While Sungyeol sat and ate alone, in the kids’ school, Sunggyu and Woohyun worried Dongwoo who watched them from afar. Sunggyu attended school just fine but he was back into the stoic boy he was after his mom died, not interacting with any kid, Woohyun included, and that made Woohyun try several times to engage the other in a conversation which made him disrupt the class a few times and get scolded.

“Hyung! Hyung, please talk to me.” Woohyun pleaded for the umpteenth time that day, always more desperate than the previous time, he couldn't understand Sunggyu’s behavior. Dongwoo didn't blame him, he didn't understand Sunggyu either.

Sunggyu turned half of his back towards Woohyun and tried to focus on his food and his friend just got out from his seat and moved to the other side so Sunggyu could see him. “Hyung, please, did I do something wrong?” Dongwoo watched Sunggyu bit his lip hard and look guilty for a second before turning his back towards his friend again. “Hyung, please, what's wrong?”

“Hyung, is this because of scary hyung?” The boy tried again and Sunggyu simply got out of his seat, carefully grabbed his tray and walked towards Dongwoo, and some other teachers’, table. He looked at Dongwoo with puppy eyes and the pink haired teacher and his colleagues made some space for Sunggyu to silently settle between them and start picking at his food.

Woohyun watched Sunggyu reject him dejectedly and Dongwoo could feel the young boy was confused, let down, sad, disappointed and any other emotion alike, by the hurtful expression he was wearing that was accompanied by eyes b with tears. Now Woohyun was talkative and polite to his classmates and, even though he didn't show much interest in becoming friends with other people that weren't Sunggyu, it didn't mean that the other kids didn't have interest in becoming his friends, so it didn't take long for the other kids in his class to see this as an opportunity for them to get close to him.

“Woohyun-ah, come eat with us.” A boy sitting in another table called.

“Oppa, you can sit beside me.” A girl offered with a kind smile.

Woohyun dragged his feet to grab his tray then carefully took it towards the table some of his classmates were sitting and sat beside them but that didn't mean he mingled just fine. The kids around him kept trying to make him talk, but all Woohyun could do was look longingly to Sunggyu picking his food by Dongwoo side.

“Sunggyu-yah, why are you hurting Woohyun? Did he do something to you?” Dongwoo asked softly and Sunggyu held his chopsticks tightly and he stopped moving for a bit. “Do you want to tell hyung anything? You know I can talk to your brother on your behalf, he is my friend.”

Sunggyu didn't answer but his eyes watered and he placed his chopsticks on the tray, pushed it away from him then covered his face with his arms on the table to cry. Dongwoo sighed deeply, this didn't seem like other breakdowns Sunggyu had had but still, he seemed so sad.

“Do you want me to call your hyung?” Dongwoo offered as he patted the kid’s back in comforting circles.

“No.” Sunggyu had said with damped voice. “Hyung wan-wants me to go-go to sch-school.”

Dongwoo sighed and moved his eyes to look at Woohyun, the boy kept looking in their direction and he was equally crying, though more silently, and equally hurting, which made the pink haired teacher wonder what the hell had happened this time that Sunggyu was acting like that?

At the end of the break both boys managed to stop crying on their own, and although Sunggyu put up a rather good poker face for a boy his age while Woohyun looked like his world had crumbled, he seemed more resigned, which made Dongwoo work without many problems if he didn't count the somber mood in that corner of his classroom. Still, the pink haired teacher was worried and although he didn't call Sungyeol to come take Sunggyu home, he managed to sneakily send Sungyeol a message telling him that his brother was acting different from usual and that he wished to have a word with him at the end of the day.

When Sungyeol arrived at the school, he found Dongwoo almost biting all his nails out of worry while Sunggyu sat in a corner reading his Harry Potter book and pretending he wasn't feeling his friend’s hurt stare into his skin from across the room while other kids attempted to get Woohyun’s attention.

“Thank god you came, I don't know what to do anymore, none of them will talk to me.” The teacher said frustrated as he pulled Sungyeol for a private talk in a corner where they could still watch the boys. “Sungyeol, what happened with Sunggyu?”

“In a way nothing, I swear on my mom that I didn't yell at him or scared him.” Sungyeol said carefully and Dongwoo made an impatient face as if asking 'then?' “We had a talk.. he was kind of afraid of that, but it went well and he understood why lying and doing things behind my back were wrong way better than Sungjong, so things with me and him are ok. The problem was that he started thinking that for me to forgive him it was needed for him to stop playing with Woohyun.”

“And you didn't say anything?” The teacher gasped.

“I tried telling him that I didn't mean that but he didn't want to hear me and said he wouldn't even talk to Woohyun. I tried to approach the subject a couple of times yesterday but he just kept desperately promising that he wouldn't talk to Woohyun and I didn't want to make him more distressed after the fight he witnessed between me and Sungjong.” The taller explained.

“Sungyeol, he is going to close up again and then you know what happened last year.” The teacher argued. “You have to do something.”

“I know ok? You don't need to tell me that.” Sungyeol hissed.

“Then, for the love of God, or whatever you believe in, let the boys play together.” Dongwoo insisted as if he hadn't told this a couple hundred of times to Sungyeol already.

“Hyung, it's not that simple.” The taller said ruffling his hair. "I… Woohyun’s dad and I weren't in a good place since day one, even if I wanted to swallow my pride and apologize, who guarantees me that he would believe I am being sincere? And why would he trust his son to a stranger in the first place? If I were him I wouldn't trust Woohyun to me after everything I have said.” He finished with a defeated sigh that made Dongwoo throw a knowing grin.

“You're regretting.” He pointed happily and Sungyeol lightly glared at him, this wasn't time to be teased, mainly when he knew he had trouble connecting with other people so anything with Myungsoo would be an even bigger challenge for him. “First and foremost you won't know if you don't try, who knows, maybe Woohyun’s dad will surprise you. As for the trust, you know that trust is slowly built but you can, I don't know, invite them to dinner together and talk while the kids play or...” Dongwoo thought for a second before he had a brilliant idea. “Hey, I noticed Woohyun is arriving at school late and maybe that has to do with the fact that his dad doesn't own a car, but you have one so you can offer to take Woohyun to school, I'm sure his dad will find that tempting.”

“I...” Sungyeol was about to say he wasn't sure that would work and give a bunch of excuses but was interrupted by Sunggyu who was already hugging his blue bag against his chest.

“Hyung, I want to go home.” He pleaded softly but sadly.

Sungyeol nodded and grabbed Sunggyu bag and then his hand before he addressed Dongwoo again. “I'll start with Sunggyu, but tell him...” Sungyeol made a head motion for Woohyun. “...that I'll fix this.”

As soon as the brothers left, Dongwoo approached Woohyun, the boy was much prone to conversations but he tried to cheer him up the best he could, telling him that he had talked to Sungyeol and that Sungyeol would probably talk to Sunggyu to fix this, but that wasn't enough to calm the young boy’s heart, after all the boy didn't trust Sungyeol at all.

_____________________________________________________________

Later that night Sungyeol made dinner and they sat together to eat. Like any other day, Sunggyu would play with his food or at least take every vegetable out of his bowl, but this time Sunggyu had the biggest sad pout in his lips and Sungyeol thought that that was it, that was his limit and there was so much pout he could take, after all, it seemed like he had finally found his heart.

“Sunggyu, how many times have I said not to play with your food?” He tried a soft approach.

“I'm not hungry.” Cue to Sunggyu’s belly to growl and reveal his blatant lie.

Sungyeol placed his chopsticks down and grabbed Sunggyu’s bowl and chopsticks in his hand to feed the boy himself. “Don't lie to me, I know you're hungry, say ah.” Sungyeol coaxed but the boy just turned his head the opposite side so the elder sighed and placed the bowl back on the table. “Sunggyu-yah, hyung wants to change, but hyung doesn't know exactly how to do that, can't you help hyung?”

Sunggyu blinked his eyes a bit and he forced a tired half smile. “How can I help hyung? I'm just a kid.”

“Well, you could start by telling me why are you pouting so much?” Sungyeol asked and the boy looked down to the table and fumbled with his fingers, he clearly didn't want to open up to him, and Sungyeol was right when he thought that happened because it had to do with Woohyun, but even if he knew it he wanted Sunggyu to say things on his own so they could use this conversation to strengthen their relationship. “Come on, I promise you that hyung will try his best to make it better. Is it about Sungjong? Hyung can give him a call and forgive him if that's what you want.”

“That too but...” Sunggyu hesitated for a couple of minutes before explained. “I didn't talk to Woohyunnie today...”

“Sunggyu...” Sungyeol was frustrated, he was about to open his mouth once again to try to make the younger see that he didn't mean things that way, but Sunggyu probably thought he was gonna be scolded because he was quick to dismiss things.

“But it's ok, I promised hyung I wouldn't.”

“But it's not!” Sungyeol said loudly so Sunggyu would stop interrupting him and let him talk. “It's not ok.” He said more softly when the maknae became startled. “When we met Woohyun and his dad there were a few things that didn't give me the best impression of them so of course I wouldn't let you play with someone that I didn't like and someone I didn't trust, but that can be changed.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu mumbled incredulously.

Sungyeol looked down at the table and started smoothing the tablecloth a bit nervously. “You have been friends with Woohyun for a while and, you have played at his home so you know his dad too right? They are good people right?” He asked and Sunggyu nodded, but he still wasn't sure if Sungyeol wouldn’t get mad with this topic. “Yeah... I kind of realized that when you asked Myungsoo-shi to come to take care of me when I was sick. He probably did that because of you, but, still, it shows that he has a good heart, and it isn't like Woohyun is influencing you badly so...” Sunggyu still had a puzzled face so Sungyeol spelled it out of him. “You just had to understand things and say sorry Sunggyu, I didn't ask you to stop talking to your friend, so it's ok if you talk and play with Woohyun.”

Sunggyu’s expression instantly changed from confusion to sheer happiness, it was like Christmas came sooner and Sungyeol was almost blinded by his smile before the boy jumped from his seat and tried to climb on him only to squeal in his ear and hug him tightly.

“Thank you hyung, thank you so so so so so much!” The boy cheered. “Now I can play with Woohyunnie!”

“It's ok, it's ok.” Sungyeol patted him on the back for a while until it was time to break the hug, Sunggyu was so happy but Sungyeol knew he had to break that happiness. “Sunggyu, Dongwoo hyung told me you ignored Woohyun today so you can't simply approach him tomorrow like nothing had happened, your behavior today hurt him and even I could notice that. What would you do if it was Woohyun that didn’t want to play with you anymore?”

Sunggyu immediately climbed off Sungyeol and started to play with the hem of his shirt as he looked down at his feet, he felt clearly guilty.

“Listen to me.” Sungyeol grabbed the younger chin and pulled it up so they could meet gazes. “Tomorrow when you arrive at school you're gonna talk to Woohyun and tell him you misunderstood my orders and were just being dumb, then you're going to ask him to forgive you.”

“Hyung, I am not dumb.” The boy complained with a pout.

“You aren't, but if you tell him that I think he will feel better. The important thing is for him to know that you know that you made a mistake and that you're sorry.” Sungyeol said and prayed that with this advice Sunggyu would be able to reconcile with Woohyun. Sunggyu nodded and he finally released the boy’s chin and grabbed the younger bowl. “I'm gonna reheat this for you ok? I don't want to hear excuses this time, you have to eat something even if I let you not eat your vegetables today.”

Sungyeol left his brother in his thoughts and went for their small American kitchen to put the bowl in the microwave. He set the timer and waited patiently for the bowl to heat, but once he took the bowl out of the microwave, and turned back to the table, he saw Sunggyu nervously standing in front of him.

“Hyung, I'm scared, what if Woohyunnie doesn't want to be my friend anymore?” He asked in a small voice.

“Then you try again and again and, if you're desperate, you beg.” Sungyeol instructed and Sunggyu was still unsure so Sungyeol placed the bowl on the counter for a second and squatted to meet the boy's eyes. “Let's do something then, you have until Friday to apologize to Woohyun and get him to forgive you, if by Friday you manage to do this, on Saturday I will go talk to Woohyun’s dad and I will apologize to him and invite him and Woohyun here. What do you say, do we have a deal?” Sungyeol raised his pinky finger for a promise and that seemed to get Sunggyu’s spirits raised.

“Call.” Sunggyu hooked his pinky finger around his brother's and smiled happily, he would do his best to make Woohyun forgive him so his hyung could uphold his promise.

Sungyeol smiled back at Sunggyu although it didn't reach his eyes. What Sunggyu didn't know was that a part of him already wanted to apologize to the neighbors but that he had no courage for that. This promise was not simply to incentive Sunggyu on asking Woohyun forgiveness, it was to force him to face his neighbor, which he dreaded.

_______________________________________________

As Dongwoo had explained the day prior, Woohyun was arriving late at school, a thing that made him complain to his dad often, but today Myungsoo managed to arrive five minutes before the bell just so he could inquire the teacher about what had happened that left Woohyun so down.

“It wasn't a fight. Sunggyu was avoiding Woohyun yesterday for god knows why so Woohyun was sad, but Sunggyu also cried about it, therefore I don't have a clue what's going on, I asked but none of the boys told me anything.” The teacher explained.

“This seems to have Sungyeol-shi signature all over.” Myungsoo said with an angry undertone and was about to go to say goodbye to his son when Dongwoo held his elbow to avoid it.

“I heard he discovered Sungjong was taking Sunggyu to play in your place, was it that bad?”

Myungsoo sighed and turned to face the teacher again. “No, I mean, since he smelled like he had drunk a bit I thought he would scream profanities at my face but he just took Sunggyu home. The next day Sungjong came to talk and we could hear their screams from our apartment and Sungjong was really upset when he left.”

“Yeah he told me he fought with Sungjong, but he also said Sunggyu misunderstood him and that could affect the boys’ relationship. He also said he would fix this so I think he is regretting the way he judged you and Woohyun, maybe he will be approaching you soon too.”

Myungsoo lifted his brows before scoffing. “If he came for a talk maybe I would listen because I have some things to say myself, but I really doubt he would want to do that. At the end of the day, the only thing I can truly expect from Sungyeol-shi is for him, directly or indirectly, to hurt my son and I am getting fed up with that.”

The teacher sighed, Myungsoo seemed to be reasonable, kind and able to put things behind himself if that would benefit his son, but he could also be very protective of Woohyun. Dongwoo only hoped that Sungyeol could really approach Myungsoo and somehow manage to spark a friendship with him because it would not only benefit the kids but both of them as well, and he hoped Sungyeol did that before Myungsoo lost all of his patience.

The bell rang shortly after Myungsoo left and Dongwoo had to stop thinking about his two favorite students, and their adult counterparts, to actually do his job. Through the lesson, Dongwoo noticed that since he arrived Woohyun sat quietly in his place and didn't move or talked much, just eyed Sunggyu with some mistrust whenever the boy wanted to speak to him. An hour or two into the lesson and Dongwoo remembered he was supposed to make his students do a spelling quiz next week, and he thanked the gods he already had it ready, it wouldn't hurt if they anticipated that, right?

“Now that we learned all of that, we are going to do a spelling quiz.”

“Noooooooooooooo!” The students whined.

“What? Complaining already? But it's super easy, all of you won't have a problem.” Dongwoo said trying to encourage them but the kids still made displeased faces. “What if I let you partner up with a friend?” The kids’ eyes grew in surprise (minus Woohyun that seemed bored) and Dongwoo succeeded in getting their attention, even more, when he said the next sentence. “I'll also let you chose you partner so...”

Before he could even finish his explanation the kids were already cheering and giving knowing looks to one another before they started to run around in the classroom to sit close to their partners. While chaos ensured in Dongwoo's classroom Sunggyu moved his chair to sit even closer to Woohyun and the younger raised a brow at him, a thing that made Sunggyu a bit nervous.

“You'll be my partner, right?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun’s way of answering that was grabbing his notebook and his pencil case and moving to sit beside another boy that had been waving at him. Sunggyu was surprised, he didn't expect that, but then again he had hurt Woohyun the previous day so of course, he would be like that. Sunggyu was a boy on a mission though and, as instructed by Sungyeol, he would insist, so he followed behind Woohyun.

“Woohyunnie, you can't do the quiz with him, you're MY partner.” Sunggyu said and the other boy looked angrily at him.

“Go away, I want to partner with Honggyu.” (AN: That's K-Much Kiu name if you guys didn't know). Woohyun shooed and said boy smirked at Sunggyu.

“But you can't... I don't like partnering up with anyone else.” He added with a barely audible whisper but Woohyun just turned his back on him and started to talk to Honggyu and Sunggyu was left planted there until Dongwoo approached them.

“Are you two not partnering up today?” Dongwoo asked as if he didn't know already. “How come? Kim Sunggyu without Nam Woohyun is like chopsticks without a spoon, a thread without a needle, a kite without string...”

“Yes, if it's not with Woohyunnie, I don't want to do the quiz.” Sunggyu agreed.

“If it's with Sunggyu hyung, I don't want to do the quiz.” Woohyun spat without even blinking, it was obvious he was behaving like that because Sunggyu had ignored him yesterday.

Dongwoo frowned, but for now, he pulled Sunggyu away from his friend and back to his seat then explained that he shouldn't insist talking to Woohyun now because they were in the middle of class and, even if he didn't want to partner with another kid, he still had to do the quiz.

Sunggyu nodded and got ready to do the quiz but this situation upset him and he couldn't properly concentrate in the quiz and often stole glances at Woohyun. Said boy was equally disinterested in the quiz, but the other kid was so happy to be partnering up with him that he was doing all the quiz alone and Woohyun didn't move a muscle to write something in the paper.

“Are you sure this is right? I think this is written wrong.” Woohyun said to his classmate. “It's Cheap not Sheep.”

“No, I am sure it's correct.” The other boy said defensively, although still very happy, and Woohyun rolled his eyes at him and leaned his head on one hand over the table as he watched the other write whatever he wanted even though he was wrong.

On the other corner of the classroom Sunggyu had stolen a glance at his friend the moment Woohyun tried to interact with his partner and suddenly he felt like he wouldn't have a chance to fix things, maybe he had hurt Woohyun too much and was too late to ask for forgiveness, maybe Woohyun had already found a better friend that wouldn't hurt him. As these thoughts swam in Sunggyu’s head he couldn't contain the tears that started to be produced so he leaned back in his chair, covered his eyes with his small hands and just let them free.

Dongwoo was about to rush to his side, but he noticed that Woohyun had looked at Sunggyu at that moment, so he decided to wait to see what would the boy do. Woohyun looked at his friend for a couple of seconds, debating with himself if he should go there or not until he finally climbed out of his chair and sneakily got close to Sunggyu.

“Hyung, you made a mistake here.” He said to gain the attention of the elder and Sunggyu stopped crying for a minute to gasp when he noticed Woohyun was there beside him.

“Woo-Woohyunnie?”

“Why are you crying?' The boy asked softly.

“Because I'm so-so dumb, and I am so, so, so, so sorry. I treated you badly yesterday because I thought that hyung wo-would only forgive me if-if I did that, but he said it was o-ok to play together but now-now you don't like me anymore.” Sunggyu said between sobs.

Woohyun bit his inferior plump lip as he thought about what to do, he was hurt by the way Sunggyu had treated him yesterday so he was trying to stay away from his friend, but seeing Sunggyu like that made his little heart ache and he caught himself hugging his friend and patting his back.

“I still like you.” The boy said softly and Sunggyu hugged his friend tightly back, whispering a bunch of sorries in his ear.

Dongwoo watched the two boys from afar and smiled to himself, he wasn't so sure Sungyeol would be able to somehow fix the boys’ relationship but, from what he just witnessed, it seemed as if Sungyeol had a conversation with his brother that was enough to encourage Sunggyu to feel it was ok to be close to his friend and apologize for his behavior.

The boys’ moment was beautiful and Dongwoo would love to watch more, but, unfortunately for them, Dongwoo was working and dying to tease them. “Boys, are you slacking on your quiz? Woohyun, go back to your partner, you can hug Sunggyu later.” He ordered.

Both boys promptly pulled away flustered and Woohyun just looked at Dongwoo as if he had just said nonsense. “What are you talking about hyung? My partner is right here.” The boy pointed to Sunggyu as he climbed on his chair and Sunggyu wiped his tears and smiled so brightly that Dongwoo almost went blind for a second.

Woohyun grabbed Sunggyu’s eraser and erased the few answers his friend managed to write down then started correcting everything. It wasn't like Sunggyu was dumb but he just wrote whatever to pretend he was doing the quiz.

“It's cheap, not sheep. It's lose, not loose. Aish hyung, you can do nothing without me, you're chopsticks without a spoon, a thread without a needle, a kite without string...” Woohyun mumbled away but Sunggyu was too happy and couldn't care less about it, Woohyun was beside him again and that was all that mattered.

Dongwoo had been playing around when he told Woohyun he could hug Sunggyu after class, but that was exactly what the boys did once class was over: hug each other and promise they would never fight again, so when Sungyeol arrived to pick his brother up this was exactly what they were doing.

“Aren't they cute?” Dongwoo asked as he crept behind Sungyeol, almost making the man have a heart attack.

“Omg, do you want to make Sunggyu go live in an orphanage or what?” Sungyeol hissed at Dongwoo as he put a hand over his heart in a fail attempt to calm it.

“Sorry.” The teacher smiled sheepishly. “But look at them, they made up today and when the class was over they didn't stop hugging, I think they missed each other.” Sungyeol hummed an agreement while he eyed the kids talk animatedly as they had an arm over each other in a half hug. “Sungyeol, you had a talk with Sunggyu right?” Sungyeol stiffly nodded although the teacher didn't notice his tensed state. “I'm proud of you, I'm really, really proud of you, it seems to me that you've been trying to change lately.”

“Yeah.” Sungyeol agreed as he looked at the ground shyly. “I'm trying to organize my life in a way that it doesn't bring me more problems than I have to deal with. Sunggyu in his tantrums tires me so much that I can't get work done and....” He hesitated a bit biting his lips. “...it brings my mind off things.” He added and Dongwoo made a sympathetic expression, he knew exactly what Sungyeol was talking about, after all, it only had been two weeks since he had his heart broken.

“Well that's actually great for you and Sunggyu but I still think you need a friend your age who can relate to your struggles. I know it's hard for you to normally make friends, hell I don't know if you'd be here putting up with me if I hadn't been dating Hoya for the last six months, but seriously, knowing that someone in your situation is kind of hard to find, the closest thing around to a potential friend in a similar situation is Woohyun’s dad so, can you....”

“Stop insisting aigo, I promised Sunggyu I would try to talk to him.”

“Really?” Dongwoo beamed.

“Really, I don't know how I'll do it, and I don't know how it will go, I only know it can't be right now because I need to work. On Saturday, when I have the time, I might try.” Sungyeol said a bit irritated, insisting would make him feel pressured and act like he was forced to approach his neighbor, and Myungsoo would probably reject his peace offering for the lack of sincerity.

“Ok, I won't say anything anymore, but I wish you good luck Sungyeol. Later we have to hang out so you can tell me everything in detail, of course, Hoya would want to know about it too.”

“Humpf, you two love to gossip.” Sungyeol playfully mocked before he proceeded to get Sunggyu to come home.

That night Sunggyu threw winning smiles at his brother all the time and even asked Sungyeol a couple of times if he was really going to keep his promise, and every time he had said yes Sunggyu would squeal and smile even brightly, until Sungyeol decided that if he was to give away his pride he needed to gain something out of it. “I will if you behave, do your homework diligently and let me work.” He thought that if he asked Sunggyu to eat vegetables the kid would discover he was somehow being tricked.

“Oh, I'll finish it right away.” Sunggyu quickly agreed and scrambled to his room to finish his homework and that made Sungyeol amused that night.

Sungyeol hadn't seen Myungsoo on that week because, due to his problems, he hadn't been able to concentrate on working at home so he decided to stay at his department for it. Sungyeol studied Literature and currently worked for Woollim, a publishing house in which he was a commissioned proofreader, correcting the mistakes in the text of the books that were going to be published. It was a work that needed concentration but one that he could do anytime anywhere as long as he had a computer.

Sungyeol also had another job, one he thought wasn't glamorous (not that people would fawn at proofreaders), yet, but glamorous in this case meant for him to be paid, his main income came from proofreading books and he had to work his off to gain just enough for him and Sunggyu to live, he didn't want to touch the money Sunggyu’s father had left for him, he figured the boy might want to use it for something else when he reached adult life.

That being said, Sungyeol was trying to get ahead with his work during the time he had between one class and another (or a meeting with some professor) and if it wasn't for Chanyeol bugging him on Thursday he probably wouldn't even have talked to anyone.

“I convinced my dad to buy the book we need.” Chanyeol announced and dropped a book beside Sungyeol. “This book will help us both so I'm expecting to get something in return.”

Sungyeol saved his work just in case he forgot later then opened the book index to read, interesting, this book would be very useful for him. “And what do you want?” Sungyeol asked carefully, who knew what Chanyeol would want, he was a bit crazy in Sungyeol’s opinion, a good kind of crazy though.

“I want you to introduce me to Dara noona.” He said with confidence and Sungyeol simply closed the book and turned to Chanyeol to look at him in disbelief.

“Although I'm very relieved you're not asking me to write your graduation thesis for you I don't think this is any better. Chanyeol!” He whined.

“Hyung, please, she's your classmate.” Chanyeol pulled a chair and sat beside him.

Sungyeol slightly glared at him then pointed between them. “I'm not good at being friends, this here only happens because we are working on similar stuff so we need each other to discuss things.”

“I know... I know you're not on the social side, but, hyung, please!” Chanyeol grabbed Sungyeol by his arms and shook him. “Please!”

“Chanyeol.” Sungyeol grabbed his friend’s(?) arm and steadied himself. “I have never talked to her, how am I supposed to introduce you two?”

“I don't know, have some girly talk then tell her that you have a good friend that she should check out. She can check me out thoroughly, I won't mind.” The other giggled and winked mischievously at him and Sungyeol rolled his eyes, freed himself and slapped Chanyeol’s head.

“Being gay doesn't make me a girl.” He hissed. “And I should be the one asking favors, do you know how many times have I saved your already?”

“You saved my because you love me, I'm the best dongsaeng ever and the only one you have too.” Sungyeol glared, he didn't need to be reminded of that. “But ok, if it means I'll get to be introduced to Dara noona I will offer another favor aside the book.” The younger Yeol crossed his equally long legs and leaned back in his chair. “What can I do for you, Sir?”

“There's nothing you....” Sungyeol was about to decline the offer but decided against it at the last second. “Actually, there's this guy....”

“Name him and I'll introduce you to him, but wait, weren't you dating?” Chanyeol blinked confusedly.

“WAS dating, I'm not dating anymore nor I want to date so soon, this is about something else.” Sungyeol explained and Chanyeol lifted his brow and waited for him to go on. “There's this guy that I have misjudged because... It doesn't matter for you to know, I just... he helped me when I needed it the most and I wasn't expecting his help and that made me... ok, I won't admit I'm completely stripped out of my prejudices but I want to apologize, maybe start a new... I just don't know how.”

“Hum...” Chanyeol hummed and broke himself in a grin. “See what's happening here?” He pointed between them. “Friendship! If you want to you can make friends, they would just need to keep up with you intellectually a bit.” Sungyeol glared hard then gave up and was going to return to his work when Chanyeol grabbed his elbow and turned Sungyeol to face him again. “It's hard but just have an honest conversation with him over a couple of drinks, tell him what made you misjudge him and why, then explain what made you think otherwise, apologize and tell him you're willing to start again and that you want to change your mind and become friends.”

“What if he doesn't want to? I kind of treated him badly a couple of times.” Sungyeol challenged.

“Are you the hyung? It helps if you pay his drinks.”

“Actually, I don't know, I don't know much about him.” Sungyeol confessed dispirited.

“Then pay anyway, at least it shows a bit of your sincerity. You can be sincere when you want it, so don't worry, you can make it.” Chanyeol encouraged.

Sungyeol sighed. “I don't think we can go out drinking though.”

“Why?” The other furrowed his brows.

“It's just not a good idea Chanyeol, thank you for your advice, maybe I should try to invite him for a meal? That seems more reasonable, I could cook something, but what?” Sungyeol tapped his chin as he thought to himself. “The food should be good if I want him to forgive me.”

“Meanie, you want to cook this guy a meal and here I am giving bits of advice and you don't even want to introduce me to Dara noona.” The other crossed his arms and pouted.

Sungyeol rolled his eyes, turned to the computer and eject his pen drive before he got up and left the computer labs only to leave a rather upset Chanyeol behind. Next time Chanyeol saw him it was already lunch time and Sungyeol had dropped by the table where the other taller Literature student was sitting and swiftly grabbed the book he had just bought. Chanyeol was about to complain when Sungyeol placed a piece of paper in front of him.

“She works in this place and agreed to let you borrow this exact same book so you have two opportunities to not embarrass yourself in front of her. Thank you for letting me borrow this.” He waved the book in front of Chanyeol and the other was so happy he let Sungyeol walk away with his book.

“Thank you hyung, you're the best hyung ever!” Chanyeol screamed through the cafeteria and Sungyeol flushed beet red, wanting to hide inside the book he was holding.

He promptly placed the book in front of his face to hide his flushing cheeks and missed how Myungsoo stopped in his tracks with a tray in his hand as he looked curiously, and a bit surprised about the praise the taller received, while Sungyeol escaped the cafeteria.

_________________________________________

Now that Sungyeol managed to get Chanyeol’s book in his hands for an undetermined amount of time, he spent the rest of his free time that Thursday and Friday with work and the book in order to not feel nervous about the big step he would have to take on Saturday.

Sunggyu wasn't still fully believing his brother would fulfill his promise so Sungyeol gave him the mission of asking Woohyun what was the boy and his dad’s favorite dish(es) only for his brother to come back that Friday with a list that Sungyeol had to frown at, he couldn't really read that handwriting completely, but he managed, after squinting a lot, to read what he hoped it was Kimchi Jiggae because he knew how to make it.

Sunggyu was beaming that Saturday and Sungyeol didn't remember the last time he had seen the boy so energetic and he took advantage of all that energy to drag Sunggyu to go grocery shopping for the dish he would be making. Halfway shopping Sungyeol managed to convince his brother to help in case Myungsoo said no, all Sunggyu had to do was to look cute and use his best pair of puppy eyes and maybe influence Woohyun into doing the same. Sunggyu didn't understand why Sungyeol seemed nervous, Woohyun’s dad wasn't scary at all, he always got some pats in his head and hugs when he played with his friend. He ended up agreeing because he would be able to play with Woohyunnie if his brother and Woohyunnie’s dad became friends too.

Once they had a late lunch and Sungyeol had washed and dried the dishes, he summoned his brother in the living room breathed in and out a couple of times and then they headed out of their apartment and knocked on the neighbors’ door. It didn't take long for the door to be opened but Sungyeol felt those seconds like hours and he ended up grabbing Sunggyu’s hand in his to lessen his nervous state, apologizing wasn't something he did often.

“Hello.” He greeted softly and Myungsoo gulped hard, he didn't expect Sungyeol to really show up and he would be damned if he wasn't expecting the worst. Noticing that Myungsoo seemed to have lost his words Sungyeol thought it was better if he went down to business. “Can we talk?”

Myungsoo still didn't say anything but the awkward silence was broken when Woohyun came running from inside the apartment. “Uncle Moonsooo~~~” The boy stopped in his tracks when he got close enough to realize it wasn't his uncle. “Hyung????” He asked confused but as soon as he noticed Sungyeol was there he hid behind his father.

“Woohyunnie!” Sunggyu waved happily.

Myungsoo placed a protective hand around his son and held him against his body with only the head peeking out. “I can't, I'm about to get ready to go out, I have a basketball practice to attend.” He explained with a voice void of emotions but seemed to use an angry undertone when he proceeded to talk. “But if you're here to tell me that…”

“Can we talk over dinner then? We can talk while the kids play.” Sungyeol suggested nervously and Sunggyu wondered why his hyung hand was sweaty while Myungsoo lifted a confused brow and Sunggyu thought it was his cue to help his hyung.

“Please Myungsoo hyung!” He made puppy eyes. “Hyung is going to make Kimchi Jiggae.”

“Oh, that's dad’s favorite dish.” Woohyun said in surprise and somehow Sungyeol felt relieved he got the right dish, although he thought everything could backfire if it wasn't good enough for his neighbor’s tastes.

“I don't know…” Myungsoo said suspiciously but Woohyun had been already won over when his friend announced the food and Sungyeol talked about playtime.

“Please daddy, please, I swear I'll behave!” Cue for better and more effective Woohyun aegyo that included puppy eyes, pout and some hearts over his head.

Myungsoo sighed, he knew that dinner at the neighbor would be the most awkward moment in his life after the day everyone discovered he and Jihyun would bring Woohyun to this world, but Woohyun’s aegyo was a powerful weapon and he lost every time the boy decided to do that. “I won't be free before six.” He ended up saying.

Sungyeol wanted to smile but he didn't want to show his relief nor his anticipation. “We will expect you at seven then, I'll make sure to cook well.” With that, he (and Sunggyu) bowed, while Woohyun cheered, then moved back to their apartment leaving Myungsoo utterly confused.

“What the....?”