laundromat au - bits and pieces
Since I really don't think I'll be continuing the laundromat AU, here's some of what's left on my hard drive for anyone who still... remembers it >.>; (also, chances are I'll be creating a new fic community or moving everything over to another account I have. more on that when I actually get around to it. but sj_shippingco is pretty much dead.)
diving for hearts
just. sap. sappy sap full of sap orz
Sometimes he loves him so much it hurts trying to squeeze all the emotion in his chest, and it’s like Kyuhyun can see it in him, because he leans over and and grabs a hold of him and rolls them around the mattress with a laugh, arms wrapped around him tightly enough to compress all of it into a simple exhalation of Kyuhyun’s name, fingers clutching the back of his shoulder and Kyuhyun leans away, looking at him with wide eyes, the same way he always looks when he thinks Zhou Mi is about to start crying. Which is ridiculous, how could something as nice as love make a person cry? Kyuhyun presses a sloppy kiss to Zhou Mi’s forehead, slapping his hand over it and shoving Zhou Mi rolling, face-first, into a nearby pillow with a laugh, “Don’t even.”
Face still smushed into a pillowcase, Zhou Mi gropes around behind him, tentatively patting around until he finds what he knows to be the curve of Kyuhyun’s rear. He hums contentedly into the fabric and smiles at the sound of Kyuhyun’s laugh.
“Groping mine will not help yours.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“Maybe not, but your jeans can.”
Zhou Mi lifts his head high enough for Kyuhyun to see the displeased draw of his eyebrows as he huffs, voice muffled in the pillow, “Neither my butt nor my jeans need any help, thank you!”
Scooting closer with a shrug, Kyuhyun “Well no, not since you got that belt- ow! You know, one of these days you are going to seriously damage me and you’re going to feel really bad!”
Zhou Mi sighs wistfully, relocating his hand to rest over what may or may not be a good-sized egg forming on Kyuhyun’s hairline, “Only if you can still talk when I’m done~”
Kyuhyun cants his head into Zhou Mi’s hand with a staged wince, “Liar.”
“Only a little.” Zhou Mi conceeds, rolling Kyuhyun into a full-bodied hug, the momentum of which unfortunately sends them over the edge of the mattress.
___
steal my kisses from you
there are some parts of his life with Zhou Mi that Kyuhyun does not want forever to apply to (or yay qmi go shopping :3)
Not that they didn’t make a decent effort at cooking, but actually making an edible meal was enough of a challenge, forget trying to balance it. The vegetables Kyuhyun was tossing into the carriage seemed more like a pathetic consolation to their stockpile of processed snacks and frozen dinners.
And in any case, he figured he still had a few years before he really had to worry about how much broccoli he was eating. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, spent slightly more time contemplating his diet. Or, more accurately, demolishing anything and everything that was definitely not on any diet plan anywhere and then allowing it a passing consideration.
“What would we do with wood ear mushrooms?” Zhou Mi laughed.
Kyuhyun considered the package in his hands, looking up with a smirk, “The same thing we do with my parents, keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit.”
“Kui Xian!”
“Fine, fine. We’ll get carrots instead.”
___
ADIDAS
qmi barely surviving finals
“Could you stop that?” Kyuhyun snaps, slamming his pencil down onto the table.
Zhou Mi jumps at the sound and looks up from his textbook, “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“But I’m... not doing anything?”
“Yes you are. Stop.”
“I am not! Am I?”
At his side Sungmin shrugs irritably, still furiously scribbling out flashcards, only pausing periodically to glance at the clock posted over the whiteboard before groaning morosely.
Siwon sighs and sets down a sheaf of photocopied pages, cutting in with a tone of voice that’s straining for calm, “Maybe you guys should go get some air.”
“No time.” Sungmin continues scrawling a definition across the back of a notecard blindly while he flips through a packet of terms in search of the next one.
“No time to breathe?” Siwon laughs.
Sungmin flips his highlighter across his knuckles, twirling it until the uncapped end is pointed threateningly in Siwon’s direction.“Siwon-ah. I like you very much, but if you keep interrupting me,” Sungmin smiles and leans across the cluttered table, voice lowered as he accents his words with vicious stabs of his marker, “I am going to lay you out cold. Okay?”
Nodding, Siwon raises his hands in the universal gesture of surrender and leans back in his chair with a frown.
“Me next, please.” Zhou Mi mumbles, torn post-it notes stuck to seven out of ten fingertips, while he flips through a textbook at least three inches thick, “I cannot find the definition for this! I don’t even think it’s in here, it’s probably not even a word. Professor probably just made it up to torment us.”
“Did you highlight the terms for each section in blue like I told you to~?” Sungmin singsongs.
“Yes.” Zhou Mi huffs and shoves his textbook further across the table to make room for his head.
“You’ll talk to him but not to me? You didn’t even threaten him!” Siwon complains.
Kyuhyun grabs Zhou Mi’s book from across the table, patting Siwon’s shoulder comfortingly, “Love is pain. Zhou Mi, what is this? You’ve highlighted everything but the punctuation!”
Indignant, Zhou Mi snatches his book away, “You’re a pain. And I only highlighted the important parts, alright? And the definition is not in here.”
Kyuhyun scoffs, grabbing the book back from Zhou Mi and within seconds of scanning the nearby study guide, he draws a thick black line under an italicised phrase, handing it back, eyebrow arched superiorly. “Like I said.”
“I would hate you, but I’m too grateful. So maybe later.” Zhou Mi beams and leans across the table, pulling Kyuhyun by the scruff of his shirt to cross the remaining distance between their mouths.
“Why can’t we study like that.”
“Because I intend on passing.”
*(scene continuation that will make absolutely no sense w/o the missing parts, sorry. basically qmi sexing in the library and yewook cameo. idk I give up on making sense ;;)
Ryeowook is holding a book in front of his face, peering over the top of it towards where another boy stands, nursing a cup of coffee and scanning the reference shelves.
“You’re getting better and better at this lusting-from-afar thing. I mean, we really should just be honest and call it stalking, but-”
“What can I do for you?” Ryeowook interrupts, slamming the book he’d been ‘reading’ shut with a crack.
“I need the key to the fourth floor restroom.”
“Oh. Well, as long as we’re sharing, I could use a vacation and a new car.”
“No. What you really need is to get laid. Key, please.”
“Obvious truth aside, why should I give it to you? All you do is torment me.” Ryeowook pouts, and if Kyuhyun didn’t know him so well, he might have felt a little bit bad.
Kyuhyun holds out his hand, he concedes, “I’ll owe you.”
Fingers tapping the point of his chin, Ryeowook hums, “Yes, but what will you owe me?”
“In two seconds it won’t be what I’ll do for you, but what I won’t. Now hand over the key or I’m going to go over there and have a heart to heart with Kim Yesung about every last one of your needs.”
“You wouldn’t.” Ryeowook’s eyes narrow, “I have so much dirt on you, Cho Kyuhyun, I could bury you so deep no one would ever find the body. Ever.”
“Oh, no, Ryeowook!” Kyuhyun sighs, exaggerated, “That’s a common misconception, nipple clamps are very-”
Kyuhyun grins behind Ryeowook’s palm, slapped over his mouth, his free hand raised to wave sheepishly at Yesung where he stands, book fallen from his grip, eyes wide.
From the corner of his mouth, Ryeowook snarls. "Go. I don't want to kill you where there are witnesses."
___
however long you stay is all that I am
it's almost over now (or Zhou Mi's mother visits)
Zhou Mi is acting strange, sighing into his coffee, offering obviously disinterested hums in response to whatever conversation he’s dragged into. He curls up on the couch to read books with dog-eared pages that never get turned, and Kyuhyun doesn't know how to talk about it or fix it.
He’s not exactly sure how infidelity flashes in his head. Kyuhyun doesn’t usually jump to conclusions. Jumping requires a lot of energy, leaping from one idea to the next in bursts of frantic energy that stressful situations like this one tend to drain right out of him. Instead, he finds it much easier to simply follow along after logic. But he’s realising that approach rarely works when Zhou Mi is involved.
He tries to put himself in Zhou Mi’s shoes when all else fails. He thinks about the sort of things that get under his skin, but he’s not sure Zhou Mi is bothered by the same things that drive him out of his mind. The only thing that really gets him twisted is, well- Zhou Mi.
He figures when you start forgetting what life was like before someone, and avoiding thinking about what life could be like after them, it does some strange things to your brain. Maybe, he reasons, Zhou Mi has finally found an emotion he doesn’t know how to immerse himself in, or more accurately, ooze from every pore.
But, according to his previous logic, he should be the only one that inspires that kind of turmoil in Zhou Mi.
He stays up late going through his mind trying to pick out the people Zhou Mi likes better than him- his ego says no one, his heart worries about everyone. He gives up when Zhou Mi stands at the stove, calmly stirring a pot that's boiling over while he stares off into space.
Kyuhyun stalks over and hits the stove off, throws the pot onto the back burner and kisses Zhou Mi for all he hopes he's worth. Pulling back with huff, “What's wrong?”
Zhou Mi looks at him for the first time in what feels like forever, giving Kyuhyun a smile that he feels like he hasn't seen in twice as long, “Nothing, now.”
“Liar.”
He still doesn’t know what’s wrong with Zhou Mi, what could possibly be wrong with them, and it keeps his hand wound tightly around Zhou Mi’s even as Zhou Mi reaches up, fingertips smoothing the wrinkled collar of Kyuhyun’s tshirt; he shrugs, “My mother called.”
All of his speculations narrow down to an obnoxiously bright moment of clarity. Ah-ha.
“Did you hang up on her?”
“Well, yeah but I said goodbye first.”
“Did she say-”
“Every time she calls, Kui Xian.”
The tone of Zhou Mi’s voice alone
“Well.” Kyuhyun fumbles for a nice way to tell Zhou Mi that his mother can go fuck herself, “Whatever. Just ignore her. I’ll go unplug the phone or something.”
Zhou Mi’s laugh makes Kyuhyun’s ribs ache. “My cellphone doesn’t have that kind of plug. And uh, well, I can’t really ignore her now...”
“You didn’t. Zhou Mi, tell me you didn’t.”
Zhou Mi drops his hand from the front of Kyuhyun’s tshirt, curling it around the handle of the oven instead as he turns back to face their ruined dinner, staring at the puddles of spilt water. “It’s been three years.”
“Why do I have to accept that logic when she won’t?”
“She’s my mother.”
“And I’m your boyfriend.”
“What do you want me to say?” The knot of tension between Zhou Mi’s shoulders is nearly visible as his head lowers.
Kyuhyun gives a vicious tug and watches it pull tight, thinking all he’s done is free up enough rope to hang himself with. He grits his teeth, but the words fly out anyway, “Since when has what I want mattered? Why don’t you see if there are any more hoops you can jump through for your mom, instead.”
“That’s- How can you-” Zhou Mi stutters, voice thick, and Kyuhyun knows if he hadn’t been so blindsided by that comment, Zhou Mi would never have looked up at him knowing there were tears threatening.
He reloads anyway, “You never needed to do any tricks for me, Zhou Mi. I would have still loved you.”
“Don’t make this into a- you know I’m not choosing her over you, I’m not choosing anyone!”
“No, of course you’re not!”
“Are you trying to give me an ultimatum?”
“Don’t you get tired of playing both sides of the field?”
Zhou Mi stays silent.
“Right. I guess not. Well, it didn’t look like my chances were that good, anyway.”
The front door slams behind him and he thinks, well, that’ll leave a mark.
*
After he stalks around the block a few times, he pauses outside of their apartment, staring at the darkened windows. It’s well past dusk and not a light’s been turned on. He sighs into the fabric of his sweatshirt, pulled up over his mouth against the cold, that wasn’t a good sign.
He’s still not ready to go inside, so he takes a seat on the top step, hands curled in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, knees pulled up to his chest. It’s not like this is the first fight they’ve had, but this is the first time Kyuhyun can feel the stress fractures and a small part of him is more than a little scared.
But a larger, more vocal part is still really fucking pissed off. He huffs and flexes the numbness out of his fingers, digging his nails into his palms as he replays the argument over. and over and over and over. He probably should be, but he’s not sorry.
The door opens behind him and he hopes it’s the neighbors but the long pause and longer shadow cast tell him otherwise. He doesn’t acknowledge Zhou Mi, staring hard at the passing cars cutting through the light mist hanging just low enough to saturate the ground, small puddles forming, giving halos to the glow of oncoming headlights, __water clinging to the frizzy ends of his hair in tiny droplets.
He tries to steel his resolve as Zhou Mi steps closer, tries to ignore the twist of need in his stomach when Zhou Mi places a nervous hand lightly on his shoulder, tries to stay angry with the voice he’d give life and limb to listen to saying anything other than, “It’s your choice, but come back inside.”
Kyuhyun shrugs off Zhou Mi’s hand and stands up slowly, giving one last glance at the street before turning around and brushing past Zhou Mi.
For the next couple of days Kyuhyun’s unspoken threat of leaving hangs around them, between them really, clouding up and choking off communication. But the morning Zhou Mi's mother flies in, he smacks his alarm clock until it shuts up and rolls out of bed with a yawn, just like always.
Half awake, he hops around, yanking up a pair of jeans he swore must’ve shrunk in the dryer before pulling on a clean sweatshirt and getting the rest of his things together. “Zhou Mi, get up.”
“Why do you have that?” Already awake and looking as though he hadn’t slept at all, Zhou Mi wrings the puddle of sheets in his lap.
Kyuhyun stares for a second, puzzled, “Have what?”
Zhou Mi tosses his head in the general direction of Kyuhyun’s hand, which is curled around the strap of an old backpack. It hits him in a second and in his haste he upends the bag, nearly breaking his toe when a heavier textbook lands on his foot, he stutters out, slightly frantic, “Books, I’m- I have a lot of work to do still and it’s a long- it’s just books, Zhou Mi.”
Zhou Mi stares between the pile of textbooks and Kyuhyun’s hand, held out clutching the bag, still upside-down. The redness he’d woken up with in his eyes turns into full-blown crying and the twist in Kyuhyun’s stomach eases. Zhou Mi never cries when he’s supposed to, never over the important stuff.
He sighs. “Get it together, we have to leave in twenty minutes and it takes you at least forty to get your hair done.”
If at all possible, Zhou Mi’s shoulders shudder even harder and Kyuhyun is at a complete loss, frozen in place like if he doesn’t make any sudden movements then this whole thing will just fix itself.
But that doesn’t seem to be the way this will go. He steps to the edge of the bed and lays a hand on the crown of Zhou Mi’s bowed head, smoothing down his morning flyaways. “C’mon. You invited her, the least you can do is make sure we pick her up on time.”
“Thank you.” Zhou Mi says, voice surprisingly steady.
He doesn’t want to be thanked; a thank you makes it sound like he’s agreed, like he’s at all okay with this. Kyuhyun pulls his hand back and heads for the door, “I’ll get her gate number, go wash your face.”
*
“Can’t we just take the seven?”
“No, we’d have to take it all the way to Court Square and then transfer and double back.” they could have, but Kyuhyun didn’t think of it first, so it was a definite no.
“Well, but it wouldn’t really be-”
“No. Look, let’s just go from the F.”
Not having resolved the main issue, Kyuhyun looks for little victories, arguing the small things for no other reason than to prove he can.
The subway ride is quiet, watching the color bleed from Zhou Mi’s knuckles with every tense squeeze of the handle of his bag.
Kyuhyun tries to tell him to relax, but he’s cut off by the hiss of the intercom, conductor mumbling their next stop as they speed around a turn and descend.
*
Of course she didn’t fly into LaGuardia, because that was just a shuttle ride away. And now, after childishly rejecting the seven, he got stuck with his new and improved plan: taking a bus to the end of the F line so they can transfer to the E and go back in the direction they came from to get to the airtrain station for a thirty minute ride to the airport.
“I feel bad for being excited but, she’s still my mom, you know?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I get it.” Even though he definitely does not.
Zhou Mi leans into his shoulder, watching the arrivals screen intently and Kyuhyun feels like he’s starting to go a little bit invisible.
“Your roommate?” She asks Zhou Mi, in Mandarin.
“Kyuhyun Cho, it’s nice to meet you.” Kyuhyun replies, in English, bowing stiffly. Zhou Mi’s mother nods and turns back towards the baggage carousel.
And just like that, the lines have been drawn.
*
And oh Kyuhyun really needs the phone to ring right about now.
“How high?”
Zhou Mi’s mother frowns, brows drawn together, “What are you talking about?”
All his self control balled up in the fists curled tightly by his sides, Zhou Mi replies, “You keep asking me to jump, I just want to know how high will finally be good enough for you. So how high?”
“You’re being ridiculous, I never asked you to-”
“You did. You do and you will. All I want is for you to be happy, I can’t understand why you don’t seem to want the same thing for me.”
“That’s not true. How can you think I wouldn’t want what’s best for you?”
“He makes me happy. Really, really happy.”
She scoffs, “That’s not all there is to life- you think happiness will keep you fed and clothed and sheltered? I doubt happiness is what you’re depositing into your bank account.”
Head bowed, Zhou Mi crawls out, shaking and unsteady, onto the farthest limb, “Don’t make this into a fight you can’t win, mom.”
“I won’t have a son to lose if you keep on with this.”
___Well, at least Kyuhyun knows where Zhou Mi gets his stubbornness from. He’d have to thank her later.
Kyuhyun should know better than to interfere, a secret part of him anticipating this moment with morbid curiosity, but he can’t just sit here and watch Zhou Mi crumble under the pressure. it’s only fair that he bear some of the weight too. “You cutting him out won’t make me disappear. It’ll just mean I’m what he’s got left.”
He sort of feels like he’s offering himself up, not quite the willing sacrifice but too terrified of the consequences to do anything else. She stares at him and he can’t help but wonder how Zhou Mi turned out so perfectly with her as a mother, he takes inventory of her features, tries to find any way he can to connect these two people together. Because in the end, he has her to thank for giving him everything he’d never even known he’d needed.
*
“So you’d fight with my mother for the rest of your life just to make sure she stays in mine?”
“Well, when you say it out-loud like that-” Kyuhyun was really aiming to finish that sentence with something witty or charmingly sarcastic, but then Zhou Mi’s mouth got in the way.
The week continues blissfully uneventful if slightly awkward. They spend most days tormenting Zhou Mi together, yelling at him for the same thing at the same time and Zhou Mi’s eyes practically sparkle, “I think you two are more closely related.”
*
He feels ridiculous even discussing it, like a kid playing dress up, “Well, it’s not like we could even do it. The paperwork alone would take us the rest of our lives.”
Zhou Mi nods, “I suppose, yeah.”
Kyuhyun winces at the poorly concealed disappointment in his voice. He grips the blanket tighter, tugging it up over Zhou Mi’s exposed shoulder, “Hey. Look.”
“Hm?” Zhou Mi shifts under the arm Kyuhyun had thrown over him, rolling to face him, blinking in the dark.
“The important thing is that no one can tell us no.”
“Well, actually Texas can.”
“Fuck Texas.” Kyuhyun articulates and grins a little as he watches Zhou Mi pull the bedsheet up over the curve of his mouth.
*
Kyuhyun wakes to Zhou Mi practically sitting on him, leaning into his face, both hands braced on his shoulders. He blinks until the strained expression on Zhou Mi’s face comes into focus a little more. “Eh?”
“Just making sure.”
“What?” Kyuhyun kind of whines because it’s not even daylight yet and he’s definitely not coherent enough for this.
“Til death do we part?” Zhou Mi laughs.
He sighs and shoves Zhou Mi off of him, yawning and curling around his pillow as Zhou Mi squawks and scrabbles for the edge of the mattress. “Sure, only if I don’t kill you first.”
Zhou Mi moves in from clinging to the edge of the bed and stares at him solemnly, “I have learned to hear the love in your snark, Kyuhyun.”
“Yeah? I have learned to ignore 90% of- ow! See this is why we’re never getting married!” Kyuhyun jabs a finger in Zhou Mi’s direction, his other hand rubbing his sore ribs, “Why would I want to put a gigantic rock and the hand you use to punch me!”
“Oh, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi coos, “I’d use the other hand, of course. Wouldn’t want to damage something so precious- diamonds are expensive, you know.”
“Get out of my life.”
Zhou Mi laughs and rolls on top of Kyuhyun, squishing him into the mattress, “Make me~”
“I am going to smother you in your sleep.”
“With kisses?”
He presses his smile into his pillow, just in case Zhou Mi sees it as a sign of encouragement.
diving for hearts
just. sap. sappy sap full of sap orz
Sometimes he loves him so much it hurts trying to squeeze all the emotion in his chest, and it’s like Kyuhyun can see it in him, because he leans over and and grabs a hold of him and rolls them around the mattress with a laugh, arms wrapped around him tightly enough to compress all of it into a simple exhalation of Kyuhyun’s name, fingers clutching the back of his shoulder and Kyuhyun leans away, looking at him with wide eyes, the same way he always looks when he thinks Zhou Mi is about to start crying. Which is ridiculous, how could something as nice as love make a person cry? Kyuhyun presses a sloppy kiss to Zhou Mi’s forehead, slapping his hand over it and shoving Zhou Mi rolling, face-first, into a nearby pillow with a laugh, “Don’t even.”
Face still smushed into a pillowcase, Zhou Mi gropes around behind him, tentatively patting around until he finds what he knows to be the curve of Kyuhyun’s rear. He hums contentedly into the fabric and smiles at the sound of Kyuhyun’s laugh.
“Groping mine will not help yours.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“Maybe not, but your jeans can.”
Zhou Mi lifts his head high enough for Kyuhyun to see the displeased draw of his eyebrows as he huffs, voice muffled in the pillow, “Neither my butt nor my jeans need any help, thank you!”
Scooting closer with a shrug, Kyuhyun “Well no, not since you got that belt- ow! You know, one of these days you are going to seriously damage me and you’re going to feel really bad!”
Zhou Mi sighs wistfully, relocating his hand to rest over what may or may not be a good-sized egg forming on Kyuhyun’s hairline, “Only if you can still talk when I’m done~”
Kyuhyun cants his head into Zhou Mi’s hand with a staged wince, “Liar.”
“Only a little.” Zhou Mi conceeds, rolling Kyuhyun into a full-bodied hug, the momentum of which unfortunately sends them over the edge of the mattress.
___
steal my kisses from you
there are some parts of his life with Zhou Mi that Kyuhyun does not want forever to apply to (or yay qmi go shopping :3)
Not that they didn’t make a decent effort at cooking, but actually making an edible meal was enough of a challenge, forget trying to balance it. The vegetables Kyuhyun was tossing into the carriage seemed more like a pathetic consolation to their stockpile of processed snacks and frozen dinners.
And in any case, he figured he still had a few years before he really had to worry about how much broccoli he was eating. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, spent slightly more time contemplating his diet. Or, more accurately, demolishing anything and everything that was definitely not on any diet plan anywhere and then allowing it a passing consideration.
“What would we do with wood ear mushrooms?” Zhou Mi laughed.
Kyuhyun considered the package in his hands, looking up with a smirk, “The same thing we do with my parents, keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit.”
“Kui Xian!”
“Fine, fine. We’ll get carrots instead.”
___
ADIDAS
qmi barely surviving finals
“Could you stop that?” Kyuhyun snaps, slamming his pencil down onto the table.
Zhou Mi jumps at the sound and looks up from his textbook, “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“But I’m... not doing anything?”
“Yes you are. Stop.”
“I am not! Am I?”
At his side Sungmin shrugs irritably, still furiously scribbling out flashcards, only pausing periodically to glance at the clock posted over the whiteboard before groaning morosely.
Siwon sighs and sets down a sheaf of photocopied pages, cutting in with a tone of voice that’s straining for calm, “Maybe you guys should go get some air.”
“No time.” Sungmin continues scrawling a definition across the back of a notecard blindly while he flips through a packet of terms in search of the next one.
“No time to breathe?” Siwon laughs.
Sungmin flips his highlighter across his knuckles, twirling it until the uncapped end is pointed threateningly in Siwon’s direction.“Siwon-ah. I like you very much, but if you keep interrupting me,” Sungmin smiles and leans across the cluttered table, voice lowered as he accents his words with vicious stabs of his marker, “I am going to lay you out cold. Okay?”
Nodding, Siwon raises his hands in the universal gesture of surrender and leans back in his chair with a frown.
“Me next, please.” Zhou Mi mumbles, torn post-it notes stuck to seven out of ten fingertips, while he flips through a textbook at least three inches thick, “I cannot find the definition for this! I don’t even think it’s in here, it’s probably not even a word. Professor probably just made it up to torment us.”
“Did you highlight the terms for each section in blue like I told you to~?” Sungmin singsongs.
“Yes.” Zhou Mi huffs and shoves his textbook further across the table to make room for his head.
“You’ll talk to him but not to me? You didn’t even threaten him!” Siwon complains.
Kyuhyun grabs Zhou Mi’s book from across the table, patting Siwon’s shoulder comfortingly, “Love is pain. Zhou Mi, what is this? You’ve highlighted everything but the punctuation!”
Indignant, Zhou Mi snatches his book away, “You’re a pain. And I only highlighted the important parts, alright? And the definition is not in here.”
Kyuhyun scoffs, grabbing the book back from Zhou Mi and within seconds of scanning the nearby study guide, he draws a thick black line under an italicised phrase, handing it back, eyebrow arched superiorly. “Like I said.”
“I would hate you, but I’m too grateful. So maybe later.” Zhou Mi beams and leans across the table, pulling Kyuhyun by the scruff of his shirt to cross the remaining distance between their mouths.
“Why can’t we study like that.”
“Because I intend on passing.”
*(scene continuation that will make absolutely no sense w/o the missing parts, sorry. basically qmi sexing in the library and yewook cameo. idk I give up on making sense ;;)
Ryeowook is holding a book in front of his face, peering over the top of it towards where another boy stands, nursing a cup of coffee and scanning the reference shelves.
“You’re getting better and better at this lusting-from-afar thing. I mean, we really should just be honest and call it stalking, but-”
“What can I do for you?” Ryeowook interrupts, slamming the book he’d been ‘reading’ shut with a crack.
“I need the key to the fourth floor restroom.”
“Oh. Well, as long as we’re sharing, I could use a vacation and a new car.”
“No. What you really need is to get laid. Key, please.”
“Obvious truth aside, why should I give it to you? All you do is torment me.” Ryeowook pouts, and if Kyuhyun didn’t know him so well, he might have felt a little bit bad.
Kyuhyun holds out his hand, he concedes, “I’ll owe you.”
Fingers tapping the point of his chin, Ryeowook hums, “Yes, but what will you owe me?”
“In two seconds it won’t be what I’ll do for you, but what I won’t. Now hand over the key or I’m going to go over there and have a heart to heart with Kim Yesung about every last one of your needs.”
“You wouldn’t.” Ryeowook’s eyes narrow, “I have so much dirt on you, Cho Kyuhyun, I could bury you so deep no one would ever find the body. Ever.”
“Oh, no, Ryeowook!” Kyuhyun sighs, exaggerated, “That’s a common misconception, nipple clamps are very-”
Kyuhyun grins behind Ryeowook’s palm, slapped over his mouth, his free hand raised to wave sheepishly at Yesung where he stands, book fallen from his grip, eyes wide.
From the corner of his mouth, Ryeowook snarls. "Go. I don't want to kill you where there are witnesses."
___
however long you stay is all that I am
it's almost over now (or Zhou Mi's mother visits)
Zhou Mi is acting strange, sighing into his coffee, offering obviously disinterested hums in response to whatever conversation he’s dragged into. He curls up on the couch to read books with dog-eared pages that never get turned, and Kyuhyun doesn't know how to talk about it or fix it.
He’s not exactly sure how infidelity flashes in his head. Kyuhyun doesn’t usually jump to conclusions. Jumping requires a lot of energy, leaping from one idea to the next in bursts of frantic energy that stressful situations like this one tend to drain right out of him. Instead, he finds it much easier to simply follow along after logic. But he’s realising that approach rarely works when Zhou Mi is involved.
He tries to put himself in Zhou Mi’s shoes when all else fails. He thinks about the sort of things that get under his skin, but he’s not sure Zhou Mi is bothered by the same things that drive him out of his mind. The only thing that really gets him twisted is, well- Zhou Mi.
He figures when you start forgetting what life was like before someone, and avoiding thinking about what life could be like after them, it does some strange things to your brain. Maybe, he reasons, Zhou Mi has finally found an emotion he doesn’t know how to immerse himself in, or more accurately, ooze from every pore.
But, according to his previous logic, he should be the only one that inspires that kind of turmoil in Zhou Mi.
He stays up late going through his mind trying to pick out the people Zhou Mi likes better than him- his ego says no one, his heart worries about everyone. He gives up when Zhou Mi stands at the stove, calmly stirring a pot that's boiling over while he stares off into space.
Kyuhyun stalks over and hits the stove off, throws the pot onto the back burner and kisses Zhou Mi for all he hopes he's worth. Pulling back with huff, “What's wrong?”
Zhou Mi looks at him for the first time in what feels like forever, giving Kyuhyun a smile that he feels like he hasn't seen in twice as long, “Nothing, now.”
“Liar.”
He still doesn’t know what’s wrong with Zhou Mi, what could possibly be wrong with them, and it keeps his hand wound tightly around Zhou Mi’s even as Zhou Mi reaches up, fingertips smoothing the wrinkled collar of Kyuhyun’s tshirt; he shrugs, “My mother called.”
All of his speculations narrow down to an obnoxiously bright moment of clarity. Ah-ha.
“Did you hang up on her?”
“Well, yeah but I said goodbye first.”
“Did she say-”
“Every time she calls, Kui Xian.”
The tone of Zhou Mi’s voice alone
“Well.” Kyuhyun fumbles for a nice way to tell Zhou Mi that his mother can go fuck herself, “Whatever. Just ignore her. I’ll go unplug the phone or something.”
Zhou Mi’s laugh makes Kyuhyun’s ribs ache. “My cellphone doesn’t have that kind of plug. And uh, well, I can’t really ignore her now...”
“You didn’t. Zhou Mi, tell me you didn’t.”
Zhou Mi drops his hand from the front of Kyuhyun’s tshirt, curling it around the handle of the oven instead as he turns back to face their ruined dinner, staring at the puddles of spilt water. “It’s been three years.”
“Why do I have to accept that logic when she won’t?”
“She’s my mother.”
“And I’m your boyfriend.”
“What do you want me to say?” The knot of tension between Zhou Mi’s shoulders is nearly visible as his head lowers.
Kyuhyun gives a vicious tug and watches it pull tight, thinking all he’s done is free up enough rope to hang himself with. He grits his teeth, but the words fly out anyway, “Since when has what I want mattered? Why don’t you see if there are any more hoops you can jump through for your mom, instead.”
“That’s- How can you-” Zhou Mi stutters, voice thick, and Kyuhyun knows if he hadn’t been so blindsided by that comment, Zhou Mi would never have looked up at him knowing there were tears threatening.
He reloads anyway, “You never needed to do any tricks for me, Zhou Mi. I would have still loved you.”
“Don’t make this into a- you know I’m not choosing her over you, I’m not choosing anyone!”
“No, of course you’re not!”
“Are you trying to give me an ultimatum?”
“Don’t you get tired of playing both sides of the field?”
Zhou Mi stays silent.
“Right. I guess not. Well, it didn’t look like my chances were that good, anyway.”
The front door slams behind him and he thinks, well, that’ll leave a mark.
*
After he stalks around the block a few times, he pauses outside of their apartment, staring at the darkened windows. It’s well past dusk and not a light’s been turned on. He sighs into the fabric of his sweatshirt, pulled up over his mouth against the cold, that wasn’t a good sign.
He’s still not ready to go inside, so he takes a seat on the top step, hands curled in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, knees pulled up to his chest. It’s not like this is the first fight they’ve had, but this is the first time Kyuhyun can feel the stress fractures and a small part of him is more than a little scared.
But a larger, more vocal part is still really fucking pissed off. He huffs and flexes the numbness out of his fingers, digging his nails into his palms as he replays the argument over. and over and over and over. He probably should be, but he’s not sorry.
The door opens behind him and he hopes it’s the neighbors but the long pause and longer shadow cast tell him otherwise. He doesn’t acknowledge Zhou Mi, staring hard at the passing cars cutting through the light mist hanging just low enough to saturate the ground, small puddles forming, giving halos to the glow of oncoming headlights, __water clinging to the frizzy ends of his hair in tiny droplets.
He tries to steel his resolve as Zhou Mi steps closer, tries to ignore the twist of need in his stomach when Zhou Mi places a nervous hand lightly on his shoulder, tries to stay angry with the voice he’d give life and limb to listen to saying anything other than, “It’s your choice, but come back inside.”
Kyuhyun shrugs off Zhou Mi’s hand and stands up slowly, giving one last glance at the street before turning around and brushing past Zhou Mi.
For the next couple of days Kyuhyun’s unspoken threat of leaving hangs around them, between them really, clouding up and choking off communication. But the morning Zhou Mi's mother flies in, he smacks his alarm clock until it shuts up and rolls out of bed with a yawn, just like always.
Half awake, he hops around, yanking up a pair of jeans he swore must’ve shrunk in the dryer before pulling on a clean sweatshirt and getting the rest of his things together. “Zhou Mi, get up.”
“Why do you have that?” Already awake and looking as though he hadn’t slept at all, Zhou Mi wrings the puddle of sheets in his lap.
Kyuhyun stares for a second, puzzled, “Have what?”
Zhou Mi tosses his head in the general direction of Kyuhyun’s hand, which is curled around the strap of an old backpack. It hits him in a second and in his haste he upends the bag, nearly breaking his toe when a heavier textbook lands on his foot, he stutters out, slightly frantic, “Books, I’m- I have a lot of work to do still and it’s a long- it’s just books, Zhou Mi.”
Zhou Mi stares between the pile of textbooks and Kyuhyun’s hand, held out clutching the bag, still upside-down. The redness he’d woken up with in his eyes turns into full-blown crying and the twist in Kyuhyun’s stomach eases. Zhou Mi never cries when he’s supposed to, never over the important stuff.
He sighs. “Get it together, we have to leave in twenty minutes and it takes you at least forty to get your hair done.”
If at all possible, Zhou Mi’s shoulders shudder even harder and Kyuhyun is at a complete loss, frozen in place like if he doesn’t make any sudden movements then this whole thing will just fix itself.
But that doesn’t seem to be the way this will go. He steps to the edge of the bed and lays a hand on the crown of Zhou Mi’s bowed head, smoothing down his morning flyaways. “C’mon. You invited her, the least you can do is make sure we pick her up on time.”
“Thank you.” Zhou Mi says, voice surprisingly steady.
He doesn’t want to be thanked; a thank you makes it sound like he’s agreed, like he’s at all okay with this. Kyuhyun pulls his hand back and heads for the door, “I’ll get her gate number, go wash your face.”
*
“Can’t we just take the seven?”
“No, we’d have to take it all the way to Court Square and then transfer and double back.” they could have, but Kyuhyun didn’t think of it first, so it was a definite no.
“Well, but it wouldn’t really be-”
“No. Look, let’s just go from the F.”
Not having resolved the main issue, Kyuhyun looks for little victories, arguing the small things for no other reason than to prove he can.
The subway ride is quiet, watching the color bleed from Zhou Mi’s knuckles with every tense squeeze of the handle of his bag.
Kyuhyun tries to tell him to relax, but he’s cut off by the hiss of the intercom, conductor mumbling their next stop as they speed around a turn and descend.
*
Of course she didn’t fly into LaGuardia, because that was just a shuttle ride away. And now, after childishly rejecting the seven, he got stuck with his new and improved plan: taking a bus to the end of the F line so they can transfer to the E and go back in the direction they came from to get to the airtrain station for a thirty minute ride to the airport.
“I feel bad for being excited but, she’s still my mom, you know?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I get it.” Even though he definitely does not.
Zhou Mi leans into his shoulder, watching the arrivals screen intently and Kyuhyun feels like he’s starting to go a little bit invisible.
“Your roommate?” She asks Zhou Mi, in Mandarin.
“Kyuhyun Cho, it’s nice to meet you.” Kyuhyun replies, in English, bowing stiffly. Zhou Mi’s mother nods and turns back towards the baggage carousel.
And just like that, the lines have been drawn.
*
And oh Kyuhyun really needs the phone to ring right about now.
“How high?”
Zhou Mi’s mother frowns, brows drawn together, “What are you talking about?”
All his self control balled up in the fists curled tightly by his sides, Zhou Mi replies, “You keep asking me to jump, I just want to know how high will finally be good enough for you. So how high?”
“You’re being ridiculous, I never asked you to-”
“You did. You do and you will. All I want is for you to be happy, I can’t understand why you don’t seem to want the same thing for me.”
“That’s not true. How can you think I wouldn’t want what’s best for you?”
“He makes me happy. Really, really happy.”
She scoffs, “That’s not all there is to life- you think happiness will keep you fed and clothed and sheltered? I doubt happiness is what you’re depositing into your bank account.”
Head bowed, Zhou Mi crawls out, shaking and unsteady, onto the farthest limb, “Don’t make this into a fight you can’t win, mom.”
“I won’t have a son to lose if you keep on with this.”
___Well, at least Kyuhyun knows where Zhou Mi gets his stubbornness from. He’d have to thank her later.
Kyuhyun should know better than to interfere, a secret part of him anticipating this moment with morbid curiosity, but he can’t just sit here and watch Zhou Mi crumble under the pressure. it’s only fair that he bear some of the weight too. “You cutting him out won’t make me disappear. It’ll just mean I’m what he’s got left.”
He sort of feels like he’s offering himself up, not quite the willing sacrifice but too terrified of the consequences to do anything else. She stares at him and he can’t help but wonder how Zhou Mi turned out so perfectly with her as a mother, he takes inventory of her features, tries to find any way he can to connect these two people together. Because in the end, he has her to thank for giving him everything he’d never even known he’d needed.
*
“So you’d fight with my mother for the rest of your life just to make sure she stays in mine?”
“Well, when you say it out-loud like that-” Kyuhyun was really aiming to finish that sentence with something witty or charmingly sarcastic, but then Zhou Mi’s mouth got in the way.
The week continues blissfully uneventful if slightly awkward. They spend most days tormenting Zhou Mi together, yelling at him for the same thing at the same time and Zhou Mi’s eyes practically sparkle, “I think you two are more closely related.”
*
He feels ridiculous even discussing it, like a kid playing dress up, “Well, it’s not like we could even do it. The paperwork alone would take us the rest of our lives.”
Zhou Mi nods, “I suppose, yeah.”
Kyuhyun winces at the poorly concealed disappointment in his voice. He grips the blanket tighter, tugging it up over Zhou Mi’s exposed shoulder, “Hey. Look.”
“Hm?” Zhou Mi shifts under the arm Kyuhyun had thrown over him, rolling to face him, blinking in the dark.
“The important thing is that no one can tell us no.”
“Well, actually Texas can.”
“Fuck Texas.” Kyuhyun articulates and grins a little as he watches Zhou Mi pull the bedsheet up over the curve of his mouth.
*
Kyuhyun wakes to Zhou Mi practically sitting on him, leaning into his face, both hands braced on his shoulders. He blinks until the strained expression on Zhou Mi’s face comes into focus a little more. “Eh?”
“Just making sure.”
“What?” Kyuhyun kind of whines because it’s not even daylight yet and he’s definitely not coherent enough for this.
“Til death do we part?” Zhou Mi laughs.
He sighs and shoves Zhou Mi off of him, yawning and curling around his pillow as Zhou Mi squawks and scrabbles for the edge of the mattress. “Sure, only if I don’t kill you first.”
Zhou Mi moves in from clinging to the edge of the bed and stares at him solemnly, “I have learned to hear the love in your snark, Kyuhyun.”
“Yeah? I have learned to ignore 90% of- ow! See this is why we’re never getting married!” Kyuhyun jabs a finger in Zhou Mi’s direction, his other hand rubbing his sore ribs, “Why would I want to put a gigantic rock and the hand you use to punch me!”
“Oh, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi coos, “I’d use the other hand, of course. Wouldn’t want to damage something so precious- diamonds are expensive, you know.”
“Get out of my life.”
Zhou Mi laughs and rolls on top of Kyuhyun, squishing him into the mattress, “Make me~”
“I am going to smother you in your sleep.”
“With kisses?”
He presses his smile into his pillow, just in case Zhou Mi sees it as a sign of encouragement.