Off the Record (2/3)
Thankfully, there was no residue of awkwardness between them afterwards and their hectic schedule did its part to make sure that things went back to normal. Donghae liked his job, the dancing, the singing, making people happy, being on camera; and the camera liked him. They were all working just a little bit harder to make sure Han Geng’s loss remained as unnoticeable as a gaping hole can be, but fans received them graciously and screamed as loud as ever when they performed the title song of their new album.
He and Kyuhyun had always been rather close, touching included, and it was a relief that all the fleeting touches that he’d never really thought about before were still there, that their friendship was still there. It was little things like a light touch to his arm when Kyuhyun passed him on his way to do one or the other task in a variety show, or a hand on his back when the maknae leaned close to listen to whatever joking comment he was making about their TV appearance. Sometimes when they did their dance routine and Donghae passed behind him to get to his next spot in the formation, they’d bump shoulders or high-five, or on his devious days, Donghae would trail his hand down the maknae’s spine because he knew it made Kyuhyun shiver and get goose bumps.
The only thing that really changed was that Donghae felt a bit more grateful about these short moments than usual. After he’d spent a night wondering if awkwardly exchanging a kiss would affect the relaxed way they treated each other, every time Kyuhyun touched him just because made him relieved all over again.
They were on their way to the film studio to shoot a variety show, cramped into a van in the early morning hours. Donghae suppressed a yawn as he checked his email, leaning his head onto Kyuhyun’s shoulder next to him. “God, I don’t know why we have to be there so early, we won’t start for another four hours or so.”
Kyuhyun shifted, leaning his cheek against the top of Donghae’s beanie without bothering to reply. Everyone was in varying states of alertness, from Siwon who was staring bleary-eyed out the window, to Henry who was curled up in his seat, sleeping. Donghae pondered for a long, hazy moment whether he should write an email to Leeteuk, but finally decided that it was too much of an effort.
He must have dozed off because the next thing he realized was Kyuhyun’s hand patting his cheek as the maknae softly called him to wake him up. “Hyung, come on, we’re at the studio.”
Groggily, Donghae allowed Kyuhyun to pull him out of his seat and drag him out of the van into the cool air. Shivering, he stumbled after the other members towards the studio entrance while their manager urged them to hurry.
The usual, chaotic procedure of getting the members ready for filming began as the coordinators pushed clothes on them while simultaneously asking for food or drink preferences. In groups of two or three, the guys got snatched away to get their hair or makeup done and the unoccupied ones dozed off on one of the couches, busied themselves with their cell phones or goofed around to pass the time.
It was hard to relax in the bustling room, so Donghae leaned back into the couch, nursing the take-out cup of green tea someone had pushed into his hands at some point while he tried not to spill anything on the outfit he had changed into half an hour ago. He was fiddling with his cell phone, idly deleting messages he had received weeks ago when Kyuhyun tapped his shin with a foot. “Hyung, they want to do your makeup now.”
Groaning, Donghae put his teacup on the table next to the couch and then held up his arms in a silent request. Kyuhyun grabbed his hands with a snort, pulling him up. Deciding to take a little pleasure in being annoying, Donghae allowed himself to slump forward into Kyuhyun’s body, almost knocking them over, but making the maknae burst out laughing all the same. “What the hell, hyung? Stop being lazy.”
Kyuhyun pushed him off and Donghae finally complied, but not without planting a deliberately wet kiss on the other’s exposed neck. Laughing to himself in victory when Kyuhyun grumbled, Donghae slouched over to the mirrors.
It wasn’t until Henry, sitting next to him while two people worked on his hair, remarked on it with a mixture of awe and contentment that Donghae realized that he and Kyuhyun had really gotten more comfortable around each other since they came to China. Kyuhyun had developed a tendency to hug him from behind whenever they were standing around, waiting for things to happen, and he himself had started to pull the maknae into a headlock more often, sometimes jokingly planting pecks on his cheek that made Kyuhyun grimace.
Apparently the kissing really hadn’t hurt, Donghae mused as his hair was carefully arranged into perfection, and had rather worked to make them closer, maybe because both of them were relieved about their intact friendship. The thought made him feel more relaxed than he had in days and he grinned to himself, much more awake and ready to take whatever the MCs of the variety program decided to throw at them.
They got back to their room late in the evening after thoroughly humiliating themselves once again on television. Donghae was in a exceptionally good mood, almost bouncing along the hallway a step ahead of Kyuhyun, still on a high from the realization that he didn’t need to be on his guard around the younger man anymore. He even let Kyuhyun take the shower first when they got to their room, preferring to call home for a bit.
When he got back into the room from his own shower, already dressed for bed in loose sweatpants and an old, faded t-shirt, Kyuhyun was sitting at the desk near his bed, playing Starcraft on his laptop. Donghae rolled his eyes and considered throwing his wet towel at the other, just to see how he would react, but he didn’t want a grumpy Kyuhyun when he himself was in such a good mood, so he just put it over the back of a chair and perched on the edge of his own bed, watching the maknae.
He could only see the back of his head and a part of his profile, Kyuhyun’s eyes focused on the screen in a half-lidded look of concentration, his fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. Donghae had never really noticed how broad the other’s shoulders had gotten, but the position he was in made them look solid, which was much better than the frail, skinny version of himself Kyuhyun had been only a few years ago. It made Donghae glad to have him there, healthy and yet still the same.
“Hey, Kyuhyun-ah,” he called, smiling to himself when he got back an absent-minded humming noise, “are you still feeling lonely?”
He could see the maknae roll his eyes, slightly annoyed at being interrupted. “It never really goes away, hyung. I told you.”
“Well,” Donghae answered, deliberately bright and perky as he got up from the bed to step closer to the desk, “I’m feeling much better now.”
“That’s great,” Kyuhyun said, obviously not caring at all.
Grinning, Donghae said, “And it’s all because of you,” before he grabbed Kyuhyun’s face to turn it around to him and planted a noisy smooch on his lips. “Thank you so much, maknae.”
Kyuhyun scowled at him. “God, hyung, what’s with you today? You’re so over the top.”
“I’m just in a good mood is all.” Feeling like pestering Kyuhyun some more, Donghae slung an arm over his shoulders and pressed their cheeks together. “Better now?”
“No,” Kyuhyun replied flatly. “And I’d really appreciate it if you could let me play now.”
“Come on, Kyuhyun-ah,” Donghae said, dragging his hand over the other’s shoulder, “I can’t just let you be unhappy here by yourself.” He watched the game absently as he tried to think of ways to distract the maknae from the loneliness, ones that didn’t involve immersing himself into hours and hours of Starcraft.
“It’s fine, hyung, really.”
Stubbornly, Donghae answered, “No, it’s not. There has to be something that I can do.”
“And what?” Kyuhyun shot back, annoyed. “Do you want to kiss me again or what, hyung?”
Donghae shrugged. “If it helps.”
Kyuhyun tore his eyes away from the screen, simultaneously pausing the game, and shifted his weight until he could stare at the dancer. “Are you delirious or something?”
“What- no!” Donghae exclaimed exasperatedly. “I just want to help you out. Is it that hard to believe?” When Kyuhyun only raised his eyebrows, he shifted sheepishly. “And it wasn’t that bad, was it?"
“Right,” was the only thing Kyuhyun had to say to that.
A bit annoyed that the other wasn’t even trying to be nice about it or make the whole affair less hurtful to his pride, Donghae set his jaw and stared back defiantly. “I bet the second try would be much better.”
“Hyung,” Kyuhyun sighed, finally turning away from the keyboard to face him more fully, “come on. This is stupid. Let’s just go to bed and forget all this, okay?”
But Donghae shook his head, even more stubbornly determined because the maknae wasn’t cooperating at all. “One more try, Kyuhyun-ah.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Fine. One try.”
Without thinking about what he was actually doing, Donghae grabbed the other’s chin with his free hand and pulled his face up to meet his mouth. He tilted his head to catch Kyuhyun’s lips between his own, drinking up the startled sound the maknae made. As he moved his hand to the back of the other’s neck to pull him closer, he let his tongue drag over Kyuhyun’s bottom lip before sealing their mouths together again.
It was when Donghae started thinking again that he began to notice the soft warmth of the other’s mouth under his, or the sharp inhales through his nose, or the slight tickle of the hair his hand was buried in. It was then that his grip loosened a bit as his fingers slid through Kyuhyun’s hair in a caress, stroking down to the nape of his neck and the bumps of his spine. A shiver wrecked through the maknae as it always did when someone touched him like that, and Donghae involuntarily pressed his body closer to feel the short tremble against his chest.
He let his lips softly slide over Kyuhyun’s to take in their texture and then there was heat seeping through his veins as the kiss turned slow and languid and one of Kyuhyun’s hands curled around the nape of his neck, fingertips scraping to the short hair there and it felt good. It felt warm and heavy and addictive and so good.
Donghae pulled away, taking a step back with his hip against the desk, and swallowed, resisting the urge to lick his lips.
Kyuhyun was blinking slowly. “Well, that was a bit better, I guess.”
“Told you the second try would be better,” Donghae replied but eyed the other carefully. If this whole stupid idea had screwed up everything that hadn’t been screwed up by the last kiss, he would never forgive himself. But if would serve him right for being so stubborn and stupid in the first place. He tried to ignore the remnants of satisfying heat coiling in his stomach.
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, I admit that you were right. You’ll remind me of it all the time anyways, no point in denying it.”
Relieved that Kyuhyun apparently didn’t hate him, Donghae relaxed a little. “You should listen to your hyung more,” he teased with a slightly shaky grin.
“God, no,” Kyuhyun snorted, “I have an image to keep up.”
“Hey!” Donghae frowned indignantly. “Being less of a brat would do you good.”
“But it would be a lot less fun.” Lazily shutting his laptop with one hand and rising from his chair, the maknae grinned at him and patted his abdomen as he stepped past him to slip into the bathroom.
Donghae stared at the paused game and prayed to heaven that a night of sleep would erase all stupidity.
--
Part 1
Part 3
--
Expect an update in another two to three days. :)
He and Kyuhyun had always been rather close, touching included, and it was a relief that all the fleeting touches that he’d never really thought about before were still there, that their friendship was still there. It was little things like a light touch to his arm when Kyuhyun passed him on his way to do one or the other task in a variety show, or a hand on his back when the maknae leaned close to listen to whatever joking comment he was making about their TV appearance. Sometimes when they did their dance routine and Donghae passed behind him to get to his next spot in the formation, they’d bump shoulders or high-five, or on his devious days, Donghae would trail his hand down the maknae’s spine because he knew it made Kyuhyun shiver and get goose bumps.
The only thing that really changed was that Donghae felt a bit more grateful about these short moments than usual. After he’d spent a night wondering if awkwardly exchanging a kiss would affect the relaxed way they treated each other, every time Kyuhyun touched him just because made him relieved all over again.
They were on their way to the film studio to shoot a variety show, cramped into a van in the early morning hours. Donghae suppressed a yawn as he checked his email, leaning his head onto Kyuhyun’s shoulder next to him. “God, I don’t know why we have to be there so early, we won’t start for another four hours or so.”
Kyuhyun shifted, leaning his cheek against the top of Donghae’s beanie without bothering to reply. Everyone was in varying states of alertness, from Siwon who was staring bleary-eyed out the window, to Henry who was curled up in his seat, sleeping. Donghae pondered for a long, hazy moment whether he should write an email to Leeteuk, but finally decided that it was too much of an effort.
He must have dozed off because the next thing he realized was Kyuhyun’s hand patting his cheek as the maknae softly called him to wake him up. “Hyung, come on, we’re at the studio.”
Groggily, Donghae allowed Kyuhyun to pull him out of his seat and drag him out of the van into the cool air. Shivering, he stumbled after the other members towards the studio entrance while their manager urged them to hurry.
The usual, chaotic procedure of getting the members ready for filming began as the coordinators pushed clothes on them while simultaneously asking for food or drink preferences. In groups of two or three, the guys got snatched away to get their hair or makeup done and the unoccupied ones dozed off on one of the couches, busied themselves with their cell phones or goofed around to pass the time.
It was hard to relax in the bustling room, so Donghae leaned back into the couch, nursing the take-out cup of green tea someone had pushed into his hands at some point while he tried not to spill anything on the outfit he had changed into half an hour ago. He was fiddling with his cell phone, idly deleting messages he had received weeks ago when Kyuhyun tapped his shin with a foot. “Hyung, they want to do your makeup now.”
Groaning, Donghae put his teacup on the table next to the couch and then held up his arms in a silent request. Kyuhyun grabbed his hands with a snort, pulling him up. Deciding to take a little pleasure in being annoying, Donghae allowed himself to slump forward into Kyuhyun’s body, almost knocking them over, but making the maknae burst out laughing all the same. “What the hell, hyung? Stop being lazy.”
Kyuhyun pushed him off and Donghae finally complied, but not without planting a deliberately wet kiss on the other’s exposed neck. Laughing to himself in victory when Kyuhyun grumbled, Donghae slouched over to the mirrors.
It wasn’t until Henry, sitting next to him while two people worked on his hair, remarked on it with a mixture of awe and contentment that Donghae realized that he and Kyuhyun had really gotten more comfortable around each other since they came to China. Kyuhyun had developed a tendency to hug him from behind whenever they were standing around, waiting for things to happen, and he himself had started to pull the maknae into a headlock more often, sometimes jokingly planting pecks on his cheek that made Kyuhyun grimace.
Apparently the kissing really hadn’t hurt, Donghae mused as his hair was carefully arranged into perfection, and had rather worked to make them closer, maybe because both of them were relieved about their intact friendship. The thought made him feel more relaxed than he had in days and he grinned to himself, much more awake and ready to take whatever the MCs of the variety program decided to throw at them.
They got back to their room late in the evening after thoroughly humiliating themselves once again on television. Donghae was in a exceptionally good mood, almost bouncing along the hallway a step ahead of Kyuhyun, still on a high from the realization that he didn’t need to be on his guard around the younger man anymore. He even let Kyuhyun take the shower first when they got to their room, preferring to call home for a bit.
When he got back into the room from his own shower, already dressed for bed in loose sweatpants and an old, faded t-shirt, Kyuhyun was sitting at the desk near his bed, playing Starcraft on his laptop. Donghae rolled his eyes and considered throwing his wet towel at the other, just to see how he would react, but he didn’t want a grumpy Kyuhyun when he himself was in such a good mood, so he just put it over the back of a chair and perched on the edge of his own bed, watching the maknae.
He could only see the back of his head and a part of his profile, Kyuhyun’s eyes focused on the screen in a half-lidded look of concentration, his fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. Donghae had never really noticed how broad the other’s shoulders had gotten, but the position he was in made them look solid, which was much better than the frail, skinny version of himself Kyuhyun had been only a few years ago. It made Donghae glad to have him there, healthy and yet still the same.
“Hey, Kyuhyun-ah,” he called, smiling to himself when he got back an absent-minded humming noise, “are you still feeling lonely?”
He could see the maknae roll his eyes, slightly annoyed at being interrupted. “It never really goes away, hyung. I told you.”
“Well,” Donghae answered, deliberately bright and perky as he got up from the bed to step closer to the desk, “I’m feeling much better now.”
“That’s great,” Kyuhyun said, obviously not caring at all.
Grinning, Donghae said, “And it’s all because of you,” before he grabbed Kyuhyun’s face to turn it around to him and planted a noisy smooch on his lips. “Thank you so much, maknae.”
Kyuhyun scowled at him. “God, hyung, what’s with you today? You’re so over the top.”
“I’m just in a good mood is all.” Feeling like pestering Kyuhyun some more, Donghae slung an arm over his shoulders and pressed their cheeks together. “Better now?”
“No,” Kyuhyun replied flatly. “And I’d really appreciate it if you could let me play now.”
“Come on, Kyuhyun-ah,” Donghae said, dragging his hand over the other’s shoulder, “I can’t just let you be unhappy here by yourself.” He watched the game absently as he tried to think of ways to distract the maknae from the loneliness, ones that didn’t involve immersing himself into hours and hours of Starcraft.
“It’s fine, hyung, really.”
Stubbornly, Donghae answered, “No, it’s not. There has to be something that I can do.”
“And what?” Kyuhyun shot back, annoyed. “Do you want to kiss me again or what, hyung?”
Donghae shrugged. “If it helps.”
Kyuhyun tore his eyes away from the screen, simultaneously pausing the game, and shifted his weight until he could stare at the dancer. “Are you delirious or something?”
“What- no!” Donghae exclaimed exasperatedly. “I just want to help you out. Is it that hard to believe?” When Kyuhyun only raised his eyebrows, he shifted sheepishly. “And it wasn’t that bad, was it?"
“Right,” was the only thing Kyuhyun had to say to that.
A bit annoyed that the other wasn’t even trying to be nice about it or make the whole affair less hurtful to his pride, Donghae set his jaw and stared back defiantly. “I bet the second try would be much better.”
“Hyung,” Kyuhyun sighed, finally turning away from the keyboard to face him more fully, “come on. This is stupid. Let’s just go to bed and forget all this, okay?”
But Donghae shook his head, even more stubbornly determined because the maknae wasn’t cooperating at all. “One more try, Kyuhyun-ah.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Fine. One try.”
Without thinking about what he was actually doing, Donghae grabbed the other’s chin with his free hand and pulled his face up to meet his mouth. He tilted his head to catch Kyuhyun’s lips between his own, drinking up the startled sound the maknae made. As he moved his hand to the back of the other’s neck to pull him closer, he let his tongue drag over Kyuhyun’s bottom lip before sealing their mouths together again.
It was when Donghae started thinking again that he began to notice the soft warmth of the other’s mouth under his, or the sharp inhales through his nose, or the slight tickle of the hair his hand was buried in. It was then that his grip loosened a bit as his fingers slid through Kyuhyun’s hair in a caress, stroking down to the nape of his neck and the bumps of his spine. A shiver wrecked through the maknae as it always did when someone touched him like that, and Donghae involuntarily pressed his body closer to feel the short tremble against his chest.
He let his lips softly slide over Kyuhyun’s to take in their texture and then there was heat seeping through his veins as the kiss turned slow and languid and one of Kyuhyun’s hands curled around the nape of his neck, fingertips scraping to the short hair there and it felt good. It felt warm and heavy and addictive and so good.
Donghae pulled away, taking a step back with his hip against the desk, and swallowed, resisting the urge to lick his lips.
Kyuhyun was blinking slowly. “Well, that was a bit better, I guess.”
“Told you the second try would be better,” Donghae replied but eyed the other carefully. If this whole stupid idea had screwed up everything that hadn’t been screwed up by the last kiss, he would never forgive himself. But if would serve him right for being so stubborn and stupid in the first place. He tried to ignore the remnants of satisfying heat coiling in his stomach.
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, I admit that you were right. You’ll remind me of it all the time anyways, no point in denying it.”
Relieved that Kyuhyun apparently didn’t hate him, Donghae relaxed a little. “You should listen to your hyung more,” he teased with a slightly shaky grin.
“God, no,” Kyuhyun snorted, “I have an image to keep up.”
“Hey!” Donghae frowned indignantly. “Being less of a brat would do you good.”
“But it would be a lot less fun.” Lazily shutting his laptop with one hand and rising from his chair, the maknae grinned at him and patted his abdomen as he stepped past him to slip into the bathroom.
Donghae stared at the paused game and prayed to heaven that a night of sleep would erase all stupidity.
--
Part 1
Part 3
--
Expect an update in another two to three days. :)