Omona. This chap is loooong. 3.5k words!! I think I deserve some nice, looong comments too... *pouts*

Thanks SJLover1993 for upvoting and welcome 6 new subbies!! :)

** UNbeta-ed. I know, I'm getting lazy nowadays. Pshhh...

The next day, Donghae woke up with an unusually cheerful demeanour. He couldn’t stop thinking about the ‘plan’ Yesung just told him the night before, and that alone just gave him happy dreams for the entire night. He happily skipped to the bathroom and performed his daily routine just a little quicker than usual before skipping out again to the kitchen while humming an upbeat tune he’d just heard on the radio.

“Morning, daddy!!” Donghae greeted Hangeng with a light kiss on the cheek before plopping down on the empty seat opposite his father. “Mm, this smells heavenly!!” he exclaimed, excitedly digging into a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

His father, who previously had his nose buried in the newspaper earlier, lowered the paper to see his son gleefully munching on his breakfast, glowing in delight. He’d never seen his son this happy in the mornings before; usually he had to yell at Donghae’s door for a couple of minutes before a grumbling Donghae would slowly shuffle through his morning regimen, and it took another fifteen more minutes before he would seat himself at the table for a rather cold breakfast.

Today was so much different.

Hangeng grinned and lifted the newspapers again. “Morning, son. What made you so happy today?”

“Oh… Nothing.”

“Really?” He shifted in his chair to peer closely at Donghae. “Who are you and what have you done to my son?”

“Aish dad, come on, I can’t be happy just for one day, even?” Donghae wanted to snap back, but he still felt like he was soaring on high spirits so decided to be nice. He grinned instead. He then stood up to place the empty plate in the dishwasher and began to leave the kitchen. “I’m going over to Sungie’s place later, so you know where to find me if you need me, dad.”

“Okay. Oh, that reminds me, tell that brat he’d better show up sometime today or else I’m going to consider firing him.”

“Got it. See you later, daddy.” Donghae gave his father a last peck before heading towards his room to gather some stuff he might need… for later.

-

“Sungie!! I’m here already!!” Donghae easily swung his feet over the white fence and peeked into Yesung and Ryeowook’s shared bedroom window. He was about to knock on the door when Heechul swung it open and engulfed Donghae in a huge, motherly hug. 

“Heechul… imo…”

“Good morning to you, my little ball of sunshine!! My, you haven’t come visit us for such a long time!! I’ve missed you so so so so much!!!!”

“I can’t… breathe…” Donghae whined, trying his very hardest to push the feminine man away but not offend him at the same time.

Luckily for Donghae, Yesung came bounding out of his room and managed to release him from Heechul’s death embrace.

“Appa!! You nearly suffocated poor Hae!!” He draped an arm over the younger and nearly glowered at Heechul.

“Aish, Sungie-ah, I just couldn’t help it, I felt so excited at seeing my darling Hae Hae again…”

Donghae cleared his throat and scratched his arm rather awkwardly. “Uhh imo, we kind of live next to each other… and you just saw me yesterday, remember?”

Heechul folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorframe. “Yes, my darling, but that was aaaages ago!! Besides, you hardly ever come here anymore…”

“Appa, maybe you should just go back and rest. The morning humidity probably isn’t good for your face. And by the way, your mask is slipping off.”

Heechul gave a small shriek and adjusted the facemask before blowing kisses to Donghae. “I’ll see you later, my dear!! I might even pay your darling father a visit later…”

-

As soon as Heechul disappeared behind his bedroom door, Yesung pulled Donghae into his shared bedroom, where Ryeowook was already up and playing some sort of racing game on his phone.

“Morning, Wookie,” greeted Donghae, before falling with a plop on the bed.

“Oh, hi. What are you doing here so early?” Ryeowook looked at Donghae and then back at his phone. The latter was about to reply when suddenly Ryeowook spewed curses because he’d lost focus for a while and crashed into a cow. “What in the world was a cow doing in the middle of the road? Aishhh, and I was just about to beat my highscore!!”

Yesung guffawed and leapt onto the bed, landing right on top of his dongsaeng. He began wrestling with the latter and Ryeowook nearly kicked him off the bed. Donghae just sat quietly on his side of the bed, watching the two getting all tangled up with the sheets and blankets, enjoying the fight.

Five minutes later, the winner popped his head out of the blankets and grinned at Donghae, successfully getting himself out of the blankets and kicking the poor loser (who was still wrapped up like sushi) off the bed, landing with a solid “OWW!!” on the ground. Donghae winced on instinct, feeling the pain for his poor, poor assistant.

Ryeowook finally managed to roll himself out of the sheets and lay on the floor, panting for air.

“That was mean, hyung,” he complained, trying to get back on the bed to nurse his throbbing .

Yesung just threw Donghae a sideway smirk before leaping onto the bed again, straddling Ryeowook.

Ryeowook groaned. “Not again, hyung. Please can you get off me? I need to get ready for work.”

“Oh, yeah, work!” Donghae snapped his fingers. As much as he would like to stay and watch the brothers fight, he suddenly remembered what his father said. “Sungie, my dad says if you don’t show up for work today, he’s gonna fire you.”

“Is he serious?” Yesung decided to spare his dongsaeng and got off of him. He looked back at Donghae.

“I think so. I didn’t see his expression though, when he said that.”

“Aishh. Fine. I’ll go later today. But now, we have a plan to carry out.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Ryeowook had gotten off the bed and was now rummaging for clothes.

Donghae playfully slapped Ryeowook’s , making the younger shriek in surprise. “Hey!! I just asked you a question and this is how you answer me?” he pouted. “I’m going to change. You guys can just plot without me. But don’t expect me to cook breakfast for you after you kicked me off the bed, Yesung-sshi.”

“Oooh, I’m so scared.”

Ryeowook turned and walked out of the bedroom in a huff. Donghae couldn’t help laughing at both his friends. He wiped a few tears from his eyes and finally settled down long enough to go through his plan together with Yesung.

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“You bet, Hae-ah. After he’s knocked out we’ll just lock him in your attic upstairs where he’ll have to spend the night!! Isn’t this too brilliant?”

“I’m gonna have to agree with that,” said Donghae, narrowing his eyes with an evil grin on his face. “I can’t wait for tonight.”

As far as Donghae could remember, the attic in his house was haunted. He himself dared not even stay there for long because sooner or later, he would feel and hear a cold gust of wind whistling from the shut windows. He avoided that place at all costs unless necessary, like when his father told him to get a few more cans of hair gel (because it now served as their storeroom). Besides, the place brought back painful memories of his past, and he would prefer not to revisit them again if he could help it.

‘Lee Eunhyuk… I’m going to embarrass you so much, you won’t be able to hold up your head in front of me anymore!! Just you wait…’

* * *

“Sungie-ah!!”

“Shhh, not so loud!! They’re gonna hear you!!”

“Right, I’m sorry.”

“Hae-ah, stand guard here while I check the front. I need to make sure that he’s t