“Hey,” Sanghyuk smiled, running up to Wonsik, “have you been waiting here long?”

“No,” Wonsik assured his childhood friend, “I recently got here myself.”

“Good,” Sanghyuk grinned, “I’d hate to think you’ve been waiting here long. Especially since it’s so rare for you to ask me outside like this.”

“It’s not that rare,” Wonsik huffed, glancing around at all the happy couples taking a stroll through the park.

“Kind of is,” Sanghyuk laughed, taking hold of Wonsik’s arm and dragging him in the direction of the nearest ice cream stand, “come on, it’s hot, so let’s get something cold.”

“Alright,” Wonsik nodded, letting Sanghyuk do as he wished. It gave him time to gather his thoughts for what he wanted to ask Sanghyuk.

The whole day went much like that. Sanghyuk dragged Wonsik around and the young scientist just let it happen. Not that this was much different then what they normally did. Whenever Sanghyuk managed to get Wonsik out of his lab, it was the young fly boy who took charge of what they did.  That was why it surprised Sanghyuk so much when Wonsik took charge of what they were going to do just as Sanghyuk was about to suggest that they call it a day.

“The river?” Sanghyuk blinked, “ok. I don’t see why not.”

And Sanghyuk didn’t see anything wrong with it. It just felt weird for Wonsik to want to do something. Well, something outside of his lab anyway. Some of their old friends from school had liked to joke about Wonsik’s love of his lab, they’d claim that Wonsik would marry his lab if he could. Sanghyuk would always laugh along, but secretly he didn’t find half as much humor in the joke as everyone else did.

Sanghyuk had only recently realized why the joke bothered him so much. He was in love with Wonsik. Heck, he’d probably been in love with the brilliant scientist since they were little. And that joke……it hurt him because it was true. Wonsik would probably marry is work if he could. If Sanghyuk ever got up the courage – or lost his mind – and confessed……Wonsik would probably just look up from his work and ask if Sanghyuk said anything because he wasn’t paying attention.

“We’re here,” Wonsik said, turning to face Sanghyuk with a nervous smile.

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nodded, frowning slightly as he took in how tense Wonsik looked, “what’s wrong? You look really worried.”

“I-I,” Wonsik cleared his throat, “I want to ask you something. An, um, confession of, ah, something.”

“Ok,” Sanghyuk said slowly, his own nerves starting to bubble up and make him a little jumpy.

Heck, it made him more than a little jumpy. The last time he’d been as scared was during his first flight as part of some junior flyer program his dad signed him up for. It was before he realized his love of being in the sky, back when it was only his father who wanted him in the military. Sanghyuk had almost made himself sick with fear until he actually got up into the air and felt…..free.

Oh, what the young fly boy wouldn’t give to be up in the air right then.

“We’ve known each other since we were little,” Wonsik said, words sounding more the a little rehearsed thanks to how many times he’d gone over what he wanted to say, “and……and….I….you see, I’ve…..”

All the practice sure didn’t help though.

“Hey,” Sanghyuk smiled, his love for the other outshining his own fear, “it’s ok. Just take your time. breath, Wonsik. Just breath. And whatever you’re gonna say? It’s ok. It’s not gonna, like, make me mad or anything. I’m not gonna cry or—.”

“I love you,” Wonsik said, cutting Sanghyuk off.

“Y-you….what?” Sanghyuk breathed, eyes wide as he went over those three little words again and again to make sure he heard them right, “you…..you love me?”

“Yeah,” Wonsik nodded, his moment of confidence failing, “I-I do.”

“I love you, too.”

A/N: ah, this almost makes me sad that they didn’t work out. Almost because….well obviously *points to the chasang and wontaek couples* things worked out for the best. As a side note, i'm planning to go through all chapters tomorrow doing some small editing. i was going through everything last night and found several places where i messed up spelling or grammer or something like that. if you guys see anything, please give me the heads up!