Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Thirty Three

The first week after moving to Daehyun's class went by quickly and Youngjae really felt, like he was finally able to focus more on the lessons. This class was not as loud as his old one and he did not have to be scared of Jumin doing something to him in the breaks, since Daehyun barely ever left his side. Sure, there were also many students in this class who laughed at him and were friends with Jumin, but when Daehyun was there, they left him alone most of the time. Of course he still saw Mr Kim in maths and he was still as pissed at Youngjae as before, but everytime the teacher said something mean to him or asked him something he could not possibly know, Youngjae felt Daehyun's hand on his leg under the table, which helped him to stay calm and mostly kept him from breaking out in tears. He walked home together with Daehyun every day, sometimes Junhong would also join them to hang out with Daehyun. Almost every day they asked him to come over as well, but Youngjae would always say no, since he needed to rest after school days and Youngjae did not want to bother them in their freetime. But on Friday, Daehyun had literally begged him to spend the weekend together, so he had seen no other way than to give in, and so it came that he stood in front of the blonde's door in the afternoon. 

"Hey Jae, come in!" Daehyun hugged him, grinning, before they went inside. "I thought we could order pizza and have a movie night, what do you think?" 

"Sounds like a good plan." Youngjae followed the blonde to the kitchen, where he saw Daehyun's mother cleaning the fridge. When she noticed him, she got up and approached him with a smile. 

"Hey Youngjae, nice to see you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." 

"Mom" said Daehyun, grabbing a brochure of a restaurant, "Can we have money for pizza?" 

"Sure, just order, I'll pay then. I want one too, after all." She was still smiling and Youngjae started wondering if everyone in Daehyun's family was always happy, when they heard the front door being unlocked and something in the blonde boy's eyes changed. 

"Jae, let's go upstairs. Your bag looks heavy." he said and quickly left for his room, causing the younger to almost trip when he tried to keep up with him. 

Up in his room, he eventually seemed to relax and took Youngjae's bag, setting it down next to the couch before flopping down on the piece of interior. "Sit down, you can feel like home here." 

The younger nodded and sat next to him, then Daehyun opened the brochure, which he had brought from downstairs. "Let's see..." he mumbled and started looking through the menu. 

... 

A few hours later, around midnight, they had eaten most of their pizzas - keeping the rest for later - and had made themselves comfortable on the bed, watching a horror movie on Daehyun's laptop, while Daehyun's puppy Kanji had fallen asleep next to Youngjae, who was carefully stroking the small dog's white fur. 

As the film had ended, Daehyun looked at the scene, smiling, before he noticed something. 

"Jae, are you cold?" 

Confused by this sudden question, Youngjae looked at him. "What? No, why?" 

"Your hands are shaking." 

The younger suddenly felt nervous. How should he explain this? He could not just tell Daehyun about his alcohol addiction, he didn't want the older to know about this. The whole week, he had avoided drinking, so Daehyun would not get suspicious, but of course this meant the withdrawal-effects were way worse than usual. And now this had caused Daehyun to ask about it. 

"Oh... I don't know why this is happening..." he eventually mumbled and hid his hands under the blanket. "It just starts sometimes, then goes away after a while." 

Daehyun looked at him as if he was deciding whether to believe this or not, but then he nodded and looked back at the screen of his computer. "I see. Hey, do you want to watch another film?"