Feb. 15th 2015

"Kyuhyun had seen Cupids all his life. It wasn’t until one shot him in the back did he realize they were such a pain in the ."

A/N: Happy late Valentine's Day!

Edit: Eh, I thought it worked better as a oneshot.

Kyuhyun lunged for the bowl of fried rice. The ceramic bowl landed hard in his hands seconds before it hit the floor.

“Tsk, tsk, Kyuhyun.”

He looked up with a scowl. “What the hell, Eunyoung!?” Clumps of rice covered the floor from the fall. Luckily, he could salvage the rest for dinner, but still, it was infuriating seeing an afternoon’s worth of hard work dotting the floor. He glowered at the brunette who put them there.

“Don’t give me that look, Kyuhyun. Something always has to go wrong on a first date, might as well be the food. It’s bad luck otherwise. Of course,” she wrinkled her nose at his kimchi fried rice, “maybe I didn’t have to shove it on the floor ruin it.”

Kyuhyun held back his tongue. Harsh words would only fuel her attitude. Instead, he set the rice back against the counter, and finished cleaning up the kitchen. Despite Eunyoung’s words, this night had to go perfectly. It was on Valentines, the most romantic day of the year. He’d spent all day cleaning up the house and fixing up the perfect dinner. For someone who’d never made anything more complicated than ramen in his life, that spoke volumes about his dedication. He’d even spruced up the place with purple lilies.

Eunyoung leaned over the counter as Kyuhyun checked the rest of the dinner to make sure Eunyoung didn’t poison anything in the fridge. The cider looked fine as did the cheesecake. The banana tarts on the other hand looked like they’d been stepped on. Kyuhyun shot her a look.

“What?” Eunyoung shrugged. “Not my fault you put them in the fridge while they were too hot.”

They hadn’t turned out well anyways, he told himself as he dumped them in the trash. This night had to be perfect.

“You know the more you think that the bigger the bigger the catastrophes will be.”

Her mind-reading didn’t even faze him anymore. “The only catastrophe I see is the fact that you’re still here,” Kyuhyun snapped.

Eunyoung crossed her arms. “I don’t see why you’re being so testy with me. Without me, you wouldn’t even have this date.”

Okay, now that was technically true. But Kyuhyun digressed. “So what? That doesn’t mean you can run this date. Shouldn’t you be screwing with other people’s love lives by now?”

Eunyoung flicked her hand. “Common misconception. Cupids can’t leave after the arrow is shot. We have to stick around to see if the relationship will transform into ‘true love’ or else we can’t get any new arrows.” She shot him a devilish grin. “Of course, you’d prefer your date fall apart right now, I’d be able to leave right away.”

Kyuhyun groaned. He’d seen Cupids all his life, but it wasn’t until one shot him in the back did he realize they were such a pain in the .

“Look, I’m going to go change.” Kyuhyun snapped, yanking off his apron. “When I get back, you’ll be gone, and it’ll be like you were never here.”

“Are you sure?” she called as he ran up the stairs. “Because I’m pretty sure neither of those statements are true.”

A whole day off preparation had made him incredibly tense, and his cupid wasn’t helping. Yes, his cupid.

Up until he was seven, Kyuhyun assumed everyone could see the floating people dressed in red with bows and arrows which never drew blood. When he learned otherwise, he tried to avoid the cupids. They brought nothing but trouble and made him look crazy. It seemed to work too. Not many of them lingered, especially in the city. But then the day came.

He still remembered walking into that tiny, frilly shop filled with enough sweets to melt your teeth. He’d scrunched his nose at the fluffy signs and teddy bears while swearing never to run errands for his sister again. That’s when he saw Eunyoung, or more specifically he saw her arrow, pointed directly at his face.

It felt great at first. The desire. The fantasy. The “love.” But then reality set in, and Kyuhyun remembered why cupids brought nothing but trouble.

Cupid’s Love Arrows^tm were not permanent and wore off over time, mostly because they didn’t create love. They triggered infatuation but only if the couple fit would it turn into true love. If they weren’t a good fit, well they did they were sure to leave with broken hearts.

Kyuhyun had tried his best to ward off the potions effects, but soon he found himself returning time and time again to the little shop, purchasing sweets from the boy behind the counter. Somehow he’d convinced himself his feelings were true, that things wouldn’t end in heartbreak when the arrow wore off. Just so he could pretend for moment that what he felt was real and true and beautiful and not the effects of some magic arrow.

In his room, Kyuhyun quickly stripped and hopped in the shower. The hot water helped soothe his mind. He thought of Ryeowook, his angelic smile, his sweet voice. Everything would be perfect tonight because he had the perfect date. He smiled lifting his face to the showerhead.

The water turned scalding. Kyuhyun jumped, nearly slipping in the tub. Cursing, he stumbled out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. “EUNYOUNG!”

He needn’t have bellowed. His cupid hovered over his bed, the outfit he’d picked out earlier today laid out by her side. “Get dressed,” she ordered. “Ryeowook just left his house. He’ll be here any minute.”

Kyuhyun didn’t have to ask her how he knew. She just did. Kyuhyun scrambled to pull on his clothing. “Why are you helping me? I thought the first date had to go wrong?”

“It does, but you answering the door fresh from the shower seems a bit too… for the first date.”

Kyuhyun flushed. He threw on his clothes (slacks and a dark purple shirt) and rushed back downstairs to set up for dinner. Apart from the water heater, it look like Eunyoung hadn’t touched anything.

Kyuhyun was setting up the candlesticks when Eunyoung reappeared.

“It looks good.”

“Thanks,” he said. Kyuhyun realigned the napkins a bit. Eunyoung’s judgment practically burned through his skull. He sighed and turned around. “Are you really going to be here for this date?”

She frowned, uncomfortable. “I’m always here for my couple’s dates.”

“Yes, but your other couples couldn’t see you,” Kyuhyun pleaded. He’d been mocked for enough of his life about his stories of floating archers. Of course he knew better now but it’d only take one reaction to Eunyoung’s invisible antics for Ryeowook to think he’d lost his mind. No, that couldn’t happen. She had to leave. Kyuhyun let her know this.

Eunyoung sighed. “Fine, I’ll leave for now. But-” she added before he could get too happy, “you have to tell me everything I miss so I can report back correctly.”

Kyuhyun could have kissed her from relief. Instead he assured her he’d give her everything.

Not two minutes after she left did the doorbell ring. Ryeowook had arrived. Kyuhyun nearly tripped he ran so fast to get it. All sense of order gone, he flung open the door.

A delicate boy looked up at him with an armful of flowers. Kyuhyun took a shuddery breath. Kim Ryeowook looked every bit as stunning as when he’d first laid eyes on him. A good sign. He smiled, highlighting his impossibly high cheekbones. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kyuhyun.”

“H-ha-” He coughed. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Ryeowook.” Kyuhyun smiled dreamily at him for another moment before he remembered to invite him in.

Ryeowook laughed, walking through the threshold. The scent of sweet cherries came with him. Kyuhyun inhaled deeply.

“I brought these for you.”

Kyuhyun stared at the colorful bouquet of flowers. “Are these…chocolate?”

“Yep. With sugar hearts on the side.”

“Wow, are you trying to make me fat?” he joked.

“Well, with you coming up to the shop every day I didn’t think you were any sort of diet,” Ryeowook said, a glint in his eye.

It was true. In his month of (very obvious) mooning over the counter boy, Kyuhyun had gained three pounds from chocolates alone. Blushing, Kyuhyun accepted the candy.

He then proceeded to give Ryeowook a tour of the house. A part of him was afraid every time he’d open the door Eunyoung would be behind it but luckily that never happened. It was only him and Ryeowook. Kyuhyun showed him every room, even the closets. It seemed his mouth forgot how to arrange words today, but Ryeowook always knew what he meant. Their conversation fit like two pieces of a puzzle. Or maybe he only thought that because of the love arrow. He tried not to think about it.

Ryeowook especially loved his media room.

“You like S.E.S.?” Ryeowook pulled the CD from the stand.

Kyuhyun stuttered. “Well- that’s um…”

“I love S.E.S!” He pressed the album against his heart, right where Kyuhyun wanted to be right now.

The spent the rest of the time sitting on the couch, talking about the music they shared growing up. The funny stories, the favorite foods. It was amazing how much they had in common. It felt as if Ryeowook, in all his unearthly beauty, was only a line drawing, but each simple fact colored him closer to a masterpiece.

An hour passed in no time at all.

“Oh geez, is it seven already?”

Ryeowook looked at the clock in surprise. “No wonder I’m starving.”

“We should have dinner than. I have it all ready in the kitchen,” Kyuhyun said standing up.

“Could I go to the bathroom first?”

“Do you expect me to say no?”

They shared a chuckle. Ryeowook went down the hall while Kyuhyun headed to the kitchen.

As he doled out large portions of kimchi fried rice and fish, Kyuhyun replayed parts of their conversation. From Ryeowook’s crazy laugh to his witty remarks. Already, Kyuhyun wanted more.

He bit his lip. Was this a bad sign? No person should be missing another if they only left to go to the bathroom.

“Actually, it depends on the person.”

Kyuhyun squeaked and nearly dropped the bottle of cider he was holding.

“Eunyoung!” he hissed. “What are you doing here?”

The cupid didn’t seem fazed. “Observing my couple, obviously.” She crossed her long legs nonchalantly as if this were at all reasonable.

Kyuhyun sent daggers her way. “You said you wouldn’t show up tonight.”

“I said I would leave for now. Ryeowook isn’t even here now. Now, it’s time you fill me in.” She gave him an expectant look.

“Well, I can’t fill you in now. Ryeowook’s going to be back any second.” Kyuhyun glanced down the hall nervously.

“Well, I can’t wait until the date is over. You might not remember everything by then.”

“Do you have to know every detail?”

“If that detail part of ‘everything’ then yes.”

Kyuhyun groaned. Cupids, he was quickly beginning to realize, were a lot like genies: they were absurdly literal.

Eunyoung tossed her hair. “If you aren’t living up to your part of the deal, then I can’t keep mine.” She hopped from the counter and took a seat at the kitchen table. Kyuhyun begged, but she wouldn’t move. The toilet flushed down the hall.

“Okay,” Kyuhyun said, switching tactics. “Can you at least sit behind the island, please? I can’t have you here at the dinner table.”

Eunyoung gave him an even stare. “Fine.”

She didn’t move nearly as fast as he would’ve liked. Not a second had she disappeared behind the kitchen island did Ryeowook come in.

Ryeowook walked in smiling. “Your bathroom is so clean. My roommates could never – Wow.” His eyes widened. Kyuhyun stopped breathing. “Did you make this dinner?”

Kyuhyun nearly collapsed from relief. “Yes, yes I did. Come, let’s eat.”

Ryeowook had no protests. Kyuhyun pulled out his chair and poured him some cranberry cider. He had gone the whole nine yards from laying out a nice tablecloth to remembering Ryeowook’s favorite dish, kimchi fried rice. That gesture alone made up for the mediocre cooking. Ryeowook pretended to enjoy it anyways.

With the utmost ease they fell back to their previous conversation. Even when there was silence it was a comfortable silence. Kyuhyun found himself smiling the whole time.

They were discussing the strange habits of their professors when Kyuhyun froze. Eunyoung. She had moved from her place and now stood above the kitchen counter, moving back the hands of the clock.

“Kyuhyun?” Ryeowook snapped him back to reality. “Kyuhyun is something wrong?”

“N-Nothing.” He glanced back towards the girl. “I just thought I saw something. Something that shouldn’t be here,” he stressed.

“Um…okay.” Ryeowook blinked. “Wow, it’s still really early,” he said, surprised when he saw the clock.

Kyuhyun faked a laugh. “Yeah, I guess time now stands still when you’re having fun. Now please, I believe you were explaining how you professor picks his nose ring?”

They went back to talking and drinking but it wasn’t quite the same. Paranoid, Kyuhyun kept glancing in Eunyoung’s direction, his attention only half-focused on his date. This in turn seemed to freak out Ryeowook who looked convinced something was about to blow-up on that side of the kitchen.

Finally, they finished the fried rice. Neither went for seconds though Ryeowook assured him he liked it. Kyuhyun would have bought it except he’d eaten it himself. Nothing worse than the taste of burnt kimchi.

Ryeowook suggested they move things to the living room, and Kyuhyun wholeheartedly agreed. He fetched a couple CDs from the media room and refilled their cranberry juice before he led the smaller to the spacious room. Eunyoung whispered, “Play a saxophone track,” when Kyuhyun walked by. He brushed her off. This was his date. To Kyuhyun’s relief, she didn’t follow them into the living room. Finally he could focus on Ryeowook. He put on a mixtape, the first track a funky jazz piece.

He turned and grinned at his date. “You like?”

“Oh, I like.” And Kyuhyun could tell by the way his eyes scanned him over that it wasn’t just the music Ryeowook was talking about.

Kyuhyun settled down on the cream-colored couch, their knees bumping from close proximity. With Eunyoung gone, he could feel himself relaxing again.

The topic turned to their dreams of the future. Kyuhyun’s was all laid out. Once he finished with his PhD he already had a job waiting for him at the nearest law firm. They said he had a penchant for breaking emotional appeals and hitting the facts.

Ryeowook was a bit different. Although stuck in a simple day job now, he wanted to be a composer one day. The kind that wrote music for symphonies and bands and watched his creations come to life in a grand open stage.

“It’d been amazing wouldn’t it?” he sighed wistfully. “I’d have whole concertos written about food.”

“Food?”

“Yes, food! It’d be a combination of my two greatest passions. Plus, who can’t relate to food?”

“Write a waltz about mushroom soup?”

“I have a minuet for caramel fudge!” If Ryeowook weren’t bouncing so happily, Kyuhyun might have thought he was kidding. But his eyes glowed with passion and Kyuhyun could feel himself fall harder.

They leaned into each other. Ryeowook smiled into his glass, suddenly bashful. Kyuhyun’s fingers itched to those reddened cheeks.

Ryeowook was almost the full masterpiece now, a picture so real you believed you could touch it.

A slight whoosh made them both jump. The fireplace had automatically. Except not really.

Eunyoung stood by coffee table, poking the fireplace remote. For the third time tonight, Kyuhyun felt his fantasy come crashing down.

Ryeowook must’ve felt him stiffen. “Is something wrong?” The smaller brushed his hand across Kyu’s chest.

Just that simple touch drove his mind crazy. Being with Ryeowook now, it was hard to believe his feelings weren’t real. That’s why seeing Eunyoung, with her shiny black arrows and careless meddling, was just a slap in the face.

“No,” he whispered. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Across the room, Eunyoung fiddled with the stereo. A sultry saxophone piece filled the room.

“Oh, I like this piece,” Ryeowook said.

No, you don’t, Kyuhyun wanted to respond. But Ryeowook really did. He curled up against his side, soft and warm. Kyuhyun wanted to enjoy it so badly. Instead, he grabbed Ryeowook’s hand. “Look, I have a um, cheesecake in the fridge,” the other’s eyes lit up, “Let’s go into the kitchen and have some.”

Kyuhyun led him into the kitchen, away from the meddling cupid. Ryeowook grabbed some plates while humming him the melody to cheesecake he’d composed freshman year. Kyuhyun half-listened as he pulled out the lidded cake. But when Kyuhyun lifted the lid, he could’ve screamed. The surface of the cheesecake looked like it’d been doused in black glitter. The whole thing shimmered under the lights, like the night sky filled with stars. It’d been years since he’d been to a club but he remembered well enough the effects of the metallic black dust: lust. She would never stop would she?

Kyuhyun held the cake out, refusing to touch the dust. Eunyoung must have emptied a whole tube on it at least. He stepped towards the trashcan.

“Is that the cheesecake?” Ryeowook walked up to him. “It looks delicious.” Crap. He held out a butter knife like he was about to cut it.

“Uh, no,” Kyuhyun moved it out of his way. “It’s um, kind of a bad cheesecake. I actually, screwed up the recipe. We probably shouldn’t eat it.”

“It’s cheesecake Kyuhyun. It was meant to be eaten.”

“It’ll taste terrible.”

“Kyuhyun, I already ate all your fried rice. How much worse could it be?” Ryeowook reached for the dish. Kyuhyun yanked it back. The other looked at him bizarrely.

“I really don’t think we should eat it. I used spoiled cheese to make it.”

Ryeowook tilted his head. “It doesn’t look spoiled. Here, let me smell it-”

Suddenly, his nose was way too close to the powder. Kyuhyun panicked, his arm jerked, and the whole cake slipped onto the floor. Kyuhyun slammed the cake lid on it before the lust cloud could rise up. Eunyoung mouthed ‘smooth’ in his direction. He wanted nothing more than to shoot her with a real arrow. They stared at the ruined dessert. Well, more-ruined dessert.

“Kyuhyun, what is going on with you?” When the other didn’t respond, Ryeowook looked to the side. “Maybe I should go.”

“No!” Kyuhyun jumped up, startling the smaller. “No,” he repeated softer.

“Well, then tell me what’s wrong. You’ve been phasing in and out on me all night.” Ryeowook frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”

In that instant, Kyuhyun could see how bad this all looked. He’d checked the clock all through dinner, pulled away when the mood started to become intimate, and basically just threw their dessert on the floor. He was ruining this night and he had no sane reason why.

“No,” he said again. “Of course it’s not you. It’s just…I’ve liked you a lot for such a long time, and now we’re finally on a date, and it’s Valentine’s day, and I guess…I just wanted this to go perfectly.”

Ryeowook sighed, “Dates don’t go perfectly, Kyu, let alone first dates.”

“I know but, I wanted this to feel more…real than it has been. Right now it just feels forced. And fake.” He tossed a look in Eunyoung’s direction.

To his surprise, Ryeowook agreed. “Of course it’s a bit fake. I mean, this is our first date, we’re both a little guarded. We barely know each other after all. Of course, I would like to know you a little better.” He leaned forward, smiling. “I like you a lot too, okay? And that’s real enough for me.”

Ryeowook ran a hand through Kyuhyun’s hair. His heartrate increased tenfold. And then the smaller’s lips were on his and they were kissing in that sweet tender way only first kisses go.

“Wow,” Kyuhyun breathed the second Ryeowook pulled away.

In that moment, Kyuhyun didn’t care why he felt what he did. He just knew that’s what he felt and that made it real enough for him too.

Ryeowook kissed him again, this time a bit longer than before. Okay, a lot longer.

Ryeowook gasped, pulling away, “Maybe we should clean up the cheesecake first?”

Kyuhyun panted, “Maybe in another minute.” And he fully intended to finish off that lust covered dessert as well.

Before they went back to kissing on the kitchen floor, Kyuhyun caught a glimpse of red above him.

Eunyoung winked before dissolving away. And she wouldn’t be back. At least, not for tonight.

Kyuhyun/Eunyoung is my new "perfect on paper" couple. Not as good as my "perfect in real life" couple (Kyuwook), but passable because she's from Purfles.

Even though Kyuhyun probably doesn't know Eunyoung exists (don't judge me), she'll be the go-to anytime I need a female complement to Kyuhyun. (Sorry Seobot)