There’s a boy that takes the same train every day as Myungsoo. They always sit across from each other, even steal a few glances every now and then, but neither has made the move to speak to the other. In Myungsoo’s case, he’s too shy to gather up the courage. He’s not sure why the other guy hasn’t introduced himself or anything, but it’s not as if Myungsoo is going to lose sleep over it. Not at all.

(Okay, so maybe sometimes he finds himself thinking about it as he’s drifting off to sleep, but that’s it. It doesn’t help that the stranger is very attractive and Myungsoo can’t get his face and very long legs out of his head. But only sometimes.)

He always sees the guy focused down at a stack of papers in his lap that he takes out of his tattered bag, lips mouthing words, and it takes Myungsoo a few trips to realize he’s memorizing lines. He can’t help but wonder what he’s reading, but whenever he opens his mouth to ask, his throat clams up and he goes back to the book he’s currently on. It’s embarrassing, how shy he can get around people, and it’s something he’s tried to control and get better at, but...

Giving a small look through his eyelashes up at the familiar stranger across from him, he keeps back a sigh and shakes his head.

It’s a Friday morning when Myungsoo steps onto the train, running a hand through his hair as he looks around the cabin he had stepped in. There are two empty seats near the rear, and clutching his bag to his chest, Myungsoo takes quick strides over to it, letting out a sigh of relief as he plops down, placing his bag in his lap. He has an exam for his Japanese class that he needs to study for, and can’t afford to waste any time.

He rummages around in his bag for the correct papers and pulls them out, starting to regret staying up the past night binge watching the third season of Haikyuu!!, but there just wasn’t any way for him to not see how it ended right then. (The fact that he’s already caught up with the manga is completely and utterly irrelevant.)

Myungsoo stares down at the jumble of Kanji in front of him and visibly grimaces, letting out a deep breath.

He would have started studying, he promises, if the familiar stranger (which is a bit of an oxymoron, he knows, but still) hadn’t taken the seat beside him. It slightly startles him as this has never happened before—they always end up on opposite sides—and it would be the perfect time to actually attempt to speak with the guy and finally introduce himself, but Myungsoo is Myungsoo and has been told by Jiae (and Soojung, for that matter) multiple times that he’s one of the most awkward people she’s ever met.

He can’t really disagree, and figures he’s better off keeping silent lest he find some way somehow to embarrass himself in front of the Very Attractive Stranger.

Myungsoo shifts in his seat and positions the papers in his lap again, preparing for a great (not) cram session.

Or that’s what would’ve happened, if the stranger beside him hadn’t cleared his throat and extended his hand into Myungsoo’s view, the word “Sungyeol” spilling from his mouth.

Myungsoo turns to him, eyes widening and a blush forming on his cheeks as he tilts his head.

Sungyeol? What does that—

“Sungyeol. I’m Sungyeol,” the guy repeats, and a look of sheepish realization comes across Myungsoo’s face as it hits him that the guy was actually introducing himself. Duh.

“Myungsoo!” he blurts, just feeling the heat radiate from his cheeks. “I’m Myungsoo.” He grabs Sungyeol’s hand hesitantly.

Sungyeol gives him a smile that shows his gums and Myungsoo swallows.

“I figured it was about time we finally...met, so to speak,” he replies, and Myungsoo slowly nods.

“Y-yeah...it’s been a few months, hasn’t it?” He keeps his voice quiet, not really knowing what else to say. It’s not like he’s not glad Sungyeol made the move to speak to him first, but the awkwardness is already making him cringe inwardly.

He glances at Sungyeol, waiting on a response. The awkwardness is about to get worse, isn’t—

“Yeah, I think so.” Sungyeol clears his throat again, and Myungsoo almost sighs. This is going to be up to him, isn’t it? And considering his lack of social skills...

Keeping back a snort of disbelief, Myungsoo bites his lower lip and begins speaking, “I...I was wanting to talk to you sooner but...as you can probably tell, I’m not the best at conversations.”

Sungyeol’s the one that actually sighs, one of relief. “Same.” He then pauses, as if he’s not done, then scratches the back of his nape, a small grin forming on his lips. “Sort of,” he continues. “I don’t want to be rude but you seemed...intimidating? A bit?” His voice trails off here, and all Myungsoo can do is blink.

Intimidating? Really? Soojung would laugh for days if she heard this (which she probably will, anyway).

“Intimidating, huh,” Myungsoo mulls the word over in his head, trying not to laugh himself. He knows his gaze is a bit too serious and deep for some people, but... “That’s new,” he muses. He doesn’t really know if he should be offended or not, honestly, and he can already see Sungyeol’s mouth open to probably apologize, but Myungsoo shakes his head quickly.

“It’s fine, a lot of people assume I’m stuck up or cold because of how quiet I am.” He shrugs, giving a smile that shows off his dimples. “I’ve been trying to get better but I guess not as well as I’d thought.”

The panicked look on Sungyeol’s face is funny, and also pretty cute, if Myungsoo’s being honest.

“N-no! No, it’s fine! I mean, this is on both of us, really,” Sungyeol says. “Better late than never, right?”

Myungsoo lets out a small laugh, nodding as he smiles again. Better late than never, indeed.

Myungsoo’s in trouble.

Sungyeol is perfect. No, wait, Myungsoo doesn’t even know if perfect is enough to describe him.

(He’s really that far gone already. God help him.)

It’s almost Myungsoo’s stop—he’s not going to talk about the Japanese exam he has in approximately twenty minutes, nope—and after the initial awkwardness, he’s glad Sungyeol had taken the first step to introducing themselves.

He learned Sungyeol is an acting major (no surprise there), and the opening night for the play he’s currently rehearsing is coming up. Sungyeol has a younger brother (just like him), a dog named Aga and a cat named Gongju (he has a cat named Byeol), and lives on the third floor of an apartment building with an annoying neighbor named Woohyun on one side and another just as equally annoying neighbor named Sunggyu on the other. And to “put sprinkles on the mothering cake”, in Sungyeol’s words, the two are dating.

“A match made in hell,” Sungyeol had said, to which Myungsoo couldn’t help but laugh embarrassingly loud at and had caused other occupants on the train to give them strange looks. Normally, Myungsoo would have pulled the hood of his hoodie completely over his head and ducked down in his seat and pray everyone would stop looking at him, but the grin and laugh Sungyeol had let out in response had made it worth it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

The sudden question jolts Myungsoo out of his thoughts and he blinks, realizing the train has stopped and a flow of people are exiting through the now open doors. He nods, unable to help but wonder where Sungyeol gets off at—he said he works in the mornings at his parent’s chicken restaurant and takes some late afternoon and night classes—but shoves his papers back into his bag and stands up, shouldering it as he gives Sungyeol a wide smile. “Tomorrow, Sungyeol-ssi, it was nice to finally meet you.” He waves, nearly tripping over his feet as he leaves, cursing inwardly and feeling heat creep up his neck.

Sungyeol chuckles at him but waves back, and Myungsoo lets out the biggest sigh ever as the doors close after him and he starts making his way up the stairs. It’s a five minute walk from the station to his university, so that still gives him time to study for his exam once he arrives.

He can’t say he regrets spending the morning talking to Sungyeol, and he can’t wait to see him again.

It’s weird, as it usually takes Myungsoo a while to warm up to strangers and be comfortable enough around them to get more than a few sentences out. Once conversation between them had gotten less awkward, Myungsoo found himself being the “chatterbox” he’s told he can be. Sungyeol’s quite talkative too, although he had seemed more on the private side at first.

Myungsoo’s pretty picky with whom he gets close to, so it’s different for him to have enjoyed Sungyeol’s company so fast. It was probably just the fact that they’d taken the same ride for so long that Myungsoo sort of felt like he knew Sungyeol, as odd as that sounds. That was it. But...if he’s not careful, Myungsoo can see himself falling.

And when Myungsoo falls, he falls hard.

What was once Myungsoo’s routine of spending most of his time on the train staring out the window or his schoolwork now changes into him spending most of his time on the train staring at Sungyeol. Only so they can talk to each other, of course. There’s nothing weird about that.

They talk about anything and everything, really, and Myungsoo learns Sungyeol dabbles in anime too. They even like some of the same shows and before Myungsoo knows it, his stop will come and it’s like the whole ride was only five minutes instead of the usual thirty. The fact that conversation comes between them easily is weird enough, but Myungsoo’s starting not to dread his morning rides to university anymore.

The subject of the day today is apparently their pets. (Another thing they have in common is their love for animals; Sungyeol even takes time to volunteer at shelters just like Myungsoo does. He’s a goner if he isn’t already.)

“We should have a pet play day, one day when we’re on break or something. I can bring Aga and Gongju over or you can bring Byeol over to my place,” Sungyeol suggests. “Aga was a bit nervous around Gongju at first but she’s gotten used to her now so I don’t think Byeol would be a problem.”

“Perfect,” Myungsoo grins. “I feel bad leaving Byeol at home by himself when I’m in class so it’d be nice for him to have some playmates.”

Myungsoo really does think it would be nice for Byeol to have some friends; the poor thing does do well enough at home by himself when Myungsoo’s not there, and Myungsoo even has his neighbor—an elderly lady who likes to pinch his cheeks—drop by every now and then to check on him, but he feels horrible. Byeol is a hyper little cat that acts like a dog more often than not and Myungsoo knows he’d love to get some of that energy out by playing with other animals.

“It’s a date, then?”

The words almost make Myungsoo choke on air, but he knows that is for sure not how Sungyeol meant them.

“It’s a date,” he repeats, showing his dimples.

It’s not even nine in the morning on a Tuesday and Myungsoo is regretting waking up and deciding to go through with the day.

Myungsoo’s an extremely hard person to wake up, but he sleeps with his phone right under his pillow so the alarm will do its actual job. It usually doesn’t take him forever to get up like it used to when he still lived with his parents.

Today, however, he apparently slept through his alarm and woke up with only ten minutes to get ready and to the station. He’s thankful his apartment isn’t that far of a walk, but he’d thrown on clothes in record time (also thankful he had taken a shower the night before), grabbed his things and rushed out the door (barely sidestepping over a sleeping Byeol on the floor) with barely any time to spare.

Which means he had no time to straighten his hair and the curly mess is sitting on top of his head. He wishes he could just run back home and bury himself under his covers, maybe try this another day. Missing a day of classes isn’t a big deal, really.

“Good morning.”

Myungsoo glances up from volume three of Tokyo Ghoul:Re, seeing Sungyeol settle down into the seat beside him. They’ve sort of claimed this area now, mostly thanks to Myungsoo arriving right on time, and he likes the idea of them having something of their own.

The thought makes him blush, which deepens even more as Sungyeol ruffles the curls on his head. ing—

He immediately starts swatting Sungyeol’s hands away, dangerously close to pouting as Sungyeol just laughs.

“I overslept and didn’t have time to straighten my hair,” Myungsoo mumbles his excuse, pausing before muttering a “Good morning” of his own.

Sungyeol chuckles this time. “It’s cute.”

Myungsoo swears you could probably fry something on his face with how red it is at this point, his ears burning too, and he really really wishes Sungyeol didn’t have this effect on him so easily. “Shut up,” he mutters under his breath.

With how comfortable they’ve gotten around each other, Myungsoo feels like he’s known Sungyeol for ages. They tease and dropped honorifics—he’s been one to follow the rules, but Sungyeol isn’t much of a stickler for them, so he doesn’t mind. He does slip up and accidentally call Sungyeol hyung, though, and if he notices the color that rises to Sungyeol’s cheeks because of it, he doesn’t say a word.

(He just files that bit of information to the back of his mind for later, that’s all.)

“Earth to Myungsoo, hello?”

Myungsoo keeps back a startled noise, realizing he’d been too deep into his thoughts to realize Sungyeol had been calling him. Him spacing out is nothing new, but it’s still embarrassing to be caught doing it. “Yeah?” He finally closes the manga in his lap, slipping it into the bag by his side.

“I...was wondering,” Sungyeol begins, once he notices he has Myungsoo’s full attention again. “You know opening night for Goong is this Friday and I was wondering if you’d want to come? I have a few extra tickets to give to family members or friends,” he says, long fingers bunching up in the cotton of his shirt in nervousness.

Oh. Myungsoo’s eyes widen and he resists the urge to just blurt out yes a million times, and he can’t help but wonder why Sungyeol is inviting him of all people, considering he’s sure they don’t know each other as well as Sungyeol does his family and friends—

“I’d love to!” ends up tumbling out of Myungsoo’s mouth anyway, probably more on the excited side than he’d like, but whatever. “Th-thank you,” he murmurs, dimples appearing on his cheeks as he gives Sungyeol a grin of gratitude.

Sungyeol shrugs his shoulders, obviously trying to play it off as nothing big. Myungsoo nearly sighs; why is he so cute?

“We’re friends now, aren’t we? As long as you invite me to one of your exhibitions one day,” Sungyeol returns the smile.

Ah.

Myungsoo had mentioned his major of photography to Sungyeol after they’d properly met, offhandedly saying he hopes to have an exhibition of his photos one day, but he didn’t think it was something Sungyeol would keep in his mind to bring up.

“Of course,” he agrees, playing with the drawstrings of his hoodie to ignore the sudden loud and fast pounding of his heartbeat in his chest.

Myungsoo most definitely is in deep trouble.

Friday arrives before Myungsoo knows it. He’s not really freaking out, he promises, but during lunch Jiae is staring at him with the most judging look on her face she can muster (she and Soojung are pretty much the masters of those, in his opinion), a sigh threatening to spill from her lips.

“Get him a bouquet,” she finally decides to say. “Nothing too flashy, but something to support him.”

A bouquet...

“What if he finds it weird or takes it the wrong way?” Myungsoo questions, trying to keep back a grimace at the thought.

Jiae snorts, absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “I mean, if he doesn’t realize you like him—”

“I do not!” Myungsoo quickly sputters out, shoveling ramen into his mouth.

Jiae just stares at him with a raised eyebrow.

Damnit.

“O-okay, so maybe I do, but it’s—like—” Myungsoo starts gesturing with his hands for God knows why, “I doubt he even feels the same way or anything, we’re just friends. We’ve only known each other for a month or so.”

Jiae’s raised eyebrow stays, and Myungsoo groans, really wanting to just faceplant into his ramen.

“I’ve never even met the guy but you mention he gets flustered and nervous sometimes around you and the vice versa is obvious, I swear—are you both just that stupid and oblivious?”

“Shut up,” Myungsoo grumbles into the table.

Jiae clicks her tongue, getting up from the bench as she shoulders her bag. “I’m serious. Get him a bouquet. If some form of confession doesn’t happen then you’re dumber than I thought. Him too,” she says, giving a squeeze to his shoulder before she leaves to her next class.

Myungsoo would rather spend the next two hours in this exact spot, contemplating his life, but he can’t afford to be late for his own next class as he has a presentation for a group project.

He knows that’s going to be the last thing on his mind.

The high school girl running the register at the nearest flower shop would not stop flirting with him, and looked absolutely devastated when Myungsoo ruined her dreams of the bouquet being for his mother or (non-existent) sister.

He feels sort of guilty, but he has to get back to the university and find a seat in the auditorium in time before the show starts, and he wishes his heart would stop thumping in his ears.

He’s going to take Jiae’s advice—something he really isn’t looking forward to admitting, later—and will confess. If he doesn’t become a stuttering blushing mess that chickens out, that is. He knows Sungyeol has shown some signs of possibly liking him back, but Myungsoo doesn’t want to assume and get everything absolutely wrong. He doesn’t want to ruin their friendship.

Shaking his head to try and get these unwanted thoughts out, Myungsoo makes his way through the slightly crowded hallway to the auditorium after having shown his ticket. He keeps the bouquet of red roses close to his chest to make sure they don’t get squashed, and he takes a deep breath.

He’s not even going to see Sungyeol until after the show so he knows he has no reason to get nervous now, but...

“Myungsoo!”

Or not.

Myungsoo looks around to see Sungyeol exiting one of the large doors to his left, a wide grin on his face. His black hair is swept to the side, and if Myungsoo’s not careful he’s probably going to end up embarrassing himself by staring too hard.

He quickly hides the bouquet behind his back, not wanting to give it to Sungyeol until after the show is done. “Sungyeollie,” he nods with a smile of his own, the nickname kind of coming out without his permission. .

Sungyeol stares at him in slight surprise, and that is definitely a blush Myungsoo sees on his face.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Sungyeol then says, and there’s a sparkle in his eyes that Myungsoo finds mesmerizing.

“O-of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” And Myungsoo means it. His and Sungyeol’s story may be a bit strange, but Myungsoo doesn’t regret becoming friends with him. He wouldn’t let himself miss something as important to Sungyeol as this, just as he knows Sungyeol won’t miss the day he gets his photos into an exhibition.

Sungyeol looks like he’s about to say something, but a call of his name makes him turn around, and Myungsoo can only stare as he’s being dragged off (by one of his classmates, he guesses), throwing a shout of “Enjoy the show, Myungsoo-yah!” over his shoulder before disappearing back into the auditorium.

Myungsoo swallows and pulls the bouquet out from behind his back, letting out a quiet sigh of relief at Sungyeol being too preoccupied to notice it. He slips into the large room after the taller man, eyes scanning around for a good seat. He’s here early enough, luckily finding one in the second row near the middle. He wishes he had brought his camera for this, but he’s sure there will be plenty of pictures taken later. He recalls one of his classmates being sent here to cover this anyway, and can’t help but wish it had been him instead.

(On second thought, he realizes that was probably a horrible idea as his pictures would be terribly biased in Sungyeol’s favor, so perhaps not.)

It takes five minutes of Myungsoo playing around on his phone before the lights in the room dim and the chatter falters.

Myungsoo’s grip on the bouquet tightens and he inhales quietly, exhaling a deep breath.

After the show, it’s hard to get to Sungyeol. He is the main role after all (and was brilliant, if Myungsoo says so himself), and has everyone gathered around him to tell him how well he did and give congratulations or to chat for a bit.

He stays behind, biting his lip as he wonders if giving Sungyeol the roses is a good idea after all. He’s obviously busy, and has—

“Myungsoo-yah!”

It’s like deja vu all over again as Sungyeol makes his way over to him, pushing through the crowd. His face is absolutely glowing as he greets Myungsoo with the widest smile he’s ever seen on him.

“What’d you think?”

Myungsoo glances down at the bouquet he’s still keeping an impossibly tight grip on, and he his drying lips. To be extremely cliched: it’s now or never.

“Th-these are for you,” he murmurs, holding out the roses and trying not to shut his eyes in embarrassment. “You were amazing.”

Sungyeol’s eyes go wide, and Myungsoo wants to believe the red on his cheeks is because of this and not due to him being under the stage lights for so long. It’s a long shot, but—

“Thank you,” Sungyeol whispers, taking the bouquet from Myungsoo’s hands with an even bigger smile on his face, if that were possible. His gums are completely visible, his eyes forming crescents, and Myungsoo swallows.

“Thank you. Seriously. This—I—” Sungyeol actually looks like his eyes are starting to tear up and Myungsoo begins to panic. Oh God, this isn’t what he’d wanted to happen at all—

“Can I kiss you?”

What.

Myungsoo stares, mouth opening to give some answer, anything, but he promptly closes it as nothing comes out and all he can do is nod before the situation catches up with him.

Sungyeol smiles with slightly teary eyes and grabs the back of his neck, leaning down to press their lips together in a chaste kiss. It’s short, too short for Myungsoo’s liking, and he’s dangerously close to pouting when Sungyeol pulls away just as quickly as the kiss had begun, but Sungyeol keeps his hand on his nape and his thumb rubs the skin below Myungsoo’s hairline.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Sungyeol lets out in a sigh, as if he’s relieved.

Wait, what—

“Huh?” Myungsoo blurts in confusion. “You?”

A small, shy smile forms on Sungyeol’s face in answer. “I like you. A lot. I just...wasn’t really sure if you felt the same way. I didn’t want to ruin what we had and figured I was better off keeping my mouth shut. I go all in when I’m in a relationship, and—”

Jiae was right. Damnit.

Myungsoo puts a finger to Sungyeol’s lips, effectively silencing him. He grins back. “I suppose we were both idiots, then.” He hesitantly wraps his arms around Sungyeol’s waist. “I like you too.”

Sungyeol laughs. “I guess we were,” he agrees quietly, and leans down to give Myungsoo another short peck.