Donghae looked around awkwardly as he sat in one of the stools at the island. His backpack was underneath his chair and his books and papers were out on the table. He was facing the crowd of people as he watched a whole school of students come flooding into the small restaurant. Hyukjae and Jinki were there, running around the place to take orders without missing a beat.

                His eyes were only following Hyukjae though. Watching him give the customers a gummy smile and writing down the orders. Some of the female customers were looking at him flirtatiously and a few more at Jinki. Donghae snorted. es.

                “Welcome to Hallyu Wave, how may I help you?” asked Hyukjae to two female students from Seoul Public High School.

                “Um, a plate of seafood and fried mandu and two bowls of Jajangmyun please,” answered the one with long, straight black hair tied behind her head. She was batting her eyes at Hyukjae, and Hyukjae only nodded.

                “Oh and two glasses of water also,” the other one with short brown hair said. She was doing the same as her friend and Donghae couldn’t help but scoff.

                “Doesn’t she know her friend is already doing the same thing?” he mumbled to himself. He sipped his own glass of water that was given to him before as he rolled his eyes at the obvious hints the girls were giving Hyukjae.

                 “Anything else?” Hyukjae asked politely. The girls shook their head and the girl with the ponytail gave him a sweet smile. Donghae glared a bit before he stopped himself.

                What exactly was he doing? Did he really just glare at a girl who was giving Hyukjae the eye? Donghae glanced back at the skinny anchovy and his heart raced a bit as his face flushed red when he saw Hyukjae look right back at him and give him a huge smile.

                Donghae took the glass of water and splashed himself with it.

                He shook his head and blinked his eyes before he took off his glasses and wiped the lens off. Well that worked. But now his clothes were all wet and inconveniently, the water just happened to spill in that area that made it look like he pissed himself.

                “Omo, Donghae what happened?” asked Hyukjae when he passed by Donghae to give the order to the chef. Donghae turned his head about ninety degrees to the left and sheepishly smiled.

                “I kind of spilled the water over myself,” Donghae lied, to make himself look less pathetic. Hyukjae raised an eyebrow at him and made Donghae stand up by the wrist.

                “Come on, I’m not going to let you stay in damp clothes. It’s autumn right now and you’re going to get sick,” Hyukjae said, pulling Donghae into the employees’ section.

                Donghae let himself get dragged and he watched as Hyukjae rummaged around his bag and took out a clean white crew neck and a pair of jeans. “I’m not sure they would fit you, but these are a bit baggy on me so they should be able to.”

                The said fish looked at the pieces of clothing. They were a HUGE contrast to the clothes he usually wore and he was hesitant on taking them. Donghae wasn’t one who was confident in how he looked and actually liked to stay in his comfort zone.

                But then, he didn’t want to stay in a public place in wet clothes so he just took them and proceeded to change in the bathroom.

                When he walked out, Donghae was practically a different person in those clothes. Instead of the ankle high dress pants he wore and the plaid sweater vest and bowtie, giving him the ultimate nerd look; out came a hottie in big nerd glasses, where his toned arms were practically visible under the tight crew neck shirt.

                Hyukjae looked at him and nodded in satisfaction. He passed him a dark grey cardigan and smiled again when Donghae put it on. He had to admit, Donghae fit these clothes better than the usual attire he wore. Seriously, the guy really needs to take a look at those magazines for men’s fashion. Maybe Kim Kibum would help him out, and he’s not talking about introverted Kibum.

                “That’s a great look on you,” complimented Hyukjae as he looked at Donghae up and down. Donghae blushed a bit and took a look at himself in the mirror.

                Well, as vain as it sounds, Donghae found himself checking his reflection out. Hyukjae was right; it was a great look on him. Now Heechul’s words from the first day echoed in his mind. Guess his sense of fashion was really awful.

                “You can keep it if you want, I don't even wear them that much in the first place,” Hyukjae said as he walked toward the door. Donghae followed behind and nodded.

                “Thank you.”

                “No problem,” Hyukjae smiled. Then he went to bring the plates of food that were waiting for the customers.

                Donghae walked back to his seat with his head down as he started to fell self conscious. Almost every female’s eyes seemed to follow him back to the island and you can clearly tell the glint in their eyes wasn’t just some glint.

                Oh dear Lord, please help me . . .

                Hyukjae looked at Donghae apologetically as Donghae was rocking back and forth in his seat in trauma, repeating the same thing all over to himself again and again.

                “I want my mommy, I want my mommy, I want my mommy,” he murmured as he had his eyes closed shut tightly. Hyukjae sweat dropped at the sight. For any of you confused, this is what happened~

Flashback

                Once Donghae had his firmly on his seat, the females in the restaurant were suddenly creating uproar. Hyukjae, who was in the middle of taking a female customer’s order, almost fell down in shock at the abrupt noise they were making. They were all straining after one another to get to Donghae’s side and Hyukjae and Jinki stood in the middle of the restaurant just as confused as Donghae was when he was bombarded with many questions.

                “Omo, are you an ulzzang?”

                “Do you have a girlfriend?”

                “What’s your blood type?”

                “Are you legal enough?”

                “Are you great in bed?”

                “MARRY ME PLEASE~!”

                Donghae crawled out of the crowd. He was almost home free until an insane girl grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him back inside. His nails were digging into the floor in attempt to escape, but it was to no avail.

                “I got him!” Then a fist came flying.

                “As if girl, I saw him first!” Next was a side kick.

                “Puh-lease, as if he’d go for someone like you.”

                “Want a piece of this ?”

                “Bring it on thunder thighs!”

                Next thing they knew, chairs and tables were being flipped, girls pulling each other’s hair and even scratching each other’s faces with their cat-like nails. The worst part was that Donghae was in the middle of it all.

                “Yah, Donghae get out of there!” Hyukjae called, he was on his tippy toes looking at the said fish, but all he did was just crouch down to his feet and hug his knees in attempt to hide from it all. This was definitely new experience to Donghae.

                “Aish, this guy . . .” sighed Hyukjae as he charged in the multitude of chaos and went to where Donghae was. He pulled him out and brought him to the back of the restaurant.

End of flashback

                So here they were, in Donghae’s living room, as Donghae continued to sway back and forth. Hyukjae looked at him as he on his thumb and sighed. Oh boy, how am I going to get him to stop?

                As he thought up a plan, he started glancing around Donghae’s house. He had to say, it was really big for just a family of four. The living room was practically 1,500 square feet along with the dining room. There was a flat screen television right above the fireplace and one wall was lined with the long leather couch.

                He must be rich or something, thought Hyukjae. He looked to Donghae once again and found Donghae staring blankly at the floor. Tilting his head, he placed a hand on Donghae’s shoulder and looked directly in his eyes. “Are you okay Donghae?”

                Donghae shook his head. He was still traumatized about what happened. Weren’t girls supposed to be all innocent and sweet and kind and pure? The girls he saw in the restaurant were none of that at all. He was seriously thinking about going gay, and being next to Hyukjae the whole time made him believe he was getting there, slowly but surely.  

                Hyukjae rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, how about we get started on the project Mr. Kim gave us?” He took his books from his bag and Donghae slowly untangled his legs and took out his own books too. The two opened to the chapter they were working on in class and started reading to look for any inspiration for their assignment.

                Chemistry; that’s what they were working on, in terms of school work, of course. Chemistry is the study of the composition, properties and behavior of matter. Now they just had to think of a project regarding the definition.

                “How about we doing something with fire?” asked Hyukjae, turning to Donghae. Donghae thought about it and shook his head.

                “Mr. Kim said that the project isn’t due until May, so basically we got almost nine months to do the project,” Donghae said, looking at the piece of paper Mr. Kim had given to them yesterday. “I think he’d want us to pick a project that’s long term.” Hyukjae placed his chin on his palm.

                “Then couldn’t we start this January?” Hyukjae asked. He dropped his hand and laid his head on the table. “I don't want to do this anymore.”

                Donghae put the piece of paper on the table and looked at Hyukjae with an eyebrow raised. He used his index finger to push up his glasses. “Wouldn’t it be better to just start it now and finish it?”

                “I like to procrastinate.”

                “But I don't.”

                Hyukjae looked at him. “I believe you on that one.”

                Donghae laughed a bit and looked toward the clock. It was almost six. He only had an hour before his bed time. “Would you like to stay for dinner Hyukjae?” The said anchovy looked at him in surprised before smiling.

                “Sure, I don't see the harm in it.”

                The two got up and walked into the kitchen. Donghae’s mom was in the middle of preparing pork kimchi jjigae. “Sorry boys, I haven’t even started cutting the meat and vegetables yet.”

                “Do you need any help Mrs. Lee?” asked Hyukjae.

                “No it’s alright, you’re our guest. Just sit and relax in the living room. Donghae, please turn on the television for Hyukjae-ssi,” stated Mrs. Lee.

                “It’s alright Mrs. Lee, I wouldn’t mind help—” Hyukjae was cut off by Donghae putting a hand over his mouth and pulling him back into the living room. “Yah, why’d you do that?”

                “It’s no use telling my mom otherwise. She’s a stubborn woman,” Donghae said. Hyukjae didn’t question after that and nodded his head. “What do you want to watch?”

                “Anything is fine.” 

                “As you can see, the male peacock opens its tail in attempt to seduce the female peacock,” said the narrator on the Discovery channel. They were watching Animal Planet, mostly because channels like MTV and VH1 were all blocked on cable. Why? Because Donghae’s family like to be different (okay, it’s because Donghae believes it’s a waste of time and money on channels like that).

                Hyukjae only stared at the screen blankly and shook his head. “You need to get out more. Interact with kids our age.”

                “I’m hanging out with you, aren’t I?”

                “Well that’s only one, and I’m not much of an influence,” Hyukjae said. “You need to hang out with more people.”

                Donghae looked at him. “I don't believe in interacting with mankind.”

                “Was that sarcasm?”

                “Wasn’t it obvious?”

                “Nothing is obvious with you,” Hyukjae said and Donghae smiled sheepishly. “That’s it; you’re coming with us tomorrow.”

                “Us?” Donghae questioned.

                “Us, as in Sungmin, Siwon, Kangin, Kibum, Jung Soo and the rest of the people you have met,” Hyukjae said. Donghae opened his mouth to protest but Hyukjae beat him to it. “Don't even try to get out of this, you’re coming and that’s final.”

                Donghae closed his mouth and nodded. He fixed the lens on his face and sighed.

                I guess it can't be helped.

                His mother who heard everything smiled as she stirred the pot. At least now, she and Mr. Lee don't have to worry about their son being all alone when they’re gone. It may not be what they really wanted, but it was a start.

                “Boys, dinner’s ready!”

                “Arasso!”

♦{Author's Note}♦

Chapter five is up~! Sorry for the long wait, I probably might end up updating every weekend or so. Anyways, how are you readers doing? Anyone who got caught in Blizzard Nemo okay? It wasn't as bad as they made it out to be, but it was still a blizzard. Hope everyone is okay! Thanks for reading~! ^^