2: THE AFTERMATH

Eunhyuk’s shout of disbelief made Donghae take a step back and look back at the store manager’s door. There was no way the man hadn't heard that. However, it would be another five minutes until he would come out though; he wasn’t the speediest of people in this kind of situation.

“I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend until one day after graduation,” Donghae repeated the proposition causing Eunhyuk to gasp in disbelief.

“I can’t believe you said it again. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I think it’s a fair compromise,” Donghae claimed as he waved the black t-shirt in Eunhyuk’s face. “You’re the one who tried to steal this.”

Eunhyuk swatted Donghae’s arm away from his face; there was shame clearly evident on his face.

“I don’t even want the shirt; it’s ugly.”

Donghae looked at Eunhyuk and noticed the other boy was still in his uniform, as well. Much like himself, Eunhyuk’s tie was long gone, but the blue blazer and white button-down shirt were still in place, though Eunhyuk had ed the first three buttons and his khaki slacks were wrinkled.

“So, why did you steal it?” Donghae asked. He watched as Eunhyuk his lips and tilted his head to the side. He was clearly frustrated and Donghae was not making it any better.

“It was a stupid bet. I immediately regret it.”

Donghae scoffed in disdain as he flung the shirt on to his shoulder.

“What a stupid reason to steal something!” he criticized quickly.

Eunhyuk closed his eyes and lowered his head.

“Yeah, I’m aware of that. I don’t need you telling me.”

“Clearly you do since none of your friends told you not to do it.”

“They said I was boring and would never do something like steal.”

Donghae shook his head. It was the most ridiculous thing Eunhyuk had said so far. Donghae could only imagine the nonsense he would be doing if he were friends with these people.

“Some friends you got there.”

Eunhyuk’s jaw dropped in exasperation.

“At least I have friends,” he defended himself. It only made Donghae laugh.

This surprised both of them.

Donghae had no idea where his confidence was coming from. It was not that he doesn’t talk like this with his coworkers or even his older brother, but he never thought this was how a conversation with Eunhyuk would be going.

Not at all.

He always imagined it going a lot smoother and nicer than this.

“I have friends,” Donghae haughtily chuckled.

Albeit, his only friends were his coworkers and they barely hung out after work, but they were still cordial with each other. The only problem was that they all went to the coed high school instead.

“I’ve never seen you talk with anyone except to answer the teacher’s questions,” Eunhyuk disputed.

Donghae immediately caught on to what was going on.

Eunhyuk was trying to talk his way out of the real situation.

Again.

“They go to different schools,” Donghae contested. “But that’s not what we’re talking about right now. My friends are not the problem here.”

Eunhyuk breathed heavily out of his nostrils as he bit his bottom lip.

It was a nervous tick of his; Donghae knew this. He’d seen him react like this around teachers when he hadn’t done the required assignments.

“It’s just a stupid t-shirt,” Eunhyuk whined in defense, trying to reason with Donghae.

“Granted,” Donghae began, “it’s a stupid and ugly shirt, but it means a lot more to the store than that. It means the store loses money and then I lose money from my paycheck. So no, it’s not just a stupid t-shirt.”

“Look Donghae, I didn’t mean it. Okay? Can’t you just let it go?”

Donghae was taken aback for a moment. He had no idea that Eunhyuk had known his name. They’d gone to school together for years, but had only the one speaking encounter in middle school.

“You know my name?”

“We’ve gone to school together since we were kids. Plus, the teacher says it all the time,” Eunhyuk admitted. “I’d have to be stupid not to know it by now.”

At that moment, Junghoon, the store manager stepped out of his office with a bleary look on his face. He yawned as he spotted Donghae. He knew the manager had been sleeping in his office.

Eunhyuk swallowed loudly in fear. Donghae looked the man over and inwardly high-fived fate for giving him this moment.

“Donghae,” Junghoon called out to him. “What’s going on? Shouldn’t you be cleaning up for closing?”

“I was just de—”

“Helping me pick out a shirt,” Eunhyuk cut him off. Donghae turned to stare at his classmate and give him a ‘what the hell are you talking about’ look or what Kyuhyun referred to as Donghae’s "WTF" face.

“Well, Donghae ring up the t-shirt and then start closing up. Call me in the back when you’re done.”

“Actually—” Donghae started to say, but when Eunhyuk looked at him, he quit speaking. The look in Eunhyuk’s eyes caused Donghae to retreat from tattling on him.

“What?” Junghoon asked.

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Junghoon nodded his head and headed back to his office. In his sleepy state, he ended up knocking over the sunglasses rack.

“Clean that up, will you?” He called out behind him before he finally entered his office. Donghae immediately turned to Eunhyuk.

“You know you have to buy that shirt now. My boss will be looking for it in the receipts.”

Eunhyuk chuckled over-confidently. “He doesn’t look like the sharpest tool in the shed.”

“Don’t be fooled by what you just saw. He’s not as stupid as he appears.”

“Whatever,” Eunhyuk dismissed him. “I’m leaving.”

Donghae was the one to chuckle assuredly this time. It unnerved Eunhyuk and caused him to stop walking toward the entrance.

“You know,” Donghae threatened, “all it would take is me telling the manager to rewind the security tapes to see exactly what went down. It’ll take all of two minutes.”

“I’m not going to date you!” Eunhyuk tried to declare it sternly, but there was a warble in his speech that belittled his attempt.

“Pretend to date,” Donghae corrected. “And you are.”

“Have you always been this conniving?” Eunhyuk asked and Donghae shook his head.

“I’m just taking advantage of a situation I never thought I’d be in.”

Eunhyuk slumped his shoulders as he let out a defeated sigh. Donghae felt sorry for his crush for a few moments, but that changed when Eunhyuk shouted.

“This is blackmail!”

“It’s more like community service.”

Eunhyuk stared back in shock after hearing Donghae’s reasoning.

“Have you always been this delusional?”

“You seem to be confusing delusional with opportunist.”

“Why me?” Eunhyuk asked in a whisper. It was clear that he was talking to himself, but Donghae still decided to reply.

“Because you shoplifted.”

Eunhyuk yelled in frustration as he stomped his foot on the floor.

“Thank you for that one, Sherlock. I’m aware of how I got into this situation.”

“No need to be mean,” Donghae argued and Eunhyuk reacted by shoving Donghae backwards.

“Who do the do you think you are?”

“Donghae. We’ve established this.” His answer incensed Eunhyuk further.

It even shocked Donghae momentarily. He had no idea where all the sass had come from, but honestly, Donghae had a handful of school years to build up this much aggression.

“How are you so nonchalant about this? Blackmail is also a crime you know,” Eunhyuk probed as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“True,” Donghae retorted, “but I’m pretty sure stealing warrants more time in jail, especially since blackmail amongst high school students isn’t really up to the level of, let’s say...blackmailing a politician.”

“I’m not even gay!” Eunhyuk protested.

Donghae chortled as he started fixing up the knocked over sunglasses display. Eunhyuk followed him over to that side of the store.

“We both know that’s a crock of .”

“Excuse me!” Eunhyuk screeched. His eyes were as open as they could be as he looked down at Donghae kneeling on the floor.

Donghae looked up at Eunhyuk with a grin on his face. It let Eunhyuk know that he apparently knew something Eunhyuk had been hiding.

“I saw you out on a date in Itaewon last month.”

“I was just having dinner with a friend.”

“Well then, I want to be that kind of friend with you because that kiss I saw was pretty intense.”

Eunhyuk gasped as Donghae stood back up. The look of dread on Eunhyuk’s face made him appear paler than usual.

“None of my friends know. Do you know what you’re asking me to give up?”

Donghae scowled and shook his head. He tsked out loud while placing the sunglasses back in place.

“What kind of friends do you have that they make you shoplift and more importantly, don’t let you be who you are?” Donghae reprimanded. “Why are you so concerned with what they think of you?”

“What teenager doesn’t care about what others think about them?”

Eunhyuk began to help Donghae pick up the sunglasses. He passed up a few to him until they finished the display. The action surprised Donghae.

“I don’t care," he answered honestly.

“So, then why ask me to pretend to be your boyfriend?”

Donghae contemplated on how to answer. He wondered if he should lie and say something about just wanting to get something out of this situation, but he decided to tell the truth.

“Because I like you.”

“What?”

“I. Like. You.” He repeated slowly. “I have for a while. This is also a way to get my mom off my back.”

“Your mom knows that you’re—”

“Gay?” Donghae asked condescendingly. “You know you have to be able to say the word if you ever plan on living with yourself.”

“I can say the word,” Eunhyuk grumbled.

“Then say it.”

“Ga—ga—gay,” he stuttered. The look on Donghae’s face made him feel even more embarrassed.

“Yeah, my mom’s known I’ve liked boys for a long time.”

“What about your dad?” Eunhyuk asked as he followed Donghae around the store floor.

Donghae couldn't help but smile because of it. He wondered if Eunhyuk even realized that it had been over thirty minutes since Donghae propositioned him.

“He passed away a few months ago,” Donghae admitted solemnly. “But he knew.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Eunhyuk repentantly replied. “I didn’t know, but that does explain why you were absent for a week.”

“You noticed I was absent?” This time it was Donghae who was shocked. He didn’t think Eunhyuk actually acknowledged his existence.

“You sit across from me. I’ve seen you looking at me when I’ve woken up from a nap.”

“And you were surprised I said I liked you?”

Eunhyuk chuckled lightly as he leaned against the front counter.

“You’re either really confident or just don’t care.”

Donghae smiled playfully from behind the cash register as he rang up the t-shirt.

“It’s a little of both,” he answered teasingly. “Also, lucky for you, the shirt’s on sale for half-off.”

The change in conversation caught Eunhyuk by surprise. He looked down to where Donghae was gripping the black t-shirt.

“What?”

“You have to pay for the shirt.” Donghae was well aware of what was going on with their conversation; Eunhyuk really did always try to distract people.

“I do—don’t have the money.” Eunhyuk stammered through the confession.

Donghae watched as Eunhyuk wrung his hands in front of him.

“I’ll tell you what,” Donghae started his suggestion, “I’ll pay for the shirt. You can make it part of your every growing tab for not telling the manager.”

Eunhyuk miserably nodded.

“You can bring the damn thing over to your friends, but we still need to talk about what I asked.”

“Do you have a piece of paper?” Eunhyuk asked as he pulled a pen out from his back pocket. Donghae grabbed one of the store’s flyers and turned it over for Eunhyuk to write on.

“That’s my phone number and email address. Call me tomorrow or email me, and we can talk about it.”

Eunhyuk quickly grabbed the shirt and tried to walk to the exit, but Donghae grabbed his arm before he could get anywhere. It caused Eunhyuk to crash back against the display case with belt buckles.

“Do you think I was born yesterday?” Donghae asked while gripping Eunhyuk’s arm tightly. The other boy looked slightly terrified and in pain; Donghae eased the pressure and reached into his pocket with his free hand.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number on the paper. Eunhyuk’s ringtone sounded loudly in the empty store. Donghae immediately let go of the boy when he heard the ringtone.

“Had to make sure it was a real number.”

“I may not be thrilled about this whole situation, but I’m not a liar.”

“Just a thief, then?”

“We’re back to that,” Eunhyuk irritably responded.

“We never left that,” Donghae retorted. “Just remember, that no matter how clever you think you are, I’ll always be two steps ahead of you.”

“You’re a scary dude!” Eunhyuk exclaimed. It made Donghae laugh.

“I’ll email you later.”

Eunhyuk nodded as he headed toward the exit. However, before he left, he turned back around to face Donghae.

“Thanks,” he shouted sincerely. Donghae looked up from the register with a smirk.

“Don’t thank me just yet.”

He waved to Eunhyuk and watched as the boy left with a flustered look on his face.