“What happened with your diet, Pumpkin?”

Sungmin’s grip on the small package of chocolate chips he had just found inside the cabinet loosened and the package  fell down to the floor as he spun his body around to face the intruder.

“Heechul Hyung!” Sungmin whined as he rubbed his chest, exaggeratedly telling Heechul that he had surprised him.

Sungmin picked up his fallen package without letting his eyes off of his hyung. Heechul left his spot on the kitchen opening and ambled in only to sit on one of the kitchen stools directly across where Sungmin was standing. He also kept his stare on Sungmin, not wanting to divert his eyes from those intense scrutinizing eyes. Heebum meowed again, then he jumped off Heechul’s lap and sashayed out of the kitchen, deciding that his first master probably need some time alone with his second master.

Sungmin’s stare turned gentle as he saw that Heechul was back to being himself.

“Welcome back, Hyung,” he smiled, opening the cookie bag and offering it to Heechul.

Heechul chuckled and took a cookie.

“Glad to be back,” he simply said, then he popped the cookie into his mouth.

Sungmin turned his back to Heechul again to prepare some tea for the two of them, right when the digital magnet timer on the refrigerator beeped, signalling the time, 00:00. Sungmin glanced at the timer and snorted, “You’re really Cinderella, huh? Waiting for midnight to finish your moping period, what a way to be dramatic, Hyung,”

“Hush,” Heechul threw cookie crumbs at Sungmin’s back (but they missed, because crumbs could only fly so far), “For Cinderella, happy time ends at midnight, for me, it’s the opposite. I’m done with my moping.”

“I figure that much,” was Sungmin’s cheeky reply. “I thought I would have to destroy your door and drag you out tomorrow morning. I’m glad I wouldn’t have to. You know, I don’t care if you’re going to mope for a long time, but stop with the less-eating and less-drinking, please, it scares me out for real, sometimes. It’s not healthy.”

“Huh, why would you think that I would still lock myself up tomorrow?” Heechul chewed on his nth cookie as he deliberately ignored Sungmin’s opinion about his health. He was really hungry.

“Well, considering that was your longest ever with someone that is not a friend… I thought you were starting to get serious about this whole relationship thingy, and that it would surely hurt more than the usual break-ups, so I thought you’re going to spend more days wallowing in sadness or something,” Sungmin explained, oblivious at the displeased look on Heechul’s face as he kept himself busy with the kettle.

“Damn it, Min, I was serious, okay? I was honestly on the verge of almost falling in love!” Heechul protested through his full mouth, spraying more crumbs all over the kitchen table.

Sungmin turned around with two cups of tea and grimaced in distaste at the mess on the table.

“Are you even sure? On the verge of falling in love… ha, did you force yourself to fall in love, or something?” Sungmin scoffed as he wiped the table with a piece of tissue and then he slid one cup over to Heechul.

Heechul scowled at this remark, but he couldn’t really deny it. He had been quite desperate in finding ‘love’, trying so hard to find the plus points of the people he dated, just in case one of them would suddenly trigger something inside him so that he could finally declare that he’s in love. So far, no luck.

They stayed in contemplative silence for a while. The cookie package was almost empty, and their tea cups were, too. Heechul took another sip of his tea. Not too sweet, just perfect, his favorite jasmine tea. Sungmin knew it was his favorite, he had known it since five years ago when they started being flatmates. Come to think of it…

“Pumpkin,” Heechul called out suddenly, looking up to show Sungmin his impressive frown.

“What.” Sungmin frowned back at Heechul (plus a pout), obviously not pleased with getting a sudden frown from his hyung.

“You know most of the relationships I’ve had, you’ve met some of the guys I’ve dated, and you always said they’re not the right one. What the hell, Min, did you jinx my relationships, or something? Why do I only realize this now?” Heechul demanded, while still popping in yet another cookie.

Sungmin rolled his eyes, “Obviously you’ve just been looking in the wrong places! Could you just take a break and let the right one come and find you? Just stop throwing yourself into relationships with people who were only interested after you flirted with them! Step back for a while, give me— give people a chance to make the first move, Hyung! Geez, I’m so freaking tired with this talk, you never learned!”

Heechul jumped a little on where he sat when Sungmin abruptly banged the table with his fists. The tea cups clinked against the solid surface of the table, and then Heechul could only hear Sungmin’s ragged breathing. He stood up quickly and pursed his lips as if trying to hold in unnecessary words from spilling from his mouth.

“I’m going back to sleep. Clean up after you’re done, please, Hyung. There’s some leftover Chinese food in the fridge if you’re still hungry. I—” Sungmin sighed, clearly still trying to compose himself, and then he just left Heechul there.

Heechul could still hear Sungmin calling for Heebum from somewhere in the living room, the cat’s answering meow, and then a slam of a door. Heechul briefly wondered if Hyukjae and Donghae heard this little commotion from their respective rooms.

From all the years he lived with Sungmin, the times Sungmin actually got mad at him verbally were so limited he could count them with his one hand alone. Knowing his own personality quite well, moreover with all the messy relationships he had, Heechul was actually amazed at how patient Sungmin had been toward him.

Feeling dejected, because after all this time he still didn’t know how to react to an angry Sungmin, Heechul quickly finished his cookies and tea and brought the cups to the sink.

He stepped on something cold as he stood in front of the sink. He picked it up to see that it was Sungmin’s necklace, the one with a round locket with some intricate Gothic ornaments on the surface that Heechul gave him for his birthday three years ago. Sungmin must have dropped it accidentally when he rubbed his chest because Heechul surprised him earlier.

Suddenly curious, Heechul examined the locket, trying to open the super-tiny latch that held the two halves together. He knew it could keep tiny photos inside, that was the reason why he had bought it for Sungmin in the first place. Heechul knew how much of a romantic Sungmin was, so he had told Sungmin to put a photo of his girlfriend or his secret crush inside the locket. Maybe Sungmin really hid photos in it.

Come to think of it, Heechul never really saw Sungmin going on dates. He never bothered Heechul with his love problems, never asked for relationship advice (well, who would want to ask from an always-failing-in-relationship expert like Heechul, anyway?). And then suddenly the realization hit Heechul.

What if… all this time…

The reason why Sungmin never approved of his choices of men…

The reason why he never saw or heard about Sungmin in a relationship…

With fingers trembling in anticipation, Heechul kept trying to open the latch. Why was he getting this nervous? He never really thought of Sungmin that way, but now that a gate of recognition had been opened, all kind of unknown feelings were flooding into him.

Sungmin was very patient with him, he knew him better than any of his other friends did, he cooked awesome meals (not outstanding, but he kept Heechul well-fed on days he didn’t have a date to take him out for dinner), their conversations were always casual and awkward-free, Heechul felt comfortable with him, hell, now that he thought about it, he always felt at home when he was with Sungmin.

And Heechul had noticed this since the first time Sungmin showed up on his doorstep asking to fill in the advertised spot as a flatmate, but damn that guy is beautiful.

The latch flicked open, and Heechul held his breath.

Was it hope, he’s feeling right now?

Slowly, he slid one half of the locket to the side…

…and he was greeted by a picture of his own smiling face. It was from years ago, when his hair was still dyed red. It was taken candidly, because Heechul in the picture wasn’t looking at the camera and looked so clearly oblivious about it. Exactly how long had Sungmin been keeping his feelings from him?

“Damn it, Sungmin,” Heechul hissed as he felt a lump in his throat. “Why didn’t you say or do anything to let me know…”

Choking back an unexpected sob, Heechul closed the locket and quickly pocketed it.

He returned to his bedroom with determined steps, his mind full of newly-formed ideas on how to make Sungmin finally confess to him.

.

(tbc)