The Early Days II

The Dare

            I was up early for a change.  Well, before eleven and that’s considered early when you’re a singer.  Anything before noon is.  Eunhyuk and I were sitting in the kitchen, eating cereal, when Shindong stopped by the dorm and asked if we wanted to go to the store with him. 

            “Sure,” I said, finishing up my bowl.  “Just let me change out of my pajamas first.”

            “We should probably invite Ryeowook as well.  He always needs a bunch of stuff from the store for cooking,” Shindong pointed out, sitting down at the table with us.

            Eunhyuk shook his head.  “I’m not waking him up.  He’s nasty when he’s tired.”

            Shindong laughed at this.  “That’s because you don’t know the right way to wake a person up.  You can’t just go in there and shout out their name and shake them awake.  He’ll be pissed.”

            Eunhyuk pointed at me.  “He likes Kyuhyunnie best and he still gets mad when we send him in to wake him, even if Kyu only taps him on the shoulder and quietly calls his name.”

            I nodded to confirm he was right.  Ryeowook is not a morning person.

            “You’re still not doing it right, but I don’t know if you’re brave enough to do it the way that actually works.  You see, a woman I once met taught me the right way.”

            I leaned forward, eager to hear what he had to say.  I had a gut feeling that there was something strange about how this woman woke him up.  “How?”

            Shindong looked around the kitchen to ensure no one else had joined us.  Then he leaned forward and whispered, “She kissed me awake.”

            I felt my throat go dry.  “Kiss—kissed you?”

            Shindong nodded.

            Eunhyuk shook his head.  “Oh, hell no!  If Ryeowook woke to me kissing him, I think he’d beat the hell out of me!”

            “I think he wouldn’t beat Kyuhyun though.”

            “Me?” I asked, looking at my hyungs quizzically.

            Shindong nodded.  “I’d even pay 10,000 won if you try.”

            “Well, for 10,000 won, I’d kiss your mother awake,” Eunhyuk said, standing up and turning to face the bedrooms.

            I quickly jumped up and pushed him away.  “I’ll do it!” I insisted.  “But not for money.  He’d be pissed if he knew I did something like that for money.”

            “Sure, kid.  Go ahead,” Shindong urged.

            That’s how I suddenly found myself walking down the hallway and stopping outside of Ryeowook’s shared room with Leeteuk.  Leeteuk had already left much earlier in the day, so I knew that he was alone, but that didn’t make me feel any less nervous about what I was about to do.

Sleeping Beauty

            I walked into Ryeowook’s room, closed the door behind me (because I didn’t need either of those two idiots watching and laughing about it from the hall), and then turned around to take my first look at Ryeowook sleeping in his bed.  , does he always look this good after tossing and turning all night?  I sure as hell don’t. 

            The problem was, I liked Ryeowook, but I didn’t realize that I liked him until just a couple months ago and since then things felt a little awkward that never felt that way before.  We’d always slept together on the road or cuddled up on the couch to watch television, but suddenly my palms would sweat, my voice would crack, and my heart would race whenever he was close to me.  But I’d wanted an excuse to kiss him for forever, but of course, the moment you want something like that, they decide to have a kissing game hiatus on you.  So, being dared to kiss him awake, as stupid as it seemed, was my first somewhat legit reason to kiss Ryeowook…aside from just telling him the truth, which wasn’t going to happen.  That idea scared me way worse than waking him up and making him angry all day at me.

            I nearly stumbled over a god damn stuffed giraffe on the way over to the bed and if I weren’t afraid of waking him up before I kissed him, I’d have thrown it across the room.  Instead, I just lightly kicked it off to the side and then I carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, taking care not to jostle him.  He was lying on his back, his head resting on the pillow.  His hair was barely even out of place and he’d recently gotten it cut.  His bangs swept off to the side and he looked more feminine then I’d ever seen him look before, but I also thought he looked extremely beautiful and for a moment, I just stared at him because I so rarely go the chance to do so without making anyone wonder. 

            Finally, I brushed a little lock of hair from his eyes that had fallen into them and then cupped his face.  I my lips, which felt dry, and then closed my eyes as I bent my head down and brushed my lips against his.  The whole way up to this point, I’d been wondering about how he would react to me kissing him awake, but I’d never considered how I would feel about it until my lips connected with his.  But as my lips pressed against his the first time, all the desire I had been hiding deep inside for him burst up to the surface in an instant.  I found myself into the kiss and quickly broke my lips away, suddenly embarrassed.  As I looked down at Ryeowook, he was still sound asleep, but all my feelings for him were wide awake.  I brought my lips back down to his and kissed him again.  And again.  Now that I had kissed him once, I wasn’t sure how I was going to stop.

The Kiss

            I had the strangest, most wonderful dream.  I was being kissed as I slept.  Soft lips pressed against my own several times.  The crazy thing was, I could smell Kyuhyun.  The smooth hand touching my cheek even felt like his.  And those lips—those plush, full lips—if they belonged to anyone, I figured they must be his. 

            If I opened my eyes, would the dream continue?  Would Kyuhyun still be there or would he vanish with the morning light?  There was only one way to know and I blinked my eye