XXVII

"And?" Sungmin asked, his eyes darting to the rear-view mirror. "How was your trip?"

There was a long moment of silence so he called Donghae's name, yet the younger didn’t tear his gaze away from Eunhyuk's face as he answered. He and Eunhyuk sat next to each other on the back seat and there wasn't enough space for a sheet of paper to fit between them. "It was wonderful", he mumbled silently.

"Oh. Well… You really look relaxed. Both of you."

Eunhyuk hummed and rested his head against Donghae's, his mouth close the brunet's hair. His eyes fluttered shut and he breathed in the younger's scent. "It's always good to have some time for ourselves..."

Sungmin kept watching them for a moment before his gaze landed on the street again. "Are you interested in knowing about what happened here in the mean time?"

"Are you mad if we say no?" Eunhyuk asked silently. Donghae smiled and nestled up to him while playing with the other's fingers in his lap.

"Not really."

"Then the answer is no."

Sungmin sighed in defeat, but couldn’t stop his eyes from finding to the two of them regularly.            
The rest of their drive home was rather quiet, mostly because Donghae and Eunhyuk kept whispering to each other and completely ignored their hyung's presence. It wasn’t something personal however; when they reached the dorm they did the same thing with everybody else as well. There simply was no space for anybody else except for themselves in their own little world.

It had been hard enough for them to keep their hands off each other ever since they had left their hotel room and they had been strong during the whole flight. But now they weren’t strong anymore, not even Eunhyuk who was a lot better at hiding what he felt than Donghae. Maybe it was because they felt safe now, safer than anywhere else even though the other members were around. They felt safe because they were – and didn’t notice any of the weird glances that were sent their way. Not that these glances were something to worry about, though.

***

"They are so cute together!" Ryeowook chirped.

Heechul crossed his arms. "You think so?"

"Definitely."

"I think he's a coward."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn’t have the guts to speak for himself. She's controlling his life. He should spat that hoe in the face and take his best friend instead. That boy at least doesn’t look like ."

"…I think she's pretty."

"Yeah, but her character makes her ugly like a toad."

"Hm. True…"

"Oh no. Don’t tell me he s her now."

"Yah, hyung… Don’t talk like that."

Donghae lifted his head from Eunhyuk's shoulder. The past hour or so he had been in a state somewhere between falling asleep and fondly smiling to himself whenever Eunhyuk had placed an unseen peck on top of his head. Now his eyes fluttered open and he blinked them a few times as he saw that one of Ryeowook's favorite dramas was playing on TV again. He blinked them even more when he saw what was happening there; his mind was too hazy to really understand what was going on.

"Hyung", he called out lowly and with that addressed Heechul; he and the eternal maknae were the only ones in their company in the living room. "What are they doing?"

Heechul turned his head slightly to send him a glare. It changed to a gaze full of sympathy however as he saw how tired the younger was. "Come on, Donghae. You know exactly what they are doing."

The brunet rubbed his cheek against Eunhyuk's shoulder with a sigh. There was a woman being pressed against a wall on TV, a man kissing her filled with desire. Donghae pushed his lips out a bit and thought that this was what he wanted Eunhyuk to do to him right now instead of sitting there.

"But wait", Heechul suddenly said before Donghae could part his lips. "Let me think about it… It's surely better if you don’t know what's going on there. Close your eyes. I'll tell you when it's over."

Ryeowook quirked an eyebrow. "Why should he do that?"

"We're talking about Lee Donghae, Ryeowook. He has never watched in his life. And look at his adorable face! That guy is an innocent little angel."

Eunhyuk – currently having a glass pressed against his lips in an attempt to drink – had to cough so violently that it was a miracle that he didn’t spit anything out. He had to sit up and somehow tried to breathe; the words 'innocent' and 'Donghae' didn’t match in his head anymore with all the stuff he had in mind when he thought about their trip to Japan. And it got even worse when he thought about what that couple on TV did. Pictures of Donghae popped up in his brain, pictures of Donghae with his lips wrapped around his-

"Can you breathe?"

Donghae sounded worried and helpfully slapped his back a few times. Eunhyuk managed to calm down somehow, but still felt like he was close to choking as he lay back panting afterwards.

"Yah, Hyukjae. I didn't know that seeing two people getting it on makes you lose your composure like this." Heechul's gaze was resting on the other, flitted over to Donghae now and then as the brunet took care of a breathless Eunhyuk.

"It's okay", he wheezed, Donghae's hand brushing over his back in soothing circles. "I think I didn’t swallow right."

"Swallow, I see…"

The raven head's eyes widened and he was way too embarrassed to look up to Heechul again. The other liked to crack jokes about anything related to and sometimes Eunhyuk didn’t even know if he was joking or not – just like in that moment. Had this just been related to him coughing or to swallowing in general? Was this a hint? Did Heechul know? And why were there once again pictures popping up in his head when he thought about swallowing with Donghae right next to him?

"Hyukjae, are you ready?"

Leeteuk came rushing through the door, jumped on one foot and threw his shoes elsewhere in his hurry to enter the dorm. Eunhyuk turned his head, eyes still big. "What?"

"Our flight, our flight! Hurry up and get your stuff, I don’t want to miss it!"

Eunhyuk stared at him and couldn’t think of any schedules that fit to the leader's confusing words. Donghae however seemed to know exactly what was going on. The brunet quickly was on his feet and paused only shortly before pulling Eunhyuk up as well.

"Your suitcase is downstairs, in your room", he said and pulled him along. "I already packed everything before going to Japan. You just have to grab it and you're ready to go."

"Ready to go where?" Eunhyuk asked completely dumbfounded.

"ing hell, Hyukjae. To Busan to film that weird TV show together with Jungsoo", Heechul muttered from the sofa. "Don't tell me you forgot that."

Eunhyuk thought he remembered something in the very back of his head. "Ah… But-"

"No time for buts!" Leeteuk yelled from somewhere and made Heechul snicker. "Grab your stuff!"

Donghae pulled Eunhyuk along to the main door and almost bumped into their manager who decided to enter their dorm just then. With a gentle push he made Eunhyuk leave and tried to ignore the questioning gaze their manager sent him.

"So you're back in the country?" the man asked, his gaze somehow burning as it travelled all the way up and down Donghae's body.

"Yeah", the younger mumbled and took a step back without knowing why. "We came back a few hours ago."

The manager hummed and tore his eyes away from Donghae only shortly as Heechul grabbed a random scarf from the wardrobe and made the younger wear it.

"You should take better care of your health, Donghae", he said and fumbled around with the scarf for pretty long until he thought it was okay. Donghae didn’t have the chance to defend himself.

"Hyung, I-"

"I don’t want you to end up sick, so you better wear that thing until you go to bed later on. And tomorrow too. I'll slap you if you don’t."

With that he sent him one last glare that Donghae didn’t understand and let go of him. He kept standing beside him though; just like there was something else he wanted to say. Their manager didn’t seem to care much a