Soonyoung’s mind is blank like a sheet of paper unable to transfer what's going on in his class. His music theory teacher is going on rambles again, too fast for his brain and leads him to scribble random notes down on his notebook. 

 

           “Sorry, I’m late, Mr.Park,” a pink-haired, short guy pipes in, which he hurriedly takes a seat at the front. Soonyoung perks up to the sight of him and hears Mr.Park grunt in frustration. 

 

          “Lee Jihoon, it’s not good to come in late even if you’re at the top of my class.” Mr. Park says with a stern look on his face and adjusts his glasses on his nose. 

 

          Well, Lee Jihoon. Lee Jihoon is always quiet. But everyone in the class knows he's a lyrical genius. He's cute and his pink hair topped it all off, and Soonyoung thinks he's a fairy. Is it a crush? No, no. If it's more than that, Soonyoung was going to be screwed. He would be screwed to go further than a small, tiny crush on Lee Jihoon. He just knows. 

 

        Wrapped up in his daydreams, Soonyoung quickly comes back to reality, looping back to doodling on the corners of his notebook. His friend nudges him and whispers to his ear, “Hyung, I need another guy to sub in for our musical by any chance, can you sub?” 

 

        Soonyoung turns and replies, “Wait why?” 

 

       “He got injured, no one wants to replace him. I was thinking of you and how you would suit his role.” 

 

       “Maybe.” His friend grimaces in response. 

 

      “Come on, it’s the supporting male lead and he’s a dancer.” 

 

      “Don’t have time for it, Seungkwan.” Soonyoung snaps back, with his friend giving him a shrug. 

 

      “You’re perfect for it.”

 

     “I’m too busy with my dance team competition.” 

 

       “It’s not until 6 months or so.” 

 

       “We’re preparing for it,” Soonyoung’s voice becomes slightly higher.

 

      “Come on,” Seungkwan nudges him, instead this time harder. "I can-"

 

        “Fine!”Soonyoung interrupts, finally frustrated, which their surrounding classmates giving them looks. “Give me the script, Seungkwan.” Seungkwan chuckles quietly and takes out Steps to Music manuscript, sliding it to Soonyoung with his fingers. “You should be glad you’re my dongsaeng.” And with that, Seungkwan just smiles, satisfied. 

 

         Soonyoung just sighs into the table and dreads how miraculously boring class music theory is. Especially Mr. Park’s monotone voice, boring Soonyoung to almost half-shut eyes. 

 

____

 

               The smell of beer and fresh chicken pierces the air. Soonyoung and his friends are having their monthly night out before finals are due and grades are sealed and delivered to their parents. Sitting at their usual spot, they're hanging out at a cheap Korean fried chicken place near their university; anyways, this is the only place Soonyoung and his friends can afford without breaking their wallets. And beer! 

 

               Seokmin yells, "Finals are killing me!” No one in the restaurant really cares enough to bother yelling at them to be quiet. Seokmin drinks his last beer and asks for another pint, and is stopped by Soonyoung with a strung on his back. “Ah! What was that, hyung?” 

 

             “I’ll be the one carrying you,” Soonyoung mutters angrily, earning laughs from Chan. 

 

             Soonyoung reflexively turns to Chan and flicks him. “Don’t drink too much either.” 

 

            “Come on, hyung! I can take care of myself better than Seokmin-hyung here,” Chan replies, patting his hyung on the back. 

 

           “Auntie has other thoughts.” 

 

            The sound of the bell comes from the entrance door. Seokmin rises from his seat, still flushed with pink cheeks, and walks to the door to see a familiar face.  

 

             "Guys, these are my vocal department sunbaes, Yoon Jeonghan and Lee Jihoon." Soonyoung is surprised that Seokmin can make introductions while on the verge of being drunk. He notices Seungkwan standing up too and greets himself, cracking a harmless joke. He didn’t really hear it as he sees Lee Jihoon. Did he really forget Seungkwan is part of the Vocal Department as well? Was he always close to Lee Jihoon? He quickly removes thoughts of Jihoon out of his mind. 

 

            He turns to Yoon Jeonghan and works up to say hi. Yoon Jeonghan strikes his flower boy smile as the rest of his friends are charmed by a long-hair angel. He's the university's resident angel, Yoon Jeonghan. “Hi, you’re Kwon Soonyoung, right? Your team won the Spring High Dance Competition. My friend, Junhui, is part of your team!” 

 

            Soonyoung shyly smiles, “Yeah, I choreograph." Pausing for a moment he then adds, "Jun is a great dancer though." That sounded too much like an afterthought, Soonyoung realizes. Jeonghan just smiles and touches Jihoon's arm. 

 

            "Uh..hi," Jihoon says, "I'm in music theory with you and Seungkwan." 

 

           "Yeah, isn't Mr.Park's class boring?" Jihoon laughs as Soonyoung chuckles, being satisfied that he was able to make Jihoon not only smile but laugh. 

 

           He sees Jihoon slide in his seat and nods at him. The conversation ends after they sit down. 

 

           The rest of the night, Seokmin and Seungkwan fill in the awkwardness like they usually do. Without them it would probably be the sounds of silence. Soonyoung drinks his beer mindlessly and tries not to look at Jihoon - except he can't help but enjoy how he looks in his peripheral vision when he starts to talk to Chan. Jihoon's thick, white sweater fits him perfectly. His sleeves drown his arms as his hands peak out of his sleeves. Strands of his hair cover his eyes that Soonyoung just wants to brush away from his face. He's too cute, Soonyoung thinks. A little too much. He wants to endure how cute he looks until Chan excuses himself to go to the restroom. He stares at the walls in the restaurant and listens in to the jokes that Seokmin and Seungkwan and laughs along. 

 

          “Soonyoung-hyung,” Seungkwan says, “you’re still going to do the musical, right?"  

 

         "I have to now, because of you," Soonyoung emphasizes." Seungkwan cracks up and coughs.

 

        "I didn't know you can act, hyung!" Seokmin chimes in. 

 

       "Oh, he's actually good, Seokmin." Seungkwan replies, snorting. 

 

      "Well, Jihoon-hyung is actually the main lead. He plays Kim Dowon, your role's best friend." 

 

      . Soonyoung thinks. "Nice," Soonyoung just says, trying not to make a face. Because that is all he can say. That was awkward. It created silence, that's how awkward it was. 

 

      Jihoon interrupts the silence by saying, "I read the script. It seems interesting. I heard Eunwoo is going to play the female lead, right?" 

 

     "Mmhmmm," Seungkwan nods, sipping his beer. "Practice starts at 6 PM, so be ready." He gives a wink at Soonyoung in his direction. Wait? What? A wink. Does Seungkwan know? 

 

         Jihoon thankfully doesn't see the wink as he responses, "Alright." Soonyoung does everything he can to avoid Seungkwan's eyes and his stupid face. He can't even look at Jihoon either. He knows, knows that practice tomorrow will be fun. Great, even. 

 

_____ 

 

 

           Soonyoung couldn't believe himself. He's actually going to do the play, the musical. And be in the musical with Lee Jihoon. The Lee Jihoon. He enters in the theater to see that Seungkwan is already there waiting for him. He scans the room to see if there was a certain someone and feels relieved. Relieved.

 

           Seungkwan waves at him and yells, "Hyung! Here!" Soonyoung purses his lips in annoyance at his dongsaeng because why in the world did he ever accept to be the second lead? Why? 

 

        "Soooo.." Seungkwan starts, "you like the fairy, huh?" 

 

       "No," Soonyoung out rightly lies in front of Seungkwan. 

 

        Seungkwan raises his eyebrow, then squints at him. The moment Seungkwan knows that he is lying because his body is telling otherwise. "It's so obvious, hyung. Haven't seen you so whipped since Seokmin. And then he rejected you, and then he got a girl-" 

 

        "Stop, Seungkwan. Or I'm not doing this." Soonyoung covers his mouth instinctively. He removes it quickly only to hear Seungkwan  snicker annoyingly in response. 

 

       "Fine, I do like Jihoon. But it's just a crush. Nothing more." Soonyoung finally admits. Couldn't believe his mouth had done that. 

 

       "Oh, ho, ho so it is Jihoon. The fairy is Lee Jihoon." Soonyoung sends a glare while Seungkwan feigns a gasp. 

 

       "This is just so funny," Seungkwan says, abrupting with laughter. Coughing to stop, "But I think you have a chance." 

 

       "No, I don't. He doesn't know me," Soonyoung says.

 

        "He knows you now!" 

 

         The two quiet down as they see Lee Jihoon appear in the theater with Jung Eunwoo, talking to each other. Seungkwan waves at the two and sneers at Soonyoung who doesn't say anything. 

 

          The director comes out with the assistant director trying to hand out everyone their scripts. Soonyoung flips through and lands on his very first line after Dowon's opening introduction. He watches as Jihoon - no, Dowon - perform his lines with ease and finds himself enchanted at how Jihoon can act. His voice was mature and calm, cutting through the air like a soft blade. How much could he keep liking Lee Jihoon? He should stop himself. The director, of course, gives Lee Jihoon compliments to his performance as everyone claps. 

 

          Soonyoung reads his lines beforehand entering the stage with Jihoon. 

 

Dowon: You can dance, I can sing. We can do it together and win. 

 

Jaehyun: You know, I can't. My dad won't let me. 

 

[The two break into a song number..] 

 

              Now, he understands why Seungkwan thought this role was perfect for him. He steps onto the stage, delivering his one line comfortably. The director smiles, only looking at Jihoon. He reads the song lyrics while the dance choreographer teaches them the dance to their number. 

 

             He doesn't look at how Jihoon looks while stretching his arms or how he sets in rhythm in sync. But the dance choreographer sees how Jihoon is a bit off and it unsettles him. Taemin, their dance choreographer, mentions, "Jihoon, you're a bit stiff. Since you're going to be the center, it'll throw off the balance. Have Soonyoung reteach you the dance steps, okay?" Jihoon nods as a reply. 

 

             Soonyoung doesn't say anything and gets off the stage, getting ready for the next choreography. He sits down on the bench, letting out a sigh. Jihoon takes the seat right next to him and whispers, "You're really good at dancing, huh?" 

 

           "T-thanks," Soonyoung feels the heat rises to his cheeks and Jihoon's arm touching his shoulder when he's leaning towards him. "You're really good at acting, too." His heart flutters at the sound of Jihoon's voice and the sight of Jihoon's lips forming a genuine smile. He realizes this is the first time he's seeing Jihoon so close, finally seeing the parts of his face and not the back of his pink-haired head. 

 

          Crap, he really is cute. 

 

         "So want to stay over to teach me the steps to the dance after rehearsal?" Jihoon asks, softly. 

 

        "Yeah," Soonyoung replies back, because saying no would be a crime. He wouldn’t mind this at all. 

 

         After time had passed, the director dismisses the crew and congratulates them for their first practice. The crew bows together in satisfaction. Everyone starts to pack and leave the theater. Soonyoung looks over to Jihoon and his eyes follow Eunwoo approaching Jihoon. 

 

          "Jihoon, want to have drinks with us?" Eunwoo asks informally, hands behind her back. 

 

          "Sorry, Eunwoo. I have to practice." Jihoon answers her formally, watching Eunwoo's smile faltering. Soonyoung feels somewhat relieved. But then he couldn't really overthink it. Jihoon is a person who wouldn't abandon him like that, and not because he 

 

         "Alright, see you tomorrow," is all that Eunwoo says. 

 

         Seungkwan calls out his name, which doesn't register to his mind. He calls for the second time and turns to face him. 

 

        "Sorry, Seungkwan. What is it?” 

 

       "Oh, sorry, I stopped you from staring at your fairy." Seungkwan whispers to him. 

 

         Soonyoung shoots another glare at Seungkwan, which Seungkwan just says, "I'm going to go back in the dorm. Have fun." Seungkwan smirks, waving at Jihoon who's walking towards Soonyoung. 

 

         "So ready?" Jihoon says as they find themselves alone in the theater. 

 

        "Yeah," Soonyoung reaches his arm to play the music, completely remembering the steps to the dance. 

 

        "Okay, try to follow me," Soonyoung breaks down each step for Jihoon to absorb. 

 

        It's clearly working since Jihoon follows through easily. Soonyoung touches his arm for a certain dance move, and he can't tell if he felt a spark after touching him. It's too late to tell, so he shrugs it off and shows the next dance move. 

 

           They exchange a few words with each other to avoid awkwardness for the rest of their practice. It was mostly bits of "yeah, do this" and "yup, that's good", and Soonyoung couldn't think of anything to say. Neither did Jihoon. Minutes had passed, Soonyoung feels his sweat overcome him in the process. Suddenly, his legs also give up on him. He lies down on the floor and sees Jihoon sit down as well. The practice session nearly exhausted the two. Soonyoung grabs a towel to wipe the sweat off his face before lying on the floor completely. He looks up to the ceiling only to have Jihoon return with a water bottle in his hand. Standing up, his hair dripping in sweat still looks handsome in front of Soonyoung’s view of him. 

 

         “Thanks for today,” Jihoon says, giving the water bottle to Soonyoung. “It’s cold.” 

          “Huh?” Soonyoung blurts out, surprising Jihoon. He opens the water bottle and drinks half of it. “I mean, no problem.” Wow, god, he really is dumb. Soonyoung stands up, grabbing his backpack. Eventually, the two head out of the theater together. 

 

         Before Soonyoung waves him goodbye, Jihoon asks,“Want to do that again tomorrow?” 

 

          While scratching his neck, Soonyoung answers, “Sure,” and gives a small smile, signalling that they would do this again. He walks in a different direction away from Jihoon and wishes his dorm was closer to Jihoon’s dorm. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.