called in. And let’s not forget about the bed. Ahh, his soft fluffy, adorable bed. If he could marry his bed Kwon Soonyoung would. But even for him that's kinda weird. Seungkwan would judge him till kingdom come.So sadly he can’t.

Instead he’s still lying on his loving bed while munching chips and watching dance videos. This is the life, okay. Soonyoung is happy. He’s not trying to numb himself to how Seungkwan is out visiting his grandparents and they can’t binge watch another season of Naruto. It’s no fun to watch it alone, seriously. Seungkwan’s disgruntled commentary is gold.  

So yeah, he’s a sad loner. This is just his upset ranting at how when he tried to arrange with the dance club to have a club outing he got roundly rejected. Vernon had planned some grand date or another. Sixth month anniversary or something? Pah, Soonyoung had a seventeen-year anniversary. With his favourite teddy bear Mr. Fluffles. Also a five year anniversary with his baby laptop.

Junhui and Minghao had booked out a whole week for god-knows-what. Minghao may be nice but Junhui is the devil. If Minghao ever starts laughing at their crass jokes Soonyoung knows just who to go after. Sudden injuries and trauma will occur, but Junhui will still be able to dance. Soonyoung is smart like that.

Chan had tried. Which is more than he can say of everyone else in the dance club, these heartless jerks. They had set the date and all, but at the last minute Chan came down with the flu. And was apologizing while sneezing over the phone. Soonyoung is this tempted to blame that particular misfortune on Lee Seokmin. He shows more self-restraint than he expects and doesn’t.

Why do such sad things happen to good people like him? He helps old ladies cross the road, saves insects from their untimely death and says please and thank you. Soonyoung is a Good Boy. He has never told a single lie in his life.

(Okay, that was a lie.)

Maybe he should just lie down and take a nap. But he took a nap three hours ago. He should be studying, but he’s really got no heart for it. He studied hard yesterday and the day before!

Seriously, he’s not terrible enough to deserve this misfortune. So when the phone rings he picks up eagerly. Maybe Seungkwan’s back from visiting his grandparents. Maybe Junhui and MInghao want a third-wheel. Maybe Chan is feeling better!

But of course not. There’s an annoying Lee Seokmin yapping into his ear.

“Yah. Jihoon went to tattle to Ms. Han that the rooftop shed is messy. So she told us to clean the damn thing up. More than half the mess is the dance clubs so get the others and come over. She’ll be checking later.”  

The nap suddenly sounds real promising.

But as much as Soonyoung has been wishing various misfortunes upon the other dance club members, they’re nice people who deserve good things. (Soonyoung deserves good things too, damn it!) And Soonyoung wants to go back to the rooftop shed when school reopens. So he hurriedly combs his hair, changes into something semi-acceptable and tumbles out of the house. Spending time with the rock band can’t actually be that bad. Wonwoo has more than his fair share of lame jokes. Jeonghan can be plenty amusing.

The loud singing on the top floor is the first signs that other people exist in this empty school. Seokmin's cold is better, and he does sing really well. So nice to listen to him, well, until he starts interfering with the dance music. Then it’s terrible.

But when he throws open the door of the rooftop shed to the smell of dust and disinfectant, the room is empty.

Well, empty except for a Lee Seokmin currently cleaning up the drum set.

“So slow. Where’s the others?”

“Throw that question right back at you.”

“Ditched me to date. Make me do all the dirty work, tsk. You? Dance club before girlfriend?”

Soonyoung feels like he’s met a kindred spirit. It’s just he’s never expected to find that sad loner to be that dating-multiple-older-girls-from-other-schools Lee Seokmin. But the world is a strange place. Seokmin is also a strange person. Soonyoung will take whatever he can get, even if that is a bored-looking-snark-king Lee Seokmin. Not everyone is Cinderella with a Prince Charming waiting for them (unlike the entire rock band and most of the dance club and yes, Soonyoung is BItter.) 

“Chan is sick. Everyone else out dating. I was enjoying my loving date with my bed before you disrupted me.”

“Not my fault. You should thank me, you no-lifer.”

“You’re not much better, seriously. Choir boy.”

Seokmin glares really hard before sneezing. Damn, Jihoon might not be nitpicking. The room is really quite dusty. When he looks at the mirror he can see oily fingerprints on them. Maybe he should tell the kids to finish their chips before practice. Even though he's probably a huge offender of eating-while-racticing himself. 

“Shut up and clean. I’m going to be done so much earlier than you otherwise.”

So you’re going to wait for me? That’s nice.

Damn, Soonyoung is seriously going soft. He grabs a rag and starts scrubbing the mirror.  

Depressing. Ugh. As if scrubbing mirrors clean and waiting for evil stepsisters (read: Jihoon) wasn’t bad enough. He still has to appease their evil stepmother (read: Ms. Han) and there are no fairy godmothers at all. (Okay, maybe Seungkwan might be it. He's great at cleaning.) Now all Soonyoung wants is for the clock to strike twelve so he can go back to his loving bed. There’s clearly no Prince Charming in this dust-filled room. He sure as hell isn’t Cinderella. 

But he still has to do the cleaning anyway. Damn.

Seokmin’s singing thankfully makes the time flow faster. Soothing voice, honeyed vocals. Another song filled with longing about some unrequited love or another. Did he get dumped? Is he really that lonely? Or is he that good at singing with emotions? He looks so handsome like that, sorting through the score sheets and smiling like a fool.

Somehow he can see what a young Seungkwan must have seen. A smaller Seokmin dilligently cleaning up a purposely-dirtied choir room. Even though no one actually cares or notices (they’re seventeen year old boys, their rooms are way messier) he still cleans carefully. Lovingly keeping away the scoresheets, wiping the dust off the guitars. 

Cute.

What-

Seungkwan really must be a fairy godmother. With brainwashing fairy powder.

“If you keep staring you’re not going to finish. I know I’m handsome and fabulous but that doesn’t mean you stare, okay.”

Yeah, exactly like that. Soonyoung has a hazy memory of a taller boy looking ridiculous in the choir outfit, struggling against having his photo taken but relenting to Seungkwan. Who seemed to have him wrapped around his little finger, because Boo has Best Quality aegeyo. It’s true. Even Soonyoung himself is not immune to his puppy eyes. Look him straight in the eyes and tell him no, you wouldn’t treat him to ice cream.

Soonyoung has gotten conned one time too many. Now he thinks Seokmin might have gotten conned just the same.

“Not staring, listening. Keep on singing.”

Seokmin looks strangely self-conscious. Sure, maybe he sang one (or two dozen) too many songs about being unable to confess to whoever he likes. Lee Seokmin? As if. Girls love his face. The real mystery is why he loses his fangirls in three days.

This boy literally sings really loudly for the whole school to hear. What, he gets embarrassed when someone compliments him?

“You do sing really well?”

 Seokmin, the Lee Seokmin who dates multiple pretty noonas from universities, blushes. Hard. His face gets really red and it’s adorable.

Oh god, Soonyoung wants to grab him and hug him and coo at him non-stop. How can he be this adorable and squishable? He looks like an overexcited six year old. Now all he needs to do is change into a choir boy outfit and this would be picture perfect.

“Really?”

His soft voice is really the sweetest. What’s this stupid boy being so unsure about himself for? Something like him singing well is obvious. Or did those idiotic seniors in choir actually dent his confidence? Jihoon certainly took Soonyoung’s belief in his choreography down a couple of notches. Took Junhui, Minghao and Seungkwan’s non-stop comforting for him to believe that he could do it.

“Yeah. You’re as good as Seungkwan. And I think Seungkwan is fantastic.”

Soonyoung isn’t good at comforting people. He’s awkward, always wondering if he said the right thing or not. He’s glad Seungkwan is the cheerful type who bounces back by himself.

Seokmin’s eyes meet his and damn, does he have some really nice eyes. Black mixed with brown with a mysterious aura.

“Of course. Lee Seokmin is amazing.”

Well, that must have worked. Soonyoung will count that as a win.

“What type of songs do you like? I’ll sing them. It’s boring listening to me sing rock songs over and over again, right?”

Seokmin hands over his phone, but doesn’t let go of it. Kwon Soonyoung pounces. He’s not big on “music choices say what kind of person you are”. That would make him a pop-culture-boy-who-listens-to-hymns-and-classical music. But sometime it does say something. Like how Jeonghan’s phone is filled with death metal and murderous intentions (devil) and Joshua’s phone is filled with church hymns and sweet elevator music (angel??). Or how Wonwoo and Mingyu have a playlist with more or less the same songs ordered differently. Don’t spend a lot of time with each other, hah.

Rock song, pop song, another rock song- really typical. Soonyoung scrolls through his playlists. He’s heard most of these, mostly from Seungkwan. Good music but not something you’d dance to. He scrolls through the playlists. ROCK, RAINY DAYS, PRACTICE...

DO NOT OPEN OR YOU WILL REGRET

It’s obvious what Sooyoung does. After all, he has itchy fingers and a devious mind.

Seokmin tries to wrestle his phone back. Even though he’s the larger of the two, Soonyoung is more agile. One does not practice dance and lose when it comes to running away from danger.

Oh. My. God.

Is that- the Sailor Moon theme song? The Bleach opening theme? The Doraemon jingle? Kwon Soonyoung presses one of them and flashes a -eating grin at Seokmin. Not such a cool guy, after all.

“Sing this.”

There’s the Pokemon theme song blaring through the room. Seokmin lets out the heaviest sigh before he actually sings it. God, it’s addictive. He makes the theme song sound even better. Soonyoung finds himself dancing along, clumsily imitating the opening moves. Seokmin’s tense shoulders soften.

“You’re a nerd, aren’t you?”

“Lie on the bed binge-watching anime. Hey, sing another opening song. I’m not the cool guy here.”

“Could have fooled me.”

And like that the dull cleaning session starts cheering up. For the first time Soonyoung holds a conversation with Seokmin that doesn’t involve too much attitude. Seokmin is a real nerd. Watched every episode of Naruto, knows the names of too many Pokemon and keeps up with the new animes. Talking with him about this is easy.

They chase Ms. Han and Jihoon out with a sparkling clean room while singing old anime songs at the top of their lungs. Jihoon looks like he was going to blow. They laugh way too hard when these two reach the bottom of the stairs. It’s when they’re knocked out from laughing to hard that Soonyoung starts choking air that he notices the time. Damn, did he really spend half a day cleaning with Seokmin? It didn’t feel that long.

“Are you two alive? Did Ms. Han only looks disgusted because you guys were fighting? Is there blood on the floor? Do you have your shirts on? Are the hyena laughs because aliens brainwashed you? Do you need a counselor? Should I call the cops?”

Ah, Seungkwan. Right, he was coming back later today.

Seungkwan inhales deeply before throwing the door open. Praying that nothing untoward has happened to his two best friends because they keep fighting like cats and dogs.

When he sees them both lying on the floor giggling stupidly, one long arm wrapped protectively around Soonyoung’s waist he lets out a horrified scream. Eyes blown, mouth wide, voice high. Like a comedy character.

“Oh hey Seungkwan. You’re back.”

Seungkwan places the wrist of his hand against his forehead. He’s going to faint. Aliens have invaded. Seokmin and Soonyoung are playing nice. Giggling and cuddling. Who are these two creatures and what have they done to his best friends.

“You know what? I need some fresh air.”

He gives one long look back before storming out of the room. Maybe he should have eaten more snacks before leaving his grandparent’s house. The lack of sugar in his system causes strange hallucinations. Or has Soonyoung actually decided to play nice with Seokmin?

Unbelievable. This is not within Boo’s very extensive preparations. He’s set aside the next six months for them to get to know each other so he can finally, finally hold sleepovers for the three of them. This requires careful conditioning, not throwing them both in the room and expecting them to play nice. That's asking for two very wounded boys to endlessly about each other to Seungkwan. And he has heard enough of that. 

“What’s eaten him?” Soonyoung wonders out loud. Loud enough for Seungkwan to hear and explain himself. 

“Dunno. Diva outburst? Maybe the room is still dusty. Damn, and I was hoping Ms. Han would burst out into a sneezing fit again.”

Soonyoung laughs. Seungkwan lets out a pained cry. He’s really going to faint. Soonyoung has been brainwashed. His hopes of Seokmin returning his other best friend intact has gone to shambles.

Seungkwan is a Good Boy. He listens to his mother, does (most) of his homework (copying the parts he doesn’t know is doing it, okay) and is a polite and sweet boy (his report cards say so).

What did he do to deserve this? Insulted aliens? Unknowingly intruded on Minghao and Junhui’s sweet date earlier today? Hey, they were disgusting. Disrespectuful to all the singles in the world.  Seungkwan feels not an ounce of guilt in making them call Jeonghan to find where Soonyoung and Seokmin were.

Soonyoung laughs again. Seungkwan thinks throwing him from the fourth floor might help him regain his normal state of mind. Even though it’s more likely to kill him.

“Come in. I didn’t do anything to Soonyoung. Promise.” Seokmin grabs Seungkwan and drags him in. Who knows what goes through that convoluted mind of him. Strange conspiracy theories, most likely.

“Let go of me! I don’t want to be brainwashed!”

Seungkwan trashes around but Seokmin uses his height to haul him in. Soonyoung’s sides hurt from all the laughing. For the first time he’s glad the school is so empty. Seungkwan’s crazed screaming doesn’t even travel.

In some warped way today was fun. Maybe the fairy godmother did come. Even though there wasn’t any Prince Charming as promised.

“Lee Seokmin! Let me down this instant!”

Seokmin arches his eyebrows up really hard before bending down and dropping Seungkwan.

“That hurt, you jerk!”

“You asked to be let down.”

Seungkwan doesn’t even have a witty retaliation. What a terrible, terrible day. He should have stayed in his grandparent's house eating sugar cookies. 
 

a'n: happy new year folks!! have a great 2016 ahead :>> 

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