CHAPTER 2

About two hours later the doorbell rang, jolting Donghae from his sleep and causing him to flail and fall off the couch. He yelped in surprise and rubbed his head, wincing as he climbed to his feet and made his way carefully to the door. When he opened it, he felt a soft hand reach forward to touch his shoulder gently, alerting him of who it was at the door.

“Sungmin.” Donghae said happily, stepping aside to allow him in. “Come on in, I was just taking a short nap.”

“You don't say.” Another voice laughed along with Sungmin's chuckling. “Your hair is quite a sight.”

“Ryeowook, hi!” Donghae smiled, reaching out for where his voice sounded from, meeting his hand in the middle. “Are you guys early? What time is it?”

“No, we're right on time.” Sungmin answered as Donghae closed the door and moved back over to the couch, taking the blanket into his lap. “Are you ready to go now or do you want to have lunch first?”

“Let's go out for lunch, I don't feel like cooking.” Donghae said, folding the blanket and draping it over the back of the couch. “Just let me go fix myself up.”

“Alright, holler if you need anything.” Ryeowook told Donghae as he walked off down the hall. Donghae nodded and made his way through the bedroom and into the bathroom to begin his morning routine of brushing his teeth and doing his hair. Although, since he couldn’t see his hair, Donghae mostly just brushed it, shook it out, and hoped it looked presentable before going out in public. Hoping he didn’t look like a complete disaster, Donghae returned to the living room and smiled as he heard his friends talking about their plans for the day.

“Ready to go?” He asked, moving to pull a coat from the closet by the door, making sure it was his favorite hoodie judging from the texture.

“Yup.” Ryeowook chirped before gasping and stomping his foot like an annoyed child. “Donghae, would you please explain to me how your hair always looks so perfect without doing ANYTHING to it? I swear, I spend an hour in front of the mirror making sure my hair looks nice and you come out of the bathroom after five minutes and you look like some sort of movie star!” He pouted and lifted a hand to gingerly pat his perfectly sculpted hair.

Sungmin chuckled. “I agree, I spend an obnoxiously long time doing my hair in the morning. What's your secret?”

Donghae chuckled as he slipped on his converse and tied them. “I don't know, all I do is brush it you guys, honest. Maybe it's just that I’ve gotten more attractive as I’ve gotten older and it just improves my over-all look.” Donghae flashed a charming smile in their direction as he stood, smiling internally at their laughter.

“How come you never act this way around Hyukjae?” Sungmin laughed, allowing Donghae to take his arm so he would trip or run into any walls or people. “He doesn't know how cocky you really are, you have him completely fooled into thinking you're an innocent little angel!”

Donghae's face softened at the mention of his husband. “Hyukjae knows everything about me.” He said quietly, Sungmin and Ryeowook smiling to each other knowingly. Donghae suddenly started and fumbled around for his phone in his pocket. “Speaking of, I need to call him and let him know I’m leaving.” He raised the iPhone to his mouth, holding down the button until Siri's alert beeped. “Siri, call Hyukjae.”

“Calling Lee Hyukjae.” She replied robotically, dialing the number as Donghae placed the phone to his ear.

Hyukjae picked up after two rings. “Hey baby.”

Donghae blushed and reflexively squeezed Sungmin's arm. “Hi.” He replied softly, smiling lovingly even though Hyukjae couldn't see him. “I'm leaving now with Sungmin and Ryeowook, I was just calling to let you know.”

There was a grunt from the other end of the line, Hyukjae was stretching. “Thanks for calling me, how was your morning, good?”

“Mmhm, I took a nap until they arrived.”

“Excellent. I’m gonna pick some wine up from the store on my way home from work, what kind would you like?” Hyukjae asked, the smile in his voice audible.

Donghae smiled cutely. “Whichever kind you want, I don’t mind. Can you get me some of those candies that I like though? I’ve been wanting some.” He pouted, knowing Hyukjae would be able to tell by the tone of his voice.

He chuckled. “Anything for you. Have a good time today, I love you.”

“I love you too, work hard!”

“Will do, bye babe.”

Donghae hung up the phone with a smile on his face, and he could practically feel the gazes of his friends burning on his face. “What?” He asked shyly, blushing bright red.

“Nothing.” Ryeowook replied innocently. “Just that you are adorable is all.”

“You two are ridiculously mushy, it's almost sickening how sweet you are to each other.” Sungmin added, pouting. “I wish Kyuhyun was that sweet all the time. He's only overly mushy in the mornings when he's sleepy.”

“I know!” Ryeowook chimed in as we got on the bus to get to their destination. “Jongwoon is the same way, I cant get him to be all cuddly during the day like Hyukjae is with you. Even when you two go out he shows so much affection!” He continued to whine as Sungmin sat Donghae down in an empty seat, both chuckling at their friends antics.

“I'm just lucky.” Donghae murmured.

“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Sungmin scoffed, patting Donghae's shoulder. “It's love.”

Donghae simply smiled.

~ ~ ~

“Jesus Hyukjae, you're so whipped I can feel the backlash.” Kyuhyun said from the cubicle beside Hyukjae's as he finished his call, stretching his arms above his head and ignoring his work to talk to his coworker.

Hyukjae laughed in response. “I'll gladly accept being whipped if it's by Donghae.” He replied with a cheeky grin, laughing again when he heard a scandalized gurgle from Jongwoon in his cubicle across the walkway.

“Could you please stop being erts over there, I have a deadline in twenty minutes!” He snapped, the sound of furious typing coming from his desk.

Kyuhyun scoffed and scowled as he rolled into Hyukjae's cubicle in his chair. “Can it Jongwoon, it's your own fault for slacking off all week.” He turned to Hyukjae who was humming to himself as he worked on the presentation. “You're awfully happy this morning. Morning ?”

Hyukjae laughed. “Well yes, but it's really not any of your business.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to answer me, did you.”

“Touché.”

Kyuhyun crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair, stretching again. “How is Donghae doing lately? Sungmin was all excited this morning because they were going out together. Are his eyes still bothering him?”

“Only if he stays up late at night, they get strained and he gets a headache. But he's definitely improving still, they don’t hurt as often, and he's much better at handling things at home while I'm here.” He smacked the enter key in satisfaction as he finished a slide in the power point. “He was excited this morning as well.”

“That's good to hear.” Kyuhyun replied, giving one of his rare smiles. “It must be nice to have a husband like Donghae, he does so much for someone with his condition.”

Hyukjae smiled as he thought of his husband. He knew how hard Donghae tried for him. He knew that Donghae liked it when he was able to do things for Hyukjae to make his life easier, even though it was obvious that he struggled because he was blind. Like when Donghae accidentally washed his favorite white dress shirt in the colors load and turned it pink the very first time he did Hyukjae's laundry. Hyukjae had nearly gotten angry and told Donghae never to do it again. But then Donghae had walked into the bedroom sleepily, wearing only his big t-shirt hanging off one shoulder, hair tousled, yawning as he rubbed his sore eyes with the back of his hand, and came over to gently wrap his arms around Hyukjae's waist and looked up at him.

“I did your laundry for you today, Hyukjae.” He said with the sweetest smile Hyukjae thought he'd ever seen. “Did I do a good job?”

Hyukjae never had the heart to tell him about the shirt.

Now whenever there was a pink sock in his drawer Hyukjae only smiled, found Donghae, and interrupted whatever he was doing to give him a kiss and tell him he loved him. Heck, he even wore the pink shirt sometimes just because it made him smile throughout the day. Hyukjae loved Donghae. He was perfect for him. In every way.

“God I love that man.” Hyukjae mumbled to himself, still typing on his computer.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “So I’ve heard.” He stood up and kicked his chair back to his own cubicle. “I want to take an early lunch today, finish up.”

“No breakfast this morning?”

Hyukjae smirked at the satisfied snicker from his younger friend. “I had better things to do.” Kyuhyun grunted as he fell back into his chair at his computer.

“I'm sure you did.”

~ ~ ~

“I smell red bean.” Donghae almost moaned, his eyes fluttering closed as the delicious smell filled his nostrils. “For the love of all that is holy, take me to it Sungmin.” Sungmin laughed and led Donghae and Ryeowook, who was ogling the shop windows they were passing, towards a street cart selling fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste, Donghae's favorite.

“Three please.” Sungmin said politely, smiling at the nice man as he reached for his wallet.

“Actually, four.” Donghae corrected, smiling. “Hyukjae likes them too, I’ll warm it up for him when he gets home tonight.”

“Here you go.” The man said, handing them a paper bag. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you!” Ryeowook exclaimed, snatching the bag and claiming his waffle before giving the bag to Donghae. Donghae chuckled and grabbed his as well, taking a big bite as they started off down the street, happily as the sweetness exploded over his tongue.

“These are the best.” Sungmin sighed, half of his already gone. The other two nodded in agreement. “Where should we go next, it's about three o'clock so we should start heading back.”

“Yeah.” Ryeowook said with a smile as he his fingers clean. “I want to see Jongwoon when he gets home, he'll be early this evening.”

“Did he have an early deadline?” Donghae asked, finishing up his waffle.

“Yeah, he has a meeting with the boss at 3:30 so he should be home by about four.”

“Do you guys want to come over and have a drink?” Donghae asked.

“Sure.” Sungmin agreed happily checking the bus schedule on his phone. “I might just have coffee though, I don’t want to be tipsy walking home. The next bus comes in about five minutes, perfect timing.”

The three of them chatted about random things while they waited for the bus as well as while they were on their way to Donghae's apartment, mostly about their husbands and their antics. Like how Kyuhyun sometimes talked about playing Starcraft in his sleep, or how Jongwoon had that ticklish spot on the back of his knees and would make the girliest sound if you even made a move to touch anywhere near them. As for Hyukjae, Donghae kept things minor, only talking about his strange obsession with strawberry milk or how his cowlick always took forever to tame. He didn’t talk about how Hyukjae liked to his stomach with his long fingers whenever Donghae slept facing away from him. Or how Hyukjae's entire body trembled when Donghae wore his favorite cologne and sensually nuzzled his face into the smaller man's delicate shoulder. Those things were secret.

When they arrived at his place and went inside, Sungmin threw himself on the couch and yawned loudly, flailing a bit as he got comfortable while Ryeowook joined Donghae in the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “Thanks for the drink.” Ryeowook said kindly as Donghae handed him a small glass of wine.

“No problem.” Donghae replied, setting Hyukjae's waffle next to the microwave for when he came home.

“Do you want me to make some dinner for you and Hyukjae?” Ryeowook asked.

“No, he'll be late tonight so he said not to wait up.” Donghae answered, moving to sit on the couch beside Sungmin's legs with his own glass of wine. “I was just going to have some cup ramyun later.”

Ryeowook wrinkled his nose and pulled out a pot. “Nonsense, I’ll make you some naengmyeon, that way you can put it in the fridge if you aren’t hungry now and you wont have to heat it up later.”

“If you insist.” Donghae chuckled. They all resumed their previous conversation on the bus while Ryeowook cooked, since the kitchen wasn't separated from the living room, until eventually Ryeowook and Sungmin had to leave. Donghae smiled at them as they left before returning to the living room and turning on the stereo. Before he went to eat the naengmyeon from Ryeowook, he decided to go change into workout pants and one of Hyukjae's big t-shirts, he liked them better than his own. Donghae spent the next twenty minutes curled up on the couch slurping down noodles and waiting patiently for Hyukjae. Even though his husband said not to wait up, Donghae liked to be awake when Hyukjae got home.

However Hyukjae took longer to get home than Donghae thought. And when Hyukjae walked in the door at ten, tired from a long day, he was presented with Donghae lying across the couch, lights on, music still playing, and empty bowl on the floor beside him. Hyukjae smiled lovingly at the scene before him. Hyukjae took Donghae's bowl to the sink before returning to the living room and kneeling beside the couch, smiling at his husband. He smoothed the brown hair off of Donghae's forehead and leaned forward to place a gentle kiss there. Donghae shifted slightly and grumbled.

“I told you not to wait up silly.” Hyukjae murmured, still the soft hair on the younger's head. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

Donghae moaned tiredly and nuzzled Hyukjae's hand. “I wanted to see you.” He yawned.

“Well I’m here now, let's go to bed.” Hyukjae said. Before Donghae could get to his feet, however, Hyukjae slid his arms underneath him and lifted him up into his strong arms. Donghae was so tired that he didn’t even react, he simply wrapped his arms around Hyukjae's neck and yawned again as he was carried effortlessly to the bedroom where he was placed carefully in the bed. Hyukjae pulled the covers up to his chin before stripping out of his work clothes until he was only in his boxers.

“Move over you.” He chuckled as he turned to see Donghae lying right in the middle of the bed. Donghae shook his head childishly and smiled when he felt the bed dip from Hyukjae's weight. “Alright then.” Hyukjae said, turning out the light and reaching out for Donghae. Immediately the smaller man snuggled into his muscular chest and closed his eyes as Hyukjae pulled the blankets up over them both.

“Goodnight.” Donghae whispered, craning his neck to kiss Hyukjae softly. Hyukjae sighed into the kiss and held him tighter, frowning when they broke apart.

“I want to kiss you forever.” Hyukjae pouted, making Donghae laugh.

“You can kiss me forever tomorrow, it's Saturday.”

“Yes!” Hyukjae said in triumph. “Tomorrow we should stay home all day so I can love on you.” He buried his face in Donghae's hair as he said that.

Donghae smiled and nodded. “Deal, but sleep now, you must be exhausted. I love you.”

Hyukjae shifted once more in the bed before snuggling closer. “Love you too babe, sleep well.” Donghae was asleep in no time.

He didn’t have to say it twice.