Sitting at the desk in his room, Myungsoo stared blankly at the paper in front of him. He clicked and unclicked his pen as he thought about his teacher’s words.

Alright students. Pair up with your best friend or someone you don’t know and become friends. Then I want you to write a paper on them. You have two weeks.

Before Myungsoo even had a chance to wonder which of his friends he wanted to write about, Sungyeol was at his desk and had already linked arms.

“I already talked to the others. They agree we should pair up.”

Myungsoo unlinked his arm and kept looking forward.

“You didn’t have enough time to talk to them all and get over here as fast as you did.”

His cold tone didn’t faze Sungyeol at all.

“Well, I made eye contact. It’s all the same thing. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear what you write.”

And Myungsoo was still trying to figure out what he was going to write.

“You have to put something down eventually,” Sungjong said,” You’ve put this off long enough.”

“I know it’s due tomorrow. You don’t have to remind me.”

“Hey. Don’t get snappy with me. I’m just saying.”

Myungsoo sighed and looked down once again at the paper in front of him. His name was on it. That was a start.

“Why couldn’t we have been partners? I consider you my best friend more than Sungyeol.”

“Sungyeol was quick to give us all looks daring us to take you away.  Plus, you know how I like Hoya. This was time for the two of us to get to know each other better.”

“Well, I’m happy for you and all. But I don’t want to write a two page paper on Sungyeol. He’s annoying, weird, annoying, clingy, annoying, loud, and did I mention annoying?”

“Listen. I’d love to stay and listen to you whine about Sungyeol but Hoya wants to meet up to read my paper. Make sure I didn’t put anything embarrassing in. Bye!”

Sungjong left and Myungsoo went back to his paper. He stayed up all thinking long and hard about Sungyeol. How the older boy got under skin all the time. Bugged the crap out of him. Yet he kept him around. Soon, Myungsoo found the right words to say and wrote his paper.

In the morning, the boys all noticed Myungsoo’s absence. Sungjong looked over at Sungyeol to see how he was taking it.

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” Sungyeol lied.

He figured it was best Myungsoo didn’t hear his paper anyway. As they all headed into class, Sungjong was pulled back by an unknown boy. Sungjong turned to see it was none other than Myungsoo. And he was exhausted.

“I finished it,” Myungsoo said.

He held up the two page paper victoriously to which Sungjong gave a stern, motherly look.

“Is it good?” he asked.

To that, Myungsoo shrugged his shoulders. They walked into the classroom and the boys all greeted Myungsoo.

“You’re here!” Sungyeol said, giving his best friend a hug.

“Yeah, I overslept.”

The teacher came in and everyone took their seats. Myungsoo was praying that he didn’t have to go first and luckily for him, Sungjong volunteered for him and Hoya to go.  While his friends read their papers, Myungsoo felt himself falling asleep. He tried his best to stay awake and soon found Sungyeol waking him up.

“It’s our turn,” he said.

Myungsoo got up and rubbed his eyes as he headed to the front of the class with Sungyeol. His little nap hadn’t gone unnoticed. The teacher made him go first so Myungsoo lifted the paper up and began to read.

“I could write ten pages about Sungyeol. Maybe more. But I cut out all the annoying stuff and brought it down to two pages.” Some of the class snickered at Myungsoo’s stab whereas Sungyeol looked down at his paper. “This kid, Lee Sungyeol, is just that. A kid. He always wants to play and doesn’t know the definition of serious. Like a friend, he takes care of me when I’m sick. Though I personal prefer to be left alone, Sungyeol is persistent that way. He is a fan of many girl groups and always takes me with him to the mall to buy the latest CD. Sungyeol likes groups such as A-Pink, SNSD…”

Throughout the paper there were little stabs at Sungyeol. Each little stab added up and it got to the point Sungyeol wanted to run and hide.

“And that is Lee Sungyeol, my friend.”

The class clapped to be polite but everyone looked around uncomfortably. Myungsoo felt good about his paper and looked to his left to see Sungyeol hiding his face. Before Myungsoo could speak to him, Sungyeol handed his paper to the teacher and ran out of the classroom.

“Way to go, Myungsoo,” Sungjong said.

He got up and ran after Sungyeol and Myungsoo looked to his teacher for an explanation.  His teacher handed him Sungyeol’s paper and ushered for him to take a seat.

“Read that and then you’ll be free to go.”

Myungsoo was confused as to why he would be free to go. However as he read the paper, it became clear to him.

No friend of mine compares to my best friend, Kim Myungsoo. I know I can be a pest. I’m not blind to the fact that I’m obnoxiously loud. Kim Myungsoo doesn’t care though. He lets me drag him to the mall and even though fanboying over girl groups isn’t something he loves he listens to me talk about A-Pink all the time. When he is sick, he likes to be alone. Or so he says. But I know him a lot better than he knows. As much as he says he wants to be alone he really is just waiting for that someone to ignore his constant pleas to be alone.

Myungsoo is not the brightest and things go over his head. But that is one thing I like about him. Clearly I get under his skin. But he hasn’t yelled at me so I must be doing something right. Right? He hasn’t told me to get out of his life. And I don’t want to…

Sunggyu was in the middle of reading his paper when Myungsoo got up and ran out of the classroom. He ran through the halls and tried finding Sungjong or Sungyeol. Myungsoo felt awful. He felt terrible. Soon, Myungsoo heard the sound of someone crying and followed the sound. He found Sungjong comforting Sungyeol in the music room and stood silent at the door. The moment they heard Myungsoo, Sungyeol wiped at his eyes and tried to act like he was fine. Sungjong glared at Myungsoo, making him feel worse than he already felt.

“I read your paper,” Myungsoo said, not sure what else to say.

Sungjong left to give them some privacy. Myungsoo slowly made his way to Sungyeol who looked down at his feet. Sitting down next to him, Myungsoo tried to find the right words.

“I knew I wasn’t exactly your favorite person. Did you have to embarrass me in front of our classmates though?”

“Sungyeol, I’m so sorry.”

“Is that all you have to say? You’re sorry?”

Myungsoo noticed the tears running down Sungyeol’s face. The fact he was crying made his blood boil. And the fact that he had caused it made his blood boil more.

“I didn’t know how you felt,” Myungsoo said, “If I’d known…”

“Don’t try to act like you knowing would have changed anything. You’re just a heartless person, Myungsoo! Heartless!”

“I’m not heartless!” Myungsoo shouted back.

“Yes you are. I don’t even know why I like you. You’re just a pathetic, lonely person.  You want me out of your life? Cause I’ll go.”

Sungyeol got up and made his way to the door. Right before he reached the door, Myungsoo took his hand and stopped him. Myungsoo pulled Sungyeol into a hug and the older boy tried to push the younger one off. He had too strong a grip though. Sungyeol began crying again as he held onto Myungsoo.

“You know me better than anyone. You should know that I kept you around for a good reason. Lee Sungyeol, you’re a pest. But more importantly you’re my pest. And if you didn’t pester me my life wouldn’t be complete.”

Myungsoo loosened his grip on Sungyeol and stepped back to look him in the eyes. He wiped away at the tears and smiled up at the older boy.

“What are you saying?” Sungyeol asked.

“I’m saying that I want you to kiss me.”

Sungyeol didn’t question it and stooped down to kiss Myungsoo. It was something he had wanted to do for a long time and it was finally happening.

“I’m sorry that it took so long for me to realize that I feel something for you.”

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

~*~

"...Really? You make me mean again?" -.-

I'm sorry Myungsoo. Forgive me! It just... works for you

"I swear if you make me mean one more time-"

"Relax Myungsoo. It works so just play along." ;)

Exactly! Thank you, Sungyeol. 

"Fine. I'll go back to the gift shop."