you're not a day too soon
you're not a day too soon
pairing: hyuk jae/dong hae
rating/genre: pg. it's pretty fluffy and things apart from some cursing
notes: happy has come out of me and i don't understand it. if you see any errors, it's my fault because i haven't had time to read over this yet. D:
fourteen year old lee dong hae watches through the foggy window as a strange boy comes in to view. it's raining but he isn't wearing a jacket or carrying an umbrella so dong hae suspects that he's probably trying to conceal tears or something(because why would someone be foolish enough to walk out in the rain without a jacket or umbrella in the middle of january?). dong hae toys with the idea, eyes bright and his tongue in the inside of his cheek, as he looks over toward his own umbrella. he thinks of starting up a conversation with the nice looking boy- nice looking lost boy with scrapes on his knees and grass stains on his jeans. dong hae bites down on his bottom lip hard before grabbing his umbrella and running outside without a jacket despite his mother's warning behind him as he slammed the door to their apartment and took off running down the stairs.
dong hae's chest heaves when he reaches the street, his umbrella dragging behind him as he watches his breath cloud up in front of his face. he looks in one direction, then the other, sighing in defeat as he drops the umbrella and places his hands on his hips. squinting his eyes, he leans forward a bit, trying to catch his breath but finding it difficult- especially when the boy with the sullen expression and grass stains on his jeans has disappeared in to thin air.
"hey," someone sulks from beneath the shelter that the building provides and dong hae turns with wide eyes as the figure steps out- sullen expression and scrapes peeking out from the holes in his battered jeans. "aren't you going to use that? it's raining..." dong hae nearly grins but he fights with himself not to, shrugging a shoulder and holding the umbrella up against his shoulder.
"we could share," he offers a smile and the boy eyes him suspiciously. "if you want to."
"i got in a fight," the boy mumbles as they walk alongside each other, elbows grazing in a way that shouldn't be comforting but it is somehow. dong hae flips his bangs out of his eyes before looking over to the lanky figure. "they took my money and my jacket. i didn't even do anything to them, you know? my dad's going to be so pissed off."
"just tell him the truth," dong hae shrugs, slowing his pace a bit so that the he can spend more time with this mysterious boy that appeared out of no where. after all, he does have control of the umbrella.
"why did you come out here anyway?"
"oh, um," he pauses, then looks away from the other boy, eyes moving down toward their feet. "i was looking for something."
"did you find it? i can help you look-"
"no, no i found it," he grins and lets his shoulder knock up against the other boy's own for good measure but he doesn't seem to notice. "what's your name?"
"oh," the scrawny boy sputters, then looks up at dong hae with a timid smile. "hyuk jae- lee hyuk jae."
lee hyuk jae, dong hae thinks later as he sneezes and writes the name on his window with his fingertips, is a very good name.
at his fifteenth birthday party, dong hae's best friend hyuk jae brings over a girl that dong hae has only seen a few times in class and for some reason it feels like getting pricked with a thorn- a big thorn.
"she's my girlfriend," hyuk jae whispers to him as dong hae's mom serves him a piece of cake. "do you like her, hae? i won't date her if you don't like her- we are best friends and all. she's really nice, though. if you give her a chance-"
"i don't care about your stupid girlfriend," he mumbles half heartedly, stabbing at the plastic plate with his fork and eyeing the girl with a glint in his eyes. "she slept with do wan though- and young woon hyung."
"w- what?" hyuk jae spits his milk in all directions, most of it getting all over said girlfriend's new blouse. dong hae tries not to laugh when she breaks up with him within the next ten minutes.
"maybe it just wasn't time for me to venture out into the world of women," hyuk jae sighs forlornly as he lays on dong hae's bed, going through all of the younger man's presents. dong hae twirls around in his computer chair casually, sucking on a lollipop that turns his lips blue.
"she was a slut, it doesn't matter. it was funny when you made her smell like rotten milk, though," he grins at hyuk jae's pink cheeks and scrawny legs that stretch across his bedsheets.
"we're getting to the age where it's good to have healthy relationships with women, hae," hyuk jae sounds too grown up and dong hae laughs at him as he goes through his words seriously, trying his damnedest not to stutter. "we can't just goof around for the rest of our lives, we're growing up- you know?" dong hae almost feels like throwing up but he rested his chin against his chair instead, stopping it from spinning with his sock covered feet.
"so, you would pick a girl over me? you'd pick growing up over your best friend," he questions, eyes wide with concern and hyuk jae sits up almost immediately, presents falling off of his lap and down on to the hardwood floor.
"no! n- no, we're best friends forever, right? i mean... that's why i asked you about ji yeon, even if you didn't say that shit about her sle- being with other guys... if you didn't like her, i would have dumped her anyway," he pauses, fingers going back through his hair. "sorry about your presents, hae."
dong hae reaches over and punches him in the arm, grinning wide with blue teeth and all. "who cares, i don't need them anyway."
dong hae is sixteen the first time he kisses hyuk jae out in the field behind hyuk jae's house. it's short and sloppy and his teeth click hard against the older man's before he pulls away and laughs. hyuk jae laughs too until realization hits him and dong hae thinks that he probably should have waited until hyuk jae was drunk enough. he sputters for a moment and sits up with wide eyes but dong hae is still laughing, eyes bright and shining. kissing hyuk jae really wasn't all it was cut out to be. it kind of hurt to be honest, maybe because they had both been completely inexperienced or something like that- but to dong hae it means that he doesn't really love hyuk jae and he isn't really gay at all.
"d- hae, we're... boys," he rationalizes and dong hae howls, sitting up and slinging his arm around hyuk jae's shoulders. "why are you- why are you l-laughing?"
"i'm laughing because it's funny," he grins, tilting his head back to look at the stars. hyuk jae's mouth forms an 'o' shape.
"you must be really drunk..."
"no, stupid, it was a joke," he muses with a goofy smile and leans his head against hyuk jae's own for a moment before leaning back to look over his face. "you liked it, huh?"
"no- no! that's stu- stupid, how could i like kissing you? you're my best friend! this is really weird, hae," he trails off and watches dong hae's face in the moonlight, thinks that he shouldn't be drinking at all because right now in this very moment lee dong hae is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. even prettier than that girl dong hae called a slut or the girl he accidentally saw changing in the locker room. he doesn't really think about it as he reaches up to touch his fumbling fingertips to dong hae's jaw.
"what is it? do i have something on my face," dong hae questions with a grin before hyuk jae leans in and kisses him sweetly- kisses him with his chapped lips and clammy hand pressed against his cheek - kisses him five different times and dong hae's heart flips over in his chest and it's his turn to gasp and sputter. "h-hyuk-"
"you did it first, i was just... you know?" hyuk jae flinches as if he's about to get hit.
"doing it too?" dong hae whispers breathlessly and hyuk jae nods before feeling lips pressed against his own once more, shaking hands fisting into his hair and lips are planted against his own again and again and again.
no words are spoken as they walk back to hyuk jae's house, silently throwing beer bottles into the neighbors' trashcan before they both stop at the back door. hyuk jae goes to say something but dong hae stops him with a peck to his cheek and they both giggle as dong hae pulls him in for a tight hug soundlessly.
"so this means you're my girlfriend," he says proudly, patting his hand over hyuk jae's back and the other man seems okay with this until he pulls back abruptly, eyebrows cocked up curiously.
"girlfriend? i'm not your girlfriend," he hisses and pokes dong hae's chest. the other starts to skip off toward the driveway in less of a straight line than usual before spinning to wave goodbye and nearly falling over. hyuk jae's heart skips a beat.
by the time he's around seventeen and a half, dong hae is probably one of the most good looking guys in school. not that he's really noticed or cared but hyuk jae has taken note of the way girls look at him now and it really drives him crazy.
a swarm of girls pushes past him one day, knocking him over and sending all his books with him. dong hae clenches his fists and stares them all down menacingly which seems to go completely ignored.
"dong hae oppa," one of them pipes up and latches onto dong hae's arm and he makes a face as if he's going to get sick as he tries to wiggle his way out of her grasp. "don't you want to come with me to the movies tomorro-"
"no," he replies quickly, shaking her off and pushing past the sea of girls in order to help hyuk jae gather his books, looking back over his shoulder once. "i have a girlfriend. get lost, huh," he sneers before looking back and hyuk jae and winking. hyuk jae doesn't think he should smile as wide as he does but he doesn't care.
"you don't even see them, do you," he asks as he lays back beside the younger man, his arm outstretched and pillowing dong hae's head.
"why would i even care about them, huh," dong hae looks over sternly, pinching hyuk jae's side. "don't even waste a thought on being jealous, hyuk jae. that'd just be stupid. you're my girlfriend."
dong hae turns and snuggles up against the side of hyuk jae's neck before he can say anything, fingertips splaying over his barely exposed hipbone as he lets out a contented sigh. if hyuk jae wasn't so busy taking note of how nice dong hae's fingers felt against his torso, he probably would have noticed how much more of a girl dong hae is than he could ever be.
they're on the roof of eighteen year old dong hae's apartment building, sharing a cigarette that they both keep coughing on. the sun is going down and it's getting cold so hyuk jae allows dong hae to share the warmth inside of his jacket after the younger man puts out the poisonous stick. dong hae leans his head against hyuk jae's chest(he's stopped pouting about the couple of inches that hyuk jae has gained on him in the past year or so) and listens to his heartbeat.
"why do people even smoke those stupid things anyway? they just make me gag," he mumbles after a moment of comfortable silence and hyuk jae laughs, all teeth and gums, before pressing a kiss to the top of dong hae's head. "i love you," he finishes without skipping a beat and hyuk jae's heart drops down to his stomach and he swears later on that he would have fallen off of the building if dong hae wasn't holding him there, keeping him grounded.
"i love- i love you too," he whispers in a way that someone would sound if they'd just gotten the wind knocked out of them and dong hae laughs at him, squeezing his arms around him that much tighter.
"i already know, idiot. you didn't have to tell me twice."
"oh. oh, okay," he nods, then grumbles and tickles at dong hae's sides, "brat!"
they have the biggest fight they've ever had the morning of dong hae's twentieth birthday. dong hae doesn't talk to hyuk jae the entire time they're out with their friends later that evening and hyuk jae checks his pockets every ten minutes even though he knows the birthday present isn't there.
("you don't have to lie to me, you stupid fucking idiot. i don't care if you got me a present or not, just don't lie about it!"
"dong hae, i did get you a presen- present. i came to give it to you- shit, where- where is it...")
it hurts when dong hae laughs with everyone but him, touches everyone but him and it hurts the most when dong hae won't even acknowledge the fact that he's there. he watches as dong hae drowns himself in his sorrows and he feels so stupid because he couldn't find that damn present that still isn't in his pockets. he finally gathers the courage to go and talk to dong hae, who sways about on a bar stool as he chugs out of a bottle of beer.
"hae, i- i wouldn't lie to you," he manages to get out before dong hae's arms throw themselves around him limply, the beer bottle crashing down behind him.
"i am so fucking drunk i don't even give a fuck," dong hae groans, then allows hyuk jae to hoist him up on his back, arms hanging around his neck as he lays his head on the older man's shoulder and peers around through heavy lidded eyes. "don't let me fight with you anymore, okay? i've never been so miserable in my whole fucking life. i just want to die if i can't have you lee. hyuk. jae. die," he mumbles pitifully as tears leak out of the corners of his eyes.
"hae, don't worry about it, okay? don- don't cry... i'm taking you home right now and i promise that i'll find your present so that you can really forgive me," he trails off in hearing the familiar breathing pattern of sleep and how dong hae's arms curl around his neck. "you're the best disaster i've ever walked in to, lee dong hae," he mumbles quietly and grins a bit, shaking his head as he continues up the pathway to his own home.
the next morning when a very hungover dong hae wakes up, he reaches up and feels the chain of a necklace and smiles to himself groggily as he rolls over to look at the music note charm attached to the chain. hyuk jae wouldn't lie to him, wouldn't ever dream of it.
"so it's been like, eighteen and a half years or something," dong hae mumbles over his coffee cup, eyes bright and shining as he teases at his bottom lip with his teeth. hyuk jae adjusts his beanie and looks out of the coffee shop window, chuckling after a moment before flashing a smile in the younger man's direction.
"more like two," dong hae scowls and sits back as hyuk jae frowns at the coffee mug in front of him. "why are we even here? we hate coffee-"
"it's more romantic this way," the younger man grumbles seriously with a pout, pushing the coffee cup away from himself. "they always do this in the movies."
"we're nothing like the couples in the mov-"
"are you married?"
"no, we talked about this on the ph-"
"divorced?"
"hae..."
"i'm not nervous or anything, i just-"
"i missed- i missed you too," hyuk jae stutters and winces at himself. dong hae snorts and leans over, kissing him hard on the mouth and he honestly could care less who sees. it startles hyuk jae but he wraps his arms around the smaller body tightly and after what seems like a million and a half kisses, with chapped lips and clammy hands, they part. "there are people-"
"i don't care, since when can a guy not kiss his girlfriend in public?" dong hae grins widely as hyuk jae groans and everything falls back into place.