the first for the challenge! this came out longer than expected~ excuse me for any typos lol

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exchanging letters during the first semester was a tradition at seoul elementary school number five. every year, after the summer break, the kids from second to fourth year would be given an identification number, and a week later they'd be assigned with a random one: the letter friend. they would write one letter at the end of each week, give it to the teacher on friday and get one back on monday. it was a simple game, to keep good convivence between the scholars and to make friends. at the end of the semester, the day before christmas break, they would be handed a sticker with their numbers and the teachers would let them roam around the gym to find their letter friend. easy. funny

.it was the second time that lee sungyeol participated in the event. the last time, he had found his now best friend through the letters, and he was very thankful for it. even if his best friend was a whiny emo boy that liked noodles and drank water with a straw.

however, sungyeol was excited to meet a new friend at the end of the semester. he told this to myungsoo- the whiny emo boy- several times during the summer, and the boy always pouted, his curly black hair covering his eyes, and muttering a "but i want to exchange letters with you again”.

when the new year came, sungyeol was marked with the number 125, and a week later he was assigned with number 96 as his letter friend. (myungsoo was disappointed to get number 221 as his friend).

the first week passed, and sungyeol was sitting at his kitchen’s table, myungsoo sitting besides him- drinking water with a straw and observing him work. lee sungyeol was writing a letter. He started with dear ninety-six, but it was too rude to call someone with a number. so he scratched that and moved the pencil to the next line, writing a hello new friend with his best handwriting.

myungsoo read over his shoulder as he wrote about his week, drinking his water silently. sungyeol handed the letter in a pink envelope to the teacher the next day, with a to 96, from 125 in purple pen.

 

-

next monday, their homeroom teacher gave them their friend’s letter. sungyeol got a purple envelope, with the number 125 neatly written in black, bold numbers. he looked at his left, myungsoo got a bright yellow one, full of stickers and smiley faces and a small 127 in a corner.

sungyeol opened the envelop with his mom when he got home. the paper in which the letter was written was purple too.

125.

hello. my name is howon. i like purple.

good bye.

now, that was one thing he wasn’t expecting.

 

-

The next weeks were the same. he sent long letters to his friend, and got really short ones in return. the longest his friend sent him were letters of four lines, most of them saying that he was already bored of the game, having played it for three years already. it actually made sungyeol happy, to discover that his friend was a year older than him. but he started writing shorter letters, afraid that his life would bore his newfound mail friend.

one day at school, the seventh monday before christmas break, sungyeol received his purple envelope at the same time myungsoo received his yellow one, and both of them decided to open their letters together.

125

why did you stop writing about your days? it was funny

96

sungyeol’s eyes widened at what he read. his friend was really asking him to keep talking writing? a big grin made his way on the kid’s face, and he grabbed his best friend’s arm and pulled him out of his reading.

“he thinks my letters are funny!” he shrieked, shaking his friends arm and jumping in his seat in joy. the younger friend whined because of the shaking.

“you’re not letting me read my friend’s letter! let me go so i can finish and you can shake my arm” myungsoo said angrily and sungyeol obliged. his friend’s black stare was kinda scary sometimes. sungyeol sat still in his chair, waiting for the slow kid to finish his letter. myungsoo’s friend, 221, was a second year boy and liked to write really long letters for myungsoo, just like he did, and that plus myungsoo being a slow reader, was like an eternity of waiting for the happy boy.

“okay, now you can-” myungsoo was interrupted by the euphoric boy who was shaking his arm and shrieking again.

 

-

sungyeol was shaking. of excitement, of course.

it was the last day before christmas break, and he was going to meet his mail friend, number ninety-six. his homeroom teacher had stuck a big blue number on his chest, and now was leading his class to the gym, all of the kids holding onto each other’s shoulders to form a line.

when they arrived, almost all the classes were there. the fourth year’s class was the last one to arrive. after that, they were left by the teachers to roam around and find their friends.

sungyeol started walking around, trying to find number 96, with myungsoo on his tail searching for number 221.

“myungsoo-ya” sungyeol called his friend, with his eyes fixed in a figure a few meter from them. “myungsoo-ya, this school is only for boys, right?” he asked, confused. the younger rolled his eyes.

“yes”

“then why number two-two-one is a girl?” he asked and myungsoo’s eyes flew to where sungyeol was looking at.

“Two-two-one!” he exclaimed and ran to his new friend, leaving sungyeol completely alone. he blew air out of his cheeks in annoyance, but it didn’t last long. someone tapped his shoulder.

turning around, sungyeol found himself looking down to a boy wearing the number ninety-six and a purple cap.

“um, hey” the boy said awkwardly.

“friend!” he exclaimed. the boy seemed to be a little uncomfortable, so he extended his hand instead of hugging him like he had thought before. “my name is lee sungyeol, from class 3-A” he smiled, showing his gums to the boy. the older boy grinned (sungyeol thought that the boy was like a puppy, with canine teeth and long eyes and everything a cute puppy has) and shook his hand “i’m lee howon. nice to meet you, sungyeol-ah”

sungyeol thought that this was the start of a long friendship; and maybe, if he could look into his future, he could know that he was right.

-end-