Secret [1/5?]
Kyuhyun/Sungmin; PG (R later?); 2,314 words, chaptered
Kyuhyun is a solo idol who resents appearing on variety shows until he meets Super Junior's Sungmin.
a/n: I wrote this over a month ago, inspired by Kyu's appearances on Strong Heart, Shin PD's Variety World, etc, and
this picture of Sungmin. I have more chapters complete but it ends ~suddenly~ because I wasn't sure I wanted to post it. I will be glad to hear if I should have left it to die in my fic folder with everything else or if I should continue to post the rest of it.
part 01 |
part 02 |
part 03 |
part 04 |
part 05 ㅎ
Kyuhyun was not amused when his manager told him he would be appearing on yet another variety show this week. Granted, it was only his third time, but for Cho Kyuhyun, that was four too many. Management disagreed, however. Kyuhyun had been active as a solo artist in the Korean music industry for three years already and despite having achieved great fame and popularity across all age ranges, boys and girls and men and women alike, and having all of Asia screaming his name when he sang live, he was scant in the area of "variety show promotion." Kyuhyun didn't think this was a problem - he was not the type to make a fool of himself if he could prevent it, and that's all variety show appearances would lead to, he thought - but management wanted him to appear more down to earth. With all of the success of his last two albums, they were worried that the public would start to perceive him as untouchable - which he was - or unrelatable - which he was - and that meant sales could suffer despite Kyuhyun's powerful voice and handsome charm.
So with the release of his third album - his own previous record sales already crushed under its success - management put him on a campaign to win the hearts of Korea with humility, his charming smile, and probably a pie in the face or something equally as ridiculous. Which is why Kyuhyun had left the dressing room where he'd been done up to look like a porcelain doll, skin caked in make-up, hair tousled and sprayed with enough aerosol to choke him for the rest of the day, clothes styled to look fashionably casual, with a scowl on his face and gone in search of somewhere to be alone.
He tried to remind himself that he was not a terrible person. Fame and money hadn't gone to his head like his family had worried, or like the company seemed to think it had. If anything, it had made him want to change his mind about what he'd decided to do with the rest of his life. When he was younger, all he had ever wanted to do was sing, and he'd endured relentless bullying all through his school years for it. When he'd been discovered during a singing competition everything had happened so fast, and with his dream at his fingertips it seemed stupid to say no. But now, thinking of the facade that had been pulled in front of him when he joined the company, Kyuhyun realized there was very little of himself left to show. All he had was his voice and apparently that wasn't good enough. He couldn't just record, perform live, and be done with it. He had to do the whole circuit of irrelevant promotions, covered in make-up goop, laughing awkwardly when a host told a joke, and shaking hands with other idols he couldn't even recognize or name.
It was becoming abundantly clear to Kyuhyun that the obnoxious weight in his chest was called unhappiness and it had been aggravating him for almost as long as he'd been 'Cho Kyuhyun, the voice of Korea.'
After wandering the halls of the television studio for five minutes without any sense of direction, Kyuhyun finally found a room void of other people. He couldn't stop the sigh of relief from escaping his lips as he collapsed onto a large leather couch and sank into the cushions. His eyes fell shut immediately, blocking out the dull orange glow of a stylish lamp nearby. The overhead fluorescents had been turned off, probably by the last poor soul who'd found sanctuary in the lonely room, and Kyuhyun was certain that he could fall asleep just like this. It was much better than being forced to take ten minute naps in the car, or to sleep on the plane with people trying to click discreet pictures of him.
He was about to find solace in sleep, maybe even dream for the first time in three years, when a soft voice broke through the descending fog. Kyuhyun couldn't stop his brow from knitting and a pathetic frown from forming on his glossy lips. His tired eyes fluttered open and Kyuhyun felt his body freeze up.
Standing before him was a young male - well, presumably, as he didn't appear to have breasts - with stylish black bangs cascading over one eye, the other one lined with kohl and staring down at him intently. His skin looked clear and soft, and Kyuhyun almost believed there wasn't a touch of make-up on it, but the boy's mouth was coated with gloss like his own, so he had to have just been through the same hell. Kyuhyun found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the unique shape of the boy's mouth. His lips were plump, the top shaped almost like an 'm,' the bottom full and soft. Kyuhyun watched in fascination as perfectly white teeth peeked out and tugged the full bottom lip in, then released it, and the soft voice spoke again.
"Kyuhyun-ah?" The boy repeated, and as if hearing his own name pulled him out of some sort of trance, his eyes fluttered and he jerked forward suddenly, gripping the couch.
The boy jumped, stepping back with one foot, as if he were going to defend himself, and Kyuhyun raised his hands in apology, bringing them together and bowing slightly.
"Sorry, sorry, you startled me is all," he explained, bringing his hands up to rub tiredly at his eyes. He'd been sleepy before, but now he felt as if he'd been put under some sort of spell, and he looked up accusingly at the boy with the tantalizing mouth.
The dark-haired boy broke into a friendly smile and Kyuhyun felt himself transfixed by his mouth again for a moment before shaking it off. He blushed and grabbed nervously at the back of his neck, sitting forward on the couch, before looking up.
"You know my name?" He asked, curious. His own stupidity didn't register until the smiling mouth started to laugh melodiously, trying to pull him back under the spell, and Kyuhyun felt like ripping his own hair out. He must be losing his mind from sleep deprivation.
"You're cute," the boy said with curl of his lips, then bowed slightly before him, his dark bangs falling further into his face. "I'm Sungmin," he said by way of introduction. His downward movement had Kyuhyun's eyes following, and he finally took notice of something other than the boy - Sungmin's - mesmerizing face. He was wearing a pair of faded black jeans with intentional rips running horizontally all the way down the front of his legs. Kyuhyun saw thin strips of tan skin in contrast to the shredded white threads spilling out of the tears and swallowed thickly. He wore fashionable black high top sneakers, and, running his eyes slowly back up Sungmin's legs, he saw that he wore a long black t-shirt that came to the tops of his thighs, and a cropped dark jacket that managed to emphasize his waistline even in the dimly lit room.
Sungmin cleared his throat and stood back up, shaking his bangs out of his eyes, and Kyuhyun swallowed thickly again when he noticed a small smirk on his lips. "I'm in a group," Sungmin explained vaguely, clasping his hands behind his back, his toes turning in slightly. Kyuhyun couldn't help but think he looked very... cute, almost infantile in such a pose, and yet he was dressed so chic-like that in reality, Sungmin was a walking conundrum. "We're on the show today, too," he continued with an easy smile, his eyes shining down at Kyuhyun. "Hey, are you listening to me?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.
Kyuhyun could only nod dumbly.
Sungmin's smile returned stronger than before, and amazingly enough Kyuhyun found his own lips parting into a smile as well. Perhaps his first natural smile since he could remember - since he was a boy, before bullying classmates and money-hungry management.
"I'm sorry for bothering you. Were you asleep?" Sungmin asked, looking genuinely apologetic.
"No, don't worry about it, I shouldn't be in here anyway - probably," he finished sheepishly, clutching the back of his neck again.
"Well I'm glad you are. I wanted to meet you," Sungmin confessed, his smile still shimmering with lip gloss and glistening white teeth. Kyuhyun felt a shiver run up his spine and wished the goose bumps that sent a chill over his skin would cool off his blushing face. "Cold?" Sungmin asked, taking notice. "Or hot?" He added with a tiny smirk, reaching a small, manicured hand out. The back of his palm pressed gently against Kyuhyun's cheek and caused his skin to burn even hotter.
Flustered, Kyuhyun reached up quickly to close his hand over Sungmin's, curling his fingers around the delicate skin and bone. He intended to pull it away - off - but found himself holding it still.
"You're making it worse," he scowled childishly up at Sungmin, who just laughed like he didn't know the effect he had on people. Or at least on Kyuhyun; but that made him wonder, if this boy was in a group, if he was an idol, then Kyuhyun probably couldn't even imagine how many adoring fans he had. Probably Sungmin knew exactly how to act and what to say to get this sort of reaction out of people. Probably this was some gag for the show later and Kyuhyun would be humiliated beyond belief.
"Sorry," Sungmin apologized sweetly, but it didn't have the same sincerity as before, and Kyuhyun marveled at his cheekiness. Slowly he pulled Sungmin's hand away, and they lowered together before falling apart naturally. "You're exactly like how I thought you'd be," Sungmin told him candidly, clasping his hands behind his back again, toes still turned inward slightly.
Kyuhyun's eyes widened, causing Sungmin's lip to curl slightly again, and he clutched at his throat as he tried to hold Sungmin's gaze steadily.
"How is that, then?" He queried a bit suspiciously, but Sungmin just smiled and held a finger to his lips, as if it were a secret.
Kyuhyun huffed.
Sungmin's hand fell away from his lips as he giggled.
"What do you sing? I'm sure I've heard it before," Kyuhyun tried, grasping at straws. In reality, he didn't listen to radio, didn't watch television, wasn't aware about much of what else was going on in the industry. He didn't listen to modern music very often but now he wished he did so he could have something in common with Sungmin, so they could have something to talk about, because Kyuhyun was getting the impression that Sungmin was too cool to know what Starcraft was.
A pitying smile came across Sungmin's lips and he sighed heavily, crossing his arms over his chest, and shook his head.
"But Kyuhyun-ah, I'm sure you haven't," he murmured playfully. Kyuhyun scowled slightly - since when was he so damn easy to read? - and turned his nose up at the boy standing before him. He crossed his arms and slumped back against the couch.
"Well, if you know so much about me, go on then," he tutted, gesturing for Sungmin to continue.
The boy's eyes shone brightly as he bit his lower lip again, the action not going unnoticed by Kyuhyun who thought his life would never be the same after seeing such lips, and his arms uncrossed so he could reach back and slip his hands into his back pockets.
"Your voice is the best thing to ever happen to me," Sungmin said with a casual smile and shrug of his shoulders.
Kyuhyun was momentarily caught off guard by such bald honesty. Such small words, so unrefined and unpoetic, and yet they filtered in through Kyuhyun's ears and trickled down into his chest, where the weight of unhappiness had been nesting for the past three years. He stared up at Sungmin openly for a long while, seeing the reflection of the lamp glowing deep within them, wondering what else could fit inside such a small boy. He was seductive, alluring, cheeky, cute, intelligent, honest, secretive, open, quiet-
"Ah, Sungmin oppa, there you are- oh, and Kyuhyun oppa, too!" A young woman with a headset around her neck and a clipboard in her arm came into the room looking a bit frazzled, stopping suddenly upon seeing the pair of them together. Sungmin twisted to look over his shoulder, the movement catching Kyuhyun's attention. His eyes flickered down to see the boy's black shirt stretched across his lean stomach, hips twisted, jeans shifting across tan thighs.
"You'll be late- we couldn't find you," she explained in a hurry, gesturing for them to follow her, and quickly. "You've only got two minutes, please hurry."
Sungmin twisted back around, his hands slipping from his pockets and reaching out to Kyuhyun, palms down. A smile stretched his ever-glossy lips, but didn't show his teeth, and he jerked his head a bit over his shoulder.
"Come on, Kyuhyun oppa," he murmured teasingly, eyes shining.
Like slipping into a comfortable, familiar bed - something Kyuhyun hadn't done in so, so long - Kyuhyun fell back under the spell of Sungmin and felt his arms coming up, hands slipping into Sungmin's. The boy pulled him easily to his feet, and Kyuhyun was surprised by how short he really was. Standing an inch in front of him, Kyuhyun tipped his head down, and Sungmin turned his neck up, their faces close enough that Kyuhyun could feel warm, minty breath on his lips. He licked his lips, causing Sungmin's eyes to flicker away from his for a moment, before he looked back up and his smile widened to show Kyuhyun his shining, white teeth again.
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