First published as individual one-shot on 14th Dec 2013.

“Pssst!!”

“…”

“Nemo, are you sleeping??”

Donghae gently patted the head of his orange clownfish plushie and whispered into its ear (if the fish had an ear).

“Are you awake, Nemo? I can’t sleep!! I’m so excited!!”

Donghae rolled over and sat up on the bed, holding the fish tightly in his arms. The fish listened patiently while the boy began gabbling away. It wasn’t entirely his fault that he couldn’t sleep that night. Hyukjae, his best friend whom he’d have a crush on since forever, had just asked Donghae to be his boyfriend that day. Donghae had been mildly surprised because he never thought his best friend actually swung that way; however as soon as he reached home that night, the news finally settled in and he was simply ecstatic.

That explained why it was now already twelve-thirty midnight, and he still couldn’t keep still, much less sleep a wink.

Donghae tried all kinds of methods to fall asleep (because he had morning school tomorrow, dammit) but not a single one of his methods could work. He even tried counting fish, really, he tried, but he’d already reached 1000 and he was still wide-awake. He finally gave up and sat up in bed while hugging his knees, rocking himself to and fro.

“Aishh… Pabo Hyukjae… Why aren’t you letting me sleep??”

Suddenly, he heard the rustle of leaves from outside his window, and he thought he heard a couple of scratches. He stiffened and stole a glance at the window, which only showed the silhouette of the apple tree growing outside. Scratches sounded again, and he thought he heard panting. Donghae widened his eyes in fright. He lowered himself into the blankets and closed his eyes tightly, hoping that this was all a nightmare and he’d wake up from it soon.

Someone slipped his fingers under the window-pane and began lifting the glass window before climbing in stealthily, but not as quietly as he stumbled across a couple of glass marbles Donghae somehow forgot to clean up the other day. Meanwhile, Donghae was literally shivering under the blankets when he heard the person walking towards his bed, pinching himself to wake up from this nightmare but to no avail.

The person sat on Donghae’s single bed, making the side dip down under his weight. Donghae froze in fright. He could feel the intruder bending over his huddled form and the covers were slowly and slightly lifted to reveal…

“Hae?”

Donghae gasped. How did he know his name? Wait, there was something utmost familiar about that voice; he’d heard it at least a million times before, and he’d just heard it again nearly four hours ago. He recognized that voice. Relief and anger somewhat bubbled through Donghae at the same time as he threw open his eyes and tackled the intruder to the floor in a bone-crushing hug, literally.

“LEE HYUKJAE YOU IDIOT!!!!!”

Hyukjae didn’t expect Donghae to attack him like that so he fell to the ground along with the sheets and blankets. He couldn’t help laughing at the relieved face that was trying to strangle him now for scaring him in the middle of the night. Donghae straddled the elder and began hitting his head with his pillow, drawing amused giggles from Hyukjae.

“Stop, stop, Hae, stop…” begged the elder, trying his hardest to avoid the pillow punches. “Is this how you greet your boyfriend??”

Donghae stopped and glared down at Hyukjae, trying to look stern but a small smile was tugging at his lips. “Is this how you plan to scare your boyfriend every night?”

“Aish, and I thought you’d be glad to see me tonight.”

“You could have called or texted first, you know. I wouldn’t have been scared out of my wits then,” replied the younger, getting off Hyukjae. “And I believe the front door would have been a much easier entrance than climbing in through my window.”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t mean to scare you. I meant to surprise you. I never thought you’d still be awake at this time.”

“And whose fault is it?” said Donghae, crossing his arms and turning around so that Hyukjae wouldn’t see his failed attempt at being strict.

“Aww baby, I’m sorry… Why couldn’t you sleep?” Hyukjae walked up to the younger and hugged him from behind. “Could it be… You were thinking of me?”

“Who would be thinking of you, you arrogant pabo.”

“Ahh, denial,” muttered Hyukjae, placing a small kiss on Donghae’s nape.

Donghae tried to wipe away any trace of him smiling and turned around to face Hyukjae. “Why did you come over anyway?”

“I missed you,” pouted Hyukjae. “I wanted to see you again.”

Donghae rolled his eyes, but inside he felt really, really happy; he just didn’t want to show how clingy he was… yet. “Well, now that you’ve seen me, you can go now.”

“What?”

“You wanted to see me again, right? So now that you’ve seen me, you may leave now. I want to sleep.”

“But what if I miss you again?”

“Then you’ll see me again tomorrow morning. We’re in the same class together, pabo.”

“But I want to spend time with you…”

“Lee Hyukjae, what’s wrong with you? I thought I was the clingy one of us two, not you.”

“Is it wrong to miss my boyfriend?” asked Hyukjae sadly, a big pout evident on his lips.

Donghae just couldn’t help grinning when he heard the word boyfriend. Yes, he was in love with this idiot who was acting like a love-sick puppy right now. Perhaps he was the bigger idiot for falling in love with him.

“Eh eh eh, I should have known…” Hyukjae somehow caught on when he saw the younger smiling. “You’re in love with me.”

Donghae scowled and pulled a raspberry at him.

Hyukjae merely laughed and tackled him to the bed. “Don’t worry, Hae honey, I’m in love with me too. I’m just too irresistible!!” He laughed when Donghae tried to kick him off the bed, but he ducked every kick and pinned the younger onto the bed with his body, their faces dangerously close. Donghae stopped struggling when he realized their close proximity and stared into the elder’s eyes, blushing hard. (Not that it was visible in the dark anyway.)

“Hyuk… I…”

“Shh… Don’t say anything.”

Hyukjae pressed their foreheads together and whispered softly, his gaze never leaving Donghae’s. “I really missed you, Hae.”

Donghae gulped and cursed his heart for racing madly when he did that. He thought Hyukjae could actually hear the ba-thump! ba-thump! that was echoing loudly in his head. Hyukjae caressed his hot cheek and then pecked hi