j*

donghyuck clicked his tongue in disgust as he looked back at y/n.

"he's top of the class again. he's a menace."

"pfft," jaemin scoffed, "he's a menace? he literally just studies and basically never talks. he's the opposite of a menace. he's actually very nice."

donghyuck only gave his friend a side eye in response.

"he's nice?" jeno asked, genuine.

"mhm! he lended me some money for lunch last week. he hasn't talked to me since, or asked me to repay him."

"he's a menace," donghyuck insisted. "next test, i'll get top of the class for sure. and he'll be stuck with second."

"that's what you said last time.." jeno muttered.

"hey!-"

"guys!" renjun's voice suddenly infiltrated their classroom. "you're like, the last ones left in here. c'mon."

"tsk." donghyuck gently flicked jeno's head as he stood up and gathered his books. jaemin laughed again, the three of them finally leaving with renjun.

y/n still sat at his desk while slowly packing up his bag, actually the last student left. a small smile tugged at his lips as he thought about what he'd overheard.

"haechan is very loud for such a gentle looking person," he mumbled, before snickering.

"n/n!"

y/n looked up at the sound of his nickname. mark now stood in the doorway of his classroom, waiting for him.

"can i walk you home?" mark asked happily.

"you always walk me home."

mark smiled and nodded, "i know. but i still like asking."

y/n rolled his eyes. as his neighbor and best friend, mark was always very attentive to y/n. especially since all y/n ever did was sleep, eat, and study. mark always wished he'd be more social - he thought it'd do him some good to stop worrying about his grades so much. but y/n's parents would definitely disagree.

after walking for a while, the pair finally made it to their neighborhood. y/n seemed way too in his head today, and it made mark worry even more.

"are you coming to the dance showcase tonight? jisung and i have been practicing for weeks."

y/n sighed and shook his head.

"can't. i'm tutoring tonight. i'm sorry."

mark frowned at first, but quickly perked up.

"that's okay! i'll get someone to video it for you," he assured. "what about tomorrow? you can hang out since it's saturday right?"

"sure, that's fine. wanna see a movie or something?"

mark nodded eagerly, "love to!! we can go in the evening and you can stay the night at my place if you want."

y/n nodded and gave him a small smile.

"sounds good. good luck with your dance tonight, let me know how it goes."

"mm! see you tomorrow!" mark replied.

donghyuck walked into the local public library, a small prance in his step. he always enjoyed tutoring other students, as odd as that may sound.

he found a small table and began setting out his study materials while waiting for his tutee. the smile that had been resting on his face, however, did not last long. after looking up, he found that y/n was sitting at another table not far from his. he scowled under his breath.

"our teacher got the top students to tutor others, but we were supposed to find different places. tsk." he quickly stood from his chair and trudged over to y/n.

"..." donghyuck waited for y/n to look up from his book, but the male was stubborn. or maybe he just didn't care enough to spare donghyuck a glance.

"if you're going to speak, then speak. if not.." y/n spoke while making a shoo gesture with his hand. donghyuck's brows furrowed.

"why are you here?" he asked, not caring about the rude tone of his voice.

y/n finally looked up from his book. donghyuck was pretty, y/n would give him that, but that was about it.

"i'm tutoring chenle. and what about you? are you stalking me?"

donghyuck felt a surge of panic run through his body. "wha- no?! i'm supposed to be tutoring here. you go somewhere else!"

y/n simply gave the other a blank stare. "sure," he answered sarcastically. "i'll go somewhere else, stand up chenle, and he'll fail our next test. then it'll be your fault. you really wanna be the reason chenle fails? i thought you were better than that, lee donghyuck."

"you-.." donghyuck clenched his jaw.

"y/n..?" chenle's voice broke between the two. he gave a small, awkward bow as donghyuck moved aside.

"chenle! ready to get started?"

chenle nodded while looking nervously at donghyuck. he didn't like seeing him aggravated, nor did he wanna get in the middle of something between him and y/n.

"i can give you guys a minute if-"

"no," donghyuck stopped him, "we're done."

y/n sent donghyuck an insincere smile before watching him go back to his table to continue waiting for his own tutee.

their tutoring sessions lasted about two hours, and the whole time, donghyuck would steal disgusted glances at his rival. he kept wondering how jaemin could say he's actually nice.

"maybe he's not nice to you cause you always give him such a hard time," jaemin had once argued. donghyuck scoffed. no, that couldn't be it. y/n had to be the problem.

donghyuck looked up from the paper he was supposed to be reviewing. y/n had a kind smile on his face as he moved his pencil from question to question, explaining the answers to chenle.

"yeah, he's definitely the problem," he whispered in annoyance.

"huh?"

donghyuck perked up, remembering the pupil beside him.

"mm? oh, nothing! let's go over these."

his student nodded as donghyuck slid the worksheet over to him. donghyuck's eyes naturally drifted to y/n one more time before taking a big breath and beginning to review the paper.

rain.

it just had to be raining when y/n stepped out of the library to start his way home. he sighed and stopped under the last awning of the building.

"fucking great," he muttered.

taking his phone out, he scrolled down to his mother's contact which he had at first planned to call. but then, he thought, his parents were the last people he wanted to see or be driven home by. so with that, he began walking.

usually, walking home was no problem for y/n. it was around a twenty minute walk to his neighborhood from both school and the library, as the two were only a couple blocks away from each other. his walks gave him time to listen to music and enjoy the weather, or just to be on his phone without the prying eyes of his parents.

but today, y/n could already feel the rain starting to soak through his clothes. the water dripped down from his hair and onto his face, making him let out another sigh.

"maybe i'll get sick this weekend and have an excuse not to study," he hoped quietly. his small smile fell after thinking about it for a minute. "if i get sick, they'll blame me for walking in the rain, though."

crossing his arms, he walked faster and lowered his head. while watching his shoes slap the puddles on the ground, his mind kept wandering. he felt incredibly sad. he wished his parents could just be his parents, instead of borderline dictators. education didn't mean anything to him, and yet he tried so hard to be top of his class just to earn some kind of validation from them.

before he knew it, he was crying. not a heavy sob, just quiet tears that blended with the rain while the color of his eyes faded into a tint of red.

suddenly, the rain stopped hitting him. his brows furrowed. the drops were still hitting the ground around him, but he couldn't feel them.

"idiot. you'll get sick if you keep walking in this weather," donghyuck scolded. y/n looked up to see the male holding a black umbrella over themselves. as much as he hated donghyuck, he was freezing, so he took the offer and mumbled a quiet, "thank you."

donghyuck had never been this close to his rival. their shoulders were touching, and he thought he should've hated it, but instead there was a small, exciting spark running up his spine.

"why are you walking?" donghyuck asked. when y/n didn't answer, he leaned over to see the other better under their umbrella. his face dropped with the realization that y/n was crying.

"ah.." he stood back up straight, unsure of what to say now. he hated that he felt bad for someone he was supposed to despise. but y/n was, after all, just another person.

"are you okay?"

y/n scoffed as he wiped his tears. "if i said yes, i'd be lying."

donghyuck nodded and looked around a bit awkwardly. he never thought himself good at comforting people, but he'd definitely try.

"wanna talk about it?"

y/n suddenly stopped walking. he could feel the rain hit him again when donghyuck kept walking, taking the umbrella with him. he turned in surprise before hurrying back to y/n to shield him from the water.

"why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?" y/n asked.

donghyuck met his eyes, quiet. y/n's eyes looked tired and strained from his tears, but beautiful despite this. he almost felt entranced from his gaze.

"i dunno.." donghyuck mumbled, "you're just a person, right? regardless of whether i hate you or not. and i don't mind listening if you wanna talk."

y/n's lips thinned into a line as he thought about it. he looked down at his soaked shoes.

"i don't wanna go home," he muttered out.

donghyuck frowned. something was definitely wrong, but he'd feel wrong if he pried into y/n's home life.

an idea struck him as they arrived at a sheltered bus stop. he pulled y/n's arm and finally lowered the umbrella to sit him down on the dry bench. donghyuck could see that the male was beginning to shiver, his jacket turned to a darker drenched color.

"take that off," he said while tugging at the wet fabric of y/n's sleeve.

"what?"

"take it off. you'll definitely get sick if you keep that on. take mine," donghyuck said while holding his now discarded jacket out to his rival.

y/n's brows furrowed in concern. "but you won't have anything to wear.."

donghyuck shrugged, "i'm dry. and i like the cold. really, please take it."

y/n nodded and slowly took his jacket off. it felt gross to handle such a wet piece of clothing around his body, but the dry and heavy fabric of donghyuck's jacket quickly made up for it. he sat back and snuggled into it with a content smile.

"thank you."

donghyuck nodded and set the other jacket aside. he could tell y/n was trying to keep his smile at bay, but he decided not to pester him about it. what mattered was that he was safe and dry now.

"..why don't you want to go home?" he finally asked. y/n's smile faltered.

"my parents are home."

donghyuck didn't really understand, but he didn't plan on being any more nosy. he looked around and spotted a restaurant behind the bus stop, deciding to focus on that.

"have you eaten?"

y/n looked at him in slight confusion. "what?"

"have you had dinner yet? we can go eat together before you have to go home."

"where?" y/n realized right after he asked that it didn't really matter where. any place would be better than a house with his parents.

"maybe that place?" donghyuck answered.

y/n turned to see the restaurant donghyuck was pointing at. he'd actually been there a few times with mark, so he quickly nodded.