Tobacco kills more than six million people each year,
translating to one smoking-related death every five seconds.
That is a million more deaths than those occurring each year as a result
of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.

 

Doyoung glared as the barista chuckled after reading the note he stuck onto the reusable cup he handed. “This isn’t a joke, Yuta-ssi” he muttered, still glaring at the now laughing male.

 

“When will you stop, Doyoung-ssi?” Yuta asked, his tone clearly mocking the younger. He smiled sweetly as he handed the change to the now seething male which made the pre-med student angrier, if that were even possible.

 

“Until you ing stop smoking or die of lung cancer, whichever comes first.” Doyoung replied, taking his change before he took his leave, not sparing the amused male another glance.

-o-

“Ugh, he is so impossible to deal with, Jae. You have no idea!” Doyoung rambled to his best friend, Jung Jaehyun, as he sat down next to him. “He just doesn’t listen! If he wants to die that early then so be it! Let him smoke all the packs of cigarettes he wants and let him drop dead for all I care!”

 

“Then stop caring.”

 

“Jae, you know I can’t do that” He grumbled, leaning his head on his friend’s shoulder as he continued. “You know why I’m like this. And I can’t give up this easily until he stops smoking, you know that.”

 

Of course Jaehyun knows the reason why he’s acting like this with a complete stranger. His father was a smoker. It was fine when he was just starting out, only using it when he was stressed or if he wanted to relax. But his father started to grow addicted to the stick that he

smoked a pack or two every day.

 

Doyoung loved his father, how could he not when he was the only one who raised him when his mom left them when he was little. It was just him and his father. But because of his constant smoking, it didn’t take long until he got sick that he had to quit his job and practically live at the hospital when they found out he had lung cancer. Doyoung, who was barely 15 during that time, had to juggle different part time jobs just to keep him and his father alive.

 

It was 3 years of him getting little to no sleep with taking care of his father, his job and school when his father’s lungs gave out. He cried on Jaehyun’s shoulder after receiving the call from the hospital. It was hard losing the only family he had left, and it hurt more knowing that he could have prevented it from happening. He could have stopped his father from smoking during the early stages, but he didn’t and that’s what he regretted the most.

 

“Then annoy him until he stops, you’re good at that” Jaehyun said, lightening the mood. It seemed to work as Doyoung was now hitting the now screeching male with a book.

-o-

Doyoung was on his way back to the café again. No matter how much he hated the barista, he still loved the café and nothing was stopping him from going there not even a Japanese male who seemed to enjoy making his life a living hell.

 

And maybe Doyoung planned on annoying him like Jaehyun suggested. He was that desperate.

 

Doyoung opened the café with a small jingle and proceeded to the counter. Upon arriving, he noticed how instead of seeing the annoying smirk the Japanese male usually had everytime he saw Doyoung, he saw a bright smile from a tiny Thai male instead.

 

“Hey Ten!” Doyoung greeted as he placed the pre-written sticky note in his back pocket as he handed his reusable cup with his other hand. “Where’s Yuta?” He continued but immediately regretted as he saw the teasing smirk the tiny male sent him. “Oh you know I don’t mean it like that!” he tried reasoning but it only intensified the Thai’s expression. “You know what, forget I asked.”

 

Ten laughed as he blended the drink Doyoung ordered. “You know I’m just messing with you, I know you didn’t miss Satan’s evil twin brother as you would like to call him” He said, pouring the drink he made in the reusable cup. “And I guess he’s finally going back to where he belongs.” He added with a shrug.

 

“What do you mean?” Doyoung asked, confused of what the owner of his favorite café said.

 

“He’s at the hospital right now. My boyfriend called me yesterday saying how he had to rush Yuta to the hospital yesterday.” Ten replied, handing the cup to the younger male.

 

Doyoung’s heart beat nervously but tried to act nonchalant as he asked, “Why? What happened to him?”

 

“It’s cause he’s smoking all the time, he should’ve saw it coming” Ten said with a ‘tsk’ before greeting the next customer.

 

Upon hearing the words, it was as if the events in the past with his father came back. Flashbacks of how hard his father’s life was lying in the hospital bed just waiting for his lungs to give up. How his father tried to get cured but nothing seemed to work. He knew it wasn’t the same, with Yuta being just a mere stranger for him. But that didn’t stop him from panicking and cutting the customer mid-order and frantically asked Ten which hospital and what room he was in.

 

“Doyoung, calm down okay? He’s fine. It’s nothing serious.” Ten mumbled as he quickly scribbled the details down. As soon as he got the paper, he immediately dashed outside not even caring to hear what Ten had to say.

He immediately went to the place Ten had written down and sped to his room. He immediately went inside not bothering to knock and started rambling.

 

“I told you! I told you this would happen but did you listen? NO! Did you even stop and read those sticky notes I gave you and thought about your health for once? Of course you didn’t! And now you’re here, stuck in a hospital bed and probably dying.” Doyoung paused and took a breath, his eyes were closed as he tried to stop the tears from falling even more. He took a shaky breath before he continued.

“You should have listened! But now it’s too late. You’ve got cancer and you’re dying and –“

 

“Who has cancer?”

 

Doyoung finally looked up and saw how Yuta was lying in bed looking at him with a pizza hanging on his hand with the box on his chest and him looking not so very cancer patient-y.

 

“Supposedly, you?” Doyoung asked unsurely.

 

“What made you say that?”

 

And Doyoung tells him about what Ten told him which only earned a laugh from the older. “Well, what he said was partly true. I was just trying to pick up my pack on the street and didn’t see the motorcycle approaching me, which now leads me to this.” Yuta explained as he gestured towards his broken leg which was covered in a cast that Doyoung somehow managed to overlook.

 

“I feel stupid and embarrassed and I just want to run outside and hide in my house and probably never show myself to anyone ever again. I’ll move to another country if I have to”

 

Yuta stopped Doyoung from rambling even more as he held onto the younger male’s hand. “Woah there, no one’s moving to another country, okay? It’s fine. You’re not embarrassing. I won’t laugh at you I promise!” he assured the younger with a light squeeze.

 

“I do have a question though—" Yuta started

 

“Why do you care so much, Doyoung?”

 

“I… I honestly don’t know.” Doyoung mumbled as he played with his ring, a nervous habit he never got rid of. “I just—I just do and just—” He paused and took a shaky breath. “Please, tell me what should I do to stop you from smoking. I don’t want a repeat of this, but instead of finding you with pizza, I’d see you with tubes around you instead.”

 

“Hmm” Yuta scrunched his face as if he was thinking very deeply (or stupidly, if you asked Doyoung) before he exclaimed, “A kiss!”

 

“What?”

 

“A kiss. You can stop me with a kiss.” He clarified. “Whenever I feel like smoking, you can just go ahead and smooch me and problem solved”

 

“You’re crazy” Doyoung concluded as he stood up to leave.

 

“Well, suit yourself. But guess who you’ll be seeing in this hospital with tubes in the future” Yuta sing-sang and laughed when he saw the younger male unwillingly went back to his seat.

 

“I hate you” Doyoung grumbled.

 

“Hmm, I feel like taking a smoke now, would you mind?” Yuta exclaimed, tapping on his lips teasingly, taunting the younger.

 

“I seriously ing hate you right now.” Doyoung grumbled before reluctantly pecking the Japanese male on the lips, cringing hard after he’d done so.

-o-

 

It was three days after that Yuta was allowed to leave the hospital. The three days were uneventful except for giving Ten the shock of his life when he found the two of them kissing when the Thai male went to visit.

 

Doyoung frantically tried to stop him from screaming and explained to him their deal to which Ten only laughed at before he continued teasing them.

 

It was awkward at first, kissing the person he hated the most. But as the weeks passed, he started to get used to it that he stopped cringing after the first week. It was just a peck on the lips and nothing more and Doyoung knows it didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. But as the odd routine continued, the kisses lingered a little longer. Touches were suddenly involved. But Doyoung placed that at the back of his mind, excusing it as just wanting it to be more effective. And honestly who is he even kidding, he liked the guy. He knows this but he still continued.

-o-

 

It was the day when Yuta needed to get his cast removed and Doyoung decided to accompany him. It took a little over an hour for Yuta to finish his session and Doyoung was beside him right away. He still needed to undergo a bit of rehabilitation to get him back completely on his feet.

 

“A few more weeks and I’ll be running free again” Yuta exclaimed with a sigh as he plopped on his couch when they arrived. “Damn, my other leg looks smaller compared to the healthy one” He stated, examining his legs even further as he wiggled his toes.

 

“Yeah, go ahead and run free. You’ll probably break your leg again in a week” Doyoung muttered as he tossed the keys on the table before plopping down next to the Japanese male.

 

“Aww, will my personal nurse miss taking care of me when I get better?” Yuta cooed, squishing the younger’s cheeks.

 

“Stop it” Doyoung grumbled, slapping Yuta’s hand away.

 

“Oh what’s this?” Yuta exclaimed as he tried to sit upright to get a better view of the younger. “Is Doyoungie not having the energy to fight me today? Is it finally the end of the world? Do the angels finally hear – wait why are you crying?” He stopped teasing the younger when he noticed the single tear that fell from the younger’s eye.

 

“I’m not cry—” Doyoung tried to deny but a sob escaped his lips before tears flooded his eyes.

Yuta immediately cradled the younger’s face with his hand as he tried to wipe the tears with his thumb. “I’m just…I’m just so relieved. I’m so relieved that you’re finally better. And that… And that you’re really not having cancer. And… and… and I’m just so relieved” Doyoung tried to explain, sometimes hiccupping in the middle.

 

He doesn’t know why he’s crying. He knows he shouldn’t even really care but with taking care of Yuta in the hospital gave him flashbacks of when his father was in the same position. He knows it’s different, of course it is. Yuta doesn’t have cancer, not like his dad, he knows that. But during these past few weeks of being with the older male and seeing how he never saw him take a smoke in those days gave him hope. He was happy, he was not gonna lose another person to that cancer stick again.

 

“Shhh, Doyoung-ah it’s fine. I’m good, see? I’ll be out of your hair in no time” He tried to joke but the tears in the younger’s eyes still continued to fall. Yuta can’t help but admire the younger’s tear-stained face up close. He can’t believe that someone could still look beautiful even if he had tears and snot on his face.

 

He's beautiful. Yuta had always thought so. The moment the younger male nagged him about how smoking would kill him and all those scientific that Yuta didn’t even listen to as he was too busy staring at the bunny looking male.

 

Yuta grew fond of the male as days passed by. He knows he should’ve found it annoying how the younger male seemed to nag nonstop to a stranger he shouldn’t even care about. But Yuta found it endearing how despite not even knowing the male well, he still took his time into trying to make Yuta stop smoking even going as far as indulging Yuta of his ridiculous request just for him to stop.

 

And maybe being with him and being taken care of him made Yuta realize that after all this is over, he still wanted to be with the male. And although this sounds crazy coming from a man his age, he still wanted to be taken care of. Maybe he wasn’t ready to let the constantly nagging male go just yet.

“Doyoung, I think I want to smoke a pack” Yuta mumbled before surging in and took the younger’s lips with his own. They’ve kissed more than a dozen times, with Yuta having fun of Doyoung’s expressions every time he wanted to ‘smoke a stick’ but this was different. Instead of a short peck or 2-3 seconds of unmoving lips pressed onto each other, this was completely different.

 

Yuta tested the waters and slowly moved his lips and when the younger responded, all his restraint were washed away as he stuck his tongue out and glided it on the younger’s lips, asking for entrance to which Doyoung willfully obliged.

 

Yuta pulled Doyoung to climb on his lap and as the younger was comfortable, he continued to attack his lips. A few moans slipped out of the younger’s lips as Yuta’s hands were running circles on the younger’s waist.

 

They let go of each other, panting as they tried to catch their breaths. And when Yuta blissfully looked at the younger, all the happiness was washed away as he saw the younger’s panicked expression. “I—This was a mistake. I’m sorry. I need to go.” Doyoung rambled as he frantically stood up from where he was seated on the Japanese male’s lap and ran to God knows where.

 

-o-

 

“Jae” The tear-stained face and the shaky voice of his best friend was what Jaehyun was greeted with when he opened the door of his apartment. “I messed up.”

 

Jaehyun pulled the older male to an embrace before he guided him to his couch. “What happened?” he asked as soon as they sat down.

 

“We kissed.” Doyoung mumbled as he tried to hide his face with the throw pillow.

 

The younger of the two wasn’t having any of it and moved the pillow away from the older male’s face. “Come on, talk to me properly here.” He said, tossing aside the pillow after he successfully removed it. “You kissed. And then? What’s wrong with that? Didn’t you say you kissed all the time to make him stop smoking?”

 

“I know!” Doyoung exclaimed, raising his hand as if trying to make a point. “But this was different. It wasn’t the usual peck like we mostly did. The whole atmosphere was different and it was weird and I just kind of pushed him away after and told him it was a mistake.”

 

“Did you think it was a mistake?”

 

There was a long pause before Doyoung softly answered, “No.”

 

“Did you regret telling him that it was a mistake?”

 

Again, another long pause before he answered a soft, “Yes”

 

“Then tell him. Tell him it wasn’t a mistake tell him how regret what you did. Just be honest with him.”

 

“But..”

 

“Do you want to lose him?”

 

“…No”

 

“Do you want to be with him?”

 

“…Yes”

 

“Then tell him that! If you won’t be honest with him, then you’re gonna lose him at this rate. Just, listen to what your heart tells you.”

And maybe Doyoung will.

 

-o-

 

“Are you having fun making me look like a fool?” Doyoung asked seriously at the shocked male in front of him. He was on his way to apologize to the older male and finally tell him how he felt after hours of convincing from his best friend about what he should do but when he saw Yuta take out a cigarette from its case. All he could see was red as he angrily marched towards the male and harshly pulled the cigarette of the older male’s hand.

 

“Do you laugh behind my back for all the I go through just because you want to?” He continued, angry tears falling from his eyes. He felt so betrayed, so used. “I ing wasted my goddamn time on you” Angrily wiping his tears away, he turned away and was ready to leave but Yuta held onto his wrist, prompting him to stop.

 

“Doyoung, please let me explain.”

 

“Explain what? Explain how fun it was making me kiss you just for you to stop smoking? How fun it was to ”

 

“Doyoung just please look at the cigarette your holding.”

 

“Why do I need to look at a goddamn cigarette. I ing know what a cigarette is you er. I’m not stupid!”

 

“Doie please.”

 

“What? Is this cigarette going to cure cancer? Because I seriously doubt…that” Doyoung stopped his rambling as he took a good look at the cigarette stick or what seemed like it on his hand. It looked pretty similar to a cigarette but if you took a closer look at it you’d notice how it it was just a piece of paper wrapped around a cylindrical mold made to look like a cigarette.

 

He looked up questionably at the older male asking through his eyes questions he can’t seem to utter at the moment. He had finally calmed down from his high but he was confused, very confused to be exact.

 

“It’s a chocolate cigarette.” Yuta said, answering one of the many questions in Doyoung’s mind. “Ten told me to buy them when I told him I wanted to quit smoking, said it helped his boyfriend when he tried to quit.” He continued, looking straight at the younger male. “I know it looks stupid, using a child’s snack as a substitute for cigarettes but I wanted to quit for you.” He finished, voice going softer at the last two words that he doesn’t know if the other male even heard it.

 

And if Doyoung heard it or not, he did not let it show as he asked, “Since when?” when he finally got to organize his brain and ask a question.

 

“Probably the third time you gave me those notes. You were so determined that day that I knew I had to stop.”

 

“But…that was months ago.”

 

“I know” Yuta muttered, smiling as he saw the younger looking like a sad confused bunny that he wanted to squish him in a tight hug, but he knew that had to wait.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

 

“You just looked too adorable when lecturing me about hazards of smoking.” Yuta replied, smiling softly at the younger, hoping that he wouldn’t get mad at him for withholding such information. “You looked like an cute angry bunny that it was such a waste to make it end so soon” or maybe not, Yuta might’ve liked angry bunny looking Doyoung a bit more than he should.

 

The barista laughed as Doyoung continuously slapped him (lightly, of course) whining about how he doesn’t look like a bunny and Yuta couldn’t hold it anymore as he blocked the younger’s hands with his own before pulling him close.

 

“And it’s probably because I wanted for you to care for me a little longer” he whispered, facing the younger who was mere inches away from him. He felt shy all of a sudden after he uttered those words as his cheeks tinged a light shade of pink, blushing even more as the bunny looking male mirrored this.

 

“I would’ve cared for you either way” Doyoung mumbled, his gaze merely looking at his shoes and voice so soft that Yuta had to ask

“What?” to make sure that he heard him correctly.

 

Doyoung looked up from where he was staring at his shoes and looked at Yuta in the eyes, determination evident on his face. “I would’ve cared for you either way.” He repeats the words, louder this time. “I may have thought you were a ty heartless bastard at first” Wow, thanks? Yuta thought. “but the longer I spent time with you, you showed me how caring you can be and I guess kissing you wasn’t as against my will as I made it show.”

 

“So you wouldn’t mind if I kissed you right now?”

 

“I would’ve mind if you didn’t.” Doyoung smiled, bunny teeth and all, before he pulled Yuta into a long deep kiss.

 

---

Note: I hope you guys enjoyed that word vomit. And for those who are waiting, I'm actually continuing my wips so expect new fics by next week? I finally finished my  fina projects, final exams and defense and just waiting for my grades so I got all the time so let's hope laziness doesn't come to me and actually return to writing :)