| ~ fluffy ~ |

 

Vernon wondered why all you could see was Seungkwan.

 

. . .

 

You snickered as Vernon tried to balance two spoons on the tip of his nose, he managed to get one of them, and was determined to get a second one.

 

“You look like an idiot,” Seungkwan commented offhandedly as he ate another spoonful of his strawberry parfait. “Stop.”

 

The other boy removed the spoons to send a scathing glance at him. “At least my nose actually has some shape, unlike you.”

 

“Okay, okay.” You held your hands up so that your arms blocked them from reaching the other, “Let’s keep the lunch civil, shall we gentlemen?”

 

Vernon scoffed but returned to eating his mac ‘n cheese. “Whatever your highness requests.”

 

You poked the boy on the forehead for his sarcastic comment before turning to face Seungkwan, “You have a show coming up, right?”

 

The brown-haired boy nodded excitedly, “Yup, it’ll be my very first solo show. It won’t be long, of course since it’s just me, but I’ve put a lot of work into it.”

 

Vernon watched as your eyes sparkled in anticipation listening to Seungkwan’s plans and he couldn’t help but to feel unhappy. It seemed that his shorter friend held you in the palm of his hand, you never seemed to tire of him at all.

 

Vernon sighed.

 

“Is something wrong?” You asked, glancing back at your friend. “You’re coming right? To Seungkwan’s inaugural show?”

 

The boy sighed again, sending a cold little glare at an appalled Seungkwan before pasting an overenthusiastic expression on his face, “Only if you’re there.”

 

The singer coughed, “Yeah, don’t come support your best-friend of five years.”

 

Vernon proceeded to raise a very rude finger in Seungkwan’s direction.

 

. . .

 

Vernon wondered if Seungkwan’s voice was really all that.

 

It wasn’t fair, he thought. I could sing if I wanted to.

 

Of course, he couldn’t. A chill ran down his spine as he had a sense of dejavu, headlines? Another flare of annoyance appeared as he watched your enraptured face as you listened to Seungkwan sing another one of the ballads that Jihoon had written for him.

 

Your fingers were folded together as you leaned forward eagerly, as if you couldn’t help but to want to be closer. Your eyes were closed in contentment while the little smile of yours lit up the entire room. You were breathtaking in your peace.

 

Vernon wondered if he could one day put that look onto your face.

 

. . .

 

There was glass of honeyed tea between Vernon’s fingers, his voice had been completely worn out from all the practise he had been doing over the past week.

 

He had taken up rapping as a pastime for the past year, but had never really taken it seriously. He had thought the agent that approached him had only done so for his looks, but he now realized that he had some sort of potential.

 

He wasn’t the best, and no one would claim so, but he could push and will push. He wanted to see your proud smile when he finally showed you his skills. But Vernon couldn’t help but to hope that there would be something more there, maybe if he finally was able to show you how talented he could be, you would look at him with something that went beyond friendship.

 

With this in mind, he practised like a man possessed, he couldn’t be stopped. People that usually saw him skip out on classes found him at the studio earlier than them and leaving later. It was like he was a whole other person.

 

. . .

 

You looked worriedly at your exhausted friend, “Vernon, are you feeling alright?” Your eyebrows were drawn up into a frown as you studied the lifeless way he was staring at the notes you had written for him.

 

“Don’t worry I’m fine.” He mumbled listlessly, eyes almost glazed as he shuffled the papers around aimlessly. You noticed how hoarse his voice was, even more gravelly than usual.

 

“That’s it. You’re coming with me.” You snatched his hand and began to pull him towards a bench-like couch you saw was unoccupied at the public library.

 

You pointed at it, “Lie down and rest.”

 

“It’s okay, really.”

 

You made a disgruntled sound as you heard the contradiction of the words and the way he spoke them; the boy was clearly exhausted. You plopped yourself onto the end of the couch and patted the tops of your thighs lightly, “I’m not offering twice.”

 

There was a faint flush on your cheeks, but that was nothing compared to the bright red one on Vernon’s. But he didn’t voice another objection and proceeded to lie down, head on your lap.

 

At first, his heart was racing so fast he couldn’t relax at all; your nearness caused all sorts of feelings to wreak havoc in Vernon’s mind. However, when your fingers found themselves in his long hair, the strands and smoothing them out, a natural drowsiness began to grow in strength.

 

“Rest well,” Vernon wasn’t sure as sleep began to overtake him, but he could have sworn your eyes were affection-filled as you looked down at him.

 

. . .

 

Vernon accepted that he was jealous. How could he not be? The person he liked seemed to be completely infatuated with someone else. The brightness of your eyes seemed to make the rest of the crowd dim and fade in comparison. Too bad it wasn’t for him.

 

You cheered loudly as Seungkwan finished up his third song, arms flailing excitedly while Vernon was decidedly less vocal about his enthusiasm. He was, of course, very proud of what Seungkwan had already accomplished and hoped for nothing less than the best for his friend. But any happiness regarding that was swallowed by the bitterness he felt when looking at your beautiful smile given to Seungkwan.

 

“That was amazing wasn’t it,” you stated the question, “Seungkwan really knocked it out of the park with this one.” You watched as the singer and friend waved excitedly at the crowd that had gathered for him.

 

Seeing that the show had basically ended, Vernon took your hand and began to lead you out of the small venue.

 

“Hey, where are we going?” You asked, totally bewildered at his actions, “We haven’t even congratulated him on a job well done.”

 

Vernon dragged a hand roughly through his hair with the hand that wasn’t holding yours. “Can’t you just ignore Seungkwan just this once? I’ve got something to show you.”

 

You were about to argue but then you took in his serious demeanor and decided that this was very important to Vernon and therefore important to you.

 

“Okay.” You allowed yourself to be dragged off into the night.

 

. . .

 

You were perplexed by the location that he was taking you to, so late. You realized that you were headed to a studio when you saw the name branded over the building.

 

“Hey, that’s that entertainment company.” You commented before, to your shock, Vernon began to pull you into it.

 

“Wait, wait! I don’t think we can just barge right in there. They’re going to kick us out.”

 

Vernon chuckled, thinking it was a good idea he had kept it a secret, “They won’t kick us out,” he took out a key, “I have a room here.”

 

“Huh?”

 

. . .

 

You blinked at what you were seeing in front of you, Vernon had a mike in his hand while he looked for some music to play. The soundproof room was quite small, built really for one person. But because there were now the two of you there, the setup was almost intimate.

 

Vernon spoke into the mike, his voice seeming more textured than usual. “I’ve been keeping this secret but I think it was about time for you to know.”

 

A beat began to play as you watched your friend don a mask of sorts, his aura transformed into something totally unfamiliar. It was darkly confident and almost sultry, and his presence was already beginning to burst out of the small room.

 

When he began to rap however, you could see and sense that the aura was only growing steadily stronger before concluding abruptly.

 

You clapped excitedly with an awed expression on your face, “Vernon, that was amazing.”

 

Seeing the way you looked at him settled the constant unease he had felt because of Seungkwan. “Thanks.”

 

There was a comfortable silence before you broke it. “What made you want to rap?”

 

A crimson spread over Vernon’s cheeks as he recalled the motivation behind his rapping. “No, nothing in particular.”

 

You skeptically at the now shy boy, “I don’t believe you. There must be something, what you just showed me doesn’t just come out of being casual. Something pushed you and motivated you.” You watched as Vernon took a deep, fortifying breath before he crossed the tiny room and stood in front of you.

 

He extended a hand towards you and you tilted your head in question, “Yes?”

 

Vernon didn’t say anything and instead reached over and took your hand in his, tugging you upwards so you were standing almost flush against him. His nearness automatically made your heart race as you looked up at his handsome profile.

 

“You.” He spoke roughly, like he had forced the word out of his lips through sheer will, “You were the reason. Every single time I saw how you would fawn over Seungkwan and how your eyes would sparkle when he sang, I wished it was me.”

 

You began to tremble slightly, the raw emotion in his voice only augmented your own.

 

Vernon tenderly placed a hand on your warm cheek and you instinctively nuzzled a little closer into it. “All I wanted was for you to notice me because only the heavens know how long I’ve been waiting for you.”

 

You circled your arms around him, pressing your burning face into his solid chest. You breathed in the scent that always clung to his clothes before whispering, “You silly boy. You didn’t have to be an amazing artist for me to notice you, I had already set my sights on you a long time ago.”

 

Didn’t he know how much time you spent behind the scenes worrying over him? Seungkwan had always said that your smile would be the sweetest when you were thinking of Vernon.

 

Vernon’s heart was threatening to break free of his ribcage from the way it was hammering as he absorbed your words. “Wait, you like me?”

 

You leaned a little out of his arms so you could stare him dead in the eye as you spoke, “Yes, Vernon. I like you an awful lot.”

 

The blond boy smirked as he leaned in so that his nose was brushing your own, “That’s all I wanted to hear.” He then pressed his lips to yours in a searing kiss.

 

a/n request complete for happysheepysheep hope you liked it