130206 CHAPTERED FIC: COLLDE: TWENTY-SEVEN
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Twenty-seven | Woohyun/Sunggyu, Hoya(Howon)/Dongwoo, L(Myungsoo)/Sungyeol | Fluff > Crack | PG13 (for cussing and sexual references)
Summary: Typical high school fic in which Woohyun is no longer top dog, Myungsoo’s life becomes interesting, Howon finally feels something and Sungjong discovers his future.
(poster by chocolate_ai)
-
‘What on bloody Earth is bothering you now?’ Sunggyu huffed. He was walking to his room after he finished vacuuming downstairs, until Myungsoo’s room caught his eye. He saw his little brother lying face down on his bed in a plank position.
Myungsoo rolled over, an inch away from falling off the bed before he shifted. ‘Nothing. I’m just being impatient,’ he grunted in return.
‘And snappy, I sense,’ Sunggyu snorted, arms uncrossing as he approached the bed.
‘Hyung, go away,’ Myungsoo whined, rolling onto his side and facing the wall.
Sunggyu was being particularly stubborn that day and joked playfully, poking his brother’s spine until his body jolted from the weird sensation, ‘I refuse to.’
Myungsoo complained, raising his voice a little, ‘Hyung, get out.’
The other was nowhere near intimidated and singsonged in an annoying way, ‘Have you taken a look at the calendar?’
‘Yes, and I don’t care!’
Sunggyu scoffed to himself and walked out of the room. Myungsoo never cared and Sunggyu was a little disappointed about it.
-
Woohyun was driving Sunggyu home from work that Saturday afternoon. The two students were being rather quiet until Woohyun asked, ‘Any plans after this?’
Sunggyu smirked. ‘If you ask me out on a date, I’ll slaughter you,’ he warned somewhat jokingly.
Woohyun laughed at this. No way in hell would Woohyun ask Sunggyu out on a date. All they’d do is bicker about who would pay, nag each other about opinions, and roll their eyes at each other’s behaviour. They were immensely different, to put it simply, so it would never work out.
‘Can you drop me off at the shopping centre, please?’ Sunggyu asked politely, tone suddenly nice and not threatening like it was before.
Woohyun changed lanes. ‘Sure. Buying something?’
‘Yes, for Myungsoo.’
‘Did that punk get you to run an errand?’
‘No. I’m buying him a birthday present,’ Sunggyu chuckled. Woohyun always pointed an accusing finger at his brother these days.
‘When’s his birthday?’
‘Wednesday 28th,’ Sunggyu answered, ‘But don’t worry. He never tells anybody and insists he is too old for birthdays.’
Woohyun exclaimed in response, ‘But he’s turning eighteen! This should be a big deal.’ Well, if he hadn’t had his first drink before, which wasn’t the case.
‘Why do I feel as though he will be heartbroken on his own birthday?’
‘Don’t jinx him,’ Woohyun kidded, turning into the underground parking lot.
Sunggyu turned his head and looked at Woohyun from his seat, smile gracing his lips as he mused back, ‘But you feel so too, don’t you?’
Sensing the look through the dim light of the parking lot, Woohyun glanced over at him and found himself glancing at him again, just a little longer this time. Why the fuck did Sunggyu have to look so gorgeous in such horrible lighting? And why when he had to keep his eyes out for other cars and pedestrians? Woohyun concluded that Sunggyu was a tease even when he wasn’t trying. He was a natural and Woohyun was pissed because of it.
‘I don’t know how long people usually take to recover after getting their heart smashed into a million pieces, in front of their whole school,’ Woohyun retorted finally, ignoring the fact that just the sight of Sunggyu had him speechless for more than a minute.
‘Well, hopefully not for long because he’s starting to really annoy me,’ Sunggyu grunted in distaste, and Woohyun forgot about how beautiful Sunggyu was again. If Sunggyu didn’t talk, Woohyun would ask him out.
‘The present will cheer him up a little,’ Woohyun remarked, stealing someone’s park with a smirk. He loved being an amazing driver.
-
‘Woohyun, it means nothing if you buy it for me,’ Sunggyu complained as Woohyun opened his wallet and handed the cashier some cash. Woohyun was strong enough to keep Sunggyu away by his arm and Sunggyu would’ve beaten the shit out of him if they weren’t in a public area.
Woohyun retorted matter-of-factly, ‘You’re the one giving it him, so it does.’
‘Don’t argue with me in public,’ Sunggyu grunted, trying to hand Woohyun some money. The younger boy refused and squirmed away when Sunggyu tried to shove the money into his pockets. Sunggyu huffed in annoyance and glared fiercely at the other. He didn’t care that Woohyun insisted. It was Sunggyu’s present to Myungsoo, after all.
‘Then let me pay for it,’ Woohyun whined, grabbing Sunggyu’s wrist and pushing them away.
With a sigh, Sunggyu spat angrily, ‘Fine.’ He then relented and relaxed as Woohyun grinned to himself. They walked away from the counter with a plastic bag in hand, Myungsoo’s new camera sitting in it. They went to the nearest gift shop to purchase an adorable card with a picture of a cupcake on it - Woohyun tried to persuade Sunggyu to buy Myungsoo a card that suited his age (and gender, to be honest) a little more, but Sunggyu was forever persistent when it came to cute things.
They found a bench and sat as Sunggyu wrote in the card. Woohyun peeked at it and read some of the content. Sunggyu wrote something about him having to grow mentally to suit his actually age and things about being a hassle and unconditional fondness. Woohyun snorted a little because he didn’t expect anything less from Sunggyu. He also noticed that Sunggyu had exceptionally neat penmanship.
The last sentence made Woohyun scoff in amusement: From: Sunggyu & Woohyun
Sunggyu looked at him with the what expression and Woohyun smiled lopsidedly. ‘You’re really something, aren’t you?’ he commented, making Sunggyu chuckle.
-
‘Let’s hold Myungsoo a party,’ Yongguk said all of a sudden. After school on Monday, Yongguk and Dongwoo came over to Woohyun’s house to raid his fridge. They claimed it was because they hadn’t talked to Woohyun’s maids in a long time, but Woohyun knew very well that was not the case. Dongwoo brought Howon along because Howon had never been in Woohyun’s house before and Dongwoo acted like it was some great adventure for him.
Dongwoo crooked an eyebrow and laid his head in Howon’s lap, lying on Woohyun’s bed. ‘Really? But he’s been a downer lately…’ he mentioned, immediately crestfallen. At first, he was pissed off at Myungsoo, but after seeing Myungsoo get rejected in front of everyone made Dongwoo feel sorry for him.
‘What about Sungyeol?’ Woohyun asked.
Yongguk shrugged. ‘Let’s not invite him.’
‘Where are we doing it? Your place?’ Dongwoo questioned, looking pointedly at Woohyun.
Woohyun rolled his eyes. ‘It’s always my place,’ he commented quietly.
After thinking about it logically, Yongguk immediately shook his head and argued, ‘Well, if we do it at your place, it won’t be a surprise.’
‘Why does it have to be a surprise?’ Woohyun scoffed. In his opinion, surprise parties were rather overdone and annoying for the surprised. What if they just wanted to come home and have a quiet night, and then had to deal with the fifty people jumping out and scaring the shit out of them?
Yongguk reasoned somewhat intelligently, ‘Because he’s being a downer, right? He wouldn’t agree to it if he knew about it beforehand.’
Woohyun thought about that for a while before giving Yongguk a high-five. ‘Hey, that’s smart! You’ve got a brain, Bang. I’m glad I found out before I got Sungyeol to do an experiment on you,’ he exclaimed, making Howon furrow his brow.
Dongwoo pouted in thought and then turned to Howon, seeing that Howon probably knew Myungsoo the best out of the three present. ‘So where does Myungsoo go all the time?’ he mumbled.
‘These days? Home,’ Howon answered simply.
Woohyun, Dongwoo and Yongguk glanced at each other.
-
After meeting at the front gates, Woohyun and Dongwoo hid in the narrow space between the lockers and the walls as they waited for Sunggyu to appear. Sunggyu walked into school towards the end of arrival period and went straight to his locker to put his bag away. Yongguk was lucky he wasn’t that close to Sunggyu and so wasn’t involved in the plan.
Woohyun gave Dongwoo a knowing look before shoving Dongwoo towards Sunggyu’s direction. ‘Why do I have to do it?’ Dongwoo hissed, sneering at the other.
‘He thinks you’re the cute one. He’ll listen to you,’ Woohyun retorted, giving Dongwoo another push.
Dongwoo gasped, ‘Really? He thinks I’m cute?’
‘Puppy cute, not stick-his-dick-in-your-mouth cute!’
A shadow fell across both their faces and when they turned to see the owner of the shadow, they both gulped.
Sunggyu lifted an eyebrow, hands on hips, as he questioned smoothly, ‘May I help you?’
Dongwoo got spooked by the look on Sunggyu’s face and shouted, ‘We want to throw Myungsoo a surprise -‘
Woohyun clasped a hand over his mouth just in time and hissed, ‘Shhhh.’
Sunggyu gave Woohyun a glare and the latter sighed, signalling Sunggyu to follow him to out of the school building so they could talk and not be overheard. Sunggyu followed him out of curiosity more than anything, his arms crossed over his chest. Once they were under a tree, the voices of the Paran students just murmurs, Woohyun began, ‘We want to hold a surprise birthday party at your place, just to cheer Myungsoo up a little.’
Sunggyu didn’t even have to think about it. ‘No,’ he rejected unwaveringly.
‘Why not?’
‘He’ll hate it,’ Sunggyu said.
Woohyun knitted his eyebrows together. Friends coming together to celebrate Myungsoo’s eighteen years of existence? That doesn’t seem like something he would hate. ‘No, he won’t,’ Woohyun insisted.
Sunggyu shook his head. ‘Trust me. He will.’
‘Come on, Sunggyu,’ Woohyun sighed.
There was silence between them as Sunggyu thought about the idea of throwing Myungsoo a party. Woohyun was right in implying that his brother needed cheering up and Myungsoo loved parties - He just didn’t like celebrating his birthday. The situation he was in - trying to win over Sungyeol - could only make the party go one way or the other. It will either be a complete success or a massive failure.
Hearing Woohyun’s pleading voice somehow made Sunggyu allow the risk to happen. ‘Alright,’ he huffed with difficulty. ‘But I’m not involved in anything. Is that clear?’
Woohyun nodded frantically and then saluted as Sunggyu said something about going to class. He ran off back to Dongwoo, to find Yongguk waiting impatiently with him. Upon seeing them, Woohyun grinned.
‘He said yes?’ Dongwoo huffed, his jaw hanging open.
‘Sunggyu had faith in me, that’s why,’ Woohyun said cockily as he walked off to his locker.
Yongguk snorted in disbelief, ‘Yeah, right. He just wants to see you fail.’
-
‘Woohyun, please do not invite the whole city.’
Sunggyu and Woohyun were waiting in their first period class for their biology teacher. Woohyun was skimming through the contact list on his phone and trying to remember who Myungsoo’s friends were.
‘Only everyone on my contact list that Myungsoo’s probably met before,’ he replied. Even though he didn’t turn his head away from the screen, he could tell Sunggyu was glaring at him. He chuckled, ‘I’m kidding. Only close-ish friends.’
Sunggyu nodded and then warned, ‘Be careful who you invite. Remember that it is Kim Myungsoo, after all.’
‘Oh right. If I invite someone he’s fucked before, there might be a bomb disguised as a birthday present.’
‘Or thirty-four,’ Sunggyu scoffed.
‘Myungsoo’s surprise birthday party, Saturday the 1st, starts at four-ish, stay out of Sunggyu’s room. Sound alright?’
‘Sure,’ Sunggyu agreed, suppressing his laughter. The last detail of the invite was a little unnecessary, but Woohyun was somewhat caring in a stupid sort of way.
‘Anyone you want to invite in particular?’ Woohyun asked.
Sunggyu faked an innocent expression as his index finger tapped his bottom lip, humming in thought as he gazed at the ceiling. He answered slowly, ‘Yoon Doojoon…?’ Sunggyu obviously knew Woohyun had something against Doojoon and it was quite amusing.
Woohyun’s face immediately fell with darkness. ‘But he’s Sungyeol’s cousin,’ he retorted through gritted teeth.
‘Oh, yes, he is,’ Sunggyu sighed innocently, feigning disappointment as he held back a cynical smirk at Woohyun’s annoyance. ‘Maybe next time then.’
Woohyun sucked on his bottom lip and Sunggyu hid away his smile by turning away rather naturally. It was funny how Woohyun could never hide his jealousy or protectiveness or whatever-the-hell he felt when Doojoon was mentioned.
‘How about Bang Minsoo then?’ Sunggyu asked brightly, throwing in a cute head-tilt. Woohyun gave him the really? look and so Sunggyu chuckled, ‘I’m kidding, idiot.’
Sunggyu’s smile immediately made Woohyun soften. ‘Thirty people so far, including us,’ he said.
‘That should be fine.’
Woohyun scoffed, ‘Really? That’s it?’
Sunggyu’s eyes narrowed before he gave in, ‘Five more then.’
Woohyun grinned to himself and scrolled through his contact list.
‘It’s rather fortunate that my mother won’t be home on Saturday,’ Sunggyu mentioned.
‘Why?’
‘She’d comment on how my collection of hot boys is at her house and check out every single one of them,’ Sunggyu growled, thinking of how immature his own mother was, ‘And trust me when I say she would not be inconspicuous about it.’
Woohyun laughed.
‘She’d also try to sell me and encourage me to go up into my room with someone,’ Sunggyu added with a sigh of exasperation.
‘I like your mum,’ Woohyun said. He’d only met her once, but how Sunggyu described her made her sound very fun. She was like the female Myungsoo.
Sunggyu snorted, ‘Take her.’
-
At recess, Woohyun found Myungsoo and threw an arm over his shoulders as they walked down the hall. ‘So… how does it feel to be an adult?’ Woohyun questioned casually.
‘What is there to do as an adult that I haven’t done as a minor?’ Myungsoo deadpanned.
Woohyun thought for a moment before he realised Myungsoo was more adult than some real adults, even before he turned eighteen. He couldn’t really think of anything and so answered unsurely, ‘Being called an adult?’
They approached the principal’s office and the door started opening. Myungsoo then said loudly, as the principal was stepping out, in a sarcastic tone, ‘Oh glorious day, I can finally have my first drink.’
Woohyun chuckled at the weird expression the principal shot them as they passed. Myungsoo wasn’t exactly liked by the principal and vice versa - even more so since the assembly that Myungsoo relatively ruined. Comments of the incident went viral on the school forum. On Google, Myungsoo’s related search terms had changed from die, kill, hate, sex and why to Lee Sungyeol, LOL and assembly.
‘Does your brother drink?’ Woohyun asked all of a sudden, interrupting Myungsoo’s train of thought.
‘I’ve never seen it before,’ Myungsoo replied in thought. Sunggyu was too goody-goody for that… right?
‘Okay,’ Woohyun hummed.
Myungsoo stopped walking and glared as he spat, ‘Does every conversation I have with you have to end with my brother?’
Woohyun shook his head at Myungsoo’s suddenly foul mood.
‘Just fuck him already. I’ve heard about your rep back in West campus. It shouldn’t be that hard to trick him into it,’ Myungsoo sighed. Woohyun and Sunggyu’s lack of kissing annoyed him.
Woohyun narrowed his eyes. ‘Do you realise what you just said?’
Myungsoo rethought what he said and thought oh, that’s a little unnecessary. ‘Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’m a shit brother,’ he groaned, ‘Plus, I know you wouldn’t trick him. You’d kneel down and worship his ass before you’d touch it.’
Woohyun rolled his eyes. ‘You know what sucks? The first time you get your heartbroken; your playfulness is gone, your jokester is gone, but your douche is still intact.’
‘It’s as strong as steel, my friend.’
Woohyun changed the subject with a huff, ‘Any plans to win over my baby?’
‘You mean the skyscraper? I’ve got something planned.’
‘Really?’
‘It involves food.’
‘Bait.’
Myungsoo smirked. ‘Exactly.’
-
Wednesday night was when Sunggyu gave Myungsoo his present. Sunggyu knew Myungsoo wasn’t one for birthdays, so he didn’t bother with annoying wrapping paper. He just extended his hand, the white plastic bag hanging from his fingers. Myungsoo took it with a contorted face, in curiosity, and peered inside.
‘What’s this?’ Myungsoo scoffed, smiling lopsidedly.
Sunggyu merely shrugged. ‘It’s your birthday today,’ he stated matter-of-factly.
Myungsoo picked up the cardboard box and inspected the info on it. ‘You got me a camera?’
‘Well, you were clumsy enough to break your old one, so I thought it would be appropriate to get you a new one.’
‘Wish me luck for not breaking this one.’ He didn’t say thank you, but Sunggyu knew he was grateful. Neither of the brothers received gifts on their birthdays from each other. Usually, they would share gifts that their families and friends gave them. However, when they became juniors, Myungsoo’s gifts started become more adult and Sunggyu was too disgusted to even look at the weird items Myungsoo’s friends got him as a joke.
‘All my phalanges are crossed,’ Sunggyu laughed, shaking his head.
Myungsoo then picked up the card and started reading. He scrunched his nose at the contents before he read the last line and beamed brightly. ‘From Sunggyu and Woohyun,’ he read aloud. ‘It’s like you’re married.’
‘Bite me, you little brat.’
-
On Saturday, Sungyeol was hiding from humanity. He locked himself in his room so he could play Pokémon in his cave of blankets and pillows. After beating the first gym leader and his first round of victory dance, he received a call from butthead. Sungyeol figured that he was in a good mood that day and so picked up the phone.
‘What do you want?’ he snapped.
Myungsoo hummed, ‘So you’ve finally unblocked my number…’
‘You didn’t answer me.’ Sungyeol was planning on being demanding and superior this time. He wanted to show Myungsoo who was boss and that he was still pissed. He didn’t want to look weak in front of him anymore.
‘I’m outside your house right now.’
Sungyeol stepped away from the window. ‘Stalker.’
‘Yes, I’m the best stalker, telling you about my whereabouts so I can continue following you without you finding out,’ Myungsoo deadpanned sarcastically.
‘What do you want?’ Sungyeol spat, trying to keep up the snappy tone - Myungsoo was making it kind of difficult with his sarcasm.
Myungsoo stated, ‘I bought ice-cream.’
‘And what? You wanna rub it in my face?’
‘I’d rather rub it all over your body, but no. That’s not what I’m here for.’ Yeah, that’s the flamboyant playboy Myungsoo nobody felt sorry for. That was the Myungsoo before Sungyeol happened.
‘You want me to come out?’ Sungyeol droned. He was still in his pyjamas and his room was extremely comfortable, but he figured Myungsoo would not leave without him and he couldn’t really bite his head off if he was up in his room and Myungsoo was standing outside in the cold.
‘That’s the first thing on my list.’
‘Don’t move.’
-
Sungjong was getting the food set out as he asked, ‘Where did he go, anyway?’
‘Who knows,’ Yongguk sighed, standing on a chair to stick up a Happy Birthday sign.
It was Saturday (borderline) morning and the boys were over to set up the house before the guests arrived. Dongwoo and Howon were rearranging the furniture, Woohyun was setting up the sound system he rented, Sungjong was in charge of food, and Yongguk was in charge of decorations. They were working at a steady speed and soon finished up, just in time to eat before the guests arrived and ate all the food.
Sunggyu was yet seen at the house and why Howon had a spare key confused everyone, but it was convenient. They theorised that Sunggyu was in his room, hiding away from work.
Just as Woohyun opened up a can of Coke, Sunggyu’s bedroom door swung open and out came a sleepy student body president with his messed up hair, eye-rubbing and pyjamas. His pyjamas weren’t much - just a plain oversized tee and loose boxer shorts - but Woohyun thought he looked utterly adorable.
And he had the softest-looking thighs ever.
As Sunggyu began slowly making his way downstairs, Yongguk snapped in disbelief, ‘It’s two in the afternoon and you just woke up? You’re shitting me.’
‘Is hyung a sleepaholic?’ Dongwoo asked Howon, tilting his head a little.
‘It happens when he doesn’t have work,’ Howon said, not finding Sunggyu’s sleeping patterns odd at all. He was used to Sunggyu’s out-of-whack regimes.
‘Good morning to you too,’ Sunggyu scoffed, reaching the base of the stairs. He then extended his arms up and stretched, his white shirt riling up and revealing a slither of the pale skin on his stomach. Woohyun was staring intently and very, very creepily. You could say that Woohyun had the a thing for pale skin and dishevelled hair, especially when cute sleepiness was involved.
‘Dongwoo-hyung,’ Sungjong called.
‘Yeah?’
Sungjong pointed at the gaping, almost drooling, Woohyun and said, ‘Smack his head.’
Dongwoo shrugged but did as the youngest told, giving the back of Woohyun’s head a big whack. The smack successfully knocked Woohyun out of his daze and he was then looking at Dongwoo with a shocked/angry face.
‘What the fuck,’ Woohyun spat, rubbing his head.
Sunggyu walked around to take a look at the set up. They had moved all the furniture to the sides and so Sunggyu realised how big their house actually was. He walked into the middle of the makeshift dance floor (which was lame and in the middle of nowhere), kicking around the balloons that scattered the floor with a grin.
Woohyun came over and stood before him, muttering, curious as to what was the reason for that mischievous smile, ‘What?’
‘This setting reminds me of a house party I went to last year,’ Sunggyu mentioned, pressing his lips together afterwards.
Woohyun quipped, ‘The student body presidents goes to house parties?’
Sunggyu leaned forward and whispered playfully, ‘Don’t tell anyone. Not even Myungsoo knew I went.’
‘Oh, you badass,’ Woohyun laughed. He picked up a balloon and started throwing it around. ‘What type of party?’
Sunggyu hummed in thought for a moment. ‘One a minor shouldn’t have been at,’ he answered quietly.
‘Alcohol?’ Woohyun didn’t exactly find that odd alcoholic drink a big deal. He didn’t even think getting completely wasted was a big deal, but he wasn’t a responsible SPB like Sunggyu.
Sunggyu’s lip quirked. ‘Yes, but it was primarily a balloon party.’
Woohyun squinted at that answer. ‘What’s that?’
‘There were balloons on the ground and if you touched one, you had to pop it. In the balloon was a slip of paper that told you to do something.’ Sunggyu picked up and balloon and sighed as he rambled, ‘There were innocent things like hug the closet person to you, say hi to someone who popped a balloon of the same colour as yours…’
Woohyun raised an eyebrow.
‘But then there were… bad things, such as,’ Sunggyu continued in a low voice, smirking, ‘Find someone who popped a balloon the same colour as yours and make-out with them, find someone who is willing to inspect the master bedroom with you…’
Woohyun stepped closer to the older boy, his breath hitting the side of Sunggyu’s neck. ‘And what did you get?’ he asked cynically.
‘Innocent things, unfortunately,’ Sunggyu whined a little, with a pout that had Woohyun weak at the knees. The words rolled off Sunggyu’s tongue effortlessly, sucking Woohyun in, ‘I wanted to be bad just once or twice.’ There was a little bite of his bottom lip to finish off and Woohyun was on the brink of insanity.
Woohyun swore to the heavens, Sunggyu was purposely teasing him with that expression and that tone and those legs and that skin and his everything.
‘If this party ever comes around again, hit me up,’ Woohyun mentioned, clearing his throat.
‘Nam, if you’re done flirting, could you help just a little?!’
Woohyun was too distracted by Sunggyu’s seductiveness to realise the sound system was falling over and Yongguk was about to get crushed.
-
Sungyeol came out of his house with a big hooded jumper on, his hood on and his arms wrapped tightly around his slim body. The funny thing was, he used the window because his parents would kill him if they found out he wasn’t in his room studying… which he wasn’t doing anyway, but that wasn’t the point. Myungsoo chuckled a little at how ridiculous he looked as he slithered down the wall like a snake. Once he was close enough, Myungsoo threw his scarf around Sungyeol’s neck. Sungyeol didn’t thank him.
‘Where do you want to go?’ Myungsoo questioned, kindly fixing the big red scarf that was slowly sliding off.
Sungyeol glared. ‘What do you want?’
‘To hang out a little,’ Myungsoo snorted like it was the most obvious answers in the history of obvious answers.
Without a word, Myungsoo began walking down the road. Sungyeol sighed, but followed him from a close distance from behind. He figured the younger student might do something weird if they were beside each other.
There were times when they walked that Myungsoo would stop and wait for Sungyeol to catch up a little, since he was dragging behind a little too much. Actually, Sungyeol was looking for a good opportunity to run away, but Myungsoo’s internal GPS worked at full capacity when he was outdoors, it seemed.
There was a snack trailer beside the main road and so Myungsoo called Sungyeol over to eat. They inhaled the food in silence, Myungsoo glancing over at Sungyeol’s food-filled cheeks every once in a while. It was quite nice and peaceful - no touching, no talking, just eating besides each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. Myungsoo paid for the both of them and Sungyeol didn’t bother to protest, neither did he care. The least Myungsoo could do for all the misery he put him through was a free meal.
After filling their stomachs, Myungsoo began walking back in the direction he came, expect it was really slow this time and he made sure Sungyeol was right beside him. Sungyeol walked a sluggish speed, but Myungsoo didn’t complain. He knew Sungyeol was just trying to shake him off. It wouldn’t work. Myungsoo was never a clinger, but he learnt how to very fast.
Once a bus stop bench was in sight, Sungyeol sat on it with a groan of relief. Myungsoo chuckled under his breath and sat beside him.
Breaking the somewhat awkward silence, Myungsoo said quietly, looking at the concrete, ‘I’m really sorry, for everything.’
Sungyeol’s eyes widened. Myungsoo finally brought it up. He finally apologised.
‘You know that, right?’ Myungsoo laughed rather bitterly, sitting up straight and looking the other in the eye.
Sungyeol just stared at him, his attention not moving away from Myungsoo’s face. His eyelids then fluttered close as Myungsoo leaned in slowly and so unrushed that Sungyeol’s eyes almost opened again. Myungsoo was careful and gentle, his lips only brushing against Sungyeol’s.
The touch made Sungyeol realise what he was doing and so he shot up from the bench and stammered loudly, ‘D - Don’t!’
‘Why not?’
‘Look, okay, I’ll never ever accept you!’ Sungyeol practically screamed, ‘Not after what you did to me.’
Myungsoo saw the way his eyes watered, making him feel like complete shit.
‘So quit it! It’s just annoying me now. It just makes me hate you even more,’ Sungyeol snapped, his voice croaking. He then ran back to his house and abandoned a crestfallen Myungsoo at the bus stop bench.
-
A lot more people came than planned, so Sunggyu was being pissy. Woohyun was scared for his life, but pulled off a fake smile at the guests. Sunggyu wasn’t entirely ticked off because, well, most of the people there were from Paran and were quite terrified of Kim Sunggyu. Their behaviour wasn’t too bad - the only problem was the pants-pulling, but they were mostly guys so it was all in the name of good fun.
Sungjong was keeping watch by the window. At around six, he almost squealed in excitement when he saw Myungsoo approaching the house. He announced it to everyone and so they all silenced. There was nowhere to hide exactly, so they all just stood quietly and decided to shout when Myungsoo opened the door.
The door was thrown open and so everyone instinctively shouted, ‘Surprise!’
Myungsoo looked rather angry, however. The dark expression made everyone nervous and clear a path for him as he started stomping towards the stairs.
Woohyun grabbed onto his sleeve and asked in concern, ‘Kim, what happened?’
Myungsoo flung him off and ran up to his room, slamming the door behind in.
Sunggyu announced, as everyone was still quiet, ‘I think… you should all go. I apologise for everything.’
There were a few disappointed groans, but everyone started filing out, nonetheless. No one dared to argue against the student body president, especially since they were in his house.
Woohyun came up to him and sighed guiltily, ‘Sunggyu…’
Sunggyu knew the other was going to apologise and shook his head. ‘It’ll be okay… You can go home,’ he assured.
Woohyun shook his head and began cleaning up the mess that was left on the floor. Sunggyu smiled and started cleaning too. And so the party planners with the addition of Sunggyu roughly cleaned the house. It took them an hour just to get everything off the floor, another half an hour to move the furniture back, and another twenty minutes to disassemble the sound system. It was too much work to load it onto Woohyun’s car and they were all tired out, so they just left it there for Woohyun to pick up in the morning.
Once everyone was nearly done, Sunggyu excused himself and ran up to Myungsoo’s room to check on him. He slowly opened the door and peered inside, searching for his brother through the dark. ‘Myungsoo,’ he called quietly before closing the door behind him. ‘Look, I don’t know what happened, but…’
It was dim, but Sunggyu’s eyes were able to adjust and found Myungsoo sitting still on his bed. Sunggyu sat next to him with a sigh. ‘You’re eighteen now,’ he reminded, ‘There are better days to come.’
He placed a hand on Myungsoo’s shoulder and said quietly, ‘Happy birthday.’
Myungsoo huffed before wrapping his arms around Sunggyu’s waist, the older brother almost toppling off the bed from the surprise hug. Sunggyu embraced him back, soothingly swiping up and down his trembling body. In that moment, Sunggyu was reminded of how immature Myungsoo really was and how vulnerable he really was.
Sunggyu had no idea what happened that made Myungsoo so upset, but he let his brother hug him for hours.
-
‘Do you ever miss dad? Like, really miss him?’
The two brothers were still sitting on Myungsoo’s bed, there backs flat against the wall as they stared into the shadows of Myungsoo’s room.
‘I do,’ Sunggyu said simply.
‘It hurts, right? What do you do to get rid of it?’
Sunggyu admitted, ‘I call Woohyun.’
‘What does he do?’ Myungsoo scoffed. He didn’t exactly see Woohyun as the caring type.
Sunggyu claimed, ‘He doesn’t judge me.’ No matter how pathetic Sunggyu sounded or how personal Sunggyu got, Woohyun’s perspective of him didn’t alter and Sunggyu kind of liked that. He liked that he was always the same person to Woohyun.
The corner of Myungsoo’s lip twitched a little. ‘So that’s my problem… I’m always judged,’ he mumbled quietly, even though Sunggyu heard him clearly. He patted his head.
‘It’s getting late,’ Sunggyu said, standing up, ‘We should go to sleep.’
‘Goodnight, hyung,’ Myungsoo laid on his bed.
Sunggyu made note to nag him about brushing his teeth and changing into breathable clothes later. Dinner was unnecessary that night. Neither of them really had an appetite.
-
Sunggyu walked down stairs to cook his mother some dinner for when she got home. She was to arrive home at around four in the morning and it was midnight, but their mother was weird and preferred the taste of food after it had been microwaved.
He didn’t expect Woohyun to be sitting quietly on his couch.
‘You’re still here?’
Woohyun smiled sheepishly. ‘I can’t lock the door, so…’
‘Sorry,’ Sunggyu mumbled, ‘If you felt you had to wait, I apologise.’
‘It’s nothing. I get creative at this hour,’ Woohyun joked, standing up. He then looked pointedly at Myungsoo’s bedroom door and questioned, ‘He okay?’
‘Not at all, but he will be,’ Sunggyu chuckled. His brother always had a way of bouncing back.
Woohyun nodded. ‘I should go now.’
After Woohyun stepped out the front door, Sunggyu said a small goodnight, before locking the door and resting his forehead against it as he sighed in exasperation. It was a long and confusing day.
-
AN\ All this almost-WooGyu is killing me. Gah. I really want to write them kissing and humping each other because SEXUAL TENSION… but no. Not yet. LOL. I want you guys to suffer with me. Anyway, if you want to read the Vietnamese version of Every Other Day, here it is! Thanks to Myss!
Anyway, I’m sorry if I’m being mopey lately. I don’t really want to go into detail as to why I have no motivation these days…
Prologue One Two Three Four Five Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen (NSFW) Twenty Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-three Twenty-four Twenty-five Twenty-Six Twenty-Eight
Twenty-seven | Woohyun/Sunggyu, Hoya(Howon)/Dongwoo, L(Myungsoo)/Sungyeol | Fluff > Crack | PG13 (for cussing and sexual references)
Summary: Typical high school fic in which Woohyun is no longer top dog, Myungsoo’s life becomes interesting, Howon finally feels something and Sungjong discovers his future.
(poster by chocolate_ai)
-
‘What on bloody Earth is bothering you now?’ Sunggyu huffed. He was walking to his room after he finished vacuuming downstairs, until Myungsoo’s room caught his eye. He saw his little brother lying face down on his bed in a plank position.
Myungsoo rolled over, an inch away from falling off the bed before he shifted. ‘Nothing. I’m just being impatient,’ he grunted in return.
‘And snappy, I sense,’ Sunggyu snorted, arms uncrossing as he approached the bed.
‘Hyung, go away,’ Myungsoo whined, rolling onto his side and facing the wall.
Sunggyu was being particularly stubborn that day and joked playfully, poking his brother’s spine until his body jolted from the weird sensation, ‘I refuse to.’
Myungsoo complained, raising his voice a little, ‘Hyung, get out.’
The other was nowhere near intimidated and singsonged in an annoying way, ‘Have you taken a look at the calendar?’
‘Yes, and I don’t care!’
Sunggyu scoffed to himself and walked out of the room. Myungsoo never cared and Sunggyu was a little disappointed about it.
-
Woohyun was driving Sunggyu home from work that Saturday afternoon. The two students were being rather quiet until Woohyun asked, ‘Any plans after this?’
Sunggyu smirked. ‘If you ask me out on a date, I’ll slaughter you,’ he warned somewhat jokingly.
Woohyun laughed at this. No way in hell would Woohyun ask Sunggyu out on a date. All they’d do is bicker about who would pay, nag each other about opinions, and roll their eyes at each other’s behaviour. They were immensely different, to put it simply, so it would never work out.
‘Can you drop me off at the shopping centre, please?’ Sunggyu asked politely, tone suddenly nice and not threatening like it was before.
Woohyun changed lanes. ‘Sure. Buying something?’
‘Yes, for Myungsoo.’
‘Did that punk get you to run an errand?’
‘No. I’m buying him a birthday present,’ Sunggyu chuckled. Woohyun always pointed an accusing finger at his brother these days.
‘When’s his birthday?’
‘Wednesday 28th,’ Sunggyu answered, ‘But don’t worry. He never tells anybody and insists he is too old for birthdays.’
Woohyun exclaimed in response, ‘But he’s turning eighteen! This should be a big deal.’ Well, if he hadn’t had his first drink before, which wasn’t the case.
‘Why do I feel as though he will be heartbroken on his own birthday?’
‘Don’t jinx him,’ Woohyun kidded, turning into the underground parking lot.
Sunggyu turned his head and looked at Woohyun from his seat, smile gracing his lips as he mused back, ‘But you feel so too, don’t you?’
Sensing the look through the dim light of the parking lot, Woohyun glanced over at him and found himself glancing at him again, just a little longer this time. Why the fuck did Sunggyu have to look so gorgeous in such horrible lighting? And why when he had to keep his eyes out for other cars and pedestrians? Woohyun concluded that Sunggyu was a tease even when he wasn’t trying. He was a natural and Woohyun was pissed because of it.
‘I don’t know how long people usually take to recover after getting their heart smashed into a million pieces, in front of their whole school,’ Woohyun retorted finally, ignoring the fact that just the sight of Sunggyu had him speechless for more than a minute.
‘Well, hopefully not for long because he’s starting to really annoy me,’ Sunggyu grunted in distaste, and Woohyun forgot about how beautiful Sunggyu was again. If Sunggyu didn’t talk, Woohyun would ask him out.
‘The present will cheer him up a little,’ Woohyun remarked, stealing someone’s park with a smirk. He loved being an amazing driver.
-
‘Woohyun, it means nothing if you buy it for me,’ Sunggyu complained as Woohyun opened his wallet and handed the cashier some cash. Woohyun was strong enough to keep Sunggyu away by his arm and Sunggyu would’ve beaten the shit out of him if they weren’t in a public area.
Woohyun retorted matter-of-factly, ‘You’re the one giving it him, so it does.’
‘Don’t argue with me in public,’ Sunggyu grunted, trying to hand Woohyun some money. The younger boy refused and squirmed away when Sunggyu tried to shove the money into his pockets. Sunggyu huffed in annoyance and glared fiercely at the other. He didn’t care that Woohyun insisted. It was Sunggyu’s present to Myungsoo, after all.
‘Then let me pay for it,’ Woohyun whined, grabbing Sunggyu’s wrist and pushing them away.
With a sigh, Sunggyu spat angrily, ‘Fine.’ He then relented and relaxed as Woohyun grinned to himself. They walked away from the counter with a plastic bag in hand, Myungsoo’s new camera sitting in it. They went to the nearest gift shop to purchase an adorable card with a picture of a cupcake on it - Woohyun tried to persuade Sunggyu to buy Myungsoo a card that suited his age (and gender, to be honest) a little more, but Sunggyu was forever persistent when it came to cute things.
They found a bench and sat as Sunggyu wrote in the card. Woohyun peeked at it and read some of the content. Sunggyu wrote something about him having to grow mentally to suit his actually age and things about being a hassle and unconditional fondness. Woohyun snorted a little because he didn’t expect anything less from Sunggyu. He also noticed that Sunggyu had exceptionally neat penmanship.
The last sentence made Woohyun scoff in amusement: From: Sunggyu & Woohyun
Sunggyu looked at him with the what expression and Woohyun smiled lopsidedly. ‘You’re really something, aren’t you?’ he commented, making Sunggyu chuckle.
-
‘Let’s hold Myungsoo a party,’ Yongguk said all of a sudden. After school on Monday, Yongguk and Dongwoo came over to Woohyun’s house to raid his fridge. They claimed it was because they hadn’t talked to Woohyun’s maids in a long time, but Woohyun knew very well that was not the case. Dongwoo brought Howon along because Howon had never been in Woohyun’s house before and Dongwoo acted like it was some great adventure for him.
Dongwoo crooked an eyebrow and laid his head in Howon’s lap, lying on Woohyun’s bed. ‘Really? But he’s been a downer lately…’ he mentioned, immediately crestfallen. At first, he was pissed off at Myungsoo, but after seeing Myungsoo get rejected in front of everyone made Dongwoo feel sorry for him.
‘What about Sungyeol?’ Woohyun asked.
Yongguk shrugged. ‘Let’s not invite him.’
‘Where are we doing it? Your place?’ Dongwoo questioned, looking pointedly at Woohyun.
Woohyun rolled his eyes. ‘It’s always my place,’ he commented quietly.
After thinking about it logically, Yongguk immediately shook his head and argued, ‘Well, if we do it at your place, it won’t be a surprise.’
‘Why does it have to be a surprise?’ Woohyun scoffed. In his opinion, surprise parties were rather overdone and annoying for the surprised. What if they just wanted to come home and have a quiet night, and then had to deal with the fifty people jumping out and scaring the shit out of them?
Yongguk reasoned somewhat intelligently, ‘Because he’s being a downer, right? He wouldn’t agree to it if he knew about it beforehand.’
Woohyun thought about that for a while before giving Yongguk a high-five. ‘Hey, that’s smart! You’ve got a brain, Bang. I’m glad I found out before I got Sungyeol to do an experiment on you,’ he exclaimed, making Howon furrow his brow.
Dongwoo pouted in thought and then turned to Howon, seeing that Howon probably knew Myungsoo the best out of the three present. ‘So where does Myungsoo go all the time?’ he mumbled.
‘These days? Home,’ Howon answered simply.
Woohyun, Dongwoo and Yongguk glanced at each other.
-
After meeting at the front gates, Woohyun and Dongwoo hid in the narrow space between the lockers and the walls as they waited for Sunggyu to appear. Sunggyu walked into school towards the end of arrival period and went straight to his locker to put his bag away. Yongguk was lucky he wasn’t that close to Sunggyu and so wasn’t involved in the plan.
Woohyun gave Dongwoo a knowing look before shoving Dongwoo towards Sunggyu’s direction. ‘Why do I have to do it?’ Dongwoo hissed, sneering at the other.
‘He thinks you’re the cute one. He’ll listen to you,’ Woohyun retorted, giving Dongwoo another push.
Dongwoo gasped, ‘Really? He thinks I’m cute?’
‘Puppy cute, not stick-his-dick-in-your-mouth cute!’
A shadow fell across both their faces and when they turned to see the owner of the shadow, they both gulped.
Sunggyu lifted an eyebrow, hands on hips, as he questioned smoothly, ‘May I help you?’
Dongwoo got spooked by the look on Sunggyu’s face and shouted, ‘We want to throw Myungsoo a surprise -‘
Woohyun clasped a hand over his mouth just in time and hissed, ‘Shhhh.’
Sunggyu gave Woohyun a glare and the latter sighed, signalling Sunggyu to follow him to out of the school building so they could talk and not be overheard. Sunggyu followed him out of curiosity more than anything, his arms crossed over his chest. Once they were under a tree, the voices of the Paran students just murmurs, Woohyun began, ‘We want to hold a surprise birthday party at your place, just to cheer Myungsoo up a little.’
Sunggyu didn’t even have to think about it. ‘No,’ he rejected unwaveringly.
‘Why not?’
‘He’ll hate it,’ Sunggyu said.
Woohyun knitted his eyebrows together. Friends coming together to celebrate Myungsoo’s eighteen years of existence? That doesn’t seem like something he would hate. ‘No, he won’t,’ Woohyun insisted.
Sunggyu shook his head. ‘Trust me. He will.’
‘Come on, Sunggyu,’ Woohyun sighed.
There was silence between them as Sunggyu thought about the idea of throwing Myungsoo a party. Woohyun was right in implying that his brother needed cheering up and Myungsoo loved parties - He just didn’t like celebrating his birthday. The situation he was in - trying to win over Sungyeol - could only make the party go one way or the other. It will either be a complete success or a massive failure.
Hearing Woohyun’s pleading voice somehow made Sunggyu allow the risk to happen. ‘Alright,’ he huffed with difficulty. ‘But I’m not involved in anything. Is that clear?’
Woohyun nodded frantically and then saluted as Sunggyu said something about going to class. He ran off back to Dongwoo, to find Yongguk waiting impatiently with him. Upon seeing them, Woohyun grinned.
‘He said yes?’ Dongwoo huffed, his jaw hanging open.
‘Sunggyu had faith in me, that’s why,’ Woohyun said cockily as he walked off to his locker.
Yongguk snorted in disbelief, ‘Yeah, right. He just wants to see you fail.’
-
‘Woohyun, please do not invite the whole city.’
Sunggyu and Woohyun were waiting in their first period class for their biology teacher. Woohyun was skimming through the contact list on his phone and trying to remember who Myungsoo’s friends were.
‘Only everyone on my contact list that Myungsoo’s probably met before,’ he replied. Even though he didn’t turn his head away from the screen, he could tell Sunggyu was glaring at him. He chuckled, ‘I’m kidding. Only close-ish friends.’
Sunggyu nodded and then warned, ‘Be careful who you invite. Remember that it is Kim Myungsoo, after all.’
‘Oh right. If I invite someone he’s fucked before, there might be a bomb disguised as a birthday present.’
‘Or thirty-four,’ Sunggyu scoffed.
‘Myungsoo’s surprise birthday party, Saturday the 1st, starts at four-ish, stay out of Sunggyu’s room. Sound alright?’
‘Sure,’ Sunggyu agreed, suppressing his laughter. The last detail of the invite was a little unnecessary, but Woohyun was somewhat caring in a stupid sort of way.
‘Anyone you want to invite in particular?’ Woohyun asked.
Sunggyu faked an innocent expression as his index finger tapped his bottom lip, humming in thought as he gazed at the ceiling. He answered slowly, ‘Yoon Doojoon…?’ Sunggyu obviously knew Woohyun had something against Doojoon and it was quite amusing.
Woohyun’s face immediately fell with darkness. ‘But he’s Sungyeol’s cousin,’ he retorted through gritted teeth.
‘Oh, yes, he is,’ Sunggyu sighed innocently, feigning disappointment as he held back a cynical smirk at Woohyun’s annoyance. ‘Maybe next time then.’
Woohyun sucked on his bottom lip and Sunggyu hid away his smile by turning away rather naturally. It was funny how Woohyun could never hide his jealousy or protectiveness or whatever-the-hell he felt when Doojoon was mentioned.
‘How about Bang Minsoo then?’ Sunggyu asked brightly, throwing in a cute head-tilt. Woohyun gave him the really? look and so Sunggyu chuckled, ‘I’m kidding, idiot.’
Sunggyu’s smile immediately made Woohyun soften. ‘Thirty people so far, including us,’ he said.
‘That should be fine.’
Woohyun scoffed, ‘Really? That’s it?’
Sunggyu’s eyes narrowed before he gave in, ‘Five more then.’
Woohyun grinned to himself and scrolled through his contact list.
‘It’s rather fortunate that my mother won’t be home on Saturday,’ Sunggyu mentioned.
‘Why?’
‘She’d comment on how my collection of hot boys is at her house and check out every single one of them,’ Sunggyu growled, thinking of how immature his own mother was, ‘And trust me when I say she would not be inconspicuous about it.’
Woohyun laughed.
‘She’d also try to sell me and encourage me to go up into my room with someone,’ Sunggyu added with a sigh of exasperation.
‘I like your mum,’ Woohyun said. He’d only met her once, but how Sunggyu described her made her sound very fun. She was like the female Myungsoo.
Sunggyu snorted, ‘Take her.’
-
At recess, Woohyun found Myungsoo and threw an arm over his shoulders as they walked down the hall. ‘So… how does it feel to be an adult?’ Woohyun questioned casually.
‘What is there to do as an adult that I haven’t done as a minor?’ Myungsoo deadpanned.
Woohyun thought for a moment before he realised Myungsoo was more adult than some real adults, even before he turned eighteen. He couldn’t really think of anything and so answered unsurely, ‘Being called an adult?’
They approached the principal’s office and the door started opening. Myungsoo then said loudly, as the principal was stepping out, in a sarcastic tone, ‘Oh glorious day, I can finally have my first drink.’
Woohyun chuckled at the weird expression the principal shot them as they passed. Myungsoo wasn’t exactly liked by the principal and vice versa - even more so since the assembly that Myungsoo relatively ruined. Comments of the incident went viral on the school forum. On Google, Myungsoo’s related search terms had changed from die, kill, hate, sex and why to Lee Sungyeol, LOL and assembly.
‘Does your brother drink?’ Woohyun asked all of a sudden, interrupting Myungsoo’s train of thought.
‘I’ve never seen it before,’ Myungsoo replied in thought. Sunggyu was too goody-goody for that… right?
‘Okay,’ Woohyun hummed.
Myungsoo stopped walking and glared as he spat, ‘Does every conversation I have with you have to end with my brother?’
Woohyun shook his head at Myungsoo’s suddenly foul mood.
‘Just fuck him already. I’ve heard about your rep back in West campus. It shouldn’t be that hard to trick him into it,’ Myungsoo sighed. Woohyun and Sunggyu’s lack of kissing annoyed him.
Woohyun narrowed his eyes. ‘Do you realise what you just said?’
Myungsoo rethought what he said and thought oh, that’s a little unnecessary. ‘Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’m a shit brother,’ he groaned, ‘Plus, I know you wouldn’t trick him. You’d kneel down and worship his ass before you’d touch it.’
Woohyun rolled his eyes. ‘You know what sucks? The first time you get your heartbroken; your playfulness is gone, your jokester is gone, but your douche is still intact.’
‘It’s as strong as steel, my friend.’
Woohyun changed the subject with a huff, ‘Any plans to win over my baby?’
‘You mean the skyscraper? I’ve got something planned.’
‘Really?’
‘It involves food.’
‘Bait.’
Myungsoo smirked. ‘Exactly.’
-
Wednesday night was when Sunggyu gave Myungsoo his present. Sunggyu knew Myungsoo wasn’t one for birthdays, so he didn’t bother with annoying wrapping paper. He just extended his hand, the white plastic bag hanging from his fingers. Myungsoo took it with a contorted face, in curiosity, and peered inside.
‘What’s this?’ Myungsoo scoffed, smiling lopsidedly.
Sunggyu merely shrugged. ‘It’s your birthday today,’ he stated matter-of-factly.
Myungsoo picked up the cardboard box and inspected the info on it. ‘You got me a camera?’
‘Well, you were clumsy enough to break your old one, so I thought it would be appropriate to get you a new one.’
‘Wish me luck for not breaking this one.’ He didn’t say thank you, but Sunggyu knew he was grateful. Neither of the brothers received gifts on their birthdays from each other. Usually, they would share gifts that their families and friends gave them. However, when they became juniors, Myungsoo’s gifts started become more adult and Sunggyu was too disgusted to even look at the weird items Myungsoo’s friends got him as a joke.
‘All my phalanges are crossed,’ Sunggyu laughed, shaking his head.
Myungsoo then picked up the card and started reading. He scrunched his nose at the contents before he read the last line and beamed brightly. ‘From Sunggyu and Woohyun,’ he read aloud. ‘It’s like you’re married.’
‘Bite me, you little brat.’
-
On Saturday, Sungyeol was hiding from humanity. He locked himself in his room so he could play Pokémon in his cave of blankets and pillows. After beating the first gym leader and his first round of victory dance, he received a call from butthead. Sungyeol figured that he was in a good mood that day and so picked up the phone.
‘What do you want?’ he snapped.
Myungsoo hummed, ‘So you’ve finally unblocked my number…’
‘You didn’t answer me.’ Sungyeol was planning on being demanding and superior this time. He wanted to show Myungsoo who was boss and that he was still pissed. He didn’t want to look weak in front of him anymore.
‘I’m outside your house right now.’
Sungyeol stepped away from the window. ‘Stalker.’
‘Yes, I’m the best stalker, telling you about my whereabouts so I can continue following you without you finding out,’ Myungsoo deadpanned sarcastically.
‘What do you want?’ Sungyeol spat, trying to keep up the snappy tone - Myungsoo was making it kind of difficult with his sarcasm.
Myungsoo stated, ‘I bought ice-cream.’
‘And what? You wanna rub it in my face?’
‘I’d rather rub it all over your body, but no. That’s not what I’m here for.’ Yeah, that’s the flamboyant playboy Myungsoo nobody felt sorry for. That was the Myungsoo before Sungyeol happened.
‘You want me to come out?’ Sungyeol droned. He was still in his pyjamas and his room was extremely comfortable, but he figured Myungsoo would not leave without him and he couldn’t really bite his head off if he was up in his room and Myungsoo was standing outside in the cold.
‘That’s the first thing on my list.’
‘Don’t move.’
-
Sungjong was getting the food set out as he asked, ‘Where did he go, anyway?’
‘Who knows,’ Yongguk sighed, standing on a chair to stick up a Happy Birthday sign.
It was Saturday (borderline) morning and the boys were over to set up the house before the guests arrived. Dongwoo and Howon were rearranging the furniture, Woohyun was setting up the sound system he rented, Sungjong was in charge of food, and Yongguk was in charge of decorations. They were working at a steady speed and soon finished up, just in time to eat before the guests arrived and ate all the food.
Sunggyu was yet seen at the house and why Howon had a spare key confused everyone, but it was convenient. They theorised that Sunggyu was in his room, hiding away from work.
Just as Woohyun opened up a can of Coke, Sunggyu’s bedroom door swung open and out came a sleepy student body president with his messed up hair, eye-rubbing and pyjamas. His pyjamas weren’t much - just a plain oversized tee and loose boxer shorts - but Woohyun thought he looked utterly adorable.
And he had the softest-looking thighs ever.
As Sunggyu began slowly making his way downstairs, Yongguk snapped in disbelief, ‘It’s two in the afternoon and you just woke up? You’re shitting me.’
‘Is hyung a sleepaholic?’ Dongwoo asked Howon, tilting his head a little.
‘It happens when he doesn’t have work,’ Howon said, not finding Sunggyu’s sleeping patterns odd at all. He was used to Sunggyu’s out-of-whack regimes.
‘Good morning to you too,’ Sunggyu scoffed, reaching the base of the stairs. He then extended his arms up and stretched, his white shirt riling up and revealing a slither of the pale skin on his stomach. Woohyun was staring intently and very, very creepily. You could say that Woohyun had the a thing for pale skin and dishevelled hair, especially when cute sleepiness was involved.
‘Dongwoo-hyung,’ Sungjong called.
‘Yeah?’
Sungjong pointed at the gaping, almost drooling, Woohyun and said, ‘Smack his head.’
Dongwoo shrugged but did as the youngest told, giving the back of Woohyun’s head a big whack. The smack successfully knocked Woohyun out of his daze and he was then looking at Dongwoo with a shocked/angry face.
‘What the fuck,’ Woohyun spat, rubbing his head.
Sunggyu walked around to take a look at the set up. They had moved all the furniture to the sides and so Sunggyu realised how big their house actually was. He walked into the middle of the makeshift dance floor (which was lame and in the middle of nowhere), kicking around the balloons that scattered the floor with a grin.
Woohyun came over and stood before him, muttering, curious as to what was the reason for that mischievous smile, ‘What?’
‘This setting reminds me of a house party I went to last year,’ Sunggyu mentioned, pressing his lips together afterwards.
Woohyun quipped, ‘The student body presidents goes to house parties?’
Sunggyu leaned forward and whispered playfully, ‘Don’t tell anyone. Not even Myungsoo knew I went.’
‘Oh, you badass,’ Woohyun laughed. He picked up a balloon and started throwing it around. ‘What type of party?’
Sunggyu hummed in thought for a moment. ‘One a minor shouldn’t have been at,’ he answered quietly.
‘Alcohol?’ Woohyun didn’t exactly find that odd alcoholic drink a big deal. He didn’t even think getting completely wasted was a big deal, but he wasn’t a responsible SPB like Sunggyu.
Sunggyu’s lip quirked. ‘Yes, but it was primarily a balloon party.’
Woohyun squinted at that answer. ‘What’s that?’
‘There were balloons on the ground and if you touched one, you had to pop it. In the balloon was a slip of paper that told you to do something.’ Sunggyu picked up and balloon and sighed as he rambled, ‘There were innocent things like hug the closet person to you, say hi to someone who popped a balloon of the same colour as yours…’
Woohyun raised an eyebrow.
‘But then there were… bad things, such as,’ Sunggyu continued in a low voice, smirking, ‘Find someone who popped a balloon the same colour as yours and make-out with them, find someone who is willing to inspect the master bedroom with you…’
Woohyun stepped closer to the older boy, his breath hitting the side of Sunggyu’s neck. ‘And what did you get?’ he asked cynically.
‘Innocent things, unfortunately,’ Sunggyu whined a little, with a pout that had Woohyun weak at the knees. The words rolled off Sunggyu’s tongue effortlessly, sucking Woohyun in, ‘I wanted to be bad just once or twice.’ There was a little bite of his bottom lip to finish off and Woohyun was on the brink of insanity.
Woohyun swore to the heavens, Sunggyu was purposely teasing him with that expression and that tone and those legs and that skin and his everything.
‘If this party ever comes around again, hit me up,’ Woohyun mentioned, clearing his throat.
‘Nam, if you’re done flirting, could you help just a little?!’
Woohyun was too distracted by Sunggyu’s seductiveness to realise the sound system was falling over and Yongguk was about to get crushed.
-
Sungyeol came out of his house with a big hooded jumper on, his hood on and his arms wrapped tightly around his slim body. The funny thing was, he used the window because his parents would kill him if they found out he wasn’t in his room studying… which he wasn’t doing anyway, but that wasn’t the point. Myungsoo chuckled a little at how ridiculous he looked as he slithered down the wall like a snake. Once he was close enough, Myungsoo threw his scarf around Sungyeol’s neck. Sungyeol didn’t thank him.
‘Where do you want to go?’ Myungsoo questioned, kindly fixing the big red scarf that was slowly sliding off.
Sungyeol glared. ‘What do you want?’
‘To hang out a little,’ Myungsoo snorted like it was the most obvious answers in the history of obvious answers.
Without a word, Myungsoo began walking down the road. Sungyeol sighed, but followed him from a close distance from behind. He figured the younger student might do something weird if they were beside each other.
There were times when they walked that Myungsoo would stop and wait for Sungyeol to catch up a little, since he was dragging behind a little too much. Actually, Sungyeol was looking for a good opportunity to run away, but Myungsoo’s internal GPS worked at full capacity when he was outdoors, it seemed.
There was a snack trailer beside the main road and so Myungsoo called Sungyeol over to eat. They inhaled the food in silence, Myungsoo glancing over at Sungyeol’s food-filled cheeks every once in a while. It was quite nice and peaceful - no touching, no talking, just eating besides each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. Myungsoo paid for the both of them and Sungyeol didn’t bother to protest, neither did he care. The least Myungsoo could do for all the misery he put him through was a free meal.
After filling their stomachs, Myungsoo began walking back in the direction he came, expect it was really slow this time and he made sure Sungyeol was right beside him. Sungyeol walked a sluggish speed, but Myungsoo didn’t complain. He knew Sungyeol was just trying to shake him off. It wouldn’t work. Myungsoo was never a clinger, but he learnt how to very fast.
Once a bus stop bench was in sight, Sungyeol sat on it with a groan of relief. Myungsoo chuckled under his breath and sat beside him.
Breaking the somewhat awkward silence, Myungsoo said quietly, looking at the concrete, ‘I’m really sorry, for everything.’
Sungyeol’s eyes widened. Myungsoo finally brought it up. He finally apologised.
‘You know that, right?’ Myungsoo laughed rather bitterly, sitting up straight and looking the other in the eye.
Sungyeol just stared at him, his attention not moving away from Myungsoo’s face. His eyelids then fluttered close as Myungsoo leaned in slowly and so unrushed that Sungyeol’s eyes almost opened again. Myungsoo was careful and gentle, his lips only brushing against Sungyeol’s.
The touch made Sungyeol realise what he was doing and so he shot up from the bench and stammered loudly, ‘D - Don’t!’
‘Why not?’
‘Look, okay, I’ll never ever accept you!’ Sungyeol practically screamed, ‘Not after what you did to me.’
Myungsoo saw the way his eyes watered, making him feel like complete shit.
‘So quit it! It’s just annoying me now. It just makes me hate you even more,’ Sungyeol snapped, his voice croaking. He then ran back to his house and abandoned a crestfallen Myungsoo at the bus stop bench.
-
A lot more people came than planned, so Sunggyu was being pissy. Woohyun was scared for his life, but pulled off a fake smile at the guests. Sunggyu wasn’t entirely ticked off because, well, most of the people there were from Paran and were quite terrified of Kim Sunggyu. Their behaviour wasn’t too bad - the only problem was the pants-pulling, but they were mostly guys so it was all in the name of good fun.
Sungjong was keeping watch by the window. At around six, he almost squealed in excitement when he saw Myungsoo approaching the house. He announced it to everyone and so they all silenced. There was nowhere to hide exactly, so they all just stood quietly and decided to shout when Myungsoo opened the door.
The door was thrown open and so everyone instinctively shouted, ‘Surprise!’
Myungsoo looked rather angry, however. The dark expression made everyone nervous and clear a path for him as he started stomping towards the stairs.
Woohyun grabbed onto his sleeve and asked in concern, ‘Kim, what happened?’
Myungsoo flung him off and ran up to his room, slamming the door behind in.
Sunggyu announced, as everyone was still quiet, ‘I think… you should all go. I apologise for everything.’
There were a few disappointed groans, but everyone started filing out, nonetheless. No one dared to argue against the student body president, especially since they were in his house.
Woohyun came up to him and sighed guiltily, ‘Sunggyu…’
Sunggyu knew the other was going to apologise and shook his head. ‘It’ll be okay… You can go home,’ he assured.
Woohyun shook his head and began cleaning up the mess that was left on the floor. Sunggyu smiled and started cleaning too. And so the party planners with the addition of Sunggyu roughly cleaned the house. It took them an hour just to get everything off the floor, another half an hour to move the furniture back, and another twenty minutes to disassemble the sound system. It was too much work to load it onto Woohyun’s car and they were all tired out, so they just left it there for Woohyun to pick up in the morning.
Once everyone was nearly done, Sunggyu excused himself and ran up to Myungsoo’s room to check on him. He slowly opened the door and peered inside, searching for his brother through the dark. ‘Myungsoo,’ he called quietly before closing the door behind him. ‘Look, I don’t know what happened, but…’
It was dim, but Sunggyu’s eyes were able to adjust and found Myungsoo sitting still on his bed. Sunggyu sat next to him with a sigh. ‘You’re eighteen now,’ he reminded, ‘There are better days to come.’
He placed a hand on Myungsoo’s shoulder and said quietly, ‘Happy birthday.’
Myungsoo huffed before wrapping his arms around Sunggyu’s waist, the older brother almost toppling off the bed from the surprise hug. Sunggyu embraced him back, soothingly swiping up and down his trembling body. In that moment, Sunggyu was reminded of how immature Myungsoo really was and how vulnerable he really was.
Sunggyu had no idea what happened that made Myungsoo so upset, but he let his brother hug him for hours.
-
‘Do you ever miss dad? Like, really miss him?’
The two brothers were still sitting on Myungsoo’s bed, there backs flat against the wall as they stared into the shadows of Myungsoo’s room.
‘I do,’ Sunggyu said simply.
‘It hurts, right? What do you do to get rid of it?’
Sunggyu admitted, ‘I call Woohyun.’
‘What does he do?’ Myungsoo scoffed. He didn’t exactly see Woohyun as the caring type.
Sunggyu claimed, ‘He doesn’t judge me.’ No matter how pathetic Sunggyu sounded or how personal Sunggyu got, Woohyun’s perspective of him didn’t alter and Sunggyu kind of liked that. He liked that he was always the same person to Woohyun.
The corner of Myungsoo’s lip twitched a little. ‘So that’s my problem… I’m always judged,’ he mumbled quietly, even though Sunggyu heard him clearly. He patted his head.
‘It’s getting late,’ Sunggyu said, standing up, ‘We should go to sleep.’
‘Goodnight, hyung,’ Myungsoo laid on his bed.
Sunggyu made note to nag him about brushing his teeth and changing into breathable clothes later. Dinner was unnecessary that night. Neither of them really had an appetite.
-
Sunggyu walked down stairs to cook his mother some dinner for when she got home. She was to arrive home at around four in the morning and it was midnight, but their mother was weird and preferred the taste of food after it had been microwaved.
He didn’t expect Woohyun to be sitting quietly on his couch.
‘You’re still here?’
Woohyun smiled sheepishly. ‘I can’t lock the door, so…’
‘Sorry,’ Sunggyu mumbled, ‘If you felt you had to wait, I apologise.’
‘It’s nothing. I get creative at this hour,’ Woohyun joked, standing up. He then looked pointedly at Myungsoo’s bedroom door and questioned, ‘He okay?’
‘Not at all, but he will be,’ Sunggyu chuckled. His brother always had a way of bouncing back.
Woohyun nodded. ‘I should go now.’
After Woohyun stepped out the front door, Sunggyu said a small goodnight, before locking the door and resting his forehead against it as he sighed in exasperation. It was a long and confusing day.
-
AN\ All this almost-WooGyu is killing me. Gah. I really want to write them kissing and humping each other because SEXUAL TENSION… but no. Not yet. LOL. I want you guys to suffer with me. Anyway, if you want to read the Vietnamese version of Every Other Day, here it is! Thanks to Myss!
Anyway, I’m sorry if I’m being mopey lately. I don’t really want to go into detail as to why I have no motivation these days…
Prologue One Two Three Four Five Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen (NSFW) Twenty Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-three Twenty-four Twenty-five Twenty-Six Twenty-Eight