[09] chances are you'll find happiness; qmi; pg
title: chances are you'll find happiness
fandom: super junior m
pairing: zhou mi/kyuhyun
rating: PG
summary: kyuhyun's fortune cookies promise happiness found on this corner.
There's a little Chinese restaurant on the corner near Kyuhyun's apartment, two blocks from the subway station he walks to every day to get to class. It's a small place and newly opened with its name, 해피 코너, bright in yellow lights.
Kyuhyun decides to try it out one Tuesday evening after his late class.
---
The bell on the door tinkles as he walks inside.
"Welcome!" a cheerful voice greets him. He looks up to face the biggest smile he's ever seen, warm and delighted. Kyuhyun blinks and nods in return.
The man behind the counter is tall - taller than even Kyuhyun is - and, it seems, perpetually cheerful. His Korean is accented but his Mandarin is rapid and fluid, as he shouts Kyuhyun's order into the kitchen. Kyuhyun watches him and thinks that the restaurant is aptly named Happy Corner.
"Are you a student?" the man asks, leaning over the counter.
There is a couple in one corner, but they are bent over their food, whispering to each other and lost in their own little world. Evidently that means that the man is free to shower his rapt attention on Kyuhyun. He shrugs. "Yes. I go to Seoul National University."
"Oh! You must be brilliant! What's your major?"
"Music," he says, and the smile he receives in return nearly blinds him.
"Do you sing?" Before he can answer, another customer enters. By the time the man can return his attention to Kyuhyun, his food is ready and he is paying. The register dings as it closes and Kyuhyun is handed his change. "Come back anytime," he's told warmly.
Kyuhyun takes two steps away and is stopped by a cry. "Oh! I forgot to give you this!" He stops, bemused, as a fortune cookie is deposited into his take-out bag and he is waved off. He finds himself smiling despite himself at the cheerful wave and bows slightly again as he pushes the door open.
When he is home in his apartment later, food spread out and mostly eaten on his kitchen table, he cracks open the fortune cookie.
Chances are you'll meet again.
He regards it skeptically. Kyuhyun doesn't believe in fate or destiny, silly theories spun by daydreaming fools who have their heads in the clouds. But, for some reason, even though Kyuhyun has his feet firmly planted on the ground, he keeps the little slip of paper.
He tucks it into his wallet and forgets about it until the next time.
---
"I'm Zhou Mi," the smiling man says. "You were the music major at Seoul University, right?"
"Cho Kyuhyun," he replies, and finds himself smiling again. "And, yes. I sing."
"Oh." The soft little sound and those wide eyes makes Kyuhyun laugh. Zhou Mi looks like he's either fallen head over heels in love or like a truck has just blindsided him.
"Why are you so surprised?"
Zhou Mi's expression melts into a smile. "Oh, I'm not! I'm just so pleased. You have a really lovely voice, I bet you sing really well."
Kyuhyun feels his face heat up. It's not every day a stranger will compliment his voice - not when it's just a normal day, anyway, when it's not right after one of his performances. "Well," he mumbles, awkward, "I'm okay. I might have a contract soon." He's not sure why he blurts it out, like he's trying to impress Zhou Mi or something. So someone approached him after his last performance and handed him a card - nothing is set yet, nothing is for sure. It is all talk and Kyuhyun has reminded himself not to get too excited over nothing.
But the way Zhou Mi's eyes light up makes Kyuhyun's stomach flutter. Maybe it is something to get excited over.
"That's awesome! You're going to be a star!" He laughs. "I bet once you're famous you won't even remember this little place where you once got food."
Kyuhyun shrugs a little self-consciously. "Even stars need to eat."
Zhou Mi grins and hands him his bag. "Then promise you'll come back once you're famous." He scoops up one of the fortune cookies sitting in a bowl on the counter and tucks it into Kyuhyun's bag.
"I'm sure I'll be back before then," Kyuhyun says. "My cooking skills need work."
Zhou Mi's laughter follows him out the door.
The fortune that day reads: Chances are you'll regret not acting. Underneath one of the take-out boxes, he finds a business card. On one side, he finds the Chinese characters for happiness, with 해피 코너 printed beside it, along with the address, phone number, and business hours. On the flip side, Kyuhyun finds a scrawled 周觅 and a phone number.
---
It takes a week for Kyuhyun to call him, but he does it in the end.
He invites Zhou Mi out to coffee in a little shop by his university; it's on a Sunday, when Zhou Mi doesn't have to work, but the streets are no less busy than any other day of the week.
They talk about everything, anything, and Kyuhyun finds himself thoroughly enjoying himself. He remembers rolling his eyes on more than one occasion at something Zhou Mi says, but it is fond and amused. He remembers laughing more than usual.
They run into a friend of Kyuhyun's, who is picking up a drink to go, and they chat for a while. "Nice guy," Zhou Mi says later. Kyuhyun disagrees, but that's because he receives a text two minutes after Kibum walks out the door.
New boyfriend's not bad. Looks bendy. Smiles too much though.
Kyuhyun flushes and mutters that he's fine when Zhou Mi asks if he's okay. Under the table, he texts Kibum back. Take a look at your own boyfriend, asshole. Zhou Mi's knee brushes against his and Kyuhyun's stomach dips. And he's not my boyfriend.
---
"I'd really like to hear you sing," Zhou Mi says the next time. They are hanging out at Kyuhyun's apartment and Zhou Mi has just failed miserably at video games, much to Kyuhyun's hilarity. He makes a pleading face, but it's the earnestness in those dark eyes that makes Kyuhyun accede.
He sings the chorus to one of the few Chinese songs he knows, and the way Zhou Mi stares at him afterwards makes his heart stutter in his chest.
"I have to work on my pronunciation," he murmurs, breaking off and averting his eyes.
---
"Do you own the place?" he asks, leaning against the counter in the half-darkness. The restaurant's closed now, ten p.m., and the only light is from the kitchen where Zhou Mi is conducting his usual last-minute survey to make sure the staff cleaned up. There's a clatter as Zhou Mi moves something and a soft curse as he bumps into something else. Kyuhyun laughs under his breath.
"No," Zhou Mi says, finally emerging. His hair is slightly ruffled and Kyuhyun fights the urge to reach out and smooth it down. "No, my friend Geng owns this restaurant. He owns a couple of restaurants - not a chain, just freestanding stores - but he asked me to manage this one for him. It's really just a temporary thing though."
Kyuhyun waits for him as he locks up and they step out into the chilly night together. "Just temporary? What are you going to do after?"
"Oh, I...write," Zhou Mi says vaguely. His smile is sheepish; his shrug, dismissive. "Just working on stuff on the side." He seems reluctant to talk about it and Kyuhyun can sense a slight welling of embarrassment, so he lets it drop.
"I'm sure you're good at whatever you write."
The smile he receives is more than worth the cheesy encouragement. "Thank you, Kui Xian!" Zhou Mi squeezes his shoulder in a brief hug and Kyuhyun's own smile is reflexive.
"Are you sure you want to see my apartment?" Zhou Mi is a little worried. "It's a bit of mess and I didn't have time to clean up and you have class tomorrow...is it too late?"
"I'm not twelve," Kyuhyun replies dryly. "I can go to bed after ten, mother. It's fine." His arm brushes against Zhou Mi and he suddenly remembers. "Oh, I stole one of these. I hope you don't mind." He grins as he pulls his hand out of his pocket, a single packaged fortune cookie sitting in his palm. "Do you want it?"
"Oh, I eat those every day. It's fine! You have it."
Kyuhyun opens it and pulls out the slip of paper. His mouth goes dry as Zhou Mi presses against his side to read over his shoulder.
Chances are you're falling in love.
"Oh," Zhou Mi murmurs, soft, close. Kyuhyun can feel his heat, can feel his own body respond. "That's sweet." He has always been a romantic.
---
The talks have turned into papers and it looks like Kyuhyun really does have a contract after all. His hand shakes a little when he signs on the dotted line and he wonders, looking at his reflection in the subway windows on the way home, if he's really just changed his life forever.
---
If it's going to be a day of life-changing events, Kyuhyun thinks he might as well go all the way. He walks from the subway station to the little Chinese restaurant on the corner. The bell jingles as he steps inside and, because it's four in the afternoon, the place is empty except for him and the smiling man at the counter.
"Kui Xian!" Zhou Mi greets him. "Are you hungry so early?"
Kyuhyun looks at him for a moment, standing behind the counter in a blue-collared shirt and ridiculous skinny jeans, necklace gleaming in the hollow of his throat, long fingers flipping through a pile of menus, and that stupid smile on his face. That stupid, beautiful smile. Those laughing eyes that turn dark when Kyuhyun sings, that mouth that speaks Mandarin too fast for Kyuhyun to understand...all of it Zhou Mi, who hates spiders and loves to write, who sucks at video games and strangely makes the best coffee Kyuhyun has ever had.
"Kui Xian?" Zhou Mi is concerned now, as Kyuhyun freezes and stares at him.
He takes that moment to wonder desperately what he's doing, if he's stupid for taking this risk, if Zhou Mi even likes him.
He steps forward and kisses Zhou Mi before he can doubt himself further, reckless for once.
Zhou Mi makes a soft, surprised sound under his mouth. Then he sighs and melts into the kiss, lips gentle against Kyuhyun's.
It's broad daylight but Kyuhyun doesn't care that passing cars and people might see them. He's signed his life into something new today, and Zhou Mi is kissing him back. If his heart could sing, he really thinks it might.
When he walks home later, with Zhou Mi's promises of seeing him after work and more kisses against his mouth, he breaks open the fortune cookie he took out of habit. He finds himself smiling like a fool when he reads it.
He lets it flutter away on the wind, because, this one, he doesn't need to keep.
Chances are better than you think.
---
When Cho Kyuhyun releases his debut album, Chances Are, the jacket reveals in small, neat print that Zhou Mi has written over half the songs.
fandom: super junior m
pairing: zhou mi/kyuhyun
rating: PG
summary: kyuhyun's fortune cookies promise happiness found on this corner.
There's a little Chinese restaurant on the corner near Kyuhyun's apartment, two blocks from the subway station he walks to every day to get to class. It's a small place and newly opened with its name, 해피 코너, bright in yellow lights.
Kyuhyun decides to try it out one Tuesday evening after his late class.
---
The bell on the door tinkles as he walks inside.
"Welcome!" a cheerful voice greets him. He looks up to face the biggest smile he's ever seen, warm and delighted. Kyuhyun blinks and nods in return.
The man behind the counter is tall - taller than even Kyuhyun is - and, it seems, perpetually cheerful. His Korean is accented but his Mandarin is rapid and fluid, as he shouts Kyuhyun's order into the kitchen. Kyuhyun watches him and thinks that the restaurant is aptly named Happy Corner.
"Are you a student?" the man asks, leaning over the counter.
There is a couple in one corner, but they are bent over their food, whispering to each other and lost in their own little world. Evidently that means that the man is free to shower his rapt attention on Kyuhyun. He shrugs. "Yes. I go to Seoul National University."
"Oh! You must be brilliant! What's your major?"
"Music," he says, and the smile he receives in return nearly blinds him.
"Do you sing?" Before he can answer, another customer enters. By the time the man can return his attention to Kyuhyun, his food is ready and he is paying. The register dings as it closes and Kyuhyun is handed his change. "Come back anytime," he's told warmly.
Kyuhyun takes two steps away and is stopped by a cry. "Oh! I forgot to give you this!" He stops, bemused, as a fortune cookie is deposited into his take-out bag and he is waved off. He finds himself smiling despite himself at the cheerful wave and bows slightly again as he pushes the door open.
When he is home in his apartment later, food spread out and mostly eaten on his kitchen table, he cracks open the fortune cookie.
Chances are you'll meet again.
He regards it skeptically. Kyuhyun doesn't believe in fate or destiny, silly theories spun by daydreaming fools who have their heads in the clouds. But, for some reason, even though Kyuhyun has his feet firmly planted on the ground, he keeps the little slip of paper.
He tucks it into his wallet and forgets about it until the next time.
---
"I'm Zhou Mi," the smiling man says. "You were the music major at Seoul University, right?"
"Cho Kyuhyun," he replies, and finds himself smiling again. "And, yes. I sing."
"Oh." The soft little sound and those wide eyes makes Kyuhyun laugh. Zhou Mi looks like he's either fallen head over heels in love or like a truck has just blindsided him.
"Why are you so surprised?"
Zhou Mi's expression melts into a smile. "Oh, I'm not! I'm just so pleased. You have a really lovely voice, I bet you sing really well."
Kyuhyun feels his face heat up. It's not every day a stranger will compliment his voice - not when it's just a normal day, anyway, when it's not right after one of his performances. "Well," he mumbles, awkward, "I'm okay. I might have a contract soon." He's not sure why he blurts it out, like he's trying to impress Zhou Mi or something. So someone approached him after his last performance and handed him a card - nothing is set yet, nothing is for sure. It is all talk and Kyuhyun has reminded himself not to get too excited over nothing.
But the way Zhou Mi's eyes light up makes Kyuhyun's stomach flutter. Maybe it is something to get excited over.
"That's awesome! You're going to be a star!" He laughs. "I bet once you're famous you won't even remember this little place where you once got food."
Kyuhyun shrugs a little self-consciously. "Even stars need to eat."
Zhou Mi grins and hands him his bag. "Then promise you'll come back once you're famous." He scoops up one of the fortune cookies sitting in a bowl on the counter and tucks it into Kyuhyun's bag.
"I'm sure I'll be back before then," Kyuhyun says. "My cooking skills need work."
Zhou Mi's laughter follows him out the door.
The fortune that day reads: Chances are you'll regret not acting. Underneath one of the take-out boxes, he finds a business card. On one side, he finds the Chinese characters for happiness, with 해피 코너 printed beside it, along with the address, phone number, and business hours. On the flip side, Kyuhyun finds a scrawled 周觅 and a phone number.
---
It takes a week for Kyuhyun to call him, but he does it in the end.
He invites Zhou Mi out to coffee in a little shop by his university; it's on a Sunday, when Zhou Mi doesn't have to work, but the streets are no less busy than any other day of the week.
They talk about everything, anything, and Kyuhyun finds himself thoroughly enjoying himself. He remembers rolling his eyes on more than one occasion at something Zhou Mi says, but it is fond and amused. He remembers laughing more than usual.
They run into a friend of Kyuhyun's, who is picking up a drink to go, and they chat for a while. "Nice guy," Zhou Mi says later. Kyuhyun disagrees, but that's because he receives a text two minutes after Kibum walks out the door.
New boyfriend's not bad. Looks bendy. Smiles too much though.
Kyuhyun flushes and mutters that he's fine when Zhou Mi asks if he's okay. Under the table, he texts Kibum back. Take a look at your own boyfriend, asshole. Zhou Mi's knee brushes against his and Kyuhyun's stomach dips. And he's not my boyfriend.
---
"I'd really like to hear you sing," Zhou Mi says the next time. They are hanging out at Kyuhyun's apartment and Zhou Mi has just failed miserably at video games, much to Kyuhyun's hilarity. He makes a pleading face, but it's the earnestness in those dark eyes that makes Kyuhyun accede.
He sings the chorus to one of the few Chinese songs he knows, and the way Zhou Mi stares at him afterwards makes his heart stutter in his chest.
"I have to work on my pronunciation," he murmurs, breaking off and averting his eyes.
---
"Do you own the place?" he asks, leaning against the counter in the half-darkness. The restaurant's closed now, ten p.m., and the only light is from the kitchen where Zhou Mi is conducting his usual last-minute survey to make sure the staff cleaned up. There's a clatter as Zhou Mi moves something and a soft curse as he bumps into something else. Kyuhyun laughs under his breath.
"No," Zhou Mi says, finally emerging. His hair is slightly ruffled and Kyuhyun fights the urge to reach out and smooth it down. "No, my friend Geng owns this restaurant. He owns a couple of restaurants - not a chain, just freestanding stores - but he asked me to manage this one for him. It's really just a temporary thing though."
Kyuhyun waits for him as he locks up and they step out into the chilly night together. "Just temporary? What are you going to do after?"
"Oh, I...write," Zhou Mi says vaguely. His smile is sheepish; his shrug, dismissive. "Just working on stuff on the side." He seems reluctant to talk about it and Kyuhyun can sense a slight welling of embarrassment, so he lets it drop.
"I'm sure you're good at whatever you write."
The smile he receives is more than worth the cheesy encouragement. "Thank you, Kui Xian!" Zhou Mi squeezes his shoulder in a brief hug and Kyuhyun's own smile is reflexive.
"Are you sure you want to see my apartment?" Zhou Mi is a little worried. "It's a bit of mess and I didn't have time to clean up and you have class tomorrow...is it too late?"
"I'm not twelve," Kyuhyun replies dryly. "I can go to bed after ten, mother. It's fine." His arm brushes against Zhou Mi and he suddenly remembers. "Oh, I stole one of these. I hope you don't mind." He grins as he pulls his hand out of his pocket, a single packaged fortune cookie sitting in his palm. "Do you want it?"
"Oh, I eat those every day. It's fine! You have it."
Kyuhyun opens it and pulls out the slip of paper. His mouth goes dry as Zhou Mi presses against his side to read over his shoulder.
Chances are you're falling in love.
"Oh," Zhou Mi murmurs, soft, close. Kyuhyun can feel his heat, can feel his own body respond. "That's sweet." He has always been a romantic.
---
The talks have turned into papers and it looks like Kyuhyun really does have a contract after all. His hand shakes a little when he signs on the dotted line and he wonders, looking at his reflection in the subway windows on the way home, if he's really just changed his life forever.
---
If it's going to be a day of life-changing events, Kyuhyun thinks he might as well go all the way. He walks from the subway station to the little Chinese restaurant on the corner. The bell jingles as he steps inside and, because it's four in the afternoon, the place is empty except for him and the smiling man at the counter.
"Kui Xian!" Zhou Mi greets him. "Are you hungry so early?"
Kyuhyun looks at him for a moment, standing behind the counter in a blue-collared shirt and ridiculous skinny jeans, necklace gleaming in the hollow of his throat, long fingers flipping through a pile of menus, and that stupid smile on his face. That stupid, beautiful smile. Those laughing eyes that turn dark when Kyuhyun sings, that mouth that speaks Mandarin too fast for Kyuhyun to understand...all of it Zhou Mi, who hates spiders and loves to write, who sucks at video games and strangely makes the best coffee Kyuhyun has ever had.
"Kui Xian?" Zhou Mi is concerned now, as Kyuhyun freezes and stares at him.
He takes that moment to wonder desperately what he's doing, if he's stupid for taking this risk, if Zhou Mi even likes him.
He steps forward and kisses Zhou Mi before he can doubt himself further, reckless for once.
Zhou Mi makes a soft, surprised sound under his mouth. Then he sighs and melts into the kiss, lips gentle against Kyuhyun's.
It's broad daylight but Kyuhyun doesn't care that passing cars and people might see them. He's signed his life into something new today, and Zhou Mi is kissing him back. If his heart could sing, he really thinks it might.
When he walks home later, with Zhou Mi's promises of seeing him after work and more kisses against his mouth, he breaks open the fortune cookie he took out of habit. He finds himself smiling like a fool when he reads it.
He lets it flutter away on the wind, because, this one, he doesn't need to keep.
Chances are better than you think.
---
When Cho Kyuhyun releases his debut album, Chances Are, the jacket reveals in small, neat print that Zhou Mi has written over half the songs.