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"They look like Kibum's!"
Sitting beside Donghae during breakfast, Shindong blinks at him questioningly and asks, "What?"
"They're like Kibum's!" Donghae repeats, eyes wide and bright, "His eyes, they're like Kibum's!"
Shindong, however, just frowns at him and continues to eat breakfast, "Whatever, Donghae. Sometimes, you're even weirder than Yesung hyung. And that's saying something."
Donghae though, doesn't really hear Shindong's words. Instead, he's elated with what he's figured out.
No wonder his eyes look so familiar.
---
After breakfast, he replaces Kangin and Eeteuk with looking after their guest. It's been a week since then and since they are supernatural, Sungmin's healing quite nicely.
Once he settles in a chair beside the boy, he smiles and says, "You know, your eyes look like Kibum's."
Sungmin raises a brow at that, then his eyes crinkle up in amusement and replies, "Do they now?" grinning cheekily at the other boy, Sungmin laughs and winks, "But mine are better, right?"
"Oh, please," Donghae rolls his eyes, "We already have a resident diva here. We do not want another one."
Blinking innocently at Donghae, Sungmin smiles and says, "Whatever do you mean?" Then he bursts into laughter and asks, "It's Heechul hyung, right? Your resident diva? I bet he hasn't changed since the time I met him."
"I bet he hasn't. He's a 'my pace' kind of guy."
Sungmin smiles fondly and nods, "He is."
They smile at each other then, amused, and suddenly, it's silent between them. Donghae running out of things to say; Sungmin just idly playing with his covers. The silence, however, doesn't bother them. It's soothing, because they know that the other is comfortable in each others' presence.
After a while, Sungmin looks out the window, staring at the clear, blue sky. Donghae looks up at the other boy and wonders what he's thinking.
"Have you ever flown before, Donghae?" Sungmin suddenly asks.
"No," he answers. Then he chuckles and says a little sheepishly, "I'm... a little scared of heights."
"You are?" Sungmin says, surprised, "But why?"
Donghae shrugs, "I kinda had a little accident when I was kid. I guess the fear of falling just stuck and...," trailing off, Donghae suddenly frowns. He looks at Sungmin then, just staring at him, like he's trying to figure out something about the boy questioningly looking at him.
Just when Sungmin's about to ask why, Donghae speaks, "I... kinda thought about this when I first saw you and I've sworn to ask you multiple times before but I keep on forgetting, but. Have we met before? I mean, you... I dunno, maybe it's the eyes? It's just, well. It's kinda--,"
Seeing Donghae so flustered trying to explain himself, Sungmin laughs and laughs and laughs till he cringes in pain. Rubbing his still sore chest, Sungmin groans, "Ow, that hurt."
Donghae's beside Sungmin the instant he sees Sungmin flinch.
Gently prying Sungmin's arms away from his chest to inspect if any wounds had reopened, Donghae worriedly frowns and hurriedly asks, "Are you all right, hyung? Does anything hurt? Well, something hurts, of course because you're gritting your teeth like you're in pain and-- shit, what do I do? Tell me what to fix, hyung? Tell me what to fix!"
Sungmin, however, just curls in on himself, shaking.
Donghae's about to run out of the room to ask for help when he hears sniggering on the bed. Slowly, he turns around to find Sungmin's shoulder shaking.
From laughter.
Yelling out a, "YAH! LEE SUNGMIN!" in frustration, Donghae marches towards the bed and points accusingly at the still laughing older boy.
"Seriously, if you weren't injured, I swear I'd--,"
"Swear you'll what?" Sungmin asks, taunting good-naturedly.
Huffing out in annoyance, Donghae sits on the chair he'd left and crosses his arms over his chest, all the while glaring at the still laughing boy on the bed. As soon as he's settled, Sungmin copies Donghae; crossing his arms over his chest, a pissed off expression on his face, complete with pout.
Chuckling softly, Sungmin relaxes, then smiles and sincerely says, "Thank you."
Surprised, Donghae forgets about vowing to never speak to the other as he asks, "For what?"
"For this," Sungmin replies, gesturing at himself, at everything, "For making me laugh. For taking care of me even when no one asked you to. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Sungmin looks straight into Donghae's eyes then. And gives Donghae a brilliant smile that did wonders to the other boy.
For a moment, Donghae's stunned by the familiarity of it. He's sure he hasn't met Sungmin before. It's impossible to forget someone like the other boy. But the others' smiles and his warm, warm amber eyes...
Immediately, Donghae stills, all the while staring intently at the boy sitting on the bed. Then he blinks and breathes, "It's you. I knew it! It's really you."
Sungmin, confused, tilts his head sideways and frowns, "What about me?"
"It's you!" Donghae exclaims, standing up and gesturing wildly at the other boy looking curiously up at him. "I was gonna ask you because I wasn't sure. But now... I'm sure I'm right. It can't be anyone else," laughing, Donghae dances happily in front of the other boy as he says, "All along, I thought that the reason why you're so familiar is because your eyes look like Kibum's. But it's the other way around, isn't it! It's always been the other way around!"
Landing on the chair again, Donghae grins excitedly at Sungmin and says, "You know hyung, when I first met Kibum, I thought he had the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. It's what attracted me to him all those years ago." Laughing at himself, he scratches at the back of his head, "I had this huge crush on him, you know. Every time I looked at his eyes, I felt safe, protected, like nothing bad could happen to me. Did you know he and I were together for a while?"
As Sungmin widens his eyes in surprise, Donghae chuckles and continues, "He's also the one who turned me into a vampire, if you were curious how I turned into one," then he grins conspiratorially and says, "He wasn't such a good sire, I'll have you know. He'd leave me in our house for weeks and weeks all alone. One day, he just didn't return anymore. So I left and traveled and then I met Hyukkie and... here I am."
Crouching so he's eye level with Sungmin, he takes Sungmin's hand into his own, laughs and says, "I take back what I said a while ago hyung, about your eyes looking like Kibum's. Because your eyes don't look like his. Kibum's eyes, look like yours."
--
It's like clockwork.
Sungmin crashes into their lives, literally. Sungmin adjusts. Sungmin is welcomed with open arms.
Honestly, it feels like he's been there with them since forever.
Pretty soon, he's got a room of his own, has a permanent seat at the table, knows their secrets (has told his own secrets in return), and his own mug lined up perfectly along theirs.
It feels natural, like Sungmin should have been there from the beginning. And for the nth time since he's met these wonderful people, Donghae once again feels like he's at the top of the world. Like nothing could get better.
He and Sungmin, along with Eeteuk and Kangin are eating breakfast when the other boy suddenly says, "Teukie hyung, I got a job at the cafe near the University."
Eyes wide, Eeteuk spits the cereal he's eating and says, "What?! How?!"
Sungmin's smile is sickeningly sweet when he says, "When you and Kangin hyung were creating miracles upstairs."
This time, it's Kangin who spits the cereal; milk, slightly-chewed cereal and all. Then he proceeds to glare threateningly at Sungmin. Normally, Kangin would've scared any of them into submission (minus Heechul, just because). When Sungmin arrived, however, they all learn that Kangin's all bark and no bite. That is, if you were someone named Sungmin, who plays the elder man as well as, and sometimes even better than, Eeteuk himself.
The phenomenon still amazes them, because Sungmin doesn't even look the slightest bit threatening and yet...
"Wait," he suddenly says, frowning at the other boy, "You mean you've been going out to the city without telling us?"
Sungmin blinks at Donghae then, before frowning as he replies, "I'm not a child, Donghae. I think I can take care of--,"
"That's beside the point!" he yells, suddenly very angry. Donghae doesn't even understand why it's affecting him this much-- it's true, Sungmin can take care of himself, but the thought of the other boy bleeding somewhere in the city without any of them knowing... It scares him; scares him more than his fear of falling, more than his fear of heights.
Sungmin's looking at him confusedly, unable to understand the anger he's seeing on the others' face. He reaches out to Donghae, but Donghae stands up from his seat, runs to the living room and yells, "Hyukkie!! Let's play that new game Kyuhyun got the other day!"
Sungmin frowns at Donghae, then looks at Kangin, and then at Eeteuk and asks, "Did I do something wrong?"
Across from him, Kangin snorts. "Donghae has no idea what's going on, but he has a point. You know better than to leave without telling us. What if they come, Min? What if they came for you and we didn't know?"
"Hyung, I can't live in fear of them forev--,"
"And you think we want that too?" Eeteuk suddenly says. He doesn't look angry, doesn't sound angry either. But when Sungmin looks in his eyes, he knows that the other man is disappointed in him, "You think we want to see you running away from them forever? You think we can stand to see you bleeding and broken whenever they take you? I know you're tired, Min; tired of always running away, tired of leaving people behind... and being left. But you can't just go on recklessly like that. You can't." Losing the hard glint in his eyes, Eeteuk gently ruffles the hair of the boy beside him and softly says, "Let Kangin and I look out for you this time, okay? You'll allow us this time, right?"
The three of them are silent for a while. Eeteuk and Kangin staring at Sungmin; Sungmin, trying hard not to look at the two men before him, a little guilty because he caused them to worry unnecessarily. He lets out a breath, then he pouts at them and tries his best to glare threateningly.
Shoving the elder man away from him, Sungmin rolls his eyes and says, "When has it ever been the other way around, hyung? You both act like you're my mother! Heechul hyung too, I swear!" Huffing in annoyance, he pouts at the grinning Kangin and Eeteuk and leaves the kitchen, screaming, "Yah! Lee Donghae! You said we'll play that friggin' game together!! YAH!"
Kangin laughs as Sungmin hurriedly exits the kitchen. Eeteuk just continues to grin widely, knowing how easily embarrassed the other boy is.
But it's when Sungmin's out of ear shot, and when they're sure that no one's around to listen, that their grins are replaced by worry.
"You think they'll leave him alone this time?" Eeteuk asks, allowing a little hope to lace his tone.
Kangin looks straight at Eeteuk's eyes, searching, knowing that Eeteuk knows as much as he does. Sadly, he shakes his head and says, "You know what's happening, hyung. I don't think they'll leave him alone. Not now. Especially now, more than ever."
Eeteuk sighs, "I know. I just... hope that nothing bad happens until we're all prepared."
A week later, however...
"Yeobseyo? This is Lee Minjun from the Sacred Heart Hospital. May I talk with Park Jungsu-sshi?"
More than a little stunned and with his heart thundering madly in his chest, Eeteuk shakily replies, "Y-yes, speaking. May I help you?"
"I am so sorry, sir. But early this morning, a Lee Sungmin-sshi was--,"
---
Donghae is convinced that Sungmin is a trouble magnet.
"He's a trouble magnet, isn't he?"
Sitting beside him, Hyukjae nods, "Hasn't even been a year since then."
"I know. It's like, he's looking for it, or something. I mean, look at us. We've been around for decades! Decades! And we've never been confined to a hospital. Minus that time with Kyu, but that's another story altogether, right? Coz it wasn't his fault. And there was also that time with Heechul hyung, when he came with me to visit my father's grave. But that wasn't his fault, too! But look at him, Hyukkie! He's like, like... it's like he wants it! I mean, he said he could take care of himself, right? Then why didn't he if he wasn't looking for trouble? Why'd he let himself be attacked like that? Why isn't he waking up? Why'd they hurt him like that? What did Sungmin hyung do that was so bad that they attacked him like that? Why--,"
Donghae doesn't realize he's crying until he feels Hyukjae wrapping his arms around him, until he's hearing Hyukjae softly saying, 'Sungmin hyung's really strong, right Hae? He's going to be okay. He'll wake up soon, you'll see. So stop crying, okay? Everything's going to be alright. It's going to be alright.'
Donghae wants to believe that everything will be alright, but he can't. He can't, until he sees the others' warm, warm amber eyes smiling at him again.
When he comes to a while later, Hyukjae's gone.
Staring out the window, at the clear, blue sky, Donghae wonders what it's like to fly.
He walks towards the bed slowly, all the while staring at the figure lying unmoving on the bed. He feels himself beginning to cry again, but he swallows and fights to keep the tears down. Cradling one hand into his own, Donghae sits beside the other boy and whispers, "Sungmin hyung, I wasn't able to say it before and I know you can't hear me now but, well... Do you know you saved me twice before? Once when I was a kid, the other when I just turned twenty? There's a chance that you don't remember, although I really hope you do. In any case, this time, I hope you don't mind if I'll be the one saving you."
---
I am so sorry for the crappy chapter. it... felt so disjointed >_<