iss 2011: for quarticpolynomi (1/2)
To: quarticpolynomi
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: To Live, To Love
Pairing/Focus: Sunggyu/Myungsoo
Rating: PG - 13
Word count: ~ 10,500 words
Summary: Reality is real, and romance is nothing but a fantasy. Reality is real, and romance is nothing but a fantasy. Reality is real, and romance- oh, forget it.
Shoujo manga - noun
The term shōjo, shojo, or shoujo manga refers to manga marketed
to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18
- Wikipedia
(No one should trust Wikipedia.)
--
Myungsoo hadn’t believed in love since he was five, and the cute girl he had his eye on promptly said ‘no’ when he asked her to marry him one breezy recess. Was he being a bit unreasonable? Of course he was. He knew that his aversion to the ‘L’ word was unreasonable, given the reason behind it, but he couldn’t help it. The little girl scarred him with her scrunched-up face and screeching ‘no’ as she stomped away from him.
“Myungsoo?” And given that he couldn’t stand anything lovely and romantic, he had no idea what he was doing at the weekly Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club meeting in the library. Or why he’d been coming for the past few weeks.
“Myungsoo,” the voice called with a little more force, pulling Myungsoo from his thoughts. Myungsoo’s eyes focused on the speaker, and he gave him a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, Howon. Lost in my thoughts for a bit.” The other boys in the club sighed before Howon sat back in his seat with a grin, showing off a prominent canine.
“No worries. Happens to the best of us. Tell me you were daydreaming about the manga we’re discussing this week, at least.” Howon held up the latest volume of the series they were following, and Myungsoo nodded.
The cover was a mix of light blue and green, surrounding the two main characters of the series embracing each other. The title was lost in the art design. It was like playing hide-and-seek, only the title hid in plain sight, and Myungsoo was too slow to see it.
“You guys, this was my favorite volume to date, and not even because of the sex.” Woohyun, sitting to the left of Myungsoo, launched into a long explanation that Myungsoo listened to politely. Woohyun was a walking Casanova, proof that girls loved the romantic stuff he saw in these mangas. Strangely, even though Woohyun won girls left and right, he seemed interested in only one person, and that person remained oblivious. It had the makings of a live shoujo series.
“You say that about every new volume we read,” Dongwoo said with a laugh. Dongwoo was eternal smiles and happiness. If only he could notice the goofy grin on Woohyun’s face whenever he said something to him.
“So, who are we missing today?” Howon’s eyes swept around the small circle of chairs in the back of the library and opened up the notebook in his lap. “Sungjong said he couldn’t make it today. His little brother is sick so he had to hurry home.” He wrote down Sungjong’s name with a note underneath the date.
“Sungyeol has detention again because he wouldn’t take out his conch piercing. And I’m glad, because I paid for that,” Myungsoo said lightly, brushing a piece of dust from his uniform.
“When is he not in detention for something?” Woohyun laughed and shook his head. Sungyeol would probably end up on the floor of Myungsoo’s bedroom, reading through the latest volume for discussion because he was too cheap to buy his own. The only reason Myungsoo paid for his conch piercing was because he didn’t believe Sungyeol could beat him fifty times in a row in rock, paper, scissors.
“Myungsoo, you should be setting a better example for him,” Howon said, giving him a mock stern look. Myungsoo blinked a few times before scowling slightly.
“Excuse me? He’s older than me. If anything, he should be setting the example. What does that say about the rest of you? I’m the youngest one here without Sungjong.” He pointed an accusatory finger around the circle.
Woohyun shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t need two of me. There’s enough heartbreak going around with just me alone. These are gold mines when it comes to insight on the female psyche. I’m not even joking. There’s always someone that tries to be different, but it always ends up like this somehow.” Woohyun waved his volume around for a moment before sighing and staring at the cover.
“That’s love for you. Nothing but heartbreak,” Myungsoo said, staring off into the distance.
“Myungsoo, we know you’re not really that deep and mysterious.” A pencil came flying at him from Dongwoo’s direction, and he automatically brought his hands up to shield his face.
--
After a few moments of quiet discussion, Howon adjourned the meeting, telling each of the members to bring in their favorite volume from their favorite series for discussion next week.
“Hey, Myungsoo. Can I talk to you for a little bit?” Dongwoo caught up with Myungsoo just as he was walking through the library doors. They always met in the back of the library, and Myungsoo never stayed behind to help put the chairs back.
“Sure. It’s a bit of a walk to the bus stop,” Myungsoo said, throwing his book bag over his shoulder. The two of them walked in awkward silence for a moment until Dongwoo spoke, his voice cracking slightly.
“You don’t- oh wow, haven’t had my voice crack like that in a while.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “You don’t really seem interested in the meetings.”
“Really?” They turned the corner, and Dongwoo cleared his throat again.
“Yeah. You’re always spaced out and everything, and you don’t say much. Is it because you’re shy? I mean, none of us are judging you or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. And you shouldn’t worry about other people either.” Myungsoo stopped at the front gate of the school and squinted his eyes, tilting his head to the side to give Dongwoo a curious look.
“Not to be rude or anything, but why does this matter to you?”
Dongwoo stiffened a little bit before offering Myungsoo one of his too-bright smiles. “Well, I just thought that if you weren’t going for the discussion or love of manga, then maybe you were going for another reason. I thought maybe you liked someone.”
Myungsoo missed the light blush that tinged Dongwoo’s cheeks as he snorted and shook his head. “It’s not that. I’m not really interested in relationships or anything right now. I just... I don’t really know how to explain my reason for going. So, I guess I’ll just say that Sungyeol drags me along.”
Sooner rather than later, the two of them ended up in front of the bus stop, and the air became awkward. “Well. I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday? Have a good weekend. And tell Sungyeol if he gets in trouble again that he’s losing his touch.” Dongwoo’s eyes twinkled as he grinned at Myungsoo, but Myungsoo just nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground.
“I’ll see you later.”
--
“That’s a weird thing for him to ask you. Your reputation around school is that you’re an ice prince. Like that one manga we read, except you don’t have a ton of friends and dashing good looks.” Sungyeol groaned as Myungsoo delivered a swift kick to his ribs. He rolled over on the floor and curled up into a ball, pulling the volume he was supposed to read last week closer to his face.
“I’m just glad the girls stopped confessing to me,” Myungsoo said, flopping onto his bed. Sungyeol sat up and pursed his lips, giving Myungsoo a thoughtful look.
“Yeah. Someone let slip that you might have weird habits, and then everyone started gossiping about what it might be, and it turned into rumors, and girls got scared. It’s better you don’t know what was said,” Sungyeol said with a solemn look on his face.
Myungsoo sighed. It was better this way. Rejecting girls never got any less awkward as time passed. He was ill-equipped to deal with the tears, anger, and desperation that came with his rejections. Often times standing there dumbly just made it worse. Sometimes he would try to pat them on the shoulder, but it felt too awkward, much too awkward.
“The only thing that might even be weird about me is that I have sweaty hands.”
“And the inability to stay upright when walking or doing simple tasks- Don’t hurt me.” Sungyeol curled up again and rolled across his floor, bending some of the pages of Myungsoo’s newly bought volume.
“Be careful! Don’t bend the pages!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Sungyeol smoothed them out and cast a wary glance back at Myungsoo. “Anyway, back on the subject of Dongwoo. I wonder why he asked you that. You don’t think he likes you, do you?”
“I dunno, is he into boys?” Myungsoo rolled over on his bed and grabbed his only stuffed animal, a toy hamster he got for his birthday years ago and couldn’t part with.
“I dunno either. I know Woohyun is though,” Sungyeol said in a sing-song voice. The look of surprise on Myungsoo’s face sent Sungyeol into a fit of laughter.
“Woohyun? Of all people, Woohyun? How do you know?”
“He told us. It was during the first meeting of the club, where we were supposed to introduce ourselves tell an unknown fact about us. After he said it, he got really shy about it, so we promised not to tell. You won’t tell, right?”
“Yeah, I won’t tell. I’m not exactly the type to blab around.”
Sungyeol thought it was a pity that Myungsoo was blessed with good looks. Being the straight male that he was, he still had to admit that Myungsoo was very handsome and had a sort of charm that made him seem mysterious. Despite all that, Myungsoo was actually very awkward, almost unable to deal with most social situations. It wasn’t for lack of trying though, Sungyeol had to give him that. The boy was just awkward.
“Maybe people are expecting too much from him,” Sungyeol unconsciously said out loud.
“Expecting too much from who?”
“The main guy.” Sungyeol held up the manga and held his breath. And when Myungsoo didn’t say anything else, he knew he dodged a bullet. Myungsoo was a little bit touchy when people spoke ill of him. He didn’t get angry, he just tended to brood too much.
Sungyeol decided that Myungsoo needed to get into a relationship with someone a little more socially able. Maybe it would help him become a productive member of society instead of the awkward mess he was now. Staring back down at the manga, an idea came to him.
Maybe Myungsoo wasn’t the one that was supposed to do the romancing. Maybe he was supposed to be romanced.
Sungyeol grinned an evil grin before turning his eyes towards Myungsoo settling down in his bed. “Turn off the light when you’re done,” he said, yawning slightly.
“Yeah, I will. I only have a couple more pages. Hey, you wanna hang out downtown tomorrow? I needed to get a few things.”
“Sure,” Myungsoo said, his voice fading out. And after that, Sungyeol knew he wasn’t going to hear anything else from Myungsoo besides the occasional snore.
Sungyeol snickered quietly as he turned down the lights and started to plan.
--
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Does he even like guys?” Sungyeol sighed at the question and held up his hand to stop further ones.
“It wouldn’t do us any good to set him up with a girl. He’s traumatized by them. Has been since he first started school,” Sungyeol said, peeking around the corner for any sign of Myungsoo. He texted the club a majority of the night with his plan to help Myungsoo come out of his shell.
“Why? What happened?” Howon asked. He, Sungyeol, Dongwoo, Sungjong, and Woohyun peeked around the corner of the building at the same time and pulled back quickly when they thought Myungsoo looked in their direction, bumping into each other and complaining.
“He asked a girl to marry him, and she said no.” After a moment of silence, everyone started snorting in attempts to hide their laughter, and even Sungyeol couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. “It’s not funny. It hit him hard, being rejected at the age of five. Since then, he’s avoided girls like they were the plague. Unconsciously or consciously, I don’t know.”
“So, you’re going to try to set him up with a guy?” Sungjong asked, incredulous look on his face. “That’s a stupid idea!”
Dongwoo frowned. “I don’t really like this idea either. What happens if he ends up liking him? Or the guy turns out to be an asshole or something?”
“Then I will take full responsibility. For now, I am going to take advantage of his weaknesses, for the greater good,” Sungyeol said with a mock, choked-back sob. “He should be calling me to ask where I am in a few seconds.”
Sungyeol went home in the morning, telling Myungsoo he had to get a change of clothes and beg for some spending money from his parents. He did have to change clothes, and for the hell of it, he asked his parents for some spending money and actually got some. It was a sign, he decided.
Sure enough, after a few moments, Myungsoo reached into his pocket and scrolled down to Sungyeol’s name in his phone, pressing the phone to his ear. All of the boys watched and waited for Sungyeol’s phone to ring.
“Hello?” Sungyeol asked, answering his phone and telling the others to keep quiet.
“Where are you? I’m already here.” Dongwoo peeked out over the corner and saw irritation on Myungsoo’s face.
“Sorry. I’m running a little bit late. Are you hungry? You can meet me by the cafe. I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“You couldn’t have called to tell me you were going to be late?”
“It just happened. Don’t be such a grouch. I have money to spend for once. And you know which cafe I’m talking about, right?”
“The one with the outdoor seating and the bakery across from it.”
“Right. I’ll see you in a few.” Sungyeol hung up and stuffed his phone into his pocket. Myungsoo scowled at his phone and shoved his phone into his back pocket. He looked around for a few moments before turning and walking towards the cafe.
“How are we supposed to follow him without him noticing? He’s not that dumb.”
“Well, he spaces out when he walks, so if we’re in smaller groups, he won’t notice us,” Sungyeol said.
“So, me and Sungjong will go in one group, and Dongwoo and Woohyun in another. Sound good?” Howon said, looking around. Woohyun looked ecstatic. It was no secret that Woohyun had a crush on Dongwoo. Dongwoo was just too oblivious to see it, and regarding the question he asked Myungsoo, Sungyeol had an idea why.
“You two hide at the bakery. In the corner, order some pie or cake or something. Myungsoo eats like a pig, so it won’t be long before we head over there for some dessert. The guy selling the baked goods at the bakery, that’s who we’re going to set him up with.”
Sungjong blinked a few times before wrinkling his nose. “He goes to our school, too, doesn’t he? He’s in his final year. Sung-something.”
“Sunggyu. He’s perfect for the job of passing social skills to Myungsoo. He’s nice, he’s polite, and he sings, too. Myungsoo’s an okay singer, and he plays guitar. They’re a match made in heaven.”
“I don’t know about this,” Dongwoo said, frowning slightly. “If it’s just that, wouldn’t it be better if it was one of us? He spends the most time with us at the club.”
Through Sungyeol’s insistence, Myungsoo started attending the Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club as an attempt to help him be less socially awkward. So far, it was the only thing Myungsoo stuck with, and he seemed to be a little bit more open with the members than regular people.
“I don’t want to make it awkward in the club if something goes wrong. We’re a small enough club as it is,” Sungyeol said, pulling out his phone to check the time. “Alright. Operation GyuSoo is a go!”
--
Myungsoo was already eating by the time Sungyeol appeared, pulling a chair out and sitting down. “You didn’t even bother to wait for me? I said I wasn’t going to take forever.”
“I already ordered for you,” Myungsoo said in between shoveling food into his mouth and chewed. And true to his word, a waiter came by and set down the meal Sungyeol usually ordered.
“Huh. If that’s the case, then I should be late more often.”
“Means you’re paying.”
“Fair enough,” Sungyeol said, pretending to pop his back using the chair. He spotted Howon and Sungjong outside of the bakery, enjoying whatever pastries they ordered. Woohyun and Dongwoo had to be inside, making sure Sunggyu was going to be at the register when he and Myungsoo stopped by.
“Are you okay? You look weird.”
Sungyeol turned back to Myungsoo and scowled at him. “I’m fine. If anything, you look weirder than I do.”
--
“Here they come,” Howon said, sitting up straighter so Sungjong could duck down a little bit and hide his face.
“... bottomless pit. I don’t want to waste all of this newfound money on food, you know,” Sungyeol said as the two of them passed by into the bakery. The goods smelled too good to pass up, and Sungjong and Howon found themselves sampling a little bit of everything and enjoying the good weather outside.
“Do you think this is a good idea, Sungjong? Is this going to blow up in our faces? You know him pretty well, don’t you?”
Sungjong took a bite out of some fudge and sighed. “Well, Sungyeol knows him the best. All of us are good friends, but I don’t know about this one. He’s never really been interested in relationships. I don’t think he’d appreciate the meddling.”
He and Howon were outside to make sure everything went smoothly. Actually, they didn’t really need to be there, but when something as interesting as this was taking place, they didn’t have any other place to be.
“Dongwoo and Woohyun were talking for a while. I wonder what they’re talking about,” Sungjong said, sighing quietly.
Howon took a bite of the fudge and tried to turn Sungjong’s attention back to him. “So, how’s your brother?”
--
“I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this,” Dongwoo muttered to himself, over and over again. Woohyun sighed and stuffed a piece of cake into Dongwoo’s mouth to get him to stop talking. Dongwoo wasn’t good at these kinds of things, and watching Myungsoo look through the pastries through the glass was making him even more nervous.
“Calm down, Dongwoo. All you have to do is get up and accidentally bump into him and ruin the cake. That’s all,” Woohyun said quietly, peeking over his shoulder.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
Woohyun rolled his eyes, ducking as Myungsoo walked by to pay for his purchases. Sunggyu wrapped up the cake into a box, smiling at him as he handed over the package.
“I can’t do this.”
“If you’re not going to do this, then I will!” Woohyun got up and started to walk. Then everything after that happened in slow motion.
At least, according to Dongwoo it did.
--
Myungsoo was looking at cakes while Sungyeol made an excuse to escape next door to the bookstore. He claimed he was looking for his favorite volume to buy to bring next week to the meeting, but Myungsoo had a copy for him to borrow if he wanted. Sungyeol politely declined and ran out of the shop like it was on fire.
Myungsoo stared after Sungyeol until the door to the bakery closed again. Shaking his head, he went through the task of picking himself something to buy and eat. He always had problems choosing because his eyes were bigger than his stomach.
“Can I help you pick something?” Myungsoo looked up to see a boy smiling at him, eyes completely gone. Sungyeol made fun of him all the time for having small eyes, but this guy took the cake. Pun intended.
“I’d like this chocolate cake, please.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll even wrap it for you, free of charge.” Myungsoo found himself smiling at him and followed him towards the cash register. Before he knew it, the boy was handing him his cake as he struggled with his wallet.
“Thanks. Come back again soon!” Myungsoo nodded and took his purchase, holding it in front of him by the strings tied around the box as he tried to stuff his wallet back into his pocket.
The next thing he knew, he crashed into something, and there was the telltale sound of something crumpling, squishing, and falling to the floor with a plop. “Hey! Watch where you’re- Myungsoo?”
Myungsoo blinked a few times in shock before looking at the owner of the voice. “Woohyun.”
“Oh god! Myungsoo! I’m sorry! Is your...” He looked down at the cake box on the floor and picked it up gently. Myungsoo stared at the crushed box, and a blush rose to his face.
“Hey, are you okay?” Sunggyu called from behind the counter. He leaned slightly and saw the crushed box Woohyun was holding up and winced. Myungsoo’s face was pale, almost frightened. “You didn’t even get to leave the store. Don’t worry about it. I’ll wrap you another one, on the house.”
Myungsoo’s hand shot out and took the crushed box from Woohyun with a rapid shake of his head. “N-no. It’s fine. I’ll take this. It’s still in the box, so it’s still edible.”
“But-” Sunggyu didn’t get a chance to say anything else before Myungsoo bolted out of the bakery, turning abruptly down the street and out of sight. Woohyun bit his lip before turning towards Dongwoo, who had worried look on his face, Sungyeol’s words coming back to their minds.
There’s only three things Myungsoo can’t stand: girls, confessions, and being embarrassed.
“I hope Sungyeol knows what he’s doing,” Woohyun said quietly.
--
Myungsoo sat quietly in his room. The crushed cake box was open on the small table in the middle of his room. Most of the cardboard was picked clean, leaving only bits of frosting smeared on the surface.
The lights were dim, and Sungyeol tried to crash through his door to ask what happened but gave up ten minutes later, saying that he would see him on Monday.
Nobody could understand. He’d heard his mom telling the story of how he got rejected by a girl in his first year of school, and the laughter that followed- the laughter that followed was the reason he was terrified of girls or any social contact. The screeching laughter that turned people breathless whenever they heard his story was the reason he couldn’t bring himself to be social.
He didn’t want to be embarrassed. It was bad enough that the kids laughed at him until he ran away and hid underneath the playground until the teachers went to find him. Then the teachers laughed while his face was still tear streaked, his mother laughed, his father laughed, their friends laughed. Even Sungyeol laughed when he found out. Myungsoo couldn’t take it. He didn’t care if it was unreasonable. He didn’t want to be laughed at.
And unconsciously through the years, he distanced himself from everyone except the persistent. He had no choice but to put up with Sungyeol after he wormed his way into his life. Sungjong was very nice company with his no-nonsense. And Myungsoo was beginning to find himself relaxed in his weekly trips to the Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club
“Maybe there’s hope for me after all,” he said quietly to himself. Then the remains of the crushed cake brought him back to his reality.
--
Myungsoo dreaded Monday because his friends would be all over him as to why he bolted from the bakery so fast. His texts to them over the weekend didn’t seem to satisfy their curiosity. In fact, the only person that believed him was Dongwoo, and for that, he was grateful.
“Myungsoo!” Myungsoo swallowed and saw Woohyun running towards him, uniform looking even more rumpled than it usually did. “Hey! Wait up!”
He sighed and stopped, gripping the handle to his book bag harder. “Hey, Woohyun.”
“You didn’t let me apologize about what happened at the bakery on Saturday. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see you, and I didn’t realize you were holding a cake until... well.” Woohyun rubbed the back of his head sheepishly sighing. “I’ll get you another cake to make up for the one I ruined-”
“No. It’s fine. It was still edible.” An awkward silence stretched between the two of them until Woohyun laughed sheepishly.
“Is it just me, or did it suddenly get awkward?”
“Uh, yeah, I- Sorry. I should get to class.” Myungsoo turned around to leave and heard Woohyun calling his name again.
“You’re not mad, are you? Because it was just an accident, and I-”
“I’m not mad!” Myungsoo yelled back, waving his hand. Woohyun watched Myungsoo’s retreating back and sighed.
--
Myungsoo was only halfway up to his class, completely lost in his thoughts when he bumped into a wall, only the wall was warm, smelled like cake, and had arms to steady him as he teetered dangerously on his feet.
“Are you okay?” Myungsoo froze. That voice. “Oh! You’re the guy from the bakery that got his cake crushed.” He swallowed and brought his eyes up. Sure enough, it was the cashier from the bakery, giving him that eye-disappearing smile.
Myungsoo backed out of his grasp and turned around, mumbling a few things about forgetting something before hurrying as fast as he could back in the direction he came from.
“Hey! Wait!” And Sunggyu chased after him.
--
Myungsoo took the long way around to his class, taking the stairs on the other side of the school. He couldn’t believe he ran into him again. Would his humiliation know no bounds?
He sat at his desk quietly until the students began to pile in, and their dull chatter chased away any thoughts Myungsoo had left in his mind.
--
“Hey, Myungsoo? Are you okay? Rumor has it that you look like you’re contemplating murder.” Lunch rolled around, and Sungyeol visited Myungsoo’s class, occupying the empty desk behind him. “And I’d have to say I agree. What’s wrong? I heard about what happened at the bakery from Woohyun. He’s afraid you’re mad at him.”
Myungsoo stiffened in his seat and blinked a few times. “I’m not mad at him. It was my fault for not watching where I was going. I should’ve put my wallet up, then started walking.”
“Okay,” Sungyeol said slowly, “then why the long face?”
“I’m not feeling well. That’s all.”
Sungyeol moved to the seat beside him and stared at him, taking in the pronounced dark circles and the thin line of his lips. “You’ve been brooding again, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t been brooding. It’s Monday, and I’m tired. Leave it alone.” Myungsoo sighed and put his head on his desk, closing his eyes. Now, Sungyeol knew for sure that Myungsoo was brooding. He never skipped lunch.
--
Myungsoo was waiting at the bus stop when someone sat down next to him. He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize who it was until he spoke.
“Hi. I’m Sunggyu.”
There was silence again until Myungsoo cast a sidelong glance towards him and cleared his throat. “Myungsoo.”
“You know, bumping into people seems to be a dangerous habit of yours.” Myungsoo didn’t have anything to say. Sunggyu looked over at him with a smile and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m not really sure why you keep running away from me, but I’m just going to assume it’s because you’re shy. Too shy to say anything back to me either.”
Myungsoo tried to say something about how he wasn’t shy, he just didn’t fare well in social situations, but his throat dried up before he could get the words out.
“Which is fine. I can do enough talking for the both of us. I like the sound of my own voice.” Then he laughed, and Myungsoo felt warmth flooding through his body. The sound of laughter usually drained all the blood from his face and made him sick to his stomach, but there was something to Sunggyu’s laughter that warmed Myungsoo, and it scared him.
“We’ll be friends, right? I’ll even bring you cake for lunch a few days if we have some we need to get rid of at the bakery. You like cake?” Myungsoo nodded dumbly, making Sunggyu smile again. “Okay, cake it is. This means you can’t be running away from me whenever you see me.”
“Okay,” Myungsoo said, seeing the bus pull up to the stop.
“Progress! You’ve said one word to me! I have a feeling I’ll be able to keep count.” Myungsoo snorted before getting up and gathering his things for the bus. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” Sunggyu waved to him as he got on the bus. The doors shut behind him, and he found a seat next to the window, spotting Sunggyu still waving at him.
--
“Hey, do you know a guy named Myungsoo?” Dongwoo stiffened slightly as Sunggyu swept by him. Dongwoo and Sunggyu were stuck with cleaning duty that day, and it’d been two days since Sunggyu proclaimed that he and Myungsoo would be friends. Why, he wasn’t sure. There was just something about him that made Sunggyu want to see him smile.
“What makes you think I know him?”
Sunggyu leaned onto his broom and cast a smile at Dongwoo. “You usually hang out with the underclassmen more than I do. And I’ve seen you talking to some of the ones he usually hangs out with, so I was wondering if you knew him.”
“Yeah, I know him. Why?” Dongwoo said lightly, starting to sweep his half of the room again.
“I’m trying to be friends with him, but he looks terrified to see me every time I approach him. I mean, it’s only been two days, but it’s disheartening to see someone look at me like I’m going to gnaw on his bones every time he sees me.” Sunggyu sighed and rubbed at his eyes, balancing his broom against one of the stacked desks.
“He’s a little awkward. It’s hard for him to open up to us, and there’s always a bunch of rumors flying around because he always rejects confessions and stuff.”
“Oh... So I guess... it wouldn’t do me any good just to try and confront him all the time?”
“He’d probably run scared from you forever.”
Next
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: To Live, To Love
Pairing/Focus: Sunggyu/Myungsoo
Rating: PG - 13
Word count: ~ 10,500 words
Summary: Reality is real, and romance is nothing but a fantasy. Reality is real, and romance is nothing but a fantasy. Reality is real, and romance- oh, forget it.
Shoujo manga - noun
The term shōjo, shojo, or shoujo manga refers to manga marketed
to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18
- Wikipedia
(No one should trust Wikipedia.)
--
Myungsoo hadn’t believed in love since he was five, and the cute girl he had his eye on promptly said ‘no’ when he asked her to marry him one breezy recess. Was he being a bit unreasonable? Of course he was. He knew that his aversion to the ‘L’ word was unreasonable, given the reason behind it, but he couldn’t help it. The little girl scarred him with her scrunched-up face and screeching ‘no’ as she stomped away from him.
“Myungsoo?” And given that he couldn’t stand anything lovely and romantic, he had no idea what he was doing at the weekly Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club meeting in the library. Or why he’d been coming for the past few weeks.
“Myungsoo,” the voice called with a little more force, pulling Myungsoo from his thoughts. Myungsoo’s eyes focused on the speaker, and he gave him a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, Howon. Lost in my thoughts for a bit.” The other boys in the club sighed before Howon sat back in his seat with a grin, showing off a prominent canine.
“No worries. Happens to the best of us. Tell me you were daydreaming about the manga we’re discussing this week, at least.” Howon held up the latest volume of the series they were following, and Myungsoo nodded.
The cover was a mix of light blue and green, surrounding the two main characters of the series embracing each other. The title was lost in the art design. It was like playing hide-and-seek, only the title hid in plain sight, and Myungsoo was too slow to see it.
“You guys, this was my favorite volume to date, and not even because of the sex.” Woohyun, sitting to the left of Myungsoo, launched into a long explanation that Myungsoo listened to politely. Woohyun was a walking Casanova, proof that girls loved the romantic stuff he saw in these mangas. Strangely, even though Woohyun won girls left and right, he seemed interested in only one person, and that person remained oblivious. It had the makings of a live shoujo series.
“You say that about every new volume we read,” Dongwoo said with a laugh. Dongwoo was eternal smiles and happiness. If only he could notice the goofy grin on Woohyun’s face whenever he said something to him.
“So, who are we missing today?” Howon’s eyes swept around the small circle of chairs in the back of the library and opened up the notebook in his lap. “Sungjong said he couldn’t make it today. His little brother is sick so he had to hurry home.” He wrote down Sungjong’s name with a note underneath the date.
“Sungyeol has detention again because he wouldn’t take out his conch piercing. And I’m glad, because I paid for that,” Myungsoo said lightly, brushing a piece of dust from his uniform.
“When is he not in detention for something?” Woohyun laughed and shook his head. Sungyeol would probably end up on the floor of Myungsoo’s bedroom, reading through the latest volume for discussion because he was too cheap to buy his own. The only reason Myungsoo paid for his conch piercing was because he didn’t believe Sungyeol could beat him fifty times in a row in rock, paper, scissors.
“Myungsoo, you should be setting a better example for him,” Howon said, giving him a mock stern look. Myungsoo blinked a few times before scowling slightly.
“Excuse me? He’s older than me. If anything, he should be setting the example. What does that say about the rest of you? I’m the youngest one here without Sungjong.” He pointed an accusatory finger around the circle.
Woohyun shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t need two of me. There’s enough heartbreak going around with just me alone. These are gold mines when it comes to insight on the female psyche. I’m not even joking. There’s always someone that tries to be different, but it always ends up like this somehow.” Woohyun waved his volume around for a moment before sighing and staring at the cover.
“That’s love for you. Nothing but heartbreak,” Myungsoo said, staring off into the distance.
“Myungsoo, we know you’re not really that deep and mysterious.” A pencil came flying at him from Dongwoo’s direction, and he automatically brought his hands up to shield his face.
--
After a few moments of quiet discussion, Howon adjourned the meeting, telling each of the members to bring in their favorite volume from their favorite series for discussion next week.
“Hey, Myungsoo. Can I talk to you for a little bit?” Dongwoo caught up with Myungsoo just as he was walking through the library doors. They always met in the back of the library, and Myungsoo never stayed behind to help put the chairs back.
“Sure. It’s a bit of a walk to the bus stop,” Myungsoo said, throwing his book bag over his shoulder. The two of them walked in awkward silence for a moment until Dongwoo spoke, his voice cracking slightly.
“You don’t- oh wow, haven’t had my voice crack like that in a while.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “You don’t really seem interested in the meetings.”
“Really?” They turned the corner, and Dongwoo cleared his throat again.
“Yeah. You’re always spaced out and everything, and you don’t say much. Is it because you’re shy? I mean, none of us are judging you or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. And you shouldn’t worry about other people either.” Myungsoo stopped at the front gate of the school and squinted his eyes, tilting his head to the side to give Dongwoo a curious look.
“Not to be rude or anything, but why does this matter to you?”
Dongwoo stiffened a little bit before offering Myungsoo one of his too-bright smiles. “Well, I just thought that if you weren’t going for the discussion or love of manga, then maybe you were going for another reason. I thought maybe you liked someone.”
Myungsoo missed the light blush that tinged Dongwoo’s cheeks as he snorted and shook his head. “It’s not that. I’m not really interested in relationships or anything right now. I just... I don’t really know how to explain my reason for going. So, I guess I’ll just say that Sungyeol drags me along.”
Sooner rather than later, the two of them ended up in front of the bus stop, and the air became awkward. “Well. I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday? Have a good weekend. And tell Sungyeol if he gets in trouble again that he’s losing his touch.” Dongwoo’s eyes twinkled as he grinned at Myungsoo, but Myungsoo just nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground.
“I’ll see you later.”
--
“That’s a weird thing for him to ask you. Your reputation around school is that you’re an ice prince. Like that one manga we read, except you don’t have a ton of friends and dashing good looks.” Sungyeol groaned as Myungsoo delivered a swift kick to his ribs. He rolled over on the floor and curled up into a ball, pulling the volume he was supposed to read last week closer to his face.
“I’m just glad the girls stopped confessing to me,” Myungsoo said, flopping onto his bed. Sungyeol sat up and pursed his lips, giving Myungsoo a thoughtful look.
“Yeah. Someone let slip that you might have weird habits, and then everyone started gossiping about what it might be, and it turned into rumors, and girls got scared. It’s better you don’t know what was said,” Sungyeol said with a solemn look on his face.
Myungsoo sighed. It was better this way. Rejecting girls never got any less awkward as time passed. He was ill-equipped to deal with the tears, anger, and desperation that came with his rejections. Often times standing there dumbly just made it worse. Sometimes he would try to pat them on the shoulder, but it felt too awkward, much too awkward.
“The only thing that might even be weird about me is that I have sweaty hands.”
“And the inability to stay upright when walking or doing simple tasks- Don’t hurt me.” Sungyeol curled up again and rolled across his floor, bending some of the pages of Myungsoo’s newly bought volume.
“Be careful! Don’t bend the pages!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Sungyeol smoothed them out and cast a wary glance back at Myungsoo. “Anyway, back on the subject of Dongwoo. I wonder why he asked you that. You don’t think he likes you, do you?”
“I dunno, is he into boys?” Myungsoo rolled over on his bed and grabbed his only stuffed animal, a toy hamster he got for his birthday years ago and couldn’t part with.
“I dunno either. I know Woohyun is though,” Sungyeol said in a sing-song voice. The look of surprise on Myungsoo’s face sent Sungyeol into a fit of laughter.
“Woohyun? Of all people, Woohyun? How do you know?”
“He told us. It was during the first meeting of the club, where we were supposed to introduce ourselves tell an unknown fact about us. After he said it, he got really shy about it, so we promised not to tell. You won’t tell, right?”
“Yeah, I won’t tell. I’m not exactly the type to blab around.”
Sungyeol thought it was a pity that Myungsoo was blessed with good looks. Being the straight male that he was, he still had to admit that Myungsoo was very handsome and had a sort of charm that made him seem mysterious. Despite all that, Myungsoo was actually very awkward, almost unable to deal with most social situations. It wasn’t for lack of trying though, Sungyeol had to give him that. The boy was just awkward.
“Maybe people are expecting too much from him,” Sungyeol unconsciously said out loud.
“Expecting too much from who?”
“The main guy.” Sungyeol held up the manga and held his breath. And when Myungsoo didn’t say anything else, he knew he dodged a bullet. Myungsoo was a little bit touchy when people spoke ill of him. He didn’t get angry, he just tended to brood too much.
Sungyeol decided that Myungsoo needed to get into a relationship with someone a little more socially able. Maybe it would help him become a productive member of society instead of the awkward mess he was now. Staring back down at the manga, an idea came to him.
Maybe Myungsoo wasn’t the one that was supposed to do the romancing. Maybe he was supposed to be romanced.
Sungyeol grinned an evil grin before turning his eyes towards Myungsoo settling down in his bed. “Turn off the light when you’re done,” he said, yawning slightly.
“Yeah, I will. I only have a couple more pages. Hey, you wanna hang out downtown tomorrow? I needed to get a few things.”
“Sure,” Myungsoo said, his voice fading out. And after that, Sungyeol knew he wasn’t going to hear anything else from Myungsoo besides the occasional snore.
Sungyeol snickered quietly as he turned down the lights and started to plan.
--
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Does he even like guys?” Sungyeol sighed at the question and held up his hand to stop further ones.
“It wouldn’t do us any good to set him up with a girl. He’s traumatized by them. Has been since he first started school,” Sungyeol said, peeking around the corner for any sign of Myungsoo. He texted the club a majority of the night with his plan to help Myungsoo come out of his shell.
“Why? What happened?” Howon asked. He, Sungyeol, Dongwoo, Sungjong, and Woohyun peeked around the corner of the building at the same time and pulled back quickly when they thought Myungsoo looked in their direction, bumping into each other and complaining.
“He asked a girl to marry him, and she said no.” After a moment of silence, everyone started snorting in attempts to hide their laughter, and even Sungyeol couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. “It’s not funny. It hit him hard, being rejected at the age of five. Since then, he’s avoided girls like they were the plague. Unconsciously or consciously, I don’t know.”
“So, you’re going to try to set him up with a guy?” Sungjong asked, incredulous look on his face. “That’s a stupid idea!”
Dongwoo frowned. “I don’t really like this idea either. What happens if he ends up liking him? Or the guy turns out to be an asshole or something?”
“Then I will take full responsibility. For now, I am going to take advantage of his weaknesses, for the greater good,” Sungyeol said with a mock, choked-back sob. “He should be calling me to ask where I am in a few seconds.”
Sungyeol went home in the morning, telling Myungsoo he had to get a change of clothes and beg for some spending money from his parents. He did have to change clothes, and for the hell of it, he asked his parents for some spending money and actually got some. It was a sign, he decided.
Sure enough, after a few moments, Myungsoo reached into his pocket and scrolled down to Sungyeol’s name in his phone, pressing the phone to his ear. All of the boys watched and waited for Sungyeol’s phone to ring.
“Hello?” Sungyeol asked, answering his phone and telling the others to keep quiet.
“Where are you? I’m already here.” Dongwoo peeked out over the corner and saw irritation on Myungsoo’s face.
“Sorry. I’m running a little bit late. Are you hungry? You can meet me by the cafe. I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“You couldn’t have called to tell me you were going to be late?”
“It just happened. Don’t be such a grouch. I have money to spend for once. And you know which cafe I’m talking about, right?”
“The one with the outdoor seating and the bakery across from it.”
“Right. I’ll see you in a few.” Sungyeol hung up and stuffed his phone into his pocket. Myungsoo scowled at his phone and shoved his phone into his back pocket. He looked around for a few moments before turning and walking towards the cafe.
“How are we supposed to follow him without him noticing? He’s not that dumb.”
“Well, he spaces out when he walks, so if we’re in smaller groups, he won’t notice us,” Sungyeol said.
“So, me and Sungjong will go in one group, and Dongwoo and Woohyun in another. Sound good?” Howon said, looking around. Woohyun looked ecstatic. It was no secret that Woohyun had a crush on Dongwoo. Dongwoo was just too oblivious to see it, and regarding the question he asked Myungsoo, Sungyeol had an idea why.
“You two hide at the bakery. In the corner, order some pie or cake or something. Myungsoo eats like a pig, so it won’t be long before we head over there for some dessert. The guy selling the baked goods at the bakery, that’s who we’re going to set him up with.”
Sungjong blinked a few times before wrinkling his nose. “He goes to our school, too, doesn’t he? He’s in his final year. Sung-something.”
“Sunggyu. He’s perfect for the job of passing social skills to Myungsoo. He’s nice, he’s polite, and he sings, too. Myungsoo’s an okay singer, and he plays guitar. They’re a match made in heaven.”
“I don’t know about this,” Dongwoo said, frowning slightly. “If it’s just that, wouldn’t it be better if it was one of us? He spends the most time with us at the club.”
Through Sungyeol’s insistence, Myungsoo started attending the Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club as an attempt to help him be less socially awkward. So far, it was the only thing Myungsoo stuck with, and he seemed to be a little bit more open with the members than regular people.
“I don’t want to make it awkward in the club if something goes wrong. We’re a small enough club as it is,” Sungyeol said, pulling out his phone to check the time. “Alright. Operation GyuSoo is a go!”
--
Myungsoo was already eating by the time Sungyeol appeared, pulling a chair out and sitting down. “You didn’t even bother to wait for me? I said I wasn’t going to take forever.”
“I already ordered for you,” Myungsoo said in between shoveling food into his mouth and chewed. And true to his word, a waiter came by and set down the meal Sungyeol usually ordered.
“Huh. If that’s the case, then I should be late more often.”
“Means you’re paying.”
“Fair enough,” Sungyeol said, pretending to pop his back using the chair. He spotted Howon and Sungjong outside of the bakery, enjoying whatever pastries they ordered. Woohyun and Dongwoo had to be inside, making sure Sunggyu was going to be at the register when he and Myungsoo stopped by.
“Are you okay? You look weird.”
Sungyeol turned back to Myungsoo and scowled at him. “I’m fine. If anything, you look weirder than I do.”
--
“Here they come,” Howon said, sitting up straighter so Sungjong could duck down a little bit and hide his face.
“... bottomless pit. I don’t want to waste all of this newfound money on food, you know,” Sungyeol said as the two of them passed by into the bakery. The goods smelled too good to pass up, and Sungjong and Howon found themselves sampling a little bit of everything and enjoying the good weather outside.
“Do you think this is a good idea, Sungjong? Is this going to blow up in our faces? You know him pretty well, don’t you?”
Sungjong took a bite out of some fudge and sighed. “Well, Sungyeol knows him the best. All of us are good friends, but I don’t know about this one. He’s never really been interested in relationships. I don’t think he’d appreciate the meddling.”
He and Howon were outside to make sure everything went smoothly. Actually, they didn’t really need to be there, but when something as interesting as this was taking place, they didn’t have any other place to be.
“Dongwoo and Woohyun were talking for a while. I wonder what they’re talking about,” Sungjong said, sighing quietly.
Howon took a bite of the fudge and tried to turn Sungjong’s attention back to him. “So, how’s your brother?”
--
“I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this,” Dongwoo muttered to himself, over and over again. Woohyun sighed and stuffed a piece of cake into Dongwoo’s mouth to get him to stop talking. Dongwoo wasn’t good at these kinds of things, and watching Myungsoo look through the pastries through the glass was making him even more nervous.
“Calm down, Dongwoo. All you have to do is get up and accidentally bump into him and ruin the cake. That’s all,” Woohyun said quietly, peeking over his shoulder.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
Woohyun rolled his eyes, ducking as Myungsoo walked by to pay for his purchases. Sunggyu wrapped up the cake into a box, smiling at him as he handed over the package.
“I can’t do this.”
“If you’re not going to do this, then I will!” Woohyun got up and started to walk. Then everything after that happened in slow motion.
At least, according to Dongwoo it did.
--
Myungsoo was looking at cakes while Sungyeol made an excuse to escape next door to the bookstore. He claimed he was looking for his favorite volume to buy to bring next week to the meeting, but Myungsoo had a copy for him to borrow if he wanted. Sungyeol politely declined and ran out of the shop like it was on fire.
Myungsoo stared after Sungyeol until the door to the bakery closed again. Shaking his head, he went through the task of picking himself something to buy and eat. He always had problems choosing because his eyes were bigger than his stomach.
“Can I help you pick something?” Myungsoo looked up to see a boy smiling at him, eyes completely gone. Sungyeol made fun of him all the time for having small eyes, but this guy took the cake. Pun intended.
“I’d like this chocolate cake, please.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll even wrap it for you, free of charge.” Myungsoo found himself smiling at him and followed him towards the cash register. Before he knew it, the boy was handing him his cake as he struggled with his wallet.
“Thanks. Come back again soon!” Myungsoo nodded and took his purchase, holding it in front of him by the strings tied around the box as he tried to stuff his wallet back into his pocket.
The next thing he knew, he crashed into something, and there was the telltale sound of something crumpling, squishing, and falling to the floor with a plop. “Hey! Watch where you’re- Myungsoo?”
Myungsoo blinked a few times in shock before looking at the owner of the voice. “Woohyun.”
“Oh god! Myungsoo! I’m sorry! Is your...” He looked down at the cake box on the floor and picked it up gently. Myungsoo stared at the crushed box, and a blush rose to his face.
“Hey, are you okay?” Sunggyu called from behind the counter. He leaned slightly and saw the crushed box Woohyun was holding up and winced. Myungsoo’s face was pale, almost frightened. “You didn’t even get to leave the store. Don’t worry about it. I’ll wrap you another one, on the house.”
Myungsoo’s hand shot out and took the crushed box from Woohyun with a rapid shake of his head. “N-no. It’s fine. I’ll take this. It’s still in the box, so it’s still edible.”
“But-” Sunggyu didn’t get a chance to say anything else before Myungsoo bolted out of the bakery, turning abruptly down the street and out of sight. Woohyun bit his lip before turning towards Dongwoo, who had worried look on his face, Sungyeol’s words coming back to their minds.
There’s only three things Myungsoo can’t stand: girls, confessions, and being embarrassed.
“I hope Sungyeol knows what he’s doing,” Woohyun said quietly.
--
Myungsoo sat quietly in his room. The crushed cake box was open on the small table in the middle of his room. Most of the cardboard was picked clean, leaving only bits of frosting smeared on the surface.
The lights were dim, and Sungyeol tried to crash through his door to ask what happened but gave up ten minutes later, saying that he would see him on Monday.
Nobody could understand. He’d heard his mom telling the story of how he got rejected by a girl in his first year of school, and the laughter that followed- the laughter that followed was the reason he was terrified of girls or any social contact. The screeching laughter that turned people breathless whenever they heard his story was the reason he couldn’t bring himself to be social.
He didn’t want to be embarrassed. It was bad enough that the kids laughed at him until he ran away and hid underneath the playground until the teachers went to find him. Then the teachers laughed while his face was still tear streaked, his mother laughed, his father laughed, their friends laughed. Even Sungyeol laughed when he found out. Myungsoo couldn’t take it. He didn’t care if it was unreasonable. He didn’t want to be laughed at.
And unconsciously through the years, he distanced himself from everyone except the persistent. He had no choice but to put up with Sungyeol after he wormed his way into his life. Sungjong was very nice company with his no-nonsense. And Myungsoo was beginning to find himself relaxed in his weekly trips to the Shoujo Manga Appreciation Club
“Maybe there’s hope for me after all,” he said quietly to himself. Then the remains of the crushed cake brought him back to his reality.
--
Myungsoo dreaded Monday because his friends would be all over him as to why he bolted from the bakery so fast. His texts to them over the weekend didn’t seem to satisfy their curiosity. In fact, the only person that believed him was Dongwoo, and for that, he was grateful.
“Myungsoo!” Myungsoo swallowed and saw Woohyun running towards him, uniform looking even more rumpled than it usually did. “Hey! Wait up!”
He sighed and stopped, gripping the handle to his book bag harder. “Hey, Woohyun.”
“You didn’t let me apologize about what happened at the bakery on Saturday. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see you, and I didn’t realize you were holding a cake until... well.” Woohyun rubbed the back of his head sheepishly sighing. “I’ll get you another cake to make up for the one I ruined-”
“No. It’s fine. It was still edible.” An awkward silence stretched between the two of them until Woohyun laughed sheepishly.
“Is it just me, or did it suddenly get awkward?”
“Uh, yeah, I- Sorry. I should get to class.” Myungsoo turned around to leave and heard Woohyun calling his name again.
“You’re not mad, are you? Because it was just an accident, and I-”
“I’m not mad!” Myungsoo yelled back, waving his hand. Woohyun watched Myungsoo’s retreating back and sighed.
--
Myungsoo was only halfway up to his class, completely lost in his thoughts when he bumped into a wall, only the wall was warm, smelled like cake, and had arms to steady him as he teetered dangerously on his feet.
“Are you okay?” Myungsoo froze. That voice. “Oh! You’re the guy from the bakery that got his cake crushed.” He swallowed and brought his eyes up. Sure enough, it was the cashier from the bakery, giving him that eye-disappearing smile.
Myungsoo backed out of his grasp and turned around, mumbling a few things about forgetting something before hurrying as fast as he could back in the direction he came from.
“Hey! Wait!” And Sunggyu chased after him.
--
Myungsoo took the long way around to his class, taking the stairs on the other side of the school. He couldn’t believe he ran into him again. Would his humiliation know no bounds?
He sat at his desk quietly until the students began to pile in, and their dull chatter chased away any thoughts Myungsoo had left in his mind.
--
“Hey, Myungsoo? Are you okay? Rumor has it that you look like you’re contemplating murder.” Lunch rolled around, and Sungyeol visited Myungsoo’s class, occupying the empty desk behind him. “And I’d have to say I agree. What’s wrong? I heard about what happened at the bakery from Woohyun. He’s afraid you’re mad at him.”
Myungsoo stiffened in his seat and blinked a few times. “I’m not mad at him. It was my fault for not watching where I was going. I should’ve put my wallet up, then started walking.”
“Okay,” Sungyeol said slowly, “then why the long face?”
“I’m not feeling well. That’s all.”
Sungyeol moved to the seat beside him and stared at him, taking in the pronounced dark circles and the thin line of his lips. “You’ve been brooding again, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t been brooding. It’s Monday, and I’m tired. Leave it alone.” Myungsoo sighed and put his head on his desk, closing his eyes. Now, Sungyeol knew for sure that Myungsoo was brooding. He never skipped lunch.
--
Myungsoo was waiting at the bus stop when someone sat down next to him. He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize who it was until he spoke.
“Hi. I’m Sunggyu.”
There was silence again until Myungsoo cast a sidelong glance towards him and cleared his throat. “Myungsoo.”
“You know, bumping into people seems to be a dangerous habit of yours.” Myungsoo didn’t have anything to say. Sunggyu looked over at him with a smile and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m not really sure why you keep running away from me, but I’m just going to assume it’s because you’re shy. Too shy to say anything back to me either.”
Myungsoo tried to say something about how he wasn’t shy, he just didn’t fare well in social situations, but his throat dried up before he could get the words out.
“Which is fine. I can do enough talking for the both of us. I like the sound of my own voice.” Then he laughed, and Myungsoo felt warmth flooding through his body. The sound of laughter usually drained all the blood from his face and made him sick to his stomach, but there was something to Sunggyu’s laughter that warmed Myungsoo, and it scared him.
“We’ll be friends, right? I’ll even bring you cake for lunch a few days if we have some we need to get rid of at the bakery. You like cake?” Myungsoo nodded dumbly, making Sunggyu smile again. “Okay, cake it is. This means you can’t be running away from me whenever you see me.”
“Okay,” Myungsoo said, seeing the bus pull up to the stop.
“Progress! You’ve said one word to me! I have a feeling I’ll be able to keep count.” Myungsoo snorted before getting up and gathering his things for the bus. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” Sunggyu waved to him as he got on the bus. The doors shut behind him, and he found a seat next to the window, spotting Sunggyu still waving at him.
--
“Hey, do you know a guy named Myungsoo?” Dongwoo stiffened slightly as Sunggyu swept by him. Dongwoo and Sunggyu were stuck with cleaning duty that day, and it’d been two days since Sunggyu proclaimed that he and Myungsoo would be friends. Why, he wasn’t sure. There was just something about him that made Sunggyu want to see him smile.
“What makes you think I know him?”
Sunggyu leaned onto his broom and cast a smile at Dongwoo. “You usually hang out with the underclassmen more than I do. And I’ve seen you talking to some of the ones he usually hangs out with, so I was wondering if you knew him.”
“Yeah, I know him. Why?” Dongwoo said lightly, starting to sweep his half of the room again.
“I’m trying to be friends with him, but he looks terrified to see me every time I approach him. I mean, it’s only been two days, but it’s disheartening to see someone look at me like I’m going to gnaw on his bones every time he sees me.” Sunggyu sighed and rubbed at his eyes, balancing his broom against one of the stacked desks.
“He’s a little awkward. It’s hard for him to open up to us, and there’s always a bunch of rumors flying around because he always rejects confessions and stuff.”
“Oh... So I guess... it wouldn’t do me any good just to try and confront him all the time?”
“He’d probably run scared from you forever.”
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