--
While waiting for Sungmin to finish getting ready so they can go to work, Kyuhyun searches through all the bedroom drawers for some batteries to put in the TV remote. Apparently Sungmin had taken the old ones out to put in the new he got (for a friend, he claims). While going through Sungmin’s side of the bedroom, he chances upon a few notebooks filled with Sungmin’s name, along with a nauseating amount of hearts doodled all over it. This looks like the work of a smitten teenage girl, or it could very be the work of his own wife, but even he knows Sungmin doesn’t love himself that much as to go as far as this.
“Sungmin,” he knocks on the bathroom door and abruptly comes in without waiting for an answer, “what the hell are these?”
Sungmin puts down the curling iron to look at the notebooks in the annoyed Kyuhyun’s hands. Realizing it isn’t anything serious, he resumes his primping. “Just some gifts from a friend.”
“What kind of friend would give you something like this? This is bordering creepy—stalker creepy, Sungmin.” Kyuhyun drops the notebooks in the trash, believing that it belongs there. “Who is this ‘friend’?”
He knows he shouldn’t smile, but he can’t help it. He loves it when Kyuhyun gets jealous. “Saeun.”
“Saeun.” He repeats. “Isn’t that a girl’s name?”
“I always thought of it as a uni name—”
“Sungmin.”
“Okay, okay,” he laughs. “Yes, Saeun is a girl, and she’s my friend. I’ve told you about her before. In fact, just last week, I bought her that —don’t you remember?”
“That was really for a friend?” Kyuhyun asks incredulously. “Hold on, I don’t remember ever hearing about her from you. Are you pulling my leg or something?”
“Why would I do that, Kyu?” he’s not surprised Kyuhyun doesn’t remember. Sometimes he thinks Kyuhyun just drowns him out when he talks—he knows a lot of people (namely Heechul) do. “I’ve talked about her countless times before. She’s a student, she’s my friend and we’ve been hanging out together. I’m her mentor; I’m the queen , after all.”
“Wait, are you talking about that Kim Sangmi girl?” he says, realizing. “I think I know her. She has a rep for being…well, for being—”
“Another me, I know. I love it.” He giggles a little just because he loves the fact that he has someone following his footsteps. “However, she stills needs a lot of training, and that’s why she came to me. Well, the fact that she has an unhealthy crush on yours truly might have had something to do with it too.”
“She has a crush on you?” Kyuhyun knows he has nothing to worry about. Sungmin’s gay, and he’s married to and living with him. But then again, Eunhyuk is gay too and he had that little tryst with his female wedding planner. “Does she know you’re gay and married?”
“I don’t think so, which is surprising because most people do. Let’s face it, I’m so gay that even dead people know I’m gay.” He shrugs. “I don’t have the heart to tell her though.”
“Since when? Usually you just say, ‘I don’t have the heart’, period. Since when do you care about other people’s feelings?” he asks, not feeling any better about this conversation. “And the fact that you come to school every other day in women’s clothes doesn’t make her suspicious in the least?”
“I think she just thinks I’m peculiar. And to be completely honest, she’s not the brightest tool in the box.” Sungmin stands up, delicately placing his coiffed wig over his head. He smiles at the gorgeous outcome. “Oh, stop looking at me like that, Kyu. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if you had bothered to listen to me the first few times I talked about her. You’ve just been so caught up in work and in your own personal affairs to give a damn about your wife.”
“Okay, now, don’t start.” Kyuhyun frowns. He and Sungmin have been getting into a lot more arguments lately. He’s even beginning to think that getting Sungmin a job at school wasn’t all that good of an idea after all. “You know that I’ve been busy, and so have you, apparently. We’re adults now.”
“I know. And it .” Sungmin puts the finishing touch on his makeup. He smacks his glossed lips together, grabs a few cosmetic items and shoves them in a small makeup bag Donghae gave him for Christmas. “Come on, let’s go to work.”
--
Eunhyuk (and Yuki on his lap) watches as Donghae scampers around the apartment, frantically getting ready for work. He misses two buttons on his dress shirt, his necktie isn’t even tied properly and he’s pretty sure the man child has just spilled the baby’s formula all over his newly-pressed pants. Eunhyuk would tell him to calm down—it’s not like it’s his first ever day at work, just his first day back since Yuki was born—but he knows Donghae won’t be able to hear any of that. He’s too busy looking for his car keys.
“Found it!” Donghae says from the kitchen. “It’s in the refrigerator. What the hell was it doing in there?”
“Don’t ask me. I don’t even know what goes on in this house most of the time.” Eunhyuk carries his daughter in his arms and hands his wife his coat. “Relax, babe. Everything’s gonna be alright. You’re going to go to work, you’re going to do your job, and I’m going to stay home and take care of our little girl. And when you come home, we’ll be right here, waiting for you with your favorite dinner.”
“Oh God, I can’t wait.” Donghae kisses him goodbye on the cheek. He picks up his suitcase and puts his fedora on his head. “See you tonight.”
Eunhyuk waits a few minutes to make sure Donghae has driven off to work before picking up the baby bag he prepared for Yuki the night before. Thank God Donghae was too busy panicking about work to realize that Eunhyuk isn’t wearing clothes that are meant to stay at home.
“Come on, Yuki, we’re going to work.”
--
“Oh, good morning, Heechul. Morning, Sungmin.”
“Hi, Changmin.” Heechul greets back with a sunny smile that’s very unlike him, but he started off the day with a great round of morning with his live-in boyfriend, so he’s feeling quite generous today.
Sungmin, on the other hand, just huffs. Changmin’s brows knit together in a mix of confusion and offence before continuing to walk past them in the hallway.
“Well, that wasn’t cold. That wasn’t cold at all.” Heechul says dryly. “You’re in your twenties, Sungmin. Grow up a little.”
“I don’t like him.”
“Yes, you’ve made that perfectly clear.” Heechul says. “But just because he’s friends with Kyuhyun? That’s a little harsh. Not to mention very petty.”
“You’re one to give me a lecture about being harsh and petty. Didn’t you sabotage Tiffany’s art project for finals?”
“Tiffany who?” he asks, feigning innocence. He quickly returns to the original subject. “Hey, don’t try to make this about me, this is about you and the weird hatred you harbor for your husband’s best friend. Kyuhyun is allowed to have friends, you know. He might not ever talk about it, but I’m sure he wants friends whom he can hang out with while you’re out doing girly stuff with me and Donghae.”
“He has Eunhyuk.” He points out.
“Yes, but we haven’t been seeing much of Eunhyuk or Donghae ever since their baby came along.” He also raises a point. “And, who are you to complain? You’ve been hanging out with that girl so much that I barely see you anymore either.”
“Aw, do you miss me?” Sungmin teases, not-so-coyly batting his false eyelashes at him. “Don’t worry, Chullie, you’ll always have a special place in my heart.”
“And you’ll always have a special place in my . Stop changing the subject.” He looks at him crossly. “Don’t you think it’s unfair that you get to hang out with other people and he can’t?”
“Maybe, but there’s a difference. Saeun’s a girl, so obviously nothing’s gonna happen between us. But Changmin’s a guy—what if…you know…”
Heechul can’t remember the last time he saw Sungmin look this worried about something. “My god, is that what this is all about? You’re worried Kyuhyun is gonna develop feelings for Changmin?”
“I’m worried he already has. Do you have any idea how many nights he’s been spending out with Changmin? And do you have any idea how much sleep I’ve lost because of that?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I do.” He says. “You call me in the middle of the night every day just to tell me all about how you can’t sleep, and so you just had to make sure I couldn’t sleep either. Oh, and by the way, because of you, it’s getting harder and harder to conceal the stupid bags under my eyes, so thanks for nothing, biatch. The only consolation I get from this is that your eyebags are way worse than mine.”
“Well, forgive me for being worried about my marriage. And the bags under my eyes are Prada, .” Sungmin wonders if his frowning has caused creases to form on his makeup yet. “We all thought Eunhyuk and Donghae were the perfect couple, but look what happened to them.”
“Hey, every couple has problems. But I don’t think this is one of yours.” He tells him. “God, I am so glad that Gunhee and I don’t have these petty, childish problems you people have.”
“Yeah, because you and Gunhee are old. You have old people problems.” Sungmin says, earning a hard slap on the shoulder from the older crossdresser. Ever since the school board relaxed the rule about dress codes a little, Heechul and Sungmin have pounced on the chance to wear the outfits they’ve wanted to prance around in since high school. “And you can’t be serious. Everybody who’s ever been in a relationship has gotten jealous at one point or another.”
“Not me. Nor Gunhee.” He says with a casual shrug. “That’s what’s so great about us. We don’t worry about things like secret affairs or any of that .”
“Well, then, there’s obviously something wrong.” He smirks, knowing he’s about to raise a valid point. “Back when you and Siwon were dating, you didn’t worry either, did you? How did that turn out again? Please, do remind me.”
Heechul freezes. Sungmin’s right, and he wants nothing more than to claw his face with his perfectly manicured nails for it. “I hate you, you know?”
“Oh please, darling, you love me.”
--
“Hyukjae, he’s so adorable! I just want to squeeze his little face to death!”
“She, mom. Yuki’s a girl.” Eunhyuk swore that he would punch the next person who mistakes his daughter for a boy, but since this is his mother, he’ll have to retract on his word for now. “And please don’t kill my baby.”
“I won’t. I can’t say the same for Choco though. She’s been growling at her ever since you came in.” She says, her eyes pointing towards the little Pomeranian yipping by Eunhyuk’s feet. “Say, why don’t we trade? You can get Choco and I—”
“Mom, I’m not giving you my baby.” Eunhyuk rings up a new order at the counter. “And could you please fix her hat? It’s crooked and it’s driving me crazy.”
His mother does move her hat to fix it, but she doesn’t do a very good job of it as Eunhyuk is still peeved at its crookedness that he eventually leaves his station just to do it himself.
“Honestly, Hyukjae, you are so uptight.” She says, feeling a bit dejected when Eunhyuk takes the baby from her. “You don’t have to be so worried. Nothing’s going to happen to your daughter.”
“How can you be sure of that, mom? Anything can happen.” He points out, protectively cradling Yuki and kissing her chubby cheek. “Didn’t you ever worry when noona and I were babies?”
“Of course I did. But eventually I learned that it’s unhealthy to worry too much.”
“So you’re saying I can worry as long as I do it at a healthy extent?”
“Exactly.” She nods. “There is such a thing as being an obsessed parent, Hyukjae.”
“I’d rather be an obsessed parent than a careless one.” Hyukjae begins to nip at Yuki’s tiny ear. “You can’t be too careful, mom. I believe it’s you who taught me that.”
“I knew telling you that was going to backfire on me someday.” She laughs and ruffles her son’s hair. “Well, I do have to say that you’re being a wonderful daddy. Your father and I obviously did a good job of raising you.”
“Hyukjae, we have customers.” His cousin calls. He nods and hands over his baby girl to his mother so he can resume his work. “Hi, welcome to—you have got to be kidding me.”
“Well, I’m certainly going to get a lot of mileage out of this.” Sungmin says with an evil smirk. He might as well rub his hands together like a cartoon villain with a diabolical plan. “So this is your job, huh?”
“What are you two doing here? It’s a school day.” Eunhyuk has been hiding the nature of his job from his friends for months. He didn’t think it would blow up in his face as easily likes this. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“We’re on lunch break.” Heechul reveals, obviously feeling just as satisfied as Sungmin at the situation right now. “Our regular café was too crowded, so we decided to give this place a shot and I sure am glad that we did. We are definitely going to go here every day from now on.”
“Agreed. Having Hyukjae serve us every day—taking our orders and delivering our food to the table? Priceless.” Now Sungmin actually is rubbing his hands together like a cartoon villain. “I always knew you’d end up as a busboy. Is this why you’ve been keeping this from us?”
“I am not a busboy. This is a bakery, my mom owns it, and I, along with some of my other relatives, help her out. And in turn, well, she pays me.” He explains, though not well. “Hey, it helps take care of the bills, so I’m not ashamed.”
“Then why have you been hiding it from us?”
“Now, see, that’s another story, and I’d love to tell you that except you’re holding up the line.” He dismisses clumsily. “So, that’s two strawberry smoothies to go?”
“A: we haven’t even ordered yet, and B: we’re the only two people here.” Heechul points out.
“Two people can form a line.” He shrugs, only making his friends more and more suspicious.
“Hyukjae, what’s going on here?” Sungmin asks, sensing that Eunhyuk is hiding something much more from them.
“Hyukjae, Yuki just fell asleep so I put her in the carrycot. Here’s the baby monitor.” His mother unintentionally interrupts. “I’m going to go run some errands. Are you going to be alright by yourself?”
“Mom, I’m not five years old anymore.” It’s bad enough having his friends see him at his not-exactly-sophisticated job, but to see him being coddled by his mother…Eunhyuk would like nothing more than a hole to crawl into. “Um, mom, you remember Sungmin and…my art teacher.”
“Ah, yes. How nice to see you again.” She smiles politely, patting Sungmin’s cheek and then shaking Heechul’s hand. She probably would’ve recognized them right away if they weren’t dressed like women. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid I have some errands to run.”
“Oh, it’s totally fine, Mrs. Lee. We’ll catch up another time.” Sungmin immediately goes into angel mode in front of his best friend’s mother—just like high school.
Eunhyuk’s mother kisses her son goodbye and cleans the remnants of chocolate cake on the side of his lips. Eunhyuk tries fervently to squirm away, having been humiliated enough, but it’s no use, as Heechul and Sungmin have already whipped out their phones and are taking pictures.
“I knew it!” Someone comes barging in from the front entrance and angrily makes his way towards the counter, confronting the mother and son. “I knew it. You couldn’t stay faithful to me. Once a cheater, always a cheater.”
“Donghae,” Eunhyuk stops his partner from doing anything homicidal just in time, “that’s my mother. And what are you doing here? Don’t any of you people actually work?”
“Your mother?” Donghae suddenly becomes very flustered. “Ah, yes, I—I knew that. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lee.”
“Donghae, we’ve met. Several times.” His mother looks very confused, and turns to his son for explanation. Eunhyuk doesn’t know what to tell her. “Your mother and I even go out to lunch regularly.”
Donghae blushes harder. “Oh, you do? Well, I haven’t seen my mother in a while, perhaps I could join you two sometime? I’ll treat. It’s the least I can do after…well, this.”
“Yes, that would be lovely. At least I think so.” She gives her son one last confused look before finally leaving to tend to her duties.
“Hyukjae, what are you doing here?” Donghae then finally realizes the presence of his two friends. “And what are these two doing here? Where’s Kyuhyun?”
“Back at school, having lunch with his boyfriend.” Sungmin says bitterly, rolling his eyes.
“Donghae, are we just going to push aside the fact that you just barged in here and accused me of cheating on you with my mother?” Eunhyuk says, not knowing what to feel about what just happened. “And what are you doing out of work?”
“I took an early lunch break. I was on my way home because I wanted to have lunch with you and Yuki since I missed you guys, but then I saw you in here and I guess I assumed the worst.” He explains, still flustered. “Wait, so this is where you work? Where’s Yuki?”
“In the back. She’s asleep; I have the baby monitor right here.” Eunhyuk decides they can deal with what happened later. He turns to his two customers. “Are you two going to be ordering anything or are you just here to humiliate me?”
“Both.” Heechul takes some bills out and slaps it on the counter. “Two strawberry frappes, and make Sungmin’s with extra thick whipped cream—he’s gonna need it for his bad mood.”
“You’re in a bad mood? Why, what happened?” Donghae inquires.
“Grab a seat and Sungmin will to you all about it.” Heechul his head towards the table in which Sungmin has already sat in with his legs crossed daintily, ready to enlighten his friends of his latest dilemma.
Donghae is just about to join them, but then he notices his husband hasn’t budged from behind the counter. He doesn’t like the look of that frown on his lips.
“Come on, Hyukkie,” he tries to sway him, “it’ll just be like old times.”
“Maybe later, Hae.” Eunhyuk doesn’t even try to crack a smile as he goes into the kitchen.
Donghae contemplates going after him, but since Sungmin has already started pouring his girlish heart out, he decides that whatever problem he and Eunhyuk have this time, they can resolve it at home.
--
“My spider senses are tingling.” Sungmin appears at the door of the kitchen, his arms spread dramatically as his hands rest on either side of the door frame. “Me thinks something is wrong here.”
“You mean the fact that my wife just accused me of having an affair with my mother?” Eunhyuk tries not to sound too affected, though the overaggressive scrubbing of the spot on the plate that disappeared five minutes ago was probably not a good sign.
“No, Eunhyuk, I mean the fact that you felt the need to hide your job, as unglamorous as it is, from us, your closest and iest friends.” Sungmin scrunches his nose at Eunhyuk’s clothing choice for dishwashing. One thing’s for sure—the dirty apron, the hideous gloves and the unflattering hairnet have all got to go, pronto. “Hyuk, I’ve been your confidante for the last ten years or so. Be honest with me, what’s really going on here? I’ve never known you to be ashamed of your mom.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Eunhyuk finally puts the plate down and turns around, "but you have to promise Donghae will never find out.”
“Oh, goody,” he claps, "I love secrets. We haven’t shared a secret in a long time.”
He takes a deep breath and avoids looking his cross-dressing friend in the eye. “Jieun sometimes comes in here—”
“You bastard.” Sungmin grabs hold of whatever is nearest—it happens to be a rolling pin—and attempts to bash his friend’s head in with it.
“Calm down; it’s not like anything happens.” Eunhyuk easily overpowers him and takes away his improvised weapon before he can do any real harm. “I never even talk to her. She just smiles and waves and most of the time, I pretend I don’t know her. She didn’t even know this place was owned by my mom. She was going here before she even met me.”
That sounds innocent enough. But Sungmin still feels the right to be suspicious. “Well, if nothing’s happening, then why don’t you tell Donghae?”
“You saw the way he reacted earlier. Imagine what he’s going to do when he realizes Jieun has stepped foot in here.”
“Hyukjae, I love you, and I love being a , but even I would feel bad keeping this from Donghae.”
“Sungmin, please.” He tries to grab Sungmin’s hands to emphasize his desperate plea, but Sungmin quickly jumps back before those wet, soapy and nasty rubber gloves can touch an inch of his baby-like skin. “I like what Donghae and I have now. The only reason he wanted a baby in the first place was to repair our relationship after what I had done, and hearing about Jieun will only throw him off the edge again. And if that happens, I don’t know if I can make him stay this time.”
“He told you that?” Sungmin shifts uncomfortably. This subject has turned too serious too fast.
“Please,” he scoffs, “he didn’t have to. It’s Donghae. I can read him like a book.”
“Which is why you two are the most perfect couple ever. Well, after me and Kyuhyun. And Jack and Rose from Titanic. And Brad and Angelina. Actually, I can think of a hundred couples that come before you and Donghae—the only one who comes after you is Heechul and Gunhee.”
“Sungmin.” He says, glaring. “Your point?”
“My point is—Donghae is a lot more understanding than you think.” Sungmin says. “I don’t think he’d care if some chick you once had a fling with behind his back comes in here every now and then. Give Hae a little more credit. Besides, that has got nothing on Hae. Have you seen her ? Put her and Donghae beside each other to compare their backsides and Donghae would win in a cinch.”
“All I really gathered from this conversation is that you stare at people’s asses. Which isn’t exactly breaking news to me.”
Despite what he says, he takes Sungmin’s words to thought. He never felt very comfortable hiding something from Donghae just because there’s a 50-50 chance that he’s going to get mad, pack his bags and leave. That would be a little overdramatic, even for Donghae, but Eunhyuk wouldn’t put it past him. After all, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before.
“You know, customers aren’t really allowed back here.”
“Best friends have special privileges.”
“Says who?”
“Says the queen ."
As the queen strolls out of the room, swaying his hips along the way, Eunhyuk returns to the dirty dishes and says to himself, “At least he’s upgraded from ‘ princess’.”
--
Despite the rather unpleasant events that transpired in his workplace earlier today, Eunhyuk stays true to his word and makes sure his spouse comes home to a nice, warm dinner.
“All this for me?” Donghae shrugs his coat off and gives his partner a kiss. “And I thought you were mad at me after today.”
“Well, as long as we’re being honest here—”
“We’re being honest?”
“I was kind of peeved. But after you guys left, I had some time to myself and I realized that…maybe your reaction wasn’t completely unwarranted. After all, I made a mistake in the past, our relationship suffered, we’re recovering from it, and it would be unfair for me to expect you to be completely adjusted after that.” Eunhyuk clears his throat as tension fills the air.
“Hyukkie, I wasn’t really in my right mind today—I didn’t get much sleep last night, and my first day back at work turned out to be much more stressful than I had expected, I…” Donghae trails off because he realizes his husband has the same frown he had on at the bakery earlier this afternoon.
Eunhyuk takes Donghae’s usual ‘grown-up bib’ and starts to fasten it around his neck. After that one morning when he realized his adult husband made the same messes on his clothes that their baby girl did, he decided it would be a good idea for Donghae to wear a bib of his own. It’s saved him hours of trying to scrub off chocolate syrup stains on wifebeaters.
“Hae, you’re not the only one who still thinks about what I did and you’re not the only one who still feels terrible about it.” The way he says all of this so casually while tending to Donghae is quite unsettling. “You’re not the only one who’s hurting.”
That subject has always been a sensitive one in the household. They’ve always avoided bringing it up as much as possible; whenever one of their obnoxious friends decided to use it as a joking matter, they would find the quickest and easiest way to get out of it. It may not be the healthiest way, but it sure is the simplest.
Now that the topic is out in the open, Donghae has no idea what to do.
“Hyukjae—”
“Dinner’s getting cold.” Eunhyuk feeds him a spoonful of kimchi and rice. He flashes a smile and just like that, Donghae instantly feels a little better. “Yuki missed you during her bedtime song tonight; but don’t worry, I think I managed to cover your parts pretty well.”
Eunhyuk just needed to get that off his chest. He doesn’t want to get into this and have a full-blown argument right in the middle of a peaceful night. And Donghae understands that.
“So, how was daddy’s first day back at work?” Eunhyuk asks, grinning.
“Hellish. There’s some big crisis at the office; they had me running around all over the place getting coffee for everyone.” Donghae recounts with an annoyed groan and a roll of the eyes. “But before I tell you about that, and before I tell you which two people I caught canoodling in the office lounge during work hours, tell me about your work. My God, I can’t believe I finally know what your job is, after all these months. I still don’t understand why you insisted on hiding it from everyone.”
Oh crap. Eunhyuk tells himself to stay cool. They can make it through this night without wreaking any havoc.
“I guess I was just embarrassed.” He says as he starts to play with his food. “I mean, come on, I’m in my twenties, and the only job I can get myself is one my mother gave me. It’s not exactly something to be proud of.”
“Honey, I think it’s a darling job. And I don’t care what other people say, it’s nice that you’re helping your mother out.” He puts his hand on the back of his husband’s neck and kisses his cheek. “Now I understand why you’re so good at making smoothies. What else do you do at…uh, what’s that place called again?”
“Tous Les Jours.” He answers. “I’m the youngest of the family, so ever since I came around, they’ve pretty much made me do everything. It kinda but I won’t lie, I enjoy it.”
Eunhyuk and Donghae’s night ends just like every other night: peacefully.
Ever since the incident that threatened their whole relationship, Heechul, who has become somewhat of a wannabe shrink thanks to his friends’ tendency to run to him the moment they run into a problem, has accused them of ignoring the big elephant in the room and compensating by acting like everything is absolutely perfect and nothing ever went wrong. Eunhyuk and Donghae have always shrugged him off, but they can’t deny that Heechul makes a lot of sense.
Heechul also warned them that if they keep doing this, it won’t end prettily. In his words, “Eventually, failing to confront the issue and the constant pressure of pretending to be the perfect couple is going to drive you two apart. And of course, all of us are going to suffer and you’re going to force us to choose sides, at which point Sungmin and I will concoct a plan to get you two to stop being so stupid and get back together, but if you just stopped being so stupid now, it would save all of us the hassle.” (Right after he said that, Gunhee told him to get over himself and stop acting so smart, which in their language basically translates to, ‘I love you’.)
Eunhyuk already almost ruined the best thing in his life and he certainly doesn’t want to do that again. One of these days, he swears he’s going to muster up all the courage he has to finally sit Donghae down and talk out all the problems they’ve been ignoring, which will inevitably lead to a big fight possibly resulting in tears, and Eunhyuk can only hope that they’ll come out even more in love than ever.
--
Sorry for the suuuuuuuper long wait ㅠ_ㅠ
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