The first thing Hyukjae did when he woke up that morning was check his phone. Donghae sent him a simple “Yes, just busy TT” at around 1am. He didn’t know what to make of that or what to reply. He wanted to see Donghae first so that he knows where they stand. When he arrived on set, he was immediately ushered to the waiting room to be styled, so he didn’t see Donghae yet. But he heard the staff talking about how Donghae left the office past midnight, and was the first one who arrived on set today. 

When he was done being styled, Hyukjae felt like he’s going to have another panic attack as he walked towards the set where Donghae was running through the schedule with the staff. He watched the man from behind and waited for him to finish, even if his anxiety was killing him. 

As soon as the other staff dispersed, Hyukjae nervously cleared his throat to announce his presence. Donghae turned to look at him and it felt like Hyukjae was watching it in slow motion as opposed to how fast his heart was beating, scared of what Donghae’s reaction to him would be.

Donghae’s eyes were full of wonder as it raked his appearance from head to toe and then focused on his face. “Wow. Wow, Hyukjae. Just…wow.”

Hyukjae blinked several times. 

What?

“I expected you to look good but damn.”

That was the first time he heard Donghae curse, but Hyukjae couldn’t dwell on that because he is so confused at the moment. He expected either Donghae to brush him off or be awkward with him, or in the best case scenario just smile at him and act normal. But this?

Damn, indeed.

Donghae was looking at him like he’s a stunning jewel.

And then Hyukjae smiled. The first genuine smile since last night. He smiled so wide that he doesn’t care if it ruins the y and mysterious look he has right now because he’s truly, seriously, ing relieved. 

Donghae smiled back at him with that blinding smile.

Ahh Donghae…

Hyukjae bit his lip and sighed in adoration. He wanted to embrace and squeeze Donghae, but he’s still well aware of what transpired yesterday, and also the fact that hundreds of staff are there on set right now. 

Hyukjae finally spoke. “Well I’d say you look good too but you look tired.” 

A lie. Of course Donghae still looks good even if he looks tired and sleep deprived.

“There was a lot of work to catch up on….and I also had some things to settle,” Donghae said with a frown.

Hyukjae reached out to ruffle his hair. 

Donghae frowned and stepped back. “Aish! My hair!”

Hyukjae laughed. Donghae looked like an angry puppy. Or an angry kitty.

“Don’t worry, you still look cute with your hair all messy like that.”

“Hyuk~” Donghae whined with an even more adorable frown.

“Okay I’m sorry, come here let me fix it.”

Donghae stepped closer and Hyukjae patted his hair down. Hyukjae was about to pull away when Donghae slumped down his head and leaned on Hyukjae.

“Hae?”

“Can I stop being responsible for once?”

Hyukjae was surprised. “So suddenly?”

Donghae sounded so torn. “I’m just…tired.”

Wanting to cheer Donghae up, Hyukjae playfully cooed. “Aw, our Donghae is tired? What should we do for this baby then?”

Donghae removed his head and frowned. “Aish.” But there was a hint of a smile.

Hyukjae chuckled. “Don’t worry. Just a little over a month left and you’ll be done with our comeback. So stop being irritable because it doesn’t suit you, Mr. Sunshine.”

But Donghae was still frowning. “But once the comeback is over, we won’t spend a lot of time together anymore.”

See, Hyukjae? How could you even think he’d stop being friends with you.

“Technically, there’s two days left of MV and photoshoots. Then we’d be doing guestings and other promotional stuff that won’t involve your team much. But hey, who said we’ll stop meeting once we’re not working together much anymore?”

“You promise?” Donghae looked at him with those eyes and Hyukjae felt like he could give him the world.

“I promise. I could even give you our passcode so you can visit our dorm anytime.”

Donghae grinned happily and Hyukjae was more than satisfied with that. “Really?”

“I’d have to ask permission from Kyuhyun but yes, really.”

Well whatever, I’d wash all the dishes until next year if that would make Kyuhyun agree.

And with that, they were back to their normal dynamic. The entire day passed by smoothly, even if it was a bit hectic. Donghae kept taking pictures of Hyukjae in the different fits and styles he had for the day. Of course Hyukjae allowed him to, even if he pretended to be annoyed.

But Hyukjae realized that his worry about yesterday was not totally groundless. He noticed Donghae being quiet whenever yesterday’s practice video was brought up. And during the time they were shooting This Is Love music video, everytime the music was playing, he stayed at the sides, far from the cameras or anywhere that Hyukjae could look at him. 

Why? What did he think of it? Why did he avoid me last night but seem normal again today?

Nevertheless, everything else was fine so Hyukjae decided that whatever Donghae thought of what happened, it did not affect their friendship. He just has to be careful not to be that obvious or intense again, so they could continue this blissful friendship that they have.

The shoot went on until the next morning, as expected when shooting music videos. At one point, Hyukjae was resting during a break when he wasn’t shooting anything. His eyes were closed and was about to drift to dreamland when he felt a blanket being put over his body. He didn’t bother opening his eyes thinking it was one of the managers or stylists. Then he felt the couch dip and smelled the perfume of the person who sat beside him.

It’s unmistakably Donghae. 

Hyukjae was about to open his eyes when he felt Donghae’s head on his shoulder. His lips pulled up in a smile, glad that Donghae is resting and chose to do it beside him. He opened his eyes a bit and saw Donghae’s fluffy hair on his shoulder. He leaned a bit