~*~

  Siwon had already spent a great deal of time with this particular circle of friends during summer camp, but for some reason he’s only realizing now just how peculiar these people are.

  His first clue was when a toe-curling scream from Donghae echoed through the house and none of the people at the table as much as even flinched or looked up from their food. Siwon was the only one who seemed the least bit disturbed. Not even Eunhyuk who just walked into the kitchen and joined them at the table seemed very concerned.

  “Um,” Siwon gave way to a conversation with a clear of the throat. “What was that?”

  “Oh, Donghae just googled for pictures of a .” Eunhyuk casually answered as he helped himself to the pancakes Sungmin’s mother made for them. “Evidently, he doesn’t like what he sees.”

  “I told him not to do it.” Kyuhyun clucked his tongue as he fed his boyfriend, who had barely said a word since they sat down to eat, a bite of his pancakes which was dripping with syrup.

  “Why did Donghae do that?” Sungmin asked in between chews. “He could’ve just asked Heechul.”

  Heechul took a second out of flipping through a tabloid magazine to narrow his eyes at the snarky boy. “Do I look like I have a to you?”

  “I wouldn’t know, but you sure do look like one.” Sungmin sent him a cheeky smile as he pointed this fork at the teacher.

  “How would you know?” he smirked. “Have you ever seen one?”

  Sungmin opened his mouth to defend himself, but closed it again when he realized he had nothing to throw back at him. He turned to Kyuhyun, eyebrows raised and eyes expectant. “Aren’t you going to defend your boyfriend?”

  “How can I? I’m pretty the sure the only time you ever saw a was when you came out of your mother’s.” Kyuhyun said as he continued to stuff himself with pancakes, ignoring the offended scoff that came from Sungmin.

  “That is so not—wait a minute…I was born through C-Section. Oh my God, I’ve never seen a before in my whole life.” Sungmin gasped at the realization, a manicured hand on his chest and his rosy lips parted in feigned surprise.

  “Consider yourself lucky.” Heechul shuddered a little at the memory of having seen one of those atrocious things; just thinking about it almost made him lose his appetite.

  Siwon was too dumbfounded by the way they discussed usually awkward topics so casually to notice that the coffee he was pouring was already overflowing. “Um…is this how you guys talk every day?”

  “You’ll get used to it.” Kyuhyun told him in a tone that made Siwon feel like he was being welcomed to the dark side.

  “AH HYUKJAE! HYUKJAE MY EYES!”

  Eunhyuk rolled his eyes, annoyed at his breakfast being interrupted. “You know, he gets all his drama queen-ness from you, Sungmin.” He walked towards the doorway to tell Donghae to get away from the computer, but he cut himself off when he saw his boyfriend holding a bar of soap in his hand and hopping around in pain. “Oh my God, he just literally washed his eyes out with soap. Donghae, no!”

  As Eunhyuk rushed off to stop Donghae from blinding himself, Siwon sighed, took a big sip of his sweetened coffee and decided that this was going to take a long time to get used to.

~*~

  Heechul probably shouldn’t have brought so much stuff to Sungmin’s house, especially since he was just staying for one night; so now he had somehow enlisted Sungmin to help him get all of his things back in his designer bags (all of which Siwon had recently bought him—his money is one of the many delightful perks that Heechul loves about dating him).

  Eunhyuk was in the bathroom trying to stop Donghae from going blind, while Siwon was in the kitchen, looking very sophisticated with his cup of joe and the English newspaper in his hands. Kyuhyun took the chance of being alone with Siwon to make a threat—“Tell him or I will.”—or at least something like it since the latter didn’t really seem very fazed.

  “Somehow I doubt that.” Siwon chuckled softly as he stirred his black coffee (how many cups of caffeine does this guy need anyway, Kyuhyun wonders). “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you talk to Heechul before.”

  “Sungmin likes him, so I put up with him. But this is pretty low, even for you.” Kyuhyun sent a small glare towards him as he stole a cookie from Siwon’s plate. He tried to maintain his tough expression even as he took a big bite out of the chocolate chip cookie, and Siwon almost snickered at how childish he looked.

  Still, he knew he deserved the dirty (albeit lame) look he was receiving. “It’s not like I enjoy doing this.”

  “Oh really? Because it kinda seems like you do.” Kyuhyun’s words were muffled by the cookie in his mouth.

  “I don’t,” he insisted. “Would you please get off my case? I swear, I’ll tell him soon.”

  Kyuhyun hummed skeptically, “And when is ‘soon’?”

  “When the time’s right.” At this point, Siwon was just stirring his coffee to distract himself.

  “The time was right last night.” He scolded. “Now you have him thinking that you love him.”

  He paused to contemplate a reply. “It’s not like I didn’t mean it.”

  “So you do love him?” Kyuhyun’s eyebrows rose.

  “I don’t know. Probably.” He began to chew on his lip, obviously growing guiltier by the second, “How would I even know?”

  “You just do.” Kyuhyun shrugged. “It’s like the surge of electricity I feel whenever Sungmin and I kiss, or the way Eunhyuk and Donghae make googly eyes at each other. You don’t wonder; you just know when it happens.”

  “Stop it,” he was practically pleading. “You’re making me feel even more terrible than I already do.”

  “Good,” he hissed. “You better get this over soon. And be gentle too—when Heechul’s upset, Sungmin’s upset too and he’s already got enough on his plate after you made me spring the news on him last night.”

  Siwon’s eyebrows scrunched together curiously. “He looks pretty fine to me.”

  He sighed, “He’s a good actor.”

~*~

  Heechul assumed that when he asked Sungmin to help, the latter would just hang around like a spider, talking Heechul’s ear off and making an even bigger mess of his things. Much to his surprise, the minute they entered the room, Sungmin actually started to work; he neatly folded Heechul’s clothes and put them away in Heechul’s bags. Needless to say, Heechul was bewildered.

  “Sungmin…are you okay?” Heechul was worried that the poor guy was running a fever or something—Sungmin never did stuff for other people, unless it benefits him or it’s for Kyuhyun.

  “Yes.” He replied with a small hum.

  Heechul bent his knees and examined Sungmin closely; Sungmin tried his best not to crack. “Liar,” Heechul decided.

  The younger boy rolled his eyes, “Then why did you ask?”

  “I don’t know.” Heechul shrugged, grunting as he took a seat on the floor. “I had to say something; this silence is torture. You’re never this quiet.”

  “Well, I have a lot of things on my mind.” He said simply as he continued to pack Heechul’s things.

  A light bulb went off in Heechul’s brain. “Like Kyuhyun leaving?”

  Fortunately, Sungmin didn’t even try to deny it. “You’d be upset too if Siwon told you he’s going to leave the country after graduation.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d take it this hard. You and Kyuhyun were bound to go to different colleges anyhow—”

  “Actually, I made a promise to myself that I would go anywhere Kyuhyun went, regardless of what course I wanted to take.”

  “Oh,” Heechul never expected such an unselfish thing like that to come out of Sungmin’s mouth, of all people. “That’s pretty noble.”

  “I know. I’m getting soft. This is not good.” Sungmin obviously was not taking his new-founded kindness very well. It was amazing, really, the things he would do for Kyuhyun.

  “You know,” Heechul cleared his throat, trying to think of the best way to bring up the uncomfortable subject he had in mind. “I went up to get some water last night and I, uh, heard you crying in the bathroom.”

  Sungmin’s eyes widened, though he immediately tried to save face by coming up with a flimsy excuse. “I was not crying. I was…ing.”

  “If those are the sounds you make while ing, I’d hate to think what you sound like when you and Kyuhyun have .” Heechul deadpanned.

  “Okay, so maybe I was a little overwhelmed last night.” He said, wanting to wipe the stupid smirk off Heechul’s face. “But truthfully, I was mostly crying because I broke a nail.”

  Heechul took a quick look at Sungmin’s fingers before pointing out, “I don’t see any broken nails.”

  “Damn you,” he turned red, a mixture of both anger and embarrassment. “Stop asking me questions.”

  “That wasn’t even a question.” Heechul almost found it funny how easy it was to get on Sungmin’s nerves right now.

  “Shut up.” He hissed before continuing to help Heechul pack as an attempt to distract himself of the less than pleasant thoughts in his head.

~*~

  “Are your eyes still burning?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure you can see alright?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Three.”

  Eunhyuk looked at the two fingers he was holding up and then looked at Donghae’s red eyes before shrugging, “Close enough.”

  “You worry too much, Hyukkie,” Donghae said as he splashed a little bit of water on his eyes. “I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

  “I would believe that better if you hadn’t just nearly blinded yourself with soap.” He teased as he kissed Donghae’s forehead. “We warned you not to look for pictures. Now will you believe me the next time I say that there are just some things in this world that you shouldn’t see?”

  “Yes.” Donghae pouted.

  Of course, his boyfriend found his childishness adorable (who wouldn’t?) and kissed his pouting lips. “Sometimes I feel like I’m dating a five-year-old kid. God, you make me feel like a pedo.”

  “Gee, what a romantic thing to say.” Donghae rolled his eyes, playfully throwing a wet towel at Eunhyuk’s face. “As hard as I scrubbed my eyes out, I don’t think I’ll ever get that image out of my head.”

  “You know, they’re not really that bad. If you see one in the flesh—”

  Eunhyuk’s musing was cut off by the icy look Donghae was giving him. Eunhyuk knew that part of being a good boyfriend was knowing when to shut up. “Never mind,” he said, taking his eyes off Donghae’s death glare.

  “Not that I’m trying to change the subject or something,” Eunhyuk was never really good at lying, “but I am really worried about Sungmin.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Shouldn’t I be? I mean, after the news that Kyuhyun gave him last night?” he clucked his tongue. “Let me tell you something, Hae. Sungmin has been in love with Kyuhyun ever since junior high. The happiest day of his life was when he finally pulled Kyuhyun out of the closet and got him to be his boyfriend. And now…he’s leaving. And I can only imagine how much this is killing him.”

  “You’re such a good friend to worry, Hyukkie.” Donghae grinned and leaned his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. “That’s one of the things I love you for.”

  Eunhyuk softly pressed his palm against Donghae’s jaw and leaned his own head against his. “I think we should do something to cheer Sungmin up. To get his mind off things. Take him shopping or something.”

  “I bet you’re just saying that because you want an excuse to go shopping.” Donghae said knowingly. “Hyukkie, if you want to be girly again, you can. I don’t see any problem with it.”

  “I don’t want to be girly again. I just want to do something nice for our best friend. And maybe, window shop at Forever 21 or something…” he fiddled with the end of his wifebeater, his last few words coming out as a flustered whisper.

  Donghae giggled and kissed the tip of his nose. “You are so cute. We are both so cute. We make such a cute couple.”

  Eunhyuk nodded, “The cutest.”

  “If we’re doing something for Sungmin, then we should probably do something for Siwon too.”

  “Why, what’s wrong with him?”

  “Well, you were hogging the blanket last night—again, and I woke up to snatch it back from you, but I saw Siwon sitting up by the window. He looked really serious.” He revealed, causing Eunhyuk’s eyebrows to rise.

  “Did you tell him anything?” he asked.

  “No. I just took the blanket from you and went back to sleep.”

  “Is that why I woke up today with a cold and a runny nose?” he complained. “At this rate, I may not be able to play our first football game next week.”

  Donghae groaned, “There’s that word again.”

  “What?”

  “Football.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Eunhyuk didn’t even realize that he was talking about the sport again. “Hey, I didn’t give you hell when all you could talk about was your sweet and charming ‘secret admirer’.”

  “That was a stupid mistake and I apologized a thousand times for it.” Donghae seemed a little annoyed to have to defend himself yet again. “And I’m not giving you hell. I’m saying it as it is. You can’t go one minute without talking about that stupid sport.”

  “Speaking of which, do you realize that my suspension is officially ending this Monday? And Taecyeon is coming back to school the same day too.  It’s sure gonna be awkward to see him again; last time I saw him, he was ready to kill me for tainting his face with a black eye.” Eunhyuk almost cackled at the memory. “I hope it hasn’t healed yet. I like having my work on display.”

  “Well, look at you talk, Mr. Badass.” Donghae tiptoed to wrap his arms around his neck and pull him closer. “It’s hard to believe that you used to be such a wallflower, you know? Always in Sungmin’s shadow, so awkward and clumsy and nerdy—”

  “What’s your point?” Eunhyuk glared at him.

  “I don’t even know,” he laughed. “I’m just so proud of you. You’re the talk of the school; the whole cheerleading squad wants to get their claws on you. But that’s only gonna happen over my dead body.”

  “God, I don’t even want to think about that.” Eunhyuk cupped his face and smashed their lips together. “Come on, let’s get in the shower and never get out.”

~*~

  There were two things that Eunhyuk hated: Mondays and going to school. But for some reason, Eunhyuk didn’t seem very annoyed as he entered the school grounds that morning—maybe it had something to do with the still very visible black eye on Taecyeon’s face.

  The coach asked for all football players to be excused from class early in the morning to prep them for their first game this Friday. Eunhyuk certainly didn’t mess the horrible stench of the boys’ locker room, but he did enjoy ragging on Taecyeon first thing in the morning.

  “That look actually suits you. If you piss me off again, I’ll give you another one. That way, you’ll have two.” Eunhyuk had no idea where he was pulling this new-found confidence from, but the rest of the team seemed to be on his side so he wasn’t going to stop now. “While we’re at it, I can bruise you in other places too, for old times’ sake.”

  Just when the throbbing vein in Taecyeon’s forehead was about to pop, Coach told them all to simmer down so they can go over their play for the upcoming game. Eunhyuk, despite genuinely enjoying being out on the field, actually found all the other stuff quite boring. He hated pep talks (mostly because they were never really that peppy), he hated listening to the coach droning on and on about stuff he didn’t care about and he really, really hated sharing a locker room with ten other sweaty, smelly men. He would’ve already quit if football wasn’t giving him the exercise and muscles he very much needed.

  The next twenty minutes went by quicker than Eunhyuk expected. Before he knew it, the team was dispersing, the coach was drinking out of his canteen (which he was pretty sure was filled with beer not water) and there was a pale and skinny kid cleaning the place up with just a broom and a dustpan.

  “Shouldn’t you be somewhere else? Like in class or something?” Eunhyuk asked him, frankly feeling a little sorry for him.

  “I should be. I’m missing geometry for this.” He muttered bitterly.

  Eunhyuk looked to Coach Gura for answers. “What’s he doing here?”

  “He’s serving community service here as detention.” He revealed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

  “Detention? This puny kid?” he asked, confused. “What did he do?”

  “He wrote a very mean-spirited note and left it in my office for me to read.” He said. “I still remember what the note said, word-for-word.”

  “What was it?” Eunhyuk asked curiously. Even Siwon, who was waiting for him by the door, leaned closer to listen.

  Gura cleared his throat before saying. “It said ‘ you’.”

  “…That’s it?” he asked. “You sent a kid to detention for that? I’ve seen way worse things happen before.”

  “Oh, don’t bother, you hollow-headed jock.” Said ‘puny kid’ spoke up. “Your coach has had it in for me ever since he found out my father was his arch rival back when they were in high school. He’s been giving me hell for it ever since.”

  “That’s pretty spiteful—”

  “Don’t pretend to be concerned. I know all you jocks care about is throwing a stupid ball around and having quickies with the buxom cheerleaders.” He snapped, catching Eunhyuk by surprise at his words.

  “Uh, Hyuk, I think we should go.” Siwon pulled Eunhyuk out of the room before anything got too out of hand.

  “Can you believe what that kid said to me?” Eunhyuk asked.

  “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call the cheerleaders buxom, but some of them do have some nice racks—”

  “Not that.” Eunhyuk cut him off, rolling his eyes. “I can’t believe he would even assume that all football players are like that. I’m not like that. Am I?”

  “Get used to it, Hyuk.” Siwon waved him off. “People like that like to place everyone in stereotype. They’ve convinced themselves that all football players are feeble-minded dickheads.”

  Eunhyuk stared at him with awe. “Right now, I’m more surprised that you just used the term ‘dickhead’. When did you get such a dirty mouth?”

  He chuckled, “Ever since I started seeing you-know-who.”

  “You-know-who? Voldemort?” he asked with his eyebrows wrinkled together.

  “What? No.” Siwon swatted his shoulder for even thinking such a thing. “You know who I mean.”

  “You mean Heechul?” he said. “Why don’t you just say his name instead of confusing everybody?”

  “Well, you know how fast word can spread. Heechul and I can’t exactly be open with our relationship—”

  “Are you ashamed of him?”

  “What? Of course not!” Siwon’s voice became squeaky, much to Eunhyuk’s amusement. “It’s just—he’s a teacher, I’m a student. Both of us are gonna get in trouble if we ever get caught.”

  “I’m sure if that ever happens, your rich daddy has more than enough money to protect the both of you.” Eunhyuk teased with a mocking laugh, causing Siwon to hit him on the shoulder once again. “I’m just joking. I actually think you and Heechul make a very nice couple. I’m glad you two are in love.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, albeit with slight hesitance. “Me too.”

~*~

  Kyuhyun walked up to his boyfriend, slammed one hand on the locker and declared, “Sungmin, I have to tell you something.”

  “Again? Can’t it wait?” Sungmin sighed as he shoved his books inside his tiny locker. “I haven’t even gotten over the first news you gave me.”

  “It’s not about us.” He said. “But before I tell you this, you have to promise me that you won’t tell anybody else. Promise me.”

  “That depends,” he smirked. “How hot is this piece of gossip exactly?”

  “Sungmin, I’m serious.” Kyuhyun put his hand on the small of Sungmin’s back. “If this gets out, I’m going to get blamed, hearts are gonna be broken and we’re going to have a very depressed Heechul. And if he starts overeating again, then we’re probably going to have a very obese Heechul too.”

  “This is about Heechul?” he asked. “Well, tell me. I’m getting curious.”

  “Well, if I know you at all, you’re probably going to want to talk to Heechul about this. If you do, leave my name out of it.” When Sungmin nodded, Kyuhyun took his word for it and leaned closer to whisper the piece of news in his ear.

  “Oh my God,” Sungmin gasped. “This is going to kill him…”

~*~

  “Hi Chullie,” Sungmin closed the door to Heechul’s office as he let himself in. “How are you doing?”

  Heechul looked at him blankly. “What do you want?”

  Sungmin pretended to look hurt, “Does a friend need a reason to see another friend?”

  “If it’s you, yes.” He put his pen and paper down and narrowed his eyes at the teenager in uniform. “Besides, I thought you and Kyuhyun had a study date after school. What are you doing here?”

  “I just…I just want you to know that…” Sungmin scratched his head, unsure on how to approach the subject. “If you need me, or any of us, for that matter, we’re here for you.”

  “Okay, something’s wrong; you’re being nice to me.” Heechul raised one eyebrow at him. “What’s the matter? Is this about Kyuhyun again?”

  “No, actually…okay, I might as well tell you. You see, I heard this rumor…” Sungmin found himself looking right into Heechul’s eyes and realized that he couldn’t quite do it like this. “You know what, why don’t we go get some ice cream or something first? To soften the blow.”

  “What blow?” he asked. “And if anyone needs ice cream, it’s you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sungmin asked, looking slightly offended.

  “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve been eating less and less ever since Kyuhyun announced he’s leaving after graduation.” He said, picking up his pen and pointing it at him. “I don’t need to keep an eye on you, do I?”

  “Well, forgive me for losing my appetite after finding out that my boyfriend’s going to be away for four years.” Sungmin said. “It isn’t exactly the best news ever, you know.”

  “Yeah, well, having an anorexic relapse won’t solve anything.” He warned. “Sungmin, I hate to say this, but I care about you—I don’t know why—and I don’t want either of us to go through the we had to deal with when you developed your little problem.”

  “Heechul, I’m fine.” He insisted, annoyed. “Anyway, the whole reason I’m here is because I have something to tell you. I heard a rumor. It’s about Siwon…”

~*~

  Siwon was making his way towards Heechul’s office when he saw his friend leaning by the door. “Kyu? What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, just waiting for Sungmin.” He shrugged, his face blank.

  “Where is he?” Siwon asked.

  “In there.” Kyuhyun tilted his head towards the door.

  As if right on cue, the door opened and Sungmin came out, looking quite worried. “Oh, Siwon. Um, I think Heechul would like to have a talk with you.”

  Siwon, smart enough to put the pieces together, threw Kyuhyun a dirty look before going inside to face the music.

  “Come on,” Kyuhyun put his arm around Sungmin. “Let’s get out of here before they get into a screaming match.”

  As they made their way out through the empty school hallway, Sungmin fished out his phone and pressed speed dial number two. “Hello?” he said when he finally got an answer on the other line. “Hyukkie, remind me to pick up some ice cream later. The good ice cream.”

  “Why?” Eunhyuk asked.

  Sungmin sighed, “I get the feeling Heechul’s gonna need it.”

~*~

  That night, Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk and Donghae stayed late at Sungmin’s house, waiting for Heechul to show up. Sure enough, five minutes past ten, the doorbell rang repeatedly and Sungmin opened the door to a very drunk, very heartbroken Heechul.

~*~