BEWARE, MASSIVE WORD VOMIT COMING UP.

When Hyukjae first sees him, he thinks of love at first sight.

Not really, no, because Hyukjae honestly doesn’t believe in that. He uses the expression sometimes though, whenever he sees someone so attractive and beautiful and he becomes completely mesmerized and unable to stop staring at them. Just like what he’s doing right now to the incredibly cute brunette sitting a few tables away from him inside the posh coffee shop.

It isn’t unusual for him to find attractive people. There are a lot of them in his university after all. However, Hyukjae thinks he hasn’t seen anyone quite as gorgeous as this one. He has straight dark brown hair, soft-looking bangs swept to one side and hovering just above his pretty double-lidded eyes. He has a straight nose and a pair of pink thin lips, which are slightly parted in concentration as he types continuously on his laptop, pausing every now and then to take a sip of his hot coffee. He is dressed casually—in a plain black v-neck shirt, a red jacket and dark fitted jeans, appropriate for the day’s sunny but cool weather—and really, to other people’s eyes, he may look just like your average college boy doing his homework, but to Hyukjae, he looks like perfection on earth.

When Kyuhyun arrives ten minutes later, mumbling about a certain annoying Choi chasing after him again and causing him to be late, Hyukjae doesn’t tear his eyes off the boy as he asks, “Hey, do you know him?”

Kyuhyun has barely gotten his seated on the plush sofa when he raises a brow and turns his head to look at the direction where Hyukjae is staring at. “Oh, Lee Donghae? Yeah, he’s in some of my classes. Why?”

Lee Donghae.

The name echoes in his Hyukjae’s mind and he nods approvingly. Only a face that cute would suit such a pretty name.

Reluctantly, his gaze leaves the brunette and he turns to look at his friend. He takes his forgotten strawberry drink in his hand, cold beads of water already forming outside the plastic cup, and brings the straw to his lips. “He is one fine specimen,” Hyukjae says after a sip. “Could you introduce me to him?”

Kyuhyun scoffs, shaking his head as he takes out books from his bag and places them on the table. “I expected to hear that but somehow, it doesn’t make you sound any less ridiculous,” he ignores Hyukjae’s scowl. “Hyukjae-hyung, I may know a lot of people, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m acquainted with them. We share three, probably four classes together, but that’s it. We haven’t talked before – how do you expect me to introduce him to you?”

“I was just asking,” Hyukjae mutters. “It’s fine, you don’t have to. I can just approach him on my own.”

He makes a move to stand up but Kyuhyun quickly lands a hand around his wrist, stopping him.

“What?”

Kyuhyun shakes his head. “Don’t make a fool out of yourself.”

“That isn’t happening,” Hyukjae tries to pry Kyuhyun’s hand off but the younger is insistent on keeping him back.

“Eh, hyung,” Kyuhyun whines a little, forcing Hyukjae to stay on his seat. “I might have… heard some things about this Lee Donghae. I think you might want to hear about them first before thinking about approaching him?”

This effectively catches Hyukjae’s interest. He sits back, just as Kyuhyun lets his wrist go. “Okay, spill.”

“You know Choi Siwon, right?” Kyuhyun asks, looking a little embarrassed.

Hyukjae allows a teasing smirk to form on his lips. “Of course I know about your adamant admirer, who doesn’t?”

“Shut up, this isn’t about him,” Kyuhyun scowls before clearing his throat. “Okay, so Choi Siwon was following me around one time,” he ignores Hyukjae’s comment of when was he not? “And I got so ticked off when he said I’m being a cruel person for ignoring him. So I told him to go away and leave me alone and bother his other friends instead. And then he said something like, his friends cannot be bothered with him, because they’re all busy. And that his supposed closest friend Lee Donghae is not cute anymore, he’s a cold now, and he isn’t fond of hanging out with him lately because Donghae would always say mean things and criticize his so-called love for me,” Kyuhyun makes double quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “Well I didn’t think much of it and just yelled at him to shut the up and leave, but I guess his words come in handy now.”

Hyukjae blinks, a little stunned with the information Kyuhyun has just given him. He glances at the brunette who is now leaning back on his chair, eyes still glued to his laptop screen as he takes a sip of his hot drink, and Hyukjae can’t quite seem to grasp the thought of this gorgeous person being a cold who always says mean things to his friend. Somehow, it doesn’t fit.

“Maybe he was talking about a different Donghae,” Hyukjae utters unsurely, shifting his gaze once again to Kyuhyun.

The younger only shakes his head. “I don’t think so, because on the days Choi Siwon feels some kind of mercy towards me and doesn’t sit next to me in class, he sits next to Donghae-ssi instead.”

“Well maybe he’s only like that to Choi Siwon,” Hyukjae says as he stands up, causing Kyuhyun to sit up straight and stare at him with wide eyes.

“Hyung, you’re not going to…?”

Hyukjae gives him a small smile. “There’s only one way to find out.”

He strides confidently towards Lee Donghae’s table, unaware of Kyuhyun’s facepalm and eye-rolling at his direction, and takes a seat on the vacant chair in front of the unsuspecting brunette. Quickly, Donghae’s wide, surprised eyes dart up towards him and Hyukjae feels a little giddy over the fact that those eyes are on him. He flashes a friendly smile and Donghae tilts his head to the side in confusion—so damn cute—and blinks.

“May I help you?”

“Actually, yes,” Hyukjae says, leaning forward a little and placing his elbow on the table, his chin resting on the back of his hand as his expression turns grave. “There’s something terribly wrong right now, and I think I might be needing your help.”

Donghae looks around warily before his guarded gaze lands on Hyukjae once again. His brows are furrowed and he purses his lips a little before asking, “What can I do for you?”

“You see,” Hyukjae sighs, taking his phone out of his pocket and showing it to Donghae who eyes the gadget curiously. “Something’s wrong with my phone. It…”

Donghae looks up at him in slight concern.

“It doesn’t have your number in it.”

Hyukjae might have expected Donghae to become a blushing, giggling mess after he uttered his pick-up line in what he’s certain to be a suave and y manner. He might have also anticipated the boy to become flabbergasted for a moment before blushing and shyly looking away from him. However, when Donghae merely stares at him blankly, looking unimpressed and slightly annoyed, Hyukjae’s supposedly blinding smile falters a little.

Okay, that was probably not a good approach.

He recovers quickly, laughing out loud and pocketing his phone as he waves a hand casually through the air. “I’m kidding, Donghae-ssi. Please don’t look so upset,” Hyukjae says, noting how Donghae’s expression doesn’t change, except for one of his brows raising. “I’m Hyukjae, and I think you’re cute, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to get to know you.”

Giving him the sweetest smile he can muster, Hyukjae tries to look as nice as possible, but when Donghae merely sighs and starts putting away his laptop, his smile drops.

“Um,” Hyukjae says. “What are you doing?”

“Getting away from you.” Donghae deadpans, arranging his books and stuffing them into his huge backpack.

“What? Hey, wait!” Hyukjae slightly panics, waving his hands uselessly in front of him. “Look, my way of approaching you probably wasn’t nice, but I didn’t mean to piss you off. I just want to know you.”

Donghae looks at him, his eyes hard and narrowed and Hyukjae would have almost found it scary if not for the way the brunette’s lower lip juts out in a slight pout (god that is so cute).

“Well sorry to say, but I do not want to know you, and I most certainly do not want you to know me,” Donghae stands up, giving Hyukjae a curt nod, as he slings his bag over his shoulder and promptly walks away.

“Wait! Donghae-ssi!”

The boy ignores him and exits the café with brisk steps and Hyukjae is left slumping on his chair, dumbfounded. He watches Donghae’s retreating back through the café’s glass windows, and slowly, a stupid grin forms on his face. His eyes travel down to the boy’s lower body, his grin growing wider at the sight of a cute, plump , and fleshy thighs covered by tight jeans.

He likes what he sees.

Challenge accepted.

♦

Truthfully, Hyukjae isn’t desperate.

He doesn’t always flirt, but when he does, and the other person shows him that they aren’t interested, Hyukjae chooses to just shrug and let them be. He doesn’t think he needs to chase after anyone, inflating their ego and only putting himself through useless hard work. It’s not like he’s in dire need of a boyfriend or a girlfriend. He just enjoys flirting around—no rush, no pressure, no commitments, especially when he thinks it isn’t worth it.

Love, he believes, will come at the right time for him.

However, Hyukjae finds himself unable to stop thinking about Donghae despite how the latter had so easily brushed off his attempts to flirt. He thinks it might be because Donghae is a million times more gorgeous than the other people he has tried to flirt with—it’s no contest, really—and Hyukjae admits that he might have gotten little infatuated with Donghae’s face (and his and his everything) despite only seeing him for a few minutes that day. And for some reason, even though Donghae was showing him his lack of interest, Hyukjae couldn’t help but only see it as a challenge he couldn’t back down against.

So when he comes looking for Kyuhyun that afternoon, expecting to see a particular Choi Siwon tagging along, Hyukjae is no longer surprised with himself. He waits in the hallway outside Kyuhyun’s lecture room, a part of him hoping that this is one of the classes his friend is sharing with Donghae. After a few more minutes of wait, students exit the room in groups, and Hyukjae scans them with greedy eyes, looking for a glimpse of that brown hair and perfect face.

He doesn’t find it.

His eyes light up, however, when Kyuhyun comes out, looking grumpy and irritated. The cause of his annoyed expression, Choi Siwon, follows after him, and Hyukjae smirks.

Exactly what he needs.

“Kyuhyun!” Hyukjae waves a hand for his friend.

The younger looks at him and waves back before facing Choi Siwon and saying curtly, “See, my friend over there is waiting for me. We’ve got a lot of things to do today and I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn’t bother us.”

Siwon’s face falls.

Not so fast, Hyukjae thinks as he quickly dashes up to them. “Hi, Kyuhyun. Hi, Choi Siwon-ssi.”

Kyuhyun turns to look at him, eyes wide and incredulous, and Siwon suddenly flashes him a megawatt blinding smile. “Well, hello, Lee Hyukjae-ssi, my dear Kyuhyun’s friend! It’s nice to finally have the privilege to meet you.”

Hyukjae grins back as he accepts Siwon’s offered handshake firmly. “It’s nice to finally meet you as well. I see you know my name already. Does Kyuhyun mention me that often?”

“Yah.” The youngest boy throws him a deadly glare which he ignores.

“He actually does,” Siwon says, still smiling broadly. “He seems to spend a lot of time with you, during his breaks and in the afternoons after class. I have to say I’m a little jealous that he prefers your company over mine, but I plan to change that pretty soon.”

Kyuhyun now turns the force of his glare to Siwon.

Hyukjae cannot help but laugh. “Oh, you have nothing to be jealous about, Siwon-ssi. Kyuhyun and I are only good friends. And I don’t doubt that you’ll be able to get him to spend some more time with you. I believe in your capabilities.”

“Lee Hyukjae,” Kyuhyun says warningly through gritted teeth.

“It seems to me that I have your approval,” Siwon nods happily. “I am honored.”

“Yes, I see you as a great man who is capable of taking care of my very good friend here,” Hyukjae pats Kyuhyun’s shoulder while the latter irritably shrugs his hand away. “I think you are a reliable and trustworthy person deserving of Kyuhyun’s affection. Which is why I’ve come to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?” one of Siwon’s thick brows rise to his hairline.

Kyuhyun gapes at Hyukjae with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Hyukjae-hyung, don’t tell me you’re—”

“Yes, a favor,” Hyukjae nods. “I’ve heard you’re good friends with a certain Lee Donghae?”

Kyuhyun looks like he’s about to strangle Hyukjae soon, and Siwon now has both of his eyebrows permanently raised, but Hyukjae only grins in triumph when Choi Siwon nods slowly.

“What do you need to know?”

Kyuhyun gives the both of them death threats.

♦

Hyukjae lies on his bed and stares at the piece of paper on his hands. Initially, he asked Siwon for Donghae’s number, but the former had immediately shook his head and apologized, saying he couldn’t do that. Hyukjae had been disappointed, but when Siwon quickly offers an alternative he couldn’t say no to, Hyukjae’s hopes have been raised again.

He stares at Lee Donghae’s schedule written in neat print and smiles to himself.

Apparently, they have three days with almost the same schedule, only with different classes. Which means they have the same breaks as well. Siwon had so kindly informed him that Donghae likes to go to coffee shops during his afternoon breaks (which explains their first meeting earlier) and during lunch break, he usually eats at the university’s cafeteria.

Hyukjae grins, thrilled to see the brunette once again. But then he remembers Siwon’s words of warning before they parted earlier, and his smile falls as he starts to wonder.

Be careful with Donghae, please, Siwon had said. He’s different, and I’m sure he will give you a hard time. But I hope you’ll try to understand him and not so quickly judge and give up on him. He will kill me if he finds out I helped you, but for some reason, it’s okay because I feel like I can trust you with him, Hyukjae-ssi.

♦

When he finds Donghae the next day during lunch time in the cafeteria, Hyukjae is a little disgruntled to find the brunette surrounded by a bunch of his friends. Siwon seems to have forgotten this little tidbit, or maybe he didn’t share the same lunch break with Donghae and didn’t know, and Hyukjae doesn’t really blame him for not letting him know about this valuable piece of information, but he cannot help but feel unhappy anyway. He’s been preparing well since this morning, styling his dark hair a little differently than usual and putting some more effort in dressing himself up. He even sprayed a bit of his favorite cologne. All that for this one lunch break with Donghae, and now he finds himself unable to even approach the table.

He sighs, feeling resigned as he drags his feet to an empty table by the window. Hyukjae eats his food quietly, watching Donghae talk to his friends as he eats his own lunch. He’s starting to feel like an annoying, creepy stalker, knowing Donghae’s schedule and watching him from afar, but he couldn’t bring himself to care when Donghae suddenly laughs, eyes crinkling into crescents and thin lips stretching over pearly, slightly crooked teeth.

Hyukjae is mesmerized.

He contents himself with being a creepy stalker and watches Donghae all throughout lunch. He doesn’t even realize that he hadn’t finished his food and that he hadn’t been touching it for a good ten minutes now, when Donghae and his group of friends suddenly stand up and bring their trays back to the counter. Hyukjae immediately panics, checking his watch only to find out there is only fifteen minutes to the next class. He cannot let this break be over without at least talking to Donghae.

Quickly, he stands up and brings his own tray to the counter, just as Donghae and his friends turn to walk to the cafeteria exit. To his luck, Donghae is in the back of the group, not talking to anyone in particular, and Hyukjae thanks the heavens for this opportunity as he walks towards the brunette, palms sweating in slight nervousness, and taps his shoulder gently.

Donghae turns to look at him, curious eyes suddenly narrowing at Hyukjae.

“Hi,” Hyukjae smiles. “Glad to see you again.”

Donghae diverts his gaze. “Can’t say I feel the same.”

Hyukjae tries not to wince so visibly.

“What do you want?” Donghae asks, looking impatient and eager to get away from Hyukjae’s presence as quickly as he could.

“Well. I know I didn’t really give you a good first impression,” Hyukjae utters sheepishly. “And I’d like to change that. I’m Lee Hyukjae. I’m twenty-one, and I study architecture. It’s nice to meet you.”

He brings a hand forward for a handshake.

Donghae merely stares at his hand and sighs. “Okay. So you’re trying to start over, hm?” he looks up at Hyukjae’s face and smiles sweetly. “Well then. I’m Lee Donghae, but you already knew that, you freaky stalker. But anyway, I study something that isn’t any of your concern, and I’m not interested. It’s been such an unpleasant experience meeting you. Now if you’d excuse me,” the smile is instantly gone from his face and he shoots Hyukjae a menacing glare before he turns and walks away.

Hyukjae is left flabbergasted on his spot, his hand still hanging stupidly in the air. He gapes at Donghae’s retreating back before snapping out of it and hurriedly sprinting after the brunette.

“Wait, Donghae!”

He grasps at Donghae’s arm and quickly releases it when the boy harshly pulls away. “Did you not hear a word I said earlier?” Donghae stares at him, blatant annoyance etched on his features. “I said, I am not interested.”

“I know,” Hyukjae says. “And I’m sorry. I’m being annoying, aren’t I? But, Donghae… okay, I’m sorry about that as well. I know your name because of, well, Choi Siwon and I have a mutual friend,” Donghae groans and rolls his eyes, cursing Siwon under his breath while Hyukjae continues, “Give me a chance. Please. Just one date. You can tell me to back off if you don’t like it, I won’t bother you anymore. Just give me one date.”

Donghae folds his arms over his chest, his gaze scrutinizing Hyukjae before he sighs wearily. “You know, even if you weren’t annoying and stalker-ish and even if Siwon introduced me formally to you and we’ve met under good circumstances and not with a goddamn pick-up line, I would still say no. I’m not looking for a relationship, Hyukjae-ssi. I’m sorry.”

“Are you taken?” Hyukjae blurts out without thinking. He immediately wants to take it back when Donghae raises a brow at him. “I didn’t mean to be nosy—”

“I am not,” Donghae answers calmly, surprising him. “I’m just not interested okay? I’m not saying this because you’re you, I would say the same thing to anyone who asks me out. Unless, you’re my favorite celebrity or something. Which you’re not. So, no.”

Well damn.

“Okay,” Hyukjae utters.

Donghae gives him an insincere-looking apologetic look and shrugs before turning and jogging to catch up to his friends.

And Hyukjae has never felt more stupid in his life.

♦

But Hyukjae prides himself for quite an optimistic person. And when he really sets his mind into something, he makes sure he never gives up on it. And so, the moment his class finishes, he immediately takes out his phone and calls Kyuhyun. It takes Kyuhyun five rings to answer, and when he does, Hyukjae doesn’t bother with the greetings and goes straight to the point.

“Can you give me Choi Siwon’s number?”

He could almost see Kyuhyun’s eye-rolling from the other end of the line.

“I’ll text it to you.”

“Thanks.”

“Hyukjae-hyung?”

“Hm?”

“Kindly stop making a fool out of yourself and spare me from having an embarrassing friend.”

Kyuhyun hangs up, and soon enough, Hyukjae receives a text with Choi Siwon’s number. He quickly saves it into his contacts and composes a new message.

Choi Siwon-ssi, this is Lee Hyukjae. I got your number from Kyu. ^~^
May I ask you about Donghae’s favorite celebrity?

♦

This time Hyukjae decides to see Donghae during their afternoon break. He sends a text to Siwon, asking for another favor and telling him he will give something Kyuhyun-related in return. Siwon doesn’t even hesitate. He just needs to text Donghae, after all, and ask him where he is staying for break. In exchange, Hyukjae tells Siwon about Kyuhyun’s favorite food. Siwon sends him an essay filled with his gratitude and feelings of blessedness for being friends now with Hyukjae too, for Hyukjae will be his guide to winning Kyuhyun’s elusive heart.

Hyukjae stops reading at that and shudders visibly as he locks his phone and places it back into his pocket.

On his way to the café, Hyukjae wonders if he should bring something with him that can appease Donghae’s temper (in case he gets mad again) and please him as well. He vaguely thinks of flowers but he isn’t sure if Donghae even likes flowers. He thinks of food and nods thoughtfully.

Nothing ever goes wrong with food.

He stops by a store and buys a little box of chocolates before heading towards the café. He spots the coffee place after a five-minute walk and grins, taking something out of his backpack before entering. Finding Donghae sitting comfortably in a corner, his laptop in front of him again, Hyukjae quickly puts his mask on and strides towards the brunette, the grin on his lips unstoppable when Donghae looks up at him and slightly jumps on his seat, eyes wide in surprise and the corners of his lips threatening to bloom into a gorgeous smile.

“W-What…” Donghae stammers, unable to take his eyes off the guy in