Fic: Lost in Translation (2/?)
Title: Lost in Translation
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Qmi
Rating: +17
Summary: AU Kyuhyun is part of Zhou Mi's new high school class. Zhou Mi has been sleeping with him for two months. This is all very awkward.
Notes: For umberela. Okay no you guys this is really only half of what I wanted to put in but it got so long and so much was going on and :( really it's not that good. Like at all.
Chapter 1
Ryeowook’s dinner plate sat cold on the table when he got home. Zhou Mi didn’t look up from where he was washing his own dish in the kitchen sink. Ryeowook collapsed into his seat, gratefully falling on the food.
“Thank you for cooking tonight.”
“It’s the least I could do.” Zhou Mi made a point of keeping his back to Ryeowook as he finished up his dishes. “Did you have a lot of paperwork?”
There was a cracking sound and Zhou Mi had to turn around. Ryeowook had dropped his glass into his plate and he was furiously cleaning it up, red faced. “No, no. It wasn’t nothing like that. I had an independent piano study with Henry Lau and then Jongwoon, the new voice teacher, came to talk to me about taking one of the voice classes next semester. I said that would be no problem.”
“Oh good you talked to him.” Zhou Mi let out a sigh of relief.
“He did.” Ryeowook pushed his food around. “He wasn’t too bad. A little self-centered but he’s okay. I suppose.”
“Can he sing?”
“Yeah.” Ryeowook let out a sigh, and it may have held a bit of whimsy to it. “He can carry a tune.” Zhou Mi was about to turn around, leaving Ryeowook to his thoughts, when he spoke up. “How did you spend your afternoon? You left right after your class?”
Zhou Mi grasped the rim of the sink. “I turned in the form for Kui Xian’s audition.” He swallowed. “I’m going in early to help judge with Jongwoon and the headmaster.”
“So you just cooked after that?”
“Pretty much.” Zhou Mi tried to keep his voice steady. “I did see Kui Xian, he was walking with a few of our students. We walked to the train station together.”
Ryeowook was suddenly besides him. “He came over?”
Zhou Mi didn’t look up from the drain. “No.” Ryeowook rubbed his bicep. “No, Kui Xian went-“
“Kyuhyun.” Ryeowook said gently. “Call him Kyuhyun.”
Zhou Mi turned his head to look Ryeowook in the eyes. He immediately looked back down. “He went with Changmin to his boyfriend’s apartment.”
“Changmin’s?” Zhou Mi nodded, trying to get through the lie. “How did you know where they were going?”
“Kui Xian told me. Well I mean, he mentioned it. To Tiffany, and…”
“Mimi you can’t lie to save your life.”
“I know.” Zhou Mi rested his head on the edge of the sink. “I know.”
“What really happened? Did he come over?”
“He followed me! He said we should just talk! We were supposed to just talk!”
Ryeowook took a deep breath and rested his hand on Zhou Mi’s shoulder, leading him to a chair. “Take a seat or you’ll start hyperventilating.” He took his own seat, pulling the chair around so he was right in front of Zhou Mi. “You can’t do that.”
“I know.”
Ryeowook licked his lips, opened his mouth and then closed it. He sighed. “You’re an adult Mimi, so I don’t need to give you lecture about responsibility or what this means. But Mi. Maybe you need to hear it.”
“I already know. I told him it’s over. And it is.” Zhou Mi tried so hard to sound convinced, but Ryeowook’s arched eyebrow and frown told him he was not managing to be successful.
Ryeowook finally nodded. “Alright. I believe you.” He stood up, moving his chair back. “Did he at least pick up his clothes?”
“His clothes?” Zhou Mi didn’t like the look Ryeowook got at that question.
“Kyuhyun was beginning to fill a couple drawers in our closet with spare clothing. I don’t think there was much in there; the first time I saw him storing anything in there was last week, and he just put in a towel, some toiletries and an extra change of his work clothes.”
“He. He’d been leaving his clothes over?”
Ryeowook shrugged, picking up his half eaten plate of food. “There was a reason I was telling you to ask him to just move in. He was already starting.”
Zhou Mi could only let out a laugh, folding his arms on the table and burying his face in his elbows. “He was moving in.” He suddenly pulled himself up. “I’ll give him a call.”
“Excuse me?” Ryeowook spun around. “No. That is not proper break up etiquette! Especially for a break up that needs to happen.” He put his hands on his hips. “No.”
“Then what should I do? Keep him after class? Would that help?”
Ryeowook went silent and he shook his head. “No. No it wouldn’t.” Zhou Mi couldn’t stop the smile crossing his face at the tiny win; he couldn’t even explain why he felt victorious. “But. Mi I think you should, I think if you start forcing yourself to see other people as soon as possible, it will make it easier.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “What?”
Ryeowook stepped up to him. “I phrase it that way because at first you will be forcing yourself. No one will match up to him, but soon someone will. You need to start looking now though, instead of later.”
“Ryeowook, it’s not even been a day.” It hit him then. He’d woken up fifteen hours ago and everything was fine between them.
“I know but. Mimi, you will keep going back to him if you don’t try to get over him. If you just ignore dating you’ll go back until he doesn’t want you anymore.” Zhou Mi wanted to talk about clothing and he was moving in and maybes. Ryeowook was adamant. “I don’t want my best friend to have his heart broken more than once.”
“But Ryeowook-“
“And I also don’t want him to lose his job. Mi have you noticed who he hangs out with? One of his friends will notice he’s dating someone, and between Tiffany’s gossiping, and Seohyun and Changmin’s intelligence they will work it out. You’ll start having private practice. You’ll start doing things. Taking risks. You’ll get caught. And then he’ll leave you because he doesn’t want you to get hurt.”
“How do you know? How can just say that? How can you plan all that out? How do you know?”
Ryeowook went silent again, and he practically slunk away, back to the kitchen sink. “There’s a thrill to it.” He spoke to his dishes. “And, I know you Mimi. It will be hard for you to lead a double life. He may be mature, he may be on our level, but he can’t come out with us, and you can’t go out with him and his friends. And that would kill you.”
Zhou Mi swallowed and thought about it. Thought about Changmin; he was an intelligent boy, dating an older man as well, but not as old. Would Changmin judge? Would Kyuhyun ever tell him? Would Kyuhyun have anyone to confide in? To talk with about things they did, the ups and downs of trying to make it work? He’d read enough romance novels, and lived long enough, to know that you needed at least one person.
“I’m going to call him.”
Ryeowook didn’t stop him, just scrubbed faster at his dishes. Zhou Mi locked his door after checking in the hallway closet to see that Kyuhyun had been moving clothing into the apartment. He took his cell phone off of the bedside table; he was slightly upset at the lack of new messages. He flicked the phone open and dialed Kyuhyun’s number. The pop song played back at him and Zhou Mi had a moment of wondering if he knew Kyuhyun had liked this band. He was trying hard to convince himself they had nothing besides sex. Kyuhyun picked up the phone with a distant “hello?” and he knew better.
“You. Tomorrow you’ll need to come to school even earlier because I want to give you the clothing you’ve left here.” There he said the purpose of the call, he could hang up.
“What? Are you speaking Mandarin?” Kyuhyun suddenly sounded closer and Zhou Mi heard a couple of laughs in the background. “You know mine isn’t that good. I can only sing pretty in it.”
Zhou Mi swallowed. Kyuhyun was teasing him, and Zhou Mi heard the clicks of a computer, another voice speaking up. One of them was Changmin. This wasn’t good. “Your clothing. You’ve left some here.”
“Oh yeah. I did. I’ll come over then.”
“No!” Zhou Mi said. “No, Ryeowook is home.”
“Then I’ll come over tomorrow, after school. He doesn’t get home until long after you do, does he?”
“That’s not what I meant! You can’t come over at all. I’ll bring them tomorrow morning. Before your audition.”
There was a moment of silence on the other line and Zhou Mi heard only clicking. The other voice, Changmin’s boyfriend, was muttering and it picked up on the phone. Zhou Mi couldn’t understand him.
“That’s an inconvenience.”
“Well it’s an inconvenience for you to come over.” Zhou Mi snapped back immediately, not thinking. Kyuhyun went silent again and Zhou Mi wasn’t sure it was because of what he had said or if because what he was doing was more entertaining.
“I promise I won’t sleep with you this time.” Kyuhyun finally said and Zhou Mi could hear someone, probably Changmin, start to cough loudly in the background. “If you were worried.”
“I wasn’t.”
“So I’ll come over tomorrow.”
“Is that your millionaire’s wife?” Zhou Mi heard in the background.
“Sounded a bit too much like a man if it was Changmin.” The other person Kyuhyun was with said.
“Millionaire’s have weird tastes.”
Kyuhyun let the two of them continue to chatter and Zhou Mi wondered for a moment if he had been forgotten. “I’ll take the silence as yes.”
“No! I told you, you can’t come over.”
“Mimi, let me come over. We’ll talk.” Kyuhyun’s voice had dropped and Zhou Mi swallowed the lump in his throat. He heard a choked laugh in the background.
“No Kui Xian. I’ll bring the clothes tomorrow.” Zhou Mi hung up the phone before Kyuhyun could respond. He stared at the phone, trying to feel proud of himself for being the adult.
He kept thinking he might not have been though.
Kyuhyun had picked up his clothes with no fuss. Zhou Mi wasn’t sure if that was because he had intentionally dragged Ryeowook along with him or not. Kyuhyun did stick around for a moment to ask Ryeowook a question or two about their piano homework, and Zhou Mi sat there still as possible while the two talked intensely about the piece they were working on in the class.
Zhou Mi had a moment of fear that Kyuhyun had talked to stall because they ended up walking to the audition together. Kyuhyun didn’t try to bring him into conversation though. Zhou Mi felt like maybe they should talk though. He held himself back.
“He has talent.” Jongwoon commented after Kyuhyun had run through his audition. He was talking with the headmaster about his schedule while the two of them tried to place him. “Definitely a good catch to put him up a few ranks. Are you thinking Voice IV?”
Zhou Mi looked away from Kyuhyun and slowly nodded. “I think that class will benefit him the most. Based off the curriculum.”
“It’s also at the end of the day, so if he does end up struggling to keep up with everyone else he’ll be able to stay after without worrying about missing another class.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “Yes.” He thought maybe this was his punishment for sleeping with someone under aged.
He changed his mind though, when his Voice II class started and everyone was talking about Kyuhyun transferring to a higher class. He barely got any work done while the entire class chattered in between lines about Kyuhyun and how great he must be. Zhou Mi thought he heard Tiffany mentioning hooking him up with one of her friends, but that may have been his imagination overreacting. And apparently news traveled fast because all his other classes mentioned it at least once.
He welcomed his final class, Voice IV and began to rearrange the twelve students so Kyuhyun had a place. The class managed to run through half of a song; he had to be tough on everyone, and he made sure that everyone stood up and did a solo at least once during the class. Everyone in the class stared when it was Kyuhyun’s turn, passing judgment to make sure this fresh face was deserving.
“Very good class. I want you all to practice matching pitches tonight. I’m going to quiz you on it at some point. This may be simple Voice I work, but some students lose it.”
The class grumbled good naturedly as they filed out for either club activities or to head home. Zhou Mi hoped that Kyuhyun would stay behind. He didn’t even glance at him as he walked out the door.
Class ran smoothly, Zhou Mi thought. His life was running pretty smoothly, given the break up had happened almost two weeks ago. He was beginning to be able to handle Kyuhyun’s presence in his classroom, considering the fact that Kyuhyun made a point not to talk or look at him unless absolutely necessary. Zhou Mi realized that Kyuhyun was treating him as just a teacher. And not even a teacher he really liked.
The first time he made him stay after it was because Kyuhyun’s voice sounded a little scratchy. It was purely professional, and not at all based of his own desire to keep Kyuhyun there and try to get some sort of reaction.
“You aren’t straining your voice with your work are you?”
“I think I may have been sick Mr. Joo. Is that the only reason you need me after class? I have a club meeting with a few people, so if you don’t mind.”
“Drink this before you go. I don’t want you damaging your voice.” Kyuhyun drank the tea, not looking at Zhou Mi. “How are your other classes doing?”
“Okay.”
Zhou Mi frowned but continued to question. “And work?”
“That’s okay too. I’m finished with my tea.”
Zhou Mi let him leave. The next day he kept him after class because he messed up his surprise pitch test. He’d actually done so poorly Zhou Mi thought for a moment that he was trying to get him to stay after on purpose. They ran through the quiz again, and the fourth time Kyuhyun messed up Zhou Mi had to stop them.
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I had a long night Mr. Joo. I needed to work a double shift.”
Zhou Mi had never heard of that happening to him before. “A double shift?”
“The other singer, the one who sings from midnight to four, has strep throat. So I’ve had to step in.”
Zhou Mi frowned and stood up to make more tea. “I’m going to have to report you for working if you can’t handle both.”
Kyuhyun was silent as Zhou Mi finished making the tea. He spoke after Zhou Mi handed him the cup. “I’ll work harder.”
“That’s not what I want to hear.”
Kyuhyun took a sip of the tea. “I can promise you that’s what I’ll do though.”
“Why did you keep him after this time?” Ryeowook asked. That had begun to be the question he asked every time Zhou Mi got home now. He was staying later than Ryeowook, sometimes going up until Kyuhyun had to work at seven. He hadn’t started to leave with Kyuhyun, so he would finish what paper work he did have at the school and come home at some time.
“He’s trying to balance work with school.”
Ryeowook sighed but didn’t go into a lecture about the importance of being unbiased. They both knew that for anyone else, Zhou Mi would have reported him; it was his job.
“Would you tell me if anything happened?”
“Nothing has happened Ryeowook.”
Nothing had happened, even if it crossed Zhou Mi’s mind. By the next week, once Kyuhyun’s co-worker had finally gotten fully over his strep throat, Kyuhyun was staying after for less important reasons.
“Mr. Joo, may I stay after to do some homework?” Zhou Mi looked up from his desk, not even bothering to check if anyone else was in the room.
“What homework, Kui Xian?”
“Every class.”
Zhou Mi nodded, letting Kyuhyun take a seat at his desk while he worked. He kept glancing up at Kyuhyun, watching his hands scratch out notes and words for various classes. He was soon not even paying attention to the work he had told himself he had to get finished, and was instead watching Kyuhyun outright, tracing his jaw line and over his lips, imagining. Kyuhyun didn't seem to notice, not looking up as Zhou Mi heard his own breath catch as his mind wandered back to Kyuhyun’s fingers, tangling in his hair, pulling him over the desk for a kiss.
Kyuhyun’s tongue licked him lips and Zhou Mi subconsciously mimicked him, shifting in his seat. His pants were getting too tight and he felt like an eighteen-year-old again. Kyuhyun turned a page in his book and Zhou Mi thought, maybe if he just reached across the table, grabbed his attention. Would Kyuhyun tell him no?
The door to his room opened with a bang and Henry stumbled in, his backpack slung around his shoulder. He glanced around and finally rested his eyes on Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. He tried to grin as he walked up to the desk, adjusting his backpack.
“Mr. Joo. Is this a bad time?” Zhou Mi frowned, worry overtaking his disappointment; Henry was paler than normal and his hands were shaking.
“No. Kui Xian is just doing some homework here. Is there a problem?” He couldn’t take his eyes off of Henry’s shaking hands. “Have you eaten?”
Henry looked down at his hands before shoving them in his pocket. “I skipped lunch. I was at. I stopped in at Mr. Kim’s independent piano class to talk about missing our practice tonight. I need.” He was struggling with his words and Zhou Mi opened his desk, taking out the sliced fruit he had saved from lunch.
He handed it over to Henry. “Here eat this.” He stood up and guided Henry to a seat, helping him sit. “You can’t be stressing out about the semester already. It’s only been a month or so.” He rubbed Henry’s shoulder comfortingly as Henry began to pick absently at the fruit. “Take you time. What do you need?” He asked the question in Mandarin, hoping it would help Henry sort out his thoughts. Zhou Mi couldn’t imagine what it was like with four languages rattling around in your brain; he could barely handle two.
“Practice. Mr. Kim is under a lot of problems; he really doesn’t have time to deal with a private class with me every day, and I’m not taking piano in school. I should focus on singing, since I know I’m struggling in that.” He finally looked up at Zhou Mi. “Can I just have some extra practice with you after class? After school.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “I’m not sure you can handle more class. Why don’t you take the afternoon’s off?”
Henry shook his head. “I want the extra practice. I coasted through Voice I. I need to actually do work to get a decent grade in this class.”
“Mr. Joo, I’d be willing to help you.” Kyuhyun spoke up and Henry shot a relieved look towards him, unclenching his hands from the plastic wrap that he had started to tear up. “I’m here everyday anyway. And it will help me as well.”
Henry turned his head back to Zhou Mi, looking hopeful. Zhou Mi sighed. “We’ll start off with only having practice twice a week. I really don’t think you’re that far behind Henry, and I’d rather see you relax on your afternoons than over exert yourself.”
“I’ll be fine Mr. Joo.”
Zhou Mi wasn’t sure he believed him, having seen many students burn out, but he nodded anyway and led Henry to the piano. “We’ll go through the piece we worked on today. Can you handle that?”
Henry nodded, picking up the sheet music. They worked until Henry stopped shaking, and then Zhou Mi sent him home after promising him that they would continue practice. Henry left Zhou Mi’s room with a wave and Zhou Mi thought he might have made a comment about seeing Mr. Han, one of the dance instructors. Zhou Mi hoped he wasn’t planning on asking for more practice to fill up the other days, but when he expressed that Kyuhyun just laughed.
“I’ve only been here for a month and I already know that the students who plan on running themselves into the ground are going to do it no matter what.”
Zhou Mi frowned, watching Kyuhyun begin to collect his things. “It’s not healthy.”
“No. It’s not, but this is some people’s passion. You should know that.”
Zhou Mi rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Could you talk to him? Maybe convince him to take a break once in a while?”
Kyuhyun swung his bag over his shoulder. “Sure, but I already know what he’ll say.” Zhou Mi waited patiently. “He’s not skipping lunch anymore.” Kyuhyun shrugged when Zhou Mi looked confused. “He used to skip lunch to sit in on Ryeowook’s independent piano class. I went with him and Seohyun once or twice, because Ryeowook is always accommodating but he went everyday. And he had practice after orchestra club too. I’ve heard them sometimes.”
Zhou Mi stood up, packing up his own things, as Kyuhyun spoke. “I’ll talk to Ryeowook about him as well. I hope he hasn’t been pushing him too much.”
Kyuhyun didn’t say anything to that, just waited for Zhou Mi to join him in walking out of the building. They walked side by side for half a block before Zhou Mi even noticed what had happened. He distanced himself as subtly as he could and by the time they reached the subway station Zhou Mi felt there was an adequate distance between them; Kyuhyun walking on one side of the sidewalk and him on the other side right by the road.
Kyuhyun stepped down the subway stairs and looked back at Zhou Mi. “Do you want to come by my work?” He asked.
Zhou Mi wet his lips, thinking. He should say no. He needed to say no. All he wanted to do though was say yes. It’s all he had been waiting for, a little acknowledgement from Kyuhyun that maybe they could find some middle ground.
“I can’t.” He found himself saying. “I really need to ask Ryeowook about Henry.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth formed an “oh” and he nodded. Zhou Mi regretted his decision immediately but Kyuhyun had already started jogging down the stairs, leaving Zhou Mi at the top. He swallowed, mentally kicking himself, and started his own pace down the stairs.
When he got home he locked himself in the bathroom and took a long shower, trying to wash away everything from the day. He was just frustrated, he told himself. He was just holding onto something. He was just being stupid. He rubbed his face vigorously as he thought of Kyuhyun and Henry and how they were supposed to be exactly the same. He should treat them the same. They were his students.
He dropped his hand to his cock, fisting roughly, unable to get the image of Kyuhyun bent over his desk out of his mind. He hoped that maybe he could force it out, and he bit his forearm as the water turned cold and he came to the image of Kyuhyun sucking him off under his desk while he tried to lecture to a classroom and failed because Kyuhyun would use his teeth and graze over the head of cock.
He fell asleep the moment he was done, collapsing into his bed. It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized Ryeowook hadn’t come home at all. Zhou Mi wasn’t worried too much; sometimes Ryeowook would go home to visit his parents, and maybe if he had had too much to drink he would spend the night. He really didn’t believe that his roommate was dead in a ditch, though the fact that he managed to beat Ryeowook to work did make him a little nervous.
He headed to his own classroom, hoping Ryeowook would be kind and pop his head in to just assure him he was alright. He was greeted by Kyuhyun sitting outside his class instead, writing out a composition.
“Is everything okay?” Zhou Mi asked, trying not to blush as Kyuhyun looked up at him through his bangs.
“I was hoping to talk with you in private.” When Zhou Mi opened his mouth to protest Kyuhyun scrambled to his feet and lowered his voice. “It’s not about us.”
Zhou Mi hesitated but he nodded, letting both of them into the classroom. Kyuhyun stayed near the door, giving him his space.
“I spoke with Henry last night.”
Zhou Mi looked up. “Really? Did he tell you anything?”
“He did.” Kyuhyun took a step forward. “He broke up with his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend?”
Kyuhyun nodded, moving towards the desk. “She’s a bit older than him. They were on again off again all through out the break apparently, and they broke up during his lunch break yesterday.”
Zhou Mi nodded, relieved. “Oh, that’s good. Well it’s not good but, at least it’s something he’ll get over.”
“I don’t know if he’ll get over it yet.”
“Why?”
Kyuhyun grinned, and Zhou Mi thought he looked a bit too happy at the idea that Henry was suffering heartbreak. “Because he has to see his ex everyday.”
Zhou Mi’s stomach dropped as Kyuhyun sat on his desk. He shifted in his seat, pushing back up against the wall. “Don’t you have a class soon?”
Kyuhyun shrugged. “Yes.” He picked up a sheet of paper, glancing over it. “I’m not actually telling you the whole truth.”
Zhou Mi looked up at his face, mouth agape. “What?”
“Henry and I have a lot in common.” Zhou Mi cocked his head to the side, confused. Kyuhyun smirked, leaning forward. “I guess us teacher-fuckers can sense each other.”
Zhou Mi sucked in a breath, leaning back. His mind flipped through all the female teachers. He tried to calm his breathing. “He knows?”
“Do you want to know which teacher?”
“Did you tell him about us?”
“It was Ryeowook.”
Zhou Mi sucked in a breath. “What?”
Kyuhyun leaned back. “Henry was with Ryeowook. Ryeowook was with Henry.”
“Oh.” Zhou Mi fell silent as he processed this. “Oh.”
Kyuhyun sighed and stood. “So that’s why Henry was upset. He walked in on Ryeowook and the new voice teacher kissing; and that’s why he decided to drop Ryeowook’s independent study class.”
Zhou Mi swallowed and rubbed his temple. “That would explain that.” He glanced at Kyuhyun and then shut his eyes. “You need to get to class. Thank you for telling me about Henry.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What can I do? Go to class.” Zhou Mi stood up, starting to organize his papers absently.
Kyuhyun stood there for a moment before speaking. “No.”
Zhou Mi looked at him. “Kui Xian. Please.”
Kyuhyun set his lips and adjusted his bag. “Fine.” He turned and walked out of the classroom, leaving Zhou Mi there by himself.
He didn’t come by after class, leaving with the rest of the students after spending the entirety of the class barely singing.
Zhou Mi convinced himself it was for the best, them not talking. He needed to think because he felt tricked, and most importantly lied to. He just really didn't know how to tell Ryeowook.
Ryeowook made it easy for him though; he was home when Zhou Mi finally got home from spending two hours after school with Henry. That had been awkward but Zhou Mi had plowed through it because Henry looked like he had really needed to be there and not talk about anything.
Ryeowook smiled at Zhou Mi, putting down the take out food. “I already ate.”
“With Jongwoon?”
They both froze, Ryeowook out of shock and Zhou Mi out of pure dumb ‘I am good ninja, fear my subtly.’
Ryeowook sighed, breaking the silence as he pushed the carton of take out towards Zhou Mi. “How did you know?” He picked up the dishes he had already cleaned and began putting them away, tossing the ones he deemed unclean back into the sink so he could clean them again. Zhou Mi would usually laugh at the way Ryeowook handled stress but today…
“Well I haven’t seen you since yesterday morning.” Zhou Mi was impressed by his lying skills so far. “And since Henry was with me at various points since then, I know it wasn’t him you spent the night with.”
They both winced. Zhou Mi felt he should really head back to ninja school.
“How?” Ryeowook sat down. “I. Who told you?”
“You know Ryeowook, when a student comes to a teacher, begging for extra practice, shaking so hard that I think that maybe it’s because they’ve been starving themselves, stretching themselves too thin, and really it’s just because they walked in on their lover with someone else?”
Ryeowook let out a chuckle. He wasn’t looking at Zhou Mi. “You aren’t mad about that.”
“I’m mad at you.”
“Why? Because I didn’t tell you?”
“Yes! Because you told me to quit it with Kui Xian when you were knowingly fucking a student Ryeowook!”
“And why do you think I told you to break up with him? Because I knew! I knew what you were going through! I knew where it would lead!” They were both shouting at each other now and Zhou Mi was glad that they had control over their tempers or else dishes might start getting thrown.
“That wasn’t fair Ryeowook.” Zhou Mi took a breath and collapsed into his seat. “It wasn’t. You shouldn’t. You can’t run everyone’s life.”
“So I was supposed to just sit there, and watch you and Kyuhyun try and hide it, and listen to teachers talk and not be able to say anything because I can’t lie any better than you?” When Zhou Mi had nothing to say Ryeowook continued. “He was my friend too you know. I liked him too and I was happy that he was starting to move in with us. I liked him being around us, and I liked what he did for you. But Zhou Mi. I wouldn’t be able to watch you two destroy each other.”
“Why would you think that would happen? Because you destroyed Henry? Henry Lau who was so upset today that he had to write the letter representation of the notes down because he couldn’t focus?”
“This isn’t about him so just leave it out.”
Zhou Mi swallowed. “You’re right.” It hurt to admit. “I’m mad that you didn’t tell me. I’m mad that you kept seeing him even while you were policing me and Kui Xian. I’m just, mad about this whole thing.” He rested his head in his hand. “I want him back Ryeowook.”
Ryeowook tossed his head back. “No. No. No. This isn’t what I wanted to happen.”
“Fuck you.” Zhou Mi mumbled and Ryeowook froze because Zhou Mi wasn’t looking at him, focused on the tiles of their kitchen floor. “Fuck you, and what you want, and what you think is best for me.”
Ryeowook said nothing as Zhou Mi got up and locked himself in his room. He sat on the edge of his bed waiting for Ryeowook to come knock on the door. It never came. After a few minutes that seemed to drag on for too long as the sink turned on and off while Ryeowook finished his stress reliever of cleaning, the front door opened and then shut. Zhou Mi grabbed his phone, stared at it. Ryeowook had left.
“Come over.” He typed into his phone. His hand hovered over the send button. He typed in a few more words. “I need you.” Deleted them because they sounded to cheesy. Typed in a smiley face. Deleted it because he’d never lied to Kyuhyun before. Finally he deleted the “come over” because he could handle this in the morning. When he wasn’t torn between crying and screaming, and he could focus on Kyuhyun and Kyuhyun alone.
He ended up being late to school the next day. He’d lain awake, hoping that Ryeowook would get home, or that Kyuhyun would text him but neither of those things happened. He figured he’d gotten maybe two hours of sleep, if he was lucky, and he still ended up walking in with the majority of the students.
He stopped in his tracks as Ryeowook passed him, walking alongside Jongwoon, chatting with a big smile on his face. Ryeowook didn’t acknowledge his gaze and once the two of them were ahead of Zhou Mi, he started walking again. The two of them were talking about a film, probably something they had watched last night, and Zhou Mi felt another sting. Ryeowook hadn’t even bothered mentioning he was seeing someone else.
Zhou Mi shook his head, falling further back as they approached the school gate. He watched the ground instead, so he didn’t have to see the group of students pass him by. He heard them though, singing loudly to one of the latest pop songs.
“Sing with us Henry~” Kibum called, and Zhou Mi finally did glance up to see Henry squished between Kibum and Jinki, both of their arms thrown over his shoulders as they tried to drag him into skipping with them. Behind them Tiffany was laughing with Jessica.
Zhou Mi looked up ahead to see if Ryeowook had given any reaction to Kibum singing Henry’s name, but if anything he just pressed himself closer to Jongwoon and disappeared inside the school gate. He looked back, frowning because Kyuhyun wasn’t there with them. Maybe he had spent the night with Changmin and his boyfriend?
Tiffany suddenly turned around, and Zhou Mi felt himself stop as she started to bounce up and down waving, the biggest smile on her face ever. Jessica and the other turned around as well and Jinki dropped his arm from Henry’s shoulder, letting out a whistle that quickly dissolved into laughter.
Zhou Mi could only watch, mouth hanging open as Kyuhyun came up to his group of friends, dragging Seohyun behind him. Tiffany couldn’t contain her glee anymore as she threw herself around Seohyun while the other girl blushed, before they both erupted in to giggles. Kyuhyun shook his head, smiling as he slung his arm around Henry, pulling him close and whispering something in his ear that made him smirk ever so slightly.
None of them were paying attention to Zhou Mi as Tiffany and Jessica jokingly teased Seohyun until she was blushing and Kyuhyun reached over, pulling her from their grasp. She turned red but let their hands intertwine.
Zhou Mi started walking, before Tiffany saw him. He knew he’d have to deal with the giggles and the laughter during their block, and he’d rather lose his composure when Kyuhyun wasn’t there, staring at him. He jogged up to Ryeowook and Jongwoon; they must have stopped and talked to someone, and he put his hand on Ryeowook’s shoulder. Ryeowook turned, frowning but Zhou Mi must have looked a mess already because the frown dropped into sympathy quickly.
“What?”
“We. Tonight.” Suddenly Korean was the hardest thing to speak and Zhou Mi had to swallow several times. He was a mix of angry and hurt and he really hated this feeling because he was mad at Seohyun when she was just a child. “Or now.”
Ryeowook turned around, glancing to find what had made him upset no doubt but Zhou Mi couldn’t hear them so they were probably all still outside the gate. Ryeowook grabbed his wrist and started to pull him towards the school, waving to Jongwoon.
“I’ll see you later.” Ryeowook called and Jongwoon just waved back, a fond smile on his face.
Zhou Mi thought about apologizing but Ryeowook had already pulled them into his classroom. With the door locked Ryeowook felt comfortable spinning on Zhou Mi and grilling him for answers.
“What happened? Did you sleep with him again? Did he hurt you? Did he reject you?”
Zhou Mi was shaking his head as hard as he could. “No. No.” He wasn’t going to cry. He was too angry, too upset to cry. He was jealous and it sucked. “I. I didn’t call him. He didn’t come over. I was waiting for today. To talk with him. We, yesterday, he’d told me about you and Henry and I was mad at you, and I was mad at myself and he was just trying to be helpful and I’d really messed up that one.” Zhou Mi took a breath. “I wanted to work it out with him today, but I think, I mean from what I saw.”
Ryeowook couldn’t take it anymore. “What? What happened?”
“He asked Seohyun out.” Zhou Mi got out with a wheeze.
“What?”
“He.” Zhou Mi stopped. “They were holding hands, and Tiffany was really happy and they were being teased. And I think he asked her out last night.”
Ryeowook took a few steps back, stumbling into a chair. “But. Why?”
Zhou Mi spun around, heading towards his desk. “I don’t know! Because he likes her. Because I pissed him off. Because he’s finally figured out that we aren’t going to last and he’d rather be with someone his own age, who he can be seen with and go on dates with. I don’t know!” He grabbed a tissue from his desk, blowing his nose, and then grabbed another one to wipe his eyes with. “I should get over him, shouldn’t I?”
Ryeowook was silent and then he finally nodded. “Yeah. You should.”
Zhou Mi tossed the used tissues on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “I should see other people.”
“Yeah.”
“He is. I should.”
“Yeah.”
Zhou Mi let out a big breath as someone knocked on his door and Ryeowook scrambled to unlock it. Zhou Mi was hopeful, if it was Kyuhyun he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t ask Ryeowook; he wouldn't try to get over Kyuhyun. Jongwoon popped his head in.
“Do you need me to take over your first class?” He asked Ryeowook, not even glancing at Zhou Mi.
Ryeowook smiled, but shook his head. “No. I’ll just be a moment.” The bell rung and Jongwoon shook his head, closing the door. Ryeowook turned back to Zhou Mi. “Are you really going to do this?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “I just need to remember how to ask people out. It’s been awhile.”
Ryeowook pursed his lips. “Jongwoon mentioned, that Han Geng’s wife’s band was performing tonight. Han Geng always says that we are invited, even if it tends to get a little, what was his phrasing, intense?”
Zhou Mi didn’t know so he only shrugged. He remembered Han Geng’s wife, tall and almost too thin, with her hair pulled up in a lazy bun. He’d only seen her a couple of times but she seemed to suit Han Geng with her light teasing, well okay maybe not light but Zhou Mi thought their flirting was cute. But he couldn’t remember her being the type to be in a band.
“But. I still am really bad at introducing myself.”
Ryeowook laughed. “I’m sure Heechul will introduce you to one of her band mates. According to Jongwoon they are all really gay.”
Zhou Mi didn’t have the heart to get too excited. Even though he said he was ready to move on, he knew he wasn’t.
Voice II didn’t help him. Tiffany would not stop giggling every time Seohyun sang, and okay, Zhou Mi would admit, he picked on her. She took the little bit of torture that his conscious let him doll out, and it just made him want to watch her fail. But then he felt himself get sick with regret because she was innocent. It’s not like she knew about him, and was gloating about winning Kyuhyun. So he couldn’t really hate her.
Changmin made it even harder for him. He stopped in front of Zhou Mi after class, and fiddled for a few minutes, talking about the homework while everyone filed out. Once the door shut he spoke up.
“Can you talk to Kyuhyun for me?”
Zhou Mi balked and choked on his own spit. “What?”
Changmin shuffled his feet. “He’s really close with you Mr. Joo and I know he’s going through a rough time. He’s not on Star Craft anymore, and now all of a sudden he asked out Seohyun, and I mean she’s a sweetheart and they are cute but. Something’s not right.”
“I don’t know why you think I could help him.”
“Well he stays after with you right? Just talk to him.” Changmin looked close to stomping his foot in annoyance but Zhou Mi just shook his head.
“I don’t think I can help you.”
Zhou Mi bit his lip, but made it through the rest of the day without worrying too much about Kyuhyun. The back of his mind told him that if Changmin was concerned, but Zhou Mi didn’t care and just kept focusing on what would happen that night. Even if he couldn’t find someone for more than a cheap fling, it would be enough of a step in the right direction.
Han Geng took them by subway towards the area the bar was at. Zhou Mi had stayed after until it was time for them to go, secretly hoping that Kyuhyun would pop his head in. There was no such luck since he had left the classroom almost immediately after, not responding verbally to the call from one of the upper students about going to pick up his girl friend, but Zhou Mi saw the smirk and he knew, deep down, that he wasn’t going to see him that night.
Kyuhyun didn’t show, and so he was left crowded on the subway, smashed between Han Geng and Ryeowook while Jongwoon and one of the other dance instructors, Donghae, talked on the other side of Ryeowook. He didn’t feel as overdressed since Ryeowook and Jongwoon were both in suits like him.
“How is Heechul?” Zhou Mi asked, feeling a little awkward that he was tagging along when he didn’t know much about the woman.
“Good. Busy, but good.” Han Geng smiled fondly. “Their band is taking off, finally. They’ve only been together for, what has it been, ten years? Since high school.” Zhou Mi smiled as Han Geng rambled away in Chinese, talking about how they had hired a new drummer last summer, a boy fresh out of the military and now headed into college. “We were lucky.”
Zhou Mi laughed. “I think it’s cute how you count yourself a part of the band.”
“With Heechul, you don’t really have much of an option.”
“How long have you two been married?”
Han Geng paused and then let out a laugh. The other three turned towards them, waiting for Han Geng to catch his breath so they could listen to the rest of the conversation. “We aren’t married.” He said between laughter. “People just assume these things.” He smiled at Zhou Mi. “Heechul thinks it’s funny when people call us a married couple, so we let them.”
Ryeowook blushed, Han Geng had gone back to speaking Korean and Zhou Mi tried to get out an apology. Han Geng let out another laugh. “It’s okay. Really.”
The atmosphere was calmed after that and they were all talking with one another when they finally got off of the subway. Han Geng lead them through the streets, Jongwoon tossing an arm around Ryeowook’s shoulders and helping him get through the streets. Zhou Mi fell back, walking beside Donghae.
“Have you gone to any of these concerts before?” Zhou Mi asked and Donghae nodded, hands stuffed in his pockets.
“A couple. It’s the only time I get to see Heechul-hyung so I have to, if I want to see him.”
Zhou Mi would have stopped dead that comment but Han Geng had started to jog, turning into one of the bars, waving for them to follow.
“Heechul. Is a boy?”
Donghae just let out a laugh, grabbed Zhou Mi’s shoulder and tugged him towards the door. Han Geng had obviously missed their conversation and Zhou Mi figured he might as well leave it be but Donghae pulled him down and whispered in his ear.
“Heechul likes going out with Han Geng, and the only way they can do that without getting nasty looks is for Heechul to utilize other means.” Donghae was grinning ear to ear as he said this.
Zhou Mi nodded, slowly understanding but not really. Donghae gave him a push through the crowd, urging him to follow Han Geng even as Ryeowook and Jongwoon broke off to head to the bar. Han Geng entered the back room, and through a couple more doors they were inside the green room. Zhou Mi stood awkward in the doorway as Donghae pushed passed him, to say hello to the three men tuning two guitars and a bass. Han Geng had walked straight to the back of the small room, where two people were sitting on the couch, lips attached.
Zhou Mi looked away, towards Donghae and the other three men, as Han Geng stripped the smaller person, Heechul, off the man beneath him. He looked debauched, trying to catch his breath as he shirt was undone and Zhou Mi tried not to keep looking at them.
One of the guitarists looked up and smiled brightly at him, eyes rimmed with dark makeup. “Do you work with Hankyung and Donghae?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “I’m Zhou Mi.”
The guitarist continued to smile and he pointed first to the bassist. “This is Jungmo.” Then the guitarist. “This is Jay, and I’m Sungmin.”
Zhou Mi smiled at each other them, and Jay gave a little wave before turning to look at Han Geng, Heechul and the other man.
“Are you done?”
Zhou Mi finally glanced at them, Han Geng between Heechul and the other guy, Heechul running his hands down Han Geng’s face. “Give me a few more minutes. We’ve missed him.”
Sungmin clicked his tongue, strumming his guitar. “You can make out with him later. We need to finish practicing.”
Heechul rolled his eyes but pulled away from Han Geng, and offered a hand to his fellow band mate. “We’ll finish this later.” He promised as he left Han Geng on the couch, nodding. He approached the rest of the band and finally he noticed Zhou Mi was there. “You!” He smiled wide and wound an arm around his neck. Zhou Mi hugged back. “Where is your cute little roommate?”
Zhou Mi couldn’t stop himself from laughing, the first time he had since this morning. “You mean Ryeowook? I think he’s out at the bar with Jongwoon.”
Heechul made a face but it quickly left as he reached out a hand towards Donghae before turning his attention back to Zhou Mi. “Those two.” He smiled at Zhou Mi. “Oh well, at least I get to see you again. How is everything going?” Zhou Mi heard someone, probably Sungmin, sigh as Heechul tried to stall. Heechul didn’t seem to care. “Here let me introduce you to our drummer, Siwon.”
Zhou Mi couldn’t look the other man in the eye, and it looked like he too was coming off of his hormone high.
Sungmin let out a louder sigh and gave another strum to his guitar but Heechul continued to ignore his persistence. Zhou Mi tried to send Sungmin a look to say that he was sorry but Sungmin just gave him a smile and shook his head, strumming his guitar again.
Finally, three strums later, and Jay and Jungmo joining in, Heechul decided that they could start practice. Zhou Mi and Donghae waved goodbye, leaving the band to practice. Han Geng followed them out to the bar a moment later.
Zhou Mi was very careful not to ask about the situation of Han Geng’s relationship, because it was obviously very different than he had thought. They settled into a table, Jongwoon and Ryeowook joining them a few minutes later carrying drinks for everyone. Zhou Mi thanked Ryeowook and he only nodded as his fingers tangled with Jongwoon’s.
“They come on in about fifteen minutes.” Han Geng told them as they all turned towards the stage.
The chatter of the bar died down as the band walked up onto the stage and Zhou Mi watched each of them set up. Heechul was laughing and joking with the other guitarist, Jay, before finally settling into a serious face, and addressing the audience.
Zhou Mi wasn’t sure what kind of music he expected, something hard probably, that would give him a pounding headache. So he was surprised when all their songs were softer, ballads almost. Han Geng must have seen his face because he leaned back.
“The venue is small, so they don’t perform their more energetic songs. The crowd wouldn’t like it.”
Zhou Mi nodded, listening to the sound of Heechul and Jay’s voice meld together. It was different than the longue; he preferred the longue, but this was nice too.
The band finished and Zhou Mi got up, and headed to the bar. Donghae had joined Han Geng backstage, and Jongwoon and Ryeowook were both still wrapped up in each other. Zhou Mi pulled out his cell phone and he frowned when he didn’t have any missed calls, or text messages. Not that he expected any. They just would have been nice.
“Waiting for something?”
Zhou Mi looked over at Sungmin, no longer wearing any makeup and dressed a lot more casually than the ripped suit he had been wearing before. “Just making sure I didn’t miss any calls.”
“Are you waiting for one?” Sungmin leaned in close, the next band was coming up and they were playing a bit louder than Sungmin’s band.
“No.” Zhou Mi waved to the bartender to fill up his glass. “I wouldn’t mind one though.”
Sungmin nodded, and then asked the bartender for some water. “This is your first time at one of our shows, right?” Zhou Mi nodded. “You should come to a bigger venue next time.”
“Do you play bigger venues?”
Sungmin accepted his drink and nodded to Zhou Mi. “Yeah. This was just a one off. We’ve played here since we were young, and well, it means a lot to Heechul, the sap.” Zhou Mi must have looked ready for him to say more because he continued after a long drink of water. “Hankyung and him met here. Feels like forever ago.”
Zhou Mi gave a sound of acknowledgement, because he didn’t really know what else to say. Sungmin finished his water and looked at Zhou Mi. “You really don’t seem to comfortable here.”
Zhou Mi finally let out a laugh. “I’m not used to this environment. I go to different places than this.”
Sungmin nodded, paying for his drink with what looked like too large of a bill. “I’m buying his too.”
Zhou Mi tried to put up protest but Sungmin just shook his head. “You aren’t going to drink it. Come on, I’ll walk with you outside. Everyone else is going to be boring.” Zhou Mi was left waiting at the bar, unsure about what to do. Sungmin returned a few moments later, guitar case strung over his back and he waved for Zhou Mi to follow him.
“Are you sure no one will mind.”
Sungmin laughed. “Hankyung, Heechul and Siwon were backstage doing their ‘later’ thing, and Donghae was hounding Jay into buying him and Jungmo dinner so they could catch up.” Sungmin paused. “Wow we’ve been gone awhile.” He shook his head. “You sorta lose track of time when you don’t have people hounding for you to get home, you know?”
Zhou Mi didn’t know but as he walked with Sungmin down the street he thought it wouldn’t be worth saying he didn’t understand.
“Now which way are we going?”
Zhou Mi shrugged and then pointed in one direction. Sungmin puffed out his lower lip. “Nah, I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat. My treat.”
This was the part where Zhou Mi realized that someone might have been trying to pick him up. Sungmin smiled at him, clucking his tongue. Zhou Mi thought back to Kyuhyun and his hand wrapped around Seohyun’s. He thought about how much it hurt him, and how much he wanted to hurt them because he could finally admit it, he was immature and still in love with Kyuhyun.
If he could make Kyuhyun feel as bad as he did.
“Sure. But I’m not letting you pay for me.”
Sungmin laughed. “You don’t have much of an option.” He edged closer to Zhou Mi until their shoulders were brushing one another. “I could probably kick your ass.”
Zhou Mi smiled down at him and then shook his head. “I have almost twenty centimeters on you. You’d never win.”
Sungmin tossed his head back and laughed. It wasn’t Kyuhyun’s laugh, but Zhou Mi didn’t need it to be.
Chapter 3
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Qmi
Rating: +17
Summary: AU Kyuhyun is part of Zhou Mi's new high school class. Zhou Mi has been sleeping with him for two months. This is all very awkward.
Notes: For umberela. Okay no you guys this is really only half of what I wanted to put in but it got so long and so much was going on and :( really it's not that good. Like at all.
Chapter 1
Ryeowook’s dinner plate sat cold on the table when he got home. Zhou Mi didn’t look up from where he was washing his own dish in the kitchen sink. Ryeowook collapsed into his seat, gratefully falling on the food.
“Thank you for cooking tonight.”
“It’s the least I could do.” Zhou Mi made a point of keeping his back to Ryeowook as he finished up his dishes. “Did you have a lot of paperwork?”
There was a cracking sound and Zhou Mi had to turn around. Ryeowook had dropped his glass into his plate and he was furiously cleaning it up, red faced. “No, no. It wasn’t nothing like that. I had an independent piano study with Henry Lau and then Jongwoon, the new voice teacher, came to talk to me about taking one of the voice classes next semester. I said that would be no problem.”
“Oh good you talked to him.” Zhou Mi let out a sigh of relief.
“He did.” Ryeowook pushed his food around. “He wasn’t too bad. A little self-centered but he’s okay. I suppose.”
“Can he sing?”
“Yeah.” Ryeowook let out a sigh, and it may have held a bit of whimsy to it. “He can carry a tune.” Zhou Mi was about to turn around, leaving Ryeowook to his thoughts, when he spoke up. “How did you spend your afternoon? You left right after your class?”
Zhou Mi grasped the rim of the sink. “I turned in the form for Kui Xian’s audition.” He swallowed. “I’m going in early to help judge with Jongwoon and the headmaster.”
“So you just cooked after that?”
“Pretty much.” Zhou Mi tried to keep his voice steady. “I did see Kui Xian, he was walking with a few of our students. We walked to the train station together.”
Ryeowook was suddenly besides him. “He came over?”
Zhou Mi didn’t look up from the drain. “No.” Ryeowook rubbed his bicep. “No, Kui Xian went-“
“Kyuhyun.” Ryeowook said gently. “Call him Kyuhyun.”
Zhou Mi turned his head to look Ryeowook in the eyes. He immediately looked back down. “He went with Changmin to his boyfriend’s apartment.”
“Changmin’s?” Zhou Mi nodded, trying to get through the lie. “How did you know where they were going?”
“Kui Xian told me. Well I mean, he mentioned it. To Tiffany, and…”
“Mimi you can’t lie to save your life.”
“I know.” Zhou Mi rested his head on the edge of the sink. “I know.”
“What really happened? Did he come over?”
“He followed me! He said we should just talk! We were supposed to just talk!”
Ryeowook took a deep breath and rested his hand on Zhou Mi’s shoulder, leading him to a chair. “Take a seat or you’ll start hyperventilating.” He took his own seat, pulling the chair around so he was right in front of Zhou Mi. “You can’t do that.”
“I know.”
Ryeowook licked his lips, opened his mouth and then closed it. He sighed. “You’re an adult Mimi, so I don’t need to give you lecture about responsibility or what this means. But Mi. Maybe you need to hear it.”
“I already know. I told him it’s over. And it is.” Zhou Mi tried so hard to sound convinced, but Ryeowook’s arched eyebrow and frown told him he was not managing to be successful.
Ryeowook finally nodded. “Alright. I believe you.” He stood up, moving his chair back. “Did he at least pick up his clothes?”
“His clothes?” Zhou Mi didn’t like the look Ryeowook got at that question.
“Kyuhyun was beginning to fill a couple drawers in our closet with spare clothing. I don’t think there was much in there; the first time I saw him storing anything in there was last week, and he just put in a towel, some toiletries and an extra change of his work clothes.”
“He. He’d been leaving his clothes over?”
Ryeowook shrugged, picking up his half eaten plate of food. “There was a reason I was telling you to ask him to just move in. He was already starting.”
Zhou Mi could only let out a laugh, folding his arms on the table and burying his face in his elbows. “He was moving in.” He suddenly pulled himself up. “I’ll give him a call.”
“Excuse me?” Ryeowook spun around. “No. That is not proper break up etiquette! Especially for a break up that needs to happen.” He put his hands on his hips. “No.”
“Then what should I do? Keep him after class? Would that help?”
Ryeowook went silent and he shook his head. “No. No it wouldn’t.” Zhou Mi couldn’t stop the smile crossing his face at the tiny win; he couldn’t even explain why he felt victorious. “But. Mi I think you should, I think if you start forcing yourself to see other people as soon as possible, it will make it easier.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “What?”
Ryeowook stepped up to him. “I phrase it that way because at first you will be forcing yourself. No one will match up to him, but soon someone will. You need to start looking now though, instead of later.”
“Ryeowook, it’s not even been a day.” It hit him then. He’d woken up fifteen hours ago and everything was fine between them.
“I know but. Mimi, you will keep going back to him if you don’t try to get over him. If you just ignore dating you’ll go back until he doesn’t want you anymore.” Zhou Mi wanted to talk about clothing and he was moving in and maybes. Ryeowook was adamant. “I don’t want my best friend to have his heart broken more than once.”
“But Ryeowook-“
“And I also don’t want him to lose his job. Mi have you noticed who he hangs out with? One of his friends will notice he’s dating someone, and between Tiffany’s gossiping, and Seohyun and Changmin’s intelligence they will work it out. You’ll start having private practice. You’ll start doing things. Taking risks. You’ll get caught. And then he’ll leave you because he doesn’t want you to get hurt.”
“How do you know? How can just say that? How can you plan all that out? How do you know?”
Ryeowook went silent again, and he practically slunk away, back to the kitchen sink. “There’s a thrill to it.” He spoke to his dishes. “And, I know you Mimi. It will be hard for you to lead a double life. He may be mature, he may be on our level, but he can’t come out with us, and you can’t go out with him and his friends. And that would kill you.”
Zhou Mi swallowed and thought about it. Thought about Changmin; he was an intelligent boy, dating an older man as well, but not as old. Would Changmin judge? Would Kyuhyun ever tell him? Would Kyuhyun have anyone to confide in? To talk with about things they did, the ups and downs of trying to make it work? He’d read enough romance novels, and lived long enough, to know that you needed at least one person.
“I’m going to call him.”
Ryeowook didn’t stop him, just scrubbed faster at his dishes. Zhou Mi locked his door after checking in the hallway closet to see that Kyuhyun had been moving clothing into the apartment. He took his cell phone off of the bedside table; he was slightly upset at the lack of new messages. He flicked the phone open and dialed Kyuhyun’s number. The pop song played back at him and Zhou Mi had a moment of wondering if he knew Kyuhyun had liked this band. He was trying hard to convince himself they had nothing besides sex. Kyuhyun picked up the phone with a distant “hello?” and he knew better.
“You. Tomorrow you’ll need to come to school even earlier because I want to give you the clothing you’ve left here.” There he said the purpose of the call, he could hang up.
“What? Are you speaking Mandarin?” Kyuhyun suddenly sounded closer and Zhou Mi heard a couple of laughs in the background. “You know mine isn’t that good. I can only sing pretty in it.”
Zhou Mi swallowed. Kyuhyun was teasing him, and Zhou Mi heard the clicks of a computer, another voice speaking up. One of them was Changmin. This wasn’t good. “Your clothing. You’ve left some here.”
“Oh yeah. I did. I’ll come over then.”
“No!” Zhou Mi said. “No, Ryeowook is home.”
“Then I’ll come over tomorrow, after school. He doesn’t get home until long after you do, does he?”
“That’s not what I meant! You can’t come over at all. I’ll bring them tomorrow morning. Before your audition.”
There was a moment of silence on the other line and Zhou Mi heard only clicking. The other voice, Changmin’s boyfriend, was muttering and it picked up on the phone. Zhou Mi couldn’t understand him.
“That’s an inconvenience.”
“Well it’s an inconvenience for you to come over.” Zhou Mi snapped back immediately, not thinking. Kyuhyun went silent again and Zhou Mi wasn’t sure it was because of what he had said or if because what he was doing was more entertaining.
“I promise I won’t sleep with you this time.” Kyuhyun finally said and Zhou Mi could hear someone, probably Changmin, start to cough loudly in the background. “If you were worried.”
“I wasn’t.”
“So I’ll come over tomorrow.”
“Is that your millionaire’s wife?” Zhou Mi heard in the background.
“Sounded a bit too much like a man if it was Changmin.” The other person Kyuhyun was with said.
“Millionaire’s have weird tastes.”
Kyuhyun let the two of them continue to chatter and Zhou Mi wondered for a moment if he had been forgotten. “I’ll take the silence as yes.”
“No! I told you, you can’t come over.”
“Mimi, let me come over. We’ll talk.” Kyuhyun’s voice had dropped and Zhou Mi swallowed the lump in his throat. He heard a choked laugh in the background.
“No Kui Xian. I’ll bring the clothes tomorrow.” Zhou Mi hung up the phone before Kyuhyun could respond. He stared at the phone, trying to feel proud of himself for being the adult.
He kept thinking he might not have been though.
Kyuhyun had picked up his clothes with no fuss. Zhou Mi wasn’t sure if that was because he had intentionally dragged Ryeowook along with him or not. Kyuhyun did stick around for a moment to ask Ryeowook a question or two about their piano homework, and Zhou Mi sat there still as possible while the two talked intensely about the piece they were working on in the class.
Zhou Mi had a moment of fear that Kyuhyun had talked to stall because they ended up walking to the audition together. Kyuhyun didn’t try to bring him into conversation though. Zhou Mi felt like maybe they should talk though. He held himself back.
“He has talent.” Jongwoon commented after Kyuhyun had run through his audition. He was talking with the headmaster about his schedule while the two of them tried to place him. “Definitely a good catch to put him up a few ranks. Are you thinking Voice IV?”
Zhou Mi looked away from Kyuhyun and slowly nodded. “I think that class will benefit him the most. Based off the curriculum.”
“It’s also at the end of the day, so if he does end up struggling to keep up with everyone else he’ll be able to stay after without worrying about missing another class.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “Yes.” He thought maybe this was his punishment for sleeping with someone under aged.
He changed his mind though, when his Voice II class started and everyone was talking about Kyuhyun transferring to a higher class. He barely got any work done while the entire class chattered in between lines about Kyuhyun and how great he must be. Zhou Mi thought he heard Tiffany mentioning hooking him up with one of her friends, but that may have been his imagination overreacting. And apparently news traveled fast because all his other classes mentioned it at least once.
He welcomed his final class, Voice IV and began to rearrange the twelve students so Kyuhyun had a place. The class managed to run through half of a song; he had to be tough on everyone, and he made sure that everyone stood up and did a solo at least once during the class. Everyone in the class stared when it was Kyuhyun’s turn, passing judgment to make sure this fresh face was deserving.
“Very good class. I want you all to practice matching pitches tonight. I’m going to quiz you on it at some point. This may be simple Voice I work, but some students lose it.”
The class grumbled good naturedly as they filed out for either club activities or to head home. Zhou Mi hoped that Kyuhyun would stay behind. He didn’t even glance at him as he walked out the door.
Class ran smoothly, Zhou Mi thought. His life was running pretty smoothly, given the break up had happened almost two weeks ago. He was beginning to be able to handle Kyuhyun’s presence in his classroom, considering the fact that Kyuhyun made a point not to talk or look at him unless absolutely necessary. Zhou Mi realized that Kyuhyun was treating him as just a teacher. And not even a teacher he really liked.
The first time he made him stay after it was because Kyuhyun’s voice sounded a little scratchy. It was purely professional, and not at all based of his own desire to keep Kyuhyun there and try to get some sort of reaction.
“You aren’t straining your voice with your work are you?”
“I think I may have been sick Mr. Joo. Is that the only reason you need me after class? I have a club meeting with a few people, so if you don’t mind.”
“Drink this before you go. I don’t want you damaging your voice.” Kyuhyun drank the tea, not looking at Zhou Mi. “How are your other classes doing?”
“Okay.”
Zhou Mi frowned but continued to question. “And work?”
“That’s okay too. I’m finished with my tea.”
Zhou Mi let him leave. The next day he kept him after class because he messed up his surprise pitch test. He’d actually done so poorly Zhou Mi thought for a moment that he was trying to get him to stay after on purpose. They ran through the quiz again, and the fourth time Kyuhyun messed up Zhou Mi had to stop them.
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
Kyuhyun shook his head. “I had a long night Mr. Joo. I needed to work a double shift.”
Zhou Mi had never heard of that happening to him before. “A double shift?”
“The other singer, the one who sings from midnight to four, has strep throat. So I’ve had to step in.”
Zhou Mi frowned and stood up to make more tea. “I’m going to have to report you for working if you can’t handle both.”
Kyuhyun was silent as Zhou Mi finished making the tea. He spoke after Zhou Mi handed him the cup. “I’ll work harder.”
“That’s not what I want to hear.”
Kyuhyun took a sip of the tea. “I can promise you that’s what I’ll do though.”
“Why did you keep him after this time?” Ryeowook asked. That had begun to be the question he asked every time Zhou Mi got home now. He was staying later than Ryeowook, sometimes going up until Kyuhyun had to work at seven. He hadn’t started to leave with Kyuhyun, so he would finish what paper work he did have at the school and come home at some time.
“He’s trying to balance work with school.”
Ryeowook sighed but didn’t go into a lecture about the importance of being unbiased. They both knew that for anyone else, Zhou Mi would have reported him; it was his job.
“Would you tell me if anything happened?”
“Nothing has happened Ryeowook.”
Nothing had happened, even if it crossed Zhou Mi’s mind. By the next week, once Kyuhyun’s co-worker had finally gotten fully over his strep throat, Kyuhyun was staying after for less important reasons.
“Mr. Joo, may I stay after to do some homework?” Zhou Mi looked up from his desk, not even bothering to check if anyone else was in the room.
“What homework, Kui Xian?”
“Every class.”
Zhou Mi nodded, letting Kyuhyun take a seat at his desk while he worked. He kept glancing up at Kyuhyun, watching his hands scratch out notes and words for various classes. He was soon not even paying attention to the work he had told himself he had to get finished, and was instead watching Kyuhyun outright, tracing his jaw line and over his lips, imagining. Kyuhyun didn't seem to notice, not looking up as Zhou Mi heard his own breath catch as his mind wandered back to Kyuhyun’s fingers, tangling in his hair, pulling him over the desk for a kiss.
Kyuhyun’s tongue licked him lips and Zhou Mi subconsciously mimicked him, shifting in his seat. His pants were getting too tight and he felt like an eighteen-year-old again. Kyuhyun turned a page in his book and Zhou Mi thought, maybe if he just reached across the table, grabbed his attention. Would Kyuhyun tell him no?
The door to his room opened with a bang and Henry stumbled in, his backpack slung around his shoulder. He glanced around and finally rested his eyes on Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. He tried to grin as he walked up to the desk, adjusting his backpack.
“Mr. Joo. Is this a bad time?” Zhou Mi frowned, worry overtaking his disappointment; Henry was paler than normal and his hands were shaking.
“No. Kui Xian is just doing some homework here. Is there a problem?” He couldn’t take his eyes off of Henry’s shaking hands. “Have you eaten?”
Henry looked down at his hands before shoving them in his pocket. “I skipped lunch. I was at. I stopped in at Mr. Kim’s independent piano class to talk about missing our practice tonight. I need.” He was struggling with his words and Zhou Mi opened his desk, taking out the sliced fruit he had saved from lunch.
He handed it over to Henry. “Here eat this.” He stood up and guided Henry to a seat, helping him sit. “You can’t be stressing out about the semester already. It’s only been a month or so.” He rubbed Henry’s shoulder comfortingly as Henry began to pick absently at the fruit. “Take you time. What do you need?” He asked the question in Mandarin, hoping it would help Henry sort out his thoughts. Zhou Mi couldn’t imagine what it was like with four languages rattling around in your brain; he could barely handle two.
“Practice. Mr. Kim is under a lot of problems; he really doesn’t have time to deal with a private class with me every day, and I’m not taking piano in school. I should focus on singing, since I know I’m struggling in that.” He finally looked up at Zhou Mi. “Can I just have some extra practice with you after class? After school.”
Zhou Mi frowned. “I’m not sure you can handle more class. Why don’t you take the afternoon’s off?”
Henry shook his head. “I want the extra practice. I coasted through Voice I. I need to actually do work to get a decent grade in this class.”
“Mr. Joo, I’d be willing to help you.” Kyuhyun spoke up and Henry shot a relieved look towards him, unclenching his hands from the plastic wrap that he had started to tear up. “I’m here everyday anyway. And it will help me as well.”
Henry turned his head back to Zhou Mi, looking hopeful. Zhou Mi sighed. “We’ll start off with only having practice twice a week. I really don’t think you’re that far behind Henry, and I’d rather see you relax on your afternoons than over exert yourself.”
“I’ll be fine Mr. Joo.”
Zhou Mi wasn’t sure he believed him, having seen many students burn out, but he nodded anyway and led Henry to the piano. “We’ll go through the piece we worked on today. Can you handle that?”
Henry nodded, picking up the sheet music. They worked until Henry stopped shaking, and then Zhou Mi sent him home after promising him that they would continue practice. Henry left Zhou Mi’s room with a wave and Zhou Mi thought he might have made a comment about seeing Mr. Han, one of the dance instructors. Zhou Mi hoped he wasn’t planning on asking for more practice to fill up the other days, but when he expressed that Kyuhyun just laughed.
“I’ve only been here for a month and I already know that the students who plan on running themselves into the ground are going to do it no matter what.”
Zhou Mi frowned, watching Kyuhyun begin to collect his things. “It’s not healthy.”
“No. It’s not, but this is some people’s passion. You should know that.”
Zhou Mi rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Could you talk to him? Maybe convince him to take a break once in a while?”
Kyuhyun swung his bag over his shoulder. “Sure, but I already know what he’ll say.” Zhou Mi waited patiently. “He’s not skipping lunch anymore.” Kyuhyun shrugged when Zhou Mi looked confused. “He used to skip lunch to sit in on Ryeowook’s independent piano class. I went with him and Seohyun once or twice, because Ryeowook is always accommodating but he went everyday. And he had practice after orchestra club too. I’ve heard them sometimes.”
Zhou Mi stood up, packing up his own things, as Kyuhyun spoke. “I’ll talk to Ryeowook about him as well. I hope he hasn’t been pushing him too much.”
Kyuhyun didn’t say anything to that, just waited for Zhou Mi to join him in walking out of the building. They walked side by side for half a block before Zhou Mi even noticed what had happened. He distanced himself as subtly as he could and by the time they reached the subway station Zhou Mi felt there was an adequate distance between them; Kyuhyun walking on one side of the sidewalk and him on the other side right by the road.
Kyuhyun stepped down the subway stairs and looked back at Zhou Mi. “Do you want to come by my work?” He asked.
Zhou Mi wet his lips, thinking. He should say no. He needed to say no. All he wanted to do though was say yes. It’s all he had been waiting for, a little acknowledgement from Kyuhyun that maybe they could find some middle ground.
“I can’t.” He found himself saying. “I really need to ask Ryeowook about Henry.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth formed an “oh” and he nodded. Zhou Mi regretted his decision immediately but Kyuhyun had already started jogging down the stairs, leaving Zhou Mi at the top. He swallowed, mentally kicking himself, and started his own pace down the stairs.
When he got home he locked himself in the bathroom and took a long shower, trying to wash away everything from the day. He was just frustrated, he told himself. He was just holding onto something. He was just being stupid. He rubbed his face vigorously as he thought of Kyuhyun and Henry and how they were supposed to be exactly the same. He should treat them the same. They were his students.
He dropped his hand to his cock, fisting roughly, unable to get the image of Kyuhyun bent over his desk out of his mind. He hoped that maybe he could force it out, and he bit his forearm as the water turned cold and he came to the image of Kyuhyun sucking him off under his desk while he tried to lecture to a classroom and failed because Kyuhyun would use his teeth and graze over the head of cock.
He fell asleep the moment he was done, collapsing into his bed. It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized Ryeowook hadn’t come home at all. Zhou Mi wasn’t worried too much; sometimes Ryeowook would go home to visit his parents, and maybe if he had had too much to drink he would spend the night. He really didn’t believe that his roommate was dead in a ditch, though the fact that he managed to beat Ryeowook to work did make him a little nervous.
He headed to his own classroom, hoping Ryeowook would be kind and pop his head in to just assure him he was alright. He was greeted by Kyuhyun sitting outside his class instead, writing out a composition.
“Is everything okay?” Zhou Mi asked, trying not to blush as Kyuhyun looked up at him through his bangs.
“I was hoping to talk with you in private.” When Zhou Mi opened his mouth to protest Kyuhyun scrambled to his feet and lowered his voice. “It’s not about us.”
Zhou Mi hesitated but he nodded, letting both of them into the classroom. Kyuhyun stayed near the door, giving him his space.
“I spoke with Henry last night.”
Zhou Mi looked up. “Really? Did he tell you anything?”
“He did.” Kyuhyun took a step forward. “He broke up with his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend?”
Kyuhyun nodded, moving towards the desk. “She’s a bit older than him. They were on again off again all through out the break apparently, and they broke up during his lunch break yesterday.”
Zhou Mi nodded, relieved. “Oh, that’s good. Well it’s not good but, at least it’s something he’ll get over.”
“I don’t know if he’ll get over it yet.”
“Why?”
Kyuhyun grinned, and Zhou Mi thought he looked a bit too happy at the idea that Henry was suffering heartbreak. “Because he has to see his ex everyday.”
Zhou Mi’s stomach dropped as Kyuhyun sat on his desk. He shifted in his seat, pushing back up against the wall. “Don’t you have a class soon?”
Kyuhyun shrugged. “Yes.” He picked up a sheet of paper, glancing over it. “I’m not actually telling you the whole truth.”
Zhou Mi looked up at his face, mouth agape. “What?”
“Henry and I have a lot in common.” Zhou Mi cocked his head to the side, confused. Kyuhyun smirked, leaning forward. “I guess us teacher-fuckers can sense each other.”
Zhou Mi sucked in a breath, leaning back. His mind flipped through all the female teachers. He tried to calm his breathing. “He knows?”
“Do you want to know which teacher?”
“Did you tell him about us?”
“It was Ryeowook.”
Zhou Mi sucked in a breath. “What?”
Kyuhyun leaned back. “Henry was with Ryeowook. Ryeowook was with Henry.”
“Oh.” Zhou Mi fell silent as he processed this. “Oh.”
Kyuhyun sighed and stood. “So that’s why Henry was upset. He walked in on Ryeowook and the new voice teacher kissing; and that’s why he decided to drop Ryeowook’s independent study class.”
Zhou Mi swallowed and rubbed his temple. “That would explain that.” He glanced at Kyuhyun and then shut his eyes. “You need to get to class. Thank you for telling me about Henry.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What can I do? Go to class.” Zhou Mi stood up, starting to organize his papers absently.
Kyuhyun stood there for a moment before speaking. “No.”
Zhou Mi looked at him. “Kui Xian. Please.”
Kyuhyun set his lips and adjusted his bag. “Fine.” He turned and walked out of the classroom, leaving Zhou Mi there by himself.
He didn’t come by after class, leaving with the rest of the students after spending the entirety of the class barely singing.
Zhou Mi convinced himself it was for the best, them not talking. He needed to think because he felt tricked, and most importantly lied to. He just really didn't know how to tell Ryeowook.
Ryeowook made it easy for him though; he was home when Zhou Mi finally got home from spending two hours after school with Henry. That had been awkward but Zhou Mi had plowed through it because Henry looked like he had really needed to be there and not talk about anything.
Ryeowook smiled at Zhou Mi, putting down the take out food. “I already ate.”
“With Jongwoon?”
They both froze, Ryeowook out of shock and Zhou Mi out of pure dumb ‘I am good ninja, fear my subtly.’
Ryeowook sighed, breaking the silence as he pushed the carton of take out towards Zhou Mi. “How did you know?” He picked up the dishes he had already cleaned and began putting them away, tossing the ones he deemed unclean back into the sink so he could clean them again. Zhou Mi would usually laugh at the way Ryeowook handled stress but today…
“Well I haven’t seen you since yesterday morning.” Zhou Mi was impressed by his lying skills so far. “And since Henry was with me at various points since then, I know it wasn’t him you spent the night with.”
They both winced. Zhou Mi felt he should really head back to ninja school.
“How?” Ryeowook sat down. “I. Who told you?”
“You know Ryeowook, when a student comes to a teacher, begging for extra practice, shaking so hard that I think that maybe it’s because they’ve been starving themselves, stretching themselves too thin, and really it’s just because they walked in on their lover with someone else?”
Ryeowook let out a chuckle. He wasn’t looking at Zhou Mi. “You aren’t mad about that.”
“I’m mad at you.”
“Why? Because I didn’t tell you?”
“Yes! Because you told me to quit it with Kui Xian when you were knowingly fucking a student Ryeowook!”
“And why do you think I told you to break up with him? Because I knew! I knew what you were going through! I knew where it would lead!” They were both shouting at each other now and Zhou Mi was glad that they had control over their tempers or else dishes might start getting thrown.
“That wasn’t fair Ryeowook.” Zhou Mi took a breath and collapsed into his seat. “It wasn’t. You shouldn’t. You can’t run everyone’s life.”
“So I was supposed to just sit there, and watch you and Kyuhyun try and hide it, and listen to teachers talk and not be able to say anything because I can’t lie any better than you?” When Zhou Mi had nothing to say Ryeowook continued. “He was my friend too you know. I liked him too and I was happy that he was starting to move in with us. I liked him being around us, and I liked what he did for you. But Zhou Mi. I wouldn’t be able to watch you two destroy each other.”
“Why would you think that would happen? Because you destroyed Henry? Henry Lau who was so upset today that he had to write the letter representation of the notes down because he couldn’t focus?”
“This isn’t about him so just leave it out.”
Zhou Mi swallowed. “You’re right.” It hurt to admit. “I’m mad that you didn’t tell me. I’m mad that you kept seeing him even while you were policing me and Kui Xian. I’m just, mad about this whole thing.” He rested his head in his hand. “I want him back Ryeowook.”
Ryeowook tossed his head back. “No. No. No. This isn’t what I wanted to happen.”
“Fuck you.” Zhou Mi mumbled and Ryeowook froze because Zhou Mi wasn’t looking at him, focused on the tiles of their kitchen floor. “Fuck you, and what you want, and what you think is best for me.”
Ryeowook said nothing as Zhou Mi got up and locked himself in his room. He sat on the edge of his bed waiting for Ryeowook to come knock on the door. It never came. After a few minutes that seemed to drag on for too long as the sink turned on and off while Ryeowook finished his stress reliever of cleaning, the front door opened and then shut. Zhou Mi grabbed his phone, stared at it. Ryeowook had left.
“Come over.” He typed into his phone. His hand hovered over the send button. He typed in a few more words. “I need you.” Deleted them because they sounded to cheesy. Typed in a smiley face. Deleted it because he’d never lied to Kyuhyun before. Finally he deleted the “come over” because he could handle this in the morning. When he wasn’t torn between crying and screaming, and he could focus on Kyuhyun and Kyuhyun alone.
He ended up being late to school the next day. He’d lain awake, hoping that Ryeowook would get home, or that Kyuhyun would text him but neither of those things happened. He figured he’d gotten maybe two hours of sleep, if he was lucky, and he still ended up walking in with the majority of the students.
He stopped in his tracks as Ryeowook passed him, walking alongside Jongwoon, chatting with a big smile on his face. Ryeowook didn’t acknowledge his gaze and once the two of them were ahead of Zhou Mi, he started walking again. The two of them were talking about a film, probably something they had watched last night, and Zhou Mi felt another sting. Ryeowook hadn’t even bothered mentioning he was seeing someone else.
Zhou Mi shook his head, falling further back as they approached the school gate. He watched the ground instead, so he didn’t have to see the group of students pass him by. He heard them though, singing loudly to one of the latest pop songs.
“Sing with us Henry~” Kibum called, and Zhou Mi finally did glance up to see Henry squished between Kibum and Jinki, both of their arms thrown over his shoulders as they tried to drag him into skipping with them. Behind them Tiffany was laughing with Jessica.
Zhou Mi looked up ahead to see if Ryeowook had given any reaction to Kibum singing Henry’s name, but if anything he just pressed himself closer to Jongwoon and disappeared inside the school gate. He looked back, frowning because Kyuhyun wasn’t there with them. Maybe he had spent the night with Changmin and his boyfriend?
Tiffany suddenly turned around, and Zhou Mi felt himself stop as she started to bounce up and down waving, the biggest smile on her face ever. Jessica and the other turned around as well and Jinki dropped his arm from Henry’s shoulder, letting out a whistle that quickly dissolved into laughter.
Zhou Mi could only watch, mouth hanging open as Kyuhyun came up to his group of friends, dragging Seohyun behind him. Tiffany couldn’t contain her glee anymore as she threw herself around Seohyun while the other girl blushed, before they both erupted in to giggles. Kyuhyun shook his head, smiling as he slung his arm around Henry, pulling him close and whispering something in his ear that made him smirk ever so slightly.
None of them were paying attention to Zhou Mi as Tiffany and Jessica jokingly teased Seohyun until she was blushing and Kyuhyun reached over, pulling her from their grasp. She turned red but let their hands intertwine.
Zhou Mi started walking, before Tiffany saw him. He knew he’d have to deal with the giggles and the laughter during their block, and he’d rather lose his composure when Kyuhyun wasn’t there, staring at him. He jogged up to Ryeowook and Jongwoon; they must have stopped and talked to someone, and he put his hand on Ryeowook’s shoulder. Ryeowook turned, frowning but Zhou Mi must have looked a mess already because the frown dropped into sympathy quickly.
“What?”
“We. Tonight.” Suddenly Korean was the hardest thing to speak and Zhou Mi had to swallow several times. He was a mix of angry and hurt and he really hated this feeling because he was mad at Seohyun when she was just a child. “Or now.”
Ryeowook turned around, glancing to find what had made him upset no doubt but Zhou Mi couldn’t hear them so they were probably all still outside the gate. Ryeowook grabbed his wrist and started to pull him towards the school, waving to Jongwoon.
“I’ll see you later.” Ryeowook called and Jongwoon just waved back, a fond smile on his face.
Zhou Mi thought about apologizing but Ryeowook had already pulled them into his classroom. With the door locked Ryeowook felt comfortable spinning on Zhou Mi and grilling him for answers.
“What happened? Did you sleep with him again? Did he hurt you? Did he reject you?”
Zhou Mi was shaking his head as hard as he could. “No. No.” He wasn’t going to cry. He was too angry, too upset to cry. He was jealous and it sucked. “I. I didn’t call him. He didn’t come over. I was waiting for today. To talk with him. We, yesterday, he’d told me about you and Henry and I was mad at you, and I was mad at myself and he was just trying to be helpful and I’d really messed up that one.” Zhou Mi took a breath. “I wanted to work it out with him today, but I think, I mean from what I saw.”
Ryeowook couldn’t take it anymore. “What? What happened?”
“He asked Seohyun out.” Zhou Mi got out with a wheeze.
“What?”
“He.” Zhou Mi stopped. “They were holding hands, and Tiffany was really happy and they were being teased. And I think he asked her out last night.”
Ryeowook took a few steps back, stumbling into a chair. “But. Why?”
Zhou Mi spun around, heading towards his desk. “I don’t know! Because he likes her. Because I pissed him off. Because he’s finally figured out that we aren’t going to last and he’d rather be with someone his own age, who he can be seen with and go on dates with. I don’t know!” He grabbed a tissue from his desk, blowing his nose, and then grabbed another one to wipe his eyes with. “I should get over him, shouldn’t I?”
Ryeowook was silent and then he finally nodded. “Yeah. You should.”
Zhou Mi tossed the used tissues on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “I should see other people.”
“Yeah.”
“He is. I should.”
“Yeah.”
Zhou Mi let out a big breath as someone knocked on his door and Ryeowook scrambled to unlock it. Zhou Mi was hopeful, if it was Kyuhyun he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t ask Ryeowook; he wouldn't try to get over Kyuhyun. Jongwoon popped his head in.
“Do you need me to take over your first class?” He asked Ryeowook, not even glancing at Zhou Mi.
Ryeowook smiled, but shook his head. “No. I’ll just be a moment.” The bell rung and Jongwoon shook his head, closing the door. Ryeowook turned back to Zhou Mi. “Are you really going to do this?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “I just need to remember how to ask people out. It’s been awhile.”
Ryeowook pursed his lips. “Jongwoon mentioned, that Han Geng’s wife’s band was performing tonight. Han Geng always says that we are invited, even if it tends to get a little, what was his phrasing, intense?”
Zhou Mi didn’t know so he only shrugged. He remembered Han Geng’s wife, tall and almost too thin, with her hair pulled up in a lazy bun. He’d only seen her a couple of times but she seemed to suit Han Geng with her light teasing, well okay maybe not light but Zhou Mi thought their flirting was cute. But he couldn’t remember her being the type to be in a band.
“But. I still am really bad at introducing myself.”
Ryeowook laughed. “I’m sure Heechul will introduce you to one of her band mates. According to Jongwoon they are all really gay.”
Zhou Mi didn’t have the heart to get too excited. Even though he said he was ready to move on, he knew he wasn’t.
Voice II didn’t help him. Tiffany would not stop giggling every time Seohyun sang, and okay, Zhou Mi would admit, he picked on her. She took the little bit of torture that his conscious let him doll out, and it just made him want to watch her fail. But then he felt himself get sick with regret because she was innocent. It’s not like she knew about him, and was gloating about winning Kyuhyun. So he couldn’t really hate her.
Changmin made it even harder for him. He stopped in front of Zhou Mi after class, and fiddled for a few minutes, talking about the homework while everyone filed out. Once the door shut he spoke up.
“Can you talk to Kyuhyun for me?”
Zhou Mi balked and choked on his own spit. “What?”
Changmin shuffled his feet. “He’s really close with you Mr. Joo and I know he’s going through a rough time. He’s not on Star Craft anymore, and now all of a sudden he asked out Seohyun, and I mean she’s a sweetheart and they are cute but. Something’s not right.”
“I don’t know why you think I could help him.”
“Well he stays after with you right? Just talk to him.” Changmin looked close to stomping his foot in annoyance but Zhou Mi just shook his head.
“I don’t think I can help you.”
Zhou Mi bit his lip, but made it through the rest of the day without worrying too much about Kyuhyun. The back of his mind told him that if Changmin was concerned, but Zhou Mi didn’t care and just kept focusing on what would happen that night. Even if he couldn’t find someone for more than a cheap fling, it would be enough of a step in the right direction.
Han Geng took them by subway towards the area the bar was at. Zhou Mi had stayed after until it was time for them to go, secretly hoping that Kyuhyun would pop his head in. There was no such luck since he had left the classroom almost immediately after, not responding verbally to the call from one of the upper students about going to pick up his girl friend, but Zhou Mi saw the smirk and he knew, deep down, that he wasn’t going to see him that night.
Kyuhyun didn’t show, and so he was left crowded on the subway, smashed between Han Geng and Ryeowook while Jongwoon and one of the other dance instructors, Donghae, talked on the other side of Ryeowook. He didn’t feel as overdressed since Ryeowook and Jongwoon were both in suits like him.
“How is Heechul?” Zhou Mi asked, feeling a little awkward that he was tagging along when he didn’t know much about the woman.
“Good. Busy, but good.” Han Geng smiled fondly. “Their band is taking off, finally. They’ve only been together for, what has it been, ten years? Since high school.” Zhou Mi smiled as Han Geng rambled away in Chinese, talking about how they had hired a new drummer last summer, a boy fresh out of the military and now headed into college. “We were lucky.”
Zhou Mi laughed. “I think it’s cute how you count yourself a part of the band.”
“With Heechul, you don’t really have much of an option.”
“How long have you two been married?”
Han Geng paused and then let out a laugh. The other three turned towards them, waiting for Han Geng to catch his breath so they could listen to the rest of the conversation. “We aren’t married.” He said between laughter. “People just assume these things.” He smiled at Zhou Mi. “Heechul thinks it’s funny when people call us a married couple, so we let them.”
Ryeowook blushed, Han Geng had gone back to speaking Korean and Zhou Mi tried to get out an apology. Han Geng let out another laugh. “It’s okay. Really.”
The atmosphere was calmed after that and they were all talking with one another when they finally got off of the subway. Han Geng lead them through the streets, Jongwoon tossing an arm around Ryeowook’s shoulders and helping him get through the streets. Zhou Mi fell back, walking beside Donghae.
“Have you gone to any of these concerts before?” Zhou Mi asked and Donghae nodded, hands stuffed in his pockets.
“A couple. It’s the only time I get to see Heechul-hyung so I have to, if I want to see him.”
Zhou Mi would have stopped dead that comment but Han Geng had started to jog, turning into one of the bars, waving for them to follow.
“Heechul. Is a boy?”
Donghae just let out a laugh, grabbed Zhou Mi’s shoulder and tugged him towards the door. Han Geng had obviously missed their conversation and Zhou Mi figured he might as well leave it be but Donghae pulled him down and whispered in his ear.
“Heechul likes going out with Han Geng, and the only way they can do that without getting nasty looks is for Heechul to utilize other means.” Donghae was grinning ear to ear as he said this.
Zhou Mi nodded, slowly understanding but not really. Donghae gave him a push through the crowd, urging him to follow Han Geng even as Ryeowook and Jongwoon broke off to head to the bar. Han Geng entered the back room, and through a couple more doors they were inside the green room. Zhou Mi stood awkward in the doorway as Donghae pushed passed him, to say hello to the three men tuning two guitars and a bass. Han Geng had walked straight to the back of the small room, where two people were sitting on the couch, lips attached.
Zhou Mi looked away, towards Donghae and the other three men, as Han Geng stripped the smaller person, Heechul, off the man beneath him. He looked debauched, trying to catch his breath as he shirt was undone and Zhou Mi tried not to keep looking at them.
One of the guitarists looked up and smiled brightly at him, eyes rimmed with dark makeup. “Do you work with Hankyung and Donghae?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “I’m Zhou Mi.”
The guitarist continued to smile and he pointed first to the bassist. “This is Jungmo.” Then the guitarist. “This is Jay, and I’m Sungmin.”
Zhou Mi smiled at each other them, and Jay gave a little wave before turning to look at Han Geng, Heechul and the other man.
“Are you done?”
Zhou Mi finally glanced at them, Han Geng between Heechul and the other guy, Heechul running his hands down Han Geng’s face. “Give me a few more minutes. We’ve missed him.”
Sungmin clicked his tongue, strumming his guitar. “You can make out with him later. We need to finish practicing.”
Heechul rolled his eyes but pulled away from Han Geng, and offered a hand to his fellow band mate. “We’ll finish this later.” He promised as he left Han Geng on the couch, nodding. He approached the rest of the band and finally he noticed Zhou Mi was there. “You!” He smiled wide and wound an arm around his neck. Zhou Mi hugged back. “Where is your cute little roommate?”
Zhou Mi couldn’t stop himself from laughing, the first time he had since this morning. “You mean Ryeowook? I think he’s out at the bar with Jongwoon.”
Heechul made a face but it quickly left as he reached out a hand towards Donghae before turning his attention back to Zhou Mi. “Those two.” He smiled at Zhou Mi. “Oh well, at least I get to see you again. How is everything going?” Zhou Mi heard someone, probably Sungmin, sigh as Heechul tried to stall. Heechul didn’t seem to care. “Here let me introduce you to our drummer, Siwon.”
Zhou Mi couldn’t look the other man in the eye, and it looked like he too was coming off of his hormone high.
Sungmin let out a louder sigh and gave another strum to his guitar but Heechul continued to ignore his persistence. Zhou Mi tried to send Sungmin a look to say that he was sorry but Sungmin just gave him a smile and shook his head, strumming his guitar again.
Finally, three strums later, and Jay and Jungmo joining in, Heechul decided that they could start practice. Zhou Mi and Donghae waved goodbye, leaving the band to practice. Han Geng followed them out to the bar a moment later.
Zhou Mi was very careful not to ask about the situation of Han Geng’s relationship, because it was obviously very different than he had thought. They settled into a table, Jongwoon and Ryeowook joining them a few minutes later carrying drinks for everyone. Zhou Mi thanked Ryeowook and he only nodded as his fingers tangled with Jongwoon’s.
“They come on in about fifteen minutes.” Han Geng told them as they all turned towards the stage.
The chatter of the bar died down as the band walked up onto the stage and Zhou Mi watched each of them set up. Heechul was laughing and joking with the other guitarist, Jay, before finally settling into a serious face, and addressing the audience.
Zhou Mi wasn’t sure what kind of music he expected, something hard probably, that would give him a pounding headache. So he was surprised when all their songs were softer, ballads almost. Han Geng must have seen his face because he leaned back.
“The venue is small, so they don’t perform their more energetic songs. The crowd wouldn’t like it.”
Zhou Mi nodded, listening to the sound of Heechul and Jay’s voice meld together. It was different than the longue; he preferred the longue, but this was nice too.
The band finished and Zhou Mi got up, and headed to the bar. Donghae had joined Han Geng backstage, and Jongwoon and Ryeowook were both still wrapped up in each other. Zhou Mi pulled out his cell phone and he frowned when he didn’t have any missed calls, or text messages. Not that he expected any. They just would have been nice.
“Waiting for something?”
Zhou Mi looked over at Sungmin, no longer wearing any makeup and dressed a lot more casually than the ripped suit he had been wearing before. “Just making sure I didn’t miss any calls.”
“Are you waiting for one?” Sungmin leaned in close, the next band was coming up and they were playing a bit louder than Sungmin’s band.
“No.” Zhou Mi waved to the bartender to fill up his glass. “I wouldn’t mind one though.”
Sungmin nodded, and then asked the bartender for some water. “This is your first time at one of our shows, right?” Zhou Mi nodded. “You should come to a bigger venue next time.”
“Do you play bigger venues?”
Sungmin accepted his drink and nodded to Zhou Mi. “Yeah. This was just a one off. We’ve played here since we were young, and well, it means a lot to Heechul, the sap.” Zhou Mi must have looked ready for him to say more because he continued after a long drink of water. “Hankyung and him met here. Feels like forever ago.”
Zhou Mi gave a sound of acknowledgement, because he didn’t really know what else to say. Sungmin finished his water and looked at Zhou Mi. “You really don’t seem to comfortable here.”
Zhou Mi finally let out a laugh. “I’m not used to this environment. I go to different places than this.”
Sungmin nodded, paying for his drink with what looked like too large of a bill. “I’m buying his too.”
Zhou Mi tried to put up protest but Sungmin just shook his head. “You aren’t going to drink it. Come on, I’ll walk with you outside. Everyone else is going to be boring.” Zhou Mi was left waiting at the bar, unsure about what to do. Sungmin returned a few moments later, guitar case strung over his back and he waved for Zhou Mi to follow him.
“Are you sure no one will mind.”
Sungmin laughed. “Hankyung, Heechul and Siwon were backstage doing their ‘later’ thing, and Donghae was hounding Jay into buying him and Jungmo dinner so they could catch up.” Sungmin paused. “Wow we’ve been gone awhile.” He shook his head. “You sorta lose track of time when you don’t have people hounding for you to get home, you know?”
Zhou Mi didn’t know but as he walked with Sungmin down the street he thought it wouldn’t be worth saying he didn’t understand.
“Now which way are we going?”
Zhou Mi shrugged and then pointed in one direction. Sungmin puffed out his lower lip. “Nah, I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat. My treat.”
This was the part where Zhou Mi realized that someone might have been trying to pick him up. Sungmin smiled at him, clucking his tongue. Zhou Mi thought back to Kyuhyun and his hand wrapped around Seohyun’s. He thought about how much it hurt him, and how much he wanted to hurt them because he could finally admit it, he was immature and still in love with Kyuhyun.
If he could make Kyuhyun feel as bad as he did.
“Sure. But I’m not letting you pay for me.”
Sungmin laughed. “You don’t have much of an option.” He edged closer to Zhou Mi until their shoulders were brushing one another. “I could probably kick your ass.”
Zhou Mi smiled down at him and then shook his head. “I have almost twenty centimeters on you. You’d never win.”
Sungmin tossed his head back and laughed. It wasn’t Kyuhyun’s laugh, but Zhou Mi didn’t need it to be.
Chapter 3