Friday rolls around quickly, and by the evening, Hyukjae's apartment is more lively than it's been in months.

Ryeowook is the first to arrive. He greets Mocha with a treat that Yesung gives him. 

“He’s very cute,” Ryeowook says. He entertains Mocha for a little before migrating to the couch, allowing Yesung to shove a controller into his hand to play Borderlands with him because Hyukjae at first-person shooters and refuses to play with him. 

He leaves them to it because he doesn’t want the inevitable motion sickness he gets from watching and playing first-person shooters and instead joins Donghae on the ground. Siwon arrives shortly after, and the man makes a beeline for Mocha as soon as he walks in. 

“Oh, look at you,” Siwon coos down at the dog in Donghae’s lap. Mocha gives Siwon an inquisitive head tilt, his large ears flopping to the side. Siwon bends down, holding out his hand for Mocha’s approval. Their dog, ever the social butterfly, is quick to accept Siwon’s affection. 

Kyuhyun acts much the same way when he gets here, helpless in the face of an adorable puppy. 

Hyukjae settles onto the couch, watching the three of them play around with Mocha. The puppy looks ecstatic to be showered with attention. Kyuhyun and Donghae both hold up a treat at the same time and Mocha looks conflicted for half a second before he trots over to Donghae, plopping onto his lap. 

Donghae laughs, petting the puppy’s ears.

Hyukjae can’t help but smile at the scene. 

“I hate how sappy you two are,” Yesung comments. Hyukjae glares up at him.

“Aren’t you playing a game or something?” he says. Yesung shrugs.

“We’re done for now,” he says. “And then I looked up to you making just the sappiest face.”

“Oh, leave them be,” Ryeowook says. “They’re happy, what more can you ask for?”

“For them to not be disgusting in front of me?” 

“They’re not that bad,” Ryeowook says. 

“That’s because you don’t live with them,” Yesung says. 

“We are not that bad,” Hyukjae says. “I think.”

“I catch them staring soulfully into each other’s eyes far too often,” Yesung says. Ryeowook grimaces. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Yesung says. Hyukjae frowns. 

“When have you…”

“See, you guys are always so wrapped up in each other that you never notice,” Yesung says. “And like I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you guys sit and everything is touching. There’s no room between you two, ever.”

Hyukjae is about to open his mouth to protest when Donghae appears in front of him, Mocha in his arms. He drops onto the couch next to him, and Hyukjae is suddenly aware of how both their arms and legs are pressed together. 

“I told you,” Yesung says. Donghae looks up at them. 

“Hm?” he asks, looking a lot like the puppy in his arms. 

“Nothing,” Hyukjae says, indulging Mocha with a few pets when the puppy sniffs at his hand. 

“Liar,” Donghae says, but he doesn’t press. He rests his head on Hyukjae’s shoulder. 

“Kyuhyun wants to watch a movie,” he says. 

“I Saw the Devil,” Kyuhyun declares. 

“No,” Hyukjae says immediately because he definitely cannot handle that much blood and gore without thinking about Donghae. He doesn’t think his friends could, either, especially Siwon. “That’s not a good idea. ”

Kyuhyun frowns at him, but when Hyukjae gestures subtly at Donghae, he pales. 

“Yes,” he says faintly. “Let’s watch something else.”

"Hey babe, what movie do you want to watch?" Hyukjae asks softly. Donghae looks up from playing with Mocha and shrugs.

"The Avengers?" he says because they'd recently started working their way through the Marvel movies. 

Kyuhyun gets a pinched look on his face, but he relents immediately because he is soft for no one but Donghae. 

"Okay," he says. Hyukjae can't help but snicker a little.

"I'm okay with that," Ryeowook agrees, and Siwon nods as well, so Hyukjae grabs the remote and pulls up the movie. 

Donghae puts Mocha back on the floor when he starts squirming and then shuffles in his seat to curl up against Hyukjae. His hand slips into Hyukjae's as the movie starts. 

Maybe Yesung is onto something about them being overly sappy.

Not that Hyukjae minds at all. He might have, once upon a time, but now? He couldn't care less.

He spends most of the movie watching Donghae's reactions rather than watching the movie itself. He's watched the first Avengers movie more times than he can count. He can recite it if he wishes.

But Donghae has never seen it. So Hyukjae watches him, savouring the emotions written clear on Donghae's face. His boyfriend's face has always been so expressive, so reactive when it comes to watching movies. 

It's far more entertaining than watching the movie. 

He laughs when Donghae's eyes widen, his mouth forming a surprised "o" when Loki's plan is revealed and he makes his escape. And then the open concern when Iron Man falls from the sky, his hand tightening in his, and the triumph on Donghae's face at the end when they all gather together—it's all delightful.

Hyukjae loves watching movies with Donghae. 

When the movie is over, and the credits are playing, Donghae turns to him.

"You didn't watch the movie," he accuses, but he's smiling. 

"Mm," Hyukaje agrees. "You were too cute."

Donghae punches his arm. "Stop it," he says. 

“What, it’s true,” he says. “I can live through the whole movie watching your reactions.”

Mocha barks from their feet.

Hyukjae laughs. 

“See, he agrees too,” he says. Yesung scoops the dog up. 

“Don’t put words into the poor dog’s mouth,” he says. “I shudder to think what he’s seen.”

Hyukjae makes an affronted noise. 

“We would never,” he says. “I’m offended you would even think so.”

“Mm,” Yesung says, his eyebrow raised. 

“Hey guys,” Siwon says before Hyukjae can start arguing again. “I was thinking we could get pizza? My treat."

“Siwon, you might just be my second favourite person with that offer," Hyukjae says. 

"Only second?"

"You know my heart belongs to one person only," Hyukjae says, pulling Donghae into his arms. Donghae laughs. 

"I haven't had pizza in so long," Donghae says, giving him a quick squeeze before breaking free from his grip to go over to Siwon. He latches on like the koala that he is, smiling at them. "It'll be like before."

“Then we’re good for pizza?” Siwon confirms and gets a chorus of affirmatives in response. When Siwon steps out of the room to order, Donghae comes back to him, sitting next to him again. Hyukjae can’t help but lean against him, watches as his friends bustle around, talking amongst themselves;

They need to do this more often, Hyukjae thinks. He knows everyone is busy and it’ll be much harder to do than it had been when they were during school and had more regular schedules, but he can see the effect only a few hours has had on all of them.

Everyone seems lighter, happier.

Hyukjae makes a mental note of it because he wants to keep it that way.

⸺

The next morning, they find themselves at the train station at eight o’clock, which is far earlier than Hyukjae wants. Donghae had gone to bed early last night because he simply just couldn't stay awake that late, but Hyukjae had opted to stay up, and he and their friend had played Mario Kart and Mario Party well into the night. He's just glad that Donghae had forced him to pack his bags yesterday morning because otherwise he wouldn't have had time to sleep at all.

Donghae is standing beside him, hand in his, looking happy enough for Hyukjae to forget his own worries.

"Happy to see your mom?" he asks. Donghae nods.

"I haven't been home in a while," he says. "I've missed it."

Hyukjae nods. He's a little nervous himself—he might have already met Donghae's mother, but that was a while ago, under very tumultuous circumstances. It's not the same. He's going to be really meeting her for the first time. He doesn't voice his concerns, though, because even in his mind, he knows it's ridiculous.

Instead, he distracts himself by idly fiddling with Donghae's hand until the train arrives.

They find their seat and settle in for the three-hour ride. Donghae falls asleep on his shoulder almost immediately, and Hyukjae follows shortly after, his own head falling on top of Donghae's. 

He wakes up an unknown amount of time with a crick in his neck. He lifts his head, wincing as he checks his phone to see how far they are. They're about fifteen minutes away, so Hyukjae gives Donghae another ten minutes before he shakes his boyfriend awake.

"Hey babe," Hyukjae says when Donghae groans, massaging his neck.

"Are we almost there?" he asks.

"Mhm, around five more minutes," Hyukjae says. 

"Okay," he says. "We'll drop off our bags at the house and then I need to go grocery shopping."

"Sounds good," Hyukjae says. When the train arrives at Mokpo station a couple of minutes later, Donghae waves over a taxi to take them to his mom's house.

Hyukjae stops in the driveway of the quaint, well-kept home the taxi drops them off at. 

"Come on," Donghae says, grabbing his wrist and tugging him. "Mom loves you, I don't know why you're so hesitant."

"Okay," Hyukjae relents. Donghae rings the doorbell and a few seconds later, the door swings open.

Donghae doesn't even have a chance to speak before he's swept into a hug.

"Oh look at you, you're looking so good," his boyfriend's mom coos, reaching up to pinch Donghae's cheek. "It's so good to see that you've gained weight."

To Donghae's credit, he only looks mildly perturbed by the treatment.

"Mom," he whines quietly and Hangsook shakes her head, giving him a thorough assessment.

"The last time I saw you in person, you looked so sickly," she says. "You can let me appreciate my son looking healthy again."

She turns to Hyukjae.

"I have you to thank for that, I presume?" she says and Hyukjae flushes.

"Donghae put in the hard work," he says. It took countless hours of physical therapy and countless more hours with a psychiatrist to get to where Donghae is now. He can't take any of the credit for that.

"Liar," Donghae says. "I wouldn't have done nearly as well or healed as quickly without his support. I love him very much." He cups Hyukjae's cheeks with both hands, pulling him in for a kiss. Hyukjae's face heats further.

"Babe," he protests. Hangsook laughs.

"Ah, young love," she says. "Come on, have you boys eaten yet? I made lunch."

Donghae lights up.

"No we haven't, we'll be right there," he says. "We just need to drop our bags off."

Hyukjae gives Hangsook a small bow before he can be pulled off up the stairs by Donghae. 

“Am I in your childhood bedroom?” Hyukjae asks when he walks into the bedroom. Hyukjae finds it interesting that it looks basically the same as Donghae’s bedroom at Heechul’s house—now that he thinks about it, he probably just recreated the room for Donghae when he moved in. 

“Ha, no,” Donghae says as he shifts their bags into the corner. “We moved out of our old house when Heechul managed to buy this one for us and that was like… four years ago? Yeah, I spent a year here before I moved out for university.”

“I see,” Hyukjae says. He’s a little disappointed he doesn’t get to see the room where Donghae grew up, but he supposes it can’t be helped. 

“Trust me, you don’t want to see it and you wouldn’t want to stay in it,” Donghae says when he says as much. “It was falling apart.”

“I… see,” Hyukjae says.

“Will I get to see yours?” Donghae asks. Hyukjae chuckles. 

“Yeah,” he says. “It’s very embarrassing.”

Donghae frowns at him. 

“I’m sure it’s fine,” he says. “Anyway, do you have everything for the rest of the day? We’ll be going out right after lunch.”

“Yup,” Hyukjae says. He gives Donghae one more kiss before they both head downstairs. 

⸺

They have lunch with Donghae’s mother, which is delicious and one of the best meals Hyukjae’s ever had. 

They both thank her for the meal before heading out. The grocery store is only a short walk away, and Hyukjae simply follows Donghae around as his boyfriend loads up the shopping basket. 

It’s par for course for every time Hyukjae accompanies Donghae to the grocery store. It’s not his strong suit. But Donghae is fine with taking over, so that’s fine. He can just follow along. 

“What are we getting?” Hyukjae asks. 

“Cake ingredients,” Donghae says as he grabs the eggs. 

“I see,” he says. 

“I’m finished here, is there anything you want?”

“Nope, let’s go back,” Hyukjae says. He drapes his arm over Donghae’s shoulder as he pays and they head back to the house.  

Donghae immediately heads to the kitchen, spreading everything out on the counter. 

“Do you always make cakes for birthdays?” Hyukjae asks, leaning his hip against the counter to watch Donghae bustle around. 

"Yes. We always make a different flavour every year, and they have to guess," Donghae says as he works. 

"Sounds fun," he says. "What flavour did you choose this year?" 

Donghae grins.

"I'm going simple, strawberry," he says, holding up a box of strawberries. Hyukjae hums.

"My favourite," he says. Donghae's grin widens.

"I know," he says. Hyukjae raises an eyebrow.

"Babe… did you choose strawberry as your brothers' birthday cake flavour because it's my favourite?" he asks. Donghae blinks at him.

"No," he says in a way that suggests that yes, he definitely did. Hyukjae coos, pulling Donghae into a sideways hug and kissing him on the temple.

"Thank you," he murmurs and Donghae hums, holding out a strawberry. Hyukjae eats it, kissing Donghae on the knuckles when he's done.

"Are you going to help me?" Donghae asks. And then he stops chopping, frowning at him. "Actually, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Hyukjae makes an affronted noise. "I'll have you know, I can bake," he says. "I had to, I worked at a coffee shop."

"So it's just cooking you can't do," Donghae confirms. 

"Yes."

"That makes no sense," Donghae says but slides the recipe and dry ingredients over to him. 

"I've given up trying to understand it," Hyukjae says. "I've given my mom enough headaches."

"Yesung too, I'd assume," Donghae says lightly and Hyukjae snorts a little bitterly.

"Yes, him too," he says. Donghae feeds him another strawberry and the bitterness evaporates immediately. He eats it and then sets to work on measuring and mixing the dry ingredients. 

They work on the cake in companionable silence, understanding each other even without words exchanged. An hour later, the batter is in cake pans and in the oven, and Donghae drags him off upstairs.

"Here," Donghae says, stuffing something into Hyukjae's arms when they get to his room. Hyukjae blinks down at it. It's a shirt.

"...What?" he says.

"You're a mess," Donghae says, gesturing at his chest. Hyukjae looks down for the first time and startles. The entire front of his shirt is covered in flour. He looks like a disaster, surely, and he's suddenly glad Donghae's mom hadn't caught him like that.

"Oh," Hyukjae says, flushing. He takes the shirt off and Donghae takes it, tossing it in the hamper in the corner of the room. He's about to put the shirt back on when he's stopped by Donghae's hand on his arm. 

He turns and Donghae takes the shirt from him, tucking himself into his arms. Hyukjae obliges, and when he does, Donghae looks up at him through his lashes, appreciation clear in his gaze.

Hyukjae chuckles.

"Babe, your mom is right downstairs," he whispers.

"We can be quiet," Donghae murmurs. Hyukjae snorts. 

"I could, maybe," he says and Donghae smacks him. 

"Rude," he says. Hyukjae laughs and leans in, sealing their lips together. He had been planning on holding back, but one kiss and he's gone. Donghae's hands are all over him, and he tastes divine. 

He's helpless to resist. 

⸺

Almost an hour later, the two of them descend the stairs, content and relaxed. Donghae is still holding his hand when they get into the kitchen and turn off the oven. 

Hyukjae watches as Donghae grabs a toothpick to check the cakes.

"Perfect," Donghae says. He pulls the cake out and sticks it in the fridge. Hyukjae takes the ingredients to start making frosting, and out of the corner of his eyes, he can see his boyfriend counting out an absurd number of candles.

"Babe, why do you need that many candles?"

"Heechul and Leeteuk are turning thirty-three," Donghae says. "So I'm counting thirty-three candles."

Hyukjae makes a vague noise of understanding. 

"I missed their thirty-first and second birthday," Donghae says after a moment of silence, his eyes dark. He's staring at the candles with an expression Hyukjae recognizes as a bad one, so he gently takes the candles from him before he can start spiralling.

"No one blames you," Hyukjae says. "Because it's not your fault. You're here now, aren't you? And that's all that matters." He watches a myriad of emotions flash over Donghae’s face before he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m here now. That’s all that matters.” 

“Good,” Hyukjae says, kissing Donghae on the cheek. “I’m finished with the frosting, so let’s frost the cake, okay?” 

Donghae nods.

“Yes,” he says. “I’ll make this cake extra good, to make up for the lost time.”

He takes the cake out of the fridge, and Hyukjae hands Donghae the frosting. Donghae is surprisingly skilled at frosting, finishing the job with impressive precision. The finished product is smooth and professional-looking.

“And the candles?” Hyukjae asks. Donghae holds his hand out so Hyukjae hands them over. He watches as Donghae starts arranging them, but it quickly becomes clear that the number of candles is a little much for the side of the cake. Donghae starts and stops his attempts a few times, erasing his mistakes by smoothing out the frosting.

"Babe, maybe we should just accept that thirty-three candles on a cake this size is just not feasible," Hyukjae says after the third time he restarts. Donghae shakes his head.

"No," he insists. "I will get them all on." Hyukjae raises an eyebrow, resting his hip on the counter, ready to be entertained by Donghae's struggles.

"Why are you so set on this," he asks. Donghae’s brows are furrowed in concentration as he arranges the candles in neat circles radiating outward, his tongue poking out between his lips. A strand of light hair falls onto his forehead and Hyukjae carefully moves it out of Donghae's line of sight. 

He's adorable and Hyukjae's chest hurts just watching him.

"Hm?"

"I said, why are you so set on getting all these candles on this one cake?" he repeats.

"It's part of the tradition!" Donghae declares. "And I will do this."

Hyukjae laughs.

"What happens when they turn, like, forty," he asks. Donghae turns to him, looking horrified.

"Hyukkie," he whines, pouting.

Hyukjae laughs harder, pecking Donghae on the lips.

"You'll figure it out when it comes to that, I'm sure," he says. Donghae turns back to his candle arranging, with his arrangement being relatively efficient. Hyukjae’s sure Donghae will get all of the candles on this time.

"I'll have to bake an extra large cake, I guess," Donghae mutters. "It's annoying that their job is always easier than mine."

"Well yes, I suppose the nine candle difference makes the playing field pretty uneven," Hyukjae says. "But you're smart. You'll figure it out."

He wraps his arms around Donghae's waist and plucks the last candle out of his hand. He places it near the back of the cake, where Donghae had missed originally before turning his head and kissing Donghae on the cheek.

"There. All done," he says. Donghae laughs.

"Okay," he says. "