The Perfect Solution to a Perfect Equation
Title: The Perfect Solution to a Perfect Equation
Pairing: KyuMin
Genre: AU!; Romance, Fluff
Rating:PG-13
Disclaimer: They own themselves and I own only the plot unfortunately.
Beta: paradigm_twist
Summary: Everyone thought that the reason Sungmin has been failing math class was because he didn’t get the subject.
A/N: Plot bunnies stopped by a while and left without telling me how should I do this fic any justice whatsoever. After all, this is my first ever Kyumin fic and I'm not a huge shipper of them. D: I SWEAR this fic actually started quite well but I have no idea how it ended up as a huge mess. LOL. This is what happens when I try to write romance when I'm actually feeling all angsty. /huge sigh Dedicated to miss paradigm_twist who was well tortured enough because of the romance genre I set for our weekly challenge. /evil laugh But I dug my own grave at the same time. OTL Comments and feedback are definitely loved! ♥
*****
“Lee Sungmin.”
The boy looked up from the doodle he had been scribbling in his notebook, and found his math teacher standing beside his desk, hands on her hip, brows furrowed in worry. Sungmin could sense a lecture aimed right at him and quickly put down his pencil and put his best innocent look on.
A little enraged, the teacher slammed a piece of test paper on Sungmin’s table and the boy noticed a huge ‘F’ scribbled at the top right corner of the paper in vivid red ink.
“Tell me, Sungmin-shii,” the teacher said, voice laced with exasperation. “How did you managed to fail your class test AGAIN?”
He could feel heads turning to watch the commotion. He blinked and shrugged. “I just don’t get math.”
The teacher sighed, having heard the same excuse from this particular student for the past few weeks. “You know it’s not going to look good in your academic record right?”
Sungmin nodded and flashed his teacher his usual radiant smile. “Yes ma'am. I’ll work harder next time.”
The teacher’s mouth pressed into a thin line, and another strained sigh was heard. “Alright. If you say so Sungmin-shii. But please, do look for me if you need any help or have any problems understanding what was taught in class.” She walked away.
Sungmin breathed out in relief.
***
“Seriously. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” said Sungmin’s best friend, Hangeng, during lunch time later that day. They were sitting side by side at a table in the corner of the cafeteria; Hangeng wearing a puzzled expression on his face, staring wide-eyed at his friend.
“BUT YOU’RE A SMART KID!” Hangeng yelled loudly, throwing his hands up in the air in confusion. “How could you possibly fail your class tests THREE times in a month??!!”
Sungmin couldn’t really focus on the food that was in front of him, what with Hangeng's yelling that had succeeded in gaining the attention of almost the entire student body present in the cafeteria. He stopped himself from eating his second bite of his pumpkin pie reluctantly, and gave a flimsy smack on Hangeng’s arm.
“HUSH. I’m trying to eat here. Preferably without people staring our way.” Sungmin grumbled. Hangeng mouthed a silent 'Sorry'.
“Maybe I’m just… not concentrating enough in class…” Sungmin trailed off, eyes wandering over to another table on his left.
“You bet you’re not.” Hangeng poked him. “I’m positive you’ve been getting distracted by all the pink stuff you can find in class.”
Technically, Sungmin wasn’t really lying. A part of it was actually true. Yes, he wasn’t capable of paying attention to anything in class. Yes, he was having trouble concentrating on what his teacher was saying and whatever mathematic explanations that came along with it. He wasn’t really there when he was there, sitting at his usual seat beside the window. But not because he didn’t get math. Nor was it because he disliked math, like how everyone else thought he was. There was someone involved. Someone that goes by the name of Cho Kyuhyun. Who happened to sit right in front of Sungmin in every math class. Who happened to catch hold Sungmin’s attention more than anything else..
Sungmin watched as Kyuhyun ate lunch by himself at the table and felt the urge to just walk over there and introduce himself. He quickly brushed away the thought when he found himself staring at the boy for far too long and realized that Hangeng was staring at him the entire time he was doing so.
A smirk spread across Hangeng’s face as he tousled Sungmin’s hair before excusing himself to head to his next class.
Sungmin gave one last glance at Kyuhyun, who was still fiddling with the huge amount of food on his plate. He must have a big appetite. Sungmin smiled at the thought as he headed over to his next class.
***
Sungmin didn’t understand how he ended up crushing on a guy he didn’t even know. The only thing he could only remember was that during their first math class, which was more than a month ago, everyone was given the freedom to choose their own seats for the rest of the year. When the students heard that, everyone scrambled around to find the best seats for themselves. A lot of students wanted the seats at the back of the class, probably because they wanted to avoid getting called up by the teacher to solve questions. Sungmin ended up sitting behind this guy, who had brown hair that wasn't too long in length and was naturally spiked.
He remembered cursing silently in his heart because the guy in front of him was actually quite tall, with broad shoulders as well. For a boy, Sungmin was quite petite and that was a huge problem for him as he struggled during the first class, stretching and standing up every few minutes or so, trying to catch sight of the notes and examples written by the teacher on the blackboard.
Eventually he gave up, decided that he should just rely on his own hearing to jot down notes. But in the end, he just stared at this guy’s back the entire time, whose name he later found out to be Kyuhyun.
Sungmin had noticed many adorable things about this guy, even though all Sungmin ever did was just gawked at Kyuhyun’s back, probably even boring holes into it from the long periods of staring.
He saw how the morning sun rays reflected his feathery brown hair, giving it a soft glow. He became aware of how soft and downy his hair was when he moved his head, or when it was blown by the gentle breeze that had managed to sneak in from the small opening of the window.
He noticed the atypical energy that echoed from Kyuhyun during math class, always so eager to volunteer himself to solve the questions on the board. Whenever he answered a question correctly, which happened almost all the time, he would have this amicable smile on his face, not too wide, but just enough for his neatly-arranged teeth to be shown and flashed around for all to see. When their teacher asked a question, Kyuhyun would be the first one with his hand raised. And when he was trying to solve a math problem, he had the tendency to tug the side of the rim of his glasses until he found the solution.
Soon enough, Sungmin felt himself being sucked into this astonishing charisma Kyuhyun possessed and he couldn’t take his eyes off this man. So attractive; so full of life. He just seemed so spirited, so excited during math class that Sungmin found himself wanting to be the next thing that makes this guy feels vivacious about.
Occasionally, Kyuhyun would tilt his head back, an action which Sungmin presumed was to give his brain a little air to breathe, but it made Sungmin’s heart raced so fast that he was surprised it didn't jump out of his chest. Whenever Kyuhyun did that, his head would be so close to Sungmin and Sungmin was perturbed by the fact that he could smell the tang of Kyu’s shampoo. He swore the only thing he could do was to keep his eyes focused on Kyuhyun’s crown and hold on to his own breathe, making sure his heart was still in place.
Sungmin didn’t understand nor did he want to know why his heart was beating so erratically for this guy. It didn’t really matter anymore because he was already the reason why Sungmin was always looking forward to attending math classes.
***
Five weeks into the new semester, Sungmin realized he was poisoned by this alluring charm that was Kyuhyun and he was unable to free himself. On top of that, he failed yet another class test.
And this time, the teacher had no choice but to come up with an intervention.
“Sungmin-shii, listen up.” Spoken the teacher in a calm voice. “From now on, every Tuesday and Thursday, you’ll be getting tutored in math.”
Sungmin’s eyes widened in horror as the whole class started whispering among themselves. Some even snickered.
“Are you being serious, ma’am?!”
A nod of the head.
“B-but I don’t need your help, I-I know what my problem is. I’ll work harder. I promise, please-“
The teacher patted his shoulder. “Oh don’t worry. My star pupil will be tutoring you. I’ve already asked him.”
Sungmin’s jaw dropped and felt his heart stopped. “K-KYUHYUN-SHII?”
Another nod.
The whispering got louder and Sungmin felt that it was deafening. Kyuhyun turned around and gave Sungmin his usual glimmering smile. Sungmin had to grip on tightly to the side of his desk to make sure he was still sitting on his chair instead of fainting away at that sight.
Watching the teacher marched over to her desk in the front of the classroom, Sungmin’s jaw was still glued to the floor until Kyuhyun snapped him out of it, by handing him a piece of paper with his dorm’s number and address scrawled on it.
***
Tuesday was here within a blink of an eye. Sungmin was came prepared, with notes and calculator in hand, standing in front of Kyuhyun’s dorm doorstep, feeling jittery and anxious.
Sungmin hesitated. Maybe I should go.
A turn of the door knob, and out came Kyuhyun in a baggy T-shirt and pants, hair messier than usual.
“Hey. You’re early.” Kyuhyun commented, inviting Sungmin in.
“Erm, y-yea. I’m a pretty punctual person.” Sungmin glanced around the room nervously, as Kyuhyun led him into his room.
“I know it’s kind of small. You can just sit on the bed if you want.”
“O-Okay, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t.”
Awkward silence. Sungmin was afraid Kyuhyun might heard the rapid heartbeats hammering loudly in his chest.
“So..” Sungmin felt the need to initiate a conversation. Kyuhyun seemed like a man of only a few words. “You like math huh?”
“… YES.” Kyuhyun replied almost too tersely.
“Don’t you feel it’s a bit too complicated?” Sungmin gave another try.
“Hmm. Not really. It’s very challenging. I do them to kill time. Kind of like a daily exercise for my brain.”
Sungmin attempted to hide the aghast expression he knew was written clearly on his face. He knew he must have failed because he noticed that Kyuhyun's lips were twitching in amusement. “So…” Kyuhun asked, mouth still tilted in amusement. “I take it that you’re not a big fan of math?”
“Oh no.” Sungmin shook his head vigorously. “It’s just… like an alien language to me. All the numbers. Alphabets. You know.”
Kyuhyun listened attentively.
“I once had this dream continuously for a few nights about the numbers and alphabets morphing into this humongous creature and was out to get me, pitching math compasses at me and forcing me to solve math questions non-stop or I would be dumped into math hell-”
Sungmin stopped in mid-sentence when he caught sight of Kyuhyun laughing and felt a tinge of pink slowly creeping across his cheeks instantaneously.
“You’re interesting.” That blinding smile again.
Sungmin had to look down to compose himself.
“Well, enough chit chat.” Kyuhyun said, flipping through his stack of notes. “We need to get started before you fail another class test again or end up getting abandoned into the math hell in your dream.”
Sungmin pouted automatically at that tease and felt his hand unconsciously reached out and hit Kyuhyun on the shoulder. Kyuhyun chuckled heartily and Sungmin was quite taken back at how well this whole thing was turning out to be.
As they went over a few algebra questions, Sungmin slowly found himself loosening up. He was able to converse with Kyuhyun, and not make a big fool out of himself. He concluded at the end of the day, when he was at Kyuhyun’s doorsteps waving goodbye, that today wasn’t so bad after all.
***
Another 2 weeks had come and gone by and by this time, Sungmin was feeling much more better about going over to Kyuhyun’s dorm. He wasn’t as timid as before because he had made friends with Kyuhyun and truthfully he’s very happy with the way things were working out at the moment. They would sometimes eat together during lunch time (with Hangeng complaining to Sungmin that he was starting to feel abandoned) and accompanied each other back to the dormitory several times a week. Sungmin didn’t want to imagine whether they would progress into something more because he just wanted to enjoy the safe distance they were having now.
Kyuhyun welcomed him at the door. “Hey. You’re late. I thought you were a punctual person?”
“I am!” Sungmin said, showing off his best pout. “I needed to run some errands before coming and I forgot the time.”
Kyuhyun laughed.
“So ready for some math lessons from the genius?”
Sungmin’s stomach suddenly rumbled, loud enough for the both of them to hear. Kyuhyun turned back to look at the smaller boy, who had an expression of horror written across his face. Kyuhyun couldn’t help but burst into peals of laughter.
“I’ll that as a cue that you want to eat first?” Kyuhyun asked. Sungmin was too embarrassed to reply. Kyuhyun tugged him at his shoulder.
“Come on, we’ll make dinner together before continuing on with the tutoring session.” Sungmin felt himself being pulled into the kitchen before he could object the suggestion.
Fifteen minutes later, the kitchen was all brimming with faint sounds of water boiling in pots, the repeat thudding on the cutting board and their laughter.
“When you said dinner,” Sungmin poked Kyuhyun in the side with his wooden chopsticks. “I didn’t expect it to be just ramyuns.”
Kyuhyun gave a devilish smile. “Well yeah, I’m a math whiz. NOT a chef. You should be counting your lucky stars that I’m adding extra veges into it. Pump up the nutritional value you know?”
Sungmin wanted to give him a roll of his eyes but he couldn’t help giggling and felt his heart somersaulting inside his chest.
As he was too pre-occupied with trying to prevent his heart from jumping out, he had forgotten that he was still chopping spring onions, and suddenly felt a sharp pain on his index finger and realized that he had accidentally cut himself with the knife.
“OWH!” Sungmin shrieked in pain, holding his finger in a tight grip, hoping to ease the pain but to no avail. Blood just kept flowing out. Kyuhyun was jolted by the scream and came rushing to the other boy’s side and saw tears welling up in his eyes.
“Oh God. Ming! Are you okay?” Sungmin let out a very soft muffle of sobs. Kyu quickly pulled out the first aid kit from his room and took Sungmin’s hand swiftly to treat his injuries.
Sungmin’s arched eyebrows scrunched into an aching frown. Crap I must look like this useless idiot who can only cry when I accidentally cut my damn finger. Sungmin mumbled in his mind. But it hurts.
He didn’t realize they were both sitting so close until he looked up and saw this look of concentration intensified on Kyuhyun’s face as he now gently held up Sungmin’s hand to bandage the wound. Sungmin found himself being drawn into this man even more and he wished, more than anything else in the word, to stay in that position forever. He knew then, that behind that quirky smile and brilliant mind, lived a man, although a little reserved, but was filled with compassion and thoughtfulness. And the love he had for him grew even more.
“There.” Kyuhyun said as he finally let go of Sungmin’s hand.
“Be careful next time will ya?” Kyuhyun ruffled Sungmin’s hair, waves of concern rolling off him. “I won’t always be there to save you you know?”
Sungmin flinched, wondering how long could he hold on to his feelings.
***
A blink of an eye and the day of another major math test was approaching. Sungmin had been going over to Kyuhyun’s dorm even more frequently. He was determined to pass the test this time, with Kyuhyun's help.
That night, they were in Kyuhyun's room, each busy with their own revision. They were both sitting on the floor, and occasionally, Sungmin would ask Kyuhyun for help when he could not figure out the solution. As the night went on, Sungmin’s focus drifted away slightly and he started doodling on his notebook again, a bad habit that he was never able to get rid of.
He peeked over at Kyuhyun who’s busy tapping on his calculator and jotting down solutions on papers. He scribbled down an equation on his notebook, “Kyuhyun + Sungmin =” and wondered how would Kyuhyun answered if he ever saw it.
Sungmin glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. 11pm. He felt it was too quiet and decided to break the silence.
“Hey Kyu. Have you ever experienced love before?” Sungmin found himself asking abruptly.
A puzzled Kyu looked up from the midst complicated calculations on and smiled devilish.
“Why yes. I LOVE math.”
Sungmin gave a fake laugh and rolled his eyes. Seriously Kyu?
"So try imagining a scenario,” Sungmin said, wanting to try his luck at hinting. “What if someone who sits behind you, stares at you the whole time during class? What do you think that would mean?"
Kyuhyun didn’t even bother to look up from his notes this time. "That I'm tall and I'm blocking his view?"
Sungmin felt like strangling this man.
“I think math have gotten the best of you tonight. You must be feeling restless.” Kyuhyun said as he stood up. “I think I’ll make us some coffee. It’s an essential energizer for students like us when burning midnight oil.”
Eyes still on Kyuhyun as he marched out towards the kitchen, Sungmin’s cheeks puffed. Wasn’t that obvious enough?
Sungmin could smell the aroma from the kitchen and saw Kyuhyun coming back with two cups of freshly brewed coffee. Ah well, forget it. he thought. I’ll try again tomorrow.
They both took a sip of coffee before carrying on with their studies.
Sungmin was going to just push the idea of confessing as far as it could go in the back of his head when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He knew without a doubt that it was Kyuhyun.
“What?”
“Do you feel cold? I see you shivering a little.”
Sungmin thought he had never given Kyuhyun enough credit for being observant. “Actually yes. The weather here gets really cold at night and I’m known to have a thinner epidermis so-”
The next thing that happened was something totally unexpected; almost bewildering, even too fast for Sungmin to handle. Kyuhyun clasped Sungmin’s hand and pulled him closer while staring deeply into his eyes, before leaning over and planted a kiss on Sungmin’s trembling lips.
The feeling was so gentle but captivating and both of them could feel hesitation as their lips touched, perhaps taking the time to memorize the feeling.
Both felt heat slowly building up in them. Hands wandering and getting tangled up in each other’s hair. Mesmerized lips pressed together. Breathing a little ragged. Sungmin could feel the warmth of Kyuhyun’s breath brushing the top of his lip and taste the faint flavor of coffee.
As the kiss grew more intense, Sungmin felt that, at that very moment, the rest of the world had vanished and that only the two of them existed.
After what felt like forever, the intensity slowly dwindled and they slowly pulled apart from each other. Sungmin looked up and felt like he was seeing the world in a new light, and saw a future in the sparkling eyes of the man he loved.
Kyuhyun’s kiss had put an end to Sungmin’s shivering. And Sungmin was blushing furiously as he buried himself into Kyuhyun’s embrace.
***
As the night went on, both of them gradually fell into a deep slumber; still on the floor with their backs lolled up against the wall and Sungmin’s head resting on Kyuhyun’s shoulders.
Kyuhyun woke up in the middle of the night and saw the notebook on Sungmin’s lap. The equation that Sungmin had written earlier with both their names was still missing an answer. Kyuhyun’s gaze fell upon Sungmin, who was sleeping soundly beside him and smiled; He picked up a pen and drew a little heart after the equal sign, finally perfecting the simple equation.
*****************************
A/N 2: 3681 words, good gawd, a first for me. If you managed to read everything, I'm giving you virtual cookies. ILY SO MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING. ♥
PLEASE go here for paradigm_twist 's YeHyuk fic! :) It's seriously one of the best i've read!
Pairing: KyuMin
Genre: AU!; Romance, Fluff
Rating:PG-13
Disclaimer: They own themselves and I own only the plot unfortunately.
Beta: paradigm_twist
Summary: Everyone thought that the reason Sungmin has been failing math class was because he didn’t get the subject.
A/N: Plot bunnies stopped by a while and left without telling me how should I do this fic any justice whatsoever. After all, this is my first ever Kyumin fic and I'm not a huge shipper of them. D: I SWEAR this fic actually started quite well but I have no idea how it ended up as a huge mess. LOL. This is what happens when I try to write romance when I'm actually feeling all angsty. /huge sigh Dedicated to miss paradigm_twist who was well tortured enough because of the romance genre I set for our weekly challenge. /evil laugh But I dug my own grave at the same time. OTL Comments and feedback are definitely loved! ♥
*****
“Lee Sungmin.”
The boy looked up from the doodle he had been scribbling in his notebook, and found his math teacher standing beside his desk, hands on her hip, brows furrowed in worry. Sungmin could sense a lecture aimed right at him and quickly put down his pencil and put his best innocent look on.
A little enraged, the teacher slammed a piece of test paper on Sungmin’s table and the boy noticed a huge ‘F’ scribbled at the top right corner of the paper in vivid red ink.
“Tell me, Sungmin-shii,” the teacher said, voice laced with exasperation. “How did you managed to fail your class test AGAIN?”
He could feel heads turning to watch the commotion. He blinked and shrugged. “I just don’t get math.”
The teacher sighed, having heard the same excuse from this particular student for the past few weeks. “You know it’s not going to look good in your academic record right?”
Sungmin nodded and flashed his teacher his usual radiant smile. “Yes ma'am. I’ll work harder next time.”
The teacher’s mouth pressed into a thin line, and another strained sigh was heard. “Alright. If you say so Sungmin-shii. But please, do look for me if you need any help or have any problems understanding what was taught in class.” She walked away.
Sungmin breathed out in relief.
***
“Seriously. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” said Sungmin’s best friend, Hangeng, during lunch time later that day. They were sitting side by side at a table in the corner of the cafeteria; Hangeng wearing a puzzled expression on his face, staring wide-eyed at his friend.
“BUT YOU’RE A SMART KID!” Hangeng yelled loudly, throwing his hands up in the air in confusion. “How could you possibly fail your class tests THREE times in a month??!!”
Sungmin couldn’t really focus on the food that was in front of him, what with Hangeng's yelling that had succeeded in gaining the attention of almost the entire student body present in the cafeteria. He stopped himself from eating his second bite of his pumpkin pie reluctantly, and gave a flimsy smack on Hangeng’s arm.
“HUSH. I’m trying to eat here. Preferably without people staring our way.” Sungmin grumbled. Hangeng mouthed a silent 'Sorry'.
“Maybe I’m just… not concentrating enough in class…” Sungmin trailed off, eyes wandering over to another table on his left.
“You bet you’re not.” Hangeng poked him. “I’m positive you’ve been getting distracted by all the pink stuff you can find in class.”
Technically, Sungmin wasn’t really lying. A part of it was actually true. Yes, he wasn’t capable of paying attention to anything in class. Yes, he was having trouble concentrating on what his teacher was saying and whatever mathematic explanations that came along with it. He wasn’t really there when he was there, sitting at his usual seat beside the window. But not because he didn’t get math. Nor was it because he disliked math, like how everyone else thought he was. There was someone involved. Someone that goes by the name of Cho Kyuhyun. Who happened to sit right in front of Sungmin in every math class. Who happened to catch hold Sungmin’s attention more than anything else..
Sungmin watched as Kyuhyun ate lunch by himself at the table and felt the urge to just walk over there and introduce himself. He quickly brushed away the thought when he found himself staring at the boy for far too long and realized that Hangeng was staring at him the entire time he was doing so.
A smirk spread across Hangeng’s face as he tousled Sungmin’s hair before excusing himself to head to his next class.
Sungmin gave one last glance at Kyuhyun, who was still fiddling with the huge amount of food on his plate. He must have a big appetite. Sungmin smiled at the thought as he headed over to his next class.
***
Sungmin didn’t understand how he ended up crushing on a guy he didn’t even know. The only thing he could only remember was that during their first math class, which was more than a month ago, everyone was given the freedom to choose their own seats for the rest of the year. When the students heard that, everyone scrambled around to find the best seats for themselves. A lot of students wanted the seats at the back of the class, probably because they wanted to avoid getting called up by the teacher to solve questions. Sungmin ended up sitting behind this guy, who had brown hair that wasn't too long in length and was naturally spiked.
He remembered cursing silently in his heart because the guy in front of him was actually quite tall, with broad shoulders as well. For a boy, Sungmin was quite petite and that was a huge problem for him as he struggled during the first class, stretching and standing up every few minutes or so, trying to catch sight of the notes and examples written by the teacher on the blackboard.
Eventually he gave up, decided that he should just rely on his own hearing to jot down notes. But in the end, he just stared at this guy’s back the entire time, whose name he later found out to be Kyuhyun.
Sungmin had noticed many adorable things about this guy, even though all Sungmin ever did was just gawked at Kyuhyun’s back, probably even boring holes into it from the long periods of staring.
He saw how the morning sun rays reflected his feathery brown hair, giving it a soft glow. He became aware of how soft and downy his hair was when he moved his head, or when it was blown by the gentle breeze that had managed to sneak in from the small opening of the window.
He noticed the atypical energy that echoed from Kyuhyun during math class, always so eager to volunteer himself to solve the questions on the board. Whenever he answered a question correctly, which happened almost all the time, he would have this amicable smile on his face, not too wide, but just enough for his neatly-arranged teeth to be shown and flashed around for all to see. When their teacher asked a question, Kyuhyun would be the first one with his hand raised. And when he was trying to solve a math problem, he had the tendency to tug the side of the rim of his glasses until he found the solution.
Soon enough, Sungmin felt himself being sucked into this astonishing charisma Kyuhyun possessed and he couldn’t take his eyes off this man. So attractive; so full of life. He just seemed so spirited, so excited during math class that Sungmin found himself wanting to be the next thing that makes this guy feels vivacious about.
Occasionally, Kyuhyun would tilt his head back, an action which Sungmin presumed was to give his brain a little air to breathe, but it made Sungmin’s heart raced so fast that he was surprised it didn't jump out of his chest. Whenever Kyuhyun did that, his head would be so close to Sungmin and Sungmin was perturbed by the fact that he could smell the tang of Kyu’s shampoo. He swore the only thing he could do was to keep his eyes focused on Kyuhyun’s crown and hold on to his own breathe, making sure his heart was still in place.
Sungmin didn’t understand nor did he want to know why his heart was beating so erratically for this guy. It didn’t really matter anymore because he was already the reason why Sungmin was always looking forward to attending math classes.
***
Five weeks into the new semester, Sungmin realized he was poisoned by this alluring charm that was Kyuhyun and he was unable to free himself. On top of that, he failed yet another class test.
And this time, the teacher had no choice but to come up with an intervention.
“Sungmin-shii, listen up.” Spoken the teacher in a calm voice. “From now on, every Tuesday and Thursday, you’ll be getting tutored in math.”
Sungmin’s eyes widened in horror as the whole class started whispering among themselves. Some even snickered.
“Are you being serious, ma’am?!”
A nod of the head.
“B-but I don’t need your help, I-I know what my problem is. I’ll work harder. I promise, please-“
The teacher patted his shoulder. “Oh don’t worry. My star pupil will be tutoring you. I’ve already asked him.”
Sungmin’s jaw dropped and felt his heart stopped. “K-KYUHYUN-SHII?”
Another nod.
The whispering got louder and Sungmin felt that it was deafening. Kyuhyun turned around and gave Sungmin his usual glimmering smile. Sungmin had to grip on tightly to the side of his desk to make sure he was still sitting on his chair instead of fainting away at that sight.
Watching the teacher marched over to her desk in the front of the classroom, Sungmin’s jaw was still glued to the floor until Kyuhyun snapped him out of it, by handing him a piece of paper with his dorm’s number and address scrawled on it.
***
Tuesday was here within a blink of an eye. Sungmin was came prepared, with notes and calculator in hand, standing in front of Kyuhyun’s dorm doorstep, feeling jittery and anxious.
Sungmin hesitated. Maybe I should go.
A turn of the door knob, and out came Kyuhyun in a baggy T-shirt and pants, hair messier than usual.
“Hey. You’re early.” Kyuhyun commented, inviting Sungmin in.
“Erm, y-yea. I’m a pretty punctual person.” Sungmin glanced around the room nervously, as Kyuhyun led him into his room.
“I know it’s kind of small. You can just sit on the bed if you want.”
“O-Okay, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t.”
Awkward silence. Sungmin was afraid Kyuhyun might heard the rapid heartbeats hammering loudly in his chest.
“So..” Sungmin felt the need to initiate a conversation. Kyuhyun seemed like a man of only a few words. “You like math huh?”
“… YES.” Kyuhyun replied almost too tersely.
“Don’t you feel it’s a bit too complicated?” Sungmin gave another try.
“Hmm. Not really. It’s very challenging. I do them to kill time. Kind of like a daily exercise for my brain.”
Sungmin attempted to hide the aghast expression he knew was written clearly on his face. He knew he must have failed because he noticed that Kyuhyun's lips were twitching in amusement. “So…” Kyuhun asked, mouth still tilted in amusement. “I take it that you’re not a big fan of math?”
“Oh no.” Sungmin shook his head vigorously. “It’s just… like an alien language to me. All the numbers. Alphabets. You know.”
Kyuhyun listened attentively.
“I once had this dream continuously for a few nights about the numbers and alphabets morphing into this humongous creature and was out to get me, pitching math compasses at me and forcing me to solve math questions non-stop or I would be dumped into math hell-”
Sungmin stopped in mid-sentence when he caught sight of Kyuhyun laughing and felt a tinge of pink slowly creeping across his cheeks instantaneously.
“You’re interesting.” That blinding smile again.
Sungmin had to look down to compose himself.
“Well, enough chit chat.” Kyuhyun said, flipping through his stack of notes. “We need to get started before you fail another class test again or end up getting abandoned into the math hell in your dream.”
Sungmin pouted automatically at that tease and felt his hand unconsciously reached out and hit Kyuhyun on the shoulder. Kyuhyun chuckled heartily and Sungmin was quite taken back at how well this whole thing was turning out to be.
As they went over a few algebra questions, Sungmin slowly found himself loosening up. He was able to converse with Kyuhyun, and not make a big fool out of himself. He concluded at the end of the day, when he was at Kyuhyun’s doorsteps waving goodbye, that today wasn’t so bad after all.
***
Another 2 weeks had come and gone by and by this time, Sungmin was feeling much more better about going over to Kyuhyun’s dorm. He wasn’t as timid as before because he had made friends with Kyuhyun and truthfully he’s very happy with the way things were working out at the moment. They would sometimes eat together during lunch time (with Hangeng complaining to Sungmin that he was starting to feel abandoned) and accompanied each other back to the dormitory several times a week. Sungmin didn’t want to imagine whether they would progress into something more because he just wanted to enjoy the safe distance they were having now.
Kyuhyun welcomed him at the door. “Hey. You’re late. I thought you were a punctual person?”
“I am!” Sungmin said, showing off his best pout. “I needed to run some errands before coming and I forgot the time.”
Kyuhyun laughed.
“So ready for some math lessons from the genius?”
Sungmin’s stomach suddenly rumbled, loud enough for the both of them to hear. Kyuhyun turned back to look at the smaller boy, who had an expression of horror written across his face. Kyuhyun couldn’t help but burst into peals of laughter.
“I’ll that as a cue that you want to eat first?” Kyuhyun asked. Sungmin was too embarrassed to reply. Kyuhyun tugged him at his shoulder.
“Come on, we’ll make dinner together before continuing on with the tutoring session.” Sungmin felt himself being pulled into the kitchen before he could object the suggestion.
Fifteen minutes later, the kitchen was all brimming with faint sounds of water boiling in pots, the repeat thudding on the cutting board and their laughter.
“When you said dinner,” Sungmin poked Kyuhyun in the side with his wooden chopsticks. “I didn’t expect it to be just ramyuns.”
Kyuhyun gave a devilish smile. “Well yeah, I’m a math whiz. NOT a chef. You should be counting your lucky stars that I’m adding extra veges into it. Pump up the nutritional value you know?”
Sungmin wanted to give him a roll of his eyes but he couldn’t help giggling and felt his heart somersaulting inside his chest.
As he was too pre-occupied with trying to prevent his heart from jumping out, he had forgotten that he was still chopping spring onions, and suddenly felt a sharp pain on his index finger and realized that he had accidentally cut himself with the knife.
“OWH!” Sungmin shrieked in pain, holding his finger in a tight grip, hoping to ease the pain but to no avail. Blood just kept flowing out. Kyuhyun was jolted by the scream and came rushing to the other boy’s side and saw tears welling up in his eyes.
“Oh God. Ming! Are you okay?” Sungmin let out a very soft muffle of sobs. Kyu quickly pulled out the first aid kit from his room and took Sungmin’s hand swiftly to treat his injuries.
Sungmin’s arched eyebrows scrunched into an aching frown. Crap I must look like this useless idiot who can only cry when I accidentally cut my damn finger. Sungmin mumbled in his mind. But it hurts.
He didn’t realize they were both sitting so close until he looked up and saw this look of concentration intensified on Kyuhyun’s face as he now gently held up Sungmin’s hand to bandage the wound. Sungmin found himself being drawn into this man even more and he wished, more than anything else in the word, to stay in that position forever. He knew then, that behind that quirky smile and brilliant mind, lived a man, although a little reserved, but was filled with compassion and thoughtfulness. And the love he had for him grew even more.
“There.” Kyuhyun said as he finally let go of Sungmin’s hand.
“Be careful next time will ya?” Kyuhyun ruffled Sungmin’s hair, waves of concern rolling off him. “I won’t always be there to save you you know?”
Sungmin flinched, wondering how long could he hold on to his feelings.
***
A blink of an eye and the day of another major math test was approaching. Sungmin had been going over to Kyuhyun’s dorm even more frequently. He was determined to pass the test this time, with Kyuhyun's help.
That night, they were in Kyuhyun's room, each busy with their own revision. They were both sitting on the floor, and occasionally, Sungmin would ask Kyuhyun for help when he could not figure out the solution. As the night went on, Sungmin’s focus drifted away slightly and he started doodling on his notebook again, a bad habit that he was never able to get rid of.
He peeked over at Kyuhyun who’s busy tapping on his calculator and jotting down solutions on papers. He scribbled down an equation on his notebook, “Kyuhyun + Sungmin =” and wondered how would Kyuhyun answered if he ever saw it.
Sungmin glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. 11pm. He felt it was too quiet and decided to break the silence.
“Hey Kyu. Have you ever experienced love before?” Sungmin found himself asking abruptly.
A puzzled Kyu looked up from the midst complicated calculations on and smiled devilish.
“Why yes. I LOVE math.”
Sungmin gave a fake laugh and rolled his eyes. Seriously Kyu?
"So try imagining a scenario,” Sungmin said, wanting to try his luck at hinting. “What if someone who sits behind you, stares at you the whole time during class? What do you think that would mean?"
Kyuhyun didn’t even bother to look up from his notes this time. "That I'm tall and I'm blocking his view?"
Sungmin felt like strangling this man.
“I think math have gotten the best of you tonight. You must be feeling restless.” Kyuhyun said as he stood up. “I think I’ll make us some coffee. It’s an essential energizer for students like us when burning midnight oil.”
Eyes still on Kyuhyun as he marched out towards the kitchen, Sungmin’s cheeks puffed. Wasn’t that obvious enough?
Sungmin could smell the aroma from the kitchen and saw Kyuhyun coming back with two cups of freshly brewed coffee. Ah well, forget it. he thought. I’ll try again tomorrow.
They both took a sip of coffee before carrying on with their studies.
Sungmin was going to just push the idea of confessing as far as it could go in the back of his head when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He knew without a doubt that it was Kyuhyun.
“What?”
“Do you feel cold? I see you shivering a little.”
Sungmin thought he had never given Kyuhyun enough credit for being observant. “Actually yes. The weather here gets really cold at night and I’m known to have a thinner epidermis so-”
The next thing that happened was something totally unexpected; almost bewildering, even too fast for Sungmin to handle. Kyuhyun clasped Sungmin’s hand and pulled him closer while staring deeply into his eyes, before leaning over and planted a kiss on Sungmin’s trembling lips.
The feeling was so gentle but captivating and both of them could feel hesitation as their lips touched, perhaps taking the time to memorize the feeling.
Both felt heat slowly building up in them. Hands wandering and getting tangled up in each other’s hair. Mesmerized lips pressed together. Breathing a little ragged. Sungmin could feel the warmth of Kyuhyun’s breath brushing the top of his lip and taste the faint flavor of coffee.
As the kiss grew more intense, Sungmin felt that, at that very moment, the rest of the world had vanished and that only the two of them existed.
After what felt like forever, the intensity slowly dwindled and they slowly pulled apart from each other. Sungmin looked up and felt like he was seeing the world in a new light, and saw a future in the sparkling eyes of the man he loved.
Kyuhyun’s kiss had put an end to Sungmin’s shivering. And Sungmin was blushing furiously as he buried himself into Kyuhyun’s embrace.
***
As the night went on, both of them gradually fell into a deep slumber; still on the floor with their backs lolled up against the wall and Sungmin’s head resting on Kyuhyun’s shoulders.
Kyuhyun woke up in the middle of the night and saw the notebook on Sungmin’s lap. The equation that Sungmin had written earlier with both their names was still missing an answer. Kyuhyun’s gaze fell upon Sungmin, who was sleeping soundly beside him and smiled; He picked up a pen and drew a little heart after the equal sign, finally perfecting the simple equation.
*****************************
A/N 2: 3681 words, good gawd, a first for me. If you managed to read everything, I'm giving you virtual cookies. ILY SO MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING. ♥
PLEASE go here for paradigm_twist 's YeHyuk fic! :) It's seriously one of the best i've read!