"You're kidding me." Eunhyuk looks at Donghae in disbelief. "I'm not performing with you again. I Wanna Love You and Beautiful was gay enough." For a second, Donghae sees Hyukjae's uncertainty and vulnerability flash through dark brown eyes, but Eunhyuk regains control in a heartbeat. "Move, Donghae. I need to work on my singing."

Donghae's not sure what makes him do it, but he grabs Eunhyuk's--no, Hyukjae's, Donghae thinks--wrist to prevent him from leaving. "No!" Donghae half-shouts, half-pleads. He doesn't care that Eunhyuk's looking at him like he grew two heads. "Please! It's just for business. You know there's," Donghae bitterly looks at the ground when he realizes he can't stand Eunhyuk looking at him with something that looks like hate in his eyes. "...there's nothing between us anymore."

"Yeah, you got that right." And the guarded, professional Eunhyuk explodes like a beautiful, expensive glass sculpture that has been overheated in  a burning, ten-thousand degree furnance. "I now know that you'll always be an immature, goddamn . I heard I was your thirtieth. What number was Sean?" Donghae flinched. "Did he come right after Eric?"

No, no, no, you're wrong, Hyukjae, Donghae felt like screaming. "Please believe me, Eunhyukkie..."

"Don't call me that!" The older man sharply twisted his wrist free from Donghae's grip, and got a malicious kind of pleasure when he saw Donghae's eyes widen in shock and pain. "Honestly, you're one of the most disgusting...things...I've ever come across." It feels almost good to hurt him.

Donghae felt like he was about to be sick. Eunhyuk would never act like this. And Hyukjae never, ever yelled at anyone like this before. Exactly who am I dealing with? Donghae knew that whatever was coming from his former best friend's mouth was one-hundred percent honest, as the rawness and posture of the man before him was Hyukjae's. And that made Donghae think it would've felt less horrible if Eunhyuk was yelling at him.

"I noticed you never answered me." Hyukjae laughed mirthlessly. "Well, I don't really care right now. Just move out of my..." He stopped dead mid-sentence as he took in the sight before him. "What the hell are you doing?"

Donghae was crying. it wasn't the undignified wailing that both of them were guilty of when they were trainees, but rivulets were streaming down his face, and he was kneeling on the ground in front of the taller. "I swear, Eunhyuk, that I never, ever slept with Eric or Sean. Sure, I messed around a lot in the past, but ever since I met you I always stuck to you and only you. I..." Donghae hiccuped, and lowered his head with his full bow in front of his ex-love. "I still love you and..."

"Get up," Eunhyuk said sharply, but with a hint of Hyukjae's waver. "I don't want to hear this."

"I...don't mind if you don't want me anymore. I should've handled the situation with Eric and Sean differently, and knew to not get wasted or let them talk on the phone with you," Donghae hiccuped again. "So something like that wouldn't ever be misunderstood again..."

"I was worried about you," Hyukjae said quietly. "I thought someone had drugged or intoxicated you because...our world still has some really sick and twisted people, and...Seunghwan told me just a week before I got that phonecall that he saw some anti-fanmails addressed to you that had words written in blood describing--" Hyukjae angrily wiped and rubbed his eyes. "--how 'messed up' you really were and how they planned on 'exposing that and taking you down a peg or two.' And then I arrived at the address...that man...told me to come to, and....why are you still on the floor? Get up," Hyukjae says, changing in an instant to Eunhyuk.

"I'm really sorry." Donghae nervously reaches for Hyukjae's hand, eyes still wet. "It won't happen again."

Hyukjae snaps, "I don't care if you kiss a thousand other men, women, or goddamn teenagers in the next ten days, Donghae. We're past that."

"It wasn't me who initiated that kiss," Donghae says, securing Hyukjae's hand in his so well that it can't escape again. "I wasn't expecting both of them to gang up on me like that..." Donghae falters. Hyukjae still doesn't believe me. 

"Okay, fine. Let's say that was the case. But you still look like you were enjoying every second of it when I walked in on your--"

Donghae really doesn't know what to do, so he just acts on impulse. He uses his free hand to seize the nape of Hyukjae's neck and kiss him with as much passion, love, and sincere need he could express. Donghae feels a little startled, and then very elated, when Hyukjae starts responding after a few heartbeats to his kiss with equal need and fervor, but Hyukjae pushes Donghae away shakily almost as soon as that happens.

"Did I kiss Eric like that?" Donghae asked, silently pleading for Hyukjae to realize that he still loves him.

A/N: Will respond to each individual comment through wall posts later. ^_^ (Feels like smiley face is really incongruous with this chapter's attempted seriousness.)