Honestly, nothing is going right today. It’s too damn hot to go to the dance studio and practice his routine for the upcoming competition, but he did it anyway. And now he’s limping back to his apartment, grumbling under his breath.

Sanghyuk is trying to text either Hakyeon or Taekwoon in an attempt to persuade one of them to get some takeaway. That way he wouldn’t also have to make dinner.

[6:57 PM] Hakyeon-hyung:
Sorry, hyogi. I’m not home tonight.

[7:01 PM] Taekwoon-hyung:
Me neither, got work.

[7:02 PM] Hakyeon-hyung:
I think we still have a pizza in the freezer?

[7:02 PM] Sanghyuk:
Okay. Thanks.

He rubs his forehead, wondering when this headache started. Did he drink enough today? He’d tried to… With dance practice and this suffocating heat, he should probably drink a few more liters of water before collapsing into bed in his wish for this awful day to end.

It takes Sanghyuk about ten minutes to find the keys to the apartment, cursing at himself for not having put it in a logical place. It has been buried under his sweaty practice clothes.

As he stumbles into the apartment, he drops his bag on the floor and goes to grab an ice pack from the freezer. Sanghyuk immediately checks if the pizza Hakyeon mentioned is there. Of course, he should’ve known that it isn’t.

Sanghyuk groans, kicking the counter and yelping when he stubs his toe in the process. He guesses that the universe is simply against him today. Clearly nothing is going as planned.

He drops himself onto the sofa and closes his eyes for a second. Just when he’s about to drift off to sleep, he gets rudely woken by his phone buzzing in the pocket of his jeans. He answers the call without checking the ID.

“Yeah?”

A voice Sanghyuk doesn’t recognize says: “Hyung?”

“Uh, who is this?” He checks the caller ID and sees that the number isn’t saved into his phone.

“It’s Jaehwan!” The cheerful voice resounds, before continuing with some hesitation: “Isn’t this Eunkwang-hyung?”

“No?” Sanghyuk says, “I’m Han Sanghyuk.”

“Oh no!” Jaehwan laughs a little and Sanghyuk remains silent. “I’m so sorry. I—I thought I… um… Ah, I think I got the wrong number. I’m so sorry. I hope you have a nice day, Sanghyuk-ssi!”

“Ha. As if.” He grumbles, ready for Jaehwan to just hang up.

But he doesn’t, instead he says: “Why? Did something happen?”

Sanghyuk gets thrown off by that question. The man sounds worried about him. He briefly contemplates hanging up on the stranger, telling him it’s none of his business, but it actually sounds kind of nice to whine to this person who he had no connection to about everything that was going wrong today.

“Do you have a while?” He ends up asking.

Jaehwan laughs and Sanghyuk has to admit that it makes a small smile tug up his own lips as well. “I have all night.”

And that’s how Sanghyuk ends up venting to a stranger over the phone. The call lasts about three hours before he realizes that he hasn’t had any dinner yet.

“Go, eat!” Jaehwan exclaims. He assures him that it’s fine and tells him to text him if he ever wants to call again. When they hang up, Sanghyuk thinks that whining about his ty day actually does help somewhat. That is, until he gets up and twists the same ankle he twisted during practice, turning his mood sour once more.

~

The next morning, Sanghyuk stares at his call log. Jaehwan was nice and he wondered if he’d ever get to talk to the man again. It’s then that he decides to just save the guy’s number into his phone as ‘Nice stranger, Jaehwan-hyung’.

A few minutes later, he’s even sent the guy a text message.

[8:31 AM] Sanghyuk:
Thank you for listening to me complain last night. It made me feel better.

To his surprise, his phone notifies him of a reply about a minute later:

[8:32 AM] Nice stranger, Jaehwan-hyung:
I’m glad I could help. The offer from last night still stands: if you need someone to rant to, I’m here.

[8:32 AM] Sanghyuk:
Same goes for you, hyung.

Everyone is always used to him being in a good mood, but today it is like Jaehwan has a rain cloud stuck above his head and no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t shake that feeling.

In a desperate attempt to get his mood up, he goes to a club that night. He’s drinking and dancing until he can barely walk anymore. Jaehwan doesn’t know how it happens exactly, but he ends up calling Sanghyuk of all people (that is, after Wonsik and Hongbin are so rude as to ignore all his messages).

“Hyung?” Sanghyuk’s voice is laced with sleep. That isn’t strange, seeing as it’s almost 2 AM.

The elder plumbs down on bench at a bus stop: “Hyuk-ah… d’you know that today ?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything!” He exclaims, leaning back and hitting his head against the glass divider painfully. Jaehwan groans, rubbing at the sore spot. “Going out didn’t even cheer me up.” He pouts, even though Sanghyuk won’t be able to see.

“Hyung, are you drunk?” A chuckle escapes the younger.

“Maybe a little? Not that much. Wait, was that my bus?” Jaehwan watches a bus drive away just when he registered that there even was one.

“Did you just miss your bus, hyung? Where are you?”

“Um… like… a thirty minute walk from home. And I definitely can’t walk that far.” He can’t think properly and forming words is a little difficult too. Jaehwan groans in frustration.

“Hyung, what bus stop are you at?”

Jaehwan has to check before telling Sanghyuk the name of the bus stop.

“Wait there, I’ll come over.” And with that, Sanghyuk hangs up.

Jaehwan stares at the screen for a few seconds, muttering ‘rude’ under his breath before closing his eyes and trying to think about how often his bus comes. He’s pretty sure it’s once every thirty minutes, but then again… he could be wrong.

Someone shakes his shoulder and calls his name. It sounds like Sanghyuk, but that doesn’t make any sense. The younger doesn’t even know what he looks like. When he opens his eyes, an incredibly good-looking stranger is leaning over him.

“Jaehwan-hyung?” The guy asks and Jaehwan just gapes at him.

Holy .

If he’d known that Sanghyuk was this damn beautiful, he would’ve flirted with him much more than he had so far.

“Hyung?” The younger asks again.

Jaehwan smiles and drapes his arms over Sanghyuk’s shoulders: “Hyuk-ah…”

Sanghyuk just laughs, moving an arm around Jaehwan’s waist and hoisting him up his feet. “Ah, hyung. Why did you drink so much?”

“I was sad.” Jaehwan explained, “But now I feel better.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” The younger asks as he leads Jaehwan away from the bus stop.

“Because my favourite dongsaeng is here, of course.” He can’t help the broad grin that crosses his lips when Sanghyuk ducks his head as he blushes. He looks adorable.

“I’m taking you to my apartment, okay, hyung? It’s only a five minute walk from here.”

Jaehwan hums, not really paying attention to what Sanghyuk is saying, but rather focusing on the movement of his lips. If only he’d known before that the stranger he’d called accidentally was this handsome…

He’d just have to make up for lost time now, then.

If Sanghyuk had known that picking Jaehwan up from the bus stop meant getting flirted with endlessly by his intoxicated hyung, he might’ve thought twice about going. He’d gotten out of bed for this, after all! But now that Jaehwan is curled up under the covers with him, he can’t get himself to regret his decision.

Sanghyuk had no clue that Jaehwan was this good-looking. If he’d known, he might not have been as comfortable with sharing his troubles with the elder. After all, Sanghyuk didn’t really think much of himself, although all Jaehwan’s compliments from last night did his ego a little.

Jaehwan turns around under the covers and snuggles closer to Sanghyuk. Even if he feels awkward, he gently brushes some hair out of Jaehwan’s face. He looks soft, cute and incredibly tired. Jaehwan must’ve had a hard day today, seeing as he went out by himself to unwind.

~

Sanghyuk wakes up with Jaehwan still asleep in his arms. He imagines that the elder might suffer from a bad hangover after the amount of alcohol he must’ve had last night.

He untangles himself from Jaehwan’s limbs and wanders into the kitchen to start preparing some form of a (hopefully) nutritious meal.

It’s a whole two hours after Sanghyuk started making breakfast that a sleepy-eyed Jaehwan enters the living room. The elder yawns, clearly having grabbed one of Sanghyuk’s sweaters to keep himself warm. They’re too big on him and it looks absolutely adorable.

“Ah, hyung. I made breakfast for us. Sit down.” He reaches out to grabs Jaehwan’s hands, leading him to the table. They take a seat and Sanghyuk watches Jaehwan stare at the food he’d prepared.

“This is amazing…” Jaehwan mumbles, before he looks up to Sanghyuk. He still seems to be half asleep, but when Sanghyuk hands him a glass of water and some painkillers, he smiles. “You’re the best damn dongsaeng.”

“Yeah?” Sanghyuk laughs, scratching the back of his head nervously. “Well, I like you too, hyung. So just… eat up.”

“Like?” The elder frowns, “No, no… this is true love, right here.”