Like.
Like.
Like.
Duan had spent two hours going through every single one of Jun's social media accounts and liking everything in sight. Now that he'd openly said what he wanted, he wasn't holding back. He was going to overwhelm this man with love and affection until he had no choice but to cave.
The thought alone made him giggle and kick his feet into his mattress like a child.
---
He got to uni just in time for lectures, sliding into his seat beside Dom and Fah with approximately zero seconds to spare.
"Aren't you going to start stalking your crush?" Dom whispered in the middle of class and earned a smack to the back of his head.
"Do you want Jun to hate me forever?" Duan hissed. "Nobody likes being stalked."
Fah leaned over and gave Dom a warning look. Dom faced forward and said nothing.
The moment class ended Duan shot out of his seat and made a beeline for the cafeteria. He made it approximately four steps before Fah grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.
"Where do you think you're going? You just had lunch."
"Not for me." Duan whined, trying to pull free. "Jet said Jun is going to be at the cafeteria right now. I can't miss it."
Fah stared at him for a long moment and then let go.
They took their usual seats. Duan made sure to pick a spot with a clear line of sight.
Jun was already there, quietly working through his food while Jet and Chawin bickered around him. He didn't really engage, just ate with the calm unbothered energy of someone who existed on a completely different frequency from everyone else.
He looked even cuter eating. Duan also noticed he ate a lot. He was already thinking about all the ways he could use food to spoil him. Maybe that was the key. Maybe the way to Jun was through his stomach.
"We need to go back," Dom said. "We're nowhere near done with the assignment."
"Five more minutes." Duan turned the full force of his puppy eyes on them.
Fah stood up, grabbed his bag, grabbed Duan by the collar and started walking toward the exit. Duan's feet dragged across the floor as he kicked uselessly against the air. There was nothing he could do when Fah's mom mode activated. Absolutely nothing.
---
From across the cafeteria, a certain someone had seen the whole thing.
The staring. The dragging. All of it.
"What do you think of Duan?" Jet said, chin resting in his hand. "I get cuteness aggression every time I look at him."
"Same," Chawin agreed. "But he's famous in the faculty. Could date literally anyone he wanted. I don't think that's the kind of person Jun should get involved with."
Jet's foot connected firmly with Chawin's shin under the table. Chawin winced and bit down on a yelp.
"There's nothing wrong with him," Jet continued smoothly. "He's cute, tall, same year as us. And Jun—" he pointed his chopsticks, "—you literally said you liked tall people."
"Buildings," Chawin said through gritted teeth. "He said he liked tall buildings."
"He seems immature," Jun said simply, scraping the last of his first plate clean. "Too playful. Like he doesn't really know what he's doing."
"I'm with Jun on that one," Chawin said.
"He's the same age as us, what are you talking about?" Jet threw his hands up. "So you're really not going to give him a chance?"
"I never said I was going to give him a chance in the first place." Jun pushed back from the table and picked up his bag.
"Cold," Jet muttered at his retreating back.
"Wait for us!" Chawin scrambled after him, still slightly limping.
---
Dom and Fah had not signed up for this when they became Duan's friends but here they were, sitting on his bedroom floor helping him map out a pursuit strategy for a boy who had already told him no twice.
"You need to be in his head constantly," Dom said.
"How?"
"Show up. All the time. Everywhere," Fah said.
"But don't overdo it," Dom added quickly. "You'll scare him off."
Duan was already running through scenarios in his head. He needed something Jun couldn't refuse. Something that didn't come across as too much but still made an impression.
Then it hit him.
---
Jun and his friends were just leaving their lecture hall when they turned the corner and found Duan standing at the entrance holding a large lunch pack with the energy of someone who had absolutely been waiting there.
Jun didn't even glance at him. Just walked straight past.
Jet gave Duan a quiet thumbs up. Duan grinned and jogged after Jun.
"Hi. It's me again."
"..."
"I got you something."
"..."
"Khao Jiao. Thai omelette." He held the box out. "My mom made it. She told me to share it with my friends."
Jun stopped walking. He turned around slowly.
"We're not friends."
His voice was flat and even and it sent a small shiver down Duan's spine. But Duan kept his smile up.
"I know. But I told her I had someone special I wanted to give it to." He tilted his head. "She made it thinking of you. It would be rude to say no."
Something flickered across Jun's face. Just for a second.
Duan watched as the guy looked at the box, then at him, then at the box again. He had nowhere to go. Refusing food that someone's mother had made specifically with you in mind wasn't something Jun's manners would allow and Duan knew it.
Jun took the box.
"Don't do that again," he said and walked off.
Duan stood there and screamed on the inside so loudly he was surprised nobody heard it.
Phase one. Complete.