Note: It's been a really long while since I wrote anything, and I just noticed that this story may be confusing at times (yes, there's two years time skip at the beginning) so don't hesitate to point any unclear moments to me!

It was typical that on the first day of school everybody was looking at one another’s wrists. It wasn’t open staring, of course, they weren’t kids anymore. Those were subtle glances at best, not all that much secret since a lot of people willingly presented their forearms to the world, still discreet enough not to be mentioned.

Hyukjae was aware of this and he pulled his sleeves down as his kept his eyes straight ahead.

“You just make yourself more nervous,” Sungmin nodded, all the while looking around his new schoolmates.

“Me?” Hyukjae chuckled. “I’m not the one obsessed to know my soulmate on the first day of school. I’ve got enough stress without romantic drama.”

“You are such a snob, you know that?”

“Screw you, man.”

It was expected that new school would be just another opportunity to go crazy about finding potential candidates. Hyukjae did the math – it was very unlike to meet his match on this exact day. And if was written in the stars – like his grandma used to say – it could as well wait until he got his schedule. It wasn’t that urgent.

-

In reality, Hyukjae was about as excited to meet his match as any other person. It was a big deal. Most people ended up married to their soulmates, his parents had matching numbers on their wrists – it was only natural.

Hyukaje wasn’t against the idea. In fact, he was anticipating the moment he’d meet his perfect match.

He often fantasied, hoped for a perfect girl. He imagined her to be cute and lovely, also liking dancing, and being cool and funny, something like his best buddy. He had a basic idea, because he refused to think that the system didn’t know what they do.

He also knew that meeting your soulmate was beyond the control of one’s will.

So he just let it be.

-

On his senior year he started dating a girl named Minjung who just joined his dance class. They clicked from the day one and after few weeks of beating around the bush they gave it a chance. Her number also was yet to be found, but unlike most people, she wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

“My parents aren’t matching numbers,” she shrugged when Hyukjae asked her about it. “You can still fall in love without that thing, you know.”

Hyukjae knew. He had few girlfriends in high school and one broken heart over his unreachable teacher crush, so he knew all about falling in love.

Still, he was curious what will happen when he finally meet his soulmate.

-

“Mind if I share this place?”

Hyukjae looked up at the voice and saw a guy with books, photography gear and a jar, all stuffed in his arms.

“I guess,” he said, scooting over the picnic table. It was the lunch break and since the weather was especially warm that autumn, he enjoyed his meal outside.

“Thank you!” said the guy, smiling with relief as he set his stuff on the table with a messy thud. “You are Hyukjae, right?”

Hyukjae squinted his eyes, trying to remember if they knew each other. The guy looked familiar – medium length brown hair pulled in a messy ponytail, a blue t-shirt with Marvel characters and a lot of jewelry on his hands. He couldn’t place where he  saw this person.

“I’m Donghae,” he said with knowing smile. “I saw your last dance performance at the school production. It was really cool.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Hyukjae replied, still not knowing if they ever met before. “You seem familiar, but..”

“Ahh, I’m on the football team, photography and biology courses and I sometimes write for our school newspaper. Any bells?”

“I probably know you from everything,” Hyukjae laughed.

“Probably,” Donghae smiled with all his teeth.

Hyukjae watched as he rummaged through his stuff, opened one of the books and then picked up the jar which turned out to contain some kind of a bug.

“Sorry,” Donghae murmured when he accidentally poked Hyukjae’s meal in the process of making room for his things.

“That’s okay.. What are you doing?”

Donghae took  the jar and looked at Hyukjae. “You probably wouldn’t want to hold this cutie for a sec?” he asked instead, his smile shy.

“I might, but what’s that?” he asked, looking at the bug more closely. It looked innocent enough but one could never be too sure.

“It’s a...” Donghae looked into the opened book “Pyronota festiva. Makuka beetle if you will. I make a presentation about insects that can be found in our school yard. Pretty cute, huh?”

“I guess,” Hyukjae said. The bug indeed seemed kind of pretty. “And why do I need to hold it?”

“The lighting is perfect just where you seat. I need to snap few shots.”

Hyukjae took the jar and opened the lid, carefully scooping the bug onto his palm. It was surprisingly cooperative. Donghae prepared his camera and skillfully shot pictures from different angles. When he was done, he moved backwards and pointed the camera at Hyukjae, taking the last picture.

“Now,” he said, lowering the camera and smiling. “You can set Rudolf free.”

Hyukjae laughed. “You named it?”

“I had to call him something, right?” Donghae insisted. “And look at his antennas – don’t they look like reindeers antlers?”

They didn’t, in Hyukjae’s opinion, but for some reason he found himself agreeing to anything those eager puppy eyes asked him.

-

“I heard you hang out with Donghae,” Sungmin said when they were going to school one day.

In the past two years their friendship seemed to loosen up a bit, especially when Sungmin met his match, a cute girl named Saeun and they were inseparable ever since. Not that Hyukjae had anything against her – she was great and really friendly, but a romantic relationship had its rights and there was suddenly a lot less room for Hyukjae.

“Yeah, he’s cool,” Hyukjae said.  “Everybody seem to know him. How come I’m late for the party?”

“You are socially impaired,” Sungmin stated and Hyukjae laughed. “But you know, he not always has been that popular. Poor kid, he had pretty nasty first year, with the bulling and all.”

“What? Really? Why?” Hyukjae asked, genuinely shocked how could anybody be mean to Donghae.

“You know he’s…?” Sungmin looked at him with furrowed brows.

“He’s what?”

“Remember that anti hate bashing campaign  in our school?”

Hyukjae searched memory. “On the first year? The LGBT thingy, right?”

“Yeah. It was after Donghae was hospitalized.”

Hyukjae jaw dropped. He remembered the campaign, but he never really knew that there was this kind of incident.

“Hospitalized?”

“They’ve beaten up him so badly..” Sungmin shook his head. “I think he missed two months in school.”

“Just because he’s gay?!”

Now Hyukjae started to realized he was pretty blind at the problem. He knew of course how being gay was still somehow frowned upon by ignorant s, but he didn’t know it struck that close home.

“They were expelled and Donghae got the best help, but yeah.. Such a sad story.”

“How come I didn’t know about it?” Hyukjae wondered.

“You knew he was gay, though?” Sungmin asked.

“Sure, not like it’s a secret, right?” Hyukjae shrugged. “I met his boyfriend the other day.”

“Really? Wow.”

“What, they are so fun, I tell you,” Hyukjae smiled, remembering the afternoon they had spent at Donghae’s place, playing video games for few hours. “Seunghyun really knows his stuff.”

“Well, I’m surprised,” Sungmin said. “Not many straight people are friends with gays.”

“What the , man?” Hyukjae frowned. “It’s twenty first century last time I checked.”

“Yeah, but…” Sungmin stopped walking to look at Hyukjae. “Aren’t you concerned.. You know..”

“What the hell are you talking about? It’s not some kind of contagious disease, why are we even discussing it?”

“You are right,” Sungmin sighed. “I’m sorry.”

-

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” Donghae murmured, hugging his knees on Hyukjae’s bed and resting his chin on them. “It just never came up and it’s not something I like to talk about.”

Hyukjae was slightly hurt that he was kept in the dark, but looking at Donghae’s saddened face and his timid eyes asking for forgiveness just broke his heart.

“It’s okay,” he assured gently. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“That’s fine.. I just- I thought you knew.”

Hyukjae sighed. For the last couple months Donghae and him became really close friends. From the day he had to hold a bug for Donghae’s photoshoot, they suddenly started seeing each other everywhere. Passing on corridors, having mutual friends, sitting at the same table at lunch breaks – it was only natural.

Donghae was the most friendly person he ever knew; always helpful – and he had multiple skills that he could be helpful with –always positive about every situation (“I only got fifty percent on the math test.. Oh well, guess I’m finally qualified enough to be in Mr. Cho’s tutoring class. Did you know Amber’s also there? I have to ask her where she learned to make those stunning cinemagraphs.”) He was this kind of person that blinded you with their bright personality and you felt equally privileged and amazed when they considered you their friend.

However, even though Donghae seemed to be friends with everybody in the school, Hyukjae couldn’t deny that he prided himself in being Donghae’s best friend. He was surprised at first when Donghae started talking to him regularly, then he embraced his constant presence like it was always this way.

He liked how easy Donghae was to be around. He always had something to say and even when Hyukjae was more reserved most of the time, Donghae didn’t seem to be fazed. He treated Hyukjae like the most precious gift he has ever received and Hyukjae developed endless storage of fondness for his cheerful nature.

That’s why the news of him being bullied in the past shocked and distressed him so much.

He wanted to smash someone’s face every time he thought about it.

-

“Hey, why the sour face?” Donghae said instead of the greeting, as he approached Hyukjae.

It was almost six pm and school was empty, only the students with extra activities were still hanging around. Hyukjae closed his locker.

“Minjung broke up with me.”

“What happened?” Donghae asked, his eyes going wide. “I thought you were fine.”

“Yeah, but.. she met her match,” Hyukjae said, rubbing his eye with back of his palm. “She said she needed the time to figure things out.. I guess she really likes him.”

“I’m sorry,” Donghae said, putting hand onto Hyukjae’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it .”

They stood there in silence and Hyukjae felt like crying. Not because he was all that heartbroken - he really liked Minjung but their relationship was more convenient than anything.

It still really hurt to be rejected, though.

“Need a hug?” Donghae asked and when Hyukjae looked up, he realized Donghae was serious.

“Yeah,” he found himself saying.

Donghae put his arms around Hyukjae shoulders and pulled him closer. After a beat, Hyukjae pressed his face into the crook of Donghae’s neck and sighed, his sadness drowning in comfort.

 -

Hyukjae’s least favorite class was chemistry but he figured that if he wanted his engineer degree in the future, it was best to take few extending courses. His grades were fine, but not great and if it took hanging around stuck up s for few hours a week to reach his goal, Hyukjae was ready for it.

“Heard you turned gay, Lee. That true?”

Hyukjae looked at the guy who had spoken. He was about to leave the classroom but the words held him back.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me,” the guy smirked. Hyukjae practically didn’t know him except of this course.

“The hell you care?”

“Just curious,” Kiwoo – Hyukjae remembered his name – shrugged. “I guess this Donghae guy is just about as filthy as I though.”

Hyukjae strode up to him. “What the you just said?”

“Your kind shouldn’t be allowed to walk around,” Kiwoo spit. “You ing unnatural preve—“

The rest of the words died on his lips as soon as Hyukjae swung and punched him right in the nose. Kiwoo screamed in surprise and launched himself immediately at Hyukjae, throwing him on the nearest desk. Hyukjae fought back, trying to kick him but he was held and punched on the lips.

They tossed onto the floor, Hyukjae’s furry keeping him from feeling anything.

“Hey, stop it!”

They both looked in surprise when they heard the yelling. Donghae was already at their side, trying to pull Hyukjae away from the fight. “Stop it, what are you doing?! Do you want to get expelled?”

“Hey, look who’s there,” Kiwoo laughed darkly, standing up as soon he was out of Hyukjae’s reach. “Your knight in shining armor. How disturbing.”

“Shut the up, you ing—“

“Hyukjae, stop it.”

Only now Hyukjae realized that Donghae, who was still holding him back, was shaking all over. When he looked at his face, he saw pure horror, Donghae’s eyes wide and terrified.

He breathed harshly few times.

“Let’s go,” he said, trying to force himself to calm down.

Luckily for both of them, Kiwoo didn’t offer any more comments because Hyukjae wasn’t sure how solid his composure was.

-

“What were you thinking? Are you crazy? You can’t just getting into fights! What your parents will tell!”

“Donghae, calm down.”

They were in the school bathroom. Donghae already had wet paper towels and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and he was about to threat Hyukjae when he started his nervous rambling.

“I am calm!” he shouted.

Hyukjae never saw him like that and it scared him.

He tried his best soothing voice. “It’s okay, Donghae. Nothing happened.”

“You were in a fight! I never knew you could—“

“It’s okay, Donghae, really. Look, I’m completely fine,” he gestured down at himself but realized he had blood on his shirt. He took it off. “It’s nothing, please, calm down and I will tell you everything.”

Donghae sat lifelessly at the floor and put his face into hands. He mumbled something.

“I know I scared you,” Hyukjae  approached him slowly and sat beside him. “I’m sorry. It was just this ing bastard…” Hyukjae breathed. “He was saying bad things about you.”

Donghae peered from behind his hands and blinked. “About me?”

“Yeah.. that you, I don’t know, turned me gay or something and he was..”

“You were defending me?” Donghae eyes were wide.

“Yes,” Hyukjae said, for some reason feeling blush on his cheeks.

“I--” Donghae stared openly at Hyukjae. Then to Hyukjae’s horror, he blinked and a tear slid down his cheek. Hyukjae wiped it away, feeling clueless of what else to do.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Donghae whispered, his eyes still on Hyukjae.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t scare me like—” Donghae cut himself off as he focused his eyes on Hyukjae’s hand. His jaw dropped suddenly.

“What?” Hyukjae asked.

Donghae didn’t say anything, just took his hand, wrist facing up. Then he slowly looked into Hyukjae’s eyes.

“Um, Hyukjae..” his lips quivered.

“Yeah?”

Donghae turned and took off his own watch, his hands shaking. He extended his exposed wrist to Hyukjae’s view.

Hyukjae’s heart missed few beats.

A perfect match. They had the exact same number on their wrists.

“Holy .”

-

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the prom? It’s a big night.”

“I’m sure, mom,” Hyukjae sighed. “It’s bit too late for this now, isn’t it?”

“What about Donghae?”

“What about him?”

“Is he going?”

“With his boyfriend, I think.”

“He’s such a nice boy, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae chuckled at his mom neverending love for Donghae. “Why are we talking about him?”

“You two spend so much time together, I’m surprised you didn’t want to make it double date or something.”

 “We see each other all the time, mom. He can have this night for his boyfriend only.”

He was lying. Donghae didn’t have a boyfriend anymore. And they hadn’t spoken since Hyukjae realized they were soulmates.

-

He wasn’t disappointed at first. Shocked - sure. He didn’t understand how the system could up his match that greatly. Wasn’t it supposed to be a girl?

He wanted to marry his soulmate, like everybody in the world. Why his match had to be a guy?

Sure, he loved Donghae in a way – he was his best, the most cherished friend and yeah, he could fall in love with a girly version of somebody like that, but still – Donghae? It wasn’t right.

He was disappointed that he couldn’t even tell his parents that he had a match. They would be probably all over the place, all supportive and assuming things they shouldn’t. It was better off a secret.

And then Donghae..

He seemed to be equally disappointed. Suddenly he stopped talking to Hyukjae, going all awkward around him, like it was his fault that they were born with the same stupid number on their wrists.

Something like heavy tension hung between them all of sudden. It was best to keep things calm for a while. Hyukjae didn’t really know what else to do.

-

On the prom night, Hyukjae considered going out with friends from the dance group but eventually decided against it. He wasn’t in the mood. The last year of school was exhausting – he though when he was lying in his bed, a pack of candy in tuck and sullen pout on his face.

He wasn’t sure why he was so moody, but the last couple of weeks gave him the basic idea. His exams went fine, about as expected, but they gave him no time to anything other than studying and sleeping. His dance group was about to come apart, once they finished school.

He still didn’t know if the schools he applied to accepted him, but he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to go anywhere. Maybe he should have just give himself a year off?

And Donghae.. Their unexpected discovery left them strangely separated and he realized he was really uncomfortable with it. Nothing was right those days.

His phone started vibrating so he checked it lazily, only to see that Donghae was calling him. His hands started shaking.

“Hello?”

“Hyukjae?” Donghae’s voice came shaky. “Are you home?”

“Yes, what’s up?” Hyukjae immediately knew that something was wrong.

“Can I come over?” Donghae asked, uncertain.

“Sure, but..”

“I’m sorry,” Donghae said, stuttering. “I couldn’t think about anyone else..”

“Do you need me to get you?” Hyukjae asked, already looking for some pants. “Where are you?”

“N-no, it’s fine..” Donghae sniffed. “I’m almost there.”

“Okay, I’m waiting.”

He run downstairs, finding his parents in the living room.

“Mom, dad, Donghae is coming over but something is wrong, so..”

“What happened?” his mom interrupted, frowning.

“I don’t know yet, but can you guys hang back for a bit? I think he was crying.”

“Oh my god, maybe he needs help. Should I call someone?”

“I don’t know, but let me find out and don’t jump on him, okay?”

“Alright, but if something bad happened to him, I’m calling the police.”

Hyukjae opened the door before Donghae even knocked. He looked fine at first glance, no signs of violence and Hyukjae heaved a breath of relief.

“Come in,” he said gently, guiding Donghae inside.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know where to go.”

He still had his prom suit on, but he didn’t look festive. His hair was messy, his shirt opened and he looked about as distressed as Hyukjae felt.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Hyukjae only said.

Donghae stood in Hyukjae’s bedroom for a moment as if he couldn’t decide what to do. Hyukjae closed the door behind them and in an instant he went to hug Donghae. Whatever happened, it looked like some comfort was in store.

“Thank you,” Donghae breathed after a moment.

Hyukjae pointed him to take a seat on the bed, and Donghae took of his jacked first, then climbed beside Hyukjae.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“I..” Donghae wasn’t looking at him. “I was at the prom with Seunghyun, you know?”

Of course, Hyukjae knew. They decided to go together even though they broke up few weeks before, since they were good friends and they had been together for almost a year.

“And everything was fine at first, but he was drinking and when we went outside, we started talking, you know remembering some stuff and he said that he still loved me and he wanted to give us another chance.” Donghae sighed heavily, shaking his hand. “I was so confused when he kissed me. I thought we had this behind and I didn’t really want it, but he insisted and… I don’t know how but we started arguing, then shouting and he told me so many mean things, Hyukjae..”

There was another sniff and Hyukjae put his palm onto Donghae’s hand. “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me.”

“No, it’s just… He told me that was my fault that we broke up, that I spent too much time with you and didn’t even care about him, and it’s not true, because I really cared about him, but now.. I don’t know.”

To be completely honest, Hyukjae was relieved. He pushed back the urge to smile when he put an arm around Donghae and hugged him again.

“I’m sorry that it happened to you, but” he said after a moment, when they leaned comfortably against each other. “I need to go to my parents and tell them that you are fine because they wanted to call the police when you phoned.”

Donghae laughed lightly through his nose.

When Hyukjae got back upstairs, he had two bottles of Soju with him.

“Mom said that we can have it, since it’s the prom night and all,” he smiled. “Go get change in something more comfortable. You are staying, right?”

Donghae indeed was staying. They washed up, and lazed around Hyukjae’s room. Hyukjae clinked his bottle to Donghae’s as they set up Playstation. They played for two hours, their attempts failing in proper proportion to their decreasing alcohol.

“I think I’m drunk,” Donghae finally said, throwing the controller on the floor.

Hyukjae laughed and leaned onto the bed. He felt nice buzz in his head, an urge to giggle without a reason.

That night seemed oddly strange.

He looked at Donghae who had his eyes closed and a dreamy smile gracing his lips. It was nice to have him there again, Hyukjae thought. With Donghae wearing his pajamas, sitting on the floor of his room he felt the tension of the last couple weeks disappearing completely.

“Who would have thought, huh,” Donghae said, his eyes still closed.

“Hmm?” Hyukjae smiled.

Donghae only reached out his hand and offered his wrist to Hyukjae.

“Oh..” Hyukjae’s smile flattered. “Yeah.”

“Are we going to talk about it?”

Hyukjae sighed. It was about as good time as ever.

“I guess,” he finally said.

“Are you..” Donghae looked at him and then looked down, frowning. “Are you upset about it?”

“Upset?” Hyukjae thought. “No. I’m surprised though.”

“I thought you hated it,” Donghae said, still not looking at him.

“I don’t.” With a sigh, he took Donghae’s hand and interlaced their fingers. Donghae looked up. “I’m kind of confused, you know?”

They went silent for a while, Hyukjae thinking about what to say. He was so happy that Donghae was talking to him again that he couldn’t even remember why he was upset in the first place.

“Do you think..” Donghae started and looked around the room, avoiding his gaze. “Do you think you could.. hypothetically.. do you think you could love me some day?”

Hyukjae felt Donghae’s shiver when the words were finally out of his mouth. He shivered himself.

He had prepared the answer for this. He was going to say No, Donghae. I love you as a friend, and I’m honored to be your soulmate, but I can’t love you like you want me to love you, I’m sorry.

But he looked at Donghae now, finally catching his gaze, feeling his shaking palm between his fingers… He suddenly thought that Donghae’s eyes were really pretty, dark and gentle, looking at him intently, with mix of understanding and sadness. He thought that his lips looked kind of pretty too.

“I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “It’s not something I’ve ever imagined.”

“Of course,” Donghae hung his head. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Donghae?”

They looked at each other, a moment of tension stopping Hyukjae’s breath. Then he leaned in, only briefly catching surprise in Donghae’s eyes as he kissed him. Lips on lips, Hyukjae’s heart abnormally fast. The feeling of soft skin when he reached out and put his other hand on Donghae’s cheek.

His eyes were damp when he opened them.

Donghae looked even more confused.

“I guess it wasn’t half bad,” Hyukjae chuckled, feeling completely insane.

Donghae smiled through his own drunk dizziness.

“I guess it wasn’t.”

Intentionally, I wanted this story to be simple and short (having the inspiration story in mind) but somehow it didn't happen. And hey, it's kinda schoolAU now, huh? Who would have thought..

Thank you all for subscribing! I hope you like it so far ^^ The next update will be very soon, I'm probably going to post the whole story this week :)