Donghae didn’t believe in soulmates. He did believe, though, that some people were destined to be attracted to a particular other.

After all, he had found his own ‘soulmate’ through the sense of smell.

*

18-year-old high school student Lee Donghae looked out the window with one hand on his chin, holding up a doomed expression. It was raining outside again, and although he liked the rain, he definitely did not like the idea of soggy pant legs due to a lethal combination of wind and rain that meant umbrellas were practically useless.

Ok, so he was a little dramatic. But on what else could he unleash all his teenage hormones, having built up to excess by the end of a whole morning of classes?

At that moment the bell rang for the start of class, and a slim, gangly boy rushed through the door, almost flying into the seat next to Donghae.

His name was Lee Hyukjae, and he had been sitting next to Donghae in English class for five years already since the slightly aged teacher liked ‘tradition’ and forced them to sit by last names.

Amongst basically everyone else’s complaining noises, Donghae never told anyone about how ing happy he was about this rule.

He moved his bag from the left to the right so that Hyukjae’s chair wouldn’t catch on it when he stood up.

“Am I late?” Hyukjae struggled to calm his breath. “She hasn’t marked the roll already, has she?”

“She has.” The corner of Donghae’s mouth curved up at an angle where he was sure Hyukjae wouldn’t see. “You know what she’s like, probably going through menopause right now.”

“…” Hyukjae cursed underneath his breath. With a crumpled face—fantastically contrasting Donghae’s own brightened up one—he threw his books onto the desk in front and sprawled over them as if by hiding his face he could pretend that he was dead (and thus did not have to face the fact that he would have to explain his semi-lateness to their English teacher, a.k.a. the sea monster).

The reason that her students gave her that nickname did not need any further explanation.

With steps surprisingly fast for her age, the sea monster stomped into the classroom, glancing around with her sharp, beady eyes before picking up a file and starting to call out names.

Hyukjae sat back up straight, confused features soon turning into half-anger, (with a flash of relief that made Donghae’s grin even wider,) as he playfully hit the side of Donghae’s arm to get him back for lying.

The sea monster narrowed her eyes at the sound, but by the time she lifted her head, Hyukjae was already sitting up straight and pretending to read the tasks for today on the whiteboard with an innocent, eager expression.

Honestly though, the eagerness was way too out of place in this class, and Donghae didn’t know how the hell he actually managed to get away with it.

Soon roll-call finished, and class officially started for the afternoon. It was the first class after their lunch break, most students were drowsy from all the blood rushing away from their brain and towards their stomach to digest food, so it was more of a ‘let’s play a game of pretending to be studying but we're actually sleeping’, with the punishment of detention if caught by the sea monster.

It was a game that involved a ing lot of excitement and fear.

Different to most of the students in their class, Donghae and Hyukjae didn’t choose to play the game today. Donghae loved writing, so English class was, regrettably, actually his favourite subject, and Hyukjae was a try-hard who always did his best at everything so much it made Donghae feel sick.

Like now, Hyukjae’s pencil flew across the paper, as if he was competing with someone who could write faster in a set amount of time.

Donghae was not going to admit he was jealous of how hardworking Hyukjae was and how his own lazy could never even dream of giving so much effort.

“Gimme your sharpener,” Hyukjae murmured. They were left by the sea monster to do group discussions if needed, so it was ok to talk as long as it wasn’t too loud.

“’Kay,” Donghae replied without lifting his eyes or hands.

After half a minute of awkward silence on Hyukjae’s part, he realised Donghae probably meant for him to take it himself, and so reached across the table, temporarily blocking the boy’s view of his refill in order to take the stationery from Donghae’s pencil case.

It happened so fast, Donghae didn’t have any chance to prepare himself for it. Everything he could see, hear, and touch vanished for a moment, and all that was left as an sign of his existence was that sweet, musky, overwhelmingly intoxicating smell invading his senses and enveloping him with a prison-like hold.

. He cursed.

He smells even better after playing soccer.

Yes, every time the boy named Lee Hyukjae came too close to him, Donghae would feel high as from his smell, almost like he was on drugs. He couldn’t explain it, and he was sure it wasn’t some deodorant but the boy’s natural body odour, and ever since it first reached his nostrils five years ago he had been constantly attacked, a few times every day (especially in English class), from how absolutely delicious his classmate smelled.

Donghae knew he sounded weird af but he couldn’t help it. Even accepting that he liked boys a few years ago was easier to be explained than this. And while we were at it, yes Hyukjae’s smell did in fact make Donghae glad that he liked boys and not girls.

Because wanting to f*** someone and simultaneously getting high on their scent made a very interesting combination that had helped Donghae get through many a sleepless night.

*

The problem that Donghae had currently, apart from his appalling grades in maths and the horrible weather these past few weeks, was that Hyukjae was a very friendly person who had no concept of ‘personal space’.

For example today, Donghae had in reality just forgot to give him the sharpener. Hyukjae could’ve asked him. He could’ve been normal and used verbal communication, like a normal human classmate, but the devil boy of course had to be impatient and get it himself, resulting in an extremely powerful attack on Donghae’s composure as he struggled to recover from the half-hug.

That’s even without the fact that Hyukjae’s lunchtime exercise made his scent even thicker and heavier.

Donghae gulped, pretending to concentrate on his work in front while his pen made illegible scribbles in the margin.

Was Hyukjae doing it on purpose? He asked himself for the nth time that year. Blinking rapidly, he denied his own proposal while his heart sank almost unnoticeably.

Hyukjae was friendly with everyone. Just yesterday he had seen him dangling between Siwon and Zhoumi, like Tarzan between the two tallest players on the soccer team. There was nothing special about you, Lee Donghae.

The object of his thoughts chose at this moment to lean into him again, making him doubt everything that he had just said.

“Do you know the answer to this?” Hyukjae asked, one hand on the back of Donghae’s chair and his left hand pointing to the paper in front of him. Because they were both right-handed, the paper was to the right of Donghae, and Hyukjae being on his left had to practically reach across the whole desk to able to show him.

Donghae breathed deeply, not knowing if he could hold it any longer what with Hyukjae freaking hugging him like this five times a day.

Like yes, of course he loved the feeling of being high (it was just a figure of speech—he hadn’t actually been high before so he couldn’t compare), but he did read somewhere that overdoses could kill you.

*

*

*

Five years later.

Donghae takes a sip of his coffee before it is stolen by someone, and the person on his left makes smacking sounds with his lips in order to show how delicious it was to drink from Donghae’s cup.

“Shh,” Donghae scolds. They are in the university library in public. Other people might be studying.

“But it tastes so good,” he whines.

After a few more minutes of mindless doodling, he gives up trying to study and shuts his laptop. The semester has just begun, finals are nowhere in sight yet, and he knows anyway that with his speed, he is allowed to slack off right now for… other things he rather be doing.

Hyukjae puts a hand on Donghae’s chair and another curves around in a semi-hug. He knows that the other doesn’t like to do overt things in public, so he has to make it look like something else.

He puts his lips next to Donghae’s ear, and from an onlooker’s view, he is only asking a question about something he is pointing to.

“I want you.” He breathes into Donghae’s ear.

Immediately, half of the brunette’s face grows aflame.

“I’ve wanted you from ten minutes ago, from this morning, from five years ago when we were classmates and you didn’t know your crush on me was mutual.” Hyukjae resists the urge to that pink earlobe. "You don't know how ing good you smell. I don't blame myself for not being able to resist hugging you every chance I got back in English classes."

“You are like a drug to me, Lee Donghae.” He sincerely pleads.

Without a word, Donghae shuts his own laptop and drags his boyfriend to the bathroom stalls.

“And you too, Lee Hyukjae.”

The rest of the conversation consists only of muffled moans.

a/n:

lolllll what is this i didn't not plan to write this today bahaha.
you guys can search about the link between smell and attraction if you want btw, there's a scientific explanation and it's pretty cute :3
basically people who have different immunity DNA (i.e. will have healthy babies) will be attracted to the other's smell.
it's a shame malepreg isn't physically possible yet right.
hehe anyways hope you guys liked this.
i can't believe i'm procrastinating hyuk's bday fic by writing another fic .........
cries