The man before him. Two halves of the same person--Eunhyuk and Hyukjae. Donghae's glad Hyukjae's become stronger and feels proud and happy for him whenever he sees him prove he's one of the best dancers in SM or sing better than Jessica, but he's sometimes frightened when he looks at this man. Donghae feels like he's getting further and further away from him, and Donghae realized more and more with each passing day since their split how much Hyukjae is really important to him. 

Now, he's still holding on to Hyukjae's porcelain, almost ethereal left hand like it's a lifeline. 

"I...I'll work with you," Hyukjae says. Although he was tearing up a bit, he still managed to show how much he changed. Gone was the runny snot, red face, and intermittent whimpers and sniffles from his trainee days' crying. Donghae thinks Hyukjae looks similar to a crystal carving he once saw with morning dew trickling down it. Elegant, beautiful, and unbreakable.   

"Thanks," Donghae whispers.

***

Although Hyukjae agreed to perform "Brother has Risen" with Donghae, he still manages to make their newly reforged bond as professional as possible. He would meet Donghae in the dance practice room at SM, but refuses to be alone with the younger. He initiates fanservice on stage, but would quickly withdraw his hand from Donghae's after he habitually reached out for the familiar source of comfort. Donghae's kind of peeved that Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun have spending a lot of time alone lately, and though their interactions that Donghae have seen are only friendly, he's still quite jealous of Kyuhyun.

"I think Eunhyuk doesn't really trust you anymore. Or he doesn't want you that close to him now," Leeteuk speculates.

***

"Dude, have you been getting any ever since you and Eunhyuk split?"

Donghae glares at Peter. "No. Why?"

Peter unapologetically says," Because you look like you haven't. Do you want me to introduce you to a few girls?"

Donghae winces, because that reminds him of all the girls he's noticed that have been hanging around Eunhyuk lately. "No."

"...boys?" Youngsky tries.

What the hell. "No," Donghae repeats. 

Youngsky and Peter give each other looks, and Peter makes another attempt. "You can try seducing Eunhyuk."

"He refuses to be alone with me," Donghae says glumly.

Chance joins in since he never heard of someone actively trying to avoid Donghae's seductions before, and finds it half intriguing, half kinda-hilarious. "But you said before that he and Kyuhyun were always hanging out recently, right? Weren't they alone?"

"DUDE, NOT HELPING!" Youngsky pimp-slaps Chance.

"Ow," Chance says. He tries to redeem himself. "Well, you can try seducing him in front of other people."

Then my -reputation would go up even further in SM. "I can't do that, I--" Donghae's protests stop when he thinks of Hyukjae's gummy laugh, Hyukjae's earnestness, Hyukjae's toned body, Hyukjae's sincere love and care, and just Hyukjae's everything that he decides he doesn't really care if he might be labelled a man- for the rest of his life if it means Hyukjae would consummately love him again. I might as well hear them out, Donghae thinks. One Way smirks at Donghae knowingly.  

Youngsky begins. "Okay, number 1..."

***

Youngsky, Peter, and Chance all had different seduction styles, but one thing they all agreed on that Hyukjae was never a type they had to deal with before. 

"Women are different," Chance said, scratching his head awkwardly. 

"That sounds ist," Youngsky says. "How about just Hyukjae is different?"

"Back off. Donghae called dibs on him."

Youngsky scowls. "No--I mean, I was never into personality types like Hyukjae's." Youngsky frowns. "Hyukjae's too mature. And hardworking. And -less."

Youngsky gets ho-slapped. 

"Ow, Peter!" Youngsky whines. "What was that for?"

Peter rolls his eyes at Youngsky. "Donghae still hurts like hurting hurt baguffins whenever Hyukjae's brought up like that! So you just trampled on his feelings. Which isn't bro. Ho."

"No, it's okay," Donghae says. "So...you said that I should take advantage of fanservice..."

***

Donghae chickens out of seducing Hyukjae. 

"That's okay," Leeteuk says in a slight ugh-why-did-seducing-Eunhyuk-have-to-come-up-out-of-all-conversation-topics-today way after Donghae tells him about not following One Way's advice. "Maybe it's better if you tried to just renew your friendship with him first."

A/N: Thanks lovely commenters. :)