**warning this may be an un-edited word vomit 

Arianna dashed over to her neighbor's place. She was desperate to arrive on time for the morning ritual of delicious pancakes brought to you by Auntie Nam. Auntie Nam was the owner of the boarding house that took residence right next door to Arianna's humble abode. Arianna secretly believed Auntie Nam was magical. The rooms of the house seemed to extend forever and new hallways seemed to pop up whenever she visited. It could also be that Arianna always got lost in the house because it was just too big. 

“Auntie! Are the pancakes ready?” Arianna exclaimed as she burst through the door. She was greeted by Woohyun instead, Auntie’s son.

“Woah woah there Riri you’re gonna break down my door,” Woohyun laughed.

Arianna sighed, “Woohyun, I’m here for very important business aka breakfast, so if you could excuse yourself from the door, I need to get – ”

“Myungsoo’s not here,” Woohyun interrupted.

Slightly irritated by Woohyun’s inability to understand her need for food, Arianna started to respond, “Why does that even – ”

“He didn’t come home last night, but Sungyeol’s here if you want to see him,” Woohyun wiggled his eyebrows.

Fuming, Arianna glared at Woohyun and proclaimed dramatically, “For the last time there is nothing between me and Sungidiot! I woke up at 7 am today just so I could have Auntie’s pancakes and now I get stuck at the door having the most inefficient conversation of my life!”

“Ria? Are you here?” Auntie’s voice sung out from the kitchen behind the bulk that was Woohyun.

“Yes, Auntie! I’m right here!” Arianna called back sweetly.

“Pancakes are almost ready, just hang on tight,” said Auntie Nam.

Just as Arianna was about to respond, Woohyun whirled her around and pointed at a figure stumbling across the giant front lawn, “Look Myungsoo’s back.”

“Kim Myungsoo!” Arianna bellowed as she ran towards him to support his faltering footsteps while simultaneously hitting him for being so irresponsible as to not come home for a night.   

“Ari,” Myungsoo’s face broke out into the most endearing smile as he latched onto Arianna and promptly proceeded to smother his face into her shoulder.   

“You are so gross,” Arianna gagged. Nevertheless, she dragged Myungsoo across the pristine green lawn and forced Woohyun to remove Myungsoo’s soiled black boots before pushing him toward one of the million rooms in the house.

The room was simply labeled “Myungsoo & Dongwoo” on a piece of white construction paper, which was then taped to the door. The lettering was obviously in black.

Arianna kicked the door open and threw Myungsoo on the nearest bed. The room was filled with a closet, two desks, and a bunk bed. Arianna knew Myungsoo’s bed was the one on top, but she also knew Dongwoo would forgive her for not being able to drag the lump that is Myungsoo up a ladder.

“You better not do this ever again,” hissed Arianna. Myungsoo clung onto the hem of her shirt as a response.

“I need to go eat breakfast, Myungsoo,” sighed Arianna. Myungsoo tugged on her shirt again and Arianna finally took a proper look at his face a bit reluctantly.

“What the -- oh my potatoes, Myungsoo! Your eyes are smeared with eyeliner. Wait, that means my shirt . . .” Arianna took at deep breath before smacking Myungsoo repeatedly.

“Consider yourself lucky this shirt is one of Dongwoo’s tie dye failures.” Arianna grumbled. “Also why didn’t you come home right after your band performance? You should have at least wiped your makeup off. I packed you cleansing wipes last time, didn’t I?”

Myungsoo just gazed at her with a tiny smile.

“You know what, I can’t stand your face anymore. Where are those wipes? You know what, I’ll just use Dongwoo’s. Give me your face Myung.” Arianna grabbed a few wipes from Dongwoo’s desk and gently swept away the debris on Myungsoo’s face. “There. You’re relatively clean now. Take a nap and when you get up, be sure to wash up.” Arianna nagged before getting up to leave. This time Myungsoo didn’t stop her. He just let out a tiny sigh after she left the room.

Right after Arianna gently shut the door to Myungsoo’s room she ran straight into Sungyeol.

“Yikes, geez Sungbutt, watch where you are going,” whispered Arianna.

“Oh, you’re here, Rianna,” snickered Sungyeol.

“You know I don’t like it when people call me that, Sungfart,” Arianna retorted.  

“I guess you just put lover-boy to sleep right now,” said Sungyeol, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah? Why? Wait, lover, what?” Arianna glanced at Sungyeol quizzically.

“I’m gonna guess he still didn’t say anything,” Sungyeol sighed dramatically.   

“Uh, was he supposed to?” Arianna was getting more confused by each passing second.

“Judging by what he says in his sleep, he’s got a lot of things to say,” revealed Sungyeol.

“That’s just sleep-talking, it’s not, woah hey!” Sungyeol had just opened the door and tossed Arianna into the room. In his defense Myung and his Ari were getting annoying by dragging things out too long.

“Ari?” Myungsoo rubbed an eye while Arianna rubbed a potential bruise on her side thanks to Sungyeol.

“Ari are you okay?” Myungsoo asked quietly.

“Yeah yeah I’m fine,” Arianna smiled. “I’ll just get Sungyeol back later.”

“Are you feeling any better, Myung? Granted it’s only been a few minutes. Darn Sungyeol,” Arianna said as she approached the bed.

“Yeah I’m fine, thanks to you,” Myungsoo’s face split into the kitten smile that reached his eyes that Arianna both hated and loved because it made him look sort of very mildly adorable. He was just very slightly adorable like a pet kitten, not anything else, never.

Arianna looked away and cleared , “Uh, well Sungfart told me that you wanted to tell me something?” She cringed.

“I do?” Myungsoo asked.

“See, I was right, I’m gonna go now and tell him that he was wrong and—” Arianna tried to step out the door.

“Ari. Can you sit here on the bed please?” asked Myungsoo. He was gazing at her intently with those chocolate brown eyes of his. Arianna couldn’t say no.

She cautiously stepped over to the bed and plopped herself down while avoiding Myungsoo’s feet as not to squash them.

Arianna kept her eyes concentrated on the floor. She hated looking at Myungsoo’s face or his eyes as a matter of fact because they were disarming. His face was always such an open book. His eyes were also so warm and clear that it made her uncomfortable. The affection in them was so obvious. He looked at everyone that way and Arianna just couldn’t stand it sometimes. She wondered if it ever made him feel vulnerable to express everything through his eyes. Arianna could never do such a thing. She kept her truer and deeper emotions shut tight and refused to show them, or at least she tried. 

“Ari, look at me please?” Myungsoo coaxed. 

Ari slowly dragged her gaze up to meet Myungsoo’s. The eye contact made her want to run away immediately. The only obstacle was that Myungsoo had gently grabbed her hands. He knew she would try to bolt.    

“Ari, are you afraid of me?” Myungsoo asked. His voice had a slight crack in it.

“What? No! Why would I be, you’re harmless,” Arianna spluttered.

“Then why do you always avoid looking at me? You also try to run away half the time. Are you sure I don’t look scary?” Myungsoo asked sincerely.

“Myung, no. The only possibility is when you wear eyeliner and even that usually just looks like a five-year-old did it so no way,” Arianna answered.

“Ari, you’re avoiding the question,” Myungsoo chided.

“Look, I can’t answer the question with you looking at me like that!” Arianna finally burst. “I can’t look at you because your eyes are too pretty and somehow they make my heart hurt and then I can’t manage to get a handle on my brain because you mess it up and replace it with images of you smiling like a kitty and then I want to hug you, but I can’t because I’m afraid . . .” Arianna yanked her hands from Myungsoo and slapped them over . She gasped through her hands, “No.”

Myungsoo laughed in sheer delight. Then he hugged her.

Arianna felt like her heart was going to stop working. Sure, they had hugged before after winning games and bets against the other boys. The difference was this one felt like Myungsoo cared about her and only her, as if she was his most treasured person. Myungsoo pulled back just a tiny bit to knock his forehead gently against hers while gazing softly into her eyes. He smiled. Arianna didn’t know if her facial muscles were working properly. She just knew her brain felt like it was on fire.

“See, look your eyes are so pretty. I like the way they look at me,” cooed Myungsoo. 

“How do they look at you?” asked Arianna.

“Like . . .” Myungsoo suddenly blushed and looked away.

“Like? . . .” Arianna prodded.

“Likeyouloveme” Myungsoo mumbled.

“What?” Arianna asked, “You know I can’t understand when you mumble.”

“You look at me like you love me,” Myungsoo stated as he looked straight into Arianna’s eyes. It was now Arianna’s turn to blush. She smacked Myungsoo. 

“Myung, you can’t just say things like that. How can you even tell by looking at my eyes?” Arianna asked.

“I’ve been looking at your eyes for as long as I’ve known you. Even if you avoid my gaze that doesn’t mean I can’t look at you,” Myungsoo smiled cheekily.

“Creep,” Arianna muttered.

“Your eyes are open windows Ari, for me to look through and find love,” Myungsoo sang.

“Oh my gosh no. You are disgusting,” Arianna gagged.

“But you love meee,” Myungsoo laughed.

“Kim Myungsoo, I swear you get weirder by the day,” Arianna rolled her eyes, but frowned slightly. “If you can read my eyes so clearly, then how come I can’t really read yours?”

“You can. You know you can. You’re just afraid to. You’re brain has been denying what your heart is telling you,” Myungsoo replied. “My eyes are wide open, see look into them.”

“I just see chocolate. I still haven’t eaten breakfast. Oh my gosh. I’m starving,” groaned Arianna. “Fine . . . I see it. You love me too.” Arianna glued her eyes back onto the floor.

“We have to work on your eye contact skills, but you’re right. I love you,” Myungsoo placed a kiss on Arianna’s cheek.

Arianna’s cheek felt as if it had burst into flames, but she managed to retort, “I can make eye contact with other people just fine, thank you.”

“Oh so it’s just me you have trouble with. That makes me special,” Myungsoo trapped Arianna in another hug. Arianna sighed, but smiled. She leaned comfortably against Myungsoo and closed her eyes.

After a while of keeping Arianna lovingly wrapped in his arms, Myungsoo whispered, “Let’s head over to the kitchen. I’ll make you a pancake.”

“Finally,” Arianna laughed. “I was thinking about whether or not I should bite you.”  

Myungsoo opened the door to his room while holding Arianna’s hand and walked straight into Dongwoo, Sungyeol, and Woohyun.

“So, my friends, when’s the wedding?” asked Sungyeol.