“Hurry up YongGuk. I’m getting wet!” A loud thud could be heard as our bodies crashed onto the floor. Not wanting to wake anyone up, our hands quickly covered each other’s mouths in an attempt to muffle the laughter escaping our lips. “Ever heard of a little thing call patience” he whispered to me as he got up and grabbed his keys that had been left hanging in the door. “Nope, can’t say I have, but it sounds like it’d be terrible thing to catch”

We walked into his room, it was still painted that same pale color of white. Posters of American rappers and scantily clad women were all that brought his walls to life. Yup, this was his room, my second home since freshman year, the year my childhood crush finally noticed me. “You know I just live next door. Staying the night isn’t necessary” I informed his as I flopped down on his bed. “We discussed this on the way here. Sleepovers are not unusual for us, my parents aren’t going to mind“. He smiled at me before turning around and opening his closet.

I let out a small sigh and poked at his little stuffed Tigger. Honestly I was surprised he still kept the thing. He’s had it longer than we’ve been neighbors and that’s as long as I can remember. Perhaps it’s one of the many reasons I like the boy so much. I’ll never forget watching him from my bedroom window, running around in his own little world with the stuffed toy. He was like the Korean Christopher Robin, and after years of just standing by I was finally invited to the hundred acre woods.

“Here”. I looked over only to be hit in the face by a bundle of fabric “I hope to God this is clean” I said as I picked up the clothes and held them out. “They should be” he leaned against the wall and waited for my approval. I held the shirt and boxer shorts out and did a visual inspection before bringing them to my nose and inhaling. It smelt like the laundry soup their mom has always used for their clothing. I gave him the thumbs up of approval, but threw his shirt back at him.

“What was that for?” he asked looking down at the light blue tshirt lying at his feet. “I don’t want that shirt” I replied, petting Tiggers head. He gave me a funny look and I responded by pointing to him. It took him a moment to figure it out, but soon enough he reached down and tugged at the hem of the shirt he was wearing. “This?” he questioned and I nodded.  He turned away a little as his gummy smile started to form on his face. He brought his hand up and coughed a little before regaining his composure, and just as I thought he would he started humming a y tune as he slowly began to strip off the shirt.

“Damn boy, you so y” I cooed as I watched the fabric inch up, revealing more and more of his toned abdomen. For every moment up till the point he pulled his the shirt over his head his eyes were on me, and for that one short moment where he wasn’t able to see me I was able to seriously take in his bodies well defined features. His collar bones were my favorite.

“You’re disgusting you know that?” I said with a laugh as he finished his little , tossing the shirt at me. “Says the one who basically asked for it. ert.” he took a seat next to me on the bed and just as he sat down I got up. “Really now?” I walked towards the door making sure I pointed to the multiple half women draping his walls on my way out “and I’m the ert?”   

After finishing up changing in the bathroom I crept my way back into his room, tiptoeing past his brother’s room who, unlike YongGuk, was the lightest sleeper I have ever met. When I arrived back into the room YongGuk was already dressed in nothing but his pajama pants, snuggled up under the covers. “Stop hogging the bed and push over you oaf” I joked as I poked at his body and with a sleepy groan he lazily rolled to his side making enough room for me to crawl in next to him.

“Is it really necessary that you be this when we sleep together?” I asked, poking at his stomach. “Yes, yes it is” a yawn escaped his lips and I couldn’t help but let a small one out myself. “Let’s sleep now okay?” he suggested, sitting up and tucking us in. “Good idea. Good night YongGuk. Good night Tigger”. YongGuk let out a small chuckle and patted my head before lying down and closing his eyes “Sweet dreams”.

An hour had passed and for some odd reason I could not fall asleep. “Yah, YongGuk, you still awake?” I asked, lightly poking at his body. No response. I turned to face him, his chin lightly brushed against the tip of my nose. I wiggled back a little and looked down at his chest, a perfect canvas. My fingers gently ran over his skin. I stopped for a moment to make sure it didn’t wake him and when I saw no signs of him stirring I began to doodle invisible pictures onto his skin.

It was hard to believe that such a smart guy had no clue about my feelings for him. Thinking back to our days in high school I’m pretty sure the whole school knew. The day in the cafeteria during freshman year, when he sat next to me, I was sure he was going to reject my feelings for him. I was wrong and we actually ended up having quite an amazing conversation that day. I’ll always remember that day, the day he let me in.

“It baffles me that you still don’t know” I smiled to myself as I drew a heart on his chest. Well I guess maybe he does and is just not saying anything. Though as long as I can stay like this with him I don’t think I mind all that much. “What are you drawing?”

I paused for a moment before looking up. My eyes met with his. His face a mixture of questioning and ‘ I caught you’ cocky.  I shot up from the bed so quickly I don’t know how I didn’t fall off. “YOU WERE AWAKE THIS ENTIRE TIME?!” I shouted as I grabbed his pillow and began hitting him with it. I switched between ‘You were awake?!’ ‘Why didn’t you say anything?!’ and ‘You !’ as he tried to defend himself from the pillow.

He was able to eventually knock the pillow away from my hands, but that didn’t stop me. I started pounding on his chest with my hands balled into tight fists. All of a sudden he bounced up from the bed and captured me in his arms. Next thing I knew we were laying back down and I was trapped in his arms.

“Shhhh, you’ll wake everyone up” he said with a small laugh, his warm breath hit my lips softly. “YongGuk~” I whinned as I tried to lightly push my way off of him. We were to close and I was worried he’d feel my heart racing. “You have a problem with the distance between us?” he asked nonchalantly. “Kind of, so if you wouldn’t mind…”. He chuckled softly before he unexpectedly moved closer. My cheeks started to burn. “Not what I meant” I said carefully, worried that I might accidently brush his lips with mine if I didn’t.

“You like me right?” my heart stopped. So he did know. “I-I.. YongGuk..”. There was no place for me to hide my blabbermouth eyes so I closed them. “since junior high” he answered himself.  I let out a small sigh, it was my turn to question him. “If you knew then how come you didn’t say anything?” A part of me was scared to know the answer. Perhaps he didn’t say anything because he didn’t know how to deal with a one sided love. I guess he finally figured it out. 

“Because I was waiting for you to say something. I’ve had tons of people confess to me, but never has it been the one I liked”. His answer caught me off guard.  “W-what?” I opened my eyes and looked into his. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait anymore. I was hoping if you thought I was asleep you would say you like me”

I lightly nudged my knee against his “Yah, that’s not fair. I’ve liked you since before you even knew I existed and I have to be the one to confess. Man, liking you is a lot of work” I let out a small laugh and he smiled brightly, his gums yet again revealing themselves. “Well then, would you like to go out with me?” With a big smile plastered on my face I answered, “Yes”.

“Still have a problem with the distance?” he chuckled softly. “As a matter of fact I do..” the look of confusion on his face was priceless “there is too much of it” I finished. A small smirk crept onto his face as he slowly leaned in, closing the gap between us. “I like you” he whispered just before pressing his lips against mine.

I guess patience is a wonderful thing to catch.