When We're Apart
Title: When We're Apart
Pairing: HyukHae
Minor Pairing: MinKyu
Rating: PG
Genre: fluff, romance, humor
Disclaimer: they own me
Summary: The prospect of college worries Hyukjae more than he wants to admit, not because of the transition or anything, but because of Donghae.
Most kids spent the summer before college sleeping to make up for the all-nighters of the previous school year or hanging out with their high school friends.
Lee Hyukjae was not most people.
The moment he packed away all the essentials for dorm life the upcoming fall (it helped to be prepared ahead of time, just in case), Hyukjae locked himself away in his room with a new pack of paper and several pens, coming out only for meals, bathroom breaks, and the occasional (i.e. optional) shower. When he did emerge from his room, he bore a striking resemblance to the zombie people in some of Kyuhyun’s video games, thankfully sans the blood and gore.
Hyukjae knew Donghae probably wouldn’t be too worried about his odd behavior. In fact, he knew that his boyfriend rather enjoyed the heart-to-heart conversations with Hyukjae’s mother when he came over every day to spend quality time with Hyukjae only to find him still busy. But knowing Donghae, the younger boy had the attention span of a goldfish, and it was only a matter of time before he got curious as to what Hyukjae was doing. This added a sense of urgency to Hyukjae’s designated mission, and he hastened to finish. Hyukjae could only hope that his mother could keep Donghae occupied until then.
On the seventh day of Hyukjae’s self-imposed isolation, Hyukjae finally finished his task. With a sigh of relief, he threw down his pen and shook out the nasty cramp in his hand. He put his forehead on his desk and closed his eyes, drained of all energy. Just as he was about to drift off into blissful sleep, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. Groggily lifting his head, Hyukjae forced himself to turn around…and nearly got a heart attack when he saw Donghae standing in the doorway with a sheaf of paper in his hand.
“Donghae,” croaked Hyukjae. “What are you…How did you…?”
Donghae scoffed, tossing his head. “I haven’t seen you for a week; you didn’t think I’d get curious about what you were doing in here? And I picked the lock. Kyuhyun taught me how.”
“Maybe asking Kyuhyun isn’t a good idea after all,” muttered Hyukjae darkly, making a mental note to cross the evil gamer’s name off the list.
Donghae raised an eyebrow. “Ask him what?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing, nothing,” Hyukjae sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair.
“This?” questioned Donghae. At Hyukjae’s quizzical look, Donghae lifted the papers in his hand and read, “‘Dear Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and Henry, I am entrusting Donghae with you guys now that I won’t be here all the time. If you screw this up, I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your life. One. Try to get Donghae to go to sleep before midnight. Any later and he will probably sleep during class.’”
Hyukjae’s eyes widened at the familiar words, and he nearly fell out of his chair in his haste to get the papers back from Donghae. “You’re not supposed to read that,” he said, trying to tug it out of Donghae’s hands.
“‘Two. Walk to school with him. He doesn’t like walking by himself,’” sang Donghae, stubbornly holding on. “Oh, you know me too well, Hyuk.”
“Give it back!” insisted Hyukjae. After one particularly hard yank, Donghae finally let go, and the momentum sent Hyukjae stumbling backwards onto the bed. Hyukjae sighed with relief as he looked at the papers safely back in his hands.
“Is there more here?” Donghae called, sifting through the contents of Hyukjae’s desk. “Ah, here. ‘Three hundred twenty one. Keep Donghae away from shrimp. He is allergic, no matter what he tells you.’ Hey, shrimp is delicious; it’s totally worth the rashes I develop later after eating it.”
“You little masochist,” muttered Hyukjae under his breath.
“Only for you, lover boy,” teased Donghae, throwing Hyukjae a suggestive look that caused Hyukjae to gulp at the mental images. Donghae picked up another paper. “‘Seven hundred thirty four. If Heechul comes to visit, try to keep them apart as much as possible; Heechul is not a good influence and, with overexposure, will corrupt Donghae.’ Seriously, Hyuk? You better hope no one tells hyung about this.”
“My life is over,” groaned Hyukjae, throwing his arm over his eyes and imagining ways Donghae’s crazy older brother would dismember him if word got out about what he wrote. He laid in bed without moving and listened to Donghae delightedly reading off the rest of the list he so carefully composed in the last week, deciding that it was futile to try and stop him at this point.
“Wow, you wrote a lot,” commented Donghae, sounding impressed. “Exactly how many instructions did you write to them?”
“One thousand,” Hyukjae admitted faintly.
“Ah, here’s the last page. ‘One thousand. If Donghae ever…’” Donghae trailed off. There was silence for a few moments followed by some shuffling. Without warning, Donghae’s entire weight was thrown on Hyukjae’s body.
Hyukjae’s eyes flew open. “Ooof. What was that f-” He barely had time to register Donghae’s face above him before the other’s lips crashed down on his own. Hyukjae blinked in surprise, but returned the kiss with equal fervor, hand reaching up to cup Donghae’s jaw.
When they finally broke the kiss breathlessly, Donghae rested his forehead on Hyukjae’s, staring intensely into his eyes with shining brown ones, and, not for the first time, Hyukjae wished that he could pack Donghae up and take the younger boy with him to college.
“Hyuk, did you really spend that entire last week holed up in your room to write my friends instructions on how to take care of me?” whispered Donghae, breath fanning on Hyukjae’s face.
Hyukjae frowned slightly. “You weren’t supposed to find out,” he countered, slightly distracted as Donghae shifted positions to straddle his waist.
“That’s probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever done,” laughed Donghae, eyes twinkling. “But…”
Hyukjae’s frown deepened, feeling slightly worried. “But?”
The laughter disappeared from Donghae’s eyes, his expression turning serious. “But I don’t need you to take care of me like you used to anymore. I can take care of myself.”
“Don’t be silly, Donghae,” scoffed Hyukjae.
“Shut up and listen,” snapped Donghae, eyes flashing dangerously. Hyukjae shut his mouth obediently. “I’m seventeen now, Hyukjae. Stop treating me like I’m five and need help crossing the road. As much as you don’t believe it, I really am capable of taking care of myself. Now, you need to stop worrying so much about me and start worrying about yourself. Your first year in college shouldn’t be spent calling home every five minutes to make sure I’m okay. Go take different classes. Join clubs. Meet new people. But if you fall for someone else, I’ll kick your ass, got that?”
Hyukjae couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across his face, all the anxiety about his departure that had been building up dissipating with Donghae’s simple words. He stared at the person before him, a far shy from the clingy, immature boy who used to require assistance to act like a normal human being, and wondered when exactly Donghae grew up so much. Hyukjae sighed a little wistfully before the grin returned to his face. “Sir, yes sir,” he said, mock saluting Donghae. “Any other orders, sir?”
The corners of Donghae’s lips curled up into a beautiful smile. “Yes. Kiss me again, you silly monkey.”
“Done,” replied Hyukjae, pulling Donghae back down.
1000. If Donghae ever forgets how much he means to me, remind him that I love him more than anything in the universe and that he’s the only one for me.
-
Dear Sungmin-hyung,
Hi, hyung. It’s your favorite dongsaeng, Donghae! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We all miss you, especially Kyuhyun. He will never admit it, but when you said that you were going to take summer school at the university instead of spending the break here, he was devastated. He locked himself in his room for days and only came out when I threatened to trash his gaming systems.
Speaking of Kyuhyun, he’s doing great. I’ve been making sure that he gets at least five hours of sleep a night like you asked me to, and scared away anyone who might steal him when you’re away (but don’t worry, hyung, Kyuhyun is all eyes for you).
Anyways, the real reason I’m writing this letter is because, as you may know, Hyukjae is going to your university next school year. I was wondering if you could look after him since I won’t be there to do that. I have enclosed a list…