YELLOW | yj x bg

☀︎ eight.

Yeonjun was just stepping out of school while the sun was planning its descent, with sweat glistening on his face, a drenched shirt, and a water bottle clutched close to his chest. Being part of the after-school volleyball club comes with its ups and downs.

The 'up' part being that this extracurricular will look good on his student portfolio to get accepted into university, and the 'down' part being that it's reminding him how he doesn't have time left to himself anymore, to do all the things he liked.

He sees a familiar figure standing in the distance, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Once he approaches it and makes out who it is, he almost facepalms himself. "Beomgyu!" He yelled while running towards him, "What are you doing here? School was over a long time ago."

When Beomgyu was in earshot, shrugged and said, "I was waiting for you." The younger stood pretty contentedly near the oak tree, a plastic tray in his hands that he urged towards Yeonjun.

Yeonjun looked down and almost squealed, on the tray were all his favorite snacks from the grocery store. Triangle gimbap, lemonade, roasted beef sandwich, steaming ramen. Just the perfect meal he needed after 2 hours of playing a sport that he didn't even like.

"What- how long have you been-?" Yeonjun speaks but takes heed of how tired Beomgyu must be feeling and gestures for him to sit on a nearby bench. Once they're comfortably sat down, Yeonjun goes on a tangent about how Beomgyu always does these things that he doesn't expect but make him tear up, whilst Beomgyu only replied in smiles and chuckles.

"You didn't need to do all of this," Yeonjun sighs. "You did it last time for the studying session as well and I felt guilty."

"What's there to feel guilty about when your precious Beomblebee is doing this out of the kindness of his heart?"

Yeonjun bit into the roast beef sandwich and marveled at how the flavors exploded in his mouth. He's always refrained from eating bakery items because of how many calories they contain. But today is an exception.

"The scary thing about kindness is that someday it will run out," Yeonjun said in a somewhat serious tone. "From you, from the world, and soon all of humanity will turn into peace-abhorring monsters."

Beomgyu laughs. "What end-of-the-world thriller novel are you reading lately?"

"None. This time, I'm just sharing my opinion."

He glanced up at Beomgyu and noticed that he didn't take a single bite out of any of the foods, and just stared off into the distance with a satisfactory smile on his lips. "Why aren't you eating? You're the one who bought me all the snacks."

Beomgyu smiles at him. "I have enough to eat at home. Enjoy this all to yourself."

Yeonjun contemplates on the fact that even though he's known Beomgyu for 3 years, he's still not an expert at knowing when he's lying versus when he's not. It's quite a disappointment. He places his sandwich down, "Fine, if you're not eating, I'll do the same."

Beomgyu finally comes back to his senses and stares at Yeonjun with a look of disbelief. "Yah! Are you going to let all my money, time and energy go to waste like that?"

"I'm not wasting it, I'm letting you take it home. You're the one who paid for it, after all."

Beomgyu continuously stares at him with discontent. He crosses his arms over his chest, "Wow, this is how you pay me back for making the long distance between my home and school, huh?"

"You barely live 10 minutes away by walking!" Yeonjun said exhaustingly, but can't help a laugh escaping from his mouth because of how cute Beomgyu looks.

Beomgyu chuckles, then regains his sentiment. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask how your volleyball practice went." He changed the subject quickly.

"It was good. Although it's a selfish goal of mine to want to climb up on the team, maybe someday I'll be even lucky enough to become the captain."

"That's not a selfish goal," Beomgyu said, dumbfounded.

"Oh... philosophical Beomgyu is back at it again." Yeonjun laughs. "Relax, you don't have to be so kind."

Beomgyu shrugged and went back to eating his cheese stick. "Some people just deserve to be kind to."

Yeonjun was taken back by this compliment. "I'm surprised you're saying that to me. I'm not someone who deserves appreciation, or admiration, or praise." He shakes his head at Beomgyu, "You sure do love to say things that people are not used to hearing."

Beomgyu's ears perked up, and he looked so genuinely terrified that Yeonjun regretted speaking up. "Is that a bad thing?" He asked, alarmed.

"Not necessarily." He put some thought into it, then added, "The way you write those cheesy inspiring quotes on sticky notes and hide them under my desk as a morning surprise." He smiles at the memory. "That takes commitment, especially if you do it every single day."

Beomgyu looked so surprised at his compliments that he leaned forward. "Are you serious when you say that?  Do you really mean the little things I do actually help you?" He said the word 'help' like it's the most foreign word he's heard of. Then he went back to eating his cheese stick proudly. "If it puts a smile on your face, I'll continue doing it for as long as I can."

"But you never know... unforeseeable circumstances can get in the way. Maybe we'll be forced apart before we enter university. Maybe we'll have to move to separate countries and start lives without each other." He takes a deep sigh, stimulating resolve as if the next few words are going to be extremely hard to say. "It's best not to get too attached." He could hear a crack in his voice as he said it.

His head was hung low, but he could see Beomgyu instantly turn his head towards him from his peripheral vision.

"What do you mean?" Beomgyu asks, incredibly worried. "We're not going to get separated are we? H-hey! You and I made a promise- we signed a whole contract- that we'll be together no matter what. Why are you going back on your word?"

"I'm not going back on my word, I'm just saying- in case something unprecedented comes up."

"You know what? Your negative thinking makes me feel less energized too." He begins to pack his lunchbox. And before Yeonjun knows it, Beomgyu is walking away, seemingly uninterested by the many times Yeonjun called out his name.