“Hyung!” the house turned noise polluted from Ryeowook’s shrieks. “Kyuhyun!”

Sungmin looked at the clock. It’s 10:30. How long have I been sleeping? Still feeling sleepy, he refused to open the door to his desperate brother. He took his time to think and reflect on the things that had happened since they were kicked out of their original home. How long have I been staying here?

He heard a slight grunt from behind him. “Sungmin?” Kyuhyun whispered in a groan.

Sungmin froze when he felt hands moving around his waist. Not knowing what to do, he buried his head under the sheets.

Are you not planning on waking up? he tried to contact Kyuhyun through telepathy – which, of course, did not work.

“Good morning,” Kyuhyun muttered. “Merry Christmas,” he whispered at Sungmin’s ear.

Kyuhyun’s hot breath against Sungmin’s skin was enough to make him freeze and melt at the same time. “Me… merry Christmas,” he managed to stutter a greet.

“Hyung!” Ryeowook shrieked and banged the door again, so hard that Sungmin swore he heard a slight crack. “If your hurts too much for you to walk, I understand. But at least say so.”

“What?” Sungmin threw the door open. Ryeowook’s last statement was beyond acceptance, and he didn’t want the boy to get the wrong idea about him and Kyuhyun – thinking Sungmin loved Kyuhyun was enough of a wrong idea.

“Merry Christmas, hyung!” Ryeowook beamed at his brother, shoving a beautifully wrapped present to the latter’s chest. “This is for you,” his smile became wider as he tiptoed to look behind Sungmin’s shoulder, “is Kyubaby awake?”

Sungmin pouted, his brother did not have to give him a present.

“Oh, sorry,” the smaller man bowed at Sungmin, “I should stop calling Kyuhyun that, sorry, hyung.”

Wrong idea again. “No, it’s not…”

“Merry Christmas, Wookie,” Sungmin was cut off when Kyuhyun stood behind him, holding him by the waist. “What’s for breakfast?”

“I thought you would never ask!” Ryeowook breathed in deeply. “The food’s getting cold!” he yelled at the two sleepy men standing in front of him just before skipping to the kitchen.

The two other shrug and follow the smallest one in the room.

“It smells good!” Sungmin clapped as he took in the smell of something deliciously familiar. They skipped into the kitchen, not too hungry but excited to take a bite of chef Ryeowook’s cooking.

“Jal meokkesseumnida,” they all declaimed happily.

&&

“Merry Christmas!” a tall female standing in front of the gate greeted him. Much to his annoyance, he decided to ignore the girl and move on with his miserable and lonely life.

“Christmas my tight ,” he murmured, making the woman from before giggle. , this is not my day.

He proceeded to the aisles where he was supposed to get the contents of his grocery list, completely ignoring all the nice staff who greeted him a Merry Christmas.

He looked at every aisle from top to bottom, not exactly sure if he should really buy all the things on his grocery list. “Maybe I should make curry,” he uttered as he grabbed a bag of curry powder to examine it. “But I don’t know how to make curry.”

He stared at the bag of curry powder for a while, thinking of what he should cook for Christmas, the nerves on his brain begging to explode in the process. “Aish, if only Ryeowook was here, he would know what to do,” Yesung pouted at the curry powder for a few minutes.

He literally face palmed himself when he realized he was thinking about the boy again, earning curious glances from everyone around him.

&&

Kyuhyun felt a slight prod on his leg. He tried to ignore it and proceeded with gobbling up the turkey Ryeowook claimed to cook for six hours.

“Kyuhyun,” Sungmin whispered, which Kyuhyun ignored. “Kyuhyun,” he called out again.

“What?” the taller man kicked away Sungmin’s foot, making said man cringe slightly.

“Are you really gonna keep at this lovey-dovey thing around Ryeowook?” Sungmin looked around for any signs of Ryeowook, who was coincidentally sweeping the floor a few meters away from them.

“It’s just our second day of pretending,” Kyuhyun smirked at him provokingly. “Are you giving up already?”

Sungmin opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Ryeowook sat beside him. “How’s the turkey, hyung?”

“It’s great!” he exclaimed with crescent shaped eyes, “why aren’t you eating?”

“I ate before you,” he smiled, stripping his apron and setting it on the couch. “I’m going out to meet someone.”

“This early?,” Kyuhyun tried to keep him from going away, he wanted to spend Christmas with Ryeowook.

Ryeowook looked at his dongsaeng with an amused expression. He ruffled his hair, “it’s one PM.”

“Who are you meeting?” Sungmin raised an eyebrow.

“Friends,” Ryeowook smiled at his brother. “They’re waiting for me at the mall.”

He skipped to the living room happily and grabbed his bag. The next thing the fake couple heard was the gentle closing and clicking of the door.

Kyuhyun glared at Sungmin, “go change clothes, we’re going somewhere today.” He stood from his chair with a blank expression. “And while you’re at it, wash the dishes.” He walked away to the living room, not even bothering to hear out Sungmin’s protests.

“Such a bastard,” Sungmin curled his lips to a pout as he grabbed all the dishes from the table.

&&

“Fishy,” Eunhyuk called out as he collected his things into a bag, holding up a bundle of white roses. He was wearing a dark blue polo under his light blue vest and trousers. His hair was done neatly, ready to take off, while the other boy was still playing video games in his pajamas.

Donghae kept his eyes glued to his game, but he did manage a small ‘hm’ as a signal that he heard Eunhyuk call him.

“Aren’t you going to ask where I’m going?” Eunhyuk asked calmly.

“Why should I care?” Donghae didn’t even look at Eunhyuk, he kept his eyes on his game.

Eunhyuk smiled thinly, glad that Donghae even found the time to answer him despite his busy game. He tiptoed to Donghae’s side, sitting beside him. He leaned his head to Donghae’s shoulder, which said man shrugged off instantly.

“Hae, do you remember what happened on this time of year?”

Donghae frowned. “Are you gonna recite some bible verse again?”

“Bible verse?” Eunhyuk looked at him with an amused look, “no silly.”

“Fine, then go away.”

“Do you remember how you confessed your love to Sora-noona?” Eunhyuk looked at the flat screen TV, his thoughts drifting away to another universe. “She called me that night, she said she refrained her laughter when you confessed. Not because she hated you, but because you thought it was valentine’s day then, but it was actually Christmas. It was also her birthday.”

“Old story.”

“Do you know what happened a year later?” Eunhyuk spoke ever so gently it would almost scare Donghae. “She died.”

Donghae paused his game to gape at the man sitting beside him. “Today is her death anniversary?”

“Nope,” Eunhyuk smiled at Donghae with his gummy smile. “Today is her birthday and your supposed-to-be anniversary.”

Donghae stood up from the floor and rushed to the room. Leaving his game in the open.

Eunhyuk stretched to switch off the console. “At least I’ll be able to spend time with you,” he smiled at himself blissfully. “Even if all you’re going to think about is Sora, at least you’re with me, right?”

&&

“Yesung!” Ryeowook knocked Yesung’s door for the ten millionth time. Could he still be asleep? But it’s half past five. Could he be somewhere else? No, that guy’s a hermit.

“Yesung!” he then remembered the keys he stole from Yesung. He shoved the key into the keyhole and opened the door successfully. “Yesung!” he called out again.

He walked into the house slowly. Nothing had changed – it’s only been a few days, except that it reeked of alcohol. Ryeowook didn’t like the smell of alcohol.

“Yesung?” he looked around the all-white living room, he knew Yesung was there. Maybe he was hiding.

He finally found Yesung when he tried for his bedroom. Said man was sprawled on his bed with a bottle of beer in hand. On the floor were over ten empty bottles, and on the bed were a few more.

“What the,” he walked to Yesung, “what are you doing?” he shrieked.

“Oh hey,” Yesung turned his head slightly towards Ryeowook.

Ryeowook sighed. Why is this man like this?

He grabbed Yesung’s arm in an attempt to carry him to the bathroom and get him to sober up. To Ryeowook’s dismay, he taller man immediately shoved his arm away from Ryeowook.

“What are you doing here?” he sat up at the edge of his bed, in front of standing Ryeowook.

“I just came here to greet you a merry Christmas.”

“I don’t need you,” Yesung glared at him, drinking more beer from the bottle in his hand. “Go away.”

Ryeowook tried to jostle the beer away from Yesung’s hand, but again, he was shoved away. “You left me, now my Christmas day is lonely.”

The smaller boy looked at Yesung with an astonished expression. He did not expect him to say that.

“Do you know how much I craved for someone to talk to, someone to decorate the house with, someone to eat with?”

Ryeowook smiled at Yesung sincerely. He was half happy to hear those words coming directly from the love of his life. But before he could say anything, he was thrown vigorously onto the bed. He felt his back come intact with a bottle. It made him cringe.

Yesung firmly collided his face with Ryeowook’s, his bottom lip and occasionally nibbling gently.

“Yesu,” Ryeowook tried to protest, but was silenced by the feeling of Yesung’s leg between his legs.

Before they knew it, they were both absorbed into a lustful and hungry kiss, gobbling up each other’s mouths.

Yesung had his right hand gripping Ryeowook’s head from behind and his other hand drawing circles on the boy’s chest from under his shirt. His left hand stayed in the warmth for a while until he started ing the smaller boy’s pants expertly with one hand.

Ryeowook sobered up just in time and he pushed away from Yesung, trying to catch his breath. “We shouldn’t do this,” he looked at Yesung who was about to him.

The older man suddenly came back to his senses and nodded. “Sorry.”

Ryeowook redid his pants and tapped his shirt. “Let’s go get you a cold bath,” he stretched his arm for Yesung to take.

Yesung took his hand hesitantly. He looked away, hiding the red tint on his cheeks.

&&

“He said he was staying with Yesung for the night,” Kyuhyun exclaimed coolly to Sungmin, he was looking at the screen of his iPhone 4, “and not to tell you.”

 Sungmin chucked, “let him be.” His smile turned upside down when he saw the depression in Kyuhyun’s face. “Ryeowook loves Yesung,” he looked out the window, staring at the many stars encircling the moon. They were in an empty classroom – Kyuhyun’s. It was only them inside, it was a refreshing, solitary feeling. “Deal with it.”

“It’s not easy,” Kyuhyun walked beside him, leaning on the window and staring at the same thing Sungmin was staring at. “It’s pretty.”

“Ryeowook and I used to go stargazing when I was ten,” Sungmin smiled at the stars, reminiscing their brotherly moments together which drifted away when they started living separately.

“That was ten years ago,” Kyuhyun looked at Sungmin and he looked back. They instantly comfortably look away from each other. “That’s when I started loving Ryeowook.”

“You were gay when you were seven?” Sungmin asked playfully. He tried to avoid the awkward atmosphere as much as possible.

“I always knew I didn’t like girls,” Kyuhyun smiled at the sky, “but of course, I only realized I liked him years later.”

“Oh,” Sungmin was out of words. Sometimes the best way to comfort a sad person is to stay quiet and just listen to them. They stay in that comfortable, quiet atmosphere for a few minutes.

“It hurts,” Kyuhyun bit his lips, trying to refrain the tears from flowing out of his eyes. But Sungmin was not naïve nor was he dumb, he knew exactly what Kyuhyun was thinking.

Sungmin panicked inside, he didn’t know what to do with Kyuhyun so he grabbed the taller boy’s head and locked their lips together, much to Kyuhyun’s surprise.

Kyuhyun didn’t resist Sungmin, that was what he needed as of the moment.

The smaller boy gently pushed Kyuhyun to sit on a table, their lips still locked together. He then sat on the latter’s lap, straddling his waist.

Sometimes the best way to comfort a person is to stay quiet and just listen to what they have to say, but there are also instances when body heat is very useful.