Little Steps

Step Twelve- A look from the past

 

 

 

note: gray text = flashback ^^

 

 

 

 

 

"Yeye dude, I'm waiting! palli~" Sandeul whined after climbing on the chair next to Yesung, leaning eagerly to the guitarist as he waited for the dude to start his story telling. 

"Patience baby dude, patience. I need to internalize first." Yesung said as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 
 

"Are you really internalizing or you’re just fishing for more time so you could make a fake story?" Sandeul eyed him judgingly. 

Yesung gasped. He opened his eyes and gave Sandeul an offended look. "I am not trying to make a fake story, baby dude. It hurts me that you think of me like that." he said dramatically before pausing, "but I do admit that I was fishing for more time." he added as a whisper while scratching his head. 

 

 

"Yeye dude!" the impatient kid complained.

 

 

"You can’t blame me, baby dude! Those things happened almost six years ago. You can't expect me to remember all of them." Yesung complained back.

 

 

The guitarist watched at how Sandeul pouted at him, "Don't give me that look, baby dude. I am not going to fall for that one. I've seen that look on your mommy's face countless times and I wouldn't fall for-- okay fine! You’re cute, please stop it now!" he surrendered when Sandeul started to make his doe eyes bigger.

 

 

‘Damn, why do I always fall for that kind of trap?’. Yesung thought.

 

 

"You're going to start now?" Sandeul asked hopefully.

 

 

"Yeah, yeah. As if I have any other choice. You’re one demanding brat just like your father."

 

 

"I know~" The kid sang, raising his chin as if he was proud of it.

 

 

"You shouldn’t be proud of that fact." the blond guitarist shook his head at the spoiled kid. "Now, let's see... why don’t we start at the time we first met your mommy?” Yesung asked. “Oh no, wait, let’s start at how your mommy get to know us first. “Yesung suggested and Sandeul nodded eagerly as he spun his body to face Yesung, ready to listen to everything he's going to say.

 

 

"I can't give you the full details because just like what I've said earlier, it happened a long time ago."

 

 

"It’s okay Yeye dude, as long as you tell me the interesting parts then its cool."

 

 

"Okay then, so it goes like this..."

 

 

 

xxx

 

 

FLASHBACK

 

 

"Heechul hyung! Where exactly are we going?" Sungmin asked, or rather whined, as his cousin dragged him to somewhere he still didn't know.

 

 

"Stop whining kid and just follow me." Heechul said, still dragging Sungmin. He was stretching his neck, looking from left to right as if he's trying to find something.

 

 

"Hyung, can we just go home already? I'm freezing." the aspiring model complained once again.

 

 

The red haired diva pulled him once more to another alley. "Five more minutes. If we didn't find that new band that Kibum was telling me about in five minutes then we will go home."

 

"Was that band really that good that you have to drag me with you in this freezing weather?"

 

"Well, I've heard they are good. I’ve seen their pictures and they all look handsome I tell you. And now, we're going to check them out."

 

"But I am not a fan of rock bands. You know how I hate the noises they’re making." Sungmin whined again making Heechul halt on his steps.

 

The older faced the complaining guy. "Do you hear me whine like that when you ask me to accompany you and drag me into your modeling thingy?"

 

 

"No" Sungmin shook his head.

 

 

"See? Now be a good cousin and follow me."

 

 

"Yes, you don't whine, but you kept bishing around." Sungmin who had no other choice but to follow his cousin, whispered.

 

 

"Oh look, I think that's the place."

 

 

Sungmin lifted his gaze to where Heechul was pointing and saw a big crowd flocking near a makeshift stage.

 

 

He raised an eyebrow. ‘They’re pretty popular for a new band.’

 

 

...

 

 

The mere sound of the drumsticks hitting the drums made Sungmin flinched as the band started to do sound checks. He was never a fan of rock music; he could''t stand the noise because it made his head hurt. And the screams and uproars that were coming from the fans were not helping at all.

 

 

So as soon as the band started their sound check, he was already scowling, already itching to get away from the place.

 

 

Sungmin decided that he’ll just go. Not caring about the consequences of leaving Heechul alone anymore. It doesn’t matter if he owed his cousin something. He was going to ditch him and his decision was final.

 

 

And said cousin was already out of his sight anyway. Heechul ran out to the front, leaving him on the back as soon as the sounds of the instruments began. It was Heechul who technically left first.

 

 

All he wanted to do is to get out of that place before it gets noisier. He just wanted to save himself from an impending migraine and he didn’t see anything wrong with that. Heechul would understand. Well, he hoped.

 

 

The sound of drums sounded again and this time, to Sungmin's dismay, it was accompanied by an electric guitar and the sound of bass, it seemed like they were starting soon. He frowned, already getting irritated. He didn't get on why people love to listen to this kind of music.

 

 

With an exasperated sigh, he finally took a step away from the place. He was going out of that place and he will do it now.

 

 

But that little plan of his was aborted when he heard someone singing. The said voice sounded nice to his ears, a little husky and shaky but it was really good to hear, the voice was cool and alluring and kind of soothing that it made Sungmin stopped from his track.

 

 

That was not the voice he was expecting from a vocalist of a rock band. He was actually expecting some screaming and irritating pig squealing but there was none. That voice caught his interest and got him curious.

 

 

‘Who is the owner of such lovely voice?’ He thought. Well, there's only one way to find out.

 

 

He slowly raised his gaze back to the stage and was about to look for the owner of that glorious voice when his eyes suddenly caught a flash of something pink. Being the pink lover and a person with an attention span the size of a pea that he was, he tried to focus on it first and found out what it was.

 

Corny and cliché as it may sound, Sungmin felt his eyes formed into heart shapes when his eyes landed to the lead guitarist.

 

 

The glorious voice and the noise were all left forgotten as he blatantly gaped at the pink haired man who was banging his head while wildly strumming his shiny, black guitar. The object of his attention had his eyes close out of concentration, to Sungmin's slight disappointment. But even if he had his eyes closed, he could already tell how handsome the guitarist was.

 

 

At that moment, at the age of nineteen, Lee Sungmin declared to himself that he finally found his first love.

 

 

And at that very same moment, Sungmin decided that he will call his first love his y guitarist.

 

 

Sensual, it may sound dirty, even for him, but that one word was the best word to described his y guitarist. 

 

 

He was not that tall but Sungmin knew that the guitarist was taller than him. He was wearing black, tight clothes. Every single thing on his body was composed of dark colors, a beautiful contrast to his fair skin and bright pink hair.

 

Sungmin, who was a self-proclaimed fan of colorful and bright things, decided that he liked the dead colors on him. His y guitarist looked really mysterious and it piqued Sungmin's interest more.

 

 

The guitarist got his attention and now he wanted to know him further.

 

 

And he decided that he will do that.

 

 

He continues to gazed at him, silently wishing for his y guitarist to open his eyes soon. After a few more seconds of strumming and head banging, he finally opened his eyes. And Sungmin kind of regretted that he wished for it because he could have sworn that he almost fainted at the sight of his eyes.

 

His y guitarist's eyes were, for the lack of better words, freaking y. His heavy lined eyes were staring intensely into the audience. He was staring at everyone like he was staring right through their souls. And Sungmin couldn’t help but to imagine on what will happen to him if those eyes were directed to his own.

 

 

He will faint.

 

 

That was his answer.

 

 

Call him exaggerated but he knows that he will faint the moment those intense eyes landed on him. Who wouldn't?

 

 

Deciding to extend his life more, Sungmin hesitantly averted his gaze away from his new found love and tried to look for his now missing cousin.

 

 

He wanted to know his y guitarist's name and there was only one person who could help him and he was none other than his band enthusiast cousin, Heechul.

 

 

With alert and hawk like eyes, he started to look for his cousin. He turned his head from left to right, craning his neck as the search came a bit difficult since the crowd is getting bigger and bigger. The band seems really popular, he thought.

 

 

Well, with a really good vocalist and a y guitarist he was not surprised anymore. Yes, Sungmin concluded that the band was popular and really interesting. He established that fact as if he wasn't mentally bashing the band just a few minutes ago.

 

 

...

 

 

He finally found him. It was really a good thing that his Heechul hyung was really out of this world and decided to dyed his hair with a unique fiery red color. That said red hair was the exact thing that lead the aspiring model to finding his cousin.

 

 

There he was, in front of the stage, fanboying. Sungmin shook his head. How Heechul managed to make his way in the very front in just a matter of minutes, Sungmin didn't want to know.

 

 

"Hyung, Heechul hyung." he tugged him on his sleeve when he finally got in front of the stage with a difficulty. Spazzing fans were really dangerous, Sungmin concluded when he was almost punched by one of them.

 

 

"What do you want, Sungmin ah?!" Heechul asked, eyes not leaving the stage.

 

 

"I just want to ask you something." came his fast reply; eyes were again glued on his y guitarist. The view awed him big time. His y guitarist looked a hundred times hotter in close distance.

 

 

"If you're going to ask me if you can go now then just go, I’ll stay here."

 

 

"No hyung, I am not going to leave this place until I find out what's the name of that hottie." Sungmin said, raising his voice a little so Heechul could hear him over the loud noises coming from the instruments and the fans.

 

 

Heechul snapped his head towards his cousin and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Who?" he asked possessively.

 

 

Sungmin merely raised his eyebrow at his hyung before pointing to his y guitarist with the use of his lips.

 

 

"Yesung? You're talking about Yesung?"

 

 

"So Yesung is the name of my y guitarist.” Sungmin smiled, nodding to himself. He likes his name. Yesung. That name fitted him well.

 

 

"I thought you were talking about my China man." the red haired breathed in relief.

 

 

"China man? Who?" he asked, looking confused.

 

 

"The bassist, you said you want to know what the name of the hottie is. I thought you were talking about him." Heechul explained. Heechul pointed at the blond on stage.

 

 

'Not bad.' Sungmin thought, appraising his hyung's so called China man.

 

 

Yesung looked hot. The bassist looksed good too and now he was curious on how the other band member looked like.

 

 

He moved his gaze to where the drummer was. He giggled naughtily as he saw the man sitting behind the drums. The drummer reminded him of a monkey, a good looking monkey. So far, he found all of the member good looking.

 

 

And now, it left him the vocalist. The one whom he was curious about a while ago before a certain pink haired man stole his attention.

 

 

Sungmin giggled again at his own thoughts, but that giggle was soon replaced by a sudden gasp when his eyes landed on the vocalist. He was actually surprised when he caught the vocalist staring back at him.

 

 

The vocalist was looking at him with a blank face while singing.

 

 

But Sungmin was not interested.

 

 

'Not my type.' He thought as he looked away. 'He has a nice face and voice but not really my type.'

 

 

“Listen here Sungmin, that bassist, He's mine okay. You are not allowed to have a crush on him." he heard Heechul whispering in his ears, already taking a claim on the innocent bassist.

 

 

"He's all yours hyung. I already had my eyes on someone." he sighed dreamily as he brought his full attention back to his y guitarist, not feeling cold anymore.

 

 

 

xxx

 

 

 

"The first day cutie dude saw us, he immediately became our fan," Yesung paused, looking a bit thoughtful "No, let me rephrase that. Cutie dude became my fan that very same day." Yesung said smugly.

 

 

"Are you kidding me, Yeye dude?!” Sandeul exclaimed. “My mommy used to be your fan?”

 

 

Yesung nodded proudly.

 

 

“My mommy really called you his y guitarist?" Sandeul asked incredulously. He was close to shivering because of the said nickname. He saw how his mommy loathed his Yeye dude and him calling Yesung as y guitarist was just too unbelievable... and a bit unacceptable to be honest.

 

 

"Can't you just believe me even just for once?" the guitarist feigned hurt. "I know it's hard to believe seeing how cutie dude hated me. But he did, he really did." Yesung insisted, nodding to himself that it looked like he was convincing himself more rather than convincing the kid.

 

 

"Then you're saying that my mommy calls my daddy ‘Kyutard’ while you were his y guitarist? But didn't mommy just call you Yejerk yesterday?"

 

The man in question suddenly looked sheepish as he scratches his head. "Well, that was another story, baby dude. But seriously, your mommy really called me his y guitarist." Yesung was so determined to make the kid believe him.

 

 

Sandeul narrowed his eyes on him.

 

 

"I have proof." added Yesung.

 

 

Sandeul narrowed his eyes some more.

 

 

"I have cutie dudes fan mails for me, all of them." Yesung said, looking haughty when he saw Sandeul gaping at him in surprise.

 

 

"Yes, Sungmin wrote me fan mail and I kept all of them." He added, folding his arms on his chest conceitedly before Sandeul could even react.

 

 

"My mommy wrote you what?!" Sandeul shouted. Things were getting more unbelievable as Yesung continued on telling his story; a story that he was not even sure was real.

 

 

His mommy was never the type of person to write letters as far as he knew. And he didn't even knew that Sungmin used to be a fan boy, a fan boy to a weird dude to be exact.

 

 

‘What kind of taste does his mommy has?’ He asked himself as he gave Yesung a once over look from head to toe.

 

 

"You heard it right, cutie dude wrote me fan letters and he only did it for me."

 

 

"I don't believe you, Yeye dude." the kid deadpanned. But the guitarist wasn't even the least affected by the kid's answer.

 

 

"I know you're going to say that." Yesung shook his head as he stood up. He made his way to his room, leaving a confused looking Sandeul behind. "I told you to have a little faith in me, didn't I?" he worded before disappearing into his room. He came back after a few minutes.

 

 

"Here you go." Sandeul looked up at him confusedly when Yesung put a medium sized box in front of him.

 

 

"What's this?"

 

 

"Cutie dude's fan mails for me." Yesung said proudly.

 

 

Sandeul slowly lifted the lid of the box and gawked at what he saw.

 

 

There, inside the box, was a bunch of letters.

 

 

"Oh my god my eyes." Sandeul's eyes almost burned at said letters that varies in different shades of pink. If he was being uncertain a while ago, now, he's starting to get convinced just seeing those pink. Sungmin is the only person he knew who loves the color pink that much.

 

 

“They used to be scented too. All of them." the guitarist supplied more information but was ignored as the flabbergasted kid picked up a letter and open it, only to gasped at what he saw.

 

 

"Holy dude! This is! This is... OMG!" Sandeul stared at the letter. It was Sungmin's handwritten letter to be exact. It came from Sungmin. There's no doubt about it. He recognized the neat penmanship. It was his mommy's and he couldn't believe it. He tried opening another one, peaking at some words just to be sure that it all came from here.

 

 

 

"Hi there Yesung…"

 

 

It’s his mommy’s penmanship. 

 

 

He opened another letter.

 

 

 
 
''I saw you for the third time today and I just want to say that you're amazing…''

 
 
Still his mommy’s.
 
 

''I was screaming my lungs out with my cousin a while ago. Oh god you guys rocks. Especially you <3…''

 
 
That came from his mommy alright. He recognized the heart at the end, only his mommy does that kind of heart. 
 

 

''You're so hot my y guitarist…''
 

 
Sandeul cringed at what he read. Did his mommy just write those words? To Yesung? Of all people??

 
 
''I love you Yesung. My y guitarist Yesung. Oh my god I love you so much...''
 

 

Sandeul had enough. What did he just read? He decided to stop reading before he puke right then and there but Yesung shoved a particular letter in his tiny hand before he can even close the box.

 

 

"Here, read this. This is my favorite."

 

 

The kid took the letter, looking a bit skeptical. The look on Yesung’s face while staring at the letter was somewhat scary that it gave Sandeul a second thought.

 

 

‘Should I open it or not?’ he asked to himself.

 

 

“Go ahead baby dude, open it.” Yesung convinced him; a big smile plastered on his face it made Sandeul curious.

 

 

At the end, Sandeul decided to open it, only to throw it away with his face scrunched in disgust. “Eww!” he complained, “I’m going to burn that thing.” he added, eyes twitching as he can still see the view of the almost fading kiss mark on the said letter like it was screaming at him. 

 

 

The contour of the lip mark looked familiar, it was a perfect M-shaped lips.

 

 

Lips that no doubt, belongs to his mommy.

 

 

 

xxx

 

 

 

Sungmin kept on shifting his weights from his left foot to his right as he saw the line in front of him getting shorter as the minutes passed by.

 

 

He was biting his lower lips because of anticipation and tension, while his soft and sweaty hands were grasping his precious CD tightly. Few more minutes from now and he would finally see the love of his life. He would finally be able to see his y guitarist face to face. He would be able to talk to Yesung for the first time and Sungmin couldn't already help the feels.

 

 

The smile that painted Sungmin's face was blinding after he peeked at the front of the line, four more people to go and he would finally be in front of Yesung.

 

 

Sungmin and Heechul were now on the site of Snarks and Tongue’s first ever ‘meet and greet’. It was actually an unofficial fan meeting since it was only arranged by the fan themselves since the band haven’t officially debuted yet.

 

 

Since it was the first time to see them this close, both Heechul and Sungmin dressed their selves in their best clothes and they even styled their hair and put on some makeup to look presentable for the band.

 

 

Three more people...

 

 

Sungmin's heart started beating rapidly in his chest.

 

 

Two more people...

 

 

Sungmin swore that even his armpits were starting to get sweaty because of the nervousness he was feeling.

 

 

One more person and he will be the first in line…

 

 

Few more minutes and he suddenly had the urge to back out as his brain was suddenly bombarded by unwanted thoughts.

 

 

‘What if Yesung doesn’t want to talk to me? What if Yesung didn't like me? What if Yesung find me ugly and repulsive? What if I made a fool out of himself in front of his crush? That would be embarrassing!’

 

 

Sungmin lifted his gaze to his left side, to where another line was formed for those people who wanted to meet and greet the bassist Hangeng and in front of the line, he could see Heechul.

 

 

His cousin was already talking to his Chinaman. Hangeng was writing something on Heechul's CD while they were chatting like they had known each other for years and it obviously made Heechul so happy.

 

 

Sungmin was jealous. Why couldn't he be like Heechul? Heechul was there, talking freely with his idol while there was him, already shaking in apprehension and panic. Why couldn't he be as confident as his cousin?

 

 

'Maybe I shouldn't do this now. There’s still a next time to meet him. Yes, next time. He’ll just meet Yesung next time.' he thought. He lowered his head, feeling ashamed of how pathetic and scaredy-cat he was.

 

 

Sungmin was about to lift his feet and step out of the line to go and escape when he suddenly heard a familiar deep voice. A voice that made him shudder. A voice he has already grown to love.

 

 

"Where are you going?" Sungmin heard him say. He slowly lifted his gaze and he was greeted by those curious, dark eyes.

 

 

Sungmin almost choked at the eye contact.

 

 

He was directly staring into that mesmerizing eyes that was lined with heavy black liner, and the owner of those gorgeous eyes was staring back at him in confusion and amusement for he found Sungmin's expression amusing that moment. The aspiring model looked like a surprised bunny after all.

 

 

Sungmin turned his body so he could face him. "M-me?!" he stuttered as he dumbly pointed at himself. He was so busy having a mental battle a while ago that he didn't notice that the person in front of him had already left before he could even escape. And now, he was standing in front of him. His y guitarist.

 

 

Yesung nodded at his question.

 

 

"D-did you just... talk to me?" the self-proclaimed biggest fan asked in disbelief.

 

 

He couldn't believe that he was already in front of him. He couldn't believe that he was already talking to him.

 

 

Yesung smirked at him.

 

 

Sungmin almost fainted.

 

 

"I think I just did," the guitarist replied coolly, "come here dude, and come closer. I don’t bite."

 

 

 

 

 

 

part b

 

 

[part B]

 

  note: gray text = flashback       "Where are you going?" Sungmin heard him say. He slowly lifted his gaze and he was greeted by those curious, dark eyes.


Sungmin almost choked at the eye contact.


He was directly staring into that mesmerizing eyes that was lined with heavy black liner, and the owner of those gorgeous eyes was staring back at him in confusion and amusement for he found Sungmin's expression amusing that moment. The aspiring model looked like a surprised bunny after all.


Sungmin turned his body so he could face him. "M-me?!" he stuttered as he dumbly pointed at himself. He was so busy having a mental battle a while ago that he didn't notice that the person in front of him had already left before he can even escape. And now, he is standing in front of him. His y guitarist.


Yesung nodded at his question.


"D-did you just... talk to me?" the self-proclaimed biggest fan asked in disbelief.


He can't believe that he's already in front of him. He can't believe that he's already talking to him.


Yesung smirked at him.


Sungmin almost fainted.


"I think I just did," the guitarist replied coolly, "come here dude, and come closer. I don’t bite."     xxx


Sungmin was torn. He couldn't decide on what to do. One side of his brain told him to escape and save himself from embarrassing himself while the other part of his brain told him to stay there, man up and face Yesung.


He will stay. He decided after a while.


"Don't be shy. I don't really bite, I promise," Yesung assured him. "Well, not unless you gave me a reason to bite you." Yesung added as a joke as he motioned for him to come closer using his small hand.


Oh please Yesung, you can bite me anytime you want. I wouldn't mind it at all. Sungmin had to control himself really hard to not to say those words in front of Yesung’s face; instead, he just opted on mumbling a soft 'sorry' while averting his eyes away from Yesung's intense stare.


"It’s okay. No need to apologize. Now, what's your name?"


"S-Sungmin" the almost hyperventilating fan boy stuttered.


"Aww, look at you. You’re blushing. You look so cute~" the guitarist cooed.


Sungmin gasped and gaped. Yesung just freaking called me cute. What is life?


"Pffft!"


The fan boy paused from his inner spazzing when he heard someone snorting. He turned to look at the one who snorted and his eyes landed on the boy sitting beside Yesung. The said boy was staring at him with a cheeky look on his face.


It was the vocalist.


Cho Kyuhyun.


Sungmin was kind of offended. Kyuhyun's snort was pretty loud and the look he was giving him was close to mocking. Sungmin didn't like it one bit.


What? He doesn't think I’m cute? Does he think I’m ugly? He thought to himself, nose flaring at the thought.


"Rude." Sungmin mumbled. He didn’t meant to be heard by someone but basing from the way Yesung’s eyebrow shot up and turned to gaze at their maknae, it was clear that he heard him.


"Oh come on, Kyuhyunnie. Don't be like that." Yesung told him off, giving the maknae a scolding look before going back to Sungmin. "Don’t mind him, dude. He's just jealous because I have a super cute fan like you." The guitarist told him, earning another snort from the band’s maknae but both Yesung and Sungmin decided to not pay him any attention (Sungmin also tried his best not to throw his shoe on the vocalist’s direction) "... or maybe he just wanted attention?" Yesung added and shrugged before paying attention to Sungmin’s CD that needed to be signed.


"Err... excuse me." Sungmin called out timidly to Yesung who already started signing his CD.


"Y