A month is made out of thirty days and quite a lot of seconds, and the month after their first date finds Daehyun floating through the halls in a blissful sort of daze, a wide smile practically breaking his face in half and an annoying (according to Himchan) hum always present in the back of his throat; he twirls and skips and the air around him is oozing fairies and unicorns and magical rainbows and honestly, he doesn’t even give a .

"That’s the second time today," Jongup whispers to Yongguk as the two watch Daehyun float off to his own imaginary world of pure Youngjae, leaving the history textbooks and his exasperated friends behind. "Should we, I dunno, try to snap him out of it?"

An obnoxiously happy sigh leaves Daehyun, and the oldest of the three winces in mock disgust. “God, no,” he says with a shudder, returning to their joined paper (which is due tomorrow, mind you) with his expression conveying a deep feeling of aggravation. “If you snap him out of his sticky love haze he’ll just start talking about how Youngjae did this and Youngjae said that and how Youngjae sniffles a lot when he’s nervous and I do not want to go through that again, thank you.”

It takes Yongguk too long to realize that he just said Youngjae’s name three consecutive times and it’s too late to try and fix his mistake by now; Daehyun shoots out of his disgustingly lovesick coma with a blink, smiling like someone just told him the world’s best ing joke. “Isn’t life awesome?” He asks dreamily, dropping his elbow on the library desk in front of him and propping his chin in his palm.

", you woke him up," Jongup moans in horror, dragging a hand down his face. Yongguk just nods in shame and slumps back in his chair, desperately wishing he was never even born.

Daehyun’s phone vibrates violently on top of the wooden surface and the boy snatches it immediately, his face lightning up even more (if that’s even possible) as he reads the text sent to him by Youngjae. Within a second he’s already up on his feet and his textbooks are shoved into his backpack haphazardly; if Jongup was horrified before, now he’s absolutely petrified with terror.

"Sorry, guys, I’ve gotta go," the lovesick boy chirps, and both of his friends protest loudly. "Youngjae’s coming to pick me up in a few seconds. It’s our one month anniversary."

"But this project’s due tomorrow, you ," Yongguk splutters indignantly, standing up to snag Daehyun’s sleeve, effectively stopping his (incredibly stupid) best friend from leaving. Jongup takes this as his cue to bolt up and do the same, and pretty soon Daehyun finds himself completely unable to take a single step away; Jongup, in a briliant move, stapled his sleeves to the desk.

The oldest of the three’s face is menacing as he looms over the now powerless Daehyun threateningly. “Look, dude, I’m really happy that you’ve finally found a boyfriend and I share your happiness and blah blah blah, but this project is an important milestone in my way to receive a perfect report card and I’m not going to fail this assignment just because you can’t stop dreaming about Youngjae for a goddamned minute,” Yongguk clarifies quickly, not missing the way Daehyun’s eyes glazed over for a second when he mentioned Youngjae’s name. God save this boy.

"You need to get your together, quick," Jongup adds, and for once his famous sunshine smile isn’t detectable in his voice. Daehyun struggles against the staples holding him down, kicking and thrashing and before a whole scene develops, a soft voice interrupts them all.

"What’s up, guys?"

The trio freezes for a second that seems to last at least a thousand eternities, every one of them trying to think of an excuse as to what the hell happened; then, slowly, they all turn around to face the pleasantly smiling Youngjae, whose smile slowly dissolves into an incredibly confused expression. “Why is my boyfriend stapled to a table?”

Youngjae’s presence seems to give Daehyun the force and strength of a thousand suns, and he finally breaks free from his highly-unplanned prison, pushing through his aghast friends and throwing his arms around the still confused Youngjae. Jongup facepalms as Yongguk sinks to his knees in utter defeat; Youngjae, however, seems to be delighted by this strange turn of events as he wraps his arms around his boyfriend and hugs him tightly, pressing a kiss to the skin just under the older’s ear. “Did you miss me?” He asks playfully as Daehyun pulls away to return the favor by pecking the tip of Youngjae’s nose.

(Jongup and Yongguk? Who are they?)

"Of course I did, Jae," Daehyun says brightly, his forehead creasing as his eyes spot a dark purple bruise peeking just under the younger’s uniform shirt’s collar. "What’s that?"

Youngjae’s face turns a deep shade of red and he pulls Daehyun’s fingers away from the bruise, lacing their fingers together and showing a shaky smile. “It’s nothing,” he promises as he tugs on the older’s hand, leading him towards the library’s exit. “Let’s go.”

And as they make their merry way towards their date, Yongguk takes a moment to mourn over the loss of his perfect report card.

———

He whistles, and the sound echoes off the walls of the bio labs and the arts building; it’s the end of third period and Daehyun’s making his way to his next class, geography, humming and whistling and kicking at random pebbles that cross his path. Usually he’d take the long way around the bio labs and the big main building (an ironic name because the big main building was actually the only building on the school’s campus that had only one story) simply because that way went through the big courtyard and he liked the view; but it had rained the entire day yesterday and most of today as well, so there was nothing much to see. He settled on the small back alley between the bio labs and the arts building, cutting through the courtyard and saving him at least two minutes and the risk of being badly rained on. Heavy grey clouds looked down at earth.

He feels bad and he doesn’t know why. Daehyun’s stomach is creepily intuitive sometimes, often giving him warning gurgles on bad days and doing weird flip-flops when something good or exciting was to happen, but lately his stomach’s radar has been acting like a grumpy old man, acting up at the weirdest of times; Daehyun frowns as his stomach gives another gurgle, the second one in five minutes, and he’s really starting to think he’s just hungry when a small cry is heard.

His head snaps up and his attention is pointed at the sound’s direction at once; his brow is furrowed and he strains his ears to detect any other sound, and he’s confused and slightly scared because that cry sounded eerily like Youngjae’s.

A voice echoes across the small alleyway, and Daehyun presses himself to the nearest wall as his breath hitches; the noises are coming from an open window in the arts building and before he knows it he’s sneaking up to that window and peering inside. He knows it’s not his business and he knows it’s probably what he thinks it is and he was told a thousand times to stop poking his nose into other peoples’ business, but as soon as he scans the rather dark classroom on the other side of the window, his blood freezes.

Youngjae’s standing exactly across from the open window, his back pressed to the wall and his head turned down in what looks like shame. There are three boys standing in front of them with their arms folded across their chests, but their backs are turned away from the window so Daehyun can’t really see their faces; the only thing he registers is that the one standing in the middle is extremely tall and thin, but that’s it.

"You’re so pathetic, honestly," the tall one drawls lazily, examining his fingernails shortly before dropping the hand to his side and letting out a huff of annoyance. "Hey, can’t you look at me when I’m talking to you? Aren’t you listening?"

Youngjae doesn’t answer and the tall boy stomps his foot in an incredibly childish manner as the boy sitting on a table to the left laughs and Daehyun’s eyes widen because no, Youngjae’s not listening because he’s deaf, and it suddenly dawns on him that this is probably what this entire scene is all about; he feels hot and cold and shocked and outraged and furious all at once. His fingers curl into fists as the tall boy lurches forward and grabs Youngjae by the jaw, forcing his head up, and Youngjae hisses but he doesn’t fight back and as soon as his head comes up his eyes dart to the window and he sees Daehyun.

It feels as if an electric shock of five hundred watts courses through his body, and their eyes click together; Daehyun shakes his head as Youngjae’s eyes widen in terror and Daehyun suddenly notices the quickly purpling bruise on Youngjae’s left cheek. A second ticks by and he’s livid now, his nostrils flaring and his body becoming rigid and his gaze probably turns murderous because Youngjae shakes his head and mouths a single word.

Don’t.

The tall boy’s yelling now, his back tense and his voice full of venom; his fingers are holding Youngjae’s jaw so tightly the skin around them turns white. “Why aren’t you listening, you freak,” he yells, and his hand comes up and then down in a sharp movement—

And that’s when Daehyun snaps.

It takes him less then a second to grip the window’s ledge and haul himself into the classroom, his fists curled tight and his vision tinted red because how dare they do that to Youngjae, how dare they hit him, how dare they; he screams and he kicks and he punches blindly, remotely aware of the pain in his knuckles as the tall guy, now sporting a swollen lip and a bleeding nose, nods to his friends and they run out of the classroom, bleeding and cussing loudly.

The roar in Daehyun’s ears slowly dies off and makes room to a jarring silence; compared to the yelling and cursing from before, his own pants sound extremely loud.

"You didn’t have to do that," Youngjae says quietly behind him, and Daehyun whips around to examine his boyfriend. The bruise on his cheek looks alarmingly purple now and he has his fingers pressed against his lower lip, but the look his gives Daehyun is what really echoes through the most; he doesn’t look grateful or in pain or anything like that- most of all, he just looks disappointed.

The possessive instinct kicks in first and Daehyun glides over to the younger, grabbing his wrist and pulling the fingers pressed to Youngjae’s lip away gently; the fingers come away bloody. “Are you okay?” The older asks carefully, his tone soft and his palms holding Youngjae’s between them tightly. “Does it hurt?”

Youngjae shakes his head and before Daehyun knows it the younger rips his hand away, holding it to his chest and taking a few steps back. He looks angry now, and Daehyun doesn’t know why; he helped him, didn’t he?

"You didn’t have to do that," the younger repeats, his words tense and his entire body screaming of discomfort and anxiety and aside from their first kiss this is the first time Daehyun’s seen or heard Youngjae like this, all pent up and shaky and unbelievably vulnerable. "You didn’t have to hit them."

Daehyun splutters. “Didn’t have to— Youngjae, they hit you,” he says, taking a decisive step forward towards the younger. “They called you a freak. You can’t really— did you really think that I would do nothing, say nothing, while three idiots treat my boyfriend like crap?” He’s shouting now and and Youngjae looks genuinely hurt but he doesn’t care; a thought dawns on him.

"Jae," he starts carefully, his words measured and his tone even, "how long has this been going on?"

Youngjae’s face goes white and he grinds his teeth in discomfort, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and mumbling out something while looking at the ground. Daehyun blinks. “What?”

"Three weeks, okay," Youngjae snaps finally, throwing his hands up in despair; he glares daggers at the older for getting that piece of information out of him. "It was just words first, but the real deal started just a week ago."

Daehyun’s truly outraged now, and his expression must truly show it, because Youngjae cuts him off before he can even open his mouth. “I didn’t tell you because it’s not something I haven’t dealt with before. I’m fine, I really am. They’re just idiots.”

And Daehyun’s heart is breaking because Youngjae doesn’t sound fine, he sounds exasperated and tired and a tiny bit crushed, and it feels like someone just ruthlessly stomped Daehyun’s heart into the ground; he’s sad and he’s frustrated and he’s outraged and he feels like crying for a short second. It hurts, everything does, and Daehyun’s scared of moving because he doesn’t want everything to hurt even more. A thunder rolls outside.

A sniff is heard and Youngjae buries his face in his hands in defeat, his shoulders sagging and his head moving from side to side like a metronome. A tiny sigh leaves him and that’s when Daehyun steps forward and wraps his arms around him, his hold tight and his expression a soft one; Youngjae heaves another sigh as his entire body relaxes bit by bit, his muscles tensing and then turning lax in the older’s arms. He learns to let go.

———

Daehyun thinks that this is, by far, the happiest he’s ever been in his entire life.

"Pass me the popcorn," Himchan asks in a polite tone that doesn’t really suit him; Yongguk snorts and decides to pelt his best friend with the unpopped corn seeds that nestled in the bottom of the bowl, and as Himchan protests at the top of his lungs and Junhong almost inhales his coke through the nose in his laughing fits Youngjae shifts so he’s curled into Daehyun’s side, humming appreciatively at the kiss the older presses to the top of his head.

They’re already halfway through the Avengers when this happens, and by the time the movie is reaching its Jongup’s passed out on the couch and Himchan’s hair is filled with corn seeds; Daehyun, however, is surprised when his boyfriend taps him on the cheek, signaling him to take his eyes off the screen for just a bit. He does just that, and a warm pair of lips brushes against his own and Youngjae’s hands slide into his hair, pulling his closer slowly but surely; their lips meet again and Daehyun smiles into the kiss, his arms tightening around the boy beside him and the crashing sounds coming from the TV turning into a mere disturbance in their little bubble.

"Can the grossest couple on earth stop making out while we’re trying to watch a movie," Junhong drawls monotonously and said couple decides to pretend they didn’t hear him (well, Youngjae didn’t anyway and Daehyun’s just being a brat), choosing to scoot closer to each other and deepen their kiss just a little. A collective groan is heard.