“So, where do you wanna start with this mess?” Zhoumi asked, hands on hips and staring judgedly at the mess on the floor.

Donghae sighed and shook his head. He got on his knees and started to pick up the scattered laundry. Zhoumi got down beside him and started to move the stereo out of the way. Once the only things left was the broken glass and dishes, the two were at a loss as to what to do.

“There’s no way that painting can be salvaged, huh?” Donghae said, motioning to the picture frame that had snapped in two, completely ruining the painting inside of it.

“Yeah, it’s too bad, it looks like a pretty nice picture.” The red head said, looking from the broken glass to the now empty spot on the wall.

“It was nice, I guess.” The brunet shrugged his shoulders, trying to remember what the picture had looked like when it was on the wall. He had never really payed it any attention, but there was a faint memory of it in the back of his mind. A quaint house overlooking a lovely green lawn with various decorations placed accordingly. He also remembered Sungmin saying something about it before, but he couldn’t recall the exact conversation.

“Well, it’s going in the trash now.” Zhoumi said, and disappeared back into the kitchen, mentioning something about a broom.

Donghae got to his knees again and started to carelessly pick up the broken pieces of glass from the painting and the broken pieces from the bowl that were unfortunately soaked in lukewarm soup. His mind was blank and it was reflected on his face that he wasn’t thinking about much. He picked up a piece of glass and added it to the pile on his hand. He felt a faint pinch on his finger, but he disregarded that and continued to collect the sharp pieces.

“Yah! Lee Donghae!” Zhoumi shrieked and tapped the brunet’s shoulder with the end of the broom, although it was more like a whack than an innocent tap.

“Huh?” Donghae looked up at the tall boy and then looked down at his hands. He was bleeding. “Oh.” He stood up.

“Don’t you ‘oh’ me! You’re ing bleeding all over the place! We need to get that cleaned up!” Zhoumi was shouting and running all over the place. He didn’t know where anything was, so it was in a futile attempt that he searched for a bathroom and a first aid kit. In the end, Donghae had to lead him to the nearest bathroom, where the red head frantically washed off the blood and did a fairly bad job of bandaging it.

“You’re not very good at this, you know.” Donghae chuckled, then winced because his friend had pulled the bandages tightly on purpose. Donghae glared at him.

“It’s your fault for cutting yourself like that, really now! What were you even thinking? I specifically went to get a broom to do that. Ah, seriously, you airhead.” He continued to scold the brunet while applying first aid, and then even still when they were cleaning.

It didn’t take them that long after the accident. They swept all of the broken pieces and put them in the trash can outside with the ruining painting. After that they had to mop the floor since there was chicken noodle soup everywhere, and that was the most difficult process because Zhoumi absolutely refused to touch any of the ‘slimy, disgusting, wet gross stuff’ so Donghae had to do it all even though he wore rubber gloves so his cut didn’t get infected.

They had finally finished and the hallway was sparkling clean and looked as though nothing had happened, except for the missing frame on the wall. The two boys looked at it with reluctance but since they couldn’t exactly do anything about it, they left it how it was.

“So, now we can finally get back to what we were actually supposed to be doing today.” Donghae sighed and sat down at one of the island stools.

“I’m going to help myself to your food, m’kay?” Zhoumi said and went over to the fridge to grab some drinks.

“Oh, sorry about that, I should be the one getting snacks for my guest.” He looked up and saw Zhoumi walking over to the island and putting down two bottles of water and a bag of…carrot sticks? “Why are you eating something like that?” He asked, eyeing the china-man as he took a bite out of a baby carrot.

“What? Is there anything wrong with eating healthy? Unlike your fat , I would like to keep my slender figure.” Zhoumi gave a smug look and passed the bag to Donghae who reluctantly took a carrot and started munching on it. It’s all for my figure, he thought and grimaced.

“Did you bring your science notes for me to copy?” Donghae asked looking at Zhoumi across the table.

“No.” He deadpanned.

“What?! Then why the hell are you here?” The brunet slumped in his stool and groaned, thinking about how screwed he was on the academic level of school.

“To talk about clothes, obviously!” Zhoumi squealed and moved over to sit beside Donghae. He took out his phone and started to show Donghae pictures from the newest clothing line.

“Ugh, I am so going to have to repeat this year…” Donghae rolled his eyes and indulged Zhoumi in his rant about which of the new outfits would go with his bag that he bought at the mall the other day.

“Hey Mimi,” the brunet started, stopping the fashionista in the middle of his sentence.

“What?”

“Since you got to ask me and all, I should get an answer too. Are you gay?” Donghae studied the other’s face to see if it would change, hoping that he would start freaking out or something.

“Hmm, I do have to admit that boys are quite scrumptious, but s aren’t bad either….” He paused and looked Donghae up and down with a scrutinizing look, making the said boy feel uneasy. “I mean, my one true love really is clothes, but if I might say, I wouldn’t mind dating a cutie like you.” Zhoumi gave the brunet a wink that sent shivers up his spine.

No! What are you saying?! You are meant to be with Henry forever!!!! Is what the brunet was thinking, but he was much too flustered to get any words out. The china-man burst out into laughter and tackled Donghae to the floor, messing up his hair while they wrestled on the floor.

“It was a joke! Ooh, but I do so love to see your adorable reactions!”

“See you at school later,” Zhoumi said, waving from the sidewalk in front of Donghae’s house. “Invite me over some other time, when your roommate isn’t sick!”

“Just no more weird pranks, okay!” Donghae shouted back, smiling and waving as his new friend vanished out of sight.

Once Zhoumi was gone, Donghae went back inside the quiet house. Although it didn’t stay quiet for long as he heard a door slam shut followed by loud shouting. The brunet didn’t feel like dealing with anything else, so he headed towards his special room, but on his way he couldn’t help but to hear some of the conversation.

“Oh come on! Minnie!” Siwon’s voice, and banging on a door.

“No! You stay out there for the rest of your life!” Sungmin shouting from inside the door.

“Just let me in! I’m really sorry! I won’t do it ever again!”

“Hmph! Yeah right, you ing ert! I’m sick for god’s sake! Jesus, can’t you learn some self-control and stop insisting for a fourth round?”

“Don’t use the lord’s name in vain, and I said I was sorry!”

The conversation ended there because Donghae was much too embarrassed and his face was far too warm to continue listening in. He slipped the key from the envelope and quickly unlocked the door, shutting himself inside and away from the noise. He sat in his favourite spot by the window where he tried to calm his racing heart. Sure, he was used to hearing Siwon and his roommate’s idiotic bantering, but every time it seemed to get more and more racy. The entire fiasco that evening had reminded him of something that happened not long ago.

The brunet’s face was a bright and steaming red as he fiddled with his thumbs. Long and slender fingers began to caress his thigh in soothing circles.

“Come on babe, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before.” A husky voice filled his ears and radiated warmth throughout his body.

“B-But, it’s different now…because you w-want to…” He trailed off when a pair of soft lips hovered over the spot that had just been touched not seconds ago.

“I’ll take good care of you, I promise Hae.”

Donghae looked out of his window into the yard. He stared at the white gazebo and imagined that it would be fun if he and Zhoumi had a tea party out there or something, they could even bring Henry over to make it a complete set.

The brunet sighed. He noticed that he had been sighing a lot lately. He figured that it was because of what his teacher had talked to him about, or more like what he had been forced into doing. Donghae knew that it wasn’t a good idea, and he didn’t really want to so it. He was so afraid, because it reminded him of last year. It reminded him of all that pain and humiliation that he had to withstand. He just wanted this year to go by peacefully, but it was looking like that was far from happening. Signing up to play lead role in the open house play? That was asking for a beating.

The boy looked down at his bandaged finger and an image of Zhoumi popped into his head. I hope he doesn’t get involved in all of this, he thought. He pictured Zhoumi and Henry smiling brightly because they didn’t really know anything about him, and he didn’t want that to change. Kibum and Minho too, who were trying their best to act normal for him, he wanted to keep their happy days together intact for as long as he could.