Leaving Siyeon at her school was one of the more difficult things Donghae felt he’d ever done; his protective instincts were telling him to just take Siyeon home where she could be safe, but logically, he knew that she had to stay at the school until she was truly ready to come home.

“Dad, you know I’ll be fine,” Siyeon chided against his chest as he hugged her close.

“I know, but I have to worry about you. It’s my parental duty.”

Siyeon giggled, snuggling her face into his chest. “I miss you, Dad.”

“I miss you too, little nightmare. I can’t wait until you can come home.”

Siyeon pulled back a little, her lips twisting into a smirk. “You mean you’re going to hate it because you’ll suddenly have to start sneaking around with Eunhyuk and being quiet?”

Donghae felt the heat wash over his face. “Siyeon,” he hissed, not only scandalized that his daughter was insinuating that he and Eunhyuk would definitely be having , but also that he would be particularly loud during it.

Siyeon’s laugh was loud, and though he was thoroughly embarrassed, he was relieved to hear her laughing considering the trauma she’d just gone through. “Love you Dad!” she chirped as she planted a kiss on his still-burning cheek and nearly skipped off.

Planting his face in a hand, he shook his head before turning to the others. Taemin was biting his lips to force down a smile and probably a good deal of laughter, Jongin had his head buried along Taemin’s shoulder, but the slight shake of his shoulders was definitely not from crying. Cael had his head tilted and his ears pulled back, as if he was trying to pretend that he hadn’t heard Siyeon in crystal clarity, but Eunhyuk…

Donghae felt like he was on fire again, but not from embarrassment.

“Can we go?” Cael whined.

Donghae cleared his throat and stepped closer to everyone.

“Jongin, could you grow some flowers so I can see where the shield has to go?” Eunhyuk asked, a slight smirk visible.

Jongin took a deep breath, finally lifting his head off Taemin’s shoulder. “Whew, okay. Sorry about that,” he said, his lips still curved. “I was not expecting to hear that from your seedling.”

“You and me both,” Donghae replied, pressing the backs of his hands to his cheeks as Jongin crouched down, softly the grass, whispering to it.

“Visual cue?” Donghae asked curiously. He’d never really asked Eunhyuk how his magic worked, feeling somehow that it was beyond the bounds of propriety while they were in the bar.

Eunhyuk nodded. “I want to have visuals to make sure I don’t accidentally pull things along with us that would wind up inside us on the other end. The sigil is not picky about what it grabs. Animate, inanimate, it really doesn’t care.”

Donghae cast a skeptical glance around the smooth grass, several blossoms starting to appear in a ring around them. “So… rocks or grass?”

Eunhyuk shook his head. “I make a floor of the shield first to prevent the ground from coming along with us, it’s more branches or large rocks that could be inside the shield if I don’t make certain that the area is clean.”

“Ahhh,” Donghae breathed, suddenly understanding. They all stood in silence as Jongin coaxed more blooms from the ground, softly brushing his fingers across a few petals until the flowers drew a complete outline of a circle. Once Jongin was standing again, Eunhyuk placed the complicated looking sigil on the ground.

After the flash of light from the sigil transportation, Donghae finally felt his shoulders drop some of the tension he’d been holding there as the familiarity of the bar appeared.

“How’s Siyeon?” Yoongi asked, his voice low and rumbling.

“She’s fine, all of the girls are okay,” Donghae relayed, and several gusty sighs of relief met his statement.

“I’m surprised Hani didn’t tell you,” Eunhyuk said.

“She hasn’t popped back in yet,” Minhee said, shrugging a shoulder. “We thought she was with you.”

“Oh, I forgot. She sent me a text before we left, she said she was going home to sleep,” Taemin said, bashfully scratching at one of his horns.

Donghae stepped out of the circle of bottles and looked at the clock, grabbing his phone off the bar and stuffing it in his pocket. “Did Jiwoo get here already?” he asked.

“You called?” Jiwoo asked as she poked her head out of the door that lead to the back storerooms.

Donghae wrinkled his nose when he thought about the mess he had left there. “I was going to clean up.”

Jiwoo shrugged. “Minhee explained what was going on, so I was giving you one less thing to worry about. Plus you don’t want to be late for your date,” she teased.

Donghae looked over at Eunhyuk, appreciatively and unabashedly checked him out. “Yeah. Close up like normal, count up the till and make up a deposit for me since I was interrupted. Also, have Cael walk you home please, I’m still a little on edge about the safety of those around me,” he told Jiwoo in a rush. “I’m leaving now before the universe decides to me yet again, and I’m turning my phone off.”

Grabbing the front of Eunhyuk’s shirt, Donghae literally dragged the other man out of the public door, the sound of laughter and applause at his outburst suddenly cut off as the door swung shut.

“I’m probably going to regret saying that out loud tomorrow,” Donghae muttered.

Eunhyuk leaned close to his ear. “Well, I should make sure you are entirely… satisfied with our dinner so that there are no regrets to be had.”

Donghae huffed a laugh. The cliché opening was right there, and he couldn’t resist. “Just dinner?”

Eunhyuk’s eyes were a dark red as they met Donghae’s, something deeply powerful in them before he looked around. Donghae reflexively did the same, far too used to pretending that the men beside him were non-ual friends, and he raised an eyebrow at a twenty-something guy who was looking at him a little too curiously. The guy shook his head slightly and returned to his phone screen. Donghae looked over, seeing that Eunhyuk had probably magically nudged the attention away.

“I won’t lie, I’m hoping that we can share not only dinner, but also breakfast.” Eunhyuk said as he traced a gentle path with his fingers down Donghae’s left arm and over the scars, his body hiding the movement from casual observation.

“I’m hoping for that too,” Donghae said before his courage deserted him. Admitting a deep attraction, even to himself, was still frightening as hell. Saying it out loud and in public, even with his voice down and knowing that Eunhyuk could easily move attention off him, was even more terrifying than just admitting it to himself.

Eunhyuk smiled and pulled a set of car keys out of his pants, a brief chirp letting them know where it was parked. They turned down the alley, suddenly thrown into shadows from the buildings blocking most of the light, and only a feeble streetlight prevented it from being entirely dark. Donghae gasped as Eunhyuk wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him against the lean, muscular body, but just as quickly released that breath of air as a sigh. Eunhyuk’s nose and lips ghosted a path from his neck to his ear.

“You smell incredible,” Eunhyuk whispered into his ear, making his heart feel like it skipped a couple of beats.

“I –“

“You ing drunk! Get out!”

Rolling his eyes, Donghae felt yet again that they’d been interrupted by something. Glaring at the source of the noise, he saw an older woman batting at a man that was presumably her husband with a broom. Donghae sighed and looked at Eunhyuk, who looked just as annoyed.

“Let’s go,” Donghae said. “Preferably before we get another interruption.”

“Absolutely,” Eunhyuk agreed, his eyes almost glowing in what little light Donghae could actually see by.

As soon as Donghae had his seat belt on, he dug in his pocket, pulling his phone out and held down the power button until the phone obligingly turned off, tossing it carelessly in the back seat.

Eunhyuk snickered as he put the car into gear and slowly drove through the alley. Donghae leaned his head back against the headrest and took a deep breath. Three years of flirting, innuendo, and interruptions had finally gotten to this point and Donghae nearly felt like pinching himself to make sure that it was actual reality.

“Sleepy?” Eunhyuk asked as they stopped at a red light.

Donghae smiled and opened his eyes. “No, Jongin promised that whatever tea he made was going to keep me up for a while, and I can feel that working. I’m just more amazed that I’m actually going to dinner with you and we’re not getting interrupted. Again.”

Eunhyuk’s laugh mixed with his. “Don’t jinx it, we’re not there yet.”

Donghae snorted. “Are you whisking me away to your mountain castle by the sea?” he joked, shifting slightly to turn more towards Eunhyuk.

“I really have to figure out where you get all of these fantastical ideas about me,” Eunhyuk laughed, reaching over to trail his fingers across Donghae’s cheek.

Donghae blinked, suddenly struck with a thought. “You know, it’s funny, but I really don’t know all that much about you. I know we have a rather intense attraction, we both like a lot of the same sappy, romantic movies, I know your usual drink, and a lot of other little details from knowing you for three years, but I don’t know a lot of the other things that people seem to think that you need to know before dating someone.”

“Isn’t that what dating someone is about, though? Learning more about someone and finding out all of those bits of information?”

“The way you were talking earlier sounded like you think we’re a bit beyond dating and that dinner is just making it official,” Donghae pointed out, suddenly serious.

Eunhyuk looked over at Donghae’s words, not a trace of surprise anywhere at Donghae’s bluntness. As a passing street light illuminated his face, Donghae saw the golden flecks in his eyes were glowing with an unearthly power that always made Donghae think of flowing lava. “Hold that thought,” he said, turning his eyes back to the road and signaling a turn into the driveway of a former hotel that had been turned into business offices several years before Donghae had taken over the bar.

“I thought this was all business offices,” Donghae remarked as Eunhyuk drove down into the parking garage.

“Only the three lower floors,” Eunhyuk replied, driving all the way to the back. He waved a hand, which apparently dropped a magical barrier and exposed an elevator with a couple of parking spots next to it. “The top two floors are for my… office, I guess you would say, and a small apartment for me to stay in. While I’m not at my mountain castle by the sea of course,” he finished jokingly.

Donghae laughed appreciatively. “Of course,” he agreed as Eunhyuk turned the car off.

“Would you still like dinner?” Eunhyuk asked.

Donghae nodded. “Absolutely,” he replied, opening the door to the car.

The elevator didn’t seem to have any buttons, but it opened obligingly as Eunhyuk rapped his knuckles against the doors.

“Well that will certainly cut down on door sales,” Donghae joked, seeing that there were at least a few buttons on the inside.

“I hate getting interrupted while I’m working,” Eunhyuk replied, completely deadpan, as he pressed the top button.

Donghae snickered. “I guess you hate getting interrupted while eating even more?”

“If I’m having dinner with you, I absolutely do not want to be interrupted at all.”

Donghae smiled, feeling his cheeks heat up. “What do you have planned for dinner?”

“As much as I would want to impress you with culinary skills, I’m actually not a very good cook. Ramen and tea are the only two things I can make consistently. I order out a lot,” Eunhyuk said, almost bashfully.

“So you do have a weakness,” Donghae teased. “I was wondering if you were just good at everything.”

“I’m good at a lot of things, but cooking seems to be one of tho