"HYUKIEEEE!" Donghae shouted joyfully, when he entered the classroom and found his best friend already at their shared table. "Good morning! How you are you? Did you sleep well? Should we go to the beach today?"

"It's bad today..." Hyukjae said with an apologetic smile. "But why don't you come to my house? Umma will make waffles."

The face of the 12-year-old Donghae brightened up and he smiled as bright as the sun . "Yees!" happily, he threw his arms into the air and wrapped them tight around the neck of a shy smiling 12-year-old Hyukjae. "Your umma makes really the best waffles!"

"F-i-Fishy... I-I get no-no air!" Hyukjae gasped with a pained smile, but had also wrapped his arms around his best friend.

Donghae looked scared at the other as he let him go off, smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

"It's okay ..." Hyukjae grinned lovingly and ruffled, chuckling, through Donghae's hair.

The latter pouted and wanted to say something, but right in the moment their teacher entered the classroom and they all fell silent.

~

Donghae and Hyukjae went, hand in hand through the quiet streets, talked about their school and their friends who acted strangely during the last days.

"And-and then, oh Hyukie! You had to see Sungmin's face when Kyuhyun gave him this pink bunny." Donghae babbled cheerfully, waving their hands back and forth. "I mean pink!? Okay, it's obviously that Sungmin-hyung likes pink, but his birthday is still a few months away and why the hell a pink bunny?"

"But Kyuhyun-ah likes Sungmin-shii." Hyukjae smiled and glanced shyly at their hands. He liked the way, how well their hands fitted together. "And Sungmin-hyung likes Kyuhyun-ah as well... and after all, the two are always together."

They stopped abruptly and when Hyukjae lifted his eyes, he met Donghae's. "What?"

"Nothing." Donghae grinned with a shrug of his shoulders, pulled Hyukjae suddenly into his arms.

"Uhm... Fishy!?" perplexed, Hyukjae wrapped his arms around his friend, as Donghae pulled him closer into his embrance and buried his face into the crook of his neck. "A-are you okay?"

"Sure." Hae nodded and released him from his hold, but grabbed him by the shoulders. "I just needed it! And after all, you're my best friend and I think that I can't tell you that far too often!"

A stitch shot through Hyukjae's boby, when he saw the shining face and gleaming eyes of his best friend, but he forced himself to smile. "And you will be forever my best friend, Hae." he nodded happily and wrapped his arms around the younger one.

They both laughed together for a moment, before they parted and continued their way, of course hand in hand again, to Hyukjae's house.

~

Half an hour later, Hyukjae and Donghae had eaten a whole stack of waffles and just ate their last pieces, as Hyukjae turned around to his mother and looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.

"Umma ~ we can still have some more waffles, please?" he asked and with a sweet pout, of which he knew that his mother couldn't resist it.

"More? But you had alread-" questioningly, Mrs Lee turned around, but when she saw the empty plate and the pout of her son, she sighed smiling and nodded. "Okay... but only this! The rest is for Appa, when he comes home from work!"

"Yee~s!" the two grinned with anticipation, and once more Donghae was glad that he and Hyukjae were friends.

After they had shared the last waffle, the two boys decided to play a little bit outside in the garden, but already half an hour later the weather changed and suddenly it began to rain.

"What a pity ..." Donghae sighed and rested his head on his hands, as they sat in the living room, under the large window to the garden and watched the rain. "It was supposed to rain tonight only..."

"But maybe it's not raining tonight..." Hyukjae mumbled and was trying to sound as casual as possible.

Donghae glanced at him from the corner of his eye and smiled. He knew that his best friend was afraid of thunderstorms, and rain in the night automatically meant a thunderstorm to him.

"Hey you two!" they heard the voice of Mrs. Lee from behind them. "What do you think about watching a movie in Hyukjae's room?"

The boys looked questioningly at Hyukjae's mother and then back at each other.

"We can watch 'Finding Nemo'." Hyukjae said with wryly smile.

"Or 'Treasure Planet'." Donghae suggested, did a somersault inwardly when he heard that Hyukjae really wanted to watch his favorite movie with him for probably the 18375th time.

Hyukjae shrugged his shoulders when he jumped from the window seat, where they had been sitting for the last twenty minutes. "You choose!" Hyukjae smiled and held a hand out for Donghae to grab it.

Donghae thought for a moment. "Treasure Planet!" he said finally, because he knew that he would made a pleasure to Hyukjae.

"Well then, 'Treasure Planet'!" Mrs Lee nodded and looked up for the film, while the boys ran upstairs and snuggled into the blankets and pillows on Hyukjae's bed.

~

"Let's go together to school tomorrow." Donghae said with a weary yawn, as he was tying his shoes.

They were fallen asleep while watching the film and when Mrs. Lee woke them up, it dawned outside and Donghae knew his mother wouldn't be pleased that he came home so late.

"Hae, I-" Hyukjae stopped, as Donghae straightened up and smiled broadly. "Oh right, yes! You have dance practice tomorrow! But then first break in the cafeteria?"

"Um... I... I'm not going to school tomorrow..." Hyukjae mumbled sheepishly and looked at his feet, played nervously with his fingers behind his back.

Donghae looked puzzled at him. "What? Why not? Are you sick? Are you going to the doctor?" he asked and overcame the short distance to his best friend, grabbed automatically his hands and held them in his.

It took a moment before Hyukjae was shaking his head shyly. "No... it's just...I... I."

"You?" Donghae tilted his head to the side and was more than surprised when tears dripping onto his hands and he heard a quiet sob from Hyukjae. "Hey... Hey Hyukie! What happend?"

Without an apparent reason, however, Hyukjae started to cry even more and was pulled, without any resistance, into Donghae protective embrace, who was trying to comfort him. It was the first time for Donghae that he saw Hyukjae - his Hyukjae - weeping so heart wrenching and felt him clung onto his shirt as if there were no tomorrow.

"Please... Hyukie" Hae turned his head so he could whisper in his ear. "Please don't cry..." But he got no response.

It took more than ten minutes before Hyukjae finally calmed down and was able to loosen his hold from Donghae and to step a little bit backwards, but shunned his view. But he hadn't reckoned with Donghae who, cautious but determined, raised his chin and forced him to look at him directly.

Donghae really loved Hyukjaes eyes and no matter when ever he looked at them, they seemed to radiate more and more. But now those eyes were red and swollen, swam in new upcoming tears.

But this time the younger one was prepared and right in the moment the first tears appeared from Hyukjae's eyes and ran silently down his cheek, he wiped them away with his thumb. Donghae smiled encouragingly, as he realized that Hyukjae slowly calmed down.

"Better?" he asked cautiously and was still looking at his best friend, waited for his answer.

"I-I think so..." Hyukjae nodded sheepishly and sighed heavily. "Hae... I have to tell you something..."

Donghae nodded expectantly, was really curious now and also wanted to know what was wrong with Hyukjae.

Hyukjae took a deep breath before he fixed his hold of Donghae's hands. "A-ppa got a new position in- in his job... and..." he began meekly, and looked painfully up at Donghae. "I'll don't come to school tomorrow, because... because we will move... to America."

Donghae looked stunned at him. "Th-that's a joke, right?" he asked with a shaking voice. "What-what about me, if you're not here anymore? You're my friend! My best friend!"

"I know!" Hyukjae sniffed and tears were running down his cheeks again. But this time he wasn't crying alone. "I know Hae..."

Sniffling, Donghae wiped with his sleeve across his eyes and pulled Hyukjae back into his arms as they both began to sob. "That's mean!" Donghae sobbed loudly and buried his face in Hyukjae's shoulder. "I don't wanna let you go!"

"I also don't want go..." Hyukjae sobbed and clung onto Donghae, like a drowning man on a life preserver.

"Then- then I also don't go to school tomorrow!" Donghae sniffed and after two more futile attempts he finally gave up to wipe away his tears.

But Hyukjae shook his head. "You- you'll get scolded by your Umma" he sniffled quietly and snuggled into Donghae's embrace at the same time.

"I don't care!" Donghae grumbled and put an arm around Hyukjae's shoulder and kicked his shoes off. "I'll stay with you! No matter what your or my Umma say!"

With these words he dragged Hyukjae, who was still in his arms, to the stairs. "AJUMMA! I SLEEP HERE TONIGHT!" he shouted as loud as he could so that the whole house quite safe had heard it.

"Hae what-" but Hyukjae was cut off, when Donghae grabbed his wrist and dragged him upstairs.

~

It was not a very pleasant conversation that Donghae had shortly afterwards with his mother on the phone. She was angry that her 12-year-old son didn't want to go to school for two complete days, only to stay with his best friend.

Again and again, Donghae had tried to explain it to his mother, but he always burst into tears and that finally Mrs Lee had taken the phone and went into the next room, where she explained the situation to her friend.

"Your Umma isn't very pleased that you stay here..." Hyukjae's mother smiled, when she sat down on the bed next to the two boys and would have squealed due to her son and his best friend and how they clung to each other, but now it wasn't the right moment for it.

"I know..." Donghae said quietly and

clung more tightly to Hyukjae. "But I'm not going home!"

Mrs Lee smiled sighing. "You two should sleep now." she said and covered the boys with the blanket, turned off the lights and left the room.

During this night Eunhyuk and Donghae barely slept. They decided to use the remaining time that they had together to play as much as possible with each other; so they thought! But already three hours later, they were both asleep on the bed, surrounded by a mess of playing cards, games, and their PSPs between them.

The following day went way too fast for the two boys. After they had a long breakfast together in the morning, Hyukjae had to finally pack his things.

"I'll help you!" Donghae grinned, grabbed Hyukie by his wrist and dragged him out of the kitchen and upstairs to the elder's room.

Hyukjae looked with sad eyes at the back of his best friend. Wasn't he also sad that he had to leave him? But as soon as they reached his room and the door had shut behind them, Donghae pulled Hyukjae into his arms and hugged him as tight as he could.

"I don't want you to go... please don't leave me Hyukie." Donghae whispered softly and buried his face, like in the night before, at Hyukjae's neck and stayed there.

Hyukjae was going to say something, when he felt something wet on his shoulder and suddenly realized that Donghae was crying again- because of him!

With a heavy heart and teary eyes, he looked around his room, before he gently wrapped his arms around Donghae and buried his face at the latter's shoulder.

"I don't want to leave... I want to stay here... with you!"

~

"Donghae...?"

"Mmh?"

"Are you asleep?" Hyukie peeked carefully out from under his blanket, searched in the darkness for Donghae's eyes and his hand, when another blinding flash lit the dark sky.

Shortly after he and Donghae had gone to bed, a thunderstorm had begun and with each and every thunder roll and new lightning, Hyukjae hid himself trembling under his blanket. He would never admit it and certainly not before Donghae, because after all, he was still the hyung of them, but he was still afraid of thunderstorms.

"No..." Donghae whispered with a knowing smile and scooted closer to the center of the bed and under the covers where he wrapped his arms around Hyukjae's shivering form and pulled him closer to him, took his searching hand and held it in his.

"Do- do you coming with me tomorrow? ...to the airport?" Hyukjae asked softly and hid his face on Donghae's small chest, didn't want to think about the storm outside, still at their upcoming flight.

He felt how Donghae's cheeks lifted to a weak smile, as he rolled onto his back and pulled him further up on his chest. "Of course I'm coming with you! As if I didn't say... Goodbye to you..."

"Thank you..." Hyukjae whispered with a cracked voice and fought with all his might against his tears. He didn't want cry again, but at times like this, he could not hold back his tears... as much as he wanted. "Thank you... for everything!"

As Donghae didn't answer him, Hyukie cautiously lifted his head to see if his best friend was asleep, but what he saw staggered him a painful stab in the heart.

"Fishy..." Hyukjae whispered in a low, broken voice. But Donghae gave him no answer, but only increased the pressure of his arms around Hyukjae. "Fishy please... please look at me..."

Spasmodic, Donghae bit down his lower lip and shook his head vehemently. Hyukjae sighed, pulled himself up to him that their faces were on the same level and took his friend's face in his hands.

Donghae cried like Hyukie had never seen him crying before, and it tore him inside.

"I'm so sorry..." Hyukjae whispered softly as he was on a par with Donghae, his face still in his hands. "Me too..." Hae whispered back before he, in a last ditch effort that he would still be with him, scooted to him and pressed his lips at his best friend's.

tbc...