Knock. Knock. Knock.

A soft noise against the door, knuckles gently hitting the wood in a waking call. Then a light rustle of covers, fabric against fabric, and Ryeowook shifted in his bed once, disturbed but not at all bitter about being woken up.

"Wookie?" Heechul spoke, the door opened by a crack but the man never showed up, this time respectful of his brother's privacy once in a while "Get up, it's ten and you promised me to help check things at the studio today, remember?" 

He opened his eyes, slowly, and the first thing he saw was the shape of a dark hill filling his blurry sight, the sunlight appearing from behind it through cracks of the drawn curtains. 

"Wookie?" another call, before his tired mumble. Heechul got the verse and decided that his task was completed, glad that his brother wasn't throwing a fit nor ing around for being disturbed in his sleep.

Ryeowook groggily scrutinized his surroundings through the thick lashes, sigh after sigh the memories of the night dawned on him and second by second, as his sight adjusted to the filtering light overflowing into the room, he realized that the dark hill before his eyes was no other than Kyuhyun's back.

He shifted on his hip, lifting both knees to reach a fetal position and rested his head on the palms of his hands that were comfortably joint together on the soft pillows. Ryeowook silently watched as Kyuhyun as well shifted position and now laid on his back, his head slightly dangling on the side. Their quiet breaths were the only thing audible in the drowsy stillness of the room, before Ryeowook could get closer to Kyuhyun and adjust his head in a more comfortable position. Then the cover rustled and Ryeowook seemed to repulse the idea of backing off the warmth that radiated from Kyuhyun's body. 

He scooted closer to Kyuhyun, not knowing why his body responded in such a way, as if it absolutely needed and depended on that warmth to keep seeing the daylight, as if he wouldn't have been able to face the day without grasping enough vital energy from that sleeping man on his side.

And so he rolled as close as possible without waking him up, his only intention being the thorough study of his features, apparently sated by the tranquillity that he appeared to be in to at that moment. Everything, from the fluttering lashes, to the way his pouty, plump lips were slightly, parted, to the light blush coloring his cheeks and the way his hair had become a messy tangle.

Ryeowook propped himself on his elbow, so to have a better vision of the man, and with his free hand began to slowly slip his fingers through Kyuhyun's hair, wanting to disentangle the messiest locks, though they all had the consistence of pure silk to his touch. He did the same motion for a couple of minutes, over and over again, never tired of it, if not feeling almost peaceful as Kyuhyun kept sleeping through like a serene baby.

He then lowered his hand, caressing the edge of his cheek before tracing his neckline and stopping on his bare chest, still visible through the two halves of the torn shirt. He was having Kyuhyun defenseless for the second time in a row, and Ryeowook was considering the idea of profiting of the moment for a little while more. The strangest thought being bathing Kyuhyun in kisses as long as he couldn't feel any of them.

And so he lowered his face against Kyuhyun's chest and began to trace paths with his lips, his right hand accompanied his gestures as it gently the man's sides up and down against his ribs, leaving his s in fear of tickling him too much and have him suddenly wake up.

What he couldn't put into account was the unexpected reaction he got from Kyuhyun. As soon as he lifted his head to make sure Kyuhyun was still sleeping, Ryeowook noticed the man's lips slowly curling into a pleased smile.

He blushed, feeling a wave of unexpected heat stuffing his own chest and rising to his cheeks and nose, as if blocking it and preventing him to breathe properly.

Ryeowook lost his balance and crashed against Kyuhyun's body as this one slightly moved and lifted a knee.

"Wh-what...?" Kyuhyun's hoarse voice hit Ryeowook's ear while this one tried to lift himself from Kyuhyun.

He groaned as his body woke up together with his mind and quickly, too much quickly, memories of the spent night clicked into him right when his body registered the pain in his lower regions.

"Ouch...why does it hurt so much?" he tried to slide both hands behind to lift his tired body from the bed and rest with his back against the headboard, but Kyuhyun simply fell back with a little thud, powerless in front of the awkward discomfort felt between his legs.

He groggily blinked many times before adjusting his sight to the light, before noticing Ryeowook's cheeks as red as two apples and how this one twisted his crumpled t-shirt in his hands without ever looking straight into Kyuhyun's eyes.

"Hey...are you feeling well?" Kyuhyun asked, stretching both hands as he placed one on the back of Ryeowook's head and the other on his forehead. Ryeowook immediately pushed him away and slapped him on the chest: "Of course I am, worry about yourself first!"

"I damn am!" Kyuhyun grumbled, frowning "I perfectly recall you sticking it into me several times this past night, how can I not feel bad about that?!"

Ryeowook sighed, unable to fight the argument. He turned around and lifted the covers, ready to walk away from Kyuhyun at that point, if the man hadn't grasped his wrist and pulled him to crash one more time against his chest: "Well? Where do you want to go now? Aren't you gonna around like you always do after we have ?" Kyuhyun scrunched up his eyes in a funny inquisitory frown and poked Ryeowook's cheek with a finger.

"When have I ever?" Ryeowook scoffed, adorably puffing his cheeks and rolling eyes.

"Ehm...always?" Kyuhyun replied with another question.

"Thanks for labelling me as a , Kyu Kyu" Ryeowook sternly replied. He grabbed Kyuhyun's chin and pushed it to the right, diving then to the left to print a quick kiss onto the man's cheek as his personal revenge. Somehow he knew how much flustered and unable to process words nor thoughts that left Kyuhyun.

However, he couldn't quite understand already that such little actions were leaving he himself as well in the same condition, so, instead of thinking about how to verbally deal with him, Ryeowook preferred to run away from the scary option of going over what it really meant for him playing and screwing up with Kyuhyun.

Not when Kyuhyun was slowly getting way more comfortable with the practice. The game would somehow lose all its appeal.

"Apply this an your sore areas, it will help you coping with the pain" Ryeowook changed topic then and threw on the bed a small, round container of what looked like a sort of ointment for soothing bruises.

He ran away soon after and locked himself in the shower, while Kyuhyun slipped lower into the tangle of messy covers and decided to relax a little bit more while waiting for the shower to be empty and ready for use.

Ryeowook forced his mind to drown under the jet of boiling hot water, which splashed with brutal violence on his poor limbs as if to punish him for feeling strange things every single time he looked at Kyuhyun.

His skin had felt those soft hands grasping him, his hips, tracing his spine, grabbing his arms...and he didn't want, no, he couldn't dwell in the pleasant thought that he had actually liked the way his body recepted all those little but meaningful signs. Not when they were all imprinted in his burning skin, registered in the memory of his heart.

No more than four or five days had just gone by, but Ryeowook's rational side of his mind already realized that his eyes were looking at Kyuhyun in a more different way than the one he initially started everything with.

Perhaps, he shouldn't have started the game in the first place.

Perhaps, it was getting too dangerous: screwing up and dancing around each other like two desirous bees had meant to be a way to relieve stress, a way to get rid of unwanted suitors by having a fixed toy to play with, however, as time went by and Kyuhyun looked more resigned to take each and everyone of Ryeowook's whimiscal desires without complaining, Ryeowook himself couldn't help but notice his slight change of heart. And it was surely dangerous. 

Ryeowook realized that, while thinking too much on whatever was going on between him and Kyuhyun, he had held his breath for a little more than needed and risked to suffocate in the shower box.

He rushed to exhale the air that he had previously let in and not released on time, his hands slipped on the wet tiles as he tried to touch the surrounding walls for support and didn't find anything that satisfied him. He simply stood under the shower head, his back slightly bent forwards as he looked at how the stream of soapy water ran between his feet and down the drain.

He looked down in shame and his tears got mixed with the drops of water that fell in his eyes from the wet strands of hair.

He cried and cried, not sure about the reason, but aware that this whole situation was making him burn inside in those multiple, unknown meanings that he himself had still troubles to discern from the truth.

When he walked back to his room, he silently glanced at the breathing lump under his bed covers, the ointment forgotten on the same spot he had thrown it.

Kyuhyun had gone back to sleep and was lightly snoring in his giant baby-like fetal position, tired to even keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds.

Ryeowook sighed, perhaps too loudly, because Kyuhyun stirred then and he had to stop in his tracks, scared to hear him speak again about their encounters, a whole topic that lately was creating in him many bad headaches, to be honest.

After understanding that Kyuhyun wouldn't have woken up that easily, Ryeowook walked back into his closet, - as he had let the bathrobe slip on the floor - and he began to look for a nice outfit to wear while directing works at Heechul's studio, like promised to his brother.

He ignored the secret glances that seemed to set his lean back on fire then, because Kyuhyun wasn't sleeping, not anymore.

He had rolled on Ryeowook's bedside and, curled up in his comfortable position, he couldn't help but take long stares at that petite body freely walking around the room. He couldn't help but appreciate what his sight let him see and found himself to even bless whomever had let him have that very particular experience on that sad moment of his life.

Yes, because Kyuhyun didn't like how arrogantly Ryeowook had breached into his life, with his stubborness, his diva-like ego (on every side identical to his brother's), and sweet talk, but he couldn't deny that, if he had ever had the chance to take on such a light whatever-theirs-was relationship, he couldn't have wished for more: Ryeowook was objectively the most perfect and beautiful living example of passionate lover.

Kyuhyun slipped under the covers, a bit scared to be caught looking.

The noise of Ryeowook trotting around the room had scared him, especially when he had re-emerged from the closet all dressed in a mint green jeans and a navy pullover, and was looking for his make up tools. The taller man feared Ryeowook's reaction if he had caught him red-handed staring at the naturalness of that bare body he was getting to know better day by day. Suddenly his cheeks tinted in scarlet red and he felt suffocating at the idea of actually liking that body a little too much than what he had always preached about to Ryeowook.

Oh no, those meaningless signals at first were now becoming a clear alarm point, especially if he showed himself way too interested and less troubled by all the techniques Ryeowook was teaching him.

Kyuhyun exploded then, the heat wrapping him was way too suffocating when he realized hat he may have an ulterior reason to actually like his special friendship with Ryeowook, and although he wasn't ready to voice that out, the reality jokingly poked with his mind, screaming with full voice the state of facts.

"No, no, no!" he screamed, pushing himself to sit upright and throwing the covers, soon hating himself for such a quick reaction because his back had started to ache in pain, even more than before.

"What's wrong now?" Ryeowook threw him a surprised glance, a bit startled by the reaction Kyuhyun was having, to the point that he had let go the cap of the perfume bottle he was spraying on his wrists, making it softly roll under the desk.

Kyuhyun blinked repeatedly, red in the face and speechless as for how to avoid telling him that he was half hating him and half loving him already.

"I...don't feel well" he shrugged, rubbing his sore back and trying to look anywhere else but Ryeowook. The petite man sighed, exasperatedly running a hand through his hair as he walked closer to Kyuhyun's side of the bed and pulled him by the hip, so the taller one could comfortably rest on his stomach.

"I told you before, didn't I? That you needed to apply it before showering. Now, don't move!" he reproached, lightly slapping his still as Kyuhyun tried to wriggle free like a frenzy snake. As soon as he quit moving and laid, subdued, like a child who had just received a good scolding from his mother, Ryeowook took the ointment little container and, taking a small amount on his fore and middle fingers, started to gently rub it on Kyuhyun's sore areas.

"You've got no bruise, still you're complaining with no end" Ryeowook told him, his voice betrayed a bit of amusement together with a note of tender affection...and Kyuhyun's heart unvoluntarily skipped a beat. He didn't want to, but the way Ryeowook contrastingly took care of him was making him nurture a certain fondness for the man's swinging methods and moods anyway. That explained why he was still lovingly blushing.

"I wanted to ask you to come with me and help me running some errands downtown. Tomorrow Heechul's hosting a pretty important launching event at his studio and I promised him help with setting the hall and checking preparations" Ryeowook explained, sitting next to Kyuhyun with his hands folded in his lap while Kyuhyun went back to cover his exposed lower half.

Ryeowook looked a bit dejected, but that wasn't affecting his mood as much as probably dealing with his brother after the accident happened between them the day before. Or so Kyuhyun assumed, by the look of Ryeowook's empty, pondering eyes.

"I'd like to come, really..." Kyuhyun cleared his voice "...I've never seen Heechul's studio so far, and I know from Siwon's tales that it was the place where they met for the first time" he explained, snatching now a pretty sincere smile from Ryeowook as the petite man thought of the deep meaning that place withheld for his brother.

"But I can't move quite well, and I would give myself out if I were to stand next to Heechul, I feel it" Kyuhyun sighed then.

Ryeowook slapped his own thighs in a motion of encouragement as he stood up from the bed and walked away: "You're right. I don't want you dead before we finish this whole thing ongoing between us, honestly. And by now you may have noticed how irritating my brother can get, as my self-proclaimed knight. Knight of what, I have yet to understand it, but...whatever" Ryeowook went and came from the closet with a steel blue k-way, considering that the sky had turned gray in the blink of an eye ever since they first woke up.

"Rest well! I'll pick up your suit and bring it to you later" Ryeowook greeted him, this time his smile was wider and brighter than before, and Kyuhyun knew that smile had, willing or not, definitely become the death of him.

---ooo---

"Look, I didn't mean to slap you yesterday"

"And I didn't mean to say the words I said"

"It's just that..."

"It's just..."

Ryeowook and Heechul embarassedly looked at each other before one could smile and the other grin like always.

"I don't care, really Ryeowook. I don't care what your reasons are, I know that what we have is stronger than fights betweenus sibilings and that's enough for me"

"I didn't mean to be that nasty towards your relationship with Siwon. I guess I'm a bit envoius that you're getting ready for your life's next big step and I'm still..."

"I know you'll find your prince, Wookie. You're the most wonderful person I could get the chance to know and you deserve your happy ending with someone worthy, just...please don't stop looking for it, don't content yourself! I have a feeling that a nice guy is closer than what you think"

And Heechu