Hyukjae, on the other hand, winced at the freezing pain now inflicted on his head from the compress Donghae had harshly pressed on his forehead. He had only been joking with him. Well sort of.... Donghae really was cute. Just remembering how the brunette blushed when he called him cute made Hyukjae smile. He was already feeling much better since Donghae came home.

Today had really .

Hyukjae had spent the first couple of hours sleeping. It had been peaceful and he was starting to feel better. His mother had come by and made him lunch and left medicine for him to take after. Having fallen asleep, and not taking the medicine, Hyukjae had begun to have a strange dream.

It was snowing out as Hyukjae roamed the school campus. No one else was there but him and the snow. It was like the landscape was a white canvas and Hyukjae was the only blotch of color decorating it. Hyukjae dragged his feet through the snow, getting a feel for the heavy accumulation on the ground.

He wandered for a while, leaving tracks in the snow, marking a path of his movements. Randomly, he flopped onto the ground and lay there. He watched the snow fall from the gray sky. He began to move his arms up and down, spreading his legs and closing them again, creating an angel pattern. For some reason, his fingers–not numb, despite the cold—brushed against something.

Rolling over, Hyukjae cleared the snow away. His eyes widened when he uncovered a hand. Frantically tossing the rest of the snow away, Hyukjae's mouth opened in a silent gasp as he stared at Donghae's bloodied face.

The two wounds on his neck had bled into the snow, turning it pink, and his cheeks were badly bruised. His lip was bleeding and there was a gash across his forehead. In one of his hands, was the broken chain and ring, soiled with the reddish stain of blood.

“Donghae?” Hyukjae whimpered, lifting the boy's head up.“Donghae?”

The brunette made no response. His entire body was frozen. Hyukjae couldn't feel a pulse.

Donghae was dead.

“D-Donghae...” Tears fell and crystallized on the brunette's cheeks. “Hae? Hae, wake up!”

Hyukjae began to scream, unable to do anything else. “You can't die! You can't die! Hae!”

Back in reality, Hyukjae had been trashing on the bed. And that was when Donghae had ran in the room.

Hyukjae rolled over onto his side and thought of the nightmare. He didn't know what he would do if Donghae died. It surprised him how much Donghae suddenly meant to him. It was as if a switch had flipped on inside him. He needed Donghae with him, and he didn't know why.

What if I never got to hear his voice again? Hyukjae wondered to himself. He closed his eyes and refused to think such thoughts again.

The next time Hyukjae woke up was the next morning. He felt completely rested. All of his cold symptoms were gone. He stretched his arms and rolled out of bed. He still felt sticky from sweating the night before, so he took a quick shower. Dressed only in his school pants, Hyukjae padded around the kitchen looking for his mother.

“Oh, Hyukjae. You're feeling better today?” she asked when he found her.

“Yeah,” Hyukjae replied with a smile. “Umma, have you seen my uniform shirt? I can't find one anywhere.”

“I washed it last night dear. There was blood on the back of it. Were you in a fight?”

Hyukjae laughed awkwardly. He told her that he must have gotten hurt during gym and it bled on his shirt when he changed. He didn't want her to know that Donghae had been attacked again. He thanked her and went to find his shirt. When he did, he began to put it on and walk back towards the kitchen at the same time. Just as he started to button the front of it, he crashed into Donghae who was coming down the stairs.

Donghae was caught off guard and fell backwards, his legs getting twisted with Hyukjae's. In the end, both boys ended up on the floor. Hyukjae managed to stop himself from crushing Donghae underneath him. The brunette blinked, staring directly at Hyukjae's face which was way too close to his. Donghae made a noise, something between a squeak and a gasp, and pushed Hyukjae off him with probably more strength than needed.

“Ow!” Hyukjae shouted, holding the back of his head which had connected painfully with the floor. “What was that for? It was an accident.”

“S-Sorry,” Donghae mumbled, quickly standing up and walking into the kitchen.

Hyukjae sat there, for a moment. Donghae was blushing again? Hyukjae swore he had seen Donghae's cheeks tinted with pink. The red head couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips.

Wait, he thought immediately after. This is wrong. Seeing him blush shouldn't make me happy. Shaking the image from his mind, Hyukjae stood up and proceeded to go back up to his room to finish getting dressed.

When he came back down, Donghae was just about pour himself a bowl of cereal. Apparently his mother had already left because she wasn't there anymore.

“Don't eat yet, Hae.”

Donghae looked up at him.

“I'm going to meet Sungmin and Kyuhyun at the cafe,” Hyukjae told him as he grabbed his jacket from behind the door. “They have every kind of cake imaginable there and really good hot chocolate. Wanna come along?” He smiled widely.

Donghae blinked twice and nodded his head. Hyukjae grabbed the cereal box from him and put it back on the counter.

“Let's go.”

Hyukjae turned to open the door, just missing Donghae smile to himself.

At Sapphire Dream, Hyukjae spotted Sungmin first. It wasn't hard considering the raven-haired boy was wearing a bright pink jacket and a hat with droopy bunny ears.

“Hyukkie!” Sungmin exclaimed, jumping the red head as he approached the table. “How are you? I missed you!”

Hyukjae patted his friend on the back and pried himself free of Sungmin's death grip. He chuckled at the cute greeting and sat down, resting his chin on his hands. “I'm fine, Minnie. Just had a really bad cold yesterday.”

“My poor baby!” Sungmin hugged Hyukjae from behind, very tightly. Hyukjae choked as the boy's strong arms suddenly wrapped around his neck.

“Min, let him breathe. You're going to suffocate him,” Kyuhyun said, his eyes never leaving the screen of his game.

“Oops. Sorry, Hyukkie.” Sungmin let go and went back to his seat next to Kyuhyun. It was only then that he noticed Donghae standing awkwardly behind Hyukjae. He was pleasantly surprised to see the brunette with Hyukjae. “Donghae ah! You came today too!”

Donghae nodded. When he continued to stand there, Hyukjae sighed and grabbed his wrist, pulling the brunette down into the seat next to him. Donghae could feel his wrist throbbing even after Hyukjae released it. The brunette lightly brushed his fingers over the heated skin, wondering why he was suddenly feeling the way he was. But, his thoughts were cut short when another person pounced on Hyukjae's shoulders and squeezed the boy tightly.

“Omo~ My poor baby~” the person whined, causing Hyukjae to roll his eyes.

“Teukie hyung, I was sick for one day.” Hyukjae attempted to pull his hyung's arms off him and turned his head. He smiled at the cafe's manager.

“Aigoo~” Leeteuk fussed, pinching Hyukjae's cheeks. “I was so worried yesterday when you never showed up.”

Sungmin giggled as Leeteuk motherly bothered over Hyukjae. Kyuhyun just smirked. Hyukjae blushed at the scene his hyung was creating in the cafe. His gaze shifted towards Donghae whose mouth was shaped in a tiny 'O'.

Almost simultaneously, Leeteuk also turned toward Donghae and realized that the brunette was staring at them with wide eyes.

“Ah! Who is this?” he asked, releasing Hyukjae.

“This is my brother, Donghae,” Hyukjae said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Brother?” Leeteuk gave Hyukjae a you-will-explain-this-to-me-later look. He flashed Donghae a warm, dimpled smile. “Nice to meet you, Donghae. I'm Park Jungsu, but I go by Leeteuk.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Donghae whispered shyly.

For the next hour, Hyukjae hid his face in his hands as Leeteuk babied Donghae, excited that he had another child to visit him. Hyukjae dug his fork into his piece of strawberry cake and pouted. He felt weird. Even hough he knew that Leeteuk was just acting how he normally did around Hyukjae and his friends, he couldn't help but feel...jealous?...every time Leeteuk smothered Donghae in hugs. Initially, Donghae was quite freaked out, but he quickly came to adore his new hyung.

After they finished their hot chocolate, Hyukjae stood up to leave for school and Donghae also got ready by grabbing his bag. Sungmin said that he and Kyuhyun were going to stay a little longer and that they would catch up with them later. Hyukjae headed for the door. Donghae followed him and bowed slightly at Leeteuk. The eldest gushed over how cute Donghae was again hugged the brunette tightly. Hyukjae frowned, reaching for Donghae's hand with his own and dragged the boy out of the cafe.

Leeteuk chuckled at Hyukjae's possessive act and said something about how much more fun things were going to be. He ruffled Kyuhyun's hair and smiled at him and Sungmin before heading back to work.

Sungmin leaned back in his chair to watch Hyukjae and Donghae walk together towards the school. He grinned when he saw that Hyukjae still hadn't let go of Donghae's hand and that the brunette was staring at their intertwined fingers.

“Yah, Kyuhyunnie,” Sungmin whispered, poking his boyfriend's cheek.

“Hmm?” Kyuhyun replied, his eyes not leaving the screen of his game. Sungmin pouted, ultimately punching Kyuhyun in the arm. The boy almost dropped his console as a result, but managed to catch it before it hit the table. “Ow! Minnie~ What was that for?”

Sungmin's bottom lip jutted out cutely. “It got your attention,” he stated innocently. He pointed out the window in Hyukjae and Donghae's direction. “I'm worried about them, Kyu.”

“Worried about what?”

“I don't know.” Sungmin stretched his arms, still peering out the window even though the two people he was looking for had already vanished. “You don't think that they'll...you know...not see each other as brothers.”

“I don't think they ever did to begin with,” Kyuhyun answered, placing his game in his coat pocket. “They aren't related by blood anyway.”

Sungmin sighed, feeling both anxiety and curiosity. “You're right. We'll just have to support them no matter what.”