“So did you enjoy the movie?”

After the movie ended, they both stayed in their seats watching the credits roll by, Donghae slurping up the last of his drink while Hyukjae finished up the cheesy tacos Donghae offered him.

(“It does taste better than I thought.” “You said the same thing when you swallowed too. So, does that mean—” “No way!”) 

Besides, they had to make sure that Kyuhyun and Sungmin left before they did so they wouldn’t get into any awkward situations. Donghae hadn’t minded and actually wanted to go over to greet them, but Hyukjae was a little too wary of Sungmin’s loose mouth and his tendency to scream everything to the universe like he was trying to make headlines on Mars.

So they waited until everyone finally left before getting up to leave. The lights had come back on by then. As Hyukjae followed Donghae out of the theatre, his hand accidentally brushed against the professor’s arm, but before he could react, Donghae had withdrawn his arm on instinct. Hyukjae pretended not to see it and headed straight for the exit, making sure both his hands were tucked away safely in the pockets of his jeans.

Since they were still full from their late brunch and snacks, Hyukjae suggested that they stop by a nearby cafe for a coffee before dinner. He remembered Joy gushing about the coffee and cupcakes when he’d asked her for places to hang out, and she was the one who’d suggested the classic movie and dinner date.

“Don’t forget to stop by Haru & Oneday after the movie! Their cakes are to die for, and the barista is pretty cute too! Just mention my name and he’ll give you a pretty discount.”

And that was how they found themselves in a quaint corner booth of the cafe, sipping slowly on their mocha and americano while sampling the complimentary cheesecakes (strawberry and avocado, they had both flavours!) that their barista, a cheerful young lad with sunshine in his eyes and ‘Sungjae’ on his nametag, had given them upon mentioning Joy’s name.

Purely judging from the look in the barista’s eyes, Hyukjae just knew.

“Earth to Hyukjae.”

Hyukjae glanced sideways at Donghae and shrugged. “You mean the movie? It was mediocre at best. I really don’t understand how you managed to stay so focused on the front half of the movie.”

“Did I really look that into it?” the professor asked with a laugh, leaning back and grinning lazily like a pleased Cheshire cat. “Maybe I was just focusing on you without you realising it.”

Hyukjae’s ears turned a soft shade of red as he averted his eyes away from the professor’s gaze. “N-No, I heard you laughing at their lame jokes that weren’t even the least bit funny.”

Donghae tilted his head to the side and chuckled again. “You’re jealous of an onscreen character?”

“No!” Hyukjae denied at once. “What’s there to be jealous about? Their acting was only so-so, they don’t even look half as handsome as you do, and for a superhero, their muscles were tinier than the chicken legs we had for dinner last night. They couldn’t even kiss properly!”

“But they kissed in the last scene,” the amused professor reminded Hyukjae, “After they defeated the villain, remember?”

“Prof… Real lovers don’t kiss like that,” Hyukjae said with a frustrated sigh. “That barely even counted as a peck on the lips.”

“Oh? Then how do real lovers kiss?” Donghae asked, leaning forward in interest as he locked his gaze with Hyukjae once again. “And how would you know if they’re real lovers or not? Have you had any experience in this field?”

“M-Me?”

“Mm-hm.”

Hyukjae gulped softly and quickly took a sip from his mocha, aware that his face was starting to turn into a tomato again. “Real lovers k-kiss like… like they mean it.”

“And how would you know whether or not they meant it?”

“I—” Hyukjae bit his lip and rubbed his neck awkwardly, breaking eye contact with the professor. “I just know it,” he finally said with a soft shrug, continuing in a low voice. “Because of the feelings and the emotions that they’re pouring into the kiss. In their eyes, through their micro-expressions, with their actions… It’s like they’re saying ‘I love you’ every time.”

Like… how I love you.

“Oh?” Donghae reached out to pinch Hyukjae’s cheek, startling the student out of his daze. “That actually sounds quite familiar…” He chuckled at the student’s slightly panicked look, whose eyes started wandering and looking everywhere except at him. “Hyukjae?”

“Mmh?”

Donghae smiled widely, revealing his two crooked teeth, and let out a laugh when Hyukjae blushed even redder than before. “You’re so cute today.”

“I’m not cute.”

“You’re behaving very cutely, at the very least,” the professor said with another chuckle. “It makes me want to do things I shouldn’t be doing in public with you.”

Hyukjae narrowed his eyes at the professor. “Such as?”

Donghae waggled his eyebrows and grinned harder. “What do you think?”

“I-I’m not falling for the ‘ in public’ thing again,” Hyukjae said with a pout, brushing the professor’s hand away and rubbing the spot on his cheek. “Even if you’re thinking it, I’m not gonna say it out loud.”

“Say what out loud?”

“ in— yah!”

“So you do want to have in public with me?” Donghae laughed at Hyukjae’s flustered face. “That’s definitely not the first time you’ve said it. Why is in public the first thing you think of? Is it really that appealing to you?”

“B-Because… you’re a ert, and you’ll always be a ert to me,” Hyukjae groaned, hiding his face behind his hands.

“If I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure you were the one who tried getting close to me in the first place,” Donghae said, enjoying how his teasing was affecting the student so much. “And now that I’m finally responding properly to you, you call me a ert?”

“I’m not the one with transparent floor-to-ceiling glass windows installed in all of my bathrooms at home.”

“Ah, so that’s what made you think I’m a ert,” the professor said, nodding in understanding. “But you haven’t been complaining after the first time, so I just assumed that you were getting used to it already.”

“N-No, that’s not— not what I meant,” Hyukjae shrieked. He most definitely wasn’t trying to get used to exposing himself to whoever else was living on the 15th floor opposite Donghae’s apartment. How did the conversation even take such a weird turn to this?

“Okay, okay, that’s enough teasing for now,” Donghae said with a laugh as he pushed Hyukjae’s strawberry cheesecake towards him. “If the glass windows are still making you feel uncomfortable at home, then I’ll get someone to cover it up so you can shower with peace of mind.” He took another sip of his coffee before starting on his own avocado cheesecake. “Next time if you still feel uncomfortable with anything else, just let me know and I’ll make it better for you. I want you to feel at home and relaxed whenever you’re with me, not anxious and stressed out.”

“I-I mean, you don’t need to purposely change your house layout or decorations because of me,” Hyukjae quickly said, just staring at the cake. “It’s your house, so I can learn to play by your rules. I-I just need some time to get used to it… and everything else.” Like keeping our distance from each other in public.

Donghae smiled warmly and nodded. “But if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better, I will make it happen for you. Only you. I’ll prove how special you are to me.” He nudged the plate of strawberry cheesecake again. “Finish up the rest of your cake. It’s starting to melt.”

“Thank you, Donghae,” the student said, smiling genuinely for the first time since they arrived at the cinema. “For spending time with me and treating me to stuff, even though… even though I’m probably not the most special one in your heart,” he said the last part quietly, quickly stuffing his mouth with cake after that so he didn’t have to answer Donghae's curious eyes when he hadn’t caught what he said in the end. 

“Um, I know I said the cake was gonna melt, but you didn’t have to stuff your face like that,” Donghae chuckled. “I’m gonna go to the restroom for a bit, you be a good boy and wait here for me, okay?”

“Who are you calling a ‘good boy’?” Hyukjae grumbled, rolling his eyes as Donghae just laughed and left. He took another sip of his mocha and took out his phone, scrolling through his social media accounts as he waited. He decided to post an IG story of his half-eaten cheesecake and mocha so he could show Joy that he’d really been to Haru & Oneday as she’d suggested. 

Just 10 seconds after uploading the photo, he received a reaction from Sungmin in his DMs.

@sungminnie0101 reacted 😍 to your story.

Heyy monkey

Are you on a date with your prof

I see two sets of coffee and cake

ARE YOU GUYS FINALLY DATING

ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW LEE HYUKJAE

I wouldn’t call it a date

But yes I’m with him rn

Asdsdfdfgfgjhkkl 

Like at the cafe

So have you guys ed

Did you take notes like I told you to?

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Who in their right minds would take notes during

THAT MEANS YOU DID IT DIDNT YOU

CONGRATULATIONS

FINALLYYYYY

🥳🥳

🥳🥳

Did he say anything about your relationship now

How’s he in bed

Insatiable

WILDDD 👀👀

😂😂

Nothing’s changed tho

I might have been promoted to buddy

But that’s about it

At least a buddy is a step closer than a buddy

Yeah i guess

Lmao buddy

But he’s very obviously keeping a distance from me

In public

What do you mean

Like when our hands touched and he just pulled away

No PDA whatsoever

Aww whyy

That’s so sad

And he never said why?

Nah

Just gotta get used to it

By the way

Isn’t there something you need to tell me

Like

Whut

How things went after your Kyuhyunnie sent you home

😈😈

B