12:10 a.m.
Eunhyuk glances nervously (again) at the glowing arms of the pale pink strawberry-shaped clock on his wall.
It’s time.

***
It hadn’t been his idea, this stupid plan. But he really wanted it to work - no, scratch that, he needed it to work.

It all started that one sunny afternoon  when they’d had no recordings or other events to go to (all thirteen of them!) and were unwinding back at the dorm. He had felt the sudden need to use the toilet (and no, he did not go there for innocent reasons) and as he leaned against one of the pristine white walls with the cold tiling on his flushed skin the door had opened silently behind.

“You really need to get laid, hyung,”  a cynical voice that he knew so well called from behind him. The statement shocked him (shocked didn’t cover it) and he whipped around only to find the Kyuhyun smirking at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re kind of desperate.”

“W-what?” he’d replied. It was true that nothing special had happened over the last few months, but Eunhyuk didn’t really see it as much of a problem until that statement.

“I said. You. Have. To get. Laid.” Kyuhyun grinned.

“H-h-how?”

“There’s a reason why Donghae hyung was born, pabo!”

At that, Eunhyuk turned away trying to hide the heat that he knew was rapidly spreading across his face, lighting it up like an Olympic torch. It always appeared whenever someone made a remark about the two best friends, and Eunhyuk didn’t know how to stop it.

“Really?” Eunhyuk had always been one for taking things seriously and the careless little remark from the youngest member of the group had got him thinking. “And how exactly do I go about that?”

“There is one way...” Kyuhyun murmured darkly to himself as the gears of his (slightly twisted) mind began ticking. He hadn’t really thought it through - after all, it had just been a careless comment thrown at the elder. At this, Eunhyuk began to worry; those silent murmurings (and the single pause) always meant something daring, rash and usually...explosive.

Eunhyuk should never have trusted that mischievous smile. But he felt something different well up inside him and realized that he actually wanted to go along with Kyuhyun’s mad plan.

This time, he actually hoped that it would work.

***
12:10 a.m.
Donghae shakes the exhaustion out of his eyes, forcing his eyes to stay open for just another moment despite the overwhelming lure of sleep takes over. He’s waiting, and everything is happening behind schedule- as always. Stealing yet another glance at the electronic clock he had on his bedside, he mutters to himself;
It’s time.

***
No-one was watching. He surreptitiously rubbed out the EH he’d lovingly traced on the steam in his shower stall, replacing it with his name and his best friend’s in a heart, before sighing and rubbing it out again- it was all just a hopeless dream.

He yelped as the water vigorously heated up all of a sudden and scalded his back, and almost slipped in his haste to turn the dial back to cold. The shower always did that when someone else in the dorm was using a separate shower, and he pushed his dripping wet hair out of his eyes, squirting a small globule of transparent shampoo into his palm.

Within five minutes and a whole lot of foam later, he was singing at the top of his lungs. He didn’t even know what he was singing about; some unintelligible crap that his brain had decided to convey to his voice box for him to belt out at full volume. When he stopped at the end of one (in his rather biased opinion) poetic verse, he heard applause through the steady patter of water from his shower head onto the floor and froze.

There stood Kyuhyun, his head poking out from the bathroom doorway, fighting back a laugh that seemed to be winning its battle against suppression. As predicted, the younger boy burst out laughing a few seconds later, leaning against Donghae’s basin for support as he slid down onto the floor clutching his guts and sending peals of laughter ringing between the walls (tiled orange and white in honour of the great Nemo).

Donghae sighed, turning away so that Kyuhyun wouldn’t try make a joke out of the items between his legs (or mention that there was a reason why they left most of the singing to other members).

Kyuhyun laughed even harder.

“What. Are. You. Doing. In. My. Bathroom?” Donghae enunciated, through gritted teeth, with an emphasis on “my bathroom”.

Kyuhyun tried (and failed) to force back a giggle. It was always his specialty to catch his hyungs at their most embarrassing moments.

“Get out. Private man time in here, can’t you see?”

“Man time, sure. I don’t see no man here, especially not on your body where it should be. And man time definitely involves belting out Gee three octaves lower than the original.”

“Shut up, okay?”

“Everyone knows you have a massive crush on Yoona, so chill. Or should I say had...” Kyuhyun mused, a sly smile spreading across his face. He wasn’t called the Devil’s spawn for nothing.

“I... I don’t like anyone. S-s-seriously, okay?” Damn. His voice always cracked  and stuttered when he was lying.

“Not even dear, darling Eunhyuk hyung?” Kyuhyun twisted the words around in his mouth whilst placing an amused expression on; he had won this round, as per usual.

The name made Donghae stop in his tracks. Surely Kyuhyun didn’t know... or maybe he did. The youngest always had a knack for finding out secrets that had never been disclosed to anyone else but their owner.

“Fine, fine, I believe you,” Kyuhyun said airily, getting up and sauntering out of the bathroom, throwing at Donghae the facewash that he’d been rummaging for in the stall.

Something in Kyuhyun’s tone didn’t convince Donghae; in fact, it unnerved him. But the older was too exhausted - and couldn’t get that damn song out of his head - to argue.

“Good. Now get out and leave me alone. I have enough of you in all the crap we do daily,” Donghae murmured, smiling slightly.

“Everyone knows I’m amazing,” Kyuhyun laughed. “Anyway, expect a late night tonight,” he shouted, already halfway down the hall. “Try and be awake until twelve at the earliest, sleepyhead.”

And then there were no footsteps to be heard, so after he had yelled after the now empty hall about someone needing to  remember their manners Donghae belted out the chorus yet again (GEE GEE GEE GEE GEE), only to be silenced by an exasperated ‘Shut up, I’m trying to convince Yesung that he’s actually a giant fluffy cloud!’ from Heechul, two rooms to the left.

Donghae sneezed out some foam that he’d accidentally inhaled and made a mental note to himself to figure out what was going to happen at ten past midnight. All he knew was that he had better be prepared for the worst; after all, he was dealing with the kid that could ruin instant Ramen. (1. Pour water 2. Cook)

***

12:10 a.m.
It’s dark, but after six years of creeping through darkened dorm corridors, Kyuhyun knows his way around. He knows every nook and cranny; where Shindong ‘hyung’ (that despicable word!) would hide his stash of sweets, where Sungmin ‘hyung’ would make out with his assortment of girls, where Ryeowook hyung would practice his singing voice; which was good (and then attempt to practice his dancing; which was not).
There it is. The soundproof rehearsal studio, with the door left open.

Headphones - check. Blanket - check. Popcorn - check. Camera - check.

Insufferable charm and looks - triple check.
It’s time.

There he is; Kyuhyun can just make out Eunhyuk’s awkward, lanky silhouette walking down the corridor - no, no, that’s Leeteuk’s room; that idiot, he’s walking straight into Kangin’s - until he finally hits the right room, the one with the Nemo doorknob that Eunhyuk runs his fingers over just to make sure. He looks up, and is greeted with a sparkly blue-green name tag spelling out the Sea Prince’s name.

Eunhyuk drops another round of fake tears on his face and hopes that Kyuhyun is actually a master at the smudged up I-have-been-crying-all-night makeup. He had seemed confident that it would work, but also certain that Eunhyuk not see what he looked like when the impromptu,surprisingly effeminate yet enjoyable makeup session was over.

It’s about to begin. That one plan, which only took a few seconds to fabricate, is about to begin.

Pulling his knees up to his chest on the chair and his blanket to his shoulders, Kyuhyun opens up his laptop and squints at the bright screen light. Pushing a few controls - aimlessly, arbitrarily, he knows the activation instruction by heart - he powers on the small camera wired on one of Donghae’s curtain railings for a full view of the action.

Eunhyuk walks in; to his surprise, Donghae’s still awake, albeit a little tired. I guess he finally learnt to listen to me, thinks Kyuhyun to himself as he leans in and presses Video Mode. As soon as Donghae sees his friend, he sits up with a start and his face immediately takes on a look of concern when he sees the ‘tears’ glisten in the half-light.

“Someone had a bad night,” Donghae murmurs, patting down a space for his best friend to sit next to him. “Hyuk, what happened to you?”

Silence.

“Are - are you okay?”

More silence. Eunhyuk can’t think of words. His heart is beating too fast; dancing, tripping, falling over itself unlike what it normally does.
Good, good... Kyuhyun smiles to himself. Perfect, Eunhyuk hyung, perfect. Hmm, you’re not as hopeless as I thought you were.

“Tell me... Hyuk, seriously, what’s wrong?”

“N-n-nightmare.”

Details, details, details! Kyuhyun screams inwardly, cursing at Eunhyuk’s naivety. See, this is why I never call you hyung. Act like one!  

Donghae laughs, the sudden sound so unexpected in the  awkward midnight silence that Kyuhyun almost slaps himself because of the startle.

“That’s it?”

“It was a bad nightmare.”

“What was it about?”

“N-n-not telling.”

Now, now, now! Kyuhyun implores, hoping that by some means Eunhyuk will hear him. If Mission: EunHae was going to go at this pace, he would need several months. Not to mention Seduction 101 classes from Heechul.

It is then that Eunhyuk turns away and to both Kyuhyun and Donghae’s surprise, begins to sob quietly under his breath.

“Oh, , Hyuk, I didn’t mean to,” Donghae begins apologetically, wrapping both arms around his trembling friend. Eunhyuk buries his face in Donghae’s (rather pleasantly-scented-like-clean-laundry) pajama shirt and Donghae just holds onto his warm body tightly, whispering “It’s okay, it’s okay, shhh...” every few seconds.

It doesn’t seem to help and Donghae can’t help closing his eyes every few seconds from exhaustion; where the hell was the surprise Kyuhyun was talking about?

And that’s when Donghae realises that there is only one way to get Eunhyuk to quieten down.

One way.

Tried, but never tested. Drastic situations call for drastic, very drastic measures.

“Hey, hey... Hyuk, look up. Look at me.”

Donghae looks Eunhyuk straight in the eye and the moment seems to last forever. Neither can tear their eyes away and Eunhyuk can’t help but marvel at how perfect Donghae looks even when he’s exhausted and has tear stains on his pajamas.

That is, until he feels something squishy squeak against his chest.

How marvelous; a soft Nemo plushie with a squeaker inside.

“Better now?” Donghae whispers whilst secretly wiping away a (in his again, biased opinion) manly tear of his own at the thought of the limited edition Nemo, “I thought that might make everything okay.”

Back in the rehearsal room, Kyuhyun sends his popcorn flying into the air, the almost-empty bowl hitting the floor with a loud clang. Thank goodness for soundproofing he thinks. But thank the devil for making these two romantic idiots, he mutters to himself. It wasn’t a kiss, but a Nemo meant much more than that to his fishy hyung.

“I - I -” Eunhyuk can’t speak, touched in an odd way by Donghae’s (equally odd, yet classically adorable) gift. And it is then that the guilt for tricking his baby overwhelms him and he turns away, throwing the Nemo plushie back into Donghae’s arms and burying his face in his hands, tears running down his palms as he hears its dismal squeak.

What the hell have I gotten myself into? Eunhyuk thinks desperately, mind struggling to grasp onto something to solve the dilemma.

And Kyuhyun waits in the rehearsal room. Waits for some sort of solution to the tension between the best friends. The tension hasn’t ever been this pronounced, and Kyuhyun curses himself for having orchestrated the whole deal.

But then, something on the camera makes him lean closer, flush and look away - the great Cho Kyuhyun, looking away.

The truth is, Eunhyuk hasn’t ever had much experience with kissing.

And yet there he is, right on camera, pressed up against his best friend, both their eyes shut - kissing him.

It lasts for too long; too long to pass it off as a mistake, as an accidental face-brushing or the classic oh-I-just-fainted-on-you phenomenon.

Finally, when it seems that the pair have run out of their apparently endless supply of breath, Donghae pulls away, wiping his hands (which were on Eunhyuk’s shoulders) on his pajama pants.

“What. What. What was that for?” Donghae whispers. This time, it’s not a comforting whisper.

“Uh, I, um, I’ll, nightmare gone, I’ll go now. ‘Night, Donghae,” Eunhyuk whispers hastily, scurrying off the bed and almost out of the door.

Donghae.

Eunhyuk hasn’t ever, ever, ever called his best friend by that name before.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“M-my room. Sleep. Night!” Eunhyuk squeaks, before he feels himself dragged across the room, held rather painfully by the collar of his T-shirt.

“You, Hyuk, are staying right here, with me.” Donghae grins, and Kyuhyun just down the corridor in the rehearsal room has to clap a hand over his mouth to stop the squeals that threaten to escape him.

“But... your bed...”

“There’s room for two of us. Now get in or I’ll fall asleep on you,” Donghae laughs. “And you don’t want me knocking you over onto my rather stiff Nemo replica.”

Kyuhyun, green with envy, hurriedly gathers up his blanket and tiptoes out of the corridor, socked feet hardly making a sound against the quiet floor.

Just time for one last prank.

He raps loudly on Donghae’s door, accidentally bashing his knuckles in the process. Well, that’s what I get for messing with the lovebirds, he thinks before tiptoeing into Ryeowook’s room. Well, now it’s my turn.

“Actually,” Eunhyuk smiles, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Donghae’s ear (and ignoring a suspicious sounding knock and yelp from outside). “Fall asleep on me all you’d like. That’s not something I would mind.”

***

The next morning, Heechul storms into Donghae’s room with the camera in one hand and a rather thick book in another.  Dragging Eunhyuk out, he mutters something about ‘needing better technique’ before locking themselves into a room.

Meanwhile, in another room a very tired and disoriented looking Ryeowook is trapped underneath a smirking-in-his-sleep Kyuhyun as the latter cunningly sneaks his hand under the older’s pajamas.

FINITE