#ANYWAY BACK TO SCROLLING I GO AND THEN BED??? BUT IM WIRED | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cloud-9ine · 3 years

Text

Cable Shocks

⤷ pairing - denki kaminari x reader

⤷ fandom - bnha

⤷ warnings - slight angst, hurt/comfort, illness, exploitation

⤷ summary - you notice the other class 1-a students using denki’s quirk for their favours, and you catch him later paying the price

⤷ word count - 3.2k+

Denki Kaminari was a giver.

He gave his help, he gave his laughter, he gave his love, and recently, he was beginning to give himself, too.

It started off innocently: he showed the Class 1-A students his party trick- look at that, he can charge phones! After that, the others had regularly come to him in need of their devices being charged, or electricity constantly pumped into something that only he could provide. And Denki, being a giver, well, he never said no.

It didn’t matter to him that it would make him short circuit, it didn’t matter to him that they would laugh, it didn’t even matter to him that all he could taste every evening was acid.

Denki Kaminari was a giver, and he was prepared to give his life.

Your class common room was never empty. At any given time, there was always at least two of your classmates in there- no exceptions. If you wanted to make tea in the early morning, Iida and Yaoyorozu would greet you with beaming grins unbecoming of such an unnatural time. Alternatively, if you wanted to cry at 3 AM, you would lay your eyes on Tokoyami and Jirou plunged into the darkness, leaving you to wonder whether they were just acting off or if they were summoning a demon to curse those who have wronged them.

At this moment, Denki was sat on the centre sofa, three cables stuck between his teeth. Beside him sat Mina, eagerly chatting to Kirishima who sat opposite to her on a plush chair with Sero lounged over the arm of it. The three looked content, but you couldn’t help but notice the stiffness at which Denki was disposed, concentration knotting his brows as he worked on keeping the sparks flowing through the wires.

You slipped into the room, deciding on the space on the other side of Denki. The other occupants of the room gave you a quick hello before returning to their previous conversations. With the exception of Denki, obviously, who seemingly forgot his task the moment he heard your name mentioned. His eyes sparkled once he saw you, his head turning to the side as he opened his mouth to speak.

“Hey, Kaminari, you’re dropping the wires!” Sero snickered, eyeing up the way Denki looked down in alarm.

“Only 27%? Come on, I need more than that!” Mina whined, shoving the cables back into the spooked boy’s mouth. He looked at you apologetically, attempting to convey something with wild gestures that you couldn’t begin to comprehend. You laughed, patting the top of his head to quell his struggles.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just chill, yeah?” He paused, dropping his hands to his lap and nodding. You grinned, bumping your shoulder against his before pulling your phone out. Denki squinted at the object, as if it had personally offended him. Grinning, you shook your head.

“Fully charged. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” His expression softened, cheeks glowing a slight pink at your words. You shifted slightly to get more comfortable, ending up slumped against Denki’s side, who in return leaned into you.

“And so basically, I told him he was nuts, right?” The careless ramblings of Mina was enough to get you to relax, scrolling aimlessly through your friend’s Instagram posts. Ochako had posted a weirdly aesthetic picture of mochi, Midoriya had posted a picture of Ochako, Iida was posting about cyber-bullying, the works.

Being in physical contact with Denki while he was in charging mode, you noticed, made your hair float up like static electricity. You didn’t mind this, taking to flattening down your hair every once in a while during your relaxation. It was easy to let go with your classmates- the gentle lull of the voices of the others mixed with the pleasant buzz of Denki’s skin against yours made for a comforting experience that almost made you fall asleep.

“Hey dunce face!” Denki jumped at the sound of Bakugo’s voice, his elbow jutting into your side and forcing you to tense up. He didn’t seem to notice your subtle glare, however, as his attention was focused on the other boy that had slammed open the door (not that Bakugo seemed entirely angry today, but it was just his natural disposition that made every action of his aggressive).

“H-Hey bro! What’s up?” Bakugo didn’t respond to Kirishima’s words, further ignoring the similar muffled greeting that Denki managed to let out.

“I need this charged,” he grumbled, moving to Denki and shoving a fourth wire in his mouth. You frowned, eyeing up the two boys wearily. The screens of the current phones flashed, an indication that he wasn’t putting in enough charge. He gulped as Bakugo stomped back out the room, his eyes squeezing shut as he amped up the electricity.

As if a switch had been flipped, Denki’s blonde locks frizzed up before succinctly falling back down to his head. You stared at him, eyes widened as the wires dropped to the ground.

“Wheeeee!” His body fell into you, thumbs sticking out with a goofy smile painted onto his face. A small smile pushed passed your lips as you grabbed a pillow and placed it under his head just as he fell off your shoulder and into your lap.

“Oh my god! He’s buzzed out!” Mina cackled, grabbing her phone to snap a couple of photos as the others laughed.

“I love the guy, but my god is he dumb.” You bit your lip at Sero’s grin, angling Denki’s head away from the camera and raking your hands through his hair. His arms wrapped around your waist, pulling his face into your stomach as he rambled about something to do with being okay. It was hard to understand him in this state.

“Come on guys, not cool.” You mumbled, using your sleeve to wipe away a bit of drool on Denki’s chin.

“Ah, cheer up (Y/N)! He does this all the time- it doesn’t matter!” Kirishima’s words made a pit coil in your stomach, nausea prickling your throat.

“It doesn’t matter. Leave him alone.” Mina rolled her eyes.

“God, it’s not a big deal. It’s his own fault, anyway.” You couldn’t help the annoyance that fuelled the glare in your eyes, but you pushed it down with a harder bite to the inside of your cheek. There was the burst of something metallic that tinged your tongue, but you ignored it.

“Come on, Denki. Let’s go,” said boy didn’t seem to recognise your words until you propped him up so you could stand up before pulling him off the sofa. Seemingly slightly resigned by your actions, Mina dropped her phone into her lap, looking away. This didn’t stop the other two from laughing, however, the volume of their cackles only increasing as Denki fell into your back.

With a groan, you shoved your shoulder into the door to open it and letting Denki clamber through. You painstakingly led him into his dorm room, redirecting him away from every wall he tried to run into and each piece of furniture he rammed into his abdomen. Your phone was blowing up with notifications, but you elected to ignore that as you made sure he didn’t hit his head as he fell onto his bed.

You wrote him a quick note and stuck it on his door, turning around to make one last check that he wasn’t going to kill himself the moment you stepped out the door.

Come find me when you’re back to normal.

“(Y/N)…” he whined, hands reaching out for you as he rolled onto his side, eyes sparkling once he saw you. You sighed, moving to brush a strand of his hair behind his ear.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” It didn’t seem like he quite understood what you said, but the compliant nod and shining smile was enough to convince you he would be okay.

AlienQueen: [ATTACHMENT SENT]

[TheRaven, StarMan, MyChemicalHeadphones and 10 others liked this photo]

PinkQueen: guys!! look at kami asjadoawdhd

ALiteralRock: haha! you shoulda been there

Froggi: He’s been doing that more lately

Invisibitch: Good! It’s so funny!

PinkCake: hes so cute <33

GreenCake: It’s interesting how Denki has been ‘buzzing out’ more, but I suppose if he’s been using his quirk more often outside of training he could be slowly building a resistance.

BoomBoomBoy: Shut up.

IidaTenya: I sure hope he is safe!

TapeMan: nah, (Y/N) got im

You didn’t see Denki for the rest of the day.

When you stirred from your sleep, it was still dark. You felt a warmth building below your skin that spurred you to strip of your blanket, allowing it to fall into a crumpled heap onto the floor before creeping out the room. In the dead silence of the night, each one of your footfalls sounded like a bang to a drum.

The common room was empty that night. You squinted through the darkness, feeling your way to the sink to pour yourself a glass of water. You stilled in the quiet for a moment, letting the movement settle as you took a sip. There was always a sort of ringing once it got quiet enough, a small reminder that despite the fact you were alone in the dark, there was still something going on.

Click.

At the end of the hall, a light turned on, the orange glow a stark contrast from the deep shadows that plagued the area. You heard a quiet shuffling, before a muffled gagging sound rang out.

Eyes widening, you rushed as quietly as you could down the hall, nearly crashing into the door as you shoved your way into the bathroom.

Hunched over the sink, chest racking with coughs and gags was Denki, his eyes teary as they struggled to focus on you. A dark substance, almost completely black if it were not for the slightest translucency, dripped from his parted lips and into the basin, clashing against the pure white marble.

You clapped a hand to your mouth, willing down the tears that welled in your eyes.

“Denki… what?” You choked out, voice hoarse from the dryness that stung your throat. Denki attempted to push himself up, hands trembling and knuckles white as he gripped the side of the countertop.

“(Y/N)…” his voice shook as he reached up to wipe his mouth, taking a step back from you in a vain bid to pass you and leave. You quickly snapped the door shut, no longer caring whether you woke anyone up.

Click.

Denki weakly chuckled at the look on your face. The lock. He closed himself into the corner of the room, pressing his back against the wall.

“Look, I’m fine-“ He was cut off by himself, lurching back over the sink and coughing up more of the liquid.

“What is that?” You questioned, silent horror pinching your features. He turned on the tap, filling his hands with water and washing out his mouth. Darting to the toilet- and struggling to move in such closed quarters- you balled up a handful of toilet paper and wiped his mouth. He leaned into your touch, skin emanating heat and covered by a thin sheen of sweat.

“Battery acid.” You felt your knees go weak.

“What?”

“It’s battery acid. The more I overuse my quirk, the more likely this stuff is to accumulate in my throat,” he looked away from your piercing gaze, “it’s okay, really.”

“What part of this is okay?” You spat, voice wavering. Denki winced at your tone, turning to washing his mouth out with more water, “Does it hurt?” He paused, and that was all the confirmation he needed.

The two of you stood in silence for a moment, only the sound of running water interspersed the atmosphere. You reached over and turned it off, not acknowledging the shrill screech of the metal as you levelled Denki with an even stare.

“It’s from the charging.” He muttered, and your knuckles clenched.

“Of-fucking-course.” He cringed, a clammy palm feebly gripping your forearm. His eyes were desperate, frown twisting his expression into something you couldn’t bear to look at.

“Please, (Y/N), it’s okay,” he begged, a tear slipping out of his eye just at the same time you felt one trail down your cheek.

“It’s not okay, Denki. How long has this been happening?” He fell silent, and you could feel the anxiety coiling in the pit of your stomach.

“Four months.” In a split-second decision, you lunged forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and pushing your body into his. He nestled his face into your neck, hands coming to rest on your hips. Seemingly unable to keep it together any long, he crumbled, chest stuttering with every breath and his tears soaking the skin that was exposed by your nightshirt.

The silence of midnight began to creep in once again, only broken by the soft whimpers and sobs of the boy practically clutching onto you. You waited as long as you needed to until Denki had caught his breath, not counting the minutes yet painfully aware of each one as it passed.

“From now on, if someone asks you to charge anything, you say no, okay?” Denki frowned, rubbing away the tears in his eyes.

“I-“

“From now on, if someone asks you to charge anything, you say no, got it?” You spat, voice much firmer and tone a lot more sharp. He gulped, resigning to nodding with a sullen expression on his face.

“Are you good to go back to sleep? Or is there anything I need to do first?”

“It’s fine. You can go back now, don’t stay up for any longer.”

“I will do what I want, thanks.” you seethed, eyes glinting. Denki looked taken aback, glancing over your expression wearily.

“Uh…” “I am not going back to sleep unless you’re coming with me. You’re such an idiot-” you paused, “-but you’re my idiot, and there’s no way I’m letting the others treat you like this,“ you cupped his face, fingers pressing into pink cheeks as you angled his face to look at you, “if they want anything else from you, they have to go through me first.” Agape, he only nodded again, allowing you to grab his hand and pull him out the room.

Once he flicked the light off, the two of you were awash in darkness once again, but this seemed not to deter you. Rather, you traipsed across the corridor with a ridiculous amount of determination, only narrowly avoiding the various obstructions in the shadows.

“Here, let me light-“ Despite the little he could see, Denki could practically feel your burning glare. Bringing his hand down, he murmured an apology, musing in your little nod of satisfaction he could feel the motions of.

It only took you a few minutes to get to your room, pushing him inside and closing the door behind you. In spite of everything, Denki could feel heat rushing to his cheeks for an entirely different reason than his fever.

“(Y/N)?” He squeaked, hearing you fumble around the room yet not finding courage to stay anything but completely frozen.

“Yeah?” You questioned, voice low but feeling remarkably pleasant to his ears.

“This isn’t my room.”

“I know.”

“So why am I here?”

“Because I’m not leaving you alone. Come on, I’ve got the spare pillow.”

Denki currently didn’t have the energy to feel shame about the sparks excitement that welled up inside of him as he rushed to the sound of you getting on your bed. You held the blanket up for him, and he all but fell down next to you. The pounding of his heart was almost enough to distract him from the acrid burning of his throat.

You were warm, almost too warm as he shifted to be closer to you. Now that his eyes were getting adjusted, he could make out the expression on your face, eyebrows knotted in concern and eyes scanning all over him, as if searching for some sort of answer that he could only long to give you.

“I’m sorry.” He said it as if it meant anything. If it counted, he truly was. Denki didn’t want to make you worry- he wasn’t worth it. But that’s what you did. He would give too much, and you would worry tenfold.

It didn’t help that his eyes were still stinging and red-rimmed, or every once in a while a dry cough would tickle his throat. It didn’t help that he would wince every time he had to swallow, or that his palms were still clammy and he had to try to subtly wipe them on his shorts. It didn’t help that the pain almost became too much to handle, and he loved you too much to even lie about it.

He loved you- of course he did. How could he not? It was you. You, who stared at him with such adoration, even though he knew you were pissed off. You, who stood up for him even to his friends. You, who worried for him the first time he was buzzed out, and a thousand times later, still stayed with him and ran your fingers through his hair when he was barely conscious.

He watched your eyes strain to stay open, to keep watching him as he was watching you. Finally, they fluttered shut, your breathing evening out as you shuffled closer to him.

You, who got up in the middle of the night to protect him from himself.

He tucked your head under his chin, wrapping his arms around you waist with a gentle sigh. Under the cover of darkness, he confessed this. His words fell on deaf ears, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.

You, who, unlike anyone else, was determined to make him stop giving.

He couldn’t help but fall asleep, the sound of your soft breathing and the gentle rise and fall of your chest like a lullaby willing his eyes to close, comforted by the presence of your figure cuddled to his chest.

Denki Kaminari was a giver. And if there was anyone worth giving anything, it was you.

Extra:

Bakugo was not expecting to start his day in a chokehold.

It had started off innocently, Denki was playing a game on his phone, smug grin on his face, you were napping next to him, and the other losers he called his friends were on the sofas, eyes wide and backs straight. Sure, you could say he questioned the strange way his friends were acting, but he didn’t particularly care.

“Pikabitch, I need my phone-“

Bakugo prided himself on his quick instincts, but you were quicker.

In a second, your arm was wrapped around his throat, face dark and pressure increasing through his gasps.

“Say one more fucking word and you’re dead.” You growled, Bakugo’s fingers gripping your arm in a vain attempt to release himself from your hold, “Got it?” The blonde just managed to nod, coughing out once your arm withdrew from his neck. You settled back in your place beside Denki, sending him another sharp glare before returning to your nap.

Bakugo could only stare wide eyed, not quite sure what happened. All he could gather was that Denki was now off limits, and the others seemed to realise that too, if them cringing was anything to go by. With a gulp, he stormed out the common room.

Now he had to go get his charger.

288 notes · View notes

hyucks-archive · 5 years

Text

uncertainty.

word count: 10.2k

genre: fluff, kind of pest-to-lovers!au

member(s): donghyuck, ft. mark, renjun, jeno, jaemin, & jungwoo

warning(s): none, but probably bad language and typos...

author’s note: im embarrassed to post this thats all i gotta say i aint proud of it

“… as mentioned in the above statement…” you murmured under your breath while you continued to type out your essay. It was a quarter past midnight, and you were nearing the end of your 5,000-word essay. A cup of tea beside your laptop, papers sprawled across the table, a textbook resting on your lap, your hair in a messy bun, and your spectacles sliding down the bridge of your nose, you couldn’t wait to call it a day and finally crawl into bed to get the well-deserved rest you needed.

“Done!” you exclaimed, stretching your arms out and throwing your head back in a mini celebration. You could feel a chill run down your spine, the tension in your body being released now that you were finally moving after remaining stationary in the same position for the past five hours.

Slapping the textbook shut, you placed it on the floor beside you. “Save,” you murmured, fingers moving fast to click the ‘save’ option on your laptop. With the essay out of the way, you put your computer to sleep, picking up the cup of tea and gulping down whatever remained. Getting up, you retrieved the tissues and snack wrappers to discard of them.

Just as you were about to put on rubber gloves to do the dishes, the welcoming shouts of two familiar voices hit your ear – the neighbours were at it again. You decide that you were in a good enough mood, having completed your essay, so you didn’t need to bother with them. Sliding on the yellow rubber gloves, you turned on the tap and began doing the dishes.

“You’re being unreasonable!” Donghyuck shouted.

“Says you? You don’t even know how stubborn and unbearable you are,” said Renjun.

You continued to listen as the two voices went back and forth, insulting each other in the most childish ways possible. You rolled your eyes, “Peace and quiet, peace and quiet, peace and quiet…” you chanted, trying to hypnotise yourself into believing that all will be fine within a few minutes. That was usually the length of their arguments anyway.

You placed the last dish up on the drying rack, removing the rubber gloves and hanging them up to dry. You cleaned your hands with a kitchen towel, getting ready to do your stretches. You closed your eyes, calming yourself in order to get into the right state of mind to really relax and meditate with your stretching.

“Are you being serious right now?!” you hear Renjun exclaim.

You groaned internally; with how loud they were being, there was no way you were going to be able to focus on yourself. Huffing, you decide enough was enough, and you needed to put a stop to their ridiculous ruckus. It honestly baffled you how the other neighbours were able to tolerate the bickering of the two guys. It wasn’t like it was a rare occurrence, it literally happened every night or two. Granted, it usually ended within a few minutes, but tonight, it was going on for way too long.

Swinging your front door open, you looked up to meet eyes with the blonde-haired boy and the brown-headed boy, both of whom, had their attention on you, who had made an unexpected appearance in the middle of their battle. Renjun raises an eyebrow questioningly. You notice that he eyes you up and down, to which you remembered, you weren’t exactly in a very presentable state right now, with your messy hair and loose, crumpled t-shirt, paired with your floral pants. It didn’t really help that you had two modules in common with Donghyuck, and one module in common with Renjun at university, and that you guys were all close friends.

“Uh, yeah, hi, hello,” you begin, feeling a little self-conscious because of their stares. “Yeah, you guys are really annoying. If you’re going to fight, please don’t do it right outside my door,” you finish, flashing an awkward, pursed-lip smile. You gesture towards their door, “Maybe go in there and fight instead.”

You bowed politely, having said what you wanted to say. You stepped back into your house, pulling the door to shut it, but you couldn’t complete the action as Donghyuck reaches out a hand to hold onto the edge of the door. You stare at his hand, your eyes travelling up his arm to meet eyes with him. You furrowed your brows, trying your best to keep a polite smile. “What is it?” you managed out, almost through clenched teeth.

“Since you’re out anyway, you be the judge of this,” he says, pulling your door wide open. You stumble forward with his sudden action, your hand still wrapped tightly around the door handle. He mumbles an “Oops,” as though that would make anything better.

“Look, I really don’t want to be involved in your fi-”

Before you could even finish your sentence, Renjun began to explain the situation excitedly. You listened with your fists clenched, your lips pursed, and your eyes shifting everywhere. The only thing you really wanted right now, was to return to your home, to get the sleep that you were very much deprived of. You weren’t interested in getting involved in a petty fight between two obviously, relatively grown guys.

“Hyuck told me to take out the trash, and so I did. I took it out, like I do all the time, because he’s a lazy ass who doesn’t want to help out with chores around the house. But that’s fine, that’s not what this fight is about. So anyway, I throw out the trash, right? And now, he’s claiming, he lost his earpiece, and that I’m at fault because I took the damn trash out like he requested, when his earpiece could potentially be somewhere in the trash,” he finishes with a huff, hands on his waist, weight resting on one foot. He glares at Donghyuck angrily.

Donghyuck retorts, “My earpiece could’ve been in the trash, and I could’ve retrieved it fine if you hadn’t taken out the trash, dimwit.”

You rolled your eyes – you really could not believe these two guys were fighting over something as petty as thrown out trash and a lost earpiece. The two began to raise their voices at each other once again. In frustration, you put both hands out between the two of them, gesturing for them both to just shut their mouths for a second.

“Alright, both of you. Wait here. And try to keep quiet,” you say, finishing your sentence with a hint of desperation in your voice. You went back into your apartment, heading straight to the room, where your bag was. You reached into it and looked for your earpiece, grabbing it, before heading back to the corridor, where the two were thankfully quiet, and patiently waiting for you, just as you had instructed.

“Here,” you say, holding out the earpiece in front of Donghyuck. “Just take this, and stop this stupid argument.”

The brown-headed boy stares at the wire in your hands. He looks up at you, both brows raised, clearly surprised that you were giving your earpiece to him so willingly. You raised your hand higher, urging for him to take it. He doesn’t move, and neither does Renjun. This frustrated you even more.

“I’m offering a solution, take it,” you say, grabbing Donghyuck by the pocket of his jacket. You shoved the earpiece into his pocket, pushing him away once you were done. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to sleep. So, shut up and stop arguing,” you say, grabbing both of them by the shoulders and turning them towards their door. You shoved both of them forward, before turning around to enter your apartment, closing the door behind you. Donghyuck stares at his pocket that held your earpiece – the first item of yours he’s ever touched.

You headed straight for your bedroom, plopping down onto the comfortable mattress, which was everything you needed at the moment. For the rest of the night, as you drifted off to sleep, there were no more disturbances from the corridor.

With your messenger bag slung over your shoulder, and your textbooks hugged tightly against your chest, you made your way to the first lecture of the day. You were running on about four hours of sleep, thanks to having to deal with the ruckus last night, but you weren’t feeling as low on energy as you usually would. In fact, you were feeling quite energised.

Picking a seat that was at the far left of the lecture hall, where you were out of sight from the lecturer, you placed your books down on the table, seating yourself comfortably into the seat. You pulled out your laptop from your bag, placing it on the table. There was still approximately thirteen minutes left before the lecture would commence, so you whipped out your phone and began scrolling through social media, looking at the eventful lives of your friends.

Just as you were getting more engrossed in the content of your phone, the strong aroma of matcha tea tickles your sense of smell. You looked up to see a cup of matcha tea inches away from your face. Holding on to the cup was a familiar hand – the image of the same hand holding on to the edge of your door flashes in your brain. Sure enough, connected to the cup was Donghyuck. You noticed that he had your earpiece plugged into his ears, his expression nonchalant.

He removes a bud, “Just a sign of gratitude,” he says, pushing the cup of matcha forward. You take it from him, “Thanks,” you murmur, locking your phone and placing it on the table. You wrapped your fingers around the cup, eyes fixed on the front of the lecture hall, trying to analyse Donghyuck’s next action through your peripheral vision.

He removes his haversack and places it on the table, sliding into the seat next to you. This was extremely unusual and uncomfortable for you; you have always been the loner kid who sat alone in all lectures. Having someone sit beside you gave you an unexplainable pressure. Yes, the two of you were friends, but he’s never sat beside you, like ever. You continued to monitor him through the corner of your eye. He opens his bag and pulls out the textbooks for the lecture. He takes off the other bud, detaches the wire from his phone, and rolls it up neatly. He shoves the earpiece into his pocket, taking out a pen and opening a notebook.

“Where’s your laptop?” you asked. You immediately pursed your lips together, mentally slapping yourself. You didn’t mean to actually ask the question, you just thought of it. But before you could even stop yourself, the words had already left your mouth.

“I don’t like to use one,” he replies, turning to face you. You look at him questioningly, “What do you mean? You write all your notes?”

The boy flips through the pages of his notebook, showing you glimpses of the notes he had taken in the past lectures. Your mouth parts ever so slightly, surprised that he indeed, took all of his notes down physically.

“Isn’t that so inefficient though?” you question, leaning forward, away from the backrest of the chair. You were intrigued, because you’ve never seen anyone who still used a pen and paper for lectures. Usually, the professor would speak so fast, that even you, who typed all of your notes, couldn’t keep up. “Not really, I like it better this way,” he replies. He brings an arm up to the table and propped it, resting his chin on his palm. It was one of the rare conversations where Donghyuck was being nice and not snappy with his words, which was nice for a change.

The chattering in the lecture hall comes to a stop when the professor struts in. You readjust your position to face the front, opening your laptop and getting yourself into attention, in order to fully focus during the course of the lecture.

The lecture passes faster than usual, and surprisingly, you weren’t as conscious as you believed yourself to be with Donghyuck seated next to you. You always expected yourself to be wary of people looking at the screen of your laptop, judging you for the short forms you used or the things you chose to note down, but Donghyuck didn’t seem to care one bit. He had his head turned away from you the whole time, completely focused on scribbling down all the information that exited the professor’s mouth. In fact, at certain points of the lecture, when you didn’t manage to catch what the lecturer said, Donghyuck had all the answers. You couldn’t understand how his physical and manual way of note-taking seemed to be more efficient than your technological method.

“I’m glad you liked the matcha,” Donghyuck says, getting up from his seat. You looked at the cup of tea that was now empty, the remains of matcha powder at the bottom. “Oh, I prefer tea to coffee,” you say. He nods his head, “Ditto.”

Donghyuck slings a strap of his haversack over his shoulder. You, on the other hand, was still busy cleaning up your notes. You noticed his presence that remained next to you, “Aren’t you going to leave?” you asked, turning to look at him.

“What about you?”

You turned back to your screen, resuming typing as your fingers moved quickly around the keyboard. “I’ll leave when I’m done with this,” you say. Donghyuck doesn’t say anything, and continues to remain beside you. You didn’t have to turn to look to know that he was probably staring at your screen, which was making you feel pressured and self-conscious once again. You hunched forward, trying to use your small frame to block your screen as much as possible, even though your efforts were probably useless. To Donghyuck, it was simply another one of your interesting antics.

“I’m not reading anything,” he says, startling you. “What?” you voiced, to which he simply replies, “Just type in peace. I’m not looking.”

You nod your head and continued to type away at your laptop, ignoring the questions that were forming in your brain. It was like he could read what you were trying to do, what you were thinking in your head, and that undeniably creeped you out a little. Approximately twenty minutes go by, and you were finally done with the tidying up of your notes. Putting your laptop to sleep, you closed the cover and slid it back into your bag, getting up from your seat.

Donghyuck leads the way and you follow behind him. Soon enough, you see Renjun waiting patiently for the two of you, a leg propped against the metal railing, a hand in his pocket. He looks up and greets Donghyuck with their usual handshake, seemingly having made up since the argument yesterday.

“Sorry about last night,” Renjun says, smiling sheepishly. You roll your eyes, “You guys seriously need to stop fighting. I’m going to file an official complaint if you keep this up,” you say. Renjun nods his head, promising that’ll he’ll try to keep it down next time. “I don’t know about Hyuck, though,” he says, flashing a taunting smile at his friend.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “You’re the one who starts all the fights.”

You groaned, attracting the attention of both boys. They look at you questioningly, to which you say, “Let’s just hurry up and meet the rest. I don’t want to get caught up in your fight again.”

The three of you head out of campus towards the usual hangout spot – a pizza parlour just down the road. The other three, Mark, Jaemin, and Jeno, were already seated in the usual booth, waiting for the three of you. The guys greet each other, and you flash a smile, waving hello to your friends as well. You slid in beside Mark, Donghyuck sliding in next to you, while Renjun takes a seat next to Jaemin and Jeno.

“We heard the two of you were at it again?” Jeno begins, nudging Renjun in the rib. The blonde boy flashes a glare at you, to which you held up both hands in defence, “It’s not me, I said nothing.” You took the menu and looked at it, detaching yourself from the sticky situation ahead. You feel Donghyuck flinch and move closer to you; he was crouched over, his knee against his chest. You didn’t need to see it to know that Renjun must’ve gotten physical again.

“It wasn’t Donghyuck,” Jeno cuts in, holding onto Renjun and holding out a hand warily, just in case Donghyuck chose to launch an attack as well. “We could tell from just your faces,” Jaemin said from the corner, looking up at Mark, “Ready to order?”

Mark nods, pressing the bell to call for the waiter. While Donghyuck and Renjun were exchanging threatening glares, the waiter comes over and takes the order, leaving once he was done. The group broke out into small conversations, with Renjun and Jeno engrossed in their own conversation, while Mark, Jaemin, and yourself, held another conversation. Donghyuck, on the other hand, was just scrolling through his phone, occasionally eavesdropping on the two ongoing conversations.

“I heard that a really cute kid will be joining us next week,” Jaemin dishes, taking a sip of his cola. You raised your brows at that, “Cute kid? What do you mean?”

Donghyuck notices how excited you were getting at the mention of a cute kid. His ears perked up as he tried to listen in on the conversation.

“My friend is coming over to visit,” Mark says, “His name is Jungwoo. A really sweet guy who also happens to be really cute and popular,” he finishes, flashing a smile of satisfaction at the end. “I don’t believe you,” you say, scrunching your face up in suspicion, “You could never have cool friends.”

Jaemin gasps at the comment, with Mark holding a hand to his chest to show that he was hurt. You laughed, and as you did, Donghyuck made another mental note – that you’d smile and be happy with other people, but you never seemed to hold the same emotions around him. Granted, the two of you never actually held an actual conversation before, since you guys were only acquainted because of your common group of friends, but given how distant and cold you behaved around him, it surprised him that you even had the facial muscles to smile.

“How long will Jungwoo be in town?” you asked.

“Probably a week or two, depends,” Mark replies.

You nod your head, drawing yourself out of the conversation when Jaemin and Mark began to talk about other stuff that you couldn’t relate to. You turned your head, to notice Donghyuck, who was still scrolling through his phone silently.

“Maybe try to be more social?” you say, lifting your legs up onto the seat, crossing them comfortably.

“Maybe try to give me personal space?” he replies, pointing at your knee that was hovering over his thigh. You rolled your eyes, dropping your legs back down, your feet hitting the ground. There it was again, his rude replies. “At least I’m not the one interested in a random guy that I haven’t even met,” Donghyuck murmurs under his breath. Unfortunately, you had sharp ears, and his comment didn’t go unheard.

“That’s none of your business,” you snapped.

The conversation ended there, just as the waiter returned with three pans of pizza. Donghyuck makes a mental note to stop being reckless around you. He needed to learn to say more things he meant, and less things he didn’t mean.

As the six of you began to dig in, Mark brings up the topic of Jungwoo to inform the rest of the pact that he’d be joining for a week or two.

“Let’s do something fun, then,” Jeno states, taking a big bite of his pizza. “Why don’t we go to an amusement park or something? Those will be fun,” Renjun suggests. Jaemin nods his head excitedly, “I’m so for the idea of an amusement park.”

Mark looks over you, at Donghyuck, who was just sipping at his cola.

“What do you think, Hyuck?”

Donghyuck nods his head and agrees to it, “I’m sure he’ll enjoy it,” was what he said.

A week goes by quickly, and the day of meeting Mark’s friend, Jungwoo, arrives. The group agreed to meet directly at the amusement park, which meant you would be carpooling with Renjun and Donghyuck, since the two of them literally lived opposite you. You waited patiently in front of their door, shuffling from the inside of the apartment completely audible to you. Within seconds, the door opens and you’re greeted by Renjun, who flashes a small smile at you, “y/n,” he greets.

He leads the way to the carpark, naturally going for the driver’s seat, since he was the only one with a license among the three of you. You stood at the bonnet of the car, to which Donghyuck questions, “What the hell are you doing? Get in.”

“I’m being considerate,” you retort, “Do you want to sit at the front or the back?”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and heads straight for the backseat, ignoring you. He knew you preferred sitting at the front, so he yielded. But you weren’t aware of his good intentions, and simply took his actions as a sign of him being rude, as usual. You huffed, stomping your feet as you walked towards the passenger seat, opening the door and getting in. You buckled your seatbelt.

Renjun accelerates, and you could already feel the tensed-up atmosphere in the car. Did the two of them fight again? You weren’t sure. Deciding that Renjun was the more approachable one of the two, you whisper, “Are you guys in another argument?”

Before Renjun could reply, Donghyuck speaks up from the back, “No. And I can still hear you.”

You whipped your head to look at him. He had his eyes closed, his body slouched against the seat. Renjun chuckles at Donghyuck’s reply, “He’s just tired. He didn’t sleep much last night.” You nod your head and turned back around, focusing on the scenery of the drive. You hadn’t gotten much sleep yourself.

While you were excited to be spending the day with your friends at a theme park, you were also scared to death, because you weren’t good with rides. When you were young, and you got onto the first kids’ rollercoaster of your life, you finished the ride with your face completely green. The second time you visited an amusement park with your uncle, he had brought you onto the Viking, where you sat at the extreme end, and almost screamed your entire soul out. Not to mention, you also had motion sickness, so rides like the merry-go-round and bumper cars meant headaches. One could say you just weren’t meant for the amusement park, but you still enjoyed it.

Within 40 minutes, the three of you arrived at the parking lot of the theme park.

“I’ll drop you guys here first. Go get tickets, I’ll park the car,” Renjun says, pulling up by the ticketing counter. You unbuckle your seatbelt, turning behind to see Donghyuck still sound asleep. You were about to reach out to shake his knee, but he jolts awake to Renjun’s voice before you could do anything.

“Hyuck, go get tickets with y/n,” he says. Donghyuck doesn’t say anything. He simply opens the door and gets off.

“See you in a little,” you tell Renjun, getting off the car yourself. Donghyuck gets in line while you watch Renjun drive off. You joined him immediately after, the both of you simply waiting in line in silence. Donghyuck had his arms folded. He coughed twice, clearing his throat, his face scrunching up in discomfort. You figured his throat must be feeling dry because of his sleep, so you reach into your bag for water. Holding the bottle out in front of him, he stares at it. He murmurs a, “Thanks,” before grabbing it from you and gulping down enough to moisten his throat.

The rest of the wait was silent, and there were no further interactions between you and Donghyuck. Renjun joins the two of you a few minutes after you guys successfully purchased the tickets. Soon after, Mark, Jeno, Jaemin, and an unfamiliar, orange-haired boy, whom you assumed to be Jungwoo, arrived.

“Guys, this is Jungwoo. Jungwoo, this is y/n, Renjun, and Donghyuck,” Mark introduces, gesturing to each of you as he said your names. Jungwoo flashes a shy smile and fist bumps Renjun and Donghyuck, while he bowed to greet you. You smiled – he was definitely cute. Not your kind of guy, but still, cute.

“You guys got the tickets?” Jeno asks, holding his hand out. You nod your head, and gesture towards Donghyuck who was holding on to the tickets. He begins to hand one out to everyone, “Let’s start with the rollercoaster guys,” Renjun says, leading the pact. Everyone cheers in unison and agreement, to which you simply mouthed, “Yay.” You could already feel your palms sweating.

The seven of you headed for the biggest attraction in the park – the death rollercoaster. It had three dips, one three-sixty turn, a whole course where you’d be hanging upside down, and that to you, meant an absolute nightmare. But you didn’t want to be a party pooper, neither did you want to become the laughing stock of the group who couldn’t handle a measly rollercoaster, so you dragged your feet as you followed behind the pact, dreading as you approached the ride.

“This is going to be awesome,” Jeno says. Mark and Jungwoo were engaged in their own conversation at the front, while Renjun seemed to be regretting his decision of choosing the rollercoaster as the first stop. He was already clinging onto Jaemin.

“I can’t believe you’re already scared,” Jaemin mocked, to which Renjun defends with, “W-who said I was scared?” Jaemin rolls his eyes, pointing to Renjun’s arms that were grasping on tightly to Jaemin’s arms. “You’re literally worse than a cicada.”

Jeno, Donghyuck, and you burst into laughter at that, making Renjun curl back in embarrassment. He sulks and follows Jaemin as the line advances, leaving Jeno, Donghyuck, and yourself to have a conversation of your own. Jeno does a headcount and realises that you guys were an odd number, which meant someone had to sit with a stranger.

“Who’s going to do it?” Jeno asks, looking towards Donghyuck. He shrugs. Jeno drops his gaze unto you, to which you shrugged yourself too. Jeno nods his head, “Got it, I’ll do it.”

You don’t protest, even though you didn’t exactly like the idea of having to sit with Donghyuck, when you could already feel your legs becoming jelly. You’d much rather get on the ride with Jeno beside you, but you weren’t really in the mood to be pushy right now. You were just grateful you were able to sit beside someone you knew, just in case.

“Are you guys scared?” Mark calls, looking at the three of you. You shook your head, forcing a smile, “Not at all,” you lie.

While everyone believed you to be a strong-hearted being who wasn’t afraid of anything, Donghyuck noticed how your fists were clenched, and how you kept shifting your weight from one foot to the other. He notices the beads of sweat that were beginning to form on your forehead, which was odd, since it was still winter. “Is she scared?” he wonders to himself, continuing to monitor you. You were definitely behaving weird compared to your usual, nonchalant ways.

Before you knew it, it was already your turn to get onto the ride. You followed behind Renjun, who got in next to Jaemin. The operator gestures you towards the seats behind Jaemin and Renjun, and you get in first, with Donghyuck following behind. Jeno gets separated from the rest of you because the only other solo rider was at the back of the carriage.

You could feel your heart beat spiralling up, the fear starting to consume your entire being. You fidgeted with your hands nervously, grabbing at your fingers and squeezing tight, until your hand went white due to the lack of blood circulation. You looked around anxiously, trying to calm yourself down.

Donghyuck notices all of this. At this point, he was affirmative that you were scared, whether you wanted to admit it or not. Just as the carriage clasps backwards, signifying the start of the ride, both of your hands rushed to grabbed onto the bar, desperate for your dear life. Without thinking twice, Donghyuck reaches over, grabbing your hand and holding it firmly in his. You don’t look over, and honestly, you don’t even process this, because your eyes were shut tight and all that filled your mind was the rapid beating of your heart. The only thing you cared about right now was for the ride to be over.

Donghyuck intertwines his fingers with yours, resting your hand on his lap. He soothes his thumb over your skin, in an attempt to comfort you, to let you know that he was there. Obviously, given the nature of your relationship, that wouldn’t mean much to you, but he figured, that was the only way he could help you feel at least a little bit better during the ride.

As the carriage goes up the steep climb, you subconsciously found yourself leaning towards Donghyuck. Your free hand that was originally grabbing onto the bar, moves to grasp onto Donghyuck’s arm instead. With your head nuzzled in his chest, you kept your eyes shut tight, the approach to the highest point of the ride almost killing you on the inside.

Donghyuck feels his heart beat pick up its pace, not because of the anticipation of the ride, but because of the close proximity you were in. He didn’t want to admit it, and he never did, but you’ve always made him feel some type of way. Sure, he was snarky and curt with his words, but he felt that that was the only way you’d notice him. Even though you were constantly irritable around him, he still felt special with the fact that at least you treated him differently than the rest.

He allows you to cling onto him throughout the ride, neither of you letting out a sound. Within three minutes, the carriage takes its final loop, slowing down significantly as it approaches the exit point. You were breathing heavily, and you were barely conscious. Everything had happened so fast, but you knew you needed to regain your composure immediately so that the rest wouldn’t notice how scared you were on the ride. You immediately unlatch yourself from Donghyuck, to his disappointment, and you began to fix your hair, licking your lips to give them some moisture and colour.

The ride comes to a stop, and the bar gets lifted. Donghyuck exits first. He notices how you stumbled when you tried to stand. He guessed your legs were still weak from fear of the ride, so he extends a hand. You look up to meet eyes with him for a brief second, before taking his hand as he pulls you out, holding on to your waist to stabilise your posture, before retracting his hands immediately when the pact regroups.

“Damn, that was awesome!” Jeno exclaims, throwing his arms out in the air. “Wish I could say the same,” Renjun pants, looking faint. The guys laugh at him, “You’re such a loser,” Donghyuck comments, hitting Renjun’s arm, causing him to stumble. Luckily for him, Jaemin had caught him before he fell.

Right. If Donghyuck thought Renjun’s a loser for getting off the ride looking like he lost his soul, how much more of a loser did he think you were with how you were literally clinging onto him desperately for your life throughout the whole ride?

“How was it?” Mark directs the question to you. You smile, “It was fun,” you say, briefly looking over at Donghyuck, who wasn’t even looking at you. He was busy fooling around with Jeno.

“Let’s go for the Viking next,” Mark suggests, to which the rest immediately agreed. You followed behind the group as they headed for the next monster ride, preparing your heart for yet another round of torture. You figured it was going to be even harder to hide your terror this time round, since unlike the rollercoaster, on the Viking, you’d be seated in a row together.

Donghyuck strays behind the group as well, walking at a pace similar to yours.

You break the silence with, “You held my hand first,” because you wanted to defend yourself. You didn’t want him to know that you trusted him in the few minutes on the ride, and you didn’t want him to know that you were extremely grateful that he was beside you throughout the ride.

“I didn’t say anything,” he replies, shoving his hands into his pockets.

You didn’t want to say anything, but you knew that you had to, if you didn’t want the rest of the group knowing how much of a coward you are. But before you could even open your mouth to ask Donghyuck for a favour, he says, “Nothing happened on that ride.”

You blinked thrice; was Donghyuck voluntarily keeping your embarrassing behaviour a secret for you? That was odd, even for him. No matter how unpredictable he was, you never expected him to be sensitive to others. Before you could even give another comment, the group arrives in line of the Viking. Mark turns around to involve you and Donghyuck in a conversation.

You watched as Donghyuck’s face brightens up with a smile as he engages in a conversation with Jungwoo and Mark, something you’ve never seen before. To you, Donghyuck, although bubbly and extroverted, was equally cold and reserved, his different sides coming out at different timings. In front of you, though, it was only ever cold and reserved. He giggles as he continues speaking with Jungwoo, and you hadn’t realised you had stared for too long, until Mark whispers, “What happened on that ride that’s got you charmed?”

You immediately snap back to your senses, shoving Mark lightly, “What do you mean?”

“You’re not looking at Hyuck with eyes of hate like you usually do,” Mark says, wiggling his eyebrows. You roll your eyes, smiling as you replied, “I don’t hate Donghyuck. I just don’t particularly favour him, that’s all.”

Mark hums, a teasing smile plastered on his face, “Sure, y/n. I believe you,” he says, to which you smacked his arm, “I’m serious, Mark.”

The topic gets dropped when Mark’s attention is taken away from you, to focus on Jaemin, who had called for him. Your eyes find their way back to Donghyuck, who was still engrossed in a conversation with Jungwoo. You started to doubt yourself; did you really dislike Donghyuck as much as you thought? Maybe Mark was right, but then again, Mark is also one of the most oblivious people you’ve met, so naturally, he wasn’t the most credible person when it comes to reading people.

As you got lost in thought once again, Donghyuck looks over and engages in eye contact with you, to which you immediately looked away, shaking your head to rid your mind of those silly thoughts. Your dynamics with Donghyuck was supposed to be mean and hostile, and it is going to remain that way. That’s just how the two of you functioned.

The line continued to advance, and soon enough, it was your turn to get onto the Viking. As you trailed behind Mark, with Jungwoo and Donghyuck behind you, the boys got onto the extreme end of the boat, one by one. As Mark was getting on, Donghyuck reaches out and grabs onto your hand, stopping you in your tracks. You turned to look at him, but he doesn’t look at you.

He gestures for Jungwoo to get onto the ride first, his grip on you disappearing almost as sudden as it had come onto you. He gets in after Jungwoo, and you follow after him, settling in the seat at the extreme corner. You weren’t sure why Donghyuck had done that, but you realised why, when he sits himself in a really odd position that kept you out of view from the rest of the boys. Unlike on the previous ride where you felt your soul depreciating by the second, you felt a lot calmer now. Of course, you were still scared to death and you still really dreaded having to take the ride, but somehow, you felt a little more security with Donghyuck beside you.

The operator locks the bar in place, and you find yourself choked up in fear once again. You rubbed your palms on your jeans to get rid of the sweat, and just as you were about to hold onto the bar with both hands, Donghyuck had once again reached out to intertwine his fingers with yours. He hides your interlocked hands between the two of you. This time, you looked up to try to read his expression, but he was expressionless, just as he usually was.

The ride begins, and just like the rollercoaster, you were leaned into Donghyuck’s body, digging your fingers into his arm for your dear life. Donghyuck feels his heart palpitate so fast, it could pop out of his chest at any moment. As the ride begins to slow, he retracts his hand, turning his back towards you. He starts a conversation with Jungwoo, and in the meantime, you fixed your hair and expression, just as you had done on the rollercoaster ride.

You were the first to get off the ride, with Donghyuck following behind, and the rest of the group after him. The seven of you regrouped once again, Renjun looking significantly livelier than before.

“Now that was fun,” he says, dimple showing from his bright smile. “What’s next?”

Jungwoo brings out the map of the amusement park that he had gotten at the entrance earlier, looking for what other rides would be fun.

“I’m hungry though, can we eat first?” Jeno voices out, rubbing his tummy. “Should we split up then? Because I’m not hungry, and I’d rather continue going on rides,” Renjun suggests, looking towards Mark for an answer. Mark ponders for a moment, “Sounds good. We’ll rendezvous at 7?”

Everyone agrees, already splitting themselves into the group that was going to eat and the group that was going to go on more rides. You decided that you’d go with the rides group, since you weren’t feeling hungry yourself. Mark, Jungwoo, and Jeno were in the to-eat group, the rest of you gathering at the to-ride group. You said your goodbyes, going separate ways.

“Where shall we go next? How about the drop tower?” Jaemin suggests, looking at the map. Renjun agrees with his suggestion, but in all honesty, you weren’t up for another sweat-inducing, heart-dropping, absolutely terrifying experience.

“I think I’m going to go check out what else they have,” you say. The two don’t question you, and instead, turn their attention towards Donghyuck, who hasn’t said anything yet.

“I’ll go with y/n,” he says, to which the two nod and waved goodbye. They left, reminding the two of you to gather back at the meeting place by 7. You watched as they disappeared into the crowd, leaving you and Donghyuck alone. “You know, you can go your own way. I’m fine on my own,” you say, looking up at him. He looks down and looks you in the eyes, “Where do you want to go?”

“Honestly, I just want to look around,” you say, scanning the area. The weather was nice and cool, which meant it would be fine for you to walk around. Plus, there was so much to see around the place, with how cool the structures were built and all.

“Then let’s do that,” Donghyuck replies.

Your gaze lingers on him for longer than a moment – you didn’t want to think much of this, but you couldn’t help but have such thoughts cloud your mind. Was your relationship really as spiteful as you thought of it to be? Or maybe, that was what you wished to believe in, but it wasn’t really the case. And with Donghyuck’s nice gestures earlier on, you really didn’t know if he hated you like you thought he did.

“Hello? I’m getting old just standing here,” he says, reclaiming your attention. And there it was, curt, snarky Donghyuck, the Donghyuck that you were used to.

“Shut up,” you say, turning to lead the way. You convinced yourself that you were just mistaken. He was only nice in those few moments, but it wasn’t permanent.

After a few minutes of walking, you see a group of kids running past you, all of them having a different design of face paint art on their faces. Intrigued, you followed the trail of kids, which led you to a small, quaint shop hidden at the corner of the park. It had a brightly-lit interior, with bottles and bottles of different types and colours of face paint. A friendly old man stood by the counter, welcoming you with a friendly smile.

“Would you like to paint your face, miss?” he asks. You looked around the vicinity, with two other groups of people occupying separate tables. They were painting each other’s’ faces, seemingly enjoying the process.

“Will you paint it for me?” you asked, to which the old man chuckles, “Of course not, sweetie. You paint on your boyfriend, and he paints on you too,” he explains, gesturing towards Donghyuck.

Letting the man’s assumption of your relationship with Donghyuck slip past, you turned around to look at Donghyuck, and he sees the plea in your eyes already. “Can we do it?” you asked. Donghyuck furrows his brows, shaking his head in reluctance, “I don’t want to paint my face,” he whispers, eyeing the children who had their faces painted already. Admittedly, they didn’t have the nicest designs, but that’s because you weren’t the one who painted for them. “Please?” you whined, tugging on the end of Donghyuck’s sleeve. He feels his breath get caught in the back of his throat, your pleas actually working.

“Fine,” he concedes with reluctance. You smiled, for the first time, because of Donghyuck. You turned back to the shop owner, “We’d like to get our faces painted,” you say. The man leads you and Donghyuck to an empty table, placing a tray of tools and a tray of paints down. You hand him the fee, and he gives a tip of the hat as he wishes you well, “Good luck and have fun!”

Donghyuck sits down beside you, frowning. He couldn’t believe he was about to get himself into getting his face painted, just because he couldn’t resist your antics. He watches as the smile never fades from your expression. You looked through each tool and paint, resembling that of an excited child whom was just promised any ice cream flavour of their choice.

You grabbed a paintbrush with the tiniest tip, standing up and grabbing the first colour of choice – black. Donghyuck’s eyes follows your hands as you opened the bottle of face paint, dipping the paintbrush into it. You grabbed a wet wipe, “I’m going to begin,” you say. Donghyuck nods his head and closes his eyes as you wiped the oils off his face with the wet wipe, ensuring that his face was clean before you began to paint.

You picked up the brush from the bottle of face paint, smiling excitedly as you thought of what you wanted to draw. A small smile tugs at Donghyuck’s lips as he watches your expression, but he looks away immediately when you look down at him. “I’m really going to begin now,” you say, gently resting the hand with the brush on his cheek bone, while your other hand holds a gentle grip on his face. Donghyuck swallows his saliva; although you were in close proximity the past two rides, this marked the first time that your face was just inches away from his, so close that he could feel the heat of your breath brushing against the top of his forehead.

Just as you were about to begin painting, you retracted both hands, another design idea popping in mind. You wiped the black paint off the brush, and reach for the bottle of red paint instead. Donghyuck watches as you dip the brush into the red paint, before repositioning yourself, ready to ink your design.

“You know, if you don’t hurry up, I think we won’t even be done by tomorrow,” Donghyuck comments. You rolled your eyes, ignoring him as you repositioned yourself.

Donghyuck’s eyes does not leave you as you focused on painting whatever you had in mind on the far left of his forehead, the brush strokes tickling him ever so slightly. But he didn’t mind the feeling; it was alright, honestly, and he quite anticipated what you were drawing on his forehead. Minutes go by, Donghyuck noticing how your upper teeth bit down on your lower lip as you concentrated on your design.

Now that you were done, you began fanning the design with your hand, blowing on it occasionally to get it to dry faster.

“All done,” you say, looking at the end product with a smile of satisfaction. “I’ll take a photo of it,” you say, taking out your phone. You hold it out in front of Donghyuck, “Can you please smile?” you say, to which he abides, smiling sweetly for the picture. The smile of satisfaction doesn’t leave your face as you clicked into your gallery to view the newly taken picture, zooming in onto the design. You turned the phone screen to face Donghyuck, who recognises the design almost immediately.

“Is that supposed to be Gaara’s scar?” Donghyuck questions, unamused. You nodded proudly, “Yeah.”

“And why did you paint his scar on me?”

“No reason, I just thought it looked cool, that’s all,” you say. Truth be told, Donghyuck reminded you of Gaara sometimes, only because the scar signified a ‘demon loving only himself’, which was a possible way of describing Donghyuck sometimes. He rolls his eyes, “Are you done? Then it’s my turn to paint on your face.”

“No,” you say instantly, both arms forming a cross over your face, “You’re not painting my face. We’re done here. Let’s go,” you say, bowing politely at the shop owner as you exited the shop. Donghyuck follows behind unwillingly, sulking to himself about how you could paint on his face but he couldn’t do the same on yours.

This time, you spot a mini museum, and so you entered it, with Donghyuck following behind. The next few hours were spent simply looking around, admiring things, and not thinking much of anything or anyone. Night begins to dawn as the sky begins to darken. Donghyuck looks at his watch, “It’s almost time to meet the rest,” he says. You took in one final breath as you admired the beautiful view, “Okay.”

The two of you head towards the agreed meeting place, where Renjun and Jaemin were already waiting.

“You guys are early,” you say, giggling slightly at how pale Renjun seemed to be. “He forced me to re-ride the rollercoaster,” he explains, to which Jaemin defends with, “It was literally the only thrilling ride in the whole park.” You rolled your eyes. Jaemin points at the symbol that you had painted on Donghyuck’s forehead, “What’s that? Are you mimicking Naruto?”

“Actually, that’s Gaara’s scar. And I did it, isn’t it nice?” Jaemin shrugs, “I think it’s alright.” Donghyuck looks at you, and notices the slight disappointment in your expression. “I think it’s nice. I like it,” he says.

You turn to look at him. “But you weren’t ha-” Donghyuck doesn’t let you finish, “I said I like it.”

Mark, Jungwoo, and Jeno walk over at this moment, seeming to have really enjoyed their time together. Their sudden appearance didn’t give you another opportunity to question Donghyuck, so you had no choice but to drop the topic as well. Jeno murmurs a praise at the symbol on Donghyuck’s head, and Jungwoo begins by thanking the group of you, “You guys have been really fun to hang out with,” he says, “I’m glad we came here today.”

“Aw, no problem man, we’ll still be seeing each other for the rest of the week,” Jaemin says, fist bumping the boy.

“Right, which reminds me, where are we going tomorrow?” Mark questions, turning to look at Jeno, who was the one who had planned the entire week out. “We’re bringing him to the pizza parlour, and we’ll go watch the night sky after,” he informs, holding out a thumbs up. Mark nods his head and pulls out his car keys, “So I guess we’ll meet tomorrow?”

Renjun, Donghyuck, and you bid farewell to your friends, before heading to Renjun’s car to head back home. The drive starts off silent, but ten minutes down the road, Renjun speaks up, “I really need to pee,” he says, looking around for a rest stop. You frowned at your friend, “You couldn’t do your business before getting on the car?”

He doesn’t reply, hastily making a sharp turn into the nearest rest stop, parking his car in a vacant lot.

“You guys wait here,” he says, getting off the car and slamming the door shut. You hesitated for a while, contemplating as to whether or not you should drop the pressing questions you wanted answers for. You figured, other than now, there really wasn’t any other opportunities for you to be able to be with Donghyuck one-on-one, so you adjust your body, turning to face him. He had his eyes fixed on the scenery outside the window, his body slouched into the car seat as usual. He feels your gaze rest on him, so he says, “What?”

“You really confuse me,” you say. Donghyuck doesn’t say anything, so you continue, “One minute, you’re all nice and considerate, and the next, you’re cold and turn-offish.”

Donghyuck tilts his head around to look at you through lazy eyes.

“Why? Does it bother you?”

You paused, genuinely considering his question. Did it bother you? Hell yeah. Were you about to let him know that everything he did was making you feel some type of way? Hell no. And so, you decide to lie to him. You reply with a, “No.”

As though expecting that very answer, Donghyuck replies, “It should.”

You felt your heart stop. What did he mean by that? So many more questions started to surface in your head, but before you could even pose them to Donghyuck, Renjun returns, climbing back into the driver’s seat. You readjusted your position to face the front, the heart-fluttering feeling still in your chest. What exactly was Donghyuck trying to imply? You needed answers, and you needed them soon, but you knew you weren’t going to get any.

The next day, ever since the conversation you had with Donghyuck the previous night, the only thoughts that flooded your brain was thoughts about Donghyuck. The things he said, the things he did, and the expressions he made… everything was about him. You tried so hard to shake the thought of him off your mind, but you knew that at this juncture, the only way to get rid of thoughts about him, was to get the answers that you wanted.

Once again, you were situated outside Renjun and Donghyuck’s shared apartment, as you waited for the two to be ready, in order to head to the pizza parlour together. This time, Donghyuck was the first to come out. You meet eyes with him, to which you tried to hold onto that eye contact, but he broke it off almost immediately. And there he was, being cold again. There was just no way you could predict him at all. Everything was just confusing you.

The three of you got into the car, in the same positions you had sat the previous day. It was a mere five-minute drive to the parlour, and this time, the other four had arrived earlier than the three of you. They were seated at the usual booth, Jungwoo looking through the menu since it was all new to him.

You moved in next to Jeno, who was seated alone, as Mark, Jungwoo, and Jaemin were seated on the same side. He greets you with a smile as usual, and you smiled back. Donghyuck settles in beside you, while Renjun takes a seat beside Jaemin. The group of you exchange small talk, but the conversations were merely passing by, as you were focused on Donghyuck and Donghyuck alone.

He was being smiley and nice once again, participating in a friendly conversation with Jungwoo. The two seemed to really hit it off, with loads to talk about. But then again, he seemed to have loads to talk about with everyone else, except you. You feel a light kick from under the table, and you immediately looked up to see Mark flashing an all-knowing smile. He wiggles his eyebrows and folds his arms, his expression telling of how he was still on the whole something-is-going-on-between-Donghyuck-and-y/n bandwagon. You rolled your eyes, throwing a serviette at him.

Mid-conversation, Donghyuck notices you and Mark exchanging looks, and he definitely notices you throwing a serviette at the boy. He continues to focus on his conversation with the other guys, choosing to act oblivious to whatever you were doing beside him.

The food comes, and disappears within a matter of minutes, as everyone devoured the food. You finished your last sip of cola, with Mark taking the lead, “Alright, let’s head to the park guys.”

“I want to take Renjun’s car,” Jeno declares, holding onto the said boy. Jaemin joins in, “Sounds great, let’s go in Renjun’s car.” You looked at Donghyuck, who didn’t say anything. Mark speaks up, “If you all go in Renjun’s car, then who’s going to take mine?”

“I’ll go with you,” Donghyuck volunteers, moving over to stand with Jungwoo and Mark. “Hey, y/n, how about you take my car too?” Mark calls, flashing you that same, all-knowing smile once more. You frowned, shaking your head, “No, it’s fine. I’ll stick with Renjun,” you say, taking a step back to stand in line with the three boys. Renjun pushes you away, “Just yesterday you insulted me for having to pee mid-drive. I’d gladly kick you off my car, thank you very much.”

You looked at Renjun with widened eyes. Mark takes this as an opportunity, and urges further, “Yeah, just take my car this time, y/n.” You shoot the boy a glare, rolling your eyes and conceding to his request. You moved over to stand beside Donghyuck. Mark and Renjun discuss who was going to tailgate who, before leading the way to the cars. You got into the backseat, Donghyuck getting in from the other end. Jungwoo gets into the passenger seat, and Mark gets into the driver seat. He starts the car and accelerates, signalling for Renjun to follow behind.

The ride begins, with Jungwoo and Mark engrossed in their own conversation. Mark had the radio turned on to a relatively audible level, loud enough that you couldn’t really hear what Mark and Jungwoo were saying if you didn’t pay attention. You had your eyes fixed on the road outside, not really paying attention to anything, until you felt a tap on your arm. You turn to face Donghyuck, whom you could barely see under the dim street lights.

He opens his mouth and says something, but you couldn’t hear him over Mark’s voice and the radio. So you go, “What?”, focusing your attention on his lips. You were trying your best to lip-read, but it wasn’t really working well. You leaned forward, voicing another, “What?”, trying your hardest to decipher what he was saying.

Your breath hitches when Donghyuck suddenly leans over, breath tickling your ear, “If you keep staring at my lips like that, it makes me want to kiss you even more than I already do.”

He pulls back, slouching back into his seat. His head turned to face the road outside, you stayed still in your position, almost forgetting to breathe. You regained your senses when Mark declares, “We’re here.”

You get off the car along with the rest, Renjun pulling up beside Mark’s car. You were in a trance, completely lost in thought, the whole situation that happened in the car being of extreme surrealism to you. You trailed behind the pact as they picked out a spot in the middle of the park, one of which had an extremely clear view of the sky, so that you guys could stargaze.

You watched as the six of them settled down, already lying down and getting comfortable. You chose to sit a distance away from them, in order to process everything, and more importantly, to avoid being near Donghyuck. Your efforts proved futile when Donghyuck turns and notices you seated away from the group. He gets up and walks towards you, taking a seat beside you.

You don’t say anything, and neither does he. He has his gaze focused on the sky, while you had yours focused on the ground. Donghyuck reaches into his pocket and pulls out his earpiece, that your recognised as your own. You had forgotten that he still had it with him. He offers you a bud, and you take it, inserting it into your ear.

And just like that, minutes go by with the two of you just seated next to each other in comfortable silence, the soft humming of Donghyuck’s playlist in one ear. You were busy, lost in thought, while Donghyuck was simply enjoying your presence next to him. You could feel yourself actually enjoying this moment, as though you longed for more to come. It was not until the rest of the group decided that they had enough of stargazing, did the two of you finally move. Jaemin helps you up, Donghyuck getting up himself and dusting himself off. The boys began to walk back towards the cars, intending to call it a day already.

You bid your farewells to Jeno, Jungwoo, Jaemin, and Mark, who were going the opposite direction. You got into the passenger’s seat of Renjun’s car, remaining silent. Renjun tries to start a conversation with you, but you weren’t listening, so you didn’t reply. Instead, Donghyuck replied, and so the two of them engaged in a conversation while you spaced out all the way home.

“Bye, y/n,” Renjun greets. You don’t reply, as you keyed in your pin and entered your apartment, closing the door shut behind you. You stayed by the door, leaning your frame against it as you continued to recall Donghyuck’s words. He wanted his behaviour to bother you, and then he just straightforwardly tells you he’s been wanting to kiss you, completely out of the blue, and everything was just too overwhelming for you.

The doorbell rings, snapping you out of your train of thoughts. Reaching for the handle, you pushed the door open, to see Donghyuck just standing at your doorstep. He looks at you, and without any hesitation, drops the three words that answers all of your queries.

“I like you.”

You felt your breath stop for the second time for the night. Your heart began to palpitate more, the thumping of it audible in your ears. You could feel your heart pump against your chest, completely unsure of how to react to his sudden confession.

Donghyuck watches as you continued to stare at him blankly. Feeling slightly awkward with your lack of reaction, he purses his lips and nods his head, flashing an embarrassed smile as he points in the direction of his apartment, “Then, uh, I guess I’ll go home now,” he says, laughing awkwardly. He clasps his hands together and turns, but is stopped by your sudden hold on his wrist.

“Maybe I like you too,” you say, voice coming out barely a whisper. Nevertheless, Donghyuck hears you, and he sighs as a feeling of relief washes over him.

“Good because that would be so awkward, you know, if you didn’t feel the same way,” he says.

You continued to stare up at him blankly, unsure of what to do next. Just as Donghyuck was about to say something, you cut him off, “Well see you tomorrow then!” you say, flashing a smile. You waved goodbye, and before he could even react, you had shut the door on him. You stood with your body leaning against the door, a hand to your chest, trying to calm the erratic palpitations of your heart. You took in a deep breath, hands shaking, because you couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“Goodnight, y/n,” you hear Donghyuck from the other side of the door.

A smile tugs at your lips. You took out your phone and entered your gallery, revealing the photo of Donghyuck you had taken at the amusement park, after painting his forehead. Your smile widens, “Goodnight, Hyuck,” you whisper, fully anticipating the days to come.

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