for infinite_myeongyeol;; (8218 words)

Sungyeol was keeping a secret.

Which was kind of weird in itself, because he’s so used to telling Myungsoo everything; whether it’s what he had for dinner, his dream of liberating a monkey from the local zoo one day, or his conspiracy theories about celebrity relationships - seriously, it was too convenient that the leads from his favorite weekend drama started dating the moment the ratings started slipping. He’s been in the habit of spouting off whatever random thing pops up in his head the moment he sees Myungsoo for years now, they’re close like that to where no topic is off limits.

So when he hides the letter in that once useless but now perfectly secret hidden zipper inside of his backpack, he feels kind of… guilty? He knows that Myungsoo would hypothetically want to know about the letters, because Myungsoo always wants to know about everything, but for some reason he just can’t bring himself to share.

It’s like his own little thing, this exciting little spark that goes through his body everytime he stops by his locker at the end of the day. It’s been a couple weeks, since this all started, and at first he thought it was some sort of mistake. Cause he’s Sungyeol; he’s the class clown, the one who’s always making people laugh and pulling jokes, and he’s almost always in the friend zone because he just makes people feel that comfortable.

Myungsoo is the one who gets approached by blushing students, armed with gifts and flowery confessions, trying to win over his heart. Sungyeol always watches with curious eyes, observes the way that Myungsoo smiles at them gently, lets them down without hurting their feelings anymore than he has too. Sungyeol isn’t necessarily sure why none of Myungsoo’s many admirers have been able to sway the boy’s affections, but he doesn’t settle on it for too long because Myungsoo changes the topic or distracts him with food or the latest manga or whatever the hell pops up to steal their attention.

So now that the shoe is on the other foot and he’s the one getting sweet poems and chocolate candies left for him, he just feels kind of… special? Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want to tell Myungsoo, because for Myungsoo the attention is just normal, but for him it’s kind turned into everything. He finds himself wondering what he will find at the end of each day; his classes suddenly feeling longer than ever before when his thoughts could only focus on the secret surprise waiting for him in his locker. He’s not even sure how his admirer got access to his combination to unlock his locker in the first place, but he stopped caring as he fell deeper under the spell of being wooed.

But it’s also kind of killing him, because he has no idea who the gifts are from. The love letters are typed, so he can’t make any guesses based on handwriting. The person seems to know his favorite kind of sweets, so it might be someone close to him? But everytime he wracks his brain trying to figure out potential people, he comes up with nothing. It’s moments like these when he wishes that he had told Myungsoo everything, because he would definitely be down to play the guessing game with him.

And then there’s the fact that sometimes Myungsoo just looks at him, when they’re walking home after school he’ll catch Myungsoo staring at him with this smile on his face, almost like he already knows about his secret, but Myungsoo never says anything or brings it up.

Maybe Myungsoo was helping his admirer? That would explain how the person seems to know things about his schedule - like the time last week when he found a candy bar to help him find strength after a particularly hard chemistry exam or that time when he found a brand new fancy pink gel pen waiting for him right after his favorite one had just stopped working - and okay, maybe his secret admirer was stalking him to know this much about him, but instead of feeling creeped out by it he just felt warm under the attention.

Today was an especially good day, because his admirer had left him a good morning snack - his favorite, chocolate chip muffins! - and the note attached had promised that there would be a dessert for him at the end of the day as well; Sungyeol hoped it was a cupcake, he was really in the mood for one. He had been begging Myungsoo to try baking some with him all week, but his best friend had been strangely resilient - which might have had something to do with the fact that the last time they tried to bake something together the kitchen almost caught on fire and Myungsoo ended up grounded for a month... but still; Myungsoo could have at least pretended to consider it instead of looking scared at the mere thought.

Sungyeol spent the rest of the afternoon caught up in his daydreams, thankfully his classes after lunch had been filled with nothing but busy work, so he let his mind wander off to thoughts of his mystery guy. Gender was practically the only thing he did know about his admirer, so he had fun thinking about the rest of his traits; would he be shy? Tall? Would he be someone he’d never met or one of his friends?

Honestly speaking, although Sungyeol was considered to be a social butterfly, the only true relationship that extended beyond the walls of the campus was his one with Myungsoo. Most of the other people he talked to he would only consider acquaintances; sure he had fun hanging out with them and he always had someone to chill out with in each of his classes, but Myungsoo was the only person who he sought out everyday, who he actively wanted to see.

Maybe part of the reason why he didn’t want to tell Myungsoo about his admirer was because he was afraid of how Myungsoo would react; not to his uality, the both of them had been open about their preferences for practically forever, but more about his fear of things changing between them. Myungsoo was that person who he texted when he woke up in the morning, the person that he called on the phone before turning in for the night.

Neither of them had ever dated someone or had a boyfriend since they had meet; the concept did seem kind of weird, thinking about Myungsoo texting someone else or sharing all his secrets with a person other than him. In fact, the only time he ever felt conflicted about his secret admirer was when he thought about missing out on time with Myungsoo for the other person.

In a perfect world Myungsoo would understand, hell Myungsoo would be the one sending him all the things; but Sungyeol knew that wasn’t the case. He had been pretty open with Myungsoo about everything, his crush on the younger boy was pretty obvious - to himself and the rest of the student body - but Myungsoo had never made a move. He couldn’t count the number of times someone asked him if they were dating, or mistook Myungsoo for his boyfriend because of their closeness. But every time Myungsoo corrected them, said they were just friends with a smile, and that was enough of an answer in itself.

But it never made things awkward between them, he cared too much about Myungsoo as a friend to let a little bit of unrequited feelings get in the way of their relationship. Because being Myungsoo’s best friend was awesome; they had about a billion things in common and never got sick of each other, no matter how many times they hung out. So things continued on as normal, until the presents started happening and Sungyeol started indulging in the feeling of being liked by someone.

Sungyeol felt a sudden heat against his back as a pair of arms curled around his shoulders. He smiled to himself, knowing only one person who it could be. “Myungie, what are you doing in here?” He was relaxing in his last period of the day before his best friend’s interruption, just waiting for the bell to ring.

“Can’t I come visit you?” Myungsoo tilted his head towards Sungyeol’s, his voice playful.

“You can. I just thought I wouldn’t see you until after school because of your test.” Sungyeol explained, leaning back into Myungsoo’s embrace. His teacher didn’t even comment on the new edition to his classroom, clearly used to the younger boy popping in and out of the room. Professor Jang was cool like that; as long as students did their work and paid attention during lectures, he didn’t mind giving them a bit of free time to socialize towards the end of the period.

Myungsoo let go, walking around Sungyeol’s chair to plop himself down on the desk in front of him. He kicked his legs cutely, resting his palms on the edge of the desk. “How has your day been? I didn’t get to see you at lunch, feels like we haven’t talked in forever.”

“Yeah? I guess that’s what happens when I’m not cool enough to hang out with the super important photography club president.” Sungyeol teased, poking Myungsoo in his stomach.

“Hey, I only miss one lunch a month for meetings. And you better be nice to me; you know I’ve got an in with the yearbook club, and I might just accidentally slip them a picture of your Halloween costume from last year for the best dressed page.”

Sungyeol scrunched his nose cutely, sending Myungsoo a glare. “Yah, how could you punish me for being such a good brother? It’s not my fault that Sungjong blackmailed me into being his Hyuna. And it was your idea anyway to drink those leftover soju bottles from Chuseok that my parents forgot about when Sungjong caught us. So if anything, I took one from the team.”

“But you did make the prettiest girl.” Myungsoo reminisced, reaching out to twirl a piece of Sungyeol’s long hair in his fingers. The older boy blushed, ducking his head down.

“I’m a boy, as you very well know.”

Myungsoo smiled, bopping Sungyeol on the nose. “Well you make the prettiest boy too.”

Sungyeol turned red, flushing under Myungsoo’s compliments. “Yah, did you come here to mess with me? I have things to do.”

“No you don’t; we both know that math is your best subject and you finished your homework forever ago like a good little nerd.” Sungyeol sneered at him, readjusting his glasses when Myungsoo pushed them up the bridge of his nose. “Which reminds me; you’re still coming over today to help me with my calc homework, right?”

“Just use me for my brain, why don’t you?”

“Come on, please? Numbers only make sense when you’re describing them to me.” Myungsoo pouted, his lower lip sticking out cutely and his eyes pleading. “Pleaseeeee hyung?”

“Now you want to be respectful?” Sungyeol tsked, shaking his head. Myungsoo kicked his legs, throwing a little tantrum.

“Sungyeollie hyung, I need your help! Come over and you won’t regret it. I’ll even take you out for coffee after we finish my homework. I’ll buy you the biggest Americano.” Sungyeol stayed resolutely silent. “And one of those vanilla bean scones that you like so much.” Sungyeol rose his eyebrows, still not deterred. Myungsoo sighed, searching his brain for any last incentives he could tempt Sungyeol with. “My mom is making Tonkatsu tonight… you could stay for dinner?”

“Sold.” Sungyeol laughed; little did Myungsoo know that he was planning on coming over regardless, but if he wasn’t above milking the younger for some free treats. “You know I can’t ever say no to Mama Kim’s cooking. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve tasted one of her delicious meals…”

“You had Bulgogi with us like two days ago. Sunggyu hyung complained that you ate the last serving of meat.”

“Like I said…” Sungyeol smiled at the memory of the delicious beef, his mouth watering. “Forever.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Myungsoo hopped off the desk, straightening out his uniform. “Wanna meet at the gate? We can walk home together. Or I can call Sunggyu hyung; he said he should be done with university early today. He might be able to give us a ride.”

Sungyeol flushed red again, remembering the note from that morning, promising another gift at the end of the day. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle Myungsoo’s questions about where he got his dessert from without spilling the beans about his admirer. “Um… I have a few errands I need to do before I come over. You don’t have to wait for me. I wanna change out of my uniform anyway.”

“You have clothes at my place. Or you could always borrow some of mine if you want.”

“None of them will fit silly!”

“Well it’s not my fault that I don’t have mile long legs like you do! If your ankles show then that’s not on me, that’s on your freakishly tall genetics.”

“You’re just jealous that I’m in the 180s and you’re stuck in the 170s, no matter how many lifts you wear.”

“I don’t wear lifts!” Myungsoo defended himself, reaching out to swat Sungyeol. The two of them descended into one of their very familiar play fights, arms flailing and exaggerated shrieks erupting from them.

“Calm down over there! If I have to send one of you to the nurse for accidentally injuring yourself in a fake fight then I won’t be happy!” Professor Jang chastised them, barely even glancing up from desk.

“But you’d like the excuse to go visit Nurse McDreamy, wouldn’t you Professor?” Nam Woohyun, one of the cheekier students in Sungyeol’s senior class, called out. It was one of the school’s most well known quirks that the easy going teacher and the school nurse were basically made for each other, even if the two of them hadn’t exactly accepted that yet.

“Don’t call Howon- I mean, Nurse Lee that! Aish, you kids are driving me crazy.” The teacher complained, massaging his temples. They were all comfortable enough with their teacher to joke with him about such things, so he just gave them a firm glare and told them all to settle down when the class erupted in giggles at his embarrassment.

Sungyeol directed his attention back to his best friend, nudging him off of his desk. “Get out of here, you’re causing a disturbance.” Sungyeol complained, pushing Myungsoo towards the door with a smile.

“Promise you’re coming over?”

“I said I would! Now go before Professor Jang bans you indefinitely from our classroom.” Their wrestling had turned into some weird sort of hug, Myungsoo latching onto Sungyeol as he waddled closer to the door.

Myungsoo rested his head on the taller boy’s shoulder, pleased with the turn of events. “Call me when you’re on your way-”

“I’ll get there when I get there! Now go, if I get detention then I’ll only show up later!” Sungyeol pried the younger off of him, using his hip to push him over the threshold. Myungsoo waved goodbye to the class, slipping out the door with a smile. Sungyeol trudged back to his seat, sitting down with a sigh and avoiding his teacher’s knowing stare.

“Just like a married couple.” He murmured, smirking in Sungyeol’s direction.

Sungyeol bowed his head down, not feeling so bad that Woohyun called out his professor now; the teachers were just as guilty for teasing the students over gossip.

The tall boy bounced on his heels on the front porch, his finger jamming a tune into the doorbell as he waited for Myungsoo to let him in. He knew Myungsoo hated the sound of the high pitched ring, so he made sure to press it as many times as possible before his best friend reached the door, just to be obnoxious. But instead of seeing Myungsoo when the door opened, he was greeted by his mom; who looked none too pleased at his little joke.
 

Sungyeol reached his arms out anyway, trying his best to look innocent. “Mama Kim! I didn’t know you were home, I thought I would just be bugging Myungsoo. I’ve missed you!”

Myungsoo’s mom was much too endeared with Sungyeol to stay upset with him, wrapping him up in a hug and ushering him inside the front door. “I’m just getting an early start on cooking. Go on upstairs, you know he’s waiting for you.”

Sungyeol nodded politely, before rushing off to bound up the stairs. He all but kicked Myungsoo’s door in, surprising the other boy into falling off of his bed. “Yah, didn’t you ever learn to knock?!” Myungsoo complained, rubbing his now sore bottom. He hurriedly slammed some papers into a drawer in an attempt to straighten up his room, trying to brush himself off and look presentable in a matter of mere seconds.

The taller boy shook his head at Myungsoo’s clumsiness and general state of disarray. “How did you not hear the doorbell? Your mom was two seconds away from smacking me for pushing it so many times, by the way.”

“I had my headphones in…” Myungsoo murmured, pulling them out of his phone to set them on the nightstand.

Sungyeol grabbed up his phone, a chuckle escaping him after looking at the artist. “Lovelyz? Really? Are you a twelve year old girl?”

“Hey, they sound nice. Their music is soothing… and catchy!”

“If only the people at school knew how lame their favorite crush was, wasting away your free time daydreaming in your room and singing along to Candy Jelly Love. You try so hard to seem cool but in reality, you listen to the cheesiest music ever and dream about finding your one true love.” Sungyeol mocked, just barely avoiding Myungsoo’s swatting hands as he stole his phone back.

“As if you’re any different; you think I don’t know that you’re a closet romantic?”

Sungyeol froze up at that, a sudden burst of nerves going through him. This was one of those moments where he felt like Myungsoo knew what he was up to, as if his best friend had known that he walked home with a huge smile on his face, icing off his fingers from the red velvet cupcake his admirer had left in his locker. He brushed his hair out of his face, nudging Myungsoo with his leg to change the subject. “Yah, get your money already and quit stalling already. You owe me coffee.”

Myungsoo scoffed, rolling his eyes as he shoved his wallet into the back pocket of his tight jeans, pushing the taller boy towards the door. “You’re lucky that I like you.” He murmured, throwing at a look over his shoulder at Sungyeol before descending down the stairs.

Sungyeol cleared his throat, following behind him with a dusty blush to his cheeks. “Yeah… I guess I am.”

“Myungsoo, are you even listening to me?” Sungyeol gave him a stern look, watching as Myungsoo dropped his head to his hands.

“How can you even like this?” He complained, groaning as he thumped his forehead against his textbook. “Who’s idea was it to even start replacing numbers with letters. When will I ever need this in my future? Will it really be the worst thing in the world if I never understand how to solve differential equations?”

“Yes, it would be. Because if you don’t pass calculus, you don’t get to move on to your senior year, and then you wouldn’t get to follow me to university. Of course, by then I’ll be older and wiser and totally way too cool to hang out with a lowly freshman anyway, so….”

“Is this your way of telling me that you’re gonna replace me? Just because I’m younger than you? So much for loyalty.”

Sungyeol laughed, tickling Myungsoo’s sides. “I’m just kidding! You’re irreplaceable Myungie. Now stop messing around and solve this equation.”

“But I don’t wanna.” Myungsoo whined, flopping over on the bed. “We’ve been going for at least a couple hours. My brain needs a break from calculus, I can only stare at this for so long.”

“Come on, we’re so close to finishing! Just a couple more problems and then we’ll be done.”

“Who wants to do math on a Friday night? You’re a masochist.” Myungsoo mumbled, reluctantly sitting back up and pulling the book into his lap.

“Actually I’m a good friend; this isn’t even my homework, I’m just helping you out.” Sungyeol reminded him.

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