Some things are meant to be shown off and bragged about, like achievements. Other things are better left alone and untouched until they were simply forgotten. Feelings, sometimes, are one of those things. That was what Soonyoung thought, at least. If he hid his feelings, maybe—just maybe—they would disappear and he never would have to worry about them ever again.

However, that was not working out too well.

Soonyoung didn't want to think about it. He wanted to pull those thoughts out of his head, lock them up, and throw away the key. He never, ever wanted to think like that again. No. He could never like another guy. He shouldn't even think about the possibility of liking another guy. If he did, he might do something ridiculous and disgusting and his family and friends would hate him and everything he had ever worked for in life would—

"Soonyoung!"

He turned to see who had called his name. . There he was. Running down the hallway, barreling towards him, was his worst problem, Lee Seokmin. Damn Lee Seokmin and his sparkling smile and beautiful voice. Damn him. Soonyoung turned quickly. Don't come over here.

But he stopped walking. Secretly, he wanted Seokmin to run up to him and slap his back like he always did, and they could walk out of school together and hang out at the playground at the elementary school until the teachers started yelling. He wanted to be around Seokmin, in the most platonic way, of course. He waited until the other caught up to him. "You almost looked like you were going to walk out all by yourself," the panting boy said.

Soonyoung shrugged. "I didn't know if you were going to go to the playground, so I figure I would just leave."

"Ah, so are you going?"

"Hell yeah."

Seokmin frowned, and Soonyoung instantly panicked. Was he really that repulsive? Did Seokmin think he was gross or something? Well, not that it mattered if he was gross. "Aw man, I was gonna go to the corner store to pick up some snacks. See you tomorrow, then."

"Wait, I'll come with you!" he answered a little too quickly. "I mean, what am I going to do alone at the playground? Go on the slide for an hour?" He laughed a little, just to brighten up, and continued walking. Soonyoung, you can do this.

On the way to the corner store, Seokmin talked about this cute girl, someone named Tzuyu, who he thought was really freaking adorable. Soonyoung had seen her too and she really was something. "I just asked her to see a movie with me tomorrow," Seokmin said shyly.

Soonyoung felt a bit...disturbed. Maybe that wasn't the right word, but whatever he was feeling, it was not good. How can Seokmin be a step away from having a girlfriend and I can't even get a girl to talk to me? "Great," he said, attempting to sound as calm as possible.

"I'm going to buy some snacks for us."

"I hope I get some, kid." Soonyoung laughs, but he wanted to slap himself.

"We'll see," the other says with a sly smile. God damn you, Seokmin.

Soonyoung followed him around, pointing at snacks with puppy dog eyes. "Can I have the Oreos, please? Pwitty pwease?"

Seokmin laughed loudly, causing some shoppers to give the two annoyed looks. "Aren't you a cute little baby, Sooyoung." He cooed his name slowly and tickled a finger under his chin. Soonyoung quickly pulled away. "Aw, isn't that adorable?" Seokmin laughed again and grabbed some Oreos. But he grabbed one more thing off the shelf before skipping to the cash register.

It was a box of Pocky.

Soonyoung could feel his face heating up. He's getting it for Tzuyu, he repeated in his brain. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help himself. All he could think of was Seokmin leaning into him, a Pocky stick poking out of his mouth...

"Are you coming, dumb ?" Seokmin called jokingly. "I'll go to the park for a while."

Good idea. They could go to the park as good friends who would never ever do anything creepy together. It would all be fine. They could eat the Oreos and just live happily.

However, that wasn't what Seokmin had in mind. He immediately opened the package of Pocky. 

"D-don't you want that for your date?" Soonyoung asked.

Seokmin simply shook his head. "Nah, I just wanted to eat Pocky. Want some?" He stuck a piece in his own mouth and smiled tauntingly at Soonyoung.

Really, God damn you, Seokmin. Soonyoung hoped that he wasn't blushing because his face was certainly starting to heat up. He causally stuck his hands in his pockets and said, "You're so weird, you know that?" with a laugh.

The rest of the walk to the park was uneventful, meaning Seokmin was no longer teasing Soonyoung, and the latter was too flustered to register anything that his friend said. "Soonyoung, are you okay?"

The question broke him out of his trance and he realized that they had gotten to the playground. "Nothing...I mean, I'm okay. Wanna go on the seesaw?" Seokmin said sure, and they each sat on one end of the seesaw. They had only been on it for a while when a teacher came out of the building.

"Hey, go do homework! I can't believe you have the nerve to slack off, with your exams coming so soon and—." She had been walking towards them, waving a ruler, so the two decided that they should get away as fast as they could. Laughing, they ran down the sidewalk and to the public park a block away. It wasn't as fun, since there was no playground, but they were thankful for the benches.

They chose a bunch on the far side of the park. No one ever sat there, since they couldn't be bothered to walk that far, so Soonyoung and Seokmin had long since claimed it as their own. They had engraved "SK" and "SY" in the arm of the bench when they were younger, and it was always reassuring to see the markings still there.

Soonyoung sat with his back to the armrest and his feet up on the seat, and Seokmin continued to eat his Pocky. It was silent, aside from a few birds chirping and Seokmin's munching. "You know," Soonyoung began, eager to break the sil