nine;

It’s Friday morning and History class, and Hyukjae is supremely bored. His total disinterest for today’s lesson is blatantly painted on his face but he really doesn’t care, because he’s so fed up he believes he could die in the span of a tiny second. The teacher’s voice is too monotonous and sounds like an annoying buzzing in his ears, and it only emphasizes his belief that he shouldn’t have woke up this morning. It’s the last day before vacations finally start, after all, and coming to high school while he could have been doing something way more interesting (like sleeping or watching ) is a bit frustrating in his opinion.

But while he is trying to build a precarious tower with his multi-colored pens (he has dozens of them!), the door of the room suddenly slams open and startles the whole class – and Hyukjae’s promising artwork is destroyed under his helpless eyes when he jerks in surprise. As he mournfully looks at the colorful pens scattered and rolling around on his desk, he hears a familiar voice hastily apologizing for being late. Feeling mildly curious after he quickly loses his attention for the pens (he’s really bored, after all), Hyukjae idly looks up to see who the unlucky bastard is.

When he realizes that it’s actually Lee Donghae that is standing at the doorframe, he unconsciously straightens up in interest (which he would never admit, of course). The brunette student is ten minute late, according to the wall-clock the teacher is furiously pointing at, and he looks exhausted. There are dark shadows under his eyes and his hair are disheveled, while he’s panting and slightly sweating.

As Hyukjae looks at him getting scolded by Monotonous-Voice-Teacher, he doesn’t really know whether he wants to feel smug because he’s being told off for being late, or frowning because he looks like . But before he can make a choice, the teacher is suddenly telling Donghae to go in and take place without bothering the lesson anymore.

That’s only when he’s standing in front of him and sending him a suspicious glare, that Hyukjae realizes that the last empty desk is the one right next to his.

…

Oh my ??

After Hyukjae accepts the fact that Lee ing Donghae is sitting right next to ing me even if we’re supposed to ing hate each other??, and that he’s not that close to hyperventilating anymore (allergic reaction, he strongly insists), he finally manages to act like everything is fine, while truth is it’s really not.

The brat is slumped on his desk and looks as if tiredness is eating out a little bit more of his features with each seconds passing (which Hyukjae truthfully finds a bit worrying), his arms crossed in front of him and his face resting on them. He’s not paying any attention to the lesson and looks like he’s trying to get back the hours of sleep he probably missed last night instead. Even the fact that he’s sitting next to Hyukjae doesn’t seem to bother him that much anymore. A brief pause goes by upon which the redhead student sends him a narrow-eyed look and wonders if Hara-the-Great- has anything to do with this (and then he has to stop himself from regurgitating his breakfast, because ewwwww Donghae and Hara together in a bed?).

Sighing a little, Hyukjae doesn’t really know what he is supposed to do at this point. On the one hand, he is tempted to pick on Donghae for the rest of the lesson, because he’s seriously, really bored – but then, on the other hand, he also likes to believe that he’s not completely cruel.

What the hell has become my life, he groans desperately.

=

Donghae can feel his body uncomfortably wandering back and forth between a deep slumber he can’t help craving for and an exhausted consciousness. All he truly wants is to fall asleep and not wake up until he’s finally at his grandparents’. He has spent the whole night preparing his luggage for the vacations since he had been too lazy to do it beforehand, and before he realized it, it was already Friday morning. Now that he’s seated in class, he really starts to regret his so-called responsible decision of coming to high school even if he’s so tired he could fall asleep in the middle of the hallway, and that he truthfully doesn’t care one bit about History class. He really wishes that he could go back home right-ing-now, screw boring lessons and annoying teachers, and sleep until –

“Lee Donghae!”

At the curt call of his name, he definitely jerks awake and hastily straightens up on his chair. His eyelids seem to want to close on their own but he firmly keeps his eyes open and tries to look apologizing in front of the teacher’s angry expression. Next to him, Lee Hyukjae sends him a small look but he doesn’t have the heart to return it (and it actually doesn’t look like he’s mocking him, which is a little bit surprising, but it also means that he doesn’t have to waste the small bits of strength he has left so he’s not going to complain).

“Yes Sir?” he replies and cringes at how tired he really sounds.

“Are you listening to anything I’m talking about, Donghae?” the teacher scolds loudly. “Do you even know what the lesson is about?”

Donghae blankly blinks at him and tries to remember about something he might have heard during the past ten minutes he has spent trying to fall asleep on his desk – they probably talked about dates, and historical events and figures, and other stuff that he really doesn't give a about. But before he can give his honest answer – but maybe a bit more tactfully, a piece of paper discreetly slides in front of him. Surprised, he looks down and reads the messy somewhat familiar handwriting that says the Cold War you great idiot. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Hyukjae sending him a mocking roll of the eyes and he sends him a glare in return. He only has the time to note that the handwriting does seem familiar, before he is hesitantly speaking up.

“Err – the Cold War, maybe?” he sends an innocent look at the teacher who fiercely glares at him in frustration, before curtly ordering him to pay attention and stop bothering the lesson.

Sighing in slight relief, Donghae slumps back in his chair and tiredly rubs his eyes with the palm of his hands. Then, after a short moment of contemplation, he reluctantly tilts his head around to look at Hyukjae next to him.

That was kind of nice, actually. why do I have to end up sitting next to him when I look like and he still looks like the ing handsome bastard he is?

Then, oh my God no he's not handsome. Lee Donghae, wake up and stop spouting nonsense, for ing God's sake!

“Thank you,” he grumbles. He pursues his lips into an unhappy pout, before he hurriedly adds “But I still hate you, ok.”

The redhead student snorts before he nonchalantly leans back in his chair and tries to make it look as if it’s not as awkward as it really is (movies are really different from reality, after all). An arrogant smirk plastered on his face, he crosses his arms behind his head and smugly says “Of course you do.”

you.

=

“You look completely knackered, Oppa,” Hara states when they meet together at the cafeteria during the afternoon break. His parents are supposed to come pick him up in half an hour, and he can’t wait to get in the car and ing sleep.

Donghae halfheartedly glares at her and appears to say no Sherlock, until he remembers she’s his girlfriend and he’s supposed to be nice and loving with her. With a small sigh, he glances at the pout that is quickly appearing on his face with apprehension before he quickly pulls her into a warm hug. She might be a little annoying at times, but there’s a reason why he likes her, after all; Hara is a good girlfriend and it feels nice to be a couple. They don’t really have a lot in common but he guesses he can always work on that, and it’s not like they’re going to spend the rest of their life together anyway, right?

As he presses a small kiss on her glossy lips (he’s way too tired to go any further than that), he vaguely wonders if they are going to call each other during vacations. He knows that Hara isn’t going anywhere in particular, but doesn’t know any more about her plans for the two upcoming weeks.

(...and then he has to wonder if he actually cares, but that's another problem)

“When are you leaving to your grandparents’?” Hara cutely asks as she snuggles in his arms, and Donghae has to squirm a little because she’s squeezing his right arm.

“Right after school,” he replies. “Dad is picking me up in half an hour and we’re leaving right away.”

She hums noncommittally and straightens up to kiss him again, until Sungmin walks up to them a minute later. He has his backpack loosely hanging on one of his shoulders and is carrying a bunch of Japanese books he probably stole from the library for the vacations.

“Hello lovebirds,” he says with a roll of the eyes. After sending Hara a small look, he quickly ignores her and turns to face him. “I got something for you, Donghae. Come with me?”

The interest looks up and automatically finds the white envelope he’s holding in his hand. Anticipation quickly bubbles up in him and he bites on his lower lip to stop himself from letting out an excited sound. It's funny how quick the thought of his penpal sending him a new letter can awake him.

“Oh okay,” he replies while trying to look nonchalant and makes a move to get up. “See you later, Hara,” he mumbles distractedly and hurriedly joins Sungmin who is already turning around.

“Why the hell are you still with her?” he immediately asks as soon as they are far enough.

“Because she’s my girlfriend?” Donghae tries to snatch the letter away, but underneath all the pink clothes and the angelic face, Sungmin is actually a sneaky bastard. He frowns and pouts a little, earning an aww from Sungmin, because apparently he's so cute. “Gimme my letter!”

“You know I don’t like her, right? I really can’t stand the sight of her.”

Exasperated, Donghae finally manages to steal the white envelope away. He lets out a triumphant sound, which prompts Sungmin to send him a disbelieving look, before he throws an arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “I know you don’t,” he laughs shortly. Even if he’s tired as hell, hanging out with Sungmin is always fun (as much as being an with Hyukjae). “She’s nice, though. And pretty, which means she actually has a great sight to show.”

The other student sniffs in disbelief. “Irrelevant.”

This time, Donghae bursts out laughing. “Whatever you say, dude.”

=

Superhero-D,

…You’re kind of cute, do you know that? I don’t believe them anymore. Not really, at least. I’ve grown up and I understand things like meanness a bit more than when I was a child. When you’re young, you can’t really understand what spite is and it’s hard to differentiate it with the truth.

When my sister got to know about the bullying and stuff, she came to my high school and beat the out of all the kids that picked on me. I swear she looked so cool. But then she got two weeks of detention and quickly came back to her usual annoying self. I guess you can’t ask for too much, right?

Anyways, it’s really nice of you to defend me like this, even if you don’t know me :) and it’s also nice to talk to someone about this . I’d tell my best friend about it but he’s kind of awkward and doesn’t know how to react when someone talks about their problems to him. He’d probably run away from me while screaming bloody murder, that great idiot. You're kind of nice.

And shut up, no I'm not awkward ok?? Ok.

Don’t beat anyone, that’d be useless. Already did ;)

So does that mean that you found your special someone?

And absolutely fine with exchanging phone numbers! I probably won’t reply a lot during vacations since I’m going to be a ing lazy , but then you’re totally up with texting when in class. Actually, that’s a must. I need to find some fun somewhere.

And again, the babbling was kind of cute. You’re the one to decide if it’s a good thing or not, I guess, haha.

- Spanking-new-slash-handsome-devil-H

P.S: Thank you again, really :)

Under the last line, Donghae finds a ten-digit number scribbled in red ink.

=

“How many times do I have to tell you that I have no idea what you’re talking about?” Kyuhyun sighs exasperatedly when Hyukaje throws him an outraged look.

“Of course you don’t, you filthy dip,” the redhead student sarcastically retorts, and the younger really wants to punch him square in the face. “Just so you know, I am so judging you for this, you disgusting human.”

As Kyuhyun rolls his eyes at him and lets out an infuriated hiss, Hyukjae feels his smartphone buzzing in his back pocket. They are on their way home after having dropped by in a convenience store to buy some snacks, and he doesn’t really know who could have texted him since Kibum is at the cinema with his cousin and his best friend is standing right next to him. He slows down and takes his smartphone out, ignoring Kyuhyun’s pissed-off expression before he opens the text message he has just received.

Unknown: hey Half-wit (did you see what I just did here because your name starts with an ‘h’ and yeah). Whatever you decide to do in your empty house, have a good holiday!

He blinks at the unfamiliar phone number, until he lets out an amused laugh. With a small grin, he quickly saves it as a new contact and types an answer.

Hyukjae: shut up, dip. I’m saving your number as Dickhead, just so you know. You, too! Hope you have a good time at your grandparents’!

That ain't so bad, he finally thinks.

ok this chapter I'm so sorry. it should get better in the next chapters but I still hope you liked it!

they got closer and everything, ain't that great, though?

Hope you guys liked it <3 Please remember to comment, upvote and subscribe :)

P.S: I got this story reviewed! the link is on the foreword, go check it out if you want!