Office worker Donghae x Hyukjae

Summary : Both of them were stressed from work. Them fighting and some tears, a lot of tears spilling, and the warmest hug that has ever existed.

*

Morning has already come. In fact, it’s almost noon right now. But the blind inside the room was still drawn close. There is a big lump in the middle of the bed that is almost fully invading the right side, leaving the left side of the bed empty. The big lump is a person who's apparently still in a deep slumber. The big lump is actually Lee Hyukjae. Maybe because last night was a long night for him and he only got to sleep when it was way past midnight with his heart full of guilt, that’s why he is still sleeping right now. Lucky for him, today is Saturday, so he didn’t need to worry about being absent from work.

It was silent for a while there, before suddenly the digital clock inside the bedroom beeped. The sound of it seemingly wakes up the only person inside the room. The number is blaring at 11.00. The big lump finally moved.

The first thing Hyukjae did when he opened his eyes was check the space in front of him. The right side of the bed. It was cold and empty. Hyukjae felt the feeling from last night slowly creeping back to him. He really wanted to cry.

“He didn’t even wake me up."

Last night was a disaster. Hyukjae was tired and stressed from work, his project partner at work messed up, his boss was at their neck all day, he was working overtime all this last week with the deadline of the big project getting nearer and nearer, he was at his limit, and then the worst thing was, he lashed it out to his innocent boyfriend, who was also tired and stressed from his own work. It was their first fight since they moved in together this past six months. And he might have hurt his boyfriend’s feelings big time seeing that he didn’t even wake him up this morning to have breakfast together or even for his morning kiss—Hyukjae almost always misses his breakfast, he eats brunch. But every weekend his boyfriend will make an extra effort to wake him up just so they can have breakfast together—his wake up time was usually at 9 on the weekend and 07.30 on the weekday—Hyukjae refuse to wake up early if there’s no urgent situation, he preferred to sleep longer because he couldn’t do it on weekdays. But before that, around 6.30 or 7.30, Hyukjae also usually gets his morning kiss from his boyfriend every time he goes out for his morning exercise at the gym. And yes, his boyfriend would just kiss him, he said he needed to hit the gym with his hushed voices and let him sleep a bit longer. Then Hyukjae will wake up later, around 9, from the alarm that his boyfriend also set for him. By that time on the weekend, Donghae usually already finished working out, then they will be making breakfast together or ordering, all and all spending their weekend together.

“I didn’t even feel it when he kissed me.”

Hyukjae can feel tears streaming out of his eyes once again, and he quickly wipped it with his sleeve of pajamas. He then quietly got up from the bed to try and look for Donghae.

The first thing he did when he got out of the bedroom was look around the living room. There was no sign of his boyfriend anywhere.

“Donghae?” He called out. But there was no answer. Even the entire apartment seems unusually quiet. Hyukjae then tried to look into the kitchen, but nothing happened. Even the coffee machine seems unused and clean. The bathroom’s and laundry’s doors were opened, and Donghae wasn’t there either. Hyukjae even went as far as knocking on the guest room door, and when he peeked inside it, he still found no one.

Donghae was not anywhere in here then. Hyukjae can feel his eyes gradually blurring as the tears threaten to fill his eyes once more.

He feels weak. He dragged his body towards the sofa. He noticed his thin, blue-checkered blanket on its arm rest and decided to take it. He then wrapped the blanket around his body and decided to lay there while waiting for Donghae to come back home. His body is facing the entrance door.

The silence around him is deafening.

Donghae is usually home at this time of the day. And he didn’t mention any work or appointment that he needed to attend to—well, at least up until before the fight, Donghae didn’t mention anything. And then their fight happened, so now Hyukjae wasn’t sure either.

"Did he went out for a run?"

But if it's true that Donghae went for a run, then he must still be very upset with Hyukjae. He let out a huft. Lips performing a pout The eyes are still glistening.

“He didn’t even leave a note or message.” He mumbled dejectedly.

He knew he shouldn’t get upset, he doesn't have the right to be upset, but he just can’t help it. Last night, they were both losing their cool. But Hyukjae felt that he was the one who was fully at fault. He can still clearly remember his words from last night.

*

Hyukjae was dead tired, all he wanted right now was to just sleep. His body and mind were begging for a rest. He was already grumpy and sensitive the last few days from the stress and pressure of his work. So imagine his feeling when the first thing he saw when he entered his shared apartment with his boyfriend was a mess made by the said boyfriend. A pair of shoes scattered around the floor right in front of the entrance door, with a pair of socks not far from them—did he just run inside or what? Why can't he put his shoes on the shoe rack? He always makes a mess. A bag near their bedroom door. And finally, a coat lay in the middle of the living room, not far from the toilet door. He picked them all one by one—except for the shoes, which he left in their shoe rack in the corridor.

Hyukjae always knows that his boyfriend is a messy person. He, more often than not, always has to pick up his boyfriend’s belongings that are lying around and clean everything, since he himself is a bit of a clean freak and likes his place tidy. Usually, he doesn’t mind. But he himself doesn’t know why seeing all of those items lying around in their place in front of him right now made his blood boil.

Not long after, his boyfriend came out of the toilet. And the first thing Hyukjae did to him was throw all the things he had picked up from the floor earlier right onto the face of his boyfriend. Probably shocking him too by that.

“Can you. For once. Clean up your mess. By yourself. Lee Donghae!?!”

“Wha—“ Donghae momentarily in shock, but after he realized what was being thrown to him, he became angry too. “—it was only for 5 minutes! And I’m about to tidy them up! I just came home and really need to"

“Don’t make excuses!”

Donghae gritted his jaw. If it was with other people, his other friends, like Heechul Hyung or even Siwon, he could just let it out and fight with them. Cursing, punching, kicking, and all. But this is Hyukjae. Even when they were just friends, they never fought. Even if they did, it's usually just them getting sulky with each other, or, at worst, they both just ended up crying. They're just weak for each other like that. So Donghae can only swallow it all down and suppress his anger.

“I only left for five ing minutes to ing piss, Lee Hyukjae!” He threw all the things that Hyukjae had thrown at him before to the floor, frustratedly. “It’s not like I deliberately make a mess around the house like this on a daily basis! What are you being so ing mad for?"

He can't help with the cursing, though. Oh, Hyukjae hates it when he speaks curse words.

Hearing Donghae’s crude tone and visage full of suppressed emotions, Hyukjae feels like he was being struck by lightning for a second. But that tone didn’t make him feel guilty—not now, it only fueled his irritation even more. He looks offended, even. “I’m tired, Donghae! I’m tired of you always cleaning up your mess around the house! I can’t believe I’m putting up with you all this time, but you never learn! I’m tired of this! Of you! So just forget it! It’s useless talking to you!” Hyukjae was about to just let him be and enter their bedroom so he could just take a rest, but he was stopped by Donghae’s words, or more like his almost cold tone.