changkyu’s and eunhae’s dates are too long to stuff into one chapter so i’m splitting them up.

Changmin’s POV

As we waited for the bill, Hyukjae had finally eased into a decent conversation with Donghae. The two were now feverishly discussing if Hyukjae should dye his hair. Not romantic, but at least they didn't look uncomfortable anymore with the odd topic. 

Kyuhyun was just barely paying attention to them, choosing to keep himself occupied by folding a napkin into an airplane. It wasn't going so well and he looked frustrated when the folds wouldn't hold together. It was cute the way he could get so caught up in something so simple, and the concentrated scowl on his lips had me smiling. 

Not much longer, as I snickered to myself as Donghae explained the possibility of Hyukjae going bald if he bleached his hair, the waiter scurried over and hesitated, not knowing who to hand the bill. I was beginning to stretch my palm, but Hyukjae’s hand shot out, demanding it. I shrugged at his eagerness and our table kept silent as he flashed out a sleek black credit card. 

Five minutes later, the four of us were crowding out the door. I didn't even need to glance up to know that dark heavy clouds had taken over most of the sky. There was a slight chillness in the air, but nothing too bothersome. 

As Donghae shuffled outside with Hyukjae on his tail, he glanced up with a nervous flicker in his eyes and a worried bite to his lip. Hyukjae didn't seem to notice his date’s distress, though, because he was busy trying to signal me over as discretely as he could. 

“So what’s the plan now?” he asked in a whisper when I moved to stand next to him. 

“Well,” I started. “Where are you planning on taking him?” I asked in return, jutting out my chin to Donghae. His eyes narrowed in thought. 

“The movies, I guess. That’s where people normally go on first dates, right?” Hyukjae asked for confirmation and I rolled my eyes at his simplistic way of thinking, though I nodded anyway for his sake. 

“Alright. We’ll split up that way.”I stated. “And don’t mention anything to them,” I warned. I don’t know about Donghae, but I had a strong feeling there was no way Kyuhyun was going to agree to take off with me alone. Nothing a little lying wouldn't fix. 

Hyukjae nodded, looking determined, skittish, and hopeful all at the same time. He turned to the younger two who were whispering amongst themselves. 

“So, uh, we’ve decided to go see a movie now.” Kyuhyun didn't look too excited, but Donghae beamed at Hyukjae like a happy puppy. 

“Which one?” he asked, and Hyukjae cleared his throat. 

“I don’t really know… when we get there I guess we’ll pick something,” he said as if unsure, but Donghae’s eager nod had him smiling. Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes at the exchange. 

Well, the faster we get moving the better. Without warning the others, I began walking up the street back the way we came. I heard the sound of them following behind and I sighed when I noticed that Kyuhyun chose to hang back instead of walking next to me.

The busy avenue from before was easier to walk on since the streets had cleared considerably due to the upcoming weather. Coming up to Hyukjae’s car, I stopped and turned to the others. I met Kyuhyun’s eyes at the back of the group. 

“You’re coming with me.” I watched him quirk up an eyebrow at me challengingly. 

“I wanna ride with Hae,” he said firmly and I folded my arms over my chest at his stubbornness. Why does he have to keep making this so difficult for me?

“Come on, let’s go,” I commanded and smirked when he glared at me. “Or do you wanna be there to witness these two flirting and feeling each other up in the car?” I asked, gesturing dramatically to the now blushing couple. Donghae couldn't get any redder as he gaped at me like he couldn’t even comprehend what I just said, and Hyukjae was just as red, except a colorful string of profanities were being silently mouthed my way. 

That seemed to do the trick for Kyuhyun because not a second later was he pushing the two out of the way to get to me. 

“Great! Catch you two lovebirds later!” I linked arms with Kyuhyun and began dragging him further up the street to where my truck was. Thankfully, he didn't make too much of a fuss, except to try and tug his arm out of my hold, but I held strong and he eventually gave up. 

I was too busy paying attention to him that I almost walked past my truck. I stopped short when I noticed it in my peripheral vision and Kyuhyun stumbled with the sudden halt. Still holding onto him, I fished out my keys and clicked open the locks, opening the door. 

“Get in,” I urged when he didn't move. The look on his face was more confusion than it was resistance. 

“Why do you own a friggin’ pickup truck? This isn't the countryside,” he said, eyeing the green rusted tin can. 

“Well aren't you one for stereotypes,” I said, rolling my eyes, still holding the door, waiting for him to get in.

“That’s not it. I just… you seemed more like the sports car kind of guy.” He scowled as he gave the truck another distasteful once over. 

“Looks can be pretty deceiving. Now get in.” He finally moved inside and I let go of his arm to shut his door and then hustle over to the driver’s side. 

When I got in, Kyuhyun was inspecting the interior like he was going to buy the thing.

“Seriously, though. It looks like it drove itself right out of the fifties,” he said in disbelief, running his hands over the dashboard cautiously like he was going to break something if he pressed too hard. 

“Decent assumption since it was actually my grandfather’s,” I told him, starting up the engine that grunted to life with a heavy purr. Kyuhyun kept quiet with that information and I pulled out of the parking spot. 

The entire front seat was one long seat with nothing separating the driver from the passenger. Kyuhyun didn't seem too pleased with that because I noticed he kept himself as far away from me as possible, practically leaning on the door. Just to a bit, I pointed a finger at the passenger door, keeping my eyes on the road. 

“Careful there, princess. That door’s got some problems. You don’t want to find yourself tumbling out of the truck now, do you?” I had to turn my head away to contain the laugh that threatened to come out when Kyuhyun’s eyes widened in horror and he immediately scooted away from the door, leaving about a foot of space between us. 

Soon I was driving behind Hyukjae’s shiny white Bentley and I rolled my eyes at the way he wouldn't even dare touch over the speed limit. It didn't take me long to grow tired of his cautious driving. I pulled into the next lane over and sped up, only to rashly cut Hyukjae off when I reentered the lane in front of him. A quick glance in my rearview mirror showed him flashing the middle finger at me. I laughed and stepped on the gas, speeding down the empty road towards the major highway. 

“W-What are you doing? Slow down!” Kyuhyun clearly didn't trust my driving skills because he had a hand clutched onto his seat belt, worriedly glancing out the window to see if I was in danger of hitting anyone. 

“Sit tight, babe. It’s gonna be an hour long drive,” I informed and smirked when he didn't even to notice the pet name. Either that or my driving was scaring him into silence.

“Where are we going?” he questioned suspiciously when we lost sight of Hyukjae’s car behind us as I entered into the thruway.

Kyuhyun still thought the four of us were headed to the movies. Surprise, sweetheart. Change of plans. 

“Don’t feel like watching a movie,” I admitted, but he didn't seem content with that answer. 

“Where’re we going?” he demanded again, staring me down from the passenger side. 

I sighed at his persistence. “Just a bit up north. I wanted to watch the city skyline with you like the romantic I’m attempting to be, but this damn weather is screwing things up,” I said with slight annoyance as I frowned at the overhead storm clouds outside the windshield. 

I heard Kyuhyun scoff beside me and quick sideways glance showed a blush tinting his cheeks, but other than that, he kept quiet and I felt myself fizzle over with excitement thinking maybe he didn't mind me ruining his afternoon. 

“What about Hae?” he asked after a while.

“What about him?” I spared him another quick glance, raising an eyebrow at the sudden question. 

“He doesn't like thunderstorms,” he stated simply and went back to staring at the sky through his window. I sighed at his lack of attention to the fact that he was with me.

“He’ll be fine. He’s with Hyuk.”

That didn't seem to be enough for Kyuhyun, but he didn't say anything else and sat quietly for the rest of the drive. 

Suffice to say, the farther we drove, the gloomier the weather became, and by the time I was pulling out of our exit, I was regretting my decision to come all the way out here. The sky looked ready to burst any minute, crushing any hopes of a beautiful evening.

I drove for about ten more minutes on a lone stretch of road weaving around the side of a small mountain until I slowed down and pulled into an open cliffside. I used to come up here with my family when I was a kid. It wasn't anything special. It was just an open area big enough to fit five cars, and to the side was a picnic area covered with lush grass and leafy trees compared to hard gravel where I pulled the truck up to. There was a wooden fence lining the edge, but it was very low and flimsy and I’m pretty sure it wasn't going to save anyone’s life. As the truck rolled up onto the gravel, it made a crunching noise against the tires. 

I parked the truck right in the middle of the space so that we were able to see the view from out the windshield in front of us. Only problem was that there was no view. 

Kyuhyun didn't say anything, but he glanced sideways at me, looking like he’d rather be at home covered under his blankets right now. You and me both, buddy.

I wanted to hit my head against the steering wheel for even coming up here, but I had too much pride for that, so instead, I hopped out of the truck and two seconds later, Kyuhyun was scrambling with his seatbelt to go after me. 

Stepping out, I grimaced at the chill that went through me. Being up so high, and with the storm approaching closer, the air was chilly and fierce, and there was a force to it that was ruffling Kyuhyun’s dark hair into a winded mess.

I slowly trudged over the the shaky fence and squinted my eyes. The view was dark. Colossal rain clouds hovered threateningly over the city and there was a lot of fog just before the downpour. The fog was obscuring the tall buildings and all of the city lights were blurred. Everything in front of us looked like one big grey and yellow smudge. 

Fairly disappointed in the way things had turned out, I ran a hand through my hair and suppressed a shudder as another forceful gust of wind blew by. 

From beside me, Kyuhyun wrapped his arms around himself, turning to look at me with a glare and an unexpected pout. 

“This was a horrible plan,” he chided, glancing back at the city. I couldn't think of anything to say to defend myself so I just shrugged.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I agreed and he snorted before moving suddenly from my side towards the picnic area. 

“Hey! Where’re you going?” I called after him, jogging to keep him in sight as he disappeared behind a tree. When I caught up to him, I settled for following a couple feet behind him, watching him closely. 

“I’m going to call Hae and make sure he’s alright,” he said, holding up his phone as he walked about this way and that, going farther away from the truck. I’m guessing he couldn't get any signal up here, and I knew walking around wasn't going to help, but I was mentally spent so I let him do as he wanted. 

He continued to trudge through the grass when a loud boom of thunder sounded overhead. No less than two seconds later was the first batch of rain splashing out of the sky in a rather heavy flow.

Kyuhyun turned around abruptly and glared up at the sky before snapping his head down to glare even harder at me. Through the rain, I held my hands up defensively, but Kyuhyun seemed fired up as he took a couple of steps closer so he could yell at me better. 

“This is all your fault!” he declared angrily. I gave him a bored stare and tried to ignore the rain seeping through my socks. 

“Yeah, I got that already.” Kyuhyun scoffed at me before pocketing his phone. He roughly shoved past me to begin fast pacing back to the truck. I wasn't expecting the push and went stumbling back, only to land on my in a wet puddle of moist dirt and grass. I stared wide eyed at him as he kept going, not even bothering with me. 

“You’re not even going to help me up?!” I shouted after him, but he ignored me and kept on going. 

I grunted as I pushed myself carefully off the ground, feeling disgusted with the way my clothes were sticking uncomfortably to my skin. There was a dull pain from where I had landed on my , but it wasn't too bad. 

I squinted past the rain and caught sight of Kyuhyun’s shadowy form a far way in front of me, and I don’t know what came over me, but I suddenly found myself charging after him. Upon impact, I wrapped my arms around him as we both went crashing to the ground. I rolled over so that I was on top of him, laughing down at his shocked face. 

“What the heck are you doing?!” he screeched, eyes wide, looking stunned and angry at the same time. 

“Now we’re even,” I answered, still laughing triumphantly at him beneath me. He narrowed his eyes up at me in a way that told me he wasn't going to take defeat so easily. 

I got momentarily distracted as I stared down at him. He looked pretty funny with his hair sticking in his face, and rain trickling down his cheeks. And with that twitching look of outrage on his face, he resembled an angry drenched kitten. 

Kyuhyun took advantage of my brief moment of celebration and managed to get his arms on my chest, giving a hard push upwards and to the side, knocking me over on my back. He rolled with me so that he was now hovering over me. He smirked devilishly now that he had me pinned under him, but I didn't give him a chance to bask in his success because I threw my weight and rolled him over again so that he now looked pissed off again. I laughed heartily when another hard shove sent me flying to the ground. 

I don’t know how long we kept at it, but it was a while that we spent rolling around carelessly, Kyuhyun trying to prove to me he would win our little game, and me just going along with it, trying to prolong our playing. 

But all the endless tumbling quickly tired out Kyuhyun. He was on his back again, but as he tried pushing at my chest this time, he muscles lost their energy and he gave up, flopping his arms beside his head, staring up at me with a tired look. 

I was waiting for him to get angry at me and tell me to cut it out already, or try to shove me off again, but he just laid there, staring up at me with sleepy eyes that tried to blink away the rain that continued to pour around us. 

I don’t know why, but I liked it. There was a fluttering sensation inside me that appreciated the way he was tolerating me for once. 

I wasn't tired, but I used it as an excuse to slump forward, and before anything could make sense, I dived down and captured his lips. 

They tasted like rain and were soft to the touch. The rain helped me move my mouth easily over his, and it didn't take long for me to realize he wasn't kissing me back. At least he wasn't pushing me away. So I kept going. I parted my mouth and slid my tongue over his lips, but at that moment, he seemed to snap out of his daze and I felt shaky hands pushing at my chest.

I pulled away instantly. Beneath me, Kyuhyun had turned his head to the side so that his cheek laid on the grass. His breath was coming in little pants and he refused to look me in the eye even after I called out to him. 

“Get off,” he mumbled quietly and I hesitantly lifted myself off him. Was he mad? Oh god, I’d just ruined everything, hadn't I?

I reached out a hand to help him up, but he didn't even look at it and heaved himself up carefully, keeping his eyes trained off to the side. He didn't say anything and began heading back slowly to the truck. I watched him with worried eyes for a bit before following after him, keeping my distance. 

He hates me. Great. 

I had left the truck open so Kyuhyun was already sitting inside when I got there. 

I pulled myself in quickly and then it was quiet. The silence was awkward and made me just want to run back outside in the rain to avoid it. 

I so desperately wanted to peel my shirt off and get rid of the unbearable feel of it rubbing against my skin, but I knew that would make things awkward and uncomfortable for Kyuhyun so I bared with it and tried not to think about it. 

“Sorry I got your seat wet,” he mumbled quietly after a while and I glanced over to see him dripping water all over. It was soaked through his hair and his clothes, still running down his face. I noticed a slight tremble racking up his body and I instantly felt bad. 

Even worse was that I couldn't turn on the heat to warm him up since the heater in my truck didn't work. I felt a shiver coarse through my own body and I pinched the bridge of my nose, silently scolding myself for all the horrible choices I’d made today. 

But then I remembered that I kept a blanket in the back of my truck. I kept it in here for when my sister visited with my niece. I’d learned that babies are always in need of a blanket and I’ve had one in here since. 

I hauled myself onto my knees to search the back seat for it and smiled when I felt the wooly material resting in a duffle bag. 

As I pulled myself back down to sit properly, I saw Kyuhyun watching me with curious eyes. 

“Here,” I said, bundling up the blanket and giving it to him. He stared at it and then looked back at me with a scowl on his face. 

“Aren’t you cold, too?” He asked, still not taking the blanket and I just smiled at his concern. 

“Nothing I can’t handle,” I said, but he wasn't buying it. He glared at me and shoved my hand down so that the blanket was now resting between us. I furrowed my eyebrows at him, but he shifted his eyes ahead of us and to my surprise, began taking off his wet shirt. A blush had now darkened his face as he struggled out of his pants and when he was done, he crumpled his clothes into a ball and rested it on the floor by his feet.

When he noticed me staring bluntly, looking quite surprised, he glared at my chest, refusing to meet my eyes. 

“Hurry up. I’m getting cold,” he snapped and I then realized he was waiting for me to remove my clothes as well. I cautiously pulled my shirt off, and all the while, Kyuhyun kept a permanent scowl out the windshield and a blush ever present on his cheeks. 

I lifted my off the seat and shimmied out of my pants so that the only thing left were my boxers. I rolled my soggy clothes into a ball and dumped them carelessly into the back seat. Kyuhyun took notice of my finished state and grabbed the blanket in his hands, blushing and glaring everywhere but me, trying to appear nonchalant.

I sat stiffly as he scooted over so that he was sitting extremely close to me and proceeded to lay the blanket over us. I savored the warmth and smiled fondly at the way Kyuhyun brought his legs up under the blanket to hug his knees to his chest. 

Everything felt so warm and cozy despite the rain pelting down on the truck and the rumble of thunder nearby along with the occasional flash of lightning in the distance. 

Our hair was still wet, though, and I noticed Kyuhyun frantically trying to squeeze what little water he could get out as he leaned forward to not get the blanket wet. I did the same, and we then settled back into a comforting silence. 

I was still sitting stiffly because I didn't want to do anything that might make Kyuhyun uncomfortable, but after five minutes of sitting in complete silence, he shifted closer, pulling the blanket more securely around him to tuck under his chin. I didn't dare move as I felt his head fall softly against my shoulder. 

“K-Kyuhyun?” 

“Tired,” he muttered out softly, his voice muffled by the blanket that had made it all the way up to his nose now. 

He snuggled up closer and a smile began breaking across my face. I decided that it was ok to make myself comfortable so that’s what I did. I slumped down in the seat so that my head could rest against the back and I carefully shifted my arm from between the two of us to drape around Kyuhyun’s shoulders over the blanket. I pulled him closer and felt like I was on cloud nine when he nuzzled his head against me before falling back into a peaceful rest. 

Would you look at that. This didn't turn out so bad after all. 

Just then a sneeze caught me by surprise and I sniffled.  

We're so getting sick after this.