“Does SuJu have a pair that get awkward when together?” Dongwan asked.
Jongwoon rolled his eyes, ‘This again?’ He glanced at Sungmin, trying to catch his eye.
Hadn’t they been through this a million times?
Jongwoon shook his head as Kyuhyun spoke up, “Yes, yes, yes.”
“Really?” Jun Jin spoke up, looking surprised.
“In here, Yesung-ssi and Sungmin-ssi.”
Jongwoon opened his mouth to dispute but quieted when he saw Sungmin nodding his head.

Eunhyuk spoke up, “They don’t look at each other’s faces.”
Jongwoon swung around to face their hyungs, Shinhwa, “I’m okay!” He blurted out.
He glanced backwards at Sungmin, holding his hand out, “We’re not…?”
But Sungmin only met his eyes for a brief moment, “Very awkward.”
Jongwoon felt his jaw drop.

They’ve been saying it for years. Yesung and Sungmin are so awkward around each other.
So awkward.
Jongwoon was tired of it but realized quickly that if he really thought about it, it was true.
He didn’t want to be awkward with Sungmin. They had a lot in common, really.
So, why?
Everyone laughed when Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun pointed out that Yesung wasn’t even aware.

Dongwan pulled Jongwoon and Sungmin to the front and motioned for them to hold hands, “You guys can get over the awkward feeling by complimenting each other.”
“It isn’t awkward for me…” Jongwoon said again, ducking his head at seeing Sungmin’s forced smile.
Eunhyuk suppressed a laugh, “Look at Sungmin-hyung finding it very uncomfortable.”
Sungmin sighed deeply.
Jongwoon tried to meet his eyes. He gave Sungmin’s hands a squeeze and murmured, “Sungmin-ah?”

Sungmin didn’t even glance up, keeping the fake smile on his face instead.
Jongwoon smiled too, giving Sungmin’s hands another squeeze and a shake.

Jun Jin leaned in, “Did they fight?”
Kyuhyun glanced at the awkward pair, “They don’t even talk.”
Eunhyuk nodded, “If you’re friends, you’d at least fight…” He trailed off.
Jongwoon glanced at his two dongsaengs, the smile fading from his face.
Not even friends?

Dongwan intervened, “Sungmin-ssi is avoiding his eyes.”

Jongwoon pulled back his hands and attempted to diffuse the mounting tension by joking about the strength in his eyes and how even the Shinhwa-hyungs wouldn’t even be able to hold his gaze.
Dongwan and Andy argued and Andy stepped up to gaze deeply into Jongwoon’s eyes and tell him he was very handsome.

Laughter rang through the studio and the awkward tension dispersed.

Still, though, for the rest of the evening each time Jongwoon glanced at Sungmin, the other man never met his eyes.

----- SJ -----

After the taping, Jongwoon asked Kyuhyun and Ryeowook to help him out and distract everyone else so he could have a few moments alone with Sungmin.
“Is this about you two being awkward with each other?” Kyuhyun immediately pin-pointed Jongwoon’s intentions.
“And if it is?”

“Maybe right now’s not the best time to grill him about it.” Kyuhyun drank from a bottle of water, “I mean, whatever, it’s not my relationship with Sungmin that’s awkward.”
“I don’t want to grill him about anything.” Jongwoon sighed, “I just want to chat. We can chat, can’t we? Is that not allowed?”

“You really are so awkward with each other.” Ryeowook spoke up, “If you weren’t, you wouldn’t need us to arrange some alone time with him to just chat.”
Jongwoon blinked at the two, “What- do you two want us to stay awkward?”

The two youngest shook their heads, “We’re not saying that, hyung.” Kyuhyun said, “Only that… this might be one of the reasons you’re so awkward.”
“Nothing’s going to be resolved standing around here telling me it’s all my fault.”
“That’s not what we said, Woonie.” Ryeowook sighed, “But sure- we’ll help. It’s not our fault if it backfires or doesn’t work.”

“Nothing’s going to backfire!” Jongwoon griped, “There’s nothing to backfire! I would just like to chat with Sungmin alone, okay!?”

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook exchanged glances before turning and walking away, “We’ll do what we can, hyung.”

----- SJ -----

As the six men waited for their van Ryeowook took Eunkyuk aside, asking him some questions about Super Junior M’s upcoming schedules.
Kyuhyun distracted Shindong by asking for suggestions on where they should eat before returning to their dorm.
Sungmin was scrolling through his phone absentmindedly when Jongwoon cleared his throat a little.
Sungmin didn’t even look up.
Jongwoon deflated a little. Shook his head.
“Sungmin-ah.”
“Hm?” he continued to scroll through his phone.

“Uhm-“ Jongwoon wanted to smack himself for not thinking this through, “What- uh… what’s up?”

Jongwoon closed his eyes, looking pained.
His own awkward- question was so awkward that it actually pained him to realize he’d said it outloud.
When he opened his eyes, Sungmin was giving him an odd look.

Behind him, Jongwoon could see Kyuhyun looking back at him, shaking his head at Jongwoon’s pitiful attempt.
Jongwoon narrowed his eyes at Kyuhyun.
“I’m just checking my blog.” Sungmin said slowly, following Jongwoon’s gaze.
Kyuhyun and Shindong were discussing restaurants in the area.

“Oh.” Jongwoon shoved his hands into his pockets, finding his own phone.
“How come you’re not on, uh, Twitter?”
Sungmin shrugged, “I guess I like having a blog better. I can say more. I don’t have to feel restrained by 140 characters.”

Jongwoon nodded.

They lapsed back into awkward silence.

Kyuhyun shook his head again.

----- SJ -----

“Okay, maybe I need more than just a few minutes with him.” Jongwoon admitted to Ryeowook as they got ready to go to sleep.
“You’ll need a whole month with him to get through that awkward.” Ryeowook joked.
“Aish.“ Jongwoon flopped onto his bed, “What if I invite him to dinner?”

“Just the two of you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“It… might help?” Ryeowook said unhelpfully.
Jongwoon sat up and gave Ryeowook a dirty look causing the younger man to laugh.
“I’m sorry, Woonie.” Ryeowook smoothed out his sheets, “Honestly… you know, it really might help. Maybe if you and Minnie really get a chance to sit down and talk. I say go for it. If it doesn’t, well, at least you tried, right?”

“And I can always try again.”
“Weeeell.” Ryeowook stood up and walked over to Jongwoon’s bed, “I don’t know… Minnie doesn’t seem like the type to like really persistent guys, Woonie.”
“Whoa whoa.” Jongwoon laughed, “I’m not trying to date him. I just want to get past this weird awkwardness between us. I want us to be friends.”

Ryeowook beamed, “That’s the spirit, Woonie. Just don’t weird him out when you invite him… or at dinner. Or afterwards-“
“Aish, really! I’m not that weird!”
“You keep repeating that to yourself!” Ryeowook clapped, cheering on his friend.
Jongwoon pushed a laughing Ryeowook off his bed, “You go to sleep. Listen to your hyung!”

“Of course, of course, Woonie~” Ryeowook sat down on his own bed, fanning himself, “Ahh, my stomach hurts from too much laughing.”
Jongwoon pulled the covers over his head to the sound of Ryeowook’s giggles.


-----

A/N: So awkward. Gosh, I wish Yesung and Sungmin could be on Intimate Note. They really need it.
Did anyone catch Shinhwa Broadcast when they had SuJu as guests? The scene at the beginning where Shinhwa attempts to help Yesung and Sungmin get over their awkward happened in a cut scene ( When the boys play "volleyball" in "Australia" )