To say that Kyuhyun feels dirty when he cashes in Heechul’s card the next day is a bit of an understatement.

He’d had to return it in person, quickly slipping it into the Strategist’s hands when they were alone, and of course Heechul wasn’t about to let him get away easily. HIs wide smirk as he said, “Right on schedule, Kyuhyunnie,” will probably inspire a fair number of nightmares in the coming weeks. But that’s not to say that Heechul had disagreed; he’s bringing drinks to Kyuhyun’s room around 9, and Kyuhyun is probably way in over his head.

He’s not entirely sure what drove him to accept the offer. Maybe it’s some childish attempt at crushing the last lingering fragments of his dumb crush on a certain Shadow Squad member. Maybe it’s a way of relieving the stress that comes with being a new member of a group of anti-government vigilantes. Or maybe it’s just that Heechul is admittedly a very attractive man, and Kyuhyun would be lying if he said he wouldn’t regret letting the opportunity go.

In any case, he’s wound up here: sitting across from Heechul at a table the latter had dragged into Kyuhyun’s room, an opened bottle of red wine between them.

(Though not before Heechul had outright asked him if he was: a) a , bringing Kyuhyun back to some extremely cringe-inducing college memories, and b) willing to go all the way before he was under the influence ━ Heechul was not going to deal with any angsty post-hookup drama.)

(Kyuhyun’s face may have done its best impression of a tomato after the second question was asked. Heechul may have smirked and added, “Lucky for you, you get to top.”)

Halfway through one glass, Kyuhyun still feels more than a bit unsure about the whole situation.

“So...you do this a lot, then?” he asks, and immediately feels ridiculous.

“Why, Kyuhyunnie?” There’s that damn smirk again. “Jealous?”

“Curious.”

“Not surprising. Well, let’s see: you know about Yesung already. I’m still not entirely sure if I made out with Siwon at a party one time when we were both wasted. Sungmin is more of a long story, a bit complicated. I’m not nearly drunk enough to talk about Leeteuk, and then there was…” Heechul shakes his head. “You know, forget it. I need more to drink.”

“Should I feel cheap?”

“No, you should feel special. Clearly, I can be picky.”

~*~

After two glasses, Kyuhyun feels his inhibitions begin to slip away. He can’t even remember how the line of conversation had started, but he suddenly finds himself musing, “Do you think Donghae’s into threesomes?”

Heechul lets out a guffaw, his cheeks tinged with a pinkish blush from the alcohol. “I don’t know about Donghae, but Hyukjae is definitely not. Trust me, I’ve asked.”

It’s kind of nice how when he’s buzzed, Kyuhyun finds Heechul’s coarse humor more comforting than embarrassing. He could get used to this sort of thing.

~*~

After the third glass, Kyuhyun feels bold.

So when Heechul quips, “Intoxication suits you, Kyuhyunnie. I didn’t think you had it in you,” instead of teasing him back, Kyuhyun leans forward and says with a smirk, “I’m full of surprises. Maybe you should let me show you.”

The other’s eyes fly open in surprise before they darken, and the look he gives Kyuhyun is one that could probably make every woman and man alive throw themselves at his feet.

When Heechul slowly gets up, coming around to the other side of the table, Kyuhyun has never felt more like prey. His breath catches in his throat as Heechul bends down to his level.

Hands run up Kyuhyun’s thighs, making him shiver.

“You want to surprise me, Kyuhyun?” Heechul asks, his voice low. “Want to prove that you can handle me? Leave me your name?”

He leans in even closer, until their lips are separated by no more than a hair’s breadth.

“I dare you.”

And Kyuhyun’s fate is sealed with a kiss.

~*~

Sudden knocking on Kyuhyun’s door rouses him from his half-asleep state, drawing a disapproving groan from his lips. Did the knocks have to be so damn loud?

Not five seconds later, Eunhyuk lets himself in, halting when he lays eyes on the other man.

“Oh, you’re not dead,” he notes, the unspoken continuation probably something along the lines of “but you look like you could be.”

Kyuhyun can only imagine how terrible he looks, limbs sprawled haphazardly across his bed, hair looking like he’d plugged it into an electric socket, and all traces of energy from his body.

“You didn’t come to breakfast,” Eunhyuk continues,” so Ryeowook finally sent me to check on you. He seems pretty insulted that you didn’t want to eat his cooking, actually.”

“I’m in the receding stage of a really bad hangover.

“It’s 12:30 in the afternoon.”

“Don’t judge me.”

Eunhyuk rolls his eyes, but instead of leaving like Kyuhyun expects, he sits down next to the younger.

“You didn’t actually come here to check up on me, did you?” Kyuhyun asks, moving his arms and legs so that he looks less like a mutated starfish. “I can smell ulterior motives from here.”

“I thought you were hungover.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not still smarter than all of you.”

“Kyuhyun, I’m trying to be civil with you, okay? I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Donghae,” Kyuhyun guesses without missing a beat. Yesterday, his headache would have increased tenfold at the thought. But today? He feels fine, excluding the pounding in his skull and the full-body exhaustion. (The latter isn’t due to the alcohol, Kyuhyun concedes with a hint of embarrassment. He’s pretty convinced that Heechul is some sort of otherworldly -demon, which on one hand was awesome, but on the other hand...well, he feels like he does now. Like he’s been hit by a bus.)

“Right...Donghae.”

Kyuhyun waves Eunhyuk’s concern away, his hand flopping ungracefully back down after the gesture. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to come between you two. And I’m sorry I didn’t exactly give the impression that I respected not being in the picture myself.” The other man seems about to say something, but Kyuhyun cuts him off. “You really love him, huh?”

Finally, he’s gotten the Shadow Squad leader to blush.

“A lot, yeah.”

“Good.” A pause. “But I’m still trying to figure out what he sees in you.”

Eunhyuk’s head snaps toward Kyuhyun, but when he sees the teasing grin on the latter’s face, he relaxes, chiding, “Shut it, you brat!”

Kyuhyun just laughs, only stopping because it takes too much energy. He extends a lazy finger until it prods Eunhyuk in the ribs, saying, “You know, we got off on the wrong foot, but there’s no reason we can’t still be friends.”

“Are you sure you’re not still drunk?”

“Make fun of me all you want; I mean it. There’s no point in us constantly being at each other’s throats.”

“So...what? You want to shake on being friends?” Eunhyuk asks sarcastically.

“No, what do you think we are? Twelve?”

“On a good day, you could probably pass for thirteen.”

Kyuhyun snorts. “Well, your insults have degenerated to the point that I’m just going to assume we are friends. Any objections?”

“Only a few hundred.”

“I’ll take it.”

“But don’t think━” Eunhyuk cuts off suddenly, looking over Kyuhyun’s shoulder with a strange expression on his face. “Kyuhyun? Are those...do you have handcuffs sitting on your dresser?”

Kyuhyun has a brief moment of silence for his now-deceased pride before he answers flatly, “It appears I do,” and sees Eunhyuk bite his lip in an attempt to keep his amusement contained.

“You know, I could’ve sworn Heechul had a pair just like that. What a coincidence.”

“Oh my god,” Kyuhyun groans, humiliated. “Kill me now.”

Eunhyuk has quite the opposite reaction; he nearly falls off the bed laughing. When he manages to compose himself again, his first comment doesn’t make things any better.

“I guess that explains why Heechul’s been walking funny the whole morning.”

“Oh my god.”

“Hey, come on, don’t be ashamed. You weren’t the first, and you probably won’t be the last. I just can’t get over how you were trying so hard to be discreet, and then there was Heechul.”

“I’m glad you can take pleasure in my misery.”

Eunhyuk can’t respond because he’s back to laughing again, but he does give the younger a sympathetic pat on the shoulder that says everything it needs to.

And now Kyuhyun has a wonderful story to tell his future grandchildren about how the two of them had finally bonded.

~*~

“You’re taking me shopping?”

Ryeowook had crossed his arms at Kyuhyun’s question. “We’re going to one of the Clusters to restock our essentials: food, water, and ammunition. And you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Now, a long hike later underneath the sun’s unrelenting rays, Kyuhyun regrets giving in to the other’s pout. Apparently, Resistance membership comes with perks like ridiculously high stamina, because Ryeowook is hardly breaking a sweat. Kyuhyun can’t exactly say the same.

(Which is a nice way of stating that he’s a panting, undignified mess.)

“We’re here,” Ryeowook says cheerfully, gesturing to the mostly-intact building in front of them. “Lots of merchants come to this Cluster to trade, so it’s fairly well-known among Outsiders, but this is the only place the Resistance deals with.”

The Cluster is busy, Kyuhyun notes. It was almost like a real town. Slipping off his facemask, he follows Ryeowook through the front door…

...and is immediately greeted with a hurricane of effervescence and long legs disguised as a man.

“Ryeowook!” the man exclaims, wrapping the medic in a hug. “You’re back! And who’s this? Someone new?” There’s a slight accent to his Korean ━ Chinese, Kyuhyun quickly concludes, which comes as a surprise: he’s the first foreigner Kyuhyun has come across since the bombs dropped.

Ryeowook nods at the man’s question. “This is Kyuhyun; he just joined a week ago. Kyuhyun, meet Zhou Mi.

Zhou Mi’s smile grows impossibly brighter. “Nice to meet you, Kyuhyun. It’s always great seeing a new face.” It’s actually pretty endearing how he almost-but-not-quite pronounces the name correctly.

“New face?” a voice asks from behind Zhou Mi, and a younger man pops his head out from a back room. “Mi, please tell me you’re not introducing yourself without me. Again.”

“I was just about to tell━”

Zhou Mi doesn’t get to finish; the newcomer is already standing in front of him. “Henry Lau, at your service,” he says, giving a mock bow. “I’m your friendly resident Canadian small-business owner, with a side-job of smuggling guns to the Resistance.”

Henry points at the man standing behind him. “Zhou Mi here is my business partner, so he gets to take our stuff to the Capital to trade...and a lot of the time, smuggle you all in, too. Between the two of us, we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Kyuhyun nearly laughs, because with his pronounced cheekbones and youthful face, Henry looks more like one of those mochi plushies than the intimidating image he’s clearly going for. But rather than stomping on the other man’s dignity, Kyuhyun is a thoughtful human being and sticks with reintroducing himself. (He’d like at least one good first impression, after all.)

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Henry says suddenly, clapping his hands together. “Ryeowook, I need to go over some things with you in the back about the next few shipments.”

Ryeowook’s face brightens considerably. “Of course. Mi, you’ll keep Kyuhyun entertained?”

“I’ll do my best!”

The two disappear into the back room, and Kyuhyun is left alone with...wait, is Zhou Mi giggling? Yeah, he definitely is.

“Aren’t they just adorable?” he practically coos.

“What?”

Zhou Mi looks at him like he’s joking. “Henry and Ryeowook. You saw the glances, the shy smiles, the tension, didn’t you?”

“I...hadn’t really noticed?”

“Only because it’s your first time seeing them together.” Zhou Mi leans forward, continuing in a conspiratorial whisper, like they’re talking about missile launch codes instead of gossiping about their friends. “Trust me, they’re so obvious that I’m embarrassed for them. Especially when they’re both waiting for each other to make the first move but refuse to do so themselves.”

Kyuhyun can’t help but be drawn in by the other’s seriousness. “And you haven’t said anything to them?”

“Not a peep.” Zhou Mi solemnly shakes his head, putting a hand over his heart. “It’s my responsibility to keep quiet and allow love to blossom on its own.” The smile returns to his face. “But enough about those two. I’m supposed to entertain you, Kyuhyun! I’ll take you on a quick tour of the Cluster, if you’re up for it.”

“Aren’t they just talking for a few minutes about shipments?”

“That’s what they always say, but it’s just pretense for them not-so-subtly flirting for an hour. We’ll have plenty of time.”

Kyuhyun agrees with a shrug. What has he got to lose?

~*~

“...And then we ended up talking for nearly two hours while we walked around the Cluster. It was actually really nice; he was so interested in everything I had to say, even laughed at my dumb jokes, and…”

Sungmin watches Kyuhyun ramble with a smile, paying more attention to the way the other man’s eyes are practically sparkling with infatuation more than the actual words. This is a side of his friend that Sungmin has never seen before, and he has to say ━ it’s absolutely precious.

“...so he made me promise to come see him again sometime soon. It doesn’t have to be for Resistance business or anything; just for us to talk. It’s nice to find someone who’s easy to have a conversation with, you know?”

Kyuhyun suddenly stops, frowning to himself and going back over the words.

I don’t even have to say anything. He’ll figure it out soon enough.

“Wait...It’s not just in my head that I sound like I have the biggest crush on him, is it?"

“You could say that,” Sungmin agrees, a knowing grin still gracing his lips.

Kyuhyun sinks back into the chair, covering his face with a groan. “Damn it, I do, and I’ve only met him once. What kind of rom-com cliché am I living?” He looks much more down about it than Sungmin expects.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. What’s wrong with liking him?”

Kyuhyun’s hands come away from his face, instead twisting together in his lap. “I don’t know,” he says. “Nothing, I guess? I just feel like I’ve spent much less time in the Resistance actually contributing than I have chasing romantic dead-ends. First there was Donghae, then there was━” He cuts off suddenly, eyes going wide for the briefest of moments. “You know what? Forget I said anything.”

“It’s alright. I don’t need to hear you admit it when I already heard it directly from Heechul.” When Kyuhyun’s face loses some of its color, he adds, “Not that he told anyone else. You have to understand: I make sure he tells me most everything, because that’s the only way I can look out for him. Make sure he’s not being too hard on himself or going to do something incredibly stupid.”

“So now I just have to live with you knowing my guilty secret.”

“One that we both have in common,” Sungmin says before he can stop himself, though Kyuhyun’s expression makes the slip-up almost worth it. “But back to what you said earlier, stop thinking you don’t deserve to be happy. Do that enough, and you’ll end up like Leeteuk.” Probably something else he should have kept to himself. “You’re here, you’re doing your best, and you’re allowed to try and fail as many times as you want to find a relationship that works. Though, if you were actually trying with Heechul…?”

Kyuhyun shakes his head immediately. “I’m not that naïve. I know exactly what it was: one time, and one time only. I’ve talked to him since; no residual awkwardness or hard feelings.”

“Good. And Zhou Mi?”

“I’ll...go for it, I guess. It can’t hurt, right? Assuming he’s even interested.”

Sungmin wants to roll his eyes so badly, but he’s trying to be a supportive friend. “Kyuhyun. Let’s be clear: he invited you on a date, you said yes, and now it’s the beginning of what could be a beautiful love story.”

“You don’t need to sound so sarcastic when you say it, you know,” Kyuhyun says dryly, before he switches topics entirely. “There was something else I was going to talk to you about ━ an interesting bit of information I found out the day I visited the cluster.”

Kyuhyun glances at the door to Sungmin’s room, seeming to check if they’re alone. “Do you know about Ryeowook and Henry?” he asks.

Not where Sungmin expected the conversation to go. Henry the merchant? “I mean, everyone knows Ryeowook goes to trade with him every so often, but that’s not news. Why?”

A genuine smile blossoms on Kyuhyun’s face, and all Sungmin can think is Wow, Zhou Mi must be rubbing off on him. Maybe this will work out after all.

“I didn’t notice until Mi pointed it out, but Ryeowook practically has hearts in his eyes whenever he talks to Henry. They’re both head over heels, but also both oblivious idiots.”

Yeah, okay, Mister I-just-talked-for-like-half-an-hour-about-Zhou-Mi’s-smile. This is news, though, and while part of it isn’t a surprise (he loves Ryeowook, but sometimes he wishes the younger would just assert himself, already), the thought of possibly playing matchmaker is admittedly an exciting one.

“So when do we start getting them together?” Sungmin asks, already plotting.

“Getting them…? Wait, Min, I don’t think this is something we’re supposed to intervene in. Letting love run its course and all that.”

Sungmin is less than impressed. “Zhou Mi told you that, didn’t he.” It’s not a question.

“Umm.”

“Fine, I get it. I won’t interfere…for now. But if you’re going to be spending all of your time with your boyfriend, I’ll need something to do.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Yet.” Sungmin hopes the ‘masterminding-a-plot’ glint in his eyes isn’t too frightening. “As your friend, Kyuhyun, I’m not going to sit back and watch you mess this up. One way or another, you’re going to get the guy.”

The flush taking over Kyuhyun’s face is adorable, but a part of Sungmin still wants to roll his eyes and say, “Kyuhyun, honey, you had with Heechul. Nothing should be able to embarrass you now.” Ah, to be stupid and in love. If they ever got out of this mess, Sungmin was going to have to start looking for━

Focus, Sungmin. You’re helping Kyuhyun, and your matchmaker aspirations are finally becoming a reality.

He doesn’t give Kyuhyun time to protest. “First of all, we’re going to use my money and go buy you something handsome to wear. Then we’ll scope out where you’re taking him to dinner.”

“I’m taking him? He was the one to ask me out.”

Sungmin actually scoffs. “You’re perfectly capable of being a gentleman. And you also have a rich best friend, so it only makes sense.”

“You know, I think I’ll just stop asking questions and refer to your judgement.”

“Wise choice.”

“Oh, and Sungmin?”

“Hmm?”

Kyuhyun is grinning again. “I don’t tell you this enough, but you’re an awesome best friend.”

“Aww, thank you.”

I know.

A/N: This chapter is alternatively titled "A Wild Zhou Mi Appears To Potentially Quench Kyuhyun's Lingering Post-Donghae Thirst" (Only kidding). This chapter was originally longer, but I ended up splitting it into parts - the other half will be posted on Sunday, so yes, that's a double update for this weekend. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, and I'll see you again on Sunday!