Today was the one-year horror. Hyukjae felt the tension. He knew it wasn’t even directed towards him. But he still felt it.
Donghae had called out of work to which Hyukjae couldn’t blame him. He was already on edge from this morning. He didn’t need an stress while he was at work. He was a lot more sensitive than Hyukjae calculated too. He even tried to send him back to his own apartment in case he wanted to be alone. And Donghae snapped. He accused Hyukjae of not wanting him either. Why would he? He felt absolutely disgusting on this day.
In the back of Donghae’s mind, he knew it wasn’t Hyukjae’s fault, but there were too many emotions overwhelming him that he ended up getting frustrated about what he was feeling. He didn’t say anything as he got up and went to the bathroom to have a breakdown. He didn’t want to be disturbed.
Hyukjae knew Donghae couldn’t control his overreactions so he didn’t argue. He just calmly reassured him he wouldn’t leave Donghae. He let Donghae go into the bathroom to be by himself for a bit but would knock on the door once he started hearing whimpering from the inside. Hyukjae refused to let Donghae go through any of this alone. He already dealt with enough alone.

“Donghae I’m going to come in, ok?” Hyukjae said as he knocked on the door. He waited two seconds before turning the door-knob.

When he opened the door, he found his boyfriend sitting on the floor, against the bathtub. Donghae was hugging his knees while his head was buried between them. His shoulders would move up and down from time to time, followed by some sniffs.
Hyukjae knelt in front of the younger, making sure he placed enough distance between them so Donghae wouldn’t feel suffocated.

“Hey,” Hyukjae said quietly.

Donghae slowly peeked up at his boyfriend.
Hyukjae extended his hand towards him.
Donghae hesitated at first but slowly placed his hand in Hyukjae’s. Hyukjae then guided Donghae to stand up and pulled him to the living room. He wasn’t sure if they should sit or not so they ended up just being in the middle of the room, close to the couch.

Hyukjae still made sure there was space between him and Donghae before speaking, “We don’t have to talk about it. But I’m not going to let you deal with anything by yourself, okay?”

Donghae stared at Hyukjae for a good minute, “W-why’re you doing this?”

He just snapped at Hyukjae and he still didn’t retaliate. He didn’t tell Donghae he wanted to break up because what Donghae carries is just too burdensome. Or that he was tired of being woken up from Donghae’s nightmares the past week. Nothing.

“I don’t want you to deal with this alone. We’re together so we share each other’s burdens. Are you okay with that?”

Donghae felt his eyes water. Apart of him was hoping Hyukjae would say that while the other wanted Hyukjae to walk away. Hyukjae was such a good person who deserved to be with someone who wasn’t soiled against their will. But Donghae also knew either way, he didn’t think he could handle Hyukjae rejecting him if the older chose to walk away.

“Don’t cry, baby. I just want you to know you’re not alone. Not anymore,” Hyukjae said softly as he used a part of his long sleeve to wipe Donghae’s fallen tears.

“I’m sorry,” Donghae whispered. One of his hands quickly gripped Hyukjae’s sleeve.

“Why are you sorry?” Hyukjae asked.

Donghae quickly let go of Hyukjae’s sleeve and wrapped his arms around Hyukjae’s neck. He didn’t want to let go.
He felt the older wrap his arms around his waist.
They stayed that way for a while before they both reluctantly let go.

“Let’s make a deal,” Donghae finally said.

Hyukjae looked at him curiously.

“I’m going to try my best to slowly heal from this. But from now on, let’s just make happy memories.”

Hyukjae gave a small smile and nodded, “I’m ok with that.”

And from then on, although the nightmares still pursued Donghae from time to time, he knew they would disappear soon. They always did. He was still scared of them but knowing that Hyukjae was by his side, was comforting.
Donghae really tried his best to close the sad chapters in his life. Some days were easier than others but Hyukjae was always there for him.
Donghae had eventually quit the café. Although it was his and Hyukjae’s favorite place to go, mostly due to sentimental value and them meeting there for the first time, he had to quit. He found out Seunghyun was snooping around. And between the two, it made Hyukjae upset the most. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why that piece of trash was trying to and trying to find out about Donghae’s whereabouts. He and Donghae tended to argue about the topic too. Hyukjae made no promises to not kick his and he even got Kyuhyun on board once he showed him what he looked like. Donghae was the opposite. He didn’t want trouble nor did he like the idea of his friend and boyfriend getting arrested for randomly assaulting THAT guy. Whether he deserved it or not.
And thanks to Henry, he was able to help Donghae get into the music company he was at. Music was what Donghae was studying in school anyway, so getting into this company helped with him gaining experience. Henry even reassured him, but mostly Hyukjae, that you needed a specific badge to enter the building. So, if Trash ever snooped around again, he wouldn’t be able to get into the building.
Not only did the company pay better but the work hours were more flexible, especially since he was just an entrance level associate. One of managers that hired him really took a liking to Donghae and saw potential in his artistic ability (minus the fact that Henry would build up a great expectation about his hyung to his supervisors). So Donghae and his manager made a deal: Donghae would finish his schooling up, majoring in music composition and theory, and his manager was going to give him a recommendation for a better position. Luckily, the manager that liked Donghae held some power within the company. So odds were high.
But overall, Donghae was a lot happier there. Plus, he and Hyukjae were able to spend more time together on the weekends.
His life was slowly falling into place.
 

Donghae was still going back and forth between his and Hyukjae’s apartment. Henry wasn’t too lonely though, since Heechul was an added roommate. Heechul eventually took Donghae’s room and Donghae opted for the couch when he did go home.

“Hyung, can’t you just ask Donghae to move in with you? He told me he’d eventually put my name under the apartment,” Henry told Hyukjae. They were both at Donghae and Henry’s apartment.

“I want it to be a special moment. So give me some time to think,” Hyukjae scowled at Henry. Henry kept bringing it up.

Honestly, the amount of time Donghae had spent sleeping over his apartment, it made more sense to move in. But Hyukjae didn’t want to rush into it, especially since the couple weren’t together for that long.

“Well hurry up. Heechul hyung keeps bugging me about it AND he wants to officially move all his stuff in.”

“Well he’s going to have to wait.”

Silence.
Hyukjae could feel Henry’s eyes on him as he continued to skim through his book he was supposed to reading for school. He finally looked up, closed his book, and gave Henry his full attention. “I’m going to ask Donghae eventually.”

“That’s not it.”

Hyukjae looked at his younger friend curiously.
Henry sighed before speaking, “If I tell you, don’t get mad. And don’t tell Donghae hyung.”

“What?”

“Me and Kyuhyun were at the café last week. And y’know Kibum hyung?”

“Yeah?” Hyukjae wasn’t sure if he liked where this was going.

“Kibum hyung informed us that a tall handsome but suspicious guy came back and inquired about Donghae hyung AGAIN.”

"WHAT?” Hyukjae yelled. He automatically stood up from the couch he was sitting on and he felt overwhelmed with hatred for the sleazeball that just wouldn’t let up.

Henry flinched a bit, “Y-yeah. So I took my phone out and showed him a picture. He confirmed it was the same guy. But the guy didn’t