Omo what is this?! A back-to-back update?!! Wow! A miracle has happened!!!

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"I am ready to die."

"Mi, don't be so dramatic," Sungmin scoffed.

"But I am. Ready. To die." 

Zhoumi limply rolled over onto his back in the middle of all the recently-unpacked boxes. "Gods, take me now."

"I have ice cream!" Kyuhyun declared, entering the room with a carton of the icy treat and several bowls and spoons stacked on top of each other.

"On second thought, Gods, you can take me in another ten minutes," Zhoumi quickly amended, jumping up to hover over the ice cream.

"Sit down, Mi, gimme a sec," Kyuhyun nudged his friend out of the way.

"Every second counts when you only have ten minutes to live," Zhoumi retorted.

Kyuhyun snorted and just handed him a bowl.

"More. Give me more," Zhoumi commanded, as Kyuhyun doled out ice cream.

"How are you going to fit your leather pants if you eat so much ice cream?" Kyuhyun countered.

"That's why I need more; I burned so much weight just from all that carrying that I won't be able to fit in my leather pants anymore."

Sungmin cleared his throat and began, "There's one question I've been wanting to ask you, Kyuhyun..." 

"Why Zhoumi even has leather pants? I think that question is better suited for Zhoumi, actually," Kyuhyun responded as he began to scoop ice cream into the next bowl.

"No," Sungmin refuted, a glint in his eye. "I want to know why you were babying Siwon-sshi."

With a clatter, Kyuhyun's spoon dropped into the bowl he was filling.

The room stilled. 

With a worried glance toward Siwon that nobody in the room missed, Kyuhyun picked up his spoon and tried to laugh. "Babying Siwon hyung? Yeah, right."

"You practically made him just sit around all day!" Sungmin argued. "He only carried two boxes, and that was because you were too occupied with Changmin's toaster to tell him to put them down!"

"I... well..." Kyuhyun stammered.

"Don't even deny it." Sungmin grinned, almost ferally.

"Truth is..." Kyuhyun began.

"Yes?" Sungmin prodded.

"Well, he's Halmoni's grandson, and he's been helping out around the shop, and I think I may have overworked him today..." Kyuhyun confessed.

"... Overworked me?" Siwon asked, quite curious.

At this point, Kyuhyun's ears were already quite red, and Siwon was quite interested in seeing what other reactions he could pry from the boy.

"I-I saw you!" Kyuhyun tried to defend his actions. "I saw when you were putting those books on the shelf, and one of them fell on your foot!"

"Could it be..." Siwon murmured, "You were worried about me?"

"N-no!" Kyuhyun denied. "Of course not!"

"You know what shade of red Kyuhyun is right now? Vermillion. And that's a pretty deep shade of red," Zhoumi commented.

"It's okay, Kyuhyun. I'm completely fine. See?" Siwon stood up and walked over to where Kyuhyun was. Holding out his hand, Siwon helped Kyuhyun to his feet and smiled at him. "Completely okay."

"But your foot... and that book was like two thousand pages."

"Still don't believe me?"

"No."

Siwon sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this, but..." And he stooped down to haul Kyuhyun over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, spinning a few times amidst Kyuhyun's shouts, before stopping with Kyuhyun still thrown over his shoulder.

"Believe me now?"

"Put me down!"

"Not till you say I'm fine."

"Put me down!"

"I'm waiting..."

Kyuhyun could feel his blush warming his entire body, making him cringe from the embarrassment of being held in such a way.

"Come on, Kyuhy- ow!"

Siwon's grip on the younger boy loosened enough for him to wriggle free, dropping to his feet as nimbly as a cat would.

"Did you just-"

"Did he just-" 

"Bite me?!" Siwon removed his hand from his neck, and they all stared in awe at the bright tooth marks adorning his skin.

"Told you he bites," Sungmin said with a smug smile.

"That's what you get for provoking me," Kyuhyun huffed, before plopping down next to Changmin.

"Serve yourselves," the miffed boy said, taking Changmin's ice cream, "I'm done babying any of you."

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After they were all done with the ice cream, Kyuhyun stood up to take the bowls and spoons to the sink, with Siwon following quickly after, offering his assistance. Kyuhyun swiftly stepped around the older man and continued on to the kitchen, leaving Siwon to trail behind him like a morose puppy.

Changmin's brow furrowed as he watched the two leave the room.

"So, best friend of Kyuhyun's," Sungmin began, "How long have you been in love with him?"

"In love with who?" Changmin countered.

Sungmin rolled his eyes. "Don't play dumb with me, pretty boy. How long have you been in love with Kyuhyun?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Changmin-ah, that line on your forehead goes five miles deep, and it only appears when those two are together," Zhoumi reasoned.

"That's Changmin-sshi to you," growled the boy.

"Not to mention the serial killer eyes you had on Siwon-sshi when he picked Kyuhyun up like his damsel-in-distress," Sungmin added, ignoring Changmin.

"Wow, it must be tough loving Kyuhyun when you already know why he doesn't want to be in a relationship."

"Well, at least you can rest assured that he won't fall prey to any of his other five thousand suitors."

"Why does Kyuhyun always get all the good ones," Zhoumi mourned.

"Shut. Up." Changmin seethed.

"Don't worry, we won't tell," Sungmin promised.

"Your secret is safe with us. Changmin hwaiting!" Zhoumi cheered.

 "What's going on in here?" Kyuhyun entered the room, amused.

"Oh, nothing."

"Zero."

"Zip."

"Nada."

Changmin wanted to bang his head on the table.

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Walking to the kitchen, all Kyuhyun could focus on was Siwon's gaze boring into his back. As soon as they were both in the room, and out of earshot of the others, Kyuhyun whirled around to confront his pursuer. 

"You can go now. I can take care of these."

"But I want to help."

"Well, I don't want you to."

"Why not?"

"Siwon-"

"You should let people take care of you sometimes, Kyuhyun-ah. Just let me help, yeah?"

They stood staring into each other's eyes, Siwon looking for a way in and Kyuhyun looking for a way out.

Finally, Kyuhyun sighed. "You're drying, then. I don't even want to know what happens when you come into contact with soapy water and dishes."

"Also..." Kyuhyun's eyes drifted down to Siwon's neck.

"... Never mind," he muttered, turning away with a blush.

"It doesn't hurt, you know."

Kyuhyun's blush deepened.

"You should cover it up with a Band-Aid or something," Kyuhyun replied softly, beginning to rinse the dishes. "That way, people don't ask questions."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Yah!" Kyuhyun turned to glare at him. "If you walk into the shop tomorrow with that on you, what are we going to say to your grandmother?!"

"Hi, Halmoni, I got a girlfriend?" 

"... Oh. Right." 

Kyuhyun turned away again. 

"I guess that's an option."

The pair finished cleaning the bowls in silence, and before Siwon was even done drying the last bowl, Kyuhyun had exited the kitchen.

"-Changmin hwaiting!" Zhoumi was yelling as Kyuhyun entered the living room.

Kyuhyun saw Changmin sitting on the floor against the couch, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else other than in between Kyuhyun's two maniacal friends, who seemed as if they were in the process of interrogating the poor boy. 

"What's going on in here?" Kyuhyun asked, smiling at Changmin's pained expression.

"Oh, nothing," Sungmin answered.

"Zero," Zhoumi confirmed.

"Zip."

"Nada."

They both stared at Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun looked over at Changmin, who was giving his best I wanna die get me away from these freaks face, and he laughed. "Okay, I think it's time you let me and Changmin have our apartment back to ourselves. You can visit tomorrow, but for tonight, goodbye," Kyuhyun said, ushering his friends to the door. 

"Aww, but Guixian, we were just getting to the fun part!" Zhoumi protested.

"Bye~" Kyuhyun sang as he pushed his friends out the door, closing it with a satisfying thud. He turned around to talk to Changmin and came face-to-face with Siwon. 

"Oh! Siwon-sshi!" Kyuhyun automatically took a step backward, before he realized he was right up against the door.

Siwon frowned.

"Um, thanks for all your help today, I'll see you tomorrow?" Kyuhyun stammered, trying to think of a good way to get the door open without getting any closer to Siwon.

"Why are you suddenly using 'sshi' on my name? You called me 'hyung' before..." Siwon questioned.

"Oh," Kyuhyun awkwardly chuckled, "Was I? Um..."

"Will you let me pick you up for work tomorrow?" Siwon inquired, stepping closer to the nervous boy. 

By this point, Kyuhyun was ready to scream at Siwon's close proximity, but instead he just said, "Huh? Oh yeah sure, bye now!" With a quick side-step around the older man, Kyuhyun yanked open the door and allowed a perplexed Siwon out before slamming the door shut with a bang. Burying his burning face in his hands, Kyuhyun leaned against the door and slowly slid down till he was sitting on the floor.

What. the. hell. was. that.

"Kyuhyun-ah?"

Kyuhyun nearly screamed again until he realized it was only Changmin, come to inquire why he was taking so long at the door.

Kyuhyun slowly exhaled and rose to his feet. He walked over to Changmin, wrapped his arms around his waist, and rested his head on his best friend's shoulder.

"Tired?" Changmin chuckled.

"Mm..." Kyuhyun mumbled noncommittally. 

"Let's go lie on the couch."

The two walked back to the living room, and Changmin told Kyuhyun to sit while he got a blanket. By the time Changmin returned, Kyuhyun had already lain down and wedged himself as far back into the cushions as possible. He reached out to grab Changmin's shirt, pulling him in to lie down as well. 

"What'd you think of Sungmin and Zhoumi?" Kyuhyun asked once they'd settled, voice quiet, eyes searching Changmin's. 

"They're... interesting?" 

They laughed.

"Sorry if they're nosy. They mean well, they're just curious because I talk about you so much."

"What about Siwon?" Changmin asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's your relationship with him?"

Kyuhyun fought the blush for a moment and pretended to think.

"Hm... acquaintance?"

Changmin was surprised. "Only acquaintance?"

"Well, I've really only known the guy for a month... Hey, are you jealous?"

"What-"

Laughing, Kyuhyun said, "It's okay, you'll always be my best friend, Ming!"

Changmin forced a smile. "Yeah, I'd better be."

Overcome by a sudden wave of drowsiness, Kyuhyun yawned and brought his arm to rest on Changmin's chest and inched his face closer, closing his eyes just as their foreheads touched.

"... 'Night."

Changmin was still for a moment before he put his arm around Kyuhyun's waist and closed his eyes, as well. 

"Goodnight."