[8:46 am] donghyuck

based on this post by @okmica​
for @syubstan​

m.list

You’re not sure how this keeps happening.  Homework is due every Friday at the beginning of lecture at 9:00 am.  Maybe it would be more okay if it wasn’t routine, if the due date somehow jumped between days of the week, if your professor didn’t announce at the end of every Thursday lecture that homework was due the next day.  And yet at 8:46 am on the dot, Donghyuck, sweaty and out of breath, bursts into the lecture hall which is nearly empty save for yourself and a handful other early birds.

He looks for you in your usual seat and finds you glaring at him, as per usual.  One look at the panic in his face that you’ve become familiar with and you know exactly what he’s going to ask you for.  He scuttles to the seat beside you, unapologetically treading on the toes of the only other person sitting in your row.

“Can I –” he starts.

“Yes,” you cut him off, your annoyance apparent.  Barely looking at him, you hand him three sheets of paper that are stapled together and covered in multivariable differentiation problems.  He takes it from you and sits down, pulling supplies out of his bag.

Donghyuck writes furiously, filling up blank papers with scribbles that barely resemble the math he’s copying from you.  You refuse to look at him or give him any sympathy and the lecture hall slowly fills around you as you hear Donghyuck’s writing get faster and more aggressive, his pencil making noises on the wooden desk underneath his paper.

At 8:59, you hear a pencil drop against a desk and a sigh of relief from beside you.  Turning to Donghyuck, you snatch your math homework back from him.

“You’re so lucky that I get here early every day,” you tell him.

Before he can respond, your professor enters through the door beside the whiteboards at exactly 9:00 am and a tense hush falls upon the entire class.  As he’s walking to the podium he says lazily, “Pass your homework to the ends of each row.”  And as Haechan takes your homework from you to pass it down he sends you an apologetic look.  But your face full of vexation doesn’t break in the slightest.

At 9:01 am, your professor is searching for his lecture notes and Donghyuck reaches into his backpack for a pack of gum, hoping that keeping his jaw occupied will stop him from falling asleep in class.  He’s about to put the pack away when he hesitates, still feeling irritation radiating off of you.

A hand holding a stick of gum appears in your periphery and when you turn, Donghyuck’s face is pleading you to take it, full of remorse and nearly in a pout.  You take it in silence and pop it in your mouth, but still offer him no response.

All he wants is to apologize, but the second row is within earshot of the professor and Donghyuck knows that getting you called out by the professor in a room of 200 students would only make you angrier at him.

Your phone vibrates in your pocket and you pull it out to turn it to silent.

[9:02 am] h(yuck) : i’m sowwy (◕︿◕✿)

You look up at him from your phone and his face is contorted into what is undoubtedly a pout.

[9:02 am] you : lecture is starting.

[9:03 am] h(yuck) : does it really matter o math goddess, queen of differentiation, conqueror of multivariable calculus, savior of us mere mortals who are Bad At Math (●♡∀♡)

You snort at this and the professor stops writing an equation on the board to turn towards the source of the noise.  You surreptitiously drop your phone in your lap, hoping that he didn’t see it, and you can see Donghyuck do the same in your periphery.  Luckily, none of your classmates give you away and he turns back to writing something about arc-length parametrization on the board.

It’s a while before your phone vibrates again in your lap and you glance down at the illuminated screen.

[9:14 am] h(yuck) : (꒪ȏ꒪;)

[9:14 am] h(yuck) : close call phew

You look up to make sure your professor isn’t looking before picking up your phone to type out a response.

[9:15 am] you : maybe if the time u spent typing out emoticons was instead put towards hw you would be done by friday

[9:15 am] h(yuck) :  ಥ_ಥ

You don’t dignify that with a reply, still a little ticked off, and Donghyuck is silent for the rest of lecture.  As soon as your professor says, “Alright guys, I’ll see you all Wednesday,” the mad race to leave the hall as quickly as possible begins and 200 people start shuffling to the door.

Donghyuck holds onto a strap of your backpack to stay with you in the crowd and when you finally make it into the sunlight outside he tugs you back by that same strap.  “What?” you ask him, squinting up at him and shielding your eyes from the sun.

“Thank you so so so so much,” he tells you, grabbing both of your hands, “I owe you so so much and I promise it won’t happen again.”  He’s pouting at you again and you really can’t stay mad at that face.

You sigh in defeat.  “Fine.  Let’s just get some food.”  You link arms with him and walk to breakfast and that’s that.

The following Friday, you arrive in your math lecture hall and take your seat at 8:42 am.  At 8:46 am you hear the door open and lookup.  Standing in the doorway is a panting, sweaty, and apologetic Donghyuck.  You roll your eyes and reach into your backpack for your math homework.