"Hyukjae, aren't you tired?" Donghae asks one night. It is hot and gloomy that night so he decided on a movie with Hyukjae. Both of them are tired from practicing for their Super Show 6. Hyukjae snickers and laughs half-heartedly at his best friend. He is surely sure that not only he is tired, but Donghae also. So he laughs when he was asked.

"Of course. We've been practicing non-stop for days and tonight's the first time we ever had this kind of day off," Hyukjae answers. Donghae shakes his head and purses his lips into a thin line. It isn't what he means. And he doesn't know if Hyukjae is being ignorant of the topic or he's just plainly stupid.

"You know it's not that, Hyukjae. We should think about this seriously. Because we both know, sooner or later, this has got to stop," Donghae said, his focus now on Hyukjae instead of the movie.

"We're not getting older. We will enter the military next year. And I would like to have my own family after that. But with this...I don't know, act? How can I get that dream?" he continued. Hyukjae's eyes are getting heavy by the second. He is tired. And Donghae's outburst about them, about EunHae, adds to his worries. He is very tired.

"Let's not talk about this now. We're both tired. Let's not add up to our own worries. I'm sleeping, good night Donghae," Hyukjae said and stood up. He limps while walking back to his room. His eyes are dropping slowly. He feels his whole body ache. But his heart aches a little more.

Donghae looks his best friend's way. He sees him limping and he wants to walk beside him and guide him back to his room. All thoughts about him being anti-EunHae moments ago vanishes as he stands up and leads his best friend back to his room, the movie still playing behind them. 

Hyukjae smiles up at his best friend, gummy smiles and all. He knows Donghae cannot resist him as much as he cannot resist the fish. His best friend smiles back at him, his eyes twinkling, his lips tight. Donghae smiles back with his smile that's only for Hyukjae and Hyukjae alone.

*~*

Donghae and Hyukjae are woken up by the shouts and yells outside Hyukjae's door. Loud banging on it makes Hyukjae's head spin. He groans and stands up to open the door.

"Hyukjae! Donghae! Junghoon hyung's getting married!" Leeteuk, Kangin, and Heechul shouts towards Hyukjae's just-woke-up face (which is totally not handsome, by the way) (okay, he's handsome, for Donghae only). Hyukjae is rubbing his nape and nods as he closes the door again, but Leeteuk stops him.

"And we're having day off again! Enjoy!" Leeteuk said and went off. Hyukjae closes the door again and slept back, his arm wraps around Donghae's torso. And automatically, Donghae's arms wrap around Hyukjae's. 

As usual, in a day off, Hyukjae and Donghae just sleeps in. They don't go around proclaiming their love for each other during day offs. Because there's nothing to proclaim anyway, as what Donghae says everyday. But for Heechul, it's another story. 

Heechul knows there's something between the two. He openly ships EunHae. He even wrote a fan fiction for them once. Heechul always knew something runs deep within those nerves and within those bloods. 

And because Heechul never fails, and he never goes wrong, he plans to get them together - with or without anyone's help, with or without Hyukjae and Donghae's consent. But he knows Hyukjae will praise, worship, and be thankful to him - enough to be his slave for a lifetime - after what he will say and do. Because Heechul knows - with or without Hyukjae telling him - Hyukjae is in love with the Lee Donghae.

Hyukjae was never a fan of skinship and cheesy, mushy lines. He doesn't like it with others, like with...others. Just others. Just others who are not Donghae.

But Hyukjae will lie to himself if he says he likes the cheesy lines from Donghae. In reality, he hates it. He hates how Donghae can make him feel fuzzy and weak in the knees when he say those words. Those liners where Donghae tells him that he can only listen to him, that he wants to be the object of everything around Hyukjae, that he wants to hit him with his lips instead of the toy hammer. Those words will make his heart beat fast for it affects him so much. And it will hurt his heart too, because at the end of it, Donghae takes back everything he said by telling everyone that it's on the script and will stomp away with his feet, murmuring along the lines of "I have a girlfriend" "aish" "these people really" and other words along those lines.

And Kyuhyun and Siwon will step beside him silently and unnoticeably, pat him on his shoulders, tell him that Donghae is naive. That Donghae is an ignorant. That Donghae is a . That Donghae is being Donghae. But Hyukjae just shakes his head. Donghae is none of those. Hyukjae takes the blame and he knows he will always do until he gets the courage to confess.

In the corner of his eyes, he will always see Heechul smirking beside him. And maybe, just maybe, Heechul will find time to help him to confess or help Donghae to realize what is really there between them.

So he stops thinking about the night before. Maybe Donghae is just really tired last night that he had said those words. Because as much as possible, Hyukjae wouldn't like to be left by Donghae. It might be selfish for real, but Hyukjae wants Donghae all to himself. He wants him to be just with Donghae and be EunHae for life.

But Hyukjae feels Donghae isn't just tired or worn out or kidding because when he woke up late that afternoon, there is no Donghae in sight and there is no Donghae anywhere. Hyukjae is still limping because unknown to s, he fell slightly out of balance the other day while practicing so his foot twisted a bit. But it isn't anything Hyukjae couldn't handle.

"Hyukjae-yah, are you looking for someone?" Heechul asked as Hyukjae was peeking from left to right inside the kitchen. Hyukjae was a bit startled by the voice but he rubbed his nape shyly and shook his head. Heechul smiled a little. Hyukjae is like someone who has been his friend for years, and still is. It's just that this friend is far from him right now.

"Did you two fight or something? Because really, Donghae is so grumpy when he woke up that he dragged Henry with his pyjamas on," Heechul said. He knew something was up and he's really willing to help Hyukjae and Donghae to fix it. Because as far as he can, he wouldn't want another 'friendship' to end with just a snap of the fingers.

Once again, Hyukjae shook his head. He put his head down on the table, his hands supporting it.

"Faintly can one recognize the value of another unless already gone," Heechul quoted. It is the one thing he realized after his friend went away back to his homeland. And Heechul couldn't afford to put another friend, , in the position he went through. Because even when he say that everything's already fine, that he's already ready to start anew without this friend, he knows deep inside that it still hurts to be apart from someone you dearly love.

"You know Hyukjae, Donghae will not realize anything when you're all over him like your life depended on him. He will not miss you nor will he stop being so anti-EunHae when you're like that. Maybe, you need to step back a bit and reflect on what to do. Should you confess or not, it's up to you. Just don't do anything stupid like cover up what you feel for him by getting a girlfriend or anything, because in the end, both of you will just be hurt, and you'll drift apart. And I don't want any of us to be like that again. I want you to value what you have right now because it's in the end that you will realize that this person is precious and life be damned when you can't have him."

"Heechul hyung..." Hyukjae starts but was cut off by Heechul.

"Shush. This isn't about me right now. This is about you and Donghae. Go fix whatever it is. Go do whatever you think is right. Just don't let this issue break you both apart."

Hyukjae nods and got up to hug his Heechul hyung when Donghae and Henry both entered the kitchen. Instead of hugging Heechul, he just smiled at him and mouthed a thanks. Heechul just nodded. Hyukjae glanced at the two new people inside the room. He smiled at Henry but not at Donghae. He winced a bit inside himself when Donghae didn't even look at him nor he feel affected when Hyukjae ignored him. But he remembered what Heechul said and he thinks maybe it's just the start. He has lots of moments to get used to it somehow.

The practice the next day went on as usual. Hyukjae couldn't totally ignore Donghae because they are both choreographers for their concert and they have the duo stage again. Donghae doesn't really want to do that months ago but SME wants them to. They said it will be a big question from the fans if their precious EunHae won't share a stage together for their SS6. So they did.

Donghae can feel Hyukjae ignoring and avoiding him. He doesn't know whether to feel happy now that his plan seemed to work, or to feel angry because Hyukjae avoids him like a plague. But Donghae knows it's his fault that they aren't what they used to be.

And maybe, just maybe, he wants to bring back what was there before.

He wants the giggles and the beatings back.

He wants the ready to eat ramen every night.

He wants the late night movies and popcorns and late night conversations.

He wants...he just wants Hyukjae back. His heart hurts a little when he sees Hyukjae being so clingy with Heechul the diva. He wants to kick Hyukjae in the face after Heechul posted a picture of Hyukjae and him with the caption 'with my best friend, hyuk-ah' in Instagram. He wants his best friend back.

Hyukjae once told him he is stubborn so he will be until Hyukjae gets tired of avoiding him that he will pull him back into his life, and have the title best friend again instead of Heechul.

But things don't always go as to what Donghae wants. Because even after paying all of his attention to Hyukjae, buying him his favorite ramen everynight, bringing in his laptop to watch late night movies inside Hyukjae's room, and trying to talk to him late at night, Hyukjae still avoids him. The older always say that he's not in the mood, that he's tired, and that he wants to sleep already.

Donghae is a baby. He knows it himself, especially when he walks back to his shared room with Leeteuk one night, bawling his eyes out. Leeteuk was especially surprised to see his favorite baby crying. He promised to murder Hyukjae one day after Donghae gets him back. But it will make his Donghae cry again so he promised himself and Donghae that he won't.

"Leeteuk hyung..." Donghae sniffed loudly after crying for a good half hour. His throat gets dry, and SS6 is approaching so he tried to down it a little.

"Hyukjae is really avoiding me. I know it's my fault because I really don't want to act on stage anymore because I don't want myself to get hurt deeper, but even before the day of the concert, he's not talking to me anymore. I miss Hyukkie."

"Stupid EunHae. Why don't you two talk it out or something? I'll lock the both of you in a room and you should be good after!" Leeteuk suggested and Donghae's eyes lit up.

"Oh no, Lee Donghae. That's dumb you know. I'm dumb so my suggestion is also dumb. Don't get your hopes high on me," Leeteuk said. 

"But hyung, I really want my Hyukkie back," Donghae said, his eyes fall down to look at his lap.

"Then talk. Just talk and you'll both be fine," Leeteuk said and pushed Donghae out of his room. He locked the door and Donghae cried more when he knew Leeteuk won't be seeing him inside soon. He knows that Leeteuk thinks it's the best if Hyukjae and him will talk about their problem and solve it themselves. Every room is locked, except for one - Hyukjae's room.

"Hyukkie," Donghae knocked on Hyukjae's room. No one answered so he assumed that Hyukjae is not inside. He dropped to sit and put his head in between his knees. He wants to cry badly but he's tired of it. He's tired of crying. He's tired of everything. Before he could help himself, his tears fell down and he starts to sob. It got louder but still no one opens their door for him. He feels like an orphan or a beggar on the street with no one to take him home. His cries are dying down when he hears the door beside him open up. He looks up to see who is hero is, who wants to take him back inside a so-called home. And much to his surprise, the one who opened the door for him is Hyukjae, ready to take him in, to take him back home. But Donghae realized Hyukjae doesn't need to give him a home, because in Hyukjae alone, he can feel his home.

Donghae, with his still teary eyes and small snots, rushed on his feet to hug Hyukjae.

"I miss you so much Hyukkie," Donghae said. He isn't afraid of being hurt again because Hyukjae ignoring and avoiding him hurts the most.

"Stupid, that's why you should have behaved well with me," Hyukjae said with a smile. His smile reaches his eyes. But it's not only his eyes, because his smile definitely reaches his heart. He ruffles Donghae's hair and pushes him inside his room. He brings out his laptop and gets some popcorn, strawberry milks and sodas for the two of them. He plays the movie again, and Donghae noticed Hyukjae just pressed replay to let it play. He saw the title of the movie after a few minutes and he looks at his best friend. The movie is their personal favorite. It isn't a mainstream movie but it is the best, in their opinion. It may haven't been featured world-wide nor got awards, but they both share the same sentiment over it. Because the movie relates to them. Because in the movie, both men who started as friends, fell in love with each other. They once get tired of each other and they pushed each other to their limits and edges, but in the end, they still welcome back each other in their arms. They still welcome each other back in his home.

One look from each other and they know they are a part of each other no one can pull apart. There's really that something that pulls them towards each other. There are these feelings that even when you just look at each other, you'll see and feel the love. Hyukjae knows the way Donghae looks at him because it is also the way he looks at Donghae. And Donghae knows the feeling and meaning behind Hyukjae's eyes and stares because, after days of being a part, they've grown to love each other more and treasure each other. And Donghae knows the glances Hyukjae gives him for it is also the same glance, with that same light feeling that makes him feel weak and jelly, he gives the older.

Hyukjae and Donghae knows there's something between them. But some things are better left unsaid. Because no matter what, they would still like to preserve the friendsip they share with each other. Because it has been their foundation. It is where they started, but hopefully, sooner, they'll be officially be more than that.

Because they both know they love each other.

Fully.

Truly.

Madly. 

Deeply.

Not brotherly.

Not friendly.

But romantically.

They'll get tired of the problems. They'll get tired of almost everything in life. But Hyukjae and Donghae know they wouldn't get tired of each other. They'll still come back in each other's arms.

Because every one always comes back home, no matter how far they've gone. No matter how tired they are, home will always be the one where they'll want to spend their lives and where they'll want to wake up each day.

And Hyukjae wants to spend the rest of his life with Donghae and he wants to wake up beside him each day. 

Because Donghae is Hyukjae's home. And Hyukjae is Donghae's home.