When Donghae had what he considered to be the most brilliant idea to create Hyukjae and himself in the real-life simulation game The Sims, he didn't hesitate and immediately got up from his bed to turn on his computer and update the game he hadn't played with for a few months.

You see, Donghae is on vacation. After a long semester and what seemed like an endless period of exams, he’s finally taking a well-deserved break from studies, people (most of his friends lived in other cities or were traveling) and everything else that involves his senior year at the university. Obviously, Hyukjae is the only exception on this list.

Donghae met Hyukjae as soon as the second year of college started, both of them majoring in music. Hyukjae had just recently transferred from another university and Donghae was pleased when the new member was included in his small group of friends just in the first weeks of classes, bonding effortlessly with everyone. In part because, well, in addition to having music and several other tastes in common, which resulted in hours of very productive conversations, Hyukjae aroused his romantic interest as soon as he became his friend.

It took a few more weeks, which Donghae isn't proud to admit, to build up the courage and take his chance. He feared that an unrequited confession would jeopardize their friendship and Hyukjae's close relationship with the rest of the group—he would hate to see him distance himself and lose Hyukjae completely because of an awkward situation. In a short period of time, he’d become someone special to Donghae.

But, luckily, the feelings were entirely mutual. And with shy declarations that they liked each other and a tender kiss that sealed the promise of something precious and cherished, Hyukjae and Donghae, from that moment on, had each others hearts to themselves.

Hyukjae is everything he could ever want. He's sweet, funny, quick-witted, y and always seems to bring out the best in Donghae too. And even when bad days and disagreements occurs, they do their best to reconcile and work out the situation, communicating and trying to understand one another, which only ends up strengthening their relationship and love for each other.

He’s perfect. And if the sweet compliments and pampering Hyukjae showers him with are any guarantee, Donghae also seems to be doing a pretty good job at the boyfriend department. So yeah, he can say he's very happy with his life.

When you start dating someone, you try your best to always show your finest, coolest side for as long as possible. And since Donghae and Hyukjae, currently, have been together for a considerable amount of time (they'll complete their second anniversary shortly), it's evident they've already revealed themselves to each other in more intimate and vulnerable moments, sharing dreams and insecurities, or exposing habits and quirks that may or may not be so pleasant, or usually just lead to a good laugh when they get to know new facets of each other.

Still, even after so long, there are certain secrets that are a little difficult to disclose so soon.

So when Donghae finds himself creating a Sim of him and Hyukjae—marking their relationship as each other’s fiancée and buying them a nice house to live in—, yet chooses not to tell him right away, he tries not to dwell on the fact that he's only slightly worried about what Hyukjae might think, even if it’s presented to him as the most hilarious joke he could come up with. And Donghae is not used to telling jokes.

That said, with a lot of maturity, he plays silently for the first two days.

Until, on the third day, his cousin Hwasa catches the game open while he's in the bathroom.

Donghae didn't know she'd come back a little earlier than expected. He hears the jingle of keys as she unlocks the front door and the bright “I'm home” announcing her arrival. As he walks back from the bathroom to his bedroom a few minutes later, he calls to her.

“Hwasa-noona?”

He’s not surprised when the loud "in here" comes directly from his bedroom, but as soon as he sets foot in the room and sees Hwasa sitting in his chair, looking at the monitor while playing with the now unpaused game (how dare she!) in the Lee family house, Donghae feels himself scream internally.

“Oh my god, I love this game!” she exclaims, her back turned to Donghae, not facing his disturbed expression. "I haven't played with it in years!"

Donghae strides until he's at Hwasa's side, furiously thinking of some excuse to kick her out of the chair and shut the game down completely before she sees his Sims' identities.

“Noona, hi!” he says a tad too loud, making her look at him. “Sorry, I just remembered I need to look up a— a college project in my computer documents— why aren’t you at work?”

“Oh, there was a power outage at the entire block, including the building where I work at, so we were dismissed half an hour early. It was amazing,” Hwasa explains, visibly in good spirits and speaking so fast that Donghae can barely keep up. “Since when do you have it?”

"What?"

"The game!” she looks at the screen again and Donghae’s almost whishing the power outage hits their street as well immediately. “Damn, I don't think I've ever played this one. Which is it, the third?”

“A few years. It's the fourth—"

“Ah, that explains why I’ve never seen these graphics. It’s awesome!"

"Yes, it is,” Donghae utters with a nervous smile. “Unfortunately, I need to get that project. Excuse me, noona, can I— can I use the mouse real quick?” Donghae places part of his body and arm in front of the monitor not so delicately, pausing the game with an aggressive click on the keyboard and touching her hand in a way that not so subtly wants to remove it from the mouse.

“Why a college project? You're on vacation,” she points out, eyeing him curiously.

“Yeah, well,” he clears his throat. “It's for a friend. He’s going to his third year and asked me so he could study more during the holidays. It’s a little urgent.”

It’s a lame excuse, but he gestures with his free hand in a way that looks convincing and hopes his uneasiness isn't showing.

“Oh, okay,” Hwasa says, apparently accepting the information without suspicion. “I'll let you do your stuff. But later you'll let me play the game a bit, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Donghae replies automatically in a restrained voice, thinking to himself that he'll never let Hwasa near his computer again. He briefly wonders if there's any way to not delete, but only hide a family from the neighborhood, although he already knows that's not possible.

Hwasa rolls his chair back slightly to stand up and, even though Donghae is still leaning protectively over the monitor, he already feels a sigh of relief coming on.

But he’s not that lucky.

“Wait a minute,” Hwasa suddenly says from behind him, and Donghae actually flinches slightly.

Normally, Donghae would be quick enough to save and turn the game off before Hwasa could say another word. But his cousin's voice distracted him for a fraction of a second, and that’s enough for Hwasa to step closer again and see the undeniable evidence that incriminates him.

“What is this— Lee Hyukjae learned the recipe for spaghetti and strawberry cake?” she enunciates, her tone clearly puzzled, and Donghae freezes in place. He eyes his monitor crazily in milliseconds till he finally understands what she's reading—the notifications wall from the game, which appears in the upper right corner of the screen.

“Lee Hyukjae? Did you create Hyukjae in the game?” she asks, her voice getting louder, and the laughter that follows her words is the last reaction Donghae wants right now.

He gives up trying to cover up the screen with his body and just throws himself into the now empty chair, as Hwasa at least has the decency to laugh at his face while standing.

“Oh my God,” she manages betwen giggles, leaning even closer to the screen to absorb the image of the Sim version of her younger cousin and his boyfriend. “Is it really you and Hyukjae?” she wonders aloud while watching said man in front of the kitchen counter holding a portion of food, frozen in the middle of an action, since the game remained paused, while Donghae-Sim is standing beside him with a goofy smile.

“Yes, it's him, so what?” Donghae retorts defensively, in a mixture of embarrassment and irritation that he doesn't like experiencing.

“Oh, Hae,” she touches his shoulder, the remnants of laughter still in her voice, but without any hint of mockery. "Relax. It's just extremely cute,” she assures him. “And also super gay.”

“Thank you,” he says wryly.

“Come on, you think you're the only one who made yourself on The Sims with your boyfriend or crush? Everyone who plays it, does it!” she pauses for a second. “Well, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people do things like that. That's where part of the fun is.”

“I made it just to be funny when I showed it to him,” Donghae utters, self-conscious and not looking at his cousin. “But… I’ve been playing for a few days now and I haven’t told him yet.”

“Fine, it's none of my business,” she holds up her hands in a sign that she won't get involved as she starts to walk out of the room. "I won't tell him if you don't want me to."

"No! Don't tell him,” Donghae demands. "I'll show him whenever I feel like it."

“Okay, honey. Don't worry, keep entertaining yourself,” she teases annoyingly, as if Donghae is a child. He huffs and swivels in his chair, debating whether to keep playing and ignore his newest embarrassment, or if he should occupy himself with something else for the rest of the afternoon while also trying to ignore his newest embarrassment, when he hears Hwasa's voice echo again down the hall outside his bedroom.

"Just don't forget that you can simply call him and woohoo for real instead of just playing!"

Donghae drops his head on the desk, yelling “shut up, noona!” while Hwasa cackles around the house.

Despite teasing him a few times on the first day she discovered his little secret, Hwasa drops the topic quickly at home, and Donghae's thankful.

Donghae knows how she loves to make fun of many things and being the target of her teasing isn't always very pleasing, but he appreciates how she respectfully ends the jokes before they stop being funny.

When Donghae decided to study music in Seoul, where would he live was one of the main concerns at the time. It was important to find a reasonably well-located place that his parents could afford until he found his own source of income once he settled into his studies.

So when Hwasa offered her guest room in the small apartment she’d rented in the city, with just a little contribution with the rent, for Donghae to live in until he completed his studies or until he found his own space, if he wished so, Donghae and his family were immensely grateful. Nowadays, working on his first internship (which is also on a break along with his studies), he’s able to help with a few expenses, while he saves a little bit every month as well. It’s a step towards the future, when he’ll have enough to arrange his own home with Hyukjae.

Donghae, actually, adores her. Hwasa is only a few years older than him, but she treats him much more like a friend and confidant than just a younger cousin and someone still quite inexperienced about life. And even though she has a busy social life and knows very well how to have a good time, she’s also an extremely responsible person. Back then, Donghae knew that it’d be nice to share a space with her without getting in each others way too much, since she worked a lot and Donghae was usually busy with his studies.

These are just some of the reasons why he considers her his coolest cousin (not that he has that many, but you get it). And when Hwasa stops being a nuisance about the game, along with the fact that she's out of the house most of the time, Donghae goes back to playing carefreely without the fear of being judged.

Donghae knows that, from time to time, the thrill of playing with The Sims pales a bit, only for it to come back a few months or years later when he sees himself engaging with it again excitedly. So now he's just enjoying the vibe, which is even better since he's playing with his beautiful boyfriend in digital version.

Donghae knows how pathetic this must sound, but he mentally reinforces that he's just having fun.

While at it, he tries to make the gameplay as realistic as he can. He and Hyukjae are pursuing a career as musicians. When creating them, he selected the personality traits he felt were most suitable, such as athletically active for himself and neat for Hyukjae. They practice guitar and piano almost daily to improve their skills, precisely the instruments they’re in fact specializing. He provokes friendly and romantic interactions nonstop, making their Sims act all lovey-dovey, which pretty much resembles real life.

And, of course, Donghae also takes the opportunity to excel at other skills he doesn't master as much in reality. His Sim, for example, is almost at cooking level 8, while Hyukjae is rocking at gardening (which, besides providing him a new skill, is a great source of income). In addition, he’s encouraging them to practice singing after he recently purchased one of the coolest expansion packs that offers this and several other new features and interactions. They can even sing and play at the same time, which is just adorable. Both are still pretty out of tune, but it's quite recent and, in a few days, Donghae should be able to make them improve and stand out at performances and karaoke bars.

Sometimes, The Sims can also test your patience. For a game where you have a lot of control over your characters' lives, it can be quite chaotic. Donghae has already lost count of how many times his Sim and Hyukjae's caught fire while cooking. Fortunately, none of them died in the numerous events, but they eventually developed a fear of fire—which only makes it worse, because the fear increases the chances of catching fire again, and it turned into an extended cycle of fires and distress.

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