Donghae woke up with a smile on his face, he felt it there. Stretching out and groaning in a content manner he placed his chin on his stretched arm, smiling up at how the otherwise dim room was streaked with gold rays that filtered through the gaps in the between the curtains.

He felt incredibly good this morning, he was a man with a positive attitude, always b with and spreading positive energy, probably the reason why whatever task he set his mind to would manage to get completed in an almost perfect manner.

His thoughts travelled back to a certain pair of mysterious eyes and a sharp jawline, his smile only grew. He had hoped Hyukjae was smitten by him, at least it seemed so when Donghae handed over his ‘business card’. A light snort sounded as he thought oh how that ‘business card’ was almost entirely blank aside from his name, his email and his number. It felt good to have made this move, he had felt Hyukjae trying to dominate the dance, but of course Donghae was not letting that happen, so it felt similar to getting the last word in.

Donghae knew exactly what effect he left on people. He knew he had the mixture of being absolutely adorable and wickedly y-that’s just how he was made and he made sure he put that to good use.

He felt like a winner already.

--

Hyukjae had scoffed once he managed to get a good look at the card in the morning, lazing around in bed since he had the day off he languidly smirked at the card he held up to his face

“Business card my , it’s more like a pick-up card.” He muttered to himself, amused.

Before dragging himself out of bed he slowly typed in a message for Donghae and saved the number

Interesting business card you got here, I guess you have about a dozen more printed and stacked at your home, do you dish them out just like that to everyone you meet? :p

He didn’t have to wait long for a reply, as he stepped out the bathroom he heard his phone buzz and vibrate, scooping it up he made his way to the kitchen, snorting as he read

Hyukjae? I bet it is! Not everyone, actually it’s very rare of me to do so, feel special ;) but yeah you are special really… btw good morning to you!! ^^

Hyukjae cocked a brow at the ‘yeah you are special’. Placing down the carton of milk he had taken out he quickly responded, feeling intrigued to a great extent, his lips silently mouthing along as he typed

Yes it’s him~ Oh my, how absolutely flattering! Please do enlighten me on how am I ‘special really’? Good morning to you too.

Hyukjae was about to pour the milk in a bowl, his hand paused the instant he read the reply once it flashed on the screen and instantly smiled.

^^ Join me for breakfast and I’ll enlighten you~

“Sly bastard” Hyukjae mumbled under his breathe, smile sketched on his face as he replied, returned the milk to the fridge and went back to his room to change into something better than the pajamas he wore.

---

“Donghae, you gotta reel him in fast.”

Donghae snorted, picking at a donut only to get his hand swatted away, he pouted “Hyung, if I reel him in too fast he might catch on or slip out of my hand, or something.”

Sungmin sighed as he ignored clearing away the mess Donghae had created on his table with the icing powder “You’ll understand when you see him hyung” Donghae took a large bite, munching on the double-chocolate doughnut and continued talking, ignoring the disgusted grimace and “don’t talk with your mouth full” that he got from Sungmin “that man’s a clever one, he picks on things real fast, I mean hey he sensed me way before I realized he was there.”

“But you did know he was a shifter” Sungmin reasoned, sprinkling extra icing on his own plain doughnut.

“Yes because I was tol-ooh look!” Donghae’s head jerked up, eyes zeroed onto a man running a hand through his hair as if trying to fix them, the other hand holding onto a sleek helmet. Dressed light shirt topped with a dark grey hoodie and jeans. Donghae smiles appreciatively as Sungmin let out a low whistle “Wow”

“Wow indeed” Donghae mussed, snapping out of his trance once Sungmin pinched the side of his face, wiggling a finger in his face
“Remain focused Haebby”

“Always Sungminie~ now hurry up and clean this mess you made” snorting at the ‘brat’ he received in return he fixed his eyes on Hyukjae visible through the large glass panes of the café and smirked.

--

Donghae had texted him the place to go to, it was not that near to his place but he knew some good shortcuts. As he was about to open the door he saw a couple of ladies trying to get out, so he held the door open for them, nodding and smiling silent greetings in response to their giggly thank yous. As he stepped in he immediately observed how the place was filled with a certain kind of scent.

It felt as if the place was full of shifters, among which one instantly caught his ey.

Donghae stood there, by the table placed near the window, sunlight shone onto him, giving them an enchanting aura as he stood their in all white, a casual kutra with trousers, hands on his hips and a smirk on his lips

“My my are’nt you a ladies man.”

“I’m that and more”

Hyukjae grinned and spread out a hand for a handshake, Donghae took it and pulled him into a hug, once again catching Hyukjae off-guard for a couple of seconds, the hug didn’t last long enough to make it awkward and Donghae pulled back with a cute little smile “Nice to see you again.”

“Oh I was sure we would be seeing each other, didn’t know it would be this soon.” Hyukjae admitted, taking a seat across Donghae and that is when he suddenly realized how awfully date-like this whole setting suddenly felt.

Or he was just over-think as usual.

So he decided to relax and leaned all the way back in the seat, eyes following Donghae’s gaze as he signaled someone with his hand.

A foxy-eyed man appeared with a bright smile “Hello Hyukjae-ssi, my name is Sungmin, I’m Donghae’s cousin, nice to finally meet you.”

Hyukjae cocked a brow, nevertheless he shook Sungmin’s hand and furrowed his brows mischievously “Finally met me? Sounds like someone’s been talking a lot about me.” He turned to face an absolutely innocent looking Donghae “I have noooo idea what you are talking about and I only mentioned you once to hyung so don’t start getting weird ideas, I’m not in love with you or something!”

“Of course not Donghae, no need to get defensive” Hyukjae teased, eyes laughing at the guy across the table who scowled, abruptly rattling off his order to Sungmin who noted it down with a mischievous grin, it seemed as if he was enjoying their little exchange. To any third party the two might seem like age-old friends.

“I’ll just have some pancakes and coffee please, cappuccino.”

“Right! I’ll make it quick.” Sungmin grinned and then marched off, Hyukjae watched his retreating figure till he felt eyes on him and indeed Donghae was the one, as if scrutinizing him again.

“So Donghae” Hyukjae started, trying to break the silence that had set in, he preferred a talking-Donghae to a staring-as if-he-can-see-through-my-soul-Donghae “About that enlightening thing.”

Donghae smiled brightly, leaning forward and placing his-rather toned- forearms (Hyukjae’s eyes were super observant like that) on top of the table, intertwining his fingers “Yes well, firstly, I’ve heard you once had a nearly celebrity status in our society, well mainly within us Shifters and then you just drifted away…secondly you remind me a lot of my brother.” Donghae kept his gaze fixed on Hyukjae’s face, noting changes in expressions.

Hyukjae furrowed his brows, he didn’t particularly like his past beign brought up and ‘celebrity status’? how in the world was he ever one?

Donghae almost apologized but Hyukjae held ah and up, slowly breathing out “Look I don’t know who you’ve heard such things from, I was surely no celebrity and back then things were different. It’s not like now, heck we can even get jobs so we don’t need to live off of scrapes and shop-lifting anymore, life improved after this new government showed up with their shifter-friendly policy.”

Donghae nodded “Surely, that’s how we got considered anything near being a citizen, even though it’s just second-class” Donghae peeked up at him, the frown on Hyukjae’s face only became more prominent, he could tell the guy didn’t like that term.

Hyukjae shifted his hands onto the table as he leaned forward, shrugging “So yeah, back then I did what I had to do in order to survive, got real and things happened, things that I would rather not talk about since that’s just a journey down a bad memory lane for me.”

“And that’s entirely understandable” Donghae gazed at him earnestly “I’m sorry I didn’t realize it must be a sensitive topic.”

“No it’s fine, we all have had our share of troubles in life right.” Hyukjae offered a small smile that got returned by donghae who nodded.

“You said I was like your brother?” Hyukjae tilted his head, watching a nostalgic smile, fondness shown in Donghae’s eyes as he nodded “Yeah, he was not a blood-brother but the bond we had sure as hell was strong.” Hyukjae hummed n understanding as Donghae continued “ His personality and yours…even the way you laugh” Donghae passed ah and through his hair as he saw Hyukjae crack a large smile at that.

“Sure man, you’re hot, let’s be bros” Hyukjae joked, trying to get rid of the suddenly serious atmosphere, Donghae threw his head back, laughing heartily and at the same time Sungmin approached them, sighing tiredly “ Wow, the things I walk in onto”

“Feel special Sungmin” Donghae gasped in between a fit of chuckles, sighing happily as he wiped at his somewhat teary eyes, remembering how Hyukjae had asked him to laugh more and so he refrained from abruptly shutting up, secretly giddy about how Hyukjae was taking in the sight gleefully. Sungmin was shaking his head and placing their breakfast in front of them. While Donghae wondered whether Hyukjae really meant it, calling him hot, was that possibly a sign of interest?

As he looked up at a departing Sungmin, he saw his cousin hid a smirk, probably thinking the same thing.

Hyukjae snapped his fingers in Donghae’s face and Donghe jumped a little “ Oh my gosh, don’t do that”

Hyukjae snorted, pointing at Donghae plate “Eat before it gets cold, ogle your cousin’s later.”

Donghae spluttered denials and abruptly brought up the mug to hide his face, Hyukjae sniggered as he bit into his pancake.

Half-way done Hyukjae pointed out at how he knew almost nothing about Donghae. Donghae grinned and began to talk about how he worked in a Non-profit Organization, helping out Shifters and humans in need alike. Hyukjae joked about something and Donghae retorted that Hyukjae was moving too fast, their first date was not even over.

“Oh so that’s what we are calling it now.” amused, Hyukjae took out his wallet.

Not really beign able to respond to his comment  donghae frowned at his wallet “No no, no you don’t” donghae held up a hand, quickly yanking out his own wallet.

Sungmin who stood, once again, by their table sighed “ Or you two ladies could just half-half the bill.”

The two looked up at the wiser and older guy before saying “right” in synch, they shared a look across the table and snickered, taking out enough to pay the bill.

--

Thanking Sungmin the two made their way out, Hyukjae noticed how Donghae’s body language got fidgty again and he stopped near his bike- to where Donghae had walked him- and placed a hand on his shoulder “ Everything alright?”

Donghae made an attempt to smile at him, but the look on Hyukjae’s face told him the fake smile was too obvious, he sighed “Hyukjae it’s just that, inside we were sort of jokig about this whole date thing and uh..being..hot” he struggled with words and Hyukjae laughed, nodding encouragingly to go on “so well  I wanted to say that date or not, I really rally want to get to know you better.”

Hyukjae gazed at him in silence and donghae started to look nervous

“Why?” Hyukjae inquired softly, smile growing.

“I’m curious about what this man who stands before me is like” Donghae mumbled then pouted “ but if it’s not-“

“It’s fine Donghae because I would like to get to know you better as well.”

Donghae’s face lit up as a bright grin appeared on his face, the very next moment he had pressed his lips gently against Hyukjae’s right cheek, enough to feel the warmth of his skin against his lips. Pulling back he flashed a charming smile “Thank you for today.”

Moments when Hyukjae was taken off-guard were rare, this was one of those moment. Clearing his throat lightly, he pressed his lips in a little smile bidding Donghae farewell as he put on his helmet and mounted the bike, Donghae let out a low appreciative whistle at the sight and chortled as Hyukjae winked, the bike purred to life before he made his way down the road and around a bend.

Donghae’s sweet smile morphed into a wicked smirk, something Hyukjae had entirely missed, wooing Hyukjae felt easy but Donghae was not even going to dare underestimate him. Lee Hyukjae felt to be wrapped around his fingers already.

Donghae returned back into the café with absolute confidence oozing out, absolutely unaware of a pair of acid-green eyes, that had observed the two all the while.