On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: Seven Swans-a-Swimming

Six Geese-a-Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

“Wake Up Ni shi da yi shu jia

Ni zhen xin chuang zuo de ai wu jia

Wake Up Bie zai zuo ci shan jia

Ni qi shi mei you na me ai ta~”**

Hyukjae sang along with the music streaming from the CD player and filling his car, his head bopping and hair flopping as he wished he could be dancing in a practice room again. The crackle of the speakers added character in his opinion. Besides, it's not like they really made it any more difficult than it already was for Hyukjae to understand what the lyrics were. The song was a by a Chinese artist that Han Geng had introduced him to, and this particular track was addicting. 

Halfway through the second round of the chorus, the noise of the speakers got worse until 10 seconds later the song cut off completely.

"What in the world?" Hyukjae finagled the knobs but his concern quickly changed course when he felt the turn of his steering wheel drag while his tires slid along the ice with no traction. He realized the radio wasn't the only part of the car that was dying. 

Fortunately he wasn't on the highway and safely pulled over onto the side of the street. Unfortunately, it had now started to snow in big globs of crystal white. 

As he stepped out onto the street, duffle bag in tow, and went around to the sidewalk, Hyukjae watched where he walked in case of ice. He didn't bother with locking up the car. If anyone wanted to steal this pile of metal and rubber, then Hyukjae would not really have much to be upset about. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that maybe someone who didn't have a place to sleep could escape the weather by curling up in the back seat until a tow truck got out here.

Another turn of fortune was that Hyukjae had gotten off from work a little earlier today and would have at least two hours to get home before the sun started setting. So for now the sky was a medium shade of grey instead of ink black. He squinted his eyes at the four-way stop down the road as if the name of the street would suddenly change to one much closer to Jungsoo's place. He would practically have to jog in order to make the fourteen mile journey and get to Jungsoo's before nightfall. There was just no way that would happen in these heavy boots and the increasing snowfall. At least half his trip would be lit.

It only took about an hour until the weight of his gym bag started causing Hyukjae’s shoulder to ache. He had shifted it to the opposite side every few blocks. If he had known he would have to carry the thing for this long, he definitely wouldn't have brought that extra stereo to practice today. It didn't help that his fingers were numb and his nose burned from cold.

In the middle of shifting the bag once more, a loud HOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKK sounded to Hyukjae's left and the man dropped his bag as he nearly jumped right out of his skin. He looked over to reach for the sack and could see Donghae chuckling inside the Jaguar. The passenger side's window slowly descended as Hyukjae's scowl grew deeper and Donghae tried to calm himself. "What are you doing out here, crazy?"

With a huff, Hyukjae lugged the bag over closer to the window, careful not to lean up against the shiny exterior. Quite out of nowhere, his grumpy expression flipped into a bright smile. "I'm just, um, catching some exercise." As exhausted as he was, it would have been way too embarrassing for Hyukjae to inform Donghae of what had happened to his car. 

"So," Donghae leaned across the middle of the car and placed the flat of his palm on the empty seat beside him as he spoke, "You thought you would park your car 10 miles from Leeteuk-hyung's house and just carry that giant bag home through a blizzard. What were you planning on doing in the morning? Walking back out to where the car is parked?" 

The smile went from trying to hide his exhaustion to pleading for his dignity. Hyukjae hadn't taken into consideration that Donghae might have noticed the abandoned car a few miles back and actually recognized it. "Okay." He sighed, his shoulders dropping along with his voice. "My car broke down." 

The laugh he expected never came. When he looked back up, he was instead greeted with a frown and a stare that was borderline glare. "Why didn't you call someone, Hyukjae? You know you could have called me."

"I forgot?" Hyukjae rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he blinked a few snow flakes from his eyelashes. It really was stupid to forget something like that, but Hyukjae just never really thought about his phone. That might be why he always had so many missed calls. Besides, it’s not like he did actually ‘know’ that he could call Donghae. They hadn’t even known each other a week. There was no way he would bother Donghae for something like this. Actually, he probably wouldn’t have bothered Jungsoo or Sungmin either.

"Yah, how do you even survive like that?" Donghae sat straight again and fiddled with something on the other side of his seat until the trunk of the car popped up. 

Hyukjae just stared. 

"Come on. If we stay here much longer, you're going to turn into a snowman." Donghae nodded toward the trunk. 

"I really am fine, Donghae. Thank you for offering, but it's not necessary." Hyukjae chirped back through the window before turning to continue his walk down the pavement as if that was the most natural thing to do. Was he even still on the sidewalk? In the past hour that he had been walking, the snow must have risen at least two inches. That ink-black sky was coming quicker than expected as the clouds darkened and the snow showered down.

"Oh no you don't." Donghae popped out right in front of Hyukjae after just a few feet of marching through the snow. His voice was a bit loud. Hyukjae wasn't sure if was due to the wind or just because Donghae was loud sometimes. "Get in the car or I will pick you up and carry you myself."

"Donghae, I'm really--" Hyukjae watched as Donghae pulled the black duffle from Hyukjae’s shoulder and walked it the twenty feet to the trunk, tossing it in and slamming it shut. Donghae’s sweater was already getting sprinkled with snow, and Hyukjae wanted to tell the guy to get back in the car and stop being a dummy out here in the snow with no coat on. Then he realized how ironic that might sound coming from him.

When Hyukjae still wasn't moving but simply standing and watching, Donghae came back and snatched Hyukjae's hand in his own, quite roughly actually, and started dragging the thinner man back toward the car. Hyukjae finally complied and climbed into the passenger seat, making sure all his limbs were inside before Donghae shut the door. He didn’t like being bossed around, but Donghae didn’t seem in the mood for any arguments over this issue.

Donghae cranked up the heat, and Hyukjae held his icy hands in front of the vents as he had done just the other night. The warm air was welcomed once he finally got the feeling back in his fingers. "Thanks," he spoke softly, staring at the dash.

"You're a mess."

The accusation was quite right as Hyukjae had water dripping from his bows due to the snow that had melted against his own body heat. His nose was a dark shade of red along with his cheeks and hands. His teeth were ground together in order to keep from chattering. And for all he knew, Hyukjae probably had snot bubbling out of his nose. It was hard to tell when the facial feature was still so numb. 

“Next time, please just call." 

Hyukjae nodded. He probably wouldn’t call, but he nodded anyways.

As soon as they pulled out onto the road again, the car slid a few feet through ice and they both turned to look at each other with wide eyes. "My place is just a couple miles from here. It's much closer than Leeteuk-hyung's." 

Without any agreement from Hyukjae, Donghae made a left at the traffic light heading in the opposite direction of Jungsoo's. "Hm?" Hyukjae looked at Donghae with questioning eyes. 

"You're coming to my place until the weather improves." Donghae smiled before sliding over another slick spot and narrowly avoiding a curb. Hyukjae wasn't going to argue in this moment. Instead, he opted for staring through the windshield and tried warning Donghae of any visible ice. Meanwhile, Hyukjae fretted over where they were heading toward. This would be the first time he had seen Donghae’s place.

The building was one block away from the hotel that Hyukjae had met Donghae at on that first night. It made sense now that Donghae knew the barista from that little coffee shop so well. It was a building slightly taller than the hotel where Heechul had his party (within walking distance from there as well) but completely covered in glass that reflected like mirrors. Not a single thing could be seen through that glass. Not a single light shone from within. 

They drove down a ramp to an underground parking area that had been well-salted, keeping them from sliding straight down into the garage.

"I'll get it." Donghae announced when he hopped out of the car to run around help Hyukjae out as well. 

"I'm cold, not disabled, Donghae."

On the 54th floor, the two left the elevator only to be greeted by a lobby the size of Hyukjae's entire apartment and furnished better than even Choi Siwon’s office. There was only two doors: one to the stairs and another to which Donghae pressed his thumb and punched in a code. Hyukjae tried not to show his awe. He had been around wealth while with Jungsoo, but the composer was as old fashioned as the Queen of England and didn't bother with all of that tech-jazz. 

"Shower or bath?" Hyukjae's eyes shot up and his face turned white when Donghae asked the odd question as they slipped from their boots. 

"W-what?" It is easy to imagine what went through Hyukjae's mind. 

"Well, the bath in my room is bigger but the shower in the main powder room is better. So which do you want?" Donghae laughed at Hyukjae's shock and let his coat fall in a heap on the floor as he padded across the carpet into the modernly-furnished apartment.

The other man turned a corner, so Hyukjae quickly set down his folded coat and took off his soaked socks (he mentally put better boots to the list of things he needed right under a new kitchen) before hesitantly following after. "Ah," a nervous laugh, "I'll be fine."

Donghae stopped in the middle of a tiled kitchen and emitted a squeak from his heels when they rubbed against the flooring as he turned back. "You need to warm up. There are two ways that can happen: you bathe or--"

"Shower! I prefer shower." Hyukjae interjected. He absolutely knew where Donghae was heading with all that mumbo jumbo and refused to be teased after already being kidnapped by the other. 

With a giggle, Donghae continued what he had entered the kitchen to do and filled some fancy white contraption that Hyukjae assumed was a heater with water before turning it on. He then sauntered past Hyukjae, still chuckling to himself at some joke he must have made in his head and disappeared around another corner. 

Feeling out of place and unsure, Hyukjae remained in the kitchen. He looked down at pale feet against the white and cream tiles and then lifted his toes one by one before laying them back against the surface as in a wave. Then he wandered around the kitchen with eyes and noted how things sat. Things were different here. 

"Alright." Donghae returned from deeper in the apartment. "There's a towel hanging for you, and I laid a change of clothes out as well.

"You really didn't--" Hyukjae protested the provisions in fear that this was too much.

"We could always use the other method." Donghae smiled mischievously and Hyukjae vanished in the direction he had seen Donghae come from. "It's the second door on the left.”

The clothes were too big and hung on Hyukjae in a way that made him appear smaller than usual. He pulled the socks on over his feet and folded up his dirty laundry inside the towel until he could figure something out later. When he tiptoed back out into the living room, he could hear Donghae humming something from the kitchen. A smile crept onto his lips. Here he was, seeing Donghae in Donghae's world. The actor, who less than a week ago seemed so foreign to Hyukjae, was pouring hot water into two mugs and dumping in packets of cider while humming that song from the really popular cartoon about a penguin. Was it a penguin? Regardless, Hyukjae had to cover his mouth to keep his laugh to himself. Donghae was indeed foreign to Hyukjae. He was so different than anyone else, and Hyukjae had no idea what to expect next when in the company of this man. 

His success at keeping his amusement from embarrassing Donghae fell short when Donghae suddenly did a goofy little dance step along with the song. Hyukjae's laugh was half-snort and half-ring. "Bravo!" he clapped along. 

"Yah!" Donghae whipped around with an exaggerated pout and cheeks dusted in pink at being caught. "You can't tell anyone or I'll sue you for defamation." 

"Oh? You want my car and apartment?" The professional dancer laughed even more at the idea of him being sued for anything of value. 

Donghae's pout weakened and he huffed while turning back to grab one mug in each hand. Hyukjae stood up straight and gratefully accepted the treat, eyes shining as they landed on the cinnamon stick inside. "Aigoo, you really don't know how much I love cider."

"I even put extra honey in it." Donghae laughed, knowing that Hyukjae would be pleased, and led the way to sit on a black leather sofa that faced a large wall-mounted flatscreen. Hyukjae made sure to sit far enough away to not seem clingy but close enough to not come off as awkward. Donghae moved closer until they were merely centimeters from each other. With his knees pulled up on the couch into a criss-cross, Hyukjae held the warm mug in both hands and slowly brought the hot liquid to his lips. He stared into the cup and was a bit startled when he lowered it only to see Donghae staring straight at him.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" 

"Sure." Hyukjae looked around the room, avoiding Donghae's stare. Soon the television was brought to life with a crystal clear picture and the surround sound effect of a male narrator. The blue title bar at the bottom of the screen provided by the TV's guide stated the name of the documentary was 'Seven Swans-a-Swimmming' a story of how seven ducklings born in an oil field learned to swim through the help of--. Before Hyukjae could finish reading the description the entire room went dark.

"Agh!" Donghae cursed as he set the remote and his still full mug of cider onto the coffee table in front of him. He went over to the window and pulled back the long shades, and Hyukjae could see how half the city had darkened. The only lights came from in the distance like confetti sprinkled on a blanket of darkness. Those few lights blinked beneath the continued snow showers. 

The flashlights were supposed to be in the kitchen and Donghae nearly bumped into every obstacle possible on the way there. Hyukjae felt bad for laughing at the other man's injuries but it was impossible not to when the grown man was making such goofy noises in reaction. 

"Hyukkieeee~~" Donghae appeared from the kitchen with a flashlight under his chin, illuminating his face in a way that created eerie shadows as he spoke in a ghostly chime. "I heard you laughing at me~~" 

Another fit of giggles from Hyukjae before he stood up to stumble across the dark apartment toward the kitchen. In his defense, he had only been here for a bit and hadn't memorized the furniture placement. “Are there candles anywhere?"

Donghae gave up his attempt at haunting Hyukjae and lowered the flashlight as he started to search around the kitchen through the drawers. "Why? You want to sit in the candle light with me?"

"N-no!" Hyukjae's cheeks warmed at the thought of seeing Donghae by the soft glow of candles. "I just thought that it would be better than only having a flashlight. It just seems better." 

"Well, your wish will be granted, Mr. Lee." The beam of light fell on a small smattering of  assorted candles in a drawer near the stove.  Grabbing as many as possible, he motioned for Hyukjae to get the rest and follow him back to the sofa.

They arranged the three larger candles, two purple and one blue, spread out across the side of the table along the couch. Then they set the smaller tea candles scattered between. There was a whole separate trip taken back to the kitchen to retrieve that matchbook from the drawer the candles were in after the boys realized they had indeed forgotten them.

 "There." Donghae announced as he turned halfway on the couch to face Hyukjae, all fourteen of the candles aglow. "Now we can start the seance." 

Hyukjae laughed of course and shook his head at Donghae's random joke. Before he could respond with a quip, Donghae had shocked the redhead into silence by throwing his legs over Hyukjae's lap. "It really is cozy like this," Donghae cooed. 

"Mm." Hyukjae nodded quietly, everything suddenly seeming completely separate from before, now that they sat like this. Even though Donghae’s legs were heavy as they lay over Hyukjae’s knees, the smaller male didn’t really mind.

"Your hair looks kinda like blood in the dark, Hyukkie." Donghae was blabbing as if the darkness suddenly gave him the need to hear his own voice utter all sorts of silly things people never say in the light when he suddenly came upon this spoken realization.

Hyukjae laughed and his shoulders shook as well. He turned his head to look at Donghae's face, a smile upon his own. The way the light only hit one side and with such a muted, yellow cast, Hyukjae truly felt that Donghae was too handsome to be real. "That's because I'm a vampire," he joked. 

"Are you going to me?" Donghae was teasing again. Hyukjae could tell by the lilt in the question and how Donghae leaned slightly closer as if they were in a room with a hundred people, such a question being nothing for others to hear. Hyukjae turned away to stare at the flicker of the flames on the table, swallowing in humiliation.

When Hyukjae was silent, Donghae's voice quietened even more but all teasing had vanished. "Why are you so afraid of me, Hyukjae?"

“W-wha? What?" Hyukjae turned back toward Donghae. He swallowed again just to make sure his mouth hadn't really turned into the dry chasm it felt when he heard that question so clearly. 

"You act like I'm someone who you are afraid of even though we really have gotten to know each other quite well over the past few days." Hyukjae couldn't tell if Donghae was hurt or just trying to pull something out, a secret that Hyukjae didn’t want to reveal. 

"That's not how it is." Hyukjae's eyes fell on Donghae's knees near his thigh as he mumbled but Donghae tilted his head down in a way that made Hyukjae look back up and into the shadowy brown puddles. "I just, am always careful because...” 

It was an impossibility to continue. Donghae had moved too close and Hyukjae could feel the other's breath against his own lips. A hand, most likely Donghae's, was on Hyukjae's neck with fingers ruffling into the fringe of his hair. He wanted to lean into that hand. He wanted to close his eyes. Instead, Hyukjae lowered his lids along with his gaze and caught site of the orangey-red of Donghae's lips. 

"You don't have to be careful around me, Hyukkie." Everything was full of breath as Donghae whispered against Hyukjae's nervous exhales. 

Then nothing was breaths and everything was fire as those orangey-red lips brushed against Hyukjae's. 

~BONAMANA BONAMANA~

The trill of a ringtone from the kitchen counter sent both men flying backward in opposite directions. Hyukjae burst into flames and had to convince himself not to cry. Crying right now would really make him seem insane. It was just so much of everything that he had no idea what wouldn't make him seem insane yet pull him above water at the same time. 

Donghae scurried off toward his phone. 

"Hello?--Mm.--Yes, Hyung, I'm fine.--Oh yeah. He's with me.--Long story." Donghae laughed and Hyukjae eavesdropped when he realized the conversation was partly about him. "I'm not surprised. He never checks his phone apparently.--Of course--I'll tell him to call.--Eh?" Donghae appeared from the shadows into the glow cast by the candles and extended his hand with the phone toward Hyukjae. 

Arching a single brow, Hyukjae took the phone. "Hello?"

"LEE HYUKJAE IF YOU EVER PULL ANOTHER STUNT LIKE THIS AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY COME SHOVE THAT PHONE INTO YOUR EAR CANAL, DO YOU HEAR ME???!!!??!” The whole of Asia probably heard Jungsoo. 

"Hyung?" Hyukjae blinked and held the phone a few inches from his ear as the man on the other line continued his rant, completely taken off guard by this. 

"I've called you all afternoon, Hyukjae. It's nearly 7 PM and you were supposed to get off from work around 4 o'clock today. Do you know how worried Sungmin and I were?" Jungsoo had finally calmed down, but now Hyukjae could hear the tension in his hyung’s voice. He could hear just how worried the two really had been.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Hyung." He truly did feel sorry. Without even checking his phone, Hyukjae knew there would probably a billion missed calls and even more text messages.

"That's alright. Just let Donghae know we are coming over." 

“What? We?" The call was disconnected already. 

It turns out that the snowstorm had come mid-booty-call and Jungsoo had ended up trapped over at Heechul's. The two trudged through the blizzard toward Donghae's building once Heechul remembered that an emergency generator would keep Donghae's heat running. "ing can only keep two people warm for so long,” Heechul had cackled. 

The four of them sat around the dimly lit living room for quite a while and chatted noisily. Hyukjae was a bit dumbstruck when he found out that Sungmin was stuck at Jungsoo's place. Sungmin was probably the luckiest because Jungsoo had enough generators to not only heat his house but light it up like a Christmas tree even if all of South Korea lost power. And Sungmin wasn't stuck there alone either. This was the surprising  part.

When Heechul wanted to light up a cigarette, Donghae sent him outside to the balcony. He refused to allow it inside the apartment no matter how deathly cold it was outdoors. That was how Hyukjae found out about Donghae's asthma. The dancer realized you can find a lot out about a person in the dark.

It was only when the tea candles had started blipping out as flame drowned in melted wax and everyone announced that they were too lazy to venture down to the lobby to ask for more that sleeping arrangements were made. Donghae gave the spare bedroom to Heechul and Jungsoo, whispering to Hyukjae that the walls were practically soundproof. 

"I can just sleep on the couch." Hyukjae volunteered when the two eldest ran off to the guest room together. 

"Why?" Donghae stretched his arms over his head as he yawned and Hyukjae thought of the last time he saw this, that little strip of tummy. "My bed is plenty big enough for both of us. I'm not one of those idiots who thinks my manhood will be challenged by sleeping in the same bed as another guy."

"Ah," Hyukjae stood up as well and covered a yawn with the back of his hand. "I'm just a rough sleeper. It's really okay for me to sleep out here." 

"I like it rough." Donghae winked before he laughed. "Seriously though, there is no need for you to sleep out here. Besides, you never know how soundproof those walls really are." Donghae nodded toward the door of the guest bedroom. "Heechul-hyung can get really loud and from what he's told me, Leeteuk-hyung has already taken a special liking to making him scream."

Hyukjae made face as if he would wretch any moment. "Ugh, please stop." 

He looked down when Donghae took his hand. "Just come on already."  He reached to grab one of the larger candles before pulling Hyukjae along to his bedroom.

As far as Hyukjae knew, Donghae was aware of the fact that Hyukjae was gay. He had made sure of that with his outburst on that first night at Heechul's party. Donghae had remembered that night as he so blatantly announced after dinner just two nights ago. This was just too strange though. Why wasn't Donghae afraid of what Hyukjae would do?

"I'll even sleep with my sweat pants and t-shirt on if that makes you feel better." Donghae joked as he led Hyukjae into his bedroom. 

The room was probably three times bigger than Hyukjae's own room. It was even larger than the room Hyukjae stayed in at Jungsoo's. The bed was king size and covered with a cream colored comforter decorated in thick blue threads that ran vertically at varying intervals. Throughout the whole apartment, Hyukjae had smelled the faint aroma of a kind of wood and something else, a scent he had learned to associate with Donghae. It was in the royal blue Jaguar and in Donghae's shoulder last night when Hyukjae cried against him. In the bedroom, it was stronger than ever. Hyukjae inhaled it. 

"It's my dad's cologne mixed with the wood smell." Donghae pointed to the thick bed frame of redwood. "I have no idea why the wood still smells so strongly after six months, but I kinda like it."

"I really like it," Hyukjae said aloud to himself. 

"You can sit, you know?" Donghae continued to meddle around the room but was pointing to the bed. 

Hyukjae softly and slowly made his way to the edge, sitting down cautiously with only one knee on the comforter, the other leg hanging to the floor.

"Aren't you going to lay down and get under the comforters or do you always sleep sitting up?" The brunette teased again as he pulled down the covers on the other side and settled into the bed, causing the surface to bounce a bit as he got comfortable. He laid on his side, propped up on his arm in a triangle, facing Hyukjae's profile. 

The thin man felt his pulse start to race as he clambered up the bed to get under the covers, as close to the edge of the bed and far from Donghae as he could manage, and laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling. 

"Oomph!" A strong arm wrapped around his torso in a flash and yanked him across the bed. His back slammed against what he assumed to be Donghae's chest, and Hyukjae lost the ability to function. 

"It will be warmer if you stay over here with me." Then two arms were around Hyukjae's middle and Donghae had cuddled the lanky redhead like a toddler with a teddy bear. 

~~

**The song that Hyukjae was singing in the car is The Great Artist by Jolin Tsai. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWx-vtCSg0w