Donghae tells Hyukjae about his dad's condition one week after Han Kyung joins their dance class. It wasn't when Han Kyung or Mr. Kim, was in the room. It was while Donghae was alternating between kicking and punching Hyukjae just because, and Hyukjae was taking it all in with extreme boredom. Then, a phone call filled with more wheezes and coughs than words come to mind, and Donghae's crying while Hyukjae's tightly hugging him and rubbing circles in his back. Then Donghae mutters that it's not manly to cry and he demands for Hyukjae to make him laugh instead. So, Hyukjae starts a tickle assault, and bemusedly realizes that a tickle attack may have not been such a good idea when he sees Donghae underneath him, face radiant, laughing, and gasping for air. Hyukjae gets off Donghae just as he hears Han Kyung and Mr. Kim's voices approaching.

***

"We're finally debuting."

"Yeah!" Donghae grins mischievously and spits a watermelon seed directly onto Hyukjae's nose. "Betcha I can spit more watermelon seeds on your nose than you can."

Hyukjae tries his best not to roll his eyes at Donghae's childishness. "I bet you're going to have to wash your god-awful hair if you keep on getting watermelon juice on yourself like that."

Donghae fingers his hair, which indeed has watermelon juice on it. He shrugs. "Oh well. I hate my current hair as it is. Jessica says I look like a mop."

"Jessica is the snootiest girl I've ever met in my life. I don't see why you're hanging out with her a lot recently."

Donghae grins. "Do you think she's even snootier than Hyoyeon?"

"Hyoyeon's actually not so bad. I think SM sending her to Beijing to study Chinese with Siwon made me actually miss seeing her at SM."

"Because there's no other trainee that could help you out with dancing anymore?" 

Hyukjae scowls. "Actually...Hankyung can outdance Hyoyeon now."

Both momentarily silently contemplated this while nibbling on watermelon slices and listening to the gentle lapping of the Han River. 

"Hey, I heard Siwon's going to be in our new group."

"I don't like him." Hyukjae spits a seed into the Han River. 

Donghae spits another one on Hyukjae's nose. "He's around our age. We can all be friends." 

***

Twelve members. Two floors. It's too hectic, and Hyukjae is moody a lot because he rarely has a private place to watch his in silence now. At first, he locks himself in the twelfth floor's bathroom, but then one of his floormates, Heechul, screams for Eunhyuk to stop acting like a woman on his period or he would give Eunhyuk a reason to actually start bleeding when he's sick of Hyukjae's secrecy. Heechul is scary, so Hyukjae starts shamelessly watching his in his room open for the whole world to see, and the other members call him a ert.

Donghae is irritated. He'd ask Hyukjae to use his computer just so Hyukjae could start paying attention to him again, but Hyukjae has the nerve to tell Donghae that it's not good to use the computer too much. This makes Donghae want to hog Hyukjae's computer even more, and eventually Hyukjae caves. At first, Donghae is triumphant, but then Hyukjae gets a freaking portable media player to continue watching his while Donghae uses his laptop. 

Donghae complains to KIbum, who listens to all of this while wondering more about Hyukjae and Donghae's relationship. 

"What kind of does Eunhyuk watch?" Kibum asks one day. 

Donghae frowns. "I...don't know." I think that's something I should know, though. Just because I'm his close friend. Yeah.

So, Donghae accosts Hyukjae one day, and demands to watch with him. Hyukjae's shocked and refuses. Donghae persists, and says that Hyukjae rarely spends time with him anymore, so he's at least giving an effort to be interested in the kind of things Hyukjae is in. 

Hyukjae closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and then solemnly tells Donghae he's sorry. "I won't watch anymore," Hyukjae promises. 

Although Hyukjae miraculously sticks to his promise, Hyukjae and his period would always be remembered among the Super Junior members. And they decided it would be hilarious to talk about it on some variety shows. So, now, plenty of people knew about Hyukjae's now-gone erted tendencies. 

Great, Hyukjae thinks. He knows he's currently one of the least popular members of their group. He's a bit worried because he still doesn't know how long their group is going to last. Head Soo-Man told them that he planned for Super Junior 05 to be a rotational group. Hyukjae knows he's selfish, but he hopes that when he's switched out, Donghae would come with him. 

***

"I don't see what the world's coming to these days," Siwon says over the freshly cooked breakfast Ryeowook prepared for them one Sunday.

"I don't see what your face is coming to these days," Heechul replies, still bitter that he was woken up at six that morning even though they didn't have anything scheduled until noon.

Siwon gives Heechul the stinky eye and repeats, "I don't see what the world's coming to these days. Did any of you know that Hong Seok-cheon was selected by a western magazine as 2004's Asian Hero?"

Jongwoon, who now goes by Yesung, yawns. "Who's Hong Seok-Cheon?"

Jungsu, who was also given a new name (Leeteuk), curls his lip in slight disgust. "Isn't he that ?"

Ryeowook blinks. "? In Korea? And 2004--that's two years ago."

Siwon finishes sipping his cold cucumber soup before saying, "I was reading some online articles from Time, this famous American magazine, and I saw this in the archives. Isn't it disgusting that Seok-Cheon's considered to be a hero? Homouality should be discouraged. I personally think those faggots should go through hormonal therapy. They're just unnatural. God made Adam and Eve for a reason."

Hyukjae's playing with the cross hung around his necklace. Donghae squeezes his leg under the table reassuringly, because he knows Hyukjae's fidgety when he's nervous. 

Kangin says, "I'm pretty sure a gay guy in my school used to like me."

"Disgusting," Siwon repeats.

Heechul repeats, "Your face."

"Heechul. Stop. You're acting like a five-year old," Leeteuk reprimands sharply. Heechul scowls, but he doesn't make any more remarks on Siwon's face for the rest of the meal. 

***

"What do you think of gays?" Kibum nonchalantly asks Hyukjae while they're in the van to their next schedule.

Yesung loudly groans. "Not this again. I swear, just talking about this makes me sick."

"Shut up," Heechul says. He's sitting next to Han Geng, who was given a more Korean name (Hankyung). Han Geng smiles awkwardly and wishes he knew what everyone was talking about. 

Yesung looks a bit put-out, but he takes Heechul's advice and decides to daydream about his pet turtle, Ddangkoma, instead. Sungmin's taking a nap, and Donghae's listening to his iPod, which Donghwa gave him as a congratulatory present for debuting, with an arm slung around Hyukjae's shoulder. 

Kibum smiles to make the atmosphere less awkward, and repeats his question. Hyukjae stiffens, and when he doesn't answer, Kibum presses more quietly, "About that argument between you and Donghae when you returned from Heejun vs. Kangta...you looked to the left when you said that Donghae misinterpreted what he called your confession."

Hyukjae quickly glances at Donghae out of the side of his eyes nervously. "So?" He asks shortly.

Kibum gives another agreeable smile. "It's psychologically proven someone always look to the left when he tells a lie," he says pleasantly. "Policemen watch out for this during interrogations." 

Hyukjae laughs. Staccato notes in a staccato van. "That's ridiculous. Is that something you saw in one of those American movies?"

"No. My best friend's father in California was a cop."

Hyukjae recognizes both Yesung and Hankyung's snores, and he realizes Heechul's been awfully quiet. His face is bone white as he looks up to see Heechul's shocked expression, watching him and Kibum. A little too late, Kibum realizes what happened. Donghae chooses to pull out his earphones three seconds later. "What are you talking about, Hyukkie?" 

***

Hyukkie. Eunhyukkie. Hyukjae doesn't know if Donghae's pulling his strings on his purpose or if he's just a natural-born tease, but the effects of Donghae's new pet names for Hyukjae makes him want to scream and strangle Donghae sometimes. But then Donghae would smile with all the simplicity and purity of a toddler, and Hyukjae would embarrassedly turn away so Donghae couldn't see his red ears.   

Heechul and Kibum are pests. Heechul always viewed Donghae as something of a little brother, so whenever Hyukjae goes near Donghae now, Heechul would pull Donghae away brusquely and glare at Hyukjae. This makes Hyukjae want to strangle Heechul, too, but the thing that prevents him from doing so is 1) he doesn't want to be locked up for murder 2) he's too exhausted from his daily full schedules and 3) Hyukjae suspected Heechul, even when dead and strangled, would still somehow find a way to kill him.

When he's sure they're alone, Hyukjae demands to know from Heechul why he's treating him like he's some kind of freshly released serial whose new target is Donghae.

Heechul says simply, "Because you're a ert. And Donghae's too innocent."

Hyukjae's starting to wish he never watched those videos, even though some of them were pretty darn good.

***

Donghae was not innocent. At all. Although Heechul and Kibum both definitely knew Hyukjae liked Donghae in the more than friendly way, even without a definite confirmation from Hyukjae, both were painfully oblivious to Donghae's devious side.

Hyukjae was painfully aware of it.

"Can you stop that?" He asks when he can't stand his pajama top's buttons being toyed with a bored Donghae anymore.

"Why?"

Are you stupid? Did you completely forget me kissing you a few years ago in a situation like this? "I...I'm just so frustrated that we're not allowed to date any girls, and that management's checking our phone and laptop histories. I'm pretty sure at least two of the new trainee girls like me."

Donghae frowns, before a wicked smile spreads over his face. "If you could get away with it, would you do it with a girl in our dorm?"

Hyukjae gulped. "How come you ask only me these weird questions?"

Donghae shrugs. "I know I would. I asked Kibum, and he said he would any girl right now since he's feeling so deprived lately."

"..."

"Tmi?"

"Very." Hyukjae rolls over on his bed. "I think we need to stop sharing a dorm. I hardly get a chance to socialize with the others with you always near me like this. It feels like you're stealing all the chances I have for befriending the other members away."

Donghae stops blue buttons. His eyes looks like a Chihuahua's that was just kicked out of its home and into a sizzling inferno of smoking hot dogs. Hyukjae is about to feel guilty, but freezes as the mischievous glint reenters Donghae's eyes at the same time he pops one of Hyukjae's buttons open. 

Hyukjae freezes. "What are you doing?" 

"It's hot in here," Donghae says lowly, loosening another one of Hyukjae's buttons. His eyes meet Hyukjae's again. "It's okay if we sleep together like this, since we're both guys. Now, if I was a girl...I bet you probably would've been thirty minutes ago."

Is this really happening now? "If the other members walk in on us right now..."

"I locked the door." Donghae looks like he's concentrating very hard, and bites his bottom lip in a way that makes Hyukjae's mouth run dry. The rest of his buttons are taken care of quickly enough. Hyukjae's almost afraid to do anything in return because he's unwilling to leave what must've been a dream.

But the frustrating thing about Donghae is that even though he talks about ing girls in dorms, his aim in taking off Hyukjae's shirt was just because.

"Your shirt made me scratchy," Donghae explains to a still shell-shocked Hyukjae as Donghae takes his own top off and snuggles up to Hyukjae in only basketball shorts.

***

Leeteuk somehow manages to get away with dating numerous girls. He meets them for trysts in bathrooms, classrooms, and once, Donghae and Hyukjae walk in on Leeteuk getting down to business with a local waitress in their van.

"Oh my god. Ew." Donghae says, horrified. Hyukjae hurriedly apologizes and both of them hurriedly leave the scene.

"I'm tired of being stuck with my hand all the time," Hyukjae says forlornly to himself in the dorm's bathroom. He perks up when he hears Donghae's ringtone from his left pocket. Hyukjae quickly takes out his cell phone, realizes he got a text message not a call, and flips his phone open.

Hey Sica! Kibum, Siwon and I are by the eomukbar (fishcake) stand near Han River. You and Sooyoung can come join us if you want. :D

Hyukjae's feeling so frustrated from getting only about two hours of sleep each day for the past month, being semi-molested by an oblivious or painfully ignorant Donghae, and this new, missent text message that he didn't even realize until the blood was dripping off his hands that he punched the twelfth floor's bathroom mirror.

***

Kyuhyun. The thirteenth member. Donghae says Kibum told him thirteen's an unlucky number in America, and Hyukjae's just inclined to punch Kyuhyun in the face. He's a great singer, but he's too rude for most of the members' tastes, forgetting honorifics frequently. 

Sungmin is stuck with Kyuhyun sleeping beside him. Well, on the floor beside him. 

***

May 25th, 2006. The official release of U. Within five hours of its release, it had over 400,000 downloads and crashed the server. Donghae doesn't know whether he's screaming or crying with joy when he's telling his father the news. 

His father smiles and congratulates Donghae. He decides that he should wait until later to tell him that his black tumor's getting worse. 

***

Donghae's dad died in August. He never got to see in person his son perform. 

***

"Donghae, can you please get out of your room?" Ryeowook pleaded. "I cooked your favorite today."

"I'm not hungry."

Leeteuk rapped the door twice. "Well, can you eat to make us worry less? You haven't eaten a thing in four days."

Hyukjae's crying. After his dad's death, Donghae began eating less and less. He started locking himself up in his room, and he ignored everyone's texts, calls, and e-mails. Hyukjae even began wishing for Donghae to see Jessica again, because he wore the silliest, goofiest smiles when he was around her. 

Kibum disagreed when Hyukjae told him this. "I think he's happiest when he's with you. You should cheer him up yourself."

"I try," Hyukjae said, wringing his hands. "But he doesn't do anything in response except just looking at me like a zombie."

Kibum shrugs. "Keep talking to him. That's what I'm doing. We can get to him somehow."

And because Hyukjae can't stand the thought of Kibum beating him when it's anything concerning Donghae, Hyukjae takes to sitting outside his own room, locked outside, and just talking about anything. Hey, I ran into one of your professors from Myongji University today. He seems really nice. We talked about soccer for a bit, and even got some ramen together. TIme's really nice when you're in charge of it, huh? Anyhow, I got some take-out ramen for you. I'll leave it here just in case you get hungry. Hey Donghae, I don't think you and your brother look alike. You're much better-looking. I think it's because you're younger. I have an older sister, and a lot less people tell her she's ugly than they tell me that I am. Hey, remember that PMP I downloaded tons of on? I donated it to an orphanage today. I deleted all the off first.

Donghae eventually comes around, and Hyukjae's satisfied that when Donghae's profusely apologizing for his recent behavior, it's him that he tightly hugs and says sorry to first, not Kibum.