Written by: "Nori" 

Pairing: Myungyeol

Prompt: The boy next door has a massive crush on Sungyeol but he is oblivious to it even though everyone else knows.

Ignorance is bliss

(or 5 times Sungyeol couldn't read the mood and one time he finally got a clue) 

(Words: 4,085)

1.

Like most people, Sungyeol preferred to spend his Sundays sleeping in until breakfast turned into lunch and maybe even into dinner. So when his doorbell rang on a particular Sunday morning, there was no way he was going to appreciate being woken before noon.

“What?” he snapped, or tried to because his voice was low and sleep-ridden and he couldn’t muster the energy to be louder. He raised a hand to cover his huge yawn whilst the other scratched absently at his bare stomach. Through the one eye that wasn’t caked in gunk, he could see a man standing in the hallway, cheeks flushed and eyes fixed at a level below Sungyeol’s eyes.

“Now you’re just acting like a blushing schoolgirl,” Sungyeol drawled, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms across his torso. He always slept in his underwear and there was no way he was going to throw some clothes on to answer the door when he planned to head straight back to bed.

“Ah,” the man finally spoke, his face flushing even darker. “S-Sorry.”

Nothing more followed and Sungyeol sighed. “So, what did you come here for?”

“S-S-Sorry!” the man apologised again and Sungyeol rubbed his temples, praying for the patience to deal with the idiot in front of him. The man held out his hands and it was only then that Sungyeol noticed that they were clutched around a small potted cactus. “I-I’m your new neighbour, Kim Myungsoo. This is a gift for you…?” the man trailed off, his voice having gradually become softer until it was inaudible.

“A…cactus?” Sungyeol said in surprised but accepted the white ceramic pot, warm in the parts where Myungsoo had touched.

“Yes!” Myungsoo squeaked, his eyes looking down from behind his glasses. “I-I just thought that a cactus would be good since it doesn’t need much care and—“

“It’s not a bad thing,” Sungyeol cut him off, Myungsoo slowly glancing up with his hands still clutched in the fabric of his shirt. Perhaps Sungyeol needed to re-evaluate his opinion of Myungsoo as nothing more than an idiotic time-waster because, as he looked down at the tiny cactus in his hands, this might have been worth waking up for. “I like it,” Sungyeol grinned.

Myungsoo seemed to freeze at that, his eyes now boring into Sungyeol’s face with an uncanny intensity and Sungyeol’s smile faltered. “Is something wrong?” Sungyeol frowned, bending down slightly to accommodate for the few centimetres of difference between Myungsoo and him.

“No!” Myungsoo all but shouted, his voice high-pitched and breathless. Two spots of red were high on his cheeks but before Sungyeol could ask about a possible fever, Myungsoo had already quickly rattled off an “It was nice to meet you” before scampering down the short stretch of hallway into his room.

“Thanks by the way!” Sungyeol yelled to the empty hallway and stepped back into his apartment. “That was weird,” he muttered to himself but as he stared at the pink flower adorning the top of his new plant, he could feel no irritation, not even from being awoken so early.

Suddenly he wasn’t sleepy anymore.

2.

Sungyeol acknowledged that he made bad decisions at times but right now, with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his thin jacket in a vain search for heat whilst his breath formed tiny clouds in front of him, he had to admit that this was one his worst yet. He hunched his shoulders, slouching forwards as he hurried the short distance from his apartment to the convenience store and wished for the thousandth time that he had dressed more appropriately for the weather. Wearing his pyjama bottoms and a tank top with a ratty jacket thrown over the top, it was no wonder that he was attracting weird looks from the parka-clad citizens on the street. Curse his stupid brain for thinking that he wouldn’t freeze on the snow-heavy roads, even if the store were only a five-minute walk from his place.

Stepping into the 24-hr mart was a breath of relief as his teeth finally stopped chattering. The air vents blew warm air onto his chilled skin and he revelled in the heat, ping his jacket and pushing it off his shoulders. He headed straight for the instant ramyun aisle. Woohyun, his best friend and all too frequent visitor at his apartment, had demanded some instant noodles and once his whinging became too much, Sungyeol had all but bolted out the door and forgotten to wear more.

Maybe he’d just spend more time in the store, Sungyeol thought as he mused over the rows of bright packaging. It would serve Woohyun right for making him come out in this weather. His eyes finally settled on the signature red colour of the ramyun Woohyun favoured and Sungyeol grabbed a pack of five, staring at it for a while before grabbing another. Woohyun did have a bottomless pit of a stomach.

“Sungyeol? Is that you?”

At his name, Sungyeol turned around, his eyes meeting those of his cactus-giving neighbour, Man—Mun—Myung—“Myungsoo,” Sungyeol finally remembered. “What are you doing?” he asked without thinking and almost slapped himself because what else could Myungsoo be doing?

Despite that, Myungsoo held up his full basket. Sungyeol stared at the contents which could be described entirely by the word ‘junk’, and raised an eyebrow, levelling an incredulous look at his neighbour. “You know,” Sungyeol said. “You really should eat better.”

Myungsoo flushed, awkwardly trying to cover the basket of cake and sweet breads with his arm before turning away slightly and muttering “It’s not like I have any time.” It was so quiet and jumbled that Sungyeol could barely comprehend it and he leaned back, tapping at his chin.

“A-Anyways,” Myungsoo said, his voice suddenly loud. “Why are you wearing so little?”

Sungyeol recognised the blatant change in topic for what it was but still hunched his shoulders conscientiously, pulling his jacket up to cover his bare shoulders. “I was ah,” Sungyeol paused, a hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. “I was in a hurry. And forgot.”

It was Myungsoo’s turn to look incredulous as he gave a very pointed glance towards the snowy scenery outside the window. Sungyeol reddened, turning his gaze to the floor.

The sound of rustling brought Sungyeol’s attention back up and it was to see Myungsoo slowly unwind the scarf around his neck. “What are you—“ Sungyeol began but the last of his words were swallowed up by the sudden press of wool against his lips. Automatically, he reached up to clutch the scarf when Myungsoo dropped his arm.

“I-It’s cold outside,” Myungsoo said by the way of an explanation, his hands clutching at the hem of his parka.

“But what about—“

“I’ll be fine,” Myungsoo interrupted quickly and Sungyeol frowned but hung the scarf onto him nonetheless. The warmth was instantaneous and he had been to slow to stop the content expression from spreading across his face which meant that there was no way that Myungsoo was going to accept it back.

“Hey,” Sungyeol said gruffly, bringing Myungsoo’s eyes back up to meet his. “Th-Thanks.”

He wasn’t expecting a soft smile in response nor the heat rising up in his cheeks from it and he ducked his nose into the scarf to hide his glowing cheeks.

“It looks good on you,” Myungsoo commented with a small smile. Before Sungyeol could even begin to formulate a reply, Myungsoo had already turned away, blurting out a hurried “I have to go” before almost running out of the convenience store. Yet again, Sungyeol was left staring bemusedly at the empty spot vacated by his eccentric neighbour before shaking his head, tucking the ramyun packages securely under an arm.

3.

Sungyeol had always been good at cooking and even more so since he’d moved out, scraping by on the measly amount of money he earned by part-timing at a bakery near his university campus. He also had a tendency to be very irregular with the amount that he ended up cooking and today, he stood with a spatula in hand, staring at his overflowing wok.

“Oops,” he muttered and scooped himself a generous bowl of the kimchi fried rice. Despite that, there was still enough left for another portion. He could simply refrigerate it and maybe Woohyun could eat it on the numerous days that he crashed at Sungyeol’s apartment.

An idea hit him at the moment, images flashing through his mind as he recalled his neighbour’s basket of snacks. Without a second thought, he had tipped the rest of the rice into another bowl and had run across the hallway, kicking on Myungsoo’s door with his knee as his hands were both full.

It didn’t take long before Myungsoo answered, his hair ruffled and glasses slipping down his nose and Sungyeol’s heart gave an odd lurch. He shook it off quickly, ing a bowl in front of Myungsoo.

“Um,” Sungyeol started, suddenly at loss for words. “Dinner?”

To his surprise, Myungsoo didn’t instantly kick him out, instead opening the door a little more which Sungyeol took as an invitation to sidle in.  Myungsoo’s apartment was almost exactly the same as Sungyeol’s with one exception; it was a lot messier. Sungyeol whistled lowly as he surveyed the room, setting the bowl down on a clear spot on the table whilst pushing a few magazines off the couch to situate himself there.

“Thanks,” Myungsoo murmured softly as he sat cross-legged on the floor. “But…why…?”

“I made too much,” Sungyeol replied, tacking on a ‘and I thought that you should eat something better than flavoured bread for dinner’ in his mind. However he didn’t say anything else, instead taking the pair of disposable chopsticks that Sungyeol gave him and snapping them apart.

Myungsoo ate slowly, chewing small bites before stopping altogether to fiddle with his computer. Eventually, Sungyeol gave in to his curiosity, kicking aside a candy wrapper and peering over Myungsoo’s shoulder. “What are you doing?” he asked and Myungsoo gave a tiny flinch.

“It’s, um,” Myungsoo cleared his throat but Sungyeol had already read the bright text patterning the screen.

“Is that Infinite Music?” Sungyeol asked, his eyes roving across the cute animations and vibrant colouring. “Are you one of the developers?”

“More than that,” Myungsoo said and chuckled awkwardly before mumbling his next words. “I guess you could say that I’m the head.”

Sungyeol’s eyes widened. “No way,” he breathed, staring at the screen reverently. Infinite Music was a popular game series that had announced that a smartphone version of the game would soon be appearing. Even if Sungyeol couldn’t understand the lines of code that patterned the laptop, he was almost certain that Myungsoo was working on that.

“Can I,” Sungyeol cleared his throat, willing his voice to sound less high-pitched. “Can I play it?” he asked. “Please?” he tacked on as an afterthought.

“Um,” Myungsoo hesitated, looking uncertain as he glanced from his laptop to Sungyeol’s face. “I don’t usually let anyone play unfinished—“

“Please?” Sungyeol repeated, grabbing Myungsoo’s shoulders and leaning close, giving his best puppy-dog impression that he could.

When he was this close to Myungsoo, Sungyeol could clearly hear the moment when his neighbour’s breath caught. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Sungyeol frowned, reaching a concerned hand up to cup Myungsoo’s cheek.

But before he could make contact, Myungsoo had jerked away violently, quickly scooting backwards until his back pressed against the couch. “S-Sorry,” Myungsoo said, his breaths coming in fast pants. He reached back onto the seat of the couch and picked up a tablet, his fingers flying over the surface before he slid it across the carpet towards Sungyeol.

“Here,” Myungsoo said shortly. Sungyeol picked up the tablet, looking back at the laptop and lighting up when he realised that the screens matched.

“Thanks,” Sungyeol grinned, running his fingertips gently over the buttons. “What can I do for you in return?”

“You could go on a date with me” came a rushed reply, so soft and so fast that Sungyeol wasn’t sure he was meant to hear.

“What?” he asked but Myungsoo refused to meet his gaze, staying hunched over the laptop.

“Nothing, nothing,” he replied quickly, his voice oddly breathless. “It was just a joke. A joke.”

“Oh,” Sungyeol nodded slowly but when Myungsoo remained quiet, he shrugged and pressed the play button.

4.

To say that his campus was far away from his apartment was an understatement. Based off his student loans and his meagre wage, his apartment was a good hour’s train ride away and then there was the ten-minute bus trip to the station from his house. Sungyeol chose to work at a bakery that was next to his campus because he doubted that the stores in his local got enough business to want to hire someone like him.

On Fridays, Sungyeol worked the morning shift before his lecture in the early evening and he could barely suppress the multitude of yawns that threatened to break the barrier of his lips. The bell by the door chimed and Sungyeol looked up, rattling off his standard greeting without thinking.

“Welcome to Kang’s Bakery, how may I—“ then he broke off, finally recognising the customer that had walked in. “Myungsoo?”

Myungsoo nodded slowly, taking off his glasses to clean the fog off them. Sungyeol’s breath hitched when Myungsoo’s eyes turned to him, unobstructed by the thick frames and even if Sungyeol didn’t think about his neighbour, his friend, in that way, he could still acknowledge that Myungsoo wasn’t half bad-looking.

“What brings you here?” Sungyeol managed, pushing his messy fringe away from his face, trying to smooth down the kinks with his palm.

“I was in the area,” Myungsoo said quietly and moved slowly up the counter, appraising the cakes and pies on display. Sungyeol couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment when Myungsoo’s long fingers placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.

“Isn’t this a little far?” Sungyeol asked, propping up an elbow on the countertop, pushing his chin into his palm.

“I, um,” Myungsoo began, sounding flustered, his voice high-pitched. “Work.”

“Ah,” Sungyeol nodded, making a sound of agreement despite the fact that he didn’t really understand.

“Do you make these?” Myungsoo suddenly changed the topic, gesturing to the baked goods.

Sungyeol shook his head. “Not these ones but I do sometimes. I’m out front today.”

“Oh,” Myungsoo said and Sungyeol could almost think that Myungsoo sounded disappointed. “Then, I’ll just have these,” he pointed to the green tea cake slice and a lemon meringue tart.

Sungyeol nodded, taking out a box and opening the cabinet doors. If he chose the freshest and best looking ones, it was completely coincidental. After a bit of thought, he also placed a strawberry mousse slice into the box.

“I didn’t—“

“Yea, it’s on the house,” Sungyeol coughed, ringing up the items on the register.

“I see,” Myungsoo said and Sungyeol chanced a glance up through his lashes. Myungsoo was smiling softly, the same one he had given when Sungyeol put on the scarf and Sungyeol suddenly couldn’t breathe.

“Yea,” Sungyeol said, his voice coming out choked as he pushed the bag across the counter. “Have fun at work.”

Myungsoo inclined his head, leaving the store with a soft tinkling of the bell. It wasn’t until five minutes later that Sungyeol realised something was wrong. As a game developer, Myungsoo worked primarily from home, if what Sungyeol had seen in Myungsoo’s apartment last time was an indication. Perhaps Myungsoo was attending a meeting to make him come all this way…or perhaps he had come all this way just to visit Sungyeol?

He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop his lips from twitching up into a smile, only catching himself when the coppery tang of blood spread across his tongue. Why was he so happy with that possibility?

5.

Somewhere along the line, in between visiting each other’s work and spending in ordinate amounts of time in apartments that were not their own, Sungyeol thought that he and Myungsoo had become rather close. Even if their acquaintance was only a month, Sungyeol had expected Myungsoo to remember his birthday at least.

So when nothing happened, Sungyeol was a little disappointed. His pocket vibrated then, and Sungyeol slid his phone out, opening the message as he waited for the bus back to his apartment. Come to mine, it read simply and Sungyeol’s interest was piqued. Perhaps Myungsoo had finally completed the game that he had let Sungyeol play a draft version of some time ago?

Once he did reach their building, he didn’t expect to step through the door of Myungsoo’s apartment and be showered by red petals. “Are these…roses?” Sungyeol asked, his brow furrowing in confusion as he picked one out of the air.

“Amongst others” came a voice and Sungyeol looked up to see Myungsoo walk up, his face barely discernible in the dim lighting.

“Candles?” Sungyeol said, running an appraising eye over the room. Myungsoo had certainly cleaned up; in fact it was even more spotless than his own. The lights had been turned off, instead the lamp in the living room was a dim glow and candles adorned the table in the kitchen/dining area. A white tablecloth had been thrown over the wood and next to the candelabra was a thin glass vase which held a single rose, yellow with red tips.

“What’s this?” Sungyeol wasn’t even trying to hide the plain amusement in his voice anymore as he walked towards the table. “You did this for me?”

“Romantic right?”

This time, Sungyeol burst out laughing. “Maybe if I was a woman,” he drawled before he caught sight of the crestfallen look on Myungsoo’s face. “Hey,” he said, placing an arm around Myungsoo’s shoulder. “It’s not a bad thing. I like it.”

He gave Myungsoo a pat on the shoulder before pulling out a chair and sitting down. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“It’s not that I can’t,” Myungsoo said, sitting opposite Sungyeol. He seemed to be in better spirits again, Sungyeol noted with a pleased grin. “I just don’t have the time.”

“Myungsoo,” Sungyeol said, staring fixatedly at his plate because he had always been bad at saying the mushy stuff. “Thanks, you know. No one has ever done something quite like this for me before, you really are a good friend.”

There was a sigh from the other side of the table and Sungyeol looked up to see an exasperated smile levelled his way. “What is it?” Sungyeol asked defensively.

“Nothing!” Myungsoo was quick to deny, shaking his head vigorously. “Just…”

“Yea?”

Myungsoo laughed softly, covering his mouth with his hand. “…Happy birthday,” Myungsoo finally said and it most certainly wasn’t what he was thinking before. But when Myungsoo looked like that, candlelight reflecting off his glasses and his lips curved up in a secretive smile, Sungyeol found that there was no way he was going to do anything to ruin that image.

+ 1.

Sungyeol wasn’t exactly fond of animals but when Myungsoo suggested that they visited the aquarium together, he had found himself accepting before he even knew it. Which was how, on a certain Sunday morning, he ended up standing in the lobby of the aquarium, his hands shoved in his pockets as he tried to ignore the growing rabble of children around him.

“Sungyeol!” yelled a familiar voice and instantly, his annoyance from the loud kids vanished. “Sorry, were you waiting long?”

Sungyeol shook his head, a smile spreading across his face as Myungsoo ran up. Myungsoo wasn’t wearing his glasses today and it was a decision that Sungyeol approved off, his eyes roaming appreciatingly over Myungsoo’s figure before he caught himself. A faint blush stole itself onto his cheeks but Myungsoo hadn’t seemed to have noticed as he waved the two tickets he held in his grasp.

“Let’s go then,” Sungyeol said and the two of them headed inside.

The aquarium was exactly as Sungyeol expected, almost exactly the same as Sungyeol could remember. But whilst the exhibits were only mildly entertaining to observe, Sungyeol found his gaze more frequently drawn to Myungsoo and the expressions he made as he pressed his face against the glass.

“Look!” Myungsoo smiled and pointed towards the penguin enclosure where they were currently being fed. “Aren’t they cute?”

Sungyeol nodded absently. “Yea,” he replied but he wasn’t sure he was referring to the penguins.

They reached the jellyfish exhibit next and surprisingly, it was relatively isolated. Myungsoo, of course, walked straight up the front, staring wide-eyed at the glowing jellyfish but Sungyeol wasn’t as interested and stayed back, sitting on the bench by the opposite wall.

He tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply before turning his gaze back on Myungsoo. Only, his neighbour wasn’t alone this time, standing rather closely with another man that Sungyeol didn’t recognise. He frowned, leaning forwards as he watched on intently. At his distance, he couldn’t hear what they were saying but he could clearly see the way the man placed a hand on Myungsoo’s hip, the action making his stomach feel as if it was twisting into knots.

The man said something then and Myungsoo laughed and Sungyeol didn’t understand why his hands clenched so tightly into the fabric of his pants at that action. He forced them to relax, slowly releasing his grip finger by finger and taking deep, calming breaths.

However any semblance of calm was thrown into the wind when the man tucked a strand of Myungsoo’s hair behind his ear and Sungyeol was stomping forwards, heading straight for the pair. He practically ripped the man’s arm away from Myungsoo, before grabbing Myungsoo’s wrist with his other hand.

“Sorry,” Sungyeol smiled insincerely, glaring daggers at the man. “He’s busy.” And without another word, Sungyeol had walked away quickly, practically dragging Myungsoo behind him.

“Did you know him?” was Sungyeol’s first question once he had put some distance between them, finally releasing Myungsoo’s wrist. Myungsoo rubbed absently at his freed wrist and remorse shot through Sungyeol because he hadn’t intended to hurt Myungsoo.

“Why?” Myungsoo asked warily, silently assessing Sungyeol with his eyes.

“Don’t answer my question with another question,” Sungyeol said harshly and Myungsoo flinched at the tone. That tiny gesture drained all the anger out of Sungyeol and he sighed, running an agitated hand through his hair. “I…sorry. I just,” he bit his lip, staring down at the floor. “I just didn’t like how close you two seemed. I’m sorry, I sound like—“

“You’re jealous?” came Myungsoo’s blunt reply and Sungyeol opened his mouth to quickly deny only to find out that he couldn’t.

Oh, he realised. “Oh,” he said out loud and slowly raised his eyes.

“I wasn’t joking before, you know,” Myungsoo said faintly and he was staring off as if into a memory that Sungyeol couldn’t see. “I did want to go on a date. You know, with you. But you couldn’t take a hint so I just gave up.”

“You mean,” Sungyeol said slowly. “All this time?”

“All this time,” Myungsoo repeated and nodded.

“We could make this a date,” Sungyeol suggested, taking a deep breath before reaching out and grabbing Myungsoo’s hand.

“Are you saying that—“

“Yea,” Sungyeol interrupted gruffly, heat rising into his cheeks.

Then, there was a warm pressure against his fingers and Sungyeol looked up to see Myungsoo place a light kiss on their linked hands. Oh, he thought again, staring at the way Myungsoo’s eyes almost sparkled, how the redness of his cheeks contrasted with the pale skin of his face, how his hand fit so well against his own. His breath caught in his throat and his heart felt like it had stopped and now he understood why.

“It’s a date then.”

Authors note – Nori here: This was really rushed and has zero to no plot but I hope you appreciate the mindless fluff. Also I kinda forgot the ‘everyone else knows’ part of the prompt but I hope you don’t mind too much?

Admin’s note: All that fluff—I, oh my god. It made me blush while reading, admittedly I had to take a break from reading because I kept getting embarrassed. Nori, I’m sure that everyone doesn’t mind mindless fluff every now and then so don’t worry! I’m sort of craving ramyun right now OTL. Oh! And Myungsoo at the aquarium was the cutest.

- KyashiiKun (Cathy)