Hae was having such a pleasant dream. He was sitting by a lake and there was a cool spring breeze brushing past his face. Next to him was some faceless person with a guitar and he was strumming away, a calming melody. Birds were singing and ducks were floating along the surface of the water….

All that changed, though, when the sound of his alarm cut through the serenity like a knife through soft butter.

Startling awake, Donghae was greeted with a stiff body due to falling asleep at his desk while studying. Light shone in through the one window in the room and he groaned, feeling a headache coming on. He glanced over at the one clock in the room and noticed that he had exactly fifteen minutes to get dressed and walk to class.

A groan left his throat as he stood up, dreading the day already. He was still wearing the same pants from the day before and an undershirt. Pulling out a semi-clean button up that was draped over the foot of his bed, he dressed quickly and ran a hand through his hair to help smooth it out.

He half-hazardly swiped the contents of the desk into his school bag and tugged on his shoes, barely remembering to lock his door before barreling down the flight of stairs to the street below.

By now his headache was in full force and he was squinting through the bright morning to see where he was going. Glancing down at his watch, he saw that he had exactly 11 minutes to get to school and in his seat.

He picked up the pace to a light jog as he made his way to the university campus.

It wasn’t until he could see the big front gates to the school grounds that the memories from the night before came flooding back.

Standing to the side of the gates and looking around shyly, Hae saw Hyukjae waiting with two coffee containers in his hands. He was dressed in his work clothes (minus the apron) with a hoodie that hung open so you could see the pressed white shirt underneath. As usual, Hyuk’s hair was expertly coifed, the dark strands gelled up into a handsome messy-spike look.

To anyone else, he looked like your average university student.

But to Donghae, it was a striking sight.

He felt like two worlds were colliding. Hyukjae had never seen Hae in this setting before. Of course, there was the library incident, but that wasn’t the same as going with your fellow students to class.

Donghae swallowed and ran a hand through his messy hair again, feeling nervous all of a sudden. He straightened his bag and did his best to walk at a normal pace the rest of the way, unsure of why he was suddenly so anxious.

“Hey!” Donghae said as he got within earshot. Hyukjae had been busy looking up and down the street, curiously watching students as they chatted in groups and moved around the campus.

When Hyuk heard his name called, his head snapped to Donghae who was approaching him from the front. Immediately, a smile erupted on his face and he lifted a coffee-laden hand to half-wave at his friend.

Donghae almost faltered in his step. Why was he feeling so remarkably star struck at the sight of Hyukjae smiling at him this way? Hyuk’s face reflected a fondness towards Donghae that made him feel… wanted.

To have someone look forward to seeing you like Hyuk did… That was a pleasure Hae wasn’t familiar with.

When they got close enough to have a normal conversation, Hyuk’s smiling face faded into a look of concern, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth. “Were you up really late?”

Donghae shrugged off the question and shook his head. He didn’t want to tell Hyuk that he had fallen asleep at his desk… it might make the other man worry too much. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

“You have dark circles under your eyes,” Hyukjae gently pointed out, his eyes softening and the guilt splaying out across his face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kept you so late last night.”

Donghae simply shook his head, already feeling his headache ebbing away. “It’s not your fault, Hyuk-ah. And do you know what a good cure for bags under the eyes is?”

Hyukjae looked curious and shook his head “no”.

“Coffee,” Donghae responded, smiling warmly as he eyed the coffee containers in Hyuk’s hands.

The smile formed its way back on Hyuk’s face and he lifted his left hand to offer the cup to Donghae. “I made it with hazelnut creamer this morning. Tell me if you like it.”

Right when Donghae went to take a sip so he could give his review, a group of girls passed by, a couple of which stopped at the sight of him. One yelled over. “Yah! Donghae-ssi! Are you coming to class?”

The steam from the container was just warming his mouth when he heard the question. Suddenly, Donghae remembered that he had been running to class. He hurriedly looked at his watch and realized that he only had three minutes to grab a seat.

“Aish,” he hissed under his breath and took a step towards the school before stopping. “Er… Hyuk-ah?”

Hyukjae as nursing his own cup of coffee close to his lips, looking exactly how he felt: awkward. He hadn’t gone to university and almost felt like an intruder being at this place with all the real students. “Hm?” he said, bracing himself for the quick “goodbye, see you later” that he was expecting.

“My first class is a big lecture seminar,” Donghae said matter-of-factly.

Hyukjae nodded, not quite sure what he was supposed to do with this information.

“Well, if you wanted…” Donghae began, fidgeting on his feet. He really didn’t want to be late but he really didn’t want to leave Hyukjae. “If you wanted, you could come sit with me… There’s about 400 students in the class, so no one would notice someone being there that usually isn’t.”

Hyukjae felt his heart float up against his ribs.

It was only 7:30 in the morning… he had told his aunt and uncle that he would be out for a little while and they had assured him that they could handle everything…

So why not?

Nodding happily, he fell into a quick step beside Donghae as they walked off to class together. They quickly reached the hall that the lecture would take place and Donghae managed to find them two seats together near the back as the few stragglers filtered in.

The front was far below them. There, an older man stood behind a podium, which was in front of a wall of wipe-off boards and next to a projection system. They barely had time to get settled (which mostly included Donghae pulling out a notebook and pen to take notes) into a spot among the rows and rows of tables before the professor began speaking.

Hyukjae, obviously, didn’t have anything with him besides the coffee. He felt self-conscious about crashing the class, but at the same time it was an exhilarating experience. College had never been in his future, since his family had grown up so poor… His grades in high school weren’t exactly impressive, either.

But he would sometimes see the busy students come into the café and he would feel jealous towards them. Getting that experience of higher education was a distant dream of his that seemed just a bit too far to ever reach.

Hyukjae felt something run against his arm and he looked over at Donghae who was staring at him with a smile. He mouthed the words, “What do you think?”

Hyuk grinned and nudged Donghae back with his elbow, nodding his head in approval. He then turned to pay attention to what the professor was saying, once in a while glancing over at Donghae who was busy scribbling notes and sipping his coffee.

It was 8:10AM when the lecture finished. As other students bailed out of the class as fast as they could, Donghae was apparently taking his time, trying to organize the mess in his bag from his hasty retreat from the apartment that morning.

“So how was it?” He asked Hyukjae conversationally.

Hyukjae played with his empty container, feeling shy for some reason. “It was really interesting. I liked it a lot.”

Donghae grinned and straighten up in the seat, swiveling it around so he was facing Hyukjae. “I hope you’re not going to get in trouble for coming with me instead of going to work…”

“Ani,” Hyukjae said, “It’s fine. They told me they could manage the morning for a while without me. They said something about working so hard and deserving a break once in a while.”

Donghae grimaced and playfully reached out to push on Hyukjae’s knee. “Aigoo, so you spend your break time here? I feel bad now.”

“No, no, I really did like it,” Hyukjae said, also fully facing Donghae now. “It’s interesting to watch everyone paying so close attention and taking notes. I even saw some people sleeping.”

Hae laughed softly, looking around at the almost empty hall now. “Yeah, that happens a lot.” Hae ran a hand through his hair and glanced towards the door. “Shall we go?”

Hyukjae nodded and stood up, relieved that Donghae seemed a lot less tired now. He worked his way out of the row and when they got to the isle, he let Hae go first since he wasn’t sure where he was supposed to be going. “What do you have next?”

“Math… Hm,” Donghae began, looking down at his watch. “I still have fifteen minutes before my next class. Want to get something to eat?”

Hyuk just nodded, loving this feeling of hanging out with a university student. He followed his friend closely, once in a while getting strange looks from passersby, but not really caring if they thought he was weird.

“Yah, you’re going to cause quite a commotion around here,” Donghae said softly to Hyuk as they neared the campus bakery.

Hyukjae’s eyes widened, not at all certain about what Hae meant by that comment. “Did I do something wrong?”

Donghae laughed lightly, pulling open the bakery doors and allowing the smell of fresh bread to overtake them. “Aniyo… It’s just I don’t think these girls are used to someone as good looking as you walking around.”

Hyukjae felt fire rush into his cheeks and he knew he was blushing instantly. He half-punched Hae in the shoulder and looked around as if to see if anyone had heard the words just uttered. “A-Aniyooo… Hae-ah, don’t make things up.”

Donghae’s eyes were laughing and he shook his head, pulling his friend over to the counter so they could look at the menu. “I’m not! Most of the guys here look tired all the time. But you look rested and cool.” He laughed again softly, completely amused by the situation. He’d never seen Hyuk embarrassed before and would be lying if he said he wasn’t having a little fun at his friend’s expense.

Donghae ended up ordering two large cinnamon rolls and lead Hyukjae over to a little table by the window. Students walked by, busy with their own lives, so hardly anybody noticed the two men sitting close together at the small table.

“So why are you studying engineering?” Hyuk asked, trying to move on past the subject of his alleged attractiveness and to help the blush fade out of his cheeks.

Donghae chewed the delicious roll for a minute and then answered. “I want to make money, honestly. And I’m good at math, so it seemed like the logical conclusion.”

Hyukjae nodded, agreeing that this seemed to be logical. “Is anyone else in your family an engineer?”

Donghae didn’t look up from his food, “No. No one else has even gone to college.”

The tone that Hae used caught Hyuk off guard. It seemed to be laced with bitterness and Hyuk became desperately curious as to the reason why.

But as a person with a rough family history himself, he decided that he wouldn’t press it. Not today.

“What about you?” Hae asked, looking up at last, the friendliness returning to both his tone and his face. “Why didn’t you go to college?”

Hyuk just shrugged and smiled. “It wasn’t in the cards, I guess. But it’s ok. I’m learning business things from my uncle. I don’t think I’ll be terribly desperate for a skill in a year or so.”

Hae seemed to agree with this reasoning. He stuffed the rest of the cinnamon roll in his mouth and scrunched up the wax paper that had been holding it. “Ready to go?” He asked, glancing at his watch. He was doing well on time so far.

Hyuk nodded, also rolling up his paper (a little more delicately than Hyuk) and stood up to go throw it away.

“I’ll do it,” Hae said, taking the waste from Hyuk’s hand and walking over to the trash bin to deposit it.

Hyukjae was strangely nonplussed by the action. He didn’t know if it was sentiment or the brush of his friend’s fingertips against his skin, but he just couldn’t move himself into action. When the feeling subsided, he followed Hae out of the little bakery and stood with him in the walkway, now filled with students heading off to class.

“Want to come to math with me?” Hae asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down at the suggestion, obviously joking.

Hyukjae wrinkled up his nose and shook his head. “I don’t think so. Besides, I need to be heading back to the bakery.”

Donghae nodded, knowing that this would be the case. He smiled brightly at his friend and reached out to touch Hyuk’s arm with his palm. Perhaps he had intended it to be a little more forceful, like a couple of friends playfully punching or something… but it ended with just a light touch-hold-release feel that was gentle and affectionate.

“Thanks for the coffee.”

Hyuk just grinned and nodded.

They parted ways and Hyukjae made it all the way back to the café without a single thought taking hold in his head. He took the side stairs up to the apartment and walked into his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him and leaning back against it.

His heart was racing now. His tentative hand came up and squeezed his arm where Donghae had touched him in that strangely warm way and he couldn’t help but smile to himself, biting his lower lip shyly as he looked at his feet.

He really liked the time they spent together. He liked how they didn’t seem at all awkward about the touching they did.

Their friendship really seemed to be that of a fictitious novel. Except that it wasn’t fictitious at all. This was real life. He finally had a friend he could call the best. He finally had someone who he could express himself to honestly.

And he thinks I’m good looking, Hyuk thought.

Feeling just about to positively explode, Hyukjae pushed away from the door and changed into his apron so he could head downstairs and begin helping his aunt and uncle with the café, a silly grin glued to his face for the rest of the day.

AN: If you haven't already, check out my tumblr account associated with AFF ^^ You'll get little teasers of chapters BEFORE I post them here :D That would be fun, wouldn't it? Also, you'll get announcements about updates (when to expect them) and maybe some ideas I'll be trying to work with ^^

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