18 (1/1)

“You’re back early.” Sungmin scoffed from across the room as he sat on the floor with papers scattered around him. He was working on something, what Hyukjae assumed to be Sukira preparations.A few days after Christmas, all of the active Super Junior members were practicing for the year-end shows that would be put on by various television networks featuring different performances from idol groups and talented solo artists alike.They had all been pushing themselves to the limits for hours and finally had found a chance to go and grab a bite to eat. Even though Hyukjae had actually left to get food with Donghae and Shindong, he came back to the practice room ahead of them on his own.“Yeah, the others wanted to play still and hang out, but I figured I would go ahead and come back. My handstand's gotten a little rusty.” His attempt at a lighthearted remark was met with a flat silence.Puffing his cheeks Hyukjae moved to stand before one of the mirrored walls and started stretching. If he was in a dance studio, he might as well dance while he had a little extra time. Besides, it didn't seem as though Sungmin really wanted to have a conversation at the--“Surprised you didn’t want to stay and spend time with your boyfriend.” The comment was muttered but was intended to be heard. Sungmin didn’t really make comments he didn’t intend for others to hear. Boyfriend?! “What? What do you mean?” He froze, the soles of his shoes squeaking against the hard floor. Hyukjae prayed it was just a rude jab, one of those offhanded jokes. The members had always done that, and Hyukjae had always grimaced at the irony of such a 'joke'. Now, however, the irony was fresh from the fire, and the blond wasn't sure if it was okay for him to find that the word had a whole new meaning for him and Donghae. Just a few days of kissing, right?Regardless of how true-to-fact the term may have been, Hyukjae certainly didn't want Sungmin knowing about the...whatever it was they were. He'd spent years keeping his romantic life a secret and wasn't ready for it to be found out just yet, not when things had finally become so perfectly amazing.“What I mean,” Sungmin stood to his feet, his short stature more threatening due to the scowl on his face as he tucked an ink pen behind his ear, “I’m surprised you could take two minutes away from Donghae. You sure went right back to clinging all over him as soon as you two stepped foot in Seoul, didn’t you?”Hyukjae looked down at the slick floor before looking back up at Sungmin. “Hyung--” How could he explain away something that was true? He had spent more time than ever with Donghae the past couple days. He'd fallen right back into the pattern of hiding from everyone else. All the progress in Taiwan... but this was different. “Whatever. If you can’t see how you are clearly ignoring everyone around you for the sake of spending time with him, then bullying you won’t change your perspective. I'd just like to be treated as your friend every once in a while.”The younger’s eyes itched and filled with tears as he grew frustrated at his own loss for words, a lump forming in his throat. He didn’t want for the others to think that way. I’m not ignoring anyone. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I’ll do better. “You know what really gets on my nerves?” Sungmin stepped over his mess of papers and started to walk past Hyukjae, towards the door, “You did just fine in Taiwan and you still never came to talk to me. You treated one of your oldest friends as though they were a stranger and instead spent time with everyone else but me.”Hyukjae turned around to watch as Sungmin was halfway out the door, dumbfounded at both the confrontation and the facts that Sungmin had presented. I didn’t ignore you. I don’t know. I don’t know why we don’t talk now. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry.“Maybe, I’m just being petty and jealous, but you should know that I am angry.” Before anything could make its way out of Hyukjae’s mouth in the form of words, his hyung had left the room and the others started to pour in from their various lunch locales.“Where’s Sungmin going?” Shindong looked at Hyukjae with eyes that knew what had probably just taken place. Shindong had to know how Sungmin felt. Those two were incredibly close, especially now that Hyukjae had turned into some jerk who barely even talked to someone who had once been one of his best friends.Hyukjae smiled and tried to focus on the task at hand. “He’ll be right back. Let’s just everyone get back to practicing so we can all get home earlier.” Shindong, and anyone else who had paid attention, wouldn’t have been fooled because Hyukjae’s face fell back into a frown and moist eyes as he turned to fix the music again.The next few days of practice passed relatively well, both Sungmin and Hyukjae ignoring the conflict they'd had in order for things to go smoothly with the group's schedules.At night, Hyukjae would crawl into bed and let Donghae kiss him until he couldn’t stay awake any longer, which never took long now that they were all so busy again. The two didn’t get to spend a lot of time with each other during the day and had to fight sleep in order to get a minute or two together at night. Everything was moving so fast that they didn’t really get to talk about what was happening with them either. Hyukjae was okay with that.Sometimes talking should be put off as long as possible. Sometimes it was needed though. And the person that Hyukjae found himself wanting to talk to the most, ever since the night he and Donghae had kissed, wasn't really around very much.Heechul had barely spent a night at the dorms since the younger members returned, and Hyukjae was becoming worried over his hyung’s health. Hyukjae mulled over everything the night before New Year’s Eve, trying to keep from falling out of consciousness as Donghae kissed first his forehead and then his lips. He managed to muster enough energy to kiss the other back for a couple of seconds before everything turned into a dream as he slept.  Lights. Cameras. Screaming fans. Running around. Sweating. Performing. Donghae was still hyped up as he climbed on stage for the final event of the night, of the year for that matter. All the idols who had participated in the show stood in a massive huddle on the stage in front of cheering fans as they watched the clock and waited for the countdown to start. Donghae found a comfortable place to stand near the outside beside Hyukjae and a few of the other Super Junior members. He could hear some of the EXO members talking nearby about the food they were going to gobble up as soon as they were allowed and one of Infinite's members was butting in claiming he'd eat it all first. Donghae smiled to himself over such a simple exchange.The idols laughed and chatted anxiously with each other between waving to fans and greeting others, both seniors and juniors. They had just spent the last few hours giving their final performances of the year, and would get to spend the last moments with the people who have been supporting them throughout this year. It had always been one of Donghae's favorite events.11:57 Looking back, Donghae felt that it had been one of the longest and hardest years he had ever been through. It was possibly even comparable to the year that his father had passed away because he had truly felt the pain of losing Hyukjae in that moment; the fear had stayed and lingered. He could feel Hyukjae's arms wrap around his middle from behind. Fans screamed louder as the man who had kissed him awake right before their rehearsals that morning leaned his chin on Donghae's shoulder. Inwardly, Donghae laughed at the situation. The fans’ excitement over their skinship had a whole new meaning now. At the beginning of the year, they had been fulfilling a dream together: promoting their own duet all the way to Japan. The first half of the year seemed so long ago. Hyukjae's attack in the summer had changed everything. Yet, as Jungsoo had mentioned earlier, they were all still here. Hyukjae was still here.Donghae smiled widely when Kyuhyun looked over at him from a few feet away, being pulled from his thoughts. He was going to wave the maknae over to come and talk with them, but then the rest of the room started shouting out numbers in descending order. The countdown began. Hyukjae separated himself from Donghae, but stayed near, and the younger closed his eyes. He had a habit of praying as soon as the New Year came, but this time he wanted to make sure to thank God for keeping everyone together this past year instead of just praying that everyone would stay together in the next year. People around him shouted after everyone had finally yelled out "One!" in unison. After adding in a request to keep everyone safer this year, especially Hyukk