Chapter Seven

School, math tutorials, English tutorials with Kyuhyun. He was beginning to think he had no hope of passing. He’d missed three meets and had to ask Kyuhyun about the details as they sat amongst the usual pile of books at Kyuhyun’s house.

“My mom and dad are having friends over Friday night, so we should do this at your house,” Kyuhyun said as he watched Donghae tap his pen.

Donghae nodded and scribbled down part of a sentence, only to have Kyuhyun stop him and correct something. “Am I just plain stupid? Because that makes no sense.”

“Stupid, no. ADD, probably,” Kyuhyun stated. He stood and went to the bathroom, leaving Donghae by himself in the silence.

He looked around the room at the walls, the dresser – and then spotted something. His black cap lay on top of a box of some sort, just across the room. He could easily get up and shove it in his jacket, or snatch it on his way out.

But then Kyuhyun was back in the room, scratching his butt and then flopping onto his stomach to bury his face in the pile of pillows he’d made for himself.

Donghae pretended he hadn’t noticed the hat. Maybe it had been there the whole time. Maybe Kyuhyun had decided to taunt Donghae. Kyuhyun would be pissed if it went missing from his dresser.

He could wait until Eunhyuk’s party.

He went home without eating at Kyuhyun’s that day, arriving home to delivery pizza and bread sticks. His mom was involved in a reality TV show when he passed by with his bag full of books and stomped up to his room.

He could wait until the party, but that didn’t make him any less impatient.

.-.-.

Two weeks later, Donghae found himself skipping tutorials and going straight to Kyuhyun’s house on the night of Eunhyuk’s Halloween party. He hoped by some miracle that Kyuhyun would give the hat back to him before the party, but that diminished as he pulled into the driveway and saw Kyuhyun’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Cursing, Donghae headed back to his house.

He found his mom home already, typing on her computer. “Mom,” he called softly.

She looked up from her work and smiled. “Yeah, sweetie?”

“I’m… going to Kyuhyun’s later,” he lied, hating himself. He couldn’t tell her that he was going to a party where there would be alcohol and possibly pot. He could tell her, he supposed, but that didn’t mean she’d believe he had no plans to try any of that.

“Oh, that’s fine. I’m used to you being over there. Kyuhyun’s been helping you study, right?” she babbled on about how nice Kyuhyun was and how polite and blah blah blah. “You two seem to get along so well.”

She didn’t have to know, he told himself and went upstairs. He flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. He wasn’t about to try to primp, spend time making himself look decent to impress drunk girls. His plan was strictly to walk in, find Kyuhyun, get his hat, and leave.

By the time he was pulling out of the driveway, wrapped in his hoodie with a beanie on and shivering, he had drilled the plan into his head. Walk in, find Kyuhyun, get hat, leave. He repeated it all the way to Eunhyuk’s house, grimacing when he saw the cars parked all over the yard, the people acting like idiots around the house. A couple was making out on the porch steps when Donghae walked by, hearing the blaring music and anticipating the headache already.

Inside it was dimly lit and smelled of cigarettes and sweat and marijuana. It wasn’t a good mix. He weaved through the kitchen to the living room and found Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun gaming on the couch, both with a can of beer nearby.

Kyuhyun’s head was covered with Donghae’s hat.

“Hey,” he called over the loud music, which emanated from the stereo system on the entertainment center next to the television. Successfully catching Kyuhyun’s attention, Donghae pressed his lips into a line and waved for Kyuhyun to come over.

Shaking his head, Kyuhyun put the can to his mouth and took a long drink before mimicking the same gesture with an enormous, damnable smirk. Next to him, a girl dressed in scanty clothes with kitten ears perched on her head leaned over and pressed her breasts against his arm as she tried to pull the controller from his hands.

Donghae exhaled and shook his head as he made his way over people’s outstretched legs to stand near where Kyuhyun sat. He looked from the girl next to him to Kyuhyun and swallowed. This was not how he’d imagined this at all. He’d hoped Kyuhyun would be easy to talk to so he could get his hat as soon as possible.

Kyuhyun took another drink and leaned over, his lips brushing against the girl’s ear as he spoke into her ear with a smirk. She giggled and stood up, and Kyuhyun patted her empty spot and directed the same smirk at Donghae.

He sat down, looking around the room and spotting Sungmin in pretty much the same position as him, completely sober and trying to talk to Eunhyuk. A hand clutched his chin and turned his face towards Kyuhyun’s. “Can I please have my hat now?” Donghae asked quietly, eyes flitting to his hat on Kyuhyun’s head as the thumb on his jaw depressed a bit more.  

“Have a drink,” Kyuhyun said and held his beer can out for Donghae, his other hand falling from his face and grabbing the controller.

“No thanks.”

“Then I guess you can wait.” Kyuhyun took a drink with a woozy little grin and Donghae suspected he might be high as well.   

Donghae growled and leaned back against the couch, crossing his arms. He hated Kyuhyun. Whatever thoughts he’d had about being friends with the bastard were gone.

The girl came back with a beer in one hand and a bottle of water in the other and looked at Donghae with disgust. “That’s my spot.”

“Finders keepers,” Kyuhyun sang and took the can of beer from her. “Hold this,” he said to Donghae and shoved his half-empty can into Donghae’s hands before cracking open the new can.

“I’m not drinking this,” Donghae stated, watching as the girl rolled her eyes and walked off to whore on someone else.

Kyuhyun handed the controller to someone else and turned towards Donghae. “You won’t get drunk, if that’s what you’re worried about. And it’s not drugged,” he said with a finalizing snort.

“If I drink this, can I have my hat back?” Donghae asked, turning the can in his hands.

Kyuhyun shrugged, eyes mischievous.

As he took a drink of the nasty beer, he had the brief thought that Kyuhyun’s mouth had just been on the same surface moments before.

Kyuhyun hummed and stood up, stretching his arms upwards and arching his back. He motioned for Donghae to follow as he walked across the living room, stepping over limbs and maneuvering around bodies out to the kitchen.

Donghae complied without a second thought, setting the beer down and finding Kyuhyun leaning against the counter in the darkened kitchen when he passed into the doorway.  

“You said I could have it if I came,” Donghae said, stopping in his tracks. The kitchen was empty except for them, everyone else either outside or in the living room.  

Reaching up and pulling the hat off his head, Kyuhyun turned it in his hands and ran his fingertips over the rim. “Here,” he said simply and waved the hat in front of him.

For some reason, Donghae didn’t stop to think that maybe he shouldn’t listen so easily, that maybe it wasn’t that simple. That didn’t occur to him as he crossed the room and extended his hand to accept the hat. When Kyuhyun’s other hand clamped onto his wrist and jerked him until he was looking straight up at Kyuhyun, stepping on his feet accidentally, he realized his mistake.

He couldn’t breathe. His mind was frantic, unable to process anything except shit this isn’t good. He swallowed the huge lump in his throat and tried to inhale, eyes wide and jaw clenched tightly shut. The hand on his wrist slid up to his elbow and squeezed.

Kyuhyun’s eyes were dark, his breath hinted with alcohol.

“What are you doing?” Donghae asked, his voice small and cracking slightly.

“What you want,” Kyuhyun replied, tilting his head and dampening his lips with his tongue.

Donghae turned away just in time, heart pounding as Kyuhyun’s breath tickled his ear. “Just… please just give me the hat,” he whispered and tried to pull away, but Kyuhyun’s arm was around his back, pinning their bodies together. He could get away if he tried, but he didn’t want to make Kyuhyun mad and lose his favorite hat forever.

“What’s so important about this hat?” Kyuhyun asked, his voice warm and low on his ear and it reminded Donghae of earlier when Kyuhyun had spoken to that girl.

“My dad gave it to me,” Donghae replied, trying to pull back again.

Suddenly, Kyuhyun turned and trapped Donghae against the counter, a hand on each side of him and the hat so close he could easily snatch it and run. “What happened to your dad?”

“He died,” Donghae replied, eyes locked on the hat as Kyuhyun leaned in, their cheeks brushing slightly. He realized by then that Kyuhyun had been drinking for a while probably, that this was all drunk nonsense. It scared him, froze him in place. He didn’t want to be reminded of his dad, especially not when Kyuhyun was drunk and cornering him like this. He didn’t want to think about what happened when you pissed off a drunk person. “I have to go home,” Donghae said, shuddering with nervousness when he felt Kyuhyun’s hand on his hip.

Kyuhyun abruptly pulled away and shoved the hat onto Donghae’s head. He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest.

Donghae couldn’t move, could only stare back at Kyuhyun and pray, hope that he wasn’t angry. “Thank you,” he finally managed and like breaking out of a spell, he made for the doorway to leave.

“That was only my first beer, by the way.”

.-.-.

As Donghae lay in bed that night, he couldn’t sleep at all. There was no helping it, either. What had happened, he wasn’t completely sure of. Had Kyuhyun lied about not being drunk? Because it took more than one and a half beers to get drunk. And it took a drunk guy to almost kiss another guy.

He assumed that’s what Kyuhyun had been about to do, anyways. He remembered being scared, wanting to leave, hating Kyuhyun, but Kyuhyun had said he was doing what Donghae “wanted.” If Donghae gave off that type of vibe, he was going to start acting like an ass to fend off guys who might think he was trying to get in their pants.

At school on the next dreary Monday morning, Eunhyuk wanted to know why Donghae had left so soon. He lied and said he started feeling sick and apologized for not hanging around. It was the only time he spoke at all that day until math tutorials.

“What happens when what’s on one side of the equal sign isn’t the same as on the other side?”

“No solution.”

The teacher left to get some papers and Donghae rested his head on the cool desk. His mom would want to know why he hadn’t gone to Kyuhyun’s after school, and Kyuhyun would get mad. It wasn’t in his best interest, but it would probably save him a lot of trouble to just go.

But maybe he could skip just one day… Hang out at school longer than usual or go to the mall and walk around.

The teacher came back and frowned because Donghae hadn’t done any work while he’d been gone. “Maybe we should just quit early today. You don’t look so good,” the math teacher said and set down a stack of papers.

Donghae nodded, somewhat thankful to be able to leave. When he pulled out of the parking lot, he went straight down the road by the school and turned left. Into that dull driveway, behind a plain gray car. As if his mind had no control over his body, he got out of the car and went straight for the door. He let himself in, long since used to entering the house unannounced.

The house was quiet, as it usually was. Mitzy greeted him with a gurgling mewl and then kicked her front paws a bit as she rolled on her back. He ignored her and went towards Kyuhyun’s room, holding his breath for a moment as he peeked through the doorway at an empty room. He exhaled and then noticed the bathroom door was closed, the light on, the shower running.

He sat down on the clutter-free bed, knowing Kyuhyun wasn’t expecting him or else he’d have books and papers thrown everywhere for them to study. He almost wanted to curl up on the amazingly comfortable bed and take a nap, but the shower suddenly stopped and the curtain raked across the bar.

Any minute, any minute. Donghae chewed on his thumb, eyes on the doorway. He hoped Kyuhyun wasn’t the type of person to walk around their house naked when they were alone. Donghae rubbed his hands on his knees and tried not to listen to the cabinets opening and closing in the bathroom. Just a moment away.

He heard the bathroom door open and watched the doorway, mirroring Kyuhyun’s surprised expression as he stopped in the doorway and saw Donghae on the bed.

“What are you doing here?” Kyuhyun asked, blinking and grabbing the towel around his waist more firmly before it slipped from his hips.

Donghae turned his face away as Kyuhyun entered his bedroom. “I always come over after school,” he stated quietly.

“Don’t turn around.”

He stared straight ahead at the closet door and listened to the drawers opening directly behind him, the soft thump of the towel hitting the floor, the slide of material over skin and the quiet pop of the elastic waistband of a pair of underwear around a trim set of hips.  

“I wasn’t expecting you,” Kyuhyun said, moving to sit in his desk chair.

“I noticed.” Donghae leaned back on his hands, looking up at the ceiling. “Should I leave?”

“No.” The answer was quick, abrupt as if he hadn’t thought before speaking.

“Wanna… do something?” Donghae asked, kicking his feet idly. He really didn’t know exactly at what point his common sense decided to hop out of his head and hitch a ride to non-existence land, but he was beginning to wish it had waited a little longer to leave.

“What kind of ‘something’ did you want to do?” Kyuhyun asked, clicking a few things on his laptop before standing and grabbing a pair of jeans that were laid over the footboard. As he pulled on the pair of jeans, Donghae leaned back on the bed and stared at the motionless ceiling fan blades.

“We could go to the arcade,” Donghae suggested, watching Kyuhyun move around the room and open the closet doors, his legs brushing Donghae’s feet as they hung over the side of the bed.

Kyuhyun yanked a long-sleeved navy blue shirt off the hanger and pulled it on over his head. “You know me so well,” he said as he pulled on his shoes. “Fuck, I’m sore. You should consider yourself lucky you don’t have to run as much anymore.”

“At least you can compete,” Donghae said and rolled onto his side away from Kyuhyun. The bed, the room, the air smelled like Kyuhyun. “I made a B on my last essay.” It wasn’t an unpleasant scent.

Pulling on his jacket and grabbing his keys, Kyuhyun smacked Donghae’s thigh. “Good job. Now let’s go before the mall starts flooding with people.”

Donghae sat up and followed Kyuhyun out to his little gray car. The mall was busy, probably because of some new movie or a huge sale. The arcade wasn’t so bad, just a few younger boys and one little girl playing the games. The girl was on the DDR machine by herself, her feet quick with practiced movements and her eyes steady on the screen.

“You should play her,” Kyuhyun said and nodded to the little girl.

She looked about twelve or thirteen with a scrawny body and oversized sneakers. She finished the song and looked to them with a cocked hip and a slight sneer.

“Bring it,” she said and cocked her hip to the opposite side.

Donghae grinned and stepped up on the platform. The song she picked was one of the hardest ones, one Donghae had only played once against Kyuhyun without taking it very seriously because Kyuhyun wasn’t coordinated enough to be much competition. He struggled to keep up, only fumbling once. By the time the song ended, the girl was giggling and he didn’t think he’d ever play DDR again.

“Again?” she asked.

“Sure,” Donghae said with a grin.

“No, I’ve still got to beat him at all the other games,” Kyuhyun cut in bluntly and pulled Donghae’s arm, tugging him off the platform towards the shooting games.

Donghae scowled at Kyuhyun and didn’t pick up his gun as Kyuhyun inserted the coins. “Why couldn’t I play again?”

“She was checking you out.” Kyuhyun grabbed Donghae’s gun and pressed it to his chest, forcing him to grab hold.

Donghae glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Kyuhyun and half-assed the game, letting Kyuhyun do the most. “She was like… twelve, Kyuhyun.”

Kyuhyun suddenly slammed the gun down on the machine, turning to Donghae quicker than he could react. He jabbed a finger in the direction of the girl and glared harshly into Donghae’s eyes. “And that is illegal.”

Donghae stood shock still, feeling the heat rise to his face. He couldn’t argue that he hadn’t had any intentions like Kyuhyun was implying, that he hadn’t even thought of it until Kyuhyun had said something because Kyuhyun wasn’t going to listen. He didn’t understand, not one bit, why Kyuhyun was angry. The girl had been amusing, and that was why Donghae had smiled, not because he wanted to flirt with a middle school preteen without breasts.

The game ended as their staring match was at its climax, Kyuhyun’s eyes slowly narrowing and then returning to normal as he turned and went to find another game.

“Kyuhyun?”

The name felt foreign on his tongue, in his mouth. He’d said it before several times, but the way it came out, the tone of concern wrapping around his voice for a reason unknown to him, made Kyuhyun stop and turn around slowly, eyebrow raised in question.

“I really… don’t know what I did wrong that time,” Donghae said weakly.

 The scowl Kyuhyun wore relaxed into a bland expression as he nodded and turned back around to wander over to another game.

Donghae wondered if this would be a good time to bring up the party and weighed his options. He could calmly and innocently approach the situation, as this seemed to work well with Kyuhyun, or he could just blurt it out like he wanted to with accusation in his voice and demand an answer. If his timing was off just a bit, if he waited too long or if he didn’t ask soon enough, he knew he’d fuck it up.

Mind set, Donghae looked around for Kyuhyun and searched around the plethora of arcade games, finally spotting Kyuhyun at a pinball machine. He didn’t seem to really be trying at the game, only punching the buttons on the side and staring at the glass case as if it wasn’t transparent. He approached cautiously and looked inside the machine at the ball Kyuhyun bounced around with the little flippers.

“At the party,” Donghae began. He’d decided to play innocent, like maybe he thought Kyuhyun had just been drunk and angry and not about to molest Donghae.

Kyuhyun didn’t seem to hear him, but Donghae knew he was listening.

“In the kitchen…”

Silence.

“What – what happened?”

The ball fell through the hole at the bottom and Kyuhyun lost. “What do you mean?” he asked, bending to insert more quarters to restart the game.

Why – Donghae really would love to know – exactly Kyuhyun couldn’t just admit it and explain what happened? He knew exactly what Donghae was talking about. Maybe this was Kyuhyun’s way of showing guilt, to turn into an icy, stoic asshole and pretend he didn’t know what Donghae was talking about. Only one significant thing even happened at that party, and not one Kyuhyun could just simply forget. “You know what I’m talking about,” Donghae replied, backing away slightly in case Kyuhyun freaked out.

“I’m afraid I don’t. Why don’t you explain what happened, hm? Refresh my memory.” Kyuhyun met Donghae’s eyes for a split second and Donghae could immediately sense the devilishness behind those eyes.

He wanted Donghae to say it. Donghae felt stupid for ever thinking Kyuhyun might have been guilty.

“Were you trying to kiss me?” Donghae finally asked. He was tired of beating around the bush. Either Kyuhyun slapped him, punched him or not – he wanted to know.

Kyuhyun leaned over the pinball machine, game forgotten, and made it very obvious when he looked from Donghae’s eyes to his mouth, back up again to stare with half-lidded eyes. He suddenly smirked and pulled away. “Of course not. I’m not gay.”

It took a minute for Donghae to catch his breath. He let the subject drop like a hot plate. So Kyuhyun had just been messing with him after all.

“Oh, that sucks,” Kyuhyun said even as he won the game and sidestepped around the pinball machine.

Confused, Donghae raised his eyebrows.

“It’s better when you argue. Makes winning more fun.” Kyuhyun’s evil grin couldn’t be beat.

“Why do you like pissing me off so much?” Donghae asked.

“Why do you like me being pissed off so much?”

“That’s your imagination,” Donghae argued, but it felt like a lie.

“My imagination is right.”

Donghae threw his hands in the air and turned around to storm off. “I swear, you fu –”

Pain shot through his back as he slammed into the side of a huge car racing game, but he hardly had time to acknowledge it as Kyuhyun was there and trapping him just like at the party. Only this time Donghae knew Kyuhyun was sober, not a drop of alcohol in his system, and he had the same look in his eyes, the same body movements as if he wanted to be everywhere at once.

“You know I’ll behave if you place nice, yet you deliberately do things that you know are going to make me mad. And you know why? Do you finally want to admit it? Through being in denial yet? Because it’s obvious, Donghae. It’s out in the open so blatant and clear I could see it a mile away.”

Donghae liked it. The tension, the fear, the hissing voice in his ear. Yes, it was clear. It wasn’t denial that kept him from saying it out loud, but pure resentment. He didn’t ask for this. He wanted to take it back. He turned his face away but Kyuhyun’s hand caught his jaw and forced it back around hard enough to smack his head against the machine behind him.

“But that’s okay. You’re not the only fucked up person here.”

Donghae let out a sigh as Kyuhyun backed off, turning and heading for the arcade exit. He didn’t walk with Kyuhyun to his car, didn’t even really want to sit next to him.

“Do you want to stay the night?”

“Not really.”

“Good, I’ll stop by your house so you can grab your stuff and let your mom know.”

He didn’t even bother to roll his eyes. At his house, Kyuhyun got out with him and invited himself in, letting his mom know how Donghae had asked to stay the night so they could finish up some homework and then watch a movie he’d rented. And his mom was only too enthusiastic to agree and send Donghae out of the house with a begrudgingly packed overnight bag and a pat on the back.

At least Kyuhyun had a nice bed.

Nice it definitely was, Donghae discovered, as he curled up on it as Kyuhyun did nerdy laptop things and he watched television in his pajamas. He’d showered in Kyuhyun’s bathroom and used Kyuhyun’s shampoo and brushed his teeth in Kyuhyun’s sink and borrowed Kyuhyun’s toothpaste because he’d forgotten his own and he felt content. Content mostly because it was quiet. No soap operas or reality TV shows blaring from the television, no annoying chattering from another room while his mom gossiped to the other nurses on the phone. Everything smelled nice, from his minty breath and soft-feeling skin to the blanket and sheets he cocooned himself inside.

“I could so live here,” he said and stretched.

“And it nearly killed you just to get you here,” Kyuhyun said as he typed up a storm.

“Not because of your house,” Donghae grumbled, hoping it was muffled in the blanket enough for Kyuhyun not to hear.

Kyuhyun laughed, looking over his shoulder at Donghae. “Mad at me?”

“Just a little,” Donghae replied.

“Do you want me to apologize?” Kyuhyun asked as his screen went black and he stood up.

“It would help,” Donghae said as Kyuhyun crawled onto the bed and flopped down on his stomach to watch TV.

“I’m sorry,” Kyuhyun said, and it felt sincere.

“You’re a good liar,” Donghae stated.

Chuckling, Kyuhyun changed the channel to Cake Boss right in the middle of what Donghae was watching. “So I’ve been told.”

.-.-.

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A/N: I'm sorry if this had too many errors, I'm pretty shit at editing my own stuff. And I've been trying not to push it, but I really do enjoy getting comments from you guys. So tell me what you think, I'd love to hear from everyone ♥