Breaking Up

            There was incessant knocking on the door just as Ryeowook was trying to put dinner into the oven.  How people managed to have such bad timing when stopping by the apartment was beyond him.  “I’ll be right there!” he hollered, rushing.  Once the pot was in the oven, he ran for the door and cracked it open.  “Henry!” he exclaimed, quickly opening the door wide.  “What brings you here?”

            Henry rolled his eyes.  “Min and Hyuk are arguing downstairs and I needed an escape.  I was hoping you would invite me over for dinner.”

            “Of course,” Ryeowook said, ushering the boy into the apartment.  “I’m still used to making enough food to feed about a dozen people, so we always have extra.  What were they fighting about?”

            “Lovers’ quarrel of some sort.  I didn’t stay to listen in.  It was loud and full of waterworks,” he admitted.  “It’s not that you and Kyu have never had fights over the years, but they’re never quite as dramatic as the ones that they have.  I prefer to take my chances with you two.”

            Ryeowook instantly wondered about this.  It seemed to him that their nine month relationship had been abnormally rocky.  It wasn’t a good sign.  Usually the beginning of a relationship went abnormally well because both parties were still on a high from being in a new relationship and the real problems didn’t begin until months or even years later.  Theirs began right away.  Would their problems only get worse as time went by?

            “I’ll have to quiz them about it later,” Ryeowook only said, heading back to the kitchen.  “I’m making a new recipe from one of the cook books I got for a present at our wedding.  It’s fried chicken.”

            “That sound delicious, hyung.”

            “I still need to finish making the mashed potatoes, so if you want to talk, you’ll have to come with me.  Kyuhyun will be back from work any minute,” Ryeowook said.

            “Where’s he at today?”

            “You’ll have to ask him when he gets here.  I honestly can’t remember without looking at the calendar and I’m beyond the point of worrying about where he’s at most of the time,” Ryeowook said, checking on his green beans.  “Do you want rice with this?  I can make some if you do?”

            “No, no!” Henry said, shaking his head.  “Fried chicken and mashed potatoes is just fine.  Trust me!  Do you want any help?”

            Only if he wanted his dinner burnt.  “No thanks,” Ryeowook said.  “You can set the table though.  And bring out the milk.”

            “Sure,” Henry said.  “Are we eating in here or in the dining room?”

            “In the kitchen is fine.  Less moving food around.  Are you going to hang out after dinner?  I’m heading out to Sukira later, so I’m sure that Kyuhyun wouldn’t mind the company.”

            “I’m sorry, no.  I have practice with my band later.  I confess I was just stopping by to eat and to get out of the dorm.  I thought of going to the upper dorm, but Donghae’s gone and there’s no food.” 

            It was no secret that the boy preferred the other members of Super Junior M over that of the other Super Junior members that weren’t in the subgroup.  He just didn’t know them as well.  And Leeteuk, Heechul, and Kangin were so much older than him, they had less in common with him.  If Donghae wasn’t around, he wasn’t a big fan of hanging out with the rest of them, and Donghae was currently avoiding the dorms.  He was in the midst of writing music for his upcoming album with Hyukjae.  Ryeowook had heard some of the music already and was blown away by it.  Donghae had become a dynamite writer in the last few years.  When he’d first heard the song Still You from their last album, he remembered having tears in his eyes.  He couldn’t wait to see what Donghae came up with next.

            “Did I hear right that the song Love That I Need is going to be on the upcoming D&E album?” Ryeowook asked.

            “For the special edition, I think,” Henry said, nodding as he grabbed three plates.

            “That’s a NoizeBank song, isn’t it?”

            “We wrote the music, Hae and Hyuk wrote the lyrics,” Henry explained, setting the table.

            Ryeowook nodded, taking the potatoes off the stove to drain them.  “It’s nice that you’ll be on the album.  Perhaps someday they’ll let me do a song with them.”

            “Jealous, hyung?”

            “Well, everyone else has been doing solo albums or duets…when will it be my turn?” he wondered. 

            “I was wondering the same thing!”

            “Of course, you and Donghae are better at writing music than I am,” Ryeowook admitted.

            “But Kyu doesn’t write music at all and he’s going to have a solo album,” Henry pointed out.

            Ryeowook sighed.  “I know.  But I’m very happy for him, of course.”

            “Well, yeah…but you still deserve to have one as well,” Henry said.

            “Someday,” Ryeowook said, shrugging his shoulders.  “I’m looking forward to when Yesung comes back next spring as well.  I think we’re planning on recording almost immediately.  Once Shindong and Sungmin leave for their service time, I’m not sure how much we’ll be doing with Super Junior activities.  So, at least we’ll still have KRY projects to keep us busy.”

            “It will be so weird when you guys start leaving for your service duty,” Henry said, sticking out his lower lip.  “Do you think we’ll stop doing SJM activities once Min’s gone?”

            “It won’t be very long afterwards that Siwon, Donghae, and Hyukjae will leave.  That will be half our group,” Ryeowook pointed out, trying not to laugh at the youngster’s disappointment.  “So you’ll just have to concentrate on your solo career for a little while.”

            “Amber has her solo album coming out in November as well,” Henry pointed out.

            “So I heard,” Ryeowook said.  “I bet she’s excited.”

            “And nervous.”

            “But she works hard on her music.  Any of them collaborations with Noizebank?”

            “I Just Wanna,” he responded.

            “You’re not featured in any of the songs though?”

            “You don’t think it would look a bit obvious if we always participated in each other’s projects?  You know how this goes.  As is, having her featured in my single 1-4-3 was risky enough.”

            “I didn’t think you two seemed overly flirty in the video or anything,” Ryeowook pointed out.

            “The video wasn’t the problem.  The live performances were,” Henry said, setting out glasses.

            “Ah,” Ryeowook said, nodding.  “You have less experience suppressing your natural tendencies.  Kyuhyun and I have this down to an art at this point.”

            Henry looked over at Ryeowook, his brows furrowed.  “You’re not perfect.”

            “We’re not perfect at what?” Kyuhyun asked, entering the kitchen.

            Ryeowook instantly lit up at seeing his husband.  “At hiding our relationship from fans on the air.”

            Kyuhyun walked over to Ryeowook and cupped his face, kissing him several times.  “We’re experts at it!”

            Henry rolled his eyes.  “Yeah.”

            “Oh, humor us a little,” Ryeowook said, laughing when Kyuhyun began to tickle his waist.  “I didn’t say we were completely perfect, but we’ve been doing this for years now and people believe that fake ships are real instead of us, like EunHae.”

            “But they totally try to look like they’re sleeping together,” Henry pointed out.  “I mean, my God!  I wouldn’t pretend to do half the things they do together just to gain popularity.  I’m not that good of friends with any man!”

            “Ah, Henry,” Kyuhyun said, walking across the kitchen and wrapping his arms around his dongsaeng.  “Are you a little homophobic?”

            Henry hugged him back.  “I’m not afraid of hugging anyone.  They do much worse things than that.  If I didn’t personally know better, I would think they’re dating as well.  No one will suspect Hyuk and Min are together as long as Donghae’s in the picture.”

            Kyuhyun laughed and released Henry. 

            “What brings you here?  Did you miss me?” Kyuhyun asked, loosening his tie. 

            “Hyuk and Minnie are having a fight upstairs,” Ryeowook told him.

            Kyuhyun’s brows rose at the news.  “Again?”

            “Can I just move in to your apartment?” Henry asked.

            “We do have that spare room,” Kyuhyun said, thinking.

            “That’s not a spare room.  That’s my music room,” Ryeowook reminded him.  “And a temporary guest room.  You can stay for a few nights, but not forever.”

            “I thought you loved me?” Henry questioned.

            “I also love walking around the apartment in the morning,” Ryeowook told him.

            “I love him walking around the apartment too,” Kyuhyun confessed.  “So you’re outnumbered.  Feel free to stop by for dinner though.”

            “That’s not fair, hyung,” Henry complained, starting to pout.

            Kyuhyun reached over and ruffled Henry’s hair.  “You’d rather not move in.  Ryeowook would start imposing curfews on you like he does me.”

            “I do not,” Ryeowook said, wrinkling his nose as he began to mash the potatoes.

            “Oh yeah?  What time did you tell me to come home from Minho’s last week?”

            “That’s different.  You had an early morning schedule the next day,” Ryeowook defended himself.

            Kyuhyun gave Henry a pointed look.  “As I was saying, feel free to drop by for dinner anytime.  Don’t stop for breakfast though.  We might not be dressed yet.”

            Henry shook his head.  “Newlyweds,” he mumbled to himself.