The train came to a stop at the Western Seoul Station and Hyukjae opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. Lifting his head off the headrest behind him, he flinched at the apparent stiffness in his neck and rubbed it for a second with his hand.

Sighing, he stood to his feet and reached for his suitcase in the overhead compartment. People milled about around him, not paying any attention to the other passengers and eager to get on with their personal business.

Adjusting the strap of the bag hanging off his shoulder and with his other suitcase in tow behind him, Hyukjae stepped off the train and onto the bustling platform. He looked around, trying to figure out which exit would afford him the best chance at catching a bus back to his aunt and uncle’s. Eventually he spotted a sign that looked promising and turned right to head in that direction.

As he walked, he tried not to think. It had become a common practice for him in the past few days now, and he felt that he was getting quite good at it. He was even beginning to think that a life spent without thinking too deeply would still afford him the pleasure of being with people without being hurt by them.

These thoughts swam about his head as he shouldered his way through the crowd, dragging his luggage behind him and wondering exactly when the thickness of the throng of people would let up.

And it did let up, eventually.

When that happened, Hyukjae stopped in his tracks and stared with wide-eyed surprise at the sight before him.

Standing on the platform and looking in the opposite direction was Donghae. He had his hands in his pockets and it was mostly his back facing Hyukjae, but the arriving man would recognize that messy black hair anywhere.

After the initial shock of seeing Hae there at the station, Hyuk began to wonder exactly what he was doing there. He was obviously looking for someone… was it a family member?

No, surely not Hyukjae thought. Donghae made it clear that his family wasn’t close enough for visits like that.

Then what is he doing?

It was then Donghae turned, facing the train and looking puzzled. But as he slide his eyes down towards Hyukjae, the motionless man watched as if in slow motion the way Donghae’s face seemed to light up, a smile appearing like the sun breaking across the horizon at dawn.

Me? Hyukjae wondered. He’s here for me?

“Hyuk-ah!” Donghae yelled to get Hyuk’s attention, heading for the frozen man.

Hyukjae managed to compose himself enough to meet Donghae half way, stopping just a couple feet in front of him. “Hae-ah,” Hyuk said, looking at his friend up and down as if to verify that he was actually there in the flesh. “What are you doing here?”

Donghae smiled, a hand rising to run through his hair. This was a habit that Hyukjae had come to notice and even like, finding the routine kind of cute and quirky. “I came to pick you up,” Hae answered, almost sounding shy at the reason.

It took a second for the information to sink in completely. But when it did, Hyukjae found himself smiling sheepishly and clutching the handle of his rolling suitcase tighter. He wanted to say many things: Thank you, I’m really touched, I’m happy to see you, I’ve missed you. But a slew of suppressed emotions got in the way and he could only stand there staring at the other man.

When it became apparent that Hyukjae wasn’t going to say anything, Donghae broke the silence by stepping forward and saying, “I’ll get that for you,” while gently grabbing the shoulder bag off Hyuk’s person and reaching for the suitcase.

Hyukjae instantly jumped back into life and found himself flushing a bit and resisting the help. “Aniyo, Donghae, I can do it…”

Donghae just smiled and placed his hand on the luggage handle, his fingers now touching Hyuk’s. “Let me take it,” he insisted. “You’ve had a long ride and must be tired.”

The combination of gentleness and assertiveness plus the warm fingers brushing against his caused Hyukjae to rescind his argument and allow Donghae to handle his bags.

Donghae turned to walk back in the direction he came from and Hyukjae stayed beside him, shoving his hands in his pockets. “It got colder here,” he casually commented.

Donghae “hmm-ed” in agreement. “I guess that’s what happens when it gets later in the year.” He smiled warmly and adjusted the strap of the shoulder bag. “Oi, I… kind of have a surprise for you.”

Hyukjae’s eyebrows rose in wonder at the confession and looked over at Donghae as if trying to figure out what he could be thinking. They turned to leave out of one of the exits to the street and Hyuk asked, “A surprise? What is it?”

Donghae’s smile only increased at the mere thought of what was going to happen. He shook his head. “You’ll find out in a second. You don’t need to be back at the café, right?”

Hyukjae just shook his head, his mind jumping from one idea to the next. A present? But Donghae wasn’t holding anything. What could it be? What would this man possibly do just for him?

They stopped on the curb and Hyukjae watched as Donghae looked passed him down the road and waved an arm, his smile growing bigger by the second.

“Donghae, what are you—”

But he was cut off by the sound of a horn honking three times in rapid succession. A white modern-looking car pulled up to the curb and the window of the passenger side rolled down to reveal two grinning men in the front seats.

“Hyuk-aaahhh!” Sungmin yelled from the passenger seat, sticking his body out as far as the window and seatbelt would allow. “I’m so glad you came back!”

Hyukjae could see Kyuhyun leaning over as far as he was allowed from the drivers seat and tried to talk over the cute boy next to him. “He wouldn’t be happy until you came back,” he informed.

This earned him an elbow to the ribs and the two men straightened and commenced playful bickering in the front.

Hyuk turned and looked incredulously at Donghae. Hae simply laughed, “Surprise?”

Donghae’s smile and the presence of the people he would consider to be his closest friends caused Hyukjae to openly grin, forgetting about the recent past long enough to finally feel the enjoyment of being back in this place.

“Just a minute,” Donghae said and he moved around to the trunk, opening it up and laying Hyukjae’s luggage inside. Closing it, he walked around to the back door nearest to Hyukjae and opened it, stepping away and motioning inside. “Your carriage, Lee Hyukjae.”

Hyuk couldn’t contain his laughter. Rather than playing along, he gave Donghae a little push in the chest and climbed on into the car that was filled with the arguing of the couple in the front.

“I’m not that bad.”

“Please, you still look so stiff when you move!”

“It’s more of an exercise, so I don’t really HAVE to be good at it to enjoy it.”

“Well, I’m not saying you can’t enjoy it, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t think you’re better than me.”

“But I AM—”

Just then Donghae opened the other door to the backseat and slid in next to Hyukjae, still grinning. He leaned over and whispered to his friend, “Are they always like this?”

Hyukjae smiled and laughed quietly. He turned his mouth to Hae’s ear and answered. “Yes. But after you’re around it for a while, you realize that it has a lot of loving undertones.”

Donghae’s face reflected new understanding and he sat back in the seat, reaching around to grab his seatbelt.

Hyukjae did the same and buckled in before leaning back over to say in Hae’s ear, “So… Where are we going?”

For some strange, unexplainable reason, the couple up front managed to hone in on this part of conversation and cease their arguing. It was as if a switch had been flipped and there had never been an argument.

“Somewhere SO fun!” Sungmin said enthusiastically.

“You’ll love it,” Kyuhyun added, both men grinning uncontrollably.

The duo turned around and soon they were pulling out onto the main road, headed for somewhere mysterious.

Hyukjae felt a warm hand just above his knee and he looked down at it before looking up at the owner. Donghae was smiling gently. “You really will like it. I promise.”

Hyukjae just nodded then relaxed back into the seat, feeling tired from the journey and hoping he could muster the energy to be somewhere “SO fun”.

He must have dozed off because the next thing Hyukjae realized is that the car was stopped and someone was shaking his shoulder and saying his name.

“Hm?” was all he could manage and he blinked his eyes several times to relieve himself of the blurry effect.

“We’re here.”

Hyukjae was helped out of the car by three very enthusiastic set of hands and hurried on into a brightly lit building with “Ken’s Karaoke Bar” blinking at the pinnacle. Hyuk stood quietly with Donghae as Kyu and Min talked to the hostess and the foursome were ushered down a dimly lit hall and shown to their very own room.

The room was quaint, with a stage and karaoke set up at the far end and a large wrap-around couch facing it. The room had a blue-green tone to it and there was already some music bumping from the speaker system up front.

Donghae stepped in front of Hyukjae’s line of sight, grinning widely. “So? What do you think?”

Arms wrapped themselves around Hyukjae’s neck and the man turned his head to look at Sungmin. “You love it, right Hyukie?” he said.

Hyukjae just smiled and nodded. “Of course. What do we do first?”

Kyuhyun cleared this throat and led the group to the tables. “First, gentlemen… We must drink.”

From then on, the room was filled with the liveliness of conversation and laughter. Most of it came from Kyuhyun and Sungmin, but Hyuk and Hae were willing listeners. Waitresses brought them drinks, various alcoholic beverages, and pretty soon they had started up the singing on the stage.

“This first number is dedicated to all my friends,” Kyuhyun said dramatically, already feeling a buzz from the drinks. The three men below applauded in encouragement and the young man began to belt a surprisingly good rendition of “Juliet” by a popular group called Shinee. He even through in some of the choreography which got the rest of the group laughing.

Soon, Sungmin was up for his solo. He decided to tackle an English song and ended up mumbling his way through “y Back” by international pop sensation Justin Timberlake.

When it was Hyukjae’s turn, he convinced Donghae to go up with him. They picked a song that they both knew well and proceeded to entertain the couple below with the famous song “Oppa Oppa”, adding the dance moves in at just the right times.

The happiness and merriment continued for hours. They alternated between singing and just playing music to dance to. Since it was just the four of them, they had no qualms with doing silly things and all found themselves freely moving about in ways that may be deemed embarrassing in any other environment.

Things finally seemed to slow down a bit and slow songs began to play over the speakers rather than fast ones. Hyukjae ended up sitting down on the couch, his head swimming and Donghae plopped down next to him. Both men watched as Kyuhyun and Sungmin hugged each other and sloppily slow-danced.

“It seems perfectly normal, doesn’t it?” Hyukjae murmured, finding that his words were not coming out as fluidly as he’d liked.

“What?” Donghae said over the loudness of the music. He leaned over and put his ear close to Hyukjae’s mouth so he could understand.

“I said,” Hyuk began again, accidently bumping his lips against Donghae’s ear when he tried to get close, “It seems perfectly normal, doesn’t it?”

Donghae giggled and nodded, moving so that he could speak into Hyukjae’s ear. “I think it’s cute now.”

It was Hyukjae’s turn to giggle. He put an arm around Donghae’s shoulders and put his mouth close to his ear again. “I think you’re cute.”

Donghae laughed and playfully shoved at Hyukjae, yelling over the music. “You’re drunk!”

Hyukjae just giggled, not being able to deny it. The simple fact that he felt no inhibitions about touching the man he potentially had a little crush on, he knew he was completely inebriated.

“I’d li.. like to d-dcate this surng to… to YOU!” came a voice from the speakers. Kyuhyun was back up at the mic pointing at his boyfriend and Sungmin was swaying by himself on the small dance floor, grinning foolishly.

Hyukjae laughed boisterously as Kyuhyun began butchering a love ballad. He was vaguely aware of Donghae laying his head on Hyuk’s inviting shoulder since Hyukjae still had an arm wrapped around the other boy.

In his fuzzy mind, Hyukjae was able to surmise that he really liked this. He naturally moved the hand attached to that arm up and into Donghae’s hair, affectionately.

“You’re hair is soft,” Hyuk murmured, not really aware that he was talking out loud.

“Y.. Yur drunk,” Donghae said and giggled quietly to himself, obviously impaired as well.

Hyukjae pressed his cheek into Donghae’s dark locks, trying to clear up his mind a bit. Kyuhyun continued howling in the background. “Thanks for picking me up.”

Hae nodded into Hyukjae’s shoulder, feeling himself quickly becoming lethargic. “I thought you’d like it.”

They listened to Kyuhyun finish the song he was on and watched as he drug Sungmin onto the stage to sing another slow song with him. Hyuk didn’t pay them any attention.

“Hae,” Hyukjae said, feeling Donghae’s weight becoming greater as the man grew more tired.

“Oppa, oppaaa,” he sang followed by a tired laugh.

“Let’s be friends for… for a long time.”

Donghae hummed and turned his face so that his nose was nuzzling into Hyukjae’s neck. “I have an… I have an idea.”

Hyukjae shuddered at the feeling of Donghae rubbing his nose against the skin, the breath coming out and tickling his flesh. “W-what?”

“Let’s… Let’s,” Hae giggled and pulled away, looking with foggy eyes at Hyukjae. “Let’s be friends that have…. skinship.”

Hyukjae found himself laughing and he gently pushed on Hae’s shoulder. “Hehe, skinship?? You’re drunk!”

A loud crash came from the stage and both men turned their attention to the other couple in the room. Kyuhyun and Sungmin were practically doubled over laughing at the microphone stand that had fallen and rather than pick it up, both men clumsily hopped off the platform and approached their sitting companions.

“L-look, Minnie!” Kyuhyun said, throwing an arm around Sungmin and leaning heavily on the unstable man. “It’s like we’re on a double date!”

Sungmin just laughed and gently punched Kyuhyun in the side before coming forward and squeezing himself between the two sitting men. “Oi, mates. We can’t d.. rive back. You can take taxi, eh?”

Giggling, Sungmin was pulled to his feet by his taller boyfriend and the two headed for the doorway. Donghae and Hyukjae made a valiant attempt to get their heads on straight before rising and following the completely sloshed couple out to the car.

With much effort, Donghae drug Hyukjae’s luggage out of the trunk and they proceeded to wait for a taxi. Since they lived relatively close to each other, it was obvious that they would share.

While they waited, they took deep breaths of the chilly night air and tried to sober up. At one point, Donghae touched Hyukjae’s shoulder and asked, “You ok?”

Hyukjae simply nodded and concluded that Hae must still be slightly drunk since he was still so open with touching. Though why would he bring up skinship before? The fact that they were hammered when he asked about it meant little… didn’t ones deepest desires usually come out when their inhibitions were lessened?

Did Donghae really want to have a skinship relationship with him?

In the cab, the two men were silent. Hyukjae felt tired due to the combination of alcohol and traveling and actually just wanted to sleep.

Looking over at Donghae, one thing became evident: he didn’t want to leave Hae just yet.

Being bold, Hyuk inhaled deeply and tried to keep his voice steady as he said to the man across the seat, “Hae-ah… Can I stay with you tonight?”

Donghae turned his head to look at Hyuk, as if trying to soak in the meaning of the words. It took a couple seconds, but eventually Donghae nodded. “Sure.”

Hyuk felt happy. He wasn’t sure where his sudden need to be with Donghae was coming from… potentially it stemmed from the fact that he’d just lost someone who he’d known his entire life. Perhaps it came from the raw human need for another body to be near his so he wouldn’t have to endure the loneliness he felt while he was away from Hae.

He realized that the amount of which he was relying on Donghae was perhaps a path to self-destruction. But in that moment and for this one time, he wanted to embrace the selfish side of himself that wanted to be comforted.

Despite how illogical it was, Hyukjae sincerely felt that only Donghae could fulfill that desire.

AN: My pretties!!! Thank you all for subscribing!!! I think I'm 240+ now... It feels like I won an Nobel Prize or something. Seriously.

I'm looking forward to the next chapter, and so should you! We're going to see something that starts with a "C"..... and ends with "uddling"

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See you all later, love bugs!!