Donghae liked to take pictures. He wasn't always good at it, but he enjoyed taking blurry pictures the same way he did now with his high quality cameras and acquired knowledge. He liked knowing that at any moment he could look at his pictures again and just remember. Sometimes he didn't remember the exact moment or the context of the image, so he made a point of organizing them from time to time. What he always remembered, though, were the emotions that came to him as they did at that moment, making him feel, at least for a second, that the years had not passed. 

Sometimes, after seeing his happy moments with old friends, it made him sad to think how long it had been since they had stopped having contact. Sometimes, too, he could see how his close friends continued to have their distinctive character through the years, the thought that the essence of people never changes made him smile. 

He was organizing his folders on the computer after a long time. It was nighttime, Hyukjae was reading something on the phone beside him, waiting for Donghae to finish.

They had recently gone to the beach with friends. Hyukjae loved to make others laugh, and almost every time he did something funny, Donghae took out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures. He laughed softly when he saw a picture of Hyukjae dancing in the sand.

"What are you laughing at?" Donghae showed the screen to Hyukjae and they both laughed softly.

One big constant in the huge amount of photos Donghae had was Hyukjae. Donghae could proudly say that he had memories with Hyukjae for over fifteen years, the evidence was in his computer. And his phone, just in case. He decided to open the folder named "Hyuk" and started looking through them one by one, stopping at a few. He couldn't stop smiling. It had been a long time since he had seen his photos.

His favorites were the pictures in which Hyukjae wasn't looking at the camera, but his smile showed that he knew Donghae was photographing him.

Donghae liked that Hyukjae let him do it. 

Hyukjae watched out of the corner of his eye as Donghae looked at his photos and smiled to himself. He used to , ask him why he took so many pictures because he truly didn't understand the point. For Hyukjae, giving himself the time to take so many pictures interrupted the moment they were living, he felt that Donghae wasn't really there. He never stopped him but it did get a little irritating, especially when there were too many snaps in a single day. 

Eventually, and after watching him go through his photos like he was doing at that moment, Hyukjae understood how important this activity was to Donghae. It was his way of keeping memories. Hyukjae knew there were people Hae wished he had a million pictures of, so he could remember them better. 

Donghae told him a couple of times that it was Hyukjae who interrupted the moment, teasing Donghae who took pictures silently. They would only stop for a couple of seconds, he argued. Hyukjae had to give him a bit of a point. He was stressing himself out. Besides, he also liked to look at old pictures. Of course he did, who doesn’t? He tried to be more flexible, although he couldn't help but from time to time, Donghae knew he didn't mean it. 

"Look," Donghae said softly. Hyukjae moved closer to him and leaned on his shoulder. He was a little sleepy. Donghae was showing him a picture of the two of them in the snow, they were in their twenties. Hyukjae smiled.

"That's from New Year’s, isn't it?"

"Hm... well, from New Year's like eight years ago."

"It's been forever since we’ve gotten to see the sunrise like that."

"Yeah. Maybe we could go this year. I mean, if you want to."

"I’ll always want to. It's my favorite day."

Donghae smiled at him and his hair.

"You're cute." Hyukjae yawned and stayed there with his eyes closed.

“But I won’t let you sleep in this time,” Hyukjae warned.

Donghae chuckled and continued to organize his files with Hyukjae resting on his shoulder.

How many moments do we have left to live together? He didn't know, he had no way of knowing. What was certain was that they had been together many more years than Donghae could have imagined when he first saw him. And he would always be grateful for that. 

Hyukjae smiled. Donghae had sighed without realizing it. He was certain that he was lost in thought once again. Hyukjae made himself comfortable against his shoulder and Donghae kissed his hair. 

“I can hear you thinking,” whispered Hyukjae.

Donghae snapped out of his thoughts and chuckled.

“It’s nothing.”