Hyukjae still doesn’t know what problem Sungmin is talking about, but it’s obviously a big one if Sungmin just walks away whenever Kyuhyun shows up. He wonders what the younger boy could have done to have Sungmin treat him so coldly.

“Why is Sungmin ignoring you?” he asks Kyuhyun the following Wednesday after two days of the silent treatment from Sungmin.

Kyuhyun shrugs and looks away. Hyukjae doesn’t catch the worry in his eyes. “Something happened,” he replies simply.

“What?” Hyukjae probes, hating feeling left out. “He said I have the same problem as you, but he still talks to me at least.”

Kyuhyun stares at Hyukjae curiously, trying to figure out what Sungmin meant. When he understands, he just frowns and says, “We don’t have the same problem, if Sungmin is talking about what I think he’s talking about.”

“What is he talking about?” Hyukjae asks.

Kyuhyun just replies, “Sorry, Eunhyuk, but you’re going to have to figure that out yourself.” And, as if on cue, Donghae comes jogging up the stairs, his bag bouncing on his back.

“Monkey!” he exclaims, pouncing onto the older boy with vigor.

Kyuhyun stares at the two of them, grinning. “That’s an interesting nickname,” he say, amused.

Frowning, Hyukjae leans away from Donghae, although the latter is still holding onto the former. “Why are you so close to me,” he mutters, frowning down at Donghae.

“Because you’re warm,” he says, snuggling in even closer.

Hyukjae squirms uncomfortably but finally gives in with a sigh. Kyuhyun refrains from chuckling and instead says, “So your birthday is coming up, Donghae. Are you excited?” Of course, Kyuhyun isn’t that interested in Donghae’s birthday, although he’s not uncaring towards it exactly. He just wants to know what Hyukjae’s reaction will be.

“Your birthday is close?” Hyukjae asks, his eyes widening as he looks down at the resting Donghae who just smiles and nods.

“October fifteenth,” he says matter-of-factly. “Then I’ll be as old as you are.” He smiles smugly and Hyukjae can’t help but laugh.

“Do you want anything?” he asks curiously. Hyukjae, as often said over and over, does not like to spend money – especially his own. And yet, seeing Donghae’s eyes light up in excitement, he feels the urge to go out and buy the boy the world. It’s an odd feeling and it scares him honestly.

“Not really,” Donghae says though. Hyukjae can tell he wants something though, and continues to push the subject. Finally, Donghae says, “Okay, okay. How about you come out to an amusement park with Siwon and me?”

Without hesitation, Hyukjae replies, “Okay.”

…

This still doesn’t explain Hyukjae’s urge to buy Donghae that big plush toy of a monkey that’s hanging in a store’s window. It’s not that expensive, but Hyukjae never really saw plush animals that significant – rather, they were useless to him and he failed to see their value.

It’s quite contradicting when Hyukjae steps out of that store ten minutes later with that exact stuffed animal in a bag, a silly smile on his face.

Hyukjae has no idea what’s happening to him and he’s not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

-

Meanwhile, Kyuhyun knows exactly what is wrong with him, and he wants to ‘cure’ himself immediately. Although he has no problems with homoual people, he still does not feel comfortable being one himself.

“I like you.” Those were the three words Kyuhyun stupidly texted Sungmin a couple of nights before.

To which Sungmin replied, “Like a friend? I know. I like you, too.”

“No, as in I like you. Like how I’m supposed to like a girl.” He didn’t expect to Sungmin to jump with joy from this news – he didn’t even know if Sungmin is gay or not – but he didn’t expect to get the following reply.

“Like how you’re supposed to like a girl…? Wow,” was all the text read.

Kyuhyun didn’t understand what he said wrong, but before he could ask, Sungmin texted again. “And I don’t need to be tutored anymore. Thanks.”  

And just like that, things fell apart.

Part of him wants to go up to Sungmin and apologize for whatever he did wrong, but another part of him is too proud to do such a thing. He doesn’t want to like Sungmin the way he does! He doesn’t want any of this. He’s used to Yesung and Ryeowook flirting and all, but to actually be a part of something like that is foreign and scary to him.

He tells himself it’s just a phase. After all, he practically attends an all-boys school because the girls are never seen around. This was bound to happen, right?

Also, Sungmin has that soft, cute feel to him that makes Kyuhyun have this urge to protect the older boy, which he knows is unreasonable because Sungmin is skilled in martial arts. He wants to stay by his side, singing or doing whatever that happens to come up.

And it scares him.

And when he sees Sungmin snuggling closer to Ryeowook, he walks away, back to his old routine of playing games all day. He used to play to numb the pain of his accident, but this pain was different. He couldn’t decide if it was worse or not.

Kyuhyun doesn’t give up, but this was the one thing he didn’t fight for, even if he knew he should have. He just let Sungmin slip through his fingers.

----

A/N: This chapter was disgustingly hard to write and is therefore even more disgustingly short. It seems as if not writing for a week has killed my writing brain D: Seriously, I just made up this crap... and it took me hours (then again, I was distracted by various things...). Hmm, I can't update tomorrow either because we're going somewhere... maybe Monday? Sorry about everything! I have school now [BLEH]. However, hopefully I'm wrapping up things (or signaling that things are going to start happening) because Kyumin (despite Kyuhyun's denial) and Eunhae (despite their confusion) are supposed to be getting together very soon. How soon, you may ask? Like I said, very soon. /insert the raising of an eyebrow. In fact, the next chapter should [hopefully] be full of Eunhae.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HYUNSEUNG! <3 Beast fighting! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the slower updates, too!