Days were passing for Kyuhyun monotonously. He was going to university, getting bored in classes, doing shopping, going to Sungmin’s apartment, cleaning it, doing laundry, ironing, taking care of the bills and running some errands, cooking and making sure the man bathed. The last part wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed because whenever the man was inspired he refused to let anything distract him. Beside food. Kyuhyun finally understood why Heechul told him to overlook composer’s exercises schedule. Sungmin was going to the gym two times a week and running around his apartment building every second day but only if he got reminded about it. The worst part was that Kyuhyun had to remind him about the shower after the run too – otherwise Sungmin was just marinating in his own stench until he felt like visiting his shower.

When the end of the first month came the apartment was completely cleaned. Those places that after first cleaning seemed okay turned out to be in need of more dedication after the rest of the flat got tidied. Also the master bedroom was getting clattered after a week again and so Kyuhyun raided it at least twice a week whenever Sungmin went for his run or had to go out because of something planned in his schedule. It was a wonder anyone wanted to do business with the man considering he never thought about changing from his hobo attire even when going out.

Kyuhyun was waiting impatiently for his first pay. The only problem was that he would have to give half of it to Donghae because he let it slip to his hyung when he would be getting paid and now the elder was crossing out days in the huge calendar he hang in the kitchen. Kyuhyun was sure he’d get attacked the moment he enters his apartment on the pay day which was only two days away.

Slightly disgruntled he was tying the trash bag to take it to the chute. He still had his frilly pink apron on – just washed and ironed and looking perfect – when he decided to go out. He would have to put it on again upon coming back because he was in the middle of scrubbing the oven after the baking fiasco from the day before. He just needed the gel he put there to soften the burnt parts.

The trash chute was at the end of the hall and so Kyuhyun walked leisurely there and back. He was already calculating how much time was left for the laundry to be done when wall of muscles blocked his way.

Sighing with exasperation, because he knew perfectly who he would have to deal with, Kyuhyun linked his arms on his chest and waited.

‘Kyuhyun, I’m worried about you and Sungmin.’ Siwon said in a worried voice, his hands clasped together in front of him.

‘What now?’ Kyuhyun groaned out.

‘Maybe Sungmin doesn’t consider me his best friend but he should have told me about you and him.’ The man had a truly concerned look painted on his face.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. This wasn’t the first time the other was implying something. ‘You should change your meds.’ He commented hoping to offend the guy enough to make him go away.

‘They got changed last week, but thank you for your concern!’ Siwon’s face beamed for a second before he once again bent his back a little to be on the same eye level with Kyuhyun, concern back in his eyes. ‘I just worry about your souls. Living like this together, without any sacraments…’

Kyuhyun backed off a little and shuddered. ‘Dude, I’m his house help.’ He said loud and clear.

‘Ohhh, I’ll pray for you two.’ Siwon’s arms fell limp at his sides and with slumped back he retreated to his apartment.

Kyuhyun quickly run towards the flat, shut the door and locked it, double checked and then peaked through the peephole to make sure the crazy model man wasn’t chasing him in the end.

‘What was that?’

He yelped and spun around after hearing groggy voice behind.

Sungmin apparently just woke up, he was still only in his boxer shorts and black t-shirt. With one hand he was scratching his and with the other his stomach. His hair was in worse than ever state, probably he went to sleep with wet hair as Kyuhyun ordered him to shower before he left. He already had on his rimmed glasses and sour candy sticking from between his lips. He loved those. Well, he loved everything that was food, but mostly the one that didn’t require of him to use hands much in eating it.

‘Siwon.’ Kyuhyun replied shortly and quickly went farther into the apartment walking around his employer as if he were a plague.

Sungmin scrunched his face. ‘Don’t let him in. EVER.’ He murmured and padded towards kitchen, probably in search for some snack before Kyuhyun made him breakfast.

When he was making scrambled eggs Sungmin was already at the table, headphones on his head and his head bobbing to whatever rhythm he was listening to. His brows raised and furrowed a few times before he pressed the next button on his player. According to the rough schedule Kyuhyun drew for him this was the moment during which Sungmin was supposed to listen to and review the demo tapes sent to his agent. Heechul dropped them off the day before without a word. He simply pushed the CDs into Kyuhyun's hands and quickly walked away, phone glued to his ear.

When finished with food Kyuhyun set the plate in front of the man who immediately grabbed the fork and started stuffing himself. Sungmin looked genuinely happy whenever he had food in his mouth.

Rolling his eyes Kyuhyun went back to the kitchen and started on the oven.

***

Kyuhyun was blinking trying to make sure he was seeing right in the dimmed light of the basement storage. Sungmin sent him there for some boxes. They were there of course. But there were also stored appliances of different nature. He could see two different coffee machines, a bread maker, three rice cookers, a TV, small washing machine, two home grills, four bathroom weights, two mops, a fluffy dog house with some dog toys, collars and leashes inside, three electric heaters… everything still boxed and looking as if no one ever touched it aside from placing it in the storage. And that was only one corner of the place. Because in the other there were very old looking keyboard, something that looked like a DJ console, drums, and things Kyuhyun thought were used to make music but he wasn’t sure. It was really fortunate that the place was properly guarded, in normal building in the center those things would be long gone.

With two boxes tucked under his arm he rode back up to the apartment. Sungmin was standing in the doorway, exactly in the same spot where he was when Kyuhyun left. He quickly walked to Kyuhyun and took the boxes. Thankfully he showered before so the smell wasn’t that overwhelming. Although Kyuhyun thought that he would need shaving, probably of whole body, to get rid of the stink completely.

‘Are you a hoarder?’ It slipped past Kyuhyun’s lips before the other disappeared for hours in his office again.

Sungmin turned around and looked at him with furrowed brows. Probably, because his hair wasn’t tied that day and was covering half of his face. ‘Mph?’ He made a questioning grunt, thankfully Kyuhyun already learned a little of his cave language.

‘You have loads of stashed down there, some double or triple. And there are same things here.’ He said slowly knowing that it was one of those days when his employer was out of it.

Sungmin was looking at him for a longer moment before he shrugged. ‘Telemarketing.’ And he disappeared in his bedroom shutting the door with a loud bang after himself. That would mean there was no chance of him emerging from his hole at least until dinner time came.

Every day Kyuhyun was learning something knew about the other male. Although he could do without knowing about some toys hidden in the bottom drawer beside Sungmin’s bed…

That creepy pink bunny was haunting his dreams now.

***

‘Pay day!’ Donghae bolted through the door of the apartment and into the living room where Kyuhyun was devouring his pizza. He was still wearing his work uniform – white shirt with bow tie, black tight pants and long apron. He was a waiter in the restaurant down the street and didn’t have a long way to go but even so he must have gained some looks. Aside from those sent by some innocent girls who still didn’t know about his playboy reputation.

Without looking at his friend Kyuhyun threw the envelope with money. It was all covered in grease stains from the pizza but Donghae didn’t care apparently because he brought it against his cheek as if it were a very expensive material instead of rough grey paper. Then he quickly opened it and counted the money. His brow furrowed and he looked at Kyuhyun.

‘I subtracted all the food you’re stealing from me recently.’ Younger explained. ‘It’s still enough to pick up some bimbo.’

Donghae pouted but didn’t complain. He knew that his flatmate was right, he was stealing a lot of his food.

Kyuhyun on the other hand was very glad he decided to put the money in his account immediately after Sungmin paid him. Donghae would have probably demanded much more if he knew how much the composer left for him on the dining table along with some dirty clothes, used plates and empty take out boxes which the man probably ordered in the middle of the night. Kyuhyun started to think about preparing food and putting it in the fridge for the man to eat instead of all that take out.

‘And this phenomenon of you having money for rent will continue?’ Hae inquired as he plopped onto the sofa and took a piece of pizza.

‘If I have enough patience for that slob.’ Younger murmured munching.

‘It can’t be THAT bad.’ Donghae replied with amusement because he was sure his friend was exaggerating. Nothing could be worse than their apartment before Kyuhyun started to transform into one of the ladies he was lately watching all the time on his computer.

Kyuhyun scrunched his nose. ‘You don’t wanna know.’

***

Kyuhyun was banging on the door to Sungmin’s door demanding of the man to come out. He was at it for the last ten minutes and he was starting to get impatient. He knew the other was inside as he saw him peeking out before.

‘Go running!’ He yelled for umpteenth time, his throat already getting sore as he was never using it so much. ‘It’s already half an hour past the schedule!’

‘No!’ Came a loud yell from inside. Never before Sungmin refused to do anything, he was always compliant which did well with Kyuhyun’s lack of tolerance for any kind of resistance to his will. ‘I’m inspired!’ Came another yell.

‘Bull, you’d be holed up in the office not hearing a word from me.’ The vein on Kyuhyun’s forehead was already twitching and he was very close to barging in. but he was afraid of seeing something he would want to burn his eyes out after, that was the only thing keeping him on this side of the door.

There was a moment of silence before the door opened a little and a pair of annoyed eyes looked from the small hole.

‘You’re an , why did I hire you?’ Sungmin asked but there was no real malice in his voice. Just plain curiosity.

‘A completely normal person wouldn’t stand being here for a day. Surprisingly you didn’t have many people wanting this job.’ Kyuhyun hissed, his eyes narrowed.

Sungmin scrunched his nose. ‘They were mostly turning around and walking fast to the elevator after I opened the door.’

Kyuhyun raised his brow but decided not to drill the subject anymore. He had more pressing matter on hand, his schedule was getting screwed up and he wasn’t happy about it. Not at all.

‘Go running.’ He repeated once again. Then an idea popped into his head. ‘You know I have Heechul’s contact number, I can easily call him now and tell on you.’ It was a low blow, he knew it.

Sungmin’s eyes narrowed. ‘.’

‘Yes, we already established that. Go running!’ Kyuhyun put his hand on the door and opened it widely. His eyes almost went out of sockets. ‘I cleaned here just yesterday!’

It wasn’t as bad as the first time he saw the room, but definitely not how he wanted it to be not even 24 hours after he tidied it. Shredded papers were everywhere, sheets were crumpled and on the floor looking like they’ve been subjected to some excessive activities, clothes were strewed all over the place, candy wrappings were adding the color to the floor and there were stains on the floor that was cleaned and polished just the day before.

‘I had a bad day.’ Sungmin said quickly and slipped under Kyuhyun’s arm and in a second he was out the door.

Kyuhyun gaped before clenching his teeth and fists. He run to the phone and called the guard downstairs.

‘He’s not allowed out of the premises! He has to run around the buildings!’ He yelled into the receiver and immediately slammed it back down. The guard would know it was him for sure. Sungmin already tried to slip to the nearby restaurant a few times.

Huffing Kyuhyun grabbed the vacuum cleaner, plastic bags which he already stored under the sink because he didn’t need them to be in the reaching distance anymore, and mop.

***

Sungmin was staring at two toasts with marmalade placed in front of him.

‘What is this?’ He asked poking at one toast.

‘Your dinner. Did you have a hooker here?’ Kyuhyun was standing over him with arms linked on his chest.

‘Why this?’ Sungmin whined and poked the toast some more.

‘Because you made a mess. Did you have a hooker here?’ Kyuhyun decided that his patience was golden by this point. According to his standards.

Sungmin glared at him and bit into the toast. He obviously was exhausted after an hour of running and he wouldn’t even know where everything in the kitchen was anymore so preparing his own food would be hard to do. And he couldn’t order a take out because Kyuhyun threw away all of the leaflets and blocked every restaurant in the city on the computer with some parent filter that was for purpose normally. He would probably prefer to give up more.

‘They don’t want to come anymore.’ The man grumbled. ‘I have herpes, remember?’

Kyuhyun smirked. He went to the kitchen and brought a steaming tray full of side dishes and a serving of rice. Sungmin’s eyes brightened and he pushed the plate with toasts to the other side of the table. Kyuhyun barely managed to grab it before it fell off the table.

‘I won’t make a mess anymore.’ Sungmin said around the rice he already had in his mouth. ‘But you’re still an .’

Kyuhyun’s smirk deepened. ‘Thank you.’

***

Heechul was appearing out of nowhere a couple of days a week. Sometimes he was in a good mood, just checking up on Sungmin’s work. The men were going to the studio – which turned out to be Sungmin’s office – and spending an hour together there before the agent took his leave without as much as a goodbye. But there were days like this one too.

With grocery bags in both hands and new set of curtains tucked under one arm Kyuhyun was observing with raised brows how Heechul was becoming more and more red in the face while Sungmin was standing before him obviously more interested in scrubbing the stain from the table than talking to his agent.

‘You said they were ready last week.’ Heechul hissed, his voice resembling that of a cat.

‘But this week I don’t like them anymore. So they’re not ready.’ Sungmin replied and shrugged.

‘The meeting is in two weeks and we still need to record demos and it’s not possible if the band doesn’t know the melody and the singer the lyrics!’ Red head’s voice was rising in volume and Sungmin’s face was scrunching. Kyuhyun already assumed that his employer didn’t like shouting. Noises in general weren’t disturbing him but people screaming made him lock himself in his soundproof studio. Somehow Kyuhyun didn’t like that Heechul was treating the other male like that despite the fact that Sungmin was more than capable of fending for himself.

‘It’ll be ready by then.’ Sungmin turned around and was about to go back into his room when suddenly Heechul lunged towards him.

Not thinking much Kyuhyun let go of all the bags and run towards the two men. Before two claw-like hands could land on Sungmin’s neck he managed to grab Heechul under his armpits and hold the man. Sungmin spun around at the commotion and his tired eyes widened at the sight. Heechul was struggling to get out of the hold Kyuhyun had on him. Despite his lanky posture Kyuhyun was still able to hold the feather weight opponent that was Heechul.

‘Let go of me moron!’ Heechul screeched.

‘Let go of him Kyuhyun.’ Sungmin said in his normal bored voice but his eyes were showing that he was annoyed as he glared at his agent.

Kyuhyun released the man and slid to the side looking at how Heechul started to rearrange his hair and clothes huffing, his face red from the exertion. Red head threw a nasty look towards him. But he backed off when Sungmin came closer to him. Suddenly Stinky looked bigger and more powerful than his agent even though he was shorter by a few centimeters.

‘I’ll finish them in two days if you’re desperate enough to try and hit me.’ He said slowly before he finally turned and walked into his room slamming the door behind himself.

Kyuhyun was still blinking wondering what just happened when suddenly Heechul turned to him and slapped the back of his head.

‘You probably saved my life but you’re still a brat.’ The man said with narrowed eyes. He continued at the questioning look on Kyuhyun’s face. ‘Sungmin is black belt in taekwondo, you think what keeps him from looking completely like homeless.’

Kyuhyun made a skeptic face. ‘But he looks like homeless.’ He commented and was taken aback when Heechul laughed.

‘I doubt any homeless would have muscles like he does. Or his flexibility, you should hear the story his boy toy from two years ago said, a freak show I tell you.’ Heechul chuckled.

Kyuhyun blinked a few times digesting what the man just said. ‘Boy toy?’

‘Oh, he’s gay with sporadic cravings for s and .’ The man roared with laughter when Kyuhyun flinched and covered his body with his arms in defensive gesture. ‘Don’t worry, I don’t think he’d go for you, he likes his boys delicate and smaller than him.’ He waved his hand at that and then run it through his hair. ‘But don’t get surprised if he gets clingy, he’s a psychologist’s nightmare, one moment he doesn’t want anyone to touch him and the next he glues himself to a person if he trusts them enough. Judging from how you tried to protect him and how he didn’t fire you despite you being such an to him I think it’s safe to say you’re very close to becoming his cuddle bear.’

‘Oh my God.’ Kyuhyun groaned at that revelation and imagined the stink sinking into all of his clothes permanently if Sungmin ever snuggled up to him. ‘Any way to avoid it?’ He whined. He wasn’t really against clinging, Ryeowook was hanging off his arms at university most of the time so he got used to it already. But Sungmin was a whole completely different case.

‘Nope, believe me I tried everything.’ Heechul scrunched his face and sighed. ‘Anyway, he really needs to make those songs for two days from now, just bear with him until then.’

When Heechul left and Kyuhyun was gathering the groceries he dropped when he run to help his employer he door to Sungmin’s room opened and he peaked out. ‘He’s gone?’ Came a hushed question.

‘Yup.’ Kyuhyun nodded while placing apples back in the bag.

There was a moment of silence during which Sungmin was staring at his house help intently. Kyuhyun could feel that he wanted to say something but he didn’t do anything to urge him.

‘Hum.’ Suddenly came the demand. Kyuhyun’s head shot up and he looked with surprise at the man.

‘What?’

‘Hum. You were humming when you were cleaning and now it’s too silent, I can’t find new melodies.’ Sungmin said openly, his whole body still hidden behind the frame. Then slowly he slid back in and closed the door.

Kyuhyun looked after the man wondering if he was going crazy finally.

***

There was the beautiful bottle full of burgundy liquid standing on the kitchen table when Kyuhyun came home. His eyes started to shine and he grabbed the bottle and hugged it. It was on the display for the last few months and he remembered his father ordering this particular brand in the restaurant when he got accepted into the university. He never drank anything that good before or after and after he saw it on the display in the pub he was frequenting with Donghae he knew he had to have it.

‘I keep my word, don’t I?’ Hae said from behind him. He had never seen such gratitude and sparkles in Kyuhyun’s eyes when the younger turned to him. ‘So now we can dri~’

‘I’m keeping this for some special occasion, hyung!’ Kyuhyun jumped to him and hugged him not caring about what his friend was trying to say before he run to his room to probably hide the bottle.

‘Hyung?’ Donghae repeated blinking. Then he sighed and slumped his shoulders. He couldn’t even get mad at the younger because in that particular moment when Kyuhyun turned to him he knew he saw one of the cutest things ever. Good thing Kyuhyun didn’t know the effect of his cuteness on other people. He would be an even worse brat.