Kyuhyun lay on his bed with nothing better to do than stare at the ceiling blankly. He had complained to the nurse of feeling ill and was sent home. It wasn’t a complete lie, he did feel ill, but it was just emotional illness. He needed to cry so badly that no tears would fall, as if his body wasn’t letting him, as if it was forcing him bottle everything up until he goes mental. Kyuhyun sat up slowly until he was sitting on his bed cross legged. He put his head in his hands before running his hands slowly down his face in defeat, sighing heavily. He jumped up from his bed and made his way to the living room where his Mother sat on the floor already drunk.

“Are you kidding?” Kyuhyun gawked. His Mum looked up at him, mouth hanging open slightly. “It’s barely 3:00 and you’re drunk already! Didn’t you have to go to the bank today?” he sighed in exasperation.

“I’ll go tomorrow!” she whined.

“You’ll say the same thing tomorrow!” Kyuhyun pointed out.

“Just leave me be, Kyuhyun,” she slurred.

“You’re in an even worse mood than usual today,” he murmured.

“And you haven’t cleaned the kitchen in what looks like 2 years!” she retaliated.

“It’s only been a week! I’ve just had a lot on my plate for the past week or so!” Kyuhyun almost yelled.

“You?! I’ve had a lot on my plate for the last...2 years or so!” she replied cleverly.

“Well I’m a kid I don’t have a house to help keep standing...oh wait, I do!” he shouted

“You don’t have depression!” his Mother defended.

“Oh don’t I?!” Kyuhyun threw back.

“Just go clean the kitchen,” she said calmly but bluntly, finishing the conversation.

“Fine,” he finished, going exactly there.
____________________________________________________________________

“Can we talk?” Ryeowook asked Zhou Mi.

“Sure, library?” he asked. Ryeowook nodded, taking his hand to drag him to the library like a kid would, even though he knew he would follow anyway.

“What’s up?” Zhou Mi asked as they plopped down on one of the sofas next to each other. Ryeowook looked down sadly, leaning forwards a little. “Hey, what is it?” Zhou Mi soothed, rubbing his back gently as he noticed the younger boy start to cry. “Wookie…” he murmured.

“Kyuhyun broke up with me and he hates me,” the latter sobbed.

“What? Oh my god was it because of me?” Zhou Mi asked, suddenly shocked.

“Well...sort of...but it’s not your fault, maybe Kyuhyun isn’t the boy I fell in love with anymore,” he tried to convince himself, but just made himself cry more.

“I’m sorry…” Zhou Mi trailed off, wrapping his arms around Ryeowook and resting his head on the smaller boy’s shoulder. “Look...after school we’re going out okay? I’m going to take you out and distract you from him.”

“Really?” Ryeowook whimpered. “Thank you, Mimi,” he smiled up at him, earning an even brighter smile from Zhou Mi.

_______________________________________________________________________

“The coffee shop?” Ryeowook asked as they approached the cosy building.

“Yes,” Zhou Mi laughed, “but only for now. We’re going somewhere else after this but we can’t go until a certain time so I figured we could kill some time here before we go,” he beamed.

“Whoa where are we going afterwards?” Wook said excitedly.

“It’s a surprise,” Zhou Mi laughed again. “If you knew, it wouldn’t be as exciting. Come on,” he ushered Ryeowook into the coffee shop.

“Hot chocolate?” he asked as soon as they stepped in the door.

“You’re not paying again!” Ryeowook scolded.

“Oh yes I am,” Zhou Mi took Ryeowook’s shoulders, spun him around and pushed him towards a table. “Hot chocolate it is then!” he called after him. Ryeowook sighed and bounced over to the table, taking a seat and looking out of the window. Being left alone to his thoughts like this suddenly made him melancholy. He still loved Kyuhyun, and he slipped away just like that, out of Ryeowook’s grasp. There was nothing he could do to get him back, not at the moment anyway.

“That was quick,” Ryeowook noted as Zhou Mi put their drinks on the table.

“There was no queue,” Zhou Mi replied. Ryeowook nodded and took a sip. “So my plan is for the next little while, we’re going to sit here and chat about anything apart from Kyuhyun. You need to forget him, Wookie.”

“I know,” Ryeowook looked down. Zhou Mi reached over the table and lifted Ryeowook’s chin back up with one finger.

“And no being sad either, it won’t do you any good to dwell,” he scolded. Ryeowook nodded in understanding, giving Zhou Mi a smile as if to say he was alright.

“Is Donghae mad at me?” Ryeowook asked. Zhou Mi shook his head no. “Really? After that?”

“He understands you were upset. We all have that side of us, right?” Zhou Mi encouraged. Ryeowook frowned slightly.

“Even you?” he inquired.

“Even me,” Zhou Mi confirmed.

“Even kind, smiley, perfect Zhou Mi?” Ryeowook laughed. Zhou Mi laughed also.

“Of course,” he began. “Just because I have a good, easily controllable temper, doesn’t mean there aren’t things out there that make me flip out.”

“Like what?” Ryeowook quizzed, now more intrigued.

“Well,” Zhou Mi started, biting his lip and looking up in thought. “LIke, say if I witness bullying, especially if the victim is a friend of mine, then I get pretty angry at the bully, I always scare them off too. I may be sweet and smiley, but if I look angry, with the combination of being tall, people are pretty scared of me,” he admitted honestly.

“Wow, I wish you were in my classes…” Ryeowook muttered. “No,” he said more clearly, “I just wish you could follow me around everywhere and protect me!” he declared. Zhou Mi laughed in response.

“I wish I could protect you too,” Zhou Mi almost whispered sadly. Ryeowook smiled up at him with his adorable childish smile.

“So what are we doing after this then? Please tell me,” Ryeowook whined.

“No!” Zhou Mi laughed, “it’s a surprise, I told you this Wookie!” he teased.

“But I’m too excited!” Ryeowook whined again, pouting at the taller boy.

“As well as a scary side to me, I also have a strong will and easy resistance to cute things,” he half joked, half said seriously.

“Oh so I’m cute?” Ryeowook questioned.

“Of course you’re cute, you’re adorable, what kind of question was that?” Zhou Mi said seriously this time. “But I have resistance to your kind, some people can’t help but give in to cute people, but I’m used to having to do that.”

“Who have you dealt with that’s so cute then?”

“Well-”

“Were they as cute as me?”

“Wookie shut up,” Zhou Mi joked, placing a finger on the smaller boy’s lips. “No, you are the cutest. There’s been a lot of people, but in my life currently, Donghae can be very cute when he wants something.” Ryeowook paused for a moment.

“But not as cute as me?” he quickly affirmed.

“Not as cute as you,” Zhou Mi laughed. “Although...I do have a friend called Onew, he’s cute and clumsy,” he chuckled. Ryeowook huffed.

“I’m the cute one here!” he joked, as if Zhou Mi had betrayed him.

“Shall we go then?” the latter offered. Ryeowook perked up and looked at Zhou Mi wide eyed.

“Where are we going?” he asked hurriedly, a smile forming on his face.

“You’ll see,” Zhou Mi said as he stood up and extended his hand. Ryeowook took it and followed him out of the coffee shop like a kid would. “It’s only a 15 minute walk.” The two walked side by side, arms swingly gently, hands barely touching occasionally.

“Can I guess where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Okay.” The pair continued the short walk to their destination, Ryeowook bouncing along a little the closer they got. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the building they had arrived at.

“Really?” he beamed.

“I recall a conversation we were having where you mentioned that you had never been ice skating?” Zhou Mi queried.

“Yup!” Ryeowook confirmed, staring up at the building as if it was Christmas. To his surprise, Zhou Mi linked his arm and escorted him into the building, going straight to the front desk and confirming his booking.

“Ah I see why we had to wait until a certain time,” it dawned on Ryeowook.

“Here, this is your size right?” Zhou Mi asked as he handed Ryeowook a pair of skates.

“How did you know?” Wook asked in awe. “Do you recall me telling you in a conversation that I’ve forgotten about?” he teased.

“Lucky guess, I knew it would be a smallish size, so I just took a stab in the dark,” the taller boy smiled with pride. Ryeowook raised an eyebrow and nodded at his achievement. Once the pair both had put on their skates, Ryeowook clung to Zhou Mi’s side.

“You know, I’ve never done this before,” he murmured.

“I know,” Zhou Mi ruffled Ryeowook’s hair. “You’ll be fine, here,” he offered, skating backwards and offering his hands to Ryeowook’s to skate forwards. The pair did laps round the rink, Zhou Mi going backwards while Ryeowook shakily held his hands and went forwards.

“I’m going to let go now,” Zhou Mi said bluntly.

“What?!” Ryeowook looked up.

“You’ll be fine, if I thought you’d just fall straight down I wouldn’t let you go would I? Do you trust me?” Zhou Mi smiled genuinely. Ryeowook nodded as Zhou Mi’s hands slowly slipped out of his own.

“Look I’m doing it Mimi!” he beamed as he steadily skated on his own.

“You are!” Zhou Mi praised. “Keep going!”

“Mimi,” Ryeowook warned as he became more shaky on the ice. “I’m going to fall,” he panicked.

“If you do, then I’ll catch you, I promise,” Zhou Mi smiled encouragingly. Ryeowook began to resemble Bambi on ice as he found himself slipping.

“Mi!” he squealed, falling right into Zhou Mi’s warm embrace.

“See,” he pointed out. “You couldn’t have sounded more like a girl just then,” he began to laugh. The pair continued skating for the rest of their time slot, Ryeowook becoming better and less shaky.

“It’s time to go guys!” a member of staff called out to the current skaters of this session.

“But I was just getting good,” Ryeowook whined to Zhou Mi, who just chuckled at him in response.

“Come on I’ll walk you home,” he offered.

“Okay,” Ryeowook gushed as Zhou Mi took him by the arm, helping him get off the ice. They sat down and removed their skates.

“Ready?” Zhou Mi asked kindly. Ryeowook nodded and the pair strolled out slowly, dropping their skates off at the desk as they left, receiving a goodbye from the lady at the counter.

“Do you live far?” Zhou Mi questioned.

“No not from here,” Ryeowook smiled. They walked in comfortable silence for a long while, Zhou Mi wanting nothing but to hold Ryeowook’s hand as they walked. He looked down at the smaller boys hand as it swung lightly at his side, just wanting to hold it so badly. He wondered if he should take a chance, they were just friends right? He slowly entwined his fingers with Ryeowook’s.

“Wha-?”

“It doesn’t mean anything, my hand is just cold,” Zhou Mi lied.

“Okay,” Ryeowook murmured, entwining his fingers with Zhou Mi’s. The pair walked the rest of the journey to Ryeowook’s house holding hands, only the occasional small talk about school or even the weather.

“It’s this one,” Ryeowook pointed out to an average sized semi-detached house.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow in school yeah?” Zhou Mi smiled.

“Yeah see you,” Ryeowook replied, returning the smile and turning around to head inside.

“Hey Wookie,” Zhou Mi said, pulling the smaller boy back by his wrist a little.

“Yeah?” Wook questioned, his tone bubbly. Zhou Mi stared at him for a second, daring himself to lean in that little bit more, and kiss him. Thoughts flew around in his head, he questioned himself over and over in the space of a mere 5 seconds.

“No nevermind.” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t play with Ryeowook’s feelings anymore than he already had. The boy had only just come out of what was a strong relationship before he got involved. If Ryeowook wants him, he’ll let him come on his own.