Donghae hurried back as quickly as he could without aggravating the dull pain in his back. Yunho hadn’t been kidding when he said that Donghae’s arms and back were mostly likely jelly by the time he got home. Thank goodness he managed to talk Yunho out of doing squats today, or else he would most definitely be going home in an ambulance.

He managed to avoid eye contact with the friendly concierge downstairs and made a beeline for the lifts, his gym bag in one hand and the bag of groceries in the other. Donghae heaved a sigh of relief when the lift doors shut and he was finally on his way to the fifteenth floor, back to where his Hyukjae was waiting for him with food.

His Hyukjae.

There was a small burst of happiness in his heart, but it dimmed down very quickly. Donghae hung his head and worried his lower lip with his teeth. Obviously, there was something majorly wrong between them that they would keep ending up hurting each other without meaning to, even if they had the other’s best interests at heart. A lack of proper communication was one thing, but was there more to just that? Was it also because they weren’t officially ‘boyfriends’ yet that made them feel so scared and insecure in the relationship? Or was it just him?

Why did Hyukjae not want the label just yet, anyway? Was it really because he wanted to ‘start over’ with ‘baby steps’, never mind that they literally kept sleeping together almost every other day? Or was it because Hyukjae was afraid of commitment, afraid of getting betrayed, and afraid of trusting Donghae with his heart only to be disappointed in the end?

Donghae really wanted to understand the student better, but he simply couldn’t fathom why Hyukjae chose this. He never believed in that ‘baby steps’ bull but he respected Hyukjae’s wishes anyway because damn it, he was so whipped for him. He’d already fallen for him, hook, line, and sinker.

He wanted to do whatever made Hyukjae happy so that he would stay. But in trying to do so, he still ended up hurting the one person he swore he wouldn’t.

That little crack in Hyukjae’s voice during their call was proof enough.

Donghae was still so deep in thought that he hadn’t even realised he’d already reached his floor. The doors opened with a loud ‘Ding!’, startling him with a jump. He let out a soft hiss when the shock registered as a painful throb in his back. Guess he shouldn’t have run away to the gym as soon as he got up that morning, especially after all that . He just didn’t know how he was supposed to face Hyukjae if the other had woken up as well. His head was still a mess. And since he was still pretty mad at Siwon, there was only one other place he could think of escaping to for an hour or so to let off some steam, and that was the gym.

Though I probably should have told Yunho to go easy on me. 

Groaning softly in regret, he carefully shuffled towards his door. Thank for thumbprint-activated door locks.

~

Hyukjae had just cracked the eggs into the ramen pot when he heard the door open with a click. He glanced at the door for a bit then back at the ramen. But in that moment of distraction, he accidentally let an eggshell shard drop into the boiling soup. And without even thinking, Hyukjae reached into the pot to remove the shell with his fingers.

“Ow, !”

Donghae jumped again when Hyukjae cursed loudly just as he swung open the door. The sudden tense movement aggravated the sting in his back again, and his legs chose exactly then to give out on him. He let out a soft cry and stumbled backwards. Not wanting to fall and crush the eggs, he managed to catch himself by backing against the wall… and slowly slid down to the floor in a heap.

Hyukjae’s eyes went wide when he glanced back at the door and saw the professor on the ground. “Prof! Prof, are you okay? What’s wrong? Did you hurt your back again? Does it hurt a lot?”

Donghae’s back had finally given out, and he just couldn’t get back on his feet without anything hurting. Putting his gym bag and eggs aside, the professor managed to smile sheepishly at Hyukjae, who had quickly turned off the stove and rushed over to help him up. “Hey, H-Hyukkie.”

He could see that Hyukjae’s eyes were still slightly bloodshot and puffed up. The student crouched down and lifted his hand to touch Donghae’s forehead, just to see if he was sick, but before he knew it, he suddenly found the professor’s arms enveloping him in a tight hug.

“P-Prof?” Hyukjae struggled to keep his balance without falling onto the professor. “Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry.”

Hyukjae had wanted to pull away from the hug to check on Donghae’s condition, but as soon as he heard those two words from Donghae’s mouth, his eyes started watering up again. He let out a sniff and gently hugged him back, eventually sagging against the professor’s body.

“I thought you got into an accident,” Hyukjae said, voice slightly choked with emotion. “I was so worried about you. Please don’t do this again.”

“I’ll try not to,” Donghae answered, gently nuzzling the student in his arms. Hyukjae smelled like his favourite vanilla and chamomile body wash and Donghae liked it, a lot. “Mmh, you smell yummy.”

“No more !” Hyukjae half-shrieked, immediately trying to pull himself away from Donghae’s embrace. “I’m not going to you anymore if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do… today!”

“Today?” Donghae chuckled softly and struggled to sit up. He winced as he felt his tail bone awkwardly pressed against the floor. “So… tomorrow, then.”

Hyukjae sighed and leaned over Donghae with a stern look on his face. “No, no more until you can prove to me that your back no longer hurts.”

“And how should I prove that to you?”

“If… If you can do maybe twenty sit-ups in a minute then I’ll believe you,” Hyukjae said feebly, getting back up on his feet. He looked at the grin on Donghae’s face and frowned softly. “What?”

“I can’t believe you’re asking a gym buff like me to do twenty sit-ups in a minute like it’s the hardest thing to do,” Donghae replied with a laugh. “But okay, I get your point. No .”

“Who told you to go to the gym when your back still hurts like this, anyway?” Hyukjae chided. He carefully helped Donghae up and brought him to the sofa, placing a couple of extra cushions behind his back so the professor was propped up. “I’m gonna have to slap some sense into him.”

Donghae sank into the cushions gratefully and let Hyukjae continue fussing over him. It felt nice. He kind of missed being the babied one in the relationship. He kept getting caught up in their and relationship problems and trying to be the ‘mature’ one between them that being taken care of like this felt like a nice change of pace.

Maybe this was a sign that their relationship would finally take a turn for the better, aside.

“You’re cute,” Donghae suddenly said, interrupting Hyukjae’s monologue about how Donghae ought to take better care of himself, especially since he was now basically half-paralysed from the waist down. “I like you.”

“Have you even been paying attention to what I’ve been saying?” Hyukjae asked in a huff. There was no hiding the blush on his face, however, when he heard the professor calling him cute again. He stopped fussing over Donghae like a mother hen and went back into the kitchen, pretending not to hear Donghae’s quiet whine. 

“Hyukkie…”

“I’m getting your ramen out of the pot before it gets too overcooked,” the student said, pretending to be mad. He caught sight of the big bag of groceries on the floor and bent down to pick it up. “I thought you just went to buy eggs, what else did you—”

Donghae nearly sprained his neck as he turned to look at Hyukjae’s face, wanting to see his reaction. He really hoped Hyukjae would like the strawberry things he bought. And judging from the look of joy and disbelief on his face… well, Donghae might just have succeeded in cheering him up, even if it was by a little bit.

“Hyukjae?”

Hyukjae cleared his throat and continued walking into the kitchen to put the things away. “Don’t think that you can get away with this, making me worry the whole morning and then trying to butter me up with sweets…”

Donghae chuckled. “But don’t you like them? I bought them because I was thinking of you.”

Hyukjae choked again as he put the slightly-melted strawberry popsicle sticks into the freezer. “I-I never said I didn’t,” he still said in an awkward voice, making Donghae giggle. “Thank you.”

The student then took the tangsuyuk out of the microwave and went to get Donghae’s ramen. The noodles were a tad too soft and overcooked, and the veggies he popped in for good measure had already turned brown because they’d sat in the pot for too long. Hyukjae sighed. He couldn’t serve this to Donghae. He’d often bragged about how great his kimchi ramen was, and if Donghae were to taste this, well then, Hyukjae would probably be left with ‘cute’ as his only redeeming quality. And he didn’t know if he would like that.

“Are the noodles done yet? I’m hungry,” Donghae whined. “Can I eat them now?”

“No! I mean,” Hyukjae frowned as he stared at the bowl of soggy noodles he’d just dumped out of the pot. “I’ll cook you another packet,” he finally said, hurriedly rinsing the noodle pot. “Give me another ten minutes.”

“Why? Is it too salty? Just add a bit of hot water, it’ll be fine.”

“It’s not fine, I’m going to cook you another bowl. This one is a soggy catastrophe.”

“I like soggy noodles.”

Hyukjae stopped in his steps, just as he was about to grab another packet of noodles from the shelf. “You like soggy noodles?”

“The soggier the better,” Donghae answered. “I like it because it’s easier to swallow.”

Hyukjae blushed when the professor stressed the last word he said. Maybe it was his ears playing tricks on him and Donghae hadn’t meant to make it sound like a ual innuendo… but who was he kidding? He wouldn’t be the Donghae he knew if he hadn’t specifically said it like that on purpose.

He decided to ignore the innuendo altogether. “They’re not the best noodles I’ve made,” Hyukjae said cautiously. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

Donghae smiled and said, “Why not? Everything you make is always good. Even the kimchi pancake the last time, with or without salt.”

Hyukjae rolled his eyes and glanced at the bowl of noodles again. “Fine, but I’m not going to entertain you if you say this tastes horrible. There’s no turning back.”

“I’ll eat it even if you told me you put poison in it,” Donghae said with a laugh. “It can’t be that bad. I trust you.”

“But I don’t trust these noodles.”

“Hyukkie…”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.”

Hyukjae ended up bringing the mushy noodles over to Donghae on the sofa. Donghae’s eyes were filled with happiness, though Hyukjae couldn’t tell why. Did Donghae really like his noodles so overcooked like this?

He watched as Donghae slurped up the entire bowl of noodles, soup, egg, and all, in under five minutes. The professor then let out a loud burp and handed the empty bowl and chopsticks back to Hyukjae with a satisfied smile on his lips.

“That was the best bowl of noodles I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

Even Hyukjae couldn’t help breaking into a smile when he saw how Donghae was behaving like a pleased little puppy. Was this man really nine years older than him? He could barely tell, especially at times like this.

“So, does that mean you want me to continue overcooking your noodles next time?” Hyukjae asked with a laugh as he took the bowl from the professor. He petted Donghae’s fluffy locks and suddenly thought that Donghae would look incredibly soft and beautiful with longer hair. 

“I’ll eat anything you make for me, undercooked, overcooked, or perfectly cooked,” the professor said with a soft smile. “I’m still a little hungry, though. Didn’t you say there was some leftover