Kyuhyun was standing in the airport with another person who was also going to Japan with him. He sighed and dropped his cell phone in his pocket.

“What’s the matter Kyuhyun ah?” a small, black-haired boy asked. He shifted his pink bunny backpack to his other shoulder and looked up at Kyuhyun with curiosity and concern.

“He didn’t even say ‘I love you,’” Kyuhyun mumbled.

“Who?”

“My boyfriend.”

“Oh….” The dark-haired boy adjusted his pink baseball cap awkwardly. The intercom announced that their plane was ready to board, so the smaller boy nudged Kyuhyun’s arm. “Come on, Kyuhyun ah.”

*~*~*

“So Hyukkie, can you forgive me?” Donghae asked again.

The suspense was killing him. What if Hyukjae didn’t believe him? What if he really couldn’t forgive Donghae after all? Donghae didn’t think he would be able to handle that. But when Hyukjae didn’t respond, the brunette bit his thin lips and looked away. He figured that Hyukjae’s silence meant that it was too late.

“I-I see,” Donghae’s voice quivered. “W-Well, at least you know the truth. If you don’t want to see me ever again, I can understand. You can keep the ring. I’m sorry I took so long to tell you and it probably means nothing to you now, but I love you Hyukjae.”

He stood up and thanked Hyukjae for meeting him before slowly walking back to the apartment.

Hyukjae remained on the bench for a few moments more, unable to comprehend all that Donghae had just told him. His fingers clasped around the ring tightly. The brunette had done all that just to protect him? He had even disowned himself from his parents to come back? He had even turned away from his childhood dream of becoming a father when he the chance? Hyukjae stared blankly at the spot where Donghae had been sitting before. The redhead blinked back tears.

Donghae really loved him.

Nothing else was on Hyukjae’s mind but finding Donghae and telling him how he truly felt. There was no way that he was going to let Donghae walk away from him again. Hyukjae immediately stood up and chased after Donghae, well he didn’t exactly know where he was right now, but he would catch up to him eventually.

The streets were uncharacteristically crowded and Hyukjae felt as though he was drowning in the mass of people. It would impossible to find Donghae like this. He jumped up and down like a lost child. Unfortunately for him, his clumsiness decided to kick in and he slipped on the pavement and landed on the hard ground. When he fell, the ring dropped from his grasp and rolled into the middle of the busy road.

In another panic, Hyukjae scrambled to find it. The light was red, so people were walking in the street and it made it difficult to locate the silver ring. At first, he spotted it but someone sent it sliding across the road with their foot. Hyukjae searched frantically for it, dirt clinging to his tear-stained face. The light turned green and impatient cars and buses beeped at him loudly for obstructing the road. In the end, he wound up collapsing on the sidewalk.

Hyukjae covered his head in order to protect himself from the heartless people that walked right by him, some of them kicking him in the process. 

“Why are you so reckless?” somebody asked Hyukjae as he sheltered the poor boy with his body.

Hyukjae lifted his head to meet the gaze of the person who had approached him.

“Donghae,” he said in surprise. “Ah! Donghae! I l-lost it!” Hyukjae wailed. “I-I fell and-and…”

Donghae grinned and showed Hyukjae the ring in his hand.

“But-but how?”

“It ended up next to my foot.”    

“Hae…” Hyukjae whimpered, tears falling from in his eyes. “I thought you left me alone again. I-I forgive you! Don’t leave me…”

“Never again, Hyukkie.” Strong arms wrapped around Hyukjae’s shaking frame. “I’m here as long as you want me to be.”

How about forever? Hyukjae thought as he inhaled Donghae’s scent. He smelled like vanilla. How long had it been since Hyukjae felt so warm and safe in someone’s embrace?

“Let’s get you home,” Donghae suggested, helping Hyukjae stand up.

They walked in silence; Hyukjae only spoke once to tell Donghae that he would be staying with Heechul and Hankyung again for a while. Donghae didn’t question it, smiling inwardly at the fact that he’d have Hyukjae under the same roof as him again.

When they got inside the apartment, they noticed that no one was there.

“Where’s Heechul and Hankyung hyung?” Hyukjae wondered.

Donghae found a note on the back of the couch.

Fishy,

Had an emergency. Hannie and I won’t be home tonight. Destroy the place and I’ll have your .

♥ Heechul

He was going to be alone with Hyukjae all night? Donghae suddenly felt giddy, and you can only imagine, erted. But the redhead’s voice broke him from his inappropriate thoughts.

“What does it say?”

“Heechul hyung had something come up so he and Hankyung hyung aren’t coming back tonight.”

“Ah…re-really?” Hyukjae asked nervously. He just realized that he and Donghae were going to be alone. Why did the thought make him so anxious? Hyukjae took a deep breath in order to calm down. After a few moments he said, “Hae, I’m going to take a shower, okay?”

Hyukjae gestured at his dirt-covered hands and face and his hair that was matted with dust. It was from falling down earlier. There was even some dried blood on Hyukjae’s hands too. Donghae frowned at the small injuries on Hyukjae’s hands. He wanted to punch something. Even if it was only something small, Donghae didn’t like to see his Hyukkie hurt.

“Sure, Hyukkie. You can borrow some of my clothes when you’re done.”

Hyukjae thanked him and went into the bathroom. About twenty minutes later, he came back wearing one of Donghae’s oversized T-shirts and sweatpants. He rubbed the remnants of water from his eyes and looked around for Donghae. Feeling slightly worried that he was alone again, Hyukjae started looking around the apartment.

When he still couldn’t find Donghae anywhere, Hyukjae sat on the couch feeling perhaps a little betrayed. Then the doorbell rang, and he stood up to answer it. Opening the door, Hyukjae’s eyes widened as Donghae came into view. He also noticed that there was snow on the top of Donghae’s head and shoulders.

“What were you…?”

“Hyukkie, it’s cold~” Donghae whined. The redhead took a step back to let Donghae inside and shut the door behind him. Donghae ran into the kitchen and placed a plastic bag on the table. Before Hyukjae could ask him what he was doing again, Donghae said, “Well I saw that there was no more strawberry milk, so I ran out to get some, and then it started snowing while I was at the store, so I bought instant cocoa too.” Donghae smiled and held up a blue box.

“I-I thought you left again…” Hyukjae mumbled, his cheeks slightly red.

Donghae ruffled Hyukjae’s red hair. “And I though I told you that I was never going to leave you. You have to trust me.”

Hyukjae nodded in agreement. He had to remind himself that Donghae didn’t leave him because he didn’t love him. He did that because he did love Hyukjae. If what Donghae was telling him was the truth, then there was no reason to keep worrying.

The brunette understood that Hyukjae would still feel uncomfortable with him, even though he had told him the truth. He put the box of cocoa down and hugged Hyukjae to his chest.

“I know that what I did to you was wrong, Hyukkie. I know I made the mistake of choosing to act like an idiot instead of staying by your side no matter what. But the whole time I never stopped loving you. Whether you still love me or not, please don’t doubt me anymore.”

I do still love you, Hyukjae admitted to himself.

“Hae…” Hyukjae whispered against Donghae’s neck. “You’re freezing.”

“Huh???”

“You should change or you’ll catch a cold.”

The brunette smirked. “If I did, would you take care of me?” Donghae teased.

Hyukjae blushed a dark shade of red and stormed out of the kitchen to hide his embarrassed face. He heard Donghae mutter something about him being too cute for his own good.

Coming back from the room, Donghae saw Hyukjae sitting on the couch. Donghae had another towel in his hand, and he dropped it on Hyukjae’s still damp head and sat down next to him. The redhead looked up at him and blinked.

“You were so concerned about me getting sick that you forgot about yourself.” Donghae chuckled as he dried Hyukjae’s hair.

Hyukjae’s heart was beating ridiculously loud, so loud that he wondered if Donghae could hear it. Their faces were closer than either of them realized. Hyukjae diverted his eyes and bit his lip, too shy to look at Donghae. The other boy stopped drying his hair and removed the towel, throwing it to some corner of the room. He kept one hand on the nape of Hyukjae’s neck, his fingers playing with the red hair there.

Donghae pulled Hyukjae a little closer to him. The movement caused Donghae’s large T-shirt to slide off of one of Hyukjae’s shoulders, revealing the tempting skin there. Donghae couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss the junction between Hyukjae’s shoulder and neck. He felt the redhead stiffen. Donghae grinned against Hyukjae’s neck and trailed kisses up to the boy’s ear. He the sensitive skin, causing Hyukjae to shiver and bite back a moan.

“Hyukjae,” Donghae whispered. He only used Hyukjae’s full name if it was something important or if he was dead serious. In this case, it was both. “I love you. Can you ever love me back?”

I never stopped.

“After what I did to you, hurting you so much, can you?”

With one of his hands, Hyukjae brought Donghae’s face up so he could look him directly in the eyes. Donghae was scared. He didn’t know if Hyukjae could ever love him again. Hyukjae pressed his forehead against Donghae’s and smiled.

“I tried to forget you. I really did. But every time I was on the verge of giving up the idea that you’d come back, I couldn’t do it.” Hyukjae’s lips were inches from Donghae’s. “I love you, Donghae.”

Hyukjae’s phone rang on the coffee table next to the couch.

Donghae’s lips were just centimeters from Hyukjae’s. They brushed against each other lightly, but Hyukjae pulled back and Donghae let him.

This better be important, the brunette grumbled.

Hyukjae placed the phone against his ear and froze. “Kyu-Kyuhyun?”

How could he have forgotten about Kyuhyun? What was he thinking? He was about to kiss Donghae when he was dating someone else! He couldn’t do that to Kyuhyun.

Donghae didn’t care. He grabbed the phone and disconnected the call.

*~*~*

“Hyukjae? Hyung? Are you there?” Kyuhyun glanced at his phone screen. Call Ended.

“What happened?” the black-haired boy from earlier asked. “A bad connection? We are in Japan after all. It could have been anything.”

Kyuhyun sank against the door of the dressing room. He was getting ready for a performance with his partner, Sungmin, when he had decided to give Hyukjae a call to see how he was.

“That’s not it, Minnie hyung,” Kyuhyun said into his hands. He thought about Donghae, somehow knowing the brunette was involved. “I knew from the start that I lost.”

“Kyu?”

“I really loved him, hyung. But he loves someone else more.”

Sungmin knelt down next to him. “I love you a lot more than you love him,” he confessed.

*~*~*

“Hae! What—?”

Donghae dropped the phone on the couch and angrily grabbed Hyukjae’s wrist. The older boy was thrown against the wall, his back connecting with it painfully. Donghae smashed his mouth to Hyukjae’s. He possessively bit down on Hyukjae’s bottom lip and caused the redhead to gasp in pain. Donghae took the opportunity to slip his tongue into the Hyukjae’s mouth and ravage it mercilessly.

Hyukjae struggled to get Donghae off of him, but his mind was separated from his body. His body reacted feverishly to Donghae’s touches and kisses. He moaned when Donghae on his tongue and slid a hand under his shirt. He could feel his entire body heating up.

It was getting difficult to breathe, damn oxygen.

The brunette released Hyukjae from the passionate kiss; a string of saliva connected their tongues as they separated. They both were panting heavily. Donghae his lips and made Hyukjae’s eyes widen at the lustful gaze he was receiving.  

Hyukjae’s hair was plastered to his forehead and his lips were red and swollen, slightly bleeding from where Donghae had bit him and they glistened with a combination of his and Donghae’s saliva. His cheeks and ears were a delicious shade of pink, and his shirt was still lopsided, showing his collarbone and more skin than before. Donghae curled a finger over the waistband of Hyukjae’s sweatpants, which were hanging sinfully low on the older’s hips. It was all an incredibly y and alluring sight.

“H-Hae, we can’t.”

Hyukjae’s scared voice brought Donghae back from the erted recess of his mind. The brunette blinked and saw the pain and confusion in Hyukjae’s teary eyes.

“We-We can’t do this.” He began to cry, but Donghae kissed the tears away. “S-Stop.”

Donghae whispered against his cheek. “This is all my fault.”

Donghae sighed and took a step back from Hyukjae, afraid that his closeness was making Hyukjae suffer. He regretted his decision a hundred times more now. He should have never left Hyukjae two years ago. If he hadn’t, Hyukjae would be in his arms right now, smiling, not crying. He had committed the biggest mistake of his life back then, even though he had good intentions.

His poor Hyukjae was so torn right now. Donghae knew that Kyuhyun’s phone call had reminded Hyukjae that he was still dating someone else. Plus, Hyukjae had just told Donghae that he loved him. What was he supposed to do now?

“I love him too, Donghae,” Hyukjae managed to say. The sentence squeezed Donghae’s heart, threatening to burst it, but he let Hyukjae go on. “I care about him. He helped me when I felt alone. I don’t want to hurt him.” Hyukjae gasped because he sounded like he loved Kyuhyun romantically. That wasn’t the case. He loved Kyuhyun like a good friend or younger brother. “B-But I’m in love with you, Hae.”

Donghae laughed softly. “I know, Hyukkie.” He kissed Hyukjae’s forehead. “I can wait until you two work things out. You waited for me.”

One Year Later

Hyukjae waited at the airport for Kyuhyun’s plane to arrive. It was late at night and Hyukjae yawned into the back of his hand.

“Flight 1315 from Japan has landed,” the woman over the intercom spoke.

Shifting impatiently and apprehensively, Hyukjae scanned the faces of the passengers that entered the waiting area. He spotted a head of wavy brown hair above the relatively shorter crowd and waved at the person.

Kyuhyun smiled back and went over to hug Hyukjae. Another person followed Kyuhyun and tilted his head like a puppy to finally see who Kyuhyun’s “boyfriend” was. Hyukjae saw the other boy standing next to Kyuhyun and broke the hug.

“Hyukjae hyung, this is Lee Sungmin.”

Hyukjae’s eyes lit up. “Ah! Sungmin ssi.” He greeted the smaller male. “It’s nice to meet Kyuhyun’s singing partner.”

“You knew?” Sungmin asked, mentally approving of Hyukjae. He was jealous before of this “boyfriend” but now saw that he was an innocent person.

“Of course! I watched your performances online all the time. You two were really great.”

“Um, Hyukjae. There’s something I need to tell you,” Kyuhyun said quietly.

Hyukjae nodded as if he already knew. “Me too, Kyu. Hankyung hyung is in the parking lot. We can talk at the café. Sungmin ssi, you can come too.”

The café had already closed, courtesy of Leeteuk, and the only other people there were Heechul and Donghae. The brunette’s gaze locked with Kyuhyun’s as they entered the café doors. It wasn’t meant to be intimidating or mean; it just showed that he recognized Kyuhyun as someone important to Hyukjae. Of course, no one could beat Donghae when it came to Hyukjae’s affection. Kyuhyun smirked in return. There seemed to be a silent truce between the two of them.

Heechul yawned and stretched out on one of the benches against the café wall. Hankyung sat down next to him and let his sleepy lover rest is head on his shoulder.

The four others sat at one of the tables and an awkward silence hovered above them.

“K-Kyuhyun,” Hyukjae started. He began to speak really fast, his face turning red. “I…I really like you, but as a friend or a close dongsaeng. Please understand. I was very confused when we agreed to go out and I loved you b—” Kyuhyun’s laughter cut him off.

“Hyung, calm down,” Kyuhyun choked out. Hyukjae’s face was too priceless. “Relax. I understand. Besides, it’s quite obvious who you really like.” Kyuhyun motioned with his eyes at Donghae. “Honestly, I felt really bad when you stopped saying that you loved me. But being second best is okay too.”

“Actually I’m second best,” Heechul stated from the other side of the room, his eyes still closed, but a confident smile on his face. Hankyung rolled his eyes and also smiled.

Hyukjae breathed a sigh of relief. He hugged Kyuhyun again. “Thanks, Kyu!” He let the younger male go. “Oh, you had something you needed to tell me?”

Kyuhyun slung an arm over Sungmin’s shoulders. “We’ve decided to go out. But we wanted to wait until we came back to Korea to tell you first.” Sungmin blushed.

“See~” Donghae chimed. “Everything worked out.” He kissed Hyukjae’s cheek, finally happy to kiss his Hyukkie guilt-free. “Now if you all don’t mind, Hyukkie and I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He winked devilishly at Hyukjae who had a look of horror and embarrassment on his face.

“I guess we’re not going home tonight,” Heechul smirked. 

*~*~*

“I waited a whole year for this, Hyukkie,” Donghae mumbled as he began to attack Hyukjae’s neck. They weren’t even in the door yet. Donghae kicked it shut with his foot.

“Y-You made me wait two years, Donghae,” Hyukjae replied, trying hard to not make the words come out like a moan. It’s not so easy with your -deprived boyfriend kissing and on your neck.

They were twisted among the bed sheets, their bodies pressed up against one another so they could feel each other’s heart beat.

“Are you okay?” Donghae asked tiredly. He Hyukjae’s hair and turned to face his exhausted lover.

Hyukjae sent Donghae a you-just-ed-me-and-you’re-asking-me-if-I’m-okay look. “My hurts like hell.” He smiled though, and buried his head in Donghae’s chest. Hyukjae began to doze off. “I love you, Hae.”

“I love you too, Hyukkie. I always will.” Donghae kissed him on the lips sweetly.

Hyukjae mumbled something in return before closing his eyes and drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

“I really do love you,” Donghae whispered again. He also fell asleep shortly after.

Hyukjae heard him and snuggled closer. Donghae pulled Hyukjae tighter to him.

Neither one of them ever wanted to let go again.

11/20/10

*~*~*