Chapter Text
'I think there's something wrong with me.'
Huening Kai thought as he gazed at the numerous people moving past him as he strides forward to the gate of his university—people holding hands together, laughters roared around along with the cold flick of the wind on his arms, some pairs even had their lips smashed together. ‘In broad daylight too?’ Kai wrapped his arms around his chest and walked even faster.
Most of them are men and women, but some of these pairs are both men, then women. It was a strange sight to see, not that he's easily weirded out by the unknown but, he couldn't easily relate as to why people felt envious of such a view, to the point he heard people beside him sighing, ranting to their friend how they also want such a thing. Did a person—Did he lack something fundamental in him—
screech! screech!! screech!!!
"Kai-yah!!!" Kai's thoughts were interrupted with the feeling of something, or rather, someone pulling him by the side of the street. "You almost got hitted by a car, Kai-yah! Are you alright?" Kai felt something tugging at him. He felt rather peculiar, his ear felt tingly at the mere mention of his name—without turning around, he already had an inkling who was worryingly shouting. Hands checking on his arms, neck, waist—Kai finally turned his head and was met with someone, someone whom he was overtly familiar with—Furrowed sharp eyebrows, fox-like eyes squinting at him, he can see his own reflection on it—crystal clear, and the fact that he looks zoned out, unlike the owner of such pretty eyes.
Kai blinked his eyes rapidly as he felt someone heavily shook his shoulders as if to make his soul come back to his body. "I knew it." That familiar someone spoke to him with such a distinct slurring yet calming tone that finally grounded him back to reality.
"You're daydreaming again, Kai-yah. I thought I told you to always be aware when you’re crossing the street." That someone he knew spoke with such assurance as though it happened frequently, which is honestly true. Huening Kai often felt isolated with others as he tends to get stuck with the chaos of his own mind.
"Yeonjun-noona~ I'm fine, don't worry about it." Kai removed the hands that held his shoulders as he took one step backward. Did Yeonjun's hands always look that slender?
"Actually, it was that driver's fault, the traffic light was clearly still red yet he drove as if it was green already, hmph." Huening Kai's voice kept getting higher and he pointed his callous fingers at the direction—
“Pft.” Kai turned his gaze back to Yeonjun, cherry red lips forming a cheshire smile, his earlier furrowed eyebrows now had crescented. Kai had seen Yeonjun’s smile many times, not just at him, but also towards other people, their past and present classmates. Yeonjun’s smile has this fox-like charm where people can’t help but wish to see it and make him smile even more.
So Kai, being confused, tilted his head angle not exceeding 45 degrees, which made Yeonjun’s grin even more wider.
“What?”
“Nothing, hahaha.” Yeonjun shook his head as if to say he’ll no longer elaborate.
‘Typical of him I dare say.’
“What is it Hyunggggggggg?” Kai reached out for Yeonjun’s arms, only for him to dodge it, and instead, his fingers interlocking with his fingers. The difference was strikingly distinct. His hyung really had slender yet callous fingers, while his own was smooth, soft, and delicate.
“We should get going now, you’re gonna be late.” The traffic light had turned red again. People moved past them in their own worlds in response to it, some are alone, some are in groups of two, three, or more. Huening Kai normally would have slightly panicked at the thought of being late to his first class at his university thanks to a certain strict professor, but he noticed it all, and once again, was reminded of the alienating feeling he felt earlier. Yeonjun kept moving forward with glances being thrown around at Kai in between of it. Kai felt time was moving fast as the people around him slightly blurred. Kai couldn’t help but feel like he got swept away by Yeonjun’s pace. Now that he thought about it, when did Yeonjun’s back become so broad, as if an insurmountable wall had been placed in front of him—he couldn’t help but feel like he couldn’t jump over nor around it.
“Kai-yah, we’re here outside your classroom already.” Yeonjun’s voice snapped Kai out of his own thoughts. Kai quickly surveyed his surroundings like he couldn’t believe he’s already here.
‘When did we arrive?’
What met his eyes was your typical university environment, students with dark bags underneath their eyes roaming around with either what probably looks like an energy drink or coffee, classrooms with sliding doors which was rather odd, at least to Kai that is.
Kai felt something cold and moist touched his cheeks and finally turned to whoever did so. “Here you go, Kai-yah. You’re favourite egg tarts and cold drink.” Yeonjun put the three sealed egg tarts that seemingly looked like they were recently bought like earlier, along with Kai’s usual go–to drink every Monday morning in his hands. Kai-yah was baffled by the fact that Yeonjun got these egg tarts and cold drink.
“Also, don’t stay up too late watching anime, Kai-yah. Otherwise, what happened earlier might happen again, your hyung wouldn’t know what to do if you got into an accident.” Yeonjun nods like a nagging mom except his tone wasn’t harsh and instead, with an oddly soft calming voice. “I gotta go now, Kai-yah. See you later hihi.” Yeonjun ruffles Kai’s hair as he moves past him to go to his class.
“Yeonjun-hyung, thank you!!! See you later tooooo—” Kai turned his body only to see Yeonjun’s back, along with his right hand waving as if to acknowledge Huening Kai.
‘It really looks broad, his back.’
Kai didn’t realize until now, with his hands full of his favourite snacks and drink, and Yeonjun waving back as he keeps glancing back just to see if Kai entered the classroom as he steps forward closer to his classroom, that the insurmountable wall he felt earlier now felt like he could either jump over it or just move around it. In fact, Kai felt silly for even feeling like Yeonjun would be a wall of impossible communication, where he felt like he couldn’t easily explain what he was thinking about earlier. But no wall would know what to give their friends their favourite comfort snacks right, assuming walls even have friends. No wall would actually go out of their way to ensure their dazed friend wouldn’t kill themselves accidentally in the middle of the street as they’re trapped in their own mind right.
‘Yeah, the Yeonjun-hyung that i know wouldn’t be like that at the very least.’
With that thought in mind, Kai finally let out a breathe he didn’t know he was holding in till now, and entered the classroom. Kai moved to his usual place just slightly at the back but not too far to not hear their professor and just enough distance to doze off without getting caught by his professor. Kai opened one of the egg tarts his Yeonjun-hyung got him and removed the cup on his iced grape juice drink. It seemed sweeter than usual, Kai didn’t know if it was because it was recently bought or… Suddenly, the idea of his first class didn’t seem daunting as before.
╳✦✦✦✦✦╳
ring! ringg!! ring!!!
the sound of ringing interrupted Kai’s discussion with his classmates about their group work in the Communication Arts course.
“Sorry guys, I gotta take this call.” Huening Kai rubbed the back of his head and moved slightly away from his classmates.
“Is it that Hyung of yours?” One of his classmates teased(?) him.
“The famous Choi Yeonjun?!” Another glinted at the mention of his hyung.
“I think I know where this is going.” Someone exclaimed out loud as the sounds of keys being tapped resounded out with it, followed by a sigh (endearingly) thanks to a certain someone .
Kai tilted his head and fiddled with his fingers, as he heard some of their comments, which honestly, is understandable given how popular his Hyung is. ‘I mean, Hyung is objectively handsome and pretty, not to mention, he models as his sideline gig while having decent grades enough to be included on the list of University Scholars, which is basically a list of people who have high GWA per semester on their respective programs.’
“Kai-yahh, wanna have lunch at this Cafe I discovered days ago?” Unknowingly, Kai had already answered Yeonjun’s call and was on speaker, and again, unaware of it. You see, Huening Kamal Kai absolutely loves discovering new cafes, much more when he’s with Yeonjun. He doesn’t know why but he’s exactly happy whenever he’s with Yeonjun-hyung, but he’s also happy with his other friends, like with these three right now. So there’s no reason for him to decline. Surely? Right?
“Hyunggg, I would love to but I'm still in a group meeting regarding our midterm project.” Kai sighed and looked at his groupmates doing their own things.
“Awww, really?” Huening Kai didn’t need to be beside Yeonjun to know he’s making a pout right now. “Yeah, hyung.” Which brought out a soft giggle out of Kai unbeknownst to him that made his classmates look at each other—Kang Taehyun, the one who was organizing details about their midterm project on his laptop, raised his eyebrows. Yoon Jeonghan, who teased earlier, now sparks a wide smile that definitely looks mischievous and is thinking of something. And finally, Choi Soobin, who is surely but not most likely curious of what “Choi Yeonjun” looks like, forms an :0 expression.
“Yeonjun-ahhh, can you hear me???! Huening-ah here is exaggerating about our meeting, we were already finishing up things, aren’t we already done guysss?” Jeonghan shouted enthusiastically, as he looked at me with his iconic grin, then squinted his eyes to everyone else, then nodded as if to say that the decision was already final.
“Reallly? Kai-yahhh are they being for real?” Yeonjun’s pitch suddenly got higher where Huening Kai could imagine if he was here, a tail would definitely be wagging continuously. But that’s not the point here. Kai tilted his head and raised his eyebrows at his group members, bewildered by the fact they were just starting to plan out their timeline for their midterm project.
“He’s right, Huening-ah. We can continue this over later, it’s not like we can’t meet online anyway. Besides, me and Soobin plan to go somewhere. Right, Soobiniee?” Taehyun stated straightforwardly in a defeated tone.
“Huh, where Taehyun-ah, What do you mean—” Soobin exclaimed but Taehyun elbowed him and stared at him, intensely as a matter of fact. Huening Kai squinted his eyes at them, then moved to Jeonghan who seemed to be trying to hold his laugh. Which made Kai even more confused. The four of them had gotten closer since last year as all of them took the same course in their previous year, and he definitely knows this is unlikely for them to react, especially Kang Taehyun who is definitely a perfectionist when it comes to doing any of his works. ‘Just like Yeonjun-hyung’ .
“Ah, yeahhh right right, Me and Taehyun plan on meeting with Beomgyu to check out the newly opened arcade that opened recently just right across the street.!” Soobin retorted with such enthusiasm Kai couldn’t help but feel slightly convinced that it was definitely planned and not a sudden decision for unknown reasons.
Either way, this works out with Kai as though he may be diligent in his studies, but not enough to be overtly meticulous of planning out their timeline for this project. He gets to slack off for a bit while spending time with Yeonjun-hyung. Which, brought a smile out of him which is apparent to anyone else but him. Yoon Jeonghan whistled at him. “I also have a plan with others too! Anycase, it’s still early to worry about this—” Which earns him a side eye from Taehyun. “So, I think as I said before, we can continue this later.” He continues with a seemingly annoying knowing smile. ‘Whatever, I don’t know what goes on Jeonghan-hyung’s mind anyway.’
“OK! It’s decided then, i’ll come over to you know Kai-yah!” Yeonjun ends the call just like that and Kai was met with three pairs of eyes staring at him with that certain look again which Kai doesn’t understand, like really.
“Man, that must be nice, having someone to come over to you for lunch.” Jeonghan mutters while shrugging his shoulders and shakes his head. Taehyun and Soobin nodded in response to it.
“What did you say, Jeonghan-hyung? I couldn’t hear you?” Kai was thinking about what cafe Yeonjun discovered. ‘I hope it has iced hazelnut coffee.’
“Nothing, nothing hahaha. I was saying that we gotta go now, Enjoy your lunch, Huening-ah.” Jeonghan winks at me, as he opens the door and hops away.
“Enjoy your lunch too, see you on Thursday Jeonghan-hyung!” Kai waves at the disappearing figure of Jeonghan.
“Bye, Huening-ah. Let’s just chat later about this, enjoy your lunch too!” Soobin waved at him as he dragged Taehyun’s arm to go out.
“Don’t forget our meeting later alright? That’d be all, now, Enjoy your lunch, Huening-ah.” Taehyun smiled at me as he now stood side by side with Soobin.
“Did you chat Beomgyu already?”
“Not yet, about to do so now Hyung.”
Their voices, now once audible, had become distant as they kept moving forward. Kai didn’t find it strange to see Soobin and Taehyun together, maybe because he had gotten closer to them, Kai doesn’t know why he felt that way.
“Bye Soobin-Hyung and Taehyun-ah, send my regards to Beomgyu-hyung as well! Enjoy your lunch guysss, see you on Thursday!” Kai replied with a smile. He didn’t know why his heart beat faster now that he’s alone, waiting for his hyung. ‘It’s prolly the sugar rush ride.’
Huening Kai knew Yeonjun’s classes were held in the other building, so he sat on the chair he was previously sitting on, wore his headphones, and doodled on his notebook.
You see, Huening Kai has this tendency to easily fall asleep, or specifically, into naps whenever he’s doodling something, which would explain how he almost got caught by his harsh professor had it not been for Jeonghan waking him up on time and just in time to answer the Professor.
“Is context as important as the method of delivering the message?” Huening Kai felt intimidated by the question, and felt this even more with everyone staring at him.
Huening Kai looked at Jeonghan, who had nodded at him and gave him a thumbs up, then at Taehyun, who was ready to give him an answer just in case he blanked out, and then, at Soobin who held his fidgeting hands gently and squeezed it firmly. Kai took a deep breath.
‘Inhale.’
‘Exhale.’
“In my opinion, yes. Though they are equally important, in fact, context is sometimes more crucial when it comes to properly interpreting the message. Of course, they come hand in tango, otherwise, many nuances will be lost in translation in the midst of delivering the message. But, I personally believe context matters slightly more, we can slightly be nervous or more confident when we deliver our message, but what matters in the end, is the other person receiving our message feels our sincerity about what we’re trying to say.” Huening Kai answered with no expression. This usually happens whenever Huening Kai feels nervous about something or someone, he goes blank—literally.
“Very well said, Mr. Huening Kai, and here I thought you were sleeping. I wouldn’t mind it as long as you’re learning something in my class, to which you proved it right.” The professor nods and smiles at me.
“Now, going back to our current lesson…” The professor goes back to discussing the topic. The sounds of other people gradually returned. If this were in the past, Huening Kai would have stuttered alot. Now, Kai can relatively hold his ground with ease thanks to a certain someone.
“Thank you Jeonghan-hyung, you literally saved my life, I thought I was gonna get grinded for sleeping.” Kai let out an exhale he hadn’t even realized he held so long he dropped his arms on the table and laid his head.
“No worries, I thought you were doodling. Who knew you would fall asleep. ” Jeonghan rolled his eyes at Kai, to which he responded with a helpless smile.
“It’s been a habit of mine since I started doodling, I don't know when it started but I unknowingly feel sleepy whenever I start to doodle.”
“No wonder, I always find you asleep whenever there’s a notebook beside you.” Taehyun nods as if finally finding an explanation to his curiosity.
“I thought you were just tired all those times but to think it was because you had this habit…” Soobin expressed as his palms clasped together, with the expression of putting things together.
“Kai-yahhh…” Huening Kai felt like someone was calling him. “Kai-yahhh, wake up.”
Someone was really calling out to him repeatedly, and felt something soft tugged at his shoulders. He was wearing a hoodie so how could he tell it was soft despite how thick his hoodie is. “I see you’re awake now, Kai-yah. I knew it, you were doodling again.” Kai squinted his eyes and opened them.
‘Yeonjun-hyung.’
“Yes?” Yeonjun tilted his head at Kai endearingly(?).
‘I know Yeonjun-hyung is pretty handsome, but did he get even prettier and handsome?’
“What timeeee issss ittt?” Huening Kai has this habit of slurring his words whenever he just wakes up.
“It’s 12:10pm now, Kai-yah. If you’re worrying if you overslept, you didn’t. We still have about 2 hours or less before our next class, assuming both of our schedules didn’t suddenly change last week.” Yeonjun answered as he opened his phone to check for something.
“We still have time for that cafe, Kai-yah. They got your favourite drink—the hazelnut one, and it’s iced too!” Yeonjun continued. Yeonjun-hyung was smiling. Whatever he was saying didn’t register immediately in Kai's mind.
“Diddd something good happen today, hyung?”
“Not really, why? Aside from the fact, we’re having lunch together after so long in this cafe.” Yeonjun slightly tilted his head at Kai, with phone on his right hand, and arms crossed together, yet his lips remained upturned.
“Ohhhh.”
‘Silly hyung.’
“IT was only 2 days!!! 2 days of not having our usual lunch together, you really missed me that much?” Kai stretched his arms backwards as he repeatedly blinked his eyes in efforts to remove his drowsiness.
“Yes, Kai-yah. I missed you that much, what will you do about it? In fact, how will you make up to me? Believe it or not, we missed two lunches in a row!!! Which I know is a rare occurrence, but my words still stand.” Yeonjun still has his arms crossed as he nods continuously.
‘Hyung must have been really working hard at his gig if his arms looked like that.’
“I missed you too, hyung. I’m actually really excited, it’s been a while since we got to explore a new cafe.” In response to it, Yeonjun pinched his cheeks.
Afterwards, Yeonjun turned his back on him and opened the door. Kai didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt like someone was lightly flicking his chest, causing his heart to slightly palpitate even though the only person who could do that at the moment was now holding his hands out to him.
“Let’s go now, Kai-yah.” Kai looked at Yeonjun, who was smiling at him with his eyebrows crescented. The sunlight that pierced through the gap of the slightly opened window, dyed Yeonjun’s raven hair into Kai’s favourite iced coffee—hazelnut, which made him look more soft and handsome. Kai thinks Yeonjun should try dyeing his hair hazelnut or brown next time, or he could suggest it sometime.
“Yes, Hyung.” Kai grasped Yeonjun’s hand and let him lead him to the cafe. Yeonjun walked forward as always while glimpsing at Kai to check on him. And Kai, as usual, just smiled and stared at him. The rays of light that took a peek at them earlier scattered like cherry blossoms during springtime. No doubt, Kai knew he was gonna have a good night's sleep later.