Mingyu knew him as the kid next door.

Whenever he would stay at their balcony he would always gets at glimpse of the said boy.

He likes him but was afraid of approaching him. Why? Well it was because of the reason that he only saw the said boy smile once. He was always fiddling with the electronic keyboard that he sometimes places in the balcony.

Mingyu tries his best not to be noticed. He loves watching him play. The way he looked so relaxed when playing a really amazing tune, sometimes singing along with it. His voice was soothing and it had always managed to place a smile on Mingyu's lips.

But he likes him best when he smiles. He saw it just once. When a man who looked exactly like the boy despite having his hair dyed in blonde sat beside him. He saw how the boy looked up to the man and how strangely everything seemed to slow down as a smile spread onto his lips.

Mingyu had no idea what this feeling was but he was sure of one thing;

He wanted him to be his friend.

And he finally did one faithful afternoon.

It wasn't a question how sometimes Mingyu was quite of an airhead. He saw a butterfly pass him when he was on his way home from school, it was a unusual sight when you live around the city proper. Mesmerized by its beauty, he mindlessly followed it not realizing that he had strayed from his usual path. He only noticed it when the butterfly flew to where he can't reach it.

He panicked.

Whenever he would turn his head, nothing familiar would came in sight. So he did what normally a seven years old would, sit on the pavement and cry. He called his mom countless times but of course she didn't came. A scary thought crossed his mind at that time. He remembers seeing a scene exactly the same as his current state at one movie. A black van came in front of the kid and kidnapped her, selling her organs to the black market. The memory made Mingyu cry even louder.

It was when a figure approached him that he stopped crying. Mingyu looked up and saw the boy who lives beside him standing just in front of him.

LHe was wearing a purple hoodie that looked too big to him and a snap back with a 'J-Hope' written on it. Said boy tilted his head to the side.

"Aren't you Auntie Kim's son?" He asked and clutched the straps of his back pack. Mingyu could only gape at him, he never really thought that the day would finally come wherein he would finally have the boy speaking to him.

The boy on the other hand frowned at the lack of response, he looked around the premises and put pieces by pieces. "You're lost, aren't you?" Mingyu only nodded. The boy nodded, almost to himself, and held his hand. "If that's the case, let's go home together."

Mingyu's eyes went wide as he stared at the boy's hand. Was this really happening? Is this boy really speaking with him? The shorter boy only shook his head when Mingyu didn't took his hand. He instead took it himself, pulling the taller boy from his seating position.

"My name is Jihoon." He spoke. "I live next to your apartment. Your Mom gave us sweets. I'm not a bad guy."

Mingyu, finally waking up from his trance, gasped. "I-I know! Mingyu! M-my name is Mingyu." He murmured the last part.

Jihoon arranged his snap back and nodded. He started pulling Mingyu towards the direction of their apartment complex.

All throughout the journey, Jihoon never spoke. And yet, he never let go of Mingyu's hand. A feat that somehow made him happy. Still he wasn't smiling which somehow disappointed the taller boy.

"Jihoon?" He was the first to broke the silence. Jihoon only hummed a response but never gave him a glance. Mingyu pouted at that. "How old are you?"

Jihoon gave him a side glance. "Eight. How about you?" Mingyu beamed. "I'm seven! You're older than me!" Jihoon shook his head, the corner of his mouth twitching at the younger boy's action. "Wow, hey!" He suddenly exclaimed to which startled Jihoon. "C-can I call you Hyung?"

The older boy sighed. "You can, and stop squeezing my hand like that." "Oh." Mingyu blushed and muttered an apology.

The remaining of the journey was mostly filled with Mingyu's question with Jihoon answering them from time to time and before he knew it they were already in front of Mingyu's apartment.

A wave of sadness flashed over him. This was the end. Their relationship will probably return back to where it was. Jihoon finally let go of his hand and made his way to their door. As he took ahold of their knob a voice stopped him. He turned around and saw Mingyu biting his lip while clutching his shirt.

"H-hyung..." He started. "C-can... C-can..."

"Can?" Jihoon tilted his head, confused by how the younger boy was acting. "Can you..." His gaze drifted down to the floor. "Can you be my friend?" He didn't want to see Jihoon's face when he rejects him. When he didn't got a response after a minute he looked up. Only for his heart to beat faster than normal when he saw Jihoon was smiling. The shorter boy tipped toed and patted his tousled hair.

"Sure. I'm your friend from now on."

Mingyu had no idea what this feelings was but he was sure of one thing;

He wanted him to be his friend.

And finally he was his.