“this little crush of yours is so embarrassing it’s actually kinda cute,” himchan remarks one day during lunch.

jongup spits out his soup in surprise.

out of the corner of his eye, jongup sees daehyun hiding a smile.

“that,” himchan declares, “was thoroughly disgusting. we are going back to the dorm right now and you are going to hand-wash this shirt for me under my supervision.”

daehyun’s not even trying to silence his high-pitched laughter and jongup slugs himchan in the left bicep.

“himchan’s a monster,” jongup complains, slathering lotion on his hands. “i scrubbed that goddamn shirt until my fingers turned red but he was still unsatisfied.”

daehyun chuckles and ruffles jongup’s hair like always. “how about we go out for ice cream to make you feel better? we can talk about your crush, too.”

.

jongup nervously his chocolate marshmallow ice cream cone, daehyun watching him in amusement.

“so. are you going to tell me about your true love?”

jongup coughs. and coughs. and coughs. and wails.

daehyun laughs at him.

“no,” he whines, “i am not.”

daehyun’s smile dims a bit but it must have been a trick of the light because he looks the same as ever a second after. “really?”

“yup,” jongup says. “let’s not discuss this. besides, i’m pretty sure he’ll never like me back.”

“unrequited,” daehyun muses. “i know a thing or two about that.”

“oh,” jongup says, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach, because if daehyun has unrequited affection for someone then jongup’s own affection is doomed. there is no way in hell jung daehyun would ever like moon jongup, that’s just, just ridiculous. jongup is clumsy and accident-prone and childish and not very practiced at focusing on schoolwork. his eyes are too small and he has a hard time opening up and really, the only thing jongup’s got going for him is dance and abs.

“jongup?”

the younger male snaps back into reality. “uh. huh?”

“you were spacing out,” daehyun explains. “your ice cream is melting.”

“oh. so it is.” jongup’s tongue follows a chocolatey trail up the cone, making sure nothing spills over, and jongup sees daehyun pointedly look away.

, does he think i'm messy?

"jonguppie hyung!"

he turns to find himself with a face full of blond hair and bright teeth. "ow what."

his cousin junhong grins up at him. "jonguppie hyung!"

"what."

"let's go out to eat! youngjae says he has to study and he won't even look at me so i guess you'll have to do," junhong sniffs.

"hey! you brat," jongup grumbles, but he follows junhong to a cheap chinese fast food place anyway. his cousin is a scary kid.

"hyung pays!"

"brat," jongup mumbles under his breath and hands junhong his wallet.

jongup has to give this youngjae guy props- he can’t understand how anyone could take being around junhong for twenty minutes, yet youngjae is dating him. good lord. someone give that boy a medal.

“jonguppie hyung!”

a spoonful of junhong’s chicken fried rice flies through the air and lands in jongup’s hair. the older sets down his water and gives junhong a Look. the little just grins and loads up his spoon again.

“how are you eighteen?” jongup asks, picking peas and grains of rice from his hair.

“that’s only two years younger than you so don’t even think of trying to act like you’re any more mature,” junhong grumbles, launching the second spoonful at jongup’s face.

“augh, what the- stop that,” jongup says sternly.

“yeah yeah yeah.”

jongup narrows his eyes and pours his glass of ice water down his cousin’s shirt front.

after junhong stops screaming, their waitress shows up and calmly escorts them out.

jongup doesn't realize daehyun's avoiding him until himchan points it out.

"hey, did you and romeo fight or something?"

"what? with daehyun? no," jongup replies, hefting his backpack onto his shoulders. they start walking to their next class.

“then why,” himchan says snidely, “is he doing that?”

jongup looks up to see daehyun walking down the hall in their direction, before meeting eyes with him and promptly turning to the right and heading that way instead.

“what the hell?” jongup mutters and himchan knocks twice on his head.

“hey! obviously you and pretty boy need to work something out.”

“but i don’t even know what i did,” jongup says mournfully, “and i don’t even know how to talk to him. i just end up looking stupid.”

“you always look stupid,” himchan says with a fond smile. “catch him after class.”

jongup sighs and scuffs at the ground with the toe of his sneaker. then procesess what himchan said and punches him in the shoulder.

“OW WHAT THE HELL. WHY DO YOU ALWAYS-”

he catches daehyun right after his last class. he’s been fidgeting with his fingers for ten seconds straight and he should’ve planned out something to say.

“um. i’m kind of busy right now,” daehyun says pointedly. “and if you’re just gonna…”

“no!” jongup cries, blushing when he realizes how loud his voice is. “i mean. no, please stay, i just need to collect my thoughts.” he takes a deep breath. “so i like you,” jongup blurts out in a rush.

daehyun squints. “what.”

“i like you,” jongup says shyly.

daehyun's face scrunches up in confusion. “but i- aren’t you dating someone?”

“uh. no.”

“but that guy with the dark blue hair, in the chinese restaurant. isn’t he your boyfriend?”

jongup’s expression clears. “ohhh, that kid. nah, he’s my cousin.”

daehyun looks pink. it doesn’t seem healthy. jongup’s considering bringing him down to the nurse when daehyun rushes forward, cupping jongup’s cheeks with his two hands before softly molding their lips together.

“you-” jongup says when they pull apart, but daehyun shakes his head.

“i’m sorry i’ve been ignoring you. i’ve just, um, liked you for a long time, and when i was leaving the restaurant i heard your cousin saying ‘jonguppie hyung’ over and and over, and i… i thought you were taken. i thought he was your crush. and i had to stay away.”

jongup laughs lightly. “daehyun. my crush is you.”

his friend- boyfriend?- grins brilliantly before taking a step forward, pinning jongup to the wall-

“guys, please don’t do that here,” himchan drawls. “this is a university, built for the advancement of students- OW, GOD, JONGUP. STOP DOING THAT.”

ayyyyyyyyyy