“Hyung, please…” Donghae pled, wrapping both of his hands around Shindong’s arm.

“I’m not going to say anything to Hyukjae, Donghae,” The older replied with a smile playing on his lips and that was the kind of smile that Donghae couldn’t trust. Shindong took a glance at him before adding, “Can’t promise that I wouldn’t joke about it, though.”

“Hyung!” Donghae cried out as he buried his face in the other’s sleeve, not caring anymore if his foundation would smudge on the shirt or not. He could also hear Leeteuk’s soft chuckles from the side, but he knew that even if his Teuk hyung might be the most talkative person he had ever met, he would keep his mouth shut about a secret if Donghae would ask for it. So, he continued begging Shindong to do the same thing, “Hyukjae’s smart. Even if you’re not going to tell him directly, he would still find out if you’ll keep on joking about it!”

“Then you shouldn’t have saved tons of his pictures on your phone, Donghae-yah,” Heechul, who just entered the dressing room with a plastic cup of iced americano in his hand, spoke.

Siwon was following closely behind and couldn’t help but add his input to the conversation as well, “And make one as your wallpaper, too.”

“They know?” Donghae asked, eyes widening. He could feel his blood turning cold and he sure looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he remained seated helplessly with his hyungs surrounding him. “I’m ed.”

“What’s so bad about us knowing about it?” Ryeowook, who emerged from the bathroom, asked. “It’s better for it to be us than other people, you know.”

“Even Ryeowook knows?” Donghae exclaimed, pointing at his dongsaeng while looking at Shindong. “Who else knows about this, hyung?”

“I told everyone,” Shindong answered, and when he saw the horror on Donghae’s face, he quickly added, “Except for Hyukjae, of course. Why would I tell him if you want to keep it a secret, right?”

“Keep it a secret from everyone, not just from Hyukjae!” Donghae raged, standing up from his chair, and was ready to nag at Shindong and then, next, at s, but the sound of the door opening stopped him and the sound that followed suit - Hyukjae’s laugh. For a split second, Donghae thought that maybe Hyukjae heard everything thus the reason why he was laughing, but as Hyukjae waltzed inside the room with Kyuhyun beside him, he realized that the two were in the middle of a conversation, and Donghae could only sigh in relief.

The two continued talking in the middle of the room for a few more seconds until Kyuhyun finally went to the table full of snacks and then Hyukjae sat on the couch beside Leeteuk, completely unaware of the tension surrounding the room. Donghae glared at Shindong which was equal to don’t you dare say a thing about it, but Shindong was Shindong so he shrugged Donghae’s glare off and spoke, “Hyukjae-yah, did you know?”

“Know what?” Hyukjae asked, blinking several times as he stared back at Shindong.

If Hyukjae wasn’t so focused on Shindong, he would probably noticed Donghae who looked like he was about to explode at any second, and then the members who were so excited about what was about to happen next that the only lacking thing at that moment was buckets of popcorn.

“That…” Shindong continued, and all Donghae could think was please, please, please no. “That the concert’s starting in 20 minutes?”

Donghae exhaled loudly while the other members snickered around him, even Kyuhyun who was already munching a biscuit. Hyukjae remained clueless, though, as he simply nodded and responded, “Yeah, I do.”

“Hyung, please, please, I’m begging you,” Donghae whispered to Shindong when Hyukjae was occupied with choosing what snack to get a few minutes later. “It’s almost my birthday. You don’t have to get me anything ever, just keep your mouth shut about this.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we prepared something special for you, alright,” Shindong replied.

- - - -

“Where are you going, Donghae?” One of their stylists asked when Donghae tried to make his way back to the dressing room. He said something about wanting to change his top, but the stylist noona grabbed Donghae by his wrist and firmly stated, “You can’t do that. The show’s starting in a few minutes, and what’s wrong with your top? It looks great.”

“Why am I wearing a matching top with Hyukjae?” He half-shouted, half-whispered.

While on their way to the backstage, Leeteuk made a comment about how Hyukjae’s and Donghae’s tops looked very similar. Hyukjae only laughed in response, thinking that there was no way their stylists would allow them to wear the same piece of clothing at the same time, while there was Donghae who suspiciously looked at s. He caught Yesung’s eyes and the older only winked back at him, and that confirmed his suspicion that the members had something to do with it. Hence, Donghae wanted to go back to the dressing room to change.

“I thought you want to match with Hyukjae?” The stylist asked while raising an eyebrow at Donghae. “I had to make last-minute changes yesterday because Heechul called and said you wanted your outfit to match with Hyukjae. The shop where I got it from didn’t have a pink one anymore, so I got you the blue one.”

“Noona…” Donghae whined, his arms helplessly flailing. He knew that the show would start at any minute and there was no way he would be allowed to do a quick change. So, after taking a deep breath, he turned around and decided to simply focus on the show. He would deal with s la-

“Donghae-yah,” An arm was wrapped around his shoulder, automatically pulling him closer to the owner’s chest. He didn’t have to look at him to know… that it was him, Hyukjae; his familiar scent would always give him away, mixed with his favorite cologne. Hyukjae wasn’t the strongest among the group in terms of physical strength. Donghae was probably even stronger than him, but for some reason, every time Hyukjae would wrap an arm around him, or even hold his hand or wrist or arm, Donghae would always feel safe. And one thing would always happen every single time Hyukjae was near, the same thing that confirmed it for him that he was developing a crush on Hyukjae - his world would always stop.

Not literally, of course. He liked to look at it as the world stopping since it didn’t matter what he was doing or what he was saying or what he was thinking at that moment, once Hyukjae was nearby, every single thing occurring around him would just come into a halt and then everything would suddenly be about Hyukjae. The fans had even started to notice it, how Donghae would suddenly stare blankly at Hyukjae once they were side by side. Little did they know, it wasn’t fanservice for him anymore… it was him, being completely in awe of Lee Hyukjae.

“Donghae? Are you okay?” Donghae blinked several times when he noticed Hyukjae’s hand waving in front of him, then he met his perfectly rounded eyes and Donghae could only gulp in return. “Hey, are you still with me?”

“Y-yeah,” Donghae finally managed to utter a word. He decided to step back a little, just enough for Hyukjae to pull his arm away from Donghae because he was afraid of what could happen next if he would remain that close to Hyukjae for another second. “I’m fine. I’m just… a little nervous, I suppose.”

“Still getting the nerves after all these years, huh?” Hyukjae chuckled, gently tapping Donghae on the shoulder - and every part of Donghae’s skin that made contact with Hyukjae’s hand burned. “Don’t worry, I also feel the same way. I guess we could never get used to it, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

- - - -

The show went on as usual - the fans were loud and amazing, every segment was executed perfectly, everyone was having a good time, and, of course, how could anyone forget the segment wherein they got to give Donghae a cake and sing him a Happy Birthday song. Donghae was simply overwhelmed when the fans and s started singing; it wasn’t his first time experiencing that, but it was always special and memorable every time he got to celebrate his birthday with his fans and Super Junior.

Donghae was giving his thank-you speech after the song and couldn’t help but notice that Hyukjae had his denim jacket off his shoulders, exposing the matching pink top he was wearing. So, consciously, Donghae would always pull the front of his jacket together, afraid that someone would remember that they were wearing matching outfits and would say something about it. He was simply wishing to end the whole show in peace, without Shindong or any of the members making remarks or jokes about his little crush on their friend.

Donghae finally ended his speech after blowing his candle and he even quickly stepped back, just in case the members would try to smash his face into the cake. The other members looked at him weirdly since the thought didn’t cross their minds, but then they realized that it was just Donghae being the weird one that he was.

“Why don’t we put one on your forehead?” Siwon asked, pertaining to the cherries on the top of the cake. Donghae was also simply too happy at that moment that he would do anything the members would ask him to, but Leeteuk told him to just eat one and Ryeowook said something about getting pimples if Siwon would put a cherry on his forehead.

In the middle of chewing the cherry, which actually tasted good, Siwon smudged the cream on the tip of Donghae’s nose. If it was any other day, Donghae would immediately wipe it off, but since it was his birthday celebration with his fans, he let the cream stay on so the fans could have a good laugh about it. Although Siwon wasn’t even finished smudging the cream yet when Leeteuk suggested something else again, “Put the cream on and then have Eunhyuk eat it.”

“Eunhyuk can try tasting it,” Siwon urged Hyukjae who was standing between him and Leeteuk.

Donghae could only laugh nervously at the idea and his eyes were wavering in panic since he couldn’t tell if s were serious about it or not. Hyukjae eating the cream from the