Basically the title. 

Title: Pining 
Pairing: Daewook (Daehyun x Hyunwook) 

Breath in. Out. In. 

And again.

Hyunwook could feel himself nearing crying with frustration as the familiar ache in his heart came again, this time harder than ever. No matter how much he ran the tap, watch the flow of water stream down the pristine sink, dip his hands into the flowing ice and smother his face with it until he could feel the skin start to peel off and cracking apart, he could still feel his chest nearly hurting with surpressing the emotions that threatened to burst out.

Rinse. Drain. And repeat.

Honestly, if Eunyeon saw him at this state, she would either laugh at him or rush him to her room to get some desperately needed moistorizer onto his skin. Hoseok would probably threaten to beat the subject of his pining up, though it would do anything but help. Jineul would likely laugh at and , like the he always was. Jiae - 

"Hyunnie?"

. He hadn't expected anyone to come finding him, lest of all the object of his obsession. Well, no matter. Splashing his face with the ice cold water to get rid of the warm pricking at his eyes, Hyunwook turned the tap off with a deft motion of his hand, before reaching for his towel, only to curse when he realised he had left it in his room.

"Hyunnie, where are you? You've disappeared into the showering room for nearly half an hour. Are you - "

"I'm fine." He interrupted, then immediately cursed himself out internally at the crack in his voice. "I mean," Hyunwook cleared his throat awkwardly, casting his eyes downwards as footsteps echoed his way, watching the water drip from his face, his hair, his eyes, onto the tiles beneath. "I'm fine." A stronger voice. Not sure if it could fool him, but that was the best he could do right now. 

Under these circumstances. 

"Are you sure? You don't sound - " And that was when he decided to burst into the small corner that Hyunwook managed to find, and rush over to the petite boy. "Hyunnie!"

Feeling instinct wash over him and control his nerves instead of that irritating sense of nervousness, the younger rolled his eyes and pushed the wet strands of his hair back with one hand. "I'm fine, hyung. Didn't you hear me?"

"Your definition of 'fine' and other people's definitions are different, you know." There was a teasing edge to Daehyun's voice, though he could see that the other's shoulders had sagged with relief, and oh god, what the was he wearing and why are his collarbones - 

"Hyunnie?" 

"Sorry." The call of his name immediately snapped him back to attention, and Hyunwook came back to reality with a blinding smile, before turning his back to the older and organising his bag, mentally thankful that he did remember to bring his toothbrush. "I was thinking about the assignment due tomorrow."

"What assignment?" 

Crap. "Erm, the English essay. You didn't take English, remember? God, we had three essays due this week. I nearly died doing the last two." The false, cheery tone didn't suit him, nor did the pseudo-sarcasm pass off as genuine in his ears, but Hyunwook begged silently to whoever was above (and apologised for the number of times he had raised the middle finger at them) to let Daehyun be fooled because he can't know. He can't know anything. 

Luckily, it seemed like his prayers were answered as Daehyun nodded in understanding. "Must be tough. Glad I'm not a humanities student."

"Well, you too." Hyunwook threw back, successfully making the other chuckle, and he started to regain ground in his charming ease once more. "Come on, let's get out of this stinkhole. God, I could feel the steam on my skin."

"You probably need another shower," The older replied, before sniffing cautiously. "Come to think of it, I might need one too."

"Oh, is that a suggestion you're giving, hyung?" Dropping one of his dramatically exaggerated winks, he nudged at Daehyun, who immediately pulled a face. "You know what I mean, Hyunnie."

And he nodded absent-mindedly while fumbling with the strap of his bag, because after that, Hyunwook knew what the older would say. What the older would brush off. 

Because no matter how obvious he was, Daehyun would always brush it off as one of his dramatic antics. He would always see it as a tease, a joke, rather than anything serious.

And Hyunwook didn't mind that. He didn't mind the easy-going friendship he currently had with the senior, didn't mind the late-night texts they share, didn't mind the conversations that they have while riding the bus back to the dorms. He didn't mind anything, so as long there was something shared with Daehyun.

But sometimes, it hurt. And sometimes, when it hit one of the bad days, it made Hyunwook nearly reach for the calloused fingers and entwin them with his. Nearly drop the facade and actually tell him what his feelings were.

Because, by God, does it hurt.