Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Stupid,” It’s what Doyoung said as he slightly tilted his body to whisper near Yuta, “So ridiculous.”

The mentioned target was called Jung Jaehyun. He was Doyoung’s neighbor, the captain of the football team and, consequently, a pretty popular guy in school. Jaehyun was the personification of the stereotype of the main lead in every teen american movie. Having a good body, a handsome face and a beautiful smile, while his slightly curled brunette hair and the dimples next to the corner of his lips gave him sort of a cute aura, also being easily complemented with his nice personality. Long story short, he was perfect. Too perfect. Some people loved that, while others just hated it.

“It’s our last year,” Yuta sighed, “Do you really have to act like this?”

Speaking of stereotypes, Yuta was the emo kid and Doyoung’s best friend. Someone really easy to talk to and probably the only one capable to deal with the other’s insults twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. He had a bunch of friends, but for some unknown reason he was always with this one person. Although right now Yuta had blue hair, he was never really satisfied with any color, so he would change it nearly every week. People usually felt intimidated by him, Doyoung was one of the few exceptions that didn’t feel like it even before knowing him.

“Like what?”

Doyoung didn’t really fit in any stereotypes. He considered himself a normal person who was just trying to survive high school. Yuta and him once got into a conversation about Doyoung being the nerd kid, but Yuta quickly gave up saying “forget it, you’re too hot for that”, immediately making the other start lecturing him about having such a shallow judgment regarding that topic and the possibility of nerds being hot or not. Regardless of it all, Doyoung had a simple black hair, not too long and not too short, a fair skin and a wardrobe focused on the cold colors palette, plus black and white. He was more of a quiet person, the type that never really bothered to be the one who tries to please everyone, but the kind who is nice to whoever he wanted and whenever he wanted. He only had a single hobby and that involved his precious sketchbook, which he always carried with him no matter where or what.

“Like he stole your dog when you were seven.”

“He didn’t,” His eyes were focused on a specific person on the other side of the hallway, “But I’m sure if I had a dog, he would definitely find a way to steal it.”

“Doyoung,” Yuta sighed again, “You literally have no reason to hate him.”

“Of course I do.”

“And that is?”

“He’s a jackass,” He sneered, “And a jock. Jocks are almost never good people.”

“You know I’m friends with Johnny. He’s a jock and still a really nice person.”

Jaehyun’s best friend, Johnny Seo, a guy he met a couple years ago during one of his first classes back in his freshman year. He was friends with Jaehyun for a reason, meaning he was not only an important part of the whole football thing, but also a personification of the male lead thing, with the addition of a height exceptionally high and the fact he was a very funny guy. Johnny was blonde with honey colored eyes and always carried with him a big sympathetic smile on his face. It was nearly impossible to have something against the guy.

“Whatever. Jaehyun is different,” He frowned, “And he hates me just as much as I hate him.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Yuta bumped on his shoulder, reprimanding him, “He’s super chill. You just keep telling yourself you hate him because he’s straight and you don’t stand a chance with him.”

“So much nonsense,” Doyoung gave him an ugly look and attacked him back, “I don’t even think he’s hot.” 

“He is hot,” Yuta didn’t mind the push he just received, “It’s an objective fact.”

The bell rang, indicating their next class was about to start and their staring activity had to be interrupted very soon. They already were standing beside the classroom they had to be in, so there was still time to stand outside.

Previously standing next to his locker along with his athlete friends, Jaehyun was now holding most of his school stuff around his arms as his group got separated with each going to a different direction. Coincidentally, his way was in the same direction as the place where Doyoung and Yuta were, and thanks to Johnny being with him, they naturally decided to stop for a brief second to greet them.

“Hey, man. What's up?” Yuta greeted Johnny with a handshake and bumped their shoulders, something way different than the retaliation attempt from earlier with his other friend.

“Hey, Doyoung,” Jaehyun gave him a suggestive smile and added a wink.

Doyoung didn’t answer him, simply rolling his eyes and walking inside the classroom without waiting for his friend. Yuta and Johnny exchanged a look and helpless smiles, deciding it was probably time to go to their respective classes.

“What was that?” Yuta asked as he sat next to Doyoung.

“Jaehyun being annoying, just like I told you.”

“Did I really get it right? He knows you find him hot, but are in constant denial and keep trying to hide it with hate, so he flirts to piss you off?”

“One, he’s just being the jackass he is. He’s not flirting,” Yuta raised his eyebrows, “And two, I am not in denial. I truly cannot stand him.”

“For some reason,” Yuta started writing the content presented on the blackboard, “I can’t believe a word you just said.”

Doyoung pushed his head away.

“Go find someone else to annoy. I’m busy and very much done with you.”

During lunch, the topic had already shifted to something that was not Jaehyun related, so they didn’t bicker as much as they were doing earlier. After they ate, Doyoung managed to convince Yuta to go outside, sit under a tree and let him use his lap as a pillow. He laid there with his arms crossed, enjoying the pleasant faint sunlight hitting his face, making him close his eyes and relax as his friend busied himself with something on his phone.

But soon the pleasant mood was gone along with the sunlight. Doyoung struggled a bit and decided to open his eyes, finding Ten standing in front of them, blocking the light, the view and everything else.

Ten was the art kid who was friends with almost every exchange student in their school. He had a bit of a goth vibe, always wearing black and a pair of boots, a few tattoos here and there, both ears full of piercings and nails almost always poorly done by Yuta with a black nail polish. His dark hair was fluttering in the wind as he watched the two figures with his arms crossed.

“Move.”

Ten didn’t move.

“Yuta, make him go away.”

“I can’t, you told me to find someone else to annoy, so I called him.”

“You know the entire school, did it really have to be him out of them all?”

“What’s wrong with him? He’s my boyfriend.”

“That’s precisely the problem.”

“Maybe you should call Jaehyun, Yuta,” Ten said, finally giving Doyoung his precious light back and sitting beside them, “Doyoung would be really thankful.”

“Fuck you, Ten.”

“Missed you too,” He gave him a weak kick on his leg, “Oh, God.”

“What?” Doyoung asked, eyes already closed again and acting as unbothered as he could.

“Speaking of the devil…”

Doyoung didn’t take Ten seriously, he never did, so he didn’t make any effort to open his eyes and take a look around to understand what was going on. Meaning he didn’t see two other figures approaching the space they were with the clear intention of joining them. Johnny pointed at the place in front of Ten and Yuta nodded. He sat down there, while Jaehyun sat by the other side, consequently blocking that damn sunlight, since he was now in front of Doyoung’s face.

“Yuta, you have five seconds to get him away from me,” He said with his eyes still closed and a small frown on his forehead, “I mean it.”

Everyone exchanged glances, not really knowing what to say or do. No one was planning to drag Jaehyun away and the man himself didn’t seem to be planning to move, considering there was a half smile on his lips.

Five seconds gone, the one laying on Yuta’s lap didn’t move. They had two more seconds to conclude he was probably just complaining and not actually planning on doing anything, when Doyoung raised one of his arms and pushed it forward with strength, hitting Jaehyun right on his chest. The latter immediately held his wrist and that was when the other finally opened his eyes.

“When did Ten get so stro-” And the rest of the sentence got stuck inside his throat.

“No need to be so aggressive,” Jaehyun said as he smiled, “If you wanted to feel my chest, you could’ve just asked.”

Doyoung stared in silence at the place where both their hands were. Ten looked at Yuta and mouthed a “I think I’m going insane”.

Doyoung forcefully pulled his wrist back as he raised his torso and sat there, an angry mood taking over his face.

“Can’t you give me a single moment of peace? Are you really aiming to be this annoying?”

“How am I ruining your peace? You started complaining out of nowhere.”

“It wasn’t out of nowhere, your presence itself has the ultimate power to bother me. And as if that’s not enough, you also blocked the fucking sunlight.”

“If you wanted to be under the sunlight that badly, why rest under a tree?”

“Because Yuta doesn’t like- You know what? I don’t have to justify myself. Especially to you.”

Jaehyun had a large grin on his face. 

“Can you stop doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“That stupid thing on your face.”

“It’s called a smile, why don’t you give it a try?”

Yuta had to hold back his laugh.

“God, what kind of sin have I committed in my past life to have to deal with this now?”

“He’s not that bad, Doyoung,” Johnny laughed, “You get used to it after a while.”

“I don’t want to get used to him.”

“That’s truly a shame,” Jaehyun was still smiling as he said that, “I’m not planning to leave.”

“No problem,” Doyoung got up and started using his hands to clean the back of his pants, “I can do it myself.” 

“Doyoung, give it a break,” Yuta kicked one of his ankles, “You guys are eighteen, it’s about time to stop fighting like kids.”

“We’re not doing that,” Jaehyun said, eyes fixed on Doyoung, “He is.”

Doyoung gave him a stern look.

“I’m not fighting, I’m stating facts.”

“You called Jaehyun annoying,” Ten frowned.

“A fact.”

“I mean, he’s not wrong,” Jaehyun’s grin got wider, “But right now I’m really trying to be nice.”

“You suck at it. Try harder.”

“Don’t bother, Jaehyun,” Yuta leaned his head on Ten’s shoulder, “It only gets worse. You’ll eventually get used to it.”

“Looking forward to it,” Jaehyun smiled at him and his dimples were visible. He kept his smile as he looked at Doyoung, “I won’t block the sun anymore, you can come back.”

“No, thank you,” Doyoung rolled his eyes, “My next class is about to start. I’ll get going.”

“Your next class is in forty minutes,” Ten argued, “It’s the same as me.”

“I like to be there early,” He said, turning around and walking away in a hurry.

“He makes me tired,” Yuta yawned.

“Let him be,” Johnny laughed, “If I could, I would also run away from Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun looked at him, faking a hurt expression as he held a hand over chest.

Doyoung actually didn’t head immediately to the classroom. He would be stupid if he did so. He went inside the closest restroom he could find and put both his hands on the marble where the sinks were, supporting his body on that surface as he took a deep breath. He then looked around, concluding he was alone there.

“Damn it,” He observed his reflection on the mirror, “Why can’t he just stay away and leave me alone?” 

He stared at the sink for a while, until he decided to wash his hands and his sleepy expression away. With water dripping from his face, he turned around to get a paper towel, but he immediately stopped on his tracks as soon as he saw someone standing next to the door, with his back resting on the wall and his arms crossed against his chest. Jaehyun had the same stupid smile as always.

“Seriously?” Doyoung rolled his eyes, “Don’t you ever know when it’s time to stop?”

“I do,” He moved away from the wall and started walking forward, “But it's definitely not now.”

He reached for two paper towels and stood in front of Doyoung, lifting his arm and trying to dry the water on his face. He managed to wipe one entire cheek when the other finally got out of his trance and held his wrist, obligating him to stop.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He looked inside his eyes, only a few centimeters separating their bodies.

Jaehyun licked his lips.

“Helping you.”

“I don’t need any help,” He pushed his arm away, “Especially from you.”

“You didn’t seem to mind that one paper towel ago,” He smiled as he threw one of the paper towels inside a trash bin.

“That’s because I was shocked,” Doyoung rolled his eyes once again, “I found it hard to believe you actually dared to do that.”

“Sure thing,” He kept smiling as he watched Doyoung cleaning his face, “And you should stop rolling your eyes that much, I’m afraid doing it excessively might give you a headache.”

“Being in the same room as you has the very same effect,” He threw his own paper towels away and headed to the exit.

Jaehyun reached out and held him by the wrist.

"Do not touch me."

Jaehyun didn't move his hand.

"Oh, you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid," Doyoung provoked.

"And so what if I do?" Jaehyun asked, almost immediately approaching their faces.

Doyoung's eyes darkened and he moved his head back right away.

"Are you fucking insane?"

“Do you really hate me that much?”

Doyoung stared at the hand holding his arm.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” He scoffed, “Let go.”

“I will when you give me a reason.”

Doyoung tried to release himself from his grip, but his strength was no match to his.

“So?”

“I have multiple reasons.”

“Name one.”

“You’re annoying.”

Jaehyun scoffed.

“Another one.”

“You once made me drop my ice cream cone.”

“I’m sorry?” Jaehyun laughed, “That’s it?”

“No, there’s more,” Doyoung frowned, “Now let go.”

“One more.”

“You’re ridiculously perfect at everything, it makes me mad,” Doyoung tried once again to pull his wrist, failing one more time, “You’re a player and it makes me legitimately stressed to see girls crying over you and how they got their hearts broken by you every fucking day of the week when you’re honestly not that much. And no, before you say I’m jealous of the attention or whatever, I am not, I couldn’t care less, I’m literally gay. Can I go now?”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yeah, tons of shit. I could go on for the entire day.”

“Last one and you can go,” He watched Doyoung sneering as soon as he heard his words, “I promise.”

“Your promises don’t mean anything to me,” He rolled his eyes and paused, “I don’t like how you throw parties every week because it disturbs my silence, I don’t like how you’re effortlessly smart and… I don't know, I don't like a gold rush, so it’s just easier this way. Satisfied?”

Jaehyun raised his eyebrows and relaxed the hold on his wrist. Just as he was about to ask something, Doyoung took the opportunity to finally free his arm and leave the restroom in quick steps. 

After that, both got back to the tree where their friends were. This time, Doyoung didn’t complain about Jaehyun blocking the sunlight, while Jaehyun didn’t ask anything else about the topic from moments ago. They just sat there, mere centimeters away from each other, in total silence.

For the following days, Doyoung and his friends kept going to spend lunch at that same spot and every single time Johnny and Jaehyun would also join them. If Doyoung felt bothered with the other blocking the sun, he didn’t say. And if Jaehyun felt anything with that, it was hard to say because he had on his face the same smile he always had.

It was a Friday and Doyoung really didn’t have anything better to do, so he accepted Ten’s useless invitation to watch the football team practicing. At first, he just sat by the bleachers with his friends and didn’t really pay attention to whatever was going on down in the field, simply scrolling through his Twitter timeline. 

He put his phone down after Yuta complained for the fourth time that Johnny would be hurt if he realised he wasn’t paying attention. Doyoung didn’t really care about Johnny, so that was a useless remark, only making him shift his attention to draw on the sketchbook he had with him. But he did start paying attention to them practicing after Ten threatened to take both his phone and sketchbook away, so he could throw them one by one down at the field.

Doyoung didn’t really understand much about football, so Yuta tried to make it easy for him, saying whoever had the ball was a good player and whenever it went through the big thing on each side of the field meant that that person’s team had scored. After making a mental note about that information, which he would probably throw away later, he realised Jaehyun actually fitted the concept of 'good player' provided by Yuta, considering the ball was almost always with him.  

Unfortunately, along with the “good player” thought, he also got the “he looks kinda hot when he’s all serious and concentrated” thought and that simply ruined him and what was left of his positive mood. He didn’t care about Ten’s threats anymore. He reached for for his phone as soon as he realized what was happening, a desperate attempt to look for a way to distract himself. Doyoung decided in that very moment that whenever there was an event in the world that had the minimal correlation with Jaehyun, the chances of him being there would be greatly reduced to zero.

“Doyoung, that’s rude.”

“Not, it’s not,” He didn’t move his eyes, afraid to have them betraying himself and pausing on Jaehyun’s sweaty and concentrated figure, “There are literally people sleeping over there on the other side.”

“Well, they don’t know Johnny.”

“Everyone knows Johnny.”

“Not like you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know Johnny at all.”

“Is this how the father of a naughty kid feels?” Yuta sighed.

“I think they feel less drained than us, Yuts,” Ten gave Doyoung a look, “At least kids are sincere. They don’t pretend they’re avoiding to look at certain things.”

“I don’t like sports, both of you know that,” Doyoung tried to act unbothered.

“We know,” Ten kept looking at him, “You accepted to come with us for another reason.”

Doyoung’s face involuntarily twitched and Ten smiled.

“Yeah, so I wouldn’t spend the rest of the afternoon alone.” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Yuta laughed as Ten said it. 

“I’m not avoiding anything… anyone,” Doyoung rolled his eyes, trying to look indifferent.

“Good,” Yuta smiled at him and took the phone from his hand, watching as Ten put his hand over the pencil he was previously using to draw, “Let’s enjoy the game, then.”

Doyoung was mentally repeating every prayer he had ever learned in his life as he raised his head and faced his most recent and personal fear. This should be easy, if he just did his best to avoid the ball it would be nearly impossible to find Jaehyun among all those people. But, of course, universe was not rooting for him.

The players decided to have a pause right at the moment Doyoung lost his phone to Yuta and his pencil to Ten. To prove his point to his friends, he couldn’t do what he wanted the most and look at somewhere, anywhere, that wasn’t the scene in front of them. He cursed Ten in silence for choosing to sit that close to the field, because if before watching that person relatively far from him was already torture, now this could be considered a death penalty.

It should be easy. It should. But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Johnny had to point at that direction and make Jaehyun look at them with the shiniest fucking eyes and the stupidest smile as he excitedly waved his hand, showing his teeth and making his dimples visible. It should be easy. But seeing him like that, plus the fact there was sweat dripping from his entire body… that was not even a bit easy. It was complicated as fuck. 

Doyoung was about to knock his head on the closest metal around him so he could have an excuse to get the fuck out of there, but he gave up on that idea just as quickly as it came. Knowing how stupidly nice Jaehyun was, he would probably feel the need to make sure he was okay and come even closer. So Doyoung didn’t do anything. He just accepted the fact he would have to let his heart do whatever it was doing inside his chest as the two known figures supported their arms on the railing in front of them. And also as one in special tried to get his attention.

“How am I doing, Doyoung?” Jaehyun asked with a wide grin.

“Don’t know, I wasn’t looking at you,” He tried his best not to let his voice fail him, “But probably bad.”

“I’m the captain, though.”

“Whoever put you there did a terrible job.”

Jaehyun laughed.

“How do you know that? Didn’t you just say you weren’t looking?”

Doyoung gulped.

“He was trying not to look, Jaehyun,” Ten joined the conversation.

“Really? Why?”

“You make my body feel sick, that’s why.”

“Do I?” His grin became larger, “Like what? Tachycardia?”

Yes.

“You wish,” Doyoung forced out an ironic smile and shifted his attention to his sketchbook, pretending to be reading some ideas he had written down before.

Jaehyun, with the same goofy expression, kept looking at him without saying anything.

“You are creeping me out. Get away from me.” 

“So that’s why you are acting nervous or…?”

“I’m not nervous.”

“Really?”

“Really, Jaehyun. Leave me alone.”

“That’s weird,” He approached him, “Because you’re reading this thing upside down.”

Doyoung froze. He heard the other three laughing at them. He swallowed his panic and said the first stupid thing that came inside his head.

“It’s not my problem your brain is underdeveloped to the point you can’t read something upside down.”

“Is that so?” He arched his eyebrows with a half smile.

“You’re so annoying.”

Jaehyun was about to say something when the coach yelled at them to go back in five minutes, so Johnny lightly bumped his fist on his shoulder and told him they should go drink some water and sit down for a bit.

Doyoung wasn’t really devoted of any religion, but in that moment he thanked every single entity he could think of. Now, if he stared too much at Jaehyun drinking from his water bottle as the sweat dripped down his face, thankfully no one said anything. And if Jaehyun noticed that blatant gaze, he fortunately contented himself in just shooting back a quick glance accompanied by a discreet smile. 

Days gone by, Doyoung initially refused to go with his friends to watch Johnny and Jaehyun whenever they decided to go, but at some point they started to drag him with them and, eventually, he stopped resisting. Now, every time his heart started doing flips whenever he saw Jaehyun in that state, he would simply tell himself it was all a stupid chemical reaction thanks to the excessive amount of hormones acting on his body.

This could be applied especially when the other party appeared with a serious face. Doyoung still wasn’t sure about how that worked, but he swore in the name of science that when people don’t smile they actually release a very strong hormone stimulation in the air. It was just that no scientist had studied this phenomenon yet. Yeah, that was definitely it. It was absolutely not a crush.

But things did get a little complicated when those not-yet-discovered-stimulations started happening when Jaehyun was outside the field. Sometimes Doyoung would be bored in his bedroom and decide to check the other side through a small crack on the curtains of his window. It was really frustrating how his neighbor had no problem at all with keeping his entire bedroom open to the neighborhood, and him, to see. Once, he happened to be walking around shirtless and Doyoung nearly asked his father to remove the glass from his window and replace it with the thickest bricks in the world.

After finding himself drawing his neighbor for the fourth page in a row, he concluded that he was officially tired of having his mind filled with Jaehyun thoughts. Thus, Doyoung decided it was time to come up with an excuse and miss the football practice on that day to focus on something that wasn’t him. Or like he said to his friends, to dedicate himself to his studies.

Stuck inside the library with multiple books and papers, he felt like he had just achieved nirvana. His mind was finally free from all those nasty thoughts related to his biggest enemy. He wasn’t really sure about how many minutes had gone by when someone sat across him.

“Sorry, the desk is a mess,” He apologised without taking his eyes off the book in front of him, “Do you have enough space for your stuff?”

“I didn’t bring anything with me,” There was a hint of a smile in that sentence.

Oh no, he knew that voice.

Doyoung forcefully closed his eyes, praying to be wrong about his judgment. He heard that person going through his things and kept hoping it was just a random stranger helping him organize the desk and not that damn jock being nosy. Maybe if he didn’t open his eyes and hoped hard enough, his wishes would indeed come true. There was a sudden silence in that space of the nearly empty library. And for a brief moment, he really thought these past seconds were just a mere hallucination of his exhausted brain.

The other party cleared his throat.

“Why are you with your eyes closed?”

Hallucination his ass.

“Because I don’t want to see you.”

Jaehyun gave a low laugh.

“Too bad, I’m not leaving until I get to see the hatred inside your eyes.”

There was a light tud on the desk, meaning Jaehyun probably was just holding something and now he had put it down.

“Can you please not touch my-” The rest of the sentence got stuck inside his throat, because as soon as he opened his eyes he saw… something.

Jaehyun had a hand over his sketchbook. The same sketchbook with a total of four fucking drawings of him. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked with a smile.

Had he seen it? 

“Don’t touch my stuff without permission.” 

“Okay,” He started sliding the sketchbook and stopped when it reached the center of the desk, his hand still over it, “Can you give me permission to see your drawings?”

“No,” Doyoung slapped his hand away.

Jaehyun pouted and Doyoung wanted to slap himself really bad for automatically thinking that was cute.

“What do you want, Jaehyun?”

“To know why you didn’t go to see me,” He made a hurt expression.

“I don’t go there to see you, I go there because they drag me,” Doyoung rolled his eyes, “I’m a busy person, I have things to do and right now you’re bothering me. Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be practicing?”

“Hurt my ankle.”

Doyoung frowned and slightly dragged his chair behind so he could bend his body and look under the desk. There really were a few bandages around his right ankle.

“What happened?” He frowned.

Jaehyun quirked up his eyebrows and Doyoung instantly realised what he had just done.

“Forget it, I don’t care.”

Jaehyun smiled and bit his lower lip. He was about to say something when two girls showed up beside him and put a small paper on the desk each, probably with their numbers on it, disappearing just as quick as they got there. Jaehyun gave some sort of short laugh and put the two pieces of paper inside his pocket. Doyoung rolled his eyes.

“You straight people are really… Two confessing at once and not even minding if you’re interrupting an important conversation.”

“Are you criticizing them or me?”

“Who do you think?”

Jaehyun smiled.

“Are you leaving or not? I’m going home, you ruined my reasoning.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m your neighbor, remember?”

Damn it, he forgot about that.

“Right,” Doyoung started organizing his things as he thought of a way to get rid of him, “I don’t want to walk with you, though.”

“We don’t have to walk together,” Jaehyun started helping him, “But in any case, we’ll be heading to the same direction.”

Doyoung sighed.

“Do whatever you want to do, then. It’s not like I can stop you from going to your house.”

It was tolerable, actually. Doyoung initially tried to walk really fast so Jaehyun and his hurt ankle couldn’t put up with him. But at some point his heart betrayed him and he slowed down, both separated by less than two meters. He couldn’t see at all, but Jaehyun smiled the entire way home.

When he arrived in front of his house, he felt like he should say something to the other one, but then he remembered who it was and gave up on that thought. He was about to unlock his door when he heard something behind him.

“Hey,” Jaehyun called him, “Thanks for making me company on my way home.”

“I didn’t,” He turned the key and unlocked the door, “But whatever, I guess.”

Jaehyun chuckled.

“See you tomorrow, Doyoung.”

Doyoung didn’t say anything back. In that moment, the only thing going on inside his head was the confirmation that the other actually had not seen any of the drawings he was worried about, because knowing him, Jaehyun definitely wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to say something about it.

He opened the door and was about to take a step inside.

“Oh, and Doyoung?”

Doyoung turned to look at him.

“Sorry for going through your stuff without your permission. Especially your drawings, I get that’s kind of personal,” He smiled sincerely, showing his dimples, “I like what you’ve done, though.”

Then he turned away and left.

Doyoung stepped inside his house with a big frown on his face. That could mean everything and nothing at the same time. But it was probably nothing, right? Yes. Definitely. That’s Jaehyun. If he knew, he would definitely make sure Doyoung knew he knew.

He went upstairs thinking most people simply go through the first pages of books, so that was probably the case with him as well. It was all good. He laid on his bed and covered his eyes with a pillow. That one was really close, but he fortunately managed to get away.

He couldn’t risk something like this happening again, though. It wasn’t everyday that he had luck on his side. Doyoung followed that line of thoughts and immediately sat up on the bed, deciding to remove those four pages and keep them inside one of his drawers. Just to be sure. He reached for the sketchbook and quickly removed two pages, but just as he did the same to the third, something caught his attention on the last one.

There was something written there and that was not his writing.

“Why am I looking so serious in all of them?”

Written in a perfect calligraphy at the bottom of the page.

Doyoung never hated himself so much for being right. Jaehyun really made sure he knew that he knew.

After that episode, Doyoung did everything in his power to avoid Jaehyun. Surprisingly, it actually worked pretty well and that went for more than two weeks, when Ten finally tricked him into going to the practice of the football team with the excuse of an emergency happening. When he got there, he discovered the emergency was about Yuta missing him too much. They hadn’t spent much time together during those past days because his friends were always with Johnny and, consequently, Johnny’s best friend.

“Did you guys really interrupt my studies for this?”

“Dodo, quick. What’s more important? Me or school?” Yuta asked, hugging his arm and resting his head on his shoulder. An exaggerated sad expression covering his face.

“School.”

“No, wait, you said it too quickly. Take your time to think about it carefully.”

“You told me to be quick.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Doyoung sighed, doing his best to avoid the field.

“I promise I’ll visit you during the weekend or whatever, but I really need to go now.”

“They’re almost done here, can’t you wait a bit? You haven’t seen them in, like, two weeks.” Yuta hugged his arm tighter.

“I don’t know them, I don’t need to see them.”

“You can’t isolate yourself, Dodo. You need to talk to people.”

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I? Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine. Now let me go.” 

“Should I feel relieved or worried that I’m not the only one he treats like that?” A voice coming from behind him asked.

Nice. Two weeks of effort officially gone to waste.

“Worried,” Ten said, “He’s not usually like this.”

Doyoung sighed.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s exactly what someone who is not fine would say,” Johnny meddled in, “No offense, dude.”

“I really need to go,” Doyoung didn’t dare to look back, “Please, let me go.”

He nearly whispered those last words to Yuta, so the latter frowned and immediately released his arm, now worried. Doyoung got up, taking a deep breath before turning around to leave. He did know he was going to see Jaehyun, what he didn’t know was that he was going to face him right away, with literal mere centimeters separating them.

Jaehyun cleared his throat.

“Are you alright?”

He wasn’t smiling. His eyebrows were a tad furrowed and his lips slightly shut, like he was worried but trying not to make it obvious. The thought “God, he’s handsome” did cross Doyoung’s mind, but he forcefully shoved it away, reminding himself of what kind of situation he was in. With Jaehyun’s strong gaze on him, he could only hug the sketchbook in his arms and shift his eyes. That seemed to make Jaehyun realise something, because he immediately stepped aside and let him go.

Doyoung just sprinted away and left everyone behind with multiple questions inside their minds. But it had been two weeks already, which meant Jaehyun’s ankle was now fine.

“I know what’s going on,” He said to them, “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll solve that.”

And so, he ran after him.

Jaehyun found Doyoung by the lake behind their school, throwing stones inside the water. Furious.

“Stupid Jaehyun,” He complained as he threw another stone, “Stupid sketchbook.”

Jaehyun didn’t quite know if he should laugh or cry at that, so he simply cleared his throat, letting the other know he was there. Doyoung got startled by the newcomer who appeared like a ghost just a few steps behind him and lost his balance, nearly falling inside the lake. But to his luck, or not, he was saved just in time by Jaehyun, who rushed forward and circled his arms around his waist.

“How did you-” Doyoung tried to ask after a few seconds in that position.

“It’s just like football,” Jaehyun smiled, “You’re technically the ball and I am… me, I think.”

“...Find me.” Doyoung continued, "And do not compare me to a ball."

“Ah,” He chuckled, “Wan't really that hard. I run pretty fast, so I just followed you.”

“Of course you did, I don’t even know why I tried to ask,” He sighed, “Can you… You know, let me go?”

“I’m afraid you’re gonna run away if I happen to do that.”

“So you’re just planning to stay like this forever?”

“Would this be a problem?” His smile got wider.

“Yes.” Doyoung said that full of conviction, making Jaehyun giggle.

“I’ll let you go, just let me say three things to you first.”

Doyoung squinted his eyes.

“We have done something like this before and, as far as I know, your numbers are never really accurate.”

Jaehyun giggled again.

“This time it's for real, I need to go back to practice.”

“It’s not like I have any other choice,” Doyoung rolled his eyes, “Go ahead.”

“First of all,” He cleared his throat, “You don’t have to avoid me just because I know,” Doyoung was about to say something, so he cut him before that, “Hold it, let me finish. Second, I really want you to answer the question I wrote down,” He paused, looked around and then fixed his eyes back on Doyoung’s, “The third one is the most important, but I can only say it next Friday.”

“Okay, first, know what?” Doyoung raised his eyebrows.

“Do you really want me to say it out loud? I was trying to spare you from this, but if that’s what you want, I can say it. Your cru-”

“Shut up,” He gave him a stern look, “Don’t you dare to finish that sentence.”

Jaehyun smiled big.

“Second,” Doyoung sighed, he just wanted to go home and not leave his house ever again, “I don’t want to answer that.”

“I already know the worst part, it can’t possibly embarrass you any more than that.”

Doyoung gave him an angry look. It could. It really could.

“Sorry, I’m shutting my mouth,” The other continued in silence, so he kept talking, “I swear I’m just curious. I’m not gonna mock you or anything, the one who hates the other here is you, not me.”

Doyoung wanted to punch him for the emphasis on the word “hates”, but he restrained himself. If he did that, he’d fall inside the lake.

“You look less terrible when you’re serious, that’s it. Now let me go.”

“Really? ‘Less terrible’... Such a way to put it,” He chuckled, “Aren’t you going to ask about the third one?”

Doyoung sighed.

“Why next Friday?”

“I have a game next Friday, I want you to go,” He paused and smiled, “I'm gonna tell you the thing after the game.”

“What makes you think I am willing to go?”

“Your curiosity. You have nothing to lose. Yuta and Ten are going.” He said it one by one.

“I will think about it,” He tried to sound indifferent.

Jaehyun carefully pulled him away from the edge of the lake and only then he removed the arms he had around his waist, flashing a smile and walking away, ready to go back to the field. His mood now completely boosted.

“Oh, and Doyoung?” He turned around for a moment, “Just so you know, it starts at five,” He winked and ran away as soon as he finished saying that.

Doyoung felt terrible. His entire body was tingling. His head was spinning around and his heart was beating so fast he could feel it on his throat. Stupid day. Stupid Jaehyun. Stupid sketchbook. Stupid crush.

After that day, Doyoung gave up on trying to avoid Jaehyun. He had already gone through the worst, so there was no point on keep trying to avoid what had already happened. He didn't say anything and his friends also didn't ask. God knows what Jaehyun told them when he got back that day, but Doyoung would risk to say he was at least a little bit thankful for whatever was that action of his.

He still controlled all his staring, though. Yes, Jaehyun knew. But that entire situation was very much embarrassing to Doyoung and honestly? The least he looked at his straight crush who was one hundred percent aware of how fast his heart would beat whenever he saw him, the better it was. So he would steal a few glances once in a while, but focus most of his attention on his sketchbook.

He hated to admit, but he loved to draw Jaehyun in every possible angle he could think of. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to explain himself anymore if the other party caught him again. After seeing him with that stupid smile on his face every day of the week, Doyoung kind of got used to it and now some of his sketches also would include a smiling Jaehyun. He swore to himself he would never let him even dream about seeing those.

Whenever they had a break, Jaehyun and Johnny would approach them and have a quick chitchat. Doyoung's tongue was still sharp as usual and Jaehyun kept bothering him just like he always did. If not for the two of them having memories of what happened a few days ago, no one would be able to tell that conversation ever happened.

"Hey," Jaehyun managed to squeeze the word out after having an intense laugh episode with some sort of new insult Doyoung came up with, "Can I see it?" He pointed at the sketchbook on his lap.

"No," Doyoung said with no hesitation.

Jaehyun made a sad face.

"You're all sweaty, I'm not letting you touch my sketchbook with those nasty hands of yours."

"Why do I have the feeling he still would call your hands nasty even if you're not sweaty?" Johnny asked Jaehyun with a large smile.

"Because he probably would," Ten answered, also smiling.

"You're not denying that, Doyoung?" Jaehyun pretended he was sad to the point of crying, "God, I feel so hurt."

"You talk as if I would care," Doyoung answered, totally unbothered.

"At least hold the sketchbook for him, Dodo," Yuta laughed by his side.

"I'm not doing that," He said with indignation, "Why would I let Jaehyun see my precious sketches?"

"Oh," A large grin appeared on his lips, "Precious, hm?" Jaehyun discreetly pointed at his own face.

Doyoung looked at him like he was about to jump that railing and fight the other party until he forgot his own name.

"Dude," Johnny put a hand over his shoulder, "Don't be like that. He's just not comfortable enough to show you his drawings, you don't have to mock his interests because of that."

"You know what, man? You're right," Jaehyun pretended that what Johnny said was exactly what he was doing, "Sorry, Doyoung, that was really low of me."

"Yeah, it was," He still had a fierce look in his eyes.

Jaehyun smiled at that.

"So, are you guys coming next week?"

"We are," Yuta referred to himself and Ten as he hugged him, "I don't think Doyoung is, though. He's not a fan of crowds."

"Will you, Doyoung?" Jaehyun moved his body forward and looked at him with puppy eyes, "For me, pretty please?"

"Definitely not for you," He rolled his eyes, "But for Johnny I might consider it."

"Really?" Johnny smiled at him and put a hand over his chest, "It's truly an honour to know you don't hate me."

Jaehyun gave them an ugly glare.

"What does he have that I don't?"

Just as he finished asking, their coach called the entire team, indicating their break was over.

"I'm so glad coach meddled in," Johnny said, "Doyoung was about to prepare a speech with at least six hours of duration."

Jaehyun grabbed him by his collar with a grumpy face and pulled him away as the other three laughed by the bleachers. 

Two days away from Friday Jaehyun still didn't have his answer, so he was planning on getting Doyoung on his nerves until he could get a yes or a no. That morning, he camped in front of his locker until he showed up there, completely ignoring him.

"What do you want, Jaehyun?" He closed his locker with a loud bang.

"An answer," He smiled, unaffected by the loud noise.

"I told you I'd consider it," He was already about to walk away. Everyone was staring at them because Jaehyun never really talked to people that were not from the football team, while he never talked to anyone at all. So seeing them alone together naturally would catch some attention. Doyoung felt slightly suffocated with all of that, "That's my answer."

"I'm not giving up until you give me a concrete answer," He said, following every step the other took.

"Can you, like," Doyoung stopped walking and turned to face him, "Stop irritating me?"

"Give me an answer and I will," He displayed a smile with dimples, "Or at least let me see some of your drawings and I promise to leave you alone for the day."

Doyoung sighed.

"Three drawings," He showed him three fingers, "And I'm the one choosing what you're gonna see."

"Deal," He looked extremely satisfied.

"Alright, what do you want? I have buildings, animals, plants and…" He was about to say "you" without even thinking, but he managed to prevent some free embarrassment for himself, although he still got rosy cheeks in the process, "...People."

"Me," He didn't care about how blatant his request sounded even after receiving an ugly glare from the other.

Doyoung went through some pages and picked some of the ones he wasn't smiling.

"Here," He showed him one by one and Jaehyun seemed to be having the time of his life, "Satisfied?"

"Very much," He gave him a genuine smile, which confused Doyoung a little because he thought Jaehyun was just joking around, "You draw really well. Do you accept commissions?"

Doyoung frowned, but still nodded to him.

"Can you draw someone for me? It doesn't have to be complex, just a sketch is fine."

"If you pay, sure."

"Great, how long until you're done?"

"Depends on the person, my free time and how lazy I feel," Doyoung crossed his arms against his chest, "You're lucky I happen to have a lot of free time this week, so it can probably be done by Friday."

"Good," He smiled, "I want you to draw yourself for me and then you can give it to me Friday after my game."

Doyoung choked on the air. 

"You're so fucking stupid," He felt outraged, walking away from Jaehyun with quick steps.

During lunch, Jaehyun kept pestering him about the drawing.

"I'm gonna block your sunlight if you keep refusing my commission," He moved his head and did as he said he would, "I will pay you eight thousand if you want."

Yuta couldn't help but laugh at them.

"He's offering you money, why are you still refusing?"

"He wants me to hand the drawing to him after his stupid game," Doyoung remained with his eyes closed.

"You're in a tough situation, buddy," Ten caught Jaehyun's attention, "In this case, I'm pretty sure you could offer him eight million and he still would refuse."

"Help me convince him, Ten," Jaehyun pleaded.

"Impossible," He lamented, "I'm pretty sure it's easier to become the president of our country."

"Guess your wishes all depend on me," Johnny made a joke, "How do you feel about that, champ?"

"Terrible," Jaehyun groaned and Doyoung discreetly smiled.

"If Johnny asks nicely I will go."

Jaehyun turned to his friend with an anxious look.

"For some reason," He smiled, "I don't seem to be able to do that."

"Johnny, I'm gonna end our friendship. This is not a joke."

"Sorry, man," Doyoung still had his eyes closed, imagining the frustration on the other party's face, "Seems like I'm not going."

During the afternoon, Jaehyun rushed to the bleachers as soon as his break started.

"Have you reached a decision?" He asked with sparkly eyes, almost making Doyoung feel bad for torturing him like that.

"We have a deal for the day and you're not respecting our terms."

"Ok, but have you? You don't have to tell me the answer."

"I'm not answering that," He smiled ironically, "It goes against our verbal agreement."

"If I were you, I'd give up for the sake of your good mood," Yuta commented.

"Jaehyun's not a quitter. He's going to annoy Doyoung until he gets an answer."

"He can't possibly annoy me more than he already has," He glanced at him, "At least not for the day."

And he technically didn't. But as soon as the clock hit midnight, Doyoung heard a noise coming from his window. Not really being able to see anything through that small crack, he fully opened his curtains. Regret instantly surfaced inside his entire body.

Jaehyun was on the other side, standing on the veranda of his room with his hand full of small stones. As soon as he saw Doyoung's confused face he put on a bright smile and dropped the stones somewhere.

In no time, he raised a big white card with the words "Have you already decided? Is it yes or no?" written on it. Doyoung had the grumpiest face he had ever shown in his entire life. He showed him his middle finger and closed his curtains again, going back to his bed right away.

On Thursday morning, the bell of his house rang and his dad went to answer the door. Not long after, he showed up in the kitchen, where Doyoung was having his breakfast in peace, and knocked on the wall to get his attention.

"The son of our neighbours is outside," He said, "He asked me to ask you what is your answer."

Doyoung nearly choked.

"Dad, just send him away."

"He said it's urgent."

"Then tell him I told you I'm not home."

His father laughed.

"With those exact words?" 

Doyoung nodded, unbothered.

Jaehyun really wasn't planning on giving up. He not only went to school with Doyoung, against his will, but also spent the entire time asking him the same question. At school, Doyoung tried really hard to pretend that half of the population inside that space wasn't staring at them. In the end, he concluded he couldn't do it.

"Jaehyun," He took off his airpods and turned to look at him, "I don't want to ruin your plans of annoying the shit out of me until I give you an answer, but can you do something for me?"

"Sure. I mean, as long as you don't tell me to go screw myself," He displayed a big smile.

"I'm not joking," He let out a low sigh, "Can you please not follow me around when we're alone? Everyone keeps staring at us and it's making me really uncomfortable."

The smile on Jaehyun's face instantly vanished.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that, Doyoung," He looked around with a tired expression, "See you during lunch," He forced a small smile out and walked away to the opposite direction without waiting for an answer.

Doyoung got tartled with that reaction of his, not used to see Jaehyun like that. It took him a few seconds to come back to himself.

Under the tree, he tried not to look anxious as he waited to see if the other would show up or not. His weird reaction was stuck in his mind all morning.

"What's up with you?" Ten gave him a light bump with his leg.

"Nothing."

"You're clearly anxious about something, you can't even keep your eyes closed."

"It's nothing, really," He sighed, "It's just that the sunlight is bothering me," He gave the first excuse he could come up with.

"Your precious sunlight is bothering you?" Ten laughed, "Come on, Doyoung. It's because of Jaehyun, isn't it?"

Doyoung froze.

"What do you mean?" He tried to keep himself calm.

"I mean, is he already getting on your nerves and you're too proud to admit that?"

If he wasn't being watched by the two of them, he'd have definitely let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, but don't say anything to any of them, alright?" He lied.

"Yes, sir," Ten said and then lowered the tone of his voice, "Speaking of the devil…"

Unlike last time this happened, Doyoung immediately opened his eyes to look around. As soon as his gaze stopped on Jaehyun, he saw the other with a genuine smile pn his face. And it was only then that something inside of him finally calmed down.

"Jaehyun, thank god you're here," Ten clasped his hands, "Doyoung was missing you very badly."

"I was not," He said, eyes back closed.

"Was he really?" He was looking genuinely curious.

"He was," Yuta spoke, "He was even saying the sunlight was bothering him. Seems like he's now used to have you sitting next to him."

Jaehyun smiled even more and immediately sat next to him.

"No worries, I'm here," He said to him, "I'm not gonna let the sun disturb your beauty sleep again, Dodo."

Doyoung's heart did a total of seventy six flips after that last word.

"Do not call me like that," He said as firm as he could.

"Why not?"

"Only people I tolerate can call me like that."

Jaehyun clicked his tongue.

"What about people you like?"

Doyoung choked on the air, forgetting how to breathe for a quick second.

"Is he alright?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, he does that a lot," Yuta waved his hand.

When Doyoung finally recovered, he opened his eyes right away and gave Jaehyun a threatening look.

"It's no use telling you. You're never going to use it, anyway."

"Yeah, guess you're probably right," He smiled dumbly at him and Doyoung nearly cried over how cute his cheeks looked whenever he did that.

During practice, Jaehyun kept annoying him just like he always did, but this time he didn't say anything about the next day. Doyoung felt like this had something to do with what happened during the morning, but that wasn't really the best place or time to talk about the subject.

When it was almost time to leave, Jaehyun got called by a member of the team, so he distanced himself from them and went to the other side. Doyoung took the opportunity to have a quick chat with the other player.

"Hey, Johnny."

"Yeah?"

"You usually drive Jaehyun home, right?"

"I do, why?"

"Can you come up with a shitty excuse and tell him you can't do it today? I wanna mess with him a little."

"Sure," He smiled, "But only if you tell me how did that go tomorrow during lunch."

"Deal."

Jaehyun came back a few moments later, hanging his arm around Johnny's shoulder.

"Let's go, the sooner we shower, the quicker we're gonna be home."

"Right," Johnny made an unfortunate expression, "That's what I was forgetting."

"What?"

"I have to take my sister to the doctor in twenty minutes," He kept acting, "Sorry, man. I can't give you a ride today."

"No worries, man," He took the arm off his shoulder, "Hurry up and go, I'll be fine."

Johnny said goodbye to them and left pretty quick. Jaehyun was still a bit lost. He wanted to ask Doyoung to walk home together, but that would certainly attract attention and he didn't want to make the other party feel uncomfortable. He let out a silent sigh and decided he would be going back home on his own.

"What are you doing standing there?" Jaehyun raised his head and met Doyoung's angry eyes, "I'm not gonna wait for you until it gets dark. Hurry up and go take your shower."

"What?"

"Hurry, shower, Jaehyun," He said word by word in a slow pace, "So we can go home."

"Oh," He began to understand human language again, "Oh, okay! I'm going to be quick! Don't go anywhere!" He said and sprinted away, acting like he hadn't just ran around the field for the past one hour and half.

He came back running ten minutes later, fresh and clean. Doyoung could smell the cheap shampoo on his hair and that made his heart shake a tad bit.

"Stop running," He pretended nothing was going on inside his chest, "You're gonna get all sweaty again."

"You're right," He had a big smile on his face.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Nothing," He tried to control the corners of his lips, "Just surprised you really waited to walk home with me."

"Well, I told you I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah," He smiled without restraint, "But I'm, like, glad you did."

Doyoung tried to maintain a blank face.

"Let's go."

Unlike Jaehyun thought, Doyoung didn't put on his airpods as they walked. He wasn't really saying anything, but that was definitely a new remark between them. He also didn't say much himself, because most of the time he kept thinking if he should or not ask him about the next day. 

He had directly told Jaehyun himself how uncomfortable he felt around crowds. And, more specifically, around crowds with their attention on him; So he was facing a dilemma during the entire way. He didn't even realise when they're already in front of Doyoung's house.

"Jaehyun," He waved his hand in front of his eyes, "Wake up."

"Sorry, got lost in my thoughts," He blinked a few times, "Ah, we're here already."

"Yeah, we are," Doyoung looked around, "Bye, I guess."

"Bye, Doyoung," He naturally smiled, "See you under the tree."

Doyoung finished unlocking his door and bit his lower lip. He felt that in the future he would probably regret what he was about to do.

"Jaehyun?"

Jaehyun stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"Me?"

"I'll be there," He paused, "Tomorrow, at your game. And after that, if you still remember whatever you had to tell me."

"Really?" Doyoung saw his eyes shine and a big smile forming on his lips, "Are you serious?"

Doyoung nodded.

"I remember," His smile got even bigger, "So I'm gonna wait for you."

Doyoung hesitated for a moment, but nodded with a tiny smile and then immediately rushed inside, not feeling brave enough to discover what exactly was Jaehyun's reaction to that. 

"Did he just smile at me?" Jaehyun whispered to himself, frozen in the middle of the sidewalk, "No, I'm probably hallucinating because I'm too happy," He covered his face with his hands, "God, whatever. I wanna scream."

He stayed like that for another two long minutes, until someone passed by and asked if he was okay, making him wake up from his trance and finally make his way inside his house.

On Friday morning, Jaehyun didn’t walk to school with Doyoung, but as soon as he saw him in one of the hallways, he immediately pulled Johnny and went to him with the biggest smile ever. Johnny really wanted to know why the fuck he was there, but he chose to wait and see what was that about. 

“Is it okay if I have Johnny with me?” He asked as the other party ignored both of them, focusing on what was inside his locker.

Doyoung paused his hands and looked around, not finding anyone giving them any sort of excessive attention. He nodded without looking at Jaehyun and went back to focusing on his own stuff like he was doing before. 

“Did you smile at me yesterday?” Jaehyun asked, resting his body on the locker next to Doyoung’s.

Johnny felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there.

“No.”

“It looked a lot like a smile.”

“Maybe you should get glasses.”

“I don’t want to interrupt, but…” Johnny carefully started, “Can I leave?”

“Yes, and take him with you,” Doyoung closed his locker.

“No!” Jaehyun complained.

“What do you want, Jaehyun?” Doyoung sighed.

“For you to admit you smiled at me.”

Johnny raised his eyebrows.

“That’s not happening,” He paused, “And if you say anything else, I’ll reconsider my thoughts on showing up later.”

“Wait, are you watching the game?” Johnny smiled.

“Yes, man, I managed to convince him,” Jaehyun showed a proud smile.

Doyoung rolled his eyes and Jaehyun’s smile got bigger. At that point in their non-friendship, he tried to focus on the good part only, so Jaehyun would tell himself whenever Doyoung rolled his eyes, that was basically equivalent to him smiling.

“I’m actually going for you, Johnny,” Doyoung ignored the fake hurt expression on Jaehyun’s face.

“As you should,” Johnny smiled and hooked an arm around his friend’s shoulder, “I’ll give you some peace of mind and take him away. Don’t forget to tell me how that thing went during lunch.”

“Sure,” Doyoung displayed a small smile as he watched Jaehyun struggling and trying to release himself from Johnny’s hold.

“That’s definitely a smile,” Jaehyun pointed and Doyoung immediately got his stern face back.

Johnny was attentively watching them. He seemed to realise something as he licked his lips and pulled his friend away.

“Yeah, he’s smiling because he’s thankful I’m taking you away. Come on.”

When it was lunch, something rather unusual happened. Johnny and Doyoung, who almost never interacted, and when they did it was for the unique purpose of insulting Jaehyun, actually were having a chat. Everyone present felt a little helpless because they simply couldn’t point out what had occurred in those past hours for Doyoung to decide stop ignoring his presence.

“Doyoung, can you help me with that thing I asked you yesterday?” Johnny suddenly asked, “Somewhere else.”

Doyoung sat up and nodded, ready to stand up and follow him. Jaehyun frowned and looked at his best friend, looking very confused.

“Wait, Johnny,” He got up, “I have an urgent matter to discuss with you.”

“Does it have to be now?” Doyoung crossed his arms against his chest.

Jaehyun looked at him with firm eyes, there was no trace of the usual smile he always had on his face.

“Yes, we’ll be right back. Don’t worry.”

He pulled Johnny with him and went to a place a few meters away from them. The three under the tree studied their expressions as they talked. Jaehyun seemed nervous and anxious, speaking nonstop, like he was afraid he would miss a detail and the other wouldn’t get what his words meant. Johnny simply smiled, said two or three sentences and stopped speaking.

Jaehyun stared at him with a gap between his lips, like he didn’t know what to say. Doyoung could see him mouthing “Really?” slightly in disbelief, and then watched the other laugh and nod. Weird. Suspicious. When they got back, Jaehyun was still acting strange and Johnny pointed at the place he previously was with him, a silent way of telling Doyoung to follow him there.

“Is he alright?” He frowned and pointed at Jaehyun with his chin.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Johnny calmly smiled, “He’s just worried about our game later.”

“Is that so?” Doyoung didn’t think it was just that, but he also didn’t press any further, “About yesterday, it didn’t go very well.”

“Really?” Johnny frowned, “What happened?”

“I didn’t mess with him, I think I happened to forget what I wanted to do to torment him,” He created an excuse, “I ended just straight up telling him I’d go watch your game tonight.”

“That’s a shame,” He chuckled, “Well, there will be future opportunities and many future games. No worries.”

“Yeah,” He gave a nervous laugh as he thought about the possibility of Jaehyun sticking around for a long time, “There probably will.”

“Should we go back? They’re giving us ugly stares,” Johnny put his hands inside the pockets of his jacket and looked at their friends, “I think Jaehyun is jealous.”

“Yeah, I should probably return you to him before he snaps.”

Johnny gave a silent laugh as he led the way back. Not exactly what I meant, Doyoung.

“Don’t we also get a private talk with Johnny?” Yuta asked.

“You need to schedule it first.”

“Jaehyun didn’t,” Ten complained.

“Because I have a fidelity card.” 

Ten scoffed.

Jaehyun waited for Doyoung to lay down on Yuta’s lap and then approached him.

“You’re really gonna be there later, right?”

Doyoung, still with eyes closed, gave a small nod.

“I need verbal confirmation.”

“I’ll fucking kill you if you make me show up there and end up losing that game.”

Jaehyun literally could not be happier.

“I’ll ask someone to save the best seats for you guys.”

They wouldn’t practice during the afternoon because they intended to save energy for the game, so last time everyone saw each other was when they were under the tree. 

Unfortunately, half an hour before five in the afternoon, Jaehyun started to freak out. He was afraid of not doing well or making a mistake. He didn’t really seem worried about his reputation, but about what Doyoung would think of him if he failed after talking big for so long.

“Of course you’re gonna do well,” Johnny told him, “Even if some nearly impossible miracle happens to the other team and you do make a mistake, Doyoung will certainly not do anything to make you feel any worse than you would already feel. So yeah, chill, dude.”

Fifteen minutes before the game, the three seats they saved were still empty. That was the second time Jaehyun freaked out before he had to go outside. Johnny only managed to calm him down another whole five minutes later, when two of the seats got occupied.

That was the third time he freaked out. Ten and Yuta were there, but there was no sign of Doyoung. Jaehyun kept walking in circles inside their locker room, making the team feel emotionally overwhelmed. Their captain was worried even if they were against a weak competitor, he really treasured every single one of their games.

“Dude,” Johnny put one hand over each of his shoulders, forcing him to stop walking, “Are you making the other team a favor and tiring yourself before the game even starts?”

Jaehyun gave him a stressed glare, not saying anything. Johnny took a quick lookat the clock hanging on the wall.

“There’s still six minutes left, you know how he is. He’s probably just avoiding the crowd for as long as he can.”

Jaehyun observed the bleachers through the small window next to the door, getting more anxious every new second.

“Jaehyun,” Johnny shook his shoulders, “Look at me. He promised he would come.”

“Right,” He sighed and closed his eyes tightly, feeling nervous, “He did.”

Johnny was trying his best to reassure Jaehyun that the other party would be there, but he particularly doubted at that rate Doyoung would still show up. Although he thought like that, he did his best not to make his friend even more worried.

“Hey, we gotta go,” Someone caught everyone’s attention.

Jaehyun opened his eyes and exchanged a sad look with Johnny.

“Something must’ve happened,” He tried to sound positive, “He’s probably on his way already.”

At that point, Jaehyun didn’t dare to believe in any of those words anymore. Right then, what he needed to do was to walk outside with his head up and pretend he didn’t just have a mental breakdown over the fact his neighbor wasn’t out there sitting by the bleachers and waiting to watch him play that stupid game. He was glad the helmet he was wearing was covering a great part of his face, because the dark expression he had under it was not really one of the nicest in his collection.

Jaehyun promised himself he would look at his seat one last time and if he didn’t find him there, he would give up and simply focus on the game. The chances of him being there were really close to zero, considering they usually didn’t let people in when there was less than five minutes left for the match to start. But still, he looked. Even if he knew deep down that he wouldn’t be there, he had to look. 

As he did it, he realised he actually never felt so relieved for being wrong in his entire life. Right beside Yuta was a nervous Doyoung sitting on his previously empty seat. Jaehyun noticed two things. First, he was wearing different clothes. Second, he seemed to be looking for him, because as soon as their eyes met, he calmed down on his seat and gave a small nod towards him. If Jaehyun wasn’t wearing that helmet, it would be easy to tell how fast his expression went from zero to one hundred. He waved at him and then positioned himself on the field. He had a game to win and someone to impress. 

And later, if Doyoung found extremely sexy the way Jaehyun basically carried the entire game on his back and effortlessly won with several points in his team’s favor, he did not dare to confess that thought of his to anyone. 

When he saw the players busy celebrating outside their locker room and couldn’t find Jaehyun anywhere among them, he mentally questioned whether he should just stay there and wait or if he should face that sweaty crowd and go look for him.

“Doyoung, let’s go,” Yuta waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention and then pointed to one of the exits, “It’s not crowded over there anymore.”

“I…” He didn’t really know how to explain his situation to his friends, “I want to… Congratulate Johnny.”

“He’s probably over there with Jaehyun,” Ten pointed at the relatively big crowd around the players, “Are you sure about that?”

“No, he’s not,” Doyoung frowned, mostly referring to Jaehyun, “I already searched for him over there.”

Yuta and Ten exchanged a look, but just as the former was planning to say something, Johnny appeared next to them. He got there running, so in addition to the lack of energy he already had because of the game, it was natural for him to be feeling pretty tired. He stopped in front of them and dramatically supported himself holding his knees, gasping for air.

“Hey, Johnny,” Ten smiled, “Congratulations for the win, man.”

“That’s nothing,” Johnny said after getting his regular breath back and waved his hand, “Doyoung, Jaehyun has something important to say. He’s searching for you.”

“Is he?” He tried not to sound obvious.

“Yeah.”

“Where is he?”

“Over there,” He pointed at the locker room.

Doyoung sighed, an expression full of despair covering his face, making the other laugh at him.

“I’ll open the way for you, come on.”

Doyoung nodded and then turned to his friends.

“Just go without me,” He tried to sound neutral and not show how anxious he felt, “He’s probably gonna make me walk him home.”

They found it a bit weird, but didn’t think too much about it. Doyoung looked back at Johnny and followed him as he calmly went down and led the way for him. He had thought about whatever the other party had to say to him for several days, never really reaching a plausible conclusion. He hated to admit, but the absence of an answer made him extremely wary and anxious, even though that was literally Jaehyun and it was very likely it would be something relatively stupid.

He went past the crowd with Johnny’s help way quicker than he thought he would. His eyes could read “locker room” on the top of the wall and his hands got a tad shaky because of that. He watched as the other took his phone and opened his iMessage to type something, receiving a reply almost immediately.

“Alright,” He said as he put it back inside his pocket, “He’s still there, you can go in.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No,” He chuckled, “I have to go meet someone.”

“I…”

“It’s alright, it’s not crowded inside. Mostly everyone is out here,” He patted his shoulder, "And don’t worry about going through the crowd on your own, worst case he will help you just like I did. Now, go, he’s waiting for you.”

Doyoung nervously glanced at the closed door in front of them, not moving a single inch. Johnny was about to leave, but he decided to stop on his tracks and say one last thing to him.

“I don’t know what you guys are gonna talk about, but earlier before the game started he was literally going insane because he didn’t see you by the bleachers. Like, just as anxious as you are now. Or even worse, I don’t know. I never saw him nervous like that because of anything,” Johnny gave a short laugh, “Now, seriously, get in there. I’m scared you two are gonna faint before even talking about whatever this is.”

Doyoung hesitated for a moment, but gathered enough courage to push the door open. The locker room wasn’t that big, it was probably pretty tight when everyone from the team was together inside there. He couldn’t see anyone around, but he knew that person was there. Johnny had just received a text confirming that, after all.

“Jaehyun?”

“Here,” A voice came from the other side of the room, “In the back. Come here.”

Doyoung slowly walked inside, not really sure about where he should head to. The sounds outside were pretty muffled, he could clearly hear the echoes of his footsteps. A light flicked above his head and his body shivered a little. For some reason he felt like he was part of a horror movie and something bad was about to happen.

“Where are you?” He asked, stopping beside a series of lockers that covered the other side of the room for whoever walked in using the front door.

“Here.”

A hand grabbed his arm and pulled him to the other side, startling him almost to the point of screaming. Jaehyun made him rest his back on the other side of the locker as he looked at him with a warm smile, hand still holding his arm.

“Fuck, Jaehyun,” Doyoung closed his eyes and caught his breath, “What the fuck? Are you trying to scare me to death? My heart nearly stopped.”

Jaehyun laughed and Doyoung felt his heart accelerating. He had never been so close and… isolated with the other like they were now. He tried his best to look indifferent.

“You scared me earlier, I thought you wouldn’t come. This is me getting my revenge.”

“I told you I would come, you thinking that… Well, that’s on you.”

He smiled.

“Why did you get here after so long, after all?”

“Some idiot dropped his coffee on my shirt and my trousers in the afternoon, so I had to go home and change to something else,” He rolled his eyes, “I think I… Uhm… I lost track of time while I was trying to choose what clothes I should wear.”

“Oh,” Jaehyun smiled, imagining Doyoung panicking as he probably threw his entire wardrobe on his bed and thought “I have nothing to wear” , “So it was for a good reason.”

Doyoung gulped. He felt embarrassed because he probably let the fact he was worried about looking good for Jaehyun too obvious. 

“Uhm, can you…” He cleared his throat, “Not do this?”

“What?” He asked, still smiling.

“Like, touch me,” He tried to keep his breath even, “You’re soaked in sweat.”

Jaehyun laughed again.

“Is this really what’s bothering you right now?”

“Yes, Jaehyun,” He replied immediately, “I’m a very clean person.”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Just let me tell my thing first and I’ll let you go.”

“I hate that you always have a condition before letting me go.”

“Well, what can I say?” He laughed, “You’re gonna like this one, though.”

“Funny,” Doyoung scoffed, “Why is that every time you say that it’s almost certain that I will not like it?”

Jaehyun stared at him in silence, half smile decorating his face.

“So?” Doyoung frowned, “What is it?”

“You look cute when you’re pissed at me.”

“What?”

“I mean,” He licked his lips, “That you’re wrong.”

“About what?” Doyoung frowned even more, not processing a single information in that conversation.

“Many things,” Jaehyun slid down the hand he had on his arm and started playing with Doyoung’s fingers, “But mainly about what I wanted to tell you today.”

“What…” Doyoung glared at the hand nearly holding his, “What are you doing?”

Jaehyun approached their faces even more and stopped with his lips nearly touching his ear.

“Telling you I’m not really straight,” He whispered, making his ear tingle a little.

For a moment, Doyoung forgot how to speak his own language. The only thing going on inside his brain was how bad he wanted to go outside to run in circles around that entire field as he screamed his lungs out. Jaehyun moved his head and locked eyes with him, analyzing the slightly panicked gaze before him. He slowly approached Doyoung and pressed their lips together. Jaehyun broke off the simple kiss almost immediately, like he was just testing the water.

“Is this okay?” He asked, still whispering.

Doyoung’s mind was blank so far, his eyes still transmitting panic.

“What…” He tried to say something, but his throat was too dry. He frowned and tried again, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jaehyun chuckled.

“Means I find you very cute and I’m asking for permission to kiss you. Can I?”

Doyoung stared at him dumbly. All those words were slowly stopping to sound so foreign to him and his reasoning seemed to be finally coming back.

“I mean, unless you want me to change clothes first, Mr. I Am A Very Clean Person,” Jaehyun joked.

“I actually do,” He said.

Jaehyun was speechless. His brain shortcircuited for a second and he didn’t really know what to do. Doyoung chuckled and immediately circled his arms around his neck.

“It’s a joke,” He displayed to him his first open smile, “Ever heard of them?”

Jaehyun was a tad bit taller than him, but fortunately nothing that would make it hard for Doyoung to take advantage of that moment he was stunned and seal their lips together. It was a relatively quick kiss, this time it was his turn to test the waters. As soon as he broke it off, he took the opportunity to shift places with him, now pressing Jaehyun against the locker and initiating another kiss.

This time both of them were aware of what was going on, so it all happened more intensely. In no time, Doyoung asked for passage with his tongue and what previously started as a timid kiss, was now quickly escalating and turning into something way more passionate. Jaehyun had his arms holding his waist and Doyoung had a hand on his cheek and the other on his neck, both of them completely immersed in the kiss they had been yearning for so long.

Suddenly, there was a noise coming from the other side. Someone had just opened the door and, with both getting startled, the kiss ceased again. Doyoung analyzed his own clothes as he walked a few steps back, distancing himself from Jaehyun. They’re wet with sweat and probably stinking more than the ones from earlier. He looked at Jaehyun with a reprehensible gaze.

“I offered to change,” He mouthed, “It’s your fault.”

“Is there anyone still here?” The other person asked.

“Coach, I’m still here,” Jaehyun took a few steps aside and probably showed himself to the man.

“You out of all people? So late?”

“I was talking to my mom on the phone and got distracted,” He gave a short laugh, “I haven’t even showered yet.”

“God, Jung,” The man sighed, “I need to lock up here, can you change to your spare clothes and shower at home? It’s late already.”

“No problem, coach,” He smiled, “Sorry I’m bothering your Friday night.”

“I’ll let it slide since you won today. Now hurry up,” He said and closed the door.

Jaehyun turned around and found Doyoung with his arms crossed against his chest, a grumpy expression covering his face. 

"What?"

"You have such a big brain," He rested his back on the wall, "We're lucky he came inside to check, but what if he didn't? We would be locked here until Monday."

Jaehyun opened a locker and picked a few pieces of clothes.

"You talk as if you would hate that," He chuckled.

"I certainly would," Jaehyun had his back facing him, but he was sure there was an eye roll there at some point, "Two entire days stuck with you and your annoying-" Doyoung suddenly stopped talking, "What are you doing?"

Jaehyun had just taken off his shirt and paused with his hand on his pants.

"Changing," He slightly turned his head to the side and smiled, "Why? Interested?"

Doyoung choked.

"Why would I?"

Jaehyun laughed.

"You don't have to keep pretending you hate me, you know?" He was now almost done dressing himself, "Forget it, even if you said you were it's not like we have time right now."

Doyoung wanted to bump his head against the wall. He had the entire school, the entire fucking school, and yet, he had to choose Jaehyun.

"Let's go," He turned around and found Doyoung with his typical 'you effortlessly make me tired' face and smiled, "Oh yeah, just remembered something."

"What did you remember?" Doyoung asked as he followed him to the exit of the locker room.

"I told everyone if we won, they could go to my house to party," He paused and looked back at him, "You're obligated to go."

"Obligated." Doyoung emphasised.

"Yes," Jaehyun opened the door, "Because you live right next to me and because you haven't congratulated me for winning."

"You did nothing more than your own obligation."

Jaehyun laughed at him.

"Alright, let me rephrase it," He turned his body to face him and started walking backwards, "I'd really like if you could go."

"What's in there for me?"

"Me," Jaehyun smiled and watched the other rolling his eyes, "Wait, do you need any other reason to go?"

Doyoung sighed.

"First, you ruined my clothes," He complained, "Second, you know how I feel about crowds."

"First, we can go to your house so you can take a shower and change," He presented the first solution, "Second, we then go to my place, I do the same and we stay in my room just chilling."

Doyoung raised his eyebrows.

"What's the point of going to the party, then?"

"I don't really care about it. I just have to show my face once, which is when we arrive, to say I was there. And also, it's my house, at some point I need to be there. So?"

"If you don't care about the party, then why should I go?" He frowned and heard Jaehyun sigh.

"Do, it's not about the party," Doyoung's eyes trembled with the sudden nickname, "Guess I just want to be with you tonight, if that makes any sense. So, uhm, yeah… Anyway, do you wanna come?"

"Uhm…" Those last words made him realise everything that happened earlier inside the locker room was actually real, "Okay, I guess I can go."

"Great," Jaehyun smiled big, "I like how you didn't complain about the nickname, I'm gonna be using that from now on."

Doyoung sighed.

"You can call me Jae, this way we're gonna be even."

"I am not going to call you that."

Only when they arrived in front of Doyoung's house, he recalled he had to explain to his father that his son was willingly going to a party and had no exact time to be back. He felt like it would be more believable if he told him he was going to rob a bank.

"Dad, I'm home."

"Where were you? Our neighbours' party?" He joked.

"Actually," He looked at Jaehyun, "Not yet."

"What do you mean?" His father appeared in front of them, "Oh, hi."

"Dad, do you remember Jaehyun?" He cleared his throat, "Our neighbour."

"Yeah, I do," He smiled, "Did Doyoung answer you?"

"With much effort, but he did," Jaehyun smiled back.

"So, uhm…" Doyoung didn't know where to start, "Jaehyun invited me to…"

"Yeah, yeah, just go change your clothes," His father interrupted him, "Hurry, before you change your mind. I'll talk to Jaehyun while that."

Doyoung threw an apologetic look at Jaehyun.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't apologise," He waved his hand, indicating for him to go, "Your dad treats me better than you do."

Thirty minutes later, Doyoung appeared by the stairs dressed with tight black pants, a black turtleneck and a discreet and equally black make up in his eyes. In overall, it could be considered a simple look, but that was Doyoung and Jaehyun was affected by literally anything the other did. So seeing him dressed like that, especially with his fair skin being accentuated by all those dark elements, Jaehyun felt like he could kiss him right then and there.

"I'm ready," He told them.

"I can see," His father said, "Have fun, don't worry about the time."

Doyoung nodded and waited for Jaehyun to finish saying goodbye to his dad so they could head out. Only when they were already outside he spoke again.

"He didn't say anything weird, right?"

"He didn't," He chuckled, "Don't worry."

"Good," He let out a light sigh.

"Hey," Jaehyun stopped walking and turned to watch him, "You look amazing, I really wanna kiss you right now," He bit his lower lip, "But I won't, I don't want people to see us and make you uncomfortable," He looked around with an impatient look, "When we go in, you can walk fully to the right and you're gonna find the stairs. After you go up, my room is the second door on the left," He put his hand inside his pocket, fished a key and handed it to him.

"Aren't you coming with me?" Doyoung frowned as he picked the key.

"I think the two of us arriving together and directly going to my room might be a little weird," He laughed, "You can lock the door after you go in, so no one tries to enter. There's a spare key in the kitchen, I'll go get it. But I won't take long, I promise," He paused and then kept talking, "And don't tell me you don't trust me with promises, we've progressed way beyond that point already."

Doyoung looked at him in silence for a few seconds.

"Full right and then second door on the left?"

Jaehyun nodded with a smile.

Doyoung took a deep breath and entered the house on his own. He kept his head low as he walked to the direction Jaehyun instructed, just in case there was someone there that knew him. 

It was surprisingly easy for him to defeat the sweaty crowd and reach the second floor. There were some drunk people by the stairs and some others talking in the corridor, but fortunately there was no one in front of the door he needed to unlock. 

As soon as he entered, he locked it again as he took a deep breath. He made it. He survived the nightmare. Now he just had to wait for Jaehyun. Looking around, Doyoung noticed the room was slightly different from what he had seen through the crack of his curtains. There was a large bed in the middle, a TV hanging by the ceiling in front of it and a videogame by the floor. On the other side of the room there was a glass door and beside it was an empty desk with a wall-sized mirror.

There was another door inside the room, probably the bathroom, and it was on his left, while on his right there was a big and white wardrobe. The room wasn't absurdly big and it wasn't small to the point of making you feel smothered. Doyoung decided to go to the veranda the owner of the room had previously used to bother him and sat on one of the chairs outside, taking out his phone and waiting for him to show up.

Just like he said before, Jaehyun really didn't take long to go upstairs. Doyoung confirmed on his phone it had been less than ten minutes since they last saw each other outside.

"Hey," He said, approaching him holding two bottles, "Did I make you wait?"

Doyoung shook his head negatively.

"I brought alcohol, do you drink? There's gin and vodka."

"Yeah, I like both."

"Alright, I'll be right back, then. Just gonna take a shower and change my clothes, ok?" Doyoung nodded, "And don't be so polite, you can lay on the bed or whatever if you want."

"It's alright, I like it here."

Jaehyun nodded and then took a step forward, but something made him hesitate to do whatever he wanted to do and he ended up turning away, heading to his bathroom.

Less than ten minutes later, he was back inside the room. Shirtless and with a simple towel around his waist. He and Doyoung exchanged a look.

"Like what you see?" Jaehyun asked maliciously.

Doyoung wanted to say yes, but he didn't want to feed Jaehyun's ego, so he simply pretended his phone was more important to him.

"Go get dressed, stop messing around."

Jaehyun pouted, frustrated.

"Okay, but I'm gonna get changed over here, so if you want to look you can just raise your head."

Doyoung didn't move, eyes fixed on his phone screen.

"God, you're so frustrating," He complained, "I can't believe you're missing this opportunity."

Neither can I, Doyoung thought.

"I'm good, thanks."

When Jaehyun finished getting dressed he approached Doyoung and immediately caught his phone, locking it right away. Doyoung looked back at him with a stressed face.

"I deserve more attention than Candy Crush, Doyoung," He protested.

"Do you?"

Jaehyun put the phone on the table where he had left the bottles earlier and then pulled Doyoung inside the room by the arm. He rested both his arms on his shoulders and initiated a slow kiss.

"Do you wanna drink something?" He asked when they separated.

"Yeah, anything is fine," He replied and went to sit on his bed.

"Uhm… I just realised I forgot to bring glasses." He pretended to be frustrated.

"Jaehyun, please," Doyoung laughed, "We just kissed, I don't think saliva is an actual problem."

"I know," He kneeled on the bed and gave him another quick kiss, "I was trying to get you to smile."

Doyoung rolled his eyes and took the bottle from his hand, drinking from it. Jaehyun threw himself beside him and laid there with his hand supporting his head. Doyoung offered him the bottle, but he refused, so he put it on the ground.

He turned to look at the person laying by his side and smiled. Jaehyun quirked up his eyebrows, surprised with the rare and spontaneous act suddenly coming from the other. Doyoung adjusted himself and half laid on his body, initiating another kiss between them. He had just drank the vodka, so his lips tasted like cherry, and Jaehyun probably loved that more than he should. He deepened the kiss and held him by the waist, while Doyoung took advantage to fully be on top of him, one hand directly in contact with the skin of his waist.

"God," Jaehyun said as soon as they separated to recover their breaths, "I think I'm gonna become addicted to this." 

"You mean this vodka?" He asked, slightly breathless.

"You," He quickly kissed him again and Doyoung chuckled, "Come on, do you still think I'm not worth that much?"

Doyoung pretended to be thinking really hard just to see the other getting offended at it and then he laughed again as he leaned to kiss his lips.

"Why do you have to be so mean to me?" Jaehyun complained as Doyoung slowly used his finger to draw circles on his chest, "This is probably the third time I'm hearing you laugh in my entire life and it's only because you're happy I'm frustrated."

"I can't help it," Doyoung smiled, "You said I look cute whenever I'm pissed, you look cute when you're frustrated."

The room was slightly dark, only being illuminated by a weak light coming from one of the lampshades next to the bed, but Doyoung could see the exact moment Jaehyun's cheeks and ears had gotten red. He couldn't help but smile even more.

"Wait, did I just make you shy?"

"No," Jaehyun covered his ears with his hands.

Doyoung laughed and kissed him under one of his eyes.

"It's also red over here," He whispered.

Jaehyun moved his hands and covered his face.

"Leave me alone," He said with a muffled voice.

"No," Doyoung smiled next to his ear and bit him there, slightly starting Jaehyun.

"Hey," He removed his hands, "Low move. Don't do that if we're not doing it."

Doyoung slowly kissed his lobe.

"Are we not?" 

"Do you want to?" Jaehyun asked him, "No pressure."

Doyoung replied with a short laugh.

"It's not my first time, Jae."

There it was, the word responsible for nearly making Jaehyun faint.

"I didn't think it was, I was just-" He decided to stop talking after he felt Doyoung holding him by his chin and kissing his mandible.

He pulled away, sitting on his legs and bending his body to grab the bottle on the ground and drink from it again. He finished with a sour face and passed it to Jaehyun.

"Top or bottom?" 

Jaehyun paused.

"I'm ok with whatever you want."

Doyoung frowned.

"What do you want?"

Jaehyun put the now empty bottle down and gazed at him deeply, silent for a moment, as if he was still processing the question. His eyes passed by his red lips, his dishevelled turtleneck, his slightly messy hair, his smudged eye make up and stopped by his strong hands.

"Bottom. You're looking too…" He suspired, "Anyway, next time I-" He stopped, realising what he had just said.

Doyoung ran a hand through his hair and smiled at him.

"Alright, I'll look forward to next time, then. Anything you want me to know for today, though?"

Jaehyun smiled, slightly relieved to know Doyoung would also want to continue whatever that was in the future.

"I will do literally anything you tell me to do."

He smiled at his answer and started another kiss. This time the cherry flavour was even stronger than before. Doyoung was now slightly tipsy, all the alcohol he had was finally starting to make some effect, and now he was feeling every emotion a tad bit more strong than he normally would. Their kiss eventually became sloppy, the vodka they just had wasn't letting their reasoning work as fast as their tongues were craving for each other.

Doyoung put a hand over his chest and pressed him down against the bed, using the other one to play with Jaehyun's earlobe. He wanted to kiss him for longer, but he also wanted to do more. Doyoung held him by his chin once again and made him turn his head to the side, slowly kissing the entire area of his mandible. He initially wanted to stop for a moment and leave a quick kiss on his partially open lips, but that movement made Jaehyun hold his face with both of his hands, deepen it and not let him back off like he wanted to. That made Doyoung smile between their kiss.

"What is it?" Jaehyun asked with their lips nearly touching each other again.

"Nothing," Doyoung kissed the corner of his mouth, "I was just thinking this feels way better than I thought it would be."

Jaehyun pulled him close again and fervently started making out with him. He really wasn't joking when he said he was going to get addicted to that person.

Doyoung pulled away and started leaving slow deep kisses on the length of his neck. He did that as he used one of his hands to play with Jaehyun's earlobe once again and the other to open a few buttons of the shirt he was wearing.

"Can I leave marks?" He asked between the kisses he was now leaving on his collarbone.

"You can do whatever you want."

Doyoung gave a short nasal laugh and started sucking the area. Jaehyun instinctively put a hand behind his head, but did not really apply any pressure. Doyoung moved back up and left a kiss just a few millimetres under his left ear. Jaehyun's breath became a little shaky, making the other realise he seemed to be sensitive about that specific part of his body. Doyoung left another kiss there, this time longer than before, and then slowly started sucking his skin. The hand Jaehyun had by his waist tightened its grip.

He kissed his Adam's apple deeply and then moved away to take a good look at the one under his body and the work he had gotten done so far. There were a few marks all over his neck and some others on the upper part of his chest. He smiled, seemingly satisfied about all of that. Doyoung decided to go back to what he had started earlier and finish unbuttoning Jaehyun's shirt button by button. Each time he undid one, he would leave a kiss on the new piece of skin being exposed.

When the entire shirt was open, he moved his hand to the belt around his waist and Jaehyun bit his lower lip in anticipation. As Doyoung calmly finished removing the belt, he unbuttoned his trousers and started pulling down the zipper of it. He took a quick glance at Jaehyun's expression and bent down to kiss him as he leisurely slid his right hand inside the other party's underwear. Jaehyun circled his arms around his neck as they kissed and let out a soft moan when the other started moving his hand over his length.

Doyoung stopped the kiss and pulled away, now starting to leave marks on his chest as he played with one of his nipples. Jaehyun held the back of his head a little drowsily, not really knowing how exactly he should express his internal frustrations and, at the same time, still get the other to keep going with what he was doing. He moved away and studied the marked chest in front of him, smiling as he used his hands to help the other finish taking his pants and underwear off. Jaehyun pulled him close when he was done.

“This isn’t fair, you’re still wearing all of your clothes,” He complained with their faces close, making Doyoung giggle.

“That impatient, Jae?” He asked with a hint of a smile still lingering in his lips, kissed him and put his hands over the bar of his shirt.

“God,” Jaehyun suspired as he helped Doyoung take it off, “I regret asking you to call me that,” He said after throwing the shirt on the floor and feeling up his now naked chest.

Doyoung silently smiled and adjusted his body on the bed, approaching his crotch. He left a kiss next to his waist and slowly slid his fingers along the inner part of one of his thighs. Jaehyun’s breath shook a tad and he supported his body on the bed using his elbows so he could get a better look at him. It was not like the thought of actually having sex with Doyoung that night didn’t cross his mind earlier that day, but now that it was actually happening he couldn’t help but feel a little overjoyed with every little thing the other did with him.

Doyoung put his hand on his thigh making some pressure as he moved his lips against the skin of the other one and let slow kisses in the area. At the same time the other wanted him to act faster, he also didn’t want to let go of that sensation, so he ended up not protesting over the situation he was in. There was suddenly a loud noise of something breaking downstairs and he was about to get worried about the scolding he would get, but fortunately Doyoung didn’t take long to advance and that helped him get distracted. He held him with the hand previously free and started to slowly jerk him off as he now used his mouth to suck his balls in the same rhythm his hand was using. 

He chose to pull away for a moment and look at him. Seeing the pleasure on his face, he lowered his head again to start sucking the head mildly, using his tongue to circle it and occasionally leave light licks on the slit. Jaehyun once again held him by his nape, but this time he exerted force to dictate his movements on him. As the intensity of it got increased, he took the opportunity to slightly move his face and lock eyes with the one before him.

Jaehyun moved his hand and held him by his chin just like he had done to him earlier. He made him lift his face and slowly guided him for a kiss. Doyoung was about to press him against the bed again when the other exchanged their positions and did to him exactly what he wanted to do to Jaehyun.

“Thought you’re probably feeling uncomfortable,” He smiled as he now helped Doyoung take off his trousers, receiving a kiss as a response.

Now that they’re both fully naked, Jaehyun held him down for another kiss and slightly rubbed their members against each other, getting a low moan from Doyoung, who had just gotten touched for the first time since the night began. There were people screaming and loud music echoing through the entire house, but that was the only sound he could care about in that moment. Jaehyun ceased their kiss so he could give his neck the same treatment his got before, kissing and biting him between shaky breaths and moans.

Before, he hadn’t gotten a chance to give Doyoung’s bare chest proper attention, so now he was doing his best to take his time between their actions to do that, appreciate his small waist and meticulously feel his slim but strong muscular figure.

“God,” He left a kiss on his collarbone, “You’re so fucking sexy.”

Doyoung answered him with a short nasal laugh, holding his face with both hands and bringing him close for another kiss. He propelled their bodies up and kept kissing him as they both kneeled on the bed, his hands exploring his back while the other held his nape and waist. 

“Still want to be on the bottom today?” He asked, leaving a kiss on one of the marks he left earlier on his neck.

“If you could see yourself right now you wouldn’t be asking me that,” He let out a short laugh and pressed their bodies together, “I do."

Just as he finished saying that, he lowered his body and put him inside his mouth. He started slowly, making Doyoung instinctively move his hips back and forth seeking more pleasure.

“Look at me,” He ordered and smiled when the other obeyed him.

He stopped moving when Jaehyun had him entirely inside his mouth and nearly choked.

“You can fuck my mouth if you want,” He said and then put him inside his mouth again, eyes locked with his.

Doyoung smirked and did as suggested, occasionally letting out dragged moans due to the stimulation. When Jaehyun started gagging, he moved away and studied him with a smile for a moment. He had red teary eyes and a bit of cum on the corners of his lips. Doyoung wiped it with his thumb and lowered himself to give him a kiss. 

“Lube?” He asked when they separated again.

He pointed at a drawer with his chin and Doyoung turned his body to open it, taking the bottle inside of it. Jaehyun was now busy leaving slow kisses on the back of his shoulder.

“Do you have any condoms?”

“Also there,” He left another kiss at that same place.

Doyoung turned back at him and circled his arms around his neck, shaking his head negatively.

“Did you search the entire drawer?” Jaehyun frowned and watched him nod, making him sigh and go silent for a few seconds, “We could… I mean, I don’t mind if we…”

“Are you sure?” Jaehyun paused and then nodded at him, “One hundred percent?”

“Yes,” This time he didn’t hesitate, saying it and proceeding to kiss him.

Doyoung helped him lay down on a pillow and initiated another kiss between them, reaching for the bottle without separating from him.

“I want you to do something for me,” He said after a while, getting his fingers wet with the liquid inside the bottle.

Jaehyun waited for him to continue with a curious look, getting a tad surprised when the other grabbed his hand and made him hold his own member. Doyoung slightly rubbed his wet fingers against his entrance and whispered something to him.

“I want you to play with yourself while I do this,” He inserted a finger inside him and watched as his breath failed for a second.

Jaehyun did as he was told, slowly stroking himself, while Doyoung moved that single finger inside of him. He bent down and initiated a sloppy kiss, appreciating the short sounds of him feeling a little breathless.

“You’re so pretty like this, Jae,” He murmured between their kiss, “I could fuck you right now.”

As soon as he said that, he added another finger and heard him let out a low moan. He broke off the kiss to use his free hand to stop Jaehyun’s movements and help him lay on his stomach, proceeding to guide his arm above his head, pressing it against the headboard. He fastened the movement of his fingers and watched him shut his eyes as he breathed using his mouth. Doyoung added a third finger when he felt the other could already take it and freed that arm so he could use his hand to bring his face closer and start another kiss between the two of them, this time a little clumsy due to the position they were.

When he removed his fingers he heard him whine next to his mouth as a complaint, although it didn’t last long, since Doyoung happened to be quick with the bottle of lube and was already positioning himself to enter him. They kept kissing until he felt Jaehyun’s body relaxing under his, meaning he had already gotten used to his size, and he decided to start moving inside of him. One thing he learned that night about Jaehyun was that he would immediately shut his eyes no matter how weak the stimulation on him was. That being said, he really loved that particular opportunity he got to watch him losing his reasoning and slowly sinking into pleasure. But what he really wanted in that moment was to make eye contact with him, so he made him turn his body again, laying on his back, and ordered him one more time as he increased the frequency of the movement of his hips.

“Jae,” He said between his slightly tired breath, “Look at me when I’m fucking you.”

At that very same moment, he hit a certain spot inside of him and Jaehyun shut his eyes even tighter, moaning relatively loud. Doyoung held him strongly by his mandible and tilted his head up a tad.

“What did I just tell you to do?”

He seemed to be making some effort, slowly opening his eyes and locking them with his, but still keeping them half closed. Doyoung smiled at the scene before him, how hard he was trying to do what he got told to, and bent down to leave a kiss on his mouth, feeling their lips briefly vibrate as they both let out low moans. So far, Jaehyun had been grabbing his bedsheets, looking for some support, but now he had shifted to circle his arms around Doyoung and pressed his nails firmly against his back. 

“Do,” It wasn’t clear if he was purposely calling him like that or if he found it hard to finish the word since he let out a long moan right after that.

“Hm?” He made the short sound, inquiring him.

Jaehyun pointed with his head at the other side of the room and he followed his gaze, stopping by the empty desk and the mirror he had seen earlier when he arrived in the room.

“There?” He asked, a little breathless, and received a quick nod from Jaehyun.

He slowly ceased his movements and removed himself from him, bending down for a quick kiss. Doyoung got out of the bed and pulled him by the hand, leading him to the other side of the room and then helping him to position himself there, putting one leg over the desk and the other one on the ground. He watched as Jaehyun, focused on the image the mirror in front of him was reflecting, licked his lips. Doyoung smiled and entered him again, receiving a dragged low moan as a response.

This time, he was now enjoying the opportunity and fucked him hard and fast, feeling even more pleasure than before, since this time he could watch the other struggling to keep his eyes open and discover how wrecked he looked as he watched himself sedulously taking Doyoung. He pulled Jaehyun by his hair and approached him, pressing his lips next to his ear.

“Are you enjoying the show, baby?” He whispered between heavy breaths, “Enjoying how you’re getting railed by me?”

Jaehyun arched his back and moaned aloud, fingers going white with the strength he was exerting on the desk. Doyoung smiled, leaving a kiss by his nape and using his free hand to start stroking him leisurely.

“Where do you want me to come?” He asked with his voice slightly hoarse.

“Inside,” He heard Jaehyun plead between his mess of moans, "Don't fucking stop."

He let go of his hair and held his waist, trying to increase his rhythm even more. Jaehyun’s head dropped but he was still doing his best to keep his eyes fixed on the mirror in front of them. With a mix of both their moans, Doyoung released inside him. As Jaehyun watched his expression in that particular moment, eyes firmly shut and moist lips faintly opened, he felt like there weren’t screams, things breaking or any explosive music ringing inside his ears. There was nothing else but them. Only Jaehyun, Doyoung and that wave of pleasure. Holding onto that thought, he couldn’t take it anymore and came on the hand involving him. 

The sensation he felt was too strong, it was like his legs had turned into jelly and he simply couldn’t support himself anymore, but thankfully, Doyoung put his arms around his waist and held him from behind. He had already removed himself from him by then, so he carefully turned Jaehyun around and helped him sit on the desk, delicately holding him by his shoulders.

“Are you ok?” He whispered, and fortunately, they’re close enough for him to be able to hear him.

Jaehyun nodded.

“Are you sure?” Doyoung asked, moving his hand and tenderly rubbed his thumb against his neck.

“Just tired,” He said with a faint smile, “Can you help me go to the bed?”

“Was I too rough? Sorry, I think I overdid it,” Doyoung apologised as he put an arm over his shoulder and the other around his waist.

“It’s alright,” He chuckled, “It’s how I like it, anyway.”

Doyoung helped him lay down and observed him with a faint smile.

“I’m scared I’m gonna sleep and when I wake up I’ll find out all these smiles I’m getting from you were actually a dream,” He giggled with a sleepy voice.

“I’ll try to smile a bit more from now on, so you don’t have to worry,” Doyoung said next to him and started playing with his hair.

“Doyoung?”

“Hm?”

“Can you… Uhm… Do you want to stay?”

“If you want me to, yeah.”

“Good,” He moved his hand and slightly rubbed it against Doyoung’s, “Then, please, stay with me,” It was the last thing he said before completely blacking out. 

Doyoung looked at him with fond eyes, imagining how tired he probably was. Running the entire field earlier and having to deal with a round of rough sex now. I’d have probably dropped dead right in the first fifteen minutes of the first one, he thought with himself. He got up and went after a towel so he could clean Jaehyun, himself and the entire mess they made inside the room. When he was done, only the bedsheets needed to be changed. He concluded he absolutely had no physical strength to lift Jaehyun on his own, so he simply removed the sheets and took them to the bathroom. He then dressed himself with his underwear and went to look for his phone so he could at least text his father about the fact he would be staying the night. After concluding everything was now nice and clean, he joined the other boy on the bed.

"Congratulations for the win, Jae," He whispered as he left a kiss on his forehead, already feeling drowsy.

The last thing he saw before finally falling asleep was Jaehyun's peaceful face with a hint of a smile.

On Saturday, Jaehyun was the first one to wake up. He found himself hugging Doyoung from behind and had a little mental breakdown as he pondered if he was the one who initiated the contact at some point during the night or if the other had done it before going to sleep. Before he could discuss with himself if he should or not stay like that, he felt Doyoung's body moving and soon found him facing himself with sleepy eyes.

"Morning," He said with the corner of his lips slightly tilted upwards. A smile?

"Good morning," Jaehyun smiled, "How was your sleep?"

"Pretty good," He rubbed his eyes with his hands and what was left of the make up from last night got even more smudged, "You're not exactly the worst at hugs."

"I'm gonna take this as a compliment because I know that's the best I'm gonna get."

Doyoung put a hand over his mouth and laughed.

"Why are you being so polite?" Jaehyun asked as he supported his head on his hand.

"Morning halitosis," He explained, "So don't even try to kiss me," He shrugged, "Kissing in the morning is gross, I don't know how people do tha-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because Jaehyun put his lips over his and tried to kiss him. 

"Jaehyun!" He pushed him away, enraged, "What did I just say?"

"I thought you knew I like it when you're mad," He smiled coquettishly. 

"You do that again and I'll push you off the bed."

"Speaking of that," He pointed at the bed, "Sheets?"

"Look at my arms," He sat up, "Do you really think I have enough strength to move you?"

Jaehyun laughed and moved the hand supporting his head to support himself on the bed and lift his body, approaching Doyoung and kissing him again. This time he corresponded, making Jaehyun lay on his elbows as he got on top of him, carefully avoiding his waist, and kissed him more deeply.

"Still gross?" Jaehyun asked after they separated.

"Yeah," He said, laying his head on his chest, "A little less gross, though. But just a little."

Jaehyun laughed and remembered what he wanted to do last night before going inside the bathroom. This time he didn't stop himself and simply left a kiss on the top of Doyoung's head as he hugged him by the shoulder. A small smile appeared on the lips of the other.

"Fuck," He whispered after noticing something.

"What?" Doyoung looked at him.

"I forgot to ask you yesterday if I could leave visible marks on you," He made a helpless face, "I hope you don't mind, but if you do I suggest you not to look at yourself in the mirror."

Doyoung laughed at him being stupid.

"You're lucky I don't mind," He sighed, "But thanks to you I'm gonna have to wear turtlenecks for the entire week."

"Why go through all that trouble?"

"Oh, yeah, Jaehyun," He rolled his eyes, "First, unlike you, I have some dignity. Second, our friends might be a little slow, but I think they'd notice that we would appear with hickeys at the same time."

Jaehyun laughed at him.

"Johnny already knows, can't you tell Yuta and Ten?"

"What do you mean Johnny fucking already knows?"

"Yesterday when he wanted to talk to you privately I freaked out thinking you guys would… I don't know, go somewhere and start making out?" He laughed bitterly, "So I told him I was planning to kiss you after the game and he was like "Good for you, but why exactly are you telling me this right now?" , so… Yeah, anyway."

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry," Doyoung buried his face on his chest.

"Please, laugh," Jaehyun said, "I don't know what to do when people cry."

Doyoung ended up spending the entire morning there, particularly moved by Jaehyun's attempt to emotionally manipulate him saying he needed to clean the house, but couldn't move around properly because his waist had been nearly destroyed last night. That kind of excuse wouldn't normally work, especially if considering it was coming from Jaehyun, but he felt in a good mood after everything that happened the day before, so he ended up doing what the other wanted. When the house was in order again, the owner celebrated that they were finally done and, again, normally Doyoung would curse him without restraint, but as soon as he was about to do that, Jaehyun came to him and initiated a kiss. Well, it's not like he could complain about that or anything, right?

"Do, do you smoke?" He asked as he prepared lunch for them, the first chore he did ever since he woke up.

"It depends," Doyoung was sitting on one of the kitchen counters watching him, "Aren't your parents home?"

"Out for the weekend," He turned around with a smile, "Weed?"

"Yeah," He picked his phone and scrolled through his notifications, "They left a kid alone?"

"Shut it, I even know how to cook," He furrowed his eyebrows, "I know I've taken a lot of your time already, but do want to stay for the afternoon? There's still alcohol inside the fridge, so we could drink and smoke or... I don't know, anything you want to do."

Right at that moment, Doyoung realised Jaehyun's life wasn't exactly how he had pictured before. Whenever he was asked something, he would immediately say anything was fine, willing to do whatever the other person wanted to do. It was never about him. He recalled how the only time he had seen him with someone that wasn't exclusively Johnny was when he was with Doyoung and his friends, his teammates during practice or when he was at a random party about to make out with some girl. He also could point out the fact he would rarely see his parents' car there during the weekend and how that was basically why Jaehyun could throw his parties every week. And now he was subtly asking to stay and make him some company. Stopping to analyse the situation, his life seemed pretty… lonely.

"I mean, if you don't want to stay it's fine, too."

"I want to," Doyoung answered him, "Hurts like hell to admit, but you're not exactly a terrible company."

Jaehyun laughed.

"That's progress."

Jaehyun was super concentrated, trying his best to roll a blunt and prove to Doyoung he did know how to do it properly.

"Jae, I get it. You know how to do it," Doyoung put a hand over his wrist, "Now, please, get the lighter."

Jaehyun paused and looked at him in silence.

"Sorry," Doyoung removed his hand, thinking the other wasn't happy with the sudden touch.

"It's not that," He started, "I only got surprised about how you just called me."

"It's not the first time I call you like that, though," Doyoung frowned, "If you don't like being touched-"

"It's not that," He repeated and gave a short laugh, picking up the lighter, "You did call me like that last night, but I thought you were only doing it for pleasure purposes and shit."

"'Pleasure purposes'?" Doyoung laughed out loud and lightly hit his arm, "What the actual fuck, Jae?"

Jaehyun stared at the place where he just got hit and passed him the blunt with a coquettish smile.

"So you're only gonna call me like that from now you?"

"Dream on," Doyoung scoffed and took a puff, but after seeing Jaehyun's weirdly blank expression he decided to keep talking, "Only when we're alone, I guess."

Jaehyun got it back and did the same, approaching Doyoung and resting his head on his shoulder.

"I like it here," He said, after a while.

"My shoulder?" He joked, aware he was actually talking about the moment itself.

"Yeah," Jaehyun giggled, "Exactly."

Doyoung got startled. He discreetly looked at him and found Jaehyun with his eyes closed and a genuine smile decorating his lips. He thought about his reasoning from earlier, analysing the entire picture and confirming whatever he said next would probably settle lots of things about their futures. Or their future.

"I like it here, too," He ended up saying after taking a long puff.

"Where? The corner of my living room?" Jaehyun laughed.

"God, Jae," He laughed as well, "Don't ruin the mood, you know what I mean."

He handed the blunt to him and watched as he removed his head off his shoulder, taking a puff as he looked inside his eyes. 

"Yeah, I do," He suddenly said with a smile, circling his free arm around his neck and pulling him for a kiss.

Fortunately, Doyoung seemed to have said the right thing.