Crossing Bridges [Part 2]
Title: Crossing Bridges
Pairing: Hyukhae, minor Yunjae, broken!Haesica
Genre: school AU, romance
Rating: PG
Warning: unbeta-ed, suspension of disbelief possibly required :P
Summary: Hyukjae meets another student on the bridge between their schools, and falls in love. (okay, that's a crap summary, please ignore and read!)
A/N: Based on a real bridge and schools in my neighbourhood. Happy New Year!
Cut into two parts for length. This is Part 2.
“Something’s fishy.” Junsu declares one morning as he and Hyukjae enter their homeroom class, collapsing into their seats beside Jaejoong and Sungmin, the latter leaning towards them interestedly in unveiled curiosity.
“What is?”
“You remember Jessica’s boyfriend?”
Jaejoong looks puzzled, but Sungmin nods. “That’s the girl from the school opposite ours whom Hyukkie likes.”
Jaejoong gives Hyukjae a commiserating pat on the back, while the other tries to protest against Sungmin’s explanation. Junsu still has the same suspicious look on his face. “Well, we met him on the bridge yesterday on the way home.”
“So he crosses it to take the bus from our side, what’s the big deal?” Jaejoong bestows Junsu with a look that implies his regard for the other’s sense. Hyukjae sighs loudly and shakes his head.
“We also met him the day before, and the day before that. It’s not like we left school at the same time every day or something; it can’t be that his schedule just so happens to coincide with ours so that we see him for three days in a row, when we haven’t seen him more than a handful of times in the past year. Something’s going on.” Junsu nods with all the authority of a suspicious detective.
Sungmin gasps. “Oh no, what if he found out about Hyukkie’s crush?” He turns a little to face Hyukjae, whose expression is one of incredulity. “Maybe he’s stalking you for revenge!”
“Come on, don’t be stupid. How could that happen?” Hyukjae ignores the fact that the first part of Sungmin’s guess is partially true, in that Donghae does know. Or at least Donghae thinks he knows, but actually doesn’t because it isn’t true anymore. Hyukjae absently wonders if knowing something untrue doesn’t really count as ‘knowing’.
“Lee Hyukjae, stop zoning out when we’re discussing your possible peril here!”
He throws his hands up in mock frustration. “What peril? Look, we greeted each other in a friendly way each time we met, didn’t we, Junsu?” His best friend nods grudgingly. “And you know what? I don’t like her anymore, so you can just forget all your conspiracy theories.”
Sungmin and Junsu stare at him in disbelief, while Jaejoong shrugs. “Well then, problem solved.”
Their teacher comes in, effectively halting their conversation as Hyukjae breathes a sigh of relief. Jaejoong raises a brow slightly, but merely turns back to his test paper as their teacher starts going through the answers.
--
“Where are you going? The school-gate’s that way.” Junsu points in the opposite direction from where Hyukjae and Jaejoong are headed.
“We’ve got to attend this briefing on the accelerated math course, which you’ve obviously forgotten despite my reminding you about it this morning.” Hyukjae rolls his eyes as Junsu makes a face at the mention of ‘accelerated math’, and they leave him and Sungmin to go home first.
The briefing isn’t particularly long or important, just a reminder about the extra classes in the holidays to prepare them for the competition in their 3rd year of middle school, at which mention most of them groan good-naturedly, but then again, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t agreeable to it in the first place.
Hyukjae’s walks slowly, debating on how to put his thoughts into words when Jaejoong pokes him on the shoulder. He looks at the older boy in surprise.
Jaejoong quirks a smile. “So, are you going to say what’s been bugging you the entire day?” Hyukjae gapes, and Jaejoong shakes his head in amusement. “You look like you’re about to burst or something. Spill it.”
“It’s just…I mean…you’re gay, right?” The words sound crude just sputtering out of his mouth like that, but Jaejoong laughs as if in slight disbelief.
“What the hell, Hyukjae? I thought I was quite clear about that…like one year ago. And you’re asking me now?”
Hyukjae punches him half-heartedly, and Jaejoong’s smile wavers for a bit. “What’s this really about?”
“I was just wondering…when- how did you know that you weren’t straight? Or did you always like guys that way?”
Jaejoong looks wholly interested in where this is going, and Hyukjae figures no one’s really bothered to ask him about it before. “Well, I guess I started out straight; it’s the convention, you know. And then one day, I met him.”
“You mean, Yunho-ssi?”
Jaejoong nods happily. “It wasn’t really that I starting liking boys - I started liking him.” He smiles at the memory. “He kind of took my breath away when I first met him.”
Hyukjae’s eyes widen, remembering his first encounter with Donghae vividly. Jaejoong looks at him in curiosity.
“Why, did you meet some cute guy who started getting you confused about your preferences?”
The question is so spot-on that Hyukjae flushes involuntarily, and Jaejoong grins widely. “I suppose it’s that…what’s his name, Donghae?”
“N-no, it’s not like that- I don’t…I don’t know.”
Jaejoong pauses just as they reach the gate. “Don’t worry too much about it. I believe that if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, alright?” He looks straight at Hyukjae in the eye, and the other boy nods, feeling encouraged by Jaejoong’s words.
Jaejoong spots his bus just pulling in at the bus stop and with a hasty goodbye, he runs to board it, as Hyukjae crosses the bridge to the other side.
He sits on the seat while craning his neck to look out for the bus, when a sound to his right causes him to turn the other way. To his shock, he sees a badly beaten-up Donghae limping slightly towards the bus stop, ostensibly to pass it in order to cross the bridge.
“Donghae!” The injured boy notices him, and gives a helpless smile at Hyukjae’s aghast expression. “What- what happened to you?”
Donghae limps up to him. “Well, I got beaten up.”
“I can see that!”
Donghae sighs, and checks his watch. “I’d explain it to you now, but I promised my mother I’d be home by four o’clock today, and she’ll kill me if I’m late.” He pats Hyukjae on the shoulder. “I’ll tell you another time, okay?”
With a nod, he turns and continues favouring his left leg, and Hyukjae can’t quite bear to see him walking so painfully. Without a second thought, he jumps up from his seat and moves to Donghae’s side, supporting him with his arm.
“I- I think I’d better make sure you get home safely.” He offers lamely, but Donghae grins happily and holds on tightly to Hyukjae’s arm.
“Then I guess there’s time to tell you what happened.” Hyukjae wonders if it was rude of him to expect Donghae to disclose a sensitive matter like this, but the other boy starts talking anyway.
“Firstly, you should understand that Jessica is really popular in our school.” Hyukjae has no problem believing that.
“So you can imagine that her little fanclub wasn’t too happy to see me as her boyfriend.” Donghae stops talking for a while as going down the steps of the bridge hurts his ankle with every alternate step he takes.
They reach the other bus stop and Donghae quickly sits down. He opens his mouth to continue, but then spies his bus and quickly moves forward to flag it, nearly stumbling in the process.
They move all the way to the back of the half-occupied bus where no one will hear their conversation. “So they found out that I broke up with her. And after they were finally convinced that someone could actually dump their beloved Jessica-yang…”
Hyukjae looks at him curiously, waiting for him to continue. “…they decided that I must be gay, because ‘no straight guy could possibly break up with Jessica Jung’.” Donghae quotes in a mocking tone.
Hyukjae feels his heart sinking slightly at Donghae’s apparent scorn at the idea of being gay. Not that there was ever any question about his preferences, but still…
“At least, that’s what they said after they beat me up.”
“How could they just say something like that?” Hyukjae takes in Donghae’s battered appearance, cut lip and everything, and feels indignation rising up within him.
Donghae shrugs. “For all you know, maybe they’re right.” Before Hyukjae can even think of a reply to Donghae’s cheeky comment, the other boy frowns slightly in thought. “How come I didn’t see your friend- Junsu with you just now? Don’t the two of you go home together?”
Donghae’s interest is strangely gratifying, and Hyukjae finds himself easily talking about everything under the sun, whether it’s his school life or their shared interest in dancing, even exchanging phone numbers and email addresses.
The bus journey is too short, and they reach Donghae’s stop in no time at all. Hyukjae offers to walk him home, but Donghae shakes his head firmly and tells him to hurry home before his mother gets worried as well.
“Okay, if you insist. Please take care of your injuries.” Hyukjae gently touches a gradually darkening bruise on Donghae’s cheek, and Donghae suddenly pulls back at the contact. Hyukjae retracts his hand hastily and apologises.
He quickly turns around to cross the road to the other side, not noticing Donghae lifting a hand to touch the very same spot, a strange look coming over his face.
--
Hyukjae’s phone vibrates, and he sees that he’s received a message.
< Hey, did you reach home safely? >
Hyukjae smiles widely, feeling stupidly excited at receiving his first message from Donghae, and his fingers tremble slightly as they type out a reply.
< Yeah, I did. How are you feeling now? > He presses the ‘send’ button, and holds on to his phone tightly, hoping for a reply back.
It comes promptly, to his delight. < Hurts like hell. Hyung got mad at me for freaking our mum out…and now I’m grounded until school ends!:( >
< Too bad…at least it’s not much longer til then! Hwaiting! ^^ >
< Thanks! :) Anyway, I’m bored now, entertain me! >
< LOL, entertain you? >
< Pabo, that’s what friends are for! >
Hyukjae pauses and rereads the short sentence, one particular word sending pleasant shivers down his spine. At which point did they become friends?
--
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jaejoong-sunbae!” The other boys in the class look on in envy as the blushing first-year student hands a nicely wrapped packet of chocolates to him.
Jaejoong looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh or not, and accepts it with a quiet thanks. She squeaks in happiness and runs off to the rest of her giggling friends outside.
“Wow, that’s like your ninth gift this morning, isn’t it?” Sungmin comments.
Hyukjae pretends to count on his fingers. “Really? I thought it was his thirteenth.”
“You forgot to include the other five found in his locker.” Junsu grins, earning himself a dry look from Jaejoong.
“How is it that being gay doesn’t decrease the number of chocolates you receive?” Sungmin asks curiously, and Jaejoong shrugs.
“I have no idea. You’d think they’d have given up by now.”
Junsu snorts. “Yeah, especially after you gave your present to Yunho.” Hyukjae can’t help but agree. The public display of affection between the two in the corridor this morning was…eye-catching at least. Perhaps girls require more blunt ways of deterring them from their illusions.
He drifts off to his own thoughts, thinking about how nice it must be to have someone to do such a thing with, unashamedly in public.
A small, prettily-wrapped package drops onto his desk, and he looks up to see Jaejoong grinning. “Happy Valentine’s.”
--
Hyukjae watches the couples excitedly boarding the buses that head downtown - it’s the last day of the semester, and they are free to go and celebrate the romantic holiday - and grudgingly goes up the steps of the bridge.
He can’t believe even Junsu seems to have gotten himself a date with a girl from the school opposite, of all places. He vaguely remembers his friend saying something about it over the phone the other day, when Hyukjae wasn’t really paying attention.
“Hyukjae-yah!” He looks up to see Donghae waving to him merrily from the middle of the bridge, and hastens his steps towards the other boy.
“Hi, what a coincidence!” Then Hyukjae notices that Donghae’s bag is on the floor. “Were you waiting for someone?”
Donghae rolls his eyes. “Of course, I was waiting for you, dummy.”
Hyukjae looks bewildered, and Donghae reaches down into his bag, pulling out a small square package. “Go on, open it!”
Hyukjae carefully peels the tape off, loath to rip anything given to him by Donghae, and finally takes out a familiar-looking CD.
“It’s a copy of the dance CD of yours that I broke the first time we met. Bet you thought I’d forgotten about it, didn’t you?” Hyukjae hates to admit it, but nods honestly.
“You really didn’t have to…my CD was only scratched a little-”
Donghae waves off his protests. “Take it as a Valentine’s Day gift from me to you, then! Happy Valentine’s Day!”
He freezes at those carelessly thrown out words, a shiver going down his spine. He fumbles with the wrapping paper and the CD, and as he puts it carefully into his bag, his hands come into contact with something else.
“Here you go.” Hyukjae hands Jaejoong’s gift to Donghae, who looks surprised, and then a look of understanding appears on his face.
“Was this for Jessica? You want me to pass it to her for you?”
Hyukjae’s jaw drops open, the thought never even having crossed his mind. “What? No! I-I mean… that’s for you… kind of like a fair exchange-”
“Look, you don’t have to be shy about her, you know. I already told you that I’m totally fine with you liking her-”
His mind whirls in confusion, annoyance and frustration at how stupidly wrong the whole situation is becoming, when Donghae doesn’t seem to understand anything at all.
“But I don’t like her, I like you!” The tearful words are out before he can stop himself, and he claps a hand over his mouth in horror. Donghae looks equally stunned at his outburst, and Hyukjae seizes the chance to dash over to the other side of the bridge, going down the steps three at a time.
Luckily, his bus arrives almost immediately, and he hops onto it quickly. As the bus drives off, Hyukjae realises that Donghae didn’t chase after him, and feels even dumber for running. It’s not like the other boy was going to confess his undying love for him after that.
Hyukjae hangs his head and sighs, leaning dejectedly against the handgrip as the bus goes on.
--
It’s the beginning of the holidays, and Hyukjae feels slightly grateful that at least it’ll be impossible to bump into Donghae on that bridge connecting their schools. He sincerely doubts Donghae’ll be going for extra math training in his own school like Hyukjae is.
He hasn’t received a single text from Donghae, a far cry from the five or so messages Donghae had previously sent each day. He decides that Donghae probably doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore, a sharp pain tugging in his chest at the thought.
He barely pays attention during the lesson on geometrical properties of circles, and Jaejoong has to poke him twice to make sure he answers the teacher’s questions. Jaejoong doesn’t comment on Hyukjae’s inattentiveness until the lesson is over.
But Hyukjae doesn’t want to see pity in the older boy’s eyes, and avoids the questioning by making an excuse about going to Junsu’s house, and walks away hurriedly from him up the bridge.
His heart nearly stops when he sees an all-too familiar figure pacing up and down at the top. Donghae turns and spots him, breaking into a smile that has Hyukjae holding his breath.
He resists the urge to leave in the opposite direction, but tells himself to keep on walking. Maybe Donghae isn’t really mad at him. Donghae’s a nice, understanding person. If Junsu were to tell Hyukjae he liked him, he wouldn’t stop being Junsu’s friend, right? Same thing.
“Hey.” Donghae smiles wryly, and a question pops into Hyukjae’s mind.
“How did you know I’d be coming to school?” He blurts out in confusion.
Donghae gives him a strange look. “You told me you needed to go to school for some math course in the holidays, right?”
Hyukjae can’t believe that Donghae would even remember that small detail from their conversation on the bus a week ago. “Ah…I see.”
“Anyway, about what you said yesterday-”
“Look, I’m sorry about that, okay?” Hyukjae cuts him off before Donghae can let him down sympathetically, as he foresees the other boy doing.
“You’re sorry you like me?” Donghae frowns at this unflattering statement, and folds his arms across his chest.
“Yes. I mean no! I mean…” Hyukjae breathes in deeply before continuing. “I am not sorry for liking you.” He says it with conviction ringing in his tone. “I’m sorry for telling you and making you feel uncomfortable.”
“Well, you didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, so you’ve nothing to be sorry about.” He grins, and Hyukjae’s eyes widen in surprise. “More like the opposite, actually.”
Hyukjae begins to think that this is all a dream, and he’ll wake up from it and find himself in bed as usual. “B-but you’re straight! You just broke up with your girlfriend!”
Donghae’s expression becomes more serious. “I told you that my relationship with her was never really strong. I was already thinking about it before I met you. And then that day when those guys beat me up and said I had to be gay…I thought… maybe they were right.”
Hyukjae thinks that if his heart beats any faster he’ll go into cardiac arrest. A flicker of hope burns within his chest as he hangs on to Donghae’s every word.
“And then we became friends, and talking to you felt so much easier than anyone else I’d met before. That’s why I spammed your phone with so many messages late at night.”
He runs a hand through his soft hair sheepishly, and Hyukjae remembers the texts, as well as the thrill of excitement he’d felt every time his phone beeped with a new one.
“Then yesterday you said you like me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and…I think I like you too.”
A wave of joy mingled with relief washes over Hyukjae who grins like an idiot. “Really? You mean it?”
Donghae rolls his eyes and leans forward to kiss Hyukjae lightly on the cheek. The spot on his cheek burns even as Donghae pulls back, his own cheeks slightly flushed. “Do you still want me to prove it?” He asks in amusement, his eyes bright and sparkling.
“That would be nice…” Hyukjae mutters dazedly, and Donghae pulls him into a tight hug. Hyukjae finds himself breathing into Donghae’s unique scent, making him feel a little light-headed.
“I like you.” Donghae whispers into his ear, sending delicious tingles down his spine as he shivers. Hyukjae exhales slowly, and with great difficulty pushes Donghae back gently.
“I like you too.” He declares with a gummy smile on his face.
Donghae smacks him on the head. “You said that already.”
“Oh, right.” And they continue walking side by side across the bridge, hands intertwined together.
I don't like the ending, but I really had no idea on how to write it, and I wanted to post it by today, so forgive me! Comments are loved!!!
Pairing: Hyukhae, minor Yunjae, broken!Haesica
Genre: school AU, romance
Rating: PG
Warning: unbeta-ed, suspension of disbelief possibly required :P
Summary: Hyukjae meets another student on the bridge between their schools, and falls in love. (okay, that's a crap summary, please ignore and read!)
A/N: Based on a real bridge and schools in my neighbourhood. Happy New Year!
Cut into two parts for length. This is Part 2.
“Something’s fishy.” Junsu declares one morning as he and Hyukjae enter their homeroom class, collapsing into their seats beside Jaejoong and Sungmin, the latter leaning towards them interestedly in unveiled curiosity.
“What is?”
“You remember Jessica’s boyfriend?”
Jaejoong looks puzzled, but Sungmin nods. “That’s the girl from the school opposite ours whom Hyukkie likes.”
Jaejoong gives Hyukjae a commiserating pat on the back, while the other tries to protest against Sungmin’s explanation. Junsu still has the same suspicious look on his face. “Well, we met him on the bridge yesterday on the way home.”
“So he crosses it to take the bus from our side, what’s the big deal?” Jaejoong bestows Junsu with a look that implies his regard for the other’s sense. Hyukjae sighs loudly and shakes his head.
“We also met him the day before, and the day before that. It’s not like we left school at the same time every day or something; it can’t be that his schedule just so happens to coincide with ours so that we see him for three days in a row, when we haven’t seen him more than a handful of times in the past year. Something’s going on.” Junsu nods with all the authority of a suspicious detective.
Sungmin gasps. “Oh no, what if he found out about Hyukkie’s crush?” He turns a little to face Hyukjae, whose expression is one of incredulity. “Maybe he’s stalking you for revenge!”
“Come on, don’t be stupid. How could that happen?” Hyukjae ignores the fact that the first part of Sungmin’s guess is partially true, in that Donghae does know. Or at least Donghae thinks he knows, but actually doesn’t because it isn’t true anymore. Hyukjae absently wonders if knowing something untrue doesn’t really count as ‘knowing’.
“Lee Hyukjae, stop zoning out when we’re discussing your possible peril here!”
He throws his hands up in mock frustration. “What peril? Look, we greeted each other in a friendly way each time we met, didn’t we, Junsu?” His best friend nods grudgingly. “And you know what? I don’t like her anymore, so you can just forget all your conspiracy theories.”
Sungmin and Junsu stare at him in disbelief, while Jaejoong shrugs. “Well then, problem solved.”
Their teacher comes in, effectively halting their conversation as Hyukjae breathes a sigh of relief. Jaejoong raises a brow slightly, but merely turns back to his test paper as their teacher starts going through the answers.
--
“Where are you going? The school-gate’s that way.” Junsu points in the opposite direction from where Hyukjae and Jaejoong are headed.
“We’ve got to attend this briefing on the accelerated math course, which you’ve obviously forgotten despite my reminding you about it this morning.” Hyukjae rolls his eyes as Junsu makes a face at the mention of ‘accelerated math’, and they leave him and Sungmin to go home first.
The briefing isn’t particularly long or important, just a reminder about the extra classes in the holidays to prepare them for the competition in their 3rd year of middle school, at which mention most of them groan good-naturedly, but then again, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t agreeable to it in the first place.
Hyukjae’s walks slowly, debating on how to put his thoughts into words when Jaejoong pokes him on the shoulder. He looks at the older boy in surprise.
Jaejoong quirks a smile. “So, are you going to say what’s been bugging you the entire day?” Hyukjae gapes, and Jaejoong shakes his head in amusement. “You look like you’re about to burst or something. Spill it.”
“It’s just…I mean…you’re gay, right?” The words sound crude just sputtering out of his mouth like that, but Jaejoong laughs as if in slight disbelief.
“What the hell, Hyukjae? I thought I was quite clear about that…like one year ago. And you’re asking me now?”
Hyukjae punches him half-heartedly, and Jaejoong’s smile wavers for a bit. “What’s this really about?”
“I was just wondering…when- how did you know that you weren’t straight? Or did you always like guys that way?”
Jaejoong looks wholly interested in where this is going, and Hyukjae figures no one’s really bothered to ask him about it before. “Well, I guess I started out straight; it’s the convention, you know. And then one day, I met him.”
“You mean, Yunho-ssi?”
Jaejoong nods happily. “It wasn’t really that I starting liking boys - I started liking him.” He smiles at the memory. “He kind of took my breath away when I first met him.”
Hyukjae’s eyes widen, remembering his first encounter with Donghae vividly. Jaejoong looks at him in curiosity.
“Why, did you meet some cute guy who started getting you confused about your preferences?”
The question is so spot-on that Hyukjae flushes involuntarily, and Jaejoong grins widely. “I suppose it’s that…what’s his name, Donghae?”
“N-no, it’s not like that- I don’t…I don’t know.”
Jaejoong pauses just as they reach the gate. “Don’t worry too much about it. I believe that if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, alright?” He looks straight at Hyukjae in the eye, and the other boy nods, feeling encouraged by Jaejoong’s words.
Jaejoong spots his bus just pulling in at the bus stop and with a hasty goodbye, he runs to board it, as Hyukjae crosses the bridge to the other side.
He sits on the seat while craning his neck to look out for the bus, when a sound to his right causes him to turn the other way. To his shock, he sees a badly beaten-up Donghae limping slightly towards the bus stop, ostensibly to pass it in order to cross the bridge.
“Donghae!” The injured boy notices him, and gives a helpless smile at Hyukjae’s aghast expression. “What- what happened to you?”
Donghae limps up to him. “Well, I got beaten up.”
“I can see that!”
Donghae sighs, and checks his watch. “I’d explain it to you now, but I promised my mother I’d be home by four o’clock today, and she’ll kill me if I’m late.” He pats Hyukjae on the shoulder. “I’ll tell you another time, okay?”
With a nod, he turns and continues favouring his left leg, and Hyukjae can’t quite bear to see him walking so painfully. Without a second thought, he jumps up from his seat and moves to Donghae’s side, supporting him with his arm.
“I- I think I’d better make sure you get home safely.” He offers lamely, but Donghae grins happily and holds on tightly to Hyukjae’s arm.
“Then I guess there’s time to tell you what happened.” Hyukjae wonders if it was rude of him to expect Donghae to disclose a sensitive matter like this, but the other boy starts talking anyway.
“Firstly, you should understand that Jessica is really popular in our school.” Hyukjae has no problem believing that.
“So you can imagine that her little fanclub wasn’t too happy to see me as her boyfriend.” Donghae stops talking for a while as going down the steps of the bridge hurts his ankle with every alternate step he takes.
They reach the other bus stop and Donghae quickly sits down. He opens his mouth to continue, but then spies his bus and quickly moves forward to flag it, nearly stumbling in the process.
They move all the way to the back of the half-occupied bus where no one will hear their conversation. “So they found out that I broke up with her. And after they were finally convinced that someone could actually dump their beloved Jessica-yang…”
Hyukjae looks at him curiously, waiting for him to continue. “…they decided that I must be gay, because ‘no straight guy could possibly break up with Jessica Jung’.” Donghae quotes in a mocking tone.
Hyukjae feels his heart sinking slightly at Donghae’s apparent scorn at the idea of being gay. Not that there was ever any question about his preferences, but still…
“At least, that’s what they said after they beat me up.”
“How could they just say something like that?” Hyukjae takes in Donghae’s battered appearance, cut lip and everything, and feels indignation rising up within him.
Donghae shrugs. “For all you know, maybe they’re right.” Before Hyukjae can even think of a reply to Donghae’s cheeky comment, the other boy frowns slightly in thought. “How come I didn’t see your friend- Junsu with you just now? Don’t the two of you go home together?”
Donghae’s interest is strangely gratifying, and Hyukjae finds himself easily talking about everything under the sun, whether it’s his school life or their shared interest in dancing, even exchanging phone numbers and email addresses.
The bus journey is too short, and they reach Donghae’s stop in no time at all. Hyukjae offers to walk him home, but Donghae shakes his head firmly and tells him to hurry home before his mother gets worried as well.
“Okay, if you insist. Please take care of your injuries.” Hyukjae gently touches a gradually darkening bruise on Donghae’s cheek, and Donghae suddenly pulls back at the contact. Hyukjae retracts his hand hastily and apologises.
He quickly turns around to cross the road to the other side, not noticing Donghae lifting a hand to touch the very same spot, a strange look coming over his face.
--
Hyukjae’s phone vibrates, and he sees that he’s received a message.
< Hey, did you reach home safely? >
Hyukjae smiles widely, feeling stupidly excited at receiving his first message from Donghae, and his fingers tremble slightly as they type out a reply.
< Yeah, I did. How are you feeling now? > He presses the ‘send’ button, and holds on to his phone tightly, hoping for a reply back.
It comes promptly, to his delight. < Hurts like hell. Hyung got mad at me for freaking our mum out…and now I’m grounded until school ends!:( >
< Too bad…at least it’s not much longer til then! Hwaiting! ^^ >
< Thanks! :) Anyway, I’m bored now, entertain me! >
< LOL, entertain you? >
< Pabo, that’s what friends are for! >
Hyukjae pauses and rereads the short sentence, one particular word sending pleasant shivers down his spine. At which point did they become friends?
--
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jaejoong-sunbae!” The other boys in the class look on in envy as the blushing first-year student hands a nicely wrapped packet of chocolates to him.
Jaejoong looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh or not, and accepts it with a quiet thanks. She squeaks in happiness and runs off to the rest of her giggling friends outside.
“Wow, that’s like your ninth gift this morning, isn’t it?” Sungmin comments.
Hyukjae pretends to count on his fingers. “Really? I thought it was his thirteenth.”
“You forgot to include the other five found in his locker.” Junsu grins, earning himself a dry look from Jaejoong.
“How is it that being gay doesn’t decrease the number of chocolates you receive?” Sungmin asks curiously, and Jaejoong shrugs.
“I have no idea. You’d think they’d have given up by now.”
Junsu snorts. “Yeah, especially after you gave your present to Yunho.” Hyukjae can’t help but agree. The public display of affection between the two in the corridor this morning was…eye-catching at least. Perhaps girls require more blunt ways of deterring them from their illusions.
He drifts off to his own thoughts, thinking about how nice it must be to have someone to do such a thing with, unashamedly in public.
A small, prettily-wrapped package drops onto his desk, and he looks up to see Jaejoong grinning. “Happy Valentine’s.”
--
Hyukjae watches the couples excitedly boarding the buses that head downtown - it’s the last day of the semester, and they are free to go and celebrate the romantic holiday - and grudgingly goes up the steps of the bridge.
He can’t believe even Junsu seems to have gotten himself a date with a girl from the school opposite, of all places. He vaguely remembers his friend saying something about it over the phone the other day, when Hyukjae wasn’t really paying attention.
“Hyukjae-yah!” He looks up to see Donghae waving to him merrily from the middle of the bridge, and hastens his steps towards the other boy.
“Hi, what a coincidence!” Then Hyukjae notices that Donghae’s bag is on the floor. “Were you waiting for someone?”
Donghae rolls his eyes. “Of course, I was waiting for you, dummy.”
Hyukjae looks bewildered, and Donghae reaches down into his bag, pulling out a small square package. “Go on, open it!”
Hyukjae carefully peels the tape off, loath to rip anything given to him by Donghae, and finally takes out a familiar-looking CD.
“It’s a copy of the dance CD of yours that I broke the first time we met. Bet you thought I’d forgotten about it, didn’t you?” Hyukjae hates to admit it, but nods honestly.
“You really didn’t have to…my CD was only scratched a little-”
Donghae waves off his protests. “Take it as a Valentine’s Day gift from me to you, then! Happy Valentine’s Day!”
He freezes at those carelessly thrown out words, a shiver going down his spine. He fumbles with the wrapping paper and the CD, and as he puts it carefully into his bag, his hands come into contact with something else.
“Here you go.” Hyukjae hands Jaejoong’s gift to Donghae, who looks surprised, and then a look of understanding appears on his face.
“Was this for Jessica? You want me to pass it to her for you?”
Hyukjae’s jaw drops open, the thought never even having crossed his mind. “What? No! I-I mean… that’s for you… kind of like a fair exchange-”
“Look, you don’t have to be shy about her, you know. I already told you that I’m totally fine with you liking her-”
His mind whirls in confusion, annoyance and frustration at how stupidly wrong the whole situation is becoming, when Donghae doesn’t seem to understand anything at all.
“But I don’t like her, I like you!” The tearful words are out before he can stop himself, and he claps a hand over his mouth in horror. Donghae looks equally stunned at his outburst, and Hyukjae seizes the chance to dash over to the other side of the bridge, going down the steps three at a time.
Luckily, his bus arrives almost immediately, and he hops onto it quickly. As the bus drives off, Hyukjae realises that Donghae didn’t chase after him, and feels even dumber for running. It’s not like the other boy was going to confess his undying love for him after that.
Hyukjae hangs his head and sighs, leaning dejectedly against the handgrip as the bus goes on.
--
It’s the beginning of the holidays, and Hyukjae feels slightly grateful that at least it’ll be impossible to bump into Donghae on that bridge connecting their schools. He sincerely doubts Donghae’ll be going for extra math training in his own school like Hyukjae is.
He hasn’t received a single text from Donghae, a far cry from the five or so messages Donghae had previously sent each day. He decides that Donghae probably doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore, a sharp pain tugging in his chest at the thought.
He barely pays attention during the lesson on geometrical properties of circles, and Jaejoong has to poke him twice to make sure he answers the teacher’s questions. Jaejoong doesn’t comment on Hyukjae’s inattentiveness until the lesson is over.
But Hyukjae doesn’t want to see pity in the older boy’s eyes, and avoids the questioning by making an excuse about going to Junsu’s house, and walks away hurriedly from him up the bridge.
His heart nearly stops when he sees an all-too familiar figure pacing up and down at the top. Donghae turns and spots him, breaking into a smile that has Hyukjae holding his breath.
He resists the urge to leave in the opposite direction, but tells himself to keep on walking. Maybe Donghae isn’t really mad at him. Donghae’s a nice, understanding person. If Junsu were to tell Hyukjae he liked him, he wouldn’t stop being Junsu’s friend, right? Same thing.
“Hey.” Donghae smiles wryly, and a question pops into Hyukjae’s mind.
“How did you know I’d be coming to school?” He blurts out in confusion.
Donghae gives him a strange look. “You told me you needed to go to school for some math course in the holidays, right?”
Hyukjae can’t believe that Donghae would even remember that small detail from their conversation on the bus a week ago. “Ah…I see.”
“Anyway, about what you said yesterday-”
“Look, I’m sorry about that, okay?” Hyukjae cuts him off before Donghae can let him down sympathetically, as he foresees the other boy doing.
“You’re sorry you like me?” Donghae frowns at this unflattering statement, and folds his arms across his chest.
“Yes. I mean no! I mean…” Hyukjae breathes in deeply before continuing. “I am not sorry for liking you.” He says it with conviction ringing in his tone. “I’m sorry for telling you and making you feel uncomfortable.”
“Well, you didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, so you’ve nothing to be sorry about.” He grins, and Hyukjae’s eyes widen in surprise. “More like the opposite, actually.”
Hyukjae begins to think that this is all a dream, and he’ll wake up from it and find himself in bed as usual. “B-but you’re straight! You just broke up with your girlfriend!”
Donghae’s expression becomes more serious. “I told you that my relationship with her was never really strong. I was already thinking about it before I met you. And then that day when those guys beat me up and said I had to be gay…I thought… maybe they were right.”
Hyukjae thinks that if his heart beats any faster he’ll go into cardiac arrest. A flicker of hope burns within his chest as he hangs on to Donghae’s every word.
“And then we became friends, and talking to you felt so much easier than anyone else I’d met before. That’s why I spammed your phone with so many messages late at night.”
He runs a hand through his soft hair sheepishly, and Hyukjae remembers the texts, as well as the thrill of excitement he’d felt every time his phone beeped with a new one.
“Then yesterday you said you like me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and…I think I like you too.”
A wave of joy mingled with relief washes over Hyukjae who grins like an idiot. “Really? You mean it?”
Donghae rolls his eyes and leans forward to kiss Hyukjae lightly on the cheek. The spot on his cheek burns even as Donghae pulls back, his own cheeks slightly flushed. “Do you still want me to prove it?” He asks in amusement, his eyes bright and sparkling.
“That would be nice…” Hyukjae mutters dazedly, and Donghae pulls him into a tight hug. Hyukjae finds himself breathing into Donghae’s unique scent, making him feel a little light-headed.
“I like you.” Donghae whispers into his ear, sending delicious tingles down his spine as he shivers. Hyukjae exhales slowly, and with great difficulty pushes Donghae back gently.
“I like you too.” He declares with a gummy smile on his face.
Donghae smacks him on the head. “You said that already.”
“Oh, right.” And they continue walking side by side across the bridge, hands intertwined together.
I don't like the ending, but I really had no idea on how to write it, and I wanted to post it by today, so forgive me! Comments are loved!!!