Title from Taylor Swift's Stay, stay, stay

I wanted to thank you all with another chapter. Because of your support for this story , it got featured!!!!! I could not believe it! So thank you all so, so much! This is much shorter in comparison to the previous chapters but it is just an epilogue really so hope you will enjoy it! ^^

Thank you to anyone who posted on my wall, sent me a friend request, left me a comment or messaged me , and upvoters (without you, it would never have gotten a gold star) :) And thank you Dhenia for giving me lots of encouragement and saying so many good things about this story! So happy reading ~

Donghae's POV also ^^

Donghae groaned tiredly into a tuft of white-blonde hair, the light scent of artificial strawberries from the hair shampoo slowly, sweetly, waking him up from his deep sleep. Donghae could tell even with his eyes still firmly closed that the other was awake. He simply knew from the slightly uneven breathing, the tenseness in his muscles and the occasional shifting on the bed. Sighing in content, he tightened his arms around Hyukjae’s thin frame and brought his body closer to press against his.

“Donghae…” Hyukjae mumbled quietly. Donghae wasn’t actually sure whether Hyukjae knew if he was awake or not, but he found it adorable how he wriggled as he tried to turn around in Donghae’s tight embrace. “It’s too hot,” he grumbled and squirmed harder.

Donghae almost snorted. It was winter. Seoul was minus who-knows degrees and each day was tackled with thick gloves and long jeans with heavily padded jumpers. Unfortunately, Hyukjae had somehow been bundled up securely in three or so layers of warm blankets and was not needing an extra source of body heat. Donghae, since he was a kid, loved to snuggle with other people at night, but Hyukjae did not. Hyukjae would cuddle with him for the first ten or fifteen minutes when they went to bed, but after a while he’d get fidgety, forcing Donghae to release him from his arms. Then, they’d fall asleep with their fingers threaded together, resting on Hyukjae’s stomach; Donghae’s free arm would slide in the small space between the bed and Hyukjae’s neck, created by the height of the pillow, and Hyukjae’s hand that was always underneath it. The blonde always liked to sleep with one hand underneath his pillow. It was a small detail that Donghae found endearing, like he did with most things related to Hyukjae.

Deciding to let the dancer know he was up, Donghae pressed a kiss against the nape of his neck, effectively making the other pause his movements.

“Good morning,” he whispered, his voice still a bit cracked and raspy from sleep. He loosened his grip as Hyukjae kicked off the first layer of blankets and faced him, a wide smile plastered on his face, not a sign of sleepiness remaining in his almond eyes.

“Morning,” he replied cheerfully and leaned in to give Donghae’s lips a small peck, ignoring their morning breaths.

Donghae smiled and reached up to tangle a hand in his long strands, wondering how he managed to keep his hair so soft and silky despite the countless amount of times he had to bleach his hair to get it to the colour it was now. “What time is it?” he yawned and stretched his arms above his head, his knuckles hitting the headboard painfully like they did almost every morning – he just never learned. Scowling at the impact and rubbing his hands together, he sat up to lean against the pillows that had been propped up, carefully minding the posture of his back as he had hurt it the previous game.

Hyukjae reached for his phone, long fingers curling around the device that was cool to the touch. “It’s almost eight-thirty.”

“I guess we better get up then,” Donghae sighed and as he sat up, some of the blanket slipped and exposed his body to the cold air. He shivered and tugged the blanket back up. “Have you finished packing?”

“Mostly. I just have some toiletries but I have to do that after breakfast,” Hyukjae replied as he too got up, reaching for his long, wool jumper that he always remembered to fold beside the bed so he could slip into it straight away.

“Hyuk…”

“I know, I know,” Hyukjae chuckled and got up, heading quickly for the closet. He pulled out Donghae’s favourite hoodie and threw it to the brunet who was shielding himself from the chill. “I’ll make breakfast. You. Up.”

Donghae reached for the hoodie and hurriedly put it on, answering Hyukjae’s command with a mock salute. Then he very, very slowly got up. He was not really a morning person, but then again he wasn’t really a night person either. He liked to declare himself a day person. He heard the patter of paws quickly approaching, as well as the dangle of the collar, and Bada came into his room, dark eyes shining as he saw Donghae, contrasting with his snowy white fur.

“Hey buddy,” Donghae crouched down to give him a few cuddles and kisses before making his way into the bathroom to wash his face. The terrier bounded away, most likely to go beg Hyukjae for bits of their breakfast even if he had a perfectly fine bowl of proper dog food.

As Donghae stood in front of the sink, he noticed Hyukjae had already neatly packed their toothbrushes, razors and face wash into plastic organisers that were just waiting to be zipped up. Hoping he didn’t make too much of a mess, Donghae reached for the shaving cream and razor, having to shift a few items, and proceeded to do his morning routine. He really should have taken a mental photo, or maybe even a physical one, of the way Hyukjae packed it because no matter how hard he tried, the items just wouldn’t fit back in perfectly as they had before.

“Oh crap,” Donghae muttered, scratching his neck and wondering how the heck Hyukjae had done it. “Wasn’t the razor here and the…”

“Hae? What’s taking you so long?” Hyukjae’s voice travelled closer and he appeared at the doorway with a smile.

Aish… Donghae gave a nervous laugh. Hyukjae hated whenever he went and messed up something he had taken his time to do. Since the other had moved in, his house was so well organised it kind of scared him – it pleased his housekeeper though. However, even so, it still had that touch of disorganised mess that made the place look homey and lived in, and there was something about that clutter that was very Donghae, if he didn’t say so himself. “Well, I used the stuff and… this happened.”

A frown began to appear on Hyukjae’s face.

“Donghae,” Hyukjae gave a small sigh and walked to him, motioning for him to get out of the way. He turned and raised an eyebrow disapprovingly when he saw the messy, jumbled arrangement Donghae had created. “Really?”

“Sorry,” Donghae pecked his cheek, smacking his lips extra loud as Hyukjae tried to supress the grin on his face.

“Go get some breakfast,” Hyukjae laughed as his quick hands fixed the clutter.

Donghae sometimes wondered how on earth he had coped before without Hyukjae. He turned to leave but stopped a few seconds later and gave Hyukjae his boyish smile. “So, just one day left.”

Hyukjae matched his smile with excitement and anticipation shining in his brown eyes as he stacked the organisers together to the back of the vanity. “Yeah.”

“You’re going to look so good," Donghae started as he pretended to imagine what it would look like, "standing under that arch of flowers as the priest declares –”

Hyukjae sighed and playfully slapped Donghae’s shoulder, pushing him out of the bathroom and towards the stairs. “We’re not the ones getting married!”

Donghae cooed at the pink spreading across Hyukjae’s pale cheeks, knowing he had an opportunity to further tease the other by pointing out that Hyukjae implied he would marry Donghae, but decided to stay quiet and save it for another time.

Falling in love, Donghae realised, was quite terrifying. When he had been in love with Kibum, he felt like he had a safety net – the notion that they were best friends since forever, the ‘anything you do, I will do too’ kind of friends. That wasn’t to say that they couldn’t hurt each other, but their relationship, or at least Donghae had felt, had a layer of security. It’s not something tangible, just a sense that he had. He simply knew he didn’t initially have it with Hyukjae. Hyukjae was a different case entirely.

Almost a year together and Donghae still made discoveries about him each day, like how Hyukjae dislikes it when the duvet inside the sheet isn’t evenly fitted or how he always grins at silly kid jokes that most adults wouldn’t find funny. Donghae found those aspects of him adorable.

 “Hey, what are you daydreaming about?” Hyukjae nudged him lightly, looking amused.

“About you, of course,” Donghae replied swiftly, earning himself another blush and a roll of the eyes.

Hyukjae grabbed his hand and dragged him from the bathroom.

“Thank you, Hyukjae, you didn’t have to!” Ryeowook exclaimed as he took the neatly wrapped box of chocolates, adorned with a decorative bow on top.

Donghae leaned against the door frame, eyebrows furrowing together. “How do you know that wasn’t my idea?”

Ryeowook blinked and then laughed. “Sorry, thank you as well Donghae! Only, Yesung told me that you’re thank you gift to him was you letting him score all the goals last week.”

“Ah. Yeah it was,” Donghae rubbed the back of his neck with a smile.

Hyukjae, who was holding the excited white terrier in his arms, placed him on the floor and coaxed him into Ryeowook and Yesung’s house. Bada instantly had his nose to the ground and was sniffing his new surroundings, wagging his tail so fast it became a blur.

“He’s house trained,” Hyukjae smiled and thanked Ryeowook again for minding Bada as they left for a few days.

“It’s fine! He’s stayed here before with us anyway,” Ryeowook grinned after giving Donghae a knowing look. Donghae laughed into his palm. “Have fun! Say congratulations to your sister for me.”

Hyukjae said he would before he turned back to Donghae, wondering if he wanted to say anything. Dongahe didn’t have anything in particular, so he quickly reinformed Ryeowook of Bada’s feeding times, play habits, walking duration, and any allergies he had. After Ryeowook wrote everything down in case he forgot, Donghae bent down and snapped his fingers a few time, getting the attention of Bada who came bounding back. “Bye baby, daddy’s going to miss you.”

Hyukjae crouched down also and gave the terrier a few, affectionate pats. Donghae wasn’t exactly sure what the reason was, but he loved seeing Hyukjae and Bada cuddle up and share hugs – each time he wanted to just capture the scene in his mind. Hyukjae placed a kiss on Bada’s fluffy head, “Be good, okay? Aw, you’re so cute,” he scratched behind his ears, the dog tilting his head in satisfaction. “I’ll see you in a few days. I’ll bring back treats for you.”

They thanked Ryeowook one more time before heading back to the parked car. Donghae always felt a bit guilty leaving Bada with other people; luckily, Bada was a friendly dog and got along with most people.

“I hope he doesn’t go after their turtles again…” Donghae murmured as he thought back to the last time he had asked them to watch over his dog. Donghae hadn’t been there, obviously, so he had no idea how much Bada went after them, but Yesung sulked later and said he could never have Bada stay there again. The turtles didn’t die, but Yesung had been in shock (according to Ryeowook). However, after a few hours of pleading, the other had relented and agreed to watch over Bada again.

As they got back into the car, Hyukjae gave Donghae a cautionary look. “Are you right to drive again?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Donghae asked, confused, as he twirled the keyring around his finger, the metal keys making a jumble of clashing sounds.

“Your back,” Hyukjae mumbled, eyes showing nothing but concern. “You shouldn’t have pushed it the last game. I told you to tell Leeteuk you were injured!”

Donghae chuckled as he started the engine of the car and twisted slightly awkwardly in his seat as he reversed out. One hand supported himself on the back of Hyukjae’s chair, and the other rested on the wheel. Some dull pain was caused by the movement, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He had the injury checked out earlier and was just told to rest it and limit physical activity, which he childishly had not obeyed. “I’m fine, Hyuk. It wasn’t a very intense game anyway.”

“If it wasn’t intense you shouldn’t have played,” Hyukjae sighed.

“Okay, okay,” Donghae said and changed the car back into normal drive, “I’ll take the next game off if I can.”

“Thank you,” Hyukjae replied, a smile already on his lips.

Donghae knew that injury came with almost every sport, and there was no way to avoid it. He had suffered his fair share of fractures and sprains. However, he just tried not to think about it too much, and rather focus on playing the game well. He knew Hyukjae got nervous sometimes when he came to watch him play, afraid he’d see something horrible happen to him right in front of his eyes. Donghae obviously couldn’t guarantee him he’d be okay, but he comforted him the best he coul