Fic: Second Childhood; Eight
Second Childhood; Eight
PG-13; EunHae; Fluff/Romance
They met just as little boys do, over action figurines and imaginary explosions. What they don't expect is for it to last.
Hyukjae thought it was a miracle they made it to the beach house in one piece. The chauffeur looked about done by the time he was done unloading all their backpacks and duffels and boxes of food and he sped off in the van after the most exhausted bow he had ever seen to them without so much as a goodbye. It had been a long four hour drive and it didn't help that there were five rambunctious boys excited about a holiday. Speaking of which, he still had a question to ask -
'Donghae,' Hyukjae tugged at the back of his shirt, waiting until his boyfriend turned around to face him rather than looking out onto the beach. He hissed none too softly, 'Why is Yunho here as well?'
Donghae blinked adorably and blankly as Hyukjae tugged him further back to walk with him and he fondly slid his fingers through Hyukjae's belt loops as they fell into step. 'I invited him.'
Hyukjae groaned. 'Why?' And resisted the urge to thunk his head onto Donghae's.
'Because we're friends?'
Hyukjae supposed that was right, in a manner of speaking. Yunho was Donghae's friend. Yunho was Kyuhyun and Sungmin's friend. However, ever since the incident in which Yunho and Hyukjae had taken to punching each other as hard as they could, Yunho had taken to glaring and muttering under his breath every time he saw Donghae with Hyukjae by his side. Hyukjae sighed. It had been five months since the incident. He looked up as Yunho came out from the beach house after carrying a load of luggage in, muttering angrily under his breath as he caught sight of Donghae's arm around Hyukjae's waist.
'We're not friends,' Hyukjae indicated himself and pointed at Yunho after.
Donghae wrinkled his noise. 'You will be. I will make it my personal mission during this one week.'
It was cute really, the way Donghae firmly wanted Yunho and Hyukjae to be best of friends. Apparently, the reason Hyukjae hadn't heard of Yunho during the first six months of them dating was because Yunho was on exchange to some university to Busan or whatever and he had returned barely two weeks before their huge fight. Hyukjae wasn't sure if the whole friendship thing would be possible until Yunho stopped making strangling motions in the air when he got too near. He pressed a kiss to Donghae's temple, breath feathering across Donghae's cheek as his boyfriend giggled and they dragged their luggages into the house as well.
Sungmin dumped a whole box of foodstuff on the kitchen counter and brushed his hands off, looking around the place. 'Well, they kept it clean at least. My dad says if we need we can call in the lady to cook and clean but I think we only have to do that in the last few days when we're too tired to do anything else. There's snacks and some fresh food in the refrigerator and we brought some of our own; I think it's enough to survive.'
'It's not,' Kyuhyun bemoaned from where he was currently sticking his head in the kitchen cupboards and Sungmin threw a carrot at him. Yunho snickered as he dumped the last of their bags on the ground and collapsed onto the hammock strung up between the kitchen and the balcony that led to the beach, the hammock swinging as he hummed under his breath.
Donghae tugged Hyukjae down to sit with him on the couch and Hyukjae put his feet up on the coffee table. 'Remind me again how you have this place?'
'It's not ours you idiot,' Sungmin chucked an apple at him and Hyukjae caught it deftly, offering a bite to Donghae before taking a big one out of it himself. 'Our dads' company has a few of these places scattered around the country. It's up for use as long as you book in advance and it's all free. Even if we call the cleaning and cooking lady in,' he shrugs. 'Part of company benefits I guess.'
'You can't mess anything up though. We had to pay the last time because Donghae crashed through a glass door,' Kyuhyun snickered.
'In my defence, you guys got me drunk and I couldn't even see straight, let alone see that it was a glass door.'
'Good times,' Kyuhyun raised the carrot in toast.
Hyukjae frowned, not at all pleased with the idea of an inebriated Donghae bumbling around and falling over random pieces of furniture. 'Don't drink without me around next time.'
Donghae simply smiled and snuggled into Hyukjae's side, to numerous groans and retching sounds.
-
'Yeah! It's the beach!' Donghae shrieked, dragging out every syllable even as he grabbed Sungmin's hand and ran out onto the sand.
Hyukjae stuck his hands in the pockets of his board shorts, preferring to stroll slowly behind them instead. They had agreed to go play some volleyball after a few hours of general laziness and sloth but now it seemed he should have said the entire day instead since it would be nicer to simply stay in the air-conditioned room with Donghae and make out. Kyuhyun seemed similarly adverse to the sun next to him, having put on a shirt, sun protection sleeves and board shorts. The little skin that was showing on his face and his legs were slathered with sunblock and Hyukjae snickered at him. Kyuhyun was absolutely helpless outside. On the other hand, Yunho seemed to have thrown all caution to the wind, running out after the pair without bothering to throw on a shirt on and Hyukjae scowled at seeing how ripped he was.
'It's okay,' Kyuhyun grinned, noticing Hyukjae's discomfort in his comfortable tee. 'Donghae likes the skinny guys.'
Hyukjae grabbed a handful of sand and chased Kyuhyun all the way out to the volleyball area, roaring, and aiming the sand at the areas of his skin where he had the sunblock on, cackling evilly when the sand stuck to the sticky lotion.
'Your boyfriend is evil!' Kyuhyun yelled and Donghae chortled.
'So are you Kyu, but I like him better,' he leaned up to press a kiss against Hyukjae's cheek and Hyukjae beamed.
'Your smile is brighter than the sun oh my god. I'm going to get sun burn from it alone so let's just shut up and play now.' Sungmin tossed the volleyball up and down in his hands as his face tried to balance grinning and grimacing at the same time.
Donghae tugged Hyukjae over to his team while Sungmin jumped triumphantly on Yunho ('I got the tall one on my team, we're sure to win!' He yelled as the rest all kicked sand in his direction). Kyuhyun had elected to referee since he had no sport coordination at all and sat morosely at the centre line just off the court, drawing random shapes in the sand and complaining about the sun. Everyone ignored his complaints.
'Do you even know the rules?' Yunho peered at him curiously, taking up his place just behind the line as he had first serve.
Kyuhyun waved his hand dismissively as he slid his massive shades on. 'Yeah, sure. Whatever. It's not that hard anyway. Batter up!' He yelled at the end where Yunho was and the four stared at him curiously.
'That's baseball,' Yunho looked at the volleyball in his hand.
'On your mark?'
'Running,' Sungmin deadpanned.
'Jump ball?'
'Basketball,' Donghae chimed in.
'The score is now love to love?'
'Oh my god,' Hyukjae said out loud.
-
When they had finally decided that Kyuhyun couldn't referee for shit, they sent him to sit in the shade of one of the huge umbrellas placed on the beach before he got heatstroke. Even in the shade, Hyukjae could see Kyuhyun perspiring from where he was standing. He pitied him for awhile, before he realised that the four of them were dripping with perspiration as well, and they were the ones doing the physical exertion. They gave up on scoring awhile ago since Kyuhyun could not be bothered to remember the score for them and they just played for the sake of it.
Hyukjae liked the way he and Donghae fit together seamlessly, picking up on silent cues or gestures to play smoothly, almost always earning a muffled curse from Sungmin or a frustrated look from Yunho when they spiked the ball particularly hard. It wasn't all easy either, Hyukjae had caught a pretty strong spike to the chest and he flew back, coughing and retching a little as he fought to get his breath back. Donghae's fingers flew across his chest worriedly, pressing at Hyukjae's back as he helped him sit up.
'Are you okay?' Donghae passed some water over, thanking a barely ruffled Kyuhyun, who had ventured out from the shade to see if Hyukjae was in mortal danger.
'I'm fine,' Hyukjae wheezed out. 'I'm not bleeding. I'm fine, don't worry.' He smiled at Donghae's worried face and accepted Yunho's hand to help him stand up. Yunho pulled away immediately once he was up on his feet but grabbed at his arm again when he wobbled unsteadily and Hyukjae nodded his thanks appreciatively amidst his surprise. 'I'm fine Donghae, stop looking at me like I'm going to fall over any minute now,' he took the hand that was still resting on his chest and pulled it down to Donghae's side, squeezing it gently. 'Let's go play.'
'We could stop … ?' Sungmin said uncertainly but Hyukjae shook his head.
'One last ball? Then we can go shower and have dinner.'
'You mean make dinner, but okay.' Sungmin passed the ball to Yunho. 'Your serve.'
Hyukjae dropped Donghae's hand after they reached back into the court before raising his arms and pulling his shirt off. It was too hot anyway and he wanted to give this last one all he had. Besides, he had forgotten that he had wanted to even out his tan and he winced at the faint lines about halfway up his arm. He'd have to catch more sun in the next few days to even it out even more. Hyukjae tossed the in the general direction of Kyuhyun's beach umbrella and clapped his hands, eyes trained carefully on Yunho's serve.
He managed to catch it in a good enough set, calling for Donghae to set it up higher so he could spike it down but he heard the dull thud of the ball in the sand and he turned to Donghae, stunned. Did he aim wrong? He thought that they'd been working well so far but maybe he misjudged the distance or something. Yunho hid a small smile behind his hand as Hyukjae blinked confusedly at Donghae.
Apparently, it wasn't his aim because Donghae was unashamedly staring at Hyukjae's topless form, adam's apple working furiously as he swallowed multiple times. Unconsciously crossing his arms across his bare chest, Hyukjae shivered just a little, little enough not to be seen by the other three as Donghae's roving gaze swept up and down his torso.
'Donghae,' Sungmin had ducked under the net and stepped closer, grinning away like the Cheshire Cat on Christmas Day. 'Snap out of it Hae.'
Yunho snapped his fingers a few times in front of Donghae's face before stepping between them, blocking Hyukjae from sight and Hyukjae relaxed when Donghae seemed to come back to himself. Yunho couldn't quite muffle his snigger.
'I wasn't staring,' he said sheepishly, his blush creeping up from the base of his neck and crawling across his face.
'Sure you weren't,' Kyuhyun muttered.
'Hey,' Yunho said, mildly offended. 'Am I not hot? Why doesn't this - ' he gestured towards himself ' - affect you?'
Hyukjae scowled. He wasn't sure if Yunho was kidding or not but he still didn't like being compared to him when he was obviously taller, stronger and knew Donghae for a longer period that he had.
'I mean, come on!' Yunho turned to Sungmin and Kyuhyun for help. 'I'm hot!' They laughed and Sungmin ruffled his hair, well the part he could reach anyway.
'I think you're hot,' he grinned and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes.
'No offence Yunho hyung,' Donghae raised a hand to scratch his nose shyly. 'But you're not my type. I think Hyukjae is sexier.'
'Yah!' Yunho said indignantly and Donghae laughed as he blushed even redder than before. The other two ribbed him mercilessly and Kyuhyun pushed his head down, ignoring his sad whimpers for pity and love.
Hyukjae grinned, pleased beyond words that his boyfriend still thought he was the best even after almost a year together and he unceremoniously shoved Yunho to the side as he walked up to Donghae, caught his face between his hands and kissed him hard. There was a general noise of dissent behind him but he ignored it as he swallowed Donghae's whimper, prising his mouth open and curling his tongue around his boyfriend's tongue until Donghae sagged against him.
Someone threw sand at him, he thought it was Kyuhyun, but he simply kicked his leg backwards, scattering sand as well and smiling into the kiss as he heard yelps and sounds of running. Besides, he had better things to do now, like kiss Donghae into the middle of next week. Feeling Donghae gripping onto his biceps tightly to keep from falling, he pulled away and smiled at Donghae's dazed face. 'Hi.'
Donghae's eyes looked blown and he seemed to be focusing on a point just beside Hyukjae's ears and he laughed, still holding Donghae upright. 'Hi,' Donghae mumbled back hazily.
He held Donghae for a moment or two longer until he was sure he was steady and then released him to take him hand. Tugging him into a walk along the beach, Hyukjae grinned as Donghae took awhile to find his balance after the kiss. 'So you think I'm sexy huh?'
'Shut up,' Donghae shoved at him and the both of them wobbled on the sand unsteadily before Hyukjae pulled him back towards him laughingly. 'I just said that to get Yunho hyung to shut up.'
'So you don't think I'm sexy?'
'…'
'I'll take that as a yes then,' Hyukjae punched the air triumphantly and Donghae pushed him indignantly to hide his embarrassment. Unfortunately, Hyukjae hadn't let go of Donghae's hand yet so when he went down, Donghae went down too with a loud 'oof!' and they rolled for a bit, seeing as they were walking on a sloped beach. They finally rolled to a stop near the water, laughing breathlessly as Donghae pillowed his head on Hyukjae's outstretched arm. 'You're such an idiot,' Hyukjae said as fondly as he could without being insulting and Donghae smacked his open palm down on Hyukjae's chest, making him cough again. Donghae's eyes were glittering mischievously.
Donghae ducked his head down, 'I'm your idiot.
'That is true,' Hyukjae confirmed, pulling Donghae closer so he was resting his head on his chest. Running his fingers through Donghae's hair, he smiled as his boyfriend hummed contentedly, watching the waves crash against the shore as they cuddled.
It was uncomfortable after awhile and Hyukjae stretched his arms from where he was lying down, not missing the choked sound that Donghae made. His happy grin sharpened a little as he nudged Donghae's forehead. 'What's the matter?'
Donghae shook his head.
'You do think I'm sexy,' Hyukjae's grin didn't dim and Donghae hit him again.
'You're such a moron. Of course I think you're sexy,' Donghae's face was flaming hot by this point but he plowed on. 'It's just the first time that you - I - you know,' he gestured indiscriminately and buried his face again, rolling off Hyukjae and pouting at the sand.
Hyukjae knew what he was referring to. Even almost a year into their relationship, they had respected their parents' wishes, only kissing or having their hands roam a little at home, never really going further than that. It wasn't a huge matter of self-control honestly, he liked the sweet, the innocent, and it almost felt like the honeymoon period of his relationship with Donghae, even after eleven months. Hyukjae wasn't that self-conscious, neither was he a prude so he had gone topless before, once or twice when Donghae had stayed over at his house. It took him fifteen minutes to stop Donghae from blushing enough to get to sleep. But he guessed this was the first time they didn't have to worry about parents or rules or anything. He supposed the perspiration on his chest didn't help too much either and he smirked.
He rolled over as well, slipping a quick hand up Donghae's shirt and running a finger down his sweaty back as he squeaked.
'Shy Donghae,' he cooed as Donghae slapped at his hands and he laughed, rolling his boyfriend over. 'I'm just teasing.'
'Well, stop.' Donghae's face was redder than a tomato and he shifted edgily. 'Maybe we should talk about this seriously.'
Hyukjae swallowed hard. That escalated quickly. 'What?'
'Well, think about it. The parents say we can't do anything in their house but we're technically not at their house right now, right? Wouldn't this be a good time?'
'We never - ' Hyukjae floundered a little, looking for words. He had thought about it of course, but he never pitched the idea to Donghae for fear of the younger thinking that he was rushing into things. And now Donghae was putting forth the idea to him. ' - Never really talked about it before.'
'We're talking now.' Donghae gestured impatiently.
'I mean, are you sure? Because I'm totally fine with waiting.'
Donghae smacked him before sitting up. 'You mean you thought about this before and never talked about it before with me?!'
'Well I didn't want to rush you!'
Donghae pouted and Hyukjae sat up as well, arms going around Donghae immediately and pulling him closer. He could feel Donghae's shoulders slumping and he started to panic. Maybe he said something wrong? Maybe Donghae was raising the subject to tell Hyukjae that he wasn't ready and that they should wait until four years later before they could even broach the topic of sex. 'Are you upset Donghae?'
'Of course I'm upset.'
'We can talk about this another time maybe - '
Donghae piped up softly, 'What if I want to be rushed?'
Hyukjae's brain died and all his bodily functions seemed to stop at the same time. '… What?'
'Donghae looked up then, blinking slowly in the light of the setting sun. 'Don't you want me? Am I the only one who wants this?'
'No but - '
'Do you not think I'm hot? Or perfect? Like I think you are?' His lip wobbled just a little bit then, with the fear of rejection before firming up and Hyukjae kissed him then, kissed the fear away.
'Lee Donghae, I think you are the sexiest person alive and I love you,' Hyukjae pressed his fingers into his cheek, hoping to press the words into his heart where it would stay forever. 'I don't want anybody else and I won't want anybody else okay?'
'Promise?'
Hyukjae linked his little finger with the one Donghae held out, before pulling his hand in and pressing gentle kisses to all his knuckles. 'I promise. We will talk more about this tonight after we had dinner okay?'
Donghae nodded his assent, pressing a soft kiss to the underside of Hyukjae's jaw before settling in to watch the sunset together.
Maybe, just maybe, it was time for their relationship to progress to the next level.
Maybe they were ready.
A/N: filler chapter? :D HOLIDAYS FOR EVERYONE. i want a holiday :(
PG-13; EunHae; Fluff/Romance
They met just as little boys do, over action figurines and imaginary explosions. What they don't expect is for it to last.
Hyukjae thought it was a miracle they made it to the beach house in one piece. The chauffeur looked about done by the time he was done unloading all their backpacks and duffels and boxes of food and he sped off in the van after the most exhausted bow he had ever seen to them without so much as a goodbye. It had been a long four hour drive and it didn't help that there were five rambunctious boys excited about a holiday. Speaking of which, he still had a question to ask -
'Donghae,' Hyukjae tugged at the back of his shirt, waiting until his boyfriend turned around to face him rather than looking out onto the beach. He hissed none too softly, 'Why is Yunho here as well?'
Donghae blinked adorably and blankly as Hyukjae tugged him further back to walk with him and he fondly slid his fingers through Hyukjae's belt loops as they fell into step. 'I invited him.'
Hyukjae groaned. 'Why?' And resisted the urge to thunk his head onto Donghae's.
'Because we're friends?'
Hyukjae supposed that was right, in a manner of speaking. Yunho was Donghae's friend. Yunho was Kyuhyun and Sungmin's friend. However, ever since the incident in which Yunho and Hyukjae had taken to punching each other as hard as they could, Yunho had taken to glaring and muttering under his breath every time he saw Donghae with Hyukjae by his side. Hyukjae sighed. It had been five months since the incident. He looked up as Yunho came out from the beach house after carrying a load of luggage in, muttering angrily under his breath as he caught sight of Donghae's arm around Hyukjae's waist.
'We're not friends,' Hyukjae indicated himself and pointed at Yunho after.
Donghae wrinkled his noise. 'You will be. I will make it my personal mission during this one week.'
It was cute really, the way Donghae firmly wanted Yunho and Hyukjae to be best of friends. Apparently, the reason Hyukjae hadn't heard of Yunho during the first six months of them dating was because Yunho was on exchange to some university to Busan or whatever and he had returned barely two weeks before their huge fight. Hyukjae wasn't sure if the whole friendship thing would be possible until Yunho stopped making strangling motions in the air when he got too near. He pressed a kiss to Donghae's temple, breath feathering across Donghae's cheek as his boyfriend giggled and they dragged their luggages into the house as well.
Sungmin dumped a whole box of foodstuff on the kitchen counter and brushed his hands off, looking around the place. 'Well, they kept it clean at least. My dad says if we need we can call in the lady to cook and clean but I think we only have to do that in the last few days when we're too tired to do anything else. There's snacks and some fresh food in the refrigerator and we brought some of our own; I think it's enough to survive.'
'It's not,' Kyuhyun bemoaned from where he was currently sticking his head in the kitchen cupboards and Sungmin threw a carrot at him. Yunho snickered as he dumped the last of their bags on the ground and collapsed onto the hammock strung up between the kitchen and the balcony that led to the beach, the hammock swinging as he hummed under his breath.
Donghae tugged Hyukjae down to sit with him on the couch and Hyukjae put his feet up on the coffee table. 'Remind me again how you have this place?'
'It's not ours you idiot,' Sungmin chucked an apple at him and Hyukjae caught it deftly, offering a bite to Donghae before taking a big one out of it himself. 'Our dads' company has a few of these places scattered around the country. It's up for use as long as you book in advance and it's all free. Even if we call the cleaning and cooking lady in,' he shrugs. 'Part of company benefits I guess.'
'You can't mess anything up though. We had to pay the last time because Donghae crashed through a glass door,' Kyuhyun snickered.
'In my defence, you guys got me drunk and I couldn't even see straight, let alone see that it was a glass door.'
'Good times,' Kyuhyun raised the carrot in toast.
Hyukjae frowned, not at all pleased with the idea of an inebriated Donghae bumbling around and falling over random pieces of furniture. 'Don't drink without me around next time.'
Donghae simply smiled and snuggled into Hyukjae's side, to numerous groans and retching sounds.
-
'Yeah! It's the beach!' Donghae shrieked, dragging out every syllable even as he grabbed Sungmin's hand and ran out onto the sand.
Hyukjae stuck his hands in the pockets of his board shorts, preferring to stroll slowly behind them instead. They had agreed to go play some volleyball after a few hours of general laziness and sloth but now it seemed he should have said the entire day instead since it would be nicer to simply stay in the air-conditioned room with Donghae and make out. Kyuhyun seemed similarly adverse to the sun next to him, having put on a shirt, sun protection sleeves and board shorts. The little skin that was showing on his face and his legs were slathered with sunblock and Hyukjae snickered at him. Kyuhyun was absolutely helpless outside. On the other hand, Yunho seemed to have thrown all caution to the wind, running out after the pair without bothering to throw on a shirt on and Hyukjae scowled at seeing how ripped he was.
'It's okay,' Kyuhyun grinned, noticing Hyukjae's discomfort in his comfortable tee. 'Donghae likes the skinny guys.'
Hyukjae grabbed a handful of sand and chased Kyuhyun all the way out to the volleyball area, roaring, and aiming the sand at the areas of his skin where he had the sunblock on, cackling evilly when the sand stuck to the sticky lotion.
'Your boyfriend is evil!' Kyuhyun yelled and Donghae chortled.
'So are you Kyu, but I like him better,' he leaned up to press a kiss against Hyukjae's cheek and Hyukjae beamed.
'Your smile is brighter than the sun oh my god. I'm going to get sun burn from it alone so let's just shut up and play now.' Sungmin tossed the volleyball up and down in his hands as his face tried to balance grinning and grimacing at the same time.
Donghae tugged Hyukjae over to his team while Sungmin jumped triumphantly on Yunho ('I got the tall one on my team, we're sure to win!' He yelled as the rest all kicked sand in his direction). Kyuhyun had elected to referee since he had no sport coordination at all and sat morosely at the centre line just off the court, drawing random shapes in the sand and complaining about the sun. Everyone ignored his complaints.
'Do you even know the rules?' Yunho peered at him curiously, taking up his place just behind the line as he had first serve.
Kyuhyun waved his hand dismissively as he slid his massive shades on. 'Yeah, sure. Whatever. It's not that hard anyway. Batter up!' He yelled at the end where Yunho was and the four stared at him curiously.
'That's baseball,' Yunho looked at the volleyball in his hand.
'On your mark?'
'Running,' Sungmin deadpanned.
'Jump ball?'
'Basketball,' Donghae chimed in.
'The score is now love to love?'
'Oh my god,' Hyukjae said out loud.
-
When they had finally decided that Kyuhyun couldn't referee for shit, they sent him to sit in the shade of one of the huge umbrellas placed on the beach before he got heatstroke. Even in the shade, Hyukjae could see Kyuhyun perspiring from where he was standing. He pitied him for awhile, before he realised that the four of them were dripping with perspiration as well, and they were the ones doing the physical exertion. They gave up on scoring awhile ago since Kyuhyun could not be bothered to remember the score for them and they just played for the sake of it.
Hyukjae liked the way he and Donghae fit together seamlessly, picking up on silent cues or gestures to play smoothly, almost always earning a muffled curse from Sungmin or a frustrated look from Yunho when they spiked the ball particularly hard. It wasn't all easy either, Hyukjae had caught a pretty strong spike to the chest and he flew back, coughing and retching a little as he fought to get his breath back. Donghae's fingers flew across his chest worriedly, pressing at Hyukjae's back as he helped him sit up.
'Are you okay?' Donghae passed some water over, thanking a barely ruffled Kyuhyun, who had ventured out from the shade to see if Hyukjae was in mortal danger.
'I'm fine,' Hyukjae wheezed out. 'I'm not bleeding. I'm fine, don't worry.' He smiled at Donghae's worried face and accepted Yunho's hand to help him stand up. Yunho pulled away immediately once he was up on his feet but grabbed at his arm again when he wobbled unsteadily and Hyukjae nodded his thanks appreciatively amidst his surprise. 'I'm fine Donghae, stop looking at me like I'm going to fall over any minute now,' he took the hand that was still resting on his chest and pulled it down to Donghae's side, squeezing it gently. 'Let's go play.'
'We could stop … ?' Sungmin said uncertainly but Hyukjae shook his head.
'One last ball? Then we can go shower and have dinner.'
'You mean make dinner, but okay.' Sungmin passed the ball to Yunho. 'Your serve.'
Hyukjae dropped Donghae's hand after they reached back into the court before raising his arms and pulling his shirt off. It was too hot anyway and he wanted to give this last one all he had. Besides, he had forgotten that he had wanted to even out his tan and he winced at the faint lines about halfway up his arm. He'd have to catch more sun in the next few days to even it out even more. Hyukjae tossed the in the general direction of Kyuhyun's beach umbrella and clapped his hands, eyes trained carefully on Yunho's serve.
He managed to catch it in a good enough set, calling for Donghae to set it up higher so he could spike it down but he heard the dull thud of the ball in the sand and he turned to Donghae, stunned. Did he aim wrong? He thought that they'd been working well so far but maybe he misjudged the distance or something. Yunho hid a small smile behind his hand as Hyukjae blinked confusedly at Donghae.
Apparently, it wasn't his aim because Donghae was unashamedly staring at Hyukjae's topless form, adam's apple working furiously as he swallowed multiple times. Unconsciously crossing his arms across his bare chest, Hyukjae shivered just a little, little enough not to be seen by the other three as Donghae's roving gaze swept up and down his torso.
'Donghae,' Sungmin had ducked under the net and stepped closer, grinning away like the Cheshire Cat on Christmas Day. 'Snap out of it Hae.'
Yunho snapped his fingers a few times in front of Donghae's face before stepping between them, blocking Hyukjae from sight and Hyukjae relaxed when Donghae seemed to come back to himself. Yunho couldn't quite muffle his snigger.
'I wasn't staring,' he said sheepishly, his blush creeping up from the base of his neck and crawling across his face.
'Sure you weren't,' Kyuhyun muttered.
'Hey,' Yunho said, mildly offended. 'Am I not hot? Why doesn't this - ' he gestured towards himself ' - affect you?'
Hyukjae scowled. He wasn't sure if Yunho was kidding or not but he still didn't like being compared to him when he was obviously taller, stronger and knew Donghae for a longer period that he had.
'I mean, come on!' Yunho turned to Sungmin and Kyuhyun for help. 'I'm hot!' They laughed and Sungmin ruffled his hair, well the part he could reach anyway.
'I think you're hot,' he grinned and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes.
'No offence Yunho hyung,' Donghae raised a hand to scratch his nose shyly. 'But you're not my type. I think Hyukjae is sexier.'
'Yah!' Yunho said indignantly and Donghae laughed as he blushed even redder than before. The other two ribbed him mercilessly and Kyuhyun pushed his head down, ignoring his sad whimpers for pity and love.
Hyukjae grinned, pleased beyond words that his boyfriend still thought he was the best even after almost a year together and he unceremoniously shoved Yunho to the side as he walked up to Donghae, caught his face between his hands and kissed him hard. There was a general noise of dissent behind him but he ignored it as he swallowed Donghae's whimper, prising his mouth open and curling his tongue around his boyfriend's tongue until Donghae sagged against him.
Someone threw sand at him, he thought it was Kyuhyun, but he simply kicked his leg backwards, scattering sand as well and smiling into the kiss as he heard yelps and sounds of running. Besides, he had better things to do now, like kiss Donghae into the middle of next week. Feeling Donghae gripping onto his biceps tightly to keep from falling, he pulled away and smiled at Donghae's dazed face. 'Hi.'
Donghae's eyes looked blown and he seemed to be focusing on a point just beside Hyukjae's ears and he laughed, still holding Donghae upright. 'Hi,' Donghae mumbled back hazily.
He held Donghae for a moment or two longer until he was sure he was steady and then released him to take him hand. Tugging him into a walk along the beach, Hyukjae grinned as Donghae took awhile to find his balance after the kiss. 'So you think I'm sexy huh?'
'Shut up,' Donghae shoved at him and the both of them wobbled on the sand unsteadily before Hyukjae pulled him back towards him laughingly. 'I just said that to get Yunho hyung to shut up.'
'So you don't think I'm sexy?'
'…'
'I'll take that as a yes then,' Hyukjae punched the air triumphantly and Donghae pushed him indignantly to hide his embarrassment. Unfortunately, Hyukjae hadn't let go of Donghae's hand yet so when he went down, Donghae went down too with a loud 'oof!' and they rolled for a bit, seeing as they were walking on a sloped beach. They finally rolled to a stop near the water, laughing breathlessly as Donghae pillowed his head on Hyukjae's outstretched arm. 'You're such an idiot,' Hyukjae said as fondly as he could without being insulting and Donghae smacked his open palm down on Hyukjae's chest, making him cough again. Donghae's eyes were glittering mischievously.
Donghae ducked his head down, 'I'm your idiot.
'That is true,' Hyukjae confirmed, pulling Donghae closer so he was resting his head on his chest. Running his fingers through Donghae's hair, he smiled as his boyfriend hummed contentedly, watching the waves crash against the shore as they cuddled.
It was uncomfortable after awhile and Hyukjae stretched his arms from where he was lying down, not missing the choked sound that Donghae made. His happy grin sharpened a little as he nudged Donghae's forehead. 'What's the matter?'
Donghae shook his head.
'You do think I'm sexy,' Hyukjae's grin didn't dim and Donghae hit him again.
'You're such a moron. Of course I think you're sexy,' Donghae's face was flaming hot by this point but he plowed on. 'It's just the first time that you - I - you know,' he gestured indiscriminately and buried his face again, rolling off Hyukjae and pouting at the sand.
Hyukjae knew what he was referring to. Even almost a year into their relationship, they had respected their parents' wishes, only kissing or having their hands roam a little at home, never really going further than that. It wasn't a huge matter of self-control honestly, he liked the sweet, the innocent, and it almost felt like the honeymoon period of his relationship with Donghae, even after eleven months. Hyukjae wasn't that self-conscious, neither was he a prude so he had gone topless before, once or twice when Donghae had stayed over at his house. It took him fifteen minutes to stop Donghae from blushing enough to get to sleep. But he guessed this was the first time they didn't have to worry about parents or rules or anything. He supposed the perspiration on his chest didn't help too much either and he smirked.
He rolled over as well, slipping a quick hand up Donghae's shirt and running a finger down his sweaty back as he squeaked.
'Shy Donghae,' he cooed as Donghae slapped at his hands and he laughed, rolling his boyfriend over. 'I'm just teasing.'
'Well, stop.' Donghae's face was redder than a tomato and he shifted edgily. 'Maybe we should talk about this seriously.'
Hyukjae swallowed hard. That escalated quickly. 'What?'
'Well, think about it. The parents say we can't do anything in their house but we're technically not at their house right now, right? Wouldn't this be a good time?'
'We never - ' Hyukjae floundered a little, looking for words. He had thought about it of course, but he never pitched the idea to Donghae for fear of the younger thinking that he was rushing into things. And now Donghae was putting forth the idea to him. ' - Never really talked about it before.'
'We're talking now.' Donghae gestured impatiently.
'I mean, are you sure? Because I'm totally fine with waiting.'
Donghae smacked him before sitting up. 'You mean you thought about this before and never talked about it before with me?!'
'Well I didn't want to rush you!'
Donghae pouted and Hyukjae sat up as well, arms going around Donghae immediately and pulling him closer. He could feel Donghae's shoulders slumping and he started to panic. Maybe he said something wrong? Maybe Donghae was raising the subject to tell Hyukjae that he wasn't ready and that they should wait until four years later before they could even broach the topic of sex. 'Are you upset Donghae?'
'Of course I'm upset.'
'We can talk about this another time maybe - '
Donghae piped up softly, 'What if I want to be rushed?'
Hyukjae's brain died and all his bodily functions seemed to stop at the same time. '… What?'
'Donghae looked up then, blinking slowly in the light of the setting sun. 'Don't you want me? Am I the only one who wants this?'
'No but - '
'Do you not think I'm hot? Or perfect? Like I think you are?' His lip wobbled just a little bit then, with the fear of rejection before firming up and Hyukjae kissed him then, kissed the fear away.
'Lee Donghae, I think you are the sexiest person alive and I love you,' Hyukjae pressed his fingers into his cheek, hoping to press the words into his heart where it would stay forever. 'I don't want anybody else and I won't want anybody else okay?'
'Promise?'
Hyukjae linked his little finger with the one Donghae held out, before pulling his hand in and pressing gentle kisses to all his knuckles. 'I promise. We will talk more about this tonight after we had dinner okay?'
Donghae nodded his assent, pressing a soft kiss to the underside of Hyukjae's jaw before settling in to watch the sunset together.
Maybe, just maybe, it was time for their relationship to progress to the next level.
Maybe they were ready.
A/N: filler chapter? :D HOLIDAYS FOR EVERYONE. i want a holiday :(