Stay This Way

Author's Note: Credits to the movies "Meet Joe Black" and "Say Anything" for the cheesy lines which prompted me to write the fic. and also to Jewel who sang "This Way" from where the title was sort of derived.

i love you beta Roanne~

Donghae awoke to a cold and empty feeling in his arms. Automatically, as if he had been doing so for a long time, he felt for the space near his bed only to be met with nothingness. No warm body of his wife, Hyukjae. However, hearing the sound of shower in the bathroom, he grinned idiotically, like a love-struck young pup.

"Well, blame it all on love," was his thought before he turned to lie on the space where his wife slept the night before to bury himself in the pillows filled with Hyukjae's own strawberry scent. After a few moments, he fell back to a restful sleep.

An hour later, he awoke to still no Hyukjae beside him on the bed. He was about to call his wife's name when he caught sight of their balcony door open. The balcony led to their rooftop garden where his wife insisted to keep a small greenhouse for his strawberry plants.

No matter how ridiculous the idea may seem, he agreed to Hyukjae's wishes. I mean, what can he do right? His only reply was "Blame it all on love."

He slowly made his way towards the rooftop only to be met with an adorable sight.

Hyukjae had spread a soft mat on their balcony floor and there he lay flat on his back, eyes closed and all the while hugging a clown fish plushie aptly named Nemo, given to him by Donghae on their last anniversary together.

Looking at his wife with all the love in his eyes, Donghae can't help but feel like he's falling in love all over again. The soft sunlight shining on Hyukjae further accentuated his wife's creamy complexion along with emphasizing the soft brown strands that haphazardly fell over his wife's forehead.

He bit back a laugh as he saw Hyukjae's nose crinkled in protest when he felt two digging sensations on his back. Their two dogs, Choco and Bada, were already awake. And apparently hungry for breakfast, basing on the way they kept digging onto Hyukjae's back.

Chuckling, he made his way towards where Hyukjae was, then sat down beside the sleeping figure of his wife. He softly touched his wife's face, with a overflowing with emotions from his heart. He sighed in defeat, before standing up and making his way down to the kitchen. He'll treat his wife to breakfast so as to let him sleep a bit longer. "He may still be tired after everything we did last night," he thought with a smirk.

~??~??~??~

Hyukjae awoke to sunlight hitting on his face. He looked around dazedly trying to think where he was at the moment. Realization came when he recognized their house's rooftop.

"Oh, I fell asleep. Is Hae awake already?" he thought to himself before going down to their shared bedroom. Seeing it empty, he decided to go downstairs to check his husband's whereabouts. He was greeted with the delicious smell of bacon and eggs- the only things his husband can cook without burning the entire kitchen.

Thinking to surprise his husband, he tiptoed his way towards their kitchen. Seeing his husband's back was to him, he walked softly before giving his husband a back hug.

"Hae! Why didn't you wake me up? We could've cooked breakfast together!" he whined with a pout, still clinging to his husband's back.

Donghae chuckled. "I'm sorry baby, but you looked so peaceful when you were asleep I just couldn't bring myself to wake you up. Besides, I knew you were tired from last night," he added teasingly.

Hyukjae blushed a bright red before his eyes looked towards the frying pan and seeing that his husband has already finished cooking, he leaned down to bite on Donghae's back.

"Ouch! Hyukkie! Why'd you do that? That hurt!" Donghae complained, running a hand towards his sore back.

"Yah! You want to lose your wife after being married for one day?" Hyukjae tried to show that he was irritated to cover up the blush marring his features.

That's right. Hyukjae and Donghae were married just over 24 hours ago. After almost 5 years of being in a relationship, they finally decided to get married, much to the delight of their family and friends who were on the verge of giving up on them settling down.

Donghae can't help but gush over his wife's cuteness. He has the biggest wife-complex if ever there was one.

"Hyukkie~ don't me mad. I was only worried about you!" he tried to convince his wife, complete with the puppy eyes and an adorable pout.

Hyukjae looked at his husband. He doesn't know if he should be happy or be irritated with his husband. I mean, how can a kicked puppy look still be effective when used by a 24-year-old man?

Choosing the former, he pinched his husband's cheeks. "Yah, yah, stop it with the puppy dog look. You look like a fish."

Donghae was about to reply when suddenly the phone rang.

"Hyukkie, can you please set-up the table? I'll get the phone."

Hyukjae only nodded, then proceeded to do what his husband said. About 5 minutes later, his husband returned.

"Who was that?" Hyukjae asked.

"Oh, that was mom."

"My mom, or yours?"

"Both of them, actually. They're at my parent's house right now. They said to go there tonight for a sort of Valentine family dinner."

Hyukjae sighed, "You know, everytime our mom's get together, I feel goosebumps. I can't seem to shake off the feeling that they are up to no good."

Donghae laughed. "You keep remembering that time when they locked both of us up in the shared bathroom, didn't you?"

~??~??~??~

8 years ago...

"Eomma! Why do you keep insisting that I see Aunt Heechul's son? It's not like I'd die if I don't see him!" 16 year-old Lee Hyukjae kept complaining to his mom.

"Watch that mouth of yours, Lee Hyukjae before I tell your appa on you!"

"B-but Mom--"

"No buts, and that's final," Leeteuk added firmly. "Now get going to your room and change. I don't want your Aunt Heechul to wait for us because we're late!"

On the other hand...

"Mom! Can I not go?" Donghae whined to his mom. "I still have the scars from the last time I saw Hyukjae. I shudder to think anything worse might happen to me if we see each other again tonight."

Heechul tried to curb her irritation towards his oldest son. "Donghae, we've been over this countless times. Do not make me repeat myself. Now go up and change, or we'll be late!"

"Arrogant witch..." Donghae kept mumbling to himself as he was making his way towards his room.

"Yah! You brat! I heard that! I'm still your mother, you know!"

It was February 14, and it was family tradition for both Heechul and Leeteuk's family to spend it together in some sort of dinner because both mothers had been best friends for as long as they can remember. Lucky for them their children all seem to like each other too, except two of their kids who are always bickering nonstop whenever they see each other.

The dinner that night finished later than usual and as a rare treat the parents decided they will stay the night at the hotel where they had the dinner.

Unbeknownst to them, especially Donghae and Hyukjae, their mothers have cooked up a plan to get them together, and to cut the long story short, they found themselves locked up in a shared bathroom situated between their respective bedrooms.

~??~??~??~

"I sometimes wonder how our parents can be so creative," Donghae can only shake his head at the memories.

Hyukjae snorted. "Creative? I don't think so," he said as he was settling down on the table to eat.

Donghae can only laugh. He went to where his wife was sitting then touched their noses together in what can only be called an affectionate gesture. "C'mon, let's start eating before my bacon and eggs get cold."

~??~??~??~

Dinner that night was only a private affair between the two families, and what started as a simple family affair turned to be a contest of some sort between the couples present. Well, how can the children refuse their parents?

Hyukjae's older brother, Sungmin, also brought his boyfriend, Kyuhyun. The two were always the center of attention when it comes to teases because Sungmin wasn't getting any younger and yet he doesn't seem to have any plans of getting hitched anytime soon. Kyuhyun has already expressed his wishes for them to get married already. The two have been engaged far longer than Hyukjae and Donghae but they still haven't tied the knot. The situation looks so disconcerting that even Leeteuk, the overprotective mother hen, felt sorry for Kyuhyun.

But still, "Neh, Kyu, much as I want you to marry my son already, I don't want the both of you sleeping together, do I make myself clear?"

"Teukie-umma, before you worry about that, I would have to worry about getting Minni alone first. And you know I can't get a 1 meter radius near him without you and Kangin-appa breathing down my neck," the cheeky Kyuhyun replied causing the occupants of the table to burst out in laughter.

"And you Donghae," it was Heechul's turn to lecture his son. "Don't spend all of your time buried under endless work just after you got married, 'kay? Be more like your Hangeng-appa here," then looked to his right where his husband sat, holding his hand under the table.

At that, Donghae replied. " No worries umma. What I really want to do with my life — what I want to do for a living — is that want to be with your son-in-law, because I’m perfectly good at it. "

Silence.

Then, Sungmin looked at Donghae before saying, "OMG. That was cheesy~" and the table erupted into another round of teases, this time directed at the newly-married couple.

Hyukjae, red-faced, kicked his husband's foot under the table. "See what you've done?" he hissed to his husband. "Now they'll never let this rest till morning."

Donghae's only reply was another one of his cheesy lines that may make others' skin crawl but only served to warm Hyukjae's heart and made him feel tingly all over.

"Take love, multiply it by infinity and take it to the depths of forever.. and you still have only a glimpse of how I feel for you."

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