The look on Hyukjae’s face after Donghae showed up at his house by surprise Friday morning has Donghae laughing the whole way to school. Every time Hyukjae looks over at Donghae, Donghae stifles a laugh and continues walking, looking forward and trying not to look at Hyukjae.

“Will you tell me why you were at my house anyway?” Hyukjae demands, crossing his arms “Or better yet, how you know where I live?”

Donghae smiles as if it’s his little secret – which it is – and shakes his head. “I was going to bring you breakfast,” he admits. “But on the way here, I started nibbling on your food, and I ended up eating it by the time I got there.”

Hyukjae blinks, but finds it expected. “Why were you bringing me breakfast?”

“To make sure you ate,” Donghae answers, balancing on the sidewalk’s curb like a child. “After all, you have to be fit today.”

“I can eat breakfast by myself,” Hyukjae says, rolling his eyes.

“I doubt it,” Donghae snorts, causing Hyukjae to glance in his direction curiously. “You’re too skinny. Do you even eat three meals a day?”

Hyukjae keeps himself from sticking his tongue out at Donghae, knowing it’d be childish. “I eat more than three, thank you very much. I just dance a lot.” Donghae, who is wobbling the entire time from balancing, almost falls to the side. Hyukjae instinctively throws his arms out as to catch Donghae, but Donghae just stumbles into Hyukjae, ignoring the arms.

“Oops,” he says, smiling sheepishly. “I guess I shouldn’t do that.”

Hyukjae rolls his eyes, and folds his arms. “No, no. I’m sure the ongoing traffic loves it when people almost fall into the street. Keep doing that.” Donghae, somewhat sensing the sarcasm, but not fully understands, shrugs and heads back over to the curb. Scowling, Hyukjae drags him back to his side. “You’re too naïve.”

“I’m too nice?” Donghae asks, pretending not to have heard Hyukjae’s actual words. “Thank you!” He wraps his arms around Hyukjae in a big hug, attaching himself to Hyukjae’s side. Hyukjae struggles to push Donghae off, but realizes then that Donghae actually has muscles.

“Get off of me,” Hyukjae grumbles, trying to pry him off while at the same time not dropping his bag. When Donghae finally lets go, Hyukjae glares at him. “You’re too touchy-feely.”

Donghae laughs. “Sorry. Siwon just has me that way, I guess.” He smiles innocently at Hyukjae, who isn’t even looking at Donghae. He’s focused on getting to school without anymore distractions – although the biggest distraction there is is the one beside him.

The whole walk to school, Donghae talks while Hyukjae half-listens. When they arrive at the school, Hyukjae is greeted by an amused Sungmin accompanies with a smiling Ryeowook. Ryeowook immediately greets Donghae, while Sungmin approaches Hyukjae.

Right when Sungmin opens his mouth, Hyukjae says, “Don’t even. He appeared at my house and we walked together. That’s all.” Sungmin is still amused, but decides to change the subject to help his buddy out.

“I’m going to be there at your second audition,” he tells Hyukjae.

Immediately, Hyukjae’s eyes light up. “Really? Why?”

“Kyuhyun, since he made the first round, is going to be there, so I don’t have a lesson today. Besides, I want to see this dance,” Sungmin says, grinning. “They say the partners have to really match well in order to even make it past the first audition.”

Hyukjae ignores the underlying tease in Sungmin’s sentence and says, “I’m happy you can go. I’m already anxious as it is.”

“You’ll do fine,” Sungmin says, patting Hyukjae’s back comfortingly. “I’ll be there to support you.”

“And me,” Donghae chimes in.

Hyukjae turns to frown at Donghae. “Were you listening to our conversation?”

Donghae shrugs. “I was simply standing here. I have no option whether or not to turn my ears off.”

Hyukjae sighs and decides not to argue. Despite it only being a month since the two met after five years, he already knows enough about Donghae to know that fighting with him is useless. It’s equivalent to fighting with a five-year-old over whether or not Santa Claus is real. He’ll believe his own beliefs and thoughts over anyone else’s, no matter the reasoning.

Ryeowook says goodbye to the three, walking off to his classes. The remaining three juniors make their way to their first period. Donghae chats lively with Sungmin who listens and responds with amusement laced through his words. Hyukjae just walks beside them, already having heard enough from Donghae from earlier.

When Sungmin and Hyukjae take their seats in the back of the classroom, leaving Donghae with Siwon, Sungmin turns to Hyukjae and says, “He’s still a kid.”

Hyukjae grins. “I know.”

“But he’s a bit more easy to manage than his fifth-grade version,” Sungmin admits. “I think I like him a little bit more now.”

Hyukjae laughs quietly. “That’s great, Sungmin, although I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”

“Just thought you might want to know…” Sungmin says, trailing off before completing his sentence. Hyukjae looks at him curiously, but the class starts before he can ask what Sungmin means.

Throughout the class, Sungmin thinks. He knows that his best friend isn’t gay like himself, but that doesn’t mean he can help himself if love happens to come his way. Sungmin knows – and has known for some time – that Donghae liked Hyukjae when they were younger. No matter how much Hyukjae protests, Sungmin can never forget the look in Donghae’s eyes when Hyukjae was with him. It’s all the proof he needs.

Sometimes Sungmin wonders how he got stuck with such an idiot for a best friend.

-

“Where is he, where is he?” Hyukjae asks, pacing through the hallway outside of the auditorium. For the second round, all of the people auditioning have to perform in front of the rest of the people, plus the judges. It’s more nerve-wracking than before.

 “I’m sure he’s just running late. Maybe his teacher held the class back for some time,” Sungmin says, watching his friend move frantically. He frowns and scans the room once more, slowly and eagerly, but when he fails to find who he is looking for, his frown deepens and he scolds himself.

“It’s five,” Hyukjae says. “Classes ended more than two hours ago! There’s no way a teacher could have held him back for so long!” Hyukjae already changed. He had on his own black shirt beneath the jacket this time, so he wouldn’t feel so bad about ripping Donghae’s again.

Sungmin, not knowing what to say, doesn’t say anything. He just leans against the wall, checking his phone for the time repeatedly, scanning the room accordingly. Finally, he sees Donghae rushing in, already in his outfit already. He waves Donghae over, and Donghae runs towards them.

“I’m so sorry!” he apologizes to Hyukjae immediately. But Hyukjae just glares at Donghae, his arms crossed. “I had to rush back home because I forgot my outfit!” he continues rambling in hopes of earning Hyukjae’s forgiveness. “I was in such a hurry to get to your house in time this morning that I forgot all about it, and then when I got home, my brother told me my mom washed my outfit and it’d be another twenty minutes before it dried. And, you know, I can’t wear wet clothing to the auditions!”

“If you ran back, they would’ve dried in time,” Sungmin points out.

“I’m sorry,” Donghae apologizes, staring at Hyukjae with anticipation. “Forgive me, Monkey?”

Sungmin raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.

“At least you’re here,” Hyukjae grumbles, finally meeting Donghae’s eyes, which went from despair to happiness in a second. “Get off of me!” he yells for the second time that day when Donghae pulls him into a hug.

Sungmin, despite wanting to say something so badly, doesn’t. Instead, his eyes wander to another’s whose talking with someone else. His attention is diverted, however, when the judge calls for everyone to file into the auditorium. Sungmin sends one last look to see Kyuhyun, and then follows Donghae and Hyukjae into the room.

“We’re going to audition the rappers, then the dancers, then the singers. We expect everyone to stay the full two hours – or more – to respect the other performers. Now, let’s get started.” The judge start calling names, then the person would go up and audition. The rappers had the shortest auditions, only about a minute per person.

When the dancers came around, Hyukjae could feel his heartbeat increase. He watches as unfamiliar faces go up, one by one, dancing their hearts out. When Junsu appears on stage, he applauds his friend enthusiastically, sincerely hoping that the two would pass this round and be able to perform in the festival.

Finally, Hyukjae and Donghae’s names are called. He can see the shocked look on some of the performers’ faces at the sight of a pair making it this far, but Hyukjae doesn’t mind. He’s too busy worrying about what the judges will think. Donghae hands the helper the CD, and they start dancing.

The moves are fresh in their mind. The two practiced every day after their first audition, hoping to perfect the dance even more. The other eyes in the room were lost to them, and they were dancing for themselves only. When the music ended, the room applauds and the next person is called. Hyukjae smiles when he hears Junsu cheer for him.

Donghae squeezes Hyukjae’s arm when they sit down, and Hyukjae gives Donghae an uneasy smile. Sungmin tells the two they were amazing, and then goes on to watch the performing act.

When the singers are finally up, Sungmin’s attention is snapped into place. He smiles when Ryeowook goes on stage, his high voice echoing through from the stage to the audience, wowing Sungmin. He never heard Ryeowook sing before, and is truly impressed. The three of them applaud him, cheering for him as he exits the stage.

Another singer goes on, the one Sungmin saw talking to Kyuhyun earlier. He hears him being called Changmin. Sungmin is even more impressed by his voice and the high notes he hit perfectly, almost jealous that he can’t do the same yet.

Finally, Kyuhyun steps on stage. He sings a ballad that Sungmin finds perfect for his voice. He doesn’t tear his eyes away the entire time and is sitting on the edge of the seat as he listens to Kyuhyun’s deep but soft voice fill the auditorium.

He fails to see the grin on Hyukjae's face during the entire time.