“Hyung, are you still coming to the get together?” Kyuhyun asked Hyukjae. They were on the phone.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Okay good. Ryeong really wants everyone to be there. Also, I did have a question though.”

“What?”

“Have you and Donghae hyung been fighting?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I saw him the other day when I stopped by the café and he looked like he’s been crying a lot.”

Hyukjae sighed internally. They haven’t been fighting. It’s just that Donghae hasn’t been sleeping. His nightmares have intensified since it was getting closer to the anniversary of the incident. He’s been waking up crying. And it usually takes Hyukjae a while before he can calm him down. So even Hyukjae himself haven’t been sleeping well.
It’s been a rough past two days: Donghae ended up sleeping earlier than usual since he was so exhausted and Hyukjae was in the living room trying to finish up his homework. But Donghae woke up screaming at first, then he broke into a full-on panic attack. Hyukjae had rushed to Donghae and the younger was shaking uncontrollably. He kept apologizing and gripping the front of his boyfriend’s shirt like he would disappear if he let go. It hurt that most of the time, the only way Donghae would fall back to sleep was from passing out from being tired of crying And it hurt Hyukjae that he couldn’t do anything to ease Donghae’s pain - the person he cared about the most. All he could do was hold him and whisper to him that it’ll pass. Once Donghae would fall back to sleep, Hyukjae would just sit on the kitchen floor, hiding behind the counter; away from being found, and just breakdown. He was so frustrated he couldn’t do anything to help or take away Donghae’s pain.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the best week for either of them.

“No we haven’t been fighting. He did tell me about what happened to him though. So I’m going to assume that’s the reason he hasn’t been sleeping,” Hyukjae said the last sentence quietly.

Kyuhyun also didn’t say anything at first. “He told you? Why?”

“He trusts me.”

“That’s a lot of trust, hyung. Donghae hyung has never trusted that easily after that incident,” Kyuhyun’s tone was dripping with suspicion.

They’d find out soon enough but it can wait till later this evening, Hyukjae thought.

“Whatever,” was all he could think of.

“Well I gotta go finish up some errands so I’ll see you in a few hours,” Kyuhyun stated.

“See you tonight.”

Hyukjae and Donghae agreed to just carpool together to the restaurant. They were the last to arrive since Donghae took forever to get ready. But neither budged from getting out of the car.

“I’m nervous,” Donghae said.

“Me too. But we don’t have to tell them right away,” Hyukjae said. They had the whole night ahead of them and he wasn’t ready to hear all the jabs from Kyuhyun.

“Okay. Let’s tell them before leaving so we can just go,” laughed Donghae.

Hyukjae put his hand on Donghae’s and gave it a light squeeze.

“Oh, I didn’t know they carpooled together. I wonder why Donghae hyung and Henry didn’t come together,” Ryeowook said as he saw his two friends get out of the car from a distance. He didn’t really think anything of it. Everyone else was already seated. But him and Kyuhyun decided to wait at the restaurant’s entrance so the late ones wouldn’t get lost finding their seats.
Kyuhyun eyed them suspiciously. He could see them through the glass door. Kyuhyun watched Hyukjae turn to Donghae and fix the scarf around his neck so he wouldn’t be cold.

“They’ve gotten close,” was all he commented before telling Ryeowook he was going to sit with everyone else.

Ryeowook nodded and waited till his two hyung’s were inside the restaurant.
     When everyone was seated, they all decided to order the meat and soju and whatever side dishes that was on the menu. Ryeowook was happy that everyone was able to make it.
Him, Kyu, Donghae, Hyukjae, Henry, Sungmin, Teukie, Heechul, and Yesung all hadn’t gathered together in so long.
Hyukjae had seated himself between Donghae and Henry. He was trying to avoid Kyuhyun since he felt his glare on him.

“Hyung, you guys look like ,” whispered Henry.

Henry wasn’t wrong. Donghae was self-conscious of his puffy eyes that he just opted to wear his glasses. And Hyukjae ended up applying some makeup to cover his dark circles.
Hyukjae shushed Henry, he didn’t want Donghae to hear. “I’ll tell you later,” he whispered back.
Henry nodded and joined in the group conversation. Everyone was all just catching up. But Hyukjae was glad that Donghae was talkative and adding to the group conversation.
Once the food and soju was brought out, their table was quieting down.
Kyuhhyun wasn’t designated driver so he announced he was going to drink a lot and Henry and Heechul said they’d join them. Henry had carpooled with Leeteuk and Yesung anyways.

“Hyukjae hyung you should join us,” Kyuhyun said. It was usually him, Hyukjae, and Heechul that all used to drink together.

Hyukjae agreed but said he’d have a little bit of soju but would mainly stick to beer.

“Heechul hyung, I heard your looking for roommate,” Henry said. Heechul’s job required him to travel often but he finally convinced his bosses to let him stay in Seoul if he signed with them for an extra 2 years.

“I am! I’m happy I’ll finally be able to just stay in one place. The only time I’ll be traveling is if I take vacation,” Heechul laughed as he drank a shot of soju.

“Well at least you were able to travel. I’m stuck here till I finish up my school,” Sungmin added with a eye roll.

“But you’re almost done. Don’t you have 1 more semester to go?” Heechul asked.

“Yeah. But I always get jealous. Haven’t you guys seen what Siwon updates on his SNS? He’s traveling everywhere.”

“He’s rich, he can afford to travel,” Hyukjae commented.

Everyone laughed. It was true.

“Are we going for a third round of meat? I’m going to start ordering some of the stews they have,” Ryeowook said.

Everyone agreed.
Hyukjae was trying to hold back on drinking a lot of beer since he noticed Donghae glancing at him from time to time. He didn’t want him to worry. But by the recent events that have happened, Hyukjae could drink a pitcher by himself.
Kyuhyun put a couple of assorted meats and dumplings on Donghae’s plate. “You gotta try the dumplings hyung. I get them every time,” he said excitedly.
Donghae laughed and tried one. “Wow, this is good, Kyu.”
Hyukjae leaned in towards Donghae, “Can I try?”

“Get lost hyung, it’s for Donghae hyung,” Kyuhyun teased.

Donghae laughed. He picked the other dumpling with his chopsticks up and fed it to Hyukjae.

“Thanks baby,” he let slip.

In this time, they both froze, Kyuhyun shouted “What??” and now everyone’s attention was on them.

“Called it,” Kyuhyun commented.

“Wait…when did this happen?” Heechul demanded.

“A-almost 5 months ago,” mumbles Hyukjae. Him and his mouth.