Hyukjae is awoken the next morning by the sun peeking through the curtain and shining directly into his eye. He squints, shifting his head so the light isn't burning his eyes out and turns to check the time.

It's a little past six forty-five in the morning, which is simultaneously too early for just about anything, but also about time to get out of bed. 

Hyukjae sighs softly and then he's suddenly aware that Donghae is almost completely on top of him. When Hyukjae looks down, he's met with a faceful of Donghae’s hair. It's sweet-smelling, like berries, and Hyukjae inhales deeply, savouring the scent before he drops his head back down onto the pillow.

He moves his arm so he's resting it on Donghae's back and watches as Donghae's body rises and falls with his own breaths.

Almost as if he realizes he's being watched, Donghae stirs. He sniffs sleepily, rubbing his cheek on Hyukjae’s chest for a second before he picks his head up, blinking up at Hyukjae.

“Good morning,” Hyukjae says. Donghae’s hair is sticking up at awkward angles, especially the side that had been laying on Hyukjae. Donghae blinks a few more times before he scrambles upright, looking horrified. 

“Did I—I’m sorry,” he says. Hyukjae waves him off.

“It’s fine,” he says, keeping his voice purposely nonchalant as if this isn’t making Hyukjae the happiest person in the world. Donghae frowns.

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it,” Hyukjae says. Donghae still looks unsure by that statement so he tugs lightly on Donghae’s arm. “Come on, we still have like thirty minutes before we actually have to get up.”

Donghae blinks for a second down at Hyukjae's hand before he lets himself be pulled back onto Hyukjae's chest. It takes a moment before Donghae actually relaxes, his head getting heavier on Hyukjae's chest.

He drifts off not long after but Hyukjae remains stubbornly awake. He reaches over to the side table with the least amount of movement possible to prevent waking Donghae and grabs his phone. 

He turns on the subtitles of a YouTube video and watches it on mute until his alarm rings. At the sound of the alarm, Donghae jerks upright and Hyukjae moves his phone away to keep from being headbutted.

"You can use the bathroom first," Hyukjae says because he's too comfortable to move right now. Donghae shuffles off him, digs through his suitcase, and disappears into the bathroom.

Hyukjae finishes up his video before he actually rolls out of bed. He changes quickly, choosing a pair of skinny jeans, a graphic tee, and a button-up shirt. When Donghae finishes in the bathroom, Hyukjae makes quick work getting ready.

He emerges from the bathroom to see Donghae sitting on the bed, glasses perched on his nose and hair loose and falling into his eyes. In his lap are a pillbox and Donghae is meticulously counting the pills in one of the boxes.

There are four of them, which is more than Hyukjae would have expected. Donghae looks up at him.

"Do you want to know what they're for?" Donghae asks, clearly having caught him staring. Hyukjae startles, panicking a bit.

"No, no, you don't have to," he says. Donghae shakes his head.

"I want to," he says. He picks up two of the pills. "These are for anxiety."

Hyukjae blinks down at them.

"I see," he says. Donghae picks another one up.

"This one is an antidepressant. I don't have depression, according to my therapist, but this, in particular, seems to be good for PTSD," Donghae says. He picks the final one up.

"And this one is anti-nausea because the other three make violently sick on their own," he says. He shudders. "Found that out the hard way."

Hyukjae smiles.

"I see," he says. He reaches for the bottle of water on the side table and hands it to Donghae. The man takes it and swallows all the pills at once.

"Are we ready to go?" Donghae asks once he's finished, standing up, grabbing his camera and hanging it around his neck.

Hyukjae checks the time; it’s about time to head down.

"Let's go."

⸺

They grab a quick breakfast at a café at the subway station before they get on a train to Hakone-Itabashi Station to get to the Mt. Fuji area. Hyukjae can see the excitement starting to build in every single one of his friends, but Donghae most of all. 

Donghae looks like he's about to vibrate out of his skin by the time they step off the train.

"Look at that," Donghae breathes, stopping in his tracks. Everyone else seems to be in a similar position, in awe of the looming mountain before them, so high it disappears into the clouds.

"Are we going all the way up there?" Siwon asks from behind him. Hyukjae shakes his head.

"I read about it, it takes about ten hours to get to the top," Hyukjae says. He turns to Siwon. "We don't have that kind of time."

"No, we don't," Siwon agrees, his eyes still glued to the mountain. "Then how far are we going?"

"We'll take the Yoshida trail and climb for about an hour and a half. We'll get back down to get lunch and then go to the shrines nearby," Hyukjae says. 

"A good plan," Siwon says.

"Thank you," Hyukjae says.

Siwon smiles over at him. “You’re good at planning trips.”

Hyukjae scratches the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable by the compliment. “Thanks.”

They arrive at the torii at the entrance of Mt. Fuji and they all stop by the side of the road.

“We’re getting to one of the rest stations, it’s about an hour and a half climb,” Hyukjae says. They start walking and after about forty-five minutes, Hyukjae is starting to realize that putting Mt. Fuji on the itinerary was a mistake. Hyukjae shouldn't have done it. They're not even climbing anywhere close. Hyukjae had decided an hour and a half because he’d read that there were nice rest stops and shops, and about an hour and a half climb got them to an area with a pretty good view.

But Hyukjae hadn’t anticipated just how unfit he was, and here he is now, regretting all of his life decisions. He's about ready to call it quits, and they’re only halfway through the trip going up. They still have to go down.

The only thing really keeping him going is that Kyuhyun, Yesung, and Ryeowook all seem to be in the same boat. It's the power of spite that keeps him going because he cannot quit before they do.

"Where the are Donghae and Siwon," Yesung growls, the effect of it undercut by how out of breath he sounds.

"Man I don't know," Hyukjae pants. They had disappeared ahead a while ago because unlike Hyukjae, those two are actually in shape. 

Hyukjae truly did not realize just how physically taxing this relatively short climb would be. He tries to dissociate, separating his mind from the pain in his lungs from walking and instead focusing on the beautiful view.

It works for about a whole minute before he wheezes a little. And then his attention is back to just how painful this whole ordeal is. He should start working out.

Actually no, given how painful this is, he doesn’t want to do any sort of cardio, ever.

"I need a break," Ryeowook says, after what feels like forever.

"Oh thank god," Hyukjae says and practically drops into one of the benches on the side of the road. Kyuhyun falls into the space beside him and Hyukjae snorts a laugh at the amount of sweat that is covering the other man’s brow.

“This is hell,” Kyuhyun says.

“Will the view be worth it,” Yesung muses. “Or should we just text Donghae and Siwon and tell them to take the pictures and meet up back down here.”

“That is admitting defeat,” Kyuhyun says and stands. “I’m not doing that.”

He gets up and starts walking again, leaving everyone else to scramble after him.

From there, they walk another fifteen minutes before taking a ten-minute break, buying a drink to share. Then they power through the last bit and arrive at their destination, panting and exhausted. All in all, it probably took more than a bit longer than an hour and a half to get to their final stop.

They all sit down on the grass and Hyukjae starts scanning the crowd for Siwon and Donghae. When they don’t find them, Hyukjae texts Donghae. He gets a response a second later.

Donghae: We’re coming!

A few seconds later, Siwon and Donghae appear before them.

"You guys were taking so long, we went and jogged up as far as we could to take some better pictures," Donghae says as he walks over. Hyukjae thinks there might be a passive-aggressive insult in that statement. 

“Donghae, you have to cut us some slack,” Hyukjae says, falling back into the grass. “We can’t all be fit and perfect like you.” Donghae sits down next to him.

“You’re pretty perfect yourself, Hyukjae,” he says.

Yesung fake gags from somewhere in front of them.

“Oh god, don’t start,” he says, standing. “I’m going to go look at some of the shops.”

Donghae laughs, falling into the grass next to him. “Do you want to look at the pictures I took?”

“Of course,” Hyukjae says. Donghae hands his camera over and Hyukjae flips through the pictures. They’re beautiful; Donghae has quite the eye for composition. 

"These are beautiful, Donghae," he says. He stops at a picture that Siwon had probably taken. 

Donghae is standing at one of the fences, facing the expanse of the city far below. There are trees and nature behind him, balancing the shot with the city in front of him. It's a candid shot and Donghae's face has an ethereal sort of poignancy as he gazes off into the distance. Hyukjae feels his breath hitch.

"Send this one to me?" he asks and Donghae shifts closer so he can see the picture he's referring to.

"Okay," Donghae says quietly. "Remind me, yeah?"

“Yeah,” Hyukjae says. He looks down at the picture one more time before he quickly flips through the last of them. “Let’s go souvenir shopping before we leave.”

“Don’t spend too much,” Donghae warns and Hyukjae scowls. “Who told you?”

“You did,” Donghae says. 

“I don’t recall—”

“Well not verbally, but I noticed you eyeing everything and restraining yourself in every store we walked into yesterday,” he teases and Hyukjae sinks his face into his hands.

“Was I that obvious?” 

“Only to me,” Donghae says, holding a hand out to help him up. Hyukjae grabs it and is hauled upright.

“I’m getting better,” Hyukjae says and Donghae giggles.

“I’m sure,” he says. “I’m going to get a souvenir for my mom here and something for Heechul later.”

They head down to the streets of shops, browsing. Donghae eventually gets drawn into a shop selling handmade fans, and with a lack of anything that has piqued Hyukjae’s interest, he wanders off to a store with an assortment of Mt. Fuji branded memorabilia.

He strolls through the small shop, eventually stopping and picking up the phone case—it's a pretty baby pink, with a painting of Mt. Fuji and sakura blossoms on the back. Donghae would enjoy this.

Especially since Donghae's case is a boring plain black and doesn't reflect his personality at all. This one works far better.

So Hyukjae grabs it for Donghae, along with a couple of trinkets for his parents and his sister. 

With his purchases made, he heads back to the area they had been sitting beforehand. Yesung and Ryeowook are already waiting, cloud watching in the grass.

Hyukjae sits next to them but doesn’t join them in their conversation, content to just admire the scenery before him. Eventually, Siwon and Kyuhyun reappear, with Donghae showing up last.

When Hyukjae catches sight of the man, he stands.

“I got you something,” he says. He pulls out the case from his shopping back and hands it to Donghae.

"Oh," Donghae says, looking down at the case. He doesn't say anything else, biting his lip as if he's trying not to smile. 

"Do you… not like it?" Hyukjae asks and Donghae shakes his head.

"No, no, I love it. It's just funny, because," he says and rummages into his bag. He pulls out a phone case, a black one, with a night scenery of the mountain with stars and the moon. "I got this one for you."

Hyukjae laughs.

“We make quite the pair, don’t we?”

“We’ll match,” Donghae says, already in the process of replacing his case. Hyukjae does the same. When they finish, they hold out their phones, comparing the cases.

“We match,” Hyukjae says, repeating Donghae's earlier sentiment and looks up to meet Donghae’s eyes, which are sparkling with amusement.

“Come on, we don’t have all day,” Yesung yells, and Hyukjae glances over. Their friends are already at the edge of the trail, clearly waiting for them.<