It’s something like 3 in the morning when Kyuhyun wakes up confused and alone after only 4 hours of sleep. He’s slightly dismayed by the cold, empty spot next to him, but he can’t give it much consideration when the smell of smoke is wafting around his nose. He tosses off the blankets hurriedly and runs to the kitchen in a panic. The fear stricken male doesn’t notice Siwon passed out on the couch as he continues his mad dash. Smoke flows out of the tiled room in large, grey, wispy billows and the scent of something sweet and burnt fills the entire house. Kyuhyun knows you should never run into a burning room, but he’s too panicked to think logically.

He blindly makes his way towards the sink and turns it on, grabbing a lone dish towel from the counter to soak in water. The temperature only gets hotter as he walks swiftly to the oven and opens it. Kyuhyun jumps back and is engulfed by smoke. It fills his lungs and he’s sent into a coughing fit, when he recovers he finds it harder to breathe. He drops the wet dish rag and runs out to the living room to open all of their windows, hoping to let out the smoke so he can breathe. It is then that he realises he hasn’t seen Siwon.

“Siwon?!” He coughs out, “Siwon, where are you? Siwon!”

He hears the sound of something hitting the ground to his left and goes to investigate.

“Jesus Christ, Siwon! What are you doing on the ground? Get up! The apartment is on fire! I don’t know what to do!” Kyuhyun pulls up a very confused and disgruntled Siwon from the floor and pulls him towards their entry way.

“What…what’s going on? Where are we going?” Siwon mumbles, compliantly putting on the shoes Kyuhyun placed in front of him. He finds the action to be difficult when he’s more than half asleep, but he lets himself be dragged out of the apartment with his shoes only a third of the way on.

Kyuhyun paces the hallway, biting his lip and fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do in a situation like this.

“Should I call the fire department?” He asks Siwon, eyes glittering with tears of anxiety, “Siwon! You need to wake up; I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”

“Just ask the neighbours for help or something.” Siwon groans, leaning against the wall of the hallway, “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Okay, okay. I can do that.”

Kyuhyun walks over to their neighbour’s door and raises his fist, but stops mid-knock. This is Key’s door, he remembers. He also recalls Siwon not being exactly fond of Key and strictly forbidding them from interacting. This was an emergency though, so the rule should be exempt in this situation, right? Kyuhyun tried to convince himself that it was necessary to break the rule in this situation, especially if they wanted to have an apartment to live in tomorrow.

Kyuhyun took in a big gulp of air and knocked on the door firmly. He didn’t understand why he was so scared; Siwon had permitted him to talk to Key. It’s not like he’d get mad for something he allowed to happen.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” An angry, sleep ridden voice snapped, “Who the wakes someone up in the middle of night? You better have a damn good reason for interrupting my beauty sleep.”

“I…It’s just that…Well…” Kyuhyun stammered, taken aback by the honey blond in front of him.

“Spit it out, will you?”

“Our apartment is kind of on fire.”

“So put the ing fire out! Are you trying to kill the rest of us?”

Kyuhyun doesn’t answer, too stunned by Key’s colourful vocabulary to say anything. Off to the side, Siwon is mumbling something about moving because of noisy, insufferable neighbours.

Key rolls his eyes and pushes Kyuhyun aside, stomping into their apartment angrily. Kyuhyun wants to stop him, but Key looks extremely determined to solve this and go back to bed so he backs away and waits until the honey blond re-emerges with an annoyed look on his face and what looks like a hockey puck in his hand.

“Who the hell bakes cookies at 3 in the morning? Are you two insane?” He stops, “Well, I know the stupid horse is, but honestly, Kyuhyun, what the hell?”

“Don’t blame this on me!” Kyuhyun pouts, “I just woke up and there was smoke everywhere. How was I supposed to know he was going to burn the place down?” He spares a glance at Siwon who’s now shuffling his way back into the apartment and sighs, “Sorry for bothering you at such an ungodly hour. Thanks for your…help, Key.”

“No problem, Kyuhyun.” He smiles, “Just don’t it again or I swear –“

“Goodnight, Key.” Kyuhyun says in a sing-song voice and walks back into the apartment.

♦

Kyuhyun closes the window of their now smoke free apartment and glares at the pan of burnt cookies on their kitchen table. He feels as if a curtain of red draped over his vision as he continued to stare them down. It’s a feeling he’s not well acquainted with, he much preferred to talk things out than to be angry, but this wasn’t something he could just let go. If he hadn’t woken up, they would’ve been burnt to a crisp all because Siwon decided to bake in the middle of the night.

Irately, he trudges over to their bedroom where the older is now cozied up in, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets and snoring. He rips them off and shakes Siwon’s shoulders incessantly until he wakes up with a startled gasp.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Kyuhyun asks, hands on his hips, “I don’t know what you were thinking pulling that. Oh, wait, you weren’t thinking at all! What’s your problem?”

“Don’t raise your voice at me!” Siwon retorts, “It’s not my fault you didn’t get up when I asked.”

“If I don’t raise my voice, you don’t listen, Siwon! This isn’t my fault at all! Don’t try to blame me for something you did!”

“It’s always my fault, right? Because perfect little you never makes a mistake.” The older rolls his eyes and gets up from the bed to loom over Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun steps back, panic already setting in, “I never said I didn’t make mistakes. I only said not to blame me for your own. Don’t try and make this seem like I’m the one to blame! Just admit you did something stupid and we can move on with our lives!”

“Oh, so now I’m stupid?”

“That’s not what I said!” Kyuhyun yells, he can feel the anger and frustration boiling in his veins, “Stop trying to make me the bad guy!”

Tears are flow ceaselessly down Kyuhyun’s cheek. Getting angry is his least favourite thing to do, especially if it’s towards Siwon. He feels guilty for yelling, though he knows he did it with good reason. The look in the older’s eyes doesn’t calm his frantically beating heart and imminent panic attack that is waiting to come out. Kyuhyun can already feel his breathing becoming laboured and the walls closing in inch by inch. He feels trapped, like he can’t escape and those horrible thoughts of Siwon hurting him are popping up in his head. His hands are shaking violently and he tries to stop them by pulling at the edge of his shirt, making more of the threads come loose.

“Kyuhyun, are you okay?” Siwon asks worriedly, all the anger and accusation in his voice dissipating.

To Kyuhyun, he sounds muffled, almost like he’s trying to speak underwater. Kyuhyun feels on onslaught of nausea take over him, the room spins and he sways, trying to balance and keep from falling over. Siwon reaches a hand out to steady him, but the action catches Kyuhyun by surprise. The younger stumbles back from Siwon and lands on the floor with a thud and a yelp of pain. Siwon is up instantly and stands over him, only adding to Kyuhyun’s uneasiness. Kyuhyun crawls backward on his hands to the door, breathing heavily and sweating nervously.

“Get away from me.” He mumbles over and over, trying to get back up on his feet. He finds that every time he tries to do so, the room spins and decides it’s better to just stay on the floor.

“Kyuhyun, calm down.” Siwon soothes, “Deep breaths, come on, we’ve been through this before. You’re okay, everything’s alright. Breathe.”

The older sits on the floor next to Kyuhyun, finally catching on to what was happening. He immediately feels remorseful for yelling at Kyuhyun and scaring him into a panic attack. Kyuhyun sits trembling a few inches away from him, taking deep breaths and trying to pacify the adrenaline coursing through his body. Siwon grabs for Kyuhyun’s hand and rubs gentle circles on it, places a soft kiss onto his knuckles.

“I’m sorry for yelling.” He mollifies, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.”

Kyuhyun nods slowly and scoots closer to him, resting his head on Siwon’s thigh. The older instantly runs his hands through Kyuhyun’s slightly curled hair knowing it made the other calm almost instantly. He could still feel Kyuhyun slightly trembling and frowned.

“Do you want to hear a joke?”

“Okay.” Kyuhyun whispers in a shaking voice.

“Why was 6 afraid of 7?” Siwon asks, holding in a laugh.

“Why?”

“Because 7 8 9.”

Kyuhyun’s laughs soundlessly and finally feels somewhat at ease. Siwon pulls him up so they’re eye level and smiles sweetly at him before pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose. The younger giggles and takes a few more deep breaths for good measure before standing up and tugging up Siwon with him. Kyuhyun crawls into bed and buries himself in the blankets. Siwon takes it upon himself to follow and hold Kyuhyun as close as possible.

“I’m sorry.” He says again, still feeling horrible for hurting Kyuhyun.

“It’s fine, you didn’t mean to.” Kyuhyun says, arranging himself to a comfortable position.

“I know, but I should’ve known better. I just got angry and didn’t realise what I was doing.” Siwon sighs sadly.

“I said it was okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Besides, it’s not your fault I’m practically insane.”

“You’re not insane!” Siwon pulls away from him with an incredulous face, “Don’t ever say that. You’re perfect, just because you’re a little anxious doesn’t make you insane. A lot of people have the same problem. You are not insane, Kyuhyun.”

“I wish I was normal though. I wish I didn’t have to always be on edge.” Kyuhyun’s voice is morose, “I’d give anything to just be able to walk around without constantly feeling like I’m about to pass out.”

“Try not to think about it. Just think about me, think about how I’ll always be there for you when you need me.”

Kyuhyun hums in agreement and places his head back on Siwon’s chest with a soft sigh. The older traces patterns into his back until he feels Kyuhyun’s heart slow and hears him breathing leisurely.

I almost rewrote this chapter because I was putting too much of myself into Kyuhyun's character. I didn't want to make that mistake again, but it's okay. I got this! I can do this! I hope...

Anyways, yes the baking incident. It's kind of important in that Key is introduced and you see the extent of Kyuhyun's anxiety. I decided to change Key's character a little bit (which you will see in later chapters) because I'm tired of him being a diva all of the time. Also, the plot is basically the same, but I'm going to stay on track and not veer away from it like I did last time. (Also, yes, EunHae will show up soon.)

Thanks for reading!

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Love you snowflakes! ♥