Donghae awoke the next morning and found that he was in Eunhyuk’s bed. The merman smiled at the blonde before getting up and heading into the kitchen. Eunhyuk had officially helped Donghae learn how to walk on his legs to their fullest potential and now the brunette had trained himself to be able to stay out of water much longer so he could spend more time with Eunhyuk. Since it was Christmas morning, Donghae wanted to do something extra special for Eunhyuk. Donghae had watched Eunhyuk cook a lot in the past few weeks, so he figured he could make something nice.

          He reached into the refrigerator and pulled out some eggs and bacon. “Maybe he’ll like if I make him breakfast,” Donghae said to himself.

          The brunette got a frying pan and placed it on the stove before turning on the heat and adding some bacon to the hot pan. Donghae reached for a spatula and flipped over the slices, but jumped back suddenly when the grease began to spit and crack at him. The merman grabbed his arm as some grease splashed onto his skin. He fell down to the floor and gripped his head. “Eunhyuk, Eunhyuk!” Donghae yelled when the bacon kept sizzling and spitting grease.

          From inside his bedroom, Eunhyuk heard Donghae call for him. “Donghae?” he asked as he sat up.

          “Eunhyuk hurry,” Donghae requested.

          The blonde jumped up from his bed and hurried into the kitchen to find Donghae curled up in a ball out of reach of the stove. Eunhyuk quickly turned off the stove and took the pan off of the burner and placed it on a cooler side. “Donghae, what happened?” Eunhyuk asked as he knelt down next to the brunette.

          “The food bit me,” Donghae replied.

          “The food bit you?” Eunhyuk repeated, in a confused tone.

          “Yeah, see,” Donghae said as he showed Eunhyuk the spot on his arm where the grease had burned him.

          “Ooh, we need to get some ice on that,” Eunhyuk suggested as he took Donghae’s arm and helped him stand up. Eunhyuk took him over to the table and sat him down before retrieving some ice from the freezer. “What were you trying to do Donghae?”

          “I was trying to cook you breakfast to show you how appreciative I was, but I guess I turned the heat up too much,” Donghae explained as Eunhyuk wrapped some ice in a washcloth and gently rubbed it against the red mark on his skin.

          “Well thank you for putting forth the effort to cook, that was a very sweet gesture,” Eunhyuk replied.

          “Ow,” Donghae winced as he felt the cold washcloth against his skin.

          “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Eunhyuk apologized.

          “It’s okay, I’m sorry I burned your food,” Donghae responded.

          Eunhyuk smirked before standing up and picking up a piece of the black, charred bacon. “Hey I like my bacon extra crunchy, so this is really good,” he promised as he took a bite. “Correction, this is perfect.”

          Donghae smiled before Eunhyuk pressed the cold washcloth against his burn again. “You take such good care of me, and I feel like I do nothing for you,” he muttered.

          “No Donghae, you do a lot for me. You talk to me, keep me company, you’re very entertaining, it’s just so nice to have someone like you around,” Eunhyuk replied.

          “But because of me, you don’t have a boyfriend anymore,” Donghae reminded.

          “Hey, let’s not bring that up now, it’s Christmas, so let’s just enjoy the day,” Eunhyuk suggested.

          “Can we go swimming in that indoor pool?” Donghae asked.

          “Sure, we can go swimming, I can try out the new floaties you got for me,” Eunhyuk agreed.

          The blonde drove them over to his gym and let them both into the indoor pool facility. Since it was Christmas day, the place was deserted so Donghae and Eunhyuk had the place all to themselves. Donghae stripped himself before jumping into the deep water, feeling his tail reforming as he swam deeper into the warm water. Eunhyuk blew up his floaties and placed them on his arms before looking at Donghae. “You gonna jump in or what?” the merman questioned.

          “I hope these work,” Eunhyuk said.

          “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here,” Donghae reminded. “C’mon, jump in.”

          “Okay,” Eunhyuk replied before jumping into the pool.

          He quickly resurfaced and kicked his legs rapidly. “Just relax, don’t fight the water, let it move with you,” Donghae muttered as he took Eunhyuk’s hands and moved him around the pool. “I’m gonna go get us some clean towels, so I’ll be right back.”

          “Alright, hurry back,” Eunhyuk requested as Donghae heaved himself out of the pool and walked into the next room to retrieve them some towels.

          Eunhyuk moved over to the shallow end of the pool, and took his floaties off. He lay down on top of the water and spread his arms out, floating around peacefully. The blonde didn’t realize just how far into the deep end he had floated, and when he finally did realize, he panicked and began to sink into the water. “Donghae!” he screamed before his head was underwater. The blonde flailed his arms and kicked his legs rapidly, but sunk deeper into the water.

          “Okay Eunhyuk, I got us some –” Donghae started as he reentered the room. He looked and saw his friend underwater. “Eunhyuk!” he yelled before dropping the towels and jumping into the water, zooming over to his friend. He grabbed Eunhyuk’s hand and pulled him to the shallow end to the pool steps and held the unconscious blonde in his arms. “Eunhyuk, Eunhyuk wake up, c’mon wake up,” Donghae muttered as he shook Eunhyuk and gently slapped at his face.

          Donghae panted, he was starting to get nervous, because Eunhyuk wasn’t waking up. The merman took the blonde’s face in his hands and quickly placed a kiss on his lips. He kept his lips atop of Eunhyuk’s until he heard his friend begin to cough. Eunhyuk choked out water as Donghae gently hit his back. “You okay?” Donghae asked quietly as he brushed Eunhyuk’s wet bangs out of his eyes.

          “Yeah, thanks,” Eunhyuk replied. “How’d you manage to wake me up? I didn’t even feel any CPR or anything.”

          “That’s not important,” Donghae muttered. “What is important is that you’re okay. You should know better than to swim without your floaties on until you’ve practiced some more.”

          “You’re right, my bad,” Eunhyuk said.

          “I’m serious Eunhyuk,” Donghae scolded. “You scared me, and I could’ve lost you.”

          The two were silent for a minute before Eunhyuk placed a hand on the merman’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” he whispered. “C’mon, let’s go home, and I’ll make you a nice hot cup of coffee. Would you like that?” Donghae nodded. “Okay, let’s go do that.” Donghae remained quiet the whole ride home. He just looked out the window and watched snow gently fall from the clouds over their heads. When they returned to the apartment, Donghae sat down on the couch and gazed at the Christmas tree lights while Eunhyuk prepared some coffee for him. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet ever since we got back,” Eunhyuk said as he handed Donghae a cup of hot coffee.

          “Can we watch a movie?” Donghae quietly requested.

          “Sure, which one would you like to see?” Eunhyuk wondered as he stood and walked over to the TV.

          “Titanic,” Donghae replied.

          “Alright,” Eunhyuk agreed as he popped in the DVD and sat back down on the couch next to Donghae.

          The two were about a fourth of the way through the movie, when Donghae asked “Could you pause it for a minute?”

          Eunhyuk did as he was asked before wondering “What’s wrong?”

          “I want to do what they’re doing,” Donghae said as he looked at Eunhyuk.

          “You wanna dance with someone?” the blonde questioned.

          “No, I wanna dance with you,” Donghae clarified as he stood up and pulled Eunhyuk to his feet. “Please?”

          Eunhyuk interlaced his hands with Donghae’s before replying “Sure, I’ll dance with you.”

          Donghae placed his feet on top of Eunhyuk’s and wrapped his arms around his neck while Eunhyuk placed his hands on Donghae’s waist and swayed them back and forth. The merman laid his head on Eunhyuk’s shoulder and leaned his face against the blonde’s neck. “Donghae, are you alright?” Eunhyuk whispered before turning his face down to look at the brunette.

          “You know how I managed to wake you up earlier?” Donghae asked.

          “How?” Eunhyuk wondered.

          “I kissed you,” Donghae stated.

          “I thought merpeople kiss humans to keep them from drowning,” Eunhyuk recalled.

          “We do, but you had so much water in you that you could’ve still drowned ever after I pulled you out, so I kissed you to get some of the water out,” Donghae explained. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

          “Why would you not wanna tell me?” Eunhyuk inquired.

          “Because I’m not supposed to have feelings for you, but I think I do,” Donghae replied.

          A moment of silence passed through the two before Eunhyuk quietly asked “You do?”

          Donghae squeezed his eyes shut so that no tears would escape, and nodded slowly. “Yes,” he whispered.

          Eunhyuk placed a hand underneath Donghae’s chin and lifted his face to his. The blonde leaned their faces together before placing a light kiss on his lips. “I like you too,” he replied.

          The merman leaned forward and kissed Eunhyuk’s lips as wrapped his arms around Eunhyuk again. Pulling away slowly, Donghae buried his face in the blonde’s neck as Eunhyuk kissed the side of his head and run his hands up and down Donghae’s back gently. Eunhyuk placed his fingers on Donghae’s waist and began to slip them underneath Donghae’s t-shirt. The minute he did that, the brunette jumped back quickly. “I can’t,” he muttered.

          “What, what did I do? Did I hurt you?” Eunhyuk wondered as he watched Donghae back away from him.

          “No, I’m sorry, I, I just don’t know if I can do this yet or not,” Donghae whispered before he hurried into the bathroom and locked himself inside. The merman stripped himself and submerged himself into the warm bath water, thinking about what had just happened.

          In the living room, Eunhyuk sighed and felt his heart pound quickly as he sat down on the couch and raked his fingers over his eyes, wiping up the few tears he had. He didn’t know what he should do; Donghae obviously didn’t want to talk to him at the moment, but all Eunhyuk wanted to do was hold Donghae close, and tell him that everything would be okay and that he wanted nothing more than to be with him.