So… he doesn’t have many friends.

It’s a little awkward for Sunggyu to have many friends, actually.

Since he can feel their feelings pouring out of them.

It sounds weird, but it’s true.

Like that girl who seeps of desperate need when she tries to flirt with the school playboys, or those guys that have evil hatred in their souls when they try and coax another dude to an empty place.

 

The guy goes, and the next day he doesn’t show up to school.

 

Sunggyu thinks he should be like those heroes at times like these; those people in shows that suddenly find out they have powers and use it to prevent a disaster or fix a broken hierarchy.

 

But his school is one of those hierarchies, and Sunggyu thinks that standing out would do him more harm than it would do the world good, and so he remains that normal guy who sits quietly in class yet has that look that doesn’t really label him as a pushover and so they can’t mess with him.

 

Somehow he likes it the way it is, but soon the new school year comes around and he finds himself in a class with people he doesn’t know.

 

The teacher tells them to sit wherever, and Sunggyu looks around a little warily. He sees two people anyone would know, Nam Woohyun and Lee Howon. The two themselves seem something like friends, but he’s not really sure. They’re each in their own group of friends but he’s seen them talk before.

 

Does talking automatically mean friendship? Sunggyu doesn’t know.

 

Anyways, he stays away, and sits himself somewhat near the front, next to this one guy who currently has his head down and is sleeping.

 

It turns out to be one of the best decisions he has made in his few years in high school. Jang Dongwoo turns out to be a guy full of smiles and seeping happiness from the pores of his skin. His very presence in the room douses any negative feelings that Sunggyu has and instead he is showered with optimism and excessive love.

 

Sunggyu has never felt anyone so pure before, a sense of protectiveness washes over him.

 

Dongwoo isn’t too popular that everyone knows his name in the school, but he seems to have quite a big chain of connections to random people (apparently he will just go up to random people and start a conversation). It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone who hates Jang Dongwoo the angel.

 

Sitting next to Jang Dongwoo also means he will, inevitably, talk to you, and soon Sunggyu finds himself in pace with the other, and his quiet world is slowly filled with the sounds of other people.

 

Sunggyu meets Lee Sungjong, a kid younger than him by a few years who has just entered the school this year. Sungjong emits a sense of maturity and pride that is also shrouded by a hint of innocence, and Sunggyu feels his respect for the other grow with each second he spends with him.

 

Sungjong seems like a popular person, as he is always talking to another person, but he doesn’t forget to stop Sunggyu in the hallways for a light conversation or even just a smile and a wave.

 

Sunggyu thinks he found two little brothers, and he feels happy.

 

And then Sungjong introduces him to his brother Lee Sungyeol and Sunggyu kind of regrets it.

 

It’s not that Sungyeol is a bad person. He’s actually very sweet and caring, but the one thing that Sunggyu feels overshadowing the rest is playfulness and energy. Even more so than Dongwoo, who can’t seem to keep still in one place for a long time, Sungyeol can’t seem to keep quiet either.

 

He screams and makes big gestures and jumps around like he has just been fed coffee or something, which, in fact, is his favorite drink.

 

Talking with Sungyeol is always accompanied by headaches and exhaustion and Sunggyu doesn’t have the energy for that. Nonetheless, afterwards when Sungyeol leaves and gives him a tight hug and a “Bye, hyung!” with that giant smile that shows his teeth and gums, Sunggyu can’t help but smile and reply with,

 

“See you later!”

 

Apparently Sungyeol claims to have a nemesis named Kim Myungsoo in his grade. His eyes fire with competition when he talks to the other, and he speaks of him as a stuck-up, cold person who only smirks and never smiles and clings to a camera all day.

 

When Sunggyu and Sungyeol bump into Myungsoo in the hallways one day and the latter two strike up a (fiery) conversation, however, Sunggyu looks on and can feel something different.

 

Myungsoo is b with nervousness and insecurity and hope and Sunggyu smiles when he realizes the younger is just bad at showing his emotions and actually wants to be a normal guy.

 

He invites the two of them to get a drink with him after school. Sungyeol looks at him horrified and Myungsoo shoots him a weird look, but both end up agreeing because (as Dongwoo says) no one can resist Gyu when he puts on a bright smile and his eyes actually disappear (he gets punched in the arm for that one, though).

 

They realize two things about Myungsoo.

 

One: he’s actually pretty four-dimensional, and seems to get distracted by the weirdest of things. Oh, and he watches anime. Sungyeol and Myungsoo become best friends, and the change wasn’t even overnight.

 

And then there’s two: Myungsoo’s good-looking. Like, hot and cute and oh my god the stars aligned when he was born good looking. Immediately Sunggyu sees the stares of all the women (and he slowly starts remembering all the awkward feelings of love and lust and admiration that time in the hallways) and he fidgets around uncomfortably. When Myungsoo smiles Sunggyu feels his heart getting shot with a love arrow, even though it’s not really him that’s falling in love but all the women around him and gosh those two are oblivious aren’t they why can’t they feel the stares they match pretty well.

 

Sunggyu successfully excuses himself when Sungyeol starts to rant about his dream to be the monkey king and meet Goku and Myungsoo nods along.

 

Meeting Myungsoo leads to coming into contact with Nam Woohyun. Because of course, Myungsoo is on the popular side and that leads to him knowing popular people, and according to him he and Woohyun are ‘brothers from another mother.’

 

Sunggyu finds this weird because Myungsoo seems to be on the quiet side with people he doesn’t know and shrugs them off with a stare that he admits is kind of chilling while Woohyun flirts with all women and is a gentleman and is always surrounded and has a smug smile on his face.

 

He never really liked Woohyun, but somehow when he meets him he doesn’t feel the sense of superioress and mocking he expected but rather a kind heart and something much more carefree. Sunggyu can’t bring himself to hate Woohyun anymore because this feeling reminds him of Dongwoo and Dongwoo can never be hated.

 

Sunggyu is confused, because the assumptions that have carried him through this school are now broken. He walks away with a blank expression, forgetting about the people around him. Woohyun watches him walk away.

 

“Does… he not like me or something? He just looked at me as if I told a bad joke and then left,” he asks. Myungsoo shrugs.

 

Woohyun comes to talk to him more after that and Sunggyu doesn’t understand but then again he never understands people, like the girls who watch them with anger and jealousy when they’re obviously both guys.

 

But those girls don’t try to stir up trouble, because Sunggyu has started putting on just a little bit of eyeliner (ever since Sungjong told him it might accentuate his eyes) and the glare he gives has that much more impact because of it; thank you, Sungjong.

 

And speaking of Sungjong it seems the little maknae of the group has gotten himself a crush, and even though Sunggyu doesn’t know the name and face of the person just the sudden mention of her makes Sungjong blush and quickly change the subject, and Sunggyu thinks it’s a little cute, to be honest.

 

And then things get a little weird. Because one day he and Sungjong and Dongwoo are walking when suddenly Dongwoo gets a little too hyper and runs without watching where he’s going in the corner and BAM! slams his whole body into another person. Dongwoo falls onto the ground and groans, and Sunggyu thinks it’s kind of funny.

 

Next to him, Sungjong is frozen and then he feels it, that small bit of insecurity Sungjong never has and then he feels a rush of emotions and when he looks over the younger is looking at the ground and his cheeks are red and is it love? flows in his mind and Sunggyu starts to smile.

 

He looks over at the lucky girl, and oh gosh it’s Lee Howon aka Hoya the jock who's in like three sports teams (wait, its a dude, what-- no matter, there are more important things to care about than gender) and he’s staring down in shock and guilt at Dongwoo on the floor (who is now rolling around and laughing, crazy kid) and somehow Sunggyu can feel the same rush of emotions in Hoya as he feels in Sungjong but clearly Hoya is looking at Dongwoo and--

 

What?

 

The words ‘love triangle’ slap him hard and then they are followed by a slow ‘ohhhhh’ with the drawing out of the syllable, and then an ‘uh-oh’ follows.

 

Hoya slowly bends and offers Dongwoo a hand, who takes it gratefully and pulls himself up. He apologizes with the same amount of energy he had before he fell and Hoya gives a slight smile and remains standing there, looking at Dongwoo for a few seconds, before walking away from them.

 

Dongwoo continues on as before but now there’s a slight uncomfort in the air around Sungjong (and maybe Sunggyu himself) that Sunggyu can feel, and even Dongwoo’s everlasting happiness can’t conceal this one completely.

 

-

 

Sunggyu wants to return back to pre-k, when love meant mommy and daddy and there were more important things to care for than relationships, such as naptime and television and snacks.

 

Sunggyu wants to tell someone because keeping these thoughts all in his head is starting to kill him but now he can’t approach Sungjong or Dongwoo because they’re involved nor can he approach Sungyeol because Sungyeol can’t keep his mouth shut and Myungsoo will never hide anything from Sungyeol and--

 

Sunggyu finds himself spilling everything to Woohyun one day, who listens quietly, and Sunggyu thinks he’s crazy because he’s not even that close with Woohyun, it’s just that the other happened to be there and words are spilling from his mouth and he doesn’t know what he’s saying and he slowly fades, feeling so light it’s kind of making him dizzy.

 

“Wow, just like a drama,” is all Woohyun says when he’s done, and Sunggyu gives him a small glare.

 

“You--you won’t tell anyone anything, right?” he asks, and Woohyun shakes his head.

 

“Of course not. They’re not even my thoughts to tell. I’m just glad we’re close enough that you can come to me.”

 

Sunggyu feels a little guilty because that’s actually not true and Woohyun just happened to be there and he just nods because it’s a little rude to point that out when someone has wasted their whole lunch period to sit on the roof with you and listen to your troubles.

 

Woohyun smiles and laughs and his voice is smooth and thump Sunggyu feels someone’s heart skipping a beat but he’s alone with Woohyun, and it’s probably not coming from Woohyun because he can clearly feel Woohyun’s happiness and calm so then where did he feel that it couldn’t have been--

 

It wasn’t his heart, was it?

 

Something starts to click and then Sunggyu feels like puking up everything from this morning and maybe last night and heck maybe even a few nights ago because he doesn’t understand why his heart is skipping a beat when all Woohyun did was sit there and be Woohyun and Woohyun is a guy and guys shouldn’t feel something towards other guys but then again there was Sungjong and Hoya and--

 

His head hurts.

 

Sunggyu gets up with a blank expression and walks away. Woohyun watches him leave in surprise before scoffing in amusement.

 

Sunggyu ends up sticking close to Dongwoo for the next few days, because Dongwoo’s presence makes him happy and everyone else seems to make his head hurt (except maybe Myungsoo but Myungsoo’s always with Sungyeol anyways) and even Dongwoo comes to find the strangeness in this, but like the angel he is he doesn’t question and when Sunggyu leans his head on Dongwoo’s shoulder to clear his thoughts, Dongwoo leans his head on Sunggyu as well.

 

But the world likes to see Sunggyu in pain so one day, their teacher assigns the class a project with a group of four, and when she leaves after the period and it’s lunchtime suddenly Woohyun is ramming himself onto Sunggyu’s desk, nearly scaring the life out of the elder.

 

“Hyung, let’s work together: you, me, him, and your friend next to you.”

 

Sunggyu peeks behind Woohyun to see who ‘him’ is and nearly pukes when he sees Hoya looking extremely unpleased and trying to rip himself out of the grasp of the other.

 

“What are you doing,” he mouths angrily at Woohyun, who replies by putting one finger to his lips and smiling, as if to say ‘Shush, hyung, I know what I’m doing,’ and the sight is kind of cute and Sunggyu is weak to cute things and maybe weak to Woohyun so he just scoffs and looks away.

 

Woohyun smiles in victory and turns to Dongwoo, who is blinking in confusion.

 

“You’re Dongwoo, right? Want to work together, the four of us?”

 

Hoya starts to protest, because “I don’t even know you that well man, what’s your problem?” when a cheerful,

 

“Sure, why not?” sounds and he looks over to see Dongwoo smiling obliviously and Woohyun smiles. He turns back to Hoya now.

 

“That’s why I want to hang out with you more, man. We’ve only talked like, what, three times?”

 

“Screw you, we talked because we had a project to do--”

 

‘Oh, that’s why I saw them together,’ Sunggyu thinks to himself.

 

“Wait, you shouldn’t force him to work with us. It’s okay, we can find someone else,” Dongwoo says, and starts looking around for other people.

 

Woohyun lets go dejectedly, but on his face is a smug smirk and Sunggyu can feel something sinister in the younger, so he’s not sure what’s going on but then,

 

“I’ll work with you guys,” comes out from Hoya’s mouth and the smirk on Woohyun grows and white teeth shows behind those lips (lips lips mouth no)

 

Dongwoo turns around, looking concerned. “Are you sure? It’s all right, really, you have your own friends and--”

 

“No, I’ll work with you guys,” the tone is sharp and final, and Dongwoo seems a little lost before that oblivious smile is back on his face and he agrees as well.

 

The relationship between Hoya and Woohyun seems a little strained and clearer but not in a good way, and when Sunggyu mentions this (and snap Woohyun doesn’t know he has a power but maybe he can pull it off as an observation of a bystander who knows) to Woohyun later on after school when they’re on the roof again Woohyun just smiles and shrugs.

 

“I’m helping him possibly get a future in love here, so he’ll thank me later on.”

 

“But what about Sungjong? The friend I mentioned, he--”

 

“To be honest,” Woohyun cuts him off, looking at the sky (which is like a blue turning orange, however that works), “I don’t know this Sungjong guy, so obviously I’d be on the side of someone I know, right?”

 

Sunggyu feels himself getting angry but Woohyun continues on.

“And besides, putting those two aside for now, you’ve been avoiding me the past few days. I was getting kind of sad, so this was the perfect chance for me to hang out with you a little more, hyung,” Woohyun says and he looks over at him and smiles and Sunggyu is no longer angry and he thinks his face is heating up, so he looks away focuses on the sky to try and hide it.

 

“Sorry, I had a lot of stuff on my mind,” he mutters, and Woohyun replies with a soft hum.

 

“I’m always here for you, hyung.”

 

Sunggyu can’t fight that small smile from appearing on his face and it because he shouldn’t be happy since Woohyun is only being nice and views him as a friend and Sunggyu should only see him as a friend too so why does his heart beat faster for the other?

 

Life .

 

The next few days Sunggyu comes to see that Hoya is as competitive in real life as he is during a game, and is bolder than he thought he would be.

 

As they work he remains close to Dongwoo, shoulders touching and bodies sometimes pressed together and he even voices out some pickup lines that make even Woohyun cringe. Woohyun, the master of grease and flirtation. His touches are almost as frequent as Dongwoo’s, and the two almost look like a couple already, with Hoya’s face beaming every time Dongwoo’s arm comes around his shoulder or Dongwoo’s hand pats his thigh.

 

But Sunggyu feels a tad sorry for him, because Dongwoo’s as oblivious as he is nice, and laughs at everything and puts it off as a joke, and he’s not even doing it on purpose.

 

There’s another person Sunggyu feels sorry for. It’s Sungjong, because the latter has obviously seen the two together and the feelings he gives off make Sunggyu want to cry. And even without Sunggyu’s little skill, the expressions on his face speak enough.

 

But Sungjong himself is full of aphorism and sweetness, and when he and Sunggyu talk and he finally admits his feelings because they’re too hard to bear alone, he also admits that he can’t even bring himself to hate Dongwoo because “hyung was always there for me and I will always be there for him.” Sunggyu’s heart breaks. He holds the other and, for the first time, sees Sungjong cry.

 

He makes up his mind to scream at Woohyun for hurting his poor dongsaeng the next time he sees him, but when he does Woohyun himself looks like his pet cat has died, and he feels so much sadness and guilt from the other he can’t bring himself to say anything about the topic. Instead, he asks him what’s wrong.

 

“I rejected someone today, and I feel horrible,” Woohyun replies, voice tired and not full of life. Woohyun’s inner pain is dragging Sunggyu down as well, and all his negative emotions are coming back up, and Sunggyu suddenly realizes that Woohyun also has a heart, just like Sungjong and Dongwoo and Hoya and even Sunggyu himself.

 

And Sunggyu has so much pent up anger and irritation, but when everyone around him is selfless and sweet, who can he hate but himself?

 

He holds Woohyun, too.

 

The next school day everything seems to be taking a step forward. Hoya comes to their table in the cafeteria alone, saying that Woohyun had something else to do. Sunggyu quirks his eyebrow; liar, it probably had something to do with what happened last time, but he doesn’t say anything and nods nonchalantly.

 

Hoya then proceeds to ask them to come to his game on Friday, because it’s supposed to be a big one and he needs all the support he can get. Dongwoo smiles and says sure; Sunggyu doesn’t want to go so he hesitates.

 

“...And if we win, I’m planning on confessing to the person I like, so I really need all the support I can get,” he announces, looking at Sunggyu.

 

‘Ah, so he knows I know,’ Sunggyu thinks to himself, and he smiles at the other and wishes him a good luck. And then he thinks back to Sungjong, and his mood dampens slightly.

 

But it’s not just his mood. He feels it. He can feel it, and his eyes slowly travel to Dongwoo, who is sitting next to him, smile fading and shock evident on his face. In a split second, however, he hides it with another bright smile and hits Hoya playfully in the arm, wishing him good luck.

 

Hoya meets his eyes and smiles. “Look forward to it,” he says.

 

Something is changing.

 

“Hyungs!” Sunggyu looks over at the sound of the voice, and he sees Sungjong walking up to them with a smile on his face. Sunggyu blinks, a little shocked that the other would approach when Hoya was here.

 

Sungjong’s eyes seem to tell him something, however, and Sunggyu can feel determination in his heart. Sungjong looks at Hoya and smiles.

 

“Hi, nice to meet you. You are Hoya-hyung, right? I’m Lee Sungjong.”

 

Hoya smiles back and returns the greeting. He then proceeds to invite Sungjong to his game on Friday as well.

 

Dongwoo laughs next to Sunggyu. “Hoya says he’s gonna’ confess if he wins. You should come cheer him on, Sungjongie. We can throw confetti.”

 

Sungjong freezes when he hears it, and Sunggyu feels himself freezing too at the shock from the other.

 

But the world is already changing.

 

Slowly, something covers up the pain, something bigger, much stronger, as strong as Sungjong himself, and another smile etches itself on his face. It is genuine, lighter, as if it has let something go but found something even better as a result.

 

“I wish you all the luck.” Sungjong leans over and whispers something in Hoya’s ear, who smirks in return.

 

“I know, but that’s one reason why I love that person.” The two stare at each other, eyes conversing. Sungjong laughs a little and looks at Sunggyu and Dongwoo, who are both curious, but he doesn’t say anything.

 

“I’ll see you later, hyungs. Myungsoo-hyung and Sungyeol-hyung are buying me food. I won a bet,” his tone has the playful youth that Sunggyu likes to hear, and they say their goodbyes and part ways.

 

There is no progress on their project.

 

Woohyun keeps putting off working for the rest of the week. Sunggyu starts to get annoyed, and even tries to chase the younger down because Woohyun has no right to be embarrassed for sharing his thoughts with Sunggyu because Sunggyu has done it, too. But apparently the younger is just as fit as he looks, with the legs of a cheetah and a kangaroo mixed together. He even manages to jump a fence in order to avoid Sunggyu.

 

Sunggyu scoffs as he pants, looking at the street through the metal bars and the disappearing back. He bites his lip, focusing on the pain rather than the pain of his heart.

 

Before they know it, Friday has come, and when the final bell rings Sunggyu turns around and sees Hoya run out of the classroom, and he bites back a smile. He meets eyes with Woohyun, who quickly averts them and dashes out as well, and the smile is gone.

 

He and Dongwoo meet up with Myungyeoljong and get some food at the cafe nearby before heading back to the school and filing into the stadium.

 

It’s crowded; there are many people filling up the seats already (from both schools, probably), and they barely manage to get a seat of five (some people were nice enough to move over, thank the lord these kinds of people still exist, Sunggyu thinks to himself), and soon even the aisles are getting crowded, and security guards have to come and enforce the law of overcrowding.

 

The players are lining up on the field, and Sunggyu sees Woohyun.

 

Wait.

 

Woohyun plays soccer?

 

Dongwoo seems to see this too, and Myungsoo says, “Yeah, but he’s usually a stand-in. Someone just called in sick, so he’s on the field today.” Dongwoo nods in understanding, and next to him, Sunggyu nods slightly, too.

 

The game starts off with a bang, and the loud noises and intensity in the air is making Sunggyu feel dizzy again. It doesn’t help that Sungyeol is five times louder than the crowd (how is that even possible?) and draws a few pairs of eyes to the group. It makes Sunggyu want to shrivel up from all their stares, even though they’re directed three seats across.

 

The game itself is getting more and more intense, and the lights come on as the sky starts to get dark (Sungyeol’s screams also start to get more intense, with other people’s “Shut the up!”s following each “GET THEM BY THE BALLS!” and “DOUCHEBAGS, THAT WAS A FOUL”, until Myungsoo the little saint finally manages to calm him down).

 

It’s down to the last few minutes of the game and Sunggyu doesn’t really know what’s going on and the numbers on that scoreboard don’t seem to make sense but he knows the situation is intense from the screams and the way Sungyeol is grasping onto Myungsoo as if he’s his lifeline, and suddenly everything goes quiet.

 

Sunggyu looks down at the field and Hoya is standing there, with the goal a few meters away and he looks inside and sees the goalie on the ground and the ball is there and--

 

Loud screams fill the field and Sunggyu’s heart is filled with so much happiness and so much regret and it’s so contradicting and it’s loud and he feels like he’s about to explode and he lets out a great big smile. Looking next to him, however, he falters when he sees Dongwoo’s unsure expression and hesitant clapping.

 

Sunggyu thinks he knows the reason why Dongwoo doesn’t seem that happy, but he also knows Dongwoo’s about to get the best shock of his life after this, and his smile softens as he returns his attention to the field.

 

The players are jumping around and Hoya is being lifted and thrown up and falling down and thrown up again, and everyone is hugging each other and screaming and smiling and Woohyun’s eyes meet Sunggyu’s and--

 

Woohyun stops smiling, and looks away.

 

Sunggyu stops smiling, too.

 

They have their own party at Sunggyu’s house the next day. It more so happens that Sungyeol arrives with Myungsoo with a cake and Sunggyu watches with wide eyes and an open mouth as they waltz in like they live there. He looks down at his baggy T-shirt and fuzzy pants (his grandmother bought them for him, and he can’t ignore something from his grandmother, no matter how unmanly it is) and back up at his dongsaengs.

 

“What are you doing here? Wait, no--why do you know where I live?”

 

Myungsoo looks at Sungyeol, who says, as if it’s the most obvious tone ever, “Because I’m Lee Sungyeol.” And Sunggyu can’t really bring himself to argue with that, because it’s kind of true that no one knows what Sungyeol is capable of.

 

“We’re having a party to celebrate the winning of the game! But we didn’t bring anything other than a cake so we might have to raid your house for food,” Sungyeol announces happily, and Sunggyu is grateful his mother is not here at the moment because all hell would probably break loose, and he is about to unleash his fury when suddenly the door rings and Dongwoo shows up with about four bags of food and games and there’re the chips Sunggyu likes and he begrudgingly lets Dongwoo in as he cradles his bag of chips.

 

Sungjong and Hoya arrive soon after, and then more people, and soon Sunggyu’s house is filled with the soccer team (minus Woohyun, Sunggyu realizes a little bitterly) and random girls and guys he doesn’t know and he’s getting a little scared at this turnout, and keeps looking out the window to look for his mother, when he suddenly hears a loud CRACK and oh no that is not the sound of something breaking. That would be too cliche, right? Right???

 

It’s not the sound of something breaking, as it turns out; it was the sound of the explosion of poppers and some other loud explosive thing and Sunggyu’s head hurts and he doesn’t know which is worse, a broken household item, or an indoor explosion.

 

He decides the presence of Lee Sungyeol overrides all of that.

 

But the conversation catches his ears instead, and he chooses to listen.

 

“Hey, dude, didn’t you say you were gonna’ confess to some chick if you won?”

 

“Right, you were making a big deal about that.”

 

“Is she here?”

 

“Oh my god, do it, do it!”

 

The attention is all on a shocked Hoya now, and the clutter of noise morphs into a unanimous “Confess! Confess!” with occasional shouts about calling the person if she wasn’t here and putting it on speaker.

 

Hoya waits until the noise to subside before he calmly says, “The person’s here, but it’s not a girl.”

 

There’s a bit of silence, followed by some small strings of curses and some shocked sounds. There are a few disgusted faces and Sunggyu doesn’t like the small bits of disgust he feels, because he is truly happy that Hoya can at least admit he likes someone out loud, but the overall reaction seems accepting enough. Hoya is looking around for something, or rather, someone, and Sunggyu turns to look as well.

 

Dongwoo is nowhere to be found, however.

 

Hoya seems a little confused, and the rest of the people are surrounding him, asking him who it is, so he can’t move. His eyes turn a little desperate, and Sunggyu waves from far away and manage to catch his eye. He gives Hoya a little nod and mouths, ‘I’ll bring him,’ to the other, who nods uncertainly.

 

He finds Dongwoo in the kitchen, holding a can of whip cream and shaking it vigorously, and the look on the other’s face when he was caught was so funny Sunggyu has to bite both of his cheeks to prevent himself from laughing.

 

He puts on an unamused face, and grabs the other by the arm. Dongwoo seems a little scared and uses all his energy to try and explain that no, he wasn’t “going to wreck the house, hyung, I just thought that showering people with whipped cream would be more original than confetti and oh my god I won’t do it, I swear, it was Sungyeol’s idea, hyung don’t kill me.”

 

He’s so engrossed in his little monologue he doesn’t realize where Sunggyu is dragging him until suddenly Sunggyu lets go and Hoya’s face is in front of his and he’s standing in the middle of a giant space surrounded by like forty people and uh…

 

“...What’s going on?”

 

Hoya smiles a little. The crowd is strangely quiet, but some people have creepy grins on their face, and Dongwoo looks around, confused. He starts laughing unsurely.

 

“You know how I said I would confess to the person I love if I won the game, hyung?” Hoya says slowly, taking a step forward.

 

Dongwoo stops laughing. “Oh… yeah, I remember. Are, are you doing it here or something?” he looks around. “Oh god, am I in the way? Hold on, let me squeeze myself into the crowd--”

 

Hoya grabs his wrist as he’s about to step away and pulls himself close, really close, like inches, centimeters close, one inch.

 

“Where are you going, hyung? You’re in the right place.”

 

Dongwoo freezes, his eyes locked onto Hoya’s. Sunggyu smiles from far away. He can feel it; the nervousness, the feeling of something sinking in, the blooming of love and the bursting of Dongwoo’s heart.

 

True enough, Dongwoo is as red as a tomato, and he looks like he’s about to cry. Slowly, a smile slides onto his face. Hoya sees this and smiles. Confidence. Assurance.

 

“Will you be mine?” he doesn’t wait for an answer before he closes the distance, and along with the kiss are loud shouts and screams and whistles and oh god another explosion in Sunggyu’s heart so much happiness and he see’s Hoya breaking away and Dongwoo covering his mouth as tears of happiness seeps from his eyes.

 

Sungyeol is extremely loud with his screams and Sunggyu kind of hopes no one has called the cops on them yet. He heads to the door so he can go out and see if he can hear the noise from outside, but when he opens the door he is met with the all too familiar hair and eyes and nose and everything of--

 

“Woohyun.”

 

Woohyun looks at him, frozen in his tracks. He is right outside the door, fingers on his phone as if he is about to call someone.

 

Thump.

 

The turns tail and flees.

 

Sunggyu stares in disbelief, because it’s been a week and even if Woohyun never wants to see him again they still have to clear something up and finish the project and anger rises in Sunggyu.

 

So much anger, in fact, that for the first time he runs after Woohyun and is catching up. His lungs are burning and his legs really hurt and it kind of hurts to breathe too but he is catching up and Woohyun is getting closer and closer and Sunggyu manages to grab him by the arm and flip the younger around. They both are standing in the middle of an empty block, and Sunggyu starts coughing, as if he’s going to puke.

 

He feels dizzy, too dizzy, he can’t feel, and he needs air and more air and it hurts, and strong arms are wrapping around him and a hand is rubbing his back soothingly and he leans into the touch and breathes. His eyes close and he inhales deeply, once, twice, many times for who knows how long, until his breathing steadies, and his vision clears when he opens his eyes.

 

And Sunggyu holds onto Woohyun tightly, who is looking at him, concerned.

 

“Are… are you okay?” he asks after a while, and Sunggyu snaps.

 

“Why do you think I’m not okay?! Why are you running from me? You’ve been avoiding me the whole week like a plague! Is it really that bad to come to me for your troubles? I do it all the time, and I don’t jump fences when I see you!”

 

Woohyun fidgets, and Sunggyu feels uncomfort, something that shoots at his heart, because is Woohyun really so uncomfortable around him? But there’s something else, something Sunggyu can’t quite grasp because it seems Woohyun himself is trying to hide it, and not let it come forward.

 

There is no answer after one minute, two minute, how many minutes and Sunggyu slowly lets go and swallows. He remembers Sungjong, remembers Hoya, and thinks if they can do it he can do it too, that is, to be brave and take one step forward.

 

But he doesn’t know he’s actually taking one step back.

 

“You know what? Never mind, I’m sorry. I won’t bother you anymore, so…”

 

Don’t make that face.

 

He looks at the ground and gives a slight nod and a smile. “Bye, Woohyun.”

 

His voice is quiet and he turns to leave but suddenly Woohyun grabs him and pulls him back into his arms, hugging him from behind. “Don’t go.”

 

It feels familiar. The nervousness, the unease, the feeling Woohyun is feeling, it feels like…

 

Like everything Sunggyu is feeling.

 

And Sunggyu realizes right away what it is. Because he’s not as oblivious as Dongwoo; no, he’s much, much sharper. And his whole face reddens and his own heart beats even faster and suddenly Woohyun’s breath is in his ear, whispering.

 

“I think I like you.”

 

The voice is small and the impact is big. Tears are threatening to fall.

 

-

 

Drip. Drip. Drip.

 

-

 

Sunggyu is looking out the window at the rain, watching the clear drops slide down the glass, leaving streaks that become more and more narrow until fading away into smaller droplets, only to mesh with another new drop. He sighs and turns around, and the sight makes his eyes twitch.

 

“Yah, Lee Sungyeol, get back to work; you caused this whole mess.”

 

Sungyeol, who had thrown himself onto the couch in exhaustion, groans, and Myungsoo had to come over and pull him upwards (with what seems to be a lot of difficulty). Everyone had left, leaving only the seven of them to clean up the mess.

 

“Hyung, you’re slacking, too! You keep looking out the window.”

 

“I’m not slacking! I’m looking to see if my mom’s coming back anytime soon, because if this house isn’t cleaned up by then, I’m screwed.”

 

From a few feet away, Woohyun is picking up trash from the table with a frown. “I didn’t even go to the stupid party. Why am I doing this?”

 

“You deserve it, that’s why.”

 

No one understands Sunggyu’s reason except Sunggyu and Woohyun themselves, but neither say anything, and the cleaning resumes, along with all the jokes and smiles.

 

“You missed out on the confession of a lifetime, hyung. Hoya hit it big in front of everyone. You should’ve manned up and done it like that instead of running away like a chicken,” Myungsoo says bluntly, and Woohyun turns and hisses at his dongsaeng.

 

Sunggyu freezes, and turns around slowly. Myungsoo doesn’t….

 

But Myungsoo is looking at him with a smile, and Sunggyu clicks his tongue. ‘He does know.’

 

The door clicks. Everyone freezes.

 

Oh .

 

Sunggyu runs to the door, but he’s not fast enough. The sound of “I’m home!” hits the room. But it’s not his mother’s voice. Instead, his older sister (oh crap, he forgot she was coming today) waltzes in, her luggage behind her. She freezes at the sight, and Sunggyu freezes, too. So does everyone in back of him.

 

“Uh… did you have a party, Gyu?” Sunggyu inwardly gulps, as his sister’s eyes narrow and scan the room. But then they freeze and widen.

 

No movement for what seems to be a long time. And then…

 

“Oh my god, he is the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” Sunggyu turns around to see who his sister is pointing to. It’s Myungsoo, who seems a little embarrassed at the upfront acknowledgement. There’s a slight blush on his cheeks. But of course it would be Myungsoo. Even guys would admit Myungsoo was handsome.

 

Sunggyu turns back around, eyes determined. It was a risky idea, but if it worked, it would save his skin.

 

“I’ll give you his number if you don’t tell mother.”

 

-

 

“I can’t believe you gave your sister my number, hyung.”

 

“I was trying to survive. You can blame the person who said the party was at my place.”

 

“Your sister keeps asking me to send pictures of myself. I don’t know how to reply.”

 

“...I’m sorry, Myungsoo-ah.” Myungsoo forgives him, but he doesn’t look all that happy, and Sunggyu feels a little guilty. The seven of them are sitting together in a cafe, hanging out (rather, it’s more like Sunggyu, Woohyun, Dongwoo, and Hoya are scrambling to finish up their project as the three youngest accompany them).

 

Sungyeol frowns. “But Myungsoo belongs to me,” he says thoughtfully, and Sungjong slaps him painfully on the arm. “Ow, you slap like a girl!”

 

Sungjong sticks his tongue out at him. “Of course you would know.”

 

Myungsoo seems a little happy at this statement, and Sunggyu can feel it. He smiles. These two are inseparable.

 

“Gyu, focus your attention over here!” Woohyun is emitting a small bit of jealousy, and Sunggyu feels a little happy, but he doesn’t show it.

 

“I’m done with my part, thank you very much. We’re just missing the one person who has been bailing out on the project for a week and we’ll be all done, so why don’t you hurry up and finish? I don’t want to sit here all day.”

 

“Guys, I think I’m not using this correctly…” Next to him, Dongwoo is trying to squeeze the glue out from a bottle. He shakes it a little too hard and a pool of white spills onto the poster.

 

“Oh !”

 

“Wait, no, we can work that, spill the glue all over the place and let it dry; it’ll be a decoration!”

 

“Are you ing stupid, Nam Woohyun?”

 

“Shut the hell up--”

 

Hoya and Woohyun start to bicker as Dongwoo tries to figure out what to do and Sunggyu turns his attention away from them, his head starting to hurt at the stupidity of the situation.

 

He can feel it again, that nervousness and hesitation of a person who has just fallen in love, and he smiles at the nostalgia. It’s growing, and growing, and wait, what’s going on, why is it growing, and he looks around and his eyes land on one person who is walking over, and stops at their table. Huh.

 

…

 

Huh?

 

Everyone looks up, and the person seems a little nervous. The person looks around a little bit, and seems to gain some courage, before turning to Sungjong.

 

“Um, hi, I--that is--it’s just--you’re really beautiful! Do you--do you think I could have your number?”

 

Sungjong blinks.

 

Everyone else at the table looks at each other, before a sly smile unanimously creeps up on each of their faces.

 

Dongwoo starts to whistle.

 

“IF YOU WANT MY BROTHER YOU HAVE TO GO THROGUH ME--” Sungyeol bites his tongue while he says it, and screams as he grabs onto Myungsoo’s arm, who pushes his drink towards Sungyeol.

 

Sunggyu smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

--------

 

 

I think I'm incapable of anything other than fluff or crack, oh no ;-;.