Hyukjae enters the lockers running, and he barely avoids collision with the P.E teacher.

“What are you doing in here, kid? Only relatives are allowed in the lockers before matches,” the man says, hands on his hips.

“I know, Sir,” Hyukjae pants. “I’m Lee Sungmin’s brother.”

“Oh! You must be Hyukjae!”

“Yes. May I—”

“Sungmin talks about you all the time!” the teacher exclaims, raising a heavy arm to pat the boy’s back. “I can’t wait to have you on the team after Sungmin graduates!”

Hyukjae stumbles forward a step when the man’s hand collides whit his back. He groans and mutters a “Thank you” while the teacher moves past him, laughing merrily.

Yeah, that won’t happen, he vows as he continues on his way.

The room is chaotic, as expected from a bunch of hormonal, male teenagers. There are clothes thrown everywhere, and everyone talks at the same time; Hyukjae wonders how they understand - or hear - each other through all the loud voices.

Hyukjae raises himself on his toes and strains his neck from left to right, trying to distinguish his brother between the more-or-less uniformed figures. He spots a familiar mop of dark-brown hair on top of a slightly muscled body and moves towards it. The players throw him glares as he pushes his way through the mess, but he looks back at them with murderous eyes and suddenly it’s like he’s the senior and them the freshmen.

Once behind his brother, Hyukjae takes a deep breath and throws himself on the elder’s back.

“Good luck, you prick!” he jokes, and waits for Sungmin to bark back something about the insult.

Even though he’s the younger one, Hyukjae is also the tallest of the two brothers. Sungmin’s knees bend forward as a bewildered squeak rises from his throat, and for a second the younger fears they’ll stumble to the floor like they used to when they were kindergarten kids playing in the sandbox. Sungmin manages to hold the both of them though, and Hyukjae gets off his back, only to plaster himself to the elder, arms circling the thin waist from behind. Sungmin stiffens in his hold, body freezing and unresponsive. Hyukjae feels offended by this; sure, he’s not fond of skinship and he can count on his fingers how many times he actually hugged his brother, but Sungmin doesn’t have to exaggerate like this.

“Hyukjae?” Sungmin’s voice calls from behind, all sorts of confused.

What the—

“Hyukjae, what’s going on? Are you and Donghae finally together or something?”

“HOLY ING— !”

Hyukjae moves so fast from the other’s body that he’s almost flying. He looks with terrified eyes from Sungmin to the guy he mistakenly hugged, who turns around much more relaxed than the younger.

“Wow, Hyukjae,” Donghae says, a smug grin on his (very handsome) face, “if I knew you were going to come to me like that, I would’ve worn something nicer. Or nothing at all.”

“Shut the up, you—”

“Hyukjae!” Sungmin hits the back of his head. “Don’t talk to him like that, you primate! He’s older than you! And he’s my best friend too!”

“It’s just one ing year!” Hyukjae yells back.

“Apologize! Now!”

Hyukjae really, really doesn’t want to. He wants to punch that smirk off Donghae’s (very handsome) face, curse the guy some more, and then find a cave to rot in because of the embarrassment. But Sungmin’s sudden iron grip on his ear stops him from doing any of that. All the other seniors staring at them are not helping either.

“I’m sorry, Donghae-hyung,” he mutters, face burning red in embarrassment and eyes burning with hatred.

The lockers fall silent. Hyukjae tries his hardest to ignore everyone and everything. Sungmin smoulders in anger beside him, and Donghae looks like he’s trying his hardest not to laugh, while everyone else is watching the scene without a sound.

“Oh, you’re so cute, Hyukjae!” Donghae eventually breaks the ice, squealing like a girl and pinching his cheeks with both hands.

“ YOU!” Hyukjae snaps. He shoves Sungmin’s hand away and pushes Donghae with a little more force than necessary. The latter falls on his with a groan, while gasps and shocked whispers fill the room.

“Hyukjae!”

Sungmin is yelling at him, but Hyukjae flips him and his friend the bird, and stomps away from them.

“Your brother is a demon, Sungmin,” someone whispers.

Hyukjae makes sure to slam the door as hard as he can just to confirm that statement.

~*~

The facts are like this: Hyukjae kinda hates Donghae; Donghae likes Hyukjae; Hyukjae kinda likes Donghae as well; Donghae makes fun of Hyukjae a lot; Hyukjae really hates Donghae.

It all started at the New Year’s party Sungmin and Hyukjae held at their house. Their parents were out of town, so the two brothers decided to join all their friends in a big, wild party; the fact that Sungmin’s birthday is on the very first day of the year was a bonus. Hyukjae and Donghae have known each other far longer than that. Being Sungmin’s best friend since middle school, Donghae spent almost as much time with Hyukjae as he did with Sungmin. And being , gay teenagers, an inevitable ual frustration formed between Hyukjae and Donghae. Of course, both of them refused to acknowledge it. So the whole story actually started a few years earlier, but that New Year’s party had been the moment everything changed between the two.

It was all fun and games, booze and a lot of dancing - but mostly booze. Somewhere between stupid drinking games and karaoke, Hyukjae found himself making out with Donghae in front of everyone; and then making out with Donghae in his room. Everything is a blur after that; Hyukjae doesn’t remember what exactly happened even to this day. They woke up the next day all over each other, wearing only underwear. Hyukjae guesses they were too drunk to (Thank God!), but several bite marks painted both their bodies. Once they were awake enough to realize the situation, Donghae kind of looked like he wanted to start all over again. Hyukjae though grabbed some clothes and dashed right out of there.

A few days later, Donghae and Hyukjae’s little ual adventure seemed to be an inside joke throughout the whole high school. Hyukjae being the youngest, of course everyone made fun of him and not Donghae. The elder didn’t make it easier at all; he would sneak up on Hyukjae and act like they’re a couple, and to no end. It only took Hyukjae a week to hate the guy and almost everyone in the school, from the bottom of his heart.

~*~

“What the is wrong with you?!” Sungmin enters his room, slamming the door behind him. If this was a cartoon, red smoke would’ve come out of his ears. “You’re a mothering, son of a—”

Sungmin stops before he says something he would regret. Hyukjae watches his brother try to calm down with wide eyes, scared out of his mind. The elder rarely gets angry, but when he does - all hell breaks loose. Hyukjae swears his heart stopped beating the moment his brother came in.

“You’re a jerk,” Sungming says after taking a few deep breaths. “Donghae is really upset because of you. He almost cried! And he could barely concentrate on the game!”

“Don’t try to guilt-trap me,” Hyukjae mutters. Despite his words, guilt is already eating him from the inside.

“I expect you to apologize first thing tomorrow! And maybe buy him something nice as well.”

“Why should I apologize?!” Hyukjae yells. “I’m the one the whole school is laughing at! I’m the one having to endure stupid jokes and snarky comments!”

Sungmin opens his mouth, but Hyukjae does not allow his brother to say anything. He has a lot of pent up anger, and he can finally let it out now.

“Did you know some of them think Donghae ed me that night just for fun? Or that it was a ing bet between you two? Or that I’m some drama character stuck in a one-sided love with the school’s flower-boy?”

“Hyukjae—”

“And what does Donghae do? He joins in on the fun, obviously ...”

“Hyukjae, I really didn’t know they bully you,” Sungmin says, his voice softer than ever. “Donghae doesn’t know either.”

“You don’t know, but you go around talking to me,” Hyukjae scoffs. “Go take care of your best friend, since he’s clearly the victim, while your jerk younger brother wallows in his misery.”

“Don’t be like this. Let’s talk it out.”

But Hyukjae does not want to talk about anything; especially about Donghae. He turns his back to his brother and buries his head under a pillow.

Maybe if I ignore him, he’ll go away.

No such luck.

Sungmin sits next to him and begins his back, like he used to do when they were little and Hyukjae was scared of storms. Hyukjae barely suppresses the urge to tell him to off.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Sungmin says. “I knew you’re getting teased, but I didn’t know it’s so bad. I will talk to my fellow seniors, tell them to knock it off. And I will talk to Donghae too. You should talk to him as well.”

“I have nothing to say to him.”

“But he has so much to tell you. He’s not being mean on purpose, you know. He teases you because that’s the only way you’ll pay attention to him.”

Hyukjae has indeed avoided Donghae like the plague since New Year’s. That does not justify the elder’s actions though.

Sungmin takes the pillow from him, ignoring his growls and clawing hands. “You two are going to be just fine in no time. Trust me.” He kisses Hyukjae’s head and leaves, laughing at the disgusted sound his brother makes.

~*~

Hyukjae receives a text later that night: Hyukjae, I’m sorry for everything. I’m an idiot and I deserved that meeting with the floor. I’ll even let you kick my if it makes you feel better. But please don’t hate me. I’ll make it up to you, I swear! Just ... don’t hate me. I really, really, really like you.

~*~

A sense of déjὰ-vu envelops Hyukjae as he walks towards the lockers. He’s not rushing this time; this time he walks as slow as he can, dreading the moment when he’ll reach his destination. His purpose is not the same either; for once, he’s not looking for his brother.

The room is as chaotic as last time. No one pays attention to him as he enters, and Hyukjae thinks it’s good to be a nobody again.

He spots Donghae on a bench at the far back, tying his shoe laces, and he walks to him with shaky, irregular steps. When Donghae raises his head and sees him, he jumps to his feet, looking all kinds of panicked.

“H-Hyukjae! Uh, Sungmin should be around here ... s-somewhere,” he stutters, eyes looking anywhere but at the younger.

Hyukjae is pleasantly surprised to see him so flustered, and he thinks it’s his time to shine now. “I’m not looking for Sungmin,” he says, stepping into Donghae’s personal space.

“Oh! Uh— I ... Hyukjae, I—”

The elder seems to struggle with the close proximity and whatever he has to say, and Hyukjae decides to spare him. He’s in a really good mood today.

“Just shut up, you idiot,” he mumbles before trapping Donghae in his arms, one hand going around his waist and the other behind his neck, bringing the elder in a kiss.

Donghae squeaks against his mouth as Hyukjae molds their lips together, and then claws the younger’s shirt like it’s the only thing keeping him together.

Everyone must be looking at them by now, but Hyukjae can’t bring himself to care about anything besides Donghae’s sweet lips moving sensually along his.

“For good luck,” Hyukjae says when they part, and Donghae sighs happily, eyes still closed.

“That’s my brother,” Sungmin snickers, full of pride.

~*~ The end ~*~

A/N: this was supposed to be funny and fluffy, but then it turned emotional halfway. No Idea how that happened.