Sungyeol opened his mailbox as he came back from work. While untying his black tie with one hand and pacing to his bedroom, he noticed an unfamiliar envelope among the usual stack of bills and unwanted ads. He put this specific ivory envelope aside on his coffee table in the living room and took the rest to his desk in his bedroom. He got rid of his suit and got into his home casual outfit, a faded teeshirt and baggy tracksuit. He came back to his living room after putting some leftover in the microwave, and decided to check the envelope meanwhile. The ivory shiny envelope had a logo on the top left corner. Sungyeol took some time to recognise it : it was the logo of his elementary school here in Yongin. Weird. He didn't remember receiving those before. He opened it and inside was a single, thick sheet of paper which was as pretty as the envelope.

“Dear Students

We have the pleasure to invite you for the first reunion meeting of Yongin elementary school, which will be held on the 12th of February 2017. After 20 years, the students of the promotion 1997-1998 are all invited for a celebration with your classmates and your teachers, for an unique meet-up and memories sharing
Start at 6pm.

Pr. Park Director of the Yongin Elementary School”

It sounded like these american high school reunion thingy, kind of artificial but well, it was a first time so that was probably the reason why. He didn't really know why he would go there, and to talk to who and about what ?
Sungyeol sank back in the couch near the coffee table, slowly remembering his elementary school years. How old was he…6 year-old ? 7years old ? Yongin was a fairly small ? city. He mostly had the same classmates throughout the years.

He first remembered Nam Woohyun, because he was so loud and talkative. Boisterous, prankster Woohyun, that all kids picked on calling him Namu (the tree). Sungyeol did too at the time, thinking it was funny (now he thought it was actually a cute nickname).

But well Sungyeol was picked on too as a kid, because of his chubby cheeks and crooked teeth (he only kept some cheek fat now but not enough to be picked on). He was called the hamster but then he befriended Woohyun and started to be the jokester and do faces and he was stuck with the nickname “the owl”.

He remembers that scary older student from the class above, Sunggyu-hyung (he only remembered him as “that hyung” and it took some time to retrieve the name). Sungyeol thought he was scary because he was always scolding other kids for whatever reasons and he always looked like glaring at everyone. Just thinking about his voice, Sungyeol had shivers down his spine out of fear.

A favourite memory of his was Dongwoo. He was a sunshine, and everyone loved him. He was a little miracle because Sungyeol clearly remembers when the class first met him, the first words were again mean words as how ugly he looked, how he looked like a dino, but Dongwoo’s heart was so pure that he grew on literally everyone, and everyone felt somewhat bad to be mean to him by the end of the day.
The tall man thought it was funny how he only remembered people being mean to each other.
Next example was Sungjong, a clever little kid, but way too pretty for his sake. Sungyeol was impressed but then he realised it didn't stop other kids to mock Sungjong for looking like a girl. And yet, Sungjong looked so pretty while crying.

The ding! of the microwave pulled Sungyeol out of his memory lane, he strolled to his kitchen counter with his meal and sat down on the stool to eat. As a conclusion about his memories, he decided that if kids always say the truth, then it was a really ugly and mean truth so far. He tried to dig some other kind of memories because otherwise it would be a bit depressing to only remember the bullies.
However Sungyeol remembered the other kids laughing at that shy boy, because this one was apparently in love with Sungyeol. Now that he thought about it, he recalls the shy, clumsy boy was named Myungsoo. He was so shy people thought he was mute. and Woohyun once pulled a prank on him and got Myungsoo’s pants all drenched in water and myungsoo cried so bad and Sungyeol was a big brother at home you know so he felt very protective of kind bullied kids like Sungjong or Dongwoo. and Myungsoo was one of those kids. Sungyeol lent his extra pants (sport pants but dry pants at least) to myungsoo, and he pictured again how myungsoo looked with his feet hidden by the too long pants, red puffy eyes, sobs slowly stopping. He remembered how the poor boy hiccuped “thank you, yeollie” and Sungyeol thought Myungsoo was the cutest thing ever, cuter than his own little brother. After that episode, Myungsoo was constantly hanging with Sungyeol (or ON sungyeol because he was shorter and he could be a koala), calling him all the time “my friend Yeollie” and was his biggest fan, always telling people his adventures “my friend yeollie did this, and my friend yeollie did that”:....
and that's probably why the other kids started to say that Myungsoo was in love. The fork Sungyeol was holding stopped mid-air, the pasta dangling from it and sauce slightly dripping. He remembered that one day, the kids were badly shouting at Myungsoo about it, and Myungsoo almost shouted back “it’s true! so what ?!”
Sungyeol wasn't really hungry anymore….

Though he didn't remember much else from Myungsoo…. and he realised that Myungsoo actually moved out of Yongin before the end of elementary school.
Moreover most of the others had also moved to bigger cities like Seoul or Busan soon or later.
Only Woohyun and Howon (whom he met in middle school) stayed in Yongin. He lost all contacts with the other ones as SNS didn't really exist at the time.
As he stayed in Yongin all his life, grew there, with the same surroundings, he was wondering how it was to grow up in another city. He saw Woohyun and Howon grow, they weren't much different now from their 8-10 year old selves. Maybe less mean (not really they had this bad humour), probably less stupid and more respectful of other people… after all they were past their 25yo now. He wondered how prettily Sungjong grew, or maybe he totally changed and got manly ?
What about Sunggyu ? was he still so bitter and harsh and were his eyes still so small ? Was Dongwoo still a sunshine, pure and naive or did adulthood taint his soul ? (Sungyeol should have blessed him with holy waters to protect him at all costs)
and what about Myungsoo ? Did he become less awkward ?...
did he remember that he crushed on Sungyeol back in the days ? what would Myungsoo think of that now ?
Ok maybe now he was looking forward that school reunion.

Some days later, he realised that maybe, his classmates (and especially Myungsoo) wouldnt show up. He could have shrugged it off but well, he was curious, and if he went to this reunion, it was for these people specifically. So he texted Woohyun

Namu : yo! is something up? are you throwing a party?

Sungyeol : hey man, did you receive the yongin letter ?

Namu : about the school reunion ? yeah i wanted to talk about it to you when i received it but it was late and fell asleep drooling on it. *drooling emoji*

Sungyeol : *judging emoji* thanks for the details… are you going ?

Namu : OF COURSE ! i want to know what our classmates became, and maybe we can pull some good old pranks on them hehehehehheheheeh *devil emoji*

Sungyeol : geez they're all gonna be surprised to see that you literally didn't grow up from elementary school days. *rolling eyes emoji*

Namu : well i did gain height!!!!!

Sungyeol : Insoles cm are not counted in your height

Namu : you yeol *finger emoji*

Sungyeol : do you remember our schoolmates ?

Namu : of course i do ! there was dongwoo-hyung, scary hyung Sunggyu, and Sungjong ! btw i'm wondering if he still is as pretty as we knew him.

Sungyeol : same ! but who knows maybe he grew muscles *biceps emoji*

Namu : ew no way that wouldn't fit his face please tell me he didn't. *whining emoji*

Sungyeol : i don't know yet. Maybe we could stalk them on facebook ??? and maybe we could contact them and create a conversation for the upcoming reunion!

Namu : yeah let's do that !!! *celebration emoji*

Sungyeol :.... namu do you remember that boy ? Myungsoo ?

Namu : oh yeah of course i mean… i made him cry so bad that one time it was so scary i felt really bad that day. and wasn't he in love with you basically ? he was glued to your back and was constantly talking about you “my friend yeollie” *heart eyes emoji*

(sungyeol’s cheeks flushed and he thanked the lord he was only texting woohyun)
Sungyeol : i don't remember that…. i just remember how gloomy he was and then he was stuck on my back, but i don't remember anything of him after two years.

Namu : he moved out to seoul, that's all i know.

Sungyeol : do you think he received an invitation too ?

Namu : *smirking emoji* why my dear friend Yeollie ?

Sungyeol : you know what? i'm off to create that fb conversation, and i am not adding you in.

Sungyeol had a good memory and managed to find back all full names of his classmates, but didn't really dare to contact them immediately. It took him a good bottle of wine to contact back Sungjong, Dongwoo and Sunggyu (who didn't scream through fb msg thank god). He had to add Woohyun to the conversation because that one was spamming him through both texts and fb msg, threatening him to contact myungsoo and speak on his behalf if Sungyeol didn't add him.
He didn't add Myungsoo…. yet. He thought that maybe Myungsoo didn't remember anything from them…
Sungyeol didn't imagine Myungsoo being someone on social media… but well, he only knew him for two years… but well he was also drunk so he didn't really care at that moment. He typed the name in the Facebook search bar
“Kim Myungsoo” and adds in the option “yongin elementary school”. He thinks that no one would really add their elementary school on their profile, would they ? i mean ok high school and college and why n—
oh
he had actually a result. and it looked like the myungsoo he knew. except the fact that he didn't have this monstrous hair. The profile picture was rather small and he was kinda tipsy but it did look like him, the guy on the picture did have a dimple smile like kid-Myungsoo (and Sungyeol did remember he would poke in it and that myungsoo would GIGGLE and sungyeol totally didn't blush at the memory right now). He kept looking at the pictures on the profile : they were mainly nature photography pictures, a lot of scenarios, the ocean, the sky, animals. he did find one awful school picture in which Myungsoo was tagged in, in which he had this crazy hair. it more looked like a middle school picture but yep, that was the myungsoo he knew (the one who claimed back in the days that he was in love with his friend yeollie and said yeollie doesn't know why his brain keeps coming back at that specific memory of myungsoo….)
and you know what ? said yeollie was a bit more than tipsy right now, so he clicked on the message button and started to type.

Sungyeol woke up, groaning from his dry mouth and light headache. He panicked for a moment about the hour and then realised it was saturday and that he could sleep in. He almost fell back asleep and he let out a scream as he remembered what he did last night. He furiously patted his bed and fumbled with his phone which was hidden among the messy bed sheets.
“ what the did i write yesterday oh my god tell me it didn't happen—”
here it was, a notification for new message in his fb inbox from Kim Myun— Sungyeol closed his eyes tightly “.” and deleted the notification off his lock screen. He sank his head against his pillow and let out a scream of despair trying to ignore that this message ever popped and especially ignore the fact he contacted back FIRST some kid who was in love with him HOW CRINGY IS THAT HE’S NOT WOOHYUN WHY—
Sungyeol whimpered in his pillow and decided that next time he would drink he needed to get his phone and computer far from his reach.

After some days and a lot of courage without any drop of alcohol, Sungyeol finally opened Myungsoo’s message, to 1)see that his drunk message was ok, and not too cheesy or nostalgic (he was impressed at his drunk texting abilities) and to 2) see that myungsoo was “pleasantly surprised” to be contacted and that he did remember Sungyeol (to what extent, Sungyeol wondered). It encouraged Sungyeol to have a normal conversation with Myungsoo, asking him what he became during all these years, if he was in Seoul etc…. at some point Sungyeol almost didn't ask abt the meet up. and when he did, he almost hoped that Myungsoo wouldn't come.
“oh yeah i haven't been in yongin for like, almost 20 years and i've always wondered if the town and its people changed a lot, so yes, i will definitely come.”
so much for hoping.

Sungyeol was nervous. He had his favourite grey-white-pink striped polo shirt, and decided to go with a white skinny pants to show how confident he became (and tbh he felt great and y in these and whatever who is he gonna try to impress anyway). Luckily he got to meet Woohyun before going at school so he wouldn't be awkwardly hanging in the school waiting for people he would recognise to show up. They weren't wrong when they saw Sungjong, he was as pretty as before, even prettier now that he had long bleached hair. And he seemed confident this way, especially that he was working in the fashion industry and he wasn't really mocked for looking the way he does. To Sungyeol’s relief, Dongwoo was still this little sunshine, pure and naive and a bit 4D but hey it was comfortable to be with him again. Sunggyu-hyung still had rather small eyes, but on that day he looked like in a good mood, and excitedly greeted his classmates. Woohyun dragged Sunggyu to the buffet and Sungyeol found himself alone in the middle of the crowd. So he decided to go around the school to see how much changes it got. The classrooms didn't really change except for the drawings that were hanged on the walls. He paced aimlessly and found himself in the playground but then he remembered it was February and damn cold so he thoughtlessly walked to that small greenhouse in which they took care of plants, flowers, vegetables and studied them. He smiled as he could see the first flowers growing. The current kids did a good job. he fondly remembered how Woohyun and him would do a battle throwing dirt at each other. Oh and then they would spray water from the watering cans they had. Now that he recalled it, that's when Woohyun accidentally splashed Myungsoo with too much water and that he started to cry so hard.
Sungyeol was back down memory lane and didn't realise that someone joined him in the glasshouse.

“Sungyeol?”

Sungyeol yelped and jerked around, almost falling back. The newcomer caught him back in time and Sungyeol found his face suddenly close to a familiar face.

“.. Myungsoo?”
The man’s eyes turned into cute crescents as he grinned.

“hey it's been a while”

“oh god i didn't almost recognise you sorry you….”
Sungyeol took in Myungsoo’s appearance as he stepped out of Myungsoo’s arms : the boy was now almost as tall as Sungyeol, with solid shoulders and fit body which were complimented by a black shirt with sleeves rolled up and black skinny jeans. The major difference besides was probably his hair which was silky and smooth and naturally flowing down on his head, nothing like his “i shoved my fingers in the plug socket and got electrocuted” hair style. It was so weird for Sungyeol because never in the world he would have thought that kid Myungsoo would turn into such a beautiful and serene man today. His face was still the same and yet, he wondered why no one realised how good looking Myungsoo was back in the days.

“uh… Sungyeol are you okay?”

Sungyeol shook himself out of his trance seeing Myungsoo slightly fidgeting, he wondered how long he stared at him (or checked him out, he hopes he didn't)

“I’m sorry I…” Sungyeol let out a breathless laugh. “sorry it's kind of awkward, i don't really know what to say but it's good to see you…. you grew up well.”

Myungsoo looked surprised for a second and his smile appeared along with this familiar dimple.

“Thanks, it's nice to see you too, Yeol.”

Sungyeol felt his cheeks slightly burning, he hoped Myungsoo didn't notice. Myungsoo didn't, as he looked around at the plants and spoke up :

“isn't it funny?”

“what's funny?”

“back in the days, that was where we really met up, for the first time. I mean, that was the first time we really talked to each other.”

Sungyeol wondered what was happening in this glasshouse, as he was exactly recalling the same memory just before Myungsoo appeared.

“and now 20 years later, our first meet up is in here too. not in the classroom, not in the playground, but here.”

Myungsoo let out a chuckle as he finished his sentence and drew his eyes back on Sungyeol,and Sungyeol wondered how amazingly deep his voice managed to get with the years.

Sungyeol was feeling weird. Never in the world he thought he would meet myungsoo in these circumstances, in a beautiful glasshouse, protecting from the outside cold night weather of february, in front of a beautiful man. He thought the situation was weirdly romantic but he then decided he was getting too worked up on nothing and woohyun definitely had a very bad influence on him as his cheesy nature seemed to contaminate Sungyeol’s now.

“what have you been doing all this time Sungyeol?”

They started to talk about Sungyeol’s high school years, and his current job, and how he wanted to know how it was to live in another city and meeting new people. He shared that he wanted to live in Seoul in the close future for more opportunities and he asked Myungsoo about his opinions as he mostly grew there. Myungsoo shared his own experiences, and how he was working as a photographer after art school years.

Myungsoo kept on
“how are the others ?”

“didn't you meet them earlier inside the school ?”

“i felt a bit uncomfortable with all the people around and i couldn't find anyone i knew so i just went out for fresh air… a bit too fresh considering the season and then i saw the glasshouse and wanted to see in here…. and here you were.”

Myungsoo gave his usual dimple smile, and Sungyeol didn't know what happened to him because he didn't drink all that much but as an unconscious reflex, he approached his index to Myungsoo’s dimple, only to stop at his own stupidity. Myungsoo’s eyes observed Sungyeol with amusement as the taller one blushed to his hair roots.

“i'm… i'm sorry. I just remembered how i used to do that to you back in the days”
He let out an uncomfortable chuckle, but Myungsoo didn't seem to mind.

“yeah, we had our habits, I was hanging on your back all the time”

“and you always called me “yeollie””

“yeah, my friend yeollie”

they laughed at the cheesiness and cuteness of their younger selves, without really any shame. But Sungyeol did have one question hanging in the back of his head, but pushed it back a bit further.

“you know i was recalling these days, and i realised how mean we, i mean kids, were to each other at the time, although we were being rather cute.”

“well i disagree with that.”

“you don't think we were cute ?”

“no i mean…. kids were mean, but you weren't Yeol, you weren't mean and you were cute.”

Sungyeol’s heart slightly skipped a beat and he wondered once again what the glasshouse was doing on him.

“you know, we say that truth comes from kids’ mouths right?” oh the weirdness waves crashed down on Sungyeol again as he remembered thinking the same thing some weeks earlier. and it didn't stop drowning Sungyeol as Myungsoo kept talking.

“and you were right, kids especially at that age were mean to each other, and it's quite an ugly truth. But you weren't Yeol, at least not to me. you were my friend and i realised it meant a lot when you're a kid, and that your friendship was pure and genuine, just like how kids’ comments are pure and genuine, sometimes hurtful, but that's how it is with kids, genuine, they just blurt out what's on their hearts, they don't really know how to lie.”

Wow Sungyeol was impressed at how far Myungsoo came. From that shy, victimised, somewhat dependent kid to that confident, thoughtful man. The weirdness in Sungyeol’s body slowly turned into pride, and something he couldn't identify yet. He tried to break the seriousness.

“Wow… since when are you this talkative?”

Sungyeol joked and they both laughed at it.

“Myungsoo you really did grow up well.”

“Thanks Yeol, you did too.”

And Sungyeol didn't realise how close Myungsoo was, he was too distracted by the weirdness and the speech that he didn't see how they moved closer to each other. Myungsoo’s fingertips touched his wrist at his side but Sungyeol was too busy staring at Myungsoo.

“and you know Yeol…. if kids’ comments and friendships are genuine, i hope you guessed that kids’ feelings are genuine too.”

Myungsoo paused there, and slowly put his head on Sungyeol’s shoulder. Sungyeol felt himself getting warm, and tried not to stutter too much.

“but genuine doesn't mean everlasting right?”

he surprised himself at how hopeful he just sounded, he definitely didn't think straight anymore in here.

“no it doesn't, but they are still genuine, and it can possibly fade and equally possibly last, just like any genuine adult feelings, right?”

Myungsoo sounded as hopeful, and he lifted his head from the other’s shoulder, looking as hopeful as he just sounded. Sungyeol felt weak, he wanted it to work, he wasn't surprised that Myungsoo was a romantic and he really wanted to be one too, but he was always the realistic one. he tried to sound teasing and not skeptical, because he really wanted it to work.

“do you think you would like the adult-me as much as you liked the kid-me?”

“yes, i think i would, because you were genuine at the time, and i can see you still are.”

The tension was so high and Sungyeol’s mind suggested that a kiss might be a good way out and —

“you still are my friend Yeollie.”

Sungyeol threw his head back laughing uncontrollably.

“for sake i was about to kiss you to break this tension and you just blew it up.”

Myungsoo joined in the laugh, grabbing Sungyeol’s hand.

“sorry, but seriously, what about you come over at my place until you find a job in Seoul and a place? or you could just live in with me and we can split the rent—”

“wow i can't believe i had thought for a second you became that serene, independent man but no, you're still glueing on me like a koala and we’re not even dating yet”

That's when Myungsoo decided to plant a kiss on Sungyeol’s lips who more or less yelped at the sudden move. Sungyeol’s cheeks flushed while Myungsoo grinned at this reaction.

“now we are”

“i didn't agree to this”

They really had to get out of this glasshouse.

~ about a year later ~

Sungyeol thought he had struggled enough with the armchair just to get in the flat as someone left one of the boxes blocking the door opening, but apparently that same person decided to make Sungyeol pass a damn assault course, leaving more boxes in the way.
“Goddammit Myungsoo !! why did you leave the boxes here??”

“what ?”
The answer was distant and Sungyeol guessed that Myungsoo was in the bedroom. Sungyeol finally put the armchair he was carrying in a corner. He checked his phone and saw a text from Woohyun asking him how he had been doing

Sungyeol : if you look for me, you will find my dead body crushed by the armchair and boxes in the middle of my flat in which i didn't live for a day yet.

Myungsoo got out of the bedroom at that moment, slightly sweating. He walked to Sungyeol.
“Hey, I just built the bed frame and set the mattress.”

Myungsoo wrapped his arms around Sungyeol from behind, nuzzling his neck.
“yeah try to make yourself forgiven, i almost died to bring your armchair in.”

Myungsoo smiled in his neck and left a kiss there, giggling as Sungyeol was whining, probably because of his sweat.
“thank you babe, but you could have asked me to come help you when you went down to bring it.”

Sungyeol turned around, trying to wiggle his way out from Myungsoo’s octopus arms.
“yeah sure, i can't even walk through the flat, how do you think we would with an armchair and your big ?”

“i haven't heard you complain about my big when you were groping it yesterday night while I—”

Sungyeol tried to change the conversation
“get off me !!! you're all sticky and disgusting”

“yeah but thanks to me tonight we'll be able to sleep in an actual bed and not just on a mattress”

“i don't know if you deserve to share a bed with me after trying to kill me”

Myungsoo pulled on Sungyeol teeshirt to shut him up with a kiss, the taller finally stopped wiggling in his arms. What was meant to be a short kiss turned unexpectedly into a longer one, a sloppier one. Myungsoo tightened his arms around Sungyeol’s waist while this one grabbed his with his two hands. Myungsoo was the one to break the kiss and softly push Sungyeol away from him, backing away to the bedroom,

“I’m gonna go assemble the desk and drawers. But tell me if you ever want a break, i think the new bed need a break too”

Sungyeol laughed at the other’s lame innuendo, then he felt his phone vibrating from his pocket.

Namu : it's the big day ???? you moved in with Myungsoo ???

Sungyeol smiled at the text.

Sungyeol : yes we did.

THE END