The yawns assaulted Donghae with no sense of relief. The library was dimly lit, at least in the corner he took up, and it was quiet. Every time he felt his jaw stretch open for another yawn, his eyes began watering and he felt a sharp pain his face. It was Tuesday night and clearly his weak cup of homemade coffee couldn’t hack the job of keeping a fulltime college student awake.

He was miserable. Between the yawning, watering eyes, and complicated math problems he was currently struggling over, nothing was going to get done. Thoughts of Hyukjae threatened to invade his mind, but he did his best to fight it off. It had been two weeks since their first dance session together and they were beginning to be inseparable. Donghae realized that it was starting to interfere with his schoolwork… he wasn’t studying as often and, according to his last test, it was starting to show.

Hae rubbed his eyes then jumped a little when he felt his phone vibrating against his pocket. Sighing, he reached his hand in and pulled out the mobile, selecting “read text message” when it prompted him too.

“Hae. Where are you?”

Exhaling through his nose and squinting at the bright screen, Donghae quickly typed out a response. “Library.”

He set the phone on the table and turned back to the books he was taking notes from. Currently, he had a spread of three texts sitting in front of him and he kept having mental images of them growing to unimaginable sizes and swallowing him whole.

The phone vibrated on the table and Hae turned his attention to it. The text from Hyuk read, “Be more specific.”

Hiking up a tired eyebrow, Hae had to think about his location for a second before typing, “Fourth floor on the left. Why?”

Frustrated that it was impossible to simply ignore Hyuk and go about his studies, Donghae mumbled to himself about needing to focus. If he could just get this assignment done, then he only had to do some readings and he would be done for the evening.

A reply text never came from Hyukjae. Tired of water, Donghae grabbed the phone out of frustration and tossed it carelessly into his backpack. It was disturbing to him how much he stared at the screen, waiting anxiously for a text from that guy.

Just then, a hand touched his shoulder. Donghae jumped, stifling a cry of shock and spun his head around to see who had appeared.

He was greeted with the soft, gentle smile of Hyukjae, wearing some jeans and a hoodie and holding two cups of what appeared to be hot coffee in travel containers.

Once his heart had returned to a more suitable rate, Donghae whispered into the thick silence of the library, “What are you doing here?”

Hyukjae, sensing that this was not the place to talk with loud voices, matched Donghae’s whisper and held out the big cup to his friend, “You said you had a lot of work to do. I thought you could use a little liquid motivation.”

Donghae accepted the cup that was being offered to him, feeling a rush of longing gripping his head. He was way too addicted to this stuff, but what could you do? He turned back around to face his books and Hyuk moved closer to him, standing behind and looking over Hae’s shoulder at the scattered papers and pencils covering the table.

“How did you get here so fast?” Donghae asked, smelling the aroma of the coffee before delicately taking a sip and almost melting into the taste of the wonderful drink.

Hyukjae casually leaned forward against Hae’s back, confused with all the formulas and numbers scattered all over the table. “When I texted you the first time, I was already outside the library. I figured you’d be here since you said you were studying.”

Donghae couldn’t explain why, but the feeling of Hyukjae’s weight against his back was comforting. With the other man here and the caffeine that was being introduced into his system, he was beginning to feel a second wind coming. His work seemed less ominous and he was more confident that he would be able to finish it without staying up until three in the morning.

“Thanks for the coffee,” Donghae whispered truthfully, taking another gratifying sip.

Hyuk also drank a bit from his cup before leaning in to set it on the table. “No problem. What is this you’re doing?”

Donghae winced a bit and Hyuk ended up dipping his head low so his ear was close to Donghae’s mouth to hear the hushed explanation. “Advanced calculus and some linear functions. It’s my least favorite part… I’m almost done with this though. Just two more problems.”

Rather than lifting his head to a more appropriate distance, Hyuk kept it close to Donghae’s and moved his mouth closer to Donghae’s ear so he could ask, “What else do you need to do?”

Donghae felt heat flow up his neck and into his face and he was secretly grateful for the dim light in that moment. Hyuk’s breath against his ear and cheek sent chills running down his spine. Hyuk was so close to him… Though Hae had grown used to his touches, having their heads so close together was something he was not accustomed with.

“Er… Oh, I need to read twenty pages from this book—“ Hae indicated a monstrous looking textbook on the table, “—and fifteen pages from this book,” indicating yet another textbook.

Hyukjae merely made a small sound of acknowledgement and promptly straightened up, moving away from Donghae’s sitting form. Hae almost made a noise of protest, feeling colder all of a sudden. He quickly shook it off and set out to complete the last two problems of the assignment. He heard movement behind him and assumed that Hyuk was amusing himself with looking at the vast rows of books in the library. Somewhere, a clock ticked through the building, an ever-present reminder to Donghae that his time was winding down. If only he had more…

Sighing, he stuffed the paper of math problems into the book he was using and set it aside. Right away, Hyukjae was back behind him, looking over his shoulder again. “Why don’t you study at home?” he asked curiously.

Donghae rolled his shoulders and shook his head, mentally prepping himself for the boring reading he would need to do next, “I can’t concentrate there… When I’m at home, I only want to sleep. It’s better to be here and get it done.” Hae reached for the first book and pulled it towards him, flipping it open to where he’d marked the readings.

The next thing Hyuk did surprised him. Hyukjae placed both of his hands on Donghae’s shoulders and have a good, firm squeeze. Donghae almost moaned when he felt the stiff muscle experience the tension and release of the grasp. It felt amazingly good.

“Can I help you?”

Donghae closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “How are you going to help?”

Hyukjae squeezed the other man’s shoulders again, feeling the tension beginning to ebb away from him. “Why don’t you rest your eyes, drink your coffee, and I’ll read the book to you.”

The offer seemed extraordinarily nice. But for reasons that Hae didn’t know, he instantly became suspicious. Turning his head to look up at Hyukjae with skeptical eyes, he asked plainly, “Why?”

Hyukjae shook Donghae’s shoulders and pulled away seemingly appalled that Donghae would ask such a question instead of accepting his kindness. “I just wanted to help. Besides, I’m a little curious about what you’re learning.”

Donghae thought very hard about it. In that moment, he began to think about what someone would think if they saw Hyukjae massaging his shoulders and reading to him… it would look a little strange, wouldn’t it?

Hae lifted up his coffee cup to take a sip. Resting his eyes would be nice... He turned his head to look at Hyuk again and was shocked to see the other man with his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes staring hard at his feet. He was shifting from foot to foot, clearly upset with how Hae was reacting to his suggestion…

Donghae turned to the proper page in the book and handed it to Hyukjae who instantly perked up and smiled from happiness. Seeing his friend so happy made Donghae, even in his fatigue, feel good and smile.

Hyukjae grabbed a chair that was on a different side of the study table and situated it around to be right next to Donghae’s; touching his in fact. Hyuk settled in, the book in one hand, his coffee cup in the other, and he wiggled close to Hae’s side in order to be close to his ear as he whispered the text. Donghae simply let him do what he wanted and closed his eyes as he inhaled the smell of the coffee again and took more sips, feeling his headache moving away and the yawns becoming less tempting.

Donghae didn’t know when it happened. But at one point he thought it would be a good idea to lay his head down on the table—just for a second. But the next thing he knew, he was being woken up by a hand gently shaking his shoulder and someone whispering his name.

“Hm?” Hae started, lifting his head and peering out with blurry, half-open eyes. He was able to take in the fact that all his books and papers were packed up in his bag and his coffee cup was gone. “What’s going on?” he mumbled, confused.

Hyukjae smiled and pulled Donghae up out of his chair. “You need to go to sleep, Hae-ah…”

Donghae rubbed his blurry eyes, feeling himself being guided around and still trying to wrap his head around what happened. “I thought you brought me coffee to wake me up..?” He was so confused.

Hyukjae let out a soft chuckle, “It was decaf. You really need to sleep, Donghae.” Hyuk swung Hae’s bag over his chest, moved in front of Donghae and squatted down a bit. “Now, hop on. I’ll take you home.”

AN: Wah!! So many ideas floating through my head!!!! Review while I sort them all out!!!