Hyuk,

I left early.

Got a lot of boxes to deal with today and possibly all week.

Drop by when you can.

Feed the adorable brunette and make sure he's okay.

P.S.- You two look cute when you sleep together.

-Jongwoon

Hyukjae felt his face going red reading the post-script line at the end of the thinly folded wax crane paper.

It was amazing how well Jongwoon knew the blonde, almost like he could individually read the prominent private emotions that his best friend tried so hard to cloak.

Standing up, Hyukjae bent over the slightly swaying note-the piece of paper almost knocked off of the coffee table by the single electric fan in the corner of the room, rapidly astir at maximum speed.

Eunhyuk placed the notice on the refrigerator, pegging a magnet over the tip to keep it from dropping.

He sat back down beside Donghae, the brunette still in a virtual dreamland.

Hyukjae felt bad about the younger's neck being craned over at an odd angle all night, judging by his current uncomfortable position at that moment.

The blonde attentively brought Donghae's head up, heedfully shifting his hand around the other's head to carefully lead it onto his lap.

Donghae remained comfortable for the next few minutes; mewling sounds of drowsiness and kneading himself against Hyukjae even closer to feel the older's warmth.

As always, Eunhyuk found the younger's sleeping habits nothing short of endearing; he began to lace his fingers upon Donghae's soft brown locks, running them quietly through each wave, wishing for nothing more than to make the younger feel secure and calm in his arms.

Upon sensing Hyukjae's affectionate and tender touch, Donghae's soft chestnut eyes eventually lifted.

The brunette was met with the glow of early morning splendor and a certain friendly smile gracing the face of no one other than his own blonde knight, Lee Hyukjae.

"Morning," Hyukjae greeted, immediately halting his doting contact with the younger's head.

Embarassed, Eunhyuk tried to stand back up in order to compose his manly dignity with grace.

To no avail though; Donghae quickly wrapped his lithe fingers around the older's wrist, catching him just in time.

The brunette's sparkling brown orbs communicated nothing more but the simple message of;

Please don't go.

Hyukjae sighed.

He recalled telling himself that maybe it would be okay to fall in love with Donghae.

Maybe it would be okay to hold him like this for awhile.

Maybe there was nothing wrong with sinking deeper into the abstruseness and perplexity of this mystery only known to him as Lee Donghae.

No, Hyukjae thought to himself contrusively, No No No No No.

It was starting to get to his head all over again; the confusion, the dilemma, the internal battle that was there but not even really there.

What was so much as even a disturbance here anyways?

If Hyukjae's parents could accept it, then why couldn't he?

The blonde was shaken back to existence by Donghae, eyes watery and clearly upset about what was obviously making the older nervous and fidgety.

Hyukjae didn't notice his strange behavior, but before the brunette touched him, he was beginning to shake from confusion and disorientation of mind.

Donghae sat up straight in front of the older, agitated and dumbfounded at exactly what was happening.

Are you okay?

The brunette signed with his hands, eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"I'm fine," Hyukjae lied, eyes darting in every which direction to keep from looking at Donghae straight in his shimmery brown orbs.

He couldn't lie to him.

Hyukjae just couldn't.

Donghae had been nothing but perfect and beautiful without exception the entire time he's known Hyukjae.

Hyukjae couldn't ruin this.

The blonde didn't want to wreak havoc on their friendship by admitting something so profoundly disgusting towards Donghae.

Hyukjae didn't understand why, but that's just how he felt at that particular moment;

Disgusting. Helpless. An eyesore.

So much more.

The blonde couldn't comprehend and distinguish what was right from wrong anymore.

Why did he feel this way towards another man?

Why couldn't he be normal and be attracted to the opposite like everyone else in South Korea seemed to be?

Nothing was adding up; Hyukjae's whole world seemed so fragile.

Just as Hyukjae was about to lose it again, Donghae wrapped his arms around the older's neck, enlacing his legs over the blonde's criss-crossed lap.

The intimate position was startling, but sweet.

It was enough for Hyukjae to let go of everything for just a minute; nothing on his mind but the feeling of holding his favorite person in the world right in his arms.

By the look of sheer worry on Donghae's face, Hyukjae knew he couldn't keep doing this.

Hyukjae couldn't keep losing his mind over these feelings that were natural to him, but un-natural to the general public eye.

The blonde realized that he had to decide soon whether to tell Donghae about his growing emotions for him and hope for the best, or to just let it all go and pretend that nothing was happening.

Either way though, it was a risk sooner bound to take a toll on his heart or remain forever uncertain about something that could've possibly worked out just as well.

"Donghae I..." Hyukjae began, heart beating a trillion times a minute, face red with what he was about to confess.

Suddenly Hyukjae's cellphone vibrated on the coffee table, nearly knocking the wind out of the blonde in pure relief.

At least I have some extra time to think, Hyukjae contemplated as he picked up the device and hit the answer button.

"What?!" the blonde screeched, slightly annoyed but still thankful for the dark-headed male on the other end of the line that saved him from a possible catastrophic disaster.

"I'm in the middle of my excersize routine Hyuk, check it out."

Hyukjae heard faint buzzing on the line and stereo surround-sound music, which he assumed was from Jongwoon getting up to turn his radio on louder.

"One...two...three...ninety-nine!" Jongwoon imitated the raspy deep voice of a body builder, breathing heavily into the phone, prominently emulating the sound of laborous work.

Or as Hyukjae knew it out to be, the sound of being lazy.

"You don't work out hyung and I know that," Hyukjae mused, "remember that time senior year when I took you to the gym and you decided to, quote on quote, 'work on my arms bro' and you could barely pick up five pounds?"

"Shut up twig!" Jongwoon screamed, embarassed.
He couldn't help but stifle a laugh on the other end though.

"We were hardly there for ten minutes when you straight up told me, 'Bro, I'm gonna die. This is killing me.'"

Donghae giggled from his corner in the room, amused by Hyukjae and Jongwoon's high school memories since he can hardly recall any of his;

If he even had any.

Just then, Jongwoon lost his marbles.

"What's your name boy, what's your name...4minute!" the dark-headed male began to sing along with his stereo, causing Hyukjae to inwardly cringe in horror.

"Gross," the blonde piqued the conversation back into question, "what do you want Sungie?"

"Lalalala la lalalala...what's your name?...would you like-"

"Hyung!" Hyukjae voiced teasingly, unable to hold back the smile that was forming on his lips, "I freaking hate that song, it's pointless!"

Jongwoon perked back up after laughing shortly, attention quickly shifting onto what he was going to say next;

"Meet me at the park with Donghae. I have a few questions for the both of you."

Jongwoon then hung up the phone.

"Singing Tacky Songs and Wasting Phone Bills, a short story novel written by Kim Jongwoon." Hyukjae teased, transferring the phone down and positioning it right on top of the desk.

Donghae smiled at Hyukjae's humorous wit.

The brunette couldn't explain why, but knowing more about Hyukjae and Jongwoon's childhood was the most interesting thing ever to him.

Donghae marveled at the thought of having actual friends associated with actual memories, and the conclusion of Hyukjae having both of those things was magnificent and wonderous to the brunette all at the same time.

Seeing all of this, Donghae began to ponder about himself, leading to an ultimate realization that struck him hard.

What if..., Donghae thought, what if I'm nothing but a person that Hyukkie feels sorry for?

What if...Hyukkie doesn't like me the way I like him...that I'm just a charity work distraction that he never intended on getting to know?

Donghae's mind spiraled into crazy theories that had him freeze; eyes dropping to the ground in shame as he began to feel a bit distant from Hyukjae all over again.

Just like the beginning.

The blonde immediately noticed this though, instantaneously kneeling down beside Donghae and placing one hand under the younger's chin to lift his gaze.

Without thinking, Hyukjae closed his eyes, gently and softly placing a warm kiss on the center of the brunette's forehead.

Donghae's cheeks heated up, head spinning wildly at the adorable gestures that Hyukjae only did with him.

The brunette grabbed the older's hand and signed with his other;

Park.

The warm smile adorning Donghae's perfect features had Hyukjae reciproacting the blush.

"Get ready with me," the blonde voiced, eyebrow hitching into a curious zeal;

"After a-" Hyukjae paused dramatically, building light tension as his face turned up into a honeyed smile,

"Tickle fight!"

Hyukjae's fingers attacked Donghae's sides, sending the both of them onto the ground in a laughing, grinning ball of mess.

As much as either one tried to deny it; the closer they got to each other, the more difficult it became to let everything just...go.

To let all the feelings just...subside.

Part of them couldn't even remember life before the other came.