This is official. Donghae is going to get some kind of brain hemorrhage from the stage lights.

            “Go into the light~” he whispers to himself, and Henry side-eyes him with his newly applied eyeliner that makes him look like a demented raccoon.

            The thing is… where the hell is Hyukjae? They were just dancing together with their dance team and he just kind of disappeared. It’s Henry’s turn soon, and Donghae wants him to be there for when he can gloat in victory. Donghae squints around the backstage area. Nope. No obnoxious anchovy. He shuffles forward and sticks his head out from the side of the curtains. He sheepishly waves at the bewildered audience before shuffling back.

            He lets out this long sigh that might’ve just helped his soul escape.

             “Did you see Amber?” Henry pokes Donghae’s stomach fat. Donghae lets out a dolphin squeak reminiscent of Junsu’s before clearing his throat.

            “Yes?” It comes out as a question because he thinks he saw her but it could’ve been a random guy with short hair. And there are lots of those. Henry beams at him anyway. Donghae resists the urge to turn away from the sunlight radiating from his face because the stage lights are equally bright.

            My eeeeyeeees. He inwardly whimpers.

            “LAAAaaaUUUUU HennnLIIiiiIIII,” their hyperactive coordinator shouts. “You’re UuuuUUUuppppPPPP.”

            “What.” Henry just stares.

            Donghae, for once, actually understands (wow). He pats Henry’s back (but misaims and gets his instead. Henry doesn’t even look fazed – whoever that kid hangs out with must have gotten him accustomed to weird things in life). “Your shining moment, mochi! Go out and break lots of legs.”

            There is horror in Henry’s eyes. “I only have one. I mean two.”

            “Pshhhhh. Just go.”

            Henry wavers, clutching his violin to his chest like it’s his baby (it probably is) before tip-toeing to the edge of the stage. Donghae watches with pride as Henry straightens his shoulders and walks out like he hasn’t been cowering just a few seconds ago.

            And he kills it. The performance that is. Apparently he can freaking dance while making music from his bow and strings. Donghae’s face is permanently distorted from his gaping jaw when Henry does the moon-walk while impressively hitting a high vibrato. The audience roars after the last note hangs in the air and they leap onto their feet. In celebration, Donghae is doing a remix of his worm dance in which he is standing up and almost whacking everyone backstage with his whole body.

            “I swear to delicious muffins’ god, you were amazing,” Donghae says when Henry comes back, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeves.

            “I was, wasn’t I?” Henry would’ve been smacked for his insolence if he isn’t smiling like an innocent rabbit. Okay. Weird simile there. But Donghae does not care. Because come on, they’ve got this.

            Donghae is so going to win the bet.

            Chicken-Stealer guy, whose name is apparently Lee Jinki, is standing on the corner of the stage with the spotlight on him. His badly done hair dye is accentuated in the lighting. Jinki is staring at the index cards in his hands like they contain the ultimate secret to life.

            “That was a spectacular performance by Henry,” Jinki says very softly into the microphone. “Now we have one last performer before the winner is announced. OH MY GOD I’M SO HUNGRY I REALLY WANT CHICKEN now everyone give it up for Eunhyuk.”

            There is a startled silence after Jinki’s deafening exclamation of his hunger. He prances off stage as if nothing has happened. Some people hesitantly start to clap.

            Soft music comes on. Donghae is mentally having a semblance of a seizure because Gods of Bananas, Eunhyuk is Hyukjae’s stage name. That cheater!

            He chokes on thin air as Eunhyuk leaps onto the stage from the audience level (so that’s where he was!) in a very monkey-like move and starts sensually dancing (not so monkey-like). With hip swaying and dark eyes and smoldering aura and no this is bad.

            Henry waves his hand in front of Donghae’s face to make sure he’s still breathing. He isn’t.

            The dance is slow and seems to want to pull out the strings in his heart. It’s drastically different from the dance they did for the team, which had been full of flashy break dancing and crazy spazzing. This is pure seduction complete with hip rolls that make Hyukjae’s body look like moving water.

            “Ohmygerrrd,” Donghae whimpers like some kind of fangirl. His (non-existent) ovaries just exploded.

            The audience is similarly captivated. There might or might not have been a few people drooling as well. The beat of the music speeds up and there is more energy in his dance, yet the underlying tone of slow sweetness is still there.

            Donghae’s face has turned a tint of purple from not breathing for so long.

            A stunned silence reigns over them after Hyukjae finishes his last step. A girl screams out, “CAN I HAVE YOUR BABIES?” before everyone snaps out of it and starts clapping their hands out.

            Hyukjae bows gracefully (he’s still in his dancing mode. Usually, he trips over himself if he ever attempts to bow) before catching Donghae’s eye as he walks off-stage.

            Donghae stays rooted to the ground even though his first instinct is to run away and hide. Hyukjae looks like a predator with his strutting walk.

            “How did I do?” Hyukjae seems almost shy as he scratches the nape of his own neck.

            Donghae crosses his arms and tilts his chin up. “Could’ve been better.” He tries not to smile, but fails.

            Hyukjae’s smile can probably light up a whole city, but it does make Donghae’s chest feel all warm and snuggly. “If you say so.” He averts his eyes and fake-coughs a little.

            Then fake-coughs and hacks some more. And then actually starts coughing for real because he starts choking. Donghae stares warily at him, and pats his back in a ‘there-there’ manner. Is this Hyukjae’s way of avoiding Donghae’s wrath for participating in the show by himself? Hyukjae recovers, face red.

            “I – uhhhhh – I have to tell you something,” Hyukjae says.

            Donghae waits.

            And waits.

            Still waiting.

            “Hyukjae,” he growls.

            “It’s about the bet,” Hyukjae rushes out. “I want to tell you the answer to your question even if Henry doesn’t win.”

            Donghae fakes a look of confusion. “What question?”

            Hyukjae looks like he’s being dangled from the top of a skyscraper. “What? You’re the one who – “ he sputters.

            Donghae wheezes in his laughter. “Oh, your face.”

            There is a sigh of exasperation. “Why do I even like you?”

            A silence between the two of them where Donghae is staring with a blank face at Hyukjae and Hyukjae looks like he wants to be dropped from the skyscraper that he was dangled from. A few people dawdling around backstage, waiting for the winner to be announced, look at them curiously without realizing that there is a Big Life Changing Moment happening here.

            “So,” Donghae says.

            “Yeah.”

            “Oh.”

            “Ehmmmm.”

            “…”

            “…”

            “OH MY FREAKING – “ Donghae starts hollering before Hyukjae slaps a hand over his mouth and winces because Donghae accidentally bites down on his precious little finger. They glare at each other for different reasons, and then Donghae promptly changes his expression to excitement and fantastic sparkles.

            He rips Hyukjae’s hand off, and manages a smile that almost splits his face in half. “You like me,” he hums. “Youlikeme. Lee Hyukjae likes me.”

            Hyukjae covers his face with his hands. “You’re embarrassing me,” he mumbles. Donghae is still smiling dementedly.

            “Heh. Heh. Heh.”

            “If you keep smiling like a mad clown, I’m afraid my answer will be changed.”

            “Okay,” Donghae says and widens his eyes dramatically while stretching his mouth down. Since it still wants to twitch up, he looks even scarier with an expression that can’t decide to be happy or sad.

            “Never mind.”

            Donghae’s smile pops back up. He starts bouncing on the tips of his toes. “I’ll go fetch Henry now. He’s probably in the audience trying to find Amber.”

            Hyukjae is nodding along as Donghae turns on his heels and skips (skips) away. And then his jaw drops in realization.

            “Wait! You haven’t told me if you like me or not!”

            Donghae inwardly chuckles as Hyukjae nags behind him. Let him worry for a bit. Then he’ll tell him.

Wow. I apologize for the long wait (for those of you who were waiting). Proceed onto the next (very short) chapter <3