Cho Kyuhyun's Very Merry Christmas
Title: Cho Kyuhyun’s Very Merry Christmas
Pairings: KyuWook
Rating: R
Genre: Humor, Romance
Length: One shot
Beta: unicornsinger
A/N: This story takes place in the TFAN/Damaged universe, but I don’t feel that they are required reading for this story.
Summary: Christmas is nearing and something is bothering Kyuhyun, but he isn’t confiding in anybody, much to Ryeowook’s eternal annoyance.
“Why are you rooming with me again?” Eunhyuk asked as Kyuhyun walked into the room and headed toward the bathroom. The younger man had been in a strange mood since the fourth round of Super Shows had started.
Kyuhyun walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. “It’s too suspicious if I always room with him. I’m just being careful.”
Eunhyuk sat on one of the beds and frowned at the bathroom door. “I appreciate that, but you seem-”
“Tired? Exhausted? I am both of those two things after the concert, and I just want to sleep. I sleep without him 90% of the time,” Kyuhyun interrupted, while still in the bathroom.
Eunhyuk fell back on the bed and pointed out, “And that’s why I find it strange that you are so eager to not share a room with him now.”
The door to the bathroom opened, and Kyuhyun stepped out wearing red flannel pajamas, and made his way toward the other bed. “We are constantly going overseas right now for performances; it isn’t like we have to go a month without sex. There are tons of opportunities for sex right now. I’m perfectly sat-”
“Stop!” Eunhyuk yelled as his hands flew to his ears. “I don’t want to know about your sex life! Never! How many times do I have to tell you that? Neeevvvveeeerrrrrrrr!”
“I wasn’t telling you anything!” Kyuhyun told him, jerking the covers back on the bed. “I am going to bed.”
Eunhyuk watched as Kyuhyun got into bed. “Your pajamas look like they belong to an old person.”
“A really warm old person!”
Eunhyuk, who was still hyper from the concert and had no intention of sleeping, just stared at Kyuhyun, perplexed. “I still think you are acting…” Eunhyuk trailed off, not able to find the proper word to describe the temperamental maknae.
“Weird,” Ryeowook said, completing Eunhyuk’s sentence as he walked into the room.
Eunhyuk crossed his arms and contemplated Ryeowook’s word suggestion. “I don’t know...he seems more than weird. He’s always weird.”
“I am not weird,” Kyuhyun said as he looked Ryeowook over from head to toe.
“You are not acting normal, that’s for sure,” Eunhyuk pointed out.
Kyuhyun tugged the covers over his head. “Why don’t you two leave already, and let me sleep.”
Ryeowook furrowed his brows. “You want me to leave?”
“Well, you are obviously dressed to go out prowling,” Kyuhyun pointed out from underneath the covers.
Ryeowook looked down at his clothing. He was wearing black jeans and a simple white T-shirt. “Are you sick?”
“No,” the voice from underneath the covers answered.
Eunhyuk, who had been dressed and ready to go when Kyuhyun had first entered the room, walked to the door. “Well, I am out of here.”
“I think I am going to stay here,” Ryeowook told Eunhyuk, still studying the bundle under the covers intently.
Eunhyuk nodded his head, understanding Ryeowook’s meaning. “I will just room with Sungmin tonight.”
“No!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, sitting up in bed and looking extremely irritated.
“Yes,” Ryeowook snapped back at his lover.
Kyuhyun picked up a pillow from the bed and threw it at Ryeowook. “I am just being smart! I am not in the mood tonight, so why not capitalize on this opportunity to not room together? Why create needless suspicion?”
Ryeowook easily caught the pillow and threw it back at Kyuhyun. “Nobody is suspicious, and what if I am in the mood? Did you ever think about that?”
“Then I suggest you go find one of your slutty dancers, and leave me the fuck alone,” Kyuhyun growled, full of hostility.
“That is my cue to leave,” Eunhyuk yelped as he hurried from the room, shutting the door behind him.
Ryeowook just stared at the younger man, completely dumbfounded by his words.
Kyuhyun’s sense of self-preservation kicked in, and he quickly added, “I probably shouldn’t have said that…I’m just tired.”
“You probably shouldn’t have said that?” Ryeowook repeated in a tone that made the hair on Kyuhyun’s neck stand straight up.
“I shouldn’t have,” Kyuhyun gulped and repeated. He then hid under the covers again. “I know you don’t like slutty dancers.”
“First off! How dare you insult our dancers like that! They are SM employees the same as us! They work hard! They are doing their job! A job they were hired to do! They are nice people, and if you weren’t always such a snob, you would know that!” Ryeowook hissed, with his hands firmly placed on his hips now.
“I don’t like them!”
“You know what you sound like? You sound like a delusional fan! How dare you treat them with such disrespect!”
Kyuhyun flung the covers off again and sat up in bed again. “If you like them so damn much, why don’t you go clubbing with them, and leave me the hell alone?”
Ryeowook bit back his angry response, forcing himself to remain calm, and walked toward the bed and Kyuhyun. There was something obviously wrong with the other man, and one of them had to be sensible…and rarely did Kyuhyun take on that role. “I don’t think you are sick…because if you were sick, you would be whiny and pathetic. You wouldn’t be trying to send me away. You would be demanding that I take care of you. So, I am going to ask again, what is wrong with you?”
Kyuhyun eyed Ryeowook as the other man reached up and felt his forehead for signs of a fever. “I told you I’m not sick. I’m just tired.”
Ryeowook removed his hand from Kyuhyun’s forehead that showed no signs of a fever and sat down on the side of the bed. “You are always tired, but you are not always a jerk, and especially not to me.”
Kyuhyun winced guiltily. “I love you…more than anything,” Kyuhyun assured the other man. “I just don’t…”
“Don’t what?” Ryeowook prompted.
The younger man turned away from Ryeowook, lying down on his side. “I just want to sleep.”
Ryeowook shook his head exasperated at the other man, but bent down to pull his shoes off. “You aren’t going to tell me what is bothering you?”
“No.”
“This is really frustrating, Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook told the other man as he finished taking his shoes off and stood up to remove his jeans.
“I know.”
“When do you plan on telling me?”
“I hope it just goes away on its own,” Kyuhyun said wistfully as the lights in the room went off.
Ryeowook slipped into bed beside Kyuhyun, wearing only his T-shirt. “I’ll let it go tonight, but you know part of being in a relationship is talking to each other. I can’t make things better if you don’t talk to me.”
Kyuhyun scooted over in the bed, making room for Ryeowook and turned onto his back. “It’s embarrassing…I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Embarrassing? Now I’m intrigued,” Ryeowook said curiously as he lay down in bed beside the other man.
“You said you’d let it go for tonight.”
“I did.”
“Let’s go to sleep. We have lots to do when we get back to Korea, but most importantly we have to go check on Yunho.”
“Is that why you’re being so weird? Do you not want to go and see Yunho?” Ryeowook asked, concerned. Honestly, Ryeowook felt the same way; he knew they had to go, but to the see the other man in such a state was heart wrenching.
“No, we have to. We promised both Heechul and Changmin…also, it’s the right thing to do,” Kyuhyun explained, feeling a sudden chill, and he moved closer to Ryeowook.
Ryeowook slid his arm under Kyuhyun’s neck, and turned to face the other man. “Let’s just not think about Yunho ‘til we get to…” Ryeowook paused remembering the name of the new healthcare facility that housed Yunho. “Clear Creek.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun agreed quickly.
“We have to visit your parents before Christmas…no matter what. Your mother says she is going to wait for us to trim the tree,” Ryeowook reminded Kyuhyun.
One of Kyuhyun’s hands found its way to Ryeowook’s toned stomach. “I’m fine with that. I need to oversee the decorations.”
“You do, do you?”
“Yes,” Kyuhyun replied, lowering the hand that had been resting on Ryeowook’s firm abdomen. “I am a world class Christmas tree decorator. They would no doubt screw up without my expertise supervision.”
Ryeowook arched up in the bed as Kyuhyun’s hand encircled his cock. “I thought you weren’t in the mood?”
“I’m not, but you obviously are,” Kyuhyun replied as he began to stroke Ryeowook’s cock with his large hand. “You always sleep better after you come,” Kyuhyun told him, before he found Ryeowook’s lips in the dark for a warm, loving kiss.
***************************
Days later, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun walked down a long hallway toward a room they had never visited before, where a man they both admired was trapped forever in a body that had once moved with fluidity and grace.
Ryeowook paused at the door before entering to share a look with Kyuhyun. “Are you ready for this?”
“No, I’m never ready for this,” Kyuhyun answered as he pushed the door open to Jung Yunho’s room. They entered the room to find Yunho lying in a hospital bed that was covered with colorful blankets of red and green that his mother and sister had probably left for him.
Ryeowook inhaled a deep breath and walked toward the bed acting as nonchalantly as he could. “Hyung, this place is so nice.”
Kyuhyun, who had been carrying a nicely wrapped box, sat the box down on the table beside the bed. “It’s a really nice place. It’s so much better than the hospital,” Kyuhyun agreed as he stood on the opposite side of the bed as Ryeowook.
“It has a very homey feeling to it,” Ryeowook told the brain damaged man, trying to act as if Yunho was listening.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes and settled his nerves and continued to play along. “The security here is tight. I thought Ryeowook and I were going to have to give a DNA sample before they would let us see you.”
“Which is good, because at least we know they are protective of you,” Ryeowook explained as he walked away from the bed toward a large window. “This room is really nice, too. You have this big window to look out of. There is a nice garden out back, but it’s covered with snow right now. Beautiful snow.”
Kyuhyun looked uncomfortably at Yunho whose eyes were open, but he was staring off at the wall. At times the man in the bed would blink, and move his head slightly, but he gave no sign that he heard anything they were saying. Kyuhyun reached down and took Yunho’s right hand and gently squeezed it. “Heechul is doing his public service now, but he is hopeful his time will get shortened, and he will be able to visit you soon.”
“Knowing Hyung, if he wants something badly enough…he will make it happen. Hyung will be visiting you real soon; I have no doubts,” Ryeowook said as he walked to a dresser in the room and picked up one of Yunho’s pictures that had been taken before the gunshot had changed everything.
“Changmin misses you so much. I just talked to him last week…he is in America now. He wanted to continue his studies,” Kyuhyun explained, tightening his hold on Yunho’s hand. “He…he will be alright. It’s just going to take time.”
Ryeowook put the picture back on the dresser and walked to the edge of the room where there was a small Christmas tree. “It will soon be Christmas, and you have such a pretty little tree in your room. I bet your mom and sister put it up.”
“I didn’t get Ryeowook anything for Christmas this year,” Kyuhyun told the obtunded Yunho.
Ryeowook walked away from the Christmas tree and toward Yunho’s bed. “You better have gotten me something from Spain.”
“I might have…if you had gone with me,” Kyuhyun said, letting some bitterness seep into his voice. “No show, no gift.”
Ryeowook shook his head disapprovingly at Kyuhyun. “You know I had to visit my family. I had put it off for too long.”
“Your beloved family you can’t even tell…the truth to.”
“Not all families are like yours, so don’t be a jerk,” Ryeowook said, looking down at Yunho. Ryeowook knew if Yunho had still been himself he would have understood the difficulties with families. “Some families love with conditions…and I’m not ready to give mine up yet.”
“You don’t have to give them up. I would never ask you to do that,” Kyuhyun quickly responded.
Ryeowook looked up from Yunho to stare pointedly at Kyuhyun. “Then stop giving me hell for not telling them about us.”
“I am not giving you hell…you just should have been with me in Spain,” Kyuhyun pouted, wrapping his hands around the side rail of Yunho’s bed. “We should have been together.”
Realization dawned on Ryeowook’s face. “Are you being so weird, because I didn’t go with you to Spain?”
“It might have been an initial reason for some weirdness, but it isn’t the main reason for my weirdness,” Kyuhyun explained, going around in circles, still refusing to explain the reason behind his mood to Ryeowook.
“Your weirdness is really starting to piss - ” Ryeowook paused, looked down at the man in the bed and remembered why they were there. “Hyung, of course I love Kyuhyun…weirdness and all. I’m sorry for fighting with him around you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Kyuhyun agreed. “I spent too much money on him last year, so I don’t have to get him anything else for Christmas for the next fifty years.”
Ryeowook smiled at the mention of his gift from last year and pulled out a gold pocket watch from his coat’s pocket and put it in the line of Yunho’s sight. “Isn’t it beautiful? Can you believe we both got each other watches last year? This one is way more expensive than the one I got for him, though.”
Kyuhyun lifted up his wrist, showing off his watch. “Mine is way more convenient though.”
“But this one is…it’s just perfect. I usually don’t take it out, though, because I would hate to lose it. It’s even inscribed…with Kyuhyun’s strange wit,” Ryeowook said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey,” Kyuhyun said in his defense. “That’s the most important rule of all.”
Ryeowook smiled at Kyuhyun and opened up the pocket watch and read it to Yunho as if he didn’t have it memorized. “The Sixth Rule: Ignore all other rules.”
“I guess I better read mine to you also.” Kyuhyun said smiling brightly at Ryeowook and pulled off his watch and read it to Yunho, “A hundred years and still crazy.”
“And he is still crazy,” Ryeowook couldn’t help but add.
“Like you aren’t?” Kyuhyun retorted as he put his watch back on.
Ryeowook smiled at the younger man and replied, “Only for-” Ryeowook stopped suddenly as the door to Yunho’s room opened, and a short, slightly plump, young nurse entered. Her eyes went wide as she recognized Ryeowook and Kyuhyun.
“Oh…hello, it’s time for his feeding,” the nurse told them.
“Feeding,” Kyuhyun repeated. “You mean through the tube in his stomach?”
“Yes,” the nurse answered as she approached the bed.
“I once had a feeding tube through my nose, and I would rather starve than to have another one put down my nose. I bet it is better to have one in the stomach,” Kyuhyun rattled on, stepping away from the bed.
“Yes, the ones through the stomach are not bad at all. As a nurse, I would also hate to have one put down my nose…it just seems so uncomfortable to have one placed,” the nurse told Kyuhyun.
“It was,” Kyuhyun quickly informed her.
Ryeowook shook his head at Kyuhyun. “How would you know? You were unconscious at the time?”
“Hey, I know.”
“I think we should be going now,” Ryeowook told the nurse as he read her nametag. “Hana, has anybody else been out to visit him?”
The nurse smiled at Ryeowook. “I really can’t say…it’s strictly confidential.”
“Yeah, I understand. I was just curious if Kim Jaejoong was still visiting him,” Ryeowook told the young nurse. “I know he spent a lot of time with him at the hospital. Every time we visited, it seemed like he was always there.”
The nurse blushed slightly and nodded her head. “Yes, he still visits. He was here just this morning.”
“Really? I thought he was in Hawaii.”
“He been back from Hawaii for a while,” the nurse quickly corrected Ryeowook.
“Hana,” Ryeowook said using the nurse’s name again. “Does he ever sleep or eat? I was never close with him, but he just seems to be fading away. He looks so tired and thin.”
“I know…it’s heartbreaking. I will be honest, Yunho’s only been with us a little over a month, but Mr. Kim has been here a lot. He sleeps here…sometimes…they must have been really good friends,” Hana said, fishing for information.
Kyuhyun snorted and headed toward the door. “They used to be good friends, but their friendship ended years ago. It ended when Jae stuck a knife in Yunho’s back.”
Ryeowook cringed and chastised his lover, “Kyuhyun!”
Kyuhyun paused before exiting the door. “It’s the truth; the only thing that ties Kim Jaejoong to Jung Yunho is guilt,” Kyuhyun explained and then walked out the door.
Ryeowook swallowed nervously and looked at the young nurse. “Don’t listen to him…SM and JYJ…lots of issues there. It isn’t guilt that ties Jaejoong to Yunho, though. I am sure of that,” Ryeowook assured the nurse.
The nurse walked to Yunho’s bedside. “It’s okay…I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, I asked you first,” Ryeowook told her as he walked to the bedside table and pointed to the box. “I brought cookies for everybody who helps take care of Yunho. I hope you enjoy them. I made them myself.”
The nurse’s eyes lit up. “That’s very nice of you.”
Ryeowook looked down at Yunho. “It’s the least I could do.”
“Thank you very much,” the nurse told him as she started to raise the head of Yunho’s bed more.
“I better go find him. Have a Merry Christmas,” Ryeowook told her as he headed out of the room. He quickly found Kyuhyun who was leaning up against the wall waiting on him. “I can’t believe you.”
Kyuhyun pushed off the wall and started heading down the hall. “It’s the truth. I don’t know how you can stand to even say his name after what Changmin told us.”
“Sometimes love makes you do crazy things,” Ryeowook said, grabbing a hold of Kyuhyun’s arm.
Kyuhyun stopped and looked at Ryeowook. “Seriously? Love doesn’t make anybody act like that…that wasn’t love…that was vindictive, and calculated hatred. That Yunho ever wasted a moment of his precious life missing or mourning that man makes me physically ill.”
“Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook said softly. “It isn’t that simple.”
“Yes, it is,” Kyuhyun insisted. “Yunho hated himself for what he did to him, and he even wanted Jae to hate him. Jae wasn’t worthy of any of Yunho’s regrets…he trampled their love and spit all over it.”
“Kyuhyun, I am not defending what he did…because I know I couldn’t ever do that to you. I do know all love isn’t the same, and I can try to understand what he must have been feeling. How angry and betrayed he must have felt at the time,” Ryeowook said, trying to reason with the other man.
“There is no excuse for what he did…none.”
Ryeowook frowned and asked softly, “What if one day I come to you, and tell you we are over. I tell you it is too dangerous for us to be together, and my family found out about us and has forbidden our relationship. What if I chose them over you?”
Kyuhyun sneered at the thought. “You would never choose your family over me.”
“That isn’t the point…the point is how would that make you feel?”
Kyuhyun looked down at Ryeowook. “This doesn’t apply to us…because we would never-”
Ryeowook’s hand slid down Kyuhyun’s arm to grab his hand. “You did it to me once.”
“What?” Kyuhyun asked, completely shocked.
“How soon you forget,” Ryeowook told the taller man. “When your dad was in the car accident? What did you do to me?”
Kyuhyun paled. “But…but I was upset…I wasn’t thinking. You didn’t act like Jae, though.”
Ryeowook looked both ways down the hallway to make sure they were still alone and replied honestly. “No, I didn’t act like Jae, but I really didn’t have time to do anything. I was too busy moping in my room, hating my life. I would probably still be there feeling sorry for myself if Heechul had not spurred me into action.”
“I am sorry…I really am,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, looking pitiful as he imagined what the other man must have felt.
“I know you are, but I was in my room feeling sorry for myself when you were scared that your dad was going to die. I should have been there for you…no matter what, but like I said love makes people act stupidly and selfishly. I am grateful for Heechul, because he is the best hyung in the world and made me see past my own misery,” Ryeowook explained.
Kyuhyun nodded his head understanding Ryeowook’s point finally. “And Yunho made me see how wrong I was.”
“Yes, we were lucky to have such wise hyungs watching over us. Did Yunho and Jaejoong have anybody watching over them?” Ryeowook asked as a teenage boy in a wheelchair wheeled out of a room in front of them. Ryeowook let go of Kyuhyun’s hand immediately.
“Probably not,” Kyuhyun admitted as they started walking down the hall again. “We really are lucky.”
“We are,” Ryeowook agreed.
The boy in the wheelchair moved to the middle of the hall, smiled at them and announced in a loud, obnoxious voice, “Aw, hurrying off now that you have done your duty and seen the fallen dancing king.”
“I beg your pardon,” Kyuhyun told the boy, surprised at his insolence.
The boy smirked at them. “Your guilt has been appeased for the time being, so you can go on laughing and living…’til it eases back up on you, and then you will have to visit again. Don’t worry, the guilt will fade away in time, and the fallen dancing king will just be a sad memory that you need not bother revisiting.”
Ryeowook bit his tongue to keep from telling the crippled boy off. “We will be back.”
“We will see. He’s only been here five weeks, and already the visitors have dwindled and dwindled,” the boy pointed out cockily.
Kyuhyun looked down at the boy and reminded himself that he could have easily ended up like him…in a wheelchair if not for the grace of God. “I’m sure what you say is the truth.”
“It is. I have seen it happen time and time again,” the boy confirmed.
“I’m sure you have, but you will also see us - time and time again,” Kyuhyun told the boy with conviction.
“We will see,” the boy mumbled as Kyuhyun and Ryeowook walked past him on their way out.
**************************
“That thing is not staying on top of the tree!” Kyuhyun shouted at his sister. They were in the living room of their parent’s house decorating the Christmas tree. It was Christmas Eve, and it was the first time that Ryeowook and Kyuhyun had time to visit Kyuhyun’s parents.
Ahra glared at her younger brother and informed him. “It’s an angel, and it’s staying on the tree.”
“The hell it is! We are going to put up the gold star we always use.”
“Kyuhyun, watch your mouth,” Mrs. Cho yelled from the kitchen where she was cooking with Ryeowook.
“Mom! Ahra has some doll that is painted up like a prostitute on the top of our tree,” Kyuhyun tattled in his defense.
“It is angel for the billionth time, you idiot!” Ahra screeched at her brother.
“Angels shouldn’t look they have been dipped in make up! It looks like some Asian prostitute that’s trying to pull off the blonde hair and blue-eyed look. Its eyes are freaking me out!”
“Why, little brother? Does it remind you of yourself? I mean you have been blonde, and well, those eyes aren’t exactly natural,” Ahra snapped back at her brother.
Kyuhyun snarled. “Hey, when I dyed my hair blonde I was still under the influence of a lot of pain medication. So, hair choices when I was doped up don’t apply!”
“And your eyes?”
“Don’t hate me because I am beautiful,” Kyuhyun told her smugly. “Maybe if you someday get a personality transplant for the better, I might pay to have yours done for you.”
Ahra inhaled a deep breath and stepped up on the stoop ladder and pulled the angel from the tree and threw it at her brother. “You are the ugliest person I know!”
Kyuhyun easily caught the angel that was thrown at him. “Still not as ugly as this doll!”
“Give me that stupid star,” Ahra told her brother as she reached out her hand for it. “I wish you’d go help mom in the kitchen, and your boyfriend would come out and help me instead.”
“My boyfriend?” Kyuhyun asked annoyed.
Ahra placed the star on the top of the tree. “Yes, your boyfriend. You know he’s shorter than you, but he has a way better personality, not to mention hair.”
Kyuhyun picked up a box of bulbs and started hanging them on the tree. “A boyfriend is something you have when you are a twelve year old girl.”
“What is he then? Your hook-up?” Ahra said, eyeing the star on the top of the tree hatefully.
“Hook-up!” Kyuhyun asked outraged. “A hook-up is what you have after a night of bar hopping!”
“I will have you know I have never hooked up with anybody at a bar!” Ahra told her brother.
“That you remember,” Kyuhyun mouthed back to her.
Mr. Cho, who had just walked into the living room, glanced at his two children cautiously as he sat down in his recliner.
Ahra seethed at her brother and asked, “Okay, so if Ryeowook isn’t your hook-up or your boyfriend, what is he?”
“My lover.”
Mr. Cho got up from his recliner and headed back toward his study. He should have known it wasn’t safe yet to be around the two of them. It had been months since his children had seen each other…they would require at least three more hours of their verbal squabbling before they would be safe to be around.
“Look, you have chased Dad off again!” Ahra told her brother, fighting down her laughter as she stepped off the stoop ladder.
“Dad, I meant significant other. I meant my significant other,” Kyuhyun quickly told his father before he could exit the room.
Mr. Cho paused and smiled at his son. “Yes, your significant other, and we love him very much.”
“We do,” Ahra agreed, grabbing her dad by his arm. “Dad, help me out with the decorations. I am afraid I might kill Kyuhyun if you leave us alone.”
“Like you could,” Kyuhyun said, sneering at his sister. “I need to go inspect what is going on in the kitchen anyway.”
*********
“I really hope the rest of your family isn’t upset,” Ryeowook said as he pulled a cookie sheet from the oven.
Mrs. Cho, who was mixing more cookie dough, told the young man, “Nonsense, we are going to see them all tomorrow.”
“But didn’t you used to get together on Christmas Eve?” Ryeowook asked.
Mrs. Cho nodded her head. “We did, but it’s nicer like this. You and Kyuhyun can be at ease and not have to pretend to just be friends.”
“You shouldn’t worry about us. We pretend all the time; it comes as second nature to us. I wish you didn’t have to change your family plans,” Ryeowook told Kyuhyun’s mother, feeling guilty.
“Don’t listen to him, mother,” Kyuhyun said as he entered the kitchen. “This is my favorite Christmas Eve ever. No drunken aunts trying to hook me up with every sweet girl they know.”
Mrs. Cho smiled at her son. “Kyuhyun, they are only trying to be helpful, and not all of them get drunk.”
Kyuhyun wasn’t listening to his mother. He was too busy staring open-mouthed at Ryeowook and his mother, who were wearing matching pink aprons as they cooked.
“What?” Ryeowook asked as he started rolling out more cookie dough.
“Why do you two have matching pink aprons on? And why am I suddenly reminded of cheesy anime?” Kyuhyun asked, trying to sound disapproving.
“Probably,” Ryeowook began to tell him. “Because you’ve watched your Kyo Kara Maoh DVD’s one too many times.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t own any such thing,” Kyuhyun denied.
Ryeowook shared a look with Mrs. Cho and then asked Kyuhyun, “How much you wanna bet? Let’s go down to your bedroom in the basement, and I will show you where you have them stashed.”
Kyuhyun grinned, knowing he was beaten. “So, you’ve been snooping in the dungeon, have you?”
“Yep,” Ryeowook freely admitted. “Every chance I get. I have to keep my eye on you.”
“Very wise of you,” Mrs. Cho told Ryeowook as they cut out cookie designs in the dough. “I’ve never asked you what you thought of Kyuhyun’s new room. I think it looks really nice…why he insists on calling it a dungeon, I have no idea.”
“Oh, I think it’s nice. The builders did a really nice job remodeling the basement. It’s much better than the room he has in the dorm,” Ryeowook answered her carefully, while he cast Kyuhyun a warning look. Kyuhyun’s new room allowed for a lot of privacy.
Kyuhyun smirked at Ryeowook, knowing what the other man was thinking. “The best thing about it is…” Kyuhyun paused just to make Ryeowook squirm, “that it is Sungmin free.”
“You love Sungmin,” Mrs. Cho told her son. “He’s a delightful young man.”
Kyuhyun nodded his head. “I do, but not in the way that I want to room with him for the rest of my life.”
“You just want your sister to,” Ryeowook reminded him.
“Shhh…be quiet,” Kyuhyun said, hushing his lover. “They might reconnect this holiday season, and if she found out I approved, it would be over before it happened.”
Mrs. Cho smiled at her matchmaking son, and changed the subject. “I hate that Leeteuk and Shindong will be leaving you soon,” Mrs. Cho said sadly. “Sometimes I really despise the mandatory military time.”
Kyuhyun suddenly looked somber; he knew with his history of real medical problems, he could easily get out of any military time, but the healthy man in the pink apron cooking with his mother would have no such luck. “I despise it, too.”
“It’s our duty,” Ryeowook said, placing another sheet of cookies in the oven.
Kyuhyun frowned and said bitterly, “Until they find out we are in a homosexual relationship and dishonorably discharge us or label us mentally handicapped.”
Ryeowook shook his head at Kyuhyun. “They are not going to find out. Stop worrying over something that hasn’t happened yet. We will survive it just fine.”
“Yeah, stop worrying,” Ahra said, walking up beside her younger brother and ruffling his hair. “I can always take you two with me the next time I go bear hunting at Yellow Stone. You two can get conveniently get lost.”
Kyuhyun pondered her words. “That’s actually tempting.”
“Don’t put ideas in his head,” Ryeowook told Ahra as he dished out freshly baked cookies onto a plate.
“We could become like nomads. We could explore all of North America, and even South America. I have always wanted to see the Aztec ruins,” Kyuhyun said with increasing enthusiasm.
Ryeowook shook his head frantically, fearful at the thought.
Mrs. Cho laughed and handed a cookie to Ryeowook. “Do you want to taste one?”
Ryeowook continued to shake his head, refusing the cookie. “I am trying not to gain weight this holiday season.”
Ahra walked around the counter and looked at all the cookies her mother and Ryeowook had made and gave Ryeowook a look of wonderment. “How can you resist all these? They look delicious.”
“I have to. I don’t have much time to work out, so I have to watch what I eat.” Ryeowook explained.
“You have amazing will power,” Ahra told him. “I guess if my body was as amazing as yours, I might be able to resist, too.”
“It’s not that good,” Ryeowook said, blushing, while Kyuhyun reached over the counter and grabbed a handful of cookies.
“Oh, it is. I have to say when I saw your performance of ‘Moves like Jagger,’ I was speechless,” Ahra told Ryeowook and watched as her brother stuffed cookies in his mouth.
“I know! Did you see his abs?” Mrs. Cho asked, patting Ryeowook’s stomach, making the young man blush even more.
“Mrs. Cho!” Ryeowook exclaimed red-faced, but loving the attention.
Mrs. Cho then gently touched the top of Ryeowook hair. “Don’t forget the Elvis hair.”
Ryeowook hands flew to his hair. “Elvis hair?”
“It’s a compliment, sweetie,” Mrs. Cho told the young man she considered a second son. “It’s good to see you having so much fun on stage.”
“Sexy Ryeowook,” Ahra said, with both eyes on her brother, who had not said a thing. “You must spend a lot of time in the gym to keep so fit.”
“Yeah, but it’s worth it…to me,” Ryeowook said still blushing as the two women gushed over him.
Ahra’s intelligent eyes were glued to her brother, who was looking down at his hands like they were the most interesting things in the world as he ignored them. “What about you, Kyuhyun? You are strangely quiet?”
Kyuhyun eye’s shot up to stare at his sister, realizing she would not be easily fooled. “I have to go.”
“What?” Ryeowook asked shocked. “You have to go?”
“You said you were staying the night,” Mrs. Cho reminded him, sounding truly disappointed.
Kyuhyun turned around and started walking out of the kitchen. “I just meant outside. I need to go outside for a minute.”
Mrs. Cho followed after her son fussing, “Kyuhyun, it’s snowing outside. You know you get sick at the drop of a hat. Why on Earth do you have to go outside?”
Ahra looked at the stunned man standing beside her in the pink apron. “You owe me 50,000 won.”
“It was…it was…” Ryeowook trailed off speechless.
“It was your sexiness. I tested out a few more possibilities on him, but he is firmly committed to you. The weirdness all stems from his inability to handle your new sexiness,” Ahra told the younger man.
Ryeowook pulled the apron off. “I knew you would find out. He wasn’t ever going to admit it to me.”
“Even my dorky brother has to realize how strange it is not to appreciate the sexiness of his boyfriend,” Ahra said with a sigh. “He’s such a dumbass.”
“I have to go to him,” Ryeowook told her as he headed out of the kitchen. “Make sure the cookies in the oven don’t burn.”
“What?!” Ahra yelped. “I don’t cook!”
***************
Ryeowook found Kyuhyun sitting in the dark on the floor of the back porch of his family home, with his feet resting on the first step. Do to his mother’s insistence, Kyuhyun had on a thick coat, scarf, hat and gloves.
“You want me to turn on the porch light?” Ryeowook asked as he stepped outside.
“The moon gives off enough,” Kyuhyun answered him, knowing any request to be left alone would be ignored by his lover.
Ryeowook left the light off and came and sat down beside Kyuhyun. “It’s cold.”
“I know.”
Ryeowook tugged his knitted hat down farther over his ears. “I know now why you were embarrassed to tell me.”
Kyuhyun closed his eyes. “I wasn’t ever going to tell you.”
“I know. And that’s why I made a bet with Ahra, so she would find out for me,” Ryeowook explained. “She really does know you best.”
“You teamed up with the evil spawn?”
“Yeah, because I just couldn’t see it. I mean, looking back now, it’s clear to me…but that you were turned off - ”
“No, don’t even go there. I’m not sure how that sentence was going to end, but I am not turned off by you…quite the opposite,” Kyuhyun quickly interrupted. “You have ample proof of this.”
Ryeowook rubbed his gloved hands together and asked, confused, “Then what? You don’t like my new image?”
“I hate it!” Kyuhyun confessed. “I know you’re sexy. I just hate everybody else knowing it. That part of you…used to be just mine.”
“I just don’t understand…at the rehearsals, you were fine with it,” Ryeowook pointed out still confused.
“I was never fine with those slu…dancers all over you, but it wasn’t ‘til the first concert, and all screaming fans ogling your body, that it hit me,” Kyuhyun explained to the other man.
“I don’t know what we can do about this…I like my body. I worked hard for this body,” Ryeowook told the other man.
Kyuhyun nodded his head. “This is why I couldn’t say anything. It’s my problem, not yours.”
“It’s our problem,” Ryeowook said, correcting Kyuhyun. “I don’t want you be weird around me…uncomfortable…jealous.”
“Not so much jealous as selfish. I hate sharing you.”
“Yes, this isn’t new.”
“In ways, it was getting better than before, because I knew you were mine.”
Ryeowook reached out and took Kyuhyun’s hand. “You know that, not knew that. I am yours, and you’re mine. We both know this.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just being - ”
“A dumbass,” Ryeowook interrupted to finish Kyuhyun’s sentence.
Kyuhyun couldn’t help but grin at the other man. “This is why I didn’t want you to know. I know how hard you worked to get your body into shape. Nobody knows better than I do about all your insecurities that you had from being fat when you were younger.”
A thought dawned on Ryeowook. “Kyuhyun, do you like my body? You have never said.”
“Sure I do…it’s just that-”
“Just what?”
“I don’t want you to get mad at me,” Kyuhyun told the other man nervously.
“I won’t get mad,” Ryeowook told Kyuhyun, hoping he could keep his word.
“No hitting!”
“I won’t hit you! I promise!”
Kyuhyun looked suspiciously at Ryeowook in the moonlight, doubting the other man’s ability to keep his promise, but decided to tell him anyways. “I would like you no matter what you looked like. I love you for a billion other reasons that have nothing to do with your looks.”
Ryeowook whacked Kyuhyun hard on the arm.
“I knew you were lying! I said no hitting,” Kyuhyun screeched, leaning away from his lover.
Ryeowook stood up. “You are such an idiot. How could I be mad at you for that? That’s like the nicest thing you have ever told me.”
“Really?” Kyuhyun said hopefully as the other man, to his great surprise, sat down on his lap facing him.
“Yeah,” Ryeowook told him softly as he intertwined his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck, so he didn’t fall backwards off the porch steps. “Do you really mean it?”
Kyuhyun smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss and told his lover, “I do mean it. You are my favorite person…the best person I know. I wouldn’t trade you for anybody.”
“You are totally allowed to be weird now.”
“I am?”
“Yes, but I want you to know, when I’m up there dancing…you are all I’m thinking about. The dancers, the fans…they don’t even exist to me. That part of me…still only belongs to you,” Ryeowook assured his lover and leaned in for a deep kiss.
Kyuhyun pulled away from the kiss with a mischievous grin. “I think we should finish this in the dungeon.”
“Your parents and your sister are home.”
Kyuhyun wrapped his arms tightly around Ryeowook and stood up, pulling the other man up with him. “They won’t hear us. I will lock the doors and turn on music.”
“It’s Christmas Eve…we are staying all night. We can wait,” Ryeowook, who was still wrapped in Kyuhyun’s arms, said, trying to reason with his younger lover.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I can’t wait. I want my present now.”
“What makes you think you deserve a present? You keep telling me you didn’t get me anything for Christmas,” Ryeowook said with a pout.
Kyuhyun hugged Ryeowook tighter to him, and leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I might have been lying before.”
“Really? What did you get me?” Ryeowook mumbled, smiling, as he pressed his face into Kyuhyun’s chest.
“I can only give you a hint,” Kyuhyun teased.
“Tell me!”
“The hint is…” Kyuhyun paused, building up the suspense. “Watermelons.”
Ryeowook pushed away from Kyuhyun, all smiles and excitement. “I love watermelons,” he proclaimed.
“I know this,” Kyuhyun told him smugly.
Ryeowook turned and looked at the door leading into the house. “We could pretend like we were fighting…and maybe then, they wouldn’t be suspicious.”
Kyuhyun walked up behind Ryeowook and wrapped his arms around the other man’s stomach and leaned his chin on his shoulder. “I love it when you think deviously.”
“Well, it’s the least I can do…I do want you to have a merry Christmas,” Ryeowook told his lover of over a year, and then sniffed the air. “Do you smell something burning?”
As if Ryeowook’s words set them off, the fire alarms in the Cho house started blaring. Ryeowook broke free of Kyuhyun’s hold. “Oh, God, she killed the cookies!”
Kyuhyun watched as Ryeowook flew into the house. Kyuhyun stayed on the porch, laughing, as he heard his sister declare loudly, “I never said I could cook!”
Kyuhyun walked into the house. “A very merry Christmas,” Kyuhyun said with a huge grin as he watched the ones he loved scramble around the kitchen.
Pairings: KyuWook
Rating: R
Genre: Humor, Romance
Length: One shot
Beta: unicornsinger
A/N: This story takes place in the TFAN/Damaged universe, but I don’t feel that they are required reading for this story.
Summary: Christmas is nearing and something is bothering Kyuhyun, but he isn’t confiding in anybody, much to Ryeowook’s eternal annoyance.
“Why are you rooming with me again?” Eunhyuk asked as Kyuhyun walked into the room and headed toward the bathroom. The younger man had been in a strange mood since the fourth round of Super Shows had started.
Kyuhyun walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. “It’s too suspicious if I always room with him. I’m just being careful.”
Eunhyuk sat on one of the beds and frowned at the bathroom door. “I appreciate that, but you seem-”
“Tired? Exhausted? I am both of those two things after the concert, and I just want to sleep. I sleep without him 90% of the time,” Kyuhyun interrupted, while still in the bathroom.
Eunhyuk fell back on the bed and pointed out, “And that’s why I find it strange that you are so eager to not share a room with him now.”
The door to the bathroom opened, and Kyuhyun stepped out wearing red flannel pajamas, and made his way toward the other bed. “We are constantly going overseas right now for performances; it isn’t like we have to go a month without sex. There are tons of opportunities for sex right now. I’m perfectly sat-”
“Stop!” Eunhyuk yelled as his hands flew to his ears. “I don’t want to know about your sex life! Never! How many times do I have to tell you that? Neeevvvveeeerrrrrrrr!”
“I wasn’t telling you anything!” Kyuhyun told him, jerking the covers back on the bed. “I am going to bed.”
Eunhyuk watched as Kyuhyun got into bed. “Your pajamas look like they belong to an old person.”
“A really warm old person!”
Eunhyuk, who was still hyper from the concert and had no intention of sleeping, just stared at Kyuhyun, perplexed. “I still think you are acting…” Eunhyuk trailed off, not able to find the proper word to describe the temperamental maknae.
“Weird,” Ryeowook said, completing Eunhyuk’s sentence as he walked into the room.
Eunhyuk crossed his arms and contemplated Ryeowook’s word suggestion. “I don’t know...he seems more than weird. He’s always weird.”
“I am not weird,” Kyuhyun said as he looked Ryeowook over from head to toe.
“You are not acting normal, that’s for sure,” Eunhyuk pointed out.
Kyuhyun tugged the covers over his head. “Why don’t you two leave already, and let me sleep.”
Ryeowook furrowed his brows. “You want me to leave?”
“Well, you are obviously dressed to go out prowling,” Kyuhyun pointed out from underneath the covers.
Ryeowook looked down at his clothing. He was wearing black jeans and a simple white T-shirt. “Are you sick?”
“No,” the voice from underneath the covers answered.
Eunhyuk, who had been dressed and ready to go when Kyuhyun had first entered the room, walked to the door. “Well, I am out of here.”
“I think I am going to stay here,” Ryeowook told Eunhyuk, still studying the bundle under the covers intently.
Eunhyuk nodded his head, understanding Ryeowook’s meaning. “I will just room with Sungmin tonight.”
“No!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, sitting up in bed and looking extremely irritated.
“Yes,” Ryeowook snapped back at his lover.
Kyuhyun picked up a pillow from the bed and threw it at Ryeowook. “I am just being smart! I am not in the mood tonight, so why not capitalize on this opportunity to not room together? Why create needless suspicion?”
Ryeowook easily caught the pillow and threw it back at Kyuhyun. “Nobody is suspicious, and what if I am in the mood? Did you ever think about that?”
“Then I suggest you go find one of your slutty dancers, and leave me the fuck alone,” Kyuhyun growled, full of hostility.
“That is my cue to leave,” Eunhyuk yelped as he hurried from the room, shutting the door behind him.
Ryeowook just stared at the younger man, completely dumbfounded by his words.
Kyuhyun’s sense of self-preservation kicked in, and he quickly added, “I probably shouldn’t have said that…I’m just tired.”
“You probably shouldn’t have said that?” Ryeowook repeated in a tone that made the hair on Kyuhyun’s neck stand straight up.
“I shouldn’t have,” Kyuhyun gulped and repeated. He then hid under the covers again. “I know you don’t like slutty dancers.”
“First off! How dare you insult our dancers like that! They are SM employees the same as us! They work hard! They are doing their job! A job they were hired to do! They are nice people, and if you weren’t always such a snob, you would know that!” Ryeowook hissed, with his hands firmly placed on his hips now.
“I don’t like them!”
“You know what you sound like? You sound like a delusional fan! How dare you treat them with such disrespect!”
Kyuhyun flung the covers off again and sat up in bed again. “If you like them so damn much, why don’t you go clubbing with them, and leave me the hell alone?”
Ryeowook bit back his angry response, forcing himself to remain calm, and walked toward the bed and Kyuhyun. There was something obviously wrong with the other man, and one of them had to be sensible…and rarely did Kyuhyun take on that role. “I don’t think you are sick…because if you were sick, you would be whiny and pathetic. You wouldn’t be trying to send me away. You would be demanding that I take care of you. So, I am going to ask again, what is wrong with you?”
Kyuhyun eyed Ryeowook as the other man reached up and felt his forehead for signs of a fever. “I told you I’m not sick. I’m just tired.”
Ryeowook removed his hand from Kyuhyun’s forehead that showed no signs of a fever and sat down on the side of the bed. “You are always tired, but you are not always a jerk, and especially not to me.”
Kyuhyun winced guiltily. “I love you…more than anything,” Kyuhyun assured the other man. “I just don’t…”
“Don’t what?” Ryeowook prompted.
The younger man turned away from Ryeowook, lying down on his side. “I just want to sleep.”
Ryeowook shook his head exasperated at the other man, but bent down to pull his shoes off. “You aren’t going to tell me what is bothering you?”
“No.”
“This is really frustrating, Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook told the other man as he finished taking his shoes off and stood up to remove his jeans.
“I know.”
“When do you plan on telling me?”
“I hope it just goes away on its own,” Kyuhyun said wistfully as the lights in the room went off.
Ryeowook slipped into bed beside Kyuhyun, wearing only his T-shirt. “I’ll let it go tonight, but you know part of being in a relationship is talking to each other. I can’t make things better if you don’t talk to me.”
Kyuhyun scooted over in the bed, making room for Ryeowook and turned onto his back. “It’s embarrassing…I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Embarrassing? Now I’m intrigued,” Ryeowook said curiously as he lay down in bed beside the other man.
“You said you’d let it go for tonight.”
“I did.”
“Let’s go to sleep. We have lots to do when we get back to Korea, but most importantly we have to go check on Yunho.”
“Is that why you’re being so weird? Do you not want to go and see Yunho?” Ryeowook asked, concerned. Honestly, Ryeowook felt the same way; he knew they had to go, but to the see the other man in such a state was heart wrenching.
“No, we have to. We promised both Heechul and Changmin…also, it’s the right thing to do,” Kyuhyun explained, feeling a sudden chill, and he moved closer to Ryeowook.
Ryeowook slid his arm under Kyuhyun’s neck, and turned to face the other man. “Let’s just not think about Yunho ‘til we get to…” Ryeowook paused remembering the name of the new healthcare facility that housed Yunho. “Clear Creek.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun agreed quickly.
“We have to visit your parents before Christmas…no matter what. Your mother says she is going to wait for us to trim the tree,” Ryeowook reminded Kyuhyun.
One of Kyuhyun’s hands found its way to Ryeowook’s toned stomach. “I’m fine with that. I need to oversee the decorations.”
“You do, do you?”
“Yes,” Kyuhyun replied, lowering the hand that had been resting on Ryeowook’s firm abdomen. “I am a world class Christmas tree decorator. They would no doubt screw up without my expertise supervision.”
Ryeowook arched up in the bed as Kyuhyun’s hand encircled his cock. “I thought you weren’t in the mood?”
“I’m not, but you obviously are,” Kyuhyun replied as he began to stroke Ryeowook’s cock with his large hand. “You always sleep better after you come,” Kyuhyun told him, before he found Ryeowook’s lips in the dark for a warm, loving kiss.
***************************
Days later, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun walked down a long hallway toward a room they had never visited before, where a man they both admired was trapped forever in a body that had once moved with fluidity and grace.
Ryeowook paused at the door before entering to share a look with Kyuhyun. “Are you ready for this?”
“No, I’m never ready for this,” Kyuhyun answered as he pushed the door open to Jung Yunho’s room. They entered the room to find Yunho lying in a hospital bed that was covered with colorful blankets of red and green that his mother and sister had probably left for him.
Ryeowook inhaled a deep breath and walked toward the bed acting as nonchalantly as he could. “Hyung, this place is so nice.”
Kyuhyun, who had been carrying a nicely wrapped box, sat the box down on the table beside the bed. “It’s a really nice place. It’s so much better than the hospital,” Kyuhyun agreed as he stood on the opposite side of the bed as Ryeowook.
“It has a very homey feeling to it,” Ryeowook told the brain damaged man, trying to act as if Yunho was listening.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes and settled his nerves and continued to play along. “The security here is tight. I thought Ryeowook and I were going to have to give a DNA sample before they would let us see you.”
“Which is good, because at least we know they are protective of you,” Ryeowook explained as he walked away from the bed toward a large window. “This room is really nice, too. You have this big window to look out of. There is a nice garden out back, but it’s covered with snow right now. Beautiful snow.”
Kyuhyun looked uncomfortably at Yunho whose eyes were open, but he was staring off at the wall. At times the man in the bed would blink, and move his head slightly, but he gave no sign that he heard anything they were saying. Kyuhyun reached down and took Yunho’s right hand and gently squeezed it. “Heechul is doing his public service now, but he is hopeful his time will get shortened, and he will be able to visit you soon.”
“Knowing Hyung, if he wants something badly enough…he will make it happen. Hyung will be visiting you real soon; I have no doubts,” Ryeowook said as he walked to a dresser in the room and picked up one of Yunho’s pictures that had been taken before the gunshot had changed everything.
“Changmin misses you so much. I just talked to him last week…he is in America now. He wanted to continue his studies,” Kyuhyun explained, tightening his hold on Yunho’s hand. “He…he will be alright. It’s just going to take time.”
Ryeowook put the picture back on the dresser and walked to the edge of the room where there was a small Christmas tree. “It will soon be Christmas, and you have such a pretty little tree in your room. I bet your mom and sister put it up.”
“I didn’t get Ryeowook anything for Christmas this year,” Kyuhyun told the obtunded Yunho.
Ryeowook walked away from the Christmas tree and toward Yunho’s bed. “You better have gotten me something from Spain.”
“I might have…if you had gone with me,” Kyuhyun said, letting some bitterness seep into his voice. “No show, no gift.”
Ryeowook shook his head disapprovingly at Kyuhyun. “You know I had to visit my family. I had put it off for too long.”
“Your beloved family you can’t even tell…the truth to.”
“Not all families are like yours, so don’t be a jerk,” Ryeowook said, looking down at Yunho. Ryeowook knew if Yunho had still been himself he would have understood the difficulties with families. “Some families love with conditions…and I’m not ready to give mine up yet.”
“You don’t have to give them up. I would never ask you to do that,” Kyuhyun quickly responded.
Ryeowook looked up from Yunho to stare pointedly at Kyuhyun. “Then stop giving me hell for not telling them about us.”
“I am not giving you hell…you just should have been with me in Spain,” Kyuhyun pouted, wrapping his hands around the side rail of Yunho’s bed. “We should have been together.”
Realization dawned on Ryeowook’s face. “Are you being so weird, because I didn’t go with you to Spain?”
“It might have been an initial reason for some weirdness, but it isn’t the main reason for my weirdness,” Kyuhyun explained, going around in circles, still refusing to explain the reason behind his mood to Ryeowook.
“Your weirdness is really starting to piss - ” Ryeowook paused, looked down at the man in the bed and remembered why they were there. “Hyung, of course I love Kyuhyun…weirdness and all. I’m sorry for fighting with him around you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Kyuhyun agreed. “I spent too much money on him last year, so I don’t have to get him anything else for Christmas for the next fifty years.”
Ryeowook smiled at the mention of his gift from last year and pulled out a gold pocket watch from his coat’s pocket and put it in the line of Yunho’s sight. “Isn’t it beautiful? Can you believe we both got each other watches last year? This one is way more expensive than the one I got for him, though.”
Kyuhyun lifted up his wrist, showing off his watch. “Mine is way more convenient though.”
“But this one is…it’s just perfect. I usually don’t take it out, though, because I would hate to lose it. It’s even inscribed…with Kyuhyun’s strange wit,” Ryeowook said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey,” Kyuhyun said in his defense. “That’s the most important rule of all.”
Ryeowook smiled at Kyuhyun and opened up the pocket watch and read it to Yunho as if he didn’t have it memorized. “The Sixth Rule: Ignore all other rules.”
“I guess I better read mine to you also.” Kyuhyun said smiling brightly at Ryeowook and pulled off his watch and read it to Yunho, “A hundred years and still crazy.”
“And he is still crazy,” Ryeowook couldn’t help but add.
“Like you aren’t?” Kyuhyun retorted as he put his watch back on.
Ryeowook smiled at the younger man and replied, “Only for-” Ryeowook stopped suddenly as the door to Yunho’s room opened, and a short, slightly plump, young nurse entered. Her eyes went wide as she recognized Ryeowook and Kyuhyun.
“Oh…hello, it’s time for his feeding,” the nurse told them.
“Feeding,” Kyuhyun repeated. “You mean through the tube in his stomach?”
“Yes,” the nurse answered as she approached the bed.
“I once had a feeding tube through my nose, and I would rather starve than to have another one put down my nose. I bet it is better to have one in the stomach,” Kyuhyun rattled on, stepping away from the bed.
“Yes, the ones through the stomach are not bad at all. As a nurse, I would also hate to have one put down my nose…it just seems so uncomfortable to have one placed,” the nurse told Kyuhyun.
“It was,” Kyuhyun quickly informed her.
Ryeowook shook his head at Kyuhyun. “How would you know? You were unconscious at the time?”
“Hey, I know.”
“I think we should be going now,” Ryeowook told the nurse as he read her nametag. “Hana, has anybody else been out to visit him?”
The nurse smiled at Ryeowook. “I really can’t say…it’s strictly confidential.”
“Yeah, I understand. I was just curious if Kim Jaejoong was still visiting him,” Ryeowook told the young nurse. “I know he spent a lot of time with him at the hospital. Every time we visited, it seemed like he was always there.”
The nurse blushed slightly and nodded her head. “Yes, he still visits. He was here just this morning.”
“Really? I thought he was in Hawaii.”
“He been back from Hawaii for a while,” the nurse quickly corrected Ryeowook.
“Hana,” Ryeowook said using the nurse’s name again. “Does he ever sleep or eat? I was never close with him, but he just seems to be fading away. He looks so tired and thin.”
“I know…it’s heartbreaking. I will be honest, Yunho’s only been with us a little over a month, but Mr. Kim has been here a lot. He sleeps here…sometimes…they must have been really good friends,” Hana said, fishing for information.
Kyuhyun snorted and headed toward the door. “They used to be good friends, but their friendship ended years ago. It ended when Jae stuck a knife in Yunho’s back.”
Ryeowook cringed and chastised his lover, “Kyuhyun!”
Kyuhyun paused before exiting the door. “It’s the truth; the only thing that ties Kim Jaejoong to Jung Yunho is guilt,” Kyuhyun explained and then walked out the door.
Ryeowook swallowed nervously and looked at the young nurse. “Don’t listen to him…SM and JYJ…lots of issues there. It isn’t guilt that ties Jaejoong to Yunho, though. I am sure of that,” Ryeowook assured the nurse.
The nurse walked to Yunho’s bedside. “It’s okay…I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, I asked you first,” Ryeowook told her as he walked to the bedside table and pointed to the box. “I brought cookies for everybody who helps take care of Yunho. I hope you enjoy them. I made them myself.”
The nurse’s eyes lit up. “That’s very nice of you.”
Ryeowook looked down at Yunho. “It’s the least I could do.”
“Thank you very much,” the nurse told him as she started to raise the head of Yunho’s bed more.
“I better go find him. Have a Merry Christmas,” Ryeowook told her as he headed out of the room. He quickly found Kyuhyun who was leaning up against the wall waiting on him. “I can’t believe you.”
Kyuhyun pushed off the wall and started heading down the hall. “It’s the truth. I don’t know how you can stand to even say his name after what Changmin told us.”
“Sometimes love makes you do crazy things,” Ryeowook said, grabbing a hold of Kyuhyun’s arm.
Kyuhyun stopped and looked at Ryeowook. “Seriously? Love doesn’t make anybody act like that…that wasn’t love…that was vindictive, and calculated hatred. That Yunho ever wasted a moment of his precious life missing or mourning that man makes me physically ill.”
“Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook said softly. “It isn’t that simple.”
“Yes, it is,” Kyuhyun insisted. “Yunho hated himself for what he did to him, and he even wanted Jae to hate him. Jae wasn’t worthy of any of Yunho’s regrets…he trampled their love and spit all over it.”
“Kyuhyun, I am not defending what he did…because I know I couldn’t ever do that to you. I do know all love isn’t the same, and I can try to understand what he must have been feeling. How angry and betrayed he must have felt at the time,” Ryeowook said, trying to reason with the other man.
“There is no excuse for what he did…none.”
Ryeowook frowned and asked softly, “What if one day I come to you, and tell you we are over. I tell you it is too dangerous for us to be together, and my family found out about us and has forbidden our relationship. What if I chose them over you?”
Kyuhyun sneered at the thought. “You would never choose your family over me.”
“That isn’t the point…the point is how would that make you feel?”
Kyuhyun looked down at Ryeowook. “This doesn’t apply to us…because we would never-”
Ryeowook’s hand slid down Kyuhyun’s arm to grab his hand. “You did it to me once.”
“What?” Kyuhyun asked, completely shocked.
“How soon you forget,” Ryeowook told the taller man. “When your dad was in the car accident? What did you do to me?”
Kyuhyun paled. “But…but I was upset…I wasn’t thinking. You didn’t act like Jae, though.”
Ryeowook looked both ways down the hallway to make sure they were still alone and replied honestly. “No, I didn’t act like Jae, but I really didn’t have time to do anything. I was too busy moping in my room, hating my life. I would probably still be there feeling sorry for myself if Heechul had not spurred me into action.”
“I am sorry…I really am,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, looking pitiful as he imagined what the other man must have felt.
“I know you are, but I was in my room feeling sorry for myself when you were scared that your dad was going to die. I should have been there for you…no matter what, but like I said love makes people act stupidly and selfishly. I am grateful for Heechul, because he is the best hyung in the world and made me see past my own misery,” Ryeowook explained.
Kyuhyun nodded his head understanding Ryeowook’s point finally. “And Yunho made me see how wrong I was.”
“Yes, we were lucky to have such wise hyungs watching over us. Did Yunho and Jaejoong have anybody watching over them?” Ryeowook asked as a teenage boy in a wheelchair wheeled out of a room in front of them. Ryeowook let go of Kyuhyun’s hand immediately.
“Probably not,” Kyuhyun admitted as they started walking down the hall again. “We really are lucky.”
“We are,” Ryeowook agreed.
The boy in the wheelchair moved to the middle of the hall, smiled at them and announced in a loud, obnoxious voice, “Aw, hurrying off now that you have done your duty and seen the fallen dancing king.”
“I beg your pardon,” Kyuhyun told the boy, surprised at his insolence.
The boy smirked at them. “Your guilt has been appeased for the time being, so you can go on laughing and living…’til it eases back up on you, and then you will have to visit again. Don’t worry, the guilt will fade away in time, and the fallen dancing king will just be a sad memory that you need not bother revisiting.”
Ryeowook bit his tongue to keep from telling the crippled boy off. “We will be back.”
“We will see. He’s only been here five weeks, and already the visitors have dwindled and dwindled,” the boy pointed out cockily.
Kyuhyun looked down at the boy and reminded himself that he could have easily ended up like him…in a wheelchair if not for the grace of God. “I’m sure what you say is the truth.”
“It is. I have seen it happen time and time again,” the boy confirmed.
“I’m sure you have, but you will also see us - time and time again,” Kyuhyun told the boy with conviction.
“We will see,” the boy mumbled as Kyuhyun and Ryeowook walked past him on their way out.
**************************
“That thing is not staying on top of the tree!” Kyuhyun shouted at his sister. They were in the living room of their parent’s house decorating the Christmas tree. It was Christmas Eve, and it was the first time that Ryeowook and Kyuhyun had time to visit Kyuhyun’s parents.
Ahra glared at her younger brother and informed him. “It’s an angel, and it’s staying on the tree.”
“The hell it is! We are going to put up the gold star we always use.”
“Kyuhyun, watch your mouth,” Mrs. Cho yelled from the kitchen where she was cooking with Ryeowook.
“Mom! Ahra has some doll that is painted up like a prostitute on the top of our tree,” Kyuhyun tattled in his defense.
“It is angel for the billionth time, you idiot!” Ahra screeched at her brother.
“Angels shouldn’t look they have been dipped in make up! It looks like some Asian prostitute that’s trying to pull off the blonde hair and blue-eyed look. Its eyes are freaking me out!”
“Why, little brother? Does it remind you of yourself? I mean you have been blonde, and well, those eyes aren’t exactly natural,” Ahra snapped back at her brother.
Kyuhyun snarled. “Hey, when I dyed my hair blonde I was still under the influence of a lot of pain medication. So, hair choices when I was doped up don’t apply!”
“And your eyes?”
“Don’t hate me because I am beautiful,” Kyuhyun told her smugly. “Maybe if you someday get a personality transplant for the better, I might pay to have yours done for you.”
Ahra inhaled a deep breath and stepped up on the stoop ladder and pulled the angel from the tree and threw it at her brother. “You are the ugliest person I know!”
Kyuhyun easily caught the angel that was thrown at him. “Still not as ugly as this doll!”
“Give me that stupid star,” Ahra told her brother as she reached out her hand for it. “I wish you’d go help mom in the kitchen, and your boyfriend would come out and help me instead.”
“My boyfriend?” Kyuhyun asked annoyed.
Ahra placed the star on the top of the tree. “Yes, your boyfriend. You know he’s shorter than you, but he has a way better personality, not to mention hair.”
Kyuhyun picked up a box of bulbs and started hanging them on the tree. “A boyfriend is something you have when you are a twelve year old girl.”
“What is he then? Your hook-up?” Ahra said, eyeing the star on the top of the tree hatefully.
“Hook-up!” Kyuhyun asked outraged. “A hook-up is what you have after a night of bar hopping!”
“I will have you know I have never hooked up with anybody at a bar!” Ahra told her brother.
“That you remember,” Kyuhyun mouthed back to her.
Mr. Cho, who had just walked into the living room, glanced at his two children cautiously as he sat down in his recliner.
Ahra seethed at her brother and asked, “Okay, so if Ryeowook isn’t your hook-up or your boyfriend, what is he?”
“My lover.”
Mr. Cho got up from his recliner and headed back toward his study. He should have known it wasn’t safe yet to be around the two of them. It had been months since his children had seen each other…they would require at least three more hours of their verbal squabbling before they would be safe to be around.
“Look, you have chased Dad off again!” Ahra told her brother, fighting down her laughter as she stepped off the stoop ladder.
“Dad, I meant significant other. I meant my significant other,” Kyuhyun quickly told his father before he could exit the room.
Mr. Cho paused and smiled at his son. “Yes, your significant other, and we love him very much.”
“We do,” Ahra agreed, grabbing her dad by his arm. “Dad, help me out with the decorations. I am afraid I might kill Kyuhyun if you leave us alone.”
“Like you could,” Kyuhyun said, sneering at his sister. “I need to go inspect what is going on in the kitchen anyway.”
*********
“I really hope the rest of your family isn’t upset,” Ryeowook said as he pulled a cookie sheet from the oven.
Mrs. Cho, who was mixing more cookie dough, told the young man, “Nonsense, we are going to see them all tomorrow.”
“But didn’t you used to get together on Christmas Eve?” Ryeowook asked.
Mrs. Cho nodded her head. “We did, but it’s nicer like this. You and Kyuhyun can be at ease and not have to pretend to just be friends.”
“You shouldn’t worry about us. We pretend all the time; it comes as second nature to us. I wish you didn’t have to change your family plans,” Ryeowook told Kyuhyun’s mother, feeling guilty.
“Don’t listen to him, mother,” Kyuhyun said as he entered the kitchen. “This is my favorite Christmas Eve ever. No drunken aunts trying to hook me up with every sweet girl they know.”
Mrs. Cho smiled at her son. “Kyuhyun, they are only trying to be helpful, and not all of them get drunk.”
Kyuhyun wasn’t listening to his mother. He was too busy staring open-mouthed at Ryeowook and his mother, who were wearing matching pink aprons as they cooked.
“What?” Ryeowook asked as he started rolling out more cookie dough.
“Why do you two have matching pink aprons on? And why am I suddenly reminded of cheesy anime?” Kyuhyun asked, trying to sound disapproving.
“Probably,” Ryeowook began to tell him. “Because you’ve watched your Kyo Kara Maoh DVD’s one too many times.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t own any such thing,” Kyuhyun denied.
Ryeowook shared a look with Mrs. Cho and then asked Kyuhyun, “How much you wanna bet? Let’s go down to your bedroom in the basement, and I will show you where you have them stashed.”
Kyuhyun grinned, knowing he was beaten. “So, you’ve been snooping in the dungeon, have you?”
“Yep,” Ryeowook freely admitted. “Every chance I get. I have to keep my eye on you.”
“Very wise of you,” Mrs. Cho told Ryeowook as they cut out cookie designs in the dough. “I’ve never asked you what you thought of Kyuhyun’s new room. I think it looks really nice…why he insists on calling it a dungeon, I have no idea.”
“Oh, I think it’s nice. The builders did a really nice job remodeling the basement. It’s much better than the room he has in the dorm,” Ryeowook answered her carefully, while he cast Kyuhyun a warning look. Kyuhyun’s new room allowed for a lot of privacy.
Kyuhyun smirked at Ryeowook, knowing what the other man was thinking. “The best thing about it is…” Kyuhyun paused just to make Ryeowook squirm, “that it is Sungmin free.”
“You love Sungmin,” Mrs. Cho told her son. “He’s a delightful young man.”
Kyuhyun nodded his head. “I do, but not in the way that I want to room with him for the rest of my life.”
“You just want your sister to,” Ryeowook reminded him.
“Shhh…be quiet,” Kyuhyun said, hushing his lover. “They might reconnect this holiday season, and if she found out I approved, it would be over before it happened.”
Mrs. Cho smiled at her matchmaking son, and changed the subject. “I hate that Leeteuk and Shindong will be leaving you soon,” Mrs. Cho said sadly. “Sometimes I really despise the mandatory military time.”
Kyuhyun suddenly looked somber; he knew with his history of real medical problems, he could easily get out of any military time, but the healthy man in the pink apron cooking with his mother would have no such luck. “I despise it, too.”
“It’s our duty,” Ryeowook said, placing another sheet of cookies in the oven.
Kyuhyun frowned and said bitterly, “Until they find out we are in a homosexual relationship and dishonorably discharge us or label us mentally handicapped.”
Ryeowook shook his head at Kyuhyun. “They are not going to find out. Stop worrying over something that hasn’t happened yet. We will survive it just fine.”
“Yeah, stop worrying,” Ahra said, walking up beside her younger brother and ruffling his hair. “I can always take you two with me the next time I go bear hunting at Yellow Stone. You two can get conveniently get lost.”
Kyuhyun pondered her words. “That’s actually tempting.”
“Don’t put ideas in his head,” Ryeowook told Ahra as he dished out freshly baked cookies onto a plate.
“We could become like nomads. We could explore all of North America, and even South America. I have always wanted to see the Aztec ruins,” Kyuhyun said with increasing enthusiasm.
Ryeowook shook his head frantically, fearful at the thought.
Mrs. Cho laughed and handed a cookie to Ryeowook. “Do you want to taste one?”
Ryeowook continued to shake his head, refusing the cookie. “I am trying not to gain weight this holiday season.”
Ahra walked around the counter and looked at all the cookies her mother and Ryeowook had made and gave Ryeowook a look of wonderment. “How can you resist all these? They look delicious.”
“I have to. I don’t have much time to work out, so I have to watch what I eat.” Ryeowook explained.
“You have amazing will power,” Ahra told him. “I guess if my body was as amazing as yours, I might be able to resist, too.”
“It’s not that good,” Ryeowook said, blushing, while Kyuhyun reached over the counter and grabbed a handful of cookies.
“Oh, it is. I have to say when I saw your performance of ‘Moves like Jagger,’ I was speechless,” Ahra told Ryeowook and watched as her brother stuffed cookies in his mouth.
“I know! Did you see his abs?” Mrs. Cho asked, patting Ryeowook’s stomach, making the young man blush even more.
“Mrs. Cho!” Ryeowook exclaimed red-faced, but loving the attention.
Mrs. Cho then gently touched the top of Ryeowook hair. “Don’t forget the Elvis hair.”
Ryeowook hands flew to his hair. “Elvis hair?”
“It’s a compliment, sweetie,” Mrs. Cho told the young man she considered a second son. “It’s good to see you having so much fun on stage.”
“Sexy Ryeowook,” Ahra said, with both eyes on her brother, who had not said a thing. “You must spend a lot of time in the gym to keep so fit.”
“Yeah, but it’s worth it…to me,” Ryeowook said still blushing as the two women gushed over him.
Ahra’s intelligent eyes were glued to her brother, who was looking down at his hands like they were the most interesting things in the world as he ignored them. “What about you, Kyuhyun? You are strangely quiet?”
Kyuhyun eye’s shot up to stare at his sister, realizing she would not be easily fooled. “I have to go.”
“What?” Ryeowook asked shocked. “You have to go?”
“You said you were staying the night,” Mrs. Cho reminded him, sounding truly disappointed.
Kyuhyun turned around and started walking out of the kitchen. “I just meant outside. I need to go outside for a minute.”
Mrs. Cho followed after her son fussing, “Kyuhyun, it’s snowing outside. You know you get sick at the drop of a hat. Why on Earth do you have to go outside?”
Ahra looked at the stunned man standing beside her in the pink apron. “You owe me 50,000 won.”
“It was…it was…” Ryeowook trailed off speechless.
“It was your sexiness. I tested out a few more possibilities on him, but he is firmly committed to you. The weirdness all stems from his inability to handle your new sexiness,” Ahra told the younger man.
Ryeowook pulled the apron off. “I knew you would find out. He wasn’t ever going to admit it to me.”
“Even my dorky brother has to realize how strange it is not to appreciate the sexiness of his boyfriend,” Ahra said with a sigh. “He’s such a dumbass.”
“I have to go to him,” Ryeowook told her as he headed out of the kitchen. “Make sure the cookies in the oven don’t burn.”
“What?!” Ahra yelped. “I don’t cook!”
***************
Ryeowook found Kyuhyun sitting in the dark on the floor of the back porch of his family home, with his feet resting on the first step. Do to his mother’s insistence, Kyuhyun had on a thick coat, scarf, hat and gloves.
“You want me to turn on the porch light?” Ryeowook asked as he stepped outside.
“The moon gives off enough,” Kyuhyun answered him, knowing any request to be left alone would be ignored by his lover.
Ryeowook left the light off and came and sat down beside Kyuhyun. “It’s cold.”
“I know.”
Ryeowook tugged his knitted hat down farther over his ears. “I know now why you were embarrassed to tell me.”
Kyuhyun closed his eyes. “I wasn’t ever going to tell you.”
“I know. And that’s why I made a bet with Ahra, so she would find out for me,” Ryeowook explained. “She really does know you best.”
“You teamed up with the evil spawn?”
“Yeah, because I just couldn’t see it. I mean, looking back now, it’s clear to me…but that you were turned off - ”
“No, don’t even go there. I’m not sure how that sentence was going to end, but I am not turned off by you…quite the opposite,” Kyuhyun quickly interrupted. “You have ample proof of this.”
Ryeowook rubbed his gloved hands together and asked, confused, “Then what? You don’t like my new image?”
“I hate it!” Kyuhyun confessed. “I know you’re sexy. I just hate everybody else knowing it. That part of you…used to be just mine.”
“I just don’t understand…at the rehearsals, you were fine with it,” Ryeowook pointed out still confused.
“I was never fine with those slu…dancers all over you, but it wasn’t ‘til the first concert, and all screaming fans ogling your body, that it hit me,” Kyuhyun explained to the other man.
“I don’t know what we can do about this…I like my body. I worked hard for this body,” Ryeowook told the other man.
Kyuhyun nodded his head. “This is why I couldn’t say anything. It’s my problem, not yours.”
“It’s our problem,” Ryeowook said, correcting Kyuhyun. “I don’t want you be weird around me…uncomfortable…jealous.”
“Not so much jealous as selfish. I hate sharing you.”
“Yes, this isn’t new.”
“In ways, it was getting better than before, because I knew you were mine.”
Ryeowook reached out and took Kyuhyun’s hand. “You know that, not knew that. I am yours, and you’re mine. We both know this.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just being - ”
“A dumbass,” Ryeowook interrupted to finish Kyuhyun’s sentence.
Kyuhyun couldn’t help but grin at the other man. “This is why I didn’t want you to know. I know how hard you worked to get your body into shape. Nobody knows better than I do about all your insecurities that you had from being fat when you were younger.”
A thought dawned on Ryeowook. “Kyuhyun, do you like my body? You have never said.”
“Sure I do…it’s just that-”
“Just what?”
“I don’t want you to get mad at me,” Kyuhyun told the other man nervously.
“I won’t get mad,” Ryeowook told Kyuhyun, hoping he could keep his word.
“No hitting!”
“I won’t hit you! I promise!”
Kyuhyun looked suspiciously at Ryeowook in the moonlight, doubting the other man’s ability to keep his promise, but decided to tell him anyways. “I would like you no matter what you looked like. I love you for a billion other reasons that have nothing to do with your looks.”
Ryeowook whacked Kyuhyun hard on the arm.
“I knew you were lying! I said no hitting,” Kyuhyun screeched, leaning away from his lover.
Ryeowook stood up. “You are such an idiot. How could I be mad at you for that? That’s like the nicest thing you have ever told me.”
“Really?” Kyuhyun said hopefully as the other man, to his great surprise, sat down on his lap facing him.
“Yeah,” Ryeowook told him softly as he intertwined his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck, so he didn’t fall backwards off the porch steps. “Do you really mean it?”
Kyuhyun smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss and told his lover, “I do mean it. You are my favorite person…the best person I know. I wouldn’t trade you for anybody.”
“You are totally allowed to be weird now.”
“I am?”
“Yes, but I want you to know, when I’m up there dancing…you are all I’m thinking about. The dancers, the fans…they don’t even exist to me. That part of me…still only belongs to you,” Ryeowook assured his lover and leaned in for a deep kiss.
Kyuhyun pulled away from the kiss with a mischievous grin. “I think we should finish this in the dungeon.”
“Your parents and your sister are home.”
Kyuhyun wrapped his arms tightly around Ryeowook and stood up, pulling the other man up with him. “They won’t hear us. I will lock the doors and turn on music.”
“It’s Christmas Eve…we are staying all night. We can wait,” Ryeowook, who was still wrapped in Kyuhyun’s arms, said, trying to reason with his younger lover.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I can’t wait. I want my present now.”
“What makes you think you deserve a present? You keep telling me you didn’t get me anything for Christmas,” Ryeowook said with a pout.
Kyuhyun hugged Ryeowook tighter to him, and leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I might have been lying before.”
“Really? What did you get me?” Ryeowook mumbled, smiling, as he pressed his face into Kyuhyun’s chest.
“I can only give you a hint,” Kyuhyun teased.
“Tell me!”
“The hint is…” Kyuhyun paused, building up the suspense. “Watermelons.”
Ryeowook pushed away from Kyuhyun, all smiles and excitement. “I love watermelons,” he proclaimed.
“I know this,” Kyuhyun told him smugly.
Ryeowook turned and looked at the door leading into the house. “We could pretend like we were fighting…and maybe then, they wouldn’t be suspicious.”
Kyuhyun walked up behind Ryeowook and wrapped his arms around the other man’s stomach and leaned his chin on his shoulder. “I love it when you think deviously.”
“Well, it’s the least I can do…I do want you to have a merry Christmas,” Ryeowook told his lover of over a year, and then sniffed the air. “Do you smell something burning?”
As if Ryeowook’s words set them off, the fire alarms in the Cho house started blaring. Ryeowook broke free of Kyuhyun’s hold. “Oh, God, she killed the cookies!”
Kyuhyun watched as Ryeowook flew into the house. Kyuhyun stayed on the porch, laughing, as he heard his sister declare loudly, “I never said I could cook!”
Kyuhyun walked into the house. “A very merry Christmas,” Kyuhyun said with a huge grin as he watched the ones he loved scramble around the kitchen.