Banana Pancakes

La Dolce Pose (Part 1)

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Part 1

La Dolce Pose

"I saw you on this month's cover of Pose, my sister brought it home last night. You looked like an albino with that big coat you were wearing and your freaky eyes. Is that why you disappeared before the break?" Adjusting his tie and popping the crisp white-collar of his school shirt, Kongpob Suthiluck nudged my shoulders as the two of us continued our walk down the street. 

Assuming that I wasn't paying attention to him, he leaned in closer to me. Almost immediately, the strong aroma of his aftershave reached my nostrils and almost knocked me out cold. He really should switch that perfume. As if that wasn't enough, Kongpob flashed an annoying grin at me, showing off those perfect pearls in his mouth. He was such a fickle hygiene freak with an overwhelmingly stubborn personality at times.

"Hey, who are you trying to scare? It's too early for that." Reaching up to remove his face out of my sight, I managed a small yawn. Before I could cover my mouth, a sigh escaped from my mouth accompanied with a twinge of nostalgia. Idly, I dragged the loosening strap of my book bag higher up on my shoulder. Squinting at the bright morning sun, I only realized how much I had been dreading this day for the last two weeks. 

School sucks.

"Twelve years and you still haven't changed," Kongpob mumbled beside me, obviously butt-hurt that I had removed his face away from me. "Morning, Mr. grumpy Scrooge."

"Twelve years and you still don't know when not to bug me," I retorted with a scoff.

"Whatever." He shrugged, brushing it off – like always.

Here we go, again. 

If there's one thing predictable about the personality walking beside me, it's the fact that Kongpob uses the word "whatever" more than the average Valley girl. Sans the accent, excessive makeup, polished manicure, and fake hair, Kongpob sports the word like he branded it. It was a typical Kongpob-answer to whenever an impending oral brawl would start between the two of us. He liked the fact that he could it do nonchalantly owning the fact that he knew me. And because Kongpob is who he is and I am who I am, I would fight teeth and nail to refute that fact. However, that was one fact that I couldn't sarcasm my way out of. 

It is true, however unfortunate and favorable the fact is, Kongpob Suthiluck and I have, indeed, known each other for twelve years and counting. Ever since we were six, ever since he moved in down the street, we've been best friends. And although we've changed, a lot, since we were six-year-olds, somehow the weirdo and I have managed to stay friends.

But, some things did change.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I looked over to see Kongpob extracting a cigarette from somewhere inside the pockets of his khaki pants. "We're almost nearing school." 

Kongpob continued to ignore me like I was air as he placed the cigarette into his mouth. "Cravings. I can't kick it." Magically, Kongpob also withdrew a lighter too.

"I'll kick it for you." I said warningly, but before I could reach for the cigarette Kongpob angled his body away from me and raised his hand up high. If we were six again, I could've easily reached up and smacked him on the head, but now he was a head taller than me.

I watched helplessly as Kongpob lit the cigarette and inhaled. The butt lit bright red, burning red and black; the crisp smolder rose and mixed into the air. I stared at him with disgust, but continued walking again. "If only those people who book you for those modeling jobs could see how you look when you make that ugly face." Kongpob exhaled as he turned his head, mimicking my disgusted expression.

Knowing that Kongpob was a lost case when it came to this disgusting habit of his, and no matter how much I had told him to stop smoking ever since seventh grade, I snorted, "At least I have a job."

"Whatever," Kongpob infamously remarked. "...Look, we're gonna be late again."

I didn't need him to tell me so; we were always late. But, I followed his gaze and looked up anyways. Bangkok Academy, the private high school that Kongpob and I were currently enrolled at was just barely visible. Groups of students were already climbing up and heading towards the main school gate. Loud morning chatter of welcome-backs, how-was-your-winter-break, and did-you-finish-the-vacation-homework surrounded us. Cars honked as they drove pass, impatiently nudging Kongpob and I out of their way. Students who were behind us started to run – squealing that they were going to be late on their first day back.

As if on cue, Kongpob and I slowed our pace instead.

The climb uphill to Bangkok Academy took us another ten minutes because Kongpob insisted finishing his cigarette and I dreaded going back to school after such a nice winter break where I mostly did nothing but sleep and eat. It had been a mostly work-free miracle, but leisure really does give birth to laziness and procrastination.

"What are you planning to do first period?" I asked Kongpob, knowing his answer before he even replied.

"Sleep some more," he repeated the echoes in my mind. Kongpob inhaled another drag of the cigarette and looked like he really could care less about school.

When we started making our way up the slope of the hill, we joined the stride of students who were headed towards the school gate too.

"Look, look! It's Kongpob Suthiluck and Arthit Rojnapat!"
"OMG Kongpob is sooo hot!"
"Gosh, look at Arthit's eyes!"

I looked over to Kongpob who rolled his eyes, eating up the rest of his cigarette. Usually, the both of us ignored the constant whispers we would hear with ease, but sometimes it was just too much. Personally, it was too early in the morning to be gawked at. So I lingered back as I let the group of whispering girls walk by; as they passed, they kept darting looks at Kongpob and giggling like lost hyenas.

"We've been here for four years and they still act like that," Kongpob muttered in annoyance, looking through the newly formed smoke he had just created with his cigarette. Squinting at them as if he was trying to differentiate which one was which, Kongpob added, "It's not like they just found out that cameras follow you and I'm hecka hot."

"Oh, shut up. You love it," I told him, reading his mind.

"Hahahaha!" Kongpob shook his head, taking another hit from his cigarette. He winked at one of the girls in the group, causing her to squeal in delight. She tripped on her shoes and fell backwards into her group of girlfriends.

"WAH!"
"OMG!"
"DID KONGPOB SEE THAT?!"

I bit my lower lip, refusing to let the laughter escape from my lips. Kongpob, however, was choking on his own smoke. Some things never change – they just get more ridiculous. I shook my head, letting out another amused sigh.

We lingered for a while more, even after the first bell had rung. Then, when Kongpob and I decided that we could no longer stall, we finally headed toward the school gate.

"Can't wait to fail another class," Kongpob grumbled under his breath.

"Then stay awake and do your work," I replied in retort.

"Sleeping and not doing my work is vital to my charm." Kongpob raised an eyebrow and said mockingly, "Don't you know? Model Arthit Rojnapat? Oooh, I'm so handsome! Look at me! Take a picture!"

"Hey!" I reached up and punched him as hard as I could on his arm. "Punk. Stop making fun of me or I'll punch you in the face next time."

Not expecting it, Kongpob lost his balance just when we were outside of the school gate. The cigarette he had carelessly tucked in-between his fingers flew out of his "grip" and landed squarely on a student behind the two of us.

"Shit!" 

Kongpob and I turned sharply to see who had cursed.

...

0_0

He was one of the best-looking guy's I had ever seen. Like a sudden memory rage, I found myself comparing him to every single boy I had ever found attractive in my entire 18-year-lifespan. Every image of every boy or man I had ever seen in my entire life left me concluding, right-then-and-there, that no boy could ever be in his league – lookwise.

His eyes landed on mine, pulling me into a stare. It was almost insatiable. There had been that instant something lashing out from those deep, liquid brown eyes of his onto mine. We both froze – kind of swimming in the pool that two pairs of eyes, when locked together, swim in. For some reason this chill came over me when I felt this boy turning the pages of my life, engraved deep inside my soul from my eyes, at his pleasure. There is no other way to put it into words, but to say to that he intimidated me.

At the time I had no idea who he was, what year he was in, why he happened to be standing behind Kongpob and I, and what he was doing at Bangkok Academy. All I wanted to do was to keep looking into those eyes and allow them to tell me what they've seen, what they've been through; have them tell me that they wanted to look at me forever and ever and ever.

But honestly, infatuation can only get you so far.

Yet, I caught myself checking out the creature staring back at me with a fixated stare screaming out the definition of handsome. With his hair slightly too long for his defined bone structure, his features only enhanced them. From his eyes down to his nose and to his lips, he was definitely a sight to look at – like a painting that someone had poured their soul into. His face gave a sense of something sweet, something refreshed.

Feelings.

"Hey!" Kongpob's voice interrupted my daze, expelling everything I felt in that moment; it was like someone waving away my perfectly formed thought bubble. That was my best friend for you – he really knew how to kill a moment. "Who are you?"

The boy turned to Kongpob, acknowledging him for the first time. For a split second he just stared, but then retorted in the same intonation, "Who are you?"

I raised an eyebrow; the boy obviously didn't know who Kongpob was at Bangkok Academy.

"You're new?" Kongpob caught on, stepping up to him. The boy was just as tall as Kongpob was, around six-feet. Standing at only five-seven, I felt like a midget next to the two of them.

The boy looked from Kongpob and then back to me, as if expecting me to say something. I just blinked a couple of times as a smirk appeared on my face. Kongpob wasn't going to do anything to him – he didn't have to worry. Kongpob wasn't the type to pick fights easily; he just liked to mess with newbies.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another lone figure approaching us from a long ways with a meter stick in his hand.

"I'm going to be writing lines until the end of the week if I don't get to class, Kongpob." I muttered hastily to Kongpob and turned toward the school gate. "Better get rid of the cigarette on the ground Kongpob. I see Mr. Hoon coming." Without waiting for Kongpob or the other boy to say anything, I hurried away and entered school grounds.

As I continued walking, I didn't have to turn back to know that the new boy was still watching me – trying to figure out where he might've seen me before. Surely not many people had gray eyes of such intense shade like mine.

I wondered, did he know that he had just met the new-and-upcoming-supermodel of Thailand; the one-and-only eighteen-year-old with the distinctive gray eyes, in his last year at Bangkok Academy, Arthit Rojnapat?

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Author's note: Welcome to my new story! This is a rewritten version of an old fanfiction by Solangel. The main characters have been changed to fit BL and Sotus story, as well as some of the storyline will change along the way, but the story credits go to the original author.

Please note that I will be using many characters from old Kpop groups, such as names from DBSK and Big Bang since I used to be a big fan of them and would like to incorporate them in this story. Also, since they are real people, it might be easier for you to visualize them and drool over many pictures available online *chuckles*

So...buckle up and enjoy the bittersweet ride of Banana Pancakes!