II

"Yah, hyung. I really hope you brought some decent clothes to wear for the night."

Sungmin turned his head, sending Ryeowook a weird glance. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I mean", the younger said, crossing his arms. "Remember the last time we shared a hotel room? I don’t want to see that again."

"I really don’t-"

"What, what?" Shindong butted in and pushed Siwon and Kibum out of his way to be closer to them. "Did he wear something weird?"

"Weird?" Ryeowook scoffed. "It was obnoxious, I tell you…"

"Are we talking about the nightgowns he likes to wear?" Kyuhyun requested, an innocent expression on his face. Sungmin's mouth dropped open, but he wasn’t able to defend himself before Shindong and some of the other members erupted in loud laughter.

"Stop laughing!" Ryeowook exclaimed, face all serious. "That might sound funny, but I tell you that it's not!"

"Then tell us what it is", Kangin choked out. "Intimidating?"

"No, scary."

Another wave of laughter crashed down on them. Shindong had to hold on to Siwon's shoulder to keep standing. "Scary!" he roared, one hand pressed against his stomach like he was in pain while Sungmin crossed his arms, sulking.

"I can imagine that, seeing him in that white thing in the middle of the night… You surely thought you were seeing a ghost", Siwon chuckled. Ryeowook made a face.

"Oh yeah, I woke up and saw him in the middle of the night. But that… dress or what it was wasn’t white. It was pink and it looked like he was a demon or something."

"P-Pink!"

"I thought he was there to come and get me", Ryeowook exclaimed and completely ignored Shindong who looked like he was about to choke from his roaring laughter. "I was scared less!"

"Yah, why do you even have to tell this?" Sungmin asked silently. "It's kinda rude…"

"I'm not rude, I'm just concerned about my health."

"Calm down", Kyuhyun muttered unimpressed. "It isn’t that bad once you get used to it."

Eunhyuk's eyes weren’t the only ones that widened significantly. "What? Does that mean he wears those things often?!"

Kyuhyun shrugged. "Well, yeah. Quite frequently, I'd say."

Gazes travelled back to Sungmin who seemed unimpressed. "Seriously, you don’t know what you're missing. It's really comfortable, believe me."

"That's true." Heechul flipped his hair. "Wearing dresses and skirts really does feel comfortable. And you feel especially free around-"

Han Geng raised his hand with a slight shook of his head. "Please. Don’t."

Shindong was crying by now and there was immediately a make-up noona rushing to him to stop his tears from ruining her work.

"Guys", Leeteuk said in a serious tone even though the smile on his lips was hard to suppress. "Don’t you think there are better opportunities to talk about this than right before going on stage?"

Ryeowook scoffed. "Fine. I was just worried."

"You don’t have to be", Sungmin reassured him. "I promise to-"

"-at least wear something underneath", Kyuhyun finished his sentence and was surprised by the deadly glare Sungmin sent him while Kangin was literally screaming out of laughter. "What? That's what we all hope for, isn’t it?"

"Okay, that's enough. Calm down everybody; I don’t want to see your faces all red when we go on stage."

They all calmed down and it slowly got quieter in the backstage area. Eunhyuk snickered just like the other members did and was rather surprised to suddenly find a hand right in front of his eyes.

"There's something on your face", Donghae silently said and only a couple of seconds later Eunhyuk felt the younger's fingertips brushing over his skin, wiping off whatever didn’t belong there. The grin on his lips turned into a gentle smile as Eunhyuk watched the concentrated expression on the brunet's face, completely oblivious of the way his heart started stumbling in his chest. Their gazes locked as Donghae was finished; he kept his hand on the other's cheek for a moment longer than it was needed and Eunhyuk didn’t mind. Not at all.

"Thank you", he mumbled and made a soft smile appear on the other's lips as he eventually pulled his hand back. Donghae nodded slightly and as choking sounds broke through to his mind again, Eunhyuk was glad that Donghae had ripped one of the room keys out of Leeteuk's hands and exclaimed him to be the one sharing a room with some hours ago.

***

Eunhyuk patted the other's back with a laugh and pushed his arm away. The expression on Kangin's face darkened.

"What's so funny about that? Just look at her, she's beautiful!"

Kangin urged him to look at the picture he had saved on his phone again; the younger only shook his head. "She is. And she's also totally out of your reach."

"Yah, why do you say that?!"

"Look at her. Do you really think you're the only one wanting to date her?"

Kangin bit his lip and his answer sounded almost a bit snotty. "… I'm special."

The younger hummed. "Sure you are."

A sigh left the elder's mouth as he flung himself back on the bed, eyes still glued to the picture like it was the most precious thing in the world. Eunhyuk's eyes flitted back to the screen of his laptop as he surfed the web without even knowing what he was looking for. He heard a door being opened and silent steps afterwards, but he didn’t look up until the mattress dipped down beside him.   
The smell of shampoo filled his nose as he saw Donghae sitting next to him, hair still wet and body slightly leaning against his own even though there was enough space for him here and even on Donghae's own bed that was currently occupied by Kangin.

"What are you talking about?" the brunet asked, looking to their hyung and back. Eunhyuk sighed.

"He's in love again", he mumbled