It's back to school on Monday and Jongup ticked the things he had already done on his tiny to-do list, after the last group of students filed out of class. His pen hovered over the words scribbled in his scrawly penmanship on the last line -

Biology Assignment with Jerk due Thursday

He bit the inside of his lip, mentally groaning at the fact that he couldn't tick the box just yet. His eyes shifted uncomfortably to the row of seats in front of him, his eyes lying on a particular one that has been empty for the past few hours or so.

"Jongup."

I wonder why Daehyun isn't in school today, Jongup thought, tapping the end of his pen against his notebook. Jongup wondered if it had anything to do with that small injury he inflicted on him.

Maybe he caused a concussion.

"Jongup!" Jongup started as he whipped his head around and saw Youngjae staring at him looking unimpressed. Jongup blinked and glanced to his side, meeting the eyes of Mr. Park.

"Something on your mind, Jongup?"

Jongup shrank under the gaze of his classmates. "Well-"

"Please don't answer that, I wasn't really interested," Mr. Park said, turning away. "Whatever it is in your brains these days I hope you do find space in those miniscule capacities to realize that your assignment in due in three days' time." An uncomfortable silence fell across the class and Mr. Park sighed, taking the silence to mean that half the class probably has not even started on said assignment.

"Leave it to me to fail you all and I will be glad that I won't have to follow you up to the next grade." Mr. Park said with a smile just as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. The students scrambled out of their seats, in a bid to rush out the door and to the nearest supermarket, hissing at their assignment partners while doing so.

Jongup and Youngjae were amongst the few left in the classroom and Jongup was keeping his books as Youngjae sidled up next to him.

"So what happened to your partner today?" Youngjae inquired casually, nodding in the direction of Daehyun's empty seat. He did not miss the slight frown that came over Jongup's features when he mentioned it, although he shrugged, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"I don't know," Jongup said, and did not continue as he checked his phone. He sent a text to Himchan over an hour ago asking him if he was free after school to have lunch together, but received no reply.

"What were you doing yesterday then?" Youngjae asked as they walked out of the classroom. "You met up with him to do the assignment didn't you?"

"Yes and no," Jongup mumbled, and Youngjae raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Jongup squirmed internally at his friend's inquisitive look and he fiddled with his phone for a while, begging for a notice or some distraction to come up.

"Himchan sort of invited me out after Daehyun came over to my house," Jongup admitted at last. "And our assignment date was cut short after that."

Youngjae kept quiet for a while and they continued through the hallways out onto the school courtyard.

"So you irresponsibly ditched your assignment for a date."

"Dammit Youngjae can you please don't say it like that," Jongup groaned. He was grateful for Youngjae's straightforwardness and his honesty but this was really not the time. Youngjae raised his hands in mock surrender and he shook his head.

"I'm just saying, I think that it is an awful thing for you to do and you ought to apologise to him," he said.

"I already apologised to him! And okay I feel awful but he crashed my date in the end so that makes us equals," Jongup grumbled.

"He crashed your date?" Youngjae asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, shamelessly so, he showed up with Minho at the arcade that I was at with Himchan and practically ruined everything," Jongup continued, although he actually felt a sense of relief when he did not need to play all the games that he was bad at.

"I thought you hated the arcade," Youngjae said.

"Please stop sounding like Daehyun!" Jongup groaned, plugging his ears with his index fingers. Youngjae had managed to voice out every single unnecessary statement and reiterated everything that Daehyun had accused him of the day before, which was causing cracks in the dam of guilt within Jongup's heart that he was trying so hard to keep together.

"Have you even thought over what I mentioned before?" Youngjae asked, dragging Jongup's hand from his ear.

Jongup frowned, trying to recollect what his friend was talking about. Youngjae pursed his lips in exasperation, before speaking real slowly, "I mentioned my theory of Jung Daehyun liking you, Jongup."

Jongup's cheeks flushed at that and he shook his head, swatting Youngjae's hand away. "Nope, that is not possible in the slightest." Jongup has been trying so hard not to think of his friend's words that were mentioned days before; he didn't want to have an excuse to read into anything that had happened between Daehyun and him over the past few days. It felt almost arrogant to even imagine that Daehyun would like him in that way because Daehyun was…Daehyun and no evidence in the past ten years could ever prove Youngjae's theory right.

Although that being said, the past few days had been a little different; the bus, the incident with Junhong, this entire assignment that Jongup was doing with Daehyun seemed to show parts of him that he never knew existed before.

Jongup's phone vibrated as it signaled an incoming message and Jongup's expression fell as he read the news.

From: Himchannie Hyung

Really sorry Jongup, I am preoccupied with some other matters today. Catch you some other day yeah?

Jongup swatted at Youngjae who was peeking over his shoulder, but not before he saw the message. Youngjae pondered about the message as Jongup hurried to type a reply.

"I guess this gives you more time to complete your assignment with Daehyun," Youngjae said, but Jongup continued to type into the phone, pretending not to hear.

"Hey!"

Snatching the phone out of Jongup's hand, Youngjae hurried to delete the message he was sending to Himchan and scoured the contacts list, while dodging Jongup's attempts to get the phone back. He side-stepped Jongup's lunges at the phone, typed away at the keyboard before sending the message and then letting the phone be taken from his hands from an irate Jongup. Jongup looked at the screen and his eyes widened at the message Youngjae has typed.

To: Daehyun

You weren't in school today. Feeling alright? Mind if I pop by your house to finish some parts of our assignment?

"What was that for?" Jongup groaned, his thoughts trying to collect themselves as he read the message. "I never 'pop' by his house! I don’t type like this! Who 'pops' by people's houses!" Jongup rambled on, glaring at Youngjae, who simply shrugged.

"It would be a good idea to finish up your assignment that's due in like, three days. Make up to the poor guy for ditching him yesterday," Youngjae said, whistling as he turned and continued on their shared path towards the bus stop. If this was some shrewd way of Youngjae trying to test his theory of Daehyun's feelings towards Jongup, Jongup was not having any of it.

He tried to formulate a good enough excuse to type into the phone, maybe pass off the previous message as a mistake, but the screen lit up with the display of a new message before he could.

From: Daehyun

Is Jonguppie worried about me? That makes me really happy ㅋㅋ Sure you can.

Jongup wanted to bite his phone in a fit of pure revolt. No I am certainly not worried about you, he wanted to type, that was Youngjae and his god awful ideas and him trying to guilt trip me about our assignment.

But with Daehyun's affirmation, he had no choice but to 'pop' in, as painful as it seemed. He scowled at Youngjae, who hummed as he flashed Jongup a cheeky smile.

----

"Daehyun?" Jongup asked as he entered the room. The housekeeper had let Jongup in, smiling warmly as she offered to bring the both of them snacks later in the evening.

In between sheets and a multitude of pillows and blankets, nestled Daehyun in front of his laptop. He had his glasses on, the large black-rimmed glasses that rested on his high cheek and was situated below his tousled hair. He looked up as Jongup walked in, giving him a small smirk.

"Jonguppie, you actually came. I guess you felt really bad about yesterday afterall," Daehyun said, smiling.

"Well Youngjae sent the message, not me," Jongup said, "He told me to make it up to you so I guess that brings me here and all." If he hadn't known better, Jongup could have sworn Daehyun's features froze for a second, a split second before he sighed and turned back to his laptop, nodding.

"Kind of guessed, knew it was too good to be true."

A short silence fell between them and Jongup did not know how to read into what Daehyun had just said. Maybe Daehyun was looking forward to Jongup's visit and all Jongup did was deny everything and act like a douche. He was about to say something before Daehyun hummed, looking up.

"Why are you standing there like an idiot?" He said, laughing. He patted the spot on the bed next to him and Jongup breathed a sigh of relief before removing his bag and sitting at the edge of the bed where Daehyun was gesturing to.

Daehyun looked fine from afar when Jongup had entered the room, but as Jongup sat closer to him, he realized that Daehyun's face was sallow and sunken, accompanied by a thin sheen of sweat around his neck. The black rimmed glasses that he was wearing hid dark, sunken circles under his eyes that seemed to imply a fitful rest the night before. A bottle of painkillers and boxes of tissues and some towels were splayed messily on the bedside table beside Daehyun.

"Daehyun, are you okay?" Jongup asked worriedly, and as Daehyun turned to face him, he saw the discoloured bruise on Daehyun's forehead peek out amidst his messy tousled fringe.

The black tank top that he was wearing seemed to stick uncomfortably to his skin but Daehyun waved his hand nonchalantly, saying, "Of course I am, better than ever." Jongup frowned, but before he could say anything else, Daehyun jabbed him hardly between the brows, causing Jongup to clutch his forehead in pain.

"Ow! Daehyun!"

"Don't frown like that. It ages you," Daehyun remarked, chortling like the snarky he was. Jongup was about to rebut but Daehyun's hand sneaked around his waist, pulling Jongup towards him and the monetary misdirection caused Jongup to smack hardly against Daehyun's chest, which had the both of them howling in pain.

"Not what I was trying to do," Daehyun gasped, but he was grinning cheekily at Jongup. He nodded towards his laptop screen and Jongup looked to see a vibrant infographic on the screen. Jongup was not an art student but he could tell that it was a well made graphic, with just the right gentle pastel colours on nice fonts and different diagrams and shapes.

A bolded title on the infographic read, "The Little Pig and the Frog Prince; a biology assignment by Jung Daehyun and Moon Jongup".

"I thought it would be a good addition to our written report; make it more interesting and bright you know?" Daehyun said, with a small hint of pride in his voice. Jongup stared at the graphic on the screen, feeling stunned at the effort that Daehyun had made for their shared assignment and feeling even more like a douche right now. He turned, wanting to apologize for what he did the day before but not before realizing that Daehyun's face was inches away from his, his arm still snug around his waist.

Jongup blushed at the proximity and tried to squirm out of Daehyun's grip, but Daehyun laughed and held on. Letting go of the laptop, he opted to hug Jongup around the waist, to which Jongup yelped and tried to swat away his hands, to little effect.

"Jongup-ah," Daehyun murmured, and Jongup's face flushed as the former's voice seemed to drop a pitch, his breaths going slower and his eyes falling half-lidded. The short breaths of air were felt on Jongup's cheek bones as Daehyun tilted his face to meet Jongup, their noses almost touching.

Everything that Youngjae mentioned about Daehyun flooded through the dams of Jongup's head and he was unmoving, his hands having lost the ability to move as they clutched at the fabric of Daehyun's top. Is this what Youngjae meant? He felt the riot in his chest, the thumping footsteps of his heart rushing to place a foot in front of the other, a growing stampede. He lost the battle of trying to stop such a crowd, hearing the thundering left in their wake within the recesses of his ears, the drum below his hands, the pulsing in his veins. Jongup realized that he should be doing something to stop whatever was happening because he has a boyfriend but a look at the widely blown pupils within those brown irises, and he forgets to think.

He in a sharp breath as Daehyun's forehead rested upon his own, closing his eyes. It was a few seconds before the slackening of arms around Jongup's waist set the wheels in his brain going again.

"Daehyun? O-Oh god, you are burning up!" Jongup gasped. Daehyun's eyes fell closed and he tried to shake his head slowly, his form starting to slump against Jongup's chest.

"A-am fine," Daehyun mumbled, giving a small weak smile.

Raising his hand to Daehyun's forehead, Jongup is stunned to note just how hot and feverish it felt. A larger hand enclosed around his own and Daehyun continued to shake his head, trying to insist that he was fine.

"No you are not; I am going to get Ahjumma to come over."

Jongup blushed from the feeling of Daehyun's hand around his and he hurriedly shifted to move the laptop away from the bed. As he was about to leave the room to get the housekeeper, Daehyun reached to grab his hand again, in a tighter grip.

"Wait, are you leaving already?" he asked weakly. "We still have the assignment to do."

Jongup blinked, looking at Daehyun in disbelief. Daehyun looked like a mess, with his unkempt hair and the too-large glasses hiding half his face. The black tank top that hung limply from his shoulders made him seem small between the white sheets in his queen-sized bed. Daehyun would never act like this when he was well - Jongup did not want to try and think this way, but it almost seemed as if Daehyun was trying to stop him from going home by using the assignment as an excuse.

All at once, it seemed harder to meet Daehyun's eyes and it felt like there was a constriction around his heart. The short moment they shared before was doing really weird things to his feelings and it felt like a swirling storm beneath the juncture of his ribs, ready to implode any moment. It was wrong of him to have expected anything from that because this was Daehyun that they were talking about.

"I am coming back, dummy," Jongup assured him gently, removing his hand. "I am just going to get Ahjumma."

Daehyun nodded, his face still framed with that fragile expression and his eyes not betraying signs of worry; as if Jongup was going to disappear from his life the moment he walked out that bedroom door. Jongup did not of course, and within twenty minutes the lovely housekeeper had chided Daehyun out of his sweaty shirt into more comfortable sleepwear, replacing his sweat soaked sheets with new ones.

"Seems like a bad cold," she said, biting the edge of her lip as she took Daehyun's temperature. "We are going to have to get you to the doctor's soon, but take your medicine yeah?" Daehyun groaned as she passed him a glass of water with some pills and he swallowed them reluctantly, pretending to gag and whine when she told him to drink more water. She looked at him fondly as he took of his glasses and started to settle more snugly in his new sheets.

"Take care of the poor boy yeah, it's time for me to go," Ahjumma said kindly to Jongup as he saw her to the door. "The medicine is bound to make him woozy and a bit more of a handful than usual."

Jongup laughed, "I had to deal with that handful almost all my life, it's quite alright, Ahjumma."

"Bless your soul," She said, laughing and biding Jongup goodbye.

Going back upstairs, Jongup found Daehyun nestled in his blankets, his eyes blinking blearily as he sniffled with the cold compress on his head. "It's not even that bad," he sulked, his hands playing with the edges of the blanket.

"Just go to sleep Daehyun," Jongup said, opening up Daehyun's laptop and settling on the floor next to the bed. "I will finish up the rest of the report from here." Jongup gave a small smile to Daehyun, to which Daehyun just stared at. Whipping his face back to the laptop, he could feel the start of the uneasiness that he felt previously and prickly heat that crept up his neck steadily. He tried to slow the hammering in his chest and busied himself with the report in front of him, correcting words and adding in new information that he had found.

He worked in silence for a while and figured that Daehyun had fallen asleep, but a peek to his side and he realized that Daehyun was still regarding him silently, trying his best to fight a losing battle against sleep.

"Is something up?" Jongup asked, concerned.

"mm' fine," Daehyun mumbled, his words tripping over each other under the effect of the medicine. "Wand' to see yur 'ork."

"I am fine, you on the other hand, are sick so please just rest yourself," Jongup assured him, reaching over to make sure the cold compress was stuck correctly to his forehead. "I won't leave so soon."

Daehyun hummed and closed his eyes in response to that.

"Mm sorry," he murmured into his sheets, and Jongup sighed in exasperation for having to coddle Daehyun to sleep so many times.

"Din't mean to leave you 'anging jus' now," Daehyun continued to say, his eyes closed. Jongup scratched his head at that, not understanding.

"Really really wand' to kiss you," Daehyun said, his lips curving into a small smile. Jongup froze at that, as the last few words seemed to hang in the air between them, their growing presence seeming to envelope the silence of the room.

"Was really 'appy you came," Daehyun continued, and Jongup was a hundred percent sure this was all under the effects of the pills he just ate. "Din't mean to- almos' faint. Jus 'hought you looked really pretty under 'e light."

Daehyun cracked an eye open at the unmoving Jongup, who felt as if his soul had just ascended his body and left for another plane of existence.

"I realllly like you, Jongup-ah."

A/N: Do I deserve to be shot yes but thank you to those who still continue to post comments and who still believe in me. I have no idea what I did to deserve readers like you but I am extremely grateful <3 

Big shout out to people like Hyrichi and famics! :') you guys are great!