Changmin liked to think that his morning started out great.

He got to sleep in because it was not his turn to cook breakfast, Haeun miraculously woke up on her own because she had an important assignment to hand in so Changmin didn’t need to play alarm clock to his older sister and did he mention that it was Gaeun’s turn to whip up breakfast for the family?

His third oldest sister’s cooking was otherworldly.

Waking up to just the right amount of warmth from the sunlight pouring in through his bedroom windows, Changmin had stretched out on his comfy bed like a content cat from a good night sleep that was surprisingly devoid of any illicit dreams that Kyuhyun usually starred in. He had lain on his bed for a moment, just staring at the ceiling and thinking of nothing in particular before dragging himself out of the bed.

Hot water poured down on him, cascading down his spine in rivulets of warmth; soothing his sleep-ridden form. Finished with showering, he had grinned happily when the shower knobs turned smoothly instead of being stuck like always and invoking Changmin’s wrath so early in the morning.

Toweling off and getting himself ready for school, he was pleasantly surprised to see his school uniform was already ironed; undoubtedly the doing of Gaeun because she’s awesome like that. 

After donning his pressed uniform, Changmin went downstairs and was greeted by all of his sisters, including Haeun; another pleasant surprise of the morning.

“Good morning,” he had greeted and was replied with various forms of ‘good morning’.

Gaeun had cooked his favourite that day and he smiled gratefully at his sister. Gaeun’s facial expression hadn’t changed much but he could see fondness shining through his sister’s eyes. Changmin’s heart swelled with love for his sister.

Breakfast was a wonderful affair, to say the least. The siblings ate accompanied by their quiet chatter and the clinking of silverwares. Sarang had gotten a day off; a rare occurrence and Changmin was glad for it. His oldest sister deserved the rest, he had thought as he watched Sarang with her atrocious yet still endearing bed hair and crust of dried drool tainting her cheeks. To see his usually composed and very put together sister so relax and comfortable around them had put a soft smile on his face.

He had walked to school with his two best friends, joking around and not once did Jaejoong or Junsu mentioned Kyuhyun. 

His good mood could only last so long though. Good things don’t last forever, they said.

As they went into the school compound, a familiar sleek car drove past them. They stopped walking to stare at the car when they recognized that it was Kyuhyun’s. 

Parked, Kyuhyun got out of his car. Changmin’s feet involuntarily took a few steps towards him before he realized he was doing so and forced himself to stop. He watched as Kyuhyun went around his car to open the side passenger door.

Changmin’s heart stopped for a beat.

Sungmin got out, smiling disarmingly at Kyuhyun as he slapped Kyuhyun’s chest lightly, saying that he could open the door by himself, thank you very much. Changmin continued to watch with constricted chest as Kyuhyun’s expression became all soft and his gaze, warm before he replied with something that Changmin could not hear from where he was standing but managed to make Sungmin laughed in delight.

Kyuhyun’s face was an odd mixture of fondness and something as he looked at Sungmin.

Changmin ached.

Before he knew, his legs carried him towards the pair and his hands curled into fists. Dimly, he was aware of his friends calling out his name.

Kyuhyun looked up at the sound of him approaching and his expression changed into the aloof and indifferent mask that he always wore around other people. Around people who weren’t Sungmin. Around him.

Something inside Changmin throbbed at the thought.

When he was near, Changmin reached out to Kyuhyun before his nerves failed him and planted a kiss at the corner of his mouth. Kyuhyun stiffened.

Pulling away, he opened his eyes to Kyuhyun’s surprised gaze and Sungmin’s amused one. Deciding that the latter was far more bearable, he turned to Sungmin.

“Morning, Sungmin.”

“Morning, Min,” he replied with a chuckle, looking like he was going to die from too much humor. Changmin did not know what the boy found hilarious with the situation because he was trying not to piss and simultaneously crap his pants whilst avoiding Kyuhyun’s eyes.

“Well, since your boyfriend is here, I’ll get going, Kyuhyun,” Sungmin winked at the two of them and went off his way, leaving them to drown in awkward silence.

Changmin spotted his two friends a few feet away looking dumbfounded and he guessed that they had watched the whole Changmin-crashing-Kyuhyun-and-Sungmin’s-lovey-dovey-fiesta scene played out.

“What.the.?”

Changmin snapped his head around to meet Kyuhyun’s irate gaze. He gulped and willed his voice not to waver as he asked, “what?”

“What did you that for?” Kyuhyun growled and Changmin just couldn’t help but to snap out with, “Considering I’m supposed to be your boyfriend,” Changmin spat out the word like it was poison, “- it goes without saying that I was kissing you good morning in public. Isn’t that what you want when we started out this show?” he raised a condescending eyebrow.

“But you did it front of Sungmin,” Kyuhyun gritted out.

“What does it matter? He knows what’s going on between us,” Changmin fought to steady his voice.

“It matters to me!” Kyuhyun growled out; sharp and cutting. 

Sungmin matters to me was what he meant to say, Changmin thought bitterly.

He could feel the waterworks coming so before he could humiliate himself further, Changmin muttered, “whatever,” before turning away, keeping his eyes low. He would not let Kyuhyun see the pain in his eyes. He refused to.

Jaejoong and Junsu came up to flank him on each side as he walked to the entrance of the school building. Changmin trained his eyes forward, holding in the tears as he felt hands grasping his own in support.

“Are you okay, Minnie?” Junsu whispered in concern.

He nodded, throat closing up and eyes burning.

“I just…I need-”

“Want us to go with you?” Jaejoong asked in understanding despite his jumbled sentence.

He shook his head.

Junsu and Jaejoong loosened their hold on his hands, before completely letting go. Jaejoong reached for his bag.

“We’ll see you in class.” Junsu said softly before they went down the hallway, headed to their classroom.

Changmin sought out the nearest restroom and closed the door behind him.

He went to the bank of sinks opposite from the toilet stalls and opened the tap. Cold water gushed out and Changmin cupped his hand to scoop up some water. He splashed his face with it, washing away the luckily yet to fall tears from his eyes before closing the tap. 

Changmin clenched the rim of the sink as droplets of water trailed down his face. He took in gasps of air to regain his composure and will the knot in his chest to unravel even for just a bit. 

The sounds of a toilet being flushed and a door being opened broke his reverie and Changmin looked up. A pair of eyes met his still red eyes through the mirror.

“Uh- I can go back in the stall if you want,” the boy stuttered out after a few seconds of awkward staring.

Changmin couldn’t help but to let out a watery chuckle.                          

Somehow Changmin found himself sitting side by side with the unfamiliar boy on the dirty toilet floor. Like, just sitting, no words exchanged between the two of them. Changmin had managed to get ahold of his self during the whole comfortable silence shenanigans, thankfully.

After a while, the first bell rang, a warning to the students to get their asses to the classroom for first period. The boy stood up and offered a helping hand. Changmin took it and let himself be pulled up, straightening his clothes.

“Thank you,” Changmin uttered, embarrassed.

“I didn’t do anything,” the boy laughed.

“Changmin, right?”

“Uh, yes but how did you-” Changmin looked at the boy suspiciously.

“The whole being Choi Kyuhyun’s boyfriend thing is bound to make your name known by the entire student body,” the boy teased but Changmin’s expression dimmed. If the boy noticed, he didn’t say anything about it.

“Well, I’m Kangin,” the boy stuck his hand out for a handshake but Changmin could only stand there, gaping at the boy.

The story of my life, Changmin groaned internally.

“Sungmin’s boyfriend?”

“Yup,” Kanging grinned charmingly before looking at his offered hand pointedly.

Changmin hastened to shake his hand.

“Bye, Changmin. If you’re looking for a friend to hang out in the toilet with, just ask me,” Kangin smiled with mirth before opening the door and left the poor flushed Changmin behind.

Sungmin is so lucky.

Changmin huffed as he pushed open the door to the classroom. Thankfully the teacher hadn’t arrived yet. 

He wondered about Kangin. From his brief interaction with him, he could tell that the older boy was a good guy. He didn’t push Changmin to tell him what happened despite his obvious teary eyes. Just sitting with him made Changmin feel calm because Kangin’s presence was not demanding. He was there just for the sake of being there, a soothing presence. If Kangin was already like that with a stranger, he wondered how Kangin is with Sungmin.

Sungmin was one lucky guy.

A nice boyfriend and a nice childhood friend. 

Well, the niceness of said childhood friend only applied to Sungmin but his point still stand.

Changmin sighed wearily. The day had not even begun yet he was emotionally drained already. He glanced up as he was walking to his seat to see Junsu and Jaejoong comically raised their eyebrows in question. He summoned the energy to give his two friends two thumbs up and a smile. 

Just as he was sitting down, his eyes caught Kyuhyun’s from across the class and he froze.

Look away. Shim Changmin, I order you to look away.

With a great amount of self-restrain which he didn’t know he possess, Changmin managed to drag his eyes away just in time as Madam Choi entered the classroom.

Changmin cursed colorfully as he struggled to carry a stack of book. By now, Changmin had decided that Kim Heechul despised him. The young teacher wouldn’t even let him ask help from another student.

His arms trembled in exhaustion and Changmin heaved heavy breaths. He was regretting his decision going to Heechul for help with school work. He should have learned his lesson the first time the young teacher took advantage of his delicate, emphatic soul.

“Damn administration building. Who the hell came up with the idea to make a separate building? If I ever met them, I’ll fuc-”

A book at the top of the book tower teetered dangerously and Changmin wobbled side to side  to save it from falling to its demise. Alas, to no avail.

He watched with abject misery as the book toppled from the stack, dragging a few of the other books down with it.

A pair of hands intercepted their fall, catching them with surprising reflex and agility.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” at the playful tone, Changmin looked up and was not surprised to see a grinning Sungmin.

Changmin laughed, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“What’s up with you and books anyway?” as Sungmin spoke, his hands moved to grab half of the books from the stack before Changmin could stop him. He wouldn’t anyway because his arms were about to fall off.

“Guess,” Changmin grunted as he resumed his walk, Sungmin trailing beside him.

“Mr. Kim Heechul?”

“Yup.”

Sungmin laughed.

As they walked and he let Sungmin’s voice washed over him, Changmin stared at his side profile.

Sungmin was pretty cute. He’s got nice cheekbones, hair styled so that his bangs swept gently across his forehead, cute pointed nose and pouty thin lips that perfected his boy-next-door look.

Changmin leaned back a bit and took a peek.

…he’s got nice too.

Let’s not go there, Shim.

He muffled a sigh.

“…..he’s so irritating!” Sungmin huffed and looked at him like he was expecting Changmin to agree with him.

“Uh, yeah. Irritating,” Changmin gave a convincing smile.

“I don’t know how you put up with him. I mean, he’s already exasperating as a friend. I don’t want to know how he’s like as a boyfriend.”

Oh.

Oh.

“Uh, well, I guess Kyuhyun’s pretty okay. As fake boyfriends go,” Changmin shrugged half-heartedly.

He’s super okay if the word fake doesn’t exist in the equation.

Sungmin looked at him; half inquisitive, half disbelief.

“Really? What’s he like?”

Are we seriously having this conversation right now?!

Changmin floundered for words to describe the love of his life to the love of his life’s love interest. Talk about awkward.

“He’s…nice. I mean, no offense but he’s not really a great Samaritan in normal everyday situations but when it comes to playing a good boyfriend, he nailed it. Also, he’s surprisingly intuitive and caring. Kyuhyun’s also funny in his own cynical way. He can be sweet when he actually tries. He looks adorable when he’s sleeping. When he smiles, it kind of light up his eyes; he looks good with a smile. He’s still brutally honest but I guess it is one of his charms that makes him, him. Kyuhyun also doesn’t like broccoli. I noticed it whenever- what?” Changmin stopped abruptly when he noticed Sungmin smiling at him like there was something he knew that Changmin didn’t.

“Nothing. Carry on,” Sungmin said but there was a teasing note in his voice.

“Uh- So, yeah,” Changmin ended, face flushing in embarrassment. 

Sungmin chuckled, “I see.”

Changmin hid his burning face behind the books. 

“Well, I admit it’s a bit different. He always teases me, you know? Ever since we were kids. He knows that I like pink. When it comes to my favourite color, he always turns into a little . I mean, just because a boy likes the colour, it doesn’t make him less of a boy, you know? Or girly or-” Sungmin ranted on but Changmin didn’t seem to be able to hear his next words.

He could see Sungmin’s mouth moved but his brain had gone into static and the only thing he could hear was white noise. His heart and head pounded before he felt like he was being pulled away although his legs weren’t actually moving. Like there was a switch being flicked over.

Move aside.

Everything turned black.

Changmin blinked.

He winced as the pain registered in his mind. His cheek sting and his nose throbbed. Everything hurts. Bringing a hand up to his nose, he was shocked to see his hand came away bloody. 

Changmin did not remember how he ended up on the floor.

Then, he noticed a pair of legs in front of him. He looked up.

Kyuhyun was staring him down, eyes unfamiliarly cold with his fists raised in defense. Changmin noticed spots of blood on Kyuhyun’s knuckles and he glanced at Sungmin that was standing behind Kyuhyun, looking at him with concern but also with something akin to horror. Sungmin’s left cheek sported an ugly bruise.

A pair of arms came around him to help him up but for the life of him, he could not look away from Kyuhyun’s eyes that was gazing at him with…anger?

“Wh-what happened?” he croaked out.

“Ask yourself what happened,” Kyuhyun glared.

“Kyuhyun. Enough.”

Changmin glanced back to see Jaejoong glaring at Kyuhyun with his teeth bared. Junsu was holding Changmin up as his legs felt so weak, putting his arm around his shoulders to offer better support.

Kyuhyun scoffed before turning away to check on Sungmin.

“Are you okay?” Changmin watched as Kyuhyun grasped Sungmin’s chin to look over his bruise.

“Y-yeah. It doesn’t hurt much. I’ve been worse before,” Sungmin said to Kyuhyun without moving his eyes away from Changmin.

Kyuhyun sighed, “Let’s just go the infirmary to put ice on it,” he turned, guiding Sungmin away without sparing a glance towards Changmin’s way.

Changmin watched their backs until they were gone from his sight, all the while holding his side.

“What happened, Jae?” he winced when the words were uttered. Add split lips to the injuries.

Jaejoong only offered a sad, sympathetic smile to his friend.

“Let’s get you home first, Minnie.”

                                 
*ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIIIIIN. BRACE YOURSELF, PEOPLE. CHOO CHOOOOO*

MAN, WRITING FORMAT FOR PHONES I TELL YA.  SORRY FOR THE BAD QUALITY PEEPS BUT WHEN THE IDEAS COME,  U GOTTA LET THEM COME AND GO BAT CRAZY ON YA. 

I DON'T KNOW WHY I LOVE TO WRITE !KYUHYUN AND HEARTBROKEN!CHANGMIN. I'M STARTING TO THINK THAT I'M ACTUALLY A SECRET SADIST

*epiphany*

anyway, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, PRETTY PLEASE?