6 October 2013

“You’re too loud this early in the morning,” Kibum grumbled into his pillow, glaring at his roommate through one open eye.

“Well after what you did to me last night, I think I deserve this much,” he responded without hesitation, putting the hair dryer on HIGH. Ryeowook tried not to think about the previous evening too much. His mind wandered to Hyungsik and their almost…awkward encounter in that bedroom.

Being a good roommate, Ryeowook had agreed to help out Kibum by picking up Hyungsik from the party they were attending. Sometime after the hookah bar had gotten boring, they decided to hit up a house party, only for Hyungsik to get drunk and bumbling – both of which Ryeowook doubted.

Considering how lucid the tall male had been, it didn’t seem likely that he was out of his mind. Furthermore, they had had a perfectly logical conversation before Hyungsik offered to walk back to the dorm with him. He lived on the second floor, much to Ryeowook’s surprise. For some reason, he hadn’t expected to live that close to someone and not know it.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Kibum groaned, “please just turn that noise off. I’m so exhausted.” He tugged the blankets higher up around him.

“And why didn’t you just go to that club with Donghae, Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun? You could’ve made a move instead of smoking the night away and drinking your body raw,” Ryeowook ignored his roommate’s begging, but did turn off the hair dryer. Walking back into the room, he looked at his face in the mirror, cringing away at the dark circles under his eyes. Grabbing his make-up bag, he started rummaging around for foundation and cover-up.

Sighing loudly, Kibum rolled onto his back, covering his eyes from the bit of light breaking through their blinds. “Because Donghae rejected me.”

“What?” Ryeowook whipped around, neck snapping. He grunted, catching himself on the edge of his dresser, rubbing the painful nerve.

“Yeah, I tried to kiss him that night we were watching horror movies. He turned away.” His voice was low and rough.

Ryeowook frowned, slowly beginning to apply his make-up. “That doesn’t seem like enough to reason to stop pursuing him. You’ve been trying hard since the beginning of the year, right? Is it okay to just give up now?”

“Well, Donghae might be straight. That’s a definite problem.”

“I don’t think he really cares,” he pointed out, peering at his roommate, “and Donghae isn’t someone who would just play around with someone’s feelings. But it’s your choice. You don’t have to listen to me.”

Kibum smiled faintly. “You’re making me feel guilty.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t blame me.” Putting away the cosmetics, he shrugged off his shirt, opening up his closet to pull out a flannel button down. His mind shifted slightly and he turned to Kibum once more, buttoning up his shirt. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me that Kyuhyun was so attractive?”

Pushing his hand away, Kibum looked up, smirking. “How forward of you,” he laughed, “well yeah, he is pretty hot. I didn’t think it mattered since you don’t like him as a person.”

“But I ran into him yesterday and I wasn’t prepared at all! I love his music sense, just not him.” Before he could say more, his phone rang with an angry text message from his older brother. It was mainly teasing, and partially irritation as how slow he was being. Ryeowook huffed and tugged his pants on in a hurry. Slipping on shoes, he grabbed his keys and wallet, waving at Kibum. “Sorry, I gotta go. I’ll see you later!”

“Okay,” he drawled, twirling his hand in the air as the door shut.

A second later, the bathroom door clicked open and Jongwoon peeked into their room. Kibum waved at the RA who just smiled. “Hey, is Ryeowook here or did he just leave?”

“Literally just left,” he responded, sitting up slowly, “Why? Is something wrong?”

Jongwoon shook his head. “No, I just thought I should tell him that Kyuhyun came looking for him last night. He seemed pretty uncomfortable when I tried telling Ryeowook he was here, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

Kibum perked up, hiding his coy smile. “What? He stopped by? Did he say why?”

“Well no,” the RA said slowly, thinking, “he looked a bit out of breath and it was pretty late, probably 2 AM. I have no idea what he wanted, but anyway, it was pretty urgent even though he didn’t say so.”

“That does sound urgent,” Kibum grinned cheekily.

Jongwoon chuckled. “Agreed. I have to help with today’s activities, so I’m gonna get ready. See you later!” He closed the door gently and a moment later, the shower was turning on.

“What is this…?” he mumbled to himself, flopping back on the bed with a snicker. “I probably shouldn’t tell anyone yet…”

“Where are we headed today?” Ryeowook inquired, sitting in the backseat. He had a notebook with him, filled with tidbits of music and lyrics. The night before, he had left it in the car after showing Leeteuk and Youngwoon what he had been working on for the past month.

They had grabbed a quick breakfast on the road and were headed further and further out of town. Youngwoon turned down the radio and Leeteuk twisted around in his seat, smiling at the young man. “Actually, your brother had a good idea, for once.”

“What do you mean for once?” he quipped, grimacing, “I’m full of great ideas all the time. You’re the one who’s always indecisive.”

“Me?” Leeteuk repeated, pointing at himself. He slapped Youngwoon’s arm, “I’m always choosing! Ever since I got back from my service, I’ve been picking everything.”

“I was trying to be nice and let you get used to civilian life again. If you hated it that much, I’ll just pick everything again.”

“You never picked everything!” he argued, laughing.

Youngwoon chuckled.

Ryeowook watched them quietly, smiling as they fell into a comfortable silence. “Teukie-hyung, does he argue this much with his fiancée?”

His dimple appeared, eyes shining with amusement. “Please, he’s a perfect puppy in front of her.” That earned him a sharp elbow to the side. Grunting, Leeteuk laughed in that very special way of his and changed the subject. “Anyway, you told us last night that you’re planning on submitting that song for St. Angela’s winter concert, right? You didn’t tell us where you got inspiration.”

“Oh, a friend of my friend,” Ryeowook explained, “his name is Cho Kyuhyun. He happened to see my lyrics one night when I was out of my dorm room and he left me lyrics in return. When I read them, I just sort of knew that those were the words my song needed.”

Youngwoon snorted. “That’s pretty romantic for a brat who was shaking like a newborn a month ago.”

“Hey!” he glared at his older brother through the mirror, “It’s completely normal to be scared on your move-in day!”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” he brushed off.

“Why are you so annoying?” Ryeowook snapped, crossing his arms, feeling like a five-year old again.

Leeteuk glanced at his oldest friend, hiding his smile at the ease of Youngwoon’s expression. He had been worried the entire weekend because of how tense the younger man had been behaving. Even after seeing Ryeowook the night before, when they got back to their hotel room, the stress in Youngwoon’s shoulders didn’t lessen much at all.

The car ride was relatively peaceful, or rather, as peaceful as they were when Youngwoon and Ryeowook were together. They climbed out of the vehicle upon arriving at the large amusement park. Screams could be heard from every direction as the trio neared the ticket booth, paid, and were admitted into the playground. Immediately, Youngwoon pointed at the largest rollercoaster, dragging both his best friend and younger brother toward it.

That was how the day went, roughly speaking. Ryeowook was sure he would lose his voice by the end of the day. His tear ducts had already dried up from crying from mere air pressure. His fingers were shaky and his stomach felt ready to reject even the smallest of morsels. Ahead of him, Youngwoon was heartily eating away with Leeteuk staggering alongside him.

Ryeowook silently praised the man who could deal with his brother so well. How was it that Leeteuk hadn’t completely collapsed yet? It didn’t look like he was great with roller coasters either. Then again, he if spent as much time with Youngwoon as Ryeowook suspected, maybe he had built up tolerance.

“I’ll go order us some lunch,” Leeteuk clapped his hands together. He glanced over his shoulder at Ryeowook, smiling sympathetically, “Something light, I promise. I’ll get you ginger ale too.” And then he was entering the restaurant.

“Thank you,” he offered a pained grin.

Youngwoon rolled his eyes, swinging an arm around his younger sibling’s shoulders. “Don’t be such a drama queen. You’re fine. We share the same blood, so how can you be such a weakling?” Nonetheless, he led Ryeowook over to a bench under the trees. A slight chill rustled past, but neither gave it much attention.

“We only share half the same blood,” he corrected teasingly, “and you should be happy that I even agreed to go on that many rides,” he grumbled, closing his eyes, lying his head down on Youngwoon’s lap.

The elder brushed Ryeowook’s hair away from his forehead. “Mom and dad asked the other day if I was going to see you,” he remarked calmly.

He stiffened, forcing himself to relax a few moments later. “I’m sure they were just wondering if I had flunked out of school yet.”

“They don’t hate you.”

“You’re not at home enough to actually understand what they’re like,” he returned, voice tight. Ryeowook opened his eyes, looking up at Youngwoon. “Maybe they don’t hate me, but they don’t love me either. Denying that would be a bold-faced lie.”

He paused, fingers running lightly over his baby brother’s hair. “But they don’t hate you.”

“They tolerate me.”

“They asked if you’re coming home for winter break.”

Ryeowook fiddled with his own hands, absently twisting and untwisting his shirt. He didn’t say anything in response, eyes looking anywhere but up at Youngwoon who was chewing on his lip as he considered the possible answers he could give to the silent questions.

“You’re welcome to stay with me,” he finally said, lightly patting Ryeowook’s chest, “we have an extra room in my house. I get why you wouldn’t want to go home.” Youngwoon took the smile on the younger one’s face as acceptance.