A/N: Just something little I wrote while battling a fever, so please excuse any mistake/incoherence/other stupid flaw orz

And for anyone who's expecting , sorry >_<

---

When his cell-phone rang for the sixth time in the last two hours, Zhou Mi answered it with a scowl.

“See? This is why I said I should've come with you to the meeting.”

There was only silence from the other side of the line for a few seconds; then Siwon's annoyingly calm, eternally imperturbable voice replied, “I was merely wondering if you two were having a good time.”

Zhou Mi resisted an urge to throw something at the life-size action figure of a smugly grinning anime character—which, for some obscure reasons, reminded him of his boss--posing not far from where he sat. “I've been stuck in this game store for more than an hour and he's not done yet. Yes, I'm having a very good time, thank you very much.”

“You know I'm not comfortable with the idea of letting him wander alone. We're not in Korea.”

“I swear, Siwon, he's not six. And do you know that he actually can speak Japanese? Not all that fluently, but I'm pretty sure he can survive on his own.”

“It isn't that.”

Zhou Mi could feel his frown deepen as understanding dawned on him. “No. Please don't tell me that you're taking that silly talk seriously. I only mentioned it as a joke!”

“Han Geng disagreed.”

“Han Geng is your chief of security and he's trained to wear the paranoid goggles. The guy sees your walking across the street as a possibly life-threatening situation.”

“Well, I suppose I could get hit by a car,”  Siwon suggested after a thoughtful pause.

“Ha ha ha. Joking now, aren't we?”

“You don't think there's anything in it?”

Zhou Mi pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a deep breath before answering patiently, “Siwon, they lost one deal to us. ONE. Well, maybe two deals if you count the thing with the UN three years ago, but who the hell would kill—really kill—for something like this?”

“In case it has slipped your mind, the next one is much, much bigger.”

“Fine, okay. It might be the biggest one we’ll ever get, but seriously, Mr Gwang and his henchmen are not the mafia. And neither are we for that matter, although you like to pretend otherwise.”

“My policy is to be prepared for every possibility,” Siwon replied—an all-too-logical argument for a not-so-logical cause, in Zhou Mi’s opinion. “You're right, it's unlikely, but there's no harm in guarding ourselves against a possible threat, especially now that we're competing with them for another deal. And I don't like the fact that he mentioned him the last time we met.”

“So that’s why I’m playing baby-sitter right now,” Zhou Mi muttered with a defeated sigh.

“At least you speak fluent Japanese,” Siwon pointed out, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

“A glorified, staggeringly overqualified baby-sitter then.”

“And in return of your kind help, feel free to treat yourself to a little something or two—on my expense,” Siwon added generously.

“Oh, I will,” Zhou Mi vowed, already scanning the wish list he always kept ready in his memory bank. “You can expect a few more bills to be added to next month’s expense. The things he's buying aren't cheap either, I can tell you.”

“It’s not a problem. Buy him anything he wants; I've promised him as much.”

Zhou Mi was rendered speechless for a moment. Siwon probably had more money than anybody else in this side of the world, but he had never been one to be careless. This sudden change was both surprising and, if he were to be honest, a little disconcerting.

“I never imagined that I would say this one day,” he spoke slowly, almost carefully, “but you're really smitten, aren't you?”

“It was only a bet,” Siwon replied dismissively. That his answer was not an answer at all did not escape either of them, but Zhou Mi tactfully refrained from making any further remark. The call ended soon after and he was left with a mounting sense of wonder as the full implication of the earlier conversation began to sink in, leading to a succession of hypotheses.

It took him about three seconds to arrive at the possibility of a romantic attachment—and exactly one-tenth of that time to discard it without any second thought. An impatient snort came through his nose. That something so ridiculous had crossed his mind at all was already an insult to his intelligence; to entertain the notion for any length of time would be downright moronic.

He was still marvelling at the absurdity of his logic when Kyuhyun came to find him with a stack of game DVDs in his arms.

“Will these be okay?” the boy asked, eyes glittering with hope.

Zhou Mi gave him a look, but the bright, earnest gaze obliterated every single peeved comment lurking under his tongue. It would appear, he reflected grimly as he followed the boy to the cashier area, that Siwon was not the only one susceptible to Kyuhyun's charms, whatever they were.

They emerged from the store a few minutes later, one jubilant, the other resigned. Zhou Mi knew that he was only following his boss' instructions to the letter, but the fact that he had just paid such an outrageous sum for those 'silly things' made him want to weep.

At least it wasn’t his money. And the rich and powerful certainly could have their moments of folly from time to time, if only because they could afford them.

“Where are we going now?” Kyuhyun cheerfully asked, obviously still walking on cloud nine.

“Now,” Zhou Mi declared grimly, “is my turn.”

The first two fashion houses were enough to wipe every trace of exuberance from Kyuhyun's face. The third earned him an open grimace, which Zhou Mi thoroughly ignored, for there was something called payback in this world and it demanded fairness in every possible aspect of life. He was content to leave Kyuhyun in the company of a new portable console while he himself did his favourite turn among the constellations of beautiful clothes—for once without the pressure of having to sneak a glance at the price tag every single time.

Until the sound of a sneeze caught his attention.

He was in the middle of admiring a classy button-down shirt of emerald green colour with gold-and-black accents along the sleeves. Zhou Mi looked up and his eyes caught the sight of Kyuhyun sitting in a corner with one hand clamped over the lower half of his face. A second sneeze followed, and for the first time that day Zhou Mi saw—the unfashionable T-shirt and the too-thin coat and the inadequate shoes and the lack of scarf and hat and basically every clothing paraphernalia required for a day of shopping in Tokyo at the end of February.

His intent scrutiny was noticed a few moments later. Kyuhyun glanced up and the look he gave the older man was almost frightened.

“Please don't,” he pleaded.

Zhou Mi's reaction was to whip out his phone and send his boss a text message.

I'm buying your boy clothes. He needs them.

The reply came half-a-minute later.

Permission granted. Buy him whatever you want.

Zhou Mi almost cackled in glee. This, here, was his sphere of power at last—the place where he reigned supreme, invincible and unparalleled. Dragging a very unwilling Kyuhyun, Zhou Mi got down to his mission at once. His quick eyes flitted from one item to the next, appraising and dismissing them with promptitude born of long and dedicated years of practice. Two minutes later, he shoved a pile of the most eligible ones to a waiting shop assistant and steered Kyuhyun toward the fitting rooms.

“I don't–”

“Do me a favour,” Zhou Mi interrupted, pushing him into the mirror-lined cubicle with a jacket and a shirt, “and shut up while you try them on. It’s Siwon’s order and we still have a pile here.”

Kyuhyun shot him a glare, which Zhou Mi returned with a hard, unyielding look. The victor between them was clear when Kyuhyun slammed the flimsy door shut, muttering profanities under his breath.

This process was repeated in six more stores before Zhou Mi would declare himself satisfied. The sky had turned into a dark, sullen shade of blue when they finally returned to the hotel—with far more bags than they could carry.

In the hotel lobby, they met Siwon who was conversing with a deferential concierge. He lifted an eyebrow at the number of shopping bags they were carrying.

“When you said several, I thought you really meant several.”

“They're all his,” Zhou Mi answered, prompting a squeak of protest from Kyuhyun.

“You're the one who wanted to buy them!”

“You'll thank me later,” Zhou Mi shot back airily. Kyuhyun glowered at him, but before he could come up with a scathing reply, Siwon had interfered by placing a hand on his back.  Zhou Mi watched, interest rapidly mounting, as the simple gesture immediately slackened vengeance’s hold on Kyuhyun’s mind, softening his expression into an expectant one.

“What do you say to an early dinner?”

The mention of dinner was all it took to fully capture the boy’s attention. “No raw fish this time?” he said, a hopeful note in his voice.

Siwon smiled and Zhou Mi didn't miss the tenderness in his eyes as he answered, “No. Tonight we'll have the best steak in the world—just what you want.”

A brilliant grin lit up Kyuhyun's face and the boy quickly gathered his bags, leaving but two in Zhou Mi’s hand, and rushed toward the elevator area. Everyone and everything else were clearly and immediately forgotten. Zhou Mi sighed, not failing to catch the small, indulgent smile on his friend’s lips.

“You spoil him too much,” he pointed out.

“He deserves to be spoiled,” was Siwon’s matter-of-fact reply. Zhou Mi resisted an urge to roll his eyes.

“And you love spoiling him.”

“I do,” Siwon admitted mildly. “Which reminds me, thank you for keeping him company today.”

“Thank yourself,” Zhou Mi shot back, caressing the bag containing his two new shirts and coat. “Just don't yell at me when you get the credit card’s bill.”

Siwon laughed. “We shall see.”

End

---

Note: The next installment will contain something less tame, I promise.

Also for anyone who's waiting for an FBD update, I'm still writing it, really. It's just that I've decided not to release any new chapter until I've reached certain part of the story. It's only for the sake of the flow but it's important for me, so... please be patient? ;w;