Kyuhyun 

Three things happened almost simultaneously when he had made his way over to where Changmin was standing near the front door.

1.       Kyuhyun closed his eyes, lifted back his fist, and took aim, ready to swing; Damn the consequences.

2.       Siwon put himself between him and Changmin.

3.       Kyuhyun swung.

He was a little surprised at how badly it hurt when his fist made contact with bone. He let out a small cry of pain and shook his hand while opening his eyes to increase his chances of dodging whatever Changmin was surely going to throw back at him. He realized while opening them that this probably wasn’t the best time to go getting into his first fight… Little late for that.

What he hadn’t expected was to see a wide-eyed Changmin, who was otherwise perfectly fine, looking down at a Siwon who was clutching his nose as thick, red liquid dripped on to his gorgeous silk shirt. Kyuhun froze for a second, eyes wider than Changmin’s, and looked back at said boy just in time to see him smirk and practically fling himself out the front door. He realized briefly that he should probably be angry, but in his state of shock, that emotion completely passed him by.

Ara on the other hand was fuming. She placed a gentle hand on Siwon’s shoulder and asked if he was alright. When Siwon nodded that he was, she ran out the front door and proceeded to scream all manner of obscenities at Changmin on behalf of Jessica, who was silently gaping at the scene from the corner of the room.

Hearing his sister say things he had never heard come from , let alone anyone else’s, Kyuhyun was immediately shaken from his state of shock.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!” He screamed looking from his throbbing knuckles back down to Siwon’s bloodied face.

His perfect face and I ruined it. I ruined his perfect face, he thought as his breath quickened into a state of hyperventilation. He dropped to his knees and reached out to Siwon. Not quite sure what he was going to touch he dropped his hand back to his side.

“Siwon, are you okay?” He said still trying to grasp the situation; followed closely by another fumbled round of ‘ohmygod’s’ and a choked out ‘what have I done?’

“Kyu.”

“Siwon, god Siwon, please be okay, are you okay? Oh god you must hate me… I just punched you. I just PUNCHED YOU.”

“Kyu.”

“I’m going to hell. I can’t believe I just punched you. YOU STUPID MORON! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO STAND IN THE WAY!?”

“KYUHYUN!” Siwon tried again, this time actually grabbing the younger boy’s attention.

At this point Kyuhyun was more than a little hysterical and the anger he forgot to feel earlier was suddenly piled on all at once; though it was mostly towards himself. Tears of fear and frustration trickled down his face and it took him quite a while to realize that Siwon was actually laughing. The happy sound was muffled behind his bloodied hands.

Kyuhyun cocked his head and stared. Siwon held out the hand he wasn’t using to hold his dripping nose to Kyuhyun and said something that sounded like ‘elb be ub tubid.’

Confused, Kyuhyun took Siwon’s hand and just stared at him as he tried to subtly sniff back his traitorous tears.

“I sed, elb be ub tubid. Oh neber bide.”

Laughter erupted behind the older boy’s bloody hand again and he shook his head. His soft smile turned in to a grimace from the back and forth motion, and Kyuhyun practically broke the older boy’s fingers as his hold on them tightened. Siwon rubbed Kyuhyun’s knuckles softly to get him to relax and then he got up off the floor, dragging Kyuhyun with him.

Kyuhyun just stared bleary-eyed at Siwon’s sweet face, still smiling as blood ran over his soft pink lips. How can anyone be so amazing? Kyuhyun wondered, drying the remainder of his tears off on his free sleeve. I don’t deserve you. Friend… more… I don’t deserve you.

“Let’s get him to the car Kyuhyun. He needs to be looked at” Ara said as she softly grabbed her brother’s arm and gave him a little shake to grab his attention.

He looked over at her and she tried to give him a comforting smile.

“Right” he said smiling feebly back.

He followed Ara out the door but stopped when he remembered the keys were inside. He let go of Siwon and told him to let Ara take him downstairs while he grabbed the keys. Siwon smiled wider and gently nodded while saying something else Kyuhyun couldn’t understand before the younger boy ran back inside. He picked the keys up off the kitchen counter and turned around just as Jessica flung her arms around him in a crushing hug.

“Oh Kyu,” she said hugging him with a ferocity that scared Kyuhyun a little bit, not to mention cut off his air supply, “thank you so much! You are the sweetest most wonderful thing in the whole world. Next time I give you a hard time at work, just remind me that you’re my savior.”

“Yeah okay, get off me” he squeaked as a warm blush flooded his cheeks. “Can’t breathe.”

“Sorry” she said taking a step back.

Awkwaaaard, Kyuhyun thought as he looked longingly at the door and tried to decide whether or not to make a mad dash for the exit.

She smiled softly in a knowing way and said, almost too quietly for him to hear, “If you ask me, he made the right choice. I would’ve picked you too.”

That caught his attention and he turned to look at her, more confused than he had been the whole night, and asked “What?”

“Oh nothing” she replied. “Tell Ara the dinner was lovely and to give me a call when she gets home.”

She walked over to Kyuhyun and stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick peck on the cheek before walking out the door and leaving him with nearly the same expression on his face as when he realized he had punched Siwon.

Standing outside the elevator, his mind spun with variations of ‘Okaaaaay?…’ and on the way to the first floor it was different versions of ‘What in the hell?...’ By the time he got to the car he stopped trying to figure out what had just happened in favor of helping Siwon get into the back seat without further injuring himself.

After scooting in on the other side, he buckled his seatbelt and let his head sink down into his hands in shame. He briefly thought about how things couldn’t possibly go worse for one person and wondered if anyone else had ever accidentally physically assaulted their crush and potential soul mate before when he felt Siwon’s hand bump his leg.  The older boy moved his fingers up Kyuhyun’s side and settled them on the younger boy’s shoulder. Kyuhyun looked at him and down at the hand on his shoulder. Siwon was still bleeding and he was a complete mess (a damn gorgeous mess), but he was smiling and Kyuhyun smiled back when Siwon squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

“Ib fide” he said and put his hand back down by his side.

They sat in silence on the way to get Siwon looked at and Kyuhyun stared at Siwon’s face and back to his free hand trying to imagine what the older boy would do if he slid his fingers in between his. There was a line and he wondered if that would be crossing it. Maybe it had already been crossed before, but sitting in the back of the car together, Kyuhyun didn’t have the excuse of guiding Siwon around to fall back on. If Siwon felt him staring, he didn’t say anything, and if Ara noticed the pained expression on her brother’s face, which Kyuhyun would bet she had, she thankfully kept quiet too.

He was so consumed by his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed when they finally arrived at the hospital. The bright red ER light shined like a giant, foreboding welcome sign and Kyuhyun had to take a deep breath to calm his trembling nerves. The last time he was in a hospital was the night of his parents’ death.

He came back to his senses blinking wearily as Siwon opened his door and slid out of the car. He quickly followed so he could guide Siwon through the front doors. He grabbed the older boys hand and almost sighed out loud at the comfortable familiarity of it all. ‘I can do this’ he repeated to himself in mantra as the electric doors slid open. ‘For Siwon, I can do this.’

However, as they walked into the foyer, Kyuhyun involuntarily stopped dead in his tracks as the familiar sights, sounds and smells assaulted his senses. Nurses and doctors in crisp white uniforms pushed along thin cramped hallways calling out orders and asking for files. He closed his eyes and tried to move forward through the loud cries of injured children and clanging metal instruments. The harsh putrid smell of antiseptic flooded his nose and his stomach churned and plummeted.

The memory of crisp, itchy, sheets and hospital gowns that were too clean; unnaturally clean, people’s voices filled with uneasy pity, faces with fake smiles, and pain filled his mind along with the sensation of never ending darkness.  

 “I can’t” he whispered pulling his hand from Siwon and stumbling backwards.

“Kyu?”

“I’m sorry, I-“

Kyuhyun clamped his hands over his mouth and bolted from the building making a bee-line to the nearest trash can. He spent what felt like hours vomiting up everything he’d eaten at the barbeque until he was left dry-heaving and trying to catch his breath while tears of pain, physical and emotional, poured from his eyes.

When he could finally breathe again he walked away from the stench of his regurgitated meal and dropped onto the edge of the sidewalk. He let his head sink onto his knees and started to softly sob as the crash played blurrily through his head. It was always like a long forgotten memory until he found himself in complete darkness. Thank goodness there was always some light outside.

He felt a vibration in his pocket and sniffed before getting it out to check his messages.

                From Ara: Where are you?

Kyuhyun sighed and ran his hands through his hair and across his face before typing a quick reply.

                From Kyuhyun: Curb

A few seconds later he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up with a faint smile, expecting to see Ara. A pretty blonde who was probably just a few years older than him beamed down at him and asked if he was alright. The corner’s of his lips fell when he noticed her nurse’s uniform, but he quickly smiled again and assured her that he was fine, or would be anyways.

“Listen, I could check on you if you want to come inside with me. It’s not all that busy tonight.”

“No” he practically shouted at her.

“Sorry” she said quickly turning away.

“Wait” he called out to her before she could make her way back inside. “I’m sorry. I just… I really, really hate hospitals.” He let out a nervous laugh and waited until the calm smile returned to her face.

“I saw you throw up over there” she replied pointing at the previously assaulted trash can.

“Don’t worry, it’s kind of in the job description” she said grinning in response to the apologetic grimace plastered on his face. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright, oh and here.” Her smile widened and she handed him a small pack of gum. “I keep them on me for emergencies.” She winked and told him she had to get back to her patients and she walked back into the hospital. Ara passed the friendly nurse as she walked back inside and he watched as she ran out to find him with a look of terror on her face.

“Kyu? Oh Kyu there you are” she yelped.

She sprinted over to him and practically collapsed into his arms.

“Don’t scare me like that” she whispered into his ear as she rocked him softly back and forth. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. While kissing his forehead she wiped away the glistening trails let behind from his tears.

“Oh Kyu, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”

“No Ara,” he said squeezing her tightly in his arms. “It’s okay, really. This wasn’t about me… Well besides the part where I’m the whole reason we had to come here. God I still can’t believe I punched him in the face. Did I really punch him in the face?” He dropped his head back to his knees and let his shoulders drooped as he wrapped his arms around his legs.

Ara rubbed his back in comforting circles as Kyuhyun shuddered out a few harsh breaths.

 “Is he going to be alright? How bad is it? I actually punched him, didn’t I? This isn’t some horrible nightmare, is it?”

She put a hand over her face to stifle a laugh and he looked up to punch her in the arm.

“Seriously. I actually punched him. What the hell happened tonight?” he said as the corners of his mouth twitched.

She laughed despite another harder punch and settled next to him on the curb with one arm slung over his shoulder.

“The doctor said it’s probably just a small fracture, but I got kicked out after helping him fill out some paper work and getting him into the ER since I’m not family. Stupid hospitals and their stupid rules.”

“Ara?”

“Hmm?” she responded gently guiding his head down on to her shoulder.

“Does he hate me?” he asked hesitantly, closing his eyes and trying to fight the tears from coming back.

Kyuhyun was startled as she let out a loud bark of laughter and looked at her with hurt and confusion written all over his face.

“Oh Kyu, I’m sorry” she said embracing him again. “He doesn’t hate you. He could never hate. Frankly, I don’t think anyone ever could.”

“Ha, you have to say that. You’re my sister.”

***

A half an hour passed in comfortable silence as Kyuhyun and Ara waited on the curb for Siwon to be finished getting looked at. Kyuhyun had fallen asleep on Ara’s shoulder and was gently shaken awake when a nurse brought Siwon out front.

Kyuhyun heard snippets of their conversation; something about having to stay awake because of a slight concussion and how to handle his medication.

Kyuhyun smacked his forehead with an open palm. “I gave him a concussion” he whispered to Ara. “I .”

Ara chuckled and pulled Kyuhyun off the curb. They walked over to Siwon and Kyuhyun watched in jealousy at the ease at which Ara briefly wrapped her arms around Siwon. Why can’t I do that? He asked himself. God I’m hopeless.

He let out a deep breath and walked up to Siwon to take in the damage. The older boy had some sort of white cast covering his nose and part of his cheek bones and his eyes were completely bloodshot. Kyuhyun grimaced as he noticed the soft purple bruises that were just starting to show up under both his eyes.

“I… Siwon I… I am so sorry.”

Siwon smiled his gorgeous dimpled smile and Kyuhyun’s heart melted a little when Siwon stumbled forward reaching out to pull him into a quick hug with a manly pat on the back.

“I know Kyu. It’s not your fault; plus now I have a hilarious story to tell anyone who will listen. And I mean anyone” he joked. He was far from angry and all of the sudden Kyuhyun’s nerves settled.

“It’s Kyuhyun” he said, lips turning up into a smile, “and do you think when you’re telling this story you could leave out the part where I’m actually your idiot friend, and that I had my eyes closed so I didn’t notice you were standing in front of me? Oh, and the part where I punched you in the face and gave you a concussion. That would be good.”

“Not a chance Kyuhyun” Siwon replied laughing until he grabbed his nose with a scowl.

“So what did the doctor say?” Kyuhyun gulped and looked down at his feet trying to assuage the guilt in his stomach.

“Since I have a mild concussion he said to make sure not to fall asleep for the next couple of hours and to wake up every once and a while when I do sleep just in case. Oh and I’ll have the cast for about six weeks, but on the plus side, I get these awesome pain pills for the first few days that apparently make you all loopy.”

Kyuhyun chuckled and grabbed Siwon’s hand to take him to the car.

It was quiet again on the way to Siwon’s and Kyuhyun once again spent the ride staring over at Siwon. At one point the older boy turned his head causing Kyuhyun to hurriedly look the other way as the tips of his ears turned an alarming shade of pink. It took him a minute to realize that looking away was pointless since Siwon couldn’t actually see him staring, though he could probably tell anyways; like a sixth sense. He left his hand rested on the seat next to Siwon’s and as they pulled up to Siwon’s building he noticed that there was barely a centimeter between their pinkies.

As they walked to the building hand in hand Siwon’s shoulders bobbed up and down as he giggled quietly to himself and Kyuhyun looked over at him curiously.

“What?” Kyuhyun asked tugging on his arm.

“I just realized something… Do you know what the worst thing about tonight was?”

Kyuhyun’s heart dropped a bit. “Seriously, besides me punching you square in the nose?” he asked a little angry at Siwon digging at his guilt.

“Oh come on Kyu, that was the highlight.”

“…Kyuhyun” he whispered back grumpily.

“Kyuhyun. No, the worst part was that I bought this awesome cheesecake and I left it in my fridge so we didn’t even get to eat any of it.”

Suddenly Kyuhyun felt stupid that he’d even thought Siwon was trying to make him feel guilty and he laughed with relief. This was Siwon he was thinking about. Perfect, kind, gorgeous Siwon who would never even hurt a fly’s feelings.

“That was the worst part of tonight? Siwon my friend, you have problems.”

“Did I tell you it was strawberry cheesecake?” the older boy asked with an exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows.

“Oh well that makes all the difference.” Kyuhyun said with dripping sarcasm.

“It does,” Siwon said bumping Kyuhyun’s shoulder with his own, “so would you want to come in and grab a piece? You can grab one for Ara too.”

He almost looked nervous to hear the answer and Kyuhyun couldn’t help think how ridiculous it was for someone who looked like Siwon and acted like Siwon and smelled like Siwon… god he smelled good, to ever be nervous that someone would turn him down for anything.

“Well I don’t want to impose any further on your night, but it is strawberry.”

“Exactly” Siwon replied with the biggest smile Kyhuyn had ever seen.

He opened the front door and ushered Kyuhyun inside. He went to change his clothes and Kyuhyun took a few seconds to look around the place. He had been too preoccupied with Siwon’s half body the last time he had been there and didn’t really get a get a feel for the place. His mouth dropped open as he took in his surroundings. Siwon’s apartment was clean and modern; it practically screamed ‘money’. The furniture looked new and barely used and there were different technological features everywhere he looked. Some of them he didn’t recognize and he figured maybe some of them were specifically for Siwon’s disability. He’d have to ask about that later. He also noticed that the walls were covered in art which he found odd… considering.

“Hey, where are you?” Siwon asked having made his way in to the kitchen.

Kyuhyun had wandered aimlessly over to a mostly blank wall near the hallway where one small picture was hanging. He smiled with recognition at the little boy in the picture. Siwon must have been around eight years old when it was taken. His hair was mussed and he was dressed in a classy school uniform that looked stained and disheveled from play. Two people Kyuhyun assumed were the older boy’s parents were standing at either side of him beaming down lovingly at little Siwon. His smile stretch from ear to ear and his familiar dimples sent a warm flutter through Kyuhyun’s heart as he took one last look and ran to the kitchen.

“Sorry, just looking around” he said with a smile.

There was a giant cheesecake sat out on the granite counter top and two plates with generous sized pieces placed off to the side. Kyuhyun’s stomach grumbled loudly as his earlier escapade with the trash can caught up to him. Siwon must have heard because the corners of his lips twitch as he held out a fork in Kyuhyun’s direction.

“How are you still hungry?” He asked with laughter in his eyes. “We just ate. Did you not get enough?”

“I kinda threw it up” Kyuhyun replied, suddenly feeling extremely embarrassed.

Siwon’s expression suddenly transformed into something full of concern, doing nothing at all to alleviate Kyuhyun’s embarrassment.

“Are you sick, do you need to go home, can I do anything? Maybe you shouldn’t eat the cheesecake.”

Kyuhyun let out a quick burst of air and took a bite of his piece.

He smacked his lips loudly and said, “No this is just what I needed. I’m fine. Strawberry cheesecake works miracles you know.”

Siwon seemed to relax a bit and he started eating his piece too. He asked again if the younger boy was sick, but Kyuhyun didn’t really feel up to talking about it so he just ate another big bite of desert and said something with his mouth full to distract Siwon into laughing.

When Kyuhyun had put his plate in the sink and was getting ready to go he noticed Siwon’s head tip forward and his eye lids slipped shut momentarily before catching himself.

“Hey you, don’t fall asleep on me” he said anxiously.

“I’m not, I promise” Siwon said, taking another bite out of his piece.

When they had both finished, Siwon pushed an extra piece of cheesecake wrapped up for Ara across the counter and stood up awkwardly waiting for Kyuhyun to say something or possibly to leave for the night.

“Well thanks for the dessert. It was delicious. Would have been a shame to have missed that.”

“Glad you liked it. I hope it doesn’t make you sick or anything.”

They both stood quietly for a moment before Siwon’s eyes lit up and he said “Oh, before you go could you help me look for my cane. I put it down earlier and well,” he said pointing to his eyes, “I might have a little trouble finding it.”

“Of course” Kyuhyun replied.

He put down the cheesecake and started to look around for the familiar white cane and Siwon walked down the hallway in to another part of the house to most likely do the same. After a few minutes he hesitantly followed to where Siwon had headed off to and ended up in a bedroom that could be mistaken for a library if it weren’t for the bed nestled in the far corner.

The room itself was quite spacious in comparison to his own bedroom and the walls were lined with bookshelves of various shapes and sizes filled to their bursting point with all different kinds of books. He looked around in awe for a moment and asked Siwon about the room before noticed a thin white stick poking out from underneath the edge of the bed.

“Found it” he said happily reaching for the cane.

“Thanks, could you just put it on top of the book shelf nearest to the door?” Siwon asked as he sat down on the edge of his bed and leaned back on the headboard.

Kyuhyun placed the cane on the bookshelf and turned around to thank Siwon again for inviting him up for dessert. Siwon’s eyes were closed and his breathing was a little louder than it had been before. Kyuhyun rushed to his side and shook the older boys arm until Siwon tilted his head forward and opened his eyes

“How about I stay a little longer?” Kyhuyun asked with a bit of apprehension. He really didn’t want to overstay his welcome but he was extremely worried. “The doctor said you need to stay awake for a while.”

Siwon thanked him and started to politely protest when Kyuhyun decided: screw overstaying my welcome. He is not going to go and get brain damage because I’m a chicken.

“I’m not leaving,” he interrupted. “I punched you in the face. The least I can do is keep you up for a few hours. Don’t argue with me.”

“Like I said earlier… bossy. Okay, stay” Siwon replied. He smiled softly with what looked like fondness in his eyes and Kyuhyun had to remind himself that they were not in the type of relationship were Kyuhyun could run his fingers through that soft black hair and kiss those sweet smiling lips until that fondness was a permanent fixture.

While Kyuhyun texted Ara to let her know he was staying for a while the older boy scooted to the other side of his bed and patted the place where he had just vacated signaling Kyuhyun to take a seat. Kyuhyun felt nauseous, though it was the good kind of butterflies-in-your-stomach nauseous, and commented that maybe they should find somewhere besides a big comfy bed for Siwon to not fall asleep, but Siwon scoffed, said something about needing to relax and just patted the bed again.

Kyuhyun gulped and sat down gently settling his hands nervously in his lap. Well this isn’t how I pictured this happening, he thought. But hey, I’m in Siwon’s bed… Holy crap I’m in his bed. He started blushing furiously and pictured himself bolting from the room in a sprint when Siwon asked him a question that naturally transitioned into the next few hours spent chatting about this and that. It was comfortable and it felt to Kyuhyun like he had known Siwon for years, though the butterflies still played around in his stomach from time to time when Siwon shifted in the bed, or smiled just a little wider or touched Kyuhyun’s shoulder while laughing at something he said.

If you could get passed the misogynist jerk that ruined dinner, making the man of your dreams bleed, getting hugged by Jessica, having to go to the hospital and puking in the nearest trash can, and making a complete fool out of yourself, he thought with a smile, tonight was actually kind of perfect.

I hope you like this chapter cause I do :) Please please let me know what you think in comments! Thanks guys <3