Wonwoo’s kick had left quite an impression on Mingyu’s thigh, as they made their way back to his house; he could feel that spot pulsing. The dark haired boy had been walking from a bit of a distance away from Mingyu and he could feel his glare burning into the back of his head. He realised that maybe the other boy had his reasons to be a tad angry with him, but he couldn’t help the sneeze.

They had got to Mingyu’s front door and both were surprised to find it open.

“Is someone else home?” Wonwoo’s voice spoke out hesitantly as Mingyu clearly was trying to recall why the front door was open.

“Ahhhhh when I went over to save you I forgot to lock the door or like even close it”

A lightbulb went off in Mingyu’s head realising that was probably a dumb move considering how long he was over at Wonwoo’s.

Wonwoo looked at Mingyu blankly and he could see him considering knocking some sense into him, but instead the other boy stepped back and was ready to go back to his own house. Mingyu quickly stepped through the doorway and grabbed Wonwoo, pulling him inside as he did.

The house was dim, the lights from the kitchen had allowed from a soft luminous glow to spread towards the door. The proximity between Mingyu and Wonwoo had surged this flustered feeling within Wonwoo’s stomach. He was able to take in the taller boys features at this point and came to realise that Mingyu had eyes that different hues of brown through them. The low lighting seemed to make parts of them glow, and they were like golden caramel orbs staring back at him.

“Lost in my eyes, my garden fairy?” Mingyu was slyly smirking down at Wonwoo, who had seemed to zone off staring at him.

A deep groan left Wonwoo as he pulled away.

“Get ed”

“Now, now, I didn’t know you swung that way. If you want to have dinner first, you know maybe get to know each other…”

Mingyu shut his smartass mouth as he saw hells fire appear in Wonwoo’s eyes. He realised if he wanted to live through the next few hours he’d probably have to be careful with his words.

“so um what do you want to eat? Are you allergic to anything?” Mingyu stumbled his way to the kitchen, Wonwoo silently following behind.

“I was going to make pasta, is that okay?” Wonwoo nodded in agreement.

He took a seat at the kitchen counter, and spun silently around on the chair, taking in all the details of Mingyu’s house.

 From the outside, the house did not seem like much though it was like a completely different space on the inside. The kitchen was huge, the counter was like an island in the middle of the kitchen and the counters wrapped around it from about two meters away.

He could hear Mingyu mumbling, going on about the pasta and asking him questions about how he liked his pasta, which Wonwoo vaguely replied to. He spotted some photos on the fridge and made his way over to them.

He focused on one photo in particular; there was a small young boy whose skin was quite tan for a Korean boy. He was cuddling up to a large dog whose fur basically covered the small boy. He glanced back at Mingyu and then the photo, there was something about this particular photo that made Wonwoo feel warm, almost as though he was admiring someone he’d love. The small boy’s hair was almost black but his eyes shone with caramel brown. He thought maybe it could be Mingyu but Mingyu’s hair was hazel brown, and his skin was tanner than most Koreans but not like the kid in the photo.

He was about to ask who it was when another photo caught his attention. A small churn entered his stomach as he took in the context. It was relatively recent photo of Mingyu standing with another girl. She was unbelievably beautiful and Mingyu was looking down on her with total admiration. Was this his girlfriend? His curiosity started to take over as he then searched the other photos to see if there were any more clues.

“Mingyu”

Mingyu had stopped talking and was concentrating on making the food as he noticed Wonwoo’s attention was elsewhere. He spoke up and made Wonwoo jump as he realised Mingyu had appeared right behind him.

“Who is that?” Wonwoo pointed at the photo of the younger boy and Mingyu let out a small chuckle.

“It’s me, it’s hard to tell, I’ve changed a lot”

Mingyu had rested his chin on Wonwoo’s shoulder, completely forgetting the other boy had threatened him just before. And he was just about to again but Wonwoo caught a glance of Mingyu from the side to see him warmly staring at the photo.

He looked so content and it was then Wonwoo could then see the clear resemblance between him and the young boy.

“Is that your dog?”

Wonwoo’s curiosity was slipping back to the picture with the girl but he couldn’t think of a way to just ask him.

“Nah, my sister is allergic to dogs. It was just some random one. I love dogs so whenever I saw one it just made me so happy”.

 Mingyu stepped back and made his way back to the boiling pasta. Wonwoo followed suite and was standing next to him.

A mixture of scents made its way towards Wonwoo and he could have easily passed out with how good it smelt.

“Did you make all of this from scratch?” Mingyu had brought a spoon up towards Wonwoo’s mouth to try the sauce, and he was so deep in awe he didn’t even question the boy feeding him.

“Yeah, I have a lot of spare time and my parents work a lot. They get very tired so I try to cook for them. It’s really helped me to improve my skill”.

Mingyu went on about how he made the pasta and sauce as he plated up for the two of them.

They were sitting at the kitchen counter, not bothering to make it over to the dining table. Wonwoo couldn’t believe that the walking tree could produce such amazing food.

They were eating in comfortable silence, but Mingyu thought that things had gotten relatively peaceful between them at the moment that he could probably have a decent conversation with the other.

“Wonwoo, tell me about yourself”

The other boy looked up in surprise and contemplated what to say.

“What do you want to know?”

There was so many things that Wonwoo wanted to know about Mingyu but he had no idea what to tell him about himself.

“Start with basics – how old are you, are you in school, siblings, pets, hobbies, music, got a girlfriend, that sort of thing”

Mingyu went on listing things and Wonwoo started creating a basic profile in his head.

“Ahhh I think we’re the same age? I’m born in 96, I’m doing a literature course right now and work in a small café. It’s a casual thing, sometimes I work with friend at a bar but that’s about it. Ah I have a brother – he models and I just read and garden in my spare time”

Wonwoo spilled out the words in a rhythmic flow that just seemed to enchant Mingyu.

“I’m a year younger than you” Mingyu chuckled again and Wonwoo found himself staring at him in confusion.

“Seriously? You’re still in school then?” Mingyu hummed in agreement and continued eating.

“I never see you in uniform though” Wonwoo said that more to himself than Mingyu but he didn’t seem to pick up on it

“Yeah in the afternoon I work at a library – so y I know, so I’m usually out of my uniform by then”

Mingyu started laughing to himself once again, and he was starting to question himself why he was so giggly today.

“It’s surprising, our siblings are living in such luxurious ways yet here we are working part time in café’s and bars and being y librarians.” Mingyu’s voice dripped with sarcasm as he pulled out words to emphasise them.

“What does your sister do?”

“oh yeah, she’s a make-up artist. She’s travelling around Europe right now. She’s been gone for almost two months now.” Mingyu’s voice showed hints that he missed her but he proudly pointed over at the photo that Wonwoo was looking at earlier.

Wonwoo suddenly felt himself cringe at his earlier feelings, that beautiful girl was his sister.

He started laughing, his laugh was deeper than Mingyu’s but gave that same rich ring that Mingyu had.

“Wonwoo, I know we haven’t really gotten along before. But I really want to be friends, I don’t even know why there was so much tension between us”

Mingyu was looking down sadly at his plate and was puffing out his cheeks like a small child.

“I guess so – I mean look at us. Aren’t we friends already? You came running to my rescue, I think that makes you some sort of friendly acquaintance”

Wonwoo felt admiration for Mingyu in this moment that he let him have some glory which he was hinting at earlier.

Mingyu grinned so widely that he put the sun to shame with how bright it was. But that soon disappeared as he stood. He collected the plates and kept eye contact with Wonwoo. There was something sly within the look he was giving Wonwoo and he unsure what to make of it.

“so you know, I have the house to myself tonight, so if you want to  stay over” Mingyu purred his words at Wonwoo which he immediately shot back.

“Ahhhh so this is why I automatically disliked you. You’re an immature little kid. I have to go, isn’t it past your bed time”. Wonwoo stood up and made his way over to the door, eyes rolling at Mingyu’s comment.

They stared each other down, Mingyu’s face visibly twitching from not trying to break out into laughter. As expected, that failed and his little façade crumbled and he found himself giggling like a small child.

“I think we’ll be good friends Wonwoo” The shorter boys sudden cold composure disappeared once again, and found himself laughing along with Mingyu.

“Goodnight Mingyu, you’re a good cook” His acknowledgment was came along with a small punch on his shoulder.

“Thanks for not poisoning me”

“Fly safely home, little garden fairy”

“I live right next door to you. Stop that” Wonwoo left Mingyu’s place.

The taller boy waving frantically as he made the small walk back home.