(08) Maybe A Turtle - 1,641

“God, it’s nice to finally get away.” Kyuhyun complained, his language back to Korean now that they finished the landing greetings. Zhoumi was at the front, excited to be back home which left Henry because they were the ones who didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You’re usually sulky when you’re not in Korea,” Henry called out and Kyuhyun bit back a curse because maybe he does know something. “We all have Jongwoon-hyung’s number on speed dial because of it.”

Kyuhyun stopped abruptly, ignoring the protests from Hyukjae and Donghae who bumped into him. In a moment of being uncharacteristic, he gaped.

“H-how--well,” he composed himself. “It’s just nice to get away sometimes.”

Henry shrugged with a low hum as they rode the van to their hotels. They actually had everyone’s number back in Korea on speed dial. But Heechul had mischievously and not-so-subtly hinted that Henry mention Jongwoon particularly to gauge a reaction from the problematic Kyuhyun.

It was a success, needless to say.

It wasn’t exactly his business to judge but he did want to know the details. Jongwoon was a kind man and a kind hyung. Even when the company suddenly decided to add two extra members and the fans lashed out, he treated them the same way as he would if they got Super Junior 15 to happen. Like they were his actual dongsaengs.

He and Zhoumi knew that Jongwoon was a great hyung who took care of his dongsaengs like he takes care of his little brother. It was comforting to know.

Which tugged on a little protectiveness over him. Especially when he was being protected from Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun, on the other hand, though talented and serious when it came to his job, he could be quite a prankster. Because he was the youngest in the 13, he knew he could get away with the pranks. What concerned Henry was that Kyuhyun probably didn’t know up to what extent the joke could be.

They were pretty boy idols in an Asian country. It surprised him at first, how much skin ship was happening especially during concerts. He didn’t mind, Canada was quite lenient with homoual relationships.

Henry glanced at Kyuhyun who was leaning his chin on his palm and looking out the window, the lights passing by colorfully.

He sighed lightly. He was too young to be handling this.

The voice of Heechul cackling at the corner of his mind echoed and he knew he had to do this.

*

The first performance wasn’t bad. In fact, it got them all hyped up and Henry was thankful for the momentum.

“You’re free for the day. Hankyung said he’d meet you at the aquarium. Said he wanted all of you to eat seafood?” Their manager said calmly from the passenger’s seat.

They all made noise in excitement and partial hunger. Henry glanced at Kyuhyun again.

Kyuhyun had his face buried on his phone. Occasionally smiling and laughing deeply, as if trying not to. Henry, being taught well by Heechul, looked over his shoulder.

“Jongwoonie-hyung looks very pretty.” He commented and Kyuhyun jumped, hand flailing back and nearly hitting Henry. Luckily, he dodged and scooted a bit closer, his hand grabbing Kyuhyun’s to tilt the phone screen.

“So…” he said. “Are you ready to tell me yet?”

Kyuhyun bit back a snarky comment and Henry wanted to congratulate him in doing so. It must have taken so much of his brain. He raised a brow when Kyuhyun avoided his eyes.

“I’ve got all day.” Henry reminded him because only Zhoumi had family to visit there and he knew Kyuhyun didn’t want the others to know. (Though Henry was pretty sure they do anyway.)

“Since when have you been hanging out with Heechul?” Kyuhyun said in spite. He grumbled and twisted around so that his back was facing Henry.

Henry shrugged it off and sat normally, opening his own phone and laughed. It was petty, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

He saw the hand move faster than lightning and Henry thought the video games were paying off. The next thing he knew, his phone was closed and no longer on his palm and he was being pushed out of the car.

“He-hey! Hyung!” Henry yelled, the shoving a bit too much on Kyuhyun’s part.

“I don’t see you for a few months and this is what’s happening?”

“Hyung!” Everyone gathered around Hankyung, Siwon being first because he was big and he strides like a giant. Donghae and Hyukjae followed, being fast and hyperactive. Sungmin gave a high five and Ryeowook received a quick shoulder hug. Henry got a hair ruffle and Kyuhyun got a pat on the shoulder.

By all means it shouldn’t have meant anything. But looking past Hankyung’s shoulder, Henry knew he had to say it out loud.

“Is that Jongwoon-hyung?”

All heads snapped to look over Hankyung’s shoulder while Hankyung raised his hands in a surrender pose. They looked back at Hankyung who had an animated sweat drop and goofy smile.

Jongwoon turned from leaning against the glass separating him and the gigantic creature playing with him from the inside with a big smile.

“Maybe it’s a turtle?”

*

He meant every one of them with wide smiles and warm hugs and it was like a human sized teddy bear. Not that Henry was complaining, it was nice to be warmly received, especially from a hyung you greatly respect. Though he sensed that Kyuhyun had mixed feelings.

Jongwoon sat and asked each of them how they were doing so far. It didn’t matter that they left Korea not more than a week ago, he listened to each and every one of their stories. He genuinely listened, occasionally taking a sip from the big glass of iced tea.

Kyuhyun left it short and simple, as if he didn’t want to bother speaking at all. “We danced, we sang, we high fived random girls who thought they knew how to speak Korean but are only repeated words and we smiled at each and every one of them.”

Jongwoon gave him a sad and disappointed smile that Henry didn’t want to be the one it was pointed at. It was as clear as day and he knew it bothered everyone at the table.

“Well,” Hankyung said, standing up and breaking the small awkward silence. “I’ll give you the grand tour. I asked for a favor and they closed the aquarium for us. Come on.”

As each of the stood up, they looked at each other before looking at both Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. They raised an eyebrow when Henry didn’t stand up. He shrugged and sipped his own drink. Before Donghae could open his mouth, Sungmin held him by the shoulders and they walked away.

The silence went on for a while and Henry debated if he made the right decision. It was definitely a bad decision but it might have been worse if he didn’t tell Heechul how things went.

“Kyuhyun,” and of course it was Jongwoon who broke the silence. He didn’t like it when people ignored him. Henry turned to him with his brows up high and his lips still sealed on the straw.

Kyuhyun looked at Jongwoon with hopeful eyes.

Jongwoon shrugged. He opened and closed his mouth for a while before finally deciding on, “ How are you doing?”

Disappointment was bitter on Kyuhyun’s tongue but Henry knew how much he didn’t like showing that he cared what anyone--specifically Jongwoon-- thought.

Henry regretted not going with Hankyung.

*

The walk to meet up with everyone else was painfully quiet. Henry bought another drink so that he had an excuse not to talk. Unfortunately Jongwoon and Kyuhyun took their turns talking to Henry instead of talking to each other.

“Where are you headed next?” Jongwoon asked, looking directly at Henry who was in between him and Kyuhyun.

Henry shrugged. “Europe most likely. Travel around a bit before I’m called back for another comeback. You?”

Jongwoon smiled and turned to look ahead. “I still have a few weeks of rest to get used to things again. I’ll probably live in the dorms for a while just until I get used to the schedules again.”

Henry kept an eye at Kyuhyun. He grinned because the tip of Kyuhyun’s ears was pink.

When they neared Hankyung, everyone turned with a panic look in their eyes. It was more directed at Jongwoon. They stood in front of them with a questioning look.

“What’s wrong?” Jongwoon asked and Hankyung looked from Jongwoon to the huge glass aquarium.

“For some weird reason,” Hankyung took a deep breath and looked at Jongwoon and then turtle again like he was watching a tennis game. “The turtle was drowning.”

“What?!” Jongwoon and Kyuhyun said at the same time, causing Henry to jump from the loudness. They nearly slammed against the glass for turning too quickly to see if it was true.

“Yeah,” Hankyung continued, voice fading away. “But for some reason, he was fine when you arrived.”

He, Ryeowook and Sungmin pushed the others away further down the aquarium, leaving a bewildered Jongwoon, Kyuhyun and Henry.

Hankyung turned around and winked at the three of them. While Jongwoon and Kyuhyun blushed and looked away, Henry sighed and threw his hands up.

“Okay, fine, we’ll play ‘family’ but only because these two couldn’t be any more obvious!” Jongwoon and Kyuhyun looked at Henry with wide eyes and a deep, dark blush.

“C’mon, mom and dad,” he said in English, pulling them to hold hands, ignoring how far down the blush was going.

“You have got to talk this time because the awkward silence was harder to take in than the drowning turtle. Okay?” Henry smiled wider when he felt the previously forced enclosed hands grip onto each other tighter.

A/N: 8 more stories left! ;u; That means 8 more weeks before I move on to other plots. These aren't getting redundant, are they? Thanks again for reading, commenting and subscribing!