"Are you drunk, Hae?”

Donghae looks up at Eunhyuk immediately, blushing in embarrassment at the words he had never expected to hear. Even though it’s not the line of rejection he had been dreading, it doesn’t fail to make his heart want to burst out of his chest. He sees disbelief and confusion written all over his best friend’s face, no more, no less.

Good.

“I-I’m not drunk,” stammers the Mokpo-raised idol. “I’m…I ‘m just tired, that’s all,”

Eunhyuk frowns. “Of what exactly?”

“Of…” Donghae clears his throat when his voice becomes too soft for his liking. “…keeping things from you,”

For several seconds Eunhyuk doesn’t say anything. Donghae can’t make proper eye contact but with his peripheral vision sees that the other is looking right at him, most probably trying to figure out if the whole thing is another one of Heechul’s cruel jokes. He can’t be blamed, though—he had been tricked so many times by the so-called Flower of the group that it has become difficult for him to accept things right away.

And that includes a love confession from Lee Donghae.

With a deep breath, Eunhyuk asks, “Why?”

Donghae raises both eyebrows. “Why?”

“Why…why do you like me?” At that point, Eunhyuk’s cheeks also start turning pink. “First of all, I’m a guy—,”

“So what?” asks Donghae, cutting off Eunhyuk’s sentence. “Gender doesn’t matter in love,”

Eunhyuk’s eyes widen. “Excuse me? Did you just say love? Do you love me?That fast?”

“What do you mean ‘that fast?’ I’ve liked you from the moment I met you—oh !” Donghae covers his mouth with both hands, preventing himself from saying anything else he had not planned on telling Eunhyuk. “You did not hear that,” he says with a muffled voice.

“Ugh, we both know I did. Hey remove that, will you? It’s annoying,” Eunhyuk pries Donghae’s hands from his face. He then runs a hand through his recently-dyed red hair, thinking. “So, you’ve liked me for, um...What the hell?” He glares at Donghae. “How can anyone stand not telling someone they like them for a whole damn DECADE?”

Donghae bites his lower lip and looks down at his green sneakers again. “Please…don’t be mad at me, Hyukkie…”

Eunhyuk’s expression softens at the sight; he knows that stance all too well. Taking a step forward, he gently wraps his arms around Donghae, letting the other’s forehead touch his shoulder. As expected, Donghae starts crying but without the wailing or the sobs; all Eunhyuk gets from him are sniffing and slight hiccoughing.

“I’m sorry, Fishy,” says Eunhyuk as he rubs Donghae’s back with one hand. “Monkeys can be very insensitive,”

Donghae shakes his head without lifting his head. “I…shouldn’t have…confessed…to you,” A series of post-crying breathing spasms rack Donghae’s body. “I’m not your best friend anymore now, am I?”

Eunhyuk puts his hands on either of Donghae’s upper arms and pulls him away slightly. “What’re you talking about? You’ll always be my best friend no matter what happens. Don’t you forget that, alright?”

“But…won’t it be awkward, especially for you? I mean, you don’t like me…” In saying that, Donghae’s eyes become watery again. Eunhyuk quickly thinks of something to say that will make the tears stop.

“I…I LIKE YOU!”

It works.

“…W-what?” At that very moment, Eunhyuk is sure that one of Donghae’s ancestors must have been a dog—only a dog can make that cute of a face.

“Well, of course I like you, Donghae, because you’re my best friend. You’re one of my most favorite people in the world,” explains Eunhyuk. “Now I know that you probably want me to feel something more but I…I don’t want to force myself to be in a relationship with you and end up hurting you,”

“That’s impossible,” says Donghae. He completely removes himself from Eunhyuk’s embrace and locks eyes with him. “You’ll never be able to hurt me. As long as you’re with me, as long as I can hold your hand or kiss your cheek, I’ll be happy no matter what. Even if you curse me or hit me I’ll forgive you and accept you many times over. I...I really love you, Hyukjae,”

For some reason, the way Donghae says those last five words stabs Eunhyuk right in the heart. He suddenly becomes at a loss for words. He imagines what it must have been like for Donghae during those ten years of unrequited and unprofessed love. Had Donghae cried when Eunhyuk had revealed having a girlfriend, and had that look of sympathy while drinking with Eunhyuk because of the breakup eight months later been nothing more than a mask over a very toothy smile? Had those messages for Eunhyuk on the lead dancer’s Cyworld and Twitter pages contained so much more truth to them than anyone could’ve ever thought? Had Donghae taken it so much worse when Eunhyuk had told him to “stop harboring such a one-side love?”

In addition, what about all the skinship and the fan service that have been going on between them? By returning hugs, giving little pecks on the cheek, holding and squeezing his hand, and heck, even slapping his during performances, had Eunhyuk been doing nothing but giving Donghae false hope? Had he been contributing to ten years’ worth of it? Eunhyuk feels terrible, almost like a criminal. Best friend—some best friend he is. How come he had never sensed the truth? Had he always known but had simply chosen to ignore it? So many answerless questions start bombarding his mind, and it is only when he feels two hands cupping his face that he comes back to reality.

“It’s that difficult to love me back, huh?” asks Donghae with a bitter smile, his face just several inches away from Eunhyuk’s. “Don’t worry. I understand. Besides, I’d rather be your best friend than nothing at all,” He removes his hands and steps back. However, not even a second passes by when he finds himself back in Eunhyuk’s arms, this time locked in a very tight embrace. Donghae doesn’t move. His heart is beating too fast and his breath is too shallow. He tenses when Eunhyuk buries his head at the crook of Donghae’s neck.

“Wait for me,” says Eunhyuk softly.

“W…what?”

Eunhyuk pulls Donghae closer, as though letting go would cause his heart to stop. “Wait for me. Right now you’re just my best friend, just my brother, but wait for me. Wait for me to feel as you feel, to think as you think, to see you as you see me. I don’t know why but…I just know that if you wait for me and keep holding on to your feelings, I will be able to get to where you are and this whole thing won’t be one-sided anymore. You…you won’t have to hurt anymore,” Slowly, he lets go and looks at the other. “If you hold on just a little longer, I will be able to find that part of me who loves you back. It exists—I can feel it—but it needs time to leave its cave and finally be with you and take care of you. When that time comes you will not have waited for nothing because once that part of me surfaces, Donghae, I am yours forever,”

Donghae cries even harder. He wants to speak but the tears overwhelm him so he just nods in answer. Eunhyuk smiles and they hug once more. That is how Leeteuk finds them in the dressing room.

“Eunhyuk, what did I tell you about bullying Donghae?” says the leader, grabbing his jacket from the couch. “Did you deny EunHae again on Cyworld or something?”

Eunhyuk lets out a soft laugh and turns to look at Leeteuk while still holding Donghae. “Actually, I did something a lot worse but…” With so much fondness, he smiles at the crybaby in front of him. “...everything’s alright now,”

Donghae, too, smiles in agreement.

“It better be,” says Leeteuk. “Now c’mon, it’s 2AM’s turn to perform right now and we’re next. You two always disappear without telling anybody…” He then goes out of the room, leaving Eunhyuk and Donghae to themselves.

“We’d better find the makeup artist—your eye bags are showing,” says Eunhyuk with a teasing grin.

“Do my eye bags turn you off?”

“No. Why?”

“Does my acne turn you off?”

“What? No,”

Donghae’s lips stretch to form his most toothless smile. “So the wait won’t be long, after all,”

Eunhyuk puts two and two together and smirks. “Be careful, you might jinx it,” he says. “Hey let’s go. Leeteuk-hyung will have another one of his motherly fits again if we take too long,”

Donghae is surprised but nonetheless happy when Eunhyuk, more out of habit than anything else, grabs his hand and leads him out of the room. Though the warmth he feels from the other’s palm is still not out of the love he has always hoped it would be, just knowing that those years and years of loving Eunhyuk have the chance to blossom keeps him beyond contented. He cannot wait for the day that EunHae finally stops becoming a thing of fiction and, as Eunhyuk had put it during their fifth anniversary celebration, real.

Oh wait. Yes he can.