Good Luck Charm

It starts one relatively boring afternoon.

Up until that point it has just been another day in the entertainment industry, which means that because of all the solo activities they have amassed over time being diverse, Kyuhyun has lunch with whoever is free when he is. This day that happens to be Siwon and Yesung, so the outing is fairly comfortable and relaxed. Yesung enjoys food almost as much as he does, and Siwon, in his striving to be both a good hyung and a good dongsaeng, somehow ends up paying for all their food even though Yesung and he could have paid for their own without any problems. It is something that apparently makes Siwon happy so Kyuhyun doesn’t complain too much.

After getting their stomachs filled they have a bit of time left so they end up aimlessly wandering around. It’s winter so the chances of fans swarming them are lower because of all the layers they’ve got on. Even in November the cold is brutal.

They are discussing the restaurants he and Yesung should visit during their stay in Japan for the KRY concert when Siwon, who was in the middle of giving his opinion about a place Changmin recommended to Kyuhyun, abruptly stops. The vocals look at him confused and turn to see what stole his attention. It seems to be something in the display of a tacky gift shop they have just passed. Kyuhyun wonders what makes that one special because it looks exactly like all others that start springing up at this time of the year.

“Siwon-ah?”

Yesung’s voice returns Siwon’s attention to them.

“Ah. Sorry.”

He is scratching the back of his head, but his eyes keep straying towards the shop. Kyuhyun quirks an eyebrow and Yesung sighs.

“Go inside Siwon-ah.”

The visual beams them a smile.

“It won’t take long.”

“Just go.”

Siwon enters the shop and Kyuhyun scans the display. Typical Christmas themed stuff.

“What did he see in here?”

Yesung is intently staring at the display too.

“No idea.”

Kyuhyun watches as Siwon talks with the shop lady. Both are wildly gesticulating and Siwon keeps pointing at the display. This strange communication continues for a while and then the shop lady seems to give up and heads towards the display. Kyuhyun raises both of his eyebrows when what she grabs is a gold and red decorated horseshoe. He didn’t think Siwon was interested in things like that; besides, the thing is horrendous. Nevertheless, the visual seems to be paying for it and Kyuhyun cannot wait until he comes out so he can grill him about his questionable purchase.

“You bought a horseshoe?” Unfortunately, Yesung beats him to it.

Siwon goes a little red in the face and nods, but doesn’t make any attempt to explain further. Now, that has Kyuhyun really interested.

“Because you’re a horse?” The question comes out as a half laugh and Yesung smacks him for it. However, there is a slight twitch to his lips so Kyuhyun thinks he can deal with it.

“No,” Siwon’s face goes a shade darker as he gives up trying to be nonchalant. “I collect them.”

“Horseshoes?” Yesung feels the need to clarify.

“Yes, since they bring luck and all.”

That, that is not a satisfactory explanation at all.

“You’re sure it’s not because you’re a horse?”

Yesung’s smack is a bit harder this time, but Kyuhyun’s grin only gets wider. He simply cannot pass up this chance to tease his hyung. Yesung gives him a warning glare and, once he is relatively sure Kyuhyun won’t open his mouth again, asks:

“So, how many have you got so far?”

Because really, taking his own strange interests into account, who is he to judge?

Kyuhyun follows the exchange in disbelief, more so because Siwon seems to be actually mulling over the question.

“Close to three hundred, I think.”

That is a lot.

“Have you built a shrine from them?” he just can’t stop himself; this is too ridiculous.

Siwon looks offended he would even suggest that.

“No. We keep them in a separate room at home.”

Kyuhyun can’t help it this time, he starts laughing. That is just so Siwon.

Yesung shakes his head and, although Kyuhyun can tell he is amused too, grabs him by the arm and starts dragging him in the direction of the SM building. Siwon looks a bit miffed, but glad they aren’t asking him any more embarrassing questions. Still laughing, Kyuhyun decides he won’t probe any further. He has enough teasing material without knowing why Siwon collects those things, and he is not evil enough to leave him without any dignity, which is why when Yesung implores that he stops laughing and promises not to tease Siwon in front other members, Kyuhyun agrees. Yesung didn’t, after all, say he couldn’t at all.

He actually manages to go a week without mentioning it, but since the thought has been put inside his head he keeps seeing horseshoes wherever he goes, and that day he happened to notice something that had him laughing out loud and he thinks that deserves sharing. When he gets to the dorm he enters it grinning and, ridding himself of his shoes and jacket, saunters into the living room.

“Siwon-hyung, I have found a perfect restaurant for you!”

Everyone present looks at him. His whole demeanor screams mischief so they are sort of expecting a bad joke or a pun, but at the same time they are aware that no one invests as much time into food as Kyuhyun does so they are hoping it might end up being a good recommendation.

“It has a giant horseshoe on it advertisement board!”

A few laughs and a collective eye-roll follow. Of course not.

Siwon looks like a deer caught in headlights for a second before he relaxes.

“Thank you Kyuhyun-ah,” he smiles at him in good humor, “I’ll make sure to check it out.”

Kyuhyun, who realizes that is a real possibility, has to stifle a laugh otherwise he might get himself into a position where he could break his promise and he does not want to deal with Siwon and Yesung both. Especially the latter who is known to get quite aggressive, but thankfully also seems to be fighting a smile. Suddenly this feels like an inside joke that Kyuhyun thinks he’ll be making quite often.

Therefore, it surprises him that the next instance in the horseshoe saga is not due to him, but Yesung. The evening it happens Kyuhyun walks into the dorm, ready to crash into the bed, but on his way there his interest gets piqued by the noise coming from the living room so he changes the direction. Dongae latches onto him as soon as he enters the room, and from what he can understand from his excitedly jumbled speech, Yesung has apparently stumbled upon a mug with a horseshoe print and is showing a picture of it to Siwon, who looks like he doesn’t know what is an appropriate answer.

The situation is extra ridiculous because, unlike Kyuhyun who mercilessly teases Siwon about his obsession simply because the man doesn’t give him any other material to about (he is much too perfect), Yesung is doing this from the goodness of his heart, probably hoping to help his dongsaeng expand his collection. The commotion is broken when Ryeowook yells that the dinner is ready and the members drag themselves into the kitchen. Kyuhyun sees the two that were in the center of attention lagging behind, so he slows down a bit too. Siwon puts a hand on Yesung’s shoulder and Kyuhyun expects him to ask where he found it now that there is no one else in the room, since that is what he did when he asked Kyuhyun about that restaurant, but he doesn’t.

“Ah, thank you hyung, but I’ve already got that one.”

Yesung pouts.

Kyuhyun has to take care not to choke during dinner because he starts laughing every time he so much as glances at Siwon.

He thinks there will be a break in the Siwon-teasing schedule once they are in Japan for their KRY concert, but he is proven wrong when in the morning after their first gig he logs onto twitter. The first thing he sees is a picture of some horseshoe shaped Christmas tree ornaments posted by Yesung, with the text underneath it asking if people think those would fit Siwon. He stares at it for a moment, not sure if he is still sleeping, before laughing. Yesung gets annoyed by such petty things.

He scrolls through the replies. At least half are shippers gushing about them, but even more are various suggestions and pictures of horseshoe ornaments. If the whole thing wasn’t spinning out of control then, it surely is when Kyuhyun adds his own suggestion to the chaos. A pair of horseshoe cufflinks seems like a more appropriate Christmas present for Siwon and he says as much. Another avalanche of fans going crazy follows and Kyuhyun is sure Siwon is going to kill them once they return to Korea, especially since Donghae and Eunhyuk have just jumped in with their own suggestions.

The premature loss of his life, however, doesn’t happen. He has severely underestimated Siwon’s manipulation skills because instead of doing the dirty work himself, the visual pretty much just guilt trips Yesung with his sad puppy eyes, so the lead vocal ends up appeasing his unruly dongsaengs into not doing it again. Kyuhyun included.

Yesung doesn’t actually say anything to him when it is his turn, probably because he cannot think of anything that wouldn’t put Siwon in an even worse position, and settles for giving him a look. Kyuhyun has always had trouble refusing Yesung, probably because his hyung indulges him so much, and this time is no different. However, before he officially relents...

“How about a dinner?” that Yesung will be the one paying goes unsaid.

The older narrows his eyes at him, before deciding that there is no sense in arguing, and sighs. He is the one that started this whole mess, he might as well literally pay for it, even if the person he ends up spending money on is not the one he wronged in the first place. Kyuhyun grins at him, but his expression falls when Siwon suddenly appears. He is frowning which makes Kyuhyun think he is angry that Kyuhyun is somehow profiting from his misery, no matter how unlikely that is.

“Kyuhyun-ah,” he leans in closer, “could you link me those cufflinks?”

Very unlikely indeed. He seriously needs to brush up on his Siwon-reading skills. And laughter management. Link him the cufflinks?

“Ah, yes. Is after dinner okay?”

Siwon nods, his face relaxing a little, and walks away. Yesung, however, looks like his plans fell through so Kyuhyun takes hold of his hand. The idiot is putting himself down over nothing again.

“If you didn’t start the whole chaos, I wouldn’t have found those cufflinks so stop sulking. It worked out because of you.”

Saying that out loud is more embarrassing than he anticipated so Kyuhyun feels his cheeks heat up. At the same time he smiles a little, because it amuses him how much attention his hyung craves and how brilliantly he smiles once he gets it. He also gives back tenfold, which is how Kyuhyun finds himself smothered by one of his hugs. He isn’t sure if it is because Yesung gives them so often, but his hugs are one of his favorite.

He ends up giving Yesung a hug of his own some four months later. A much looser hug, because he has pretty much just put his arms around him and hidden his face in the crook of his neck, but a hug nonetheless.

Siwon has just opened one of his presents; one that Kyuhyun knows without a doubt is from Yesung because no one else is crazy enough to gift him a ginormous golden horseshoe that is bigger than his head and, Kyuhyun is willing to bet, heavier than it too. The birthday man is staring at it in wonder, before looking up at them. Yesung smiles at him from within Kyuhyun’s arms.

“For a lot of luck in your next year Siwon-ah.”

Siwon gives a smile in return and the room is drowned in laughter. No one really questions anything because it is Yesung and his actions usually avoid logical explanations. Kyuhyun is glad he didn’t buy him a gift like that too (he didn’t really dare to after the whole twitter fiasco, but a horseshoe neck pillow did seem like a great idea), because then it would have undermined Yesung’s, and he has a feeling that the older considers this a late apology for the chaos he caused back in November.

After that, the horseshoe talk finally dies down and it is almost a year before Kyuhyun is reminded of his hyung’s weird but fitting obsession. He is stuck in the van with their manager because the traffic is awful, and with nothing else to do, his gaze wanders. He ends up noticing a familiar sight on the left side of the street. It is that same restaurant he recommended to Siwon. Its announcement board still sports that ridiculous drawing; actually, he is almost certain that it is drawn even worse than it was before.

He pulls out his phone to text Siwon, but reconsiders. The other probably wouldn’t appreciate Kyuhyun interrupting him only to tell him something that he probably already knows. He muses a bit about what to do and remembers Yesung.

His turtle-loving hyung is currently doing his army service, which means that Kyuhyun hasn’t talked to him much, if at all. They have one those friendships wherein they talk to each other constantly and do a lot of skinship when in close proximities, but once there is some distance between them most communication ceases. Kyuhyun isn’t sure why that is so, but it has been that way since the first time he went to China for Super Junior-M promotions. However, he doesn’t question it because he knows that once he sees Yesung again it will be like they haven’t been apart at all.  It is probably just another of his quirks.

Still, because of that it feels a little strange sending a meaningless text to his hyung, but he does it anyway. Yesung is probably bored too so he sees no harm in it.

‘Just saw the horseshoe restaurant. Siwon must be their best customer by now.’

Seeing as they haven’t moved yet, he snaps a picture and sends that too.

He waits for a reply, but when it doesn’t come within next five minutes he gives up and amuses himself with counting all the red cars he can see.

It turns out that Yesung has a reason for replying late, as Kyuhyun finds out when he gets around to reading the message. It was sent sometime during the dance practice so he is only opening it now. Yesung usually doesn’t part from his phone so Kyuhyun is really curious to what he has to say. Not much apparently. The text is not the one that Kyuhyun expects, but one that makes him smile, nonetheless.

‘I don’t know about the restaurant, but his army seems to be taking over Seoul’

Underneath the text is a link to a folder of carefully compiled pictures, all containing a horseshoe of some kind. Upon closer inspection, Kyuhyun realizes that Yesung took all of those. He must have been really bored, because there is even a picture of a graffiti horseshoe drawn on a trashcan in the collection. Kyuhyun quickly types a reply, but decides against sending it. It is quite late and Yesung has enough troubles sleeping even without Kyuhyun adding to them. Instead he filters through the pictures, amusing himself by trying to determine where each one was taken.

Because of his hectic schedules he forgets to send the reply, but instantly remembers when his phone informs him he’s got a new message from Yesung a few days later. He berates himself for forgetting and hopes Yesung didn’t think he was ignoring him. Opening the message he sighs in relief.

 ‘Talked with Siwon. Restaurant has best chicken dishes.’

Even with that little text, Kyuhyun can tell Yesung is skeptical.

‘As good as the Gwangju place?’

The next message starts with an animated tiger emoticon that, as far as Kyuhyun can tell, is supposed be raising an eyebrow, but with Yesung one can never be sure.

‘In rank with the best we’ve found? I highly doubt it, but we can check.’

Another message comes before Kyuhyun can even press reply.

‘Don’t know about your schedules, but I’ve got the morning shift all week.’

Kyuhyun smiles. Just what he was about to ask.

‘Thursday at 6 okay?’

‘Great ^^’

He is looking forward to it.

‘See you then.’

It seemed like they were finally breaking the routine

Only of course it isn’t so easy. Kyuhyun’s schedule changes and after that, between their responsibilities and families, they reschedule two more times before they finally visit the restaurant they have dubbed Horseshoe in their texts. It turns out that the food is actually decent, but nowhere near the level of some other places they’ve been to. Still, it is an enjoyable outing and it starts a new routine.

They begin texting each other whenever one of them stumbles upon something horseshoe related, though, more often than not, they end up talking about something completely off-topic. Dinner dates also become a thing, at least kind of, because apparently even after almost nine years in an idol band they are still unable to anticipate the ridiculous changes in schedules that befall them. Despite this they somehow manage to make the dinners into a monthly thing, biweekly if the universe will let them.

Over the course of time, Siwon and his obsession become just a far and in-between topic of their conversations. This doesn’t mean they don’t inform each other whenever something truly ridiculous pops up, like boots with actual horseshoes nailed (Kyuhyun guesses) to their soles. Kyuhyun saw a girl wearing a pair earlier that day and had to employ his best spy skills to take a picture of it without looking like a creep. He isn’t sure he quite managed that, but at least he’s got the picture. This one, unlike the usual, he doesn’t immediately send to Yesung, or, more accurately, upload it to their shared folder. The older has finally set a day aside for Super Junior and is visiting them at the dorms so Kyuhyun will get to show him the monstrosities in person.

When he enters the dorm he finds it almost empty. From the noise coming from the kitchen he can deduce that Ryeowook has already started in on the dinner, but other him that there seems to be no one else in. At least until he hears familiar laughter coming from the living room. Smiling to himself, he moves in the direction of the sound.

It turns out that aside from Yesung, Siwon is the only other person there. This should strike Kyuhyun as convenient because now he can show the picture to both of them at the same time, but it doesn’t. The realization that hits him is completely opposite - he does not, not even a tiny bit, care that Siwon is there. Which is scary, because Kyuhyun knows exactly what that implies. That implication is only confirmed when another realization strikes – he loves the way Yesung smiles.

He shamelessly stares at the fellow vocal and concludes he is a fool for not noticing it sooner. As much as he takes pride in his intellect, Kyuhyun has never considered himself to be emotionally stunted either, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that he is in love with his hyung and didn’t notice it until now.

“Kyuhyun-ah.”

He tries not to shudder when Yesung calls out to him. That’s new.

“Hey.”

The greeting he gives in return probably isn’t appropriate, but his mind is in overdrive at the moment and cannot be bothered by such trivial things. He walks over to the couch and plops down next to Yesung, feeling a bit lightheaded. Siwon looks at him weirdly and walks off. Confused, Kyuhyun turns to Yesung for an explanation.

The older man looks so brilliant, sitting there dressed in all black, and Kyuhyun’s mouth goes dry. He must have zoned out for a moment because the next thing he notices is that Yesung’s mouth is moving.

“-can’t stay for dinner so he came to catch up a bit now.”

“Oh.”

Yesung raises an eyebrow and he realizes he is probably acting a bit strange. The look he is getting clears his head, but makes his cheeks flush instead. He’s in love with his hyung. That’s going to take a while getting used to.

“You up for a game?”

Yesung apparently knows exactly how to handle him when his brain malfunctions because he is offering him a game controller. He takes it and Yesung goes to put the game in the console. His eyes linger on the way Yesung’s pants hug his thighs and he has a sudden need to swallow. He knows how they feel because he’s touched them before, but this is the first time he’s ever wanted to touch them intentionally. He has to close his eyes to stop that train of thought.

Yesung, in the meanwhile, settles back on the couch next to him, his own controller in hand. Kyuhyun is instantly aware of just how close he is because he can feel his body heat radiating. The feeling is surreal.

“Ready to lose hyung?” he smirks and gets a smirk in return. Shouldn’t have done that. The quirk of those lips sends his blood rushing faster.

“We’ll see about that maknae.”

Kyuhyun snorts and they choose their characters. The game Yesung has put in is normally played in storyline mode, but his hyung seems content with doing player versus player and Kyuhyun is not blind as to why. Fighting games are pretty much the only sort of games in which Yesung can win against him fairly. And he does. He wipes the floor with him. That is not to say that Kyuhyun does not put up a fight, he just lacks focus (on the game at least). That and Yesung’s button-mashing technique is insane. Kyuhyun likes to know exactly what action pressing each button will cause and strategize appropriately, while Yesung presses whatever when things aren’t going his way. Kyuhyun could probably figure out every special move if watched him play for a while. If he managed to stay concentrated that is. Yesung is proving to be plenty distracting just by being Yesung.

After ten or so games they get tired of fighting each other and, at Yesung’s suggestion, switch to the storyline mode. Kyuhyun doesn’t think they’ve done that before, but it turns out that they are quite a good team. That really shouldn’t send his heart soaring, but it does.

They clear about two thirds of the game before other members start trickling in and soon Ryeowook is informing them that the dinner is ready. They shuffle into the kitchen, others quickly surrounding Yesung, but Kyuhyun, exercising stealth he lacked that morning, snatches the seat next to him.

The more time passes, the more Kyuhyun realizes that nothing has really changed, except for maybe the fact that he can now officially say he has a favorite hyung. His eyes soften as he looks at him chatting with the others. That and he can now truly appreciate every moment spent in his company. He can sit there, less than a meter away from Yesung and relish the fact that the person he loves is so, so close to him and happy.

“So, any hot girls at that place where you work at?”

And that is all it takes for Kyuhyun’s happy bubble to burst. Reveling in the discovery that he is in love with his hyung, any problems that that might pose didn’t even cross his mind. Until now.

He watches as Yesung shrugs and says something about none of them comparing to Moon Geunyoung, but the only thing going through his head is stupidstupidstupid, because really, how did he manage to detach himself from reality so much he actually forgot what liking another man meant in their society? Yesung’s opinion about yewook fanfiction rings through his head and, no matter that his brain supplies that Yesung never really said anything against liking men, only that he preferred girls over Ryeowook, he feels that he is doomed. Confessing without Yesung looking at him in disgust feels like mission impossible, hell, confessing, which didn’t even cross his mind until then, doesn’t look likely at all.

He wants to hate Kangin for asking that question, but can’t bring himself to muster any feelings of malice. That elation of being in love is still strong and now that he realizes his cause might be completely hopeless it only grips his heart stronger through despair. The feeling threatens to drown him, is so overwhelming that he wants to shout at the universe that it’s not fair. One moment he’s on top of the world, the next societal norms are trying to bury him.

A hand placed on his leg startles him out of the dark pace he’s wandered off to. He looks to his left only to find Yesung staring at him, silently asking what’s wrong. Kyuhyun wants to answer, say everything’s fine, but it’s not and he can’t force that lie over his lips so he just places his hand over the one on his leg. It might be smaller than his own, but it is warm and it offers comfort.

Then Yesung is tugging his hand away and Kyuhyun scolds himself for hoping (what for, even he doesn’t know). However, Yesung only pulls it away enough so he can turn it around and interlace their fingers. Kyuhyun looks at him surprised and gets a gentle smile along with a thumb caressing his own in return. It may not make everything alright, but it pacifies him and gives him hope, which is more than he had when the dinner started. However little, it is something Kyuhyun will hold on for dear life to.

For the rest of the night Kyuhyun is a bit subdued, but does his best to appear normal. Considering he makes it to his bed without anyone commenting on his behavior, he thinks he did good.

He spent the better part of the evening rediscovering Yesung’s quirks, mannerisms, facial expressions and everything else that he already knew, but that now only served to make him fall in deeper. The rest of the time he tried to rationalize what to do with his feelings because the more he watched Yesung, the more apparent it became those feelings had been there for quite some time, he just hadn’t noticed. Every action brought up memories of previous instances where it was used and Kyuhyun filed them all in a special folder labeled ‘precious memories’, because even if everything went to hell, he would still have those to treasure.

With a sigh he rolls over to his other side and grabs his phone. The light that blares from the display informs him it is 3:34 in the morning. He puts the phone down and buries his head in the pillow. He knows he should be sleeping since their comeback is just around the corner and he’s got the solo album preparations to worry on top of that, but his mind is too active and he can’t.

After seven more minutes of trying to find a comfortable position, he gives up and gets out of the bed. He figures that going to the bathroom and getting some water might pacify his brain into settling down enough for him to get some sleep, or at least stay blissfully unconscious until the morning. He is tired enough to know that both are a possibility.

He tries to move around as quietly as possible because he does not fancy getting murdered returning from the bathroom in the middle of the night. No matter how used to the lack of it, bandmates that didn’t get enough sleep are still quite scary. And vengeful. For this reason he almost jumps out of his skin when a low “Can’t sleep?” comes from his right as he is pouring himself a glass of water. He manages not to drop the glass and turns off the tap with jerky movements.

“. Don’t lurk around at night like that Yesung-hyung.” He whisper-yells.

Yesung just pats him on the head in passing to pour himself a glass of water too.

Kyuhyun would ask why the other is up, but he’s learned over the years that there really is no specific reason behind it. Yesung and sleep just aren’t the best of friends.

“Is your family doing okay?”

“Huh?” where did that come from, “Yes, why do you ask?”

Yesung watches him over the rim of his glass as he takes a sip.

“You’ve been a bit... off since you came to the dorms today, but everyone else seemed fine so I concluded it didn’t have anything to do with the band.”

Only it does, but Kyuhyun doesn’t want to elaborate how so he just nods. He wouldn’t know how to express the chaos of feelings currently assaulting him for one; for other, he’s still half-terrified of how Yesung would react if (when, really, because Kyuhyun doesn’t think he’ll be able to keep this a secret for long) he found out.

Yesung seems to have a sixth sense for these things, that or Kyuhyun’s expressions are really easily readable, because he grabs Kyuhyun’s hand and, just like it did during the dinner, it dispels his worries for a moment and gives him hope.

“Whatever it is Kyuhyun-ah, it’s going to be okay.”

Yesung’s eyes are warm, and the fact that he understands Kyuhyun doesn’t want to talk about it and isn’t forcing him to, makes the maknae want to hug the life out of him. He is sure that if he actually did it, it would be the best hug yet.

His heart races at the thought, and maybe it’s the lack of sleep combined with the rollercoaster of emotions he’s been through that day, or Yesung so dangerously giving him hope, but Kyuhyun finds himself blurting out “I like you” despite all his previous worries about the outcome of such words.

His heart is already beating rapidly, but then Yesung gives him that brilliant smile and Kyuhyun is sure it skips a beat.

“I like you too.”

Kyuhyun feels the heat climbing up his neck and has to look away. It has been a while since such simple words affected him so greatly. He bites his lips. There is no way he is going to articulate himself properly, especially since he hasn’t even sorted out his thoughts and feelings, but the sudden urge to spill everything is there and he finds that he doesn’t want to stop it.

“I really like you hyung.”

Yesung is confused, if not a little amused by the declaration.

“I know. And I really like you too.”

Kyuhyun intertwines their fingers at the response and closes his eyes to savor the moment. It might be the last one he has like this.

“You’re not usually so insecure. Lack of sleep getting to you?”

Kyuhyun opens his eyes and shakes his head, but doesn’t look at him.

“No. I just really, really like you.”

He looks at their linked hands to draw the last bits of hope from them before looking Yesung straight in the eyes.

“I, it’s something that I’ve only realized today,” Yesung looks a little hurt by this so Kyuhyun squeezes his hand, “but I’ve felt it for much longer than I was aware of.”

He bites his lips again, unsure how to continue, and Yesung’s eyes follow the movement.

“I care about you. A lot. More than this society would approve of,” he can see the spark of realization in Yesung’s eyes, “and I just. I guess I just wanted you to know.” He trails off and looks away.

Despite the fact that it’s already been a few seconds and Yesung hasn’t let go of his hand yet, now that it’s out in the open the fear just doesn’t seem to weaken its hold on him. Still, he wouldn’t change this. Gathering the last wits he has he manages to croak out:

“I’m not sorry.”

“You don’t have to be.”

Yesung gives his hand a little squeeze and Kyuhyun braves to look at him again. He is smiling softly, his eyes all but disappearing into crescent shapes and Kyuhyun wants to hope so badly, but doesn’t let himself just yet. Yesung returning his feelings would be too much, would be too surreal.

Yesung is the one that lowers his gaze this time, but their hands remain clasped together.

“I realized it a long time ago, that I liked you too.”

All notions Kyuhyun had about not hoping fly out of the window at that.

“Being close to you was the best I thought I could have and I was happy with that, but you, you’ve just made me happier.”

Yesung is smiling brilliantly at him again and Kyuhyun moves forward without thinking. They are standing so close now and Kyuhyun wants to make that last move and close the distance between them, but is unsure if he is welcome to, whether they are at that stage yet. Yesung tilts his head and brings their faces even closer, but doesn’t kiss him. He does, however, whisper his name, and that breathy ‘Kyuhyun’ is enough for the younger to throw caution to the wind.

The kiss is chaste, just a press of lips one against the other, and while it doesn’t last more than a few seconds, it still sends warmth and affection spreading through Kyuhyun’s body. They aren’t apart for long, just enough to smile at each other before Yesung is pulling him into another kiss. And another. And so many that Kyuhyun loses count. Their lips caress each other and tentatively tongues are introduced, but the kisses remain unhurried. Savoring the moment tops any possible lust they might be feeling. They’ve got all the time in the world to exchange all the kisses they want, but Kyuhyun is adamant not to let them separate until he has mapped Yesung’s mouth in its entirety, and the shape of the elder’s lips is permanently imprinted onto his.

Next morning Kyuhyun is shaken awake by Sungmin because, unsurprisingly, he overslept. From that point on everything is a blur of movement, yelling and schedules. The first breather he gets is around eleven, after their dance practice ends and he immediately reaches for his phone. Things may have been chaotic, but Kyuhyun didn’t for one moment forget what transpired last night. How could he when it is the only thing keeping him in good spirits trough the slew of critique thrown at them. He is kind of unhappy because he knows he won’t get to see Yesung that day and he knows it’s going to be like that for a while, but he forces himself to deal. It helps that he has a batch of fresh memories to turn to when things get rough.

None of that, however, means he cannot text or call his hyung and he intends to take full advantage of that. Now if only he could think up anything other than a lousy ‘good morning’ to send to him, that would be great. Thankfully, it looks like Yesung has something to say, judging from the message icon on his screen, so Kyuhyun is saved from facing that particular trial.

The message is ridiculous and he honestly doesn’t know what he expected, but there is a kiss at the end and Kyuhyun thinks he could get used to that.

‘Do you think that by collecting so much horseshoes Siwon turned himself into a good luck charm as well, and we as his secret keepers got some of that luck too? x’

He laughs to himself as his fingers fly over the screen, typing a reply.

Kyuhyun has no idea how this will end, but for a moment he allows himself to be naive and hopes it never ends at all.

(and good luck charm or not, Kyuhyun might as well put those horseshoe neck pillow plans into motion)

 

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