Donghae leaned on the dusty counter with his chin propped up on his hand, while Hyukjae pretended to search the abandoned shop for loot.  The brunet was supposed to be keeping watch for zombies, but anyone could see that he was bored and lost in his own thoughts.

Hyukjae was both impressed and annoyed by the elaborate set.  He was impressed because the whole thing was covered in intricate cobwebs and a thin layer of dust that made the place look as if it had sat abandoned for years, but he was also annoyed because as he rummaged through the shop, he had to fight the urge to sneeze every four seconds.  As he reached the end of an aisle, he caught a glimpse of Donghae and wondered how the brunet had managed to get a smudge of dirt exactly on the tip of his nose and why the director hadn’t called for a touchup yet.  He shook his head, and barely managed to clear his thoughts in time to get out his line.  “Aiden, are you thinking about flirting again?”

“It’s just not fair!” Donghae huffed.  “How come zombies can date, but I can’t?!”

"I’m pretty sure it’s because zombies have really low standards.  Have you tried lowering your standards?”  He couldn’t see it, but he knew Donghae was glaring at his back, not only because it was in the script, but because he could feel the brunet’s eyes on him.  “Flirting is about patience," he explained while digging through a pile of dusty boxes. "And knowing your target.  My lessons would be more effective if I knew who you were trying to flirt with…"

Donghae shook his head adamantly. "I'm not telling you."

"Fine, keep your secrets, but if you fail it’s not my fault." Hyukjae gave up on the boxes and kicked them in frustration, sending clouds of dust everywhere, then he walked over to the counter and leaned against it from the opposite side.  "The first rule of flirting is confidence, and you show your confidence with eye contact. Look me in the eye."

Donghae exaggerated opening his eyes and stared bluntly at the blond. He wanted to laugh because he knew his expression was absurd, but he managed to stay in character. It helped that Hyukjae had insisted on practicing the scene over and over again before filming; after so much practice he could even film this scene in his sleep.  "Like this?"

"Does your crush owe you money or something?  You look like a psycho! Relax. You're supposed to be confident, remember? Look at me normally but look me in the eye. Imagine I'm the person you like and tell me how much you love me using your eyes."

Relaxing his body as instructed, Donghae tried staring into Hyukjae's eyes, but it felt too fake while he was in character. He pretended to be in love on-screen all the time, but for some reason it was much harder to pretend to be in love, when he was actually in love!  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes again, he wasn't Aiden pretending to stare lovingly into Eunhyuk's eyes, he was Donghae staring lovingly into Hyukjae's soul.

Hyukjae was glad that the camera was focused on Donghae for this part. Closing his eyes hadn't been a part of the rehearsal, so Hyukjae was momentarily confused and he knew it showed on his face. When the brunet opened his eyes again, he looked at Hyukjae with such open sincerity that the blond couldn't help but smile stupidly in response. Donghae became shy and dropped his gaze. Regaining his courage, he looked up at Hyukjae through his lashes, before dropping his gaze again a moment later. The result was that Donghae appeared to flutter his lashes and with each flutter Hyukjae’s smile grew and his pulse raced. The entire scene was different from what they had practiced, but Hyukjae couldn't care less about acting at the moment.

"Am I doing it right?" Donghae asked shyly.

"Yeah… Wow… Now I know why you're called the King of Romance…" A moment of confusion passed over Donghae's face breaking the spell that had fallen over the entire crew and a moment later he heard the director screaming cut. It took Hyukjae longer to snap out of his stupor, and when he did, he couldn't believe himself! He turned towards the director and apologized profusely, but even after he had been forgiven, they had to wait for the bright red flush to leave his face before they could start filming again.

By some miracle, and despite Hyukjae’s earlier mistake, filming ended ahead of schedule that day.  Donghae didn’t have a schedule for once, and the director was in a good mood, so he offered to host a company dinner in the little town closest to their filming site.  The crew was so excited, they didn’t bother taking the time to clean up or change out of their costumes, but Donghae was a different matter.  He told everyone to go ahead of him and to pick out a restaurant (there was only one in the town anyway), and he promised to catch up after changing into some decent clothes.  It was one thing to show off his body on screen, but he was a little too self-conscious to show up to dinner in a ripped shirt!

When Donghae arrived at the restaurant, the small venue was absolutely bursting with actors, zombies, managers, stylists, and crew members.  “I can’t believe you didn’t save me a seat!” he huffed at Hyukjae when he finally managed to weave his way around everyone and get to the blond’s table.  One of the zombies a few chairs over began to get up from his seat, obviously planning to offer it to the brunet, and Donghae was happy to have a place to sit, but also felt guilty that the man was sacrificing his seat, and sad that it wasn’t closer to Hyukjae, when he felt a tug on his arm.

“I did save you a seat!” Hyukjae said smugly, as he pulled Donghae down into his lap.  “Right here.”

“Why did you save me such a bony seat?!”  Donghae muttered to hide his embarrassment and his joy, drawing a round of laughter from the table.

“What are you talking about?  There is plenty of cushion!” he smacked the side of Donghae’s for emphasis and the table erupted in laughter again.  When the laughter finally died down, the zombie a few chairs down, thinking the joke was over, made to give up his seat again, but Donghae saw Hyukjae shake his head slightly.  The zombie seemed a bit unsure, but he sat back down, and Donghae pretended not to notice the exchange.  He joined in on the conversation with his coworkers around the table until a minute later when Hyukjae poked him in the side and caused him to squirm.  He ignored the blond, but t