“I don’t know about this, Sungjongie…” Sungyeol stated warily, his eyes peering over at the table of his crush. Sungjong gave him an impatient look.

“You have to do this, hyung! You like him way too much to not say anything!” he urged, but Sungyeol still looked conflicted. Sungjong gave a loud sigh before standing and snatching one of Sungyeol’s lanky arms to stand up with him. The older boy looked at him with wide, panicked eyes.

“Sungjong-”

“No, Yeollie, you have to! You’ll feel better after you do, I promise,” the younger reassured. He gave a gentle push to the elder that still somehow managed to make him stumble forward a bit. Sungyeol turned back anxiously only to receive an encouraging ‘hwaiting’ and a few hand gestures to keep moving.

He sighed before turning and looking determinedly at his crush, his hands clutching in both fear and anticipation. Sungjong was right: he’d had a crush on Myungsoo for over a year now, and even though that wasn’t a very long time, it felt like an eternity when he was sitting by doing nothing.

Each step gained a little more confidence than the last and it wasn’t long until he was walking at a relatively normal pace up to his younger crush’s table. Sungyeol never understood why Myungsoo sat alone- he was one of the more popular guys in the school after all; didn’t popular people usually sit with other popular people?

Shaking away his tangent thoughts, he almost backtracked in shock when he realized that he’d already walked all the way to the lonesome boy’s table. Said boy was looking up at Sungyeol with a curious expression, obviously wondering what he wanted. Others had begun to stop what they were doing to watch the scene as well. It wasn’t every day that someone had the balls to talk to Myungsoo; his intense gaze alone was enough to scare most people off.

“Can I help you?” Myungsoo asked politely. Sungyeol swore he melted at that very moment. He’d only had maybe two conversations with Myungsoo at most since the popular boy was usually so quiet, so it wasn’t often that Sungyeol got the chance to hear his voice. In his head it sounded velvety smooth, and Sungyeol could almost feel the blush rising to his cheeks as he inwardly tried his best to will it away.

“Yeah. I uh…there’s something I want to tell you,” he finished confidently, feeling more self-assured when he thought about his best friend waiting for him back at their usual lunch table. He tried his best not to mind all the soft side conversations from those that had taken interest in his and Myungsoo’s discussion.

Myungsoo tilted his head to the side and Sungyeol had to hold back a squeal at how absolutely adorable he looked. Never had he known Myungsoo was capable of being cute- y? Of course. But cute? Not so much. Though he was able to hold back his squeal, there was nothing he could do about the grin that was trying to take over his entire face. He coughed into his hand in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Did you wanna sit down?” Myungsoo questioned politely. Sungyeol fought back the overpowering urge to swoon; what a gentleman. He shook his head quickly in another attempt to clear his wandering thoughts.

“No, it’s fine; I can stand. I just was wondering if you would maybe wanna go out sometime…?” He hated himself for making it sound so lame and unsure, but it was honestly the best he could do given the circumstances. Myungsoo continued to gaze at him curiously.

“…You mean like hanging out?” he asked unsurely and Sungyeol slowly shook his head, in denial. The younger seemed to quickly get the hint and bit his lip, clearly troubled by the turn of events. He lifted his gaze to look at Sungyeol apologetically and Sungyeol suddenly felt the urge to curl up in a ball and die because he knew exactly what that look meant.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”

As if his pitying stare hadn’t been enough, he’d had to add salt to the wound with his candid answer. Tears started to cloud Sungyeol’s his vision and the small sniffles started huffing their way through his nose. Those who’d been close enough to hear the conversation gazed at him sympathetically, Myungsoo himself seeming consumed with guilt.

“I sorry, please don’t take this personally. I’d just rather not go out with someone I don’t even know. That’s why I was hoping you meant we’d just hang out as friends; I could count the amount of people I actually talk to on one hand. So… could we try being friends instead?” the younger offered quickly in an attempt to quell the tears that had started sliding down Sungyeol’s flushed cheeks in long, thin trails. The taller boy offered a forced smile and shook his head.

“It’s fine. I understand. You’ve said how you feel; you’re not interested. You don’t need to try and make me feel better by saying you want to be friends because I’m not interested in that.”

His tone had been bitter, a lot more bitter than he’d been going for, but he couldn’t help the small feeling of happiness that had struck him as he watched Myungsoo flinch from the coldness of his words. He turned his back on the handsome boy and quickly made his way back to his best friend who was waiting for him at the table with an obvious look of concern. Somehow he tried to block out all the whispers that were made about him as he walked briskly back to his seat that seemed to be calling to him. When he’d sat down, Sungjong had immediately noticed the tear streaks on his cheeks and gasped in shock, moving his fingers to trace lightly over the dampened skin.

“What happened?”

“Don’t play stupid, Sungjong, I think it’s pretty obvious what happened. Looks like you’re not always right after all,” Sungyeol snapped, rising his heated gaze to glare angrily at the worried-looking boy in front of him. Sungjong was finally able to get a better look at his hyung’s anguished, tear-stricken face and felt anger begin to boil inside him. His mouth twisted into a small frown, his eyes narrowed angrily as they flickered over to glare at the handsome boy who was staring at their table apprehensively.

Snapping his furious gaze away from the boy who’d just broken his best friend’s heart, Sungjong’s expression softened as he looked at his obviously distressed best friend sympathetically and took one of the elder’s hands in his own, giving it a light squeeze. Sungyeol peered at him questioningly while Sungjong offered him a look of reassurance in return.

“I promise you he’ll pay for what he’s done, Yeollie.”

“Sungjong,” Sungyeol started sadly as he slowly shook his head from side to side, “That’s not how liking someone works. If there isn’t a spark, there just isn’t a spark. He just wasn’t interested. I know you haven’t liked someone before, so you wouldn’t know, but-”

“Save it, hyung; there’s no way I would let someone leave in tears after confessing to me. Obviously that doesn’t deserve you- you deserve someone much better,” Sungjong argued passionately. Sungyeol offered him a dry, slightly amused look as he started to dry off his face.

“Oh? And who would that be? You?”

A small blush had made its way to Sungjong’s cheeks which he quickly hid behind a hand positioned elegantly over the lower half of his face.

“N-no, of course not me! Don’t just start spouting out nonsense, okay? I’m gonna go have a talk with him,” Sungjong assured quickly, placing his hands on the table to help push him up into a standing position. Sungyeol gaped up at him in horror, quickly standing up as well and leaning across the table to grip onto Sungjong’s thin arms like his life depended on it.

“Sungjong, you can’t! I know you’re a big fan of justice and like to help people out, but please just let this one go! You’ll be doing more harm than good!” he pleaded, but Sungjong regarded him with hard, defiant eyes.

“You know it’s not in my nature to let something like this rest. You were already rejected, so nothing worse can happen, right? Just let me do this for you,” Sungjong replied back stubbornly. Sungyeol let out a tired sigh, knowing there was no way to convince Sungjong not to go through with this. Instead he offered the younger boy an appreciative grin and a short hug.

“…Thanks, Jongie.”

“Any time, hyung,” Sungjong replied sincerely. He reluctantly broke from the affectionate embrace to stomp angrily over to Myungsoo, slamming his hands loudly on the table to get his attention. Even more people were paying attention now and Myungsoo seemed especially uncomfortable, already knowing what this was likely about.

“Yes?” Myungsoo asked almost nervously.

“Oh please; cut the bull innocent act, alright?” Sungjong frowned deeply at him, leaning in close to examine the older boy’s features before straightening up after apparently coming to some sort of conclusion.

“You’re good looking, but you’re definitely not worth the heartache,” Sungjong exclaimed with a shrug. Those close enough to hear their conversation either glared at him for his ‘insolence’ or stared at him in shock. Myungsoo, for one, was giving the younger a perplexed, irritated look.

“Excuse me?”

“You know I think you’re nothing more than a pretty face; I don’t see why he even gave you the time of day. He could do much better,” Sungjong continued snidely. Myungsoo was now smirking at him in amusement, his elbows propped on the table so that he could use the back of his hands to support his chin, and his eyes dancing with playfulness and some other, unreadable expression.

“Like you, perhaps?” he questioned mischievously.

“No! Not like me! Why would he want me?” Sungjong began to ramble with a distinguished flush, and Myungsoo let out a warm laugh. Those that hadn’t been interested in the two’s conversation before were interested now; it wasn’t often one heard Myungsoo talk, let alone laugh.

“I can see why he’d want you,” Myungsoo countered, pointedly looking Sungjong over appreciatively. Sungjong gave him a disgusted look in return, not believing he was being checked out by the guy who had just rejected his best friend.

“Oh, so you can undress me with your eyes but you can’t go on one date with one of the best guys in the world?” he sneered, but the amused look on Myungsoo’s face didn’t falter one bit.

“Look, I never meant to hurt your friend- Sungyeol, was it? But like I told him, it’s not like I know him very well. I don’t think he’s my type anyway,” he said nonchalantly with a shrug. Sungjong gave him a completely incredulous look as he rested a hand on his hip and cut his eyes at the elder.

“I’ll probably regret asking this, but what exactly is your type, then? It sure as hell better not still be me,” he gritted out, trying and failing at not to sounding as irritated as he felt.

“Why would it be you? You talk about me, but you’re not exactly worth any amount of heartache either, no matter how attractive you may be. I’d rather date your friend over there- at least he was civil. You, on the other hand, are just some bratty diva who’s completely biased for a guy who’ll probably never notice him romantically if he was the last guy on earth, as far as I’m concerned,” Myungsoo stated with a sickeningly sweet and mocking smile. Sungjong’s face resembled a goldfish as he openly gaped at the elder boy, completely deaf to the snickers of his classmates around him.

When he was finally able to use his lips for forming words, all he’d been able to mutter was an irate “ you” to which Myungsoo had calmly replied “You wish” before Sungjong glared fiercely at him once more, turning on his heel and sauntering off back to  a now worried-looking Sungyeol.

So Sungjong completely missed the way Myungsoo’s gaze lingered on his back, a smirk twisting onto perfectly shaped lips.