HTGAB101 :: changlix ✔︎

step 2- mongay

Step Two: Be yourself! Guys like someone's who's honest about who they are and what they like. If you put peanut butter on your mangos, don't hide that from him! If he's really worth your time (and all 101 steps), then he'll accept you for who you are!

"Psh..." my best friend, Han Jisung, says as he reads the second step. "Lix, you're not going to be able to do all 101 steps."

I sigh, running my fingers through my hair, as I look at everything in my room, anything but the open book on my queen-sized bed that Jisung is carefully inspecting.

"Lix?"

I finally look at him. "Jisung, I don't have the willpower to make him like me," I groan. He comes and sits next to me on the floor.

"How about this?" he begins. I perk up. "Every day, you try a new step on him. In 100 days, he should be your boyfriend!"

I'm skeptical. "And if he's not?"

"Then you can sue whoever wrote the book for false advertisement and gender-conforming assumptions," he offers. "It's a win-win situation." I'm not quite sure he understands the meaning of a 'win-win situation.'

I groan again, then sigh again. "Fine."

There's no harm in trying, I tell myself. Something in my mind told me to buy this book. That means I want this, right? It'll turn out well. I think. I hope.

Jisung bounces around, pleased with my answer. "Okay, now that we've taken care of that, let's get ready for school!"

Remind me; why did I decide to let him sleep over on a Sunday?

>>><><<<

After a time span that seems to last about two seconds but, in reality, is more like an hour, I find myself separated from Jisung in the Hallway of Hell. It takes almost a full minute to locate Changbin at his locker a few rows down from mine, talking to his (hot, but Changbin is hotter, in my opinion) friend, Lee Minho. Just as I've been crushing on Changbin probably since sixth grade—and now we're freshmen in college—Jisung has had the most adorable crush on Minho since freshman year in high school.

He's skilled at hiding it, though, unlike I am.

Well, I should get on with showing my "true self" and stuff to Changbin.

My "true self" never thinks things through, so that's how I find myself being carried over to Changbin and Minho on feet that have decided to betray me.

I silently cuss out my legs for doing this to me, but I'm interrupted by a "Can I help you?" from Changbin, who I'm standing right in front of.

Cue the lights!
Cue the music!
Cue the rose-scented perfume!

Our two protagonists have met, and it's true love at first sight!

Ha, I wish. Instead, I'm standing there with the most stupid expression on my face, a look that clearly says, I'm not quite sure why I'm standing here.

Changbin and Minho exchange a look. "Well, we're not quite sure either," Minho grins at me. Like I mentioned earlier in my random mess of a thought train, Minho is hot. Standing in front of your crush and a hot guy when you're gay and awkward as hell isn't the greatest idea.

Also, I suddenly realize that I said the first thing out loud, and now I look like more of an idiot than I actually am. Great.

"I, uh... hi?"

This is fantastic. Changbin probably doesn't even know my name, even though in ninth grade we were lab partners in science, once, and earlier this year we had math together, but then the semester changed, and he switched to a music class instead of math.