A/N: Sorry this update took a while. But being overworked and being uninspired apparently results in a long time before I can update. Sorry. ;-;

Anyway, here’s the next chapter! :D

Book 4: Blast from the Past

Chapter 10: Appa

“I don’t even know how you were not spotted by fans on your way up here,” Changmin said as they got ready to go to Kyuhyun’s place. He eyed Kyuhyun critically. His idiot beloved didn’t even bother to put on a disguise! Really, Kyuhyun should know better!

“I had a scarf on!” Kyuhyun protested, pointing at the thing that was meant to cover the lower half of his face... which was now really just hanging loosely around his neck.

“Scarves barely hide us. Besides, what’s its use when it’s just around your neck?”

“It came loose as I was running up the stairs! Besides, with all those people in the lobby so excited about the wedding, I doubt they’d even give a damn if all you SM idols waltzed in front of them,” Kyuhyun huffed. He didn’t like being reprimanded for being careless with disguises. Normally, he was more careful with these things, especially when he went into hiding, but he was in a hurry a while ago

“Besides, I thought I had to rush to get here! I was thinking I had a to murder for trying to sink her claws into you,” the Super Junior maknae continued.

Though Changmin found Kyuhyun being jealous to be utterly adorable, he frowned to himself when Kyuhyun said “all you SM idols.” Kyuhyun still didn’t count himself with the SM idols.

Changmin sighed. Well, they’ll cross that bridge later... For now, it’s time for him to officially meet his son.

After scourging through his things, Changmin found an extra face mask, a pair of sunglasses, and a cap for Kyuhyun. “Here,” he said, handing the items to Kyuhyun. “Add these things to your wonderful scarf...”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes but put on the items, anyway.

Getting down to the parking basement took a while since the elevators were still crowded and filled with the busy wedding guests, and this time, Kyuhyun refused to use the stairs. He wasn’t rushing anymore, so no need to exert physical effort. He insisted on waiting for a long time for a turn to ride an elevator. (Changmin was both exasperated and amused by his stubbornness. He really did miss Kyuhyun being stubborn. Well, he missed the stubbornness when it wasn’t aimed at running away from Changmin.)

“Where is Minhyun, anyway?” Changmin asked as they got into Kyuhyun’s car and buckled themselves in. During his time trying to woo Kyuhyun, Kyuhyun had obstinately refused to let Changmin know where his son was.

Kyuhyun shrugged easily as he started the car and pulled out of the parking space. “He’s fine. He’s with Xiari.”

Changmin’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s Xiari?”

The jealous green monster was starting to stir in the pits of Changmin’s stomach. It’s been a while since he’d last felt jealous and territorial over Kyuhyun, and feeling these emotions now again was a little bit disconcerting. Kyuhyun had been worrying a while ago about some woman getting her hands on Changmin, but perhaps it should be him worrying about some woman getting her hands on his Kyuhyun...

“My ELF neighbor,” Kyuhyun answered.

That distracted Changmin from being jealous for a while.

“Is she the one who lives in the apartment opposite yours?” Changmin questioned. He had noticed that apartment during the times that he was in the building to woo Kyuhyun.

The Super Junior evil maknae nodded.

“You mean Minhyun was just at the opposite apartment?” Changmin blinked, a bit surprised.

Kyuhyun nodded again. “Yeah. Brilliant, wasn’t it?”

Changmin scoffed. “How is that plan brilliant?” He was starting to wonder if Kyuhyun was losing his touch when it came to planning and scheming. He’d expected a more elaborate plan from Kyuhyun.

“Well, it kept Minhyun close to me but still away from you,” Kyuhyun smirked at Changmin. “Like I said—that plan was brilliant.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Changmin muttered, rolling his eyes and slumping back against his seat.

“Thank you. I try.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“I know.”

“I’ve forgotten how annoying you are,” Changmin shot at Kyuhyun. Again, why did he love this annoying person?

“Right back at you,” Kyuhyun retorted. Changmin was one to talk! He’d also annoyed Kyuhyun quite a lot since they first saw each other again here in China!

The two maknaes were silent for a while. As the car entered the expressway, though, Changmin was no longer able to hold in the question that had been bothering him.

“Are you and this Xiari close?” the DBSK maknae blurted out abruptly.

Kyuhyun gave him a questioning look. “Well, yeah. But that’s expected, isn’t it? She’s an ELF, and she’s my neighbor.”

That answer didn’t sound particularly reassuring to Changmin.

The DBSK maknae’s eyes narrowed infinitesimally. “How close are you two?”

“Quite close. With Hankyung hyung in Beijing most of the time, I had to count on Xiari mostly for help. She kept Minhyun and I fed, and she babysits Minhyun when I’m not around and Hankyung hyung’s not available... Why do you ask?”

Instead of answering Kyuhyun’s question, Changmin muttered irritably, “Bet the ELF loved being close to you.”

Changmin’s tone and words puzzled Kyuhyun for a while. Then, the lightbulb in his head clicked on. He now realized what was going on: Changmin was being a jealous !

That had Kyuhyun smirking widely. He could have fun playing with his jealous beloved for a while! *insert evil internal laughter here* (Hey, he might love Changmin, but love never exempted either one of them from being the victim of the other one’s pranks.)

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun pretended to nod seriously. “She was quite excited when she found out that I’m her new neighbor. She’s been great. She’s kept me and Minhyun fed these past years—you know what my cooking’s like. She’s also helped me with my projects in the town...”

“Has she now?” Changmin growled lowly. He knew he should be grateful that the woman has helped Kyuhyun and Minhyun. But all that he could think of right now was ‘Kyuhyun’s mine! No touchy!’

“Uh-huh,” Kyuhyun nodded happily. Happily because he knew he was adding even more to Changmin’s bad mood.

“Well, maybe you should introduce her to me when we get to your town. I would like to ... thank her.”

It was both Changmin’s murderous expression and the unquestionable threat in his tone that alerted Kyuhyun that what Changmin had in mind was really far from truly thanking Xiari.

And as much as Kyuhyun was having fun yanking Changmin’s chain, it would probably be poor disservice to Xiari, after everything she’s done for him, if he’d just let the jealous DBSK maknae kill her.

“Relax, you big baby,” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Xiari’s happily married.”

“Wait, what? She is?”

“Yep.”

Changmin glared at Kyuhyun now. “You were making fun of me!”

“Just like old times, isn’t it?” Kyuhyun had that audacity to say smugly.

Changmin grumbled under his breath but couldn’t exactly refute that statement. After a while, he had to double check, “She’s really married?”

“Yes! Geez, quit being a jealous already! She’s happily married! Her husband’s in the military and is away most of the time, but she loves him dearly.” Then, Kyuhyun suddenly frowned. And he said in a sulking tone, “Besides, if there’s a Super Junior member that she would ever trade her husband for, it’s Yesung hyung, not me.”

Now, it was Changmin’s turn to smirk. “She’s a Cloud, huh?” He knew that his ever competitive beloved most probably did not enjoy finding out that his ELF neighbor was not a Gamer but a Cloud instead.

“Stop reminding me about it,” Kyuhyun grumbled.

“Well, at least we know that your neighbor knows which of the Super Junior members really has an awesome singing voice.”

“I have an awesome singing voice!” the Super Junior maknae protested indignantly. “The best singing voice!”

“You’re not the one with an ‘art-like voice’, though.”

“You’re lucky that my hands are too busy with the steering wheel to strangle you right now.”

“Love you, too, Kyu.”

After some hours of driving and bantering, the two evil maknaes were finally nearing the small town.

Yeah, this time, the drive really took hours. As the drive between Beijing and the town really should. Most unusually, no one was trying to rush and driving at dangerous speed levels, unlike Hankyung, Xiari, and Kyuhyun have most commonly been doing in the past few years due Kyuhyun’s “emergencies” and/or “incidents.”

As they neared the town, Changmin finally voiced out a worry that he’s been bugging him for some time now.

“Kyu?”

“Hmm?” Most unusually as well, Kyuhyun was actually paying attention to his driving and keeping his eyes on the road.

“Do you think Minhyun will be alright with seeing me with you now?”

Anddd Kyuhyun’s eyes were off the road again (you just had to ruin it, Kyu!). He studied the slight frown on Changmin’s face, as well as how Changmin’s eyebrows were furrowed together. Kyuhyun immediately recognized these as signs that something was worrying Changmin.

“Why won’t he be alright with it?” Kyuhyun asked after a while.

“Well... You know... You saw and heard him last time when we were all together in Hankyung hyung’s home.” Changmin’s frown grew more pronounced. “He told me to stay away from you.”

Kyuhyun heard the slight crack in Changmin’s voice at those words. The Super Junior evil maknae felt an unusual feeling. Something that he rarely felt.

Kyuhyun was actually felt guilty now.

He realized that Changmin must have been really upset about how Minhyun reacted to him. And Kyuhyun felt bad because he knew that Minhyun only reacted that way because of him. Because Minhyun was being protective of his mother.

Okay, that really Kyuhyun’s fault, per se. But still… he actually felt bad.

“Don’t worry too much about that…” Kyuhyun began, but Changmin quickly cut him off.

“How can I not worry about that? I want to be with my son, but how can that be if he doesn’t want me around?”

“He likes you. You two got along fine before I arrived at Hankyung hyung’s apartment, right?”

“Yeah, but then, he found out about our past, and that made him dislike me.”

“He only told you to stay away because you hurt me. With things between us… well, you know, alright again, he’ll be alright with you again as well.”

Changmin was still skeptical, though. “You really think it will be that simple?” Minhyun might be quite young, but he certainly looked like he meant business when he told Changmin to stay away from his mother.

Kyuhyun waved a hand dismissively. “He’s a mama’s boy, so he’s protective. But I told you—we’re alright again. Minhyun won’t have any reason to hold a vendetta or something against you anymore.”

Kyuhyun was surprised when Changmin suddenly started snickering, though.

“What’s up with you?” the Super Junior evil maknae frowned.

“It’s still kinda odd hearing you being called a ‘mother’” Changmin snorted. Yeah, sure, Kyuhyun was the mother of his child, but if you’d told Changmin in the past that Kyuhyun would be an umma someday, the DBSK maknae would have probably thought that you’re drunk and/or that you needed to be in a mental institution.

Kyuhyun scowled at him. “Careful, Shim. You want to be on Minhyun’s good side, you got to stay on my good side.”

Yes, that sounded like a good idea, but Changmin’s eyes suddenly spotted an even better idea. Just some meters ahead of them. “Stop over there for a while, Kyu!” Changmin quickly pointed to his target.

“You want to stop by a pastry shop right now?” Kyuhyun asked incredulously, seeing what Changmin was pointing to. Still, he slowed the car down, got it off the highway, and parked it near the shop. “You really are a food a monster.” The Super Junior maknae pretended to shake his head in dismay.

“The food’s not for me,” was all that Changmin replied as he hurriedly donned on his disguise again. “Minhyun likes pastries, right?”

“Well, he likes practically all good-tasting food.” Kyuhyun then raised an eyebrow. “You’re not thinking of using pastries to bribe him, are you?”

“Hey, you might be right that us being okay again would make Minhyun okay again with me, but extra ‘precautions’ won’t hurt, right?” Changmin said. “If Minhyun really did inherit my stomach, food can bribe him into practically anything. You know what my stomach’s like…”

Now, it was Kyuhyun’s turn to snort. Because, c’mon, who doesn’t know what Changmin’s stomach’s like? Everyone—the other idols, the media, the fans, average citizens—know that Changmin’s craving for food was endless and that his stomach was an abyss that just can’t be satisfied no matter how much food you put into it.

And knowing his son, Kyuhyun would have to say that Minhyun definitely inherited Changmin’s stomach. So, Changmin’s idea of pastry bribes would probably be effective…

“Auntie Xiari, when is umma coming home?” Minhyun pouted. The show that he was watching was currently on commercial break, and with no cartoons to distract him, his mind wandered off again to his mother.

His umma had hurriedly visited him that morning, telling him and Xiari that he was going to Beijing for a bit. Minhyun wanted to go, too, of course, but his umma said no. Minhyunnie had to stay with his Auntie Xiari. And now, his umma wasn’t just next door; his umma was away in another city.

Minhyunnie already missed his umma so, so much.

“I’m sure he’d be back later today, Minhyun,” Xiari tried to soothe the little boy.

And, right on cue, someone started knocking on Xiari’s front door.

“Oh! See! That must already be your umma, Minhyun!” Xiari told the little boy as she hurriedly went to open the door.

When she opened the door, though, she let out a small scream of surprise. She was totally expecting to see the Super Junior maknae. Instead, she got—

“Sh-Shim Ch-Changm-min…” Xiari managed to stutter out.

It was the DBSK maknae that was in front of her instead.

At his Auntie Xiari’s words, Minhyun quickly looked away from the TV and toward the door. The little boy’s heart might have skipped a beat when he saw that, sure enough, his father was right there at the doorway.

“Hey, you gonna stop goggling at him l