A/N: Um, so this tory went in a different direction than I previously thought and will have a few more chapters as a result. I hope my promise of long chapter (and smut) is delivered in this. Don't worry, there will be other extra long steamy scenes in the next chapters - this one is a trial run. Please do let me know what you think of it. XOXO

>>*<<

Mew is studying in the library during his free period, his head stuffed to the brim with complicated physics equations when he feels an intense gaze trained on him. It takes him several minutes of trying to ignore the prickling sensation before he gives in and looks up to find the source of this disturbance.

He finds an intimidating figure seated at an opposite table, engaged in an unannounced (no one mentioned this to Mew, okay!) staring contest with him. Mew blinks, face turning warm at being the subject of this person's unwavering stare, yet again. It is difficult not to be mesmerized by those handsome, stern features facing him but Mew kind of feels very much intimidated by this silent treatment. Throat suddenly dry (an unavoidable side effect), he twitches in his seat, wondering what he's supposed to do now. This has been going on for a while, though he only noticed this pattern recently. Either that or something caused this occurrence to drastically increase during the past two weeks. If that's the case, then Mew has a vague idea of why it's only happening now. But then again, there's a high chance he is probably (most definitely) imagining things. Anyways, who really knows why this is going on outside of wild imagination?

Mew's the first one to avert his glance (he always does) and goes back to his spread out books. But his notes no longer make any sense. The numbers and important formulas jump at him in a wriggly fashion causing his sudden headache to worsen. Adjusting his glasses, Mew attempts to concentrate on his assignment once more but finds it is of no use. Sneaking another quick gaze towards the farthest table, his breathe hitches when it appears the source of his current troubles is getting ready to approach him. (Okay, definitely not imagining things then.)

'Shia. Why couldn't he take a hint and stay away?'

Actually, why is he following Mew around in the first place? Because it is clear that's what is unfolding here. Mew found himself in this type of situation way too many times to be confused or strike it off as a coincidence. Again Mew wonders why this is happening at all and couldn't help questioning what is it that made him target Mew all of a sudden, silently studying him from distance and crossing paths like a looming threat. Apparently ignoring him could only work for a bit, until the person decided to take matters into his hands. Mew just didn't think it would happen so soon or even now!

For a few seconds, he dumbly stares in mounting panic as the other guy begins packing his stuff in an obvious manner. Then it kicks in, what's about to happen next. He instantly jumps to his feet, making a huge ruckus and drawing the curious attention of nearby students towards him. Hastily apologizing to them with a sincere wai, Mew simply starts shoving his books and pens into his bag, forgoing order and his OCD tendencies for a quick getaway. Doesn't even dare to check if he's still being approached and hightails from there, not stopping until he reaches a busy corridor where he's safe from any unwanted confrontations ... for today.

'Great. He managed to escape from him yet again.'

Mew lets out a relieved sigh when he leaves that building block and arrived at a safe distance, accidentally ending up in a crowded short-cut hallway that merges the routes of Political Science faculty, Block D cafeteria, Home sciences department and a nearby study room. Mentally lauds himself for landing a jackpot, the honeycomb of student trails in the campus, knowing that he couldn't have picked a better spot if he consciously tried. Heaving a little from the major sprinting he did, he checks behind him for a pursuer and finding none, Mew slowly straightens up from his slouched posture only to meet an angry gaze waiting for his acknowledgment - not two feet away.

"Fuck."

>*<

"Mew."

The way his name is drawled by that deep voice, ripping past those sinfully perfect lips and a criminally attractive Adam's apple sends a shiver of lust spiking through him. The heat pooling in his stomach quicken overturns as he gets a good look at the insanely hot man standing before him. Don't blame him - Mew's wired to always react in a certain manner around this guy and his disciplined body undisputedly delivers.

Besides, it has been several days since he last had a proper chance to ogle study Bright this closely. Mew really cannot be blamed for turning into a blushing mush on spot and nailing the impression of a gaping fish (while constantly denying his attraction) as if he's trying to win an Oscar here. The business major sure as hell is a sight for sore eyes and Mew, well, he's a blind man staring the sun for the first time: dazzled, lightheaded and more than a little blinded by his sheer radiance.

Bright appears effortlessly sexy in his formal uniform with his loosened black tie askance, his rugged looks made more prominent by his dark hair in array as though he repeated brushed back his fringe, as is his habit. Although, Bright in the formal uniform for business students is always a vision to behold, this particular debauchery look of his seems to set blazing fires in anybody who dares to gaze at him for longer than two freaking seconds, transforming the poor souls into horny zombies with only one thought occupying their minds: Bright.

It kind of zaps him back to that special IG post of Bright following Mew's twisted game of hide and seek he forced both of them to play: wherein Bright despite receiving clear-cut signals still chases after him, a lost, haunted look in his eyes; while Mew kept disappearing near the corners, obstinately turning a blind eye to his best friend's confusion. Hearing his friends complain of Bright's frustration near tethered him from his resolution to maintain distance but he somehow survived.

Until that damn picture surfaced.

Now, Mew may not be a social butterfly or even considered popular like the rest of his friends, but he sure loves the flimsy attention social media granted. He enjoys taking selfies, both filtered and unfiltered, and has even more fun posting them on social platforms hoping for recognition and approval from online strangers. It strokes his ego to get hearts and compliments from random anons - even if the numbers are pitiable compared to what Bright garners (he's verified with a blue tick!) - in ways that Mew could never accept the same from his Mae or friends. The former, he knows will call him beautiful even if he's dressed as a trash bag and the latter, Mew is aware he's lucky to have a loyal bunch who will have his back no matter what, after laughing at him first of course.

Anyways, the point of this tangent before he gets any more distracted is that Bright hates taking pictures of himself. Most of the snapshots which involve him are from the paparazzi level of dedication on behalf of his fanclub that resulted in getting shots of Bright clicked in several campus spots ranging from various stages of blurred blobs to HD level of perfection. The only pictures Bright agreed to participate willingly are captured by Mew himself. It's their deal made during high-school days when he convinced Bright to join the photography club and the football player invariably got bitten by the shutter bug.

It is supposed to be their thing only!

So, yes, hearing from the buzzing grapevine about Bright posing for a camera held by someone other than Mew rankled him, dug its sharp claws deep within the most insecure parts of himself and ripped his insides out. Pride stopped him from hunting for that infamous thirst trap, everybody seems to be talking about. In the end, Mew lasted four hours till he broke down and reinstalled the app in his phone, removed in a fit of irrational fear of his weak impulses.

And then, he actually sees the pic.

Mike had tagged him on Bright's post and then the rest of their gang bombarded him with texts asking if he knew what's going on with Bright. This finally pushed Mew into checking out his muted notifications on Bright's Instagram account (that's the version he's sticking with) and promptly spent the rest of the night jerking himself to Bright's scorching hot visuals while hating himself for succumbing to the temptation.

Right now, having Bright stand in front of him is bringing back every inappropriate thought Mew underwent that night (twice his usual amount) and he's pretty sure if Bright kept staring at him, his darkest secret will soon become public knowledge. Because Mew might do something monumentally stupid as screaming at Bright to kiss him until he drops or even blurt out to request Bright to have sex with him. Either scenario is a possibility judging by the way his legs have tuned into a jelly and it scares him, this not knowing what he'll do next if Bright continues to watch him like a hawk. Their close proximity isn't helping matters either.

Also that dark scowl on his too handsome face? Yeah, it is simultaneously turns on Mew and terrifies him a little. He wants to run for his life far away from his fuming friend. Yet at the same time, he's eager to be captured by this seething Bright who could do whatever he wants to him.

And Mew will gladly let him. Urge Bright even to take any liberties he wants. Make it official by signing contracts and call each other by legal nicknames of husband and partner - sure, Mew is more than willing if Bright is okay with it.

>*<

Shaking his head outwardly as if it will help in getting rid of his crazy thoughts, Mew tries to smile but it comes across as a grimace instead. "Hey Bright."

Bright takes another step forward, still weirdly quiet and Mew shrinks back, only for his back to meet the hard surface of the corridor's wall. Shia. He's grateful that at least they're in a public space. Sneaks in a side glance to their surroundings and immediately gulps back a whine. Okay. At least there are a few people around, who might notice if something were to happen (not that anything wild or crazy could actually happen), he's just being stupid. (Mew sure hopes so.)

"B-Bright, wh-what is it?"

Curses himself for stammering and couldn't even blame Bright when he appears confused at his weird behavior, tilting his head with a pout in that endearing cute manner. Shit, how is Mew supposed to move on from Bright if he continues to ambush him like this, while also looking so adorable and damn sexy at the same time?

"You tell me, Mew. Why are you suddenly avoiding me? What did I do to make you run away at the sight of me?" What starts as anger soon fizzles into pain and bewilderment, his glower making way into sad pout territory. "Tell me, so I can make sure I won't repeat that mistake ever again. I will make amends for whatever I did wrong, so we can go back to being friends again."

Fuck. Bright sounds so incredibly upset and it is doing things to Mew's foolish heart. Terrible and painful things. It makes him hurt something worse to be the cause of Bright's suffering. And he wants nothing more than to end both their torment right this second. But his mother's wise words stop him in his tracks.

No, he cannot do this. He needs to learn to put himself first and protect his fragile heart. If he allows Bright back in his life again so soon and has to actually watch him be in a relationship with someone, before Mew is ready to deal with his feelings, it could destroy their friendship when Bright inevitably finds the truth. He simply cannot risk that happening. Bracing himself to hear more anguish and ire in Bright's words (cause he knows his best friend and how he'll react), Mew takes another shaky breathe and sticks to his practiced script of denying the truth.

"I-I don't know what you mean. I'm not avoiding you, Bright."

"Liar," Bright refutes stepping even closer. Despite his tone remaining soft, the effect is no less overwhelming. Particularly, since Mew's personal space is invaded with Bright's warm body nearly touching his and the heady scent of him is infiltrating Mew's senses causing him to rapidly lose ground on his previous reasoning and general self-preservation skills.

He places a large hand on the wall next to Mew's head and another near his hip, barely touching him yet effectively trapping Mew from running away all the same. Bright holds his gaze as he speaks nonchalantly, as though addressing the weather or equally mundane subject.

"It's been days since you stopped hanging out with me and the gang. You hardly talk to me anymore and whenever you DEEM to answer my calls or texts, you're always busy with something to actually spare any time for me. And when you do, you always halt out conversations pretty quickly." Bright's voice hardly falters, running smooth with a glint of steel underneath. "You're staying at your parents house - it's been two whole weeks since you came back to our home. When I-"

Here Bright breaks his eye-contact for the first time. Blinking and staring away to compose the slightest change of his expression before returning to the careful neutrality. "When I try to visit you, I'm always turned away."

"Uh- That's not tru-"

"No. Don't try to tell me I'm imagining things. I'm not an idiot, Mew. You can't keep brushing these incidents off with your lame excuses, not this time around. I don't know why Auntie is lying to me all of a sudden and saying you were out with friends when I came to visit you because I KNOW you're inside the house. I saw you hiding behind the window and peeking at us. So don't you dare lie to me again." The sudden outburst of anger though expected is still startling ... for the both of them.

Bright still continues to hold Mew's panicked gaze, seemingly searching his face for the signs of something - Mew doesn't really understand what he's looking for - sighing deeply when he comes up lacking. Closes his eyes briefly afterwards and for a second, Bright appears truly dejected. Mew's pulse jumps in his throat, the weird twisted pain is back in his stomach and automatically wants to cheer him up.

"What did I do, Mew?" Bright asks quietly after a bit. His large doe eyes resembling dark endless pools of despair. "Why am I being punished like this?"

After hearing the raw pain in his words, Mew cannot stay silent anymore. Tears run down messily past his cheeks and his hands move on their own violation to clutch at Bright's shirt, nails digging in the thin material forming further wrinkles. He's too shocked by his helpless actions to even consider the implications his friend might be drawing from these proceedings or his past actions, it seems.

As for whether he's pulling Bright closer or holding him at bay - it is anybody's guess, because Mew certainly is ignorant of what he wants in this given moment. Of course, Bright immediately understands without Mew verbalizing his needs. That's how close they are - or should he say 'were' - since he had gone and decided to put up barriers, singlehandedly caused a dent in their solid friendship of eight freaking years. They would've been celebrating their ninth anniversary in a month. Now, he'll be grateful if they still remain as friends going forward.

"Hey," Bright soothes cradling his face and gently wiping his tears.

Mew feels impossibly close and yet million miles away from him as Bright basically lets the sobbing mess of him fall against chest, his head planted right next to Bright's steady heartbeat. Bright whispers soft reassurances, hands continuing to rub soothing circles on Mew's shuddering back and petting his soft hair, consoling him. He expects further questions regarding his sudden emotional breakdown and overall bizarre reaction over past weeks. Huddles into himself awaiting those impending queries from a startled Bright. Misery and fear causes him to soon hiccup, struggling to breathe past the train wreck of emotions outpouring from him.

However, Bright being the wonderful and supportive friend that he is, doesn't even attempt to bridge the gap between them - neither in a physical sense nor the emotional blanks left by Mew's stubborn silence. He remains a pillar of support (and clueless) as always - letting Mew get his tears and snot over his pristine white shirt - not even pressing the advantage of his vulnerable state to push for answers.

And Mew wants, no, he needs to erase that remaining inches of distance between their bodies in a rush of affection flooding his senses. The emotional whiplash from misery to horny almost leaves him jarring. Feels compelled to follow through with his wild, out-of-control desires to yank an amazing Bright by his tie and kiss him senseless till his beautifully thick head gets the point he's been missing all these years. Forget the fact they're both in the middle of a (busy?) campus hallway and that anybody could walk in on them if they do happen to make-out. So many reasons and consequences to think of and yet Mew wants in this exact moment is to act on his crazed instincts borne out of years long bottled up emotions which simultaneously are causing havoc and drowning him in a sea of unhappiness. This abrupt unlocking of his pent-up frustration is giving mixed signals to his brain, confusing their unexpected proximity with something else. Squirms against the radiating heat of Bright's firm torso, which burns through the layers of his clothes to scorch the primal instincts Mew kept hidden from his best friend.

He desperately craves for Bright to pin him under his toned body, demand him to make us of his swoon-worthy muscles (hard earned through countless football practices) and to hoist Mew up in this open area by his defined arms and fuck him raw against the wall. They can make love in leisure back in their dorm. For now, he wants to be slammed against a horizontal surface and consumed like it's the last night of their loves. Mew wants to dare the concerned idiot to take him apart, repeatedly fill him up with his large dick (Mew had more than a couple glimpses of that monster cock and yes, he's a size queen, thank you.) and wreck him till Bright's truly satiated. Until Mew could not walk properly without limping for days.

It doesn't matter if people see them going at it like wolves in heat. In fact, Mew would rather have the entire student body of every faculty witness Bright mauling him - take what he wants with no hesitation and mark Mew up for the whole world to see - so that he can stake his claim on Bright too and people will finally understand that he's off limits to everyone else. That Bright is Mew's precious one, his soulmate and the love of his life. Until it is ingrained into all their brains that Bright and Mew belong together and are meant only for each other.

Except ... that's not really true, is it?

Bright doesn't feel that way about Mew. This is all in his head, a sick fantasy that will never become a reality.

~

He sobers up under that freezing thought pretty quickly. Mew's grateful beyond measure that Bright didn't feel his hard-on, which luckily was covered by his oversized shirt. With another shuddering exhale, Mew backs off or tries to when Bright's hand shoots out to hold him in place. He squirms in his arms, out of habit at this point, raising his head to watch Bright's unreadable expression in blatant confusion.

"B-Bright...?"

The star football player only frowns, not relaxing his grip. The worry painted in the scrunch of his eyebrows and the dark glint of suspicion in his eyes gives him a pause. "What's going on with you, Mew?"

He shakes his head, throat parched and brain going into an offline mode at having Bright's complete attention and searing gaze turned on him, seconds after crying his heart out. The urgency in his tone doesn't diminish as seconds cross into minutes and it only heightens as Mew continues to keep his mouth shut.

"Something's off. I don't know if it has to do solely with me or if you are having other issues, but you really NEED to tell me everything now, Mew. Whatever it is, we will face it together and-"

Bright abruptly halts, leaning back as a plethora of emotions flit through his dark orbs, too soon for Mew to make head or tails out of him. Yet, he's acutely aware the other guy has something akin to a bulb going off on his head, a moment of epiphany, inevitable really and Mew's apprehensive of its exact path and consequences. He clenches his fists waiting for Bright to make the next move. Either he'd finally realized the truth, no doubt accurately connecting the dots, or Bright's about to go off on a different but not entirely irrelevant tangent and probe further. Mew bites his lips something fierce to remind himself to patiently wait and not let the cat out of the bag early. After all, there's a high chance Bright could be wrong about whatever guesswork was going on through his complicated mind.

"Mew, you were startled to see me earlier," he sounds choked and Mew is understandably confused with where he's going with this. Bright instantly protests as if he could read his mind. "No. I mean, you have been consistently avoiding me for a while now. You have actually gotten pretty good at it. I could rarely surprise you by showing up at random places anymore."

Bright scowls as though remembering those encounters are causing him physical pain. Mew once again tries to deny for courtesy sake. At this point, both of them know it's futile but he cannot help it.

"I told you I wasn't," he falters at Bright's fierce glare. "-wasn't doing it on purpose. It was just a stupid coincidence; you're just reading it wrong."

"Once is an accident, Mewie. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice? Four - five times in a row? That isn't called a happenstance. It means someone is putting in careful efforts and purposeful planning to ensure these results. And this wasn't what-" He grits his teeth. "I will go into that later. What I was saying before you interrupted ... you always managed to flee when I came by to see you. You either avoided me completely or ran as if wild dogs are chasing after you the minute you saw me. Oh, you are kind enough to shoot me a text later to excuse your absence. But that's not the case today, is it? When I found you here, you were trying to catch your breath and checking behind you. As though, you've just run down the stairs and away from someone ..."

Shit, shit, shit.

Mew's internal wiring and monologue system malfunctions as he watches Bright arrive at the right conclusions. He doesn't know how to distract him from this. Isn't sure any of his backup plans will work in deterring a stubborn Bright from poking his nose into his messy business. What he wouldn't do to have something, anything to stop this confrontation from happening?!

Bright is too much of a stubborn bastard to let him leave after voicing his suspicion. He holds no hope of pushing the muscled jock away to flee - Bright is both stronger and faster than Mew - he will be caught within moments if not less. So, he prays as a last resort, calling on all the merit points he worked up till now and offering more should he be saved from this uncomfortable interrogation.

Perhaps Mew was a monk in his past life accumulating thousands of merits. Because right at the moment, his request is answered in the form of a familiar shout.

"Hey Mew!"

They both immediately snap their heads towards the yell, but Bright doesn't make a move to step back from his position. Mew tilts his head, furrowing his eyes to catch a proper view of his savior. Though judging from Bright's glower, it should be someone they knew already. He shifts a little, subtly pushing at Bright's chest to give him some space, face heating up at the compromising scenario whoever had walked in and continues to get close to with each step they take.

Bright finally budges a little, removing his hand from the wall and Mew then turns to face the guy strolling towards them. His heart legit skips a beat and eyes widen to huge saucers as he at last comprehends the identity of his dark knight and takes in the Cheshire cat's grin of the last person he expected to come looking for him.

Alai wa?

>*<

Or maybe Mew had committed a series of grave sins in his past life that has now come back to haunt him.

What with today and its nasty surprises in store for him? Is there a 'Let's ambush Mew in the most awkward of ways' prank going on that no one thought to inform him? Because it sure feels like it - as if, as if Mew is being chased from frying pan to fire to a tub of boiling hot water.

Somewhere, somehow his life has turned into a huge joke when Mew was too distracted to notice and now, he's paying for it by entertaining the universe as its personal punching bag of ironic moments. While he's stuck silently wallowing his unlucky fate, his taller classmate (or rather calling him a rival is more accurate) stops an appropriate distances away, still wearing that dazzling smile. So weird to be on this receiving end instead of perpetual glares and confusing insults.

Bright takes it upon himself to break the ice with his chilling tone and a typical glare reserved for people outside his inner circle of friends. "What do you want?"

Mew flinches at his harsh delivery, apology ready at the tip of his tongue to offer to his hot-tempered classmate. He shares the same curiosity too, albeit would have phrased the question more politely. They never saw face-to-face but hardly had any issues outside of the classroom either; which makes his wild-card entry all the more surprising!

Mew knows Bright usually comes across as haughty and cold person to strangers, but that is further heightened today because of his exchange with Mew. He doesn't want the other guy to draw the wrong conclusions and end up with a bad impression of Bright. Before he could excuse his friend's weird behavior, his rival is answering, unbothered by the icy attitude he just received.

"I'm here for Mew." Addressing a gawking Mew next, the tanned engineer continues. "Professor Pichai agreed to discuss the last minute changes to our project before the class. I think you kept your phone on silent again and missed my calls. Let's go. We don't have much time left and if any of our classmates find out we can change the topic, the professor might change his mind and cancel our request altogether."

And Mew just ... stares at the usually bad-tempered guy like he grew two heads.

What project? Since when did they ever work together or were assigned to the same project? Especially in Professor Pichai's class? Wait. Are they assigned to a project suddenly? But, no. He doesn't remember anything like that happening in their last class... Besides, didn't this guy hate Mew's guts to even properly greet him like a normal person? Why then is he suddenly talking to Mew as if they're good friends or even acquaintances? What the hell is going on? Did Mew finally lose his mind and go crazy or was this all a huge bizarre dream?

"Um."

Of course, he doesn't manage to properly articulate his queries, big surprise. It's not his fault. Maybe he accidentally wore an unlucky color today and hence all this misfortune is piling upon him?

Rolling his eyes, Gulf shuffles forward and grabs his hand, arches a brow when Bright instinctively blocks him. "We're running late." He repeats as though it's a no brainer, effortlessly (it seems?) breaking Bright's hold on his arm. "And a significant percentage of our grade depends on this project."

With another firm tug, he is pulled past an irate Bright and into Gulf's orbit. Mew almost stumbles at the unexpected force and braces a palm against his hard chest to avoid tripping. Flashing a quirky smile, Gulf adjusts his grip to a gentle clasp and throws another sassy quip towards Bright over his shoulder. "Can't keep the professor waiting, sorry."

He doesn't sound sorry at all.

But Mew can't really focus on that, since he's being dragged by an energetic Gulf towards their faculty route. He spares a look in Bright's direction, noticing the rigid set of his shoulders and his tight-lipped glare - oh, Bright is furious - hm, good thing Mew doesn't have to deal with him or his grouchy attitude anytime soon.

Gulf, however, is a different matter. Unlike with Bright, Mew doesn't think he will get another opportunity to escape their potential conversation. Wait, why would he avoid that anyway?

Mew has so many questions and he will not rest until Gulf answers every single one of them. Starting with, why was Gulf following Mew in the first place?!

>>*<<

A/N: Please do vote and share your feedback, so I'll know your thoughts and get twice the motivation to finish working on this story! XOXO 💜