The idea of a double date came out naturally. They avoided the topic of each other love lives to the point it became ridiculous, but Hyukjae knew they couldn’t dismiss it forever. Then one day Donghae brought the news about his new project that involved him finally doing the field work (aka he was going to travel and being paid for it) and they decided to celebrate. And then Minho came up. And Jihye kind of came up too.

She wasn’t Hyukjae’s girlfriend, but they were kind of dating. He couldn’t deny that their encounters weren’t strictly friend-like and that they met more than any other casual friends would have. They were getting there and Hyukjae felt comfortable that they weren’t in rush.

“Let’s go out,” Donghae proposed. “The sushi place near your school?”

“It’s expensive,” Hyukjae pouted, but only needed a little push since his mouth was already watering at the thought.

“We deserve it,” Donghae stated.

Hyukjae didn’t argue.

-

The food was amazing and the drinks were amazing. And everything really was spot on. Donghae was in an excellent mood, Minho got along with Jihye, who was looking really pretty and acting more than appropriate.

They talked, they laughed and everything was going so smoothly that Hyukjae wondered why they hadn’t made it regular thing before.

“You guys are incredible,” Jihye said over the table, pointing between Hyukjae and Donghae. “Being so cool with your relationship. It’s something really special, what you have.”

“Don’t flatter him too much,” Donghae laughed and nodded at Hyukjae. “He is already too full of himself.”

“Shut up!” Hyukjae threw a napkin at him. “Like you are any better! I’m not the one who takes bazillion selcas of his six pack in front of a mirror!”

Donghae laughed and made a move like he was about stand up and punch Hyukjae, but Minho playfully held him down. “Don’t worry baby,” he cooed. “I love your six pack.”

Donghae turned to him and smiled when Minho put an arm around his shoulders, his face mockingly proud.

“You look really good together,” Jihye commented, her voice more soft and serious. “I guess, the number doesn’t determinate true love.”

She smiled up at Hyukjae and for some reason he felt quite uneasy about this situation. He glanced at Donghae who just at the same moment decided to go all lovely at Minho and kissed him right in the mouth.

 The evening suddenly didn’t feel so amazing anymore.

-

The night was bright with the fool moon and the air was warm. Hyukjae usually loved spring – it had the most invigorating atmosphere of all seasons – and he loved late night walks. Somehow, he didn’t feel that right then.

“You aren’t happy,” Jihye said.

Hyukjae looked at her, puzzled.

“With Donghae,” she continued, and before he could say anything, she added,” With the relationship you guys have.”

They were going by the river and she stopped, turning to face him. “I can see this from here, and believe me, I’d rather not.”

“What makes you to think that?” he asked.

He thought they had a romantic walk after being on a date. He couldn’t understand why she was talking about Donghae.

“I saw how you look at him,” she said, smiling. “Do you even know how you feel about him?”

“We are soulmates,” Hyukjae said the first thing that came to his mind.

“That’s huge. Do you even know what that means?”

Hyukjae wondered if Jihye knew. She didn’t have her match yet and Hyukjae thought about the expectations he had for his match before.

“Does anybody?” he asked back. “People fall in love with their soulmates and it’s always natural. But maybe it isn’t always the case. Minho doesn’t have a match and he fell for Donghae. I fell in love countless times before. Maybe the number doesn’t mean anything.”

“But it does to you,” she said, turning her face to look at the water. “I know you try very hard to make it work between us, but it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because of the number, and maybe because it’s because you love Donghae.”

“Of course I love him,” he said. “But we can’t be everything. I’m not…”

“What?” she asked, throwing him a mysterious gaze.

“I’m not ready.”

She nodded. “He has more patience for you that I could ever have.” She smiled, touching her own wrist over the number. “I still believe in this.”

-

“Hyukjae?”

He opened his eyes and felt sand behind his eyelids. He couldn’t sleep.

“Come here,” Donghae murmured into the darkness. “This side of the room is better.”

Without questioning, Hyukjae got up and paddled  silently to Donghae’s bed.

“Under,” Donghae said, holding up his quilt.

Hyukjae slid under the covers and around Donghae. With his face in the crook of Donghae’s neck, he felt his eyes resting at last.

“Good night,” Donghae whispered.

“Good night, Donghae,” he whispered back.

-

The moment he opened his eyes, he felt different. He couldn’t pinpoint the sensation but it was there.

Donghae’s sheets smelled of warm cotton and cleanness. He purred contently into them. His sleepy mind played colorful half-dreams behind his eyelids for a while and in result, he didn’t know if he stayed like this for few minutes or for an hour.

When he got up is was because of the smell of coffee. He followed it to the kitchen, finding there Donghae who was ordering things around the kitchen counter. He wore his pajamas, his hair was sticking out all over, and he was framed by the morning light. Something about the sight stopped Hyukjae’s breath.

“Oh, you are up?” Donghae smiled over his shoulder. “The coffee is ready.”

“I know,” Hyukjae said quietly, and in all his groggy glory, he walked to Donghae and hugged him from behind.

“Hi there,” Donghae laughed lightly without turning around.

“Hi yourself,” Hyukjae murmured. He closed his eyes, taking the warmth of Donghae’s body and putting more pressure onto his soulmate. He had no plans of letting go.

“You need to wait for the breakfast a little longer.” Donghae didn’t seem to be bothered by this morning affection. In fact, he continued his action with Hyukjae plastered to his back with impressive effectiveness.

Hyukjae stayed like this for the whole process, burying his face in Donghae’s neck. He missed mornings like this – those simple things they made together. He missed talking and no talking, he missed eating breakfast together, he missed Donghae’s closeness.

He almost forgot how nice was being close to Donghae – the support of his touch, his gentle moves and smiles that always kept him calm, his warmth. He was stealing it right then, drawing comfort from Donghae’s body. His hands on Donghae’s soft stomach and his lips at Donghae’s neck… 

“Um, Hyukjae..?” He didn’t realize Donghae stopped moving until he spoke. “What are you doing?”

Hyukjae opened his eyes and realized with sobering jolt the exact position they were in. He had his hands under Donghae’s t-shirt and he was… kissing his neck.

“I-I-I—”he stuttered incoherently, backing away quickly. “No. N-nothing. Just. No.”

“Okay?” Donghae stepped to him.

“It was nothing, I’m sorry, I just.. I don’t know, I think I fell asleep or something. I’m really sorry. Didn’t mean to do it.” Hyukjae’s voice was shaking.

In fact, he was shaking all over.

There was a pause from Donghae, but Hyukjae couldn’t tell what was going on because he refused to look at him.

“I just…” Donghae voice sounded farther away. “I can’t believe you.” It was more like a murmur but Hyukjae heard him.

“I’m sorry,” Hyukjae forced himself to look up. Donghae was in the opposite side of the kitchen, his back facing Hyukjae again but this time it was tense and unmoving.

“You keep saying that,” Donghae finally spoke.

“I mean it! I don’t want you to get the wrong idea or--”

“You keep saying that but  it means less and less to me.” Donghae sprung around, his face serious. “Look, I try to be patient with you, I really do. I do everything like you want. You want us living together – great. You want to kiss me – I let you. You want to keep it at friendship – fine with me. You want us seeing other people – done. But I can’t deal with you coming back to me and testing your feelings on me all the time! I’m not a ing toy!”

Hyukjae stilled under the outburst. With wide eyes, he was watching Donghae being angry at him for the first time. He was speechless.

“This isn’t going to work out,” Donghae shook his head. “You don’t even know what you want. You don’t want us together, then you act like you do. You got a girlfriend, but you are jealous of my boyfriend and you kiss me, but right after  you say it doesn’t matter. You act like everything between us is just a game and you play it whenever it feels convenient to you. How does that supposed to make me feel?!”

“It’s not something I wanted or planned, okay?!” Hyukjae finally shouted. “Please, don’t be like that. I never meant to hurt you, I swear, but it’s so hard for me! You don’t know how it is to discover your soulmate being the opposite to the one you’ve been attracted to your whole life! You don’t know how it is to be confused about your soulmate all the time! I want to love you, I swear to god, but it’s just ing hard!”

Donghae opened his mouth but nothing came out. The silence suddenly felt like darkness.

“It’s hard for you, huh?” Donghae smiled bitterly. “Yeah, I guess I really can’t understand you since loving you was the easiest thing ever happened to me.”

“Don’t twist my words. You are not hard to love! In fact, you are too easy to love and that’s what makes it difficult!” Hyukjae breathed harshly, preparing another comeback to explain everything to Donghae, but the latter just looked at him with sadness, pain coloring his face.

“I can’t do this anymore,” he said. His voice got quiet, but it cut Hyukjae more than when he was yelling. “I can’t play with you anymore. I need.. I need a break.”

“What do you mean?” Hyukjae asked, sudden fear cutting his heart.

“I need to get away,” Donghae said, walking around him quickly towards their bedroom.

“What do you mean, get away?” Hyukjae’s voice shook. He watched Donghae going through his stuff and pulling out a backpack from under his bed. “Donghae?”

“I need time to think this through,” Donghae said, throwing his clothes into the backpack.

Hyukjae was overwhelmed. It seemed like a nightmare seeing Donghae packing. He’d never expected this, never considered this and it came like a shock that Donghae could be leaving him.

“Are you…” he started, refusing to cry. “Are you going to come back?”

Donghae just threw another thing in.

“Donghae?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

He wasn’t looking at Hyukjae and his cold determination made Hyukjae rooted in spot, incapable of moving. He was just standing there, watching Donghae leave.

“Where are you going?” he finally asked, when Donghae was at the door, putting his shoes on.

“Out,” Donghae said.

“Don’t give me that stupid answer,” Hyukjae shook his head, angry.  “Where are you going, Donghae?”

“I’m going to Minho,” he finally said. “He asked me to move in with him a while ago, but I wasn’t ready. Now, maybe it’s the time.”

“You don’t mean it,” Hyukjae said, not believing that this was happening. His eyes were burning.

“Like you didn’t mean to kiss me?” Donghae asked and with every word he made Hyukjae cry more and more. “I don’t know. Maybe I mean it. Maybe someone needs to make this decision for us.”

“Please, don’t do this.”

“Think about it, Hyukjae. Use this time to figure out if it isn’t the freedom you need.”

“I don’t want freedom, I need…” His throat closed and he couldn’t utter another word.

“You don’t know what you need,” Donghae said, and his voice was gentle. He moved closer and he put his hand onto Hyukjae’s shoulder. “I don’t want to make it difficult for you anymore.”

Hyukjae hid his face into his palms, not able to hold it together for any longer. Donghae kissed the top of his head and the gentle gesture only made Hyukjae cry harder. “I love you, okay? Just let us both go for a while.”

Hyukjae shook his head, still refusing to let go. But Donghae was gone anyway.

-

He couldn’t sleep for the whole first night. He lied awake, his body tired and numb, his mind in chaos. The shock after Donghae’s departure couldn’t quite wore off and his thoughts didn’t want to stay in order.

-

On the second night, he went through everything. From the moment he met Donghae, to the quietly closed door. He patiently followed Donghae’s words to figure out where they were standing and at five am he drunk Donghae’s favorite tea, thinking about how fate didn’t have to mean anything.

-

He cried through  the whole third night.

 -

“Just tell me if he’s okay,” he asked Minho on Monday morning.

There was a pause on the line.

“He’s fine,” Minho told him quietly. He sounded tired. “You must have really screw something up, though.”

“I have,” Hyukjae admitted. He wondered how much Minho knew about their problems. “Did he say anything..?”

“Not really,” Minho said. “But he’s so sad.. Hyukjae, I didn’t even know he had it in him.”

Hyukjae swallowed sudden jolt of guilt. “Thank you for being there for him,” he only said before he hung up.

-

On the fourth night he started painting. He sat in their empty home, the walls screaming endless sadness and suddenly he couldn’t stand the yellowish green in their kitchen.

He moved furniture, unprofessionally unplugged the sink, stopped the small flood it caused and begun scraping the old paint away. With the lack of actual tools in the apartment he had to knock on their neighbor door and ask if they had any spatulas. They did, although they looked strangely at him at ten in the evening.

After few hours and few buckets of hot water, the kitchen was in appropriate mess.

-

On Tuesday, he brought few cans of white paint along with brushes and rollers. He set his shoulder to the wheel and with enthusiastic determination, he begun to paint.

-

 By the Wednesday evening he got a text from Sungmin if he was okay. Then another one from Yunho asking if he needed anything. 

But what really hit him was a phone call from Heechul.

“Listen, you either going to make up or I am going to make you,” he said without greeting.

“W-what?” Hyukjae asked dumbly, his phone sticking to his paint stained hand.

“What do you even think, you stupid bastard?! You are going to let go Donghae that easily?!”

Heechul never played. One of reasons he was such good friends with Donghae.

“I’m not going to let him go,” Hyukjae said. “We had a…quarrel, but we are working on it.”

“Care to explain how are you planning on doing that? Because not talking to each other and letting your soulmate to live with his boyfriend doesn’t sound like working on anything to me.”

“I…” Hyukjae hesitated. “We both need time, okay? I’m sorry but you are not exactly the person I want to talk about this right now.”

“I’m sorry,” Heechul emphasized nastily and Hyukjae actually felt threatened. “But I don’t think you have any choice to be picky right now. Donghae left you. He may be super depressed right now, but he is going to get over this eventually and if you are not going—”

“Wait,” Hyukjae said quickly. “He is depressed?”

“I said he may be,” Heechul repeated sternly. “He is not actually that bad, but he.. Hyukjae, he is a mess and it’s because of you! Are you even planning to do anything about it? Or are you waiting for him to come to you? Because let me tell you now, that may not happen in the nearest future.”

“I know…” Hyukjae said, sitting on the floor. “I thought he needed this time. He won’t answer my messages, he won’t return my calls.. Do you really think I should push him?”

Heechul got quiet at this. “Depends on what you are having to say.”

This one got him quiet in return.

“Thought so,” Heechul said for him. “I can’t stand seeing Donghae this unhappy, Hyukjae.”

“It’s not any easier not seeing him at all,” Hyukjae bit out.

“You better make up your mind fast.”

-

By Thursday, the kitchen was mostly painted in white. Hyukjae still couldn’t decide on the color he was going to get because the foolish part of him still wanted to make this decision with Donghae.

He sat on the dirty floor, his damaged clothes sticking unpleasantly to his body and he considered making coffee but the dust-covered kettle wasn’t really calling him. He sat there and all the energy left him, leaving him – in lack of a better term –  spineless, feeling completely drained.

What now, he thought. I’ve got all covered in white and ready to be done, but it feels so helpless.

I feel so helpless…

He didn’t heard the steps until they got too close. Before he could stand up or have a heart attack, Donghae appeared in the doorway.

“Hi,” Hyukjae breathed after the moment of complete shock.

“Hi,” Donghae smiled.

He looked fine, the same as Hyukjae remembered and he wondered why that even surprised him. It’d been only few days – why he expected Donghae to appear different? But this time felt like years instead of days and he imagined himself gaining few gray hairs.

“What are you doing here?” Hyukjae asked, finally finding the strength to stand up.

Donghae didn’t answer right away. He looked behind Hyukjae, at the under construction state of the kitchen, his face showing no emotions except for astonishment. His eyes followed every corner.

“Did you…” he took in the celling, the walls and even the dusty kettle on the floor. “What…”

“Ah, yes,” Hyukjae smiled awkwardly, feeling like he was caught doing something naughty. “Yeah, I mean… Yeah. I painted the kitchen. Started to. Didn’t know how to do it and it ended like this. For now! I’m going to paint it with actual color and then clean up everything. Haven’t decided the color yet. It’s in the process. But, yeah.. it’s.. It’s this right now.”

He finished quietly and chanced a gaze at Donghae, who was now watching him intently. Hyukjae never, ever expected they could be this awkward.

“It’s…” Donghae shook his head and smiled. “Wow, I guess I didn’t expect this.”

“Sorry for the mess,” Hyukjae said.

“It’s fine!” Donghae said quickly. “It’s not that bad and nothing we can’t deal with, right?”

“I would like to think so,” Hyukjae said, feeling blooming happiness spreading within his chest at the word ‘we’ coming from Donghae. “Are you..?” He didn’t finish but Donghae seemed to understand.

“Do you know what day it is?” he asked, seemingly ready to change the subject.

“Um, Thursday?” Hyukjae said the obviously wrong answer, furiously crossing off his list Donghae’s birthday and his planned work trip.

“That too,” Donghae actually smiled. “It’s… I don’t know, maybe it’s stupid but…” Without finishing he pulled out of his jacket pocket a small package and handed it to Hyukjae.

Curious and intrigued, Hyukjae quickly unwrapped the paper and pulled out a photo frame. Inside was a photo of him, holding a small bug on his palm.

“Today is not the day we have met,” Hyukjae said without turning his gaze off the photo. His face looked strangely young and goofy, but he also seemed happy in the frame. He had never seen it before.

“Today is the day we discovered our match,” Donghae said. “And the photo holds the moment I started to love you.”

Without anything else, Hyukjae looked at Donghae and knew.

“Oh Donghae,” he only said before he stepped to Donghae and wished with all his might he could be able to erase the worried frown off his face.

 Donghae stepped back.

“Please, don’t be sorry for me,” Donghae said, preventing Hyukjae from touching him. “I’m not telling you this because I need your pity. I only want you to know that I regret everything I said to you last time. I mean when I say I love you. And maybe I finally I understand what love means.”

“I…” Hyukjae was speechless with all the feelings that swelled inside him. “I don’t follow.”

“I never meant to be upset with you…” Donghae said to him. “Meeting you was the best day of my life and knowing that you are my soulmate? I didn’t know how to deal with that much happiness. Everything we have here – our home and our friendship – it’s something I treasure far more than any labels that I tried to put onto us. I’m sorry that I had so many  expectations of you; I’m sorry I tried to push you, for demanding your attention and your declarations. I was just… confused, still am, but, Hyukjae—”

“You are not the only one, you know?” Hyukjae interrupted him and Donghae quietly nodded his head. “With the love, I mean. You may have felt different about me back then, maybe I needed more time to get over my fears and grow up but you weren’t wrong when you wanted us to mean something. The whole idea of being friends? Bull. You should have push me right then. In the school bathroom when you saw my number. Preferably, push me onto the wall and kiss me. Maybe then I would be able to get my senses right.”

“You don’t mean it,” Donghae shook his head. “We weren’t… Aren’t…”

“Oh what you know!” With all the frustration pending up in him- from the beginning of the conversation or since this one fateful afternoon one year before – he grabbed Donghae’s shoulders, pulled in and kissed him.

The moment their lips met, everything else fell into place. No hesitation or fear this time – Hyukjae only felt content; fulfilled with happiness. He pushed Donghae lightly,  cradling his head in his hands and tried to tell all his love without words. Donghae’s lips were responsive, taking in Hyukjae, drawing emotions from their connection.

When they pulled apart, Hyukjae couldn’t tell if the world still existed.

“Hyukjae…” Donghae breathed, searching his eyes. “What that.. what…”

“Be my everything,” Hyukjae said in the feeling of moment. “Please, tell me I’m yours.”

Donghae frowned. “You’ve always been mine. You have always been the one for me, but Hyukjae..” He shook his head. “ I don’t understand.”

“Me neither,” Hyukjae smiled sheepishly. “So let’s make it anything we want to make.”

-

Donghae knew more about plugging the sink back in and he laughed at Hyukjae’s attempts, but Hyukjae didn’t mind. He was still crazily  happy when they borrowed another set of tools from their still confused neighbor.

Their first night in the apartment was a mix of getting back together and getting back to each other.

After the kiss, they spent the evening talking. About them, about everything that happened and about other people. It was surreal to Hyukjae, they were so happy when he cried his eyes out two nights before on the same couch.

“Are you sure about this?” Donghae asked him, not for the first time that evening. “I don’t want you to make such an important decision just because I threatened you to leave.”

“I’m not gonna lie, it was a pretty strong incentive,” Hyukjae admitted, but Donghae frowned, so he quickly added, “But I really needed it.”

“I’m not so sure about it. You obviously still needed time, and just because I’m such a ing drama queen, you had to decide. Too quickly, maybe.”

“Don’t you think a whole year was enough? It’s about way too long for someone understanding they love their soulmate.”

“Still, you weren’t as everybody..”

“Just because I didn’t like guys before you doesn’t mean I can’t fall in love with one.”

Donghae smiled. It was a discovery Hyukjae made during his lonely time. A conclusion that maybe he had been holding too much and too long on his idea of uality. He once assumed he is straight and that had been it. He never even considered that attraction and love might have many other variations.

And maybe if it wasn’t for Donghae, he wouldn’t have discovered it at all.

“There is one more important question, though,” Hyukjae said, a small curl of fear still lingering in his chest. “What about Minho?”

“Oh, ugh..” Donghae blinked. “Well.. we kind of fell out. I mean, we didn’t have to break up or anything. Just as I came to his place on Friday, he already knew that too much had happened for us to continue.”

“Just like this?” Hyukjae wondered. “He wasn’t hurt or anything?”

“Remember when I told you he asked me to move in with him? I wasn’t lying. But it was more out of convenience than anything else. He wanted us to spend more time together and not having to send me off every time. But when I said no, I think he knew that you were too important to me for us to stand a chance for longer.”

“He accepted it without question?” Suddenly, Hyukjae couldn’t imagine anybody not wanting to fight for Donghae.

“I don’t think he loved me,” Donghae smiled. “He never said so, and I never said that to him. It was a nice relationship, but nothing like between us.”

“Okay, but…”

“What about you and Jihye?” Donghae asked.

“Oh.. Let’s see,” Hyukjae snickered. “She told me I love you and she still want to believe in her number, so we better get together.”

Donghae laughed and Hyukjae kissed him just because he could.

-

Eventually, they painted the kitchen green. Not even that different from the old paint – just similar color toned down a bit– but fresh, and new and… just better.

It was a quick process – two afternoons and they were done with all the mess Hyukjae caused. They sat with two mugs of tea on the Saturday evening and enjoyed their finished work from the safe distance of their livingroom – they kind of hated everything green at that very moment.

Hyukjae couldn’t stop from reaching out and folding their hands together. It was amazing to him how after avoiding their closeness for so long he suddenly felt like he couldn’t be apart from Donghae for longer than two minutes. Everything felt so easy now when he let himself.

His number pressed against skin of Donghae’s wrist and he couldn’t stop staring at it, finally feeling so openly proud of their connection.

“You know what’s funny?” Donghae murmured, snuggling his head over Hyukjae’s shoulder.

“Hmm?”

“That we don’t have to announce our relationship to anybody,” Donghae said. “Everybody thought that we were together form the beginning.”

Hyukjae laughed at the thought. He felt so different now, so changed , but the idea of updating their status to their families or anybody else didn’t seem exciting. He felt even happier thinking that the problem was already solved.

“That’s a really good thing,” he said and heard Donghae chuckling right before his ear.

-

They had spent the two nights since Donghae returned in the same bed, mostly exchanging kisses and exploring their new found feelings with shy hands and short breaths. They didn’t talk about this, because they didn’t have to.

Although when they lied awake that night and the heat from Donghae’s body was the only thing that could keep him warm  all night, he suddenly wanted more. No amount of skin pressed to his seemed enough. No amount of kisses could satisfy him. He wanted way more for way longer.

“Hyukjae?” Donghae asked breathily, when his hands descended down, reaching further past their exploring edges.

“Yes,” Hyukjae answered the unspoken question. He looked deeply in Donghae’s eyes, assuring him how much he wanted.

“I love you,” Donghae only said and moved gently for Hyukjae to fit in with him.

“I love you too,” Hyukjae said.

-

“So much for we-are-special-kind-of-soulmates thing, huh?” Sora commented about five minutes after entering their apartment.

Hyukjae looked around and wondered what made her think that. He wasn’t even holding hands with Donghae, like he had when their friends were over the last week.

Sora pointed at the walls and smirked. Ahhh, Hyukjae thought. Their neighbor turned out to be a very patient teacher (or maybe he was just concerned about the proper use of his tools) and he actually showed them how to nail the frames to the walls. Now they were all covered in Donghae’s photographs, a few too many of them showing him and Donghae together.

“I have no idea what are you talking about,” he lied.

Sora just laughed.

-

“I don’t know why I’m nervous!” he hissed into the phone. “That’s the problem!”

“Jesus, I can’t believe you,” Sungmin laughed, which was annoying. “You are soulmates living together for almost a year? Do you even have anything you can embarrass yourself with in front of Donghae?”

“Well,” Hyukjae took a deep breath. “Many things could go wrong, right? And it’s a big moment. I mean, yeah we are living together and we were best friends for a long time before, but nothing can ever replace this day, can it? What if I…”

“Hyukjae, you got this,” Sungmin told him. His stern voice was confident, which finally got through Hyukjae’s almost-panic-attack. “If anything goes wrong, that’s okay too. You will laugh at this later. He loves you, you love him back – nothing can ruin that.”

Hyukjae breathed. And then he breathed again. “You are right. Thank you.”

“Anytime. Talk to you later, I guess?”

“Yes.” There was a light tapping at the bathroom door. “Okay, I have to go. Bye.”

Hyukjae hung up and turned to the door. “One moment, I’m almost ready,” he said louder, rushing to the mirror, checking his appearance one more time.

Nice outfit – check.

Good hair – check.

Bags under eyes - ….check.

He opened the door and looked at Donghae waiting behind them. He was smiling and looking great, just as Hyukjae expected. He smiled back.

“Ready?” Donghae asked, taking his hand.

“Ready.” Hyukjae said confidently.

-

“Well…” Hyukjae said twenty minutes later. “I don’t know what I expected, but maybe not this..?”

“Think!” Donghae laughed, pulling Hyukjae behind him. “It’s, like, perfect!”

“Yeah, it’s just that..” Hyukjae looked around. “I thought it would be more romantic?”

“There is everything romantic about this! The world’s most famous insects exhibition?! Don’t tell me it isn’t a perfect place for our first date!”

“I mean, yeah, it’s cute, but…”

“Pyronota festiva gave us our first meeting, Hyukjae! We need to appreciate all his friends and cousins!”

“You are definitely weird,” Hyukjae stated, getting over his initial WTF impression. “Tell me why I even put up with you?”

“Come on!” Donghae laughed, hitting him. “You are my soulmate and you are in love with me! There’s no turning back!”

Hyukjae gave him point for that.

-

“The dancing was nice,” Hyukjae said later when they were sitting by the window in their apartment and setting Donghae’s laptop to watch movies. They had a couch and a TV, but Donghae insisted they had to ‘back to the roots and replay it.”

 “But I felt underdressed.”

“You looked perfect,” Donghae said. “I felt proud dancing with you.”

“It was because of my dancing, not because my outfit,” Hyukjae said skeptically.

“No,” Donghae looked at him and smiled. It still somehow was able to stop Hyukjae’s breath. “It was because I love you so ing much.”

-

“Donghae?” he whispered in the middle of the night. Donghae only shifted and snored. “Hey, Donghae?”

“Wha’ isit?”

“I love you so ing much, too,” Hyukjae whispered, snickering.

“You are my worst soulmate,” Donghae murmured lowly. “I changed my mind. I hate you.”

Hyukjae fell silent for a moment.

“You want a to repay you for this?” he asked.

Donghae turned to him, his eyes finally fluttering to open. “Stop asking and get to work,” he only said, his voice fully awake.

Hyukjae laughed and kissed him. It was perfect and all he ever imagined from his soulmate to be.  

THE END