Hyukjae came back from work minutes before midnight. On his way up to the apartment, he took out his phone and started typing to Donghae. He was just about to sent the message when suddenly, as soon as he came in, Heechul pounced at him and pinned him to the door, his eyes fiery and wide.

"Whoa, Heechul, slow down a little, I have a boyfriend, you know?" Hyukjae panted, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Oh, great. Congratulations. Now listen," Heechul said, his eyes widening even more. "WHY. HADN'T. YOU. TOLD. ME. THAT. CHOI. SIWON. WAS SUCH. A. HOTTIE?!" he shouted, pointing each word out.
"Eh?" Hyukjae asked, not-so brightly.
The sudden change of expression on Heechul's face was unbelievable. His sharp gaze softened, his eyes became all dreamy and he started to swirl around like some kind of ballerina, sighing occasionally. He folded his hands together in front of his chest as if he was about to pray. Hyukjae looked at him, doumbfounded.

"Imagine this" said Heechul "I come back from my head-hunting, enter the office, already satisfied with myself and make my way to my boss' room to give him my report. And then" he chirpped "I see HIM and I feel... He's sitting at the assistant desk, looking like some Greek god" he took a deep breath"and I greet him, because he looks just so AWESOME, and I want to know who he is." Heechul's eyes became dark again "And he tells me he's Choi damn Siwon and I realize I had had his number in my hands and I gave it to you instead of just saving it on my phone!" he finished with a raised voice.

"Erm... I'm sorry? I guess?" said Hyukjae hesistantly, scratching the back of his head.
"You're sorry? You're NOT sorry, oh no! You're BLIND, my dear friend! How come you chase after some mute guy, when his friend is all capable and SO HANDSOME!"
Hyukjae frowned. "Did you just offend me and Donghae?"
"Maybe, I don't even care now. Because Choi Siwon is going to be MINE! You’ll see."
"If you say so..." muttered Hyukjae "Now, if you don't mind" he said louder "I will forget how you spoke badly of me and my boyfriend, yes, boyfriend, I will NOT tell you any details, because you were not interested in them, and I will go to my room. Exceuse me." and he left Heechul in the entrance room alone with his wild imagination and his Siwon-centered fantasies. He wasn't upset with Heechul's lack of interest regarding his progress with Donghae, because he has been living with the other too long to be bothered by Heechul’s weird obsession about every new guy that he got to like.

~*~*~

Another week has passed. Hyukjae's relationship with Donghae was... very good. They texted each other a lot and the messages were so cheesy sometimes that Sungmin, Hyukjae's new friend from sign language classes, who leaned over Hyukjae's shoulder once and read the text, moved away from him with a loud "Eww!"

Hyukjae knew that he was being cheesy, but he didn't mind it at all. He didn't mind telling Donghae that he missed him, wanted to hug him tight or kiss him goodnight, because all of it was true.

Unfortunately, that week happened to be very busy for Hyukjae, so he didn't find time to take him out. What’s more, the younger was still a little weak after his cold. However, Hyukjae wouldn’t be able to meet Donghae even if he wanted. He had extra concerts at 'Eclipse', he had signing classes three times a week, and he was asked if he wanted to replace the bartender, Shindong, who got married and took a week off due to his honeymoon trip to Hawaii. Hyukjae agreed to take the morning shifts, thinking that some extra money might be useful. Therefore he was constantly tired, because he had much less sleep than usual. He was working behind the bar until 3pm, then running to school to learn sign language, then coming back home and preparing for a while in order to come back to 'Eclipse' and entertain people with his rapping.

On one particularly tiring Thursday (he was texting with Donghae till late hours the previous night, so he got only 4 hours of sleep), Heechul kept bombarding him with information about his and Siwon’s relationship (which was not a relationship at all, but Heechul was 'thinking positive') during breakfast. Hyukjae was fed up with Heechul’s exclamations of “he looked at me three times yesterday!” or "I winked at him and he looked away!”. He left the apartment extremely annoyed, he fell asleep behind the bar and when he missed his bus to the school and was late by 20 minutes, Hyukjae thought that he wouldn't make it to the club again. But he had to. When he dragged his feet throught the back door, he saw Donghae waiting for him in his changing room.

As soon as the younger saw dark circles covering half of Hyukjae's face and his feet barely moving because of exhaustion, he got up with a concerned look, approached Hyukjae and hugged him tightly.

"Hi, Hae." Hyukjae felt his body being pushed away by Donghae, who started signing.
'If I had known you were going to overwork yourself to death, I wouldn't have texted you for so long yesterday.'
"Donghae, It isn't your fault-" said Hyukjae, but Donghae cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand.

'Why hadn't you told me that you worked in the mornings as well?'
 

“How do you know?” Hyukjae asked, surprised.

 

‘I heard the club manager talking with one of the waitresses about you falling asleep at the bar today’ replied Donghae, his gestures urgent and forceful.

"I felt guilty for not being able to invite you over or take you out, so I at least wanted to text you..." mumbled Hyukjae, not exactly answering Donghae’s question.

'I appreciate that, but don't you think that you have to sleep, too?'

"I slept! Less than usual, but still... I needed some money and this opportunity..."

Donghae shook his head rapidly. 'Shut up. Today after the concert, I'm coming with you to your place and I will make sure you take a shower and go to sleep immediately!'

Hyukjae sighed. "Okay, okay. Thank you."

'You should. And by the way, I'm impressed. Your progress at reading my signs is, like, huge! Congratulations!' Donghae ended, with the biggest of his smiles.

”It’s more like learning to read you” Hyukjae muttered, but Donghae didn’t hear him.

~*~*~

If Hyukjae had been tired before the concert, it was nothing compared to how he felt when he finally opened the door of his room. He took a quick shower while Donghae was waiting for him to finish, sitting on Hyukjae's bed. When he heard the bathroom door open, Donghae raised his head and waited for Hyukjae to enter the bedroom. Donghae's eyes went wide when he saw his boyfriend walk in wearing only his boxers; he'd never seen Hyukjae without his shirt before. He averted his eyes and heard Hyukjae's chuckle.

"Sorry, I forgot to take my pajamas. But -forgive me, Hae, I must ask you- Do you like it?"
Donghae's eyes met his, demanding more details about the question.
"Do you like... the way I look? Half-?"
'You ert.' signed Donghae, blushing hard.
"What did you say? I didn't understand the gesture" asked Hyukjae, confused.
Donghae nodded. 'Yes, I like it... a lot.'
"Thank you, Donghae" Hyukjae laughed faintly. "And I love the way you look today, too. If I wasn't so exhausted right now, I would-" he paused. " No, you probably don’t want to know" he finished, causing Donghae's cheeks to blush even harder. Hyukjae crawled under the sheets on his bed and patted Donghae's hand. "Do you want to cuddle?" he asked silently.

To Hyukjae’s great surprise, Donghae took off his sweater, leaving himself in a grey T-shirt and lied next to Hyukjae. However, he left some space between them as if he was a little afraid of touching the older. Hyukjae sighed and pulled Donghae into close embrace so that the younger's head leaned against Hyukjae's arm.

"Sweet dreams, Hae" Hyukjae whispered. In no time, he was asleep.

A/n: This chapter brings you the beginning of a (not-so ninja!) SiChul. And you know what mentioning Sungmin means? KyuMin is approaching! xD I decided to add some minor pairings, so the story will be longer and the plot more eventful :)) And as always, keep posting your supercutelovelyhomaigahd comments, because I love them. Every single one!