~*~

  Eunhyuk decided that it’s been too long since Donghae had moved in his position by the shore, and that it was time to check if he still had a pulse. Once he was close enough that his feet were by his head, the slightly older boy was amused to see Donghae staring intently at the starfish on his stomach, his breathing slow as if he were afraid to scare it off.

  “Donghae, you’re getting sand all over your dress.” He said, laying a blanket down beside his figure so he can sit beside him. “Come and join us inside. Sungmin’s been experimenting with the drinks and he ended up with something dark and musky that smells like a decaying corpse. But it’s actually really delicious.”

  “How do you even know what a decaying corpse smells like?” he asked, still staying still. “And I can’t move because I don’t want to wake this starfish on my tummy. Wait, do starfish even sleep?”

  “I don’t know.” Eunhyuk sounded genuinely stumped. “For God’s sake, just throw it back into the water and come inside before you catch pneumonia.”

  “I think I’m going to stay here for a little while longer.” Donghae said. “It’s kind of depressing in there.”

  “Tell me about it,” he agreed. “I haven’t been to a gathering this depressing since my goldfish’s funeral.”

  Donghae gasped as he shot up, inadvertently throwing the starfish off his stomach. Donghae wistfully stared at the tiny creature being flung back into the water for a quick minute before turning back to Eunhyuk. “You had a goldfish? What was his name?”

  “Oh, you don’t wanna know…”

  “Sure, I do. Come on, tell me.”

  “If you must know…it was Donghae, okay? His name was Donghae.” He revealed while blushing, making Donghae squeal with delight. “I’m only realizing now how accurate that was, naming a fish after a fishy.”

  “That is so adorable, Hyukkie.” Donghae cooed, clapping excitedly.

  “Well, I got him after that day we crossed paths in the cafeteria, in other words when I first started liking you.” He admitted, his cheeks turning even redder. “Every day, I would come home to Donghae waiting for me in his little fishbowl and I’d tell him all about my day, and how we sometimes made eye contact when you caught me staring at you, or how you accidentally bumped into me a couple of times…you know, girly stuff.”

  Donghae had a confession of his own, “You know, I actually bumped into you on purpose all the time. I thought it’d be a good conversation-starter…but you just always apologized and ran off, and Jessica wouldn’t let me run after you. I think she kinda knew that I had a thing for you; one time when she and I were making out, I accidentally blurted out your name and she did not take it well.”

  Eunhyuk wasn’t even listening, as he was too busy freaking out about the realization he had just formed inside his head. “Oh my God…oh my God, I used to talk to a goldfish, and you talk to Nemo…oh my God, I’m you.”

  Donghae chuckled at the panicked look on his boyfriend’s face, but his own expression soon turned solemn when he asked, “Hyukkie, why can’t we be normal?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know,” Eunhyuk was still disturbed by the revelation. “Why do we talk to fish?”

  “No, not that.” Donghae rolled his eyes. “I mean, why can’t we be normal? Why can’t we go to prom? To real prom?”

  “Oh,” Eunhyuk’s eyes widened at the question. “Oh, Donghae, honey, of course we’re normal. If anything, the people who don’t want us at their stupid prom are the ones who aren’t normal. They think we’re the ones who should be shut out because we’re ‘weird’, when they’re the ones who think being gay is bad or else a disease.”

  Donghae still didn’t look very convinced. Eunhyuk tilted the other’s chin up. “Cheer up, Hae. We may not be allowed to go to the school’s prom, but Sungmin worked really hard to put this all together for us. Just so we can have our own prom.”

  “But he didn’t work. He made you and Kyuhyun do all the work while we went to the spa.” He pointed out.

  “That is beside the point. What I’m trying to say is, we’re here now, and we should make the best of it. This is the only prom we’ll ever have.” He stated, Donghae’s cheek reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Hae, we are normal. Well…we’re normal, I don’t know what the heck you are.”

  “Hey!” he protested, offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, for starters, you won’t have with me. That right there just screams abnormal.” He said, receiving a glare from the other.

  “You’re the one who talks to trees.” Donghae counter-attacked.

  Eunhyuk stood up, gasping. “I did that one time, one time in camp! And I cannot believe you still remember that!”

  Donghae gloated, “Yes, and I also remember you fainting that one night during camp when I kissed you.”

  Eunhyuk emitted a louder gasp, “That’s it, I’m leaving you out here to be snatched by octopuses and sharks.”

  As Eunhyuk started to walk away, Donghae called out, “FYI, it’s octopi!”

  Eunhyuk paused and turned around with the darndest look on his face. “Okay, how can you know that and not know how to divide 100 by 2?”

  “Because I only remember things that are actually relevant,” he started to explain, but suddenly paused as what Eunhyuk had said just sunk into him. “Wait, there are sharks and octopi here? Hyukkie, wait for me!”

  Donghae didn’t know he could run so fast on sand in heels as Eunhyuk nearly closed the door with him still outside.

~*~

  “Heechul just texted me; he says he won’t be coming until later since he’s been assigned to make sure the prom doesn’t get too out of hand.” Sungmin said, handing Kyuhyun a glass of the foul concoction he had created in the mini-bar (it’s strangely very delicious though) as they snuggled under a blanket by the fire. “Ah, I should’ve told him to pick up more liquor on his way here.”

  Kyuhyun grunted in response, “We’re gonna need it to survive this crazy night.”

  Sungmin slapped his thigh for teasing him, “I know this isn’t the most exciting of parties, but it’s still our prom and at least our outfits aren’t going to waste. Oh, and by the way, you still haven’t complimented me and the way I look in my new dress.”

  “Yes I did.” He said.

  “No, you didn’t. You said my new push-up bra really did wonders for my s; that’s different.” He pointed out. “Come on, just say something nice about the dress. I ask so little from you.”

  “Actually, you ask a lot of things from me.” Kyuhyun countered.

  “You asked me to let you leave the country for seven years; what I ask from you is nothing compared to what you’re asking for.” Sungmin said, smiling smugly at having won the argument once again.

  “Wow, you’re seriously getting really comfortable playing that card.” Kyuhyun remarked.

  “Come on, Kyu, doesn’t this dress compliment my figure so well?”

  “Um, yes, yes it does.”

  “And doesn’t it make my legs look so much skinnier?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “And isn’t this color just perfect for my skin tone?”

  “Oh, yeah, definitely.”

  Sungmin groaned, “Kyuhyun, you’re hopeless.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, Sungmin, the dress is pretty, but I’d much rather see you without it.” Kyuhyun said, wriggling his eyebrows as he took a sip from whatever it was in his glass.

  “Oh, don’t you start,” he warned. “This dress is already really tight and I don’t think it can get any tighter in the crotch area.”

  “I should just rip it off you then.” He smirked.

  “No, no, no, no ripping! This dress is expensive!” He wagged his finger at Kyuhyun’s face, adamant about keeping his new dress intact. “Can’t you wait until the end of the night?”

  He shrugged, “Meh, I’m still gonna rip that thing off you anyhow.”

  “Sungmin,” they heard the door close and the sound of the two pairs of feet shuffling towards them. They looked up and saw Eunhyuk and Donghae staring at them with matching poses. “We’re bored, and this ‘prom’ is depressing. Can we please go?”

  “What? No, you cannot.” Sungmin stood up, hands on his hips. “If we’re going to be miserable, then we should at least be miserable together.”

  “We love you, Sungmin, but honestly, right now we’d much rather be at real prom at this point.” Donghae revealed, to which Eunhyuk nodded in agreement.

  “Hey,” there was a mischievous glint in Sungmin’s eyes. “Now there’s an idea…”

~*~

  “Heechul? What are you doing out here?” Eunhyuk asked, approaching the teacher in the tux (which he hated wearing even though he looked rather sharp and handsome in it) who was sulking right in front of the gym’s entrance. “Shouldn’t you be chaperoning?”

  “I am,” he frowned. “But Siwon and his girlfriend just got crowned prom king and queen and I can’t bear to watch. What are you people doing here? And why do you and Kyuhyun look so dirty and scuffed up?”

  Eunhyuk muttered a curse under his breath as he tried to find a way to hide the rips in his pants and the tears in his sleeves, letting Kyuhyun answer for him. “Because our girlfriends made us climb into the air vents to sneak into the gym and crash the prom. God, they’re just as bad as Suzy.”

  Heechul shook his head just from hearing the anecdote, “Do I even wanna know?”

  “Well, our prom didn’t quite turn out the way we expected, and everyone was getting bored, so we decided to crash this crummy school’s prom instead.” Sungmin shrugged, casually recounting the events of their night. “But unfortunately my and Donghae’s boyfriends are a couple of wusses who suddenly and conveniently developed claustrophobia after fifty seconds of being inside the air vents.”

  “Hey!” Eunhyuk protested. “In my defense, the vents were just too darn small for my broad shoulders.”

  Donghae blinked at him, “What broad shoulders? You’re as skinny as .”

  “Hey, you won’t have with me, so you don’t get to talk.” Eunhyuk pointed a warning finger at Donghae’s face, but immediately retracted it when Donghae tried to bite it.

  “Ah, so same old, same old, I see?” Heechul merely rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but even standing here talking to a bunch of idiots like you is better than watching Siwon give his winning speech in there.”

  “Oh, it can’t be that bad,” Donghae opened the door just enough for them to get a glimpse and an earshot of what was inside. “Wait a minute…I think he’s talking about…he’s talking about us!”

  “What?!” Heechul immediately threw Donghae aside to make his way back inside, causing Donghae to conveniently land into Kyuhyun’s arms, who in turn pushed him into Eunhyuk’s arms. “Why, I can’t believe it,” Heechul gaped. “He’s actually defending us—well, not us per se, but gays in general.”

  “What’s he saying?” Sungmin asked.

  “Well, I can’t really hear very well. If only they’d turn that damn celebratory music down.” Heechul cupped his ear, as if that would make Siwon’s speech any more audible over the noisy room of teenagers. “I think he’s saying something about how it’s wrong to judge people…that people should be more open-minded…and something about how gays are people too. What the hell’s gotten into him?”

  “Don’t question it; just enjoy it.” Kyuhyun said. “It’s the first time anyone’s defended us.”

  “People are actually applauding him.” Heechul observed.

  “Is it enthusiastic, supportive applause, or just tedious, dreary applause?” Eunhyuk asked.

  “I think it’s the latter,” Heechul closed the door, seemingly unaware of the grin across his face. “Well…that was certainly unexpected. The star quarterback just stood up for us—who would’ve thought?”

  “Heechul, you look weird.” Donghae remarked. “You’re smiling.”

  “No, I’m not,” he felt his mouth with his hands, only to realize that he was indeed smiling. “Oh hell, I am smiling. Huh. I forgot what this feels like. Feels…weird.”

  “You know what? My feet are tired, my lips are drying, my is nearly bursting out of this dress—can we just go inside now please?” Sungmin groaned, whining like a little girl.

  “Good luck. I hope your pretty faces won’t get scratched up.” Heechul said, still smiling, though this time cheekily. “I’m gonna stay out here and have a cigarette.”

~*~

  “I don’t want to jinx things, but I think this night is turning out to be pretty damn good.” Sungmin said as he returned to their table with another cup of punch. “We’ve been here for almost an hour and no one’s sent us dirty looks or cussed us out—do you think Siwon’s speech really got through to them?”

  “Actually, that’s not the case.” Eunhyuk answered. “Apparently nobody else recognized you and Donghae so everyone thinks you’re just some random girls Kyuhyun and I brought. One of the football players even asked me for Donghae’s number.”

  “After what they did to me?” Donghae scoffed. “Like hell am I going out with them. You didn’t give them my number, did you?”

  “Of course not,” Eunhyuk said, rubbing noses with his boyfriend. “But they did say I’m a lucky bastard for landing a hot chick like you. One of them even said that they’re glad I dropped ‘Donghae’ and I didn’t know whether to laugh or punch him in the face.”

  Kyuhyun stared at him blankly, “What is with you and punching people in the face?”

  “Hey guys,” Siwon approached the group with baby steps, bringing about an awkward air with him since it’s the first time he’s talked to any of them since he and Heechul broke up. “You look great.”

  “Thank you,” Sungmin smiled smugly, fluffing his hair extensions and batting his eyelashes at the compliment. “You don’t look too shabby either, Mr. Prom King. So have you talked to our chaperone yet?”

  “Actually, I’ve been meaning to do that all night,” he admitted. “Do any of you know where he is?”

  “He’s probably went outside for another cigarette.” Eunhyuk revealed with an absent-minded shrug.

  Siwon looked dumbfounded, “Heechul…smokes?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Sungmin scratched at his head awkwardly. “It’s kind of his way of…coping.”

  “Oh.” Siwon dropped his gaze to the floor as he excused himself to go find the art teacher in the midst of all the people on the dance floor. But before he can even get close to the exit, he was pulled aside by his girlfriend who insisted on yet another dance with him.

  “But Fany, we already danced—”

  “Oppa, we’re king and queen tonight.” Tiffany insisted, flashing her eyesmile that Siwon couldn’t resist. “Let’s make this a night to remember.”

  “Alright…” Siwon agreed, albeit while still looking around for any sign of Heechul anywhere.

  Meanwhile, Kyuhyun was nuzzling Sungmin’s perfume-covered neck, assuring him, “Sungmin, as far as I’m concerned, you’re the queen tonight.”

  Sungmin pressed his palm against Kyuhyun’s jaw, pulling him closer, “And you’ll always be my king.”

  As they shared a tender kiss, Donghae shot Eunhyuk a look and complained, “How come you never say romantic stuff like that to me anymore?”

  “Because you won’t have with me.” He answered simply.

  “Keep this up and I never will.” Donghae patted his thigh. “Hyukkie, I’d love to call you my king, but this whole , needy guy thing doesn’t really make you much of one. You’re more like…a pri—no, not even a prince. A slave, maybe.”

  “Okay then,” a smirk grew on his lips. “That makes you my master.”

  “How can you make everything dirty?” Donghae’s tone was disapproving, though he couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “It’s easy when you haven’t had in almost a month.” He said, leaning on Donghae’s shoulder. “Hae, is this how you imagined our prom night would be?”

  “Well, I always thought it’d be a little more glamorous,” he admitted as he kissed the top of his head. “But this is pretty fantastic is in its own way.”

  “Yeah,” Eunhyuk nodded. “I guess it is.”

~*~

  “Heechul, what are you still doing here?” Sungmin asked as Heechul picked up the confetti from the floor and put them inside a garbage bag. “Aren’t you coming back with us to the beach house? We’re gonna have a few more drinks and put on some chick flicks.”

  “Can’t,” he sighed. “I have to stay and clean the place up. This is the last time I’m letting those idiots convince me into being in charge of prom.”

  “Oh. Well, drop by if you can.” Eunhyuk offered.

  “Yeah, thanks—why are you wearing that crown?” Heechul asked, referring to the shiny crown (which was already starting to rust) on Eunhyuk’s head.

  “Oh, this? Siwon gave it to me before he left; he said he didn’t feel right wearing it and that it’d probably be better off on me.” He shrugged, to which Kyuhyun gasped (he was really starting to get Sungmin’s flair for over-dramatic reactions).

  “Wait, he gave it to you and not to me?” he griped. “That bastard! I’ve been friends with him way longer than you have!”

  “Kyu, honey, let it go. It’s just a stupid crown that isn’t even real.” Sungmin persuaded.

  “Siwon’s girlfriend gave me her crown too,” Donghae beamed as he touched the crown on his own head. Hearing this, Sungmin completely forgot what he was saying just a second ago in favor of attempting to rip said crown off Donghae’s head. “She seemed really nice; maybe we should hang out with her sometime—”

  “I am most definitely not hanging out with my ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend.” Heechul refuted bitterly. “Can you all just leave now so I can finish tidying up?”

  “Alright, Mr. Grumpy.” Sungmin said, pulling Kyuhyun’s arm around his own shoulders. “We’ll see you later.”

  Heechul felt relieved to finally have peace and quiet after they left, but his solitude faded as soon as it came, as the door opened and in came the king of the night.

  “Hey,” Siwon put on his best smile as he approached the wide-eyed man. “Need any help?”

  “Um, no thanks,” Heechul immediately put his head, making sure not to make eye contact. “It’s fine; you don’t have to.”

  Heechul didn’t even know why he was surprised that Siwon didn’t listen and instead started clearing the tables. Obviously Siwon wanted something from him; otherwise he wouldn’t have come back inside when everybody else has left.

  “So, uh,” Heechul cleared his throat. “Is there any particular reason why you’re here?”

  “Well, the whole night, I couldn’t stop thinking about how we used to talk about prom and how we planned to sneak a dance after everyone has left, so…”

  “So…?”

  “So…you wanna dance?”

  Heechul shiftily looked around, “There’s no music.”

  “That’s never stopped us before.” Siwon somehow coaxed him into coming closer, and soon the two were basically hugging and swaying around in the midst of silence.

  “I’m still mad at you, you know.” Heechul’s muffled voice spoke against Siwon’s shoulder.

  He nodded, “I know.”

  “You hurt me pretty bad.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “This doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I know.”

  “Good.”

  Siwon pursed his lips together before asking, “So are we gonna talk about—?”

  “No,” he answered simply. “I’m not in the mood for awkward discussions or screaming matches, so don’t kill the moment.”

  “Okay then.” Siwon pulled him closer, being more or less content with how they were handling the situation right now—through denial. “I missed you.”

  Heechul sighed, “I missed you too.”

~*~

  Eunhyuk woke up in the middle of the night, feeling particularly annoyed at how he had been woken up from a wonderful dream. But his expression turned into one of confusion when he realized the reason why his dream felt so real.

  “Donghae?” he asked, rubbing his eyes to make sure the Donghae in front of him wasn’t imaginary. “What are you doing?”

  “I can’t take it anymore, Hyukkie.” Donghae had pulled down Eunhyuk’s pajama bottoms to his ankles and was hovering right above Eunhyuk’s junior which, thanks to his wet dream, was already pretty much ready. “I need you.”

  “Wh—?” Eunhyuk’s brain still hadn’t processed the situation in front of him right now. “So you’re just going to ride me while I’m asleep? What happened to the whole abstinence thing?”

  “Oh, abstinence, I need you!” Donghae cried, trying really hard not to keep his sanity in check. “And I honestly didn’t think you would last this long.”

  Eunhyuk shrugged, “Neither did I. I always thought I’d be the first to crack—”

  “Oh, just shut up and me.” Donghae was this close to impaling himself (which is dirtier and less horrifying than it sounds) on Eunhyuk’s length, if the latter hadn’t stopped him and basically threw him off when he reached for something in his purse (which is so totally gay, even for Eunhyuk, but the purse was just the right size for everything he needed tonight).

  “What are you doing?” Donghae asked impatiently.

  “I’m looking for my lube.” He said, scrunching his brows together in frustration when he couldn’t find the tiny bottle in his ‘man-bag’ (as he preferred to call it).

  “Oh, forget the lube!” Donghae has been desperate before, but never this desperate—needless to say, it turned Eunhyuk on massively.

  “Donghae, no!” he refuted. “The last time we did it dry, you ended up crying for two hours!”

  “Oh, that’s right…” Donghae’s voice softened, his practically hurting just from the horrible memory. “Yeah…get the lube.”

~*~

  “Yup, it’s official,” Kyuhyun had his ear pressed against the wall as he confirmed, “they're having .”

  “Told you they wouldn’t last a month.” Sungmin held out his palm, smirking. “Pay up, baby.”

  “Alright, alright, you win.” He grumbled as he took out a few bills from his wallet and slapped it on Sungmin’s hand. “Here’s your ill-gotten money.”

  “Ah, how I love being right.” He gloated, fanning himself with his newly-attained cash. “And I told you Donghae would cave first. He may act cool, but I can see him drooling every time Eunhyuk sits with his legs spread wide open.”

  “I always thought Eunhyuk would make up some crap to trick Donghae—like Nemo dying if they don’t have or something.” He admitted, shrugging. “So, what shall our next bet be?”

  “Hmm,” Sungmin tapped his chin in thought. “I bet you that Donghae’s gonna wake up tomorrow with a sore .”

  “You call that a bet? Everyone knows that’s gonna happen.” Kyuhyun dismissed with a hand wave. “What else do you have?”

  Sungmin proceeded to think of something else as Kyuhyun joined him under the covers. “I bet you that sometime after graduation, Donghae is gonna come up to us—hopefully in tears—saying that Eunhyuk has impregnated him with fish babies.”

  Kyuhyun bobbed his head up and down, taking it into serious consideration. “I’ll take that bet.”

  Sungmin’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “Do you seriously believe that Donghae won’t think he’s carrying fish babies?”

  “No, but I doubt that he’s going to wait until after graduation to ‘realize’ it.” Kyuhyun revealed, smirking. After a moment of silence between the two, Kyuhyun voiced out the same thought that was running through their minds, “We need more excitement in our lives.”

  “Agreed.” Sungmin nodded.

  A lightbulb lit up in Kyuhyun’s head. “Say, that abstinence thing really seemed to work out for—”

  “No.” He replied immediately. “These are our last few months together and I don’t want to spend it without any . It’s bad enough that I have to be abstinent for the next seven years—oh my God, I’m not going to have for seven years. I hate you, Cho.”

  “Aw, Ming.” Kyuhyun’s natural cuteness only seemed to come out wheneve he was alone with Sungmin. “It’s not like I’m not going to visit from time to time.”

  “Whatever,” he huffed. “I still hate you. You’re leaving me. You’re such a big…leaver.”

  “I can tell we’re going nowhere with this.” He sighed as he moved to position his head in between Sungmin’s legs. “Should I just you off while you complain to me about my leaving?”

  “Yes.” Sungmin sat back, ready to relax. “Don’t be gentle.”

  Kyuhyun purred, “Right back at you.”

~*~