“Ooh, Eric Nam!” Seungyeon agreed with an excited nod. “He’s pretty popular right now.”

Sungyeol nodded. “Popular and hot, if I may add.”

Seungyeon giggled. “For a new singer, he’s so good! His album title – Heaven’s Door – has got to be one of the best songs of the year!”

“Isn’t it?!” Sungyeol agreed enthusiastically. “His voice is like melted chocolate! It makes me feel so fuzzy and comfortable inside!”

Behind him, Myungsoo cleared his throat with an irritated, “Ahem.”

Sungyeol and Seungyeon both turned to look at him. “Excuse me?” Seungyeon asked.

“Could the two of you shut up about Eric Nam for maybe, I don’t know, ever?”

“Why?”

The ravenette raised an eyebrow. “Do I need a reason?”

Sungyeol leaned forward, his face in his palm. “Yes – yes you do. So what’s your reason, Myung? Jealous.”

“Yes,” he answered curtly.

Surprised, Sungyeol flushed and stammed, “O-Oh. Um… okay then…” And then he turned back around and stared at his desk, completely dazed.

Seungyeon just rolled her eyes at the idiot. Leave it to Lee Sungyeol to get flustered because Myungsoo was too straightforward. Leave it to him.

Seungyeon gave Myungsoo an eyeroll, sticking her tongue out at him. He replied with a snort and scoff.

“I liked Hoya more…” she muttered under her breath.

Sungyeol, on the other hand, was still flustered as his head lay in his arms. He sat in his desk, nearly tearing out his hair, muttering to his self what he was supposed to do when Myungsoo seemed so much cooler now.

Seungyeon stared at him in pity, wondering why Sungyeol couldn’t realize that Myungsoo was driving him insane.

Soon enough, the bell rang and class began. The whole conversation was temporarily forgotten as everybody took notes on the days lecture. Well, most of everyone. Sungyeol doodled on the margins as soon as he copied everything off of the board.

First it was a little squiggle. Soon, the squiggle was embellished into lots of squiggles and lots of circles. He drew the pattern randomly with no distinct direction in where he scribbled. Soon he got bored of that, and drew any animal that invaded his mind. He sketched out a rough cartoon on one side of the scribbles, and another animal on the other side. It’s only when he pulled back and looked at the whole thing did he gasp.

His scribbles had taken the form of a heart like shape. And the two animals he drew just had to end up to be a moose and a squirrel. Mentally, he smacked himself with his notebook.

Stupid brain! he scolded himself, Stupid, stupid, stupid brain!

Myungsoo looked over at Sungyeol, who was flicking his own forehead. Aish, this kid, he thought to himself. To be honest, he wanted to get up and grab Sungyeol by the shoulders and shake him. He wanted to scream how much he had liked him and for how long, because maybe Sungyeol would realize how much he liked him then.

But he had already debated with himself, and he had decided against that long ago. Despite his happy-go-lucky appearance, Myungsoo realized that Sungyeol was extremely fragile – more fragile than he would ever imagine. With that small moment they had when they spoke about their fathers, he had found out that Sungyeol was sensitive, and if he wasn’t ready for something, he panicked. He really was childish, in that sense. He was so naïve about life, it was kind of adorable.

So, Myungsoo had already decided that he would slowly ease this whole ‘liking’ business onto him. He wasn’t going to shove it all onto him so suddenly. That would be insensitive. The only problem was getting Sungyeol to notice all of that.

Suddenly, he heard a small click and looked over to the right, where Hoya was snickering while holding his Samsung Galaxy. He was texting someone, muttering something like, “Dongwoo-hyung’s going to love this!”

Then it hit him that Hoya had probably taken a picture of them and was sending it to Dongwoo. Hoya glanced back up at him and grinned. He showed him his phone’s screen, which had captured a picture of Myungsoo staring intensely at the back of Sungyeol’s neck.

Hoya laughed again and whispered across the aisle, “Dongwoo-hyung wants you two to start dating!”

Myungsoo smiled to himself, the image of his happy and bubbly Jeju Island roommate invading his mind. “That makes two of us,” he chuckled to himself.

…

“Sunggyu-hyung!” Sungyeol shouted as he entered the Love Hospital. He had come in early because nowadays, he needed some love advice himself. “Sunggyu-hyung?” he shouted again.

The hospital seemed empty. Sunggyu was supposed to be here – he was always here at least an hour early. Perhaps he was in his office. Slightly worried, Sungyeol plodded to his boss’ office and slammed the door open.

“Ew!” he shrieked. “I did not need to see that!” he shouted, covering his eyes and strutting away. “Definitely did not need to see that! Oh my goodness, that’s probably going to give me nightmares! I’ve been corrupted! I’ve been tainted! I’m done for!”

“Yeol, relax!” Woohyun exclaimed as he pulled his shirt back on. “We weren’t doing anything!”

“But you would’ve if I didn’t interrupt!” Sungyeol accused.

Sunggyu sighed as he lifted Woohyun off his lap and proceeded to put his own shirt on. “We probably would’ve,” he admitted. “So, why are you here so early, then? This is our alone time,” he scowled, wrapping his arms around Woohyun’s waist.

“Then would you at least leave a warning sign, or something?” Sungyeol groaned, rubbing his eyes. “My eyes almost lost their ity.”

Sunggyu just rolled his eyes as Woohyun laughed. “You really are so childish, Yeol,” Woohyun chuckled.

Sungyeol sighed. “Whatever – just put up some kind of sign alright? Something to warn me, like – ‘Warning! Couple Making Out and are Probably-Going-to-Do More-If-You-Know-What-I-Mean Inside’!”

“Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?” Sunggyu snorted, leaning his chin on his boyfriend’s shoulder, back-hugging him.

“Exactly!” he replied. “Such a ridiculous sign would be noticed right away and you’ll never be interrupted again!”

There was a pause in the room before Woohyun said, “You know jagi, although it’s Yeol-logic, it kind of makes sense.”

“Oh no, we are not going to do something Sungyeol suggests!” Sunggyu immediately protested. “Don’t you remember what happened last time?!”

“But the piranha wasn’t even that big, and besides, the scar is barely visible anymore!”

“Don’t give me that – I nearly died!”

“No – you were just freaking out like a ten year old!”

“Even so! We are not making such a vulgar sign to place in front of my office!”

“Well, then how do you expect people to not disturb you?” Sungyeol asked.

“Um, the Love Hospital is kind of closed today, so that’s why Woohyun and I…” Sunggyu blushed. “Just–… nevermind!”

“Wait, it’s closed today?” Sungyeol repeated obliviously.

“Yes.”

“…that makes sense,” he said to himself quietly. “But Sunggyu-hyung! I came here to ask you something!” he exclaimed, suddenly remembering the reason as to why he had come in the first place.

Sunggyu just closed his eyes as he leaned on his boyfriend. “What?” he deadpanned.

“I don’t know what to do about Myungsoo!” he replied nervously. “I mean, he’s always kissing me and it just makes me feel bad that he’s trying so hard to get me to like him when I only see him as a friend!”

Sunggyu groaned, burying his face into Woohyun’s shoulder. “Well, why don’t you want to return his feelings? Why is he just a friend?” he mumbled.

“…I just don’t think dating him is right,” he explained meekly. “We’ve been friends for a while now and I don’t want to ruin that if we date and end up breaking up. Besides – I don’t see him more than a friend anyways.”

Sunggyu opened one eye. “Why not?”

“What?”

“Why just a friend?” he repeated. “Why can’t you see him as more than a friend?”

Sungyeol rubbed his neck. “I don’t know. I just… can’t. It’s my gut feeling. But I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I want to let him down easily. I just don’t know how.”

Letting out a sleepy sigh, he closed his eyes again and tightened his grip around his boyfriend’s waist. “Let him down easy, huh? Jeez – you really are stupid.”

“Oh please – do not Myungsoo me right now!” Sungyeol complained. “That’s the last thing I need in the midst of all this craziness,” he grumbled.

“Look, Sungyeol, if you want to let him down easy, you need to make him believe that he doesn’t like you. Make him believe that it’s just infatuation and not like. Neutralize his feelings somehow.”

“Neutralize his feeli–… well, how do you expect me to do that – kiss him back?!” he yelled.

“Actually, yes,” Sunggyu replied, opening his eyes to look at him. “If you kiss him back regularly like he’s doing with you, it might become something routine. And something routine will get tedious and boring.”

“What are you trying to say.”

“What I’m trying to say is – if you make the kisses lose their purpose or meaning, maybe he’ll think there are no sparks left. It’ll neutralize the feelings. Get it? So let him take you on a date, kiss him back routinely – get him bored.”

Sungyeol blinked and looked up at the ceiling. “Hey… it kind of makes sense. Wow! You really are a good doctor!”

Sunggyu’s head shot up, his eyes narrowed. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Oh, nothing!” Sungyeol grinned. “Thanks Gyu-hyung! I’ll see you later!” The tall boy pranced out of the room and skipped out the door gleefully – as if all his problems were solved.

“Yah, Kim Sunggyu,” Woohyun started. “Why would you help him?! Don’t we both want Myungsoo to capture Yeollie’s heart? You’re not exactly helping.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes and kissed his boyfriend’s neck. “Yeah, but I had to. If I didn’t, Sungyeol would get scared – you know that. I needed to ease his worry a little bit.”

“But what about Myungsoo? How will he feel about it?” Woohyun whispered. “I really want them to get together.”

“You and me both, Hyun,” Sunggyu murmured against his neck. Turning his boyfriend around, he smiled into his eyes. “Now… where we were we?”

Woohyun’s gasped as Sunggyu advanced on his before his eyes hardened. “Oh no, mister!” he snapped. “We are not doing this right now!”

Sunggyu’s face fell into a state of confusion. “Wait, what?! Why not! You were completely ready for me before Yeol arrived!”

“The key word there is before!” Woohyun retorted. “And don’t you pout and bat your eyes at me, mister! I am not in a good mood anymore! What if you completely ended Myungsoo’s chances with Sungyeol!?

“Yah, is this what it’s about?! Sunggyu asked in disbelief. “We know that Myungsoo is more strong willed than he appears and that Sungyeol is an idiot that’s head over heels in love with him! He just hasn’t noticed!”

“Then why didn’t you tell him that?! But no! Instead, you tell him to go neutralize the feelings!”

“Oh come on, you know I didn’t mean it!”

“But Sungyeol didn’t know that!” With a huff, Woohyun turned around and stalked out of the room.

“Yah, Nam Woohyun! Yah!” Sunggyu called as he followed. He muttered, “Aish. Great.”

There went his afternoon plans.

…

He was floating on air. Just floating. How could he not? After all, Sungyeol had just agreed to go to a café with him for brunch! This counted as date, right? Well, he would consider it a date anyways.

He kicked off his bed sheets as he stared at his phone happily.

From: Yeol :)

'yeah! let’s meet up for lunch. :) er… breakfast. …brunch. ^^ see you in an hour!'

He sighed happily. When was the last time he was this giddy? Myungsoo couldn’t remember. All he could feel was his heart hammering in excitement as he threw some clothes on. He wanted to impress his date after all.

As he pulled on some denim jeans and a plaid button up, he rushed to the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He didn’t want to go looking like this! He played with his hair in the mirror, huffing when he thought it didn’t look correct.

He laughed at himself. He might as well have been the girlfriend, worrying about his hair and such. He felt like an idiot in love. Or as they say in dramas – a ‘fool for your wife’.

But in the end, he decided to try something new. He found some hair gel and gelled his bangs up in an effortless cliff. Checking it from different angles, he decided that he liked it and smiled.

He could’ve smacked himself – he felt so out of character.

“The things people do when they’re in love,” he muttered to himself.

Then he ran downstairs, where he found his socks scattered on the couch and pulled each one on. He glided past his mother, who was reading some sort of letter from the mail.

“Good morning, umma!” he called out to her.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. Did her son just greet her? Did her son – the Kim Myungsoo – just wish her a good morning? Granted, they didn’t exactly have the best mother-son relationship so it shocked. Especially since she hadn’t had her coffee that morning. And the letter she had received didn’t exactly make her morning less stressful.

“Myungsoo-yah,” she said, setting down her letter. “I think we need to speak about something.”

He was slipping on a pair of Vans as he smiled up at her. “Yeah? I have to leave soon, so make it quick, okay?”

She walked over to where he stood by the door with her hands clasped together. “Myungsoo-yah, I’m not sure if it’s something that can just be breezed over.”

He frowned. “Is this about the grade on my last Trig test? I swear – the teacher didn’t go over the material.”

She shook her head. “No, Myungsoo – it’s much more important than your grades.”

Myungsoo scoffed and nearly rolled his eyes. What could be more important to his mom than his grades?

“Myungsoo – truthfully speaking, you’re–”

She was cut off as Myungsoo’s phone rang. “Ah, wait,” he muttered, fishing his phone from his pocket. Clicking the accept button, he held the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, Myung! When are you getting here? I’ve already arrived!” Sungyeol.

“Ah, sorry Yeol! I’m leaving right now.”

“Aish, you mean you haven’t left yet? I woke up early and spent a whole hour getting myself ready and you haven’t left yet?!” Sungyeol was definitely the girlfriend.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” he chuckled. “I’m on my way and I’ll be there quicker than you can say coffee.”

“Coffee. …Liar. You’re not here yet.”

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “Figure of speech, Sungyeol. Figure of speech.”

“Ah. Well, hurry up then! I’ll be waiting! Bye~!”

“Bye,” he chuckled. He turned his mom. “I’m really sorry, umma, but I’m going to have to ask you to wait. I have something important to attend to.”

His mother opened to protest, but he had already stepped outside and closed the door. Taking a deep breath, he decided to smile. It was going to be just the two of them together.

Him and Sungyeol.

Just them.

The walk to the café was quick since he lived only a block away. He spotted Sungyeol standing at the entrance, his hands in his jean pockets while his foot was tapping nervously. He wore slim, fitted jeans with a loose, striped sweater on top while his hair was done in small, gentle waves. Myungsoo had to admit that while his appearance was simple, he looked completely stunning.

“Sungyeol!” he called out, catching the choding’s attention.

The taller boy’s face lit up at his arrival, a smile gracing his cheeky face. “Myung!” he called back, waving.

Walking calmly towards him, Myungsoo kissed him on the lips, and was almost surprised that Snugyeol didn’t smack him. Instead, Sungyeol smiled at him.

And then he kissed him.

It was only a short peck, but it sent Myungsoo’s brain into a frenzy of confusion. Sungyeol just kissed him. He just kissed him. Did he pass out and wake in a parallel universe.

Blushing, Sungyeol grinned bashfully. “Um… don’t take that the wrong way. I don’t like you back… I-I just felt like kissing you.”

Myungsoo merely nodded as they both walked inside and grabbed a booth to themselves.

“By the way,” Sungyeol added. “I like your hair like this. It's cute.”

A/N: I AM BACKKKK.

YEEEEY. Was I gone for long? :3 I hope not! I was just busy singing with life :) But no worries, I am here now! I hope that from this chapter, you can see sort of the denial and turmoil Yeol is in while Myung has become almost a fool in love ever since the confession. Well, if you got to kiss Sungyeol whenever you wanted, wouldn't you feel a bit drunk also XD And are there arising conflicts? Maybe so~!!! Plus, some WooGyu action for those HamsterTree OTP lovers out dere >u< AND DID YOU SPY THE BIT OF YADONG I NINJA'D IN?! NO. OKAY. by the way guise, I'm going to write a oneshot dedicated to WooGyu after this is all over :) it'll be a prologue -- like how they met and started dating.

Also: their beautiful date hair ( which are hairstyles I adore on both of them )

GUISE. GUISE. GUISE.

so, I got tickets to INFINITE's One Great Step concert that's in my area!!! /SQUEALS AND DIES/ AND GUESS WHAT?! I'M IN THE SECOND ROW. AIN'T THAT GREAT?! I REALLY WANT WOOHYUN'S RING.

lol I told Tori ( -MyungKitty- ) that if I got his ring I'd change my username to -NamPuppy-! XD Hm. Maybe I'll do it after the concert anyways XDDD I feel like I should have a change in usernames :)

WELL. THAT'S ALL FOR THIS TIME. AS YOU CAN SEE, RICKY THE BODYGUARD IS PROTECTING ME VERY WELL FROM ANY POTENTIAL ATTACKS FOR THE A/N.

Ricky: Yes. I am a wonderful bodyguard! No one has come near author-nim since I was hired!

Me: Very true, in fact. Kind of interesting. I wonder if they're plotting something...

Ricky&Me: NAH.

LOLS SO I'LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME 8DDDD

Quinnie -- OUT.