What if Sungyeol said no?

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It was exactly 9 o’clock. Myungsoo lay down on his mattress facing the wall. Sungyeol sat on his chair, spinning. He stopped spinning as he let out an exasperated sigh, the homework he had been assigned to do was way too hard for the tall boy. The teacher acted like Sungyeol actually paid attention in maths. When it came to maths it would be just a blur and those numbers somehow looked like little emoticons. Maths made Sungyeol look plain stupid. It was bad enough Myungsoo had started to too but Maths was just hell all over again. When the teacher asked Sungyeol how he was going to calculate anything in the future he just shrugged and replied with “I’ll use the calculator”, and then he would smile so bright it would blind the teacher’s eyes.

Unlike Sungyeol, Myungsoo was incredibly smart. If you gave him a picture, he’d memorise it. It was the same with equations and anything else. Of course that attracted many more people to like him. Maths just happened to be one of the many subjects he was absolutely stunning in. You may have already understood what that meant. All the teachers loved him to bits. Basically he was an extremely perfect boy; a whole package. Myungsoo never knew someone that couldn’t like him; he was so used to having everyone like him. Nevertheless he got everything. Sungyeol was definitely different. Was it a good different or a bad different?

In fact the two were just like Neptune (Myungsoo) and Mercury (Sungyeol). They were so different to each other. Down from climate and temperature to distance from the Sun. They had something that was the same though: They were both planets. The two were still humans, and humans did have feelings. Sungyeol was hurting and maybe even Myungsoo was. However, the two would never admit that to one another. At least not when they think they hate each other. Maybe deep down they both want help from the other, but yet again they wouldn’t dare to admit that. Ever.

“This. Is. So. Hard” Sungyeol pouted at the problems in his book. “Why would Kate even make a theory up in the first place? She has no life!” He swiped his hand across the desk, knocking all the maths things down on the floor. Sungyeol groaned for the nth time in that hour. The homework was killing his head. Sungyeol turned with that cute pout to face Myungsoo. Then he turned back again. “Why should I ask him for help” He muttered so that Myungsoo wouldn’t be able to hear him. “If I can’t do it in 10 minutes, I’ll ask” Sungyeol muttered again, he was speaking to no one in particular but himself.

10 minutes had gone, they both were in the same position and Sungyeol was just as confused about the maths homework. He had gnawed at the end of his pencil due to concentration but all he achieved was a headache. Sungyeol looked back again, Myungsoo was still lying in that position and he was definitely awake.  “No no no no no. I will not ask him for help” Sungyeol tried so hard just to understand those numbers in his textbook, but it wasn’t helping him at all.

“If you’re done sulking, you can ask now” Myungsoo said in a bored tone, Sungyeol seemed surprised to hear that as he thought  Myungsoo couldn’t hear him going on and on about his homework dilemma. The way Sungyeol batted his eyes made Myungsoo instantly know that the boy wasn’t following on what he was saying. “You can ask me for help now. That is if you’re done crying”, immediately Sungyeol’s confused look turned into a mini glare.

“I wasn’t crying. It was called a monologue” The tall boy said as the answer made him seem a little bit prouder of the situation.

“You’re monologue was pretty worthless” Sungyeol ended up rolling his eyes at the comment. He wasn’t even going to try protest.

“I don’t want your help. Who said I did?”

“Clearly you were debating-”

“I didn’t ask for an answer” The tall boy huffed and for once he managed to shut Myungsoo up. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke up again. “But, I could use some help” Sungyeol said fidgeting with the homework in front of him.

“Tough.” Myungsoo’s replied. “Just admit that you’ve wanted my help for the past 10 minutes” The younger sat up from his mattress on the floor. He saw Sungyeol pulling a face as if he was showing that he’d admit to nothing. “If you do that then I might consider helping you”

“I don’t want your help~” Sungyeol sang, pretending to write on his worksheet.

“Really?”

“Yes. I really don’t want your help”

“Fine”

Sungyeol went back to his homework, only to be met with the same question. He frowned and put his homework away, planning to leave it like that. The boy crawled into his bed and shut his eyes, within minutes he was in a deep sleep.

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The next morning Sungyeol woke up and stretched his arms as far as they could go, then he turned to the mattress next to the bed. There was nothing. The blankets had been placed away nicely and everything was sorted. It took Sungyeol a minute before realising Myungsoo wasn’t there. “Oh no” He started to panic with the thoughts that his dad took Myungsoo away. Sungyeol knew that he hadn’t locked the door last night, which made him even more terrified. Without getting ready, the panicked boy rushed downstairs. However his dad was there by himself, doing what he’d usually do in the mornings. “Did anyone come?” Sungyeol asked instead of a reply his dad gave him a dirty look before continuing with his stuff.

Sungyeol cursed and went back to his room, checking if Myungsoo wasn’t hiding in the wardrobe of something. “Why am I even bothered? I should be glad...” He muttered to himself. Sungyeol got ready for school and packed his bags. He took one final look in the room before closing it behind him.

~

“Where have you been mister?!” Woohyun called from across the road. Sungyeol took off his headphones and waved at him.

“What do you mean?” The tall boy yelled back, people were already staring at them so Woohyun decided to cross the road. When he got across, the two hugged like they hadn’t seen each other for years. “I’ve been at home, as usual”

“So ignoring my calls and texts is usual now?” Woohyun wiped an imaginary tear away from his eye. Sungyeol just laughed and shoved his friend a bit.

“I didn’t mean to, I was just busy”

“Yeah, whatever”

When they reached the school gates, the thoughts of Myungsoo had already evaporated from Sungyeol’s mind. He had completely forgotten about the boy. Since Sungyeol sat at the back of the classroom, away from Woohyun, the two groaned and then separated. Sungyeol cursed at how he had maths first and there was no way of copying from his friend who sat far away from him. If only he asked for help yesterday than maybe his homework would be done. As if on cue, the teacher came in, greeted the class and then made them take out the worksheet that should be completed.

When Sungyeol took out his, he thought he was hallucinating as he saw someone had filled in all the answers for him with neat handwriting. The answers seemed so accurately written that there was no way Sungyeol thought it could be wrong. There was a small sticky note in the right hand corner of the sheet which had neat words written on it ‘You’re too much’. Only then realisation dawned on him. Myungsoo did his homework. Sungyeol didn’t even know that he was smiling whilst holding the answered sheet. Honestly, he thought that Myungsoo would have never done that, but clearly it was him.

“Lee Sungyeol. Hand in your incomplete work” The teacher said after sighing at the student who was sitting, smiling. He handed it in to have the teacher’s eyes widen at the sight of it being completed. She coughed and then spoke up again, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all wrong”. With that she left to mark all the homework sheets.

Throughout the whole of maths, Sungyeol wouldn’t stop smiling. As cold as Myungsoo was, that was probably the nicest thing he has ever done for Sungyeol. Actually, it was the only nice thing he had done. But still, it was so sweet of him. The tall boy frowned when he remembered Myungsoo was no longer at his house. For some reason, Sungyeol was sad rather than glad. He wasn’t able to thank Myungsoo for what he did about his homework.

“Maybe if he comes back I could say thank you to him...” Sungyeol suggested quietly, nibbling on the back of his pencil.

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“What flowers are recommended?”Myungsoo asked the old lady who was showing him each individual flower bouquet.

“It depends on who they’re for” She replied going to a different section in the shop. “What’s the special person like?” Myungsoo brushed off the way she said special.

“He’s annoying, stupid, and careless also... he likes paint” After seeing the look the old lady gave him he decided to change the description. “I was joking, he likes to be outside with nature and he’s quite the jumpy type... I guess he’s not the brightest but he does try”

“He seems like your type” Myungsoo felt like throwing up when he heard that but he had to conceal those emotions in order to buy flowers. After all... the old lady probably said that to be nice to her customers.

“Yes”

“I personally think the orchids would suit”

“Can I have the orchids then” He was tired and not in the mood for the lady’s preferences. In all honesty, he just wanted damn flowers. If he knew that it’d take this long, Myungsoo wouldn’t have bothered to call the lady over.

“Here you go, thank you and have a lovely day”

The black scarf Myungsoo wore around his neck covered most of his face. Therefore people couldn’t tell who he really was. His fringe would cover his eyes sometimes, only a few parts of his skin were exposed to eyes.

Myungsoo sighed for the tenth time and walked out the florists, lazily. That tired expression changed the minute he saw two far too familiar faces walked down the road, questioning people. He knew those faces too well; in fact, he’d lived seeing that for his whole life. Holding the bouquet of orchids, Myungsoo walked faster than usual in an attempt to get further away from his parents. It didn’t help the fact his mother came running to him without knowing who he was. “Have you seen my son?” Myungsoo had his head down; he was unable to look her in the eyes.

That was all Myungsoo heard before he was sprinting away. He just couldn’t go back yet. He didn’t want to. His legs had brought him to an alley far away; the boy was surprised that he wasn’t out of breath from all that running. Where did the sudden energy come from; Myungsoo was never the sporty type and running was not something he had liked doing.

On his way back, Myungsoo saw a shop that sold cute teddy bears. The first thing that came to his mind was Sungyeol. The kid seemed like he loved them to bits. Honestly, Myungsoo did too. That used to be his source of companionship when Sunggyu wasn’t there to bring him joy. Somewhere along those thoughts, Myungsoo wondered when he actually became like a rock by compacting his feelings together. He also thought that hate was just a too powerful word for his age.

It was dark. The roads were empty and pitch black. The only sources of light came from poorly lit streetlights. Myungsoo stared and the store in front of him. He had forgotten the route to get back so it took him long. “The flowers are going to die...” He muttered, firmly placing them in his rucksack. Myungsoo started to climb the wall up to Sungyeol’s window where the light was. He had finally reached the window ledge. One more push upwards and he would be able to start to get in.

Sungyeol was leaning looking straight and daydreaming so he didn’t notice Myungsoo at all. This time, Myungsoo was silent and not grunting. When Myungsoo was face to face with him and very very close, Sungyeol couldn’t help but yelp. “Oh my!” He didn’t move, instead he stood there shocked.

“Move”

“Huh”

“I’m going to fall” Sungyeol immediately moved, finally letting Myungsoo step in.

“Where were you in the morning?” The tall boy asked. “I thought you left” A pout formed making Myungsoo wonder if pouting was a habit for Sungyeol.

“Missed me?”

“In your dreams!” Sungyeol stuck out his tongue. “I was waiting for you to leave!” The way Sungyeol had stuck his tongue out was cute and made Myungsoo smile on the inside.

“Yeah right, you totally weren’t waiting for me to come back” Something about Sungyeol made Myungsoo feel warm, wanted and excepted. He felt normal. It was as if someone had finally considered him as an individual rather than his background. Someone aside from Sunggyu.

“I wasn’t!” Sungyeol sat on his bed kicking his feet.

“Here” Myungsoo took out the orchids from his bag and handed them over the Sungyeol. “I’d advise giving them water” Sungyeol carefully took the orchids, he said nothing instead he stared. “Flustered?” That’s when the elder’s ears turned red and blush was visible.

“N-no!”

Myungsoo gave out a small laugh when he heard Sungyeol stutter. His laugh shocked Sungyeol as the boy had never heard it before and it seemed so soft. The younger thought that just one night without his ice personality wouldn’t kill him.

It wouldn’t harm him to put away his family name and act like a normal boy.

“Oh yeah, thanks for doing my homework...” Sungyeol sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away from Myungsoo.

“I was just returning a favour” Then Myungsoo smiled at Sungyeol. For what seemed like the first time in forever, Myungsoo let his ice cold personality shatter into pieces.  

“I didn’t know you could smile!” Sungyeol teased, Myungsoo’s smile was completely different to the aura he had gotten in the past days.

“I didn’t know you could be so childish” instead of getting angry about it, Sungyeol laughed. “You’re like a choding” Myungsoo said. He came closer to Sungyeol and put his index finger on the boy’s forehead. “Cho. Ding.”

The barrier that was around Myungsoo seemed a little weaker now and Sungyeol seemed pretty fine with him. He just wanted this to last a bit longer before he could ask Sungyeol what he’d been thinking of for the past few days.

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Last updated July 7th... things are honestly hard and i'd like to say sorry for the laaaaate update. Thank you for still supporting the story :)