Hyukjae shuffled his feet in the grass, feeling slightly anxious. He looked at his watch, glanced at the gym doors still closed in front of him, and continued shuffling his feet.

At 20 minutes past 3, the doors opened and the students slowly trickled out. A lot of them saw Hyukjae and called out a greeting to him, and he answered back absentmindedly. He craned his neck and was able to spot Kyuhyun's dark locks first.

Hyukjae went up to Kyuhyun and surely enough, Donghae was with him.

"Hi Kyuhyun, hi Donghae." Hyukjae greeted them abruptly. "Donghae, can I talk to you for a minute?" Hyukjae said rapidly, afraid he'd lose what little courage he had.

"Oh, sure." Donghae took it in stride. "See you in our next class, Kyu."

Kyuhyun gave Hyukjae a searching glance before nodding briefly at Donghae.

"What is it? Is there anything wrong?" Donghae asked as they started to walk away from the crowd. Hyukjae led them into a somewhat secluded place in one of the hallways.

"No, it's..." Hyukjae glanced around them to check if there was anyone near them. Seeing no one, he continued. "It's about me touching you inappropriately." Hyukjae's eyes glanced at Donghae, and they stayed there. He hadn't been able to properly look at Donghae earlier as he was too nervous, but now he was. Looking properly, that is.

Hyukjae's gaze started from the bottom of Donghae's shirt and moved up, taking in the unmade three buttons at the top. His collarbones were on full display, and it was slightly damp. Hyukjae realized with a start that Donghae probably just had a shower right after their gym class.

Staring a little at the exposed collarbones, Hyukjae felt himself stepping a little more closer to Donghae. He could feel the familiar blankness overtaking his mind that he associated to being around Donghae, and he felt powerless to stop it.

Hyukjae was unaware of what happened on the next moment, but when he came to, he found himself Donghae's collarbone gently.

Feeling terror washing through him, Hyukjae flexed his hands and found them holding Donghae's shoulder.

Hyukjae snapped.

"That's why!" he screeched, using his hands to slightly push Donghae. "The next time I try something like this, try to touch you or take advantage of you, you have to stop me!" Hyukjae could feel his face and neck turning a deep, deep red. "And I'm really really really sorry for this time too." he said, bowing his head lower and lower.

Hearing a chuckle from the guy in front of him, Hyukjae looked up at Donghae, slightly surprised.

Was Donghae laughing at him?

"It's fine, Hyukjae. I forgive you this time too. And no, I'm not laughing at you, and yes, I'll try to stop you next time." Donghae grinned at him, and with their faces so close, Hyukjae could feel himself losing it again.

Hyukjae could feel himself leaning towards Donghae, all previous thoughts forgotten, his mind going blank again.

However, he was suddenly stopped short by a warm hand covering his lips.

"Like this, right?" Donghae's eyes lit up with merriment, hand gently saving Hyukjae from another embarrassing episode.

Hyukjae nodded vigorously and Donghae took his hand away.

"Thank you Donghae!" Hyukjae grinned widely at Donghae, who immediately returned his smile.

"Oh, and we better go. We can't have you getting late for your next class." Hyukjae said energetically. His little mission was a success!

Hyukjae ended up accompanying Donghae to his next class despite the latter's protests, and Hyukjae thoroughly enjoyed their lighthearted banter as they walked toward the classrooms. He made sure to keep a little distance between them, just to keep Donghae sa- err, just to keep things safe.

Standing outside of their classroom was Kyuhyun, and Hyukjae greeted him happily. Kyuhyun smiled at him in response, and Hyukjae went on his merry way.

As he was walking away, he heard Kyuhyun ask, "So what did you two talk about?"

Hyukjae wanted to linger to hear Donghae's answer but the bell then rang throughout the school, signaling the start of their new class. Cursing, Hyukjae hurried on to his next class.

~*~

"Junsu, you have got to stop worrying about Yoochun. He's not gonna cheat on you with some random American girl. Or guy." Hyukjae said patiently. He was currently wandering around aimlessly on the school with Junsu a