Should I walk by you again?
Title: Should I walk by you again?
author: takteng_kamote
Rating: G, fluff (and NC-17 for Heechul's language)
Pairing: CinHae
Word count: 3,041
Summary: Donghae asks Heechul if he believes in love at first sight…and then becomes the most annoying dongsaeng after.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Heechul, Donghae or Heebum. (But I do have a cat as adorable as Heebum and friends who are as bitchy as Heechul)
Notes: Inspired by Nickasaur!’s song “Love at First Sight”. And yes, the Peticure does exist!
Comments, priz? ^^
Heechul sat comfortably at the couch of Suju’s 12th floor apartment, lazily channel surfing until he chanced upon an infomercial about some pet manicure product on the home TV shopping channel. He was happy to be doing nothing in particular that evening, a rarity these days since they’d all been so busy since Super Junior made their 3rd album comeback.
“Hmmm…maybe I should get one of those for Heebummie…” he thought as he watched the cat on the commercial having his nails trimmed with some sort of gadget called the “Peticure”. He grabbed the phone and waited for the numbers to start flashing on the screen so he could make his order.
But just as the number was about to be shown, a huge fish appears in front of him, blocking his view of the television.
“What the-- Donghae! I’m watching TV!” he screams at the boy in front of him, dressed in matching Nemo jammies and bedroom slippers, hugging a Nemo plushy.
“Oh…sorry hyung…I didn’t notice,” the boy says meekly, still not moving from his spot in front of the TV.
“And now that you have, could you please get the fuck out of my view?!” Heechul complained, still holding the telephone and trying to peek at the TV screen that Donghae was blocking.
“Erm…okay,” Donghae mumbled as he began to move but changed his mind mid-step. “Uhm...could I ask you a question first?”
Heechul gave out an annoyed, exasperated sigh as he rolled his eyes. “What is it?!”
Donghae looked down at his Nemo bedroom slippers. “Do you uhm…do you…”
Heechul looks at him impatiently, arms folded across his chest, shooting him dagger looks. “Do I what?! I haven’t got all day Donghae. Spill it out!”
Donghae winces, a bit startled with his hyung’s outburst before finally blurting out: “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
His hyung looks at him, mouth wide open, eyebrows raised in annoyance. “No, I don’t,” he answers sharply. “Now, will you finally let me watch TV in peace?!”
Donghae looks up with a disappointed look on his face, a pout present on his lips. “Why?”
“Because I’m not some stupid love sick high school girl. Now will you fuckin’ scram or do you want me to stab a fork in your eyes just so you’ll leave?!”
The younger boy instinctively raises his hands before his face in fright before scampering away and settling in one corner of the couch. Heechul then gives him a “now-you-behave-or-I-really-will-stab-a-fork-in-your-eyes” glare before turning his attention back to the TV, eager to catch the phone number to the home TV shopping channel so he can finally order that precious peticure set.
“And if you call within the next five minutes, you will also receive this free ionic brush along with your hair growing shampoo!” came the announcer’s voice as the TV flashed a shot of the hair growing product that was now being featured.
“Aiisssh! Now you made me miss the number for the peticure set!” Heechul growled as he pointed an angry finger towards a scared Donghae who was sinking lower and lower into the couch out of fear.
Suddenly, Donghae’s eyes brighten and he jumps out of the couch, reaching for a DVD from the cabinet beside the TV. “Would you like to watch ‘Finding Nemo’ with me then?” he asks enthusiastically with a big, hopeful smile.
Heechul rolls his eyes for the nth time that hour as he gets up from the couch. “No thanks, I’m going to bed.” He shuffles irritably towards his room and slams the door shut with a loud bang.
“Oh…good night then, hyung,” Donghae calls disappointedly behind him, getting up as well and returning the DVD back to the cabinet with a sad look on his face.
******
“Did you hear that SeHyeon hyung got married recently?” Heechul asks Lee Hongki as they chatted backstage at Inkigayo while waiting for the show to start.
“Yeah, I did. Quite a surprise huh?” Hongki answered as the two continued on talking about their former Good Daddy co-star.
“Who’d have thought that he’d actually get ma-” Heechul’s sentence was cut off by Donghae suddenly appearing out of nowhere, hauling a chair right between him and Hongki and sitting down nonchalantly.
Both Heechul and Hongki were too stunned by Donghae’s actions that none of them were able to speak for a few seconds. They both just looked incredulously at Donghae who didn’t seem to find anything weird with suddenly sitting in between two people who were having a conversation.
“Donghae, HongKi and I were in the middle of a conversion…in case you haven’t noticed,” Heechul says sarcastically, looking at his dongsaeng as if he were an alien. (Which Heechul thought might actually be true since he’d been acting a bit strange these past few days.)
“Oh, I know hyung,” Donghae answers nodding. “Don’t mind me. I’ll just be sitting quietly here.”
Heechul glares at him. “Donghae,” he starts, taking a deep breath to restrain himself from strangling his bandmate, “I don’t know about you, but when I’m talking to someone, I do want to be able to see that person and look at him.”
“Same with me hyung,” Donghae nods, smiling. Hongki, totally confused of the scene before him, just looks on.
“Then why the fuck are you sitting in between Hongki and I?!” Heechul snarls, reaching for a pair of chopsticks lying on top of the table where Super Junior’s backstage meals were.
Donghae looks at the chopsticks which Heechul was dangerously aiming towards his eyes before frantically scrambling away from his hyung. “I…uhm…was just looking for a place to rest! And I’m well rested now so I think I’ll go bug HyukJae instead. ‘kay, bye! ” he mumbles before disappearing out of the dressing room, leaving a fuming Heechul and a very confused Hongki.
***
The Super Junior guys piled tiredly into the van to make their way to an out-of-town performance. A sleep-deprived Heechul saunters over to the very last row, eager to just sit quietly on his own and maybe catch up on sleep before their performance. None of the other members dared to follow him since they were all well-aware that a sleep-deprived (and consequently, cranky) Heechul was not the best seatmate to have for a four-hour drive. Heechul was only too glad that the members ‘respect’ his need for a beauty sleep (but actually, they just valued their life), settling comfortably on the spacious seats and preparing for a much needed nap.
But maybe he spoke too soon. Because a very chipper and possibly clueless Donghae suddenly darts to the very last row and squeezes himself by the window seat beside Heechul.
“Hey hyung, excited for tonight’s performance?” Donghae asks cheerfully, smiling ever so widely.
“Yes, of course,” Heechul answers dryly, “but I’m actually more excited in slamming your face against the window if you’d let me.”
Donghae laughs, failing to catch Heechul’s sarcasm (or maybe he wasn’t being sarcastic at all. He probably did want to slam Donghae’s face against the van’s window. This is, after all, cranky, sleep-deprived Heechul we’re talking about.)
“Hey hyung, do you know that I got new gloves for our ‘Sorry, Sorry’ performance tonight?” he asks, still so cheerfully, waving his half-gloved hands in Heechul’s face. “The old ones were silver. These new ones are gold!” he expounds, shoving his shiny, golden hands nearer his hyung’s face.
“Get your blinging hands off my face, you’re making me dizzy!” Heechul scoffs, pushing his dongsaeng’s hands away violently. “Why are you sitting here anyway? You’re too noisy. Go sit with your fellow Lee Triplets!”
Donghae’s smile turns into a huge pout. “I don’t want to. Hyukie likes to take off his shoes during long drives. I can’t stand how his feet smell. And Sungmin has too much pink stuff on him. You know how much I hate pink stuff.”
“Then sit beside mother hen Leeteuk!”
“But Leeteuk hyung likes to tell corny jokes and laughs at those jokes himself. Imagine hearing his laughter for four straight hours!” Donghae explains, eyes growing wide in exasperation.
“Okay, fine, you can sit here. But you have to be very quiet. One peep out of you and I’ll throw you out in the highway!”
“I will! I promise, I’ll be reeeeeally quiet!” he answers beaming, raising his right hand as if taking an oath.
Giving one last warning look at Donghae, Heechul proceeds to close his eyes to doze off. But within a few seconds, he angrily opens them again to glare at Donghae who was loudly humming the Barney song.
“What?!” Donghae asks innocently.
“YOU. WERE. HUMMING.”
“But I wasn’t saying anything. You just said I wasn’t allowed to speak. You didn’t say I couldn’t hum!”
“When I said I didn’t want to hear a peep out of you, I meant all forms of sound created by the human voice box, and that includes humming, whistling, mumbling and snoring,” Heechul hissed angrily at Donghae.
“Okay, okay! I’ll stop humming,” Donghae answered, his lips once again forming into a sad pout.
Heechul narrowed his eyes towards Donghae who sunk back in his seat in fear. He then closed his eyes again and prayed to Siwon’s god that Donghae will finally stay quiet this time.
But maybe he wasn’t as favored by the man upstairs as Siwon was for within a few seconds he was once again hearing some noise coming from Donghae.
“Hey hyung, want some animal crackers?” Donghae asked, munching noisily on the snack, once he saw Heechul looking at him. He was totally oblivious that his hyung was once again giving him the death glare. He shoved the pack of animal crackers to his hyung and added, “although these crackers are only fish-shaped. I threw out all the other animal shapes because they’re not very cute.”
Heechul remains silent, his vision now dimming in anger. He wondered if Lee So Man would kick him out of Super Junior if he ‘accidentally pushed’ a bandmate out of a speeding vehicle.
Donghae’s face falls in disappointment. “Oops, sorry, I forgot. I should’ve saved some cat-shaped crackers for Chullie-hyung.” But his mood picks up the next second as he adds, “but I could buy you a pack when we get back to the dorms, if you want.”
“No, Donghae. I. DO. NOT. WANT. ANIMAL. CRACKERS.” Heechul answers through gritted teeth before bolting out of his previously comfy seat. “HYUKJAE! PUT YOUR SHOES BACK ON! I’M SITTING BESIDE YOU!”
****
“You’re going down brat!” Heechul shouted excitedly as he sent a troop of orcs to attack Kyuhyun’s kingdom. He was in a fierce game of War Carft with Kyuhyun, who was at the 11th floor dorms. They’ve agreed that if Heechul loses this game then he’d have to replace the maknae’s PMP which Heechul accidentally broke when they were watching Final Fantasy the movie the other day. Heechul claims that if Kyuhyun hadn’t fallen asleep while they were watching, then he would’ve continued holding the PMP on his own instead of letting Heechul’s clumsy hands hold the precious gadget. So Heechul believes that he isn’t really liable for breaking the PMP. That’s why he can’t possibly lose in this game.
Even as his eyes remained focused on the screen, Heechul could see from his peripheral vision that Donghae had taken a seat on the stool beside him. He wasn’t doing anything aside from looking at Heechul’s face, still, it was very distracting and unnerving. And with such high stakes for this game, Heechul couldn’t risk getting distracted and losing.
“Donghae, what the hell are you doing?” he asked without taking his eyes off the screen and continuing to launch attacks on Kyuhyun.
“I’m doing nothing,” he answers innocently.
“Then could you please move your doing-nothing-activity to some place else? I’m kinda busy here, y’know.”
“Why?!” Donghae whined. “I’m not bothering you!”
“You are now!” Heechul answered, irritated. “Just scram, will you!?”
Donghae’s face registers his signature pout as his eyes turn watery. “Why are you driving me away!? This is my apartment too! I can stay in whatever area I choose to!”
“Couldn’t that whatever area that you choose be your bedroom or the toilet?! I need to concentrate on slaughtering Kyuhyun and you hovering around me is not helping at all!”
“Why are you so mean to me?!” he shouts, tears threatening to spill anytime now. “You’re always shooing me away as if I were some fly! I thought I was your favorite dongsaeng?!”
“That was until you started being annoying!” Heechul yells on the screen as Kyuhyun’s archers start shooting arrows towards Heechul’s village. “At this rate, Kangin has a better chance of being my favorite dongsaeng than you!”
Donghae’s mouth drops as his eyes turn wide in shock. “You wouldn’t dare…” he whispers, scandalized that Heechul could just replace him with another dongsaeng that easily.
“Oh yes I would!” he answers resolutely, trying desperately to counter Kyuhyun’s attacks with his own army.
“But…but…you hate Kangin hyung’s guts! And more importantly, he’s not as cute and adorable and sweet like me!” Tears were now running down his ruddy cheeks, which Heechul couldn’t see as his eyes never left the computer screen.
“But Kangin sleeps half the time so he can’t bug the hell out of me the way that you do! Now if you don’t get the hell out of here in 10 seconds, I will not hesitate to ram Kyuhyun’s broken PMP down your throat!”
“You don’t have to because I’m leaving! I hope Kyunnie beats you in that stupid game because you are a mean, insensitive, evil hyung! I can’t believe that I actually thought that I’m in love with you!” Donghae cries before running out of the living room and locking himself inside his room.
Heechul freezes. He couldn’t speak, much less move, leaving his fortress defenseless as Kyuhyun mercilessly ravages his whole kingdom and eventually winning the game. “Donghae’s…in love with me?”
After what seemed like hours, Heechul finally gets up from the computer and heads towards Donghae’s room. He knocks on the door but he doesn’t hear any reply except for his dongsaeng’s muffled sobs inside the room. “Donghae-yah, open this door. Talk to me.”
“No! I hate you! Go away!” shouted Donghae from inside.
“C’mon Hae. You can’t stay there forever. Come out and let’s talk this thru.”
“No!!! I never wanna see you again! I hope Heebum gets possessed by evil spirits and attacks your face while you’re sleeping because you are mean and heartless!!!”
Heechul sighed. “Okay, I understand you’re upset. But we still need to talk eventually. I’ll be in my room. I’ll wait until you finally feel like talking, okay?” After a few seconds had passed and he still heard no response from Donghae, Heechul finally walks away and heads towards his own room.
***
“What the..!?” Heechul suddenly wakes up the next morning when he feels a hand touching his face. “Yehsung! Didn’t I tell you that the next time I find you sleeping in my bed, I’ll shave your eyebrows off and feed you to…huh? Donghae?” Heechul squints his eyes, allowing it to adjust to the darkness, and finally sees Donghae, lying beside him on his bed, eyes still red from crying. He rubs his eyes and looks at his bedside clock. “What are you doing here? It’s 4am! I thought you were Yehsung. Good thing I realized that before getting my razor to shave off your eyebrows.”
Donghae looks away. “I…uhm…the things I said earlier…I mean, last night, I didn’t really mean them. I was just really mad. I don’t really think that you’re evil and heartless. And I certainly don’t want Heebummie to attack your face in the middle of the night.”
“Then what was that all about? And I don’t just mean last night. I mean, all the weird things you’d been up to lately.”
“I just…I just wanted you to see me,” he answers, still not looking at his hyung.
Heechul’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “I see you Donghae. I’ve seen you plenty of times. We’ve known each other for so many years. Why is this such a big deal?”
Donghae sighs. “Because you said you didn’t believe in love at first sight.”
“Huh? And so?” Heechul asks, even more confused.
Donghae finally looks at him, eyes frustrated and hopeful at the same time. “But I do…I do believe in love a first sight…the first time I saw you…when we first met back when we were trainees, I’d already fallen in love with you. But…I guess that wasn’t the case for you. So I thought that maybe even if you didn’t fall for me at first sight, then maybe at the 2nd, 3rd, hundredth or thousandth time that you see me, maybe you finally will. That’s why I wanted you to see me…as many times as possible.”
Heechul falls silent for a second…and then, he laughs. Really loud.
“Yah! Hyung! What’s so funny?” Donghae asks, pouting.
“You should’ve just said so in the first place instead of annoying the hell out of me all this time.”
Donghae looks at him with large, confused eyes.
Heechul places a palm on his dongsaeng’s cheek. “Hae, I may not believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in love at first confession.”
Donghae’s eyes brighten and grow wide in excitement. “You do? So does that mean that…”
“Yes Donghae, you’re still my favorite dongsaeng and not Kangin.”
“And…?” Donghae prods, poking Heechul in the ribs, still with a wide smile on his face.
Heechul gives out a defeated sigh until finally admitting, “And…I think I’ve fallen for you too.”
“Heechullie Hyung!!!” Donghae exclaims, enveloping the older man in a tight, giddy hug.
“Now will you finally stop suddenly appearing in front of my face at random instances after this?”
“Okay hyung…” Donghae says, giving him a sheepish grin as he starts to get up and leave the bed, when Heechul suddenly grabs him by the hand and pulls him back to bed.
“I said after this,” Heechul whispers into his ear once they were face to face again. He gives Donghae a seductive smirk before pulling the covers over the both of them. “Oh, and before I forget, you’re paying half the cost of the new PMP I’m buying for Kyuhyun.”