119.
"Conjugates," the teacher says, and points to the powerpoint.
"He's alright looking," Hyukjae whispers, and Donghae groans.
"He's so cute," Donghae whispers back, trying not stare at the arms. Damn casual dress.
"Not all the conjugates we use in Korean are applicable in Japanese," Professor Lee says, and smiles. "Of course, if they were, then learning Japanese would be way too easy."
"Oh wow," Hyukjae says, temporarily blinded by the smile. "Oh wow, okay, he's super cute."
"I told you," Donghae says, and buries his head in his arms. "You're lucky we're not in the front row, I'd probably be drooling."
Hyukjae rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he'd find that super attractive."
"HE'S super attractive," Donghae whines, and clutches at Hyukjae's arm. "He's so cute oh my god, and I heard he's some genius, like, he only teaches Japanese 101 as a supplement and he's doing his Masters or something oh my god Hyukjae he's so cute!"
"We've already established that," Hyukjae says, and wriggles away. "Now we just have to find out how to get him to sleep with you."
Donghae buries his head in his arms.
"He would never," he whines. "He has morals."
"All girls lose morals when they look at you," Hyukjae says, and then blinks when the lecture theatre's lights click on.
"Next week we'll be running through less commonly used particles," Professor Lee's voice echoes. "In your classes you'll be doing exercises with conjugates so be sure to study up! Have a good week!"
Everyone around them starts gathering their books and gets up to leave, but Donghae doesn't even try to remove his forehead from the desk, and Hyukjae gets comfortable as well, leaning back in his seat and watching Professor Lee pack up.
"Oi," Hyukjae says, and elbows Donghae, hard. "Get up, he's--"
"Donghae-sshi?"
Donghae sits up, ramrod straight, and tries to open his mouth to greet him back. Hyukjae pokes him again.
"Donghae-sshi, are you feeling alright?"
"Fine, Sungmin-sshi," Donghae says stiffly, and attempts a smile. "I'm fine."
Sungmin smiles back, though worried, and places a hand on Donghae's shoulder. Hyukjae watches, interested, as Donghae freezes up completely, barely breathing.
"Well, if you're not up for class, don't force yourself," Sungmin says, concerned. "Of course, I'd love to see you there. Goodbye, then, and you too, Donghae's friend!"
Hyukjae waves, smiling a little bit as he watches Sungmin climb the stairs out of the lecture theatre, carrying his notes delicately and taking his time.
"...Well."
"Shut up, Hyukkie," Donghae says, redfaced, and gathers up his things to leave.
"I was just saying--"
"Shut up."
"Wait wait wait, you're in his class, too?" Hyukjae asks as they sit in the cafe later on. "And you call him," Hyukjae pauses, before he goes falsetto, "Sungmin-sshi?"
"Shut up," Donghae says, head buried in his arms again. "He's cute, okay! And he told us to call him that in the first class because he didn't want to feel like there's an 'unbridgeable gap between teacher and student' and that if we had any problems we wouldn't feel 'intimidated by his position.'" Donghae's peace sign wiggles appropriately.
"...'Position,' huh," Hyukjae says, and avoids Donghae's flailing arm.
"Ugh, he's just so cute!" Donghae whines, and sits up. "And he has such a nice voice! And he's such a good teacher! Like, even the worst people in our class are doing better than the other classes and he makes Japanese seem easy."
"When it clearly isn't," Hyukjae says, and takes a long drink from his hot chocolate. "When's class?"
"... At five," Donghae says, and draws patterns on the tabletop.
"...PM?" Hyukjae asks, and holds up his phone.
"No, AM, of cour-" Donghae starts to say, rolling his eyes before he catches sight of the time and his eyes widen. "Oh shit-- oh shit oh shit oh shit, I was late last time too! Oh fuck."
He hurriedly grabs his things and stuffs them into his bag, rattling the table top so much that Hyukjae has to hold his drink up, eyebrows raised. "Calm down, he doesn't seem the type to get mad over someone being like ten minutes late."
"I would be pissed at myself being ten minutes late," Donghae says as he slips his phone and wallet into his pockets and looks around frantically for anything else he might've missed.
"Right, ten minutes with Professor Lee-- sorry, Sungmin-sshi." Hyukjae ducks Donghae's flying punch and waves cheerfully. "Have a good time in class! Don't embarrass yourself!"
Donghae sends him a glare as he exits the cafe.
"That's asking for too much, isn't it?" Hyukjae says as he sips his drink and gathers his own things to leave.
In class, they're running through conjugates again and Sungmin hands out a pop quiz to see how much they've learnt. Half the class whine about it, but he just smiles.
"Now let's see how many of you actually listen during the lectures," he says, and puts a sheet of paper down on Donghae's desk.
The quiz is pretty easy -- that is, if Donghae had bothered to listen in the lecture rather than avoid Sungmin's gaze and block out his voice lest he wants to start fantasising about his own teacher. He's tempted to copy off Jinki next to him, but last time he did Jonghyun didn't speak to him for a week and his media classes are boring enough as they are.
"Since we have some time," Sungmin says when he collects back the papers and Donghae collapses in his seat. "We'll touch on some of the particles I'm going to lecture on next week. And, of course, we won't be having a pop quiz on them."
Sungmin winks, and Donghae groans as he starts writing the particles on the whiteboard. Did his writing have to be cute, too?
"I heard about your crush," Jessica says as Donghae walks out of the classroom, carrying his books and feeling the world on his shoulders. Apparently it's harder than it looks, having a crush on a teacher.
"What crush," Donghae says, but he's a terrible liar and Jessica knows it.
Jessica links arms as she marches Donghae out of the building, smiling the whole way. "Well I, as your last, straight relationship, think it's super cute. He's super cute. And I heard he swings that way too."
He pulls Jessica closer, automatic, smelling her hair as her arm goes around his waist. "I don't believe you," Donghae says, closing his eyes and letting her lead him.
Jessica laughs, soft in his ear, and Donghae grins in response. It's funny how a failed relationship can become the greatest friendship.
"Well, believe what you want then, Mister I'm-too-good-for-women-I-only-go-for-dudes-now, right?"
"Too right," he says, and nuzzles her hair.
She laughs again, pushing him away half heartedly. "Right, besides talking about your new crush, I came here to tell you I got a new boyfriend so you have to stop doing that."
"Doing what?" he asks as he nuzzles her hair again, and she half-heartedly kicks him.
They stop in the hallway and she sighs as she removes her arm from his waist and lightly pushes his head so there's an inch of space between them.
"This," she says, and raises an eyebrow. He pouts.
"I'm just being friendly!"
"Your 'friendly' is way too friendly," she says and rolls her eyes, linking arms with him again, poking his ticklish spots when he tries to get closer.
"But you smell nice," he whines, and Jessica grins.
"Try showering everyday, then, maybe you'll get there."
"I shower everyday!" Donghae protests, holding open the door for her, and she walks through, lightly touching his arm.
"Oh really? Then why does Hyukjae say different?" she asks as Donghae begins to follow her through the doorway, but instead bumps into someone.
"Oh, sorry--"
"No, it was my fault, Donghae-sshi," Sungmin's pleasant voice says, and he holds the door open, hand braced lightly above Donghae's.
Jessica's eyes widen at Sungmin's dimpled smile and Donghae instantly goes red as he mumbles, "No, Professor, please, you first."
"What did I say," Sungmin chides, but he's still smiling. "Call me 'Sungmin'; I don't want you to feel intimidated by the gap between student and teacher."
"S-sorry, Sungmin-sshi," Donghae says, looking at the floor, and Jessica can't help the cheshire grin crawling onto her face.
"It's quite alright, Donghae-sshi. And thank you," Sungmin says as he steps through the doorway and nods at Jessica. "You too, Donghae's girlfriend."
"Oh, I'm not--"
"She's not--"
"Have a pleasant evening," Sungmin says as he walks off, and Jessica and Donghae trade looks before she breaks down laughing and he starts wishing the ground would swallow him whole.
"You're so embarrassing," she says, teeth bright in the night, and he groans. "Your crush is so obvious."
"Please don't say that," he says, and she elbows him.
"It's cute."
"So!" Tiffany's cheerful voice echoes as she pokes her head into Hyukjae and Donghae's room.
Donghae groans and Hyukjae stifles a laugh from where he's watching TV.
"Not you too," Donghae says as he puts down his textbook on copyright law and pushes it far, far away. "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
Tiffany blinks innocently and sits down on the couch next to Hyukjae, stealing some chips. "I was just going to say your hair looked really nice today, Jessica said."
"Oh," Donghae says, pleased as he tugs at his fringe. "Well, I--"
"And she also mentioned something about a crush."
Donghae falls silent, turns back around and pulls the book back into his lap, grabbing a highlighter as he does so. Tiffany laughs and Hyukjae tries not to, but fails miserably.
"Aw, come on Donghae, don't be like that! You're just really really obvious; it's kind of cute. Even Jinki noticed and said so."
Donghae sulks and starts biting the end of his highlighter, except he puts the wrong end in his mouth and his lips go a bit blue.
"Am I reaaaaaaaaaally that obvious?" he asks, as pathetic as a puppy, leaning back in his chair and distressed.
"Just a little bit," she says, and goes over to his desk.
because jo wanted this continued but then i lost steam :| basically sungmin was going to think donghae and jessica were together but donghae says something and sungmin is like head over heels and yeah. idk. there is too much bffery here. i mean, not enough.
fun fact: 'cute' appears 11 times in 1 700 words, which means it appears once approximately every 155 words. because donghae is cute. as is sungmin. which makes haemin doubly cute.
random notes about this: donghae is studying a double degree of media and arts (japanese being part of his arts component) and sungmin is doing his masters of international relations/politics. aka this is my attempt at explaining the difference in their positions despite being almost the same age.
"He's alright looking," Hyukjae whispers, and Donghae groans.
"He's so cute," Donghae whispers back, trying not stare at the arms. Damn casual dress.
"Not all the conjugates we use in Korean are applicable in Japanese," Professor Lee says, and smiles. "Of course, if they were, then learning Japanese would be way too easy."
"Oh wow," Hyukjae says, temporarily blinded by the smile. "Oh wow, okay, he's super cute."
"I told you," Donghae says, and buries his head in his arms. "You're lucky we're not in the front row, I'd probably be drooling."
Hyukjae rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he'd find that super attractive."
"HE'S super attractive," Donghae whines, and clutches at Hyukjae's arm. "He's so cute oh my god, and I heard he's some genius, like, he only teaches Japanese 101 as a supplement and he's doing his Masters or something oh my god Hyukjae he's so cute!"
"We've already established that," Hyukjae says, and wriggles away. "Now we just have to find out how to get him to sleep with you."
Donghae buries his head in his arms.
"He would never," he whines. "He has morals."
"All girls lose morals when they look at you," Hyukjae says, and then blinks when the lecture theatre's lights click on.
"Next week we'll be running through less commonly used particles," Professor Lee's voice echoes. "In your classes you'll be doing exercises with conjugates so be sure to study up! Have a good week!"
Everyone around them starts gathering their books and gets up to leave, but Donghae doesn't even try to remove his forehead from the desk, and Hyukjae gets comfortable as well, leaning back in his seat and watching Professor Lee pack up.
"Oi," Hyukjae says, and elbows Donghae, hard. "Get up, he's--"
"Donghae-sshi?"
Donghae sits up, ramrod straight, and tries to open his mouth to greet him back. Hyukjae pokes him again.
"Donghae-sshi, are you feeling alright?"
"Fine, Sungmin-sshi," Donghae says stiffly, and attempts a smile. "I'm fine."
Sungmin smiles back, though worried, and places a hand on Donghae's shoulder. Hyukjae watches, interested, as Donghae freezes up completely, barely breathing.
"Well, if you're not up for class, don't force yourself," Sungmin says, concerned. "Of course, I'd love to see you there. Goodbye, then, and you too, Donghae's friend!"
Hyukjae waves, smiling a little bit as he watches Sungmin climb the stairs out of the lecture theatre, carrying his notes delicately and taking his time.
"...Well."
"Shut up, Hyukkie," Donghae says, redfaced, and gathers up his things to leave.
"I was just saying--"
"Shut up."
"Wait wait wait, you're in his class, too?" Hyukjae asks as they sit in the cafe later on. "And you call him," Hyukjae pauses, before he goes falsetto, "Sungmin-sshi?"
"Shut up," Donghae says, head buried in his arms again. "He's cute, okay! And he told us to call him that in the first class because he didn't want to feel like there's an 'unbridgeable gap between teacher and student' and that if we had any problems we wouldn't feel 'intimidated by his position.'" Donghae's peace sign wiggles appropriately.
"...'Position,' huh," Hyukjae says, and avoids Donghae's flailing arm.
"Ugh, he's just so cute!" Donghae whines, and sits up. "And he has such a nice voice! And he's such a good teacher! Like, even the worst people in our class are doing better than the other classes and he makes Japanese seem easy."
"When it clearly isn't," Hyukjae says, and takes a long drink from his hot chocolate. "When's class?"
"... At five," Donghae says, and draws patterns on the tabletop.
"...PM?" Hyukjae asks, and holds up his phone.
"No, AM, of cour-" Donghae starts to say, rolling his eyes before he catches sight of the time and his eyes widen. "Oh shit-- oh shit oh shit oh shit, I was late last time too! Oh fuck."
He hurriedly grabs his things and stuffs them into his bag, rattling the table top so much that Hyukjae has to hold his drink up, eyebrows raised. "Calm down, he doesn't seem the type to get mad over someone being like ten minutes late."
"I would be pissed at myself being ten minutes late," Donghae says as he slips his phone and wallet into his pockets and looks around frantically for anything else he might've missed.
"Right, ten minutes with Professor Lee-- sorry, Sungmin-sshi." Hyukjae ducks Donghae's flying punch and waves cheerfully. "Have a good time in class! Don't embarrass yourself!"
Donghae sends him a glare as he exits the cafe.
"That's asking for too much, isn't it?" Hyukjae says as he sips his drink and gathers his own things to leave.
In class, they're running through conjugates again and Sungmin hands out a pop quiz to see how much they've learnt. Half the class whine about it, but he just smiles.
"Now let's see how many of you actually listen during the lectures," he says, and puts a sheet of paper down on Donghae's desk.
The quiz is pretty easy -- that is, if Donghae had bothered to listen in the lecture rather than avoid Sungmin's gaze and block out his voice lest he wants to start fantasising about his own teacher. He's tempted to copy off Jinki next to him, but last time he did Jonghyun didn't speak to him for a week and his media classes are boring enough as they are.
"Since we have some time," Sungmin says when he collects back the papers and Donghae collapses in his seat. "We'll touch on some of the particles I'm going to lecture on next week. And, of course, we won't be having a pop quiz on them."
Sungmin winks, and Donghae groans as he starts writing the particles on the whiteboard. Did his writing have to be cute, too?
"I heard about your crush," Jessica says as Donghae walks out of the classroom, carrying his books and feeling the world on his shoulders. Apparently it's harder than it looks, having a crush on a teacher.
"What crush," Donghae says, but he's a terrible liar and Jessica knows it.
Jessica links arms as she marches Donghae out of the building, smiling the whole way. "Well I, as your last, straight relationship, think it's super cute. He's super cute. And I heard he swings that way too."
He pulls Jessica closer, automatic, smelling her hair as her arm goes around his waist. "I don't believe you," Donghae says, closing his eyes and letting her lead him.
Jessica laughs, soft in his ear, and Donghae grins in response. It's funny how a failed relationship can become the greatest friendship.
"Well, believe what you want then, Mister I'm-too-good-for-women-I-only-go-for-dudes-now, right?"
"Too right," he says, and nuzzles her hair.
She laughs again, pushing him away half heartedly. "Right, besides talking about your new crush, I came here to tell you I got a new boyfriend so you have to stop doing that."
"Doing what?" he asks as he nuzzles her hair again, and she half-heartedly kicks him.
They stop in the hallway and she sighs as she removes her arm from his waist and lightly pushes his head so there's an inch of space between them.
"This," she says, and raises an eyebrow. He pouts.
"I'm just being friendly!"
"Your 'friendly' is way too friendly," she says and rolls her eyes, linking arms with him again, poking his ticklish spots when he tries to get closer.
"But you smell nice," he whines, and Jessica grins.
"Try showering everyday, then, maybe you'll get there."
"I shower everyday!" Donghae protests, holding open the door for her, and she walks through, lightly touching his arm.
"Oh really? Then why does Hyukjae say different?" she asks as Donghae begins to follow her through the doorway, but instead bumps into someone.
"Oh, sorry--"
"No, it was my fault, Donghae-sshi," Sungmin's pleasant voice says, and he holds the door open, hand braced lightly above Donghae's.
Jessica's eyes widen at Sungmin's dimpled smile and Donghae instantly goes red as he mumbles, "No, Professor, please, you first."
"What did I say," Sungmin chides, but he's still smiling. "Call me 'Sungmin'; I don't want you to feel intimidated by the gap between student and teacher."
"S-sorry, Sungmin-sshi," Donghae says, looking at the floor, and Jessica can't help the cheshire grin crawling onto her face.
"It's quite alright, Donghae-sshi. And thank you," Sungmin says as he steps through the doorway and nods at Jessica. "You too, Donghae's girlfriend."
"Oh, I'm not--"
"She's not--"
"Have a pleasant evening," Sungmin says as he walks off, and Jessica and Donghae trade looks before she breaks down laughing and he starts wishing the ground would swallow him whole.
"You're so embarrassing," she says, teeth bright in the night, and he groans. "Your crush is so obvious."
"Please don't say that," he says, and she elbows him.
"It's cute."
"So!" Tiffany's cheerful voice echoes as she pokes her head into Hyukjae and Donghae's room.
Donghae groans and Hyukjae stifles a laugh from where he's watching TV.
"Not you too," Donghae says as he puts down his textbook on copyright law and pushes it far, far away. "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
Tiffany blinks innocently and sits down on the couch next to Hyukjae, stealing some chips. "I was just going to say your hair looked really nice today, Jessica said."
"Oh," Donghae says, pleased as he tugs at his fringe. "Well, I--"
"And she also mentioned something about a crush."
Donghae falls silent, turns back around and pulls the book back into his lap, grabbing a highlighter as he does so. Tiffany laughs and Hyukjae tries not to, but fails miserably.
"Aw, come on Donghae, don't be like that! You're just really really obvious; it's kind of cute. Even Jinki noticed and said so."
Donghae sulks and starts biting the end of his highlighter, except he puts the wrong end in his mouth and his lips go a bit blue.
"Am I reaaaaaaaaaally that obvious?" he asks, as pathetic as a puppy, leaning back in his chair and distressed.
"Just a little bit," she says, and goes over to his desk.
because jo wanted this continued but then i lost steam :| basically sungmin was going to think donghae and jessica were together but donghae says something and sungmin is like head over heels and yeah. idk. there is too much bffery here. i mean, not enough.
fun fact: 'cute' appears 11 times in 1 700 words, which means it appears once approximately every 155 words. because donghae is cute. as is sungmin. which makes haemin doubly cute.
random notes about this: donghae is studying a double degree of media and arts (japanese being part of his arts component) and sungmin is doing his masters of international relations/politics. aka this is my attempt at explaining the difference in their positions despite being almost the same age.