Kyuhyun peeked of the corner of his eye, watching the happy couple currently laughing on the couch in the living room and trying his hardest not to snarl like a wounded dog at the sight. He had promised not to interfere and was secretly waiting for Sungmin's forgiveness before he could allow himself to even begin think of planning of how to get Sungmin back. Or well, at least a sign that Sungmin had forgiven him.

He didn't deserve Sungmin, he knew that. But love was irrational. Sungmin had stayed with him when their relationship first fell apart, that was irrational too. On hindsight, it had been a miracle that Sungmin had put up with his horrible attitude for so long.

He regretted it now. He regretted it all.

The one person he should have treasured most he threw away; he didn't have a right to interfere now.

He would only do so, if Sungmin gave him the green light.

And so for now, Kyuhyun clenched his fork tightly in his hand, stabbing it into his cut slices of apples viciously as he tried to vent out his repressed feelings.

Siwon eyed the lone figure in the kitchen, barely paying attention to the movie he and Sungmin were watching. He only laughed when Sungmin did, trying not to show that he had no idea what the plot of this movie was even about. Sungmin let out another laugh, body convulsing as he squeezed Siwon's hand in his excitement. Siwon simply smiled and tightened his arm around Sungmin's shoulders, casting another glance towards the kitchen, his last, he promised himself.

He caught Kyuhyun's eye this time, and hurt flashed across Kyuhyun's eyes before he turned back to whatever he was eating. Siwon guessed he understood. How could he not? Sungmin was such a special person, losing him must hurt, especially since Kyuhyun hadn't seemed to realise that he was really in love with Sungmin all along and probably just needed a bit of space before throwing it all away. The soft squeeze on his hand jerked him out of his thoughts and he smiled down at Sungmin again, pressing his lips gently to his hair.

The wariness he had been harbouring had not subsided. He knew that Sungmin had loved Kyuhyun very much and although he knew that Sungmin was willing to give this, them, a shot, the niggling feeling that one day if Kyuhyun showed just that little bit more interest, Sungmin might leave him. He would be angry, but he wasn't sure if he could begrudge Sungmin his happiness like that.

All he wanted was for Sungmin to be happy and hopefully, that happiness could be found with him.

'Siwon,' he looked up from his thoughts at his boyfriend, his boyfriend. The word still gave him chills and he nearly missed the next few words. 'Let's go get some ice cream. I want to go out.'

'Sure hyung, let's go out.' Siwon sat them both up from their slouched positions and turned the television off. Patting his pocket gently to make sure his wallet was there, he pulled Sungmin up from the couch and up against him.

Sungmin coughed lightly, embarrassed. He still wasn't used to all these intimacies between Siwon and himself. Curling up on the couch and watching a movie that sort of thing, sure, they did that with the other members all the time. But this was different. He felt his face heat up and he coughed again, looking away shyly. 'I'll get my cap and we can go.' Turning around, Sungmin fled into his room before his face turned the shade of a tomato, he wasn't sure if he could survive the embarrassment and the teasing.

The door closed with a loud click and Kyuhyun turned at the sound. Noticing that Siwon was waiting in the living room alone, he made eye contact, making sure that Siwon knew he was going to say something before speaking. 'Just so you know, if I can get Sungmin back, I will.'

'You didn't seem very motivated to keep him the last time round,' Siwon replied dryly. 'Besides, you talk about him like he's some object. He's a person.'

'I know he's a person. I'm not stupid,' Kyuhyun glared before he seemed to restrain himself. 'It was a mistake okay, I must have lost my mind or something.'

'Left it in China?'

Kyuhyun hated Siwon for bringing China up. He knew they had all witnessed him draping himself all over Zhou Mi. He regretted it now, then, probably not but he definitely regretted it now. They had no idea.

'I shouldn't have to explain myself to you, you wouldn't understand.'

Sungmin stepped out then, heading straight for Siwon and grinning up at him. 'I'm ready to go.' He looked back and forth from Siwon to Kyuhyun, an uneasy look on his face. 'Is something going on?'

'No,' Siwon breathed out after a short pause. 'Nothing's wrong, let's go Sungmin.'

Taking his smaller hand gently in his, Siwon tugged Sungmin to the door. Sungmin bit his lip at the motionless figure still standing in the kitchen, before raising his hand and giving a hesitant wave. And then he was out the door.

-

Sungmin ordered raspberry ice cream in a huge waffle cone. Siwon settled for some simple mint chocolate chip, content to just watch Sungmin happily at his own ice cream. They took a seat near the very back of the store, partially sheltered behind a huge wall partition as they enjoyed their ice cream date.

'Good?' Siwon asked as he watched Sungmin break off a part of the waffle to munch at.

Sungmin nodded. 'Very. Just what I needed on a hot day. Thanks Siwon.'

'There's no need to thank me, I'm just doing what a good boyfriend would do.'

Sungmin didn't miss the emphasis Siwon placed on the words and chose to focus on his next bite of his ice cream cone instead. He knew the comparison between the two men was always being drawn; it wasn't like he hadn't compared them before. Sungmin knew it was wrong to compare them; they were so different, but he just couldn't help himself sometimes.

'I know,' he chose to state simply after a few minutes. 'I'm trying too.'

The lines around Siwon's eyes softened and he reached a hand over, 'Min - '

Sungmin winced a little at the familiar nickname, a reaction that he had been trying to hide for awhile now. 'Could - could you not call me that? It reminds me of him,' he took another bite of the cone. 'I just thought that should be something separating the two of you.'

'Well, if reminds you of him then I shouldn't use it then. I'll just find another nickname for you, one that I think of,' Siwon said easily as he up some melting trails of his ice cream. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy that Sungmin didn't want any reminder of Kyuhyun or upset that Sungmin couldn't move past it.

But he was here, with him now, and that was all that mattered.

He used his finger to swipe some of his ice cream onto Sungmin's cheek as the latter squealed in protest. Sungmin pouted and look at the remnants of his ice cream cone before pressing the rest of it onto Siwon's mouth.

Siwon had laughed so hard he had nearly choked on the ice cream melting rapidly down his face and into his mouth.

He could get used to this.

-

Sungmin entered his room and nearly tossed his bag onto his bed in a practised motion when a slow drawl made him reconsider the action.

'If your bag hits any part of my body, you'd better be careful which shampoo you pick to shower with in the next few days.'

He rolled his eyes, trying not to show that he had been startled at all and opting to sling his bag onto his chair instead. 'What are you doing here, Heechul hyung?'

'I came to see how my favourite person was doing. Why? Can't I be in here?' Heechul flipped a page of his magazine idly, feet stretching out on the mattress of Sungmin's bed.

'Your favourite person is Hankyung hyung, everyone knows that,' Sungmin deadpanned as he tugged his shirt off and pulled on a singlet instead. 'So what exactly are you doing in here?'

Heechul sniffed daintily before carefully folding his magazine. Sitting up straight, he folded his legs under him and patted the space next to him, staring expectantly at Sungmin.

Sungmin simply stared, before rolling his eyes and turning his computer on. It was his bed, thank you, he would decide when he would sit on it and decide to engage Heechul in conversation. This was his room.

He should have known better.

Heechul's eyes narrowed dangerously and he jabbed a finger into Sungmin's mattress, hissing, 'Sit.'

Sungmin sat immediately, putting a safe distance between himself and the most unpredictable person in the world. It didn't matter, Heechul reached out an arm and tugged at Sungmin's clothes, toppling him down onto the mattress with half of his torso lying haphazardly across Heechul's lap. He cringed as Heechul started petting him on the head and down his arm like how you would a pet.

'Good boy.'

Sungmin gagged.

'I've never been so proud of anyone before, you conniving .'

'Hyung!' Sungmin struggled in the tight manicured grip before finally giving up and slumping back into Heechul's lap. Heechul squeezed his arms around his neck, alternating between tightening and releasing his hold on Sungmin. The nails that dug unconsciously in his skin were sharper than his own and Sungmin winced. 'That was not nice.'

'Of course it wasn't. Since when am I ever nice in the first place?'

'You helped me get over Kyuhyun,' Sungmin pointed out.

'A mere moment of weakness,' Heechul dismissed his comment with a princessy flick of his hand. 'But we digress. Nice going , snagging the hottest bachelor around.'

'I didn't snag him,' Sungmin protested weakly. 'He sort of came on his own.'

'Conniving and attractive, I finally have the perfect protégée,' Heechul put his hand to his chest, sighing dramatically. 'Now tell me all the dirty details. I bet he's a monster in bed.'

Sungmin blushed and would have died in his own embarrassment had Leeteuk not peeked around the door.

'Oh there you are Heechul. Now come out here Manager wants to have words with you.' Heechul wrinkled his nose at Leeteuk's nagging before dumping Sungmin unceremoniously off his lap.

'Bye , was nice talking to you.'

'Language Heechul!' Leeteuk interjected disapprovingly. 'And by the way,' he paused on his way out, smiling brilliantly back at Sungmin who was still rubbing his sore back from landing on the floor. 'It's nice to see you smiling again Sungmin.'

Sungmin returned the smile gratefully as the door closed behind his two hyungs and he got off the floor, wincing a little bit. He didn't remember what he wanted to do when he had first gotten home and gotten accosted by Heechul but he supposed it didn't really matter. It was nice knowing that people cared about him enough to take our a part of their day to wait for them.

He looked at the dump of clothes on Kyuhyun's bed. Ryeowook must have helped to take in the laundry today. Sungmin absent mindedly picked up a shirt and began folding, almost on auto pilot as he mused over Siwon's words. It gave his hands something to do as he pondered He never wanted to compare the two men but if he had to, he would say that there was something missing with Siwon. It wasn't that the man wasn't being nice to him, not anything like Kyuhyun had been when he had been all but kicked out of his life. But it was like he was just being comfortable.

With Kyuhyun, he felt like he was alive.

He supposed that was also why he had fallen completely to pieces when Kyuhyun had walked out. Maybe it wasn't healthy to feel so much for one person. Maybe it was just easier to go along with life instead of fighting.

It was only in the lonely cold of the night when everybody else in the dorm was sleeping that Sungmin could admit to himself that he missed Kyuhyun. Even on the day that he had agreed to go out with Siwon. He really was a terrible person wasn't he?

A wry smile turned up the corners of his lips as he folded a pair of Kyuhyun's jeans in half. He loved Siwon he really did but if he had to describe it he supposed it was a different kind of all consuming love that he had felt for Kyuhyun. And he wasnt sure that if he fell into that again, that he would come out alive.

Just like he used to a year or more ago, Sungmin sorted the clothes into piles and opened the closet, putting them away accordingly as he struggled with his own thoughts. He barely even noticed the creak of the door opening behind him, so focused was he on the task at hand.

'Sungmin hyung?'

He whirled around so quickly he nearly fell over. 'Oh, Kyuhyun. You startled me.'

'Sorry,' Kyuhyun just couldn't keep the smile off his face. 'You were just so engrossed it really wasn't my fault.'

Sungmin sniffed, a gesture uncannily like Heechul, and Kyuhyun laughed silently at the thought.

'What are you smiling at, Kyuhyun?'

He simply couldn't resist and the grin spread across Kyuhyun's face then. 'You're helping me to put away my clothes again.'

'Wha - what?' Sungmin looked up from where he was currently sorting out Kyuhyun's jeans from his nicer pants. 'It is just a one time thing!' He huffed and stood up from where he was bending down to reach the lower drawers. 'The mess on your bed was annoying me and you know I can't do anything when I'm annoyed. It's not for you I did it for me.'

'Sure,' Kyuhyun was unconvinced but he wasn't going to let Sungmin know that anyway. He was just happy that underneath it all, it was still the Sungmin he had known and loved, and still loved. And he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had missed Sungmin arranging his things, packing them and organizing them the way that Kyuhyun had thought he hated. All the irritation that he had felt when he had last seen Sungmin doing that - before he left for China all those months ago - felt so foreign now.

How could he ever have hated this? 'Whatever you say Min.'

The nickname had slipped out unconsciously as well and the both of them flushed, eyes darting around the room.

'I'll just - ' Sungmin started.

Kyuhyun scratched at his head awkwardly. 'I should really take my - '

They both shut up abruptly before looking up at each other. Sungmin laughed first and Kyuhyun's own quickly followed, encouraged by the long missed sound of Sungmin laughing.

'Pack your own things,' Sungmin looked at the last stack of shirts that he had in his arms before flinging it into Kyuhyun's face.

The look of outrage on Kyuhyun's face was completely priceless as a sleeve hit him in the face and cloth went into his mouth. Sungmin nearly sat on the floor and screamed with laughter but he managed to hold it together, raising a hand to cover his mouth as he giggled, stifling the bigger laughs that threatened to escape.

After he had finally got a hold on himself, slumped over in his chair with his sternum aching from all the laughing he did, he watched Kyuhyun sit on the floor, creasing his forehead as he figured out how to make the mess of clothes into the neat pile that Sungmin was holding five minutes before.

Sungmin sighed. 'Have you learnt nothing in China Cho? Can't even fold your own clothes neatly, you pampered little brat. Pass some over and watch me.' He grabbed a shirt and folded it deftly, making sure Kyuhyun was watching how he did so. 'There. Now you try.'

Kyuhyun had nearly choked when Sungmin mentioned China but he bent his head to hide his face, fingers shaking slightly as he tried to fold the shirt like how Sungmin did.

'No no, you fold in the sleeves before you fold it in half,' Sungmin leaned over to show him, fingers brushing in the process.

They were callused, but still so tender, just like Kyuhyun remembered.

Kyuhyun could almost see the bright flush creeping up Sungmin's face from below his neck and he hurriedly pulled his hand back, messing up the shirt in the process.

'Well you seem to have gotten the idea,' Sungmin stumbled to his feet, nearly tripping over a shirt in the process. 'So I - I'll leave you to it, yes.' With that, he rushed out of the room, leaving Kyuhyun to pick up the shirts on his own.

If Kyuhyun didn't know any better, he would have said there was a spark between their fingers when they'd met. As far as he knew, there weren't any factors for the presence of static in their room. He wasn't even holding wool.

But he looked down at his fingers, and he looked back up to the drawer where he knew Sungmin had kept his letter, Kyuhyun figured he could take this as a sign. And if it really wasn't, well, he could at least said that he tried.