He woke up feeling fingers playing with his strands. Sometimes those fingers moved further, raking through his hair, combing it.

It felt so good.  Maybe this was how it felt to be Heebum.

He felt the urge to purr, so he did, although what came out was more like a muffled moan.

The body on which his head was rested shook as the owner chuckled. The fingers had stopped moving. Then he noticed that he could heard a faint heartbeat somewhere near his ear.  Heechul frowned and opened his eyes to confirm it. He found his head was lying on Sungmin’s chest.

Wait, what.

When did he get there? Feeling the heat of embarrassment starting to crawl up to his face, Heechul dragged his head away and rested it instead on the edge of Sungmin’s pillow. He kept his arm around Sungmin’s waist, though, because it’s so comfortable (Heechul wouldn’t dare saying that it was probably because of Sungmin’s chubby tummy; Sungmin would become obsessed with his diet again). He looked up to see Sungmin staring down at him with a mildly amused look and sleepy eyes, telling Heechul that it hadn’t been long since the younger guy woke up.

“I don’t know how my head got there,” he said lamely, in place of a greeting.

Sungmin smiled sleepily, and Heechul felt like cooing and flailing at the cuteness. He felt completely awake because of the sudden excitement, but he tried not to let it show.

“Morning,” Sungmin’s voice was still sleep-laden, a little hoarse. ”Not that I don’t like it, but… what are you doing here, Hyung? When did you sneak in?”

“Uh, sometime around sunrise, was it? What time is it now?” Heechul tried, and failed, to look over his own shoulder to check the alarm clock in Sungmin’s bedside table.

“Eight something,” Sungmin told him.

“Ow, you’re going to be late for work…”

“Yeah,”

Concluding that Sungmin would want to get up and get ready for work soon, Heechul lifted his arm off Sungmin, but his next words stopped him from doing so.

“Don’t go just yet,” Sungmin said softly, “I prefer lying here with you for a little more to going to work,”

“Uh, okay” Heechul slid his arm back to its original place.

“Hyung, last night—”

“Wait wait wait!” Heechul cut in quickly, knowing what Sungmin was about to do. “Don’t say it, hear me out first!”

Sungmin closed his mouth and nodded.

“The reason why I’m here in the first place, it’s because I want to apologize. I’m sorry, Min,” Heechul said earnestly.

Sungmin’s raised eyebrows were informative enough to let Heechul know he had surprised him.

“About last night. Yes, I was teasing you, but not with the intention to mock your love life or something like that. It’s just… it’s not, okay? It was not a joke. I just felt like doing that, I guess? Look, I don’t know why I did what I did, but I just did. I’m sorry okay, Pumpkin? Geez, I at this, how do you always apologize first even when it’s not your fault? I’m… the point is, I’m sorry,” Heechul stopped talking, buried his head back into Sungmin’s pillow and groaned in distress, realizing how his apology probably hadn’t sounded so convincing.

Sungmin chuckled again, though, so he looked back up feeling hopeful.

“Well, isn’t this new,” Sungmin said. Heechul knew he was referring to his first ever serious apology in years.

“Yah, Lee Sungmin! Don’t get too used to this!” he protested.

Sungmin’s chuckle turned to a louder laughter.

Feeling more embarrassed than before, Heechul curled his fingers into a fist and pounded on Sungmin’s tummy in retaliation.

“O-ouch! Hyung!” Sungmin wheezed, a hand automatically flew to hold onto Heechul’s wrist to keep him from punching his tummy again.

“I was so serious, and  you laughed at me,” Heechul clucked his tongue and acted like he was about to leave the bed.

Sungmin’s hand on his wrist tightened. “No, Hyung, it’s not like that. Now let me speak,”

Heechul obliged, he wasn’t really serious about leaving that comfortable spot beside Sungmin, anyway.

“I am thankful for your apology, but it wasn’t your fault, Hyung,”

“It wasn’t yours, either. Most of the times it was never really your fault but you always apologized first,” Heechul said.

“Well, probably yes, but I just can’t stand thinking that you’re upset at me, okay?”

“And I feel the same way! So just accept my apology!”

“I… Okay, I accept your apology,” Sungmin relented, smiling widely. “And please accept mine, too. I’m sorry because I was such a spoilsport last night. I knew you were just teasing, but somehow… I mean, you were never like that to me before, so I guess I kinda freaked out,  and then the only explanation that came to my mind was because you made fun of me, and it hurt my feeling—”

“Freaked out?”

“Heechul hyung, I haven’t been in a… s-ual relationship for years, and I’m not sure if you know how it feels, but it makes me very sensitive, and… and I got easily turned o—I mean—triggered by… things like… what you did last night… I-I…”

Sungmin was having obvious difficulty explaining himself, and Heechul felt his heartbeat accelerate again in anticipation. Would it come so fast, the confession he’d been waiting for?

“…I’m freaked out by the thought of what would happen if you had continued your teasing and I was already tipsy last night, what would happen if I hadn’t been able to control myself? And… and if anything had happened between us last night, I just… Uh, imagine the awkwardness, Hyung, I think I’d kill myself from embarrassment. Even now talking to you about this I feel like burying myself alive somewhere very far from you,”

Heechul frowned. He wouldn’t mind if something had happened between them last night, actually, he was kinda hoping for something to happen. But that was beside the point right now.

Somehow Sungmin managed to still be truthful while not confessing his real feelings. Heechul noticed how red Sungmin’s face had become after he said all that. He sighed in defeat. It couldn’t be helped. Sungmin still thought that Heechul had no romantic feelings for him, and if he put himself in Sungmin’s position, he knew it was a hard task even just to let out such an embarrassing explanation.

“Alright, I get your point, sorry for suddenly teasing you that way, then,” Heechul said, “But this, right now, it doesn’t trigger you in any way?”  he gestured at their intimate position that moment.

Sungmin’s eyes traveled from Heechul’s head, which was on the lower edge of his pillow, one cheek pressed to his bare arm; to Heechul’s body, sticking to his side like glue; and to Heechul’s arm around his middle part, his own hand covering Heechul’s.

“Ah,” if he wasn’t already very red from his words before, Sungmin would’ve blushed again now, “It doesn’t trigger anything ual, because I’m completely sober and I love cuddling with you, Hyung. I mean, we cuddled a lot of times before, don’t tell me you will stop cuddling with me just because I told you all those reasons about last night!” By the end of his sentence, Sungmin was whining, like a kid about to be banned from cuddling with his favorite teddy bear.

Heechul laughed openly. “Okay, you big boy, I will still cuddle with you, don’t whine,” he said, playing the nice hyung part.

Sungmin relaxed visibly, and he smiled shyly at Heechul, eyes wide and shining.

Heechul couldn’t help it. He stretched his neck to press a big sloppy kiss on Sungmin’s cheek.

“In fact, I will cuddle with you every freaking moment we spend together, from now on!” he announced afterward, earning a happy grin and an almost visible glow on Sungmin’s face.

Sungmin looked so adorable that Heechul felt like escaping the room before he did anything extreme to him. He held back a groan and climbed off the bed.

“Now get up and get ready for work, I’ll drive you again so you won’t be late, and because I am such a freaking cool hyung!” he said one last time before he his heels and left Sungmin’s room in a hurry.

.

It was easier said than done, Heechul thought begrudgingly, as two days had passed and he had not had another chance to cuddle with Sungmin like he had intended. Sungmin was very busy with his work (Heechul cursed Sungmin’s boss for this); even when he was home at night he kept sitting in front of his laptop, typing away some proposals that Heechul couldn’t care less about. When not working, the two of them had been busy with helping out the twins pack. They had so many things loitering around all over the apartment that it had felt like a never-ending treasure hunting.

It was Friday night when Donghae and Hyukjae finally done packing. On Saturday morning, the card-boxes were done being loaded into a small truck, and the four of them stood by the street, watching rather sadly as the truck drove away, heading to Mokpo. The twins were going to visit a few other of their friends in town before leaving Seoul, so they sent their things first. Hyukjae flagged a taxi, and they exchanged hugs and promises of keeping in contact. As the taxi driver who had been waiting for them started to look impatient, Donghae took Heechul’s hand and steered him some distance away from Hyukjae and Sungmin, who were still hugging with tears starting to leak from their eyes.

Heechul noticed Donghae’s teary eyes, too, but the dancer managed to hold the tears at bay and said seriously to Heechul, “Hyung, I am risking my friendship with Sungmin by telling you this, but you do know how he feels about you, right?”

Heechul only stared at him.

“Hyung,”

“You knew,” it was not a question.

“All along,” Donghae nodded. “Hyukjae and I knew about it quite early, probably only a few weeks after we moved in with you guys… And Sungmin made us swear to secrecy,”

Heechul stayed quiet. Even the twins had known for a long time, and he, the subject of it all, only knew about it a few days ago. It reminded him of how blind he had always been and it was quite a blow to his ego.

“Heechul hyung,” Donghae tugged at his hands, “How long have you known?”

“…only a few days ago, accidentally, I saw the picture inside his locket,” Heechul answered slowly.

“Ah… no wonder you hadn’t done anything about it, then. And how do you feel about him?”

Heechul frowned, he didn’t quite like being interrogated like this.

“Hyung~” Donghae whined.

“I love him, too,” Heechul said in a whisper.

Donghae’s eyes lit up and he smiled happily, “I knew it! So glad to hear that! Please do something about it, because after years, I’m not sure if he would ever tell you. No matter what Hyukjae and I told him, it seemed that he was so convinced to keep it a secret from you… You were very rarely without a boyfriend that he just got more apprehensive as time went by. Just do something before it’s too late, Hyung, he loves you so much you can’t even imagine. It worries me that he wasn’t doing anything about it, what if he’s going to give up on you? What are you gonna do now, Hyung?”

Heechul took a deep breath before answering, “I will wait patiently, and show him that I can keep a promise.”

“But he had kept it a secret for years, Hyung! I don’t think he would ever tell you if you only wait for him!” Donghae looked desperate.

Heechul shook his head. “I promised him I would let the right person make the first move, this time. I trust him, Donghae, I will wait for him,”

Donghae frowned, unconvinced.

“But,” Heechul continued, “I never said I wouldn’t do anything,” and then he smirked.

Donghae raised his eyebrows at that smirk, but then he laughed, relieved. “It’s good to hear. I’m counting on you, Hyung,”

“Don’t worry, and thank you, Hae,” Heechul patted Donghae’s head affectionately.

“Hae!” Hyukjae called him. The older of the twins was gesturing secretively at the sour-faced taxi driver.

Donghae laughed as he nodded, and he threw his arms around Heechul again before running back to Hyukjae and Sungmin. He gave Sungmin a tight hug once again, too, and whispered things to Sungmin’s ear that Heechul couldn’t hear.

Sungmin blushed and shook his head after that. Donghae exhaled loudly, cupping Sungmin’s face with both of his palms, and spoke loud enough for Heechul to hear.

“We can’t force you to do something you don’t want to, but we only wish for your happiness, Sungminnie. We love you,”

Hyukjae sniffed again at his brother’s sentence, his lips quivering before he echoed Donghae’s words, “We love you,”

Sungmin nodded, not trusting himself to speak, but his shining eyes said everything.

Heechul pursed his lips. From what Donghae had told him moments before, he could guess what they were talking about. Donghae must have suggested Sungmin to take action and fight for his feelings for Heechul, but Sungmin shaking his head must have meant that he did not agree to take action. Heechul would do anything to change that.

As the twins hopped on their taxi, Heechul s his arm around Sungmin’s waist and pulled him closer until their sides were flush against each other. They waved for a long time, until the orange-colored vehicle disappeared down the road.

Sighing, Sungmin detached himself from Heechul’s side embrace.

“Well, it’s just you and me now, Hyung.”

“Do you think we should quickly put up a new ad for new flatmates?” Heechul suggested, although actually he thought that the two of them alone in the apartment would be perfect, for now.

To his delight, Sungmin shook his head, “Let’s wait for a while? I’ll cover for the other two rooms’ share of expenses for the meanwhile, but… let’s just stay like this for now, please? Afterall, I don’t think I’m ready to have new flatmates.”

Heechul snorted, “Okay, let’s just stay like this. Just the two of us. We split half and half, like the old times. Don’t worry, you know I’m no longer that penniless guy from five years ago,”

Sungmin laughed at this, nodding his agreement.

“It’s weekend! Let’s spend some quality time together! It’s been a while!” Heechul then said, stretching his limbs and stepping back inside the building, heading to the stairs.

“Well, it’s been a while since the last time you didn’t have a date on a weekend,” Sungmin said under his breath, as they climbed the stairs back to their unit in the third floor.

“Oi, I heard that,” Heechul reached out a hand to playfully slap Sungmin’s backside (just out of habit), but Sungmin was quick to dodge and run up the stairs faster than the older guy. Cackling with glee, Sungmin kept running, leaving the already-panting man behind.

.