Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On a normal day, Doyoung would be thrilled to have the suite to himself. On Sunday, though, after nearly two months of boredom and isolation, the silence pervading the dorm has him slowly losing his mind.

While he waits for everyone else to come back, Doyoung tries to distract himself by airing out all of the rooms and tidying up a few odds and ends. He organizes all of the books he’s bought for his classes this semester; unpacks and re-packs his desk drawers, arranging his supplies in order of importance; and hangs a corkboard that he decorates with pictures he had printed over the break, takes all of the pictures down, and then hangs them back up in a different configuration. Doyoung tries not to think about the pictures in Jaehyun’s room while he works, but every time he closes his eyes, he sees walls filled with snapshots, specifically that one damned picture of Yukhei hugging Jaehyun and their annoyingly happy expressions. He really hates that picture.

Doyoung is lost in thought, staring blankly down at a celebratory selfie he had taken with Noteworthy after winning a competition the previous semester, when he hears the suite door fly open and a voice announce, “I’m back, bitches!”

Rolling his eyes, Doyoung pins the picture to the corkboard, then walks over to his bedroom door so he can poke his head around the corner. There’s a smile working its way across his face despite himself. Ten is just standing in the doorway, arms spread wide and bags at his feet, waiting for a response. He’s ridiculous, but Doyoung is so happy he’s back, he’s missed him. Not that he’d ever let Ten know that, of course.

“I’m literally the only one here,” Doyoung points out, but Ten just beams at him and wiggles his fingers, arms still outstretched.

“That’s okay, you’re my favorite roommate anyway. Come hug me. Quickly! It’s freezing in the hallway, my ass is cold.”

“Then close the door,” Doyoung grumbles, but he shuffles across the common area obligingly, socks dragging on the carpet, and wraps his arms around Ten’s waist. He has to stoop down a little so he can rest his chin on Ten’s shoulder, but he smells really good and his jacket is soft against Doyoung’s cheek, so it’s worth it.

Taeil arrives shortly after Ten, Yuta and Sicheng a few hours after that, and there are a few hours of chaos as hellos are said and everyone gets situated. Before long, though, they’re all piled together on the sofa trying to decide what to order for dinner. The school cafeterias don’t open until classes start, and dinner and a movie their first night back is a tradition, anyway.

Doyoung is finishing up their dinner order, confirming everything with the person on the phone, when Ten interrupts, looking up from his phone, “Wait, sorry, add one more chicken. I’m paying.” He frowns at Ten in confusion, but he adds the dish before the person taking the order gets impatient with him. When he hangs up, he turns to Ten and asks, amused, “Are you that hungry?”

Ten looks a little sheepish, eyes shifting back and forth between Doyoung’s, and Doyoung knows immediately that he doesn’t want to hear whatever it is Ten is about to tell him. Huffing a little, like he’s put out by the fact that he has to tell Doyoung what he’s done, Ten admits, “I invited Jaehyun.”

Doyoung’s stomach twists and he just stares at Ten for a moment, not quite sure how to react. How Ten expects him to react. He sighs. “You know, your attempts to make me like him -”

“That’s not what this is about... this time.” Ten defends, expression shifting into something a little too smug for Doyoung’s liking. Ten enjoys riling him up a little too much. Doyoung needs new friends. “He just got back and he doesn’t have any roommates, can’t I just be nice? You don’t have to like him, but he’s my friend, and rule number two only says that -”

Exasperated, Doyoung hisses, “I know what rule number two says.”

“He’s my friend, too,” Sicheng points out needlessly, grinning at Doyoung from under Yuta’s arm, and then Yuta and Taeil are chiming in, teaming up against Doyoung because they want him to suffer even though he’s only ever been nice to them. Traitors.

Doyoung groans and flops back against the back of the couch, waves a hand dismissively. “Whatever, but you’re going to pick up the food.”

“Give me money, then.”

Ten gathers cash from everyone, salutes them from the doorway, then disappears out into the hall. They’re all quiet for a few minutes after Ten leaves, tapping away on phones or staring at the television playing a muted episode of Inkigayo that only Ten cares about. Finally, needing to break the silence and also assert his claim so they don’t end up watching one of Yuta’s picks again , Doyoung announces, “I’m choosing the movie tonight.”

There’s an immediate round of protests - which, quite frankly, Doyoung finds offensive, he has excellent taste, fuck you Yuta - but Doyoung just sets his jaw and stares at them until they acquiesce. The fact that Yuta gives in probably has more to do with Sicheng patting his arm and telling him to shut up than it does Doyoung’s formidable glare, but whatever, it’s a win and Doyoung will take it.

By the time Ten arrives, bags of food in hand and Jaehyun in tow, the movie is paused on screen and Yuta is showing them pictures from the last few weeks of vacation, when Sicheng came to visit him in Osaka. Doyoung kind of wants to see the rest of the pictures from Universal Studios, but Sicheng and Yuta get up to hug Jaehyun, then settle back into their corner of the couch and wait patiently for their food, Yuta’s phone now out of reach.

The problem with their current arrangement, Doyoung observes as Jaehyun makes his rounds, is that their couch is not big enough for all of them. Taeil is already on the floor in front of Yuta and even though Jaehyun is a guest and his mom taught him better than this, Doyoung is not moving, he was here first . One of the others can offer up their seat if they want. Jaehyun doesn’t ask, though, he just waits for Ten to take his spot next to Doyoung, then deposits himself happily on the floor in front of them, back against Ten’s legs.

As soon as everyone is seated, Jaehyun and Taeil pass out the food and chopsticks, Ten drapes his legs unceremoniously across Doyoung’s lap, and someone starts the movie. As much as Doyoung had fought for his right to choose the movie this time, he didn’t want to choose something the others would hate (or that Jaehyun would judge him for), so he had settled on a group favorite. The only sound in the room is stirring and quiet chewing as the opening credits to Train to Busan flash across the screen.

“Oh, good choice,” Jaehyun commends as soon as he recognizes the film. “I love Gong Yoo.”

Doyoung frowns down at his chicken, the container balanced on Ten’s shins. He must stab at a piece of chicken a little too hard, because Ten wiggles his legs, jostling the box, and complains, “Hey, easy. I felt that.”

“Sorry,” Doyoung mumbles. He shoves a piece of chicken into his mouth and refocuses on the movie, determinedly ignoring the back of Jaehyun’s head mere inches from his right knee. Once Gong Yoo shows up on the screen, though, Jaehyun lets out an audible sigh and Doyoung’s concentration is shot. Ten pats the top of his head in agreement and Jaehyun tips it back to grin at him, and Doyoung aggressively chews his food, staring straight ahead at the screen without seeing a thing.

Time passes in such a distracted haze that Doyoung doesn’t realize he’s finished his food until his chopsticks scrape bottom and he looks down to find nothing more than a smear of sauce and some green onion slices. He frowns at the empty box for a moment, then drops his chopsticks into it and leans over Ten’s legs to set it on the table. His fingertips accidentally brush across Jaehyun’s shoulder as he shifts back and Doyoung is about to jerk his hand away, but Jaehyun leans into the touch without a second thought and Doyoung’s stomach bottoms out.

Suddenly nauseous, Doyoung mumbles something unintelligible to Ten as he moves his legs off his lap and climbs gracelessly over the back of the sofa so he doesn’t disturb anyone’s view. He just needs to wash his face and breathe some of the fresh air filtering in through his bedroom window. Just for a minute.

It’s quiet in Doyoung’s room, the sound of the movie muffled by his closed door. Campus is still mostly deserted, as classes don’t start until Wednesday, so the quad is only dotted with a few returning students here and there, some perched on benches despite the cold, some toting bags and boxes from parking lot to dorm. Doyoung takes a minute to lean against the edge of the window and stare out into the night. The brittle winter grass looks almost black in the darkness, the lawn a gaping void where the ground should be, relieved only by the pale white of benches and the slim trunks of bare trees, their spindly, leafless branches reaching up toward the dark sky.

Doyoung closes his eyes for a moment, relishing the quiet, but all he sees against the backs of his eyelids is the top of Jaehyun’s head, hair so glossy the lights from the TV reflect off of it. His face as he looked up at Ten and they silently bonded over Gong Yoo’s handsome face. It’s funny, Doyoung thinks as he opens his eyes again, watches a squirrel scurry up the narrow trunk of a tree just below. He’s spent the last two months bored out of his mind, contemplating Jaehyun’s number in his phone and wishing he was back here with his friends, but now that he is, he just. Needs a few moments of peace. He wishes his heart would make up its mind.

Already feeling a little better, Doyoung strips out of his jeans and pulls out a pair of worn sweatpants, fighting off a shiver as a weak, frigid breeze filters through the window and hits his bare legs before he can tug on the pants. Warmer and more comfortable now, Doyoung crosses his room to the bathroom and switches on the light, turns to stare at himself in the mirror. There’s a little bit of sauce at the corner of his mouth and his eyes are wide and dark, a sharp contrast against his winter-pale skin. He grimaces at himself before slipping on a headband to pin his hair back while he washes his face.

The familiar, repetitive motion of scrubbing gently at his skin calms Doyoung even more, so that by the time he has rinsed off, he feels okay with the prospect of re-joining the group in the living room, Jaehyun included, and getting back into the movie. Refreshed, Doyoung pats his face dry, then removes the headband and smooths his hair down, eyeing himself critically in the mirror. He’s got a small cowlick in the back, but without styling product, that’s as good as it’s gonna get.

With one last glance at his reflection, Doyoung opens the door, one hand on the light switch, and stops short. For some reason, he’s not surprised to find Jaehyun standing in the center of his room, a hesitant smile on his face.

“Sorry to intrude,” he says quietly. His hands are hanging awkwardly at his sides and Doyoung can see him drumming his fingertips against his thighs. “Can I use your bathroom?”

Doyoung presses his lips together, but steps out of the bathroom and waves a hand at the doorway. Jaehyun murmurs a thank you as he passes, and Doyoung just stands there as he shuts the door, a bit confused. Why his room? There’s an easily accessible bathroom between the other two bedrooms, the door is in the common area. Whatever.

Not wanting to listen to whatever it is Jaehyun is doing in there but hesitant to leave him alone in his room, Doyoung tries to find something to putter with while he waits for Jaehyun to finish. He had just rearranged his desk earlier that afternoon, but dragging the items around the surface of the table provides something akin to white noise, so he reconsiders the arrangement a few times, trying out different placements for his lamp and paper organizer and pencil holder. In the end, it all ends up right back where it had started, but as he slides the wire basket holding all of his binder clips back into its place, he hears the sink switch on. Perfect timing.

Suddenly nervous, Doyoung moves out from under his lofted bed and waits. Fidgets. Sits at his desk, then stands, toes stacked awkwardly on top of each other. He ends up switching positions again right before Jaehyun opens the door, shoulder leaned casually against the brace holding up his bed and one hand out as he pretends to examine his nails. He feels like an idiot.

Jaehyun stops in the doorway, like he hadn’t expected Doyoung to still be there. He looks a little flustered to find him there, but Doyoung tries to ignore the faint blush staining his cheeks. It’s not cute.

“Um,” Jaehyun says eloquently. “Thank you.”

Doyoung nods. Instead of leaving, like Doyoung expects him to, Jaehyun shuffles sideways out of the doorway and leans one shoulder against the wall, hands tucked into the pouch of his hoodie. Doyoung isn’t sure why they’re still standing in here, wonders if Ten has noticed that they’re both missing. He should usher Jaehyun back out into the common area immediately, before he gets too comfortable.

He eyes the door, trying to think of a way to suggest that Jaehyun leave without sounding rude, but Jaehyun’s soft voice breaks the silence before Doyoung can. “So, how was your break? I kind of missed you, you know. I guess I got used to our study sessions.”

Doyoung’s eyes snap to Jaehyun’s. The lights from the bathroom are shining in Jaehyun’s hair, making it look impossibly soft, and his expression is open and friendly. There’s something hopeful in the glimmer of Jaehyun’s eyes, the soft tilt to his mouth. It makes something sharp twist in Doyoung’s gut.

Without having made a conscious decision to move, Doyoung finds himself crossing the small space between them, not stopping until he’s toe to toe with Jaehyun. He doesn’t say a word, just pushes Jaehyun back against the wall with hands on his hips, swallows the sound he makes with a kiss that escalates from just a press of lips to Jaehyun sucking on his tongue so quickly, Doyoung’s head spins.

Need burns in his gut, sudden and overwhelming. He wrenches himself away, hands still pinning Jaehyun to the wall, and rasps, “I need you to stay quiet.”

Jaehyun stares at him, eyes wide and uncomprehending, until, without another word, Doyoung drops to his knees.

“Oh my god,” Jaehyun wheezes when Doyoung slides one hand around to the front of his pants. He’s already more than half hard, hot against Doyoung’s palm even through layers of clothes, and Doyoung raises an eyebrow at him. “I promise I just wanted to use your bathroom,” Jaehyun rushes to say, biting his lip when Doyoung grinds the heel of his palm against him. “I just - you -“

Doyoung stares up at him through his fringe, waiting, but Jaehyun gives up and lets his head fall back against the wall as he presses his hips forward, seeking more pressure. This is not Doyoung’s end goal, though, so he drops his hand, ducking his head to hide a smile when Jaehyun whines pitifully. He fights the smile down, not quite sure he’s successful, so he can look up and warn Jaehyun, “Don’t forget to keep quiet. Everyone is out there.”

He thumbs over his shoulder at his bedroom door, which he realizes now is unlocked, but he doesn’t want to move. If he does, even to do something as simple and finalizing as lock the door, he knows he’ll back down, won’t follow through. So he just crosses his fingers that no one comes looking for them, then hooks his thumbs in the waistband of Jaehyun’s sweats and underwear and tugs them both down around his ankles in one swift move.

Jaehyun shivers as the cool air of the room hits him, but Doyoung doesn’t make him wait in the cold for long. He uses one hand to push the hem of Jaehyun’s hoodie up over his stomach, then lifts the other to grasp him, only pauses at the last second when it occurs to him that maybe he should ask if Jaehyun is okay with this. Judging by the very hard dick right in front of his face and the way Jaehyun’s breathing is already labored, he thinks the answer is going to be a resounding yes, but he wants to be sure.

Jaehyun’s eyes are squeezed shut, his lips gnawed on, cheeks already flushed a hectic red when Doyoung looks up, and something warm bursts open in his chest. His voice is embarrassingly soft when he whispers, “Jaehyun.” He has to repeat himself a few times before Jaehyun hears him. When he looks down at Doyoung, his eyes are wide and a little bit glassy. Doyoung can’t believe this is all it takes to get him this riled up. Glancing meaningfully between his hand, still paused in mid-air, and Jaehyun’s dick, Doyoung asks, “Is this okay?”

The choking sound Jaehyun makes has concern turning the corners of Doyoung’s mouth down, but before he can scoot back and give him space, Jaehyun gasps, “ Yes , please - yes.”

Satisfied, Doyoung nods once. Jaehyun is watching him, eyes locked on Doyoung’s as he wraps his hand firmly around the base of his dick. Jaehyun’s stomach jumps under his palm when he touches him, and it makes Doyoung inordinately pleased. Maintaining eye contact, Doyoung parts his lips, then ducks his head so he can lick up the underside of his cock. Jaehyun lets out a shuddering sigh and Doyoung has to pause to shush him, but the gust of air over his damp skin just makes him shiver and whine.

When Doyoung hisses Jaehyun’s name, he just nods and claps a hand over his own mouth. Hopeful that that will do the trick and absolutely not acknowledging how hot it is, Doyoung refocuses on the matter at hand. In hand. Jaehyun’s dick is long and hard against his palm, the head flushed dark red and tempting, and excitement simmers in Doyoung’s veins as he leans in and wraps his lips around him, tongues at the slit. It’s been a while, but he hasn’t forgotten how much he enjoys this.

All Doyoung is doing is licking over the head of his cock, but Jaehyun is already squirming a little, hips working in restless, aborted thrusts. His free hand is resting flat against the wall in Doyoung’s peripheral vision, his pretty fingers splayed wide against the plaster, and Doyoung knows what he wants now. He sinks down on Jaehyun’s cock, tongue curled along the underside, and lets go with his hand so he can grasp Jaehyun’s and direct it toward his head, curl his trembling fingers down into his hair. He can hear Jaehyun’s gasp when he does that, satisfaction burning in his gut at the way Jaehyun’s hand shakes as he presses his palm gently against the side of Doyoung’s head, his touch reverent. Doyoung grasps the base of his cock again, steadying him so he can pull off with an obscene slurping noise and suck at the head.

Jaehyun’s fingers flex against Doyoung’s scalp, fingernails scratching at him and sending shivers down his spine. Not wanting to drag this out, considering how long they’ve already been gone, Doyoung taps Jaehyun’s hip to get his attention and tries to convey that he wants Jaehyun to set the pace by pointing at him, then his own mouth and his hair, then back at Jaehyun’s hips. He thinks he’s made his point quite clear, but Jaehyun seems confused, eyes glazed over, chest heaving, so Doyoung pulls off so he can rasp, short and to the point, “Fuck my mouth.”

Jaehyun's’ mouth falls open and he breathes, “Fuck.”

Doyoung nods. That’s the idea. He opens his mouth and leans in so the head of Jaehyun’s cock is resting on his tongue, then waits.

Swallowing audibly, Jaehyun drops the hand that had been covering his mouth and settles it on Doyoung’s head alongside his other hand. He takes a moment to card his fingers through Doyoung’s hair, touch gentle and affectionate to match the expression on his face, and Doyoung’s stomach twists with a combination of nerves and something unfamiliar that he doesn’t care to examine too closely. Then, as if a switch has been flipped, Jaehyun’s eyes shutter and he curls his hands into fists in Doyoung’s hair, pumps his hips so his cock slides along the flat of Doyoung’s tongue in shallow thrusts. It’s a decent start, has the flush on Jaehyun’s cheeks spreading down his neck and his breaths coming in shallow bursts, but Doyoung wants more. He grips Jaehyun’s hips with both hands, fingertips digging into his soft skin, and urges him forward, tilting his head back so Jaehyun’s dick slides easily toward the back of his throat and he can look up at him, watch Jaehyun’s face as he watches his own cock disappear between Doyoung’s lips.

He seems to get the message. Bottom lip caught between his teeth, Jaehyun works Doyoung harder, pushing deeper with each thrust. Doyoung feels one of Jaehyun’s hands slide around to cup the side of his face, thumb resting against the corner of his mouth so he can feel the way his cock is sliding in and out, and it makes something molten and hot pool in Doyoung’s gut. His eyelids flutter and Doyoung lets out a weak, shivery moan when a thrust has the head of Jaehyun’s cock nudging the back of his throat, but he concentrates on keeping his eyes open so he can watch Jaehyun, tries to relax his throat and draw him in again with an encouraging press of hands against his hips.

He can really taste Jaehyun now, can feel the slick slide of precome coating his tongue, can feel the way Jaehyun is trembling all over. His jaw is starting to ache a little, but in the best way. He really wants Jaehyun to come though, concerned with how long they’ve been gone and Ten’s curiosity. He also kind of just wants Jaehyun to come so he can see the look on his face, wants to be the one who made that happen. So he pulls off, smiling a little at the vague noise of protest Jaehyun makes, and rasps, “Come on, Jaehyunnie. Harder.”

Jaehyun’s mouth drops open, but he nods in understanding, fingers clenching and unclenching in Doyoung’s hair as he repositions himself and waits, mouth open.

“Doyoung,” Jaehyun breathes, eyes on Doyoung’s face. He presses a thumb to the center of Doyoung’s bottom lip and Doyoung slips his tongue out to meet it then drags his teeth against the pad of his thumb, pleased with the little shiver it produces. “You look...”

He pauses, like he’s searching for the right words, but Doyoung doesn’t wait for him to finish. He just nudges Jaehyun’s hand out of the way, leans in, and takes Jaehyun back into his mouth, lips tight around him as he sinks right down as far as he can go. He moans when he feels the head of Jaehyun’s cock hit the back of his throat again, and Jaehyun shudders above him, more precome sliding down his throat. This time, Jaehyun doesn’t go easy on him. He grasps Doyoung’s hair and holds him still, fucking into his mouth desperately now, deep, rolling thrusts that have his cock nudging insistently against the back of Doyoung’s throat before he draws almost all the way out. Doyoung clamps his lips down around the head of his cock immediately, sucking hard and tonguing at the slit until Jaehyun’s fingers are scrabbling against his scalp and he’s moaning Doyoung’s name, praise and a warning all in one.

“Doyoung,” Jaehyun wheezes, letting go of his hair so he can cup his cheeks. “Doyoung, I’m -“

Doyoung looks up at him through his lashes, cuts him off with a pinch to his hip, then gently places his hands back on his head. Jaehyun lets out a rumbled flurry of curses, but his fingers curl down into his hair again anyway and he presses back in, just a few unsteady thrusts before he lets out a stifled, shaky gasp and his cock pulses against Doyoung’s tongue as he comes. Humming encouragement, Doyoung swallows around him, waits until Jaehyun’s grip on his hair goes slack and he collapses back against the wall before pulling off.

Still on his knees, Doyoung waits a minute to make sure Jaehyun isn’t going to fall over. He rubs his thumbs in soothing circles over Jaehyun’s hips, eyes on Jaehyun’s face as his flush slowly starts to recede. It takes another minute before he can force his eyes open, but when he does, a bashful smile spreads across his face and he scuffs a hand through his hair in an endearingly boyish move that tugs at something in Doyoung’s chest. He viciously squashes it down as he pulls Jaehyun’s pants back up and the hem of his sweater back down, smoothing the soft material over his stomach. His knees ache as he rises to his feet, but it feels good, like the kind of ache after a solid workout.

Considering the fact that he just fucked Doyoung’s mouth and came down his throat, it amuses Doyoung greatly when Jaehyun offers him a shy little smile and asks, reaching for the hem of Doyoung’s sweater, “Can I...?”

Doyoung wants him to, he really does, but they’ve been gone far too long. So, regretfully, he takes a step back and shakes his head. Jaehyun looks so disappointed that Doyoung can’t help the little laugh that slips out. Still determinedly keeping his distance from Jaehyun’s wandering hands, no matter how much he pouts, Doyoung promises, “Next time. You need to get back out there before Ten comes looking for us.”

Jaehyun frowns and looks like he’s about to protest, but Doyoung fits his hands around his hips and guides him forcefully toward the door. He needs Jaehyun out of here, panic starting to set in now that he’s no longer in the heat of the moment.

“Go,” he instructs. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. If Ten asks, tell him I had a headache and you were helping me finding the Advil, or something.”

Despite still looking like he wants to argue the point, Jaehyun nods and lets Doyoung push him out the door. Once he’s got the door shut again, Doyoung collapses against it, hands pressed over his face, heart racing triple-time in his chest.

Next time ?

;;

Over the next two days, Doyoung determinedly does not think about what had occured on Sunday night. Instead, he keeps himself busy as he maps out his schedule, sets alarms, and does all of the preliminary readings for his courses. He’s pretty excited for his elective this time - not tennis, thank you - but prep for one of his required technical courses takes nearly all of his day on Tuesday because it includes two chapters of reading and a hellish preliminary exam that Doyoung can only take in one of the campus libraries. He has never regretted his decision to major in civil engineering more than he does as he sits in an empty computer lab on his last day of winter holidays, hunched over a keyboard and trying desperately to remember what the third law of thermodynamics states.

It’s harder to ignore what happened when he’s finished with his work for the day and relaxing in his room, so Doyoung spends as much time as he can out in the common area or in Ten and Taeil’s room, seeking out every possible distraction. He makes it work. Mostly.

Classes start on Wednesday without too much thoroughfare. Doyoung’s first course is calculus, a breeze for him, followed by a Materials of Construction course that bores him to tears, but is required nonetheless. Noteworthy has its first post-break meeting that night, just a casual thing where they sit in a circle on the practice room floor and talk about their holidays, then debate how long of a slot they want to ask for at the end of year music department concert. At one point, Donghyuck and Jaemin get into a silly, drawn out argument over the merits of opening the show versus closing it, and Doyoung ends up having to forcefully change the subject and seat them on opposite sides of the room from each other. It takes a while for conversation to return to normal because Donghyuck keeps making faces at Jaemin and Jeno won’t stop laughing, and Doyoung finds himself questioning his life choices as he forces Hyuck to sit with his back to the room, like a child in time-out. He’s missed them all terribly, even Donghyuck and his love for riling people up.

Thursday is the exciting day, though. He just has to get through Principles of Thermodynamics at the ungodly hour of 8 o’clock in the morning, and then he gets to spend the rest of his day in an ecology elective. The prospect of one hour of lecture, a break for lunch, and then three hours of field-based lab propels Doyoung out of bed at a bleary 6:30am, the rest of the suite still and quiet around him. He takes a hot shower to wake himself up, makes a quick breakfast, then finds his way to the lecture hall for thermodynamics and types his way through the surprisingly interesting introductory lecture.

The walk to the ecology building from engineering is nice. It’s still quite cold out for the beginning of March, the grass brittle and dry under his feet, but the sun is shining, staving off just a bit of the end of winter bite, and the campus is pretty. Most of the trees are still bare, but in just a few short weeks, their branches will be heavy with cherry blossoms and he’ll be walking to class on a pink carpet.

Despite the early hour, Doyoung is not the first to arrive at his ecology lecture. He frowns as he approaches the first row, confused as to why there is someone already sitting in one of the center seats. There are still thirty minutes until the class starts, Doyoung was certain he would have his pick. When he rounds the end of the row and catches sight of the person’s side profile where they’re bent over the desk, nose nearly touching the screen of their phone as they drag their finger across it in strange patterns, he stops, mouth dropping open.

“Are you serious?”

The question slips out without him having really meant to say it aloud, but it’s too late to take it back. They’re the only two people in the room, there’s no one else around to throw under the bus or pretend to be talking to. Doyoung spends about 15 seconds contemplating ducking down behind the row of seats, but then the person is lifting their head and -

“Doyoung?”

Resigning himself to the fact that this is happening, Doyoung sighs and approaches him, dropping reluctantly into the seat beside him. “Really?” He asks. “Of all the science electives available, you chose this one?”

Jaehyun just shrugs, grinning now. Up close, Doyoung can see that he had been playing some sort of game on his phone that involved drawing what he thinks is a lizard. It’s pink. Strange.

“This one sounded the most interesting and it had awesome reviews. I think we get to go play in the mud and there’s a camping trip in May.”

Doyoung snorts. He’s not going to admit to Jaehyun that that’s the exact reason he chose the course, too. Instead, he asks, “Why are you here so early and why this seat?”

Jaehyun peers around at the empty room, then shrugs again. “There isn’t really enough time between my first class and this one to go anywhere, it takes too long to walk here from engineering. And you inspired me to sit up here. This course is supposed to be pretty easy, but I still want to do well.” There’s a brief pause, then Jaehyun adds, grinning shamelessly, “Plus, I read online that the professor kind of looks like Gong Yoo.”

Doyoung doesn’t respond for a minute while he tries to process that answer. He had inspired Jaehyun. What the fuck. And fuck Gong Yoo. Doyoung sends a mental apology to the actor, who he’s sure is a lovely person. He’s just really tired of hearing about him and his stupid, handsome face.

Grumpy now, Doyoung sits back in his chair and kicks his legs out in front of him, ready to pass the next twenty minutes in broody silence. He gets about three of them while Jaehyun finishes up his ambiguous lizard drawing, but then he’s locking his phone screen and turning in his seat to face Doyoung, and Doyoung tries his hardest not to sigh.

“Hey, which lab section are you in?”

Wiggling around in his seat, Doyoung tugs his schedule out of his pocket and squints at the tiny letters next to the course number. “2A? It starts at two.” Doyoung has a sneaking suspicion that he knows the answer already, because his luck just works that way, but he asks anyway. “Which section are you in?”

“I also start at two, but I think there are like three sessions going on at a time.” Jaehyun pulls his schedule up on his phone, looks at it for a moment, then tilts the screen toward Doyoung with a grin and says, “Hey, looks like we’re going to be lab partners.”

Doyoung scoffs. “What makes you think I want to work with you? There are going to be ten other people in that class, maybe I want to work with one of them.”

Jaehyun just shrugs and leans back, tucking his phone into his jacket pocket. “That’s fine, but you’re not going to find a better partner than me. I know you think you hate me, or whatever, but we work pretty well together.”

Something cold and barbed squirms in Doyoung’s belly, scraping up his insides, and he shifts uncomfortably, protests, “I don’t hate you -”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just the enemy, and there are rules,” Jaehyun intones, crooking his fingers in air quotes at the words enemy and rules. “Although I really don’t think you were thinking about acapella competitions when you had your mouth on my -”

Doyoung claps his hand over Jaehyun’s mouth so fast, he surprises himself. “Shut up,” Doyoung hisses, but there’s no one else around to hear them. He can feel heat rushing to his face, though, and his blood burns hot in his veins at the sudden onslaught of images from that night. He lets go of Jaehyun immediately, shrinking back in his seat. Jaehyun’s eyes are sparkling as he watches Doyoung descend into a panic.

Doyoung takes back his previous statement, he absolutely hates Jaehyun.

Despite what he had said while they waited for class to start, Doyoung does end up partnering with Jaehyun. As much as he still hates to admit it, Jaehyun is right, they really do work well together. Plus, he’s the only one in this class Doyoung knows, and Doyoung hates strangers. Also Jaehyun is pretty strong, and they’re going to have to carry a lot of sampling equipment. Whatever, it’s not like they have to share a tent for the camping weekend and there’s no studying involved in a field lab, so a repeat of Sunday night is not likely to happen. Thank god.

None of this stops Doyoung from complaining once he gets back to his dorm, though. Loudly and to anyone who will listen.

“And he just assumed I would work with him because we know each other. And did I mention he took my seat in the front row?”

“We know,” Ten drones, rolling his eyes at Taeil. “You’ve said this three times already.”

“In the last ten minutes,” Taeil pipes in.

“Maybe after the fourth time, we’ll actually start believing you’re upset about this,” Yuta says, smirking when Doyoung throws him a filthy look.

;;

Ecology lecture is fine. It’s easily his most interesting class this semester, and Jaehyun is right, the professor does look like Gong Yoo. Honestly, though, as interesting as the subject matter is, that particular detail makes getting through the lecture part kind of difficult. No matter how he positions himself in his seat, Doyoung can see Jaehyun watching him from the corner of his eye, expression rapt as his gaze follows the professor around the front of the lecture hall. It’s irritating and terribly distracting, but Doyoung tries his hardest to focus and take excellent notes, because Jaehyun’s inevitably end up with gaping holes in random places. If he and Jaehyun were friends, Doyoung would never let him forget how great of a friend he is by sending him his notes every week. But they’re not, of course. They’re... acquaintances, at best. He’s just lending Jaehyun his notes to try and pay him back for all of his help with fluid dynamics.

That minor Gong Yoo-shaped inconvenience aside, Doyoung loves the ecology lab. The first few weeks are spent learning plant and mesofauna sampling techniques around campus and at nearby parks, and Doyoung finds it endlessly fascinating. They get to dig holes and collect leaves and blades of grass and whole flowers, and Jaehyun is kind of terrible at plant identification, but Doyoung finds that he has a knack for it. It feels good to be the teacher this time, he thinks smugly as he sits on the ground, the sun beating comfortably against his back, and shows Jaehyun the difference between three different species of grass and how the leaves from some of the nearby trees differ.

During the weeks of land-based sampling, their TA has them gather insects and worms and tiny dishes of meiofauna that they bring back to the lab and look at under microscopes, and they take plot samples, estimate cloud cover, measure ground temperature, moisture, and pH, and do soil analyses. Other groups squabble and miscount and have to repeat their surveys, but with Doyoung and Jaehyun, everything progresses smoothly and they consistently earn perfect scores on their reports.

The only time they have to redo any data collection is in early April, when they start learning aquatic sampling techniques at a nearby pond. They’re using a secchi disk to measure turbidity for the first time, which was easy enough when the TA was demonstrating in a bucket, but as Jaehyun leans over the side of the row boat to read the depth, his foot slides in a small patch of water in the bottom of the boat and he tumbles right over the edge with a small splash. It takes Doyoung a moment to realize what’s just happened, but when Jaehyun splutters to the surface of the pond, spitting water out of his mouth and shoving his sodden hair out of his face, he bursts into hysterical laughter, startling another team sampling nearby.

It takes several minutes for Doyoung to haul him back onto the boat because he can’t stop doubling over with laughter, and every time he thinks he can manage pulling him back in, Jaehyun’s hands are so slippery that he just slides right back into the water and Doyoung starts to giggle all over again. They manage it eventually, though, just barely getting Jaehyun back onto the boat without tipping the whole thing over. Giggles still keep slipping out whenever Doyoung looks at Jaehyun and there are tear tracks down his cheeks, but his amusement is short-lived when Jaehyun lunges unexpectedly, tackling Doyoung to the bottom of the boat and soaking him through as he clings to him like a koala.

Doyoung screeches and wiggles around, trying desperately to escape, but it’s futile. The damage is done, his clothes are dripping and his hair is ruined and the entire class is laughing at him as he struggles out of Jaehyun’s grip and onto one of the boat’s benches, panting. He waits until Jaehyun has gathered himself and settled on the other bench before grabbing the clipboard they’ve been using for data collection and thwacking him over the shoulder with it.

“Hey!” Jaehyun holds a hand up, warding off another smack. “Don’t do that, we need that data!”

“What data!” Doyoung fumes, holding up the clipboard. He wouldn’t be mad if it had just been him that Jaehyun had soaked, but the papers clipped to the board are sopping wet, ink smudged and illegible. “If you hadn’t tried to exact your revenge on me, we wouldn’t have to start over.”

Jaehyun holds his hands up, palms out, in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the board was on the floor, I was just trying to have a little fun.” He grimaces, looking down at himself. “To be fair, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had done that to you or not. I fell into the bottom of the boat when you pulled me back in, anyway, so it was doomed from the start.”

Doyoung just groans and buries his face in his hands. They don’t have enough time to redo everything today, they’re just going to have to collect the raw data and fill everything else in on their own time. They rush through the collection after that and, somehow, miraculously manage to squeeze everything in just in time.

“Okay,” Jaehyun sighs, running the hoodie he had left on the bank of the pond through his wet hair before offering it to Doyoung. “Can you come over after practice tonight? We can finish filling out the packet before we forget everything.”

“I guess so,” Doyoung mumbles, looking down at the damp sweater in his hands, not quite sure what he’s supposed to be doing with it. He had been planning to go out for pho with Yuta tonight, but he’ll just have to reschedule. Shoving the sweater back into Jaehyun’s arms, he grumbles, “You owe me pho, though.”

Jaehyun looks a little confused, but he just nods in agreement.

Their TA makes both of them sit on plastic bags for the drive back to campus, and they get weird stares as they trek back to the dorms, Jaehyun’s shoes leaving wet prints every time he steps down. At least it’s not cold out anymore, Doyoung reasons, struggling to hold onto his irritation as he climbs the stairs behind Jaehyun and watches water drip from the hem of his shirt. He did get the worst of it, and now Doyoung gets two pho dinners. Who knows, maybe this story will be funny after enough time has passed. A lot of time, he muses, looking down at his own damp pants clinging uncomfortably to his legs. He doesn’t pause at Jaehyun’s door, just offers him a short wave and continues to his own room, desperate for a shower.

Sicheng is sitting at the kitchen table with three books spread out in front of him when he throws the door open, and he stares at Doyoung, eyes wide, as he toes his shoes off and rolls the hems of his pants up so they don’t drag damp across the carpet on the way to his room.

“What happened to you?” Sicheng sets his pencil down carefully, marking his spot in what looks like a Chinese-Korean dictionary.

“Jaehyun,” is all Doyoung says, tone dark, and he scowls when Sicheng just laughs. He whines, “It’s not funny.”

“You complain, but one day you two are going to announce that you’re getting married and none of us will be surprised.”

Doyoung’s stomach clenches uncomfortably at the thought and he puts tremendous effort into his sneer, noting Sicheng’s satisfied expression. “Never.”

“Okay,” Doyoung starts loudly, and the chatter dies out. He’s all showered and clean now, feeling refreshed and excited for what they’re about to discuss. Plus, Jaehyun had texted him a few minutes ago asking him what type of pho he wanted. All in all, not such a bad night, so Doyoung is smiling when he announces, “So I signed us up for the end of term concert the music department always holds and they haven’t gotten back to me yet, but I think we should expect twenty minutes on stage. We’ve been discussing different medleys and practicing a few of them, so we need to decide which ones we want to use and how to fill that time.”

No one says anything, which Doyoung finds odd. Usually they’re all full of opinions, Donghyuck especially, but tonight they’re all glancing between him and Ten, like they’re expecting something.

Confused, Doyoung asks, “What?”

Ten clears his throat, cheeks flushing a light pink, and oh no. Doyoung has a bad feeling about this. “So, about our set list...” Ten starts. “I agree that we should assume twenty minutes and I love all of your ideas. It’s just...”

“What did you do?” Doyoung sighs, already bracing himself for an impending headache. So much for his good mood. He hopes Jaehyun lights one of his soothing candles when he goes over there later.

Ten has the grace to look guilty when he admits, “I signed us up for a one song collab.”

Doyoung blinks at him, uncomprehending. “A what?”

“A collaboration, you know, when two artists work together -”

Doyoung waves a hand through the air, interrupting, “No, I know what a collaboration is, I just mean what ? We’ve never collaborated with anyone, who...”

He trails off as realization starts to hit him. Oh, no.

“Oh, no. Ten, tell me -”

“It’s a good idea!” Ten insist, crawling forward to grab Doyoung’s hands. “Think of how good we’ll all sound together, with our beatboxers and Jaehyun’s rappers. Johnny thought it was a great idea, and when he told Jaehyun, he was so excited. Not everyone has to participate if they don’t want to, but it’ll be fun.”

Doyoung’s eyes narrow at the mention of Johnny, but before he can say anything, the rest of Ten’s sentence catches up with him. “Wait, Jaehyun knows? Why hasn’t he said anything?”

“We told him not to until it was too late to back out,” Ten admits, grimacing like he knows - he knows - he’s done something bad. “He actually didn’t want to keep it from you...”

Doyoung is tired.

“How did you even get to the sign-ups?” He asks, resigned.

“Well, as vice president I have the right to the lists, the music department let me see them.”

“You’re fired,” Doyoung scowls. “Demoted. Donghyuck -”

“I accept,” Donghyuck says immediately, with a demonic grin.

Doyoung shakes his head vehemently, horrified at the very thought. “Absolutely not. Yuta is the new VP.  I just need you to go get Jaehyun from their practice room.”

Silence falls over the room and everyone turns to stare at Doyoung, eyes wide with shock.

“ What ,” Doyoung grinds out, glaring at each one of them in turn.

“Rule number one.” Jeno reminds him gently. “No Acafellas in the practice room.”

Doyoung closes his eyes for a moment, silently mourning the one rule he has never broken. Then, with a sigh, he rolls his eyes to the ceiling and says, “Well, I think we’re going to have to make an exception now, considering.”

When Doyoung gets up to meet Jaehyun by the door, waving Donghyuck back to his seat, he hears someone whisper, “Well that’s rule number one officially down, how long before someone finds a reason to get rid of rule number two?”

“It won’t happen as long as Doyoung is president,” someone else mutters. “That’s his favorite rule.”

Doyoung feels heat rise to his cheeks, grateful for the fact that his back is to the room and that he has an excuse to look flustered right now. If anyone ever finds out about him and Jaehyun, he will never live this down. He’ll have to resign out of shame and change universities, leave Seoul altogether -

“Doyoung?”

“What?” Doyoung drags his attention back to Jaehyun, who’s staring at him in concern. Right, he had been trying to apologize and strategize. Doyoung shakes his head, trying to refocus and not stare at Jaehyun’s mouth or the way his collar bones keep peeking out from behind the collar of his very soft pink sweater.

Oh, Doyoung is fucked.

;;

The music department emails Doyoung confirmation of their twenty minute set and the one song collaboration the next day, and Doyoung spends a few indulgent minutes wondering how he would have reacted, had Ten not told him the previous day. He still kind of wants to strangle Ten, but he’s been doing a really great job at controlling himself, if he does say so himself.

All things considered, it’s a good thing he’s up before Ten in the morning and doesn’t have to see Jaehyun until their pre-arranged group meeting after dinner. By the time they leave for the music building, Doyoung is feeling marginally calmer about the whole thing, though he does allow himself the petty satisfaction of ignoring all of Ten’s attempts to draw him into conversation on their way to the practice room.

“So, I know you guys don’t dance -”

“We bop,” one of the newbies supplies helpfully, and Doyoung grins down at the papers he’s shuffling in his lap in an attempt to appear busy.

It had physically pained him to have any of the Acafellas in their practice room, Jaehyun included, so they’re all in Jaehyun’s room instead. It’s identical to their room, so Doyoung keeps wandering over to the desk without thinking about it, expecting to find his things on it but finding Jaehyun’s phone and wallet and notes on there instead. He’s miserable. Especially because Jaehyun is about to propose -

“How do you guys feel about covering I Got a Boy by Girl’s Generation?”

There’s a drawn out pause as the Noteworthy members all stare at Jaehyun like they’re waiting for him to drop the punch line, but when he just looks back at them hopefully, they all break out into uncertain noises and worried glances.

It’s Donghyuck - of course it’s Donghyuck - who first raises his hand and says, “ I Got a Boy sounds awesome. Are you going to teach us how to dance?”

“If you want me to,” Jaehyun nods, “but we could probably work out an arrangement where not everyone dances if they don’t want to.”

Raising his voice, Doyoung offers, “Or we could also just do Perfect Man , and not have to worry about lowering registers or choreography.”

“No offense, but that sounds kind of predictable and boring.”

Doyoung just stares at Donghyuck for a minute and considers sacrificing him to the Acafellas. He seems to like them well enough, and Noteworthy would be fine with one less vocal. “How is that not offensive?”

“Okay!” Ten stands up, one hand on Donghyuck’s shoulder, and looks at Jaehyun. “Why don’t we just take a vote?”

Doyoung doesn’t like his odds, but it’s not up to him anymore.

He watches despairingly as 14 of the 18 people present vote for Jaehyun’s idea. The other four vote for ‘other’, but when no one can come up with another alternative that isn’t Perfect Man , the option is thrown out and they’re left with Girl’s Generation. When Yuta comes over to give him a consoling hug, Doyoung just stares down at his papers and wonders if maybe this is a message from the universe that he needs to learn to be a better person.

Noteworthy give up one practice night a week to work with the Acafellas, and to Doyoung’s dismay, everyone seems to be having a blast. His team takes to the choreography like they’ve been dancing their whole lives, and they all get along so well, they actually look forward to hours of grueling practice because it means water breaks spent laughing and goofing around with energy that seems to come from unlimited reserves. In fact, they get along so well that Doyoung finds himself pondering rule number two one day while he watches Ten giggle with Johnny in a corner of the room, eyes bright and happy as he recounts some story Doyoung has heard a hundred times and never found half as fascinating and amusing as Johnny seems to.

Two positives do come of this joint effort, though, Doyoung will admit. One is that, on the nights following choreography practice, Doyoung sleeps better than he ever has, his body like a leaden weight and pure, satisfying exhaustion dragging at his eyelids. The second is that he doesn’t have to work quite as hard at being unfriendly towards Jaehyun when Jaehyun is trying to force him to contort his body in unnatural ways and repeat tricky dance moves until Doyoung feels like he’s going to collapse. He can’t quite bring himself to be mean to Jaehyun anymore, but curious eyes are always watching, and Doyoung can’t keep Sicheng’s ominous prediction out of his head, so he tries to muster up at least enough bite to keep even the suggestion of a budding friendship at bay.

Jaehyun is still so patient with him, offering him encouraging smiles and rubbing his back even while Doyoung is sneering at him. It makes Doyoung’s skin tingle and his face flush even more, and he hates that Yuta keeps giving him these looks , like he knows exactly what’s going on. Yuta is just as touchy with Sicheng as Jaehyun is being with him, so he doesn’t see why Yuta should suspect anything.

;;

“The moon is so big tonight.”

“The moon is always the same size, Jaehyun,” Doyoung snaps, still mostly focused on the data sheet he’s filling out. They’re in the middle of a forest hours outside of Seoul with no cell phone reception, it’s been a really long day of data collecting, and Doyoung just wants to finish this sheet so he can go crawl into his sleeping bag and go to sleep.

There’s a brief pause, the only sounds the scratching of pen against paper and the nearby chirping of cicadas, then Jaehyun asks, voice mild, “Is sarcasm your default, or is it just when you’re with me?”

Doyoung pauses mid-word, pen still pressed to the paper. A small splotch of ink is growing out from the tip, but Doyoung doesn’t notice. Discomfort wriggles in his stomach at Jaehyun’s question, the casual way he had asked. Sarcasm is his default, and he has a reputation to uphold, especially when it comes to Jaehyun. He has been growing a bit softer with him, though, unable to maintain that sharp bite he used to have, back before he knew that Jaehyun’s kindness was inherent and unending, before he knew what Jaehyun tasted like and the exact sound he made when Doyoung kissed that one spot on his neck, just below his ear. Jaehyun has always been so unflinchingly polite, no matter what kind of mood Doyoung is in, has put up with his shit for months on end and has even, for some bizarre reason, chosen to spend more time around him than necessary in asking him to be his lab partner. Doyoung grimaces at the packet under his hand.  

Ugh. It’s been harder and harder to keep up his public ‘rivalry’, if he’s honest, even around Ten and his bizarre Doyoung spidey senses. Jaehyun is just so nice and pretty and smart and Doyoung kind of, sort of actually really likes him, and maybe... Maybe he should just say screw it and drop the forced sarcasm and prickly veneer, even around Ten. Maybe .

Uncomfortable, Doyoung looks up at Jaehyun, not sure if he’s expecting an actual answer. Jaehyun isn’t looking at him anymore, though. He has his head tilted back so he can stare up at the moon, just visible in a gap between tree branches overhead. Despite his question, asked not two minutes ago, Jaehyun looks peaceful and relaxed as he leans back on his palms, eyes heavy lidded, lights from the campfire flickering in his glossy hair. Doyoung doesn’t want to disturb that calm with a weak excuse, and he thinks Jaehyun meant it to be rhetorical, anyway.

With one last glance toward the sky, Doyoung goes back to filling out answers in the packet. Jaehyun is right, the moon is big tonight.

Doyoung stares up at the ceiling of the tent, fingers tap-tapping absently against his stomach. He had been tired while he’d been working on the packet, but now that he’s actually in the tent relaxing he’s suddenly wide awake, and he can feel the heat rolling off of Jaehyun where he’s laying beside him, reading something on his phone. There’s no reception out here in the middle of the forest, so Doyoung assumes he’s reading a book or something, rather than, like. Scrolling through instagram posts or exchanging texts with Johnny about how much of an asshole Doyoung is. Doyoung sniffs and shifts around on top of his sleeping bag, trying really hard not to look over at Jaehyun. It’s just - he had been really great today (he’s always great, Doyoung’s brain supplies unhelpfully), and Doyoung kind of wants to tell him so, wants to apologize for how mean he can be when he’s tired or thinks people are paying attention, but he’s... embarrassed.

“What’s wrong,” Jaehyun says suddenly, not quite a question. He doesn’t look away from his phone, even when Doyoung turns his head on his pillow to look at him in surprise.

“Nothing?”

“You were fidgeting,” Jaehyun explains, turning to meet Doyoung’s eyes. He rolls onto his side so he can look at Doyoung more comfortably, sets his phone down on the tent floor so he can tuck a hand under his pillow. Reaching out with his other hand, he pokes Doyoung’s cheek and repeats, “What’s wrong?”

Doyoung sighs. “Nothing, really. I just...” He trails off, screwing his face up as he works up the courage to say what he wants to say. “Thank you. For today,” he clarifies, when Jaehyun makes a confused face. “Some of the other groups don’t seem to be getting along very well, but you’re always so helpful and accommodating, and I just. Wanted to say thank you.”

Jaehyun’s look of confusion only deepens the more Doyoung speaks. His voice is slow and unsure when he says, “You’re welcome? I’m only doing what I’m supposed to be doing, though. And you’re pretty instrumental to all of this, I’m not doing anything special on my own.”

Doyoung just blinks, stares at Jaehyun for a full minute while his mind clicks and whirrs, a messy, tangled loop of ‘what the fuck’ and ‘how is he real’. His chest feels oddly tight. Jaehyun just stares calmly back, unaware of Doyoung’s inner turmoil.

When Doyoung speaks again, his voice is low and rough, his brow furrowed as he asks, “Why have you put up with me for so long? You’re so nice . I’ve been such an asshole and you could have been with anyone else. Someone who appreciated you from the first moment and didn’t go back to being an asshole right after he sucked your dick.”

Jaehyun just shrugs, eyes sparkling as he inches closer to Doyoung. “I knew you would come around. I kind of grow on people. And you’re really cute when you think you’re being mean. Also,” he whispers, leaning up onto one elbow so he can look down at Doyoung with bright eyes and an even brighter smile, “you’re really good at sucking dick.”

An unexpected laugh bubbles out of Doyoung’s chest, forced out by the heavy thump-thump of his heart and the way his lungs are constricting, maybe. Doyoung kind of feels like he’s about to cry. Biting his lip, he reaches a hand out and fists it in the front of Jaehyun’s sweater, uses it to drag him over.

Jaehyun goes willingly, crawling right over Doyoung and bracing himself on his palms above him. Doyoung flattens his hands against Jaehyun’s chest, lips pressed together as he concentrates on the steady beat of Jaehyun’s heart under his fingers. When he looks up, he finds Jaehyun watching him, an unbearably tender expression on his face, and Doyoung sighs. Eyelids fluttering shut, he slides one hand around to the back of Jaehyun’s neck and draws him down into a kiss.

The kiss is easy, soft and languid and sweet. There’s no heat behind it, just a steady thrum of affection and warmth, and Doyoung leans into it, curling his arms around Jaehyun’s neck to pull him closer. He hums in appreciation when Jaehyun settles on top of him, their legs slotting together comfortably.

Doyoung loses track of how long they lay there, trading gentle, open-mouthed kisses, Doyoung’s fingers trailing up and down Jaehyun’s back and Jaehyun’s hands in Doyoung’s hair. The campgrounds are quiet around them, everyone else probably asleep since they have an early morning tomorrow, but Doyoung could do this for hours. When Jaehyun kisses down the side of his jaw to his neck, teeth scraping delicately against thin skin, Doyoung arches against him, and he nearly purrs when Jaehyun grasps his wrists so he can stretch his arms behind his head, fingertips trailing up the sensitive insides of his arms until their palms slide together and their fingers interlock.

They kiss like that, fingers linked and feet slipping against each other, until Doyoung can feel his eyelids getting heavy, kisses slowing until they’re barely more than Jaehyun rubbing their noses together and nuzzling against the crook of his neck. Doyoung lets out a satisfied sigh, lips pleasantly numb, when Jaehyun rolls off of him, then draws him in. It takes them a few minutes to find a comfortable position, but they finally settle, Doyoung’s back pressed to Jaehyun’s chest and their hands linked over his stomach. There’s still a lot to figure out, but Doyoung feels more content than he has in a long time.

He’s asleep within minutes, a peaceful smile on his face.

;;

There isn’t long until the end of the semester, just a couple short weeks, but Doyoung finds himself wishing they had more time, and he says as much to Jaehyun one night. They’re supposed to be working on the big lab report that’s due in a few weeks, detailing all of their field research from the entire semester, but instead, Doyoung is stretched out on Jaehyun’s bed with Jaehyun half on top of him, head pillowed on his stomach while Doyoung plays absently with his hair.

“More time for the paper?” Jaehyun asks, not comprehending. Doyoung can feel the tips of his fingers dragging along the narrow strip of skin where the hem of his shirt is rucked up. He shivers.

“No, just in general. Break sucks, everyone goes away.”

“Doyoung...” Jaehyun props himself up on his elbows, hands folded across Doyoung’s belly. His thumbs are just brushing the edge of his jeans, trailing goosebumps in their wake. It’s distracting, and he has to focus very hard on Jaehyun’s face as he says, “You know I live in Seoul, right?”

Oh. He remembers Ten mentioning that now, actually. He’s about to say something, but Jaehyun slides the tip of a thumb under the waistband of his pants, and he forgets everything he had been thinking about. Suddenly it feels a lot warmer in the room, Jaehyun’s weight on top of him dizzying.

Slowly, Doyoung tries to drag his mind back down to Earth, asks, “You don’t go away for the break?”

“I mean, sometimes I go away for like a week?”

“Will you hang out with me?” Doyoung asks, pouting just a little. Seoul is so lonely without Ten, Yuta, and Sicheng, but Jaehyun might just make this summer bearable.

Jaehyun’s answer is a smile, so wide that little whiskers form on the sides of his nose and he’s so cute, Doyoung aches . Jaehyun scrambles up the bed so he can drape himself over Doyoung and wrap his arms and legs around him, rolling them onto their sides. He leans in to nose at the side of Doyoung’s face, murmurs against his cheek, “I’m going to bother you so much this summer, Doyoung, you’re going to start hating me again.”

Doyoung just snorts and tips his head back, an invitation for Jaehyun to kiss his neck. When Jaehyun leans in, though, a picture he had been blocking with his head comes into focus, and Doyoung whines and twists away.

“Wait,” he complains, “let’s roll over, I want to face the other way.”

“What? Why?” Jaehyun lifts his head up so he can look down at Doyoung in confusion. His hair is a disaster from rolling around, tufts sticking straight up into the air.

Doyoung lets out a pitiful whine and buries his face in Jaehyun’s shoulder, embarrassed now, but Jaehyun just prods at him until he points wordlessly at the picture of him and Yukhei. Jaehyun pulls away from him so he can sit up and study the picture, looking for something that might bother Doyoung.

“What’s wrong with this picture?”

Doyoung just splays a hand over his face, trying to hide the way his cheeks have gone red, but when he mumbles, “I just hate it,” Jaehyun makes a soft ‘ahh’ of understanding, then he giggles and Doyoung wants to die .

“Doyoung,” Jaehyun sighs, and the fondness in his voice is unbearable. He resists when Jaehyun tries to pry his hand away from his face, but Jaehyun is unfortunately stronger than he is. “Doyoung, Yukhei and Jungwoo have been together since they were like sixteen.”

It takes a minute for Doyoung’s brain to process this information. “Oh.” Doyoung frowns, too focused on the photo and the news to realize that Jaehyun has pushed his shirt up over his stomach and is working on the button of his jeans. “So you’ve never...”

“I mean, we’ve all kissed Jungwoo because that’s just how he is, but it wasn’t, like. A kiss .” He punctuates that statement with a kiss pressed to Doyoung’s lower belly. When he smiles up at Doyoung from that position, stretched out between his legs with a hand on his zipper, something white hot pulses through Doyoung’s veins and he nearly misses it when Jaehyun says, “It’s really cute that you were jealous.”

He’s thinking up a plausible denial, it’s right there on the tip of his tongue, but before he can say anything, Jaehyun tugs his jeans down over his hips and then Doyoung doesn’t think about anything at all.

;;

As much as Doyoung complains about having to collaborate with another group and learn choreography, he finds himself looking forward to the joint performance more than Noteworthy’s own set. It’s cheesy and Yuta calls him cute and pats the top of his head when he admits it, but the double sets, outfit changes, and the big collaboration make him feel like an idol performing at one of the year end song festivals.

The music department’s show doesn’t draw quite as many people as the winter showcase, but they’re closing the show with this stage and there are enough spectators in the auditorium by now that Doyoung feels nerves spark in the back of his throat at the thought of dancing in front of all of them. He’s trained hard, though, and Sicheng had even worked with him at home, so he thinks - hopes - that he’s ready.

He tries to focus on only the people around him as they take their positions and the music starts up, rather than on the sea of faces staring up at them. Jaehyun had offered Jeno and Jaemin the rap intro, and they do so well, look so natural confident, that Doyoung feels a surge of pride as he watches from the back of the stage, waiting for their cue. As soon as the song itself starts, Doyoung feels his nerves melt away and instinct take over. His mind is blank, but his body remembers all of the moves and knows where he should be in relation to the members around him, and Doyoung is duly impressed with himself for it.

It’s not a perfect performance, but no one falls or crashes into each other, and they get a standing ovation at the end. As soon as they get backstage, Yuta and Ten crash into him so hard that what little breath he still had is knocked out of him.

“That was amazing!” Ten yells directly in his ear. Doyoung tries to duck out of range of his shrieking, but there’s nowhere to go with Yuta on his other side, agreeing vehemently. “We have to do this again next year.”

They have to turn right back around to do their final bows with the other performers and Doyoung is hoping to shake Yuta and Ten in the crowd so he can breathe for five seconds, but they cling so closely to him that he doesn’t stand a chance. Once it’s all over, it’s a mad rush to get out of the auditorium and to fresh air, even through the stage entrance. Doyoung draws in deep lungfuls as soon as they make it outside, shakes his arms a little to try and dislodge his friends so they can walk home and shower off the performance grime.

“Stop trying to get away,” Ten whines.

Doyoung squints down at the top of his head, suddenly suspicious. Before he can ask, though, Johnny stands on his tip toes, completely unnecessary considering he’s taller than everyone there, and says, “Alright, let’s go!”

“Go?” Doyoung asks, confused. “Go where?” The only place he wants to go is his shower, and then maybe Jaehyun’s bed. Johnny is leading them away from the dorms, though, toward the side of campus that faces a trendy little area with restaurants and bars, and Doyoung looks down at himself in horrified understanding. “Ten,” he says in as calm a voice as he can muster, “I cannot go out in public like this.”

“It’s just a bar,” Ten says, waving the hand not clutching Doyoung’s arm in a death grip.

“But I want to shower,” he whines pitifully. “I’m wearing cargo pants .”

“You’re just going to get all sweaty again from dancing anyway! And it will be dark in there,” Ten reasons.

Doyoung’s response is automatic. “I’m not dancing.”

“Oh, yes you are,” Ten says with an evil little grin. Doyoung regrets ever letting Ten think that they were friends.

As expected of a bar this close to the university right after final exams have finished, the place is already crowded when they arrive. Even without the youngest members of the two groups, they’re too many people for one booth, but no one lets that deter them. Somehow, Doyoung ends up squashed between Yuta, who keeps turning his back to him so he can talk to Sicheng, and Jaehyun, who smells way too good for someone who just danced as hard as he did.

Johnny and Ten take everyone’s drink orders, then disappear into the crowd, and Doyoung is left to stare at Jungwoo and Yukhei across from him, whispering to each other and holding hands on top of the table. He feels kind of silly, thinking about that picture in Jaehyun’s room. It’s so obvious to him now. Doyoung is so wrapped up in his thoughts that it startles him when a hand lands on his thigh. He looks up to find Jaehyun looking at him, a smile that is entirely too smug for Doyoung’s taste, and he knows he’s been caught and that Jaehyun knows exactly what he was thinking about.

Determined to ignore him and his stupid smug smile, Doyoung turns away from Jaehyun and leans across the table so he can talk to Kun. They’ve actually never spoken before, but he’s always smiling and looks super friendly, and Doyoung desperately needs a distraction from the way Jaehyun keeps dragging his hand higher on his thigh, fingernails catching along the inseam of his pants. He tries to subtly swat Jaehyun’s hand away, but Jaehyun just pulls him even closer on the bench so he can tug Doyoung’s knee up over his own. It gives Doyoung a bit of breathing room on his other side, where Yuta is radiating so much heat he’s started sweating a little, but Ten and Johnny will be returning any minute now and they’ll be able to tell .

If Ten does notice when they arrive, more drinks in hand than Doyoung can count, he doesn’t say a word, doesn’t even spare Doyoung a suspicious look as they pass all of the drinks out. It worries Doyoung. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed, what is he planning?

Feeling a little jittery, Doyoung tosses his drink back immediately, then grabs one of the spare drinks they brought and forces himself to nurse it while everyone else finishes theirs. He doesn’t want to get too far ahead. As they sit and talk, voices raised over the music and Jaehyun’s palm warm against his leg, Doyoung slowly starts to relax. He’s on his second spare drink, slumped back against the seat with his shoulder pressed comfortably against Jaehyun’s, when Ten gets up and demands that someone dance with him. Doyoung just waves as everyone gets up but him and Jaehyun, straw in his mouth as he happily works on his drink.

“I’m giving you ten minutes,” Ten warns before he lets someone drag him away.

Doyoung has ample space to move around now, but he finds that he’s actually pretty comfortable where he is, and Jaehyun doesn’t seem to mind. He leans in close, lips just brushing the shell of Doyoung’s ear, and asks, “Would you dance with me here?”

Doyoung fights off a shiver and tips his head to the side without thinking, a silent plea. When a kiss doesn’t come, Doyoung twists around so he can aim a small pout at Jaehyun. Jaehyun just jerks his chin toward the dance floor, though, says, “I can see everyone right over there. I don’t think you want them finding out that their president broke rule number two like this.”

There’s laughter in his voice, but Doyoung doesn’t find it very amusing. By some miracle of miracles, they have made it to the end of the semester and the music department concert without being found out. It’s actually taken some very careful planning and what Doyoung thinks is some truly impressive willpower on his part, but the semester is over, they’ve just completed an incredible stage, and Doyoung is tipsy and he wants to kiss Jaehyun so badly that he doesn’t care where he does it anymore.

Maybe he’s had a few too many of these sugary drinks.

Tilting his head in what he hopes is an alluring way, Doyoung asks, “Come outside with me, then?”

Jaehyun studies him for a moment, his eyes bright in the dim room. “If you want to go outside, we can just go back to my dorm.”

“Okay,” Doyoung says immediately. “Yes.”

“Should we tell the others that we’re leaving?” Jaehyun peers over Doyoung’s shoulder, trying to spot them on the dance floor.

“No, lets go.” Telling the others they’re leaving means questions Doyoung doesn’t want to answer. He grabs Jaehyun’s hand and scoots out of the booth, then heads straight for the front door, dragging Jaehyun along behind him.

It’s warm and sticky out, but their walk is short, and Doyoung is grateful for that. He can’t wait to get his hands on Jaehyun, and from the way Jaehyun is gripping his hip as he walks behind him, Doyoung is reasonably sure he feels the same. As the dorm comes into view, Doyoung thinks about all of the things he wants to do to Jaehyun, grateful for the supply of refreshments Jaehyun always keeps in his contraband refrigerator and the fact that neither of them has a plane to catch any time soon. He may have to say goodbye to his friends over facetime, but that’s just a sacrifice that has to be made.

There’s an alarm going off.

There’s an alarm going off somewhere near Doyoung’s head, but that doesn’t make sense because it’s Saturday and classes are over, and -

He slaps a hand out toward the offending noise and grabs his phone, holds it up to one bleary eye. There’s a name flashing across the screen, but it’s too blurry to make out what it says. Groaning a little, Doyoung struggles to sit up without jostling the bed too much and swipes his thumb across the screen.

“Hello?” His voice is rough with sleep. Sleep he wishes he was still enjoying.

“Doyoung?”

He winces and pulls the phone away from his ear so he can lower the volume. Ten’s voice is shrill, way too loud this early in the morning. He hums affirmation and shifts onto his side so he can look down at Jaehyun, still asleep beside him. He’s on his stomach, face buried in the pillow with the sheets bunched up around his waist and his long, smooth back on display for Doyoung’s sleepy, hungry eyes.

“Where the hell are you? You just disappeared last night. Did you go home with someone?”

Doyoung hums again and lifts his free hand to brush Jaehyun’s hair out of his face. There’s an exasperated sigh from the other end of the line, and then Ten is chastising, “You should have told someone. That’s dangerous, you should know better.”

Doyoung laughs, a soft burst of sound as he tries to be quiet so he doesn’t wake Jaehyun. “Sorry, mom. Don’t worry, I’m safe. I’m even still on campus.”

Ten scoffs and mumbles something under his breath, and Doyoung is about to ask him if he can go back to sleep when Ten asks, “Have you seen Jaehyun? He left, too, and he doesn’t have a roommate to check up on him. I worry. I know you hate him, but did you talk to him before either of you left?”

His stomach twists a little at Ten’s casual statement. Frowning, Doyoung cards his fingers through Jaehyun’s hair, drags a thumb down the curve of his jaw. His voice is barely more than a whisper when he says, “I don’t hate Jaehyun.”

“Excuse me?” Ten’s voice has gone shrill again. “Did I just hear you say you don’t hate Jaehyun?”

“Yes, I -”

Doyoung cuts off as a knock sounds on the door. Jaehyun stirs beside him, grumbling incoherently, and Doyoung thinks maybe he’ll get up to answer the door, but he just shifts closer so he can throw an arm across Doyoung’s lap and bury his head against his hip. Doyoung’s heart thumps unsteadily in his chest. He really doesn’t want to wake him, but he can’t exactly answer the door for him.

“Jae - oh.” Doyoung turns back to his phone, glad he caught himself before he let the whole name slip, and whispers, “Hey, Ten, can I call you back?”

“No! You still haven’t told me -”

Doyoung hangs up away and tosses his phone to the end of the bed, then smooths a hand down the slope of Jaehyun’s back. “Hey,” he murmurs, bending over so he can get close to Jaehyun’s ear. It’s an awkward angle, not quite flexible enough to be able to drag his lips across the curve of Jaehyun’s cheek the way he wants to, so he uses his fingertips instead. “Jaehyun, there’s someone at the door.”

As if on cue, the person knocks again, harder and louder. When Jaehyun groans this time, his whole body tenses and Doyoung knows he’s awake. There are pillow creases on his cheek when he sits up, his eyes puffy as he struggles to open them, and Doyoung’s throat goes tight when he smiles at him, lopsided and sweet, dimples flirting in his cheeks. No, he definitely does not hate Jaehyun.

“Morning,” Jaehyun mumbles. “Did you sleep well?”

“I would have liked to have slept longer,” Doyoung sighs, nodding toward the door. “Looks like we’re both in high demand this morning. I’ve already spoken to Ten. He asked about you.”

Jaehyun tilts his head, but just as he opens his mouth to ask for details, the person at the door knocks a third time and a muffled voice that sounds a lot like Ten calls, “Open up, I know you’re in there!”

Jaehyun curses and scrambles out of bed, suddenly wide awake. He searches frantically for a pair of pants, ends up tugging on a stray pair of sweats that Doyoung actually thinks are his, then pulls the door open just a crack, so Ten can’t see inside. It’s no use, though, because Ten wedges a hand in the door and forces it open before Doyoung can even think to hide. All he has time to do is yank the blanket up to his chin, but it doesn’t matter at this point. There aren’t many ways to interpret this scene, especially after their brief phone conversation.

“I knew it!” Ten trills, hands out so he can point at each of them in accusation.

Jaehyun grimaces and looks at Doyoung apologetically, but Doyoung just sighs and waves a hand, indicating that Ten should commence with his rant. There’s nothing they can do about it now.

Instead of going off, though, Ten just stops and tilts his head to the side, glances back and forth between the two of them. “How long has this been going on?”

“Umm...” Jaehyun looks to Doyoung for help, but Doyoung just shrugs.

“Hard to say, it didn’t really start out as a... thing.”

“A week?” Ten asks. Doyoung shakes his head. “A month? Two months? Three - oh my god.” Ten drops into Jaehyun’s desk chair, dramatic as always, and whines, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I thought we were friends .”

Now Doyoung is terribly confused, and a quick glance at Jaehyun tells him he has no idea what’s happening, either. Sitting up, Doyoung asks, hesitant, “You’re not... mad?”

Ten rolls his eyes. “Why would I be mad? Doyoung, I don’t care who you...kiss.” He eyes Jaehyun’s bare chest and Doyoung’s shoulders peeking out from the top of the blankets. “That’s not true, I do care who you kiss, especially when it’s Jaehyun, but I don’t care that it’s Jaehyun.” He pauses, face scrunched up in confusion, then asks, “Does that make sense?”

“But I broke -”

“I know, you made the rules, blah blab blah. You know none of us really follow them, right? Well, except the babies. They’re actually still kind of scared of you. It’s cute.”

Doyoung forgets what’s happening for a moment when he hears that, his hackles raising immediately. “What? What do you mean, you don’t follow them?”

“Oh, Doyoungie,” Ten sighs. Doyoung does not like the pity in Ten’s voice. “Johnny and I - well, we haven’t done anything yet , but that’s happening. Soon. And I really don’t know how you haven’t realized that Yuta and Sicheng have been together literally the entire time we’ve been here, but that’s been happening for like three years.”

Doyoung blinks, uncomprehending. “They - what? Yuta and Sicheng are roommates...”

“Yes, Doyoung,” Ten says slowly, enunciating each syllable very clearly. He raises his eyebrows, wiggles them a little for emphasis when he says, “They’re roommates .”

“But...” Doyoung turns to Jaehyun for backup, but one look at his face and he just knows. “You knew, too?”

Jaehyun glances between them, then says helplessly, “Well... yeah. I just kind of assumed they were an exception to the rule, since their relationship predated it? How did you not know?”

Doyoung pinches the bridge of his nose. It is too early in the morning, he’s running on about two hours of sleep, and he can already feel a headache coming on. “So everyone except me knew -“

“You know what,” Ten interrupts, “this isn’t about Yuta and Sicheng. You .” He points at Doyoung, then at Jaehyun, eyes the two of them critically for a minute, then asks, “Is he nice to you?”

The question is aimed at Jaehyun, and Doyoung is offended . Jaehyun just grins at him, bright and mischievous, and says, “Sometimes.”

“Sometimes!” Doyoung squawks, indignant.

Giggling, Jaehyun bounds over to the bed and flops on top of Doyoung, pinning him down so he can pepper kisses to his cheeks, forehead, the tip of his nose. “It’s okay,” he reassures Doyoung and Ten between kisses. “It’s cute when he’s mean.”

There’s a sudden retching noise from over by Jaehyun’s desk and Ten mumbles, “I think I liked it better when you two hated each other.”

Frowning now, Jaehyun pauses and climbs off of Doyoung so he can sit up, back to the wall and legs draped across Doyoung’s lap. “I’ve never hated Doyoung.” He considers Doyoung for a moment, expression solemn, then says, “You know, if you had asked, I would have given that song to you. I didn’t know it was so important.”

Doyoung looks down at his lap, fingers twisting around each other. He really doesn’t want to have this conversation, especially not with Ten in the room. “It wasn’t,” he admits. “I was just mad that you beat me and that you performed the song so well. Better than we could have. I thought I hated you, but -“

“Doyoung is just a petty asshole,” Ten supplies helpfully. “And don’t let him butter you up, he totally hated you.” He stands up and puts his hand on the doorknob, eyes the two of them critically. “Okay, well I’m gonna go tell everyone now. You two go back to... you know what, I don’t want to know.”

To Doyoung, though, he mouths tell me everything later . Then, with a wink, he’s gone.

Hands over his face, Doyoung mumbles, “I’m sorry about him, I can’t take him anywhere. Or tell him anything.” He parts his fingers so he can peek at Jaehyun through them, try to gauge his mood. He just looks pensive.

“You know, it’s okay that you hated me. I mean, it kind of sucked at first because I was pretty into you for some reason, but it just became a funny thing after a while. And it was kind of fun to rile you up just by being friendly.”

Doyoung stares at Jaehyun for a minute, not sure if he’s hearing him correctly. “You - you annoyed me on purpose? Oh my god, I knew it, I knew you were targeting my friends just to get to me. And Ten said I was being crazy, I can’t believe - I have to go.”

He moves to get up, irritation at both Jaehyun and Ten surging through him, but Jaehyun lunges for him and rolls them until he’s laying on top of Doyoung. Doyoung struggles against him, but he’s too heavy. “Hey,” Jaehyun pouts, “why are you getting mad at me? You were mean to me for two years over a stupid song! And it’s not like I was being nice as part of some big ruse, I’m just a nice person by nature. You getting annoyed by that was just a bonus.” Jaehyun leans in to nuzzle Doyoung’s cheek, ignoring his grumble, and murmurs, “You just look so cute when you’re annoyed.”

All of the fight leaves Doyoung and he slumps back against the pillow with a sigh. “You’re so annoying.”

“You don’t mean that,” Jaehyun says with a grin. He drags his lips across Doyoung’s cheek, inching closer to his mouth.

“I do,” Doyoung promises, but his hands are sliding up Jaehyun’s back, still bare, his skin soft and warm against his palms. He parts his legs so Jaehyun can settle between them, drags his nails across the backs of his shoulders. “In fact, I think I still hate you.”

“I can live with that,” Jaehyun whispers against the corner of Doyoung’s mouth, his lips curved up in a smile. He knows exactly what Doyoung means when he says the word hate. “I like you enough for the both of us.”