Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Thirty Eight

Youngjae sat in class, frozen, not getting out one word. He stared at the exam Mr Kim had just handed back. He didn't even notice that Daehyun was trying to talk to him. Only when the older would take the sheet from his hands, he looked over at the other. 

Daehyun looked at the younger's grade, grinning. "Surprised?" 

Youngjae nodded. "How is this even possible? I- I thought it would be an F as always..." 

"You should have listened to me though. I knew it would go well, as much as we studied for this." 

"B- But... This is a C..." 

Daehyun just chuckled at the boy's shock, as he noticed Mr Kim walking over to their desk. 

"Mr Yoo" the teacher said. It was obvious he was mad about the boys improvement. "I was nice this time, but if I catch you cheating again, it will be instantly graded F." 

The man turned away and Youngjae felt his mood sink at this sentence. "I didn't cheat-" he mumbled. 

Daehyun stared at the teacher in anger. "Don't mind him" he said, "He's just pissed that he didn't have a reason to bully you." 

Juhong next to them scoffed. "What an asshole." 

Youngjae nodded. They were right. Still, he felt bad from being treated so unfairly. Then he looked over at Daehyun. "Do you really think I can make it? It's only five months until the finals..." 

"I know you can. Look, we started two weeks ago and you already went all the way up. If you do like this in every test from now on, you're safe." 

"What if not?" 

"Let's not think about that. I know you can do it, Jae." he smiled. 

He wasn't just saying that to be nice, he really meant it. The last two weeks he had mostly spent with Youngjae, teaching him the current topic in math. To his surprise, the boy never took very long to understand something that had driven him crazy before. He was sure that the main reason for Youngjae's bad grades was Mr Kim's way of teaching. The man went through topics without giving many examples, so everyone who needed examples to understand, had huge problems. In addition, he was currently trying to pick on Yongjae, which surely didn't help either. Youngjae for sure wasn't stupid and Daehyun would make sure that the boy passed the finals. On the one hand for Youngjae himself, on the other hand to piss off this horrible teacher. He would not let him keep bullying Youngjae. 

Since the day Daehyun had taken Youngjae's alcohol away, they spend lots of time together. He wanted to make sure Youngjae didn't go back to this dangerous addiction, so he had promised himself to always take care of the boy. He liked having Youngjae as a friend, he was thankful that the boy trusted him and he wanted to give him all the things he deserved. 

Today was the last day before the Christmas holidays and Daehyun was excited for it, since Youngjae would stay with him for the whole week until new year. 

The boy had brought the things he needed to school so when they were free to leave, they went straight to Daehyun's home. Junhong accompanied them and soon, they sat in Daehyun's room, playing video games.

"Dae, what are you getting for Christmas?" the youngest asked after a while, as he waited for his character to respawn.

"Actually I don't know yet. I told mom to surprise me."

"What about your dad though?"

Youngjae wasn't surprised, when he noticed something in Daehyun's look change. He had been here quite a few times by now and he knew that Daehyun lived with both his parents, but the boy never spoke about his father, nor had Youngjae ever seen him. The second the man came home, Daehyun would take Youngjae to his room where they then stayed. Youngjae didn't know the reason though, he was kind of curious what had happened that Daehyun never talked about his father but of course he would not ask about it. He was way too shy for that, plus he didn't want to make Daehyun uncomfortable. It wasn't in his business at all so he had to stay curious.

Junhong didn't seem to notice that Daehyun's smile had vanished. He was looking at the screen, still waiting for an answer.

"I haven't talked to him about presents, I don't know." Daehyun eventually said and let the smile reappear. But Youngjae felt it wasn't the same smile as before. It looked the same, but it didn't feel the same at all.

"Well then let's hope its something useful."

Daehyun nodded "What about you?"

"New headphones. I'm dying every day on the way to school."

Youngjae chuckled. He knew what the younger meant. Then he noticed Daehyun glance over to him with a smile. A real one.