NIGHTMARE

24 | hide and seek

"okay, class dismissed!" kihyun called tiredly on monday morning.

honestly, he was exhausted. he'd spent the entire weekend with minhyuk and they'd watched more episodes of gossip girl than he could count. as happy as kihyun was to reconnect with an old friend, he sure was glad to leave him at home when he left for school that morning.

or at least, he thought he'd left minhyuk at home.

"had a nice weekend, sir?" changkyun asked, sidling up to the teacher's desk after the bell had sounded for break.

kihyun slumped forward over his papers and let out a whine. "i can't believe he showed up out of the blue like that," he complained, "i had to spend the whole weekend flicking between gossip girl and keeping up with the kardashians."

changkyun perched on the edge of the desk and outstretched a hand to stroke kihyun's hair comfortingly. "that doesn't sound so bad," he reasoned.

kihyun pouted and eventually nodded. "they're still my favourite shows," he admitted quietly. then he let out a huff. "but do you know how much conditioner he uses? there is no shampoo left in the house and he used up an entire bottle of conditioner in two days!"

changkyun chuckled at how melodramatic kihyun was being. "and he interrupted our lazy saturday morning," he remarked.

"i know right!" kihyun exclaimed. he hesitated, and then slowly sat up in his seat. he looked up at changkyun, eyes conflicted. "but... you shouldn't really have been there anyway..."

"aw, don't be like that, kihyunnie," changkyun protested, fixing the teacher with a pair of big brown eyes.

"what happened to the 'hyung'?" kihyun pretended to be annoyed, but he was still clinging onto changkyun's hand, refusing to let go.

"...kihyunnie-hyung."

changkyun was grinning at him and so kihyun let the nickname slide.

"i don't know, i just can't shake the feeling that he's not telling me everything," kihyun admitted, partly distracted by changkyun tracing patterns on the back of his hand that he held in his, "and that he's watching my every move. he can't find out about-"

there was a sharp knock at the door.

a knock that was shortly followed by a curious, "hello?"

"fuck, shit! fuck!" kihyun hissed, leaping to his feet at the sound of the voice, "kyunnie, get in the cupboard!"

"geez, i know i'm still in the closet, but you don't have to rub it in," changkyun joked with a chuckle.

"now!" kihyun insisted with a high-pitched squeak. he shoved changkyun into the supply closet in the corner of his classroom and shut the door, hurriedly sitting back down at his desk.

thank god, you couldn't see his desk from the muggy glass window in the door.

"come in?" kihyun gulped and tried to look like he was actually busy with something.

the classroom door opened, and lee minhyuk strolled confidentally in. "i had a feeling this was your room," he grinned, "didn't want to walk in on some random teacher, though. all the teachers here seem dead boring. and old."

kihyun tried to control his breathing and shot a wry sort of smile at his old best friend. "you could say that again," he replied. "what are you doing here though, hyuk?"

"awww," minhyuk gushed, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the teacher's desk, "are we on a nickname basis again? please say we are, kiki-"

"get off my desk," kihyun grunted, rolling his eyes, "you're not supposed to be allowed in without a visitor tag."

"oh, i got past the receptionist lady easy," minhyuk brushed him off, "gave her a quick wink and told her i was your boyfriend. she has a soft spot for romance."

"you did WHAT?!"

"i know, i know, you already have a boyfriend - who is adorable, by the way - but bla bla bla," minhyuk went on, "but she doesn't know that, does she? or does she? wait have i-"

"lee minhyuk!" kihyun was almost screaming at him by this point, "no one in this entire fucking school knows i'm gay!"

knock-knock!

the two of them exchanged a look, and kihyun wondered if he'd said that last part a little too loudly.

"oh, sorry, am i interrupting something?" it was mr son, broad as ever with the sleeves of his white shirt rolled to the elbow, the muscles in his arms straining under the several boxes of printer paper he was carrying.

kihyun didn't even have to look at minhyuk to tell he was already drooling.

"no! you're not interrupting anything," minhyuk blurted quickly, "i'm just kihyun's hot single friend visiting him for a while, how's your day going?"

mr son eyed him up and down in curiosity, and then he tried to analyse what the situation really was in this classroom. with a rather bemused expression, he put down the printer paper (which gave minhyuk a nice view of his ass in those tight suit trousers) and dusted off his hands. "well, um, mr yoo," he said, clearing his throat, "here's the paper you wanted. and, kihyun's hot single friend, my day is doing just fine."

minhyuk almost swooned.

"oh, uh, mr son?" kihyun called after him as he turned to leave, "i-i only wanted enough for my class to make posters."

he stared at the three big boxes of printer paper, overwhelmed.

"oh," said mr son, who then let out a deep chuckle. "well, i can take it back for you, if you want?"

"no, no, i-"

"i can help you!" minhyuk announced, flicking his hair and throwing the broad-shouldered teacher a winning smile. "i'm minhyuk, by the way."

he struggled to lift one of the heavy boxes, but mr son picked up the other two with ease, putting one on a desk in the front row for kihyun to use in his next class.

"i'm hyunwoo," he said conversationally, "so, how'd you get to know mr yoo?"

kihyun watched them leave with the printer paper, both relieved and even more on edge than before. minhyuk couldn't find out that changkyun was a student at his school. the more people that knew, the greater danger they'd both be in.

"kihyunnie-hyung!" changkyun hissed from the cupboard, "can i come out now?"

kihyun opened the door and buried himself in changkyun's chest, feeling the younger's arms wrap protectively around him. "is this you officially coming out?" he teased with a weak laugh.

"eh, we'll see about that," changkyun chuckled quietly, "you knowing is enough for now." he pressed a kiss to kihyun's forehead and smiled.

kihyun couldn't let anything bad happen to changkyun. if anyone found out about them, he would probably lose his job, and maybe never see changkyun again. kihyun just couldn't let that happen.

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