Kyuhyun nursed a painful headache as he dragged his feet to the apartment door. Oh man, university life wasn’t to be joked with. He was just dumped with a huge project that he knew he wasn’t going to start until the day before the deadline. Hooray for all-nighters (he meant that in the driest, sarcastic way possible). 

            He shuffled a bit towards his door, and then stopped. He furrowed his eyebrows, tilted his head sideways, and blinked rapidly. Huh. He could’ve sworn this was his door, but there was somebody that he didn’t know standing in front of it and so, in conclusion, he probably got off on the wrong floor.

            Kyuhyun picked his feet up to go back to the elevator when he froze in mid-step. No wait, the sign there said that he was on the right floor. Then what the hell - ?

            “Who are you?” Kyuhyun blurted out.

            The guy slouched in front of his door like a tired statue turned to stare at him in surprise. He was dressed rather elegantly, albeit in a fashion that could’ve belonged in the last century.

            “Oh.” The man had a pleasant voice. “You must be Cho Kyuhyun.”

            A hand was held out.

            Kyuhyun scrutinized it for any hidden explosives or anything like that (too many video games. Way too many). He slowly shook the hand.

            “I’m Yesung’s manager, Shin Hyesung.”

            “Hyesung,” Kyuhyun said. “Isn’t that Yesung with an H?”

            The manager looked a little bashful. “Yeah.” He smiled, his eyes turning into squinty half-moons.

            Kyuhyun proceeded to raise both eyebrows. He waited for an explanation. Hyesung caught on pretty quickly, actually.

            “We were trying to come up with a stage name for Yesung, and for some reason, he really liked my name. So yeah.” The idol’s manager had a really adorable way of talking actually. He laughed breathily at his own explanation.

            “Oh. I see.” Kyuhyun’s mouth twitched. Knowing Jongwoon, he probably was too lazy to think of another name so he just stole his own manager’s instead, and crossed the first letter out. It was quite ingenious.

            “So… Um.” Hyesung shuffled his feet awkwardly.

            “Sorry. I don’t think I should let you in until I have substantial proof that you are, in fact, his manager.”

            There was a surprised look on the other’s face, before he started laughing. “Oh, that’s awfully smart and cautious of you. I like you.”

            Kyuhyun shrugged. “I think Jongwoon’s coming back from school in a few minutes or so anyway.”

            This time, Hyesung tried to hide his shock, but Kyuhyun still saw it in his eyes. “You call him Jongwoon?”

            Kyuhyun pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes. “He told me to.”

            “Oh,” Hyesung breathed. “Oh, that’s interesting.”

            “Why?”

            Hyesung was saved from answering when the elevator dinged and opened. Jongwoon stepped out, hands in coat pockets, and stopped in his tracks when he saw the two of them loitering around in front of the door.

            “I didn’t know I had a welcoming committee,” he said, smiling lighting up his face. It was the soft, fluttery tingle brushing against Kyuhyun’s insides that caught him off-guard. That was probably why he didn’t reply at all as Hyesung ruffled Jongwoon’s locks.

            “I was just checking up on you and reminding you that there are no activities for the next week, so take a breather and relax, okay?” Hyesung said. Kyuhyun watched silently, observing the relaxed glow in Jongwoon’s eyes. They seemed quite close, especially for a manager and idol. But then again, they did go through a lot together (crazy scandals, crazy schedules, crazy fans, crazier fans throwing underwear, the list went on and on).

            “What were you two doing standing in front of the door?” Jongwoon asked. “Did you lose the keys again, Kyukyu?”

            Kyuhyun was too busy being ruffled up to notice Hyesung’s small incredulous noise of Kyukyu. “No. Of course not. That only happened once. Once.”

            There was a slight smirk on Jongwoon’s face as he turned the key. “But Boa informed me that it happened all the time before I started living here, too.”

            “She gives out all of my secrets. How dare she call herself my best friend?” He stomped into the living room, only to turn around, his tone completely changing. “Hyesung-sshi, would tea be fine?”

            He was always a courteous host, after all.

            “That sounds great,” Hyesung said.

            “You don’t have be so polite all the time, you know,” Kyuhyun said, and then went into the kitchen to let them talk or whatever. As he waited for the water to boil, crossing his arms, he still couldn’t help leaning to eavesdrop though.

            Yeah, he knew. He was a bad person. A very bad person.

            Kyuhyun heard a quiet “How are you doing?”

            “Fine.” Now that was definitely Jongwoon’s husky voice. Kyuhyun could identify it anywhere (he had been sneakily listening to and downloading all of Yesung’s songs for the past few weeks but sshhhh, don’t tell Jongwoon that). “Pretty good, actually.”

            “I bet it’s ‘cuz of Kyukyu.” There was a definite teasing tone in Hyesung’s voice. Kyuhyun just knew there was a mischievous side to that man that he had been hiding.

            “Kyukyu is adorably hilarious,” Jongwoon said breezily. Kyuhyun started to make an indignant sound before realizing that he was supposed to be ninja-eavesdropping.

            “And the clouds?” Hyesung asked.

            There was a pause, a hesitance. “I’m dealing with it. It’s gotten better, I think. Hopefully.”

            Kyuhyun was leaning fully diagonally now, feeling lost. What did clouds mean? Like fluffy white things made out of molecules of H2O? It took him a few seconds before another thought flashed into his head and he wanted to smack himself. Right. Clouds, like rain clouds; being under a cloud meant a period of sadness and despondency, after all. That meant that Hyesung knew about Jongwoon’s condition.

            Well, Kyuhyun would be surprised if he didn’t.

            The water boiled, and he rushed (almost slipping on the floor) to flick the fire off. He carefully measured the tea leaves and poured three mugs of tea. He blew into his own mug, and carried them out.

            “What were you guys talking about?” He asked when he plopped down on the couch, as if he didn’t know already what they were talking about.

            “You, of course,” Jongwoon said. A small devilish poke of his tongue from the corners of his mouth showed that he was teasing again, although he was actually being truthful in a sense anyway. Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes.

            “All good things, I hope.”

            “If you count trying to teach girl group dances to Pikachu, sure.”

            Hyesung had been watching them banter back and forth with amusement, and now he set down his tea cup gently. It clattered against the table (who used coasters? Not Kyuhyun, for sure) as he stood up.

            “I should get going,” he said, straightening his jacket. “It was nice meeting you, Kyuhyun.”

            “Likewise,” Kyuhyun said. See? He could be polite when he wanted to be.

            “Also,” the manager paused as he let himself out the door, “your mom says hi. And she told me to give you a kiss on the cheek from her but I don’t think that’s quite appropriate.”

            A scowl appeared on Kyuhyun’s face. “Why is everyone out to embarrass me? God.”

            Hyesung gave them one last wave before exiting.

            “I don’t have homework today,” Jongwoon said after a few seconds of silence passed by, like he was declaring the national fiscal policy or something. He was looking at Kyuhyun as if he expected something from him.

            “Well, I do,” he said, brushing off invisible lint off his shoulders. Kyuhyun made the mistake of looking back at Jongwoon when he was walking back to his room. The blond man had purposely stretched his eyes wide open and clasped his palms together. Kyuhyun inwardly wailed because he knew he had lost with one glance at that puppy dog look.

            Damnit.

            He shuffled backwards, sitting back down mechanically.

            “Well, none of them are due tomorrow, so…” He muttered.

            Jongwoon did a strange victory jiggle and he leaned enthusiastically across Kyuhyun for the TV remote. Kyuhyun caught a whiff of tantalizing melons before Jongwoon settled back into his pretzel sitting position on the cream-colored couch. He had to stop himself from instinctively leaning closer to savor that scent again (because that would be creepy. Duh).

            Their favorite variety show flickered on screen. Although technically it was Jongwoon’s favorite, because Kyuhyun would never admit that he secretly really liked watching it (although maybe he enjoyed Jongwoon’s presence next to him more than the show itself).

            Recognition flooded Jongwoon’s face when a familiar idol group came on screen as guests. Kyuhyun sipped at his tea, screwing his face up at the hot temperature, and set it back down.

            “They’re your dongsaengs, aren’t they?” He asked. “From the same company?”

            “Yup. They’re bratty and sweet.” Jongwoon reclined his head on the back of the couch like a lazy cat.

            “Weird combination.”

            “They still need more experience, though.”

            They both fell silent as the leader awkwardly introduced himself and the MC tried to make jokes around his stage name.

            “At least they have each other. They’ll be fine,” Jongwoon said, and there was that melancholic look in his dark brown irises, like he was an old philosopher who had already seen too much of life.

            Kyuhyun just inclined his head to stare at Jongwoon. He knew when was the time to just shut up and listen, and this was now.

            “It’s just a little lonely to promote as a solo artist sometimes.” Jongwoon looked back at Kyuhyun, smiling but not with his eyes.

            “You have Hyesung.”

            “It’s not exactly the same, although he does help.”

            “Well, you have me now too,” Kyuhyun said, meaning that in a snarky sarcastic way because it wasn’t like he was a bright happy spot of sunshine in anyone’s life, but Jongwoon was giving him a look like he was taking the statement seriously.

            “Yes, I guess I do.” He shifted an inch closer to Kyuhyun. The commercials were on. “I think that you should tell me more about yourself.”

            “But there’s nothing much to tell. You know all the basics already – about my unhealthy obsessions for games and you even know my mom.” Kyuhyun curled his legs closer to himself.

            “There’s definitely more than that,” Jongwoon prodded, and one side of his mouth tilted up. Kyuhyun gaped for a few seconds at the smirk on Jongwoon’s face, before trying to concentrate on the words tumbling out of his mouth. “I noticed you had a huge rolled-up poster of Kim Jaejoong in the corner of your room.”

            Kyuhyun squeaked. “How did you – OH DON’T TELL ME. You snuck into my room and rifled through my belongings. This is an invasion of privacy.” And then he realized that he basically did the same to Jongwoon’s room, so he snapped his mouth shut.

            Jongwoon seemed to have the same idea. “Call it revenge for last time.” The goddamn smirk was still on his face.

            “It was – The poster was a gift from Boa – err, from when she came back from Japan. Yeah.” Okay, this was why he couldn’t tell lies to save his own hide.

            “Uhuh.” Jongwoon was still staring at him.

            Kyuhyun gave up too easily. He threw his hands up. “Okay, fine! I’m a huge fan of his! I’m a Jaeharem! I ADMIT IT.”

            There was a definite pause before Jongwoon started cracking up, his face plastered to the side of the couch in his mirth. “What – Is that seriously what they call his fans? Seriously?”

            “It’s an unofficial fan club name, okay.” Kyuhyun hid his mortified his face with his hands. “I thought it was a good name, actually.” His voice wavered off pathetically. Jongwoon was still laughing.

            When he finally calmed down enough so that his face was no longer all red and tomato-y like, Kyuhyun asked in a tiny voice, “You’re not mad?”

            “Why should I be?” There was still a tint of laughter in his voice.

            “You guys are rivals, after all.” He didn’t mention the rude girl from before who had upped and insulted Jongwoon earlier in defense for her oppar. Fans like that weren’t real fans, in his opinion.

            Jongwoon tapped his chin. “Oh, I guess we are, in a professional sense. I mean, we come from different companies and all, but we’re actually pretty close friends.”

            Kyuhyun’s eyebrows reached his hairline.

            “We really are,” Jongwoon insisted after seeing Kyuhyun’s disbelieving look. “We are both solo artists with similar tastes in the music we produce and like. We kind of connected over the fact that it was so isolating sometimes to be idols working on our own and so we became friends early on in our careers. You know what – “

            He took out his phone from his jeans pocket. Without warning, he looped an arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulders, and Kyuhyun flushed slightly at how their sides were pressed together. Jongwoon positioned the phone in front of them, and said, “say Kimchi, Kyukyu,” and Kyuhyun didn’t say anything (although he automatically smiled in front of the tiny camera lens). Jongwoon snapped the photo, and flipped his phone around to examine the end result.

            He looked satisfied by the derpy smile on Kyuhyun’s face and wide-eyed twitchy smile on his own, and then sent the duo’s selca to the contact Jaejoong the Puppy Princess with the subtitle: Look. It’s Kyukyu and me! Kyuhyun stared at the phone screen, open-mouthed, before giving Jongwoon the most gob-smacked expression ever.

            “You did not,” he said. “Oh my god. You totally did not.”

            Jongwoon had a smug smile pasted on his face. “I just did.” His arm was still around Kyuhyun’s shoulder, and Kyuhyun was pretending not to be hyper-aware of its presence, which was a rather hard task.

            “Did you just send a selca of us to Kim Jaejoong? The Kim Jaejoong?” He started making inhuman frog dying noises.

            The phone shivered in Jongwoon’s hand, with a bright and happy New Message shining on its screen.

Jaejoong the Puppy Princess said: Ahhhh is that the new roommate u were talking about? He’s adorable. >w< U absolutely have to let me meet him later on.

            Kyuhyun hyperventilated.

            Jongwoon chuckled at his reaction and typed out a response: He’s a Jaeharem apparently. Kekeke.

            Kyuhyun let out a horrified splutter and tried to lunge out for his phone but it was already too late. All he got was a face-ful of Jongwoon’s lap and he straightened up, glaring.

            “Does that mean you never listened to my music?” Jongwoon asked, pouting slightly.

            Kyuhyun flailed around before admitting: “Only a tiny bit, mostly because I was a little biased. But now I’m making it my goal to listen to all of your songs. Even the OSTs!”

            “You better.” Jongwoon made the threat clearer by jabbing Kyuhyun’s forehead with his forefinger. His eyes were sparkling.

            “Yes sir.” Kyuhyun saluted with a flourish, retreating back a little because the proximity between the two of them was making him heady. “Oh look, the variety show is back on.”

            Thank goodness Kim Jongwoon was easy to distract.

Hey look. I've got my inspiration for this story back. Temporarily. Haha (also, seriously, I searched up the name for a Kim Jaejoong fan).