put on a slow, dumb show for you (1/2); Victoria/Kyuhyun
put on a slow, dumb show for you (1/2)
Victoria/Kyuhyun; pg-13, 2,494 words.
They'd met at a bar. Kyuhyun remembers, she looked at him like a friend.
authors note: I really enjoyed writing this, mostly because I really enjoy the thought of Kyuhyun and Victoria being mean and pushing each others buttons... heh.
It is never smart to sleep with your roommate. Victoria learns this the hard way.
She locks herself into her room, texting Kyuhyun with the kind of short hand she knows he despises and punctuating every sentence with a minimum of twenty exclamation marks. He responds ten minutes later with I’m hungry, make me food.
The doorbell to Kyuhyun’s apartment rings twenty minutes later. When he opens the door, Victoria is leaning against the opposite wall with two bags of groceries and a look of absolute exasperation. She pushes the bags into his arms almost immediately.
“I slept with Seungho.” She says while slipping into his apartment.
Kyuhyun toes the door shut and narrows his eyes at her, “You what?”
Victoria has already managed to spread out on his couch, knees held tightly to her chest. “He was really sad,” she explains, hands gesturing uselessly. “And you know how I am with sad men.”
He shakes his head, dropping the groceries onto the dinner table.
“Oh Qian.”
It’s late in the evening when they finish dinner. Victoria skips out on dishes and buries herself under his blankets like she owns the place. Kyuhyun opts to lean against the door frame of his bedroom instead. He shoves his hands in his pockets and crosses his foot over his ankle.
“Tell me, are fruit baskets a good way of saying I’m sorry for letting you kiss me and sleeping with you and I’m not interested but can we still be friends?” She mutters from under the sheets.
He scoffs. “No.”
“What about a nice flower arrangement?”
Victoria’s head resurfaces from his sea of blankets. Large sad eyes he knows are designed to seek pity focused on him.
“No.”
The corners of his lips curve up into a smirk. She glares at him before sighing, forgetting momentarily that Kyuhyun knew all of her tricks. She rustles up the covers some more with her feet.
“Puppy wrapped in a pink bow delivered in a wicker basket?” Victoria asks.
Kyuhyun moves to sit at the end of the bed, one leg tucked up with the other planted firmly on the ground. “You’re an idiot.”
He deftly dodges the cushion she throws at him. “Is that a yes or a no?” grumbles Victoria.
“You’re an idiot.” He repeats, bending down to pick it up and chucking it back at her.
She pouts, which would convince any normal man to do her bidding. Although Kyuhyun has never been a normal man, but rather her all-knowing, annoying best friend.
“This is a life or evicted from my apartment situation and you’re being an asshole.”
He ignores her insult and crawls in next to her instead. The remote in his hand turns on the TV across from his bed and he flips through the channels; boredom quickly drawing over his features. “You shouldn’t have slept with Seungho then.” Kyuhyun continues, “Keep it in your pants Vic.”
She slides back under the bedspread, whining as she tosses and turns. “Help me Kyuhyun! Help me!”
The TV flashes off. There is silence as Victoria holds her breath for an easy answer.
“No.”
She sighs, flipping onto her belly and mumbles into his pillow, “Damn it.”
She spends the next three days loitering in Kyuhyun’s apartment more often than usual. Kyuhyun decides he’s alright with good food and the fridge always being full, until he wakes up at seven thirty on the fifth day to see her watching DVDs in his living room.
He stalks over and crashes beside her on the couch.
“You don’t live here, you know that, right?”
Victoria grins when he steals a chip from her bag. “I could live here.”
He shakes his head, pokes her forehead with his dirty barbeque flavored forefinger. “No, you can’t.”
They progress into a small slapping match before she shoves him hard enough for him to scowl.
“Why not? We’re best friends, I’ve already seen you na-“
Annoyance flares in Kyuhyun, who quickly clarifies to himself, it seems. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that!”
She pushes herself off the couch and throws her snacks down. Kyuhyun is almost ready to raise arms and fire when he sees her expression. He knows the look too well. She bends over him, placing her hands on his shoulders. As she expects, he doesn’t shrink away but looks her dead in the eye with an eyebrow raised. “I can’t live with Seungho anymore. He looks at me with sad eyes Kyu!”
His other eyebrow rises of its own accord. He lowers his chin, staring at her with a deliberate look he knows she hates. “Stop it Kyuhyun! Sad eyes!” She reiterates.
He shakes his head again. “No way Victoria Song,”
“Please?” She begs, shaking his shoulders roughly.
“N-o-o-o-o.”
The shaking stops. “Pretty please?”
“No.”
Pulling herself further beside his ear, she whispers with narrowed eyes, “Don’t make me resort to blackmail, I have pictures Gui Xian, pictures.”
He straightens up instantly, a slight blush sweeping across his cheeks.
“When do you want to move in?”
(kyuhyun 13:33) you should cook tonight
(victoria 13:35) don’t tell me what to do
(victoria 13:35) what do you want to eat?
(kyuhyun 13:36) pork chops!
(victoria 13:37) buy me something nice and we’ll see where we get from there
(kyuhyun 13:45) you’re evil
(victoria 13:46) and yet you still love me
They’d met at a bar, of all places. Present day Kyuhyun likes to blame Changmin for his inability to host a proper social gathering without morphing it into an all-out bar hopping extravaganza. He’d been on his third beer and looking out for Minho when she walked in with a good-looking boy on her arm.
A chorus of shut the door! It’s fucking cold! from the drunken crowd was what it took for them to make eye contact from across the floor. She had smiled at him like a friend, and he had grinned back, raising his glass to a complete stranger.
When Kyuhyun struts over to the bar for a glass of water, she’s already there nursing a glass of some fruity drink.
He speaks first. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
“Where’s yours?” She refutes, throwing him a smile not matching her tone.
From somewhere across the bar, Kyuhyun hears Changmin holler. “Touché” He slides onto the stool next to her. “I’m Kyuhyun by the way, are you going to tell me your name?”
She turns to look at him and tilts her head. “Are we playing twenty questions?”
Kyuhyun blinks. He resolves to sober up if he doesn’t want to be ripped to shreds by this girl. “Only if you’re honest.”
“I’m Victoria, next question.”
“Are you always this hostile or do you think I’m trying to get you to sleep with me?” He shifts uncomfortably on the stool, partly because it’s too small and partly because she makes him want to fidget.
Victoria looks like she’s flipping the question over and over again in her head. She bites the inside of her cheek. “That’s two questions, but no and I’ll think about it.”
“I’m not.” He takes a chug of his water, anything to dismiss the heat rising in his throat. “Not trying to get you into my bed, that is.”
Her cheeks crinkle when she genuinely smiles, he notices. “You talk a lot.”
“So do you.” Kyuhyun says. But they are grinning at each other.
“Are we best friends now?” She teases. They both ignore their names being called from opposite directions.
The rest of his water is drained. “If you buy me some mozzarella sticks then I’m game.”
Her hand shoots up instantly. “Mr. Barkeep, mozzarella sticks, pronto!”
(kyuhyun 15:05) what do you say to a crying girl?
(victoria 15:05) where’s the punch line?
(kyuhyun 15:06) seriously
(victoria 15:07) don’t cry
(kyuhyun 15:07) I mean what do you say to get her to stop crying
(kyuhyun 15:07) not what to say if you’re an idiot
(victoria 15:07) you’re mean
(kyuhyun 15:30) nevermind, she broke up with me
(victoria 15:30) ㅠㅠ
“I didn’t like her anyway.” She announces from the couch as he walks through the door. The smell of pork chops wafts in from the kitchen.
Kyuhyun takes off his shoes and flips himself over the back of the couch. His head lands conveniently on her lap. “She didn’t like you either.” He sneers at her.
A sound of indignation. “We’ve had this conversation before, and I’m delightful.”
He wants to laugh, but finds the motion of her hand in his hair prevents him from moving.
“Are you sad?” She asks after a moment of silence.
“Not really.”
“You should be.”
“But I’m not.”
His eyes are closed, but he hears her sigh and feels her breath on his cheek. It tingles. “Please don’t turn into an asshole.”
Her hands leave his hair. She rolls him off her lap and trudges to the kitchen. Kyuhyun listens to her footsteps from the floor, light and graceful like a dancer.
“Too late.” He whispers to no one.
There was a time when Victoria thought Kyuhyun would be one in a long line of boyfriends. Six years later, she’s long given up the notion of Kyuhyun being anything more than her constant. She thinks that’s more than enough. At least she can always keep him happy.
“Do you mind an age difference?”
“You know I don’t, stop trying to set me up.”
“Then we’re just two lonely singles, being lonely.”
“How about I set you up then?”
Victoria’s blank stare turns to disgust. “I don’t want to go out with Changmin, he’s mean.”
“So are you.”
“Rude.”
“So are you.”
If he wasn’t so used to her staring daggers into him, he’d be scared too.
(victoria 20:24) this was a bad idea
(kyuhyun 20:24) stop texting me, I’m right in front of you
(victoria 20:25) Yoona says she likes you a lot
(kyuhyun 20:26) really?
(victoria 20:26) no
(kyuhyun 20:26) I hate you
(victoria 20:27) stop texting me, I’m right in front of you
(victoria 20:42) Jonghyun just whispered to you, what did he say?
(kyuhyun 20:43) he says he hates you
(victoria 20:43) such a child
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” She and Kyuhyun chime in unison.
They exchange looks. On either side of the two, Yoona smiles uncomfortably and Jonghyun looks away, scratching the back of his neck.
Victoria clears her throat, presses her phone into her pocket. “let’s go eat!”
The next day, Jonghyun meets him for breakfast at a small restaurant on the first floor of their office. They both order American style, eggs and bacon.
“I liked her, what did she say about me?” He asks over a sip of coffee.
Kyuhyun shrugs, sticking a strip of bacon into his mouth. “She liked your hair, said you were nice, she has a thing for hair.”
“Is it too early to call her?”
“She was still snoring into a pillow when I left.” Kyuhyun says offhandedly.
“You know what I mean,” Jonghyun pauses, long enough for the puzzle pieces to click into place. “Wait a sec, you share a room?”
Kyuhyun’s eyes widen slightly at his slip-up but return to sane just as quickly. “We only have one bed.”
“Have you guys ever?”
“Not even once.”
“How about-“
“Kissed her 4 years ago on New Year’s Eve because the options were limited, it was chaste and very unrewarding.”
There is stillness, then some shuffling of Jonghyun’s eggs on his plate.
“Interesting.” He finally says. “If I didn’t know you any better Kyuhyun, I would not have just texted her under the table.”
Kyuhyun assents with a quick nod and a mouth full of toast. When they walk into the office, Jonghyun claps him on the back and walks off. He decides to text Yoona too.
She politely declines his invitation to lunch.
If Kyuhyun is honest with himself, he’s thought about the possibility more than once. The closest they’ve ever come to crossing a line was 4 years ago. Though even then, he knew that the bridge to anything but friendship had long closed off.
They knew too much about each other now. Or maybe it was because they both cared too much, relied on each other too much, spun their lives around each other too tightly to see any other way. Maybe it was because they built too much to move, afraid that it would topple and spill and ruin their lives.
Or maybe they were just too lazy to do things for themselves.
“You shouldn’t have broken up with Yuri before New Year’s, I liked her too.” Victoria frowns, wiggling herself into the notch under his shoulder. She shivers against him as they watch the clock count down, two more minutes.
“And I liked Donghae.” He contests.
She has the gall to tsk at him. “But he didn’t like you.”
Kyuhyun turns to look at her. Victoria is about the same height as him tonight, always choosing to wear those stupid high heels, snow and cold notwithstanding. He smiles despite himself.
“You’re going to have to kiss me when the clock hits zero, I will not break my record just because Donghae was threatened by you,” Victoria hisses, “As if!”
This new information catches him by surprise. “I thought you broke up because he got a nasty haircut?”
“T-that too.” She stutters, brushing it off as the breeze picking up. Before Kyuhyun can prod her to elaborate, the collective voices of everybody in the square effectively cut him off.
FIVE!
FOUR!
THREE!
TWO!
ONE!
Victoria catches his face in her mittens and Kyuhyun looks over in time for her lips to meet his. The frenzy around him seems to shift immediately into noiseless motion.
This is not a kiss between friends is the first thing he thinks before his lips begin to move, before he kisses back. A sound akin to sighing escapes her mouth and urges him on. He reaches over to press his knuckles lightly against her hip, anchoring himself to her.
Victoria pulls away first, though the hesitance before they part is something he often wishes he did not notice. They stand panting, the breaths coming out as puffs of white air.
His heart is beating him senseless when her hand slips into his and stops it altogether. She squeezes firmly and smiles. It tells him he has nothing to worry about, it tells him this feeling will be forgotten, and it tells him they are fine. He smiles too.
They often bring it up amongst friends as a cautionary New Year’s Eve tale. Sometimes Victoria will describe his mouth as tasting of a wet dog, whereas Kyuhyun will take means to reassure everyone of how unappealing her technique was.
Their friends will laugh; Changmin might even spill his drink on someone. All is well and safe.
If Kyuhyun is honest with himself-
But let’s be honest, he would lose either way.
Victoria/Kyuhyun; pg-13, 2,494 words.
They'd met at a bar. Kyuhyun remembers, she looked at him like a friend.
authors note: I really enjoyed writing this, mostly because I really enjoy the thought of Kyuhyun and Victoria being mean and pushing each others buttons... heh.
It is never smart to sleep with your roommate. Victoria learns this the hard way.
She locks herself into her room, texting Kyuhyun with the kind of short hand she knows he despises and punctuating every sentence with a minimum of twenty exclamation marks. He responds ten minutes later with I’m hungry, make me food.
The doorbell to Kyuhyun’s apartment rings twenty minutes later. When he opens the door, Victoria is leaning against the opposite wall with two bags of groceries and a look of absolute exasperation. She pushes the bags into his arms almost immediately.
“I slept with Seungho.” She says while slipping into his apartment.
Kyuhyun toes the door shut and narrows his eyes at her, “You what?”
Victoria has already managed to spread out on his couch, knees held tightly to her chest. “He was really sad,” she explains, hands gesturing uselessly. “And you know how I am with sad men.”
He shakes his head, dropping the groceries onto the dinner table.
“Oh Qian.”
It’s late in the evening when they finish dinner. Victoria skips out on dishes and buries herself under his blankets like she owns the place. Kyuhyun opts to lean against the door frame of his bedroom instead. He shoves his hands in his pockets and crosses his foot over his ankle.
“Tell me, are fruit baskets a good way of saying I’m sorry for letting you kiss me and sleeping with you and I’m not interested but can we still be friends?” She mutters from under the sheets.
He scoffs. “No.”
“What about a nice flower arrangement?”
Victoria’s head resurfaces from his sea of blankets. Large sad eyes he knows are designed to seek pity focused on him.
“No.”
The corners of his lips curve up into a smirk. She glares at him before sighing, forgetting momentarily that Kyuhyun knew all of her tricks. She rustles up the covers some more with her feet.
“Puppy wrapped in a pink bow delivered in a wicker basket?” Victoria asks.
Kyuhyun moves to sit at the end of the bed, one leg tucked up with the other planted firmly on the ground. “You’re an idiot.”
He deftly dodges the cushion she throws at him. “Is that a yes or a no?” grumbles Victoria.
“You’re an idiot.” He repeats, bending down to pick it up and chucking it back at her.
She pouts, which would convince any normal man to do her bidding. Although Kyuhyun has never been a normal man, but rather her all-knowing, annoying best friend.
“This is a life or evicted from my apartment situation and you’re being an asshole.”
He ignores her insult and crawls in next to her instead. The remote in his hand turns on the TV across from his bed and he flips through the channels; boredom quickly drawing over his features. “You shouldn’t have slept with Seungho then.” Kyuhyun continues, “Keep it in your pants Vic.”
She slides back under the bedspread, whining as she tosses and turns. “Help me Kyuhyun! Help me!”
The TV flashes off. There is silence as Victoria holds her breath for an easy answer.
“No.”
She sighs, flipping onto her belly and mumbles into his pillow, “Damn it.”
She spends the next three days loitering in Kyuhyun’s apartment more often than usual. Kyuhyun decides he’s alright with good food and the fridge always being full, until he wakes up at seven thirty on the fifth day to see her watching DVDs in his living room.
He stalks over and crashes beside her on the couch.
“You don’t live here, you know that, right?”
Victoria grins when he steals a chip from her bag. “I could live here.”
He shakes his head, pokes her forehead with his dirty barbeque flavored forefinger. “No, you can’t.”
They progress into a small slapping match before she shoves him hard enough for him to scowl.
“Why not? We’re best friends, I’ve already seen you na-“
Annoyance flares in Kyuhyun, who quickly clarifies to himself, it seems. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that!”
She pushes herself off the couch and throws her snacks down. Kyuhyun is almost ready to raise arms and fire when he sees her expression. He knows the look too well. She bends over him, placing her hands on his shoulders. As she expects, he doesn’t shrink away but looks her dead in the eye with an eyebrow raised. “I can’t live with Seungho anymore. He looks at me with sad eyes Kyu!”
His other eyebrow rises of its own accord. He lowers his chin, staring at her with a deliberate look he knows she hates. “Stop it Kyuhyun! Sad eyes!” She reiterates.
He shakes his head again. “No way Victoria Song,”
“Please?” She begs, shaking his shoulders roughly.
“N-o-o-o-o.”
The shaking stops. “Pretty please?”
“No.”
Pulling herself further beside his ear, she whispers with narrowed eyes, “Don’t make me resort to blackmail, I have pictures Gui Xian, pictures.”
He straightens up instantly, a slight blush sweeping across his cheeks.
“When do you want to move in?”
(kyuhyun 13:33) you should cook tonight
(victoria 13:35) don’t tell me what to do
(victoria 13:35) what do you want to eat?
(kyuhyun 13:36) pork chops!
(victoria 13:37) buy me something nice and we’ll see where we get from there
(kyuhyun 13:45) you’re evil
(victoria 13:46) and yet you still love me
They’d met at a bar, of all places. Present day Kyuhyun likes to blame Changmin for his inability to host a proper social gathering without morphing it into an all-out bar hopping extravaganza. He’d been on his third beer and looking out for Minho when she walked in with a good-looking boy on her arm.
A chorus of shut the door! It’s fucking cold! from the drunken crowd was what it took for them to make eye contact from across the floor. She had smiled at him like a friend, and he had grinned back, raising his glass to a complete stranger.
When Kyuhyun struts over to the bar for a glass of water, she’s already there nursing a glass of some fruity drink.
He speaks first. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
“Where’s yours?” She refutes, throwing him a smile not matching her tone.
From somewhere across the bar, Kyuhyun hears Changmin holler. “Touché” He slides onto the stool next to her. “I’m Kyuhyun by the way, are you going to tell me your name?”
She turns to look at him and tilts her head. “Are we playing twenty questions?”
Kyuhyun blinks. He resolves to sober up if he doesn’t want to be ripped to shreds by this girl. “Only if you’re honest.”
“I’m Victoria, next question.”
“Are you always this hostile or do you think I’m trying to get you to sleep with me?” He shifts uncomfortably on the stool, partly because it’s too small and partly because she makes him want to fidget.
Victoria looks like she’s flipping the question over and over again in her head. She bites the inside of her cheek. “That’s two questions, but no and I’ll think about it.”
“I’m not.” He takes a chug of his water, anything to dismiss the heat rising in his throat. “Not trying to get you into my bed, that is.”
Her cheeks crinkle when she genuinely smiles, he notices. “You talk a lot.”
“So do you.” Kyuhyun says. But they are grinning at each other.
“Are we best friends now?” She teases. They both ignore their names being called from opposite directions.
The rest of his water is drained. “If you buy me some mozzarella sticks then I’m game.”
Her hand shoots up instantly. “Mr. Barkeep, mozzarella sticks, pronto!”
(kyuhyun 15:05) what do you say to a crying girl?
(victoria 15:05) where’s the punch line?
(kyuhyun 15:06) seriously
(victoria 15:07) don’t cry
(kyuhyun 15:07) I mean what do you say to get her to stop crying
(kyuhyun 15:07) not what to say if you’re an idiot
(victoria 15:07) you’re mean
(kyuhyun 15:30) nevermind, she broke up with me
(victoria 15:30) ㅠㅠ
“I didn’t like her anyway.” She announces from the couch as he walks through the door. The smell of pork chops wafts in from the kitchen.
Kyuhyun takes off his shoes and flips himself over the back of the couch. His head lands conveniently on her lap. “She didn’t like you either.” He sneers at her.
A sound of indignation. “We’ve had this conversation before, and I’m delightful.”
He wants to laugh, but finds the motion of her hand in his hair prevents him from moving.
“Are you sad?” She asks after a moment of silence.
“Not really.”
“You should be.”
“But I’m not.”
His eyes are closed, but he hears her sigh and feels her breath on his cheek. It tingles. “Please don’t turn into an asshole.”
Her hands leave his hair. She rolls him off her lap and trudges to the kitchen. Kyuhyun listens to her footsteps from the floor, light and graceful like a dancer.
“Too late.” He whispers to no one.
There was a time when Victoria thought Kyuhyun would be one in a long line of boyfriends. Six years later, she’s long given up the notion of Kyuhyun being anything more than her constant. She thinks that’s more than enough. At least she can always keep him happy.
“Do you mind an age difference?”
“You know I don’t, stop trying to set me up.”
“Then we’re just two lonely singles, being lonely.”
“How about I set you up then?”
Victoria’s blank stare turns to disgust. “I don’t want to go out with Changmin, he’s mean.”
“So are you.”
“Rude.”
“So are you.”
If he wasn’t so used to her staring daggers into him, he’d be scared too.
(victoria 20:24) this was a bad idea
(kyuhyun 20:24) stop texting me, I’m right in front of you
(victoria 20:25) Yoona says she likes you a lot
(kyuhyun 20:26) really?
(victoria 20:26) no
(kyuhyun 20:26) I hate you
(victoria 20:27) stop texting me, I’m right in front of you
(victoria 20:42) Jonghyun just whispered to you, what did he say?
(kyuhyun 20:43) he says he hates you
(victoria 20:43) such a child
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” She and Kyuhyun chime in unison.
They exchange looks. On either side of the two, Yoona smiles uncomfortably and Jonghyun looks away, scratching the back of his neck.
Victoria clears her throat, presses her phone into her pocket. “let’s go eat!”
The next day, Jonghyun meets him for breakfast at a small restaurant on the first floor of their office. They both order American style, eggs and bacon.
“I liked her, what did she say about me?” He asks over a sip of coffee.
Kyuhyun shrugs, sticking a strip of bacon into his mouth. “She liked your hair, said you were nice, she has a thing for hair.”
“Is it too early to call her?”
“She was still snoring into a pillow when I left.” Kyuhyun says offhandedly.
“You know what I mean,” Jonghyun pauses, long enough for the puzzle pieces to click into place. “Wait a sec, you share a room?”
Kyuhyun’s eyes widen slightly at his slip-up but return to sane just as quickly. “We only have one bed.”
“Have you guys ever?”
“Not even once.”
“How about-“
“Kissed her 4 years ago on New Year’s Eve because the options were limited, it was chaste and very unrewarding.”
There is stillness, then some shuffling of Jonghyun’s eggs on his plate.
“Interesting.” He finally says. “If I didn’t know you any better Kyuhyun, I would not have just texted her under the table.”
Kyuhyun assents with a quick nod and a mouth full of toast. When they walk into the office, Jonghyun claps him on the back and walks off. He decides to text Yoona too.
She politely declines his invitation to lunch.
If Kyuhyun is honest with himself, he’s thought about the possibility more than once. The closest they’ve ever come to crossing a line was 4 years ago. Though even then, he knew that the bridge to anything but friendship had long closed off.
They knew too much about each other now. Or maybe it was because they both cared too much, relied on each other too much, spun their lives around each other too tightly to see any other way. Maybe it was because they built too much to move, afraid that it would topple and spill and ruin their lives.
Or maybe they were just too lazy to do things for themselves.
“You shouldn’t have broken up with Yuri before New Year’s, I liked her too.” Victoria frowns, wiggling herself into the notch under his shoulder. She shivers against him as they watch the clock count down, two more minutes.
“And I liked Donghae.” He contests.
She has the gall to tsk at him. “But he didn’t like you.”
Kyuhyun turns to look at her. Victoria is about the same height as him tonight, always choosing to wear those stupid high heels, snow and cold notwithstanding. He smiles despite himself.
“You’re going to have to kiss me when the clock hits zero, I will not break my record just because Donghae was threatened by you,” Victoria hisses, “As if!”
This new information catches him by surprise. “I thought you broke up because he got a nasty haircut?”
“T-that too.” She stutters, brushing it off as the breeze picking up. Before Kyuhyun can prod her to elaborate, the collective voices of everybody in the square effectively cut him off.
FIVE!
FOUR!
THREE!
TWO!
ONE!
Victoria catches his face in her mittens and Kyuhyun looks over in time for her lips to meet his. The frenzy around him seems to shift immediately into noiseless motion.
This is not a kiss between friends is the first thing he thinks before his lips begin to move, before he kisses back. A sound akin to sighing escapes her mouth and urges him on. He reaches over to press his knuckles lightly against her hip, anchoring himself to her.
Victoria pulls away first, though the hesitance before they part is something he often wishes he did not notice. They stand panting, the breaths coming out as puffs of white air.
His heart is beating him senseless when her hand slips into his and stops it altogether. She squeezes firmly and smiles. It tells him he has nothing to worry about, it tells him this feeling will be forgotten, and it tells him they are fine. He smiles too.
They often bring it up amongst friends as a cautionary New Year’s Eve tale. Sometimes Victoria will describe his mouth as tasting of a wet dog, whereas Kyuhyun will take means to reassure everyone of how unappealing her technique was.
Their friends will laugh; Changmin might even spill his drink on someone. All is well and safe.
If Kyuhyun is honest with himself-
But let’s be honest, he would lose either way.