“YOU WHAT?”

            “I told him that you had asked Minnie to go out with you,” Ryeowook repeated, laughing to himself.

            Kyuhyun pulled the car over and put it into park.  “How could you?  That’s so wrong!”

            “Don’t worry, Minnie’s there now and they’ll have everything straightened out in no time.”

            “If he weren’t there I’d have to turn around and set things straight.  You just don’t know what a guy will do when he thinks that there’s no hope for him.  You broke my heart so many times in the beginning of our relationship; I know exactly what it feels like.  That’s a very cruel thing to do!” he lectured his boyfriend, giving him a stern look.

            “Someday he’ll thank me for it,” Ryeowook assured Kyuhyun.

            “No he won’t!  What makes you think that?”

            “Because he’s completely sure of his feelings now,” he explained.  “I did the same thing to you and it worked like a charm.”

            “I still hold that against you.”

            “You love me to death and you know it.  You do what you have to do sometimes to make sure the right people end up together.”

            “In the meantime, your beloved boyfriend is likely to get killed.  If Jongwoon was told that I asked him out and we disappeared after the performance, he probably thought I was banging him.  Especially after what I did at the concert.”

            Ryeowook nodded.  “He probably did.”

            Kyuhyun put the car back into drive and headed down the road again.  “Where are we going?”

            “You’re taking me to a really nice hotel,” Ryeowook informed him.

            “I am?  After the you pulled?”                                                                                       

            “Someone made a promise if I was good and didn’t get mad during the concert and I intend for him to keep it.  Besides, we’ll be way too loud if we go to the apartment.  And, even more importantly, we have to let Jongwoon and Sungmin have their privacy.”

            “I suppose I shouldn’t object because it will keep me alive another day,” he said, sighing.

            “I should probably warn you about one more thing that I said.”

            Kyuhyun glanced over at Ryeowook, not sure if he should even ask.

            “When I was leaving the apartment, I told Jongwoon I was headed out on a date with my boyfriend.  I did it to make him understand that their attempt to get us together was all in vain.  Hyukjae told me about it earlier today.  Sungmin and Jongwoon weren’t actually in a real relationship.  They were pretending to be in one to see if that would bring us together.”

            “Oh, this just gets better and better.  What about that day we saw them kissing in bed?”

            “Hyukjae asked Sungmin about it the other day and he said that they were both sleeping and suddenly woke up and freaked out, because they’d been making out together in their sleep and then every other time they kissed after that was either to practice kissing or to shock us.  They were never in a real relationship to begin with but Hyukjae felt certain that Sungmin was completely in love with Jongwoon,” he explained.

            “So, then you told him that you already had a boyfriend, while Sungmin was out with me.  How much more cold-hearted can you get?”

            “But now that Sungmin’s home and is setting everything straight, he might view what I said differently.  He may not assume I’m lying at all.”

            “Huh?”

            “He may think I really mean you.”

            When Kyuhyun connected the last dot in his head and fully understood what Ryeowook meant, he didn’t know what to think of it.  If things turned out as expected, Sungmin and Jongwoon would be together in short order and there was no reason not to trust them.  Kyuhyun reached over and grasped Ryeowook’s hand, squeezing it tight. 

            “Is that okay?  Do you want me to explain that I was joking just to get under his skin?”

            “No, it’s okay,” Kyuhyun said, trying to keep his voice even. 

            Ryeowook leaned over and rested his head on Kyuhyun’s shoulder.  “I’m so relieved!”

            “Was it bothering you that much to keep it a secret?”

            Ryeowook nodded.  “I don’t like acting like our relationship is something I’m ashamed of.”

            “I’m not ashamed of it, I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Kyuhyun explained.

            “I don’t care if it hurts sometimes as long as you stay by my side.”

            “Always,” he promised.

            Kyuhyun had been abnormally quiet and reflective since the night of the concert but for the life of him, Ryeowook couldn’t figure out why.

           When they returned the next day, they found Jongwoon and Sungmin too preoccupied with each other to care about how the maknaes had tricked them.  After watching them a couple days, he knew that his assumption about them being right for each other was true after all.  He’d never seen Jongwoon smile so much in his life.  He’d possibly smiled more in two days than he had in the last year total. 

            Sungmin was adorable, the way he ate up all the attention that Jongwoon showered him with, as he’d always dreamed about being loved unconditionally by someone and had long ago abandoned any hope of finding the one.  And it might be too early to say that it would last forever, but Ryeowook just couldn’t see anything in the future that would destroy what they had together.

            Everyone in the house was excited that everything was finally out in the open, especially Hyukjae, who had lived in fear for years of being the one to make a mistake.  He was spending less and less time at the house now, presumably due to this mystery woman that he’d been seeing of late.  As much as he wanted to know all the details, he refused to press him about it.  There’d been enough drama in the house lately over blooming relationships and he didn’t want to stress him out about it even more.  If anyone deserved to be loved, it was their most faithful friend.

            So, everyone seemed happy and at ease except Kyuhyun.  And it wasn’t as if he wasn’t affectionate or was avoiding anyone, he just didn’t quite seem himself but Ryeowook just couldn’t put his finger on what it was.  It bothered him.  He always wanted to see his Kyuhyun happy and carefree.

            A few days later, all of Super Junior got together to discuss the newest album they were about to start recording.  They met up at SM Entertainment to look over the music that they’d be recording and discuss the proposed designs for the jacket.  They’d be making at least two new videos to go along with the release, once they were done recording, and schedules needed to be synchronized as best as they could.  Siwon, although he managed to make this meeting because it was on a Saturday, was rarely able to get away long enough for a whole video shoot and they had to run down how they were going to record his short parts. 

            They’d taken the whole day off to meet up and discuss everything and it moved a little slower with their leader away in the military, who usually kept them on task.  In Leeteuk’s absence, the next oldest members—Jongwoon and Kangin—were not the ones that stepped up take the reins.  It was actually Donghae, much to the surprise of all, that kept the conversations moving in the right direction.  He seemed a natural at it but it was clear that he would be happy to hand the job over to Heechul once he returned and, although nobody admitted it out loud, everyone was just a little terrified of Heechul’s temper.  There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’d make an appropriate dictator until Leeteuk returned to take his leadership back and put everyone back at ease.

            They’d ordered a large amount of food, mountains and mountains of it, from three different delivery chains and took a leisurely lunch break and began catching up with each other.  The subject turned to memories of past experiences together, many of which took place in the dorms, and Shindong let it slip that they were thinking of getting rid of the top dorm and all going their separate ways.  The room burst out in discussion.

             “What?  Why?”

             “What about Leeteuk and Heechul?”

             “When is this happening?”

             Donghae actually stood up and raised his hand up to get them all to quit talking at once.  “That’s enough.  Nothing is set in stone yet,” he said, glaring at Shindong.

             “I’m going to be moving once I’m married,” Shindong reminded them.  “Whoever heard of a married man living with a bunch of guys?”

             “I’ve already got my own apartment,” Donghae reminded them, “and I’ve been staying at it more and more.  I don’t need to be at the dorm anymore.  We’ve been in contact with Leeteuk and Heechul about this and nothing is set in stone quite yet but it’s eventually going to happen.  Someday it will happen in the lower dorm too but most of you are young yet.”

            “Nothing will be happening in the lower dorm for a very long time,” Kyuhyun informed him.

            “Jongwoon is leaving soon for the military and Hyukjae is probably going to leave eventually himself.  He has an apartment he shares with his parents and he also will probably settle down at some point and leave you,” Donghae said, making Hyukjae turn bright red.

            Were things developing that quickly between Hyukjae and his girlfriend already?  Ryeowook hardly thought that seemed possible but Donghae would know better than anyone.

            “The rest of us have no intention of leaving the dorm until we disband,” Kyuhyun argued.  “It’s just easier for some of us to stay together.  Not all of us want to be separated.”

            “That’s just a fact of life, Kyu,” Siwon tried to gently explain.  “That’s all we’re saying.”

            “Well, Wookie and I aren’t going to leave each other, so there’s two people you can count on staying, at least until the group disbands and goes its separate ways.”

            Everyone in the room looked at him and Ryeowook sitting right next to him.  Donghae’s brows rose as he silently urged Kyuhyun to either acknowledge what the members weren’t asking or move on and let the topic drop.

            Kyuhyun placed his hand over Ryeowook’s.  “Ryeowook and I have been dating for several years now and if we have to move out of the dorm, it would most likely expose our relationship.”

            “I realize that but that has nothing to do with getting rid of the top dorm,” Shindong said, as if Kyuhyun hadn’t just come out with their secret relationship.

            “And once Jongwoon leaves, there will be a free room for anyone from the top dorm to live if they need to.  I assume you two are sharing a room at this point,” Siwon said, looking over at them.

            “You knew?” Kyuhyun cried out, banging his head against the table in frustration.  “I’ve been flipping out about how I was going to tell you all and you already know?”

            “Heechul told us about you two a couple years ago,” Siwon admitted, rubbing his neck nervously as he confessed to pretending he didn’t know.  “He was in one of those foul moods and decided just to start spouting off about everything that was pissing him off and let it slip while we were all playing poker upstairs.”

            “What?” Sungmin asked, looking around the room.  “You mean that the only ones that didn’t know all along were me and Jongwoon?”

            “I had no clue,” Kangin said, raising his hand.  “I was probably gone at the time.  But I always did kind of wonder about you two.  Congratulations, guys.”

            “Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Kyuhyun whined.

            “We all swore to keep it quiet when Donghae found out about it and we all promised we’d pretend not to know a thing about it, since you both seemed worried about us finding out,” Shindong said.

            “You were thinking about how to tell the others?” Ryeowook asked Kyuhyun, leaning over him as he continued to rest his head on the tabletop.  “Is that what’s been on your mind?”

            “Yeah.”

            Ryeowook smiled and wrapped his arm around him.  “I love you.”

            “Just for the record though,” Kangin piped in.  “I don’t think I’m ready to watch you two make out or anything unless it’s just fan service.”

            They all began to discuss what the difference really was, whether they did it onstage or not, but Ryeowook could have cared less what they thought and when Kyuhyun finally sat back in his chair again, Ryeowook got up and sat down in his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck.  “I can’t even tell you how happy I am!”

            “I know,” Kyuhyun said, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

            “Now we can be ourselves around the hyungs,” he said, bouncing on Kyuhyun’s lap in his excitement.  “You seemed so worried about it, I didn’t think you’d ever say anything.”

            “What I worry about most is your happiness,” Kyuhyun informed him, kissing him on the lips.  They could hear Kangin complaining about it in the background but they refused to pull away. 

            It amazed Ryeowook sometimes, how much more you could still come to love someone, even after so many years together.  Kyuhyun just never failed to find new ways to impress him and draw them closer and Ryeowook hoped that it never ended, that each day he found yet another reason to love his partner more. 

            Donghae began to clap his hands to restore some order to the group and eventually managed it, getting them back to the project at hand so they could leave sometime that day.  But now that they had nothing to hide, Ryeowook didn’t mind if they were stuck together for a week.  Finally, he could be himself.