Unnoticeable (Chapter 2)
Title: Unnoticeable
Couples: Yehyuk
Genre: Romance, humor and fluff? I don't know ><
Word count: 4k
Chapter: 2/?
Summary: Kim Jongwoon is practically invisible at school, no one paying him any attention at all, except his best friend Lee Donghae. But Jongwoon has a crush on the school's (probably) most popular guy, Lee Hyukjae. Donghae and Hyukjae know each other from the dance-classes they teach together after school. What will happen when Jongwoon is determined to avoid Hyukjae at all costs, and only look at him from afar, but Donghae (and apparently fate?) have other plans?
Author note: The second chapter \^-^/ The first one is here ~
"I still can't believe you're making me do this," Jongwoon whines for the nth number of times.
Donghae doesn't even bother to look up from where he's fiddling with the stereo-system next to him.
"I already told you, it's for your own good. Now suck it up and save your breath. You're gonna need it to fangirl when Hyukjae gets here."
Jongwoon sends his friend a poisonous glare, but it's hardly effective thanks to the hint of red coloring his cheeks, and the fact that Donghae isn't even looking at him.
"You know," Jongwoon begins, but then the door to the studio opens, and a small squeak escapes his lips instead.
"He~llo?"
Jongwoon perks up at the weird pronunciation. Who could it be? It wasn't Hyukjae. Then he catches the look Donghae sends him, and blushes at all the amusement and knowing it contains.
"Yo, Hangeng. Early as always; come on in, though you'll be the only one here except us." Donghae turns towards the door smiling, and the stranger -Hangeng- smiles back and enters the room. But then he looks around a little puzzled.
"Us?"
"Yeah, me and-" Donghae stops when he realizes the reason Hangeng is confused. "Jongwoon, come out, please," he sighs.
Hangeng watches with huge eyes as Jongwoon untangles and unfolds himself from behind one of the big floor-speakers and stands up.
"Jongwoon, this is Hangeng. He's Chinese, and is here in Korea on a dancing-scholarship. He helps out here at the dance-school as often as he can." Donghae introduces, and then turns around to point at Jongwoon.
"Hangeng, this is Jongwoon. Roommate and childhood best friend, currently going strong for the 14th year."
Hangeng looks confused for a moment, then a brilliant smile erupts on his face and he steps forward to shake Jongwoon's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Donghae's best friend," he says happily.
Donghae barely manages to contain the laugh that tries to burst from his throat, struggling to keep a straight face.
"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Jongwoon replies sheepishly, a light pink dusting his cheeks.
The room is silent as Hangeng looks at him, still shaking his hand. Jongwoon squirms under the direct stare, face growing redder and redder as the silence grows longer and longer and Hangeng still doesn't let go of his hand.
"U-uhm ..."
Hangeng just blinks at him. Jongwoon squirms some more.
"C-can I help you with something?"
Hangeng's face erupts into another brilliant smile. "You are vely cute." He finally lets go of Jongwoon's hand to take a step back, seeming pleased with himself.
This time, Donghae doesn't even try to stifle his laughter. Instead, he throws his head back and laughs for all he's worth, clutching his stomach and eyes watering. Jongwoon is too stunned to do anything but gape at the Chinese, cheeks rapidly growing redder. Hangeng only looks confused.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asks after a minute, when Donghae still hasn't stopped laughing. Jongwoon tries to gather himself enough to answer, but Donghae beats him to it.
"Ahaha! Don't worry, Hangeng. It's the best thing anyone’s said all week! All month! Hahaha!"
Jongwoon half-glares at Donghae. He was finding this way too funny.
"T-thank you Hangeng, that's ... very s-sweet of you," Jongwoon finally manages to stutter. Hangeng smiles at him. Then Jongwoon turns his gaze towards Donghae, who is still laughing, and his brows furrow. He really was finding this way too funny. Edging closer to his best friend, he takes a moment to adjust his aim before he carefully connects his foot with Donghae's shin. The following pain makes Donghae yelp, and Jongwoon allows himself a smile of satisfaction as he watches his best friend jumping around on one foot, rubbing furiously at the other.
"What was that for?" Donghae says accusingly a few moments later, when he has both feet back on the ground.
"To help you stop making a fool of yourself," Jongwoon sniffs. Donghae "hrmph" and glares at him, but doesn't answer.
"Where is Hyukjae? Shouldn't he be here? The class will start soon."
Both Jongwoon and Donghae start at Hangeng's question, then Jongwoon pales. Donghae looks down at his watch.
"Actually, yes, he should. Normally, he would’ve been here by now. But he's probably just running late. I saw him at school today, so he's not sick. Jongwoon, you might want to-"
He cuts off when he realizes that he isn't there anymore.
"Jongwoon?" Donghae says questioningly.
Hangeng pokes his shoulder and points. "Over there."
The shorter boy turns around just in time to see Jongwoon's dark head disappear behind the speaker. He sighs, but then Hangeng taps him again.
"What is he doing?" The tall Chinese asks quietly, and Donghae wonders what answer he can give.
"Jongwoon is very shy," he finally says. Then, after considering it for a moment, adds in a whisper: "especially around Hyukjae."
Hangeng looks confused for a second before Donghae lifts an eyebrow, and his gaze turns questioning instead. Donghae nods, and they both look toward the speaker Jongwoon is hiding behind. A slow grin starts spreading on Hangeng's face, and Donghae watches it with amusement.
Hangeng is the definition of kind and thoughtful, but he loves to meddle in other people's affairs. Though he only wants to help, anything he tries to get involved in normally ends up turning into a big chaos/mess. But, Donghae reckons, chaos might be exactly what Jongwoon needs.
Both he and Hangeng leaves Jongwoon alone as they start stretching and warming up. Only a minute later, Hyukjae bursts through the door, panting.
"I'm sorry I'm late, there had been an accident with a motorcycle, and the bus got suck halfway here. I left it and ran the rest of the way when it became clear it wouldn't move for a while."
Donghae blinks. "Wow, that's something. But you made it in time, so no worries."
"Thank God, I was so worried about getting here too late. I've had this really weird feeling all day that it was very important I came here today." Hyukjae scratches his head, a bit awkward. Donghae's gaze drifts towards that one "special" speaker. As he turns back, Hangeng catches his eyes, and they share a grin.
"What are you two smiling about like that?" Hyukjae demands to know.
Donghae ignores him, and turns toward Hangeng instead.
"Wouldn't it be fun if ... ?"
"Yup. Very fun." Hangeng grins wider.
"What are you guys talking about?" Hyukjae looks exasperated between them. A brief silence follows.
"Should we tell him?"" Donghae asks. Hangeng looks contemplative.
"Hmm, I don't know. It would probably be a bit awkward, don't you think?"
"Definitely. Would still be fun though."
"Will you two stop that and tell me what's going on!?"
Both Donghae and Hangeng look over at Hyukjae. He is still standing where he stopped when he burst into the room earlier, glaring at them. Donghae and Hangeng share another look.
"Well, you see," Donghae begins, "I actually-" the rest of his sentence drowns in the noise that follows as the door to the studio opens and a group of about 15-25 people stumble through the door, laughing and shoving each other.
All three (visible) people already inside the room turn to look at the better part of the class they are teaching. Donghae quickly pick out some of the more recognizable students. Kim Kibum is there, as always with his little group of followers, including Lee Taemin, who looks like he might burst into flames whenever anyone even looks at him, but leaves most people speechless after a round on the dance-floor. Behind him - standing close to the wall - is Choi Junhong; Taemin's probably biggest fan and not-so-secret admirer, and his faithful sidekick-slash-best friend Moon Jongup, who both are amazingly talented as well, and just as shy as Taemin. At their backs are Bang Yongguk, the older male watching over the two boys as if they were his own sons. Donghae smiles as Junhong turns around to look at Yongguk -seemingly asking him a question-who just nods in response. The taller male smiles brightly before turning back around though, so Donghae guesses the answer pleased him.
Then there's Shin Donghee and Lee Sungmin standing together in the corner, a bit of an odd pair with Donghee's big body from his love of eating, and Sungmin's fit and toned body from hours of material arts practice. But they are best friends and really good dancers nonetheless.
Hangeng waves to the four Chinese students that slinks silently into the room, and Donghae looks over at them as they cross the floor to stand by the farthest wall, away from the rest of the group. Wufan is the easiest to spot, towering above everyone else. Black-haired and dark-eyed Zitao is next, almost as tall, followed by (the) blonde Luhan -and Donghae wonders when that had happened, the younger boy had still been dark brown last week- and then Yixing, who's trademark dimple starts showing as Wifan leans over and whispers something in his ear.
Then Hyukjae claps his hands a few times, gaining everyone's attention immediately.
"Let's get started, shall we?"
As everyone spreads across the floor, taking their places, Donghae walks over to the stereo-player and bends down.
"Jongwoon, get your ass out here this moment," he hisses under his breath, pretending to fiddle with his iPod and the volume-adjusters.
"No way!" Jongwoon whispers back. "Not with all these people here!"
"Just come out from behind there and sit down here, would you?" Donghae asks, pointing to the spot between the speaker and the mirrored-wall. "The students won't notice you, but you'll be able to watch the class. And Hyukjae," he adds, grinning.
Everything is silent for a moment, then there's some shuffling, a quiet grunt, and Jongwoon appears around the speaker, crawling on all four so nobody can see him above it. Donghae unsuccessfully stifles a laugh at the sight of his best friend, and Jongwoon's cheeks turn pink.
"Not. One. Word," he hisses. Ignoring him as usual, Donghae is about to reply him anyway when someone shouts his name.
"Oi, Donghae, what are you doing? Hurry up with the music, would you?"
Donghae bounces up in response to Hyukjae's question, and turns around, hiding Jongwoon behind him.
"Sorry, just had a small problem with the - ... nevermind, it's fixed now. Coming." He presses play and music starts pouring out into the room.
Turning around, Donghae takes one last look at Jongwoon, who looks like he might have a panick-attack any moment. Enjoy he mouths, winks once, and then walks up to Hyukjae and Hangeng.
"Let's start?"
-----
He grins again.
"Oh, just stop that already, will you?" Jongwoon huffs. But his face still turns a light shade of red, and Donghae's grin widens.
"Aww, don't say that. You really liked watching the class, right? They were so amazing you just couldn't look away from them, could you?"
Jongwoon thinks that if Donghae's grin gets any bigger, his face is gonna split in two. He thinks he might be hoping it will.
"For your information, I did actually watch the whole class," he answers, trying to look unperturbed. "And not just H-Hyukjae." Jongwoon's facade crumble and disappears as soon as he stumbles over the dancer's name, and Donghae starts laughing as Jongwoon's face reddens.
"Shut up," he mumbles.
"But you are just so cute!" Donghae throws his arms around his best friend, hugging him. A woman passing them turns around after hearing Donghae's loud exclamation, and looks at them. Jongwoon turns beet red while Donghae just continues to smile. When the woman winks at them before walking away, Jongwoon wishes the ground would just open up and swallow him to save him from the embarrassment. Or, better yet, open up and swallow Donghae. Then he won't have to deal with that idiot and his idiotic behavior.
"I hate you," Jongwoon mumbles as he elbows Donghae in the ribs. Wait, didn't this seem familiar?The younger male grunts and lets go of Jongwoon, but doesn't stop smiling.
"And I love you too. Now admit you enjoyed watching Hyukjae dance."
"I will admit nothing! Why are you so persistent about this? Can’t you just let this go, Donghae?" Jongwoon whines, embarrassed again. As he always seems to be whenever he is around his best friend. Someone tell me why I’m still friends with this embarrassing idiot?
"Because you're cute when you're flustered," Jongwoon glares at him, "and because I want you be more honest with yourself. And me."
The seriousness of Donghae's statement takes Jongwoong by surprise. He knows, of course, that his friend has a more serious, adult-like side to him, but he so rarely sees it, he tends to forget it's even there. And faced with Donghae's shockingly mature reply, Jongwoon feels that any more denying on his part would only make himself seem very childish. Or more childish than he already appears. So he answers truthfully.
"Yes," he says slowly, the word being difficult to force out of his mouth. "I did enjoy it. He looks amazing when he's dancing." A very faint blush spreads across his cheeks, but he holds his head high, looking straight at Donghae, meeting his gaze.
Donghae looks a bit surprised at Jongwoon's sudden confession, but then he smiles warmly.
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" His voice is quiet, but kind.
Jongwoon just snorts in response, but he is smiling as well. A minute pass in comfortable silence as they continue walking.
"Now, how would you like to come watch on Thursday as well? Hyukjae teaches another class at 5."
"Donghae!"
"What? You have already done it once now, haven’t you? It can’t have been that bad? Everything is supposed to be easier the second time!"
Stopping and staring incredulously at his best friend, Jongwoon can't even begin to try and form a coherent sentence that will explain all the reasons he should not -and will not- come within a hundred meters of Hyukjae again.
"Aw, that's a no, isn't?" Donghae answers himself when Jongwoon doesn't say anything.
I hate you," is all Jongwoon says as he starts moving again. Donghae pouts for a moment before following him, throwing an arm over Jongwoon's shoulder.
" I love you too."
"Shut up."
------> ♥♥♥
"Have fun."
"I hate you."
"Mhmm, love you too. Now go to class or you'll be late."
Jongwoon throws one last glare at Donghae before he grabs his backpack and leaves the room. Laying on the bed, Donghae listens as Jongwoon stubs his toe against one of the feet of their dining table and then grumbles to himself as he walks to the hallway to put his shoes on. Then he mentally counts down from ten, and laughs to himself as the sound of Jongwoon tripping over the threshold to their apartment reaches him, right before the door closes. Jongwoon was right on time, as always, just like clockwork. Donghae lazily wonders how many times Jongwoon has stumbled over their door-sill since they moved in, before he dismisses the thought. Too much effort.
Turning over on his side, Donghae looks at the clock on the bedside table. 08:02. Still two hours before he needs to go to school. He sighs happily. How nice to suddenly get the first two hours on a Monday off, even if it was a bit weird of his music teacher to just suddenly take a leave like that, without telling his students beforehand, or even getting a substitute teacher.
Closing his eyes, Donghae rolls back over on his back. He'll sleep for another hour and a half before getting up to go to school. He sighs again. How nice.
-
Late, late, late, late.
Donghae silently curses as he pushes a slice of bread into his mouth, trying to shrug into his jacket at the same time. He manages to pour half a glass of milk into his mouth while putting on his left shoe, then he grabs his backpack, pushes his other foot roughly into the last shoe and hurries out the door. Barely taking the time to lock the door behind him, he rushes down the hallway, out the door and almost crashes into a couple standing right outside their apartment building. He apologizes several times but doesn't slow down. The two kilometer to his school passes quickly as he jogs all the way. Stopping just outside the school gates to catch his breath, Donghae looks down on his watch. 09:56. He'll make it, thank God. The teacher would have skinned him alive if he had been late again. Gathering himself, Donghae quickly walks towards his classroom.
Where is Jongwoon?
Donghae walks slowly, trying to spot his friend in the myriad of students crowding the hallway. They have math together this class, so he should be around there somewhere. He walks another few meters, then stops and sighs. If only he or Jongwoon -or both- were taller, they wouldn't have such a hard time finding each other in crowds. But even as that thought crosses his mind, a few people in front of him separate, and he gets a glimpse of Jongwoon standing close to the wall farther down the hallway.
Donghae raises his hand, ready to try and get his attention, when he spots another familiar person standing just ahead of himself. Curious, Donghae glances at Hyukjae's. He isn’t moving at all, just standing there in the middle of the hallway and staring at something. Intrigued, Donghae sneaks just a little bit closer to the redhead that is the other dancer, then stops. Tilting his head slightly, he tries to follow Hykujae’s line-of-sight to find out what he is looking at. As his eyes once again lands on his best friend, Donghae blinks in surprise. Is he seeing this correctly? Once again he tries to follow Hyukjae’s gaze and once again he ends up looking right at Jongwoon. He tries to look around for anything or anyone else of interest that Hyukjae could possible be looking at, but considering how he is standing and the fact that there's not really any other people standing near his best friend, it has to be. Either Hyukjae is staring at Jongwoon, or he's staring at a spot on the wall. No, wait! Jongwoon shifts slightly, taking a small step to the left as some other students passes him, and Donghae watches Hyukjae as the other male's eyes follow Jongwoon's tiny movement. Yup, Hyukjae is definitely looking at Jongwoon! The implications of Hyukjae, standing in the school hallway watching his best friend without saying or doing anything makes Donghae light-headed for a moment. Oh, all the fun he can get out if thi- no, wait, he should help them get together, shouldn’t he? Not tease them. Or maybe a bit of both? A enormous grin splits Donghae’s face. This is gonna be interesting.
Deciding to wait and see if anything else happens, Donghae hovers behind Hyukjae for the next few minutes, managing to slip behind someone and hide every time Jongwoon's eyes would scim across the stream of students. Hah, he should have been working as a ninja. Even though he feels a little sorry towards Jongwoon for leaving him waiting, Donghae feels like it's warranted when Hyukjae stays in the hallway until the bell rings, clearly throwing one last at Jongwoon before disappearing somewhere for his class. Class! As Donghae remembers that he and Jongwoon too have somewhere they should be, he rushes forward and grabs Jongwoon by his collar.
"Class," is the only thing he says as he drags the other male down the hallway. Jongwoon is too surprised to do anything at first, hanging limp in Donghae's grasp until they're almost right outside their classroom. There Jongwoon finally gets his wits back together.
"Donghae, what are you- let me go, dammit!" He says loudly, trying to worm his way out of Donghae's grip. He is totally unprepared for Donghae suddenly just letting him go, causing him to land on his butt on the floor, hard.
"Ow!"
The loud exclamation makes Donghae turn around, and he looks surprised when he sees Jongwoon on the floor.
"What are you doing, Jongwoon? Get up, we'll be late for class." Reaching out his hands, Donghae pulls Jongwoon off the floor and back upright before turning back to the classroom, noticing that the door is still open. Good, then the teacher wasn't there yet.
Behind him, Jongwoon is staring at Donghae with big, incredulous eyes. They would be late? A hard slap to the back of his head has his friend's attention back on him instantly.
"Hey! What was that for?" Donghae whines, rubbing the sore spot. Jongwoon takes a step towards him, glaring.
"What am I doing? We will be late for class? Allow me to correct you, Donghae! I was waiting for you because you were late, and then you appear about of nowhere to drag me by the neck to the classroom before dumping me on the floor, but it's my fault we'll be late? How is any of that my fault?!”
Donghae looks a bit taken aback by Jongwoon's outburst.
"Ehm, well ... y'know-"
"Don't you 'y'know' me! It's your fault we're late! If I hadn’t been stupid enough to wait for you, I would have been here long before the bell rang!”
“Ey, we have a waiting-for-each-other-deal! I waited for you that time you had to go to the nurse after falling down in gym, even if it made us 25 minutes late for English last week!” Donghae exclaims.
They had made the deal after the first day of middle school, when Jongwoon had been late and entering the class -with a sea of new, unknown faces staring at him- on his own had almost traumatized him. It was always better to be two when they were late, and they had promised to always wait for each other, unless one of them weren’t at school at all.
“And I waited for you that time when you suddenly just had to buy a lollipop after the bell had rung after lunch, and we were late to World History because of it, and that time you forgot to set your alarm and overslept and I had to call and wake you up! Which I obviously should have done today too, seeing as you apparently can’t manage get up on time on your own!” Jongwoon shots back.
“Hey, I didn’t oversleep! I was here on time, so I can get up just fine on my own, thank you!” Donghae doesn’t realize that their voices are slowly becoming louder and louder.
“Oh yeah? Why the hell didn’t you show until the last minute then?!”
" I was just..." Donghae cuts himself off when he realizes he can’t say that he was late because he'd been busy stalking Hyukjae, who had been watching Jongwoon in the hallway.
"Just what?" Jongwoon demands.
No, well, you see-"
This time, Donghae is interrupted by someone clearing their throat, and they both turn to stare at the open door to the classroom, revealing their math teacher and a sea of curious-slash-amused faces behind her. Jongwoon’s face instantly turns pink.
“But, the door-, you shouldn’t-, I thought-,” Donghae trails off when he can’t figure out what to say.
“Jongwoon-sshi and Donghae-sshi, why don’t the pair of you do yourself the favour of continuing your argument later, and instead come inside so I can begin the class?” The teacher’s voice is calm, but there’s a hint of both amusement and annoyance in her tone. Still blushing, Jongwoon immediately gathers up his bag and slinks into the classroom, head down to avoid all the stares from the other students. Donghae just follows after him moving on auto-pilot, still not exactly sure about what had just happened.
“Seriously, the two of you are like a married couple,” the teacher sighs she make her way up to the blackboard. Jongwoon and Donghae freeze for a moment as they make their they across the classroom to their usual seats in the back and close to the windows, as the rest of the class burst into laughter.
Neither of them says a word as they finally sit down, both of them red-faced for once, and start pullling books, notes and pencils from their backpacks and putting them on their desks. Jongwoon even goes as far as to open his book, picking a random page and throwing the cover open. But then they just sit there, not moving, as their teacher starts the class by going over a problem that had been their homework last week. After several minutes, Jongwoon finally looks over at Donghae, his face still a bit redder than normal. Donghae looks right back at him, silent.
"..."
"..."
"Let's never mention this again, yeah?” Jongwoon whispers.
"Agreed."
"Deal. Now pay attention and I'll help you with your homework later, okay?
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Yeah yeah, shut up and focus on the questions," Jongwoon scoffs, but a smile is playing on his lips, and Donghae only smiles back before they both bend over their books, the teacher's voice drooning on in the background.
(A/N)
For those that might not know:
Kim Kibum (Key), his group and Lee Taemin are from SHINee ♥
Choi Junhong (Zelo), Moon Jongup and Bang Yongguk are from B.A.P ♥
Shin Donghee (Shindong) and Lee Sungmin are (as I guess most know xD) from Suju ♥
Wufan (Kris), Zitao (Tao), Luhan and Yixing (Lay) are from EXO-M ♥
Couples: Yehyuk
Genre: Romance, humor and fluff? I don't know ><
Word count: 4k
Chapter: 2/?
Summary: Kim Jongwoon is practically invisible at school, no one paying him any attention at all, except his best friend Lee Donghae. But Jongwoon has a crush on the school's (probably) most popular guy, Lee Hyukjae. Donghae and Hyukjae know each other from the dance-classes they teach together after school. What will happen when Jongwoon is determined to avoid Hyukjae at all costs, and only look at him from afar, but Donghae (and apparently fate?) have other plans?
Author note: The second chapter \^-^/ The first one is here ~
"I still can't believe you're making me do this," Jongwoon whines for the nth number of times.
Donghae doesn't even bother to look up from where he's fiddling with the stereo-system next to him.
"I already told you, it's for your own good. Now suck it up and save your breath. You're gonna need it to fangirl when Hyukjae gets here."
Jongwoon sends his friend a poisonous glare, but it's hardly effective thanks to the hint of red coloring his cheeks, and the fact that Donghae isn't even looking at him.
"You know," Jongwoon begins, but then the door to the studio opens, and a small squeak escapes his lips instead.
"He~llo?"
Jongwoon perks up at the weird pronunciation. Who could it be? It wasn't Hyukjae. Then he catches the look Donghae sends him, and blushes at all the amusement and knowing it contains.
"Yo, Hangeng. Early as always; come on in, though you'll be the only one here except us." Donghae turns towards the door smiling, and the stranger -Hangeng- smiles back and enters the room. But then he looks around a little puzzled.
"Us?"
"Yeah, me and-" Donghae stops when he realizes the reason Hangeng is confused. "Jongwoon, come out, please," he sighs.
Hangeng watches with huge eyes as Jongwoon untangles and unfolds himself from behind one of the big floor-speakers and stands up.
"Jongwoon, this is Hangeng. He's Chinese, and is here in Korea on a dancing-scholarship. He helps out here at the dance-school as often as he can." Donghae introduces, and then turns around to point at Jongwoon.
"Hangeng, this is Jongwoon. Roommate and childhood best friend, currently going strong for the 14th year."
Hangeng looks confused for a moment, then a brilliant smile erupts on his face and he steps forward to shake Jongwoon's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Donghae's best friend," he says happily.
Donghae barely manages to contain the laugh that tries to burst from his throat, struggling to keep a straight face.
"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Jongwoon replies sheepishly, a light pink dusting his cheeks.
The room is silent as Hangeng looks at him, still shaking his hand. Jongwoon squirms under the direct stare, face growing redder and redder as the silence grows longer and longer and Hangeng still doesn't let go of his hand.
"U-uhm ..."
Hangeng just blinks at him. Jongwoon squirms some more.
"C-can I help you with something?"
Hangeng's face erupts into another brilliant smile. "You are vely cute." He finally lets go of Jongwoon's hand to take a step back, seeming pleased with himself.
This time, Donghae doesn't even try to stifle his laughter. Instead, he throws his head back and laughs for all he's worth, clutching his stomach and eyes watering. Jongwoon is too stunned to do anything but gape at the Chinese, cheeks rapidly growing redder. Hangeng only looks confused.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asks after a minute, when Donghae still hasn't stopped laughing. Jongwoon tries to gather himself enough to answer, but Donghae beats him to it.
"Ahaha! Don't worry, Hangeng. It's the best thing anyone’s said all week! All month! Hahaha!"
Jongwoon half-glares at Donghae. He was finding this way too funny.
"T-thank you Hangeng, that's ... very s-sweet of you," Jongwoon finally manages to stutter. Hangeng smiles at him. Then Jongwoon turns his gaze towards Donghae, who is still laughing, and his brows furrow. He really was finding this way too funny. Edging closer to his best friend, he takes a moment to adjust his aim before he carefully connects his foot with Donghae's shin. The following pain makes Donghae yelp, and Jongwoon allows himself a smile of satisfaction as he watches his best friend jumping around on one foot, rubbing furiously at the other.
"What was that for?" Donghae says accusingly a few moments later, when he has both feet back on the ground.
"To help you stop making a fool of yourself," Jongwoon sniffs. Donghae "hrmph" and glares at him, but doesn't answer.
"Where is Hyukjae? Shouldn't he be here? The class will start soon."
Both Jongwoon and Donghae start at Hangeng's question, then Jongwoon pales. Donghae looks down at his watch.
"Actually, yes, he should. Normally, he would’ve been here by now. But he's probably just running late. I saw him at school today, so he's not sick. Jongwoon, you might want to-"
He cuts off when he realizes that he isn't there anymore.
"Jongwoon?" Donghae says questioningly.
Hangeng pokes his shoulder and points. "Over there."
The shorter boy turns around just in time to see Jongwoon's dark head disappear behind the speaker. He sighs, but then Hangeng taps him again.
"What is he doing?" The tall Chinese asks quietly, and Donghae wonders what answer he can give.
"Jongwoon is very shy," he finally says. Then, after considering it for a moment, adds in a whisper: "especially around Hyukjae."
Hangeng looks confused for a second before Donghae lifts an eyebrow, and his gaze turns questioning instead. Donghae nods, and they both look toward the speaker Jongwoon is hiding behind. A slow grin starts spreading on Hangeng's face, and Donghae watches it with amusement.
Hangeng is the definition of kind and thoughtful, but he loves to meddle in other people's affairs. Though he only wants to help, anything he tries to get involved in normally ends up turning into a big chaos/mess. But, Donghae reckons, chaos might be exactly what Jongwoon needs.
Both he and Hangeng leaves Jongwoon alone as they start stretching and warming up. Only a minute later, Hyukjae bursts through the door, panting.
"I'm sorry I'm late, there had been an accident with a motorcycle, and the bus got suck halfway here. I left it and ran the rest of the way when it became clear it wouldn't move for a while."
Donghae blinks. "Wow, that's something. But you made it in time, so no worries."
"Thank God, I was so worried about getting here too late. I've had this really weird feeling all day that it was very important I came here today." Hyukjae scratches his head, a bit awkward. Donghae's gaze drifts towards that one "special" speaker. As he turns back, Hangeng catches his eyes, and they share a grin.
"What are you two smiling about like that?" Hyukjae demands to know.
Donghae ignores him, and turns toward Hangeng instead.
"Wouldn't it be fun if ... ?"
"Yup. Very fun." Hangeng grins wider.
"What are you guys talking about?" Hyukjae looks exasperated between them. A brief silence follows.
"Should we tell him?"" Donghae asks. Hangeng looks contemplative.
"Hmm, I don't know. It would probably be a bit awkward, don't you think?"
"Definitely. Would still be fun though."
"Will you two stop that and tell me what's going on!?"
Both Donghae and Hangeng look over at Hyukjae. He is still standing where he stopped when he burst into the room earlier, glaring at them. Donghae and Hangeng share another look.
"Well, you see," Donghae begins, "I actually-" the rest of his sentence drowns in the noise that follows as the door to the studio opens and a group of about 15-25 people stumble through the door, laughing and shoving each other.
All three (visible) people already inside the room turn to look at the better part of the class they are teaching. Donghae quickly pick out some of the more recognizable students. Kim Kibum is there, as always with his little group of followers, including Lee Taemin, who looks like he might burst into flames whenever anyone even looks at him, but leaves most people speechless after a round on the dance-floor. Behind him - standing close to the wall - is Choi Junhong; Taemin's probably biggest fan and not-so-secret admirer, and his faithful sidekick-slash-best friend Moon Jongup, who both are amazingly talented as well, and just as shy as Taemin. At their backs are Bang Yongguk, the older male watching over the two boys as if they were his own sons. Donghae smiles as Junhong turns around to look at Yongguk -seemingly asking him a question-who just nods in response. The taller male smiles brightly before turning back around though, so Donghae guesses the answer pleased him.
Then there's Shin Donghee and Lee Sungmin standing together in the corner, a bit of an odd pair with Donghee's big body from his love of eating, and Sungmin's fit and toned body from hours of material arts practice. But they are best friends and really good dancers nonetheless.
Hangeng waves to the four Chinese students that slinks silently into the room, and Donghae looks over at them as they cross the floor to stand by the farthest wall, away from the rest of the group. Wufan is the easiest to spot, towering above everyone else. Black-haired and dark-eyed Zitao is next, almost as tall, followed by (the) blonde Luhan -and Donghae wonders when that had happened, the younger boy had still been dark brown last week- and then Yixing, who's trademark dimple starts showing as Wifan leans over and whispers something in his ear.
Then Hyukjae claps his hands a few times, gaining everyone's attention immediately.
"Let's get started, shall we?"
As everyone spreads across the floor, taking their places, Donghae walks over to the stereo-player and bends down.
"Jongwoon, get your ass out here this moment," he hisses under his breath, pretending to fiddle with his iPod and the volume-adjusters.
"No way!" Jongwoon whispers back. "Not with all these people here!"
"Just come out from behind there and sit down here, would you?" Donghae asks, pointing to the spot between the speaker and the mirrored-wall. "The students won't notice you, but you'll be able to watch the class. And Hyukjae," he adds, grinning.
Everything is silent for a moment, then there's some shuffling, a quiet grunt, and Jongwoon appears around the speaker, crawling on all four so nobody can see him above it. Donghae unsuccessfully stifles a laugh at the sight of his best friend, and Jongwoon's cheeks turn pink.
"Not. One. Word," he hisses. Ignoring him as usual, Donghae is about to reply him anyway when someone shouts his name.
"Oi, Donghae, what are you doing? Hurry up with the music, would you?"
Donghae bounces up in response to Hyukjae's question, and turns around, hiding Jongwoon behind him.
"Sorry, just had a small problem with the - ... nevermind, it's fixed now. Coming." He presses play and music starts pouring out into the room.
Turning around, Donghae takes one last look at Jongwoon, who looks like he might have a panick-attack any moment. Enjoy he mouths, winks once, and then walks up to Hyukjae and Hangeng.
"Let's start?"
-----
He grins again.
"Oh, just stop that already, will you?" Jongwoon huffs. But his face still turns a light shade of red, and Donghae's grin widens.
"Aww, don't say that. You really liked watching the class, right? They were so amazing you just couldn't look away from them, could you?"
Jongwoon thinks that if Donghae's grin gets any bigger, his face is gonna split in two. He thinks he might be hoping it will.
"For your information, I did actually watch the whole class," he answers, trying to look unperturbed. "And not just H-Hyukjae." Jongwoon's facade crumble and disappears as soon as he stumbles over the dancer's name, and Donghae starts laughing as Jongwoon's face reddens.
"Shut up," he mumbles.
"But you are just so cute!" Donghae throws his arms around his best friend, hugging him. A woman passing them turns around after hearing Donghae's loud exclamation, and looks at them. Jongwoon turns beet red while Donghae just continues to smile. When the woman winks at them before walking away, Jongwoon wishes the ground would just open up and swallow him to save him from the embarrassment. Or, better yet, open up and swallow Donghae. Then he won't have to deal with that idiot and his idiotic behavior.
"I hate you," Jongwoon mumbles as he elbows Donghae in the ribs. Wait, didn't this seem familiar?The younger male grunts and lets go of Jongwoon, but doesn't stop smiling.
"And I love you too. Now admit you enjoyed watching Hyukjae dance."
"I will admit nothing! Why are you so persistent about this? Can’t you just let this go, Donghae?" Jongwoon whines, embarrassed again. As he always seems to be whenever he is around his best friend. Someone tell me why I’m still friends with this embarrassing idiot?
"Because you're cute when you're flustered," Jongwoon glares at him, "and because I want you be more honest with yourself. And me."
The seriousness of Donghae's statement takes Jongwoong by surprise. He knows, of course, that his friend has a more serious, adult-like side to him, but he so rarely sees it, he tends to forget it's even there. And faced with Donghae's shockingly mature reply, Jongwoon feels that any more denying on his part would only make himself seem very childish. Or more childish than he already appears. So he answers truthfully.
"Yes," he says slowly, the word being difficult to force out of his mouth. "I did enjoy it. He looks amazing when he's dancing." A very faint blush spreads across his cheeks, but he holds his head high, looking straight at Donghae, meeting his gaze.
Donghae looks a bit surprised at Jongwoon's sudden confession, but then he smiles warmly.
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" His voice is quiet, but kind.
Jongwoon just snorts in response, but he is smiling as well. A minute pass in comfortable silence as they continue walking.
"Now, how would you like to come watch on Thursday as well? Hyukjae teaches another class at 5."
"Donghae!"
"What? You have already done it once now, haven’t you? It can’t have been that bad? Everything is supposed to be easier the second time!"
Stopping and staring incredulously at his best friend, Jongwoon can't even begin to try and form a coherent sentence that will explain all the reasons he should not -and will not- come within a hundred meters of Hyukjae again.
"Aw, that's a no, isn't?" Donghae answers himself when Jongwoon doesn't say anything.
I hate you," is all Jongwoon says as he starts moving again. Donghae pouts for a moment before following him, throwing an arm over Jongwoon's shoulder.
" I love you too."
"Shut up."
------> ♥♥♥
"Have fun."
"I hate you."
"Mhmm, love you too. Now go to class or you'll be late."
Jongwoon throws one last glare at Donghae before he grabs his backpack and leaves the room. Laying on the bed, Donghae listens as Jongwoon stubs his toe against one of the feet of their dining table and then grumbles to himself as he walks to the hallway to put his shoes on. Then he mentally counts down from ten, and laughs to himself as the sound of Jongwoon tripping over the threshold to their apartment reaches him, right before the door closes. Jongwoon was right on time, as always, just like clockwork. Donghae lazily wonders how many times Jongwoon has stumbled over their door-sill since they moved in, before he dismisses the thought. Too much effort.
Turning over on his side, Donghae looks at the clock on the bedside table. 08:02. Still two hours before he needs to go to school. He sighs happily. How nice to suddenly get the first two hours on a Monday off, even if it was a bit weird of his music teacher to just suddenly take a leave like that, without telling his students beforehand, or even getting a substitute teacher.
Closing his eyes, Donghae rolls back over on his back. He'll sleep for another hour and a half before getting up to go to school. He sighs again. How nice.
-
Late, late, late, late.
Donghae silently curses as he pushes a slice of bread into his mouth, trying to shrug into his jacket at the same time. He manages to pour half a glass of milk into his mouth while putting on his left shoe, then he grabs his backpack, pushes his other foot roughly into the last shoe and hurries out the door. Barely taking the time to lock the door behind him, he rushes down the hallway, out the door and almost crashes into a couple standing right outside their apartment building. He apologizes several times but doesn't slow down. The two kilometer to his school passes quickly as he jogs all the way. Stopping just outside the school gates to catch his breath, Donghae looks down on his watch. 09:56. He'll make it, thank God. The teacher would have skinned him alive if he had been late again. Gathering himself, Donghae quickly walks towards his classroom.
Where is Jongwoon?
Donghae walks slowly, trying to spot his friend in the myriad of students crowding the hallway. They have math together this class, so he should be around there somewhere. He walks another few meters, then stops and sighs. If only he or Jongwoon -or both- were taller, they wouldn't have such a hard time finding each other in crowds. But even as that thought crosses his mind, a few people in front of him separate, and he gets a glimpse of Jongwoon standing close to the wall farther down the hallway.
Donghae raises his hand, ready to try and get his attention, when he spots another familiar person standing just ahead of himself. Curious, Donghae glances at Hyukjae's. He isn’t moving at all, just standing there in the middle of the hallway and staring at something. Intrigued, Donghae sneaks just a little bit closer to the redhead that is the other dancer, then stops. Tilting his head slightly, he tries to follow Hykujae’s line-of-sight to find out what he is looking at. As his eyes once again lands on his best friend, Donghae blinks in surprise. Is he seeing this correctly? Once again he tries to follow Hyukjae’s gaze and once again he ends up looking right at Jongwoon. He tries to look around for anything or anyone else of interest that Hyukjae could possible be looking at, but considering how he is standing and the fact that there's not really any other people standing near his best friend, it has to be. Either Hyukjae is staring at Jongwoon, or he's staring at a spot on the wall. No, wait! Jongwoon shifts slightly, taking a small step to the left as some other students passes him, and Donghae watches Hyukjae as the other male's eyes follow Jongwoon's tiny movement. Yup, Hyukjae is definitely looking at Jongwoon! The implications of Hyukjae, standing in the school hallway watching his best friend without saying or doing anything makes Donghae light-headed for a moment. Oh, all the fun he can get out if thi- no, wait, he should help them get together, shouldn’t he? Not tease them. Or maybe a bit of both? A enormous grin splits Donghae’s face. This is gonna be interesting.
Deciding to wait and see if anything else happens, Donghae hovers behind Hyukjae for the next few minutes, managing to slip behind someone and hide every time Jongwoon's eyes would scim across the stream of students. Hah, he should have been working as a ninja. Even though he feels a little sorry towards Jongwoon for leaving him waiting, Donghae feels like it's warranted when Hyukjae stays in the hallway until the bell rings, clearly throwing one last at Jongwoon before disappearing somewhere for his class. Class! As Donghae remembers that he and Jongwoon too have somewhere they should be, he rushes forward and grabs Jongwoon by his collar.
"Class," is the only thing he says as he drags the other male down the hallway. Jongwoon is too surprised to do anything at first, hanging limp in Donghae's grasp until they're almost right outside their classroom. There Jongwoon finally gets his wits back together.
"Donghae, what are you- let me go, dammit!" He says loudly, trying to worm his way out of Donghae's grip. He is totally unprepared for Donghae suddenly just letting him go, causing him to land on his butt on the floor, hard.
"Ow!"
The loud exclamation makes Donghae turn around, and he looks surprised when he sees Jongwoon on the floor.
"What are you doing, Jongwoon? Get up, we'll be late for class." Reaching out his hands, Donghae pulls Jongwoon off the floor and back upright before turning back to the classroom, noticing that the door is still open. Good, then the teacher wasn't there yet.
Behind him, Jongwoon is staring at Donghae with big, incredulous eyes. They would be late? A hard slap to the back of his head has his friend's attention back on him instantly.
"Hey! What was that for?" Donghae whines, rubbing the sore spot. Jongwoon takes a step towards him, glaring.
"What am I doing? We will be late for class? Allow me to correct you, Donghae! I was waiting for you because you were late, and then you appear about of nowhere to drag me by the neck to the classroom before dumping me on the floor, but it's my fault we'll be late? How is any of that my fault?!”
Donghae looks a bit taken aback by Jongwoon's outburst.
"Ehm, well ... y'know-"
"Don't you 'y'know' me! It's your fault we're late! If I hadn’t been stupid enough to wait for you, I would have been here long before the bell rang!”
“Ey, we have a waiting-for-each-other-deal! I waited for you that time you had to go to the nurse after falling down in gym, even if it made us 25 minutes late for English last week!” Donghae exclaims.
They had made the deal after the first day of middle school, when Jongwoon had been late and entering the class -with a sea of new, unknown faces staring at him- on his own had almost traumatized him. It was always better to be two when they were late, and they had promised to always wait for each other, unless one of them weren’t at school at all.
“And I waited for you that time when you suddenly just had to buy a lollipop after the bell had rung after lunch, and we were late to World History because of it, and that time you forgot to set your alarm and overslept and I had to call and wake you up! Which I obviously should have done today too, seeing as you apparently can’t manage get up on time on your own!” Jongwoon shots back.
“Hey, I didn’t oversleep! I was here on time, so I can get up just fine on my own, thank you!” Donghae doesn’t realize that their voices are slowly becoming louder and louder.
“Oh yeah? Why the hell didn’t you show until the last minute then?!”
" I was just..." Donghae cuts himself off when he realizes he can’t say that he was late because he'd been busy stalking Hyukjae, who had been watching Jongwoon in the hallway.
"Just what?" Jongwoon demands.
No, well, you see-"
This time, Donghae is interrupted by someone clearing their throat, and they both turn to stare at the open door to the classroom, revealing their math teacher and a sea of curious-slash-amused faces behind her. Jongwoon’s face instantly turns pink.
“But, the door-, you shouldn’t-, I thought-,” Donghae trails off when he can’t figure out what to say.
“Jongwoon-sshi and Donghae-sshi, why don’t the pair of you do yourself the favour of continuing your argument later, and instead come inside so I can begin the class?” The teacher’s voice is calm, but there’s a hint of both amusement and annoyance in her tone. Still blushing, Jongwoon immediately gathers up his bag and slinks into the classroom, head down to avoid all the stares from the other students. Donghae just follows after him moving on auto-pilot, still not exactly sure about what had just happened.
“Seriously, the two of you are like a married couple,” the teacher sighs she make her way up to the blackboard. Jongwoon and Donghae freeze for a moment as they make their they across the classroom to their usual seats in the back and close to the windows, as the rest of the class burst into laughter.
Neither of them says a word as they finally sit down, both of them red-faced for once, and start pullling books, notes and pencils from their backpacks and putting them on their desks. Jongwoon even goes as far as to open his book, picking a random page and throwing the cover open. But then they just sit there, not moving, as their teacher starts the class by going over a problem that had been their homework last week. After several minutes, Jongwoon finally looks over at Donghae, his face still a bit redder than normal. Donghae looks right back at him, silent.
"..."
"..."
"Let's never mention this again, yeah?” Jongwoon whispers.
"Agreed."
"Deal. Now pay attention and I'll help you with your homework later, okay?
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Yeah yeah, shut up and focus on the questions," Jongwoon scoffs, but a smile is playing on his lips, and Donghae only smiles back before they both bend over their books, the teacher's voice drooning on in the background.
(A/N)
For those that might not know:
Kim Kibum (Key), his group and Lee Taemin are from SHINee ♥
Choi Junhong (Zelo), Moon Jongup and Bang Yongguk are from B.A.P ♥
Shin Donghee (Shindong) and Lee Sungmin are (as I guess most know xD) from Suju ♥
Wufan (Kris), Zitao (Tao), Luhan and Yixing (Lay) are from EXO-M ♥