Epilogue

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Donghae was the definition of pureness, especially when he slept.

Eunhyuk didn’t know how long he was already staring at him; he wouldn’t doubt if it had been hours. Some time ago he had parked his car and ever since he kept sitting inside, his head turned to the side so he could keep watching the younger on the passenger seat. Donghae had fallen asleep during the drive and Eunhyuk couldn’t hold it against him. Their days were getting more and more tiring and so he was glad to have pulled him into his car for their little trip. It was only one day, but he was sure that it was enough time to relax with only the two of them. It was usual for them to only take short naps between their schedules and to get ripped out of their sleep every few hours; when they had time for themselves, it was unthinkable for him to wake Donghae up if there wasn’t a damn good reason for it. The setting sun however seemed to have different plans.

They had been driving for some hours and the night slowly started falling over them. The sky seemed to be on fire and the sunlight fell through the car's windows in all shades of red and orange. It was too bright to let Donghae sleep in peace and so he was soon stirring, scrunched his nose. There was a frown on his face as he eventually opened his eyes; it was only a crack however and he quickly shut his eyes again with a groan because this was definitely too bright for him to handle.

"Hey", Eunhyuk silently called and smiled as he saw him bringing up a hand to protect his eyes from the burning sun. Donghae whined silently and blinked a few times as he looked around.

"Are we there already?" he mumbled sleepily. Eunhyuk hummed and grinned a bit more as he saw how confused the brunet was. "Since when?"

"I don't know…" He chuckled and couldn’t believe that years had passed because he still felt like they had fallen in love just yesterday. His heart still beat like it had back then and it were especially those moments when Donghae was acting cute and adorable without wanting it that Eunhyuk felt his heart swell in his chest. He still couldn’t believe that he had managed to live next to him for years without feeling the need to kiss and caress him every second of his life.

Donghae yawned and rubbed both hands over his face. "Sorry, I didn’t want to fall asleep…"

"Don’t worry. You looked so cute while sleeping that I didn’t have the heart to wake you up."

The younger chuckled and couldn’t suppress a grin. He carefully looked out of the window and Eunhyuk saw that special spark in his eyes; he had planned this whole trip just to see it. "Shall we go and watch the sunset?"

Eunhyuk hummed and they both got out of the car, Donghae a bit faster than him. It were only a few steps until they were walking on sand and to see how genuinely happy Donghae was as his gaze found the sea made up all the hours of driving immediately. They slowly walked next to each other and Eunhyuk felt Donghae's arm brushing against his own now and then because they were so close.

After all those years of hiding their affection for each other when they were out in public he knew that this meant that the younger wanted nothing more than to hold his hand. They did that a lot when they were alone; sometimes while sitting next to each other and sometimes late at night, Donghae's head resting on his chest. The younger loved playing with Eunhyuk's fingers, almost more than cuddling, and Eunhyuk secretly adored it. Sometimes he woke up because Donghae couldn’t let his hands be and no matter how much he grumbled: Eunhyuk couldn’t fool him. Donghae knew by now that he really had to do a lot to make him mad and making him wake up in the morning wasn’t a part of that. Eunhyuk would grumble even more for sure, especially when he was really tired, but one of Donghae's sweet little morning kisses and everything was alright again.  
They really had proven themselves as a couple and this was shown in just so many little things… Eunhyuk never would've thought that having a relationship with Donghae would've been this easy, alone for the reason that they had so little time for each other. But somehow it worked, maybe because they both fought hard for their relationship.

They sat down in the sand, bodies slightly touching and faces directed to the sea. With blissful smiles they watched the sun slowly sink into the water, but no matter how beautiful the sight was: Eunhyuk quickly found something more beautiful.

He slightly turned his head to the side and felt his heart skip a beat. Eunhyuk couldn’t look his fill; he could stare at Donghae forever and knew his body, every little detail of it, by heart. Still he would never get bored by this, Donghae could never bore him because he still was the only one his heart beat for. No matter who crossed his path: he couldn’t even think about leaving him for someone else. That someone didn’t exist. And the best thing about this was that he knew that Donghae thought the same.

"I love you", he whispered suddenly and didn’t even know why he felt the need to say this. Those three words really were said too much and he thought that they couldn’t express what he felt for him, simply because he didn’t think that there were any words capable of that. Yet there wasn’t much more to say to make Donghae understand – and also those three words always managed to make the younger smile. And this moment was no exception.

Donghae chuckled sheepishly as their gazes met. "I love you too, Hyukkie", he mumbled and his eyes soon flitted back to the sea.               
During the last years their roles had changed in some ways; now it was Donghae who got all shy when there was too much affection and Eunhyuk was the braver one. Eunhyuk also was the one who started most of their kissing sessions, the one who had learned to fight for their relationship. Hiding wasn’t easy, that was a lection he had learned as well. It wasn’t an easy life they had chosen, but it was their life – and Eunhyuk was ready to sacrifice so many things for it. He was ready to give his all to keep making Donghae smile like he did it right in that moment.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing, but suddenly he found his pointer under the younger's chin. Softly he made Donghae turn his head towards him and even though they were both blinded by the sun's bright light, he could still perfectly see every feature of Donghae's perfect face. The brunet looked a bit shy in a lovely way and Eunhyuk thought that he looked at him with the wonder of the eyes of a child.

Yes, hiding was hard; they hid whenever they set one foot out of the dorms and sometimes even when they were inside. Everyone dear to them knew that they were in love, but there still were some people that weren’t allowed to find out, never. But still, with all of this in mind, the love for each other felt normal. They loved each other like all couples were supposed to love and there was no difference because it was all the same love. There shouldn’t be a reason for them to hide and he found it pathetic that there was one. All he could think about was that this right here felt normal, he wanted to do the things that felt normal for other couples as well because everything was perfectly fine when they were alone or with their families and friends. He knew that it would never be the same, but didn’t they have the right to feel normal? What made their love different? And what did 'normal' even mean?

Eunhyuk leaned in because that was the only thing he wanted to do in that moment. He saw Donghae's eyes flutter shut before his own did the same, the world stopped turning for a second as he found the courage to express the love he felt for him without caring about where they were. The impact of their lips brushing over each other was amazing – yet there was no chance for them to know how big the impact of this kiss really was. It didn’t last longer than a few seconds, it wasn't more than a peck. This kiss didn’t feel other than all their countless kisses before. Yet it was.

When they opened their eyes again, Donghae was smiling and Eunhyuk was sure that the setting sun kept him from seeing a nice reddish hue on the brunet's cheeks. He chuckled and wanted to pull him into an embrace – but maybe that was a bit too much.

"I don’t think you know how cute you are", he mumbled and made Donghae giggle.

"I'm not cute", he almost whispered and dropped his gaze to the sand, turned shy again like he did it so often when he felt loved.

Eunhyuk grinned and was rewarded with Donghae slightly turning more towards him as they kept watching the sunset. He even felt Donghae's knee brushing against his own now and then and couldn’t bring himself to give the sun or the waves any bit of attention anymore. The sun finally disappearing behind the horizon – that was everything he waited for.

"Let's go", he said after minutes of waiting and they both quickly headed to the car to grab their bags and over to the small bungalow Eunhyuk had rented for the night right afterwards.

Their bags were quickly dropped and the brunet's arms immediately wrapped around Eunhyuk's nape. The shy Donghae from a few minutes ago suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the brunet's fierce side that Eunhyuk loved just as much. Hungry kisses landed on his lips as Donghae made him walk backwards to the bed and before he really knew what was going on, Eunhyuk already had his back resting on the mattress. They got undressed somewhere between all their breathtaking kisses and Donghae's soft moans soon filled the air, had still the same might over Eunhyuk they had had years ago. He showered the younger with kisses as their bodies moved in sync, intertwined their fingers and enjoyed that there was enough time for just the two of them.

Catching their breaths, Donghae later on rested in his arms, his head on Eunhyuk'