There was about an hour or so in between Hyukjae’s last class of the day and his booked studio slot for afternoon practice. Hyukjae rushed over to the infirmary as quickly as he could so he could see how his best friend was doing. Even if they weren’t life-threatening, a sprained toe and a twisted ankle still sounded pretty painful to Hyukjae. 

Sungmin was often responsible for most of the martial art skills and acrobatic stunts they liked incorporating in their choreography, so technically, he should know the best ways to fall and not hurt himself too badly. It wasn’t like Sungmin to injure easily unless he really hadn’t been paying attention to where he’d been going. 

Or, he might possibly have been in greater danger but managed to get out of it alive with just a rolled ankle.

Hyukjae shuddered when he thought of the second possibility. Had it been him or someone else, he’d probably have ended up with a broken neck.

He arrived at the infirmary a few minutes later and looked inside. Empty. Frowning, Hyukjae went to look for a nurse to ask about Sungmin or Kyuhyun.

“Oh, you mean that cute little bunny boy and his boyfriend? They left about twenty minutes ago. I was just going to change the sheets in his room.”

Hyukjae blinked in surprise. Why hadn’t Sungmin or Kyuhyun informed him that they’d left?

“Do you know if they went back to the dorms?”

The nurse grinned and shrugged. “I don’t really know, sweetie. If he’s your friend, why don’t you give him a call instead? I’m sure he’d tell you where he was.”

“He’s woken up already?” Hyukjae asked, relieved when the nurse nodded her head. “He’s not too badly injured or anything, right?”

“He just had a fright and was quite badly shaken up, but no, he’s not seriously injured.” She chuckled and gently shooed him off. “I’m going back to work now, you just go ahead and call your friend.”

“Alright, alright. Thanks, miss.”

Hyukjae sighed and leaned against a wall, covering his face with his hands. Yes, he was indeed relieved that Sungmin seemed alright, but since he’d woken up, how hard could it be to return a call or at least reply to his texts? Was Sungmin still mad at him for that morning? But he’d already apologised to him so many times!

He fished out his phone and was about to dial Sungmin’s number once more when it suddenly started ringing. He jumped and answered it at once, barely registering that it was Kyuhyun’s caller ID showing on the screen.

“H-Hello?”

“Hyukjae? It’s me, Kyuhyun.”

“Kyuhyun-ssi? I’m at the infirmary now, when did you guys leave?”

“Oh, we just left a while ago. The doctor gave him the green light to go home so I brought him back to my place. I was just calling to let you know we’d left, and also, he won’t be going to class for the next two days.”

“Is he… alright?” Hyukjae asked hesitantly. 

“Well, he’s a little embarrassed about falling, but he seems alright otherwise.”

Hyukjae bit his lip. “No, I mean, does it seem like he’s still mad at me?”

There was a slight pause. “Did you guys quarrel?”

“We fought a bit, I was a ,” Hyukjae said with a soft sigh. “I was just wondering if maybe he’s avoiding me on purpose because he hasn’t replied to any of my texts or picked up any of my calls.”

Kyuhyun chuckled on the other line. “I think I can safely say that he isn’t avoiding you on purpose because he smashed his phone while tumbling down and now the touchscreen won’t work.”

“Oh.” Hyukjae felt like an . “I-If that’s the case, can I talk to him? Is he next to you?”

He heard a few static sounds and Sungmin’s muffled whine in the background before Kyuhyun’s voice came back on the line again. “He’s too embarrassed to answer the phone,” the assistant said with a laugh. “But I can affirm that the little idiot is alive and kicking, so you don’t have to worry about him— Ow, babe! Don’t pinch me— ow, ow, ow, ow…”

The call abruptly cut off right after that. Hyukjae couldn’t help laughing out loud in relief. It seemed as if Sungmin was recovering quite well, especially since he still had the energy to bully poor Kyuhyun like that. That was a good sign. Sungmin was going to be alright, and he would hopefully recover quickly enough in time for their midterms.

Hyukjae was so distracted thinking about Sungmin that he didn’t hear footsteps coming up behind him. He stiffened when he suddenly felt someone sliding an arm around his waist and pulling him close to whisper in his ear in that extremely familiar voice he’d been missing all day.

“What are you laughing at, pretty boy?”

The student’s ear turned impeccably red as he struggled out of the professor’s arms. By the time he managed to wriggle free, his face was also completely tinted red, and Donghae nearly doubled up in laughter when he saw it.

“P-Professor!” Hyukjae cried out in both relief and embarrassment. “Why did you do that?”

Donghae blinked innocently at Hyukjae, but his cheeky grin gave him away. “Do what? Call you ‘pretty boy’?”

“T-That, and sneaking up on me, and whispering in my ear, a-and… and…”

The last word died on his lips when Donghae swiftly closed the distance between them and kissed him firmly to shut him up. Hyukjae’s head was still in a whirl when Donghae’s intoxicating scent suddenly invaded his personal space. He vaguely registered the professor’s arms wrapping around his waist to pull him closer, so he responded by reaching up to hold Donghae’s face as he returned the kiss equally as firmly.

They stood kissing for about half a minute, lost in their own little world. Donghae only let go of Hyukjae when he heard a quiet grunt from the younger, but he still kept the student close and touched their foreheads together as he chuckled. “My pretty, pretty boy.”

That seemed to snap Hyukjae back to his senses and he hurriedly pushed the professor away in shock. He glanced around the place to see if anyone caught them kissing out in the open, but fortunately, there was no one about. “P-Professor! H-How could you… What if… I thought you didn’t want to… W-What?”

Donghae grinned stupidly as he watched Hyukjae panic internally for a while. “Are you done hyperventilating yet, pretty boy?”

“Yah, don’t call me that,” Hyukjae whined as he pulled up his shirt collar to hide the lower half of his face. “W-What are you doing here?”

“No reason, what are you doing here?”

The professor reached out to grab Hyukjae’s hand but the student neatly avoided it. “I thought you said we had to lay low on campus,” Hyukjae said begrudgingly.

“But there’s no one here,” Donghae said back with a pout. “I thought you said you missed me.” He caught Hyukjae’s hand and firmly laced their fingers together so Hyukjae couldn’t pull away.

“There’s a nurse noona still here and she could catch us any moment!” Hyukjae insisted, but one more look at Donghae’s puppy eyes had him softening up at once. “Okay, okay, but it’s your fault if we get caught.”

Donghae looked like a happy little puppy who’d just been given a huge stick as a reward. “So, who were you with on the phone just now? You were laughing so hard after hanging up.”

“I was… I was on the phone with my secret admirer,” Hyukjae said with a smug smile when he saw the sudden pout on Donghae’s face. “Yah, don’t give me that look. You had a secret admirer this morning too, didn’t you? Why can’t I have my own?”

“Because…” Donghae wanted to say that it was because he thought Hyukjae was the secret admirer that morning, but he caught himself just in time. If Hyukjae didn’t want to reveal that he was the one sending the roses to him, then Donghae wouldn’t bring it up. “Just because.”

Hyukjae looked at Donghae’s forlorn expression on his face and felt bad for bluffing at him. “I was on the phone with Kyuhyun-ssi. Sungmin fell down the stairs and broke his toe and his phone, so I was calling Kyuhyun-ssi to check on him.”

No wonder Kyuhyun suddenly looked so worried just now and requested half the day off. Donghae could kind of understand how he felt. If Hyukjae had told him he’d hurt himself, Donghae would have also taken time off work to care for him. “So you came here to see Sungmin?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are they?”

“They’d left some time ago and didn’t tell me.”

“Oh. I guess he must be alright. He has Kyuhyun after all, and I know for a fact that he’s fussier than a mother hen. Let’s just get out of here,” Donghae said, tugging Hyukjae down the hallway. “You still have some time before your practice, right?”

Hyukjae checked his watch. “A little more than half an hour left, why?”