Jongup looks forward to sleeping every night because he's curious about the kind of dreams he would make, and sleeping lets him escape from reality for that seven hours, allowing him to delve into the world his sub consciousness conjures.

But his wonderful dreamland didn't come that night.

Jongup had tossed and turned in his sheets for more times than he could count since the minute he went under those covers, and he groaned for the thousandth time that night, wearily flipping to his side to check his alarm clock.

3:32 a.m. in the morning. In the friggin' morning.

Jongup thanked the heavens it was saturday tomorrow, well, today, technically, because if it were to be a school day he was sure no one could ever get him to wake up. He had tried all means to try and tire himself and get to sleep - running around in circles, counting sheep, doing push ups on his bed and even skipping rope, but that resulted in a rather disgruntled mother from across the hall, telling him to kindly shut up and get to bed before I smother you in your sleep. He had even stripped off his usual pajamas and settled in his bed in just his Iron Man boxers, coming to a conclusion that perhaps, it was too hot for him to fall asleep.

But that wasn't it.

Jongup ran his hand through his hair frustratedly as he picked up his phone from his schoolbag next to his bed, unlocking it and allowing the text that was sent to him hours ago to illuminate the screen. 

From: Daehyun

Hey, rest well tonight okay? I know it must have been a scary experience, be careful in future, and don't forget about our project date tomorrow.

Jongup would never have thought, in a million years or so, that Daehyun, Jung Daehyun, was capable of sending such a heart-warming and human text. It was like if Cinderella's stepmother suddenly gave her a proper dress and allowed her to go to the ball instead of leaving her to scrub the floors at home.

No, of course Jongup had not forgotten about the project he and Daehyun had to start on today. He had been dreading it for days to come, but right now? He wasn't so sure. After Daehyun had personally walked Jongup home, made sure he was safely in his room by making him wave to him from the window and fighting off a bunch of guys from him, his view about a person had to change right?

Jongup isn't sure why he is so bothered about this. He isn't sure about how he is supposed to treat Daehyun during their project assignment, and he feels a little guilty on the inside for not treating Daehyun nicely before, because of how he used to be bullied by him. Then again, now that Jongup thinks of it, he somehow realizes that the things Daehyun about isn't that much big a deal anyway, making him feel even more depressed. How is he ever going to repay him?

He isn't sure about where this leaves him and Daehyun. Jongup hates for having to think so much. What exactly was his relationship with Daehyun?

Childhood friends? No, because they weren't friends, nor buddies. Nothing of that sort. Daehyun hated him and he was pretty sure he felt almost the same way - until the events of yesterday happened.

Bully and victim? All those 'bullying incidents' seem rather irrelevant right now.

Hero and damsel in distress. Maybe.

Jongups sighed, dropping his phone back into his bag and curling back under his covers again, trying to sleep. He is worried about feeling awkward around the guy he had sworn to be enemies with his whole life, because right now, Daehyun didn't seem like such a bad guy after all.

And that made Jongup frustrated. If he wasn't a bad guy, why, why oh why must he keep teasing and making life difficult for him? Why did he have to barge into the scene all of a sudden to help Jongup and act so worried about his well-being after that?

Because obviously leaving someone to get would be one of the worst things you can ever think of doing. A smooth voice in Jongup's head reasoned.

Yes, that must be it, but then again, the Daehyun Jongup knew probably wouldn't have cared so far to have walked him home even after the whole incident.

Probably not, even in another thousand years or so.

And was being scared for Jongup a reason to why he was so uptight about the entire incident?

Jongup stopped his thoughts for a moment, the wires and gears in his brain overheating from having worked too hard. He massaged his temples and let his hands fall onto his pillow, squeezing it gently.

Was he honestly that concerned about his relationship with Daehyun?

He didn't answer himself as he felt his eyelids droop, tired out from all his thoughts about the certain tall, dark bully.

-----

The long span of seven hours felt like five minutes to Jongup, and he suddenly found himself awoken to the sunlight that is streaming through his unopened eyelids. He groaned into his pillow at the prospect of having to wake up to life again, but his arms and legs don't respond when he tries to get them to move.

To hell with it, he thinks, as he tried to bury himself deeper into his pillow, but grimaced when he felt a sticky sensation on his cheek.

Ew, was that his drool? He thought stupidly, but not really caring all that much. He turned his head so he was facing the other side; drool problem solved.

"That is a lot of drool."

Yes, yes it is.

"You are pretty disgusting you know that."

Wait--What?

"It must be a lot of work for your maids, taking care of you like this."

Who's talking?

Jongup cracked one of his eyelids open and sees a sharp nose, full plump lips and a pair of brown eyes; all of which belongs to the person he has been thinking about all night. His face is hovering inches away, so close that Daehyun's next breath slightly tickled Jongup's cheek, and it takes a while before Jongup's thoughts are thoroughly processed.

Adjskfhlsknd!

Jongup flung himself from the bed onto the floor and scrambled backwards so fast he hits the wall, causing a framed photo on the wall to sway dangerously before dropping onto his head, bouncing off with a large 'thud'.

"Ow!" Jongup winced, bringing his hands to his head to feel for a possible bump.

He flushed as he sees Daehyun howl with laughter on his bed, feeling his cheeks burn as he tries to gather himself, but the attempt failing terribly considering the situation he was in.

"I swear that is the most epic way to wake up," Daehyun coughed, trying to stop himself. He grinned, "and I don't know what makes it all the better, that mass load of drool on your face or your horrible taste in underwear."

Jongup's hand immediately shoots up to wipe at his face for dried drool when he looks down and realizes that he is still only wearing his Iron Man boxers. He spluttered and tried to rip his blanket off the bed from under Daehyun, but that proving difficult because Daehyun playfully latched onto the woolen sheet, not letting go. He watched on, amused as Jongup tried to cover himself with one hand but was struggling to get his blanket with the other.

"Jung Daehyun!" Jongup hissed, tugging at the blanket.

"What?" Daehyun says, feigning ignorance.

"L-Let go!" Jongup pleads, and Daehyun does, but the sudden unsuspected movement causes Jongup to bounce back, hitting the wall again, and causing the boy to wince in pain.

He covered himself with the thick material, his face burning to the roots of his hair and he finally manages to find his voice, ignoring the sharp pain in his back.

Really, trust Daehyun to turn from outstanding gentleman to an annoying spawn of Satan in just twelve hours.

"How did you get into my room?!" Jongup managed to say, wrapping the blanket tightly around himself.

"Your mother let me in the house before she went out," Daehyun said, rubbing his cheeks from having laughed so much.

His mother, Jongup thought bitterly. Of course she did - that woman would have swapped him and Daehyun for sons in an instant if she could. And if there was ever a Jung Daehyun fan club Jongup bets on his life she would be the president.

"And I let myself in your room. Boy did someone oversleep, you do realize we have a project to do right?" Daehyun said, folding his arms across his chest and grinning cheekily at Jongup.

"Since when did you care so much about project work?" Jongup retorted defensively as he glanced at his alarm clock. It was already 10:40, he really did oversleep.

"Why does everyone think I am a slacker," Daehyun half whined, half mocked.

"Because you are one," Jongup muttered. He watched as Daehyun sits up on his bed and glances around the room, and he suddenly feels self-conscious. Daehyun laughed to himself as he looked around the place Jongup grew up in, his eyes twinkling as he remembered how he always trashed this place and got Jongup into trouble when he were young.

"You are just as nerdy as you can ever get, Jonguppie," he said as he surveyed the neat books and assignments arranged on the shelves. Everything was in tip-top shape, just as it has been since they were kids. Save for the large Chris Brown poster and huge stack of CDs in the corner of the room though.

Jongup ignored the insult and was about to throw off his blanket to go to the bathroom when he realizes he is still in his underwear.

"Get out of my room please," he tried to politely request, trying to hide the creeping blush on his face, but Daehyun stays rooted on the bed, crossing his legs.

"Aw come on Jonguppie, it's not like I haven't seen you before." Daehyun smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"What are you talking about?" Jongup frowned, confused. "You haven't."

A look of surprise crosses Daehyun's face and his eyes widen slightly, but then he chuckled, grinning mischievously at Jongup.

"Are you sure about that?"

Jongup doesn't stop to think twice before he launches the fallen photo frame on the ground at Daehyun, and he doesn't even want to think about what Daehyun was trying to imply with his statement. He quickly hurried into his bathroom as Daehyun is left groaning on the bed because the photo frame had met its target, striking him on the eye.

He is breathing heavily after slamming shut the door, walking over to the basin. It was way too early in the morning to get so hyped up about things today.

He chuckles at himself as he glances at his reflection, stopping to think about why he had been so worried about his relationship with Daehyun that night. Daehyun was the same old jerk he knew, and Jongup suddenly felt relieved. Why he was relieved though, he wasn't sure. Did he think Daehyun was going to act any different to him after the events that happened? A small part of him somehow wanted to see, hear that caring side of Daehyun again.

Listen to yourself boy.

Jongup blinked, and the tap to splash his face with some water. Whether Daehyun was caring or not was none of his business.

Jongup walked out of his bathroom - his bedroom now empty of Daehyun and his blanket lying ruffled on the floor. He picked it up and settled it over his bed, but found that the photo was still where it had landed after hitting Daehyun. Jongup picked it up, and realized that it was an old photo of him and his parents with Daehyun and his, standing in front of their kindergarten.

Jongup's knees were scrapped and dirty, and his eyes seemed glossy, as if he had been crying before the picture was taken. Daehyun was still looking as cheeky as ever in the photo, his arm around Jongup's shoulder and holding his hand above Jongup's head in a peace sign, giving him the impression of a bunny. Jongup couldn't remember what happened before the photo was taken, but he was ready to bet Daehyun was the cause of it.

He hung the photo on the wall again, pausing for a moment to look at it again before he gathered his study materials from his bag, proceeding to go downstairs to start on the project.

He finds Daehyun in the kitchen, his back towards him, and for the first time that day Jongup actually paid attention to how the boy was dressed.

Daehyun had always been handsome, that Jongup knew, but he seemed to have dressed even more decently today. Jongup found himself staring at the way his black skinny jeans hugged his legs and how his long sleeved shirt was hanging on his lean frame. A loud wince brings Jongup back to reality and he realizes that it was from Daehyun, who was holding an ice pack over his eye.

"Daehyun?"

Daehyun turned around and sees Jongup, and his features were curled in a pained expression.

"Oh look who finally came down. Bruise, meet the person that made you. Jongup, bruise, bruise, Jongup," he said sarcastically, lifting the ice pack a bit to show Jongup the red mark left by the photo frame. Jongup's heart clenched a bit and he left his study materials on the table to go and tend to Daehyun.

"I am fine," Daehyun sighed when Jongup tried to look at the bruise again.

"No, seriously, I was joking, it isn't that bad," Daehyun said, trying to convince Jongup when he sees the boy's face fill with worry and guilt. He slightly protests when Jongup makes him sit on one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

Jongup grabbed the first aid kit from the side of the refrigerator and picked out an antiseptic cream, squeezing a bit onto his fingers before lowering Daehyun's hand from his head.

He feels extremely sorry and his eye brows creases in worry as the angry red mark was a deep contrast to Daehyun's pale skin, making it look worse than it actually was.

Way to treat the person who saved you the other night, Jongup.

"I am sorry," Jongup said in a small voice as he brushed Daehyun's hair back, applying the cream onto the bruise.

Daehyun winced slightly from the sting but doesn't move. "Well this is a great way to start on our project assignment," he mocked sarcastically, and Jongup's heart squeezes a little more.

Daehyun stops when there is a lack of response from Jongup, and he glances up to see Jongup's anxious expression. He bit his lips and kept quiet as Jongup peeled back the elastic stripes to place the plaster on his forehead.

"I really am sorry," Jongup tried again, honestly afraid that Daehyun was irritated with him - just as he promised to make it up to Daehyun for saving him the day before, this had to happen. He smoothed the edges of the plaster with his hand, and he cursed because his hand was slightly trembling. "I am sorry, I wasn't thinking-"

"Jongup," Daehyun said, and Jongup's eyes widen slightly in surprise as Daehyun grabbed his hand. Daehyun shook his head as he breaks out into a warm smile. "I am fine, see? I was just joking, it isn't that bad, honest."

Jongup gulped and nods, his eyes falling to their inter-connected hands instead. Daehyun followed his line of vision and his eyes crinkle up in amusement.

Daehyun chuckles, "Aren't we like a married couple now?" He teased, "and you are like the wife who doesn't know when to shut up."

Jongup's face flushed and he drew back his hand, trying to ignore the way his stomach seemed to flip at Daehyun's suggestion. He turned away, muttering under his breath and walking to the refrigerator to retrieve the hearts that were left to thaw the night before. He proceeded to walk towards the kitchen counter, slightly in his cheeks as Daehyun stood next to him, silently checking their apparatus and the things needed for their project.

His brows furrowed as he gazed at the bloodied specimen, the slight churning in his stomach not helped by the way Daehyun was staring at him right now.

"C-could you dissect it instead? Y-you know I am not that good with things like this..." Jongup said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the styrofoam box while feeling embarrassed and guilty at the same time for making Daehyun do all the stuff that they were supposed to be working on together.

Jongup breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Daehyun nod at the corner of his eyes and he smiles slightly, pushing the box towards him.

"Thank you, I will work hard on the report, I-" Jongup's words were cut off as he suddenly found Daehyun's hand on his, and he twitched slightly, head snapping upwards to look at Daehyun and thinking why is Daehyun being so touchy today. His face flushes as Daehyun's dark brown orbs bore into his own, and the beating of his hear amplifies in his ears a thousand times over. He tried to focus on the band-aid on the side of Daehyun's head, but he finds his eyes flickering back into Daehyun's again. They travel down his sharp nose, to those pink lips that seemed to say,

"Do you have a camera?"

It took a while for Jongup to snap out of his trance and he blinked, realizing what Daehyun had said. He garbled out a choked response, his voice dying at the back of his throat as Daehyun smirks.

"I said, do you have a camera? We need pictures to add in to the report after all," he mused, his tone light. He reached out to Jongup's face, but not before Jongup twitches his hand from under his and jerks back.

"You feeling alright? Your face is so red."

"I-I am fine, camera, camera, yes, I h-have that, I have a camera, I have a camera in my room."

Jongup clamped his hands over his mouth to stop himself from blabbering anymore and he almost sprints out of the kitchen to get to his room, nearly falling. As he trudges up the stairs and tries to kill himself on the way to the bedroom, he failed to notice a distinct, low chuckle coming from the kitchen.

-----

Daehyun rested himself on the lush sofa as he lazily watches Jongup type into his laptop three hours later, playing with the intricately woven strings that were hanging off a cushion.

It was a comfortable silence, the only sounds in the room were fingertips against the keyboard, and occasional scratches of pencil on paper.

Jongup’s brows were furrowed as he moved his cursor over the document, trying to figure out the correct way of boxing the descriptions, when his phone suddenly vibrates on the cool glass surface of the table and drawing immediate attention from the two pairs of eyes in the room.

Jongup slid it open and his lips were drawn towards the sides of his face as he realizes it’s from Himchan. His eyes dart over the screen quickly, reading the message.

From: Himchannie hyung

Jongup, are you still working on that report? I was wondering if we could hang out today, because I am going to be busy tomorrow ^_^

Jongup pursed his lips, having a silent debate over whether or not to go. He wanted to finish the report as soon as possible, but looking at amount of information he had to fill in, there was no way that he would be able to finish it all by today. I can work on it later, he decided, and spoke to Daehyun while looking at his phone.

“Hey Daehyun, I think we can stop here for today.”

He heard a disgruntled snort from the couch, and he could feel a glare trained on his head as he typed in his reply.

To: Himchannie hyung

Sure! I think I can work on my report some other time, so where-

“Why? It’s only been three hours.”

Jongup looked up to see an irate Daehyun hugging his cushion tightly, his gaze on Jongup’s phone. He clucked his tongue disapprovingly and said, “Has the Prince requested for your presence?”

Jongup nodded, not answering as he continued to type in his full reply, but not before he finds himself grasping onto thin air, his phone whipped away by Daehyun, who scoffed as he read through his message.

“And here we both thought I was the slacker in this project group,” Daehyun scowled. “You cancelled your plans with him last week for this project work didn’t you, so why is he messaging you now when he knows his little boyfriend has an important project work to finish?”

“That was before I realized we actually had other days and more than enough time to complete the assignment,” Jongup said, slight annoyance in his voice, hurriedly standing up as Daehyun scrolled through his previous messages with Himchan.

“And we finished the dissection already! We can take our time writing the report, now give me-” Jongup protested, reaching over to try and snatch his phone from Daehyun.

Daehyun hummed and easily blocks Jongup with one hand as he continued to fiddle with Jongup’s phone, trying to send in another text to Himchan to try and politely tell him to get lost. Jongup groaned as he tried to reach for his phone, silently lamenting about his height yet again.

"Daehyun!" he whined, exasperated, unsure of where that brave and charismatic person from the day before had gone. Daehyun looked at him, his eyes wide.

“Did you just-”

Jongup looked at Daehyun, confused. “Did I just what?”

“You whined,” Daehyun mused, and Jongup shook his head at the taller’s weirdness, unable to understand his mentality.

“Do that again,” Daehyun urged, and Jongup scrunched up his nose, glaring at Daehyun.

“No. Stop with whatever you are trying to do and give me my phone,” Jongup sighed, exasperated, but Daehyun wagged a finger at him, shaking his head teasingly.

“I will give it to you as soon as you do that again.”

“Do what?!” Jongup cried, unconsciously letting out a low whine and Daehyun grabs at his cheeks, squeezing them playfully. Daehyun leanned in to Jongup’s face and his face crinkles into a smile.

“That! That noise, I swear that’s the cutest noise you have ever made-”

Jongup spluttered, his face flushing at Daehyun’s comment and his stomach lurching uncomfortably like it did in the morning because oh my ing god did Daehyun just call me cute. Jongup wasn’t even sure why that had caused a disturbing bubbling in his stomach and he swears he saw Daehyun’s face turn red as well, but quickly brushed it off as a figment of his imagination for Daehyun then whispered, “that is the exact same noise my past girlfriends make in bed.”

Jongup backslapped Daehyun’s hand away, frowning and forcing himself to calm down. Feeling his heart drop at Daehyun’s statement which is something he is sure to question himself about later, he also feels offended, unable to believe the nerve of Daehyun. Jongup has never liked it when Daehyun teases him like this, and he has nearly forgotten about how Daehyun could go about doing it. His eyes widened as his phone started to vibrate in Daehyun’s hand and he quickly lunged at him, snatching the phone away before Daehyun could react. He feels a small sense of satisfaction as Daehyun crosses his arms, looking displeased with the turn of events.

“Hello?” Jongup said, his face automatically lighting up when he hears Himchan’s low voice through the receiver.

“Jongup? You didn’t reply my message just now, is it because of the project?”

“Oh no hyung, we finished what we had to do today, and I was just preparing to message you back,” Jongup breathed, his cheeks slightly pink. Daehyun mimicked vomiting into his hand and he straightened to point at the laptop accusingly.

“Oh then that’s good then, I was wondering if we could have a small date at the arcade downtown? The one people at our school always go to. Nothing too big really, since you can’t be home too late,” Himchan says, and Jongup feels a bit hesitant. He never really liked arcades, but it couldn’t hurt right? Just this once…for Himchan.

“The arcade? O-okay, anything is fine,” Jongup said quietly, trying to sound enthusiastic about the arrangement.

“Awesome, so meet me outside the café in front of the arcade okay? Be there at 3.30p.m.?”

“That’s fine,” Jongup said, giving his affirmation before Himchan hung up. He listened to the dial tone for a few seconds, before looking to see Daehyun in one side of his cheek.

“The arcade? But you hate arcades,” Daehyun stated, his tone flat. He waits for an answer from Jongup, who finally shakes his head.

“I don’t hate them, I just…can’t bring myself to like them very much.”

“And apparently there is a word to just sum up everything that you’d just said. You hate them. Shouldn’t you just tell your Himchannie hyung that you aren’t comfortable in places like that?”

“No, I am perfectly alright with arcades, it’s not like I have any phobia of them.” Jongup stressed.

“Don’t tell me you had forgotten the time when you got stuck in that machine.”

“Please, don’t ever mention that again. And who do I have to thank?" Jongup snapped back. That was when they were young, far too young and stupid and Jung genius Daehyun decided it was a good idea to see how far they could go, sneaking into different booths with unsuspecting people. That is, until Jongup found himself stuck between two machines he tried to squeeze through when they were escaping from two extremely angry teenagers.

"You can go home now. We can meet up on Monday, or Wednesday next week, whenever you like. I can probably finish most of it by myself today though," Jongup said as he checked the calendar on his phone. He saved the file and closed his laptop, but looked up to see Daehyun still staring at him.

"What?" Jongup asked, feeling irritated but guilty about pushing off their project work for a date. Then again, Daehyun probably has better things to do than this. No, he should have better things to do than this. He was the popular, cool guy that had a different date every other week.

"Don't you have some date somewhere to ," Jongup said nonchalantly, grabbing his books to go upstairs.

"Don't tell me you were bothered about what I said just now. You are just finding an excuse to make yourself feel better about blowing off our project work," he accused as he followed Jongup who was making his way to his bedroom. Jongup sighed as he placed his books on his shelf.

"I am not finding excuses for anyone, and I am most definitely not bothered by what you had just said," Jongup snarled, his cheeks flushing pink. "I am sorry for 'blowing off' our project work and I honestly don't see why you care so much, since there is more than enough time to finish it, so as long as you keep to schedule, we can finish it on time."

"And I wonder who isn't keeping to schedule right now..."

"Daehyun, stop being a whiny ," Jongup said through clenched teeth. "Since when were you this keen on doing work anyway," He muttered under his breath as he grabs his wallet and keys from his table. He pauses for a moment as he realizes the handkerchief Himchan lent him the other day was neatly folded beside it, and he smiled to himself before deciding to bring that along as well.

He pushed his way past Daehyun and walked down the stairs with Daehyun right on his tail.

"Me? A whiny ?" Daehyun said incredulously. "Here I am, trying to be a responsible member of this group and doing work while you decide Prince Charming is more important than something that takes up 30% of your grade."

Jongup lets out his hundredth sigh and walked out the front door, leaving Daehyun with no choice but to grab his bag and reluctantly follow him out as well. Jongup turned to look at Daehyun after locking the door and realized that Daehyun's mouth was scrunched up in a pout. If Jongup hadn't known better, he would have thought that Daehyun looked hurt. But no. Daehyun would never feel hurt over something as stupid as this.

Jongup tried to arrange his features into something close to a smile as he said, "sorry Daehyun, but yes, I don't want to lose Prince Charming now. Thanks for today, and you know...yesterday, and I am sorry about your bruise and our assignment. I am a horrible assignment partner, so feel free to think that. As stupid a person you are, I really appreciate your help, so thanks." He clapped Daehyun on the arm and turned to walk towards the bus stop, not seeing Daehyun's expression of disappointment and deeming it too awkward to actually turn around and wave good bye again.

The questions in his head the night before were set at a low hum in his head, but he can worry about that later, he thinks. Right now, Daehyun would still be the bully slash irritating group member and he was downgraded to the unserious worker who thinks boyfriends were more important than grades. But it's okay, because he was going to see Himchan after all, and Himchan should make everything worth it.

[A/N]: Hey guys how have you been :D look at what I am doing now ^^ [here] and [here] Comments make me a really happy person hoho :D