xenophobia, part 2
Title: Xenophobia (Part 2)
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Donghae
Author: Skipturnstep
Rating: R (for language)
Genre: Romance
Words: 3,098
Summary: Sequel to Through Sickness and Health, post-Super Junior. Kyuhyun decides that moving to New York City was the biggest mistake of his life.
“Wow, you actually decided to call at a decent hour.”
Kyuhyun was sprawled across the living room couch, ignoring the feeling of stiff cushions digging into his shoulder blades and instead focusing on the sound of Sungmin’s voice. It was around two-thirty in the morning, meaning it was three-thirty in the afternoon for Sungmin, so he was probably still at work. Kyuhyun didn’t speak right away, instead started calculating in his head how many hours he’d been awake - he could recall getting a two hour nap in on Wednesday.
“One hundred and twenty.”
“...Wait, what?”
“It’s been one hundred and twenty hours since I last slept, which was a nap on Wednesday.” Kyuhyun held his hand above his head, fascinated by the way his fingers moved with the force of gravity.
“That’s impossible,” Sungmin retorted, in that matter-of-fact voice that made Kyuhyun want to smack him. “After a certain amount of time you start experiencing microsleeps. You’ve been asleep since then, but the sensation only lasted about sixty seconds so you didn’t realize it. You were the one who told me this.”
Kyuhyun could hear Donghae’s faint breathing; how his inhales and exhales were in perfect, gentle rhythm, and felt a wave of envy wash over him. Donghae could sleep without any problems in the world; so why couldn’t he?
“I want to come home, Min,” He breathed into the phone. “New York is disgusting.”
“Have you told Donghae?”
“I can’t just go up to him and be like Hae, I can’t take this city anymore, I don’t care about your dreams, either we’re going to Korea together or I’ll go without you,” He said, propping himself up on his elbows. “It’s not fair to him.”
“Kyuhyun,” Sungmin started, pausing to think his words over carefully. “Have you ever thought that this whole excursion isn’t fair to you?”
Yes, he thought to himself. Of course he’d thought that; how could he not? Just out of nowhere, Donghae decided to uproot the serene and mellow life they led in Seoul, something that Kyuhyun cherished - serenity wasn’t something you often had as a member of one of the most popular idol groups in all of South Korea. Of course he knew this wasn’t fair to himself.
“You really should get some sleep,” Sungmin offered. “What time is it there?”
“Two-thirty in the morning.”
“Jesus Christ,” Sungmin breathed. “Listen. Go take some sleeping pills - at the very least, some Tylenol PM or something - and do yourself a favor and tell Donghae you’re miserable. He’ll understand, believe me.”
Oh, yeah, Kyuhyun thought, the sarcasm in his thoughts surprising even himself. He’ll totally understand.
________
Kyuhyun got the call for the job on a Monday.
The call woke him up, actually; he had finally been able to obtain sleep at night by taking three Tylenol PM’s, drinking two glasses of warm milk with honey and curling in a ball on the couch with Elisa in his arms and a thick comforter over them. Surprisingly, Donghae never asked why he never slept in bed, and Kyuhyun just never bothered to bring it up.
He was only semi-conscious when the woman on the other line started saying words like interview and training, so his brain barely had time to register what was even happening before he agreed to everything she said. By the time he had fully woken up, the call had ended and he had agreed to an interview at the M&M store the following morning.
At best, the interview was boring and at worst, it was unnecessary - apparently, just by submitting an application, he was guaranteed a job. Apparently he was supposed to have come back on a different day to be trained, but the boss figured that, since neither of them had anything better to do, she would train him then. He learned that everything in the store is color coordinated - with each item type, all reds, yellows, greens, oranges and blue must go together respectively. He also learned that employees must run up three flights of stairs in the employees-only section of the store just to get to the second floor, you must always have a smile on your face when around customers, and the only time something comes before your job is if someone dies.
________
Immediately after his training, Kyuhyun rushed over to the dance studio where Donghae worked with Giselle - over on Fifth Avenue, of course. He rushed past the high-end boutiques - Chanel, Gucci, and the like - refusing to look inside and be faced with glares of those who considered themselves 'out of his league.'
Kyuhyun got lost about four times once inside the building, not knowing exactly what Studio 6B meant or where to find such a room. All the labels on the doors read Studio 1AC or some sort of combination of number-and-letters, none of which were the one he needed. He resorted to asking a janitor where 6B was, which ended up being on the sixth floor, and felt extremely embarrassed that he hadn’t caught the connection of the studio number corresponding to which floor he was on.
After walking up the six flights of stairs - which, surprisingly, didn’t tire him as much as he expected - he was surprised to see that this floor only had two studios, A and B. The first studio seemed as if it hadn’t been used in months - cobwebs hung from the ceiling and the lights were caked with dust.
Before entering Studio 6B, he peered in the cracked glass window in the door and watched - Donghae and Giselle were alone, a ballad that sounded suspiciously like one he had sang at one point in his life playing in the background - Your Eyes, maybe? - and Giselle gliding gracefully across the dancefloor. Donghae was off in the corner by the radio, his arms crossed and watching her like a hawk eyeing his prey. The look frightened Kyuhyun more than he would have liked to admit; it was almost like a hunger, although Kyuhyun wasn’t sure whether that was just how Donghae analyzed her movements.
When he pushed open the door, neither Giselle nor Donghae noticed his presence right away, so he decided to simply stand awkwardly by the door and wait until someone discovered him.
“Kyu!” Donghae suddenly cried as the song was ending, making his way over. “What are you doing here?”
Kyuhyun shifted awkwardly as Donghae reached out for him, unsure of what to do - he wasn’t sure if Giselle was aware that her choreographer that he had a boyfriend, let alone in any relationship.
“Um,” Kyuhyun smiled sheepishly at Donghae. “I got the job at the M&M store.”
Donghae’s jaw dropped as he pulled Kyuhyun into a hug. “That’s wonderful!”
“Donghae, are we going to finish this or what? I want to do My All is in You next.”
The sound of her voice made Kyuhyun’s stomach churn in a way that it hadn’t since the last time he had drank more than he could handle. Her voice was thick, sweet, sultry; all the adjectives you’d use to describe someone who could very likely steal your boyfriend just by batting an eyelash. There was no denying that she was pretty - hell, Kyuhyun even thought she was - but it was the kind of pretty that required a lot of makeup to achieve. She had eyeliner smeared on her face like war paint and her lips seemed to be permanently caked with pink cream.
“Um, yeah, Giselle,” Donghae wrapped his arm around Kyuhyun, pulling him close and presenting him to the blonde. “This is Kyuhyun.”
She stared at Kyuhyun for a minute, her lips pursed as she tried to think of who he was - Kyuhyun worried that maybe he had never been mentioned - but then her eyes widened, the realization washing over her with a sigh of ohhhhh! “How nice to finally meet you,” she said as she held out her hand, which Kyuhyun gingerly shook.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun said flatly, shoving his hand back into his pocket. “Same for you.”
Giselle grinned at Donghae and slapped him playfully on the arm. “He’s so cute, Donghae. How come you don’t talk about him more often?”
Kyuhyun raced out of the studio before he could hear any more of it.
________
Kyuhyun could feel tension growing between he and Donghae, and he knew it was because of that stupid girl.
Donghae began to stay at the studio very, very late - the latest being almost midnight - and it terrified Kyuhyun to know why; it almost seemed to be reaching the point that goes beyond employer/employee and maybe even past friends. He would lay in bed and think of the ‘what ifs’ and began to realize that this was the same pain he had inflicted upon Donghae all those years earlier. The only sensible thing he could think to do on the nights when he was alone would be to call Sungmin in tears.
In the following weeks, Kyuhyun became somewhat of a recluse - immediately after work, he would shower, eat a pop tart and then lock himself in the bedroom while playing Starcraft, and on the days he didn’t work, he would do nothing but wander the apartment whilst shoving food down his throat.
He and Donghae barely exchanged words anymore, and Kyuhyun hated the fact that those words never were I love you.
________
Gentleman 觅觅 is available.
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian?
Gamekyu: hi.
Gentleman 觅觅: what’s going on? you never have me get on chat.
Gamekyu: i’m losing my mind here, mi.
Gamekyu: you don’t understand how disgusting this city is.
Gamekyu: and the people here are fucking rude.
Gamekyu: not to mention I think Donghae is cheating on me with that Giselle bitch.
Gentleman 觅觅: :(
Gentleman 觅觅: have you talked to him about this?
Gamekyu: of course. Because I can totally just go up to him and be like “hey, um, are you cheating on me with your employer?"
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian...:|
Gamekyu: what?
Gentleman 觅觅: you need to bring it up to him.
Gamekyu: no I don’t. I’m going to sit here and pretend nothing is going wrong and the problem will inevitably fix itself.
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian, things never work that way. You know this from experience.
Gamekyu:: sigh.
Gamekyu: why are you always right?
Gamekyu: honestly.
Gentleman 觅觅: i know you better than you know yourself.
“Kyuhyun.”
Kyuhyun looked away from the computer screen, up at Donghae, who had a backpack slung over his shoulder and his keys in his hands.
“I’m going to stay with Giselle for a while.”
Kyuhyun blinked a few times. “What do you mean?”
“You’re getting pathetic,” Donghae said in monotone as he read a text message. “You never leave the apartment unless it’s for work. You sleep for like fifteen hours at a time and you never talk to me anymore. We haven’t had sex in almost two months. I can’t be around you anymore.”
“Are you kidding?” Kyuhyun asked weakly, his jaw dropping. “You’re with her until ungodly hours of the night. I have tried to talk to you but all you want to talk about is her. I tried to have sex with you last week but you told me you were too tired.”
Donghae sighed. “Well, it’s hard, Kyuhyun. You haven’t acted interested in anything I say in a while. You’re depressing. You need help...therapy. I don’t know what. But it’s something that I obviously can’t give you.”
“Are you breaking up with me?”
Donghae ran his fingers through his hair, looking at anything that prevented him from looking at Kyuhyun.
“I don’t know,” He breathed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know.”
“You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” Kyuhyun challenged. Elisa hopped up on the couch next to him and stared at Donghae.
“No,” Donghae said, this time looking Kyuhyun directly in the eyes. “I’m not.”
“Have you slept with her?”
Donghae bit his bottom lip and looked at the floor; Kyuhyun let out a noise that was halfway between a sob and a horrified laugh. Donghae’s phone chirped; a little voice that squeaked one new text message! three times in a row. He looked at it and quickly typed a reply.
“I have my phone if you need me.”
Kyuhyun barely heard the door shut; instead, he just stared at his computer screen, the words Zhou Mi had typed blurring before his eyes. He suddenly heard someone sobbing, and was about to try and find out who it was when they were coming from his own mouth.
________
Kyuhyun’s first order of business upon being dumped was to call Sungmin immediately, sobbing indistinguishable noises and clutching Elisa to his chest as he attempted to explain the situation. After twenty minutes of uninterrupted crying, Sungmin cut in and attempted to calm Kyuhyun down, although it only lasted a few brief moments; upon Sungmin asking Donghae’s location, Kyuhyun burst into another round of raucous chokes and sobs. After an hour of this, Sungmin finally got the story out of him, and immediately booked a plane to New York City.
Twenty-four hours later, a very tired and very irritable Sungmin stumbled through the apartment door, Kyuhyun trailing behind him, Sungmin’s luggage in tow. Sungmin carefully examined every inch of the living room, ignoring the pile of broken picture frames in the corner of the room and instead focused on bright orange couch and the fat cat that slept on it.
For dinner, the two headed over to TGI Friday’s, where Kyuhyun explained the situation over some buffalo wings while Sungmin listened and picked at a plate of fries. Sungmin commented that maybe, just maybe, he and Donghae simply weren’t compatible anymore - that big changes such as moving to a different country can change people, you meet new faces and the situations are different, and all this other crap that Kyuhyun decided to tune out and instead commented that Sungmin was beginning to get grey hair. He shut up once Sungmin retorted that at least he hadn’t gained fifteen pounds in three months and wasn’t the one who had just gotten dumped.
________
Kyuhyun was very surprised when, three days later, Zhou Mi and Heechul showed up on his doorstep. Apparently Sungmin had decided that, since Kyuhyun was in a very desperate and pathetic state, he needed as many distractions from Donghae as humanly possible. He just forgot to tell Kyuhyun about the plan.
Upon arrival, the first thing Heechul did was throw down his bags and run over to Elisa, picking her up and twirling her around like a ragdoll. Kyuhyun was surprised how good Heechul looked - he was into his thirties, and yet still hardly looked a day over twenty-five. Zhou Mi was almost in tears, rushing over to Kyuhyun and pulling him into an embrace, apologizing profusely for everything that had happened although it wasn’t even his fault.
After assessing the situation, Heechul decided that he would find Giselle and smack her, then school her on how to properly apply makeup and Sungmin suggested that he could always “bust out some martial arts on Donghae’s stupid ass.” Kyuhyun figured both of these offers were, although amusing, probably not the best idea, so instead they spent the night in his apartment, watching bad American horror movies.
________
Donghae looked out over Central Park from Giselle’s apartment, which, as of late, had become his new residence.
It had seemed like such a good idea at first - he could leave Kyuhyun (who was being nothing but a brat lately) and move in with Giselle. She was cute, funny, talented, and had already proved herself to be quite impressive in the intimacy department-
So why Donghae didn’t feel right, he couldn’t explain.
Maybe it was the unfamiliarity of the situation? He hadn’t been with anyone besides Kyuhyun in over four years - that’s quite a gap for being “off the market.”
He picked up his phone and quickly punched in a number, wondering what time it was in Seoul when it was one in the morning in New York. It rang six times before the person he was calling picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Hyukjae,” Donghae breathed into the phone.
“Whoa, am I hearing this correctly? Is this Lee Donghae I’m speaking to?” There was a tone in Eunhyuk’s voice that was so familiar that instantly cheered him up - maybe it was the smile that practically radiated through the phone. “What’s up, stranger? You haven’t called me in like a month.”
“I need to talk to...someone. And I figured you’d be the only one to listen.”
Eunhyuk exhaled, and Donghae could sense that he was shaking his head. “You fucked up again, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Donghae said, spreading himself out on Giselle’s couch. “Big time.”
“Does it have to do with Kyuhyun?”
Donghae chuckled. “Are you psychic?”
“No, I’m not psychic, Donghae. I just know you’re a fucking idiot.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
“I thought I said I wasn’t going to be your relationship advisor anymore?” Eunhyuk said with a laugh.
“Yeah, well, that was like five years ago. And Giselle Roux wasn’t involved.”
He explained the situation in detail, pointing out every reason why he left Kyuhyun and how he was justified, and only brushing over briefly on how he had slept with Giselle before Kyuhyun started acting funny, but that wasn’t really the point, because the point was that Kyuhyun had changed.
“Well, of course,” Eunhyuk said in a tone that made Donghae feel stupid. “You plucked him from Seoul - the only city he’s ever felt any sort of permanence to - and dragged him halfway around the world with nothing but his boyfriend and a bitchy cat and pretty much forced him to get a dead-end job he probably doesn’t give a flying fuck about, all because you wanted to follow your dreams and be a choreographer for some soon-to-be famous girl that will probably have two hit songs and then she’ll be irrelevant all over again. Personally, I’m surprised he hasn’t lost it completely and that you haven’t come home to the apartment trashed and Kyuhyun sitting on your coffee table naked.”
Donghae thought about it, and knew that he was right - but of course he was; he was always the Voice of Reason when Donghae had done wrong.
“You are really stupid, Donghae. Do you know that?”
Donghae sighed, looking back out the window. “I know.”
He would never admit to anyone but himself and Eunhyuk that he really, truly believed this.
end of Part 2.
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Donghae
Author: Skipturnstep
Rating: R (for language)
Genre: Romance
Words: 3,098
Summary: Sequel to Through Sickness and Health, post-Super Junior. Kyuhyun decides that moving to New York City was the biggest mistake of his life.
“Wow, you actually decided to call at a decent hour.”
Kyuhyun was sprawled across the living room couch, ignoring the feeling of stiff cushions digging into his shoulder blades and instead focusing on the sound of Sungmin’s voice. It was around two-thirty in the morning, meaning it was three-thirty in the afternoon for Sungmin, so he was probably still at work. Kyuhyun didn’t speak right away, instead started calculating in his head how many hours he’d been awake - he could recall getting a two hour nap in on Wednesday.
“One hundred and twenty.”
“...Wait, what?”
“It’s been one hundred and twenty hours since I last slept, which was a nap on Wednesday.” Kyuhyun held his hand above his head, fascinated by the way his fingers moved with the force of gravity.
“That’s impossible,” Sungmin retorted, in that matter-of-fact voice that made Kyuhyun want to smack him. “After a certain amount of time you start experiencing microsleeps. You’ve been asleep since then, but the sensation only lasted about sixty seconds so you didn’t realize it. You were the one who told me this.”
Kyuhyun could hear Donghae’s faint breathing; how his inhales and exhales were in perfect, gentle rhythm, and felt a wave of envy wash over him. Donghae could sleep without any problems in the world; so why couldn’t he?
“I want to come home, Min,” He breathed into the phone. “New York is disgusting.”
“Have you told Donghae?”
“I can’t just go up to him and be like Hae, I can’t take this city anymore, I don’t care about your dreams, either we’re going to Korea together or I’ll go without you,” He said, propping himself up on his elbows. “It’s not fair to him.”
“Kyuhyun,” Sungmin started, pausing to think his words over carefully. “Have you ever thought that this whole excursion isn’t fair to you?”
Yes, he thought to himself. Of course he’d thought that; how could he not? Just out of nowhere, Donghae decided to uproot the serene and mellow life they led in Seoul, something that Kyuhyun cherished - serenity wasn’t something you often had as a member of one of the most popular idol groups in all of South Korea. Of course he knew this wasn’t fair to himself.
“You really should get some sleep,” Sungmin offered. “What time is it there?”
“Two-thirty in the morning.”
“Jesus Christ,” Sungmin breathed. “Listen. Go take some sleeping pills - at the very least, some Tylenol PM or something - and do yourself a favor and tell Donghae you’re miserable. He’ll understand, believe me.”
Oh, yeah, Kyuhyun thought, the sarcasm in his thoughts surprising even himself. He’ll totally understand.
________
Kyuhyun got the call for the job on a Monday.
The call woke him up, actually; he had finally been able to obtain sleep at night by taking three Tylenol PM’s, drinking two glasses of warm milk with honey and curling in a ball on the couch with Elisa in his arms and a thick comforter over them. Surprisingly, Donghae never asked why he never slept in bed, and Kyuhyun just never bothered to bring it up.
He was only semi-conscious when the woman on the other line started saying words like interview and training, so his brain barely had time to register what was even happening before he agreed to everything she said. By the time he had fully woken up, the call had ended and he had agreed to an interview at the M&M store the following morning.
At best, the interview was boring and at worst, it was unnecessary - apparently, just by submitting an application, he was guaranteed a job. Apparently he was supposed to have come back on a different day to be trained, but the boss figured that, since neither of them had anything better to do, she would train him then. He learned that everything in the store is color coordinated - with each item type, all reds, yellows, greens, oranges and blue must go together respectively. He also learned that employees must run up three flights of stairs in the employees-only section of the store just to get to the second floor, you must always have a smile on your face when around customers, and the only time something comes before your job is if someone dies.
________
Immediately after his training, Kyuhyun rushed over to the dance studio where Donghae worked with Giselle - over on Fifth Avenue, of course. He rushed past the high-end boutiques - Chanel, Gucci, and the like - refusing to look inside and be faced with glares of those who considered themselves 'out of his league.'
Kyuhyun got lost about four times once inside the building, not knowing exactly what Studio 6B meant or where to find such a room. All the labels on the doors read Studio 1AC or some sort of combination of number-and-letters, none of which were the one he needed. He resorted to asking a janitor where 6B was, which ended up being on the sixth floor, and felt extremely embarrassed that he hadn’t caught the connection of the studio number corresponding to which floor he was on.
After walking up the six flights of stairs - which, surprisingly, didn’t tire him as much as he expected - he was surprised to see that this floor only had two studios, A and B. The first studio seemed as if it hadn’t been used in months - cobwebs hung from the ceiling and the lights were caked with dust.
Before entering Studio 6B, he peered in the cracked glass window in the door and watched - Donghae and Giselle were alone, a ballad that sounded suspiciously like one he had sang at one point in his life playing in the background - Your Eyes, maybe? - and Giselle gliding gracefully across the dancefloor. Donghae was off in the corner by the radio, his arms crossed and watching her like a hawk eyeing his prey. The look frightened Kyuhyun more than he would have liked to admit; it was almost like a hunger, although Kyuhyun wasn’t sure whether that was just how Donghae analyzed her movements.
When he pushed open the door, neither Giselle nor Donghae noticed his presence right away, so he decided to simply stand awkwardly by the door and wait until someone discovered him.
“Kyu!” Donghae suddenly cried as the song was ending, making his way over. “What are you doing here?”
Kyuhyun shifted awkwardly as Donghae reached out for him, unsure of what to do - he wasn’t sure if Giselle was aware that her choreographer that he had a boyfriend, let alone in any relationship.
“Um,” Kyuhyun smiled sheepishly at Donghae. “I got the job at the M&M store.”
Donghae’s jaw dropped as he pulled Kyuhyun into a hug. “That’s wonderful!”
“Donghae, are we going to finish this or what? I want to do My All is in You next.”
The sound of her voice made Kyuhyun’s stomach churn in a way that it hadn’t since the last time he had drank more than he could handle. Her voice was thick, sweet, sultry; all the adjectives you’d use to describe someone who could very likely steal your boyfriend just by batting an eyelash. There was no denying that she was pretty - hell, Kyuhyun even thought she was - but it was the kind of pretty that required a lot of makeup to achieve. She had eyeliner smeared on her face like war paint and her lips seemed to be permanently caked with pink cream.
“Um, yeah, Giselle,” Donghae wrapped his arm around Kyuhyun, pulling him close and presenting him to the blonde. “This is Kyuhyun.”
She stared at Kyuhyun for a minute, her lips pursed as she tried to think of who he was - Kyuhyun worried that maybe he had never been mentioned - but then her eyes widened, the realization washing over her with a sigh of ohhhhh! “How nice to finally meet you,” she said as she held out her hand, which Kyuhyun gingerly shook.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun said flatly, shoving his hand back into his pocket. “Same for you.”
Giselle grinned at Donghae and slapped him playfully on the arm. “He’s so cute, Donghae. How come you don’t talk about him more often?”
Kyuhyun raced out of the studio before he could hear any more of it.
________
Kyuhyun could feel tension growing between he and Donghae, and he knew it was because of that stupid girl.
Donghae began to stay at the studio very, very late - the latest being almost midnight - and it terrified Kyuhyun to know why; it almost seemed to be reaching the point that goes beyond employer/employee and maybe even past friends. He would lay in bed and think of the ‘what ifs’ and began to realize that this was the same pain he had inflicted upon Donghae all those years earlier. The only sensible thing he could think to do on the nights when he was alone would be to call Sungmin in tears.
In the following weeks, Kyuhyun became somewhat of a recluse - immediately after work, he would shower, eat a pop tart and then lock himself in the bedroom while playing Starcraft, and on the days he didn’t work, he would do nothing but wander the apartment whilst shoving food down his throat.
He and Donghae barely exchanged words anymore, and Kyuhyun hated the fact that those words never were I love you.
________
Gentleman 觅觅 is available.
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian?
Gamekyu: hi.
Gentleman 觅觅: what’s going on? you never have me get on chat.
Gamekyu: i’m losing my mind here, mi.
Gamekyu: you don’t understand how disgusting this city is.
Gamekyu: and the people here are fucking rude.
Gamekyu: not to mention I think Donghae is cheating on me with that Giselle bitch.
Gentleman 觅觅: :(
Gentleman 觅觅: have you talked to him about this?
Gamekyu: of course. Because I can totally just go up to him and be like “hey, um, are you cheating on me with your employer?"
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian...:|
Gamekyu: what?
Gentleman 觅觅: you need to bring it up to him.
Gamekyu: no I don’t. I’m going to sit here and pretend nothing is going wrong and the problem will inevitably fix itself.
Gentleman 觅觅: kuixian, things never work that way. You know this from experience.
Gamekyu:: sigh.
Gamekyu: why are you always right?
Gamekyu: honestly.
Gentleman 觅觅: i know you better than you know yourself.
“Kyuhyun.”
Kyuhyun looked away from the computer screen, up at Donghae, who had a backpack slung over his shoulder and his keys in his hands.
“I’m going to stay with Giselle for a while.”
Kyuhyun blinked a few times. “What do you mean?”
“You’re getting pathetic,” Donghae said in monotone as he read a text message. “You never leave the apartment unless it’s for work. You sleep for like fifteen hours at a time and you never talk to me anymore. We haven’t had sex in almost two months. I can’t be around you anymore.”
“Are you kidding?” Kyuhyun asked weakly, his jaw dropping. “You’re with her until ungodly hours of the night. I have tried to talk to you but all you want to talk about is her. I tried to have sex with you last week but you told me you were too tired.”
Donghae sighed. “Well, it’s hard, Kyuhyun. You haven’t acted interested in anything I say in a while. You’re depressing. You need help...therapy. I don’t know what. But it’s something that I obviously can’t give you.”
“Are you breaking up with me?”
Donghae ran his fingers through his hair, looking at anything that prevented him from looking at Kyuhyun.
“I don’t know,” He breathed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know.”
“You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” Kyuhyun challenged. Elisa hopped up on the couch next to him and stared at Donghae.
“No,” Donghae said, this time looking Kyuhyun directly in the eyes. “I’m not.”
“Have you slept with her?”
Donghae bit his bottom lip and looked at the floor; Kyuhyun let out a noise that was halfway between a sob and a horrified laugh. Donghae’s phone chirped; a little voice that squeaked one new text message! three times in a row. He looked at it and quickly typed a reply.
“I have my phone if you need me.”
Kyuhyun barely heard the door shut; instead, he just stared at his computer screen, the words Zhou Mi had typed blurring before his eyes. He suddenly heard someone sobbing, and was about to try and find out who it was when they were coming from his own mouth.
________
Kyuhyun’s first order of business upon being dumped was to call Sungmin immediately, sobbing indistinguishable noises and clutching Elisa to his chest as he attempted to explain the situation. After twenty minutes of uninterrupted crying, Sungmin cut in and attempted to calm Kyuhyun down, although it only lasted a few brief moments; upon Sungmin asking Donghae’s location, Kyuhyun burst into another round of raucous chokes and sobs. After an hour of this, Sungmin finally got the story out of him, and immediately booked a plane to New York City.
Twenty-four hours later, a very tired and very irritable Sungmin stumbled through the apartment door, Kyuhyun trailing behind him, Sungmin’s luggage in tow. Sungmin carefully examined every inch of the living room, ignoring the pile of broken picture frames in the corner of the room and instead focused on bright orange couch and the fat cat that slept on it.
For dinner, the two headed over to TGI Friday’s, where Kyuhyun explained the situation over some buffalo wings while Sungmin listened and picked at a plate of fries. Sungmin commented that maybe, just maybe, he and Donghae simply weren’t compatible anymore - that big changes such as moving to a different country can change people, you meet new faces and the situations are different, and all this other crap that Kyuhyun decided to tune out and instead commented that Sungmin was beginning to get grey hair. He shut up once Sungmin retorted that at least he hadn’t gained fifteen pounds in three months and wasn’t the one who had just gotten dumped.
________
Kyuhyun was very surprised when, three days later, Zhou Mi and Heechul showed up on his doorstep. Apparently Sungmin had decided that, since Kyuhyun was in a very desperate and pathetic state, he needed as many distractions from Donghae as humanly possible. He just forgot to tell Kyuhyun about the plan.
Upon arrival, the first thing Heechul did was throw down his bags and run over to Elisa, picking her up and twirling her around like a ragdoll. Kyuhyun was surprised how good Heechul looked - he was into his thirties, and yet still hardly looked a day over twenty-five. Zhou Mi was almost in tears, rushing over to Kyuhyun and pulling him into an embrace, apologizing profusely for everything that had happened although it wasn’t even his fault.
After assessing the situation, Heechul decided that he would find Giselle and smack her, then school her on how to properly apply makeup and Sungmin suggested that he could always “bust out some martial arts on Donghae’s stupid ass.” Kyuhyun figured both of these offers were, although amusing, probably not the best idea, so instead they spent the night in his apartment, watching bad American horror movies.
________
Donghae looked out over Central Park from Giselle’s apartment, which, as of late, had become his new residence.
It had seemed like such a good idea at first - he could leave Kyuhyun (who was being nothing but a brat lately) and move in with Giselle. She was cute, funny, talented, and had already proved herself to be quite impressive in the intimacy department-
So why Donghae didn’t feel right, he couldn’t explain.
Maybe it was the unfamiliarity of the situation? He hadn’t been with anyone besides Kyuhyun in over four years - that’s quite a gap for being “off the market.”
He picked up his phone and quickly punched in a number, wondering what time it was in Seoul when it was one in the morning in New York. It rang six times before the person he was calling picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Hyukjae,” Donghae breathed into the phone.
“Whoa, am I hearing this correctly? Is this Lee Donghae I’m speaking to?” There was a tone in Eunhyuk’s voice that was so familiar that instantly cheered him up - maybe it was the smile that practically radiated through the phone. “What’s up, stranger? You haven’t called me in like a month.”
“I need to talk to...someone. And I figured you’d be the only one to listen.”
Eunhyuk exhaled, and Donghae could sense that he was shaking his head. “You fucked up again, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Donghae said, spreading himself out on Giselle’s couch. “Big time.”
“Does it have to do with Kyuhyun?”
Donghae chuckled. “Are you psychic?”
“No, I’m not psychic, Donghae. I just know you’re a fucking idiot.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
“I thought I said I wasn’t going to be your relationship advisor anymore?” Eunhyuk said with a laugh.
“Yeah, well, that was like five years ago. And Giselle Roux wasn’t involved.”
He explained the situation in detail, pointing out every reason why he left Kyuhyun and how he was justified, and only brushing over briefly on how he had slept with Giselle before Kyuhyun started acting funny, but that wasn’t really the point, because the point was that Kyuhyun had changed.
“Well, of course,” Eunhyuk said in a tone that made Donghae feel stupid. “You plucked him from Seoul - the only city he’s ever felt any sort of permanence to - and dragged him halfway around the world with nothing but his boyfriend and a bitchy cat and pretty much forced him to get a dead-end job he probably doesn’t give a flying fuck about, all because you wanted to follow your dreams and be a choreographer for some soon-to-be famous girl that will probably have two hit songs and then she’ll be irrelevant all over again. Personally, I’m surprised he hasn’t lost it completely and that you haven’t come home to the apartment trashed and Kyuhyun sitting on your coffee table naked.”
Donghae thought about it, and knew that he was right - but of course he was; he was always the Voice of Reason when Donghae had done wrong.
“You are really stupid, Donghae. Do you know that?”
Donghae sighed, looking back out the window. “I know.”
He would never admit to anyone but himself and Eunhyuk that he really, truly believed this.
end of Part 2.