For humans, feelings are things that cannot be completely understood and yet they control their every action. Humans know that when they fall and scratch a knee they feel pain. They know that when a snowflake touches their skin they feel cold.

But there are greater feelings that cannot be completely explained. Love is one of them.

Oh love… that four lettered-word which makes no sense and all sense at the same time. But you see… there are different types of love. There is that love we feel for our family, and then there is that love we feel for our friends. And then there is that love we feel for that certain person which makes our stomachs turn, our hearts accelerate and our minds meltdown.

But how does a person knows they love someone that way? First it starts with an attraction, it evolves to a liking, and then the feelings start growing so strong that one starts needing the other’s presence.

But this love might not always be mutual. And not having a mutual love is one of the most common fears human beings possess.

That’s why it’s common that when one person loves another person and it’s not sure if the other loves them back, the one who is in love keeps it to their self to not jeopardize the relationship they have with the other person.

Lee Donghae is sadly one of those cases.

Donghae is this lively, fun, and shy 17 years old high school student, who happens to be in love with his all-life neighbor and best friend Lee Hyukjae. Donghae and Hyukjae are completely unbreakable; where you find Donghae you’ll find Hyukjae too.

They live house to house, only divided by a wooden fence, though their houses are connected by this tree on Hyukjae’s house which conveniently happens to reach from Hyukjae’s room to Donghae’s creating a perfect bridge for them to use whenever they felt like visiting each other.

Both of them assist Seoul’s Param High School and both of them attend dance club together. And it had always been like that. There were only few things they didn’t share in common.

The day they met was when they were about 4 and they were both playing on a park near their houses.

They were both on the swings but when Donghae tried to get off from it he fell down and started crying. Hyukjae; alarmed, came down from his swing and knelt down next to the crying kid. In an attempt to make him stop crying, Hyukjae offered Donghae a candy he had in his short’s pocket and Donghae; seeing the sweet, calm down his sobs and took it muttering a thanks.

Then both parents were on their son’s side and after a small talk they decided to take each kid home, to their surprise they found out they were neighbors and since then Hyukjae and Donghae had started playing with each other, visiting each other, doing sleep overs, becoming best friends.

It came to the point where they would know what the other was doing without even asking them.  Donghae could randomly barge inside Hyukjae’s house and it was all fine with Hyukjae’s family. After all, Donghae was like a son to Hyukjae’s parents.

They did almost everything together and knew everything about each other; except maybe the fact that Donghae was madly in love with Hyukjae. They were so close to each other it was almost impossible for one not to fall for the other, or at least that was the excuse Donghae thought of for the last three years.

Hyukjae was only a bit taller than Donghae, he had beautiful dark brown eyes, perfect pink plump lips, scarlet red short hair, a nice rounded nose, a chiseled jaw line, pale skin, his body was toned out though just barely, and he was really thin.

Donghae; however, never seemed to notice Hyukjae’s appearance. Sure, he knew Hyukjae was handsome, he had heard girls in school fawning over him; he just never really paid attention to his looks.

He did paid attention to all of his’ charms; like the way he smiled –he had this amazing blinding smile where his gums will show up and his eyes will shine brightly Donghae couldn’t really resist- or the way his expression would change completely when he danced –his eyes will flare up with passion, he would repeatedly bite his bottom lip, wink, smile, sing, smirk; it all depended on the song really (not that Donghae had noticed)- or the way Hyukjae laughed, he had this habit of covering his mouth with his hand while he laughed, Donghae really enjoyed watching and hearing Hyukjae laugh.

Heck, he loved Hyukjae, every habit of him, every flaw, everyaspect of him. And it pained like nothing else did to not be able to be with him.

Donghae was a bit shorter than Hyukjae, he had tan skin, gorgeous dark brown eyes, a small nice nose, thin-pink-smooth lips, brown short hair, oval shaped face, his body was less toned out than Hyukjae’s, though he wasn’t as thin as him.

It was a rule that Donghae and Hyukjae were always together, until Donghae had to return home. Donghae was always at Hyukjae’s place and was considered a son to Hyukjae’s parents though it wasn’t the same the other way around. Hyukjae was never at Donghae’s place –and if he was, he was just at Donghae’s room and had entered through the tree, not the front door- and his relationship with Donghae’s dad was of absolutely nothing.

There was a time in which both families were really close, they’ll do a lot of stuff together, had picnics, invite each other for dinner and so on, but somewhere between time, when Donghae was about 12 his mother left without any message, not a single thing saying where she had gone, nothing. One day she was there and the other she had packed out and was gone. Since then, Donghae’s dad fell under a drinking obsession and a mortifying depression.

Donghae was constantly the victim of his father’s drunk attacks. He would hear his father’s screams towards his’ long lost mother and him, and sometimes these attacks grew to the extent where his father would try -and succeed- to harm him physically.

Hyukjae’s parents tried to talk him about it but he had just denied everything and stormed out. Since that day he cut off any relationship he had with Hyukjae’s family. So, even if people tried to help Donghae’s father –mostly for the sake of Donghae- he declined any offer of help and refused to speak to anyone about the issue.

That’s why Donghae often used the bridge created by the tree to escape to Hyukjae’s house where he knew he was safe. It was often that Donghae would sneak out at midnight towards Hyukjae’s bedroom –both Hyukjae’s and Donghae’s windows always remained unlocked so the other could open it easily- and under Hyukjae’s bed covers. Hyukjae would wake up startled but comfort Donghae and hug him close so he’ll calm down enough to fall asleep.

Little did Hyukjae know; that half the times Donghae sneaked into his room and asked for comfort it was because of him. Because of all the feelings Donghae had for him; that he had to keep to himself. All of Donghae’s friends were also Hyukjae’s; Donghae had no reliable family what so ever to talk to them about his feelings and he was sure if he ever told his dad that he liked a guy he would totally kill him. And so Donghae saved it inside, for three years he had saved those feelings to himself having no person to talk to about them, only expressing them freely on a black notebook he always seemed to carry around, even to school.

Hyukjae had asked about the notebook once but when Donghae said it was personal, Hyukjae stopped insisting so he had never read the contents of it. And each passing day Donghae was sure that the feelings he felt for Hyukjae grew more strongly and he had no idea how more was he able to take before his body betrayed him and told Hyukjae just how he felt for him.

I think I’m going crazy hearing his laugh, for when I hear him laugh it’s like I’m hearing ocean waves move calmly, softly crashing against the sand below them. It’s such a nice feeling; it’s such a nice sound. But I know it’s not supposed to be that way, I know that I should hear a couple of ‘ha’s and maybe even an annoying sound.

Am I already that deep into love? Is it normal to think of nothing but the person I love?

And it might have something to do with the fact that said person is my best friend and with the fact that in him I see my escape. My escape to a reality where I’m victimized by the person that should be my guardian.

Maybe that’s why my life became so-
 

“Donghae!” Hyukjae called from the desk in front of Donghae’s. Donghae immediately snapped shut his notebook and sat straight in his seat again, turning towards Hyukjae.

“Yes?” he asked his voice a couple of octaves higher than it should.

“Hey, relax, it’s not like I’m going to eat you or something” Hyukjae said amused at Donghae “what were you writing anyway?” Hyukjae asked truly curious, his eyes landing on Donghae’s notebook.

“You know… things… and stuff” Donghae answered mentally face-palming himself.

Hyukjae raised an eyebrow in question and scoffed.

“How come I didn’t guess” he said laughing. Donghae could feel the heat in my cheeks rising and he knew he was blushing so he just looked down towards his notebook in an attempt to hide his face from Hyukjae. However, Hyukjae -being the annoying brat he was- noticed the blush on Donghae’s cheeks, and of course, he wouldn’t let that pass just like that. “Aww you’re so cute fishy” Hyukjae said; using the nickname he had for Donghae –since Donghae’s face kind of reminded him of a fish-, pinching Donghae’s cheeks. Donghae smacked Hyukjae’s hands away from his cheeks and stuck out his tongue at him. Hyukjae again laughed at him “so mature, Lee Donghae”

“Shut up monkey” Donghae said; using the nickname he had for Hyukjae –since Hyukjae kind of looked like a monkey-, defensively. He furrowed his brows and tried to look as angry as possible towards Hyukjae who only smiled back at him with an innocent look on his features. Donghae eyed him warily before sticking his tongue out again and finally going back to his normal calm expression. “So, what did you want Hyukjae?”

“Oh yeah, what are you doing tomorrow?” Hyukjae asked him curiously.

“Saturday?Mmm… not much, why? What are you doing?” Donghae asked as curious.

“Dunno, but I really want to go out… you know? Probably to watch a movie or just eating street food, want to go?” Hyukjae asked Donghae hopefully.

“Like a date?” Donghae teased even though inside he so wanted it to be really a date.

“Yes Hae, like a date” Hyukjae teased back, not knowing how Donghae’s heart seemed to skip a beat “at what time do you want me to pick you up, my love?” Hyukjae said playfully making Donghae blush again as the latter grabbed the nearest object –being his pen- and throwing it at Hyukjae’s head, Hyukjae laughed and covered his head with his arms to avoid any further objects Donghae decided to throw at him.

“Jerk” Donghae said finally, resting back at his chair.

Hyukjae grinned widely at him, before sticking his tongue out at Donghae. Donghae scoffed at him and Hyukjae grinned again.

Then the teacher came inside the classroom and Hyukjae turned away from Donghae and towards the teacher.

It was until Hyukjae had finally turned around that Donghae opened his notebook in a random blank page and scribbled down quickly:

HE CALLED ME ‘MY LOVE’!!!!!!!!! ♥♥♥

The bell that signalized for the end of classes finally rang and both Donghae and Hyukjae gathered their stuff and went out of the classroom. They walked through the halls to get to the dance room, where they practiced every day after class for an hour.

As they were walking through the halls, they noticed a poster for upcoming Valentine’s day dance. They both stopped and took a closer look to it; there was an image of two separate hands drawn together by a red string and it read:

“Two souls connected by an invisible red thread are destined lovers regardless of time, place, and circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle but never break”

Then there was some information regarding the party but none of them paid attention to that. Donghae was too busy watching his fingers, Hyukjae was too busy yawning.

“Do you believe in that?” Donghae asked suddenly. Hyukjae stopped and stared at Donghae.

“umm… no, not really, how about you?” he asked in return. Donghae sighed.

“I like to believe that someone somewhere is destined to be with you no matter what. And that… that person will love you despite all your flaws and story. It’s reassuring really, knowing that someone will love you just the way you are” Donghae said staring straight at the poster “it’s kind of reassuring too, that you’re connected to that person”

Hyukjae stared at Donghae, not really knowing what to say.

“Why don’t you believe in that?” Donghae asked out of sheer curiosity. He started walking again and Hyukjae followed in toe.

“Well… I think is romantic and all that but what if it’s not? I mean sure, if you find that person of course you’ll be happy forever and ever, but how can you know? What if you fall for someone else? What if you’re tied to someone but fall for another person? Or just be with someone else because you think you won’t find that special person? What if it’s too late? I just think it’s a bit unfair that you don’t get to know who you’re tied with… love is just… it can go right in so many ways, and it can go wrong in so many ways.” Hyukjae said kind of sad, Donghae was about to reply when a girl interrupted them.

“Donghae-oppa!” the girl called her voice filled up with fake cuteness and they both turned to her.

The girl turned out to be one of their classmates, Jessica Jung. Jessica had a slim body, was a good couple of centimeters shorter than Donghae, had long caramel-colored hair that reached out to her waist, brown eyes, pink thin lips, and worn heavy make-up on her eyes, her cheeks were a bit pink and her lips glistened. She was staring up at Donghae with big glittering eyes, fluttering her eyelashes a few times to seem cuter.

The action gained a scoff from Hyukjae; while Donghae looked at him confused, Jessica sent a death glare in his direction.

“uh… yes Jessica?” Donghae answered politely turning his attention back to the girl.

“I would like to talk to you” she said with a little smile “in private” she added staring straight at Hyukjae.

Hyukjae brought both hands up and made a mocking face before leaving the two alone.

“ok, now that we are alone” Jessica started, enlarging each word “Donghae-oppa, are you going to valentine’s dance?”  she asked.

“umm… maybe? I don’t know really” he said, staring up at the ceiling trying to remember any plans he had for the date.

“well~~” she started swinging back and forth on her feet trying to seem shy and innocent “I would really like if you came with me” she said with a blinding smile.

Donghae stared at her. It wasn’t a secret that many girls had fallen for Donghae during high school; he was kind and really handsome, so it was hard not to fall for him. Of course, Donghae had never paid any attention to those girls because he was too busy dealing with his own crush, so he had never really had to reject a girl before. Sure many gave him chocolates on valentine’s day and they would leave him cards and stuff, but none had ever declared or him or invited him to a dance so… how could he refuse Jessica without sounding too rude?

“I umm… I really appreciate your invitation, Jessica, but umm… I d-don’t know if I’m going… and I… I mean it’s really sweet that you want to go with me but I kind of… you should probably find someone else to go with” he said nervously, his gaze never leaving the ceiling that suddenly turned to be pretty interesting.

Jessica looked down, just to look up a second later.

“Alright oppa… thanks” she said bowing her head a bit before walking off.

Donghae let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and then continued walking to catch up with Hyukjae.

“How was the talking with Regina George?” Hyukjae asked once Donghae caught up with him. Donghae glared at his best friend.

“Mean, she is not that bad” Donghae said nonchalantly.

“Of course she is not bad to you, she’s head over heels for you, but she glares at me like if I was your girlfriend or something” Hyukjae said shaking his head.

“Boyfriend Hyukjae, you couldn’t be my girlfriend because you’re not a girl… not that I know… but if you are, I’m sorry genetics were cruel to you” Donghae teased.

“And I’m the mean one” Hyukjae said rolling his eyes at Donghae. Donghae just smiled satisfied before entering the dance club.

The dance club was formed by Hyoyeon –Hyukjae’s second (Donghae wanted to remind that) female best friend, a second year, with golden curly hair that reached just above her waist, deep brown eyes that shined bright with her smile, slim body with abs beginning to grow, tanned skin and a killer confidence -, Jongin –a first year, with black short hair that was usually styled up, his bangs being thrown back and covered in a layer of hairspray, he had a squared face, tanned skin, his lips tend to always curl into a smirk, his eyes never lacked a least a line of black eyeliner, his abs were beginning to form and he was the flirt from the group -, Taemin –another first year, with caramel straight hair that reached just below his shoulders, pink thin lips, kind of looked like Jongin only with more soft features, pale skin, slim body and an innocent attitude-, Shindong –Donghae’s and Hyukjae’s classmate, he was a great dancer despite being chubby, with really short black hair, small black eyes that hide every time he smiled wide, pale skin and a great sense of humor -, Minzy –a Chinese student and another first year, with short straight black hair that reached the level of and bangs that covered her forehead, pale skin, eyes that were always covered by layers of makeup and hide when she smiled, slim body, though she is really calm since she can’t speak Korean that well but overall she is really outgoing -, and finally Jia –also Chinese and another second year, with pink straight hair that reached like an inch below her shoulders, big dark brown eyes always covered in makeup, long face, serious expression, pale skin, slim body with abs a bit formed, and she is really strong and determined, nobody dare messing up with her -.

Hyukjae lead the team since the last leader had graduated and had named him as his successor, and Donghae was vice-leader just in case it was needed; like those weird cases were Hyukjae would get sick and had to miss school and hence dance club.

They had their practice and chatted for a while, and then all of them returned home.

Donghae and Hyukjae both walked to school together, and they would walk home together also; seeing that their school was just a few blocks away from their homes.

“Hey Hae, can I crash later at your room?” Hyukjae asked Donghae once they were close to their homes.

“Why do you ask?” Donghae answered staring right at the path ahead.

“It’s called being ‘polite’” Hyukjae answered with a grin.

“Jerk” Donghae said rolling his eyes. “You always crash without asking, why asking now?” he asked curiously, staring at Hyukjae. Hyukjae shrugged his shoulders and gave a little smile towards Donghae.

“So that means no?” Hyukjae asked a bit of disappointment in his voice.

“Of course not, you know you can crash whenever you want” Donghae answered a little bit too quickly, then he coughed and turned towards his home again, they had reached the fence that divided their houses and it was time to say goodbye for like… a few minutes really.

“Alright, I’ll be there soon, just saying so you won’t be ” Hyukjae said walking towards his house.

“Oh my God Hyukjae! That was ONE time get over it!” Donghae yelled embarrassed starring at Hyukjae’s retreating back, a soft blush on his face. Hyukjae turned briefly to stick his tongue out at Donghae before entering his house.

Donghae smiled fondly at Hyukjae, shaking his head. He then turned to his own house and his smile faded. He held to the thought that Hyukjae was coming soon through their tree and gulped hard before taking the few steps to his doorway, inserting the key on the lock, and entering his house.

Luckily; like most of the time, Donghae’s dad –Lee Youngwoon- would be absent at the time Donghae returned home, giving him a perfect time lapse to prepare himself something for dinner and locking himself up in his room. That way there was close to none communication between them and Donghae wouldn’t get hurt, neither physically or mentally.

Donghae made himself some instant noodles and took them to his room. He changed his uniform quickly into more comfortable clothes; checking every few second the window in case Hyukjae decided to show up, and then sat down on his desk to do his homework so he could have Saturday and Sunday free.

About five minutes later he heard a knock on the window and he turned to see Hyukjae entering his room.

“What are you doing fishy?” he asked making his way through Donghae’s room and sitting down on Donghae’s bed.

“Homework, so I can go out with you tomorrow” Donghae said returning to work on his math problems. “You finished them already?”

“Yeah, I started at school so I finished them already” Hyukjae said proudly. Donghae smiled softly. “Fishy seriously you have all your clothes on the floor” Hyukjae said frowning.

“Well, excuse me, I can deal perfectly well with my room like this” Donghae said not turning away from his books. Something pretty curious about Hyukjae’s and Donghae’s relationship was that while Hyukjae was a cleaning freak, claiming it calmed him down to have everything organized, Donghae was a mess. His room, his backpack, everything he had was a mess. Hyukjae though always offered to clean it for him.

“Can I tidy up? While you work on your homework?” he asked politely.

“Go ahead” Donghae said simply.

Hyukjae got up from bed, took off his extra sweater –it was February ad it was a bit chilly outside, although not so much once inside- and started picking dirty cloth after dirty cloth and putting them on a basket. He made Donghae’s bed and kind of organized his closet. Once he was done, he sat back in bed and stare at Donghae while the latter worked on his assignment.

Daring his eyes from Donghae to Donghae’s nightstand Hyukjae noticed a medium black wristband with a monkey smiley face sewn on it.

“You know, you don’t have to wear it right now, sweaters are better for the weather” Hyukjae said grabbing the wristband between his fingers, running his thumb through the monkey’s right eye. “You should probably throw it… it’s all wasted now”

“No, I like it” Donghae said immediately, closing his notebooks. “I don’t have to use it because of the weather but I like to, it gives me strength” Donghae said softly, voice a bit more than a whisper, looking down at his fidgeting fingers, and with a small sad smile.

Hyukjae turned his gaze from the wristband and unto his best friend’s frame. He sighed and left the wristband on the nightstand.

“I should probably make you another though, since this is all dirty and it’s all loose now” Hyukjae said standing up from the bed and stretching. “Well, I guess it’s time I go back, dinner is about to be served. You had dinner already fishy?” Hyukjae asked glancing down at Donghae.

“I just made myself some noodles” Donghae said showing the bowl to Hyukjae.

“You don’t wanna have dinner with us?” Hyukjae asked politely, staring at the bowl of instant noodles that must be cold by now. Donghae shrugged the invitation.

“Ok so, I’ll see you tomorrow then fishy” Hyukjae said opening the window and stepping outside, before he left he blew Donghae a flying kiss just to joke around and then he finally closed the window after him.

It wasn’t until Hyukjae was gone that Donghae flailed his hands in front of him and stomped his feet against the floor from the kiss Hyukjae threw him. After his little ‘fanboy’ moment he turned around on the wheel chair to his bed only to find Hyukjae’s sweater on it.

Silly Hyukjae, he thought leaving his stuff here.

He grabbed the sweater and was about to open the window and cross to give the sweater back to Hyukjae but the smell of sweets and cologne hit his nose and he stopped mid-action.

He brought the sweater closer to his nose and sniffed. The smell that entered through his nose was none other than strawberries combined with sweet cologne that was so Hyukjae.

Donghae turned towards the window and bit his lip softly. He looked at the sweater and back at the window.

“Hyukjae do you need your sweater?” he asked the air in a whisper “no Donghae, you can have it” he answered himself, faking Hyukjae’s voice “okay, thanks” he answered quickly before again pressing the sweater against him and sniffing.

Donghae then left the sweater aside, to take his noodles and start eating. He left half the bowl before he decided he needed something to drink. He put the sweater on and headed outside his room. He could hear the TV. downstairs signalizing that his father was home.

He hugged the sweater close to him before going down the stairs.

When he came back up with a glass of juice, he locked himself in his room and went back to bed. He finished his glass of juice and ate a bit more of the noodles but he wasn’t hungry anymore so he left a little less than the half of the bowl.

He took off the sweater and lay in bed. Hyukjae had made his bed but had taken off the extra blanket that was now neatly folded at the foot of the mattress. Donghae took off the sweater and covered his upper-half with it, making sure a small part of it covered at least his mouth so his nose could still breathe in Hyukjae’s smell.

Donghae only kept on sniffing the sweater until he fell asleep.

Half an hour later Hyukjae was back at Donghae’s room.

“Hey Hae I think I fo-” he started entering carefully through the window. He stopped once he saw Donghae’s state. He came closer to the bed to take a closer look at Donghae’s sleeping frame, he couldn’t see his hands but Hyukjae guess they were clutching his’ sweater tightly, Donghae’s eyes were perfectly close, his mouth was hidden by his’ sweater, his nose was barely uncovered, and Donghae was curled into a ball just a little, probably since he was cold.

“Never mind, I don’t need it anyway” he said in merely a whisper.

Hyukjae turned from Donghae to his nightstand and saw the plate of noodles that was on it; he then turned to Donghae again and noticed that he was shivering lightly. He smiled softly seeing how the younger in his sleep tried to fold his legs into the sweater to protect them from the cold.

Silly fishy, going to sleep without a blanket in midwinter Hyukjae thought.

He walked over to the foot of the bed and took the blanket from it. He unfolded it careful of not making a sound and then delicately covered Donghae with it so he wouldn’t be cold. He then turned off the light and using his celphone he made his way to the window.

“Goodnight Hae”

~~

“Ready Hae?” Hyukjae asked Donghae, as the later met him in the sidewalk.

“Yeah” Donghae said nodding “oh by the way… you forgot your sweater yesterday” he added handing Hyukjae his sweater. Hyukjae was wearing a red scarf which he took off, to put the sweater on.

“Thanks” he said simply adjusting the extra sweater and rearranging his scarf around his neck. “Did you have breakfast already?” Hyukjae asked half curious half concerned.

“No, I wasn’t hungry” Donghae answered nonchalantly. Hyukjae eyed him concerned.

“Are you hungry?” Hyukjae asked eyes glued to Donghae’s face. Donghae locked eyes with Hyukjae.

“Not really” Donghae said quietly “I’m ok though, don’t worry” he added quickly. Hyukjae stared at Donghae for a whole minute completely in silence.

Donghae cleared his throat “So, shall we go?” Donghae asked awkwardly, looking at the floor, and shifting his weight back and forth. Hyukjae nodded.

While walking they both decided to spend their day at the park alongside the Han River.

“So… what did Jessica want yesterday?” Hyukjae asked leaning against the cold railing that was on the ledge between firm land and the icy water from the river. While Hyukjae was playing around the other side of the railing, Donghae opted for sitting down against it.

“Not much, she asked me out to the valentine’s dance” Donghae said nonchalantly, Hyukjae however gripped the railing harder.

“And?” Hyukjae asked smirking.

“Nothing Hyuk, I declined” Donghae said staring up at Hyukjae with a playful smirk that was returned by the other.

“why?” Hyukjae asked curiously, a playful smile on his lips.

Donghae returned his sight to the bench in front of him, the corners of his lips lowered into a tight line, he gulped, and then he sighed. He shrugged his shoulders before answering “I don’t even know if I’m going”

“I don’t know either” Hyukjae said resting his head above his arms crossed over the railing.

“Really? Thought you’ll go with Hyoyeon” Donghae said staring right in front of him, heart beating painfully.

“With Hyoyeon? Why would I even go out with Hyoyeon?” Hyukjae said laughing, staring at Donghae like if he was a madman.

“I thought you liked her” Donghae confessed, confused by Hyukjae’s reaction.

And then Hyukjae burst out in laughter.

“Y-You t-t-thought I l-ked Hyo?” Hyukjae asked between intakes of breath and fits of laughter.

“yeah?” Donghae asked still confused.

Hyukjae breathe in deeply trying to get to his normal breathing, he inhaled and exhaled a few times until he got his breath back and then he jumped to the other side of the railing, to be safe on ground.

“Donghae, Donghae, Donghae” Hyukjae said shaking his head in disapproval.  Donghae raised an eyebrow in question. “Whatever made you think that? I can’t go out with her to the dance because she is going with her boyfriend, and I don’t like Hyoyeon, well not in a romantic way… she is not… my type” Hyukjae answered sitting down besides Donghae staring at him.

Donghae’s mouth opened wide in surprise.

“Hyoyeon has a boyfriend?!” he asked trying his best to contain the excitement he felt by knowing that Hyukjae didn’t like Hyoyeon. Hyukjae had never mentioned it and Donghae had never asked he just assumed by the way the two of them got along. Hyukjae nodded. “wait… if she’s not your type… who is your type?” Donghae asked truly curious though scared of the answer.

Hyukjae looked up front, then to his right so he wouldn’t face Donghae. After a minute or so Hyukjae looked back at Donghae

“Race-ya to the food cart” he said quickly before getting up and running away. Donghae blinked confused several times before catching what Hyukjae had said.

“You little- LEE HYUKJAE!” he yelled before getting up and running towards Hyukjae. By the time Donghae had caught up with him Hyukjae had already bought a plate of tteokbokki* and was holding it in his hands.

Hyukjae turned around with the plate just in time for Donghae to meet up with him. Donghae was out of breath and he was leaning down against his knees to try and catch it back. Once he did he reincorporated only to have Hyukjae touch his nose leaving sauce on it.

“Got-cha” Hyukjae said smiling.

Donghae stuck out his tongue in response, Hyukjae only laughed at him.

“Come on, Hae let’s go to a bench to eat this ok?” Hyukjae asked, smiling victoriously. Donghae sighed and nodded.

They sat down on a near bench, Hyukjae to Donghae’s right. Hyukjae was holding the plate of food while Donghae feed them both using chopsticks. The icy cold wind blew past them making Donghae shiver in his seat, and it was then that Hyukjae noticed just how unprotected was the younger.

“Jesus Donghae, how can you go out in mid winter with no scarf on?” Hyukjae reprimanded, putting the plate of unfinished food aside. He got up from the bench, took off his scarf and extra sweater and handed both to Donghae. The latter only looked at him estranged.

“I’m alright Hyuk, you should wear them” he said handing the items back to Hyukjae.

“Donghae, you’ll get sick, wear them” Hyukjae said refusing to take the items back.

“And what about you?” Donghae asked concerned.

“I’ll be alright don’t worry, put them on” he said taking the sweater from Donghae and trying to force the younger into it.

With a lot of struggle Hyukjae managed to get Donghae inside the sweater. Donghae pouted and he stared at Hyukjae as the later grabbed the scarf to tie it around Donghae’s neck. Hyukjae looked up at Donghae and smiled a big gummy smile.

“I bet you’ll look cuter in the scarf fishy” he said playfully.

“Not letting you put the scarf around me though” Donghae said seriously.

“Wanna bet?” Hyukjae asked confidently. “whoever wins treats the other for dinner”

“Deal” Donghae said confidently. Hyukjae smiled. Donghae stared at him and smiled too, before taking off running. Hyukjae ran after Donghae.

Hyukjae being a better runner than Donghae caught up with him and pulled on his sweater, pulling Donghae towards him. Donghae fell back, his back hitting Hyukjae’s chest, the older sneaking his arm around the other’s waist. Donghae’s eyes widened, his whole body going numb and the only part of him reacting was that spot Hyukjae’s arm was placed.

Donghae didn’t even felt when Hyukjae wrapped the scarf around his neck because his mind was still trying to deal with the fact that Hyukjae was back hugging him, and his arm was on his waist, not his chest bus his waist.

“I win” he heard Hyukjae whisper against his ear, his breath hitting his skin sending a thousand volts against his body. Hyukjae’s arm then left his waist only for his hand to grab the left side of Donghae’s face and bring it closer to Hyukjae so he could place a chaste kiss against Donghae’s cheek before completely separate of him.

Donghae really didn’t need the scarf anymore for his whole face was burning from Hyukjae’s light kiss.

“Come on fishy! You have to buy us dinner!” Hyukjae said walking ahead of him. Donghae brought the scarf up to his nose so that only his eyes could be seen and then he followed Hyukjae.

~~

It was midnight and they both were in their houses, when Donghae tried to suppress the screams coming from downstairs. He tried to ignore the breaking glass, the loud volume of the TV, and his father’s angry voice.

Donghae was sitting against his locked door, knees up to his chest, his head buried in them, and his hands covering his ears trying his best to keep himself together. After one loud crash of a bottle being thrown against the floor, Donghae had cringed in fear. It was then that he decided it was enough and he quickly got up and out the window.

He crossed the tree, knocked on Hyukjae’s window that showed nothing but darkness, and finally opened it up to enter. Donghae closed the window and locked it before taking off his shoes and crawling inside Hyukjae’s bed.

“Donghae?” Hyukjae asked in a slurry voice being awakened by the hits on his window.

“Can I… can I just stay here for a while?” Donghae asked in a small voice, trying his best not to show just how bad he felt. He really didn’t like to bother Hyukjae when the other was trying to sleep so he tried his best to stay strong and calm back at home, but sometimes it was just too much for him.

“… sure, are you ok?” Hyukjae asked concerned.

“Yeah” Donghae said, voice barely a whisper.

“Okay then” Hyukjae said softly bringing Donghae close so he could hug him.

“Thanks” Donghae said tiredly.

“It’s ok Hae” Hyukjae whispered drifting off to sleep again.

~~

chan chan chaaaaan

(what am I even doing?)

I either write really hot y or sweet adorable fluff there is no in between.

(and this is going to be fluffy as whinnie pooh)