Chance Meetings (Donghae/Ryeowook, PG-13) for mywookness
Title: Chance Meetings
Author: goldintheshadow
Recipient: mywookness
Characters/Pairings: Donghae/Ryeowook
Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Fluff, Romance
Warnings: …Bullying? I guess?
Author's Note: This fic ate all of my plot bunnies and spit them back out in pieces. DDD; I hope you like it, mywookness, because I had absolutely NO idea where this was going most of the time!! Betaed by the lovely greyplain, my dear baby who puts up with all of my whining and flailing at one in the morning and betas pairings with members she doesn't even like, much less enjoy reading. Ilu, bb!!
It was a bright, sunny day at Seoul Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, a soft wind was blowing through the trees, and Lee Donghae was late for class.
The sixth-year student cursed as he fumbled his books, nearly dropping them as he traveled down the hallway at a brisk jog. He’d stayed up far too late the night before, not really studying for class, and he was now paying the price. His Asian Wizarding History professor was going to kill him if he was late one more time. Donghae was so focused on getting to class (and not dropping his books as he forced them into his bag), however, that he totally failed to see another student running down a perpendicular corridor.
“Oof!” Donghae hit the floor hard, his books spilling across the corridor.
“I’m so sorry!” a soft, light voice cried. Donghae blinked, his ass aching where it had hit stone, and looked over at a small student-third year, maybe?-scrambling around, trying to pick up a similar stack of books. Brown hair flopped over his forehead, obscuring his face, and his small hands fluttered this way and that as he gathered up his things. Then he raised his head, and Donghae stared.
A small, heart-shaped face gazed back at him, wide dark eyes making the older student’s heart beat faster. A soft rosebud mouth spewed endless apologies as the younger boy bowed over and over again, a pretty flush rising across his cheekbones. Donghae could see the hint of a bruise where the collar of his robes gaped open, and he hoped he hadn’t put it there. “-And I’m really sorry, but I’m going to be late for class!” he cried, and Donghae blinked again, coming back to the present.
“Oh,” he said, rising to his feet. The boy’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes grew even wider as he stared up at Donghae’s height, taking an involuntary step backward and seeming to cringe slightly. “Don’t worry about it, kid, I’m gonna be late too.” He grinned, and the attractive flush on the boy’s cheeks deepened, his eyes widening again in what seemed like shock. “You’d better hurry, the bell’s going to ring in less than a minute.”
The younger student opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then snapped it shut and bowed deeply one last time, hurrying down the hallway. Donghae stared after him in a daze for a moment, before coming back to himself with a jolt. Promising himself that he could fantasize about that sweet face later, he swept the books still littering the hallway into his arms and dashed to his own class, barely squeaking into his seat in the lecture hall as the bell rang.
“You’re almost late,” came a mumble from his left, and a bored-looking Kyuhyun turned his head on his desk so that he could glare at him from one sleepy dark eye. “Seonsaengnim would’ve beat your ass if you were late again.”
Donghae grinned, still breathing heavily. “But I’m not late! In my seat and everything before the bell rang.”
Kyuhyun let out a snort of derision and a jaw-cracking yawn, closing his eyes again and resettling his head on his pillow of textbooks and papers. Used to his younger friend’s attitude, Donghae used the time before the professor entered the room to organize his books, putting aside the ones he didn’t need for this class-he frowned, pulling out a couple of books and some papers that definitely didn’t belong to him.
Oh, he thought. These must be that boy’s. Hope he didn’t need them for this class period. Tuning out the professor as he entered and began droning on about the last Wizard War, which had happened in Great Britain and he couldn’t care less about, Donghae sorted through the papers.
“…And the Chosen One, once called the Boy-Who-Lived, first defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort at the age of one…”
Donghae propped his chin on his hand and stared at the papers. Kim Ryeowook, he thought, eyes landing on the name written in neat characters at the top of the page. I can’t wait to find him and return these.
-
Unfortunately, being rather distractible, Donghae forgot about returning the other boy’s books, instead dashing to his next class to meet with Eunhyuk. As a sixth-year student, he had a full day of classes, and so the books and papers were shoved into his bag and forgotten about until lunchtime.
“Yo!” Eunhyuk bounced up, grinning, as Donghae headed out from his third and last class of the morning, heading straight to the dining hall for lunch. “Let’s eat out in the courtyard today, yeah? It’s gorgeous out!”
“’Kay,” Donghae said, grabbing a roll and stuffing it in his mouth. He’d missed breakfast, and he was starving. “How was Magical Creatures?”
Eunhyuk shrugged, grabbing a tray and beginning to load it with food. “Eh, it was fine. Nothing too dangerous this week, which is nice.” Eunhyuk had gotten badly singed a few weeks ago by a disgruntled fire salamander, and was still traumatized. Donghae had laughed at him for days.
The two sixth years were joined by Kyuhyun, a fourth-year, and Sungmin, another sixth-year, on their way out to the courtyard. The two newcomers were bickering loudly and snarkily, as was their wont, and barely acknowledged the other two. They set up camp on one of the benches encircling the large tree in the center of the courtyard and settled in to eat and talk.
Donghae had just thrown back his head and laughed at some barb Kyuhyun had thrown at Sungmin when he heard a soft voice uncertainly say, “Um. Donghae-sunbae?” at his shoulder.
Surprised-he didn’t really have any hoobae who actually called him sunbae, and he blamed Kyuhyun, the disrespectful brat, for that-Donghae turned to meet the shy gaze of the boy he’d run into that morning.
“Oh!” he said, smiling, turning and setting his feet on the ground to face the boy properly, his heart suddenly beating faster in his chest. “You’re the one I ran into this morning. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He remembered the bruise he’d seen with a pang of guilt.
The younger student-Kim Ryeowook, Donghae remembered, with the nice handwriting-ducked his head, the same blush from this morning creeping up his cheeks. “Um, no, I’m fine,” he said quietly, tugging his robes closed at the collar nervously. “I-I came to return your books. I must have grabbed them by mistake. I’m really sorry, I hope you didn’t need them for class this morning.” He held out the books clutched in his arms, ducking his head shyly.
“Oh, that’s right,” Donghae said, remembering. “I have some of yours too.” He hefted his book bag onto his lap and rummaged through the contents. “Here we go,” he said, pulling out the relevant books and papers triumphantly. “Don’t worry about it, at least they were all for afternoon classes. I hope I didn’t have anything of yours that you needed.”
“It’s fine,” Ryeowook mumbled, which, Donghae noted, was not a no. A little trickle of guilt threaded through his belly, but what could he have done? The boy was long gone by the time he’d realized, and there hadn’t been enough time between classes to go searching.
“Oh,” Kyuhyun said, finally clueing in to his surroundings as he succeeded in making Sungmin huffily refuse to talk to him anymore. “Ryeowook-hyung. I didn’t know you knew Donghae.”
Donghae gaped at him. “You called him hyung!” he wailed. “Why do you never call me hyung?” This, it must be said, is a bit of an exaggeration. Kyuhyun did call Donghae ‘hyung’ sometimes; it was just a bit more rare than Donghae would like.
Kyuhyun stared at him flatly. “Because Ryeowook-hyung doesn’t wail.”
“That doesn’t-wait,” Donghae backtracked, “he’s older than you?” Now he gaped at Ryeowook. “How old are you?”
“Um,” Ryeowook replied nervously, shrinking back a little, “I’m a fifth-year? I’m fifteen, almost sixteen.”
“Holy crap,” Donghae said, “I thought you were, like, a third-year!” Kyuhyun burst out laughing, and Ryeowook flushed red again. “Wait,” Donghae said, panicked, “that’s not, um, I didn’t mean it in a bad way, you just look really young-”
“It’s okay, sunbae,” Ryeowook said, giving him a small smile. Donghae was smitten. “I get that a lot. It’s no big deal.”
“Ryeowook-ah!” a voice called, and the seventh-year Kim Jongwoon jogged over, shooting Donghae and his group of friends a wary look. “What’re you doing over here? I’ve been looking for you.”
“Sorry, hyung,” Ryeowook smiled, and Donghae felt his stomach clench hot as the small face lit up in a much bigger smile than the one he’d gotten. “I had to get some books back from Donghae-sunbae, we got our stuff mixed up this morning.”
“Oh,” Jongwoon said, giving Donghae another look. “Well, you’ve got your stuff now, right? I’m hungry.”
“Yes, of course,” Ryeowook said, hurriedly stuffing his reclaimed books and papers into his bag. He bowed deeply. “Thank you, Donghae-sunbae. Kyuhyun-ah, I’ll see you later at practice, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Kyuhyun replied, now focused on slipping spicy chili sauce into Eunhyuk’s tea without him noticing. “See you then, Ryeowook-hyung, Yesung-hyung.”
“Bye, Ryeowook-ah,” Donghae smiled. “It was really nice meeting you.”
Ryeowook gave him another of those small, slightly uncertain smiles. “You too, sunbae.” He bowed again, and then he and Kim Jongwoon disappeared into the crowd of students.
Donghae instantly turned to Kyuhyun and demanded, “How do you know that kid? And why the heck did you call Kim Jongwoon Yesung?” He paused. “And why did you call him hyung, too?”
Kyuhyun leaned back on his hands, turning his face up to the sunlight. “We’re in the singing club together. Yesung is Jongwoon-hyung’s nickname, he and Ryeowook are really close friends.” He ignored Donghae’s last question.
Donghae turned and stared after the fifth year in question. He could still hear that soft, light voice saying his name, and see that bright smile flash too-briefly across that pretty face. “I think I’m in love,” he sighed.
His reflective moment was entirely ruined by Eunhyuk spewing his doctored tea all over the grass.
-
Donghae kind of forgot about Ryeowook after that despite his declaration of infatuation, busy with classes and exams and oh my gosh he’s a sixth year, what should he do when he graduates? But he was reminded when he went to pick Kyuhyun up from his club practice-it was the kid’s birthday, and Donghae, like the good hyung he is (not), was going to make it memorable.
He waited outside the classroom where they were practicing, because he’d heard stories about the president of the club and did not want to get in her way. The song drifted through the door, and Donghae listened, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. They had a fantastic blend of voices, and even he (as typically unaware as he was) could tell that they were very good.
When the door opened and students started pouring out, Donghae stood up straight, looking for Kyuhyun’s familiar messy mop of hair. Not seeing it exit with the others, he stuck his head into the classroom before entering cautiously.
Kyuhyun was standing next to a piano, an unseen person picking out a simple melody as he and Kyuhyun harmonized. Whoever it was had a high, clear voice, and Donghae was impressed with both of their levels of control. It sounded incredible.
Kyuhyun broke off and said something in a low voice, and the sitting person chuckled lightly. As Donghae approached, he heard, “Don’t be ridiculous, Kyuhyun! There’s no way I’m going to try out.”
“Try out for what?” Donghae asked, popping over Kyuhyun’s shoulder, making the boy on the piano stool flinch away and gasp slightly. His eyes widened. The piano player was Ryeowook. “Hey!” he said, grinning delightedly and brushing off the little flutter in his stomach. “I haven’t seen you in a while! How’re you doing, Ryeowook-ah?”
Ryeowook stared up at him with wide dark eyes, and Kyuhyun grumbled, shifting and sending an elbow into Donghae’s ribcage. “He’s doing fine, hyung. What are you doing here?”
Donghae beamed, successfully distracted. “Kyuhyunnie,” he crooned, looping his arms around Kyuhyun’s waist to make sure he couldn’t dash off, “guess what day it is?”
Kyuhyun gaped. “No, hyung,” he said forcefully, trying to run away. Donghae cackled as he held the younger boy in place. “No, hyung, there is no way you’re getting me to-”
“Can’t get out of it, Kyuhyun-ah,” Donghae trilled, and he smiled down at Ryeowook, ignoring the still struggling and cursing younger boy in his arms. “Hey, do you want to come? We’re going to go celebrate Kyuhyun’s birthday. We’ll go to a restaurant, buy Kyuhyun’s food and dessert, and sing happy birthday loudly and obnoxiously in front of the whole restaurant. It’ll be great fun.” Please say yes please say yes please say yes…
“It’s your birthday, Kyuhyun-ah?” Ryeowook asked, turning that dark gaze on the younger boy. “Why didn’t you tell us? We would have sung you happy birthday before we dismissed everybody.”
“That’s probably why,” Kim Jongwoon said, popping up at Kyuhyun’s shoulder, who huffed and crossed his arms, still imprisoned in Donghae’s embrace. Jongwoon grinned, seemingly enjoying Kyuhyun’s discontent. “Kyuhyun-ah hates getting fussed over.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Donghae said, messing up Kyuhyun’s hair fondly. “You’re welcome to come too, Jongwoon-sshi.” He turned limpid eyes back to Ryeowook. “So are you coming?”
Ryeowook smiled tentatively. “Um, if Kyuhyun says it’s okay, sure.”
“Please,” Kyuhyun groaned. “You can keep them from embarrassing me too badly.”
“Don’t count on it,” Donghae caroled. Kyuhyun let out a moan of despair. “Oh stop that,” Donghae added as he dragged him to the door, “you know you secretly love it.”
“I’m not dignifying that with an answer,” Kyuhyun replied sulkily, crossing his arms and stalking out of the classroom.
-
The dinner was a rousing success. Donghae managed to embarrass Kyuhyun thoroughly without alienating him, always a bonus-Kyuhyun’s declarations of revenge were not to be trifled with. Ryeowook sat next to him the entire time, probably the reason Donghae couldn’t stop smiling all night. The small boy was quiet, sitting snuggled between Donghae and Jongwoon, and Donghae instinctively toned down much of his loudness, figuring it might startle his shy disposition.
Instead he focused his efforts on making sure everyone had a good time, with the unknown bonus of having Ryeowook’s attention never leave him for a moment. Jongwoon noticed, as he always did when it came to Ryeowook, and leaned down to speak lowly into his ear.
“You know, he’s going to figure it out if you keep staring at him with hearts in your eyes.”
Ryeowook jerked and flushed, swatting his childhood friend on the arm with not nearly as much spite as he intended. “Hyung,” he whispered back, “don’t even joke about that!”
“Why not?” Jongwoon asked, rubbing his arm dramatically. “You haven’t talked about anything else since you ran into him that day, and he did invite you to Kyuhyun’s party.”
Ryeowook’s flush grew deeper, and he stared down at his hands miserably, their conversation swallowed up in the noise of the other students’ fun. “He probably just invited me to be polite,” he mumbled. “Kyuhyun was right there and all.” His fingers slipped into the sleeve of his other hand and he rubbed the flesh there gently.
Jongwoon snorted, taking a sip of butterbeer. “Ryeowook, sometimes you are very stupid.”
Ryeowook gaped. “That’s mean, hyung!” he whined.
“Yeah, well, it’s true.” Jongwoon glanced up and smirked slightly. “And I think your beau is trying to get your attention.”
Ryeowook glanced up to find that Donghae was staring at the two of them talking, looking…serious. The look was gone in an instant though, Donghae beaming and asking Ryeowook if he was having a good time. Ryeowook answered shyly in the affirmative, and Jongwoon-unseen by either boy-rolled his eyes, now completely ignored by both of them.
-
It started as small things. Running into Ryeowook during breaks and in between classes, when he never had before. Finding excuses to visit Kyuhyun after singing practice. Ryeowook (and Jongwoon) joining them for lunch almost every day.
“Jesus Christ, hyung, just ask him out already,” Kyuhyun sighed, rolling his eyes as Donghae verbally flailed about Ryeowook for the fifth time that week.
Donghae gaped at Kyuhyun’s audacity. “I can’t do that!” he cried. “Kyuhyun-ah, what if he says no?”
“Then you’ll be heartbroken. C’mon, do you really think he’ll say no?”
Donghae shrugged. “Dunno,” he mumbled.
“Well he needs tutoring for Transfiguration. That’s your best subject, right? Why don’t you tutor him?” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, unseen by his hyung as they walked down the corridor.
A slow smile spread over Donghae’s face. “That’s a great idea!” he said excitedly, beginning to bounce a little. “Thanks, Kyuhyun-ah!”
“You don’t deserve what I do for you,” Kyuhyun muttered quietly, and Donghae turned to him, smile big on his face as he made plans.
“You say something?”
Kyuhyun sighed. “I said you’re welcome, hyung.”
-
Ryeowook was late.
Donghae fidgeted with his papers and texts, trying not to check his watch every few seconds. A hot leaden ball of disappointment weighed in his stomach. If Ryeowook didn’t show, then he didn’t show. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just a tutoring session.
I hope he comes soon.
The door to the library opened, and soft footsteps came pattering quickly down the row. Donghae looked up just as Ryeowook rounded the bookcase, flushed and disheveled, his uniform in disarray and clutching a disorganized stack of books and papers in his arms. “I’m so sorry I’m late, sunbae!” the younger boy cried, dropping his books onto the table and fussing with them.
“It’s okay, Ryeowook-ah,” Donghae said, blinking. He was a little taken aback by Ryeowook’s appearance. Usually he was so quiet and almost too well put-together, uniform always worn perfectly, buttoned all the way up to his throat. The sixth-year had never seen him this out of shape before. His eyes followed Ryeowook’s movements, and suddenly they narrowed.
“What is this?” he demanded, reaching out and snagging Ryeowook’s wrist quickly. Ryeowook jumped-literally jumped-and let out a stifled cry, trying to cringe away from him. Donghae gaped, as astonished at Ryeowook’s violent reaction as he was about the bruises marring his thin wrist in the clear shape of a hand. The younger student’s movement made his robes gape more, revealing similar bruises on his collarbones and chest.
“Ryeowook-ah,” he said in a much gentler tone, “what is this?”
Ryeowook kept his eyes down, trying to tug away from Donghae’s hand. “I-It’s nothing, sunbae. I’m very clumsy.”
“Right,” Donghae said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Because you tripped and bruised yourself in the perfect shape of a handprint. Uh huh.”
Ryeowook finally roused, turning wet, angry eyes to the older student and yanking harshly at his bound wrist, before he hissed in pain and stopped. “It-it’s got nothing to do with you, sunbae, so just…leave it!”
Donghae let go not because of the younger boy’s words, but because of the obvious pain that his grip caused him. He watched with sad eyes as Ryeowook fumbled to fix his uniform, trying to smooth out the cloth with trembling hands. “Here,” he murmured. “C’mere.” He pulled Ryeowook gently toward him and quickly fixed his uniform, smoothing the cloth over his shoulders slowly. He sighed. “Ryeowook-ah, who did this?”
Ryeowook didn’t look at him, instead staring at the floor. He sniffed quietly. “S-some of the older students. I-if I don’t do their homework fast enough, or…” he shrugged. “Sometimes I’m just in the way.”
Donghae hissed in anger, falling back into his seat. He was going to kill somebody. “Ryeowook-ah, you are never in the way. Who is it? Who’s doing this?”
Ryeowook shook his head. “’M not gonna tell you, sunbae. I don’t want you getting in trouble for me.”
“You are completely worth getting in trouble for,” Donghae said vehemently. “Hey. Hey, don’t cry. It’s gonna be okay. Does Jongwoon-sunbae know?” The seventh-year always seemed extremely protective of Ryeowook. Donghae couldn’t imagine him letting this continue.
“Yeah, he knows, but he can’t do anything either,” Ryeowook said softly, wiping his cheeks and still staring at the floor. “He tries, but I never told him who, and he can’t be everywhere.”
Donghae watched him stand there, tiny and alone, and his chest squeezed tight. “Come here,” he said softly, and wrapped Ryeowook in his arms, hugging him tight. “It’ll be okay. I’m gonna watch out for you too, from now on. You come hang with us when Jongwoon-sunbae can’t spend time with you, okay?”
One of Ryeowook’s small hands curled around Donghae’s uniform. “Okay, sunbae.”
Donghae chuckled through a tight throat. “I think you can call me hyung, now.”
Ryeowook smiled into his chest. “Okay. Donghae-hyung.”
-
Donghae was hyper-vigilant the next few weeks. He knew Ryeowook had begged him to not get involved, but if he could, there was no way he was going to allow his crush to continue getting bullied. And finally one day, through absolute chance, the opportunity arrived.
Donghae was hurrying back to class, running an errand for his teacher, when he heard someone say, “What the fuck is this?” and the sound of someone being hit. Instantly on alert, he looked around, trying to pinpoint them.
Three boys were loitering in a narrow hallway off of the main one, crowding a smaller boy into the wall. Donghae saw Ryeowook’s hair and immediately said, anger filling him, “What the fuck are you guys doing?” The boys turned to look at him, and Donghae saw Ryeowook’s eyes widen. “Get away from him. Now.”
“Just move along, sunbae,” one of the boys said, the sarcasm tangible as he said the respectful title. “We’re just teaching this brat some respect.”
“Oh yeah?” Donghae retorted, striding right up to him and glaring him down. “Well it sounds like I need to teach you some respect. Don’t touch him.”
One of the other boys laughed, pushing Ryeowook harder into the wall behind him. “Wow, you care about this little shit a lot, don’t you? What is he, your little faggot boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Donghae said recklessly, rage burning through him, hand clenched around his wand, “he’s my faggot boyfriend, as you so charmingly put it. So if you touch him again-”
“You’ll what?” the first boy taunted, crowding Donghae’s space, trying to intimidate him. It didn’t work.
“I’ll put you in the Hospital Wing for a week,” Donghae growled, eyes locked with the bully’s.
The boys sniggered. “What, you think you could do that, faggot?” the first one taunted. “I’d like to see you try.” He shoved Donghae back.
Donghae whips out his wand and finally lets the curses trembling on his tongue loose.
It was a pretty quick fight, all things considered. Ryeowook was thrown against the wall hard when he tried to protect Donghae, and Donghae heard something snap. He himself was pretty damaged by the end, trying to cover both himself and the fallen Ryeowook, but by the time teachers were pulling him off of the three bullies he was satisfied to know that he’d most likely made good on his threat.
Then the pain set in.
The Hospital Madame gave him something that tasted foul and put him to sleep in seconds, and when Donghae woke up, Ryeowook was sitting by his bed. “Hey,” he whispered, grinning through a split lip. “You okay?”
Ryeowook’s lip trembled, and his eyes filled with tears. “Whoa, Jesus,” Donghae said, alarmed, and he tried to sit up before his body denied him with an emphatic NO. He winced, settling back down. “Hey, don’t cry. We won, right?”
Ryeowook punched his arm weakly. “You are such an idiot, hyung!” he shouted, sniffling. “Why would you do something like that? You just-and now you’re hurt, and-might be suspended-and-”
Donghae smiled, ignoring the pain from his probably badly-swollen face. “Che, like that matters. You’re okay, right? Did you break something in the fight?”
Ryeowook waved that off, wiping his eyes. “I cracked a couple ribs. Madame already gave me something for them, they’re almost healed. I’ll be fine.”
“Fine?” Donghae groaned. “Ryeowook-ah, that is not fine.”
Ryeowook shrugged, fiddling with the bedsheet. “They…they say those boys might be expelled,” he whispered. “When the Madame examined me, she said it was obvious I’d been…injured for a long time. So those boys will probably be expelled. And you and I are going to be suspended.” Donghae shrugged, wincing slightly. “Better that than expulsion. And those guys deserved it.” Ryeowook flushed, biting his lip and fiddling with the blankets even more. “And…um…you said, um, why did you say that to those boys? About…you and me.” Donghae felt a bit of worry rise up inside of him, but whatever pain potion the Madame had given him was keeping him floating in a space where everything was okay. “I like you,” he said. His brain-mouth filter was evidently out of commission. “It just seemed like the thing to say.” He swallowed. “Do…do you want to go out for butterbeer sometime?” Ryeowook let out a little laugh. “Hyung, are you asking me out in the hospital wing? Really?” Donghae grinned. “Well, there’s no time like the present.” Ryeowook nodded, his smile growing. “Sure, hyung, I’d love to go out sometime.”
-
Donghae was released the next day, and he and Ryeowook were suspended for the next two weeks. They spent the time wisely, meeting up either in the school dorms (where they were required to stay) or somewhere on the grounds, which were just beginning to enter fall and were beautiful. “So,” Kyuhyun said in a less-than-enthusiastic voice two weeks later, on their first day back in class, “what, are you guys going to be that obnoxiously cute couple now? The couple that makes me want to stab something?” Donghae grinned, looking over at Ryeowook, who was talking quietly to Jongwoon. “Yeah, probably.” “Kill me now,” Kyuhyun muttered, lying back in the grass and staring at the sky. “Kui Xian!” someone called, and Donghae and Kyuhyun looked up to see a tall, smiley Chinese student waving at them. “Who's that?” Donghae asked curiously.
“Nobody,” Kyuhyun said, waving back much less enthusiastically. “Just the Chinese student I’m tutoring.”
“Uh huh,” Donghae said skeptically. “Sure.” He smiled as Ryeowook plopped down next to him, wrapping an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “Hey, baby.”
Ryeowook smiled back, a faint blush marking his cheekbones. “Hi, hyung.” He took Donghae’s free hand into his and shyly began playing with his fingers.
Donghae smiled and tilted his head back, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. Their relationship was brand new (they hadn’t even kissed yet), and Ryeowook still flinched when anybody moved too fast or spoke too loud, but Donghae was looking forward to making new memories with his boyfriend.
He couldn’t wait.
This entry was originally posted at http://sujuexchange.dreamwidth.org/15958.html.
Author: goldintheshadow
Recipient: mywookness
Characters/Pairings: Donghae/Ryeowook
Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Fluff, Romance
Warnings: …Bullying? I guess?
Author's Note: This fic ate all of my plot bunnies and spit them back out in pieces. DDD; I hope you like it, mywookness, because I had absolutely NO idea where this was going most of the time!! Betaed by the lovely greyplain, my dear baby who puts up with all of my whining and flailing at one in the morning and betas pairings with members she doesn't even like, much less enjoy reading. Ilu, bb!!
It was a bright, sunny day at Seoul Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, a soft wind was blowing through the trees, and Lee Donghae was late for class.
The sixth-year student cursed as he fumbled his books, nearly dropping them as he traveled down the hallway at a brisk jog. He’d stayed up far too late the night before, not really studying for class, and he was now paying the price. His Asian Wizarding History professor was going to kill him if he was late one more time. Donghae was so focused on getting to class (and not dropping his books as he forced them into his bag), however, that he totally failed to see another student running down a perpendicular corridor.
“Oof!” Donghae hit the floor hard, his books spilling across the corridor.
“I’m so sorry!” a soft, light voice cried. Donghae blinked, his ass aching where it had hit stone, and looked over at a small student-third year, maybe?-scrambling around, trying to pick up a similar stack of books. Brown hair flopped over his forehead, obscuring his face, and his small hands fluttered this way and that as he gathered up his things. Then he raised his head, and Donghae stared.
A small, heart-shaped face gazed back at him, wide dark eyes making the older student’s heart beat faster. A soft rosebud mouth spewed endless apologies as the younger boy bowed over and over again, a pretty flush rising across his cheekbones. Donghae could see the hint of a bruise where the collar of his robes gaped open, and he hoped he hadn’t put it there. “-And I’m really sorry, but I’m going to be late for class!” he cried, and Donghae blinked again, coming back to the present.
“Oh,” he said, rising to his feet. The boy’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes grew even wider as he stared up at Donghae’s height, taking an involuntary step backward and seeming to cringe slightly. “Don’t worry about it, kid, I’m gonna be late too.” He grinned, and the attractive flush on the boy’s cheeks deepened, his eyes widening again in what seemed like shock. “You’d better hurry, the bell’s going to ring in less than a minute.”
The younger student opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then snapped it shut and bowed deeply one last time, hurrying down the hallway. Donghae stared after him in a daze for a moment, before coming back to himself with a jolt. Promising himself that he could fantasize about that sweet face later, he swept the books still littering the hallway into his arms and dashed to his own class, barely squeaking into his seat in the lecture hall as the bell rang.
“You’re almost late,” came a mumble from his left, and a bored-looking Kyuhyun turned his head on his desk so that he could glare at him from one sleepy dark eye. “Seonsaengnim would’ve beat your ass if you were late again.”
Donghae grinned, still breathing heavily. “But I’m not late! In my seat and everything before the bell rang.”
Kyuhyun let out a snort of derision and a jaw-cracking yawn, closing his eyes again and resettling his head on his pillow of textbooks and papers. Used to his younger friend’s attitude, Donghae used the time before the professor entered the room to organize his books, putting aside the ones he didn’t need for this class-he frowned, pulling out a couple of books and some papers that definitely didn’t belong to him.
Oh, he thought. These must be that boy’s. Hope he didn’t need them for this class period. Tuning out the professor as he entered and began droning on about the last Wizard War, which had happened in Great Britain and he couldn’t care less about, Donghae sorted through the papers.
“…And the Chosen One, once called the Boy-Who-Lived, first defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort at the age of one…”
Donghae propped his chin on his hand and stared at the papers. Kim Ryeowook, he thought, eyes landing on the name written in neat characters at the top of the page. I can’t wait to find him and return these.
-
Unfortunately, being rather distractible, Donghae forgot about returning the other boy’s books, instead dashing to his next class to meet with Eunhyuk. As a sixth-year student, he had a full day of classes, and so the books and papers were shoved into his bag and forgotten about until lunchtime.
“Yo!” Eunhyuk bounced up, grinning, as Donghae headed out from his third and last class of the morning, heading straight to the dining hall for lunch. “Let’s eat out in the courtyard today, yeah? It’s gorgeous out!”
“’Kay,” Donghae said, grabbing a roll and stuffing it in his mouth. He’d missed breakfast, and he was starving. “How was Magical Creatures?”
Eunhyuk shrugged, grabbing a tray and beginning to load it with food. “Eh, it was fine. Nothing too dangerous this week, which is nice.” Eunhyuk had gotten badly singed a few weeks ago by a disgruntled fire salamander, and was still traumatized. Donghae had laughed at him for days.
The two sixth years were joined by Kyuhyun, a fourth-year, and Sungmin, another sixth-year, on their way out to the courtyard. The two newcomers were bickering loudly and snarkily, as was their wont, and barely acknowledged the other two. They set up camp on one of the benches encircling the large tree in the center of the courtyard and settled in to eat and talk.
Donghae had just thrown back his head and laughed at some barb Kyuhyun had thrown at Sungmin when he heard a soft voice uncertainly say, “Um. Donghae-sunbae?” at his shoulder.
Surprised-he didn’t really have any hoobae who actually called him sunbae, and he blamed Kyuhyun, the disrespectful brat, for that-Donghae turned to meet the shy gaze of the boy he’d run into that morning.
“Oh!” he said, smiling, turning and setting his feet on the ground to face the boy properly, his heart suddenly beating faster in his chest. “You’re the one I ran into this morning. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He remembered the bruise he’d seen with a pang of guilt.
The younger student-Kim Ryeowook, Donghae remembered, with the nice handwriting-ducked his head, the same blush from this morning creeping up his cheeks. “Um, no, I’m fine,” he said quietly, tugging his robes closed at the collar nervously. “I-I came to return your books. I must have grabbed them by mistake. I’m really sorry, I hope you didn’t need them for class this morning.” He held out the books clutched in his arms, ducking his head shyly.
“Oh, that’s right,” Donghae said, remembering. “I have some of yours too.” He hefted his book bag onto his lap and rummaged through the contents. “Here we go,” he said, pulling out the relevant books and papers triumphantly. “Don’t worry about it, at least they were all for afternoon classes. I hope I didn’t have anything of yours that you needed.”
“It’s fine,” Ryeowook mumbled, which, Donghae noted, was not a no. A little trickle of guilt threaded through his belly, but what could he have done? The boy was long gone by the time he’d realized, and there hadn’t been enough time between classes to go searching.
“Oh,” Kyuhyun said, finally clueing in to his surroundings as he succeeded in making Sungmin huffily refuse to talk to him anymore. “Ryeowook-hyung. I didn’t know you knew Donghae.”
Donghae gaped at him. “You called him hyung!” he wailed. “Why do you never call me hyung?” This, it must be said, is a bit of an exaggeration. Kyuhyun did call Donghae ‘hyung’ sometimes; it was just a bit more rare than Donghae would like.
Kyuhyun stared at him flatly. “Because Ryeowook-hyung doesn’t wail.”
“That doesn’t-wait,” Donghae backtracked, “he’s older than you?” Now he gaped at Ryeowook. “How old are you?”
“Um,” Ryeowook replied nervously, shrinking back a little, “I’m a fifth-year? I’m fifteen, almost sixteen.”
“Holy crap,” Donghae said, “I thought you were, like, a third-year!” Kyuhyun burst out laughing, and Ryeowook flushed red again. “Wait,” Donghae said, panicked, “that’s not, um, I didn’t mean it in a bad way, you just look really young-”
“It’s okay, sunbae,” Ryeowook said, giving him a small smile. Donghae was smitten. “I get that a lot. It’s no big deal.”
“Ryeowook-ah!” a voice called, and the seventh-year Kim Jongwoon jogged over, shooting Donghae and his group of friends a wary look. “What’re you doing over here? I’ve been looking for you.”
“Sorry, hyung,” Ryeowook smiled, and Donghae felt his stomach clench hot as the small face lit up in a much bigger smile than the one he’d gotten. “I had to get some books back from Donghae-sunbae, we got our stuff mixed up this morning.”
“Oh,” Jongwoon said, giving Donghae another look. “Well, you’ve got your stuff now, right? I’m hungry.”
“Yes, of course,” Ryeowook said, hurriedly stuffing his reclaimed books and papers into his bag. He bowed deeply. “Thank you, Donghae-sunbae. Kyuhyun-ah, I’ll see you later at practice, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Kyuhyun replied, now focused on slipping spicy chili sauce into Eunhyuk’s tea without him noticing. “See you then, Ryeowook-hyung, Yesung-hyung.”
“Bye, Ryeowook-ah,” Donghae smiled. “It was really nice meeting you.”
Ryeowook gave him another of those small, slightly uncertain smiles. “You too, sunbae.” He bowed again, and then he and Kim Jongwoon disappeared into the crowd of students.
Donghae instantly turned to Kyuhyun and demanded, “How do you know that kid? And why the heck did you call Kim Jongwoon Yesung?” He paused. “And why did you call him hyung, too?”
Kyuhyun leaned back on his hands, turning his face up to the sunlight. “We’re in the singing club together. Yesung is Jongwoon-hyung’s nickname, he and Ryeowook are really close friends.” He ignored Donghae’s last question.
Donghae turned and stared after the fifth year in question. He could still hear that soft, light voice saying his name, and see that bright smile flash too-briefly across that pretty face. “I think I’m in love,” he sighed.
His reflective moment was entirely ruined by Eunhyuk spewing his doctored tea all over the grass.
-
Donghae kind of forgot about Ryeowook after that despite his declaration of infatuation, busy with classes and exams and oh my gosh he’s a sixth year, what should he do when he graduates? But he was reminded when he went to pick Kyuhyun up from his club practice-it was the kid’s birthday, and Donghae, like the good hyung he is (not), was going to make it memorable.
He waited outside the classroom where they were practicing, because he’d heard stories about the president of the club and did not want to get in her way. The song drifted through the door, and Donghae listened, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. They had a fantastic blend of voices, and even he (as typically unaware as he was) could tell that they were very good.
When the door opened and students started pouring out, Donghae stood up straight, looking for Kyuhyun’s familiar messy mop of hair. Not seeing it exit with the others, he stuck his head into the classroom before entering cautiously.
Kyuhyun was standing next to a piano, an unseen person picking out a simple melody as he and Kyuhyun harmonized. Whoever it was had a high, clear voice, and Donghae was impressed with both of their levels of control. It sounded incredible.
Kyuhyun broke off and said something in a low voice, and the sitting person chuckled lightly. As Donghae approached, he heard, “Don’t be ridiculous, Kyuhyun! There’s no way I’m going to try out.”
“Try out for what?” Donghae asked, popping over Kyuhyun’s shoulder, making the boy on the piano stool flinch away and gasp slightly. His eyes widened. The piano player was Ryeowook. “Hey!” he said, grinning delightedly and brushing off the little flutter in his stomach. “I haven’t seen you in a while! How’re you doing, Ryeowook-ah?”
Ryeowook stared up at him with wide dark eyes, and Kyuhyun grumbled, shifting and sending an elbow into Donghae’s ribcage. “He’s doing fine, hyung. What are you doing here?”
Donghae beamed, successfully distracted. “Kyuhyunnie,” he crooned, looping his arms around Kyuhyun’s waist to make sure he couldn’t dash off, “guess what day it is?”
Kyuhyun gaped. “No, hyung,” he said forcefully, trying to run away. Donghae cackled as he held the younger boy in place. “No, hyung, there is no way you’re getting me to-”
“Can’t get out of it, Kyuhyun-ah,” Donghae trilled, and he smiled down at Ryeowook, ignoring the still struggling and cursing younger boy in his arms. “Hey, do you want to come? We’re going to go celebrate Kyuhyun’s birthday. We’ll go to a restaurant, buy Kyuhyun’s food and dessert, and sing happy birthday loudly and obnoxiously in front of the whole restaurant. It’ll be great fun.” Please say yes please say yes please say yes…
“It’s your birthday, Kyuhyun-ah?” Ryeowook asked, turning that dark gaze on the younger boy. “Why didn’t you tell us? We would have sung you happy birthday before we dismissed everybody.”
“That’s probably why,” Kim Jongwoon said, popping up at Kyuhyun’s shoulder, who huffed and crossed his arms, still imprisoned in Donghae’s embrace. Jongwoon grinned, seemingly enjoying Kyuhyun’s discontent. “Kyuhyun-ah hates getting fussed over.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Donghae said, messing up Kyuhyun’s hair fondly. “You’re welcome to come too, Jongwoon-sshi.” He turned limpid eyes back to Ryeowook. “So are you coming?”
Ryeowook smiled tentatively. “Um, if Kyuhyun says it’s okay, sure.”
“Please,” Kyuhyun groaned. “You can keep them from embarrassing me too badly.”
“Don’t count on it,” Donghae caroled. Kyuhyun let out a moan of despair. “Oh stop that,” Donghae added as he dragged him to the door, “you know you secretly love it.”
“I’m not dignifying that with an answer,” Kyuhyun replied sulkily, crossing his arms and stalking out of the classroom.
-
The dinner was a rousing success. Donghae managed to embarrass Kyuhyun thoroughly without alienating him, always a bonus-Kyuhyun’s declarations of revenge were not to be trifled with. Ryeowook sat next to him the entire time, probably the reason Donghae couldn’t stop smiling all night. The small boy was quiet, sitting snuggled between Donghae and Jongwoon, and Donghae instinctively toned down much of his loudness, figuring it might startle his shy disposition.
Instead he focused his efforts on making sure everyone had a good time, with the unknown bonus of having Ryeowook’s attention never leave him for a moment. Jongwoon noticed, as he always did when it came to Ryeowook, and leaned down to speak lowly into his ear.
“You know, he’s going to figure it out if you keep staring at him with hearts in your eyes.”
Ryeowook jerked and flushed, swatting his childhood friend on the arm with not nearly as much spite as he intended. “Hyung,” he whispered back, “don’t even joke about that!”
“Why not?” Jongwoon asked, rubbing his arm dramatically. “You haven’t talked about anything else since you ran into him that day, and he did invite you to Kyuhyun’s party.”
Ryeowook’s flush grew deeper, and he stared down at his hands miserably, their conversation swallowed up in the noise of the other students’ fun. “He probably just invited me to be polite,” he mumbled. “Kyuhyun was right there and all.” His fingers slipped into the sleeve of his other hand and he rubbed the flesh there gently.
Jongwoon snorted, taking a sip of butterbeer. “Ryeowook, sometimes you are very stupid.”
Ryeowook gaped. “That’s mean, hyung!” he whined.
“Yeah, well, it’s true.” Jongwoon glanced up and smirked slightly. “And I think your beau is trying to get your attention.”
Ryeowook glanced up to find that Donghae was staring at the two of them talking, looking…serious. The look was gone in an instant though, Donghae beaming and asking Ryeowook if he was having a good time. Ryeowook answered shyly in the affirmative, and Jongwoon-unseen by either boy-rolled his eyes, now completely ignored by both of them.
-
It started as small things. Running into Ryeowook during breaks and in between classes, when he never had before. Finding excuses to visit Kyuhyun after singing practice. Ryeowook (and Jongwoon) joining them for lunch almost every day.
“Jesus Christ, hyung, just ask him out already,” Kyuhyun sighed, rolling his eyes as Donghae verbally flailed about Ryeowook for the fifth time that week.
Donghae gaped at Kyuhyun’s audacity. “I can’t do that!” he cried. “Kyuhyun-ah, what if he says no?”
“Then you’ll be heartbroken. C’mon, do you really think he’ll say no?”
Donghae shrugged. “Dunno,” he mumbled.
“Well he needs tutoring for Transfiguration. That’s your best subject, right? Why don’t you tutor him?” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, unseen by his hyung as they walked down the corridor.
A slow smile spread over Donghae’s face. “That’s a great idea!” he said excitedly, beginning to bounce a little. “Thanks, Kyuhyun-ah!”
“You don’t deserve what I do for you,” Kyuhyun muttered quietly, and Donghae turned to him, smile big on his face as he made plans.
“You say something?”
Kyuhyun sighed. “I said you’re welcome, hyung.”
-
Ryeowook was late.
Donghae fidgeted with his papers and texts, trying not to check his watch every few seconds. A hot leaden ball of disappointment weighed in his stomach. If Ryeowook didn’t show, then he didn’t show. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just a tutoring session.
I hope he comes soon.
The door to the library opened, and soft footsteps came pattering quickly down the row. Donghae looked up just as Ryeowook rounded the bookcase, flushed and disheveled, his uniform in disarray and clutching a disorganized stack of books and papers in his arms. “I’m so sorry I’m late, sunbae!” the younger boy cried, dropping his books onto the table and fussing with them.
“It’s okay, Ryeowook-ah,” Donghae said, blinking. He was a little taken aback by Ryeowook’s appearance. Usually he was so quiet and almost too well put-together, uniform always worn perfectly, buttoned all the way up to his throat. The sixth-year had never seen him this out of shape before. His eyes followed Ryeowook’s movements, and suddenly they narrowed.
“What is this?” he demanded, reaching out and snagging Ryeowook’s wrist quickly. Ryeowook jumped-literally jumped-and let out a stifled cry, trying to cringe away from him. Donghae gaped, as astonished at Ryeowook’s violent reaction as he was about the bruises marring his thin wrist in the clear shape of a hand. The younger student’s movement made his robes gape more, revealing similar bruises on his collarbones and chest.
“Ryeowook-ah,” he said in a much gentler tone, “what is this?”
Ryeowook kept his eyes down, trying to tug away from Donghae’s hand. “I-It’s nothing, sunbae. I’m very clumsy.”
“Right,” Donghae said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Because you tripped and bruised yourself in the perfect shape of a handprint. Uh huh.”
Ryeowook finally roused, turning wet, angry eyes to the older student and yanking harshly at his bound wrist, before he hissed in pain and stopped. “It-it’s got nothing to do with you, sunbae, so just…leave it!”
Donghae let go not because of the younger boy’s words, but because of the obvious pain that his grip caused him. He watched with sad eyes as Ryeowook fumbled to fix his uniform, trying to smooth out the cloth with trembling hands. “Here,” he murmured. “C’mere.” He pulled Ryeowook gently toward him and quickly fixed his uniform, smoothing the cloth over his shoulders slowly. He sighed. “Ryeowook-ah, who did this?”
Ryeowook didn’t look at him, instead staring at the floor. He sniffed quietly. “S-some of the older students. I-if I don’t do their homework fast enough, or…” he shrugged. “Sometimes I’m just in the way.”
Donghae hissed in anger, falling back into his seat. He was going to kill somebody. “Ryeowook-ah, you are never in the way. Who is it? Who’s doing this?”
Ryeowook shook his head. “’M not gonna tell you, sunbae. I don’t want you getting in trouble for me.”
“You are completely worth getting in trouble for,” Donghae said vehemently. “Hey. Hey, don’t cry. It’s gonna be okay. Does Jongwoon-sunbae know?” The seventh-year always seemed extremely protective of Ryeowook. Donghae couldn’t imagine him letting this continue.
“Yeah, he knows, but he can’t do anything either,” Ryeowook said softly, wiping his cheeks and still staring at the floor. “He tries, but I never told him who, and he can’t be everywhere.”
Donghae watched him stand there, tiny and alone, and his chest squeezed tight. “Come here,” he said softly, and wrapped Ryeowook in his arms, hugging him tight. “It’ll be okay. I’m gonna watch out for you too, from now on. You come hang with us when Jongwoon-sunbae can’t spend time with you, okay?”
One of Ryeowook’s small hands curled around Donghae’s uniform. “Okay, sunbae.”
Donghae chuckled through a tight throat. “I think you can call me hyung, now.”
Ryeowook smiled into his chest. “Okay. Donghae-hyung.”
-
Donghae was hyper-vigilant the next few weeks. He knew Ryeowook had begged him to not get involved, but if he could, there was no way he was going to allow his crush to continue getting bullied. And finally one day, through absolute chance, the opportunity arrived.
Donghae was hurrying back to class, running an errand for his teacher, when he heard someone say, “What the fuck is this?” and the sound of someone being hit. Instantly on alert, he looked around, trying to pinpoint them.
Three boys were loitering in a narrow hallway off of the main one, crowding a smaller boy into the wall. Donghae saw Ryeowook’s hair and immediately said, anger filling him, “What the fuck are you guys doing?” The boys turned to look at him, and Donghae saw Ryeowook’s eyes widen. “Get away from him. Now.”
“Just move along, sunbae,” one of the boys said, the sarcasm tangible as he said the respectful title. “We’re just teaching this brat some respect.”
“Oh yeah?” Donghae retorted, striding right up to him and glaring him down. “Well it sounds like I need to teach you some respect. Don’t touch him.”
One of the other boys laughed, pushing Ryeowook harder into the wall behind him. “Wow, you care about this little shit a lot, don’t you? What is he, your little faggot boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Donghae said recklessly, rage burning through him, hand clenched around his wand, “he’s my faggot boyfriend, as you so charmingly put it. So if you touch him again-”
“You’ll what?” the first boy taunted, crowding Donghae’s space, trying to intimidate him. It didn’t work.
“I’ll put you in the Hospital Wing for a week,” Donghae growled, eyes locked with the bully’s.
The boys sniggered. “What, you think you could do that, faggot?” the first one taunted. “I’d like to see you try.” He shoved Donghae back.
Donghae whips out his wand and finally lets the curses trembling on his tongue loose.
It was a pretty quick fight, all things considered. Ryeowook was thrown against the wall hard when he tried to protect Donghae, and Donghae heard something snap. He himself was pretty damaged by the end, trying to cover both himself and the fallen Ryeowook, but by the time teachers were pulling him off of the three bullies he was satisfied to know that he’d most likely made good on his threat.
Then the pain set in.
The Hospital Madame gave him something that tasted foul and put him to sleep in seconds, and when Donghae woke up, Ryeowook was sitting by his bed. “Hey,” he whispered, grinning through a split lip. “You okay?”
Ryeowook’s lip trembled, and his eyes filled with tears. “Whoa, Jesus,” Donghae said, alarmed, and he tried to sit up before his body denied him with an emphatic NO. He winced, settling back down. “Hey, don’t cry. We won, right?”
Ryeowook punched his arm weakly. “You are such an idiot, hyung!” he shouted, sniffling. “Why would you do something like that? You just-and now you’re hurt, and-might be suspended-and-”
Donghae smiled, ignoring the pain from his probably badly-swollen face. “Che, like that matters. You’re okay, right? Did you break something in the fight?”
Ryeowook waved that off, wiping his eyes. “I cracked a couple ribs. Madame already gave me something for them, they’re almost healed. I’ll be fine.”
“Fine?” Donghae groaned. “Ryeowook-ah, that is not fine.”
Ryeowook shrugged, fiddling with the bedsheet. “They…they say those boys might be expelled,” he whispered. “When the Madame examined me, she said it was obvious I’d been…injured for a long time. So those boys will probably be expelled. And you and I are going to be suspended.” Donghae shrugged, wincing slightly. “Better that than expulsion. And those guys deserved it.” Ryeowook flushed, biting his lip and fiddling with the blankets even more. “And…um…you said, um, why did you say that to those boys? About…you and me.” Donghae felt a bit of worry rise up inside of him, but whatever pain potion the Madame had given him was keeping him floating in a space where everything was okay. “I like you,” he said. His brain-mouth filter was evidently out of commission. “It just seemed like the thing to say.” He swallowed. “Do…do you want to go out for butterbeer sometime?” Ryeowook let out a little laugh. “Hyung, are you asking me out in the hospital wing? Really?” Donghae grinned. “Well, there’s no time like the present.” Ryeowook nodded, his smile growing. “Sure, hyung, I’d love to go out sometime.”
-
Donghae was released the next day, and he and Ryeowook were suspended for the next two weeks. They spent the time wisely, meeting up either in the school dorms (where they were required to stay) or somewhere on the grounds, which were just beginning to enter fall and were beautiful. “So,” Kyuhyun said in a less-than-enthusiastic voice two weeks later, on their first day back in class, “what, are you guys going to be that obnoxiously cute couple now? The couple that makes me want to stab something?” Donghae grinned, looking over at Ryeowook, who was talking quietly to Jongwoon. “Yeah, probably.” “Kill me now,” Kyuhyun muttered, lying back in the grass and staring at the sky. “Kui Xian!” someone called, and Donghae and Kyuhyun looked up to see a tall, smiley Chinese student waving at them. “Who's that?” Donghae asked curiously.
“Nobody,” Kyuhyun said, waving back much less enthusiastically. “Just the Chinese student I’m tutoring.”
“Uh huh,” Donghae said skeptically. “Sure.” He smiled as Ryeowook plopped down next to him, wrapping an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “Hey, baby.”
Ryeowook smiled back, a faint blush marking his cheekbones. “Hi, hyung.” He took Donghae’s free hand into his and shyly began playing with his fingers.
Donghae smiled and tilted his head back, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. Their relationship was brand new (they hadn’t even kissed yet), and Ryeowook still flinched when anybody moved too fast or spoke too loud, but Donghae was looking forward to making new memories with his boyfriend.
He couldn’t wait.
This entry was originally posted at http://sujuexchange.dreamwidth.org/15958.html.