Kyuhyun 

It was dark. It was so dark. Kyuhyun backed up into the wall and squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he slid to the hard tiles below him. His body began to shake and he wrapped his arms around his knees to try and prevent his body from shattering at the invisible pressure bearing down on him. In a matter of seconds he was a ten year old boy trying to get his parent’s attention from the back seat of the car again.

He could hear his mother’s panicked yell from the passenger seat and watched as his father turned back to look at him one last time before the car crashed head on into the oncoming semi-truck that veered across the highway. The look in his eyes could only be described as complete horror. There was a loud crash and a bright explosion of light before darkness surrounded him. He could barely hear the sounds of sirens and concerned passersby over the sound of his thumping heart. His legs went numb and he couldn’t shake off the continued screams. The screaming was so loud; loud and blood-curling. It was slightly familiar, but he couldn’t identify its owner in his frazzled state.

Make it stop MAKE IT STOP! Kyuhyun screamed internally. Not again, he thought as his body turned numb and his mind started to unravel. Not again, not again. He tried to keep his focus on the smooth fabric beneath his fingers and the cold tile underneath him. He told himself he wasn’t crushed in the back of the car waiting for someone who might never come. He was in a bathroom at a karaoke bar, but the harder he tried to focus, the clearer his father’s stare became. Suddenly someone said his name and his father’s eyes dimmed.

“Kyu?” It sounded like a question, but Kyuhyun couldn’t make himself respond.

“Kyu?” the voice kept ringing out but it was too dark and Kyuhyun couldn’t think.

“Kyu? Kyu please.” He tried to speak to the mysterious presence but he could only let out a strangled squeak.

He continued to shake back and forth as the images of the crash flew through his mind again and he lost the feeling in his extremities. It was so dark. Even with his eyes wide open he couldn’t see a thing. He could feel the crushing metal surrounding him when something soft and warm touched his knee. He flinched at the foreign contact, but the warmth spread as someone had grabbed his hand. He thought it odd since he was in the back seat by himself. No, he was in a bathroom. He tried as hard as he could to recognize the voice beside him over the terrified screams.

“Kyu, are you alright? It’s Siwon, please talk to me.”

Siwon? He questioned to himself as he felt him muscles involuntarily relax at the thought of the older boy's name and his beautiful face. Siwon was here to pull him from the wreckage of the crushed car and he almost felt calm at the thought. If only someone could make the screaming stop.

“You’re okay Kyuhyun, I’m here. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.” He felt a sudden calm as the older gently rubbed the back of his hand.

The screaming began to fade and only the darkness remained. He started to cry as the realization that he was safe and not in the back of the small car came to him, and then the hand in his began to let go. With that he was thrown back into panic as his stomach pulled into a knot with the thought of being trapped again. He squeezed as tight as he could without thinking about anything but keeping Siwon by his side. His parents had left him that night and he couldn’t bear the thought of being deserted by Siwon as well.

“I’m here Kyu, I promise. I’m here.” The boy whispered in his ear.

Kyuhyun let out a sob of relief and leaned into Siwon to make sure he was really there. As he wrapped his arm around the older boy’s shoulder he felt an arm envelop his body while the other still held his hand. He’s really here, he assured himself as he sobbed into the boy’s shoulder. When he got enough of his thoughts back, though he was still out-of-it enough to continue lying draped shamelessly around Siwon, he remembered to finally reply with the correct response.

“Kyu…hyun” he let out scooting closer into Siwon’s warmth.

The older boy’s chest moved warmly as he let out a soft and kind laugh. “Kyuhyun.” He responded back quietly.

Kyuhyun almost smiled at that. He focused all of his strength into calming his breathing and trying to stop the sobbing. He focused on Siwon’s body tight to his and he breathed in slowly and exhaled all of his fear.

He stayed mostly unconscious for the following few hours. At one point, he presumed he was dreaming when he heard Ara and Jessica, as well as the older boy start to talk. He opened his eyes, not fully awake or aware, and realized he was floating in Siwon’s strong arms. He was being carried, bridal style within the grasp of an honest-to-god prince. He snapped his eyelids back down and forced himself to keep dreaming, but when he finally woke up, Siwon was gone and there was a sharp pain behind his eyes. He turned to his desk and noticed the time lit up by the familiar night-light. 4:30.

He sighed and sat upright in his bed and instantly regretted it. His stomach jumped and he felt the nausea rise up through his throat. He clasped his hand to his mouth and ran towards the bathroom tripping over his feet on the way. When he finally made it to the bathroom he expelled the day’s worth of food while clutching at his stomach.

“Oh, God” he moaned after his stomach was empty and the clenching feeling had left.

He leaned against the cold porcelain and tried to savor the dream he’d had the night earlier before he forgot it completely. He was safe and secure in Siwon’s tender grasp. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes trying to remember anything else he could, but the only thing he remembered was Siwon’s arms; his strong, loving arms. He retraced the steps of his dream and suddenly recalled being frozen on the bathroom floor of the bar.

“Oh no… no no no no no.” He jumped off the floor and steadied himself for a moment to make sure the nausea had subsided.

After quickly rinsing out his mouth he ran out into the living room in a state of panic.

“It wasn’t a dream” he thought out loud looking for Ara in the darkened room. “Siwon really was there… and he found me and… Oh my God.”

Everything about their night at the bar hit him like a freight train. He had been in the bathroom, slumped on the floor when his hero came and found him. He looked around with more purpose at the thought of Siwon. He had to fill in the blanks with Ara’s knowledge of the prior night.

“Oh, right… It’s 4:30 in the morning.” He groaned

He breathed in as deeply as he could manage and realized that at that point, life probably couldn’t get any more embarrassing. Maybe if he spent the rest of his days avoiding his tall, gorgeous, beautifully blind prince, he could live with himself. Not that Siwon would probably ever want to see him again after the state he had found Kyuhyun in.

When he was calm enough to think straight, he walked into his sister’s room and over to her bedside. He looked at her serene face and smiled. The day their parents had died in the car crash, she was at her weekly piano lesson. His smile turned when he remembered that she no longer played because of it.

He had been trapped in the back of their family car, crumpled between sheets of metal for over an hour before the police finally pulled him free. He couldn’t remember much more than the blinding pain he felt in his legs and his head, but he remembered that every time he woke up in the hospital screaming, Ara was there to explain the bandages around his eyes and she held his hand until he drifted back to sleep. The doctors warned her that Kyuhyun might never be able to see again, but she refused to accept it and assured her baby brother that he would be fine in no time.

Miraculously his eyesight had almost fully recovered a few weeks after he was discharged from the hospital. He was left with a blind spot, but he could see. Kyuhyun secretly believed that it was due to her unwavering faith that it ended up the way it did. At least one of us had faith, he thought as his heart began to swell. He leaned down to plant a soft kiss on his big sister’s forehead. Her eyes opened in surprise, but her gaze softened and she grabbed Kyuhyun’s hand like she had in the hospital, rubbing his palm in comforting circles.

“I didn’t mean to wake you” he whispered with an apologetic smile on his face.

“Oh Kyu, I’m so happy you’re okay.” She pulled him onto the bed next to her and wrapped her arms tightly around his back.

“Can’t… breathe” he laughed hugging her back

When he pulled out of her arms he noticed her crying and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Ara, what’s wrong?” He exclaimed worriedly.

“Kyu,” she muttered as if his question was completely absurd. “I was so worried about you. The last time there was a blackout, you… you…” She couldn’t finish her sentence as she started to cry harder.

Kyuhyun quickly pulled her back into a hug and rocked her back and forth. He remembered all too well what had happened during the last blackout. He was doing homework in Jessica’s bedroom while she and his sister were talking about boys when the lights went out. He’d gone into a fit of panic and fainted after screaming with all his might while Ara and Jessica tried to calm him. A week later he was released from the hospital with strict instructions for Ara to keep an eye on him until he was back to his normal self.

“Hey,” he smiled to her pulling away again. “I’m fine, see?” He grinned as wide as he could to assure her that he was alright and she chuckled as she wiped her eyes.

He gave her forehead another quick peck and forced her back into bed. He tucked the sheets tightly around her and laughed when she joking squirmed at the constricting bedding. He walked to the other side of the bed and lay down next to her. He rolled onto his side facing her back and bit his lip.

“Ara?” he questioned a bit nervous of what his sister would say  

She turned to face him and smiled “Hmm?”

“Did Siwon… I mean, was he, after he…” He sighed and automatically changed his mind as his sister just continued to smile at him.

He got up and started to leave before his sister could but she stopped him anyways.

“He wants you to call him tomorrow Kyu” she said happily before he could leave the room.

“What?” he blurted out, a bit too excitedly he realized, as his sister stared to giggle.

She turned to her bedside table and grabbed a small sheet of paper folded next to her lamp. She turned and handed it to her shocked brother. He stared at the number in his hands and practically started giggling himself, but as it often happened, Kyuhyun went back to being worried within seconds.

“Wait, what did he say? Why does he want me to call? What did YOU say?”

Ara was laughing fully now and she motioned him back over to the bed. He sat down and took her hand again.

“We just talked for a while about things. He was worried about you and he told me to give you his number. He made me promise to get you to call when you were feeling better. I practically had to drag him out of the house so he would go home and sleep… Though you didn’t hear that from me. I think he likes you Kyu.” She prodded him knowingly with her last few words.

When she finished explaining she quickly covered to stop another burst of laughter from coming out. The look on Kyuhyun’s face was priceless. His eyes were wider than what seemed humanly possible and he was obviously in disbelief. Either that or he had become completely catatonic.

When he didn’t respond she pushed him down on to the bed and covered him with a blanket before crawling back under the covers.

“He wants me to call? What if I say the wrong thing? God, Ara he must think I’m such a freak. He can’t like me, and I can’t possibly talk to him after last night. Wait… what sort of things did you talk about? Did you talk about me? His voice was getting higher and higher and Ara just squeezed his hand and looked into his eyes.

“Sleep” she said.

“SLEEP,” she repeated loudly as he opened his mouth to protest.

He grunted with annoyance, but he closed his eyes. Ara always got what she wanted; Always. He’d never felt more awake in his life, and Kyuhyun suddenly realized that it was going to be a long, long night.