The sky was already dark by the time Math Team ended and all of the forms for their upcoming competition completed. It was so tedious leading…anything, really. Not to mention it was freezing and windy at night. Who would want to walk around in that sort of weather?

There was only one reason he bothered becoming the Math Team captain or whatever and that reason was because he had nothing else to do. Aside from singing – an activity he preferred to keep private – it was the only thing that managed to keep him interested, sort of.

Kyuhyun unlocked the door to his room, sighing as the weight of the day started seeping into his bones. All he wanted to do was lay down and sleep.

“You’re back already?” Ryeowook squeaked, sounding incredibly nervous.

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun answered, only then seeing the mess that was their room. He staggered backwards, shouldering the door shut and whisper-yelling, “What is all of this?”

The floor, beds, and desks were adorned with possibly hundreds of red roses. Boxes of them appeared at random, overflowing with the scarlet flowers. Kyuhyun felt a crunch beneath one shoe and immediately backed up, sighing as he saw one of the roses limp and broken, deep green stem snapped.

He peered up, seeing Ryeowook half-drowning in a fluffy sea of red. Kyuhyun kicked the flowers aside, creating a path for himself. Every swing of his foot made Ryeowook flinch, the fear that the flowers were getting hurt dominating his mind.

“How else do you expect me to get through?” Kyuhyun demanded, glaring shortly at the buried boy.

Ryeowook shrugged sheepishly and starting carefully plucking roses to set them back in the box before him. He had been hoping Kyuhyun wouldn’t show up any time soon – not before Dongwoon and Sungmin came by to help handle the shipment of roses.

Suddenly, all of the red blooms were fluttering off the bed, replaced by Kyuhyun. The ones scattered around Ryeowook’s lap and headboard remained but otherwise that mattress became the only source of sitting space in the room. Kyuhyun settled on Ryeowook with a questioning glower.

“The shipment of roses for the Valentine’s Day event came and they accidentally delivered it to the dorm so I took them all up here so they wouldn’t block the entryway but then the scent of roses was too strong so I opened the window—”

“—and the wind blew them around,” Kyuhyun finished, nodded warily. “Why did you open all of the boxes?”

“Well Sungmin and Dongwoon were going to come over and we were planning on finishing all of the preparations by tonight. I figured it would save time by just opening all of the boxes,” Ryeowook explained, twiddling his thumbs like a child.

Kyuhyun looked around at the mess again. “What do you need to do?”

“Cut off the thorns and tie these ribbons to the stems,” Ryeowook stated quickly, holding up a pair of clippers and some maroon satin ribbon.

Silently, Kyuhyun picked up the box beside his roommate and emptied its contents on the floor. He then picked up a rose, taking the clippers from Ryeowook. “Start working,” Kyuhyun ordered, “I can’t sleep with all of these things everywhere.” Without another word, he started snipping off the thorns, tossing it into the emptied box.

Ryeowook followed suit, heart beating just a bit faster – in a good way. They worked quietly for a long time, cranking out decorated rose after decorated rose. The completed ones were placed in another emptied box. There was something oddly…okay about it all. Shouldn’t they have been more awkward? Ryeowook sneaked a look at Kyuhyun. The latter was working diligently, expertly snipping off thorns and tying bows like he did it for a living.

A small smile made its way onto Ryeowook’s face. It was one of the many things that made him admire Kyuhyun so much. The boy was so capable of whatever was thrown his way. If Ryeowook tried, he still had a hard time thinking of something Kyuhyun did poorly.

Academics? Wonderful.

Singing? Beautiful.

Games? Unbeatable.

A sharp pain shot through Ryeowook’s finger and he gasped, clenching his hand tightly against the pounding in his fingertip. The clipper and rose tumbled onto the blanket.

Kyuhyun turned around, brow furrowed at the weird noise Ryeowook had made. His eyes landed on the blood sliding between the boy’s curled fingers. “Open your hand,” he stated, setting the tools down and taking Ryeowook’s bleeding cut.

The fingers unwound, showing an uneven coating of red with the darkest part being right on the tip of his index finger. Kyuhyun made a disapproving sound and stood up to get the first aid kit from the closet.

He popped open the lid, rummaging around for wipes, disinfectant and a band-aid. Ryeowook simply watched him, allowing the question to bubble up inside of him.

“Why weren’t you paying more attention?” Kyuhyun asked, sitting back down and gently cleaning up the drying blood. The wet wipe soaked up the liquid, turning it maroon.

“Why do you do it?”

Kyuhyun dabbed at the wound, murmuring a, “hmm?”

“Why do you take care of me…?” Ryeowook felt the cold material stop moving and then a pair of dark eyes meeting his own. “…I know you don’t like to take care of me…so why do you do it?” His voice had dropped to barely above a whisper, free hand closing into a loose fist.

There was a second’s pause but then the dabbing was back and Kyuhyun’s voice was ringing through the room, “I don’t mind taking care of you…,” his words were slow, deliberate – as if he were trying to leave no room for misunderstanding, “You’re supposed to be the one that knows me best but there are so many things you don’t know. The same goes for me though. I’m supposed to know everything about you, but how many secrets have you kept from me?”

Ryeowook’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly, not expecting that answer.

The disinfectant stung his cut but at that moment it meant nothing. Kyuhyun unwrapped the band-aid, saying, “What I mean is I’m done. I’m done soul-searching.” He secured the bandage, meeting Ryeowook’s eyes again. “So…where do you want to go from here?”

Three sharp raps at the door snapped them both to attention. Ryeowook stood up, beating Kyuhyun to answering the visitors. “Hello?” he greeted breathlessly as the threshold opened.

Sungmin, Dongwoon and Mir stood on the other side. A small part of Ryeowook was relieved that they were finally there. But…he glanced back to see Kyuhyun working again. Stepping aside, Ryeowook allowed the trio into the room.

“Whoa, what did you do Wookie?” Sungmin laughed, tip toeing through the battlefield of roses.

“Let’s not talk about it,” Ryeowook replied meekly, hurrying back to his original seat and continuing to work. He peeked up at Kyuhyun but the boy was straight-faced. Sighing under his breath, Ryeowook turned to Sungmin and the others, explaining what they were to do for the flowers.

Dongwoon cleared Kyuhyun’s bed, grabbing a set of clippers. Mir looked around for another set of them but when he found none, Dongwoon chuckled and pulled him down next to him. “Tie the ribbons around the ones I cut,” he stated, handing Mir a clean stemmed red rose.

As Ryeowook watched his friend take the bloom, he couldn’t help but wonder why the whole scene looked so…romantic.

“How’re you doing, Hound?” Sungmin smirked at Kyuhyun, the evil glint in his eyes.

The romantic atmosphere was officially shattered.

Kyuhyun returned the dark grin. “Not bad, Stupid Bunny. You’re looking nice and lonely over there.”

The banter went on and on. Ryeowook swallowed a bit tiredly at the harsh taunts. At least their snarky remarks were lightening the mood – even if by the tiniest smidge.