FOUR

Donghae is lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

Hyukjae is not talking to him.

Well, that’s not really true; the confectioner greets him politely and sells him sweets every morning, but that’s it.

That fond smile, the patience with which he waits while Donghae fumbles for something to say, the extra sweets-

It’s all gone, and Donghae wants to cry.

And it’s his own fault!

After Hyukjae had quietly excused himself the previous Friday night, Donghae was left with the whole weekend to work out how exactly he’d ed up.

He’d hurt Hyukjae’s feelings.

He understands that part. But how?

Was it by not trying the chocolates the other man had made for him?

Donghae groans and covers his face with his hands.

In retrospect it’s kind of an obvious mistake, but honestly to Donghae one box of chocolates is exactly the same as all the other boxes. They’re all prettily packaged with bows and things, and they all have that too-rich chocolatey smell he dislikes. Donghae’s whole office is starting to smell like that, thanks to all the hidden candies.

Hyukjae had never seemed to mind Donghae’s vague answers before though. He has given Donghae a lot of special, non-shop items, now that Donghae thinks about it.

What- what does that mean?

His heart thuds.

He’d not realized he was getting special attention until it stopped.

Now Hyukjae is treating him like all the other customers; that’s what Donghae had always assumed he was doing, but now-

It hurts.

Hyukjae asks him how his day is, fills bags with candy, smiles politely and then moves on to the next customer. Donghae steps back clutching his paper bags of sweets and feels like his heart’s breaking into a thousand pieces.

He misses the other man’s big, gummy smile. He misses the way he would give him his full and undivided attention as Donghae stammered his way through some small talk. He misses how Hyukjae would return his shy wave as Donghae walked home.

He misses Hyukjae, even though he still sees him almost every day!

Donghae rolls onto his stomach on his big empty bed. It’s only 7pm but since he’s not rostered to work at the Emergency Room, he’s just-

Moping.

It doesn’t help that he’s been waking up almost every night, hot and flushed and panting, shifting uncomfortably and plagued with guilt for dreaming that way about someone who is not even his friend anymore. It’s like the less interaction he has with Hyukjae, the more his imagination goes wild in his dreams, and it’s torture since Donghae is too noble to do anything about it once he wakes.

Most of the time, anyway.

He heaves a big sigh into his pillow.

He has to fix this.

The next day he goes directly to work (shocking everyone by not being late) and spends the whole day filling teeth and making plans. Afterwards, he goes across to the mall, finds the pet store, and chooses the most elaborate and expensive dog toy he can find.

Okay, so it’s not a very good plan.

The toy is larger than Choco herself, so he reluctantly puts it back. He eyes the collars instead, picking up a tiny little jewelled one with a heart tag. Choco has so much fur Donghae can’t remember if she wears a collar or not. Then he sees the stacks of plush, soft pet beds and heads straight for them instead. Choco spends her day on an old cushion behind the counter, and surely a pretty little bed would be nicer? They even have custom names embroidered on if he pays a little extra!

It takes him a few minutes to choose between a pink one shaped like a crown and a very slightly less ostentatious leopard print, but then he’s done. He buys some little treats for her as well, then since it’s late (he got distracted by the puppies, okay?) he heads home in time for his mother’s nightly phone call.

‘You sound distracted,’ she tells him. ‘Is everything alright at work?’

‘Yes,’ Donghae says, placing the gifts for Choco with his things, ready for the morning.

‘Are you sleeping properly? Is your mattress firm enough?’

‘What?’ Donghae switches his phone to the other hand as he steams vegetables. ‘Yes Mom, it’s fine.’

‘I read that back pain is one of the main causes of fatigue,’ his mother continues. ‘Remind me to check next time.’

‘You don’t need to check my bed, Mom.’

‘Well, has anyone else given you a second opinion? Sometimes it takes a woman’s eye to-’

‘No, Mom.’ Donghae realizes what she is getting at and sighs. ‘I have to go, I’m cooking.’

‘Just remember-’

Donghae doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation. He’s too busy daydreaming about all the cool, careless ways he can present Hyukjae with the gift for Choco.

‘You what?’ Hyukjae is staring at him, confused. The new dog bed sits on the counter between them.

‘My friend,’ Donghae tries again. ‘Gave me this. I thought Choco might like it.’

‘But you don’t have a dog?’

‘I know,’ Donghae says, a little desperately. ‘So I thought Choco could use it, so- so it’s not wasted.’

Hyukjae takes the little leopard-print bed and turns it slo