Onstage

            “Kyuhyun-ssi!” Lina said, tapping on the open door of Kyuhyun’s dressing room.

            Kyuhyun looked over from where he was sitting as the makeup artists were trying to attach his microphone and headpiece to his head.  The women groaned and gave her dirty looks for halting all their progress with her interruption, but she paid them no mind.

            “Look what I was sent,” she said, showing off a white and purple orchid plant.  “Isn’t this just precious?”

            Kyuhyun nodded, not really sure why his costar was bothering to show him her newest delivery.  She received several bouquets and other such gifts during each performance and she’d never bothered to show him any of them before.  Some of them were much more impressive looking than that one, in fact.

            “I suppose it’s nice to get a plant instead of a bouquet since it won’t die,” he said, grasping at straws, trying to figure out what was unique about it.

            Lina just smiled in amusement, leaning in to smell the delicate petals, and waited until the women were done securing the head ornamentation he wore in the opening act and left the room before she further explained herself.  Then she procured the card from the inside of the plant and passed it to Kyuhyun.  He gave her a puzzled look and then read the small card.

            Wishing you a successful and smooth performance…especially when you are paired with such an arrogant costar!  –Kim Ryeowook

            Kyuhyun laughed and handed her back the card.  “Why would he send you such a puny little plant though?”

            “Orchids are actually expensive and hard to keep,” she corrected him.  “I’m going to have to be careful not to kill it.”

            Kyuhyun smacked his hand against the counter, narrowing his eyes.  “He’s trying to one-up me!  He doesn’t want me giving my costars nicer flowers than he does, the little twerp.”

            Lina’s eyes widened at Kyuhyun’s words and she began to laugh.  “Are you two in some sort of competition?”

            “He knows I’ve given you flowers before and he wants to make sure his are better than mine!” Kyuhyun said, completely indignant at the idea that his husband would try to outdo him for some reason.  “Why would he even bother sending flowers today, of all days?  It would have made more sense if he’d sent them during our first performance together.”

            “Perhaps I thought it would be more fitting to send them on the day I attended the performance,” came his husband’s familiar voice from the doorway.

            “Ah, Ryeowook-ssi!” Lina cried out excitedly, rushing over to Ryeowook, who was leaning against the doorway, and wrapping her free arm around the petite man.  “Thank you so much for the plant.  It is so beautiful!”

            “You’re welcome,” Ryeowook said, hugging her back.  “You deserve something for putting up with my husband, although you certainly deserve more than this.”

            “Nonsense!  He’s been wonderful to work with!  He’s never in a bad mood,” she defended him.  “He must be well taken care of at home and never in want of anything because about the only complaint he ever has is that he never gets enough sleep, which I assume is his own fault.”

            Ryeowook nods.  “True.  He plays too many games.”

            Kyuhyun wrinkled his nose, but didn’t bother denying the claim.

            “Well,” Lina said, looking from Ryeowook to Kyuhyun, “I ought to finish getting ready before I get yelled at for falling behind.  Promise me you’ll say good-bye before you head up to take your seat.”

            “I will,” Ryeowook said, moving out of the way to let the actress out.

            At this point, Kyuhyun had stood up and walked over to the door.  He gently grabbed Ryeowook’s forearm and tugged him into the room and closed the door behind him.  Then he cupped his husband’s face and kissed him without saying a word.  After a long moment, he pulled away and looked down at Ryeowook adoringly.  “You came.”

            Ryeowook looked away, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.  “You knew I would.”

            “A whole month has gone by…I was starting to think I was wrong,” Kyuhyun admitted, reaching up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Ryeowook’s ear. 

             “I was just giving you a hard time,” Ryeowook claimed, touching the smooth fabric of Kyuhyun’s costume with his fingers.  “I always intended to come see it.”

            Kyuhyun leaned in and kissed his husband’s cheek.  “I love you so much.”

            “I love you more…but stop kissing me before you ruin your makeup and you have to try to explain how you messed it up,” Ryeowook lectured him.  “You can kiss me all you want at home.”

            “I’m not going to ruin my makeup,” smiled Kyuhyun, holding onto his husband tight.  “I’m barely touching you with my lips.  This isn’t some full-fledged make out session.”

            Ryeowook just glared at him and smacked his chest playfully.

            “Did you come alone?”

            “Are you insane?” Ryeowook asked, finally breaking away from him and walking into the dressing room.  “I asked Zhoumi to come with me.”

            “He isn’t going to come and say hi?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “A little later.  I told him I wanted to surprise you,” Ryeowook informed him.

            “How romantic,” Kyuhyun said, placing his hand over his heart before he continued to get ready. 

            “He’s also waiting upstairs for Jino because we have his ticket,” Ryeowook explained.

            “Jino?  Is he coming too?  How did you plan to meet up with him?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “I ran into him the last time I was at SM headquarters a couple weeks ago and we were talking about your musical.  He said he really wanted to go, so I invited him to come with,” Ryeowook informed him. 

            “Ah, that was really nice of you.  I haven’t seen him in a while,” Kyuhyun admitted.

            “I think he could use a little encouragement, from the sound of it.”

            Kyuhyun looked over from adjusting his costume in the mirror and frowned.  “I remember those days.”

            “I think we had it kind of easy, since we skipped out on years of training like the others did,” Ryeowook pointed out.

            Kyuhyun nodded.  “True.  Maybe I should hang out with the kid sometime when the performances are over and let him vent a little,” he suggested.

            “I think that’s a good idea.  He clearly looks up to you after working with you on the ballads.”

            Kyuhyun turned back to the mirror to straighten out his costume and changed the subject, deciding to tease his attractive husband a little.  “So…how come you sent my costar flowers, but you didn’t give me anything?”

            “Oh, I’m going to give you something…you’re just going to have to wait until you get home later,” Ryeowook informed him.

            Kyuhyun’s jaw dropped at his husband’s words and he looked over his shoulder at Ryeowook, surprised that he’d say something so bold where he might be overheard.  “I hope to God that was a ual reference!”

            “It might have been,” Ryeowook flirtatiously responded, leaning against the wall and folding his arms over his chest.

            “Ah!” Kyuhyun sighed in frustration.  “Why did you have to come to the early performance?  I’m going to be thinking about you all day now!”

            “I think you just answered your own question.”

            “Such a mean husband!” Kyuhyun said, returning to his side and kissing him once again.

            “I’m going to the Vanilla Acoustic Concert tonight, remember?” Ryeowook said.

            “Ah, that’s right,” Kyuhyun nodded.

            There was a knock at the door then and Kyuhyun walked over to the door and opened it, where Zhoumi and Jino waited to greet him. 

            “Hey!” Kyuhyun enthusiastically greeted them.

            “Hello!” Zhoumi smiled back.

            Jino, acting shy, held up his hand and waved, but Kyuhyun was not about to let the boy act withdrawn around him and hugged him.  “I was so surprised when Wookie said you were coming with!  Thank you for coming out to support me!”

            “You’re welcome, hyung.”

            “It’s too bad that you didn’t come to the later performance so you can come out with me afterwards and tell me what you’ve been up to, but you’ll have to promise me to go have dinner with me later or to come over to the apartment some time and catch up with me,” Kyuhyun said, keeping his arm slung around the youngster’s shoulders. 

            “We would have been down sooner, but I kept running into people I know,” Zhoumi confessed. 

            “That’s okay,” Kyuhyun said, waving it off.  “I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw Wookie since he kept claiming he wouldn’t come.”

            Ryeowook merely shook his head.  “You knew I’d come.  I’m a complete pushover when it comes to you.”

            Kyuhyun walked over to his bag and dug out his phone.  “I wonder if Lina or one of the makeup artists would take a picture of us together.  Grab the next person that walks by, would you, Zhoumi.”

            Ryeowook peaked his head out the door and grimaced.  “You sure you want the old fat guy with the b