TFAN Part 19
Title: The Fight About Nothing
Author: aquariuslover
Pairing: KyuWook
Rating: R
Genre: Friendship, Love
Beta: unicornsinger
Summary: This is a completely fictional tale about the thin line between love and friendship, and how easily that line can become blurred.
TFAN Chapters
“It’s like he dumped you for Twitter,” Eunhyuk told Kyuhyun, who was sitting beside him in one of the waiting rooms as they got ready for their performance on Inkigayo.
“That’s so not funny,” Kyuhyun said, glaring back at the other man - but secretly, he agreed. It had been over a week since Ryeowook had laid down the law to him, and Ryeowook seemed thrilled about it. Kyuhyun wasn’t as lucky; physically, he was finally off his antibiotics, and his dizziness was a thing of the past, but mentally, he was a mess.
“It really is,” Eunhyuk said, chuckling as he watched Ryeowook go from person to person, snapping pictures of them. His happiness truly seemed infectious to everybody - well, to everybody but the very disgruntled maknae who was sitting next to Eunhyuk.
“Are we going to smile big today?” Siwon asked, walking up to the two men who sat watching Ryeowook wander happily around the room from one person to the next.
“I smiled yesterday,” Kyuhyun said as his focused on the taller man moving closer to him.
“Yes, you did,” Leeteuk added as he walked up next to Siwon, who immediately put his arm around the leader’s shoulders. “But smile like you’re happy, not like you’re planning to take over the world.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at the two men standing in front of him. “I would be happy if I took over the world.”
“Nobody else would be,” Eunhyuk chirped in beside him.
Siwon let go of Leeteuk as he walked up to the grumpy maknae and pinched his cheeks while saying, “Why so blue, baby boy?”
Kyuhyun pulled away from Siwon with obvious disgust. “Get away from me. You’re going to make me puke.”
Siwon just shook his head at him. Leeteuk ruffled Kyuhyun’s hair to annoy him further. “Smile like you mean it, okay? It’s a happy song; look happy.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun agreed, the pout obvious in his voice, as the other two men walked away laughing at him.
“Oh look, how sweet!” Eunhyuk said in a voice of fake adoration that automatically put Kyuhyun on guard as the other man stuck his phone up to his face. “Look what Ryeowook just sent out on twitter. Aren’t they adorable?”
Kyuhyun’s expression immediately went from sour to devastated as he looked at the picture of Ryeowook and Luna. He quickly hid his expression and replaced it with his annoyed look, but Eunhyuk had already seen the break in his control and apologized, “Sorry.”
“There isn’t anything to be sorry about, except for the fact that you’re a total asshole,” Kyuhyun said, taking the phone from him. “I really hate twitter.”
“It’s really not bad. It’s actually kinda great. You would be great on it with your endless wit,” Eunhyuk said, looking guilty, but trying to perk the despondent boy up with flattery.
“I hate it,” Kyuhyun said, his expression very dark. Eunhyuk took his phone back quickly before Kyuhyun could toss it at somebody.
“You should give it a try; the fans love it,” Eunhyuk couldn’t help but smile as he saw Sungmin walking up. Sungmin’s special Kyuhyun senses must have been going off. Whatever anger Sungmin had at Kyuhyun a week ago had faded quickly. He could sense the sadness in Kyuhyun, although he was still oblivious to the actual reason behind it.
“It’s starting to be more work than it is worth. It is starting to stress me out,” Sungmin said, overhearing their conversation about Twitter as he walked up next to Kyuhyun, who instantly leaned into him.
“Only because you treat it like it’s some responsibility. It’s supposed to be fun. He would be great at it,” Eunhyuk insisted to his long-time friend.
Sungmin wrapped a comforting arm around Kyuhyun. “If you don’t want to get Twitter, then you don’t have to.”
“I won’t,” Kyuhyun said, enjoying the comfort Sungmin provided, even if the other man had not a clue why Kyuhyun needed comforting. To most of the world, everything must have looked fine between Ryeowook and Kyuhyun, because Ryeowook sure made it look that way…but Kyuhyun hated it. He didn’t have any other option, though, because fighting with Ryeowook about it would only lead to no Ryeowook at all, and he wasn’t prepared for that.
“Are you feeling sickly today?” Sungmin asked as he watched the younger man wrestle with his thoughts.
“Yeah, a little,” Kyuhyun admitted, not going into detail about exactly why he felt sick.
“You actually don’t look bad, though,” Sungmin told him. Kyuhyun ignored him as he watched Ryeowook practically bounce up to them, his spirits obviously high.
“What’s wrong?” Ryeowook asked with real concern, as he saw Kyuhyun leaning into Sungmin, and the latter with his arm wrapped protectively around him.
“He’s just sick again,” Sungmin explained to the other man.
Ryeowook took his hand and felt Kyuhyun’s forehead, like he had done a million times before. “You don’t feel warm.”
“I guess I’m not sick, then,” Kyuhyun snapped back at him, not disguising the bitterness in his words.
“You don’t look it either,” Ryeowook said, ignoring the other man’s bite and innocently ruffling his hair. “You actually look better then you have in weeks.”
“2.6kgs,” Sungmin proclaimed proudly, and Ryeowook just smiled at Sungmin fondly, as he continued to play with Kyuhyun’s hair as naturally as he would have a year ago.
“I’ll be fat soon,” Kyuhyun warned, but his mood was improving against his wishes. Ryeowook hadn’t lost his magic touch with him. Kyuhyun fought the urge to let go of Sungmin and wrap his arms around Ryeowook.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that anytime soon,” Ryeowook said, sensing the danger and moving out of Kyuhyun’s reach, taking a seat next to Eunhyuk.
“Don’t worry. If you get fat, I will put you on diet and weigh you every day until you lose weight,” Sungmin informed him.
“I have no doubt you would,” Kyuhyun told him, smiling despite himself.
“Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Siwon they want you next,” Donghae yelled from the doorway after having his make-up and hair done.
Kyuhyun got up, letting go of Sungmin as they both headed out of the room together. Ryeowook stayed sitting next to Eunhyuk and just smiled at him, but his eyes were questioning.
“What?”
“Hyung, maybe you shouldn’t set him off,” Ryeowook respectfully told the older man softly, so nobody else could overhear him. “If he had Twitter, I wouldn’t send out such pictures.”
“You saw?” Eunhyuk asked, amazed, because if anybody had told him that Ryeowook had been paying them any attention, he would have called them a liar.
“Yes,” Ryeowook told him, smiling back with that same smile that seemed to be plastered to his face lately.
Eunhyuk leaned over and whispered in Ryeowook’s ear, “So, you prance around and flirt with everything that moves, but it’s my fault that Kyuhyun’s sad?” Eunhyuk pulled away from Ryeowook, smiling back at him.
Ryeowook’s smile only faltered for a moment; then it was right back in place as he explained, “I am acting like I acted before. I am trying to get things back to normal. This is behavior you fully encouraged, I might add.”
“I know. I do support it. Total kudos to you for pulling it off…but he’s so sad,” Eunhyuk said frowning. “He is supposed to be bratty and spoiled….not sad.”
“So, do you want me to make him happy?” Ryeowook asked the other man, sounding miffed.
“No!” Eunhyuk blurted out too loudly, causing others in the room to turn and look at him. Eunhyuk waved them off when some started heading toward him. He leaned closer to Ryeowook’s ear. “This is for the best, but I hate seeing him so sad.”
Ryeowook whispered harshly back at him, “Do you think I don’t know he’s sad? I do, and I hate it. Do you think I’m happy? No, I’m not.”
Eunhyuk shook his head. “He doesn’t know that, though.”
“He can’t know that,” Ryeowook explained to the older man, his smile gone. “He can’t ever know that. If he knew there was one dent in my steel he would ……he just can’t ever know. For the sake of Super Junior.”
“For the sake of Super Junior,” Eunhyuk said, agreeing with Ryeowook.
**************
A week later Kyuhyun sat with one arm wrapped around Sungmin on the couch in their dorm and told him, “Well, she’s fat.”
“She smells, too,” Eunhyuk added, sitting on the other side of Sungmin, with his arm wrapped around the man, too.
Sungmin who sat between them, red-faced and puffy-cheeked, just sighed, “She doesn’t smell, and she isn’t fat.”
“Well, the only reason she isn’t fat is because she lives on laxatives; that’s why she always has that sore look about her….constant diarrhea,” Kyuhyun insisted.
“And that’s why she smells,” Eunhyuk confirmed.
“When she is old, she is going to be a freaking balloon,” Kyuhyun announced happily, then under his breath, “You will be so glad you married my sister instead.”
Sungmin looked up curious. “What?”
“She can’t sing either….a voice only the hearing-impaired could love,” Kyuhyun said, changing the subject.
“You love her voice?” Yesung asked jokingly from his seat on the recliner.
“My hearing isn’t that bad, thank you very much,” Kyuhyun told the older man.
“True, her voice is weak and pitchy,” Yesung said after laughing at Kyuhyun.
“If ever I am forced to do a duet with her, I promise to make her look like an ass,” Kyuhyun told Sungmin with a bright smile.
“Me too,” Yesung agreed.
“I’ll accidentally trip her at the next awards ceremony for you,” Eunhyuk offered.
“I was twittered on,” Sungmin said sadly, surrounded by his overly protective members as they dished out meaningless threats.
“How do you get twittered on exactly?” Zhou Mi asked from his seat at the end of the couch, where he had been watching and listening to them with great fondness and amusement.
“Well, she thought she was sending the message to - ” Yesung started to explain.
“To her big-faced, couldn’t sing his way out of a cardboard box dude, that she was seeing on the side,” Kyuhyun interrupted, describing the man in exaggerated detail for Zhou Mi.
“She thought she was sending him the private twitter about the forbidden hook-up, but the idiot sent it to Sungmin instead,” Yesung continued after Kyuhyun’s interruption.
“So, that’s when you all thought you should go there and catch them in the act?” Zhou Mi asked Sungmin, Eunhyuk and Yesung, and they all nodded their heads in affirmation.
“Not all; some of us were at home saving the universe,” Kyuhyun explained as he let go of Sungmin long enough to grab his bottle of water and take a drink.
“You were at home playing StarCraft,” Yesung clarified, shaking his head in mild annoyance.
“Same thing,” Kyuhyun said, putting down his bottle of water after taking a big drink and placing his arm back around Sungmin.
“So who all went?” Zhou Mi asked before Yesung and Kyuhyun could start their endless bickering up.
“Me, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Yesung,” Sungmin explained as he looked at his phone sadly.
“And you all were out past curfew, and that’s why we are all….are we grounded?” Zhou Mi asked confused, because the thought of being grounded was ludicrous to him.
“Pretty much; we can’t go out unless we have scheduled activities, and then a staff member has to go with us,” Eunhyuk explained as he took Sungmin’s phone away from him.
“That’s crazy. Why does everybody have to pay for what just a few of you did?” Zhou Mi asked.
“Because the managers think if everybody has to pay, we will be more likely to stay out of trouble,” Yesung explained as he pulled his legs up in the recliner and wrapped his arms around his knees.
“Little do they know,” Kyuhyun said smiling evilly. “I fully support all wrong doings.”
“That’s because you are usually the one initiating them. This time’s it’s all my fault…and it wasn’t even like she was my girlfriend,” Sungmin said, depressed, as he reached for his phone, but Eunhyuk stretched his arms out, keeping it out of his reach.
“Well, she made you think that she was interested, so she is guilty of leading you on. People that lead others on and encourage their affection, then dump them, suck. I have very little use for those people, even if I do love them unconditionally,” Kyuhyun said, suddenly frowning.
“Huh?” Sungmin asked looking at his younger friend.
“Nothing, I just hate Twitter,” Kyuhyun stated firmly.
“I don’t think I love her unconditionally….who do you love unconditionally…except for you know…yourself,” Sungmin said suddenly, with curiosity aimed at the maknae beside him.
“She isn’t worth being depressed about. Her plastic surgery isn’t even that good,” Eunhyuk spoke up quickly, hoping to change the subject fast.
“Her left eye is totally bigger than her right eye,” Kyuhyun said, jumping in, also hoping to distract Sungmin.
“If she would have just waited a little longer, the company would have paid for the good surgeons,” Yesung also pitched in.
“You guys, she’s beautiful,” Sungmin said, standing up and grabbing his phone from Eunhyuk. “I just can’t help how I feel.”
Kyuhyun stood beside his depressed friend and gave him a hug, much to Sungmin’s shock. “I know.”
Eunhyuk also stood up and joined in on the hug, “But you are better off; just keep telling yourself that,” Eunhyuk told Sungmin, but his eyes were aimed at Kyuhyun.
“Knowing that and feeling that isn’t the same thing,” Kyuhyun shot back at Eunhyuk, the group hug still in process.
Sungmin broke away from them, giving them a peculiar look. “Thanks, but I think I just want to be alone now.”
“If you need anything, you just have to ask,” Zhou Mi said as he stood up, too.
“I will,” Sungmin said, with a small smile. “I think I am just going to go in my room now and rest.”
“Does this mean you won’t be making dinner?” Kyuhyun asked.
Sungmin rolled his eyes at the younger man. “That’s exactly what it means,” he said, walking away toward his room.
Eunhyuk and Zhou Mi both swatted Kyuhyun gently on the head. “What?” Kyuhyun whined.
“You are so insensitive,” Zhou Mi told him.
“You really are,” Eunhyuk agreed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Hey, I hugged him,” Kyuhyun said, defending himself as he sat back down by Eunhyuk.
“Oh, that should make him instantly better and ready to cook dinner?” Eunhyuk muttered, rolling his eyes.
“You never care about my feelings!” Kyuhyun accused, gently elbowing the other man in the stomach.
“Don’t even go there,” Eunhyuk told him, elbowing him back. “This is about Sungmin.”
“No, this is about dinner. Seriously, what are we going to eat?” Yesung asked. “Because I’m actually hungry.”
“We could order something,” Zhou Mi offered.
“Yuck,” Kyuhyun said sounding very much like a five year old.
“Well, you just might have to suck it up for once and eat take out.” Yesung told him.
Kyuhyun was about to respond about the likeliness of that happening, when the dorm door flew open, and Donghae walked in barefoot. “I want to move down here with you guys!”
“What happened?” Eunhyuk asked his obviously upset friend.
Donghae walked up to them on the couch and squeezed in between Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk. “They are all blaming me for being stuck in the dorm.”
“Yeah, I can totally see them doing that,” Eunhyuk said, patting his friend’s arm.
“This is a blame-free zone, because Zhou Mi is too nice, and Kyuhyun never goes anywhere, so he loves it that we are trapped with him,” Yesung explained as he watched Donghae closely.
“I go places….if I have to,” Kyuhyun said, defending himself.
“Did you cry?” Yesung asked Donghae, after observing his eyes.
“Yes, and it didn’t work! Heechul and Leeteuk are both being mean about it. Shindong had to cancel a date, so he isn’t happy either. Siwon is mad, because Heechul demanded that he come over and be punished, too. That dorm is hostile, I tell you!” Donghae said, wrapping an arm around Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun each.
“What about Ryeowook?” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh, well, he just started cooking! They are all like, we can’t be mean to the one making dinner, so let’s pick on Donghae!”
“He wouldn’t let you help?” Eunhyuk asked.
“He never lets me help! It’s like he thinks I am going to set the place on fire or something,” Donghae said pouting, as he clung to the two men beside him.
“What’s he making?” Yesung was suddenly curious and wanted to know.
“All kinds of stuff,” Donghae answered as Kyuhyun tried to pull his arm away, but Donghae wouldn’t allow it.
“Is he making Dukbokki?” Zhou Mi asked, suddenly interested.
“Yeah, that’s one of the many items he is making. Actually, I’m supposed to be telling you all that you are welcome to come up and eat,” Donghae suddenly remembered as he answered him.
“Well, if that’s the case, I will just go ahead and go up there,” Zhou Mi said with a smile, as he headed for the door and put on his shoes.
“It isn’t done yet,” Donghae told him.
“That’s okay, I will wait. I need to talk to Siwon anyways,” Zhou Mi said, heading out of the dorm.
“Sure he does, because he isn’t on their black list,” Donghae said as the door shut behind Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun pulled away from him, standing up.
“Oh, so you are going up there, too, huh? Basking in the opportunity to be innocent for once?” Yesung asked Kyuhyun.
“Hell, no,” Kyuhyun told him bluntly. “We are going to make our own dinner.”
“We are?” Yesung, Donghae, and Eunhyuk all asked at once.
“Yes, we are. There isn’t anybody here to stop us. We are fully capable of cooking,” Kyuhyun said as he took off toward the kitchen.
Donghae was up at his heels instantly. “That’s right. There isn’t anybody to boss us around or throw us out of the kitchen…speaking of that, where is Sungmin?”
“He’s off mooning over her in his room,” Kyuhyun answered as he clasped his hands together and smiled at the kitchen gleefully. “Where do we start?”
“But you can’t cook. You tried before, and you even screwed up ramen,” Eunhyuk said, getting up and following the other two to the kitchen.
“I did that on purpose! How many times do I have to tell you that I did that on purpose?” Kyuhyun said as he started looking through the cabinets.
“Yeah, he’s smarter than Sungmin and Ryeowook. Cook so bad that they will never ask you to cook again,” Donghae said, opening up the refrigerator.
“Nobody doubts that’s he’s sneaky,” Yesung, who had followed them into the kitchen, said, leaning up against the counter.
“Exactly,” Kyuhyun said as he pulled a big pot out.
“What are we making?” Donghae asked, full of excitement.
“Spaghetti,” Kyuhyun answered as he filled the pot with water.
“I hate spaghetti!” Yesung said, looking very irritated all of a sudden.
“We can make ramen for you,” Kyuhyun offered as he put the pot of water on the stove. “It would be better with these noodles,” Kyuhyun said, holding up the spaghetti noodles.
“Are you sure?” Yesung asked, looking very doubtful.
“Positive,” Kyuhyun told him as he moved to the pantry and started going through the canned food.
“We don’t’ have any beef…all we have is pork,” Donghae said, pulling out pork cutlets from the refrigerator.
“Are you sure? Sungmin hides stuff,” Eunhyuk said, peering into the refrigerator too.
“Pork will be fine as long as it’s meat,” Kyuhyun said as he pulled out a can of tomato juice. “Hey, do we have any ketchup?”
“Lots,” Eunhyuk answered.
“Well, we are going to need it, because I can’t find any tomato sauce,” Kyuhyun said, looking through the pantry again.
“I am going to start cutting up the meat!” Donghae said as he laid the meat on the counter and started chopping it with a knife he found in the sink.
“This is going to be so good,” Kyuhyun said as he put a pot on the stove and added a can of tomato juice to it. “We need to put as much ketchup as we can in it.”
Eunhyuk happily obliged, squeezing as much ketchup as he could into the pot on the stove. “Doesn’t it need seasoning?”
“Hmmm….yes, we need some garlic, I think,” Kyuhyun said, going to the refrigerator to see if he could find any.
“The meat is done,” Donghae told them, as he held up the tiny cuts of meat in his hands.
“You have to fry it now,” Kyuhyun told him with a frown, as he found no garlic.
“What oil should I use?” Donghae asked as he looked in cabinet that held all kinds of different types of oils.
Kyuhyun walked over to him and looked at the oils with a confused face. “Just use butter instead; it will taste better.”
“Sungmin is going to be so surprised that we made dinner,” Eunhyuk said as he emptied the ketchup bottle into the pan.
“He’s going to be something,” Yesung said, looking very doubtfully at the three of them.
“It’s going to be great,” Kyuhyun said as he added the noodles to the lukewarm water.
“Tasty!” Donghae said as he jumped back as the butter started sizzling in the frying pan.
“Hey, we have garlic salt,” Eunhyuk said as he looked through the cabinets for seasoning. “I am going to use that. Oh, and we have some habanero seasoning and nutmeg, too. What is nutmeg?”
“Add them. I’m not sure what nutmeg is, but it sounds good,” Kyuhyun said as he tried to separate the noodles in the water. “They are all clumpy.”
“You know what? I am just going to head on upstairs and eat after all,” Yesung said, backing slowly away from the kitchen.
“Don’t tell them we are cooking!” Kyuhyun told the retreating man. “You know Ryeowook will abandon whatever he is cooking and come down here and take over.”
“Very true,” Yesung said, nodding his head in agreement. “If anybody asks, you ate take out.”
“They are mean up there,” Donghae warned as he jumped as hot butter splattered on him.
“I’ll take my chances,” Yesung said, heading for the door.
“Your loss!” Kyuhyun shouted at him as he jumped back as the butter splattered on him too. “Ouch.”
**************
“They ordered take out?” Ryeowook questioned for the third time since Yesung had arrived to the top dorm to eat.
“Yes, Ryeowook, they didn’t want to eat your cooking…they would rather eat take out,” Yesung said, rolling his eyes at the younger man who stood beside the table with a confused look on his face.
“Their loss. We should get grounded more often,” Shindong said with a face full of ecstasy as he slurped up some noodles.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Heechul sneered, but was also busy stuffing his face with spoon after spoonful of soup. “Although I must admit, this dinner is fantastic.”
“It is,” Leeteuk and Siwon agreed as they continued to eat a variety of foods in front of them.
“Kyuhyun wouldn’t eat take out as long as Sungmin was still breathing, and I was only a floor away,” Ryeowook insisted, resting his arm on the back of Yesung’s chair.
“That’s what they said. I heard them talking about it before I left. This Dukbokki is heavenly,” Zhou Mi said between bites.
“Isn’t it.” Leeteuk agreed as he ate some, too.
“I just know he…do you smell something?” Ryeowook asked, suddenly sniffing the air. He then turned to go back to the kitchen to make sure he hadn’t left anything on.
“I smell lots of wonderful food,” Shindong said as he continued to eat.
“I do smell something,” Siwon said, sniffing the air.
“It smells like smoke. Is something burning in the kitchen?” Leeteuk asked, standing up.
“No, there isn’t anything burning in the kitchen,” Ryeowook answered as he walked out of the kitchen after checking it.
“That is definitely smoke. Something is on fire,” Siwon said, standing up quickly.
“Why do you look so guilty?” Heechul asked Yesung, who had suddenly turned very pale and stopped eating.
“Umm…they didn’t actually order take out….they decided to cook instead,” Yesung answered as he got out of his chair too.
“Cook without Sungmin?” Ryeowook clarified, his voice going up five octaves.
“Without Sungmin,” Yesung confirmed. The words were barely out of his mouth as Siwon and Leeteuk flew to the door on their way to the bottom dorm.
“Somebody call the fire department!” Heechul ordered as he got up and hurried from the table, looking for his cats. Ryeowook already had the fire department on the line.
Author: aquariuslover
Pairing: KyuWook
Rating: R
Genre: Friendship, Love
Beta: unicornsinger
Summary: This is a completely fictional tale about the thin line between love and friendship, and how easily that line can become blurred.
TFAN Chapters
“It’s like he dumped you for Twitter,” Eunhyuk told Kyuhyun, who was sitting beside him in one of the waiting rooms as they got ready for their performance on Inkigayo.
“That’s so not funny,” Kyuhyun said, glaring back at the other man - but secretly, he agreed. It had been over a week since Ryeowook had laid down the law to him, and Ryeowook seemed thrilled about it. Kyuhyun wasn’t as lucky; physically, he was finally off his antibiotics, and his dizziness was a thing of the past, but mentally, he was a mess.
“It really is,” Eunhyuk said, chuckling as he watched Ryeowook go from person to person, snapping pictures of them. His happiness truly seemed infectious to everybody - well, to everybody but the very disgruntled maknae who was sitting next to Eunhyuk.
“Are we going to smile big today?” Siwon asked, walking up to the two men who sat watching Ryeowook wander happily around the room from one person to the next.
“I smiled yesterday,” Kyuhyun said as his focused on the taller man moving closer to him.
“Yes, you did,” Leeteuk added as he walked up next to Siwon, who immediately put his arm around the leader’s shoulders. “But smile like you’re happy, not like you’re planning to take over the world.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at the two men standing in front of him. “I would be happy if I took over the world.”
“Nobody else would be,” Eunhyuk chirped in beside him.
Siwon let go of Leeteuk as he walked up to the grumpy maknae and pinched his cheeks while saying, “Why so blue, baby boy?”
Kyuhyun pulled away from Siwon with obvious disgust. “Get away from me. You’re going to make me puke.”
Siwon just shook his head at him. Leeteuk ruffled Kyuhyun’s hair to annoy him further. “Smile like you mean it, okay? It’s a happy song; look happy.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun agreed, the pout obvious in his voice, as the other two men walked away laughing at him.
“Oh look, how sweet!” Eunhyuk said in a voice of fake adoration that automatically put Kyuhyun on guard as the other man stuck his phone up to his face. “Look what Ryeowook just sent out on twitter. Aren’t they adorable?”
Kyuhyun’s expression immediately went from sour to devastated as he looked at the picture of Ryeowook and Luna. He quickly hid his expression and replaced it with his annoyed look, but Eunhyuk had already seen the break in his control and apologized, “Sorry.”
“There isn’t anything to be sorry about, except for the fact that you’re a total asshole,” Kyuhyun said, taking the phone from him. “I really hate twitter.”
“It’s really not bad. It’s actually kinda great. You would be great on it with your endless wit,” Eunhyuk said, looking guilty, but trying to perk the despondent boy up with flattery.
“I hate it,” Kyuhyun said, his expression very dark. Eunhyuk took his phone back quickly before Kyuhyun could toss it at somebody.
“You should give it a try; the fans love it,” Eunhyuk couldn’t help but smile as he saw Sungmin walking up. Sungmin’s special Kyuhyun senses must have been going off. Whatever anger Sungmin had at Kyuhyun a week ago had faded quickly. He could sense the sadness in Kyuhyun, although he was still oblivious to the actual reason behind it.
“It’s starting to be more work than it is worth. It is starting to stress me out,” Sungmin said, overhearing their conversation about Twitter as he walked up next to Kyuhyun, who instantly leaned into him.
“Only because you treat it like it’s some responsibility. It’s supposed to be fun. He would be great at it,” Eunhyuk insisted to his long-time friend.
Sungmin wrapped a comforting arm around Kyuhyun. “If you don’t want to get Twitter, then you don’t have to.”
“I won’t,” Kyuhyun said, enjoying the comfort Sungmin provided, even if the other man had not a clue why Kyuhyun needed comforting. To most of the world, everything must have looked fine between Ryeowook and Kyuhyun, because Ryeowook sure made it look that way…but Kyuhyun hated it. He didn’t have any other option, though, because fighting with Ryeowook about it would only lead to no Ryeowook at all, and he wasn’t prepared for that.
“Are you feeling sickly today?” Sungmin asked as he watched the younger man wrestle with his thoughts.
“Yeah, a little,” Kyuhyun admitted, not going into detail about exactly why he felt sick.
“You actually don’t look bad, though,” Sungmin told him. Kyuhyun ignored him as he watched Ryeowook practically bounce up to them, his spirits obviously high.
“What’s wrong?” Ryeowook asked with real concern, as he saw Kyuhyun leaning into Sungmin, and the latter with his arm wrapped protectively around him.
“He’s just sick again,” Sungmin explained to the other man.
Ryeowook took his hand and felt Kyuhyun’s forehead, like he had done a million times before. “You don’t feel warm.”
“I guess I’m not sick, then,” Kyuhyun snapped back at him, not disguising the bitterness in his words.
“You don’t look it either,” Ryeowook said, ignoring the other man’s bite and innocently ruffling his hair. “You actually look better then you have in weeks.”
“2.6kgs,” Sungmin proclaimed proudly, and Ryeowook just smiled at Sungmin fondly, as he continued to play with Kyuhyun’s hair as naturally as he would have a year ago.
“I’ll be fat soon,” Kyuhyun warned, but his mood was improving against his wishes. Ryeowook hadn’t lost his magic touch with him. Kyuhyun fought the urge to let go of Sungmin and wrap his arms around Ryeowook.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that anytime soon,” Ryeowook said, sensing the danger and moving out of Kyuhyun’s reach, taking a seat next to Eunhyuk.
“Don’t worry. If you get fat, I will put you on diet and weigh you every day until you lose weight,” Sungmin informed him.
“I have no doubt you would,” Kyuhyun told him, smiling despite himself.
“Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Siwon they want you next,” Donghae yelled from the doorway after having his make-up and hair done.
Kyuhyun got up, letting go of Sungmin as they both headed out of the room together. Ryeowook stayed sitting next to Eunhyuk and just smiled at him, but his eyes were questioning.
“What?”
“Hyung, maybe you shouldn’t set him off,” Ryeowook respectfully told the older man softly, so nobody else could overhear him. “If he had Twitter, I wouldn’t send out such pictures.”
“You saw?” Eunhyuk asked, amazed, because if anybody had told him that Ryeowook had been paying them any attention, he would have called them a liar.
“Yes,” Ryeowook told him, smiling back with that same smile that seemed to be plastered to his face lately.
Eunhyuk leaned over and whispered in Ryeowook’s ear, “So, you prance around and flirt with everything that moves, but it’s my fault that Kyuhyun’s sad?” Eunhyuk pulled away from Ryeowook, smiling back at him.
Ryeowook’s smile only faltered for a moment; then it was right back in place as he explained, “I am acting like I acted before. I am trying to get things back to normal. This is behavior you fully encouraged, I might add.”
“I know. I do support it. Total kudos to you for pulling it off…but he’s so sad,” Eunhyuk said frowning. “He is supposed to be bratty and spoiled….not sad.”
“So, do you want me to make him happy?” Ryeowook asked the other man, sounding miffed.
“No!” Eunhyuk blurted out too loudly, causing others in the room to turn and look at him. Eunhyuk waved them off when some started heading toward him. He leaned closer to Ryeowook’s ear. “This is for the best, but I hate seeing him so sad.”
Ryeowook whispered harshly back at him, “Do you think I don’t know he’s sad? I do, and I hate it. Do you think I’m happy? No, I’m not.”
Eunhyuk shook his head. “He doesn’t know that, though.”
“He can’t know that,” Ryeowook explained to the older man, his smile gone. “He can’t ever know that. If he knew there was one dent in my steel he would ……he just can’t ever know. For the sake of Super Junior.”
“For the sake of Super Junior,” Eunhyuk said, agreeing with Ryeowook.
**************
A week later Kyuhyun sat with one arm wrapped around Sungmin on the couch in their dorm and told him, “Well, she’s fat.”
“She smells, too,” Eunhyuk added, sitting on the other side of Sungmin, with his arm wrapped around the man, too.
Sungmin who sat between them, red-faced and puffy-cheeked, just sighed, “She doesn’t smell, and she isn’t fat.”
“Well, the only reason she isn’t fat is because she lives on laxatives; that’s why she always has that sore look about her….constant diarrhea,” Kyuhyun insisted.
“And that’s why she smells,” Eunhyuk confirmed.
“When she is old, she is going to be a freaking balloon,” Kyuhyun announced happily, then under his breath, “You will be so glad you married my sister instead.”
Sungmin looked up curious. “What?”
“She can’t sing either….a voice only the hearing-impaired could love,” Kyuhyun said, changing the subject.
“You love her voice?” Yesung asked jokingly from his seat on the recliner.
“My hearing isn’t that bad, thank you very much,” Kyuhyun told the older man.
“True, her voice is weak and pitchy,” Yesung said after laughing at Kyuhyun.
“If ever I am forced to do a duet with her, I promise to make her look like an ass,” Kyuhyun told Sungmin with a bright smile.
“Me too,” Yesung agreed.
“I’ll accidentally trip her at the next awards ceremony for you,” Eunhyuk offered.
“I was twittered on,” Sungmin said sadly, surrounded by his overly protective members as they dished out meaningless threats.
“How do you get twittered on exactly?” Zhou Mi asked from his seat at the end of the couch, where he had been watching and listening to them with great fondness and amusement.
“Well, she thought she was sending the message to - ” Yesung started to explain.
“To her big-faced, couldn’t sing his way out of a cardboard box dude, that she was seeing on the side,” Kyuhyun interrupted, describing the man in exaggerated detail for Zhou Mi.
“She thought she was sending him the private twitter about the forbidden hook-up, but the idiot sent it to Sungmin instead,” Yesung continued after Kyuhyun’s interruption.
“So, that’s when you all thought you should go there and catch them in the act?” Zhou Mi asked Sungmin, Eunhyuk and Yesung, and they all nodded their heads in affirmation.
“Not all; some of us were at home saving the universe,” Kyuhyun explained as he let go of Sungmin long enough to grab his bottle of water and take a drink.
“You were at home playing StarCraft,” Yesung clarified, shaking his head in mild annoyance.
“Same thing,” Kyuhyun said, putting down his bottle of water after taking a big drink and placing his arm back around Sungmin.
“So who all went?” Zhou Mi asked before Yesung and Kyuhyun could start their endless bickering up.
“Me, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Yesung,” Sungmin explained as he looked at his phone sadly.
“And you all were out past curfew, and that’s why we are all….are we grounded?” Zhou Mi asked confused, because the thought of being grounded was ludicrous to him.
“Pretty much; we can’t go out unless we have scheduled activities, and then a staff member has to go with us,” Eunhyuk explained as he took Sungmin’s phone away from him.
“That’s crazy. Why does everybody have to pay for what just a few of you did?” Zhou Mi asked.
“Because the managers think if everybody has to pay, we will be more likely to stay out of trouble,” Yesung explained as he pulled his legs up in the recliner and wrapped his arms around his knees.
“Little do they know,” Kyuhyun said smiling evilly. “I fully support all wrong doings.”
“That’s because you are usually the one initiating them. This time’s it’s all my fault…and it wasn’t even like she was my girlfriend,” Sungmin said, depressed, as he reached for his phone, but Eunhyuk stretched his arms out, keeping it out of his reach.
“Well, she made you think that she was interested, so she is guilty of leading you on. People that lead others on and encourage their affection, then dump them, suck. I have very little use for those people, even if I do love them unconditionally,” Kyuhyun said, suddenly frowning.
“Huh?” Sungmin asked looking at his younger friend.
“Nothing, I just hate Twitter,” Kyuhyun stated firmly.
“I don’t think I love her unconditionally….who do you love unconditionally…except for you know…yourself,” Sungmin said suddenly, with curiosity aimed at the maknae beside him.
“She isn’t worth being depressed about. Her plastic surgery isn’t even that good,” Eunhyuk spoke up quickly, hoping to change the subject fast.
“Her left eye is totally bigger than her right eye,” Kyuhyun said, jumping in, also hoping to distract Sungmin.
“If she would have just waited a little longer, the company would have paid for the good surgeons,” Yesung also pitched in.
“You guys, she’s beautiful,” Sungmin said, standing up and grabbing his phone from Eunhyuk. “I just can’t help how I feel.”
Kyuhyun stood beside his depressed friend and gave him a hug, much to Sungmin’s shock. “I know.”
Eunhyuk also stood up and joined in on the hug, “But you are better off; just keep telling yourself that,” Eunhyuk told Sungmin, but his eyes were aimed at Kyuhyun.
“Knowing that and feeling that isn’t the same thing,” Kyuhyun shot back at Eunhyuk, the group hug still in process.
Sungmin broke away from them, giving them a peculiar look. “Thanks, but I think I just want to be alone now.”
“If you need anything, you just have to ask,” Zhou Mi said as he stood up, too.
“I will,” Sungmin said, with a small smile. “I think I am just going to go in my room now and rest.”
“Does this mean you won’t be making dinner?” Kyuhyun asked.
Sungmin rolled his eyes at the younger man. “That’s exactly what it means,” he said, walking away toward his room.
Eunhyuk and Zhou Mi both swatted Kyuhyun gently on the head. “What?” Kyuhyun whined.
“You are so insensitive,” Zhou Mi told him.
“You really are,” Eunhyuk agreed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Hey, I hugged him,” Kyuhyun said, defending himself as he sat back down by Eunhyuk.
“Oh, that should make him instantly better and ready to cook dinner?” Eunhyuk muttered, rolling his eyes.
“You never care about my feelings!” Kyuhyun accused, gently elbowing the other man in the stomach.
“Don’t even go there,” Eunhyuk told him, elbowing him back. “This is about Sungmin.”
“No, this is about dinner. Seriously, what are we going to eat?” Yesung asked. “Because I’m actually hungry.”
“We could order something,” Zhou Mi offered.
“Yuck,” Kyuhyun said sounding very much like a five year old.
“Well, you just might have to suck it up for once and eat take out.” Yesung told him.
Kyuhyun was about to respond about the likeliness of that happening, when the dorm door flew open, and Donghae walked in barefoot. “I want to move down here with you guys!”
“What happened?” Eunhyuk asked his obviously upset friend.
Donghae walked up to them on the couch and squeezed in between Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk. “They are all blaming me for being stuck in the dorm.”
“Yeah, I can totally see them doing that,” Eunhyuk said, patting his friend’s arm.
“This is a blame-free zone, because Zhou Mi is too nice, and Kyuhyun never goes anywhere, so he loves it that we are trapped with him,” Yesung explained as he watched Donghae closely.
“I go places….if I have to,” Kyuhyun said, defending himself.
“Did you cry?” Yesung asked Donghae, after observing his eyes.
“Yes, and it didn’t work! Heechul and Leeteuk are both being mean about it. Shindong had to cancel a date, so he isn’t happy either. Siwon is mad, because Heechul demanded that he come over and be punished, too. That dorm is hostile, I tell you!” Donghae said, wrapping an arm around Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun each.
“What about Ryeowook?” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh, well, he just started cooking! They are all like, we can’t be mean to the one making dinner, so let’s pick on Donghae!”
“He wouldn’t let you help?” Eunhyuk asked.
“He never lets me help! It’s like he thinks I am going to set the place on fire or something,” Donghae said pouting, as he clung to the two men beside him.
“What’s he making?” Yesung was suddenly curious and wanted to know.
“All kinds of stuff,” Donghae answered as Kyuhyun tried to pull his arm away, but Donghae wouldn’t allow it.
“Is he making Dukbokki?” Zhou Mi asked, suddenly interested.
“Yeah, that’s one of the many items he is making. Actually, I’m supposed to be telling you all that you are welcome to come up and eat,” Donghae suddenly remembered as he answered him.
“Well, if that’s the case, I will just go ahead and go up there,” Zhou Mi said with a smile, as he headed for the door and put on his shoes.
“It isn’t done yet,” Donghae told him.
“That’s okay, I will wait. I need to talk to Siwon anyways,” Zhou Mi said, heading out of the dorm.
“Sure he does, because he isn’t on their black list,” Donghae said as the door shut behind Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun pulled away from him, standing up.
“Oh, so you are going up there, too, huh? Basking in the opportunity to be innocent for once?” Yesung asked Kyuhyun.
“Hell, no,” Kyuhyun told him bluntly. “We are going to make our own dinner.”
“We are?” Yesung, Donghae, and Eunhyuk all asked at once.
“Yes, we are. There isn’t anybody here to stop us. We are fully capable of cooking,” Kyuhyun said as he took off toward the kitchen.
Donghae was up at his heels instantly. “That’s right. There isn’t anybody to boss us around or throw us out of the kitchen…speaking of that, where is Sungmin?”
“He’s off mooning over her in his room,” Kyuhyun answered as he clasped his hands together and smiled at the kitchen gleefully. “Where do we start?”
“But you can’t cook. You tried before, and you even screwed up ramen,” Eunhyuk said, getting up and following the other two to the kitchen.
“I did that on purpose! How many times do I have to tell you that I did that on purpose?” Kyuhyun said as he started looking through the cabinets.
“Yeah, he’s smarter than Sungmin and Ryeowook. Cook so bad that they will never ask you to cook again,” Donghae said, opening up the refrigerator.
“Nobody doubts that’s he’s sneaky,” Yesung, who had followed them into the kitchen, said, leaning up against the counter.
“Exactly,” Kyuhyun said as he pulled a big pot out.
“What are we making?” Donghae asked, full of excitement.
“Spaghetti,” Kyuhyun answered as he filled the pot with water.
“I hate spaghetti!” Yesung said, looking very irritated all of a sudden.
“We can make ramen for you,” Kyuhyun offered as he put the pot of water on the stove. “It would be better with these noodles,” Kyuhyun said, holding up the spaghetti noodles.
“Are you sure?” Yesung asked, looking very doubtful.
“Positive,” Kyuhyun told him as he moved to the pantry and started going through the canned food.
“We don’t’ have any beef…all we have is pork,” Donghae said, pulling out pork cutlets from the refrigerator.
“Are you sure? Sungmin hides stuff,” Eunhyuk said, peering into the refrigerator too.
“Pork will be fine as long as it’s meat,” Kyuhyun said as he pulled out a can of tomato juice. “Hey, do we have any ketchup?”
“Lots,” Eunhyuk answered.
“Well, we are going to need it, because I can’t find any tomato sauce,” Kyuhyun said, looking through the pantry again.
“I am going to start cutting up the meat!” Donghae said as he laid the meat on the counter and started chopping it with a knife he found in the sink.
“This is going to be so good,” Kyuhyun said as he put a pot on the stove and added a can of tomato juice to it. “We need to put as much ketchup as we can in it.”
Eunhyuk happily obliged, squeezing as much ketchup as he could into the pot on the stove. “Doesn’t it need seasoning?”
“Hmmm….yes, we need some garlic, I think,” Kyuhyun said, going to the refrigerator to see if he could find any.
“The meat is done,” Donghae told them, as he held up the tiny cuts of meat in his hands.
“You have to fry it now,” Kyuhyun told him with a frown, as he found no garlic.
“What oil should I use?” Donghae asked as he looked in cabinet that held all kinds of different types of oils.
Kyuhyun walked over to him and looked at the oils with a confused face. “Just use butter instead; it will taste better.”
“Sungmin is going to be so surprised that we made dinner,” Eunhyuk said as he emptied the ketchup bottle into the pan.
“He’s going to be something,” Yesung said, looking very doubtfully at the three of them.
“It’s going to be great,” Kyuhyun said as he added the noodles to the lukewarm water.
“Tasty!” Donghae said as he jumped back as the butter started sizzling in the frying pan.
“Hey, we have garlic salt,” Eunhyuk said as he looked through the cabinets for seasoning. “I am going to use that. Oh, and we have some habanero seasoning and nutmeg, too. What is nutmeg?”
“Add them. I’m not sure what nutmeg is, but it sounds good,” Kyuhyun said as he tried to separate the noodles in the water. “They are all clumpy.”
“You know what? I am just going to head on upstairs and eat after all,” Yesung said, backing slowly away from the kitchen.
“Don’t tell them we are cooking!” Kyuhyun told the retreating man. “You know Ryeowook will abandon whatever he is cooking and come down here and take over.”
“Very true,” Yesung said, nodding his head in agreement. “If anybody asks, you ate take out.”
“They are mean up there,” Donghae warned as he jumped as hot butter splattered on him.
“I’ll take my chances,” Yesung said, heading for the door.
“Your loss!” Kyuhyun shouted at him as he jumped back as the butter splattered on him too. “Ouch.”
**************
“They ordered take out?” Ryeowook questioned for the third time since Yesung had arrived to the top dorm to eat.
“Yes, Ryeowook, they didn’t want to eat your cooking…they would rather eat take out,” Yesung said, rolling his eyes at the younger man who stood beside the table with a confused look on his face.
“Their loss. We should get grounded more often,” Shindong said with a face full of ecstasy as he slurped up some noodles.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Heechul sneered, but was also busy stuffing his face with spoon after spoonful of soup. “Although I must admit, this dinner is fantastic.”
“It is,” Leeteuk and Siwon agreed as they continued to eat a variety of foods in front of them.
“Kyuhyun wouldn’t eat take out as long as Sungmin was still breathing, and I was only a floor away,” Ryeowook insisted, resting his arm on the back of Yesung’s chair.
“That’s what they said. I heard them talking about it before I left. This Dukbokki is heavenly,” Zhou Mi said between bites.
“Isn’t it.” Leeteuk agreed as he ate some, too.
“I just know he…do you smell something?” Ryeowook asked, suddenly sniffing the air. He then turned to go back to the kitchen to make sure he hadn’t left anything on.
“I smell lots of wonderful food,” Shindong said as he continued to eat.
“I do smell something,” Siwon said, sniffing the air.
“It smells like smoke. Is something burning in the kitchen?” Leeteuk asked, standing up.
“No, there isn’t anything burning in the kitchen,” Ryeowook answered as he walked out of the kitchen after checking it.
“That is definitely smoke. Something is on fire,” Siwon said, standing up quickly.
“Why do you look so guilty?” Heechul asked Yesung, who had suddenly turned very pale and stopped eating.
“Umm…they didn’t actually order take out….they decided to cook instead,” Yesung answered as he got out of his chair too.
“Cook without Sungmin?” Ryeowook clarified, his voice going up five octaves.
“Without Sungmin,” Yesung confirmed. The words were barely out of his mouth as Siwon and Leeteuk flew to the door on their way to the bottom dorm.
“Somebody call the fire department!” Heechul ordered as he got up and hurried from the table, looking for his cats. Ryeowook already had the fire department on the line.