The sound of something lightly hitting his window was what made Wonwoo look up from his school work after hours of continuous studying. After having taken just a quick look over his shoulder, he turned back, his eyes shortly falling on the numbers of the clock on his desk. 3 a.m. He had gotten home around midnight after practice. In only 4 hours he would have to get up again and hurry to the bus, so he’d arrive on time for school.

Normally he would have gone to bed now, but the final exams of the semester were coming up in very few days, as well as a monthly evaluation. Both were of incredible importance, that he just had to give up on sleep to coordinate both. Slowly it was getting horribly hard to stay awake throughout the day. A muggy July heat had lied upon the city, slowing the inhabitants down, letting sweat run without needing any physical movement and making everyone tired.

Just as Wonwoo reached for his pencil, there was another hit against his window. He furrowed his brows and as, shortly after, another sound was audible from that direction, he finally got up from his chair and took a look out of the tilted window. Two stories beneath him, someone was standing in the orange beam of a street light.

Wonwoo opened the window entirely, resting his arms on the window sill, leaning forward just so the breeze could slightly cool his skin. He glared down at his best friend, standing on the asphalt.

“What are you doing here at this time?” he yelled down.

“Won’t you come out to play?” Mingyu yelled back, putting his hands on the sides of his mouth, as if it would create any kind of speakerphone-effect.

“It’s 3 in the morning, you know?”

“Let me see you smile again!”

“Go to bed, idiot!”

“Please, hyung? I won’t bother you for the next entire week,” Mingyu tried to persuade the elder.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. He didn’t see the younger as a bother. And he was tired of just doing what he should do. “I’ll be down in five!”

He exchanged his sweaty sleeveless top with a t shirt and swapped his pajama pants with a pair of knee-length shorts before sneaking out of his room quietly, slipping on a light pair of shoes and, after grabbing his keys and carefully closing the apartment door, rushing down the staircase and only stopping in front of Mingyu.

“Good Morning,” the younger smiled.

“Shut up,” Wonwoo nudged his arm, as they were turning to walk, “Where are we going?”

“I’ll treat you for ice cream,” Mingyu said, “You shouldn’t be denied the little joys of life, just because you want to be perfect at everything.”

“I’m not trying to be perfect,” Wonwoo complained, “I’m doing the necessary: wanting to do my best.”

They just walked down the hill silently. It was rather quiet at this time of day, though this city never slept.

“No one’s expecting that of you, you know,” Mingyu said, as they were turning around a corner, “You’ll be completely wasted if you continue living like this.”

“It’s easy talking, when you can dance and rap well.”

Mingyu took a breath, wanting to interrupt, but Wonwoo continued nonetheless.

“And even if you are not the best at either of them, because of your looks, you’re favored. Not only at the company. Everybody looks at you,” he wasn’t mad; he was perfectly fine. It was just weird to him, that one could just relax and not care like that. “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?”

“What?” Not only was Mingyu confused by the casual way of Wonwoo’s talking, but also the actual curiosity behind his question.

“What is it like living as an attractive person?” Wonwoo repeated slowly.

Mingyu raised an eyebrow, “Like you aren’t handsome yourself.”

“Well, not as much as you are.”

“That is arguable.”

“Obviously,” Wonwoo sighed, “Let’s just drop this, alright?”

“Alright,” Mingyu shrugged and slowed down, as they reached the corner store, “Do you want to wait here?”

“Why would I?” Wonwoo asked.

“You’ve been complaining all day how much your thighs hurt from yesterday’s workout and I still see you having a hard time,” Mingyu seemed to be actually concerned about the older.

“Since I guess you’re going to insist on me sitting down here, I could just do it without getting worked up,” Wonwoo replied sitting down in one of the plastic chairs in front of the store.

Mingyu smiled, “Same as always?”

Wonwoo nodded and so the younger went behind the glassy walls. He watched as Mingyu roamed through the freezer, went to pay and eventually came back, already seeing Wonwoo looking at him and grinning while waving the ice creams in his hand. He sat down on the opposite side of the Wonwoo’s table and put three kinds of wrapped ice cream on it.

The elder looked at him confused, “Why three?”

“Don’t you want to share a Ssang-ssang bar with me?” Mingyu pouted.

“But my Bibibik!” Wonwoo pouted as well, “It will have melted by the time I finished that!”

“Yeah but it tastes horrible anyway. It’s, like, grandpa ice cream.”

“You only eat Melonie bars because they look funny,” Wonwoo complained, as he reached for his ice cream bar.

“Do you want to let this melt instead?” Mingyu waved with the Ssang-ssang package.

Wonwoo stuck out his hand, rolling his eyes “Give it to me.”

As Mingyu placed it on the palm of his hand, Wonwoo unwrapped it, broke the halves apart and gave one of them to the younger. Mingyu held it out and looked at Wonwoo expectantly, who was about to eat it.

“Oh come on, hyung…” Mingyu whined.

Wonwoo sighed in annoyance and clinked his ice cream with Mingyu’s, “Jjan”

He went through the freezing pain of biting chunks off, so he could finish it quickly. As he swallowed the last icy bit, his brain already felt like it has frozen over, but unwrapping his Bibibik, he felt fine again, since it had barely molten at all. Wonwoo smiled, finally tasting red bean on his tongue.

Every once in a while, he would look at Mingyu who soon also finished his half of the first ice cream, but then just sat there, grinning foolishly and keeping perfectly still, while watching Wonwoo.

“Why are you doing that?” Wonwoo asked after a while.

“Doing what?”

“Smiling like an idiot.”

“You smiled.”

“What?” Wonwoo was confused.

“I wanted to make you smile and I made you smile slightly. I achieved my goal, so now I’m happy,” Mingyu now reached for his ice cream, but as he got rid of the wrapping, there was only a red and green liquid gushing over his hand and knee. He looked at the elder like a lost puppy.

Wonwoo laughed, “I knew this would happen.”

But instead of throwing a fit, like Mingyu normally would in this situation, his smile just got wider, “Take an example from now, will you?”

Wonwoo laughed even louder, “You mean acting this stupid?”

“No,” Mingyu shook his head, “Accepting things and taking them with humor.”

“Wh…Why?”

“Stop worrying, do only the actual necessary. I mean, what’s your rank at school right now?” Mingyu leant back in his chair.

“Third.”

“See. You can totally relax a bit. It will also be okay to be third or fifth of only your class and you don’t have to practice and work out until your body is in pain. Hm?” the younger gave him a friendly smile.

“I’ll try,” Wonwoo nodded lightly.

“Maybe…you can try to move in at the dorm. You wouldn’t have to take the underground for another forty minutes after practice anymore,” Mingyu carefully suggested.

“You know I don’t like the underground so much. I prefer the bus, which takes about an hour,” Wonwoo said, “And if I did move into the dorm I’d be distracted by the noise you all are making.”

“Seriously, everybody just sits in some corner and does their school work for at least an hour and a half once we get home. Most go to sleep right after.”

“I don’t know…” Wonwoo wasn’t too keen about having to leave his parents and privacy already.

“You will have to move in with us sooner or later,” Mingyu stated, “Please, hyung. For me?”

The elder smiled, “I’ll think about it.”

It made Wonwoo sad, having to leave the bright sunlight and disappear to the practice rooms in the basement of his company. For the next weeks the burden of having to coordinate school and rehearsal would be taken off of him. Though he doubted, he would have more free time. His assumption was confirmed, once he picked up his new schedule. Instead of going to school in the mornings, he would go to the company from now on, having an increase in his regular “subjects”, especially the languages.

After changing into comfortable clothes and storing his school bag and uniform in his locker, he went to the room where his rap practice would take place in about five minutes, and found Mingyu, lying on the floor, his eyes shut tightly. Wonwoo smiled, quietly sneaking up to him.

“Open up your eyes!” he screeched, poking Mingyu’s stomach.

The younger shot up immediately, fighting the harassment. Wonwoo sat down next to Mingyu, looking at their reflection in the mirror, “Did I tell you already?”

“What?” Mingyu grumbled and laid back down, feeling safe now, “You told me tons of things, but there are probably just as many, you haven’t,”

Wonwoo smiled at himself through the mirror, “I’m moving in with you tomorrow.”

“What?!” Mingyu sat up again immediately.

“I said, I’m moving in with you tomorrow,” Wonwoo said slowly.

“No, I heard that, but why?”

Wonwoo pouted, “You said you wanted me to.”

 “But you didn’t have to.”

“Don’t make me regret my decision now.”

“I’m happy you’re moving into the dorm,” Mingyu said, “But really, what made you change your mind?”

Wonwoo shrugged.

“Are you sad because you’re on your own?” Mingyu grinned teasingly.

“Why would I? Alone-time is great.”

“Says the person who always complains about his single life.”

“It’s not like I’m moving in with a bunch of pretty girls now, is it?” Wonwoo rolled his eyes at his most detested subject.

Mingyu thought about his reply for a moment, “Okay, I have to admit, we’re a bit less pretty and a lot taller….and way smellier.”

“But still, I’m willing to move in with you.”

“Hm,” Mingyu hummed, “When did you say? Tomorrow?”

Wonwoo nodded.

“I guess we’ll have to do some cleaning to do tonight, or else you’ll be over the hills and far away the moment you open the front door,” Mingyu laughed.

“Good luck with that.”

The door to the practice room opened and Seungcheol’s head appeared, looking around, “What are you doing here? No practice today; teacher got sick.”

And with that he disappeared again.

Perplexed, Wonwoo looked at the younger. Mingyu blinked a few times and then smiled, “Wanna go for a walk?”

Sometimes, if they had an hour or more off and the weather was nice, the two would walk around the area. At first they had always gone for close-by coffee shops and even tried to get to the next park, but it was too far. One day they stumbled across something similar to a park, though. It really wasn’t more than a bit of earth with a collection of trees around a library, but if you sat right behind the building and looked straight up, it almost felt like real nature.

It only took them a few minutes to get there and, in the same spot as always, they sat down side by side on the dry grass. The light breeze was rustling through the leaves, continuously throwing their shade on different parts of the two boys’ arms and lower legs. They just sat there in comfortable silence, both going after their own thoughts until it was almost time to go.

“This might be a weird question…” Wonwoo asked into the quiet.

“I wonder if you’re even able to ask weird questions,” Mingyu replied and looked at the elder.

“Why do you want to be an idol?”

“Can’t you see? I wanna be famous!” Mingyu grinned widely.

Wonwoo furrowed his brows, “Wanting your handsome face to be seen is not enough reason for willing to go through the torture of endless practicing and having to leave home.”

“Then what about you?”

“I…I guess I want to make people happy,” Wonwoo said, still thinking, “My family always seemed so happy seeing me dance and my mum always praised me whenever I wrote something. I always want to feel appreciated, if not admired.”

“That’s admirable,” Mingyu said.

Wonwoo scoffed.

“Seriously now. I mean, all I really wanted to be was an actor. It’s getting hard to be someone. To just make it like that. Being in a band opens you so many doors, so it was really the best way to achieve what I actually want.”

“Probably.”

“It’s not like I have no passion for music. I love entertaining people ever since I was young,” Mingyu added after hearing the other’s dry reply.

“Even if you didn’t, it would be fine. I mean, how many trainees or even members of bands actually want to do music nowadays? It’s just all about fame,” Wonwoo sighed.

“It sounds like you want to run away and do underground music,” Mingyu said with the hint of a smile crossing his lips.

“No, I’m not good enough for that,” Wonwoo looked at the younger when finally, he smiled back, “And how could I leave you? The other members would kill you if you hung around them as much as you do around me.”

“Yah!” Mingyu jumped to his feet, but tripped over the shoelaces, Wonwoo had mindlessly opened a while ago and fell back down on the grass.

“I’m not that annoying,” he pouted and demonstratively crossed his arms.

Wonwoo turned his head away, so the younger wouldn’t see the grin on his face, when he saw two little girls standing behind one of the windows of the library, looking at Mingyu and laughing like they’ve just seen the most amusing thing in all of their life.

The little children laugh at him behind his back.

Why did Wonwoo even call this dork his best friend? There have been so many situations already in which Wonwoo had witnessed the pure stupidity, obnoxious clinginess and voice volume of the younger, but still, he liked him.

He shook his head, “Come on, it’s time to get back to practice.”

AN: yaaay new chapter. I'm surprised I managed to actually have so much prepared ahead of time, I was able to post weekly up until this point. But now I only have one more chapter done, meaning I will have to write more again. It's nice obviously, writing, but I can just see myself struggling to write a chapter every 2-3 weeks in a month or so D: Sorry for being a lazy writer most of the time. 

uh...yeah, ou probably noticed the jumps in time and place and stuff and I hope you don't mind too much. I thought it would be a nice concept to have "scenes of a relationship" or whatever. I think it keeps things more interesting and also, I guess it's needed to get to the "now", since that is all still happening in 2012...and that has been some time ago...which is creepy. Time runs fast. I feel old. On that note, I hope you liked spending the little bit of life, reading the chapters of this story up until now.