He was tired and he knew it. “Radio Star”, “Mozart”, Japanese tours, Super Camp, SMTown, honestly it was all too much. He needed rest; his voice was becoming hoarser and everyday it felt harder for him to sing. To be completely honest, he had also started hating hotel rooms; they felt too big for only him, making him lonely every time he lied on the bed exhausted. But, his loneliness was about to end soon, since for the first time in months he was going to be able to go to his shared apartment with Ryeowook, whom he missed a lot.

The “Radio Star” recording and the “Mozart” rehearsals for the day had already ended and he was in front of Ryeowook’s apartment, the keys already in hand. It already smelled like home and it felt great. He opened the door and entered the room silently, wanting to surprise the petite man that was most probably sleeping at that time. But, when he entered the bedroom, he only encountered a huge pile of giraffe plushies covering almost the whole room and his side of the bed. Ryeowook was sleeping soundly in between the various-sized plushies, not having realized that another person was in the room.

He wanted to run over to him, to hug him and kiss him, but all those goddamn plushies were hindering him from doing that. He truly loves Ryeowook. There is no doubt about it, but he hates this freaking giraffe obsession of his. It was unhealthy; there was no other way to describe it.

That’s when he started kicking manically with his feet the giraffe plushies laying around him, while throwing the ones surrounding Ryeowook’s figure outside the room’s door, causing Ryeowook to eventually wake up.

“Kyu you are back!” Ryeowook mumbled sleepily not noticing the anger in Kyuhyun’s eyes.

“WHY DO YOU KEEP ALL THESE PLUSHIES?” Kyuhyun almost screamed not caring that Ryeowook had just woken up. He was far too mad to think reasonably.

“What’s wrong with them?” Ryeowook asked innocently.

“THEY ARE TOO MANY. I CAN’T EVEN MOVE AROUND THE ROOM WITHOUT STEPPING ON AT LEAST HALF OF THEM!”

“It’s not like you’ve been home for the past two months.” Anger started consuming Ryeowook as well.

“IT’S NOT LIKE I HAD ANOTHER CHOICE!”

“BUT YOU ALSO HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE MAD AT MY GIRAFFE PLUSHIES!” Ryeowook screamed back.

“OH, SO SINCE I COULDN’T BE HOME, YOU DECIDED TO REPLACE ME WITH THOSE STUPID GIRAFFES!”

“Are you even listening to yourself? ME TRYING TO REPLACE YOU WITH GIRAFFE PLUSHIES? ARE YOU INSANE?”

“YOU ARE THE INSANE ONE FOR HAVING ALL OF THEM!” Kyuhyun kept screaming, ignoring the fact that his throat was already starting to hurt.

“You know what Kyuhyun? I was waiting for you to come back home. I’ve missed your voice, your smell, your arms wrapped around me. But this is not what I wanted.” He deadpanned.

“AND YOU THINK I WANTED TO COME BACK HOME, FINDING OUT THAT I WAS REPLACED MERELY BY YOUR GIRAFFE OBSESSION?” His voice had started becoming hoarser.

“YOU ARE INSANE. I GET THAT YOU ARE TIRED, BUT THIS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND!”

“So I am the one getting of hand? YOUR GIRAFFE OBSESSION IS THE ONLY THING GETTING OUT OF HAND!”

“Please, Kyu. Just stop this non-sense and come to bed to hold me tightly in your arms.” Ryeowook pleaded.

“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE, RYEOWOOK. YOU’VE CROSSED THE LINE.” Kyuhyun’s voice was barely coming out of his mouth, sounding more like a hoarse whisper.

“What are you saying Kyu? Please come to bed and stop screaming!” Ryeowook was sounding almost desperate.

“YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME TO STOP SHOUTING!” Kyuhyun started feeling intense pain coming from his vocal cords, but he ignored it.

Ryeowook stood up from the bed and tried to hug Kyuhyun, who was obviously trying to remove Ryeowook’s slim hands from around his neck.

“LET GO, RYEOWOOK. JUST-” And then his voice let out a weird shriek and suddenly he couldn’t even speak a single word.

Ryeowook’s eyes widened in shock.

“Kyu, talk to me. Please, talk to me.”

“I can’t. It hurts so much.” Kyuhyun mouthed and ignoring all the maddening anger he felt for his petite lover he wrapped his arms around his slender waist and started crying.

Ryeowook let his finger travel through Kyuhyun’s freshly dyed crimson locks, caressing them lovingly and soothingly. He wanted to take all the pain and stress the younger man felt, but the never-stopping tears, caused him to tear up well.

“Please, my baby, don’t cry. We are going to visit a doctor and everything will be fine. I will also throw away all my giraffes. I will do anything that will make you happy. Just please, don’t cry, you are killing me.”

Kyuhyun broke a little away from the embrace, so that he can face his lover and whisper to him.

“I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much for me to handle anymore.”

“What are you talking about, Kyu?” Ryeowook’s voice was full of despair; his eyes already tearing up.

“Wearing fake smiles so that everyone thinks I’m fine. Pretending to be okay, when the only thing I felt for the past few months was loneliness.” He mouthed again, the tears flowing from his eyes, staining his cheeks.

Ryeowook caressed his cheeks lovingly and pressed his lips against Kyuhyun’s now damp ones, kissing his softly. Kyuhyun kissed him back almost out of desperation. He wanted to cling to that moment so that he could remember that he was not alone; that someone will always be there to hold him tightly and never leave him. The kiss was excruciatingly slow; nothing more than lips moving against lips, tasting the saltiness of the tears and despair.

Ryeowook broke away from the kiss to catch his breath and he smiled softly, while tears were now decorating his eyes as well.

“Kyu, let’s get to bed and first thing tomorrow we are going to the doctor. I’m going to contact our manager as well to inform him about your condition.”

Kyuhyun stayed still and locked his eyes with Ryeowook; tears kept flowing from his eyes and he was uncontrollably sobbing through shallow breaths.

“Let’s go to bed, Kyu. And please stop crying.” Ryeowook pleaded, while standing up and moving towards the bed covered with dark blue sheets. He sat on its edge and patted the place next to him for Kyuhyun to come there and sit next to him.

Kyuhyun stood up slowly and sat next to Ryeowook. His hands reached the smaller male’s uniquely prominent cheekbones and with his fingertips, he tried to brush the tears away.

“You tell me to stop crying when you are crying yourself, pabo.” Kyuhyun said in a hoarse whisper, his vocal cords hurting him immensely.

Ryeowook noticed the pain in Kyuhyun’s voice and shushed him with a gentle peck on the lips.

“Don’t speak anymore, you are hurting yourself. Just wrap me around your arms and go to sleep. It’s late anyways.”

Kyuhyun obliged by wrapping his arms around the beautiful, petite frame and making them subsequently fall against the sheets with their bodies entangled. Ryeowook snuggled in the warm embrace he had missed this whole time and smiled.

“I’m sorry about what I said about your giraffes. I know your attachment to them. I said everything I said, bec-” Kyuhyun’s whispers were cut off by Ryeowook’s lips again.

“Didn’t I tell you not to speak? But now, that you mentioned my giraffes… they were a little bit hurt by you words, especially Gilsoonie, but they got over it. So, no worries, they won’t hold any grudges against you.”

Kyuhyun chuckled and kissed Ryeowook’s forehead.

“Kyu, we are going to the doctor tomorrow, okay?”

Kyuhyun nodded and mouthed, “Can we take Gilsoonie with us?”

Ryeowook laughed and nodded.

“Yes, we can.”

…

the end;;

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