That night Mingyu almost wished he’d never wake up and so when he woke up the next morning he felt a groggy mood spread over him. He couldn’t exactly remember what he had dreamt of, but he could distinctively remember hearing Wonwoo’s laugh echo out inside his head. It had spread warmth through him which felt so real that he ached for it to come back.

His mood only got worse as he questioned to himself why he had felt like that when Wonwoo had come up in his dream. The feeling was familiar, yet he couldn’t exactly remember what it was and where he felt it before.

The warmth from that dream started to build within Mingyu once again as he made his way out of bed as he remembered his little exchange with Wonwoo last night. He found a goofy smile playing on his face as the memories came back to him.

How he thought they had hit it off pretty well, even though all the teasing had occurred, he honestly felt a connection between the two. He couldn’t believe Wonwoo actually enjoyed his cooking and didn’t entirely hate him anymore.

He felt as though he had truly sparked a relationship he’d want to keep forever.

Mingyu subconsciously made his way to his bedroom window and found himself glancing into Wonwoo’s garden. He’d become so used to seeing Wonwoo in there that it looked almost empty and dead without his presence there.

He pressed his forehead against the window and the cold glass cooled down his currently heating mind. It was starting to occur to him when he had last felt this feeling.

It was a crush.

Mingyu had never really thought about his uality before, and he thought it would bother him as he thought about himself being in a relationship with another male and All the small intimacies and telling his parents he would experience. And thought that the thought of all the very physical intimacies would disturb him to an extent, but it really didn’t.

He didn’t want to come down on any labels just yet, but Mingyu hardly felt any doubts about having feelings towards another male. In fact he felt quite relieved that he found it so easy to find acceptance within himself so easily.

Thoughts crossed his mind of all the little things that really made him smile the night before. Mingyu’s mind then wondered to the future, maybe he had a chance of getting closer to Wonwoo, maybe he might stand a chance with him and maybe he would be able to constantly feel the warmth he felt in his dream.

Disbelief spread through him as he realised he sounded like a love sick teenage girl, especially how cliché it sounded since the two of them were only on good terms since the night before.

Mingyu suddenly let out a loud grunt as a particular detail came back to him. He didn’t know why he had suggested Wonwoo staying over last night, and even though he clearly stated it as a joke an embarrassing fluster came over him.

What would he have done if he had said yes? What if he hadn’t had realised that he was joking and came onto Mingyu?

Mingyu felt a different kind of heat come over his face and started to feel parts of his pants start to shift. It then hit him of a major setback that may prevent him from ever having anything more than friendship with Wonwoo.

“He’s probably straight” The words had left his thoughts and was voiced out. The tall boy found himself pouting and making fake sobbing sounds as he realised his fate.

Glancing towards the clock he realised that it was almost 12pm, so he decided that standing around and moping about crushing on a straight boy he had just started to talk to was not going to benefit him in anyway.

Whipping around suddenly to head towards the bathroom, Mingyu almost missed a small figure jogging from Wonwoo’s house towards the opposite direction away from Mingyu’s.

He pressed as closely against the window as he could, trying to steal a glance at this figure. All he could manage was catching a tall, slender figure with shoulder length blonde hair.

“Wonwoo, is that your girlfriend?” He whispered to himself as Wonwoo emerged from his house, laughing loudly at the girl that was running off.

His bad mood had rece again as he made his way to the bathroom. The movement in his pants had completely halted and he found himself in complete numbness. He thought the cold water would help but nothing seemed to help.

Making his way downstairs he was surprised to have found his mother quietly sitting in the kitchen typing away at some email.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were going to come home this soon” His mood subsided a little as he quietly came his mother and hugged her.

It wasn’t till then he realised how much he was missing her. He was shook over how spending a small amount of time with a person could change his emotions completely. And all he wanted to do was curl up and be a small child with his mum again.

“Mingyu it’s almost the afternoon, what have you been doing all night?” Even though her question was serious, her voice still echoed with love.

“I didn’t do anything, I guess I was just really exhausted” He had spotted a small basket full of different vegetables near the stove and couldn’t recall when he had got these.

Before he could ask his mother if she had got them, she had piped up once again.

“The boy from next door dropped those off this morning, he wanted to see you but I told him you were asleep so he said he’ll see you later” She had gotten up as she spoke and had reached for a little envelope from on top the fridge.

“He came back around after saying he realised he had to do something, so he gave me this letter to give to you”

She handed over a small creamed washed paper which had been perfectly folded over. He opened it slowly and a smile crept onto his lips as he read it.

Mingyu

Thank you for the meal last night, I really enjoyed it.

I wanted to give you some of the vegetables I grew, I hope you’ll be able to make something delicious for you and your mum.

Let us think about this exchange as a peace treaty~

Thank you again, kid.

Wonwoo ~

P.S – I wanted to see you today but you were sleeping. Your mother is a kind woman, she looks like your sister. Tell her thank you as well

 He felt dazed because of the letter, and he read over each word repeatedly and only snapped out of his cycle when his mum questioned when he and Wonwoo had become friends. Giving her the quick rundown – leaving out the crush part - his mother gave him a laughing approval and was happy he made friends with him because he seemed to be a “respectable figure” for Mingyu to look up to.

Kissing his mum on the cheek, Mingyu grabbed a bun from the pantry and made his way back up to his room.

Closing his door gently, he made his way over to his desk. It was positioned right next to his window, though he could not see Wonwoo’s garden while he sat there.

He nibbled on his bread as he contemplated whether he was overthinking his feelings.

Hearing humming from outside, Mingyu sat up straight and tried to steal a glance over the window. Failing to do so, he stood quickly and sat right back down again.

Wonwoo was in his garden again, and there was no girl with him. Relief subsided Mingyu as he half expected to see the girl with him.

Temptation was spreading over him to go down there and talk to the boy, but he felt as though he would be acting like a jealous girl stalking her crush.

He knelt down at the window sill and peaked over, hiding the chances of him being seen by Wonwoo.

The boy had laid out a blanket and rested on top. His eyes were plastered on the book he held and Mingyu couldn’t help but wonder how he could get his attention like that.

The wind was strong outside and he could see Wonwoo’s hair flying around. He looked so perfect, as though he was posing for a magazine, effortlessly looking so candidly perfect.

A dull ache was spreading through Mingyu’s knees and he realised that if he didn’t get up now he’d probably never have the energy to bother to get up.

Standing, Mingyu found himself sneezing causing him to step forward and hit his head on the window. Just when he thought he had fixed his composure, a series of sneezes exploded out of him as though he was being punched in the chest.

After his little moment, Mingyu realised that he was going to have a lovely bruise on his head from where he hit his head on the window, not once – but three times.

He found himself making eye contact with a particular neighbour that was staring up at him in confusion.

Embarrassment flooded him, though he was glad Wonwoo probably couldn’t see the red crossing his cheeks.

The raven haired boy simply shook his head and went back to reading his book.

“Ahhh it” Mingyu rolled his eyes at himself realising that since Wonwoo already saw him he might as well go and actually talk to him.

“That’s right – just go and give into temptation of falling for your straight older neighbour”