Chapter Text
Waan and Tul often gamed into the early hours, so it was not surprising that one of them tended to nod off mid call, leaving the other to hang up. But sometimes no one did.
Neither had mentioned or even acknowledged this development in their relationship, as it became more and more common, but on several occasions, Tul found that he was even lulled to sleep by Waan's snores.
It was only when Dean walked in on the two to get Tul up for an early morning lecture, did Tul realise how oddly intimate this all was. Shaking Tul awake, Dean had laughed at the snores coming from Tul's phone, "Rise and shine lovebirds."
"You snore like a seventy-year-old man you know that right?" Waan remarked later. Tul scoffed, "You're no sleeping princess either."
"...LOOK OUT!"
Tul woke up with a start. Scrambling to find his phone, buried in the depth of his sheets, he brought it up to his ear.
"Waan, are you OK? I'm here, talk to me."
Further incoherent murmuring. Tul waited.
"T-Rex, they haven't used their ult yet, watch out!" Waan exclaimed.
Tul laughed, "Pew pew pew – booom...! Got them."
"Mm good work, GGWP team..." A moment later the snores resumed.
“Nerd.” Tul muttered and rolled over, face flushed. But he couldn’t get back to sleep so easily. Why was he so...cute?
Tul would be lying if he said he had never imagined what Waan looked like in person. Well now he knew; about a head shorter than him, an immaculate dresser, and a lot better looking than Tul had ever expected. He wasn’t sure what he would do with that information, but mentally stored it away none-the-less.
However, when they had met, Waan had barely looked at him - just one glance and that was it. And that bothered Tul more than he would like to admit. He knew he should be more preoccupied with the fact that the man he had been (virtually) spending his nights turned out to be his best friend’s older brother, but his head was elsewhere.
"I'm a charming guy, right?"
His one-night stand said yes, his friends said yes - bar Win, who had just rolled his eyes at the question.
Maybe Waan just hadn't spent enough time with Tul - next time, Tul would turn on the charm and Waan would look up at him through his glasses, eyes sparkling, absolutely enamoured.
The next time they met in person, Tul was somehow even less prepared. After a brief but emotional heart to heart with Win, that traitor had disappeared, leaving his older brother and Tul - a bumbling embarrassing mess – alone in a bar.
Every suave line, every self-assured look went out the window and Tul couldn’t understand why he was so tongue-tied. If he had been trying to pick up any girls that night, he would have gone home with a grand total of zero.
But somehow, he was in bed with Waan thanks to a series of very convenient coincidences.
Tul lay there thinking how familiar and yet different this felt to their nights spent together over the phone. The sound of Waan softly breathing was the same, but Tul could turn over and look at him, see how his long eyelashes rested on his cheek, how tousled his hair became.
Waan tended to toss and turn a lot in his sleep Tul discovered that night, and he woke to find Waan’s arm wrapped squarely across his chest. And that was…nice.
That morning, as he slipped out the house to get to his annoyingly early lecture, Tul noted the single toothbrush in the ensuite bathroom. He had never asked if Waan was romantically involved with anyone, but a small part of him had always hoped not.
Was Waan an idiot or was Tul just really smart.
Those were the only two options when faced with the fact it had been two weeks, with multiple encounters, and Waan still hadn't joined the dots. The only two options, as Tul was not about to consider the fact that it was because Waan meant more to him than he did to Waan. It’s for the best he doesn’t know anyway, Tul consoled himself. Waan had made it clear he didn’t want to know. But, still-
Tul stabbed into his rice box. Win and Dean warily eyed him up from the other side of the cafeteria table.
"...so it's my birthday party tomorrow." Win continued.
Tul was an extrovert at heart, so as soon as he stepped foot in Win's staggeringly large family house, buzzing with friends, he was immediately caught up in the hubbub of the party.
He didn’t even think of Waan (much), until he spotted him out of the corner of his eye. He was wearing contacts this time, shirt slightly unbuttoned, and Tul couldn't help blushing as his mind wandered.
Waan, unlike Tul, rarely ever gave anything away on his face, Tul had learned. Considering how frank and open their late-night conversations were, he was frustratingly difficult to read in person. So, it was surprising that, when they made eye contact across the floor, Waan immediately looked down, ears glowing red. Something was up.
With Win and Dean equally preoccupied with their significant other, Tul spotted Waan leaning on the kitchen island, and cautiously approached him.
"Hey-"
"How could you not tell me?!" Waan hissed once Tul was a foot away. "I poured my fucking heart out to you about my life, my family and when we met you just pretended not to know me? Were you ever going to tell me?"
"I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you,” Tul started rambling. He begun to reach for Waan, but second guessed himself. “You said at the bar that you would prefer we would rather not meet, that it was better that way, so I didn’t want to say and ruin your relationship with Win or...our relationship," he tailed off. "How did you find out?"
Waan flinched, "The other night. Your hook-up was pretty vocal about it."
Tul was mortified.