Sungyeol woke the next morning with a terrible headache. He blinked groggily as he tried to orient himself. The soft bed he was lying in did not feel like his own. He slowly rose into a half-sitting position while looking around the unfamiliar room. His eyes stopped immediately at a boy sitting with his head in his hands by what looked to be the kitchen table. The boy didn't seem to notice that Sungyeol had woken. There was something strangely familiar about the boy. His black hair looked just like what Sungyeol imagined Myungsoo sunbae's hair would look like in the morning; a little disheveled but still perfect. 

Sungyeol didn't know what he was doing in this stranger's place. Had he fainted somewhere along the road? Had this stranger taken him in for the night? 

"Um, excuse me," Sungyeol said carefully. 

The boy's head whipped up. Sungyeol felt a shock go through him as he realized that it was Myungsoo. 

Myungsoo's expression was dark, almost pained. He looked at Sungyeol for five long seconds before he brought his head back into his hands. 

"Sunbae," Sungyeol breathed, his head starting to spin. What was Myungsoo sunbae doing here? Where was this? What had happened last night?

"Sungyeol-ah," Myungsoo said quietly, his voice strained. "I'm so very sorry." 

"Sorry?" Sungyeol echoed, extremely confused. "About what?"

"I should have had more self-control," the older continued, his voice full of disgust. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have brought you here. I should have walked away when I saw you last night. I should have done the right thing." 

"What do you mean?" Sungyeol asked, feeling like there was something he didn't remember. 

Myungsoo looked up from his hands then, and Sungyeol could see that the older was agitated. "Sungyeol-ah. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you for what?" Sungyeol said, almost starting to get frustrated from the lack of information. 

"For bringing you here against your will. For kissing you against your will. For making you sleep next to me against your will." Even as he said it, Myungsoo seemed to realize the severity of his actions. His face twisted into an ugly grimace, and he once again brought his head into his hands. 

"You... you kissed me?" Sungyeol repeated, suddenly feeling faint. "So it wasn't a dream?"

"Dream?" Myungsoo looked up again, a bitter smile on his face."I can imagine how horrified you are now that you realize that the nightmare you woke from is reality." 

"Nightmare?" Sungyeol said, frowning. 

"I must indeed be your worst nightmare," Myungsoo went on. "I'm as good as a stalker and a kidnapper. I decided to attend the MT only when I found out that you were going, even though I hadn't originally planned on showing up. I talked - no, more like threatened - Yeonju into backing away from you when I saw that she was interested in you. And now I've even brought you home with me while knowing full well how drunk you were..."

Myungsoo was quiet for a while, his eyes full of self-loathing. 

"I'm a monster," he said at last, his words no more than a whisper. 

"You... followed me to the MT?" Sungyeol inquired, feeling dizzy. His pounding headache wasn't helping the situation either. 

"Yes. When I saw you on the first day of school, you had already caught my eye. I knew I wanted to get to know you. Little did I know that I would one day turn into a disgusting creep who would force you to make out with me, to sleep with me." Myungsoo brought his hands to his hair and tugged at it in frustration. Then, as if realizing how his words would sound, he hurried to correct himself. "I didn't- we didn't sleep together. I only slept next to you. I swear." 

"Oh," Sungyeol said, not knowing what else to say. None of this was making any sense. 

"You can hit me if you want. Beat me up. You can call the cops on me. Do whatever you want," Myungsoo declared. 

"Sunbae, I don't really know if I understand..." Sungyeol started, but he didn't know how to finish, so he left the sentence hanging in the air. 

"You don't understand?" Myungsoo repeated, looking dubious. "What is it you don't understand?" 

"Why would you... kiss me?" Sungyeol frowned. 

Myungsoo nodded as if in understanding. "Ah. You're surprised that I'm gay. I've been hiding it from everyone, to be honest. I have an image to maintain, after all. But you can wreck my image, if that will make you feel better. You can tell the whole school about me; I won't try to stop you." 

"No, that's not what I meant," Sungyeol objected, shaking his head. "I mean, why would you kiss me?" 

"What do you mean, why you?"

"Why didn't you kiss the person you like instead?" 

"Kiss the person I like?" Myungsoo echoed, looking confused now. "But that's exaclty what I did."

"Huh?" Sungyeol just blinked stupidly. 

"The person I like is you." 

Feeling like he must have misheard, Sungyeol stared at the older with slinted eyes. "Me?"

"Yes, you. Hasn't that been obvious? I've stared at you and followed you and basically forced you to talk with me." The older's expression once again darkened as if appalled with himself. "I really am a monster." 

"You're not a monster," Sungyeol disagreed. "I would never think you a monster." 

Myungsoo just buried his face in his hands in resignation. "Sungyeol-ah. Please, don't try to spare me what I deserve. Make me suffer as much as I surely must have made you suffer. Give me what I deserve and then run away from me so I can't hurt you anymore." 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Sungyeol rose from the bed. He climbed out - absently noticing that he wasn't wearing a shirt - and carefully tread over to where the older was sitting. Myungsoo didn't look up from his hands though he surely must have heard the younger coming. He just kept his head bent and hidden from view behind his hands, clearly trying to ready himself for whatever blow was waiting. 

Sungyeol leaned down and gently wrapped his arms around the older. Myungsoo jumped in surprise. "Sungyeol-ah, what are you-"

"Sunbae. It's okay," Sungyeol whispered, though in all honesty he wasn't sure if that was the truth or not. He didn't know how he felt about the way Myungsoo had behaved last night. Sungyeol knew it was bad to do something to someone without their consent, which was exactly what sunbae had done. 

Yet he couldn't bring himself to hate the older. Maybe Sungyeol had already fallen in too deep. Even now, after having heard all of Myungsoo's confessions, he couldn't bring himself to walk away. Was he surprised? Yes. Was he a little scared and freaked out? Yes. Did he still like the older, in spite of all this? Definitively yes. 

"Sunbae. You're not a monster. And I wouldn't run away from you even if you were." 

Author's Note: Our poor Yeollie is so forgiving and kind T^T 

As always, thank you all for reading, and I hope you'll have a nice week everyone <3 I will try to update again asap (I'm still kind of on a roll, so the next chappie might be up soon) 

(Side note: if this ever happens to you in real life, please RUN AWAY ASAP, don't stay like Sungyeol does.)