It was late when Hyukjae came back to his shared room with Donghae. He entered slowly and quietly as he was hoping that Donghae would be fast asleep by now. His conversation with Junsu took longer than he expected but he definitely needed it. Afterall. he didn't exactly know how he was supposed to process Donghae's confession to him. Hyukjae had to scoff at that. Was that even considered a confession?

I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU!

Hyukjae blushed remembering Donghae scream those words to his face. He bit his lower lip as he allowed himself to gaze at the latter's sleeping figure. Donghae's back was against him and all he could do was stare and watch Donghae's side lightly go up and down from his breathing. Unknowingly, Hyukjae scooted closer bit by bit as he yearned to see more of Donghae. He was already on his knees about to peek over the latter when Donghae's unconscious body decided to flip on his back at the moment revealing his sleeping face. 

Hyukjae froze; afraid that he might've woken up Donghae, or worse, be caught trying to reach over him. He remained still for about ten seconds but seeing Donghae's chest heave up and down and his eyes shut tight, Hyukjae released a silent breath of relief and allowed himself to indulge in his desire to gaze at Donghae. A smile was plastered on his face as he admired Donghae's sleeping face. It wasn't fair, Hyukjae thought to himself. The latter wasn't even doing anything and his stupid heart was still doing flips and beating irregularly. 

Hyukjae stretched his hand over, wanting to touch Donghae, but hesitated for a second. What if he wakes up? He bit his lower lip but his desire to touch Donghae grew the longer he stared. So, slowly, and just lightly, he allowed his hand to run through his hair. Just a slight touch. Enough for him to feel close to Donghae but then as he continued to stare, his eyes suddenly dropped on Donghae's lips. 

Then, he was washed over by a different type of desire. One that he always pushed down whenever Donghae's face would suddenly appear a few inches from his face or when they would study and Donghae would pout his lips whenever a problem gets a little too difficult, even just when they're having fun and Donghae would be laughing in excitement that he would grab Hyukjae close to him and hug him tight. Without even knowing it, Hyukjae had already started leaning close to him, his hands were frozeon over Donghae's head as he inched closer and closer to Donghae's lips. 

Hyukjae was so close now that he could feel Donghae's breath against his face. Hyukjae didn't know what he was doing. His heart beated like crazy but his body didn't want to stop. Their nose touched and just when he was about to lean down and touch Donghae's lips with his own, his phone rang out loud. Hyukjae gasped and immediately pulled away. Donghae was woken up as well. 

"Hello?.....Yeah, Su, I'm fine....What? No! No,no,no -- don't even...Yah, Kim Junsu listen to me. I told you don't say anything ok? I will handle it....Ok....yeah, alright. Bye."

Hyukjae put his phone away with mild annoyance but that was soon forgotten when he turned around to find Donghae staring at him. He froze as his mind went into panic. Did he know? OH MY GOSH I'M SO-

"What time did you come back?"

"Huh? Oh uh-uh...I j-just got back." Hyukjae stuttered. He cleared his throat and tried his best to appear confident. He wasn't doing a good job of it though since Hyukjae could barely bring himself to look Donghae in the eye. 

Donghae stared at Hyukjae and quickly noticed the other's flushed cheeks, He frowned. "Yah, did you drink?"

Hyukjae was caught off guard with that question. "W-What?"

"Did you and Junsu drank out?"

"Wha- No! You know I don't drink, Donghae." Hyukjae was puzzled at Donghae's insistence. "We made a promise to not drink alcohol, remember?"

"Psh, yeah," Donghae rolled his eyes at that. "Junsu broke that promise with Sungmin a long time ago."

"Yeah,well, I haven't."

"Ok, well then, where's the ramen?"

"The what?"

"Ramen." Donghae pointed out the room and didn't see any new bags on the table. "You said you were gonna go buy some."

Hyukjae sweatdropped as he remembered that, yes, he was indeed supposed to have gone to the convenience store to get ramen. "Um- uhh...th-they were out."

Donghae raised a questioning brow at that and tried to hide his amusement by crossing his arms against his chest. "They were out?"

"Y-Yeah...?"

"Japan?" Donghae re-emphasized just so Hyukjae can hear how ridiculous he sounded. "Convenience store in Japan is out of ramen?"

Hyukjae pursed his lips together and gave himself a mental kick for the dumbest excuse he's come up yet. "Y-Yes." He had no choice but to stick to it. "It-It was just a small store and I remembered that we brought some of our own so Junsu and I decided to just walk back and rest for the night."

Donghae simply nodded his head and silence fell upon them. Neither one knew how to move forward with the conversation. Donghae because of his newfound knowledge and Hyukjae because he had almost slipped and kissed Donghae in his sleep. Both of their minds were running crazy while their stomachs filled with butterflies. 

"I-uh...I think I should shower before bed," Hyukjae finally said. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

Donghae simply smiled at him and shook his head. "You didn't." Then three seconds later added, "I was actually trying to wait for you."

Another shift in the atmosphere as both boys felt their hearts race. 

You idiot! They both scolded themselves in their heads. 

"Donghae-"

"Hyuk, I-"

Both boys said at the same time then paused hearing the other. 

"Oh I'm sorry-" Both of them said again. "Uh, go ahead-" and again. "Sorry. I don't- go ahead, no, you go ahead." 

Donghae and Hyukjae started laughing out loud as their mental telepathy seemed to have been activated. 

"Nevermind, Hae. It's not important right now." Donghae smiled to himself hearing Hyukjae use his nickname again. "I'm gonna shower we should rest now. Go back to sleep." Hyukjae went to his luggage and grabbed his sleepwear and towel. Donghae just made a sound of acknowledgment and watched Hyukjae disappear in the bathroom. 

He laid back down on the bed and felt happy and relieved. He heard the door open again and Hyukjae emerged with a sheepsh smile. His curious eyes followed him and when Hyukjae went to get his worn out notebook from his back pack the latter just gave him one of his adorable sheepish laugh and a small wave. Donghae couldn't help but fall a little bit more in love with him. Especially since now he knows he probably did something that made the latter "go crazy for him" again. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

The following day everything seemed normal. Hyukjae and Donghae were once again on good terms almost as though the night before didn't happen. Their school had a full day itinerary with a museum visit and a short history visit to one of the local villages in Nagatoro. Hyukjae were in all of Donghae's photos while Sungmin and Junsu rolled their eyes at the two of them. 

"I can't believe they need help to realize something so obvious," Junsu muttered as he watched Hyukjae mimic the statues pose for Donghae's camera. 

Sungmin chuckled to himself and watched the duo fondly. "I think it's adorable."

"I think it's stupid." Just as he said that Hyukjae had splattered Donghae's face with the water he was drinking by doing a spit-take. Donghae, of course, screamed and tried to retaliate by chasing Hyukjae around with water in his mouth. "I guess they are both pretty stupid."

Sungmin only laughed and shifted his focus from Donghae and Hyukjae to the small vendor in front of them selling cute knick-knacks. "Leave them alone, Junsu-ah. They'll figure it out themselves."

"You think so?"

"Mmm!" Sungmin just made a sound of agreement as he picked up a penguin shaped pendant. "I spoke to Donghae yesterday and gave him advice."

"Advice?"

"Yeah. I told him if he was so worried about Siwon confessing to Hyukjae, then he shou