For once, Hyukjae is actually afraid to open his eyes.

Hell, he’s terrified.

He’s been awake for a few minutes now, and after registering the heavy warmth perched within his arms, the soft, fluffy hair that tickles his nose with the scent of citrus and vanilla, realizing it’s a human body and not a pillow, and said human body is shifting ever so slightly and yawning against his neck, warm breath ghosting upon his skin…

No, Hyukjae truly cannot open his eyes right now.

He’d rather pretend to be asleep for the rest of his life.

In fact, he’d rather pretend to be dead.

Or actually be dead.

“Hyukjae?” . “Mm, what time is it?”

I don’t know! He screams in his mind. He doesn’t know and he doesn’t want to know, , he doesn’t want to face Donghae after clinging to him like some ing barnacle. no.

He keeps his eyes shut, trying his hardest to stay still and keep his breathing even, but then he hears a hiss of pain and a pitiful ‘it hurts’ from the brunet resting against him and he is suddenly jerking and pulling away, eyes wide with worry as he inspects the pouting Donghae in his arms. “Are you okay? What hurts? Should I get the ointment? Or do you need ice?”

Donghae gives him a pained smile. “I-It’s okay. I just tried to stretch but it hurts to move because of the bruises,” his smile turns bashful. “Good morning.”

Hyukjae feels an onslaught of blood rushing towards his face. Hurriedly untangling his arms from Donghae’s form, he grunts in response and sits up, wishing the ground would open up so he could bury his face in it. With eyes still crusted with sleep, he glances towards the clock on his bedside table, noting that it’s way past noon. He’s now on winter vacation so it isn’t a problem, though for Donghae, it might be.

“It’s… three-seventeen,” he says, fighting the urge to start fanning himself, because hell, for winter his face sure is hot.

“What?! Ow!”

Again, Hyukjae turns to the younger, worry etched on his face as he watches Donghae wince in pain. “What’s wrong? What hurts?”

“Just the bruises again,” Donghae whimpers, his lower lip jutting out.

Rolling his eyes, the older male shifts on the bed to fully face the younger. “I think we should really apply ice on that. How’s your head? And your ankle?”

“My head doesn’t really hurt, though the wound is uncomfortable. Like every time I move my face, I feel aware of it. And my ankle hurts when I move it.” Donghae mumbles, looking up at him still with a pout on his lips.

Hyukjae tells himself to take deep breaths through his nose and not to make it so obvious how cute he finds Donghae right now.

Messy hair pointing at all directions, sleepy, glassy eyes, and that ing pout.

God.

Hyukjae, calm down.

“Can you get up? You need to eat and reapply the medicine on your wounds,” he manages to say without falter.

“Okay,” Donghae nods before attempting to sit up, only to wince in pain, making Hyukjae lean forward to assist him. “I’m okay, I’m okay,” the younger waves his hands, “I… I think I’ve bothered you enough.”

“Glad you know,” Hyukjae retorts, but really, who is he ting?

“Sorry,” the brunet utters. “I even broke a rule. It wasn’t an emergency but I still entered your room.”

“You were bleeding, so I guess that counts as an emergency.”

“The bleeding already stopped that time though,” Donghae tilts his head. “I mean, if I entered your room after arriving while looking half-dead, then yes, it’s an emergency. But I entered your room all clean and bandaged up. I was fine, so it was no emergency but I still intruded on you so shamelessly, after I made you wait and made you clean up all my wounds. I bothered you and broke the rules. I’m sorry.”

The kicked puppy look is really too much right now, but Hyukjae is glad for his ability to keep a straight face through it all.

He deserves an award for this, seriously.

“First of all, I did not wait for you,” Again, who is he ting? “So stop flattering yourself. I had many things to do, and I happened to be on my way to the toilet when you arrived,” Nope, he did not jump out of bed when the ing doorknob started rattling, not at all, “And I only did myself a favor because you don’t really do a good job on cleaning – I mean have you seen the difference? When I clean the house, it sparkles. When it’s your turn, it’s never clean enough,” This is true though, “So I assumed you were not going to do a good job on cleaning your face either, and in the end it’s me who will be inconvenienced because you’d be dripping blood everywhere.”

Smooth, Lee Hyukjae.

Donghae’s pout deepens. “Then why did you let me break the rules by allowing me to sleep here?”

, he doesn’t have an answer for that. At least, not an answer that wouldn’t make him feel all kinds of embarrassed.

“So that I can boss you around when you recover,” Hyukjae snarls. “As punishment for breaking the rules.”

“Mean,” Donghae whines, before his eyes widen. “Oh no, I need to inform my bosses I can’t go to work today!”

“Where’s your phone?”

The younger palms the pockets of his jeans as he looks around. “It’s not here,” realization dawns on his face, “Oh… I think uncle broke it.”

Almost instantly, Hyukjae feels his mood darken. “Your uncle’s really something, huh. He manages to piss me off in a span of less than twelve hours.”

“Oh please, it’s not like it’s so difficult to piss you off,” Donghae snorts before looking at him with puppy eyes yet again. “Um.”

“What?” Hyukjae raises a brow.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to bother you again,” the younger gives him the cutest pleading face, with both sparkly puppy eyes and adorable pout.

And Hyukjae, poor Hyukjae, although feeling the irritation increase by a tenfold, still cannot bring himself to say no.

♦

Due to the fact that Donghae’s phone is broken, and he doesn’t have his manager’s number memorized, he decides going to his workplace would be the best way to report about his absence. He asks Hyukjae to accompany him, obviously because he couldn’t really walk well on his own, and of course, after witnessing the spectacle of the puppy eyes and pout combined, the older could not really decline. Although he doesn’t admit to it and instead barks out that he would also increase Donghae’s punishment by making him clean more after recovering. The younger brunet does not complain and simply gives him an adorable toothless smile, one that has Hyukjae clasping his own hands together to refrain from reaching out to pinch Donghae’s cheek.

After eating a quick (and very late) brunch, reapplying the medicine and bandages on Donghae’s injuries, they both dress up and head outside in thick coats and scarves. Donghae is clinging to Hyukjae’s arm for support, while the latter is huffing but pretty much dying deep inside. Once in a while, Donghae stumbles, and he gets scolded by Hyukjae for not being careful. But when a man rushing by bumps against the younger brunet, causing him to trip and yelp in pain, Hyukjae could not help but shout a curse towards the hurrying stranger.

“ing ,” Hyukjae murmurs under his breath, glaring holes at the retreating figure of the man. “Can’t he see someone’s obviously injured here?!” he huffs before turning to look at Donghae, who is trying to soothe him by petting his arm. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Donghae reassures before frowning. “You shouldn’t have yelled at him. What if that was some mafia member? He could’ve went back and killed us both.”

“Like a mafia member would actually harm someone in broad daylight, out in a sidewalk with so many people around,” Hyukjae deadpans. “Anyway, you’re obviously going to keep tripping, and as you can see, many people are rushing so they are bound to bump into us, especially since we’re going on a turtle-like pace. Why don’t we just go back?”

“I can’t,” the younger shakes his head. “Look, I just need to inform them about my injury, okay? So that they can find someone to fill in for me. It’s better than leaving them to worry and fret about a missing employee.”

Sighing, Hyukjae runs a hand through his black hair, the tips of his ears beginning to grow hot as an idea presents itself in his mind.

Whatever happened to your dignity, Lee Hyukjae?

“Fine