Of Suits, Spotlights, and First Times [1a/4]
Title: Of Suits, Spotlights, and First Times (Written for Prompt 024: Spotlight)
Pairing(s): Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Heechul/Hankyung, Eunhyuk/Donghae, various Super Junior/girls pairings.
Genre: High School!AU, fluff, romance, minor angst
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: For the sake of realism, there are Super Generation pairings, because not everyone is always gay, you know. However, keep in mind that this IS also EunHae despite their prom dates being of the female persuasion~~ There is also HenBer, but that's just fucking presh so NO EXCUSES THERE. Smut will be also be featured in the last chapter, most likely, so keep an eye out for a rating change.
Notes: Even though there's no prom in Korea (at least, I don't think so - please enlighten me if there is! Google is only ever so helpful), I felt inspired to write a 'KyuMin Goes to Prom' fic because I was antsy to write a first time fic and a coming out fic so BAM. Hope you all enjoy this first part :3
chapters: 1a. 1b.
ch.1a ;; 3623w
Of Suits, Spotlights, and First Times
by haellucinations
Eight Days Before
Kyuhyun pencils a homework assignment into his planner, ignoring the prattle the girl sitting next to him in his Physics class is spewing non-stop, and has been blathering on about for the last thirty minutes. Only halting when their teacher shoots her venomous glances out of the corners of her narrowed eyes, the girl keeps babbling on and on to her attentive friend, and Kyuhyun almost grates the tip of his pencil into lead dust when she flips her hair for the dozenth time and nearly clips him in the face with a curled strand.
"I told Donghae oppa that my dress was lavender, not purple, but he got this disgustingly bright tie to match it!” She wrinkles her nose, but then suddenly nods assuringly to herself. “At least he's hot,” the girl, Jessica, if Kyuhyun is correct, rationalizes to her enraptured seat mate, batting her lashes.
Her friend (Other Girl, Kyuhyun christens her in his mind) purses her lips musingly. “He's nice, too, Jess. And funny. You'll have a good time,” she says softly, and Kyuhyun smiles to himself. Donghae is, after all, one of his best friends, so it is quite warming to hear complimentary statements made about him.
Jessica scoffs. “I'm not going with him because I like him, Hyo,” she laughs lowly, and then brings her voice down to a quiet murmur so that no one within even a five inch radius can hear her. Against his better judgement, Kyuhyun strains to catch any vagrant word, but her quest to be unheard ends up successful, and all Kyuhyun is afforded with is a glance at Other Girl's awed, agape expression before the bell noisily signals lunch.
Still against his better will, Kyuhyun takes his sweet time gathering his books, but the most interesting thing he hears is Other Girl's wistful mutter of, “This prom will be exciting, Jess.”
He glimpses a lip bite from Jessica, holding back a smile; malicious or excited, he can't tell. He thinks he sees her eyes drift in his direction before she wrangles in Other Girl's wrist and struts from the room, Other Girl stumbling gracefully after her.
Prom, he thinks with disdain as he leaves the room after the pair of girls, heading to his locker. If thoughts could leave a stale taste in ones brain, that dry, foul flavor would be begrudgingly omnipresent in his mind.
It's not an institution that Kyuhyun particularly favors, or treasures the creation of. He has never had a desire to clothe himself in a rented, badly fitted suit with a tie painstakingly meant to match the dress of his date; purchase a too-fragrant corsage and fit it to the thin wrist of his girl; hover by the snack table laden with spiked punch and little stacks of hors d'oeuvres in the downtime when he isn't awkwardly swaying to the tune of an over-played ballad meant to stir the hearts of every impressionable girl.
Kyuhyun knows he's not a man of much valor or chivalry, so it's not too surprising that he finds himself not coveting any of those things. In fact, the thought is repulsive, a blip on his mental radar as he even allows himself to ruminate over such daft matters.
He's vaguely startled to discover that he has reached his locker when his hand subconsciously stretches for the dangling metal lock, shaking all thoughts of prom and what Donghae's date can possibly want to go to prom with him for if she didn't even like him (although he inwardly and worriedly plans to tell his friend about it) as he twists in the combination and clicks the compartment open. He's hasty to discard his unneeded books - sloppily and unorganized, of course (Hyukjae would throw a fit if he saw the state of his locker, he thinks deviously) - and fetches the books necessary for his last three classes, bag repacked as he makes his way to lunch.
He's accosted with dozens of pink and orange colored flyers taped steadfastly to walls and tossed onto the linoleum floors as he travels through the corridors, disgruntled to find that they are all advertising prom, reminders to vote for class king and queen, prom dress drives for under privileged girls lacking gowns, and other local fundraisers, all printed onto near-blinding paper meant to assault his poor eyes. Being an underclassman, he isn't even allowed to go to prom unless it's with an older student, so he finds it even more unfair that he's subjected to this kind of torture.
Until he's reminded that he can go to prom if he wants to when he claps eyes on the object of his affections, as well as reminded that if he was to be asked to prom by this one person, he'd buy himself a suit and rent a limo or steal a fucking helicopter (if it is what the person wants) in a pathetic heartbeat.
There's a table placed by the entrance of the cafeteria, covered in a filmy pink table cloth (bought from a party store - Kyuhyun only knew because he was there when it was purchased), two piles of neatly printed sheets, and two glittery ballot boxes, all for Class King and Queen voting purposes. In front of one box is Sooyoung, Kyuhyun's friend (because he doesn't find all girls revolting although Sooyoung, admittedly, rarely acts like a true girl would).
Overlooking the other sparkling box is a boy, older than him in age but seemingly younger in appearance, radiant and teeming with youthful glee, all glimmering and smiling eyes and a wide, happy grin. He's also happens to be all Kyuhyun's.
Teeth digging into his bottom lip to stop a slavish grin from overtaking his features, Kyuhyun sneaks up to the table, his stealth furthered greatly by the hordes of people heading to the cafeteria in one hungry mass. He clutches his messenger bag closer to his slim frame, pointedly ignoring the blatantly curious looks of those who do spare him a glance at the silly tip-toe walk he's doing to remain unnoticed.
One more step.
The boy is chatting happily with Sooyoung when Kyuhyun sidles up to the table, automatically outreaching a hand to play with the edge of a sheaf of paper. “Who would you advise I vote for, Sungmin-ah?”
Sungmin is frightened out of his exuberant conversation with Sooyoung to dart his gaze up at a smirking Kyuhyun. “Kyu!” he exclaims, pleased despite the hand clutching his heart. Kyuhyun snickers at the unmanly image. His sly chuckles stop when Sungmin pouts and his heart melts; pathetic. “You scared me.”
Kyuhyun smiles crookedly, and Sungmin's eyes soften. “It was my intention,” he says lowly, grin spreading fully when Sungmin's pout only deepens and an annoyed crease forms in his forehead.
Sooyoung cuts in before Sungmin can retort. “Your conversations always sound like the opening lines to a bad porno,” she groans, head falling into her hands. “Get a room.”
Sungmin pinkens rapidly, squeaking in humiliation (a sound that Kyuhyun knows he would deny making later), but Kyuhyun only laughs. “Watch many bad pornos lately, Sooyoungie?” he asks wryly, perching his butt on the side of the table, smiling softly when he peels Sungmin's hands away from his blushing face. He likes seeing him embarrassed.
A laugh bubbles out of Sooyoung as she shakes her head. “Subject changer,” she trills out instead, fiddling with the ballot papers in front of her with a smirk.
“I could say the same to you,” he sings back, leaning forward to nudge her forehead with his pointer finger.
A hand meets the back of Kyuhyun's head, tapping it hard enough to make him wince and scrunch his nose. “No physical violence to Sooyoung-ah,” Sungmin reprimands, although with a tender look in his eye in Kyuhyun's direction.
Sooyoung flicks Kyuhyun's fingers away. “Douchebag,” she quips.
“Asshole,” he says affectionately, ruffling her hair and cackling when he narrowly avoids his arm being ripped off.
“If we're disgusting, then you two are even worse,” Sungmin says dryly, humiliation forgotten for the time being, upturning his nose at the quarreling pair.
Kyuhyun grins broadly, jumping down from the table's edge and moving quickly to the other side. He extends two long arms before yanking Sungmin out of his chair to bestow him with an overbearing hug, the older boy warm and wriggling fruitlessly in his hold when Kyuhyun plants a sound kiss on his dark fringe of hair. “I have to disagree with you here. We're a thousand times worse,” he says with an air of mirth, feeling satisfied when Sooyoung bursts into a fit of giggles at Sungmin's bids for freedom.
“You two are unbelieveable,” she mutters laughingly, shaking her head until her attention is called away by a student seeking to place a vote.
Taking her momentary distraction as an out, Kyuhyun yanks Sungmin away from the table, shouting out a vague pronouncement of lunch to Sooyoung before darting into the cafeteria, Sungmin in tow, chortling evilly.
“She's going to kill me!” Sungmin attests breathlessly, lips drooping for the second time that hour.
“She'll blame me, not you,” he says knowingly. He pokes Sungmin on the nose. “And you're exhausting your supply of pouts. I'm already becoming immune to them today,” he chuckles when Sungmin hits him on the arm.
“Lunch. Now,” he demands, dragging Kyuhyun to the lunch line, the mass now thankfully dwindling down.
Kyuhyun is surveying the wide array of lunch choices in silence when Sungmin suddenly speaks up. “Sooyoung-ah keeps getting me nervous,” Sungmin says under his breath when they reach the short queue, glancing upwards to scout out potential eavesdroppers. “I always feel like she knows about... us. And she's only going to get more suspicious when I take no one to prom.”
Kyuhyun feels a pang of unease as he aligns his mouth so that his voice issues directly into the older's ear. He tries not to sound as if his heart is being strangled, because suddenly, it sure feels like it is, at such stark odds from his carefree attitude from only a second before. “If you want to take a girl to prom, Min, I don't mind -”
“Shut up, Kyu,” he hisses. Boldly and probably hoping his thigh is providing enough coverage, Sungmin grapples for Kyuhyun's limp hand and grips it tight. “You know I don't want anyone to take me to prom.”
Kyuhyun licks his lips to speak again, to say Then I'll take you, but then he remembers that he hates prom. But then he also remembers that he wouldn't have to match his tie with Sungmin's dress, or pick out a corsage for him, and, most poignantly, that he loves dancing with Sungmin. Pressing matters are pressing matters, however, and he knows that his personal
vendetta against prom isn't the reason he's so reluctant to ask Sungmin to the annual celebration.
The discussion is closed when Sungmin pulls him closer to the food bar, and they run the risk of a bystander overhearing their conversation.
Kyuhyun, nettled and pensive, brushes a hand along Sungmin's back and hopes Sungmin receives the message that really, this conversation isn't over.
**
Lunch is, as always, a droll affair of survival of the fittest, mainly based off of who can last the longest listening to Ryeowook screeching over the din of the cafeteria and Hyukjae and Donghae flicking peas and spit balls across the table.
Scoffing at the sight of Donghae with bits of carrot in his hair and Hyukjae cackling around the straw of his milk that immediately greets him, Kyuhyun drags Sungmin to the end of the table, farthest from the five year olds but nearest to the shrill-voiced Ryeowook. He just can't win today, can he?
The mishap from earlier is not forgotten, but Kyuhyun bites his lip and makes a defiant mental bid in shoving it aside, resigned on waiting until later to deal with it. He has a cup of hot ramyun settled in front of him and no one, not even Sungmin, is going to distract him from his mouth watering lunch. Not until every little noodle has been devoured and is digesting in his hungry tummy. His eyes rove briefly over to Donghae, who is poking Siwon in the side and saying something about the slice of pizza on his plate, and he makes another note to wait until later to warn Donghae of Jessica's possibly less-than-innocent motives concerning Donghae and prom.
Maybe she's gonna force him to sleep with her, Kyuhyun suddenly thinks in horror. Does Donghae even know what sex is? Kyuhyun scoffs, of course he does... right?
Donghae then throws his head back in a laugh that could have possibly broken his neck at the force and magnitude of his boundless mirth, and his eyes are shining so innocently and impishly that Kyuhyun pities the person that is going to have to give Donghae the sex talk.
Shaking his head clear of all passing thoughts, only focusing on Sungmin's thigh pressed to his covertly under the table and the unopened lid of hot ramyun, Kyuhyun sighs and cracks the cup open, a lackadaisical smile floating across his face. That smell. The smell of Heaven.
"Kyuhyun!" Ignore him. "Is that ramyun?" No, Wookie, it's bucket of fried chicken. "...Can I have some?"
Half of his noodles end up going to Ryeowook, who is apparently unsatisfied with his bento box lunch, but at least Sungmin nudges his own cup of spicy noodles in Kyuhyun's direction with a soft quirk of his lips and a gleaming hope in his eyes. A truce, of sorts. For now.
Ryeowook is slurping happily on Kyuhyun's ramyun when Siwon turns to him with an exasperated expression. "Can I have your bento box, Wookie? My pizza is, kinda -" he gestures forlornly at the pizza covered in strawberry milk and a rogue spitball on his plate, "Deceased."
"Sorry, Wonnie," Donghae says, his lower lip practically wobbling. Hyukjae mumbles a vague apology, and Kyuhyun rolls his eyes.
Ryeowook opens his mouth to agree, but a sly look is soon overtaking his features, an underhanded plan visibly taking root and slowly coming to fruition within that sneaky brain of his. Kyuhyun almost feels bad when Siwon's face drops and turns stony, and Sungmin giggles and shakes his head.
"No."
"Siwon, just -"
"Wookieeee," Siwon whines, hitting Ryeowook weakly on the shoulder. The smirking boy barely flinches. "I'm not telling you who I'm taking to prom."
"YOU GOT A PROM DATE?"
Kyuhyun nearly howls. "Fuck, Sungmin, that was my ear!"
A pout is spared in his direction, but it is fleeting and lacking heart because Sungmin is suddenly leaning over the table and practically shaking Siwon by the lapels of his uniform blazer. "Tell me, Choi Siwon. I'm your right hand man! How could you keep this from me?"
"Yeah, hyung!" Ryeowook agrees in a sharp yell; Kyuhyun's ear bleeds some more. "I told you when I asked Sunny to prom!"
"Yeah, against my will. I didn't want to hear about it," he insists, batting Sungmin away with misplaced slaps. "You'll see when you get there."
Kyuhyun smirks as he steals a bite of Ryeowook's abandoned bento box, suppressing a knowing chuckle.
"Cho Kyuhyun!"
Fuck.
"You know! Tell me!" Ryeowook begs, thrashing his arms and nearly slapping Siwon in the process, and Sungmin joins in with just as much fervor, if not even more than the desperately wailing Ryeowook.
"Get off of me!" he combats weakly, failing in his attempt to push Sungmin away. "Donghae and Hyukjae know too!"
A bento box and ruined pizza are pushed in his direction as a half-hearted attempt at a trade-off for information; Kyuhyun scoffs. Sungmin trails a wandering hand up Kyuhyun's thigh, stopping at a jutting hipbone and curling warm fingers around it through the fabric of his shirt; Kyuhyun falters. Ryeowook and Sungmin attack him with a barrage of pokes, whines, and, god forbid, simpering pouts and pleas.
"Sooyoung, he's taking Sooyoung, god, leave me alone!"
Kyuhyun and probably everyone in a five mile radius loses their hearing when Ryeowook and Sungmin erupt into soul-ripping shrieks and nearly tackle Siwon.
He lets their giggles and Siwon's fist shaking in his direction drown out any niggling thoughts; he's content, for the moment, with snorting at Siwon's woes and watching Hyukjae catapult his empty carton of milk at Donghae's head.
**
Kyuhyun doesn't expect his distractions to continue all day; he does, after all, have three more wretched classes to suffer through before his day winds into a blissful close.
He hates that his mind is clogged and practically overflowing with bothersome ideas and thoughts he'd much rather not have to deal with at all. However, Advanced Literature is fatally dull and, since his pencil sharpener is sadly cracked in half, he can't afford to break the lead tip of his only pencil out of mind-numbing ennui, so Kyuhyun ruminates and analyzes the facts of this matter.
Sungmin is student body vice president. He's the head of the school's martial arts team and member of the dance team. He tutors, he volunteers at an animal shelter on weekends, bakes with his mother, plays soccer with his younger brother, goes fishing with his dad. The school simply loves him; girls covet him, want to date him, get a chance to be doted on by the school's embodiment of perfection; boys want to be him (or Siwon, although it could be debated that Sungmin's better liked despite Siwon's status as student body president and resident intelligent jock); teachers think he's clever, studious, and
hardworking.
It's common knowledge that Sungmin can have any girl he wants. Kyuhyun knows this, too. These are all cold, hard facts; all things that simply expound on his perfection.
Kyuhyun then takes the time to weigh himself. He's intelligent; a genius, even, and he's not afraid to admit it. He could have taken on the role of school nerd, typically snotty and bookwormish, but he's neither of those things. Admittedly, he does enjoy studying and scoring higher than his classmates (he didn't skip a grade for nothing), but he keeps it separate from his social life. In the social spectrum of high school, he's viewed as a bit of an anomaly; a handsome geek with both heads of student council; a soccer jock; the school's resident gossipmonger and noona magnet; and a gorgeous, leggy first year as his best friends. With Sungmin, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Sooyoung comprising his closest friends, it'd be kind of hard for him to even be considered a target for bullying. So sure, he has these things working in his favor, and he's proud of himself for his academic prowess and surprising adeptness at friend-making, however awkward he knows he can be.
But then he thinks of the negative sides of himself.
He's bratty, overly competitive, acne-scarred, bean-pole skinny - his list trails on and on, probably long enough to reach the ends of the Earth and wind up with the unfurled list back by his feet.
Coupled with those attributes, there's one thing that makes him wonder how he earned another title alongside Awesomest Person Alive, Evil Genius, and Game Kyu.
He's a boy.
Yet he is the proud, sole owner of the title Boyfriend of Student Body Vice President, Nunchuck Wielding, Perfect Son and Friend Lee Sungmin.
His obtainment of said title is the reason Lee Sungmin lacks a girlfriend to dote on; he has a boyfriend who dotes on him just as he equally fawns over Kyuhyun. To the student body, Sungmin is perpetually single, still searching for the right girl to make him happy. To Kyuhyun, Sungmin has already found that person, and he smugly (yet still partially with an inward sense of unworthiness) knows that it's him.
He thinks of all of these things (adding overanalyzation to his list of faults while he's at it) for the rest of the day, teeth toying with his lip as he mulls everything over, probably missing important life lessons hidden beneath the veneer of simple school classes (most likely not) with the musing that consumes his thoughts. Kyuhyun wants Sungmin to be happy, preferably with him; to walk the halls holding Sungmin's hand, only to plant a little kiss on the soft skin of his palm or his cheek or his lips without inhibition. He wants freedom, but he knows that it will be hard to come by with the vexing issue of homosexuality and its taboo nature. Add to that Sungmin's popularity and his own tremulous acceptance the rest of the students granted him at his inclusion in the motley of popular kids, and he knows that they'd be ostracized, teased and jeered at for who they are. Sure, his own friends would probably be kind about it, and Sungmin is graduating this year, but then that would leave him to wilt under the weak protection Sooyoung and Ryeowook, his only two friends remaining, would attempt to provide him. He'd surely die at the hands of cruel students without Sungmin to distract him from any taunts or bullies.
Kyuhyun feels like his head is going to implode into a little more than twisted brains if he keeps this up, torturing himself with the possibility of what could be, so at the end of the day after he packs up his books and slams the door of his locker shut, he has a set plan of action in mind.
He's going to ask Ryeowook for advice.
**
Started: 4/15/12
Finished: 4/15/12
[next]
Pairing(s): Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Heechul/Hankyung, Eunhyuk/Donghae, various Super Junior/girls pairings.
Genre: High School!AU, fluff, romance, minor angst
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: For the sake of realism, there are Super Generation pairings, because not everyone is always gay, you know. However, keep in mind that this IS also EunHae despite their prom dates being of the female persuasion~~ There is also HenBer, but that's just fucking presh so NO EXCUSES THERE. Smut will be also be featured in the last chapter, most likely, so keep an eye out for a rating change.
Notes: Even though there's no prom in Korea (at least, I don't think so - please enlighten me if there is! Google is only ever so helpful), I felt inspired to write a 'KyuMin Goes to Prom' fic because I was antsy to write a first time fic and a coming out fic so BAM. Hope you all enjoy this first part :3
chapters: 1a. 1b.
ch.1a ;; 3623w
Of Suits, Spotlights, and First Times
by haellucinations
Eight Days Before
Kyuhyun pencils a homework assignment into his planner, ignoring the prattle the girl sitting next to him in his Physics class is spewing non-stop, and has been blathering on about for the last thirty minutes. Only halting when their teacher shoots her venomous glances out of the corners of her narrowed eyes, the girl keeps babbling on and on to her attentive friend, and Kyuhyun almost grates the tip of his pencil into lead dust when she flips her hair for the dozenth time and nearly clips him in the face with a curled strand.
"I told Donghae oppa that my dress was lavender, not purple, but he got this disgustingly bright tie to match it!” She wrinkles her nose, but then suddenly nods assuringly to herself. “At least he's hot,” the girl, Jessica, if Kyuhyun is correct, rationalizes to her enraptured seat mate, batting her lashes.
Her friend (Other Girl, Kyuhyun christens her in his mind) purses her lips musingly. “He's nice, too, Jess. And funny. You'll have a good time,” she says softly, and Kyuhyun smiles to himself. Donghae is, after all, one of his best friends, so it is quite warming to hear complimentary statements made about him.
Jessica scoffs. “I'm not going with him because I like him, Hyo,” she laughs lowly, and then brings her voice down to a quiet murmur so that no one within even a five inch radius can hear her. Against his better judgement, Kyuhyun strains to catch any vagrant word, but her quest to be unheard ends up successful, and all Kyuhyun is afforded with is a glance at Other Girl's awed, agape expression before the bell noisily signals lunch.
Still against his better will, Kyuhyun takes his sweet time gathering his books, but the most interesting thing he hears is Other Girl's wistful mutter of, “This prom will be exciting, Jess.”
He glimpses a lip bite from Jessica, holding back a smile; malicious or excited, he can't tell. He thinks he sees her eyes drift in his direction before she wrangles in Other Girl's wrist and struts from the room, Other Girl stumbling gracefully after her.
Prom, he thinks with disdain as he leaves the room after the pair of girls, heading to his locker. If thoughts could leave a stale taste in ones brain, that dry, foul flavor would be begrudgingly omnipresent in his mind.
It's not an institution that Kyuhyun particularly favors, or treasures the creation of. He has never had a desire to clothe himself in a rented, badly fitted suit with a tie painstakingly meant to match the dress of his date; purchase a too-fragrant corsage and fit it to the thin wrist of his girl; hover by the snack table laden with spiked punch and little stacks of hors d'oeuvres in the downtime when he isn't awkwardly swaying to the tune of an over-played ballad meant to stir the hearts of every impressionable girl.
Kyuhyun knows he's not a man of much valor or chivalry, so it's not too surprising that he finds himself not coveting any of those things. In fact, the thought is repulsive, a blip on his mental radar as he even allows himself to ruminate over such daft matters.
He's vaguely startled to discover that he has reached his locker when his hand subconsciously stretches for the dangling metal lock, shaking all thoughts of prom and what Donghae's date can possibly want to go to prom with him for if she didn't even like him (although he inwardly and worriedly plans to tell his friend about it) as he twists in the combination and clicks the compartment open. He's hasty to discard his unneeded books - sloppily and unorganized, of course (Hyukjae would throw a fit if he saw the state of his locker, he thinks deviously) - and fetches the books necessary for his last three classes, bag repacked as he makes his way to lunch.
He's accosted with dozens of pink and orange colored flyers taped steadfastly to walls and tossed onto the linoleum floors as he travels through the corridors, disgruntled to find that they are all advertising prom, reminders to vote for class king and queen, prom dress drives for under privileged girls lacking gowns, and other local fundraisers, all printed onto near-blinding paper meant to assault his poor eyes. Being an underclassman, he isn't even allowed to go to prom unless it's with an older student, so he finds it even more unfair that he's subjected to this kind of torture.
Until he's reminded that he can go to prom if he wants to when he claps eyes on the object of his affections, as well as reminded that if he was to be asked to prom by this one person, he'd buy himself a suit and rent a limo or steal a fucking helicopter (if it is what the person wants) in a pathetic heartbeat.
There's a table placed by the entrance of the cafeteria, covered in a filmy pink table cloth (bought from a party store - Kyuhyun only knew because he was there when it was purchased), two piles of neatly printed sheets, and two glittery ballot boxes, all for Class King and Queen voting purposes. In front of one box is Sooyoung, Kyuhyun's friend (because he doesn't find all girls revolting although Sooyoung, admittedly, rarely acts like a true girl would).
Overlooking the other sparkling box is a boy, older than him in age but seemingly younger in appearance, radiant and teeming with youthful glee, all glimmering and smiling eyes and a wide, happy grin. He's also happens to be all Kyuhyun's.
Teeth digging into his bottom lip to stop a slavish grin from overtaking his features, Kyuhyun sneaks up to the table, his stealth furthered greatly by the hordes of people heading to the cafeteria in one hungry mass. He clutches his messenger bag closer to his slim frame, pointedly ignoring the blatantly curious looks of those who do spare him a glance at the silly tip-toe walk he's doing to remain unnoticed.
One more step.
The boy is chatting happily with Sooyoung when Kyuhyun sidles up to the table, automatically outreaching a hand to play with the edge of a sheaf of paper. “Who would you advise I vote for, Sungmin-ah?”
Sungmin is frightened out of his exuberant conversation with Sooyoung to dart his gaze up at a smirking Kyuhyun. “Kyu!” he exclaims, pleased despite the hand clutching his heart. Kyuhyun snickers at the unmanly image. His sly chuckles stop when Sungmin pouts and his heart melts; pathetic. “You scared me.”
Kyuhyun smiles crookedly, and Sungmin's eyes soften. “It was my intention,” he says lowly, grin spreading fully when Sungmin's pout only deepens and an annoyed crease forms in his forehead.
Sooyoung cuts in before Sungmin can retort. “Your conversations always sound like the opening lines to a bad porno,” she groans, head falling into her hands. “Get a room.”
Sungmin pinkens rapidly, squeaking in humiliation (a sound that Kyuhyun knows he would deny making later), but Kyuhyun only laughs. “Watch many bad pornos lately, Sooyoungie?” he asks wryly, perching his butt on the side of the table, smiling softly when he peels Sungmin's hands away from his blushing face. He likes seeing him embarrassed.
A laugh bubbles out of Sooyoung as she shakes her head. “Subject changer,” she trills out instead, fiddling with the ballot papers in front of her with a smirk.
“I could say the same to you,” he sings back, leaning forward to nudge her forehead with his pointer finger.
A hand meets the back of Kyuhyun's head, tapping it hard enough to make him wince and scrunch his nose. “No physical violence to Sooyoung-ah,” Sungmin reprimands, although with a tender look in his eye in Kyuhyun's direction.
Sooyoung flicks Kyuhyun's fingers away. “Douchebag,” she quips.
“Asshole,” he says affectionately, ruffling her hair and cackling when he narrowly avoids his arm being ripped off.
“If we're disgusting, then you two are even worse,” Sungmin says dryly, humiliation forgotten for the time being, upturning his nose at the quarreling pair.
Kyuhyun grins broadly, jumping down from the table's edge and moving quickly to the other side. He extends two long arms before yanking Sungmin out of his chair to bestow him with an overbearing hug, the older boy warm and wriggling fruitlessly in his hold when Kyuhyun plants a sound kiss on his dark fringe of hair. “I have to disagree with you here. We're a thousand times worse,” he says with an air of mirth, feeling satisfied when Sooyoung bursts into a fit of giggles at Sungmin's bids for freedom.
“You two are unbelieveable,” she mutters laughingly, shaking her head until her attention is called away by a student seeking to place a vote.
Taking her momentary distraction as an out, Kyuhyun yanks Sungmin away from the table, shouting out a vague pronouncement of lunch to Sooyoung before darting into the cafeteria, Sungmin in tow, chortling evilly.
“She's going to kill me!” Sungmin attests breathlessly, lips drooping for the second time that hour.
“She'll blame me, not you,” he says knowingly. He pokes Sungmin on the nose. “And you're exhausting your supply of pouts. I'm already becoming immune to them today,” he chuckles when Sungmin hits him on the arm.
“Lunch. Now,” he demands, dragging Kyuhyun to the lunch line, the mass now thankfully dwindling down.
Kyuhyun is surveying the wide array of lunch choices in silence when Sungmin suddenly speaks up. “Sooyoung-ah keeps getting me nervous,” Sungmin says under his breath when they reach the short queue, glancing upwards to scout out potential eavesdroppers. “I always feel like she knows about... us. And she's only going to get more suspicious when I take no one to prom.”
Kyuhyun feels a pang of unease as he aligns his mouth so that his voice issues directly into the older's ear. He tries not to sound as if his heart is being strangled, because suddenly, it sure feels like it is, at such stark odds from his carefree attitude from only a second before. “If you want to take a girl to prom, Min, I don't mind -”
“Shut up, Kyu,” he hisses. Boldly and probably hoping his thigh is providing enough coverage, Sungmin grapples for Kyuhyun's limp hand and grips it tight. “You know I don't want anyone to take me to prom.”
Kyuhyun licks his lips to speak again, to say Then I'll take you, but then he remembers that he hates prom. But then he also remembers that he wouldn't have to match his tie with Sungmin's dress, or pick out a corsage for him, and, most poignantly, that he loves dancing with Sungmin. Pressing matters are pressing matters, however, and he knows that his personal
vendetta against prom isn't the reason he's so reluctant to ask Sungmin to the annual celebration.
The discussion is closed when Sungmin pulls him closer to the food bar, and they run the risk of a bystander overhearing their conversation.
Kyuhyun, nettled and pensive, brushes a hand along Sungmin's back and hopes Sungmin receives the message that really, this conversation isn't over.
**
Lunch is, as always, a droll affair of survival of the fittest, mainly based off of who can last the longest listening to Ryeowook screeching over the din of the cafeteria and Hyukjae and Donghae flicking peas and spit balls across the table.
Scoffing at the sight of Donghae with bits of carrot in his hair and Hyukjae cackling around the straw of his milk that immediately greets him, Kyuhyun drags Sungmin to the end of the table, farthest from the five year olds but nearest to the shrill-voiced Ryeowook. He just can't win today, can he?
The mishap from earlier is not forgotten, but Kyuhyun bites his lip and makes a defiant mental bid in shoving it aside, resigned on waiting until later to deal with it. He has a cup of hot ramyun settled in front of him and no one, not even Sungmin, is going to distract him from his mouth watering lunch. Not until every little noodle has been devoured and is digesting in his hungry tummy. His eyes rove briefly over to Donghae, who is poking Siwon in the side and saying something about the slice of pizza on his plate, and he makes another note to wait until later to warn Donghae of Jessica's possibly less-than-innocent motives concerning Donghae and prom.
Maybe she's gonna force him to sleep with her, Kyuhyun suddenly thinks in horror. Does Donghae even know what sex is? Kyuhyun scoffs, of course he does... right?
Donghae then throws his head back in a laugh that could have possibly broken his neck at the force and magnitude of his boundless mirth, and his eyes are shining so innocently and impishly that Kyuhyun pities the person that is going to have to give Donghae the sex talk.
Shaking his head clear of all passing thoughts, only focusing on Sungmin's thigh pressed to his covertly under the table and the unopened lid of hot ramyun, Kyuhyun sighs and cracks the cup open, a lackadaisical smile floating across his face. That smell. The smell of Heaven.
"Kyuhyun!" Ignore him. "Is that ramyun?" No, Wookie, it's bucket of fried chicken. "...Can I have some?"
Half of his noodles end up going to Ryeowook, who is apparently unsatisfied with his bento box lunch, but at least Sungmin nudges his own cup of spicy noodles in Kyuhyun's direction with a soft quirk of his lips and a gleaming hope in his eyes. A truce, of sorts. For now.
Ryeowook is slurping happily on Kyuhyun's ramyun when Siwon turns to him with an exasperated expression. "Can I have your bento box, Wookie? My pizza is, kinda -" he gestures forlornly at the pizza covered in strawberry milk and a rogue spitball on his plate, "Deceased."
"Sorry, Wonnie," Donghae says, his lower lip practically wobbling. Hyukjae mumbles a vague apology, and Kyuhyun rolls his eyes.
Ryeowook opens his mouth to agree, but a sly look is soon overtaking his features, an underhanded plan visibly taking root and slowly coming to fruition within that sneaky brain of his. Kyuhyun almost feels bad when Siwon's face drops and turns stony, and Sungmin giggles and shakes his head.
"No."
"Siwon, just -"
"Wookieeee," Siwon whines, hitting Ryeowook weakly on the shoulder. The smirking boy barely flinches. "I'm not telling you who I'm taking to prom."
"YOU GOT A PROM DATE?"
Kyuhyun nearly howls. "Fuck, Sungmin, that was my ear!"
A pout is spared in his direction, but it is fleeting and lacking heart because Sungmin is suddenly leaning over the table and practically shaking Siwon by the lapels of his uniform blazer. "Tell me, Choi Siwon. I'm your right hand man! How could you keep this from me?"
"Yeah, hyung!" Ryeowook agrees in a sharp yell; Kyuhyun's ear bleeds some more. "I told you when I asked Sunny to prom!"
"Yeah, against my will. I didn't want to hear about it," he insists, batting Sungmin away with misplaced slaps. "You'll see when you get there."
Kyuhyun smirks as he steals a bite of Ryeowook's abandoned bento box, suppressing a knowing chuckle.
"Cho Kyuhyun!"
Fuck.
"You know! Tell me!" Ryeowook begs, thrashing his arms and nearly slapping Siwon in the process, and Sungmin joins in with just as much fervor, if not even more than the desperately wailing Ryeowook.
"Get off of me!" he combats weakly, failing in his attempt to push Sungmin away. "Donghae and Hyukjae know too!"
A bento box and ruined pizza are pushed in his direction as a half-hearted attempt at a trade-off for information; Kyuhyun scoffs. Sungmin trails a wandering hand up Kyuhyun's thigh, stopping at a jutting hipbone and curling warm fingers around it through the fabric of his shirt; Kyuhyun falters. Ryeowook and Sungmin attack him with a barrage of pokes, whines, and, god forbid, simpering pouts and pleas.
"Sooyoung, he's taking Sooyoung, god, leave me alone!"
Kyuhyun and probably everyone in a five mile radius loses their hearing when Ryeowook and Sungmin erupt into soul-ripping shrieks and nearly tackle Siwon.
He lets their giggles and Siwon's fist shaking in his direction drown out any niggling thoughts; he's content, for the moment, with snorting at Siwon's woes and watching Hyukjae catapult his empty carton of milk at Donghae's head.
**
Kyuhyun doesn't expect his distractions to continue all day; he does, after all, have three more wretched classes to suffer through before his day winds into a blissful close.
He hates that his mind is clogged and practically overflowing with bothersome ideas and thoughts he'd much rather not have to deal with at all. However, Advanced Literature is fatally dull and, since his pencil sharpener is sadly cracked in half, he can't afford to break the lead tip of his only pencil out of mind-numbing ennui, so Kyuhyun ruminates and analyzes the facts of this matter.
Sungmin is student body vice president. He's the head of the school's martial arts team and member of the dance team. He tutors, he volunteers at an animal shelter on weekends, bakes with his mother, plays soccer with his younger brother, goes fishing with his dad. The school simply loves him; girls covet him, want to date him, get a chance to be doted on by the school's embodiment of perfection; boys want to be him (or Siwon, although it could be debated that Sungmin's better liked despite Siwon's status as student body president and resident intelligent jock); teachers think he's clever, studious, and
hardworking.
It's common knowledge that Sungmin can have any girl he wants. Kyuhyun knows this, too. These are all cold, hard facts; all things that simply expound on his perfection.
Kyuhyun then takes the time to weigh himself. He's intelligent; a genius, even, and he's not afraid to admit it. He could have taken on the role of school nerd, typically snotty and bookwormish, but he's neither of those things. Admittedly, he does enjoy studying and scoring higher than his classmates (he didn't skip a grade for nothing), but he keeps it separate from his social life. In the social spectrum of high school, he's viewed as a bit of an anomaly; a handsome geek with both heads of student council; a soccer jock; the school's resident gossipmonger and noona magnet; and a gorgeous, leggy first year as his best friends. With Sungmin, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Sooyoung comprising his closest friends, it'd be kind of hard for him to even be considered a target for bullying. So sure, he has these things working in his favor, and he's proud of himself for his academic prowess and surprising adeptness at friend-making, however awkward he knows he can be.
But then he thinks of the negative sides of himself.
He's bratty, overly competitive, acne-scarred, bean-pole skinny - his list trails on and on, probably long enough to reach the ends of the Earth and wind up with the unfurled list back by his feet.
Coupled with those attributes, there's one thing that makes him wonder how he earned another title alongside Awesomest Person Alive, Evil Genius, and Game Kyu.
He's a boy.
Yet he is the proud, sole owner of the title Boyfriend of Student Body Vice President, Nunchuck Wielding, Perfect Son and Friend Lee Sungmin.
His obtainment of said title is the reason Lee Sungmin lacks a girlfriend to dote on; he has a boyfriend who dotes on him just as he equally fawns over Kyuhyun. To the student body, Sungmin is perpetually single, still searching for the right girl to make him happy. To Kyuhyun, Sungmin has already found that person, and he smugly (yet still partially with an inward sense of unworthiness) knows that it's him.
He thinks of all of these things (adding overanalyzation to his list of faults while he's at it) for the rest of the day, teeth toying with his lip as he mulls everything over, probably missing important life lessons hidden beneath the veneer of simple school classes (most likely not) with the musing that consumes his thoughts. Kyuhyun wants Sungmin to be happy, preferably with him; to walk the halls holding Sungmin's hand, only to plant a little kiss on the soft skin of his palm or his cheek or his lips without inhibition. He wants freedom, but he knows that it will be hard to come by with the vexing issue of homosexuality and its taboo nature. Add to that Sungmin's popularity and his own tremulous acceptance the rest of the students granted him at his inclusion in the motley of popular kids, and he knows that they'd be ostracized, teased and jeered at for who they are. Sure, his own friends would probably be kind about it, and Sungmin is graduating this year, but then that would leave him to wilt under the weak protection Sooyoung and Ryeowook, his only two friends remaining, would attempt to provide him. He'd surely die at the hands of cruel students without Sungmin to distract him from any taunts or bullies.
Kyuhyun feels like his head is going to implode into a little more than twisted brains if he keeps this up, torturing himself with the possibility of what could be, so at the end of the day after he packs up his books and slams the door of his locker shut, he has a set plan of action in mind.
He's going to ask Ryeowook for advice.
**
Started: 4/15/12
Finished: 4/15/12
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