With his back leaning on the door to his room that he had made extra sure it was locked as much as it could humanly be locked, Hyukjae was trying his best to reel in the heart that had wanted to explode from within his chest. A simple touch to his lips as the feeling of Donghae’s lips over his lingered, making his lips in turn ache, and he was sliding down the door and laughing stupidly to himself. How was he to believe that his stupid suspicions had actually been real? That the man he had been crushing on for years had been actually trying his best to get closer to him of all people? He shook his head as he had leaned it over his hands. This had to have been one of his many daydreams. It had to be.

After a good while of staring into his room in sheer disbelief, Hyukjae stood up from his spot - achy joints and all -, looked for his clothes to get ready for bed and mindlessly left his room only to run into Donghae who was exiting the bathroom as he was about to open the door to it.

“Hey,” Donghae said lightly.

Hyukjae couldn’t find it in himself to look at the other man. He felt how his face had instantaneously heated up and rushed into the bathroom and closed the dorm firmly behind him.

“Hyukjae,” Donghae knocked at the door. “Could we talk?”

If it was at all possible to do so without having Donghae ask what he was doing, Hyukjae would be beating his head against the door. “I’m tired, Donghae. I’m going to take a shower and head to bed. Can it wait?”

From the other side of the door, Donghae sighed and claimed that it could. Couldn’t it? He did practically shock the hell out of Hyukjae suddenly. But it wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious. Right? As it is, everything he had done up from inviting him to the basketball game had been carefully calculated. He could have sworn that he had caught Hyukjae absentmindedly looking at him on more than a few occasions. And had seen how his cheeks had gotten a hint of a blush every once in a while because of him. Or, was he reading too far into things? He guessed only time would be able to give him answers and hoped that they would be answers he liked seeing as he had started to get the ball rolling for something nice between the two of them.

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Donghae had found it cute to spot that Hyukjae had sort of taken to avoiding him. It wasn't annoying, as he should have thought it to be, but he always chuckled at the shade of red that usually adorned Hyukjae's face as of late. But he figured that it had to end eventually. Especially since their New Year’s break was just around the corner. How was he supposed to tell Hyukjae that he was going to stay back and spend it here, hopefully getting to know him better?

It was only a few days until he was supposed to leave when he caught Hyukjae by surprise as he came back from meeting up with friends. He watched as Hyukjae fumbled with his cup and sat down across from him on their table. “Heading out soon.”

Hyukjae nodded, and tried his best to not look too blatantly at Donghae’s lips. “Hnn. I hope you have a wonderful vacation with your family. Are you still going to be in this dorm when you come back?”

“I don’t see why not,” Donghae said as he reached for Hyukjae’s hand that was on the table. “Why? Do you not want me to be here anymore?”

With the way that Hyukjae shook his head so violently, he was amazed at the fact that he hadn’t injured himself. “No! It’s not that! There’s no real reason why I would want  you to—”

“That’s good.” And Donghae smiled, catching Hyukjae unaware.

“I’ll get out of your way then,” Hyukjae rushed to finish his food and fumble out of their living room.

“Stop being so stubborn,” Donghae sighed.

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Okay, so the running away was getting to be a tad annoying, even in Hyukjae’s book. Especially since Donghae was due to leave tomorrow morning. And he sat in the living room, beating himself up over how stupid he was to have been avoiding Donghae for so long. That was until he heard a very enthusiastic knock on the door. “Hold on! I’ll be right there!” He called out as he toed on his slippers. He opened the door to a large group of people. People he felt he recognized. It wasn’t until the main girl in front of their group just in front of him stopped her chattering and turned around.

Mina.

“Oh! You must be Hyukjae! We’re Donghae’s friends from Japan,” Mina, voice so high and cheerful ran all over Hyukjae’s body like a freight train suddenly. Her accented Korean was so cute and Hyukjae was giving her good points for trying. Mina’s here. Donghae is here. He looked back at the rest of the group; all faces he had grown up to know the last few years. It wasn’t possible. Hyukjae had to lean against the door frame to keep himself from passing out from the sudden, well, everything!

“Oh! We also, there was this on the door? For you?” Mina handed him a piece of paper. The writing was also familiar and as soon as he heard Donghae fumbling around out of his room and the sudden explosion of noise from the rest of the group and the loud and fast Japanese around him, he excused himself and locked himself in his room.

He tore the envelope open and marveled at the writing.

Hyukjae, thank you once again for taking care of my boy. I figured I would give you both a present. I hope you enjoy time with Donghae’s friends and make good memories with  everyone together. I am so happy that our little boy is shaping up so nicely. Thank you once again, for everything.

-Rika Aomatsu

Hyukjae blinked from the letter to the group of people seemingly gathered in front of him as he walked out of his room. Everything feeling more and more surreal especially when he felt Donghae take his hand and shake it enthusiastically suddenly.

“Hyuk! The gang wants to go out and karaoke! Come join us,” Donghae’s voice was an octave higher than he had ever heard it before.

“Please do! I promise you that I know some Korean songs as well and you won’t feel too out of the loop! Everyone knows some level of Korean thanks to this brat,” she elbowed Donghae on the back, “so we’ll try our hardest to not keep you out of the the conversation, okay?”

There was no way Hyukjae could ever say no to Mina so he wound up grabbing a warm jacket and following the group in front of him hesitantly.

“Your mom is so angry that you’re not coming back home!” Mina said as she wrapped an arm over Donghae’s.

“Well, I really couldn’t head back home this time around.” Donghae stuttered and looked at Hyukjae who was a few steps backs yet within earshot of them. “I have some things I really must take care of.”

Hyukjae wrapped the scarf over his face and winced lightly as Mina took his arm as well just seconds later and she was happily sandwiched between the two men.

“So, Donghae has only told me the bare essentials about you, Hyukjae,” Mina squeezed on Hyukjae’s left arm lightly, “are you single by any chance?”

Hyukjae looked from Mina’s overly curious face to Donghae’s inquisitive one, mind you, the man could have also kind of taken it upon himself to know if Hyukjae was single before stealing that kiss from him. That soft and breathtaking kiss. His eyes widened and he quickly averted his gaze from Donghae’s and straight on ahead of them. “Uh, yeah. Haven’t really been in a relationship yet so…” Hyukjae trailed and muttered incoherently.

“Wah? Really? But you’re so cute! What a shame! Say, could I have a shot?” Mina cheerfully asked yet laughed as Donghae ruffled the top of her head from the other side. “I’m kidding! You know, I had the biggest crush on this idiot over here forever but he never gave me a shot. Quite the shameful situation don’t you think?”

Staring between the two friends again, Hyukjae shook his head. “Well, there must have been reasons for that? From what I see, you two seem so much more like siblings right now so it would be a shame if something happened and it didn’t work out in the end. Right?” He looked at Donghae who nodded wisely on the other side.

“I’m also really picky about my tastes,” Donghae stared at him long and hard before sheepishly turning his head and looking ahead only to find himself being beckoned by the rest of the group and broke away from Mina’s grasp.

Mina, still clinging onto Hyukjae’s arm, sighed and tightened her grip on Hyukjae. “I know he has someone he likes but he’s been ever so stubborn about telling me who it is. I hope I’m able to find out during this trip.” She looked up at Hyukjae and smiled. Hyukjae returned her smile lightly and they both wound up chatting about shoujo manga for the rest of their journey with Mina squealing loudly from time to time to know that Hyukjae and her had such similar reading tastes and proclaiming that she would rather take Hyukjae back home instead of someone as bratty as Donghae.

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The alcohol that flowed in the room and the giant ruckus Hyukjae had suddenly found himself being in the middle of, had him both laughing at how stupid Donghae’s friends were in, well, real life and being prodded and poked at by many to join their drinking and singing. Mina and Donghae had sung ridiculous versions of anime songs he had known by heart and cringed and laughed at how they had butchered them during the evening. Yet there was the occasional song by either Mina or Donghae that had left him breathless. They both had such great singing voices and that night Hyukjae had learned from a slightly tipsy Donghae that it had always been Mina’s secret dream to be a singer. It was something that he had been shocked to learn about Donghae’s friend since it was actually something new and not pertaining to the manga characters that he had come to know and love.

Manga characters.

In the midst of the commotion, Donghae caught Hyukjae in deep thought. “Hey, you okay?”

It took a while to get Hyukjae back down to earth. Just what were the possibilities that these “characters” he grew to know where suddenly here? That the guy who he had grown to care so much over in these last few months was right here, within touching distance and so handsome and so breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hyukjae. Are you okay?”

Donghae’s hand was suddenly on his cheek. Those eyes so full of concern. Hyukjae felt the tear that suddenly rolled down his cheek. What were the odds? How did he come to fall in love with this person? How was it that this person had also started to care about him?

“Hyukjae?”

Hyukjae gulped the heavy emotions down his throat and fought to hide the hiccup that was threatening to also escape him. He nodded softly and squeezed at the hand that was over his cheek. “You’re… real, right?”

Donghae gawked back at him. “Well, as real as can be.” He tilted Hyukjae’s jaw lightly, “should I show you just how real I am?”

Ogling from Donghae’s lips to his eyes so suddenly, Hyukjae was about to answer the question until both were burst out of their bubble by Donghae feeling the overly drunk Mina suddenly hugging him from behind.

“Donghaeeeeeeee~ Why aren’t you up there having fun! Let’s all have fun together! Let me play with Hyukjae too!”

Hyukjae snickered at Mina’s sudden childish behaviour. Tonight was definitely a new experience to Hyukjae when it come to the way he saw Donghae and his friends.

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With a lot of coercing of Donghae to make sure that the group got to their hotel in a safely manner - and trying to get Mina to be literally peeled off of him -, Hyukjae and Donghae had finally started to make their way back to their dorm. Quiet but close. Close as the puffs of cold air leaked out of them as they walked side by side. Their cold hands lightly brushing over the other as their owners instinctively swayed them from side to side as they walked. They stopped on their way home at a convenience store to get themselves cups of hot chocolate and Donghae carefully draped the scarf back over Hyukjae’s neck and around it with a quiet smile in his eyes. Both in their own heads, sober enough by now yet so extremely conscious of each other to even try to put any words together.

The sound of the door closing behind them and being locked by Donghae as Hyukjae shed the layers of clothes that kept him warm knocked Hyukjae out of the hurricane of thoughts inside his head. It was stupid to keep running away. Especially with the way Donghae just stood there, looking at him. All the understanding in the world as he looked into Donghae’s eyes and watched that precious smile he had begun to love shyly beginning to form and Donghae gaze suddenly had Hyukjae blushing. Biting his lip, Hyukjae walked slowly towards Donghae. Donghae who had his arms extended open in front of him, welcoming Hyukjae to just settle inside of them. And they both smiled as the distance between them decreased. Hyukjae felt as Donghae's hands settled on his waist. The smile that glowed from Donghae was so stunningly radiant still. He held on to the front of Donghae's shirt and dared to pull the other closer to him. Their foreheads against each other and all of Hyukjae's proper breathing had suddenly begun to fail him.

"Hi," Donghae said softly.

"Hello," Hyukjae returned. He watched as Donghae's eyes closed gently. Ah, another kiss. Hyukjae felt as his heart suddenly shot up to ridiculous speeds. He would get to kiss this man again. It was something that he never thought he would do in his wildest dreams to begin with and yet here was this Donghae-shaped person who smelled just the way he had imagined somehow and felt just as right against his lips. And he felt the world swirling out of his touch as Donghae pulled him closer to deepen their kiss. It was so silly to run away from this man. This man who, with the push and pull of their lips over the other’s, seemingly drowned every anxiety, every bad moment, every everything that was intermingled with their lives. Their breathing was shallow as they kissed. Kissing each other towards new beginnings. Towards finally having the other understand how they felt towards each other.

Hyukjae draped his hands around Donghae’s back and felt as one of Donghae’s hands slowly drifted upwards from his spine and clung lightly to the back of his head. Everything was a wild ride. Too little and too much altogether as they broke apart their kiss breathlessly.

“This is why you don’t avoid someone for just about forever after they kiss you!” Donghae teased as he headbutted Hyukjae lightly and laughed. “I’m crazy about you, you stupid kid, and here you are just ignoring my feelings!”

Hyukjae gasped, “me? Ignore?”

“Yeah, you!”

“I can’t help it,” and the blush that had settled away from his face crept its way back there on his cheeks again, “it’s you. How could you possibly like someone like me?”

Donghae chuckled and at Hyukjae’s cheek lightly. “What do you mean? There’s absolutely no way that I couldn’t have fallen for you. Look at you: so sweet,” Donghae leaned up and kissed Hyukjae’s forehead. “So smart,” a kiss to Hyukjae’s tip of his nose. “So interesting,” a kiss to Hyukjae’s right cheek. “So stunning,” a kiss to Hyukjae’s left cheek. “So stubbornly breathtaking,” a peck to Hyukjae’s lips. “How could I not fall for you?”

Leaning his head against Donghae’s shoulder to try to hide away all the embarrassment his feelings suddenly brought, Hyukjae let out a deep sigh, “because I fell for you so long ago…”

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Ultimate - UPDATED

Mina, after finally coming to her senses after the drinking spree, with a dull pain in her head as a reminder that she shouldn’t drink quite as much for the next time, picked up her phone and started a new text to Donghae. ‘It’s Hyukjae, isn’t it?’

‘:-)’

‘Yeah.’

‘Go get him, kid!’

‘I am.’

‘<333’

“You better, you stupid idiot.” Mina smiled as she clung to her phone. A tear rolled down her cheek as she was both happy to peacefully let go of that side of her that loved Donghae so and to know that her best friend had found a seemingly perfect guy for himself.

A/N: >_> *waves from the distance* It’s been forever! Hello and I’m sorry! These two… Maybe the next chapter will be the last. We’ll see. Thank you for reading. Hope you’re doing well. -S