It’s been a long time,, a year and four months, so please do forgive me if its not on par with my usual. I hope that you will still like it and shamelessly flatter me because this author loves flattery.

When i first posted the forward, i never thought i would have writters block like i do. I had a really REALLY hard time mapping out and writing Kyuhyun’s character in this - still am actually. Even imagining it was a little hard for me. But this is the first part of the fic. I really do hope you like it.

Shiv

It all started in college when his best friend Heechul fell in love with Siwon and like most budding relationships, where things were clumsy and shy, the friends were dragged in to mellow down the awkwardness and to bring in a sense of support.

“Hyukjae!” bat screams the red haired diva – who was actually a shy awkward boy but hides it behind a loud confident exterior –to his best friend, first thing Monday morning, eliciting a groan of protest from more than half the lecture class, “Hyukjae!!! Guess what happened!!!!!”

“Hyung…it’s too early in the morning for guessing games, or for your screams” Hyukjae whines a little and pouts adorably, although he will never admit to it, at the slightly older boy who was now hugging him and swaying gleefully, swinging Hyukjae’s body along with his.

“What is wrong with you? Have you started taking drugs?” Hyukjae asks when he was finally let go of, only to have Heechul smack him and then giggle like an idiot.

“No. I’m just in love~” he sighs blissfully, hands clasped at his chest and eyes full of sparkles.

“Explain.”

“I met the most perfect boy this weekend Hyuk. He is handsome and so gentle and tall and with the most gorgeous dimples and-”

Hyukjae represses the urge to roll his eyes as he pokes his best friend with the blunt end of a pencil, “Did you meet him in your sleep?”

“No. This time he is real, I swear. I met him at the coffee shop. I took over Donghae’s shift and he was there ordering Americano” Hyukjae smiles because he knows how much his friend loves boys who are all manly and , “but then put a truck load of sugar in it and it was just so cute how he smiled sheepishly after that and I just couldn’t help but fall for him.”

Hyukjae laughs because really his friend was a little floopy and he falls in love easily enough, but usually its with anime and game characters so he isn’t too concerned about this latest interest...just a little surprised that its human this time. He opts to go into selective hearing mode and pretend to be in a strawberry field because Heechul could go on for ages once started.

“And he asked me out and I said yes!!!! But I’m shy because HE. IS. A. GOD. and I told him I would bring my best friend and then he said that he would bring his best friend and that we could hang out and get to know each other and do some stuff before we go exclusive. Hyukjae, I think I already want to be exclusive. You will help me right? Please? Please? Pleeeeease??!!!!” Heechul ends his monologue while tugging at Hyukjae’s arm, frantically shaking his entire body.

“Okay. Okay!! Just stop pulling me!” Hyukjae squeaks as a bout of dizziness hits him, feeling like a milkshake straight out of the blender. He takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut to get rid of the white spots and absolutely ignoring his best friend who is still squealing beside him and doing an almost cute wiggle on the chair he sat on - almost cute because Hyukjae was still resentful from all shaking and pulling so he was not about to admit that Heechul was actually quite cute being all blush-y and squeal-y.

It was too early in the morning for this.

***

The first time he had met them, they had became good friends. Siwon, the perfect boy that Heechul had met, was indeed a gentleman. He was friendly and sweet and had little movie star quirks that would look totally lame on anyone else but yet suited him perfectly. And then there was his best friend. Kyuhyun. Hyukjae didn’t really know how to describe him. He was the type to frolic underneath the bright blue skies and Hyukjae was the type who keeps to the shadows. Kyuhyun had a bright smile and could make any situation funny while Hyukjae hated his own gummy smile and preferred not to be the center of attention, not even the corner of attention. He would roll his eyes at the overly cheesy couple and poke his tongue out in mock disgust yet be the one cheering them on every time they held hands or got lost in each other’s eyes…and Hyukjae…well Hyukjae would hide in embarrassment because Kyuhyun’s cheering always got them more attention than Siwon and Heechul did. He easily made friends, his character and innate friendliness attracting people naturally and that’s how he made Hyukjae, the awkward nerd, his friend too.

Kyuhyun was everything Hyukjae was not.

He was everything he wanted to be though.

But that wasn’t when he had fallen in love. It had all happened in the one week trip to Busan, one which Heechul had to whine and then stomp his foot like a child - because his parents (he was in college but still very much underneath his parents protection and care) wouldn’t let him go alone and because they trusted Hyukjae to be the more mature one - until Hyukjae finally gave in and agreed to go on the summer trip. He still took his books and Kindle and uploaded all the epub books he could find onto his phone. He may have agreed to go on the stupid trip but by no means had he agreed to let go of his books.

Siwon had borrowed his father’s car – Hyukjae had no idea how he had managed that because it looked to be a pretty nice car– and all boys had packed in for the week, revved up the engines and drove off into into the highway and towards Busan, the seaside city of South Korea.

The ride had been uneventful. Heechul and Siwon had flirted like there was no tomorrow and Kyuhyun had slept the whole way – apparently he had played games all night long since he had promised Siwon that he wouldn’t play while on the trip – and Hyukjae had done what he always does, he read. The only time he had looked up was when they had neared their destination and the road ran alongside the ocean. The summer ocean breeze blew lazily and the sea sparkled as though it was embedded with a million stars. And just looking at the people on the beach, some lazing around tanning, some chasing friends, some swimming and some playing, made Hyukjae feel a little spontaneous, a little adventurous and unconsciously he smiles, gums showing through and eyes softening as he watches the natural beauty whizzing past.

“So pretty,” Hyukjae unconsciously whispers

“Yes. Very pretty.” Hyukjae doesn’t even know that Kyuhyun had woken up and was also looking at the beautiful scenery outside. He whiplashes his way, blinking owlishly only to see that Kyuhyun isn’t looking outside but instead is looking at him.

“You should smile more often.”

The smile is immediately gone before Hyukjae blinks, a little surprised, at the supposed to be sleeping boy next to him, only to see him wide awake and grinning stupidly as he lifts and finger and pokes at Hyukjae’s chubby cheek, “You look cute like that.”

What is that supposed to mean?

To be honest, Hyukjae didn’t know whether to blush or frown. Really what is that supposed to mean? He settled to ignore Kyuhyun, turning around once again and staring out at the natural view. Kyuhyun was always silly anyways. It’s always better not to take his words literally. He was probably just teasing him.

Another twenty minutes and they had arrived at their home for the next one week, a quaint little cottage that Siwon had found by the beach. It had an old-world charm with its picturesque garden and little pebble-paved pathways leading up to the door, a little haven hidden from the outside conundrum.

The inside was spacious and airy and clean – just the way Hyukjae liked it. But most of all, he had his own little room. Siwon and Heechul took the master bedroom – Kyuhyun gasped dramatically in mock scandal when rooms were being assigned – while Hyukjae and Kyuhyun took the supposedly kids bedrooms which had a single bed each and huge windows with sunlight filtering in. The bathroom was to be shared but that was alright. And since it had been a long ride over, all four decided that an early dinner would be best and then rest before deciding on the plans for the week.

***

It was almost midnight when Hyukjae wakes up. The unfamiliar bedroom and house gives him the chills a little because he has a particular penchant for suspense and horror genre and being in a dark and quiet house is never depicted well in those books.

Shaking off the prickly feeling he walks into the bathroom first because he really needs to empty his bladder. After doing just that and washing his hands, he heads down to the kitchen because whenever he wakes up to pee in the night he always feels thirsty right after that. But walking around in a dark house all alone is apparently not a good thing and at every little creak Hyukjae imagines a hundred different scenes – a ghost, a burglar, a demon, or god forbid, a rat….he even imagine Godzilla but quickly takes that out of the list because the house was too small for it to hide appropriately. And besides he was too skinny to eat. He would make an excellent toothpick tho