The bang of the door closing sparked the sharp realisation that they were now alone. What to do when you're alone? Especially when its with someone whom you feel particularly uncomfortable with. It was purely psychological, but the air felt stifling to the two men whose eyes travelled from the door to each other. They were stood side by side. When their eyes met, they stayed joined

“So......” Kyuhyun said without really thinking.

“So,” the other repeated.

“That was weird.”

“It was.”

“They're strange”

“They are.”

Their conversation really was going nowhere.

Bringing his hand up, Kyuhyun slowly ran his long fingers through his hair, lifting it up and moving it to the side of his forehead out of the way of his eyes. Sungmin looked away trying to think of something to say. He remembers everything that Eunhyuk had told him to say, but he didn't know if he had the guts to put any of it into action. Kyuhyun felt the same.

“Want a drink making? I'm dying for a cup of coffee,” asked Kyuhyun in an attempt to keep Sungmin with him, but delay the conversation that he knew was inevitable.

“Um... sure. Please,” was the reply.

So over to the kitchen Kyuhyun went, Sungmin following behind.

“Go sit down, I'll bring it over.” He didn't need to tell Sungmin twice as he was already on his way over to the sofa before he could finish his sentence.

After filing up the kettle, Kyuhyun prepared the cups while he waited for the water to boil. A pink cup for Sungmin and a green one for himself. Water ready, he poured it, stirred, then carefully took the drinks over to where Sungmin was sitting in the living area. Placing them down on the coffee table he sat down on the sofa, but at the opposite end to the man who was squeezed tightly against the arm rest.

“Thank you” he murmured, reaching out for the drink with less than steady hands.

“You're welcome, but watch out, its ho.....” Kyuhyun tried to warn but he was too late as he saw the cup fall from Sungmin's hand, the scolding hot liquid cascading down his chest.

Sungmin's reaction was a low scream as the coffee burned into his skin. He tried to pull his t-shirt away from his skin as it had soaked up the liquid, holding it against his skin. Kyuhyun instantly reached out and grabbed the cup, replacing to on the table before harshly gripping at the hem of Sungmin's shirt and tugging at it, trying to take it off.

“N-no. W-what are you doing?” Sungmin shouted, his initial panic from the burning turning into panic at the feel of Kyuhyuns fingers grazing his skin.

“You need to take this off!” he forcefully replied, his tone strong and stern as he continued to tug at his top. Convinced by his voice, Sungmin lifted his arms above his head, allowing him to pull the top all the way up and over his head. Then Kyuhyun stood up and ran to the fridge-freezer, pulled out a bag of frozen peas then made his way back to Sungmin who was watching intently, tears b his eyes from the pain. Down he knelt in front of him, leaning forward to get a good look at the burn that had reddened the skin on his upper chest. Then without warning, he pressed the peas to the red skin eliciting a yelp as the man started to squirm from the cold, trying to push the peas away, tears now spilling like rivers down his cheeks.

“Stop it!” Kyuhyun shouted angrily.

“But it hurts!” he protested, trying to push the bag away still.

Roughly tugging his hand away and making direct eye contact, he exclaimed: “Do you want this to blister?!”

Noticing the serious and fearful look in his eyes, Sungmin stopped squirming and leant back against the sofa, controlling his urge to rip the bag away.

“That's better..... How does it feel?” He asked, looking up at Sungmin with gentler eyes.

“um..... well it's not burning any more. I can't really feel anything other than the cold.” he replied biting his lip.

“Okay. Well it should stop your skin from blistering, but the skin will be tender.” He informed authoritatively.

“Th-thank you.”

“It's okay,” he said with a smile.

They were silent for the next few minutes as Kyuhyun continued to tend to the burn, lifting the bag every now and then to inspect the skin underneath. The final time he lifted the bag – this time placing it on the table – he reached for Sungmin's arms, using them to pull his so that he was sat upright. Moving to nestle on his knees in between Sungmin's legs, he brought his head close to the affected area of skin for a close inspection. He looked for a few seconds before bringing his fingers up to touch it, applying his fingertips – forcefully, but not too much – to the skin so he could feel how warm it was. It was still warm. Noticing this Kyuhyun gently started to blow on it, moving his head slowly from side to side to ensure an even spread of air. Sungmin tensed at first, but soon relaxed as it felt soothing. When he stopped he tilted his head back to look at Sungmin, smiling and saying: “I think you'll survive,” the tease back in his tone.

“Thank you.”

Getting back up to his feet and claiming his seat on the sofa again, Kyuhyun replied: “No problem, just be more careful next time. It could have been worse.”

“I will do, I promise.”

As if only just realising he was topless, he quickly threw his arms to his chest and crossed them, trying to cover as much as possible, slapping the raw skin in the process. He let out a yelp which made Kyuhyun laugh.

“Don't worry. We're both men aren't we? I don't care that your tople.........” his words choked as if he too had only just realised that Sungmin was without top. In the urgency of the moment, he hadn't even considered it. Unconsciously his eyes started to travel from the man's face down his chest, taking in every inch before looking back up at the now significantly redder face of said man. Clearing his throat, he said: “m-maybe you should got put another top on....”

Sungmin was up in an instant running toward his room to recover a top. He'd seen how Kyuhyun was looking at him – looking at his chest – and it made him nervous..... but he didn't dislike it.....

Donning a new top, Sungmin entered the living area again and sat back down, looking at Kyuhyun out of the corner of his eye. On his entrance, Kyuhyun had quickly moved his hands that were clamped to his face and sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees and gripping his hands together.

“Better?” he asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.

“Much.”

Another silence overtook them as they both fought at the thoughts that were bouncing off the walls of their brains. This was made no better when their phones beeped simultaneously indicating a text and, when they opened them, they'd received texts from Eunhyuk and Donghae, both with the same question: 'Have you told him yet?'....... They really weren't going to let this go lightly. Sungmin spluttered, but Kyuhyun just let his head drop onto his clasped hands.

“Eunhyuk?” he enquired, knowing full well who it was.

“Yeah..... Donghae?” Sungmin asked back.

“Yep,” he replied while letting out a long frustrated breath.

He'd waited since the night of the kiss to have this conversation, and he had had this conversation in his head hundreds of times, but the fact that the right words to say wouldn't come at that moment angered him. Deciding to just say anything, he rubbed his eyes, about to speak before he was interrupted by Sungmin.

“Eunhyuk is relentless.....” he cleared his throat. “He insists I talk to you about …....the other night.... but the thing is..... I don't know what to say to you......” his voice was wavering now.

Kyuhyun who had lifted his head to look at Sungmin was staring dumbfounded.

“He said I should tell you that... that I like you but.... I don't want to tell you something.... something that I'm not entirely sure about......”

Taking a moment to think, he spoke again: “that's why I..... kissed you......I thought it would clear my head... and it has a bit... it has made me realise something. But I still feel like there'sl a barrier blocking me out.”

Feeling like Sungmin was just voicing his mind, not speaking in particular to him, Kyuhyun felt reluctant to speak, but curiosity overtook him.

“What.... did it make you realise?” he asked tentetivly.

Not looking at him, Sungmin started to bite his lip. “That I..... like you..... at least I think I do.” He was clearly nervous now as his voice shook as he hedged around the topic, adding the last part to prevent anything being definite.

Trying to disguise the violent somersaults his stomach was going, Kyuhyun looked down at his lap then back at Sungmin. “What's making you feel unsure?”

“I- I don't know.....” distress was evident, but Kyuhyun couldn't help but feel like he was holding something back.

Testing him, he prodded: “Are you sure?”

“Y-yes.”

“You don't sound entirely convinced. Is it because we're both...... men?” The thought had been plaguing him so he forced himself to ask, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for an answer.

Slowly Sungmin tuned his head to look at him, his eyes wide and tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“It is isn't it?”

Tears started to role down his cheeks.

Kyuhyun took this as a definite yes and pressed his head back into his hands, tears now threatening his eyes, but not entirely from sadness, he felt.... angry.

“Does being of the same gender mean that you can't be attracted to someone? Does it tear you up that badly that you were willing to pretend it didn't happen and not say anything?”

Sungmin lowered his head, sensing the anger.

“Do you hate this? Does it disgust you? Do I disgust you?”

Choking as he swallowed the words that Kyuhyun was throwing at him, Sungmin started to sob, shaking his body.

“Stop crying! Just answer me..... please. I need to hear it.”

Sungmin was shaking violently now as his body collapsed, his head landing on his knees as he gripped his arms close to his chest, not even caring about the pain it was causing his burn.

Kyuhyun watched, his heart being torn in two, while the man was breaking before him. He couldn't control himself as his body went into auto-pilot, lunging him towards Sungmin, pulling him up with his arms and into a bruising hug.

“Don't cry. Calm down,” he hushed.

Sungmin was still shaking as he rejected the hug, pushing Kyuhyun away with his unsteady hands.

“I DON'T HATE THIS!” he shouted through sobs. “I DON'T,” he repeated lifting his eyelids to look at Kyuhyun with watery broken eyes that pleaded with him to believe what he was saying. “I don't.”

Seeing the hurt in his eyes was enough for all anger to be dissolved within Kyuhyun and he reached out again, bringing Sungmin this time into a tender embrace, allowing him to rest his head on his chest. his hair he hushed him with soothing words.

“Don't cry. Its okay. I believe you.”

At that, Sungmin started to cry again, but this time in gentler waves that made hot tears spill softly from his eyes. These tears became less and less until they completely stopped, but he didn't move out of the warm arms that cradled him. He felt comfortable and safe..... He felt like he was home.

Wanting to hold him for as long as possible, but still overcome with the urge to know what was holding Sungmin back, Kyuhyun started to reluctantly let go, leaving his hand resting on the side of his head after the hair.

“Sungmin....”

“hmmmm?”

“Can you please talk to me? I really need to know what's going on in your head.... Where I stand in all of this.” He asked tentatively.

Not looking at him and thinking deeply, he replied: “I...... I like you........ but......”, glancing at him then quickly averting his eyes like a shy school boy.

“But?” Kyuhyun searched for his eyes.

“.....but I don't know what to do...... I'm scared.”

Letting out a little laugh, Kyuhyun answered: “Nothing scary about liking someone.”

“There is if your – or thought you were – straight and the person you like is the same gender as you!” He bit back, feeling a bit angry at Kyuhyun's obliviousness.

Thinking through carefully what he would say next, Kyuhyun started: “Gender makes no difference if you really like someone.... Its not something you can help..... I couldn't help it.”

Sungmin now looked him fully in the face, any brewing anger dissipating. Their gaze spoke what a thousand words couldn't. Slowly Kyuhyun moved his hand round to caress Sungmin's slightly tinted cheek, brushing any stray hair out of the way.

“I really like you and you.... you like me. Couldn't we at least try this?” he asked whole heartedly.

Sungmin seemed to be looking at him for ages before he nodded, eliciting a genuine smile from Kyuhyun which he soon mirrored.

“Thank you,” he said before being pulled – shocked – into a hug this time initiated by Sungmin who tightly wrapped his arms around him, resting his head once again on his shoulder..............

A silence spread over them again, but not a stifling one like previous, a soft one like in those crystal moments where there are no words that need to be formed to convey any meaning or feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope this was okay :)

Sorry fo the late update, been pretty swamped with work recently so haven't had much chance to write.

Not really sure on how well its flowing, but hope its okay!

Thanks sooooo much for reading! Its extremely appreciated!

XOXO