Hyukjae wakes the next morning to the sound of a camera shutter clicking. His eyes snap open at the sound.

He doesn't sit up, which he normally would have, because immediately as he wakes up, he's aware of a weight on his chest. His arms are still wrapped around Donghae and his boyfriend's head is tucked right under Hyukjae's chin.

He gives himself a split second to enjoy it before he glares up at the source of the sound. He's unsurprised to see Yesung hovering over them, a giant -eating grin on his face.

"You guys are cute," he says. He waves his phone. "You want it?"

"Yes please," Hyukjae admits begrudgingly. Yesung chuckles.

"As you wish," he says. "How are you feeling?"

Hyukjae blinks at the question and does a quick introspection on his physical wellbeing. The itching is gone and so is the feeling of heated skin. He lifts his arm and does a visual assessment of the skin—the redness is gone, with only a small red line on his right arm where he clearly scratched too hard. 

"Yeah," he says. "I'm good."

"Good," Yesung says, nodding. "I'm glad. It's time to get up. Wake your boyfriend, there's a free buffet here, so we are definitely going to take advantage of that."

He leaves the room after that, and with Yesung gone, Hyukjae is aware that everyone else has already gone as well. He shifts a bit before he leans down, pressing a kiss to Donghae's scalp. 

"Donghae," he mutters without moving, his face still buried in Donghae's hair. He'd be happy to be able to do this every day for the rest of his life. 

"Hm," Donghae hums, shifting.

"We need to go downstairs for breakfast, everyone else has already gone," Hyukjae says. Donghae gives another disgruntled hum, clearly unhappy to be disturbed. “Someone’s grumpy.”

“Hyukjae,” Donghae whines as he slowly pulls himself out of Hyukjae’s arms and sits upright. He’s frowning and Hyukjae wants to kiss the little wrinkle between his brows.

“Come here,” he says, pulling Donghae down again and kissing his forehead. 

“Are you feeling better?” Donghae says when he pulls back, cupping Hyukjae’s cheeks and giving him a quick assessment.

“Yeah,” Hyukjae says, allowing himself to be manhandled. “Thanks to you.”

"Good," Donghae says. He rubs his eyes. "I want to go back to sleep."

"It's eight already," Hyukjae says, but Donghae does look worn out.

"I woke up a few times to make sure you were okay," Donghae says and Hyukjae coos a little, touched. "I don't know, I'm just tired." 

Hyukjae doesn't doubt that yesterday's event also had something to do with it—emotionally it was quite the journey for both of them, but Donghae especially. He sighs, moving closer.

"Okay babe, go back to sleep," Hyukjae says, brushing his hand through Donghae's hair. "I'll bring you food from downstairs. Anything in particular you want?"

Donghae hums again, clearly already half asleep.

"Some fruit," he says. Hyukjae chuckles.

"And some doughnuts to go with that?" he teases. Donghae cracks an eye open, giving him an unamused look and Hyukjae holds his hands up in surrender. "I'll just get you an assortment of things, okay?"

Donghae nods.

"Okay," he mutters. Hyukjae gets up and quickly gets ready. Before he leaves, he bends down, pulls the blankets back up Donghae's chin, and plants a gentle kiss onto Donghae's brow. He shuts the door quietly and heads downstairs. 

“Where’s Donghae?” Kyuhyun asks when Hyukjae joins them at the table.

“Still sleeping,” Hyukjae says as he starts eating. "I'm just going to bring food up for him afterwards."

Hyukjae catches Siwon frowning at his answer, but he ignores it. Thankfully, Ryeowook begins talking about the documentary he and Kyuhyun had watched last night about data mining and social media, so the conversation flows smoothly from there.

When they're finished eating, Hyukjae grabs a takeout container and loads it with all of Donghae's favourites he can find before they head back upstairs.

⸺

When they get back up to their room, Donghae is awake and all their bags are packed and lined up by the door.

“Where are we going today before we leave?" Donghae asks, sidling up next to Hyukjae as soon as he walks in the door. 

“Akihabara,” Hyukjae says as he hands over the takeout container full of food he had gotten for Donghae. Donghae takes it, humming his thanks as he digs in. Hyukjae can help but watch, a fond smile dancing on his lips as Donghae eats. He leans in, planting a kiss on Donghae’s cheek, which Donghae has stuffed with food so he resembles a chipmunk. His heart warms as Donghae blinks up at him with wide eyes.

“What’s in Akihabara?” he asks.

“Anime for Yesung and Kyuhyun,” Hyukjae says and Donghae nods. 

"I liked K-project. And Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte are really good too. I watch One Piece as my guilty pleasure,” Donghae says. Yesung swoops in from behind then, tossing his arms over Donghae’s shoulder.

“You, my friend, have taste,” Yesung says. "Unlike Hyukjae."

"What?" Donghae says, turning and staring at Yesung.

"This guy over here might love video games but he doesn't have time for anime, apparently," Yesung says.

"Okay look, reading subtitles is annoying and I can't stand dub," Hyukjae defends and Yesung waves his hand, dismissing him.

"Yeah, whatever," he says. He turns back to Donghae. "Rare to find another fan of One Piece, given how long it is. Who's your favourite character?"

"Trafalgar Law," Donghae says immediately. Yesung snorts.

"Of course your favourite is the skinny, sarcastic doctor with a hidden loving heart," Yesung says. "Why am I not surprised." Donghae flushes at Yesung's statement.

"What?" Hyukjae says, alternating between looking at Donghae and Yesung, feeling like he's missing something important.

"Oh nothing," Yesung says. "It's just that it seems your boyfriend has a type."

 Donghae is a little bit of a spluttering mess at this point, so Hyukjae takes pity on his poor boyfriend and changes the subject.

“You have the directions to Akihabara, right?” he asks 

“Yup,” Yesung says, popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “I can lead the way.” Hyukjae nods—he kind of doubts that, given that Yesung is quite terrible with directions when left to his own devices, but he can’t really bring himself to care. Not when Donghae is pressed up against him, warm and happy.

“Well then, be my guest,” Hyukjae mutters. They drop their luggage off at the storage area in their hotel before heading out to the streets. Hyukjae and Donghae naturally stall to the back of the group, their hands linked and arms swinging back and forth. Being with Donghae is distracting enough that he doesn't pay attention to where they've been walking until Siwon stops in the middle of the street, frowning at their surroundings.

"We're walking in circles," he says.

"We are not," Yesung protests. Hyukjae groans, knowing exactly where this situation is going to go.

"We crossed here before a couple of minutes ago, I don't know what map you've been looking at," Kyuhyun says.

"I know where we're going," Yesung protests.

"We are going in circles, aren't you following Google maps?" Kyuhyun says and Yesung puffs like a peacock at the accusation. Hyukjae sighs and tunes the conversation out with a skill born of years of experience. 

Beside him, Donghae squirms for a few seconds before he lets go of Hyukjae's hand. Hyukjae frowns, watching as Donghae plucks the phone out of Yesung's hands with ease and heads over to a girl dressed as a maid trying to draw people into the cafe behind her.

Hyukjae watches with an eyebrow raised as the girl's entire body language morphs from politely feigned interest to very real interest. Donghae, bless his soul, seems none the wiser to the girl's blatant interest. Nonetheless, she seems very professional, gesturing out the streets as an answer to Donghae’s request for directions. Donghae’s smile in thanks is blinding even from a distance and Hyukjae feels a little sorry for the poor girl’s heart.

Donghae jogs back over to them, handing the phone back to Yesung. Hyukjae chuckles at Yesung’s confused frown.

“When did you take this from me?” Yesung asks.

“Huh? A while ago,” Donghae says. “I asked for directions, we were turning the wrong way, we should be turning right at the intersection ahead, not left.”

Yesung scowls.

“I knew where we were going,” he says because apparently, this is the hill Yesung wants to die on. Hyukjae claps Yesung on the back.

“Sure you were,” he says. “You did great, but let’s let Donghae lead, yeah?”

Yesung looks stormy, but he gives up on protesting, following along with the rest as Donghae leads them. And with a guide who actually knows where to go, they arrive at Akihabara in five minutes.

"Wow," Donghae says, his neck craning as he looks up at the different shop names and anime characters decorating the walls of the building around them. Hyukjae is momentarily distracted by Donghae's jawline, sharp like it's carved by the gods themselves. 

"God, you're so stunning," Hyukjae says, stepping up to his boyfriend. "How did I get so lucky?"

Donghae looks down at him, his eyes crinkling as he smiles.

"I could say the same," he says. Hyukjae feels his face heat a little. 

"Okay you two," Yesung says. "Let's pay attention to the topic at hand, shall we?"

Hyukjae debates ignoring Yesung just to be a prick, but unfortunately, Donghae's far too nice to do something like that. 

"What were you talking about?" 

"We were asking if we're splitting up," Siwon says. 

"Sure," Hyukjae says. 

"When's our flight?" Kyuhyun asks. 

"Mm, four-thirty," Hyukjae says. "It's eleven, so we can do what we want, have lunch, and then meet again here at two?"

"Sounds like a plan," Kyuhyun says. “Well I’ll see you losers later, I have business here.”

“He’s going to bankrupt himself, isn’t he?” Hyukjae mutters to himself as Donghae giggles. “Come on, let’s walk around, yeah?”

“Mhm,” Donghae hums. They’re about halfway down the street when they hear Siwon calling for Donghae. They whirl around and catch sight of Siwon at the intersection, waving with something in his hand. “Oh shoot, my wallet. Wait here?”

Hyukjae nods, leaning against a building as he watches Donghae weave his way through the crowd to Siwon. Siwon hands the wallet back and Donghae heads back to Hyukjae. He's stopped briefly by someone at the entrance of one of the buildings, who hands Donghae something resembling a fan.

Donghae looks down at it, his face twisting into an expression vaguely resembling embarrassment. By the time he's returned to Hyukjae, his face has turned a bright red.

"What is it?" he asks. Donghae sputters a bit before he shoves the fan into Hyukjae's hands. Hyukjae looks down at the image printed on the fan. It's suddenly clear just why Donghae resembles a ripe tomato.

Hyukjae chuckles.

“What, you didn’t have pictures like this saved when you were a kid?” Hyukjae says, examining the scantily clad, outrageously proportioned anime girl on the fan. Donghae buries his head in his hands and says something that Hyukjae can’t quite make out. “What was that?”

“I said I'm really gay and I knew even back then, so no!” Donghae says and Hyukjae laughs.

“I see,” he says, looking down at the fan. “Well, I did have a stint of keeping like this under my bed."

"Gross," Donghae mutters, but he's smiling. Hyukjae snorts and tosses the fan in a nearby trash can.

"Is that why you were painfully unaware that maid was flirting with you earlier?" Donghae tilts his head at him.

"What are you talking about?" 

"Nevermind," Hyukjae says, shaking his head. Donghae takes his hand again and they walk into one of the giant multi-level stores filled with anime-related merchandise.

"I want to find a figure of Kaneki Ken," Donghae says as they walk through the store. Hyukjae nods, trailing behind Donghae until his boyfriend eventually stops at one of the displays. "I like this one."

Hyukjae examines the figure: the quality of all of the figures he's seen so far are phenomenal for the price. This particular figure is of a white-haired boy dressed completely in plack, four tentacle-like appendages extending from his back. The figure's eye is black with a blood-red pupil and is also wearing a grotesque-looking mask with teeth drawn onto it. It's a character that looks like it’s from an anime that's far more grotesque and bloody than something Donghae would watch.

"I have to look away at some points," Donghae admits when Hyukjae says as much. "But I do like the art, especially in the manga, and I like the storyline. The themes they explore about human nature are fascinating."

Hyukjae nods intrigued.

"We could watch it together sometime?" he asks as Donghae pays for the figure. Donghae beams.

"Okay," he says. Hyukjae smiles in return before he helps Donghae tuck the figure away in his bag. They head off to the streets again. With Donghae's shopping done, they spend the rest of their free time browsing the buildings and taking some more pictures.

They get ramen one last time, which absolutely delights Donghae (which of course in turn makes Hyukjae happy as well). When they’re finished, they head back to the intersection to meet the rest of their friends. They take the subway back to their hotel to pick up their luggage before taking the shuttle to the airport. 

Checking their luggage and going through security checks go by quickly and painlessly. When they get to their terminal, Yesung, Ryeowook, and Siwon head off to check out the duty-free shops, while the rest of them opt to just sit and wait. Hyukjae settles onto one of the waiting chairs and opens his email for the first time in a few days. He frowns at the first one, which is an email forwarded from Yesung. He clicks on it and skims it: it’s an acceptance for an internship at the same hospital that Hyukjae will be working in this summer.

“Oh hell yeah,” Hyukjae says.

“What?” Donghae says. Hyukjae hands his phone over and Donghae’s eyes dart back and forth as he reads. 

"Well, congratulations to—wait, who's Jongwoon?" Donghae asks, frowning, and Hyukjae does a double-take at the question. And then he la