"God, I can't do this anymore," Sungyeol groaned, looking wearily at the books and sheets spread out in front of him. "What's the point? I'm never going to need to speak English anyway."

"I know, right?" Woohyun sighed from where he was sitting beside him, looking similarly dejected. "It's almost like they're doing it on purpose–making us study something hard as hell but completely useless just to torture us… "

"That's just what I think!"

Sunggyu shook his head at them. "We would already be done if you hadn't spent half the time complaining about how hard it is," he said curtly. He knew he shouldn't have agreed when Woohyun had asked him to help him and Sungyeol with their English assignment, but Woohyun had a way of getting under his skin, and now here he was, looking on as Woohyun and Sungyeol whined and bickered and fooled around and basically did anything but study, feeling very close to bursting out at them.

Or maybe that was just an excuse, really–as persuasive as Woohyun was, he would never be able to make him do something if he really did not want to do it. No, there was another reason, the real reason–but that was something Sunggyu wasn't ready to admit, not even to himself.

"Well, you're not making things easier by treating us like we're idiots or something," Sungyeol was mumbling.

"That's because you are idiots," Sunggyu said. "Your ignorance is honestly appalling. We've been studying English since we were kids, and you two don't even know the basics."

Sungyeol open his mouth to reiterate, but Woohyun stepped in.

"OK, OK, let's not fight about this," he said. "English is the enemy; we have to be united to defeat it."

The enemy is your idiocy and complete lack of discipline, Sunggyu wanted to bark at him, but he bit his tongue. On one thing Woohyun was right: it wouldn't do to argue about this, or they might very well be stuck here the whole day. The quicker they got it over with, the better.

"Ok, so… " Woohyun looked at the textbook in front of him. "Here it says, Make a sentence using the given word–"

"Let me do it, let me do it!" Sungyeol jumped up excitedly. "I'm good at that kind of exercise!"

"That's because it's primary school stuff," Sunggyu scoffed.

Sungyeol gave him a withering look, but went on reading. "So for the first one, you have to make a sentence with know.That shouldn't be too hard! Do you know… Do you know… "

"Hey, I've got one!" Woohyun took Sungyeol's hands in his, suddenly gazing at him with adoring eyes. "Do you know my heart?"

"That's just gross," Sungyeol said, swatting Woohyun's hand away, but he was laughing. Sunggyu felt a tinge of jealousy at the sight. He wished he were more like Woohyun, wished he could talk with Sungyeol as easily as the younger did, but he just didn't know how.

"Write down the damned sentence quickly and let's move on to the next one," he said.

"Should we really go with Woohyun's?" Sungyeol asked.

"Anything is fine as long as it's correct. Come on, I haven't got all day."

The two duly wrote down the sentence, still giggling–much to Sunggyu's chagrin.

"So, the next one… " Sungyeol squinted at the textbook. "Wait, what's this word?"

"Mh?"

"I've never seen it before. P-pe… pen… "

Sunggyu leaned over, peering at Sungyeol's textbook. "Oh–that's fancy. It's pretty much a synonym for like."

"Really? So, it means exactly the same thing?"

"Yeah, more or less. As in, do you fancy a cup of tea? Or something."

"Here it also says, to express attraction or liking for someone," Woohyun said, reading something off his phone. He grinned. "So it's basically a symonin for wanting to ?"

"It's synonym, not symonin, you idiot," Sunggyu said. "And you're disgusting. The actual meaning is not half as coarse as that."

"But that's what the online dictionary says!"

"Well, in that case," Sungyeol was grinning, pen in hand, "I'm going to write Woohyun fancies Hoya."

"What… ?" Woohyun blinked at him, his brain probably trying to process what all those English words meant, until it dawned on him. "Wait a second–don't you dare–"

But Sungyeol was already writing it down, giggling like an idiot as he did so. "Too late~"

"Come on Sungyeol, don't be childish! We are going to have to read these in front of the whole class, it's going to be embarrassing as hell–"

"That's exactly why I'm doing it! It's your chance to finally confess to Hoya–"

"What are you even on about? I don't like him!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that."

"God, you're so–give me that notebook!"

And then they were jostling, a mess of Sungyeol's long limbs and Woohyun's short but sturdy ones as he tackled Sungyeol, trying to snatch Sungyeol's pen or notebook away from him, and Sungyeol tried to push him away.

Sunggyu was this close to snapping at them again when Woohyun suddenly stopped trying to climb over Sungyeol's back. He sat back, strangely calm, and looked at Sunggyu, a -eating grin slowly forming on his face.

Sunggyu knew that grin. It was never a good sign.

"What are you smiling at?" he snapped.

But Woohyun's grin didn't waver one bit as he looked at Sungyeol, then back at Sunggyu. "Yeollie, should I tell hyung your secret?"

Sungyeol glanced at Woohyun from where he was bent over his notebook. "What are you talking about?"

Woohyun looked back at him. "You know what I'm talking about."

Something seemed to pass between them as their eyes met, and Sungyeol was suddenly pale.

"No."

Woohyun just grinned.

"No," Sungyeol said again. "You can't mean–you wouldn't–"

"Hyung," Woohyun turned towards Sunggyu, "Do you know what Sungyeol said to me the other day?"

"Woohyun, don't–"

"He said that–"

"Oh my god–shut it, you idiot–"

"He said that you–mmmph!"

Sungyeol was suddenly covering Woohyun's mouth with his hands; Woohyun tried to shrug him off, and they were at it again.

"He said–mmph–that–ugh–that you are–mmmmph–"

And then Woohyun managed to elbow Sungyeol in the stomach. Sungyeol gasped in pain, releasing his grip for a split second–which was long enough for Woohyun to finally blurt out:

"–he said that you're handsome!"

Silence.

Sunggyu blinked at Woohyun.

"What… ?"

"We were talking about who's good-looking in our group of friends," Woohyun said, panting slightly as he tried to regain his breath, "and Sungyeollie here said that he thinks you're handsome."

"I… I didn't mean it like that!" Sungyeol protested. Sunggyu finally found the courage to look at him. He was blushing, hard, his face turning an interesting shade of red Sunggyu had never seen before. "It's just that, he's objectively handsome–not that I think–I mean–"

Then he met Sunggyu's eye and froze, the words dying on his lips. His shoulders slumped, and he literally crumbled on himself, face sinking between his arms.

"What are you getting so shy about?" Woohyun elbowed Sungyeol's hunched form, looking like he was having the time of his life. "You didn't act like this when you were talking to me."

Sungyeol didn't say anything, face still stubbornly hidden between his arms. Sunggyu almost felt sorry for him. He also found it sort of oddly cute, but that was no surprise. Everything Sungyeol did these days seemed cute to him, no matter how ridiculous and silly and utterly irrational it was.

"Come on," Woohyun continued, grinning, "This is your chance to finally confess–"

"Leave him alone, Woohyun," Sunggyu snapped. He realised he might have sounded too harsh–too protective–when Woohyun looked at him, eyebrows raised, and he quickly added, "I mean, I don't see what the big deal is. Isn't it normal to think I'm handsome? Not everyone is born with this kind of face, after all–"

"God, you're so full of ." Sungyeol had finally raised his head and was now glaring at Sunggyu, a faint pink still dusting his cheeks. "It's not like your face is all that special–"

"But you like it."

"What?"

"You like this face," Sunggyu said. "Or am I wrong?"

"I–I…" Sungyeol stuttered. His face was starting to turn beetroot red again; Sunggyu reached out to touch it, thumb brushing softly against his cheek.

"Don't go all embarrassed on me again. If we finish this quickly I'm taking you out afterwards, OK?"

"Out… ?"

"Out, on a date."

Sungyeol stared.

"D-date–"

"…I see, I see."

Sunggyu turned to look at Woohyun. He'd almost forgotten he was there. "So that's how it should be, uh?" the younger was nodding to himself, looking serious. "Sunggyu fancies Sungye–"

He was simultaneously hit by both of them–Sungyeol wacking him on the head, Sunggyu kicking him under the table–before he could finish.

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A/N: Thank you to those who took the time to comment ♡ It's extremely motivating to know that someone is enjoying these little pieces of mine.