“I’ll be back soon enough, Hae.” Hyukjae expressed through his hesitant but meaningful grin as he held a stubborn Donghae by his side, who was determined not to let the blonde go anywhere.

Donghae knew this would happen soon enough, but he didn’t want it to happen this soon.

Hyukjae had to go to work.

The real world. Hyukjae’s world before he met Donghae.

The world of staples and bank notes attached to more bank notes on top of checks. The world of phone calls given out to inquire about accrued interest and adjustable mortgages. The authorizations of withdrawals and deposits mixed in with an afternoon coffee somewhere in there.

Donghae, currently having his arms in a vice grip completely around the blonde, obviously had other intentions aside from letting the older step out of the door for work.

The brunette knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer, Hyukjae had to go to work. The blonde had missed way too many days, affirmed by the history of calling-in and placing either a sick leave or “family member is ill” excuse.

Hyukjae couldn’t help it.

Ever since he had obtained a somewhat legal responsibility of another person by not contacting the police at first sighting and letting the younger stay with him, he had been bombarded with tasks that usually went undetected or otherwise irrelevant- until now.

There were things Hyukjae had to do that didn’t exactly formulate to his quadratic equation of a boxed life anymore in consideration to Donghae.

There was another person to feed, another person to look after, another person that required a late night strawberry milk run for in ‘Milk City Korea’, another person to keep entertained as much as showering attention to. 

Hyukjae never failed at that last one.

Essentially, all of Hyukjae’s attention flew straight out of himself and right into the sweetness of cuddles known as Donghae.

Although life was a bit more hectic, Hyukjae never complained.

He loved Donghae so much, how could he?

Hyukjae knew that Donghae was worth 12am runs to milk stores, and making noodles for in the afternoon, and staying up late for in case the younger couldn’t fall asleep, as well as those nights in which Donghae really couldn’t fall asleep, so the older would just hug him, caressing his soft fingers through those brunette tresses that smelled so much like Hyukjae’s favorite flavor.

Donghae was his everything.

Whether he denied it or not, he was.

But he was an everything that Hyukjae would do anything for.

Frustrated, Donghae clung himself even tighter to the now struggling Hyukjae, who halfway managed to pry gentle fingers away from himself in an attempt to at least breathe.

“I swear I’m not leaving forever, just a couple of hours. I’ll come back during lunch, how’s that sound?” Hyukjae hummed, now enveloping a downcast Donghae in his arms.

The older didn’t want to leave, he knew it in himself. However, there was no choice.

Either he leave for a few hours in order to assume his spot in the bank, preventing getting fired along with the possibly of ending up homeless with a sad and hungry Donghae OR not show up, inevitably getting fired and stuck on the streets with a sad and hungry Donghae. 

No way in hell was he going to let that last one happen.

“I promise, okay?” Hyukjae repeated once more in their tight embrace, leading Donghae to nod against his chest.

Hyukjae bent over to plant a kiss on the younger’s forehead before opening the door and stepping out into the vicinity of graying skies above.

Hyukjae didn’t miss the familiar hue of red creep its way up into Donghae’s cheeks before closing the door.

◊

Donghae was awakened by the gentle trickle of water from the rooftop sliding down and hitting solid pavement.

It had began to rain, but the brunette didn’t know how long the storm had been brewing due to his two hour cat nap spent passed out on the couch.

Donghae could feel his stomach grumbling for breakfast.

He decided to stand up and pace his way over to the kitchen in order to browse through the pantry and fridge for something to snack on before Hyukjae got home.

This storm was starting to worry Donghae quite a bit though. He prayed his Hyukkie stayed dry from the rain and drove safely on those dauntingly obscure roads.

Placing a hand on the knob of the pantry, he slowly pried it open, only to be met with disappointment.

Dry crackers. A milligram of cereal. A can of tuna. Oats and raisins.

Okay. Scratch that.

Donghae walked over to the fridge, opening it ever so slightly to fit his head through.

Bean paste. Sour cream. A single egg forgotten in a carton.

Closing the door with a blow of discouragement, Donghae made his way over to the townhouse windows, placing the delicate fabric of curtains between his fingers before pulling them to the side.

What he saw was a parallel version of the Wizard of Oz.

Rain soaked the streets in a mess of whirls and haggard pours, a tree was knocked over to the side lying with its branches outstretched and split apart, power cables looked like they might be out for another week as the clouds continued to spew dense showers.

It was freaking Jumanji out there.

A crack of thunder shook the grounds of the townhouse, ripping a few of the hanging paper cranes from the ceiling that Jongwoon, Hyukjae and Donghae had hung up in homage to Hiroshima’s 68^th anniversary.

More booms and bangs erupted from the skies above, Donghae clinging to the windowpane as strongly as he could.

Snap, another firm tree went crashing down the pavement while managing to entangle a power line all throughout its mass of branches and leaves.

Another barrage of fast light swept across the horizon, accompanied by a boisterous explosion. Catastrophic flooding followed this blast, swaying clear rivers onto what otherwise used to be a busy street.

Donghae dashed away from the window, bolting towards Hyukjae’s bedroom and slamming the door shut.

The howls of thunder and lighting never left him though, as the sounds and sights of the terror outside easily managed to seep through the thin drapery of the older’s room.

Donghae didn’t know what else to do.

He had no idea where to hide nor why he was even so afraid of thunderstorms in the first place.

Donghae’s instinctive reactions kicked in just in time to save him from danger he was protected from by being indoors.

Something was wrong, he knew it.

Something with Hyukjae, something with himself, something with the outside and something with-

he didn’t even know anymore.

Donghae entered Hyukjae’s open closet and bashed the door behind him, almost smashing his fingers in the process.

However at this point, he couldn’t have cared less.

The brunette’s heartbeat had gone haywire, he eventually kicked off to shivering, unbeknownst to him when or why it had happened.

Reaching his arm out, Donghae took hold of a fleece blanket that had probably been sitting in Hyukjae’s closet for God knows how long before wrapping it around himself, the only part of him visible being his eyes.

The hell outside never seemed to stop or slow down as only heavier thunder, lighting, and whatever the skies bestowed upon the earth that day continued to fall in boundless streams.

Closing his eyes, Donghae half believed he could block out as much of the scene as he could in order for the scare factor to go down.

The brunette sat there, snuggled into himself, counting off the distance of the rumbles through seconds;

1…2…3…boom

The abrupt glint of lighting succeeded another horrific resounding rumble as Donghae felt even more terrified.

Images materialized into his mind of a tall man in the shadows of another closet beating him, the same wicked thunderstorm painting the envisioned room a gray overtone.

The man began to scream at him, calling him names that echoed over the darkness in a fuzzy memory.

He knew he had seen this memory somewhere before,

Somewhere before Hyukjae.

More beatings followed suit, more punches to the head and nicks on the skin from various items.

Donghae didn’t know how to make all these figures stop. The trigger of his memories almost too much for him to bare.

The brunette huddled further into the corner of the closet, pulling his hands over his ears in order to muffle the blares of screams and kicks, but to no avail.

He was losing it.

Shivers racked Donghae’s spine in an immeasurable presence as tears began to collect around the rims of his eyes, the brunette trying so firmly to blink them back.

In the thick of this great chaos, the closet doors crashed open.

A man the same size and shape in the figments of Donghae’s memories bounded inside, presumably finding the shaking brunette.

Donghae began to panic.

Screaming and pushing himself impossibly further into the cramped space, he started to struggle out of the other’s grip around him, fearing the worst of what was to come.

However, as the stranger’s arm reached over and pulled the leverage switch of the nightstand lamp, unknowingly revealing who he was, Donghae swiftly resorted to jumping into Hyukjae’s arms, burying his face into the blonde’s chest in an attempt to calm his erratic heartbeat and freefalling tears.

“Hae, I told you I’d be back for lunch.” Hyukjae tried to soothe, bidding to ignore Donghae’s tears from soaking his shirt any further.

It didn’t matter now anyways.

That storm probably won’t let up for another few weeks or so.

The walk from Hyukjae’s car to the townhouse proving the power aptitude of the surge; in three seconds, the blonde’s shirt had gone from nicely pressed and laundered to soaked in the jungles of the Amazon.

What hurt Hyukjae the most aside from watching Donghae cry was the fact that he had never heard the younger scream like that.

Ever.

That bloodcurdling sound of his angel in anxiety sent a pang of hurt down his heart.

“You’re okay Hae, it’s just a thunderstorm, you’re okay.” Hyukjae again softened his tone to calm the unstable Donghae crying in his arms.

Thunderstorms scared Hyukjae too to some extent, but holding Donghae and knowing the younger was by his side seemed to alleviate the effects of a storm surge.

Hyukjae grabbed another blanket from one of the drawers and returned to wrap Donghae inside it, placing the younger back into his arms.

Donghae seemed to calm down a bit, his eyes partially closed in the older’s embrace.

As Hyukjae continued to gently caress the brunette’s back in the hopes of slowing his breathing, he came across an idea.

Hyukjae began to sing.

“Can’t you see that it’s just raining?” Hyukjae began softly, obscuring the sounds of the storm in his warm voice.

“Ain’t no need to go outside…

But baby, you hardly even notice

When I try to show you

This song is meant to keep you

From doing what you’re supposed to

Waking up too early, maybe we can sleep in

Making banana pancakes

Pretend like it’s the weekend now,”

Hyukjae sang his little melody to Donghae, a song that quite reminded him of the darling in his arms.

“We can pretend it all the time,” the blonde finished, humming the rest of the tune, sweet sounds of affection making their way to Donghae’s ears.

The younger felt calmed now, safe in Hyukjae’s arms.

Donghae cuddled even tighter into Hyukjae, the blonde laughing out of pure admiration before asking,

“Are you hungry? I bought pancake mix.”

Donghae mustered a tender smile.

Those smiles that Hyukjae loved so much.

◊

The buzz of a cellphone jolted Hyukjae out of his spot on the dining table, immediately looking around and finding Donghae asleep on the chair beside him.

Apparently they had made banana pancakes.

“Hello?” Hyukjae groggily spoke through his handheld, waiting for a response on the other end.

The reverb was full of static and broken landline sounds.

“You need to come down once the storm lets out. The station found something out about Donghae. Don’t bring him.”

Jongwoon spoke sternly on the other line before hanging up. 

A/N: Inspired by Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" ｡◕‿◕｡

Banana Pancakes