~*~

  “Hyukkie,” Donghae nuzzled his boyfriend awake, much like a little puppy would. “It’s morning. Wake up.”

  “Five more minutes, Hae.” Eunhyuk groaned, burying his face in his pillow. “It’s Saturday; let me sleep in.”

  Donghae clucked his tongue, “Seriously, Hyukkie, if you’re going to be like this, then I don’t know how I’m going to deal with you when we’re married.”

  Eunhyuk’s eyes opened slightly, though he could barely see anything with his bangs in the way. “We’re getting married?”

  Donghae grinned, nodding as a matter-of-factly. “You have no choice, Hyukkie. I’m carrying your fish babies in my tummy.”

  “…What?” he blinked.

  “HA! DID YOU HEAR THAT? HE SAID IT! I TOLD YOU! I WIN! YOU OWE ME TEN BUCKS!” Kyuhyun’s excited voice came from the room next door.

  “AW SHADDUP.” A sulky drawl from Sungmin followed.

  Eunhyuk and Donghae exchanged confused looks before shrugging. Whatever their friends were into was none of their business.

  “You better have a good reason for waking me up, Hae.” Eunhyuk rubbed his eyes as he propped himself up on one elbow. “You tired me out last night; I deserve some rest.”

  “I know. I just wanted to say…” Donghae poked his index fingers together, putting on his best puppy face. “Thank you.”

  He tilted his head slightly, “For what?”

  “Well, I was doing some thinking last night—”

  “That’s a first.”

  Donghae his cheeks in, showing his annoyance at the quip. “I’m in a good mood today, so I’m gonna let that one go.” He proceeded, “As I was saying, I’ve been thinking, and I realized that ever since we started dating, you’ve done so much for me and nothing I’ve done or ever will do will ever come close to that. I just didn’t want to make you feel unappreciated, `cause I do appreciate you…”

  “Oh Hae,” Eunhyuk pulled him closer and covered his neck with kisses. “You’re so sweet.”

  “Thanks, Hyukkie, for loving me even though I’m…me.” He added, smiling warmly.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “I’m me,” he shrugged. “I’m dumb. Probably too dumb to live.”

  “Sweetheart, nobody thinks you’re dumb…well, I don’t anyway. Most of the time.” He assured clumsily. “You’re not dumb. You’re Donghae. And I love Donghae.”

  “And I love Hyukjae.” Donghae crashed his lips into Eunhyuk’s, morning breath and all.

  When Sungmin knocked on their door a half hour later to tell them breakfast was ready, neither of them had the strength to get up from bed after the session of groggy morning they just had.

~*~

  “I can’t believe we’re graduating next month.” Kyuhyun sat himself on the countertop, watching Sungmin take slow, sensual (because Sungmin just had to make everything seem sensual) bites of his waffles. “Time sure does fly, huh?”

  “I thought time only flies when you’re having fun.” Sungmin pouted, “I’m not having any fun.”

  Kyuhyun’s face fell, “Are you seriously going to bring this up in every conversation?”

  “Sorry, but,” he shrugged, “it’s all I keep thinking about.”

  “Sungmin, it’s not gonna be as bad as you think it is.” He put a comforting hand on the shorter boy’s thigh. “You keep building it up in your head, but I really think we’re strong enough to do it. Seven years isn’t that long. Not when we Skype everyday or send letters to each other or you know, keep each other in our hearts.”

  “Do you even realize how sappy you sound right now?” Sungmin said with an amused smile as he poked Kyuhyun’s nose.

  “I know; Eunhyuk and Donghae have been rubbing off on me.” Kyuhyun sighed. “Why do we spend so much time with them anyway?”

  “You say that now, but you’ll miss them once you’re gone.” Sungmin teased, to which Kyuhyun couldn’t deny so he just rolled his eyes (Kyuhyun’s been rolling his eyes a lot lately—obviously Sungmin’s Sungmin-ness is getting more and more contagious). After a brief moment of silence while they chewed and swallowed, Sungmin inhaled sharply and said, “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” he nodded. “Anything.”

  “Is it final? Like really final?” he asked. “I mean, is the flight booked and everything? Are you packed?”

  Kyuhyun hesitated before solemnly revealing, “Yeah. My parents have arranged everything already; I’m leaving on the night of graduation.”

  “Oh.” Sungmin tried his best to hide the disappointment in his voice. “Good, good, that’s good. Th—that gives us just enough time to say our goodbyes.”

  “Sungmin—”

  “Are you packed yet?”

  “No—”

  “I’ll help you,” he offered. “I’ll help you pack. I know how much you hate packing.”

  Kyuhyun decided to stop trying to fight Sungmin’s denial about the whole thing and just be thankful that he isn’t having a relapse and/or freaking out on him anymore. “Thank you, bunny. You know something? You’ve never told me what you plan to do after graduation.”

  “I don’t know really.” He admitted. “I’d probably be too depressed to go to college, so I might just become a stripper or something.”

  “That’ll be the luckiest strip joint ever.” Kyuhyun played along as he nipped on Sungmin’s earlobe.

  Suddenly, Eunhyuk burst in and made a beeline towards the refrigerator. “Do we have an icepack or something here?”

  “I think I saw some frozen fish in there last night.” Sungmin answered, one of his brows raising in curiosity. “What do you need it for?”

  “Oh, it’s not for me, it’s Donghae.” He said, grabbing the frozen fish out of the freezer. “His… is hurting.”

  Kyuhyun and Sungmin stared at him with wide eyes as he headed back towards his and Donghae’s room. Before going inside, Eunhyuk turned to the couple at the table and said, “Don’t ask.”

  Something told Kyuhyun and Sungmin that they didn’t want to know anyway.

~*~

  Everybody hated Mondays. Everybody except maybe Donghae, because Donghae’s weird. Nobody even questioned him anymore; they just let him be. Donghae is weird and weird is Donghae.

  And that’s why Eunhyuk’s mother didn’t even bat an eye when Donghae showed up at their doorstep, two Nemo plushies (one male and one female) in his arms. “Hi mom,” he has taken to calling his boyfriend’s mother ‘mom’ because it’s easier than saying ‘Mrs. Lee’ and/or ‘Hyukjae’s mom’ all the time. “Is Hyukjae ready?”

  She stepped aside and let him in. “He’s in the living room. You two better move fast or else you’re gonna be late for school.”

  “Hi Hyukkie,” Donghae smiled, pecking Eunhyuk on the cheek as he joined him on the couch. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking at our old yearbooks.” He answered, flipping through another page.

  “What for?” he asked, leaning over his shoulder to look as well.

  “You remember that kid I told you about, the one who chewed my head off just because I’m a jock—I mean, was a jock?” Eunhyuk winced a little at the reminder that he was no longer part of the football team. “I’m looking him up. Apparently the one detention Coach Gura went on his permanent record, and now he can’t get into any of the SKY universities, and he just went berserk. I heard he dropped out, swearing revenge on our school.”

  “Sounds like a cheesy urban legend.” Donghae chuckled, taking Eunhyuk’s face in his hands. “Don’t tell me you actually believe in any of that. If the kid’s anything like how you described him to me, then how much harm could he possibly do?”

  “You’re probably right.” Eunhyuk nuzzled into Donghae’s palm, smiling. He shut the yearbook, put it away and took Donghae’s hand. “Come on, let’s go to school.”

~*~

  “Bonjour mon amis,” Sungmin smirked as he let himself inside Heechul’s office. “I hear the prom king saved the last dance for a certain someone the other night. Or was everything you called to tell me in the middle of the night just the result of your overactive imagination?”

  “Before we get into anything, I want to ask you something.” Heechul sounded serious. “Did you just greet me in a terrible French accent?”

  Sungmin rolled his eyes, “Will you just hurry up and spill the details already? Kyuhyun wanted to walk with me to class today and I had to blow him off for you. And Eunhyuk keeps bugging me to set up a date to buy lube together.”

  “You two buy lube together?” Heechul asked, his brows knitting together. Then, he shook his head, “Never mind, I don’t want to know. What has that got to do with anything anyway?”

  “I’m just saying,” he took a seat on Heechul’s chair and put his legs up on the desk. “Everybody wants a piece of me. A piece of Sungmin.”

  “Yeah, because nobody can resist you.” He replied dryly.  “Some days I just have to work tooth and nail to keep my hands off you. That’s all I can do now to stop myself from ravishing you right here and now.”

  Sungmin shot him a death glare, “I think you have something dripping from your mouth.”

  “What?” he asked, instinctively touching his lip.

  “Sarcasm.” He said, chucking a small rubber eraser at him. “Are you going to tell me or not? I don’t have all day.”

  “Fine, fine.” Heechul leaned against the edge of his desk since his chair was occupied. “I gotta say, I don’t feel as giddy now as I did that night. I think it was just the rush of adrenaline from getting to hold Siwon again. But now it’s gone and I actually feel…better.”

  “Are you telling me you actually got closure?” he asked. “You didn’t even do anything. You didn’t talk about the break-up, there’s no difference in your relationship status, he’s still with that cheerleader—virtually nothing happened.”

  “I know,” he shrugged, smiling. “And I don’t care. I haven’t felt this way since Siwon and I first started dating. I’m afraid to say it but…I think I might be happy again.”

  Sungmin was still unable to comprehend it. “But…nothing happened.”

  “Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to understand because doing so requires actual human feelings.” Heechul pushed Sungmin’s feet off his table before pointing a manicured finger at the door. “Just leave already before you get a tardy slip.”

  Sungmin stood up, made a gesture to flip his hair until he realized he wasn’t wearing his hair extensions, so he just huffed and began to leave. He was one step out the door when he heard something—something that sounded awfully like a gunshot.

  “What the—?”

  Heechul, fearing the worst, immediately pulled Sungmin back inside to take cover under his desk.

~*~

  “Where’s Donghae?” Kyuhyun was leaning against the doorway as he greeted his classmate.

  “It’s not like we’re joined at the hip. He had to go to the bathroom.” He revealed, giving Kyuhyun a look. “And where’s Sungmin?”

  “He stopped by Heechul’s office.” He answered, shifting his weight onto the other leg. “In fact, I thought he’d be back by now. How long do girl talks last anyway?”

  He shrugged, “How should I know?”

  “Didn’t you used to be a girl?” he teased, smirking.

  Eunhyuk was clearly not amused. “Seeing as I’ve had a my whole life, I’m gonna say no.”

  Kyuhyun was just about to come up with a witty comeback when the ear-splitting sound of a shot filled the air.

  “What the hell was that?” Kyuhyun said, startled.

  Before anyone could process what was happening, a teacher appeared, ushered them both inside, frantically yelling, “Get inside!”

  “Sir, what’s going on?” Eunhyuk asked, his heart starting to thump wildly.

  “Was that a gunshot?” Kyuhyun added, looking and sounding frightened as well.

  “Yes,” the teacher shut the door, locked it and dragged his desk in front of it to prevent anyone from coming in. “Some lunatic brought a gun to school. Now, I want everybody to stay calm and be as quiet as possible.”

  The class found his instructions hard to follow as everybody was feeling a mix of emotions right now. Meanwhile Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk turned to look at each other, the same distraught look on their faces as they said in unison:

  “Sungmin.”

  “Donghae.”

~*~