The first time Donghae saw Hyukjae sitting on the bed staring into space, he immediately thought something bad had happened. Even more so when several seconds passed and Hyukjae just sat there, as if in some kind of trance. 

Donghae carefully sat down beside him, waking him up from his reverie.

He held his hand and Hyukjae tilted his head, looking at him. Donghae was unable to hide his concern, it was all over his face.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” 

“Is everything all right?” Donghae's soft, worried voice made him smile. Donghae gulped at the lack of response. “Hyukjae.”

This time, Hyukjae had to laugh. It made sense that Donghae was reacting like that, he would too.

“I'm fine, don't worry.” 

“Are you sure? You looked so serious two seconds ago,” Donghae said with a pout.

Hyukjae laughed, embarrassed. It was the first time he had to explain his silly habit to someone.

“It's something I do to clear my mind. I just... lie around anywhere, thinking about nothing.” 

Donghae frowned.

"Just... you just stop thinking?"

"Yeah, it's easy. As long as I'm somewhere quiet." Donghae nodded, looking at him with a faint smile on his face, not believing him. "It's relaxing," he said defensively. 

From that moment on, Donghae sometimes found his boyfriend sitting in any corner of the room, sometimes he had his eyes closed, sometimes he played with his hands.

Donghae noticed that those moments were more frequent during Hyukjae's busiest days, he probably had so much on his mind that he needed to disconnect from everything for a few minutes.

That morning Donghae woke up and frowned when he didn't see his boyfriend by his side. It was Saturday, Hyukjae usually woke up late on weekends. 

Donghae shifted in bed, looking around to find him. He dropped his weight on the bed when he finally saw him sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall in front of the bed. His eyes were closed. 

Donghae didn't want to disturb him, it was his free time and it somehow relieved him to know that Hyukjae wouldn't spend his entire weekend watching TV. Moreover, he found his ability to disconnect from the world, even for five minutes, fascinating. 

Donghae wondered how it felt, what went through Hyukjae's mind when he sat staring at nothing.

Donghae had other ways to distract himself like going to the gym or for a run. He didn't quite understand the method, but it worked for Hyukjae so he didn't really question it so much. 

Sometimes he felt like his boyfriend's hair a little while he was there, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek, anything. Should he do it? He wouldn't want to interrupt Hyukjae’s moment of peace. But he looked so calm and huggable. 

Donghae lay there for a few minutes, stretching his body, busying himself with his phone.

He took a picture of his boyfriend and even got to record a video of him with a cute bunny filter, he'd send them to him later. 

At some point he really needed to go to the bathroom. He got up as quietly as he could and walked around the bed to leave the room, walking past Hyukjae on the way.

When he came out of the bathroom, he decided to go have some breakfast, but he needed his glasses first. He went back to the room to get his glasses and tried to leave quickly, when he heard a soft voice calling him.

“Hae?”

Hyukjae stretched out his hand, urging him to come closer. Donghae entered the room and walked to his boyfriend, Hyukjae grabbed his wrist.  Donghae sat beside him on the floor and Hyukjae leaned on his shoulder.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“How was your space-out session?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Hyukjae laughed.

“It was okay.”