twenty four;

The first beep of his phone’s alarm is what awakes Donghae the next morning, who grunts tiredly as he reaches for it and impatiently turns it off. Satisfied when quietness prevails in the bedroom once again, he yawns quietly and scrunches his nose up, as he drowsily rubs the sleepiness off his eyes with fisted hands. As he lets out a small groan and stretches his arms above his head, and that an uncomfortable yet still pleasant soreness spreads around his lower back, he feels a warm body curved around his side, while strong arms are possessively wrapped around his waist and a leg has been carelessly thrown over his hips. A little disoriented, he glances down in surprise, until he immediately recognizes the sharp and handsome features that are soothed with sleep. A soft smile spreading over his thin lips, he watches the way Hyukjae unconsciously tries to pull him even closer, his lips parted and his face cutely buried into his shoulder, wet breaths tickling his skin.

With a lazy hum, Donghae heavily rolls on his side until he has his boyfriend curled up in his arms, and gently kisses his forehead. Raising a hand, he slowly runs his fingers through the red locks, before he quietly calls his name and tries to wake him up.

“Hyukkie,” he mumbles and nudges his jawline with the tip of his nose. “Hyukkie, wake up. We have school.”

An incoherent gargle followed by a whiny don’t wanna answers him, prompting him to frown a little. Rolling his eyes at his boyfriend, Donghae quickly slaps his and earns a satisfying yelp. “Hurry up,” he sternly says. “We’re going to be late.”

“Why are you already annoying at this hour of the day?” Hyukjae whines as he buries his face into the crook of his neck. “Let me sleep.”

“No can do,” is his immediate answer, before he forces himself out of bed and goes to retrieve his clothes that fell on the floor the night prior. “Hurry up,” he repeats afterwards. “I’m not going down without you if your parents are still here.”

Yes, because the fact that these very same parents heard them having clearly doesn’t help his case, he darkly thinks and throws a moody glare in Hyukjae’s direction. Way to make a first impression.

Only blinking at him with his single-lidded eyes still thickly clouded with sleepiness, the latter rolls onto his stomach with a whine and cutely rubs the side of his face against his pillow. Unable to stop the fond smile that spreads on his face once again, Donghae flops down on the bed and looks down at him, feeling a familiar rush of something he still isn’t brave enough to pinpoint clench his guts, before he leans down and gives him a long kiss. A happy purr is his reward, before plump lips chastely move along his own, and make his heart pulse incredibly faster at the overwhelming feelings that are poured into that single lip-lock. Gasping a little despite the bashfulness of their kiss, Donghae feels his cheeks slightly heat up without fully understanding the reason why when he slowly straightens up, unable to meet the earnestness that shines within the redhead’s orbs.

“Hey Donghae?” the latter softly calls and absently threads their fingers together on the bed.

“What?” he replies with an equally hushed tone, and feels as if Hyukjae is about to tell him a secret he has never shared with anybody else than him.

A bright, blinding smile that is all teeth and gums, and almost literally sweeps him off his feet is thrown in his direction before he chirps cutely “You know that I really, really like you, right?”

Donghae swears his heart stops a little at that, despite the numbers of time he has heard this exact same words coming from other people’s mouth. But it’s Hyukjae, he realizes, and that’s what makes everything so much different – so much special.

“Of course I know,” he laughs loudly and pinches his waist, earning an outraged yelp. Then, when Hyukjae pouts in his direction and grumbles about ungrateful people who don’t know how to grab the mood, he finally ads in an embarrassed mumble “…me too.”

It’s another cold day that prompts the two boyfriends to hide in the library again. As vacations are getting close, it’s also the case for university exams, which means that most seniors are now spending their free times studying.

And this is exactly what Hyukjae and Donghae are doing at the moment, the two of them seated at table in an empty corner of the library with their books messily scattered all around them.

“…Hey Hyuk?” a soft voice then breaks the silence.

Looking up from the incomprehensible mess that are supposed to be his Korean literature notes, Hyukjae distractedly hums at him and presses his leg a bit closer against his own, wordlessly prompting him to talk.

A conflicted look creases Donghae’s forehead for a second, before he finally utters “I think… I think I should tell my parents. About – I mean, about you.”

This time, it’s Hyukjae who frowns in incomprehension, as he finally gives up on his homework and fully focuses on the brunette. “Me?” he repeats dumbly. “What do you mean? They don’t know about me yet?”

A sheepish look flashes behind Donghae’s round eyes as he chews on his lower lip, before he pouts in his direction and absently plays with the hem of his sleeve. “Well, technically,” he mumbles in embarrassment. “They only think that I have a girlfriend. I already told you that I’m scared of coming out with them, even if I know that they have their doubts. It’s just – I have no idea how they’re going to react, you know? What if Dad gets angry, or disappointed?” He physically winces at the thought, then exhales tiredly and looks up at him. “Don’t be angry at me, Hyukkie,” he says with a cute voice. “And you should be thankful, anyway. I’m doing this because I actually care for you and want them to know about you.”

Feeling slight disappointment creep in him, Hyukjae wordlessly gazes at the unsure glint that is firmly settled in his eyes, and suddenly remembers that night when his boyfriend shakily told him that the reason why he quitted the soccer team was because his father had fell sick with cancer. Thankfully enough, the doctors managed to cure him and he is now as healthy as a horse, but it’s obvious that Donghae is still worried about him.

Which is why Hyukjae actually doesn’t resent him for it, he quickly realizes. The only thing that is important at the moment, he thinks, is the fact that Donghae does want to tell his parents about him, and it honestly can’t make him any happier.

Smiling a little at the puppy eyes that are thrown in his direction, he chuckles a little and squeezes his hand briefly, but enough to tell him it’s ok. “Don’t worry about it,” he says lightly and looks down at his notes again. “Call me when you’re done telling them?”

The bright, happy smile followed by a hard kiss that is pressed against his lips tell him that this is the right choice.

*

“So how did it go?” Hyukaje asks over the phone that night, his back comfortably propped against his pillows as he absently taps on a corner of his laptop. “Are they okay with it?”

Silence follows his words for a second, before an exasperated sigh is heard, and it’s almost if he can see Donghae frowning moodily. “It’s… fine, I guess,” he grumbles somewhat reluctantly.

“…Care to elaborate?”

An unhappy sniff answers him, before Donghae explosively snaps at him. “They actually want to meet you more than when you were supposed to be a girl,” he darkly hisses, then ads with a huff “Mom invites you for dinner next Friday. No excuse, you're coming with me.”

“...what.”

…Well, .

*

There’s two things Hyukjae happens to learn about Donghae’s family when he has dinner at their house that Friday.

Firstly, his mother is an incredible cook. The kimchi stew she prepared was to die for, as much as the cake she prepared for dinner. Honestly, Hyukjae really hopes that his boyfriend has the same cooking skills as her, because he’s not sure if he’s ever going to leave their house if it means not being able to eat that kind of wonderful food anymore (he just hopes his mother won’t get upset).

And secondly, his father and brother are scary as hell – I’m-going-to-hang-you-by-the-feet-and-leave-you-to-starving-jackals-if-you-hurt-my-baby-boy kind of scary.

Note to self, never make Donghae cry.

Dickhae: Hyuk

Dickhae: Hyuk

Dickhae: Hyuk

Dickhae: Hyuk

Dickhae: I’m sorry

Dickhae: please? :’<

Dickhae: pretty please my favorite Hyukkie with strawberries on top?

Hyuk-wit: ............ok fine.

Hyuk-wit: BUT I SWEAR WE ARE ////NEVER/// HAVING IN YOUR LIVING-ROOM AGAIN IT’S ALL YOUR ING FAULT IF DONGHWA HYUNG WALKED IN ON US.

Donghae guesses he should have seen it coming – really, nothing else in the world is as predictable as the situation they are currently in, and it’s almost surprising that it didn’t happen earlier, considering that the both of them are quite attractive. And also, ing incredibly jealous.

He knows that it’s nothing serious and that it’s just a small fight amongst others, but the worried glint he sees glinting in Hyukjae’s eyes makes him want to fling everything on the floor and tell him that no, he is not ever going to leave him.

But, well – knowing the circumstances, he guesses he can understand why Hyukjae is upset. But just a little.

“For God’s sake,” he throws his arms in the air in exasperation, as they stomp out of the mall. “I alreaty told you that I wasn’t flirting, you deaf . You’d have noticed if you weren’t ing battling eyelashes at that Hyoyeon girl!”

“Shut up!” Hyukaje retorts with the same tone and childishly crosses his arms over his chest. “Hyoyeon is just a childhood friend, and you perfectly know it! While Goo Hara, on the other freaking hand, is actually your ex-girlfriend. I have all the rights in the world to get jealous at her, so get your head out of the gutter!”

“You get your head out of the gutter, you jerk!” he hisses with narrowed eyes.

“No, you!” he snaps back.

“I don’t like you!”

“Great, because me neither!”

“Go away!”

“Excuse you, you go away!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

*

And later that night, they clumsily get home (Hyukjae's parents aren't home again) while messily roaming their tongue within each other’s mouth, and end up having torrid, angry that probably awakes the whole neighborhood – until it turns slow and sweet, when they finally forget about their petty jealousy and remember that neither of them is going anywhere.

Dickhae: Hyukkie :( I’m sick........

Hyuk-wit: oww poor baby :(( did you take some medicines?

Dickhae: yes but I still feel like ;-;

Hyuk-wit: get some sleep Hae baby :( <3

*

An hour later, the redhead student quietly steps in Donghae’s dark bedroom, who tiredly lifts his head up upon hearing him.

“Hyukkie?” he calls with a hoarse voice. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” the other replies softly and sits down on the edge of his bed. Putting a cool hand over his burning forehead, he frowns in concern and leans down to peck his nose. “How are you feeling?”

“Horrible,” is the whiny answers he gets. “Wait, what are you doing?” he then difficultly squeaks out when Hyukjae takes his jacket off and slides beneath the bundles of covers next to him. “You’re going to fall sick too!”

“Don’t worry about that,” he utters quietly and cups his unhealthily red cheeks. “Go to sleep and when you wake up, I’ll make you some chicken soup and then we can watch a Disney movie together, ok?”

“...Promise?”

“Promise,” Hyukjae smiles at him. “Now, sleep.”

And Donghae does just that, because Hyukjae is here and everything is fine, now.

*

Two days later, though, it’s the two boys who are confined to bed.

The same one, thankfully, so they guess things could be worse.

“Do you know which universities you’re going to apply to?” Donghae pensively asks one night, when they’re snuggled up under his blankets.

Not answering immediately, Hyukjae wriggles a little and buries his face into his warm chest with a sigh. “Not sure,” he mumbles finally. “I don’t even know what I want to do afterward.”

Donghae hums in response and kisses the top of his head, letting a comfortable silence settle between them. Then, when he feels Hyukjae at the edge of falling asleep, he pulls the blankets higher around them and softly murmurs “Maybe we could go to the same one? You know, since we’re boyfriends and we very, very like each other?”

A tired giggle is his answer, before plump lips presses a soft kiss on his collarbone. “Sure,” he says, and Donghae can hear the smile and happiness in his voice. “I’d love to.”

Because no matter what happens, they are in this together now – and they can’t be any happier about it.

Because it may not be love yet, Donghae thinks, but it’s getting awfully close to it.

lol that crappy ending.

so here's the last chapter ;-;;;; and next one is the epilogue! I can't believe this story is about to be done OTL I loved this dumb eunhae so much, and I'm so going to miss you T^T

ugh, before I start smearing all my feels and fat tears all over the a/n, thank you so much for reading, and please remember to upvote/comment/subscribe <3

I love you all and really wish to see you on my other stories ^^ The epilogue should be up by Saturday, I guess? AND HELL YEAH I MANAGED TO COMPLETE THIS ON TIME WITH THE NUMBER OF CHAP MAX REQUIRED HURRAY /o/

(twitter @tranthanhxuanvn) I love you <3