Any last words?

Zhoumi never felt so out of place; he was beyond uncomfortable. The poor boy never imagined that after finally asking his long-time crush out, he would end up spying his friend’s date as if it was the most common thing in the whole world.

He thought Kyuhyun would be a normal person for at least a couple of minutes so they could hang out and know each other a little better. Maybe watching a nice film and holding hands by the end of the night—a short goodbye kiss would do too. However, that was clearly not the case. Kyuhyun had to kill any expectation Zhoumi had for the night. He just had.

Frankly speaking, Zhoumi should have suspected something was wrong. Kyuhyun and he never really talked aside from when Henry and Donghae were too engrossed in each other; they were merely acquainted. Something inside his head should have warned him that when Kyuhyun showed up one night in front of his house, even when he was sure no one but Henry knew where he lived. The younger asked if he knew what kinds of allergies Henry had; it was odd, an out of place question, but the taller answered anyway. A creepy smile spread all over Kyuhyun’s face when Zhoumi assured him that Henry was a fine kid with a perfect. It wasn’t uncommon for Kyuhyun to be super creepy and mysterious sometimes, yet that smile was one of the first signs out of many Zhoumi failed to see until it was too late.

The clock showed a quarter to seven when they headed to the place that Kyuhyun specially picked for them. It was a retro 1950s cafe barely crowded somewhere near downtown. Zhoumi once had a lunch in one of those and totally loved the concept, everything was so colorful and all the employees used the bright fashion of that time. An early summer feeling surrounded the place.

“It’s really nice,” Zhoumi commented when they entered the welcoming bright red door and his eyes were killed by all the intense colors and the checkered floor.

“Not really my style, but it’ll have to do for the night.” he barely heard Kyuhyun say.

And that was another sign that the taller one let pass.

When Kyuhyun picked the very last table right beside the window, hidden from everyone else, Zhoumi thought it was an awkward decision because he would totally prefer the balcony because of the rotating chairs. However, he remained silent just to please the other. Besides, they could be touchier if no one was looking at them.

“What would you like?” the taller one asked, reading the menu without much interest. “My treat,”

“Do we really need to ask something?” he countered with a somewhat displeased tone.

Zhoumi looked up to meet with bored eyes and raised an eyebrow.

“I guess so. Otherwise, we’re just occupying a table and they will kick us out sooner or later,”

Kyuhyun sighed, giving in. They ended up asking for some sandwiches with fries and milkshakes.

An awkward silence filled the whole table a second later. Zhoumi had the feeling that Kyuhyun didn’t mind it at all; it was almost as if he didn’t want to talk to him. The tall boy felt uneasy for the first time in that night. He really wanted that to work out because, heck, he wouldn’t have a chance like that anytime soon.

But what if it was just one-sided, what if Kyuhyun just accepted going out with him because he was pitiful? There were so many questions around his mind, he felt flustered with it. He had been liking Kyuhyun for almost a year now, but never really talked with him alone because it was just plain awkward how the younger didn’t say a thing and refused to make any eye contact. Zhoumi didn’t know what the younger liked or disliked either, so it was a simple shoot in the dark if he started a conversation. He could possibly say something that would sound bad on Kyuhyun’s ears and they would never talk again.

If it weren’t for Henry dragging him everywhere to flirt shamelessly with Donghae, he wouldn’t have met Kyuhyun and crushed on him instantaneously. They were too different to work out as regular friends, what the hell was he thinking when he started seeing the grumpy boy with other eyes? When did he start to have those fantasies about both of them dating? Oh, yeah, right. It was because of Henry; plenty of things in his life were Henry’s fault, by the way.

The boy nodded to himself mentally, concluding that, at the end of the day, Henry was the one to blame.

“Thanks, buddy,” he mumbled, already giving up on the supposed date. What was the point anyway? It wasn’t like Kyuhyun was even willing to talk to him.

What a shame, he thought quietly, I’m here only for ten minutes and already wanna go back home to pity myself while listening to some sad old songs. That’s awful.

“Said something?” Kyuhyun asked, still looking through the window.

“No.” What was so interesting about that window after all? Was he waiting for someone?

Zhoumi only shook his head to take away all the thoughts that would certainly drive him insane. It was better to look around and find something to hook his attention.

He started to check the vintage posters on the wall, but even if pop art wasn’t his cup of tea, it was what he had for the time being. Each one of them was colorful and bright and all the Marilyn Monroe’s portraits had him wondering if she was the only icon of that time. Then, his eyes met Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl and he frowned, it was a little bit odd to put one thing from 1963 in a 1950s fashion sensed cafe.

“They’re late,” Kyuhyun’s exasperated tone brought him back to reality.

“What?”

“Henry and Donghae. They’re ten minutes late.”

Zhoumi didn’t know why Kyuhyun was thinking about those two when they were supposed to be on a date by that time. Maybe their own “date” was so awful that the other started to think about other couples and ask himself what was wrong with their own. At least, that was what Zhoumi had been doing for the last minutes.

He only hoped that Donghae would finally ask Henry to be his boyfriend by the end of the night in the name of Zhoumi’s sanity. If he had to listen one more time to how Donghae’s abs were so tempting and Donghae’s lips seemed so soft… argh! He would definitely kill someone. No. He would definitely kill Henry.

The sound of a bell ringing brought him back again, his eyes widened as he saw his two friends entering the cafe. What the hell?

“Finally! I was starting to think Donghae was a big craven,” Kyuhyun mumbled, looking down at the happy couple in front of them. “Ugh. They are so… lovey dovey,”

“I think it’s nice,” Zhoumi mumbled shyly.

“Yeah, if you wanna throw up.”

Zhoumi envied Donghae right now; Henry seemed so into him that it was ridiculous for everyone around them. In addition, the look in their eyes was so full of reciprocal love and affection! He wished Kyuhyun were slightly like that with him… Who was he trying to kid? Kyuhyun wouldn’t fall for him in a thousand years; they didn’t even have any sort of relationship to begin with.

Both of them observed quietly as the couple picked their table on the other side of the cafe. Donghae’s back was facing them and Henry was probably too into their conversation to actually look up and see Zhoumi and Kyuhyun.

“Want to invite them to sit with us?” the taller suggested, ready to raise his hand.

The look that Kyuhyun gave him would kill anyone in less than a second. Zhoumi froze on the spot. He was certain that he would ask if he was crazy in a second.

“Are you crazy?!” the boy hissed, “Do you want they to know that we’re here?”

And that was how Zhoumi had become self-conscious of the whole situation. The poor boy felt his face blush as deeper as it could instantaneously. He really had misunderstood it all. And did it pretty bad.

He shook his head in shame and shut up right away.

If he were a little bit less blind by his feelings towards Kyuhyun, he could have discovered it earlier. That wasn’t a date at all, they were just shamelessly spying on their friend’s date because… oh hell! He didn’t even know the reason. It became clear why they just sat there for almost half an hour without a single talk and why Kyuhyun seemed so interested in the door.

Why was he so dumb? God knew how much he wanted the ground to open and eat him up right now. He just hoped that Kyuhyun didn’t realize he was there with second intentions.

Moreover, that was exactly how he just awkwardly followed the script and just started to spy too. It felt weird to do it and he had label himself as an official creep now. He just wanted to get up, apologize to their friends and hide in a cave so he would never have to face Kyuhyun again.

If he knew that things would turn out like that… yeah, he should have definitely stayed home, waiting for Henry to come and start to worship Donghae until late of night.

Kyuhyun was becoming more and more impatient as the time went by and when their food arrived, he just ate it all, putting his frustration into chewing the food angrily. Zhoumi kind understood the boy; seeing Henry and Donghae have a date really because they were like a goddamned pair of teens who just turned twelve and were trying to have their first relationship. He didn’t even need to hear their conversation to know how it was and what they were talking about.

“So you like music that much, huh?” Donghae would ask with a half smirk on his face and Henry would blush.

“Kind of… I’ve been playing the violin since I was seven.” the chubby boy would reply shyly.

“That’s why you’re so talented!” Then, Donghae would occasionally touch Henry’s hand softly, making both of them blush hard.

“Thanks,”

Zhoumi had that image very clear in his mind; he didn’t need to be some kind of clairvoyant to know how both of their night would end. The cute couple over there would still be friends and they would have spent their night for nothing.

Suddenly all the giggles and not that discrete skinship between them was somehow making him sick too. Zhoumi knew it wouldn’t lead to a single thing. Why couldn’t they just go straightforward to it and have a decent talk without the entire blush? Really, it wasn’t that hard. Besides, he didn’t want to be stuck the whole night with them just so they end up doing nothing.

They were hopeless.

“You’re right. I want to throw up now,” Zhoumi confessed, massaging his temples.

Kyuhyun smirked. “I know. Henry is too shy and Donghae won’t know the right time to confess.”

“Are we really going to waste our night like this?” the taller let out an exasperated growl.

It would be so much better to go home and mentally prepare for whatever Henry would throw on him because of that date. He would certainly be woken in the middle of the night because of that chipmunk, they would talk until the sun rose, Zhoumi would become a zombie because he didn’t have proper sleep time, and he would regret coming with Kyuhyun because he didn’t have any changes to begin with.

Why life so hard?

“So… you want them to hurry a little?” Zhoumi felt a shiver run down his spine, what was Kyuhyun planning? “Am I right?”

Deep inside, he knew Kyuhyun was planning something really screwed up that would bring them many problems. However, he just wanted to go home just to feel sorry for himself so he ignored his instinct. Besides, it wouldn’t be that bad, right? Kyuhyun was a kind of a mad scientist sometimes but he wouldn’t kill someone… right?

“Yeah…” the taller answered cautiously.

“Just remember it’s your fault, okay? I was totally fine but you kept pressuring me…” he started with a fake innocent tone that contrasted a lot with the huge smirk on his face. “And I’m a really influenceable person, you know?”

“What?” Zhoumi was slightly confused right know, not to say the opposite.

“Don’t worry. That’s what I’ll say to the police if something goes wrong.”

“Wait. What?!”

Kyuhyun only smiled at him and patted his shoulder with a “not my problem” expression. That was their first skin contact since they first met, but Zhoumi couldn’t enjoy it fully. What was going to happen?

The taller one thought the younger was only joking and relaxed little, enjoying the quick feeling of Kyuhyun’s hand on his shoulder. It didn’t last as much as he wanted to because his mind alarmed him again when Kyuhyun asked one of the waitresses to deliver a sandwich filled up with lots and lots of chili to the “two guys over there” with the sweetest smile he could ever make.

The waiter blushed and so did Zhoumi. The boy thought that an angel had come down earth for a slight second. He wanted to picture that smile in his mind forever.

“Your smile is beautiful,” Zhoumi let out without realizing, he was still mesmerized.

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow with an amused expression and their eyes locked.

“Thanks. Yours too,”

Zhoumi blush deepened more than he would like to admit to himself as his whole existence was into those beautiful dark orbs. Every single little thing about Kyuhyun seemed so perfect in his eyes.

However, as soon as the younger one looked away, his mind started working again, slowly linking all the points. If Kyuhyun asked for a spicy sandwich, then…

“Are you crazy?!” the tall boy hissed briskly, looking horrified at the younger one. “Do you want to go to jail?!”

“Please, don’t be over dramatic and just listen. Donghae can’t stand spicy food, his throat closes instantaneously unless he has his medication, which is with me,” He showed Zhoumi a little bottle of said medicament. “He has this habit around Henry, you know, eating without swallowing properly just to talk with his ‘lover’ more, so he won’t even realize what he’s eating until he starts suffocating,”

The taller one couldn’t understand properly what the younger was saying because it was just too surreal to be true. What kind of person would about a plan like this? Kyuhyun, apparently. It was his best friends they were talking about, you couldn’t just suffocate you best friend because he had no balls! What about playing around with life? That was not how things worked.

“Are you listening to yourself?! You can’t do that!”

Kyuhyun looked right into his eyes and Zhoumi felt that the matter was much deeper than he was seeing. Yet he couldn’t let something like that happen in front of his eyes, he couldn’t just do nothing. Henry was going to be shocked forever.

“I’ll go and save Donghae so they can have that ‘I don’t wanna lose you again so I love you’ time that always happens in films. It’s actually pretty simple,” Both of them had a small eye-to-eye talk that Zhoumi sadly lost. “Just stay here, pay our food and do whatever I tell you. Got it?”

“Kyuhyun, no. This is beyond irresponsible.”

“Don’t worry. The worst that can happen is he dying.”

Zhoumi’s eyes widened at the insouciance of the boy in front of him. “This is the life of a person we’re talking about here, you can’t be that reckless!”

“Zhoumi,” The way the younger said his name made him shut up right away, it was different from his normal tone; he was dead serious. “Trust me once, okay? Everything will be fine, I was joking about Hae’s death. He’s almost my brother; I won’t let him go that easily.”

It took several seconds before their eyes looked in opposite directions. When the waiter walked past them, towards the table of their friends, Zhoumi couldn’t help but feel his heart drop. That couldn’t be happening. What was wrong with him? He had to stop that.

“Do you trust me?” Kyuhyun asked seriously, looking deep into his eyes.

A second moment passed, Zhoumi couldn’t breathe. “Y-Yes,”

Just like that, Zhoumi found himself praying silently that only Henry would eat that sandwich or Donghae would smell it and find out, or be just a normal person and not eat something some stranger gave you. The boy watched with his heart in his hands as the waiter gave them the sandwich and left right away. Henry eyed the treat suspiciously but Donghae just took it and swallowed it in one huge bit.

A few moments passed as Zhoumi’s hope started going up.

Just to go down again.

The tall boy choked with the air he was holding as his eyes widened hugely. What the hell was wrong with those people?! Didn’t their parents tell them to never accept something strangers offered?!

It took less than a minute for him to start coughing like crazy. Soon enough, he was putting his hands around his neck as a sign that he couldn’t breathe. Zhoumi was about to run there and help as he could when Kyuhyun held his arm and gave him a calming look.

Terrifying seconds passed by as Donghae suffocated. His face was becoming red as a tomato. Zhoumi was frightened and Kyuhyun not moving at all wasn’t helping it.

It was only when Donghae finally fell on the ground and everyone started to make a fuss that Kyuhyun finally stood up and bolted to the boy on the ground. Zhoumi could only see despair in Henry’s eyes, the poor boy was sobbing, trying to hold his tears back and remain calm, but failing miserably at the end.

What have they done?

“Everyone retreat!” He saw Kyuhyun order with a normal tone as all Henry could do was stay still in shock. “You too, Henry.”

“Hyung?!”

“Give him some space.”

Kyuhyun didn’t seem nervous at all. Actually, it was as if that was a common thing for the boy to do. He calmly told everyone to retreat as he knelt beside Donghae who was starting to become purple. His hand grabbed Kyuhyun’s right leg and they exchanged a look for less than a second.

Zhoumi saw as Kyuhyun checked if Donghae was breathing and tried to pull his chest five times, but it didn’t seem like it was working.

Kyuhyun looked at Henry.

“I don’t know if I can save him,” Zhoumi felt a chill running down his spine as the first thought that crossed his mind was how things ended up that way. This was supposed to be a damned date, for God’s sake! “Any last words?”

Henry looked like he was just broken in million pieces as his tears finally came down. “H-h-hyung… a-are y-you serious?”

“You’re wasting time!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, “Anything to say?”

Zhoumi felt really really bad. It didn’t matter that the whole situation was somehow scripted and Kyuhyun would possibly be able to save Donghae at the end of the day. Henry never really experienced the feeling of losing someone so dear to him and this would haunt him for months.

“I-I…” The boy swallowed hard, as his shaking hands looked for Donghae’s. “I really like you, Donghae. Please don’t let me. Please don’t die!” He choked on his own tears. “I-I need you…”

Half heart-broken and unknowingly tearing down with the desperate chipmunk, Zhoumi was possibly the only person to notice the smirk on Kyuhyun’s face as he lifted Donghae quite easily, leaned him forward and delivered back blows between his shoulder blades with the heel of his hand.

And five times he did.

In the fifth, when Zhoumi was on the edge of letting his feelings get the best of him. Donghae boy threw up all he had eaten since breakfast and a relieved feeling took over everyone in the café. Henry cried as if there was no tomorrow and hugged Donghae tightly, despite all the vomit.

Kyuhyun quickly made Donghae swallow his medicine before he could suffocate once again because of his closed throat. Zhoumi, on the other hand, didn’t have much time to swallow the entire situation. Kyuhyun ran to him, grabbed his arm and both of them escaped by the back door with a cursing Donghae throwing anything he could find at them.

“CHO KYUHYUN! YOU’RE TOTALLY DEAD! SON OF A B—” was the last thing they heard before running away to nowhere in particular.

For someone who nearly died less than a minute ago, he was surprisingly strong.

≡

Zhoumi barely had time to stop and appreciate all the touching he and Kyuhyun shared throughout the rest of the night. His mind was too busy trying to figure out in a rational way what must have led Kyuhyun to do that to his own best friend. Sure, Henry was annoying him too but he would never risk his life because of that, especially for something so small.

They finally stopped running by the fourth block. Kyuhyun has possibly decided that Donghae wasn’t following them, ready to murder the two boys. Zhoumi’s tears were slowly ending as his running nose came back to normal. The cold wind of the silent night made his body slightly numb as his mind kept replaying the whole scene of Donghae’s almost death. It was beyond terrible how Kyuhyun decided to play with the life of his best friend like that. Completely and entirely irresponsible.

He still couldn’t believe he did nothing against it. Heck, he was the older one over there and still was carried away with that awful plan. How was he supposed to face Henry after that? What if he decided that he didn’t want to see him ever again? What if—

“Don’t over think it,” Kyuhyun’s soft voice made him get back to reality. He eyed the younger one, confused. “It will only make it worse.”

Yeah, like he needed someone to tell him that.

“Do I have to say how screwed up we are right now?” Zhoumi stated seriously. “They must hate us now!”

Kyuhyun shrugged, taking his hand so they could cross the street. It wasn’t necessary but Zhoumi didn’t complain in any way. “I doubt,”

“Why?” the taller one asked in disbelief. His fingers unconsciously locking with the younger’s. “I know I’d hate us if I were them.”

“I’ve been saving Donghae’s life pretty much every day since we met. He’s so idiot, he just eats whatever pops in front of him. Last time it happened, I said I wouldn’t help him even if he was dying in front of me,” Kyuhyun said, looking at the half moon in the sky, the wind making his sweaty hair move a little and his skin shine. “When he was really starting to die in front of me, I didn’t even think about letting him there.”

“But you waited.” the taller pointed.

“True. He needs to take at least a lesson from all of it. Those moments he passed without help possibly will make him treasure his life a little bit more and realize that maybe I won’t be there for him all the time.”

Zhoumi nodded quietly, trying to put everything together. Kyuhyun’s actions still were really really really irresponsible, but it didn’t sound that absurd anymore—even if it still were stupid. Yet it wasn’t something Kyuhyun could think he could do as he wished.

They walked a whole block in silence, as both were immersed in their respective thoughts, their hands never letting go of each other. It was probably the most natural thing they had ever done and none of them was actually aware of it.

“He still knows you were the one that gave him the sandwich,” the taller said after a while, his eyes fixed on the boy beside him.

“He already knew it,” Kyuhyun stated calmly, only looking ahead.

“What?!”

“It was a test for me, actually. He wanted to see if I would help him.”

“For God’ sake, you two! I can’t— What the hell?! Are you guys insane?!”

Kyuhyun couldn’t suppress a chuckle, looking at one incredulous Zhoumi in an amused way. Their eyes met for a second before the younger looked away. “I feel sorry for Henry, though. The poor boy was really afraid of losing Donghae,” he commented.

“Henry is pretty sensible, he won’t let go of Donghae for a while now.”

“At least, one of them confessed, right?” the younger one mocked, trying to hide his amused tone.

Zhoumi smacked his head harshly with his free hand, his judging eyes burning holes through Kyuhyun’s head. “Are you serious?”

“Just kidding, geez,” Kyuhyun grimaced. “Seems like you’re the sensible one,”

However, the taller didn’t find it funny in the least. Kyuhyun had done something wrong and would have to pay for it, eventually. It was karma.

“Promise me that you won’t do it again,” he said seriously, managing to lock eyes with the younger without blushing. “Promise.”

It took a considerable amount of courage for both of them not to look away, especially Zhoumi who could feel his cheeks slightly heating up as the time went by.

Kyuhyun sighed deeply. “I promise.”

As Zhoumi considered the sincerity in his words, he felt that the boy too was feeling guilty by his actions.

“Good.”

He smiled softly, as he fondled tenderly Kyuhyun’s cheeks, holding himself from kissing him. His skin was so soft that he felt like doing it forever but stopped one second later after realizing what he was doing. The awkward look on the younger’s face also made his cheeks burn brighter than before.

“Err… sorry,” he apologized quietly, as the ground seemed a lot more interesting. He put both his hands in the pocket of his jeans.

The taller boy felt one of his arms being grabbed and Kyuhyun was already whispering next to his ear, “It’s okay,”

They fell into a deep silence that didn’t feel very wrong. They crossed other four blocks just enjoying each other silently. Zhoumi felt like the silence answered more questions than he could ever make. His heart was surprisingly calm, as a heartwarming feeling made a shy smile appear on his lips.

He glanced at the younger a few times in the rest of their destination, admiring how good he looked under the moonlight.

“Thanks for taking me home,” he said when they arrived at Kyuhyun’s place. “I enjoyed our first date, but I would have like it more if it had been a little less awkward.”

Zhoumi was taken aback by the bluntness of the boy beside him. “Excuse me?” 

“We can do something tomorrow—the park seems more appealing than that café anyway. Either way, I doubt they would let us in again anyway,”

“Okay…?” that was all the tall boy could say. His brain was still trying to decode whatever Kyuhyun was saying.

The younger one smiled sweetly before kissing Zhoumi’s lips. “See you tomorrow—if Donghae doesn’t kill us first.”

This was a fun chapter to write and rewrite, so I hope it was as fun to read! There were so many mistakes at the first version of this that I'm quite ashamed it took this long for me to correct it. Fortunately, I did correct it and here I am giving you the better version of "Any last words?"!

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Thanks for reading, have a great week and have some kyumin for you~