“Heechul, Heechul! I have a question!”

“Blue, Donghae. Choose a blue one.”

The guy appeared in front of him two seconds later, hiding two pieces of clothes behind his back. Heechul could see them perfectly well, but preferred to ignore it. Just because he didn’t want to upset Donghae.

“You didn’t even hear the question,” the latter said with a chuckle and Heechul smiled in response.

He never was able to resist those adorable soft short chuckles.

“You don’t have to ask me anything when you’re getting ready for a date and obviously struggling to choose an outfit. Go for a blue shirt. Blue looks the best on you and makes you cuter.”

“What if I want to look handsome, not cute?”

“You’re handsome anyway, so this will be a double kill.”

Donghae shook his head a little and said, “Everyone says red looks the best on me, you’re the one insisting on me choosing blue clothes.”

That was Heechul’s turn to smile.

“Well, maybe I’m biased. But whom you’re going to listen to? If you were going to listen to others why to ask me then?”

“Because I trust you the most. And even if you’re the only one saying blue I’ll choose blue. Wait here, I’ll ask you a few more things later!”

He ran away to his room to change the clothes, leaving Heechul alone with his tasks.

Tasks he didn’t want to do because he couldn’t focus. He simply couldn’t focus.

Something big was about to happen, and he wasn’t ready for it. For various reasons. It was too hard to get ready to stuff like this, and it was the first time a man like Heechul found himself… a bit scared. Even though he couldn’t really tell what was scaring him the most.

So here he was, wandering around the house with no any particular reason at all, answering Donghae’s questions when needed. He couldn’t focus. Everything was distracting him. Every single thing was distracting him.

Even his brain that kept showing him memories about his past.

Theirs past. His and Donghae’s past.

***

“He looks weird,” the boy whom you would never mistake with someone else but Heechul even at his young age muttered after looking at that little face peeking out of blue duvet. Someone must’ve been scared this baby will get cold.

A woman beside him chuckled.

“You looked just like that when you were his age,” she said.

“I was prettier.”

“Heechul, behave,” another woman – his mother – said. “You did look pretty much like Donghae does now.”

“Then he must be copying me.”

“That could be the reason,” the baby’s – Donghae’s – mother chuckled once again. “What do you think? Will you play with him?”

“Play? He’s so tiny I might break him!”

“Then do it carefully.”

Heechul could only frown at those women who for some odd reason decided that he can be friends with that baby. The boy didn’t think so. He was 5, a grown-up already, and what was Donghae’s age, 2? No way they could get along; Heechul didn’t even know if the baby is good for anything but sleeping.

That was everything he’s been doing so far, after all.

However, his mother was unstoppable when she decided on something. She wanted her son to be her best friend’s son best friend, and there was literally no way to explain that at their age 3 years is a huge difference. So here Heechul was: standing beside Donghae’s bed looking at him sleeping because he had to be with him while women were talking.

That was boring. The baby was sleeping and that’s it, the only unusual activity was him tossing and turning here and there. After a few times of doing so Donghae managed to uncover himself completely and that made Heechul wonder whether or not he had to do something about it.

“You’ll freeze if I won’t help you, right?” he asked and reached with his hand to tuck his duvet, but then something unpredictable happened.

Donghae opened his eyes.

He opened those beautiful eyes and first looked at Heechul’s hand, but then his gaze shifted to the boy’s face. The latter gulped. He looked at two women standing not so far away from them; what if they’ll scold him once the baby starts crying because he woke him up?

However, instead of hearing him crying Heechul felt someone’s light touch on his pinky only to realize that was Donghae’s tiny hand tugging onto it a second later. Once the boy looked at that baby he just… froze.

Tugging on his pinky, Donghae was smiling at him. Instead of letting out cries due to being awaken, he was smiling at Heechul as if saying, “Look, I’m not a crybaby! I actually like you.”

And even though Heechul was too young to understand how precious that action was… he still kind of liked it.

Later people would say that they were bound to be friends since the first moment their eyes met. Even though it took them two years to get to know each other due to various problems, their parents – and the boys themselves – believed they really were meant to become friends. Sometimes… sometimes you’re simply destined to meet someone. Because that person is supposed to make your life better.

“I see you two got along,” Donghae’s mother said, startling the boy a little. She literally came out of nowhere. “Donghae hates it when someone interrupts his precious sleep, but he’s smiling at you.”

“I just wanted to fix his duvet…” Heechul muttered, feeling a bit lost and maybe even guilty. He could bicker with his own mother as much as he wanted even though he was only 5 (never tell Heechul someone said he’s only 5; he believed he’s not a kid), but with Donghae’s mom… it was different.

“That’s okay. He likes you,” the woman turned to his own child and then picked the baby; the latter let go of Heechul’s pinky reluctantly. “Do you like him? Do you?”

The boy never thought that little baby whom Donghae was (he was too little to understand that at this age babies can do far more things than newborns) could understand that question, but he literally hugged his mother’s neck, trying to hide his face in the crook of it, and muttered, “Yes…”

Both women – why did his mother appear out of nowhere as well?! – chuckled, and Heechul’s cheeks became a bit red. For literally no reason at all.

“Then call him by his name, Donghae. It’s Heechul. Come on, say it. Hee-chul.”

“Chul… la? Chulla?”

“Hey! It’s Heechul, they told you!” the boy said, sounding a little offended.

“He knows,” his mother said with a smile. “He just gave you a nickname. He wants to be friends with you.”

Heechul could never imagine they will actually become friends for real.

***

“This or that? Heechul?”

The red-haired guy noticed he was spacing off when he realized he didn’t even notice Donghae in his blue shirt standing right in front of him.

“What are you thinking about? Is something wrong?” his friend asked, sounding a bit worried. Heechul could only smile.

“Nothing. Just thought that maybe I had to tell you wear a red shirt – you’d match my hair.”

“Why should we match on a date?” Donghae mumbled, failing to notice how the man in front of him shivered after those words. “Better tell me what tie to choose.”

“I guess this time it will be better with no tie. You really can’t do anything without me, huh?”

The guy smiled and shook his head. He couldn’t.

He never could.

***

“Heechul, what are you doing here?” his grandmother asked once she spotted her grandson hiding in the garden between flowers.

“Hiding from Donghae.”

The woman chuckled.

“Are you playing hide-and-seek?”

“No, I just don’t want to see him.”

“Oh, why? I thought you were friends.”

That was true. For some odd reason since the day Donghae first smiled at him Heechul realized he can’t let go of that boy. It was… not fun at all to hang out with him. Like, they never did anything the older boy would like. But…

But the way that boy was reaching to him, the way he always wanted to be with him, the way he said he loves his “Chulla” the most out of all people… It, well, flattered the boy’s ego? It…

It made him feel needed.

His sadness apparently was nothing an adult (whom Heechul considered himself, but he just was… a small adult) could understand, but as a kid whose parents always were at work, whose only granny was always busy in the garden… he felt so left out. Yes, he had friends, a lot of friends, but it was impossible for him to spend all his free time with them (and why did his parents think he’s too small to be outside till late? He was already 10!). But he and Donghae were neighbors, there was no problem for them to spend time together.

And he felt so needed when he was with a smaller boy.

Heechul was older, and little Donghae always saw him as a role model. He wanted to be as confident as Heechul, as friendly as Heechul, as smart as Heechul, as pretty as Heechul. No wonder he started copying his friend a bit. And that… that was the problem.

Because kids have always been quite rude. And when his friends saw Heechul with his little admirer… they didn’t accept it well.

“We are,” the boy said silently. “But because of him I might lose my other friends.”

“How come?” his grandma asked, frowning a little.

“Donghae is… too young.”

“But you always said he’s the smartest among your friends even though he’s just 7?”

“He is! That guy has read more books than my other friends even saw in their lives!”

“What’s the problem then?”

“His age is. He’s 7. And…” the boy bit his lip. “Other kids start laughing at me whenever they see me hanging out with him. He’s smart, but also is… a baby. He wants a lot of attention. He is easy to cry. He keeps playing with toys, but me and my friends are too old to play with them! But he always needs me, I can’t leave him. But others laugh at me whenever they see us.”

His grandmother has always been a wise woman; at least Heechul always thought so. He still did. There were so many ways to describe his behavior, but instead of choosing any of predictable answers his granny said, “Yeah, you’re right. I guess you should stop talking to him if his behavior bothers you so much.”

The boy’s eyes widened the moment she said that.

“But it doesn’t! He doesn’t bother me a bit!”

“Oh, really? Why are you hiding then, s