Archive of Our Own

Room 308. 

The infamous detention room. Also known as, ‘The room Perfect-Student-Choi-Yeonjun should not be residing in for the next 40 minutes’. 

Yeonjun was a good student (at least he tried his best to be one). He always did his assignments to the best of his abilities, always studied, always did something to make sure he wasn’t falling off his top student pedestal. That’s just what he grew up doing. It’s all what he knew how to do anyway. 

Except this time, for the first time in his life, he slipped up. Okay fine, he accidentally came late to school because he overslept. But sue him! He was busy preparing for an upcoming test that he needed to get full marks on — there was no negotiating that. However, coming to school half an hour late is a punishable offence to them that had to be dealt with accordingly. Accordingly apparently meaning “40 minute detention in room 308”.

“Isn’t 40 minutes overkill?” he grumbled to himself for what must have been the hundredth time that day. It felt embarrassing, shameful even, being the top student yet treading to a room he swore he’d never step foot in during his years in high school.

Holding back his annoyances, he knocked on the door to the room. His neck burned with shame as he waited for his impending doom. After receiving a short response to come in, he peeked his head inside and entered. 

There was only a teacher and one other boy he couldn’t seem to remember the name of. His new inmate for the next 40 minutes was definitely eye-catching to say the least. The boy had long hair, longer than any of the other boys in their year. It had messy blonde streaks scattered all over his natural black wolfcut, something Yeonjun didn’t even know was allowed in school (it probably wasn’t anyway). His head was propped up boredly by his elbow as if it were the heaviest thing in the world. His cheek, covered in a large bandage, held in his hand. Adding on to it, he was wearing a dark oversized hoodie over his uniform with a loosened tie, obviously putting no effort into looking presentable. His large brown doe eyes glanced at Yeonjun’s direction when he walked in, both of them accidentally making eye contact.

“Ah, you’re finally here Yeonjun. Take a seat,” the teacher greeted, marking Yeonjun’s name off the attendance sheet. Yeonjun listened, just like he always did to adults, and sat down a few desks away from the strange boy. “Listen, since it’s only two of you in detention today and I trust you to be good, I’ll leave you two here while I handle a meeting in the teacher’s lounge. I will be coming back at the end of your 40 minutes to dismiss the two of you so don’t think about leaving.” he gently warned. 

“Yes, sir.” Yeonjun nodded, while the other boy only grunted in response, seemingly way more bored. He appeared used to this behaviour. The teacher then got up and left, leaving only the two of them to sit in the empty classroom. 

Well now this was awkward. Are teachers even meant to do that or do they really not care? Or do they trust Yeonjun that much, knowing he’ll listen to anything adults say? 

“Finally,” the long-haired boy sighed loudly, pulling Yeonjun out of his thoughts. “He stayed extra long since you took your merry time to come here.” he groaned, glancing back at Yeonjun with a pouty look.

Stunned, Yeonjun bit back defensively. “Why are you blaming me? I don’t even want to be here. I shouldn’t be here. I’m the top student, I don’t have time for any of this—“

“Woah, woah, calm down,” the boy chuckled at his little breakdown. “I wasn’t blaming you. I just like complaining.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so casual about this?”

“Why aren’t you?” he responded, that simple question leaving Yeonjun taken aback.

Silence enveloped between the two before he responded. 

“This is my first detention,” Yeonjun confessed. And oh boy, did the other laugh.

“This is your first? Seriously? No wonder you’re so worked up, this is hilarious!” The strange (now annoying) boy cackled as if Yeonjun just told him the funniest joke of the century. He didn’t get it.

“How is that funny?” he growled back in return, not appreciating the reaction from his detention partner. 

“Detentions are practically a daily routine to me at this point. I’ve grown so used to getting them that I forgot perfect students like you almost never have them,” he explained, his laughter slowly dying down. Noticing Yeonjun’s irritated expression, he toned himself down a little. “Don’t worry, I totally get it. First detention, first slip up. Must be terrifying for you. But it really doesn’t mean anything.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” he huffed. 

Suddenly, the boy stood up and moved to sit beside him. “What are you doing?” Yeonjun asked, almost reeling back from the sudden proximity. He was used to being distanced from others, hell, this is the most he’s ever talked with someone this month. What was going on?

“What’s your name?” The boy suddenly asked. Yeonjun was stunned, silent for what felt like an eternity deciding if he should reply or not. But his mind tugged on him for a response before he could think. 

“Yeonjun.” he said slowly.

“That’s a pretty name. My name’s Beomgyu! Choi Beomgyu to be exact,” he rambled, the bandages on his face crinkling up as he smiled. How could a boy be this cheery at their age? “So Yeonjun, let’s spend these next 40 minutes of our lives wisely and- what are you doing?” He stared as Yeonjun began to rummage through his bag, pulling out textbooks and papers.

“I’m studying. I’m not letting 40 minutes of precious studying time go to waste.” he gritted through his teeth.

“What? That’s not fair! I was gonna say we should get to know each other! I always see you studying and now that I finally get a chance to talk to you, you won’t even try!” Beomgyu complained. Is he serious? 

His voice was deep and smooth, comforting even, yet it irked Yeonjun to his core as he acted like a blissfully unaware child who just doesn’t get it. They were in high school now, this was serious. “I’m not here to play games. I’m here to get the best grades, get into a good university and follow whatever my mum wants me to do.”

That seemed to shut the boy up a little as he hummed in acknowledgement and nodded. “Okay.” he simply replied, leaning back in his chair and seemingly backing down. 

Thinking he could get back to his studies in peace, Yeonjun turned his attention back to his books and began to revise his notes. Around 20 minutes passed of the detention and Yeonjun felt content knowing that at least he was getting something useful out of it. It seemed to be fine, especially now that his detention partner wasn’t being such a nuisance. 

That was until, in his peripheral vision, he noticed a pair of eyes staring him down a little too intensely.

He didn’t know how long those deep, maroon eyes of his had been staring at him but he figured he didn’t want to know. His eyes were staring so hard he could feel it burning holes into the side of his head. Despite looking up and making eye-contact with the boy, he surprisingly didn’t flinch and continued to lock eye contact. 

“What are you doing?” Yeonjun eventually asked, unable to hold back the little annoyance layered on top of pure confusion in his voice. 

Beomgyu blinked once. Then twice, then smiled.

“Noooooothing..” he replied, sounding like a little child trying to hide the fact that they had been caught doing something they shouldn’t have.

Yeonjun’s eyebrows furrowed with doubt, staring at Beomgyu in disbelief. “You’ve been staring at me for so long that I’m starting to think I turned into some kind of alien.” 

To that, Beomgyu snorted. “You’re funny.”

“You’re strange.”

“I know. I hear that one a lot.”

Yeonjun quickly backtracked. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean..” Great. The one time he gets to have a conversation with someone he messes it up, just like he always does. Now he’s always going to look like a rude and self-centred person. Classic Yeonjun. 

Beomgyu tilted his head a little, as if he wasn’t offended at all. “It’s okay, I’m used to it. Besides, I don’t mind being called weird or strange anymore. I like to embrace it!”

Yeonjun opened his mouth to respond but was at a loss for words. Embracing weirdness? Isn’t that what teenagers do in movies? Doing something like that wasn’t possible to achieve in real life, at least in Yeonjun’s mind. Everyone knew standing out was like a death sentence in a small town like theirs, making you prone to being a target of judgemental stares and comments. Embracing such a dangerous trait was something fictional, something people completely looked over doing as an option. And so did he. Yet here he was, greeted by a boy doing exactly that. Not letting words get to him and being himself, totally unbothered. Maybe this boy wasn’t strange at all — he simply couldn’t be human at all. Has studying so much made him begin to start hallucinating movie-like people in his head? 

“So, what kind of stuff do you like doing? Any hobbies? Interests?” The other suddenly asked, dragging him back out of his loud and overthinking mindset. He was annoyingly good at doing that. 

“I, uh..” Yeonjun gulped, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. He knew he had hobbies and interests, but after pushing all of it away from himself to focus on his studies, all of it seemed so far away and distant. Those hobbies and interests weren’t his anymore. 

Instead of replying with an answer, he opted with another question. “Why do you want to get to know me so bad?”

“Am I not allowed to?” he retorted. 

“Well, no- you are but—“ Yeonjun sighed. “I just don’t get it. What do you want from me? There’s a reason you never see people around me. I’m not interesting at all, and most people would’ve figured that out by now.” He was aware he sounded like a total loser by this point but he didn’t care. Being alone felt safe and familiar. It was lonely, sure, but at least he could protect himself from other people who only wanted to use him for his brain. 

To his surprise, he was met with a look he couldn’t quite figure out. “I don’t want anything from you.” Beomgyu reassured with the softest tone Yeonjun had ever heard someone speak to him with. It sounded so genuine. He then cracked a small smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. “I just want to make friends with my new detention partner.” 

“Your temporary detention partner,” Yeonjun corrected. “I don’t plan on being here ever again.” He stifled a chuckle, feeling more at ease now. Maybe this boy wasn’t that bad after all.

“Fair enough. Detention does get quite boring after the first time,” He shrugged before clapping his hands, sitting up straight again as he returned back to his original question. “Okay, let’s start with me instead then. I’m sure you’re dying to know all about me!” 

Thankful for the distraction, Yeonjun nodded. “I am actually. What are your hobbies and interests then?”

Beomgyu’s eyes crinkled with tiny stars in his eyes, mirroring the universe. “I love doing music! I actually play the guitar and usually bring it with me to play while I’m in detention, but I accidentally left it at home today. Music just helps me feel so alive, and it gives me purpose. One day, I really wanna play in a band and play in front of thousands of people.” 

As the other spoke, Yeonjun couldn’t help but stare in awe. Beomgyu seemed so animated, so full of life, so full of pure passion. A part of him felt an ugly sense of envy. Seeing Beomgyu talk about his interests so passionately reminded him of his own passion – one he couldn’t quite seem to remember right now. A sickening feeling ate him up inside, not towards Beomgyu, but towards himself.

“Do you write your own music?” he decided to ask, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

“Yeah! I’ve started to at least, but I also really enjoy covering my favourite songs. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll let you listen to one of my songs.” He grinned. 

“I’d like that.” Yeonjun smiled softly and nodded. “I’d like that a lot.”

Just then, Beomgyu beamed brightly. “You should smile more often. It looks good on you!”

Yeonjun stared at him, stunned, before immediately shaking his head. “No thanks. Smiling takes too much energy, especially if it’s not genuine.” 

“Well, I hope you get more chances to smile like that then. It’s a shame that not many people get to see it.”

Suddenly, the door creaked open. 

The teacher looked at the two of them with a hint of a smile, noticing how they followed his rules. “Your detention is up. Get home safely boys, and try not to get in detention again.”

Beomgyu stretched his arms, letting out a grunt and a yawn. He then lazily picked up his bag, swinging it over his shoulder as he walked out the classroom. Yeonjun followed suit as he began to pack his things and stood up, following quickly behind. 

It seemed to be sunset now, golden shades of yellow and orange painting everything it touched, including Beomgyu. Somehow, Beomgyu managed to shine even more. 

The two of them stood there awkwardly for a moment, a foreign feeling growing inside Yeonjun which he couldn’t quite translate yet. However, he didn’t mind. He was smart, he could decode it eventually. 

“You’re really fun to talk to Yeonjun. Let’s talk again sometime soon?” Beomgyu suggested, smiling from ear to ear. 

Yeonjun’s eyes widened slightly. No one had ever said that to him before. He was used to being seen as boring or plain, someone not worth spending time with. But now, here he was, stood face to face with someone who was willing to spend time with him. He didn’t know how to react in the slightest. 

Before he could make a fool of himself, he forced himself to nod, clearing his throat before he spoke. “Uh, yeah. Soon. Sounds nice.”

Beomgyu laughed and began to walk off, giving him one last wave before disappearing into the empty hallways. Yeonjun was left standing there by himself, stunned, before rushing out of the building as soon as possible. Maybe he had finally lost his mind.

If he stayed awake a little longer that night replaying those 40 minutes of his life like a movie in his head, no one else would know but him. 

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

It’s been a week since the detention – a week since he spoke to Beomgyu. Life went back to normal, the strange anomaly buried to the back of his mind. Yeonjun was careful with setting his alarms now, making sure he was never late again to keep his record as clean as possible.

He also did it to make sure he’d never get stuck in a room with that strange boy again. Sure, he was refreshing, but Yeonjun felt uncomfortably vulnerable with him. He could feel something twist and morph inside of him, something he couldn’t exactly put his finger on. And that scared him.

Change scared Yeonjun. He didn’t like change. 

Yet for some reason, change was a lurking presence walking around school now, staring at him from a distance. 

Ever since that day, he’d been noticing the familiar sight of a black wolfcut with blonde highlights walking across the school. He noticed it in the cafeteria, passing in the hallway, and in the class besides his. 

Why was he only noticing him now? 

“Let’s talk again sometime soon?”

Those words constantly echoed in his head. Yeonjun was used to keeping his head down in his books, the thick pile of papers and textbooks being his only companion. Usually, he was okay with that. He grew used to having only himself as company because it was safe. Familiar. Not having to worry about others, their thoughts, feelings, or potentially being hurt again. He swore he would protect himself. 

Yet the weight of loneliness still clung onto him like a vice. Despite trying to convince himself otherwise, he knew he still yearned to talk to the boy again. A part of him wanted that conversation in room 308 to last forever. Maybe Beomgyu’s words affected him more than he thought. Maybe he did want someone to talk to. But the world is cruel, and we don’t always get what we want. Yeonjun was sure of that, so he shoved the idea of ‘friendship’ into the trash inside his head. 

Except sometimes, the world can also be unpredictable. 

Yeonjun realised this as he stumbled across that same familiar messy hair crouched in front of the art classroom. “Oh, hey Yeonjun!” it spoke. 

He stood there frozen for a second, wanting to turn around on his feet and run out of there, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to. 

“Hey,” he mustered up a response. His eyes then glanced down, a hint of curiosity spreading across his face. “What are you doing outside of the art classroom?”

“Breaking into it.” He beamed, a little too joyous about his current actions. 

“Why?”

“I need to… borrow some supplies,” he grinned, knowing the true implications behind his words. “I also just like chilling here at lunch away from everyone else.” he explained as the door suddenly unlocked with a click. 

“Oh,” was all Yeonjun could say. He wasn’t one to snitch, but he also wasn’t sure what to make of this situation. Beomgyu noticed this and smiled, opening the door a little wider for him.

“Wanna come in? No one will catch us — we can just say we’re on cleaning duty anyway.” 

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to come in, but a tiny part of him did. Putting his rational thoughts aside, he cautiously stepped inside. 

As if on cue, his eyes immediately softened at the sight of the art room. It had been ages since he last stepped inside it, and he missed the feelings of excitement he used to feel being in a room full of artistic creations. 

He still remembers the first time he stepped into the classroom, fresh out of middle school. He remembers the stars in his eyes as he looked at the walls full of art pieces by past students, the collection of materials and mediums available by his fingertips to use for his own creations. He remembers leaving the classroom that day, a smile on his face, excited for what the future held for him in that room.

Except the future never came in the form of artistic wonder; it came in exams, textbooks and study notes. What a shame. 

“Are you okay?” Beomgyu asked, shaking Yeonjun out of his thoughts. “You look upset.”

Yeonjun jerked his head back up, not expecting Beomgyu to notice his solemn expression. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just.. nostalgic, you could say.”

“Nostalgic?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “I used to be into art. Art was my hobby.” 

He could recall it now. Art used to be his other half, his passion, his true love. It was certain to Yeonjun back then that art would stick by his side forever, maybe even become his career in the future. Hours were spent in Yeonjun’s sketchbook, drawing whatever made him happy. He’d always finish a sketchbook within a few months, constantly begging his parents to bring him to the art store after school to buy a new one. The feeling of ripping open a fresh new sketchbook, ready to be brought to life by his own hands, was addicting. It always made Yeonjun ecstatic, sketching, colouring, painting, all of it. He loved when he used to be able to draw everyday, at school, and in his room late at night. 

Used to. Past tense. 

Before reality slapped him across the face. Before he realised he couldn’t keep drawing forever if he wanted to please his mother’s wishes. Ever since he prioritised his academics, his past love for it began to grow cobwebs in the back of his mind.

A stack of old sketchbooks laid in his closet to this day, actively collecting dust. 

“Why isn’t it your hobby anymore?” Beomgyu asked. 

“Because I grew up,” Yeonjun replied bitterly. “I don’t have time for it anymore.” 

Beomgyu stared at Yeonjun for a moment, his face unreadable. Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows, predicting Beomgyu was about to say something stupid he had already heard a thousand times before. 

He was about to open his mouth in defense but was quickly silenced when Beomgyu turned around, grabbed a few supplies and a piece of paper and pushed it into Yeonjun’s hands. 

“What is this?”

“You have time right now, why not use it to make some art?” Beomgyu beamed. 

An expression that could only be described as pure disbelief spread across Yeonjun’s face. He wanted to fight back, to talk about how absurd that was and that he should go back to class and study. But he felt a little hand tug on his shirt, urging him to sit down and make something. How could he ignore that feeling?

Reluctantly, he sat down with the supplies. He glanced up at Beomgyu who simply smiled at him, grabbing his own supplies and sat across Yeonjun. “So you’re not alone,” he explained. 

Carefully, he picked up a pencil. He then looked down, staring at his paper nervously. Why was he nervous? He used to be so good at art, drawing whatever made him happy or whatever he had on his mind. But he couldn’t think of anything. Art used to be so easy for him, but it seems his skill has regressed to one of a five year old’s. Maybe he wasn’t meant for this after all. This was a bad idea. 

With a sigh, he prepared to stand up and walk away but his eyes landed onto Beomgyu in front of him. 

He wasn’t drawing anything extravagant, just a few doodles across his page. But something inside Yeonjun flickered. Slowly, he sunk back into his seat and began to move his pencil around the paper. His mind went blank for the first time in forever, his eyes trained on the way his pencil seemed to dance across the page. It felt like falling in love all over again, seeing the combination of different weighted strokes gradually come to life by his own hands. His eyes constantly glanced up and down, trying to get the shapes to look right. All he could think about was drawing.

Silence enveloped between the two of them as they drew, pencils sketching the paper being the only sound shared. 

The other suddenly yawned, stretching his arms as he leaned back in his seat. 

“I’m done. Can I see yours?” he asked, curious to what the other boy was up to. 

“I don’t want you to see.” Yeonjun frowned, anxiously playing with the corner of the page. “It looks bad.”

“There’s no such thing as bad art!” Beomgyu exclaimed. “Just let me see. Just this once. Pretty please?”

Looking down, Yeonjun debated in his mind. He hadn’t drawn in years, let alone allow someone to see his art. What if Beomgyu took back his words? What if he was disappointed? What if he agreed that art wasn’t for him? 

Despite his mind leaning towards the ‘against’ half of his brain, a single glance back up into those brown eyes of the other made him drop all of his rationality.

Well, once wouldn’t hurt. 

He gave him back his passion for drawing, so he owed him this much he decided.

Hesitantly, he rotated his paper and gently pushed it towards the other’s direction. He bit his lip in anticipation, awaiting his reaction.

“You.. drew this?” It wasn’t the confused, disgusted reaction he was expecting. It was.. amazement. “You drew me?”

Immediately, Yeonjun scrambled for words. 

“I- well, maybe? I mean, you were right in front of me and I didn’t know what else to draw and–” he rambled before cutting himself off, realising how stupid he must sound right now. “.. yeah.” 

Yeonjun’s head was down in surrender, the weight of it suddenly too heavy with expectation. Looking up suddenly felt like a chore he was dreading to do.

“Do... you like it?”

He cringed at the way he squeezed his eyes shut after saying that. Why was he suddenly so nervous? It’s not like he was being examined or graded over this, but his body’s natural instinct was to think so. His body felt so tense and he held his breath as he waited for the other’s voice to answer his question.

“I love it.”

“What?” 

Yeonjun’s head suddenly jerked up, looking like a deer caught in headlights. 

“I said I love it! It’s so cool, and it makes me look awesome!” he beamed, holding up the paper and pointing at it like he just found eternal wealth. “Look, you even got my dimple! And the crimples of my bandages! And look, look, even my eyelashes make me look so pretty!”

Yeonjun was stunned to say the least. He’d never witnessed such a big reaction to one of his drawings before. Strangely, it felt nice. He could finally let out that breath of air he didn’t even know he was still holding. 

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? Of course I do, I love it! Can I keep it?” 

“Keep it?!” Yeonjun repeated, mouth slightly ajar and at a loss for words. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why would you want to keep that?”

“Because I wanna hang it up in my room..” he answered sheepishly. “Along with my other posters. I think it would fit in perfectly.” 

To say Yeonjun was speechless would be an understatement. He was dumbstruck. Yeonjun always remembered how others would have their artwork hung proudly, like a prize. He could vividly recall the time he visited one of his friend’s houses when he was younger, seeing drawings hung on the fridge, beside the grocery list for the week and magnets holding up other pictures of their family. All he could do was stand and stare, entranced by such an unfamiliar sighting. It was something he always yearned to experience. And this boy was eager – no – he was wholeheartedly willing to replicate that. 

“So.. can I?” Beomgyu asked once more, snapping Yeonjun out of his trance (that Beomgyu had put him in to begin with).

He cleared his throat. “Oh, yeah, sure. I don’t mind. Do what you want with it.” 

“Great!” Beomgyu smiled from ear to ear. 

At that moment, the sun had adjusted itself perfectly, aligning itself to hit the side of Beomgyu’s face with precision. He looked ethereal. Yeonjun’s heart hiccuped, unable to mask whatever he felt at that moment. Various shades of marigold and dandelion added another layer to his already breathtaking face – Yeonjun wasn’t sure how much more he could handle. His hand twitched, desperately wanting to pick up a paintbrush and start drawing whatever masterpiece had just constructed in front of his eyes. Every part of him itched to create another piece full of colour and life, exactly like Beomgyu was. 

Just as Yeonjun was about to say something, both of their heads snapped to the sound of the bell.

Way to ruin the moment. 

“Oh damn, I didn’t even realise we were here for that long,” Beomgyu sulked. “We should get going before we get caught.”

His heart stung a little, not wanting to leave just yet. This room felt like home, and outside of it was cold and harsh. He wasn’t sure if he could handle it again. 

The other scrambled to pick up the supplies he originally came for, an array of paints and a few brushes, before returning back to Yeonjun’s side. “You ready to go?”

He wasn’t. 

But somehow, looking into the boy’s eyes and seeing the sunlight reflected through it, it convinced him that this wouldn’t be a one time thing. It would be okay. 

After a slight nod, the two slipped out of the classroom and slid the door shut as quietly as they could behind them. 

Maybe not all change was bad.

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

The Sun shone down mercilessly at Yeonjun, a taste of what was yet to come for his journey home.

Their town was relatively small, barely any buses to accommodate travelling around. Deciding he didn’t want to deal with the mess of the barely-air-conditioned buses in this heat, he opted for simply walking home. He could use some exercise after locking himself in his room all the time to revise after all. 

Putting on his cheap wired earphones, he began to walk towards the direction of his house. It was only a mere 20 minute walk, and one he’s done countless times, so he could handle this.

Except, normally, said 20 minute walk didn’t include a boy alongside him.

“Oh, hey, Yeonjun!” muffled a voice from behind him.

Taking out his right earbud, he peeked over his shoulder, only to find that familiar face already right beside him. “You again?”

“Me again.” Beomgyu nodded, a bright grin on his face with sweat trickling down the side. “Where are you headed?” 

“Home?” Yeonjun stated, as if it isn’t the most obvious answer in the world. 

“You live around this side of the town?” 

“Is that so shocking?”

Beomgyu snorted at his blunt remark. “I mean, a little, yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you walking this way before.”

That was true, he doesn’t ever recall seeing the troublemaker either. But then it hit him. 

“Usually, I walk home right as school ends. I stayed after school to get some work done in the classroom for a change, before I realised the sun would set soon.” He then eyed the boy up and down. “Why’re you out this late? I don’t suppose you were studying too.”

“How could you say such a thing? I can be studious too, y’know!” He whined, clutching his chest like Yeonjun had just insulted him to the highest degree. “But yeah. I was actually just skating around the empty parking lot over there. You caught me.”

“Skateboarding?” He tilted his head to the side, a little surprised before looking down to see the skateboard in his hands. The back was decorated, streaks of black and red paint across it with stickers plastered all over. Recognising the colours, he realised that must’ve been what he used the stolen art supplies for. Looking back up, he realised the multiple bruises, scrapes and sweat probably should’ve given it away sooner.

“Yup! The best activity in the world, amongst other things,” he huffed smugly. “Anyway, mind if I join you?”

“In walking?”

“No, in racing you back to school,” Beomgyu rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Yes, in walking, I wanna go home too.”

“Oh.” Yeonjun wasn’t sure what was happening, but maybe he could indulge in this. “Sure. Do what you want.”

At first, he was a little worried about having to constantly converse with the other. Socialising definitely wasn’t Yeonjun’s strong suit and all of this was new territory to him. Luckily however, Beomgyu was a talker, carrying the conversation by himself and not pressing Yeonjun for any answers — which he appreciated. It felt nice for a change, having living and breathing company with him while he went home and not the frisk wind that filled the small town of theirs. 

From their walk, Yeonjun had managed to learn a little more about the boy. He was younger, born in March, his birthday just last month. He talked a lot about his mum, and how she was really good friends with the old lady who owns the tteokbeokki shop in the corner if they ever wanted to eat there together one day. He also learned about how Beomgyu hated the thought of growing up, the pressures the world put upon them, and school. The younger simply aimed to live out his teenage years to their fullest potential, against whatever the world had previously planned for him. Yeonjun respected that, despite the mindset seemingly extremely foreign to him. 

Eventually, their steps began slowing. It wasn’t long before they made it to Yeonjun’s house, it being the closer one of the two. 

“Ah, I didn’t know this house was yours, it’s so cool!” 

“Um, thanks.” Yeonjun scratched the back of his head, sweat dripping down his neck. Summer really was approaching. “Do you wanna step in for a bit? Want water or anything?”

“No, I’m okay, thank you. I need to head home soon before my mum gives me an earful about always staying out too late,” he laughed, the sunlight practically radiating off of him. “If you don’t find me annoying enough yet, can we do this again maybe? I really enjoyed walking with you.”

“I- uh, what?” he spluttered, staring at Beomgyu like a wide eyed animal. “You want to.. walk again? But we– you, you live further away.”

“So? I don't mind!” he assured. “Hey, we could even walk to school together! I can always just wake up a little earlier, keeps me from getting more late detentions to my name.” 

A million thoughts were running through Yeonjun’s head at once, none of them able to stabilise him at all as he stood frozen in shock at the suggestion. 

“So, are you okay with it? Do you mind?” he asked timidly, the tone of his voice the softest he’s ever heard it yet. “You can always say no if you want, I don’t mind.”

“No– no! I mean, yes, it's okay.” Yeonjun stumbled over his words, clearing his throat. “You can walk with me, I guess. So you stop getting late detentions.” 

Just so he could stop getting late detentions.

That’s what he convinced himself. 

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

Beomgyu shrieked in delight, eyes sparkling and mouth agape in absolute joy at his response. 

“Oh, I’m so excited! Here,” He suddenly took off his bag, rummaging through it for a second before taking out a notebook and ripping a page out. Taking a pencil out from his pocket, he began to scribble on it before handing it over to Yeonjun. “My phone number. So I can text you when I’m coming.”

He stared at the piece of paper for a moment before taking it, their fingertips brushing over one another ever so slightly.

“I’ll get going now before it gets too dark but thanks hyung! I’ll see you tomorrow!” He waved before jogging off, hopping onto his board and skating away. 

“Oh uh, bye..” he muttered, blinking dumbly. 

Yeonjun was left standing there, waving silently as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. The paper laid in his hands suddenly felt like the most important piece of information he had ever acquired in his life as he tightened his fist around it anxiously. 

He had no idea what was going on anymore. 

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

The air was still relatively chilly as the town was starting to wake up. The moon, still visible, shone quietly in the pink and purple backdrop of the sunrise. Yeonjun yawned, stepping out of his house after making sure he had everything he needed for the school day ahead. After fumbling around with his keys for a second, he locked his front door before turning around and practically jumped. 

“Beomgyu?”

“Good morning, Yeonjun-hyung. Did you sleep well?”

“Um, yeah.” He shook his head, straightening his back. “Sorry, I just got a little startled seeing you here.”

He vaguely remembered hearing a vibration from his phone while he groggily got ready, but he was too out of it to check it. It only just hit him now that it was most likely Beomgyu’s text.

“I kept my promise, didn't I?” 

A soft smile spread across his face. “I guess you did.”

It felt weird, strange even, seeing Beomgyu this early in the morning, in front of his house nonetheless. He seemed a bit more tidier today, given it was still early in the morning before school. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off more scrapes and bruises from his skating tendencies. 

“You don’t have your skateboard with you?” He tilted his head in curiosity as they began to walk.

“Nah, I wanna actually spend time walking with you without having to drag it around for no reason.”

“Oh.” Yeonjun hiccuped, quickly looking away. His ears burned for some reason.

Mornings in their town were fairly quiet and peaceful, local shops slowly opening and bringing chairs out. But right now, Yeonjun felt like he was seconds away from waking up the entire village with how loud his heart was beating. Thankfully, Beomgyu took no notice as he cheerily talked about whatever came to mind as they began to walk.

The two walked side by side, Beomgyu leaving little comments here and there about the morning, how he didn’t want to go to school and pieces of homework he still had to do due soon. Yeonjun listened intently, his eyes secretly watching Beomgyu through the corner of his eye. For some reason, the air surrounding them felt a little warmer now. 

“How many bandages do you have?”

“Huh?” Beomgyu stopped mid-sentence, looking at Yeonjun with a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“Bandages.” He pointed at his cheek. “You have so many scrapes – you must have a mountain of bandages at home.”

“Oh these?” Beomgyu laughed, as if the bruises weren’t a manifestation of his own clumsiness. “I do have to restock a lot — I’m actually running pretty low right now. That’s why I only use them on my really big wounds.”

“I’m gonna have to start calling you bandages at this rate. You should be more careful.”

“You sound like my mum.”

“Well she’s right.”

Beomgyu simply shrugged. “Does it make me look cool at least?” 

He raised an eyebrow, analysing him deep in thought. Eventually, he came to a conclusion. “You look like you get into fights with the street cats on a daily basis.”

His eyes lit up, shoving his face in Yeonjun’s with glee. “So, like, awesome battle scars from winning?”

“Uh, no. I mean it looks like you lost every single fight.” 

“Seriously?!” Beomgyu groaned, sulking in defeat. “Got all roughed up for nothing.”

For the first time, Yeonjun let out a tiny chuckle. A real, unguarded chuckle. Laughing with him felt easy. “It’s alright. You look cool.” he reassured, patting the other’s back teasingly.

“You’re just saying that to cheer me up!”

“I mean it. You can look like you lost a million battles and still look cool.”

Beomgyu’s eyebrows furrowed, skeptical as he huffed and stomped away. His actions mirrored one of a grumpy little kid’s, making Yeonjun sigh with endearment. “If you want, we can head to the convenience store after school to pick up more bandages for you.”

He whipped his head around. “What? Really?” 

“Yeah? Are.. are we not walking home together after school?” Yeonjun inquired slowly, unsure if he misunderstood what Beomgyu meant by ‘doing this again’ yesterday. 

“Oh, yeah! I’d love to! I just wasn’t sure if you were still up to it,” he confessed.

“It’s preferable,” he hummed, strolling casually as they got closer to their school. “Better than travelling alone all the time.”

“Yeah, I guess it does feel much less lonely walking to and from school with someone,” he agreed. “Besides, I’ll have a reason to wake up early now if we walk together every morning too.”

A reason.

Yeonjun was his reason.

Despite how small it was, his heart bloomed, finally feeling special for once. 

As the moon made its leave and the sun shone across their town, the pair made it to school. They waved each other goodbye, each going into their respective classrooms to begin their school day.

Unbeknownst to Beomgyu, Yeonjun’s calm facade while dropping him off to his classroom crumbled as soon as he was out of his line of sight. He rushed to his classroom towards his desk, plummeted onto his chair and buried his head in his arms to hide his blushing mess of a face.

Choi Beomgyu was going to be the end of him. 

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

As the days passed Yeonjun realised how easy it was to be with Beomgyu. To have a friend. Going to and from school with him was a routine he grew to love, something he learned to look forward to the more he got comfortable with the other boy. Their routine consisted of Beomgyu running to Yeonjun’s class as soon as the day ended, his own bag messily packed, sometimes half open due to shoving all his belongings in a rush. After Yeonjun packed his own bag, they’d begin to walk home side by side. Some days they’d stop by their local convenience store, picking up a few snacks or a nice icy drink to cool them down from the impending summer on the horizon. Other times, Yeonjun would walk him to the empty parking lot, watching Beomgyu skate around for a bit before heading home to study. 

Being friends with Beomgyu was nice. Homely. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, this strange boy he met that one day in his (only) detention managed to hold a lot of significance to him.

For the first time though, Yeonjun stepped foot into Beomgyu’s house. More specifically, Beomgyu’s room.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Beomgyu announced, spreading his arms as if he was giving a presentation.

It wasn’t his plan to come here on such short notice, but the younger had talked about needing to buy some ingredients for his mum before heading home and Yeonjun offered to help carry the multitude of plastic bags. Visiting Beomgyu’s room was just an unexpected side quest, so when he opened the door to his rather bold and striking room, Yeonjun was left stunned. 

“So this is where you oversleep all the time?” Yeonjun commented snarkily, eyeing the nest of a bed that definitely wasn’t made this morning.

“Hey! I stopped doing that ages ago!” 

A small smirk tugged onto Yeonjun’s face as he turned his attention back to the room in front of him. It didn’t take long for that smirk to fall though, replaced by a curious set of eyes. 

The walls were all painted black, white trimmings peeking out. Layered on top of the inky wall scattered a million posters, some of them having various band logos etched onto them, pictures of places he recognised around their town, or just cool graphics that matched Beomgyu’s vibe perfectly. Besides the wall of posters was a small spot left empty, instead, covered by scribbles of writing done by various people. None of them were the same colour, most likely done over the years with different markers. The most obvious words were ones written in a graffiti style-type writing, fitting the vibe of the room to the max. If anything, ‘chaotic’ was scribbled everywhere inside these four walls. 

On his desk were scattered papers, notes from class that he didn’t put any effort into making. A couple of guitar picks with different designs on them were collected in a small jar, each of them proving his dedication to music. 

There was just so much life in his room.

It overwhelmed him. 

“You can sit down if you want, y’know. You don’t have to stay standing in the doorway the entire time.”

His eyes snapped towards the other, realising how awkward he was being. “Right, sorry.” 

As if it were his first day on earth, he stumbled across the room onto Beomgyu’s bed, settling down on the very edge.

“Do you decorate your own room? I’m curious now,” the energetic one inquired, pulling out the chair tucked into his desk and plopping down onto it with a thud.

Yeonjun bit his lip awkwardly, suddenly feeling a little lame. “Not really, no. Mine’s like an exam room in comparison to yours.”

“Oh come on, I’m sure it isn’t that bad!” Beomgyu snickered, spinning the chair around boredly before catching himself with the edge of his desk. “Hey, maybe one day, I’ll come over to yours and we can decorate it together!”

As skeptical as Yeonjun was, that didn’t sound too bad. He doesn’t know how his mother would react though. “How long did it take to decorate everything?”

“Took a while to figure out how I wanted the room to look, but over time I stopped being so picky and just added whatever I liked onto my wall,” he explained. “Neat, right?”

“Awesome,” Yeonjun nodded, still staring at everything with a slight sparkle in his eyes. 

Suddenly, his eyes landed on one particular piece of paper on his wall.

“You kept it.” His breath hitched, eyes widening as if he had just seen something out of this world. “You.. actually kept it.”

There, hanging proudly on his wall, was the drawing he drew of Beomgyu in the art classroom. 

“Oh that? Of course I kept it!” Beomgyu pushed his feet against his desk, the chair gliding smoothly across the wooden floor before stopping it right in front of the paper. “Fits perfectly right? I told you so.”

After getting over his initial shock, the older’s eyes softened, a small smile spreading across his face. “Yeah. I think so, at least. Thank you.”

“No problem!” He spun around on his chair once more before landing in front of Yeonjun with a grin from ear to ear. “And thank you again for drawing me. Now, wanna see what other random stuff I have in my room?”

“If we must,” he playfully sighed, pretending to act over it, but both of them knew his true feelings. 

Regardless of whatever he says to mask how he truly feels, he'd sit down and listen to Beomgyu talk animatedly for hours.

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

“This is hopeless.”

Yeonjun rolled over in his bed, picking up his phone to check the time. 2:13am. He had stayed up later than usual to try and get some last minute revision in before an upcoming test in 2 days, but in doing so, it seems to have ruined his ability to sleep. No matter how many hours he’d lay in bed with his eyes closed, begging for his body to go into rest mode, it was hopeless. His mind was on fire, racing with a million thoughts while burning with stress. 

He closed his eyes once more, trying to go to sleep just one more time. That was until his mind flashed with the idea of getting a low score and his eyes shot awake, feeling sick to his stomach.

No hope.

A sigh escaped his mouth as he sat up, running a frustrated hand through his hair. Maybe if he studied for a bit longer he’ll finally feel sleepy and a little more at ease. 

He stood up and trudged towards his desk, plopping onto his chair and opened his textbook. Just 30 minutes. 

As he scribbled notes into his book, desperately trying to get everything into his head, a little ‘ding’ caught his attention. His eyes glanced to his side.

A notification from Beomgyu.

They’ve started to text each other more often now, Beomgyu always texting first. For some reason, he liked texting Yeonjun the most random things. A link to something funny he found, a picture he couldn’t stop laughing at, or random pictures showing what he was doing for the day. Although he was confused by them at first, it grew comforting getting daily ‘good morning’ messages and seeing what the younger was up to.

Upon opening the chatroom, he was greeted with a photo of Beomgyu. He was in bed, a pout on his face. A message underneath it read “can’t sleep” with a frowning emoji. Yeonjun chuckled, picking up the small device and pressing on the keyboard to respond.

“Seems like we’re in the same boat.”

Within a few seconds he received a reply. 

Choi Beomgyu

????

why are u awake?

i thought you were adamant on getting 8 hours of sleep

am i a hallucinating

who are u and what have u done with yeonjun hyung?????

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head. So loud — even over text.

Me

Nothing. I’m still Yeonjun.

I just can’t sleep too. 

Choi Beomgyu

is something up?

Me

Just stressed for that test on Thursday.

Choi Beomgyu

it’s okay! ur gonna do great, u always do!

Me

And if I don't?

Choi Beomgyu 

then who cares? a little test won’t ruin the rest of your life, it doesnt determine anything. besides, you always work so hard, so it wont be because you were slacking off!

Yeonjun stared at his phone, at a loss for words. Somewhere inside of him, his heart felt warm, not from the impending summer heat this time. Instead, it felt warm from finally being seen.

Choi Beomgyu

wanna talk about something else to get your mind off of it?

Me

Sure. 

About what though?

Choi Beomgyu

hmmmm

give me 5 mins

Yeonjun stared at his phone, a little confused, but shrugged it off. The boy probably needed to get something done first before talking to him, so he let him be as he turned his attention back to his textbook.

Not even 10 minutes later, a constant thud knocked on his window. At first, he thought it was just the wind, or maybe a bird that had flown and hit his window. But it was consistent, a nagging sound that begged for attention. With an annoyed sigh, he stood up, walked over and opened the window. 

Just as he looked outside, a rock flung in his direction. “Ow- what the hell?”

“Oops, I didn’t mean to hit you.”

His eyes widened. “Beomgyu?”

“Hi,” he beamed, waving. “Your saviour has come.”

“I thought you wanted to go brush your teeth or something to get ready for bed, not run all the way here to my house!” He exclaimed before lowering his voice, not wanting to wake up his mother or the neighbours. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

“You said you were feeling stressed so here I am to help!” He grinned. “So, uh, you don’t mind me coming in right?”

Yeonjun sighed, pinching in between his eyebrows. “Fine, come in- hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Every second he spent with this boy left him stunned. He watched as the troublemaker began to climb the side of his house, successfully reaching his window and climbing through it as Yeonjun stepped back.

“You know, the front door was an option.” he grumbled. 

“True, but I just wanted an excuse to do that.” The younger shrugged, wiping the dirt off his pants. 

The chair squeaked as Yeonjun collapsed back onto it, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. 

Beomgyu’s playfulness resided as he noticed this. He sat down onto his bed, putting his bag down.

“Do you want to talk about it or do you need a distraction?” he asked, wanting to offer a variety of options to provide Yeonjun with whatever he needed.

He looked up, fiddling with his fingers. It felt weird having someone here by his side during a time like this for the first time in his life, and he wasn’t sure how to react. 

“Uh, a distraction would be nice I think.”

Beomgyu smiled softly and nodded, rummaging through his bag. “Do you have games?”

“No, not really..” he looked away awkwardly. “My mum never really bought me any since she wanted me to focus on my studies.”

“Really?” he frowned. “I figured that might be the case but that’s still insane. In that case, you gotta remind me to bring some of my devices over some time. But for now, let’s decorate your room.”

His head cocked to the side, confused. “Now? But I don’t have anything prepared.”

“I got some things to start us off,” he giggled, pulling out a handful of star decals.

“Stars?”

“Glow in the dark stars,” he corrected.

For a second, he stood there clueless. What the hell were they gonna do with glow in the dark stickers? Before he could open his eyes to ask that question, Beomgyu glanced up, and his eyes followed.

“Beomgyu, I’m not five.”

“I never said you were?”

“Then why are you suggesting I put glow in the dark stars on my ceiling? My mother–”

“Is this your mum’s room?” He cut him off. 

“Well, no-”

“Then we’re doing this. A little bit of whimsy and cute stars never hurt anyone.” He raised his eyebrows with a smug look, daring him to continue. 

A groan escaped his lips as he remained in his seat, sulking. He didn’t know why he was so against it himself, maybe it was because change still scared him. It’s not like he wanted to keep his room plain, but that was what he was used to. It’s what he woke up to everyday, what his version of normal was. Changing that today wasn’t one of his prepared plans. 

Suddenly, footsteps came closer before it stopped in front of him. Exhaustion trapped him from putting his head up. Seeing this, the boy opted to crouch down in front of him instead, showing a gentle smile as he brushed a hair strand out of his face. “Wanna help me?”

Grudgingly, he allowed the younger to pull him up. The two climbed on top of his bed, the pile of stars laid all over it. He watched closely as Beomgyu grabbed a star, peeled the back off to demonstrate before applying it on the ceiling. Yeonjun soon followed, grabbing a star one by one, peeling the back off before sticking it alongside his. 

It felt so stupid, like he was ruining his ceiling one star at a time. But at the same time, something inside of him finally relaxed.

A few cursed grumbles escaped his lips as one star in particular had caught him off guard, the sticky back not wanting to leave the star. Without warning, a pair of calloused fingers enveloped his, directing his fingers to pull a different corner in which the plastic peeled off easily. 

He stood there for a second, frozen like ice. With his reaction, he expected Beomgyu to pull away immediately. Except he didn’t. Instinctively, when he got back to his senses, he untangled their fingers and cleared his throat, pretending to dust the sticky residue from the stickers off his fingers.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. 

“No problem. Some of them can be annoying,” he chuckled. 

An hour passed by easily. It only took them around 20 minutes to actually put the stars up, Yeonjun meticulously placing them in equal distance to each other whereas Beomgyu stuck them wherever his hands laid, at one point sticking one on Yeonjun and laughing at the way he glowed in the darkness. To which, of course, Yeonjun rebelled by sticking one back on Beomgyu.

After they finished sticking all the stars on, they both collapsed onto Yeonjun’s bed, his blankets providing a soft landing for them. Weirdly, it felt as if they were actually under the galaxy. Although they were just glow in the dark stars that Yeonjun remembers seeing at the local crafts store, it seemed as if there was a hint of magic added onto it. They covered his room with a faint green glow, not a scientifically correct colour for stars, but the correct colour for the galaxy they made together. Even if some of the stars were slightly crumpled with edges not perfectly stuck down, he loved it. It was his to look at every night now. 

Warm air filled the room from the window Beomgyu climbed through, the sounds of their soft breaths joining it. 

Yeonjun’s head tilted to the side, glancing at Beomgyu. All of his hair was sprawled out, his blonde highlights reflecting the light of the stars. His lips were slightly parted, and he could see the way his chest moved up and down every time he inhaled or exhaled. The eyelashes that decorated across his eyes fluttered as he looked up, admiring their handiwork. Something in Yeonjun’s stomach swirled. 

Suddenly, Beomgyu glanced over at him, noticing his gaze. He smiled.

“Do you feel better now?”

He blinked, trying to form a coherent thought. He felt better, but he also felt a million other things he couldn’t quite figure out what they were yet. Taking a deep breath in, he replied.

“Yeah. Thank you, Beomgyu.”

“Anytime.”

The next morning, he felt a gentle warmth over his eyelids. Rubbing his eyes awake, he opened them, greeted by the night’s previous work. A chuckle escaped his lips. He couldn’t believe they actually did that. Looking around, he realised there was no sight of the other and he frowned, trying to remember what happened. The last thing he can recall was Beomgyu rambling on about this new band he had found, venting his frustrations about how they were coming to play in Seoul but he had no chance of seeing them since they were all the way out here. He must’ve fallen asleep halfway. 

His suspicions were confirmed as he looked down, realising he was all tucked in. On his bedside table lay a small ripped up piece of paper with marker written on it. 

“I went back home, don’t worry! I hope you sleep well and that when you wake up you feel more refreshed. Don’t stress, you’ll do great! And remember Bandage is always cheering for you :D”

He shook his head with a snort. Such a Beomgyu-coded note. 

He swung his legs over the bed, stretching his arms with a yawn as he prepared himself for the day ahead. After going downstairs to eat a quick breakfast, he returned back upstairs to his desk. That sleep under the stars definitely did wonders, as he was feeling way more relaxed now. 

Opening his textbook, he prepared to start revising again. Just as he was about to start reading, his eyes caught notice of the small note still left on his bed. He stared at it for a few moments before gliding across silently, picking it up and returned to his desk. Sliding his finger against the sticky side, he stuck it in front of his wall. Satisfied, he cracked a small smile and went back to focusing. He’ll keep it there for support. 

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

“Are you just gonna sit there forever?”

“Hm?” Yeonjun looked up from his notebook, confused.

Their summer break had started yesterday and Beomgyu decided he would be spending every day of it dragging Yeonjun out of his house to go on ‘adventures’, or whatever he liked to call them. Much to Yeonjun’s dismay, he agreed, deciding it was better than staying held up in his room all summer like he usually does. 

“Come on, you’re outside. Enjoy it! You don't always have to bury your face in books all the time. I promise Mr. Kim isn’t watching,” he joked. 

He playfully rolled his eyes, setting his book down to the side. “Alright, but what else am I meant to do then? There’s nothing to do in this town.”

“That’s why you find something to do,” he responded, pulling the boy up. “Come on, up you get.”

Yeonjun sighed, dusting off his pants as he followed Beomgyu closely behind. “Do you have any suggestions then, bandages?”

He stopped for a moment to think before turning around to face Yeonjun. 

“Ever wanted to learn how to ride a skateboard?”

His eyebrows raised, not expecting the question. “Of course not. Why?”

“Well today is gonna be the day you learn!” He declared, not waiting for a response before putting the skateboard down in front of Yeonjun.

“What? No, I- I don’t..” 

“You don’t what?” he teased. “Are you being a scaredy cat, hyung?”

“No I’m not!” he defended, a little too strongly for his liking. His ears burned red. “I just.. I’m probably gonna fall and make a fool of myself.”

Beomgyu roared with laughter before shaking his head, putting a hand on top of Yeonjun’s head. “That’s why I’m here hyung. I’m here to help you. Now come on, let’s try getting on the board.” 

The two maneuvered themselves to stand opposite each other, the skateboard in between them. The younger held his hands out flat, waiting for Yeonjun to take his offer. Hesitant, he held his hands and took one step on the board, then another. 

He didn’t want to think about how warm Beomgyu’s hands were, or how he could feel his calloused fingertips from all the hours of playing guitar, or the slight scrapes he could see from when he most likely fell off after attempting tricks. He also didn’t want to think about how clammy his hands felt now.

“Woah!” His eyes widened as his legs shook, wobbly for his first time being on a skateboard. 

“It’s okay, I got you. Just try to bend your legs and space them further apart,” he instructed, gently squeezing his hands to comfort him. 

Yeonjun bit his lip in embarrassment as he followed his instructions which in turn worked. “What do I do now?”

“Okay, for now, let’s just get you used to moving on the board. So hold on tight yeah? And tell me if you wanna get off at any point.” He smiled, giving him a few seconds to prepare before he began to slowly walk parallel to him, still holding his hands. 

It felt extremely weird moving on top of a skateboard, his feet bouncing up and down ever so slightly as they moved across the uneven ground.

Beomgyu led him around for a little longer, teaching Yeonjun how to bend his knees and lean in different directions to practice turning. After he figured the older had gotten a hang of it, he decided to move on to the next step.

“Alright, now let’s actually get you to move the skateboard!” He grinned. 

Yeonjun frowned, not nearly as excited as Beomgyu was. This is the part he was dreading the most afterall. 

“I don't want to..” he whined softly. He liked cruising around holding Beomgyu’s hands. At least then he wouldn’t fall off and die. 

“Come on, I promise you it isn’t as scary as it seems.”

“But..” His lips pouted, expression resembling one of a sulky cat. 

Beomgyu’s eyes softened as he sighed, holding a hand out again. “I’m still gonna be here helping you. I’ll catch you if you fall, okay?”

That seemed to ease Yeonjun a little, back to quiet curiosity as he stood beside the board again.

This made Beomgyu’s heart happy, knowing that Yeonjun trusted him enough. “Alright, start off by putting your right foot on the board.” 

Like a little kid, he immediately listened and followed, his foot stepping on the board. 

“Good! Now let’s try practicing the motion of putting your other foot on.” He held out one of his hands to help Yeonjun balance as he taught him how to step on the board with his other foot. 

After a few tries, he was finally able to step onto the board smoothly. 

“Alright, now that we have that down, I’m gonna help you as you glide off and step onto the board at the same time.”

Beomgyu shuffled a little, moving to the other side as he continued to hold one of his hands. “Just push off the ground and put your foot on the board like we practiced. I’ll move you after.”

Although he was still a little skeptical, he trusted Beomgyu. Taking a deep breath in, he pushed off the ground gently and put his left foot on the back. 

What he didn’t expect was for him to lose balance so fast and slip, tumbling onto Beomgyu who didn’t expect it either. 

The two stumbled onto the floor with a thud, Yeonjun falling on top of Beomgyu who cushioned him. Painful whimpers spilled from both of their lips, the hot ground sizzling Beomgyu’s back. It took a second for him to register what had just happened as all he could see was the younger’s neck. He propped himself up a little, only to be greeted by Beomgyu’s face staring at him dumbfoundedly before cracking a small smile. 

He scrambled, getting up as fast as he could. “Oh my god I am so, so, sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you too much did I?” 

His hands rushed towards his head, cradling it gently, ignoring the way those stupidly round eyes of his were staring into his. He ignored the way he could see lighter shades of brown within his eyes now that the sun was hitting it perfectly. He ignored the way his eyelashes fluttered, the way he could see all the little blemishes on his face and the mostly faded pimple scars that remained. He ignored how close they were, and how ridiculous this entire situation was. All he was doing was checking for injuries. That was it. Nothing more. 

“I’m okay, I’m used to falling. But are you okay? You look like you’re about to have a panic attack,” he replied, concern hidden behind his playful tone. 

It didn’t even register to Yeonjun that he was panting so hard, as if he had just ran a marathon, especially with the way his face was burning up. 

“I-I’m fine,” he stammered, retracting his hands and putting them back onto his lap. “Just worried I broke your bones or something.”

“You’re not even heavy,” he said playfully, sitting back up. “Besides, it was kinda funny. And since you’ve finally fallen down, you won’t be scared of it anymore too!”

“I guess that’s true,” he mumbled, still refusing to make eye contact with him. 

Beomgyu stood up, grumbling a little about how hot the concrete was as he brushed small rocks off his arm. He extended a hand towards Yeonjun, his dimple returning to his face.

“Let’s try again?”

Determined, Yeonjun nodded, taking his hand to conquer the skateboard properly this time. 

Taking a few deep breaths in beforehand this time, he mentally prepared himself and vowed not to make the same mistake. 

He took Beomgyu’s hand once more, the younger squeezing it with encouragement. 

“You can do it.”

And just like that, time flew by swiftly. 

The air began to become cooler without them realising, crickets replacing the once lively chirps of birds. The sun had set around an hour ago, but they were too invested with skating around that they hadn’t even noticed it. It was darker now, a muted dark blue sky illuminated by the orange lights of the outdated streetlights of their town. 

After many attempts and trial and error, the skateboard that once felt foreign to him began to feel more and more familiar. 

Pushing off felt natural, and he was finally able to ride from one end of the street to the other. He felt an overwhelming sense of achievement for the first time in forever, and this time, not from something related to his education. It made him ecstatic. 

During one of their breaks, both of their backs against the dusty stone walls, Yeonjun had turned to Beomgyu and asked him a question.

“Why do you love skateboarding so much?”

Beomgyu turned to him, sweat glistening down the side of his face as he hummed. “Skateboarding has always been a love of mine. When I first saw some of the older kids do it, I thought about how cool it looked and how I wanted to look cool too. But over time it became less about how cool it looks and about how it made me feel.”

Yeonjun stared at him as he continued to speak.

“I love to do it whenever I get the chance to. It just helps give me that freeing feeling, you know? I love the thrill of racing down the street at night when everyone else is asleep and just feeling so alive. I love skating back home, finally free from lessons for the rest of the day and back to doing what makes me feel happy. That’s why I love skateboarding so much.”

Whenever Beomgyu spoke full of passion, he couldn’t help but feel awestricken. He really was amazing. “I think it’s wonderful that you have something in your life that makes you feel this happy.”

Beomgyu gave a half-suppressed laugh, fond of Yeonjun’s words. “Thank you. I feel extremely lucky too. I don’t know if skateboarding brings the same emotions to you as it does to me, but hopefully, one day, you find something that gives you the same feeling. If you haven’t found it already, that is.”

His head followed his figure as Beomgyu stood back up, stretching his arms and legs as he went back to skating around.

As he sat with his back against the rough stone wall, sweat dripping down his back and sipping on his water bottle with a scrunched nose, he replayed Beomgyu's words in his mind.

Had he found something that gave him that same feeling yet?

No matter how hard he wracked his brain, he could only think of art. But he had only just recently gotten interested in it again, and his passion wasn’t back at its fullest yet, so it couldn't possibly be that. Yet he had a gnawing feeling that he had already found that feeling Beomgyu was talking about. Something that makes him feel alive. 

When his eyes went back into focus on the boy in front of him, his heart hiccuped.

It was him. 

It’s Beomgyu that gives him that thrill, that feeling of being alive.

Immediately, he choked on his water, gasping for air as he coughed and tried to clear his throat. 

He mentally scolded himself for the way his heart began to race. What was he thinking? Beomgyu was just being a good friend to him. He was fun, after all, and he taught him a lot of things that make him feel alive. 

But he would be lying if he said that Beomgyu wasn’t making him lose his mind too. 

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

A loud bang emerged from the door as it swung open, the culprit holding up two plastic bags.

“I’m back!”

As if on cue, a pillow came flying towards him, hitting him in the face. 

“Shut up, you’re too loud and you’re gonna disturb your mother.”

“Since when do you care about my mum so much?”

“Since I realised she has to deal with you every day of her life,” Yeonjun joked snarkily.

Yesterday, during another one of their hangout sessions, they were swinging on the swings in a nearby park talking about random topics. Eventually, the topic of hair came up.

“Ah, that reminds me. I need to touch up my highlights soon.”

Yeonjun’s face contorted in confusion. “Why? They look perfectly fine to me.”

“To you,” he emphasised. “Trust me when I say they need touching up.”

Beomgyu swung his legs through the air, trying to go as high as he could on the rusty swings. He then looked to his left, his eyes falling onto Yeonjun. His lips pursed, staring at the boy for a minute too long for comfort.

“Would you ever dye your hair?” he asked, using his feet to stop him swinging. 

“Me?” He tilted his head, eyebrows slightly furrowed in concentration. He’s never really thought about it, used to looking plain and boring with his jet black hair. “Not really, it’s never crossed my mind.”

Suddenly, a hand came beside his face, fingers threading through his hair and inspecting it. 

His head jerked, reeling away on instinct. Beomgyu didn’t seem to mind though, smiling softly as he put his hand back in his lap. 

“I think you should dye it with me.”

He scoffed. “Don’t be silly, bandages. You know I can’t do that.”

“You ‘know’ you can't do that or you ‘assume’ you can’t do it?”

Well damn. Caught him there.

“Okay well.. what colour would I even dye it?”

This time, Beomgyu fully stood up, standing in front of Yeonjun. His hand reached out, pausing in front of him as if asking for permission. When Yeonjun made no efforts to stop him, he gently lowered his hand onto his head, caressing his hair deep in thought. 

“Hm.. you’d look good with pink.”

“Pink?”

“Yeah. But you don’t have to go all out if you don’t want to,” he hummed, bouncing a handful of his hair in his hands. “Pink highlights on you would look sick.”

“Pink highlights huh?” Despite it seeming like a crazy idea, he wasn’t too against it. “Okay, we’ll see.”

“I’ll buy the dyes tomorrow,” he grinned.

“You never waste a second, do you, bandage?”

“Nope!” He giggled, his happiness infectious as ever. 

Classic Beomgyu.

“So I’m guessing those are the hair dyes?”

“You guessed right!” 

Beomgyu walked over to his bed, turning the bag upside down and emptying out everything inside of it. A few boxes of dye fell out, thudding faintly against the bed.

Yeonjun reached over, grabbing one of the boxes to inspect it. 

“We’re really going through with this?” he chuckled in disbelief. The package labelled ‘pink hair dye’ staring back at him mockingly. 

“Indeed we are,” he confirmed, already walking over to his closet and rummaging through it.

After searching through the vast sea of clothes, he took out two shirts. Standing up straight again, he tugged the shirt he was currently wearing over his head, taking it off. Why was he stripping? Do people normally dye their hair shirtless? Despite the questions filling his mind, he couldn’t ignore the rush of warmth that came to his ears. 

Before Yeonjun could question anything related to Beomgyu’s now shirtless body, his answer soon came as the boy put on a noticeably older shirt with a few colourful stains on it. When he was finished changing, a shirt was thrown in his direction.

“Change into that. It’s gonna get messy, and I’m guessing you don't wanna ruin your shirt,” he explained. 

Yeonjun gulped and nodded, looking down at the shirt. It was a blue oversized tee, definitely something Beomgyu must’ve bought years ago as he couldn’t picture him wearing this now. His head snapped back up where Beomgyu was standing, suddenly feeling a little awkward as he held the shirt in his hands. 

Picking up on this, Beomgyu turned away, humming as he carried the dyes to the bathroom. “Come in when you’ve changed!” 

He looked back down at the shirt and let out a tiny exhale before he slipped his shirt off, gently folding it before placing it on the side of Beomgyu’s bed. Curiously, he picked up the shirt Beomgyu had provided him with and began to inspect it. Although Beomgyu was the smaller one of the two — the shirt was still surprisingly big. He figured as much, considering Beomgyu’s style and love for oversized clothing. As he changed into the new shirt, he couldn’t help but notice the faint smell of Beomgyu clinging onto it. 

Beomgyu’s scent. 

He was wearing Beomgyu’s scent. 

He choked a little at the realisation, his ears suddenly felt like they were on fire in comparison to before. Why was his scent making him act like this? He’s in Beomgyu’s room for crying out loud – he’s been surrounded by his scent the entire time. Yet, wearing it puts his mind into overdrive. Yeonjun was really losing it. 

He quickly shook his head, trying to ignore it. It wasn’t a big deal – friends share clothes all the time. He thought, at least. 

In a desperate state to silence his mind, he swiftly got up and strode into the bathroom where Beomgyu was. The younger was already standing by the counter, mixing the different products together in a small bowl. Noticing Yeonjun walk in, he looked up and grinned. 

“You look good in my shirt,” he teased. 

“Shut up,” he grumbled. His eyes trailed over to the bowl, unfamiliar with the whole process. “So, how does this work exactly?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” he reassured, putting the bowl down while holding the brush in his other hand. “Let’s start by bleaching your hair.”

“Shouldn’t you wear gloves?” he questioned skeptically.

“Nah, a little bleach never hurt anyone.” His hands moved towards his hair, beginning to spread the bleach across his roots. 

The sensation was definitely new – he’d never gotten anything done to his hair before. It felt weird having someone else essentially paint his hair for him. They soon shuffled over, Yeonjun sitting on the counter with Beomgyu standing in front to make it easier for the two.

Upon finishing, Yeonjun took a quick glance at the mirror above the sink. They agreed on doing most of his hair pink, leaving the tips of it his natural black. From his perspective, it looked like he had just dumped a whole lot of white onto half of his hair. 

“I look so weird..” he sulked. 

“Trust the process!” reassured the younger, mixing up some more bleach. “Do you wanna do mine? You just have to go over the bad parts.” 

Yeonjun reluctantly nodded, picking up the brush this time and taking control. “How did you start dyeing your hair?” 

Beomgyu was sitting on the counter this time, his legs swaying back and forth as Yeonjun stood on his left to reach the highlights on the side of his head. “I dunno. I just got bored one day, felt a little rebellious, and found this hair style while looking online.”

“It suits you a lot.”

“Thank you,” he whispered. “It’s nice hearing that after people constantly give me weird looks for it.”

“You sure they aren’t just checking you out?” 

Beomgyu shrieked at the idea before thinking about it a bit more. “Actually, you know what – yeah. That’s a better way to think about it.”

The two burst into a fit of muffled giggles, shared only between them. 

Beomgyu’s hair didn’t take too long, given his only dyed parts were small strands scattered across his head. 

They waited a little while, something about needing to wait for the bleach to do its “magic” as Beomgyu called it. Their waiting session consisted of lots of random topics, including what Beomgyu dreamt of last night and how Yeonjun had made an appearance in some form of a fox. It was weird, but entertaining to say the least. 

When time was up, he let Beomgyu take the lead, doing whatever needed to be done to their hair.

He watched as Beomgyu finished doing his own hair, adding some kind of product to it that he didn’t recognise. Beomgyu then turned towards him, a wide grin spread across his face as he held a bowl full of pink dye mixed into it. 

“It’s time for your transformation!” he announced. 

“You make it sound so otherworldly.”

“It’s about to be.”

Picking up some of the pink dye on the brush, he began to spread it across his bleached hair.

Beomgyu was standing in between his legs again, his tongue slightly poking out in concentration as he coated his hair in the intense pink. Although he wasn’t sure what his mother would think when he got home, it almost didn't matter anymore – he was having the time of his life. 

Time passed by like a blur. He finished colouring his hair, waited until the colour had set in, and washed it out afterwards.

Now, he was drying his hair, hands combing through his scalp. Yeonjun instinctively leaned into his touch, loving the way he’s always so gentle with him. Every touch he felt from Beomgyu always sent a rush throughout his body.

His head wandered a little as the air swam through his hair. The idea of this becoming a familiar routine to them pops up in his mind, and a smile adorns his face just at the mere thought of it. He can’t wait for the next time they have to refresh their colours. 

When they were done, he stepped closer to the mirror, staring into it entranced. He lifted a hand up to his hair, touching it for the first time.

“Do you like it?” Beomgyu grinned.

“I.. love it,” he muttered, still at a loss for words. “This is so cool.”

“Oh yeah? Looks like you’re the one girls are gonna be thirsting over now.”

“I don’t know about that.” Yeonjun chuckled in disbelief, slightly shaking his head in embarrassment. 

As their laughter died down, they came back to their senses and looked at their surroundings. It was a mess, but a worth-it one. 

Beomgyu’s eyes suddenly caught onto his sink, letting out a horrified gasp. 

It was stained with pink. Everywhere. 

“My mum is going to kill me.”

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

“This is stupid.” Yeonjun sighed, sitting beside Beomgyu on the floor of his bedroom. He’s pretty sure this room could count as a second home to him at this point.

“Please, hyung? I’m too scared and broke to go to an actual piercer and I trust you. It’ll be fine, you can’t kill me with a needle.” The boy joked as he whined and begged, obviously not letting this one down. 

“Seriously, why do you trust me so much? I’m not experienced in piercing someone in the slightest. What happens if I mess it up?” He didn’t want to ruin Beomgyu’s beauty, let alone hurt him. What if he ruined his ear? What if it came out crooked? What if his hand slipped? Surely there was another way around this.

As if reading his thoughts, Beomgyu spoke. “Come on Yeonjun, we both know you’d never hurt me. You’re always so careful and gentle, always observant. I trust you because I know I can.”

Yeonjun’s breath hitched. No matter how many times Beomgyu complimented him, he just couldn’t get used to hearing such words used to describe him, Yeonjun, of all people. It sounded ridiculous to other people, but not Beomgyu. Never Beomgyu.

“Fine. But at least tell me what to do before I accidentally poke you.”

The younger lit up, scrambling to his drawer to pull out a small set of varying-sized needles, a small lamp, and some other products Yeonjun could guess was for sanitizing. 

“Of course you have a whole collection of supplies,” he muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“To be honest, I have no recollection of when or where I got these.” He shrugged, handing Yeonjun the supplies. “Here, use this to sanitise the area.”

Yeonjun looked down, grabbing the cotton pad and bottle that seemed to contain rubbing alcohol. 

“You can’t sanitise it yourself?” he joked, albeit already pouring the rubbing alcohol onto the cotton and gently cleaning the top half of Beomgyu’s ear.

“I’m too lazy.”

“As expected,” he smirked. “You just want hyung to do everything for you, don’t you?”

“Shut up.” he grumbled. 

After making sure his ear was all clean, he pulled away. “Alright, what’s next?”

“Use the lamp on the back of my ear to check if you’ll puncture any veins.”

“If I’ll what?” His eyes widened, suddenly not wanting to do this anymore despite being persuaded to earlier. The thought of potentially hurting Beomgyu made him nauseous. 

“Yeonjun, if you check, that means you won’t,” he reminded.

“But–”

“Look, if something goes wrong, I'm not gonna blame you, okay? I’m the one with the stupid idea in the first place.”

Yeonjun sighed, shaking his head. He can’t believe he puts up with this everyday. 

Still, he moved to grab the small desk lamp and moved it behind his ear to check. Luckily, they were all in the clear. When he glanced back down at Beomgyu, he was busy disinfecting the needle and the earring he had bought earlier in the week. 

“You want the one that goes here right?” He asked to confirm, pointing at the rim of his own ear.

“A helix.” He corrected. 

“Yeah, that thing.”

Beomgyu nodded, excitement shining through his eyes. 

“So I just.. use the needle and pierce it through right?”

“Mhm! Just don’t stab me,” he joked. 

“I’ll try not to.” He sighed. He stood up, leaving to wash his hands before coming back and sitting down with a thud. 

Beomgyu handed him the needle and he grabbed it, taking a moment to pause and stare at it. Usually, needles didn’t scare him. He prided himself in being calm and collected, not being shaken up by many things. Yet, this needle seemed to be his first challenger in a long time. It stared at him menacingly, glaring at him with a dare, making a shaky sigh escape his lips.

Beomgyu sat calmly beside him, humming to himself as he waited for Yeonjun to do it.

Well, it’s now or never.

Nervously, he scooted closer and held his ear gently. He positioned the thick needle and took a deep breath. In his mind, he constantly reminded himself that Beomgyu trusted him. And he should trust himself too. 

“Alright, I’m gonna do it now. Tell me if you want me to stop, or if it hurts really bad, okay?”

“Got it.”

Just as he was about to insert the needle, Beomgyu burst into a fit of giggles.

“Stop moving!” Yeonjun chuckled in disbelief, his hand holding Beomgyu’s chin in place to keep him from squirming. 

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just– you’re taking this so seriously that I feel like I’m actually at a piercer.”

Yeonjun clenched his jaw, letting out an exhausted sigh. “You’re gonna have to go to one if you keep squirming and I mess it up.”

“Alright alright, I’ll calm down.” 

Piercing someone was definitely not something he ever expected to do in his life. As he inserted the needle, he watched as it passed through the skin. He cringed a little, feeling the way it breached through the younger’s ear. He felt him tense beside him and he frowned, trying to make this experience as fast as painless as possible. Luckily, the needle was now through, and all he needed to do now was put the jewellery in. 

After a bit of fumbling, he managed to successfully put the stud earring in and he let out a loud sigh of relief, admiring his work. 

“I think that just aged 10 years off my life,” he huffed. 

The other scrambled to the closest mirror before staring at it intensely, entranced. 

“Do you like it?” he asked, biting his lip.

His head snapped towards the older, tackling him down with a hug. “I love it so much! Thank you!”

“Woah, wait, calm down before you hurt yourself.” He propped himself up with his elbows, pushing his hair behind his ear so it wouldn’t irritate his new piercing. 

“Ah right, I forgot.” He sat back up, getting a bottle of saline spray. He then looked back at Yeonjun with the stupidest puppy eyes he’d ever seen. “Please?”

Yeonjun chuckled and rolled his eyes, gently spraying his new addition. 

“There you go.”

They laid on the floor together a bit longer, Beomgyu beside him as he stared at his ear for what felt like hours on end. 

“So..” he began.

“Hm?”

“Wanna give me another one?”

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

The door whipped open, an enthusiastic puppy-like figure emerging from behind it. 

“Hyung, I finally mastered it!” 

Yeonjun’s body froze for a second, his eyes wide open as he stared at the energetic boy in front of him. “What happened to ‘hi, hello?’” 

As usual, Yeonjun was back at Beomgyu’s house to spend another day together. It seemed Beomgyu was extra hyper today, his face lit up with excitement like a puppy who just got told they’re going for a walk. 

“Sorry, I’m just so excited you’re finally here. Hurry up and take your shoes off and come upstairs!”

The older watched as the younger one ran upstairs, his giggles following closely behind. He shook his head fondly as he took off his shoes, placing them neatly on the shoe rack before making his way upstairs. 

When he entered Beomgyu’s bedroom, it looked the same as always. Dirty laundry in the corner, sticky notes stuck onto random surfaces to remind him of his various responsibilities and that same intoxicating scent of Beomgyu. This time however, Beomgyu was sat on his bed, cross-legged with his hair tucked behind his ear and strumming a few chords to test his memory.

“Are you gonna serenade me?” Yeonjun joked, closing the door behind him.

Beomgyu stared at him wide eyed for a few moments as if he was caught off guard before shaking his head, clearing his throat. “No way. I just wanna show you this cool song I found and learned. It's called 'Canada' by Wallows.”

“Alright go on, I’ll listen.” He smiled, sitting across from him on the bed and staring at him.

His hands moved across the strings, getting in his starting position. Before he started playing, his eyes peeked up, a sulky expression painted across his face. “Stop looking at me like that..”

“Like what?”

He looked back down, feeling his cheeks burn. “Like you’re staring into my soul. It’s making me nervous.”

“Okay, okay. I won’t look,” he chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’s just hyung.”

He could hear his breath hitch slightly but took no note of it, instead opting to stare at his hands holding the guitar in hopes to lessen Beomgyu’s nerves a little.

After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and began to strum the first chord. 

Yeonjun watched, entranced as his hands moved smoothly across the guitar with precision, strumming the strings as the most beautiful sounds emerged from it.

Then, he began to sing. 

“Wake up in the morning light, only got you in mind,”

Although he told himself he wasn’t looking up at Beomgyu out of respect for wishes, he didn’t think he could manage to look up anyway. Something inside of him stuck inside of his throat, the way he could see Beomgyu’s lips moving in his peripheral vision, the way his voice was so deep yet comforting and mesmering. It sucked him in, and he wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to escape.

“Wonder if you think of me, wonder if you’d give me time”

Speaking of which, the past few weeks have been weird for Yeonjun. Those feelings that he started feeling all those months ago were slowly catching up to him, ingraining itself into his mind.

“Tell me if it’s out of line, that I’d give you all mine,” 

The mere thought of these feelings invading his mind - his heart - terrified him. Back then, he couldn’t quite put a name to what those feelings were. Even now, he wasn’t 100% sure. 

“I know we’ve only hardly met.”

Yet he knew whatever it was, he didn’t want to face it. 

“Remember every word you said.”

He didn’t want to admit how warm Beomgyu made him feel. How seen, how cared for, how loved he felt around him. 

“The way we sat in the heat, the way you wiped off my sweat,”

Maybe it’s because Beomgyu’s his first friend in a while, that’s why he feels this way.

“The way that you grazed my arm, the way you got in my head,”

Maybe that’s why his heart races whenever their knees touch when they’re watching movies together. Maybe that’s why he modified the notification sound on his phone so he knew immediately that it was Beomgyu texting him. Maybe that’s why he’s so conscious whenever they’re next to each other, always secretly trying to catch glances of him. Maybe that’s why he’s always finding excuses for them to hold hands. 

“Maybe you should come inside, maybe we could talk all night,”

Maybe that’s why he would stay up late at night, unable to sleep as he stared up at the stars they stuck on his ceiling, thinking about the very boy who helped put them up. 

“You don’t have to mince your words, anything you say is fine.” 

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, maybe his platonic love for Beomgyu began to morph into something more. 

Oh. 

“So, uh, what do you think?”

Oh.

“I think it was.. really good. Yeah, good.” he gulped, trying his best to sound normal. Heat crept up his neck and burned the tips of his ears crimson. “Do you have any other songs?”

“Oh, yeah! There’s this one I like that goes like..”

Yeonjun was so screwed.

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

“I lost it!” 

“Lost what?”

“My lyric book!”

Yeonjun peered over from his bed, only to be greeted to the sight of the room being torn to shreds by the younger. Somehow, he managed to make it even messier than it usually was.

“Are you sure you lost it?” he questioned calmly, trying to be the rational one in Beomgyu’s state of distress. “Maybe you just left it in your bag.”

“I already checked it ten times!” He buried his face in his palms, groaning in despair. 

Yeonjun frowned. He didn’t like seeing Beomgyu in such a stressed state. 

In an instant, he was beside the other, a hand resting on his shoulder with reassurance. “It’s okay, we’ll find it. When do you remember last having it?”

Beomgyu stared at him for a moment before looking off to the side in an attempt to jog his memory. “Uh.. I remember writing in it at home then I brought it to school to work on it some more and..”

Suddenly, his eyes widened. 

“I left it at school!”

Yeonjun blinked, his eyes darting off to look at the calendar hanging off of Beomgyu’s wall. It was Friday. “Looks like we’ll just have to wait until Monday then, bandage.”

“What? No! I need it now. It’s like, really urgent.”

The older’s face twisted in confusion. “Did you not hear me just now? I said we’ll have to wait – it’s Friday. There’s no way we can get it now.”

“Yes there is!” he exclaimed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

A pause.

“Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of–”

“Let’s sneak in and get it!”

A loud groan escaped Yeonjun’s mouth this time. He was definitely getting grey hair being around Beomgyu these days. “Bandage, we can’t just break into the school because you forgot something.”

“Says who?”

“The law,” he deadpanned. 

The younger rolled his eyes, already getting up with a stretch. “Who cares? We go to the school anyway so it doesn’t count.”

“That’s not how it works!”

“You’re acting like we’re going in there to break a bunch of shit,” he exaggerated. “We’re just going to pick something up and go.”

“Beomgyu,” he started, his voice low. “You know we shouldn’t do this. It’s stupid and could get us into a lot of trouble.”

He stilled a little at his tone but took a deep breath in before exhaling, grabbing Yeonjun by the shoulders. “Yeonjun. No one will catch us, I promise. It’ll just be another adventure for the two of us.”

“It’s still not reasonable..” he mumbled.

“When else in your life will you be a 17 year old sneaking back into your school on a friday night because you felt like it?” he tried to convince. “Come on, I know you want to deep down.”

Yeonjun groaned, finally giving in. “Alright, fine.”

“Woo! Now come on, let’s have some fun.” he cheered, before throwing a dark hoodie in Yeonjun’s direction. “So we don’t get recognised.” 

The two made their way back to the school, much to Yeonjun’s dismay. He was busy still grumbling about how insane this was. Beomgyu didn’t mind, acting cheery as ever to be doing something with his favourite person again. 

As they reached the school, they both made quick checks to see if anyone was looking. After confirming they were in the clear, they went up to the gate. Beomgyu hopped over it first, helping Yeonjun to do the same afterwards. 

Pushing the front doors open, they were greeted with the same sight they see five times a week. It did feel strange, both of them not used to seeing their school filled with the shades of the night. 

As planned, they walked up to Beomgyu’s classroom. The younger excitedly pulled the door open, sliding it across before making it to his desk. He rummaged through his drawer for a little while, taking out various pieces of scrap paper and other pieces of junk he seemed to have kept over the months. Finally, he pulled out a small shriveled notebook with the words ‘Beomgyu’s amazing lyrics!’ scribbled on the front.

“I found it!”

Yeonjun let out a relieved smile, at ease now that Beomgyu’s smile was back where it belonged. He walked over, petting his messy hair. “Good job, bandage. Now let’s head back before–”

“What? Don’t you wanna stay a bit longer?”

He choked. “Are you crazy?”

“I’d like to think not.”

“Beomgyu, we’re already trespassing by being here way after school hours. What if someone comes and sees us?!”

Beomgyu only stifled a laugh in response.

“What is so funny?!”

The younger didn’t respond. Instead, he walked over to the windows, pulling the blinds open. Perplexed, Yeonjun walked over to see what Beomgyu was showing him.

“Look at our town, Yeonjun. Everyone’s asleep, and so is the night guard who probably already did his rounds for the night. We’ll be okay.”

He let out a giant sigh. Even with that reasoning, there was no telling what could happen if someone did come out of chance. But before he got the chance to speak, his words got stuck in his throat, the sight of Beomgyu next to him too breathtaking for him to fight back. 

 “..Fine. But what do you want to do here anyway? We get bored enough as is during school.”

Suddenly, Beomgyu’s smile turned into a grin, one Yeonjun recognised very well by now. A grin ready to cause mischief. “I have an idea.”

Beomgyu led Yeonjun up the stairs, the older confused as to where this was going. But as they went past the third floor, Yeonjun’s eyes widened in realisation.

“Beomgyu, you’re not..”

“Taking us to the rooftop? Yeah, I am.”

At this point, he shouldn’t be surprised.

“How do you plan on doing that then?” he asked, too tired to react anymore. “You don’t have the keys, do you? Because I wouldn’t be surprised if you did and stole it off the teacher’s desk or something.”

“No, unfortunately, I’m not that skilled.”

“Then you’re going to break onto the rooftop by..?”

“Lockpicking.” he stated, taking a few paper clips out of his pocket.

“You really are insane.”

“Insane for enjoyment.” he smiled maddeningly.

Yeonjun watched in curiosity as Beomgyu bent the paper clips, twisting it into weird shapes before using two and inserted it into the lock. After he tweaked with it a bit, the sound of small clicks filling in the silence, the lock finally fell to the floor with a thud.

“No fucking way.”

“Learning how to pick a lock does wonders.” he laughed manically at Yeonjun’s reaction, pushing the door open. “Come on, let’s go sit on the roof.”

The door creaked as Beomgyu pushed it open, revealing the rooftop of the school. It was deserted, dirty from all the years of rain and no trace of anyone coming up here for the past couple of years. 

Yeonjun looked around, inspecting the new environment before he accidentally bumped into something. “Hey- what are you doing on the floor?”

Much to his dismay, Beomgyu was sprawled out on the floor, all his limbs laid out like a starfish as he looked up at him.

“I’m stargazing.”

“On the dirty floor?” he chuckled, amused.

“Yup.”

Yeonjun sighed fondly before pulling the other boy up. “Come on, at least sit up so half your body won’t get dirt on it.”

Beomgyu whined, always sulky whenever Yeonjun acted like a mother to him. “That’s no fun!”

“Will sitting on the ledge ease your troublemaker tendencies?” he suggested, his head nudging towards the ledge that surrounded the edge of the roof.

Beomgyu’s eyes sparkled as he nodded. Always so easy to please. “You’re onto something, hyung.”

The two swung their legs over the ledge, careful not to slip. The wind was still today luckily, making the scene much less scary.

“You really can see everything from up here.” Since their school was up a small hill, it provided them with the most stunning view of their small hometown. Although it was nothing like the view of a city, it felt like they were on top of the world with such a view laid out in front of them.

“Hey look, you can see our houses from here!” he shouted excitedly, pointing at the small dots in the distance. “And the convenience store!”

Yeonjun smiled, unable to hold back his fondness. Despite a part of him still feeling a little worried about getting caught, it all seemed to fade away at this moment. 

“Bandage, look up.” He nudged his shoulder.

“Huh?” The boy looked at him confused, still high on excitement as his head turned towards the sky. 

“The stars.”

The sky was littered with tiny dots of glowing, bright lights. So many, it almost didn’t feel real.

“Woah, they’re everywhere!” Beomgyu shrieked, pointing up at one of the shining lights that stood out in the dark sky. 

Since their town was relatively small, this meant that they didn’t have many lights to pollute the night sky. Thanks to that, this meant that the stars were free to shine as much as they wanted. And tonight, it seemed like they wanted to put on a show. 

“It’s really pretty up here.” Beomgyu muttered, voice barely above a whisper. 

“Yeah.”

Unbeknownst to Yeonjun, he was the only thing Beomgyu’s eyes were trained on. 

Silence enveloped the two of them for a little while, unspoken words hanging in the air. Yeonjun felt like he was getting closer to decoding his part fully now. 

“Do you ever think about the future?”

“The future?”

“Yeah. The future. Whenever I think about it, I feel really nervous. The universe out there is so big and vast, and unpredictable too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right things, or if I’m messing everything up without even knowing.”

Beomgyu scooted closer, a warm smile as his hand overlapped Yeonjun’s. A comforting gesture. 

“It’s okay. You can't predict the future, so I get why it’s nerve wracking to you. But there’s no point in living in something that hasn’t even happened yet. Just live your life now — live in the present. Enjoy yourself now, and worry about the obstacles when the time comes. And you won’t have to worry about being alone either, because I’ll always be by your side.”

Yeonjun smiled in return, his eyes crinkling up. Somehow, he always knew what to say to soothe his worries. “Thank you, Beomgyu. I’ll always be by yours too.”

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

A loud yawn escaped Beomgyu’s mouth as he leaned back in his chair, taking a sip from the banana milk he got from the vending machine in the cafeteria. Today was quieter than usual, people finally settling back into school after returning from summer break. Yeonjun sat across the boy, finishing off notes from class he didn’t quite get the chance to polish. 

It became a routine for Beomgyu to visit Yeonjun’s classroom whenever he could. Break, lunch time, when he wasn’t supposed to – whenever he found a chance, he was there. After all, it’s not like they were in the same class, so it felt nice being able to see Beomgyu during school hours nonetheless. 

The light spilled through the windows, painting his notes in a gentle glow.  

“Isn’t your birthday coming up soon?”

Yeonjun looked up, scrunching his eyebrows in thought. “Yeah, in 2 days.”

A couple of markers spilled onto the floor, clattering, as Beomgyu shot up with wide eyes. “2 days?!”

“Yeah?”

He watched as the boy choked a little on his drink, picking up the markers he caused to fall. “Sorry, I just- how is it in 2 days? And you’re so calm about it too. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s.. Just a birthday?” he replied, confused as to what all the fuss was about.

“No, it isn’t. It’s your birthday. We need to celebrate!”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “No. There’s no point in celebrating something as trivial as my birthday.”

Before he could go back to focusing on his notes, his pen was snatched from his hands. “Hey!”

“We are going to celebrate your birthday. No buts.”

He slammed his head onto the desk in defeat, groaning. “What are we even going to do? Sit in my kitchen and sing happy birthday a thousand times?”

The only response he received was laughter – the same one he loves hearing. “No, silly. I have something in mind to make sure it’ll be the best birthday ever.”

“Not breaking another law I hope?”

That got him a playful smack, to which he giggled at.

Yeonjun wasn’t one to usually celebrate his birthdays as he saw no point, but maybe this one would be different.

With Beomgyu, he had no doubt in that.

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

“Choose a cake, hyung! My treat.” 

Yeonjun stared at the options in front of him, although there weren’t many. They were standing in one of the few convenience stores in their town, and it just so happens they were selling cake. He glanced over to Beomgyu who was standing next to him, to which he chuckled nervously.

“Sorry, I would’ve brought us to an actual cake shop but I spent all my allowance on your gift.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” he replied softly, appreciating the gesture nonetheless. 

He stared a little longer at the options before pointing at a vanilla cake with a cute design, recalling the time Beomgyu talked about how much he loved this flavour despite its simplicity. 

“I see you have taste,” he giggled, picking it up cheerily. “Okay, now since I know you love ramen so much, I thought it would be nice if we ate some together!”

Yeonjun frowned, a little uncertain. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna waste your money, I’m fine with just the cake..”

“You worry too much! It’s your birthday, and I want to spoil you,” he insisted. He then remembered how many coins he had in his pocket, chuckling nervously. “Well, as much as I can.”

He lightly shook his head, always fond of the younger and his determination to make him feel as loved as possible. “I appreciate it.”

They moved towards the ramen section and picked up Yeonjun’s favourite ramen. After paying at the counter, they sat down by the tables provided and began to eat.

As simple and mundane as it may have seemed to others walking past them, it meant everything to Yeonjun. His heart felt warm and fuzzy – something he always felt doing anything with Beomgyu no matter how extreme or simple it was. 

Before he could get too sappy over something as simple as eating his favourite ramen with his favourite person, Beomgyu suddenly stood up and began to pack the cake in his bag.

“Huh? Are we not gonna eat the cake here?” he asked, confused by the sudden action.

“What? Of course not. I only brought you here to buy it and eat ramen,” His head tilted to the side, expression hurt at the thought of celebrating in a convenience store the entire time. “Come on, we’re gonna go celebrate your birthday for real.”

The two made their way out of the convenience store, Yeonjun following behind Beomgyu. Their hands were intertwined, Beomgyu dragging him some place he doesn’t exactly seem to recognise. 

“Are you kidnapping me?”

“Maybe,” he joked. “I’m kidnapping you to the best place ever.”

He couldn’t help but feel skeptical the more they walked, hiking one of the many hills their town was surrounded by. Although he lived here his entire life, he never tried climbing one of the hills as he saw no interest in doing so. But the more they walked – the more scenery revealed to him – the more he was beginning to scold his past self for being so narrow minded. 

As they made their way to the top, Beomgyu pushed open a small gate and led him inside.

It was an endless sea of grass laid out in front of them, soft crunches as they walked further through it. Yeonjun couldn’t help but stare at his surroundings in pure awe, having never seen such a sight before. It was similar to what they saw on the rooftop, except this time, from an outsider’s view. The air smelt crisper now, earthy from the nature that surrounded them. His hand squeezed Beomgyu’s, trying his best to hold back his excitement and wonder. 

Without warning, the hand intertwined with his disappeared. His head snapped back from the view, confused about where it went. 

His eyes immediately softened as he realised Beomgyu had run off, running through the crisp field. 

“Hey, you can’t just run off without saying anything first!”

“Come catch me then!” he yelled, eyes twinkling with excitement. 

He shook his head fondly, taking off his bag and throwing it somewhere before chasing after the boy. 

The summer heat clung onto them as they ran, chasing each other through the tall grass. Beomgyu teased him a couple times, standing still as he watched Yeonjun lunge at him, only to dart out of reach at the last second and scurrying off. He shouted in frustration, getting back on his feet twice as fast with a newfound determination each time. 

Beomgyu laughed like a maniac, his hair becoming messy and tangled as the wind ran through it. “You’re never gonna catch me, hyung!”

“Oh yeah? Watch me!”

He picked up some speed, never having felt so alive before. Thanks to his long legs, he managed to catch up to the boy once more and tackled him, arms wrapping around his waist as he brought him down with him.

They tumbled onto the grass, rolling a couple times to the side to soften the blow. Yeonjun propped himself back up, shaking his head to get all the blades of grass out of his hair before he made eye contact with Beomgyu. His limbs were all sprawled out, practically drowning in the grass. They stared at each other for a couple of moments, silent, before they erupted into a roar of laughter and disbelief. 

“That was so fun!” Beomgyu exclaimed, sitting up immediately.

“It was,” he agreed. Noticing a couple blades of grass in Beomgyu’s hair, he brought his hand up to pick them out. “I haven’t run like that in a while.” 

“Your legs give you such an unfair advantage.”

“You act like you’re not tall yourself,” he chuckled, still trying to catch his breath. 

“It’s different!” he insisted. 

Finally calming down, they settled in the middle of the field with Yeonjun laying his head in Beomgyu’s lap. 

His head was propped up by his thigh, feeling his warmth seeping through the fabric from all their running. It was so peaceful – birds chirping in the distance as the wind soothed their flushed bodies. A hand threaded itself through his hair, absentmindedly combing through it gently as his gaze focused on the boy doing it. 

He watched as Beomgyu hummed, looking around them before he picked up a daisy. “Hey, wanna learn how to make a flower crown?”

“Sure,” he nodded, turning his head to pick up a flower beside his face. 

“Here. Take two of them and twist them together like this..” he explained, demonstrating with skilled hands.

“You sure do know how to do a lot of things, don’t you?” Yeonjun commented, impressed. 

“Well, you gotta keep yourself entertained one way or another.”

An hour passed by swiftly, both of them buried in the making of their crowns. It took Yeonjun a couple of tries before he was finally able to make one that didn’t tear apart midway like all of his previous attempts. A sense of achievement bloomed in his chest – proud of the outcome.

As he was finishing his first flower crown, Beomgyu spoke. 

“Do you ever wish there was more to do in this town?” He muttered, hands fiddling with his third flower crown, this time made of a type of flower Yeonjun couldn’t  quite seem to remember the name of. “Like, there’s only so much we can do; so much we can see. Everyday feels like they’re starting to blend into each other sometimes.”

It was silent for a little while, Yeonjun not expecting such a mindset from the same boy who showed him how to live. He bit his lips, trying to think of a way to form his thoughts into a response. Eventually, he spoke. 

“I get what you mean. It can be quite boring here, but.. I think I like it that way,” he began. “Sure there’s not much to see, and there’s not many things we can entertain ourselves with but I don’t think I’d ever trade it for anything else. I like living in a small town. It’s quiet, peaceful, and most importantly, it has you.”

Beomgyu’s head tilted down to his lap, staring up at Yeonjun with eyes that made him crumble. He scrambled to sit up, face directly in front of him. 

“I meant, I have you,” he corrected. “I like being here with you. Having you by my side.”

Beomgyu sat up, eyes still locked onto his as their faces were mere inches away. He gulped, breathing heavily as he tried to ignore his racing heart. He silently prayed he didn’t just mess something up between them, begging Beomgyu didn’t think too deeply about the implications behind his words.

After what felt like eternity, he responded. 

“I like having you by my side too. You’re the only good thing in this town,” he whispered, eyes crinkled like crescent moons as he smiled at him. “I get frustrated with how little opportunities there are in this town, and although we’ve done so much together, I feel like there’s so much more out there for us to do. But even then, I’m content staying here with you, making silly flower crowns, teaching you how to skateboard, staying up late together in my room and doing the most stupid shit no one else would do with me. You’re the only person willing to put up with me and I cherish you a lot.”

Yeonjun swallowed, feeling something bloom deep within him. 

“Oh, right. Before I forget..”

Beomgyu scrambled up, stumbling over his own feet as he ran off to the distance. He soon returned, running back with his bag and plopped back down.

Pulling the zip on his bag, he took out the cake they had bought earlier and the free candles provided with it. Placing it on top of the cake, he clumsily lit it with a lighter and held it up to Yeonjun.

He began to sing to him, voice smooth and deep. As simple as the song was, he couldn’t help but feel mesmerised by him – something he always felt around him. 

“Happy birthday, hyung,” he finished, the candle’s orange light reflecting off of his face. 

He took a shuddering inhale, overwhelmed with emotions as he tried to keep it all down. He leaned a little closer, blowing the candle out with a single breath. 

Beomgyu cheered, letting out tiny ‘woos’ as he clapped after putting the cake down. “Did you make a wish?”

“Maybe,” he smiled. “And before you ask, no, I’m not telling you.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask!” he defended, although they both knew he was guilty.

In between their quiet laughs and banter, they took out some plastic utensils Beomgyu brought from home and began to share the cake together. The sun was beginning to set, coating them in shades of yellow, orange and pink. 

He let out a calm sigh, sure of his wish.

“One more thing,” he whispered, scavenging through his bag again. This time, he pulled out a rectangle-shaped gift, covered in gift wrapping.

Yeonjun looked up, a little taken aback at the sudden gift. Beomgyu gestured it towards him and he took it, holding it as if it were the most valuable thing he had ever received. 

He was a little nervous, looking up at Beomgyu asking if he should open it now. At his nod of confirmation, he picked a corner and tore off the wrapping.

The more the gift was revealed, the more his eyes widened. Upon unravelling the gift, he was greeted with an expensive sketchbook and set of art supplies. He didn’t even realise it, but his hands shook, trying to grasp what he had just seen.

His eyes shot up towards Beomgyu who only smiled back in return, his face so bright it could rival the sun.

Unable to hold back his emotions, he tackled Beomgyu down with a hug, letting out a muffled cry. His heart throbbed, struggling to comprehend how overwhelmed he felt.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Beomgyu. This means the world to me.” He choked out, his voice wavering from his lips quivering.

“Don’t cry hyung, it hurts me seeing you cry.” Beomgyu chuckled fondly, cupping his face and wiping his tears away. “I’m glad you like it though. I spent so long saving up for it.”

Another tiny sob escaped his lips. “I’ll cherish it forever.”

A hand came to his head, petting it tenderly. “That’s all I could ever ask for.”

Beomgyu’s gaze trailed off, noticing one last flower left unplucked beside him. His eyes lit up, elated as he picked it up and threaded it into Yeonjun’s hair. The lilac stood out between his black and pink hair, radiant under the Sun’s care. 

“Happy birthday, Yeonjun-hyung.”

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

Beomgyu rummaged through his drawers, searching for a fun activity to do to serve as a distraction for Yeonjun and his night terrors once again. Although the stars that they put up in his room definitely helped, this night was particularly hard for him. That’s how the older ended up in Beomgyu’s bedroom once more. Yeonjun remained seated on his bed, staring at the younger. He looked like a puppy rummaging through its toy box looking for something to play with its owner. It made his heart swell just a little larger knowing how much effort the boy was putting into taking care of him.

Just then, Beomgyu shot up with that same maddening grin he could never get enough of. “I found my glow in the dark markers!”

“Glow in the dark markers?” Yeonjun repeated, a little puzzled. He paused for a moment, blinking. “That’s a thing?”

“Yeah,” Beomgyu replied. “I bought them once for halloween but haven’t used them since. Wanna try?” He was already dragging Yeonjun down onto the floor with him, making the older sit cross-legged opposite him.

Somehow, Beomgyu always knew how to drag him back into his passion for art. He didn’t know how to handle the overwhelming feeling of gratitude in his heart. “Okay. Where’s your paper?” Yeonjun asked, his head already spinning around trying to find a material to draw on. 

Just then, he felt the familiar feeling of a marker nib kissing his nose. “Hey- what was that for?”

“We don’t need paper, silly,” Beomgyu giggled, his chest vibrating with laughter. “Let’s just draw on each other’s faces. It won’t stain, don’t worry,” he reassured, knowing Yeonjun was one to constantly overthink doing anything that wasn’t for its intended purpose. 

Yeonjun sighed, knowing he could never reject the sparkly doe-eyed boy. “Fine, hand me a marker.” He rolled his eyes playfully, pretending to act annoyed. Despite the action, both of them knew there was no malice or annoyance behind it — just fondness. 

Beomgyu handed him a marker and that’s how they ended up seated parallel to each other, soft giggles and gentle touches hidden in the comfort of Beomgyu’s room, away from any prying eyes. 

With Beomgyu, Yeonjun had never felt so free. 

With Yeonjun being first, Beomgyu took the role of the artist and began to doodle on his face. It felt strange. It was so silent, the only sounds audible being the crickets from outside, their soft breathing, and Yeonjun’s pretty sure his heartbeat was loud enough for both of them to hear too. 

At first, he had kept his gaze down, then to the side, opting for anywhere that wasn’t where the boy sat across from him. Despite spending so much time with Beomgyu over the past few months, he still hasn’t gotten used to the proximity and physical touch after being starved and avoiding it for so long. But Beomgyu’s touch felt safe. Familiar. For the first time in his life, he didn’t feel forced to give into receiving physical affection. Instead, he felt welcomed from a distance, letting him choose if he wanted to give in to the warm embrace. And he did.

So, after trying to calm his racing heart that screamed for attention, he glanced back up at Beomgyu. And oh, was his heart silenced. 

Beomgyu was so close. Too close. He could feel his breath on his lips, could see all the tiny strokes of different shades of brown in his eyes. He wanted to memorise each and every one of them. All of the texture on his skin was so visible, to the point where Yeonjun could see scars of old wounds on his face, most likely from his skating tendencies. His eyelashes were so long, fluttering whenever he blinked, perfectly replicating Yeonjun’s heart. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, biting his soft lips slightly in concentration with a slight indent of his dimple to accompany it. 

The moonlight shone through his window, painting the side of their faces with its light. The coat of moonlight draped over his face did nothing to console Yeonjun’s pounding heart however, his eyes widening slightly seeing just how ethereal he looked. How could one look straight out of a painting? Was he even real? Surely he wasn’t, because this moment, this boy looked like a dream that was too good to be true. Everything was illuminated in such a soft and gentle glow, it made him scared to breathe too hard in case this would all slip through his grasp. 

Yeonjun wished it would shine a little more on Beomgyu though, because that’s all Beomgyu does. Shine brightly. 

Suddenly, that precious pair of brown eyes locked onto him. His breath hitched.

“Is something wrong?” he asked softly, eyebrows slightly upturned in worry.

“No, not at all!” he panicked, eyes slightly widened. He needed to calm down. “Sorry, continue.”

The younger hummed as he went back to drawing, the ink of the pen gliding softly against his face. He couldn’t tell what the other was drawing, but it’s not like he was able to pay attention anyway. 

When the other was finished, he pulled away, chest puffed up proudly. He then handed the marker over to Yeonjun, pushing his face forward for him to draw on it. “Your turn!”

As much as Yeonjun tried to focus on drawing, he just couldn’t. He was so distracted, eyes unable to tear away from Beomgyu’s facial features, most prominently his lips. A part inside of him screamed, heart racing as he fluttered his eyes shut to calm himself down for a second before he lost all sanity he had left.

When he opened his eyes again however, gaze shifting from his lips up to his eyes, he realised Beomgyu was staring at him with that same damn look that made his stomach flip. That look that entranced him, draining every last ounce of sanity he tried to hold on to. 

That’s when he lost it.

He dropped the pen and cupped Beomgyu’s cheek gently, pressing his lips against his. Tiny fireworks exploded inside of his heart, knowing how desperately he had longed for this moment. Everything inside of him untangled, the need to release everything he’s been feeling up until now overwhelming him. Although he had never kissed anyone before, he poured everything he had into it, trying his best to convey just how much Beomgyu meant to him.

After hearing Beomgyu’s tiny gasp at first, a part of him scolded himself that he misread the situation. But the moment he felt Beomgyu’s hand wrap around the back of his nape, pulling him closer, he melted into his touch and let himself savour the moment. 

They pulled away soon after, Yeonjun trying to catch his breath. The realisation of what he had just done hit him like a ton of bricks and his cheeks instantly reddened, squeezing his eyes shut in embarrassment. What was he thinking?

Beomgyu’s hand returned to his face, cupping his cheek this time and caressing it. “Yeonjun, open your eyes.”

He hesitantly followed, peeking up at him. “Did I mess it up?”

“What?” Beomgyu stared at him with a bedwildered expression. “What are you talking about?”

“I kissed you!” he exclaimed as if he just broke the law. “I- I kissed you and, I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold it back and I’m scared I just ruined our friendship but I didn’t mean to I–”

His rambling was soon cut off when he felt Beomgyu’s lips back on his, drowning his words and thoughts with the simple action. He had never dreamed about Beomgyu kissing him, but here he was, pulling him in and kissing him deeply. Kissing Beomgyu felt so right – so homely, and this time, free of any guilt or doubtful thoughts. 

This time, he was sure of himself.

“Yeonjun, you could never ruin anything between us,” he whispered, only for him to hear. “I’m actually glad you kissed me, because I was too nervous to myself.”

“You.. what?”

He rolled his eyes playfully, picking up the marker once more and scribbling something onto his face. 

As he tried his best to focus on what Beomgyu was writing, his heart flipped as he began to decipher the letters that he felt being written across his cheek.

I love you. 

“I’m so deeply in love with you it’s stupid,” he muttered. 

Yeonjun sat there dumbstruck, to which Beomgyu giggled. 

After a few seconds of silence, he could only let out one hushed word. “Really?”

“Yes really, idiot.” He lightly pinched his blushing cheek. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice sooner. I thought I was being pretty obvious..”

His head tilted to the side, trying to think. Now that he thinks about it, maybe there were times where Beomgyu was being obvious, but he was too busy worrying about his own feelings to worry about the giant hint in front of him.

Perhaps he wasn’t the smartest in every aspect. 

“I guess I didn’t notice,” he chuckled quietly. “I was too busy wondering if I was meant to be liking you or not.”

“What do you mean?” Beomgyu asked.

“Like.. I was so conflicted with my feelings. You were my first love and I was so confused why I felt the way I did. At first I thought it was just because you were being a really good friend to me but over time I began to realise it was something way beyond platonic feelings.”

Beomgyu listened intently, placing a hand over his. 

Yeonjun paused, gaining courage before he spoke. “But I think now.. I can confidently say it.” He took a shaky breath in. “I love you too, Beomgyu. More than you could ever know.”

Unexpectedly, he tumbled onto the floor, Beomgyu’s happiness infectious as ever as he squeezed him affectionately. The boy was squealing, euphoric about finally hearing his feelings being reciprocated. Yeonjun smiled, hugging his head to his chest. 

It felt unreal, realising his wish from his birthday had come true.

I wish to not hold myself back and pursue true happiness like this forever.

And now, it was certain.

Because Beomgyu was his happiness. And the happiness he would bring would last him until eternity.

── ⋆⋅☀︎⋅⋆ ──

The sun streamed in through the curtains, light rays ghosting over his eyelids. 

His head turned to the side and he rubbed his eyes, trying his best to clear his vision. 

When he blinked again, he was greeted with the sight of Beomgyu smiling at him. “Good morning, hyung.”

“Were you watching me sleep?” he asked, raising an eyebrow teasingly. 

“Maybe,” he chuckled.

“That’s creepy.”

Beomgyu whined, defending himself. “How could I not? Waking up next to you is the best thing I could ever ask for.”

Yeonjun let out a quiet sigh, feeling warm and fuzzy as he stared at the boy laying next to him. His hair was messy from sleep, oversized shirt crumpled as it hung off his body. Most importantly, his face was the prettiest he’s ever seen – fresh from waking up and only for him to see. It felt like he won in life.

Without warning, Beomgyu began peppering kisses all over his face. “Hey!”

He laughed breathlessly, trying his best to push Beomgyu off as he held him in place to shower him in kisses. “Bandage, it tickles!”

No matter how hard he tried, Beomgyu didn’t back down until he was satisfied he had kissed every inch of his face and neck. When he was finished, Yeonjun was left panting on the bed, face beet-red in embarrassment as Beomgyu laughed. He pulled the covers off and got up, holding a hand out for Yeonjun. 

“Come on, let’s go eat breakfast.”

As he took his hand, Beomgyu jerked him up, positioning his mouth right besides his ear. 

“Now that we’re dating, I can finally sing you the song I wrote in my lyric book,” he whispered before scurrying off excitedly.

If anyone pointed out his burning red ears, he’d accuse them of making things up.