It didn’t help seeing that face every single day of week, when all Donghae wanted to do was lock himself inside his room and survive on takeaways and tears for the rest of his life. But he was not a kid anymore, he had responsibilities, and so every day he dragged himself to the classes he needed to be at, trying to ignore that person who had his boyfriend’s face.

Apart from that first encounter, there was nothing unnatural about Lee Hyukjae at all. He was like any other classmate, despite being a bit on the shy side and preferring to sit by himself, he came to class as normal without any unnecessary interactions with Donghae. Yet this made the latter grow even more curious about him, because he was still unsure of his real identity.

After that 'incident', his anger directed itself towards the innocent classmate for a while. He couldn’t help it, since he was adamant about giving Eunhyuk the silent treatment at least for a week or so, but his attempt at distancing himself from his boyfriend was defeated by Lee Hyukjae unintentionally. To be precise, defeated by his face. It was not his fault that he had the same face as the CEO, and looked impossibly cuter than his boyfriend due to his more frequent smiles. Donghae didn’t notice, but his classmate was getting more and more of his attention in the period of time that he decided to ignore Eunhyuk. He even felt a little disappointed that the boy had not tried to contact him at all, after they exchanged numbers that morning.

**

It was after a whole month that Donghae really began to worry. He had just finished all his exams for the semester, which had taken up most of his time and concentration, so much that he sometimes even forgot about his boyfriend. The older man had also been quiet for the whole month; an unexpected situation for Donghae. Although he thought it was supposed to be the other who apologized first this time, he knew that they couldn’t keep on going with the lack of communication between them. That was the perfect pathway to a break up, after all.

After thinking it through, the student decided to go straight to him in person. He didn’t want to be ignored through texts, and believed that talking face to face was always better than unemotional words on a screen. He was prepared for anything. To argue, to make up, or even to wait for another day because he was away. But he still faced an unexpected surprise when he reached the company.

“What do you mean, I can’t go in? Do you not recognize me? I’m Eunhyuk’s b… I know the CEO!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m new here so I wouldn’t know that. If you do not have an appointment with our staff, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

Donghae was shocked. What should he do now? His mind turned rapidly and he tried another way to get in. He knew where the older man’s office was, so he didn’t need to be led there. He just needed to get past those doors.

“Hello? Dad? It’s Donghae.”

“Donghae! Has the sun risen from the west? Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve called?”

“I know, dad, I’m sorry. School’s been really busy these past weeks and I… I promise I’ll go back and visit home soon. Anyways, are you in your office? I need to ask you a favour.”

“Well, yes, I am in my office, but-“

“That’s great! I mean, um, can you come down here and take me inside? Pleease? The receptionist person changed and they don’t even recognize me…”

“Donghae, I don’t know whether to laugh at you or be disappointed. Do you not remember why I asked you to come home last month?”

There was an uneasy feeling that began to pool in the bottom of his stomach. No, this couldn’t be.

“I…. um… oh yeah, you said you got a promotion! Congratulations! But what does that have to do…”

“Donghae, I’m not at my previous office in Seoul anymore. I’ve moved to another base, in Incheon.”

There was a long period of silence. Then he remembered that the line was still on.

“Ok. I’m really sorry for forgetting that, and also for not visiting. I’ll call you guys later, ok?”

“Donghae...... Take care of yourself.”

“Alright dad, I will. You too. Bye!” He hung up.

**

He chose to walk home instead of taking the usual bus. The wind whipped across his face, and he was glad of its effect on keeping his head clear. There were so many things happening, and so many he didn’t know, that he didn’t even want to think about what the truth might be.

Donghae always had a sixth-sense that most often turned out correct. He used to be mocked for it, but in reality it was just because he was more sensitive than others. All these things that had happened- him not being able to see Eunhyuk, his father moving places, Eunhyuk ignoring him- they were not a coincidence. It was as if… Donghae did not want to admit this… but it was as if something, or someone was trying to cut off Eunhyuk away from his life.

He felt helpless. Suddenly his own insignificance dawned on him, as he stood in the center of a busy city working like a machine around him, and he felt alone. Tears welled up in his eyes and soon they were staining his whole face with their icy touch. It didn’t matter how bad things got. To him, that never mattered. But when he didn’t know what to do next, when he didn’t even know how bad of a situation he was in, that was when he was really afraid.

As he cried on the side of the street, Donghae wished there was someone he could cry to.

He stood there for god knows how long, when he felt a light poke behind his right shoulder. Wiping his face with one sleeve, he turned around to see the reason of his tears standing there.

His eyebrows scrunched up again.

“No! Wait, don’t cry! I just… I was just walking and then I saw you standing here, so I thought….”

The brunette calmed down rather quickly when he realized that this person was Lee Hyukjae and not… him. He opened his mouth slightly, as if to try to explain, but realised he couldn’t explain it. He didn’t even understand it himself.

Lee Hyukjae looked at him with worry in his eyes, hidden but still visible under his shyness.

“If you need anyone to talk to, um… I suppose I’m here…”

This only made more streams run down the other’s face, and the taller student looked like he too was about to cry.

“Wait, I’m sorry… was it something I said? Um… what should I do… don’t cry…please…”

In his desperation, he leaned forwards and softly wrapped his arms around the other boy, patting his back. It wasn’t exactly a hug- just his palms and forearms were touching the other’s back and shoulders, but it was the most he felt like he could do.

The two boys stood on the side of the street, one in tears and one on the verge of it. Different thoughts ran through their heads, and different obstacles lay ahead of them, but at this exact moment, at least they were not alone.

**

From that moment onwards, Donghae realised he had gained a precious friend. Lee Hyukjae not only shared the same interests as him, such as playing football, dancing, and singing, but their personalities seemed to match in a surprisingly wide variety of ways, too. In their increased number of times when they hung out, Donghae felt truly gifted to have met someone like Lee Hyukjae in his life.

He would be lying to himself if those were the only reasons he got close to the student. But he knew, and admitted, that deep inside, a part of him wanted to see him more than ordinary because of his face. The face of a man who he grew more confident everyday that he would never see again.

He had tried to contact their mutual friends, but it was as if they all got the same message- to avoid him at all costs. Even the other’s own sister refused to explain anything to him, only handed over to him the puppy with a piece of paper detailing how to look after it, and then shut the door in his face. He wanted to get angry- he did nothing wrong to deserve being treated like this- yet another part of him reminded himself that everyone did things for a reason. There was no way all of this would’ve happened without a logical reason, and Donghae in all honesty was too exhausted to try and find out. He believed that one day, things would clear up and everything would be back to normal, even if it were a different kind of “normal”.

That day seemed to grow more distanced from the brunette as the days passed, and saw him now sitting in a coffee shop, wondering what to do with the fact that he had forgotten his wallet. He could always call for help from any of his friends. The only problems was, it was past midnight.

Like on instinct, he scrolled down his contact list with one name as his goal.

'Hyukjae'

Before he pressed on the name that was lately always his first choice, no matter for help or to share joy, his thumb paused as his eyes blinked slowly at the name above it. The 20 year old had always chosen to avoid conscious action as much as he could, preferring to wait for something to happen, be it good or bad. It was a defense-mechanism, he supposed, so that if things did turn out negatively, he wouldn’t blame himself too much. It was a trick that he often performed on himself, and most often worked in a pathetic kind of way.

'Hyuk'

His lips pressed tightly together and he let out a breath heavier than normal. How long had it been… half a year? A whole year? He clicked on the symbol to reveal the history of their messages, and since the last time he did this (which was a few months ago), found himself yet again staring at the long list of one-sided message sent by himself. True, it wasn’t everything he could have done, but Donghae was tired. He didn’t want to face whatever had caused so much frustration and division between them, in fear that it would only lead to worse things. What’s more, his memories of that man were getting fainter with time.

Going back to the main screen as if he was in a hurry to escape, Donghae opened up the message box between him and Hyukjae, mustering up all his effort to persuade the probably asleep man to come and rescue him.

“Hyukkie, where are you?” He stifled a chuckle because this was pretty speechless, even for him. It was the middle of the night, and they both knew Hyukjae wasn’t the type to go partying into these late hours of the day, so it was really quite a pointless question.

“I’m at home. Where are you, idiot?” Donghae pouted. Even if he was right, how dare he call him an idiot? Trying his hardest to push down his habitual feeling of wanting to banter with the other, he quickly explained his situation in the most helpless way possible.

“Why am I not surprised…… I’ll be there in 15 minutes. You can use this time to think about how to remember your wallet in the future.”

Donghae’s pout deepened, but he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. He knew Hyukjae would always be there for him.

Sure enough, only 11 minutes later (yes, Donghae had been counting), a yawning man dressed in an oversized white jumper and loose grey sweatpants walked through the door. His hair was slightly messy, making Donghae feel guilty for waking him up, but even happier that the other had dragged himself out of bed for him. 

It had been a while since similar situations like this had happened, but Donghae still remembered how contented he had felt when... he had also dropped everything for him in the middle of the night.

Shaking memories off of his mind, the brunette gave his characteristic cat-like smile to the other, attempting to show his gratefulness. He didn’t notice how the standing man’s eyes widened then narrowed ever so slightly.

“You haven’t changed at all, still coming out for a drink even when it gets so late. And haven’t I told you before not to call me… that? Only lovers have nicknames between each other.”

Donghae ignored the teasing joke that the other made at the end of his speech. He was too affected by what he had said at first. It irked him, made him more uncomfortable than he expected to be, until he realised why it sounded so weird.

“What do you mean, I haven’t changed at all?” He asked with a curious face, all hints of joking gone.

The student sitting opposite him tensed up. He tried to relax himself but couldn’t. He had just woken up, he was still not fully clear-headed, and that made him say things which might destroy everything he had done this past year.

“How would you know that I come out for a drink when it’s late, when this is the first time I’ve told you about it? Have you seen me before? Or are you…” He didn’t know how to finish.

Hyukjae suddenly laughed at the other’s seriousness. “Why are you suddenly like this? I just meant, you’ve always been social and out-going even when most people are asleep, so it wasn’t surprising to hear you come to me asking for help at this hour. Speaking of which, how are you going to repay me for my precious sleep?”

Donghae wanted to smack himself for ruining the mood. He had known that he always overthought stuff, why couldn’t he learn to control it after living a whole two decades? He chuckled too, laughing it off, the two boys easily settling into their usual jokes and teasing.

A few months later, Donghae was still spending most of his free time with Hyukjae, talking about their interests, and calling him ‘Hyukkie’. But the latter no longer stopped him from using that nickname, and even began to call Donghae ‘Haek’, to which the brunette wasn’t completely happy about but accepted it nonetheless.

Because after all, “only lovers have nicknames for each other”.

A/N: it's pretty obvious where I got run over by their flirting on instagram and then drowned in feels.....

but nothing you two do irl can change the plot. so yeah.

thank you guys so much for commenting!! it's the only way for me to know if you have enjoyed my writing, so thank you ^^