CHAPTER ONE

After the day Siwon chose Kyuhyun…

Ever since Kyuhyun had walked into Siwon´s apartment on a Tuesday in July, his world had been turned upside down and inside out. Kyuhyun breezed in and took over. Everything. His space. His things. His peace of mind. His life.

The next day, when the first thing Siwon did upon walking into his studio was trip over Kyuhyun´s sneakers because Kyuhyun liked to “let my feet air and my toes roam free during the day”, Siwon knew he was in for it. Gradually, day by day, more of Kyuhyun snuck into Siwon´s life, from changing his music, to a discarded T-shirt that mystified Siwon.

Siwon had no idea how it happened, but in a span of a few weeks, Kyuhyun had become his best friend as well as the person he most wanted to impress and please, which was an odd concept for him since he had never given a before about what anyone thought of felt. But here was an obnoxious little Muppet who was always in the way, always loud, always opinionated, and always annoying; and yet Siwon cared what he thought. A lot.

It was irritating and more than a little troubling. Troubling simply because if he were to choose a person whose opinion he´d value, it certainly wouldn´t be a person who sang silly songs at the top of his lungs whenever Siwon tried to photograph him or ate bananas with a knife and fork after making Siwon peel them for him because they taste yummy but feel icky and naughty or laughed at the commercials for M&Ms.

So before Siwon knew it, he had a stereo filled with CDs that weren´t his, a closet missing half his shirts because Kyuhyun decided they looked better on him, and a potter´s wheel and kiln in the corner of his studio that got the most light. All because the thought of Kyuhyun traipsing across his dump of a neighborhood in the middle of the night to work on his pots terrified him. 

Victoria had been the first to see it, even before Kyuhyun, and all she had done was stare at it, then at Siwon, and back and forth until Siwon had finally asked:

“What?” – he said in exasperation.

“How much did all of that cost?” – she asked in confusion.

“Does it really matter? It´s not your money.”

“No, but I was just wondering why you´d spend this amount of money on someone who´s an employee.” – she added with a smirk.

“Do you know where he lives? And he´s skipping around in the middle of the night to go make ashtrays and kitty statues, or whatever he make. He´s going to get mugged or killed, for Chris sake!”

Siwon fumed. At least he fumed until Kyuhyun showed up and saw the wheel and kiln and started yelling and jumping around like an idiot.

Then Siwon just smiled. He smiled even more, although he tried his damnedest to scowl at Kyuhyun´s stupidity, when he insisted on calling the wheel Wilbur and the kiln Charlotte.

“For the love of God, why must you give them names?”

“Why wouldn´t I give them names?”

“Because they´re a wheel and a kiln, not a trout and a bear.”

“Why would I have a trout and a bear? Honestly, Siwon, you´re ridiculous.” – Kyuhyun answered happily as he played with the settings on the kiln – no, correct that, on Charlotte.

“Why wouldn´t you have a trout and a bear? You have a wheel named Wilbur and a kiln named Charlotte.”

“Exactly.”

“What does that even mean?” – Siwon asked in frustration.

“Exactly is a word, first of all – Kyuhyun stated as Victoria grinned and Siwon rolled his eyes – It means precisely, often used to emphasize a point.”

“I find it´s a word often used to emphasize your psychosis.”

Kyuhyun shrugged and smiled.

Victoria stepped in and asked, “I take it you like them?”

At her question, Siwon suddenly uncrossed the arms he had crossed while trying to decipher the intricacies of Kyuhyun-speak to push his hands into his back pockets and ask with an uncharacteristic insecurity.

“Do you? Like them, I mean…Wilbur and Charlotte?”

Kyuhyun stopped toying with the kiln and looked at Siwon and answered with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

“I love them. They´re the best gifts I´ve ever gotten. Ever.”

“Yeah?” – Siwon asked again as he pulled his right hand out of his back pocket and ran it through his hair.

“Yeah.” – Kyuhyun said, walking over to Siwon and hugging him tight.

At first Siwon stood there rigidly, his left hand still in his back pocket and his right tangled up in his hair, until he realized Kyuhyun wasn´t letting go anytime soon.

He gave up and awkwardly wrapped his arms around Kyuhyun briefly as he patted his back, then let go.

Kyuhyun had about hugging like a dude.

“Awwww, we were having a moment here, and then you do the awkward guy-hug; you totally ruined the love-fest. Now, what could have been a nice memory is just an unremarkable dude moment.”

Kyuhyun had laughed and gone stumbling after Victoria, leaving Siwon standing with his arms hanging at his sides.

Although Kyuhyun had declared it an ‘unremarkable dude moment’, Siwon remembered it down to the minute. Even now, nearly five years later, if anyone asked him when he had first touched Kyuhyun, he could say with certainty: “10:37 Monday morning, August 23, 2012.” Exactly.

Six months later, Kyuhyun came to work over three hours late. Siwon was proud that he only called Kyuhyun´s place six times and Victoria three times during those three hours.

When the door opened, he was ready to chew Kyuhyun a new one but was instead tackled to the ground by a giant pile of mud and stink.

“Isn´t he adorable?” – Kyuhyun asked.

“He ing smells.” – Siwon whined, trying to push an overly large, overly shaggy, overly slobbery dog off his chest.

“That´s because I found him eating in the ally next to my apartment.” – Kyuhyun said cheerily, like it was a good thing.

“Get him off me!”

“Come here, Harold…come on, boy…come on Harry!” – Kyuhyun shouted as he patted his thighs and whistled.

The dog Siwon´s face one last time before bounding over to Kyuhyun at the sound of his voice.

“That´s a goooooood boy! That´s a good Harold! Aren´t you the best boy there is?”

Kyuhyun let the dog slobber all over him as he scratched him behind the ears.

“Harold? You named him Harold? What is it with you and naming ?”

“Yes, Harold, Harry for short, and why shouldn´t I name a dog?”

“We´re not getting into this again…”

“It´s not like he´s a trout or a bear, he´s a dog, Siwon. Dogs have names. It´s the law of the universe: give thy dog a name and it shall be good, or somethin