Taking Chances, Chapt 8
Title: Taking chances
Genre: Romance, Humor
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: HaeHyuk, Qmi, past!KyuMin
Length: Multi chap
Part: Chapter 8 (Part 2)
Summary: What Donghae wants, Donghae gets. Life has always been nothing more than a game to him. Both women and men alike, dare to play by his rules. Playing with Donghae is like playing with fire, you know you'll get burned but that's part of his attraction. But what happens when Donghae decides to play with Hyukjae, who plays by no ones rules. Will Hyukjae give in to Donghae or will Donghae loose track of his own rules to his own game and get burned?
Kyuhyun took his jacket off and hanged it on one of the many hooks in
the entrance of the Nu Delta house. He quickly walked deeper into the
house, leaving behind the eager people that wanted to ask him about
Donghae, because it was so weird to ever see Kyuhyun somewhere where
Donghae wasn't. He figured it was his own fault, being Donghae's
shadow and all. He never really grew independence, even though he told
himself every day senior year of high school that in college
everything would change. He would no longer do everything Donghae did;
he'd never follow him around like he used to; he'd be his own person,
learn how to do things by himself. Now as he took a drink from the
table of beers, he wondered why he didn't abide by his past resolutions.
He glanced around the room with a slight detachment. He didn't really
like being surrounded by so many people that just wanted to talk about
Donghae; didn't people notice he was more than just his loyal sidekick?
He finished a drink and just like that, picked another one. He drank
them fast, not really registering the burning in the back of his
throat. It was at times like these that he'd take out all his
aggressions of being ignored and being second fiddle to Donghae out on
Sungmin. Damn it, he really needed an ass to fuck right about now.
Brilliantly on cue, Zhoumi waltzed into the room, turning heads and
making mouths hang open. Although Kyuhyun hated to admit-fuck did he
hate it-Zhoumi was one of the more attractive men on the entire
campus. Not like Sungmin, he thought in the back of his head. No one
could compare to him; Kyuhyun couldn't believe he was thinking that.
He had been the one to push Sungmin away. He was the one who was tired
of his clinginess and whiny personality. It had taken Kyuhyun a few
days without Sungmin to realize that his clinginess wasn't anything
more than his own fear of Kyuhyun leaving him, and that's exactly what
he ended up doing.
Zhoumi sensed Kyuhyun watching him and walked over to him, with almost
a sort of floating way of walking. "So, Kuixian, where's-"
"If you ask me where Donghae is," he cut in, a vain close to popping
in his forehead. "I think I might have to punch you in that pretty
face of yours."
Zhoumi chuckled, the sound hollow and not really soft. "I was going to
ask where your trusty steed is but I found it." As he spoke his hand
slid down to the front of Kyuhyun's pants.
Kyuhyun slapped his hand away, looking away from him and at the
thickening crowd. "Are you always such a slut? Or is it only when
you're drunk?"
Zhoumi laughed, this time actually finding the joke funny. "No, of
course not." He stepped closer to Kyuhyun, breaking through his
personal space, and whispered softly in his ear. "I'm only a slut for
you."
It took him a moment before falling out of his daze, but Kyuhyun
stepped back and away from Zhoumi. "You're only a slut for me? More
like for anyone with a cock in general; now that makes more sense."
Zhoumi shrugged. "I don't care if you believe me or not, but I know you
want to make Sungmin jealous, so I'm here to help. I don't need you
being snarky to me. I can go find myself a cock that doesn't have so
much sass."
Kyuhyun smiled at that, noticing how they both just saw each other as
body parts but nothing more.
His smile turned into a smirk and he slowly slipped a hand around
Zhoumi's waist. "Donghae must have talked to you already." At Zhoumi's
nod he added, "let's go mingle then." But before they reached the rest
of the crowd, Kyuhyun lifted his chin to whisper into Zhoumi's neck.
"By the way, I do not have sass, I'm just very creative with my words."
Zhoumi's giggle drowned out over the loud music blaring from the
speakers around them.
*
Donghae cleared his throat as he watched Hyukjae from across the
table. He was reading the menu intently, glaring at the names he
didn't understand and smiling at the ones he did.
"Do you speak French?"
Hyukjae looked up from the menu and set it down on the table. He fixed
a stray hair that hung over his eyes before answering. "Only a little.
I took a few classes one summer in the college by my high school."
Donghae couldn't wrap his head around the concept of school during the
summer. Of willingly spending his summer indoors instead of at the
beach or at parties how he normally did. But he could see Hyukjae
doing exactly that; his nose buried in a book while other kids his age
were out having fun. The vision of Hyukjae repeating French words came
to him and, a little surprised, he found himself smiling. Smiling at
the fact Hyukjae was such a big nerd.
When Donghae came back from his musing, Hyukjae had already gone back
to the menu and was ignoring Donghae. He took a deep breath, thinking
of something to say. "You hear about the Alpha Nu's president being
arrested yesterday for drug possession?"
Hyukjae looked up again, so slowly Donghae thought he'd broken his
neck or something. "No, I didn't."
The icy look in his eyes made Donghae want to look away, but he kept going.
"Really? Everyone's talking about it. It was even in this morning's paper."
Hyukjae, Donghae could see, was stifling a yawn. "I guess I don't
talk to everyone and I never read the school paper. It's only filled
with moronic columns about crap that resembles the things in little
girls' gossip magazines."
Donghae fought to find something that both he and Hyukjae could find
interesting. "Well, something else I read in the newspaper that might
strike your fancy is that they're making the football field bigger.
Which means more games with more colleges around the country which
means more recognition for our school. Isn't that great? A small
college like ours needs as much publicity as it can get."
Hyukjae stared at Donghae as if he were stupid or lacked the necessary
brain function to ever understand anything correctly. Basically how he
looked at him all the time. "Did you know that by making that stupid
football field bigger it not only cuts down trees and tarnishes most
of the wild life around the campus, but it also cuts back money for
funds and scholarships."
Donghae waved his words away, as if not being truly that important.
"So we get a few dead birds and frogs. It's not like that's going to
make them extinct or anything. Plus I think our school would be better
off without all those poor, free loading, scholarship nerds. It's so
easy to say you don't have enough money to buy books so that the
school pays them for you yet sometimes I find them having enough money
to buy drugs? Ridiculous."
Hyukjae cleared his throat, his eyes blazing with an anger Donghae
hadn't seen while he was talking. "Free loading scholarship nerds?"
The disgust in his voice surprised Donghae as he quoted him. "Well, I
guess being poor is a new disease I didn't hear being officially
declared. Really, I should head down to the nearest Walgreens and get
myself a prescription for my horrible illness." When Donghae just
stared at him, clearly confused, Hyukjae let out a loud breath of
exasperation. "I'm on a scholarship, Donghae."
The color drained his face as he looked down at his empty plate,
obviously embarrassed. He, of course, missed Hyukjae's smirk of
satisfaction when Donghae figured that forcing a conversation with
Hyukjae would only come back to slap him in the face.
*
The silence at the table was unbearable for Donghae. It was just so
quiet, the kind of quite that Donghae wasn't used to. He glanced at
Hyukjae, and noticed he didn't seem to mind the silence. He actually
looked calm, tranquil in a way Donghae had never seen him. He ate his
meal with a slightly surprised look on his face, as if he didn't
expect the food to be so good. There was also something else there,
but Donghae couldn't really put his finger on it.
After Donghae stuck his foot up his ass as far as it could go earlier,
he focused the rest of the meal on trying to repair the damage. He
hadn't spoken again, letting Hyukjae's anger slowly dissipate as
they ordered and began eating. He could feel the awkwardness slowly fading
away.
He cleared his throat and Hyukjae looked up for the first time since
Donghae's blatant showcase of dumbassery. Hyukjae's eyes seemed a
lighter brown than usual under the direct light of the chandelier,
almost like they were copper instead of the normally chocolate shade
they actually were.
The candle on the table cast a glow upon his face, making him that
more breathtaking than he already was. Although initially for Donghae,
this was all for the pride and being able to get Hyukjae in bed, he
couldn't help but admit to himself how good looking Hyukjae actually
was. Especially when he tried, which tonight he definitely did. He
even sat with his back straight and arms folded on his lap. He fit
right in with the scenery.
Hyukjae cocked his head to the side and questioned Donghae with his
eyes. "Do you plan on staring at me the entire night?"
Donghae chuckled. "No, I'm just waiting for you to slap me."
Hyukjae smirked only slightly, his face becoming rigid quickly after.
"I'm not going to slap you. I know it's not your fault the world has
all the odds against you."
Donghae's eyes twinkled under the glowing light. "What odds are
against me?"
Hyukjae sipped from his drink. "You being rich, implying your
education was handed to you on a silver platter so you really didn't
have to study to get into a good college. And being "handsome"," he
said, using air quotes as if to emphasize that he didn't personally
agree, just that it was a known fact. "Doesn't help either, because
then you just rely on that and you don't need a decent personality
because people like you only like stupid people that only like you for
your looks."
Hyukjae closed the argument by taking another bite of his food and
chewing with only his front teeth. Something Donghae noticed made him
resemble a monkey. He laughed at the thought.
"Now what's so funny?" Hyukjae asked, bitterly, obviously expecting
his words to have hurt Donghae more than they did. Which was
apparently not at all.
"You chew like a monkey," Donghae said, not really thinking before
speaking, something he seemed to be doing a lot that night.
"A monkey?" Hyukjae stopped expecting anything coherent to come out of
Donghae's mouth anymore after that. "I chew like a monkey?"
Donghae laughed before cleaning the side of his mouth with the fancy,
silk napkin by his arm. "I mean the way you chew, like with your front
teeth? It makes you look like a chimp or something."
"I don't know why I bother telling you this, since you clearly don't
care," Hyukjae said, sounding tired and looking aggravated with
Donghae. "But Monkeys and chimpanzees are not the same thing. Just
thought I'd let you know."
Donghae slumped his shoulders and shrugged, Hyukjae's patience was
obviously limited, and tonight Donghae had had enough of him
belittleling him. He was about to say something about it-maybe yell at
him and rush off in a dramatic exit like in one of those dramas he saw-
but thought of the bet, the constant thought at the back of his mind,
and kept his mouth shut.
*
When they both finished eating, the meal awkward from start to
finish, Donghae escorted Hyukjae back outside.
"So," Donghae said, tucking his hands in his pocket.
"The food was good," Hyukjae said before Donghae could continue.
Donghae took this as a sign that Hyukjae didn't have fun, because
saying the food was good was a way of making the conversation stray
off the date, which had been horrible.
As if on cue, the car arrived and the man from before came around the
front of the car and gave Donghae the keys. Donghae took them, without
saying anything and got in the car. The man glared at Donghae,
obviously expecting a tip, but smiled when he turned to Hyukjae and
opened the door for him. Before Hyukjae got in, he pulled a few won
out of his wallet and gave them to the man. The man bent down to
whisper something close to his ear. "You're too good for him," he
said, which made Hyukjae return the smile.
When he got in, Donghae turned to him with a confused look on his
face. "What did he say?"
Hyukjae smirked and crossed his legs, his face toward the window. "The
truth."
Donghae was still confused, but drove anyway.
"So where do we go now?" Donghae asked, glancing at the clock and
realizing how early it was. Only 10, plenty of time for them to do
something else. He pulled up to an empty parking lot of some closed
establishment and turned to Hyukjae.
Hyukjae scratched his chin, obviously stalling. "I don't know-it's
pretty late. My grandparents are probably waiting for me."
Donghae had the recollection of Hyukjae telling them not to wait up,
but swallowed his words. "A few hours out won't kill them."
Hyukjae stiffened at the words, Donghae didn't seem to notice how
fragile the word death was when it came to old people. "I need to go
home," Hyukjae said plainly and sternly, no room for argument.
Donghae let a out a breath through his mouth and threw his self
restraint out of the window. He really needed-almost desperately-to
give Hyukjae a piece of his mind. "Do you ever have fun? Like actual
fun? Not the crap you think fun is. Like do you go out with friends,"
he paused. "Do you even have friends? God, I've never seen you hang
out with anyone. You don't let yourself have fun; that's the thing.
You're too afraid to have fun. Just because your parents died doesn't
mean you can have to deprive yourself of living your life.”
Hyukjae turned towards Donghae sharply, his eyes shining, not with
tears, but anger. He just stared at him, his eyes blazing like a wild
fire. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to; Donghae could sense
the fury in just his gaze alone. It sent a shiver down his spine.
"Hyuk, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
Hyukjae looked away just as sharply, everything in his face was sharp,
Donghae noticed. From his eyes to his set jaw, so sharp Donghae hadn't
realized before, it looked like it could cut flesh from how the bone
jut out so harshly. It gave Hyukjae that more of an angry air to the
rest of his face. "Take me home," he whispered.
"Hyukjae-"
"Take me home." It almost sounded like a yell in the small space of
the car. Donghae sighed through his teeth and put the car in
gear.
They reached Hyukjae's house quicker than Donghae thought possible. He
was driving at the same speed as always, but it seemed as if the other
cars on the rode could notice the tension between him and Hyukjae and
kept moving away. Donghae couldn't be happier; he couldn't wait for
this horrible date to end. Donghae remembered why he never dated in
the first place.
"Goodnight," Hyukjae said, opening the door before the car had even
stopped completely.
"Hyukjae," Donghae said. Hyukjae froze but didn't turn to look at him.
Donghae wanted to say he was sorry, but he knew Hyukjae didn't want to
hear it. Instead he sighed again. "Goodnight."
Hyukjae stayed frozen for a minute, probably stunned, and then got out
of the car and walked up to his front door. He didn't look back until
he was sure Donghae had driven away, the last thing he saw that night
being the back of Donghae's car.
Genre: Romance, Humor
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: HaeHyuk, Qmi, past!KyuMin
Length: Multi chap
Part: Chapter 8 (Part 2)
Summary: What Donghae wants, Donghae gets. Life has always been nothing more than a game to him. Both women and men alike, dare to play by his rules. Playing with Donghae is like playing with fire, you know you'll get burned but that's part of his attraction. But what happens when Donghae decides to play with Hyukjae, who plays by no ones rules. Will Hyukjae give in to Donghae or will Donghae loose track of his own rules to his own game and get burned?
Kyuhyun took his jacket off and hanged it on one of the many hooks in
the entrance of the Nu Delta house. He quickly walked deeper into the
house, leaving behind the eager people that wanted to ask him about
Donghae, because it was so weird to ever see Kyuhyun somewhere where
Donghae wasn't. He figured it was his own fault, being Donghae's
shadow and all. He never really grew independence, even though he told
himself every day senior year of high school that in college
everything would change. He would no longer do everything Donghae did;
he'd never follow him around like he used to; he'd be his own person,
learn how to do things by himself. Now as he took a drink from the
table of beers, he wondered why he didn't abide by his past resolutions.
He glanced around the room with a slight detachment. He didn't really
like being surrounded by so many people that just wanted to talk about
Donghae; didn't people notice he was more than just his loyal sidekick?
He finished a drink and just like that, picked another one. He drank
them fast, not really registering the burning in the back of his
throat. It was at times like these that he'd take out all his
aggressions of being ignored and being second fiddle to Donghae out on
Sungmin. Damn it, he really needed an ass to fuck right about now.
Brilliantly on cue, Zhoumi waltzed into the room, turning heads and
making mouths hang open. Although Kyuhyun hated to admit-fuck did he
hate it-Zhoumi was one of the more attractive men on the entire
campus. Not like Sungmin, he thought in the back of his head. No one
could compare to him; Kyuhyun couldn't believe he was thinking that.
He had been the one to push Sungmin away. He was the one who was tired
of his clinginess and whiny personality. It had taken Kyuhyun a few
days without Sungmin to realize that his clinginess wasn't anything
more than his own fear of Kyuhyun leaving him, and that's exactly what
he ended up doing.
Zhoumi sensed Kyuhyun watching him and walked over to him, with almost
a sort of floating way of walking. "So, Kuixian, where's-"
"If you ask me where Donghae is," he cut in, a vain close to popping
in his forehead. "I think I might have to punch you in that pretty
face of yours."
Zhoumi chuckled, the sound hollow and not really soft. "I was going to
ask where your trusty steed is but I found it." As he spoke his hand
slid down to the front of Kyuhyun's pants.
Kyuhyun slapped his hand away, looking away from him and at the
thickening crowd. "Are you always such a slut? Or is it only when
you're drunk?"
Zhoumi laughed, this time actually finding the joke funny. "No, of
course not." He stepped closer to Kyuhyun, breaking through his
personal space, and whispered softly in his ear. "I'm only a slut for
you."
It took him a moment before falling out of his daze, but Kyuhyun
stepped back and away from Zhoumi. "You're only a slut for me? More
like for anyone with a cock in general; now that makes more sense."
Zhoumi shrugged. "I don't care if you believe me or not, but I know you
want to make Sungmin jealous, so I'm here to help. I don't need you
being snarky to me. I can go find myself a cock that doesn't have so
much sass."
Kyuhyun smiled at that, noticing how they both just saw each other as
body parts but nothing more.
His smile turned into a smirk and he slowly slipped a hand around
Zhoumi's waist. "Donghae must have talked to you already." At Zhoumi's
nod he added, "let's go mingle then." But before they reached the rest
of the crowd, Kyuhyun lifted his chin to whisper into Zhoumi's neck.
"By the way, I do not have sass, I'm just very creative with my words."
Zhoumi's giggle drowned out over the loud music blaring from the
speakers around them.
*
Donghae cleared his throat as he watched Hyukjae from across the
table. He was reading the menu intently, glaring at the names he
didn't understand and smiling at the ones he did.
"Do you speak French?"
Hyukjae looked up from the menu and set it down on the table. He fixed
a stray hair that hung over his eyes before answering. "Only a little.
I took a few classes one summer in the college by my high school."
Donghae couldn't wrap his head around the concept of school during the
summer. Of willingly spending his summer indoors instead of at the
beach or at parties how he normally did. But he could see Hyukjae
doing exactly that; his nose buried in a book while other kids his age
were out having fun. The vision of Hyukjae repeating French words came
to him and, a little surprised, he found himself smiling. Smiling at
the fact Hyukjae was such a big nerd.
When Donghae came back from his musing, Hyukjae had already gone back
to the menu and was ignoring Donghae. He took a deep breath, thinking
of something to say. "You hear about the Alpha Nu's president being
arrested yesterday for drug possession?"
Hyukjae looked up again, so slowly Donghae thought he'd broken his
neck or something. "No, I didn't."
The icy look in his eyes made Donghae want to look away, but he kept going.
"Really? Everyone's talking about it. It was even in this morning's paper."
Hyukjae, Donghae could see, was stifling a yawn. "I guess I don't
talk to everyone and I never read the school paper. It's only filled
with moronic columns about crap that resembles the things in little
girls' gossip magazines."
Donghae fought to find something that both he and Hyukjae could find
interesting. "Well, something else I read in the newspaper that might
strike your fancy is that they're making the football field bigger.
Which means more games with more colleges around the country which
means more recognition for our school. Isn't that great? A small
college like ours needs as much publicity as it can get."
Hyukjae stared at Donghae as if he were stupid or lacked the necessary
brain function to ever understand anything correctly. Basically how he
looked at him all the time. "Did you know that by making that stupid
football field bigger it not only cuts down trees and tarnishes most
of the wild life around the campus, but it also cuts back money for
funds and scholarships."
Donghae waved his words away, as if not being truly that important.
"So we get a few dead birds and frogs. It's not like that's going to
make them extinct or anything. Plus I think our school would be better
off without all those poor, free loading, scholarship nerds. It's so
easy to say you don't have enough money to buy books so that the
school pays them for you yet sometimes I find them having enough money
to buy drugs? Ridiculous."
Hyukjae cleared his throat, his eyes blazing with an anger Donghae
hadn't seen while he was talking. "Free loading scholarship nerds?"
The disgust in his voice surprised Donghae as he quoted him. "Well, I
guess being poor is a new disease I didn't hear being officially
declared. Really, I should head down to the nearest Walgreens and get
myself a prescription for my horrible illness." When Donghae just
stared at him, clearly confused, Hyukjae let out a loud breath of
exasperation. "I'm on a scholarship, Donghae."
The color drained his face as he looked down at his empty plate,
obviously embarrassed. He, of course, missed Hyukjae's smirk of
satisfaction when Donghae figured that forcing a conversation with
Hyukjae would only come back to slap him in the face.
*
The silence at the table was unbearable for Donghae. It was just so
quiet, the kind of quite that Donghae wasn't used to. He glanced at
Hyukjae, and noticed he didn't seem to mind the silence. He actually
looked calm, tranquil in a way Donghae had never seen him. He ate his
meal with a slightly surprised look on his face, as if he didn't
expect the food to be so good. There was also something else there,
but Donghae couldn't really put his finger on it.
After Donghae stuck his foot up his ass as far as it could go earlier,
he focused the rest of the meal on trying to repair the damage. He
hadn't spoken again, letting Hyukjae's anger slowly dissipate as
they ordered and began eating. He could feel the awkwardness slowly fading
away.
He cleared his throat and Hyukjae looked up for the first time since
Donghae's blatant showcase of dumbassery. Hyukjae's eyes seemed a
lighter brown than usual under the direct light of the chandelier,
almost like they were copper instead of the normally chocolate shade
they actually were.
The candle on the table cast a glow upon his face, making him that
more breathtaking than he already was. Although initially for Donghae,
this was all for the pride and being able to get Hyukjae in bed, he
couldn't help but admit to himself how good looking Hyukjae actually
was. Especially when he tried, which tonight he definitely did. He
even sat with his back straight and arms folded on his lap. He fit
right in with the scenery.
Hyukjae cocked his head to the side and questioned Donghae with his
eyes. "Do you plan on staring at me the entire night?"
Donghae chuckled. "No, I'm just waiting for you to slap me."
Hyukjae smirked only slightly, his face becoming rigid quickly after.
"I'm not going to slap you. I know it's not your fault the world has
all the odds against you."
Donghae's eyes twinkled under the glowing light. "What odds are
against me?"
Hyukjae sipped from his drink. "You being rich, implying your
education was handed to you on a silver platter so you really didn't
have to study to get into a good college. And being "handsome"," he
said, using air quotes as if to emphasize that he didn't personally
agree, just that it was a known fact. "Doesn't help either, because
then you just rely on that and you don't need a decent personality
because people like you only like stupid people that only like you for
your looks."
Hyukjae closed the argument by taking another bite of his food and
chewing with only his front teeth. Something Donghae noticed made him
resemble a monkey. He laughed at the thought.
"Now what's so funny?" Hyukjae asked, bitterly, obviously expecting
his words to have hurt Donghae more than they did. Which was
apparently not at all.
"You chew like a monkey," Donghae said, not really thinking before
speaking, something he seemed to be doing a lot that night.
"A monkey?" Hyukjae stopped expecting anything coherent to come out of
Donghae's mouth anymore after that. "I chew like a monkey?"
Donghae laughed before cleaning the side of his mouth with the fancy,
silk napkin by his arm. "I mean the way you chew, like with your front
teeth? It makes you look like a chimp or something."
"I don't know why I bother telling you this, since you clearly don't
care," Hyukjae said, sounding tired and looking aggravated with
Donghae. "But Monkeys and chimpanzees are not the same thing. Just
thought I'd let you know."
Donghae slumped his shoulders and shrugged, Hyukjae's patience was
obviously limited, and tonight Donghae had had enough of him
belittleling him. He was about to say something about it-maybe yell at
him and rush off in a dramatic exit like in one of those dramas he saw-
but thought of the bet, the constant thought at the back of his mind,
and kept his mouth shut.
*
When they both finished eating, the meal awkward from start to
finish, Donghae escorted Hyukjae back outside.
"So," Donghae said, tucking his hands in his pocket.
"The food was good," Hyukjae said before Donghae could continue.
Donghae took this as a sign that Hyukjae didn't have fun, because
saying the food was good was a way of making the conversation stray
off the date, which had been horrible.
As if on cue, the car arrived and the man from before came around the
front of the car and gave Donghae the keys. Donghae took them, without
saying anything and got in the car. The man glared at Donghae,
obviously expecting a tip, but smiled when he turned to Hyukjae and
opened the door for him. Before Hyukjae got in, he pulled a few won
out of his wallet and gave them to the man. The man bent down to
whisper something close to his ear. "You're too good for him," he
said, which made Hyukjae return the smile.
When he got in, Donghae turned to him with a confused look on his
face. "What did he say?"
Hyukjae smirked and crossed his legs, his face toward the window. "The
truth."
Donghae was still confused, but drove anyway.
"So where do we go now?" Donghae asked, glancing at the clock and
realizing how early it was. Only 10, plenty of time for them to do
something else. He pulled up to an empty parking lot of some closed
establishment and turned to Hyukjae.
Hyukjae scratched his chin, obviously stalling. "I don't know-it's
pretty late. My grandparents are probably waiting for me."
Donghae had the recollection of Hyukjae telling them not to wait up,
but swallowed his words. "A few hours out won't kill them."
Hyukjae stiffened at the words, Donghae didn't seem to notice how
fragile the word death was when it came to old people. "I need to go
home," Hyukjae said plainly and sternly, no room for argument.
Donghae let a out a breath through his mouth and threw his self
restraint out of the window. He really needed-almost desperately-to
give Hyukjae a piece of his mind. "Do you ever have fun? Like actual
fun? Not the crap you think fun is. Like do you go out with friends,"
he paused. "Do you even have friends? God, I've never seen you hang
out with anyone. You don't let yourself have fun; that's the thing.
You're too afraid to have fun. Just because your parents died doesn't
mean you can have to deprive yourself of living your life.”
Hyukjae turned towards Donghae sharply, his eyes shining, not with
tears, but anger. He just stared at him, his eyes blazing like a wild
fire. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to; Donghae could sense
the fury in just his gaze alone. It sent a shiver down his spine.
"Hyuk, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
Hyukjae looked away just as sharply, everything in his face was sharp,
Donghae noticed. From his eyes to his set jaw, so sharp Donghae hadn't
realized before, it looked like it could cut flesh from how the bone
jut out so harshly. It gave Hyukjae that more of an angry air to the
rest of his face. "Take me home," he whispered.
"Hyukjae-"
"Take me home." It almost sounded like a yell in the small space of
the car. Donghae sighed through his teeth and put the car in
gear.
They reached Hyukjae's house quicker than Donghae thought possible. He
was driving at the same speed as always, but it seemed as if the other
cars on the rode could notice the tension between him and Hyukjae and
kept moving away. Donghae couldn't be happier; he couldn't wait for
this horrible date to end. Donghae remembered why he never dated in
the first place.
"Goodnight," Hyukjae said, opening the door before the car had even
stopped completely.
"Hyukjae," Donghae said. Hyukjae froze but didn't turn to look at him.
Donghae wanted to say he was sorry, but he knew Hyukjae didn't want to
hear it. Instead he sighed again. "Goodnight."
Hyukjae stayed frozen for a minute, probably stunned, and then got out
of the car and walked up to his front door. He didn't look back until
he was sure Donghae had driven away, the last thing he saw that night
being the back of Donghae's car.