“You see, you big, old tree, you,” Eunhyuk awkwardly patted the bulky trunk of the tree, in an attempt to be affectionate. “I have a problem.”

Despite all the hours he spent tossing and turning (Donghae had to smack his knee to make him stay still), Eunhyuk woke up quite early the next morning. In fact, he was the first one up; when he peeked outside, no one was in sight. After he managed to wiggle out of Donghae’s bear hug in his sleep, he went out, stared up at the cloudy sky and faced the inevitable: something was seriously bothering him.

Eunhyuk needed a confidante; someone to sit and listen while he poured his girlish heart out. But all the names on the top of his head had to be crossed out. Sungmin, of course, was his first choice, but the self-proclaimed diva was nowhere to be seen. Normally, he’d go look for him like the good friend he was, but at the moment, he just wasn’t feeling up to it. Besides, he figured Sungmin probably couldn’t have gone very far because his make-up kit was still in their tent, which meant he wasn’t planning on fleeing camp anytime soon (though he wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he was; Eunhyuk was amazed that Sungmin had managed to survive the outdoors for so long).

The next one on his list was Heechul. Heechul has made it perfectly clear that he liked Eunhyuk, and that he’ll always be there in case he needed any help romancing Donghae (thought it was quite clear that he was doing fine on his own), but Eunhyuk wasn’t sure if Heechul liked him enough to put up with his crap. Eunhyuk has heard some pretty vicious rumors about him, so he didn’t want to sit around and wait to find out.

Siwon has been nothing but nice to Eunhyuk since the first day of camp, so Eunhyuk thought he was the best candidate by far. But the thing was, his whole problem pretty much revolved around Donghae, and it dawned on him that Donghae was still in the closet, and he couldn’t expose his newly-realized ual orientation to Donghae’s best friend just like that. So Siwon was out of the question as well.

Eunhyuk immediately dismissed the idea of confiding in Kyuhyun. The two had barely exchanged any words to each other since camp started; in fact, the only memory Eunhyuk had of Kyuhyun talking to him was in the school hallway when Eunhyuk accidentally bumped his shoulder and Kyuhyun hissed at him to watch where he was going and cussed him out. Eunhyuk didn’t even want to imagine what he’d do to him if he interrupted his sleep to let him know that he was in the middle of an emotional meltdown.

Lastly, Eunhyuk couldn’t talk to Donghae, because Donghae was the problem. In short, Eunhyuk was fresh out of choices.

If he didn’t get some things out of his chest soon, Eunhyuk knew he was going to lose it. That’s when he realized the squiggly lines along the tree trunk just beside his and Sungmin’s tent kind of looked like a face; a smiling face, at that. Eunhyuk told himself he had sunken to a new low, but since no one was watching, he decided talking to inanimate objects wouldn’t do him any harm (hopefully).

“I’ve liked Lee Donghae ever since he let me cut in line at the cafeteria last year. I gazed into his chocolate brown puppy eyes, I heard birds chirping a romantic tune, he smiled at me, I nearly melted into a puddle of lovesick vomit, and then—well, his girlfriend came and the singing birds in my head were shot to death, and no, I am not crazy. It was just my mind’s sick way of shattering my hopes and dreams of marrying the most handsome boy in school…after Siwon, anyway.” Eunhyuk tended to ramble when he was anxious. “Oh, who am I kidding? I’m talking to a tree, of course I’m crazy.”

Eunhyuk decided to let his sanity slip for the next few minutes. He needed a break from sanity anyway. “Well, last night, we made out…a lot. He even told me that he liked me and I believed him—until a voice in my head told me that he just said it so he could make out with me. I don’t know if he was telling the truth; I mean, he did literally throw me aside when Siwon showed up. He hasn’t even broken up with his girlfriend, and I don’t think he’s going to anytime soon.”

After in a deep breath, Eunhyuk realized that his one-man conversation with the tree was actually making him feel better. “So, I guess I’m just worried that…he’s just using me. You know, until camp is over and he can go back to being straight with that damn girlfriend of his. For all I know, he could just be really ually frustrated right now and he’s taking it out on me. I mean, why else would he be so interested in me all of a sudden? Prior to camp, we’ve never talked to each other, not even once, and then out of nowhere, we’re making out and dry-humping in the tent! Oops, was that too much information? Never mind, don’t answer that.” He chuckled, and he could’ve sworn the smiling face on the tree smirked a little. “Long story short, I guess I’m just afraid I’m gonna get hurt. And don’t you think we’re moving a little too fast? I like kissing him and all, but I’m not even sure if we’re dating or not. Plus, we’ve barely even been here for a week; sometimes I feel like I’m just dreaming everything…”

“Who are you talking to?” Heechul’s curious voice made him jump.

Eunhyuk turned around to face him, holding his heaving chest. “God, you scared the living crap out of me.”

“Were you just talking to that tree?” Heechul inquired, a small smile of amusement across his pink lips. “Do you talk to inanimate objects often?”

“Um, no, this is my first time.” Eunhyuk’s face was as red as Sungmin’s favorite shade of lipstick. “I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this just between us.”

“I don’t know, Hyukkie. I don’t trust this tree,” he lightly patted the trunk to humor mostly himself. “He could be a blabbermouth.”

“Just so you know, I’m not crazy. Not crazy at all.”

“You told a tree that you’ve been dry-humping Donghae and you expect me to believe that you’re mentally sound?”

Eunhyuk turned even redder, “I didn’t realize you heard that.”

He chuckled and picked up the flustered boy’s chin. “Don’t worry, kid. I won’t tell anyone. I have to warn you though, all the other trees around here may have been eavesdropping on your little conversation.”

“Are you ever going to let me live this down?” he asked, feeling beyond embarrassed.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t decided yet.” Heechul loosely put his arm around the younger boy and whispered some reassuring words in his ear. “But, don’t worry, if Donghae ever hurts you, I’m gonna make sure he gets what he deserves.”

Eunhyuk sighed and unconsciously put his head on Heechul’s shoulder. “What do you think, Chullie?”

“Hm?” Heechul was slightly taken back when he heard ‘Chullie’ come from Eunhyuk’s mouth; it sounded nice in a way, but it sounded so strange at the same time. Even Sungmin doesn’t call him ‘Chullie’. “About what?”

“Do you think Donghae’s just using me?”

“Um, Hyuk, you do know that Donghae’s the only student who failed art class, right? I only gave him a passing mark because his parents paid me to.”

Eunhyuk blinked at him, feeling slightly annoyed that his (that’s right, his) Donghae’s intelligence was being insulted yet again. “Okay, so he’s not the brightest bulb in the…the…”

“Bulb box?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “What’s your point?”

“I’m just saying,” he started. “Donghae’s just not smart enough to use a person. First of all, he can’t lie—when he failed to submit an art project, he told me Nemo ate it. Second, he’s too innocent; he’d never hurt anyone on purpose. Whenever he as much as tackles someone during a football game, he apologizes. In the middle of the freaking game! And lastly, I’m pretty sure he’s always been gay.”

“Really?” Eunhyuk’s eyes lit up. “Why would you say that?”

“You remember when I brought in that female model to pose for your guys’ canvas painting exam?” He smirked slightly. “Donghae refused to look, so he turned his canvas around and ended up painting a picture of the wall.”

“He could’ve just been shy…”

“Honey, I’m gonna let you in a juicy piece of information I heard in the girls’ locker room—“

“Wait, what were you doing in the girls’ locker room?”

“I used to sleep with the coach. His office was there.”

“Coach Hankyung is gay?”

He scoffed, “That’s a big understatement, hon. But evidently, he thought his wife was more important than me, so whatever.”

“Didn’t his wife just have twins?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Yeah…” Heechul paused as he thought of something to say in his defense. “Though I’m fairly certain he’s only the father of one of those twins. The other baby looks suspiciously like the school janitor…”

Eunhyuk gasped. “You mean Youngwoon hyung?”

“That’s right,” he nodded. “Though come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I once saw him fooling around with Jungsoo after school hours…”

“Jungsoo? Wait, you mean Leeteuk, the vice principal?” Eunhyuk gaped. “I had no idea there was so much going on at school. I always knew you were gay, but I never knew about the other—wait a minute, exactly how did this turn into a gossip fest?”

“I believe you asked about my affair with the coach.”

“Which brings us back to our original topic—I think you were saying that you heard something in the girls’ locker room?”

“Oh, that’s right.” Heechul agreed. “You see, my dear, Eunhyukkie, from what I’ve heard from Jessica herself, she and Donghae haven’t had yet.”

“So…?”

Heechul sighed as he literally smacked some sense in Eunhyuk’s pretty head. “Don’t you get it? Donghae doesn’t want to have with her because he’s gay.”

“Ohhhh.” Eunhyuk suddenly felt like doing a little dance of joy. “But…how can we know for sure?”

“Well, you know how you and Sungmin always prance around in the halls holding each other’s hands and being gay and stuff?”

“…Yeah?”

“Well, I’m normally very observant, and I just happened to notice that there was this unmistakable look on Donghae’s face every time he looked at you two.”

“What was it?”

Heechul smirked and patted the redhead’s back, “Jealousy, my dear. Jealousy.”

“Why would he say that, Nemo?” Donghae sighed as he patted his fish plush toy’s head. “I’m not using him. I would never use him. I’m not even sure I know how to use someone.”

“But it’s funny, isn’t it?” Donghae smiled at the stuffed toy. “I never knew Eunhyuk started liking me on the exact same moment I started liking him. Maybe I should’ve told him that…I mean, I have been dropping hints all school year, but apparently, I’m not very good at dropping hints.”

The teenager tilted his head to the side, “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Nemo. So what if he talks to trees? I think it was cute. And if he’s comfortable with it, then so am I. And, come on, he described my eyes as chocolate brown puppy ones; you gotta at least give him some points for that.”

Another sigh escaped his lips. “Why is he so afraid I’m gonna hurt him? I’d never hurt him. Not in a million years. Not in a billion years. Not even if I’m dead. All I wanna do is protect him, and wrap my arms around him and kiss his pretty forehead. That doesn’t make me creepy, does it?”

Donghae lay down and hugged Eunhyuk’s pillow close to him, as he could still smell the warm, familiar scent of Eunhyuk on it. He picked up Nemo once again and pouted, “The only reason I haven’t broken up with Jessica yet is because there’s no cell phone reception here…”

“Where have you been?” Eunhyuk demanded like an angry girlfriend. “I was looking for you this morning; I really needed to talk to you!”

Sungmin simply blinked in response, “Well, I’m here now. What’s up, hon?”

“Well, it’s too late now.” He said. “You weren’t there when I needed you most, and I ended up unburdening my heart to someone else.”

“Who? And since when did you become the drama queen here?” he asked, looking at his worked up friend strangely. “That’s usually my job.”

“As it turns out, Chullie is apparently a very good listener.” He said smugly, as if he was rubbing it in Sungmin’s face. “And unlike you, he doesn’t judge me.”

“Yes, I do.” Heechul interjected from behind them. “But I actually like you, Hyukkie, so I’m keeping my mouth shut…for now, at least.”

“You call each other ‘Chullie’ and ‘Hyukkie’ now?” Sungmin glared at Heechul, the green-eyed monster slowly creeping inside him. “I don’t even call you ‘Chullie’ and who ever gave you permission to call my best friend ‘Hyukkie’—” he paused when he recognized the familiarity in the way Heechul’s hair was styled today. “Who did your pigtails?”

“Hyukkie did.” Heechul answered proudly as he put his arm around Eunhyuk’s shoulders.

“You what? You used to put my hair in pigtails.” Sungmin sulked.

“Well, Heechul’s hair is a little longer than yours and it was easier to work on.” He said defensively. “And—oh my God,” Eunhyuk grabbed Heechul’s hand and took a close look at his fingernails. “Please tell me this isn’t the nail polish I gave you for your birthday.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t personally do his nails…though I did give him a little manicure…”

“You used to give me manicures.”

“You hated them!”

“Yeah, but still!”

“Oh my God, are you guys actually fighting over me?” Heechul couldn’t help but smirk as he sat down on a large rock behind him. “Well, don’t let me stop you; this is actually quite entertaining.”

“Look, I only gave him the nail polish to get him to be best friends with me—”

“To be what?” Eunhyuk’s expression darkened.

Sungmin realized what had slipped out of his mouth, making his eyes grow wide. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything!”

Heechul snickered to himself, “This is getting good.”

“You’re best friends with him now?” Eunhyuk felt like he was about to cry. “I thought I was your best friend.”

“A person can have two best friends, you know?” He pursed his chapped lips together. “I just didn’t want to be alone, okay? Since things with you and Donghae are going along so well, I figured you wouldn’t have time for me anymore…”

“Minnie, you know I always put friends before boyfriends.”

“No, Hyukjae, you don’t.”

“Okay, I don’t,” he shrugged. “But you’re an exception, Minnie.”

Sungmin, touched by his words, let out a big ‘awww’ and extended his arms for a hug. “Come here, you.”

As the two locked in a sweet but sappy embrace, Heechul groaned. “That’s it? No yelling? No clawing? No fight? Come on, at least give the audience what they want.”

After they kissed and made up (not literally, though), Donghae came out from Eunhyuk and Sungmin’s tent and casually made his way past the trio, without as much as a single word.

“Um, Hae?” Eunhyuk couldn’t help but feel alarmed at Donghae’s icy demeanor.

Donghae turned to him, a big frown on his face, “What?”

“Uh, just wanted to say good morning.” He scratched his head awkwardly. “Where are you going?”

“To the showers.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

And just like that, Donghae left, leaving Eunhyuk open-mouthed. Just last night, he and Donghae agreed that they would always go to the showers together, because that way, they’d get more alone time. Donghae was the one who suggested it, but at the moment, it appeared he had changed his mind. Slowly, he turned to Sungmin and Heechul without a waver in his flabbergasted expression, “I think he’s mad at me.”

Kyuhyun and Donghae’s tent still reeked of alcohol, thanks to the number of bottles Kyuhyun had brought out the previous night. Sungmin grimaced as he entered, but his frown turned into a smile when his eyes landed on Kyuhyun’s sleeping figure.

Deciding to take a chance, Sungmin promptly knelt down beside him and lightly kissed his forehead; just light enough for him to feel, but not enough to wake him up. Afterwards, he smiled triumphantly and decided to take another chance and go for his lips. After suppressing all his girlish giggles, Sungmin carefully pressed his lips against Kyuhyun’s unresponsive ones; well, at least they were unresponsive. Just as Sungmin was about to pull away, he felt him start to kiss back. It wasn’t the first time he had felt Kyuhyun’s lips on his, but it felt just as great as it did when he first did (and at least he didn’t taste like soju this time…not as much, anyway).

Soon, Kyuhyun’s brain probably kicked in and informed him that his lips were quite preoccupied at the moment, so his eyelids slowly fluttered open until he was able to see Sungmin hovering over him. He grunted to let Sungmin know he was awake, and when Sungmin finally realized he was conscious, he broke the kiss.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kyuhyun growled.

“Do you know what just happened?” Sungmin asked eagerly.

“You were my lips?” The taller boy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a scowl on his face.

“Technically, it wasn’t because you kissed back,” he pointed out. “What really happened was that I just woke you up with true love’s kiss.”

“I got news for you, buddy,” Kyuhyun snorted. “This isn’t a fairytale. And you’re not my true love.”

“That’s what you think,” he smirked. “That’s not what Seohyun thinks though.”

His eyes widened, “You talked to Seohyun?”

“Mm-hmm,” Sungmin crooned as he showed Kyuhyun his phone, which had been in Sungmin’s hands this whole time. “I never knew she was so nice; I guess I shouldn’t stereotype cheerleaders after all…”

“What the hell did you say to her?” He asked angrily as he snatched his phone back, only to see that he had no bars. “You’re bluffing, aren’t you? There’s not even any signal around here.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, honey,” Sungmin smiled cheekily. “All morning, all I’ve done was walk around this stupid forest and climb a kajillion trees just to find a signal. Turns out I didn’t have to do any of those, since there was reception by the showers; go figure.”

“You can actually climb trees?” Kyuhyun, surprised, lifted one eyebrow. “Did they teach you that in gay school?”

“You should know; you went there too, didn’t you?” He teased. “And hey, I can do manly stuff too, like climbing trees. Have you ever tried climbing one in high heels?”

Kyuhyun was expressionless. “You just made climbing trees that less manly.”

“When I told Seohyun about it, she seemed pretty impressed.” Sungmin revealed.

“Why the hell were you even talking to Seohyun in the first place?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Simple. I figured you had to drop the bomb on her sooner or later, so I did you a favor.” He smirked. “You can now add Seohyun to your list of ex-girlfriends.”

Kyuhyun turned red in anger, “You broke up with Seohyun for me? Are you out of your damn mind?”

“Don’t worry; she took it pretty well actually.” He said. “She said she was happy for us and wished us good luck.”

“Us? What us? There is no us!” He retorted.

“Oh, dear Kyuhyunnie, yes, there is.” Sungmin insisted. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have kissed me last night.”

“I didn’t kiss you, and even if I did, it’s because you got me drunk!”

“I think you got yourself drunk with all that soju.” He refuted. “And how could you say you didn’t kiss me? You so did!”

“Listen here, you little prick, this is the last time I’m gonna tell you that I am not gay.” He stated. “Stop forcing yourself on me; it’ll never happen.”

“Last night, your lips begged to differ.” Sungmin was adamant. “I don’t care if you remember or not, but I’m telling you, honey, we kissed.”

As Kyuhyun belted all his frustration out on a pillow, Sungmin left his tent chuckling, satisfied at the state Kyuhyun was currently in. But what he didn’t realize was that Kyuhyun wasn’t beating up a pillow because of Sungmin’s incessant persisting he was gay, but rather because, he did remember kissing Sungmin last night.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses?” Donghae asked as he sat next to his two best friends.

Kyuhyun grumbled at him, “Because the sun is hurting my eyes.”

“Because he’s hungover,” Siwon informed his naïve friend. “Kyuhyun, do you realize that you’re probably the only person who’s ever gotten drunk at camp?”

“I highly doubt that,” Kyuhyun frowned. “Lots of people bring alcohol to camp, you know.”

“Kyu, if you want, I can make you some hangover soup.” Donghae offered. “My brother said I make the best kind.”

“Fine, but this time, don’t let that damn princess get his hands on it.” He snarled. “He’s wreaked enough havoc, thank you.”

“Yah, don’t talk about Hyukkie that way.” Without even thinking, Donghae had protested while pouting.

“I wasn’t talking about him,” Kyuhyun stared at him as if he were crazy. “And ‘Hyukkie’? What the hell?”

As Donghae panicked to come up with an answer that didn’t involve him telling either of them that he had been fooling around with Eunhyuk, Siwon decided to speak on his behalf. “Don’t be mean, Kyu. Hae and Eunhyuk have gotten really close lately and I think you should do the same with Sungmin.”

“That’s like asking a fish not to swim—”

“You don’t want me to swim anymore?” Donghae asked with wide, innocent eyes.

Kyuhyun glared at him before turning back to Siwon, “It’ll never happen, Won. The chances of that happening are the same as the chances of you sleeping with Heechul.”

Siwon blushed, “Well, technically, we are sleeping together in the literal sense…”

“Let’s hope it stays that way.” Kyuhyun watched as Donghae tried to start a fire, and in the process, somehow ended up burning his finger. It reminded him why he and Siwon agreed that they should never let Donghae deal with fire, knives and acid—they had to learn the last one the hard way.

“Donghae, get away from there before you set yourself on fire.” Siwon pulled him away and told him to stay put next to Kyuhyun. “I’ll take care of the fire, and you take care of the soup, okay?”

“Okay,” Donghae nodded obediently.

Both Siwon and Kyuhyun wonder how Donghae had managed to survive in the football team. Without them to look after him, Donghae would probably get himself killed somehow. Siwon and Kyuhyun even once had a bet going on to see how long it would take Donghae to accidentally poison himself; Kyuhyun won. They had to take him to the emergency room after he drank drain cleaner out of curiosity.

“Donghae…is that your shirt you’re wearing?” Kyuhyun inquired as he inspected the material of his shirt. “Seems a little small for you.”

“Maybe I just got fat,” he smiled nervously.

“That’s not exactly the best defense, Hae,” Siwon chuckled. “But I do agree with Kyuhyun, that shirt doesn’t seem to fit you right. And I feel like I’ve seen that shirt somewhere before—wait a minute, wasn’t Eunhyuk wearing that exact same shirt a few days ago?”

Kyuhyun’s eyebrows flew up. “You’re wearing his shirt? What, did you sleep with him?”

“I must have accidentally taken one of his shirts by mistake.” He fibbed. “I slept in his tent last night.”

“Why did you do that?” Kyuhyun asked suspiciously.

“Because…” Donghae started to sweat. “Well, Minnie—I mean, Sungmin was in our tent with you last night…”

“What was Sungmin doing in your tent?” Siwon asked him.

“He…he passed out there.” Kyuhyun wasn’t exactly lying, since Sungmin did pass out after all.

Donghae was just relieved that he had gotten away with his flimsy excuse. He didn’t want either of them to know that he wore Eunhyuk’s shirt on purpose, because it smelled a lot like him and he liked carrying Eunhyuk’s scent around. This morning, Donghae was hurt that Eunhyuk doubted his intentions (which was why he acted so cold to him), but he knew he wouldn’t stay mad for long, and he figured Eunhyuk would like seeing him wearing his shirt. He just didn’t count on Siwon and Kyuhyun recognizing the damn shirt.

“The better question is, how could Donghae accidentally take someone else’s shirt?” Kyuhyun brought the attention back to the sweaty boy beside him. “Surely, you would’ve known that it wasn’t yours, right?”

“Cut him some slack, Kyu,” Siwon said. “It’s Donghae, after all. He gets confused pretty easily.”

“You don’t have to tell me; I’m his math tutor, remember?” Kyuhyun replied crossly. “But that still doesn’t explain why Donghae’s been spending so much time with that monkey lately…too much time.”

Donghae rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, “We’re just friends, Kyu. I swear.”

“You’re lying,” Kyuhyun accused. “I can tell; you’re sweating.”

“I break into sweat easily,” he said clumsily. “And I don’t know what you’re thinking, Kyu, but there’s nothing going on between me and Eunhyuk. Seriously.”

“I think we should believe him,” Siwon interjected. “Donghae at lying.”

“That’s true,” Kyuhyun agreed. “But, Hae, try to keep your manhood in check, okay?”

Donghae nodded, relieved that the subject had finally blown over. But it didn’t take long before he felt someone’s eyes on him, watching him intently. He looked around and saw a very familiar figure in one of the tents, looking at him with hurt eyes. It was Eunhyuk.

He heard everything.

“What are we doing wrong?” Sungmin sighed as he rested his head on Heechul’s shoulder. “Eunhyuk wasn’t even trying and he got Donghae. Though judging by how wet Eunhyuk’s pillow is from all his tears, I’m guessing things aren’t going too well for them right now.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Heechul said. “Maybe we should stop trying.”

“If we stop trying, they’re gonna stop caring.” He pointed out. “Maybe we come off too strong.”

“Maybe?” Heechul asked him. “Didn’t you get Kyuhyun drunk last night?”

“You’re one to talk,” he said defensively. “At least I didn’t give him an massage.”

“But you wish you could, don’t you?” he smirked.

“Yes, but I fear for my life.” Sungmin crossed his arms and sulked. “You’re lucky Siwon’s nice. Kyuhyun is…well, he’s nowhere near nice.”

“I have to admit though, I think I scared Siwon off a little.” Heechul said. “How was I supposed to know that he scares easily?”

“I guess it’s just something you have to—hey!” Sungmin stood up and ran over to block the entrance to his tent from Donghae. “Where do you think you’re going? Eunhyuk is in no mood to see you right now.”

“I know,” Donghae bit his lip nervously. “He hasn’t come out of his tent all day. I just want to go say sorry.”

“I’m afraid sorry isn’t gonna be enough.” Sungmin was standing firm for his best friend. “Got anything else?”

“Well, I was hoping Eunhyuk would hear it first, but,” Donghae cleared his throat. “I want to take back what I said. Obviously, there is something going on between us, and I kind of want to take it to the next level.”

“Kind of?” he rebuked.

“Okay, I want to take it to the next level.” He corrected, feeling himself shrink under Sungmin’s piercing gaze.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna propose.” Sungmin’s eyes widened.

“I’m not,” he assured him. “I just want to make things…official, you know?”

Sungmin was a lot of things, but he was most certainly not a bad friend. Sungmin could be demanding and pompous, but there was no doubt that when it came to Eunhyuk, Sungmin would do just about anything. Just as long as his best friend was happy.

And he knew that all it took to make Eunhyuk happy was Donghae.

“Fine, fine,” Sungmin stood aside and let him in. “But if you hurt my Hyukkie again, I swear—”

“Don’t worry,” Donghae smiled. “I won’t. I promise.”

As Donghae disappeared into the tent, Sungmin went back to his spot next to Heechul and sighed once again, “Did you see that? Why can’t Siwon and Kyuhyun care about us like that?”

“We’ll get our turns, someday,” Heechul squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “Hopefully.”

Eunhyuk hugged his knees close to his chest as he croaked, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” Donghae scooted closer towards Eunhyuk until he was close enough to feel him breathing. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I was just scared of what Kyuhyun and Siwon would say, and what you said before that kinda threw me off…”

“What I said?” Eunhyuk asked, confused.

He nodded, “I remember you said you thought I was using you, but I’m not. I guess I was a little hurt that you thought I was.”

Eunhyuk felt his cheeks burning up, “You heard me say that? W-what else did you hear?”

Donghae smiled, “You said you first started liking me that day when we met in the cafeteria—which was ironically the same time I started liking you too.”

“R-really?” a smile started to form on his lips.

“Yeah,” he nodded, grinning. “And you said I had chocolate brown puppy eyes, which I really liked hearing.”

“Well…it’s true.” He shrugged, blushing.

“Thanks,” Donghae’s face was red as well. “And I’ve thought about it a lot and I’ve made up my mind. I’m not gonna hide anymore. I’m gonna come clean to Kyuhyun and Siwon about us.”

“You’d really do that for me?” His eyes started twinkling.

“I’d do anything for you,” he told him. “And if you think things are moving too fast for us, then we can slow down a bit.”

“How did you know I—”

“I heard that too,” he smiled. “I had no idea trees were such great listeners, by the way.”

Eunhyuk blushed even harder as he buried his face in his hands, “Oh my God, I can’t believe you saw that.”

“I think it was precious,” he said as he softly nuzzled Eunhyuk’s neck. “So, I was thinking maybe, we can go on a date tomorrow?”

“A date? As in a real date?” he asked. “Here in the middle of the woods?”

“Sure,” he nodded. “We can be creative and have a good time; besides, it’ll be an interesting story to tell someday.”

He chuckled, “I’d love to.”

“Great,” he kissed Eunhyuk’s cheek. “Nemo will be glad to hear this.”

Eunhyuk paused to process what he just heard Donghae say. “…Nemo? As in from Finding Nemo?”

“Exactly,” Donghae’s grin was innocent and childlike. “He’s my favorite plushie.”

“Oh, that’s cute, I guess.” He smiled awkwardly. “And it’s honestly a little weird to know that you talk to a stuffed animal.”

“So? You talk to trees.” He countered.

“Point taken,” he cleared his throat. “But you know what? Instead of talking to plushies and trees, now we have each other to talk to.”

“Hey, you’re right.” Donghae, much like a little kid receiving gifts on Christmas, clapped excitedly. “We can like, stay up all night talking and stuff!”

“God, you are way too cute for your own good.” Eunhyuk beamed before taking Donghae’s face in his hands and giving him a big, well-deserved kiss.

Suddenly, the flaps of the tent flew open and Kyuhyun just happened to walk in at the wrong time.

“Uh…h-hi, Kyu,” Donghae stammered clumsily.

Kyuhyun, staring at the suggestive position he had caught them in, asked himself, “Why am I not surprised?”

“Okay, Kyuhyun, I’ll admit it,” Donghae stood up and tiptoed to get on eye-level with Kyuhyun (though he was still a few inches shorter). “I’m gay—and a part of me thinks I probably always have been.”

Kyuhyun looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “So Jessica’s just a beard?”

“Pretty much,” he shrugged. “I like Eunhyuk. I like him, I like kissing him, and tomorrow, we’re going on our very first date.”

Eunhyuk felt like crying tears of joy as he listened to Donghae brag about him to Kyuhyun. In fact, he was just itching to write an entry about it in his diary.

“Good for you then,” Kyuhyun, with a blank face on, patted his friend’s shoulder. “To be honest, I kind of suspected you the whole time. I’m actually surprised that I’m not freaking out right now at the fact that I have a gay best friend.”

“So am I.” Donghae agreed. “I just don’t know how to break it to Siwon though…”

“Good luck,” he scoffed. “Anyway, I actually came here for a reason, and it wasn’t to catch you two in the act.”

“Oh,” Eunhyuk stood up as well and put his hand on the small of Donghae’s back. “Anything we can help you with?”

“I hope so. You see,” Kyuhyun sighed. “Sungmin’s gone. We can’t find him anywhere.”