a/n: you'll find slight!✿sunsun✿ and some crap when you go on lels

and you’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town

“Why would you need to give him a ‘Thank You’ gift? We both know you learned nothing but ‘how his lips pucker whenever he talks’ and ‘how long and pretty his eyelashes are’?” Soonkyu asks while she watches Donghae help Ryeowook wrap up the cake the latter made. Since the brunette can’t really bake to save his life—or in this case, his blossoming love life— he asked the help of his roommate in baking a cake for his dear Senpai.

“I’m thanking him for the effort.” Donghae answers with a scowl directed at his best friend. “I did score 80% in the exam anyway.” He utters and Soonkyu perks up an eyebrow.

“Yes because you happened to study the parts that are going to appear in the exam already, thanks to me. So if you’re being grateful, shouldn’t you give the cake to me?” Soonkyu reminds and Donghae just rolls his eyes.

“Of course Senpai doesn’t need to know that.” He utters, wearing a slight pout on his lips. It’s true though. When Hyukjae appeared to offer help regarding his preliminaries, Donghae has actually spent the previous night reading and studying the chapters that were included in the leaked information Soonkyu gave him. He’s merely skimming over the details he might have missed, and he could have denied Hyukjae’s tutorial offer but of course, who in their right mind would reject a chance encounter with his crush?

He spent the entire three hours they were together nodding meekly and staring at Senpai when he wasn’t looking. He wasn’t really listening since he was too amazed and smitten just by seeing Senpai so close. He is not sure how good Senpai was as a tutor but he figured that effective or not, he wouldn’t mind another meeting with him again.

Seriously, how can he be so lucky?

//

“I’m pretty sure he’s going to like it. And maybe after that, he might ask me out on a date.” Donghae utters and squeals on his seat. Soonkyu doesn’t even shift her eyes away from the book she’s reading.

“You and your delusional thoughts again,” Soonkyu remarks, and the brunette just sticks his tongue out at her direction, muttering how she’s forever raining on his parade.

“It’s not that I’m thinking of the impossible here, you know? I mean, he’s so nice to me! I couldn’t think of any other reason but the fact that… you know…” Donghae bites his bottom lip and giggles. Soonkyu sends him a blank look and the boy just snickers even more. “Maybe he likes me.” He whispers and grins like an idiot thinking of the possibilities.

“He’s nice to everybody.” Soonkyu deadpans, and Donghae stops tittering at once and glares at his best friend.

“Ya, aren’t you my friend? Why can’t you just be happy for me?” He barks, muttering how Soonkyu is always so blatant and so cold that’s why she doesn’t have a boyfriend. The girl snorts and stares at her friend.

“I’m just telling the truth.”

“Shut up, nobody likes you.” The boy utters childishly and decides to just get back with his daydreaming. Soonkyu shrugs; she can only shake her head and chuckle at her friend’s silliness.

//

Sometime later, Donghae realizes that he might be, indeed, making mountains out of molehills.

He holds the box with the cake in it. Strawberry, Senpai’s favourite. He’s already imagining the raven head’s face once he sees it, with his beautiful smile that is brighter than sunshine. He giggles and feels his cheeks warm up, he can’t wait.

He reaches the gym and finds his one and only Senpai talking and laughing with a group of girls and boys on the side of the court.

Senpai stands in the middle, the horde of people obviously his fans and groupies all dying to chat with him. Donghae catches them talking about Hyukjae’s last game and how some of them really want to invite the baller to one of their club activities. There are also some others who are evidently trying to flirt, some asking for pictures, and Donghae feels his heart hurt a little when Senpai says yes.

He bites his bottom lip and hears his heart break when Senpai wraps an arm around one of his supporters and smiles for the camera.

//

“You’re right.”

Soonkyu closes the book she’s reading and turns to her friend on the driver seat. Compared to the sunny smile he’s wearing that morning, Donghae now has his shoulders down, his brown eyes sad and his chin quivering. She knows something went wrong. Even the amount of time she waited for him is quite too quick than what she expected.

Donghae shifts his gaze from the steering wheel to Soonkyu.

“I’m not special.” He mutters with a pout and teary eyes, and Soonkyu can just gather him in her arms and let him mourn over his wounded heart.

//

“Aren’t you overreacting a little?” Soonkyu asks when Donghae yet again turns the other way as soon as he sees Hyukjae and his friends on the other side of the hallway.

“I’m not overreacting. I’m just distancing myself because I might end up misunderstanding things again. I am wrong for getting my hopes up. I am nothing to him.” The brunette says while trying to look like he isn’t in anyway affected with his words, ignoring the way his voice trembles saying the last five words.

“Okay, now you’re overreacting.” Soonkyu utters and grabs her friend’s arm to make him stop and look at her. “Seriously Donghae, what are you so bummed about?”

“I am not bummed! I’m not even upset! I mean… it’s not like I am deeply affected over the fact that Senpai doesn’t see me the way I want him to. I’m perfectly fine!” Donghae exclaims, yet it’s so apparent that he’s convincing himself more than Soonkyu.

The girl sighs. She knows her overly dramatic friend can be quite a handful.

“How about we go eat something sweet before class? I can totally taste the bitterness out of you.” The petite girl mutters as she hauls her friend to the cafeteria.

//

“It’s not like he’s dating, you know? It’s just that he treats everyone nicely because he’s a nice person to begin with. So stop sulking as if he got married.”

Donghae glares at her while sipping on his banana milk. He places the carton back to the table before pursing his lips yet again.

“The fact remains that he still sees me the way he sees everybody.” He points out and Soonkyu makes a face.

“Which is something you can change?”

“How would I even–”

“By actually talking to him? I mean, look at you. You always stammer and keep quiet when he’s talking to you. Being completely shy and speechless in his presence all the time automatically puts you in the fan zone. If you want to get out of it, then you should do something. And an actual conversation, with both parties participating, is a start.” Soonkyu explains, and the brunette blinks at her and frowns.

“W-Well… you have a point.” He admits and Soonkyu snorts.

“Of course I have. There’s got to be a smart person in this friendship you know.” Soonkyu remarks and Donghae scrunches his nose.

“But it’s easier said than done. I mean, I can’t even look at his face without wanting to rip my chest open and offer him my heart! Like here, take it! Take me!” Donghae exclaims before covering his mouth with his hand and muffling the onslaught of giggles, realizing what he said.

“You are gross.” Soonkyu says, unsure if she’s going to poke fun or take pity over her friend’s hopelessness.

//

Truth be told, gathering up the courage to talk to Senpai doesn’t come easy for Donghae. He tries, oh boy, sure he does. But every time he has convinced himself that nothing will go wrong, he’ll turn his back and scurry away as fast as he could. It doesn’t really help that Hyukjae always has this sweet smile on his face every time they meet, always taking the initiative to greet him first, and poor Donghae can only whimper on how charming Senpai is and quickly backs away. He is very affirmative that he’s going to make a fool out of himself and he promises himself that the when the time comes that he’s ready to make friends with Hyukjae, he’s going to leave a good impression.

It’s taking him way longer than he’s expected though until three weeks have passed, and Donghae is still yet to talk to Hyukjae.

He misses him. He’s seeing Senpai every day, and he misses him.

//

Apparently—Donghae swears he’s not just being delusional this time—he isn’t the only one longing for the other’s company or, in Hyukjae’s case, the other’s attention.  

“Ya, why aren’t you talking to me?” Hyukjae asks that one Wednesday night Donghae is unfortunately cornered in the gym after sneaking to watch the baller practice because he just really misses Senpai.

“I-It’s not—,” Donghae stutters, unable to look at the raven head as he leans his back on the gym’s door. He swears he only wanted to take a peek, but he didn’t know that Senpai was actually standing near the door and when he tried to make a run for it, Hyukjae had already grabbed his arm and asked him why he didn’t see him around anymore.

“I’ve been greeting you for the past weeks but it’s as if you didn’t see me.” Hyukjae asks, a hint of disappointment in his voice and if Donghae would actually take a look at his face, he’ll see the cute tiny pout the raven head is sporting.

“Is everything okay?” Hyukjae asks and Donghae can only nod his head weakly. It’s not like he can tell him that—

“No, it’s not okay. I miss you and I really want to be your friend, but I can’t talk to you. Because every time I try to, The Carpenters’ Close To You starts playing in my head and it just reminds me how I badly want to be… well, close to you. And I can’t let you see that because then I’ll be staying in the fan zone, and I don’t want to be there anymore.”

Donghae inwardly whimpers. How he can even start a proper conversation with Hyukjae when the words he wants to say are always this crazy and creepy?

“But aren’t we friends already?”

The brunette’s head shoots up, dark brown eyes meeting black ones. Senpai is wearing this cute little frown and Donghae wants to squeal on how adorable he looks like. But all he can do is furrow his eyebrows himself because did Senpai just say that they’re—

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” Hyukjae asks.

“We are?” Donghae asks back, looking stupid and gaping like a fish but he badly needs to hear Hyukjae’s answer to care.

“I think we pretty much established that when I tutored you and you gave me a cake to thank me back.  I wished you gave it to me personally though. But it’s okay.” Hyukjae grins and Donghae remembers that one day he got his heart broken and could only left the cake in the care of Hyukjae’s teammate, Sungmin.

But it’s not really relevant right now because Hyukjae just told them they’re friends but how did—why did—

“So don’t hesitate to talk to me, because we’re friends. And if you’re having troubles…uhmm, I don’t see why you do. But I’ll help you.” Hyukjae utters and pats his head lightly. “Because that’s what friends do.”

Hyukjae is smiling that bright smile of his again, that one with his gums and the laugh lines in the corner of his eyes showing. At the back of Donghae’s head, a piano starts playing and he knows it’ll take a good amount of time before he gets rid of this, but he thinks he won’t mind if he never does.

After all, the friend zone isn’t what he’s really after.

Why do birds, suddenly appear….. Every time you are near….

//

It’s a little while later when Donghae figures how Senpai ever found out about his thoughts.

“Close to You, huh?” Hyukjae says with a chuckle while they sit on the gym’s bleachers. “That is very cute.”

The music in his head disappears right away and Donghae widens his eyes when it all comes dawning on him.

‘Stupid, stupid mouth!’ He thinks and pinches his lap for being so stupid. Hyukjae continues to chuckle and Donghae can only sulk in embarrassment.

“You are very cute, Donghae-yah.” Senpai utters and Donghae stops mentally choking himself at once and turns to Hyukjae. The raven head is still giggling, with a few snorts and with shoulders shaking, yet Donghae has never seen anything more beautiful.

He’s supposed to feel bad but the track in his head starts playing again and it can’t be helped.

Why do birds, suddenly appear….. Every time you are near….

//

Donghae used to think he’s at his happiest whenever he’s cheering for Lee #4 in his seat, or when he’s waiting for him every after practice so they can take a picture together. He used to swear he’ll give anything just for a handshake, or a simple ‘Hi’, or a mere second of eye contact.

But if he’ll ever get the choice of being Senpai’s fan or Hyukjae’s friend, he’ll choose the latter any day.

It takes some time before Donghae gets used to it. He still stutters once in a while, he still hears Karen Carpenter’s voice every now and then but Hyukjae has been talking and paying attention to him as much as he could that he eventually stopped acting like a retard whenever he’s around. Donghae still gets jealous whenever Hyukjae is being too nice with other people, but he just keeps thinking that it’s just Hyukjae being Hyukjae and that they’re just his fans and friends (‘I don’t wanna burst your bubble but…you’re also Hyukjae-ssi’s friend.’ ‘Soonkyu, honey…. That’s about to change.)

He tries not to overlook things again but seriously, he can’t really blame himself whenever he thinks his feelings for Hyukjae aren’t entirely one sided. Hyukjae is busy with his studies and basketball and yet he still makes time to ‘tutor’ Donghae even though he isn’t really the best person to teach the subject. Donghae scores high in his quizzes and exams because he studies hard for it. Hyukjae helps, but not as much as the raven head thinks he does.

“You’re pretty bad at it.” Donghae comments while watching Hyukjae solve a problem in the brunette’s workbook. It’s Saturday and they’re in a café near the university. Saturdays are their study time but Donghae prefers to call it their Saturdate.

“Shut up, I nailed this topic last year.” Hyukjae says, his eyebrows in a furrow as he furiously scribbles equations while punching on Donghae’s scientific calculator.

“Well if you say so.” The younger utters and props his arm on the table, cradling his face with his palms and contenting his self on staring at the most handsome person he ever laid his eyes on.

Senpai is so dreamy and gorgeous that Donghae can’t help but sigh.

“Sometimes I think I could stare at you forever.”

Hyukjae stops writing at once and lifts his gaze to meet Donghae’s. Donghae presses his lips together and averts his eyes.  His mouth becomes a hundredfold more uncontrollable when he became friends with Hyukjae.

“Well I hope it’s because you like the view.” Hyukjae says with a chuckle, and Donghae quietly ponders how stupid Hyukjae could get if he thinks otherwise.

“By the way, I won’t be around next Saturday so let’s try to study as much as we can today.” The raven head says and Donghae’s ears perk at the statement, his gaze quickly landing on the other who is back on solving the problem. The brunette wants to ask where he is going but he’s wondering if their friendship is on the level that they could ask what the other is up to (and ask him if he can just forget it and stay with him instead.) Donghae sort of hates himself for being able to blurt out stupid things yet getting all tongue-tied when it’s something important.

Wh