*I got stuck partway through writing this chapter, but then wrote the last three pages in only an hour after finding inspiration, so please excuse any possible typos/errors xD*

 "You know, I totally wouldn't have pegged you as a coffee person, Kyuhyun," Sungmin commented as he took a sip of his strawberry-banana smoothie. 

"Why?" Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow curiously, playfully bumping his shoulder against Sungmin's as they strolled leisurely through the park. He took a sip of his own black coffee (though it really couldn't be considered black coffee after the sheer amount of creamer and sugar had been added) as he waited for Sungmin's answer.  

It was Monday afternoon, and since Kyuhyun's professor didn't show up for his last class, he'd been let out early. Yesung was still in class, so Kyuhyun had figured he could ask Sungmin out on a coffee date with this unexpected extra time.  The bar didn't open until the evening, and Kyuhyun didn't recall Sungmin mentioning a second day job. The fact that a coffee date in the middle of the afternoon wasn't exactly conventional never even crossed his mind. 

And besides, the entire weekend, Sungmin had seemed a little distant. Kyuhyun had texted him on and off all throughout the weekend, but couldn't help but feel that the conversation had been strained and rather one-sided. Sungmin's replies had been short and to the point, leaving little room for banter. Kyuhyun had struggled to come up with new topics to talk about, but each time the conversation just slowly died. Honestly though, the only reason Kyuhyun noticed this point was because their previous conversations had been so fun and interesting, always full of teasings and banter. The drastic difference would've been hard to miss. 

Even today, in person, Sungmin seemed a bit preoccupied, like he wasn't fully committed to the conversation or Kyuhyun.  

Kyuhyun nudged Sungmin again with his shoulder, trying to get an answer out of him. 

"I dunno...." Sungmin finally said then trailed off, his eyes tracing over Kyuhyun's features carefully, scrutinizing him as if the answer was etched into his face.  

"Hey! Why are you staring at me like that? You look so serious too...what, are you so entranced by my good looks?" Kyuhyun smirked, but his eyebrows were furrowed slightly as he caught Sungmin's gaze. Kyuhyun didn't want to say it was uncomfortable, but it he almost wanted to squirm a bit with Sungmin's eyes...analyzing him like that. Almost. The great Kyuhyun never squirmed, no matter what the circumstance. 

Sungmin immediately averted his eyes, his elbow ramming into Kyuhyun's ribs to serve as a distraction as he forcibly arranged his expression into one of annoyance. 

"You wish, you brat, and that's hyung to you!" 

Kyuhyun smiled sheepishly. "Ah, so you noticed, hyung? Dang, I guess I'll have to be more discreet about it, huh?" 

Sungmin tsked, his expression now turning into one of mock thoughtfulness. "You know, I was thinking coffee really didn't suit you because I figured you'd be more of a 'hard liquor all day, every day' type of guy...didn't think you'd be refined enough to drink coffee." 

"Hey! Did you just indirectly call me an alcoholic? And a unrefined alcoholic?" Kyuhyun spluttered. At the same time, however, he inwardly cheered. 'Sungmin-hyung's acting more like himself now!'

"Hey, you're the one who said that," Sungmin's mouth turned upwards into a wry smile, before exploding into full on laughter at Kyuhyun's indignant expression. 

Kyuhyun attempted to glare at Sungmin, which only caused him to laugh harder. As that strategy failed, Kyuhyun puffed his cheeks out in frustration.  

Sungmin continued to laugh.  

"Hyungg, stop laughing! It's not that funny!" 

"Yes it is! Gosh, did you see your expression? You're so cuuuute, Kyuhyun-ah!" Sungmin cooed, reaching out a hand to pinch his cheeks. 

"Y-Yah! I am NOT cute!" Kyuhyun protested, pushing Sungmin's hand away as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Sungmin's laughter died down to chuckles, but that wasn't enough for Kyuhyun. He'd had enough of being embarrassed, it was time to return to favor.  

Sungmin's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Kyuhyun smacked his lips against his own, and none too gently at that.

“What…?”

However, Sungmin found himself relaxing into the kiss almost immediately, yielding completely to Kyuhyun’s demandingness. Kyuhyun eased his initial harsh pressure on Sungmin’s lips and began nibbling on his bottom lip instead. Sungmin responded to the kiss without even thinking, pressing and nibbling back. Slowly, the pace of the kiss picked up, going from gentle to more and more fervent. Fingers wove their way through locks of hair, an arm found itself around a waist.

Kyuhyun opened his mouth, his tongue probing and asking for entrance. But suddenly, Sungmin’s eyes shot open as if remembering something important and stumbled backwards, unconsciously pushing Kyuhyun away. Kyuhyun’s eyes too shot open in surprise, his mouth still open as his hand slipped, the coffee splattering onto the ground.

“Wha–”

“S-! I-I’m sorry, I don’t know–” Sungmin broke off, his face looking just as surprised as Kyuhyun, but instead of confusion, uncertainty and slight panic flickered in his eyes. He took a breath.

“I don’t know what I was doing, I’m so sorry Kyuhyun-ah,” Sungmin continued, looking down guiltily at the coffee on the ground. It’d spilled all over the concrete, slowly seeping into the cracks.

He knelt down to pick it up, but Kyuhyun beat him to it.

“Don’t apologize, I did kind of kiss you out of nowhere,” Kyuhyun waved it off carelessly. “Besides, it didn’t even spill onto me, it’s not a big deal.” He stood, tossing the now empty cup towards the nearby garbage. It bounced off the top, landing on grass nearby.

“Aww dang it,” Kyuhyun complained, making a face as he walked to pick it up. He glanced at Sungmin, and was pleased to see that the panic was gone, and a smile was fighting its way to the surface. Kyuhyun swiftly deposited the cup in the garbage –successfully this time– and made his way back to Sungmin.

“Are you ok?” The careless attitude was gone as he surveyed Sungmin, his voice gentle.

“Yeah,” Sungmin exhaled, running his hand through his hair. He took another breath, then smiled almost blindingly at Kyuhyun. “Sorry about that, I guess you did kind of catch me by surprise!” Sungmin grimaced inwardly; he’d already kissed him back, what kind of an excuse was that?!

“Heh, that’s what I thought, my amazing kissing skills just sweep you off your feet?” Kyuhyun joked with his signature smirk.

“Fine, fine, I”ll let you win this one,” Sungmin sighed exaggeratedly as they began to walk again. His heart rate had calmed down, finally, though his mind was as jumbled as ever. He stared guiltily down at his own smoothie.

“Sorry about totally wasting your coffee though…I’ll buy you a new one?” Sungmin offered weakly. He was thankful Kyuhyun hadn’t pushed the matter of why, or what he was thinking, because he didn’t even know himself, but he still felt bad.

“Nahh, it’s ok,” Kyuhyun waved it off again. “Honestly, I don’t even think that counted as black coffee anymore…not after all the crappy sugar I put in it.” He chuckled, a little embarrassed. “Actually, you were right, I’m not really a coffee person. Yesung-hyung is, though, and he’s always going off about how good it is, so I thought I’d try to like it, or at least figure out what he likes so much about it.”

“Oh,” Sungmin said lamely, but his mind was already whirring again.

“Yeah, I know, it’s kind of dumb,” Kyuhyun scratched his head, completely embarrassed at this point. “But hey,” his look turned mischievous, “if you reeeeally feel bad, you can treat me some other time, okay?”

“Okay, yeah,” Sungmin forced a smile, before briefly glancing down at his watch. “I’m really sorry, but, uh, I kind of have to go now. I, uh, have to, um, do some grocery shopping right now, before I go to work. I’ll…I’ll text you later, ok?” The last part came out slightly rushed, and he was already slowly backing away. Kyuhyun looked at him with a slightly confused look.

“Oh. Okay, that’s fine. Do you want me to come with you? I’ve got nothing to do, anyways,” Kyuhyun offered.

“No, it’s fine,” Sungmin said quickly, though he hoped not too quickly. “I’ll text you later, okay?” he repeated before waving with one hand and jogging away.

Kyuhyun could only stare after him, still not fully comprehending what just happened.

~*~*~

“Yah.”

“…”

“Yaaah.”

“…….”

“Yah!”

“………..”

“YAH CHO KYUHYUN!”

“…DIE!!”

“YAH CHO KYUHYUN GET YOUR OVER HERE THIS INSTANT OR ELSE I’M GOING TO UNPLUG YOUR–”

“HAHAHA IN YOUR FACE! I WIN! HA! ……sorry…what hyung?” Kyuhyun finally stood up from the couch, stretching as he walked into the bedroom.

Yesung almost face-palmed. “What do you think?! What do you see?”

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow. “Er, our room? Two beds? The carpet? And invisible boogie man? Come on, hyung, you’re gonna have to be a bit more specific.” He smirked as he watched Yesung turn red. The color suited his hyung really well, he could say so himself.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Yesung had had, to put it gently, a not-so-nice day. It wasn’t that anything terrible had happened, it just that every single little thing seemed to be irritating today. Not that that had anything to do with Kyuhyun getting out of school early and going on a date with a certain bar tender. Not at all. It was just…the B+ on the paper he didn’t even try on, and the fact that he forgot to pack a napkin for his lunch. That was it. Of course.

“Okay, okay, is it…the fact that you look like a tomato right now?”

Yesung began to splutter. Out of anger, frustration, or embarrassment, or a combination of all three, Kyuhyun couldn’t tell.

“Alright, alright, fine….is it the shoes?”

“WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOUR DIRTY SHOES ON MY BED?!”

Kyuhyun had the decency to finally look sheepish. “Ummm, sorry? I was…distracted?”

“You were distracted?! So you forgot to take off your shoes at the front door, didn’t notice until you got into our bedroom, then noticed, took them off, and decided to put them on my clean BED?! And then decided to game?!”

Kyuhyun scratched his head. “Well, it sounds super dumb when you put it into words…yeah, I guess.”

Yesung deflated at that, and instead started to look concerned. Kyuhyun wasn’t coming up with elaborate excuses, or smirking, so this wasn’t just a prank of some sort.

“Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Are you…okay?”

Kyuhyun almost felt a sense of déjà vu at that, remembering he asked Sungmin the exact same question earlier.

“Yeah, I’m okay, it’s just…” Kyuhyun dug his phone out of his pocket. No new messages.

“Yeah?” Yesung prodded encouragingly, his gentle gaze catching Kyuhyun’s.

“It’s just…I feel like Sungmin’s been acting a bit…off.  Like something’s been bothering him or something. He’s just been super distant and distracted lately. Like this past weekend, when we text, it’s a struggle to keep the conversation going. It’s like we’ve lost the spark…or something. I don’t know. He’s not avoiding me, but I can’t help but feel he’s distant…like, I don’t know. I guess I don’t know what to do. Or if I should do anything, you know?” Kyuhyun rambled, not noticing Yesung’s darkening expression.

At this moment, Yesung almost felt like strangling Sungmin. Or Kyuhyun. Or, scratch that, he felt like strangling himself. Or laughing. How ironic, really. Here was Kyuhyun, complaining about Sungmin being distant, when here, Yesung would never, could never, be distant, even if he tried. Kyuhyun would always be his center, not matter how hard to tried to change.

But at the same time, he could empathize. The feeling of someone important growing distant, the fear of losing that person. Or maybe not even the fear of losing that person, but the fear that you need to share that special someone. Yesung felt his chest constrict, but he forced himself to stay objective.

As long as Kyuhyun was happy, he would be happy, right? But couldn’t he make Kyuhyun happy?

“Maybe…” Yesung swallowed, then wet his lips. Anything that would make the words come out easier. “Maybe he’s just going through a hard time…maybe family issues or something. Don’t worry too much. It’s probably nothing, and just speculating always does more harm than good.” For better or for worse, the words became easier and easier to say. “Just talk to him about it, tell him how you feel. I’m sure you guys can work it out.” The words caught in his throat again. “If…if you really care about each other, you can work it out.”

Kyuhyun took a deep breath. “You’re right, hyung, I’m probably just thinking about this too much.” He stayed pensive for a few more moments, before breaking out into grin. “Thanks hyung, I feel a lot better now!”

Despite his heart twisting, Yesung couldn’t help but feel lightness at the sight of Kyuhyun’s genuine smile. At him. “Good,” he smiled back.

“Hey, you know,” Kyuhyun said briskly, obviously already over his romantic troubles, “I was thinking…you remember that song we sang at the karoke that day?”

“Yeah…it was called “Your Eyes”, wasn’t it?” Yesung recalled.

“Yeah, that one,” Kyuhyun had a gleam in his eye, and Yesung couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. But a little excited, too.

“What about that song?”

“Well, I was just thinking, we sang it really well, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Our voices blend really well, don’t you think?”

“Uh-huh. So?” Yesung repeated.

“I’ve always wanted to perform on a stage…” Now Kyuhyun was just teasing.

“Okay what?!”

“Do you think your boss would let us perform as a duet some time?”

Yesung’s eyes widened. He grasped for words, speechless with shock.

“A-Are you serious?”

“What, you don’t want to do a duet with me?” Kyuhyun asked in a mock injured voice.

“N-No! I mean, YES, wait, I mean, what the hell am I saying, yes I want to do a duet with you!” The words just exploded from Yesung’s mouth, and he flushed after the rambley answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Kyuhyun smirked. “Daww, you’re blushing, are you embarrassed? Or just sooo thrilled at being able to sing a duet with the awesome me?”

“Shut up you brat!” Yesung covered his face with his hands, berating himself for acting like an idiot.

Kyuhyun just laughed. And kept laughing.

“YAH PUT YOUR DIRTY SHOES AWAY AND STOP LAUGHING, YOU BRAT!”

But there was no real force behind his words as he tried to calm his beating heart. And for the first time in a long time, it was in joy, not heart ache. 

A/N: And here ya go, chapter 11! Nothing much I have to say, except that updates will definitely be faster since summer is here, school is such a b*tch after all. xD But, Seoulstar's gonna be a bit busy these next two weeks (she's got roped unwillingingly into helping out at her family's restaurant xD) but we'll still try to get the next chapter up as soon as we can. ^^