01.

“So… where do I charge my iPod?” Donghae asks after ten minutes of being settled into his second cousin’s wife’s step son’s house. Honestly, he didn’t want to be here, but after getting another D (he snickers) on his report, his father insisted on sending to him somewhere where his ‘potential could be explored.’

So his dad sends him to a farm.

Donghae had looked at his mum for support, but she just shrugged. He swears never to trust them again.

Hyukjae, his cousin’s son’s daughter’s whatever, gives him a strange look.

“You don’t.”

Donghae looks like he’s just realised he swallowed a bug, although he actually might have; Hyukjae’s farm is kind of… swarming with them. Hyukjae thinks he shouldn’t really tell Donghae that, for his sake.

“I mean,” Hyukjae scratches the back of his neck, thinking of ways to make Donghae feel more at home. “I could sing for you…?”

Donghae laughs, and Hyukjae cracks a smile because honestly, Donghae’s smile is kind of precious.

“Can you sing though?” Donghae asks, a delicate eyebrow raised. Hyukjae is pretty sure he has them plucked.

“…No.”

Donghae smiles again. “That’s okay, because I can!”

02.

“You do this for fun?!” Donghae screams as he trips over another stone. It’s still the first day of many to come, and Donghae really doesn’t like to give up. So he sulks angrily, and stomps over to Hyukjae’s side, pouting childishly. Hyukjae snickers.

“I do this for a living, Donghae, and you can go back inside if you want; I did this every day before you came anyway,” says Hyukjae coolly. Donghae considers it, but without his laptop or any sort of connection to, well, anything really (Hyukjae lives in the middle of nowhere- literally), it’d be rather boring.

“I’m not going to help,” says Donghae after a moment of pondering. “But I’m not gonna go inside.”

Hyukjae pauses in his digging and looks up at Donghae with a confused smile.

“I’m going to watch you.”

“Okay, have fun with that,” Hyukjae laughs as Donghae walks away to sit on a nearby crate.

It’s probably one of the hottest days of the year, so Hyukjae takes off his shirt in favour of having the sweat cool him down faster. He throws it on top of the closed lit of his compost bin.

When Donghae finally sits down, he turns back to face Hyukjae and he doesn’t remember when Hyukjae took off his shirt. His half cousin whatever has very prominent abdominal muscles, and honestly, his arms are pretty hot too.

When Donghae feels his face heat up furiously quickly, he blames it on the heat.

03.

“There’s nothing to do!” Donghae wails one day over breakfast. He’s been here for two days and he’s discovered that there’s practically nothing to do.

“Well, you could help me with the farm,” Hyukjae suggests.

Okay, maybe there’s one thing to do. However-

“That’s not an option!”

Hyukjae just laughs and stands up putting the bowl in the sink as he’s done with breakfast.

“You could help wash the dishes while I’m out,” he suggests again.

Donghae sighs loudly and drawls out a long “okay.”

Hyukjae smiles brightly at Donghae who is still sulking over his breakfast, and then he heads out of the house with the slam of a door.

Donghae looks up, making sure Hyukjae is really gone before leaving his bowl and hurriedly sprinting up the stairs to Hyukjae’s room. The door bursts open as Donghae runs in, looking through the bedside table.

“Aha!” Donghae exclaims with a bright smile as he holds in his hand a light blue book that says ‘Hyukjae’s diary- do not open’.

He spends the next hour flipping through logs of every single day of Hyukjae’s boring life. Donghae doesn’t put it down though, because Hyukjae often puts in things like leaves he’s found that he thinks looks funny (there’s one that he thinks looks like Obama) and there are cute faces and it’s all so Hyukjae.

But when he reaches the day of his arrival, the entry is slightly longer. Hyukjae uses the word ‘precious’ to describe Donghae’s smile, which makes him extremely happy for some reason. He feels like that’s all he needs and he puts the diary where it was before and walks calmly down the stairs to do the dishes.

04.

It’s on the fourth day when Donghae realises that he may have the tiniest crush on Hyukjae. He likes watching Hyukjae farm (especially when he takes off his shirt), and loves when Hyukjae sings loudly. Hyukjae is honestly quite a bad singer, but the stupid smile on his face makes up for it.

Plus, Donghae likes the smile on Hyukjae’s face when Donghae sings along. He likes how Hyukjae stops singing and starts slacking in his work, just to listen to Donghae sing.

He likes how Hyukjae does everything in his power to make Donghae feel more at home, despite being in a completely unfamiliar environment.

He likes Hyukjae’s cooking even when it has lots of vegetables and not nearly enough meat to satisfy Donghae’s needs. Either way, he thinks Hyukjae is the best chef in the world.

His favourite is when it’s late at night and it’s time for bed, and Hyukjae sits on the chair beside the bed Donghae sleeps in because the latter is afraid of being alone. Hyukjae waits until Donghae is asleep before finally going to his room and sleeping, which is sometimes very, very late at night, because Donghae likes to squirm and move around.

The amount of care is each of Hyukjae’s gestures sets a fire ablaze in Donghae, and it’s a new feeling that he thinks he could get used to.

Donghae likes Hyukjae a bit more than expected, but if Hyukjae continues to smile at him so charmingly, Donghae has no problem with it at all.

05.

It’s on the tenth day when Donghae wakes up from a nightmare at what might be three in the morning. It’s dark, and he’s alone, and there are bugs practically everywhere. So, clad in only boxers, Donghae opens the door and makes his way silently to Hyukjae’s room, sensitive to every single sound made, just in case.

He finds himself standing outside Hyukjae’s bedroom door with his heart hammering in his chest. Donghae doesn’t knock, he just opens the door silently and steps in with small steps, shuffling toward the bed.

Hyukjae is lying facing the wall, away from Donghae. Soft snores are heard and Donghae smiles slightly because he sounds rather adorable.

Pulling up the blanket just enough, Donghae slips in and finds that Hyukjae’s bed is so much more comfortable than the one in the guest room.

All of a sudden, the snores stop and Hyukjae shifts so he faces Donghae. Donghae’s breathing hitches in his throat, but when very convincing snores start again, he relaxes. Hyukjae wraps an arm around Donghae’s bare waist and pulls him forward into his chest.

Feeling more safe than he ever had before, Donghae snuggles back into Hyukjae’s bare chest that he’s never gotten to feel until this moment, he closes his eyes again and tries to sleep.

Despite the heat of the summer, the heat of the blanket and the heat of Hyukjae’s bare skin against his own, Donghae falls asleep comfortably.

06.

On the twentieth day, Hyukjae kisses him.

It’s after Donghae had gone and watered all the crops. A few days ago, he’d watched Hyukjae water all the crops and asked to give it a go, and honestly it was probably one of the most fun things he’d done on the entire trip.

So sometimes when Hyukjae decides to make a bigger dinner, Donghae is left alone to water the crops, and today has been one of those days.

When Donghae finally walks back in, it seems as if Hyukjae hadn’t heard the door at all. Donghae tilts his head and coughs for attention.

“I finished watering the crops,” says Donghae, walking towards the stairs, planning to go up to the bathroom to take a shower before joining Hyukjae for dinner. However, Hyukjae turns around and walks towards Donghae with a small smile and Donghae’s thoughts stop.

Although Donghae expects Hyukjae to ask him casually how he was or anything, the thing that comes next isn’t what he had expected at all.

Hyukjae kisses him on the lips right there.

It only lasts a fraction of a second. In fact, it’s so short that Donghae doesn’t even think it happened. However, Hyukjae looks down on the floor and is sporting an uncharacteristic blush, but he turns back and heads back towards the stove.

“Have a shower, Donghae,” says Hyukjae quietly.

Donghae smiles, having forgotten the shower. He walks towards Hyukjae and stops behind the latter, patting him on the back slightly.

When Hyukjae turns around, Donghae leans forward and kisses him back.

07.

The day after, Donghae wakes up to an empty house. He panics for a few minutes because what if Hyukjae ditched him because of the kiss? What if Hyukjae doesn’t actually like Donghae as much as he thought?

Donghae starts to freak out and the hunger in his stomach is forgotten and he practically flies down the stairs, but notices a piece of paper stuck to the fridge with one of Hyukjae’s cute animal magnets. The note is in beautiful handwriting that almost looks like a font in a pen that appears to have barley any ink left, and Donghae smiles as he reads it.

Donghae,

I’ll get back before dinner today, okay? Don’t freak, and I’m sorry about suddenly leaving but you were still sleeping! I went to the market to buy new stuff and sell some stuff and… yeah, do some stuff. There’s some food in the fridge, if you’re hungry! Unless you don’t want that food… then you can make your own!!

Hyukjae

P.S. I’m sorry about the kiss but you kissed me too so uh, do you like me too? Because I think you’re very cute and I like your voice and everything.

Donghae is beaming and he leaves the note on the fridge to accompany him, because reading it is like having a bit of Hyukjae around. Also, it’s cute, so he makes a mental note to take it and put it in his bag before Hyukjae gets back.

He grabs the box of cereal and eats a few handfuls before he decides that without Hyukjae here, the crops will be sad, so he’ll have to tend to them instead.

-

When Hyukjae finally gets back, Donghae has to hide his excitement. He runs over to Hyukjae and helps him with the crates he’s carrying.

“Thanks,” Hyukjae says breathily as they put the crates down next to the farm. Donghae suddenly remembers the note and smiles brightly, running over and hugging Hyukjae tightly and enjoying it when Hyukjae wraps his arms around Donghae’s waist.

“It was boring without you,” says Donghae after they pull apart. He considers kissing Hyukjae, but it’s too late when Hyukjae laughs and cups Donghae’s ch