“And now, representing the graduating class, Choi Siwon!” The announcer said causing quite the cheer from the crowd of people below. Henry was one of the only ones who didn’t cheer—how could he? He didn’t want Siwon to graduate. Not yet anyway. Henry wasn’t ready for Siwon to graduate—it wasn’t time yet!

It all started at the beginning of Henry’s freshman year. Siwon had been his residential advisor and the love of everyone on campus. He was the epitome of perfection: rich family, religious, sweet, kind, a perfect gentleman with perfect grades. Not to mention the fact that he was freaking hot as all get out.

Not that Henry noticed that last part… at least not right away. At first he was just a kind upper classman who helped him out some. But then there were all those caring, gentle touches; the hand holding and the hugs from behind. They were sending the already confused Henry a ton of mixed signals. Everything got even worse when Siwon began to demand cheek kisses from Henry, returning them to his squishy mochi cheeks afterward.

What was even better than those were when Henry’s normal fantasies at night began to change and twist. It wasn’t the first time Henry had dreamt he was with another man… but for that man to be someone rather SPECIFIC—the tall, dark and handsome Siwon—was totally new. Henry couldn’t look at him the same after that.

However Siwon wouldn’t let that last very long; after a week of being ignored Siwon jumped up behind Henry while he was playing Angry Birds on his cell phone.

“Henry-sshi! There you are.” His chin came to rest on Henry’s shoulder, fitting there just perfectly—so much so that Henry found himself leaning back into Siwon before flinching and sitting up.

“What do you mean? I’ve been around.” And he went back to playing, trying to will away the redness of his ears.

“But not around me.” Siwon said with a pout, leaning forward to give Henry’s cheek a kiss. “I’ve missed having you around—my favorite dongsaeng.”

It was too much. The blush came up onto his cheeks and Siwon just laughed, rich and lovely. He gave those cheeks a pinch before coming around to sit with him. Henry rubbed his cheek and glanced away, mumbling an apology.

“You’re forgiven, as long as you don’t do it again.” Siwon scolded gently before catching a glimpse of Henry’s phone. “What are you playing?”

“Angry Birds. It’s fun—w-… want to try?” He offered over his phone then, still trying to will away the blush and all the other thoughts Siwon’s back hug and cheek kiss had aroused in him.

The saying, ‘and the rest was history’ accurately depicts their relationship with Angry Birds from then on. The pair would stay up late at night playing the game together, strategizing. When Angry Birds Rio came out, Henry gifted it to Siwon’s iPod account. Siwon replied by buying him a huge red stuffed Angry Bird.

“Hyung! Are you sure?” Henry asked when the red pillow like toy was handed to him.

“Of course I’m sure. You can think of me when you sleep with it at night.” Siwon pulled it back and posed with the bird, causing Henry to burst into laughter. Thankfully that look pulled Henry’s mind out of the gutter where it had been headed.

“Thanks hyung…” Henry said, biting at his lips before reaching out to initiate the hug with Siwon. This time around Siwon was the one who was blushing; lingering in the hug longer than a friend would before pulling away.

“You’re welcome.” The statement was sealed with a kiss to Henry’s forehead; the blush still playing on Siwon’s dimpled cheeks before he cleared his throat. “Well I better get going.” And he just kind of ran away.

Henry’s eyes were as wide as he could get them as he stared after Siwon when he left, blinking a few times before rubbing his forehead and falling into his bed. Oh god. ‘ARE YOU TRYING TO CONFUSE ME!?’ Henry screamed in his head, flailing on the bed before curling up with the pillow. It really did look like Siwon…

Something like that made Henry want to avoid Siwon again but Siwon had already told him that he couldn’t… Still, it wound up happening anyway, however unintentionally.

When Henry was sitting eating lunch alone in the quad a few weeks later, a group of girls approached him. They were wearing ΣΝΣΔ (Sigma Nu Sigma Delta) shirts—great. Sorority girls.

“Haaayyyyyy~” The blond one said, appearing to be the leader of the group, “Henry, right?” She asked, the tall girl with long legs and short one who looked like a cat flanking on either side of her.

“Uh. Yeah.” Henry replied, pausing his bite from his sandwich.

“Haaayyyy…. Can we talk to you for a second?”

“Aren’t we already?”

Her smile vanished and she sat down across from him, getting all serious.

“Listen, I’m sure you know who we are.”

“Not really.” Henry didn’t care much for the Greeks.

“Well. We’re the popular girls on campus. As the popular girls we get to date the popular guys. Do you understand?” The blond leader asked, trying once again to be nice.

“Not really.” Henry repeated again; he could see straight through her nice façade and went back to eating.

“What are you, stupid!?” The small cat-like girl asked, earning her a glare from Henry.

“Calm down Sunny.” The tall one said.

“No, I won’t! Siwon is yours, Sooyoung.” Sunny’s statement caused Henry’s eyes to go wide and the blond leader smiled.

“I see you get what we mean now.” She said with a triumphant smile. “So stay away from Siwon. He’s Sooyoung’s—he’s meant to be with a pretty, popular GIRL” The word emphasized, “Not some squishy, violin playing nerd.” She stood up then and motioned for the two girls to follow her.

But not before Sunny could add her, “YEAHHHHH,” following along with a huff.

“Well damn.” Henry said softly to himself, setting down his sandwich. So other people thought what he himself was wondering too? Maybe he should finally say something… figure it all out…
 

His question unfortunately would not be able to get asked. A few days later once he and Siwon were alone again, doing homework and Angry Birds together as per usual; just as Henry was about to work up the courage to say something, Siwon spoke up first.

“Hey! You should come to a party with me this weekend.” The breath Henry had taken so he could speak was sputtered out at that statement, cheeks flushing just a bit in embarrassment.

“What?”

“Yeah! The ΣΝΣΔ house is throwing one of their parties and they invited me, but I hate going to those things. Too many people hanging off of me…” Siwon was so open with Henry. That’s why he liked to hang out with him—no pretenses. “So come with me? You can be my body guard almost—or I can be yours. I bet you’ll be popular with those girls. You’re so cute!” Siwon reached out for Henry’s cheek then which was blushing even worse than before.

‘Yeah, I’m sure they’ll like me plenty…’ Henry thought, glancing way before looking back to Siwon. His smile was so hopeful and sweet and just everything that made Henry’s heart melt into a puddle… So with a sigh he nodded his agreement.

“All right… But you’ll have to protect me from fangirls just as much as I’ll protect you.” The thought of Siwon… protecting him; his knight in shining armour. It was almost more than Henry could bear.

“Of course. I won’t let anyone get at you—you’re my favorite dongsaeng after all.” Siwon reached over and gave Henry a hug then, increasing Henry’s blush even more. If only Henry knew what was going on in Siwon’s head then.
 

That weekend came faster than Henry had realized and soon Siwon and he were standing outside of the ΣΝΣΔ sorority, hand in hand.

Thankfully inside the party was too busy and the alcohol was flowing too much for those girls from before to really notice him. Even when Henry was dancing with Sunny and Siwon with Sooyoung, it wasn’t a problem.

“For being stupid, you sure are cute~” Sunny said with a grin, arms around his neck as they danced.

“Uh, thank you? I think?” replied Henry with a weird look on his face, feeling awkward.

As Sunny was leaning up to give Henry a kiss just then, Siwon pushed his head in and she kissed his cheek instead.

“Thanks Sunny, you’re sweet. Can I steal Henry for a bit?” And before Sunny could answer, blinking a few times since that wasn’t the soft cheek she had been aiming for, Henry and Siwon disappeared.

“What was that for?” Henry asked, looking up to Siwon.

“Sorry. You said I had to protect you too.” Siwon said cheeks red though he wouldn’t admit to the true reason why he did it.

“Oh… right.” Henry shifted awkwardly. “Well maybe I should head back to the dorms now.”

“Okay—I’ll walk you.”

“Thanks…”
 

Awkward shifting turned into awkward walking and then awkward silence when Siwon dropped Henry off at his door.

“Thanks for walking me home.” Henry said, eying the much more interesting floor instead of Siwon who was leaning in close—closer than he should be.

“I had to make sure you were safe.” Siwon’s eyes were eating up every part of Henry’s face and once he realized what exactly he was thinking he cleared his throat and leaned back only to take that adorable face into both of his hands and give yet another kiss to Henry’s forehead. “Good night Henry-sshi.” Siwon said before stepping back.

Henry’s hand on the doorknob twisted and he stumbled backward inside his room. How badly he wanted to reach out to Siwon and stop him walking away even more, but a part of him just couldn’t. So instead Henry just watched him walk away.

*                      *                       *

He had never been able to confess. Never. No matter how much Henry wanted to tell Siwon how he felt, he couldn’t… And now Siwon would be leaving and Henry would never see him again.

After the graduation ceremony Henry went down to where the grads were with some flowers he’d picked out for Siwon.

The valedictorian was surrounded by people but once he saw Henry he pushed them all away so he could give Henry a huge hug.

“Henry-sshi!” Siwon said as he did so, nearly destroying the flowers from the force his hug.

“Ack! Siwon! … Too strong! AIR!” Henry swatted at his arm with his free hand, not wanting to harm the flowers more.

“Oh sorry!” apologized Siwon immediately releasing Henry from the hug who gasped for a breath and smiled, yet hardly able to keep the sadness off his face as he handed over the flowers.

“Hey… Here. These are for you. Congratulations.” The flowers were handed over with a blush, Henry biting at his lips so he wouldn’t frown.

“Henry….” Siwon said softly, taking them with his own blush. “You shouldn’t have…” He leaned in to smell them before leaning down to kiss Henry’s cheek, lingering like he had tended to do a lot lately.

“I had to do something… Since I won’t really see you from now on…” The sadness was obvious now, even to the bluntest of people. This of course meant Siwon understood and his eyes went wide.

“Oh Henry-sshi, don’t be sad…!” And he gave him another hug. “Tell you what… come to dinner with me tonight… Just you and me, okay? I-…” Siwon’s sentence trailed, “I want to tell you goodbye properly…”

That line almost made Henry burst into tears. He didn’t want to say goodbye! Let alone a PROPER one! Yet, the words came out before he wanted them.

“I’d love that…” Granted it was mostly in response to the idea of dinner alone with Siwon, not the goodbye.

Siwon’s own sad smile came to his face then, nodding before taking a step back. “I’ll pick you up at 7.” And then he parted ways with him so he could go back into the throng of people.
 

When 7 o’clock started to roll around, Henry stood in front of his mirror perfecting his hair and making sure he smelt good and all that... then he stopped and fell forward against the wall.

“What am I doing…” He said aloud to himself, shaking his head back and forth. This wasn’t a date yet he was still treating it as such.

Timing was Siwon’s strong suit and he showed up right at that moment.

“One second!” Henry said, glancing back to the mirror to fix his hair that he’d smashed into the wall before stepping over towards the door. He took a breath to settle himself, he opened up the door.

So much for that breath.

Siwon was drop dead gorgeous, dressed nicely in a suit with his own flower for Henry. And he looked extremely nervous. Henry didn’t notice and was just staring with his jaw dropped.

“Heh…” Siwon said, reaching up to push that jaw back up. “You look very nice too Henry-sshi.”

The touch left tingles on his skin and the statement brought a huge blush to his face.

“Ah! Thank you, y-you too.” Henry stuttered a bit, shaking his head to try and rid himself of his own nervousness.

“This is for you.” And he held out the yellow rose. “They say yellow… is for friendship.” The smile Henry originally had from being given the flower disappeared with the explanation of its meaning.

“Oh. Really?” he took the rose and brought it into his room to set down. “It’s beautiful, thank you.” And he returned over to Siwon then who was offering out his arm.

“Shall we?” He asked—Henry’s smile came back but only a bit. The sooner they did this the sooner it would be over and Siwon would be gone forever. After a prefatory breath, Henry nodded.

“Let’s go.”
 

Dinner was rather quiet, a lot of small talk. When they were mostly done with the food and they were waiting for dessert did the conversation turn more serious.

“So what are you doing next year Henry-sshi?” Siwon asked eyes on his mostly empty plate.

“Me? Oh… Staying in the dorms again; Hyukjae and Donghae thought about getting one of those houses but they were too lazy to really look so we’re all just in the dorms again.” Henry pushed the vegetables he didn’t eat around his plate before looking up to Siwon, asking the question he’d dreaded so far. “You?”

“Well…” Siwon was reluctant to talk about it, “I got into A University so I could go for my master’s, but at the same time my father wants me to stay here and start working as well…” The last statement brought his eyes up to look at Henry. “So I don’t know which I’ll choose—to stay or to go.”

‘To stay to stay to stay!’ Henry’s heart was SCREAMING and the hopefulness he felt was billboarded on his forehead.  However all he said aloud was, “Oh… really?”

The reaction hadn’t been what Siwon was expecting at all so he let out a heavy sigh.

“Henry… I have something I’ve been wanting to … To tell you.” Siwon wrung out his hands as he stated that, causing the former to become seriously anxious. This could either be amazing… or absolutely terrible.

“I… I know I’ve never come out and said this before, but…” ‘I hate you. I could never be with you. The thought of it disgusts me’ Henry’s own thoughts were totally self-destructive, “I love you… And I don’t mean in the way friends should. I-… I really love you.”

Once more, like Siwon tended to do to him, Henry’s eyes went WIDE in reaction to his statement.

“W-what?”

“I know! It’s ridiculous… We’re both guys, and I know what my role is and everything I’ve read says it’s wrong.” Siwon ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, “But I can’t help it…” He reached out and took Henry’s hands then, giving them a kiss. “I love you Henry.”

Those squishy cheeks of Henry’s were as red as the rose Siwon had wished he’d gotten Henry. Siwon took this as a good sign so he gave those hands a kiss again.

“I-.. … I don’t know what to say…” Henry started, the words he’d practiced so many times completely escaping him at that moment.

“Just… Tell me how you feel.” Siwon said, smiling with those adorable dimples, letting their one hand lace together—they fit together perfectly.

There was a long pause as Henry sat there with his mouth gaping open, looking a bit like a fish outta water before, “…. I love you too Siwon.” And he closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see Siwon’s reaction.

But the gasp Siwon had could still be heard, so Henry peaked open one eye and looked at him cautiously.

“Do you really?”

“…yeah.”

“Oh Henry!” Siwon could hardly contain his urge to jump up and hug Henry at that moment, so he settled for giving his hands a good squeeze. “You should have said something earlier.”

“I didn’t have the courage!” Henry retorted immediately with a little whimper, looking to their held hands and leaning down to give it a little kiss of his own, watching Siwon for a reaction.

“Let’s skip dessert.” Siwon said then, “I don’t want tonight to be goodbye.” With that held hand Siwon got to his feet and pulled Henry along with him.
 

Moments later they were standing in front of Henry’s dorm room door. His hand was on the handle as he looked up to Siwon who was once again leaning against it, looming over him a bit.

“You look kind of scary like that hyung.” Henry deadpanned as he continued to look up at Siwon who blinked wide before stepping back with apologies!

“OH, I-! I’m so sorry! I did-n’-t…” Henry reached out then and grabbed Siwon by the shirt, pulling him back.

“It’s okay. I-… I love you remember?” Once more his cheeks flushed heavily saying that to him.

Siwon smiled, “I know.” He said softly as his hand slowly that mochi cheek before leaning in once more. “I’ve always wanted to do this…” He whispered lips so close.

“Then quit stalling.” Henry replied, tugging him once again so that their lips finally met. Like every other part of their bodies, their lips fit together perfectly. Soon Henry’s aggressive hands moved to a more relaxed position behind Siwon’s neck, holding him there as he refused to let their first kiss stop.

Bodies were soon pressed flush against one another, Henry’s back hard against the door. It was in that moment with a gasp of breath that the kiss was broken. Siwon immediately moved his lips to Henry’s neck causing the younger to whimper, a hand moving from the back of Siwon’s neck once more to the handle of his door, turning it slowly.

“Wanna come in?”