Thursday                                           

Sungmin woke up startled by his message ringtone. Sleepily he reached for his phone and opened up the message, a sleepy smile spread on his face because it was from Youngwoon. | this had better wake you up, pumpkin!| Sungmin laughed and wrote back a reply while he indeed tried to wake up. Once the sent sign appeared Sungmin put his phone back on the side table and stretched like a cat. He looked around trying to locate himself in his own bedroom, he had taken two steps towards his wardrobe to get his uniform out, when his phone went out again, Sungmin rushed back to it to read the new message. |with all those spelling mistakes I believe you.| While Sungmin was reading that, another message arrived and he opened that up as well. |Lunch is ready, sacrificed my jogging to make it so I don’t want to see any leftover.| Sungmin chuckled hearing that but then he frowned  when he looked at the clock, and cursed. He had slept in too much.

The gates were about to be closed when Sungmin arrived at school, so once again he ended up not seeing Youngwoon before classes. However, right before entering his own classroom, he did send a message to his boyfriend, |Almost got locked out, but I am here safely waiting to feast on your cooking. Thank you for not waking me up on time.| he had written.

Kyuhyun looked at him quizzically once he entered the classroom because Sungmin had never arrived that late. The older boy only grinned sheepishly as he took his seat. The two of them couldn’t talk much at the morning classes, but Sungmin had managed to pass the point that nothing wrong had happened. Kyuhyun had questioned about the lunchbox, though, because to him its absence was something wrong, yet when Sungmin said Youngwoon was the one responsible for lunch that day, and there were no extra egg rolls, Kyuhyun pouted and till they parted ways at lunch break.

At the rooftop though, Sungmin threw out of the window any thoughts about a pouting Kyuhyun to savor Youngwoon’s cooking. “You could have wake me up earlier, hyung.” Sungmin suddenly said as he was half way done with his food, he indeed had expected Youngwoon would have had the delicacy to be his alarm clock that day. Yet the older boy had prepared him one of his favorite dishes and that had left him overly happy even though he almost didn’t make it in time for school. Plus it had been a while that he had had someone cook for him, what with him practically living independently from his parents. Sometimes he still found himself wishing he had a loving family to pamper him.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you would completely turn off your alarm clock.” Youngwoon replied with a tease and Sungmin pouted. Youngwoon pinched his cheek. “I told you to sleep in, not to be late.” He countered and Sungmin had to shut up and continue to eat.

After they finished their food though, Youngwoon claimed to be sleepy. “Can I have your lap for a while? Just fifteen minutes.” The older boy asked with a sleepy grin. Sungmin smiled back, nodding. “Sure.” He said as he stretched his legs and patted his thigh to get Youngwoon to lay down. “How early did you wake up to cook, hyung?” Sungmin chuckled when Youngwoon made himself comfortable.

“I woke up at my usual time.” Youngwoon answered already dozing off. “I was doing something when I got home and lost track of time… slept too late.” Sungmin smiled at the answer but didn’t reply, though he was curious of what could have kept his hyung up, yet, knowing the game addiction he also shared with Kyuhyun, Sungmin told himself his hyung had probably started a game or something.

Sungmin started to caress Youngwoon’s hair and hum the song he was composing for the school festival. Soon enough Youngwoon had fallen asleep. Sungmin waved his hand in front of Youngwoon’s face and at concluding his boyfriend was truly deep asleep the young boy leaned in. When their noses were inches apart Sungmin mumbled. “I’m sorry, hyung, for betraying your trust.” And, after saying that, he landed a soft kiss on Youngwoon’s lips. Even though Sungmin was much more hopeful that Youngwoon would come to reciprocate his feelings he still feared that a week would not be enough.

“What do you think I feel? Is this love? I want you feel just like me. Is this fate? I want you feel the same about me. Are you pleased by the happiness that has found you? Do you dream the same dream as me? Do you know how much I think about you?” Sungmin sang softly, a sad smile on his lips. He picked up his phone then and started to write more lyrics to the song. He didn't see the time pass by and Youngwoon ended up being awakened by the bell signaling the end of lunch break.

The older boy sat up startled and confused because he really was not planning to sleep through the whole of the break like that. "Min! I told you fifteen minutes! We wasted the whole break." Youngwoon complained but he felt confused at the happy smile Sungmin had on. "I wouldn't qualify that as wasted time, you got to rest some before your club activities, I got some time to compose and also got some nice pictures of a sleeping Youngwoon. Plus some great material for blackmailing latter if you come to annoy me in any way." Sungmin declared pulling Youngwoon to the door so they could go back to class.

Before Sungmin could unlock the door, Youngwoon pulled him back and gave him a small kiss on his hair. "Let's go out again after school, this way I hardly had time with you today, I don't think I am being a good boyfriend to you."

Sungmin chuckled holding Youngwoon close for a moment. “I would love to go on another date with you.” He answered. “Any idea on what we could do?”

Youngwoon held him back and Sungmin noticed something different in that touch, there was some sensation that Youngwoon was suddenly touching him in a tender way. “I’ll think about it in class, later at the pool I’ll tell you.”

There was a moment of silence after those words, both of them not letting go. They were comfortable like that, each other’s presence was comforting. however their moment was broken when the second warning bell rang and the two of them were startled into motion. At the stairs they separated with a short wave, but without Sungmin noticing Youngwoon did stop and looked back, watching Sungmin till he disappeared at the next intersection.

Later that day when Sungmin arrived at the pool, Youngwoon was talking with the coach at a corner. Apparently he was receiving instructions on something, so Sungmin took his time to find a seat and take out his stopwatch and notebook. He was startled out of his wits when Seoyeon sat beside him almost bumping him over. She was handing him a notebook with a conspirator grin. Sungmin quickly looked over to see if Youngwoon had seen them or not before he turned to her and mumbled. “What are you doing, sunbae?”

Seoyeon shrugged, still grinning, but then she used her head to point at Youngwoon. “You’re dating, so you now have official access to this, right? Or he doesn’t know we’ve been double checking his records all this time?” she shot back. The way Sungmin blushed made her laugh. “Seriously, Min, I don’t get this adoration you have over Youngwoon, but I am not one to judge. I do find you two cute together. Are we still going to meet up later?”

Sungmin made a face at her words but shook his head. “He suddenly decided we should go on a date today, so let’s find some time next week. Or you could just give me the notebook later.” Seoyeon coed him at his reply. “You are the most adorable sly fox I’ve ever met. No taking my notebook with you, nice try though.” She said as she pinched his cheeks.

At that moment Youngwoon saw them and frowned at the way Seoyeon was all over Sungmin. When the coach told him to go train he quickly made his way to the duo to ‘get his partner’ to work. “Should I be worried with all this closeness?” Youngwoon asked as he sat beside Sungmin and pulled the younger slightly away from Seoyeon.

The girl smirked at the sight and shrugged nonchalantly. “Not this week, no. But next week I might have a date with Sungmin.” She declared and the younger boy felt like struggling his sunbae. Youngwoon frowned at her reply.

“Almost every girl in this school wants a date with you Youngwoon, but Sungmin is much more my type so I would advise you to not drop your guard. I might snatch him away from you.” She stated then as she stood up to get to her position by the pool. “Move your here, Youngwoon. You need to drop your time three freaking seconds!” she added then with a stern tone.

Youngwoon huffed. “Snatch him my .” The older boy mumbled slightly pissed. He turned to Sungmin. “I have decided what to do later, I’ll take you somewhere I really love to go to when I want to have some random fun.” He added before standing up and rushing to get those damn three seconds off his records.

On the other hand Sungmin was left slightly stunned at the sudden jealous fit and also curious as to where exactly Youngwoon would want to take him. Nevertheless he cursed at himself as he lost the cue to take the first time of the training. He tsked to himself and proceeded to pay more attention on his recoding duty.

The rest of the training was pretty much productive, Youngwoon had managed to lower his time in two seconds. Though he had not reached his goal, he was still glad those two seconds seemed to be permanently off his standard time and he was much more confident he would get gold medal in the next competition.

After the coach dismissed the group, Youngwoon didn't go talk with Sungmin like it happened last Tuesday, instead he rushed to the changing room for his shower and a change of clothes. When he was back Sungmin and Seoyeon were talking again at a close proximity, though the two of them were actually focused on the content of the two notebook records. Youngwoon smiled despite himself.

"The two of you can play later, now I am kidnapping my boyfriend to our date so see you tomorrow, Seoyeon." Youngwoon announced his presence by taking Sungmin's hand and pulling his boyfriend along without as much looking back at the girl. She watched them go with a happy wave as at least Sungmin had the mind to look back and also wave her goodbye.

"So, where exactly are we going today?" Sungmin asked when the two of them got to the bus stop. Youngwoon thought for a moment and then asked, "What is my second favorite sport?"

It didn't take two seconds for Sungmin to reply firmly. "Boxing." Youngwoon shook his head with amusement. "Well then that makes it my third favorite sport, I guess." The older boy replied confusing the younger one.

"What were you considering to be your second favorite sport then?" Sungmin asked trying to come up with a reply himself, Youngwoon liked just too many sports and lately the ranking seemed to be changing quite often. "You'll see when we get there." Youngwoon mused and refused to say more.

As they took the bus, he managed to change the topic of conversation at hand. "A fair was set close by my house, what about we go there tomorrow after school?" Youngwoon asked after they took their seat.

"A fair?" Sungmin pondered, there was a lot of potential in going to a fair for a date, but there was something about it that didn't sound quite fun. The last time they had been to a fair it had been the whole group and they had a lot of fun, the memories made Sungmin think about Heechul, how for the whole week the two of them no longer interacted though Kyuhyun and Jongwoon still talked to him quite often.

"I would rather we go somewhere calmer , and just the two of us. We could go to the fair this Saturday though, with Kyuhyun and Jongwoon, maybe even Heechul if he promises to not be an again." Sungmin replied and his words caused Youngwoon to hold him by the shoulders.

"Why not just the two of us? You are always the one coming up with group outings, why is that Min?" Youngwoon asked genuinely curious about this trait of the younger. Sungmin smiled quite nostalgically. "At the beginning it was my excuse to spend more time with you but later I just felt happy I had you all beside me, when I am with you I don't feel lonely."

Sungmin became slightly gloomy at that. When he was in junior high his parents had been on the verge of a divorce, Sungmin had tried to run away from the problems in his house by completely filling his time with club activities, he had joined the swimming club though he didn't know how to swim just to fill his mind with other things, he stayed till late in school either at the music room or training taekwondo, anything was welcome to fill his mind and heart. Youngwoon brought sunshine into his darkened junior high life with his smile and cheerful attitude, Youngwoon had been his door to better things.

Unfortunately his parents divorced when he was in his last year of junior high. His mother moved to Japan, the place she had always wanted to live at, and, with her, she took Sungmin's younger brother. Sungmin's father immersed himself into work and the two of them hardly saw each other as his father was always on business trips to other countries. After Sungmin turned seventeen, his father moved to China to expand business and Sungmin found himself completely alone. His mother had asked him to come live with her, but leaving didn't seem right.

In high school instead of filling his time with club activities Sungmin decided to fill his time with people, Youngwoon was his love interest, Kyuhyun became his best friend, Jongwoon and Heechul became his most favorite hyungs. Sungmin decided to fill his time with them and with other people, if Youngwoon was the love interest of most of the female school population, Sungmin was everybody's friend so to say.

Youngwoon smiled sadly at the younger feeling sorry he once again made Sungmin feel sad unintentionally. “Then you decide what we do tomorrow after school, just the two of us. I’ll ask Jongwoon and Heechul about the fair, you ask Kyuhyun?” Youngwoon offered and Sungmin nodded to himself.

The two of them started to talk nonsense after that, just to fill in the time, but when Sungmin looked past Youngwoon to the passing streets his expression lighted up. “Baseball.” The younger mused already knowing where they were going. That simple word had caught Youngwoon by surprise, but then he shook his head again. “Why can’t I ever surprise you?”

Sungmin looked at his boyfriend with a lazy grin. “I heard something about you planning to join a team some time ago from Kyuhyun, and I know that around here there’s a batting cage so one plus one makes two.”

The two of them laughed at the reply. Indeed Youngwoon took Sungmin to a set of batting cages he had been visiting the past months for some solo training, he was there mostly when he wanted to empty his mind but he figured the two of them could have some fun. Youngwoon paid for a first round of 10 balls and he hit 8 of them, Sungmin teased his boyfriend for not hitting a perfect score and thus Youngwoon challenged him into doing better.

“Step back and watch, baby.” Sungmin mocked as he picked up his bat and positioned himself, the first ball came and he missed, of course Youngwoon teased but then he had to clap as Sungmin hit the next five balls, at the end he also only hit eight of them. “I didn’t know you knew how to play this, Min.” Youngwoon marveled as he paid for another set, but of 20 balls. “Let’s see who does better.” He added as he positioned himself for the first hit.

“My younger brother used to play, it had been a while since I last did this but it’s like riding a bicycle, you never forget. Plus you bought a lower speed for me, don’t think I didn’t notice.” Sungmin retorted as he took his place and hit the second ball. For about an hour the two of them kept playing and teasing each other for the misses but when their money was over, they were sweaty and happy.

“It’s so hot.” Sungmin complained as he fanned himself with his shirt. Youngwoon watched him for a moment with a smile. “We do need to cool down. What about some shaved ice?” The older boy proposed and he grinned as he saw Sungmin’s eyes lit up, Sungmin was so easy to please. They ended their date at a shaved ice stall, sharing a big glass of mango flavor.

Despite some bickering about Youngwoon taking Sungmin back home the two of them ended up on a bus to Sungmin’s place, the ride was mostly silent, with Sungmin resting his head on Youngwoon’s shoulder and Youngwoon resting his head on Sungmin’s.

“Have you decided what we’re doing tomorrow?” Youngwoon asked as the two of them stood at Sungmin’s doorstep. The younger nodded. “I did, but you’ll have to figure it out.” The younger shot back in a challenge. Sungmin expected Youngwoon to mess his hair like usual and say goodbye, he was fairly surprised when the older boy pulled him into a hug instead. “I had a lot of fun with you, Sungmin.” Youngwoon mumbled. “Good night.”

“Night, hyung.” Sungmin replied still not letting go. “I’ll cook tomorrow. Kyuhyun kept pouting at me for not having extra egg rolls for him.” Hearing those words Youngwoon pulled Sungmin closer. “And I thought I was the only one being fed.” After saying that Youngwoon let go, he stared at Sungmin for a while before leaning in and giving him a small kiss to the forehead. “Sleep well.” He added before taking a step back and going back home.

Sungmin bit his lips as he watched Youngwoon go. Suddenly Youngwoon’s action felt slightly off, part of Sungmin felt elated at the amount of affection shown towards him and another part just felt that eerie feelings he felt before, growing. When he closed the door behind himself Sungmin knew that the only way to really feel assured was to hear Youngwoon finally telling him that yes, Sungmin had succeeded on his mission. Never before had Sungmin wished so badly to hear an ‘I love you’ from Youngwoon.

the song in italic sungmin snag and 'composed' is I think Is it Love by Park Sae Byul