“I’m not sure yet, depending on the schedule, maybe I can convince my parents to let me move if I finish late…” Hyukjae answers, “why did you ask? Are you planning to move out?”

Donghae shrugs his shoulders. “Still thinking between a dorm and an apartment, they won’t let me move out yet though. But, if you’re staying here then I’ll stay too, we can go to college together that way.” He smiles at him, bumping their pinkies together before looking up at the sky. “I want to spend as much time with you as possible since I know we’ll be busy.”

Hyukjae smiles back, linking his pinky finger with Donghae when he sees there are not many people around. “You want to have me for yourself during the bus rides, don’t you?”

Under the shade of the bus stop four stations away from their houses, Donghae and Hyukjae bump heads affectionately, giggling to themselves and pulling away only when they see the bus their friends are in approaching.

They didn’t move to the dorms after all, but every day, Donghae and Hyukjae meet at their usual junction. Boarding the same bus and either listening to music or studying at the ride together. Since they head out pretty early, the buses were spacious enough that they can fool around and just avoids being too loud.

Donghae joined the college's soccer team, with Hyukjae helping on charity organizations their college has (Donghae helps and participated whenever he has free time though). They find time to meet up at least during lunch and helps quiz each other for quick reviews before going to different floors, finding it lucky that they managed to land in the same faculty, though different majors. Their first year went without much problem, they vent and rant to each other when they get too stressed out with their schoolwork, but work and teach each other when they end up having the same instructor. Well, sometimes they teach each other even if they don’t, they become each other’s review mate so Donghae knows some things about Hyukjae’s major and vice versa. They also drop by each other’s place often, picking each other up to go buy supplies for school or revision during exam seasons.

They spent their first anniversary as a couple by getting lost a little bit out of the town. Relaxing with each other’s presence and just walking around. Come dinner time, they came across a quaint place selling food. Welcomed by a kind elder lady, they ate a nice dinner and talked about various things, from reminiscing on what they were doing before that mess that they call their first conversation from way back junior year in high school, to what they want to do the next time they had a free day together.

Being together on every spare time they have; it wasn’t such a surprise to them when they get asked about each other. It happened during their second term of sophomore year, only that it wasn’t the usual “are you two going out?” for a pair of friends of the opposite . Instead, they get asked things like,

“Hey Hyukjae,” a girl that Hyukjae sees in most of his classes suddenly approaches him after a lecture, said man looks up from packing his bag and raises a brow to let her know that he heard her.

“That guy you’re always with, he’s from another major, right?”  Not really liking where this is going, but also just really wanting to get this conversation over and done with so he can go eat with Donghae, Hyukjae nods.

The girl actually, actually fidgets with her fingers, and Hyukjae felt his eyebrows twitch. “Is he single?”

“Hey, Lee Donghae.” He looked up from where he was securing his shoes and sees their club manager glaring down at him. Nothing new, she’s the 'strong' type of character. Donghae doesn’t react, finishes adjusting his shoes first before finally answering her with a nod.

“That lean guy you’re always meeting after practice, what’s his major?”

Donghae scrunches his forehead. “Why?”

“I find him cute.”

When they tell each other that over a quick snack before walking the remaining way home, they laugh over it and brush it off.

They’re together, no one can meddle with that.

Their second anniversary, they settled for a whole-day arcade date, wanting to unwind after their first semester exams. At a different mall than their usual, they laugh and playfully shove each other in dire want of beating the other at shooting games. They end up in the same food place they had come across a year ago.

“Happy two years?” Donghae murmurs, subtly raising his glass of iced tea to his beautiful boyfriend in front of him, a soft smile on his face.

Across him, Hyukjae laughs into the back of his hand. Other hand moving to lift his soda cup against Donghae's, a small clink heard between them. “Happy two years, Donghae.”

Throughout these two years, Donghae and Hyukjae had kept low profiles, acting as close high school buddies around people and only when they were sure there was only the two of them in the four corners of the room do they dare to act the way they want.

They’re enduring, it’s only less than two more years before they can try to be independent and free.

If only they knew what was coming on their third year together.