Sick and tired of trying to study with Donghae and his constant chatter in their shared room, Kyuhyun decided that he'd try to study out in the common room for once, pages of business study notes laid out on the table as he tried to focus. For the first time in weeks the large room was completely empty, most of the dorms inhabitants caught between the library and the onslaught of finals.

Kyuhyun himself was absolutely exhausted, exam period doing nothing but making him lose sleep and wish he'd stuck to his guns and picked more casual electives instead of going along with his fathers business-focused demands.

He heard the front door open, icy wind rushing through the room before it quickly slammed shut, Kyuhyun feeling an involuntary shiver rush through him as he looked up to greet the person, anything to avoid the rows of numbers and diagrams that were swimming around inside his brain.

Recognising the small figure – who was wrapped in a ridiculously puffy jacket and deep purple scarf that covered his face up to his eyes – Kyuhyun smiled, familiar warmth settling in the pit of his stomach.

“Cold?” Kyuhyun asked teasingly, smiling as the eyes crinkled in an unimpressed glare.

“Its freezing outside! You wouldn't know because you've been sat on your here all day.” Ryeowook replied, muffled voice growing in volume as he unwound the scarf from his neck, moving to dump both it and his jacket on the back of the couch before he flopped down beside the taller.

Kyuhyun froze as the other boy continued to fall, eventually landing so that his head was resting gently on Kyuhyun's thighs with a heavy sigh. Realising that Ryeowook wasn't planning on getting up from his position Kyuhyun exhaled shakily, trying his best to fight the blush he felt rise to his cheeks.

“Long day?” he mumbled, cursing the lack of strength suddenly in his voice.

“Like you wouldn't believe.” the smaller groaned. “Not only was there a massive line at the cafe so I couldn't get a tea, but considering the nonsense Heechul puts us through in theatre you wouldn't believe the theory test to be three miles long – my hand feels like it's about to fall off.” Ryeowook whined, holding his hand up pitifully in front of Kyuhyun's face.

“Yuup... looks like you're going to have to lose it.” Kyuhyun joked, smiling down as Ryeowook hit his thigh in retaliation.

As Ryeowook continued to ramble about his exam Kyuhyun's focus slowly drifted, lifting his hand subconsciously from the couch to run through the others hair. He felt Ryeowook relax, the smaller boy visibly melting into the couch as his fingers carded gently through the strands, his attention solely on Ryeowook.

From the curve of his lips to the bright twinkle in his eyes Kyuhyun was captivated, heart completely captured by the boy who was resting on him. As the melodic rhythmn of Ryeowook's voice echoed in his head Kyuhyun could feel the emotions bubbling up inside of him, overwhelming his very being until it finally spilled over.

“I think I'm in love with you.”

In an instant Ryeowook was silent, scrambling to right himself on the couch as he stared wide-eyed at the mortified boy beside him, hand covering his mouth in shock.

“I-I...no, I mean...I-I...uhh....” Kyuhyun mumbled, cheeks flaming red as he tried to fill in the silence, desperate to think of some sort of excuse to backtrack and fix the tension in the air. Coming up with nothing Kyuhyun groaned, head falling into his hands as he willed himself not to cry, cursing softly.

Stupid – he was completely stupid to let himself be so careless to admit his feelings so suddenly like this. He'd held on for them for so long and now he'd messed up their friendship in a second by letting his guard down for once.

“...you too.”

“What?” Kyuhyun breathed, heart stopping as he looked up at the other.

There was no way he'd heard what he thought he'd just heard.

“I said, I like you too.” Ryeowook whispered, cheeks light pink in embarrassment as he looked at the taller boy. Kyuhyun felt his jaw slacken, mouth sliding open at the confession.

“Holy .”

Ryeowook rolled his eyes, leaning forward to press a quick peck to Kyuhyuns cheek.

“I may have liked you for while...I figured it out when you sang to me out in the rain, but I'm pretty sure I've had a crush on you since we played that frisbee thing, I just didn't realise it.” Ryeowook added, Kyuhyun snorting at the idea.

“Of all the times we've spent together you liked me because you got hit in the face...”

“Shut up! You brought me a brownie and an ice pack it was sweet!” Ryeowook grumbled, shoving Kyuhyun lightly as the taller shyly pulled him into his lap for a warm hug. Looking down at Kyuhyun he frowned, confused by the mischievous glint in his eyes. “What have you got planned now...”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “Does this mean now we can make out again and terrorise Donghae all the time?”

He got a light slap to his chest for his question, followed by Ryeowook's arms wrapped tightly around his neck, lips pressed gently against his.

---

“You guys are so cute it makes me a little sick.” Sungmin drawled the next afternoon, watching from across the table as Kyuhyun and Ryeowook shared the plate of fries between them.

“You haven't seen them all these months at the dorms.” Donghae laughed. “Last week they were arguing about who knew more about their stupid cartoon show.”

“They were yelling so loudly through the halls I got genuine noise complaints about it.” Yesung added.

“Hey!” Kyuhyun exclaimed. “Steel Samurai is serious business!”

Donghae just rolled his eyes, throwing one of his own chips at Kyuhyun. “You're such a loser, how you managed to convince someone like Ryeowook to like you is a miracle.”

Sungmin let out a loud laugh, Kyuhyun frowning at him across the table.

“I am offended, I'm an amazing person to have a crush on, right Wook?” Kyuhyun retorted, frowning when he looked over to see Ryeowook holding in his own giggles.

"Kyuhyun, you tried to bake him cookies and ended up not only getting caught in the act but he had to help you make them edible." 

"Secrets Donghae!!!" Kyuhyun hissed, cheeks flaming as he glared hatefully at his smug roommate.

"Thats why you were trying to bake at 3am!?" Ryeowook choked, looking between the two boys. Kyuhyun gave him an sheepish smile, shrugging awkwardly as Donghae snickered.

"He thought you'd like him more if he, and I quote, 'baked something from the heart' instead of buying them from a store." 

“I can't believe you're betraying me like this...” Kyuhyun finally whined, pouting grumpily as Donghae rolled his eyes, rest of the table breaking into loud laughter.

“C'mon idiot, I need to go grab my notes before the comp exam tonight.” Ryeowook eventually said between giggles, moving to get up from the table.

“Yessir!”

Ignoring the [rather loud] comments from the older trio of him already being whipped Kyuhyun followed happily after the smaller boy. Exiting out onto the quad Kyuhyun tentatively took Ryeowooks hand in his, smiling happily as they walked in comfortable silence.

“You know what?” Kyuhyun asked, Ryeowook turning to look up at him curiously.

“What?”

“I'm really glad we were both dumb enough to mess up out first lecture, who knows what would have happened otherwise.”

Ryeowook smiled, squeezing Kyuhyun's hand tightly. “Same.”

---
:^) we're heading into the final couple of chapters now