Donghae slowly turned the key in the lock and winced when it made a louder noise than he wanted. He shouldn’t even be that bothered by disturbing the silence since it was the middle of the day, but he had his reasons. Or rather one reason.

Slowly sliding into the apartment, he neatly placed his sneakers on the shoe rack purchased by Kyuhyun to organize their shoes a few weeks ago, and shoved his feet into slippers with little monkeys on them. Hyukjae was lately providing him with so many accessories from his brand shop that Donghae was running out of time to wear them.

Moving as soundlessly through the apartment as possible he peeked into the bedroom he shared with his friend. And there was the reason for his cautiousness.

Kyuhyun was in his bed, sleeping. Again. He was looking actually quite decent comparing to the first few days after he came back as a crying mess from his employer’s house. At least he was showered now, even if the stubble on his face was already visible and needed to be gone. But since Kyuhyun wasn’t really leaving the house that wasn’t even that much of a problem.

Donghae had a vague idea of what happened a week before, even if Kyuhyun didn’t tell him everything. Or rather, he said nothing and Hae was just guessing from his twitches and scowls and eyes getting moist at any mention of a certain composer.

Apparently someone made a move and Kyuhyun's feelings spilled letting Sungmin know that he was being pinned after. And something went wrong along the way there if Kyuhyun, the guy who didn’t cry even when Donghae mistakenly stepped onto his CD with his favorite game, was weeping for three days like a little child. Well, maybe not weeping. It was more like Kyuhyun couldn’t control it and, after initial attempt to cover it, he was just moping around the small apartment with streams of tears running down his cheeks and neck. Donghae resolved to hydrate him whenever he was near the guy.

He wanted to know if he should be angry and go punch Sungmin or try to reason with Kyuhyun. He didn’t have any idea whose fault this whole situation was and he wasn’t that keen on judging that it was only on the composer’s side, despite what his soft spot for Kyuhyun was telling him.

Sighing, he closed the door to the bedroom hoping that Kyuhyun would get up and start attending classes again next week. It was really a pain in the gathering his notes.

Donghae pulled his phone from his back pocket and searched for the number through his contacts. Upon finding it he scowled a little before pressing the call button. He didn’t have to wait more than two beeps for the other party to pick up.

‘Have you gathered any information at all?’ He asked immediately without as much as a hello.

***

Kyuhyun opened his eyes the moment Donghae closed the door.

He sighed and turned to lie on his stomach while listening to his friend shuffling in front of the door. He knew that Donghae was worried about him and he knew he was behaving unreasonably and he knew he should just it up and pull himself from this slump. But he couldn’t. He was aware how stupid he was being, he was acting like a twelve year old girl whose idol was rumored to be dating someone she hated. And that was totally not his situation. But… it was Sungmin.

Kyuhyun pulled his hand up to his face. He was clutching at his phone almost all the time. He unlocked the screen and searched his folder before pulling onto the display picture of his, probably already former, boss. Sungmin was reading something with concentrated expression. He looked so beautiful and Kyuhyun remembered that just a moment before he complimented his cooking and suggested they ate their lunches together.

Sighing, Kyuhyun closed his eyes and pushed the phone into the comforter on his bed. He knew what this was.

He was in love with Sungmin. And he knew that it started even before the man got his makeover, considering Kyuhyun found himself thinking about his employer way too often for it to be casual. Sungmin was lovable even as his Stinky self, his obliviousness and lack of care for things coupled with those rare moments when his sharp tongue was resurfacing made him such a unique creature that Kyuhyun was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. The beauty hidden under all the dirt was just a cherry on top, pleasant addition, but not a necessary requirement to love the man.

But then he was trying to use Kyuhyun. Like another .

Tears started to sting his eyes again but after so many days Kyuhyun was already capable of stopping them from spilling. He gulped down the lump that formed in his throat and locked his phone before sitting up. That was enough of that self-pity. He needed to get back to life, find another job, or talk with his dad and show him that he was capable of taking care of money. Frankly speaking, he really didn’t want to take money from his father again. At least not for living, because the tuition would be still too much to pay. Maybe taking that position as assistant professor during his PhD wasn’t such a bad idea, he would be doing what he was supposed to, and he could get past the irritation of teaching those half-wits.

Suddenly, the memory of him sitting in Sungmin’s studio and listening to his own voice singing that beautiful ballad was brought up from somewhere deep in his mind. He scowled. Well, that was definitely something he should forget about as much as his cleaning job at the composer’s apartment.

Standing up he walked to the door and opened it, but didn’t take a step out once he heard a conversation. Whoever Donghae was talking to he must have put them on speaker.

‘He hasn’t opened the door or even got out of the apartment for the whole week.’ Familiar, if a little distorted, voice of Hyukjae poured out of the phone.

‘Like that’s something new.’ Donghae growled.

There was a sigh from the other man before he spoke again. ‘Did you consider the motion that the fault doesn’t tip only to one side? Ming… isn’t exactly very communicative. Heechul had to spend three hours coaxing the guy to tell him that he knew about Kyuhyun's attraction but didn’t know how to act on it in fear of scaring off the sulking moron. There might have been a chance of some misunderstanding if Kyuhyun didn’t give him a chance to explain. And I tell you, it’s not easy to make Ming talk if he doesn’t want to do it.’

A moment of silence filled the room before Hae spoke in response. ‘Wow, you actually sounded like a smart person.’ He snorted and continued. ‘I just want him to get out of the room. You hadn’t seen it, he was crying as if his whole family got murdered in front of his eyes… No, scratch that, he looked as if Blizzard announced they would be deleting all StarCraft files or whatever they might do to destroy the game.’

A chuckle answered him before Hyukjae groaned. ‘Heechul is making me go check on Sungmin again. He’s afraid he died under pile of garbage that must have accumulated by this point all over the apartment. And I see where he get’s that idea from, last year Sungmin broke his arm when he tripped over something that was littering the floor, but didn’t get it checked until three days later when Heechul came to him.’

Apparently Donghae was drinking something because he chocked. ‘Oh God, that man doesn’t know how to live properly, does he?’

‘Nope.’ Hyuk said with a sigh. ‘Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Mhm…’ Hae murmured before obviously disconnecting the call on his way out of the kitchen. His eyes grew wide when he saw Kyuhyun standing in the hallway, eyes fixated on some point on the wall. ‘Kyuhyun?’ He asked quietly not to scare the other off. It was like dealing with a wild animal the last week.

Kyuhyun shook out of his reverie and blinked before bringing hand to his chin and scratching. He winced feeling the sharp stubble there.

‘I need to shave.’ He said before turning towards the bathroom and closing himself there for the next half an hour.

Donghae stared after him, apprehension gnawing at his mind. He was sure his friend heard the conversation. And he wasn’t sure what to think about the obvious lack of care about it on Kyuhyun's side.

***

At this rate Kyuhyun knew he would eat the end of his pen by the time his professor announces the culmination of his lecture. And it was already his second pen, because the last one spilled ink all over his notes during previous classes. His fingers were all bluish from the incident but he ignored whoever asked about it. And surprisingly, a lot of people asked. Being absent for the whole week without any information on his well-being brought up the fact that there were quite a few people in his year who cared enough to say glad you’re back, man the moment he entered the room of his first lecture. And he thought he managed to swim his unsocial through his university years without being noticed.

But back to the problem at hand. He was anxious. Two days passed since he heard the conversation between Hyukjae and his flatmate and since then Donghae casually slipped in their talks that Hyukjae was visiting a friend a few times a day because said friend wasn’t answering any calls or letting anyone in the house. And that the friend was very prone to accidents when left alone. And also that he was running out of food most probably because Hyuk was intercepting all of the take outs the friend was ordering.

God, Kyuhyun hated Donghae. His mind couldn’t focus on anything other than wondering if Sungmin was still alive. Which was stupid. The man survived well without him for so many years. Yeah, his apartment looked and smelled as if something died in it, was brought back to life and died again, but he was alive and well and could go on with his composing without the care for anything else. But then he also was prone to slipping in the shower. And food poisonings. And what if he left the balcony door opened for the night? The temperature dropped two degrees one night and he might have caught cold and he didn’t have any medicine in the flat. And cold could be very dangerous if not treated immediately.

Kyuhyun groaned and slumped forward, head hitting the desk. A guy beside him asked if he was alright, but he didn’t even bother answering. How was he supposed to tell someone he was coming down with a very serious case of heartbreak?

***

Kyuhyun checked his watch making sure it was the right time. He would be there just a few moments, check if everything was still standing and if nothing burned or that there wasn’t corpse of his former employer lying on the floor. He was pretty sure Sungmin was still following his agenda and was sleeping in the early afternoon. Nothing could wake him up when he was sleeping.

Bracing himself, Kyuhyun nodded to the grinning guard and without responding to his inquiries about why he didn’t come for so many days, he jumped into the elevator and stabbed the close door button furiously until the panels slid close. With each floor lightning up on the display over the door his stomach was sinking lower.

He loved Sungmin. No matter what happened, he loved the sticky hobo man and until his stupid feelings settled down he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything unless he checked if the composer was still breathing and well. Hyukjae's suggestions that Sungmin knew about his feelings were bouncing off the walls of his head, never toning down, but he was trying to ignore them as much as possible. Even if Sungmin cared it was Heechul who told him to act, he didn’t care enough to do it on his own. He didn’t need any explanation, he just needed to make sure his hard work the last few months didn’t go down the drain.

Elevator pinged and he exited its space fast, forcing himself to walk to the door a little to the right. There was no smell suggesting that the flat burned down or that anything was decaying there. It was a hot summer so there would be an instant tell if anything of that nature happened.

Kyuhyun glanced at Siwon’s door and for a second considered knocking on the model’s door and asking him if he knew anything about Sungmin. But he didn’t want to be subjected to a few hours of nagging that Siwon would most probably sit him for in his living room.

Taking a big breath and clenching his jaw Kyuhyun put already prepared key in the lock and easily opened the door.

It was silent aside from the sounds from the street – birds chirping and cars honking on their way from work most probably. Absentmindly taking off his shoes, Kyuhyun walked slowly farther into the apartment. Everything seemed just like he left it. Almost. There was a cup of half finished tea on the coffee table, placed on a coaster. The table looked clean, he didn’t see the layer of dust that should have accumulated there during the whole week. The door to the balcony was opened and he saw the dryer with laundry standing there, catching the afternoon sun. Some laundry was already folded and placed on the armchair.

He walked up to the pile and saw that it wasn’t as neat as he did it but there was some effort put into folding. Looking more around he knew that the flat was cleaned during this week and he wondered if Sungmin hired a new house help. That was the only explanation.

Curious, and just a little bitter, Kyuhyun dropped his bag on the floor next to the table they were eating together at so often lately and walked to the kitchen.

Sink was empty and there was something cooking on the stove.

Eyes growing wide, Kyuhyun realized there must have been someone in the house and that even if Sungmin was sleeping he had no right to trespass the man’s apartment anymore.

Door to the bedroom clicked and he spun around knocking over the decorative cleft that was standing on the chest of drawers behind him.

Sungmin was frozen in his steps, eyes huge behind his glasses. White t-shirt and linen light grey pants were a little too crumpled than he was lately wearing them, but they were clean. He looked completely clean, shaved, trimmed and fine. No broken bones, no outside signs of any injury.

Inside, Kyuhyun sighed with relief, but outside he was on the verge of panicking. He swallowed hard, no muscle in his body wanted to move as he was locked in the staring contest with the elder male. And they remained in their spots for a little longer than they probably should, but apparently they were both shocked.

Finally, it was Sungmin who made the first move. Without his eyes leaving Kyuhyun's face he turned his body towards the younger and took a step before halting suddenly, tension visible in all of his body.

‘Kyu…’ He said in a quiet voice.

That snapped Kyuhyun out of his stupor. As if struck, he twitched all over his body and looked down and to his bag.

‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here. I just…’ Wanted to see if you are okay because I love you and I want you to be well. ‘… thought I’d bring the key back.’ He splurted instead and dig his pocket for the key. He pressed his palm with it to the surface of the table, with much more force than he should, wincing at the sting that shot up his arm, and bend to pick up his bag. ‘I’ll be going.’

Before Kyuhyun even managed to make a step towards the exit, Sungmin was standing a meter away from him.

‘Wait. Don’t go.’ The composer said quickly.

Kyuhyun's jaw clenched. ‘Sorry.’ He tried to walk around the man but was stopped by a grip on his elbow, which made him spin around and face the other male again.

‘Let’s talk. A moment.’ Sungmin’s voice was a little higher than normally and his eyes were searching, worried, happy, miserable. Everything at once. ‘Then you can go.’

Kyuhyun hesitated before pulling his arm from the elder’s grip. He put the bag over his shoulder but didn’t move.

Sungmin released a sigh of relief. Then he looked down and brought his hands to his face. He removed his glasses and folded them before placing them on the table that was behind him. Only then he looked at Kyuhyun again.

‘I like you.’ He said simply, straight-faced, eyes locked with Kyuhyun's.

Younger’s breath hitched. He blinked a few times, his mouth closing and opening before they snapped shut and he just stared.

Sungmin apparently was really trying because he sighed and continued. ‘Heechul… told me to make a move on you if a chance opens. But it isn’t how you think.’ He added quickly seeing the wince on Kyuhyun's face. ‘I… knew, Kyuhyun. I saw that you… were attracted to me. And I knew how I was, I didn’t want to use you, because I just wanted to get laid. You took care of me more than you should, I just depended on you in everything at some point. Telling you I wanted more when you seemed so conflicted would be unfair because you would just throw the caution away. Heechul said that I was being stupid but I thought that maybe waiting this once wasn’t a bad idea and I hoped you’ll say something first.’ His voice was steady but low, almost a whisper, but Kyuhyun could hear every single word perfectly. ‘I said that I wouldn’t have made a move without Heechul telling me, because, as you might have noticed, I’m not good at reading people. I saw how you were looking at me, but only Heechul told me how much… it meant. All the decisions he helped me to make always brought me something good. Like you.’ He finished and stood there looking straight into Kyuhyun's eyes.

Kyuhyun was surprised he wasn’t hyperventilating and running out of the apartment. In his monologue Sungmin said, that he knew Kyuhyun was attracted to him. He most probably saw all the longing looks and embarrassment on the younger’s face.

‘But the clinging…’ Kyuhyun managed to push through his throat. The hugs started well before he knew about his attraction to the composer.

‘Ahhh… when I feel comfortable with people I like touching them. That wasn’t on purpose and later I didn’t want to stop.’ Sungmin explained, his hand lifting towards Kyuhyun's arm but stopping and dropping when he remembered that he couldn’t do it so freely anymore.

Kyuhyun almost whimpered from the lack of that touch. He in his upper lips and bit it before looking around, anywhere but at Sungmin’s face.

‘The flat looks clean. And the laundry…’ He commented too afraid to address the true topic he should.

Sungmin tilted his head. ‘I thought that you would get mad if I made a mess while you were gone. I thought that you might drop by, even if only to pick up the last check.’

Kyuhyun opened his mouth to say something but suddenly Sungmin’s eyes grew wide and he cursed before bolting towards the kitchen.

Surprised, Kyuhyun followed only to see his former employer pouring the pasta onto the sieve and then splashing it with cold water. When the ordeal was finished the man turned towards wide eyed Kyuhyun.

‘You see Kyu… I can do stuff.’ He smiled and saw that the younger nodded, a little stunned. ‘I don’t NEED you here.’ Kyuhyun's eyes grew with hurt. ‘I WANT you here. All the time. With me.’

Again tears started to sting his eyes but closing them for a moment Kyuhyun stopped the sudden emotion that was overwhelming him. When he opened them again Sungmin was right there in front of him, so close and yet still too far. Half a head shorter but looking much stronger than Kyuhyun himself surely did.

‘Sungmin, I…’ He tried to say but failed.

Sungmin smiled even wider and leaned closer. Question written in his huge doe eyes.

Kyuhyun nodded quickly and whimpered when a hand snuck to cradle his nape and plush lips touched his.

Unfortunately, this was as much luck as he would get apparently, because then suddenly someone started to knock on the door furiously.

‘I know you’re there and I know that brat is there! Open this door or I swear I’ll ax them down!’

Kyuhyun pulled away from the kiss and saw Sungmin’s eyes narrow with anger.

‘I-I’ll get that.’ Kyuhyun stammered and rushed to the door.

Fuming Heechul stormed in right when he opened.

‘Siwon called saying the brat finally graced you with his visit!’ The red-haired man was spluttering around, his face almost as red as his nest.

Kyuhyun was standing with furrowed brows behind the man while Sungmin didn’t really move from the spot where they would have been kissing if not for the obnoxious agent.

When no one said a word Heechul spun towards Kyuhyun. ‘You get paid for being here and making sure he-‘He pointed towards Sungmin. ‘-is well and tended to. A whole week without giving as much as a call? You’re so ed. You’re fired.’ Heechul spat and Kyuhyun wiggled his nose with disgust when some spit landed on it.

‘I don’t think you have any say in it Heechul.’

Surprisingly, Sungmin spoke up, now leaning on the doorframe with annoyed expression.

‘What?!’ Heechul turned to his friend and stormed towards him. ‘I’m making the decisions here, if I tell you he’s gone he should consider himself lucky he isn’t falling down from the window.’

Kyuhyun crossed his arms on his chest and looked expectantly at Sungmin waiting for the man’s decision. He knew that Heechul pulled all the strings in the composer’s life, but…

‘I think it’s time we change that arrangement a little.’ Sungmin said, his voice steady and sure.

Heechul’s eyes grew and moved from Kyuhyun's face to his friend’s.

‘I think it’s time you should go.’ Sungmin added after a moment.

Heechul stood there, looking furious for a second before all the air seemed to go out of him and he smirked.

‘Well, glad to know you grew a pair finally.’ He chirped and patted Sungmin on the head before strolling towards Kyuhyun and smacking his shoulder. ‘Good luck, brat.’

A moment later he was gone from the flat, but then the door opened again and he stuck his head inside.

‘And good for you both!’

Kyuhyun's eyes bulged and he flushed all shades of red while Sungmin tilted his head again, looked at him and smirked.

‘Well… shall we?’

Kyuhyun's heart stopped.

***

You weren't expecting this, right? I'm pretty sure some of you are really mad and disappointed, but before you express how utterly upset you are check out THIS.

As always, I want to thank all my friends, who supported me while I was writing this story. Love Dust was very easy to write and I enjoyed it immensely. I want to thank:

Katia (PENGUIN!) because her encouraging made me finish this when I was having my dark moments and bring you all something more in the near future.

Mel (cutest stalker ever) whose sharp mind caught many flaws that I would have overlooked.

Isa (my adoptive mom), without her enthusiasm I would have abandoned this story.

Lea (the FIRST and TRUEST - you know what I mean<3) who was the witness of LD being born and who tossed in a few of her own ideas making this story the crackiest thing I've ever written.

Brookie (my idol) because she was the first to meet hobo Ming and encouraged me to keep on writing.

Jess (who I missed meeting and can't get over it!) who I tortured way too much with teasers. I'm sorry dear!

Katreena (my SPN flailing partner) who whined with me how hard it is to write, but always managed to pick me up.

Iza - bo tak po prostu jesteś i zawsze mi lepiej jak pomyślę o Tobie i naszym spotkaniu. Dziękuję!

There are many more of you who made this journey wonderful. I'm getting sappy here, but I really loved reading about all the reactions LD brought out of you and I'll miss it. Hopefully I see some of you in my next story because I will miss you!