~*~

  “Donghae, please come out so we can talk properly.” Eunhyuk pleaded as he stood over the sink, running tap water over his swollen hand. “I know you feel bad right now—”

  “Bad? I don’t just feel bad, Hyukjae, I feel horrible. Humiliated. Duped.” He said in between sobs as he sat on the toilet hugging his knees. “How could I let myself get fooled?”

  He leaned against the door of the cubicle Donghae was in, sighing, “If it’s any consolation, you’re not entirely at fault. I guess I have been a little negligent lately and I’m sorry for that—”

  “Stop, Hyukjae, just…” Donghae sounded like he was holding back tears (though Eunhyuk failed to see why, as he was pretty sure he had already used up a whole roll of toilet paper just wiping his tears five minutes ago). “I just want to be alone right now. Can we talk later?”

  “If you really believe that I’m going to leave you at a time like this, then you haven’t learned anything at all from our past two and a half months of dating.” Eunhyuk went inside the adjacent cubicle, put down the cover on the toilet (very cautiously of course, as he was more or less deadly afraid of germs, especially on toilets) and stood on it to look into the next stall, where Donghae was. “Donghae, I’m sorry that your stalker—er, secret admirer turned out to be not what you expected. For the record, Taecyeon’s a big and you wouldn’t believe how much I ing hate that guy for what he did to you. For what he did to us. But you know what? What’s done is done, and if anything, I know we can get through this together.”

  Donghae sniffed and slowly brought his head up to look at Eunhyuk leaning over his stall, “You must hate me for what I did to you. And I don’t blame you.”

  Eunhyuk scoffed, “Oh please, Hae, like I could ever hate you.”

  “So, you mean…you still love me even after what I put you through?”

  “If I didn’t, would I be standing on a toilet trying to talk to you?”

  A small smile tugged on the corner of Donghae’s lips, “Hyukkie, I’m really sorry—”

  “Did you just call me ‘Hyukkie’?” he grinned. “You haven’t called me that in a while; I’ve missed it.”

  Donghae chuckled slightly before wiping the last of his tears with the back of his hand and stepping on the toilet as well to get on Eunhyuk’s eyelevel. “Hyukkie, sitting on this toilet for the past ten minutes has sort of given me a chance to think things through, and I realized that lately I’ve been such a—a—”

  “A bastard? A ? A dickhead?”

  Donghae pursed his lips together before continuing, “I was gonna say ‘an idiot’, but your words are probably more accurate. And hurtful.”

  Eunhyuk laughed softly as he stretched his arm to touch Donghae’s cheek. “Hae, I don’t want to make up with you while we’re standing on bacteria-infested toilets. What do you say you come out so I can give you a big hug?”

  He smiled, albeit weakly, “I’d say you’re getting really good at this comforting thing.”

  Eunhyuk stepped out of his stall just in time to catch Donghae as he opened the door and threw himself right into his arms. “Oh, Hyukkie, I’m so sorry, can you ever forgive m—what happened to your hand?”

  “What? Oh,” Eunhyuk had forgotten all about his hand; he hadn’t even realized how red it had gotten. “I kind of er-punched Taecyeon after you left. I’m probably in a load of trouble for it, but what the hell, it was worth it.”

  “You…punched him?” Donghae asked, quite surprised. “Wow, Hyukkie, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “Neither did I.” Their moment of reconciliation didn’t last very long as the door burst open and Taecyeon came in, surrounded by half that football team, looking pretty pissed.

  Eunhyuk was feeling strangely confident, “Come back for more?”

  Taecyeon only clucked his tongue before throwing a punch, hitting Eunhyuk square in the jaw, causing the boy to emit a loud curse. Without even thinking, Eunhyuk had responded in the same manner, but was unfortunately easily overpowered. Even the football team’s faces had hardened when they realized that this was no ordinary, ill-tempered fight.

  Donghae gasped, “Hyukjae, no, you’re gonna get yourself killed!”

  Donghae tried to step in when Eunhyuk’s nose started to bleed, but he failed to realize how out of shape he had become as Taecyeon easily knocked him down with just one strike. As Donghae dropped to the floor, Eunhyuk immediately tended to him and to his horror, his boyfriend had been hit so hard that he was starting to lose consciousness.

  With blood dripping down Eunhyuk’s chin and Donghae becoming limp in his arms, the former had no other choice but to squeeze his eyes shut as Taecyeon raised his fist again to hit him. But he never did, much to Eunhyuk’s confusion and relief. He opened his eyes and realized his fellow football player has been subdued.

  Thank God Superman Siwon was there to save the day.

~*~

  “How’s your nose?” Heechul asked as he dabbed an alcohol-soaked ball of cotton on the large cut on Eunhyuk’s cheek. “Looks pretty bad.”

  “It stings a little, but it’s my jaw that really hurts.” Eunhyuk answered as he pressed an icepack against his black eye. “I think the bastard might have dislocated it or something.”

  “I gotta say, Hyuk,” Heechul unwrapped a band-aid and lightly put it over the wound on Eunhyuk’s face. “Of all the people that would’ve gotten into a fistfight, I never expected it to be you. I always thought you were kind of a wimp. Not to mention you were pretty girly when we first met.”

  Eunhyuk attempted to glare at the man tending to his injuries, but couldn’t do so as his left eye was still throbbing badly. “Remind me again why Nurse Ryeowook isn’t here? She does this much better than you; at least she doesn’t add insult to injury.”

  “First of all, Ryeowook’s a he, though he chooses to dress like a she,” he revealed, sounding a bit bitter as he himself was a crossdresser but couldn’t quite flaunt it as proudly as his former co-worker could. “And he resigned to elope with some wannabe rockstar, Yesung something.”

  “Why do I taste blood?” he asked, grimacing as he stuck his tongue out.

  “Because your lip won’t stop bleeding,” Heechul examined the cut closely. “It looks pretty deep. I think you might need some stitches.”

  “What? No! I hate needles!” He immediately refused. “And no way am I letting you stitch up my lip.”

  “I wasn’t going to. I was gonna say you need to go to a hospital.” Heechul rolled his eyes as he took off his rubber glove and smacked Eunhyuk in the face with it for being so whiny. “Anyway, I’ve done what I can, and let’s just hope you don’t die from your injuries. If the scars don’t heal, I can recommend a pretty good plastic surgeon if you’d like.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Eunhyuk said drolly before moving to sit on the mattress, where Donghae was laying. “What about Hae?”

  “He doesn’t have any serious cuts or bruises, but I’d keep an eye on him.” Heechul advised. “He’ll come to in a minute or so.”

  Suddenly, a loud shriek filled the room and Sungmin came in running to cradle the bedridden boy. “Oh, my poor Hae baby, come to mama!”

  Eunhyuk tapped him on the shoulder, putting on the best dirty look he could conjure with one good eye. “I was hurt too, you know.”

  “Yeah, you look awful,” was the only thing Sungmin told him before pressing worried kisses on Donghae’s face.

  “Well, Hyuk, both you and Taecyeon are in talks of getting suspended.” Kyuhyun came in right after Sungmin and pulled up a chair. “But by the looks of how badly Taecyeon messed you two up, I say he deserves expulsion. He could have caused real brain damage to Donghae, seeing as he’s still unconscious.”

  “You mean his brain wasn’t already damaged before?” Heechul laughed at his own (somewhat cruel) joke, earning scornful looks from everyone else. “Geez, tough crowd.”

  “Hyukkie,  do you know what you should do?” Sungmin’s face suddenly brightened up. “You should wake Donghae up with a kiss—true love’s kiss!”

  Eunhyuk looked at him strangely, “Sungmin, are you high again?”

  “I’m serious,” he insisted. “Come on, just try it. It could work, for all you know.”

  Despite the incredulous look on his face, Eunhyuk shrugged and obliged anyway. He leaned over Donghae’s face, put his lips against his and waited for a response. But he received none.

  “Well, that was useless.” Kyuhyun remarked blankly. “Guess fairytales aren’t true after all.”

  “Hold on a minute. I have an idea.” Eunhyuk then s his hand under Donghae’s uniform and twisted his , which was something Eunhyuk was very fond of doing because his boyfriend hated it so much and his reactions never failed to amuse him. Sure enough, Donghae bolted awake with a scream.

  “Wow, how romantic,” Sungmin said tonelessly, “true love’s twist.”

  “Hyukjae! You know I hate it when you do that!” Donghae’s eyes suddenly widened as he saw Eunhyuk’s black and blue face. “Oh my God, what happened to you? Oh my God, we were in the bathroom, weren’t we…oh my God, you and Taecyeon! Are you okay, Hyukkie?”

  “I'm fine. If you think I look bad, you should see him.” Eunhyuk boasted as Donghae nearly suffocated him with a protective embrace.

  “Eunhyuk, Donghae?” Siwon knocked on the door before interjecting. “Your guys’ parents are waiting for you in the principal’s office.”

  “Well then,” Eunhyuk sighed and took Donghae’s hand. “I guess it’s time to face the music.”

~*~

  “I did all that I could, Hyuk,” Heechul went on as he perused Donghae’s fridge for something to drink with the sandwiches Eunhyuk were making. “But they’re firm on your week-long suspension from school. You got off lucky; there’s no telling for sure exactly what’s gonna happen to Taecyeon and the football team, but that little prank they pulled on Donghae certainly landed them in some deep .”

  Eunhyuk huffed as he cut a sandwich into two triangles. “Serves them right.”

  “Boy, you are really something, Eunhyuk,” Heechul snorted. “Here you are, all black and blue for defending your boyfriend, who has treated you like a measly crumb this whole week, and yet you’re willing to forgive and forget and welcome him back with open arms. You’re basically a living doormat.”

  “That’s a clever observation, sweetie,” Siwon appeared behind the older man and kissed the top of his head. “You’re so smart. Isn’t he so smart, Hyuk?”

  Eunhyuk deadpanned, “You two make me want to pull my brains out from my ears, drop it into a jar of acid and then hurl it at your faces.”

  Unsure how to react, Siwon blinked and turned to Heechul, “That escalated rather quickly.”

  “Oh, I think someone’s just a little jealous of us, Wonnie.” Heechul took Siwon’s arms and wrapped it around his waist. “After all, we can’t all be in happy, fulfilling relationships.”

  “One more stingy comment and I swear I’m going to report you both to the school board.” Eunhyuk warned, though neither took him seriously as they only laughed in response. “I’m glad you two are having so much fun at my expense. Now excuse me while I go jump in front of a moving train.”

  “Alright, be grouchy,” Siwon grabbed a plate of sandwiches to bring to the living room. Before leaving the room, he kissed Heechul on the cheek and said, “If he attempts to kill you with that knife in his hand, just call for me, okay?”

  “Will do,” he crooned, playfully waving goodbye as his boyfriend joined the others in the next room. “Isn’t he just the sweetest? I could just eat him right up.”

  “You realize this is just a phase, right? It’s called the honeymoon stage.” Eunhyuk stated as a matter-of-factly as he put the dirty dishes in the sink. “Enjoy it while you can, because let me tell you, it ends as quickly as it starts.”

  Heechul shook his head, smirking, “I don’t get what you’re so upset about. You and Donghae have finally made up—I would’ve thought you’d be jumping for joy right now.”

  Eunhyuk, frustrated, ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “What you just said a minute ago, it’s all too true. I am a doormat. And I hate it. But I can’t help it. I can never stay mad at Donghae for too long; I can’t even yell at him. Every time I’m angry at him, I look into his puppy-dog eyes and I become putty. I’m pathetic, I know.”

  “Hey, back then, you wouldn’t have gotten suspended for fighting, but look at yourself now. You’ve changed, Eunhyuk.” He pointed out. “And maybe that’s not the only thing that’s changed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Confront your boyfriend, you .” He said, making it sound like an order rather than a piece of advice. “You have lots of anger right now, and you should let it out. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

  “That actually sounds pretty tempting.” Eunhyuk admitted, rubbing his chin in thought.

  “Heechul? My father just called and I’m afraid to go now.” Siwon appeared again. “Do you want me to give you a ride home?”

  “I think I’ll stay here for a little while.” Heechul smiled and gave him a kiss goodbye. “I’ll be fine by myself, don’t worry.”

  “Alright,” Siwon didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave though, as his lips had made it all the way to Heechul’s collarbone. “I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay~” Heechul purred as Siwon hit a sweet spot.

  “If you two start humping in front of me, I am so going to castrate you both.” Eunhyuk threatened, making Siwon unconsciously cover his private parts.

  “Don’t mind him,” Heechul waved him off. “Come on, Wonnie, I’ll walk you out. And Eunhyuk, think about what I said, okay?”

  Eunhyuk rubbed the back of his neck, “I’m way ahead of you.”

~*~

  “So, Ming, how was your therapy session with Heechul today?” Kyuhyun said as he let Sungmin take a bite of his ham and tuna sandwich. “Was he any helpful?”

  “Surprisingly, yes,” Sungmin admitted, already dreading the fact that he has some unfinished business to discuss with Kyuhyun. “Plenty helpful, actually.”

  “Oh, good,” he smiled brightly. “What did you two talk about?”

  “Me, mostly.” He answered. “It wasn’t easy either. Believe it or not, Heechul actually helped me get to the root of my problem.”

  “Which is what exactly?” he inquired.

  “Well, okay, here goes,” Sungmin cleared his throat before continuing. “Um, apparently, I felt so bad about putting you in a difficult situation with your parents that I tried to make up for it.”

  “And you achieved that by…developing an eating disorder?” he asked warily.

  “Well, no, but…as Heechul made me realize, I have been trying to be perfect for you this whole time.” He revealed. “I convinced myself that that was the problem instead of dealing with the actual problem, which is that your parents are practically ashamed of you because we’re dating. And that’s my fault, because let’s face it, I’m the one who pulled you out of that transparent closet you were hiding in.”

  “Are you serious?” Kyuhyun asked, squeezing Sungmin’s thigh in comfort. “Sungmin, that’s ridiculous. I’ve always thought of you as perfect. And even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t care, because I’m nowhere near perfect either. And do you actually think that I care about what our parents think of us being together? I don’t. Because I love you and that’s all I ever care about anymore.”

  “Aww, Kyuhyun, you mushy bastard. I love you too.” Sungmin cooed as he threw his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and hugged him tight. “You know, I was actually nervous about having this talk with you, but now I’m really glad we did this.”

  “Well, as long as we’re being honest here,” Kyuhyun in a deep breath. “A few days ago, my parents called and said that I can come back home. No conditions whatsoever. It was like a dream; but I didn’t want to leave you alone considering your condition, so I told them I was staying put. And I’m glad I did.”

  “What? Kyuhyun, you idiot!” Sungmin’s demeanor quickly changed as he slapped Kyuhyun’s forehead. “You should have come back! I wouldn’t have minded, I just want you to be happy.”

  “I’m happy living with you.” He said, wincing as he rubbed his forehead. “But I do hate being a burden to your family, and the offer’s still open, so if you really don’t mind—”

  Sungmin didn’t let him finish and instead captured his lips with his, “I’ll help you pack when we get home tonight. I’m sure you’ve missed being home. Your real home.”

  “Sungmin, someday we’ll have our own real home,” Kyuhyun put his hand on top of Sungmin’s, which was resting on his knee. “A place all to ourselves.”

  Sungmin rested his cheek on Kyuhyun’s shoulder, “I can’t wait.”

  It didn’t take long before their moment ended, as Donghae soon descended the staircase in his fish pajamas, stretching his arms and yawning. “Oh, hey guys. I didn’t realize you guys were still here.”

  “We were waiting for you to wake up from your nap.” Sungmin said as he took a sip from his orange juice. “You feeling better?”

  “Yeah, kinda,” Donghae’s face suddenly lit up as he watched Sungmin finish a sandwich. “Sungmin, you’re eating again. I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks,” he waved him over, patting the empty space beside him on the sofa. “Listen, we wanted to talk to you about Eunhyuk.”

  “What about him?” he asked. “He’s still here, isn’t he? I mean, he didn’t leave…did he?”

  “No, he’s in the kitchen,” Sungmin answered. “I know he’s putting up a brave front for you, but Eunhyuk’s in a really bad place right now. This whole fiasco with your so-called ‘secret admirer’ really hit him hard and you two really need to sort your out.”

  “He’s right,” Kyuhyun agreed. “Seeing you guys all over each other was annoying, but seeing you guys being all awkward with each other is even more frustrating.”

  “Exactly,” Sungmin nodded. “So get in there and beg for his forgiveness. And by beg, I mean I want you to put your hands together and get those knees dirty.”

  “Oh, good, Hae, you’re awake,” at just the right time, Eunhyuk came out of the kitchen with a determined look in his eyes. “I want to talk to you.”

  “Me too, Hyukkie—”

  “No, let me go first.” He said, almost scaring Donghae with the serious tone he was using. “This past week, I have done nothing but watch and suffer as you shamelessly flirted with a guy who as it turns out, I told you so by the way, was just playing a practical joke on you. I feel that I have been a pushover for too long so I’m putting my foot down. I’m angry at you, Hae—”

  “I know, Hyukjae, and you deserve to be angry at me.” Donghae took him by surprise when he draped his arms around his slim torso. “What can I do to make it up to you? I’ll do anything, I promise!”

  A sly smirk crept across his face, “…Anything?”

  As Eunhyuk pulled Donghae into the kitchen with an excited grin, Sungmin shook his head and sighed. “They’re going to have in the kitchen all night long, aren’t they?”

  “We really should remember to bring earplugs next time.” Kyuhyun quipped. “Well, at least things are back to normal.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say everything is back to normal…” Sungmin hinted, suggestively batting his eyelashes.

  Kyuhyun tilted his head, “What?”

  “Kyuhyun, have you realized that we haven’t had in almost a month?” Sungmin’s remark made Kyuhyun’s cheeks turn red as his mind filled with delightful possibilities. “And since Eunhyuk and Donghae are using the kitchen, Donghae’s bedroom is empty, so—”

  “I’ll race you there.” Kyuhyun nearly tripped over his own feet as he sprinted upstairs, with a giddy and giggling Sungmin following close behind.

~*~