Hyukjae was impatiently tapping his feet while waiting for Shindong to arrive. Today, they have costume fitting, a meeting to align themselves about the comeback plans, and another recording session. And after that, the last session of writing rap with Donghae. 

He taps his feet louder.

“Dude, I know you’re excited to go to work but could you stop with the tapping? It’s annoying,” Kyuhyun told him off with a glare.

Thankfully at that moment, Shindong arrived. Hyukjae rode in front of the van and Kyuhyun at the back. As usual, the ride was quiet. Hyukjae pulls out his phone to check on his socials, and as he opened Instagram, he saw Donghae’s account at the stories tab. Always interested in the guy, Hyukjae checked his IG stories. 

The first was 8 hours ago, a photo of a digital clock showing the time 2:15, with a caption, “Just got home. ty day turned into a happy day. :)” And the next is 1 hour ago, a photo of a blender full of strawberries. 

Hyukjae kept viewing the two stories over and over again with a very wide smile on his face to the point that his cheeks were already hurting. He then heard a loud scoff from behind him and a neck pillow thrown at him. He looked away from his phone and turned to Kyuhyun with raised eyebrows.

“Please, can you wipe that -eating grin off your face?” Kyuhyun said with a grumpy frown but with a knowing smirk.

Hyukjae tries to control his smile but fails. “What?”

“You’ve been looking at that for like five minutes already.”

“So?” Hyukjae repeats, chuckling.

Kyuhyun shook his head with a smile. “I figured the strawberries are for you. And the other, I guess Donghae was implying his day turned happy yesterday because of you?”

Hyukjae’s cheeks lifted up even more as his smile grew wider, gums in full display.

Shindong looked at Hyukjae. “So Donghae and you…?”

Hyukjae’s smile dropped a little, but he was still smiling as he shook his head. “We’re just friends. He’s just a really great guy who’s a clingy friend and fun to be with.”

And I wouldn’t ask for more.

Kyuhyun snorted and threw another neck pillow at him. 

“Hyuk, I didn’t even say anything,” Shindong said with a chuckle.

Hyukjae shook his head again. “I know what you guys are implying anyway. You can tease me all you want when we’re in private, but please don’t do it in front of Donghae. I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship with your teasing.”

Kyuhyun and Shindong looked at each other in the rear view mirror and kept silent for the rest of the ride. Hyukjae on the other hand, returned to his phone to look at Donghae’s IG stories one more time, then sent a message on Bubble. Just emojis of strawberries and a smiling face. 

When they arrived at the company, they went straight to costume fitting. Hyukjae was on the lookout for Donghae but the younger one wasn't among the staff helping them out. Resisting the urge to message Donghae and ask him where he is, Hyukjae just went along with the activity as usual.

After the fitting, they were about to grab a quick lunch before their meeting when they heard running footsteps behind them. Looking back, Hyukjae saw Donghae running towards them.

He seriously looks like a prince, running towards us with his soft hair swaying like that.

“Can I join you guys for lunch?” Donghae asked enthusiastically.

Siwon, Kyuhyun, Yesung and Shindong all answered him out loud with variations of yes, of course, let’s go; while Hyukjae just silently grinned at him. They all walked together, the others coddling Donghae as usual and talking to him, but Donghae kept in step with Hyukjae, walking beside him. Hyukjae looked down, trying to keep the smile off his face, silently matching his footsteps with Donghae. 

***

After a quick but very fun lunch, they proceeded to the meeting room for their meeting. They arrived a bit early and some of the staff are still not present while some are still preparing. He sat down on his seat and subtly watched Donghae take the lead, but then Hyukjae got distracted as Shindong approached him to give him a runthrough of a show he was invited to guest in. At the corner of his eye he saw Donghae exit the ro