Am I really asking for that much?  Sungyeol asked himself. He suppressed a sigh and stepped aside to let the guy who was standing at the other side of the door come in.

"Hi! I'm here to see the apartment." The guy said.

Oh no, not an emo kid. Sungyeol thought. The boy looked like a typical teenage emo: black shirt, black skinny jeans and black hair with the fringe covering his eyes, only the eyeliner was missing.

"Um... I think you've mistaken something because I'm looking for a college student not a high school student." Sungyeol said.

"I'm a college student." The emo kid replied. And Sungyeol noticed that his voice was a matter of fact, he didn't sound hurt or offended. He must have heard it a lot.

"Oh, sorry." Sungyeol mumbled feeling embarrassed.

Sungyeol has been looking for a housemate since he had rented his small apartment, he couldn't afford it without having to work a second part time job, but he apartment was perfect for him. It had two bedrooms, a cosy living room and a small kitchen, but more importantly it was ten minutes away from his university, and fifteen minutes from his part time job.

What Sungyeol hadn't predicted was that finding a decent guy; who wasn't looking forward to all the parties he could have there (The first applicant.) An athlete who would wake up at five in the morning every single day for a jog (The second applicant) That guy wasn't bad, but Sungyeol was a light sleeper and he couldn't take the risk of being woken up everyday at five in the morning. A smoker who had admitted that he would drink every night (The third applicant) Well Sungyeol wasn't looking forward to smelling of cigarette and booze and cleaning puke from the sofa.

And now this, an emo kid, who wasn't a kid apparently but still an emo. Sungyeol didn't want to deal with listening to hardcore depressing songs. And what if he invited his emo friends and they recited emo poems in his living room? What if he threw his pink sofa cushions when he wasn't looking? Why was it so hard to find a normal guy like him and share the space peacefully?

Sungyeol urged the guy, who was looking around observing the place,  to sit on the sofa, he sat on the other end of the sofa and held his 'roommate questionnaire'  that he had printed from the Internet . The other guy tilted his head and was looking at him questionably but he didn't say anything and waited as Sungyeol looked at the sheet in his hands and read the first question.

"Do you smoke?" Sungyeol asked.

"No." Emo guy replied, shaking his head.

"Drink during the week?" Another shake of head.

"Do you clean often?"

" I take a shower everyday before I go to sleep, I'm not messy and I like to clean frequently, I can also clean the remaining of the house but we should take turns, I would love if the living room and the kitchen get organized after any of us use them." The guy finished. And Sungyeol gaped at him, he suddenly felt that he was the one being interviewed, and well Sungyeol liked keeping the house clean but he wasn't really organized. He had a job and assignments and a life.

"Are you planning to throw parties in the house?"

"No."

"Do you wake up early?"

"Depends on my classes, 7 or 8?"

"Are you seeing someone?" Sungyeol didn't feel comfortable asking the question, it was too private, but he needed to know if he was going to deal with weird noises or awkward meetings with the girlfriend.

"I'm single."

That was perfect for Sungyeol, the guy sounded good so far but there was still the emo part, and so he continued asking him questions and Sungyeol liked most of what the other said.

Two hours later Sungyeol was still talking with the emo guy, who had belatedly introduced himself as Kim Myungsoo. The conversation flowed easily between them, so without giving it more thoughts he asked. "So when will you move in?"

 

***

 

"Eat this, don't go like that." Sungyeol said as he threw Myungsoo an energy bar.

"Thanks, you're the best." Myungsoo replied as he struggled to put his shoes on, "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" He whined.

"I did, your alarm did but you sleep like the dead." Sungyeol sighed, "I could be asleep right now if it wasn't for you, why can't you wake up? I really don't__" But Sungyeol didn't finish his grumbling, the other already disappeared after throwing, "See you later." Over his shoulder.

 

It's been a month since Myungsoo had moved in, and the first week Sungyeol didn't know how to behave around Myungsoo, he had never lived with a stranger before and the other guy was quiet. They hadn't really spoken much, but things started to change between them when Sungyeol had snapped  at Myungsoo one Sunday morning.

Sungyeol was on the kitchen table drinking coffee when Myungsoo had emerged from his room, trudging slowly into the kitchen, rubbing at one eye. His hair a mess.

"Morning." Sungyeol had chirped. But the only response he got was a grunt.

Sungyeol had watched as Myungsoo walked aimlessly between the kitchen table, the counter and the fridge, seeming lost, like he had never been in that kitchen before, after the third round Sungyeol asked. "Coffee?"

A grunt.

Sungyeol forced a smile on his face. It's okay, it's fine. He told himself bear with it, remember you want to live in peace.  He got up, picked a cup, and gently pushed Myungsoo toward the chair, poured him a cup of coffee, and put it next to him. Myungsoo muttered something that sounded like 'Thanks', and with a sigh he took a sip of his coffee.

Sungyeol should have left the other guy alone then, and went to his room or kept his mouth shut, but he couldn't, Sungyeol liked talking and poking his nose into other people's business. So he asked. "How are the classes going? Any assignments yet?" Sungyeol figured that it was a subject they could talk about, they had been back to school for a week now, and he already had assignments, he thought he could whine about it with Myungsoo. But the other only nodded and continued sipping his coffee.

"The weather is nice today, do you have any plans?" He tried again. The forced smile was back to his face, and he couldn't believe that he was making the awkward weather conversation, but what else could he do? Maybe shut up. A small, annoying voice in the back of his head told him.

"Hmm." Was all he got from the other, and Sungyeol snapped.

Now, Sungyeol wasn't known to listen to other people, even the rational voices in his head, nor was he a patient person to begin with and the black haired guy was testing his patience, he had never been ignored in his life, especially when he was only trying to be friendly. " What the hell is wrong with you?" Sungyeol's voice was higher than he had intended, and he saw the other flinch but he couldn't stop, too upset to care. "I've been here trying to be friendly, but all you did was grunt. If you don't want to talk you should take your coffee and stay in your room." He stopped because Myungsoo looked up at him in mild confusion, looking thoroughly puzzled, like he didn't know why this stranger was shouting at him, like Sungyeol was insane.

So Sungyeol took a deep breath and stormed to his room, leaving the other alone in the kitchen.

You should have done that earlier, before you mess up everything. He scolded himself.

 

Sungyeol was greeted by a delicious smell the moment he stepped through the entrance, coming back home from his part time job. Sungyeol felt his mouth watering, and stomach rambling, but he stood stock still at the entrance for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Should he pretend like nothing happened? Or should he just go to his room and pretend like he wasn't there? And as Sungyeol decided on the latter Myungsoo appeared in the hallway. "Hi!" He said with a small smile, "You're just in time, I prepared something do you want to eat with me?" He looked at Sungyeol's eyes hopeful.

"Uh... Sure, yeah."

"Great." Myungsoo said and headed back to the kitchen, Sungyeol following behind him and sat on the chair, he was suddenly feeling that he was a guest in his own home, then he realized that he was still wearing his coat and his backpack so he went to his room, changed his clothes and when he entered back into the kitchen Myungsoo was stirring what looked and smelled like Kimchi stew in the pot, held the hot pot with his bare hands and hurried to the kitchen while muttering, "Hot, hot, hot." And almost dropped it in the middle of the table.

Well, Sungyeol thought, I hope it's edible and I won't have to pretend that it's good or die of food poisoning.

And as they started eating, and Sungyeol relaxed because the stew was actually good, Myungsoo started talking. "I'm sorry about this morning... I'm just not a morning person."

"I figured." Sungyeol replied, he suspected that Myungsoo wasn't a morning person when he had spent the whole week listening to Myungsoo's alarm going off several times and the other wouldn't show any signs that he was awake, then he would stumble at the last minute, running late and rubbing Sungyeol of his sleep.

"Yea, so don't take it personally."

"It's fine, I won't."

"Thanks."

"This is really good." Sungyeol said mentioning at the stew, "Do you cook often? I haven't seen you cook the past two weeks."

 

Myungsoo grinned. "Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I was busy but now I'm going to try to cook frequently." He shoveled  more rice in his mouth, chewed, then asked. "Do you cook?"

"Nope."

"I could cook for both of us when I have time, but don't expect much I only know few dishes."

"That's great." Sungyeol grinned.

 

So they settled into their new routine, Myungsoo cooking and Sungyeol doing the dishes, they even decided to split the grocery bill.

After few weeks Sungyeol's worries about Myungsoo being an emo were long forgotten, he realized that Myungsoo only liked wearing black clothes, and his pink cushions were still safe on the sofa, in fact, Sungyeol found Myungsoo several times sleeping on the sofa while cuddling the cushion.

Myungsoo was easy to talk to when he wasn't sleepy. And Sungyeol realized that Myungsoo doesn't shut up once he started talking, especially if he talked about something he liked, like photography. Sungyeol liked how his face lighted up and how he got so passionate and animated.

He slowly got used to spending the evenings with Myungsoo in the living room, their textbooks, and papers scattered around the coffee table and the carpeted floor doing their assignments.

Sungyeol had started getting up from his bed and knocking on Myungsoo's door when he had slept through the three alarms he had set. Sungyeol had begrudgingly accepted that he had to give up on his sleep when Myungsoo had early morning classes, luckily for him it was only twice a week. And as the weeks passed he started storming into Myungsoo's room to find him curled into a ball in his cocoon of blankets and pillows, he would pull the cover off of Myungsoo, exposing him to the cold. Myungsoo would mumble something incomprehensible and roll over, pulling his knees even closer to his chest, and burying his face deeper into the pillow to get some warmth back. And Sungyeol would jab at him until he woke up.

Sungyeol was happy with how things were going, living with Myungsoo was peaceful and nice, completely different from the horror stories he had heard from his friend Sunggyu,  about his roommate. Myungsoo nagged a little about the mess, but Sungyeol thought that he could get used to it, he was Sunggyu's friend after all... Or so he thought.

 

"Sungyeol? When are you going to pick up your cups?" Myungsoo said, standing at Sungyeol's threshold.

Sungyeol was in his room working on his article for the university's newspaper . "Later." He waved a hand vaguely in Myungsoo's direction without lifting his head from his laptop.

"Later when? You said that yesterday and the day before and the day before." Myungsoo's voice

Sungyeol just wanted to finish the article so he could finally relax, he turned around to find Myungsoo scowling at him, his hands crossed over his chest. "If you're so bothered why don't you do it?"

"It's not my mess to clean, I thought we agreed to clean the mess behind us but you never do."

Well, that was kind of true, but Sungyeol was busy, he had assignments and midterms and articles to write and his part time job, sometimes he was so tired he could barely stand up. What did Myungsoo do? An annoying voice in the back of his head told him that Myungsoo was just like him, he was busy too and tired but he still cleaned up, however instead of getting up to clean up his mess, he said. "Do you think you're all that great? Nagging all the time, I clean up when I want to not when you order me." By the time he finished talking he was standing up next to Myungsoo, he was too close to see the surprise flicker on the other's face, his brows furrowed. Myungsoo opened his mouth but before he could say anything Sungyeol continued. "Because of you I had to give up on my sleep, you always leave the lights on and you slam the doors without thinking about the others."

"What is this? Are we playing who's the worst?"

Sungyeol shrugged."You started it."

"I didn't start anything, I only told you to clean up, I've been asking you for days.I've been so patient with you, I haven't said anything even when you leave your dirty clothes in the bathroom." He stopped, taking a deep breath and continued. "And you could sleep, I didn't ask you to wake me up. And you're too loud when you talk on the phone, you don't even think about others who are trying to study."

"You ate my chocolate without asking." Sungyeol blurted out, immediately wishing he could take it back.

Myungsoo blinked at him few times, his lip jutted out into a pout. Sungyeol was suddenly aware of the silence that had ensued, they stared at each other for a few moments, then Myungsoo turned around towards the door, he mumbled." Im going to buy you another one." And disappeared.

Sungyeol stood frozen in his place, not knowing what to do. He shouldn't have said that, they've already talked about it. And he had totally forgotten about it so why was he bringing it up now?

 

It happened during midterms, they were both tired and they survived on noodles and energy bars, drinking more coffee than it should be allowed. Myungsoo had told him that he ate his chocolate bar because there was no food left in the apartment, he was hungry and he needed sugar to be able to stay awake. He had offered to buy him another one, but Sungyeol had told him that it was fine, it was just chocolate. And the whole thing was forgotten.

Sungyeol really didn't mind that he touched his things without asking as long as they weren't his toys or figurines, he was surprised himself that he had brought it up again. It must be the stress from the exams.

Sungyeol flinched when the door was slammed  closed. , he went back to his desk, and attempted to start writing his article.

Half an hour later the blank page was still staring at him, he couldn't concentrate and he could think of is Myungsoo. And why didn't he come back yet? Didn't he go to buy chocolate? You shouldn't take this long to buy a bar of chocolate.

Sungyeol ruffled his hair in frustration and got up, he went to the living room and picked his cups one by one, why there were so many and everywhere? Two cups on the coffee table, one on the shelf, on the tv table, and two more in the kitchen. Sungyeol checked the bathroom, just in case and yep he found another one, he couldn't remember for the life of him when he had used that many cups or why he even drunk his coffee in the bathroom. He sighed and put the cups in the sink, he went back to his article. He should be able to focus now.

Two hours later, Myungsoo wasn't back yet, Sungyeol has only written one paragraph, that he wasn't satisfied with and he was pondering calling Myungsoo, his finger hovering on Myungsoo's name on his mobile.

What if he was lost? A reasonable voice in the back of his head told him that Myungsoo knew how to take care of himself. But what if he decided to run away? The annoying voice told him, are you stupid?

Yes, Sungyeol thought I'm being stupid, Myungsoo was a grown up up, he could go wherever he wanted to go and come back whenever he wanted to come back. I'm not his mother.

But Sungyeol couldn't shake the unsettling feeling he felt.He went back to the kitchen, washed the cups, went to the bathroom gathered his dirty clothes and put them in the hamper in his bedroom. Then he settled on the sofa in the living room, with the laptop on his lap.

And Myungsoo came back, Sungyeol had to suppress  the urge to jump on his feet and question the black haired boy, he pretended  that he was typing on his laptop instead.

"Here." Myungsoo said, putting three bars of chocolates on the coffee table.

"You only took one."

"Take the others as an apology." Myungsoo said and turned around to leave to his room, this time Sungyeol jumped to his feet and held Myungsoo's arm. "Look I'm sorry, I don't care that you ate it without asking and you know it. I was just stressed with this article and you choose the wrong timing..." And he trailed off, Myungsoo put his hand up to stop him from rambling on.

"No you're right I shouldn't have touched something yours before asking."

"I tidied up."

"I can see that, thanks. I'll try to turn the lights off."

Sungyeol smiled. "Are we good now?"

Myungsoo smiled back. "Good." And left to his room.

Sungyeol sat back down on the sofa, now feeling much better and ready to write when his stomach started rumbling.

He was hungry.

Sungyeol knocked on Myungsoo's door, then poked his head around the door. "Myungsoo I'm hungry."

"Eat something."

"There is nothing, aren't you hungry?"

"I ate with my friends."

"You were with your friends?" Myungsoo nodded. "I was worried__" Myungsoo arched an eyebrow at him, "Uh, I mean you said you were going to buy chocolate but you didn't comeback and I was waiting, I couldn't write my article or do anything."When Myungsoo looked at him unimpressed, he stopped, then "Since it's your fault, give me food."

"Are you serious?" Sungyeol nodded. "Please? I have to write something but I'm stuck and I need food."

Myungsoo sighed. "Alright."

 

Myungsoo dropped the pot of noodles on the coffee table where Sungyeol was trying to work, muttering. "Hot, hot, hot."

"Are you seriously going to do this all the time, why did I buy the mittens then?" Myungsoo only shrugged. "You're going to burn yourself one day." He warned, digging into his noodles.

"So what are you working on?" Myungsoo asked, peeking at his laptop.

"A review about a new restaurant for the newspaper."

"You write for the university's newspaper?"

"Yea!"

"You went to the restaurant and ate and now you're going to write about it? Why is this not my job?" Myungsoo was practically bouncing on the sofa.

Sungyeol laughed. "I guess you're right, you're the interior design  student and you love food.  It's perfect for you."

"And you're literature major, it should be easy for you so what's the problem?"

"It's not what I wanted to write about."

"What did you want to write about?"

"An article about monkeys? For example I wanted to write why monkeys would make great pets." Myungsoo raised an eyebrow and Sungyeol continued. "I've always wanted a monkey pet but everybody say I'm ridiculous, and I want to prove that it's possible ..." Sungyeol trailed off when he realized Myungsoo wasn't saying anything.

"How are you planning to do that?"

Sungyeol was happy that Myungsoo didn't laugh or tell him he's ridiculous like the others did, he was curious, it was a good sign. "If I tell you, you won't laugh?"

"No." Myungsoo said, shaking his head.

"Ok so I'm planning to raise him to be a king. A king of monkeys, well first I'll just teach him how to buy groceries,  then I want him to rule over the snow monkeys fairly and end the discrimination." Sungyeol ended grandly. He had been feeling sad ever since he had learned about the stark hierarchy of who does and who does not get to soak in the hot springs, and wanted to do something so that no monkey would be left out in the cold.

"So you want a snow monkey?"

"Nope, I want a chimpanzee because he's smarter."

"And how is he going to rule over them?"

"Hmm. I haven't thought that far, but he'll be smart so he would figure it out himself."

"How cruel, you're just going to throw him under the bus? Anyway I think having a monkey is possible, I saw on TV fishermen with their pelican pets so it's not impossible, but buying groceries and ruling the is kind of__"

"Pelicans?"

"Yes, those white large birds, with a long beak, and a large pouch?" Myungsoo said, gesturing with his hands, "They live by the water."

"And they're the fishermen's pets? Did they say that?"

"No, but they were with them, and people raise birds in their cages all the time, but these are free, they probably accompany the fishermen on their boats, isn't that nice?"

"You're so weird." Sungyeol laughed.

"Shut up! I'm not, people raise birds all the time, they even raise Falcons in Dubai." Myungsoo said, punching Sungyeol on his arm. "Anyway, stop fantasizing and write your article."

"Right." Sungyeol said, "But after we eat the chocolate." He gave Myungsoo a chocolate bar and added. "Thanks for not laughing."

"Can I laugh now?"

"Jerk."

 

***

 

It was the first day of their holiday, and Sungyeol wanted to laze around doing nothing all day. He was drinking coffee and aimlessly changing the channels when Myungsoo appeared in front of him, fully dressed. And covered with a thick white coat, the fur covering most of his face. Sungyeol gaped at him.

"What's wrong?" Myungsoo asked, grinning.

"One it's Saturday, two it's the holiday, and three it's still early for you to be awake on a Saturday morning."

"I'm busy." Myungsoo replied, the grin never leaving his face, he was practically bouncing on his toes with excitement. "Do you mind if I put a tree in the living room?" He asked, looking at Sungyeol expectantly.

Sungyeol was very confused, Myungsoo was never that excited in the mornings, and why would he put up a tree in their tiny living room? But before he could say anything, Myungsoo added. "It will be small, I promise it won't take so much space."

"Why do you want a tree?"

"You know Christmas tree?"

"Oh! Uh... Sure, of course you can, it doesn't matter if it was big...I don't mind."

The thing was that Sungyeol had never decorated a tree. He wasn't foreign to Christmas, it was hard not to know Christmas was coming when he was Sunggyu's friend and the streets started looking festive from the last week of November.But Sungyeol had never experienced it up close, his family never celebrated it, they never put up a Christmas tree in their home, or bought each other presents, or even cooked a big Christmas meal like he watched in American movies.

Furthermore the atmosphere of Christmas made him feel lonely just like Valentine's day, the festive atmosphere in the streets only made him feel lonely, the streets were busy of happy couple snuggling together in the cold winter nights of Seoul, and Sungyeol who had been coincidently single every Christmas could only watch how everybody around him was happy and loved.

 

"Thanks." Myungsoo beamed at him. "See you later." He waved and disappeared.

 

Myungsoo came back few hours later, loaded with two boxes, cheeks tinted pink and breathing heavily.

"Do you need help?" Sungyeol asked.

"No I'm fine, I got it." He stumbled into the living room, the boxes threatening to fall, and put them in the middle of the room. Then he proceeded to  unpack.

He unpacked the first box, while Sungyeol peered in the second box, that contained Christmas decorations. "Need some help?" He asked again, Myungsoo was already setting up the tree.

"I'm fine." Myungsoo answered, smiling.

Sungyeol watched as Myungsoo fluffed the tree branches, then started weaving the lights around the branches from the top to bottom, however that wasn't easy since the lights were a bit tangled.

"You seriously don't need help? I can untangle that you know, my fingers aren't made of porcelain." Sungyeol said, wriggling his fingers.

Myungsoo snorted and turned to look at him for the first time."Don't be silly. Why would I think your fingers are made of porcelain, I'm just afraid you break the lights."

"I__" Sungyeol started but he got cut off by Myungsoo's mobile ringing.

"Hi, Jjong!" Myungsoo said into the phone. "Yes I'm decorating the tree, and no, I don't need your help." Silence."I want to do it my way that's why I let you decorate the one at home... and look at the result." More silence, "...Iam having fun, I don't have to go crazy to have fun." A sigh "Ok, see you later." He ended the call, ruffled his heart and went back to untangling the lights.

"Is that your little brother?" Sungyeol asked.

"Yea, he made a mess out of our tree at home and he wants to come here to make more mess."

"Maybe he just wanted to help."

"Nope, you haven't seen what he did. He put the lights on himself switched all the lights and started dancing."

"He sounds fun."

"Yea he is fun." Myungsoo agreed, a fond smile playing in his lips.

Sungyeol helped decorating the tree, Myungsoo had reluctantly agreed after Sungyeol wouldn't stop  pestering him.

Sungyeol couldn't help but feel a tiny bit excited after seeing how enthusiastic Myungsoo was about the holiday, how he looked that he was having a good time decorating the tree and humming to himself. He looked like a little boy.

 

When they were done it was dark outside, Myungsoo turned all the lights off and the living room was bathed in the soft glow of the fairy lights, the silver and gold ornaments twinkling. They stood there staring at it, Sungyeol thought that it was beautiful, he looked at   Myungsoo to find him proudly smiling at his work.

They strung more lights and garlands on the the balconies frame and on the bookshelf. Then they had dinner and took turns in the shower, it was so relaxing, Sungyeol haven't felt this relaxed in ages, and when he came out of the shower, Myungsoo was coming out of the kitchen, holding  two cups, wearing checkered pajama pants and a red jumper.

A red jumper.

Myungsoo's wardrobe consisted of black, few white or grey shirts, Sungyeol had never seen him wearing red. He gaped at him and Myungsoo made a face, looking down at his jumper. "Is it too tacky? " He asked.

"It's red." Sungyeol replied than Myungsoo's words registered  and he looked again at the jumper, it wasn't only red, it was red with designs of white snowflakes and reindeers.

Oh, it's a Christmas jumper.

Sungyeol burst into laughter, and said. "Maybe a little,"

But Myungsoo was unfazed. "Are you done?" He asked when Sungyeol stopped laughing. "My mom made it for me." He then the cup in front of Sungyeol. "Hot chocolate?"

Sungyeol wasn't a hot chocolate type of guy, he only drank coffee but the delicious, rich smell wafting from the cups was irresistible so he accepted it gratefully.

"I'm going to watch a movie. Do you want to watch it with me?"

"What movie?"

"I still haven't decided, but I'm going to choose from these." Myungsoo answered, mentioning to the DVD s on the coffee table, "You can pick one."

Sungyeol peered at the DVDs to find that they're mostly romantic comedies. Sungyeol didn't have a favorite genre but romantic comedies weren't what he would go for, than he spotted Home alone. "Let's watch this one."

"Sure." Myungsoo agreed,

They sat on the sofa, Myungsoo pulled his laptop open and inserted the DVD, they watched the movie laughing like it was the first time they've seen it. Myungsoo laughed so much he almost dropped his laptop. Sungyeol have seen him smile and laugh different laughs, but this laugh was completely unrestrained, his face scrunched up, dimples popping out in his cheeks, and clapping like seal.

Sungyeol decided that he liked Myungsoo's seal clapping laugh the best.

 

And then they watched another one, until both started nodding off and decided to call it a night.

After that night it has became their routine to watch movies, drink hot chocolate and eat whatever sweets Myungsoo had. He might have started watching them because he had nothing better to do but enjoyed every single night. Myungsoo watched romantic comedies but made funny remarks at the cheesy scenes, which made watching the movies more enjoyable.

 

***

"I'm telling I'm going to die from the cold this winter, we keep fighting about the heating."

Sungyeol was with his friends, having dinner and complaining about his housemate.

"Are you complaining right now or what?" Howon asked.

"Of course Iam." Sungyeol responded, giving him the 'are you stupid?' look.

"Well it doesn't seem to me that you're complaining... Right hyung?" He nudged Sunggyu who was sitting next to him, too focused in his food to care. Sunggyu nodded nonetheless but was ignored and Howon continued. "I mean when you complain you either frown or glare but you haven't stopped smiling."

"That because he's funny. He once barged into my room screeching that it was too hot and that he was going to die, and I found him in the living room's floor his limbs and that it was too hot." Sungyeol stopped and started laughing as he remembered how weird Myungsoo became when the house was too warm, Sungyeol felt easily and wanted the house to be always warm, but Myungsoo felt warm easily and wanted to keep the heating on to the minimum.

"So because you find him cute you're going to let yourself freeze." That was Sunggyu who had finally started tuning in into their conversation.

Sungyeol looked at him, then looked at Howon who was nodding. "I said he was funny not cute."

"Your expression says otherwise."

Sungyeol opened his mouth to say something, but his phone beeped, Sungyeol unlocked his phone and grinned.

I'm at the grocery store you need anything?

I got marshmallow.

And nuts.

                       I'll come running if i was you

Rude.

I got a movie for you but you're not watching it.

I'm locking the door from the inside.

You better not come home early or you'll freeze to death waiting outside.

What movie?

You can't  lock me out of my own house.

Anyway you can't do that if i reached home first  :p

Not telling.

Yes I can and I will.

You better run then because I'm close.

Sungyeol teared his eyes away from his phone screen. "I gotta go guys..." Sungyeol stopped talking and his grin turned into confusion when he saw his friends exchange a look. "What?" He asked.

"Sungyeol are you having a crush?" Sunggyu asked.

"What? No."

"You only have that eating grin on your face when you're crushing on someone." Howon said.

Sungyeol laughed, pointing at them. "Well you're both wrong this time, that was Myungsoo."

"Are you falling for your roommate? "

"No, I'm not." Sungyeol denied. He suddenly felt annoyed and want to leave. "I'm going."

"Where?"

"Home, we're watching a movie."

"We're coming too." Sunggyu said, getting up from his chair.

"What? No... Why do you want to come?"

"To watch a movie, and meet your housemate."

"Why do you want to meet him?"

"I just want to, he seems... interesting. " Sunggyu said, and Howon nodded.

Sungyeol sighed, he wasn't going to win when those two ganged up on him so instead of wasting his energy he agreed, besides they could save him from having to wait in the cold.

Myungsoo did as he promised and locked the door from the inside. Sungyeol had texted him during the drive home several times, telling him that he was coming with his friends, but Myungsoo didn't even reply. Sungyeol did what he didn't want to do and asked Sunggyu to talk to Myungsoo on the phone, and accepted the teasing that followed from Howon, Myungsoo finally opened the door, having the decency to look embarrassed.

 

The movie was The Notebook, Myungsoo remembered when Sungyeol had mentioned that it was his favorite movie and bought the DVD even though it was not a Christmas-y movie. They sat on the carpet and watched the movies, Myungsoo made hot chocolate like usual with marshmallows and the night went well, Howon even declared that he added it to his favorite movies, except Sungyeol felt a little bit strange. It was different from when they watched it only the two of them, Myungsoo sat between Sunggyu and Hoya, far away from Sungyeol, and Sungyeol couldn't help but miss the warmth of Myungsoo next to him, and the way Myungsoo leaned in just a bit closer when he was too engrossed into the film. Sungyeol didn't even know when he got used to spending the evenings with Myungsoo pressed close to his side watching movies, it has been only few days after all and that made him even more strange.

"That was fun." Myungsoo said, cutting into his thoughts. "We should do this again, I'll ask my friends to come too."

"Yea, we should." Sungyeol replied, trying to smile.

 

The next time they watched a movie it was with Sunggyu, Howon, and Myungsoo's friends, Woohyun and Dongwoo, even Myungsoo's brother, Sungjong was there.

They marathoned Harry Potter, even though they've all seen it again. It was a good evening, they all brought with them drinks and cookies and sweets. It was so different from the last years when Sungyeol used to stay at home doing nothing, he felt the spirit of the holiday like everybody else, probably for the first time,

Yet he kept feeling pangs of sadness during the night. It was when Myungsoo snuggled up next to Woohyun and Woohyun put his arm around his shoulder or when Dongwoo put his head on Myungsoo's lap, and Myungsoo ran his hand over his hair. It was strange for Sungyeol to witness that because for once he wasn't like that with his friends, Sunggyu hugged him sometimes when he needed a hug but they never cuddled.

And Sungyeol realized that he wasn't really special that Myungsoo leaned on him, it was just Myungsoo and how he was, he looked even more comfortable around his friends. That realization made him feel strangely sad, but Sungyeol refused to dwell on that feeling and pushed it the back of his head, trying his best to have fun with his friends and ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

 

The day Sungyeol admitted to himself that he was falling for Myungsoo was the day when Myungsoo scared the hell out of him.

Sungyeol was about to unlock the door to the apartment when he heard a fire alarm going off and a scream, he unlocked the door hastily with shaking hands and rushed in.

Sungyeol stopped at the kitchen doorway, staring at Myungsoo who was standing by the oven, the door was open and Myungsoo was trying to fan away the smoke with a dishtowel.

There was no fire, Myungsoo didn't burn their kitchen down, and he looked fine. "What happened?" He asked and Myungsoo visibly flinched.

"I... uh... Nothing." He stammered, barely glancing at Sungyeol.

Sungyeol finally moved from his spot, he took two big strides and held the first thing that came to his hand, a spatula. He  stretched on his toes,  prodding the button to stop the fire alarm.

Myungsoo shoot him a shaken, grateful smile and turned around to continue fanning the smoke. Sungyeol held the other guy by the shoulder and turned him around. "Are you hurt?" He asked, checking Myungsoo's hands and arms. Myungsoo shook his head in response and Sungyeol let out a relieved breath. Then he took in the kitchen for the first time. The counter was strewn  by baking supplies, spilled flour, cracked eggs, mixing bowls and things Sungyeol had never seen before.

"So what happened?" Sungyeol asked, hoping that this time he would get an answer, even though he kind of guessed what happened when he saw the tray of what looked like cookies, except they were black.

"I was trying to make cookies, but I might have zoned out and burned them." Myungsoo admitted, sulkily, and seemingly lost at what he should do now.

"You can do more right?" Myungsoo nodded, "Let's do it then, I'll help you."

"OK." Myungsoo agreed but the pout still apparent on his lips, and started rolling the dough.

Sungyeol stood next to him by the counter, it was his turn to feel lost, he had never baked in his life and had no idea what he should do to help. He looked at Myungsoo, noticing for the first time that an apron was tied around his waist, he was frowning at the dough, and Sungyeol decided that Myungsoo should bake his cookies smiling not frowning, so he dipped his finger in the flour and smeared Myungsoo's nose, Myungsoo glared at him before turning back to the counter, but that didn't stop Sungyeol, he dipped his whole hand and smeared his cheek this time, Myungsoo didn't turn to him this time, he just moved away, Sungyeol was going to give up when a hand full of flour was dumped on his head.

Sungyeol stepped in shock,  gasping, and coughing.

"What? Isn't this what you wanted?" Myungsoo's lips were twitching into a smile.

"You're so dead." Sungyeol threatened, reaching for the bag of the flour next to him.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Sungyeol replied and launched at him with a handful of flower but Myungsoo was quick and ducked under the table, Sungyeol crouched down and smashed  the flour in Myungsoo's face.

"Yah!" Myungsoo screeched, coming out from under the table and then dumped the whole mixing bowl on Sungyeol's head.

Sungyeol was covered from head to toe with flour, the flour falling around him like snow. He stood stock still, half of his face covered with the bowl.

Myungsoo burst into laughter, doubling over and clutching his stomach.

And then he was covered in flour. he stopped laughing in shock, sputtering.

Then they were both laughing and coughing  simultaneously.

When they calmed down and looked around, everything was covered in white flour, the floor, the counter, and the kitchen table. "Ok, enough." Myungsoo said. "We have no more flour to waste and I want to bake these."

Sungyeol was ready to stop too, he definitely had not intended to turn into a full on flour fight. How were they going to clean all this mess? And his hair was already itchy. So Myungsoo worked on finishing the cookies while Sungyeol cleaned what he could clean.

As the cookies baked, they cleaned together what was left, while both keeping a close watch on the cookies.

The cookies turned out perfect, and Myungsoo beamed at Sungyeol and hugged him. Sungyeol felt something warm spread through him and hopped that Myungsoo didn't feel his heart beating loudly. What should I do?  Sungyeol thought.

He was in trouble.

 

***

 

"Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the bells."

Myungsoo's shaped lump under the blanket stirred a little as Sungyeol sang as loudly as he could. "Hey, don't make me sing more, I don't know the words."

Nothing.

Sungyeol sat at the edge of Myungsoo's bed and started jabbing his sides. "Get up, get up, get up."

Myungsoo groaned but he didn't move or showed any signs that he was going to get up.

"What's going on?" Myungsoo croaked, voice thick with sleep.

"Get up, something important happened."

"What?" Myungsoo asked, rubbing at his eyes

"You have to get up and see it." Sungyeol replied, pulling at the blanket.

Myungsoo held tighter into his cover, "No, it's cold."

"Just get up, alright?"

"Ok , I'm up. Just give me 1 minute." Myungsoo gathered his courage and left the bed, but refusing to leave the warmth of his blanket. If it wasn't worth it, he was going straight back to sleep.

"Come on." Sungyeol said, making his way back to the living room. Myungsoo waddling behind him, still wrapped in his cover and threatening in what he thought a dark voice that he was going to kill Sungyeol if it was important but it only made Sungyeol chuckle.

Sungyeol threw the balcony's doors open and pushed Myungsoo into the balcony. Myungsoo gasped and Sungyeol smiled.

It was snowing, the streets were already covered in a thick blanket of white, it must have snowed all night.

Myungsoo stood there in awe at the sight, his eyes has lost the sleepiness and they were shining bright. Sungyeol stood by his side, bouncing on his feet to keep himself warm. Myungsoo scooted closer, opened one blanketed arm and rolled around Sungyeol's shoulder, covering them both with the blanket.

Sungyeol felt the same warmth he has been feeling whenever Myungsoo was close to him spread through him. All thoughts of making coffee disappeared when Myungsoo let his head fall on Sungyeol's shoulder.

"It's magic." Myungsoo whispered, like it was a secret and only wanted Sungyeol to know about.

"It's the snow."

"Still magic."

They stood there in silence while the snowflakes fell silently around them. Sungyeol thinking about how much he liked Myungsoo's childlike awe and wonderment, and appreciation to things that most people took for granted.

Sungyeol had finally came in terms with his feelings towards the other, after thinking about it for a few days he admitted to himself that his feeling were more than liking Myungsoo as a friend. And he had convinced himself to confess to the other, maybe it was a wishful thinking from him, but he had felt that there was something between them, that it was mutual. Myungsoo easily showed his emotions on his face.

And even though Sungyeol had had two failed relationships he still could see when someone was attracted to him.

Sungyeol had felt that the reason his love life was a failure was mostly because of himself and how he treated his exes. He had always felt like he was acting like someone else, his straightforward and blunt nature transformed into awkwardness, he was too afraid to hurt them by his bluntness, Instead he hurt  them by treating them like they were made of glass, they would break easily.

 

It was funny, Sungyeol thought that after he had swore off relationships. Declared that he could never understand women, and he would die alone a year ago after his girlfriend dumped him, here he was again, falling for someone else but Sungyeol felt that it was different this time. Myungsoo was different, Sungyeol could be impulsive, blunt and straightforward with him, he had never felt that he should be cautious around him because Myungsoo never took him the wrong way.

"Hey," Myungsoo started, cutting Sungyeol from his thoughts. "It's Christmas eve and mom asked you if you want to come have dinner with us."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, if you don't have any plans for tonight."

"No, I'm free I'll come."

"Good."

"Good."

 

***

Sungyeol was making pancakes (He had spent hours looking at Youtube videos on how to make pancake, until he found one simple and easy enough that he could follow.) When he heard Myungsoo enter the kitchen.

"Incredible." Sungyeol said, chuckling. " If I had known that the smell of food would wake your lazy up I would have done earlier instead of struggling."

"I'm not lazy, I just don't like mornings." Myungsoo replied, shuffling closer to Sungyeol, he stood behind him and hooked his chin on Sungyeol's shoulder to peak at what he was doing. "What are you doing?"

"Pancakes... , I messed it up because of you." Sungyeol accused as he failed to flip yet another pancake, he had only succeeded at flipping one, and messed up three pancakes.

"Really? Not because you at it." Myungsoo pointed at the mess of pancakes on a plate that Sungyeol had planned to throw away before waking Myungsoo up. "You can just use the spatula, you know."

"No I'm fine."

Myungsoo sat down at the table, watching Sungyeol struggle with the pancakes, after a while Sungyeol had managed to pile pancakes on a plate that he deemed were enough for both of them.

He joined Myungsoo who had prepared coffee and honey, they ate in silence, the smell of honey and pancakes wafting into the kitchen. The pancakes weren't perfect, some of them were burned and crispy at the edges but Myungsoo still ate everything, he kept glancing at Sungyeol with what Sungyeol had learned was a shy smile, he ducked his head and covered his mouth with his hand, the other hand rubbing his neck. Then he said around a mouthful of pancake. "This is good, thanks."

"No problem." Sungyeol replied, feeling his cheeks tinting red. he finally relaxed a bit from the nerves he has been feeling because of what he was going to do later.

When they finished eating and cleaning the kitchen, Myungsoo disappeared into his room after he had told Sungyeol to sit in the sofa and wait, he emerged a few minutes later holding a wrapped box. "Here, for you."

Sungyeol took the box from him, feeling grateful that Myungsoo gave him his gift first, it bought him some time. Unwrapping the box didn't take as long as Sungyeol wanted and a Captain America figurine stared back at him, it was one of the figurines he was missing from his collection. Sungyeol loved it. "Thank you, I love it." He said, beaming at Myungsoo.

"You're welcome." Myungsoo grinned.

"It's my turn now right?"

Myungsoo shrugged. "If you want to? Well if you didn't buy me a gift I can just take Captain America back."

Sungyeol gave him his gift silently, his stomach churning from the nerves, Myungsoo accepted it and smiled. "What is it? A book?" He was clearly excited about his gift, but he unwrapped it carefully making sure not to tear the paper wrap.

Myungsoo's eyes grew big when he saw the cover of the book he held in his hands, it was red and made of leather, a heart was embossed in the middle of the cover, and a lock at the side. Myungsoo ran his finger on top of the heart, and looked at Sungyeol with such a big, pure smile that Sungyeol felt his heart stop for a moment. "This is amazing Sungyeol, thank you."

"It's a photo album, open it." Sungyeol managed to say, his mouth was too dry.

Myungsoo unlocked the photo album and opened it, a card was stuck on the first page, it said:

I don't know if you were expecting

this or not

but I have something to tell you.

Myungsoo looked up at Sungyeol, confused, but Sungyeol only mentioned for him to keep going, pulling his lip between his teeth and chewing nervously. He was too nervous to say anything.

Myungsoo turned the page, it had another card it said:

I don't mind waking you up every morning, because you look like

a disgruntled cat,

it's so adorable.

Myungsoo didn't lift his head this time and read the next card on the opposite page:

You have the loudest, wildest laugh

and I want to hear it all the time.

(ps: just don't hurt me.)

(pss: I like that you laugh at my lame jokes)

 

Myungsoo turned the page, to find more cards:

I like that you're ridiculous,

and sometimes you don't make sense.

But we talk about everything,

and you get me.

The opposite card said:

I really, really like you.

Myungsoo turned the page, the last card said:

Will you go out with me?

Myungsoo's didn't lift his head for several long moments even after reading all the cards, Sungyeol felt that his heart was going to explode. This was a bad idea, Sungyeol was thinking if he should go with 'The cards were there, I haven't seen them.' Or 'If you say no, I'm going to kick you out of the house.' When Myungsoo finally glanced up, smiling, a smile that Sungyeol have never seen before but he decided it was the sweetest smile.

"Yes." Myungsoo breathed out, leaning in and  kissed Sungyeol in the cheek then he hugged him and murmured, "This is the best gift ever, thanks."

Sungyeol grinned so wide, his cheeks hurt.

Sungyeol was never this cheesy, he had the idea when he was thinking about what he should give Myungsoo, then he remembered what Myungsoo had said when they watched Love Actually, Myungsoo had told him that the confession scene would have been perfect if the woman wasn't married, and to his best friend on top of that, it would have been better if they had their happily ever after, so the scene had always felt bitter for him. Myungsoo loved happily ever afters and Sungyeol decided to give him one, it wasn't a happily ever after but Sungyeol hopped that it would be at least sweeter than that scene.

It was still not a reason for Sungyeol to go that far, but it was Christmas and miracles happen in Christmas, Myungsoo had unknowingly given him too much, it was the first time he felt loved and special during the holiday. And Sungyeol felt that he wanted to give back and make Myungsoo feel special as well.

"I'll treasure this forever." Myungsoo said, as he pulled away from the hug.

"You can take the photo album but give me the cards."

"What? Why?" Myungsoo hid his gift behind him.

"You read them already, what are you going to do with them now?"

"I'll frame them and hung them in the living room for everyone to see."

Sungyeol launched at him, reaching behind Myungsoo. "Give it back."

"No, no take back, they're mine." they struggled a bit, Sungyeol was on top of Myungsoo who had sunk down into the sofa to protect his photo book with his whole body. "I'm just kidding, I will never show them to anyone."

"Never?" Sungyeol asked, breathing heavily.

"Never, they're mine."

"Ok." Sungyeol said, calming down, and realizing that he was practically lying on top of Myungsoo.

"Ok."

They stared at each other for few moments, then Sungyeol leaned down slowly, and Myungsoo closed his eyes. When their lips touched Sungyeol felt himself melt a little, Myungsoo's lips were soft and he tasted sweet from the honey the had with the pancakes.

 

"I have one more thing for you." Myungsoo announced after a while.

"What is it?"

"Follow me." Myungsoo got up from the sofa and headed to his room. he opened the door and urged Sungyeol inside. "Ta-da."

"Why is this here?"

"It's a gift for you, for your books, a bookshelf if you've never heard of them, it will hold all you scattered books, and the stacks that are threatening to fall any time, and you can put you figurines on the top shelf, instead of the windowsill."

"And this is for me?"

"yep."

"Not for you?"

"It's your room, not mine. Shall we start tidying your room?"

"Give me my photo book." Myungsoo shoot him an unamused look this time. "No, no, I'm taking everything back, and I'm kicking you out of my house." Sungyeol rubbed his face, this wasn't how he imagined the day will go.

"Sungyeol? Merry Christmas." Myungsoo leaned in, kissing him.

Sungyeol felt himself melt into the kiss again. Not fair. "Merry Christmas."