Title: Matchmakers

Description: Hyukjae has a gift, he thinks he uses it perfectly. Donghae's not so sure.

Rating: idk

Word count: 10640

Warnings: none

A/N: This was my entry for the Solar eclispe fest and was a gift for ThanhXuan based on her prompts !! enjoy

It is said that everybody has a soulmate out there somewhere. Another human being so perfect for them that it could only be the result of planning by some divine being.

Hyukjae's never believed in any of that. It's bull, he says. No one human can be made for another, that's just asking too much of the world.

He does, however, believe in matches. He always has done. It's been a gift of his since he was a gangly-limbed boy to be able to find them after all. He doesn't think there is any possibility of two brains being able to fit around each other so well that they can be called soulmates, but he does know that two people can be brought close enough together if they just match. All you really need is a click. Similarities here and there, not everything has to be perfect and it never will be anyway, because that's how humans are.

Imperfect. Always waiting for someone else to fill in for what they are lacking, make up for what they wish they had. And if Hyukjae can make that happen, he'll always go for it.

There's a chime then, the sound of the door softly closing after it and delicate footsteps making Hyukjae stand and walk out to the front of his shop. He wears a polite smile, his lip piercing glinting under the artificial light. "Good morning, how can I help you?"

The woman now standing across the counter studies him, eyes lingering on the plethora of earrings decorating his left ear only for a short while, yet long enough to be noticed. Hyukjae doesn't feel offended, he's used to his appearance attracting attention, though when he's at his shop, it's mostly looks of awe and envy and I want to look like you. He confidently looks her in the eye, waiting for her to speak up.

"Lee Hyukjae." She says, surprising him.

He an eyebrow and holds out his right hand. "That's me. Do I know you?" The woman does seem a little familiar but Hyukjae has known a lot of people in his life, he only hopes she doesn't take offence.

Fortunately, she just chuckles and takes his hand in a handshake. "You do actually." She begins. "It's Sooyoung, from way back in High School."

Hyukjae has to think for a short moment, racking his brain for a Sooyoung before it suddenly clicks. ", you were our last project in our school days!" He exclaims, eyes bright and smile wide as the memories hit him.

"That's right." She laughs. "I actually came by with a request and because, well, I'd like to thank you." Hyukjae eyes her weirdly, asking her to take a seat and offering a drink before he hears her out. She declines politely, says she might have to go any time soon and looks at him with a huge grin.

"Okay, what is it?" He asks, not sure what someone he hasn't seen for 8 years will have to say to him. "What do you want to thank me for?"

Sooyoung simply holds up her left hand at his question, pointing at her ring finger where an expensive looking piece of jewellery is comfortably sat. "I'm getting married." She grins, it's the sappy kind of grin that makes you want to puke rainbows but Hyukjae manages to appreciate the love evidently seeping through it.

"Wow! Congratulations!" He exclaims, holding his hand up for a high five. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Sooyoung doesn't answer, just gives him this knowing smile that tells him there's a little more to this.

It takes him a minute, but then an idea pops into his mind and his eyes are growing impossibly wide. "No way." Hyukjae breathes. "Him?"

"Him." Sooyoung nods.

Hyukjae freaks out a little on the inside, over the moon that he pretty much helped accomplish this but his shock is still much stronger than his pride. "I can't believe you're actually marrying the Cho Kyuhyun, I was almost one hundred percent sure he'd end up in the world records for being the first man to marry a games console."

Sooyoung laughs, fond and disgustingly sweet, but she's nodding in agreement and Hyukjae is just glad she's not offended. "Honestly, if you hadn't have matched us up back in school, this would probably never be happening, so I just wanted to thank you sincerely." She tells him with a blush and a bite of the lip. "And while I'm here, I’m thinking of getting a small tattoo with his initials for the wedding."

"Oh yeah, of course!" Hyukjae says, business mode on. "My tattoo artist is on holiday at the moment but he'll be back within the next few days, so if you can wait, we can look at some designs now and do it at a later time? I'll even give you mate's rates."

"You're the best." She grins.

Hyukjae grabs a book full of his worker's best designs, suggesting which ones he thinks would suit Sooyoung and taking into account what she's looking for. They reminisce a little of their times in school, on the troubles of getting Kyuhyun and Sooyoung to see each other, their old friends, where they are now. It's nice, Hyukjae thinks, though it would have been so much nicer if someone else was there to enjoy this time with them.

"Now that I think about it." Sooyoung suddenly interrupts herself as she's telling a story about the first time Kyuhyun cried in front of her. "It completely slipped my mind. I meant to ask about Donghae earlier, I wanted to thank him too, he was just as much a part in this as you. Is he not here?"

Hyukjae sighs heavily at that, his pen stilling on his pad and his eyes dropping to the table. "Donghae's not around." He says, and he hates himself for how dramatic he sounds, but he just can't help it, not when he's reminded of him.

"Oh... I thought you guys…" Sooyoung says awkwardly, sorry she even brought him up. She's about to apologise because the depressed look on Hyukjae's face is making her feel bad for even existing, but her phone rings just at the wrong time.

"It's okay, take it." Hyukjae tells her and so she does, hearing from her fiancé that she's needed asap and she fumbles for her things, apologising as she moves and shouting that she'll be back later.

Hyukjae slumps down in his seat, suddenly feeling a lot sadder than he was expecting to this day. He lets his head fall onto his arm resting on the table, his dark hair tickling his skin, and he sighs for the hundredth time.

He misses Donghae. So much.

How could he have been so stupid?

***

"Lee ing Hyukjae, I swear to god if you don't pick up the pace, I'm gonna make it so you can't walk for the next two weeks!"

Hyukjae groans, not bothering to force out a reply through his endless panting and finds it in himself somehow to power his legs to go a little faster. But it only lasts ten seconds or so and then he's trailing after his best friend at an even slower rate than before. Once the other is so far ahead of him that all he can manage to make out is his black hair bouncing up and down as he runs, he decides to give up following and bends over, hands resting on his knees and breaths heavy.

"Are you really just gonna leave me here?!" He shouts, voice squeaking embarrassingly at the beginning of his sentence. "Donghae?!"

Hyukjae watches as Donghae turns a corner, letting himself then fall to the ground and lying with his back flat against the warm tarmac once he's sure his best friend has ditched him. He takes his time catching his breath, chest rising and falling rapidly as he awaits his oncoming doom.

As he hears heavy footsteps come thundering towards him, it takes him a while to realise over the sounds of his own prayers to anyone that could possibly hear him, that the footsteps are coming from the direction Donghae had run off in rather than from behind him. Hyukjae jumps to his feet, arms outstretched ready to squeeze the best friend he could ever ask for.

"You didn't get on the bus?!" He exclaims, laughing loudly as Donghae grins at him and hangs his arm over his shoulder.

"Of course not." Donghae says, pulling a frown before he's smiling again. "If you're gonna get beat, I'll have to get a black eye to match too. Even if this is all your fault in the first place."

Hyukjae smiles, wide and happy, somewhat disappointed in himself for thinking that Donghae would just leave him like that. " Well, I didn't know she had a boyfriend!"

"Well she does." A rough voice interrupts them and Hyukjae gulps, not wanting to turn around to face the older student that's now caught up and joined them. "And I'm gonna pummel you two pipsqueaks deep into this ground you're standing on for trying to mess with her."

"Look." Donghae starts, stepping forward. Hyukjae grabs onto his forearm quickly to stop him from saying anything stupid but Donghae just turns and gives him the, 'I got this' look, so he lets him go on. "It's not our fault your girlfriend wanted rid of you."

Hyukjae sighs and makes sure to send out a little prayer just in case it may save them.

"What did you say?" The elder boy growls, hands balling into fists at his side.

"You heard me." Donghae says calmly, "She asked us to find her a good match so we were only doing our job, we didn't know she already had a boyfriend.”

"Why would she ask a bunch of pipsqueak 12 year olds to do that? What are you even talking about?"

"First of all," Donghae speaks up, clearly offended. "We're not 12, don't call us pipsqueaks. I'll let you know, we're actually 15. And secondly, who else do you think she'd ask? We're the famous matchmakers of the school, so of course she would come to us. Isn't that common sense?"

The boy looks back at him like he's just claimed he believes in Big Foot, so Donghae takes the initiative to elaborate.

"You see, my friend Hyukjae here has a gift." He says, pointing at Hyukjae. "He's had this amazing ability for matching people up together ever since he was just 7 years old. You know that famous couple at school that have been together for like 8 years? Hyukjae set them up without even knowing."

He's bragging. Hyukjae winces, Donghae's always been fascinated by this gift but now is really not the time.

"We started it as a business only last year though, people come to me with details about themselves, I relay them to Hyukjae here, he finds people they'd match with well and then we work to make it happen as naturally as possible. Not one of his couples has failed so far."

"Exactly!" Hyukjae decides to cut in before Donghae brags even more. "So, you see, it's really not our fault. We were only passing on the love letter to your girlfriend because, well, we didn't know she was your girlfriend. We were just trying to get her a match since she'd asked us to."

"That's it, I've had enough." The guy shouts. He charges forward and grabs Hyukjae by the collar of his school uniform. His hand forms into a tight fist and he swings it back with a scary amount of force but before he can get any closer to screwing up poor Hyukjae's face, Donghae quickly intercepts.

"Hey, hey now, let's not get physical." He says, but he's breathing fast and Hyukjae can tell just how scared he really is. He's been scared this whole time. "It's two against one here, even if you're older, how much of a chance do you think you have?"

"Don't be ing stupid pipsqueak."

"No, you leave Hyukjae alone!"

***

"This is all your fault." Hyukjae shudders at the glare Donghae gives him, despite half of it being masked by swollen, red skin. He takes back the bag of frozen peas he'd been holding to Donghae's right eye and replaces it with another bag fresh out of the freezer.

"Listen dude." Hyukjae says, "Who told you to act all big back there? And who told you to run in like my knight in shining armour?"

"You totally would have whined at me if I hadn't come back to save your pathetic ." Donghae grunts, snatching the peas and holding them gently against his quickly blackening eye himself.

"Okay, true." Hyukjae admits. "But you still didn't need to aggravate that guy like that, he clearly wasn't one for reason."

"I thought if we seemed like we weren't at all intimidated, he would just back off." Donghae sighs. "Forgive me for trying."

"You were shaking like a leaf, you total loser."

Donghae grunts at him, falling back onto Hyukjae's bed which he had declared Hyukjae not set one foot on whilst he tends to Donghae's injury. Hyukjae doesn't think that's particularly fair but then again, nothing ever is when it comes to him and his best friend. He sighs fondly, brushing back Donghae's long fringe, successfully avoiding the clash of Donghae's teeth on his fingers when he snaps at him not to touch him, and wriggling his way onto the bed despite the other’s protests.

"This is all your fault." It's slightly softer this time, won over by the infectious grin Hyukjae only ever shows to Donghae and he laughs, knowing his friend could never really last.

"I know." He says. "I'm sorry."

A small smile, regrettably unleashed but impossible to hold back. "Well, I don't forgive you."

A grin. "I know."

They lie there like that for a while, until Donghae remembers he's supposed to be mad and kicks Hyukjae out of the small space, demanding he get him something colder to press against his eye because after all, this is all his fault. Hyukjae doesn't argue. When he returns however, Donghae is sat up, legs crossed and smile wide.

He narrows his eyes suspiciously at his best friend. "What is it?"

Donghae disregards the pack of frozen peppers given to him and throws his phone in his direction instead. Of course, Hyukjae misses the catch and earns himself a kick to the shin but five minutes and many intentionally missed punches later, they're both sat on the bed, reading through an email on Donghae's phone.

“You think we can do it?” Donghae asks, but he’s already typing out a reply because he knows what response he’ll get.

“If anyone can do it, it’s us.” Hyukjae shrugs.

They read over the email again, sent from a girl in their very own class. She’s listed reasons why she wants a boyfriend, along with what she’s looking for. It’s very specific and if they were actually planning on going by all of her requirements, it’d be nearly impossible. Instead, Hyukjae decides to observe the girl herself for the next few days at school, it’s the basics of this job really, and only then will he start looking for someone who he thinks matches.

Donghae’s already throwing ideas to get two people together, he’s a er for romance you see, though he always tries to argue otherwise. “She’s an Aries, you know?” He says, tapping continuously on the back of his phone case. “You know who we always say goes best with Aries right?”

“Libra, of course.” Hyukjae answers without having to think, “But, have some faith in me, I don’t think I’ll really need the help of the signs just yet. Why, you wanna get with her?”

“What? No! I didn’t mean it like that.” Donghae kicks Hyukjae just hard enough for him to fall off the bed and then they’re fighting again. Hyukjae honestly thinks it’s a miracle he hasn’t broken one of his ribs yet.

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry! No wait, Donghae, not there!”

***

Hyukjae is chewing on his third cookie by the time the ringing in his ear finally stops and his call is connected. He sighs, rolling his eyes and munching loudly to quickly finish what’s in his mouth. “Hey loser, I’ve got things to talk about.”

Donghae’s tired sigh on the other end of the line makes him want to snort but he holds it in in fear of being punched again. “What do you want Hyuk?”

“Are you busy?” He asks, even though he already knows, Donghae is way too predictable.

“Yes, I’ve got homework to do so if you would please leave me to it.”

“No wait, don’t hang up on me. It’s History, right? I needed some help on that anyway, can I come over?”

“No.” Donghae grunts.

This time Hyukjae fails at holding back a tiny laugh. “Come on, don’t be like that.” He says. “I’ll be there in like, 5 seconds, trust me. Can I come?”

It’s obvious in the way Donghae hesitates that he’s already given in. They both know there’s no point in dragging it out. “Fine.”

“Okay cool, because I’m in your kitchen.”

He hears a loud groan before the call is promptly cut off and there’s thundering footsteps coming from the staircase.

“What the hell are you doing here Lee Hyukjae?” Donghae says, and honestly, by just the look on the other’s face, Hyukjae would be shaking in his seat, but he’s known his best friend long enough to know that the sound in his voice is the sound of slight amusement and fondness.

“Missed you, of course.” Hyukjae says cheekily and Donghae just smacks the back of his head before he goes to the table and snatches the plate away from him.

“Good for you, you should have looked at a picture of me or something then, why disturb me while I’m trying to work? And mom, did you really have to let him eat the cookies?”

Donghae’s mother gives him a guilty smile from where’s she sat, ruffling Hyukjae’s hair and then quickly slipping out of the room. “Don’t have too much fun!” She calls behind her. “And honey, be a little nicer, this doesn’t suit you!”

“Yeah, it doesn’t suit you my cute little flower.” Hyukjae jokes, mimicking her voice whilst attempting to squeeze Donghae’s cheeks.

“Stop that right now unless you wanna be kicked out onto the front step with two broken wrists.”

“Right, got it.”

The two stride up to Donghae’s room where the floor and bed are both scattered with papers and textbooks, yet right in the middle of the bed lies a suspicious looking tablet that’s been left unlocked.

“Doing homework, were you?” Hyukjae snorts, taking a leap for the tablet and getting to it before his best friend can.

“Give it back! I was just doing research.”

“Looks to me like you were watching my favourite anime without me.”

Donghae looks guilty and he stops reaching for the tablet and trains his eyes on the ground instead. “You’re always going on about it with Junsu. I just wanted to know what the hype was about.”

Hyukjae gives a small smile. He knows Donghae well enough to know he doesn’t like being left out of things, especially when those things are to do with his best friend and he appreciates that he tried to watch his favourite show even though Donghae has always been more into books. “We can talk about it later then, I’ll stay over and we can marathon it together? Yeah?”

“Don’t think I’m stupid enough to fall for that.” Donghae replies. “You’re just too lazy to go back home. You’re not having my precious bed though so do whatever you want.”

Hyukjae doesn’t bother arguing with him because he knows he’ll end up in his comfy bed at the end of the day anyway. Donghae makes a start on their homework while Hyukjae plays around on the tablet, he’s not too bothered about the essay really, he’s never cared about History. Hyukjae’s always been more into music and art, though it’s a shame because he at drawing and has failed at learning every instrument he’s tried so far. Donghae says it’s because he gives up too easily, and coming from someone than is great at art and can play the piano, Hyukjae should probably listen to him, but he doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of being right.

Instead, Hyukjae resorts to bothering his best friend to get some form of entertainment once he’s bored with the tablet because Donghae hates his train of thought being cut off and what more could Hyukjae love over his annoyed expression? “What do you think the world would be like if Horses could fly?”

Silence.

Hyukjae rolls his eyes. “What the hell is that thing over there?!” He says abruptly, making Donghae jump and papers fly everywhere.

“What? What is it?!” He screams, arms flailing.

“That! Under there!”

“Under where?”

“Ha, you said underwear.”

A sigh fills the room accompanied by the sound of a pencil striking the back of Hyukjae’s head. “I’ll give you one chance to shut the hell up, it’s getting late and I actually care about my grades.” Donghae says sharply, sitting back down, embarrassed and gathering his things again.

Hyukjae obeys. For about 2 minutes. “You know, Donghae. If I had a Dog, I’d name it Biscuit.” He can imagine the look on Donghae’s face, pen held between his teeth, eyes closed and nose flared. It makes him happy.

“If I had a Dog, Hyukjae, I’d name it bullet and have it devour your Biscuit. Understand?”

“That’s not very nice.”

“I’m not very nice.”

Hyukjae grumbles in his seat at the end of Donghae’s bed. It’s not true actually, Donghae is very nice, just not to Hyukjae, which is pretty weird considering they’ve been best friends for years. Hyukjae thinks it’s a conspiracy, though he can never explain why. It would probably help if he knew what the word actually meant, he guesses.

“Hey, if you had to a celebrity of the same gender, who would it be?”

Donghae looks up at him, scandalised, but at least he’s finally giving him some attention. “Lee Hyukjae. Will you please let me get on with this? I’ve still gotta help you with yours yet.”

“Okay, but, Ryan Reynolds.”

“God dammit Hyukjae.”

Once Donghae has successfully managed to shut his best friend up, courtesy of an aching pinky finger that doesn’t like being bent backwards, he quickly finishes up his essay and forces Hyukjae to write his own. They then end up wasting away the rest of their night watching an anime that Donghae doesn’t really care much for but he pretends he does anyway because Hyukjae always looks so excited when he gets to talk about it.

Hyukjae also tells him about finding the perfect guy for the match request they’d received a few days before. He brags about how suddenly it came to him and how amazing he must be to have found yet another great match. He thinks it’ll be their best one yet, Donghae’s not so sure.

It’s past 2am when they finally decide to call it a night and Donghae already regrets staying up so late when they have to be up again for school in just a few hours. Hyukjae tells him it’s fine because they can just sleep during their first class but Donghae reminds him that not everybody is careless about their future and kicks him to the floor.

“Oh, come on man, you won’t actually make me sleep on the floor again will you?”

“What has every other time told you?”

“That you’ll eventually feel bad and let me come up?”

“Shut up.”

It’s quiet for about 5 minutes before Hyukjae feels a little poke on his shoulder and the thin blanket covering him is lifted. He smiles without turning around, and lets his cold hand be taken by Donghae’s warm one. “Come up, idiot.” Donghae grumbles quietly.

“That’s what I thought.”

***

It’s 3 weeks later, when Hyukjae is just minding his own business, walking the hallways of their school whilst occasionally trying to trip Donghae up, that he notices.

Everyone is staring at them.

More specifically, everyone is staring at them and whispering about them. Donghae senses it about the same time Hyukjae does and the two look at each other anxiously.

“What’s going on?” Hyukjae whispers.

Donghae gives him a scared look that says ‘beats me’ and they continue to walk towards their lockers. It starts getting more annoying than weird by the time they’re in the second class and people are still clearly talking about them. Hyukjae strains his ears to hear once he knows the teacher won’t be bothering them anymore and what he hears leaves him speechless.

“Didn’t you hear?” One girl is not so discreetly telling her friend. “He’s the reason Bomi’s not in school today.”

“But I thought-“

“We all did. Turns out he’s just a phony. Said they were perfect for each other but Bomi says she’s never been in a worse relationship than in the 2 weeks she spent with the guy Hyukjae set her up with. I wouldn’t believe anything he says now.”

“I was going to send a