“Hey Thai Prince, wake up, we got a match today!”

Nichkhun groaned in protest at the unfriendly wakeup call as he pouted afterwards when Taec threw a pillow across his bed, which landed safely on his head.

“Shut up, the match won’t start until ten.”

He heard Taec chuckled at his raw voice and he tried hard to not think how his friend destroyed their kitchen when he heard a loud sound coming from the kitchen, followed by Taec’s girlish scream.

“Taec, stop burning our kitchen down!”

He yelled under the blanket and frowned when his head still ached in pain. Last night, once he got home, he gobbled down any food he found on the table and took his medicine, took a quick shower and wrapped himself in his comfy blanket in hope for the fever to go away.

Blindly reaching out for his phone, he sighed when the clock showed it was already nine. Grimacing at his poor fate, he sat up, pushing the blanket away and went to the bathroom. He needed to at least make sure that the headache went away if he wanted to win the match because he really couldn’t perform well under this condition.

Once he finished showering himself with the warm water, he grabbed his casual clothes, putting the basketball outfit into his bag and went out from the room, only to roll his eyes at the smoke appearing from the kitchen.

“Taec, I don’t care if your burn down yourself to ashes, but not the kitchen! See you at the match!”

With that, he left the apartment, chuckling when he heard his friend whined, calling him heartless and all. The college was actually kind of close from their apartment as he and Taec usually walked to the class, except in case where they were late, they would hail a cab or just took the convenience bus on the way.

Nichkhun took his usual route and smiled widely when he could smell the delicious homemade bun ten feet away from him. Shaking away his headache, Nichkhun jogged towards his favorite bakery impatiently and almost beamed when his favorite bun was still on the rack.

Maybe because of his obsession toward the buns, or because of his hunger, or even because of his headache that Nichkhun didn’t notice anything or anyone once he locked his gaze on his favorite bun. his upper lips, he reached for the tray and focused entirely on the buns, the softness of the bun—the golden color of it—the fresh smell of been cooked, these were the reasons why Nichkhun was crazy over the heels with the bread.

“Khun-hyung?”

He almost, almost dropped the tray out of surprise, because really, would you be expecting to suddenly meet your crush so early in the morning, in the usual route you took every day? He turned to look at the source of the voice, and cursed when his heart skipped a beat at the adorable sight in front of him.

“Oh, Wooyoung ah. Well, this is surprising. Why are you here?”

Right, good question Nichkhun. Why would Wooyoung be in the bakery if not to buy some bread? And he’s already held the plastic bag. Wooyoung chuckled at his question and he looked away in embarrassment. That was a fool question indeed.

“I’m stopping by to buy some bread hyung. I didn’t expect to see you here too.”

Nichkhun finished scooping his favorite breads into the tray and grinned, completely aware on how his mood changed into a better condition.

“Oh well, I’m here almost every day. That—if I have a morning class of course. Or else, don’t expect to see me until its noon.”

Wooyoung giggled and Nichkhun moved to the side of the bakery when people kept on coming inside the bakery to buy bread. He ignored the fluttering feelings inside him when Wooyoung followed him like a cute lost puppy and please trusted him, he wanted so bad to squeeze those chubby cheeks.

“You sure love this bread, don’t you? You almost take them all on the rack.”

Wooyoung teased when he saw five pieces of bread on his tray and Nichkhun chuckled, wondering since when the younger knew how to .

“Well, you sure know how to tease me now. What are you buying then?”

The younger beamed at his question and opened his plastic bag, letting Nichkhun took a peek over the breads he just bought.

“This is my favorite, Georgian Cheese bread! The cheese fell so full and the bread is so fluffy! And the crispiness is just perfect and I think the baker is a professional one.”

Wooyoung explained to him, holding the bread with his right hand as his eyes shone in excitement. Well, called Nichkhun a stupid but he was too busy looking over the bread to notice the blush that suddenly started to spread on the younger’s cheeks.

“Really? I never tried it.”

Nichkhun murmured suspiciously and the latter pouted.

“Really, hyung, it’s really delicious! Here, try it.”

With that, Wooyoung reached out his hand that was full of bread towards Nichkhun’s mouth, who took a bite out of instinct and smiled when he saw the younger blushed as his lips accidentally brushed against Wooyoung’s fingers.

Munching on the bread, it took him almost all his energy to force his heart to calm down when Wooyoung watched him with eyes full of curiosity.

Man, that is soooo cute!

“How is it?”

He opened his mouth to answer, only to let out a fit of laughter instead, causing the guy in front of him to pout.

“Hyung! Why are you laughing?”

“No, nothing, it just –” Another round of laughter escaped his mouth as he tried to balance his tray properly. “It’s funny how you take this thing seriously. You’re just waiting for me to decide whether this bread is delicious or not, not whether you pass the exam or not.”

Wooyoung whined in protest when he laughed some more.

“But hyung, it’s bread! What food can be more delicious than bread?”

Nichkhun hummed playfully, pretending like he was looking for the answer although he already knew it. For him, at least. “Hm, say, ice cream?”

The younger’s eyes widened and Nichkhun saw how the younger almost jumped on his feet at the mention of the ice cream.

“My most favorite among the favorites hyung!”

He chuckled and went to the counter with Wooyoung following by his side.

“Your vocabulary Wooyoung.”

“Hey, I passed my Koreans exam!”

Nichkhun paid the breads and they walked out from the bakery. He took a glanced at his watch and gulped when there’s only fifteen minutes left to the ten.

“I passed mine too,” Nichkhun paused, “—with flying color.”

He teased and the younger pouted. “Boo, hyung is boasting again.”

Nichkhun laughed and it was crazy, on how the gesture of them taking out their respective breads from the plastic bag and munched on them simultaneously made him felt so freaking happy.

“Say hyung, why did you come to Korea?”

He halted on his bite just for a brief of second.

“You really wanna hear my story now?”

The chubby cheeked guy blinked confusedly at him and damn the cuteness, he cursed silently.

“Why can’t I?”

“Uh, you remember that I got a basketball match at ten, don’t you?”

With that, Wooyoung’s eyes widened as he scrambled to get his phone from the back pocket, looking at the time with panic eyes before he snatched his bun and put their breads in his plastic bag.

“Hey, that’s my breakfast!”

Nichkhun protested and winced when Wooyoung hit his upper arm lightly.

“Forget about the breakfast, you got a match to play!”

With that, the younger grabbed his hand and they started running towards the college, with Nichkhun tried so hard to muffle his laughter when he saw the panic expression written all over Wooyoung’s face.

“But, that’s my favorite bun!”

He teased and Wooyoung pulled him to run a little faster.

“I won’t eat it hyung, I swear! So please run faster!”

****

They reached the basketball hall in time as their college’s team only start to warm up by playing among themselves.

“Hyung, hurry!”

Wooyoung hushed him, taking the plastic bag from him and Nichkhun quickly took out his outfit from the bag. It was a brief of second of thinking, but he wouldn’t miss this idea to tease the younger.

“Should I just change here?” He said it with a serious face, causing Wooyoung to blush in deep red before he grinned teasingly. “Why so red? I’m sure those are not very innocent images in your head.”

Wooyoung pouted as his eyes became watery from the embarrassment. Closing his eyes,  he made Nichkhun to turn around on his heels and pushed the older towards the locker room.

“Stop teasing and hurry up hyung! The match is about to begin!”

He laughed and nodded, ruffling the younger hair as he finally stopped the teasing, jogging towards the locker room and came back approximately three minutes after. After putting down his belongings near Wooyoung and Minjun, who came to support Taec, Nichkhun joined the others on the field.

“Hey, you’re late.”

Taec grinned and passed him the ball, which he took it expertly and made a swift turn when someone tried to grab it from him, looking for a clear pathway and threw it to Chansung once they made an eye contact.

“Morning hyung! Feeling better?”

Chansung greeted cheerfully once he passed the ball to their teammates and Nichkhun did a high-five with the maknae when they scored beautifully. Well, the match hadn’t start yet, but it was good for a warm up practice.

“Yeah, you owe me a dinner.”

Chansung frowned confusedly and he grinned.

“What? Since when I owe you—”

“Oh look Chansung, the ball!”

He cut him purposely and chuckled when the maknae realized that he was just tricking him. After a few more minutes of practicing, the referee blew his whistle, asking them to take their position as they stood in front of the opponent. Nichkhun took a deep breath to calm down his nervous system and gave their opponent a small smile.

The cheer from the audience was deafening and really, honestly, Nichkhun didn’t expect himself to glance at Wooyoung, but he did and once their eyes met, he broke out into a chuckle when Wooyoung made a ‘Fighting’ gesture at him.

He nodded slightly and smiled when Wooyoung looked at him with expectation.

“Get yourself together dude,”

Taecyeon said beside him with a teasing smile and he rolled his eyes at the gesture. He looked to his left, nodding a little at Chansung once they locked their gaze on each other.

“Get into your position!”

Nichkhun moved to his position and closed his eyes, calming the frantic beating of his heartbeat and when the referee blew his whistle once more, he opened his eyes, more determined than he ever was. This might a friendly match, but they put their pride of being the champion for two consecutive years on the line.

“Khun!”

He took the ball from Taec nicely as he dashed forward toward the opponent’s basket, taking a sharp turn to the left when two guys were preventing him from moving forward.

“Chansung!”

Without waiting for any second, Nichkhun threw the ball and trusted the younger to be there, grinning in triumph when Chansung took the ball and shoot, giving them a score point.

“Yeah!!”

His teammates cheered and the second round started in the blink of an eye. He was doing a good job in defending his team when suddenly Chansung passed the ball towards him. Eyes turned alert, he jumped and gripped the ball tightly, only to be pushed from aside rather harshly as he fell down on the floor, sliding a few feet away from his original place as he blinked at the hard impact between him and the wooden floor.

The referee blew his whistle and in a second, his teammates were around him.

“Dude, you’re okay?”

‘Hyung, I’m sorry!”

He heard Chansung and Taecyeon’s voice at the background as someone pulled him to stand on his feet.

“Can you play?”

The referee asked him and he nodded quickly, ignoring the throbbing pain inside his head.

“Are you sure?”

Taec asked, looking all concern and he flashed a confident grin.

“Yeah, I’m cool. Come on guys, get into your position!”

Chansung threw him one more worry glance before he dashed to his position. Nichkhun accidentally looked over the bench and caught Wooyoung was staring at him with a frown on his face.

Are you okay?

The younger mouthed from afar and he nodded, not wanting to worry the younger.

I’m fine.

Okay, fighting hyung!

Nichkhun chuckled at the cute gesture and shook away all his pain. There’s no way he would lose in this game. Not when he had Wooyoung’s support for the first time in his life.

****

“Yo, good game captain!”

His teammates cheered from behind and he grinned despite his hectic pants. They finally won the game with five scores ahead and he could see how proud Taec was when they still defended their title.

“You too man,”

Nichkhun patted their backs and humored them with some good conversations before he went to join his other friends, who were sitting at the front bench. His smile died instantly when he saw Wooyoung was wiping Chansung’s sweat across his face with a proud smile.

Right, they were dating. How could he forget that? He dismissed his heartbreak arrogantly and took a seat next to Minjun, who passed him a bottle of water.

“Nice game,”

He gulped down the water hungrily, completely ignoring Chansung and Wooyoung who were standing at his left.

“I heard that before,”

He teased and Minjun chuckled as they watched over Taec, who was talking with the opponent’s captain.

“Don’t put yourself too high mister. It just a friendly match.”

Nichkhun laughed, finding himself started to like Taec’s boyfriend. Well, he didn’t get the chance to know him better before, so maybe now’s the time.

“You should watch our match at the final competition last semester. It was—tense.”

Nichkhun paused, frowning at the choice of his words before he and Minjun laughed at his silly word.

“Hyung, congratulation! You were so cool back there, I didn’t know you can play as good as Chansung!”

Wooyoung bombarded him with praises and he laughed at the adorable face, pushing the jealousy aside although he did keep it in place.

“Thanks Wooyoung,”

Well, Wooyoung didn’t really deserve that short reply. After all the cheers the younger just gave to him before, he thought it was somewhat cruel for him to just said thanks. Nichkhun looked up, startled to find that Wooyoung was still looking at him with hopeful expression. Gulping down on the sudden rush of his blood, he opened his mouth to speak in hesitation.

“Oh well, when I can taste the ice cream from your wallet?”

The younger blinked confusedly before he finally got his words. A hint of blush colored the red cheeks and he hated himself in moment like this, the moment where he became hopeful that maybe Wooyoung actually had some sort of feelings towards him too. But he knew it was impossible, not when the source of light for Wooyoung’s heart was still Chansung.

“Well, I-I can treat you for an ice cream after this,”

Wooyoung muttered shyly and Nichkhun eyes widened in hope. But then, a sight of Chansung appeared in his line of vision and he just—couldn’t. No matter how hard his every being yearned for Wooyoung, he just couldn’t take any step into their world.

“Hey, let’s go for a dinner,”

Chansung interrupted, giving Wooyoung a back hug and Nichkhun tore his gaze away from the couple, blinking his eyes rapidly in hope that the shatter pieces of his heart wouldn’t be in so much pain. Wooyoung jolted in surprise at the sudden hug and hummed happily.

“A dinner?”

“Yeah, I just won the match. Shouldn’t you treat me to something at least? I’m hungry Youngie,”

Chansung whined at the end of his line and Wooyoung giggled.

“Okay Channie, I’ll treat you at your favorite restaurant.”

Nichkhun cleared his throat uncomfortably, no really, he didn’t mean to interrupt the couple and made the atmosphere became awkward but his throat was really uncomfortable. Chansung was looking at him with unreadable gaze and he felt guilty. Wait, why did he felt guilty again?

“Are you ready to party Khun?!”

Taec’s excited voice broke the tense atmosphere and he turned to his left, finding Minjun who stood beside his boyfriend with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Hey, that’s my bag!”

Nichkhun protested and Minjun chuckled, pulling him into his feet.

“Are you ready to get drunk?”

He watched over them weirdly before he realized that they were covering for him. Damn his throat.

“Oh, you’re going out with them hyung?”

Chansung asked, with a hint of surprise in his voice and Nichkhun nodded awkwardly. Did he?

“Of course he is. I have someone special to introduce to him.”

Minjun spoke with mischievous smile and he rolled his eyes at the evil friend of his.

“S-Someone special?”

A cute voice interrupted and he turned to look at Wooyoung, watching how the younger suddenly turned all red.

“Yeah, and I’m sure Khun will like this guy,”

Minjun said, putting his arm over his shoulder and Nichkhun really didn’t understand their game play. He frowned confusedly and found something tugged at his heart when Wooyoung suddenly looked down.

“Okay then, have fun hyung!”

Chansung wished sincerely and he smiled, wishing the same towards the younger before Minjun and Taec started to pull him away. He stole a glance towards Wooyoung, hoping he could somehow bid him goodbye but was met with disappointment when the younger didn’t even lift his gaze from the floor.

Sighing, he walked out from the room with the other two, doing his best to push the images of Chansung and Wooyoung together.

****

A/N : Bonus question! Who's that someone? Lol, I think everyone knows. The emperor is coming~!