Wonwoo woke up to the sight of Mingyu’s face just inches from his own, eyes opened and a dreamy simper on his lips. The moment he younger realized, Wonwoo was awake and looking at him, he grinned.

“Morning,” he whispered.

“When did you decide on being a quiet person?” the older asked teasingly.

“Last night. But it might be temporary,” Mingyu shrugged and unwillingly Wonwoo’s attention was drawn to his shoulder, as the neck of his shirt had slipped down overnight.  The tendons in his neck were tense and the prominent collar bone had glowing honey coloured skin spread across it. Would it also taste of honey?

“I’m so tired,” he whined and drew Wonwoo’s attention back to his face with a yawn.

“Can’t you cover your mouth when yawning?” the elder asked with a smile, “Also: morning breath. You should go brush your teeth.”

“Will do,” Mingyu scooted forward just in the slightest before holding in. He grinned sheepishly and then retreated and rolled out of bed.

As he closed the door behind him, Wonwoo turned to his back and ran a hand through his hair. Had he really just wondered what his best friend’s skin would taste like? Probably not of honey. More salty, a little musky maybe but it may just not taste like anything at all. This time, Wonwoo actually slapped himself. Quietly, so he wouldn’t wake the members. 

Mingyu returned and rubbed his tired eyes before climbing back next to Wonwoo. He looked so much younger now that he pulled his shirt back up. Like the fifteen year old boy he was. Just a boy. He was just a boy. Just like Wonwoo.

The younger looked at him, a tiny little pout on his lips, “Will you please hug me, hyung?”

Wonwoo blinked. Just a boy. He nodded. Mingyu was too tall to be clinging onto him like that. His lanky arms awkwardly wrapped around the elder, but he smiled contently.

Just a boy, Wonwoo repeated in his head, just my bandmate.

His heart stuttered just once, before it returned to its regular rhythm. Just my friend.

TheStranger

I’m so tired, my mind is set on you.

I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you

Wonwoo didn’t know whether he should blush at that message or think of it as creepy. He didn’t really believe in love at first sight, so the statement itself was hard to relate to for him. It was kind of cute though. He was probably over-thinking it anyway. It might just have been a song that the Stranger was listening to while writing this message.

He slipped his phone back in his pocket and opened his locker at the company. Right in the front was a small piece of paper, a burnt down match glued next to it.

Burning matches…

May I inquire discreetly, 
When you are free, To take some tea with me?

The message wasn’t signed, but Wonwoo still knew who it was from. He might not be over-thinking. Wonwoo was curious.

You looked at me that’s all you had to do

I wouldn’t mind if I knew what I was missing

Send. Just then, Mingyu walked out of the grey practice room next to the lockers. His hair was up in a quiff and he was dressed in a dark blue college jacket. It looked nice. He smiled and waved at Wonwoo, even though they had last seen each other less than five minutes ago.

A mechanical noise came from his direction and Mingyu took a look at his mobile phone while walking over to the elder. He leant against the lockers next to Wonwoo’s and swished and typed on the screen of his phone while asking, “So, what are you doing here instead of the practice room?”

“I wanted to put my things away,” Wonwoo replied.

“Then why are you taking so long?”

Wonwoo handed the slip of paper to Mingyu.

“Hm,” the younger raised an eyebrow, “Cute.”

“Is it?”

“It’s like a continuation of that message yesterday. You should accept that invitation.”

“But what if that person isn’t what I want them to be?” Wonwoo bit his lip, taking the paper back and putting it somewhere in his locker.

“What would you want them to be like?” Mingyu asked; his eyes back on his phone.

“Well not like you,” Wonwoo chuckled. The younger looked up again, expression somewhere between offended and disappointed. He blinked once. Twice.

“Why not?”

“Imagine me with a girl half a head taller than me and prettier than me. And I already have enough noisy people in my life to begin with.”

“I told you I don’t want to be as noisy anymore,” Mingyu murmured.

“But I also don’t want a little sister as a girlfriend. You know, that’s just kind of weird,” Wonwoo shrugged.

“Little sister?”

“You’re like my little brother, Mingyu-yah,” the elder smiled and finally closed his locker.

“Oh,” Mingyu slipped his phone into his pocket and Wonwoo’s sent him a notification just then, “Thank you.”

“I just hope that we can stay like this forever,” Wonwoo gave Mingyu’s head a pat, carefully, so that he wouldn’t ruin his hair.

“I like you, hyung,” Mingyu spit out the words, like he was ashamed of them.

“I like you too, Mingyu-yah,” the elder replied with self-evidence. Of course he liked his little brother, his best friend.

When Mingyu reached for his hand later, during the broadcast ahead of the show, Wonwoo naturally started to braid their fingers. When he heard his heart beat in his ears, he told himself again: Just a boy. He looked at Mingyu’s young face and he was fine. They got back into their habit of play-fighting and everything was how it was supposed to be.

TheStranger

And though you still can’t see,

I know your mind’s made up.

For the first time he replied with his own words, “What do you mean?”, but there was no reply.Not after countless messages from Wonwoo, not after a month, not after a year, not after the very last episode of SeventeenTV and possibly last Christmas special aired. Every once in a while Wonwoo still scrolled back just to look at these two lines again. It was like a sweet memory of a time when things were easier and hopes were higher.

All Wonwoo wanted now was to be an official member of this group which just never seemed to debut. He wasn’t even that eager anymore to perform his own songs on a stage anymore. Doing covers every once in a while, just showing anything to an audience made him so happy. Everything past that was just wishful thinking. There just didn’t seem to be an end to the waiting and the changes of plans.

First Samuel left. Then Doyoon and Mingming. Instead, Minghao came and was even less able to communicate in Korean than Mingming. And then Dongjin left.

If it continued on like this, Wonwoo thought, all members would have changed at least once before their debut.

Some of the other boys had gotten desperate, like Soonyoung and Jihoon, who unceasingly choreographed and composed to draw attention to themselves. Jun and Hansol had been gone for a while as well, doing their own thing with a drama and a TV show. The others were more moderate in their desolation, practicing what they were good at until the point of perfection and working on their weak points until they were gone entirely.  And to get their head off of things, each member acquired some sort of new free time activity. Some were productive, such as Seungkwan’s greed to learn girl group choreographies or Soonyoung’s tendency to turn everything into a dance. But others weren’t, like Wonwoo’s own newly found fun in video gaming or Seungcheol’s moderate interest in racy videos.

Wonwoo had secretly peeked over the elder’s shoulder once, while he was watching one of these on his phone. It seemed kind of odd to him; the brightly light scene, the exaggerated moans which reached his ears muffled and tinny from Seungcheol’s headphones, the close ups mainly on female s.

He turned away rather quickly, irritated and uninterested, though couldn’t help noticing the elder covering his crotch when he excused himself to the bathroom a few minutes later. Wonwoo looked down between his own legs as if to find an answer as to why those things just didn’t have him react like that. Maybe something was wrong with him, because as far as he was concerned, he was still into girls. He figured it might just be the setting of those videos that kind of turned him off.

“What are you thinking about?” Mingyu sat down next to Wonwoo, back to the wall at the window of their dorm.

“Oh I just…uh…what do you think of Seungcheol hyung’s videos?” he asked carefully.

“Those videos?”

“Yeah, those,” Wonwoo felt himself blushing a little. He knew he probably shouldn’t, being legal age in most countries across the world.

“Uhm…” Mingyu thought about it for a moment, but didn’t seem intimidated by the question, “If he likes them and doesn’t get obsessed, he can do whatever he wants.”

“No, no, no, no. What do you think of them?”

“Oh. Well, I’m not that into it actually,” Mingyu shrugged.

“So I’m not the only one?”

“You don’t like them either?” the younger’s eyes doubled in size.

Wonwoo shook his head.

“That’s great,” Mingyu hugged him.

Wonwoo’s heart jumped. He’s just a boy. Just. A. Boy. And his heart calmed down even if just in the slightest. Mingyu let go.

He had done well at keeping his kind of crush in check since this had first crossed his mind. It was starting to be his natural reaction to any kind of skinship. He’s just a boy and everything was fine again. But boys grow up and Wonwoo was starting to feel the lie in his words. But he rather lied to himself than thinking about what the truth may be.

AN: Okay, I know this chapter is kind of really short in comparison and also it took me ages again to finish it, but well, we are now proceeding and...we'll see. I'm not making excuses nor pormises anymore from now on, because my lazy jsut can't getn anything done these days...or basically ever since I started wiring and posting. However, I hope you liked this chapther, though it was short. Some may now feel less confused (unlike Wonwoo is at this point of the story. also kind of dumb and oblivious) and uh...you'll see how it continues in the next chapter! ^-^

(Also I hope you don't mind the story not beign ENTIRELY G rated or the jump in time but uh...it just all seems more acceptable with them being 17/18 years old rather than 15/16 >.< (stupid author didn't think when she started writing))