"how could you do this without telling me about it?" jihoon asked yedam after the two arrived home that day. the younger male had to explain to the other as to who he was talking to at the library and why they were having a conversation from seven feet away, and yedam tried to lie, but he was terrible at it and jihoon was able to see right through the younger.

"i didn't think that you would need to know," yedam said, telling the truth.

it was no secret that yedam was talking to jihoon about giving the strawberry milk to doyoung, who smelled extremely strongly of baby powder, twice a day for the past week. the second year university student's older brother was currently lecturing him as to why he would do such a thing when one, he's allergic to baby powder, two, can't be near anyone or anything with or near baby powder, and three, doyoung smelled like he was an actual bottle of baby powder himself.

"why would i not need to know about you going close to someone who smells so strong of baby powder that you can smell it through your mask?"

"because it's nothing you should really be concerned about," yedam stated, wanting to end the conversation that they seemed to have everyday recently. jihoon was, no doubt, overprotective of his younger brother, and even though the second year university student knew that he meant well, he still couldn't help but be irritated at jihoon from time to time.

"nothing to be concerned about? yedam, you could've fucking hyperventilated when giving him the milk because of the strong baby powder scent. hell, you could've had an extremely severe allergic reaction when he grabbed your wrist," jihoon stated, not bothering to censor himself in front of his bother and still very concerned for the younger's well being. the older male had seen yedam at the library earlier that day after going there to pick up the younger male, only to find that he was talking with someone that smelled extremely strong of baby powder. although people other than yedam were unable to smell baby powder, jihoon miraculously was able to smell the product as well as yedam, and at first, the first year university student was happy that he wasn't the only one who could smell it.

but nowadays, yedam wished that jihoon wasn't able to smell it like him, and situations like this, where the older gets too overprotective of the other around people wearing baby powder, that feeling grows larger and larger. jihoon was overprotective, yes, even the third year university student could admit it himself, but he only wanted the younger to be more careful because there wasn't really any way to help prevent yedam's hyperventilation whenever he comes in contact with his allergy, and both the allergic male and his older brother hated how that was the case.

yedam's allergy, as his entire family had found out, wasn't able to be reduced or helped by allergy medicine. after a whole year of testing that, it only turned to make the said boy's allergy worse and caused him to be hospitalized for seven months when yedam was in his last year of middle school. knowing about this, yedam hasn't even touched the claritin that the nurse gave to him about a week ago after leaving the hospital. apparently, she was not notified about yedam's allergy getting worse with anti-allergy medication. the entire box was still intact, sitting in the medicine cabinet untouched by anyone, especially yedam.

the only thing that could mildly help yedam with his allergy was wearing a mask, a scented one at that. the mask covers over his nose and mouth and with the light scent of febreeze coming from the inside of the mask, that was efficient enough to prevent yedam from hyperventilating around baby powder. without the mask, he would've been near to death several times with his countless interactions and collisions with people who all wear baby powder.

the only people that yedam knows who don't wear baby powder is his family and friends, and they all don't wear it due to yedam's allergy. other than that, the second year university student hasn't necessarily met anyone else who doesn't wear baby powder, and recently, it feels as if the world wants to mock him because people seem to be carrying a bottle of baby powder everywhere.

"i was wearing long sleeves. thank god for that," yedam whispered the last part so that his older brother couldn't hear, but jihoon did. however, he decided to dismiss the statement just this once. "and i didn't hyperventilate."

"you could smell the baby powder through your mask when you were four feet away from the boy. how did you even manage to hold a conversation with him?" jihoon asked, referring to the conversation yedam had with doyoung in the library after school about half an hour ago.

"i had the conversation with him from seven feet away..."

"thank you for giving me the strawberry milk..." yedam heard doyoung say to him as he stopped gasping for air and was now looking at the other male. from behind his mask, the second year university student just gave a slight nod, showing that it wasn't a problem.

"uh... what's your name?" the other boy asked. he wanted to keep the conversation going, but he didn't know what to say next. the first year university student decided to ask for the other male's name and possibly get to know him a bit more.

"b-bang yedam..." the second year university student said, not sure if he should tell the other his name. well, technically, it should be yedam asking the other male for his name because he was the one giving strawberry milk to the younger while he was sleeping, but the masked male couldn't help that he was shy after his identity had been revealed to the other.

"yedam...?" doyoung asked, and after earning a nod from the second year university student, the younger male was able to confirm that he heard yedam's name correctly. "my name is doyoung. kim doyoung," the other said, showing a smile on his face. yedam only gave a nod to show that he understood, and turned to look away from the other, feeling shy all of a sudden for a reason unknown to the masked male.

yedam saw doyoung take a step towards him from the corner of his eyes and took a step back, keeping the same distance between the two of them and not allowing doyoung to move any closer to him. the first year university student slightly frowned upon seeing this, and it didn't go unnoticed by yedam.

but how could the older male let him get close when he knew the consequences of letting that happen?

when doyoung took another step forward, yedam took another step back. this followed along for another two steps before the younger male decided to stop and let out a silent sigh. the gentle eyes of doyoung were captivating to yedam, and he couldn't help but feel like he would get lost in those sparkling, brown orbs that held so much curiosity and confusion. the masked male knew that he was somewhat hurting doyoung's feelings by not allowing him to come closer to him, but he couldn't help it.

his entire life was hanging off the edge of a cliff by just simply holding a conversation with doyoung.

"i'm... in my first year. what grade are you in?" doyoung asked, softening his voice more than it was before as an instinct. the younger male thought that yedam was somehow scared of him, which is why he was backing away and not letting him come closer, but doyoung was fine with that. the last thing he wanted to do was make the other uncomfortable.

"second y-year..." yedam mentally hit himself for letting him stutter for the second time that day. he usually wasn't like this. maybe it was because he felt extremely small under those soft and gentle eyes that doyoung possessed, but he had just met the guy. how could he have such a big affect on yedam?

"ah, sorry. i didn't know you were my hyung," doyoung apologized sincerely for earlier, where he had called yedam's name without following it with honorifics. the masked male just shook his head and assured the other that it was okay, since doyoung didn't know he was older nor did yedam know that the other male was younger.

silence fell between them for a couple more minutes, both of them wanting to find a way to keep the conversation going, even if it was from seven feet away. yedam looked everywhere except doyoung and the first year university student kept his gaze settled on the older male.

"uh... i'm in the business management faculty."

yedam turned to look at the younger male after hearing him talk, and gave a slight nod, showing that he caught what he said, before speaking up. "i'm in music and film production and management."

"no way! my older brother is in that faculty as well!" doyoung exclaimed quietly, still keeping in mind that he was in the library and that there were other people here as well. yedam gave a small smile behind his mask, although the other couldn't see, at doyoung's sudden burst of happiness after finding someone else who was in the same faculty as his brother.

"his name is seunghun. do you know him?" the younger male asked, to which yedam nodded his head upon hearing a familiar name. kim seunghun was in two of his classes, although the two have never actually interacted before and sit on oppostie sides of the classroom. the second year university student was aware of the other's presence and they did know each other, kind of.

"what about you? any siblings?"

yedam nodded his head eagerly. the masked male would take any opportunity to talk about jihoon because he felt that his older brother was a blessing and someone who was too good for the world, despite his occasionally annoying, overprotective, and nosy personality. yedam, hyunsuk, and every one of their friends were definitely the most luckiest people in the world to have someone like the third year university student in their lives (everyone needs a jihoon in their life, i swear). "my older brother's name is-"

"damie-yah! let's go home!" there he was. yedam's older brother. just as the masked male was about to tell doyoung about jihoon, the said male had crashed into the library and was nearly screaming at the top of his lungs. everyone around him put their finger to their lips to tell the male to quiet down, to which the third year university student apologized quickly around him before heading towards the back of the library, where he would usually find yedam.

"yedam-ah. let's go home," jihoon called out with a sweet voice as he always does, looking around to see where yedam was. his eyes landed upon a familiar figure about six bookshelves away from where he was and he rushed up to the younger male. "hey, let's get home."

yedam turned to look at doyoung, who looked back at him with curiosity as to who the other male was. jihoon caught this and looked towards the first year university student, and the first year univeristy student bowed back in response.

"this... is jihoon hyung," yedam said, gesturing towards the male, who had just somewhat intervened into the masked male's conversation with the younger boy. "my older brother."

the third year university student looked doyoung up and down before walking up to him with his hand out. "hi, nice to meet you," he said, and the younger hesitantly grabbed onto the other's hand politely to shake. spending about two seconds, the two boys shook their hands, getting somewhat familiar with the presence of each other, before jihoon accidentally sharply inhaled and smelled a familiar scent, a scent that was everywhere, the same scent that his younger brother was allergic to.

upon realizing this, the third year university student quickly removed his hand from doyoung's grasp and turned back towards yedam, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away from doyoung out of the library. the masked male only took one look back over his shoulder to look at the younger male and saw the first year university student looking back at him before he got lost from yedam's sight.

the second year university student knew that jihoon had smelled doyoung's scent, which was of baby powder, and he was probably going to get scolded by him when he gets home, which yedam would very much like to escape, but he knew he couldn't. his older brother was overprotective, and even jihoon would acknowledge that, but yedam knew it was only because he cared.

"i'm aware you had the conversation with him from seven feet away, but still. he smells really strongly of baby powder. i don't even know how i didn't realize it when i first approached him," jihoon said, looking at his little brother.

"it's not that i expected for all that to happen. it just did," yedam justified, trying to defend himself and make a point. "i got caught giving him strawberry milk while he was napping and we got engaged in a small conversation.

it really was a small conversation. yedam and doyoung weren't able to talk for an extended amount of time, mainly because of jihoon's sudden appearance at the library to pick up the masked male, but also because yedam felt himself getting too shy to even form long sentences. the second year university student couldn't deny that doyoung was one beautifully crafted human being, his sparkling, brown eyes with his adorable, cheeky smile and his soft voice. yedam felt that he could never get tired of hearing doyoung's voice all day or seeing his face on a daily basis.

but was it right to feel this way about someone that yedam barely just met? someone that he exchanged no more than maybe one hundred words with? the second year university student didn't know. but he could feel that doyoung was someone that the masked male wanted in his life. maybe it was his naturally kind nature or his caring aura that came from him. maybe it was the fact that the first words that came from doyoung's mouth that were directed towards yedam weren't 'why are you wearing a mask?' or 'why are you (social) distancing from me?'

a sigh was heard coming from jihoon. "yedam... i don't want to tell you to stay away from doyoung. actually, i won't tell you to stay away from doyoung. i have no right from that."

yedam nodded his head, signifying that he was listening to his older brother's words. the thing yedam had been most scared of at the moment was gone, and now since the younger knew that jihoon wasn't going to stop him from getting along with doyoung, he could rest with ease and not worry about that.

"but..." jihoon continued, telling yedam that he wasn't finished with his monologue. "i do want you to keep some kind of distance. take extra precautions when talking to doyoung, keep a distance to where you can't smell baby powder from him, and definitely, most definitely, do not, under any circumstances, let him touch you. you know what happens when you come in contact with baby powder, even if it's people wearing baby powder. severe allergic reactions that put you in the hospital because of excessive contact with someone wearing baby powder during school projects or something had happened at least forty eight times since middle school, and i would very much not want for you to relive that, although it is still technically happening. i know how much you hate being in the hospital, specifically for your allergy."

yedam nodded his head, agreeing to all the terms that jihoon had just set. "don't worry, hyung. i was doing all of that already."

"yeah because giving doyoung strawberry milk while he's taking a nap in between classes is keeping your distance," jihoon said sarcastically, causing him to receive a light slap from the younger on his arm. "i trust that you won't let yourself end up in the hospital, right?"

"right," yedam said, and ran over to give his older brother a hug. he was happy that jihoon didn't stop him from being around doyoung, although there were several catches. but yedam had already knew the drill, so it wasn't anything new. the masked male couldn't deny that he was excited to get to know more about doyoung, who was able to captivate him by simply sleeping on a picnic table or at the library, and draw him in even further with his soft and sincere eyes.

maybe he could also figure out what was slowly growing inside him as well.

[YEDAM]